#apologies for this mess of a post

[hms-melodrama]

Been out with a migraine today. Started feeling a bit better and wanted something quiet, calming, and familiar on.

What better choice than the audiobook for the Terror, where I can be soothed by the voices of Francis Fucking Rawdon Moira Crozier and Sir John's lisping pet poodle, James Fitzjames?

A Terror au if ever there was one.

[flowersdiceandlove]

I am 100% completely convinced that on Mount Yujun when Hua Cheng burst into thousands of butterflies that he did not mean to do that. That man was freaking out so bad at finally finding Xie Lian again and holding his hand and helping him and Xie Lian being right there that when he finally saw just the slightest glimpse of Xie Lian’s face and the thought of Xie Lian seeing him that his nerves took over and he burst into thousands of butterflies. All throughout the walk, Hua Cheng was trying his damnedest to keep it the fuck together (literally) but he just couldn’t anymore. You cannot convince me otherwise. He held Xie Lian’s hand all through the walk, but then he shakes Xie Lian’s hand off the next time they meet? Yeah, he’s scared he’s gonna explode into butterflies again and that would Not Be Cool and Ruin His Image he’s curating for Xie Lian as this cool reliable guy he can come to for help and depend on.

[borderlinereminders]

Messing up while trying to learn healthier coping skills or communication skills doesn't mean your progress ceases to exist.

If you lashed out at someone during an argument instead of using your coping skills, it's okay to forgive yourself. If you reacted based on your emotional urge instead of looking at the situation, that's okay. It happens.

No one is perfect all the time. I think we expect so much more of ourselves. In my case, because I felt so ashamed of who I used to be. It makes me feel extra pressure to "do better". But the reality is, people who aren't in recovery mess up too. And sometimes they may not even notice it.

You don't need to beat yourself up about it. In fact, beating yourself up about it doesn't really help anyone. You can learn from it. Was there something going on that made it harder to use your coping skills? Was there a certain trigger? Maybe a bad day? Take your new knowledge and move forward.

Your progress still very much exists. I promise.

[hyydraworks]

All the year of the dragon dragons that will be in this week's etsy drop!

[yesterdayiwrote]

Believe it or not, the issue with the fake Mick Doohan post is not the formulafakers account, the issue is the massive drop in journalistic standards of mainstream news outlets, and the lazy over reliance by supposedly professional journalists to source news content from social media these days.

No, the parody account probably shouldn't have posted it, but it's absolutely crazy that an account that identifies itself as fake in its name is being held to a higher standard than the mainstream sports outlets that amplified their post without doing the slightest bit of due diligence.

Fox News Argentina, ESPN Argentina, TNT Sports.... all professional sports broadcasters, ALL spread false information under the guise of credibility and that is by far the more egregious error which absolutely opened up the Doohan family for abuse. There's also evidence of these outlets misreporting the Yuki incident too which again has contributed to the problem that's arisen.

This is a combination of lazy reporting and an over-reliance on AI in journalism. News media wants clicks and they get it by making people angry, but they still have a responsibility to check and verify what they're posting and clearly that's not happening in the rush to be "first" to report on these things. They broadcast misinformation on their TV channels, but only correct the record via Instagram post and that's not being held fully to account. This isn't the first time it's happened and unless things change it won't be the last.

[girlberrie]

i'll give you my best side, tell you all my best lies

yeah, awesome, right?

                             ( homemade dynamite, lorde )

                          🂱           golden trio reality introduction………..:::

       born to ada tombs and a father of unknown whereabouts on the 26th of july 1980, alie tombs has always had the soul of an adventurer. the metamorphmagus would always find a way to wander off, which her mother got used to only after the girl (at the age of eight) had gone off to investigate some shiny pebbles on the pavement for the tenth time in the week (it was tuesday). alie has never been a good friend for the faint of the heart——always purposefully inserting herself into some mess, some sort of adventure, and laughing in the concerned faces of her loved ones afterwards.

‘i wouldn’t have done it if i was unprepared!’ she would exclaim.

well, alie, your mother who has barely lived a third of her very long witch lifespan doesn’t know that, does she? …………………..moving on.

alie has always seemed like she was a little bit of god a little bit of angel and a little bit of human combined. she has always been powerful and she has always been weird as fuck. ‘she talks to the bloody bugs in the bloody forbidden forest!’ said ron weasley, probably. ‘leave her be!’ responded hermione granger or luna lovegood in wildly different tones, probably. the girl is so keen on mapping the entire forbidden forest that she created a spell to read her books out loud to only her so that she can get into trouble without losing out on reading time. she has incredible potential to be a prankster, which the weasley twins definitely plan on doing something with. she loves a little bit of a curse, a little bit of a hex, a jinx, which draco malfoy unfortunately knows about (she hates his guts! for good reason too!).

she is also ridiculously curious about most things for a gryffindor, which caught the attention of one tom riddle (more on that later). she wants to study whatever magic has to offer, similar to how physicists study subatomic particles in CERN. she wants to investigate all things archaic, to explore, to understand….. it is no surprise that she wants to be an archeologist (or curse breaker. more or less the same thing. more on that later too, but perhaps another day).

despite the divided opinions on her personality, most can agree that she is free in a way most people aren’t: she does whatever she wants and makes sure nobody can say anything about it. how people say it….. well that differs. professor snape prefers the word ‘impertinent’. her best friends, ron and hermione prefer ‘daring’. her arch-nemesis tom riddle prefers ‘reckless’ or ‘headstrong’ or ‘madcap’. he finds her amusing. actually, lets get onto whatever’s going on with those two, shall we?

    you see, alie tombs met draco malfoy at madam malkin’s robes for all occasions in diagon alley before even getting on the train to hogwarts and promptly decided that she would NOT be sorted into slytherin, against all odds if needed. and the odds were that the sorting hat was very keen on sorting her into the damn snake den, but she said ‘no’ and the hat miraculously listened. what does this have anything to do with tom riddle and alie tombs, you say? well. tom riddle has slytherin energy vibrating out of his every single strand of hair perfectly gelled into place. and alie tombs? well, you would never think that the hat wanted her in slytherin——she is courageous and determined like nobody else. tom and alie? they’ve always butted heads. not in the way draco and alie have, no, this has always meant a bit more. always striking up an argument in the hallways, trying to one up each other in classes, irritating each other willingly so that they can have the others eye on them for longer, to have each others attention for a couple more minutes. they’ve been obsessed with each other for longer than they like to admit.

she likes his hair and his stupid smug smirk and hates his hair and stupid smug smirk. she wants to punch him with a kiss. she wants to make him trip with a jinx so that she can see his exasperatedly-amused-but-also-slightly-irritated face. she wants to say a bold-faced-lie to him just to see him raise that perfect eyebrow and to have him amusedly question her with that tone of his that annoys her so much. he likes her pretty laughter and the mischief that twinkles in her eyes and hates her pretty laughter and the mischief that twinkles in her eyes. he wants to cast the tickling charm on her just to hear her shocked laughter and to face the brunt of her prickly attitude afterwards. its all very lovesick and obsessive and they’re annoying freaks for the rest of hogwarts castle, because how are they not fucking already???????

let us pray that they get their shit together soon. there are many bets placed already .

.

  .

    .

      .

        .

          .

the dumbass but also very smart, reckless but somehow formulates plans from a to z the moment things go terribly wrong, favorite colour is pink but her patronus is a crow energy of my dr self is quite difficult to write, but here’s to hoping that this introduction was nice enough. i got inspired and wanted to share a bit about it hahah. i’ve been focusing a lot on my other hogwarts reality on this tumblr but i can never forget this reality. i’m genuinely unhinged here. its very fun. i’ll be signing off now…………… BYE

[king-candybug-backup]

More Chapter 3 shenanigans because this meme wouldn't leave my head, lmao

RIP King Candy, Calhoun is going to decimate your smug a-hole face

(I KEEP TRYING TO WRITE BUT GETTING DISTRACTED BY WANTING TO DRAW MEMES, SORRY, I SWEAR I'M LOCKED IN NOW, WILL GET CH. 3 DONE OVER THE WEEKEND PROBABLY)

[beaulesbian]

The Dragon Prince 6.05

[sophfandoms53]

WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT STRIKER AND BLITZ’S SPEECHES, WHAT DID I FUCKING SAYYYY

I FUCKING CALLED IT NOW STOP HIDING HIM FROM US, BRING HIM BACK HOME PLEASE AND LET HIM HAVE HIS MOMENT

[r0semultiverse]

Small indie artists in need of support for moving out by September!

💜 These lovely folks [@QuinsCurse (they/them) & @sswitchblade03 (xe/xem and he/him)] are part of a small queer-owned Youtube community I'm in. 💖

💖 If you could lend a helping hand by reblogging & queueing this post up until the start of September, I'd greatly appreciate it & I'm sure these fine folks would too! 💜

⚠️ Do not tag as d*nations or anything like that! ⚠️

"Hi everyone! Requests are officially closed as I am opening emergency commissions! Please consider supporting me as we are getting kicked out and have managed to find a place that’s affordable but need to save up 5k by the end of the month! Anything helps! I also have a dontations page if you are willing to help do that! All the money received from commissions will be going to the deposit! https://ko-fi.com/quinscurse/commissions https://ko-fi.com/quinscurse/goal?g=32"

⚠️ Do not tag as d*nations or anything like that! ⚠️

"https://ko-fi.com/sswitchblade03/commissions https://ko-fi.com/sswitchblade03/goal?g=0 EMERGENCY COMMISSIONS!! My roommate ‪@QuinsCurse‬and I are needing about $5000CAD for a down payment on a new place as we need to be out of our current place by September! Every bit counts! My goal is to be set to $3000CAD. I will draw anything (coloured and rendered) for $5 CAD each! If you are willing to give more it will be appreciated. Examples of my work below!"

⚠️ Do not tag as d*nations or anything like that! ⚠️

[faux-ecrivain]

Yan Emperor

(Twelfth Official Post)

(Duke’s name is Isaiah Hartfeld)

(This one might be a bit muddled, but I tried my best.)

(Emperor’s name is Adonis Margold)

(this one focuses on the Emperor, part two should focus on the Duke)

     The Duke, Isaiah Hartfeld, was well known for being a promiscuous womanizer and he often caused an uproar in society. Which is what prompted the Emperor to marry Isaiah off to someone that would whip him into shape, you. You were a well known person throughout all social circles, you were the head of you family and you didn’t let anyone push you around. Of course, when the emperor first proposed such an idea you immediately shut it down. You didn’t explain why, but you did say that nothing in this world would ever make you change your mind. So, he decides to offer you something out of this world, something only he can give you.

     The Emperor greets you as you enter the throne room, a sly smile on his tanned face. “Ah, Good Morrow, my dear friend, how are you this lovely evening?” He descends from his throne, his boots click against the marble floor. He holds a gloves hand out and waits for you the greet him, you reluctantly grab hold of his hand with one of your own gloved hands. (Gloves are very popular around here) You place a respectful kiss on his knuckles (which, of course, causes the Emperor to smile) and then let go of his hand (which causes the emperor’s smile to fall).

      “I am doing no better than any other day, why did you call me here, Your majesty?” You respond with an air of formality and familiarity. The Emperor frowns, finding your formality unnecessary. “Come now, my dear subject, formality is not necessary. We’re practically family!” He says with a grin on his face and wink of his eyes, you, however, are confused. But you just nod your head and let him say what he wants. He waits for your response, but his joy diminishes with each second of silence.

     He clears his throat and pats your shoulders. “I see you’re in no mood for small talk, so I suppose I should just get to the point.” He forces a smile on his face and places his hands on your shoulders, he chooses to ignore the way you lean away from him. “I’ve decided that you shall marry Duke Hartfeld.” Your eyes widen and you’re about to disagree when the Emperor interrupts you. “Ah, Ah, Ah, I already know what you’re about to say, but trust me, you do not want to reject this deal.” He leads you to a nearby chair, which seems to have been placed just for you, and sits you down. He kneels, on one knee, in front of you.  “Your majesty! What are you doing?!” You exclaim, finding his behavior strange. He brushes off your worries and continues speaking.

     “Listen, [Y/N], I know you aren’t from this country and I know you want to go home. So, if you marry the Duke and straighten him up, then I’ll take you home.” Your expression shifts from disbelief to doubt, how would the Emperor send you home, and how does he know you aren’t from here? Unless, by home, he means returning you to your country. Which would make more sense, because you were a prisoner of war when you first came to this country. Now, you’re a high ranking general and commanding an army, you can’t help but be proud of yourself. “What on Ilasatra do you mean?” (Ilasatra is the equivalent of earth in this world.) You ask him, a frown developing on your face.

    The Emperor smirks and brushes your hair back, then he stands up and begins to circle your chair. He stands behind you and leans his head down to whisper into your ears. “You know exactly what I mean.” He purrs, placing his hand on your shoulder and caressing it, which causes you to lean away from him. He touches you far too much, it makes you very uncomfortable. Your breath catches in your throat and you can’t help the hope that claws its way to your heart. “You can send me home?” You mutter, turning to face him and your gaze catch his. There’s such a hopeful look in your eyes, he smirks, it amuses him and then his eyes are caught by your lips. Oh, how he wishes to love you, but you would be of better use whipping the Duke into shape. 

    He clears his throat and drags his gaze away from yours, he resumes his previous action of circling your chair. His hand trails down your arm and causes goose bumps on your skin (because you’re uncomfortable). “Yes, I could get you home, but only if you do something for me first.” His tone is quite mysterious, he seems to know something you don’t. “It will be worth it, I promise.”  His hand entangles itself with yours, you pull away and he reluctantly lets you go. 

     You contemplate his words, your brows furrowed and you wipe your hand on your coat (which, of course, causes him to chuckle). You hesitantly agree, knowing that making a deal with the emperor is a bad idea. “Very well then, Your Majesty, I trust you.” His heart flutters when you admit to trusting him, he didn’t know those words could have such a pleasant affect on him. He smiles and yanks you out of your chair, he then places both his hands on your shoulders. “That’s wonderful, [Y/N], I knew you wouldn’t let me down.” He traps you in a tight hug, despite how uncomfortable it makes you (and it makes you very uncomfortable).

      You struggle somewhat to escape his grip, eventually giving up and letting him hold you as long as he wished. He sighs, his mind awash with loving images of you and him together. He knows it will never happen, but he surely can dream about it. You’re pretty sure he was sniffing your hair and that was your sign to escape the hug, so you stepped on his foot and then backed away from him. His pained groans are muffled by his hand and he tries not to scream, he forgot how sharp your boots were. “Ah, my dear, that was quite rude of you, but I’ll forgive you, just don’t do it again.” He warns you with a rather playful tone, even waggles his finger at you, but the threat is real. You frown and shuffle away from him. 

     He tsks and drags you back to him, although he does have to fight as you dig your heels into the marble flooring. “Come now, dear, I won’t hurt you. Don’t you want to know what I need from you?” His smile tightens as he struggles, he didn’t expect you to be so strong. He chuckles nervously, he even sweats a bit (which irritates him because he absolutely despises sweating). He lets go of you, causing you to stumble back yet you retain your balance. “Okay, you just stay there and I’ll explain the deal to you, alright?” You nod your head and he claps his hands together. His smile grows and his tone shifts from agitated to cheery. “Wonderful! My dear, do you know who Duke Hartfeld is?” You nod again, then verbally respond. “Yes, I’ve heard rumors about him.”

     Actually, you’ve heard many rumors, all of them attest to his hedonistic lifestyle. You don’t like him very much, you absolutely despise him. The Emperor smiles again, he smiles a lot, and walks towards you. “Great, I want you to marry him-“ You gasp in shock and then interrupt him, because there is no way in Natiscle (Natiscle is the equivalent of hell in this world.) that you’re going to marry that worthless wrench of a man. “Oh, like Natiscle I will marry that man! I wouldn’t marry him if he were the last man on Ilasatra!” You exclaim loudly, the servants in the room startled by your behavior. The Emperor is amused by your response, he chuckles and feels himself growing fonder of you with each word that escapes your mouth.

     “Oh, Baiyases, (Baiyas is the equivalent of heaven in this world, so Baiyases is the equivalent of heavens.) now dear, you shouldn’t overreact. He really isn’t all that bad, if you ignore his faults and he won’t be any trouble if you smack him around a bit.” The Emperor does not like the Duke, at all, and neither do you. But you could never smack Duke Hartfeld around, he’s so weak and it’s not like he’s a criminal. “Oh, no, I couldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be right.” She responds causing him to rolls his eyes and scoffs. “Oh, please [Y/N], you’ve dealt with far more reputable enemies than that old Duke.” You cringe when he mentions your past, as a general you’ve had to take down many people and you hate being reminded of that. Also, the Duke Isn’t that old, he’s actually younger than you. Which might explain his promiscuity, they say, that is the noble women say, that young man are very adventurous, and often have trouble committing to a relationship. 

     You sigh, a frown etching its way onto your face. You look away from the Emperor, which causes you to miss his frown, and then think about his offer. You don’t want to marry that wretched Duke, but the Emperor says he can send you home and you really do want to go home. You sigh again and massage your temple. “Okay, I’ll do it, but you have to promise you’ll send me home right after. I don’t want to stay with him any longer than necessary.” You fold your hands together and tug at your gloves. The Emperor smiles once he hears you accept his request and he can’t help but hug you again. “Oh, thank you so much, my dear! All I need you to do is whip him into shape and then you can leave, okay?” 

      You nod, then wriggle your way out of his hold. This time the Emperor doesn’t frown, he seems happy to have heard you agree to his favor. “How long do I have to be married to him?” You ask, causing him to tilt his head and pretend to think. “Oh, perhaps two or three years. That’s not too long, is it?” You groan, just a week around that Duke is too much. You couldn’t fathom spending two years with him, let alone three. The Emperor chuckles upon seeing your disgusted face, he takes joy in knowing that you despise the Duke just as much as he does. “Is that alright, dear? Surely you could handle two, or three, years with the Duke? After all, you’re a very strong person, the Duke couldn’t be much worse than those on the battlefield, right?” 

     You frown again once the Emperor brings up your past, he sure likes to do that. You sigh, roll your eyes and cross your arms. “I can’t do two years, but I’ll do one year.” The Emperor tilts his head, amused and intrigued by your behavior. Not many nobles would have the gall to negotiate with the Emperor, that’s why your his favorite subject. “Hm, a year and half.” He says, which causes you to glare at him, then speak again. “No, one year and three months.” The Emperor exhales and his eyes narrow, he’s becoming irritated with your boldness. “A year and two weeks.” He responds, you consider his offer, then nod your head. “Fine, a year and two weeks, but no more.” He smiles, quite happy now that you’ve agreed with him. “Wonderful, oh, I can’t wait for the ceremony!” (Although, he would rather you marry him, but oh well, such is life) He claps his hands together and kisses your cheek, as a way to share his congratulations, but it just made you uncomfortable.

———————————————————————

Bonus Scenes:

You: “Do you really think me strong?” Not many nobles admire your strength, they believe you should fit into a certain mold, and it’s rather frustrating.

The Emperor: He places his hand son your shoulders, a flirtatious smirk on his face. “Why of course, darling! You are so very strong, the strongest person I’ve ever met..” He purrs, his hands trailing down your arms.

You: You puff out your chest upon hearing the Emperor compliment your strength. “Hmph, that’s right, I’m the strongest person around.” 

The Emperor: He chuckles, amused by your behavior. He thinks you’re absolutely adorable, he’ll do anything if it means having you next to him.

——————————————

(Hope you enjoyed this fan fiction, this one was a bit longer than most of my other written works. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it and please leave a comment if you want more.)

(This is just part one, it focuses more on the Emperor than the Duke, but don’t worry the Duke will have his turn soon enough!)

(this took hours and days to make, mostly because I procrastinated, but at least it’s done. This is part one, part two will, hopefully, focus on the Duke.)

[fatuismooches]

(okok very self indulgent sorry!!)

imagine dottore w a chronically ill reader, who struggles with walking and movement in general. he would be so nice and soft :((( as a doctor hes seen it all. he would grab them stuff when they need it, get things set up and packed if they went out, and he would know every solution to any ache or pain :(( <33 i know hes just such a sweetheart to his favorite patient :3

Dottore is more than aware that you have trouble moving around and ensures you don't tire yourself more than you have to. His biggest solution to this was to create a method of high-speed communication - in other words, there's a button in your room that sends an alarm to the main lab (which at least one segment is always there) and then they can communicate with each other as to who will go to assist you. Of course, this is mostly used for medical reasons, however... you have used it to bring a segment over for some hugs and kisses if you need a recharge. Although you may feel guilty for calling them over so much, especially with their work, Dottore reaffirms that he'd prefer for you to do that rather than accidentally hurt yourself. Even though his words may seem gruff at times and you two have your arguments, he will never skip out on this duty to you.

Also, he and the segments have also become proficient in setting up dates in the lab. Despite how he's content to remain in his lab, he's smart enough to understand that life can get bleak when you have trouble moving around and can't always access the things you want to do. Therefore Dottore makes sure to choose activities that are always comfortable for you. Zandy favors fun board games. Everyone else likes chess - maybe four in a row too. (Has he gotten tipped off by Columbina a few times about bubble baths, the latest foreign book you wanted to be imported, a meal you've been craving, a new album of Radiant Spincrystals to listen to together? Perhaps.)

In all honesty, Dottore would prefer if you just stayed in the lab so he can keep a constant eye on you, but he knows that would lead to more unhappiness - so he just makes sure a segment always accompanies you. (Said segment gets kicked out if you happen to visit Columbina though.) The scholar also tries to install things where he can, mainly in your and his rooms, such as rails near your bed and bath so it's easier to get up. If you use any sort of mobility aids, you can bet he'll add some kind of feature to it too. I wager a button that shoots blue fireballs. Although many would say his knowledge was gained unethically, he has no qualms about continuing even if it makes you feel one percent better.

[ennn]

Hello :) I really enjoy reading your analysis on AAA!

What conversations do you think Agatha and Rio had between “because the truth is too awful “ and “what Billy wants is a violation”?

The shift between topics was so abrupt. What would they talk about to make Agatha want to make a deal to never see Rio again?

Hello Anon! Thank you for reading 💚 Okay so I think there's 2 parts to your question here, which is (a) why the change in topics between the conversation and (b) how it leads up to Agatha's deal.

Let's take a step back a bit. If we look at the first conversation, it already starts out about the Problem of Billy right?

And the whole Billy issue only exists in the context of what happened with Nicky. If Nicky had never been a thing, Agatha and Rio and their dynamic would be entirely different. Nicky was the breaking point of their relationship – a relationship with love and lust but also wrapped up in their opposing natures.

The conversation quickly escalates, shifting from Billy to their history and relationship. Rio, direct as ever, airs what must be a long-long-simmering grievance:

Rio: No one in history has had special treatment like you. Agatha: You call what you did "special treatment"? You gave me nothing. You took. Rio: And that's usually your move right.

Now the anger and frustration is starting to boil and Agatha tries to push past and get away from Rio – but Rio stops her and tries to deescalate this argument.

In other words – and to address your ask – the topic shifts because Rio is trying to have a conversation and not fight. Rio knows that Nicky is Agatha's deepest scar, and Agatha is a runner when she doesn't have control.

You can see Rio taking a second, watching Agatha, her tone softening as she asks the question:

Why do you let them believe those things about you, hm? About Nicky?

I think Rio tries to deescalate because she does need Agatha's help with the Billy situation: she can't kill him or reap his soul on her own. It's not a thing Rio is happy about or wants but she's got a job to do.

BUT in this show things are usually complicated: more than one thing can be true at the same time: I think Rio also cares about Agatha and wants to understand why.

After all it was Rio who told the group in episode 5 that Agatha killed her original coven because they tried killing her first. Agatha doesn't bother defending herself, if anything she plays up being this villain.

I mean, Rio loves this serial killer right. It's not the murder part of Agatha's reputation Rio cares about. Rio also has the unique insight of knowing exactly what happened to Nicky. This rumour that Agatha doesn't do anything to discourage seems to not only be an insult to Agatha but the memory of Nicky.

And then in a rare moment of vulnerability, Agatha decides to reveal her truth to Rio.

Because the truth is too awful

I read this moment as Rio trying to reach out and Agatha deciding to give an honest answer. Which again, is a precious rare thing coming from her.

I don’t think any transitional dialogue from this to the other conversation is really important, not as much as the emotional place this first conversation ends with, which allows for the second one about a potential collaboration to happen.

Also like, what do you say to something like that? Because wow there is a lot to unpack there.

Agatha’s implying that what Rio gave her and Nicky is worse than her sacrificing Nicky for power. That she isn’t trying to be cruel, she truly can’t see the gift of time Rio gave them. That she sees herself somehow responsible for what happened to Nicky. That she doesn’t just blame Rio, she blames herself.

If I had to plot out some kind of transition between these two conversations, I would do something like:

Let the silence after the admission drag on a bit. Rio looks concerned but doesn't say anything in the moment.

Agatha takes the opportunity to walk away. Rio doesn't stop her but follows. Agatha lets her.

After a moment of quiet walking, Agatha asks about when Rio knew about the Road hex and they compare notes for a bit (Rio probably throwing shade at the weird nature here). This time lets Agatha build up her walls again.

They sit down and talk about the point of the hex, which then nicely leads into their second conversation, starting with what Billy wants.

In their second conversation, what's interesting here how very reluctant Rio is about asking for Agatha's help. She knows Agatha and hates being in this position so much she doesn't even want to say it, letting Agatha piece together what she needs.

It must truly be a rare instance that Agatha has this kind of leverage over Rio, over Death.

Because Agatha reacts like a shark scenting blood in the water. She barely hides it.

This goes back to your question: Why does Agatha make such an deal that hurts Rio so badly?

My read is that Agatha basically reacts to this rush of power over Rio the same way she badly – almost instinctively – reacted to Alice presenting her with her magic:

She takes and takes and takes.

Because Rio's always been unstoppable but now Agatha can stop her. This is what's she's been hungering for.

That sense of helplessness she felt moments ago when she thought she had to let Billy go – like she let Nicky go – now turns to something with teeth.

You can see Agatha literally take a second to calculate the most cruel thing she can say to Rio to hurt her, to deny and reject her love.

Now that's the emotional side of things. On a more logical level, Agatha goes into scheming mode. This is like muscle memory for her at this point, she won't deny an opportunity to get ahead.

So she doesn't deny Rio's ask. She makes the price of her handing over Billy so awful to Rio it has maybe a chance of stopping her from her mission, or buying more time at least. For so much of her life Agatha has justified murder and lies and the worst behaviour with the need to survive and protect what's hers.

Once again: Calculated move, bad at math.

Because Rio accepts the deal. She's so wounded she doesn't even push back even a little. She reacts so badly to Agatha's rejection, to her taking advantage of this opportunity, that she gives into being the villain Agatha sees her as.

[laser-tripwires]

alright so i made a vague allusion to having leverage/pjo crossover thoughts in some tags. and then @aardvaark sent me an ask about it, and then @artistica18 implored me to yap further, and then @leveragedlibrarians ALSO @'d me about it so i think at this point i need to elaborate.

i am certifiably not normal about leverage, and there was about a decade of my childhood solidly defined by the percy jackson books. suffice it to say, i have a lot of weirdly specific thoughts.

so! headcanons. in a pjo au, i think we can solidly divide the team in half as thus: Went To Camp and Did Not Go To Camp. remember, prior to the fusion of the two camps at the end of heroes of olympus, greek demigods were just unceremoniously spat out after they stop being kids and are left to fend for themselves. i can see nate and eliot spending their childhood summers at camp half-blood, heading home for the rest of the year; we're trying to alter backstory as little as possible here.

sophie and parker both moved around too much as kids (parker shares a homeless-in-new-york-as-a-preteen backstory with a disressing number of pjo characters) for that to make sense for them. doesn't mean they aren't half-bloods in this au, just that they had lifestyles that made it pretty impossible for satyr's to track them down and bring them to safety. see again the books - it's pretty clearly implied that without thalia's power drawing in monsters, annabeth and luke might not have been scouted. prior to percy's edict at the end of the pj series, unclaimed kids got missed all the time - makes sense for parker and sophie.

hardison could go either way, but i like the idea of him finding his way to camp only after settling with nana (who, as a foster parent, has probably seen more than one half-blood kid in the past).

oh and everyone i've seen talk about this crossover is fucking. wrong about the parentages. if i see one more person give nate athena as his godly parent i am going to scream. nemesis is right there y'all. goddess of justice, and revenge, and retribution, and balance, and punishment for the sin of hubris, and proportion, and righteous indignation, and counteraction of fate. people. people it's the themes of the show. bonus points, she's personified in the percy jackson books as very much a dangerous chaotic neutral power who her kids make some bargains with to the loss of their personal health. there is just... so much potential in so many different ways.

sticking with greek gods exclusively, i don't have that strong of a set of feelings about the others (except for eliot, we'll get to him). from what i can tell, people are 50/50 on giving sophie aphrodite or some niche minor deity - my vote goes to peitho, for the record. everyone picks something random for hardison because computers didn't exist 3000 years ago, i'm not even gonna try (as a fun bonus, breanna is totally a hephaestus kid). if you don't assign parker hermes then you are trying too hard. he's the god of theives, she's a thief, it's her defining characteristic, seriously stop trying to be clever. the hermes kids in the books have probably the widest spray of abilities and personalities that we see.

eliot... stop blindly giving him ares? yes, if you look at the domains in the mythology and how powerful the ares kids can be in the books, i can see why you're going that way. if you spend half a second paying attention to the characterisation of ares as a person and his half-bloods as characters as they exist in the books... ehhhh. the problem is that as far as i cant tell there's... not really a better fit. thanatos would be a nice call from a greek mythology perspective, but as far as pjo goes it's pretty heavily implied in the last olympian that he doesn't tend to sire half-bloods. similarly, phonos and androktasia are just, like, waaaay too niche and minor. same's true of enyo but in addition she A) overlaps waaaay too much with ares and B) literally seems to not exist in the pjo universe (seriously it's weird, the olympians books wax lyrical for AGES about how bellona doesn't have any sort of greek equivalent and i'm just here like ?????). ares it is, i guess. i'd switch tacks and assign him something roman (as much as ares wouldn't work, mars totally would) if access to camp jupiter wouldn't have completely changed his life (and CJ is much much better at reeling in demigods than CHB is, so can't use that trick again). also, it is damn fucking annoying that the more ancient and powerful deities don't tend to spawn demigods in the pjo universe, becase greek mythology has some titans and miscellanious cthonic crap which'd also be great candidates. i still say thanatos.

if you've watched episode three of the librarians, then i think you've got a pretty good idea of how leverage jobs would change in a world with gods and monsters knocking around. this agricultural company is secretly throwing people into the labyrinth is exactly the kind of shit that would happen!

also, magic powers make any AU a little bit more fun. it's why i like peitho so much for sophie - kids of minor gods get less powerful abilities in the pjo universe, but a leettle push from the goddess of persuasion would go a long way to helping sophie's career (something similar is also true if you take the regular aphrodite option). also, parker's pickpocketing already tows the reality line - i would love for the team to not be able to tell if she's using demigod abilities or is just That Good. i have intensely mixed feelings about any superpowers-adjacent leverage au (catch me in the future with my Basically The Only Magical Ability That Makes Sense For Eliot Is Allomatic Atium From The Cosmere rant, ✨coming to a deranged tumblr blog near you✨, if i ever write it - it's half the reason i struggle to come up with good headcanons for eliot here) but i can't deny that it's fun.

we've also got the general question of how close any of the team are to their godly parents. i say nate has only had direct contact with his mother once and it was summoning her to just fucking yell after sam died. sophie's never made direct contact, but has more than once woken up to find some token of favour by her bedside. whoever hardison's godly parent is, i don't think he was ever officially claimed - but he makes sacrifices anyway. parker was claimed, but we knows as per pjo canon that hermes has a habit of wistfully moping about his kids but not actually intervening. he manipulated some things behind the scenes to push her towards archie and towards the team, though.

i also just wanna throw up the fact that themes of fate, religion, family, systems are like... central to both franchises. both the leverage and the pjo universe are built around some fairly similar thematic conciets.

look. i'm me. percy jackson was my first ever major special interest, leverage my most recent and personal favourite. i know so much about both these universes. i haven't reread any riordanverse books in ages, and while i feel i've solidly grown out of them on account of now being 22 instead of 12, i'm sure i'll go back someday and check out the more recent books (i tapped out after jason died, lol). and if you've ever looked at this here sideblog of mine you'll know i am pathologically incapeable of being normal about leverage, so... yeah. i'm never gonna actually write a leverage/pjo crossover, but my head is still a wonderful stew of misdirected brainworms.

so, uh, yeah. pretty sure there's nothing here that other people haven't also said but - whelp. i've written all this now. please steal and discuss all my thoughts.

[doctorwhommm]

Jack and Ianto being a power couple? Either at work or at a meeting with UNIT or wherever

someone gimme fic recs like this immediately please 🫴

[sakamoto-days]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #15 Cover!