#also he is beautiful to any human but for all natives of the world the postwoman lives in he is UGLY AF

[beebeedibapbeediboop]

The forest king and the postwoman

[universalitgirlsblog2]

👑🩰MOVIE THERAPY👑🩰

-In this post, I want to mention the lessons I learnt from two beautiful movies - Queen and English Vinglish. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND these movies!!!! Both the movies start with women who are timid , stuck in their past , trying to please others , lack self love , dependent on others but in the end they become independent, confident and develop self love. Isn't that wonderful ?

Let's start from Queen movie starring Kangana Ranaut, Rajkumar Rao and Lisa Haydon. It's about a girl named Rani who was dumped by her fiance and she decides to go on honeymoon, all by herself

1) If they leave you, it's not the end of the world.

Rani's fiance dumped her just before the wedding, ofc she was heartbroken and locked herself in room . After that she decided to go to honeymoon, all by herself! She went to the same place where she was supposed to go after her marriage - Amsterdam , Paris . I know it hurts , when a close one , whether it's your fiance , boyfriend, girlfriend , best friend etc leaves your side with/without any reason. As once a wise women said , you lose people who aren't meant for the best version of you . Even if they leave, you have to enjoy your own company and continue with your own life . Vijay aka Rani's fiance cancelling the wedding was a blessing in disguise . Also if they left without any reason or if they were just embarrassed by you , they didn't deserve you at all .

2) YOU ARE COMPLETE ON YOUR OWN

Yes , here is a spoiler from the movie , Rani doesn't end up with any new guy or gets married to her ex fiance. Infact , she becomes independent and free. You are whole on your own. You are complete on your own , you don't need anyone to complete you. You are a queen/king and will always remain one ! You can be happy on your own. You don't need anyone or their approval.

3) Have fun with friends , don't judge each other

Rani met VijayLaxmi , Olexander or ( Sikander🐵) , Taka and time. Their friendship was perfect example of "opposites attract " . However , despite the differences, she never judged them because she knew they were good human beings , deep inside .

4) A make over is never a bad idea !

A makeover can make you feel confident in yourself. The way you present and take care of yourself also shows how much you love and respect yourself. So wear a pretty pink dress and straight your hair or maybe curl them , whatever you like ! Also REMEMBER YOU ARE DOING IT FOR YOUUU!!!!!!!🧁💖

5) Step outside of your comfort zone

Why?? You don't grow in your comfort zone. Rani stepped out of her native country and tralleveled all alone to a country where she was supposed to go with her ex fiance. Remember Great things never come from comfort zone.

6) Free yourself

Be independent. Love yourself. Respect yourself. There is a scene in the movie where Rani rejects her fiance when he comes back while they play a beautiful and meaningful song in background . That scene represents Rani's walk of liberation. Rani finally became independent, learnt to love herself and be her own person !!

7) " Thank you " - Rani, Queen 2013

Rani thanks her fiance when he comes back to her. No, she doesn't take him back . She finally realized that if he didn't cancel the marriage, she would have never become her highest self which was confident , full of self love and independent. It was truly a blessing in disguise. Say thank you to all those hurtful past experiences, those experiences made you wiser. Say thank you to all the people who left you at your worst because they made you realize that you only need one person and that's YOU !

Lessons learnt from English vinglish , starring Sridevi . It's about a woman named Shashi who didn't receive any respect from her family peers for not knowing English. She was also timid and often mistreated by her daughter and not appreciated enough by her own husband.

1) Step out of your comfort zone

Shashi went to New York inorder to attend her sister's wedding but she couldn't speak or understand English. She went to a country where she didn't know how to communicate with anyone. You must get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

2) Turn your weakness into strength

Shashi was mocked by her own family for not knowing English. She took English classes and learnt English. She was committed and determined to learn English so she succeeded . She gave a meaningful speech in English too which shocked her daughter and her husband whereas some people were proud of her - her little son , her other cousin Radha , her English teacher and class peers. Later , her family also felt bad for mistreating like and they developed respect for her . Also please respect your parents , don't humiliate them for not knowing something or anything. The scene where Shashi cried because her daughter disrespected her were so painful to watch .

3) Don't allow others to degrade your hobbies / Job

Shashi was never appreciated for her being good at making sweets and her buisness was going pretty well but she never got the appreciation she deserved and was degraded by her own husband for being called " entrepreneur ". If you like something and if it is beneficial to you too , then don't care what others are saying , even if it's someone from your family.

3) Self love

Shashi summarized it in few words which hit hard so I will just end this post with her quote

" When you don't like yourself, you tend to dislike everything associated with you . New things seem to be more attractive , but once you start loving yourself , the same old life begins to feel new and good "

-Shashi , English Vinglish , 2012

[redrook]

listen. Raava is a lesbian.

I've been re-reading all the Avatar books, and the common thread is that once the Avatar enters the Avatar state, they start falling in love with a girl.

Kyoshi? Originally in love with a boy, Yun, when she's barely able to bend even her native element. Her first sign of being the Avatar is singing love poetry from her past life about a woman. Once she finally enters the Avatar state, she almost immediately starts thinking about how beautiful her longtime friend Rangi is.

Roku? Fell in love and got married to a woman after mastering all the elements and the Avatar state.

Aang? Wakes up from a 100 year coma brought on by the Avatar State (normally completely encasing someone in ice will just. kill them.) and he gets a heart-rending crush on the very first girl that he sees

Korra? Again like Kyoshi, when she's initially blocked in her bending and unable to control the Avatar State, she's in love with a guy. Once she masters the Avatar State, she starts getting into fights with Mako. The more she connects with Raava, the more they fight, until finally they break-up (the only Avatar breakup we are ever shown). Once Raava fully awakens within Korra in the season 4 finale, IMMEDIATELY after she asks out Asami on their spirit world date.

Kuruk? Constantly entering the Avatar State, and was a notorious lady's man (after his spirit was damaged fighting other spirits, the only thing that could "restore" his spirit was drinking and "the touch of warm bodies". Raava was like man we gotta recharge.)

What about Yangchen, you may ask? She hasn't fallen in love with any woman. Yangchen is the exception that proves the rule. Yangchen, despite her spirituality, is the most earthly attached Avatar. She chose humanity, over and over, and many spirits turned dark as a result of her actions. Even though she is connected to all of her past lives, not once does she bring up Raava or even mention a light spirit. She also mentions that maintaining the Avatar State is incredibly difficult for her, and that she has a low reserve of energy. Yangchen is the most connected to earthly attachments, the least connected to Raava, and is therefore able to resist the impending push of lesbianism.

Raava is a lesbian.

[spacebarbarianweird]

Please, what are you headcanons about Astarion and human Tav/Durge? There's obviously the angsty issue of humans having one of the shortest life spans of all DnD races but that's only as angsty as you want it to be in this setting (and the stories you can tell about it are what makes it fascinating). Still... What's your take on it? Would that be a disaster for a proud immortal elf?

Since humans are very diverse I decided to take female human Tav who isn't exactly a big girl but would be considered "curvy" by human beauty standarts.

Astarion x F!Human!Tav

Masterlist

Headcanons

You are the third child born into a big family of seven.

Unlike your sisters, you are that girl who is always teased for "eating too much" or "needing too much fabric for a dress."

It would bother you if you had issues with self-esteem. But you don't.

"At least, I have some tits and ass!" you jokingly say to people who decide to comment on your looks.

Besides, your father, a native to Frost North, has always told you that "the bigger a woman is, the more chances she survives a winter".

You inherited from your northern ancestors' red hair, the color of fire.

Freckles dance over your pale skin and, when you laugh, you can be heard in the neighboring village.

Since there's not much for you in life apart from marriage, you sign up to join an adventure party.

Being an adventurer isn't easy. It's dangerous for a lonely woman but you manage to find friends and learn how to protect yourself.

And you are still this jolly human woman who just can't allow herself to stop because your years are so short.

You probably regret this attitude when locked inside the Mindflayer's pod with a nasty tadpole behind your eyes.

You gather this group of traumatized people - it's not like you are the most competent person, but you are, at least, not experiencing the meltdown!

Astarion immediately catches your eye - he is an elf. And it's a common knowledge humans see elves as the most beautiful creatures ever.

Does he think he manipulates you into protecting him? Too bad. You decided you weren't leaving this adventure without this handsome elven man by your side.

A vampire? Even better.

You are much stronger than him and a bit taller.

You can easily pick him since his bones are so light.

And he adores your body.

Your breasts are pretty big and your thighs are soft.

He likes using your boobs as a pillow and you don't mind - because it gives you full access to his hair.

Or putting his head on your soft belly and thighs.

He also adores your body hair - especially the one in private parts.

"You know among humans it's considered ugly unless you are a man"

"No wonder human women prefer elves."

You look adorable in dresses with deep necklines and ribbons in your curly red hair.

And Astarion loves seeing you in the morning, when you, awake from your long human sleep, look at the world with puffy eyes trying to apprehend wtf you saw in your dreams.

"Don't even ask, human's dreams are fucked up."

When Astarion is distressed, you often put him on your knees and lull him like a child.

And it's difficult for him to adapt to your lifestyle.

You are considered a slow type for a human but you are still a human

You are ambitious, loud, and fast. You have so little time left, you want to experience it to the fullest.

You are smart, brave, skilled and unstoppable like a human traveler, who decided they want to reach the edge of the world.

You keep being adventurers until it's too difficult for you.

Your red hair turns white, and you have wrinkles. You aren't a jolly red-haired girl any longer.

You are a jolly old lady who can both bake cookies for neighbor kids and beat someone's abuser with a hammer.

The time passes fast and it's time for you to go.

"You were quite an adventure, Astarion", you whisper to him

"And you were everything", he replies holding his tears back.

Astarion wants to leave the moment you find rest in your grave, but your family, the loud red-haired clan doesn't let him go.

Well, it's not like any of them were ever prepared to have a vampire for an uncle but here they are.

Astarion visits them from time to time, seeing how children grow up, how new things get old, and how the village becomes a town and then a city.

Human lives are so short, they make the most of them

Astarion visits less and less and only some of the oldest residents of the city know about him.

"Oh, yeah… I remember. My grandmother once told me her great-grandfather's sister was married to a vampire."

Sitting at the seashore, waiting to sail to the Isle of Evermeet, Astarion remembers the words he once heard from an old elf.

"You need to fall in love with a human at least once in your life."

--

Tag list

@tugoslovenka @marcynomercy @wintersire @vixstarria @not-so-lost-after-all @ashiro20 @theearthsfinalconfession @herstxrgirl @starlight-ipomoea @micropoe10 @astarion-imagine-archive @veillsar @elora-the-slutty-songstress @fayeriess @lumienyx @astarion-beloved @tallymonster @caitlincat-95 @tragedybunny @valeprati

[nilsavatar]

DAY 2 - EATING OUT

Parings: Ao'nung x Fem!human

Genre/Warnings: NSFW/MDNI, no use of Y/N, SMUT in the end, fingering, praising, size difference, soft-dom Ao'nung, fluff Ao'nung, oral (f receiving), slow-burn, ANGST, mention of KirixSpider. All characters are AGED-UP.

Summary: After Kiri's seizure, against all odds Jake convinces Ronal and Tonowari to agree to the temporary setup of a human camp at Awa'atlu. Ao'nung is against it, but meeting Spider's twin sister will change his mind about the aliens. Or at least about her.

Word Count: 6,6k

Masterlist - Request a fic

In the eyes of any Na'vi, human beings knew nothing but destruction. They killed, they plundered, they looted, they stole.

Ao'nung was no exception, despite never having had a chance to meet one. His opinions were based on tales — far from flattering —, testimonies from the not-too-distant past, and the tulkun carcasses moored offshore. A single precise hole pierced their palate to the brain. Too precise to be an accidental wound. Therefore, when his parents agreed for a temporary lab to be set up near Awa'atlu following Kiri's seizure, Ao'nung fiercely opposed it. Never had he leveraged his title as he did that day.

"I appreciate your stance, ma‘itan (son), but you are not yet olo'eyktan. Until then, you will do as you are told."

He might have done as he was ordered, but that did not imply that he would become familiar with the ketuwong (aliens). Or so he believed. One thing about humans still eluded him. Something that would systematically dismantle all his beliefs.

Their immense complexity. Capable of atrocious cruelties, harbored in them also an incredible goodness. A combination of oxymorons made up the intricate human nature. Malice and kindness. Destructiveness and creativity. Cowardice and tenacity. Ignorance and intelligence.

Hatred and love.

Even the lowliest creature, as that who’d usurped and appropriated his world as if they had the authority, had beauty. He saw it in how they dealt with Kiri and the kind smiles they looked at Lo’ak from afar. They seemed to empathize with his discomfort and the feeling of being different, as they were just as out of place as he was on Eywa'eveng (Pandora). Even in the sympathetic or unaffected strains with which they accepted the coldness and suspicion of the natives. Neytiri included.

When contemplating the woman, the boy frequently pondered the reason for the intense hostility; after all, her husband was formally one of them. He knew their story though, as everyone on Pandora. His father himself was a constant reminder of it by the almost inexplicable condescension he reserved for the Sullys.  The legendary Toruk Makto and Palulukan Makto. The chosen ones who led the clans to victory against the Sky People. The same ones who now walked among the reef people with their tails between their legs. Quite literally.

He experienced firsthand the feeling of being a letdown and living in the constant shadow of a flawless sibling.

Tsireya. His sweet little sister, the family's ray of sunshine, was both loved and hated by him. At times, he found comfort in the idea that, if she did not exist, perhaps their parents would be less strict with him.

Na'vi and Terrestrials weren’t so different after all. The same conflicting feelings coexisted in their hearts. The same inconsistency. Like loving an alien in an artificial body, but abhorring his origins. And now that he had a way to deal with them every day, even if from a distance, he realized more and more how much they had in common. At first glance, they might have seemed absolutely diverse. Humans were so small in comparison, so vulnerable. A simple, well-aimed kick could have shattered their fragile bones. They looked delicate, their skin velvety soft. Women at least, from what little he had deduced observing the only human girl on the island. 

Celeste Socorro.

Besides her small size and complete unsuitability to survive on the satellite, her colors were all wrong and seemed to lack uniformity with other specimens of her species. A commonality, it appeared. Their hair varied between disparate shades, their complexions tended to be warm and earthy, and there was no trace of blue excluding the irises of some of them. Celeste wasn’t one of those, though. Her eyes were black; a sun-dried bark brown color made it challenging to distinguish the pupil unless carefully scrutinized. Straw-blond strands, often gathered in a loose ponytail, ran halfway down her back. A few unruly wisps fell to the edges of her mask. Like other humans, she had a sense of modesty that he couldn’t get. Her body was almost entirely veiled by clothing, which didn’t compliment her frame.

Another reason for calling her odd was he couldn't explain why he was interested in her. He should have felt disgust, or at least indifference, but instead, none of this seemed to shake him when his eyes rested on her petite figure. Indeed, he had even found himself looking for her in the crowd. It usually took place at times of maximum distraction. When none of his duties could occupy his day and he loitered around the village. Thoughts wandered, confused until they took the form of the girl. He was frequently bombarded by reality itself. As if to shout in his face that he could not elude her.

Today was no exception. Irritated as never by Celeste's visage intruding on his mind to pay attention to where his heavy legs were taking him, her voice infiltrated his ears. Looking around, Ao'nung realized he was right near the Sullys’ marui. Inside, Kiri was styling Celeste’s hair, while the girl held in her small hands a monitor depicting a scan of Kiri's brain — something he had learned in that brief time in contact with the aliens. From the way the halfbreed rolled her eyes, she was familiar with her friend’s rather authoritative recommendations. 

He had a certain fascination with tawtute (human) contraptions, despite having a fictional feel to native eyes. They were the preserve of a technological development aimed at minimizing the fate of their physical weakness.  He somehow admired their perseverance, their intellectual flare, their nearly utopian idea of progress, but at the expense of what? They had lost any kind of attachment to their intimate and spiritual sphere, chasing answers that did nothing but create new questions and new quests. That same progress that had been born with good intentions to improve their conditions, to help, to save, had repeatedly set them against each other. Because, apparently, the instinct of prevarication and the lure of power were stronger than anything else. Devoid of unified purpose, they were nothing more than a dull shell of flesh.

An incredibly cute wrapper if they had asked his opinion about the human girl without an avatar.

“Even though I know he isn’t our father, he has his memory. He’s built on his genetic code. I can’t help but wonder if a side of him loves us. If he loved our mother.” The silence that had fallen was suffocating when she spoke again. “It seemed like it when he recognized us. The way he looked at us. He wasn’t just surprised; his eyes were the same Jake has for you. He had the eyes of a father, even if it lasted only for a moment. Spider and his mouth,” she mumbled in a bitter laugh. “That’s the only way I can keep my wits, knowing that my brother is in his hands.” 

Brother, he didn’t know she had a brother. But thinking about it, he made a brief connection to the human boy the Sully siblings often mentioned, and everything became tremendously obvious. Ao'nung wondered about the number of others who shared their situation. Terrestrial children born on Pandora. Normally, that would have made his skin crawl, but not today. Not as he eyed Celeste.

“We'll set him free," Kiri said with the sweetest of smiles adorning her face in a purple blush. Her gaze lost in emptiness as expert fingers danced over the fragile scalp of the girl sitting in front of her, intent on sorting the top section of her hair into soft braids and joining them in a single one. The remaining locks fell in graceful waves over her shoulders and around the small of her waist. Celeste snorted sourly, "When? When will your father decide to stop burying his head in the sand?" Her friend’s hands froze as she winced at the viciousness of those words, at the suffering that flowed from the rigidity of her posture. Her expression, once infused with tender hopefulness, now radiated immense sadness. Kiri knew deep in her heart that her parents would do nothing to take Spider back. Neytiri despised them as humans and Jake… Well, Jake felt pity for the Socorro twins, he saw himself in them. Having them around was like reliving the half-life he had before he became Omatikaya. A feeling for which he would give anything to never have to face it again, to bury it along with his past. Because, in a way, he felt like he had stolen the serenity he now had. From Tsu'tey. From Grace.

From Tommy.

They’d all lost their life for him to gain something instead. He’d gained a home, a mate, a family. Enough for him to no longer be invulnerable. If once he had nothing to lose, now he had everything to lose. He would do anything, make any gesture to safeguard what was his greatest strength, but above all, his greatest weakness.

Even sacrifice an innocent kid.

"Cel-" “No, don’t make up excuses for them. Don't insult me by saying they're waiting for the perfect moment to rescue him. They ain't gonna do that. As long as Quaritch doesn’t pull enough strings to force your parents out, no one will do anything.” Celeste’s eyes burned like glowing embers as she stared into Kiri’s liquid amber ones. Sorry to bring this up. I hoped our reunion would be better. The joy of seeing you again, my BFF, my sis, lingered with me. But… you bailed on us and left us to face the RDA alone.  The Omatikaya are standing up to defend the rainforest. The Timpani are their allies now, and the Tawkami are helping with the injured. All this while you were here checking out the sights, learning the way of a new clan. But, as soon as you needed us, you remembered the ones you left to die.” Kiri knew her friend was right to be resentful, to feel wronged, that her heart was bleeding in terror over her brother’s plight, but now she was being unfair. ”Did you think we asked for this? Hiding among strangers? We lost everything. Our home, our people, our status. We don’t belong anywhere, we just have ourselves.”

However distorted by the mask, Celeste’s expression was all too eloquent. She knew way too well what it felt like to be at the extremes of a stray cat. “It’s always about you, huh? But we're talking about Spider here. Quit whining about how much you miss him, moony-eyed whenever you talk about him. When Neytiri decided to leave him behind, you didn’t fight back. You didn't protest when Jake said it was too risky to go back for him.” “Why did you?” “With Neteyam holding me back! A fully grown male Na’vi clutching a small human girl as if I were a viperwolf puppy? What could I have done? Tell me.” Kiri couldn’t answer. “Exactly. Nothing. I am powerless before you.” The tawtute woman stood up toward the entrance furiously, but just as she was about to cross the threshold, she turned one last time to implant her shining, weeping eyes on her dear friend. It's scary to think what they're doing to him. They’re probably brainwashing him with nonsense. The more he stays with them, the more they drive him away from us. Spider's heart is tough, but we Sky People can be corrupted in a jiffy. Especially when they know how to get under our skin and give us a sense of belonging. When on the other side, they have our father.” “Nash and Mary are your parents. Norm, Max. We are your family!” “This is right if you leverage on logic. But let's be real, when has logic ever worked?” A heavy sigh lightened her lungs. “Sorry if I’m dumping it all on you. You have nothin’ to do with it, you have no fault except lovin’ him as much as I do.”

Maybe even more.

“It’s just—.” The tremor in her voice prevented her from finishing the sentence, but the meaning was painfully clear. Celeste was worried about Spider. She was terrified. “We lost him. Even if he manages to come back to us, he will never be what he used to be.”

Perhaps following her hadn't been the smartest choice. They hardly knew each other, and this sudden concern of his was undoubtedly misplaced. Why would she, a human, want to open up to him, of all people? The Metkayina prince, who had never had the courtesy to hide his dislike for her people. Who had never reserved a kind word for the Sullys, let alone for an abandoned little human girl like her.

There was the risk she would misinterpret his intentions — Lo’ak had warned her about him. At worst, she would take him for a creep. But he just couldn't help himself. The way she had come out of the marui, the scowl on her face, plain to see despite the stark reflection of the sun on her mask, and her hunched shoulders. Everything about her, whether it was her warm smile as she played with Tuk, the dedication with which she analyzed every new thing that came her way. Even the misery that filled those intense dark eyes, now flickering with tears, drew him in.

Celeste sat on the seashore. The heavy combat boots, which seemed to have seen better days, had been tossed to her right side as now the waves' soothing motion caressed her feet. Her toes fiddled with the sand while her gaze wandered to the horizon. The gentle breeze from the ocean tousled her half-leaved braids, dragging with it the distant calls of animals.

Ao’nung stood dumbfounded behind a palm tree, trying to gather the courage to approach her. What could he have said to her? It’s not like he could just show up and sit next to her, engaging in who knows what sort of conversation. Up to that point, they had hardly spoken to each other, leaving out forms of convenience. The guy wasn’t Lo’ak or Neteyam. He wasn’t someone familiar enough to even just sit beside her in silence, for his presence would be comforting to her. Nor did he own that innate coolness and likability Rotxo had. Maybe it would be the girl herself who would come to him.

“Don't bother taunting me now that there's no audience. I'm not in the mood for your immaturity.”

Well, roughly. At least it could be considered an icebreaker.

“I don’t plan on messing with you.” "Stalking must be a habit of yours, then.” That had taken him by surprise. He was convinced she hadn't noticed, but the girl had read right through him. She was more receptive and aware of her surroundings than he imagined. And to say that Ao'nung had even been careful to cover his tracks. “I remind you I grew up in the middle of the forest. It’s called mere survival,” she stated as if she had read his mind. “You’re just an open book,” confusion painted on his face (he didn’t know what a book was), “You’re very expressive, it’s easy to catch what you’re thinking.”  “Is that so?” commented in a whisper as he took a seat to her left. “It explains a lot of things.” “If you’re not here to torment me, what brings you here?”. “We started off on the wrong foot.” “That’s an understatement.” “I expected Lo’ak to tell you about how I behaved when they arrived. About the incident at Three Brother Rocks.” “Another euphemism. Anyway, I didn’t need to be updated on the hard time he had here with all of you. I was prepared for what was going to happen. I don’t blame you, you know? Probably if the roles were reversed, we humans would have done the same thing. It’s only natural to fear the difference, especially when they have done little to show their good side. But if you’re trying to apologize, it’s not me you have to ask.” “If it’s all right with you, I would simply like to sit here. We don’t have to talk.” She sketched a smile. “Something tells me that even if I told you I’d rather be alone, you’d still stay.” Ao’nung seemed to weigh his next words, although an eloquent smirk was making its way onto his lips already. “This is still my island. No one can tell me to leave.” “The island of your clan.” “Indeed.” “The Metkayina have so many islands, I’m sure the next chief can go wherever he wishes.” “I suppose so, but this future chief wishes to be here,” he deftly twisted her words, a hint of sarcasm dirtying his voice. “Of all the territories of my people, this beach is my favorite. It’s secluded, hardly anyone ever comes here. It’s not a suitable spot for fishing, perfect if you’re looking for solitude and a place to empty your mind.” “It’s your safe haven, then. My bad if I took it from you, I didn’t mean to.” She made to leave, but Ao’nung stopped her. The grip on her hand was incredibly light, cautious, almost caring. “I don’t mind sharing it with you.”

“Despite growing up among you, I am always surprised how different the concept of personal space is between humans and Na’vi.” “Are we intrusive?” he chuckled. “You touch quite a bit! Especially the hair,” she gave him an elusive smile. “To braid each other’s hair is a way of strengthening bonds. We take care of one other.” “On Earth, we call it grooming. it’s a socialization technique.” “What I said.” Celeste was careful to add that specialists used this term to describe behaviors observed in the animal kingdom. Although they also fall under it, people dislike to be compared to animals, and the Na’vi were no exception.

Styling her hair had become a routine since they had established that uncanny friendship. If it could be called that. Celeste wouldn’t have been sure where to place it, really. So many were the unspoken things between them. Talks that couldn’t be addressed without prodding the touchy attitude of one or the other. She felt a strange sensation in her stomach from the occasional intense glances. As if her insides were all of a sudden twisting around, tearing her breath away.

Although they had not put up posters, it was pretty obvious that Celeste was getting close to someone local. People began asking questions. 

As if catching them together frequently wasn’t already a blatant response.

So many minor details that make up a bigger picture. Starting with the very braids and nacre pearls that adorned the girl’s hair, in a style that differed altogether from Omatikaya customs. And ending with the perpetual jubilation that seemed to have taken the place of severity over Ao’nung’s face. This one aspect clearly demonstrated that something was happening between them.  The attitudinal shift was way too remarkable. He was no longer so grumpy or difficult to deal with. He now seemed to have grown accustomed to the human presence in the village, even paying daily visits to the lab, driven by curiosity and eagerness to learn. His interactions with Sky People were nearly quotidian, so much so that he had adopted some English terms into his linguistic repertoire. A language he was picking up incredibly fast and had become common ground with the Sully siblings. They had yet to reach a point where they could call each other friends, but it was a step in the right direction. Who knew it would take the influence of a tawtute girl for them to establish a truce.

In any case, this had not been enough for Neteyam and Lo’ak to stop keeping an eye on her, still weirded out by that unexpected connection with such an asshole — somebody who seemed to show his genuine side only to her. They didn’t trust him fully, although he had shown he respected her and was the sole one able to bring a sincere smile back to her beautiful face.

They were her brothers after all. Their duty was to protect her.

As the man traced an intricate weave of braids starting at the crown of her head and extending a little further back anchored by bright blue beads from Nom’s Delight, Celeste didn’t miss the opportunity to tease him. “You’re better than I thought at this,” she said, observing the effort he was putting into it through a hand mirror. “When you have a sister, you are forced to learn.” “You’re the one who makes her look so fabulous with those hairstyles. I thought was your mother doing.” “She would like to, but she’s got no time. So...” “You act like it bugs you, but deep down you love doing it for her.” No response other than a resounding snort and an eye roll that did not escape the mirror. “it’s nice. It’s your way of showing her your love.” “I guess we all end up succumbing to our sisters in one way or another.” She chuckled, “I assume so.” A sudden veil of sadness darkened her eyes, although the shadow of an affectionate smile lingered on her rosy lips.

“And... how are things? Got used to the reef yet? You have met no one like us before.” The sudden change of subject served as a clear distraction from thinking about Spider. But, however poorly, it succeeded as an attempt, Celeste was still grateful to him. “To be honest, I saw pictures of you. I already had an idea of what you looked like. Yet seeing you in person is a whole other thing.” She was staring at him. “May I?” she asked, extending her hand toward the stake on his arm. Celeste was surprised at the hard but flexible texture. She had imagined it cartilaginous, but there was clearly a muscular structure underneath the fin-like membrane. She traced the entire outline of the excrescence. From the elbow to the wrist and then along the back of the hand where the pinky finger started, which appeared far more robust than the Na’vi of the forests. Like the rest of their frame. Taking advantage of her own petite figure, the girl wedged herself under his arm so she could analyze his back muscles. Defined and prominent, they followed the line of a chunkier ribcage.  If the Omatikaya sternum had always seemed pronounced, the Metkayina’s was bulky.

Ao’nung trembled under the imperceptible touch of her fingers as they came down to graze the base of his solid tail, and he blushed. A violet-pinkish tint colored his nose and cheekbones, making the azure of his eyes even more vivid. He had to hold his breath as he turned just enough to hide his face.  In vain. “I’m sorry. I went too far. It’s a susceptible spot, isn’t it?” "It's all good," he shrugged and shook his head. "Hey, fun fact, humans used to have tails," she said with a chuckle and a hint of guilt. As if it were an attempt to make it up to him. “Well, it wasn’t really a “tail” per se. It was more of an appendage. 25 million years ago, this mutation happened. It left only a handful of caudal vertebrae to form the coccyx.” Ao’nung stared at her raptly. Although he didn’t understand a significant part of what she said (too many specific English terms were mixed in with the Na’vi), it fascinated him to hear her talk about such distant and complicated topics. “Believe it or not, we have a small tail when we're embryos that eventually merges with our spine.” “I can’t picture you with a tail.” ”Me neither. A human with a tail,” she laughed. “I’ve heard of rare cases of babies being born with a tiny stump, but it is removed.” The boy scratched his throat, another slight blush clouding his cheeks. “Which one do you like best?” “Hmm?” The way she tilted her head doubtfully was tremendously adorable. “Which kind of tail do you prefer? Ours or the forest people’s?” The girl took her chin between her teeny tiny fingers. “Actually, never crossed my mind. I didn’t really consider how it looks, just how well it adapts to the environment. You Na’vi are built differently than us humans, with a physical differentiation that we do not have. Nor do other species that lived on Earth, as far as I know, with rare exceptions.”

Like dogs, she restrained herself from saying that. Celeste supposed he wouldn’t like being compared to a pet, in scientific terms or not. "But if I had to pick, I guess yours is more unique. To the forest natives I am used to, though, so…” The answer he received did not meet his expectations, yet it sufficed for Ao'nung's pride. In its own way, it was equivalent to being told he was better looking than Lo’ak or Neteyam. Or whatever other male there was in the Omatikaya clan.

“Want to check out anything else? Dunno, the stripes or the nictitating membrane. But I gotta submerge my head for that one or it won’t come out.” He said the last sentence in a pensive tone. “There is one thing I would like to look at. That's not really a physical trait, it's more of a cultural thing.” “What is it?” “Your tattoo.”  Not waiting for an answer, she took his arm between both hands, running her gaze over the elaborate tribal pattern that dyed much of his arm black. From the wrist to the deltoid, and a small portion of the trapezius and pectoral. Segments, waves, and stick figures that showed achievement, status, and social position. Each addition was a rite of passage, a goal attained, and his role in the clan. The art of tattooing was a widespread practice. All tattoos were considered a gift from both Eywa and the clan. They were unique and told the story of the individual’s life. In particular, arm tattoos represented the more exposed protective shield of the seawall, meant to protect the Metkayina from dangerous wildlife lurking within their oceans. Thus a hunter, a warrior, somebody strong who could provide for the clan. "This one's more pigmented," Celeste noted. “It’s recent. It symbolizes the secure embrace of the central island. Someday, I'm gonna be the olo'eyktan. I'll be responsible for looking after my people, both inside and out, keeping them safe and leading them.” Absentmindedly, she traced the outlines of the design imprinted at hip level and outlining the pelvis, causing him a shiver that she pretended to ignore.

“You know, how I learned about Metkayina is kinda funny.” The sentence sounded totally random, but it still aroused his interest. The Socorro twins weren’t the sole human children born on Pandora; others had preceded them during the first colonization attempt. They were the fruit of unlikely loves and irrepressible passions that took place on sleepless nights at headquarters. Where the risk of accidental death and the fear that they had not really lived took over, silencing all appropriate doubts. All those children were grown up enough to survive cryo, unlike Spider and Celeste. But although they had left Pandora, a trace of them remained.; a legacy from when the base still communicated regularly with planet Earth. Cartoons. Of them all, the little girl’s favorite was the Little Mermaid. A veritable obsession, Spider and Lo’ak would complain, earning a tugged smile from Neteyam and a frown from the child herself, for, from that moment on, legends about mermaids became her main interest.

“It is uncertain they exist, but here on Pandora there is a sea folk who are close to them.”

"As foolish as it may sounds, when I was growing up I wanted to find one.” Ao'nung let out an amused snort. “Silly, isn't it? They are an Earth legend, it's impossible to find them here on Pandora. Yet, the thing I wanted most in the world was to see one. Even if only from a distance. When Jake would take us to play near the coast, I would always stare out to sea, hoping to catch a glint of the sun bouncing off the scales. After all, what could have been more extraordinary than a fish-tailed human who could breathe underwater. It gave me an inexplicable sense of freedom, hope. I guess I wanted to be one of them to escape the reality of being born in the most inhospitable place possible for my species. A child who belonged to nothing and no one, confined behind a mask. You know, it was right around that time that I first heard about you. From Norm." "Norm?" "The scientist I came here with." The boy's lips drew a silent O. "Norm showed me documents about you, explaining your communion with the sea. How your bodies had adapted to swimming and apnea.”

"Like mermaids!" She commented ecstatically, with childlike wonder in her big brown eyes. Norm laughed, "Something like that.”

"I think you are the closest thing to a siren. Or a sea monster." He attempted with a sly expression to which the man replied with a smile and a quick shake of his head."From the way you describe them, there are female specimens." "On no, there are also tritons, their male counterparts. They just aren't mentioned often in fairy tales. In the past on Earth, role diversification was very pronounced between men and women. The latter were discriminated against to the point that they weren’t allowed so many things, including traveling by sea. Women aboard ships were said to bring bad luck." Ao'nung's disgusted expression said a lot about his opinion on the subject, Humans really are that stupid. Yet, he didn’t utter a word, preferring to keep listening. "Since legend has it that the people of the sea feed on human flesh-and the only seafaring people at that time were men-they were described as women of rare beauty and a bewitching voice. By singing they hypnotized sailors who, dragged underwater, drowned."

"You tawtute have interesting stories," he said dangerously close to her face in a melodious voice. "Sorry to disappoint you, but my legs do not turn into fishtails in the water, and my voice has no such power," he smiled cunningly, and Celeste was tempted to deny that last statement. "I do confirm, though, that I have a taste for human flesh. I could eat you in one mouthful."

Her heart lost a beat. The allussiveness at the bottom of his eyes made them a very dark shade, of the usual vibrant blue there was hardly a trace left. Ao'nung wanted her. Here and now. On that same beach that 

had been more often than she could count witness to their growing closeness. More than she wanted to admit. She would be lying if she claimed not to have noticed how the Na'vi looked at her, with a fondeness she was not used to. How his hands rested that extra moment on her. Perfect reflections of the behavior she also displayed toward him, unable to restrain herself. That candor was disarming though, totally unsuspected.

They weren’t just friends, that was evident by now.

But as she searched for something to say that was not unintelligible babble, he did something even more surprising. Gently he pulled Celeste onto his lap, with one hand encircling her back, and the other tilting her neck back just enough to bring her face close to his. And slowly, without ever looking away, he rested his forehead against the glass of the mask. He closed his eyes, inhaled and finally placed his lips against the surface. Parochial in the face, at first the girl did not know what to do, yet a little encouragement — Ao'nung's fingers pressing a little more on the nape of her neck — was enough to induce her to approach the glass. It was weird to describe what she felt. Despite the barrier, on the other side she felt the pressure of Ao'nung's kiss, his lips molding against the smooth surface.

Their first kiss. Just as strange as them.

She sensed him smiling against her lips as he returned the kiss. He sank his face into her neck and, for a long moment, the two just breathed, reveling in each other's warmth. After the gentle start, her fingers slid over his ankle and up his calf, then over the knee that brushed against his pelvis. Certain that no one would find them there, what was left of Celeste's clothes scattered across the sand. Believe it or not, Ao’nung was the sweetest man in the world in bed, cuddling her by whispering sweet nothings in her ear. Their bodies rocked together as they listened to the creaking of palm trees and the rustle of the sea sliding against the shoreline. And she melted in his strong arms, malleable as clay. There was something indescribable in the mischief that shone through his eyes, soon replaced by impatience as he laid her on the ground. Celeste shivered as he positioned himself between her legs. The coils of her stomach tensed as he brought her shins to the sides of his head and anchored himself to her thighs. It was very tender and affectionate the way he caressed her, "Don't hide from me." Slowly she opened her legs, allowing a glimpse of the folds, wet and glistening. She yearned so much for him to touch her, but even without speaking Ao'nung had already noticed, staring at her through impossibly black eyelashes. He slipped two fingers into his mouth, smeared them with saliva, and brought them back down to slide over her clitoris. Without warning he peeled back the fabric and pushed them inside, swirling them upward, and she gasped. He removed his fingers only to put them back in her mouth and swirled his tongue around to taste some of her flavors. He kept his eyes on her as he emitted a little mumbling around his phalanges, his 

smile was salacious, "Tasty." She was about to say his name when he lifted that last flap of fiber between them and purred. A small smile pressed against his knee pleased by such surrender. He kissed him softly, languidly, but when he dragged. his lips over her inner thigh, his voice was dangerously excited, "You don't know how long I've been waiting for this." She was breathing heavily, absolutely humiliated to be there, with her legs spread apart and her vulva squished in the face of the raven-haired man who seemed so eager to have that perfect face splattered with her. On the beach to boot. Ao'nung leaned forward, arms firmly hooked at her knees to block her movements, "Let me know when you're about to come," for a handful of fleeting seconds she let her heavenly smile return. He watched her features, savoring every single expression as she turned into a disaster of sobs and gasps, "I want to eat you.” Jaws teasing the elastic skin, tongue titillating her clitoris, phalanges rhythmically violating her, reveling in the way her heels tapped on his massive shoulders, how her back arched in unnatural poses. As his fingers churned in circular motions to stimulate that much sought-after spongy pad, she felt mounting inside her the nagging sensation of having to go to the bathroom, just at that crucial moment. She tightened her pelvic muscles. "A-ao'nung... s-stop… I have to p—" "It's squirt," quivered the man's voice, one corner of his mouth lifted higher than the other, staring at her so haughtily, so victoriously, "Relax, let go," he hissed.

"N-no, please, I'm not comfortable." "Making people uncomfortable is what I do best." He wanted a show. That sentence seemed to cast a spell on her, because with another hit, she felt something thicken in her pit, she clung to the boy's hair, "I can't hold it anymore!" The man lifted his fingers and, before she could lament the loss, replaced them with the tip of his tongue. His wet fingertips held her widened opening, diving between her thighs to devour her in a way that made her gasp and tug at her dark locks, "God, Nung... I'm going to...," escaped her by closing her knees around his head. Ao'nung growled upon hearing that new nickname as he lapped at every crevice between her walls. The tip of his nose brushed against her spongy nub continually, but only when he moaned did he decide to gather it between his lips, sucking it greedily; the same with which he moistened them when the spray hit him. The final stimulation he needed to climax. "At last," he exclaimed panting as he ravenously cleansed her. She felt the viscosity of her own arousal sticking in her inner-thigh where Ao'nung's moist cheeks brushed against her. She was stunned, breathless and exhausted as he rolled onto his back and laid Celeste on his chest. A proud smile colored his face. He stroked her chin, relieved to look him straight in the eye, those sharp, criminal eyes, and haphazardly dusted the grains of sand from her hair and later from her body.

Blissing in the warmth of the sun, the tenderness of his embrace, and the comfort of his heart, Celeste snuggled against his chest, closed her eyelids, and dozed off. A soft smile adorned her lips.

In Ao'nung's arms, she was finally home.

For the tattoo description I took inspiration from this AMAZING picture, created by the indescribably talented @cinetrix

Special thanks to @pandoraslxna for the prompt!

[lxmelle]

Geto was loved even in death.

Wouldn’t it be nice if he were judged by his intentions in the afterlife - wherever that was? He had suffered living with the love he had. We see through the eyes of those left behind, that the ill deeds didn’t define him, as strange as that may be to us as readers in the real human world we live in. Geto’s influence and loving nature were far reaching; Gege certainly made him so treasured by many even after his death. If Gojo was touched by his caring influence, this was also Geto’s will he passed onto his students.

NOT spoiler-free as I’ll be referring to the recent chapter, 255.

I wrote this the other day:

And honestly it’s long enough; here’s part 2.

Is it obvious I’m suffering from brainrot? All my drafts from jjk brainrot are rivalling my thesis/dissertation from way back (lol)

Here is more under the cut:

I’m really moved by the reasons for why Miguel and Larue have decided to join in the risky fight against Sukuna.

It’s very obvious that Miguel is reluctant at first. He says he he’d rather terrible curses arrive at his shores than to fight with Sukuna, adding that he doesn’t see himself having any ties with Japan any longer.

We can deduce that this was part of Gojo’s plan for the possibility that he dies/loses, and I had a post about this saved in my drafts - but I guess I never got around to finishing it. Basically, in sum, he will achieve giving Geto a cremation (avenging him) and gets to show off to his students (which he does enjoy) by going all out (soo satisfying), and in the worst case scenario, he loses but gets to go all out, weakens Sukuna (for the rest to handle), and idk if he really is that romantic (so it’s really stsg headcanon fantasising) he will die on the same day as Geto.

The Opening theme is rather beautiful in that it interprets Gojo having the words, “we’ll meet again” stuck in his throat, which he doesn’t say. But I’m a bit weird and tend to separate anime from manga. But it’s worth noting that here.

I digress. Back to Miguel and Larue who have moved to speak privately without Yuta.

In a previous post I wondered aloud about what Yuta knew about Geto from others aside from being villainous and I guess this implies he doesn’t know much, since he wasn’t close to Miguel enough to sit around to chat with them. It makes sense.

Miguel and Larue both agree they followed Geto in jjk 0 because they wanted to see him become King. What does this even mean, really? Gege, you’re missing stuff out again!

Nevertheless, we understand how reluctant Miguel was. He enquires that Larue intends to do, clarifying: is it for revenge or to take Geto’s body back?

And it seems like their main motivation for putting their lives on the line... is to honour Geto’s memory. Like a traditional ritual one makes for the dead (customary in Japan on death anniversaries - not limited to the year, but also number of days).

It’s incredibly moving how much they love him. This is actually what led Miguel to reconsider. We see him go silent as he thinks “...” before he reaches a moment of clarity/a decision.

Tbh I have issues with interpreting his statement in between the two panels (re: hell) in Japanese - it doesn’t directly indicate if he is referring to the former part of the conversation (whether he thinks Geto is in hell), or the latter (he thinks the battle will be hell). The phrasing goes like this: “no matter how I think about it: it’s hell.” - I’m not a native speaker so it’s difficult for me to be certain which is right. But the consensus is as translated above. Larue thinks Geto is in heaven, Miguel thinks it’s hell, and we see the airport scene where presumably Haibara and Riko with Kuroi have been there for over a decade. lol. Who knows!

So the bottom line is… regardless of where they think Geto ends up in the afterlife, Miguel is willing to give Geto a send off that’ll even reach hell. Or, despite it going to be hellish, he will do it. It also seems so heartwarming how they still emphasise family and friendship in wanting to fight together - perhaps things we can surmise had meant something to Geto.

They will fight Sukuna because it is for Geto. Geto was so loved that they would risk themselves - not for a title, not for revenge, but out of … love. Again. That’s pretty damn loving. Can we imagine what Geto did and was to them, for them to experience such loyalty and reverence?

Sadly, it goes without saying that Geto’s body being used as a vessel and puppet by Kenjaku has possibly evoked an emotional response by those who cared for him - namely Mimiko and Nanako, and also Gojo. Arguably, even if it were a death without his body being hijacked, Gojo did refuse to cremate his body or have it processed “by the book” of jjk high through Shoko. If that’s not out of a form of love (or “consideration” as Kenjaku put it), I don’t know what is.

The twins went against what Geto wanted for them (to carry out his will) to fight against immensely power beings in hopes they could bring him home. Those were their reasons to fight. Gojo scheduled 24th December - this was after he teleported to Kenjaku immediately upon unsealing so he could bury Geto. We saw Larue and Miguel’s. Toshihisa is alleged to be quite weak, and despite potentially being considered a son to Geto (if his life situation did mimic that of the twins’ - source: jjk character book), he opts to follow the inherited will as prescribed by Geto.

It’s all love. Geto was loved, I’m telling you. I want to shout if off the rooftops because that man just looked so darned sad and deranged after he lost it.

So. Continuing where I left off: Everyone thus far has had a reason to go into battle with Sukuna. I wonder what / who will actually reach him? I hope it’s Yuji ... and that Megumi will react again at some point. They have their own themes relating to love and purpose. I’ll leave them to someone else more familiar with their characters to write about!

And now I’m going offside quite a bit, but it’s still of relevance to Geto and the theme of love that seems to surround him. Way back to jjk 0 and Hidden inventory.

I wanted to just bring this into the picture as well now that I’m already writing a post on that topic, but please feel free to stop if you’re bored now.

So. Jjk 0!

There were direct parallels with Yuta & Rika and Gojo & Geto. This was also confirmed by the director when discussing their vision for the movie. The light novel also drew a link between Geto and Yuta where they were described as being too sincere for this world.

There is a direct theme of love - the type, is open to interpretation.

Kenjaku also makes reference to this in the Shibuya arc. So to me, it remains relevant. Love in its many forms is somewhere in what Gege wishes to convey thematically.

Within jjk 0, Geto seemed to pursue power but this was also a symbolism where power = love. It is twisted. In light of recent events, we know that the pursuit of power leads to the dilution and even absence of love. Love that gives birth to power becomes cursed. So it seems.

As we know, Yuta bound his lover to himself to gain power.

If only he had Rika (metaphor for love: Gojo) he probably wouldn’t have had to skulk around the shadows consuming curses which he hated doing. Geto was lamenting on the past in the above panels. He probably was determined to carry on, as he vouched to give it all he got (Haibara’s last words to him echoing here).

A flashback to the past:

Geto doesn’t do things in half-measures. To avoid hypocrisy, and I headcanon that it was a merciful killing to protect them from him, he kills his parents. To die by his hands than to be used as a pawn to get to him. For them to see the horrors their son could be capable of. It is so very wrong, and we can see the twisted nature of his love in this interpretation.

And Gojo delivers the ultimate blow that leads to Geto reflecting - depicted by the mysterious ellipses “…..” (gege really likes the reader to work hard huh) - insinuating it is impossible for Geto, so don’t even bother trying. The blossoming possibility of discourse was nipped, as the strength differential was implied - you’re the strongest now, whereas it used to be “we”. There was no more place for Geto; it was probably a misunderstanding. Gojo was protecting everyone in his own way, and the only way he knew how.

For power, Gojo was a source - but Geto couldn’t do that in Shinjuku, nor earlier in the arc, when Gojo himself was on the brink of insanity and deferred to Geto about annihilating humans as he held Riko’s dead body. Geto in the scene above acknowledges their different paths they needed to take - Gojo had a place as part of the elite at the school - Geto was already facing an execution order.

And after hearing Gojo’s condescending tone in an emotionally-fuelled attempt to reach out to him. He turns away to protect his friend from himself, and himself from his friend. Anyway, I touched on this in my previous post. Geto feels they had fought and didn’t deserve a place next to Gojo. But deep inside, even his body remembers the sound of Gojo’s voice, reacting to it when called despite his soul no longer being there.

sigh. Moving on... back to jjk 0:

After witnessing the bonds through willingness to sacrifice and the love between these students, Geto was really moved. Gojo trusted Geto retained his sense of humanity / love / idealism - even if it would lead to him sacrificing himself.

He was finding it difficult anyway:

He could always empathise with love. I suspect he tried his best, but the binding vow for Yuta’s life was also just the cherry on top to make Rika super saiyan.

Kenjaku knew Geto probably could’ve won though, had he been more selfish.

Geto conceded without a fight with Gojo. Maybe it was a matter of trust in that they both knew his living on borrowed time. As the light novel insinuated, this was the only way it could ever end. And Gojo would have to carry the curse that was Geto. This seems... so cruel.

He did his best. He perhaps always wanted the love but set it free.

He did so many things for others in spite of himself, in sacrificing himself, in staining himself with blood drenched hands.

Avenging Riko by killing Sonoda. Note how manipulative “humans” are by using Jujutsu rules against them.

He embraces a life of smoke and daggers. Living in lies and half truths in order to live, survive, and find justice in a wicked world.

Watch me closely, I’ll protect you, I’ll avenge you, this is how you protect yourself.

This is the path I’ve chosen.

I’m not saying he was right or justifiable. His character is just tragic. The system had set him and others to fail.

The worm foreshadows Geto’s maternal nature. Calling him “okaasan”. I mean, this very worm had a binding vow with Toji. And now it calls for a new owner? I’m not sure if Gege had anything else in mind with this... is the womb protrusion domain Geto’s? But that’s tied to a sorcerer’s soul…. Anyway, I digress again. (Sorry). Geto did have a martyr complex and was written captivatingly well by Gege. The extra touches where how he has been perceived by others and the effect he has (and continues to have) on those we see.

And I just want to leave this heartbreaking thing here:

Source from twitter/now X:

Wouldn’t it be so sweet for Geto to get one (love declaration) at the end of his life, regardless of the way you perceive Gojo and Geto’s relationship?

Wouldn’t it be nice for him if he could know that his family who he instructed to flee had all loved him, adored him, and would honour his sacrifice in differing ways...

Instead, a form of love meant his body was desecrated and used by Kenjaku. His girls were killed, and his full potential was not quite realised at all.

If only things were different.

Gojo should have kept him in his basement!

But at least, I think, Gege is giving Geto some love even after his death.

For that I’m thankful.

And thanks for reading if you made it this far with my rambling!

If you want something more light hearted I have a fluffy fic up on AO3 (it isn’t great but i enjoyed writing it to fantasise about what happens at the airport) and if you want more angst and pain, please browse my tags (lol).

[thankeywa]

Star-Crossed pt.4/? | Lo'ak x human!fem!reader (NSFW)

Warnings: once again, both Lo'ak and the reader are 20y/o, , MINORS DO NOT INTERACT with this or anything on my accounts. NSFW!!! this is the smut chapter. Nothing else. you can still skip this without losing any plot of the story.

words: 2.3k

summary: the reader is a human left behind on pandora, she grew up with the remaining humans who'd been allowed to stay on the planet after the war and has been friends with the Sully clan her entire life. She and Lo'ak were best friends until he began to pull away from her in their teen years for seemingly no reason. This story is about them reconnecting on the day of her twentieth birthday, and dealing with the feelings they have for each other and the obstacles that come with them being from two different worlds.

part 1 part 2 part 3

tag list: @aleromania , @ghostjoohoney, @cherry-blossom34, @stephenandfiveswhore , @neteyamforlife, @mochi-yu , @halibanana @notquitehero @vanillacoffeeaddict @kitsune0077 @mara-brekker @sully-stick-together @luthien-naenderthal @phantomalex14 @vanillawhale @omiivr @barbii04 @grierpilots @itszzmoon @wavyteals @punkrockrogers @fanboyluvr @Iwesodra @roguesimagination @kathrynlupin @anxietydrogz @b0rednb1tchy @xkaykay

Lo'ak was aware of the 'fight or flight' response that was said to be experienced by humans and other animals on Earth. Grace, Kiri's biological mother, had written entire journals about how, amazingly, Pandora's inhabitants went through something slightly different . It seemed that the entirety of the 'flora' and 'fauna' of Pandora was so interconnected, a prey knew whether it was time to run to live another day or give in and die, and predators also could sense whether or not a life should be spared once in a while. It was all to due with the balance of life, that Eywa so dutifully protected.

That didn't mean that the non-Na'vi dwellers of the planet did not feel fear or a basic strive for survival. Simply, that Eywa would sometimes intervene to give the two parties a way to reach an understanding.

Lo'ak was more than certain his human side was keeping him in a state of paralysis at that moment. But he didn't think that being intimate with his human better half was the sort of situation Eywa could give him insight on.

Nothing could have prepared him for this moment. He'd never even once considered the possibility that y/n reciprocated his feelings. Over the years he'd done his best to steer clear of any sort of... compromising thoughts he may have had of her — though he wasn't always successful.

Fortunately, she'd always seemed to prefer to wear significantly more clothes than Spider, but that had also left Lo'ak with a seemingly infinite number of questions.

"It's okay if you've changed your mind, Lo'ak..." y/n said softly, snapping him out of his reverie. She covered her chest and turned to look for her shirt again, suddenly feeling rather self conscious about the way she looked. She'd taken Lo'ak's silence and stillness as rejection.

The Na'vi quickly chased her lips for another kiss, whispering a thousand apologies to her in his native language. She was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. How could she not see it herself?

Lo'ak tentatively let one of his large hands leave y/n's cheek. It caressed her flushed neck, the dip of her shoulder until it finally came to cup the weight of her breast. Y/n could still feel him hesitate with every step, even shaking a little from how much he was afraid of hurting her. "Like this..." She guided Lo'ak's fingers, showing him all the different ways he could tease and tug at her nipple. "D-doesn't... doesn't that hurt?" Lo'ak attempted to recreate the motion on her other breast, now playing with both.

Y/n shook her head, desperately getting rid of the rest of her clothes so she could take care of the throbbing ache between her legs. Lo'ak had gotten surprisingly good at fondling her breasts in record time, and she wanted to show him exactly what he was doing to her. In between the middle of moaning his name and taking care of her aching cunt, she got a glimpse of the almost feral way he was staring down at her.

Lo'ak was drinking in every single detail of y/n's tiny body, dwarfed even more now that she was writhing in his lap. The second he saw her glistening pussy, an almost shameful wave of jealousy overcame him. He wanted to be the only one to ever see y/n that way, to get to pet her sweet little cunt. It was all his, and y/n could read it in his extremely dilated pupils.

"Everything okay, yawne?" Y/n panted sweetly, searching for another kiss. "You know I like it when you talk to me..." Lo'ak immediately showered her with more kisses, hating himself for stalling yet again. "No--yes... you just... you have a very pretty... syulang..." He said, his ears bending down in embarrassment. It took y/n a few beats to understand what Lo'ak meant by 'flower', and her cheeks felt quite warm at the realisation.

"I mean... all of you is... perfect. You're perfect." Lo'ak said with slightly more determination in his voice, hoisting y/n up in his arms so he could leave a kiss above where her heart was beating rapidly in her chest. She let out a keening sound when he took her left nipple in his mouth, still incredibly attent to being as gentle as he could. Y/n let him take his time exploring her, and Lo'ak worshipped her body until she was a trembling, moaning mess in his arms.

Y/n wanted to do the same. She wanted to run her hands over every single part of him. But it was kind of difficult when Lo'ak had her laid out on her back while he kissed and licked his way between her folds, seemingly unaware that he was going at a torturously slow place. Y/n begged and whined, but she was too far gone to even know what she was asking for anymore. Meanwhile, Lo'ak was completely intoxicated by her taste, keeping one of his large hands on her stomach so she wouldn't jump while he used his tongue to toy with her clit, always making sure to not as much as graze her with his teeth.

"Lo'ak, please..." Y/n let out a small sob, and Lo'ak looked up, sheepishly pulling away from the literal paradise he'd discovered between her thighs. "Did I hurt you?" He asked, but she furiously shook her head. "No... not that, yawne. Just, please... want to touch you..." It didn't matter that she'd been edged for so long, she suddenly didn't know how to ask Lo'ak to use his fingers. Or something more, which he wouldn't do anyway.

"But I like making you feel good..." Lo'ak didn't know how to say he'd been painfully hard and leaking just from eating her out, but now that y/n was sitting back up, there was no way she couldn't see his arousal. His loincloth was doing a rather poor job of hiding how much he wanted her. "I can't get enough of the way you taste..." He said in a shaky breath, cupping y/n's sex to feel the wetness there. She instinctively squeezed her thighs around his hand and he understood.

Lo'ak knew y/n used her fingers to play with herself, but his own were considerably larger and longer. How could she possibly take them inside of her? "Please, yawne, I need you..." She coaxed him to relax once again with her words, getting rid of the last clothes that were separating them. Y/n took in the sight of Lo'ak's large cock standing proudly, and curiously began to touch him with both hands.

Then sight of y/n's smaller hands tentatively trying to work his erection almost made Lo'ak go cross-eyed. "W-what are you..." He cursed, burying his head in y/n's neck when she began to play with his head, using her thumb to put the exact right amount of pressure as she teased the sensitive tip in quick circles.

Y/n bit her lip and giggled at the deep purring sound that came out of him. Almost as if to get back at her, Lo'ak slid one of his fingers deep inside of her, following the warm curves of her inner walls. Only when y/n let out a loud moan of relief, did he fully realise what he was doing. "Fuck, Lo'ak--" She reprimanded him softly for giving her no warning, but quickly began to rut herself down onto his digit, finding a rhythm at was good for her while squeezing down on the base of his shaft with both her hands. The pressure almost made Lo'ak see nothing but white.

What had he been so afraid of? The two of them were clearly attuned to each other's needs, and he never wanted to stop giving y/n pleasure like the one he could hear in her voice at that moment. Lo'ak began to curl his finger inside of y/n, before tentatively pumping it in and out of her while she held onto his neck for dear life.

It didn't take him long to understand where most of her pleasure was coming from, so he took matters into his own hands. Literally.

"N-no, no..." She whined when he took his finger out, but he kissed her, silently telling her not to worry. Lo'ak got them back in their original position, with him lying on his back and y/n sprawled out across his stomach. He ran his hand down her spine, and she lifted her hips up a little when she understood, letting him hook his fingers into her cunt from behind while he kept a firm grip on her ass.

Fingers. Because she was now taking two of them. And beautifully too, if Lo'ak had anything to say about it. He'd never seen her so completely lost in herself; and there she was now, giving in to the white heat of the fire he could feel inside of her. It was almost too much. Every desperate cry, every languid rotation of her hips, every scratch she left on his body, wanted to make him take y/n for himself. He wanted to see if she could sing just as beautifully while bouncing on his cock. But he knew exactly how dangerous those thoughts were.

He held y/n impossibly closer to him and pumped in a third finger along with the rest. Y/n's face contorted in something Lo'ak could not explain, but before he could stop himself, she was stilling in his arms. Her walls clamped down on his fingers, gushing around them. Y/n's body went as still as a rock as she tried to ground herself through her orgasm, suddenly feeling very cold and high on adrenaline at the same time. She needed Lo'ak to hold her tight.

The last thing she would have ever expected was for her lover to give out a horrified wail that she herself felt tear through his chest.

Y/n was bleeding. He'd made her bleed. "I hurt you." He panted, unable to look away from the blood on his fingers. "I knew it, I should never have-- "

"Yawne, calm down." Y/n tried to reassure him, touching his face gently. "I did not hurt me, I didn't even realize..."She sighed, feeling guilty for not having warned him sooner. "It's completely normal."

"Normal?" Lo'ak asked, bewildered. "You are bleeding." How could he have thought for a single second he could have trusted himself to hold y/n without causing her harm?

"It can happen sometimes to humans... more often than not during their first time... "She explained. "Something inside me just ripped, is all. It burns a little now, but you were making me feel so good I barely even felt the pain..." The thought of three of Lo'ak's fingers being more than enough to break her hymen made the possibility of taking his cock slightly more daunting than she'd previously imagined. But that didn't mean y/n no longer wanted him with every fiber of her being. "It won't happen again, if that makes you feel any better..."

Lo'ak pulled her close and kissed her. "You are so strong." He whispered, thinking about how lucky he was to have someone who had so willingly given themselves to him. Who trusted him with every part of their being. He hoisted y/n in his arms and took her to the bathroom, cleaning them both off with warm water and a soft towel. Even after all those years, he still remembered where everything was in her home.

As he did so, he knelt down in the small room that was clearly not built to accommodate someone of his stature and began to leave delicate kisses over y/n's mound and between her folds. It was his way of apologizing for the discomfort he'd caused her. "Are you trying to 'kiss it better'?" She giggled softly, running her hands through his braids. "Lo'ak, I promise you I'm okay..."

"Yes..." Lo'ak answered her question. "But I also just love kissing you here..." He admitted, looking up at y/n with nothing but reverence in his eyes.

It was hard to keep their hands off of each other for the rest of the night. Y/n desperately wanted to worship Lo'ak's body in the same way he'd done with her, and she wasn't going to rest until he finally let go and let someone else take care of him for once.

After a passionate make-out session against her bathroom sink, they'd stumbled back into the warmth of their bed and Lo'ak was once again aching for her. Y/n took in every single one of his reactions as her hands worked their magic over his cock: his grunts, his soft growls, his furrowed brow, and his hooded lids. Although nothing got to her quite in the same way as when he would bare his teeth, giving her a little glimpse of his sharp canines. Lo'ak was incredibly vulnerable at that moment, and he was all hers.

"Fuck, fuck y/n... " He unwillingly bucked his hips into her touch, almost throwing y/n off him by accident. "Oh shit--- sorry baby, come back here." Lo'ak reached for her and manhandled her back into his lap, unable to bite back a smile when she laughed a little. He enveloped himself around her completely, making sure the incident wouldn't happen a second time, as y/n brought him closer and closer to the edge.

Lo'ak exploded between them without much of a warning, surprising y/n with the heaviness of his load. She let out a soft moan as most of it painted her stomach, working Lo'ak's cock with her hand until he'd given her every last drop. The Na'vi was ready to apologize, embarrassed even in a state of afterglow, when he saw her bring her own finger to her lips to get a taste of his essence.

Lo'ak felt unable to breathe as he took in the debauched sight of y/n, her belly and lips covered with his seed while she looked up at him innocently.

It was going to be a long night.

[yandere-daydreams]

Obsessed with bats so hope you don't mind this weird twst rant, but I have a hc that Lilia is based on fruit bats, bc favorite food is tomato juice + larger eyes + really extroverted and friendly (more common temperament in fruit bats IIRC). Also bc sleeping beauty supposedly takes place in europe, where almost all native fruit bats went extinct, I like to think that Lilia is the last of the existing fruit bat fae due to the human vs fae war that's referenced sometimes. Long winded way to say that To Me yandere Lilia with a breeding kink to continue the line of his species would be weird and off-putting and also fun. Anyway BYE

tw - gn!reader, implied imprisonment, breeding kinks.

no because i've actually never seen Lilia headcanon-ed as anything other than a vampire bat, and the idea of him developing a breeding kink because hey, royal dragon fae shouldn't be the only ones who get to abduct and knock up unsuspecting humans is a little 👀👀👀

i mean, he's already a father of two, even if one of his kids is a hundred-and-eighteen-year-old fae prince and the other is just a human boy he, presumably, found in the middle of the woods and decided to keep. i think he'd have a soft spot for the idea of seeing you, his dearly beloved, dressed up like a proper housewife and ready to greet him with a kiss and a smile when he comes home. he's not especially cruel, even at his most obsessive, and he wouldn't exactly mind hunting you down if you ever try to flee his little mountainside cabin, but he likes to picture you happy and in his home, ready to spread your legs any time your dear husband thinks it's time to add another little one to your ever-growing collection. whether or not you can actually get pregnant is irrelevant - he would like there to be a few more creatures like him in the world, but he's more interested in the fantasy of it all, in the idea of you tucked away from the rest of the world, reserved for him and your ever-growing family.

he's more invested in you, and more importantly, how closely a few children would keep you bound to him.

[laurasimonsdaughter]

I got a copy of Erdoes and Ortiz's American Indian Myths and Legends (1984) for Christmas and it is fascinating to me how various Native American tales portray romance between humans and non-humans. Especially compared to the European takes on that motif, which usually center on the relationship being doomed from the start, because humans belong only with humans. But this does not seem to be the default in the Native American tales in this collection!

There was one story which did portray the relationship as doomed (Tolowim woman and butterfly man, Maidu) and one where a human woman was taken against her will and gladly rescued by her husband (The stolen wife, Tewa). But there is also a tale where a wife is willingly taken by a great buffalo and when her human husband steals her back and kills White Buffalo Chief, she mourns him so that her jealous husband kills her (Apache chief punishes his wife, Tiwa).

That last tale, while tragic, already goes out of its way to show that the woman was happy with the powerful buffalo, and there are four stories in the collection that make a point of ending in happiness:

The industrious daughter who wouldn't marry (Cochiti)

A beautiful young woman who is a master at making beautiful garments spurns all her human suitors, until it is widely known that she doesn't care for young men. Coyote hears of this and goes to court her, dressed in his finest clothes. He does not offer her any gifts, but he dances very well and he brings a branch of blackcurrants, which are her favourite. She is pleased with him, so she takes him home, sleeps with him, and gives birth to two little coyotes. Her parents are dismayed and the other people turn away from her, but Coyote brings her to his home under the ground. There he has all kinds of clothes just as fine as the ones she makes, and she lives there happily with him ever after.

The Serpent of the Sea (Zuni)

The beautiful daughter of the priest-chief of the village Home of the Eagles cannot abide dust or dirt. Every day she spends almost all her time bathing in the sacred spring of the Serpent of the Sea and this angers him. He changes himself into a beautiful baby boy and she finds him and takes him home to care for him. As soon as she falls asleep the Serpent takes his true form again, coiling himself all around the maiden and all around the room. In the morning the whole household panics, but the girl’s father understands what happened and begs the Serpent to let his daughter return to her family once more, even though she now belongs to him. The Serpent moves enough to release her, finally waking her. She is very frightened, but after four days of ceremonies she bids her family goodbye and goes with the Serpent. As they travel the Serpent takes the shape of a beautiful young man, and speaks in a kinder and kinder voice, until she dares to look at him. Startled she asks him where the terrifying creature has gone. He explains that he is the serpent, but that he loves her, and that if she will consent to come and stay with him they will live and love each other forever in the Waters of the World. The maiden goes with him, forgetting her sadness and forgetting her family, and lived with him ever after.

The man who married the moon (Isleta Pueblo)

The great leader, weaver, and medicine man Nah-chu-rú-chu (the bluish light of dawn) got tired of all the young women trying to win his affection. He proclaimed that he would marry the girl who could grind corn meal so fine that it would stick to his pearl water dipper. The only woman who could do it was the Moon, who was an Isleta maiden before she went to live into the sky. He marries her and loves his moon-wife above all things. Two sisters, the Yellow Corn Maiden, are so jealous that they persuade the moon to admire her reflection in the water of the well, and push her in to drown her. The chief mourns so deeply that it no longer rains and all the crops begin dying, until they bring him a mysterious flower from a mound in the forest where his wife disappeared. He performs a sacred ritual and the moon is brought back to life. The corn maidens are changed into helpful, gentle snakes as punishment, and the moon lives happily with her husband.

The woman who married a merman (Coos)

A girl who refuses all her suitors and goes swimming in the creek every day becomes pregnant without understanding how. She gives birth to a baby that always cries unless it is left outside, where someone brings it seal meat to eat. The young mother watches over her baby and at night is approached by a man who says he is her husband and promises she will be safe if she goes with him. The merman takes his wife and child to the bottom of the sea, where many people lived. Her husband was one of the five sons of the village chief and the couple lived there happy and satisfied. She goes to her relatives once to get arrows for her little boy to play with, and once to visit her brothers. The second time they see her shoulders are turning dark and scaly like those of a sea serpent. She never returned again, but sea serpents came into their harbour, and every summer and winter they would send a whale ashore, a gift to their kinsmen above the sea.

Erdoes and Ortiz even draw a parallel between the tale of the Serpent of the Sea and Beauty and the Beast, but I rather love the girl running off with the Coyote and "the woman who married a merman" is such a lovely counterpoint to the selkie and mermaid stories I grew up with. I'm really happy with this book~

[alanshemper]

There are other reasons why environmentalism might have looked like a bourgeois playground to Said. The Israeli state has long coated its nation-building project in a green veneer – it was a key part of the Zionist ‘back to the land’ pioneer ethos. And in this context trees, specifically, have been among the most potent weapons of land grabbing and occupation. It’s not only the countless olive and pistachio trees that have been uprooted to make way for settlements and Israeli-only roads. It’s also the sprawling pine and eucalyptus forests that have been planted over those orchards, as well as over Palestinian villages, most notoriously by the Jewish National Fund, which, under its slogan ‘Turning the Desert Green’, boasts of having planted 250 million trees in Israel since 1901, many of them non-native to the region. In publicity materials, the JNF bills itself as just another green NGO, concerned with forest and water management, parks and recreation. It also happens to be the largest private landowner in the state of Israel, and despite a number of complicated legal challenges, it still refuses to lease or sell land to non-Jews.

...

The JNF is an extreme and recent example of what some call ‘green colonialism’. But the phenomenon is hardly new, nor is it unique to Israel. There is a long and painful history in the Americas of beautiful pieces of wilderness being turned into conservation parks – and then that designation being used to prevent Indigenous people from accessing their ancestral territories to hunt and fish, or simply to live. It has happened again and again. A contemporary version of this phenomenon is the carbon offset. Indigenous people from Brazil to Uganda are finding that some of the most aggressive land grabbing is being done by conservation organisations. A forest is suddenly rebranded a carbon offset and is put off-limits to its traditional inhabitants. As a result, the carbon offset market has created a whole new class of ‘green’ human rights abuses, with farmers and Indigenous people being physically attacked by park rangers or private security when they try to access these lands. Said’s comment about tree-huggers should be seen in this context.

...

But this only scratches the surface of what we can learn from reading Said in a warming world. He was, of course, a giant in the study of ‘othering’ – what is described in Orientalism as ‘disregarding, essentialising, denuding the humanity of another culture, people or geographical region’. And once the other has been firmly established, the ground is softened for any transgression: violent expulsion, land theft, occupation, invasion. Because the whole point of othering is that the other doesn’t have the same rights, the same humanity, as those making the distinction. What does this have to do with climate change? Perhaps everything.

We have dangerously warmed our world already, and our governments still refuse to take the actions necessary to halt the trend. There was a time when many had the right to claim ignorance. But for the past three decades, since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was created and climate negotiations began, this refusal to lower emissions has been accompanied with full awareness of the dangers. And this kind of recklessness would have been functionally impossible without institutional racism, even if only latent. It would have been impossible without Orientalism, without all the potent tools on offer that allow the powerful to discount the lives of the less powerful. These tools – of ranking the relative value of humans – are what allow the writing off of entire nations and ancient cultures. And they are what allowed for the digging up of all that carbon to begin with.

2 June 2016

[mcverse]

✧ Paring: Lo’ak x Human! F! Reader

✧ Requested: Yes/No

✧ Type: One Shot

✧ Word count: 2.8K

✧ Warnings: It’s flufff, & slight angst obvi, anxious reader is relatable

✧ Side Bar: I stayed up all night because this couldn’t leave my head

please keep in mind that all characters in my stories are always 18+, and although I can't monitor who reads my work, if you are not 18+ I advise that you do not engage in my page or stories.

Pandora was the only place you'd ever called home, but it was a complex relationship. Despite being born on the planet, you didn't belong to its native people.

Instead, you were technically aligned with the Sky People—a group with a history of destroying hope and leaving chaos in their wake. For years, they'd traveled across space to set foot on this lush, alien world and decimate its resources.

You knew deep down that you didn't share their values or their vision for the future. You couldn't claim them as your own, not when you felt such a strong connection to the vibrant, interconnected ecosystem of Pandora.

But that didn't mean you were exempt from the judgement of others. In the eyes of many Na’vi, you were just another outsider—a demon, no less—who was profiting off the exploitation of their world.

As much as they may believe it, they couldn't be more mistaken. You may not possess the same physical form as the Na'vi, nor the ability to connect with the planet through Tsaheylu, but your heart beats in harmony with Pandora, and you feel a deep connection to its magnificent beauty and delicate balance like it was a part of you.

You understood why the Na'vi were hesitant to accept you. They had been betrayed by the sky people before, and their distrust of outsiders was understandable. It didn't make it any less difficult, however, to feel like you were constantly on the outside looking in.

You suspected that Spider shared your yearning for acceptance. He had changed his appearance, donning the blue paint and attire of the Na'vi, to look more like a native. But beneath the surface, he was still a human like you, with all the limitations and flaws that came with it.

It was difficult to keep up with him, your mind burdened by the fear of being scrutinized and evaluated by others. The weight of that anxiety was suffocating, making it hard for you to venture out and visit Hometree, the heart of the Omaticaya clan.

As a result, you only made the trip twice during your childhood, opting instead to spend most of your time with the Sully children and Spider in the surrounding forest.

Perhaps it was wrong of you to feel content with your current situation, quietly existing without the formal acceptance of the Na'vi. You didn't want to pressure them into welcoming you with open arms, but at the same time, you longed to be acknowledged and appreciated for who you are.

Spider's approach of hovering in between acceptance and rejection seemed tempting, but you knew it trying to follow in his pattern wouldn't be true to yourself. You wanted to be seen as you truly are, not as an imitation of someone else.

This makes you feel incredibly grateful for the Sully kids, as they have become like family to you. Though you don't believe that Eywa sees you, you know that the Sully kids see you for who you are and accept you as a part of their group. You feel a sense of belonging and comfort that you seek out in the world, and you know that they will always be by your side.

Spider, what’s not to love about him? Growing up, you came to know him as your brother not by blood. There were moments he was annoying, as brothers do but he can also be fiercely protective of you, sweet, and comforting when you need it most. You know that he always has your best interests at heart and will do anything for you.

Your sister from another species, Kiri, was literally your best friend. You did everything together, told each other everything. It was a little worrisome or scare to those from the outside, with how in sync you’re feelings are and the ability to when the others down and need some cheering to do. They just didn’t understand neither of you.

Little Tuk wasn’t so little anymore but she was still your very your own personal cheerleader. You remember learning the term after finding an old yearbook from someone left behind, and it seemed to fit her perfectly. She always roots for you at your accomplishments, and loves making things for you just because she felt like it. To you, she is the sweetest thing on the planet.

The mighty warrior, Neteyam, was a strict and protective man even with you. Though you may not be blood, he never gave you a reason to consider otherwise. You were extended family, who deserved just as much watchfulness and guidance as his own siblings and Spider.

But Lo’ak was a different case altogether. When growing up alongside him, you saw him like you did Spider and Neteyam, just a friendly face who you could count on to be there when you needed him. However, things changed once you hit puberty. Your feelings towards him began to shift, and you couldn't help but think of him constantly, wondering what he was up to and if he ever thought of you in the same way.

Your feelings for him were string, but you were always hesitant to act on them. You knew that the idea of two different species being together was frowned upon, and you feared the backlash that might come from confessing your love to him. Kiri may have found your feelings for Lo’ak cute, but you found them repulsive and frustrating, as they consumed your every thought.

Through your fears and doubts, you longed to tell Lo’ak how much he meant to you. You wanted him to know that you saw his hard work and effort when nobody else did, and that you loved everything about him, even his five fingers and eyebrow hair. Sometimes you couldn't help but wonder if he saw you in the same way, but you never dared to find out, fearing the worst.

When Lo’ak completed his final rite of passage, you realized that your chance to confess your feelings had come and gone. He was now old enough to find a mate, and even though he hadn't done so yet, you knew that it was only a matter of time.

You pushed your feelings aside, burying them deep within you in an attempt to move on and forget about what could have been—if only you weren’t so scared, filled to the brim with anxiety and self consciousness.

Nervously you fiddle with your fingers, trying to compose yourself as you watch Lo’ak playfully wrestle with Spider. Did he ever notice the way you looked at him, how your skin would heat up every time he touches you or how you couldn't stop smiling when he was next to you? You had been trying to move on from these feelings for months, but he had a hold on you that you couldn't shake off.

It felt like you were hooked, reeled in, and trapped by your feelings for him. The phrase "sink, line, and hooker" had become all too familiar to describe the pull he had on you. You had fallen for him hard, and it was frustrating because the only other human around your age was Spider. Moving on to him would just feel wrong, for so many reasons.

You’re so lost in thought when you feel a tap on your shoulder and turn to see Kiri kneeling there with a smile on her face. She rubs your shoulder gently and says, "Stay out of your head, everything will be okay." Her words provide a small comfort, but deep down, you know that this love for Lo'ak will continue to consume you until you find a way to move on.

You thank Kiri for her kind words, returning her smile before stealing another glance at the two boys. But you are caught off guard when you notice that they are already looking at you, and quickly avert their eyes when they realize you noticed.

You feel a pang of discomfort in your chest as you wonder what they found so amusing. Spider is snickering and pushing Lo'ak away from him, but their behavior only makes you feel worse.

You can't help but wonder if there is something on your face, or if they are laughing at something you said or did. Kiri doesn't say anything, leaving you to feel vulnerable and self-conscious.

You quickly turn away, blinking away a tear that has formed in your eye. You know that you are being overly sensitive, but the feeling of being laughed at and excluded by the two people closest to you hurts deeply. You feel like an outsider, like there is some secret joke about you that you are not in on. The feeling is overwhelming, and you can't shake it off.

You excuse yourself from Kiri and walk off deeper into the forest, heart pounding harder in your chest as you continue. The lush green surroundings no longer holds the calming effect they usually do.

Instead, your mind is consumed with thoughts of Lo’ak and how he must see you. Do you disgust him? Is he aware of the way you feel about him? The thought of being the laughing stock of your closest friends makes your stomach churn.

You try to shake the thought off, reminding yourself that Lo'ak has always been kind to you, and he's never given you any indication that he thinks less of you. Then the memory of Spider and Lo’ak’s laughter at your expense replay in your mind, making you feel even more self-conscious. The thought of being the subject of their amusement fills you with shame.

You hate that every time he glances your way or speaks to you, you overanalyze every word and gesture, trying to decipher if there's any hidden meaning behind them. Why couldn’t you be born in a normal world with people like you? Maybe then the heartbreak wouldn’t be so severe.

Your chest tightens and tears swell up in your eyes when you come to a stop and lean against a tree. You try closing your eyes and taking deep breaths in an effort to calm down. You try to remind yourself that these thoughts are just your insecurities talking, but it’s hard to shake the feeling of being inadequate and unlovable in a world where people can’t come to do the opposite of that.

You were so involved in your own thoughts that you failed to notice someone come up behind you until the sun no longer shined down on you, and instead, it was a shadow. Ironically, it was how you felt at the moment - overshadowed by your own emotions. You sniffled a few times, trying to gather your bearings before turning to see who it was. You were shocked to see that it was Lo’ak standing there.

You quickly composed yourself, trying to wipe your tears away, only to realize that your ecopack mask made that impossible. You turn away, feeling embarrassed and more self-conscious about being caught in such a vulnerable state.

“Are you okay?” Lo’ak asks softly, stepping closer to you.

You can feel his warmth radiating off of him, and the proximity makes your heart race. You try to push those thoughts aside, knowing that they only lead to more heartache. “I’m fine,” you say, your voice coming out weaker than you intended. You look away in cringe.

Lo'ak doesn’t seem convinced and reaches his hand out to gently grab your chin. His warm touch on your skin sends shivers down your spine, and you feel your heart rate pick up as he guides your gaze up to meet his. It's impossible to avoid the intensity of his gaze, and for a moment, you're lost in his eyes.

But the weight of your emotions is too much to bear, and you break eye contact, feeling a fresh wave of tears welling up behind your ecopack mask. You can't bring yourself to admit the truth to him, to lay bare your innermost thoughts and fears.

As if sensing your hesitation, Lo'ak's thumb begins to move in small, soothing circles on your skin. It's a small gesture, but it feels like a lifeline, a grounding force in the midst of your swirling emotions.

"It's nothing," you lie, your voice shaking slightly as you force the words out. You can't bear the thought of burdening Lo'ak with your problems, not when he has so much else to deal with.

But Lo'ak is persistent, and his eyes never leave yours as he speaks, his voice gentle and reassuring. "It doesn't look like nothing," he says, and you feel a pang of guilt at the concern etched on his face.

You take a deep breath, trying to calm your racing heart as you gather your thoughts. It feels like an eternity before you finally find the courage to speak up, your voice barely above a whisper.

"I... I don't know, Lo'ak," you say, feeling the tears spilling down your cheeks despite your best efforts to hold them back. "I feel so conflicted. I don't know what to do with these feelings."

Lo'ak's expression softens even more, and he takes your hand, leading you to a nearby log where he sits down beside you. You feel the warmth of his body beside you, and it's both comforting and unnerving at the same time.

"Tell me," he says, his voice still gentle, but now with a note of urgency, "Whatever it is, you can always tell me."

You look up at Lo'ak, you can feel the tears pooling in your eyes, threatening to spill over at any moment. You see the concern etched on his face and can't help but feel a surge of emotion at the intensity of the moment. You feel like you're standing on the edge of a cliff, ready to jump into the unknown, and you take a deep breath, trying to steady yourself.

You know you need to tell him what's been weighing on your mind, but you're afraid of how he'll react. Will he judge you? Will he think you're silly or overreacting? You push those doubts aside, knowing that you need to be honest with him.

"I feel like I’ve had to fight all my life," you say, gesturing with your hands to emphasize your point, "For a spot that will never be filled. The Na’vi," you pause, placing a hand over your heart as you feel the tears welling up again, "they will not accept me, they will never see me. I'm tired," you say, shaking your head in frustration, "Lo'ak, I'm tired."

As you speak, Lo'ak listens intently, never taking his eyes off of you. He doesn't interrupt you or try to make light of your feelings, but simply allows you to express yourself fully. It's a rare and beautiful thing, and in that moment, you feel seen and heard in a way that you never have before.

When you finish, Lo'ak doesn't say anything at first. He simply looks at you with a mixture of sadness and understanding, his eyes full of empathy. Finally, he scoots closer to you until your shoulders touch, and he speaks in a soft voice,

"They are too blind to see, and that is their loss," he says, his gaze shifting away briefly before returning to meet your own, "But you, [Name], you are gifted, smart, and kind," he says, his voice full of sincerity, "And beautiful," he adds, his words causing a flutter in your chest, "So what if they don't see you? I see you."

You feel your heart skip a beat at his words. You can hardly believe what you're hearing. The man you've been in love with for so long has feelings for you too. You're overjoyed, overstimulated, and disoriented all in one. You manage to gather your thoughts and respond with a shaky voice, "I see you, Lo'ak." You reach out and take his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

A look of relief washes over his face, and a smile slowly stretches across his features. He leans down until your foreheads are touching, "That makes me really happy, more than you know," he says, chuckling softly as he closes his eyes, savoring the feeling of your warmth and presence next to him.

Despite the intensity of the moment, a part of you couldn't help but wonder about the future. "What about..." you start to say, but he interrupts you, opening his eyes and flickering them over your face, trying to memorize every detail,

“I don't know what the future holds, but I like you enough to explore this...what this is. I want to see where we go, together," he says, his voice serious and intent.

You stare at him, your mouth slightly open in surprise at the side of him he was showing. He sounds more mature, more sensual, and more goal-oriented than you had ever known him to be. It was a side of him that you found yourself instantly drawn to, a side that you hadn't fully appreciated yet.

Feeling your cheeks flush, you lean in and peck the inner corner of his lips, letting them lingering for a moment before pulling back, "I can't wait to find out," you whisper, your eyes locked onto his, feeling as though you were seeing him in a whole new light.

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[peaches2217]

Fuck it! Expectant Parents Mareach post. Putting this one under a Read More to hide my shame. Y'all were warned.

(But actually thank y'all, I wanted to get this out of my system so bad 😭)

✨ The first person Peach tells isn't Mario, but Toadsworth. She wants to surprise Mario with the news and is willing to wait until later in the evening, but she wants her surrogate father to know right away. Mario spends the rest of the day wondering why Toadsworth can't look at him without suddenly having to excuse himself, only to burst into ugly-crying one room over, but he decides it's probably not good.

✨ And of course he's incorrect! The news doesn't come out of nowhere; they've discussed it in the past, and recently they've decided they're ready. Now, when I say recently, I mean recently. The biggest surprise is that she's already pregnant.

✨ "Can't blame a girl for being eager!" Daisy jokes. "Making the baby's the fun part, after all." Before Peach can smack her hand in retribution, Peasley adds in, all too casually, "If the red one is anything like his brother, then I certainly understand that enthusiasm." Peach threatens to revoke their titles of Uncle and Honorary Aunt if they don't stop talking immediately.

✨ You know the ending of the All Stars version of Lost Levels, where Peach covers every surface inch of Mario's face with kisses? Peach ends up on the receiving end of that, a lot. That's his wife! She's carrying their child! She's beautiful and strong and perfect! And if he doesn't kiss her a thousand times right this instant he is going to spontaneously combust! Peach laughs through the entire process because his mustache tickles, and that makes it even better.

✨ Also, her feet like never touch the ground the whole pregnancy. The second she mentions her feet being sore or touches her back with a small wince or even just makes a face that looks anything other than content, Mario scoops her up and carries her wherever it is she's needing to go. She stops trying to protest a month in.

✨ To that end, keeping her comfortable throughout the process is a role Mario not only falls into flawlessly, but absolutely adores. He runs hot bubble baths for her every other night because royal work is taxing when you're simultaneously growing an entire human, he rubs her feet while she eats tiramisu in bed because it's 2AM and she woke up crying she wanted that particular snack so badly, he uses his Firebrand to soothe all of her aches and pains on command, and it's some of the most fulfilling work he feels he's ever done.

✨ They decide eventually that they want their child to know Italian fluently (Peach is still trying to learn it, and what better way than having both a husband and a child to hold her accountable?). So nearly every night, once Peach is comfy in bed, Mario will lay his head on her stomach and have one-sided conversations or sing a few songs; since she doesn't get to hear him speak in his native tongue at length too often unless she requests it, Peach is enraptured the whole time. She even has him teach her a few of the simpler songs so their baby will recognize the language in her voice as well. Any time Mario catches her singing one of those songs to herself, hand on her belly and gentle smile on her face, he melts into a puddle on the spot. Cue the face kisses.

✨ Mario decides pretty quickly that they're having a girl. He starts addressing her stomach as (la nostra) principessina, his contributions to name ideas are all feminine or neutral, and Luigi and Peasley jump on board too, discussing all the ways they're going to spoil their niece rotten, because a princess deserves no less! "What in the world are you going to do if it's not a girl?" Peach asks Mario one night. "I'll love them all the same!" is Mario's response. "...but I'm pretty sure she's a girl."

✨ When Peach goes into labor, the head nurse argues against Mario's presence at first, because she insists an untrained man taking up space in the room will merely be a hindrance (whether or not that man happens to be King Consort). Mario bluntly tells her she'll have to drag him out herself if she wants him gone. The nurse is a Toad and Mario is over 200lbs, so she relents.

✨ The labor ends up being long and difficult and Mario doesn't leave Peach's side for even a moment of it. It's emotionally draining, seeing her in so much pain for so long and not being able to do much about it, all while staying calm and being as much help as possible, but his perseverance is a big part of what sees her through. All that collectedness goes out the window the second he's holding their new baby in his arms. Peach just gives him a tired giggle and pats his back while he bawls his eyes out.

✨ Mario was right! They have a little girl with her papa's hair and face shape and her mama's eyes and nose. And when he sees his new granddaughter for the first time, Toadsworth may or may not vow to commit war crimes for her should the need ever arise. Peach chooses to believe she's just hearing things in her exhaustion.

[deathmetalunicorn1]

A god killing black kitty, seem to be perfect fit for a cat speaking as a cat mom myself

How would human fighters be when they learn to hat they love cats the most when they went on any worlds for her trip, their real form is too mind breaking even gods can't comprehend of what they are

They seem chill with the four sage due to them to be more interesting then seeing worlds die and replace times over to the point that they act liked a cat around them sometimes

-At first, you were just a void, a being made of darkness and energy, holding a conscience of your very own.

-Your true form, if ever seen by another with a conscience, your form was said to be so horrifying they immediately went mad and their very being imploded from the inside.

-So if you visited other worlds, you always took on an unassuming form of something native to the land, so you could travel and inspect these worlds without risking any unnecessary lives.

-When you transformed, your appearance was always pitch black, much like a void, with glowing orange eyes

-When you found the Milky Way Galaxy, the third planet from the sun was the only one that held life, so you took on the form of one of the creatures on Earth, a cat.

-Humans came to adore what you looked like, calling you a Persian, a breed of cat, and you found their affections and attention pleasant, unlike many of the other worlds you have visited.

-You were able to sense those with much more power, gods, being of great power themselves, but none could hold a candle to your immense power.

-Your fight with Eris had been a quick one, you had been quite disappointed as all of the gods had bragged, before they knew who you truly were, on how powerful they were and how none could stand against them.

-You enjoyed this section of this world, Valhalla, more than you did down on Earth, finding it beautiful and full of wise and interesting people.

-Throughout your long life, you had seen cultures grow and fade, empires rise and fall, but this world, even though these things have also happened, humanity and the gods continued to thrive, learning from the past and taking civilization to new heights each and every day.

-Once your power was known through Valhalla, there were many who were scared of you, but some didn’t seem bothered in the least.

-Goll had thought you were a normal kitty, picking you up and taking you to a quiet room where she provided you with a pillow, so she could just stroke you, finding you soft.

-Sasaki Kojiro was very relaxing to be around, you found his lap most comfortable, curling up on it, he wasn’t bothered, thinking that you were just a normal cat and provided you with something called ‘salmon nigiri’. It was delicious.

-Ares had picked you up, holding you up under your front legs, letting the rest of you dangle down, “What’s a cat doing here?”

-You open your mouth and without moving again, your voice manifested, surrounded the two of you, “What are any of us doing here?” he froze in shock, turning to stone and you hopped down to continue your journey.

-You found solstice with a group of men called the Four Sages, Confucius, Socrates, Jesus, and Buddha, who all seemed to vibe with you.

-They knew of your immense power, but you seemed to be content as a cat, curling up on Buddha’s lap, basking in the warm sunshine of his garden.

-Many of the other gods were still afraid of you, of your power, but you just trotted around, finding those you liked, like Kojiro, to nap with or get snacks from, and you found amusement freaking others out, like Ares.

-He had found you and demanded you speak to Zeus who knew it was you, but he couldn’t help but laugh when you just meowed, like you were a normal cat.

-Once Zeus left, you opened your maw again, “They will never believe you.”

-You were able to keep this prank going on Ares for almost two full weeks and he pouted once you were outed, saying that you were cruel, but you curled up on his lap, apologizing but did speak once more, “When you react with such shock, it is quite funny.”

[navibluebees]

I love your writing and was wondering your take on which of the recoms would be most and least likely to fall for a native na’vi and what would it take or involve. ❣️

Please read before interacting.

AHHH Thank youuuu & I love this one! Something about me is that I can talk about Avatar all damn day, so getting these asks is the best things ever. Here we go~

*Grading these on a scale of 1-10, Least-Most. Also idk how other recom creators choose personalities, but I just stare at their faces and reactions in gifs. It's entirely based off ~vibes~. I love that for us lol

Brown - 6

Not the first guy to jump at the chance. He's lighthearted, but holds very tightly to his roots. Probably wouldn't if the others weren't approving. I think he'd have to find a Na'vi who was more sympathetic to some humans, which I don't think would be super likely to happen. Potentially somebody from the Omaticaya if they had interacted a lot with the scientists like Max and Norm and hd a good experience being around them.

Fike - 4

He seems really uncertain. I think he's nervous in Pandora. When he told Kiri to shut up while she was praying in the hostage scene, it felt like there was a tremor in his voice and I don't think he's grown out of that initial fear of Pandora that he got as a human. It would probably take fully separating from RDA and being alone to mentally separate his two lives before he could learn to live in that world with another person.

Ja - 7

This baby. I think as a med service marine, he is very used to taking care of people. With spending his whole initial life up until his first death taking care of humans and being so woven into their lives, it would be hard for him, but I have this picture in my mind of working alongside other Na'vi and gaining their trust, working with their Tsahìk and finding a mate that way.

Lopez - 8

I think he'd be really drawn in by the beauty of Pandora. He might be similar to Jake in that he sees an assertive Na'vi and is like ooh I want them. Definitely has to prove himself, but he seems really adaptable. Would also enjoy teaching them Spanish and having cutie trilingual babies.

Mansk - 10

Send this man straight to the Tawkami clan. Surround him with many beautiful flowers and give him a life of peace, he deserves it. Sticking with my head canon that he saw some rough shit in the military and he just wants somewhere that he can be calm. His mate will weave him flower crowns and he can just live carefree and be happy always.

Prager - 7

He seems like a younger guy when he initially joined so I think it would be a difficult transition out of military life, but I think he would enjoy being a hunter in the Tayrangi clan. Just to fly often and feel so free. I think his mate would be a kind person. Very curious. He's exhausted from his previous life but would be open to answering any questions they have for him.

Quaritch - 6

At this very moment, boy needs to work on himself before bring another person into the mix, but I think once stuff is worked out with Spider, he'd be open to having a Na'vi mate. They would have to be strong. If not physically, then mentally. I think he needs someone to help share his burdens and someone that can keep up with him. Someone more okay with humans, obviously because of Spider.

Wainfleet - 10

I think he needs a partner. He seems like someone who would thrive in a romantic partnership with someone who could take care of him emotionally. He gives big softie vibes and I love him so much lol. But I think he would wait to see what Quaritch did. He might feel badly if he found a mate first and maybe let that guilt prevent him from being with someone.

Walker - 3

I don't really think so. She strikes me as someone who went to Pandora to provide for her family and fought like hell to get back to them. I think she'd feel guilty if she had another family on Pandora even if she won't ever be able to go back to her original family. Most likely would live with other recoms if they chose not to have mates either.

Warren - 3

I'm getting same vibes from him as Walker, with having a family he came to provide for. He gives off the vibe that he's been in the military a long time and was just finishing up his contract, and this was his last thing to do to bring home some money before he retired. Just vibing with the other recoms for companionship.

Zdinarsk - 9

Would do best mated to a gentler Na'vi. Similar to Quaritch, she needs someone who can match her wit and challenge her mentally, but not someone so similar that she butts heads. Similar to Wainfleet, I think she would wait to see what Quaritch did. I think she'd be likely to find a mate, but not necessarily feel like she had to have one.

Zhang - 2

He gives me more lone wolf vibes. Might join a clan to survive, but I think he would feel so set apart from the Na'vi that he isn't very likely to initiate a relationship with another person. He might carry a lot of guilt from his initial life. Otherwise, I see him, Warren, and Walker just vibing in the forest, living out their days.

***

Damn, this one was hard lol Thank you so much for requesting it, though. I love thinking about things like this, adding to the world lore and building the recoms into full characters.

Taglist:

@drinking-tea-and-be-obsessed

[cienie-isengardu]

The Lin Kuei must have spent decent bit of the budget on decent hair products given MK9 Smoke is probably using gel to keep his hair looking like a troll doll. Cyrax probably does his own hair and I imagine Bi-Han and Kuai just do the bare minimum to maintain their style and Sektor is brushing his hair like he's Rapunzel and is hogging the hair dyer.

Budget like budget, it is likely no big deal. Lin Kuei has access to money, technology and magic and I suspect also a whole group of specialized villagers living around their fortress tasked to take care of the most needed and the superfluous things for their masters. So the access to decent, natural hair and in general beauty products doesn’t feel that far stretched, especially as Lin Kuei operated around the whole human world and in Outworld and some, like Sub-Zero - the original father of Bi-Han and Kuai Liang - spent some time, possible years, on undercover mission in America. Beauty, as irrelevant it seems to warriors, is still a tool in the espionage profession, as it allows the spy or assassin to infiltrate the enemy's line and get close to the target, either as beautiful courtesan or looking enough similar to native people to pass as one of them to name few possibilities. It could also just be Lin Kuei warrior’s pride to look good and as healthy as possible as sloppiness is the proof of laziness and personal failure.

So the budget is not the problem, but time is. Please, just imagine all our Lin Kuei named warriors ending on the same undercover mission and the fight for the bathroom, because taking care of hair, especially long hair takes time and there is Sektor and Smoke who presumably could occupy the bathroom for who knows how long. It is no wonder Bi-Han and Kuai Liang decided to hell with that nonsense and kept their hair as short as possible in the original timeline, while Cyrax is like always the most normal about the issue. 

And then imagine Sektor's horror of the first white hair 🤣

(In MK1 it seems everything is reversed, Bi-Han and Kuai Liang keep long hair while Sektor favors the short(er) haircut, but that could be the result of having different social roles. Tomas probably decided to hell with long hair, he was hunter first and foremost so he chose comfortability over any Lin Kuei custom. Cyrax, we still need to wait to learn more about him and see where he fits on the chart.)

[electronickingdomfox]

"Devil World" review

Novel from 1979, by Gordon Eklund (same author of previous TOS novel "The Starless World"). It's a very short novel, and could have been an episode of the series. Well-written, and the central mystery is interesting enough, but the story isn't anything special as a whole. In fact, at core is a very similar story to that of the previous novel. Kirk's characterization is also off, specially at the end.

But at least Chekov tells a funny bullshit story about why there are no Russian bears in Russian zoos. In the other novel from Eklund, it was McCoy who told a story to Spock, so it seems to be a thing with this author.

Spoilers under the cut:

Kirk, Spock and McCoy are watching a magician's show while in shore-leave. Spock is like "this is crap". And I don't know why Kirk and McCoy (who regularly get disintegrated in a transporter) are so excited about that old trick where a woman is apparently sawed in half, but they are (maybe they drank too much). Then, the magician starts conjuring some devil creatures that seem all too real. And the beautiful, beautiful woman who was sitting in the table next to them, starts screaming suddenly, accusing the devils of taking her father away. Then she faints.

It turns out, the woman is the famous artist Gilla Dupree, whose father (Jacob Kell) is missing. As Kell is a suspected traitor to the Federation, and presumably hiding in a quarantined planet named Heartland, (and as Gilla is so pretty), Kirk is authorized to use the Enterprise as a taxi for Gilla to reunite with her father. Gilla is a Jain, though I don't know enough about that religion to judge whether her depiction is accurate or not. She can only eat a few vegetables, since all life is sacred for her, and blames malnourishment for her frequent faints. An insipid romance develops then between Kirk and her, and it takes too many pages of an already short book. I mean, there's nothing essentially bad about Gilla as a character; she's just so... boring? The romance is also a clear indication that Gilla's doomed by the narrative.

Once in Heartland, the crew plus Gilla meet a hermit man who's been living alone for forty years. He's the last of the human colonists, who was left behind when they evacuated and quarantined the planet years ago. The other colonists had all gone mad, but not this one. He doesn't want to get any close to the native aliens of Heartland, the Danons, but says that Kell lives among them. The Danon village has a compelling eerie atmosphere, and there's something Lovecraftian about the great stone tower in the middle of the central square. Kirk and the others find themselves suddenly surrounded by all the Danons of the village, and Kell is among them. The Danons look exactly like naked Christian devils, so the crew is really xenophobic towards them (haven't they seen stranger creatures in the galaxy? oh well). Kell is very unfriendly, and orders them to leave Heartland at once. Nonetheless, the Danons allow the crew to spend the night in their village. And one of them even plays poker with the redshirts (Spock doesn't want to play poker since he's too good at it, because Vulcans have the perfect "poker face", yeah). But the next morning, the redshirt who got too close to the Danon during poker is missing. They find him naked and completely mad, his mind as if it was wiped clean. They leave McCoy with crazy, naked dude, but he can't do anything for him.

Then Kirk and Gilla run to Kell, to demand answers from him, and at last he explains what's happening. It turns out the Danons are all part of a single mental entity, which can claim people as part of the whole. But only the strongest ones can become assimilated; those that aren't ready, simply lose their minds. Kell was a deeply broken man ever since he spent a month alone in space, drifting with just his spacesuit after an accident. He couldn't live with people anymore, nor did he find help among the Klingons (the reason why he was branded as a traitor by the Federation). Only in Heartland, after uniting with the mental presence, he found some relief. And I don't know why, at this point, they can't just leave this poor old man alone. But Kirk still insists on taking Kell to the Enterprise. Only that now, they discover that the entity just won't let them leave the planet. Spock does his Spock thing, and tries to mind-meld with the mental presence. And then we get crazy Spock (but he's no redshirt, so McCoy says he'll recover in time).

In the end, the hermit reveals the whole truth. The entity is actually a super-computer that fills the whole core of the planet, and the entrance is located under the mysterious tower of the village. The Danons built the machine as a planetary defense long ago. But their species is dying now, so the computer wants to assimilate humans to have some company, once the Danons disappear. The hermit convinced the other colonists to try and fuse with the machine, but he was too cowardly to follow them. Gilla disappears, and soon Kirk suspects what she's doing. She has exchanged herself for her father, and Kirk finds her, too late, connected to the computer.

Back in the ship, Kirk is totally depressed and neglects his duties after losing Gilla. And this is quite out-of-character for him, since duty always comes before love for Kirk (save in the case of Spock in the third movie). McCoy comforts him, revealing that Gilla was actually dying from a tumor, so she had nothing to lose anyway (and maybe, McCoy, you should have told this to Kirk before, since he was so emotionally involved and all...). I was left wondering what was the deal with that magician at the beginning and his devils, and why Gilla knew about them. But that's never addressed (an abandoned plot line?).

Spirk Meter: 1/10*. It's almost nothing, but at one point Kirk reflects about how comfortable he is in Spock's presence. So comfortable than they can both be in silence without it being awkward.

Also, this author seems to have something for Kirk/Scotty, as it happened in the other novel. Kirk compares him to an angel, says that he's looking forward to see Scotty's smiling face again... And Scotty gets super-protective of Kirk when he wants to beam up the last, even though there's no immediate danger in the planet. ????

Apart from this, Kirk gets crushed by a horde of naked (mostly male) devils, that tear his clothes as usual.

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.