#also FOR IDEAL ENDING SAVE THE GOATS

[athletearrhythmia]

Needles coming up again

First wanted to reference back my thoughts on this from awhile ago:

but I also wanted to say some of the comments I'm seeing around aren't oriented to harm reduction, they're just tearing down people who engage in needle play and post it. Which is not going to save anyone. It's going to galvanize and sequester folks which will cascade into riskier behavior.

I guess what gets my goat about it especially is why I've pulled back from a good number of folks, which is engaging in dark cardio play as a means or extension of self harm. People know this stuff is dangerous and stupid, you don't need to remind them. That's not going to "wake them up". Some people by comparison just... like doing it. Neither case will respond to this approach.

I don't offer a definitive solution, i just don't vibe with yelling at people. I appreciate things like folks declaring that they'll disengage from the content: that I think does something.

So here's my additional thoughts to tack on to my last post:

If your perception of reckless behavior is that it doesn't matter because your life is so bad or meaningless that the consequences can't make it worse, you're depressed and you need help. Getting help isn't easy. But you need it.

If you feel a strong desire or need to do this for sexual gratification, you need to find healthier outlets. I struggle with this immensely myself. I'm open about liking and engaging with this content and some of its creators. The best I can do for myself is dark roleplay or using already existing content, and playing with generally safer dark play (which will always carry its own risk). The ideal would be to not find it gratifying. I don't know how to.

You should never engage with someone whose relationship to you is conditional on risking your health-- people you actually talk to or "fans" of your content. Anyone pressuring you to play with needles, especially when you're on the fence or have expressed you don't want to, doesn't have your best interests in mind. If you walk back wanting to do it, regardless of if you ever have done it, avoid the people who don't support your decision.

I'm never not going to end a public discussion of needle play without reemphasizing its danger. The possible bad outcomes are catastrophic and there's almost no way to mitigate the risk.

I'll add as well that the community has an obligation (IMO) to make sure newer or younger participants know how dangerous this kind of play is. Don't allow people to stay naive.

[lenaellsi]

It's so interesting that in every single minisode, Aziraphale really is like...the POV character, for lack of a better term.

While we start Job with Crowley alone with the goats for a brief minute, the rest of the episode stays firmly with Aziraphale. We see him in Heaven, discussing the pact between God and Satan with Muriel and the archangels. We see his outrage, his confusion, his guilt. But we never see Crowley receiving his orders from Hell. We know only as much as Aziraphale does about the reasons for Crowley's actions--we don't know that Crowley has saved the goats and is planning on saving the kids until Aziraphale figures it out.

Obviously, the Edinburgh plot line centers Aziraphale's perspective as well, going so far as to have him narrate his thoughts and feelings in the form of a diary entry. We know why he's doing what he's doing, how deep in Heaven's rhetoric he is, and we get his very limited perspective on what happened to Crowley at the end--"that was the last I was to see of Crowley for quite some time." Again, Crowley's perspective on the story as well as what happens to him after it remains a little bit of a mystery, but Aziraphale's thoughts are front and center the whole time.

And 1941. Nothing about 1941 makes sense unless you know exactly what's going on in Aziraphale's head. That's why we get the shot of his face at the beginning, after Crowley hands him the books and walks away--it's saying, look! Aziraphale is in love! This is the story of the night he realized it! And Crowley doesn't know! And while we stick with both Crowley and Aziraphale that whole night, the audience can clearly see the motivation behind all of Aziraphale's actions, because we're in on his secret. We're sharing his headspace in a way we just aren't with Crowley.

But the narrative also plays with that, because in all of these stories, there's a level of "oh honey no" that we're supposed to be feeling with Aziraphale. We see him struggling with God's cruelty in Job, with his fear of falling after he defies the plan, and how it shakes his faith in Heaven, an institution the audience already knows to be corrupt. (Like S1). We see him talk about "the virtues of poverty" and inadvertently cause harm both to humans and to Crowley in his pursuit of Heaven's ideals, all while we are screaming at him to stop. (Like S2). But in 1941 (magic show aside), the audience and Aziraphale are finally on the same page! Yes, you love Crowley! Yes, you can trust Crowley!! Yes, shades of gray!!! Good job, Aziraphale!!!! (...S3?)

Idk what it means, really. I just think it's interesting that we're being offered such a close perspective of Aziraphale's thought process in the flashbacks. Obviously it has to do with priming the audience for his decision in 2x06, but I hope it's also a little preview of what's to come for him in S3.

What this means for Crowley is a different post.

[beastren]

∞ Arisen & Pawn Character Introductions

original template by @arisenreborn :D

♛ THE ARISEN:

NAME: Nimh AGE: 23 RACE: Half-elf PRONOUNS: She/her PREFERRED VOCATION: Warfarer FAVORED GIFTS: Gems, things to make food with, particularly (princess) harspuds. FAMILY: Elf father, human mother.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Brave, hard-working, largely unconcerned with things she deems trivial, so it helps her have a good sense of drive/focus, but can also make her some across as uncaring. NEGATIVE TRAITS: Rash, reckless, impulsive, particularly in high-pressure moments, like if Lir gets downed. Easily frustrated. LIKES: Goats, books, small creeks. DISLIKES: The cold. Glyndwr. She doesn't have the best impression of elves in general, but also not the worst. Medusas.

1. What was their life like before becoming Arisen?

She lived on a small farm with her parents until she was about 16, when she decided to start traveling and doing odd jobs around Vermund, which is how she ended up as a sell-sword in Melve when the dragon attacked. Her family lived a decent bit away from any settlement, although they would go into the nearest towns to shop and trade every so often. She didn't have many friends because of this, so she took up reading from a young age, and it was her main hobby, aside from helping on the farm, which she did genuinely love.

2. How do they handle being Arisen, and the responsibilities that come with it?

She handles it pretty well, at the beginning, after she's gotten her memories back. The point where she didn't have them was quite rough though, and of course it gets rough later on when more things start feeling at stake. In the AU where she brings about the Unmoored World it's a bit horrifying, it's the absolute worst thing she could've ever imagined and the only things that get her through are the urge to set thing's right and Lir's determination.

3. What are their thoughts on Pawns in general?

Just fine! Not good or bad, and both before and after becoming an arisen she was inclined to see them as Just People, albeit with a bit more nuance later on.

4. What's their relationship like with their main Pawn?

Complicated and simple at the same time. Due to her love of books as a child, particularly tales of knights and princes, Lir was born from an idealized image of those figures. While he was made for her to fall in love with and be a crutch/wish fulfillment in a way, she also always struggled with attachment and attraction to men. It's not that she wasn't, but it happened very rarely. So between that, and also how convoluted, intense and unique the bond between arisen and main pawn can be, she spends a lot of time figuring out what might be projection or miss-attributed feelings. She does come to very much genuinely love him for him though, throughout their journey. More on this in Lir's paragraph on his feelings for Nimh and how he's changed.

5. Do they have any interest in being Sovran? What are their opinions on the politics of the world in general?

No interest in it at all smh.... She's definitely just handing the responsibility off to Sven lol. She was happy in her late teens/early 20's to be away from home and the farm, but as she goes through her journey as Arisen she finds herself longing for it again more than anything. So she really hopes Sven would also be willing to fund her getting a little farm of her own somewhere.... Maybe she could renovate those couple destroyed buildings overrun by saurians by the fields of Vernworth.... As she'd also hate to be too far from people again.

6. Who are their love interest(s) and/or closest friends?

Wilhelmina is her love interest, aside from Lir.... Wilhelmina kissing her to save her from the guards was her bi awakening lol. As for close friends, she gets along well with Menella and Brant. She likes to visit Waldhar too, as he becomes a great supply of books and is someone she can talk about them to. She likes hanging out with Ulrika and Fyoran when she visits Harve as well. Beren as well, and although she doesn't spend much time with him, he's one of the only people she truly feels she won't be judged for being quiet around.

7. What drew them to their preferred vocation? Do they have history with it?

She hates being limited (read: not being able to reach areas), so always being able to pull out a staff and levitate, or to pull out a magick bow to shoot enemies out of the sky or hit multiple targets is something she quickly finds she can't go back from once she has it. Though she usually equips all 4 of her skill slots with skills from one vocation anyway, mainly mystic spearhand and occasionally thief.

8. Do they have any hobbies? Any way of relaxing between all that monster-slaying and traveling?

Reading!! But also she at least does very much enjoy camping and making good food for everyone, especially finding ways to go above and beyond the default slab of meat. Maybe THIS is her secret to getting Lir to be so strong.... She also likes petting and playing with farm animals. She will often wander out into the fields outside of Vernworth to do this....

♟︎ THE PAWN:

NAME: Lir AGE: 24 RACE: Beastren PRONOUNS: He/him PREFERRED VOCATION: Warrior FAVORED GIFTS: Berries, delicately but pleasantly fragranced soaps. Handmade things and kind gestures in general. INCLINATION: Kindhearted

POSITIVE TRAITS: Kind, strong, loyal and sweet. NEGATIVE TRAITS: Self-sacrificing, can be a bit clueless. Clumsy around deep water. LIKES: Shallow water and baths, hot springs.... He enjoys traveling and seeing interesting sights but there's nothing better than a warm comfortable bed. DISLIKES: Deep water and the brine.... Dragonsplague....

1. What was their life like prior to being summoned by their Arisen?

Nothing much to note here! Just a foggy consciousness in the rift.... Nimh is his first and only arisen!

2. What is their opinion on the Arisen? How do they view their relationship?

He looks up to her a lot, before anything else. At first he's quite compelled by Nimh's will and her projection of it, as his arisen, onto him, and sort of loves her blindly for a while. But even at the start, part of his awe and wonder towards her is certainly genuine. More on this in the "how have they changed" section below.

3. Is there anything about the Arisen they find troublesome? Be it a small quirk or bad habit? (Or are they obviously flawless?)

He holds her in too high of a regard to think of any of her traits as too much of a flaw, but if he had to say some things, it'd be her recklessness when worrying over him, but also her difficulty at times with communication. Although they work together very well in battle, and there is a certain amount Lir can kind of just Sense off of her, there was a period in the middle of their journey (about the time they reached Battahl) where the two grew rather distant. Largely because Nimh was having difficulties sorting through her feelings for both Lir and Wilhelmina, and also just struggling as enemies got harsher in Battahl. This lead her to neglecting him a bit and just not talking to him about anything she was going through, which Lir would've absolutely preferred and believes would've saved them a lot of trouble. They do eventually have a breaking point where they work things out and grow closer than ever before.

4. What is their specialization and is there any story behind how they cultivated that skill set?

Chirurgeon!! He was a Logistician at first, but Nimh wold get frustrated at him crafting salubrious draught all the time before she could wait for fruit to ripen and dry to make roborant.... She decided to channel his affinity for curatives and his kindhearted nature into a specialization where he could look out for their party more directly.

5. Do they have any thoughts on the politics of the world and their place in it as a Pawn - or how Pawns are treated?

Lir can be very sensitive to it, feeling lots of grief at the ways pawns get mistreated in Battahl. It's extra odd for him being a beastren pawn as well.... But part of him does understand why they feel that way considering dragonsplauge, but it hurts nonetheless. He wants to be hopeful since Nadinia seems open-minded, but he wonders how much of what Phaesus does she truly knows about.

6. Does their journey with the Arisen change them in any significant way and how?

During the rough patch between Nimh and Lir, he starts to gain his own will bit by bit. At first this and the general circumstances do draw them apart, but Lir takes the time to ponder and sort out his own genuine, developing feelings. It's hard to sort out and get rid of Nimh's will completely, so things continue to be complicated, but Nimh is very wary of this and that isn't lost on Lir. He doesn't ever bring his feelings up directly for quite a long time because of this, although he does keep up his sweet manner of speech full of admiration as it is kind of second nature by now, albeit with a bit more Meaning. To keep the rest of this short, in one AU Lir, Nimh and Wilhelmina all end up happily together, retired at their farm with Sven as sovran. In another, they decide to bitter-sweetly part ways after everything so Lir can travel and become truly his own self. And there's also the unmoored world AU ofc.

7. Is there a reason they chose their preferred vocation?

In game he comments on this a lot lol, he loves being a warrior. Sometimes he even asks to be a warrior WHILE he's a warrior. Initially he was a fighter, influenced by Nimh's vision of a princely knight. But he felt a little stagnant after reaching max rank so they had him try out warrior and he just instantly thrived, he felt a lot more helpful/capable/powerful too, so it just stuck!!

8. Do they have any hobbies or preferred past-times?

Hmmm, that's hard.... He's rather go with the flow so he can be happy chilling and doing whatever, like watching the clouds or the stars.... But I could see him having a journal/scrapbook or something!! I'm sure he gets into a lot of stuff in the AU where he sets out on his own but i'd have to ponder it more.... Kind of related, but he would help re-braid Nimh's hair often and got quite good at it, on top of it being quite relaxing to him.... Hairstylist....

[obraveyouth]

What was the journey home like for you?

lonely.  that  was  how  link  could  describe  the  life  after  the  quest     ,     the  epilogue  from  a  journeys  well  deserved  end.     it  was  a  superficial  lonely  (  but  a  feeling  felt  all  the  same  ): while  all  of  hyrule  sung  his  praises  and  recorded  his  heroic  deeds  down  in  the  history  books     ---     a  hero's  greatest  honor     ,     right?     link  had  lost  much  of  his  life  and  he  could  think  of  no  word  in  the  hylian  language  that  could  fully express  just  how  he  felt  besides  lonely.     it  was  an  ache  that  hollowed  him  more  than  his  parents  departure  from  this  world  for  the  next     ,     it  was  a  numbing  sensation  of  being  forced  to  die  and  being  reborn  in  a  circumstance  that  was  a  multitude  of  shades  wrong.     if  asked  he  could  say  the  more  surface  answer:  he  missed  midna  or  the  life  he  had  before.  but     ,     it  was  something  more  depressing  and  far  more  terrifying  for  the  ordonian:     with  saving  hyrule     ,     link  no  longer  had  the  ability  of  choice.     the  bitter  reality  of  being  the  gods  chosen  hero  was  that  link  ordona  was  no  longer  himself  (  his  purpose  and  life  far  extending  in  purpose  and  ability  ):     another  incarnation  for  the  soul  of  the  hero     ,     just  another  person  who  lacks  the  free  will  to  do  any different.     saving  lila  and  the  ordon  kids  had  meant  that  link  took  on  the  burden  of  also  saving  an  entire  kingdom     ---  that  he  was  not  even  from     ,  technically.    

link  could  recall  in  those  first  days  after  everything  had  settled  and  zelda  had  begun  to  pick  up  the  pieces  of  her  broken  kingdom  that  he  was  constantly  surrounded  by  people.     civilians  so  grateful  to  their  savior     ,      their  hero.     to  link     ,     nothing  had  changed  for  him.     he  was  still  just  a ranch  hand  from  ordon  who  took  up  sword  fighting  in  his  spare  time  and  read  through  books  as  a  thirsty  man  did  water.     but  because  he  wore  a  special  set  of  clothes  ��  ,     bore  a  piece  of  the  mark  of  the  royal  family     ,     and  could  pull  the  legendary  master  sword  from  its  place  in  the  scared  grove     ---     these  factors  made  others  put  him  on  this  inhumane  pedestal  (  even  moreso  than  his  affinity  for  turning  into  a  blue  eyed  beast  ):     it  was  during  this  moment  that  link  knew  he  had  no  one  else.     sure     ,     he  had  princess  zelda     ,     lila     ,     rusl     ,     and  midna  before  she  shattered  the  mirror  but  it  did  not  matter  how  many  flocked  to  link  as  goats  to  their  shepard  (  in  fact  it  was  being  encompassed  by  everyone  where  link  is  the  loneliest  ):  the  hero  of  twilight  realized  that  he  had  no  one  else  to  relate  too  nor  confide  in.

a  hero  was  meant  to  be  the  ideal  man     ,     the  most  grandiose  and  perfect  image  of  a  savior.     so     ,     pray  tell:     when  was  link  allowed  to  display  any  ounce  of  imperfection  again?     when  was  he  allowed  to  falter?     he  was  not  and  would  never  be  again.     even  his  voice  was  unbefitting  of  a  hero  of  legend  (  as  some  residents  of  castle  town  had  spoken  behind  his  back     ---     it  did  not  make  the  blond  anymore  inclined  to  speak  ):     and  was  why  link  nestled  into  his  internal  loneliness     ,     all  of  his  traumas     ,   and  the  comfort  of  mutism  he  had  found  a  welcoming  kind  of  salvation  in.     ❝  dis  implies  i  evea  wen  back  'ome or had one. ❞ link  returned  to  ordon  physically.     he  herded  the  goats  for  fado  as  always     ,     played  with  the  kids  (watched  them  grow  up  and  get  their  own  lives  ):     went  to  any  and  all  political  meeting  when  requested  by  zelda:     but  nothing  for  him  was  the  same  anymore.     before  being  dragged  into  the  twilight     ,     link  always  had  a  choice  in  his  bravery  or  courteousness. but  now  it  was  an  expectation  from  everyone ---     and  it  was  a  feeling  link  was  drowning  in     ,      probably  going  to  wallow  and  die  in.

❝  it  was  loud.  lotsa  festivals  n'  feastin'  n  jus     ... thankfulness?    but  i  felt  empty  from  it  all  n  still  do     ,     ya  know?  comin'  'ome  meant  i  was  sumin'  more  than  what  i  was  before  n  dats  fine  n  all  but.  ❞     link  did  not  feel  like  he  was  anymore  himself  than  he  was  a  decade  ago.     sure  he  was  stronger  and  more  battle  worn  than  before  saving  both  realms     ---     though  that  didn't  help  his  internal  strife. who was  link  how  outside  being  chosen  by  the  gods?     ---     had  he  ever  been  his  own  self  outside  of  simply  being  an  incarnation  to  do  a  deities  bidding?     sometimes  he  wonders  if  everything  about  his  life  was  a  life:     if  everyone  he's  ever  loved  and  cared  for     ,     too     ,     been  apart  of  something  preordained  far  outside  of  his  knowledge.     the  same  overflow of  information  that  had  left  link  motionless  at  lanayru's  light  spring  felt  so  cold  to  his  skin  (  those  interlopers  looked  so  much  like  him  ):     logically  he  knows  it  was  to  understand     ---     to  give  his  brain  an  anchor  to  absorb  the  forbidden  knowledge     ,     but     ,  it  did  not  make  the  implications  any  better  for  his  unease.

❝  can  say  i  lef'  ordon  fora  few  days.     i  locked  myself  away. midna  understood  me  n  shade  did  too  but  they  was  gone  and  sometimes  i  think  if  meetin'  her  was  my  only  decision. but  maybe  dats  just  anotha  part  of  bein'  a  hero  who  ain't  needed  anymore.     like  loneliness  is  only  something  a  heroic  blue  eyed  beast  can  know.  ❞  his  eyes  turn  solemn  and  look  downwards.     ❝  i  stopped  talkin'  too.  so  it  was  real  lonely  n  quiet.     yeah     ,     i  saved  the  world  of  light  n  shadow  n  it  made  my  own  silent     ,     kinda  tragic     ,     right?  ❞

˗ˏˋ @query-bot sent an unprompted letter from the postman *˖ △

[mossmx]

I’m using the season 2 waiting time to come to terms that Severance will never have an happy ending for everyone...

My ideal ending would be the reintegration of all the severed people, innie & outies finally being reunited in 1 person (and GOING TO THERAPY)

but I feel that would be kinda implausible as far as things are laid out right now...

So I’m starting my acceptance process now 🙏

[soramel]

In Love and War (myg)

BECAUSE THIS YOONGI

Fanfiction

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. This work does not reflect the true character of the real-life persons mentioned. Also, I do not own the picture above (though this picture owns me. Like, who isn't?!?!)

Yoongixreader; idol!au; romance

Part 1/3

At the time when most people are asleep, save for some who is swamped by table summaries which are to be presented later at the same day-

Labor was not your dream, but here you are, crunching nine zeroes for the capitalists. Who would have thought that real life could be this lucrative? Who would have thought creativity thrives in datasets and equations?

Almost everything could be translated into numbers.

1 for yes 0 for no

The scent of brewing coffee proliferated the space, it mixed with the fishy smell of cup noodles at three a.m. The AC was on full blast but you could feel your body sweat in self-generated body heat.

When was the last time  you took a bath?

Wetting your hair feels like washing away all the equations and tasks listed in your head. The coolness and refreshing feel of shower is not ideal right now that the presentation deadline is just around the corner. Specifically, later, in the morning.

If it wasn't just your late realization on some additional factors that could be significant on your projection, you wouldn't be this hairy oily mess. You blame your stupid brain for gearing up to be smart enough at the last minute.

If it were someone else, they could have just go through as planned, but not you. You hate doing things half-assed.

If there's something to milk out of the cow, you'll squeeze the tits high and dry.

In this case, that cow is Min Yoongi. Producer /  Songwriter / Rapper / Singer / Model / Influencer / The GOAT - not only of the Company you work for, but also of the industry he works in.

On that thought, cow isn't a fitting comparison.

"Hey, you're still here?"

Your ears perked up at the sudden noise that cut through your silent working space.

You found Min Yoongi, a.k.a the Greatest of All Time, by the door. His forehead scrunched as he sniffed the foul smell of your office.

"Do you live here?" he asked further.

You stood up from your swivel chair and subtly squirmed at the peeling off of your skin that has been in contact with the leather for hours.

"For the past three days, yes. Don't you dare report me to HR. They might ask me for my rent," you replied as you stretched out your spine and limbs.

Without an invite from your end, he welcomed himself to your temporary home. Yoongi shut the door without taking off his gaze full of disgust and judgment. He eyed you head to toe and back. Mismatched slippers on your feet, to your hideous elephant pants, faded brown oversized tee which matched your nest of a hair because to him you utterly looked like crap.

"Go home. You must. Look at you," he  reprimanded as he waved a hand to your direction.

"I'm almost done. Just one last check, making sure everything's good for the deck later. I'm gonna blow your mind," you replied, a smug grin plastered on your face.

He let out a chuckle, "You're blowing my mind already," he retaliated.

"I mean look at you, I, myself, couldn't stand this sight."

You clenched your teeth for the uncalled backhanded compliment.

Taking in a deep breath, you closed your eyes and reminded yourself that you're talking to the man who provides food on your table, a roof over your head, and satiates your strange addiction to the smell of new glossy colored books of anything under the sun.

Hardbound and thick ones.

Just like his attitude.

You faked a smile, and bowed down, "Mr. Min, thank you for your uncalled concern. I'll be heading home in a while."

Yoongi shifted his stance and cooly offered, "You can hitch a ride. I'm about to head home too."

He's quite a workaholic himself, but your dedication's still unmatched.

You waved your hands in front of you, shaking your head, "No, I'm alright, Mr. Min. My stench would only irritate you. You should be able to relax as you wind down. Both of us had a busy day, but I'm sure yours was more hectic seeing that you're still here at-"

The digital desk clock switched to display 4:00 a.m.

"-four in the morning."

Yoongi didn't back down right away. He weighed his options first before taking a step back.

From a concerned boss, his judging face came back before taking a step away.

"Okay, if you say so," he conceded before turning around.

He twisted the door open and stepped out of your office as he uttered a silent goodbye.

"Mm, yes, take care boss!" you politely greeted back.

Working with Min Yoongi has been easier as years go by. At first, he was in doubt of your capabilities. In all fairness, who would believe that data analysts could be of help in entertainment industry? He creates and put it out there and wait for people's reaction. If it works, then good, if it doesn't then he could try again on the next album release.

While you acknowledge that life is indeed full of trials and errors, perusing all the information at hand does not hurt. It works as a hedge in times of failure, and works as a catapult in times of success.

Soar high, fall with a plush on your ass.

That's the company's trade secret. They're willing to spend millions on data to gain billions.

They spend their money smartly on you. Though your six-digit monthly salary is not that obvious with your choice of clothing, people would gape at the fixtures and books in your penthouse.

That painting that occupied most of your foyer wall? You spent a million on that. It's a good investment though. The resell value is high.

The books that lined up your hallway crossed out the need for paint or decorations.

The sofa, oh, fine Italian leather that's expensive as your car.

You fell asleep on that couch and blacked out. You always do.

Apparently, three alarms were not enough to wake up a sleeping log like you.

That's why you almost slipped in the marbled bathroom to freshen up decently in five minutes. Showered in perfume, and slipped in to your formal suit.

Tying your hair into a bun is the easiest option.

Still, you made it 10 minutes before the meeting.

You barely slept, but the excitement to share the outcome of your research gave you an adrenaline rush.

You looked alive despite the bags under your eyes.

An alive dehydrated panda.

If there's such a thing.

But no panda will be as small as you, given that zookeepers do watch their weight. All pandas you've seen are all fluffy, while you look...

dehydrated

freeze-dried

Anyway, you could care less. You're friends with your fitness coach who you haven't seen in three months, and your dermatologist who you haven't seen in six months. They could play fairy grandmother once you're free.

That means getting the board and the management to give your brilliant project a Go.

Watching Yoongi stroll in the conference room made you nervous a bit. You'll be talking about his career progression after all. You smiled at him as you take in his effortlessly chic outfit. You chose the right artist to work for. Only Yoongi could pull off an all black suit and steel framed eyeglasses and still look like a superstar instead of a businessman.

You're barely a people-person, but converting human behavior into numbers made it easier for you to fulfill your line of work. As important people filed in, you eyed your team on the side of the room as you gesture for them to give the deck materials.

Those papers were still quite hot as they just got printed this morning by your associate. They panicked when they learned you tweaked at the last minute but assured them you got them covered.

That's the downside of working with you. You deliver exemplary works, but you're a bad boss.

You haven't asked for a team really.

But Mr. Bang, the CEO, was quite keen on it. It didn't help much since you still worked until 4 am just a while ago.

As the meeting started, you gradually become excited as you go through the presentation. At the peak of it all, after presenting them the demographics of the fan base, the casual audience, and the target public, you excitingly showed them the graph version of your artist's discography vs. album sales.

Yoongi shifted uncomfortably on his seat as he eyed the steep incline on the screen.

"However, let's take a look here." You prompted before your associate proceeded on the next slide. A zoom in on his last three albums.

You shifted your stance as you pointed out, "We do have a steep curve, but the past three are on the flatter side. Ceteris paribus-"

Mr. Bang cleared his throat and you knew what that meant,

"If we continue in our direction, without changing anything, and not considering other unexpected factors, we will not be able to maximize and use to our advantage the untapped audience."

"We have 25 million users but the engagement is at 30%. This peaks at 60% when the artist releases content--"

"People do have their own lives," Yoongi interrupted but you did not let him disturb your practiced speech.

"This is worse than four years ago when we garnered more promising engagement--"

"People do grow up and have jobs," he interrupted again which by now turned some heads away from your deck and directed to him.

"With all due respect Mr. Min," you diverted to his direction, facing away from the powerpoint.

You took a deep breath, before starting, "I'm here to maximize your potential,"

He scoffed, "Are you my voice coach?"

That left you silent.

Yoongi's mouth formed a silent "Oh,"

"Maybe you're my runway coach? Art director? Publicist?"

"No?" he added further in a mocking tone.

You pursed your lips in a straight line, looking around the table to get somebody's defense. Your gaze finally settled on Mr. Bang.

He's not meeting anyone's stare, but browsed through the next pages of the material.

"My point here is," Yoongi declared, "I'm an artist first, Ms. Y/n, I create. Spontaneously. I do respect your numbers, but don't you think focusing on these takes away my authenticity as a person? You do forget that people vie for my honesty."

More like tolerating his attitude, you want to mutter under your breath but stopped yourself from doing so by gripping your fists by your sides.

"Let her finish. I find these projects interesting. Magazine interviews..."

Yoongi scoffed, "I've done that already,"

"But they're all limited to your music," you retorted.

With a flair of both of his hands, Yoongi reasoned out "Because I'm a musician, what else should I talk about?"

Mr. Bang then went back to reading out loud from the short bickering of the two of you, "Socials and fundraising parties, talk shows guesting, tell me about them, Y/n."

Yoongi answered before letting you, "I'm a performer, not some sort of personality."

"You are a personality, whether you like it or not. You're mysterious and people like that, but to keep them intrigued we have to let them peek at your personal life. People wants someone they can resonate with, or at least someone who inspires them in the middle of the mundane. As much as they do love your music, we will gain more if you let them have a peek," you defended.

"I'm in this industry for ten years. They've seen it all, Y/n."

"Not quite," you retaliated.

"They haven't seen you as an adult. They see you as a performer, yes. As I said, people love following personalities they can reach, even though vicariously, even if just on surface level brain stimulations. We give them understanding, comfort, healing, that's what the company is all about." "Look, you can continue your own creative process, but you just need to put yourself more out there. Press loves stories. Intriguing, good, bad ones. For a celebrity, you sure do love to keep to yourself."

"It's called privacy."

"While being a public figure?"

"There are boundaries."

"And we're looking for expansion of those boundaries. We can compromise. We have to. There are other celebrities who are willing to do more. We can't just keep on dropping big bombs once in a while. Small consistent contents will ball up like a snowball and will have a greater impact on your stability in the industry."

"I know you already made a name. We just have to squeeze it dry."

Yoongi visibly flinched at your metaphor. Regardless, you continued,

"You're an artist. Great artists take risks. At this point, we're doing a well-calculated risk, and there is no measure to how this will turn out but the projection looks good. Show them the chart, Lesley," you told your team.

"The only thing we can do is take it. There's no perfect science, but we have to try it out and see where it will lead us."

"It shows desperation, Y/n."

"It shows strategic business plan while giving you an avenue to challenge your creative process and authenticity. We will lift the contract off with Wrath, let their paparazzis swarm, we will save millions and divert 20% of that funds to your security," you rifled on.

"What's there to hide Yoongi? You're a clean person as far as we know,"

As far as you know

He clenched his fists, teeth gritting, at your proposal.

You could have told him you don't want to see him anymore.

What would happen to his Wednesday dinners with you?

The occasional getaways if you were kind enough to not work on long weekends. He must be the busy one in the relationship given that he's the biggest star in the Company. Turns out the kingmaker's the real star of the show, working behind the scenes, on the sidelines, crunching and nerding out on lines and graphs.

He has come this far while protecting his privacy. Yoongi always get away with the excuse that it's part of his image. Being mysterious. When in fact, he only enjoys the animosity when there are no cameras when he's with you. It's not that he's ashamed of the relationship he has, it was because you made it clear with him, that all this will end if everything blows up in the press.

Mr. Bang cleared his throat as he rested his chin on his folded fingers. He carefully threw you a look before the scrutinizing gaze landed on his most prized talent. It was a fraction of a second when he realized he got his two best people batting heads in front of the board and officers.

"Y/n is right," the vice chair voiced out. "I second," said someone from the board.

The rest of the men and women on the long conference table nodded in agreement. Some of them hopefully looking at Yoongi.

"Besides, whether it's a good  or bad image, publicity is publicity. We need to give something new for the country to talk about. They're interested in you, but they do respect your personal space most of the time," said one of the talent heads.

Mr. Bang spoke up, "How can we make sure Wrath will not release any of their wildcards against Yoongi?" he voiced out, looking at the Legal counsel.

"It's in the contract. Any materials on the artist enclosed within the contract period must be held with strict confidentiality. We are imposing grave penalty once they violate it if ever we decide to terminate the protection deal."

Mr. Bang nodded, "I'm absolutely sure that our artist is clean and does not have any criminal records. His school records are clean. We have filed them," he assured everyone on the table.

Someone chuckled and raised, "More than that, he's the most sought after bachelor. For sure everone's dying to know who he's dating."

You unknowingly took a step back as you listen to them exchanging opinions.

On the other hand, Yoongi is visibly not pleased with any part of the meeting.

"That's a private matter of our artist," Mr. Bang defended.

The person shrugged and quoted, "As Y/n said, he's a public figure. His life is meant to be under the public eye. It's not offensive at all if you ask me--"

"No one's asking for your opinion," Yoongi jabbed, the table fell silent.

"I don't agree with this. You will move at my own pace. If you can't ride with me, I can easily switch management." He declared with finality before walking out of the board room with his manager following suit and apologizing on his behalf.

A loud sigh escaped Mr. Bang's lips.

He took over the meeting and told everyone, "Y/n's idea is promising. We just need another meeting to discuss it while I'll talk to Yoongi for the mean time."

Everyone nodded in satisfaction before they started filing out of the room.

You stayed behind together with your team. Mr. Bang turned his chair to face you. "Please leave me with Y/n," he ordered your team.

The boardroom's door clicked shut before Mr. Bang started, "Thank you, Y/n. It was a wonderful presentation, though I wished I get to hear the end of it. I will review the deck and I'll get back to you. I do have a gist of what you're proposing, but..." he trailed off before tilting his head to one side as he tried to put together the words, "I see you haven't talked to Yoongi about it."

"Mr. Bang, I didn't because everything was not finalized until the last minute. Actually, same projects were retained but I thought diverting the angle on the important numbers and emphasizing these would bring light to the why of things. I only wish the best for his career. If you actually look at slide 25, you'll see the age distribution of the population, we're gathering young ones still despite his tenor in the show business. I looked deeper into the age bracket A and found that, based on consumer and entertainment index, lifestyle was the most common interest with other age groups. It is the strongest suit and tapping into this interest-"

"He wants to retire, Y/n," Mr. Bang uttered silently.

The news shocked you. Retirement was not in his vocabulary. He's been saying how he would perform on stage until he's all wrinkly and wonky. That's how much he loves his job as an artist and as a performer. Though you have noticed how he picked up on some collaborations involving his hands on its productions, performing his own work is still incomparable.

"The crowd just gives me so much energy. Most time I don't even know where I am, what timezone I'm in, but each stage feels surreal, new, it never gets old. I think I'll do this until I can't anymore," you remember him saying one time.

So it then became your purpose to help him achieve that dream. Now that he doesn't want it, out of the blue, perplexes you.

Your heart dropped to the pit of your stomach. You can't put a name on your emotions as of the moment. It was a mix of anger and betrayal, irritation and all negative things. He never told you, not that he's obligated to, but with the relationship you had with him, you thought he'll trust you enough to tell those things.

On second thought, it is a private matter. You have no say on what he wants, if retirement was his plan then okay.

But not without you talking him out of it.

----- It was freezingly cold in the studio and music was blasting together with the random beeps of camera shutter.

You were waiting for Yoongi to finish his schedule before he ends his day. It was in the middle of the week, the time when his photoshoots are usually scheduled. You mostly meet him too after for dinner, having formed a relationship with him. It was a good timing to bring up what happened and what you learned in that meeting the other day. You could have texted him, but that would be unprofessional of you. Besides, it's a work matter.

Crossing your arms by your chest, you observed him from afar. His long and messy hair surely suits him. His cheekbones were highlighted, giving a chiseling effect on the hollow of his jaw and cheeks. Yoongi pocketed a hand, his thumb out, before swaying his body lazily to change his body angle. You unknowingly smiled. In a proud way. He always do things in an elaborate manner while appearing effortless.

He caught your gaze, so you gave him an acknowledging nod. What he did next was unexpected. He paused the shoot, by raising his hand, before jogging to you. It left you flustered and suddenly anxious from all the attention you're getting. Everyone's gaze were on you, or rather on Yoongi. Eyes would always follow his every move.

You shifted, starting to feel uncomfortable being part of everyone's field of vision just because the Star is in front of you, sharing the same space as yours.

"You done with work?" he casually said, unaffected by the curious stares he's receiving.

You shook your head no before finding your voice, "Please finish your shoot, don't mind me, I can wait."

His brows furrowed in confusion before his gaze became softer, "Okay, you can wait in my dressing room," he said to you and it was your turn to be confused. You met his gaze, but he averted his, making you thought he got shy for a bit.

"I can't concentrate with you watching my shoot. I'm not used to it," he muttered, the confession was meant to be heard only by you.

"Oh,"

"Okay," you nodded before turning your back on him and headed straight out of the studio.

As you walked through the hallway, you reprimanded yourself for not being able to think of that alternative. You rarely met him in his personal space, so it didn't really occur to you.

You didn't wait too long, you saw him walking towards the door of his room twenty minutes after. Pushing yourself off the wall, you greeted him with a curt bow. He looked surprised finding you outside.

"Why are you here? I told you to wait inside," he told you before ushering you in.

"Ah, that would be inappropriate. It's okay," you assured him.

He shrugged off of his coat outfit, leaving him in his black shirt. You watched him as he brushed his long hair back and was about to undo his pants before he remembered you were in the room. You quickly turned around, heading to the door. "I'm sorry! I... why are you changing in front of me? I'll wait outside, I--" you rambled as you hurry off, opening the door.

"Y/n! Wait!" he tried to stop you but it was too late.

Shock registered in everyone's faces, from Yoongi's manager, his assistant, makeup artist, stylist, and everyone else on his team. They glanced at Yoongi who was in the middle of undoing his pants and at you whose face were flushed red.

They quickly scurried away while one of them shut the door close as they shouted their apologies.

[askfallenroyalty]

[img id: two versions of Feylow, a boss monster darkner made from a daffodil. He’s young in the first design, based of a not blossomed daffodil. He has a leaf like dress, with a brown sash. The older design’s robes mimic’s Asriel’s King robes in design. The cape end trails out like daffodil leaves. His hair flows out in a daffodil’s 6 petal shape. The face and coloring mimics Chara’s goat form in AFR. A gold-beige with darker gold edges and spots. It looks like blush and freckles.]

superkirbylover said: my idea is something like... what you could do is have feylow originally be an unbloomed flower of sorts, then at the end they "bloom" into their true self (tazetta).

the way feylow blooms is based on chara's perception and interaction with them specifically, so when chara finally realizes they want to detatch from the past and move forward, that represents the "blooming" process. that's a super rough idea though, haha, could not be what you wanna follow

gosh SKL coming in and saving my ass here asdlfjasldf

(the design is NOT final, this is just my first draft of this version of the character)

to keep Tazetta as simple as possible (cause like, lets be real, OG feylow was convoluted and hard to explain. too much going on). Tazetta now soley represents Chara’s reluctance to grow up. -no more death/mirrors/bla bla. it’s a a more metaphorical rebirth with growing up, and less... literal. as it was in the OG version. this also means the trans allegory is dropped... ): Tazetta is more about Chara than Asriel now, so it doesn’t really make sense to foreshadow Asriel’s transiton with them.

Chara, Frisk, MK and Suzy (who will have more time before this to be fleshed out, i’m not just throwing them in out of no where.) all fall into the DR world. After exploring a bit, Chara turns Asgore’s flowershop into a darkworld between the time cyberworld is closed and Kris makes their fountain. Ralsei is like “brooooo this isn’t how things are supposed happen” and has to have Chara close the fountian before kris makes there’s or the Roaring will happen. Oopsies!

The whole darkworld will be garden themed, Chara (and a first time reader) assumes Feylow is a golden flower instead of their daffodil specifically. Feylow grows into the Big Bad Villain Flower King -so i’m assuming Feylow is still using he/him pronouns in this version. Just as Ralsei (could) represent Kris’ monstersona theory but uses different pronouns (likely to show even if Ralsei was made to be that ideal, he’s grown into his own person and gains his own self actualization) same can be said for Feylow. Still a he/him for the Flower King connection.

He represents Chara’s fear they’ll be forced into this royal position like Asriel. Their fear is to become like like him, turning into some strange monster who they don’t recognize anymore (monster puberty metaphor being added into the allegory here).

Basically, the Fake-Asriel aspect is mostly removed, Feylow still acts like a replacement brother but it's way more clear that Feylow is an extension of Chara rather than their idea of Asriel. Chara is replacing Asriel with themself essentailly, symbolic of how they’re trying to remove their family so they can be alone with their flowers (and self.) Because it’s easier to use your imagination and create art and garden then to deal with your family and your inevitable mistakes. The Asriel aspect is still there but it’s a small part of the bigger picture.

[tumblezwei]

Miorine the GOAT for real

I really like how she takes on the traditional "hero saves the day" role despite being the bride to Suletta's groom.

All in all a very good episode once again. I do wish that we would get some character development from Suletta soon. I love her to bits and I do expect to see more from her now that she knows Aerial is a gundam, but she's been a very passive force when it comes to the more political side of this show and I want to see her take more initiative.

I do think that's an interesting aspect of the show, though. Suletta is very much living through the battle high school slice of life drama that comes with making friends and enemies, sticking to your ideals, and triumphing in the end. While Miorine has been living the political intrigue drama. I'm looking forward to the future now that this company exists that forces them both to contend with powers they previously were too ignorant of. And I expect Suletta's development to come in the form of her being stretched too thin as a political pawn by these companies.

I dunno, we shall see. Also Elan sucks dick, I wanted to punch him so bad the whole time Suletta was being harrassed by the Pell company.

[agentrouka-blog]

Do you think Braime mirror Jongritte?

(Disclaimer: I do not ship either couple. Quite the opposite. Peace.)

They mirror each other quite strongly in a number of images, the way a good foil situation is supposed to. Which is to say that the situations have similar elements but are fundamentally contrasting below the surface.

Forced together, secret travel, violence, deception, (the threat of) rape, vows, ugly women, personal growth, it's all very similar. It'd be a massive meta post to compare and contrast it all, and I can't do that right now. So I'll be superficial.

Take the cave scene and the bath in Harrenhal, as one example:

Both scenes involve an evolution of intimacy and a reassassment of each other.

The intimacy between Jaime and Brienne is emotional in nature, and it allows them to see each other more clearly. Jaime makes a very significant personal confession about Aerys and it leaves him questioning himself.

The water had grown cool. When Jaime opened his eyes, he found himself staring at the stump of his sword hand. The hand that made me Kingslayer. The goat had robbed him of his glory and his shame, both at once. Leaving what? Who am I now?

Jon and Ygritte have sex in a more physically nude way than before, but while Ygritte says this...

"You as well," Ygritte said as she yanked down her sheepskin breeches. "If you want to look you have to show. You know nothing, Jon Snow."

... neither does Jon actually undress when she demands it, there is also no actual emotional intimacy following. He sees her physical features, and makes this big speech about loving those (out of nowhere), but he lists nothing about her personality and he reveals nothing significant about himself but a sudden confidence to be sexually experimental. Jon very decidedly does not share any of his inner life with her. It's actually astonishingly superficial.

And he actually sees her less clearly. Both of these happen in the same chapter:

She was sopping wet down there, and no maiden, that was plain, but Jon did not care. -> -> -> What was he now? He did not want to look at that. "Were you a maid?"

Jon twists a previously obvious fact into a question. He distorts his own perception of reality, because the person he "loves" is not the person in front of him. It's a figment he is creating out of a person who took advantage of him.

Contrast Jaime's dream after leaving Brienne behind at Harrenhal:

The light was so dim that Jaime could scarcely see her, though they stood a scant few feet apart. In this light she could almost be a beauty, he thought. In this light she could almost be a knight.

He sees her more clearly in the aftermath of that confession, even cloaked in a dream. He is entirely free of her and on his way to safety, but he sees a person he cannot leave behind to a horrible fate, and he turns the whole travel group around to rescue her. He will end up giving her sword to fulfill a quest, like a true knight. Going forward, he specifically struggles with her opinion of his character, his ethics, his personality. (Though it doesn't actually make him a better person at his core.)

Jon left murderous Ygritte behind and still struggles with his image of her. In the end, all he had to give her was a kind lie about returning to the cave while she lay dying. He idealizes her to a point, but what aids him in the future are only the empirical facts about the wildlings that he learned from her. He isn't a better person for having been forced into a relationship with her. He always was a better person, he's just slightly smarter now.

Even the dramatic rescues are massive contrasts:

It is Jaime who leaps into the bear pit to save Brienne from a group of enemies, from violence and rape.

It is Summer who leaps into the confrontation to save Jon from a group of enemies that includes Ygritte, who forced him into sex and then shot at him with arrows.

Says it all, really.

[lostsouldierbye]

a couple pieces of mcu canon for this blog --- mostly because they have come up in one or more threads and i like the idea enough to have it as my main verse

bucky’s sister, rebecca is still alive. she was 92 years old when the first images of her brother as the winter soldier hit the news. she was 94 when peggy passed away ( i reckon they would  have been friends ), and 95 when she first gets a call from bucky ( while he’s in wakanda. ) she and bucky are both ‘ blipped ’ and they do finally get their face to face meeting and she is one of the reasons bucky chooses to stay in brooklyn, ny. she unfortunately doesn’t hold on much longer after the second blip and dies at the official age of 96. bucky meets her family at the funeral and develops a complicated relationship with them, but a relationship nonetheless. rebecca’s family includes three young great grand children. 

hydra and red room are different factions. the winter soldier was not a trainer of the red room. if any connection needs to be made for plotting purposes, the most he may have been involved in with the red room is as a trial or a test for the widows, similar to how he was made to spar with the winter soldiers 2.0 during their testing phase. his fighting style may have been used as an example and may have been studied by the widows/other subjects. he was most likely used as a myth or legend to aspire to be like, or to be afraid of --- in that he was known to be mindless and controlled so you knew nothing would get in the way of him and his mission, he had no human weakness to exploit. i can see why that sort of ideal may have been propagated amongst the black widows. 

bucky frequently fosters animals for his local pet shelter when he knows he’s going to be in town for a while. the shelter tends to get overcrowded a lot so they’re happy for animals to stay in certain homes until a more permanent home can be placed for them and/or until injuries heal. as first referenced in this thread with knowseverythingaboutyou.

steve is his best friend, ride or die, but post endgame/tfatws era, they are not joined at the hip. ( unless we’re shipping, in which case  😍 ). he does have a budding relationship with sam, strengthened if they end up working together as they do following tfatws canon. if diverging from tfatws timeline, bucky maintains a strong relationship with the wakandans, namely shuri, ayo, and okoye, as mentioned in this headcanon post.. their relationship involves unprompted facetimes after months of going without speaking and random drop-ins by the wakandans at rather inopportune moments for bucky. as well as updates of how that one goat he helped birth that he named steven ( after steve duh ) is going, being looked after by the children.

he also maintains a strong relationship with rocket, and through rocket, the rest of the guardians although he would never hang out with the other guardians unless rocket was there. ( you know those kinds of relationships, right ? ) he has a crush on mantis and rocket knows about it. it’s hell. again, their interactions are mostly through text or video call, and pretty random and unprompted unless world-saving is happening.  

natasha is alive ( duh ) , but again, he doesn’t hang out with her unless sam or steve are there too. same goes for sharon probably. and most of the other avenger-types that he knows through association with steve. 

bucky has some pretty heavy conditions attached to his pardon. scheduled therapy was a part of it. his expected acquiescence to any governmental or new-SHIELD request is another, basically making him a puppet once again. new-SHIELD is also heavily military influenced as seen in tfatws so he has immediate issue with that right there. if he is found in russia, or a few european countries that hydra were heavily active against, they do have the right to incarcerate him and place him under trial for crimes committed against their country --- though his US pardon applies to most countries that recognise US law and rulings.  

bucky is found to be eligible for military backpay as his KIA status was overruled as a returned POW post-pardon, and the ongoing payment is tied to his pardon being upheld  along with it’s conditions. ) someone do the maths but it’s like $8-9k a month taking into considering living expenses and that he remains on active duty. 

i also think rebecca and her family would take care of him if that was ever required, but if it was ever required then it would probably be a situation where the last thing bucky would want to do is involve them, so it’s a bit of a moot point. 

truth be told, the weight of the ‘ pardon ’ and it’s associated ‘ conditions ’ are stifling as fuck and in his main verse he is very prone to breaking the conditions of his pardon and going off on his own and finding peace with himself on his own terms. there is additional weight that comes with the almost forced gratitude he feels for being let off the hook, and not letting down the likes of steve and sam, and shuri and ayo by not doing the most with this supposed second chance. 

[wildcardjoey]

I think I have it down. Some of the of the parallels simply won't work perfect so I'm cheating

This post discusses the resistance in the hc dsmp swap au, as defined by who faught on their side durring Nov 16. Of course these are simply my takes for which work the best and not the end all take on this. That's what that pull was for.

Grian, the ring leader. The election was started for him to have a puppet leader over the nation built around his barge. When he and Mumbo lost and were exiled from the land their sons were born and the island's natural biosphere destroyed in the name of 'aesthetics and environmentalism' he began planning their revenge. He is Wilbur.

Mumbo Jumbo, along for the ride Grian's conducting. At one point, he sold out the resistance and exposed the location of their base via tunnel bore because he was promised amnesty to the members. He was lied to, they all barely escaped but HEP got the island throne back. He is Tommy.

ImpulSV was the doctor for Manburg and Scar, until a rift formed and Impulse defected to Pogtopia. The invisibility arrow he gifted Grial was used to save Bdubs's life, and he guarded Mumbo in Pogtopia. He even went as far as to make an entire replica base as a decoy. He did not fight when the battle came, but did provided potions and arrows to the resistance. He is Ponk.

Iskall85 is an old freind to Mumbo, and a member of L'manburg since the revolution. He orriginally worked as a dubble agent until Scar, wise to his betrayal, had him executed. From then on, he was on the side of the Resistance. He is Tubbo.

Ethoslab served as a double agent. For a time, he began to believe in the ideals of the mayor before he realized they were simply empty words. He is Fundy.

Grumbot is the robotic son of Grian and Mumbo. He was saved by Etho and put in a downsized drone body when his original body and simulated reality were leveled by HEP. For convenience purposes his code was modified to obey Etho. He is also Fundy.

Docm77 is a humanoid goat-creeper hybrid, augmented with cybernetics. He is known and feared as a great inventor and terrifying opponent. Little known is that the cybernetics interfacing with his brain directly connects him to a constantly gibbering mess of voices of a hovering from another reality. He is Technoblade.

Renthedog was one of the founding members of L'manburg but betrayed them to the forces of the Greater VoidSMP when he believed the rebellion doomed. He supported the resistance with R&D in an act to make it up to them, and to ensure his own power as the Red King of the Greater VoidSMP. He is TheEret.

Ijevin continued living in L'manburg and openly opposed HEP for the majority of the war. Eventually, after going through verbal abuse, increased taxes, and threats to wellbeing the conditions became too extreme and he had to leave for the resistance base at Pogtopia. He is Niki.

XBCrafted is an often overlooked member of the resistance. He tried to recrute more members to their cause, even bringing Jevin on, but had little other success until the climactic battle. He is Jackmanifold.

Bdubs was the Vice Mayor to Scar. After a battle of ideals which saw Scar's second life lost, Bdubs joined with the Resistance to potentially regain power. He is Quackity.

Stressmonster101 is the former party leader and mayoral candidate of GG2020, who dissapeared after the elections. She reappeared just as Grian prepared to blow up L'manburg, and after a heart to heart between them followed by the button being pressed, Grian convinced her to kill him. She is adopted siblings to Doc and (optionally, depending on how one decides to use the next character,) a mother and mentor figure to Grian. She is Election arc Niki and Phil from Pogtopia onward.

Pearlescentmoon is optional to this arc. She could show up with Stress and replace her as the one to actually kill Grian, giving a deeper connection to the one killing him than one invented for this au. She is potentially Phil for this scene and Connor from that point onwards.

[bisqueri]

Tubbo will NOT be the next Schlatt and Tommy will NOT become the next Wilbur

(This is the text form version of my video where I talked about my own idea and stuff. The video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgZMFkdUTiY)

Salutations! I will be talking about my thoughts/general ideas about Villaininnit and Villain!Tubbo. 

Do I personally think that Villaininnit and Villain!Tubbo will happen? As of 12/17/20, not too likely for Tommy, because he has Technoblade backing him up and his moral compass has still not misaligned, but the possibility of it for the future is still there. Tubbo on the other hand… Oh I am mostly certainly sure, because he is already on the path to Villainy.

(Continuation below because it’s kind of long)

Now let’s start with the whole Tubbo-Tommy-Schlat- Wilburt connection. What is this connection? This is the idea that as the story progresses Tubbo will grow to become more like Schlatt and Tommy will grow to become more like Wilbur. Their predecessors. This idea has grown in popularity specifically in the Tumblr side of things due to the Exile arc. In this arc Tubbo goes against his cabinet and exiles Tommy. During this exile Tommy is slowly going off of the deep end. Several characters in canon, also pointed this idea out especially in the iconic line of “As long as I won’t become the next Schlatt, you can’t become the next Wilbur”.

What do I personally think of this connection? I think I can see why it’s so popular, not only is it backed up by canon lines by the characters, but the imagery of Tubbo with horns and Tommy with Wil’s coat is simply spectacular. However, I’m thinking of a different idea, because I think this whole connection is not that strong.

I’ll explain why. Tommy and Wilbur, though the connection is quite stronger than Tubbo and Schlatt I feel still doesn’t work that well.What separates them the most is their reaction to being exiled. Wilbur was filled with anger, he used that anger to start a new movement to save his country back with pride. He started clearing and building a new home the moment he got exiled. Tommy, on the other hand, is distraught and hesitant to start anew. He’s not angry, he’s frustrated.  

With the ominous message from the Exile arc about how people only respect him when he has power. Tommy will most likely have a power hungry arc in the future. Where he will do anything to get what he wants, different from Wilbur’s goal of destroying the thing he cannot have in what I assume is his miserable attempt to preserve it’s essence. To save L’manburge from Jschlatt

Tommy’s descent in the exile arc differs from Wilbur, Wilbur was more manipulative. Taunting Tommy on how he’ll never be president. While Tommy’s descent was filled with violence as seen with his actions towards Techno and JackManifold. Kinda like how Schaltt was with his old cabinet who was trying to help him.

The Tubbo and Schlatt connection, I think is way off. The problem here is that Tubbo said it himself, he doesn’t want power he doesn’t want control he wants what’s the best for New L’manburg. You can’t connect them on a goal oriented level. because Schlatt wants power. Schlatt simply does what he thinks is the best for himself.

The motivations of these characters should be the most important thing in connecting them. Because I believe that a character’s motivation, what a character wants will pave the way onto how they will achieve it and who they will become. So if Tommy-Wilbur parallels don’t align because Tommy wants to reclaim what was his, while Wilbur wanted to preserve what wasL’manberge; and Tubbo-Schlatt parallels don’t align because Tubbo wants what’s good for New L’manberg, while Schlatt wants what’s good for himself. Then what’s another idea we can apply to these characters.

Well, I present to you the Tommy-Schaltt and Tubbo-Wilbur connection.  I believe that the characters that have been paired off in this new connection have more in common than the connection I mentioned earlier.

Tommy and Schlatt both have selfish goals. Tommy wants his discs. Schlatt wants his power. Both of them also have violent tendencies which is most obvious during their descents. Tommy lashes out violently to the people who were trying to help him, just like a certain goat.

we know that Tommy can put his discs to the side-- he’s not that selfish, but Tommy is changing. He’s done putting his own desires to the side, he wants what is rightfully his. I can imagine Tommy realizing that the only way he’ll get his discs back is to become powerful. Give Tommy his villain arc, he deserves to go feral in the pursuit of power. Both Tommy and Schlatt have been exiled, I desperately hope that when Tommy returns from his exile he gets the power that he craves in order to get what he wants.

Tubbo and Wilbur. What do they have in common? Wilbur wanted to destroy L’manburg, while Tubbo wants to protect it. The thing they have in common is their unyielding love for L’manburg. A devotion that ruins one’s morality. That’s what Tubbo and Schlatt don’t have in common, Tubbo has ideals he maintains, Schlatt doesn’t. However these ideals are slowly being broken. In a reddit post, Wilbur confirmed that Tubbo is a lawful good. Tubbo stick to what is right and what is good. But as we can see Tubbo is under immense pressure from his cabinet, they don’t respect him. His cabinet wants power and they don’t see Tubbo as powerful. So, Tubbo in this current arc is turning against his morals of peace in order to satisfy his violent cabinet. He even broke the no armor rule. He’s changing and not for the better.

This sounds a lot like Wilbur during his time in Pogtopia. Where Wilbur’s sanity cracks under the pressure of his fellow Pogtopians wishing for a great ruler. Wilbur tossed his old days of adamantly using words to fight, when the war came he wielded his weapons. Since he can’t have his country, he’ll have to destroy it in order to protect L’manburg from the hands of others.

I predict that Tubbo will end up betraying the butcher army once he realizes how futile this quest is. That what Quackity is doing is ruining Tubbo’s beloved L’manburg. If Tubbo completes his road to villainy I think he’ll end up as a scary villain who manipulates and smiles through things. Tubbo cares about L’manburg the most. It’s the only thing that has been trusted to him, and I’m sure he’ll do anything to protect it, morals be damned.

There’s already hints of Tubbo becoming more obsessed with L’manburg. During the beginning of the Exile Arc, something stuck out to me. When Tubbo exiled Tommy he said “Dream, please escort Tommy out of my country”, not L’manburge, or New L’manberge it’s my country.  When he first said it, I immediately got flashbacks to Wilbur repeatedly saying “my L'manburg”.

So in conclusion, while Tubbo-Schlatt, Tommy-Wilbur have more connections aesthetically, I think that narratively Tubbo-Wilbur and Tommy-Schlatt have a stronger connection. Tubbo and Tommy know the score. They know that Tommy shouldn’t end up like Wilbur and Tubbo knows that he shouldn’t end up like Schlatt. They’ll do everything to not end up like their parallel predecessor . But nobody is stopping them from becoming like the other’s predecessors.

Tubbo will become  not like Schlatt but like Wilbur.

And Tommy will become not like Wilbur but like Schlatt.

Is this true Who knows? All I know is that these two will end up as on opposite sides of the battlefield

Bonus prediction:

Yo guys a short prediction on what I think will happen in the Christmas Festival. Philza will inform the Antarctic anarchist commune on the event and how Dream will be there. Tommy suggests that it’ll be the perfect time to try and get his discs back, and Techno will think it’s perfect time for revenge, and of course ghostbur is happy to attend a festival. On the day of reckoning. Dream gets trapped and all is going to plan. However I believe that Tommy’s unresolved confused feelings about his manipulator will cause him to help dream. Imagine the cinematic parallels of Tommy enderpearling to defend a trapped Dream just like how he enderpearled to Tubbo during the festival. Techno will help Dream escape this assanation, he owes dream a solid after all. And Phil will follow and protect his sons, because he doesn’t want to be helpless anymore. He wants to protect his family. And as things are going down Tubbo vs. Tommy. Wilbur will be breaking down filled with so much repressed memories begging to be let out. Maybe he’ll remember, and who knows what will happen to him. Maybe this will be the time that Tubbo realizes that the butcher army is ruining new l’manberge and he has to save his country.

[pretty-little-birdie]

Unexpected Suspect

Words: 2,379

Tw: Mild Violence (if an angry bird counts)

Hurt/Comfort (a little hurt but mainly fluff!)

A self indulgent fic I made based off an idea @baka-monarch had about all the MCYT G/T blogs being borrowers on the DSMP and being caught by the members! I definitely had to throw my own fic into the mix! (Honestly was tempted to do Ghostbur but I figured Foolish would be a great fit!)

Memory let out a silent giggle, placing a hand over her mouth as she grabbed the end of the hammer and quickly tugged it towards the little hole she had made in the wall. The little borrower had been causing mischief around the mansion for the past couple of days, much to the demi-god’s dismay.

Most borrowers would think she’s nuts for messing with a being, especially one with god-like abilities, but to Memory, this was just easy entertainment when she wasn’t out doing the normal borrower things. As long as she wasn’t caught, she didn’t mind taking the risk. She did always return the items she took in the end.

Once she was safely tucked away in her little hole in the wall with the hammer she stole, she heard the exasperated sigh of a familiar totem god and pushed the wood to the side ever so slightly to glance out at the golden figure looking around, stifling a laugh.

“I know I put it right here! How does this keep happening? It’s like someone is messing with me!” Foolish huffed, pushing himself up from looking under the little dresser in the hallway.

Memory let out a silent laugh into her hand and closed the little door she created and hid until she heard his footsteps fade down the hallway. Once she decided that he was far enough away and she was out of sight, she pushed the little piece of wood out of her way and pulled the hammer back out into the middle of the hallway. Panting softly, she heard footsteps coming back in the distance and quickly ran back to her little hole in the wall and closed the slab of wood behind her.

“What? No! I know for a fact this hammer was not here before! What the heck!” Foolish exclaimed, Memory watching from a crack in the wall as the totem placed a hand on his forehead and held the hammer in his other hand.

Deciding that work was more important, Foolish sighed and went back to the room he was previously working on. He could always try to figure out what little troublemaker was taking and returning his things. Being a god, he had a few ideas on what this being could be, however his guesses were almost always crossed off as the being would do something that would cross another off his list.

Having finally had her fun, Memory smiled to herself and skipped through the walls. She had just built her little home recently and since the mansion was still under construction she had to be careful on where she created her passageways until he was no longer building.

“So! Half enderman boy has memory issues, definitely useful if I were to be seen! He would forget, the piglin can’t speak english well so that means he can’t communicate he saw me, so the only issue is the goat and the golden guy. The goat could definitely catch me, so I need to be careful around him, the piglin too, he’s a young bean, that would be really bad,” Memory spoke to herself, reminding herself of the inhabitants of the mansion. While Foolish wouldn’t be living in the mansion, she figured he’d still come around and wanted to be prepared.

“The golden guy looks like what those beans call a totem, kinda odd, he’s pretty observant though, I need to be super careful,” Memory pushed some of her short hair from her face with a sigh.

Once she pushed aside a small piece of cloth that led underneath the floorboards to her little base, Memory dug around for any more food scraps she had packed from when she had to flee from L’Manburg a few weeks prior. She couldn’t help the small whine she released seeing as her food supply was finally run dry.

“Man...I haven’t been borrowing in weeks, I could have sworn I still had a small piece of Niki’s bread left,” the borrower sighed, her wings drooping a bit and her tail now laid on the ground. “Well, sitting around and sulking isn’t going to get me anywhere, I’ll have to see what I can grab around here and HOPEFULLY make it last a while,” She huffed, digging through a few things before grabbing her borrowing bag and strapping it tightly around her torso. She wrapped her grapple around her hips and poked a sewing needle through her pants slightly as a sort of sheath to hold it in place.

Memory quickly made her way out of her little home and through the passageways until she got to her desired area. This door led to outside in SnowChester, however outside was where Foolish kept a lot of his supplies, so she had no choice but leave the safety of the mansion to get to his supplies.

Memory poked her head out a bit to see if Foolish was outside, thankfully he seemed to still be busy with the room he was working on and she estimated that would be just enough time to grab what she needed and get back to the walls before he needed to come out for something. With one deep breath, Memory pushed out of the hole and into the open, running towards the little overhang in front of the mansion. Just as her luck would have it, she heard Foolish stepping out of the mansion and quickly slid underneath the furnace.

She watched as he quickly approached. Shit. He saw her. She thought she had more time, her breathing quickened slightly. Her wings puffed up along with her tail as a hand was placed on the ground right in front of the furnace. From how his position looked, he was going to look straight under right at her. At that moment, she felt like a cornered animal.

Hastily tugging her sewing needle from it’s makeshift sheath from her position on her stomach, she quickly threw the needle just as a pair of emerald colored eyes peered in at her. Foolish gave a surprised yelp as the needle flew at him, making him quickly flinch back and fall backwards in surprise. No way...he had ruled out borrowers a long time ago, they were almost never the mischievous type.

With the small window of time she had, Memory quickly ran out from the furnace on the other side. While running out in the snowy biome was not ideal at all, to her, it was better than being stuck with a bean who would hurt her with no hesitation at all. Anything else was better than that. She dove herself into a bush although she heard Foolish call out to her, she ignored him. Now without her weapon and stuck in the cold of the snowy biome, there are not many options she could really weigh in. If she left the bush, she put herself in the open to be caught by Foolish or something else. However, if she didn’t she risked freezing to death in the snow.

Foolish rushed over, looking around for the little borrower, having not had enough time to see where they went before they hid away from sight. Quickly pushing himself up and walking behind the little stand where all his supplies were being kept, he searched around, his eyes scanning the area for any little movements.

“Hey there little borrower, I swear I don’t mean any harm. I didn’t mean to scare you...was it you who was taking and returning my things?” he questioned, nearly slapping himself at the question before adding, “I’m not upset if it was you! Just would like to know what sort of mischievous creature is messing with me!” He gave a soft laugh and waved his hand gently in dismissal.

Memory watched him from the bush, not even her tail dare move a muscle as he stalked closer to the bush she was in. He wasn’t mad? What if he was lying? What if this was some elaborate trick to catch her and hurt her for all the times she got bored and messed with him? What if-

Memory screamed out suddenly when a not so happy bird pinned her down. It seemed in her attempts to keep her eyes on Foolish and keep herself hidden, she had neglected to see the bush she was using as her hiding spot was also home to a mama bird and her nest full of baby birds. She pecked at Memory, the girl barely dodging the beak as a golden hand quickly reached into the bush; a voice shooing the bird with many apologies before Memory was grabbed into a fist and pulled from her hiding spot.

Foolish quickly cupped the little life against his chest, hiding her away from the outside world and swatting lightly at the angry bird that flew at his head and the hand at his chest.

“Ah! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! We’ll leave your nest alone, I promise!” Foolish begged as he rushed off, the bird chasing him a few more feet before deciding he was far enough away and went back to her nest.

Panting, Foolish quickly made his way back to the mansion and went inside. He gently pulled his hand from his chest, the scared little borrower curled up at the center of his palm. Her head was against her knees with her arms covering her head, her tail wrapped itself around her waist and her wings covered her body like a shield. Foolish did not touch her further from her being in his palm and walked over to a workbench he had set up inside to save time and gently slid her onto it and took a step back.

“ Are you okay?” He asked, his hands placed up in the air to let her have full control over this situation. This wasn’t his first run-in with a borrower after all.

Memory was absolutely frozen in place as she was placed down on the workbench. She couldn’t move even if she wanted to. She stayed in her little balled up state, her eyes scrunched up closed as her body now began to shake like a leaf, the adrenaline in her veins now exiting her system. She knew she had to look so pathetic, just sitting there and shaking like a leaf.

“Hey, I know your kind is very skittish of people, but I swear I mean no harm to you at all, I can even help you find a better house to live in if you want to leave,” Foolish spoke softly as to not startle the girl any more than he already had. He watched as the girl began to slowly, cautiously, pushing herself up, her blue eyes training themselves onto Foolish, wide and full of fear. Her knees pulled to her chest, her eyes peeking above her knees.

“I’m not supposed to speak to beans,” Memory finally spoke meekly.

“I know,” Foolish gave a small laugh, rubbing the back of his neck, “I just thought you could silently answer,” he gave a kind smile.

“How do you know about my kind?” Memory questioned, her look hardening at him.

“I’m a god, I’ve been alive for a long time. I met many creatures and beings during my time,” he replied, it was process after all.

“A god?” she seemed skeptical, “what type of god?” The questions seemed to bring her a sort of comfort, so of course he was going to answer them!

“A totem god, also one of the ocean,” he replied, giving no hesitation so the girl didn’t think he was trying to trick her.

“Why did you help me?” Memory asked, finally asking the burning question, “especially since you knew I was the one messing with your stuff,” she added.

“Well, you needed help, I wasn’t going to let a bird get you especially since I was definitely the reason you ran into that bush. And you did always return my stuff, it’s not like you took things I needed and didn’t return them,” Foolish shrugged, noting the surprised look on the little borrower’s face. “Can I ask you a question now?” He asked, watching the girl tense up slightly before nodding at him lightly. “Great, what is your name?”

“Memory.”

“Uh? Do you have memory problems like Ranboo?”

“No! That’s my name! My name is Memory.”

“OH! Sorry!”

Memory began to laugh a bit, curling herself a bit and seeming to relax the more she spoke with Foolish. He couldn’t help but laugh along with her.

“Now I see why they call you Foolish, you are quite the foolish bean,” Memory snickered a bit, a teasing tone in her voice.

“Wh..Foolish is my name!” He laughed, now it was Memory’s turn to feel a little embarrassed as they both a bit.

“Okay, maybe we’re both a little foolish,” Memory giggled.

Foolish did find it a little odd just how comfortable the girl was with him already, most borrowers it would take hours, days, weeks, months even to get this much process, but with Memory she was already so relaxed, albeit a little jumpy, but relaxed. Foolish opened his mouth to continue on with the conversation when he heard two voices call out for him. Tubbo and Ranboo, shoot he forgot they were stopping by today.

Memory shot up to her feet, quickly scanning around for the voices however she wasn’t able to pinpoint them like Foolish could. She yelped as Foolish scooped her into his hand and pushed her into his jacket pocket. While he did seem to be in a rush, he was still gentle. Memory, of course, struggled a bit, pushing at the golden hand before he gently pinned her down.

“Hey, Tubbo! Ranboo!” Foolish greeted the two as he walked over and met the two.

Memory froze, oh, he was hiding her from them. She stilled herself and calmed her breathing. While not fully trusting Foolish, she figured he was her best bet rather than risking herself to run back to one of her entrances that were much too far away to get to in time. For now, she’d have to stay here and wait out the two beans until she could go back home.

[belphegor1982]

@stripedsinker replied to your post:

What's Kaamelot if you don't me asking? :)

(edit: sorry this got so long 😅 I swear I tried to be concise!)

Kaamelott originally a French sitcom about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table! I say “originally” both because the first few seasons (or “books”, as they’re called) are made up of lots of very short episodes - like, 2 or 3 minutes short - and also because it was very much “humour with sometimes a darker undertone/some gallows humour”. It’s consistently well-written, with very sharp dialogue that unfortunately is very hard to translate into English because it mixes elegant turns of phrases with slang and colloquialisms, and those dialogues are really a staple of the show. Many lines have become memes.

The creator, Alexandre Astier (who also plays Arthur, writes the show, composes the music - does a lot of things, really) always intended Kaamelott (written like this to underscore the final “t”, which we French might be tempted to leave silent otherwise, and also because AA are his initials) to be a little more than a sitcom about a tired king who tries to manage a bunch of more or less eager and more or less idiotic knights like some overworked goatherd might try to manage a bunch of goats.

At the end of the 5th “Book” (the book before last), Lancelot has turned completely from King Arthur’s egalitarian ideals and has been tempted into a darker side while Arthur, increasingly despondent at not only failing at his task of finding the Holy Grail, but also not finding a single child he might have fathered (plus depression), tries to commit suicide by slicing his wrist in the bath. Only Lancelot - who has come to kill him - finds him inches from death, and saves him.

The 6th Book is mostly an extensive flashback to Arthur’s youth as a young Roman soldier who was essentially placed at the head of Britain (a Roman colony at the time) so he could be a political puppet, only for him to reveal that he can get Excalibur from its stone and wield it - and turns things around until he becomes the king of a united Britain. In the last episode, still very weak and recovering, he places the kingdom in the hands of Lancelot, asking him to do what Arthur’s always tried to do: only fight for the dignity of the weak. Except... Lancelot takes this as a blank cheque to reorganise the kingdom the way he wants it, and sends men to hunt down the knights closest to Arthur - and Arthur himself, who is only saved by the intervention of a thief/bandit/purveyor of illegal things who remained loyal to him and smuggles him to Rome.

The show stopped there in 2009, with Arthur slowly regaining his strength and his purpose, with the sentence “Soon, Arthur will be a hero again.” Because Astier always intended to make a trilogy of films on the big screen to show us what happens next. But the first film got stuck in development hell for almost a decade! It was supposed to come out in the summer of 2020, only to be pushed back (because plaguetimes) to October 2020, and then to 21st July 2021. And today, posters dropped!!

Basically a major part of Francophone Tumblr is getting content for something we’ve been waiting literally twelve years for and WE ARE HAPPY 🥳

[grapecinnamon]

Two Gay Dogs: A Ruff Ruffman Story | Chapter 6: Valentines and Voicemails

"Blossom, you're not going to believe it!" Ruff exclaimed as he walked into the dog house. "Guess what? I asked out Mason, and he said yes!"

"That's awesome! Did you use a card?"

"No, I'm saving that for Valentine's Day in a few days. We're going to make plans for our date later on. Ooh! I hope we can go to the Chinese place!" Chet then came in with a wagon full of wooden crates.

"Ah, Chet. I see you got me my supplies in these boxes." He looked in one of the boxes, only to find it empty. "Uh, okay?" Then he looked in another, only to find nothing again. Then he opened another. And another. And another until he realized that Chet was being Chet.

"Chet, are you kidding me!? I said crafting materials, not crating materials! Craft isn't even close to crate! What am I going to do?" He sighed and put his paws on his face, but then he remembered three important people.

"Wait? Alma, Chester, and Lance can help me out. I just hope none of them tell Mason."

~

The first dog he visited was lance, the crafty black-lab. He knocked on the door, and entered at the sound of a voice saying, "It's open!" He walked into the living room to see the black lab playing a video game on the switch. It was an 8-bit game where the lab seemed to be controlling a small, red heart, and was avoiding the attacks of a tall goat-like king. Ruff didn't know what this game was, but he seemed to connect with the king for some reason. A fireball hit the heart and it broke into a million pieces.

"Aw, I died again!" He threw the controller next to him on the couch and looked behind to see the orange mutt.

"Oh, hey Ruff. What are you doing here?"

"I need your help making a card for Mason."

"Ooh? For Mason? For Valentine's Day?" Ruff nodded. "Yeah, I heard from Mason about you asking them out. Congratulations, Dude!" He playfully pushed Ruff on the shoulder and Ruff playfully pushed him back. But he pushed him so hard, the labrador fell backwards and onto a table full of trash and crafting stuff.

"Oh, sorry about that."

"That's alright. I was looking for that glue bottle anyway." He nonchalantly held up his elbow, which had a white, glue bottle stuck to it. "So, dude, what do you want?"

"I need a big, red card for Mason. It needs to be in the shape of a heart, lined with pink lace, and big enough to fit about twenty dog treats inside. I think Mason said they liked green-apple treats."

"Alright, I can do that. That'll be $30, please." Ruff was caught off guard, as the dog held out his paw for the upfront payment. He looked around and saw a sign on the table that said $15/ flat card | $30/ 3-D card. Ruff didn't have 30 dollars. He didn't even have enough for a flat card. He already gave Chet the $20 for those crates, leaving him with $10. He was about to call off the commission and getting a cheep card at a store, but he knew he couldn't settle. No, no, Mason Jaye deserved something with a heart and soul poured into it.

"Okay, I only have $10. Is there anything I can get for that?"

"No, but I'll make a deal with you. I have this thing where if my clients can make their ideal card themselves, they can get it for $5, but since you're my friend, and Mason really likes you, I'll let you do it for free."

"Lance, you got yourself one heck of a deal!" Ruff sat at the crafting table and got to work at the card. It took him about 30 minutes to get it done, but once finished... it looked like absolute garbage.

Ruff tried his best, but the card looked horrible; the heart looked more like a brain, especially since the lace was glued on lopsided, and there wasn't enough space for the treats. Lance looked at it and cringed. He didn't want to hurt Ruff's feelings, but...

"I can't let you give this to Mason. This looks horrible. Look, I'll just do it for you, okay?" Lance then got to work and created Ruff's idea card in perfect detail. It even put the treats inside. Ruff looked inside to get a good look at them; they were green and in the shape of apples. Ruff wanted one so badly, but these were for his enbyfriend, not him. The box had a message engraved on it in cursive; it read To Mason: The Love of my Life. Ruff didn't exactly request that message, but

~

Up next was Chester. He arrived at his house to seem him and Alma hanging out in the backyard.

"Hey, Ruff," Chester said, as he dug a hole with his paws.

"Hi, Ruff," Alma said, waving. "Good to see you. What are you doing here?"

"I came by to ask if Chester could help me write a poem to Mason."

"Oh, yeah," Alma said. "You asked xer out the other day, right?"

"Yeah, and Lance helped me make this heart box filled with treats. I thought this would be enough, but now I feel like it needs something else. Could you help me write a love poem?"

"Sure." Chester and Alma lead the orange dog into the house to a desk that had writing material and a quill dipped in a glass jar of ink.

"Do you know anything about writing poetry?"

"Of course. Hold on, I think I have some poems for my ex crush right here." He pulled out the poems addressed to Charlene and showed them to the dalmatian. Wow, never thought I'd be calling Charlene my ex. The orange dog thought. It's kind of exhilarating. The poem read as follows:

Charlene

My Washing Machine

Is Green

And Keen

The dalmatian and the schnauzer looked up at the prideful orange dog, realizing they had a lot of work to do.

After a while, bouncing back and forth from one another with ideas, they finally finished the new and improved poem, which read as:

Paws that hold mine perfectly, like they were crafted for each other.

Arms that embrace me tightly with never-ending comfort.

Ribs that touch mine when you lay on top of me.

Tails that wag in unison as we share each other's love.

Ojos that look into mine, not wanting to focus on anything else.

Fingers that touch my soul like no one else has.

Minds that think alike, and spend all their time thinking of each other.

Everything about you is perfect. I'll never meet anyone else like you for as long as I live.

The poem was perfect, and it was nothing like what Ruff would actually write. Which was why Ruff thought it was perfect. He blushed brightly as he reread certain lines. He could barely have Mason's arm around him without going nuts. Just the thought of Mason laying on top of him... Ruff, get a hold of yourself. He thought. Mason probably doesn't think about you like that yet. I think.

Chester took the poem and folded it into fourths, as he put it inside the heart.

"It's missing something," Alma said. "I think what would really put it all together is a bouquet of roses."

"Ah, good idea," Ruff said.

"I can't give them to you today because they could die by then. But for now, what colors do you want the roses to be? I have every color you can think of in roses."

"Well, how about we use roses in the colors of the pan and enby flag."

"That sounds great. Do you want me to add the colors of the gay flag as well?"

"Actually, I don't think I..." Ruff thought about how he had been crushing on Charlene for a while, but then he remembered, she's a thing of the past. He never felt the things with her that he felt for Mason. But maybe he just has a preference?

"...I'm fine with that."

"Great!"

~

It was Valentine's Day. Couples all over the city were showing each other their love in their own special ways. Ruff and Mason would've met each other today at the arcade (another favorite of Mason's despite being made fun of for that due to their age) around 12:00 p.m. but just when Ruff was about to walk out the door with his gifts, he got a text message:

Mason: Hey, sorry, but I don't think I'm ready for a relationship. I think we should cancel that date.

Just when his heart was mended, it gets broken all over again. How could Mason do this to him? They made such a good connection, one that Ruff never thought he'd get from anyone else, so why did he flake out on him? The orange dog felt like crying. Scratch that, he was crying. He sunk to the bottom of the wall and held his face in his paws as he sobbed away the pain, the same words circling in his head: fat. Idiot. Slob. Creep. Fat. Idiot. Slob. Creep... And then he noticed the answering machine had a message left on it. Could it be Mason explaining their self? Or perhaps Blossom and Chet left him a message. No, no, if Blossom and Chet needed to tell him something, they would've said it to his face or texted him. And wouldn't Mason text him an explanation? Who was messaging him? He pressed the button and listened:

You have one new message from: Charlene

*Beep!*

Hi, it's Charlene. I heard your little enbyfriend cancelled your date today. Such a shame. I thought you two would be so happy together. Anyway, I'm just sitting at home, in my jacuzzi. Wink, wink. I know you've probably fantasized about this for years and I just wanna give you what you've wanted. I'm so sorry I sent you those mean text messages. That was meant for, um, someone else. Now, come over here as soon as you get this. I'd hate for you to spend Valentine's Day alone... again.

*Beep!*

Ruff was confused. But a little excited. And also a little suspicious. Looking back at the text message, he noticed that Mason texted in perfect grammar, which was something he never did. He must've been serious about this. Feeling absolutely bummed out from his second break up, he decided that maybe giving Charlene a second chance wouldn't be so bad. After all, she was finally interested in him, and with perfect timing as well. He wiped off his tears, threw his gift to Mason in the trash, and made his way to the poodle-next-door's house.

[Stay tuned for another chapter of Two Gay Dogs. Boy, it's getting wild]

[kalinara]

It does occur to me that episode 5 of the Witcher is possibly my favorite in terms of interpersonal dynamics.  Specifically for Yennefer and Geralt.

It’s always tricky when we’re dealing with a limited series, with one episode per short story (and not even the full episode, really), to establish strong relationships of the sort that tie the narrative together.  This is especially the case for Yen and Geralt, since its their relationship and its push and pull that’s so very important in the novels and the games.  (Even if you go the other romantic path, it’s still incredibly significant.)

But overall, I think that episode 5 (and episode 6 after that) do a surprisingly good job with the set up.

A lot of the relationship dynamic between Yennefer and Geralt is set up with what came before.  I joked about how the juxtaposition of Geralt’s interest at Calanthe’s torture threat and Yen’s “I *inflict* pain” are the show’s unsubtle way of showing how compatible they are.  But honestly, it’s kind of true.  If you look at the relationships set up at the very beginning: Geralt and Renfri, Yennefer and Istredd, we start to see how the two can fit together.  Yennefer doesn’t play at being anything other than she is.  Geralt (with one exception) doesn’t judge her ambition or lust for power.

I think for people looking for a conventional romance, episode five might seem more than a little lacking.  But Yennefer and Geralt aren’t really a conventional romance.  They’re a kinky romance.  Their initial give and take is more about the exchange of power than it is sweet words and candlelight.

The moment they meet, in the middle of the orgy, the power dynamics are already visibly in play.  He’s out of armor, disarmed, asking for help and bringing apple juice of all things.  She’s gowned and masked, domme chic, lounging in what might as well be a throne.  She’s standing above him as they meet and slowly descends as they speak.  She sets the terms, he accepts.

Then there’s the bath.  He’s naked, in plain sight, while she stalks around him appreciatively.  She lowers herself into the bath, but only after making him turn his back.  She shifts the mirror so he can’t see.  He doesn’t seem to mind that at all.

It gets really interesting though when he mocks her transformation: what was her flaw?  A clubbed foot?  Split ends?  That’s the moment that Yennefer freezes up.  And I don’t think it’s because she was offended.  I think it has to do with the way Yennefer sees her transformation.  Because Yennefer’s transformation was never really about fixing her physical flaws.  If you recall the beginning of episode 3, Yennefer’s big complaint was that she had no idea what her idealized self would look like.  She tells Istredd that he’s lucky: Ban Ard boys don’t have to go through the transformation at all.  She’s not ashamed of her disfigurements, nor should she be.  They may have made her a target for village bullies, but in Aretuza, they’ve never held her back.

Istredd accuses her of being angry that she missed her chance to be beautiful, but there’s no real indication that Yennefer was even thinking about that when she missed the ceremony.  She was still focused on the damage her ancestry reveal had done to her ambition.  She does choose to undergo the transformation, but as a weapon and a means for the power she wants.  It’s a mask, the same as she was wearing in the orgy.

What Geralt did in that moment was say “I see that you’re wearing a mask, and I don’t really care what you’re hiding.”  And that is where things shift. 

She immediately drops the idea of him prostituting himself for his friend’s life (something that he finds obviously disappointing.  Clearly he was enjoying the power exchange too) and goes for a more overt means of getting him out of the way.  But the sexual chemistry is still there and unspoken, and she can’t completely drop the domme act: see, for example, the way she dresses him.

So then we get mind control and an almost execution.  I don’t necessarily think Yen was trying to kill him there.  She probably assumed he’d escape before execution (I doubt she had any idea that the one guard really wanted to “play” with a Witcher.  And how fitting is it that we get those sexualized taunts in an episode that’s all kinky power exchange.).  Or that Jaskier would wish them both away.  Though Yen is also pretty focused on her own desires, so I’m not sure that she that she’d have felt that badly if he had died there.

But then he comes to save her.  And that’s where things get really interesting.  He offers her his wish, she can have whatever she actually wants if she just takes it.  But she refuses.  Her desire for a fertility cure has never really been about having a child.  It’s about being denied something she wants.  It doesn’t mean anything if someone else gives it to her.  And I think she especially doesn’t want HIM to be the one to give it to her.  Yennefer will always be dominant, damnit.

Then Geralt makes his wish.  We don’t know what his exact wording was, but I think we know Geralt well enough to know that whatever wish he made wouldn’t have involved Yennefer falling in love with him.  He’s as emphatic about choice as she is, in his own way.

But at that point their relationship has shifted again.  Yennefer realizes, at least subconsciously, that this is a man who has seen her at her most power hungry.  He saw her in the center of maelstrom screaming that she wanted everything.  Istredd may have loved her before she was beautiful, but he found her lust for power revolting.  Tissaia ridicules it.  But Geralt, who saw her at her worst, experienced her at her worst, doesn’t mind it.

In fact, he trusts her enough to fall asleep in her presence.  That’s got to be intoxicating for someone like Yen.

Geralt’s side of things is also interesting.  (And requires a bit of future knowledge to analyze.)  I think there are a few elements at work here: first, his desire to save self-destructive women is clearly what gets him back into that building after she puts him under mind control.  But I don’t think that’s the point where he truly became enthralled.

I think it was seeing Yennefer at her worst actually: it was seeing her power-lust and her ambition.  It was seeing how much she WANTS.

Because that’s the thing that stands out about season 1 Geralt: except maybe at the very beginning, he doesn’t seem to WANT much of anything.

Of course, he demands coin for service.  But he shies away from any kind of more substantial reward.  Especially if it feels like it’s undeserved.  The whole reason he got a Child Surprise is because he didn’t want a reward at all.  Duny had persisted and Geralt just said “fuck it, give me the next goat you have.”  Geralt’s a dumbass who doesn’t appreciate destiny’s sense of humor.  But he still tries like hell to refuse that gift.

He doesn’t seem to have much by way of long term physical possessions, besides that amulet.  He has Roach...possibly, assuming Roach isn’t a sequence of horses under the same name.  But with the way he talks to her, it’s clear that Roach (Roaches?) is a being to him, not a possession.

Geralt doesn’t seem to care about personal comfort.  He rejects gifts.  And the only thing we ever see him buy for himself is a night’s companionship with a sex worker.

And I think that’s not meant to be a positive thing.  It’s like Geralt says in episode 6, when Yennefer asks him if he ever wanted anything else besides being a Witcher.  And he says that if he had, it was too long ago to remember.

That’s heartwrenching in its own right.  Kaer Morhen did such a number on him that he literally can’t imagine anything other than being a Witcher.

But it’s also even more heartwrenching after episode 8, when we do get to see a Geralt who IS young enough to want something.  And we see at least some of what happened to him to change that.

And it’s sad-funny too, because early on Yennefer doesn’t believe that he went looking for a djinn just to get a good night’s sleep.  But I think we’ve seen enough of Geralt to believe just that.  That’s how broken he is, the closest thing he has to a “want” is sleep.

And then he meets Yennefer.  Who is indeed magnificent.  And she wants EVERYTHING.  She’s everything he doesn’t know how to be.

And when she refuses to accept his wish for herself, she forces him to make a wish.  And in that second, he does want.  He wants HER.  Not her love or companionship, obviously, or she’d never have been able to storm away from him in episode 6, but he still didn’t want to lose her.  

It’s not a healthy relationship by any means.  Not yet anyway.  (Maybe Jaskier can give them a pamphlet about safe BDSM practices and teach them about safewords?)  It’s not a traditionally romantic relationship at all.  But I find it absolutely compelling.

And hot.  I own my kinks.