#and i was hungry for more of it for roughly 10 years

[leona-florianova]

What I miss in Stampede and I miss it more and more with each episode... are all those people who are just surviving on Gunsmoke, while trying to make the best of it..those people who usually appear only for a moment, but make the place feel much more lively..Living their own stories...They are also a reminder for who its worth surviving and fighting for... All those random, yet charming individuals like: shopkeepers, round grandmas, sheriffs and their deputies, majors, hooligans,  little kids n their parents or guardians, bus drivers, shoemakers, plant technicians, bartenders, fellow travellers, doctors and nurses, postal workers, rude gawkers, soldiers, drunkards, clerks, sandsteamer workers, and gangsters who could change their ways. A WHOLE WORLD OF INTERESTING PEOPLE.

TLDR: I just adore interesting background characters and there are almost none in TRISTAMP

**under the cut is my compillation of some of the background characters from both the manga, few of the 98 episodes.. and like.. most of the background characters from first 7 episodes of stampede..

meanwhile trigun stampede is like

most of the background characters, even the more important ones, who drive the story forward, are either amalgams of many different people from the manga and 98 anime or they are quite bland and too characterless..reduced to parts of the background or collateral... and the world feels much emptier for it. (my love goes to those 3 insect hunters, those guys were great and what i want more of..they were also 2D animated) ...

And not to mention there are only about 8 models of basic citizens with two different skin tones of white, extreme same face syndrome, and most of them are thin except one slightly rounder fella..

there are also only about 2 models of goons for different factions, just with different clothes (the sandsteamer workers are all also the same guy...)

and they all are kinda quiet and vacant... except the masked ones, cause nobody had to animate their lips moving and faces emoting...and except those two ladies who got shredded by knives..

While even more barren world can be charming too, this...

This..this saddens me..

[retroellie]

Polluted

Summary: After a long day of work, Spencer comes home and fucks his stresses away.

A/N: This was written in literally 45 minutes but I had this idea and I couldn't make it into a full fic, my mind could only think of the smut part lmao. Enjoy!!! :)

Warnings: NSFW, slapping, degradation, squirting, unprotected sex, mean!spencer

Word count: 1.9K

Prison changed Spencer Reid, plain and simple. This is not the man you came to love. He was cruel, possessive, completely and utterly damaged. You hoped that prison wouldn't taint Spencer too much, you hoped that he would continue to be sweet little Dr. Spencer Reid. But you knew what prison could do to a person, for you locked people up daily. You knew that the system would take Spencer's old soul and soft heart into its muddy hands, squeezing them until they became one. Although sometimes in the right lighting, in the right moment, you can see a hint of Spencer in his light brown eyes.

You can't say that you hated the change in Spencer, obviously there was much work to be done before Spencer could truly be himself again. However, you could live with this change. He was hungry, feeling as though your body was the only thing that could fill that hunger. It was extremely attractive to you, his sudden hunger for you. Spencer was always using you, using your body or your mouth or your hands... just you. There was always an excuse for him to be inside of you in his mind. A man thought of looking at you? He bent you over the kitchen table. You wore a shirt that showed a bit of your chest? He dragged you into the bathroom and forced you onto your knees. You smiled at him? He would shove his face between your thighs until you couldn't even see straight.

Even on the way back home after he had gotten out of prison, he bent you over the backseat on the side of the road and fucked you roughly. It felt like you were stepping on eggshells every time around him because you never know what can set him off... it was oddly scandalous, almost arousing as the thought of how he'd fuck you next was always on your mind. A big plus was that spencer dug himself into your brain, pulling out your deepest and darkest kinks, and using them to give you earth-shattering, mind-blowing, life-changing orgasms. Now you don't think you two could ever go back to just plain sex. He had ruined you, ruined your body so much that only the thought of being hurt could get you off now.

"Fucking bitch..." Spencer spat out, his hand spreading your legs further open as his cock drilled into your soaked cunt. "That bitch looked at me like I was fucking stupid..."

His words came out breathy and jagged as he fucked into you at an animalistic pace. Spencer came home today upset, his tie being ripped off and thrown down as soon as he got into the door. You knew something was up by this action, but also the look on his face. He seemed to have a frown sewn onto his face, something that he wore most days. You asked what was wrong but you were met with him ripping off your clothes, hinting that he didn't want to talk but to fuck his frustrations into you. Now here you were, panties ripped off, legs wide open, Spencer deep inside you with his hand placed on your neck.

You couldn't tell how many times you came just in this position alone, you couldn't keep count. His hand gripped your through, affecting the way your brain functioned. You felt with every thrust of Spencer's hips you would lose brain cells... creating the dumb cock whore that Spencer ached to achieve. Spencer's hand applied more pressure to your throat as he thought of what happened at work, how while section chief Erin Strauss critiqued his work, people were being murdered.

"As if my 187 IQ wasn't enough for her." He started, his hand on your thigh being slammed down past your face and into the wooden table he was drilling you into. " I mean, I've been at this place for over 10 years... I know what I'm fucking doing"

You came again, not able to keep yourself from unraveling now. His hand on your throat was constricting your moans, completely silencing them as the only thing that could come out of your mouth was soft gurgles. You loved this feeling, knowing that at any moment if you didn't like it you could alert Spencer and he'd stop immediately. I guess you could say that Spencer's care for you never disappeared after prison, he would go on to say that it strengthened his love for you. He had this picture of you that you had sent him in one of your many letters, he kept it with him everywhere he went for it was the only thing that kept him sane.

One time a fellow inmate saw it, snatched it from him, and digested every single inch of you. He went on to explain the disgusting things he would do to you if he got the chance, that is exactly why Spencer came home to fuck you nice and good every night. Because if he wasn't the one to do it, he knew that other people would take you for granted, they would spend only minutes with you... ignoring what you needed and taking what they wanted. You would feel incomplete, unsatisfied, and completely in denial that love existed. You would assume love was only made for books and movies, that no one could show you the love you deserved. This is the love you deserve. You deserve a love that could have you coming undone over and over again, a harsh and mean kind of love but that always ended with soft kisses and a nice hot bath. A love that was sour at first but ended sweet, making sure that the words "i love you" were carved onto your skin.

"You wouldn't do that would you?" He whispered into your ear, his grip on your throat as he waited for your response. " You don't think I'm stupid ...hmm?"

His cock was too deep inside you, it was deep enough to have you going cross-eyed and unable to speak. Your moans became audible now, no longer being stuck in your throat due to his pressure being released. His pace was still inhumanly fast, not stopping even for a second. The table had started to shit forward, being scrapped across the floor and probably worrying the downstairs neighbors. You were on the verge of cumming again, your mind not even able to comprehend his question until you felt a harsh sting on your cheek. Spencer had slapped you across the face, growing impatient while waiting for your answer.

"Answer me...." He hissed out, leaning down and taking his lips to yours. He bit down on your lip, creating a pain that shot through your body. "Or I'm going to make you cum over and over and over again until you can't think of anything else besides my cock deep inside your tight little pussy..."

You could taste blood now, your lip bleeding and seeping into your mouth. His words created this deep, rough knot in your stomach. It wasn't like the rest of the orgasms you had tonight, no it was more intense. It hurt, painful with every thrust of his cock. It created a deep pain and pleasure dynamic in your body but felt like something was trying to claw itself out of your body.

"Fuck..." You screamed out, grabbing onto him and digging your fingernails into his back. "No I wouldn't! Fuck... I wouldn't! I won't!"

You finally replied, hoping with those words he would deepen his thrust if that was even possible. Spencer just grinned down at you, placing his head in between your shoulder blade and your neck. He set soft kisses to the skin, his warm lips against your burning skin. Spencer was close, your words pushing him further to the edge. The feeling inside your stomach didn't stop or dull, it only got worse. You were screaming now, Spencer's hand lingering on your neck but sitting gently on your skin. Spencer picked up his speed, the table scraping against the floor even harder.

You couldn't handle it, everything around you becoming so far away yet being so close. The feeling got to a point of feeling terrifyingly painful but also so potent of pleasure and so bewitching that you didn't want it to end now. A couple more of Spencer's deep and harsh thrusts sent you over the edge, the painful knot in your stomach snapping and shooting liquid out of your body. It was the first time you had ever squirted, the feeling so glorious that you wished it would happen every time. Your vision went out, only seeing light and hearing Spencer's soft moans as he finished inside of you. The world felt like it ended, nothing to be seen or to be experienced... just emptiness but complete fullness all at the same time.

"Good girl..." You heard Spencer's words echo through your now-empty mind. You couldn't tell if your eyes were closed or not. "You did so good for me honey... I'm so proud of you."

Those single words were all you needed to hear as you floated back to earth and into your body, you blinked a couple times... forgetting where and who you were for a split second. You came back to see Spencer brushing your hair back from your sweaty face, his face inches from yours as his face filled with concern that maybe he had broken you finally.

"There she is..." He chuckled softly, kissing your lips softly. " There's my girl..."

You gave him a weak smile, raise your hand to rest on his cheek. You rubbed it softly, feeling the growing stubble on his face. He was just as sweaty as you, his body hot to the touch. You two probably looked insane, one of you barely able to walk looking beat the hell up and the other one scratched up and drenched with liquids. Spencer gently slid himself out of you, watching you wince softly as it felt like he was connected to you at this point.

"Sorry..." He whispered, taking your hand in his as he rubbed your thigh gently "I was too rough huh?"

Rough was not even close to what Spencer was. He was brutal, sadistic, barbaric but you couldn't deny that you would choose it over compassion any day. You began to think that maybe prison was the best thing that could've happened to Spencer Reid, not only was he a genius but he now had a powerful glow to him. Shy kisses and longing gazes were a thing of the past for you two, Spencer knew what he wanted and he was going to get it.

"You were just rough enough..." I chuckled, feeling nothing but content and at peace in this moment.

Spencer laughed with you, pecking your lips one last time before pulling away from you. He looked around, his eyes landing on the couch. He smiled, walking over and leaving you but only for a second. He came back with a blanket, wrapping it around you then picking you up bridal style. You thanked him silently because you knew there was no way you were getting off the table without some kind of help.

"To the bath you go..." He joked, holding you close to him as he walked you to your shared bathroom. 

You looked into his eyes and at the right lighting, the right moment, you looked into his light brown eyes... realizing that this is Spencer Reid. This is Spencer Reid damaged, polluted, and bruised... but it was still the man you fell in love with all those years ago.

[ravenyenn19]

Six of Crows future head cannon:

Alby Rollins joins the Dregs.

Picture it: 1920’s-esque Ketterdam, 10 years post Sweet Reef/ Ice Court. Slick Rolls Royce cars line the cobbled streets, a city spiraling toward a new age. Rain drenches the obscure signs & hidden arrows pointing to the Speak-Easy halls. In a time of prohibition… down, down, down must one go in the Barrel to find the most notorious of them all. A slice of sin, six feet under. A crowd drunk off vice served in black tea cups.

The young man walks into Kaz Brekker’s office (after fighting his way there), sits himself in a chair opposite a great obsidian desk. Winded & lip still bleeding from his tousle with the men at the doors, Alby wheezes: “Teach me.”

In turn, A near 30 year old Kaz smirks. “I thought lions preferred their pride.”

Alby, barely pushing 17, gives a smile of a golden boy, nervous but strong enough to hold the gaze of a devil. (He’s practiced.) “I thought Crows scavengers. Here I am, a shine for the taking.”

“Still have that crow, little lion?” A feminine shadow whispers from the corner. Unnoticed by the young man previously, he clicks his teeth but still refuses to show fear. A serpent-like bead of sweat slides down his spine, a shiver chasing after. He holds firm, biting his cheek to hide the startle.

He knows this shadow, this phantom. She haunted him, once.

“I buried it with my father,” the Kaelish prince whispers, “or rather, in place of him. Never did find a body. Pity.” He shrugs.

Kaz’s eyes glint like a cat’s, his smile a loaded gun. A gloved hand stretches halfway across the table in offering. “All right, cub. What do you want?”

Alby reaches forward, feeling the cold black leather of Dirtyhands’ grip between his fingers. The moment is a stormy crossroads, a whip between his shoulders reminiscent of his father’s favorite belt. He smiles, for this is a pain Alby has been walking toward since the day he woke up clutching stuffed black feathers.

(His blood never did bleed emerald.)

More than one answer to Kaz’s stinging question come to mind, nettles along the path of his thoughts. Yet, only one pricks Alby into speaking, the rage in his voice real rather than bravado. “Revenge.”

The Wraith giggles roughly, slipping herself to the arm of Kaz’s chair on silent feet. Alby swallows.

“On me?” The leader of the Dregs rasps, a brow peaked with amusement. His wife smiles with closed lips, knives glinting along her body like hungry specters. For here, her teeth are shown. Alby knows she Captain’s a fleet of the deadliest ships in the True Sea. He drags his gaze from her quickly.

“No.” Alby stutters, but he does not lie. Kaz Brekker bested his abusive father, and he does not care about Pekka’s death. In fact, sitting with the suspected murderers, Alby finds he rather prefers their company.

Kaz reclines in his chair, a hand lazily splayed on Captain Ghafa’s knee. He regards Alby with black eyes, a sharpness that pierces through his strength but doesn’t shatter it. A blade meant to probe. A test of mettle. Alby has waited too long for this audience, he cannot lose it. A moment passes.

Dirtyhands looks to his wife, his Wraith. She quirks her head in the silent exchange. Six heart beats have passed, and Alby Rollins is certain he won’t leave this room. He waits for the snap of a cane to bank his vision, a warm blanket of red to cover him from the jugular down.

He waits for death, but does not invite it. It does not come.

Instead, a voice like choking smoke, “Then let us begin.”

Alby Rollins releases a breath. His knuckles loosen in parts. A tattooist is called in.

The Crow & Cup bleeds as it settles, accepting the fresh skin as it’s master’s tithe.

Alby sits taller, a prince of a different kind, a darker throne.

I don’t make the rules but this is now my personal agenda & important that u agree

Crap now I have to put it in a fic

Should I do it?

[happilyhertale]

Long Lost Love - Aemond Targaryen x female!reader, Part 4

Summary: You are the daughter of Daemon and Rhaenyra. When the invitation to Aegon and Helaena's wedding came, your entire family rushes from Dragonstone to King's Landing to take part in the festivities. You haven't seen your family in King's Landing for 6 years so you are very excited...

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x fem!reader

Warnings: At the beginning none – eventually smut (uncle/niece)

Author’s note: Hello you! (:

This is my first fic so please be nice (: I thought I'd just try a little self-considered story. I hope u like it.

The events are not entirely similar from the series.

English is my second language, please forgive me if I made any mistakes (:

Word count: 4.4k

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7a, Part 7b, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

The next morning announced itself with bright sunshine. But you didn't get much of that.

Due to your drunken state, you slept until late in the morning. You were slowly awakened by the rays of the sun that crept through your chambers and by now reached your face. Your thoughts, slowly moving back to the here and now, make you smile. You don't know exactly why your thoughts make you so happy, but you blame Aemond for it.

Your thoughts steal back to the moment when you were pressed tightly against Aemond. And again that unknown beautiful feeling comes back. The more you think about it, the clearer it becomes that you don't really have a clear idea of what follows a kiss between a man and a woman. Until now, you were quite happy that your father didn't bother you with conversations about what happens between men and women. You couldn't imagine anything more unpleasant than talking to your father about what your future husband will do to you. But the thought of what your father would do to the lord who will touch you makes you chuckle.

Anyway, you're not stupid either. You're not consistently ignorant on the matter. You are roughly aware of what it takes for a woman and a man to give themselves to each other, but you are not entirely sure. After all, Daemon is your father. He is known not to keep any of his comments to himself, and Daemon has spoken to your brothers on the matter. You know this because Jace came to you about it, because he wanted to proudly tell you something you had no idea about. However, when the subject became too uncomfortable for you, you covered his mouth, to which Jace only replied with a laugh. You are not quite sure why your father does not talk to you about it and prepare you for what to expect. Maybe he just doesn't want you to know, or maybe he's just uncomfortable talking to his daughter about it.

Anyway, you begin to realise how hungry you actually are. As you sit up in bed, you see yesterday's clothes lying on the floor. This brings back the thoughts of Aemond and you blush again at the thought of how close you were to him. A smile creeps onto your face. Shaking your head, you clasp both hands together over your face. On your way to the breakfast hall, you are sure that your family is already having breakfast. And you were right, when you came into the breakfast hall, everyone was sitting there. Light conversations and quiet laughter showed what a relaxed atmosphere there was at the table. Everyone was eating, drinking or talking. Everyone except Aemond. He was nowhere to be seen.

A little disappointed, you walk straight up to your father. As you pass your grandfather, King Viserys, and Alicent, you greet them both. Both smile warmly at you. You sit down next to your father and he smiles at you. You smile back and give him a kiss on the cheek. This is a little ritual that is a remnant from your childhood.

"Morning."

He smiles slightly at you, "Almost too late for a "morning", isn't it?"

"The wine tasted too good yesterday, I had to rest a little longer," you say calmly. Daemon just nods at your answer. As you dreamily push your food back and forth on your plate, your father looks at you. After a while he says "Well, are you thinking of what to wear to the ball today?"

"Daddy, no... argh I can't believe mother told you that" Your hand wanders over your eyes. Daemon chuckles, "Oh come on, it's no big deal. You just have a little crush." He notices that you don't go for it and that it makes you uncomfortable. Even though he likes to tease you, he doesn't like to see you being that uncomfortable. He sighs, "It's normal for your age to start finding men attractive. And let's face it, Dragonstone doesn't exactly have the biggest selection of potential lovers..."

".. Oh, Dad, please, can we change the subject? I really don't want to sit here at the table with our family talking about who I might like or who I might want as a lover."

"Ah, so you like him?", he examines you closely.

"Dad! Please stop it!"

"Why? He's not even here, he's already at the training yard. He probably needs to get rid of his inappropriate thoughts."

You look at him angrily. He returns your gaze with a look you know well. He is trying to annoy you.

"All right, I'll stop already. But that brings me to another topic. Are you planning to train while we're here? You haven't even asked me yet."

"Mhm I don't know, I haven't thought about it."

"No? How unusual of you, on Dragonstone you seem to have no other thoughts."

"On Dragonstone you don't have anything else to do either."

"There is no Aemond on Dragonstone, you mean?". You punch him lightly on the arm. He laughs at your attempt to hurt him.

"I'm sure Aemond would love to see you fight sometime. I hear he is an excellent swordsman. He doesn't have any experience on the battlefield yet, but I hear he has some good skills anyway. And even you are quite good at fighting... sometimes" When you give him another annoyed look, he winks at you.

"Okay father, if it makes you happy, we can train together soon. If it finally tempts you to leave Aemond out of our conversations. And if you can't, I can finally show you what will happen if you keep teasing me like that" Daemon chuckles and kisses your head, "Oh my little impulsive dragon"

You were still a little disappointed not to see Aemond at breakfast, but your father managed to steer your thoughts in another direction. You really hadn't thought about a little swordplay yet. Your father was right, it is quite unusual for you. You love to hold a sword in your hand and work a little on your skills. Instead, you now regularly worry about what dress to wear to dinner. Your father was also right when he said you train a lot on Dragonstone. Well, your father is right about that too, there is no Aemond on Dragonstone. Oh how you don't like it when your father is right about so many things.

Your thoughts revolve around tonight and which dress to wear. There is a big ball coming up, the first of many. The festivities for the upcoming wedding of Aegon and Helaena are supposed to last almost two weeks. For your taste, that's a bit much excitement for a wedding, but well, Aegon likes to drink, and anything that makes him happy will ultimately make Helaena happier.

As you stand in front of your dresses, one in particular catches your eye. You have many such dresses, but this one seems right for today. It is white with golden embellishments. It is off-the-shoulder, which accentuates your delicate neck and cleavage. Your cleavage is further flattered by a plunging neckline. The deep neckline is rounded off by a centre slit that ends below your ribcage. The cleavage is held together with four narrow golden buckles. You really like how it shows off your breasts. For many young women it would be impossible to wear such a dress. But your parents give you a lot of freedom and they are very relaxed when it comes to you.

You have free choice in your dresses and have never been forced to learn what a real lady has to learn. You are most grateful to your parents, however, that they do not force you to marry some fat old lord. Yes, sure, you have to marry, but the choice is yours who you marry. Such a thing is very unusual and you don't know if any other lady has ever had the good fortune to choose her own husband. But thank the gods, you may choose him yourself. And you owe a lot of that to your mother. She was fortunate that the husband assigned to her was a loving man, but it was not a love match. Laenor Velaryon was a very dear and good husband and every memory you have of him is always positive. But still, there is no denying the fact that the marriage did not work. Your mother only found happiness in marriage with your father. And your mother wants to spare you that. She wants you to marry because you want to and that you marry the right man, at best out of love. 

You look at yourself in the mirror and you are quite happy with your appearance.

When your door opens without warning and your brothers are standing in your chambers. "Ever heard of knocking?"

"On Dragonstone, we come into your chambers all the time without notice. Without knocking."

"Yeah Luce, but this isn't Dragonstone. After all, I might have visitors."

"Exactly, who wants to be in your chambers with you" Luce chuckles as you try to smack him.

"Wow but Y/N look how pretty you look. Would you like to make your first attempts at finding a husband today?", Jace knows exactly how you feel about this subject, "I hear a lot of lords and ladies have already arrived."

"No... I have no intention of finding a husband here either. After all, we are actually here to celebrate an upcoming wedding."

"Yes then we might as well continue celebrating and add the next wedding to it" Sometimes you hate the fact that Daemon takes care of your brothers as well as he takes care of you. Jace is becoming more and more like him. You just give him the evil eye.

You make your way to your parents' chambers to pick them up when you notice Jace trying to look at you from the side.

"Is everything alright Jace?"

"Yeah... I just have one question. But please don't take offence."

"What is it?" you almost have to chuckle at the look on his face. "What is it with you and Aemond?"

Startled, you look at him "Why?"

"I don't know, I've seen you two together and I'm just curious. I mean, we used to do a lot together, didn't we? And now we're back together...."

"... Well, you spent more time teasing him. But yeah, we've … talked a few times ... and yes ... it was nice."

"Just nice?"

"Yeah, it was just nice, Jace. You don't have anything to worry about. I'll take care of myself."

"I'm more than aware of that. But somehow I couldn't help thinking about all these lords arriving, trying to find a suitable lady, and..." "Jace, no one is talking about getting married here. I've talked to Aemond a few times and it's been nice."

"Yes I know, please be careful though."

"Yeah I always am," You smile at him as he takes your hand. 

When you reach your parents' chambers, you instantly regret it as you enter unannounced out of habit. Now the three of you stand in the middle of their chambers and witness Daemon kissing Rhaenyra passionately. With a loud "Wooooah" you turn around and giggle softly.

"My eyes!" escapes Jace.

"It wouldn't hurt you to at least knock before you enter a chambers."

"It's okay, Dad." you say with a laugh.

"Can we please just go?" says little Luke.

"Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, heir to the Iron Throne, and her Prince Consort Daemon Targaryen."

You follow your parents with Jace and Luke into the festively decorated hall. You find it hard to take your eyes off the beautiful hall. Numerous intricately woven decorations hang from the high ceiling and several banners of your house hung from the walls. The hall is illuminated by candle chandeliers hanging in the middle of the room.

The hall was filled with ladies and lords gathered at the tables. Some were still missing and would arrive later in the week, you are sure. At the other end of the Hall was the main table where your grandfather was already seated with Alicent.

As you strode through the hall to take your seats at the main table, a murmur followed on your heels. On your way, you look around and you did not recognise a single face in this sea of faces. And you were aware that many of the lords present here would try to offer their daughters to achieve a suitable betrothal, and you have never been so happy that your parents did not have that purpose. As you arrive at the main table, you greet your grandfather, King Viserys, and the rest of the family appropriately. To Viserys' right sits Queen Alicent. She is followed by the bride and groom-to-be, Aegon and Helaena. Then follows Aemond. You have not seen him since you last met. For a short time you look him straight in the eye. He smirks in response. And you feel your cheeks heat up again slightly.

Your mother Rhaenyra takes her place on Visery's left. You sit next to your father, who sits next to Rhaenyra. Next to you sit your brothers. And so the long evening begins. You were engaged in conversation with your father when a lord steps in front of your father. Your father interrupts the conversation and looks up at the lord, annoyed. 

"Prince Daemon, Princess Y/N," and he lowers his head slightly, "What a pleasant situation to find you here. After all, one rarely gets to see you and your daughter here in Kings Landing. It almost seems as if you are hiding your daughter on Dragonstone."

"And you are?" your father asks simply.

"Lord Kevan of House Lannister." 

You just stare at the lord, not quite knowing what to expect from him and this situation. You have never been more relieved to sit beside your father. Daemon makes no move to continue the conversation, as if he already knows what it will be about. He knows only too well how to make other people nervous. 

"The majority of the lords and ladies gathered here are in agreement. The rumour that has been circulating for some time seems to be confirmed", Lord Kevan continues.

Daemon looks still unimpressed.

"That your daughter, Princess Y/N, seems to be the most beautiful young woman in the entire realm. The preponderance of conversation tonight is about you, my dear", now he looks directly in your direction. You look as unimpressed as your father.

"I don't care at all what rumours circulate where. And I care even less if the majority of lords and ladies decide whether my daughter looks like the first blossom of a rare plant after a long winter or like a goatherd who has experienced too many winters. My daughter will not marry a Lannister lord."

You feel like throwing up. You haven't met a Lannister yet, but you've heard a few things. And the very idea that you have to marry a smug Lannister would elicit the same reaction as if you were told you had to marry your brother, Jace.

Lord Kevan nods at your father, visibly irritated, and leaves your table.

"And that's where it starts. Now you are no longer my little daughter, but something I can sell dearly," You give him a warning look.

"I could come into untold wealth if I sold you to a Lannister", Daemon says with a shrug.

"No one is being sold here", your mother now interjects. Daemon chuckles.

"Thank you mother, if I had known the ball would turn out to be a market place I would have stayed in my chambers."

"No one will sell you, my precious little dragon," Daemon says, kissing you on the forehead. You grin.

The evening drags on. Some people are dancing, and you don't feel the least bit tempted to join in. But suddenly you have to imagine what it would be like to dance with Aemond. That would actually be a situation where you would enjoy dancing. But nevertheless, the evening bores you.

"Dad, I'm going for a walk, okay? I need to get out of here for a minute," Daemon just nods. You give him a kiss on the cheek and stand up. You try to make your way through all the people. The famous rumour really seems to be confirmed for you, because it feels like everyone is staring at you. Even more uncomfortable is that you have never seen these people before.

Ever since you got up from the table, Aemond has been watching you. Curiously, he watches where you go and would like to follow you. When suddenly Aegon stands at his side.

"Tempted to follow our pretty niece?", Aemond simply ignores him, as well as the smell of wine that flies towards him from Aegon's direction. But Aegon keeps trying. "Did you see the way she kissed her father on the cheek? Cute, isn't it? Her full lips. On a cheek. Well, maybe on my cheek. After all, I'm getting married soon, it should be okay to give the groom a kiss on the cheek, right? Besides, have you ever imagined her kissing you? With her full lips? Or maybe even more? Well, I've imagined it. Oh, yes, I have. The rumour really seems to be true, she really is too pretty. And most of all, I would love to..."

"Brother, shut your fucking mouth if you value your tongue. One more word and I'll remove your tongue right now," Aegon just chuckles, pats Aemond on the shoulder and makes his way into the crowd. Aemond hates his brother for being like this. Most of the time he can ignore him, but when he starts talking about you like that, he can't stand it. Aemond needs to see you. He stands up and makes his way through the crowd. It is not difficult for him. Most of the lords and ladies voluntarily avoid him, fearing his appearance. As he leaves the hall, there is a pleasant silence in front of him. Behind him, all the noise of the party can be heard as he walks through the aisles. Suddenly he realises that he doesn't even know where you might have gone. He takes a few steps and is pulled into the small garden as if by magic. A small garden he knows only too well. Even before he knows where he is going, he sees you. You are standing with your back to him, your long silver hair falls elegantly down your back and you just look into the night. Your hands seem to be clasped in front of your body. His gaze falls on your hips. Only yesterday he was holding you by your hips and he will never forget that. The way you stood in front of him, so seductive and he just held you by your tender hips. Suddenly Aemond feels a nervousness he has never felt in such a situation. His hands are sweaty and he feels the urge to speak to you, but he doesn't quite know how.  

When you hear footsteps behind you, you turn around, startled. Your breath catches as you see Aemond. Your handsome Aemond. He smiles shyly at you and you immediately notice yourself becoming calmer.

"Y/N."

"Aemond. Have you been following me?"

"You don't have to be a tracker to find you. I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think it's a coincidence that you're in the place we used to sneak into at night," he winks at you and you're glad it's so dark he can't see the blush on your face.

"That may well be. If I'm honest, I just got lost and then I ended up here. I almost forgot how nice and quiet it is here."

"You mean like you got lost yesterday?", he looks at you with a seductive smile.

"No... yesterday I..." you spluttered. This causing his light smirk to grow wider.

"It's okay." he says with a slight laugh in his voice "But yes, you're right, it is very quiet here. I still like to spend nights here when I can't sleep," you smile at him. "Besides, I'm sure it wasn't that quiet here with two kids sneaking in and giggling uncontrollably. Then how do you actually know how nice and quiet it is here?", you look at him, startled.

"We weren't giggling all the time, were we? Sometimes I just looked at you and enjoyed the silence. And by the way, when you finally shut up, it was pleasantly quiet," Aemond chuckles. "Mmm, that's right. Although I've often just kept my mouth shut because I liked hearing your voice far too much."  

"Oh, don't be silly."

And with that, you had your first laugh together in six years. Only you didn't know that he actually liked hearing your voice.

Spending time with Aemond was easy. You sat down under your old "secret" tree and talked. Just like the old days, you were talking non-stop and giggling.

"Remember how we used to sit here? And ate the stolen cake from dinner?", it suddenly occurs to you.

"Oh yes, cake! Every dinner I would try to steal the cake, and Aegon would always try to draw attention to me at those moments. Every time, I had to threaten him. But he never told mother," and again you have to laugh. Aemond loved to hear the sound of your laughter.

"Y/N?"

"Mhm?"

"Now I want to eat cake."

"Then go get it, there's plenty of cake in the Great Hall."

"No, I want to eat cake with you, here. In secret," and there you see it again, the glint in his eyes. But this time you want to give in. And against the sudden urge to kiss him, you simply grin at him.

"Okay, let's go."

"Really?"

"Yeah, come on," you two stand up and are about to leave when Aemond reaches for your hand and holds it. Your hand feels like it's going to burst into flames. You look down and see your hand resting in his hand and you have to admit to yourself that you love this sight. You look up and notice how he is looking at you. He searches your eyes and looks deep into them. "But only on one condition. We have to make it as difficult to get the cake as it used to be. We can't get caught and we have to be quiet."

"Deal." you grin at him. 

You make your way to the pantry. As you must not get caught, you cannot steal a cake from the great hall. You walk through the corridors, none of you daring to say anything. Your ears are always pricked and listening to see if anyone approaches. When suddenly Aemond grabs you and pulls you along, you gasp in shock. Aemond pulls you into a secret passage and you punch him lightly on the arm in response. He chuckles softly. You're kind of excited. It's been ages since you crept through the red Keep at night with Aemond. After what feels like countless small staircases and winding corridors, you and Aemond reach the pantry near the kitchen. Just as you are about to open the door to the pantry, you hear voices that seem to be very close and getting closer and closer. Aemond does not hesitate for long and pulls you into a small, dark alcove. This time you are not startled by his sudden movement and simply listen to the voices without making a sound.

Suddenly you realise how close you are to Aemond again. Your back touches the cold walls. If Aemond were not sending waves of warmth and excitement through your body, you would also notice the actual coldness of the walls. Aemond is pressed tightly against you, one of his thighs is between your legs and only the thin layer of your dress prevents him from touching you in your very private place. One of his hands is braced against the masonry beside your head. His other hand finds support on the side of your torso, very close to your chest. Meanwhile your hands rest on his chest, your gaze remains on his chest as well. Again you feel the warmth rising inside you. As you slowly look up, you notice that Aemond is breathing heavily, as if he is only now realising what kind of situation you are in.

You search his eyes, but on the way you catch his lips. His lips are slightly parted and you notice how you enjoy the sight and slowly lean closer to him. Your arousal makes your breath catch. As you hear his voice, just a soft whisper, "Y/N. My eye is up here." Embarrassed by his statement, you try to break free of his grip, but he holds you tight and you let him. You notice how his gaze breaks away from your eyes and slowly slides downwards. His eye lingers on your cleavage again. He has a clear view of your cleavage. Your breasts, which look very seductive through your dress, appear even more seductive with your bodies pressed so close together. Aemond swallows and you notice how he seeks your gaze again. Hesitantly, he moves his hand away from your torso and you notice him pause, not moving. Your eyes are still connected and you nod slowly to him. As if he has been waiting for this permission, he lets his hand slide further until he lets it rest on your cheek. You lean tenderly into his palm. Slowly he lets his thumb wander over your soft cheek. Dreamily you close your eyes.

The voices that pushed you into this alcove have long since disappeared. But neither of you makes the slightest sign of wanting this moment to end. After a while, Aemond breaks the silence, "We should get some cake now", Aemond whispers to you. You just nod slowly. Aemond disengages himself from your alcove and pulls you out with him.

Still visibly agitated by your previous closeness, you finally stand in the pantry. Before you is the largest selection of cakes you have ever seen. And it annoys you both that, as children, it never occurred to you to look for cake here, and instead you always stole the leftover cake from dinner. As you gather a small selection of cakes, your eyes fall on the opposite corner.

"How about this?", and you look questioningly at Aemond. When he looks over at you and sees the wine bottle in your hand, he chuckles softly.

"At least now we're old enough to drink wine and we don't have to drink grape juice all the time," Aemond chuckles, "Okay, take it, I'll get cups."

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Taglist: @leahjean  @afro-hispwriter  @jeyramarie  @powellssaturn @notabotiswear @hoshi-miharu-blog @random-human02 @m00n5t0n3 @sporadicshepherdzinebear @drewsgfduh

[thehotchnerson]

All I Want For Christmas Is You

Word Count: 1,491

MasterList

———————————————————————

🎶 Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring tingle tingling too 🎶

Christmas jingles from the radio and mall crowd chatters are all that can be heard. Store shelves are slowly looking emptier and emptier and you can’t find what you’re looking for.

“Garcia, this is impossible. Aaron hasn’t mentioned what he wants. How am I supposed to find nothing?” you say as you look to Garcia.

“ Y/N, are you sure he even wants anything?” Garcia asks. “Listen I’m all for shopping but we’ve been here for hours and I’m hungry.”

“Alright. Alright. We’ll get you some food,” you giggle as you start walking towards the food court. You slowly scan to see what’s open, trying to figure out what you want, when you hear it.

Gunshots.

Screams.

Panic.

“EVERYBODY DOWN ON THE GROUND” you hear as you see people running. You look over to Garcia to make sure she’s ok, but she’s gone.

“no” you whisper as you frantically look around, trying to spot her. and then you hear it.

“Please, just let me go. I’m not important,” Garcia pleads as tears stream down her face.

‘Aaron is gonna kill me for this’ you think as you stand up. You make eye contact with Garcia and quickly nod as if to say everything will be ok. “Take me. Let the innocent bystander go. I’m FBI and I’ll be way bigger leverage then she ever will be.” Garcia’s eyes widen as you say this. The gunman raises his finger and motions for you to come over to him, almost like a parent does when their child is in trouble.

You take slow steps, as if you’ll spook him if you walk too fast. “FASTER” he barks out and you quicken your pace to a normal speed, reaching him and Garcia in a minute.

He roughly shoved Garcia and grabs you in 1 fluid motion. You don’t struggle, for fear of him shooting Garcia or anyone besides yourself. “I want contact with your boss. You’re gonna call him and hand me the phone” the gunman says, you still not seeing his face or knowing a name.

“fine” you whisper, “my phone is in my back pocket.” The gunman grabs your phone and hands it to you.

“no funny business” he says, as if you could text someone at lightning speed 911. You dial Aaron and hand the phone to him.

“Hey honey bunches, how did Christmas shopping go?” you groan at Aaron’s nickname for you, especially at a time like this.

“Oh, so you’re fucking the boss?” he asks very loudly into the phone. You groan at his choice of words knowing there are kids right beside you.

“Who is this? Where is my partner?” Hotch all but roars into the phone.

“My name is not important. What is important is I have your agent or better yet your partner. I want 1 million dollars. And I want it by Christmas at 12 AM. You have 7 hours” the gunman says. He then hangs up and drops your phone. “We’re going for a little trip.”

Somehow you evade police surrounding the building and make it into a car and off property. He makes a few circles before pulling into a parking garage. He grabs a cloth and opens the backseat. “Cant have you knowing where we go” he ties a blindfold around your eyes and holds another cloth to your mouth and nose.

Chloroform.

When you come back to your hands are tied to a pole and you’re in what looks like an abandoned warehouse. Seriously can an unsub, if you can even call him that, be more original

As you’re scanning the room, you see movement and a door opens. The gunman, who you still don’t have a name for, enters the room, walking over to you.

“You’re finally awake” he says as he bends down and tilts your chin up with his finger. “You’ve been asleep for a long time. Your partner has 10 more minutes to send the money or you go bye bye.” The gunman almost looks apologetic.

“Can I at least have your name?” you ask. You really want to stop calling him gunman.

“My names Jacob and I’m going to be the last face you ever see” he says trying to seem scary and menacing but really just looked like a 5 year old trying to be scary.

“Well Jacob I hope you rot in hell” you say as you spit in his face.

“You’re gonna regret that” he roars and then unleashed an attack of kicks and punches. You couldn’t fight back because your arms and legs are tied up. You just take it, punch after punch. Kick after kick. He eventually goes for you head.

Your nose is bleeding and you have bruises all over you face. “You will never make it out of here. Let’s do a little countdown. It’s almost time anyways”

He pulls out a phone showing the seconds, seeing there’s only 15 seconds left you sigh and close your eyes knowing this would eventually happen due to your career. You send Jack, the team, and Aaron love, hoping Aaron doesn’t feel the same guilt as he did with Haley.

10.

You take a deep breath.

9.

You exhale.

8.

A tear falls.

7.

You think about the Christmas lights.

6.

You look out the window and see snow.

5.

You think about the fun you, the team, Jack, and Aaron would have had in the snow.

4.

You hear sirens.

3.

You smile.

2.

They’re too late.

1.

Bang. Pain. Numbness. Darkness floats around the edge of your vision.

“Well it’s time for me to leave now. I hope you get to say your goodbyes.” Jacob says as he leaves through a door. You don’t care where he goes, hoping you can stay alive enough to say goodbye to Aaron.

You don’t have to wait long as you hear a door open with a bang.

“Y/N” Aaron shouts with alarm. He rushes over falling to his knees. “Come on, keep your eyes open. You’re gonna be ok.” He turns his head to shout behind him “I NEED A MEDIC” he seems frantic, clawing for help so you don’t die but you know it’s inevitable so you make your last words memorable.

“Aaron, I didn’t finish the christmas shopping. I didn’t find you anything.” you say brokenly taking a breath after each word. Your world darkens, those being the last words you say.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

‘What is that sound’ you think. Is hell really this annoying? You peel your eyes open and are met with a hospital room. You feel a weight of warmth in your hand and look over, seeing a mop of black hair, knowing it’s Aaron. You let out a broken watery laugh before you start crying, knowing your alive. You squeeze Aaron’s hand making sure he’s real.

Aaron’s head shoots up, “Y/N?” he asks, completely in awe that your already awake. You giggle at him and nod. “We didn’t know when you were going to wake up and you had us all worried and I cannot believe you were going to let those be your last words” he rambles on clearly freaked out.

“Aar-“ you clear your throat and cough a few times, Aaron handing you a glass of water to drink. “Aaron, I’m ok and you’re here and everything is fine” You squeeze his hand as an emphasis to show you’re still there. “So when do I get real food and when can I get out of here” you say as you look around your room.

“Well Garcia is bringing over a Christmas dinner because she bribed the nurses with food. It probably won’t be for a few days that you can get out but we’ll talk to the doctors,” Aaron answers your question as he stares fondly at you, never wanting you to leave his sights ever again.

You pout at his statement “Aw man I wanted to enjoy the snow.”

“Oh don’t worry about that, Jack put some in the freezer for you” Aaron let’s his smile overtake his face and a small laugh that he reserves only for you and Jack.

You smile thinking about Jack’s antics and hoping he’s ok. You miss him and hope he’ll visit if you have to stay in the hospital for long.

“Oh and Y/N, the only thing I need for Christmas is you” he whispers as he stand up and kisses your temple. He climbs into bed beside you only after you pat the spot next to you. You snuggle up to Aaron’s warmth and never want to leave.

Yea Christmas Eve sucked, but Christmas turned out pretty alright. As you start to fall asleep in Aaron’s arms, you hear a quiet Christmas song fill the room.

🎶🎶 Come on, it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you 🎶

[gingerjunhan]

Hellooooo!

It's 🧈 and I wanted to request smthg with Jun han.

So like Jun han x reader where Jun han is just. Idk how to explain it😓

Like as if he has the vibe of his live where he played the guitar. Like he was so cute and I just wanted something that kinda embodies how he spoke and interacted with people on the live.

Like he's just so real and super sweet to reader and they're in front of the rest of xdh being verbally affectionate and being cute together.

Not really shy Jun han since he's not as shy as he once was, but just real Jun han. Like he's a best friend first and boyfriend second.

Reader and Jun han just have a lot of chemistry and are just making xdh melt at how perfect they are for each other.

Also kinda like his bubble video where I think he ate a bug? His vibe in that video was just so light hearted.

I just need light hearted, best friend bf, verbally and physically affectionate, and just overall just a super real Jun han.

Feel free to dm if you don't understand what I'm trying to say😭😭

☆彡🧈anon this is literally SO CUUUTE :( I love this idea! I've literally watched the Instagram live you're talking about so many times. I'll like it here if anybody wants to watch it 🫶🏻

word count: 795 | pronouns used: none | genre: fluff, established relationship | cws: petty friendly banter, Jun (jokingly) calls reader "babygirl", there is not a moment of peace in this house, this was actually proofread‼️💪🏻

Another night in the Heroes dorm rolled around, and you were no stranger to their company. You all had known each other for a while- becoming friends with the group right before it was announced that they were going to debut. Now, roughly three years of friendship had passed, and you were basically the 7th member of the household. You could show up at roughly any hour of the day, and nobody would bat an eye. You’ve always been especially close to Hyeongjun, so when you both announced to the others a while back that the two of you had started dating, nobody was surprised.

The evening was going on as normal. Jooyeon and Jiseok were playing some game together in the living room, screaming at both each other and the TV. Jungsu seemed to be playing moderator between the two of them. You’d eventually hear a “Jiseok, calm down!” shouted from Jungsu, which was always followed by Jooyeon’s distinct laugh. Gunil, who was also a bystander to all of this, only seemed to be egging the two boys on with his own laughter, Seingmin, who was sitting in the corner, scrolled through his phone, and seemingly wanted to have nothing to do with the entire ordeal.

“How much time is left on the oven?” Hyeongjun asked you. It was his turn to cook, so you decided to pitch in and help him.

“Roughly 10 minutes,” you answered. You gave Hyeongjun a smile as he made his way across the kitchen towards you. He wrapped his arms around you, resting his head on your shoulder as you chuckled. “You hungry?”

He nodded, grimacing a bit. “The food smells so good,” he whined. You couldn’t help but chuckle again.

“I know,” you rubbed his back. “Just a couple more minutes.”

As the two of you basked in each other’s embrace, you heard a voice come from the doorway into the kitchen.

“Ew,” they said simply. You and Hyeongjun pulled apart to see Seungmin. “Can you guys go be cute somewhere else so you don’t spoil my appetite?”

Hyeongjun laughed. “Sorry. Dinner will be ready soon.”

“Thank god,” Seungmin scoffed. “Maybe Jiseok and Jooyeon will finally shut up while we eat.”

“I heard that!” Jiseok called. Just as Seungmin was about to make a snarky joke, the timer on the oven went off.

“Foods done!” You called. The others came racing into the kitchen, grabbing plates and serving themselves. Everybody sat down and began to eat together, marveling at how good the food was. Lighthearted banter took over the room as everyone ate.

“This food is amazing,” Gunil spoke up, looking to you and Hyeongjun. “Thank you for cooking.”

“Yeah,” Hyeongjun added. “Thanks for your help, sweetheart. Everything tastes great.” One of his hands found its way to yours, giving it a squeeze.

“Aww, sweetheart,” Jooyeon teased, batting his eyelashes. You couldn’t hold back the laugh that escaped you. Hyeongjun laughed along as well, being used to the younger ones' antics.

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Hyeongjun defended in a teasing way. “Unless you want me to use other names. Like, babygirl, or-”

“Nope! That’s enough!” Jooyeon gave up as you and Hyeongjun started to laugh harder. The two of you didn’t use pet names often, but when you did you were commonly made fun of by the others. So, sometimes, you guys would call each other the cringiest names you could think of just to mess with the others. After that, the dinner banter shifted again, finding it’s way to a new topic of conversation.

Once dinner was over and everything was cleaned up, everybody went back to their own separate activities. You and Hyeongjun made your way to his room, tucking yourselves away for a long night of doing nothing in particular. Hyeongjun turned on a show, and you started rooting through his clothes, looking for something new for you to steal. You found a shirt that you liked and threw it on. Hyeongjun smiled adoringly at you, and then there was a knock at his door.

“Hey,” Jiseok called from the other side. “Can I borrow your tuner? I left mine at the studio.”

“Yeah,” Hyeongjun called back. “You can come in.” Jiseok opened the door and was instantly met with you in your new shirt. He looked over you.

“I like your shirt, (Y/N).”

“Thanks,” Hyeongjun answered before you could, handing Jiseok his tuner. “It’s mine.”

Jiseok let out a sigh, “Of course it is.” With that, he turned and left, closing the door behind him. Hyeongjun once again made his way over to you, wrapping his arms around you. You returned the favor, relaxing in his hold. Hyeongjun sighed.

“You’re taking that shirt home, aren’t you?”

“Oh, absolutely,” you giggled.

taglist: @dazzlingligth , @mini-mews , @mxlly143 , @somethingaboutcheese , comment to be added!⁎��˳✧༚

[ficretus]

Theory: Cinder will capture Jaune in Vacuo portion of the story

It's me, back again with another theory based on Joan of Arc story. This time, trying to figure out how her capture by Burgundians will be realized in RWBY story.... if we ever get to that part of the story. If it were to happen, it will most likely be in Volume 11 (I might make Volume 10 Joan of Arc theory one day).

I'd suggest reading my theory below to get better understanding of who do I read as what character and how do events that already happened figure out in their respective story timelines. If not, I'll still make quick tl;dr whenever something from that theory pops up.

First of all, let's start with why. Why would Jaune be captured at any point of the story? Jaune is one of the rare characters in the story who's primary inspiration gets captured in their story (other being Ruby), and no, I don't think Jaune being captured by Ace Ops will suffice for this. Joan of Arc' time in captivity was comparable to her time serving as a soldier (both being roughly one year), so I'd find it pretty weird if Jaune never gets captured as major plot point.

Timeline wise, it also matches. Volumes 4-5 match Loire campaign (pursuing the enemy, enemy fails to ambush them and suffers major defeat), Volume 6 is Rheims coronation (usage of Lantern/King is granted wisdom by Ampulla, both being oil containers), Volumes 7-8 are siege of Paris (both being greatest cities of their respective regions, Joan/Jaune suffers major defeat and retreats last over the bridge). I go over this in more detail in the timeline theory I linked above. Volume 9 is the only one I cannot connect to major event of Joan of Arc story, although that could be because Jaune becomes Rusted Knight during that portion of the story, temporarily ceasing to be Joan of Arc. This would make Vacuo portion of the story, theoretical Volumes 10-11, Joan of Arc' campaign against Perrinet Gressart, battle of Lagny and siege of Compiegne. Compiegne was the last battle Joan of Arc participated in, leading to her capture. So based on this, if Jaune ever gets captured, Vacuo portion of the story is the safest bet.

Cool, but why Cinder as his captor? Joan of Arc is captured by Burgundian army and Cinder matches Burgundian role in Joan of Arc story. Both side with enemy to achieve their goals (Burgundy sides with England, Cinder sides with Salem) ,both are power hungry with the goal of eventual freedom (Burgundy wanted to separate itself from France and become independent Kingdom), both have personal vendetta against enemy leader (Ruby reads as king Charles VII). On top of that, soldier that captured Joan of Arc was archer and Cinder is one of the rare characters in the series to use bow and arrow instead of firearms. Additionally, Joan of Arc was under shared jurisdiction of two enemy commanders, Lionel Bastard of Vendome and John of Luxembourg. Former had lame hand, latter had missing eye. If you overlay their injuries, you get Cinder again.

Why would Cinder capture him is different question who's answer will vary depending on interpretation of the events.

Now that I explained why do I think it's incredibly plausible thing to happen, let's get to the interpretations.

First let me start with interpretation I strongly reject.

Theory 1: Cinder won't capture Jaune, she will kill him on the spot. This is one of those obvious interpretations dating back all the way back to early Volumes, ever since Cinder was revealed to be the fire user. She is fire, he is Joan of Arc, bam, perfect match (I guess Cinder will give Jaune and Pyrrha matching sweaters). There are couple of reasons I reject this interpretation.

I am sceptical about Jaune having tragic ending to his story. While it does make sense on paper considering Joan of Arc is his literary influence, it doesn't quite work with Jaune's story. Joan of Arc has series of triumphs before losing some battles at the end and getting captured. Jaune basically gets none of that, or at least scraps of successes Joan had. On top of that, he gets significantly more failures and suffering compared to Joan. Killing him like this would be like kicking the man while he is already down.

Story seems to reject Jaune's martyrdom, ironically in his battle with Cinder back in Volume 5. He goes in admitting he doesn't care about his own life as long as others succeed. Issue Jaune has is lack of self worth due to his perceived uselessness. For him, character development would be learning to value his own life and not throwing it away for what he thinks is greater good. Having him die in combat basically invalidates that. Him throwing away his life wouldn't be an issue in that case, it's the fact he tried to throw it away at the wrong point of the story.

Having Cinder kill him would feel pretty weird. Common aspect of their encounters is that she can kill him at almost any point but for some reason chooses not to (be it arrogance, sadism or something else entirely), even when she logically really should (there is no reason to not go for a kill when Jaune denied her Maiden power). Having Cinder kill him would feel like she at some arbitrary point decided to flip metaphorical kill switch and finally do it.

Now to interpretations I find more likely

Theory 2: Jaune will be captured and then turned into Grimm. This is taking Joan of Arc story pretty straight forward with some twists. In this version of the events, Cinder will capture Jaune, but not kill him, most likely sadism or because of something Salem ordered her to do. Burgundians ransomed Joan of Arc to the English, which will be mirrored with Cinder giving Jaune to Salem. She will turn him into Grimm akin to the Hound and force him to fight his friends. This will represent Joan's death as heretic. Joan of Arc was re-trialed years later at the orders of king Charles VII, who is Ruby in this version of the story. Duke of Alencon (who I read as Weiss) was one of the witnesses during rehabilitation trial, so I guess she'll help out as well. Ruby will purify Jaune and save his life, symbolizing Joan's rehabilitation.

Next thing is not Joan of Arc related, but what the hell, when will I ever get an opportunity to mention this. There is a another Grimm fairy tale about Snow White, in which she has sister Rose Red. This always bothered me, since it works so well with Ruby and Weiss but story seemingly has no relevance in RWBY plot. They meet a talking bear they take care of. Then they meet evil dwarf several time, always helping him, but he is always ungrateful. In the end, bear kills dwarf, revealing himself to be cursed prince dwarf turned into a bear so he can steal his treasure. Snow White then marries cursed prince and Rose Red marries his brother, the end. So, what does this has to do with anything I said paragraph before? Well, if Jaune does become Grimm and he becomes let's say, Ursa like Grimm, then things get more interesting. He becomes cursed prince from the story that ends up marrying Snow White, making this effectively Whiteknight (Cinder can be then read as evil dwarf since she'd be one responsible for his curse and she stole his treasure, Pyrrha). This would also imply Rosegarden since Rose Red marries prince's brother (Oscar being another cursed prince).

This interpretation does rob Jaune of lot of agency post capture since he'd be esentially mind controlled, but it does hit enough Joan of Arc story beats for me to consider it plausible. This would also shift Cinder to being primarily Weiss' rival since Jaune would be out of commission.

Theory 3: This is step 1 in Cinder's redemption arc. Time to get back to that particular rabbit hole, this time with 100% more Stockholm syndrome. This one will have whole lot speculative canon, but I'll try to reinforce each point with Joan of Arc parallel.

Ok, how the hell does that work? Well first, we need to get back to that double timeline theory I linked at the beginning. To sum it up, timeline 1 goes from Joan's arrival at Chinon to her heresy trial, timeline 2 goes from Joan's childhood to her victory at Orleans. These 2 timelines overlap creating complete narrative (V5 is both Joan's Loire campaign and trip to Vaucouleurs, V8 is both siege of Paris and Joan's village being sacked, etc). I go into reasons why I use this method in that theory.

Anyways, last event I traced to 2nd timeline is Joan's village being sacked. She spends her time in city of Neufchateau before departing for Vaucoleurs to meet Robert de Baudricourt for the third time. Quick tl;dr, Cinder is Baudricourt in this timeline since both dynamic and timeline placements of her meetings with Jaune match Baudricourt's meetings with Joan. Both times, Baudricourt dissmisses Joan (first time borderline publically humiliating her), but third time he relents (motivated by his desperate circumstances and Joan's correct prediction of king losing key battle near Orleans) and sends her to king Charles' castle in Chinon. Sidenote, Cinder also plays the role of Charles VII in timeline 2 (backstories match, both have a crown that they cannot reach, both were raised by powerful queen dowager after running away from their home) which I don't feel is contradictory for the reasons I go more in my timeline theory. Additionally, Joan gained favor of two of Baudricourt's soldiers, Jean of Metz and Bertrand de Poulengy. This surprised Baudricourt considering both were notorious troublemakers. I translate those two into Emerald and Mercury in my timeline theory.

Cool, but what does this has to do with Joan's capture? Well, we overlay this portion of timeline 2 onto Compiegne portion of timeline 1 to get the full story.

First to get back to Compiegne: Burgundian duke Philipp broke the peace treaty with king Charles VII and attacked Compiegne. Joan went there with relatively small army and in some sources, against king's orders. She rallied out to fight Burgundians, holding well, but ultimately getting captured. Burgundians were unable to take Compiegne (or they did but it was quickly recaptured, I've seen both).

So full translation to RWBY would be: Cinder manages to outsmart Ruby and gets into position where it's likely she'll take Maiden power and Relic. Jaune shows up as the last line of defense, likely fighting her together side by side with Emerald and Mercury (I believe Mercury will be redeemed in Volume 10, partially due to Joan of Arc story). This can be interesting callback to either Cinder, Emerald and Mercury taking on Amber or Jaune confronting Cinder with Emerald and Mercury by her side like in Volume 5 (their roles now being reversed). Similar to Volume 5, Jaune will likely hit several sour spots for Cinder (this is reference to Joan telling Baudricourt her visions and them turning out to be true). They lose after putting up a good fight but buy enough time for others to reinforce and prevent Cinder from obtaining the Maiden power and Relic (or Cinder takes too much damage in the fight). Cinder makes spur of the moment desperate decision and captures Jaune while running away (this matches Compiegne, Jaune gets captured but enemy doesn't achieve their objective). Capture kind of works with timeline 2: if Cinder is both Baudricourt and King, then she is effectively sending Jaune to herself, that to me reads like capture.

Several of her comrades try to free Joan, but by the time they reach the place where she is held as prisoner, she is already moved to different castle. This can also happen in the show, breaking the trend of main cast successfully rescuing their captured friend from previous volumes. Jaune would then be taken to Salem with Cinder (who'll likely get punished for her failures) arguing she can exchange Jaune for location of Relic of Choice (maintaining the part of the story Joan is held for ransom). Similar to theory 2, I'd expect Jaune's capture to last at least one full volume.

Ok, that's cool and all, but what does this have to do with Cinder's redemption in any shape or form:

They are forced together for extended period of time. Additionally, there will be nobody else for them to interact with. Eventually, they'll have to interact in some shape or form. I would expect lot of initial setbacks considering Joan of Arc attempted to escape twice. But still, it would be pretty weird if they just grumbled at each other whole time and then go back to fighting. Come on man, they are foils that don't know they are foils, do something with that.

Neither can hurt each other. Jaune cannot hurt her since he is her prisoner, she cannot hurt him without risking the prospect of deal falling off (and as shown when threatened by Neo, Cinder considers her death plausible outcome if she screws up the Relic). That means Jaune can meaningfully verbally challenge Cinder without the risk of dying (hello Watts). This also wouldn't be reach to happen, considering he does similar thing in Volume 5. Basically, Cinder will be stuck with Jaune as voice of consciousness entire volume without being able to get rid off it.

This transitions relatively well into Indecisive King story. In that story, Widow (basically Jaune) spends time in King's castle before eventually confronting him over Relic of Choice. Joan of Arc similarly spends time in King's castle at Chinon. In both stories Jaune coded character spends time with Cinder coded character before eventually changing them for better.

As usual, I decided to make Cinder portion needlessly long and complicated. Anyways, what are your thoughts? Did I miss any plausible interpretations?

[trukingofskeletonhell]

With that one post going around about Ferus eating sand and also maybe people, I have a few thoughts. Bear with me, It’s going to be long.

1. The general rule of thumb for how many calories a person needs is roughly 1,000 calories per 100 lbs of body mass. This isn’t taking into account things like puberty or growth spurts, or the fact that being active/having more muscle mass tends to mean you need more food because you expend more energy, or the fact the metabolic rates vary among most people. As an example, I weigh somewhere around 180lbs. I’m fairly tall, lift weights and hike with some frequency, and have a fairly normal metabolic rate. I need somewhere around 2,800-3,100 calories just to maintain my current bodyweight, mostly because I’m pretty active. My sister, who is much shorter and smaller than me, not as active, and who as far I know has a fairly average metabolic rate, probably needs something like 1,800-2,000 ish calories a day. Now, I could eat much less than the amount I do and really cut it down to about 1,800 a day for a bare minimum and my sister could go even lower. But, it would suck ass. I would have no energy for doing things, wouldn’t be able to think straight, and it would probably fuck with my emotions pretty badly. 1,800 would be the bare minimum to simply not starve for me.

Now, I’ve done some math, and based on things like square cube law and the fact that average height for a Primarch is 10′, their average weight would probably be somewhere between 900-1100 lbs, depending on their exact build. That means, at a minimum, would suck to be alive, not starving to death amount, a Primarch would need 9,000 calories worth of food a day. To put that into perspective, there are something like 290-365 calories worth of food in a normal grilled cheese sandwich. That’s something like, 20-30 of those to satisfy the bare minimum caloric needs of a Primarch for a single day, assuming you have nothing else on hand for some reason. This does not take into account the fact that they’re probably pretty active, generally just jacked, and seem to a have much higher metabolic rate than normal humans. They probably need something more like 15,000+ calories a day, even more if they’re like Magnus the Red and just happen to be fucking hugelarge.

A pound of beef is roughly 217-254 calories worth of food, with substantially more protein than a grilled cheese.There are usually between 400-600 pounds of meat on a cow, not counting the organs and bones. That’s about 86,000-130,000 calories of food, or enough to keep a Primarch fed for a bit more than a week, perhaps even more if they decide to eat the organs and bones. This amount of food is also more than enough to keep a large family fed for like, a year, or at least most of one.

What I’m saying is Primarchs need a frankly absurd/horrifying amount of food to the point where I no longer wonder why Ferus decided to eat literal sand and probably people. Dude was definitely starving. Most of them probably were. You would need to be literal royalty or at least obscenely rich in order to source enough food to feed an actively growing Primarch. Grocery bills must be insane.

2. Primarch puberty must be a horrible affair for everyone involved. When I went through puberty the first time around, I just sort of went through a really big growth spurt where it just sort of happened all at once. I grew, like a foot and half in a year. I discovered forms of hormone-fueled emotion that were previously known only to deep-sea shrimp. I was tired and hungry all the time. My literal, actual, holding-up-my-body bones hurt because they were growing so fast. I wanted to sleep almost all of the time. The rest of the time I either wanted to eat or fight things because of a combination of hormones and hunger. I did some stupid shit, as all teenagers do. I Imagine Primarch puberty is like a very, very extreme version of that. They would outgrow clothes and probably furniture by the week, if not the day. Eat an entire week’s worth of food in a single meal. Sleep for like, a week and nearly starve to death because of previously mentioned absurd caloric needs. Probably try to fight their entire neighborhood and actually win, because what in the galaxy could actually physically stop them? I can’t even imagine the stupid, hormone fueled nonsense a teenage Primarch would get up to, because again, what could stop them? You could probably use their sweat as steroids, given the probably absurd of amount of testosterone and human growth hormone flowing through their veins. It’s not unreasonable to assume that some Primarchs who came from more humble backgrounds, like Vulkan, literally outgrew their homes. Imagine you’re at a stage of physical and mental development where most people cope with stress by listening to edgy music and that happens to you. What do you even do then? You can’t go be sad in your room because you’re literally too big for it. You can’t  fit inside your own house and public infrastructure is probably too small for you. How horribly alienating that must be. Not to mention the mere expense of your existence would be enough to bankrupt a small nation. It must be upsetting just being alive at that point. They probably all need so much therapy.

[peterlorres21stcentury]

unpopular opinion: mods should enhance a game, not make it suck less

also sprach Lorrethustra, the endlessly reincarnated

And yet here I am, making some desperately needed improvements to a game that, while fun at first, needed some serious thought and maybe another year in development.

So far I have made the following changes to Starfield with the help of the amazing Bethesda modding community, because I don't have a fucking clue how to create my own mods so I offer naught in return. Notice how entirely simple these problems are:

-Doubled the experience gained from any action (thanks to a second mod, having the well-rested perk from sleeping will quadruple it!)

-Multiplied the amount of credits for each vendor by 10. Because enormous, interplanetary juggernaut corporations of the future only trust their vendors with 5k in virtual monies in a 48 hour period. 🙄 Seriously, it should be 100x that, but I'm trying to be reasonable here.

-Made it so that random quests are not shoved into my mission log just because some guard made a passing comment while I was near. I always hated this method of quest-giving. It felt invasive and annoying even in Skyrim, as it assumes that every character would be willing to delve in that cave or join the Thieves' Guild or make deals with a daedric prince or whatever, but in Starfield it is an absolute plague. If I want your quest I'll ask around for it!! Stop force-feeding your players this bullshit!!

-Furnished the Starborn ship with such extravagant luxuries as: a few chairs on the bridge, and one (1) bed. Because even though I don't use the ship that often, it's still part of my fleet, so I might as well make it a livable space instead of the iphone store-looking, sterile white void we got (seriously, the modder just added some decorative assets that were already present in the game files and intended to be used on the ship. Bethesda CHOSE NOT TO USE THEM WHYYYY

That's about all for now. I was thinking of finding something that increased the storage capacity for outpost containers from 600 units to... something a lot MORE THAN THAT. Why would you make outpost extraction rates so high if you can barely store it all? How can I realize my dreams of becoming an interstellar freight/resource tycoon if my base is nothing but walls of stupid shipping crates (which don't share inventory automatically and need to be connected through a mess of wires even when they, you know, snap together and ought to logically share inventory?? but that's a separate issue)? If the dev team understood their player base at all they'd understand that we are greedy rapacious loot goblins who need moooooooaaaaaaar, damn your hide 👿

I don't know if these decisions were intended as some kind of meta commentary on the nature of your character or what (the Starborn is reborn into new universes chasing their fruitless quest for some vaguely defined power, therefore the meaning of life is suffering and so the player gets diminishing returns on their repetitive journey? Is that what they meant?) but as *cough* deeeeeep and philosophical as that may be, good game design it ain't.

To think I wrote this much all because I wanted a way to level faster than the default pace of "not at all." Because despite the game having no level cap, the game literally does not offer you enough activities to grant the necessary ~500,000 cumulative xp points to reach level 100. Even going through a new game+ multiple times and repeating every single quest will not be enough unless you have literal days of free time. I never felt so starved for perks in Skyrim or Fallout 4, ever, despite the xp rewards being roughly similar. But you spend higher levels in Starfield so very hungry for xp because the curve of points earned per level is, as far as I can tell, near exponential. And the rewards do not scale with your level, nor with game difficulty. A level 90 enemy will always grant something like 120 xp, and you have tens of thousands of xp points to go.

Sorry, but this especially is truly boggling my tiny mind. Not to rant about something so trivial; I am only too keenly aware that this world is filled with actual pain and suffering, but I'd really love to know what they were thinking when they designed such an abominable leveling system. A grindy MMO this ain't, my friends. That next perk point should be a rewarding goal, not an impossible waste of time. It's like one team carried over the xp rewards that would be comparable to Fallout 4 (you get about the same per average enemy, anywhere from 50 to 200 points per kill, I think) and then a separate clueless team said "I mean, it's one level, Michael. What would it cost? A hundred thousand xp?"

I could go on, but I have other things to do today. I want to make it clear: I do not hate this game! A lot of it is incredibly absorbing, and I wish there was more to it (outpost building, crafting, surveying planets). But there should never be this many annoyances and pointless barriers to make these mods a necessity.

[makemeanangelpure]

🩵May 30, 2024 - 113.0

🪽Day 1 of the 442 hour liquid fast

🤍I’m 13.5 hours in, 428 hours to go

☕️Today’s Cal limit: 140

I slept roughly 2 hours. Trouble falling asleep, waking up to pee every hour or thirty minutes and needing a minuscule sip of water. A little tired now but I’ll have my 5 hour energy and finish my 50 cal of coffee and go into a 7.5 hour shift. Truck day, so essentially 3 hours of cardio/weight lifting for me and 5 hours of on my feet slight lifting and reviving material. I’ll burn a good amount of extra calories today and tomorrow though, no truck then just the repackaging, maybe a few heavier things to haul around. I’m going to have one stall of celery when I get home. I’ll wait to have it at 7:42 pm where my partner can witness, alongside 2 baby carrots. That’ll put me at 75 cal for the day, and I get home around 1:30, so ill have a cup of tea while I wait for time to go, run the dishwasher and restock that, bath and shower, maybe wait to shave Thursday. Yesterday I drank a hard mike and a hard peach tea, ate a few things, threw up beforehand. Ended at 775. After I drank I didn’t have an urge to eat which is unusual but I’m assuming because I took medicine. It’s for adhd, not mine but I took it because I’d been thinking about it, thinking I might take one once a week and they’d never notice, just so I won’t get hungry. They’ve been taking it a few days and have been barely eating, I ate more than then the past two days and wanted to wring my own neck. They keep telling me about items of clothing getting looser, about our friends telling them they look like they lost weight, and they have, they do look different than a few months back. They’re taller than me and we’re in the 200-210 range and are now 189-199 and when you’re bigger, it comes off faster, it’s more noticeable. Really said something that messed with me yesterday.. and it was ignorance.. that if 10 pounds on me wasn’t that much different to them why would 10 more pounds be.. which they’ve seen pictures of me when I was 15-20 pounds lighter, they just haven’t been around me like that. I was heavier.. 10 pounds heavier than I am now when I started living here last year and if they don’t notice how I’ve dropped weight and my fucking face isn’t so round after just 10 pounds, I’ll just have to make them see and if anything they’ll feel a difference when they lift me up. Always picking me up around the house and carrying me places, jostling me but I want it to be easier. I want to hear them say that I feel lighter in some kind of form or fashion. The goal is to be 20 pounds lighter by June 28 so I’d be 93 which would break my old low weight:94, from 3 fucking years ago now. A baby shower on the 22 to go to so by then I’m going to try to be 97 for. The mother is someone who always copied me in highschool, and afterward and I just want her to really see how different we are. I also want to be the thinnest at a friend group gathering and I want her nosey mother to gossip to the others about how “ sick” I look. I want to eat a piece of cake with them and have it look seamless for me, because I’ll have worked hard to not worry about 350 cal of sugar for a day or whatever. To eat a little of what is made, not finish my food or my cake, and throw a tiny bit away.. like a quarter I guess. On Friday I’ll weigh and measure my waist, on the 22 I’m measure everything and then again on the 28. I last weighed last Friday so I’m going off that. My period seemed to skip a month but it’s irregular anyhow. My partner said it’s cause I’m not eating enough but I beg to differ. A lot of my days have been 1000-2000 days the past few weeks. I think it’s stress related. By the 28th, I’m going to drink again. Get blush wine and have two cups to celebrate things being better and I’ll be smaller and feel more put together, feel prettier when we get kissy buzzy and cuddle up close. Saturday I’m making a favorite dinner for them… I’m going to pick the smallest chicken for myself, cut it in half and then cut it into ( I’ll figure out how many pieces) 7 pieces of course 44 for a bite, 313 roughly for the whole chicken. One bite cause it’s a 75 cal day. I know he’ll cut it for me and be sweet.

[luke-r-gillespie]

May 23 - Osaka / Kaiyukan Aquarium (Freeday) + Media Reflection

Freewriting

Today was another (and our final) full free day! It was a little unideal to have our two free days in Kyoto on days two and four in Kyoto, but it is what it is. I of course took full advantage of this opportunity to sleep in until 10 (I know, crazy stuff!) After rousing from my slumber, I ate two croissants (purchased from family mart yesterday,) before getting ready to head to Osaka with Zachary, Griffin, and Noah. Leaving the hotel, no one was super eager to navigate to Osaka, so I offered (rookie mistake on all of our parts to be honest.) I lacked the insight to find the aquarium's official name (Kaiyukan Aquarium) and assumed that Osaka Aquarium would be sufficient (it was not.) After about two hours of train rides, while waiting for our bus to "Osaka Aquarium," Noah decided to double check our destination and it turns out that "Osaka Aquarium" is a pet store about an hour away (by train) from the actual aquarium (oops.)

So, after catching ANOTHER train we arrived on the correct island and grabbed food in a shopping mall (which was probably the coolest mall I have ever been in) before heading into the aquarium. The island itself was super cool and had way more to do than just the aquarium, but we kept our eyes on the prize.

We split up in the mall and Zachary and I went to a beef place while Noah and Griffin decided on Wendy's. The restaurant we ate at was called ビフテキ (Beef Teki) and it was delicious (I have attached an image to rub it in!)

After eating, we finally went to the aquarium (roughly three and a half hours after out initial departure from Kyoto.) The aquarium was amazing (best aquarium I have ever been to hands down.) The standouts for me were definitely the penguins and whale sharks, although the seals doing tricks were also pretty cool.

We spent about two full hours exploring the aquarium before catching a few trains back to Kyoto (the journey back took significantly less time, I was not the one navigating.)

After getting back to Stay SAKURA, I chilled out for twenty minutes before grabbing dinner at a little place around the corner with Griffin and Zachary. No picture this time as I was pretty hungry and inhaled my food. It is now 10 and I plan on watching some TV for a little before getting an early night, as our meeting tomorrow is at 8:10 (meaning I will be waking up at 7:10.) Overall another eventful and fun free day in Kyoto!

Independent Excursion: Media Reflection (Jujutsu Kaisen & Kaiyukan Aquarium)

Jujutsu Kaisen is an extremely popular Japanese manga series (with an equally popular anime adaptation) written and illustrated by Gege Akutami. The series has been serialized in the popular weekly manga magazine, Shonen Jump since March of 2018. As of May 26 of this year, the well received manga has 261 chapters and is currently ongoing. Since 2020, Jujutsu Kaisen has been in the top four of Shonen Jump's most popular serializations, only losing out to One Piece for the first place spot for the past two years (2022 & 2023.)

I am a huge fan of Jujutsu Kaisen and after seeing Kaiyukan Aquarium and its iconic whale sharks be beautifully depicted in chapter 70 of the manga (as well as Season 2 episode 3 of the anime,) I knew this was a location that I had to visit while I was in Japan.

The section of the "Hidden Inventory" story arc that depicts Osaka, follows the main cast as they travel to Osaka to rescue a kidnapped character. Despite Jujutsu Kaisen being a Shonen series and centering around a fictious power system called "cursed energy," the series depictions of locations in Japan (such as all of Shibuya and much of Osaka) are extremely accurate. Much of the Japanese culture depicted in the show (by the high school and older aged characters) is also authentic to what I have experienced in my time here. After spending two weeks in Tokyo and two weeks in Kyoto, it is clear to me that Gege Akutami inserts his fictional characters into nonfiction settings. Perhaps this is a part of why his series is so successful in Japan, as well as in other countries.

Within the Osaka and Kaiyukan Aquarium sections of the Jujutsu Kaisen story, Riko Amanai is enjoying her final day of life with her new friends before she is to be absorbed (which is most likely to lead to her death) for the good of Japan and the world (within the world of the series obviously.) While walking in the aquarium and gazing at the whale sharks, she has an epiphany about how large the world is and how little of it she has actually seen up to this point. This ultimately leads to her making the decision that she wants to keep on living and see more of what the world has to offer. Below is the two page spread of Amanai walking past the whale sharks tank.

While in Japan, I have had a similar realization. Japan has totally changed my world view and opened my eyes up to how people live in other parts of the world. Prior to this trip, I had only traveled within Europe and the United States and all of the countries that I had visited had similar ideals to the United States and were set up in a similar way. Japan is the first major departure from this that I have experienced myself and it makes me excited about what else the world has to offer. Having struggled with my own mental health in the past, I relate to Amani's epiphany in seeing the beauty of things that were before, unbeknownst to oneself.

While at Kaiyukan Aquarium, I searched for the exact location of the manga panel that I previously mentioned. While I could not recreate the exact shot, I am still happy with the level of accuracy Gege Akutami provided within his work.

The vibe and feeling of the aquarium were dead on, aside from Amani being the only one there in the manga, as it was quite busy when I went (however, this is not an issue in the anime.) I would certainly say that Jujutsu Kaisen provided a reasonable depiction of the real world location, with almost no slippage between the media and reality.

[flockofcrowsinaturtleshell]

Toby

⚠️ There are a few mentions of child abuse and/or an abusive parent in these notes! ⚠️

I used this questionnaire for the prompts

Full name: Samara Tobias Sage Darner

Preferred name/nickname: Toby Sage Darner

Generally referred to as: Toby; The Crow

Appearance

Faceclaim: N/A

Sex: Female

Height: 5'2"

Weight: 110 lbs

Build: light, lean; "built like a bird"

Hair: N/A

Skin: medium golden; some freckles

Eyes: warm, dark brown; kinda has an intense stare; longish eyelashes

Mouth: small; sharp teeth

Nose: pointy

Hands: long and slender; 4 fingers on each hand; retractable claws

Feet: bird feet; big and black; has talons and scales

Scars: scars across back from beatings

Clothes: white tank top with back open for wings; jean capris; belt with foraging pouches; long trenchcoat

Other features: black wings and tail; black feathers across back, shoulders, cheekbones, bridge of nose, and in place of hair

Other notable features: crowish features; bird feet, wings, tail, feathers, retractable claws

Wings: black crow wings; 4.5 meter wingspan (roughly 14.7 feet)

Speech

Voiceclaim: she sounds like me copying Valka's voice from httyd2

Verbal ticks: tends to get louder the more excited she gets; trills, rattles, caws, clicks

Accent: faintly Norse or Icelandic? Clear and sharp.

Language: English; Bird; Draugr; Icelandic

Articulation: uses simple, easy to understand explanations

Education: prefers to use short simple words

Laughter: rattle/click instead of a laugh

Grump: grunts; makes small claws

Breathing: very quiet

Mannerisms

Face: very expressive when she wants to be, but she spends most of her time wearing a surprisingly solid poker face. She's more expressive than she used to be.

Hands: fluttering/flapping stim

Legs/feet: stomping; clicking talons; bouncing

Emotional outbursts: not rather prone to these; yelling/cawing when upset; rattles when happy

Habits: fluttering/flapping stim; trilling softly to herself; flicking her wings and tail in and out; raising and lowering feathers as a form of fidgeting; bouncing/hopping

Posture: kind of slouched to take the weight of her wings

Walking posture: slouched; either walks or hops

Sitting posture: crouched with her wings fanned out a bit

Personal space: fairly respectful of personal space, but is pretty tactile

Spacial awareness: very aware

Health

Diet: very high metabolism, so she's always foraging and carrying food. She's very opportunistic, and will eat just about anything when hungry; never turns down free food

Sleep: light sleeper; insomniac

Exercise: whenever she's not busy eating, sleeping, or taking care of mystic work, she's exercising

Activity: tends to work hard and exhaust herself; she's pretty busy, especially once the future ghosts show up

Cleanliness: has to preen her feathers for at least 10% of the day to make sure she is flightworthy; she's very picky about cleanliness

Medicinal drugs: N/A (pain meds don't work on her)

Odour: like jasmine

Narcotics: N/A

Addictions: N/A

Illness: chronic pain, The Darner Curse

Injuries: some of the scars on her back ache and sting from time to time; she broke her ankle when she was younger and it aches when the weather turns

Personal

Introvert/Extrovert: Introvert

Optimist/Pessimist: Realist Somewhere in between, leaning more towards Pessimism

Gender: She/They, leaning more towards She

Sexuality: Demisexual

Memory: photographic memory. Can remember faces for years, and can describe appearances in detail

Romantic: can be pretty romantic

Planning: pretty big planner. Always prepared (until she isn't)

Pensive: tries not to think about her past too much. If it's in the past, she can't change it

Intuition: very intuitive. Extremely talented at decision making and figuring things out from minimal clues

Problem solving: very good at solving problems from minimal clues

Goals: she just wants to make it through life. It's very rare in the Darner Clan to make it past 30 years, since their mystic power can't be "turned off" and uses up their life force faster. She's trying to find a cure, but fears that her efforts are only shortening her own lifespan

Insecurities: she comes from an abusive family, so she's worried that she'll grow up to be like her dad. She's also insecure about the Darner Curse affecting her. Usually pretty good at hiding her insecurities

Achievements: creating a potion that allows users to (temporarily?) see, hear, and interact with ghosts; making advancements in a Darner Curse cure

Anxiety: she actually has an undiagnosed anxiety disorder. A lot of things make her anxious, including the Darner Curse, problems with the ghosts, problems with her father, and rushing in without a plan

Overwhelmed: tends to hide that she's overwhelmed until she literally can't

Self-help: she carries fidgets in her bag to help for when it's just too much. She also tends to stim by fluttering/flapping her hands, trilling or cawing softly, flicking her tail and wings in and out, raising and lowering feathers, and bouncing or hopping. Preening her feathers also helps

Comforts: see above. She also likes rainy days, a soft "nest" made of blankets and pillows, a warm cup of sweet tea, and a hood fantasy or sci-fi book

Bad habits: scratching at her forearms; reading or working instead of sleeping; tends to overwork and exhaust herself ; making plans for scenarios that will never happen or overplanning; hiding her emotions; has a tendency to self-harm

Philosophy: the past is who you are; you can't change the past

Triggers: tight spaces; being trapped; not being able to move; deep water (she can't swim)

The Past

Parents/Guardians: her mother disappeared when Toby was fairly young (2), leaving her under the care of an abusive father. She was with him until he died 10 years later

School: "homeschooled", which means she was taught anything her father deemed fit and learned everything else from books she found

Adolescence: once she started getting older, her father decided that she could take more beatings as lessons. He died a few months later, and she left home to fend for herself

Leaving home: see above

Further education: taught herself how to survive in the outside world, how to use her mystic powers for the greater good, and how to create a few potions

First job: picked up a small job for Draxum when she was 14. She basically was the middleman for a ghost Draxum had been trying to contact (he was curious about an artifact they created), and in return he helped her develop her potion-making skills. This happened sometime during season 1.

Life events: left home at 12; found the Well of Seeing at the outskirts of the Hidden City; did a job for Draxum at 14 and developed her potion-making skills; began work on a cure for the Darner Curse; was contacted by Draxum for another job at 16; met the Hamatos not long after the Kraang invasion (the number of ghosts doubled just before the invasion)

Worst day of their life: the day she saw her ghost from the future get turned into a Draugr by her dead father

Best day of their life: probably either the day she found the Well of Seeing and made a home for herself or the day she learned to fly

Lessons: your past is not all you are. (You are also your future)

Looking back: if she could replay her life and do something differently, she isn't quite sure what she would change, if anything

Relationships

Family: she doesn't really have anyone to consider a family (until later) since her mom left, her dad was abusive, and she doesn't really have anyone else

Friends in need: not really any friends, but she's a good listener, and will be there for those who need to rant

Friendships: she has almost no friends (if you count Draxum, Huginn, and Muninn, she has exactly 3 real friends) She tends to be a loner and meets very few people to be friends with. Later, she meets the Hamato Clan and becomes a close friend to them.

Needing a friend: not really any friends, so she's used to dealing with stuff on her own

Annoyances: she internalizes everything and prefers to stay neutral in the moment

Romance: She tends to prefer quality time and trust over anything else

Marital problems: N/A

Adversaries: breaking her tryst; abuse; unfairness; insulting other people she thinks of as friends or family

Enemies: see above, but repeated infractions is what does it

Strangers: fairly respectful, but closed off towards strangers

Fun stuff: the things she likes doing with friends is almost anything; she likes her quality time

Dating: typically likes one-on-one quality time doing activities she would usually do with a group of friends. Talking, watching movies, working on projects, or just sitting quietly and reading are good

Best friend: she's pretty good friends with Huginn and Muninn, but eventually she's best friends with Cassandra

Love: Donnie!

Worst enemy: her father

Respect: everyone but her father, because he showed her none, so she gives none in return

Mingling: pretty bad at making new friends

Comfort levels: not very comfortable with talking, but she's a good listener

Physical: very tactile, extremely touch-starved, but shy about asking for physical affection

Groups: comfortable in a bigger group if she knows everyone personally; prefers smaller groups

Openness: takes a while to open up; you can't just get rid of a lifetime of hiding your opinion in fear of being hurt when someone disagrees.

Generosity: pretty generous with those in need, but also understands the idea that you can't help others if you can't help yourself

Jealousy: can get jealous of others for having an easier life, but the jealousy quickly turns to sadness

Temper: outwardly patient, but internalizes her anger until later

Empathy: typically empathetic, but she has her moments where she's clumsy with her words

Affection: tactile, but also enjoys quality time. She likes to help by being an ear to talk to, but this also leads to her internalizing other's problems

Distaste: she has this Stare. Leo calls it "The Stare of Ultimate Disappointment™". It's where she doesn't say anything, just puts on her poker face, clicks her talons on the floor, and just Stares. If she really doesn't like you, she combines the Stare with a deep thru in her throat and might start puffing up her feathers in a territorial display

Etiquette: sticks to polite norms of social situations best she can for someone from her background

Responsibility: very responsible. She often carries the responsibility of Ghost Therapist and Middleman to the Living, a very taxing job

Self esteem: poor self esteem. She worries that she'll turn out like her father

Confidence: cares what others think of her; gets upset when others doubt her abilities, then tries to prove them wrong. She already has self-doubt, she doesn't need to hear it from others

Honesty: will often keep things private if she feels it might upset someone; but she does her best to be honest otherwise

Leader or follower: neither. She's not used to being part of a group, so she typically does her own thing. She will step up when needed, though

Party tricks: can mimic sounds and voices exactly; uses her photographic memory to impress others

Praise: praise makes her awkward, but she does enjoy it

Failures: sometimes she's too tactile, so she keeps to herself unless prompted. She gets very frustrated when she can't properly convey her feelings

Criticism: she tries to prove them wrong

Insults: passive-aggressively psychoanalyzes the person who insulted her until they back off

Embarrassment: not easily flustered, but she tends to play off her embarrassment as another emotional. She hides behind her wings when flustered

Flirting: doesn't really flirt a lot

Attention span: she has ADHD. The concept of an attention span for longer than 30 minutes spent on a taxing activity is foreign to her, especially when the activity is not something she wants to do

Situations: awkward with social situations, but does her best to stay neutral

Life

Career: "Ghost Therapist and Middleman to the Living". It's very taxing, very stressful, and she didn't ask for it, but it's the best use of her abilities, so she accepts it

Promotion: N/A

Boss: N/A

Duty: listening to rants; helping ghosts and living contact the other; helping people accept grief and get closure

Tech: not very good with technology, but she likes the shiny gadgets and often hoards machinery parts

Politics: no political involvement, since she is technically not registered as an American citizen and lives too far on the outskirts of the Hidden City to interact with the Council of Heads

Combat skills: can defend herself. She often uses her talons and retractable claws in hand-to-hand combat, but she is also adept with throwing knives

Home: a bit of a hoarder. The Nest Isa perfect mix of messy and organized, so she knows where everything is but looks disorganized to the untrained eye. When everything is put up, The Nest feels too empty. When everything is on the floor, she can't find anything

Daily life: can take care of herself and her home

Independence: very independent

Cooking: she can cook, but often doesn't

Building: she built The Nest by herself, so I'd say she's pretty adept

Cleaning: typically a mix between messy and organized. See "Home"

Shopping: only goes to the store when absolutely necessary. Repurposes and fixes when possible. Forages when she can

Driving: she can technically drive a motorcycle

Finances: not really applicable

Marriage: N/A

Kids: more likely to adopt than have biological children

Pets: has a couple crow friends + Huginn and Muninn, but she doesn't think of them as pets

Dependents: N/A

Law: she's stolen a bit, and only when necessary (or when her hoarding instincts get out of control), but has never been caught

Court: N/A

Prison: N/A

Traveling: prefers to stay in one area

Medical: not really any licensed doctor for her type of being, but she can take care of herself

Illness: anxiety, ADHD

Worries: the Darner Curse; bad memories; anxiety; the problems of others (she is NOT a licensed therapist!)

Peace: prefers peace and quiet, but appreciates a good song playing in the background

Partying: prefers to stay in

Hobbies: hoarding; playing in shallow water; flying; talking to birds; talking to Huginn and Muninn; reading a good book; occasionally dances or sings (?); going for a ride of her totally-legally-aquired motorcycle that she totally bought with money, yes sir it is legal, no sir I don't know what you're talking about

[chilipowder9]

(It’s time for obscure asks with Julie!) what are your favorite and least favorite parts of the holiday season? If you could have coffee with one person, dead or alive, who would it be? What is your current favorite lyric?

yikes this is a hard que- NO IT ISN'T!! I love the community, I love the bonding, I love eating with my people, with my community, even if said community is small or mostly online (or both)

Dead too? Pete Steele. full stop. man had a heart of gold, a big teddy bear man with a prankster streak, I have always wanted to hug him and when Mom told me he died when I was literally 4 I cried and I still get sad that he's passed... alive? any of my moots or tbh anyone I interact with a lot on tumblr, including That One Tumblr Crush that hopefully No One Knows About

this is the one that has made this response take so long to shell out, I have gone through my spotify multiple times and I'm still struggling to pick one so idk if this is my favorite but in this very second, my favorite lyric is...yeah no I can't pick one but I can pick multiple from one song, if that's enough? I chose Appetite of a People Pleaser, and I do need to have a minor tw for ED, since the song is describing a character who people pleases so much that they develops an ED, that and I will be discussing my actual food habits and how or why I relate to the song, and while my eating habits are not unhealthy for my body, it can sound like it is, so... be careful:

"So many flavors that one would abhor

Even though I've had enough

I still demand

Give me more"

I very often can (and do) eat a pound of meat in one sitting, I usually eat roughly 10 or 12 ounces, but I can eat a full pound (16 ounces), and many people hate how I eat, some bully me for how I eat, many tell me I'm gross, and more still tell me things like "You'll regret that when you're thirty!!" and I get it, that woman was worried about me, but I would rather die young and live than die old and survive

I also relate because sometimes I get told I'm eating too much or I'm only eating this much because it's not filling, which also isn't true since I know more than a few people who eat this way and eat less, so I suppose "Even though I've had enough" I add "in your eyes" to it

"Call me obsequious

I guess I'm a bit dramatic

Sometimes my appetite is eerily erratic"

I love the word obsequious (and recommend looking up what it means bc tbh it surprised me a bit) and I love even more how Ghost made it sound in the song

as far as actually relating to the lyric, my appetite can be eerily erratic, people get creeped out by how much gusto I have about my food, how hungry I am, how very in love with my meat I am, and often getting freaked out about my cravings, such as raw meat

"Wondering why I'm a burden or so it seems

Aren't I everything?

Maybe if I try a little harder, it will be okay one day"

this one is because of my people pleasing, I often try harder than is healthy to make those around me happy that I burnout and become exactly what I'm aiming to avoid becoming, a burden

"Sometimes my appetite is violently contrary"

this one could be self explanatory, since I've already mentioned my eating habits, but I haven't added that I literally have had no carbs in almost a year (no I will not be adding carbs back to my diet I feel alive for the first time in my life)

hope that's not too much of an answer!!

[nightmarenova-writer]

~Story Drabble Time!!~ #2

(P.S. this is something of a draft for my project that I briefly mentioned in my pinned comment, I kinda impulsively decided to type this down because its been driving me a bit crazy due to how much I could work with this. And since by the time March comes around, this’ll be my 2nd year of constant and detailed planning with taking stuff out and putting stuff in. And I’m hoping by next year or by December I’ll have enough to start posting my stuff. BUT there is one important detail with my project. It’s actually a large scale fan-fic that’s gonna have roughly 10-11(?) parts or “installments” so if that isn’t your thing then you don’t have to feel obligated to read these okay? If its not your cup of tea, then no hard feelings. Also just a heads up my grammar might be a bit sucky. Even as a native English speaker my grammar does go down when I don’t write for a while! But I hope you enjoy this! Without further ado, lets get to it!)

She knew her existence was never supposed to be. She knew that with her being brought to life was never a part of the design of the rules made for Worlds and Universes. And yet she was born, while not knowing why. Her entire person was an error, an anomaly, a variable of untold consequences just waiting to happen.

But she couldn’t care less. Being born into a loving and welcoming home as her first assured her that she wasn’t something not supposed to exist and be eliminated, but someone who could be loved and cared for unconditionally. Her first parents where of high status as the royalty of a prosperous kingdom, and wanted nothing more then a child to nurture as the next ruler of their beloved home. And when she was born they noticed she was different, unknowing as of why, yet couldn’t be bothered by it. As she was their child, and would love her as such.

Giving her a name she would carry for the rest of her lifetimes, befitting her and her everlasting nature. A name while uncommon in spelling couldn’t had suited her more. A blank canvass waiting to be stained with the deep meaning of journeys waiting to be told. Words into sentences of simple gestures, sentences into paragraphs of complex thoughts, and paragraphs into pages of a story being told in the hands of the curious.

She carried this name with pride. Reminded of the people who where her first parents, role models of endless kindness and duty. And also of her first losses to the hands of greed, power hungry being who’s ambitions ended by her own hands.

She knew she wasn’t supposed to exist. But she learned that while this was true, she couldn’t deny the bonds she made throughout her lifetimes. She couldn’t forsake such a thing, as if she did she would be forsaking herself and her existence. Which wouldn’t be taken lightly by her loved ones, as their gentle words of affirmation overtake such thoughts.

She knew who she was, just not what she was truly yet. Hidden away, was the reason for her creation inside the shell of what once was, a shadow. But that would need more time to be revealed. Time that was rapidly running out. And all would be outside for her to see.

But this is a story far away from now, you’ll just have to wait for the answer in the mean time. Watching as the girl who’s existence is something of wonder plays out. The girl who is known as… Page Lee Midela Thoelle, and her journey which is only beginning after all.

[victors-grave]

So I have a spin wheel with the names of all my oc's on there.

So I have a fun little game to play:

I will spin the wheel twice and then pair up the two characters as a ship, I will then rate that ship based on whether its good or not, and the ship to get the highest score will end up getting drawn.

Okay? Let's go.

Spin ship 1: Seyla Ay’ven and Arley Syx.

Rating: 1/10

Reason: Seyla canonically dies 26 years before Arley is even born, so it wouldn't make sense timeline wise. Also, Seyla is a species that eat their partners/lovers so it would probably end badly for them.

Not a good start.

Spin ship 2: Elara Xa and Florena Sola

Rating: 1/10

Reason: Again, the same reason for the last one, timelines do not match. Elara would have been dead for at least 100 years before Florena's parents had ever met. Also, Florena is friends with one of Elara's descendents so it would of been a bit weird.

Spin ship 3: Hira and Myla Karden

Rating: 2/10

Reason: Despite the fact that their timelines do not match up, I think they would be an interesting ship. However, relationship wise they would definitely not match, Hira is too power hungry while Myla is too naive.

Spin ship 4: Aldric Hesing and Cialin Inei

Rating: 1/10

Reason: Not just because Cialin is straight, but because Cialin is literally older than Aldric's parents. In fact, Cialin's granddaughter is older than Aldric. No, just no.

Spin ship 5: Talyra Tarick and Jocla Dene

Rating: 4/10

Reason: Surprisingly, it's not the worst and is probably the best so far. They're roughly around the same age and realistically could have met at least once or twice in their lifetimes. Would be higher if it wasn't for the fact that Talyra is happily married and Jocla is unhappily broken up with.

Spin ship 6: Mazen Xa-Qui and Oz

Rating: 7/10

Reason: They're only a year apart in age and would realistically know one another and have met multiple times. Whether they would of had a good relationship is another question but its more likely that they would of had at least a couple few good dates.

Spin ship 7: Rosanet Inei and Thaniea Hio

Rating: 7/10

Reason: I'm not as opposed to this ship than I thought I would be. Realistically, they would have never met in Canon, but it feels so interesting, like? Thaniea dating Rosanet, who canonically has shape shifted and pretended to be Thaniea before? It's kinda good, in my opinion. Plus, Rosanet dated Zena, so there's no reason not to date Thaniea as well. Kinda silly but it's alright.

Spin ship 8: Tala Fein and Kora Xa-Qui

Rating: 2/10

Reason: Kora's marriage is too happy for her to ruin it by dating a saint, and Tala would not give up her devotion to being a saint in order to date a happy married mother. It's kind of like Soren/Kora/Wye. However, there's something more fun about those three over this one.

Spin ship 9: Tiffa Dene and Lecia Hesing

Rating: 5/10

Reason: The age gap is a bit questionable for my taste, but it's still alright, I guess. It could be kind of fun as Tiffa hasn't been seen in years by her family, so her turning out to date the sister of a Prince her brother is friends with could be kind of fun. Again, not the worse, not the best.

Spin ship 10: Aeron Hesing and Nylea Ay’ven

Rating: 1/10

Reason: Aeron, I know you basically get with anyone, but that is a full-blown lesbian who has no interest in you and who is dead during your first meeting anyway. No chance, no.

So, it seems that by the end of the 10 spins, the top rated ship is Mazen/Oz and Rosanet/Thaniea.

Honestly, I expected worse results, but I am glad it wasn't any worse than it already was. I actually tried this when writing a few rare pair ships for a one-shot ao3 fic I was going to do, only to end up spinning and getting sisters 😳 so I'm glad there was none of that this time.

So, once I've drawn what I've promised, I'll probably do another one of these, see you then!

[missspringthyme]

January 11th, 2024

My sort-of-step-mom left today to go to California for literally one day. She has a gymnastics meet there, and since she'll be gone for a lot of this year and doesn't feel the need to go to Disneyland again, she decided she'd go for the minimum amount of time. Regardless, this means that I said goodbye to her today because I won't see her before I leave.

I did many last-minute errands today, I picked up my prescription, I went shopping for the things I had been asked to bring from the US, I went to pick up the ski jacket my mom had offered to give to me. That last one also doubled as me saying goodbye.

I don't really know how to feel about my mom right now, and I don't really know how to treat her, but I can at least come to tell her I'm leaving tomorrow. It also means I'm able to give my dog a goodbye as well. We've had him since I was 10/11 and I have loved very few things more than I have loved him. He's getting old though, and every time I leave it becomes more and more possible that it could be the last time I see him. I wish I could remove the grey from his muzzle and his eyes, but instead, I just hug him close and remove the food that gets stuck in his cheeks.

When I got home my dad offered to make spätzle, to which I asked if we could do something else. Now listen, I love spätzle as much as the next girl but the problem is my dad grew up with 7 siblings. That means he does not know how to make food for less than 10 people.

He had made some recently for Christmas and the leftovers and been slowly chipped away at over roughly 2 weeks. I tried to explain to him that just because I didn't want spätzle today doesn't mean I now suddenly hate spätzle, but I'm concerned the message did not get through. I know I'm going to be hearing about how I hate spätzle for the rest of time.

Anyway, his other option was that we go to his (I think) favorite restaurant, which does wood-fired pizza. He's become a regular there, and all the employees know who he is. I have to work hard to make sure we don't go there for lunch every Sunday. Still, it was the restaurant he had taken us to for dinner when I first arrived, so I figured it might be a nice bookend for my winter break. He told me to invite T as well, and got very frustrated when I told him that he was working right now so we would have to wait.

I tell T every time my dad invites him without me asking, because I know it makes him happy that my family wants him to be included.

My sister and I watched some tv together while we waited, and when T's shift was over we all headed to the restaurant. I asked my dad if we could get another pizza because last time I had been still hungry when I finished mine, and he and I had both stolen slices from my sister's pizza. I'll have to remember to suggest this in the future as well, because it was a brilliant idea on my part.

We ate and talked and my dad grilled me (of course) about when I would be back in the summer (I don't know if I can, much less when) and what my plans are for when I finish my Master's (take the time in between my thesis submission and graduation as a true break (maybe go to Italy?) and then hopefully start a job that helps with PhD applications).

We finished up and headed back, T spent the night again but completed the tradition of him watching me last-minute pack and clean well past midnight. We sat with each other a lot, and cried a little. In case no one told you, long distance is not very easy. I try to make sure he gets held for as long as I can before I leave.