#also think I may have a title??

[daffi-990]

Fuck it Friday 💦

Soooooo … The Lighting Amnesia Fic is finished! Just waiting on it to be beta read and then I’ll go over it for a final edit and possible tweaking and then I’ll be posting!! 🤩🤩🤩🤩

This fic is my baby and I’m so excited to share it with you all soon!

So here is my final snippet from it, and I made sure it was a sexy one in true fuck it Friday fashion 😘 xx

“Clothes off and lay down on the bed for me, baby”

Eddie readily obeys, climbing out of Buck’s lap to strip out of his clothes, throwing them haphazardly on the floor before scrambling back up the bed, even going as far as to grab a pillow and shoving it under his hips.

“Someone’s eager” he says as removes his own clothes before going over to Eddie’s bedside table to grab the lube and a condom.

Eddie’s a bit breathless as replies “For you? Always”

And Buck just about melts into a puddle, who knew Eddie Diaz could be such a smooth fucker? He flashes him a grin, “Smooth talker”.

Eddie grins back as he spreads his legs further apart to make room for Buck, and like a moth drawn to a flame, Buck slots his body perfectly along Eddie’s, mouths coming together in a syrupy soft kiss. He breaks the kiss to trail wet open mouth kisses down Eddie’s body, making sure to pay extra attention to his nipples, swirling his tongue around the buds before playfully biting them. He slides down further, purposely avoiding Eddie’s cock to suck marks into the inside of his thighs, soothing each one with a kiss.

“Buck, please. Need you”

With one last kiss to Eddie’s shaking thigh, Buck moves up to take his hard cock in hand, tongue coming out to taste the pre-cum leaking from his slit. Eddie’s hands grip the sheets beside him as he lets out a breathy oh fuck. Buck flicks his eyes up to him and once Eddie is looking at him, he takes the head into his mouth and sucks. Eddie’s eyes roll back, one hand coming up to Buck’s head, fingers tangling in the curly strands of his hair. Buck sinks his mouth down lower before coming back up to swirl his tongue around the head and then going down again. The grip in his hair tightens and Buck moans around Eddie’s cock.

“Ah- shit- Buck”

He loses himself in the feeling of Eddie’s cock, hot and heavy on his tongue. He’s always loved giving head, loves being able to tease and please his partner. There’s just something about it that lights him up. And with Eddie, Buck feels like a raging wildfire. He’s pretty sure he could come just from this, Eddie’s cock in his mouth, hand in his hair gripping just right, moans and pleas spilling from his lips.

No pressure tagging: @exhuastedpigeon @giddyupbuck @lover-of-mine @forthewolves @hippolotamus @eddiebabygirldiaz @wikiangela @thewolvesof1998 @fortheloveofbuddie @monsterrae1 @callaplums @jesuisici33 @callmenewbie @captain-hen @ladydorian05 @loserdiaz @honestlydarkprincess @hoodie-buck @devirnis @disasterbuckdiaz @spotsandsocks @athenagranted @rainbow-nerdss @rewritetheending @wildlife4life and all you other lovely people who have something you want to share 💕

[pettyprocrastination]

whoever this beloved anon was I am so touched by your kindness! You definitely didn’t have to do this but I am so happy you enjoy this idea and I will happily expand upon it for you!

this is just a collection of word vomit bullet points for the time being but I will happily answer any and all questions about this pair!!

warnings: violence, angst, child death (Sarah Miller), foul language, the same warnings that apply to tlou, reader is Sarah's mom and described as having similar features to her. 

So the general Idea is that you and Joel are happily married before the outbreak. 

You had been Sarah's mother, his high school sweetheart he got pregnant when neither of you were old enough to have any reaction to the pregnancy test other than a fucking panic attack in one another’s arms. but you made it work 

you both worked but made time for one another and your sweet girl, going to museums every other weekend and joel insisting on swooping you off for a date every now and then 

nothing special. He knows you’re more of a diner gal than anything too fancy that makes you both feel out of place. 

On his birthday in 2003, you had planned to tell him that you were pregnant again. But the memories of your own fears of motherhood from all those years ago begin to swirl through your head again and you get cold feel. deciding to tell him the morning after

it is his birthday afterall, you want to focus on him. 

but when you’re woken up in the middle of the night because tommy needs to get bailed out, Joel kisses you sweetly one last time before promising he’ll be back and you can’t shake the feeling that something bad is happening. 

its you that shakes sarah awake that night. shouting at her to put on her shoes when she’s still rubbing the sleep from her eyes because you’ve been listening to the radio for the past two hours, calling joel again and again and again praying for him to fucking pick up but to no avail. 

Sarah, bless your little girl’s bleeding heart is the one who insists you check on the adler’s against your better suspicions and when you find the eldest looming over her daughter, blood and sinew dripping from her mouth, you grab your daughter hand and burst into a full sprint until something slams into your back and sends you tumbling onto their front lawn

its how joel finds you, struggling to keep the once sweet old woman, whose now nothing more than dead eyes and gnashing teeth straining to snap at your pulse point as you push against her while sarah shrieks before your husband runs forward and cracks her skull with a wrench. 

there’s hardly a moment of pause, just enough for him to pull you up and into his arms before he’s ushering you both into the car with an urgency. 

when the truck crashes, you get separated from them. Perhaps at Tommy’s side when the flames rise and create a wall, separating you from your husband, or maybe pulled into the mob of chaos when trying to escape from those already infected-

all joel knows is that you promise you’ll find him: just get sarah to safety and you’ll meet him at the river

Poor thing is already so frightened, held in her father’s arms with tears streaming down her face insisting they can’t leave you they just can’t but her father kisses her forehead and reassures her its going to be okay 

“we just need to be brave, okay babygirl? Your mama’s real tough, she’s gonna be alright.” 

he isn’t sure if he’s saying it to his daughter or himself. 

but when he comes to the river you aren’t there. Only a soldier who points a gun at the scared little girl in his arms and then he loses everything

its when the light is gone from his daughter’s eyes that he realizes. His voice cracked and raw from sobbing that he looks around to see his brother with drawn in shoulders and tears in his eyes but his wife is nowhere to be found. 

Tommy says you got lost in the chaos. Everything was so loud, so sudden that he turned around and suddenly you weren’t there. 

Joel wants to go back but its Tommy that stops him, that dulls the red in his vision to a sad faded pink because his brother points at the orange horizon not too far from them, so much of the city is already in flames. 

“We’re gonna find her, but not there.” 

So Joel searches. for the first year spent in the world post-outbreak its all he did. 

He became a smuggler because of it. 

Information came at a price and he needed to be able to fucking pay it, whether it be in blood or ration cards. He was willing to do anything to find you or any thin thread that lead your way. 

But it’s Tommy that asks him to give up. Not in those words of course. 

The youngest Miller knows better than to say something so cruel that would make his brother, the only person he has in this world turn on him. 

But his voice is worried when he asks him one night in Boston when he hasn’t even had the chance to wash the blood from his knuckles 

“You think she would have wanted this for you?” 

the fight that followed his words was brutal. Vicious insults and scarred fists slamming against each brother until they're both too tired and bloody to continue. Each leaning against a wall for support and Tommy’s wavering voice breaking the silence. 

“I don’t know where she is, Joel. But I do know you're gonna get yourself killed if you keep lookin’ for her.” 

All he can do is nod. 

It’s a few days later when he meets Tess. Who has heard plenty of stories about the elder miller’s brutality and wants him to put that muscle to good use for some extra profit. 

It begins his new life. One that empty and cold but one he can live. 

Until of course, Ellie comes along. The sweet and incredibly opinionated girl that makes him become something akin to the man he thought died twenty years ago. 

its when he’s traveling with Ellie, that it happens. When a warm familiarity has settled between the two because so much blood and pain has been shared he can’t help but see her as something close, something bright even though all he can force himself to utter in her reference is “cargo” 

when theyre traveling through the woods as Ellie chatters away, probing his memory about a movie that may or may not have existed thirty years ago because her descriptions of the plot are incredibly odd he hears a voice shout for them to stop and finds himself staring at a man- no, a boy- pointing a gun at them. 

Ellie stills, but Joel can see enough to know that from the lanky figure and dimpled face that he’s young. Maybe twenty, twenty-two at the oldest, but his eyes dart from Joel to Ellie with a pinprick of fear that allows Joel the time to charge forward and slam him to the ground before wrestling the gun from his hands. 

He has enough to time to tuck it under the stranger’s chin before he hears the sound of the safety being turned off and finds himself looking up and seeing a gun just inches from his face. 

Joel’s head whips around when Ellie’s voice calls out his name in fear, he turns to see another stranger holding her a gun point, shoulders drawn back and a shadow cast over their face by the had obstructing their identity. 

“You hurt one of mine, I hurt one of yours. That a fair deal?” 

Its takes him a moment to recognize you. It’s been so long since he’s heard your voice, the sweet tease when you would poke at him each time he woke up late despite the fact that you reminded him to set his alarm the night before, the times you’d chide him with a harsh “Joel Miller!” whispered in public anytime he was able to grab you a bit too passionately to be appropriate in public but the laughter in your voice let him know you were never truly mad at him. You didn’t know how to be. 

But that sweetness is buried under a cold rasp that cuts through the air as you point a rifle at the scared little girl in front of you.

“You think I won’t?” You’re older now, skin covered in scars from a life he didn’t know you got the chance to live and your eyes are cold as they regard your husband. “Put the gun down and get the fuck off of him, I won’t repeat myself.” 

Joel mumbles your name in awe. The woman he loved, the woman he mourned the one he fought so hard to find stands before him like some sort of hallucination and suddenly the world feels like its spinning until you bark orders at him again. 

“You’ve got five seconds Joel, make a fucking choice before I make it for you.” 

He looks down and realizes the boy under him, the one with the bleeding nose and snarling face has your eyes and his dimples. 

“One.” 

The one above him has Sarah’s hair. Soft brown curls that shine under the sun. 

“Two”

Wait. No, they both do.

“Three.” 

Twins. Jesus fucking Christ you had twins. 

“Four.” 

Joel holds the rifle up above his head and the one boy standing snatches it from his grasp, tossing it to the ground and kicking it far from his reach. He slowly stands, allowing your son- dear god your son- to scramble to his feet. 

Your voice softens just for a moment. “You okay, Duke?” 

Blood stains the bottom half of his face from where Joel slammed his fist into the boy’s nose just moments before, but he nods nonetheless. 

Now, they both stand on one side of you and he can see the resemblance clear as day the same way he would whenever Sarah was by your side.

When you order him to hand over his bag, he does so without question before telling Ellie to do the same. 

She watches him with wide eyes, her hands still up in the air but gaping at her companion as if he had grown a second head. 

“Joel!” “Just do it, alright?”

He doesn’t miss the way you watch their interaction with narrowed eyes until she tosses her bag to you and you slowly lower your gun. 

“Now, you want to tell me what the fuck you think you’re doin’ at my home?” 

[batbabydamian]

Hey, I started reading Robin son of Batman because of your recommendation (I literally have a print of your post on my phone to not forget lol). Honestly? One of the best things I ever read!!!

Thank you for opening my eyes! Damian has been one of my favorite characters for over a year, but I didn't read/watch much of him because of school, life (and probably an executive dysfunction in the mix).

Maya is incredible. I loved her.

I haven't finished all the issues yet, but do you have any other recommendations?

WAH this makes me so happy, i'm glad you still gave it a shot even with how busy life is!! ;v;

i’d love to give reccs, and i’ll try to go a beginner friendly route! tbh you can pick up whatever here, but since you've read R:SOB i’d immediately follow up with Batman and Robin (2011) #1-8! this first arc is what’s referred to in Maya’s introduction, and it's just. so good.

Main Books

Batman and Robin (2009)

Dick as Batman with Damian as his Robin!

#20-22 Tree of Blood: Dark Knight vs White Knight arc is done by Tomasi and Gleason, the team for the next Batman and Robin series

*Batman and Robin (2011)

Bruce and Damian figuring out their relationship as both Batman & Robin and father & son

imo you can enjoy the ride and read straight through this but i’ll add context to avoid as much confusion as possible since there’s the occasional tie-in or offscreen events, like Damian’s death nbd

Batman Incorporated (2012) #1-10

events leading to Damian's death - affects Batman and Robin (2011) from issue #18

kind of a tough read especially with how Talia's written, but a lot of iconic bits like Batcow, Damian's vegetarian declaration, Alfred the cat, "We Were the Best, Richard."

Robin (2021)

another self-discovery adventure, particularly after Alfred’s death and a fallout with Bruce (and questionable writing choices from his last Teen Titans run)

Batman and Robin (2023)

currently ongoing! after a number of events, Bruce and Damian are back as a duo

Damian Dynamics!

Batman: Streets of Gotham (2009) #7, 10-12

arc where Damian meets one of his first Gotham friends, Colin Wilkes

Batgirl (2009) #5-7, #17

Steph and Damian dynamic! "the bad cop, worse cop" dysfunctional duo

Red Robin (2009) #13-14

early Tim and Damian dynamic that of course includes fighting haha. funny enough, accidentally my first intro to Damian LOL

Teen Titans (2003) #89-92

Dick!Batman has Damian join the Teen Titans. Start of Damian and Rose Wilson dynamic that’s extended in Robin (2021)

Batman: Gates of Gotham (2011)

Damian meets Cass and has a brief team up

Gotham Academy (2015) #7

Damian meets Maps Mizoguchi! they have a few other meetings, but outside of that the series itself is a great read!

Robin War Event (2015)

Robin War (2015) #1, Grayson (2014) #15, Detective Comics (2011) #47, We Are Robin (2015) #7, Robin: Son of Batman (2015) #7, Robin War (2015) #2

Duke and Damian dynamic! not exactly beginner friendly but these are the main issues in order for the event! you can also read the TPB version for everything including Tie-Ins

Nightwing (2016) #16-20, #42, #43

#16-20 Nightwing and Robin arc!

#42 Dick on a mission to save Damian! the one appearance of "Wiggles" the dragon

#43 Dick, Roy, and Damian team-up

New Talent Showcase 2018 "Catwoman: Pedigree"

Selina, Damian, and Alfred the cat

Batman: Prelude to the Wedding - Robin vs. Ra's Al Ghul (2018)

Selina, Damian, and Cheese Viking - Damian's fav game shown in Nightwing: Rebirth (2016)

Monkey Prince (2022) #1-4

Marcus Sun Shugel-Shen's main comic, but Damian features as a fun dynamic here before they're in more serious circumstances in Batman VS Robin (2022)/Lazarus Planet event

Superman (2016) #10 - 11

the beginning of the Super Sons! featuring Maya!

Super Sons (2017)

solitary arcs but there’s a few event tie-in issues later

Adventures of the Super Sons (2018)

literally more Super Sons adventures lol galactic shenanigans yeehaw

Challenge of the Super Sons (2020) 

Super Sons time shenanigans feat. the Justice League

Robin 80th Anniversary (2020)

"Boy Wonders" - brief Damian feature as Tim considers his next step in life

"My Best Friend" - Jon's thoughts on Damian and their dynamic

"Bat and Mouse" - refers to Damian's unfortunate Teen Titans (2016) run at the time of release which follows up with Teen Titans Annual #2 where Damian briefly gives up Robin

Extra Comics!

Superman/Batman (2003) #77

Kara and Damian in a Halloween team-up! also the appearance of "Li'l Matches" lol

DCU Halloween Special '09 "Cavity Search"

Damian out on a solo mission for Halloween night. Immediately after is Tim's Red Robin story "Then and Now: Our Father's Sins" which is more somber in contrast but also a good read!

DCU Halloween Special 2010 "Robin the Vampire Slayer"

a Dick!Batman and Robin story featuring the vampire Andrew Bennett

Cursed Comics Cavalcade (2018) "The Devil You Know"

Halloween themed comic with a sweet short story of Damian alongside Solomon Grundy

DC's Terrors Through Time (2022)

"Trick or Treat" a Super Sons Halloween story

"The Haunting of Wayne Manor" Damian and Deadman story - in the end, Boston kinda refers to Nezha's possession of Damian in Batman VS Robin (2022) which was happening at the time of this release

Batman: Li'l Gotham (2013)

lighthearted series that instantly makes me smile with the silliness and Dustin Nguyen’s art i love this dearly

Secret Origins (2014) #4 "A Boy's Life"

a retelling of Damian's origin story

Detective Comics (2016) #1001-1005

Batman and Robin vs the Arkham Knight (unrelated to the game)

Truth & Justice (2021) #6/#16 - 18 Digital First version

cute story of Damian’s birthday! Juni Ba’s art is so fun!!

DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration (2021) “Special Delivery”

short story about Damian! and poisoned pizzas. completely forgot the artist Sami Basri drew Rebirth Damian here before catboy Damian lol Cass’s story “Sounds” is also cute! Marcus makes his first appearance in "The Monkey Prince Hates Superheroes"

DC VS Vampires (2021)

Damian makes appearances throughout this elseworlds book, but the one-shot DC VS Vampires: Hunters (2022) is vampire Damian-centric!

Batman: Black and White (2021) #5

“Father & Son Outing” short story written and drawn by Jorge Jimenez!

Batman: Urban Legends (2021) #20-23

#20 “My Son” Talia and Bruce focus

#20 - 23 “The Murder Club” 4 Parts

Tiny Titans (2008) #33, #39, #45, #47

a few appearances but SO CUTE, LOOK AT HIM

*Batman and Robin (2011) reading guide

i'm mostly trying to avoid the "what did i just walk in on?" kinda feeling when i first started reading comics LOL i'll list the comics where events take place, but you don't necessarily have to read them to go through this book since things are usually explained as quickly as possible in the first page or so

#0 Someday Never Comes

Talia and baby Damian before he grows up to meet Bruce

#1-8 Born to Kill

just an incredibly solid arc for Bruce and Damian!

#9 Court of Owls Tie-In Issue

Damian VS a Court of Owls Talon. While Bruce is occupied with a home invasion of Talons, Alfred makes a call for allies to protect targeted Gotham public figures from Talons. During Batman (2011) #1-11

#10-12 Terminus

Damian challenges the previous Robins sans Steph

Batman Incorporated (2012) is occurring at this time where Talia has placed a bounty on Damian and there's small mentions of that

#13-14 Eclipsed/Devoured

mostly solitary arc! end of it leads into the Death of the Family event

#15-16 Death of the Family Tie-In Issues

Damian and Joker face-off... Alfred's been kidnapped by the Joker, and Damian goes looking for him. During Batman (2011) #13-17

#17 Life is but a Dream - Death of the Family Epilogue

a sort of subconscious check-in through the dreams of Damian, Alfred, and Bruce. Nightwing (2011) #17 features Damian encouraging Dick after Death of the Family events

#18 Undone "Requiem"

Bruce dealing with Damian's death from Batman Incorporated #8

other reactions to Damian's death: Dick in Nightwing (2011) #18, Tim in Teen Titans (2011) #18

#19-23 Denial, Rage, The Bargain, Despair, Acceptance

Bruce through the stages of grief with some batfam appearances in each. also introduces Carrie Kelley into continuity as Damian's acting tutor.

Batman (2011) #19-20 also addresses Bruce's loss

#23.1-23.4

these could be skipped - villain stories, also related to Forever Evil event.

#24-28 The Big Burn

optional Batman and Two-Face/Harvey Dent arc, #23.1 is part of this story!

Damian's resurrection and return

#29-32 The Hunt for Robin

Ras took Talia and Damian's bodies from their graves, and Bruce goes after him.

-> Robin Rises: Omega

continues events from #32. if you don't want to jump to this, basically, Glorious Godfrey and a bunch of parademons from Apokolips are here for a chaos shard which Ra's put in Damian's sarcophagus. at some point, Bruce gets a hold of the shard where he sees a vision that leads him to believe Damian can be resurrected. Godfrey ends up taking the shard, along with Damian's body since it was emitting the same energy.

#33-37 Robin Rises

Bruce hellbent on retrieving Damian from Apokolips and reviving him

-> Robin Rises: Alpha

necessary to read and continues events from #37! Damian's back with a bang lol

#38-40 Superpower

Damian adjusting to having superpowers and being alive again

Annual #1 2013 Batman Impossible

sweet (and funny) one-shot of Damian sending Bruce on a meaningful scavenger hunt around the world while Damian gets to be the cutest Batman for a bit

Annual #2 2014 Batman and Robin: Week One

one-shot takes place during Damian's absence. after Bruce and Alfred find a mystery gift left for Dick, Dick recounts a story he had told Damian from his Robin days.

Annual #3 2015 Moonshot

one-shot Batman and Robin adventure on the moon!

...and of course after Batman and Robin (2011), Damian's story continues in his first solo Robin: Son of Batman (2015)!

[venomgaia]

Guys that go bump in the night

(minorly inspired by @karniss-bg3 's response to this ask)

[lonicera-edulis]

If the Hobbit characters were in the trek universe, what field/job do you think Bilbo would have in Star Fleet?

Also have you read "like warriors from the scientific sagas" on ao3?

Well, he is an adventurer, so maybe him being in Starfleet would work. And he is a writer and linguist 🤔 Maybe he could be like Uhura, a communications officer? He is not a scientist or a man of hard work, so I don't think other roles would fit his canonical portrait. Although, even if I have drawn a crossover art earlier, I don't entirely think mixing Star Trek and The Hobbit works. I don't know how to integrate dwarves and hobbits in that so it won't be an AU where they are Men.

Sadly I haven't read the story you mentioned, I am having trouble concetrating on reading 😢 Not to mention that I have become too picky lately and skip every story if I see something in description/tags that I am not up to read. So I end up not reading anything at all even if I really wish to read a story with my favourite characters. Maybe it will become better eventually and I will be able to read these stories, there are plenty of good and kind fic writers 😭

And I will look up the fic later. Thank you for the ask!

[cienie-isengardu]

Why Kuai Liang was not given his cryomancer power but fire?

After rewatching character intro dialogues from previous games, I think I figure out why Liu Kang changed Kuai Liang into Scorpion/pyromancer in his timeline and the reason is so he did to not have to deal with two cryomancers at the same time AND I’M SAYING IT ONLY HALF-JOKING.

If there are two things we can say about all cryomancers presented in games and old Mortal Kombat Conquest TV series is that they have a rocky relationship with authority and all of them are abrasive, straightforward and challenging, and yes, this applies to Kuai Liang too. He may grow up into wise, patient sage but he was as relentless, aggressive and stubborn in his quest to avenge Bi-Han as the other cryomancers were when dealing with people/situations they did not like or agreed with.

Generally speaking, cryomancers are those who are hard to keep on leash because of their independent streak.

Now, one may ask, but why change Kuai Liang and not Bi-Han, if Grandmaster Kuai Liang dedicated his life to protect Earthrealm while Bi-Han is the best known as evil Noob Saibot?

The thing is, Kuai Liang was loyal to Bi-Han (and Smoke) above everything else and only the devastating experiences like brother’s death, Cyber Initiative project and enslavement under Quan Chi’s magic - and born from it guilt - set him on the path of redemption. This is by no means a critique of Kuai Liang as in majority of “intercarnations” the younger Sub-Zero has the sense of honor from the start however it is personal tragedies that truly force him to face some harsh truth about his clan and his older brother to whom both he was deeply devoted. In a way we may say that Kuai Liang’s redemption arc is a reaction to experienced trauma.

Stripping him from devastating experiences of being changed into a killing machine (or losing best friend to C.I. Project, depending on timeline) and being a slave to dark magic would also strip Kuai Liang from the obstacles he needed to overcome to grow into a wise, patient Grandmaster and dedicated protector of Earthrealm. And in this universe Shang Tsung, Quan Chi and the dark nature of original Lin Kuei were - in theory - eliminated from happening, so Liu Kang would be left with a young, rash, stubborn cryomancer deeply devoted to his older brother above anything else.

And let’s no forget that this cryomancer last time without second thought ignored his superiors’ orders and went on the revenge quest in the name of fallen brother, openly putting family over his life-long oath to Lin Kuei, did not aid Sonya and dying Jax, then disturbed the Mortal Kombat Tournament held in Outworld by demanding from Emperor to bring him Bi-Han’s murderer straight to the Emperor’s face without any hint of respect, and generally, was hell-bent to find and kill Scorpion and all consequences be damned. The nightmare of what he did as Cyber Sub-Zero (MK9) was the first real shock that put him on a different path. But then even as traumatized by tragic events, older Kuai Liang still wasn’t blindly following others’ orders. As intro dialogues presented, he has no respect for whatever gods (he do though respect some godly immortals as individuals) and openly criticized or challenged Raiden’s authority in MK11:

Sub-Zero: You failed to protect Earthrealm. Raiden: Do you question my authority? Sub-Zero: I demand you renounce it.

or

Sub-Zero: I am grateful that you saved my life. Raiden: So why fight me, Grandmaster? Sub-Zero: To find out whether you are dark or light.

or

Sub-Zero: Do you serve humanity?  Raiden: And the Elder Gods, Sub-Zero.  Sub-Zero: One cannot serve two masters.

And now, strip Kuai Liang from trauma and who knows how much more stubborn and at odds with godly’s authority he would be?

Bi-Han though? When he stole Shinnok’s amulet [Sub-Zero: Mythologies], the action did not right away ruin his life. Raiden warned him about the possible destruction of Earthrealm and with it, Lin Kuei  and demanded to repair damage done, which Sub-Zero agreed to do.

Rayden: Do you realize what you've done?? Sub-Zero: I was just earning my living. Rayden: Your clan's ignorance and greed will cost this entire realm. You must now set things straight. Sub-Zero: Quan Chi could simply be a lunatic sorcerer. I've never heard of an elder god named Shinnok or of a place called the Netherealm. Rayden: Well, you'd better start believing in both, because you're going to the Netherealm and you're going to bring the amulet back.    We must act quickly. I have no dominion in the Netherealm... You are reality's only hope. Sub-Zero: I'll do it, Thunder God... but only because I have no choice.

Bi-Han risked his life and soul to save the whole realm from Shinnok - as Raiden said:  “The Netherealm is a place for lost souls. If you fail, your soul will join theirs… and so will the souls of this entire realm”, however it was Quan Chi who revealed the whole truth: "Don't you realize why Rayden sent you? The Netherealm is a place for evil beings. You could not exist here unless you were tainted with evil."

This knowledge affected Bi-Han yet he still returned to Lin Kuei. Whether he did that because of loyalty to Grandmaster or just for Kuai Liang’s sake is up to debate but what is important, he did not abandon his assassin profession. 

Now, I know that Mortal Kombat 9 (2011) does not dwell much into details and its story mode does not always follow logic in regard to fights each character participated in, yet during the Mortal Kombat Tournament Bi-Han must have changed sides otherwise his fight with Scorpion would make zero sense. Lin Kuei warriors were hired personally by Shang Tsung to kill Earthrealm Champions and the only reason for the sorcerer to allow for such a fight was if Bi-Han worked against him. 

(And if Bi-Han supported Raiden’s cause, Shang Tsung would have an actual reason to kill Cyrax after Lin Kuei warrior talked with Thunder God over Sub-Zero’s remains. As in, he was afraid another assassin could be persuaded into helping Earthrealm).

Those are two examples* in which Bi-Han prevented or tried to prevent upcoming danger - Shinnok’s return and Outworld’s Invasion (alternatively, he was trying to eliminate the danger of Quan Chi who broke contract by keeping Hanzo Hasashi / Shirai-Ryu as his Wraith, a reason on which Cyber Sektor refused to aid Netherrealm in MKX and Bi-Han’s goal just nicely worked with Raiden’s need). Sub-Zero risked his life for the safety of Earthrealm as he could died during task or be killed by Grandmaster for allying himself with Lin Kuei’s enemy (Raiden) - and Bi-Han did so even when thinking there was nothing wrong with assassining and thieving (“I was just earning my living.”)

This is not really about which brother has a better sense of honor - or duty, for that matter - as both have this sense in various source material. The difference is about the nature of their choices to protect Earthrealm.  Bi-Han’s decisions weren’t born from personal tragedy but from pragmatism as he understood that walking away from the problem wasn’t a wise choice. In contrast, Kuai Liang’s actions were a reaction to an already happened tragedy. In that sense Bi-Han, even as an assassin tainted with evil, acted to prevent bad things before those affected Earthrealm (his life/clan) while Kuai Liang tried to stop history from repeating itself.

Of course, Liu Kang as a mortal did not have any knowledge about Bi-Han's past but as his powers merged with Thunder God, he could gain an access to Raiden’s memories and opinion that affected his own judgment. Raiden praised Bi-Han at least twice for saving Earthrealm (Sub-Zero Mythologies and Mortal Kombat 9) and went so far to ask Scorpion to spare Sub-Zero’s life - granted, more to prevent creation of Noob Saibot he had vision of, but he was still angry at Scorpion in MK11 for breaking the promise

"Your word is worthless. At the tournament I trusted you to spare Bi-Han, and you betrayed me."

Raiden specifically calling Sub-Zero by his given name makes it sound much more personal compared to an actual scene from MK9:

"Spare Sub-Zero's life and I will request that the Elder Gods return the Shirai Ryu to the realm of mortals."

(Another thing to take into account is the age difference between Sub-Zero brothers. It is understandable that Kuai Liang looked up to Bi-Han, an older brother who was at the age of (most likely) 32 recognized as the most cunning Lin Kuei, while Bi-Han was not bound by the same idealization toward his younger sibling and maybe even felt it was his duty to take care of Kuai Liang.)

Bi-Han wasn’t the easiest person to work with, sure, but his cryomancer’s lack of social skills and abrasive nature did not get into the way of serving Earthrealm in an active way to prevent danger. Putting him as he was in different Lin Kuei - now dedicated to Earthrealm and duty bound to serve it - doesn’t sound that weird. 

But why change the element (ice) of one of the brothers at all?

Looking how crymancer Kuai Liang and MK1!Bi-Han actually shares the same independent streak and the “don’t let your loyalty stunt your growth” mindset, I think Original Younger Sub-Zero would have a much better understanding of current Bi-Han and could if not support him then at least understand his desire of breaking free from Liu Kang as alternative version of Kuai Liang in one of intro dialogues (MK11) outright would refuse aid Raiden, thinking Lin Kuei bleed enough for Earthrealm: 

Raiden: Earthrealm needs you, Sub-Zero. Sub-Zero: Enough Lin Kuei blood has been shed. Raiden: I ask only for your bravery. 

With the implication that current sibling’s mother was a fighter and she died (possibly in line of duty) before game events and how Bi-Han seems to be on much better terms with her (or generally, being more affected by Kitana & Mileena’s mother death than death of his own father), this Kuai Liang’s statement too could easily support Bi-Han’s desire to break from tradition of servitude and Lin Kuei dying for Earthrealm’s sake. 

The older and wiser version of Kuai Liang wouldn’t agree with abandoning duty to Earthrealm, but the young, rash, blindly devoted to his older brother version? Without traumatic events - that weren’t meant to happen - there wouldn’t be the needed impulse for Kuai Liang to look at his life, Bi-Han’s ambitions and clan from a different perspective.

Bi-Han mentioned in one of character intros that Lin Kuei use cryomancy since his ancestors settled in Arctika 

while Kuai Liang said pyromancy is closely kept family secret.

So cryomancy is something passed down from ancestors to modern days, while either in the past people controlling fire married into family and added mastery of this element to gene pool or the Lin Kuei/Kuai Liang’s family found a different way to control it and this is why they guard their secret.  To keep it as simple as possible, let’s agree that Kuai Liang had a 50% chance to inherit ice and the same chance to get fire. On one hand, it is easy to assume, well, if fire is part of his family legacy, then he simply get different gene pool from Bi-Han, why blame Liu Kang?

In Scorpion vs Liu Kang intro, Kuai Liang learned in previous timelines he was always Sub-Zero (cryomancer)

In Sub-Zero vs Geras intro, Bi-Han learned that Kuai Liang was not destined to be his enemy

(once again, considering how loyal cryomancer Kuai Liang was to brother, this statement sounds like admitting this change was against the design of the previous timelines)

and Bi-Han accused Liu Kang of turning his brother against him

but considering how little Kuai Liang interacted with Liu Kang in story mode before Bi-Han’s betrayal, this could be read as Sub-Zero learned or deduced somehow Kuai Liang’s ice powers were changed to fire abilities on Liu Kang’s decision. And from a certain perspective the accusation is true, as in both previous game timelines their brotherly conflict happened always after Bi-Han’s death and change into Noob Saibot.

So, Liu Kang’s choice to change Kuai Liang's power may be a safeguard in case Bi-Han’s corruption at some point still happened. By breaking the cryomancer bond that connected Bi-Han and Kuai Liang, he redirected Kuai Liang's constant devotion to brother into passion for tradition (father’s teaching that support Liu Kang’s case) while giving younger brother a control over element that naturally overcomes Bi-Han’s ice, as proved by previous timelines in which Scorpion’s fire kills Bi-Han.

(Personally I think the change of ice element backfired as it affected their sibling bond. An unfortunate side effect Liu Kang may not take into account. Bi-Han and Kuai Liang still consider each other as brothers and don't seem keen to allow others to get involved in their family matters as intro dialogues suggest but the way how quickly they turned against each other with intention to hurt is surprising. Yes, in previous timelines Kuai Liang and Noob fought frequently and Kuai had a lot of reasons to be angry at undead!Bi-Han but A) this was twisted by dark magic version of Bi-Han and B) Kuai Liang has never abandoned hope to save his brother as was seen in Armageddon [original timeline] and Mortal Kombat 11: Sub-Zero ending [alternate timeline]. But then again, this is a restart of their history and future additions to Mortal Kombat 1 may change that impression.)

Mind you, this is no slander against Liu Kang, as he proved to try his best at keeping realms at peace instead of ruling all realms with an iron fist, however as he himself admitted, he did interfere with some characters’ origin. Shang Tsung and Quan Chi are the best known examples as their on purpose were born to have meaningless life

I gave the sorcerers meaningless lives... They should have never gained power, let alone joined forces.

and as intro dialogues implies, it was his decision to orphan Tomas, presumably so he could join Lin Kuei (and Kuai Liang). As Liu Kang explained: “Being Keeper of Time means making many hard choices" and so I assume there was a reason why he decided to break the otherwise strong cryomantic bond between those two brothers and why it was Kuai Liang who got fire instead of ice, even if previous timelines prove he was great ally as Sub-Zero.

*The third example comes from old MK comics, "A Cold Day in Hell" [Mortal Kombat Tournament Edition II] in which Outword and Earthrealm teams were fighting to take Shao Kahn's Medallion. The rule? Who reaches the item first, wins.

The teams were busy fighting each other and as the narrative box said "there was one warrior who understood that this was not a group exercise. Just like Mortal Kombat, here there could be only a single winner" and so "Bi-Han" went ahead alone to finish the mission. Despite being burned alive by Scorpion's fire, he reached the medallion and saved Earthrealm:

and even Shao Kahn himself was impressed by "Bi-Han's" deeds:

It was a brave showing, mortal. Were it within me to do so... I would wish you a season of rest for your tortured soul...

In the same comics, two months after brother's death, "Kuai Liang" was attacked by his clan and in return denouced Lin Kuei as unworthy of the continued services of Sub-Zero

which brings me back to my point about Bi-Han's pragmatic choices to prevent danger vs Kuai Liang's decisions as a reaction to personal tragedy.

So yeah, out of my head I can name three separate examples in which Bi-Han risked his life (and in case of two events, got killed in the process) for Earthrealm's sake.

[antidotefortheawkward-art]

Sun Wukong's assorted lingpai (mandate tokens)

[ID: 1) An illustration of the two sides of a mostly rectangular lingpai made of wood. One side reads "令" and the other reads "弼马温", both written in seal script. The bottom of the lingpai is adorned by horses facing outwards, clouds by their feet.

2) An illustration of the two sides of a stone lingpai shaped mostly like a rectangle, but flared at the top and bottom. One side reads "令" and the other reads "美猴王", both written in seal script. The top of the lingpai is adorned with a dragon-pearl surrounded by flames and clouds. The bottom is adorned with mountains, the sea, and coral. The borders of both the top and bottom are decorated with clouds and flowers. The top is swirled in a way that resembles a lingzhi or a ruyi.

3) An illustration of the two sides of a red jade lingpai, shaped mostly like a rectangle but with a curved top. One side reads "令" and the other reads "齐天大圣", both written in seal script. The top of the lingpai is adorned by a ruyi with a flower and mountain at its center. Below the ruyi is a lotus flower, which sits on top of the forehead of a Yazi carving. Clouds extend out from either side of Yazi and below him are flowers. The two sides of the lingpai have the carvings of cloud pillars wrapped in a stylized waterfall. At the bottom are clouds which could also be the foam from the waterfall. Lotuses float atop this foam/these clouds. At the center of the bottom is a mountain with a ruyi at its foot. This ruyi also has a flower within it.

4) The lineart for the three lingpai, with accompanying commentary. The one labeled "BiMaWen" reads "carved and burned wood," "simple, only horses and clouds," and "ornamental, basically no power." The one labeled "Beautiful Monkey King" reads "carved from a chunk of Sun Wukong's stone egg," "customized from Ao family royal lingpai template," and "mostly sea, cloud, and dragon pearl imagery." The one labeled "Great Sage Equaling Heaven" reads "carved from red jade," "fully custom, in style of an emperor's lingpai but HuaGuo," and "flowers, waterfalls, mountains, ruyi, Yazi, and clouds imagery." At the side are simple doodles of the three lingpai. The first is light brown with a yellow cord, captioned "simple cord, no tassel." The second is grey with a red cord and tassel, captioned "silk cord and tassel." The third is red with a red cord and tassel, captioned "braided cord," "jade and gold accented." End ID]

[theposhperyton]

All evidence suggests yes

[katnissmellarkkk]

my aesthetics :

the second quarter quell generation, pt one (aka the generation with all the principal characters’ parents, and then also haymitch)

[trentcrimminallybeautiful]

you know if we do accept the last epilogue-esque sequence as a sort of dream/wish of ted's and therefore not necessarily canon, very funny if we then simply go "yeah, trent's book is called 'the lasso way' actually. he didn't change that. nope."

[kinokoshoujoart]

cora’s bad time hell simulation steps or how to play “sprite station for girl” “harvest moon ds cute” the wrong way

(all ways are wrong this game is Accursed)

ok so here’s what my disorganized “guide” to myself for harvest moon ds for girl (aka indecipherable notes i wrote to myself as i played and revised as i tested various things and restarted due to mistakes) looks like. at some point when i become a real gamer i will write a legible guide meant for eyes to look at but uhhh this is how i play this accursed game personally

i’m not sure if anything i wrote will make any sense since i wrote it as notes to myself so probably definitely use fogu and fc2 jonason wiki (may not work but some pages should be archived) instead

ALSO if you’ve never played or barely played the game it won’t make sense at all! hmds was my first harvest moon so i am used to various horrors!

my play style is probably not fun in general HOWEVER if you are a grinding hell goblin like me then it’s GREAT!!!! if not you may still find it amusing that the game gives you permission to play like this

(it’s a great background task game while doing like productive stuff but otherwise playing this way would probably be unbearable)

(image limit)

anyway after that the days go a lot faster, you’ll get the island on summer 1, so on spring 30 i put all my money into million G tickets and sell 200 of em, do the 5x money thing, and save the rest. so when thomas comes the next day to sell you the 900 million G island you can just sell 180 tickets and do the 5x money thing again with like ~600 million G tickets left over. it takes up inventory but you’ll get the shelf in a few days. basically you just need to remember to order from the TV shopping every saturday and place orders with gotz and gray whenever they finish stuff.

random tips

after unlocking the fuckass hot spring sprites (the ones that require you to spend a total of 700 1 hour sessions in the hot springs) i usually grind grazing points— if you put your animals outside for 5 hours you get a “Love Point”, but if you interact with them after they earn that LP then the timer switches over and you can get another LP after 5 more hours. if you wear the time ring the whole time it’s 2.5 hours. i’m not very good at explaining this but basically if you’re super efficient you can get way more animal LP than you realistically should, which is great because the touch glove petting minigame is Bad!!!!

i usually wait on getting the rest of the purple sprites (the ones that require you to hire the purple team and ask for healing) until i’m totally done with the indigo team, cuz i wanna get HG’s purple heart event asap, but you can switch the order if you want

by summer y1 you’ll basically have a feel for everything. aside from Skye, Leia, HG and WP everyone can be married early-mid autumn if you want

if you want to Gay (in the japanese version only) keira is the quickest to marry. leia is the quickest to max affection but it’s impossible to get leia year 1 because the bottle you need to fish up can only be caught in spring. you have to wait until at least year 5 for WP and iirc year 6 for HG.

[wishesofeternity]

"Antiochos’ and Stratonike’s activities in the eastern part of the [Seleukid] empire are largely shrouded in mystery, but, as Engels has argued, Antiochos was far from idle since he embarked on a large building programme and was active in securing the frontier. There is some evidence to suggest that his new bride accompanied him for much of this period. We can perhaps identify Stratonike’s presence with her new husband in the Upper Satrapies through the gold coinage minted in Susa and Baktria in c . 287. The two gold coin sets are of the same type, the obverse features the laureate head of Apollo facing right and the reverse features Artemis in an elephant biga facing left with the legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΥ in exergue.

Figure 1: Coin of Seleukos I from Baktria Depicting Apollo on the Obverse and Artemis with Elephant Biga on the Reverse (Houghton and Lorber 2002, SC I no. 163).

Figure 2: Coin of Seleukos I from Baktria Depicting Apollo on the Obverse and Artemis with Elephant Biga on the Reverse (Houghton and Lorber 2002, SC I no. 257).

The reverse image of Artemis in the elephant biga is within the same design type as a large range of other coinage issued by Seleukos I celebrating the success of his elephants and thus his eastern campaigns. The appearance of Artemis is however unique to these coin types. This suggests the emphasis on the close links between the twin gods, Artemis and Apollo, depicted on the obverse and reverse of this coinage . Since there appears to be as a close link between Apollo and Antiochos as there is between Zeus and Seleukos, the presence of Artemis could be seen as a symbol for Stratonike. This would create a series of parallels: Seleukos/Zeus, Antiochos/Apollo, and Stratonike/Artemis. The first two reflect what we see for these two kings at the list of priests of Seleukid kings in Seleukeia in Pieria . Additionally, it may be notable that the sister-wife ideology [...] appears to be evident later in the reign of Antiochos.

As all of the Apollo/Artemis cointypes were produced on high value gold coinage, this suggests that it was issued in order to commemorate a significant event. While the type was similar to other Seleukid coinage, the shift from Athena to Artemis was clearly discernible and unique. The arrival of the new joint-King and Queen in the region to take up residence would have been a suitable moment for the issuing of the new coin type. This advertisement of their new rule certainly falls in line with Seleukos’ wedding speech which confirmed their new roles."

-David Engels & Kyle Erickson, "Apama and Stratonike – Marriage and Legitimacy", "Seleukid Royal Women" (edited by Edited by Altay Coşkun and Alex McAuley). The pictures of the coins are screenshots from the book.

[peachcitt]

it’s about to be june everybody :)

[yourlocal-lichen]

it's not blursday anymore but i implore you to feel free to talk abt your ocs regardless :]

whats an oc you're thinking about a lot lately? how abt an old favourite? one that's been giving you some trouble?

omg :3

I've been thinking a lot about Nox recently because I've figured Bard's arc out so well and right now they just seem like an extra (btw these guys are all old favorites I thought of them maybe even 3 years ago now and they're still stuck to me like baby opossums). but I've been thinkin about them lately! mostly about how their city is fighting a big monster and how Nox relates A Little Too Much to the monster and how their best friend is supposed to be the figurehead of light against the monster

I also just thought of two more scenes so you get to have them shoved down your throat with some context

(context: Bard is supposed to be a religious hero for the city but he doesn't believe in the god he's supposed to represent. he has light powers but that's just a thing he's been able to do his whole life but now everyone is calling him the Lightbringer and thinking he's the icon of Lady Light and when he doesn't know what to do he starts actually praying to her and becomes more devout. also he's like. 16)

but anyway. Bard goes to battle against the monster (he doesn't really do anything his job is purely symbolic) and at some point gets face-to-face with the thing who had seeked him out and totally overwhelms him (but doesn't do anything to him something something understanding being made into something you're not) and the people hell bent on protecting their icon beat the monster back (who lets them) and Bard was terrified out of his mind but Nox saw what the monster did and after that starts doing research and maybe tries to find the monster and talks to it

and then later in the story we have a parallel scene where Bard goes to find the monster and be face-to-face with it in battle and uses light against it (aided by Lady Light, his light on its own is not that powerful) which works but at this point the reader has followed Nox and understands the monster more and maybe doesn't want it to die? and that scene either ends with Nox pulling him back (thus committing heresy) or the monster killing Bard I haven't decided yet I just thought about it. I don't think Bard's arc is advanced enough for him to die yet (he hasn't started loving himself again) [plaintext: "he hasn't started loving himself again"].

so that's who's been causing me trouble they've been causing me emotional grief

[recitedemise]

𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝗺𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲. From his relationship with Mystra to his great mass of acquaintances, most have sidelined him to what he's worth. However, it's seldom for his character or the man that he is, and rather, instead, for what he has to offer. Gale, as Mystra knows, is a brilliant, razor-sharp mind. The best of the best, he's proclaimed several times. She had liked his talent, watched as he studied with obsessive passion, and knowing his fondness for all things Weave, saw a tireless, rampant, and immovable love. She wanted that loyalty. She was greedy for it. And knowing Gale nursed an appetite for awesome power, she, too, longed to keep him beneath her thumb. After all, this goddess, familiar with her ambitious wizards (see: Karsus), had no intention of sharing her arcane domain. Magic's her realm, not anyone else's, and though Gale was astonishing, half a diamond in the rough, she saw him less as promise and more subservience. That was what she saw. That was what he gave. And Mystra, fed full with it, didn't care who he was, didn't care who he could be, and damned who he's become. He's seldom been cared for, his one love--his greatest love!--having been a ruse, but being Mystra's favorite was still a badge of honor... and a title, of course, that was very known. In other words, the great Gale of Waterdeep was a means to an end. Friends and companionship were as genuine as Mystra for how better to meet her than to win the favor of her Chosen? This ambitious, skillful man was a golden ticket.

Very few people have asked to Gale Dekarios. Not many, to be honest, has cared to see him for who he really is, and with his heart embroidered right on his sleeve, one can't help but to think that a travesty.

[rgbfall]

Been watching rc9gn and I so badly wanna make an au/fic where the previous ninja aren't mind-wiped and instead mentor the new ones