#and i think osha would find that just very interesting :]

[orcelito]

Took a few months but the situation at work is finally truly blowing up

I may or may not join in a workplace abuse claim against my old boss using old blog posts and discord messages of me venting as proof ☺️

It'd be me burning the bridge of having him as a reference later down the line, but honestly I think I can get by without him.

[sunflower-chai]

THANK YOU the acolyte for disproving the “jedi steal kids” sentiment held by so much of the fandom. they ask for permission from a guardian before children can be tested! and even if they pass it is their choice to go or not!

also thank you for giving me more physically affectionate jedi!! other than kanan and ezra, and one time with anakin and ahsoka after ahsoka literally died, i feel like we never see masters hug their padawans. sol and osha’s hug gave me LIFE.

really curious about what exactly the coven on brendok is. they don’t seem to be nightsisters yet they call themselves witches. they seem a little sus since they discourage osha from going into/learning about the outside world, which feels slightly cultish. but also mother aniseya clearly loves her girls and they clearly love her. she does not physically harm them (other than the force push during the training exercise) and she is warm and nurturing. it’s very complicated and i hope the show delves into that further. also what is it with force-sensitive children not having fathers?? lol.

i liked the contrast of mae wanting to share everything with osha while osha wants to discover who she is as an individual, creating some interesting tension in their relationship. i also feel like mae was a really good example of what unhealthy attachment actually looks like. if she cannot have osha, no one can. and she does not care about the potential repercussions for everyone else. i think mae might have realized she went too far near the end when she begged osha to jump over to her, but then she fell and it was too late. and her hatred for the jedi has twisted her mind so much that she does not blame herself for what happened but projects it onto them. they are the ones who wanted to take osha away. they are the reason osha is (presumably) dead. she is not at fault. they forced her hand.

it’s a really intriguing thought process, and i’m wondering where it came from. has mae always been this way? did the ascension ceremony change her nature in some way? this sort of goes back to my questions about the coven. mother aniseya said they were exiled for using “dark” powers. so are they dark side users? it’s interesting how they refer to the force as “the thread” and place more emphasis on individual agency over destiny (i.e., “the will of the force”). but mother aniseya also criticizes those who see the force as a “power” to wield rather than something that connects the galaxy. which is just… misinformed? the jedi also don’t see the force as a power? literally “the force surrounds us. it penetrates us. it binds the galaxy together.” so maybe they have some incorrect assumptions.

wondering if mae’s current master finds her on brendok after the fire. i feel like that would make sense. she’s eight years old and the only person left alive on the planet, she would need someone to find her. and continue to cultivate that hate within her and form her into the living weapon she is today.

[angry-geese]

Gojo/reader/Nanami >:)

Warnings: not osha compliant. threesome (MxMxF), oral (F & M receiving), fingering, unprotected sex, possibly a little ooc, this is pretty much just smut lol

Word Count: just under 2.3k

Synopsis: some shameless smut between coworkers >:)

a/n: I found this mostly finished in my drafts and god only knows how long it's been sitting in there so I made some edits to it so it could be posted lol. posting this before i leave for work so if there are any egregious errors i'll fix them when i get home :)

jjk masterlist

As you go over the events of the night in your head, you still can't quite figure out how you ended up in this situation; sprawled across Kento’s lap, with Satoru’s hands trailing up your shirt.

Technically, it was your idea. “Girls Night”, or so you dubbed it; a bi-weekly hangout with Shoko, and occasionally Nanami. Gojo only tagged along on a technicality, not long after Shoko canceled, leaving the three of you alone in your apartment on a rainy Saturday night.

From the very beginning, it was clear Satoru had little interest in the show. Kento was less than pleased about his inclusion in the first place. Still you settle down onto the couch, intent on making them watch this show. You’re going to talk to them about it whether they want you to or not. Nanami begrudgingly allows you to press your cold feet against his legs, while your head rests against Gojo’s shoulder. Their hands were too warm—too inviting—to push away. The combined smell of their cologne was intoxicating.

You’re not certain who brings it up first. A small part of you wonders if they planned this on their own. Never on your own would you have dared to ask something like this from your coworkers.

It's a dangerous game you're playing, but when you're situated in Nanami’s lap, with Gojo trailing kisses down your neck, you can't stop to give consequences much thought. Your body practically feels feverish. You’re just a bit too pliable, too reactive to their touch. If Nanami wasn't in the way, you’d be squeezing your thighs together to get the slightest bit of relief. 

“Stop grabbing her ass!” Nanami says, slapping Gojo’s hand away.

“Then turn around and let me grab yours,” Satoru says, his voice muffled against your neck.

Gojo’s hands find your breasts, kneading at the plush flesh through the fabric of your shirt. Tucking your legs under you, you sit back on your calves, allowing you to sit at eye-level with the two men. Nanami’s hands push up under the hem of your shirt, exposing a bit of your midriff. The two act like starved dogs, hungrily taking in the slightest bit of exposed skin. 

Your shirt is thrown off to the side. Gojo tugs the cups of your bra down—a light, lacy one that makes faint blush dust Nanami's cheeks—exposing your breasts. He averts his eyes. Maybe out of respect for you. Not that your bra covered much at all, Gojo notes rather loudly, it's practically see through. In your defense, it was comfortable. Not that they care. They’re practically begging to rip it off. You make sure to unhook it so it’s not shredded.

“Look at you,” Gojo leans down to coo into your ear, “how pretty. What do you think, Nanamin?”

“Don't call me that.” Nanami says with a scowl.

“What? That’s what she calls you.” Satoru’s hand comes up to give your chin a squeeze. “You don't think we couldn't hear you in the dorms? Late at night, when everyone was supposed to be asleep. Calling out his name all-”

Just when you think Nanami couldn't get any more red, he does. He silences Satoru with a kiss. The man is blushing from his forehead, to his chest. A shaky hand takes his glasses off, setting them on the table beside the couch. The look behind his eyes is unreadable. Those same, shaky hands move to loosen his tie, as if it’s become too tight around his neck. His body has grown too warm. He undoes the top few buttons of his shirt in an attempt to cool himself down. The two of you are practically drooling at the small patch of his exposed chest. 

“Of course you’d listen in on a girls dorm,” you say, rolling your eyes, “I always knew you were weird like that, ‘Toru.”

Though you can't see it, his face goes red. Gojo rarely lets his stoic composure falter like this. A small laugh escapes Nanami.

One of Gojo’s hands worms under the band of your shorts, into your panties. A shock of pleasure is sent up your spine the moment his thumb grazes your clit. Your body freezes. The sound of your heartbeat is heavy in your ears, which their voices are barely audible over.

“You think I was the only one?” Gojo leans in to nip at your earlobe, chuckling at the way you gasp, “it was his name you were calling out after all. You wouldn't believe how long we’ve been wanting to do this… Isn't that right, Nanamin?”

There’s no hiding the tent he sports in his pants. He’s painfully hard now, his cock leaking precum against his toned thighs. Kento swallows hard. Slowly, he nods.

“Should we put on a show for him?” You ask.

Gojo’s voice catches in his throat. It's not the response he expected from you, but it's not an unwelcome one.

You lift your hips enough for Gojo to slide your shorts—along with your panties—down your hips. Nanami catches them as they slide down your thighs, pulling them completely off, leaving you bare in front of the two men.

Gojo lets out a soft hum of approval at the sight of your slick cunt. Though he shows no sign of it, he’s nearly as nervous as Nanami. His hands tremble in such a faint manner that only you would see. To a waver in his voice that you have to listen harder to notice. He's breathing harder than usual. The only thing that gives him away is his hardened cock pressing into you from behind, straining against his uniform. You can tell he wants nothing more than to free himself, and fuck you into the couch cushions, but he has enough restraint to wait. This time, he has to share.

Your body jolts as Gojo’s fingers momentarily dip into your slit, grazing your clit. They’re followed soon by his mouth, his tongue working messily against the bundle of nerves. You’re too worked up to hide your shame, fingers burying in his snowy locks of hair. Nanami can only contain himself for so long, palming himself through the fabric of his trousers for some sense of relief.

“There—” you huff.

“Here?” Gojo coos, almost as if he’s mocking you. The absence of his mouth against your clit makes you whine. “You’ve gotta tell me where you want me.”

“Inside—” you say, “I want your cock in me!”

Your words nearly make Nanami choke. Gojo too. His face is red, and his neck is white. His glasses are shoved up into his hair, staring at you through half-lidded eyes.

He laughs, though you can hear the eagerness in his voice. “Not yet,” he says, “didn't you want to put on a show?”

Gojo’s words—more like his tone—make your stomach flutter. He's just being cruel at this point! 

You would not believe how many hours he’s spent imaging you under him. All the things he’s thought about doing to you. Imagining how you sound, how you feel, how you taste. How many nights he’s spent imagining his hand was your own. How many comments in passing he’s made to Nanami.

Neither would you believe the grip you have on him. On both of them. ‘Your boys’ you’ve so affectionately dubbed them. Maybe they took the name to heart.

“It's only fair you go first,” he says, motioning to Kento. 

“I want to know what she thinks,” Nanami says. It's your body, it should be up to you. They have no plans of doing anything that you don't want to do.

“You can't both go at the same time?” You ask.

Gojo hadn't even thought of that. Nanami had. He's gone over this moment in his head. Maybe a thousand times, if not more. Yet he had never expected any of this to come to life.

“There's lube—in the side table drawer,” you say, “my room. Condoms too but I’m on the pill.”

In the time it takes Gojo to go fetch the lube, Nanami is nearly undressed. All that remains are his boxers; a wet patch forms where his cock leaks precum against his thigh. Satoru makes some comment about the two of you starting without him, but the blood rushing in your ears is too loud for you to hear him. 

Satoru finds a seat on the couch between the two of you. Off comes his coat, then shirt, then belt. His glasses are set on the coffee table with little care to how they land. He pours some lube into his palm, working it over his hand to warm it up. Your fingers work their way under the band of Nanami’s boxers, shoving them down just enough that his hardened cock springs free. 

As you lay sprawled out on the couch between them, there’s hardly enough room for you. Satoru’s hips are flush with yours now, his clothes cock pressing into your thigh, while your head lays in Nanami’s lap. 

Kento sits before you, stunned, acting as if he can't decide what to do with his hands. You guide one to your hair, the other falls limply at his side as your tongue trails up the underside of his cock. He and Satoru are comparable in size, both being uncut, although Gojo is slightly thinner. Satoru is shaved, Kento isn't, although the hair at the base of his cock is quite light, and neat. You swear you feel him twitch when you take his cock into your hand, then eventually, your mouth. He’s long enough that you gag, a mix of spit and precum running down your chin. A thin strand of saliva connects your lips to his cock as he pulls away, muttering a quiet apology. Kento Nanami, normally so composed, looks nothing short of starstruck. It must take every last bit of his self control to not thrust into your mouth. Your hands around his shaft—mouth working along his length—is simply too much for him to hold back.

Gojo’s fingers find your clit, toying with the bundle of nerves in rhythm with your own movements. A mix of lube, and your own slick drip down your thighs, and most likely your couch too. There’s a mess between your thighs that if the circumstances were even the slightest bit different you would be embarrassed. Your nails dig into Gojo’s forearm, leaving little crescent shaped marks. If you were pressing any harder, you'd be drawing blood.

He might just be into that.

Gojo enters you not long after that, smirking at Nanami’s thinly veiled attempt to stop himself from cumming. The noise he makes when he sheathes himself fully is telling; he’s not far from cumming either. Neither are you; back arched, pressing back against Gojo. 

His fingers never leave your clit, working across the sensitive nub erratically. It’s just constant enough that your own orgasm comes up sooner than expected. And you do so shamelessly, clenching around Gojo as he works you through your release. His own thrusts grow sloppier as he nears orgasm, although he appears as if he’s holding himself back.

Nanami is next. To his credit, he does try to pull out before he cums. The angle of your bodies on the couch, mixed with your own eagerness to work him through his own release prevents him from doing so. When he cums, he cums lots, and your first instinct is to swallow it. With his thumb, he wipes away the little bit that's dribbled down your chin. Words of praise fall past his lips, although his mind is too addled with pleasure for them to make much sense. You lay there, your head in his lap, fingers laced with his as his cock softens before you.

Satoru lets out a whine as he's about to cum. Which, at least to him, is a bit alarming that he's done so this fast. Nanami spots it a mile away; the only reason you don't is due to your back being to him.

He intends to cum inside you at first, but second guesses himself, pulling out to finish himself off in his hand. From him spills faint, nonsensical praise as he cums across your back. Then comes the scramble of trying to clean it—you—up before a further mess is made. A guilty look spreads across his face as he glances down at the couch. From the floor, he retrieves a shirt, cleaning what he can off your back. 

“It’s fine,” you say, “I’ve needed a new couch for a while anyway. Did you seriously have to use my shirt, though?”

The expression across Satoru’s face resembles a grimace, more than it does a smile, although he tries to pass it off as the latter. “I mean,” he says, a nervous laugh escaping him, “I considered using Kento’s but he’d probably strangle me here and you could just walk into your room and grab a clean one.” Satoru rattles on about the price of his shirt—the tailoring, and brand, and dry cleaning cost. You tune it out.

“You’re an ass,” comments Nanami.

“Yeah, I walked into that one, didn't I?” Gojo says.

It doesn't take long for you to get comfortable, sprawled across both their laps. To give himself something to do, Nanami’s hands find your hair, brushing it away from your eyes. Satoru’s hand falls upon your thigh, his other placed firmly behind his head. Were the circumstances any different, the repetitive, soothing motions would put you to sleep, but you can't quite calm your racing heart. 

You turn your attention back to the TV, right as the two main love interests embrace one another in a kiss. Credits roll moments after.

“Looks like we missed the show.” Satoru says.

[jackoshadows]

The Second Battle at Long Lake.

So it's been my theory for a while that there will be a Battle of the Bastards between Jon Snow Vs Ramsay Bolton in the books, just better written than the TV show. As with all such things, IMO, Benioff and Weiss just took outlines, added their own changes and gave us a badly mutilated and mangled plot that has no resemblance to what is happening in the books.

I also believe that Jon Snow and Rickon Stark are the two Stark siblings who unite first and combine forces against the Boltons. What forces, where and how?

So I came across this interesting and well researched theory which proposes that this battle will happen at Long Lake, except they think Manderly and his forces will ride in from the south at the very end - like the Vale army on the show - and rescue Jon and his army of Freefolk. I disagree there because the weather at the end of ADwD/start of TWoW/current timeline has made it almost impossible for a large host to suddenly appear from the south and surprise two fighting armies. And as we see in Melisandre I, ADwD, Long Lake has just started to freeze.

Some folks have also theorized in the comments for this particular speculation that this is why Stannis will burn Shireen - for the weather (Like on the show). Again, IMO it's doubtful that Stannis is involved in this battle between the Starks and the Boltons. I really do feel like it will be the Starks (Jon/Rickon) who will win back Winterfell and not Stannis.

My theory is that Manderly's large host is already at Last Hearth, battle ready, and that House Manderly and House Umber have been colluding on this for a while, from as far back as ACoK.

So how do Rickon Stark and Jon Snow get to Long Lake?

Rickon Stark.

So according to the recently leaked 2003/2004 outline for AFfC, it's clear that both Davos and Rickon's story changed significantly from what it originally was. Davos stayed with Stannis, probably meets Jon Snow at the Wall and is involved in fArya's rescue from Winterfell.

I speculate that in this version the Manderlys already have Rickon Stark. He and Osha were last headed towards White Harbor because Maester Luwin asks them to seek help there and there's some discrepancies in Wex's story. At some point this changed and GRRM introduced frigging unicorns into the picture, sending Rickon to Skagos - this whole new place with a new culture and needing new worldbuilding from where Davos has to go and get Rickon back. IMO, this was an unnecessary side diversion that keeps the story ballooning without an end but, oh well, this is how GRRM writes and why he is unable to finish the story now.

So Rickon is now in Skagos. I think Davos I and II in TWoW will be in Skagos and by Davos III they are back in Westeros in Karhold. We will see through a Davos POV how Sigorn and Alys Karstark meet her people in Karhold and everything is settled there. Alys Karstark will fully support a son of Ned Stark in Rickon Stark, the legal heir, and of course he has his direwolf, Shaggydog which confirms his identity.

From there I am theorizing that Davos, Rickon, Osha, some Skagosi supporting and traveling with Rickon and Thenn warriors representing house Karstark will travel to Last hearth, where there will already be assembled a large Manderly host.

[Note: With the traitor Karstarks detained by Stannis, we would be seeing a total reversal of the show with the Umbers and Karstarks fighting for Rickon Stark against Ramsay Bolton. ]

Now why Last Hearth?

In Jon Snow's conversation with Stannis we find out that no one knows who is in charge of Last Hearth or what is happening there.

It has already been theorized plenty that the Northern houses are playing the long game and have been doing so for a while. In the same vein I think the Umbers and Manderlys have been planning and plotting for a while.

First we know that Manderly has been tasked with building the defenses of White Harbor, which include fortifying their navy, right from AGoT when Ned wanted to prepare for an attack from the South.

"Once you are home, send word to Helman Tallhart and Galbart Glover under my seal. They are to raise a hundred bowmen each and fortify Moat Cailin. Two hundred determined archers can hold the Neck against an army. Instruct Lord Manderly that he is to strengthen and repair all his defenses at White Harbor, and see that they are well manned. - Ned, AGoT

While Bran is ruling the North as Prince of Winterfell, Manderly offers to build Robb Stark a strong navy that can take Dragonstone and King's Landing if he had enough gold. At the same time the Umber brothers Hothor and Crowfood want ships to fight back the Wildling raiders from Eastwatch. Ser Rodrik asks both houses to work together to build these ships.

In addition to a mint, Lord Manderly also proposed to build Robb a warfleet. "We have had no strength at sea for hundreds of years, since Brandon the Burner put the torch to his father's ships. Grant me the gold and within the year I will float you sufficient galleys to take Dragonstone and King's Landing both." - Bran, ACoK

Note also that Manderly wants to build galleys, not longships. These are ships that can carry armies and heavy horses.

Hother wanted ships. "There's wildlings stealing down from the north, more than I've ever seen before. They cross the Bay of Seals in little boats and wash up on our shores. The crows in Eastwatch are too few to stop them, and they go to ground quick as weasels. It's longships we need, aye, and strong men to sail them. The Greatjon took too many. Half our harvest is gone to seed for want of arms to swing the scythes." Ser Rodrik pulled at his whiskers. "You have forests of tall pine and old oak. Lord Manderly has shipwrights and sailors in plenty. Together you ought to be able to float enough longships to guard both your coasts." "Manderly?" Mors Umber snorted. "That great waddling sack of suet? His own people mock him as Lord Lamprey, I've heard. The man can scarce walk. If you stuck a sword in his belly, ten thousand eels would wriggle out." "He is fat," Ser Rodrik admitted, "but he is not stupid. You will work with him, or the king will know the reason why." And to Bran's astonishment, the truculent Umbers agreed to do as he commanded, though not without grumbling. - Bran, ACoK

We see the conclusion of this in ADwD with Davos in White Harbor, where he notices the warships. Yes, Manderly has not been idle and he has been building a lot of ships most probably with all the pine and oak he has been send by the Umbers.

That jetty wall conceals the inner harbor, he realized, as the Merry Midwife was pulling down her sail. The outer harbor was larger, but the inner harbor offered better anchorage, sheltered by the city wall on one side and the looming mass of the Wolf's Den on another, and now by the jetty wall as well. At Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, Cotter Pyke told Davos that Lord Wyman was building war galleys. There could have been a score of ships concealed behind those walls, waiting only a command to put to sea. - Davos II, ADwD

From here he could see down into the harbors. Both of them. Behind the jetty wall, the inner harbor was crowded with war galleys. Davos counted twenty-three. Lord Wyman was a fat man, but not an idle one, it seemed. - Davos II, ADwD

The dockside wharves were swarming. A clutter of small boats were tied up along the fish market, off-loading their catches. He saw three river runners too, long lean boats built tough to brave the swift currents and rocky shoots of the White Knife. It was the seagoing vessels that interested him most, however; a pair of carracks as drab and tattered as the Merry Midwife, the trading galley Storm Dancer, the cogs Brave Magister and Horn of Plenty, a galleas from Braavos marked by her purple hull and sails …- Davos II, ADwD

[Note: A Galleass is a warship that combined the sails and armament of a galleon with the maneuverability of the oared galley. Tycho Nestoris also visits the Wall with a Galley, Galleass and cog that Jon ends up borrowing for Hardhome.]

As many ships as Davos sees in the harbor, Manderly tells him there's more hidden in the White Knife. This tells me that the warships with the men and heavy horses have already departed on the White Knife and towards Long Lake.

“I have been building warships for more than a year. Some you saw, but there are as many more hidden up the White Knife. Even with the losses I have suffered, I still command more heavy horse than any other lord north of the Neck. My walls are strong, and my vaults are full of silver. Oldcastle and Widow's Watch will take their lead from me. My bannermen include a dozen petty lords and a hundred landed knights. I can deliver King Stannis the allegiance of all the lands east of the White Knife, from Widow's Watch and Ramsgate to the Sheepshead Hills and the headwaters of the Broken Branch. All this I pledge to do if you will meet my price.” - Davos, ADwD

Keep in mind the timeline. When Davos is at White Harbor, boats and river runners are still moving up and down the White Knife.

That was worse. And now the Bastard of Bolton was riding south with Hother Umber to join them for an attack on Moat Cailin. "The Whoresbane his own self," claimed a riverman who'd just brought a load of hides and timber down the White Knife, "with three hundred spearmen and a hundred archers. Some Hornwood men have joined them, and Cerwyns too." That was worst of all. - Davos, ADwD

A couple of months later, Melisandre sees the beginning of the water turning to ice.

"I saw water. Deep and blue and still, with a thin coat of ice just forming on it. It seemed to go on and on forever." "Long Lake. What else did you see around this girl?" - Melisandre, ADwD

Considering Manderly has already started moving men, machines and heavy horses long before even Davos gets there, I think it's safe to say that the host has assembled at Last Hearth before Long Lake and consequenctly White Knife froze over.

In ACoK, Theon speaks of Manderly sending siege machines up river. And yet we never see this? Where have these siege machines disappeared?

She knows more than I do, Theon realized. That only made him angrier. "The victory has given Leobald Tallhart the courage to come out from behind his walls and join Ser Rodrik. And I've had reports that Lord Manderly has sent a dozen barges upriver packed with knights, warhorses, and siege engines. The Umbers are gathering beyond the Last River as well. I'll have an army at my gates before the moon turns, and you bring me only ten men?" - Theon V, ACoK

And yet in Theon VI,

Theon studied there banners through Maester Luwin’s Myrish lens tube. The Cerwyn battle-axe flapped bravely wherever he looked, and there were Talhart trees as well, and mermen from White Harbor. Less common were the sigils of Flint and Karstark. Here and there he even saw the bull moose of the Hornwoods. But no Glovers, Asha saw to them, no Bolton’s from the Dreadfort, no Umbers come down from the shadow of the wall. They’d brought catapults and scorpions. He saw no siege engines rumbling up the kingsroad - Theon VI, ACoK

Where are all those Manderly knights, warhorses, siege engines and the Umber army? Even now Manderly beats the Boltons in terms of wealth and men, which is why Roose is so nervous about him in particular. Manderly's knights use plate armor while Bolton's use chain mail. As Manderly tells Davos he can get the men from all the nearby regions. With Ned's instruction to house Manderly to fortify White Harbor, it's a certainty that Manderly held back in the 2000 men he send Robb and now has around 7000 men.

We also know that the Cerwyns are staunchly loyal to the Starks, their house being on the Western branch of the White Knife.

"Night work is not knight's work," Lady Dustin said. "And Lord Wyman is not the only man who lost kin at your Red Wedding, Frey. Do you imagine Whoresbane loves you any better? If you did not hold the Greatjon, he would pull out your entrails and make you eat them, as Lady Hornwood ate her fingers. Flints, Cerwyns, Tallharts, Slates … they all had men with the Young Wolf." - The Ghost in Winterfell, ADwD

If there is anyone who can help with the movement of armies and siege machines across the White Knife it is the Cerwyns.

Both Manderly and Whoresbane Umber are also currently in Winterfell attending the marriage of Ramsay and Arya and the celebration feast. We see Lords like Stout talking quietly to Umber and Roose knows that Manderly is clever and possibly plotting against him and that the Umbers are cunning.

The castle was too crowded to withstand a long siege, and too many of the lords here were of uncertain loyalty. Fat Wyman Manderly, Whoresbane Umber, the men of House Hornwood and House Tallhart, the Lockes and Flints and Ryswells, all of them were northmen, sworn to House Stark for generations beyond count. It was the girl who held them here, Lord Eddard's blood, but the girl was just a mummer's ploy, a lamb in a direwolf's skin. So why not send the northmen forth to battle Stannis before the farce unraveled? Slaughter in the snow. And every man who falls is one less foe for the Dreadfort. - Ghost in Winterfell, ADwD

On the dais, Lord Wyman Manderly sat between a pair of his White Harbor knights, spooning porridge into his fat face. He did not seem to be enjoying it near as much as he had the pork pies at the wedding. Elsewhere one-armed Harwood Stout talked quietly with the cadaverous Whoresbane Umber. - The Turncloak, ADwD

"He should be. Fear is what keeps a man alive in this world of treachery and deceit. Even here in Barrowton the crows are circling, waiting to feast upon our flesh. The Cerwyns and the Tallharts are not to be relied on, my fat friend Lord Wyman plots betrayal, and Whoresbane … the Umbers may seem simple, but they are not without a certain low cunning. Ramsay should fear them all, as I do. The next time you see him, tell him that." - Reek, ADwD

Look at that foreshadowing from Roose Bolton, who is quite cunning and strategic himself. He specifically mentions Manderly and Umber as houses Ramsay should fear. I believe he is correct as these two houses will be Ramsay's doom. They have already assembled a huge host at Last Hearth and are just waiting for Rickon Stark to get there, for them to rally behind the Stark sigil and the son of Ned Stark to take on the Boltons. Again, considering the timeline and Davos being behind the Wall POV by a couple of months, I think Rickon will be at Last Hearth in time for the next participant to get there.

And who is the next participant?

Jon Snow

The theory post I linked to at the start has already laid out pretty clearly the link between the previous battle at Long Lake and the possible new one. This is how GRRM writes and he loves a replaying of historical asoiaf events but with a new twist. We had a Dance of Dragons previously and we will get a new Dance of Dragons. The Wildfire was a threat previously? The Wildfire will be a threat again with Cersei Lannister possibly mirroring the Mad King. Bael the Bard stealing a Stark Maiden successfully to Abel the Bard getting caught attempting to do the same.

Now the Battle at Long Lake is only mentioned in the Jon Snow POV chapters - another clue - and is a cautionary tale about Sleepy Jack, the Lord Commander who is taken by surprise when Wildlings cross over and attack south of the Wall. It takes the Starks in Winterfell, Willam and his younger brother Artos, and Harmond Umber to fight back and repel the Wildling attack, defeat and kill Raymun Redbeard - the last legitimate threat from the Freefolk before Mance Raydar assembled his host.

That was how Raymun Redbeard had done it, Raymun who had been King-Beyond-the-Wall in the days of his grandfather's grandfather. Jack Musgood had been the lord commander in those days. Jolly Jack, he was called before Redbeard came down upon the north; Sleepy Jack, forever after. Raymun's host had met a bloody end on the shores of Long Lake, caught between Lord Willam of Winterfell and the Drunken Giant, Harmond Umber. Redbeard had been slain by Artos the Implacable, Lord Willam's younger brother. The Watch arrived too late to fight the wildlings, but in time to bury them, the task that Artos Stark assigned them in his wroth as he grieved above the headless corpse of his fallen brother. Jon did not intend to be remembered as Sleepy Jon Snow. - Jon II, ADwD

Keep in mind that it's the Freefolk who are now gradually taking over and commanding several posts at the Wall and becoming part of the Night's Watch and the current warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell are the Boltons, not the Starks.

The castle Jon returned to was far different from the one he'd left that morning. For as long as he had known it, Castle Black had been a place of silence and shadows, where a meagre company of men in black moved like ghosts amongst the ruins of a fortress that had once housed ten times their numbers. All that had changed. Lights now shone through windows where Jon Snow had never seen lights shine before. Strange voices echoed down the yards, and free folk were coming and going along icy paths that had only known the black boots of crows for years. Outside the old Flint Barracks, he came across a dozen men pelting one another with snow. Playing, Jon thought in astonishment, grown men playing like children, throwing snowballs the way Bran and Arya once did, and Robb and me before them - Jon, ADwD

So the previous Battle at Long Lake involved the Freefolk under Redbeard Vs the Starks and Umbers. The new Battle at Long Lake in TWoW will involve the Stark come down from the Wall with his army of Freefolk Vs Ramsay Bolton, Lord of Winterfell.

Now, I am not tackling the how and in what form Jon Snow will be resurrected. I am just starting here on the assumption that he will be resurrected and eager to attack the bastard of Bolton and end the Bolton threat to the North once and for all.

I also speculate that the Night's Watch as we know it is over as of the last ADwD chapter with flagrant breaking of oaths and neutrality, assassination, mutiny, the large group of angry Freefolk and dwindling number of crows. It's possible Jon Snow hears that Arya has been send on to Braavos (Which is for the good!) and that Stannis has failed to capture Winterfell and the North (Which is bad!) and then decides to attack Ramsay Bolton at Long Lake. I am also not speculating here on how Stannis fails and where, how and why the whole burning his daughter Shireen happens. I just think that Stannis is done with by the time Jon and Rickon face Ramsay Bolton.

It's very possible that Stannis takes down Roose Bolton with him. Two smart tacticians who are big players in the game and for as big a secondary character Stannis is, he deserves to go out in a big way and I think taking down Roose will give him that. Which leaves Ramsay Bolton to the Starks.

This is where I bring in GRRM's notes when writing season 4 of the TV show.

Speaking of which: Martin leaves a little note for the producers when writing about Ramsay’s flesh-eating hounds, whom we see hunting down a girl for sport.

[N.B. A note for future reference. A season or two down the line Ramsay’s pack of wolfhounds are going to be sent against the Stark direwolves, so we should build up the dogs as much as possible in this and subsequent episodes.]

Note that he is talking 'Direwolves' - plural. Summer is too far North beyond the Wall and Nymeria is too far south in the Riverlands (Assuming here that they don't get to Long Lake in the ensuing three/four months) and so I am going to speculate this is Shaggydog and Ghost. The black and white direwolves belonging to the oldest and youngest Stark.

Now keeping mind the winter weather, there could be a scenario where we get Jon Vs Ramsay, the Freefolk are not winning and then the Manderly host from Last Hearth charges in under a Stark banner turning the tide and beating the Boltons? It's possible. Unlike the badly written nonsense we got on the show, as outlined above, GRRM has painstakingly build up the Manderlys and Umbers secretly getting this big host up North. Them seeing the battle and then stepping in to finish off the Boltons is very possible. Especially as there will be Skagosi with Rickon and the Thenns representing Karstark are already amongst them, making them not as averse to helping out an army of Freefolk. We start getting the integration of the Freefolk into the North and it starts with Umber acceptance of the Wildlings.

It's also possible that Jon Snow becomes aware of this large Manderly host at Last Hearth as he marches towards Long Lake and vice versa, they combine forces, there is no surprise rescue just an all out battle which ends with House Bolton defeated and done with and The Winds of Winter ends with the Starks back in Winterfell and Rickon Stark named Lord of Winterfell.

I have been long wondering where the Jon Vs Ramsay confrontation will happen and now (thanks to that reddit post) I think it will happen at Long Lake with support from the Manderly/Umber host at Last Hearth.

[machiavellli]

I watched the two first episodes of 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓐𝓬𝓸𝓵𝔂𝓽𝓮 and I got thoughts:

SPOILERS BELOW

First of all I just would like to say that most of the negative reviews that I saw where pretty thrown around just beacuse haters can’t help themself. So I don’t think this is the “worst sw product ever1!1!”, but I do got some (constructive) criticism myself and I want to express MY opinions (I am allowed to have and share them).

Let’s start with the positive aspects of this show

Fighting scenes and choreographies:

I was really impressed by the actions sequences. I’m glad that at least in this aspect Star Wars (after whatever happened in the sequels) is putting more effort in creating more impressive fighting scenes, but in the specific lightsaber fights!

Even if, yes, the lightsabers haven’t been used as much as I hoped, I still found this fighting style really mesmerizing. Now I’m not a martial art expert, so I won’t comment on that, but I just want to say that I do find this style way more appropriate than actually using a lightsaber all the time. It just makes sense for a Jedi of that time to minimize their usage of their weapon. They are at a high point of history, there is no war, just (apparent) peace.

I was afraid that the jumps would weird me out, but I gotta say that I liked them!!

How they showcased the temple and the characterization of the Jedi:

First thing first: ANOTHER LIVE ACTION TEMPLE OTHER THAN THE ONE IN THE CAPITAL???? Miracle!!! (Even if the interior design was questionable but I think they are just very isolated jedis and that’s their style? Idk man, there was literal sand in a corner tho??)

I appreciated how they showed Jedis as humans.

Sol is a jedi at heart yes, he is clearly suffering at the idea of his former padwan in such position, but he stays focused. Also I do get the comparison with Qui Gon, especially at the end of episode 2 when he tries to stick to the hunt, going against the council decision, but he still follows their leading in the end. But anyway, do not attack my new Star Wars father figure‼️

Yord also has his heart in the right place, I’m sure of it, he just wishes to help, but it’s clear that in this desperate search for perfection (brotha quoted the code by memory and was ironing his clothes for AN OUTSIDE MISSION💀 ) he might be losing what being a Jedi actually means. He always being the one to reach his lightsaber first :(( I’m really interested in seeing his development!

Jecki my smart girl, please humble Yord more often, that was the funniest part in the two episodes. I just want to say that her being 18 and going on her FIRST mission is so special and heartbreaking for me, just think the comparison with Ahsoka becoming a soldier at 14.

I also really liked the fact that the two Jedis killed got killed by their own compassion. Perfect.

Osha character:

Maybe it’s obvious, maybe not, but IN MY OPINION (so far) she is the best written character of the whole show (this actually comes from a critic that I have about the writing of the show, but it’s not the case for this character!)

Maybe it’s also that she is genuinely so sweet for me, I DONT KNOW I GET THIS VIBE FROM HER OKAY?? But she is the character I enjoyed the most in those first two episodes.

It’s just that I feel like we got to see only one side of the other characters, while with Osha she already feels like a well rounded character. We see her in various situations, in various states of mind, from the fear and then the calm of meeting her former master, to being taken by the negative feelings, the rage, she still preserves from her past. It was a great spectrum.

Also she was standing way more out as her own character than any one else in the show (see writing criticism below) and I liked that.

The actress was often carrying the show when put side to side with the other characters. (I’m under the impression that not everyone was giving their best performance tbh…but Amandla Stenberg was great!)

Really interested to see how the whole trauma/I just found my presumed dead twin alive/the Jedis I left are back thing will play out of her.

Also shoutout to Star Wars for continuing the tradition of the main character with a new cute droid. Gotta be one of my favourite tropes 🙏

Love this duo<333

In between opinions

I’m not going to comment on the plot YET, I find that it’s too early, but I was surprised by the decision of reveling the twin plot right away?

I was expecting it to be one the main thing that they would dance around for the whole series, but maybe I was under the wrong impression. It’s just that it felt rushed. But that’s a problem that comes down the fact that those episodes are TOO SHORT!!

I wasn’t also pleased by the fact that MASTER Indara died with that tiny knife in her chest. Like okay, maybe it was directly through the heart, but still: it doesn’t feel justified. Star Wars needs to decide a common trajectory, we can have people that survive a light saber in their stomach and others that die from far less concerning attacks. Also Osha surviving a terrible crash without a scratch?? Uhm.

Fire in space, gotta be my favorite mistake in space fiction products🙏 (I know that math and physics ain’t USA favorite subjects but cmonnnnnn, even Star Trek did this and uh😭😭). But anyway, I wouldn’t count it as this big mistake that everyone is freaking out about, because again, it’s common (somehow), and also was need for the trauma moment. 👍

But…25 MILIONS for episode, 12’500$ PER SECOND. We could have done better uh🧍‍♀️

And on this last bitter tone…

Negative aspects (it was bound to happen sorry)

The writing:

I have two main bones to pick at:

The quality of the lines,

Every character (besides Osha) is missing a speech pattern, some characterization…

I personally found the their speech to be not as cured as I was hoping for a show that had 4 years of development.

“Attach me with all of your strength” I literally heard in my head: 🦗🦗🦗

Sorry but some of Mae lines especially weren’t it (kinda funny when I actually enjoyed Osha’s)

Also yes, the characters were missing characterization through the dialogue, which is pretty crucial when you are showcasing brand the characters that no one knows. I just wished they weren’t so flat in that aspect.

I especially had a weird feeling with Sol, I do like him, but some of the lines weren’t it. I think it was also a bit the delivery, but I don’t want to attack the actor.

I wish their words were more expressive. Painted by their personality.

The poem was okay, this one ⬇️

I found it cute, but nothing too crazy

(Also side note that I don’t know where to put: the little twin looked like the Snapchat baby filter. Idk you can’t change my mind😭)

Also the pace of the storytelling per se: it felt rushed but at the same time slow, because I’m sorry but the delivering was a tad boring. I was expecting more.

To sum up: I was expecting more (I’ll say this till the end 180M budget) from the writing 🧍‍♀️

Costumes:

Before you all attack me: I did liked them, but with that budget I was expecting more. Let me explain

I really liked that they changed clothes when they went outside, leaving the white and yellow for the more ceremonials acts (like studying) for then changing for the outside. I loved that touch. In particular Yord attire in his first scenes was so good

I like their outfit so much (I hope the dope Padawan returns btw🧎‍♀️)

But, because there is a but, there is something weird about their clothings.

Now, I know that I am a prequels apologist and all, but you see how well clothes fit there:

They look realistic here, garments that have been actually worn

It’s just that their clothes look like they are sitting on them (have you in mind when people say “oh this foundation is sitting on my face” yeah in that sense, in the sense that doesn’t melt well)

NOOO IVE FINISHED THE GIFS LIMIT. TUMBLR UGH- (no more cool gifs guys😔)

It’s not a huge problem, but I wanted to say it regardless.

The set and lighting:

It’s just that for that type of budget and for that amount of time I was expecting some cinematic level of show. Maybe my bad (again), but the set looked often plastic and the lighting wasn’t really helping either.

Some scenes were well done: the ones in the Coruscant temple, the shore and in the bar/restaurant at the beginning were well done.

But especially the set in the second episode did not impress me at all.

Final thoughts:

Thanks Star Wars for making BTS canon🙏🙏 (THE TATTOO TOOK ME OUT OK?)

It’s hard to judge on just those two episodes, I feel like they haven’t told much, but for now I can only say that I will keep watching, without expecting too much (even if I should given the cost of the show).

I was interested in this project because I was excited to see the high republic in live action, but I don’t think this show will portray the typical high republic type of Jedis, something in between. I just hope that for once they will treat the jedi nicely because they can’t ever take a break in this franchise uh😭

Also I got a question…because if the Sith have been extinct for a millennium, according to the Jedi in the movies, by the time of the phantom menace…how will all of this play out??

Will they all die and the Jedis will just hide the evidence? But what about Yoda (or Yaddle)? Okay that he is chilling away but doesn’t make much sense…anyway I think I’ll have my answer by the end of the show.

Overall vote: 6/10 (a tad more than sufficient, I’m not feeling generous tonight🧍‍♀️)

It’s not a bad show, absolutely, I was just expecting more. It still has time to redeem itself!

[catflowerqueen]

Just saw an interesting discussion between @twinanimatronics and @crazedauthor here about the various jobs that people give Y/Ns in the Daycare Attendant fandom for FNAF Security Breach, and the reasoning behind them. It got me thinking about various scenarios and jobs that Y/Ns could have that, while not the “typical” ones, would still give them job-related reasons to interact with Sun and Moon on a regular basis.

…As well as some very AU scenarios where Y/N might not be entirely “human,” but might still find themselves hanging around.

And some scenarios are better for shipping purposes than others.

I’ll go ahead and put them under a readmore since I ended up thinking of… quite a lot them.

They are all up for grabs in case anyone wants to use them, though if they do end inspiring someone (whether via art or writing), then please @ me so I can take a look?

“Normal” jobs for Y/Ns

1. Remember when Michelle Obama did that thing with nutrition and school lunches? What if the Pizzaplex was also forced to make changes in the meals they serve the daycare attendants (or were just trying to jump on some health craze bandwagon and wanted to use the daycare kids to test some things out since they would basically be a captive audience) and Y/N was a chef or nutritionist hired specifically for the daycare?

2. A not-quite-OSHA person Fazbear’s hired to ensure that the bare minimum in safety standards is attained so that they don’t get in trouble with actual OSHA. They pay special attention to the daycare because parents are more likely to make safety complaints there (and also possibly because the daycare attendants secretly and deliberately break things/put in comments or complaints so that they have an excuse to see Y/N basically every day/night)

3. Random temp agency worker Y/N who keeps getting called to the Pizzaplex, especially after management noticed the positive effect they have on the daycare attendant. But they don’t actually want to give them a full-time position or anything, because then it would mean actually giving them benefits. And we all know how much Fazbear’s hates doing stuff like that.

4. Some sort or artist or designer who was called in to do some redecorating after the Pizzaplex suffered some major fire damage. One of the areas they were told to focus on is the daycare, so they end up spending a lot of time with Sun and Moon. More specifically—at the start, they basically see Sun and Moon as their actual “clients,” (since while Fazbear’s might be the one signing the paycheck, Sun and Moon are the ones who are going to be seeing the art every single day), so they want to make sure they paint something the two of them enjoy, and that they get their input when they can.

(And then even after the paint job is done—whether or not they’re the ones actually doing the painting—they stay on to do things like design promotional materials, flyers, etc. that would star the glamrocks and other animatronics—so they end up spending a lot of time “observing them for modelling purposes”)

5. Some random visitor who just got dragged into the daycare one day while Fazbear’s was trying to find a handler that Sun/Moon wouldn’t maim or otherwise scare off/whichever guard or employee was stationed there that day thought it was their break time or something because Y/N happened to be wearing a shirt that was either the same color or had a similar design to an actual employee’s shirt, and they were too meek/embarrassed/didn’t get the chance to clear up the confusion.

Either they then get hired for real (partially to stave off a potential lawsuit, partially because for some reason Sun and Moon actually liked them/Moon was put off his menacing game by the hilarity of the situation once he figured out what had happened that management just assumed it all worked out and Moon finds the situation funny enough to continue tolerating it), or it just keeps happening repeatedly (because, idk, Y/N is colorblind and doesn’t realize it or just doesn’t understand that the reason they keep getting pulled in is due to their outfits) until they pretty much basically are just an unpaid employee at that point and no one takes notice until, like, tax season or something when the paperwork isn’t matching up. Only then would someone would think to offer them an actual job.

(Hopefully including some amount of back pay and/or refunds for all the entry fees they paid to actually get into the pizzaplex—though that's unlikely, since this is Fazbear’s we’re talking about. Probably they’d just give a hush-money payout) (Also let’s assume that Sun and Moon don’t attack Y/N on sight for being an unauthorized adult in the daycare—this could probably be accomplished via a combination of them actually being in the customer database, since they would have paid an entry fee, and then the act of getting dragged/tossed in by an actual employee or management would put them under the “authorized” section and Sun and Moon would just assume that their being placed in the customer database was just some sort of glitch)

6. Similar to the above, Y/N is the identical twin to an actual employee (possibly one who has gone missing under mysterious circumstances…?) and Sun and Moon’s facial recognition programming gets them confused for their sibling. Then they find Y/N charming or interesting enough that they just don’t bother actually fixing this and/or just manually authorize them to be there.

7. Sort of similar to number 4, except this time Y/N is a musician/composer who was hired to update the music around the Pizzaplex and give the daycare more than one song to play. Again, Y/N wants Sun and Moon’s input since they are the ones who would be listening to the music all the time.

8. A student (possibly even a teenager, if we wanted to go the platonic friendship route) who needs to do community service as part of a civics class or something (like what we had to do in my high school) and chose the daycare. Or possibly an actual student teacher who is doing their required teaching hours at the daycare

9. A children’s book author who periodically comes to the daycare to volunteer so that they can make sure that their material stays relevant to their target audience and basically use the kids as a test audience. Possibly they also were or will get commissioned by Fazbear’s to write children’s stories about Sun, Moon, and the Glamrocks to act as further promotional material

10. Y/N is one of those people who are handlers for dogs and other therapy animals who regularly visits hospital patients and participates in those events where animals get taken to libraries so kids can read to them, thus practicing their own speaking and reading skills. The Pizzaplex regularly hires them to bring their pet/various animals to the daycare kids.

“Supernatural” explanations for Y/Ns continued presence in the daycare

1. Y/N is some form of grim reaper/psychopomp intern whose higher ups assigned them to basically watch Fazbear’s Entertainment as a whole because for some reason (*cough* William Afton messing around with forces he shouldn’t be messing around with—like remnant and glitchtrap possession nonsense *cough*) this industry generates a lot of weird paperwork, and even though it seems to have stopped in recent times (thanks to Gregory being the little menace that he is), they don’t want it happening again. But, also, it isn’t a very “prestigious” position, so they basically threw it to the new person—aka Y/N.

The daycare ends up fascinating them, because they normally aren’t in a position to be able to see people—and especially not children—just getting to happily enjoy living their lives. Usually when they come into contact with children, it is due to understandably sad or distressing circumstances. So this is a nice change of pace for them. …And, also, depending on who or what was actually causing those people to go missing, they might be curious about Sun and Moon for… other reasons.

Cue misunderstandings about the actual job of a grim reaper/psycopomp on Sun and Moon’s part as well as discussions about whether or not AI have “souls,” and “can a robot ever actually die,” the standard waxing philosophical that happens in these kinds of stories. And also probably Sun and Moon hating Y/N at the beginning for either the aforementioned misunderstandings about their actual job, or just plain them not being able to kick the unauthorized (in their minds) vaguely-adult person out of their daycare. Whether or not anyone else can see them is up for debate/the author’s discretion—whether this is because Y/N is actively hiding their presence from others, or if it is some sort of natural defense mechanism or whatever that Sun and Moon (and other animatronics) end up bypassing because they technically aren’t “humans”.

2. Y/N is a Borrower who lives in the Pizzaplex. A couple of possible scenarios here—like, they might come out and greet Sun and Moon directly because their non-human status grants them a loophole in the “don’t be seen by humans” rule. Or, for more angst, their family is gone—presumed (and most likely actually are) dead because the scouts who got sent out to search for a better location to live in the Pizzaplex/outside never came back. The reason they decided to find a better place to live? Sun and Moon are just that good at cleaning that the Borrowers couldn’t even find a single crumb to use as a food source, and the nearest pantry got a better door/lock that they couldn’t get in. Also, the tiny Music Man living in the vents will catch and kill them if they try and use that as a system to get around.

So an initial meeting between Y/N and Sun and Moon would probably involve Y/N deciding to utilize that loophole regarding species to come out and basically beg them for help—whether just to get them to use their giant height and long strides/the security wire to help Y/N travel a longer distance in a way shorter amount of time or to ask for some food because they are literally on the brink of starvation.

3. Y/N is some random ghost who, surprisingly enough, did not get killed due to anything Afton-related, but was still drawn to the Pizzaplex due to the aura of murder/some weird reaction to remnant and just decided to hang out there. Not even as a vengeful spirit or anything—they were basically just bored, and then Sun and Moon caught their attention. Possibly because it’s fun to troll them since they can’t actually kick Y/N out or effectively ban them for being an “unauthorized adult.” Also because the kids like their ghostly shenanigans.

4. Y/N is some sort of “imaginary friend” or “guardian spirit of the daycare” thing brought to life by a mix or weird remnant shenanigans and the power of the children’s imaginations/love and positive feelings for the daycare over a long period of time. They’re tied to the Daycare (at least at first), and it might actually be a situation where Sun and Moon are the ones to introduce them to the concept of the “outside world” (as limited as their own reach is), rather than the usual reverse.

5. A little similar to the above—except Y/N is specifically a beloved toy brought to life Velveteen Rabbit-style.

6. Y/N is a random cat/bird/dog/lizard who somehow found their way into the daycare and ends up basically becoming its mascot by the end. Possibly they were wild, possibly they were brought in specifically as a type of “class pet” scenario to help teach the kids about responsibility.

7. Kind of like number 10 for the “normal” jobs, except this time Y/N is the therapy animal in the equation who management assigned to Sun and Moon. Either they assigned Y/N to them specifically, or Y/N is supposed to be a general calming presence/mascot for the kids at large or act like one of those dogs that sometimes gets taken to libraries so kids can practice speech and reading skills via reading books to the animals.

If it’s the latter situation, then possibly you’d get a situation where Sun and Moon adopt them one day when their handler goes “missing” after leaving them behind in the daycare to go on a bathroom break or get food or something. Either the adoption is secret, or Management just basically tells Sun and Moon to “deal with it” as part of covering up their actual handler’s disappearance. Whether the “deal with it” was literal or… y’know… a euphemism for something else is up to you—but the end result is Y/N gets adopted by the Daycare attendant.

Also, they probably get an "official" rename to something like "Cloud," just to further hide their original owner's disappearance.

(…Wow, this ended up getting long…)

[201xs]

these notes/episode ideas by danny ducker drive me crazy for multiple reasons but im especially putting thought into the "dendy's day at boxmore" bit because that honestly sounds like the perfect episode

i loved her interactions with ernesto in "ok dendy: let's be ko" and would love to see how she interacts with and reacts to the other bots- especially since she seems to know at least a little bit about them, whether it be through her own observations or anecdotes from KO (she also had some brief interaction with shannon in "dendy's power", not to mention how she was the one who motivated the boxbots to find new purpose in the plaza in "dendy's video channel", although if this episode was produced it would have taken place before that)

all i can think about is dendy seeing the horrific working conditions in boxmore and being like "???? this is nowhere near osha compliant, how can you even work like this??" and the bots just shrug and go "we lose like 8 darrells a day in workplace accidents. whenever the osha inspector comes over boxman sets up a bunch of traps and puzzles until they give up and leave"

dendy would also enjoy studying the actual manufacturing process of the bots, the glorb processing plant, professor venomous's bioengineering projects, and etc... maybe she would even stumble upon something she isnt supposed to see relating to shadowy figure (and recognizing that it's something sinister, while not really understanding the significance of it) ...

we could have seen some interaction between fink and dendy too, which is something we missed out on in the main series... theyre the only two "main" kid characters that never got to meet each other- theres lots of interactions between KO and fink & dendy and KO, so being able to see the dynamic between fink and dendy would have been really fun... dendy would probably be very interested in her as a specimen, considering fink has definitely been experimented on in the past & dendy's interest in turbonic energy could lead to her conducting a study on fink's turbo collar. fink could also easily convince dendy to help her get up to mischief lol

[incoherentmuses]

more OSHA posting? more OSHA posting! (tagging @controlledchaosetc and @itusebastian, since you seemed interested, lmk if you wanna be untagged!)

so there have been a lot of Good Good Goofs and Bits over the years i’ve been DM-ing these boys. so many. too many, one might argue. but today let me pull one from the early days. an OSHA classic, if you will. a story i like to call:

The Seven Bats Incident

a quick premise, to get you up to speed. this is set during my first ever campaign, which i, in my infinite wisdom, decided to homebrew. a magical cataclysm has split the land of Ormana into ley-line divided sections, an incident called The Shattering. Magic has gone very wild in the years of this cataclysm, such that every spell cast, regardless of caster class, has a chance to ping on a Wild Magic table.

in this dangerous time, the PC’s have worked their way towards the heart of the cataclysm, and find themselves in a place where the wobbly magic has conjured eternal darkness across the land. they also find themselves in a magical college, where the headmistress is trying to deal with two problems: keeping a school of magic safe during a magical cataclysm; and vampires.

the school had a vampire problem. a creature of the night kept feeding on students and they hadn’t been able to figure out who the vampire was. with several suspicious characters around, including a bitchy, somewhat cagey, enchantment teacher, and a dubious necromancy professor, OSHA set to work trying to uncover the vampire in their midst.

now, readers. there was also a library in this school, because of course there was. and that library had a librarian - a sweet little tabaxi lady called Seven Bats. Her daughter was the groundskeeper, whom the PC’s had already befriended, and she was very helpful in letting the PC’s look through her books regarding the main plot they were still tracking down.

with progress on the vampire hunt going slowly, Draghull - at the time still a paladin - decides to perform a very good goof. He’ll cast ‘detect evil’ on Seven Bats the librarian because ‘wouldn’t it be really funny if the character with the bat name was the vampire?’

he casts the spell.

evil is detected.

the evil is undead.

‘Holy shit,’ he says. ‘I didn’t think that would work.’

now, gentle reader, i was frustrated at this point because i, resident dumbass that i am, had not realised that i had given my vampire an Extremely Obvious Vampire Name. I just got it off a generator! i made the npcs for the school and assigned one of them Vampire Chores later!

‘fuck!’ I said

‘fuck!’ Seven Bats said.

the whole school then descended into uproar as the party fought, chased, and finally caught Seven Bats. One failed de-vampire-ing ritual later, she was destroyed and the day was saved!

no-one was happy about it. she’d been turned into a vampire by the Shattering, and her daughter was understandably upset that her new friends just killed her mum. but there were no more vampires in the school, and the headmistress was so pleased she forgave the party their other trespasses (summoning a parasauralophus into the dining hall, the monk getting teleported into the roof and leaving a big hole, etc etc)

eventually OSHA got the Plot Info they needed and moved on to less eternally dark pastures. and my players have never, and will never, let me forget the time i named a secret vampire Seven fucking Bats.

[mossy-tendencies]

Saw your posts about your tma hlvrai au and it seems really interesting! I have my own thoughts on what characters fit each entity. I think Tommy's an Eye avatar rather than a Lonely, he's literally read all of Wikipedia, reads entire OSHA guidelines and only does what he reads in books. Plus he can "see faster." I could see why someone would think he's Lonely because he's an orphan but Eye seems the better choice. Desolation is a good choice for Bubby, but I raise you, Extinction Bubby. I headcanon that the Extinction doesn't choose avatars, but creates avatars because the Extinction is about fear of self made destruction and replacement of humanity. Creating an artifical perfect scientist and having it backfire is very Extinction-aligned in my opinion. Also, he likes nuclear waste. I personally believe Coomer's is Vast. He went into the void and had an existential crisis after finding out his insignificant in the world and I think that eclipses the Flesh body modifications aspects. I agree with your Slaughter Gordon and Spiral Benrey. I haven't thought of what entity Forzen is so I'll accept Hunt. I don't know why you thought Darnold is Corruption, he doesn't have any bugs or disease connections and I don't really see the toxic relationships aspect either (I personally think he's Flesh because of the fingernail-handgun potion). Thoughts?

HI HI! thank you for your ask and for indulging me in my Autism. let me explain my fanon nonsense.

going in order,

i see tommy as an avatar of the lonely because a big part of his narrative (the one i wrote lol) is being deserted by his dad. his dad is an avatar of the eye from the beginning, naturally, resulting in a need to, oh y'know, experiment on his son. learn more about the fears with government-funded isolation to make the perfect avatar. the eye has a stake on tommy in this au, yes (in my notes i have it written as "Avatar of the Lonely [Possible secondary: Eye]"), but the lonely won in the end. the turning point for all the avatars is something i call the Fear Cascade/FearCas (this au's rescas), which turned those marked by a domain into avatars. pretty much everyone but gordon and benrey, the former becoming an avatar later and the latter becoming one before. i still like tommy as an avatar of the eye so he has some passive traits of one, but lonely is the primary.

extinction bubby is great! i had to go with desolation because of the whole fire motif, but also pain. lots of pain. he's a tube baby, a guy who was experimented on relentlessly. He's Afraid Of Pain.

i considered coomer for vast! it was my friend who suggested flesh!coomer, he's just such a dimensional character that i had to pick one aspect of his to focus on. i decided to focus on the prosthetics. they're unnatural and gross and scary but they benefit him. plus the whole clone thing (which i replaced with stranger avatars with a vendetta) and wanting to climb inside of gordon to wear as a skin suit was pretty fleshy to me.

hunt forzen was another suggestion from my friend! a good chunk of the military/hecu (and by that i mean, Most Of Them) are hunt avatars because of the need for the chase. that or slaughter, but a lot of military propaganda revolves around this invisible enemy you have to track down and defeat, some goal that is always on the horizon and only accessible if you work for it.

now as for darnold, you'll have to pardon the projection. i made this au about two years ago and i started it via rp, evolving from there. darnold is a character who only has about 15 minutes of screentime and no character development, so i filled in the gaps with a shitload of lore and ocs. the corruption (at least, my original reason for making darnold an avatar of it), is because of the potions darnold makes. i made him a mushroomy guy with bugs and the like so he uses these mushrooms as ingredients, harnessing the corruption and using it to his advantage. spoilers: darnold doesn't stay just an avatar of the corruption. eye is their secondary, and eventually, they get marked by all fifteen (including extinction). this is very plot relevant. give me a year or two to make it into a fanfiction because i am actively working on it lol. OH AND. catholic guilt. i gave the funny science guy catholic guilt. it's also relevant.

tldr; i made this au a fucking while ago and some of choices have not aged well, but i am sticking by them because i've gone This Far and, despite me working on rewriting it into fanfiction format (as it was originally made for rp), i am sticking to my gut and keeping the hoard of fanon/headcanons/ocs i have made for this universe For Funsies.

thank.

[mischiefxmuses]

HW: Intro - Sol

Was that [LEE SOO HYUK]? Oh no no, that was just [SOL], a/an [CANON CHARACTER] from [STAR WARS THE ACOLYTE]. They are [THIRTY TWO] years old, use [HE/HIM], and [ARE] aware that they are not actually from Washington DC. Too bad they can’t stray from this city for long.

**TW: Acolyte Spoilers**

how long has your character been here

A year

what is your character's job**

Astronomy and philosophy professor

where has your character been pulled from in their fandom

End of Episode 2 but will continue to update him as the season goes on.

has any magic affected your character

Not really

and any other information you might find useful for us and the other members to know!!

Not a lot is known about Sol yet so I am going to be making bits up until more canon is revealed. What is known is that he is a Jedi Master during the High Republic Era. He was on mission in Brendok where the twins Osha and Mae were. According to him Mae started a fire that destroyed the village and he was only able to save Osha. Despite her age he fought for her to be his padawan and to train her. Issues arose based on her past and she left the Jedi Order.

Despite the Jedi order being against relationships and connections, Sol cares a lot for Osha, more than he should or is allowed from a Master to a Padawan and (in my theory) regrets that he wasn't able to save Mae as well and feels guilty about it. There is definitely some guilt there about what happened. I don't think he wants to hurt Mae or see harm come to her. In his description online it says that he has very intense emotions but trains and emphasizes balance. The force being like fire and oceans.

He is a stoic individual but has moments of softness. He is a kind and patient individual. He is trying to keep to the Jedi rule of not forming attachments but he does say to his new padawan Jecki Lon 'our memories are lessons'. I think he does feel more than he should. I believe it is already shown that he is not quite onboard with all of the Jedi Order's decisions, wanting to go straight to where Mae will be going instead of meeting and having a discussion. He keeps his emotions in check though.

Wanted Connections:

Roommate - He is quite a private individual so would need someone who respects his space.

Colleagues / fellow teachers

Students - anyone interested in space with a bit of philosophy

Friends - He is friendly, even if not fully emotionally available but he will take the time for people just keeping a air of professionalism. He can be quite trusting, takes a lot on faith.

Fellow force users (sith or jedi) - possibly someone to train or individuals to train with. He prefers training the mind to training physically but will train physically every now and then.

Enemies - being very calm and level headed, getting a rise out of him isn't easy. He will only pull his lightsaber out if he truly intends to kill or is training. But shouting matches, arguing, he doesn't really do. He prefers a conversation, i think he doesn't believe things are black and white.

Nature lovers

Book lovers

Ship - I don't know about this yet. If it happens it would have to be natural because he is so in the Jedi Order mindset where relationships are forbidden. Like the chemistry would have to be so perfect and not forced at all.

[the-insomniac-emporium]

I love your writing.

if it's not too much trouble may i make a request? I'm thinking the Dimitrescu women meeting and/or courting a fellow immortal.

the circumstances of the immortal's powers and possession of immorality are entirely up to you. I just like the idea of them meeting someone they could literally spend forever with...because they deserve it ❤

I wasn't sure if you wanted a story or headcanons? I went with HCs, here, but if you wanted more of a drabble or whatever just lemme know and I'll write something like that.

Also, I got excited and carried away so this has the whole Dimitrescu family, plus shorter ones for both Mother Miranda and Donna. Admittedly Alcina's is also a little on the shorter side? I tried to write everything that came to mind, but I am kinda tired right now, sorry. Might reblog this and add some more later.

(Under read-more for length)

Cassandra:

Tries (and fails) to hide her excitement. Mortality is one of the bigger things that has made her keep her distance to others, at least in the past. Every Maiden she’s ever been the slightest bit smitten with, up until this point, has been incredibly fragile. Seeing as she’s not exactly the softest person, one can easily imagine why that would be a turn off for her. But now that’s no longer a problem!

On the other had… having an immortal partner gives Cassandra pause. Why? Because what if they breakup? Normally, she can just, ahem, “dispose” of any exes (regardless of how much it hurts) so she doesn’t have to see them/deal with them anymore. If that’s not an option, she’ll definitely take longer than usual to do anything about her feelings. She wants to be sure, 100%, before she gets in over her head. Chances are she won’t hold back for as long as she wants though.

Likely to have a loud, messy confession. She’ll have been avoiding you for a few days, always ducking out of whatever rooms you enter, leaving you both hurt and confused. After enlisting the help of her sisters, you’ll be able to corner her outside. She’ll tell you, under no uncertain circumstances, to leave her alone. But you’ll refuse, demanding an explanation.

“I thought we had something. I thought you cared,” you’ll snap, eyes watering. “If that’s changed… if I was wrong, just tell me. I’ll leave and I’ll never come back.” Cue thunder and raining (because tropes) and Cassandra dramatically pulling you into a kiss, holding you so tightly you think you might bruise. Then she’s demanding that you stay, refusing to apologize but making it clear just how much she does care.

Being immortal, you’re not as defenseless as some of Cassandra’s past interests. Naturally, she doesn’t get quite as protective as she normally would. She’ll still have your back no matter what, ready to fight by your side against any foe, and will probably consider doing so a “fun bonding activity”. Oh, some lycans are encroaching on Dimitrescu territory? Time to go destroy them, as a power couple!

Despite having all the time in the world, Cassandra won’t change much of her actual courting behavior, nor the rate at which things advance. She’s still gonna get handsy fairly early on, still gonna “rah!” at you in the hallways, and still going to struggle with her jealousy.

Immortality Compatibility: I can see Cassandra going for another vampire (or vampire adjacent) creature, or someone demonic. She likes her lovers a bit rough, with some nice bite to their personalities. If you’ve got sharp teeth, or claws, or glowing eyes? Oh boy, she’s gonna be making heart eyes at you all the time.

Bela:

If your immortality isn’t immediately obvious, Bela is over the moon with joy when she finds out. Her eyes will go wide for a moment, before she tries to seem calm (so as to not freak you out), but her heart is pounding. This is what she’s been hoping for. As much as Mother Miranda has done for her family, there’s no guarantee that she’d be willing to give more. Even if Miranda granted Bela’s lover her “gift”, there was no telling what the results would be, or if the lover would survive. Now that there’s no need for such a transformation, it’s far easier for Bela to imagine herself in love (and eventually be in love).

Slow-burn romance over a decade or longer, oops. Doesn’t even necessarily mean to take things so slowly, just doesn’t feel a need to rush things, preferring that they develop organically. With both of you having unlimited time, you’re both used to working on a very large timescale. Maidens watching the two of you probably place bets on how long it’ll take you to hold hands for the first time. Everyone knows it’s coming, but no matter how much Cassandra and Daniela complain, Bela refuses to jump into things. By the time the two of you are officially together, you’re probably madly in love with each other.

More protective than Cassandra, if only because she knows just how rare you are. Immortal or not, you likely still have a weakness, and Bela will do everything in her power to make sure no one else knows what it is. If applicable, she will also ensure she has a countermeasure readily available. For example: If you were weak to fire, she’d make sure that the castle keeps extinguishers handy, just in case. Though they should probably already do that. Not that the Dimitrescu family cares much for OSHA compliance.

Somehow grows more in love with you with every passing year, and makes sure that you know this. Whether you’ve been together for one year or one century (because in this house we ignore canon), she’s always performing little acts of love, giving constant reminders of how strongly she feels. Gifts, special dates, book recommendations, etc.

Immortality Compatibility: Bela seems like the type to go for someone with a calming presence, and perhaps somewhat of a contrast to herself. I can picture her with someone somewhat angelic, or druidic, someone very in tune with nature. She’d love to feed deer with you and relax in the forest! Or lay against a tree by your side, listening to you talk about various microorganisms for hours at a time.

Daniela:

Practically tackles you when she finds out/connects the dots. This is just like one of her romance novels, where a lonely (attractive as fuck) immortal spends years in isolation before finally meeting the love of their life, who they get to spend the rest of eternity with. Absolutely ecstatic about the whole situation. Won’t stop kissing you and pulling you close, rambling about how great it’s gonna be to spend your lives together. Honestly? Kind of overwhelming. You might have to remind her a few times that you don’t have to rush into things, considering you have all the time in the world.

Introduces you to people as her “super cool/rad immortal life partner”. Genuinely cannot bring herself to not brag about you. If her sisters haven’t found someone like you yet, you can bet that Daniela will tease them about it all the time (much to their annoyance). If Momma Alcina doesn’t, though? Dani will keep her thoughts to herself, thank you very much (being grounded at her age does not impress the s/o).

Tries not to show it, but she’s actually very nervous. You’re immortal! You’ve probably seen a lot of shit (she certainly has)! Worries about keeping you interested in her, though she would never admit it. This tends to lead to her performing ridiculous acts to showcase her affection, regardless of the cost or, like, whether or not you’d even enjoy whatever she has planned. In order to counter her anxiety, you’ll want to reassure her whenever you can, and give her plenty of “I love you”s.

Strikes a decent balance between Cassandra’s nonchalant attitude and Bela’s protectiveness. Will defend you if you need it, playing up the romantic aspect, but also entirely willing to hide behind you in a scary situation.

Immortality Compatibility: Having probably read Twilight… Dani would date a werewolf, as long as they weren’t the smelly kind. Also interested in a sort of “magical”/elemental type, especially if their powers are influenced by emotions. In other words, if someone flirts with her in front of you, and your response is to subconsciously light your hands/the other person on fire? She thinks that’s hot, pun intended.

Alcina:

“Oh? Interesting,” she’d say, smiling softly (and trying to ignore the heat rushing to her face). Similarly to Cassandra, she’d try to play it off, not wanting to seem too excited. And, well, she’s not as excited as any of her daughters are. After all, she’s had more time than them to “get used” to the idea of outliving any potential romantic interests. So, she’s not exactly desperate for a relationship, even with someone she could spend an eternity with.

That being said, if she is romantically interested in them, she’s very relieved. Outliving a loved one can be incredibly traumatizing (fuck you c*pcom, you know what you did), and knowing that you’re safe (or at least safer than most) brings her no small amount of comfort.

Also, just glad to have another person close to her age around. Her daughters are somewhat stuck as young adults, and I imagine Alcina would want someone who gained immortality a little later in life, such as herself, as opposed to, ya know, reminding her of her children. That probably goes without saying. Hopefully.

More so than her daughters, Alcina would change her level of protectiveness depending on her s/o’s power level. If you’re a shapeshifter who can also turn into a big ass dragon? Then she’s not going to coddle you. If you’re immortal but still vulnerable, then she’s going to do her best to keep you safe, even going so far as to enlist the assistance of her daughters. “If you see a single Maiden growing mistletoe, or bringing some in from the village, let me know immediately,” or something like that, depending on your weakness.

Immortality Compatibility: Definitely would want someone in a situation similar to herself, having once been truly human, only to be “elevated” by something. Bonus points if you’re another disciple of Miranda, double bonus points if Miranda specifically “made” you to be Alcina’s boo/honey/darling/dear.

Bonus! Mother Miranda:

Oh god finally someone who won’t leave her (can’t leave her). No one can take you away from her, and that’s a relief that she’s been craving for over a century. Even if romance isn’t high on her priority list, she welcomes it with open arms, glad to have someone by her side through all of life’s chaos.

Admittedly slow to trust at first, probably just using you as a tool at first. But prove yourself enough, show that your devotion is more than just misdirected self-interest, and she’ll start to warm up to you. Forming a real relationship would likely take a couple decades, similar to with Bela. Once you are together, however, the two of you are inseparable in all matters.

You’d be her #1 follower, most trusted adviser, and the only person allowed to understand 100% of her thoughts and motives. While Miranda wouldn’t allow you to be seen as the same level as her (sorry), you’d still be a legend among the villagers. To them, you’re Mother Miranda’s champion, the epitome of a devoted follower that they all aspire to emulate. Not that they know the two of you are a couple, though.

Immortality Compatibility: No gimmicks, no cheap tricks, she wants (and respects) a fellow scientist, someone who clawed their way through adversity and forged themselves into something indestructible. Double the interest if you did so for a similar cause to her own, as she would appreciate your ability to relate to her suffering.

Bonus! Donna:

Someone to play with! FOREVER! No more losing people she cares about, no more accidentally breaking people, no more people scrambling to leave. Now that she has you, she can finally spend some quality time with another (living?) person. Honestly her dolls (or at least Angie) are just as excited as she is. Regardless of her relations with the other three Lords, Donna much prefers the company of a lover.

For real though she’s shy as hell and you might not even realize who’s pulling the strings until you’ve been in her house for over a year. She’d probably use her powers to trap you inside, at least at first, though they’d be nice hallucinations. You’d have to treat the dolls nicely, especially Angie, before she’d let you interact with her.

Eventually you’d be allowed to leave, and you’d be given a key to return whenever you wanted to. Assuming that you do, in fact, come back, the two of you would have a very, very slow romance, if only because of Donna’s anxiety. Hand holding makes both of your faces turn beet red, seriously.

Immortality Compatibility: *chanting* GHOST GIRLFRIEND GHOST GIRLFRIEND POLTERGEIST PARTNER POLTERGEIST PARTNER WOOHOO! Something with a flexible, only-sometimes-tangible form, who absolutely could have left at any time but didn’t because they wanted to stay.

[philipkindreddickhead]

I often seen critiques of make up from an existential/philosophical perspective, but I rarely see criticism of cosmetics from a stand point of the very physical bodily harm it does. I think this is because the number of dangerous ingredients is so massive, and overlapping its an absolutely daunting task. So I've compiled the information I've found and bear with me its a lot. (This is from an American perspective. Sorry, thats what I know. However I would love it if people from other countries had things to add.)

First I want to get the "simple" stuff out of the way. I think almost everyone has heard about bacteria and fungi in makeup and that makeup causes acne from clogging pores. Makeup has a pretty strict shelf life, yet consumers are entirely supposed to self-police as Ive never seen a single expiration date on any cosmetic packaging. (I guess consumers are meant to pull this knowledge out of the ether or something. I only found out about it in a tumblr PSA. I did read that expirys are on products in Europe.) Beauty blenders are the worst offender because theyre almost always moist. When I was taught makeup I was told to wet my sponge so it would soak up less product. If you apply makeup daily your sponge is likely constantly damp. USA Today had an article which said that 96% of sponges had fungi and over 60% had E. Coli in them. But I think what people talk about less is the complication of problems from using other products in conjunction with dirty beauty blenders. USA Today warns its especially dangerous to use beauty blenders if you have damage to your skin like acne, cuts, or dry skin. However the most popular beauty products for washing your face contain walnut pieces for literally scrubbing your skin and creating microabrasions. If youre a frequent makeup user you probably know about the cyclical nature of applying foundation, breaking out, and then applying more foundation to cover the breakout. You may even be using scrubbing cleansers more frequently to combat the acne creating more tears. This can lead to "blood poisoning" and, though neither USA today or Forbes mentions this, blood poisoning (not a medical term btw. Its sepsis.) according to numerous medical sites has the potential to be extremely lethal. The symptoms are so similar to a regular flu its nearly impossible to self-diagnose.

The very first thing I was told when a friend handed me a jar of finishing powder- popular with many beauty gurus for the "baking" technique and considered a must have- was a joke about "clown lung." This was a reference to the main ingredient talc. Talc causes lung problems including cancer and respiratory illness. If anyone remembers the large Johnson and Johnson lawsuit from 2019 it was because theyd been putting talc into baby powder. Talc is dangerous because it's impossible to mine and seperate from ASBESTOS. Some high-end finishing powders will try to sell you on safe talc-free formulas but all the products I looked into contained mica instead which causes pneumoconiosis, colloquially known as "black lung disease." Like fucking coal miners get. Its not just present in finishing powder either. In my research it turned out that talc/asbestos are also present in many eyeshadows and other powder products. [Googleable, evidenced in J&J lawsuit]

Another industry to examine is nail salons. Toluene, Formaldehyde, Dibutyl Phthalate, and Methacrylate compounds are all dangerous ingredients and present in various salon products. These ingredients cause a range of problems from dizziness, drowsiness, birth defects, slow fetal growth, future intellectual disabilities in the fetus, eye skin and throat irritation, coughing, allergic reactions, asthma-like attacks, short-term memory loss, nausea, dermatitis, cancer, and misscarriage. Some nail products advertise that they are 3-free meaning that toluene, formaldehyde, and DP should be absent but often the labels are found to be completely inaccurate. It should be noted that the risk is mainly to salon workers and not patrons but ask yourself if it is right to place other people at serious risk for your aesthetic. OSHA does make an attempt to mitigate these risks however not once in my years of makeup queen did I see a salon following these directives which include constant air monitoring, half mask respirators with chemical cartridges, gloves, long sleeves, and safety glasses. (And Im not even going to touch issues of human trafficking/slave labour out of nail salons one case of which occured 5 days ago two hours away from me) It should also be noted that formaldehyde can also be found in hair relaxers and hair dyes. [Found articles in Scientific American and NYT]

I also found on the FDAs website that many cosmetics include heavy metals like arsenic, mercury, and lead. (Usually accompainied by a picture of lipstick so I assume that is the product most likely to contain it, however campaign for safe cosmetics lists foundation as containing heavy metals, and The Guardian has an article about skin lighteners from Asia and Africa containing mercury.) The website stated that the amount of these heavy metals in cosmetics is "safe" if used as intended. (and I'm going to come back to the concept of "intended use" later because thats a can of worms too) However, when searching for info on heavy metal safety I found this quote in regards to metals in food:

"Certain metals, such as arsenic, lead and mercury, have no established health benefit, and have been shown to lead to illness, impairment, and in high doses, death. Understanding the risk that harmful metals pose in our food supply is complicated by the fact that no single food source accounts for most people’s exposure to metals in foods. People’s exposure comes from many different foods containing these metals. Combining all of the foods we eat, even low levels of harmful metals from individual food sources, can sometimes add up to a level of concern"

So like, which is it? Is it a "safe amount" or is no amount of metal safe? I understand that in the case of certain foods like fish some amount of mercury poisoning is always expected but fish is also something you feed yourself and nourish your body with while cosmetics are completely unecessary to your survival. The mercury problem in fish is also mitigated by health warnings when mercury levels are particularly high but cosmetics have no such warning. Another warning on the site indicated that children should ingest NO amount of lead AT ALL because it is particularly harmful for kids yet theres no effort to stop children from using lead-containing cosmetics. I worked next to a Five Below where I was shocked to find they sold Jeffree Star and Anastasia eyeshadow dupes for five dollars which amounts to fucking pocket change for a lot of kids and kids do buy that stuff. I also think its ironic the FDA would have anything to say regarding cosmetics because in the very same article about heavy metals in cosmetics the FDA says that they DO NOT REGULATE cosmetics beyond the color additives.

Mascara, eyeliner, lipstick, and brow tint often contain carbon black. This is a color additive that is an incomplete combustion of carbon-based products. It can cause lung disease, cancer, and organ system toxicity, and eye, nose, throat irritation. The effects are mainly studied in rats and those at biggest risk are industrial workers but why do other workers have to endure lung problems for something so unecessary? [Easily googleable, NIH, CDC, WHO Europe]

This next bit I only want to mention briefly because I didnt find any particularly reputable sources about it, but its a claim that cropped up repeatedly and I think its an interesting one. Parabens, estrogen, phthalates (again), and pesticides in cosmetics are apparently linked to endocrine disorders and hormone dysregulation. Im not entirely sure what is meant by this accusation. Endocrine disorders include female diseases like PCOS and possibly endometriosis. None of these diseases is very well studied and the female endocrine system itself is not well studied either. Im not saying "cosmetics cause PCOS" because we dont know if PCOS or these other endocrine/hormonal disorders are genetic or environmental or both (it appears that PCOS is largely genetic and Endometriosis is likely autoimmune related) AND we dont appear to know for sure that cosmetic ingredients cause endocrine disorder. But I include anyway for a number of reasons:

If you happen to struggle with hormonal problems you may want to know cosmetics is a potential environment factor.

These conditions are incredibly painful. It will be a battle getting your doctor to even acknowledge that pain for diagnosis. PCOS is linked to diabetes, and heart disease. [Thanks @mother-of-pearl ] There is no cure and the treatments are often throwing hormonal birth control at it and hoping for the best.

I dont anticipate the link between cosmetics and endocrine disorders being studied any time soon or any endocrine disorders studied at all because the medical/scientific field is sexist. I dont want women to suffer in the mean time.

Now again, take this with a grain of salt because I couldnt find scientific or news sources for it. Dont fucking come for me. Im not gonna respond to you. [Most reputable source was a paper from the library of medicine at the national institutes of health but it was behind a paywall and I dont have 39 dollars to be right on tumblrdotcom]

Avoiding these ingredients is not as simple as scanning the label for them. As many beautubers and the community are no doubt aware considering multiple scandals over veganism. Products advertised as vegan or cruelty free but contain non-vegan carmine or are sold in China which legally requires the products to be animal tested. Cosmetic companies will hide ingredients claiming they are "trade secrets" or they will be placed under "fragrance." Many ingredients will be known by six or seven different names and asking consumers to be aware of seven different names for multiple ingredients requires consumers to be aware of innumerable different, often complicated ingredient names. I shouldnt have to point out that's a ridiculous burden to place on women. The EU banned 1,300 hazardous ingredients that the US did not. Cosmetic companies rely on women being unwilling/unable to bring in a list of 1,300 ingredients- with multiple names- every time they pop in to the drug store, sephora, or wherever. Buying "natural" products will not help you either. Theres no established criteria for natural/organic in costmetics, the FDA doesnt test these products, and "natural"=/= safe anyway. Plenty of plants and minerals are poisonous. One good example is traditional kohl products which advertise their natural status but also naturally contain lead and reiterating that natural powders contain mica. US courts are rarely on the side of consumers either. I found an interesting lawsuit against St. Ives for their apricot scrub taken to court for their "dermatologist tested" label despite it causing breakouts and cuts to the skin. The courts ruled that this label was fine because it only indicated that the product was TESTED not APPROVED by dermatologists. However I think any rational consumer would look at this label and assume the tests concluded it was safe for use or else why put the label on there?

[Googlable XMONDO drama, googlable laws wrt china and eu, already stated about FDA, FDA website about Kohl. Googled St. Ives lawsuit.]

I want to return to the idea of "intended use." This is sort of a fucky concept a lot of companies have ways of getting around. My "last straw" with makeup had to do with a run-in I had with Anastasia over their "Riviera" eyeshadow palette. In this pallette they had two colors that were the real feature of the palette, an electric neon purple and a radioactive pink I mean every photo, every promotion has these two colors swirled together around the eye. Because again, its an eyeshadow palette. When I buy the eyeshadow palette of course there's a little insert warning in the package that says these two shades are not intended on the eye area. In an eyeshadow palette. Contacting their customer service they told me that these two shades were meant to be used as a blush. neon purple blush. Not only that, but their website and instagram featured NO models wearing the shades as blush while EVERY model one or more of the shades as eyeshadow. When asked about this discrepancy ABH stopped responding. What I find egregious about this is the amount of people who dont know, and then more staggeringly; dont care. The sephora clerks didnt know, the in store abh representative didnt know, their customers didnt know, and when I told them they would respond with "oh, [brand] did the same thing with their [shade]." Sure enough, when I demanded that store clerks open the packaging to look for warnings nearly every product had an "eyeshadow" that was not intended for use on the eyes. Relegating dark, red-toned teal to "contour" and neon grean to "highlighter" US-based cosmetic junkies will say that these pigments have been approved for use by the EU however I found absolutely NO evidence of that. I googled it a thousand ways but all I ever found were blog posts, reddit comments, and one quote from an apparently nonEuropean layman in an Insider article. I even changed my location to France on ABH's website and the Norvina palette still contains the same warnings (not to harp on ABH in particular. I just know which shades in particular are the problem there). The Insider article noted that brands who were selling pressed pigments declined to comment. If the pressed pigments were EU friendly, I would think companies would be clamouring to say so. It also still makes their market as eyeshadow colors illegal in the US. (If any Europeans would like to chime in I'd love that.) Another problem I find with cosmetics companies and their reps is the claim that the worst thing that could happen is eye irritation for those with sensitive eyes and staining. How could they possibly know? The FDA doesnt test, or approve these cosmetics in the eye area, so ostensibly no one should be using it that way.

The next one is a bit of a "duh" but I'm going to talk about it anyway. Counterfeit cosmetics are a booming market full of untold dangers. Untold primarily because these products could contain literally anything. Ive read about glue, arsenic, lead, feces, staph, and horse urine to name a few. The labels and ingredient list on these products are fake. Legitimate brands often unintentionally play into the counterfeit market. They create artificial scarcity by making less of the product than is actually needed for consumer demand to create an even higher demand. If consumers miss out often their only chance at getting the product is to turn to counterfeits. I found examples of women who had their lips superglued, lips "turned to goo" and burned to blistering, throat closures, women with stys, contact dermatitis, eye infections. I think we as a society turn a blind eye to this problem because we think "hey, if youre buying counterfeits for a discount and you get hurt you deserve it." We imagine idiots buying products for 4 dollars from ebay or perusing Canal street for FEИTY beauty. But these counterfeits can be really convincing. I myself received a gift of a huda palette that I only recognized something was weird about it because I'd swatched it at sephora about five times earlier that month. The person who bought it for me actually paid MORE than the usual cost for the palette because it was advertised as a newer, better edition. The websites can be disturbingly similar. For instance Kylie Jenner's legitimate website is KylieCosmetics.com but you can find fakes at kyliecosmeticsshop.co.uk. These fakes can buy ad space and be one of the first sites that populate when you google the products instead of typing the legitimate site into the address bar. Counterfeits can also be bought and sold through third parties on websites like ebay, wish, and amazon. (My gift actually came from Amazon.)

[Netflix doc "Broken" ep "Makeup Mayhem" Corroborated by personal experience and google]

[falconstarfall]

Sansa had remain prisoner for almost her story. People think she can't do anything without help so how can she cross vale yet forget she escaped KL with don't who was drunkard. Her journey isn't completed. She will escape vale too. Also her leadership skills will be seen in future. She is basically moving beyond a confirmed lady without loosing her feminine traits. Her arc is slow burn but people didn't have patience.

The thing is, Sansa doesn’t really have to be able to do that much without help.

It always annoys me when people rant at Sansa for not doing things by herself, while they refuse to acknowledge that none of Sansa’s siblings have been doing much all on their own either.

Robb leading an army? Yes, with the support of advisors that were loyal to him, and his father’s bannermen that then became his own. A support that he won by the help of his wolf.

Jon? Well Jon needed a lecture from Donal Noye just to get along with the other recruits. Sam had to explain to him why he had been assigned to the stewards; otherwise who knows when he would have stopped seing it as a slight. Qhorin Halfhand told him what to do with the wildlings. Mance would very likely have killed him if Ygritte hadn’t backed up his story. And then of course Sam rigged the election that made him Lord Commander.

“But Arya is cool, she escaped King’s Landing and survived by herself.” Did she now? It seems to me like people are always forgetting how Syrio probably died to allow Arya to escape. How she was stuck hiding in Flea Bottom and couldn’t get out of the city before Yoren found her (and probably also prevented her from being caught by drawing the attention of the guards at Ned’s execution). Then she had help on the road too; she survived with the help of the friends she made on the road, the help of the Brotherhood. Even the Hound saved her life. And Jaqen gave her the means of escaping to Bravos.

Bran and Rickon? Where would they be without the help of Maester Luwin? Without Osha and Hodor? Jojen and Meera? And their direwolves?

Look, I’m not saying that the other Stark kids are useless. But let’s face it; none of them would have been alive for very long without people who were willing to offer them advice and even stick their necks out for them.

Which brings me back to the thing you were actually talking about. Sansa’s major disadvantage here isn’t that she is unable to rise to the occasion and get things done - even though her experiences in AGoT have thought her to things things throughly over before she acts, which might be part of why some people perceive her as passive. Put her real problem is that there have been nobody who was willing to help her. Seriously, not one single person - except maybe Garlan - has ever even offered her as much as a piece of advice that wasn’t meant to trick or demean her.

But even in this trapped situation without the smallest amount of agency - and with her confidence in her own intelligence at a low point - she still doensn’t just sit around doing nothing.

She succesfully manipulates Joffrey on more than one occasion.

She shows the Hound enough kindness that his focus during the bread riots becomes not the prince he is assigned to protect, but rescuing Sansa.

She realises that she can’t trust her servants and acts accordingly.

She steps up on the evening of the Battle of the Blackwater; to help Lancel, to keep the ladies calm.

She tries to warn Margaery about Joffrey - an act of kindness even tough their marriage would benefit herself.

She tells Dontos about the Willas-plot - not a blunder, but because she does want him to do things to prepare her escape in vain.

She manages to hide her meetings with Dontos from everyone, including oh-so-clever Tyrion who takes a keen interest in her movements.

She gets herself away from the wedding to make her planned escape - she doesn’t need to be dragged along by Dontos.

She convincingly lies about Lysa’s death to protect herself.

She manages the household in the Vale.

She gets Robin down from the mountain; no small achievement.

She looks like she is doing fine with “bewitching” Harry too - notice how she went rogue and didn’t do it the way LF suggested at all?

No, Sansa most certainly hasn’t been doing nothing. I really do think people are just missing all the things she does because they don’t involve killing people and/or swinging a sword.

She hasn’t exactly needed people telling her what to do every step of the way either; it’s actually kind of a point in her arc that she’s had to make do completely without someone to trust.

But back to the point I was setting out to make, which was about her doing things without help:

The skills Sansa will need in the future isn’t things like being able to flee the Vale on her own, to survive on her own in the mountains, and make it back to WF, and then kill Ramsay all by herself. Sansa’s future rests on her finding allies to help her do these things; all along using her personal qualifications to convince people that she is worth supporting. Just like people have been helping and supporting her siblings.

If there is one thing I’m sure about, it is that GRRM isn’t writing a story about how the lone wolf survives while the one that relies on a pack dies.

[oshahelpdesk]

Hi, sorry, another question: How does one start an RP? Direct messaging?

When one wants to start an rp with another Osha account, the most common way is just to send an ask, but you can also send a dm! If you want to do anything that is plot heavy or otherwise needs to be planned out in advance, direct messaging is a definite way to go!

You can also respond to a post if it appears to be a prompt for interaction, but please try not to send a reply in a thread that's already underway with two or more people unless you've asked those involved first!

I personally reccomend having your character introduce themself in an ask, I've had many great threads start that way! It depends on the character you're introducing yourself to, of course!

For example, if you choose to introduce yourself to Kishar (osha-janitor) they'll greet you happily, whereas if you introduce yourself to Dr C (oshamedicalclinic) she'll respond professonally, because you're meeting her in her place of work!

Everyone I've interacted with in the community has been very friendly, so feel free to send DMs! I'm sure many people would love to think up an interaction with someone new, if you haven't interacted with them before!

Since your account is called battleship osha, might i suggest ocean-osha? They're a primordeal god of the ocean/bodies of water, so that could certainly be an interesting interaction! You may find other water-based osha accounts to interact with on their account as well!

I hope this helped, I tried to be as thorough as possible!

[catflowerqueen]

I posted 6,943 times in 2022

196 posts created (3%)

6,747 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@dreamwaffles

@scrollingdown

@math-is-magic

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@whatreality

I tagged 4,960 of my posts in 2022

Only 29% of my posts had no tags

#i love cats - 616 posts

#danny phantom - 554 posts

#fnaf security breach - 532 posts

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#mewtwo - 121 posts

#birds - 101 posts

#dogs - 94 posts

Longest Tag: 115 characters

#my personal favorites are number 4 for the “normal job” section and number 1 for the “supernatural reasons” section

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Just saw an interesting discussion between @twinanimatronics and @crazedauthor here about the various jobs that people give Y/Ns in the Daycare Attendant fandom for FNAF Security Breach, and the reasoning behind them. It got me thinking about various scenarios and jobs that Y/Ns could have that, while not the “typical” ones, would still give them job-related reasons to interact with Sun and Moon on a regular basis.

…As well as some very AU scenarios where Y/N might not be entirely “human,” but might still find themselves hanging around.

And some scenarios are better for shipping purposes than others.

I’ll go ahead and put them under a readmore since I ended up thinking of… quite a lot them.

They are all up for grabs in case anyone wants to use them, though if they do end inspiring someone (whether via art or writing), then please @ me so I can take a look?

“Normal” jobs for Y/Ns

1. Remember when Michelle Obama did that thing with nutrition and school lunches? What if the Pizzaplex was also forced to make changes in the meals they serve the daycare attendants (or were just trying to jump on some health craze bandwagon and wanted to use the daycare kids to test some things out since they would basically be a captive audience) and Y/N was a chef or nutritionist hired specifically for the daycare?

2. A not-quite-OSHA person Fazbear’s hired to ensure that the bare minimum in safety standards is attained so that they don’t get in trouble with actual OSHA. They pay special attention to the daycare because parents are more likely to make safety complaints there (and also possibly because the daycare attendants secretly and deliberately break things/put in comments or complaints so that they have an excuse to see Y/N basically every day/night)

3. Random temp agency worker Y/N who keeps getting called to the Pizzaplex, especially after management noticed the positive effect they have on the daycare attendant. But they don’t actually want to give them a full-time position or anything, because then it would mean actually giving them benefits. And we all know how much Fazbear’s hates doing stuff like that.

4. Some sort or artist or designer who was called in to do some redecorating after the Pizzaplex suffered some major fire damage. One of the areas they were told to focus on is the daycare, so they end up spending a lot of time with Sun and Moon. More specifically—at the start, they basically see Sun and Moon as their actual “clients,” (since while Fazbear’s might be the one signing the paycheck, Sun and Moon are the ones who are going to be seeing the art every single day), so they want to make sure they paint something the two of them enjoy, and that they get their input when they can.

(And then even after the paint job is done—whether or not they’re the ones actually doing the painting—they stay on to do things like design promotional materials, flyers, etc. that would star the glamrocks and other animatronics—so they end up spending a lot of time “observing them for modelling purposes”)

5. Some random visitor who just got dragged into the daycare one day while Fazbear’s was trying to find a handler that Sun/Moon wouldn’t maim or otherwise scare off/whichever guard or employee was stationed there that day thought it was their break time or something because Y/N happened to be wearing a shirt that was either the same color or had a similar design to an actual employee’s shirt, and they were too meek/embarrassed/didn’t get the chance to clear up the confusion.

Either they then get hired for real (partially to stave off a potential lawsuit, partially because for some reason Sun and Moon actually liked them/Moon was put off his menacing game by the hilarity of the situation once he figured out what had happened that management just assumed it all worked out and Moon finds the situation funny enough to continue tolerating it), or it just keeps happening repeatedly (because, idk, Y/N is colorblind and doesn’t realize it or just doesn’t understand that the reason they keep getting pulled in is due to their outfits) until they pretty much basically are just an unpaid employee at that point and no one takes notice until, like, tax season or something when the paperwork isn’t matching up. Only then would someone would think to offer them an actual job.

(Hopefully including some amount of back pay and/or refunds for all the entry fees they paid to actually get into the pizzaplex—though that's unlikely, since this is Fazbear’s we’re talking about. Probably they’d just give a hush-money payout) (Also let’s assume that Sun and Moon don’t attack Y/N on sight for being an unauthorized adult in the daycare—this could probably be accomplished via a combination of them actually being in the customer database, since they would have paid an entry fee, and then the act of getting dragged/tossed in by an actual employee or management would put them under the “authorized” section and Sun and Moon would just assume that their being placed in the customer database was just some sort of glitch)

6. Similar to the above, Y/N is the identical twin to an actual employee (possibly one who has gone missing under mysterious circumstances…?) and Sun and Moon’s facial recognition programming gets them confused for their sibling. Then they find Y/N charming or interesting enough that they just don’t bother actually fixing this and/or just manually authorize them to be there.

7. Sort of similar to number 4, except this time Y/N is a musician/composer who was hired to update the music around the Pizzaplex and give the daycare more than one song to play. Again, Y/N wants Sun and Moon’s input since they are the ones who would be listening to the music all the time.

8. A student (possibly even a teenager, if we wanted to go the platonic friendship route) who needs to do community service as part of a civics class or something (like what we had to do in my high school) and chose the daycare. Or possibly an actual student teacher who is doing their required teaching hours at the daycare

9. A children’s book author who periodically comes to the daycare to volunteer so that they can make sure that their material stays relevant to their target audience and basically use the kids as a test audience. Possibly they also were or will get commissioned by Fazbear’s to write children’s stories about Sun, Moon, and the Glamrocks to act as further promotional material

10. Y/N is one of those people who are handlers for dogs and other therapy animals who regularly visits hospital patients and participates in those events where animals get taken to libraries so kids can read to them, thus practicing their own speaking and reading skills. The Pizzaplex regularly hires them to bring their pet/various animals to the daycare kids.

“Supernatural” explanations for Y/Ns continued presence in the daycare

1. Y/N is some form of grim reaper/psychopomp intern whose higher ups assigned them to basically watch Fazbear’s Entertainment as a whole because for some reason (*cough* William Afton messing around with forces he shouldn’t be messing around with—like remnant and glitchtrap possession nonsense *cough*) this industry generates a lot of weird paperwork, and even though it seems to have stopped in recent times (thanks to Gregory being the little menace that he is), they don’t want it happening again. But, also, it isn’t a very “prestigious” position, so they basically threw it to the new person—aka Y/N.

The daycare ends up fascinating them, because they normally aren’t in a position to be able to see people—and especially not children—just getting to happily enjoy living their lives. Usually when they come into contact with children, it is due to understandably sad or distressing circumstances. So this is a nice change of pace for them. …And, also, depending on who or what was actually causing those people to go missing, they might be curious about Sun and Moon for… other reasons.

Cue misunderstandings about the actual job of a grim reaper/psycopomp on Sun and Moon’s part as well as discussions about whether or not AI have “souls,” and “can a robot ever actually die,” the standard waxing philosophical that happens in these kinds of stories. And also probably Sun and Moon hating Y/N at the beginning for either the aforementioned misunderstandings about their actual job, or just plain them not being able to kick the unauthorized (in their minds) vaguely-adult person out of their daycare. Whether or not anyone else can see them is up for debate/the author’s discretion—whether this is because Y/N is actively hiding their presence from others, or if it is some sort of natural defense mechanism or whatever that Sun and Moon (and other animatronics) end up bypassing because they technically aren’t “humans”.

2. Y/N is a Borrower who lives in the Pizzaplex. A couple of possible scenarios here—like, they might come out and greet Sun and Moon directly because their non-human status grants them a loophole in the “don’t be seen by humans” rule. Or, for more angst, their family is gone—presumed (and most likely actually are) dead because the scouts who got sent out to search for a better location to live in the Pizzaplex/outside never came back. The reason they decided to find a better place to live? Sun and Moon are just that good at cleaning that the Borrowers couldn’t even find a single crumb to use as a food source, and the nearest pantry got a better door/lock that they couldn’t get in. Also, the tiny Music Man living in the vents will catch and kill them if they try and use that as a system to get around.

So an initial meeting between Y/N and Sun and Moon would probably involve Y/N deciding to utilize that loophole regarding species to come out and basically beg them for help—whether just to get them to use their giant height and long strides/the security wire to help Y/N travel a longer distance in a way shorter amount of time or to ask for some food because they are literally on the brink of starvation.

3. Y/N is some random ghost who, surprisingly enough, did not get killed due to anything Afton-related, but was still drawn to the Pizzaplex due to the aura of murder/some weird reaction to remnant and just decided to hang out there. Not even as a vengeful spirit or anything—they were basically just bored, and then Sun and Moon caught their attention. Possibly because it’s fun to troll them since they can’t actually kick Y/N out or effectively ban them for being an “unauthorized adult.” Also because the kids like their ghostly shenanigans.

4. Y/N is some sort of “imaginary friend” or “guardian spirit of the daycare” thing brought to life by a mix or weird remnant shenanigans and the power of the children’s imaginations/love and positive feelings for the daycare over a long period of time. They’re tied to the Daycare (at least at first), and it might actually be a situation where Sun and Moon are the ones to introduce them to the concept of the “outside world” (as limited as their own reach is), rather than the usual reverse.

5. A little similar to the above—except Y/N is specifically a beloved toy brought to life Velveteen Rabbit-style.

6. Y/N is a random cat/bird/dog/lizard who somehow found their way into the daycare and ends up basically becoming its mascot by the end. Possibly they were wild, possibly they were brought in specifically as a type of “class pet” scenario to help teach the kids about responsibility.

See the full post

120 notes - Posted September 3, 2022

#4

I do have to wonder in a Danny Phantom and My Hero Academia crossover what Danny and Nedzu’s relationship would be like.

Like. Sure, Danny becoming a half ghost was an accident, but a lot of his fears and the threats he sustains afterwards involve deliberate lab experiments--which is something Nedzu is unfortunately familiar with. Would he feel a sort of kinship with Danny? Or at least try his best to allay those fears?

How would he feel about the whole cloning incident?

Also, I feel like, in general, Danny wouldn’t be all that weirded out by mutation quirks, considering how varied ghosts can be. Possibly he might be intrigued by all the color variations, since he is more used to seeing purples, blues, and greens, but I feel like that’s about it. 

He would probably be annoyed by the lack of advancements into the space program, though, since it seems like the dawn of quirks put a stop to that.

124 notes - Posted January 13, 2022

#3

Another thing about Sun apparently being a theater kid: This definitely explains why one of the bribes he tried on Gregory when he went behind the security desk was a puppet show.

Like. I thought that was a little weird that was his go-to activity (and presumably the glitter glue and googly eyes was so that Gregory could create his own hand puppets or something?), since it seems something like candy or drawing or playing a game would make for a quicker distraction--and then maybe he could segue into some sort of more involved activity once he'd caught Gregory's attention.

But Sun resorting to a fallback like that, something he knows for sure he is good at (at least as far as Fazbear's standards go, since I imagine that a lot of the plays he would put on probably involved product placement of some sort. And likely Moon played a "Hamburglar" role or something) and which is comfortingly familiar, makes a ton more sense.

And also explains why the theater is still considered part of the daycare--they just built it as an offshoot, probably so they wouldn't have to fiddle as much with his permissions as far as movement restrictions went.

124 notes - Posted November 22, 2022

#2

I feel like Lance Thunder has the capacity to be an extremely terrifying ghost. He already comes pre-loaded with the obsession of being a weatherman, especially since he never seems to actually get to do his actual job and is instead forced to report on ghosts. I'm betting that would leave some major rage and unfinished business.

314 notes - Posted June 30, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

What if the Lazarus pits, in addition to being the equivalent of ghost alcohol, were actually the literal remnants of Pariah Dark's "wine cellar"?

Imagine one day Ra's al Ghul goes to check on the pits and finds one of those skeleton ghost things from Reign Storm blocking the entrance because it's tied to Pariah, and him being awake for Reign Storm means that he and the other weird skeleton ghost things are back to doing their assigned duties--and this guy happened to be the guard for the "wine cellar."

So Ra's and his buddies try and fail to get rid of the guy, only for him to poof away as soon as Pariah gets shoved back in his coffin.

They think they are victorious/pass the incident off as "weird pit nonsense"... and then are thrown for a loop four or so years down the line when Danny ascends the throne and the "wine cellar" gets new, even more terrifying guards whose radius for protecting the cellar is even wider since the new king is under the drinking age--for both his human and especially his ghost halves.

Also probably there's some sort of shenanigans where the ghost of a relative of Alfred is assigned the duty of head butler for the Keep and Danny's new properties and arrives with the intent of hiring someone to be in charge of the "cellar" specifically, since Danny is more into delegation of tasks than his predecessor. Cue a horde of ghosts with sommelier obsessions descending on Gotham, all vying for the position.

(Alternatively, the Fright Knight or someone just goes to Alfred directly to ask him to do the interviews for the sommelier ghosts because his status as The Best Butler Ever is so legendary that it is known even in the Infinite Realms, and since they can't get their king the actual best--since Alfred is still alive and even as a ghost would be utterly devoted to his family over all else, even his monarch--getting someone vetted by The Best Butler Ever will at least give their king the Second-Best Ever when it comes to all things sommelier.)

1,547 notes - Posted August 28, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[agentrouka-blog]

@ ygritte hate post. In broad strokes, we agree Jon and Sansa are on parallel journeys, there is also plenty of parallels between Hound's sexual assault night with Jon and Ygritte (steel kiss, hand on face, and so on). (1/3)

Then Jon gets into it at the water pool, that is his "unkiss", no doubt. Notice though, the details about him getting riled up by sex red hair, she saying she is half-fish, debating fucking your own sister. I'm forgetting stuff of course. I'm sure that chapter is rife with that. (2/3)

Jonsa fans have speculated over Unkiss being a cover for another kiss (always with the cousins, the blood and fire cloak, and so forth). It could be that cave means much the same for him. Like said they are on parallel journeys and there's all those throwbacks to each other. (3/3)

So like Sansa, Jon is repressing something there. Something that happened in the winterfell pools. Bran remembers bathing with his sisters, but unlike Bran (who did saw OSHA getting out of one in that segment), Jon saw something that was a revelation. Like Florian when he saw Jonquil bathing with her sisters. Something red and then wanted to kiss, not downstairs but upstairs. Maybe he did... and maybe Ned caught him at it, because he later dreams of being caught there being innapropriate. (4/3)

In the dream he screams he will never father a abstard, he hates being one for they are lustful creatures born of lust and lies. Like lusting after their sisters. Its not like he is a Targaryen! Distraught, Jon decides to prove his nature wrong. He is not a deviant because he is a bastard lusting after his sister! So he decides to go to the Nights Watch, where he'll be chaste ever. Maybe. Kind of creepy but funny. It all comes together too, all those tidbits that are otherwise scattered. (5/3)

PS: Six maidens in the pool... Six Stark children. Not seven for once either way. And so Jon says in the show "we should have never left Winterfell" because it echoes the We shouldn't have left the cave. And Jon says they'll go back and Yggrite yaps You Know Nothing, but he was right. Jon will go back with the real redhead Sansa, back to Winterfell real pools. (6/3)

Thank you!! This ask really sent my brain whirring.

I already like the idea of the Unkiss drawing from a repressed memory, but I hadn’t noticed how the Ygritte memory-edit might interlock with that. 

We have this confirmation that they were fairly natural and relaxed about nudity among children:

"Might be there isn't." She grinned. "What are you staring at, boy? Never seen a woman before?"

"I have so." Bran had bathed with his sisters hundreds of times and he'd seen serving women in the hot pools too. Osha looked different, though, hard and sharp instead of soft and curvy. Her legs were all sinew, her breasts flat as two empty purses. "You've got a lot of scars." (ACOK, Bran II) 

Hundreds of times. We know Sansa associated hot water in a bath with Winterfell. 

The hot water made her think of Winterfell, and she took strength from that. She had not washed since the day her father died, and she was startled at how filthy the water became. (AGOT, Sansa VI)

So does Jon:

It was short walk to the bathhouse, where he took a cold plunge to wash the sweat off and soaked in a hot stone tub. The warmth took some of the ache from his muscles and made him think of Winterfell's muddy pools, steaming and bubbling in the godswood. Winterfell, he thought. (ASOS, Jon XII)

Then we have the image of the Water Gardens.

It was Daenerys who filled the gardens with laughing children. Her own children at the start, but later the sons and daughters of lords and landed knights were brought in to be companions to the boys and girls of princely blood. And one summer's day when it was scorching hot, she took pity on the children of her grooms and cooks and serving men and invited them to use the pools and fountains too, a tradition that has endured till this day." (…) 

As the children splashed in the pools, Daenerys watched from amongst the orange trees, and a realization came to her. She could not tell the highborn from the low. Naked, they were only children. All innocent, all vulnerable, all deserving of long life, love, protection. 

(ADWD, The Watcher)

And we know that the children of all ranks played together in the godswood, too. 

He had watched wistfully while the Walders contested with Turnip the cook's boy and Joseth's girls Bandy and Shyra. The Walders had decreed that Bran should be the judge and decide whether or not people had said "Mayhaps," but as soon as they started playing they forgot all about him.

The shouts and splashes soon drew others: Palla the kennel girl, Cayn's boy Calon, TomToo whose father Fat Tom had died with Bran's father at King's Landing. Before very long, every one of them was soaked and muddy. Palla was brown from head to heel, with moss in her hair, breathless from laughter. Bran had not heard so much laughing since the night the bloody raven came. (ACOK, Bran I)

It’s fair to conclude that the Jon and the Starklings may indeed have not just played but also bathed together in the godswood. 

There is an interesting association with Maidenpool, which is tied to the romance of Florian and Jonquil.

At Maidenpool, Lord Mooton's red salmon still flew above the castle on its hill, but the town walls were deserted, the gates smashed, half the homes and shops burned or plundered. They saw nothing living but a few feral dogs that went slinking away at the sound of their approach. The pool from which the town took its name, where legend said that Florian the Fool had first glimpsed Jonquil bathing with her sisters, was so choked with rotting corpses that the water had turned into a murky grey-green soup.

Jaime took one look and burst into song. "Six maids there were in a spring-fed pool . . ."

"What are you doing?" Brienne demanded.

"Singing. 'Six Maids in a Pool,' I'm sure you've heard it. And shy little maids they were, too. Rather like you. Though somewhat prettier, I'll warrant."

(ASOS, Jaime III)

Jonquil bathed with ther sisters, when Florian first glimpsed her.

The pool becomes filthy and spoiled. Like Sansa’s bathwater, but also like the muddy Winterfell pools. Choked with corpses?

When the dreams took him, he found himself back home once more, splashing in the hot pools beneath a huge white weirwood that had his father's face. Ygritte was with him, laughing at him, shedding her skins till she was naked as her name day, trying to kiss him, but he couldn't, not with his father watching. He was the blood of Winterfell, a man of the Night's Watch. I will not father a bastard, he told her. I will not. I will not. "You know nothing, Jon Snow," she whispered, her skin dissolving in the hot water, the flesh beneath sloughing off her bones until only skull and skeleton remained, and the pool bubbled thick and red.  (ASOS, Jon VI)

The memory edit and the switch toward “love” in the cave is mirrored in this rather defiant dream, that recalls the pools at home, his father’s watching face, but also the laughter at home in the godswood. A pool in a sacred place spoiled with death. 

A memory spoiled by trauma.

Dany, who I would argue is a character strongly foreshadowed in Ygritte, has her own association with sacred pools.

They rode to the lake the Dothraki called the Womb of the World, surrounded by a fringe of reeds, its water still and calm. A thousand thousand years ago, Jhiqui told her, the first man had emerged from its depths, riding upon the back of the first horse.

The procession waited on the grassy shore as Dany stripped and let her soiled clothing fall to the ground. Naked, she stepped gingerly into the water. Irri said the lake had no bottom, but Dany felt soft mud squishing between her toes as she pushed through the tall reeds. The moon floated on the still black waters, shattering and re-forming as her ripples washed over it. Goose pimples rose on her pale skin as the coldness crept up her thighs and kissed her lower lips. The stallion's blood had dried on her hands and around her mouth. Dany cupped her fingers and lifted the sacred waters over her head, cleansing herself and the child inside her while the khal and the others looked on.  (AGOT, Daenerys V)

This recalls Ygritte in the pools and Sansa in her filthy bath. But the presence of the blood of a horse slaughtered for her to eat its heart, the presence of the Stallion that Mounts the World, the prophecy and the things we know comes after... all that is ominous and the kiss of the cold is unlikely to be tender. 

"When you find yourself in bed with an ugly woman, the best thing to do is close your eyes and get on with it," he declared. "Waiting won't make the maid any prettier. Kiss her and be done with it."

"Kiss her?" Ser Barristan repeated, aghast.

"A steel kiss," said Littlefinger. (AGOT, Eddard VIII)

or..

But the Dornishman's blade had a song of its own,

and a bite sharp and cold as a leech. (ASOS, Jon I)

or...

Then the steel was at her throat, and its bite was red and cold. (ASOS, Catelyn VII)

The layers in this… 

Anyway, there’s foreshadowing to Dany in the Ygritte mess, but it’s not exactly happy, while the Sansa connections in there tend to be positive. Sweet and foul all mixed up.

Sansa “remembering” the Unkiss in relation to kissing children (Margaery’s Girls, Sweetrobin) and with “awful” memories (Myranda’s wedding night)  has that same air of mixing something rotten with something that had been perhaps sweet but confusing. I.e. covering a traumatic event with something else. 

Then there’s another interesting association with the incest peach.

As she sat in the common room in her stupid girl clothes, Arya remembered what Syrio Forel had told her, the trick of looking and seeing what was there. When she looked, she saw more serving wenches than any inn could want, and most of them young and comely. And come evenfall, lots of men started coming and going at the Peach. They did not linger long in the common room, not even when Tom took out his woodharp and began to sing "Six Maids in a Pool." The wooden steps were old and steep, and creaked something fierce whenever one of the men took a girl upstairs. "I bet this is a brothel," she whispered to Gendry.

 (ASOS, Arya V)

Right after this they meet Gendry’s half-sister Bella, a “peach” at the Peach.

“I’m named Bella,” the girl told Gendry. “For the battle. I bet I could ring your bell, too. You want to?”

“No,” he said gruffly.

“I bet you do.” She ran a hand along his arm. “I don’t cost nothing to friends of Thoros and the lightning lord.”

“No, I said.” Gendry rose abruptly and stalked away from the table out into the night. 

Bella turned to Arya. “Don’t he like girls?”

While the bell recalls Dany, we should remember that 

Sansa plays “the high harp and the bells” (AGOT, Arya I) 

“Bella” translates to Beauty 

this scene is an unsubtle shout-out to Jon stalking out of the welcoming feast after Benjen teased him about fathering bastards and knowing a woman. After calling Sansa radiant. (AGOT, Jon I) 

So the Dany hints are joined by the Sansa hints. The Dany hints are negative (bells = battle), the Sansa ones positive (bells = music). Why are the Sansa hints there at all?

Before anyone goes “Jonrya!”, remember:

For half a heartbeat she forgot who she was supposed to be. She wasn't any peach, but she couldn't be Arya Stark either, not here with some smelly drunk she did not know. "I'm . . ."

"She's my sister." Gendry put a heavy hand on the old man's shoulder, and squeezed. "Leave her be." (ASOS, Arya V)

Arya is not a peach, she is a sister. Little sister. 

And there’s this:

He liked the deep, sweet ache it left in the muscles afterward. He liked the way the air tasted way up high, sweet and cold as a winter peach. He liked the birds: the crows in the broken tower, the tiny little sparrows that nested in cracks between the stones, the ancient owl that slept in the dusty loft above the old armory. Bran knew them all.  (AGOT, Bran II)

Jon only tastes the cold when silver-haired Val tastes sweetness in the air, but way up high the winter peach makes the air taste sweet, too. 

"Sweet smells are sometimes used to cover foul ones." (ACOK, Daenerys II)

But foul smells might cover sweet ones, too. The Unkiss covers a bitter trauma, but perhaps it was drawn from a more innocent kiss in the past.

The naked red-haired girl by the water might trigger a rewrite of Jon’s perception of Ygritte, but it might draw that from a different kind of confusion, surrounding the same memories that feed Sansa’s editing.

The godswood is certainly a stage for kissing:

As she stood there, all the memories came flooding back to her. Her father had taught her to ride amongst these trees, and that was the elm that Edmure had fallen from when he broke his arm, and over there, beneath that bower, she and Lysa had played at kissing with Petyr.

She had not thought of that in years. How young they all had been — she no older than Sansa, Lysa younger than Arya, and Petyr younger still, yet eager. The girls had traded him between them, serious and giggling by turns. (…)

Robb got to his feet slowly and sheathed his sword, and Catelyn found herself wondering whether her son had ever kissed a girl in the godswood. Surely he must have.  (AGOT, Catelyn XI)

Memories that flood back, young children, innocent games that have consequences much later on, a specific Connection drawn to the Starklings and the Winterfell godswood.

More kissing:

 "I won't! I saw you kissing in the snow. She's just like her mother. Catelyn kissed you in the godswood, but she never meant it, she never wanted you. (ASOS, Sansa VII)

and yet more...

Theon Greyjoy was no stranger to this godswood. He had played here as a boy, skipping stones across the cold black pool beneath the weirwood, hiding his treasures in the bole of an ancient oak, stalking squirrels with a bow he made himself. Later, older, he had soaked his bruises in the hot springs after many a session in the yard with Robb and Jory and Jon Snow. In amongst these chestnuts and elms and soldier pines he had found secret places where he could hide when he wanted to be alone. The first time he had ever kissed a girl had been here. Later, a different girl had made a man of him upon a ragged quilt in the shade of that tall grey-green sentinel. (ADWD, The Prince of Winterfell)

Starklings, kissing and the hot springs all in a paragraph.

I would say there is material here. If GRRM wants to write about Sansa and Jon sharing a memory that involves the hot springs, kissing and references to Florian and Jonquil, he will have planted the hints. It would certainly be a bit poetic if both of them used the same memory soup to create their trauma responses.

**

Before anyone tries to accuse me of hypocrisy when it comes to age gaps, abuse etc. I do not think this was a case of Jon perving on his young sister. Cat was 12 when she played kissing games with a much younger Petyr and Lysa, and I don’t think we are supposed to consider this a threesome. It’s child’s play. That’s my angle here.