#Long-Form vs. Short-Form Content

[koinotame]

idolatry

word count: 3.1K content warnings: unhealthy relationship dynamics, half self indulgent reader insert fanfiction half character study, unreality, religious undertones, possession is discussed abstractely, hypothetical harm to reader, the yandere is subtle but it's there

summary: you've somehow been reincarnated into a version of genshin impact where all the playable characters are self aware and seem besmitten with the player. the problem is that they can't make up their minds about whether you're their player or not...

a/n: aether vs your many fake fans

the flow of time has never felt steady to aether. despite how important it was to humans wherever he and his sister have traveled, there has always been a disconnect from it for him. You disappearing for months at a time is nothing out of the ordinary. time flows the same with or without You. like the sea's waves, it recedes and pushes. when he's used as a vessel by You, weeks can pass by in the blink of an eye and hours can feel like years spent in Your embrace. years have passed since You first started possessing them, and yet it's only been a couple of months at most. nothing moves forward in Your presence, nothing stays in stasis in Your absence.

so when he suddenly truly understands how humans experience the passage of time during another one of Your disappearances, aether immediately knows something is wrong. filled with dread and a harrowing heaviness deep in his gut that something has happened he can never take back, he finally understands what it means to be desperate for more time. have You abandoned him at last? has he not been enough, not quick enough to uncover this world's secrets and find his sister as You desired? finding you, clearly not from this world and trying to backtrack when you call him by his name—aether, his name, not Your sacred name he has been passing off as his own ever since Your arrival in teyvat—before any of Your other undeserving, fanatical vessels do seems nothing short of a miracle to him.

overjoyed at not having been abandoned after all, he clings to you and promises to protect and guide you through this foreign world—this time not as Your vessel, but as your first and most devoted follower. he doesn't need to be his own person, not when he can exist within the context of you.

paimon is less convinced. aether has turned even more immoderate and unnerving ever since your appearance, and she's not a fan. she… kind of understands. how important You are to aether, to the many others You've met through them during their journey. but does he—do any of them—really need to devote their entire being to You? she doesn't mind you, as a person, she really doesn't. but she doesn't like what You as a concept do to aether.

these days, she barely feels like she's part of the group, the one she formed with aether what seems so long ago, anymore. your arrival has completely overshadowed her presence. where she was previously part of a duo with her travel companion, she feels like little more than an afterthought now. she misses him. he calls her silly for it. she has only ever known him through Your command, so there isn't anything to miss. he's the same as he has always been. she just doesn't understand because You never graced her with Your embrace, and now that you have seemingly lost that ability perhaps she will never understand.

she says nothing, but she finds herself a little glad. better to never experience Your embrace, whatever that means, than lose herself completely in devotion to someone who clearly wants none of it.

the first archon they approach with you, venti, is apologetic but firm in the notion that aether is simply confused. he can understand how aether came to the conclusion, desperate and unused as he is following Your disappearance, but Your presence is simply unmistakable. he bids the two of you farewell amicably, but you find it impossible not to notice the difference in his demeanour afterwards when you run into him around the city. his smile is deftly crafted and practiced, his voice level and fingers steady as they pluck the strings of his lyre, but something about his eyes betray his own growing desperation.

if even aether is faltering like this, perhaps You really have abandoned them this time…? if he shows You how well mondstadt is faring, how much they've rebuilt and grown and thrived since You helped him quell dvalin's anguish, will You be proud of him and return? even if not to him, at least to the city? will You ever have Your vessels dance in the city square's fountain, or make the hike up the skyfrost nail to gaze upon the beauty of the unabating grey and white landscape again?

over time, even venti wavers and starts seeing what aether has seen in you. it is equal parts acceptance and desperation that drives him to you, to the one Your faithful traveler has placed his belief in, to feel Your embrace again, even if it can never be the same as it once was. he survived thousands of years without Your grace, to fold for it now that he knows what Your benevolence feels like is nothing short of shameful. the thought gnaws at him all the while until it has consumed him whole. in the end, he has not grown at all; still that little wind spirit desperate to not lose another he holds close. somehow, when you hold him, he can't seem to mind.

while the two of them have never discussed the matter of You explicitly, aether is perceptive enough to realise zhongli is one of the most reverent of the whole… of any of Your vessels. you called them cast without thinking the other day, whatever that meant. of Your cast. so he goes to him next, telling him that You've made Your way to this world permanently, that he's found You. his first instinct is anger, anger at your lying, anger that aether, who You have blessed with Your presence more than anyone else, who You picked as Your primary vessel, would fall for such mockery. aether was astute to not bring you along when he announced this, or perhaps you knew and chose not to yourself. it matters not. he knows he has proven himself to You, that the real You would never hesitate to reveal Yourself to him. instead of expression his righteous fury, he does his utmost to reign it in. if anything, this works in his favour. he almost feels sorry for aether, wrapped so tightly around the pinkie of a fraud.

upon meeting you properly, he realises perhaps he misunderstood the situation a little. zhongli isn't a fool (when he's not blinded by momentary rage, at least), he can see how uncomfortable you are with the whole situation. while you are not blameless for continuing this facade, aether has deluded himself and cast You aside entirely on his own—and when You finally grace them with Your real presence, zhongli is certain aether will be the first to fall from Your grace. that drunkard too, falling into temptation out of loneliness like that, will get what's coming to him.

until then, all he needs to do is keep his distance and stay as he is, as Your most loyal and dedicated devotee. until then, all he needs to do is send the two of you off. there is no need for him to get violent, not when Your punishment will hurt aether all the more. he thought he was long past such childish emotions, but he supposes that even now You breathe new vigor into him.

you shy either away from visiting inazuma entirely. seeing how the previous archons have reacted to you, you have little doubt that the raiden shogun would be the first to get violent. it's a dilemma you would rather avoid altogether, if possible. just in case. maybe your worry is misplaced, but… aether, of course, can never deny You, and the raiden shogun, of course, would meet your expectations without a proper thought.

the puppet has learned since, but much of the framework of logic she used to enact the vision hunt decree and rule over inazuma in the past several hundred years remains and is hard to completely make away with in such a short amount of time. imposing ei's will on a whole nation is wrong, but arresting and doing away with someone making a ridicule of You is a completely different thing. ei remains a little more hesitant, but even she cannot bring herself to completely disagree. You are the pinnacle of eternity, of control, of life—for some mere human to be impersonating You is unacceptable. hearing the traveler, Your closest companion, has put his trust in you would give her a bit of pause. he was right last time, so maybe this time as well… but then it was You who was right through him, not him in and of himself.

ultimately, your instincts would have turned out to be correct, and she buries herself in her plane once again, leaving the shogun to continue cleaning up inazuma. on her own, she imagines herself meeting You—the true You—and what it would be like to welcome you to her nation in earnest. she wonders if You would be proud of her.

nahida knows You immediately. she is the archon of wisdom, and weak as she may be, that title is not for nothing. your presence feels a bit differently from how it did when there was much more distance between You and her, but it pushes and pulls in a similar way. she doesn't feel she needs to, but should it come to it, she could always take a quick peek at your thoughts… and she would just get confirmation that she was right from the start. now that she's free—largely by virtue of You and the traveler—her word has much more weight than before. sumeru will always welcome You with open arms. if you prefer to live more privately, she understands that. but know that you can always come to her. for anything. she really, really means it.

it's only a small, selfish part of her, and she doesn't like thinking this way or how the other archons, the ones who should recognise You right away, are treating you, but a tiny part of her deep down finds herself feeling almost proud that she's the only one to recognise your grace. whenever you're around, she finds herself spending all of her free time with you. she wants to hear everything—your thoughts, your opinions, which weather or meal or nation you like better, your experiences, your home world, what it was like handling your vessels, everything and anything you deem fit to share with her. from how you indulge her, she's glad she also seems to bring you a similar comfort to the one You give her.

she wonders if Your embrace feels similar to when she possesses others' bodies. the warmth and absolute serenity that overtakes all of her senses when You control her can't compare to anything else. it's nice to be in at the helm of herself too, of course, especially with her newfound autonomy. but if You were to offer her that comfort permanently, she wouldn't be able to turn down Your offer.

when furina looks at you, she sees a reflection of herself. she might not recognise You, but she cannot bring herself to disdain someone in such a similar position to herself. she cannot imagine that You, kind and benevolent and goodhearted as You are, would want her to be cruel to you. whether that is her genuine belief or an attempt to redeem herself to You, after deceiving not only Your vessel but also You directly, does it matter?

Your presence has been a fairly recent entrance in her life, but she has been hearing about You for hundreds of years. she cannot remember a single conversation she ever had with her mirror self that did not feature You as a point of dialogue, of ambition. with only her and You to cling onto for hope for five hundred years, the only natural outcome was to develop such a strong faith and dependence on You. perhaps not as fervent as some of the other… archons, but not something that should be underestimated. Your presence in fontaine, even if through the traveler, had given her renewed hope at the time. as soon as she saw him for the first time, she knew.

your presence is… completely different. there's hints of You—likely residue You've left in the traveler—but not much else. she cannot believe in false idols, she tells the two of you, but she will see about providing some lodging for you. even if the traveler—even if aether is wrong about this, his service to fontaine deserves some merit, so she's sure this can be overlooked. it's what You would want, she hopes to herself. and if she finds herself seeking you out more and more, what difference does it make? when you smile so sweetly at her and praise her for holding on for so long, that you're proud of her, her resolve cracks.

neuvillette has always known of You. it is only when the traveler shows up in fontaine with Your presence in tow that he understands with certainty that You do exist, that he truly understands how wonderful Your warmth feels even at a distance and in these circumstances. You take Your leave for a while, and he thinks he is alright with that. even just knowing Your comfort so intimately (because this is already so much more than most are permitted), however brief, is enough for him. perhaps his returned authority also has an impact, but he is certain it would not have felt this invigorating without Your help.

and then You return, and he finds himself actually understanding what it means to be embraced. no sooner is he experiencing what it feels like to be whole for the first time before he finds himself in sumeru's desert, where he remains stranded for a week. Your presence fades until his punishment—for what, he remains uncertain—is complete, but Your hold on him does not, and something keeps him in place there the entire time. You do not use him much after that. he cannot deny Your judgement, even if he does not quite understand.

he learns of your arrival in teyvat through chance, by way of some opera gossip which happens to mention that furina has found herself a close friend. when he catches a glimpse of you… he cannot say he feels Your presence. none of you breathe a word about the subject to him, and it is only much later he learns of what you're hiding. if Your every loyal furina and Your first and most important vessel recognised You when he did not even so much as suspect it, where does that leave him?

of course childe would recognise You. that piece of the abyss that clawed its way into him so deeply it will never separate from him again would recognise You anywhere, even should ajax not. long before your current descent, he recognised Your strings of control much earlier than most of Your other vessels did. while he's never really given much thought to whether others have recognised You as well, he noticed the way Your presence lingered on aether in particular right away.

it's part of what drew him to the traveler in the first place—what's so special about him? why not childe? why did this outlander get to be Your vessel and he didn't? has he not proven himself enough for You? his mission aside, he felt a more personal disdain at the traveler. after he embarrassed himself in front of You and the truth came to light, he tries his hardest to redeem himself to the traveler. to You. so, naturally, when Your favourite little traveler comes to him with You in tow, he recognises You right away, as he always has. he's a little bitter, if anything—why did it take aether so long to come to him? does he not trust him? is he controlling You and Your actions? or—and he tries not to think about this too hard—is it You who doesn't trust him?

it doesn't matter. You're here now, and he's here for You now, and he'll do everything in his power to help You. You won't have to be alone any more, he promises, You won't have to hurt any more. nobody will harm You, ever again, not when he's here now. (he ignores how aether has easily stopped any harm from coming Your way so far without his help.)

it is you who thinks to approach albedo. the link is weak, but as soon as aether shows up at his makeshift lab in dragonspine with You in tow, he knows. it's as if he has no other option than to recognise You, however faint Your aura has become, as if there was never another possibility. it makes sense—after all, he was made for You. so were all the others, in a way, as was the whole world of teyvat, but not in the same way his master crafted him for You. to appeal to You. to be used by You. to find out the truth about You, though it's possible she just left him with that mission (to find out the truth about "the world"—You are the world) to keep him busy after she threw him away when he did not yield the results she was searching for. it doesn't matter. he's found You now, and he can't let you slip away. especially not to Your other, faulty vessels, those who couldn't recognise You at first glance.

thankfully, you seem fond of the area of the mountain and don't mind staying. you even take interest in his work, though you seem to not enjoy the constant sketches and pieces of art he produces of You for you as much. it's not the same as when You fill every molecule in his body and bend it to Your whim, but this is also nice.

one day you ask him about alice; she's been to different worlds, so you wonder if he could ask her about her methods. you seem hesitant, and you waited specifically until aether had left to collect some food for the next couple of days. it's a logical choice, Your favourite vessel would not take Your request well. albedo can't find it in himself to either. even if it's you asking, he cannot just let You leave, not after all this time. he promises you he will ask, but is honest when he tells you alice might take a long, long time to pass by mondstadt again, so… in the meantime, let him know if there's anything he could do to make Your stay here in teyvat more comfortable. anything at all. You're going to be here for some time, after all.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

I think Hobie brown is the one character I've seen written completely out of character the most

Like, he would NOT say that

He definitely is. I see people write Miles and Gwen as spot on (pun unintended). Miguel and Pavitr are usually butchered for linguistics reasons

But with Hobie, him being a punk - one from a very specific time - adds a whole new layer of difficultly and honestly. At this point, I can't even blame people.

I think Hobie's mischaracterization is caused by two primary things, one purposeful, and one not. Please allow me to rant.

Hobie Brown, Mischaracterization, and the Sanitization of Punk Culture

I think Hobie's characterization is the perfect example of the way media purposely deminished and trivialized the punk identity in order to erase it's political connotations.

In other words, people misunderstanding Hobie shows how the media warped and censored the definition of 'punk' in the last 50 years.

And that's on purpose.

Let's take the hippies for an example. When you think of them, what beliefs comes to mind?

Peacefulness, usually. Pot smoking. Music loving. And Anti-war. They love peace. The phrase 'Make Love, Not War' make come to mind.

But it's easier for the media to historically display hippies as people who were opposed to war - rather than people who were openly oppossed to the Vietnamese War.

As in, they weren't just opposed to war - which they were. They were also specifically opposed to the United States government crossing borders in order to push a capitalist agenda in Vietnam.

It's easy to say hippes loved communes - then to say 'Hippies were Communist'. With a couple words switched around - sanitization.

Punk is just like that.

It's easier to focus on the response rather than the source. It's easier to look at Hobie singing than to consider what he'd be singing about in those songs.

I feel like in the past 50 years the media has purposely centered the outrage of punk around music - as a targeted distraction, and a method of silencing. This goes from the outward hatred of Sex Pistols - to a President's wife literally taking a metal band to court in order to get the 'Explicit Content label' instated for the first time.(crazyyyy long story- crazy interesting. Google 'Mary Gore vs Twister Sister' - the videos of the band in court is hilarious)

But anyway the outrage of punk music in specific and the silencing of the message behind it kinda changed the way people viewed punks.

Media very much wanted to make punk something about senseless rebellion towards everything, the same way they tried to turn anarchy into 'unending chaos that never stops', when neither of those things are true.

Basically saying 'Oh, those people over there? They aren't angry oppressed people screaming and forming a community based around resilience, those are teeennagerrs. theyre just screaming cause theyre mad at their dads or something PLEASE dont look at them PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT CHECK IF WE'RE TELLING THE TRUTH'

And so people are presented with someone like Hobie, they see the loud music, but not picking up what he's saying if you get my drift.

And the other thing I'll try to keep short.

It's not purposeful, but I think it matters.

The Internet - Subculture vs Aesthetic

I don't think this is something that's been talked about yet.

But I feel like a lot of people misunderstand what a subculture is. So when they see Hobie, they see fashion, and music taste, and attitude. They instead perceive him as an aesthetic. Not someone who participates in subculture.

Subculture is a way of life. It encompasses not only your fashion and music tastes, but it can and usually extends to things like your morals, your behaviors, the spaces you exist in, etc.

Goth, Punk, Vegans, hell - even Nudists - are all subcultures. Because they effects the persons lifestyle. Subcultures are lifestyles.

Aesthetics are not.

An aesthetic is a (usually) visual ambience that is meant to evoke a specific emotion.

Aesthetics can extend to fashion, decor, and music taste - but not your morality or behavior.

E-girls, Emos, Hipsters, what have you - all aesthetics as they do not encompass morals, or behaviors.

And because of that - there are things that do or don't make you a punk. But there aren't really things that do or don't 'make you emo'.

Aesthetics don't have conditions, but subcultures do.

You have to be anti-government to be punk. You don't have to hate your life to be emo.

(Which is why when people bring this up, people are quick to call 'gatekeeping!' Because in the context of aethetics gatekeeping is seen as unneccesary, whereas in subcultures 'gatekeping' is more so protecting the underlying beliefs and motivations of the movement. People who see Hobie as an aesthetic will find these conditions odd because they're not seeing his punkness as a subculture.)

Today on the internet, it's a lot more common and easy to engage in an aesthetic. It's not uncommon for someone to purposefully pick an aesthetic - and go all out - simply because they like it. It's great. I engage with an aesthetic all the time.

But because of that, when people see Hobie it's easy to immediately be like 'oh okay hes doing it out of fashion hes doing it because he vibes with it cool.'

They look at Hobie the way they would look at an eboy (do those still exist).

______________________________________________

Sooo mixing the censored image of a punk along with the modern-day instinct to perceive something as an aesthetic rather than a way of life kinda causes.....this.

A Hobie tag were a lot of people completely misunderstand who he is as a person and his motivations as a superhero outside of 'I hate the establishment'.

Plus add in a dash of people just being totally blank on 70's politics. The Vietnam War, Margaret Thatcher coming to power, the IRA, etc. - all of those things I think tells us a lot about Hobie. I'm currently on a piece about that and an explainer of most of those events. Or if you want a brief rundown please feel free to ask, I'll do my best.

If you wanna know Hobie more - don't listen to punk music. Go read the lyrics, if you get what I mean. They truly do have something to say.

Hope this made some sense, thanks for reading if you made it this far :) also no proofread we die like kings but ill most likely do it later and delete this note.

[amethyinst]

I've been getting worse and worse youtube recommendations so I was wondering about what kind of videos do you enjoy and like to watch! I miss watching content that is actually informative and interesting :(

oo ok here's a list:

if you like longform content: fd signifier, folding ideas and jenny nicholson are the only three 'video essayists' i still watch, video essayists in general are kind of intolerable to me LOL 90% of them have nothing to say and theyre also very unfunny (or whatevernot my style of humour). but jenny does interesting topics with unique insight and fd and dan olson have great social insight.

all of fd signifier's videos are great but i'd recommend his kanye (pt 1, pt 2, epilogue), nicki minaj, drake or kendrick vs drake videos as a starting point, or his videos on black conservatism (pt 1, pt 2) the obamas (pt 1, pt 2) and the manosphere (pt 1, pt 2, pt 3). folding ideas' videos on NFTs, the Metaverse, and the Gamestop short squeeze, are an excellent pseudo-trilogy that, despite the jargon often rife in the crypto/stock space, are made easily understandable to the audience. recommending jenny nicholson on tumblr feels redunant but the bronycon video is particularly great.

if you like jenny nicholson's theme park content defunctland is fun. love his recent documentaries on fastpass and disney animatronics are great. huge backlog of videos to watch from him

oh also climate town if youre interested in climate change and the weird little ways tha corporations rule our daily life, and also notjustbikes for weirdly fun and interesting and existential videos on moving away from cars and urban planning and car-dependance. idk where to put him but jay foreman makes great videos on weird stuff about london, england and maps. idk how to recommend him well but he's super fun.

for science (some also long form): angela collier makes videos about physics and the state of physics academia, and bobbybroccoli makes excellent documentaries about science and science-related frauds. nilered is sort of a mad scientist and does great chemistry content. speed up his videos though and you gotta get used to his speaking cadence lol.

for history: historytime makes great history videos, long and about stuff like the bronze age. histocrat does as well, i particularly like his video on the voynich manuscript. im careful about history youtubers cos theyre often stupid and fash but these two are great. stefan milo is great for neolithic and paleolithic content, he's wonderful at making this ancient history feel human and real.

tasting history with max miller makes great videos on cooking historical recipes and talking about the history behind it. nuanced and super fun!

im not into gaming but ahoy makes great gaming related content mostly about the history of gaming and retro games, i rewatch his video on the polybius arcade game myth all the time. and jacob geller makes great video game video essays that make me, a person who does not play video games, interested.

fredik knudsen has a great 6hour behemuth on eveonline and his other content has gaming stuff and a lot of internet rabbitholes. warning his stuff also includes like, lolcow sort of content. not specifically doing lolcow farms stuff but he does talk about it.

if you're into mysteries/internet rabbitholes/crime: lemmino is a pioneer in the genre basically everyone is aping his style, barelysociable is the best of the lemmino disciples and his video on the silk road drug market is great, vuldar is another "lemmino clone but he's good"if you like lemmino" sort of guy, same with abstract, blameitonjorge does lost media stuff. oki's weird stories makes well videos on weird little stories like jacob wohl (pt 1, pt 2)

missingenigma does missing 411 cases and presents them in a MUCH better light than the rest of youtube, basically discusses strange missing persons cases that are in fact perhaps not so strange. insomnia tv does icebergs on cryptids, history mysteries, true crime etc. hes a small youtuber and i dont always agree with his ideas on like bigfoot or whatever but he's super fun i love his southern accent he's great to put on while im cooking and cleaning

if you like animals: antscanada makes these dramatic videos about his huge terrarium super funny and fun to watch theres like three seasons of it, robert e fuller makes great videos on native british wildlife like documenting the parenting habits of owls, octopus lady does fun ocean content

if you're interested in other cultures: blondie in china makes videos about her life living in china, little china everyday also does china content, africaeveryday makes fun videos about his daily life in nigeria in the style of atomicshrimp who i also recommend if you're interested in the daily adventures of a british man. kiun b makes videos about living in yakutia in siberia, tatiana haina is super underrated and makes great videos about living in ghana

foodieland makes videos about korean food like restaurants and stuff, no talking just documenting

if you like reels/shortform content: uyen ninh is this vietnamese woman living in germany and makes great reels and also videos about her culture and about germany. eoin reardon is an irish carpenter, meditations on the anxious mind is another irish guy who makes hilarious little videos about subcultures with added philosphy, gunnar deatherage is a fashion designer who has done some looks for chappell roan

There's so many more i watch that are great but this already took me like an hour to compile so ill end it here, but you can ask me for more specific recs and i can give them ^_^ kisses

[the-moon-files]

YESSSSS I BEG GET INTO THE CULTURAL DIDFERENCES BETWEEN HYLIANS AND HUMANS 🙏🙏

...now ur just sweet talking me 🥰 /lh

Not years, well maybe 1 year-

but i have wanted to ramble desperately to smone, even the tumblr void if i had to, abt humans vs. hylians so much, esp with a guide reader or male reader bc whatdya know im into niche stuff that only u and like 2 other ppl like lmao ¯\(ツ)/¯

Anyway im so shocked, since ur like the third person to be interested in this and wanna hear abt it 🥺 🤲💌 here u go!! Hope u like it <333 👉👈

Sun: Masc!Reader (he/him)

Orbit: Humans are Not Hylians/Humans are Space Orcs AU, Headcanons-ish, long overall but each section is kinda short

Stars: Mostly worldbuilding! you've been warned, don't get mad me for not talking abt the boys too much✌️

Comets & Meteors: Content Warnings: mild cursing, mentions of private area/joke in the clothing headcanons, & Trigger Warnings: none known.

Please comment if I missed any. /gen

☆

just some quick headcanons bc tbh i haven't given it too much thought, and i feel like I've been able to somewhat get into it in other posts? or maybe im thinking of stuff i have in my drafts idk-

Imma make another list, so buckle up for the short ride lol

Courting periods/dating/marriage

individual/small groups society-based hylians v. large personal groups/large community society-based humans

simpler foods hylians v. complex food humans

clothing modesty/style/relationships with fashion

fighting styles/strategies

entertainment complexity/differences

and language

☆

1st one, not much yet, im also making a separate post bc someone else asked me to talk abt that more 🥺

(tysm for all the enthusiastic asks guys <33)

anyway, basically hylian courting is a lot shorter, think “lesbians with the uhaul” type of energy, like sort of the classical medieval “does thee wish to pursue marriage with this one?” ← how hylians ask u out for the first time lmao

if it helps, they do tend to get to know one another well, talking about morals/kids/life goals/preferred lifestyle/house/etc. pretty clearly and quickly, then using the in between time to sort of stew on that information

id say the total time is sort of something like 6 months? maybe 3/4 if they're really compatible

(so bc i love interpreting video game logic for real world building, I actually blame this on how fast Zelda/link get together in games despite having sometimes never met before that moment lol)

like i said, ill be posting about this later

2nd one!!

pretty basic, just saying we don't really see hylians in big groups, despite the organizations they form, like kingdoms/knights or on a more personal level, towns/families/etc.

(once again, in-game appearances/video game logic translated to real life to draw these conclusions)

like not only are family units pretty small, like nuclear family setup, with like 2 parents and 2 kids, or single parent 1 kid type of situation, but the towns or collections of these families arent very big either

hylians kind of use their government the way it was intended lmao?

like the villages and towns matter more for everyday decisions than the kingdom/royalty, like Zelda would esstientally just be the mayor of Castle Town for those constant decisions,

while occasionally is called on to make decisions like for several towns or like is a natural disaster happens

meanwhile humans are, in comparison, in Way Bigger groups, both on an organization scale, and a personal scale

like u have all these specific branches of government, whereas im sure the population difference doesn't help,

and on a personal level, humans can easily have like multiple parents, lots of siblings, and once u combine that with each parent having family too, and those families like to meet up? All together??

yeah, itd look insane to any hylians (who’s smaller extended family may just make up their own village and that's it)

3. I've touched on this

like the use of spices, syrups, seasonings, etc

but also the complexity of dishes too, like chilling cream and mixing it for awhile to make ice cream, or even just getting ordering a pizza,

that's a lot of processing, like making the dough from flour and other ingredients, to letting it rise, to making the tomato paste, making cheese, then combining those things with any other toppings, all into one dish??

i like to think that hylians have only just started to touch on actual complicated cooking processes (as in BOTW, where they sell flour and salt, so people besides Link/Wild must know what to do with it)

this has the advantage of impressing any hylian with what a “creative genius” you are lol

4. look im just a fan of medieval time periods Links

so i think its funny if the hylians are used to like 4/3 layers and ur over here like, “wym, if i take off my shirt there's nothing underneath?”

one of them gets bold enough to ask, “d-do you not. do you not have undergarments??”

you “just my boxers? like just to cover my di-”

also this makes its easy to seduce people here? LMAO

clothes are def higher quality, after all there's not as many artificial processes or materials interfering,

plus u usually get some sick embroidery on it too!!

5. so like i get it, Link is the main fighter in games

but like, the few times there is a war/army in loz games, there's rlly not a lot of strategy, beyond just finding the enemy and fighting

tho im partial to that hylians/most inhabitants of Hyrule abide by the “lets meet up either literally by inviting each other or just between our territories to fight”

with occasional guerilla warfare (by any means necessary/stealth/ambush attacks/strategy) that's only rlly used either by Demise/Ganon, or by the wilder individuals/races in games

or maybe even the more civilized fighters in an emergency

and so that means by this logic that all of the Chain use kind of wild techniques compared to their race/kingdom lmao

id imagine its not too surprising to also see “every fight is a bar fight if its for my life” from individual travelers, so im sure they're not viewed too crazy (esp when ppl know their the hero that constantly has to deal with guerilla warfare from Ganon)

but its be hilarious to watch the reactions of both the Links realizing they’re in a bigger group that should be using “proper” fighting strategies and seeing the general publics reaction to this absolutely feral, armed to the teeth, trained hylians with their equally wild human lol

LMAO everyone thinks ur the reason they started using the more brutal fighting methods bc ur human, ur a bad influence lol

(humans would use it primarily, esp after we converted to use that method in warfare a couple hundred years ago i think?)

changing course a bit, hylians tend to use weapons (to compensate for difference in strength compared to humans, and since they don't experience/get a lesser version of adrenaline)

while humans tend to equally rely on weapons and our body as a weapon (marital arts/basic self-defense)

6. this is mostly bc the hylians only rlly seem to have the basics of music, books/stories, theater, and art

i have, surprise surprise, another post abt how i think this came to be,

mostly based on how human curiosity is indomitable and insatiable and the endless force that has not yet met its immovable object.

or at least an immovable object they haven't at least poked a little, out of curiosity lol

like we went to space for that reason, we reach the most dangerous corners of our planet (deep underwater/volcanoes) out of sheer curiousity/for the sake of simple knowledge of the thing

so needless to say, curiosity can absolutely drive any field to its limits, including the arts, which is why we can have stained glass, or movies/tv shows, hell, the marvel that is Hatsune Miku lmao

(fully for entertainment, a projection of light and sound, what is essentially magical illusions but u did it hte hard way, to the hylians)

on a different entertainment related note, i don't know if the hylians would be super into sports, or not really at all? mostly bc they have to use their fighting/training against real threats, not the sort of “fake” threats that sports are

but on the other hand i could see people like knights wanting to use their abilities for something other than violence and fighting bc their life or their villages lives depended on it

bet the Links would enjoy it for those reasons especially, what with at least sumo wrestling being a sport or activity for them at some point in history, and practically beg u for any new games to play, or to ref their games, bc whewwww

im sure they could get pretty competitive lol

7. obviously, their mostly influenced by the Japanese language

id almost like to imagine a sort of, if not outright Japanese (like with earlier heroes like Sky) then a sort of English-Japanese hybrid further along the line

sort of like how English has German/Greek/Latin roots and therefore u can see what words or structure comes from where, or even how u can understand a fair amount of basic words when other languages share the same roots (english, pants = spanish, pantalones)

would make for some funny miscommunications

or even better, most hylians liking ur unique accent or the Links love to hear u talk bc of it lol

☆

well the fever has broken, i am now free of the sickness that made me hack this up geez

i hope u got some enjoyment out of these my beloved anon!! esp since u were so nice as to ask abt it <33

hope u guys have a great weekend, look out for some more posts, bc its been great to get some more asks in lately and very motivating,

not to mention i actually have time to write now that my siblings graduated/we’ve moved several states over 💀

so i have reliable internet now too! sheesh :’)

Peace out,

🌙

[thechaoticdruid]

[The Spawn Vs The Ascendant] (2)

Astarion(s) x Tav

Plot: Tav has been kidnapped by The Vampire Ascendant. The Spawn rushes back to regroup with the rest of their band of weirdos in order to plan a rescue!

Content Warning: 18+, Ascended Astarion, sexual content, toxic relationships, violence, blood, physical abuse, death, AA is a bit of a yandere, but I mean you probably already knew that, characters may be ooc, grammar/spelling mistakes are possible, threats of harm, 2 Tavs, Male and female.

Part 1: Right here

Part 2: We're here

Part 3: This waaay!

[Savegame 2: About a month after the defeat of the Elderbrain.]

Tav walked into the brothel, hugging himself with his arms as his ruby colored eyes flicked back and forth around the room nervously. The robe he wore while indeed quite useful revealed far too much of his thighs for the young man’s liking. 

“Something troubling you, little love?” His partner smiled, looping his arm around the shorter male’s waist.  

“I’m fine…I just….feel a bit exposed…” Tav shivered a bit. Though it was his own idea to put on this accursed robe to delight his partner for their night out he was now realizing he maybe had been in over his head. 

“Don’t you worry, my treasure. If anyone lays a hand on you without my permission I'll rip out their throat.” Astarion tugged the spawn against his form before planting a slightly aggressive kiss upon Tav’s cheek. Tav gave a small smile and leaned into Astarion's embrace before the two of them headed upstairs. 

“Well aren't you a beautiful little lady.~” A tall and  slightly drunk sounding half-orc stumbled across the room as he looked Tav over with a lustful gaze.

“LADY!?” All of Tav's bashfulness faded away as his expression turned to anger. His fangs were bared and his fists were clenched.  “I'm a boy- er..man! I'm a man!” Tav huffed out with a wolf-like growl.

The half-orc blinked a bit, looking Tav over. Tav's androgynous looking appearance was confusing the brothel goer.  His soft facial features and long eyelashes did make him look rather feminine. That along with his short stature and current attire definitely did not help.  

“But you're so pretty," the half-orc said, his words slurring as he took a step closer towards the short vampire spawn. "You look like a woman to me.”

Astarion watched as his little spawn shook with rage. 

“Oh dear.” He sighed, looking down at his nails for a moment as his pet proceeded to stomp towards the much larger male. Astarion's little love did have quite the vicious temper at times. 

 He raised one clawed finger after another counting.

One. Two. Three. 

The sound of a scuffle could be heard, followed by crashing and wolf growls all the while the vampire lord started looking over his nails. A slightly off key hum leaving his lips as a few screams from the half-orc were heard. 

After a few moments there was a thudd before Tav walked back over towards his lover. 

“Sorry, I may have got a little distracted.” Tav rubbed the back of his head. An unconscious and severely bruised body laid behind him. 

“I'm a little disappointed you left him alive, but I am eager to get on with tonight's main event so let's not waste anymore time.” Astarion held out his hand allowing his lover to take it before the two of them continued up another set of stairs. Tav's little scene had caused a few heads to turn though no one dared to get involved.  

They entered a dark room on the top floor. The sweet scent of lavender hit Tav's senses as he and Astarion entered the room.

“Back again already?” A seductive voice rang out. 

A female drow stepped out and wrapped her arms around Tav just as a second male drow moved in and did the same to Astarion. “Did you miss us that badly?” The male purred. Tav's shivered a bit before he looked down at his feet. 

“How could we not? The service last time was….mouthwatering.~” Astarion turned to face the drow behind him, “wasn't it my treasure?” 

“Ah….y-yes….it was really nice..” Tav stuttered, if he could still blush his face would be on fire right now. He bit his lip, his left fang drawing blood.

“Perhaps we should continue on from last time then?” The female drow said, lips dangerously close to Tav's ear. 

~~~

Nearly thirty minutes had passed. Lustful cries and groans echoed throughout the room. Once everyone was spent, Tav found himself snuggled up in his master's lap, his head pressed against his chest as he listened to Astarion's heartbeat. 

It was strange to think that not too long ago these roles had been reversed. The sound was comforting even if the person it came from became less and less so these days. 

“Pet.” Astarion spoke quietly as he noticed the two courtesans had drifted off into a slumber. 

“Yes?” Tav glanced upwards.  

“You haven't fed in three days.” 

“I'm not hungry…” Tav lied, he could feel the gaping maw deep inside him crying out as they spoke, but he did his damndest to ignore it. He'd only ever really allowed himself to feed from Astarion since his turning, which did not happen often. ‘Too much may drive you mad.’ 

His master would say. Perhaps that was possible, but he knew it was more likely that Astarion didn't want to risk giving him his freedom back.  

“What have I said about lying to me?” Astarion gripped his spawn’s face, pinching Tav's cheeks between two fingers and making him return his gaze.

“I'm sorry.” Tav replied.

Astarion thought for a moment before glancing over at the sleeping bodies besides. Tav's eyes widened in surprise. “No, Astarion, please don't make me-” 

“Feed,” was all his master said, glowing red eyes bore into his soul before his body began to react on its own. He moved over to the male drow slowly, his teeth grit together and deep inside feelings of utter disgust and pure delight waged war against one another.  Shakily Tav placed a clawed hand over the male and turned him so that his neck was exposed.  His eyes grew wide at the sight of the grey skinned male’s jugular, his tongue instinctively flicked over his fangs. 

Finally he bit down, sinking his fangs into the mortal’s flesh. Warm blood dripped onto his tongue, sending a feeling of euphoria coursing through his body.  Tav moaned barely even noticing his master petting his head before Astarion sank his own fangs into the female drow, not wasting a second to begin feasting upon her life force.  It only took a few moments before both courtesans were sucked dry. Tav breathed out heavily, blood dripped down his chin, his hands shook as he looked down at the lifeless body in front of him. They didn't need to die. They had never done anything wrong to him. This was sickening.

“That's a good boy.” Astarion's voice rang out, breaking Tav from his trance. “Now come here.~”

The Vampire Lord pulled his spawn back into his lap, possessively draping his arms around him before locking their lips. Tav hesitantly returns the kiss allowing his master's tongue inside to claim and dominate his mouth. “Mmm…” Tav moaned, feeling Astarion pull him flush against his bare body, leaving no space between them as blood and saliva mixed. The spawn wrapped his arms around his master's neck feeling Astarion's nails dig into his back slightly. The vampire lord pulled back a bit, taking in a breath of air before forcing his tongue back into Tav's mouth, his hands gripping his ass as he began to grind against him.

Feelings of guilt and shame were forgotten for now as Tav allowed himself to become lost in his master. 

~•~•~•~•~•~•~

[Savegame 1: Act 3, lower city.]

The silver haired vampire spawn jerked out of the way as his companion’s undead counterpart lunged at him quickly with her spear.  Halsin dropped to all fours, quickly wild-shaping into a bear with glowing red eyes. 

“Shit.” The high elf cursed. His arm was still bleeding badly so using his bow likely wouldn't do him any favors. He needed to get away and find his companions.  Quickly he reached into his pack and tossed out a vial of acid onto the ground in front of the spawn versions of his friends before he turned and made a dash for it. 

He needed to get back to the others, have Shadowheart heal his arm and then force Gale to come up with a plan on how to rescue Tav.  Astarion didn't want to think about what his counterpart might do to her. It still made him sick thinking about what that other version of himself had become. Treating Tav like she was just some object he could take!  And what had happened to the others. Turning them into tools to be used it all hit far too close to home for him.  It reminded him too much of Cazador…

Astarion wasn't really sure when he stepped through the Elfsong’s doors, or if he had been able to successfully shake off the other spawn.

Everything had just kind of faded away for a while, leaving only his fears of what could possibly happen to Tav. He knew she was strong, but this was different. She'd be up against a foe with the power of seven thousand souls, all on her own.  

“Astarion? Hells, what happened to you!?” Wyll’s voice brought him back to reality as he stumbled into the room where the others had been. Most of them were relaxing or fast asleep.

 The blood from his wound dripped down onto the floor, building into a small puddle at his feet.

“Tav's gone!” Was all he needed to say to get everyone’s attention. Shadowheart swiftly healed his wound as Astarion began to catch everyone up on the current situation. He attempted to explain what had transpired to the best of his abilities, making sure not to leave out any important details.

“So you're saying Tav has been kidnapped by an another version of yourself from an alternate reality, who apparently went through the rite of profane ascension. Fascinating, but if what you say is true he must have immeasurable power. The ability to traverse time and space itself is no small feat.” Gale exclaimed, his face full of intrigue. “This is truly astonishing.”

Astarion glared at him slightly, a little annoyed the wizard seemed more concerned with how his counterpart got here than the fact that he fucking kidnapped Tav!

“Need I remind you that our leader has been taken!?” The vampire growled. 

“How am I not surprised there's an evil version of you who turned us all into slaves.” Shadowheart sighed and crossed her arms. 

“I think you mean eviler version.” Gale added.

“Arghh! Why are we sitting around talking!? We need to get out of here and go save Tav, damnit!!” Karlach shouted. 

“Patience Karlach. We need to think of a plan first.” Wyll stepped in as he noticed the Tiefling was starting to heat up, steam coming off her body.

“If I remember my studies, true vampires can become alarmingly possessive of their paramours. He’ll likely be prepared to slaughter us all in order to keep Tav. That being said, it's also very likely he won't harm her.” Gale said, glancing over at Astarion who bore a very grim expression.

“You don't know that.” The silver haired elf replied with a fearful look in his eyes. An intense worry was practically eating him alive from the inside. It's like fear was gnawing and tearing at his innards.

“We will get her back, Astarion. I promise you.” Karlach said in an attempt to comfort him.

“Worry not my fanged friend. If we're lucky Tav will likely have rescued herself by the time we find her. She's very resourceful.” Wyll said, placing his hand on the elf's shoulder.

“Yes, our Tav does have a way of giving arrogant foes a run for their money. Still it would be best that we're there to back her up and to do that we need to find her.” Gale thought for a moment before looking back at the vampire spawn.

“Astarion, it's your counterpart we'll be looking for. Think carefully, where would you have taken Tav?”

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

[Savegame 1: Act 3, Crimson Palace]

The Vampire Ascendant looked down at the human female as she twiddled her finger and stared at her hands. He was looking at her with what she could assume was admiration? Lust? Hunger? Hard to tell honestly. This ‘living vampire’ somehow seemed even less alive than her undead partner. 

“So uh…. What the hells is up with the collar? This some kind of kink?” Tav asked, tugging on the neck piece around her throat.

“How naughty,” Astarion chuckled. “No, my dear, this is simply a precaution. To keep you from hurting yourself.” A far too perfect smile spread across the Ascendant's face as he reached out to caress Tav's cheek with a clawed finger. She shivered though she wasn't sure if it was in disgust or not. 

“More like keep me from hurting you…” Tav growled under her breath. 

“Careful love,” Astarion gripped her chin and made her look up at him,”while I may adore you, I certainly have no qualms with punishing my precious pet.” Tav opened her mouth for a moment before soon closing it. He had this look in his eyes that frightened her. With this damn silencing collar she had barely any way of defending herself. So for now she had to be careful.

Satisfied with her submission the vampire lord placed a rough kiss on her forehead. 

“Good girl.You'll come to love your place at my side in time, I'm sure.” Astarion ruffled her hair, petting her head as if she were a dog. 

“Are you going to make me a spawn then?” Tav asked, glaring up at his hand as she contemplated biting off his fingers.

“In time…We are going to do things a little differently than before. For now I still have a few obstacles to handle. Disposing of any rivals and taking care of that pesky brain.” Astarion said, continuing to pet her head.  

“Wait a minute. You're not going to take me back to your own timeline?” Tav asked in confusion. Astarion’s hand retreated from her hair, his face hardened a bit.

“There's nothing else left for us there now. Trust me.” He turned away before suddenly looking up and noticing a figure walk inside. Tav’s eyes quickly scanned the person recognizing them as her wizard companion Gale, but like Lae'zel his eyes were a bright glowing red. 

Gods. Has he turned all of them?

Tav thought to herself, clenching her fists. It was hard to believe in another time, another life he'd done this. Enslaving the very people who helped him achieve his freedom. She wondered exactly what happened to her own counterpart. From how Astarion spoke about him it was quite clear to her that he was no longer alive.  Possibly killed judging from how the vampire lord had mentioned that he was taken from him.

“My lord, Halsin and Shadowheart have returned. The sunrise drove them back to the palace.” Gale announced, quickly walking over and kneeling before the Ascendant.

“And what about my spawn self?” 

“He escaped.” As Gale said that, a heavy weight left Tav’s chest. Her lover was alive at least. He'd likely have gone back to the others to plan a rescue. Hopefully they'd be able to find her location.

“Send them in here.” Astarion said coldly.

The room went silent as the wizard walked out. Tav glancing back and forth, her mind telling to run, sprint out of here and grab anything she could use as a weapon, but she knew either Astarion or Lae'zel would corner her in an instant and without her magic, without her blades, without her beastly form she was no match for them. She was helpless and absolutely despised it. Falling into the role of a captured damsel in distress made her blood boil.  

The large doors to the ballroom swung open, Halsin and Shadowheart slowly walked, looking a little singed from the morning sun. 

“Why the hells did you let him escape!?” 

Both of them knelt down before him.

 “Forgive us. We underestimated him, master.” Shadowheart said. 

“You were supposed to finish him off then and there! Now he's likely to bring the others with him.” 

“Let us wait it out until sunset. If you send the four of us next time we can dispatch all of them.”

“They could very well be here before then, you idiot!” Astarion took hold of Shadowheart’s throat, lifting his spawn off the ground and tightening his hand around her neck. Tav's face went pale, a look of utter shock and horror was in her eyes. The fact that this wasn't the same Shadowheart she'd been traveling with didn't even register. All she knew at this moment was that her friend was being choked to death. 

“Shadowheart!”She shouted.

“Master please!” Halsin begged. 

“Honestly I should just throw you both back outside to burn in the sun, but perhaps spending a few weeks impaled may be better motivation not to fail me next time.” Astarion spoke through gritted teeth, his claws now digging into the half-elf’s flesh, drawing blood.

“Astarion stop!” Tav suddenly ran over and grabbed his arm. The vampire lord almost immediately snapped his head around to look at her, brows furrowed and fangs bared. He looked absolutely feral, like he was ready to bite her head off. Literally. But before he had the chance to snarl out a response Tav dropped to her knees, clutching his shirt as she began to beg.

“Please. Don't hurt them. Please! I'll….I'll do whatever you want….” Tears slowly formed in the corners of her eyes as she stared up at him. 

Slowly his eyes softened as he looked back at her. He released the cleric, dropping her to the ground. Shadowheart fell to her knees, hands immediately moving up to sooth her bruised and bleeding throat as she began coughing up a little blood.

Astarion sighed, “looks like I'll have to call some wolves to make up for your failure. In the meantime… Gale! Make sure all the entrances are magically barred. I don't want anyone interrupting me and my pet! We have some catching up to do.” Tav then felt herself be pulled up off the ground, immediately being wrapped up in the Ascendant's embrace.  

~~~

He was rather unpredictable, this Vampire Ascendant. Tav felt as if she was walking on eggshells while she was within his presence.

However on the brightside he seemed carelessly arrogant. He'd summoned some wolves to patrol and guard his palace instead of simply going after the threat himself. Maybe deep down he didn't think he'd be able to defeat them alone? Or maybe he saw them as not worth his time? He’d most likely claim the job was beneath him anyway. Regardless, Tav's escape was still a priority.  She needed to find some way to get this collar or arm herself with a weapon. 

Tav sat beside him on a fine silk sofa. The study was warmed cozily by the flames of a fireplace. There were no windows, but plenty of candles were set to keep the room illuminated. Astarion’s arm was draped around her as his eyes trailed over her face. She couldn't help but squirm and recoil from his touch. This was not her lover, no matter how much he looked, sounded or even behaved like him at times.

“You don't need to be afraid of me, my treasure. I only want to keep you safe.” His tone was soft, gentle even, but Tav knew better. Most of what left his mouth had to be complete and utter horseshit! 

Oh so that's why you kidnapped me, threatened me, and left me completely powerless? Yes! That makes soooo much sense! 

Abigail walked into the room, carrying a large tray in her arms. She set it down on a table in front of them before slowly stepping away and exiting. 

“Here, I made sure to get your favorite.” Astarion ran a hand over her shoulder affectionately as Tav looked over noticing a large bottle of port and and plate of fine cheeses. 

Damnit. He knows my weakness.

Tav stared down at the tray, biting down on her lip as her mouth watered a bit.  Tav grabbed hold of a piece of cheese and slowly nibbled away on it before downing it with some of the port.

Her eyes were still shooting daggers at the vampire. She then sighed before calming down a little.

“What do you plan on doing with me after all this is over, my lord?” She said, taking another swing of port. 

“Hmm…While I do think that you would make a beautiful little spawn I intend to savor this…Warm body for a while yet.” He purred, running a hand over her thigh. Tav shivered, then something caught her eye. On an end table beside the sofa laid a peculiar looking comb. It appeared to be wooden with a rather sharp pointy end.  An idea began to form in her mind, but she needed to be careful and wait for the right moment.

“Why wait on turning me? You have me right here…Right where you want me after all.” Tav took another drink. Perhaps if he were to believe she were a bit more careless due to drink this could work.  

“Lets just say I have my reasons and leave it at that dear.” He said before taking the bottle from her hand and drinking some himself. Tav swung a leg over his lap, trying to appear a bit more relaxed. “You're still going to become my consort however, once we destroy the brain everything will be as it was. We'll be together for good this time. Forever.” Astarion smiled softly before placing a hand on Tav's cheek staring into her eyes longingly.

Star…..Please forgive me….

  Tav leaned in slowly, placing her hands on his chest before closing the gap between him, planting a sweet kiss on his lips. His arms almost immediately wrapped around her caressing her form as his tongue snuck it's way into her mouth.

Tav fell back against the couch, allowing him to pin her down. His knee parted her legs as he slowly began to grind himself into her. 

Tav pulled back a bit for air, immediately seeing the dazed look in his eyes. 

“It's been far too long since I've tasted you.” He panted, a lustful grin on his face. Tav tilted her head baring her neck before him. Astarion didn't even hesitate before biting down into it.

“A-Ah….” Tav gasped, fingers clawing at his clothes as she felt the pain of his bite. She waited till he began to suckle on her neck, allowing him to be intoxicated by her blood before she made her move. Her hand quickly reached out for the wooden comb....

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~~•~•~

Note from ChaoticDruid:  PART TWO LETS GO!!!

Because part one did so well I decided to continue it. As of right now I can only see this going to maybe five parts max.  Also sorry for the cliff hanger but I thought it would be a good spot to end on. I'm totally surprised some of y'all were actually feeling bad for AA last chapter, but I guess somehow I made him actually sympathetic. 

I plan to dive more into AA and M!Tav’s past in the next chapter and also give a little insight to my original character Abigail. 

Oh and in case anyone was wondering Savegame 2 Wyll and Karlach are not Vampire Spawns. They left to go to Hells and avoided it all together. Karlach canonly cannot be turned into a vampire so yeah….

[superslavemannn]

The Nuclear Apocalypse of Superman: Book 1 (Chap. 1)

Hi guys. This is my first time updating a novel on Tumblr, a long fan fiction about Superman and his tragic but arousing experiences. It’s a very long story, and I plan to tell it in at least three books. The first book (which has 12 chapters) is already complete, and the second book is currently in the works. Starting this week, I will be updating a version with images every Friday on Tumblr. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: This is a reimagined fan fiction of the movie Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. While most main characters from the film are retained, the entire plot has been reimagined to suit the nature of this work. It is an erotic fan fiction intended for mature readers, featuring male/male relationships and explicit content. This work is non-commercial. In this story, most of the images are derived from movie. I have tried to use photos from the Reeve Superman movies to maintain authenticity, but there are also some high-quality AI-generated images. I do not own these images.

*You can share or repost but please credit @superslaveman on Tumblr or X :)

Acknowledgments: I’d like to express my gratitude to Rick Henry, author of The Extermination of Superman, and @vincentzeal, author of Superman vs. the Vice Lord. Their writing and body of work have been a significant source of inspiration. Special thanks to Drake Grant for his ideas and help in revising the story.

Chapter 1: An Ominous Dream

Thousands of miles from any place humans could reach, a massive crystalline, pyramid-shaped structure stands in solitude on a vast ice sheet. Surrounded by towering snow-covered mountains that shield it from the blizzards raging in every direction, this immense crystal formation has remained untouched and unknown for years, at least as far as we're aware. Its flawless triangular shape makes it clear that it was not built by human hands. Hundreds of conical crystals, each about 5 meters wide and 40 meters tall, rise from the ground, forming a shell-like wall around the structure. They reflect sunlight and the icy glow of snow and icicles, gleaming like diamonds on a frozen crown.

It's a shame that no man on earth had the chance to appreciate the beauty of it except…

''Agggggh… Hmmm…''

A wet, echoing moan filled the empty crystal palace. The crystal walls reflected a distorted, writhing figure in blurry red and blue, shifting like a kaleidoscope, moving up and down in sync with the rhythm of the moans.

Oh, there he was. A towering 6'4'' man, built like a statue of pure muscle, lay sprawled on a massive crystal bed draped in silver silk sheets. Every inch of his overly manly physique was wrapped in a skintight royal blue spandex suit that stretched from his neck to his toes, emblazoned with the iconic ''S'' symbol on his broad chest. His body radiated power—the fabric clings to him so tightly it outlines every ripple of his chiseled muscles. His chest rises like two sculpted slabs of marble. But not like those steroid-addicted bodybuilders, they are pumped and firm, but still somehow gave you a cuddly and warm feeling. With the spandex clinging so tightly on his chest, even the subtle outline of his firm, two cute nipples were visible beneath the fabric. They sat perfectly cantered on his broad pecs, adding a surprising softness to his otherwise overwhelmingly powerful physique.

His arms were nothing short of awe-inspiring, thick, vascular biceps bulge with raw strength. His thighs were strong, solid, and brimming with power, the spandex stretching over them like a second skin, tracing every contour of his sculpted quads and hamstrings. A pair of glossy, bright red leather boots gripped his calves, ankles, and feet with such precision that even the arch of his soles was visible through the smooth, form-fitting material.

And his red cape. It bunched beneath him, highlighting the sheen of his blue suit and the bulging muscles beneath, a perfect contrast to the crystalline surroundings.

As the crystal walls let the refraction of daylights go inside, a trace of nearly white reflection of polar sunlight converged on his spandex skin stretching from his chest to his instep but being cut off in the middle by a bright yellow belt and a pair of dazzling red briefs. His red briefs, the symbol of hope, the avatar of the greatest manhood. It looked even more luxurious than the fabric of his blue spandex, so silky that can make people mistaken it was coated with a light layer of lubricating oil, so tight that covered every inch of his majestic crotch and cup his splendid scrotum. However, no matter how hard this piece of fabric tried to hide his assets, all it could do was to outline the contours of a 6-inch-long, 3.5-inch-thick, half soft, half hard, alien shaft and two testicles.

As his strong right hand casually rubbed over the glans of this wondrous pillar-like thing through silky spandex, a smile started to appear on his handsome face. His eyes were closed, sleeping, with his eyelashes gently touching the lower eyelid. Even he had a look of soft angel, no less than a boy Venus, it didn't mean that he doesn't have a tall nose, an angular jaw, and a cleft chin like the Greek demigod Hercules or a golden age Hollywood movie star. When his left hand unconsciously moved above his stunning pecs and brushes over the nipples, the hair curl atop his forehead began to tremble with his body quivering. In the crystal mirror directly above him, the image reflected the greatest and most beautiful creature in the world unapologetically wearing a suit of revealing blue tights and bright briefs, sleeping.

In his dream, the demigod muttered ''I am…Superman ''.

Yes, meet Superman, Kal-El. The man of steel. The big blue boy scout. The last son of Krypton.

What was Superman dreaming of right now? No, let's not disturb his sweet time. We can talk about his dream later.

To be frank, it's not every day you get to see Superman shamelessly pleasuring himself while asleep. For many people, it's easier to imagine Clark Kent as Superman than to imagine Superman doing something so animalistic. But even with the former, it's almost impossible to make any connection with the greatest hero on earth with Clark Kent, a kind, righteous, sometimes bumbling even cringey reporter from Daily Planet in Metropolis. Yes, he wears the tights and boots underneath his daily business suit. Unknown to anyone else, Clark had a peculiar thrill when he slipped on his business suit, knowing the bright, tight spandex of his costume lay hidden beneath. There was something oddly arousal about the contrast—how he, the world's most powerful hero, could walk unnoticed through a crowd as just a clumsy, bumbling reporter. He didn't admit it or he probably never would, but cosplaying that clown-like inept wimp did give him a tingle in his pants. Every time he became a laughingstock in public, that boner hidden under layers of fabric told it all. Besides, the thought that no one had any clue that underneath his dress shirt and tie, he was wearing his iconic red briefs and skin-tight suit gave him a secret rush. The Kryptonian suit is so tight that can press his large genital and cause slight discomfort when he must sit through the whole day typing. But somehow, he didn't mind it at all and loved his daily practice, wearing that overly tight spandex 24/7.

You see, it's the only thing he can have for himself. The sensation from the pressure on his crotch.

Superman rarely gave himself a moment to relax, but that didn't mean he wasn't still Clark Kent at heart. He kept that pure, honest soul of a country boy, always kind and true. Still, even with all his heroics, he couldn't ignore the growing stir of desires and needs inside him. They were there, lurking, waiting for a chance to be acknowledged.

Yes, everyone has their own needs for Superman, but when it comes to the needs of Superman, only he knew how hard he had to fight back. Mind-boggling to the human on earth but common sense to Kryptonians, Superman, same as every male on Krypton, has prolific testicles and a reproduction system that could drive any human insane.

Growing up, Clark Kent often felt like the universe had a cruel sense of humor. On the one hand, his Kryptonian father, Jor-El, had left behind a legacy of impossibly rigid lessons about purity of heart and body—no shortcuts, no indulgences, no exceptions. Clark learned, through countless holographic lectures in the Fortress of Solitude, that his so-called ''Supercum'' (a term he'd begrudgingly coined for himself) was the source of his immense power. Enhanced by the Sun's yellow radiation, it was what made him extraordinary. But there was a terrifying catch: if he ever released it recklessly, he risked losing his abilities—or worse, his life. Self-control wasn't just a virtue; it was survival.

On the other hand, Jonathan Kent, his adoptive dad, was just as strict, always going on about self-control and how heroes had to set the ultimate example, even in private. Back to the time when Clark first discovered his true identity and put on the Superman suit, Jonathan caught him standing in front of the mirror in the middle of night, dressed in his boy scout costume, playing with his young bulge, feeling the touch from his own hands rubbing again his own peephole covered under red fabric. That night, Jonathan froze in the doorway, stunned by what he saw. Clark, overwhelmed by shame and tears, crumpled under the weight of his father's disapproval. Clark's shame was instant and so overwhelming. But it wasn't his father's anger or stern lecture on responsibility that left a scar—it was the look of sheer disappointment and disgust in Jonathan's eyes. That moment, more than anything, etched itself into Clark's memory, shaping his relentless quest to suppress his own humanity for the sake of an impossible ideal.

Since then, he was a deeply broken-hearted man. At nearly 30, Superman had never been in love, never had a romantic partner, and was pretty sure he never would. Over time, Superman's constant effort to suppress his desires slowly turned into something else—narcissism. When he had a moment alone, he'd catch himself admiring his own reflection, spending longer than he'd care to admit running his hands over his sculpted muscles. His physique was a work of art, and in a way, it felt like the only thing he could truly connect with. He flexed his arm, he kissed his ''S'' shield, he licked his red shinning boots, and he played his erected alien stick with his firm hands.

This self-admiration gradually grew into something more. He started noticing how drawn he was to other strong, muscular figures same as him—especially the well-built athletes he'd seen in passing. What began as harmless admiration turned into a bit of a lustful crush on strength, muscle, and the young throbbing dicks containing the white creamy substance, which almost took his soul away even he just thought about it. Sure, he'd had his moments of secret voyeurism, flying unseen around the globe, lurking around countless locker rooms and being fascinated by the bodies of college wrestlers, gym enthusiasts, and water polo players. With his X-ray vision, he had a front-row seat to their toned physiques. He'd often linger, curious, watching them without anyone knowing.

Yet, despite his search—across continents and through countless encounters—he never found anyone who could match his own power. No one came close. The yearning for connection, for someone who could understand the weight of his existence, grew more intense with every passing day. But the fear of revealing his desires, of exposing his vulnerability, kept him locked in isolation, trapped between his overwhelming need for companionship and the overwhelming responsibility of defending justice and hope as he carried as Superman.

Over time, Superman's deep ache of desire slowly transformed into something darker, more twisted, and increasingly dangerous.

It was almost like the vision haunting him now in his dream: a thick steel necklace that caught the light in an unsettling, cold way, with a green alien stone attached to it, glowing with an eerie, ominous fluorescence.

Kryptonite.

It was a gift he would never forget. Nearly three years ago, Superman encountered his most diabolical enemy yet: Lex Luthor, the powerful businessman who ran Metropolis's most influential corporation, LexCorp. It was the first time Superman had realized that a simple human, armed with nothing but a small piece of green rock, could actually threaten his life.

Secretly, Lex Luthor had acquired a piece of green meteorite from NASA, claiming it was a terrestrial material from Superman's home planet, which he later identified as Kryptonite. Over the course of six months, Lex brought together the brightest minds on Earth—scientists and engineers who worked tirelessly around the clock to understand the true nature of this mysterious substance. After much trial and error, Lex was able to purify the Kryptonite and, through extensive testing, discovered its true power.

The radiation from Kryptonite didn't just weaken Superman—it altered the very mechanisms of his sperms. Instead of enhancing his strength, the Kryptonite's radiation caused Superman's sperms to turn on him, attacking his organs, draining his energy, and inflicting excruciating pain. If he were exposed for too long, the result would be catastrophic—his cells would begin to break down, leading to the collapse of his body. The potential consequences were more severe and shocking than even Lex had anticipated.

''Your very own necklace, Superman. I bet it's the perfect gift—something that almost makes you feel at home.'' The words echoed, a haunting fragment of memory, as the scene solidified in Superman's dream. It was Lex Luthor's voice, sharp and mocking, slicing through the haze.

In the dream, memories hit him with vivid, unbearable clarity. It was Luthor's dungeon, and there was the Kryptonite necklace placed inside a lead box. He could feel it all again—the sickening nausea spreading through his body, the overwhelming pain that surged with every pulse of his being. He remembered staggering back, his instincts screaming at him to flee, to get as far away as possible from Luthor's trap. But his legs refused to obey, his movements jerky and uncoordinated. Fear took hold, paralyzing him as his limbs quaked uncontrollably.

The humiliation was crushing. Desperation replaced his once-unshakable resolve, and a single, shameful thought consumed him: to beg. To plead for mercy. To kneel. Anything to make it stop—to put an end to Luthor's cruel game. His knees buckled, knocking together awkwardly beneath his trembling tights, each step faltering.

''Mind over muscles'', Lex had said, waving the glowing green stone in his hands, grinning as he placed the chain around Superman's neck. Now, he even couldn't tell if it was dream or reality. Although sleeping sound, he literally felt like a bullet piercing through his chest as the Kryptonite necklace touched on his skintight spandex costumes, making him cry out like a salty dog just got run over by a truck. Powerless then, he had felt Luthor's hands all over his body, touching him over his spandex, teasing him, toying with him, like jiggling human-size jello. As the criminal master dragged him along, Superman had sensed that his little Supes in his briefs was howling, growing, and creaming. With no warning, Lex took hold of Superman's nipples, tweaking them through the smooth spandex. A strong pinch made the big boy scout cry out a disgraceful scream. Then, a strong cupping hands wrapped around superman's balls. Almost like a sponge, as Lex Luthor squeezed with his nails sunk into that freaky alien's ballsack, Superman's peehole started leaking precum like a spread of pearls forming on top of the red spandex.

The echo of humiliating moans and agonized screams reverberated through Superman's dream. As the dream unfolded, the scene shifted, growing darker and more vivid. Lex, ever the master of manipulation, gripped Superman's red cape with a sinister smile curling at the edges of his lips. But what fills Kal-El's mind was something else: the overwhelming sensation, the long-awaited gratification he was feeling when Lex played him, belittled him, and toyed him.

Without warning, Lex yanked the Man of Steel toward the edge of a massive, ominous pool. The surface shimmered in the dim light; its contents unknown but exuding an unsettling stench. Superman's pulse quickened, his breath shallow and ragged. Every fiber of his being screamed to fight back, to resist, but his strength was sapped, drained by the relentless presence of Kryptonite.

Suddenly, Lex strangled Superman with his iconic red cape around his neck. As Superman opened his mouth to the fullest, trying to grasp some air, Lex pulled out a 7-inch rob-shaped Kryptonite stone from his back and stuffed it into Superman's throat directly with no hesitation. White foam started to overflow from Superman's mouth as tears running down his face. His fully erect penis was throbbing, pushing against his blue tights and ref brief, the wet patch of precum now bigger and more obvious than ever with white foam bubbling on the shining fabrics.

The faint murmurs filled the dungeon, each sound a grim mix of agony and climax. His body had grown heavy with exhaustion. The struggle to stay conscious became unbearable as the seconds dragged on. His pupils dilated, his vision blurring, and with each passing moment, his strength faded until there was nothing left to fight with.

Then, with a final, relentless shove, his nemesis pushed him forward, a move that sent Superman reeling. He tried to look back, eyes wide with fear, as his heart raced in desperation. But it was too late. Lex's boot connected with his hip, forcing him further toward the edge. With nothing to hold onto, Superman tumbled into the depths of the pool of waste, his body plunging like a stone, sinking into the dark, cold waters below.

… Why would Superman have such a dream? How will his fate change because of it?

Stay tuned for the second chapter, updated at the same time next week...

[bwat5-blog]

Response To Comments On Grey War Crime Post #2

**spoilers for arcane**

Got another full and non-aggressive or disrespectful response on this that was worth answering properly! So thank you to @deliciousdeanfriendeagle-blog for taking the time. I'm answering here because responding in those comments is insanity.

"I don't find people who enact martial law and go on a rampage for revenge to be likeable"-- I'll give you the revenge bit if lacking a tad bit of nuance but I'll remind you the elite of Piltover agreed to Martial Law while they were busy eating out of Ambessa's hand before Caitlyn was ever involved.

"I dont agree which you (probably obvious) on "its not chemical gas because we havent seen serious immediate affects""

So what I think you are misunderstanding is that I never questioned the Form The Grey takes only the classification it would fall under in the real world if it existed in reality. RCA's and Chemical weapons are not classified differently because of a difference in primary from, but in their intent, use, and effects primarily. This is why an RCA is classified as a chemical weapon if used outside of the bounds of that protected status.

Regarding your statement on disregarding my classification because we have not seen immediate effects: I suppose all I can say is that I'm working with the content we are given and the literature of the resources I made use of whereas you are speculating. I can't really argue against speculation. The moment we see a shred of proof that the people who were exposed short term are suffering consequences I'll be happy to admit as much.

3. I dabble in science and the first thing I noticed is the color. Sometimes its bright green sometimes its more muddy (could be individual quality) and the symptoms for exposure are the EXACT same.... In league of legends (the game which the lore is based on) Zaun is supposed to be bright green to show the toxic air pollution and while it may not be an immediate death sentence now (adaption? Immunity?) (I linked the zaun quote to this because it seems that is the link you are making I think. For clarity and fairness they were not immediately together in post so I may have misread):

So we have long since diverted from strict LOL lore. and from I gather you are implying that because the symptoms seem to be the same and the lore is that the toxicity has made Zaun glow green in such a way it quite severe? I also understand that green gas normally indicated the presence of Chlorine which i understand is a comparison you are making we are getting to.

4. Comparing Chlorine Gas VS The Grey:

So I do see that Chlorine Gas is normally yellow-green under normal conditions. I do have a few points of contention:

While Chlorine Gas itself is not flammable it can react with many common chemicals which would make the use of it in any sort of combat situation highly questionable as we see done.

I'll give you the short term symptoms are all a solid match:

Burning eyes blurred vision

Irritated skin

Irritated mucous membranes: eyes/nose/throat

coughing/shortness of breath/wheezing

All just for example

3. "Lung health usually returns to normal within 7 to 14 days"-- from short term exposure to Chlorine. We see repeated examples of people recovering much much faster.

Reference serious exposure: I.E Caitlyn and Steb, Heenot, Chem Baron soldiers we later see attending the rally-

"At very high levels of exposure, death occurs in minutes to hours from respiratory failure, hypoxaemia, hypovolaemia, acute respiratory obstruction, alveolar destruction or a combination of these. Acute pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary vascular congestion, and burns of the upper and proximal lower airways contribute. Hypoxia and hypotension indicate a poor prognosis, as does development of pulmonary oedema within four hours of exposure.

In survivors, resolution commences within 48 hours."

We don't ever see anything close to this level of problem from anything Caitlyn is doing. Or from several characters fully immersed and exposed for longer than a few moments.

And while as you said it is possible just like Chlorine people may have latent problems we can speculate certainly but there is no basis in it unfortunately.

4. "tear gas is usually (meaning in america) an aerosol or powder like substance and doesn't actually move like gas"

So while it is true that tear gas is not technically considered a true gas and more often as you said power or aerosol, tear gas is not the exclusive example of an RCA. Merely the most prevalent.

Creator: LEAH MILLIS | Credit: REUTERS

Not to mention we need to remember that The Grey is being pushed and propelled by a ventilation system.

5. Your TLDR: "The grey cant be RCA due to RCA not being actual gases and would not be able to fill a ventilation system and is probably (meaning most likely) just Chlorine gas which is considered a chemical weapon due to side effects and reaction of civilians"

The classification of gas does not make the difference between RCA and Chemical Weapon. An RCA can in fact be a gas. Chemical Weapons Convention Article 2.7 defines an RCA as "any chemical not listed in a schedule, which can produce rapidly in humans sensory irritation or disabling physical effects which disappear within a short time following termination of exposure"

"Convention expressly prohibits the use of riot control agents as a method of warfare”. Article 1.5-- None of your points were regarding my defining Caitlyn's actions as warfare or not so I'm assuming we are on the same page

"Convention permits use of toxic chemicals for “Law enforcement including domestic riot control purposes”. Article 2.9(d)"-- Same as above

2. Being that its state as a gas or otherwise is not a factor in its definition as an RCA that alone I cannot consider as a factor. But as to the comparison to Chlorine Gas, the short term exposure symptoms are indeed similar to The Grey. But except for the images of the people who grew up in the Undercity surrounded by it we are given no evidence of anyone suffering such extreme problems from long term exposure. Additionally, as sources seem to indicate that short term exposure can normally take 1-2 weeks for recovery and people seem to be functioning normally on average within minutes of removing themselves from it, I cannot agree with that assessment either. While Chlorine Gas does carry a risk of latent symptoms and The Grey may as well, we cannot address that without total speculation.

[matt0044]

Why does Indie Animation lend itself to such intense discourse?

If I had to speculate from my own observations (feel free to call me out on an overgeneralizations), it would be that the harsh turn against any given indie project would be akin to a mother scolding a child with, "I expected this from your sibling but you?!"

See also the "We were rooting for you" gif often tossed around.

Indie Animation be it from a small studio or crowdfunded is seen as bypassing the hoops and hurdles of getting your foot in the door of the highly corporatized entertainment industry. With the likes of Disney or Nick or any given streaming service, creator driven projects are subject to the whims of the company who holds the IP.

And those whims are often to said IP's detriment. It'll more often than not be willfully neglected at best or treated as just something to fill a time slot or shove onto a streaming platform as "content." Enough may be allowed to flourish but their either uncerimoniously cut short at best or being dragged out as a franchise at worst.

To keep from going on about the whole Legend of Korra vs. Spongebob thing (I was there people, there was an LoK fandom believe it or not), indie animation has often been seen as small scale but also within the creator's general control since they control how long it goes or how it's written.

Many cartoons like Gravity Falls, Owl House and Amphibia have talked about trying to get their vision across while contending with a lot of Standards and Practices. Their story which had a "kids and adults alike" target audience would have the top brass insist on something more just for the former category.

While they find work arounds, often to stick their tongue out at the FCC, this can be a hard reminder of who has the final say despite it being what you want. Indie animation is seen as an answer to "What if Alex Hirsch didn't have to comprimise elements of Gravity Falls for the FCC?" or "What if Dana Terrence could just blaze her own trail with The Owl House with little to no notes?"

Especially when it comes to animation with queer characters. Animation made to be "fit for kids" have it tough enough even today but adult animation has to "play it for laughs" since comedies have been the defacto standard for that type of cartoon.

However... a show being creator driven or creative team driven comes as a double edged sword for the fandoms they form. Not all stories that play out across multiple episodes of varying lengths are going in the direction YOU might want to.

Creators might tire of a certain direction or formula and mix things up with things that come to mind almost on the spot. Even with a solid plan, the status quo will get a shake up that can and will alienate those who fell in love from episode one.

Indie Pilots spark the imagination something fierce. There's theories as to what any little detail could mean going forward and speculation on what a character's arc could be. These go wild because Fandom is all about the hypothetical, the unknown, the what could've/should've/would've been. Whole phenomenon would be dead in the water otherwise.

Thing is that not all theories will be proven right if any at all. The creators aren't mind readers and even if it isn't a legality like in corporate, they don't read fanfics if only because they don't want their vision to be totally compromised. Any good creator knows not to just give fans what they want. However... trampling over all these fanfics and theories makes it feel like any given fan had their "child" dragged into the streets to be shot.

A harsh phrasing but that's how a lot of fans act when continuing episode bump up against initial impression of this character or that storyline. It was their creation but new lore, new backstory or what have you is liable to override them. It's been an occupational hazard of being a member of fandom for ages yet it's become the center of a lot of discourse now more than ever. Say thank you to social media for creating such a combative environment everybody.

It's this... feeling of ownership that has existed in fandoms of other shows owned by corporations but amplied by the smaller scale of it, how creators seem more... approachable. And THIS is how the YouTube "critic" scene comes in to capitalize.

So... yeah.

[girl4music]

Waverly going on a temporary trip to Egypt to reconstruct a corrupted Black Badge Division.

Waverly and Jeremy. The BIG brained duo.

Honestly, I’m happy for her. I acknowledge that Nicole couldn’t come with her due to the whole Angel’s Shield stipulation but then I think that would kind of be counterintuitive and counterproductive if she could. This is WayHaught’s necessary break from each other to find their own paths in life and follow their own ambitions - and to be actually EQUAL in their marriage which I kind of understood was the point of the contention between them in the special. Nicole was holding Waverly back. Not selfishly as such. She just didn’t realize Waverly wanted more - or more specifically - wanted to be more than just a wife.

Nicole wasn’t around for Waverly declaring “Shut your patronizing mouth garbage. I can be a hero AND a wife” but their wedding vows were pretty pointed when it came to that. They need equal partnership and for Waverly, that means having an adventure where she can use her full potential and learn new things and just be her own guide and warrior in life.

It’s not that it’s not something Nicole doesn’t want either. It’s just that she already has it with being the Sheriff of Purgatory and she’s fully satisfied with that. What she does want - however - is something much more personal and that is to have a kid with Waverly. Which - I mean - ugh… every time I think about this subject I just have a screaming “what about Rachel?!” response come from the back of my mind because where is Rachel and why isn’t she mentioned? That WayHaught conversation was the time for her to be but they cut all that short following Mina showing up.

I mean I like it when WayHaught get interrupted but not like that. Not when they were about to have an important conversation that we really needed to hear - at least as far as… WHERE THE FUCK IS RACHEL?!

But yes, I am satisfied with this next step in Waverly’s journey and I believe it makes complete sense for her.

Can they actually manage long distance? Maybe their libidos can’t. But time will tell whether their love for each other is strong enough to withstand separation. And for them to be equal partners in life and love. In marriage and heroship. This is what it’s going to take. Can the WEARP fandom be okay with that? I don’t see why not ‘cause surely they’d want them both to grow.

As for me - I’m used to seeing main female characters that are in a relationship go off on their own for awhile to do their own thing for their individual development. I expect it. More than that. I encourage it. WLW/queer relationships are great and I love seeing WayHaught together. But I also love seeing them individually too and how their dynamic changes and evolves based on the contrasting effects of being together vs individual. It’s one of the things I love about Xena and Gabrielle. How they’re so much a part of each other that they can be separated and still be whole characters alone and I don’t like any form of art/entertainment that perpetuates the ridiculous notion that they can’t be because it’s insulting and condescending as all fuck.

I wasn’t worried about the conflict for WayHaught in the special in the slightest once I realized where it was going because I knew they would resolve it just fine.

I just wish they hadn’t cut THAT conversation short because even if Waverly didn’t answer Nicole about whether she wanted to start a family with her or not, I still wanted them to talk about RACHEL because ??? It was just a gross oversight of a significant character from Season 4 of the TV show and the only thing I can honestly say really bothered me about the special because even if Emily doesn’t consider Rachel to be WayHaught’s adopted daughter, I still need to know about where she even is, why she isn’t mentioned and how WayHaught aren’t fucking concerned about her!

Everything else in the special that I disagree with I can take with a pinch of salt and be just like “meh, it’s whatevs. You can’t please everyone” but NOT THAT! If Emily just wanted to erase Rachel from the storyline, that’s a choice that has to be acknowledged in the characterization because - what the fuck, Emily?! 😑

[blossomzip]

deep dive: something in the orange

this is my unprovoked, 1.1k words long, unofficial official close reading/annotations post for something in the orange. i waffled about writing this out, mostly because i wanted reader interpretations to take more space than my intentions. but it has plagued me, even as i did annotations to kae’s annotations. in some way, this is a more organized version of the bits i dumped on poor kae that had nothing to do w their reading of the story lol

more importantly, treat this as what i encoded into the work—your own interpretation (decoding) is no less valid!

tidbits

let’s get the small trivia out of the way:

exchanging second buttons – lifted from a practice in high school graduations in japan, where boys can give the second button of their uniform (gakuran) to the person they like (some people say it’s bc this is the button closest to the heart)

my heart – lifted from cs lewis (“courage, dear heart”) but altered so it wouldn’t be too on the nose. also, i love the idea of my not as an expression of possession, but of devotion, and an acknowledgment that the other has full claim over their heart

boo-logs – i think i first heard it in a caratland vcr (the one where theyre old)? but it’s j extra cute cos it’s logs from mr and mx boo

d– and d+ - lifted from an ocean vuong interview i saved about how loss delineated his life into the "yesterday" before death, and the "constant today" where there is only grief

setting

not sure how surprising this will be, but i actually don’t call this an apocalypse fic in my head, even as that probably most fits in terms of “tags”. to me, it’s an interstellar au remix, as it’s pre-movie timeline, and set in a different part of the world. based on the wiki, the start of blight to the start of the resource wars is approx. 5 years, hence d–2183 being roughly that when you do the math.

on form

the use of screenplay for some scenes was not just a nod to sk being a filmmaker. for one, i like how the script format is concise enough to get one into the character’s headspace while immediately casting the reader as a viewer. you are there, but you are also a voyeur. the parts of the relationship that the reader-viewer is privy to is questionable right from the form itself, and this unfolds more fully in the content.

also, screenplay as a format is most used in film, right? whether it’s acknowledged or not, there is an assumed fictional/manufactured element in a script. this reinforces questions around narrativization and memorializing, which the work grapples with as a whole.

finally, it’s purposefully misleading—the screenplay does imply that these are from sk’s camera. but some scenes written in screenplay are purposefully “wrong”—there are notes on how things are cut (ie its not raw footage), or visual cues that don’t quite add up.

(edit: much of this screenplay format + blurred fiction/reality interplay is inspired by goodbye eri, which i highly recommend!!)

blurring memory, fiction, and reality

seungkwan’s own approach to his memory has been fractured by grief, and so there are things he is unable to confront without circumscribing it in some way. memory, fiction, and reality are ideas all in tension w each other in sito. all of them come to a head in the two scenes where seungkwan interacts with his footage:

memory vs reality: how much of what happened does he remember? think of how traumatic memories tend to be suppressed by the brain, or when sk realizes that he doesn’t remember some of the clips he had been replaying.

memory vs fiction: how much of what he remembers is actually what happened? think of how with each remembrance, some “memories” tend to change in minute ways. remember seungkwan thinking of how memory blurs with dreaming.

fiction vs reality: this is a little trickier, but there was a conversation (written as screenplay) on making the boo-logs into a short film. right after that scene was a conversation w vernon precisely on that topic. kae absolutely nailed this in their reading: how much of editing is fictionalizing? what are the implications of cutting and stitching scenes together? how much of memorializing a real person is fictionalizing them? sk has the burden of deciding how the love of his life will be remembered by the rest of the world, now and to come.

(trivia: in the scene right after the boo-logs convo, it moves to seungkwan “replaying the footage”. note that i didn’t say which clip he replayed, even if a reader may assume it to be the previous scene.)

the ones that are most likely “less real”—could be his memories, an edited version of compiled footage, his memories altered by repeated remembrance/trauma—would be the screenplay scenes without the d- on top! there’s the wedding w the cut to different settings (how are they suddenly in the beach? why are their garments wet even when the screenplay says they’re back in the wedding venue? etc.). and then there’s the two headed calf scene (why are the stars clear if we know from an earlier scene that sk’s camera doesn’t do well at night?).

the lost house

seungkwan never returns home—after d=0, he just ended up in the camp. it’s not as big of a theme in the story, but in the scene where he replays footage, there’s some stuff there on how the house he remembers blurs with the house of his dreams/daydreams (oneirism). i mentioned that bachelard’s the poetics of space was smth that held my hand while writing. while bachelard talks of it in terms of our childhood homes, i just thought there’s smth to be said about how a house we daydream about can also be the house we daydream in—and often it is a house we lost.

addendum: further, there’s a part somewhere on how inventories do not just catalog possession, but measure the potential for loss (?). that’s a line from baxter’s essay, in his wonderlands collection.

to end,

aside from the deeply personal catharsis of writing this, and the satisfaction of writing grief in a way that feels true to how i experienced it, my favorite thing about sito is that it places a lot of trust in the reader. i did my best to not make ambiguities as plot holes but rather as things unsaid, because it would be a disservice to spoonfeed them. it was essentially trying to write to a reader smarter than i (which is one of my favorite writing tips).

more importantly, sito trusts that the grief and love will be received with tenderness, and that it will reverberate. i had hoped that not being over-picturesque/descriptive made it a more intimate experience. my grief, drawn in purposefully-oblique strokes, became seungkwan’s grief. by not lending these to overly rich description, but honoring the pain nonetheless, i hoped for them to be more readily absorbed/felt/dreamt of as your grief too.

[enterthedisneyverse]

I LOVE when people talk about the business of YouTube. I think Colin and Samir have such good insight on this entire situation, and I found their comments on ads on short vs long form content really interesting.

[ratwithhands]

I'm curious. I've seen your art and something that's come to my mind is what actually got you attached with the Subway brothers. Your narrative on their different AU forms is so unique which is what brought me to that question

Alright, rat history time.

So basically back in 2021-2022, I was working on an old OC storyline (about 3 years old by then) and I was in grade 9 so I was like “A new Pokémon game? Pfft, like I care” and just didn’t watch any of the stuff related to PLA when it dropped. I still got recommended Twitter posts about it on Instagram and I ended up seeing this one.

I tried looking up Ingo cause I was like "oh, funky design, looks like a captain or something" but I didn't end up finding anything so I didn't press further. Anyways in March break of 2022, I got bored and decided to put some game streams on in the background while I drew. I saw Alpharad's PLA video and decided to watch it for a bit when I saw Ingo.

I was like "Hey you're the guy from Twitter!" and since I knew his name now, I looked him up and found his Bulbapedia article. I found him much more interesting than the rest of the PLA cast since he had history outside PLA, and I ended up reading up whatever I could find on him. I also by extension discovered Emmet this way, which only served to suck me deeper down the rabbit hole. By the end of March break I had a fan OC and 2 AUs made with more on the way, as well as a YouTube recommended page with nothing but theory videos on Ingo and decade old Submas content.

Around May I decided to decommission my OC storyline for personal reasons, and by this point Submas was starting to occupy more of my creative work anyways. Since I didn't have my storyline to put my energy into, I started funnelling literally any story ideas into Submas. This led to nonstop content for a shockingly long time, and ofc I'm still coming up with stuff now.

Long story short, I got attached to them by accident! It was a "right place, right time" sort of thing since they came in as I was starting to get sluggish with my original content and I ended up being more interested in writing for them.

As for narratives, I am effectively playing dolls with these guys. Usually the kind of stuff that I write for them is meant for OCs, but I dumped the 60+ person cast so I put that energy into them instead.

Most AUs will either have a core theme, an out of pocket idea, or both to make things interesting. Usually I just come up with a dumbass idea like "what if we brought ReBURST back for a rerun" or "what if Emmet signed a contract with an eldritch space spider" or "what if Submas could see into the future" and stuff like that, then it picks up themes as I keep writing. For some silly examples:

Burst is based on Pokémon ReBURST and the idea of human-Pokémon fusion, but there's focus on skill, how characters misperceive it, and resentment as a result. There's also a spotlight on inferiority complexes, bottled up guilt, and blind confidence depending on which main character you look at

Journal is about a diary that helps Ingo to regain his memories, and it focuses on remembrance and regret as a result of him reading it. Spotlight on lacking awareness vs hyper awareness and the monotony of living as people around you leave

Oracle is exactly what it sounds like, with the twins being able to see into the future. It focuses on cooperation and the importance of working together, but also learning how to work alone. The spotlight's on jealousy and gratitude for this one, though the latter greatly outweighs the former in this case

I also just have AUs I made to try deranged shit for funsies, like Sapioflora, Cybernetic/Z-Λ, Team Supernova, and Idol. Those are mostly for exploring goofy ideas that may or may not go anywhere.

Right anyways basically I just saw Submas after watching PLA gameplay and found the twins more interesting to write about than the project I'd exhausted by then. The narratives are like that because the AU ideas I make are actually OC concepts that I modify to fit Pokémon specifically for these two or ideas about the two that I'd like to explore. Hope that answers the question ^^*

[streets-in-paradise]

Troy (2004) 20th Anniversary Celebration / May 13-14th 2024

Hi, everyone!

This will be the very first time I will be doing an event in my blog and I decided to do it in honor of the underrated special interest that turned me into a fanfict writer.

Troy (2004) turns 20 years and I want to give it love in this particular birthday. Unfortunately, sickness limited the amount of activities i could plan, so I will be doing a reduced one from my original list incluíding things i can deliver for you from bed on my phone.

What will i offer you for this special event:

-Movie Talk

Drop an ask and just let's discuss the film in whatever form you prefer. What are your favorite scenes/characters? Anything you want to revisit about the movie?

I will be open to (respectfull) myths and history vs film talks too, as long as it is not started in bad faith. The point of the event is to celebrate: we can laugh of the llama in the trojan market and other mistakes, but I won't accept hate.

-Drabbles

As the ones who know my blog are already aware of, I mostly write reader inserts fics for the movie. For so, writing will be a big part of this.

Pick a character and a prompt from any of the lists linked here and I will write a short thing for you.

In all cases for writing activities, both platonical or romantical requests are welcome.

-Headcanons

Character headcanons: can be x reader oriented or just about the character, it's up to the participant's choice.

You can also ask for headcanons centered on my fic series ( or its still in process AU)

-Match ups/special requests

Personalized writing.

Send me a brief description of yourself in the way you prefer and I will match you with one of the heroes or heroines of the movie.

Alternatively, you can also send a customized plot for me to write you a short fic.

-Playlists

Send me a character, ship or situation of the film and I'll share you songs I associate to it.

- Crossovers

Inspired by an ask i answered once to @xgoddessoffandomsx imagining a Legolas/Paris/Will meeting that I had so much fun with, i invite you to try a similiar thing.

Out of context, no explanation required, fun crossover ideas for interactions of characters for the sake of it.

During the event, I will also reblog/post general content about the film.

I'm looking foward having fun with you 💕

Tagging some of my lovely troy mutuals/followers: @mysticaldeanvoidhorse @yerevasunclair @helie-brain @zoegarfield @spideyanakin @lavender-at-heart @alysinwonderland-at-tea @daintyhippie

[mask131]

I already made a post about it before, but since a lot of people are coming around for more Greek mythology content, I thought "Why not take off the dust from old talks?", and thus here is my redo-post about the Homeric vs Hesiodic tradition.

I am summarizing here greatly but... We all know that Homer's epics (The Odyssey and the Iliad), and Hesiod's works (The Theogony, Of Works and Days) form the "basis" of Greek mythology as we know it today, as they are the oldest literary records of Greek mythology we have, and the Ancient Greeks themselves shared the same opinion, even going as far as using them and analyzing them to understand their own religion.

And yet, despite this set of works being considered together as a "whole", Hesiod and Homer actually presented two different visions of the Greek mythology and the Greek pantheon, often contradicting - and many of the "There's thousands versions of a same myth" trend about Greek mythology comes from the fact that these two fundamental set of works were already in conflict.

Why? Long story short it is agreed that Homer was the oldest of the two, and that in his works he reflected an older, more primitive state of the Greek religion and Greek gods. Meanwhile Hesiod, the "youngest", collected a more modern and recent set of beliefs that would become the dominant Greek theology of Ancient Greece. There's a lot of interesting debate and scholarly study about this, but in this post I just want to collect and highlight a few key differences between the "Homeric" and "Hesiodic" traditions, to again remind people that you are not always forced to stick to one version, since already at the beginning of all there were TWO recorded versions, from which many many more different spawned afterward...

KEY DIFFERENCE 1: Everybody knows Hesiod's Theogony, and how from Chaos came Gaia and Ouranos, and from them came the Titans, and then the Olympians. One long genealogy dating back from the Earth and the Sky out of the primordial void... And yet Homer hints heavily at another cosmogony, where Oceanus/Okeanos and Tethys are not actually part of the Titan siblings (as Hesiod claims)... But the origin of all things. The parents of all the gods, and the source of all life, as many divine beings (from Hera to Hypnos) explain repeatedly. The clues scattered throughout the Iliad and the Odyssey point out to the fact the "cosmic couple" might have been originally the water deities of the sea and ocean, before being replaced by the sky-and-earth one ; and this puts under a very different light why the two stayed "neutral" during the conflict, and why Oceanos and Tethys would end up sheltering Hera during Zeus' attack against Kronos...

Key difference 2: Everybody knows the story of Aphrodite being born from Ouranos' sexual organs being cut off by Kronos and thrown into the sea... And yet Homer tells a very different story about Aphrodite being actually a daughter of Zeus. Her mother is a mysterious goddess named Dione - I say mysterious because outside of Homer, and a handful of other things, we know barely anything about her. Most of what we know is that she had an actual worship in the old Greek religion (the grove of Dodona was dedicated to her), and that all analysis and studies point out to her being a female version/counterpart of Zeus. If I recall well, from Homer making her a secondary character in his epics (with a famous scene of her comforting her wounded daughter), Hesiod made her a mere name dropped among the Oceanids.

Key difference 3: In a continuation of the previous difference, Eris, the goddess of discord, also has different parentages in both tradition. According to Homer, Eris was Ares' sister (and thus the daughter of Zeus and Hera) ; Hesiod rather described her as one of the many children of Nyx, the primordial goddess of the night. (In fact, in the Hesiodic tradition Eris took example on her mother and gave birth in turn to many malevolent and destruction personifications ; this was not the case in the Homeric works).

Key difference 4: The story of Hephaestus/Hephaistos being born of Zeus and Hera the... let's say "regular" way comes from the Homeric tradition. Hesiod actually depicts a very different birth-story ; and in quite a twist, most people today remember Homer's genealogy than Hesiod's one. For you see, in Hesiod, Hephaistos was actually conceived by Hera alone, without any male intervention. She had grown jealous of Zeus having a daughter of his own (with Athena coming out of his head). She basically interpreted this as her husband "showing off" and somehow trying to prove he did not need women to have children (I am extrapolating here but that's the core idea) ; so in return Hera decided to have a child all on her own too, and she managed to fall pregnant and have a son with her own power, no Zeus or other god involved... But the result was Hephaistos, ugly and lame.

Key difference 5: Homer placed a lot more focus on Helios than Hesiod. In fact, Helios is so present and so involved in the Homeric epics that he is basically the unofficial "thirteenth Olympian". And, while in Hesiod's Theogony the name "Hyperion" designates one of the Titans born of Gaia and Ouranos, and the father of Helios, Selene and Eos ; in the Homeric epics, instead "Hyperion" is a qualificative/synonym/alternate name of Helios himself, and not at all a distinct entity.

Key difference 6: In Hesiod's cosmogony, the Moirai are a trinity of goddesses, each with their specific name and function - the goddesses we know today. Hesiod even gives two CONTRADICTING birth-stories to explain the origin of the Moirai (if having two conflicting "founding fathers" wasn't enough, we now have a guy who contradicts HIMSELF). Hesiod alternatively describes the Moirai as either daughters of Nyx (and so part of these primordial deities of darkness and doom born somewhere in the mysterious beginnings of time) ; either as daughters of Zeus and Themis (and in this version they explicitely received their powers over fate from Zeus himself).

In Homer, the Moirai are much less defined and personified - in fact, many times - almost all the time - he refers to Fate/Destiny as a singular entity. Not only is the fate goddess singular (except for some parts of his epics that evoke a group of "weavers"), but she is as I said not very personified, not given any attribute, genealogy or description, to the point that... it seems that she was just a poetic metaphor, a rhetorical allegory, a personification more than a goddess. Instead, in the Homeric world it is Zeus that fills the role of the god of fate and destiny - changing fates and weighing destinities on his own ; a far cry from the future image of a Zeus that must bow to the laws of fate.

There are many, many more differences to point out between Homer and Hesiod - but I think those selected fews are enough to show that, even in its "foundations", Greek mythology kept offering alternative and variations ; and that by putting the ancient works back in a correct chronology order, we get fascinating evolutions (Oceanos and Tethys replaced by Gaia and Ouranos ; Zeus losing the paternity of many important goddesses ; Zeus losing his place as a god of fate ; Helios losing importance as time went on, entire deities disappearing such as Dione...)

[halfbaked00q]

having previously had a fandom that was more twitter-based, I can honestly say Id rather mcfkn kermit than have to return to a twitter clone for fandom lmao 8)

the thing is that there IS no site like tumblr- tumblr as a microblogging site gives it this unique-in-this-day-and-age ability to straddle both shortform and longform content. And for all that searches are broken here, *tumblr still has an archive function.* Unlike twitter where theoretically you COULD go scrolling back thru someone's account... it still prioritizes Feed over Archive. Like you can see that behavior on various sites, not sooo much on twit but e.g. instagram where it's seen as "creepy" to like old photos. if you told a youtuber it was "creepy" to watch their old videos theyd rightly call you crazy lmao.

but yeah like. imo even if it's a twitter clone but allows longer text things than 280 characters. it will Not be the same unless there's some kind of archive function. ....idk, what's going on with reddit these days? is it bad there? like I can't think of any other platform - purely from a platform perspective - that would allow for short & long form content, have a feed, but also have an archive function.

I guess maybe dreamwidth, but I'll be honest lmao. I used lj back in the day but it's been so long I Do Not Remember how the site works. and also a journal-format feels more formal, I feel like I'd. feel less comfortable with the e.g. off the cuff half-baked stuff I generate here, lol....

and also also. is there a passive interaction element, like tumblr has? I think my issue w dw is it's a lot more effort to court engagement & seek interaction, right? I mean I guess the flip side is that means the nature of the platform/community demands more active interaction vs passive. but also. idk man. my brain is so fried these days.... sometimes I want to. not do brain thing....

idk man. I have a dw account. I have a pillowfort if that still exists. I do not have a bluesky, I do not know if I will make one. If I do, it'd probably just be to find ppl from here...? (lmao I say that, but I probably WOULD end up spouting off lol...)

but I still. feel like I'd rather retreat to a discord server than go back to a twit-esque based platform. and I :') have a tendency to ghost discord servers lmao,,,,, :') :')