#all of them are probably actually relevant

[misskingshit]

Hot people

summary: Your new at the tower, a new addition to the Avengers.

note: This is not about anyone in particular, I don’t even know how or where I get this idea from. Probably bc I just watch like 2 Marvel movies and i can’t belive how hot everyone is. Damn. xoxo.

The elevator chimed open and you stepped into the Avengers common room like it was your runway — shoulders back, confidence dialed to maximum, and absolutely no filter installed.

The room was stacked: Steve Rogers. Bucky Barnes. Natasha Romanoff. Tony Stark. Thor. Bruce Banner. Clint Barton. Peter Parker. All of them clustered around the sitting area, mid-conversation, when you made your entrance.

You gave them a slow once-over and loudly announced:

“Okay, what the actual hell? Is this a superhero team or the world’s thirstiest calendar shoot?”

Every head turned. Several mouths opened. No one knew what to say — which meant you were winning.

Tony was the first to break the silence, leaning back with his drink in hand, brow arched with billionaire-level smugness.

“Tony Stark. You’ve probably heard of me. You know — genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Among other things.”

You tilted your head, pretending to think. “Mmm. You’re the guy who made his trauma wearable.”

He blinked. “Okay, well—rude.”

You smirked, stepping a bit closer. “It’s not an insult, sweetheart. I like emotionally unavailable men with expensive toys. That’s my entire type.”

He took a sip of his drink, clearly amused. “You hitting on me, rookie?”

You leaned in slightly, your lips barely parting as you whispered, “Only if you're okay with public humiliation and mild property damage.”

Tony paused, then looked over at Steve. “Tell me again why we recruited her?”

“Because she’s good,” Steve muttered, watching you like he was already bracing for disaster.

Speak of the devil.

You turned to Steve, eyes sweeping up and down like you were scanning a museum exhibit.

“Captain America,” you said with a little bow. “Tall, blond, muscular, morally upright… Let me guess, missionary and emotional aftercare?”

He coughed into his hand. “I… I don’t think that’s relevant.”

You smiled, sauntering closer. “Sure it is. I like to know my teammates inside and out.”

Tony choked on his drink.

Steve tried his best to hold your gaze, but his ears were already pink. “I—uh—welcome to the team. We’re glad to have you.”

You leaned closer and whispered, “If you ever want to go over my orientation… I’m flexible.”

Steve stared. “Right. Good. That’s… noted.”

Now this was someone you were dying to meet.

You turned and locked eyes with Natasha Romanoff — unbothered, legs crossed, sipping her wine like she was already done with you. She was too gorgeous for her own good and you had zero chill left.

“Natasha,” you purred. “Goddess of murder. You know, I had a thing for sharp women even before I saw you choke a man unconscious with your thighs.”

Her brow lifted. “Only one man?”

“Oh, don’t tease me,” you whispered. “I haven’t even unpacked and I’m already ready to submit. You could train me any day.”

Natasha blinked — then smiled. Genuinely. The rare kind. Which was apparently more terrifying than her knives.

“You’re insane.”

“And yet, here I am. On your team. Coincidence?” You winked.

Bruce was already shifting in his seat like he wanted to disappear behind a couch cushion. You turned to him with a slow, mischievous grin.

“Doctor Banner,” you said sweetly. “Brains, biceps, big green rage monster. Honestly, that’s hot.”

He adjusted his glasses, flustered. “I… um, thank you?”

You sat on the armrest of his chair and leaned in, your voice low.

“I bet you’re the kind who overthinks everything in bed. Like—‘is this okay?’ ‘Are you comfortable?’ ‘Should I write a spreadsheet first?’”

He laughed despite himself, shaking his head. “It’s not quite like that.”

You winked. “That’s okay. I like a man who takes his time. Especially when he’s got two PhDs and stamina.”

Across the room, Thor raised a brow. “Is this part of Midgardian courtship?”

Bruce muttered, “I don’t think it’s courtship. I think it’s war.”

You turned your attention to him, eyes sweeping up and down. “Sweetie, if I’d known they made Viking gods like you, I would’ve joined sooner. Tell me — are all your muscles real, or do Asgardians just inflate after puberty?”

Thor puffed his chest. “I assure you, Lady Warrior, they are very real.”

You gave a dramatic little sigh. “Of course they are. Great. Everyone’s hot. This is exhausting.”

Clint raised his hand like a guy trying to avoid being picked in class.

“Hi. I’m Clint. Married. Kids. Not interested. Please don’t flirt with me, I don’t have the bandwidth.”

You gave him a gentle nod. “Respect. I’m proud of you, Hot Dad.”

He sighed in relief.

“…Also, if your wife ever wants to tag-team and destroy my soul, tell her I’m available Thursdays.”

Clint dropped his forehead into his hands.

Finally, your eyes landed on Peter, who looked like he was trying to become one with the couch. Kid looked like he’d never seen a woman with confidence and cleavage in the same room before.

“Hi, baby,” you said sweetly.

“I-I—Hi,” Peter stammered.

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

You fake gasped. “So young. So full of hope. So easy to emotionally damage.”

“I don’t—I mean, I’m fine. I’m fine, really,” he insisted, panic in his eyes.

You ruffled his hair. “Don’t worry, sugar. I’m only teasing. Mostly. You’re safe… unless you grow a beard.”

Peter looked deeply alarmed.

He hadn’t said much since you walked in.

Bucky Barnes had been watching you from the corner of the room, arms crossed, expression unreadable, the jaw doing that subtle clench thing that said “I don’t trust her” or “I’d let her ruin me,” and frankly, you were hoping for both.

The shadows liked him. So did your eyes.

He had that whole rugged winter soldier thing going — dark hair, stubble, black t-shirt that fit just a bit too well across the chest, and a stare that could probably shut off your nervous system.

You turned to him slowly, giving the rest of the room a wink before locking on like a heat-seeking missile.

“Ah,” you said softly, walking toward him, “there you are. The resident brooder. I was wondering when you were going to say something.”

“I prefer to watch,” Bucky said, voice low, rough. “You talk enough for both of us.”

“Oh, a quiet one,” you purred. “Let me guess: tragic past, long list of regrets, owns exactly one black hoodie, listens to sad playlists when it rains?”

He didn’t smile. But there was something like a flicker of amusement in his eyes.

“Let me guess,” he fired back. “Mouthy, troublemaker, uses sarcasm as a defense mechanism, probably has ‘daddy issues’ in four different languages.”

You grinned like the little chaos demon you were. “Five, actually. But don’t worry, I like it when the men are broken. It makes me feel useful.”

Peter Parker visibly shrank behind the couch. Natasha sipped her wine like it was a soap opera. Steve just closed his eyes and prayed.

You stood toe to toe with Bucky now, tilting your chin up. “You gonna keep looking at me like I’m a threat, or are you gonna admit you like it?”

He was still. Then slowly, his metal fingers flexed.

“You’re trouble,” he said.

You leaned in until your lips were nearly brushing his ear.

“I’m the fun kind.”

His jaw ticked. You noticed. He knew you noticed.

“You gonna flirt with all of us?” he asked, still not backing down.

“Only the ones who look like they could bench-press me and make it weird.”

Tony fake-coughed something that sounded suspiciously like “kink alert.”

You pulled back from Bucky, eyes locked, then glanced over your shoulder at the rest of the team.

“I feel like I’ve made a very strong first impression,” you said, hands on hips.

Bucky’s eyes were still on you as he murmured under his breath:

“Yeah. Like a grenade in a lingerie store.”

And the worst part?

You liked the sound of that.

I DONT KNOW WTF IS THIS I might delete this later.

[dw-opinions-you-wont-like]

No, Wish World is not better than The Wedding Of River Song (in my opinion)

Here's the main reason in my opinion - in the wedding of river song there is a single idea leading that entire episode, which becomes clear quite quickly - River was supposed to kill the Doctor, she refused, breaking time. Everything else is a clear direct consequence of this - the alternate universe itself, Amy, Rory and River being badass agents who rescue the doctor and build a beacon on top of the pyramid to call for help from the rest of the universe, the silence attack at the end, and the resolution.

Is the doctor being the tesselecta the most satisfying resolution? No (although it's not as terrible as people claim in my opinion). But it still all ties together to form a cohesive story.

In wish world you got - a god of wishes who is a baby, Conrad using it to make his wish world that is a 50's sexist, homophobic but seemingly not particularly racist society which also has HUGE DINOSAUR SKELETONS walking around (???). The two Ranis are making Conrad do this not because they want his wish world, but because they want the doctor to doubt that wish world so that they can unleash another time lord (why??) And also all the disabled people are living in a pretty well maintained slum and they know the world is wrong because Conrad doesn't see them, but also Ruby knows because... she lived in 2025 in alternate reality which never happened and she doesn't actually remember??? Also Bel goes out to scream in the forest but then just comes back like nothing happened and reports the doctor anyway, AND Rouge sends a message from superhell (how?? How does he even know what's going on if he's in another dimension??? And by making the doctor doubt isn't he contributing to the Rani's plan because she wants him to doubt????), AND Poppy from space babies being here who is real(???), AND SUSAN????? Oh and the seal of Rassilon which was mentioned once and not explained but will be relevant probably.

It's not impossible that the finale will wrap up all these ideas into a cohesive story (although I doubt that) but as an episode on its own, it just doesn’t hold up.

Also, in the wedding of River Song there are actual emotional character moments - Amy and the doctor reuniting, Amy and Rory remembering each other, Amy killing Madam Kovarion in revenge, River showing the doctor how loved he is by the universe and by no one more than her and them getting married in a beautiful ceramony which restarts time.

Wish world has... the doctor and Belinda at the threshold thingy?? That’s the most I can think of

[tyrantisterror]

Slay the Princess Soft Sculptures Round...4? Let's Say Round 4.

Out of impulsivity (and because I had a whole extra day this weekend to fuck around and a bunch of relevant material left over), I ended up making six more princesses from Slay the Princess. This was not in my original plan - I was going to stop at five! I'd made my top five and that was going to be it! I was going to stop at a sane, reasonable place to end this project!

But, like I said, I had free time, and leftover materials, and an itch to make some more tiny little dolls... and, well, it's safe to say this visual novel has taken a major place of residence in my heart.

So, to keep this sane and avoid, heheh, making ALL of the princesses in the game (that'd be... that'd be crazy, is what that would be...), I settled on making six new princesses. The way I rationalized it is that my previous five princesses were all more or less five of the game's ten major branches that you get in its second chapters. The ten second chapter princesses are: The Damsel, the Prisoner, The Witch, The Beast, The Adversary, The Tower, The Spectre, The Nightmare, The Razor, and The Stranger. My core five were all from different branches of those Chapter Two's - The Apotheosis is essentially the Tower 2, The Eye of the Needle is The Adversary 2, Happily Ever After is Damsel 2, Thorn is Witch 2, and Spectre is, uh, Spectre 1.

That means I had five of the ten main branches covered in one way or another, so, just for fairness, I should cover the five remaining branches, and do one member of the Nightmare, Beast, Prisoner, Razor, and Stranger branches.

...and then also the Fury, who's the DNA digivolution of The Tower and the Adversary, for reasons I'll articulate when we get to her.

And I'm just doing these six! No, I'm not making Long Quiets for them, I've already made enough of the birdy boy. They're just going to hang out as, like... spare princesses. Surplus to requirements princesses.

The Beast

The Beast is much more in line with my overall experience with Soft Sculpture - I've made a LOT of monsters in the past - and I was pretty excited to add her to the lineup. I was split on whether to make her or the Den as my representative of this route, but ended up settling on the Beast because 1. her more humanoid face makes her design read as sphinx-like to me rather than as a monstrous lion, and sphinxes are hot super cool, 2. the Den has, like, 10 limbs I think? She has at least two pairs of arms, wings, and I think maybe more than two hind legs, and that's just... a lot. Also the Den is bigger, and space for these ladies is already in short supply.

I took a few liberties with her design - I mean, that's true for all of them I suppose, but I feel they're a little more noticeable here. Her wings should be behind her dress, first of all, rather than in front of it, but her chest fluff came out really cut and I didn't want to cover it up. Her neck and torso also probably should have been longer, but I like how she came out as is, and the Beast's design was intended to be kind of malleable anyway (which is taken further when she turns into the Den, who mutates and shifts on screen).

The Prisoner

On the most part this model was pretty easy - anatomically she's a very basic princess, and after making so many of these I've gotten pretty decent at making a basic princess. The chains were the hard part, of course, although less in a "how do I do this?" way and more in a "aw fuck how much patience do I have with the very repetitive task of making all these individual chain links" way. Her face came out a bit thinner than I intended, but I actually think that works - she looks very gaunt and underfed, which, given that I like to think of this as the Prisoner specifically during the ending where you and her literally wait for your prison to decay around you until you're free, feels very fitting. It also makes for a nice contrast between her and her counterpart, Happily Ever after, who ended up looking more full figured than intended. The difference between a dungeon and a gilded cage, you could say!

The Nightmare

So, like... the Nightmare is one of the hottest princesses, right? It's not just me? Her route's not one of my favorites because it's one of the ones where you hurt each other a LOT with very little reconciliation, but just in terms of character design, she's a baddie. Or maybe that's just my childhood crush on Hexadecimal talking...

Anyway, not a terribly hard princess to figure out, since she was basically a palette swap of the Spectre in terms of construction and materials used. Her mask was a bit tricky, and I kinda regret that I couldn't make her mouth smaller (canon Nightmare has a really tiny, adorable little mouth with the most cutely sinister smirk to it), but overally I'm pretty satisfied with how she turned out.

The Razor

The biggest hurdle with this princess was figuring out her titular razor blades. I had to use the gardening wire I used in the bigger princess's skeletons for her - the other small princesses just used pipecleaners because the gardening wire is a lot harder to bend into shape by comparison, but the pros of it is that it's a lot sturdier and, since it's not covered in fuzzy fluff, thinner and easier to disguise. The blades were made out of a shiny poster board I found that was glued onto both sides of a piece of craft foam that was cut into shape, and then I glued the thin edge of the longest side onto the underside of the gardening wire. Boom, razor arms that won't bend out of shape and are poseable!

The Stranger

It took me a while to figure out how to approach this princess - I considered making five separate models and gluing them together, but while that would have made parts of the build easier (namely the heads, making the heads was a pain in the ass), it would have resulted in a lot of structural instability. It made more sense to make her in one solid piece and just sort of struggle through making her heads with very little clearance between them. I also initially considered only giving her three heads, because in most shots that's all you can see - but there are a few moments where you can see there's five princesses fused together here, and it makes sense, because in a playthrough of the game you encounter five different routes/princesses, so yeah, of course the Stranger is five of them fused together.

(this also means that, if I were insane and decided to make the Shifting Mount, her main body would ALSO have to have five heads).

It's less clear how many arms she has in the game, but after looking at every pic I could find online and in my own gallery from the playthroughs I've done, I think she has six? That's the best I could tell, anyway. I tried to make sure they matched where they were arranged in the screenshots, and then, because I guess I'm a little deranged, I gave her an equal number of legs to match, even though they're hidden by her dress. On the plus side, it means she's one of the few princesses that can stand on her own.

The Fury

So, somewhere between finishing the last batch of princesses and starting this one, I did a playthrough of the game and got the Fury route, and found out it had an ending I hadn't been aware of before - one where, after she puts you through absolute hell, she breaks down herself after realizing that hurting you hasn't ended her own pain, and you get the option to offer her some forgiveness and grace and help her get out of the cabin with you. And, you know... damn, I actually like that better than the endings of the Eye of the Needle Route. The Fury might be tying with Eye of the Needle for the spot of my fifth favorite princess. Huh.

So, despite her not meeting my sanity criteria, I decided to make her anyway - it helped that I had a lot of red fabric leftover from making Karlach, too. The grisly details of her body, like the fact that a lot of her skin is all bunched up and baggy because it's not actually attaching to her muscles well anymore, and of course that stylized open chest cavity, all presented fun challenges. Her expression is made specifically to fit that one particular ending of her route, which is why it's not the more expected, well, look of fury. They're my princess sculptures, after all - they don't have to represent the princesses as a whole, but specifically what they mean to me.

So that's it! That's the true, final end of me making Slay the Princess soft sculptures! Because if I made more than this... well, I'd end up making all of them! All of them! And that'd be either seventeen or eighteen different princesses, depending on how you count it - the o.g. basic Princess, the Witch, the Damsel, the Cage, the Den, the Tower, the Adversary, the Moment of Clarity, the Princess and the Dragon princess (one-handed lying on hill version AND weird negative photo/chalk drawing version), the Razor II, the Wild (both the one that's a face made of tree branches and the one that's a woman who's fused with a tree), the Grey (both the drowned and burned versions), the Shifting Mound, and, for completion's sake, the Clown Princess that the game's creators made for April Fool's. That's more than twice the princesses I have now, and some of them are pretty big.

And, like, some of those princesses would be very difficult to figure out! The Razor II is literally made of razor blades - how would I keep her structural integrity in tact? The Moment of Clarity's arms aren't attached to her body, instead just floating in the air - how would that work? The Shifting Mound would be an utterly enormous project unto herself, with dozens of tiny princesses crawling around her, all of which have their own heads of hair... she'd need a much wide shelf than the one I have these girls on, too. These are all big conundrums, big ol' hard to figure out and extremely interesting creative puzzles to solve, so, like, obviously I can't do that. It'd be too difficult and challenging and fun! No, wait, strike that last part. But it'd definitely be too much! Where would I even put them all, anyway?

...I do have one more idea, admittedly, that might not be too hard to pull off. I'd like to make some very tiny crows to represent the eleven voices in the Long Quiet's head, and also a mirror with a crow's face in it to represent the Narrator. Those wouldn't be too big of a project or too hard to pull off. I could do those, no problem.

...

...

...kinda want to make the Witch though. A lot of the other princesses feel redundant with the ones I have - the Adversary and the Eye of the Needle are the same in personality for the most part, the Eye of the Needle is just a lot beefier and dragon-y-er and hotter. But the Witch's personality feels really distinct from the Thorn's, and it kinda feels like we're missing a fun piece without the Witch present.

...but can I make her without also feeling compelled to make the rest... hmm....

[astercontrol]

i do find it mostly just funny to see people get all prescriptivistically pedantic about usage of different words for toxins in everyday conversation

but there's also some linguistic curiosity of my own, as to how this classification system works

like. if "venomous" means you get the effect by being bitten (like by a snake) does that mean all toxins that take effect through the bloodstream are venom

does execution by lethal injection count as venom? Does it matter whether intravenous, intramuscular or subcutaneous? (those distinctions are actually pretty important when dealing with medical injections because they do influence the effectiveness of the med, so maybe they also get different names when the injection is for killing instead of healing? i wanna know)

if we have different words for "it kills you if injected inside you through your skin" (venom) and "it kills you if you ingest it through your mouth" (poison) I want a whole vocabulary for all administration routes

i want words for toxic

inhalations

suppositories, both rectal and vaginal

topical cream/lotion/ointment/gel (possibly different words for each)

nasal spray

ear drops and eye drops

all the different types of injections, separately

maybe also further categorize the oral route, because you'd be impressed how much difference it makes whether you ingest something in a capsule, tablet, coated delayed-release tablet, liquid suspension or sublingual melt

if you're gonna police people's words about putting deadly stuff in your body, i want your entire legal system in writing. Not because I'm gonna follow the laws. just because I am autistic and this is the sort of thing i study for fun

[wackywatchdotcom]

Rewatching episode one, I noticed that when Ragatha and Jax are talking to each other about Jax having a key, Pomni flinches away from, and lifts her arms to protect her face and head, when Jax toys with the key and catches it near her.

I wonder if she is that jumpy around others normally or if it's just when she's in a stressful situation (like suddenly being trapped in the circus) what do you think?

OK. ok. you mention this. and ive never said anything about it but i have genuinely noticed this almost every time ive seen that scene. i think about it a LOT but i havent been able to figure out my thoughts on it. but i think about it genuinely a LOT...

(i went on a huge tangent abt her thats like. only sporadically related to this specific moment SORRY. it was hard to address this moment without discussing a LOT about her i feel)

for the sake of clarity in the event someone reading this is unfamiliar, what this ask is referring to is this:

with the way that she so quickly dissociates and HARD (not that most people Never experience dissociation or smth, but its the intensity of it and how quick into this situation she starts dissociating is like. it makes it seem like its smth her body and mind are Used To Doing) she REALLY gives off the feeling that she had pre-existing mental health problems (i struggle to place anything TOO specific with the limited information we have but i feel like theres definitely a few things she has going on) before she even got to the circus, and like she COULD just be a naturally jumpy person, but with the dissociation thing and general distrust towards others, it feels like her jumpiness is also related to these issues

while her being naturally nervous is sort of implied and clear (though i think the extent of it is exaggerated by the circumstances of the pilot in particular) there ARE a few other examples that stand out to me

i THINK this can largely be passed off as her just being on edge from the horror adventure, but i this is IS notable that she reacts genuinely pretty strongly to what is a relatively minor 'jumpscare.' it happens later too w kinger pressing the tape recorder

in general she seems VERY easily startled by people, and frankly it reads a lot like it stems more from people being near her than just things happening abruptly. she notably doesnt jump hard when the angel arrives- she DOES get scared, but she isnt necessarily startled. she DOES react very strongly to ghostly, but i think its notable that she seems to find his visual appearance frightening and debatably not necessarily startling, but thats not really 100%. the times she reacts the strongest have to do with people, which imo ties HARD into her not trusting people

episode 2 breaks down her distrust of people well, and i dont think its a self consciousness thing. it seems more that she just doesnt tend to find people trustworthy- if something bad was happening to her, she would sooner assume theyd let it happen rather than help her. it could be argued that its partially a guilt or projection thing with ragatha, but im not actually so sure. pomni seems to be ashamed of leaving her behind, but particularly through ep 2 she doesnt seemed Plagued With Guilt by the way she acts towards ragatha, which implies that the dream didnt have to do with her projecting that shame in a way shed assume ragatha would turn back on her, too

it instead seems to be that she doesnt trust ragatha just... in general. the 'im not a child' thing, while a legitimate problem for pomni to have with ragatha (i love ragatha, and from my place in the audience i know her concern is genuine, and that she truly wants to encourage pomni, and is trying, but from the perspective of people around ragatha, its not an unreasonable assumption that shes JUST being infantilizing and belittling), does illuminate how pomni is seeing ragathas attempts at cheering her up- that it comes from a place of seeing pomni as immature or generally unstable. that pomni is incapable of managing herself and needs to be coaxed. it implies pomni doesnt see ragathas attempts at help as genuine. combined with her dream, that ragatha would allow the worst to happen to her even when she was asking for help, makes it very clear that, even with the 'nicest' person in the circus, pomni just... doesnt really trust her

(it is worth noting that pomni DOES seem to genuinely want to help ragatha in the pilot. she DID try to find caine. but she bolts at the first opportunity. she does care about people, but when stressed, she operates on keeping herself safe first and foremost, that she needs to do anything to get out of a bad situation even if that means leaving someone behind- and with her dream, it does seem that she generally assumes other people operate similarly, or otherwise in their own best interest)

this does, of course, improve by the end of eps 2 and 3. the funeral, and ragatha offering to include her, and how the others talk about abstracted players (combined with her conversation with gummigoo, someone who she has to assure has genuine friendships with those around him despite the lack of a true reality for them to be based upon), are able to convey that oh, these people do actually care about the people around them. theyre being genuine. they arent just looking out for themselves and thats it- they care when bad things happen to each other. and theres no true reason for me to be an exception. which is ALSO why i dont think its a self consciousness thing, she seems able to reason that shes not an exception to the intents of others, so much that when she cant assure herself that others' intents hold her safety as any sort of priority as well, any trust goes out the window. she WANTS to help if she can, but esp in the pilot, as far as shes concerned, its everyone for themself when shit gets bad, including herself

ep 3, she seems more trusting of ragatha- she has neutral and positive interactions w her, rather than assuming a lack of sincerity in it. but its not just ragatha, actually, because even before her talk with him, you can see it in how she interacts with kinger as well

she initially tries to help him run, which isnt too out there- with how she genuinely DID initially try to help ragatha, it doesnt require her to go out of her way to grab him and RUN. she can run AND take him with her. she can help without putting herself in extra danger. but then she DOES go back, which is one of my favorite and imo underrated pomni moments. because THIS is what i think actually highlights an improvement in how she sees the others before her apologizing to ragatha or taking kingers hand. because she puts herself BACK into (percieved, since its not actual sure WHAT the angels intentions were her) danger in order to get kinger away too

(theres probably a case to be made that ragatha didnt seem to be in immediate danger- she was in pain, that much was clear, but kaufmo had ran away by then. but even still, pomni couldnt have known kaufmo would shift gears and start chasing her instead of ragatha that first time. and i dont know if she actually knew death wasnt possible here yet. which isnt very flattering for pomni but also people do not act in flattering ways under extreme stress, esp given a predisposition to not trusting others, which ill elaborate more on in a second here- not that pomnis abandonment was ok OR that it was like evil of her or smth. shes just a person. there is no way she was prepared to know how to act correctly in this situation, and she didnt)

theres also this

which is SUBTLE but highlights a genuine increase in trust even before their heart to heart. now that she knows the cast (save for jax, who she seems to react to the harshest, which is worth noting imo) are not acting solely in their own best interest, that they WILL consider the wellbeing of those around them including her, that their concern for one another is genuine (which is concerning that she even assumes that to begin with, which ill circle back to momentarily), she very clearly has way more faith in them and the idea that she should stick around the others for safety

and of course, ive said it before, but her taking kingers hand has little to do with her enjoying holding hands. its her knowing that, if kingers wrong, this is going to end very, very badly. if holding their breath isnt the solution theyre BOTH going to get possessed, and who knows how theyd get out of that situation. but she decides in that moment that her trust in the others isnt ONLY about looking out for them and believing that theyre sincere in their concern for her. but that she is willing to let the others put her at a potential massive risk. getting possessed was a blatantly immediately traumatic experience- and she lets kinger put her at risk of it happening again. THATS why she holds his hand, at least symbolically. she doesnt like contact. but she can brave something that she doesnt like, she can let him lead her into and through something potentially horrific, because shes deciding to trust him and the others, that theyre not just people she can interact with without fear of ill intentions, but that theyre people who she is going to coexist with. the best thing she can do for herself and the others is trust them and work with them actively

anyway that got off-track, the point being that her having to have these ideas instilled in her at all through shared experiences and trauma implies that, while these issues with distrust may have been exacerbated by the stress of everything, they didnt come from nowhere. these are problems she likely already had to some degree. its great that theres been improvement but that improvement directly implies thesse were improvements that needed to be made to begin with. and the fact that the person she gets repeatedly most startled by is jax. who, even with episode 2, she explicitly doesnt trust. in the pilot, at least, her distrust is more vague (i think the dream sequence in ep 2 IS what highlights it best) so her flinching from jax can be passed off as related to a general lack of adjustment to the new environment and situation shes in. but it happens again with jax in episode 3 (and, notably, she pauses afterwards but it takes a moment for her to relax even knowing its just jax), after shes adjusted somewhat, and after shes gained some trust with everyone except for jax (given his absence from the scene at the end of ep 2). it also happens when barons voice plays abruptly next to her

point being that imo, she IS naturally jumpy. she says herself that she doesnt handle jumpscares well, which somewhat implies this even outside of the circumstances of the circus. but with how she reacts to things, it feels like her general jumpiness is far, far worse when it comes to people she doesnt trust (be it because jax is Like That, or because shes not familiar with baron). the way i see it, then, her distrust extends to perceiving physical threats easily around people she hasnt ensured are safe to be around. she IS able to gain this trust in people, but she seems to automatically place the intents of others as being Potentially Unsafe from the jump, especially under stress. she can jump back from it fairly quickly for what its worth, but to be honest, it seems more like she operates on some general, everpresent level of hypervigilance thats just sometimes worse based on the situation

and frankly i dont think we know enough about her as of ep 4 to fully determine if there IS a reason for this. because someone can have a reason to be this jumpy around others, or they can just... be nervous and dislike people moving suddenly near them. combined with the dissociation thing, though, im inclined to think the circus did not cause this, just made it more extreme with more unpleasant stakes. there is hardly any time between her entering the circus and this happening. she hadnt even seen kaufmo yet in that very first example, but she was already on alert for a physical threat, and i just. i think about it all the time...

i think the main takeaway from all of this is that i think she isnt necessarily jumpy like that all the time, but i think trust is not a given with pomni, and her jumpiness massively depends on how much she trusts people near her and the situation shes in to not be a physical threat to her. its definitely worse in the circus, but i think it was probably still something present in a different context in the real world, too

[sprucestairs]

Hypnos wins a bet (and a fight) by being left-handed.

Hi I had this idea after noticing that Hypnos holds his quill in his left hand and I thought, huh. Greek warriors like say, Achilles, probably never fought against left-handed people because it was considered like a curse or whatever to be left-handed. Anyway I then proceeded to do 0 research about this and instead write fanfiction.

Another day of mindlessly signing in the visitors to the house, and sneaking in a couple naps so he could do his actual job.

Sure it was boring, and repetitive, but Hypnos found enjoyment in such things. It was almost calming, in a way. When he wasn't getting yelled at for slacking off, that was. Speaking of which...

"Hypnos."

Ah, shit. Than had that look on his face again. The one that meant he was confident he was going to prove someone wrong. Then he stopped dead in front of him.

"I believe that you could beat Achilles in a fight."

...What?

There was no way. Achilles? ACHILLES? Who was hired specifically to be the head of security for the house and personal trainer for Prince Zagreus? THAT Achilles?

"I also may have already placed a bet that you could." Of course he did. Hypnos kicked him in the leg.

"WHY would you bet that I can beat ANYONE in a fight? Let alone Achilles- he's like- one of the greatest warriors the mortal world has seen!"

"But he was mortal. And shades are notably weaker then their living counterparts." Thanatos countered, decidedly ignored his attempt at kicking him.

"But *I* am a poor fighter. Remember what happened with Sarpedon?" Thanatos just waved him off.

"Please. That was because there were far more people trying to fight us, in the midst of a war. This will be a one-on-one fight in a controlled arena." Hypnos narrowed his eyes at him. Thanatos gave him a shit eating grin.

"I'll help you train for the fight, of course." Of course. There was no way out of this one. His brother had made the contract completely airtight. He sighed.

"Fine. Where?"

"There's plenty of training areas in Elysium. I'll find one somewhere near where you reside." Whatever. He nodded half heartedly and turned back to his endless list as his twin exited with a flash of green light. He was actually excited to sign in the countless deceased mortals who ventured across the river Styx now. Better then getting his ass kicked.

~~~

He went home immediately after his shift ended. Knowing Than, he'd barely have time to get a power nap in before he came clanging in with the sound of funeral bells.

True to character, Hypnos was in fact awoken by a clamour of tolling bells, tearing him away from the realm of Sleep where he had been weaving dreams.

Thanatos either didn't notice his glare, or just didn't care.

"Where do you keep your weapon? I can't see it anywhere." He asked instead. Hypnos rolled his eyes. Why waste his time and energy in crafting a place to put his sword when he can just keep it immaterial until the rare occasion he required it. Stopped it from getting lost, as well. His brother appeared unimpressed by the simple instrument.

"You've seriously never made a more... personalised weapon?"

"No need." He grumbled. "This is plenty personalised. I can wield it well enough."

"C'mon then." Than motioned him towards the exit.

The training area Than had found was pretty close by, to be fair. It also happened to hold an unattended spear.

"From one of those hero shades." His brother explained. "It was dropped when Zagreus and I were fighting some of them. I'll have to return it at some point." Hypnos couldn't help laughing at that.

"YOU stole a hero's weapon? Why?"

"It's not stolen!" Thanatos countered. "I'm just holding on to it until I can find the rightful owner. Besides, Achilles fights with a spear. You've got to know how to beat a spear-wielder."

Okay. Well. The spear was here regardless, and it WOULD be better to train against the weapon that Achilles would be using. The twins started out with simple moves, ones their mother had taught them when they were very young. Hypnos, surprising himself, managed to get into the flow of training quicker than Thanatos.

"Damn thing's like an an amalgam of my regular weapons." Thanatos grumbled. "Can't remember how my next move's supposed to go." They continued on for what felt like forever. Eventually, though, the ever present exhaustion plaguing Hypnos grew too large to ignore and he had to return to his realm. The last thing he saw was his brother, resting at his side while planning further training.

This became something of a routine between the two. For a good few days or nights, or whatever passed for such underneath the earth, they would each attend their separate duties in the house and later meet in the same arena to hone their skills. Hypnos almost managed to forget that this whole thing, all this quality time with his brother, was to help him win a bet.

Almost.

Though of course, eventually the day came when he would have to face Achilles in combat. And of course, most of the House had become aware of it some way or another. And Hermes. Because the messenger God knew just about everything except the future. (That was a job given to one of his own many brothers.)

"Alright there, Hypnos?" Zagreus slung one arm around his shoulders as he spoke, bringing him close to say, in an exaggerated whisper, "remember, his heel is his weak spot." Hypnos's only answer was to roll his eyes. If no one had known about that weak spot, Achilles would've come to the underworld far later.

He found himself... nervous. He often was, the few times anyone had bothered to task him with something important, but this was different. In a way, this fight placed his own honour and status as a God on the line. Even though it was a carefully controlled arena, and mostly recreational, if he lost this fight, he would become known as the god weak enough to be bested by a mortal shade.

Zagreus seemed to realise he wasn't in the mood for jokes, switching to a rambling tale of his latest (and probably vastly exaggerated) attempt at reaching the surface. He was only partly listening, though. He was busy trying to fine tune his plan to best Achilles. He knew he had far less stamina than the other gods, but how did that compare to mortals? One trained as a warrior, at that. Was it possible that Achilles could be faster than him? He just didn't know, and wouldn't until the fighting began in earnest.

Thanatos had tried to reassure him that it was impossible for a mortal to come even halfway to the abilities of gods, but he was a pretty pathetic god. And he wasn't blind, he knew the way his brother fought. He could tell that he'd been holding back when they fought together.

~~~

He stood in the arena proper now, Achilles at the other end. He seemed slightly puzzled by something, though Hypnos couldn't think what it was. Probably the fact that he'd actually shown up to the fight at all. The Champions of Elysium were sitting in the place of honour amongst the crowd of onlookers, the hastily appointed judges of the fight. Glancing around the rest of the crowd, he couldn't spot the King or Queen, nor his own mother. Though he did spot more of his siblings than just Charon and Thanatos, and he tried not to think about the things they would say when he got his teeth knocked out. Also Hermes. Seriously, with the amount of jobs that guy had, how did he find the time to come down to the underworld so often?

The signal was given to start, and Achilles began to stalk towards him, weary of any sudden tricks that the god might pull. But sudden tricks really weren't his thing. He stood his ground, fully aware that his opponent had a longer weapon that he could start using any time.

Rather, he used the shade's approach to study him. He still unconsciously held the habit of favouring one leg, the one that had been fully invulnerable in life. He lacked a shield, gripping a longspear with both hands. And as conditioned in the rules of this fight, he wore no armour upon his clothes. There was not much else Hypnos could learn by standing around like an idiot, so he began to focus on actually fighting the man still moving towards him. He had the shorter weapon, he would have to find a way to get in close.

Something in the shade's eyes seemed to shift, with a barely perceptible change in the atmosphere. The battle had begun. No more standing and thinking, just fighting.

Well, either way it would be over quickly.

Achilles threw caution to the wind in charging, hoping to catch the usually lethargic god off guard. Unfortunately, Hypnos did just about the opposite of what he expected and moved closer, giving himself the advantage with his shorter weapon. Achilles seemed strangely unbalanced in how he countered. Was Hypnos using techniques that he had never seen? No, he was no war-fighting god, that couldn't be it. Maybe it was the way he moved? He knew that gods often moved differently to how the mortals expected, maybe this was such a time.

He was tiring quickly, in spite of the endurance training that his brother had him undertake. The god of sleep simply couldn't stay awake for too long. He just needed to focus, to quickly find a weak spot in the defences of his opponent.

...There.

Achilles' habit of hiding his vulnerable heel made him unbalanced. All Hypnos had to do was strike low, and the great warrior tripped over his own feet. The rules of the fight dictated that the first one to fall to the ground for any reason would be the loser. And so Hypnos, stunned, was announced the winner of the fight.

He quickly found himself in the middle of a crowd of siblings he hadn't seen in decades, Ker even said he'd done well! And she fought with Ares' war band, so she had pretty high standards of what a good fighter looked like.

Achilles just shook his head, apparently in good spirits despite his loss. He congratulated Hypnos on beating him before going to talk to a few other shades. Zagreus thought the whole thing was hilarious, teasing his old mentor about the loss.

Even Hermes had stuck around to chatter at him for a while, and Hypnos found that he actually quite appreciated the energy the Olympian god brought.

After most had left, and Hypnos was once again alone with his closest companions, he recalled the strange way Achilles had seemed unbalanced, asking his brothers about it.

"I knew something like that would happen." Thanatos answered him, cryptically. "It's why I even made that bet."

Belatedly, Hypnos realised that he didn't even know who he had made the bet against. He was about to ask Charon what he thought, but he spoke first.

"Your fighting hand. It's different from most."

Hypnos squinted at his hands suspiciously.

"Seem like pretty normal hands to me"

Charon let loose one of his terrifying laughs.

"Yes, they certainly are. But you choose to hold your sword in your left hand. The warriors of Greece only train with their right."

Hypnos blinked. The warriors of Greece only ever trained to fight with one hand?

"What happens if a warrior was used to using their left hand?"

"Then, they would be turned away or taught to fight with the other hand I assume." Charon answered.

Thanatos had been trying to move slowly away from the conversation, but Hypnos dragged him back.

"You knew the only reason I could win that fight was because Achilles never trained against an opponent who was left-handed." He said, getting right in Than's face. He poked an accusing finger at his brother too, just to really make sure he got the point.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Hypnos." He tried to hide his face so Hypnos couldn't see the way he smiled.

"I made that bet because I knew that your godly strength would be what won you the fight." Hypnos didn't believe a word of it. He tried to yell at his twin, but Thanatos started laughing.

"What's so funny? Cut it out!" He complained, but for some reason he was laughing too.

Charon watched them amusedly, reminded of the times when the twins were young, and would argue about things that didn't matter. Even then, they would forget their arguments for the laughter that came from the ridiculous words they were saying. Truly, the bond that existed between twins, forged by the Fates was unbreakable. Even though they had spent years without speaking to each other, now they could laugh and joke as though none of it had ever happened.

~~~

"YOU WERE HOLDING BACK, THAN!"

"YES, FROM DOING MOVES THAT WOULD WORK WITH A SCYTHE BUT NOT A SPEAR!"

"STOP FIGHTING WITH WEAPONS YOU DONT KNOW HOW TO USE!"

"THEN YOU WOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO FIGHT A SPEAR WIELDER!"

...blood and darkness, they could get loud. Hypnos was now repeatedly smacking Thanatos, who was lain on the floor, with a pillow he'd found from the many scattered around. Charon found that he couldn't quite recall when they had even begun this, lost as he was in his thoughts. Growling, he moved between the pair, both of whom were still laughing, and confiscated the pillow by throwing it into a far off corner.

"Awwww, that one was my favourite." Hypnos complained. He wouldn't put it past his brother to actually have a favourite pillow, but that wasn't the main issue right now.

He playfully swatted at the pair while telling them to get back to their usual duties. Both rolled their eyes in unison. It was kind of unsettling, actually, but Charon would never admit to such outloud.

Eventually, with much playful arguing between the three brothers, Charon did manage to convince Thanatos to leave with him so Hypnos could rest. They could settle whatever argument they'd been having another day, and both he and Charon probably had a lot of work to catch up on.

[autoauthor]

Story Idea

Okay so, this one I've put a lot of thought into so I'm gonna put a lot under the read-more in case anyone's willing to actually wait for it to be written up.

So, the premise is that the Senju are a clan of monster hunters in the modern day. They deal with ghosts and cryptids and the like but the most dangerous are demons. Tobirama is one of their best field agents. However, after his fiancé was tragically killed by a demon, he blamed himself and began taking missions like he had nothing more to lose.

If you've been paying attention, you can probably guess that that fiance was Izuna.

Actually, before Izuna died, Tobirama had planned to stop taking such long and/or dangerous missions so the two of them could build a life together. He was going to step back into more of a mentor role.

He really only has one goal in his life now. To kill - not banish - the demon that killed his fiancé and finally set his soul to rest.

Read more if you don't care about *spoilers*

So, Tobirama hears about some sketchy stuff going on around his would-be brother-in-law and goes on what should be a rather minor mission.

Or it would be, if the culprit weren't a demon wearing the face of his former lover.

Of course, he does not take this well and attacks - only for it to be revealed that the demon is in fact Izuna. Madara somehow managed to summon his now demonic soul.

This version of Izuna does not remember anything about his life. Reminders such as his name, engagement ring, etc cause him physical pain. He wants to hurt but also wants to be near Tobirama instinctively. But he also realizes as a fledgling demon he's wildly outclassed so heès afraid of him too.

Tobirama, logically, should banish Izuna back to the demon realm. At the very least he should bind Izuna under his command so that he has control over him. He does not do that.

Instead he makes a subservient contract like the one Madara has. He also lies to his brother and the Senju about the situation.

EVEN MORE SPOILERY (BE WARNED)

So Izuna's death was a conspiracy of the Senju elders who wanted to keep Tobirama under their thumb. Izuna leaned this before his death so a huge motivation for his demon is an intense hatred towards the Senju. But he has no memory of why.

Tobirama and Madara take it to mean he did blame Tobirama for his death.

[jackfrostimposter]

genuinely why is there so much misinformation about the guardians of childhood book series?

[frameconfessions]

I hope the protoframes remain relevant even after this story arc for the Drifter concludes, but I also recognize how complicated things would get with how many characters they could keep trying to make stay relevant, leading to a Konoha 13 Naruto type situation where we have too many relevant characters from Umbra & Ordis all the way to Kaya Velasco.

.

[br1ghtestlight]

i do genuinely wanna archive all the ii livestreams they did especially cuz the only avaliable versions for a few of them are Reuploads on random people's channels but also. the amount of storage space that would require would be CRAZY. i was thinking of maybe using an external hard drive but idk they're expensive and uploading all of them would take sooo long 😭 right now im just praying none of the videos randomly get removed

[spotaus]

Late Night quick thing (New Age Sillies)

Bad news: That joke post about including Reset + Orchid is definitely not canon. (I legit got sad thinking about Reset being in a universe where Orchid isn't- because their stories are so so intertwined- but Nightmare 100% would NOT risk the whole twins exploding Error's soul thing.)

Good news: This means I COULD include Kane (Reset's older brother who usually dies in timelines where Reset is born) and use it to develope his character a bit more! Also! Perhaps a Blue × Dream kiddo is finally in the stars for me to design?

[stagefoureddiediaz]

So the new fencing and the new pipework Gerrard was having put in is all a metaphor that’s gonna come back into play in the next few episodes isn’t it?!

I knew they put those lines in intentionally - I was slightly 🤔🤔🤔 when they didn’t go anywhere with them, but it’s starting to feel like now is when they bring them back into play.

Something something about fences both keeping the good protected and trapping the bad and the metaphor for prison and sewage pips being replaced being a metaphor for clearing out the system - as in having a clear out of the LAFD - getting rid of corruption higher up the chain?!

[unproduciblesmackdown]

bloodsong of oh shit....oh fuck

[girlitfeelsgood]

they published listings for student apartments in the city I hope to move to yay

[cloudbends]

watched 3 eps of heartcatch precure...!!

[passthroughtime]

yagami, WHY do you have to be such a bitch around kuwana. i'm going to strangle you.

(P.S.: he didn't tell kuwana that tesso said not to feel bad about it. obviously.)