#WHEW. essay be upon ye

[thefirstknife]

Heya! I saw that you are a Destiny lore expert, so I wanted to ask you something: do you think it's possible that Savathûn used Rasputin to shoot the Traveler?

We know that Savathûn somehow saved the Traveler during the Collapse and, as far as I know, nobody told us how yet, but I think it would explain a couple of things like the frozen Hive on Mars and why the Witness needed to gather information about the Collapse specifically from Mars

Now, I realize this sounds like a bit of a stretch and I'm pretty sure I'm missing some lore here (tbh, I still don't know if Rasputin shooting the Traveler is considered canon or not), but I wanted to ask if you think this theory can somehow stand or not

Hey! Thanks for asking :) It's a huge point of interest for me as it's a very unclear and contentious topic! But it's also very important for the lore going forward, with all the recent focus on new information about what happened during the Collapse.

First, to clear things, Rasputin shooting is not considered canon. As a matter of fact, most people consider it a crackpot theory that has been disproven many years ago. For context, this was a very popular theory that got used and abused to prove either that the Traveler is evil (because it wanted to leave) or that Rasputin is evil (because he shot) or that both of them are evil. The theory was incredibly annoying, especially when we didn't have enough information so it ended up being labelled as crackpot.

However, I disagree. The theory was "disproven" before Y3 od Destiny (Shadowkeep release). Shadowkeep, its associated seasons and everything released since has been filled with information that seems to be indicating otherwise. Not to mention that a lot of the new stuff is reframing our understanding of the Collapse and we are probably going to be getting a lot more information about it soon. My post discussing newer information about the possibility that Rasputin shot is here. I wrote it before Witch Queen so there's nothing about the newest info of Savathun being there, but it still mentions many details that seem to indicate that Rasputin may have shot after all.

Now we know that Savathun was involved. We don't know the full details because she didn't want to share them. The best info about her involvement with the Collapse comes from her worm, in Of Queens and Worms quest. This is all we know:

Savathûn’s Worm: Always violent. Fine. Have information. But only this. No more. Ever. Truth you seek. Humanity’s Collapse. Even the Witness deceived. The Witch Queen did its bidding. Earned its trust. Rode alongside to apocalypse. Watched many burn. But the Witness turned a violent gaze to Traveler. Witch Queen projected lies. Clever deceptions wrapped in shadow. Tides turned. Witness sent away, back amongst the stars. Ghost: Are you saying Savathûn deceived the Witness? Is she the reason humanity survived? Savathûn’s Worm: Not the reason. A reason. Not for humanity, but for Traveler. My promise, delivered. Will say no more. Ever.

Savathun deceived the Witness, projected lies and deceptions. This helped turn the tides and the Witness was "sent away." Ghost asks for clarification and the worm says that Savathun's trickery was not THE reason, but one of the reasons why we survived. So Savathun was involved, but she wasn't the only reason we survived. Her trickery helped, but there were other factors like Traveler's own actions and, possibly, Rasputin.

We have no clue what was the nature of this deception Savathun pulled on the Witness. Some theories:

Savathun projected a lie about the Traveler being defeated already which made the Witness leave (this would make most sense given that the Pyramid fleet remained completely dormant outside of the galaxy until the Traveler woke up at the end of the Red War. The Fleet must've thought the Traveler is dead and therefore had no reason to come back until it became clear that the Traveler is still alive).

Savathun tricked the Witness into leaving before the job was done by pretending she will do it herself. This may have involved Nezarec because we now know that he was the disciple assigned to our system and that he led the first wave of attacks on Earth, but he is also known as a "traitor" (to the Witness?) and as someone who commited a sin (to the Witness?). Savathun may have tricked both the Witness and Nezarec into believing that she will finish the job, but then betrayed them and also left Nezarec hanging which led to his death.

There's other theories and possibilities too. It's impossible to tell right now. Both Savathun and her worm were vague, and every other character that can tell us more is indisposed (Rasputin, Nezarec), our enemy (Nezarec, Witness) or we aren't aware of them yet (Neomuna).

However, Rasputin is known to have fought in the Collapse. He was very active and fought relentlessly against the Pyramid Fleet, though none of his attacks worked. He had a protocol ready for the event of the Traveler leaving: shoot it so it would be forced to react. That was the final desperate plan in case everything else failed (which it did).

Is Savathun aware of Rasputin? Was she aware of him back then? Could she have used him? I don't think she would've personally risked damaging the Traveler, since her only goal was to keep it alive, no matter the cost. So Savathun using Rasputin to shoot wouldn't fit her line of work, at least in my opinion. We don't really know and she may have been desperate enough to use Rasputin or just trick him into thinking he's working with an ally.

As you said, the Hive were in our system already around that time. They were on the Moon because the K1 research team scientists mention Hive tunnels and those huge bones in the Hellmouth. Nokris and Xol were also already active at the time of the late Golden Age and the Collapse. The lore on this is from last year's Festival of the Lost (a little bit goofy because it's lore of a Techeun telling Glint stuff during his investigation about "the headless ones"):

"Bray used the tools of the Vex, while Hive blasphemers practiced the magical art of necromancy." Her tone darkened. "Both succeeded, after a fashion."

"The early Hive experiments were done in secret, under the guidance of a powerful Wizard, whose name we'll not mention here."

"Nokris," Glint offered.

However, Nokris and Xol ended up being frozen on Mars until the end of the Red War, when the Traveler's awakening unfroze them. For the record, Nokris and Xol and their Hive were frozen on Mars due to Rasputin. He couldn't fight them so he used a protocol called "Siberian Entropy" to freeze that area of Mars, including his own bunkers and facilities:

"Rasputin activated protocol Siberian Entropy for a long term plan. Did I happen to find him on my own?"

So Rasputin definitely had altercations with the Hive, but it's unclear if he ever interacted with Savathun, knowingly or unknowningly.

Is it possible that Savathun's plan to save the Traveler involved Rasputin? Seems to be. Is it likely she used him? I don't think so, mostly because that's not her way of doing things (she doesn't brute force things; shooting seems more like a Rasputin-only action) and her plan seemed to have been mostly around tricking the Witness. However, if Rasputin did shoot, Savathun could've used the Traveler being damaged to convince the Witness that the Traveler been dealt with.

In my analysis of the new stuff in regards to whether or not Rasputin shot, I mentioned that we know the Traveler was being somehow affected by Darkness during the Collapse. I made a suggestion that the Traveler was being pulled by Darkness' gravity powers, since the Traveler does mention being "pulled":

You want to run, but you are pulled in all directions by opposite and equal forces that hold you perfectly still.

I also made a suggestion that perhaps the Darkness began overtaking the Traveler and the Traveler positioned itself in a way for Rasputin to shoot the part of it that was being corrupted; this would explain why there's a huge chunk of the Traveler missing and why it was blown away by some incredibly powerful force that propelled it possibly thousands of miles away (the Shard of the Traveler in EDZ: the only thing we know about the Shard is that it happened during the Collapse). Darkness doesn't use conventional weapons, neither does the Traveler and neither does Savathun. The only one shooting nukes around the planet was Rasputin.

This could also now be explained with Savathun. Maybe it wasn't the Darkness corrupting the Traveler, maybe it was Savathun's webweaver wizards holding it in place, just like during WQ. Maybe she did that to take the Traveler away and Rasputin shot it because he didn't understand what was happening. Or Savathun did it on purpose to make him shoot so that the Traveler would be forced into a state of dormancy to trick the Witness.

It's unclear right now. I believe we'll get a full explanation once Rasputin returns and we will be able to put this debate to rest once and for all. I think there's reasonable evidence that he did shoot, but all of that evidence can be explained in other ways as well. We just need to find out what really happened. No matter what Rasputin tells us, it should be huge for our understanding of the Collapse, Savathun's involvement, Nezarec and the Lunar Pyramid and the Witness. Rasputin was there and he knows.

And if for some reason he doesn't remember (he was damaged pretty badly in Arrivals), we're still left with Neomuna in Lightfall. Neomuna should be aware of what was going on during the Collapse since they remained hidden and were able to observe from afar. And on the topic of Rasputin, he was the one that helped them stay hidden and even deleted their location from his own database in order to ensure their safety. He's intrinsically linked with Neomuna, the Collapse and our survival.

Ever since Shadowkeep, we've been getting crumbs of new information and lore on the Collapse and what really happened. This has been increasing ever since then and WQ was huge with the reveal that Savathun was there and helped save the Traveler and, by proxy, humanity. But this story isn't over and we still need a lot more information to fully understand what happened. Rasputin waking up has to be a huge source of this information, and so does Neomuna. Probably Savathun as well when she is rezed again, and it's likely that when we assemble all relics of Nezarec, he might drop us some hint or two. And of course, I feel like the Witness will have things to say as well.

I fully believe next season will feature Rasputin up and operational in his new Exo body so he can give us information on his previous fights against the Black Fleet, the Collapse and information on Neomuna. Hopefully he will be able to shed more light on what happened, his perception of the Collapse and possibly, if he was able to identify Savathun's interference, more about what exactly she chose to do. I believe it's possible that Savathun used everything at her disposal to trick the Witness, even if that meant counting on Rasputin to follow his protocols.

[windhamsrotunda]

Roman Reigns x Y/N {Your Name} - "I Like The Way Your Hand Fits In Mine".

Pairings: Roman Reigns x Y/N

Category: FLUFF, Lots of Cuteness. | Angst!

Summary: After a long day at work, Y/N and Roman go clothes-shopping at Y/N's favorite store and then go home to cuddle.

Warnings: Some Language, | Angst! | FLUFF // Cliffhanger at the end!

Requested by: @tribalhotness 💕

Word Count: 2.7k+

Document 17.docx {WRITTEN IN WORD DOCS}.

1 / 8

Y/N taps her fingers upon her desk, pushing her glasses up to the bridge of her nose.

‘’When’s Roman going to come home?’’ She glances over at the clock impatiently. She is stubborn when it came to Roman’s work schedule, she knew he has long and busy work days ahead of him. Sighing, she removes her glasses off of her face and sets them down on the wooden desk, to where she usually does her readings and college essays. Y/N lays her head down on her desk, getting a shut eye as she sleeps in a deep slumber.

*Y/N’s DREAM*

The dream occurred with candles lit up next to the foot of the bed in rows. Roman had come home about late at night. Y/N is waiting by the foot of her bed, the lit-up candles swooshed in the darkness, lighting up the whole room as he walked in.

He dropped his bags down onto the floor, looking to Y/N’s path.  

‘’Oh my god, this is amazing, Y/N.’’ He greets with a smile, leaning in to kiss his girlfriend of 5 years. She swoons in his embraced arms, tangling her fingers into his long, Samoan black hair.

‘’I am glad you like it; I did this for us, baby.’’ She smiled softly, as her boyfriend Roman cups her face delicately with one hand, while his other hand was in Y/N’s, he says:

‘’I like how your hand fits into mine.’’  

The way Y/N blushes are adorable to Roman, she kisses him on the lips and took him to the side of the bed. Plopping down on the bed next to her boyfriend, she strokes the side of his face.  

Daydreaming inside a dream is lucid, although, she kept herself in check and didn’t want to ruin the rest of the surprise. Y/N’s body was comfortable next to Roman’s, her body shifted to face him.  

‘’You are my sunshine,’’ She crinkles her nose cutely as her hands falls into his.

‘’My only sunshine,’’ He sang back, surprised that he knew the song.  

Receiving a little laugh from Y/N, she looked into his deep, brown chocolate eyes and purses her lips a little. Roman pecks her neck in response from her pursed lips, earning a small and passionate groan from his girlfriend. He hums, scrutinizing her body language. How she sits so perfectly, how the strands of her hair fell delicately on her shoulders, weighing themselves. The exterior of the window a bit crack to get that feeling of life again in the spare bedroom, Y/N says to Roman:

‘’I love the living daylights out of you, Roman. I want to let that sink into your mind and remember I always have your back.’’

He smiles, and kissed her again.

2 / 8

***END OF DREAM***

Y/N woke up, hearing the door handle open to her bedroom, it’s Roman with his luggage in his hands like the dream started out with. She groggily groans, met by her boyfriend, he walks over to the foot of her bed looking at her where she slept on her desk.

‘’Could’ve just slept in your bed,’’ He suggested, giggling a little at the marks on her forehead from resting.

‘’Oh, be quiet.’’ She laughs, getting up and walking over to Roman. There, they sit together on the bed before deciding to go somewhere.

‘’Y/N, what do you want to do?’’

‘’Go clothes-shopping with you,’’ Y/N announced, he crinkles up his nose at the idea, but he didn’t mind at all since it’s supposed to be a fun day for him and her.

‘’Okay! Sure thing, baby girl.’’ He kissed her forehead.

When they got to the mall, Roman held hands with his girlfriend Y/N. Of course, Roman has to dress up in disguise so he wouldn’t get recognized by some crazy fan. He only wants to spend time with his girlfriend and have fun going clothes shopping. Y/N gazes upon the lovely dresses they have displayed, feeling the soft and eye-appealing fabric on the dresses.

‘’I love this one,’’ She points at the dress to Roman that she was admiring. Roman smiled and said:

‘’Why don’t you try it on in the dressing room and let me see how it looks on you?’’  

She walks into the dressing room and closed the door behind her. Removing her clothing, she slips on the luxurious black dress, Y/N then zips the backup of the dress and exits the spare dressing room to show Roman. ‘’You look so stunning, love.’’ He smiles softly, his facial expression sweet.  

‘’Thank you so much, Ro.’’ She smiles back; her face flushing in red. He takes his hand into her’s again, going up to the cash register. Y/N bought a lot of things, like richened jewelry, her new favorite black dress, some shoes and lots of scrunchies.  

‘’Is this all of you, ma’am?’’ The woman at the cash register asks, eyes fixated on Roman.  

‘’Yeah,’’ Y/N replies, then realizing the woman at the cash register was googling at her man.

‘’Your total comes up to $77.69,’’ She proclaims, bagging up the clothing and accessories, looking up at Roman every now and then. She never took her eyes off of Roman.

3 / 8

‘’Um, yeah thanks for googling at my man.’’ Y/N said abruptly, pushing the money towards the cash register woman, which causes Roman to giggle a little. ‘’Let’s go, Ro.’’ She takes his hand, and walked away without a trace.  

Supposedly, they are in a state of mind of: ‘’staying in Paris’’, to get away from their parents – The idea of cuddling on a stormy, Monday night watching Netflix series of a clique of girls who are cheerleaders, a type of horror flick. It’s Y/N’s favorite types of movies, however, Roman did not mind the cheerleader movies. Suddenly, he had an idea.

‘'Y/N?’’ he announces during the movie.

‘’Yes?’’

He taps his fingers upon her lap, and says:

‘’This is very weird of me to ask, but how about we pause the movie and listen to our favorite songs?’’  

She looks at him in direct contact, she grinned.  

‘’And dance?’’ She inquires, getting up off the couch.

‘’To slow and reverb songs, of course.’’

{A/N - I am obsessed with slowed and reverb versions of songs I like, so it’s type of an aesthetic mood I go through; Anyway, on with the fic.}

Roman got up off the couch too, and opened his iPhone to play a song by The Neighbourhood, but in slowed version.

‘’This seems familiar,’’

‘’Like 7 years ago familiar.’’ Roman added, running hands through his hair.

Y/N hummed to the beat of the song, then recognizing the ‘’heart beat through the floor beat’’ that she hasn’t listened to in forever ago.

He extends his hand towards her hand, to where they danced slowly under the dimmed lights of the living room. The world stops between the two of them, the echoes through the song seems as if Y/N and Roman are romanticizing it.  She lays her head down on Roman’s shoulder while they dance.

***Y/N’s FLASHBACK TO 2014***

4 / 8

Y/N was at the bar with Roman, the first time they met – was magical. The song SWEATER WEATHER played in the background of the bar through the speakers,

‘’Care if I get you a drink?’’ His charming smile was contagious to her, she couldn’t say ‘’no.’’ to the Samoan man, whose face was so sunny. She felt lovesick to the 6’3 guy, feeling like ‘’he could hold both her hands in the holes of her sweater.’’ Afterward, Y/N was out of the bar with the Samoan

‘’Thank you so much for a wonderful night,’’ He smiles, before he turned his back, he remembered to keep in contact with Y/N.

‘’What’s your name?’’ She asks, feeling in love on a Friday night.

‘’My name is Roman, but you can call me Ro.’’ Her cheeks heated up when he wrapped an arm around her waist. The feeling of Roman’s huge arm around her waist was ‘’superior’’, yet ‘’so good.’’ ‘’You alright, baby girl?’'

She snapped out of her thoughts, she looked up at Roman.

‘’Yeah, just stared off into space for a little there---- And my name is Y/N. Y/N L/N.’’  

He laughed, ‘’Well, it’s nice to meet you, Y/N. Let me take you home.’’

So, they got in Roman’s car together to drive off to Y/N’s house -  

‘’What brings you here in Florida?’’  Roman asked Y/N.

‘’Oh, well I am visiting family and I decided to go on vacation. I take care of animals at a local animal shelter – it's called Pet Resort.’’ She replied.  

He hummed at her, smiling.

‘’Interesting,’’ he said, his arm still wrapped around her waist as he pulled up to her house. The both of them got out Roman’s car, there, Y/N stumbled a little due to the fact she got a little drunk.  

‘’Whew,’’ she said, almost falling on her ass.

‘’Easy there.’’ Roman tried his best not to laugh at his new friend Y/N, but helped her back up on her two feet.  

‘’Thank you,’’ She half-drunk slurred, smiled widely at Reigns.  

‘’Anytime, baby girl.’’

---------------------------------

5 / 8

‘’Y/N?’’ Roman snapped a finger in front of his girlfriend’s face, to which she got caught daydreaming.

‘’Huh?’’ she shook her head, eyes up at her boyfriend.

‘’What were you daydreaming about...?’’ He asks her in a bit of concern, and stopped the music.

So, she played stupid and abruptly told him:  

‘’Nothing, I was just daydreaming about unicorns.’’

‘’Unicorns?’’ Roman’s face is now puzzled, trying to figure out his girlfriend. ‘’Nah, baby girl. You were daydreaming about something else. Come on, tell me the tribal chief the truth.’’ Her cheeks heat up with red, his huge finger now on her tilted jawline.  

She shifts her body weight to turn her back, standing in embarrassment, Roman folds his arms across his chest. ‘’You can tell me anything,’’ he says.

‘’Nope.’’ She bravely answered, running away without a sight and headed into her downstairs bedroom to lock the door behind her.  

He groaned with frustration in response, basically playing a game of ‘’Tag, You’re It’’ or ‘’Hide and Seek,’’ Roman wasn’t up for the challenge of finding his girlfriend. But he has to get an answer from her one way or the other. He knocked on the door.

‘’Baby girlllll, can’t hide from the chief foreverrrr.’’ He sang in a cocky tone, kicking the door with his foot.  

‘’Y/N is not here right now!’’ Y/N yelled, army crawling underneath her bed. That pissed him off, he kicks the door open and walks in to the entrance of her bedroom. Looking everywhere for her, he then sees two feet buried underneath of Y/N’s bed. Roman crouches down to meet her laying on her stomach.

‘’Get the hell out of there, you damn childish woman.’’ She declines his demands, so he has to pull her out by her ankles, receiving a big yelp from his girlfriend.  

‘’So uh, I guess you won the game of Hide and Seek?’’ she jokingly says, he rolls his eyes in a reply.

‘’Hide and Seek is for little girls and boys,’’ He pouts, tapping his foot on the wooden flooring of Y/N’s bedroom.

She stands on her tippy toes to kiss her boyfriend, then ran away again.  

‘’Oh, my fucking god Y/N! If you don’t tell me what you were daydreaming about, I am leaving.’’ He threatens, feeling like he’s being toyed with.

6 / 8

She stops in her tracks, and walks calmly back to her boyfriend. Y/N pushes her glasses up at the bridge of her nose, and says:

‘’Fine, so be it since you want to be Mr. Badass.’’ She utters, staring at the tempered Samoan Man.

She turns her back, making a great mistake. He turns her around without any warning and hoists her up. ‘’Ahh! Let me go!’’ she yells.

‘’No ma’am.’’ He growls, carrying her body weight on his broad shoulders. He then sets her down on her couch. ‘’Are you going to tell me?’’ Elbows pressed down on the arm of the couch, with hands resting in his cheeks as he stared at his girlfriend Y/N in deep consideration.

‘’Fine!’’ she chokes out, ‘’I will tell you! It was a 7 year ago memory, from where we first met and I fell drunk on my ass that night, you literally had to carry me inside my house.’’ Y/N’s embarrassed, now the tribal chief had gotten her attention, her strand of hair fell down on her face. She continued:

‘’The song that was playing was our favorite song, Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood. How it was so nice of you to carry me in the house like that, with your strong ass self.’’ Smiling weakly, her breathing got shallow like cold ocean waves hitting against human’s flesh.

He looks at his girlfriend, about to cry. ‘’No, don’t cry---’’

She cuts him off with a firm: ‘’You’re not the Roman I’ve met!’’ and left the room.  

Leaving the head of the table stunned, he slams his fist down on the arm of the couch, shouting: ‘’DAMN Y/N! THEN AFTER ALL OF THIS TIME, WHAT WAS I TO YOU!?’’

Memories flashed before Roman’s eyes, 2-3 years ago from him telling his girl Y/N about his leukemia coming back, telling the whole world who was in the audience that day and watching at home -  

‘’I am sorry.’’ He plops himself down on the couch, hands folded into his lap and bowed his head down. Closing his eyes, he pictured better days with Y/N. Attempting not to cry, he gives a deep exhale of frustration and hurt inside of his gut. Rubbing his head, he lays his body down on the couch. Tapping his foot at the end of the arm of the couch, his mind’s scattered like papers scattered on a desk after studying. You know how your brain hurts right after studying and taking time-management on for college? You know that feeling deep down inside for when you give it your all for your fans, your girlfriend, your friends and family? Me too. I’ve been there before.

The soft guitar strings play in the back of Roman’s mind; his eyes sewn shut, trying not to remember the gut-wrenching feeling he gave Y/N. He has to apologize somehow.

7 / 8

Hours of sleep wasted away, his heart pounded hard in his chest, waking up to Y/N sitting on the arm of the couch, she looked at him.

‘’You’re just not the Roman I’ve met.’’ She muttered quietly, fumbling with her pockets, unsure of to forgive Roman or not.

‘’Sweetheart...’’ He fights back piles of tears starting to form in his chocolate brown eyes, trying not to get worked up over the ‘’You’re not the same person I’ve met 7 years ago.’’ comment.

She takes an inhale of oxygen, then exhales. Attempting to stay content, her body sent shivers down her spine coldly. Getting up, she gives a glance at Roman burying his hands in his face. She never saw him cry like this, ever before in the past 7 years. Of course, it was small cries, or a good 30 second cry.

Walking over to the presence of Roman, Y/N hugged him tight into an unforgettable embrace. They sat there, hugging each other for about 10 minutes.

‘’I never want to lose you,’’ she whispers, stroking the Samoan's long black strands of hair.

‘’You won’t lose me, trust me.’’ He mumbles, wiping his tears away with his black tank top.

Her eyes grow with trust, meaning she trusted in what Roman was telling her – that she would NEVER lose him. And he would never lose her. She knows deep inside of her everything Roman told her was true, the usual ‘’I love you’s’’ and ‘’You look beautiful today’’ was the reason why Y/N had stayed alive. This is not a cliffhanging ending, nor a bad ending – it is a happy ending between the two of them.

‘’Y/N?’’ he turned his attention to Y/N, who was blubbering.

‘’Y-Yes, Roman?’’

He stops what he is saying, and places his hands into his girlfriends’ of 5 years.  

‘’Will you marry me?’’ He proclaims aloud, shaking his head yes in all smiles at the reaction of Y/N, the words that came out of her mouth are: ‘’I say yes!’’ She cries in joy, hugging her newlywed fiancé tightly. Roman Reigns isn’t always your cocky heel character, but he sure knew how to make things better.

‘’I love you, Y/N Anoa’i.’’

‘’I love you too, Roman.’’

---END---

8 / 8

[barryslightningrod]

Hey!🤗 How ‘bout 27, 28 & 39! Thank you!✌️

27. best review you ever got

I love every review I’ve ever gotten ❤️ Including the gif responses on Tumblr 😂 But these are some I’ve saved to read when I’m having a bad day that make me laugh or make me tear up. I couldn't pick one and they remind me how much fun this is:

“My word! This fic is amazing! What I loved most about it was that it's quite poetic and artistic in creating its own canvas of Barry and Iris, how colourless both of them felt after the breakup and how full of life they are together. I genuinely enjoyed the art commentary at the beginning and the seriously hawt sex. Hot damn. The paintbrush should have grossed me out but it was seriously hot af.”

“Where does one even start with this precious story you've given us? You paint such a beautiful setting with the ice cream parlour and Noah's feelings of having to work on such a busy summer day and of course, the sweet West-Allen family. I love the idea that Barry and Iris's love creates this little bubble around them that protects them and that they unintentionally get lost in their own little world with just the two of them. It only makes sense that this little world would expand to include their two sweet children. So much loves abounds between them, so much so that even Noah can see it in such a short amount of time. This story captures all that Barry has ever wanted: building a life with Iris and making their own traditions with their children while also keeping the memory of his parents alive as best as he can. Goodness. This is truly such a special little story.”

“Whew, chile....this had my blood pumping first thing in the morning. LOL. OOC or not this was SUPER HOT so thank you for sharing.”

“Once again, love the character reveal, specifically, Iris's determination, self-reliance and work ethic, even while masturbating! But like you say in one of the comments, I can only imagine that she does feel like this regularly. While there are many, many benefits of being with a speedster, there are a ton of drawbacks and regular loneliness is one of them.But check out how neither of them is surprised when Barry returns. She's relieved and not embarrassed and he just comes in and finishes the job without hesitation. sigh.”

The stories I've read from you so far are perfect in rendering the sheer emotion that's generated between these two. You can really feel the palpable force or love and pain, joy and sorrow between them. It makes reading that much more enjoyable”

“OMG *CRIES* THIS WAS SO TENDER AND SO FLUFFY CUTE I DIE!!!!!This cuteness is TO MUCH FOR MY POOR HEART *AHH*I DONT THINK THERE ARE WORDS ENOUGH TO EXPRESS MY LOVE FOR THIS OMG (Hence all the caps)“What’s your treasure, Daddy?” Don poses.“You guys are my treasure,” Barry answers with soft reverence, the glimmer in his eyes as he looks upon hischildren visible even from where Iris stands, and her heart swells so tremendously that she feels it might burst."*flows of tears* OH MY GOSH!!! BARRY ALLEN IS THE BEST FATHER EVER SERIOUSLY..I MELTED WITH EACH WORDHE WOULD SAY TO HIS KIDS AND HOW LOVING AND CARING HE IS OF THEM WHILE IRIS IS AWAY GAH MY HEART“You’re my treasure, you know that?” she murmurs, clutching him more tightly.His beaming in response is instant as he recognizes that she’s been home all along, and he slides an arm down her back to tug her close to him while they head to their bedroom together.Yup, Iris thinks to herself as she leans her head against her husband's shoulder, upholding what she always believed. I wouldn't change a thing."*DEAD WITH FEELS* AHHH IF THE INTERACTION WITH THE TWINS WASNT ENOUGH, THIS WITH IRIS WAS THE CHERRY ON TOP!!!! GAH SHE LOVES HIM SO MUCH!!! SHE WAS TOTALY IN AWWS OF HIM AND I CAN'TI HOPE WE GET SOMETHING LIKE THIS IN THE SHOW BECAUSE IF NOT IMA RE READ THIS A MILLION TIMES OVER.. IM LIKE DROWNING WITH FEELS RIGHT NOW ITS NO JOKE LOL THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!*Goes to a corner to cry some more happy tears*”

“Gorgeous! Iris's love for Barry is so tangible here, and I love how you managed to draw out how Barry says things to Iris and waits for her to interpret them for them both! Such a great piece, and one of my favorite moments! Thanks for writing and sharing!”

“You write sexual sensuality so well. It's so beautiful. It's like you really understand their characters and how they would approach their relationship. Well done, as always!”

“So much perfection. I can practically feel the smut that is to follow. The sizzle is REAL. And how wonderful that Grant's tweet inspired this! Just another wonderful after-effect to CP&GG's flirty twitter convo. hehe.This is my favorite:"His reply is instant. Right now? Your legs, he admits."Lmao. It's just so...like a knee-jerk response. He doesn't think much of it, just answers the question honestly & immediately, and just so casual. That stops immediately with HER VERY SUGGESTIVE response. haha. Oh goodness. But all of this was so lovely & steamy, in only a way yours can be. It's sexting for crying out loud & yet the UST is just...I mean..."Goddammit, Iris."XD So fabulous. Can't wait for your next piece!(Oh & also! - Even for The Flash? Especially for The Flash. lol)”

“Thank yo so much for this amazing fic. I wanted a fic like this for so long, even though about writing it myself but with lack of time it's hard. This is everything I wanted, because ever since she said she couldn't stop thinking about him and really wanted a fic where that was the case and you did it perfectly. Thank you. This is magnificent.”

“This is beautifully written. I wouldn't class it as smut per se but it is most definitely erotic and the pacing was perfect for a short story. I couldn't believe it was only 600+ words because you managed to get so much in there: Iris' regret, Barry's longing which turned into his conviction when they did get it right. Thank you so much for sharing and I hope to see more from you.”

“I couldn't get through a sentence without crying and trembling (you fuck me up). Wow! you took my breath away. It took me forever to finish reading because I had to stop and wipe my eyes several time. Excellent execution! Thank you”

“You did them justice with this short piece. A blow job has no business sounding this romantic, but it is, because you channeled the WestAllen into your words with your amazing talent. Thank you for sharing!”

“Beautiful story. Perfectly in character. I could definitely see them having "private" vows and "public" vows and that Barry would be the one to suggest it....he's such a romantic. Loved this so much and thanks for writing.”

“Ok for real, you are soo sooooo talented and I always look forward to reading your fanfics, those writers should reaaaaally hire you one of these days. Am supposed to be prepping for an exam but am literally glued to my phone right now reading and re-reading your fics, but what can I say.... TOTALLY WORTH IT:-P!!!”

“Inksmudge does westallen better than the tv show does westallen”

“AND PLEASE BE RESPONSIBLE THAT THIS FIC MADE ME SOOOOO TURNED ON AND SEXUALLY FRUSTRATED THINKING ABT WESTALLEN GET ON AFTER SEEING CANDICE AND GRANT GORGEOUS HIATUS FACES ON THEIR RESPECTIVE INSTA TODAY KNOWING DAMN WELL ILL NEVER GET OT ON THE SHOW”

“Whenever I see you posted a story, it's like fanfic christmas or easter. You know, because you don't do it a lot so whenever you do post it's special. It's like when you open your ask on tumblr. I'm just like "Ohh Ink is Back, YAY!" No matter what the story is about. Cheers!”

“I don't know how you do it--how you manage to integrate love, lust, grief and sadness into one beautiful thing. This particular chapter feels like a combination of the ones that came before in terms of themes. Iris trying to maintain on her own, the struggle to have and give up control, her beef with the Speedforce, etc. But I would also like to point out just the DAMN GOOD WRITING. Your writing is so fluid and your vocabulary so rich that you kind of make it look easy, to be honest. But sentences like these are just real gems://She cries his name loudly, moans in euphoria like she needs the Speed Force, God, whoever took him to hear her as a vengeance, to know that she had him back and was never letting him go.//That line just won't let me go.”

28. worst review you ever got

I can't remember if it was my brief story about Barry and Cisco getting haircuts together or the little story I wrote about drunk Iris after Cecile’s baby shower, but someone on Fanfiction.net reviewed it as just “Stupid.” I deleted the comment 😂

39. do you want to be published someday? 

I would yes, but I think I would want to be published for poetry or a personal narrative essay as of now. I don’t have many ideas for original fiction at this time, but I would be thrilled to be published for that one day. A girl can dream 😔

[sneakystorms]

I’m compiling my “reading campbell as an utena fan” reblogs into one post cuz that was getting ridiculous. 

Literally no one asked for this but i took Campbell’s hero with a thousand faces out of the library and I’m going to note anything that reminds me of revolutionary girl utena. Here we go

Literally the first thing in the book, a picture of medusa’s head. I’m suddenly reminded of how much emphasis there is on anthy’s coiling locks of hair as well as her eyes. I read in a liveblog that it’s significant kanae was struck by seeing anthy’s eyes when she removed her glasses - the glasses serve as a protective measure meant to conceal anthy’s emotion, but also her power. Reminds me of how modern reimaginings of medusa always wear dark glasses to not turn people to stone.

Page 7, on unsolved childhood issues: “we remain fixated to the unexercised images of our infancy, and hence disinclined to the necessary passages of our adulthood” It’s not very revolutionary to suggest that this is one of the main themes of the show; akip remains in his adolescent state of having left behind his childishly idealistic self (or rather been forced to leave it by anthy) but refusing to progress to true adulthood, choosing rather to fruitlessly chase that childhood state. Other characters are guilty of this too, of course, but it’s less striking because they’re actual adolescents - this is a somewhat expected (though Campbell wpuld argue, not natural) stage in their development, whereas akio is clearly past his due date and dragging everyone down with him.

Page 30, on myths and fairy tales - “typically, the hero of the fairy tale achieves a domestic, microcosmic triumph, and the hero of myth a world-historical, macrocosmic triumph” Not super relevant to rgu itself, but I’d often wonder about the relationship between myth an fairy tale, seeing as rgu relates heavily to both. Utena’s revolution, in the end, is microcosmic - she helped a friend, and achieved a higher degree of self awareness than before.

Page 32, on the world navel: “the torrent pours from an invisible source, the point of entry being the center of the symbolic circle of the universe, the Immovable Spot of the Buddha Legend, around which the world may be said to revolve. (…) the tree of life, i.e., the universe itself, grows from this point. It is rooted in the supporting darkness; the golden sun bird perches on its peak; a spring, the inexhaustible well, bubbles at its foot. Or the figure may be that of a cosmic mountain, with the city of the gods, like a lotus of flight, upon its summit, and in its hollow the cities of the demons, illuminated by precious stones.” WHEW. Where to even begin. In the context of ohtori this would obviously be the gate in the forbidden forest, and the arena itself. There is a spring of sorts at its bottom (even a wall of water), and a bird figure features at the gate. The arena with its staircase resembles a rose, which is close enough to a tree. You could even see the black rose’s basement as the demon hollows.Of course, we eventually find out that it’s all fake, a stage set by akio with anthy’s help, which in this context positions akio as a sort of false god.

Page 35, again on the world navel: “wherever a hero has been born, has wrought, or has passed back into the void, the place is marked and sanctified. (…) someone at this point discovered eternity. (…) the one who enters the temple compound and proceeds to the sanctuary is imitating the deed of the original hero. His aim is to rehearse the universal pattern as a means of evoking within himself the recollection of the life-centering, life-renewing form.” This one mostly caught my attention because of the word eternity, but then i thought of dios’s grave… Since his grave, the arena and akio’s planetarium are really one and the same, it could easily follow that anyone who enters it is seeking to emulate dios, or the prince archetype in abstract. This certainly applies to utena and akio, and perhaps other duelists as well to some extent.

OH WE GETTING TO THE TASTY PART NOW…… ANTHY TIME BITCHHH ITS THE MEETING WITH THE GODDESS CHAPTEROk immediately I’m struck by the phrase “the queen goddess”. I know akio says he thought of anthy as a goddess once, I’m trying to remember if anyone ever refers to her as a queen… she’s mostly seen in context of the princess-witch dichotomy but once you really get down to it it’s more complicated, like is the rose bride basically the epitome of the princess archetype? It does include hyperfemininity, victimhood, obedience, passivity and power that can be obtained by marrying her but which she cannot wield herself… but the rose bride role is also explicitly tied to the witch, since it’s anthy’s punishment for imprisoning dios… It’s also interesting how despised she is - the princess role is supposed to be respectable (especially if we connect the princess witch dichotomy to the Madonna whore complex) but anthy is constantly mistreated and degraded - which, yes, makes her more of a princess in Utena’s (and the viewer’s) eyes, but is also a direct result of her role as the rose bride. If the rose bride position is basically the dragon that the prince has to save the princess from then can the rose bride be synonymous with the princess?Wait I was originally going to talk about something else I think. Well anyway I guess the Ockham’s razor is that the narrative had to make sense somehow and couldn’t JUST be metaphors but. Idk man food for thought. Maybe the rose bride as a role is supposed to be a blend of the princess and witch traits, or maybe it’s meant to showcase how the two are just different sides of the same coin. Anyway I’m one sentence into this chapter and my bedtime is in 7 minutes

Campbell describes the two types of goddesses as representing the good mother - forever youthful, beautiful and kind - and the bad mother - split here into four types but generally cold and distant. I’m tempted to connect the two to the princess and the witch (or the Madonna and the whore) but Campbell explicitly connects the bad mother to Diana and emphasises her chastity, when sexuality is such a big part of both the witch and the whore… hmm

K it’s late so I’ll continue sometime else but I wanted to mention that this whole thing was a result of reading this fantastic essay on anthy and specifically the part about Campbell’s goddess

Page 97, still on the goddess: “woman, in the picture language of mythology, represents the totality of what can be known. The hero is the one who comes to know. As he progresses in the slow initiation which is life, the form of the goddess undergoes for him a series of transfigurations: she can never be greater than himself, though she can always promise more than he is yet capable of comprehending. She lures, she guides, she bids him burst his fetters. And if he can match her import, the two, the knower and the known, will be released for every limitation. Woman is the guide to the sublime acme of sensuous adventure. ” This is the passage quoted in the essay that inspired me… The part about transfigurations is painfully reminiscent of anthy for sure, but the “she can never be greater than himself” sounds more like utena to me, makes me think of that digibro quote about how romantic interests in self insert power fantasy shounen anime (either Sao or asterisk war in this case) are often supposed to be the second best warrior right after the number one hero because they’re a sort of status symbol but of course can’t undermine the hero’s ego. Similarly akio wants utena at her strongest and only wants her because she is the strongest but still wants her beneath him. Also the phrasing of “the knower and the known” is so telling…. Even if a woman is meant to signify great knowledge it’s still in a way that makes her something passive, an object for the hero to consume. This reminds me of the born sexy yesterday video where he remarks on how even if the female character is supposed to be impossibly wise it just means the male hero is the one who gets to “discover” her

Page 99, still on the meeting with the goddess: “and when the adventurer, in this context, is not a youth but a maid, she is the one who, by her qualities, her beauty, or her yearning, is fit to become the consort of an immortal. Then the heavenly husband descends to her and conducts her to his bed-whether she will or no. And if she has shunned him, the scales fall from her eyes; if she has sought him, her desire finds its peace” God, what a creepy and accurate way to portray utena and akios relationship. He sees her as worthy of becoming his bride, he rapes her, he almost has her serve herself to him on a golden platter until she decides to pick up the sword and fight him. He sees himself as her god.

desktop is really fucking this up depending on what device i rb on but alas. lets continue. surprisingly enough i don’t have much to say about the woman as temptress chapter in relation to anthy because now that i think about it, the men of ohtori don’t really see her as one? nanami does, and maybe kozue too, but anthy generally isn’t very proactive when it comes to romance or sex… I guess Miki would be the closest example, since she seems to consciously try and get his attention by playing the piano, but Miki is pretty oblivious to it, so.Trying to think of other characters who might fit that trope… Kozue does act pretty provocative both towards the random dude she flirted with and Miki, but their relationship is one I don’t have much of a grip on tbh. Really the tempting spotlight is pretty firmly on Touga and Akio in this show haha

reading the “atonement with the father” chapter and, like, it’s kind of annoying how much the male hero is the default in this book, with the female hero only an occasional mention, but it does remind me of anthy’s incredibly fucking disturbing line about how akio is “more like her father” since their parents are nowhere to be seen. i don’t really have anything profound to say, but it is pretty interesting that parents are such a non-entity in rgu, given how prominent the mother and father figures are in psychoanalysis and archetype theory. should akio be read as anthy’s father, acting as one in the absence of the real thing, the same way he acts as the chairman? i’m not super familiar with the electra complex theory, but if the resolution to the oedipus complex is letting go of the unhealthy attachment to to mother and reconciliation with the father, i guess the analogous resolution to the electra complex would be letting go of the father? which anthy, in this reading, does do… but then again in rgu it’s akio who rapes anthy and we see him rather than her initiating sex so i doubt the writers had uncritically reproducing freud’s theory in mind

nothing too insightful but in the chapter the magic flight campbell talks about a welsh myth about Caridwen and she seems like a perfect witch character

page 209, on freedom to live - campbell quotes the end of the grimm brothers’ little briar rose, but precedes it with “When the Prince of Eternity kissed the Princess of the World, her resistance was allayed”. the phrasing of course caught my eye, but i’d never really seen anyone go in depth about the similarity between sleeping beauty and utena’s childhood story… the shadow-faced version that sometimes appears at the start of an episode omits utena sleeping in her coffin, but includes the prince kissing her tears away - something that did happen in the ep34 flashback, but was not what made baby utena get up. i suppose i don’t have anything terribly profound to say about the relationship between rgu and sleeping beauty, aside from some similar elements - the sleeping princess kissed awake by her prince, the princess in the grimms’ version being called briar rose, and the unspecified thorny bushes possibly being roses as well… and the witch, of course

page 259, matrix of destiny. “The universal goddess makes her appearance to men under a multitude of guises; for the effects of creation are multitudinous, complex and of mutually contradictory kind when experienced from the viewpoint of the created world. the mother of life is at the same time the mother of death; she is masked in the ugly demonesses of famine and disease. The Sumero-Babylonian astral mythology identified the aspects of the cosmic female with the phases of the planet Venus. As morning star she was the virgin, as evening star the harlot, as lady of the night sky the consort of the moon; and when extinguished under the blaze of the sun she was the hag of hell” campbell continues to insist on tying every female character back to the mother, which doesn’t really seem to be very relevant with anthy, but i’m digging the various aspects of the woman. seems interesting to me how this is at least the second time he’s characterised the woman in myths as someone constantly changing roles and aspects (first time was on page 97) whereas i don’t really see this tendency in male characters. women seem to need to constantly adapt, shift their identity to suit the male character, who is allowed to remain stably himself. also fascinating are the particular archetypes campbell brings up - the virgin (princess), the harlot (rose bride? the position does seem to be given respect on some level, but in practice she doesn’t get much... add to that the design elements tying her to the “scarlet woman”, and possibly even the playboy bunnies, and her duties do seem to include sleeping with every Engaged if the movie is anything to go by), consort of the moon (we all know what akio and anthy’s connection to the moon...) and the hag of hell (witch)

this has very little to do with rgu but reading the Mwuetsi/Massassi myth kinda makes me sick lol!!! not only does it include the first man being given a woman but he symbolically impregnates her with some oil from a horn (subtle, also done without her knowledge since she was asleep) and she gives birth to all the plants on earth. ew

UH OK HE THEN GOES ON TO SLEEP WITH HIS DAUGHTERS.... AND THEN TO RAPE HIS NEXT WIFE.......... MR CAMPBELL CAN I GO like i know it’s old myths so it’s all symbolic or whatever but that doesn’t make it any easier to read lol

page 296, an offhand comment of “The characteristic adventure of the first [type of hero] is the winning of the bride - the bride is life” and my brain automatically supplied “life... eternity... that which shines... the power of miracles... the power to revolutionise the world” LMAO