#and v much part of the kingdom he makes. I think it's also more than that

[ambrosiagourmet]

Other dream detail - I've found it kind of odd that the Lion says that Marcille will make a wonderful dungeon bc once he actually gets ahold of her he goes the complete opposite way, saying he needs Laios to be in charge of the dungeon bc she isn't good enough

Which could just be like a "the Lion thought she'd be good at this but actually she isn't," but I also wonder if it's in part because the Lion didn't put her in that role in the dream

Maybe Laios did! Which would mean his the Laios'-subconscious-building-blocks of this scenario would probably include Falin being alive and whole, people living alongside and eating monsters, orcs living comfortably with other humans, and Marcille helping him make it all work.

Which means it ALSO might be another instance of Laios accidentally throwing her in the path of the Lion (like with the nightmares chapter), which... oof

[palskippah]

Hi!!

Here's two pages of sketchy drawings of Queen River and baby Bowser bonding I did for @raysbrainrot! I loved drawing it, thank you very much!!

(Here's my commission info btw!)

Also, here's a few points that I think are nice to say but didn't fit in the drawings :''v (I have so many thoughts of them hepl 🧍)

-Queen River tried to sew a bib for baby Bowser bc he was drooling everywhere and of course she could buy them the nicest bibs in the whole kingdom and all- but she wanted for it to be special. She knew that many koopa mothers usually made clothes (only when needed because koopas don't really use clothes but babies sometimes need them) or accessories for their koopalings, so she tried that too.

>Thing is, she's much bigger compared to her own baby, and she struggled a lot to sew Bowser's name on the tiny cloth, she used no more than five stitches for each letter and even then she didn't account for the space needed, so all she could put there was 'BOWS' with a crooked S.

>She was embarrassed as hell when Kamek asked what was it that had her so upset and she showed him the sewn bib while he looked at it and she covered her face in shame, he started to laugh- and then the drawing happened and that.

>Kamek started almost always dressing baby Bowser in that bib, and soon the nickname 'Bows' stuck for a while, until the queen died and from then on Kamek started calling him Bowser or 'little prince' or 'your *insert current emotion*-ness' solely, bc it was the queen who (without meaning to) gave Bowser the nickname, and it was like a reminder that she wasn't there anymore. With time, the nickname faded into forgetfulness, and no one ever called the koopa prince that anymore.

-Btw remember that baby Bowser had like they/them pronouns mostly bc they didn't have idea if the baby was boy or girl 🧍something about royal koopas idk

-When Kamek told Luigi of all he could remember of the queen and Bowser bonding, there was a very clear fondness in the way he remembered her, even after so many years (Bowser's like thirty-and-a-few years old, so it has been so long ago), and that's another part Luigi thought was very adorable, aside from the mom and baby.

-I imagine babies marvel at the fact that there's a very big being taking care of them, so imagine baby Bowser also thought so of the very big koopa that always was very sweet and congratulated him even when he didn't do anything and cuddled him very lovingly- and then one day she wasn't there anymore and it felt like he lost a part of himself (I can't remember when is it that babies realize their mom isn't a part of themselves?? But :''''v), even if the other being that took such good care of him (dada) was still there, he cried a lot because the main one (mama) wasn't there anymore and no matter how much they called her she didn't come to comfort them.

That's all pipipi :'v I love them

Addition!

-After Queen River's death her portraits and pictures had to be taken down in the whole castle (maybe except the one in Kamek's room, which he looked at very sadly-) because baby Bowser kept seeing them and getting excited and making grabby hands to the portraits to reach them, and then they'd get sad and would cry when the paintings obviously didn't reach back for them. Kammy and Kamek (with a big pain in their heart) had the paintings and any art representing the queen to be taken down, so the prince wouldn't see them. That's also why Bowser started forgetting about her very quickly, and then they didn't get sad nor missed their mom 👍 cries

[legitalicat]

Out of Time

Chapter 3 - "Dinner and Dessert"

AN: Chapter 3 my loves! I hope you enjoy this one :) Also I'm sorry if this is bad I've only ever written smut like 2x before this. If you're looking for better smut, I always always always recommend @lovelykhaleesiii

If you love this header go check out zaldritzosrose for more amazing work! She is tagged on the series masterlist and on my welcome post!

If anyone is interested in me starting a tag list, please feel free to let me know!!

Find the series Master list here!

Summary: As the day comes to a close, she can only think of what has happened. With having less than a full day to understand the situation, her thoughts are all consuming. Her beloved twin, Jacaerys, shows he has only ever cared for her.

18+ every one

TW: SMUT SMUT SMUT!!!! P in V, Targcest (is it Targcest if their last names are Velaryon?), profanity, dirty talk, unprotected sex (please practice safe sex guys), Jace has a monster in his pants, Jace being kinda dom

Pairings: Jacaerys Velaryon x twin!Reader, mentions of Aemond Targaryen x Reader, mentions of Alys Rivers x Aemond Targaryen

Word count: 3.6 k

Aemond had accompanied me to the Dragon Pit, as was my original intention. And it was time well spent in all honesty. He spoke to me about the time that I was gone. Just as Mother said, he had gone around the entire realm to attempt to find me. Apparently, he had spent a long time in Harrenhal, the seat of my blood father’s family.

What I hadn’t expected, though, was him telling me of this woman he had met there named Alys Rivers. According to him he had grown fond of her and even attempted to be with her. He claimed it was to try to get over me, as all logic pointed to me being dead. I stopped listening.

When I was back in my chambers, with nothing to do but think as I waited for dinner, I could only sit in the window seat overlooking Blackwater Bay. My finding didn’t make sense to me.

If I were taken by pirates like seemed to be a popular theory, why was I not in Essos? I would probably fetch a fair price if they sold me into slavery. Or why had they not demanded ransom? As a princess of the realm, my identity was not a secret, even if I didn’t have the signature Targaryen hair. I had done as much as possible to help the citizens of King’s Landing. I had done a tour of the Seven Kingdoms to meet with several Lords and their sons to consider for marriage. There was not a time in which I was ever hidden away.

“Your brain is going to break if you continue to think so hard,” Jace said from beside me. My gaze snapped to him, trying to steady my heart from the shock. “It is just me, issa dāria.”

“Must you sneak in here like that?” I scolded him yet I was certain the only thing stern about me was my tone. I was too happy to see him to control the smile that crept onto my face.

He was carrying a tray with two plates piled high with food and two cups. He set it on a nearby table before coming back to stand by my side.

“I wanted to have time with you. We have not seen each other since the afternoon,” he explained to me.

He gave me a soft smile. Everything about him was soft. His hair laid in loose curls that bounced with every motion. His lips were plump, eyes round and a deep brown, and even his sharp jawline was offset by full cheeks. Hell, even down to what he wore was soft. A loose fitting, long sleeved white linen shirt with strings crossing over the space between his collarbones tucked into the waistband of his brown cotton pants. Unlike most, he didn’t often wear shoes around the castle unless he had to go before the council or maybe a formal dinner.

No matter how much I loved Aemond, Jace was a part of me. I loved him in nearly every way a person could. He and I were two pieces of the same soul. We could spend all day together and never need a break. He listened to me rant about every subject I ever read about, learned High Valyrian for me. He was good and kind and sweet.

“And the food?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I thought perhaps dinner with all of us at once may prove to be too much tonight, so you and I could eat in here. I’ve already spoken to Mother and told her,” he said.

I chuckled and stood from my seat. Without any hesitation, he took my hand in one of his hands and pulled me closer by my waist with the other. Standing here, chest to chest with him, the world felt quiet.

“How are you feeling?” he asked quietly. He was sure not to hold me too tightly.

“Physically I hurt,” I whispered. It was best if I were honest with him. “Otherwise, I’m just confused. None of it makes sense. And to think of missing five years with you causes an unbearable ache in my chest.”

He pressed his lips to my forehead. It was how he comforted me when he had no idea what to say. Always handling me with great care like it was his life’s mission. There was no amount of affection too small to him.

He said nothing else before helping me into a chair at the table. The silence felt nice if I were honest. With him, I didn’t feel like I had missed anything.

“Luke is happy you’re back,” he told me after he had sat down. “So is Joffrey. They missed you greatly.”

“I cannot wait to see them. As well as Little Aegon and Viserys. They all have grown so much,” I responded, tears welling up in my eyes.

My plate had a venison roast with potatoes and carrots. A simple meal but one of my favorites. Dragonstone had the largest deer I had seen which was an impressive feat considering how many dragons roamed free on the island. But with such an abundance of the meat, we had it frequently when we lived there.

“I love you,” he said. He spoke it in such a way nobody could question his sincerity. He had always been honest to a fault.

“I love you,” I said before taking a bite of food. It was perfect and heavenly.

“So then why did you go to Aemond? Why spend the afternoon without me?” His voice was pained and his lip quivered a little.

Did he not know that it was not that way? It wasn’t like I chose Aemond over Jacaerys. He had merely been the one to come to my room.

“My moon, I had been on my way to see Vhaela and he approached me. I did not go seek him out,” I nearly pleaded with him. I reached across the table to take his hand in mine and squeeze it.

“I am not oblivious to the fact you were with him in the year you spent here with grandsire. But you and I are meant to be husband and wife. Formally so, now,” he whispered. His eyes moved to look at his plate.

My heart ached at the thought of hurting him. He was everything to me. My best friend, the moon and stars in my night sky, my fire on a cold night. When I spoke of him being my other half, it was not an exaggeration. Without him there was no me.

Even so, I could not pretend that everything was fine and as it was before I woke on the beach. While I had been stuck in place, everyone around me continued to grow and thrive and change. Pretending they hadn’t was like ignoring the rain as it washes away the earth. I would be fine as long as it was raining and I could use the water to maneuver. But once the flood subsided, I would be stranded without knowing where I was.

“But should we be? It has been five years, Jacaerys. Hell, I wasn’t even with you for a year before I disappeared. What if the person you are now does not love the person I am?”

“I could give you everything you could ever wish for when I am King. I will give you every child your heart could desire, I will love you until my final breath. Why is that not enough?” he asked before looking back up at me. The way he said it made me question if he was more hurt or angry. “Or is this back to the ridiculous notion that since Aegon the Conqueror had two wives you could have two husbands?”

“I wish to know where my heart truly lies. I wish to know if I marry you it is purely for love and not anything to do with duty. Why can you not give me that?”

He was silent for a moment longer than I would have liked. Was it truly an unreasonable request? All I ever wanted was a life of love. I knew Jace would love me for as long as we lived, and I would love him. But if it weren’t an equal love, if it were a love that was weighed down by a sense of duty, where was the honor in that? How could I subject both of us to that?

“So you wish to replace me?” he asked me. He yanked his hand away from me as he pushed up from the table. “I can only assume with Aemond.”

“I am not replacing you!” I said firmly. “You are my twin, my other half, there is no replacing you.”

I quickly stood up too, trying to be on his level, to prove I was on his side. But it was too quickly and I cried out in pain. The Maesters figured it had only been a month at most since they were cracked. As such, they warned me of the potential for severe pain, making it difficult to move or breathe without risking it. At first I thought they were full of shit, but with my ribs feeling like they’re on fire and my breathing causing agonizing pain, I realized I had just been stubborn.

No matter his anger, he rushed to close the distance between us and hold me steady. Even when he was angry or hurt, it was never enough to take over his compassion. Jace truly was too good for this world.

I couldn’t help but nuzzle him as he held me. Never was it my intention to hurt him. I just didn’t want to rob something from him that he above all people deserved. A happy, love filled life.

“How could you do this to me?” he whispered while holding me close. “I have lived without you for over six years. I alone waited for you.”

“It is not something I’ve done to you, Jace,” I insisted. “I do not wish to exclude you. I just want to explore my heart.”

He sighed softly and set me back down in my chair. Kneeling in front of me, he pushed my hair back from my face. I loved him so much. I could only hope he still understood that.

“I have dreamt of you every night since you left my side,” he whispered. “Even so, I cannot make you unhappy. If you are sure, then I will not object. But do not make me stay away from you.”

It was never easy to stay away from him. The first time I ever tried to was when I became aware of how desperately I wanted to cross the lines of what was proper. Being around him had been overwhelming, so I elected to just stay away. But eventually he became frustrated with me and came to my room in the middle of the night to demand answers. That was the night he took my maidenhead. To this day I wouldn’t change a thing about it.

“Then you cannot ask me to stay away from him. I want this to be true and fair, issa dārys,” I whispered to him.

He said nothing, instead moving forward and pushing his lips to mine. His movements were cautious as to avoid causing me more pain in my busted lip, but I could feel a hunger behind it. All thoughts but him left me.

Jace pulled away far too soon, standing from his position in front of me. Within a moment he had me in his arms, holding me off the floor. I couldn’t help but giggle wildly at this. The sound made him smile and then he carried me to my bed.

In truth, for the longest time this was our bed. No matter how often our parents tried, we always found our way back into the same bed. It is why the room is decorated equally in our favorite colors. Once we had painted the wall behind the bed to look like a sunset, mixing stunning oranges and purples that felt like home. Warm and wonderful just like Jace.

“I love you,” he whispered in my ear as he began desperately pulling at the laces along my back that held my dress to me.

“I love you,” I whispered, pulling at his shirt. He pulled back just enough to allow me to pull it over his head and toss it aside before he put his lips to my neck.

My dress fell from my shoulders and chest, leaving my breasts exposed to him. The way Jace stared with nothing short of an animalistic hunger made me whimper in pleasure. Within a matter of moments he was massaging the left one and attaching his lips to the right. He sucked little red marks into the flesh, so insignificant that they would disappear by the morning, but leaving a stinging sensation wherever he touched that reminded me this was real.

When he took my hardened nipple in between his lips, grazing it with his teeth, I gasped in pleasure. It had been far too long since I had felt his touch. He made sure I was aware of it, too. He sucked eagerly, never once stopping the massaging movements he made with his hand. Moans of his name fell from my lips as though he were the god I worshipped.

He pulled away from me with a loud pop. “Always been so perfect for me,” he whispered to me. “Made for me, weren’t you, issa dāria?”

I was rendered speechless as Jace pulled my dress from me completely, followed quickly by his pants. In his naked form he was everything a girl could ask for. His muscles were firm and well defined, biceps large enough so that I could not wrap a hand around them. Any baby fat on his stomach had melted into six individually defined muscles. Somehow there was no hair along his chest, but a small line of hair connected his navel to the curly brown hair at the base of his cock.

Every time I saw his cock, my jaw dropped slightly. He was easily ten inches in length and thick enough so that I could barely touch my thumb and middle finger together when holding it. It was monstrous in size but he was so loving and sweet it never caused excessive pain. His cock was hard, red at the tip with pre-cum beading on it. I glanced up to his face to find him blushing as I looked him over.

“Still so shy after all the nights we spent together?” I asked him quietly.

“You must remember that while it has not been so long for you, it has been damn near seven years for me. So shut up,” he said, blushing even more at my teasing. I couldn’t help but giggle.

“No passage of time could ever change the love I have for you, or how perfect I find you,” I whispered before taking one of his hands in mine.

He moved to hover over me, a knee on either side of my own, his cock resting against my thighs. His eyes were easy to follow as he dragged his gaze along my body, starting at my face and working his way down. Every cut or scar, no matter how small, earned a kiss against the skin. Taking extra care with the bruise on my ribs, he pressed small kisses along the edges of it where it did not cause any pain. The pure intimacy of it was enough to cause a heat to build as my pussy became increasingly wet.

Just as he was about to continue leaving kisses down the rest of my body, I reached down to grab his chin. The touch was enough to get him to connect his gaze with me.

“Love me, Jace,” I whispered, pleading with him. I couldn’t take the sweet torture that was his foreplay.

“You are not ready for me yet, love,” he said.

“I am plenty wet for you. The rest I do not care about,” I told him.

“I do not wish to cause you more pain,” he insisted, but I leaned up and kissed him, my eyes fluttering shut.

This time it was I who kissed him hungrily. Being like this with him, I felt like I had been starving and all that I wanted was right in front of me. My sweet twin, one who had always put me above anyone else. Even now when I can feel how needy he is as his cock leaked pre-cum onto my thigh, he needed to put me above him.

Carefully I slid down some, so that his cock was now resting on my hip. Reaching between us I grabbed it, giving a few lazy strokes. He groaned against my lips when I aligned the tip to my waiting cunt.

He pulled back just enough to separate our lips. My eyes opened quickly so that I could look at him. His eyes were soft, waiting for me to tell him to go.

I nodded ever so slightly. That was all he needed to push forward into me. Already he was moaning my name as he sunk inch after inch into me. It ached quite a lot after not having him inside me for so long. But still, I couldn’t ask him to stop. The ache was pleasurable and needed.

He got nearly three quarters of his cock inside me before he stilled. He was breathing heavily, obviously struggling with restraint but giving me time to adjust. I pressed kisses over every part of his face before laying back so that I could admire him. Jacaerys was a god among men, that I was certain of.

“I’m okay, love,” I whispered to him. One look in my eyes was all he needed to be sure.

He hooked my right leg behind my knee and pulled it to lay against his chest. A cry of both pleasure and pain came out of my lips at the way this caused him to reach further in me than he ever had. There was a small smirk on his face. The cheeky fucker knew exactly what he did.

Setting a near torturous pace, he pulled out of me slowly and pushed back in. The pain I felt was indistinguishable from pleasure. Every twitch and every throb of his cock, I could feel entirely. Then Jace pressed his thumb to my clit, rubbing in tandem with each movement of his hips. When his cock was buried inside me, he rubbed against it eagerly, like he was trying to make me cum right then and there. And then every time my body started tightening up and I began to see stars, he pulled out to just his tip and all but stopped touching my clit.

I glared at him the sixth time he did it while feeling my approaching orgasm back off. It made him chuckle as he bent down, pressing my knee to my shoulder, with only the tip of his cock nestled inside me.

“You feel so good, you know that, love?” he whispered to me. “Feels like your cunt was designed with my cock in mind. Bet I would fit perfectly if I went all the way to my balls, don’t you?” With widened eyes I nodded eagerly. “Have I fucked you stupid already, pretty girl?”

This was a side to him I hadn’t seen before. Normally he was whispering praises to me, thanking the gods for me, and I gave him the same. But it was not unwelcome. In fact, I could feel myself clench around him as a whine built up in my throat.

“That’s okay, baby, don’t need you to say anything. Can feel how much you love this,” he whispered before driving his hips forward.

I wrapped my left leg around his waist so that I could pull him closer into me. Each powerful thrust had me moaning out his name. The sounds of my moans and his heavy balls slapping against my ass was all that could be heard echoing around the room. A wave started building inside me, the intensity of it increasing while he stroked my clit again. This time he never let up.

“Cum around my cock, pretty girl,” he said to me. “Fuck, Y/N, so fucking tight. So perfect for me.” His breathing became more labored as he punctuated each word with a moan.

“Gods, Jace!” I cried out when the orgasmic wave crashed over me. He looked to where his cock sank into me. The evidence of my orgasm soaked his stomach, sliding down his skin and dripping onto the bed.

Jace’s thrusts became erratic as my cunt squeezed around him. Within seconds, he was crying out my name and his hips stuttered to a stop. I could feel every inch of his cock throb and twitch as his cum poured into me.

He was very careful as he pulled out. Both of us whined at the loss of contact, but his turned quickly into a moan when he saw a string of my juices mixed with his between his cock and my body. With a goofy little smile he laid beside me and pulled the blanket up over the both of us.

“You have had my heart for our entire lives,” he whispered to me. “I am not giving yours up without a fight.”

With one last kiss to my forehead, he held me close to him before we both went to sleep.

[mayflowers515]

Smiling Critters AU: Lore Headcanons

Okay, time for some more plot-heavy headcanons I have for the Critters of this AU! This includes plot elements relating to their characters that I have planned as well as some more relationship details like their familial relationships and friendships.

Note: Although this is meant to be a wholesome cartoon AU, there may be some slight dark elements in here, but not as upscaled. I also don't have personal lore planned for everyone yet as of today, but I can update this post when I think of anything else for them (or a part 2? Idk) Either way, here's what I have for them so far!

CatNap has his main scent, lavender, but he also retains his poppy gas like his canon counterparts. He is terrified of the poppy gas and its abilities. He has once seen firsthand how bad the effects of this gas can be, so he tries to what he can to maintain his lavender scent for his friends. His poppy gas replaces his usual lavender scent when he's under high stress and emotion, so he tries to stay as calm as possible.

The above hc is also part of the reason as to why he sleeps throughout the day so much. He feels more calm at nighttime as it's more peaceful for him than in the daytime when there are possible mishaps he may witness that can make him upset. He may not witness any mishaps, but he's so scared of his ability that he doesn't want to take the chance.

CatNap is very calm outwardly, but he still has stress. However, to avoid unleashing his second scent, he keeps all his stress inward. Unbeknownst to CatNap, however, repressing his negative emotions only makes the effects of his poppy gas worse. He has never managed it into anything better as a result of being so terrified and repressing those feelings for so long. (Note about his poppy gas since I keep bringing it up, but it keeps a lot of the same effects that it has in the original cartoon and in Poppy Playtime, but in the AU, an addition to this is that the effects of CatNap's poppy gas depends on his mental state. They can worsen if he feels negative emotions in the moment or can build up to be worse since he has built up his negative emotions in an unhealthy way)

CraftyCorn is of royal blood (may or may not have been inspired by some users already- =v='). She was a princess of a faraway kingdom. However, she wasn't really treated with respect back home, and as a result, she ran away and eventually found her way to the home of the Smiling Critters. She was barely let out of her castle often. Her parents didn't want her outside until she could prove to them that she could be a "perfect princess" for them. They have always been hard on Crafty for even the smallest mistakes she's made. She couldn't even express herself outside of what her parents wanted her to be. When she started to get interested in art, her parents declined her interest, only seeing the mess in the art. Basically... Crafty: "Don't you like my painting? I put a lot of work into it..." Her parents: "Painting is for the desperate, homeless people, Crafty. Not a refined, young lady like you. Now let's get you cleaned up."

Yeah... Her parents didn't have the best mindset either. They would look down on anyone that didn't fit in with their status. This was another reason Crafty wanted to run away. She didn't want to deal with that attitude from her parents anymore, and she certainly doesn't want to think she's above everyone else all because she is a princess.

Since Crafty was barely let out of her castle, not a lot of people outside of her kingdom know of her being royal blood. None of her friends really knew at first either. She is cautious about sharing too much of herself as a result of her status. She didn't want others to think of her any differently, and part of the reason as to why she's shy about certain aspects of herself that reminds others of royalty, such as her singing voice (in her friends eyes, it sounds like that of a fairytale princess) and her house (which is ironically in the form of a tower in canon; Crafty actually does like her home's exterior despite it linking back to her status in a way, but she designs it on the inside where very little sense of regal style on the inside, just so she can keep the personal tastes she's been wanting to express for so long).

I can imagine PickyPiggy having a lot of siblings, with her being the oldest. It's why she naturally has a sort of motherly nature to her personality. She got used to raising her siblings by herself as a result of her parents' sudden disappearance while she was 7-8 years old. To this day, she doesn't know what happened to them... (I have an idea, but this is the wholesome AU, so I won't actually mention in its canon, but let's just say... they weren't looking too hot...) (EVERYTHING IN STRIKETHROUGH IS A RETCONNED PLOT AS OF 3/21)

Bobby BearHug is very small for a bear, though granted she is still considered a cub. But it comes as such a surprise because her parents are MASSIVE. They could easily tower over her if they could. However, despite her parents looking like they would be brutes, they are actually gentle giants most of the time. It's the reason why Bobby herself has her signature huggable personality. She was raised to always love and cherish the things around her, and it shows in many of her interactions with her friends and people she meets.

I do imagine one day Bobby is going to have this big growth spurt and will become much taller when she's older, though-

In contrast to Bobby, Bubba is very large. Not really a surprise there since he's an elephant. What is a surprise, though, are his parents. I can imagine his parents either being elephants affected with dwarfism that adopted him or parents of different species that are just really small. Either way, Bubba's parents are much smaller compared to him, but they still raised him well and respected his interests.

I may do something separate for all the Critters' friendships in the future, but for right now, I can list their close friends to get a better idea of who they get along with the most! The names in bold mean best friend status while no bold means they're very close friends (CatNap = DogDay, Crafty; DogDay = CatNap; Bobby BearHug = Picky, Crafty; CraftyCorn = Bobby, Bubba; KickinChicken = Hoppy, Bubba; Hoppy Hopscotch = Kickin; Bubba Bubbaphant = Crafty, PickyPiggy = Bobby)

Here are the ages and birthdays I headcanon for all the Critters (from oldest to youngest):

Bubba Bubbaphant: 12 (January 16th)

CraftyCorn: 12 (April 7th)

DogDay: 12 (July 17th)

CatNap: 12 (November 20th)

PickyPiggy: 11 (May 18th)

Hoppy Hopscotch: 11 (June 2nd)

KickinChicken: 11 (December 7th)

Bobby BearHug: 10 (February 28th)

13. I do also want to plan something for the Critters' emblems. They may work similarly as Care Bears with having their own individual powers. They of course, can use their scents with these as well. All they have to do to release their scents is tap their necklace emblem two times. This is so they won't accidentally release their scent if something happens like them falling (in the case of if they only needed one tap). In the case of their special abilities, they have to draw a circle on their emblem and tap it to release their ability onto others. Here are the abilities I have planned for them right now:

CatNap = Dream watching. He can tap his emblem then tap the head of one who's sleeping. He can then enter their dreams to then check if it's a good or bad dream. He is allowed to stay in the dream until he gets out himself or the dreamer wakes up.

DogDay = Can light up the way with his emblem by creating a mini sun. The mini sun will follow around DogDay wherever he goes, whenever he needs it. Sometimes this can also affect CatNap's emblem, as it can light up whenever DogDay's is lit up. After all, the moon can't shine without the sun :>

Bobby BearHug = Can open people's hearts to emotion. Either to their own emotions so they can be released in a healthy way, or so that the emotions of everyone are more clear. Can help in the case of arguments and discord.

CraftyCorn = Unleashes a paintbrush that can create whatever is desired. However, it needs color to work. So if certain colors aren't there to make the item Crafty wants, it may not work. This is also there so her powers are balanced in a sense.

KickinChicken = Can create any mode of travel necessary (inspired by his motto of perserverence). Can be used for most of anything from a literal star like from Kirby, roller skates, a car, helicopter, etcetera. However, it needs energy in order to fully work. It can only create one thing per day before it needs a charge so it can shine just as much!

Hoppy Hopscotch = Can increase the speed of a process or can make someone else go faster. However, like with Kickin's emblem, Hoppy's power needs to charge. She can know if it's fully charged if there's a storm cloud that appears before her power is unleashed, meaning that it's charged.

Bubba Bubbaphant = Can clear out the clutter in others' minds so that they can think more clearly. He will know if his power worked by the time an idea comes through the person's head with a light bulb.

PickyPiggy = Can be used for storage; it's useful for any resources the group might need for later but can't carry on them. Picky's storage can change depending on her energy at the moment, so if she has low energy, the things she can store will be minimal. That's why she eats a little something before using this feature!

14. Their scents have different ability compared to their emblems, and these abilities are meant to be more subtle in comparison. They can affect certain feelings in people, so here's how it works for all of them in the cartoon AU:

CatNap = Lavender (primary scent) for feelings of sleepiness; Poppy (secondary scent) also for sleepiness, but with the side effects of nightmares and increased negative emotions before being put to sleep

DogDay = Vanilla for increasing relaxation

Bobby = Rose for improved mood

Crafty = Jasmine for reduced anxiety

Kickin = Ylang-ylang for boosted self-esteem

Hoppy = Peppermint for increased energy

Bubba = Lemongrass for reduced stress

Picky = Citrus for reduced fatigue

Alright, that's all I have right now! I have these here since they're more relevant to possible scenarios I may make with the AU in the future. Though it's like a wholesome cartoon, there will still be some bits of lore and some dark elements in there, and I hope it can still be interesting as a result :)

[elvisabutler]

virtue

summary: you are the sort of person gladys should have never let her son interact with. elvis will always listen to his mama, except when it comes to you. you like taking advantage of this. fandom: austin butler | elvis ( 2022 ) | elvis presley pairing: austin butler elvis x female reader rating: m. word count: 3058 warnings: corruption kink. religious undertones. religious overtones. comparing elvis to a cherub. defiling a church. sub elvis, tbh. unprotected p in v sex. mild breeding kink implication, i think. author's note: welcome to a late day 21 for kinktober, corruption kink with austin!elvis. okay so. i'm unhinged just a little this month. sometimes you can't pick what you want and then someone chooses 50s elvis ( cough @blurredcolour ) and you think i want to wreck that man then this happens. yeah. i don't mean anything bad by it, so if you are religious, sorry about this. also yes there is a difference in pronunciation of mama and momma when elvis says it in this. one means you, the other means his actual mother. also almost made this gender neutral, didn't because i haven't quite mastered the art of full sex with gender neutral so i chickened out, but i have a few more austin elvis parts of kinktober so don't worry it'll happen. and you know the usual you can imagine real elvis with this i don't mind.

Elvis is a good southern boy, all manners and charm wrapped into a drawling package. You've known from the second you laid eyes on him that he is a good boy. Except, Elvis is also a bit of a brat, and you'd like to blame his mama for that but- well, deep down inside of you there was a good southern woman who knew how to mind their elders lest you get your ass whooped from here to kingdom come so you can't very well talk bad about her. Elvis- he's innocent enough, all blushes and mild stutters as Scotty and Bill and DJ are making lewd jokes. Elvis a good church going boy and you used to be a good church going girl yourself- a different denomination but honestly your daddy would have never taken you to anything but a Catholic mass- but you had stopped a while back, finding it more suffocating than anything comforting. Still, it doesn't stop you from leaning against Elvis's pink Cadillac waiting for him. You know there's a chance his fans will swarm you and him but your plan means you'll take the risk gladly.

"Darlin'?" Elvis's voice is questioning as he managed to force his way through a small crowd of fans at the church doors. His face- his smile at you despite his confusion makes you remember all those paintings of cherubs and you find a grin blossoming on your own face. Your little cherub, pleased as punch to see you just as you're pleased to see him. "What're you doin' here?"

"I came to see my favorite person." My favorite boy. "And I know it's Sunday so of course you'd be-"

"At church. Oh mama, missed me that much?" His cheeks flush as he looks down at the ground, and then up your legs, eyeing how your skirt errs just slightly on the side of too short and gulping. "You know you shouldn't be wearin' somethin' like that. They're gonna- you know what they're gonna say."

Your answering laugh has him biting his lip as he watches the line of your throat. He just got out of church and you've got him thinking every sinful thought under the sun already. "That I'm a loose woman and that you really oughta stay away from me? Please, we both know I'm irresistible to you. Besides, we both know you love how loose I am."

Elvis has to choke back a groan, especially as he feels your hands pull him closer to you, grasping at his butt and squeezing. "We're in public and outside the church, baby." He says trying to gain control of the situation, all while his head nuzzles into your neck. "God you smell wonderful. New-"

"Perfume." You finish his thought before your allow one of your hands to slide up to his head, running your fingers through his hair. There's a hum that comes from Elvis that causes you to smirk as you pull just lightly on his hair. A part of you is aware his fans are staring, the churchgoers are staring, but Elvis is your boyfriend and you'd like everyone to be vividly aware of it. "How was church?"

Elvis's eyes are hooded when he looks at you, all heat and hidden promise, because he knows you're teasing him. He knows you're teasing him right after church because you think it's fun. He wonders if you're going to ask him what you always ask him when you show up like this every month. "Good. Enlightening, they were talking about resisting temptation. How it's hard nowadays especially with me and my gyrations."

Your laugh sounds downright sinister as the last bit of Elvis's fans and the church goers walk by the pair of you. It earns you a few looks and glares but you choose to ignore them, instead focusing on how Elvis is murmuring apologies to them as they walk by. He's not apologizing for you, you know he cares for you too much but he has to keep up appearances or else he'll hear it from his manager. "Resisting temptation?" Your hand that had been used to pull him close moves to his front, starting at his torso before you slide it down to the front of his pants. "From whom, the devil or everyone else?"

Elvis whispers your name and it comes out practically as a hiss as he can't help but buck his hips against your hand. "Baby. Don't- we're in front of the church. They'll see."

The last word, his last word comes out as a whine, and you move to kiss him, allowing yourself to cup his quickly hardening cock through his slacks. You had him inching toward where you wanted him, just maybe a few tiny pushes left and he'd be exactly where you wanted him. You'd both be exactly where you want to be. Your hand squeezes just a bit as Elvis gasps and grabs at your wrist.

"Mama." A pause. "Darlin'- you're the temptation for me right now. It'd kill my momma if she heard I did something like this after church. In front of the church." He sounds almost pleading, but with whom you don't know. He's had sex before, told you in a rush of apologies about the one girl on the road and while you'd have killed him for it, you find it didn't mean anything. Not like how it would mean between the two of you. The road had taken so much already and you'd be damned if it would take much more. It was your job to ruin him, not a Carny manager and Bill's stupid need to a stimulant that he thought your boyfriend needed.

Your eyes dart around the area, noting that in the time you've been standing there people have found their way to their cars and to their paths to walk home. There is- in short no one still left on the property but you and you imagine the priest- pastor- you forget what Elvis calls the person leading the congregation. It is exactly what you want to see, it's exactly what you need to see. Your mouth moves to his ear, nipping at his earlobe just slightly. "Who said anything about being in front of the church. I wouldn't let everyone see you like this. They might think they could make you feel as good as I will."

A gust of wind blows by the two of you, forcing you both to tilt a little toward the door of the church. The next words out of your boyfriend surprise you in ways you hadn't thought he was capable of doing to you. "Don't suppose you think that's God's way of telling us to go in there, do ya?" He asks, his face still the picture of an innocent cherub sent to charm you but with his tone- oh his tone- rivaling that of the Devil himself, sent to defile you and and anyone you wanted.

The second you hear those words you know you've won this one, you get to have Elvis where you want to have him. You get to corrupt this good Southern boy- this good church going boy into what you want- what you need. "I think that's exactly what God wants us to do, sweetheart."

The pastor is- you're assuming- at his house nearby on the property, unlike most priests you had known this pastor refrained from cleaning up after a service until the last minute, something about how he wanted the service to settle, whatever that meant. So you had some time, not that you or Elvis were going to need it from the way he's pushing you up against a bench, his lips igniting a fire in between your legs and on your skin. You're letting him take control for this original space of time- allowing him to think he's the one in charge, that this was his plan all along, that he wanted to fuck his girlfriend in a church. The truth is the exact opposite but as smart as Elvis can be about some things- he misses cues like this, misses knowing that you were the one who planned this that you're the heathen dragging this boy to hell by defiling him in a church.

"Wanna make you feel good, mama. Wanna feel good." He murmurs, his drawl slurring his words together like they're molasses. His hips rut against you, seeking some form of release before your hand moves to unbuckle his belt and undo his pants. "What- you're already undoing my-"

A laugh leaves your lips before you kiss his own, biting softly in order to make them just a hair redder and a little more plump. He looks- he's inching toward looking like the picture of sin. That picture has you groaning softly before you speak. "You can't fuck me if your pants are on, babe. Want my baby's cock in me. Want to feel your cock stretching me. You said you'd let me do this- said you were sorry."

That snaps his focus back from the ceiling where he had been focusing back to you, back to your pouting face and his own face falls. "Oh, mama, I- You know I am, mama, know I didn't- I shouldn't have, you're my girl, you're the only one I want to see me like this- like-" You can see his brain trying to catch up as he forces himself to pause even as his hips keep bucking against you. "Wanted to give it to you, only you, wanted you to have you do all those things to me first, wanted-"

"Me to ruin you?" You finish the sentence, taking pity on Elvis as you moved to try and shimmy out of your underwear. "Corrupt you from the inside out? Make you as bad as everyone thinks I am?"

He nods frantically, trying the best way he can to help you out of your underwear and only stopping when he sees them pool to the floor. His eyes focus on them when he speaks almost making him look bashful and embarrassed. The heat that was already curling in your abdomen grows just a little more as you have to bite your lip to keep from growling at his look, growling at the knowledge that this is all yours to keep.

"Yes." His words come out as a whisper that you can only hear because of the deafening quiet in the church. "Want that. I- Let me fuck you in here, mama. God gave you to me and gave me to you, wanna show him what good he's done."

It doesn't take you a second before you're pushing Elvis onto the bench, freeing his cock from his boxers and sinking yourself down. You're drenched and the noise from his cock entering you is almost sickening in how it sounds. You swear you feel a gush of arousal as he groans, low and making your entire being vibrate. Is this was a religious experience felt like? Was this what you told your father you never experienced at church? You don't know, but you know that Elvis needs to move, needs to buck against you as you ride him.

"Gonna have to help me, baby. Can't ride you and do all the work myself." You murmur against his lips before trailing kisses down his neck, stopping to make sure to suck just against his jaw line, knowing fully well he'll bruise. He is yours and you'd prefer people to know it.

His hands move to cup your chest, touching your breasts through your bra as he nuzzles them. He won't ask you to take off your shirt, not in here, not realizing that you two have to be at least somewhat discrete as your skirt hides his cock pumping into you, hides his hips rutting against your pelvis. "Wanna fuck you like this every night. Gonna marry you, mama ain't gonna like it, but you're my girl. Making me feel so wrong and so right. So perfect- so glad you wanted me- could have gone for those other boys-"

He's whimpering and it's feeding into your own desire to whimper back at him. He's so fucking pure sometimes it sickens you, he's so earnest in what he's saying and it makes you love him so much it hurts you. You kiss him, swallowing both of your whimpers in the kiss, putting all your energy into clenching around his cock, trying to milk it so that you can both finish, so you can tell him that he shouldn't marry you, Gladys would probably die if he did and as much as you want to ruin him, you know he couldn't take that. He keeps talking though- keeps muttering the filth you love to hear him say because it says it so rarely.

It sounds like a prayer, you realize, it sounds like he's muttering a prayer or a hymn onto your skin and you realize that you might be corrupting him, might be ruining him but there's still a part of him that's a good God fearing, church going boy and you can't take that away no matter how hard you try. The rush of arousal you feel after that realization startles you, has you clutching onto his shoulders for dear life.

If he minds your grip he doesn't say anything, instead choosing to buck his hips more as one hand moves in between you two to play with your clit. "She taught me how to do this, mama. I- Can I come in you? Wanna do that- I know I shouldn't but you're- I want it. Wanna claim you like that. You want me like that- don't ya?"

Maybe the road had done more to him than you thought, maybe you weren't corrupting him like you thought if he was playing with your clit like it was his guitar, skillfully earning a sigh and a whimper from you. Or maybe that was from the words he uttered, you don't know, you only know that you feel your walls tightening, feel your cunt fluttering on his cock and you should say no, you should tell him that he needs to come on the floor but you can't utter those words. Instead you utter the exact opposite.

"Come in me, show everyone that I'm yours baby, stake your claim in me like my hickies show mine on you. Show them that I've got you, not anyone else. Show them I've got Elvis- the good boy who loves his momma and his family and would do anything if I just asked. Would fuck me over a church altar if I asked."

He comes with a shout that sounds pained, like it was wrenched from the depths of his soul. You never come with or right after any of your partners but with Elvis, with him right in this moment you feel the warmth of his come and way his hands are gripping whatever part of your body he can grab and you fall against him, coming as quietly as you can, only letting out the tiniest of whimpers against his ear. You can feel his cock twitch afterward, thinking it's going to be interested in the proceedings.

The two of you sit there for a few minutes, attempting to catch your breath and your bearings. You shouldn't have let him come in you, but you couldn't help it. It should be fine, you hope. Elvis speaks first, a quiet whisper against your neck.

"I love you. Meant what I said- wanna make ya my wife. Maybe give my momma grandchildren. Wanna take care of ya like you take care of me." He pauses. "You gonna let me do all those things, mama?"

You sigh, moving to pull off of his cock. "Maybe. You gonna let me turn you into a different kind of man?" A man more suited for you, more suited to be with a girl half the city looks at in disgust.

He looks up at the ceiling and looks at a cross he sees in the distance before he answers with an honesty that startles you. "I think I'd follow ya into hell if that's the only way I could have ya."

In short, yes.

There is a silence that stretches too long to feel comfortable between the two of you until you finally speak, pulling off his cock completely, allowing his release to drip down your legs as you kiss him. "Ask me again next month, Elvis."

He moves to put himself back together, to make himself more presentable to the world as he tucks his cock back in his pants and refastens them. "I'll ask ya next week. I mean it this time, mama. I think- I think ya stuck with me now."

Good. You shrug. "That's just the temptation speaking."

Elvis stands up and moves to touch your stomach as he kisses you. "No, that's me thinkin' God's gonna force ya to let me be with ya after this. Can't have sex wit' ya in a church and not expect somethin'."

You feel as if cold water has been dumped on your head but still you smile. "Your momma won't like it."

His lips curl into a smirk you don't recognize on his face. It startles you and arouses you in equal measure. "To hell with her opinion. I'll ask ya next week. I wanna get an answer this time, mama. Can't keep ruining me like without letting me get a reward."

You open your mouth to say something before you hear a commotion signaling that the pastor is back. The pair of you make a quick escape, running out the opposite end of the church, only stopping when you reach Elvis's car.

"Let me take ya home." He murmurs against your lips as you push him against the car for a goodbye kiss.

"Just this once." You answer back, allowing him to open the door and let you in. "And only this once."

The only response you get is a hum from Elvis. He does ask you again the next week. And the week after. And the week after. You don't give your mostly good Southern boy an answer until the next month.

His momma hates the answer.

[seetangus]

Flowers - Azula x reader - part I

Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII [main masterlist]

Azula x gn reader, no warnings, requested by 🌹-anon

651 words, enjoy :)

You watched in awe as Azula shot another wave of blue fire across the courtyard, setting the training dummy ablaze. As this had been the last part of her training, you quickly made your way over to her, leaving Mai and Ty Lee, who also were present, behind. You did this after every training session of hers, so they knew what was coming. Mai rolled her eyes and Ty Lee let out a small giggle as they watched you praise her, wishing to receive only the slightest bit of attention from her: "You were awesome, Azula!" "Of course I was. I always am.", she answered, seemingly more focused on taking off her training armour than on your presence.

Her reaction may be discouraging, but it was nothing you weren't used to after seven months of trying to get closer to her, so you simply went to the next step: "Do you think that we could train together sometime?" To your surprise, this actually made her look at you, she seemed genuinely surprised: "We? Train together?" Her answer made you feel a weird mix of worry and excitement. "I don't think that you could compete with me, y/n." She went to the dressing rooms after saying that, leaving you alone.

Now that was depressing. Ty Lee apparently had been close enough to understand what Azula said, because she sent you an apologetic look. She and Mai were more or less the only people who knew of your feelings towards Azula. Them and General Iroh. Well, you weren't sure about whether he knew, especially as he wasn't in the palace very often, and even when he was, no one could be sure about what he knew of. He had been giving you some weird looks when you tried to flirt with Azula though, so you simply assumed that he knew too.

But that wasn't important now. You quickly smiled back at Ty Lee and hurried to your chamber, already a new plan in mind on how to take Azula's heart. Okay, if you were realistic, it probably wouldn't make her fall madly in love with you, but it should at least make her like you a bit more, and possibly show her how much you cared about her.

You went into your room, walking over to the fireplace. There stood, blooming as bright as the sun, your new plan: a panda lily. It was a rare flower you had brought here from a trip (some might call it an invasion) to the earth kingdom. It needed very special conditions to survive, so you would only take it out of its pot shortly before you would give it to her, to make sure it didn't wither away before she could plant it in one of her pots. You wondered if she would choose a pretty pot? Where would she put the pot? You would have never thought that dreaming of flower pots could be so romantic.

You had heard of a conference that was taking place soon. Mai, Ty Lee, some generals, and most importantly Azula would be there. Even if you had not been invited, your rank allowed you to show up as a visitor. An opportunity you would normally have picked, but in this case you decided to show up shortly before the conference was over. You would give the flower to her when she headed out. It felt better to do it in a somewhat open space because the atmosphere would be less tense. Of course you would still do it in a discreet manner. You didn't want the whole palace talking about it.

You took a few moments to admire your flower, the one that would soon be held by Azula's hands, and gently pulled it out of the pot. Along with some earth you put it in a cloth and began making your way to the conference hall.

[gregrulzok]

So Okay, Massive props to my boyfriend (<3) for pointing this out because I doubt I'd have this thought without him, but now that it's in my head I can't stop thinking about it.

So here is: Why You (The American/Western European Reading This) Don't Understand Griffith, and Maybe Never Will.

TL;DR, details under Cut (v long): Berserk is an allegory for the struggle between Collectivism vs Individualism, which to very Indicidualism-Centered Westerners makes the Collectivist Griffith very unsympathetic.

And obviously, spoilers ahead, as well as a TW for death, violence, and sexual violence.

To put it very directly: Griffith is a Collectivist (someone who is focused on the well-being of the collective above the well-being of one's self or other individuals), whereas Guts is an Individualist (someone who is focused on the well-being of one's self or other individuals above the well-being of the collective).

Griffith has individuals he cares for, wants by his side and wants to see succeed, but in his mind, nothing and no one is above the Collective. That collective is, initially, the Band of Hawks, and then his own Kingdom, and presumably eventually the whole world. Griffith's primary and sole desire is to improve the broken world he grew up in, and there is no one he won't sacrifice for that goal, because he thinks that by achieving it he will be making a safer and happier place for an immesurable amount of people. And by no one, I do mean no one - he puts his own health and well-being on the line as well, physically, mentally, or otherwise. Most notably, the time where he, still as a child, allows a grown man to sleep with him to win his favour. Griffith is not above the collective, he's not above putting himself at stake if it means a safer future for more people. He won't let himself /die/, but that isn't because he cares about his own life more, rather because he thinks he's the only one who can achieve that ideal future, and so his survival is linked to the survival of the collective.

And Guts eventually becomes aware of this. Whether consciously or not, he realizes that however much Griffith may care for him, he would also sacrifice him for the greater good if need be. Guts is not above the collective, and he so desperately wants to be. He wants to be someone who will stand out to Griffith, who will be more important to him than anyone else (and it makes sense - Griffith is the first person that ever actually treated him as an individual, and the knowledge that he's still beneath the collective must be painful), and he thinks that the way to achieve it is to pursue his own individuality. That if he chases his individual growth, he will eventually become bigger than the collective.

Thing is, you can't pursue individual growth in a collective. You can't focus on yourself and the collective at the same time. That's why he wants to leave, and that's why Griffith can't let him - however hard Guts may try, you can't become a big enough person to outweigh the collective. Doing that is tantamount to destroying the collective, and Griffith can't let that happen. He can't let Guts become so big that he'll destroy everything he works so hard for, and so however much he cares about Guts becomes irrelevant. By just trying to become bigger than the collective he is threatening the collective, and so he must be killed.

(Note here that this scene has multiple meanings and this is only one of them. The other and much more obvious meaning is that he is outright in love with Guts, and can't bare to watch him leave. This analysis is NOT trying to argue against this, I am a staunch believer that any non-romantic reading of Berserk is outright factually incorrect. Do NOT use this to justify your weird homophobic erasure).

Here's where the Western part comes in: A lot of western countries, and particularly the U.S., are extremely radically individualist. For a lot of Americans, though of course not for every individual (ha) one, the idea of having to sacrifice yourself (whether literally or metaphorically, in a "Give Up On Your Dreams" sense) is absolutely unacceptable. And so seeing this character who will destroy anyone for the sake of the collective is immediately perceived as a threat to their very way of thinking.

Japan, meanwhile, is extremely radically collectivist. To a detrimental degree. Individuals sacrifice their dreams and health and mental well-being for the sake of making the country thrive. This is why this conflict is so important in the manga.

It shows collectivism at its natural extreme - but it doesn't villanize it. Everywhere that Griffith ends up ruling thrives. People love Griffith, they worship him, they consider him a saviour. Collectivism works, it does make the world better for the whole, objectively this is true even with the individuals left behind. But this doesn't erase the crimes committed, the lives ruined or lost. It doesn't absolve anything - it looks pretty and peaceful on the surface, it's happy and kind as long as you're not in the way of it, and as soon as you are it crushes you underfoot.

Individualism, on the other hand, it portrays as free and brave - but also selfish, lonely. Guts is an asshole to most people he comes across, he's extremely self-serving, and even when he cares about people he's very selective about them. He has to be, he has to draw that distance, because ultimately he HAS to focus on himself first. That's what makes him "greater" than the collective he wants to dismantle. And isn't that evil, too? Sure, it's revenge for what's been done to him and his loved ones, but in exacting it he'll be burning down a peaceful utopia, one which was built on the corpses of the ones he cared for.

There is no easy answer.

Guts is not a hero. He's a selfish loner, one who is free and cares fiercely for those he loves. He's the protagonist, because Japanese people need to see that individualism is an option.

Griffith is not a villain. He's a peacekeeper, a visionary, one who masks and justifies his horrible crimes and cares fiercely for everyone in the world, but never quite enough. He's the antagonist, because Japanese people need to see that collectivism can be taken far too far.

So this idea that Guts = Good and Griffith = Evil is just far, far too narrow a worldview, one affected by very western ideas of morality and justice, and one that, for a work as complex and beautiful and interesting as Berserk is just quite frankly not nuanced enough.

[earthbovndmisfit]

YESSS JONAERIWAGON RIGHTS 💙💙💙 JONATHAN'S HEART IS BIG ENOUGH FOR THEM BOTH 🥺 also, it got me thinking, in the mermaid au what if having "polycules" is the norm in mer culture? since they live in pods like dolphins or whales or whatnot? so to mer!jonathan he can see them both as "life-partners" (depends on the au if erina and speedwagon are humans or mers) and the three of them are happy together in love 🥰

YOU GET IT ANON!! JONATHAN HAS TWO HANDS AND A HEART BIG ENOUGH FOR THEM BOTH INDEED AND I NEED MORE PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND THAT AAAAA

As for your question, I was thinking kinda the same thing! Granted, I'm a doof in regards to sea life so Idk a lot about it but, as far as I know, dolphin pods are like "small communities", so to speak, in which they protect and look out after each other. In that sense, I think merpeople have structures that may be somewhere in between humans and mammals such as dolphins, meaning that they have larger societies (hence the idea another anon pitched a while back about a mer kingdom) but they also form their own smaller groups with who they choose as their life-partner or partners. And so, it's not uncommon for a merperson to have more than one partner at the time. I also think these "partnerships" can operate a lot like human "menage a trois" do! I've talked about this "menage a trois" structure before and how it has always been a thing (even in uptight societies such as the Victorian society) and which is basically a man and his wife and his boyfriend, all living together and raising together any children the m/f couple may have at some point, all with the consent and full knowledge of all parts involved, and so on. Essentially, what nowadays could be described as a V-polycule, and which very much fits the erijonawagon dynamic, OG and in AUs (Erina and Spw being metamours, so no forced romances or anything between them as they freely love on Jonathan and Jonathan loving them in return).

In the mer!AU, I think it wouldn't really matter much if they're all mers or just one or two of them are. Based on their OG versions, it's been long established that Erina and Speedwagon are both a bit ahead of their time, as they're both shown to not only acknowledge the other's romantic feelings for Jonathan, but also as being understanding of them to the point where they developed a friendship and also raised Jonathan's children for him. I don't think they would be interested in dating anyone other than Jonathan (as shown by how both remained loyal to Jonathan until the end), and they would be very more than happy to "share" Jonathan with the other, because they know how much the other genuinely loves him and wants him to be happy, and especially once they learn just how much Jonathan loves them both in return as well and pretty much just how happy they all make each other. Not to mention that they all seem to be quite alright with Speedwagon's very blatant gayness as well, so I don't really think that would represent any kinds of issues here either.

Overall, I don't think things would change a lot in the AU in those regards, save for the added "weird looks" they may get from other humans if any of the three remains a human in the AU due to them not being the same species or whatever and, welp, polycules not being too common (yet), but other than that, things would remain more on the chill side, I think.

Needless to say that Jonathan would be the kind of guy who happily introduces his partners to everyone he meets as that: His partners (wife and husband, respectively, unless merpeople have a specific term?) and showing off and gushing over how awesome they are and how lucky he is to have them in his life.

[twst-beam]

Oooooh oc lore???

I love twst OCs I’d love to hear more about them 🥺 👉👈

gladly 🥺

GET READY THIS IS GONNA BE LOOOOOOONG

let's start with my babygirl, shall we? this entire thing started with her, so might as well 😌

as everybody knows, everiu's a handmaiden, guardian to the princess, caroline's most trusted friend and confidant, but what most people DON'T know is that protection has been hammered into her brain ever since one assassination attempt almost left her without her best friend (caroline).

she was around 7 at the time, a year older than caroline, accompanying the princess in a neighboring kingdom's party, when a group of armed and jealous low-ranking aristocrats cornered the pair in an emoty hallway.

had it not been for her parents stepping in, part of the Royal Guard as they were, they would have been held for ransom or worse.

for her eighth birthday, everiu asked for a sword.

by her 10th birthday, she had mastered it.

somehow, she found her stance drills calming ^v^

as for her deal with organization, it's always been part of her personality, seeing things disorganized IRKED her to no end 😌

her deal with horses stemmed from games with her father, who used to carry her around by her arms as if she were riding a horse, also she found them really cool and a great source of fun :DD

embroidery started when she had to take classes about them with caroline, and she got HOOKED. the princess, though? not so much XD

speaking of the princess, here's some lore drop! :DD

she has NO chill. whatsoever. get with her vibe or get engulfed by it because she's got PASSION about EVERYTHING >:DDD

passion?? well, she's got many subjects of interest, mainly jewelry, archery, and ✨️cheese✨️

this woman will not shut up once you get a conversation going unless you say so, and she hopes to bring this passion to her style of ruling <333

MONSTER at chess. she could beat leona if she wanted to ^v^

torn between oranges and grapes as her favorite fruit, chose oranges for formality but will DEMOLISH a platter of either

gets in trouble with her tutors sometimes for running her mouth, she hopes to fix this because she knows it's not good for civility </3

only child (like everiu), I'd talk about the marriage and royalty system of emeronia but it'll get WAY too long

super generous like :00 give her a quality cheese platter and you'll have diamonds on your neck by next week

unfazed by he assassination attempts, but hates it when people don't take her seriously

and now it's time for our reliable sharkmer <3

anton's lived a life of speed. constant moving. constant vigilance. as a shark he can't afford any less.

his "reliable" disposition originated from helping out his animal friends and eventually his classmates. it was handy for feeling accomplished, and it satiated his need to keep moving.

he's a pacifist first and foremost because to him it's more fun that way :'D he likes using his words and actions to get something done :'D

aroace :DDD

when he first went on land he was SO confused because you don't need to move constantly????? ?????

got the hang of breakdancing SO quckly for some reason (reason is because I Said So but also it kinda makes sense because it's constant movement)

peaches? love em

beans? GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME OR I WILL SCREAM (this aversion brings him problems during beanfest)

plays the piano <333

Unnamed Scarabia Student no. 17

thinking of calling him Arwen, although no last name yet (suggestions? 🥺)

Arwen because. because Arwenian niiiiiIiIGhts-

literally me but a guy

his eyes glow cyan when using his UM because that's my favorite color :DD

2nd Year

lives in the desert

idk he's in progress I'll think of more stuff :DD

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK THIS GOT LONGER THAN INTENDED BUT IT WAS SO FUN TO WRITE :DDDD

[kradogsrats]

Rewatch Shitposts: S2, Ep 5-9

v.

Viren, entering the summit: “… surely you’d not part an old man from his walking stick?”

Making a solid effort to reclaim his drama queen crown from Lujanne, too

imo they chose the worst of the possible concept designs for Aanya, but oh well

there are apparently a lot of assassinations in the human kingdoms, which is an interesting political climate

OH MY GOD THE PORTRAIT THEY WERE SUCH BROS /gross sobbing

Viren somehow narrating this intimate, private conversation between Sarai and Harrow in great detail

Including “oh yeah, and Sarai had whatever the wife version of a cuckholding kink is”

just saying, that’s kinda sus lmao unless this is a polyamorous triad and Viren was there

A lot of digital ink has been spilled about Harrow’s decision to help Duren, but what I’m noticing here is that they are asking for help seven years into the situation, when it’s a crisis. That seems a very irresponsible time to make a first overture, so I’m forced to conclude that they previously asked Harrow’s father for help and were turned down. Along with the assassinations thing, the current period of peace and cooperation between the human kingdoms reads as a) recent, and b) very fragile.

Did not notice before but they did actually pull the gray out of Viren’s hair and beard for the flashback. At this point he has already taken his initial corruption damage and is using the revitalization spell, so the later gray is probably true aging. (Though it could be the spell slowly becoming less effective.)

Startled by the direct parallel drawn between Callum opening the letter and cracking open the magma titan in the flashback because I actually don’t know what that’s trying to say? Unless it’s just “we need to cliffhanger both the A and B plots for the end of the episode at the same time”?

vi.

Why did they do recaps for every episode, anyway? Didn’t they just drop each season in one chunk?

I’m not convinced you can aim a ballista that precisely, but I also don’t actually know anything about siege weaponry.

Viren has apparently cast his one spell per long rest and cannot do anything else in this fight.

This is a much better “everyone learns important lessons” episode than the Cursed Caldera one

Also the parallels just SO GOOD, probably best writing in the show

/MORE GROSS SOBBING

Okay, as I thought, the “Sarai’s last breath in a jar” is… not exclusively a novelization thing, because we have already seen the jar in Harrow’s momentary flashback to preparing the spell (AND in the credits sketch), but it’s not shown or explained at this time.

The population numbers they’re talking about are kind of ridiculous, though. An army of a million, as Aanya mentions, is preposterous for this kind of setting.

Callum pulls out the Key: AGAIN, STAR-SIDE UP

And again, Star-side in the credits sketch

vii.

Oh my god is this finally the wormvaros episode? I have been waiting for these gummi worms SO LONG

We ALL enjoyed that Sailor Moon reference, Callum

Yeah, I feel like this season is where they made Soren stupid, beginning with the sarcasm thing (Soren had no trouble parsing sarcasm before?) and just escalating from there.

Rayla… knows the sound of an angry, attacking dragon? Does this happen in Xadia a lot?????

It’s funny, I remember this entire dragon sequence as being very different, tonally. Like, I remember a lot more emphasis on “Soren has absolutely fucked up”? idek

“Why be chained down, when I can be chained… up?” another absolute peak humor moment

wormvaros wormvaros wormvaros

oh never mind more dragon first

I actually like how Rayla and Soren are pretty evenly matched in a fight

Oof that uh… cronch

WORMVAROS WORMVAROS WORMVAROS

Noted: Aaravos’s blood is red, which I have wondered about

Also the portal between the two cups that the worm goes through is red… traditionally the Dark magic color. In the primals symbology rainbow, at least. Need to think more about the relationship between that and the purple usually associated with casting it, because it feels like the edge of... something.

I’m usually more interested in Watsonian analysis but pretty sure the Doylist reason for wormvaros crawling under Viren’s clothes is that it moves way too fast to not look ridiculous when animated

me, mouth stuffed full of gummi worms: /promptly chokes when Aaravos says “Speak,” because I’m a dumbass

Key is Earth-side up in the credits sketches, a bold choice

viii.

Vision quest time!

Disappointingly, the new Dark magic side of the Key cube Callum pulls out of the pile of keys is not the side that was originally Star. BUT it’s the side that was originally Sky, which is what holds most significance for Callum himself, and this is his subconscious. Actually quite tickled that they put in that detail.

Callum: “Who are you?”, Dark Callum: “I’m you, but with a cooler cape”

”…It’s your dream, kid. /scoots away” ffgddfs????

Nice “freedom from expectations/destiny” parallel scenes transition between Callum’s hallucination and Soren’s “it’s okay, I’ll be a poet now”

As vision quest dreams go, Callum’s is actually written pretty well. Nice combination of meaningful metaphors and complete acid trip through recent memories, highly relatable.

…. oh my god, I only just now figured out that “banther” is a combination of “bear” and “panther”?

ix.

I probably owe the “Claudia talks about her mom leaving” scene some kind of acknowledgment just because I’ve gotten so much mileage out of that 30 seconds, plus maybe 2 total corresponding pages of novelization

and I completely forgot this sequence with Sarai that brings Callum out of his hallucinations, what the hell?

Me tearing up again when Callum casts the rune… it’s these fucking music cues, man

BROS BROS BROS BROS /gross sobbing

Oh shit yes finally time for the real drama to start

So like I get the Aaravos voice kink thing, because even for someone who really doesn’t process the characteristics of individual voices (i.e., me) his voice is definitely extraordinary, so I assume for people who can actually tell which Skyrim NPCs have the same three voice actors it must be absolutely mind-blowing… but for me it was the motion of him casting the big runes that really made me go “oh… oh fuck”

PARTICULARLY THAT LIGHTNING RUNE holy shit

I really have to assume that Aaravos just immediately healed that arrow wound to Viren’s knee because there’s just no other explanation but too bad his adventuring career is over either way

... aaaand I guess they kind of have to find Viren’s secret dungeon now, or Gren would have a few pretty serious problems. Thanks, credits sketch, for clearing that up!

[ask-churro-cookie]

HEADCANON TIME-

Mun note: This is gonna be a V E R Y long one for only five characters so a read more is needed.

Taging: @asks-cookies-and-chaos and @teabrain

Churro cookie:

. This dude can suffer from both sensory overload and deprivation due to the trauma he suffered while the only one awake.

. sensory deprivation being much worse of the two, as he knew he was stuck in the slumber but couldn't do anything about it.

. He woke up at least a month after the spell was placed and he had to train up immediately.

. fighting Night Raven left him severally damaged and scarred on his back.

. His Millennial Guardian costume was actually given to him by both Millennial tree and Wind Archer, as it's the highest status a guardian can gain. They don't know why some parts of him changed color though-

. speaking of that, the color changing is not that unnatural for him. Often times, it happens when using magic. An overload would last for a few days.

. he also has a very shallow concept of flirting, becoming very confused and embarrassed much of the time, as the tribe usually has courting customs instead of open dating and such.

. every tattoo he's got isn't always made by the tattoo artist in the tribe. Sometimes, he does it himself to test his pain tolerance.

. he also tests his strength and magic tolerance.

. this dude can be very loving though, showing interest in new experiences and introducing them as well.

. he loves the scent of lavender as well. It's the only thing that can calm him down other than most things.

( devs, I swear, you better make him a super epic cookie if he comes to Kingdom, He deserves it GREATLY- how often do you see a mortal cookie best a corrupt god alone and barefisted- he isn't rich nor too much related to a Legendary but S T I L L)

Wind Archer:

. suffered several bodily harm during his time as Night Raven from the poison in his system.

. being corrupted by the poison had left him both blind and suffering sudden pain shocks from any pressure put on the scars it left

. He does his job fine though, as he uses hearing and the wind to his aid.

. birb boi. Has many feathers but hides them under his clothing.

. he has some serious tensions with Fire spirit(unrelated reasons) and knows that Churro would never forgive him for taking the poison willingly.

. He does occasionally forget that he's flying and runs into a tree-

. occasionally visits Bellflower for medicine to help the pain caused the the poison.

. does see Bellflower as a daughter to him despite her being made by Lotus.

. he's Bi ace with a preference for men.

. every time he "sees" Fire spirit, he thinks "why is he dress like that so often. . ."

Whipped cream:

. can get very sick under serious stress, mostly happened in his childhood though it still does on occasion in adulthood

. He does pray to Millennial tree occasionally, mostly in times of extreme distress or before a serious performance

. any mention of the St. Pastry order will immediately make him break down and sob. As well as open up old scars due to his muscle structure

. his muscle structure is very much like Mitsuri's from Demon slayer, being eight times the density of a normal cookie's.

. so he stronk as fuck-

. he's a Demi-sexual Gay.

. he has unintentionally broke someone's spine via tight hug.

Vagabond:

. He's two or three years older than Plum and peach, having hatched/baked extremely late

. he came into existence while Longan dragon was still in slumber.

. He took a long time to hatch/bake due to poor conditions and timing, having to be moved to new locations often to be fully made

. he bit a lot while his fangs came in.

. He wasn't hurt or abused as a child but many were careful around him but also kept him safe.

. Vagabond also feels nervous around Longan, despite them being his biological parent. Mostly because he knows what they did to cookies.

. He actually likes to sew a lot and made his own clothing

. he also has storyteller masks that he'd wear on special occasions

. he doesn't fully trust governments after the whole incident at the harvest festival-

. He's Pansexual and a Demi-boy

. He lucid dreams often, but most of the time sees other aus instead of his world. It traumatized him a bit after seeing something gory.

. His scales are a rare hybrid mix, making them more valuable to hunters than normal dragon scales

Bellflower:

. she was a wish-born cookie instead of being baked normally.

. Lotus Dragon did use that opportunity to create a possible heir as well but felt like they failed when she was made a "normal" cookie. Wisteria dragon cookie was a more "successful" attempt.

. she's physically stronger and more intelligent in medicines than she lets on, obviously having figured out how to make some that prevents the dragon's influence over those who take it.

. she also treated many cookies' wounds, including Purple yam's(which he begrudgingly agreed to let her do)

. Being a wish-born, she does have some dragon features. Mostly a dragon eye, some unusual properties, and a tail she hides under her dress

. She follows the mindset of "it's good to wish but you have to work for it to make it true".

. she does teach others what she knows and tries her best to help out often

[msmercury84]

The Feast of the Seven Fishes in Aldebourne

*Author's Note: Bill Guarnere frequently made anonymous donations to charities. He favored anything concerning children and American veterans.*

Bill and Leigh knew that going home for Christmas was impossible since they were stationed in the United Kingdom. Spencer had been writing regularly to Augusta Guarnere. Since V Mail took one month to deliver, Leigh began requesting some of Mrs. Guarnere's recipes for the Feast of the Seven Fishes in October, 1943.

She had told Augusta in a letter that she needed cooking tips, saying,

"I'm not foolish enough to think that I can replicate that delicious feast you prepared the first time I visited. If it isn't too much of an imposition, would you please suggest what I could prepare? More than anything, I want Bill to have a wonderful Christmas Eve meal that would remind him of home."

Mrs. Guarnere was very pleased that Leigh wanted to put so much effort into giving her son the traditional feast. She wrote,

"Sweetie, I'm glad to help any way that I can. I wish you and Billy could be here. Leigh, I couldn't have picked a better girl for my son. You're devoted to him and I know that you love him as much as he loves you. I hope we can celebrate Christmas with you and Billy next year."

Augusta sent recipes for the Fish Baccala soup, Oysters in a Polenta Crust, Fried Oysters, Linguine and Clams, Grilled Sea Bass, Fried Cod and Scallops with Angel Hair Pasta. She also included the recipe for Limoncello. Leigh started making the potent lemon infused vodka aperitif in October.

Spencer made both types of pasta well in advance, since the pasta was dry and could be stored in containers. Bill showed her how to make homemade pasta shortly after they had arrived in the village.

Aldebourne got a fair amount of snow in December. Melissa and Leigh decided to get a freshly cut Christmas Tree a week before Christmas. They used ornaments from their families' homes, most of them had a great sentimental value to both Adams and Spencer.

They enjoyed listening to Christmas music on the radio as Christmas Eve drew closer. Both women were pleasantly surprised when Bill and Bull insisted upon attending a Christmas program put on at the village's church by the local children.

The women weren't aware that Guarnere and Randleman got their fellow paratroopers to donate money for the children's gifts. The community of farmers made enough money to survive, but the extra funds weren't available for Christmas presents.

Had the war not been happening, the majority of the local men would have been tending to their gardens, farms and livestock and making more money. It was difficult for the women to raise their children as temporarily single parents. They couldn't tend the farm, the farm animals and work in the fields or the large gardens since they had their hands full of domestic duties.

Bill and Bull met with the pastor of the church and donated the money. Neither man wanted to be formally recognized for their donation. Their primary concern was that the children would have a happy Christmas.

The pastor convinced Bull to take part in the Christmas progam. He was playing the role of the British version of Santa Clause, Father Christmas. Randleman looked forward to handing out the gifts to the children. Melissa and Leigh knew about Bull being in the program. They both thought that he was sweet to take on the role of the beloved Christmas icon.

Leigh overheard the pastor thanking Bill for spearheading the idea of getting donations for the children's gifts. Guarnere said,

"Sir, seein' the smiles on those kids' faces is all the thanks I need. Bull deserves credit for gettin' the money, too." As Bill, Leigh, Bull and Melissa walked back to the house, Leigh told Bill,

"Honey, what you and Bull did for those kids was wonderful and thoughtful. I couldn't help but hear you speaking with the pastor.Bill, I love you even more after learning about what you did. You have a heart of gold." Guarnere smiled, replying,

"Thanks, Baby. I didn't do nothin' special. Bull an' I thought that the kids should have somethin' under the tree for Christmas."

Melissa had been telling Randleman how she was happy that he played Father Christmas. She overheard Leigh and Adams immediately gave Bull a passionate kiss. She was very proud of his helping the children.

Spencer was becoming anxious as Christmas drew closer. She was waiting for a package from her parents. Leigh sent money to her father, asking him to buy a carton of Bill's favorite brand of cigarettes, Pall Mall. This brand was very hard to find in the United Kingdom and Spencer knew that the carton would be a surprise for Guarnere.

The following day, the package finally arrived. Leigh wrapped it and stashed the gift under her bed. She found a nice card to go with it. The outside of the card read, "Happy Christmas to My Love." Spencer wrote inside it,

"Bill, I'm happy to celebrate another Christmas with you. When I count my blessings, I count you first. I love you, Honey.

Leigh"

Guarnere made a secret trip to London on the train to buy Spencer's Christmas gift. Bill searched several jewelry stores until he finally located the gift he had in mind for Leigh.

He saw a sterling silver bracelet with delicate butterflies and flowers carved into the rectangular panels. Bill had been searching for a silver bracelet to compliment the angel necklace she constantly wore.

The jeweler had the box gift wrapped in shiny silver paper and topped with a red bow. Guarnere thanked the jeweler for his help and paid for the gift. He found a Christmas card with a beautiful drawing of an angel on the front of the card. It had the message,

"Happy Christmas to My Angel." Bill wrote,

"Baby, you have my heart for eternity. I hope we have many Christmas celebrations together. I love you to the moon and back.

All My Love,

Bill"

He couldn't wait to give the bracelet to Spencer. Guarnere seriously considered giving her his grandmother's engagement ring, but he wanted to wait until the war was nearly over and the time was right.

Two days before Christmas Eve, Leigh made a morning trip to London with Colonel Sink's permission. She purchased all of the seafood and the items to make the polenta crust, plus three bottles of white wine.

Spencer had the seafood packed in ice. It went into a metal container with a lid. Once she arrived at the house, Leigh began to prepare the food, since it would take a couple of days to get ready. She followed Augusta Guarnere's instructions and recipes to the letter.

The next day after work, she saw Frank Perconte. They exchanged small talk and he mentioned that he hated to miss the traditional Christmas Eve feast.

She invited him to the house for the Feast of the Seven Fishes supper. Leigh made him promise not to tell Bill. She told him,

"I'm also making pizzelles and I've made Limoncello. Bill's mother gave me her recipes. She's a fabulous cook." Frank thanked her, saying,

"This would've been my first Christmas not eating the feast my mom prepares. Thanks, Leigh."

Melissa and Bull accepted an invitation to have supper with one of the local families. A woman with three children wanted to thank Randleman for helping provide the Christmas gifts for them

The offices at the Army base closed on December 24. Leigh devoted the day to getting everything ready. The local butcher allowed Spencer to store the prepared items in his refrigerated storeroom so Bill wouldn't be tipped off about his surprise.

Finally, everything was ready. Leigh put on her red Wiggle Dress, black open toed pumps and her angel necklace.She wore the red silk and white lace bra and tap panty set Bill gave her for her birthday plus her garter belt, slip and stockings.

Spencer's hair was styled and she wore powder and a hint of blush on her face, along with eyeliner, mascara and eyebrow pencil. She also applied red lipstick that matched her fingernail polish and her dress.

Leigh put a red linen tablecloth and white linen placemats embroidered around the edges with small candy canes on the table.

Spencer set the table and she got out some wine glasses that had belonged to her Grandmother Spencer. The radio was on, and a mixture of Big Band and Christmas music played on the radio station she selected.

Leigh plugged in the lights on the Christmas Tree after ensuring that the tree had adequate water in its stand. She had containers of cookies and homemade candy that she and Melissa made.

Soon, she heard someone knocking at the door. Leigh had told Perconte the usual time Bill arrived at the house, asking him to wait about ten minutes before he walked to the house. She wanted Bill to be surprised and Frank understood.

Leigh opened the door and Bill came in. After he embraced and kissed her, Guarnere said,

"Somethin' smells delicious, Baby!" She told him,

"Bill, this is part of your Christmas present from me. I got your mom's recipes and I made the Feast of the Seven Fishes for you." Guarnere looked surprised as she told him what was on the menu. He said,

"I coulda sworn I smelled Oysters in Polenta, but I thought that I was imaginin' things." He was in awe of the task she had undertaken. Bill told her,

"You went to all o' this trouble so I could still have Christmas Eve Dinner. Sweetheart, I love you so much!

I know how long it takes to make everythin'. What I can't figure out is how ya hid all o' this stuff so I wouldn't see it." Spencer told him about the butcher letting her store the food in his store room.

She told Guarnere,

"Help yourself to any homemade candy or cookies you want. I also made three batches of pizzelles and I even made Limoncello" Bill pulled Spencer closer, giving her a passionate kiss. He said,

"You're an angel, Leigh. Doin' all o' this to make it seem like home. I'm really blessed to have ya for my girl." Guarnere looked at Spencer, telling her,

"Honey, you look beautiful. I love that Wiggle Dress on ya." Leigh replied,

"I'm blessed to have you, too, Bill. I love you, that's why I made the feast. By the way, I'm wearing the red silk and lace set you bought for my birthday. Sometimes I wear it to work. Only you and I know that beneath my uniform, I'm wearing sexy lingerie." Bill grinned, saying,

"You're somethin' else, ya little devil. Now I'll probably get excited any time I see you in your uniform. If I put my hands on your sweet, sexy ass someday when ya get off work, would ya like it, or would I get my ass kicked?" Spencer laughed, telling Bill,

"I love to have your hands on me." He nibbled on her ear, asking,

"Is that so?" She replied,

"You bet your ass it's so. If we didn't have a guest coming over, we could get up to something, so we'd better behave. I hope you don't mind, but I ran into Perconte earlier in the week. He was feeling sad because this was his first Christmas Eve without his family and the feast, so I invited him." Guarnere said,

"I don't mind a bit, Baby. There's plenty o'food to go around. That's sweet of ya to invite him. You're right, we'd better be good for now. Later on tonight, I intend to get up to somethin' wit' ya." She said,

"I'm holding you to that promise. "Would you like some fresh pizzelles?" Guarnere answered,

"I'd enjoy a few before our feast." Leigh went into the kitchen. She put on an apron made of material printed with small poinsettias. Then, she put the cookies on a dish.

She poured fresh coffee into a tall china coffee pot. Next, Spencer put those items, plus napkins and two coffee cups on a tray. She brought the tray into the dining room, placing it on the table. Bill told her,

"Baby, I would've brought that in for ya. It's really like home, wit' the coffee an' the pizzelles. You look adorable in that apron, Sweetheart." Leigh replied,

"Thanks, Bill. Would you like to open your gift now? He replied,

"Baby, the feast is a huge gift. You shouldn't have bought anythin' else. Do you mind if we wait until tomorrow? I don't want to sound ungrateful, it's just that we always opened gifts on Christmas Day." Leigh told him that she understood.

Someone knocked on the door. Spencer answered the door and welcomed Frank into the house.

Guarnere told him,

"It's good to see ya, Buddy." Leigh excused herself to check on the food. Frank and Bill talked for a few minutes. Then Spencer announced that supper was ready. Both men helped carry in the food, putting it on the table.

She poured the white wine into the glasses and asked Bill to say the blessing. After Guarnere finished the prayer, it was the moment of truth for Leigh.

They passed serving dishes back and forth, getting a sample of everything. Spencer waited for Bill and Frank to sample the food. Guarnere tried the oysters first. After he swallowed the food, he told her,

"Sweetheart, that tastes just like Ma's cookin'. " She smiled and felt more relaxed. Leigh began to eat and she was enjoying the food. Perconte told her,

"Leigh, this is great! It makes me feel like I'm at home with my family, eating my mom's cooking." She thanked him, replying,

"The credit goes to Bill's mother. All of the recipes I'm using are hers." Frank told Bill,

"Please thank your mom for sending the recipes. She's a damned good cook! Leigh, you're such a good cook that I would propose to you if you weren't already spoken for." She smiled, replying,

"Thanks, Frank. I appreciate the compliment." As soon as the men emptied their plates, they loaded them up again. Spencer had seconds of a few items. Guarnere told Perconte,

"I told my family about the thing you said about the Army noodles an' ketchup. They loved it. You have a standin' invitation to visit anytime you're in South Philadelphia." Frank thanked Bill, saying,

"Whenever you're in Chicago, you have a standing invitation to visit, Buddy." He asked Bill,

"How did you and Leigh meet?" Guarnere asked,

"Didn't I tell ya about Leigh an' the guy from Dog Company?" Perconte replied,

"No." Bill began his story about how Leigh ran into him. They all laughed as Guarnere told of how Spencer gave the paratrooper in training a swift kick.

Leigh excused herself to get the fresh pizzelles, more fresh coffee and the Limoncello. Bill excused himself to help her in the kitchen. He brought out more coffee and filled the china coffee pot. He went back into the kitchen, returning with a large platter of pizzelles. Guarnere placed the platter on the table.

Meanwhile, Leigh carefully removed a sturdy box from a cabinet and removed three delicate cordial glasses from a set she bought in London. The dainty glasses had images of flowers etched into them.

Spencer poured three servings of Limoncello into the glasses. She found another tray and placed the glasses and the bottle of the homemade aperitif on the tray.

She carried the tray into the dining room, placing it on the table. Leigh gave the men their drinks and then she took her glass after she sat down. Frank sipped the strong drink, remarking,

"This is excellent, it's just like the Limoncello my dad makes." Bill sampled his drink and commented,

"Baby, that's exactly like Ma's. Ya really outdid yourself wit' this feast. Everythin' is perfect!" A brilliant smile appeared on her face when Leigh heard Bill's compliments.

Spencer told both men to be sure to help themselves to more cookies or coffee. Perconte grinned as he took three more pizzelles.

Each person had a little more Limoncello and coffee. They sat at the table talking and laughing. When supper was over and Leigh began to get up to do the dishes, Bill and Frank insisted that they would do the dishes. Guarnere decided to dry the dishes and put them away since he knew where everything belonged.Spencer teased Frank and Bill, saying that she had aprons for them to wear.

While the men worked in the kitchen, Leigh visited the bathroom. After she had finished her business there and washed her hands, Spencer touched up her powder and lipstick.

She went downstairs and took a seat on the couch. The song "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," from the movie "Meet Me In St. Louis", was playing on the radio.

Leigh began to sing along with Judy Garland. She looked out the living room window and noticed a light amount of snow was falling. Spencer got engrossed in the song and some Christmas spirit.

She didn't see Bill and Frank standing behind her. Perconte heard her singing while he worked in the kitchen with Guarnere. He stopped washing the dishes and asked,

"Who's singing on the radio?" Bill listened and he grinned, replying,

"That's Leigh." Frank had never heard her sing before. He left the kitchen to stand at the entrance of the living room. Bill followed him and he looked at Leigh adoringly as she sang. When the song ended, Spencer was startled by the men applauding. Perconte told her,

"You're a very talented singer, Leigh. You sounded better than Judy Garland on that song." Bill replied,

"That was beautiful, Baby. We'll get back to doin' those dishes." She told Guarnere,

"I can help you guys and the work will go much faster with an extra pair of hands." Bill said,

"Nothin' doin', Honey. You worked hard for days to make everythin' an' you deserve to take it easy." Frank agreed, saying,

"It's the least we can do, Leigh. It's thanks to you that I got to enjoy this feast." He and Bill went into the kitchen and they soon finished washing the dishes and getting everything put away.

Perconte and Guarnere enjoyed a cigarette as they talked in the living room. Frank told Leigh how much he had enjoyed the feast, saying,

"I was feeling pretty blue, but then you invited me and I enjoyed Christmas Eve after all." Spencer replied,

"I'm glad you enjoyed everything, Frank. You're more than welcome to come back tomorrow because there are lots of leftovers. I still have a few cans of oysters to cook,too." Perconte thanked Spencer, saying,

"I'll take you up on that if it's OK with Bill." Guarnere assured Frank that he would be glad to see him. Perconte asked Leigh,

"I hope this doesn't sound too rude, but was the pasta homemade?" Spencer told him,

"Yes, the pasta was homemade. Bill taught me how to make it." Perconte replied,

"I thought it tasted homemade. Stuff in a box doesn't taste as good as fresh, homemade pasta." Both Guarnere and Frank returned to the kitchen. After they finished, Leigh thanked them, asking,

"Frank, would you like more coffee or cookies? How about you, Bill?"

Both Perconte and Guarnere said that they couldn't eat or drink anything else. Frank was getting ready to go back to the Army base. He told Leigh,

"You've been a perfect hostess. Thanks again for inviting me." Spencer asked,

"Would you like to take some pizzelles with you? I'll make another batch tomorrow." She found an empty sack from the butcher's shop. Leigh went into the kitchen and got a small box. She came back into the dining room and handed both items to Perconte, telling him,

"Take as many as you want." Frank thanked her and filled the box with the crispy cookies. He said,

"Merry Christmas a few hours early. I'll stop by tomorrow. Your food is much better than whatever they're trying to pass off as Christmas Dinner.

I really enjoyed Christmas Eve with the Guarneres. I mean, I enjoyed dinner with you and Bill." Leigh and Bill wished him an early Merry Christmas and Perconte began his walk back to the house on the Army base that he shared with Malarkey, Muck and Penkala.

Frank's words caused Leigh to smile and daydream for a moment. She thought,

"Christmas with the Guarneres. It could be just like this, with me cooking and getting ready for guests. Bill would ask the blessing..." She was looking out the window as Guarnere came up behind her. He held the cigarette in his left hand and kept that hand away from Leigh so she wouldn't be accidentally burned.

He wrapped his arms around Leigh, kissing her neck. Bill wanted to find out what she thought about them getting married. He asked,

"Did ya hear Perconte sayin' 'Christmas Eve wit' the Guarneres?'" That's a sweet idea, Baby." She replied,

"I agree, Bill. It would be wonderful." Guarnere smiled. He knew that Leigh liked the idea of becoming his wife someday. Bill told her,

"You really were a perfect hostess. Ma couldn't have done a better job." He gently turned Leigh to face him, telling her,

" This is one o' the nicest gifts anybody ever gave me." Spencer said,

" I'm so glad you enjoyed the feast, Honey. While I was looking out of the window, I noticed that the ground is covered with snow. It may sound crazy to you, but I'm going to make a snow angel. Would you like to join me?" Bill chuckled and said,

"That's somethin' I ain't done in a long time. OK, I'll join ya." The wind started to blow and the snow came down faster. Guarnere asked Leigh,

"Baby, are ya sure about goin' outdoors. It looks like we're gettin' a snowstorm." Spencer looked out of the window and replied,

"We'd be better off staying indoors. I need to put some coal in the basement furnace and get more wood for the fire." Bill told her,

"I'll take care of keepin' us warm, Sweetheart. You stay in where it's warm. Besides, you don't want to ruin that hot lookin' Wiggle Dress wit' coal dust." Before Leigh could protest or ask Guarnere to change his mind, he said,

"I don't mind doin' this an' it's the least I can do for the sweet angel who made that feast for me." Spencer thanked him and Bill went upstairs to get his coat an gloves.

Guarnere went outside and brought in a large amount of fire wood. He wiped his feet on the door mat and stomped on the mat to get the snow from his boots. Bill said,

"It's really comin' down out there an' it's gettin' colder, too." He went downstairs, found a shovel and stoked the furnace. After Guarnere returned upstairs, Leigh thanked him for his help. He replied,

"It's my pleasure, Baby. Let me get this coat hung up an take care o' these gloves, then we can snuggle on the couch in front of the fireplace."

While Bill was upstairs, the telephone rang. Leigh answered it and spoke with Melissa. Adams told her about the storm and said that she and Bull were invited to stay at the home of the woman who invited them to supper.

Guarnere walked downstairs and Spencer told him,

"I just finished talking with Melissa. According to the news on the radio, this area could get up to a foot of snow overnight. She and Bull were invited to spend the night with the woman who invited them to supper and they accepted the woman's offer.

Bull was taking care of a furnace and getting wood for the fire, too. The woman's children are happy to have them staying there. Melissa said that he promised to tell the children some stories before they went to bed." Bill smiled, replying,

"The Bull is a big softy, 'specially where kids are concerned. He's a nice guy." Leigh smiled, telling him,

"That sounds exactly like a man I know and love. Both of you guys will be excellent fathers someday." Guarnere hugged Spencer and gave her a tender kiss, replying,

"Thanks, Honey. I'd like to have a family someday. You would be one hell of a good mother." Leigh said,

"Thanks, Bill. I'd like to have a family someday, too. First, I need to learn how to take care of babies. I know where they come from and which end to feed and diaper, but that's it." Guarnere chuckled, telling her,

"That's a good start, Sweetheart. Let me get the Limoncello an' the glasses. I'll be careful wit' 'em, an' you can get all cozy on the couch." Spencer said,

"That sounds like a good idea. I love to snuggle with you. First, let me go upstairs and brush my teeth. There was quite a bit of garlic in our food." While she was upstairs, Bill stubbed out the remainder of the cigarette in an ashtray.

After Leigh got finished brushing her teeth, he decided to brush his teeth, too. Guarnere told her,

"You just relax, Honey, I'll take care of the drinks for us." Bill soon returned and he went into the kitchen. He got a tray out of a cabinet and he carefully got the box with the cordial glasses from the same cabinet.

Next, Bill got two glasses out, putting them on the tray and he got the bottle of Limoncello. He carried the tray to the living room, placing it on the coffee table. Guarnere poured a small amount of the potent alcohol into each glass.

Bill raised his glass, saying,

"To my Baby. Thanks for goin' to all o' that trouble for me. I swear to God that I'll never forget that feast. It was perfect." Leigh sipped the Limoncello. She replied,

"It was no trouble at all, because you're worth it and I love you. I'm glad everything turned out the way it should. Your mom gave me very detailed directions on how to fix everything. It's thanks to her that the feast was a success." Guarnere swallowed some of the liquor and said,

"Ma ain't the only reason it turned out right. You're a damned good cook, Sweetheart. When I think of how long it took for ya to do all o' this by yourself, it's goddamned impressive.

Honey, you did the work of at least two women all by yourself. You need to give yourself credit for doin' somethin' amazin'." Spencer smiled, telling him,

"I don't regret the time I put into cooking everything. It's my way of paying you back for being sweet, kind and considerate. I never thought I'd have a good relationship with a man.

When I got to Camp Toccoa, I resigned myself to the fact that my job would be my life. I had given up on meeting a nice guy. The only man interested in me was that fool from Dog Company.

Actually, it's thanks to him that I met you. He was good for something after all." Leigh laughed, adding, "All I wanted to do after I finished work for the day was to have supper and take a shower. Then, I ran into Sergeant Guarnere." Bill told her,

"Meetin' you is the best thing that ever happened to me. Sweetheart, I'll be right back." Guarnere went upstairs to the bathroom. While he was there, Leigh decided to finish her Limoncello.

Drinking the contents of the glass all at once made the alcohol get into her bloodstream faster. Other than feeling a momentary burning sensation in her throat and making her a little tipsy, Spencer felt fine.

She decided to have just a tiny bit more of the lemon infused vodka. Leigh didn't notice the burning sensation as much as she did before. Spencer felt very warm, so she removed everything but the bra and matching panties. She carefully folded the items of clothing, putting them on the coffee table.

She heard Bill walking down the stairs. He came into the living room and immediately noticed her lack of most of her clothes. Guarnere commented,

"Looks like my sexy little fireball is ready to get up to somethin'" Leigh grinned, saying,

"I'm more than ready for some action." Bill grinned, replying,

"You're the perfect girl for me. That's what I thought when I saw ya give that guy a good, swift kick in the ass. I never told ya this before, but I wanted to put my arm around you right from the start.

'course I didn't do it because I didn't want ya to kick my ass, too. Just like I said before, the first time I saw ya, that was it for me. I didn't want any other girl, just you." Leigh smiled, telling him,

"Actually, I wouldn't have stopped you from putting your arm around me." Bill laughed, saying,

"Now ya tell me! If you would've said somethin' I could've enjoyed bein' close to ya wit'out thinkin' that you would tell me that my boot was untied." Both Guarnere and Spencer laughed. Leigh commented,

"I would have never accepted an invitation to go to dinner with someone I didn't know that well. From the beginning I instinctively knew that I was safe with you.

When you kissed my hand, that was it for me. If I had been standing, my knees would have felt weak. You single handedly destroyed my notion of not wanting to have another relationship. All I could think about was how nice it would be if you kissed me." Bill asked,

"That so? What if I did somethin' like this?" He looked into her eyes and tenderly kissed Leigh's hand. Then, he pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. Spencer returned his embrace. She closed her eyes as Bill kissed her gently.

He deepened the kiss and Leigh ran her fingers through his hair. They enjoyed the slow, sensual kissing. There was no need to rush and no chance of anyone coming in unexpectedly to interrupt them.

They had the entire night to themselves. All that mattered was sharing and expressing the love they felt for each other. Leigh opened her lips to allow Bill's tongue into her mouth.

She tasted the lemon flavored liquor as she gently sucked on the tip of his tongue. From the moment of their first kiss in her office in Camp Toccoa, it felt so right to her.

Leigh felt herself becoming wet from being kissed. Guarnere held her, and he was in no rush to explore her body. She softly moaned into his mouth as the kissing continued. Bill broke the kiss and he softly asked,

"Am I gettin' my baby worked up?" She replied,

"Oh, hell, yes. Honey, you are so damned good at kissing." Bill had an idea, asking her,

"How 'bout we sleep here tonight? It would be warmer than your room. I don't wanna be a pain in the ass, but I have trouble sleepin' in a cold room. These old houses need heating vents in every room like the houses back in the states." Spencer replied,

"You're not a pain in the ass, Bill. It's fine with me if we sleep down here." Guarnere had noticed the strong taste of the liquor when he kissed Leigh. He told her,

"Baby, it ain't up to me to tell ya what to do, but you might wanna take it easy wit' the Limoncello. It's probably 100 proof, really strong. Now, I need to put coal in the furnace, get more wood on the fire, get the bedding from upstairs an' take care o ' some stuff down here.

Before I get started on that I'm gonna get a glass o' water an' some aspirin for ya. That should keep ya from havin' a hangover." He went back upstairs to get the aspirin and the bedding, carrying everything into the living room.

Bill got a glass of water from the kitchen and gave it to Leigh. She opened the bottle and got out two aspirin tablets. Spencer drank the water and put the glass on a table at the side of the couch. Leigh thanked him for taking care of her.

Guarnere removed the pillows from the back of the couch. This made the couch like a small bed. Spencer helped him get the bedding on the couch.

As Bill went into the basement, Leigh felt as if the room was slightly spinning. She stretched out on the couch, intending to close her eyes for a moment, hoping that would stop the spinning sensation she had.

When Guarnere returned upstairs, he shut off the radio and the lights in the kitchen, dining room and living room. He saw Leigh asleep on the couch. Bill put the wood on the fire, unplugged the lights on the Christmas tree and removed everything but his boxer shorts. Bill gave Spencer a tender kiss as he stretched out beside her.

Guarnere wasn't upset that the lovemaking was put on hold. He decided to wait until morning for the erotic activity. Bill ensured that Leigh was covered by the sheet and blankets.

He gently moved Spencer onto her side and snuggled close, spooning with her. Bill whispered,

"Goodnight, Baby." Guarnere wrapped his arms around her and settled in to sleep.

@ethereal-jumpwings @rogue-barnes-durin-main @celie-voss @luciferfansblog @madisonskagg32 @stinkyrat09 @cagzzz107 @otherperson12 @itsyourbadwolf-blog @hbowarismydopamine @naomi-1234 @breadsprinkles @sparkycorleone @weird-obsessed-girl @leksi-rae @lizziebitch33 @alluringmoonlightbabe @f1-and-shiz

@lenabob @how-are-those-nuts-sarge @lizziebitch33 @bellewintersroe @wontyoutakeitback

[toneelspeelster]

why do you think the speeches fell so flat in the king? i struggled with the film also despite really respecting timothee as an actor.

the whole of the movie on rewatch just feels very.. we want to do ~shakespeare~ but we'll do it "our way" and it's just a little stupid tbh. henry v's personal conflict is so much more than "oh no i gotta.. be king now. and i gotta conquer lands bc of some ball". a huge part of the hal/henry character is all about brotherhood with the men in his army - not only the nobility, but certainly men of lower standing too. and why does this matter? bc hal spent a lot of his youth amongst the actual people of lower standings, in the taverns, being friends, almost family with falstaff. he knows them. it's infamous that he breaks falstaff's heart upon becoming king; breaking that brotherhood bond, and that makes henry's conflict so interesting (and the story of falstaff surviving here so stupid)- bc both the band of brothers speech as well as the once more unto the breach (dear friends!) speech heavily rely their strength on henry calling the soldiers to be brothers with him and with each other irregardless of social class, and that even with them being few they will become legends for winning this fight. but can henry even truly realise that brotherhood when he was so unkind towards his former friend?

and while the speech in the king touches on that comraderie, it's just. bluh. i mean. "if your day be today, so be it. mine will be tomorrow. or mine today and yours tomorrow" "make it yours. make it england, make it england!" it just feels stupidly simple, makes it all about just unifying under the english kingdom (which is the purpose but nearly not as straighforwardly mentioned) and i don't feel it in any way lives up to shakespeare's speeches. dare i say. they dumbed it down for the audience.

it's not without reason that this is one of english literature's classic quotes:

"we few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he today that sheds his blood with me / shall be my brother"

[seasaltmemories]

I posted 3,536 times in 2022

85 posts created (2%)

3,451 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@staroftara

@xivu-arath

@a-weird-rusted-android

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I tagged 1,013 of my posts in 2022

#penguindrum - 169 posts

#seasalt talks - 69 posts

#princess tutu - 48 posts

#revolutionary girl utena - 47 posts

#fruits basket - 45 posts

#kingdom hearts - 34 posts

#berserk - 32 posts

#arcane - 32 posts

#ahiru - 30 posts

#arc v - 30 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#and recently i've gotten to come across stories that actually have a variety of different couples and was so stunned that we could actually

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Thinking about the parallels between Ringo and Kanba

While their direct interactions in the narrative are limited, by the end of the story their arcs mirror each other in similar ways.

First off, out of the main four, they are the most active protagonists, Ringo drives much of the first half of the story with her plans to seduce Tabuki while Kanba's fall from grace ends up fueling the climax, in contrast to Shouma and Himari's passivity and fatalism, they are the ones who chase after love as described in the Frozen Heart scene, when faced with their family failing apart, they choose to get their hands dirty and do whatever they can to save them

Not only does this drive them towards criminal and unethical behavior though, it also gives them both a tendency for delusion. Ringo believes that following Momoka's planned future means her parents will get back together. Kanba thinks bombing a subway will save his terminally ill sister. The more obviously futile their path becomes, the more they cling to their fantastical beliefs, bc realizing the truth is beyond their emotional capacity, in fact it takes again the more passive yet kind and morally-focused half of the quartet to ground them, often through a personal sacrifice

Yet as prone to danger as this activeness makes them, it also provides them a bit of fluidity to the most common notions of the nuclear family, even while they long for that traditional structure. Both Himari and Kanba are adopted into the Takakura family, yet Kanba still keeps his ties to the Natsume family. Some of this can be attributed to Masako's pursuit of him, but it is telling that for all his ruthlessness, when he discovers Mario is also possessed by the Penguin hat/terminally ill, he gives up on retrieving Momoka's diary. While he prioritizes the Takakura's he still extends his protective man of house role to Masako and Mario, even taking a bullet for the former and risking his entire goal of saving Himari

Meanwhile not only does Ringo learn to carry on Momoka's legacy in a less destructive way, but she becomes just as part of the Takakura household as the siblings themselves. It is telling that she first meets and befriends Himari as opposed to her love interest, Shouma. Being a part of the Takakura meal times provides Ringo the familial love she so desperately craves, and even with faced the impact of the Takakura parent's actions, she still chooses to align herself with them, even by the end choosing to take on a punishment herself for the Takakura's sake. While she does open up to meeting her father's new wife and kids, she chooses to be with the Takakura's just as much as the siblings chose to be with each other

Their fluidity and strong-wills might also explain how the two of them are able to interrupt the Princess of the Crystal's usual rituals. Multiple times, Kanba is allowed to linger in her realm and interact privately one on one with her, even going so far as to enter it through his own volition, rather than wait to be summoned. In contrast, not only does Ringo reject being eject from the Princess' realm but is able to fight back and even incapacitates her. Shouma can do little more whine and receive orders. Himari is an unknowing vessel. But Kanba and Ringo defy even a supernatural, semi-force of nature.

It's fitting they're both identified with the symbol of fire. Kanba is asked if he will burn himself until he is nothing but ash for Himari's safety. Ringo goes on to take on the flames of punishment for her during the finale. Perhaps they both possess a scorpion's heart, capable of poison and causing immense harm towards others, but also able to rekindle that selfishness into selflessness under the right circumstances

44 notes - Posted May 20, 2022

#4

No thoughts, brain has been replaced with a penguin

53 notes - Posted March 23, 2022

#3

Hot Take: but as a fanfic writer I hate the attitude that the only way to transformative engage with a work through the written media is through fanfic

People go on and on about how fanfiction gives mythology back to the masses and other really flowery pretentious things but like even before commercial IP existed, artist’s works weren’t just in response to one singular thing

Yes Paradise Lost uses Biblical figures, but honestly what it is more in conversation with than the Bible itself is with epics like the Odyssey, Aeneid, Beowulf, or even Milton’s own experience with the English Civil War. He wanted to create a modern epic for the English language and his culture specifically, the Biblical backdrop was just equivalent mythological base that those other works used

Yes the Aeneid is a commissioned sequel to an already popular work, but the most powerful connections to Homer comes through Virgil’s original characters like Dido. Rather than plop down just any already established "delaying seductress" like Calypso or Circe, he crafts a sympathetic and compelling figure that humanizes Rome's greatest enemy and gives complexity and conflict to Aeneas' fated conquest

Ppl argue for the end of copyright by saying we can get queer Harry Potter and Star Wars adaptations quicker but like why must we be so tied to fundamentally limited texts? Why cant we use those works as springboards for how we think about wizarding schools and space mystics without feeling beholdened to play in another creator's world

For example this video recounts all of New Hope purely by using footage from Lucas' influence. Yet despite this unavoidable lineage, Stars Wars is not Flash Gordon or Kurosawa fanfiction. It stands on the shoulder of giants and wears its influences on its sleave but it is able to go to incredible far off galaxies by being an original project

Transformative media is about more than just namedropping an iconic character or retelling a story from a different POV. Literature and media is always in conversation whether you want it to be or not. Dont think the only way to comment on your latest passion is to demurely play with your dolls in the creator's shadows

62 notes - Posted September 24, 2022

#2

For those of y’all familiar with Hold Me Now, the amazing editor Nekokitkat has put out a Princess Tutu AMV to rival it

68 notes - Posted November 7, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Didn’t notice until I rewatched Penguindrum with a friend, but in both Kanba and Himari’s flashback episodes (5 and 9 respectively) one of their parents guards them from a flying/falling mirror.  My first response was to see this as a way the show was planting the symbol of broken glass, considering both the child broiler and the finale rely on that imagery.  But on top of getting your brain to connect shards of glass with pain/sacrifice, i think those moments go further in characterizing how Kanba and Himari became the people they are at the start of the series.

In episode 5, Kanba was chasing after his father during a typhoon, while he tried to get Himari to a hospital, since no ambulances were available.  When the mirror comes flying, not only does his father immediately shield him from the blow, but soon afterwards he gets up again and instructs Kanba to follow him.  The next morning, when Himari is safe in the hospital, their father tells Kanba, “No storm lsts forever; but you can’t protect the people you love if you just wait for it to pass.”  This is also the first episode we see Kanba take jobs with the Kiga Group and promise to do anything to keep the family together.

In episode 9, Himari gets in a fight with her mother over not getting the right ribbon she needed for her audition.  During the altercation, a mirror falls and before it can hit Himari, her mother takes the blow instead.  In the hospital, they learn that she will be scarred for life.  Himari is overwhelmed with guilt, but when her mother wakes up, her only response is to be relieved that Himari wasn’t hurt or scarred either, especially if she is to be an idol someday.  Himari is visibly shaken by this unconditional forgiveness in the face of such a mistake.  In fact this episode is the first time in the series we see her act anything beyond the ever-cheerful, precious little sister.

Separately I gathered that these were formative experiences for the two.  But on closer inspection it is painfully obvious not just how deeply this affects their present day coping mechanisms (Kanaba the ever-strong provider who will bear every hardship, no matter the cost; Himari, the ever-patient saint who never complains and smiles even up to her dying breath) but also how gendered these responses on.  They learned each behavior from the parent that shared their gender, and it adds another way the Takakura is desperately trying to replicate the structure of a nuclear family, despite how incompatible it is with their needs.

We see these mechanisms come to a head several times.  During Tabuki’s little death game, Kanba risks losing his hand to keep Himari alive, while she steels herself to jump to her death with a smile to protect him in return.  While in the Kiga base, Himari begs Kanba to leave.  Yet Kanba swears to burn the world to ash because Himari is his world.  Once he leaves, Himari prays to have every good thing taken from her in exchange for Kanba being saved from a life of crime.

It is only during the finale, that any sort of resolution comes.  Himari for once expresses all the pain her life of tragedy has caused her, baring her soul for the world to see.  And Kanba similarly gives into all the burden he has bared and has to be taken care of and protected in turn.

112 notes - Posted March 15, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[hybridraita]

[Vayne in Atelier Resleriana's 3D Model Character Showcase Review Part 3] 25 February - 13 March 2024

This is first time Vayne going Synthesis to making Tranquil Salve or Thunder Armor

I can explain why he's looks like Sora from Kingdom Heart during Synthesis.

His Al-Revis collar uniform still error!

Woooow…!

He's so cool~

but it still problemly his front hair, Haaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…! I'am notice, i tried my best to caught screenshots so bad...

Wooooo….

A Lights became bright white than previous bright yellow that's mean it's much more highest traits. every i get SSR V/VI well. It's because wanna on Event Mission: Synthesize! Synthe-prize! Campaign i don't have time to make lot battle-items before event over, i will but the next event be appear next day. However i'am still didn't get SSR V/V while SR V/V had only got 2 for Lightning Equipments: Thunder Armor and King of Thunder Ring.

Why he's looks like Riku from Kingdom Heart again?! during Synthesis was finish.

I don't know when Vayne and Meruru seen pot inside, that's mean it got highest traits lucky. No maaan…

Vayne's poses had similar Logy's poses during Synthesis Also Raze and other male characters has too in menu character & party but not all.

Oh yes i have something important about... Vayne can use alchemy- wait what???

It's only know found posted from twitter by kuuki099: [Part 1] and [Part 2]

"For now, since Vayne is one of the items in Chapter 4, it doesn't seem like alchemy is impossible to use."

"I've been thinking about the difference between the "mana" in the Mana Khemia world, but Vayne said, "It's different from the mana in my world"... It is unclear whether this is saying that "mana as energy" is different, or whether they are "comparing mana as a spirit with materialized mana."

I did use to translated if important post has gone forever on next year. I feel confused about Vayne can use alchemy…?

[magpiejay1234]

Some more odd thoughts from early DK-BC DM rewatch:

*Player Killer in the Darkness definitely inspired both Haou and Z-ARC. Haou’s castle is basically inspired by Castle of Dark Illusions, and Z-ARC’s design takes a lot of inspiration from PK’s monsters.

*Obviously, the infamous glowing Atem silhouette that appears in the 4K dub’s opening, from the latter part of Impersonator Duel, clearly inspired Yuya’s Berserk design. I didn’t notice this before, because I was too focused on the Haou-style pupilless eyes.

*Ghost Kotsuzuka’s aniki gimmick obviously transferred to Sho, for better and for worse. There isn’t much of a difference between Masumi Suzuki’s Kotsuzuka voice and Sho voice, though, if any.

*Keith’s card vest obviously inspired Misawa’s card vest, and Cronos’ as well.

*Since Battle City episodes were not in syndication in my country, I never got why DMG looked like an Aryan Nation poster. I finally got the explanation, Mana’s DMG design is supposed to be based off Pandora’s girlfriend, Catherine.

*The rainbow background for Gate Guardian’s combination seems to have inspired Neo Space’s design. Makes sense, Neo-Spacians are all about Contact Fusion, and Gate Guardian is basically the first proto-Contact Fusion.

*Kind of hilarious how both proto-Contact Fusions, Gate Guardian and Valkyrion the Magna Warrior, are instead Main Deck Special Summon Monsters in the actual card game and later animé. Granted Gate Guardian might get a Fusion retrain in Maze of Memories, so that leaves only Valkyrion.

*Kajiki vs. Jonouchi definitely inspired the whole “Action Duel” thing in the first season of ARC-V.

*Jonouchi got Fortress Whale but not Fortress Whale’s Oath, lol. I mean, he can still Summon him by other means, but that’s kind of a dumb move. Also, Red-Eyes Fortress Whale when? The thing already has a counterpart and two retrains, this one should be an obvious one. Give us Red-Eyes Parasite Paracide and Insect Queen too.

*Animé adaptation definitely tries to make Mask of Light and Mask of Darkness a gay couple, with all the aibou talk. It works honestly. I don’t think they were this important or competent in the manga though. I wonder if this was a marketing thing (since their cards are the cover cards for Spell of Mask, one of the OCG sets), since they don’t use some of their cards like Nuvia I think, though I think it might have been one of the destroyed Set monsters. At least that’s what the Wikis suggest.

*I already said this before I think, but Rica Matsumoto definitely tries to differentiate between her Bakura, Yami Bakura and Satoshi voices early on, but as series continues they just become different versions of her Satoshi voice. So, she just gives up. Not sure if high pitched Satoshi voice for Yami Bakura is better than her old hag voice in Season 1.

*I didn’t realize how important Gaia the Dragon Champion was for both Haga and Player Killer duels, but obviously it becomes less important later on. At least it explains why Elemental HERO Flame Wingman and Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon are designed the way they are.

Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast isn’t as important for Battle City or fillers, if anything it was more important in GX. Though that makes some sense considering how long it took for it to get printed in the OCG, and later on the TCG.

*Oh and the whole “Boy” gag with Judai in GX is based off Mai’s nickname for Katsuya, “Boy”. And of course, Rio’s eyebands are based off Shizuka’s, even though the contexts for both of them are very different. Yoshida really wanted to milk nostalgia in ZEXAL huh. At least in GX, with Titan and Player Killers for example, you had a proper context.

Edit:

*One more final note I forgot, but in Duelist Kingdom there are fields with multiple effects based on percentages, with opposing sides often having different effects (though there is one case with three effects). This obviously inspired the later ARC-V era rule change of having multiple Field Spells for each Field Zone, which wasn’t a thing until that time. Kind of funny how insane rules of Duelist Kingdom actually inspire more cards and rule changes than the more balanced Battle City, which still has tons of unprinted cards, like Pandora’s Beckon to Darkness, which for some reason seems to have inspired Necroshade’s design.