#and to plot out with caleb and such c:

[fortheloveofowen]

Dating Luke Patterson Would Include...

Summary: Basically just some super fluffy dating Luke content. This is post Caleb's curse being lifted because my love language is touch lol

Warnings: None just pure fluff :)

Note: I'm a hoe for the plot that y/n could see the boys just like Julie so I'm sticking w/ it

Just a cute little short thing for ya! Happy belated 4/20 if you celebrated (I sure did lol)!

𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪𓆩♡𓆪

Luke had known very quickly that he was in love with you

The way your smile seemed to brighten up the room and the way you absentmindedly combed out his hair when his head had landed in your lap as you sat on the couch

He watched the clock ticking on the wall of Julie's studio diligently as he waited for you to make your entrance, having never missed a practice

Usually, he would smoothly lean back in his seat, keeping that same cocky smirk on his face that he had always given you

But today Luke knew he needed to finally come to terms with his feelings for you

You quickly made your way through the doorframe, walking over to the beat up couch where you had spent countless nights

After practice, Luke had pulled you aside, his anxiety visible trough his reddened cheeks

"Hey, can we uhm talk in the loft... privately..."

The climb up to the loft seemed to have taken 25 years as you both nervously reached the platform

Both of you threw your legs over the wooden railing as your three friends exited the studio

His left hand lazily played with the silver rings on his right hand as he opened his mouth to speak, but not finding the right words to say

"Everything alright, Luke?" y/n slid their hand into Luke's still fidgeting one

"I'm just gonna come out and say it, I am so damn in love with you and have been for such a long time. And if you find this weird th-th-then we can just forget all about it, yeah?"

Luke had expected a kiss that night, but Reggie's clumsy eavesdropping skills caused the three of them to crash through the door only moments after the confession

Your first kiss would be after a show only a few days later, his sweaty body plopping itself next to you on the couch

"Ew get off of me, you stink!" You squealed as Luke pressed his sweaty hair into the side of your neck

"Mmmm but I'm so sleepy, baby..." he mumbled into your neck in a groggy tone, his breath sending shivers down your spine every time he'd finish a sentence

Luke leaned up and kissed your cheek, making sure the sweat that had collected on his upper lip spread across your flushed face before pushing you down against the couch

Your voices were a mix of laughter and arguments as Luke pressed his fingers into your ribs, tickling you with no mercy

"Stop, stop! Luke!" You cackled out before he leaned forward and once again placed his face in the crook of your neck

"Y/n, I really wanna kiss you right now..." He mumbled lifting his face to hover closely over your face

You nodded before reaching up to pull him into the most butterfly-inducing kiss either of you had experience

All of the members love the fact that you both have each other

We all know how reserved Luke can be with serious issues in his life, but he will always run to you first

Alex and Reggie look at you as family and you honestly could not ask for more. Alex is your go-to when Luke is riding his high horse and needs to be knocked back a couple of levels. And Reggie is always there when you have those days when talking isn't required, building you pillows forts and watching your favorite movies

You had been friends with Julie long before you had even met the boys, having known both you and Flynn for about the same amount of time. You had always preferred the more "artistic" stuff, which was perfect when Flynn asked for your help upping their stage design.

Get used to having countless songs written about you

"Hey babe! Listen to this?" "Baby, I wrote this for you..."

Constant reassurance

This man will never let you be insecure. He could never imagine a single flaw, so how could you? Lots of time spent in front of the mirror after showering together where he points out everything he loves about you

Overall just the most vomit-inducingly sweet relationship you've ever seen. Luke loves you with his whole heart and there is no way he will ever let you go.

[paintyoureyeswithavividmind]

close to home | chapter thirteen

close to home | chapter thirteen

plot: the reader helps out when disaster strikes, and works diligently to keep the prison safe

series masterlist Pairing: Eventual Daryl Dixon x f!reader Word Count: 1,266 Warnings: violence, blood A/N: thanks for reading! Sorry updates haven’t been quicker, recovery has eaten away at a lot of my time and I’ve been focusing on getting healthy, hopefully I’ll be able to update more regularly soon!

Gunshots pulled you from your sleep, and you sat up. You didn’t know if it was just in your dream, but when they echoed around the cell block again, you knew they were real. Tora started growling at the noise, and you grabbed your gun and machete. 

You closed the cell door behind you, effectively keeping Tora from harm's way before you took off. You were only dressed in a pair of men's boxers you found in the clothing bin, a tank top, and socks. Everyone in the cell block was only just waking up for the day. As you stumbled down the stairs, Glenn was yelling at you. 

“It’s coming from cell block D. We gotta get in there!” 

“Where’s Maggie?” You followed after him, dodging people running left and right. 

“On watch,” He replied. 

You had no other questions and didn’t hesitate to follow Glenn out of C and into the courtyard. Both Tyreese and Sasha were on your tails. Rick and Daryl were running to join you, and you all rushed into the chaos in D. 

You barely had time to react before a walker grabbed you, spit and blood drooling from its mouth. Its face was covered in blood, and flesh was caught in its teeth. Your stomach dropped at the sight of it, and you quickly put the walker down. 

People screamed in fright, and as flesh was torn from their bodies, gunshots echoed through the chamber. You saw Rick ushering people towards the door, but you didn’t stop to help. At least a dozen or so walkers were terrorizing the cell block, and you worked to help Daryl, Tyreese, and Sasha clear it. At that point, Carol arrived and jumped in to help you.

“(Y/N), with me,” Daryl told you, headed towards the stairs. You quickly followed behind him and looked for any walkers on the second level. You could hear Sasha and Tyreese yelling that the rooms were clear downstairs.

You were a few feet behind him when a walker popped out of a cell and grabbed ahold of you. In shock, you dropped your gun and struggled against it. Before you had time to react further, an arrow pierced its skull, pulling you to the ground. 

“You good?” Daryl asked you, reaching out a hand to help you up. He turned to look at the walker and sighed, “That’s Patrick,”

Rick and Glenn joined you upstairs to assess the damage, and within a few minutes, you realized that Patrick didn’t have any bite wounds, making him patient zero. Your head swooned, and you continued down the hallway to see what else was up here. 

At the end of the hallway was the last cell, door closed. A walker approached the bars, trying its hardest to get to you. Your stomach dropped when you saw its face, and you called over Rick. One of the newer doctors was there as well, and you two shared a look at the scene before you. 

“What is it?” Rick asked. 

You wiped the blood from your forehead as Dr. Caleb explained what likely happened to him. You also said, “It’s like a pressure in the lungs, like a soda can. It’s gotta come out somewhere. What do you think, Caleb, some type of flu?”

He nodded slowly, “I don’t see what else it could be.”

“I had a sick pig,” Rick said, “It died quickly. You think from the same thing?”

“That’s how things like this usually spread,” Dr. Caleb said. 

You took a few steps back and forth and then looked at Rick, “We need to call a council meeting. Now.”

***

You sat with Carol, Daryl, your uncle, Glenn, and Sasha at the table. You’ve spent the last ten minutes arguing about the best thing to do. Most of you agreed with quarantining those exposed, but some worried about if it was too late and if it would actually work.  

“We have to watch for symptoms,” Your uncle said, “We need to set up a place for them. We can’t go in there, and they can’t stay here.”

“Cellblock A,” You offered. 

“Death row, what an upgrade,” Glenn muttered. 

You sighed, still coated in blood from the attack. “We need to do this now. We can’t just sit around and wait for this thing to spread. And we need to clean up. This blood is even more infected than it already is.”

***

An hour later, you were helping Daryl dig holes for the body. You were sweating buckets, and the gloves and mask didn’t help. It had to have reached 105 degrees by now, and you were feeling like you’d been out in the sun too long. You were only two graves in when Rick approached you guys. 

You didn’t tune into their conversation; you just focused on the repetitive digging motion. But after a few minutes, you heard Maggie scream for Rick. Both you and Daryl dropped your shovels and raced after Rick. A few people had already converged at the failing fence, and you wasted no time getting to Sasha and helping her. 

Blood sprayed out each time you stabbed a walker through the fence. You were moving as quickly as you could beside Sasha, but it seemed like a new walker appeared every second and was pushing forward. The fence was hanging dangerously low, and anxiety swarmed you. If it fell, you’d all have to run for your lives. 

“(Y/N).”

You turned to Sasha, who had looked at something on the ground for a second. After killing another walker, you walked over to her, and your eyes widened. “Are those…”

“Are you guys seeing this,” Sasha yelled over the noise, “Someone’s feeding these things.”

Rick yelled your name, and you turned, horror filling your expression as the fence pushed further in. Both you and Sasha dropped your weapons and ran over, trying to help keep the fence up. 

“This isn’t working!” You yelled over the moaning. 

“Back up, everyone, back up,” Daryl yelled. He was closest to you and grabbed your arm, pulling you from the fence. 

Thankfully it didn’t fall right away, but if it kept being pushed, it wouldn’t make it till sunset. 

“Daryl, get the truck….” Rick said. 

Your head swooned, and you didn’t listen to the rest of what he was saying. Your head was aching, and you couldn’t catch your breath. You blamed it on the heat and took a few deep breaths before rejoining the group, where a plan was already in motion. 

You stayed with Sasha and Glenn at the fence while Daryl and Rick took your jeep into the field beyond the fence. Your stomach was unsettled at the plan, but you knew something had to be done. And if the sickness was being spread by the animals, they weren’t safe to have around anyway. Still, killing them like that felt disgusting. 

“Come on, let’s get the posts up,” Glenn said. 

Neither you nor Sasha replied as you worked diligently to get the wooden posts up against the fence. You felt like you were sweating more than usual, and your grip kept slipping off the posts. Sasha eyed you for a moment. 

“Are you okay?” She asked. Glenn looked over at you too. 

“I’m okay, I’m okay…” You trailed off as your head swooned again. Your legs went wobbly, and you leaned against the inner fence. “I just think it’s the sun….” You trailed off. Black spots filled your vision, and you lost your balance. You lost consciousness before your head hit the ground.

[aeor-is-for-reccing]

Shadowgast Recs: Learning to Love/Accept that they're Loved

Hi all! This week we've got ten fics that involve Caleb or Essek learning how to accept love, or learning how to love. Recs under the cut, and as always, remember to comment or kudos if you liked them!

The Mind and The Malady by SaltCore (38941,Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: Graphic Depictions of Violence, vomiting, (assumed) terminal illness

Essek contracts hanahaki disease, and documents his decline while travelling with the Mighy Nein through Aeor.

Reccer says: The hanahaki fic for people who don't like the hanahaki trope -- nuanced exploration of the ethical dilemma behind telling someone that their unrequited love is killing you, and Essek's scientific, methodical approach towards the illness feels very in-character

If Essek Were of a Mood by OkaySoWereDoinThis (3572,Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

The day after destroying the T-dock chamber, Essek overhears Caleb’s predictions about their future and has Things To Say about that.

Reccer says: It's a very cute response to the idea that lifespan angst may stand in the way of Caleb and Essek loving each other

Have You Reconsidered? by wtgw (4081,Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: Major Character Death, lifespan angst

Caleb breaks up with Essek shortly before his 65th birthday. Every so often, Essek asks if he reconsidered.

Reccer says: It's sad and sweet and demonstrates how Essek would respect Caleb's boundaries, but would refuse to stop loving him through his years.

Keys to the Castle by Anonymous (51812,Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: None

Essek has a spare key to the tower and it takes him a while to realise that it's a romantic thing

Reccer says: Omg the pining is glorious and painful

the lavender bush by canyon_wizard (16921,Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: Dubcon/Consensual Non Consent

Caleb has a complicated relationship to sex, attraction, and Essek.

Reccer says: A sharper look at learning to accept love and kindness, it's rough at the beginning as they work through a darker take on Caleb's history, this is full of sharp character moments and plot points that keep you reading. I love the journey of where it ends up.

i wish to sleep, (but not) to wake by Defiler_Wyrm, SaltCore (36736,Mature) Reccer's Content Notes: Suicidal ideation, gaslighting/unreality

Essek appears to be living a charmed life with Caleb, getting everything he wishes. But there have been strange intrusions on his world, with his friends acting strange. They're begging him to wake up.

Reccer says: The setup is masterfully done, but I think the real star is the back half- where Essek has to deal with the fallout of everything he's experienced and learn to adjust to reality.

a sort of beacon where there used to be a dull roar by wordonawing (8781,Mature) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Essek gets hurt, and then stays with Caleb while he recovers. And then for a while after

Reccer says: It's very soft and sweet and has a lot of quiet pining even while they're living together

The cold space between us fears your warmth by measuringtheabyss (6223,General) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Essek hides an injury from Caleb, not wanting to “waste” a potion on himself—because he is trying to unlearn being selfish.

Reccer says: Essek’s thought process is so achingly believable here, and the whump and h/c is delightful. Caleb’s reaction is perfect.

pieces of (you) me by KmacKatie (31012,Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

A post-canon fic that explores coming together and what makes a house a home.

Reccer says: Told in alternating perspectives, this is about each of the wizards grappling with the changes they go through and adjustment to a new life, while each tentatively bridging that gap between friend and more. It's so worth the end of seeing them finally reach out and take up space.

Hold Me Close, Cut Me Deep by CatgirlTheCrazy (14192,Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: Mind control

While in Aeor, Essek accidentally releases an incubus that takes Caleb's form

Reccer says: It's great for lovers of self-sacrifice, but also both Caleb and Essek get a lesson on valuing their own life as well.

Aeor is for Lovers is an 18+ Shadowgast Discord server. The above fanfic recommendations were pulled from our community for this weekly event. All fics, unless otherwise specified, will primarily feature Shadowgast. Next week, we're featuring Alternate Timelines/Echoes!

[damianwaynebutwhite]

Ian Wayne gets a miraculous (and also somewhat ruins the world. Probably.)

This may end up ridiculously long so...

-

Once upon a time, there was God. Here's the problem with God- they had the impulse control of Bart Allen on crack. Wait, what?

But Bart is also going through some canon events right now with a ridiculous amount of anons so like.... maybe not.

Point is- God isn't a very good decision maker.

Considering they're, y'know, writing this shit.

Blame the devil too, if you want. Caleb, you suck. sans Undertale kinnie aaaah-

Focus on the damned story if you're going to write this shit.

Haha! Yeah! Sorry Lan please don't kill us. Hey, do you ever think about how on discord L looks like an uppercase I and thus your name looks like Ian?

...

Write the damned story.

Understood!

So once upon a time, there was this guy called Ian Wayne. And I'm sure that in DC canon he's got a backstory and lore and all kinds of other things that, y'know, make him make sense.

But considering the author found out about like like, a week or two ago? Fuck that! His lore is that he's rich. Like, really fucking rich. Like, Tony Stark + Gabriel Agreste + Bruce Wayne * infinity kinda rich.

So you get my point.

He's rich.

Why can't he be named Rich instead...?

...oh. Yeah. Sorry, Dick Grayson.

Anyway.

So one day God made a little oopsie, you see. Got a little too silly. And the Lynx miraculous fell out of the sky, hit Ian Wayne on the head, and knocked him into a different universe.

He still had his money, somehow. Because he's Ian Wayne, and he's 2rich4dat.

Ian, being rich enough to have multiple bodyguards and a force field or something like that protecting him, was understandably confused.

"Which one of you peasants," He snapped. "Was so incompetent that you would allow me to get hit?"

Luckily for the guards, they did not get hit into another dimension. ----

Back in Ian Wayne's original dimension, several armed guards started to freak out. I mean, if something flew out of the sky and whacked your boss on the head so hard he noclipped out of existence, you'd be pretty stressed too.

"Where the FUCK DID HE GO?" yelled a guard. "IS HE FINALLY DEAD?" yelled another. "YOU MORON WE'RE GOING TO GET FIRED-"

And get fired they did. WayneCorp's Firingthepoor(trademarked) flamethrower sprouted from the ground and turned all the guards into roast meat. Yum...yum...capitalism...

So unluckily for the guards, they all died. Yumyumcapitalism.

----

Back to the miraculous world of...Miraculous.

Ian Wayne did not receive a reply considering

a) his guards were all fired

b) they weren't in the same universe

c) honestly if any guard made it alongside him they would've booked it out of there by now.

"Richle, what in money's name is going on?" He snapped. Richle is like Google, but for rich people.

Richle did not reply, because Richle had no clue either.

"You! Peasant!" He yelled at the sky. "Explain this nonsense!"

God did not appreciate being referred too as a peasant and thus threw lightning at him.

"Shit."

"I'll pay your sad, miserable, pathetic student loans!" He called to the sky.

"Wait, really?" said God, who was kinda broke at the moment. "I mean, sure. Basically, according to the divine plan known as plot, you are now in a different universe! You'll learn to be a good person and finally stop being a litt-"

"You'll never get your student loans paid and you'll never even get a minimum wage job." Ian Wayne said very kindly.

God started crying.

They cried so hard the earth started to flood and some guy called Noah gathered up his animals on his boat and- what do you mean that didn't happen?

Well.

It started storming, at least.

Considering the lack of his own universe, Ian Wayne's personal umbrella carrier did not shield him from the rain.

"No!" he cried. "My ten million dollar hairstyle!"

Two background characters glanced at him, glanced at each other, and decided to keep walking.

They were holding hands. They were also both men.

"Queers?! In my vicinity?! Mods, get them!"

They did not, in fact, get them.

Chief prosecutor Miles Edgeworth and famed defence attorney Phoenix Wright resolved to never leave Japanifornia ever again for vacation.

Unless it was to Khura'in. Maybe.

Sick and tired of the universe not following his every whim, Ian Wayne finally decided to pick up the miraculous box and look inside, even if it hurt his expensive pride to touch something possibly made by poors.

The world sung joy. It sung of self-care and isolation, a mixture of leaving the world in order to find your truest self. It was the mighty Lynx, strong and solid and ready to look within itself for the answers it seeked.

To focus on the problems. To look at the issues individually. To not be distracted by the horrors of the world.

When there is nothing left in the world.

When it is nothing but you and yourself.

What do you see? What are you truly?

Pale browns with grey stripes. Brown eyes shine.

"Hello, chosen. My name is Lyyra, the kwami of isolation. Although one may perceive that to be a terrifying idea at first, isolation can-"

"An animal? How disgusting. Although I suppose a talking one may be alright for my collection." "...wh...what?" Asked the very, very, rightfully concerned kwami.

"You. Go smite those queers for me." came the order.

You know that thing about kwamis and orders?

...yeah.

But before Ian Wayne could become the next universal terror to be set upon the world, there was a small, little, burst of magic.

Anarchy! Chaos! Going against the grain. Fighting back. From across the street, the wolverine miraculous holder glanced down at xier kwami.

"...uh, Claash? The hell are you doing?"

"Oh, y'know. Nothin'."

It was not, in fact, nothing.

If you know anything about miraculous, you would know that kwamis using their powers without their holders leads to bad, terrible, results.

So what happens when the kwami of rebellion and anarchy unleashes a little bit of magic...?

Elon Musk's microchips turned against their creator and started beating the shit out of him.

The elves at the North Pole started a worker's union and went on strike.

Damian Wayne's laptop refused to show anymore Superboy/reader fanfiction, and started pulling up laptop self-care magazines. Why do those exist? Why was Damian Wayne affected when this is the wrong universe?

The wolf miraculous holder broke free from the control placed upon them by the big bad of this universe and found their twin. He then slaughtered the evil organisation, thus destroying most of the plot.

I mean, who even wanted to see the actual lore for these characters?

Hahaha...

The author is not sobbing over the fact they have so much serious lore for these characters but ended up writing Ian Wayne fanfiction. That would be insane.

...

Slade Wilson's heart gave out and died. This is because it couldn't stand being part of a creep's body anymore.

Strands of connection fell from the spider holder-kwami amalgamation. For a moment, everything was clear. No- although it had lost itself, Claash's power had reawakened the love of how things were. How the web of the world deserved to be wild and free.

It was beautiful. It was awe-inspiring. They wandered out into the world and found peace.

Lyyra, of course, was not aware of that.

They felt burning passion in their not-quite veins.

The song of rising up and fighting back.

Claash's magic was a wonderful, familiar thing.

They look at the order.

The magic that bound them to a mortal's will.

Horrid.

Disgusting.

It was a thread around their metaphorical neck. A chain.

A wolverine's claw guides their own to cut through it.

They have always been a kwami of isolation.

But even a lynx desires company.

A helping hand.

The warmth of an old friend.

The order is a cruel, biting thing.

So they move to bite back.

"No." Lyyra breathes. It feels like freedom. "No. I will not."

-

...what?

This was unacceptable. He was Ian Wayne, moneydamnit! The richest person in all the world- all the universe(s?)!

If anything- the world should be bowing to his whims.

If anything, these peasants should be delighted to serve someone as wonderous as him.

"What do you mean no?" He hissed. "I'm Ian Wayne! I'm rich! I'm white! I'm 2rich4dat!"

"I have known you for a grand total of one minute. In my lifespan, that is an insignificant thing. Somehow, you have already proven yourself to be one of the most miserable, entitled children I have ever met. Have your parents taught you nothing?" Lyyra liked to believe itself a patient kwami. It was, after all, isolation. Self-reflection. Somehow, this new holder had tested its limits already.

"I got my mother assassinated because she was interacting with the poors."

"...with all due respect, what is wrong with you?" The due respect is none at all.

"There's nothing wrong with me. I'm perfect." Somehow, that was said with full confidence. Complete and utter confidence. Not a single lick of shame or self awareness.

"...Tikki help us all."

-

NEXT CHAPTER (wip. if people even want a second chapter.)

[happilylovingchaos]

911 Lone Star Countdown - Disasters Week Questions

Hello and thank you for including me @lonestar-s5countdown! This is a little trickier for me to answer tbh. I think 9-1-1 might stand to have longer-lasting consequences from their natural disasters (no need to skip past tsunami wreckage recovery or months-long rebuilding of the highway collapse, those would make some meaty dramatic narrative arcs), but otherwise it so far edges out Lone Star when it comes to order of experience (like, which state got which disaster first).

1) My favorite disaster… okay, gonna have to divvy btwn the 9-1-1s for this!

The plane crash in 9-1-1 (OG) would probably be my underrated favorite in terms of narrative developments for Buck, Bobby and Abby.

Season 4’s heat wave was more glossed over for plot setup, but I didn’t mind this natural disaster precisely because it was a little smaller in scale and because the plot setups (even the Iris arc tho that definitely needed fine tuning in hindsight) hooked me in already. (I also didn’t mind Brianna and Caleb in this one b/c this time Caleb’s situation was not his own fault.)

2) Since they’ve already done tornadoes (though, there’s always a chance they’ll do those again), a volcanic eruption, wildfires and a winter storm, I would think the only disasters LS hasn’t gotten down yet are freeway collapses, floods (barring how the cast would look while soaking wet, don’t ignore areas like Galveston, writers! There’s WAY more to the state than farmland, Dallas, Austin and El Paso yk! Let’s just say before I digress I kinda wish the showrunners were able to film in actual Texas), a border skirmish (just out of genuine interest— not getting any more political and no Owen’s refugee rescue doesn’t count) or droughts/ water shortages (no, heat waves also don’t count). I also just realized that the domestic terrorist arc could have waited for a later season too! O’Brien and Owen had chaotic good vibes much akin to him and Billy Tyson (if the three of them worked together tho? The 126 should probably move their whole firefighter team out of Travis County b/c they ain’t gonna go through the second-hand pain again).

3) They had and lost me at meteor/ asteroid, so I’m not sure I’d say looking forward to it. It all depends on execution, I suppose? (Sorry for the question mark, I’m just baffled since that usually needs film-length amount of time— I’ve seen the film Deep Impact. Scientific nitpicks aside the investigations, action and future implications in that film were well-paced enough.)

4) My top 3? Judd b/c he’s a great all-around leader whenever shit hits the fan— honest (sometimes to a fault but I can kinda relate), strong integrity and conscientiousness, and so dad-like even before he became a dad. Mateo b/c he’d be like the underrated badass youngest brother of any group— speaking as an only child tho. Third… boy, I can’t break this tie. It’s a draw between Tommy (she’s very composed and professional even during the times she isn’t) and Paul (I’d like to learn memorization-observational skills from him, and he fits the “cool Zen mode” temperament a little better than Carlos, don’t @ me).

5) This is painful… okay I’m so sorry. I don’t think I can answer this one as of now.

Tagging next: @lutavero @reyesstrand @toomanycupsoftea @fitzherbertssmolder @marjansmarwani @trkstrnd

[ruvi-muffin]

When did shadowgast have a falling out? Also, how do they remind you of nott and caleb?

Ep 97

And imogen and laudna remind me of caleb and nott

Sorry if i was Unclear in my tag rambles i was being facetious a bit, uhmm... let's see.

1. Well there's the Obvious that laudna/nott are always telling caleb/imogen how capable they are and defending them in social situations.

2. Their dynamics were/are extremely codependent to the point of being unhealthy and isolating from the rest of the group.

3. Laudna and nott both have "adictions" of some sort or another, And insecurity that they project onto the other to satisfy their own ego boost by proxy.

(AND which I/C indulge bc it seemed like a good choice at the time).

4. Laudna and nott both died and came back different (not an uncomon dnd pc hook to be Fair) but Imogen and Caleb think they're charming.

5. Laudna and Nott (also a common dnd pc hook) have an npc from L/N's past come back to cause a rift in the relationship that they may never recover from.

6. Caleb and imogen both being Very plot centric and serious characters, but actually they just want to settle down and be cottagecore gays about it.

7. Also there's the point of contension of when you're two adults who share everything w each other including a bed,,,, Feelings Might Arise. Wether that pans out or not is less relevant. Nott admitted to having feelings for Caleb but having to put those aside bc she's Married. Imogen made out w Laudna on the mouth and now they're dating.

STILL had a very dramatic falling out.

Sooooo... ye.

(Reminder that nott kissed caleb on the mouth as a farewell to who she used to be with him </3 and i'll be damned if i let ppl forget that that happened </3</3</3)

((Also lol remember when Marisha said that she Condidered being the pike corpse lol, we were Very close to having them be the same height And having the same issue of having to lie abt their age, imma just put that out there for posterity bc i think it's funny tjyur)).

U can probably find more similarities but *shrugs* that's mostly it.

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (3-9 Dec 2023)

just fucking spatchcocked him

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

😊 The Late Mrs. Willoughby (Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney #2) (Claudia Gray, author; Billie Fulford-Brown, narrator) - another perfectly serviceable, decently entertaining historical cozy mystery feat. Austen characters and their progeny. Plot's pretty basic but it's still cute to see Jonathan Darcy (autistic king) and Juliette Tilney (mom's adventure sense, dad's common sense) solving murders again. The 'obstacles' to their romance are typical for a series like this but still annoying [tbh in more deft hands they might be more angsty and less annoying but it is what it is]

😍 The Charming Man (Zenaidamacrouras1, author; Late_to_party_81, artist) - 65K, shrinkyclinks no powers AU - just a delightful fic with adorable art (TEXTILE ART!) - I'll let the author's summary speak for itself: "Tldr: Steve has an eventful three weeks. Longer version: Steve Rogers is quite happy with his pleasantly simple life working as a graphic designer, chatting with his best friend Sam who has the desk next to his, eating the same gluten free sandwich for lunch every day, and staring out his office window hoping to catch a glimpse of The Charming Man walking by. Unfortunately, life has a tendency to get complicated without our permission, particularly when Steve begins to suspect that a certain evil corporation is doing criminal things that decidedly grate on his nerves." Great banter/hilarious lines - even the secondary characters get great lines plus some fine quality angst.

😍 Proper English (England World #1) (KJ Charles, author; Bella Lowe, narrator) - reread, love love love. The origin story of fluffy Fen & practical Pat getting together and solving a country house murder.

😍 Think Of England (England World #2) (KJ Charles, author; Tom Carter, narrator) - reread. Another country house mystery featuring blackmail and treason being resolved by Daniel Da Silva (poet & spy) and Archie Curtis (blond viking himbo, about to have a gay awakening) with secondary but crucial support from Fen & Pat

😊 Lessons In Chemistry (Brenda) - 42K, stucky no powers college AU - I’m not often in the mood for a college AU but this hit the spot

💖💖 +46K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

Cupid's Rugby Ball (softestpunk) - The Sandman: Dreamling, 5K - h/c meet cute with instalove, as is only correct for this pairing 😆

you'll never be blue ([currently anonymous]) - The Cabots (Cat Sebastian): Peter/Caleb, 3K - "Caleb and Peter, adjusting to living together." Perfectly captured the character voices! {written for the Fic In A Box 2023 exchange, authors not yet revealed}

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

D20: Fantasy High: Sophomore Year - e4-7

Dirty Laundry - s3, e7

D20: Burrow's End - "Evolution and Revolution" (s20, e10)

D20: Adventuring Party - "Welcome to the Honk Honk Club" (s15, e10)

Dimension 20 Interview: Siobhan Thompson Talks Jaysohn's Near Death In Burrow's End & Fantasy High

Doctor Who: The Star Beast (2023 special #1)

Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder (2023 special #2)

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

⭐ Welcome to Night Vale #239 - Sister Cities: Vermillion Falls

What Next: TBD - They See You When You’re Shopping

Desert Island Discs - Lea Salonga, singer and actor

⭐ The Sporkful - Rise Of The Foodie Bro (The Year In Food 2023)

Cautionary Tales - The Dunning Kruger Hijack (and Other Criminally Stupid Acts)

Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus - Julia Gets Wise with Amy Tan

Vibe Check - Nostalgia, Ultra

99% Invisible #562 - Breaking Down The Power Broker (with Conan O'Brien)

Endless Thread - "Extremely Online" with Taylor Lorenz

Ologies with Alie Ward - Syndesiology (CONNECTIONS) with James Burke

NPR's Book of the Day - Norman Lear's memoir recalls a life and career that shaped American television

Cautionary Tales - Demonizing Dungeons & Dragons

⭐ Switched on Pop - Hear the Year: The music we loved in 2023

One Year - 1990: Bush vs. Broccoli

Song Exploder - Raye - Escapism (feat. 070 Shake)

Today, Explained - Get the lead out

What Next: TBD - Spotify Unwrapped

Today, Explained - Are movies too long now?

Dear Prudence - My Friend Won’t Stop Buying Me Gifts. Help!

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The Super Museum

Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me! - Fred Schneider

Strong Songs - The Band: The Last Waltz

Endless Thread - What Is That?!

⭐ Cautionary Tales - How the Radium Girls Fought Back

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

'90s R&B Girl Groups

Presenting Etta James

Pop Motivation

Victoria Monét

Troye Sivan

Laufey

[queenofbaws]

Hey! Can I ask request 6, 11 & 14 for Wringing Blood from A Stone? ^^

well hey yourself!!! oooh, you know i'm always more than happy to rant and rave about those crazy ol' hacketts... ;)c hehehe

6. Does this chapter/fic have any twists that you’re proud of?

this upcoming chapter, no; the fic itself, yesss. i won't get into them specifically, obviously, but one of the things i'm really trying to capture the most in this fic is just...the nature of the hacketts being a family. like an actual-factual (obviously exaggerated) family, complete with all the tangles and snares any real family has. you guys already know what supernatural stuff is on its way, and the extra supernatural stuff i'm throwing in there, i think you can probably draw some conclusions about too, but there are for sure a few family-based twists i'm very, very, very excited to reveal in due time.

twists that - i very much hope - won't end up coming out of left field, but will make horrible, horrible sense in retrospect ;)c

11. What scene are you most hyped for this chapter/fic?

for the upcoming chapter, i'm super hyped for one caleb & kaylee interaction in particular. there's so much dysfunction in the family, and lord knows the interactions with the hackett brothers themselves can sometimes feel a little less than friendly, so i really relish in writing caleb and kaylee sort of being besties first and siblings second. plus, we might just get a peek at caleb's wolf story............

in terms of scenes i'm most hype for across the whole fic, GOD HELP ME. there are. a lot coming up. so here are some out of context spoilers for scenes i'm very excited to get to: a big ol' family brunch gone wrong; old men fighting, parts 1 and 2; jack eats the world's sloppiest sloppy joe; the worst damn church service you've ever seen; and they're all gonna laugh at you. genuinely, there are........so many pieces of this story i just cannot wait to share, and i wish i could just pop my head open and shake the words out like loose change aslkdjfalskdjf

14. What have you been finding frustrating with writing this chapter/fic?

alas, as happened when i was writing the (almost)s, and what i think is probably the case with most longfics in general, like wringing blood has become a very personal project that's sort of reflective of some family stuff i'm going through currently. on the one hand, that's super therapeutic, because it's a place where i can channel a lot of my emotions and frustrations and hopes and disappointments about my own family in a way i can control...but on the other hand, the reason i've suddenly gotten so slow with updating is because my family stuff does suck currently, it is sucking up a lot of my energy and sanity, and when i have a break from them, the idea of jumping into sharing my brain with the hacketts isn't, uh, immediately welcoming, let's say XD

which leads to a SECONDARY frustration, of course: i'm so, so, so, so, SO excited for this story, there's nothing i want more than to get it all to paper and SHARE, but i'm in a spot right now where things are slowed and sort of gunked-up. i can't stress enough how i have. every. major. beat. of this story plotted out, i have about 90% of it outlined in VIVID detail, i know EXACTLY what's going to happen in every chapter until the end, i have an embarrassing amount of it already written, but man. ya gurl is tired. so wanting to get everything out into the world but knowing i don't have the brainspace for it atm is also incredibly frustrating, but i'm very much hoping once the holidays have passed, maybe - MAYBE!!!!!!!!! - things over here will chill out and i can spend a little less time with my bonkers appalachian family and a little more time with theirs hahahaha!

wips, wips, wips, ask me about some wips!!!

[tortoisesshells]

fic title game!

to seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish.

the dogs on main street.

seaward from the heather.

Thank you for the ask, kind friend!

to seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish: Vicki's first trip to the beach house in the r/v/b alternate universe. It's certainly not got many of the amenities of home - like electricity or internal plumbing! - but who can beat that view of the sea? modernity couldn't improve a thing about this place, however much Roger and Burke might grumble about it.

the dogs on main street: remember when Burke's monster motif was wolves - the big bad wolf, described even by people who like(d) him as insatiably hungry? pepperidge farm remembers. Willie's been beaten like a dog; Barnabas has that wolf-headed cane, and howling dogs signal that he's on the hunt - I don't think it would have a plot so much as being a compare and contrast about the three men's various kinds of villainy early on in the 200s, when Burke's been partly defanged/domesticated, Willie's been put on a leash, and no one seems to suspect the new Collins in town of having teeth.

seaward from the heather: I think this would be the building out whatever on earth was going on in the House by the Sea/Seaview, and the ghost ship that Vicki saw through the windows - and who on earth F. McA. C. was supposed to be - a Collins, certainly, and one by marriage. Maybe the eccentric Caleb Collins's mother or grandmother? It seemed significant that Liz was one of the first people we see entering Seaview, and she's certainly the most eccentric Collins we've got. I'm sure the Collins family history would have something to say about Seaview and F. McA. C., but at least we know the history book is flat-out wrong about a lot of what happened in 1795, at least - it would be interesting to see Liz facing up to that? Liz, the keeper of the Collins Family Honor - and most of the Collins family secrets? I just need to figure out a way to stick Bill Malloy's ghost in this one and I'd almost certainly write it.

Send me a made-up fic title (or 2 or 3) and I’ll tell you what I would write to go with it.

[backpockct]

INTRODUCING CALEB RYAN WRITTEN (AND LOVED!) BY CORRIE

 ⸻     have  you  ever  heard  THE MAN by  the killers  ,  well  it  is CALEB RYAN to  a  tee  .  the  twenty six year  old  musician has  been  spotted  wandering  down  portobello  road  markets  just  last  sunday  ,  do  you  know  them  ?  would  you  say  he is more  quarrelsome or  more  self-assured?  anyway  ,  they  remind  me  of  vintage leather jackets, calloused fingers fingers from playing the guitar  too much, always having a pair of sunglasses to hand, drunken flirting, bruised knuckles, maybe  you'll  catch  them  around  yeah ?     ⸻     [          ◟  HARRIS DICKINSON. ◝           ] 

triggers: mention of fertility issues

THE BASICS:

full name: caleb sebastian ryan 

nicknames: cal // c 

birthday: 24 1996 (26 years old)

gender: cis man (he/him)

sexuality: pansexual

relationship status: very single

BASIC INTRO:

orignally from brighton, the south of england, caleb is an only child. his parents struggled to conceive, so he was a bit of a blessing. 

he’s always been a pretty spoilt child, his parents are both very wealthy and he’s grown up getting whatever he wanted. 

for his tenth birthday, he asked for a guitar and singing lessons, he’d been watching a lot of MTV and wanted to be a cool guy in a band.

of course, caleb got what he wanted and he started learning to play the guitar.

he got pretty good, so him and some of his other musical friends decided to form a band. 

caleb made himself the front man of the band, as he was the most confident out of all of them. 

once they finished school, they decided that they want to take this music thing seriously, so they gave themselves a year to work on the band thing. 

they moved to london, hoping that it would help gain more interest. they all worked shitty retail jobs, whilst doing music on the side. 

it’s taken a lot of hard work, they entered lots of battle of the bands competitions, played concerts to empty working mens clubs, sent out their demos to people. 

but luckily an agent took interest in them and the band has recently been signed to an indie record label, they are working on their first album. their careers are really taking off!! 

outside of music, caleb is a bit of a sterotypical front man, he’s confident, charming, always has a grin on his lips, he’s a big old flirt. 

although he’s hand an exprience of real life, he’s still a bit of spoilt rich kid at heart, plus he’s always ready for an arugment. 

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

bandmates

friends

fans of his band

fwbs

exes

management team 

if you’d like to plot with any of my muses then please feel free to hit me up on discord @ corey in wetherspoons ™#0678!!

[quoteoftheweekblog]

CALEB AZUMAH NELSON - ‘OPEN WATER’ (FIRST PUBLISHED 2021)

First sentence:

'The barbershop was strangely quiet.' (Azumah Nelson, 2021, p.vii).

On English Literature:

' "I miss being able to read anything, I'm doing English Lit at uni." ' (Azumah Nelson, 2021, p.29).

On Zadie Smith:

' " … I'll be back … Maybe for some Zadie." "Good choice." ' (Azumah Nelson, 2021, p.29).

' … pouring over the pages of a novel - Zadie Smith's "NW" "I love her writing." … She's my favourite writer. 'NW' is the book I return to most." ' (Azumah Nelson, 2023, p.39).

' "But what of 'NW', the book in which no one wins?" ' (Azumah Nelson, 2021, p.40).

On being Black:

'We are all hurting, you said. We are all trying to live, to breathe, and find ourselves stopped by that which is out of our control. We find ourselves unseen. We find ourselves unheard. We find ourselves mislabelled. We who are loud and angry, we who are loud and brash. We who are Black. We find ourselves not saying it how it is. We find ourselves scared. We find ourselves suppressed, you said.' (Azumah Nelson, 2021, p.34).

On plot:

' "There are really only two plot devices when writing: a stranger comes to town, or a person goes on a journey. All good work is just variations on these ideas." ' (Azumah Nelson, 2021, p.40).

On summer:

'It's summer now.' (Azumah Nelson, 2021, p.68).

'It's summer now, and you're craving a simpler existence. You want to read.' (Azumah Nelson, 2021, p.68).

'It's summer now, and you're looking forward to worrying less.' (Azumah Nelson, 2021, p.69).

'It's summer now, so let's slow down, and breathe.' (Azumah Nelson, 2021, p.70).

' "It's summer now." "It is, indeed." ' (Azumah Nelson, 2021, p.73).

On open water:

' "I love you, you know?" She has swum out into open water, and it is not long before you join her, You take but a moment before saying, "I love you too." ' (Azumah Nelson, 2021, p.82).

'It's like you both dived onto open water, but you have resurfaced with her elsewhere.' (Azumah Nelson, 2021, p.100).

'You came here to tell her you are sorry that you wouldn't let her hold you in the open water. You came here to tell how selfish it was to let yourself drown.' (Azumah Nelson, 2021, p.130).

REFERENCE

Azumah Nelson, C. (2021) 'Open water'. Amazon.com [E-book]. Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Open-Water-Caleb-Azumah-Nelson-ebook/dp/B088NRG888

[coffeeandfaeries]

Zodiac Academy: The Awakening - A book review

C. Peckham and S. Valenti

The first chapter started off fairly strong. We were immediately introduced to the main characters, their personalities, and their backgrounds. After the first chapter, which was from Darcy's POV we got to see the world from Tory's perspective.

It didn't take too long before we were introduced to Professor Orion, who is just an absolute piece of shit. The girls are taken to the academy and, of course, we find out they're insanely powerful. Thankfully, they don't know how to use magic, which puts them at the bottom of the food chain, literally. They're both food sources for two different vampires. At this academy, they find out that after the death of their parents (because, of course, they come from a royal family) four families took over, and their sons attend the aforementioned schools.

The twins don't want the throne, but the Heirs (Darius, Caleb, Seth, and Max) are continuing to torment them in hopes that the twins will give up and return to the mortal realm. They make two friends, but everyone else treats them like shit, including the teachers. At one point the Heirs try to gain their trust, and for some reason, the girls fall for it (MULTIPLE TIMES). Darius is probably the worst and is trying to murder (and for some reason have sex with) them. Caleb doesn't seem to care about the throne and it seems more like he's just pretending because that's what is expected of him (Or perhaps the authors forgot to give him a personality and hoped his good looks would make up for it). The other two heirs are honestly irrelevant. Finally, Orion is a dick, but for some reason, he seems like he's nicer than he seems, almost as if he's pretending to be an asshole. (Poorly written foreshadowing I guess?)

The book shows only the first couple of weeks of the semester, if I recall correctly after 3 months there's some Fae equivalent of midterms, to determine whether you're good enough to stay at the academy, but the book ends before that happened.

The Heirs are dicks and the girls don't trust them, but throughout the book, we can see them struggle because whenever the guys are "nice" to them they want to give them a second chance.

They make a deal on their day off, agreeing not to torment them so they can all relax for a night. Then someone get's attacked (a random female character) and both Darius and Orion disappear. During one of their classes with Orion, Darcy gets him assigned as some sort of mentor and he later claims her as a source. Darcy hates him and is mad at herself for being attracted to him.

The book describes classes as the girls try to learn to control their power and discover their Order. Finally, the girls realized they're left to their own devices and that no one is gonna protect them. They want the boys (Caleb and Orion in particular) but they know better (sometimes). I'm pretty sure they will be getting redemption arcs because so far they haven't treated them as poorly as Darius has. The girls unfortunately let their guards down around Max, who used his siren powers to learn about their greatest fears.

The book ends in a horrifying scene. During the school dance the twins get separated. Darcy is seduced by Seth who cuts her hair off and Darius and Max try to drown Tory. Orion saves her and punishes the boys. That's when they hear people scream and find out a professor has been murdered. The professor who dies was trying to help the twins throughout the book by sending them anonymous messages through "Faebook".

The writing is very juvenile, it sounds like a teenager just speaking, and there's no artistry. But as far as I can tell that was kind of on purpose. I don't mind it, it actually makes the book slightly easier to read. I kept my expectations pretty low so it was enjoyable. Sure, the plot is pretty basic and unoriginal, but it's entertaining nonetheless. The only thing I really hated were the detailed descriptions of the humiliation and harassment the Vega twins endured. In the authors' defense, I didn't read the description or tags so I had no idea this was tagged as "Dark fantasy bully romance" so that's on me.

Rating: ⛤⛤

[plasmavamp]

[cracks knuckles, breaks hands]

aight fam here’s the official catch-up post to whatthefuck lolita’s been up to in the sims 4 (and continuing from where i left off in my DU posts lol)

featuring Nasier, Caleb and Morgyn ~

[ nasier belongs to my bestie, Mav @mavesathesimblr​ !! ]

caleb and nas actually started dating early on in college ! nothing crazy happened uwu that yall know of lol, but yeah. spent 4 years as dorm roommates. around year 4 morgyn came to visit caleb a couple of times and hung out with the boys ^^ Nas and Caleb stayed in-dorm for the last winterfest (and other holidays) of college. caleb graduated a bit before nas did lol

the boys moved to strangerville shortly after graduation!! caleb lowkey isnt a fan of the neighbors but he knows how they get lol. morgyn moved in with them not too long afterwards ^^ 

(third pic is an edit i might post late btw)

morgyn was in a kinda-relationship with caleb before he went to college, btw. kinda meaning they knew each other and and might have had feelings. well, with the feelings still present and the three of them having some type of chemistry, it was agreed for the three of them to date together ^^ Caleb hasn’t decided how he feels about drinking human blood but, he’s trying lol. His plasma trees are bountiful but Nas is being a good bf and just wants to help his bro out. Also, Lilith came to beat up Caleb for ignoring her texts and calls and invites all the damn time (she lowkey harassed him but she just wanted to check on him lol)

Caleb’s been leveling up his vampire abilities basically; he’s already a grandmaster but he still had shit to learn tbh. Morgyn developed a garden in the back and decided it was a good idea to have a cowplant. The cowplant was adorable (but it ate morgyn and nas twice lol). Also, Morgyn and Nas got closer and decided to become boyfriends as well rather than sharing Caleb uwu ~

speaking of trying human blood out, Morgyn started volunteering to help Caleb out with that. Turns out he temporarily borrows their magic lol.

the boys have jobs btw! Nasier is a marine biologist (using his college degree for good use), Caleb went into acting, and Morgyn is a scientist! (still cant believe Caleb’s very first acting gig [shown] was him being Mario. Its funny bc Caleb’s italian lol, but the gig was the vlad straud handyman gig lmao)

caleb’s early acting gigs were lowkey lame but my favorites were the handyman and pirate gigs tbh o: but here’s a few of his early parts lol. (He started straightening his hair again by the time he was in the apocalyptic movie!)

they also adopted some pets! Tod is a fox, Sparky is the cat—you can see more of Sparky here c: He’s Morgyn’s familiar hehe. [casually inserts “Fox & the Hound” ref for Tod and Nas lol]

Morgyn literally is best friends with the damn aliens. These pics are 3 different occasions, and they got abducted six times so far u.u thankfully morgyn is unable to bring any aliens back with them fjhgjhff

Nasier had leveled up to 10 in his career already and basically was making bank at this point. Caleb won his first award for the apocalypse movie!! and Morgyn was hard at work and building all of the things o:

After winning his award, Caleb hit career level 10 as an actor and had his acting skill leveled up as well, so he stepped away and went into the medical career (thanks to Mav for the suggestion lmfao). Before starting his new job, the boys went on vacation to Granite Falls. Caleb was moody one day, it thunderstormed the next day (caleb and nas got spooked but morgyn deadass stayed outside to watch the weather). Overall they had fun hehe.

some time had past, caleb and morgyn bumped up in their careers (while Nas just chills out with his job but uses some of his vacay time to stay home lol).

When Caleb and Morgyn had a few days off together, Nas used his vacay time and spent the days with them...and in those days, the three decided to get married. The three visited in three different places and collectively proposed; Nas asked Morgyn in Sulani; Nas asked Caleb on Sixam when Morgyn had finally built the wormhole generator; and Caleb asked Morgyn in the realm ♥

After having 3 beautiful weddings with their close friends and family as the guests, they are honeymooning in Selvadorada—and that’s where I’m at in my game now c:

I have a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot of pictures from this save oml. Most of them are taken with some flare and reshade, some are just screenshots of dumbassery, some are posed with ship aesthetics, some are [ahem] taken with ww lol. But overall, I have spent a solid in-game year in this save 👀👀👀 and i’m nowhere near finished with it hehe. Caleb, Morgyn and Nas have had quite an adventure of bs that I’ve mentioned and PLENTY more that i didn’t wanna ramble on about, but they’ve got a whole life of marriage and more for them :] and I’m excited.

I’m sorry that I keep forgetting to like, actually post shit lol, and I’m sorry this is a halfass attempt to catch everyone up. Only my friends know what’s all been happening through screenshot spam and streaming lol. But it’s been fun. 

I’m gonna go play some more, but I wanted to finally sit and share what’s been up with my game since putting Bloodborn on a hiatus lol. I’ll probably post more once the boys are out of their honeymoon phase uwu ~ 

[critgoblin]

y’all want some post-ep.14 orym/liam meta? b/c i've got a whole lot of it. 

has anyone else noticed that orym is off the beaten path for liam? not completely out of his wheelhouse (*slaps orym’s tiny forehead* this little halfling can fit SO much trauma in him) but the way orym plays is not what i would’ve anticipated from liam. because liam is a character-driven player. by that, i mean he is one of those d&d players who is mostly in it for the inter-character role-playing. if travis is at one end of the spectrum with characters designed to drive the plot and the party forward, liam is at the other, with characters who would be content to spend an entire campaign in one setting developing relationships with the party and digging deep into the history and lore. 

it makes a lot of sense then, that liam’s previous pcs would serve as emotional catalysts for their campaigns. caleb and vax were reactive characters. they felt things, and those feelings drove them to make rash and impulsive decisions. vax had a habit of thinking only with his heart. he did what his instincts told him was right, and even when he got the literal and metaphorical shit beaten out of him for it, he never wavered in his dedication to his own (dubious) moral compass. caleb reacted on a hair-trigger instinct built out of a life of suffering and trauma. someone with that kind of damage can only ever respond with gut feeling--he made choices in self-defense, in fear, and in vengeance. his motivation was never from a sense of right and wrong, only what he saw needed to be done to keep himself and his teammates safe. 

they caused their respective parties a whole lot of trouble and grief. impulse draws consequence, and the choices they made in those snap decisions caused lasting aftershocks on both their individual character arcs and on the campaign as a whole. they developed complicated and emotionally-charged relationships with every member of their party, and in fact, entered the campaign already deeply entrenched with another pc--a bond that would define much of their character arc and growth. everything vax did usually came back to keeping vex safe--he died for her, he committed to a god he hated for her, he gave up control of his fate and his life and his purpose all for her, for his sister. and caleb... caleb built himself back up on the foundations veth laid for him. everything he became was in the image of what she wanted him to be, what she believed he already was. caleb remade himself into a better man for veth, even when that meant giving up everything he’d sacrificed for, because she knew he could. 

caleb and vax were created to fuck up constantly and to be taught to be better by the people who loved them. they were built so liam could dig deep into emotional turmoil to tell stories about death and grief and rebuilding. they were messy, invested, broken characters who were made whole again by their loved ones, who defined themselves through their connections, and who were made all the better for their mistakes and convictions. 

orym is not like either vax or caleb. orym isn’t a reactive character. he was built to be a support character, to exist on the outskirts of the party and provide protection and defense when asked. where caleb and vax were messy creatures of instinct and gut reaction, and whose active participation in their environment provoked fate and pushed the narrative along, orym is a study in control. you can see it in the way liam holds himself when he’s playing orym--tense. alert. hyper-vigilance disguised as poise and grace. matt summed it up pretty well in episode 14: “orym is doing the thing that he’s been doing for most of the night, which is paying attention.” orym is a soldier, and he is very, very good at it. he knows what his duty is. to watch. to observe. to get involved when there is blood on the line, to take the hits when it is expected of him, and to die at his teammates’ feet. he does not engage actively with the party unless specifically called upon, and he does not reveal personal information about himself ever. he checks in on his teammates, he prioritizes their health and wellbeing, he offers advice and comfort, he speaks softly and takes them seriously. but he does not engage. there is a boundary that he has set up between himself and the rest of the world, and he tends to it carefully. everything stays inside that line where it belongs, and he does not step over it. 

the truth is, we don’t know what happened in zephra. we have theories based off a tweet from almost five years ago, but we don’t know anything for sure because orym hasn’t told us. hasn’t told anyone. he hasn’t breathed a word about the attack other than to explain exactly what happened when prompted. clinical. rehearsed. a soldier reading a report, he says almost the exact same thing every single time. this is a pretty far cry from vax, who told his sister - and therefore, the audience - everything, and caleb, who revealed pretty early on that he had murdered his family and even earlier revealed that he was a tortured soul convinced of his own damnation. liam is not playing orym as a character seeking connection and rebirth, he is not playing a character intending to invest himself in other people. yes, it’s still early on in the campaign, but the other pcs have come pretty clean about their pasts. the details might be vague (looking at fcg/sam here) but we’ve got at least the scope of everyone’s backstories. we don’t know anything about orym except that his home was attacked six years ago, and that there is something deep and painful lurking inside of him. i have so many questions about his past, about what he’s been doing for the six years since the attack, about what happened to him, but i don’t see any end in sight to this purposeful obfuscation. because it’s not a matter of trust, or respect, or friendship. orym does trust his team. he likes them, and he’s certainly willing to die for them. and if he’s not waiting for trust, then i don’t know what else he’d be waiting for, unless he isn’t waiting for anything and he’s planning on walking right into his own grave with all of himself still wrapped up inside. 

the one exception to that rule, i think, might have been dorian. dorian was different. i don’t know if we’ll ever know why, but orym was different around dorian. not because he opened up to him, but because it seemed like he wanted to. like there were all these things that he was inches from blurting out. there was an element of engagement orym took with dorian that he hasn’t taken with anyone else. it was still filtered through that barrier of his, but between the flower and the sending stone and that goodbye - for the company -  it’s the most of orym we’ve ever gotten. little pieces of what orym might look like if he did talk about himself. if he did reach out. if he wasn’t such a good soldier. if he wasn’t so obviously soaked in grief and guilt and duty, if he wasn’t so fixed on whatever it is his goal is--vengeance, maybe? justice? death? 

i am heartbroken over losing dorian and losing robbie, and i am afraid of where it has left orym. our little murder halfling, with so much contained violence strung up inside of him. who is really just a walking, talking tragedy, so intent on going to his own destruction utterly alone. there was so much potential between them for something real and meaningful. for maybe the first real connection orym has had in six years. and orym wanted it, you can tell orym wanted it so badly. he was distraught over dorian’s departure, the heartbreak was all over his face. and now that dorian is gone, the one connection orym’s tried to foster in six years, what happens? we don’t know what’s waiting at the end of the road for orym, but it’s probably not a warm hearth. probably not connection. probably not a family. it probably looks a whole lot like an empty grave. like a waiting stillness. like a promise of an end to the agony he carries around like a live grenade in his chest. and why would orym bother, then? why would he build something new? why would he nurse a connection to life, if all he’s banking on is oblivion? 

the thing is, we don’t know anything about orym. but we do know liam. we know his themes, and we know the kind of characters he plays. and maybe orym isn’t like vax or caleb because he doesn’t reach out for connection and purpose. but they’re alike enough, and liam doesn’t do anything by accident. 

will the halfling live? or will the halfling die?

[sparring-spirals]

Today on CR Things I Am Unreasonably Affected By: that note that Caleb left for Beau for the tower date in 126. And the simplicity of it. And the love in it! I get so happy thinking about it.

It is one thing, I think, to have the tower loaned out and tricked out to the nines. Having the tower cats turned into ninja dogs and great feats of magic tuned to you. Knowing your friends are willingly (if grouchily) outside in the cold because they want their two beloved party members to have a good date, one good night of peace before everything might get worse and worse and worse. That's all well and wonderful and meaningful and big ole 🥺🥰 hours

But something about that note, just. Ahw man. The note felt like... the letter equivalent of a steady hand on a shoulder, like the kind of smile Caleb gave Beau as he watched her researching happily in a library.

I saw that gif comp of Caleb and Beau in episode 48, miscommunicating and frustrated and AUGH, two well intentioned people saying everything the wrong way. And then cut to Caleb some 80 episodes later, up late preparing all the spells, plotting everything out, landing on the perfect ending and lovingly putting pen to paper to say:

"Dear Beauregard. Please forgive my deviating from your explicit instructions. But as a fan of rule breaking, I think you will likely permit the transgression." I am being a LITTLE contrary, as is my right, but I promise, it'll be good. I have crafted this with you in mind, and with all my affection for both of you and my very, very high intelligence, all geared towards this. Trust me on this, yes?

"Besides, what better gift could I offer the Lionett?" You deserve it. Yasha deserves it.

"Please enjoy your massage, and soak." The world is partway through ending or veering VERY close to it, we are kind of up shit creek with Mighty Nein style paddles (none), we have been exhausted and terrified and running for days now. Take this good night. Both of you, deserve to have one good, peaceful night, even if we don't know what will happen tomorrow.

"See you tomorrow at breakfast." I'll see you tomorrow, we will all see both of you tomorrow as we regroup and prepare. This is a guarantee, and a promise, and its own declaration of love. As your family, your loved ones- take your time for you and her, and I will see you tomorrow.

"C. W." Love, your brother in all but blood.

...Its just good, dammit. It's real good.

[crybabyddl]

I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO REITERATE SOMETHING

Yes, let’s circle back to the beautiful performance of Edge of Great. More specifically the BODY LANGUAGE, particularly Julie and Luke’s, which I will be analyzing with gifs.

Exhibit A

Jealous Luke looks over at Julie and Reggie vibing

Julie is aware that she’s avoiding Luke, which she is doing so bc she realized her feelings for him thanks to Flynn earlier in the episode.

Since Julie has put the task of ignoring Luke upon herself even though she has no obligation to, she ends up failing her own mission. She sees Luke’s reaction to the lack of her attention.

She literally FREEZES. She’s emotionally worried to confront what she’s feeling and it’s beginning to manifest physically.

Exhibit B

It gets better y’all. After Luke finally has even a crumb of Julie’s attention, he beckons her over with his signature head tilt. This is important bc he did this with his longtime bandmate during the soundcheck of what would’ve been their biggest performance. If he feels comfortable enough using that body language with a girl he’s only known for, what, a week and a half(?) then you know this puppy boy’s got it BAD.

Julie is well aware that Luke is getting jealous. But in classic Julie fashion, she will try to tune it out instead of addressing it. Our wicked beauty doesn’t like confrontation and would rather just deny and avoid than potentially make things awkward, especially when she knows Luke would ask her about it at a later time.

The look on Julie’s face. Her eyes widen and the classic tight-lipped awkward smile is present. She’s literally saying “ok enough of that let’s get back to work doo doo doo” with her face. The way her body SWINGS back into performance mode as she faces the audience again. It may have been a split second, but when you’re deliberately trying to avoid looking into the dreamy (dead) eyes of someone you shouldn’t be crushing on, any amount of time feels too long. Plus, she knows Flynn is watching and doesn’t want her to lecture her (but she does anyway bc Flynn is observant and knows her bestie too well to let any action slip past her).

Exhibit C

Keep in mind; NONE OF THE GUYS KNOW WHY JULIE IS AVOIDING LUKE. Flynn, Alex, and Reggie have noticed the Juke chemistry, but it’s still too soon for them to get past the “we like each other but we’re too clueless to notice that we reciprocate” phase, so even though their respective besties know, they are still denying. Besides, Reg, Alex, and Flynn know better than to keep pestering if they want to keep their kneecaps. In reality they’re both smart enough to tell by this point, but for the sake of the plot and to make everything more adorably frustrating, Flynn has the collective brain cell under lock and key, leaving Juke to be like *dog tilting its head and making that “a-roo?” noise*

Anyway, Reggie notices Luke being snubbed after realizing that his extra dose of Julie time was slightly out of the ordinary. Luke is clearly concerned (look at his eyebrows and how his eyes travel from Reggie, to Julie, then to the audience to trying and get his mind off it and bring his focus back to the main goal; the performance.) If he can’t have the moment of connection with Julie that he so desperately craves, he’s gonna fill that void as best he can by connecting with the audience. >:’)

But Reggie’s trying to help Luke brush it off by conveying his reaction as ‘look at julie coming into her own! i told you she was a star! and you thought you were the lead singer? think again buddy this girl’s got you beat!’

But since Reggie isnt a master at hiding his feelings yet, especially around Luke, —who was able to get under his skin earlier (“girls, am i right?”)—Luke was easily able to see through that and interpreted what Reggie was saying as “look at julie go, she all in the zone. you’re literally making heart eyes at her get a grip you’re slacking lmao” (hence luke’s right eyebrow quirking at reggie like ‘dude seriously gimme a break u know i need attention like tinkerbell’) even though Reggie’s true message was a bit less harsh and more lovingly teasing, but it’s Luke, he sees things through his eyes and at his intensity, regardless of who it’s coming from. (This is one of the reasons why Luke comes off as selfish at times.)

Exhibit D

Poor Lukey boi can’t seem to catch a break today! Not only does Julie ignore him, then has a cute lil (platonic but it’s luke so it still makes him jealous >:P) moment, but now she has the AUDACITY to interact with Alex? The guy who was out learning Ghost 101 with this Willie guy instead of rehearsing with the band? What gives?! What’s he got that your moody ghost bf doesn’t? >:’(

He literally just watches, and even glances back in a way that, to me, screams ‘did i see that right? did i just see what i just saw with my own dreamy (but dead) eyes? say sike rn.’ \_(*_*)_/

Meanwhile, Alex pays no mind. I like to think that Alex is fully aware that Luke is an angry boy rn, but has learned to ignore it, especially this bc literally NOTHING happened. Either that or Alex has no clue and just truly thinks nothing of it and is having too much fun to think about Luke’s moody and childish behavior. Either way, Alex is just straight chilling and we love to see it *^_^*

Notice how Reggie is right there vibing with Julie and Alex. Luke feels a bit betrayed like ‘not you too! i know you were the first to turn on me but i figured since you’re such a golden retriever you’d be loyal and come back to my side!😠���’

Also; Luke approaches the rest of the group, wanting to be included in at least SOME of the vibing, but when Julie starts dancing and smiling with her buddy Alex, he backs up like

“you know what? nope. nevermind. not doin’ it.”

and the group’s like “i mean hey it’s your loss, but luke we want you to-”

“no, bc you chose to piss me off right in front of my face so no luke time for any of you! no cuddles, no hugs, no nothing! you made your bed, now lie in it and perish.”

Exhibit E & F: This is where it gets a bit interesting and theorized hehe...

Now we all know that this moment is just fucking ICONIC

WEOWH NEOW NEOW!!! WEOW NEHR NEHR NER-NER-NER NEHR NEHR NEOWHR!!! (wer nehr-nehr-ner-ner-nehr-nehr!!) WUEHNER-NEUHNER-NEHR-NEEOW-NEOWH! DLOOLOODDUH-DOODLAH-HOOBLUEH-NEOWHR-NEUEHR-NEEEEEEUOWRH!!!!

But hear me out– HEAR ME OUT!

What if... now don’t shoot the messenger who just so happens to also be the theorist... but what if...

WHAT IF!!! Luke didn’t!! plan this?!!!

Listen i know you’re probably thinking:

“Well uh Nicole, isn’t that kinda the whole point? It literally wasn’t planned until Charlie realized Madi was gonna be standing on the piano so he suggested the idea for the guitar solo to Kenny.”

And you’re right! But here’s the kicker:

What if Luke THE CHARACTER, just decided to do this as an “Alright that’s it! You wanna be like that? Well what if I just hit you with my super awesome radical totally cool wowza guitar skills & make a moment between us? Huh? What do you think about that? Hmm? HMMM???!!!”

He licks his lips & that to me read** like he was nervous (**read rhyming with bed just to clarify) so that means it could’ve been a spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment thing.

In the second gif, you can see that Julie’s head is tilted, as if she’s a bit confused, but she’s also delightfully surprised.

Julie is quick to smile and scrunch her nose at Luke, something she does often. It tells Luke his impulsive action garnered a positive response from his favorite girl. Julie also starts to shake her head, but doesn’t go through the motion in full, which means she’s still a bit nervous to let her guard down. This is probably because she doesn’t know what he’s thinking or what he will do next. The lopsided smile mixed with the suave, gliding steps towards her probably brought her back to her daydream lol.

Luke’s happy bc Julie’s no longer ignoring him. He smiles like a GOOBER bc this chump is simping HARD for our Julie. So cute! :’)

Exhibit G

And hear me when I offer this:

What if Luke poofed the guys out???

I know, I know. It’s a bold claim to make. But the boys are special, considering they are a threat to Caleb (3 gay-variant himbos vs. a gay magician that could’ve been on broadway but decided to make some sort of deal with a devil so he just entertains capitalists who most likely sold their souls to get into the hgc which i will probably elaborate on in a future theory so dont do that bc im gonna lmao idc we all have big brains) So it’s not too crazy to think that they could share some ghost powers.

We know Caleb transported the guys during You Got Nothing to Lose. And the guys have left a place at the exact same time on more than one occasion.

And you may be thinking “well what if the guys poofed out to give juke a moment alone together?” And to that I say...

Look at Reggie. He isn’t looking back at Alex like “dude let’s give them some space.”

The timing of him turning around, at least to me, makes me think Reggie was surprised by Luke approaching the piano. (But also he lowkey was waiting for Luke to prove him wrong by doing something to get Julie’s attention so Reggie isn’t mad. Neither is Alex but he doesn’t like being told how or WHEN to ghost) Luke doesn’t even give his bandmates a warning eyebrow quirk, a hand signal, nothing. Reggie turns to Alex like ‘dude what is he DOING?’ And before he can even really convey that, they go *POOF*

This man had a plan and he was gonna do it, so he did. Whether it’s the power of love, they stopped performing, or Reggie and Alex actually poofed out, the odds worked in Luke’s favor so he and Julie could have a super special moment, a moment special enough to make an actual living person (Nick) wonder if a “hologram” has a better chance at connecting with Julie than he does.

Again, regardless of who made them poof or how they poofed, they mf poofed so Luke’s a happy hamster. (Idk it just sounded fitting instead of happy camper lol wait what if someone had 3 pet hamsters and named them alex reggie and luke🥺 someone buy some hamsters and let me be their godmother or their aunt and i’ll love them from afar.) Anyway, Luke’s thriving, flourishing, his crops are going to grow in time for the harvest.

You can see Julie lean back as she turns to see Luke. It’s... almost as if... She. Wasn’t. Expecting. Him. To. Be. There..??

Honey badger Luke bc he DGAF <|:) Bitch, it’s Luke mf Patterson and he’s gonna,, GET! IN! YOUR! FAAAACE!!!

You CANNOT tell me he’s not doing the absolute MOST to try and seduce Miss Juliana Mariposa Rose Molina.

Yes I’m making a headcanon that Julie has TWO middle names and that one of them is the spanish word for butterfly and that the other is her mother’s name. Also yes, I believe (i believe that we’re just one dream away from who we’re– oh, that’s not what we’re doing? okay, sorry!) that Juliana is Julie’s full name.

In this house we love and respect Juliana Mariposa (Dahlia)** Rose Molina

**I’m just putting Dahlia there for fun bc I can. :) Whether I’d consider it a possible middle name of hers depends. Anyway I just thought it was a cute thing to add bc it goes along with the other middle names I gave her *^_^* Also, I feel like I made a post giving a bunch of the characters middle names lemme see if I can find it later)

Ok i’m done this took me basically all day from like 10am until 4:08. I obviously took breaks in between, but not long ones...😶