#bc that's my tag for structural stuff

[raayllum]

The Coin / Moon Fam plotline: a Structural Analysis

There's been some stuff in the tags recently about people being bummed over how long the Moon Fam / coin plot line has taken, and while it's an understandable perspective (particularly with how long hiatuses can feel between seasons), when looking at TDP as one complete story... the Coin / Moon Fam plot line hasn't actually taken that long, and is one of the most consistently developed plot threads / relationships in the show - and here's why.

This meta is broken down into three subheadings labelled, "Series Layout," "Plot Relevancy," and "The Trio('s emotional arcs)".

Series Layout

First things first, the fact of the matter is that the only season that didn't continue the coin plotline at all has been S2. Every other season has had something. This is pretty unique as outside character journeys or relationship development, not much besides overarching plot carries between season to season. Callum's arc is a mage and Ezran as king is ongoing, but the coin plotline has developed more consistently per season than emphasis on Ezran and Rayla getting one-on-one scenes together (which they haven't since S2). So the official breakdown is this:

1x01-1x03: Runaan and his relationship with Rayla are developed. He is taken prisoner while she goes on the mission with the boys.

1x05: Rayla shares the backstory of her parents failing to protect the egg. This is the first and last time she talks directly about her family until S3.

1x08: The coins are introduced in relation to Aaravos and the mirror, specifically. Runaan knows something of what the mirror is. He is coined.

3x03: While Runaan is believed to be dead, it is shown to the audience that he is stuck between life and death in the Lotus pond.

3x08: We see Lain and Tiadrin. It is implied they are coined.

3x09: Viren has the coins, taunting Rayla about them. This likewise teases that her parents were coined and reminds us that Runaan is too.

4x07: We learn about the quasar diamonds, which is set up for S5. Rayla also mentions how Runaan used moon opals to create illusion spells.

4x08: Rayla offers to sacrifice her blades and explains their connection to Runaan and Ethari, and how she believes she won't ever see them again. This is pretty blatant setup for the next episode in which

4x09: Rayla tries to save and then receives the coins from Claudia. This is also when it is finally confirmed that Lain and Tiadrin were coined as well. She and Stella escape Umber Tor (this is also how Rayla learns about Stella's portal powers).

5x01: Rayla investigates the dungeons to find out what happened to Runaan / how the coins work. She finds a 'mystery human' in a 4th coin. She determines that while she wants to help her family, she can't bring herself to prioritize it while the world is still in danger and that Callum and Ezran need her.

5x02: We meet the mystery human and find out that he is Kpp'Ar, Viren's old mentor. Rayla uses Runaan's bow and Ethari's arrows (thanking the latter) to defend herself against a corrupted banther.

5x04: Rayla tells Callum the truth about the coins and her pain concerning them. He immediately wants to help her and finds a potential solution concerning the coins: quasar diamonds at the Starscraper. Callum intends to personally free them himself and risks all of their present lives to get the information.

5x05: Karim summons the Bloodmoon Huntress, Kim'Dael, to do his bidding. As we know thanks to the graphic novel of the same name, she has history with Rayla, Runaan, and Ethari.

TDP loves to set things up, add to it a little for a season, and then make it a major focus.

Think of how Claudia and Soren didn't see their dad again after 1x06 until 3x03 - that's about 14 episodes, roughly half of Arc 1! Or how nothing that Viren does in S1 or S2 affects the trio at all until his kids catch up with Callum, Ezran, and Rayla in 2x02, or his own actions until close to 3x04 and 3x08 - once again, seasons apart.

Thus, the breaks in between the Moon Fam development makes sense, even if as laid out before, Rayla's relationship with them and the coins are developed 4/5 seasons. In particular, Rayla's relationship with Runaan and Ethari are more developed and emphasized, additionally, than her relationship with her biological parents. And what's more, thanks to both the Nova Blade and the Quasar Diamonds being rumoured to be at the Starscraper, let's talk about

Plot Relevancy

As soon as we'd learned there was a fourth coin, I assumed that Kpp'Ar was imprisoned inside it, simply because 1) he's close to Viren, 2) he 'mysteriously disappears,' and 3) his name sounds like fucking copper. It is implied in the Book Two: Sky novelization that Kpp'Ar has Plot Relevant Information about Aaravos (and possibly the relic staff) as well as whatever Viren did to save Soren (and his own dark magic misdeeds).

The novelization confirms that Kpp'Ar had a box that perfectly matched the one Aaravos uses inside the mirror for the bug pal spell. Kpp'Ar is also a master of puzzles and could very well be the descendant of the Jailer, who created the now infamous puzzle of the prison, in addition to having a wide berth of magical knowledge.

This implied connection to the prison would make the most sense if Kpp'Ar gets out before Aaravos is freed, and Aaravos will have to be freed in season six. And if Kpp'Ar is getting out of his coin, then the Moon fam are also getting out of theirs before the season finale.

There's also the Kim'Dael plotline to consider. While she is a menace in S5, Janai implies that she is not at her full powers, claiming, "This is a monster you do not want unleashed." Given that Karim has the sun seed and an army, he will likely become King of Lux Aurea and able to free Kim'Dael in S6 as well. This sets up the Moon fam all working together with Rayla to defeat her in S7.

So thanks to Kpp'Ar and Kim'Dael, the Moon fam is tied to two ongoing plotlines that have to get underway sooner rather than later. They are also three of the few characters to have presumably known what the mirror was. Runaan seems to outright know something ("That mirror? You have found something worse than death") and for Lain and Tiadrin, it is implied, as it seems they stayed behind ultimately to guard the mirror > Zym's egg (given that they tried to have Hendryr take the egg with him) because they knew it falling into the wrong hands could be dangerous. This means that when the three of them do come sprawling out of the coins, they will immediately understand the stakes of Aaravos' imminent or potential release.

The "two relevant plotlines" is under the assumption as well that Callum's pursuit of Star magic in order to free them is not what ultimately leads to him 1) him being possessed (with Rayla being called upon to kill him again, generating a potential interesting conflict with Runaan) or 2) snowballs into being what releases Aaravos. In which case they'd be tethered to Three Plotlines. But in some ways, they already are, because of how Runaan in particular is going to impact each of

The Trio

or why the "Ezran short story indicating Ezran is going to have lots of big nasty feelings about Runaan's rescue and survival is the best thing that could've ever happened, thank you" section. You can read the short story here if you haven't already (and I highly recommend it).

Okay, but why is this a good thing? Well...

We know next season that Callum and Rayla are heading to the Starscraper, likely now that things with Aaravos have resolved enough and/or to get the Nova Blade because things have escalated very quickly. However, as previously discussed, while Callum might do some plot relevant snowball shit to get them out of the coins, from an emotional arc standpoint, he's more likely to struggle with Runaan once the assassin is out. As of now, Callum is wholly dedicated to helping Rayla get her parents out of the coins (as he states and reaffirms in 5x04). The fact the Starscraper also has the Nova Blade is a nice preventative bonus. But this current lack of 'big feelings' means that Rayla was our main emotional tether to how people are Feeling about the coin plotline, from a character standpoint.

Enter Ezran and his anger. Not only does it expand his character, it gives the audience another piece of emotional investment and complication in the coin plotline, even if we're still inclined to be more for freeing Runaan than not (which is where Ez may fall). And it also introduces that complication for Callum.

Rayla and Ezran, and Ezran and Callum, rarely argue. Now Ezran is going to be presumably pitted against something Callum wants to do for Rayla, being torn between the two people he loves the most, with Ezran possibly feeling betrayed by the two people he loves the most.

So now there's an emotional investment with all three of the main characters - for Ezran, his anger in contrast with his hopes for peace; for Callum, devotion to Rayla and more importantly in this vein at least, disagreement with his brother; and of course, Rayla being caught up in magic that may have a steep price to pay in order to free her family (and what Runaan may encourage her to do once he is freed, re: killing Callum).

The brothers have to resolve their conflict; Rayla has to get her family back; Runaan's responses to each of these things, and indeed being freed, opens up a lot more avenues. TDP has never taken the easy way out when it comes to character development and complicated emotion. Viren was saved from a similar fate to his former prisoner so that he could develop further - otherwise why keep a character alive? Runaan (and the others) are going to be freed by the end of S6 if not earlier than the finale by a decent margin, and have enough time to change, stumble, and grow alongside their daughter and her friends - while defeating Kim'Dael together as a family, I think. #Justformerassassinthings

Conclusion

S6 is go time and it's gonna be great, Runaan and Ethari are gonna get a good chunk of screentime together, Runaan is one of the most important driving forces within S6's setup, and they all still have places to go as characters. Thank you goodnight

[danielsarmand]

present tense get behind me i will avenge you i will write in present tense in a way that is so scrumptious no one will ever underestimate you again ever

[ale-arro]

romantic attraction wants you to feel it so badly. bc why am i out here being like, "man i keep daydreaming about a relationship with this person, maybe i Am romantically attracted to them." meanwhile the daydream is that he's closeted so i can't tell anybody about it and we meet up like once a week and that's it. yeah classic normative romantic attraction

[freakdroids]

the thing about Lore and Barclay is that theyre not toxic together actually theyre sweet. hope that helps

[seduceme-lovestruck-thearcana]

@megatraven

I was going to put this in your ask box bc I didn’t intend for it to be long….but it is and I have to put it as it’s own post lol.

So Do you remember the Hercules song fic of “Love Me I Beg” and breakdown for how it fits him? If not here it is again. When I made that post, I was thinking of doing a fic for Hercules and MC friendship and everything that I mentioned…but it’s not coming together properly. The only part I have done, which I thought would be nice to share, is a scene where MC and him are arguing about something he did or said. Like how he believes he himself is not as great as others bc he’s a demigod (even tho he doesn’t say it directly like that bc of pride and he has to be a Man and can’t be emotional) and MC will not stand for it. She may not like him very much, but she sees the person in him (though it’s difficult to) and she sees the insecurity and she hates how it contorts him and hurts him and others. His own feelings hurt others around him, whether he truly believes that or not or doesn’t even realize it.

They get into the argument of MC saying he shouldn’t hate on humans or monsters bc he sees them as different and ‘weak’, because he’s just been raised to see things that way and has this insecurity fueled by the others around him for millennia. He can change and be different and can alter his view and be better. But he keeps arguing on and on, and at some point I have the dialogue of MC getting fed up and pushed past her kindness saying,

“I don’t see a hero in you, all I see is a MONSTER!”

And then she leaves him with that slap in the face. Not physical…though I have considered it to happen to stand as a waking up call. But anyways it hits him hard mainly bc he’s all about taking auras and has taken monsters’ aura (and she knows about this. In this AU I see her being close friends with basically everyone so she knows the stories) but he understands she’s not talking about a monster, but a MONSTER MONSTER. An evil creature, and not a Hero he believes he is. At least, in my head Hercules sees himself as that because isn’t he Zeus’s hero? Like in literal terms like how Nyela was Aphrodite’s hero, isn’t Hercules Zeus’s hero? If not, then let’s pretend he is lol.

Anyways, it really hits him and makes him think of how he’s been raised. AND the other really hitting dialogue that makes him mad (but also really think™️ about things) is MC literally saying, “Your family has failed you,” bc she sees his opinions, learns more about the gods’ views from him, and begins to see the turmoil and problems he has and the harshness and ugliness of the gods and and see the awful ways he was raised and she can’t help but compare it to how her mother was so loving and accepting and encouraging and how his family SHOULD be like that and AGH. MC may not like him, but she wants to help. But she also is like “and I mean if you could give the auras back…” since she loves the monsters in my AU lol.

But, yeah, I just have these two pieces of dialogue (and a few others if you’d like to hear about them) and kinda ideas for them. That I need to write one day bc it’s one of the thoughts in my head constantly and I need to get it out😭.

And I also hope you enjoy your vacation Meg💙. You deserve it🥺💙💙💙💙.

And side note that’s not too important: Eros is the one MC vents to bc he’s a worm that hasn’t left my mind yet so rn he’s the romance for me. Those fics for him I mentioned I AM working on as well lmao.

[shekeepsmeworms]

Had some wine feeling good made a really shitty bowl in ceramics class this morning that I’m really worried has a bunch of air holes in it and had a really crappy therapy session where I didn’t talk too much but was honest about some other stuff which is good overall I guess but now I’m doing drunk crochet and watching the Duggar family documentary and probably going to stop watching soon once they start talking about the awful stuff but yeah day in the life of a woman doing her best I guess

[angelfrogs]

For weeks now I’ve been telling this joke (mostly to myself) that’s just “I love it when people ask me if I like jjk because the honest answer is no” because I carry these little jjk figures with me everywhere and it’s true I don’t really like jjk that much BUT NOW I CANT POST THAT JOKE BC PEOPLE WILL THINK I AM JUST UPSET ABOUT THE NEW CHAPTER SPOILERS AND I AM BUT THAT ISNT THE REASON

[thedandelionresistance]

I think the issue is that marginalized humanity also exists, which we've written about extensively before.

It's not as simple as humans=oppressors who benefit from the subjugation of nonhumans. To summarize what we've said before, alterhuman identities involving powered or mutant humans, werecreatures who are sometimes or partially human, otherkin human identities, and human members of nonhuman systems (all including when these identities are a result of delusions/endelity) face much of the same oppression as nonhumans, for the same reason. Then, when they turn to their community, they see hatred for part of the very identity that caused them to face that hateful oppression in the first place. (Also, we did see that you use the label of CLCZ and may have different experiences - we're speaking from our own experiences and those of other people close to us, as well as some pulled from wider discussions.)

It's the same way that trans men are disproportionately hurt by posts venting about (99.9 percent of the time cis) men, and even that transhet and other queerhet people are disproportionately affected by complaints about hetero/straight people. Even within the queer community, antimasculinity has been such a large issue that people have detransitioned and delayed transitioning (or even repressed their very trans identity and not had their egg crack for longer) - all things that are well known to kill trans people. Heterosexual trans, nonbinary, aspec, and intersex people have all suffered from constant blatant hatred of straight people in the queer community - and at various points, hating straight people was also used as part of larger aphobia and transphobia, arguing that aspec and trans people were inherently dangerous invaders of "real" queer spaces and communities.

That last part is more an issue of aphobia and transphobia, but that doesn't make the use of hate towards specifically explicitly queerhets irrelevant. If anything, it's more relevant, because it was a double-edged sword of erasing aspec and trans people who aren't het while attacking those who are.

There's also the fact that these things often hurt members of the very marginalized communities they originate from. People questioning or not yet aware of their identities are pushed away from the community from shame about their perceived identity. Community members who are aware of their identity are hurt by demonization of traits they share with the identity being vented about (for example, trans women who have a deep voice or choose not to shave). And people who are two identities that are considered mutually exclusive by most people, such as multigender people who are both men and women, or people who are queer and straight as mentioned above, and so on, will always be the most vulnerable to being hurt by hostility towards someone's identity.

Neurodivergence vs neurotypicality doesn't quite map to this, but there is a point to be made that the way we conceptualize neurodivergence is very different than how people generally conceptualize queerness. A plural allistic person and autistic singlet are both considered neurodivergent, but in the context of autism alone allism is considered neurotypical, and in the context of plurality alone, being a singlet is considered neurotypical (and that's even further complicated by the existence of plural non-systems and even plural singlets, complex identity labels that can be used for any reason from having soulbonds that you don't view as sharing your body or headspace, to having pursued and achieved final fusion).

As much as I agree with a lot of OPs beliefs, I also actually agree that homophobia and gay are not accurate replacements for humanity and misanthropy.

But I also disagree that humanity is an inherently oppressive identity (not saying that you're saying that either, just that I believe that's fundamentally untrue), even within the context of it currently being an oppressive class. It's just that not all humans are a part of that class, and therefore don't all have access to the power and privilege that comes with it.

When venting about an innate inherent (and typically unchangeable trait" turns into lateral violence, hurting other marginalized people in your community or adjacent communities, it can no longer be justified as "punching up". That's why caveats can be so important, particularly on public forums and blogs (whether a blog is public or private is kind of a complicated question, but those which are publicly accessible is what I'm referring to for the sake of this discussion).

This kind of folds into the idea you talk about with not carrying this attitude towards individuals. But the thing is, community attitudes and societal forces are not separate from the people occupying those spaces and moving through those frameworks. If a response to an oppressive systemic structure, rather than dismantling or defying it, instead destabilizes and harms other people hurt and oppressed by the same system, it's directly harming individuals. It can even unintentionally reinforce the harmful systems - for example, treating manhood as inherently violent and misogynistic reinforces that that is the default standard of masculinity, and that healthy and nontoxic masculinity is the exception rather than the rule.

I think the post linked above even goes into the nuance of having spaces for safely venting, and how to mitigate harm when doing so. We've talked even more extensively privately with friends about this, and I think that absolutely there should be spaces to communicate unfiltered, messy, "negative" feelings towards oppressor classes. I also think it's important to have spaces like that be still moderated for potential toxicity and harm (for example, how some spaces for healing from misogyny fall into radic//al feminism).

I don't think venting, even imperfect and messy venting, is some great sin. I just also don't personally think it's always inherently harmless. When we've talked about this before, we've had people entirely erase the nonhuman majority part of our plurid identity, just because we talked about how it has directly harmed us due to our marginalized humanity. We were treated as having power and privilege we've never had in our entire lives, for the very same identities that directly caused us to endure significant interpersonal AND systemic harm, up to and including institutionalization, nonconsensual medication, refusal to prescribe other needed medication, whether directly or indirectly (indirectly, for example, in cases such as being suicidal due to repression of our identities).

It's also worth noting that our experiences with nonhumanity and alterhumanity both are both entirely psychological and entirely spiritual. We kind of have some double bookkeeping going on there with our own schizophrenia, but essentially it's two 100 percent gauges overlapping. Each part is inextricable from the other, and that also affects our perspective on humanity and nonhumanity not being mutually exclusively and humanity as an individual identity not inherently granting access to humanity as membership in the oppressor class.

Not all straight people are not queer, and are subject to the same isolation and difficulty finding community as any other member of the LGBTQ+ community. Just like not all cis people are not queer. The ways that a cis queer person and queerhet person might struggle for their queer identities may be different, just like even when solely referring to sexuality, a bi person and a gay man and a lesbian woman might all have different struggles.

Likewise, not all humans are, for lack of a better word or phrase, structurally empowered and unmarginalized. In the same way that heteronormativity can hurt transhet people, in part because of how heavily it leans on patriarchal gender standards (including the ones that fundamentally reject transness as valid), so too can human-normativity hurt and even oppress humans who exist outside of it. Binary gender-conforming trans people are still treated as an inherent threat to patriarchy, because it's a cisheteropatriarchy built on a foundation of queerphobia, racism, and a dozen other subjugations of marginalized people.

In the same way, the power structure which gives the majority of humans power still treats some humans as an inherent threat to itself, because it is built to enforce a very narrow inflexible definition of humanity and relies heavily on neuronormativity and sanism.

We have commonly seen it argued that it's still okay to shit on an oppressor identity to vent, precisely because it's a very small minority of humans that aren't oppressors/are potentially hurt by misanthropy.

Even setting aside that misanthropy isn't actually effective in dismantling the oppressive system itself, it's never okay to hurt a minority just because they share an identity with an oppressor class, even if the identity they share with the oppressor class is the one being attacked itself. The fact that they are a minority even within the alterhuman and nonhuman communities too only means we have more of a responsibility to make our spaces safe for them - they come to us after sharing in our oppression, and if they find hate towards the part of their identity they faced that oppression for, that just further harms and isolates them, making them more vulnerable.

This is very directly comparable to anti-masculinity, because not all venting by women about harm done by (largely cis) men is harmless. Multigender and butch trans women, trans men, and nonbinary people have all talked extensively about how this has severely hurt them, up to and including being deadly. Lumping marginalized manhood in with privileged manhood results in erasure of the struggles that marginalized men face - from black men being the primary target of police violence to trans men being denied coverage for treatment for cervical cancer until it literally kills them. It also directly isolates questioning/pre-questioning trans women, driving away some of the most vulnerable people in the marginalized class of women, who most need community support.

Idk, I think I'm starting to go in circles. But basically, this ties into a lot of larger topics, such as the idea that it's important to focus more on uplifting marginalized people than hating their oppressors on a wider scale, that expressing pain and trauma still needs to be handled with care to avoid harming other hurt and traumatized people as powerless as you, and that it's worth it to add a little extra clarification to your statements if it mitigates harm done to other people.

Not all criticisms of negative statements about identity are invalid. Sometimes negative statements about identity do very real harm to the most vulnerable members. Sometimes even, as in the case of cis women having very real structural systemic power over trans men, it is very directly literally used to perpetuate the oppression of a marginalized group. This is true within communities too - black queer men have talked about how antimasculinity not just affects them but is deadly for them, and black queer women have talked about how it also hurts them due to how people view gender as very centered around colonial white ideas, and how this leads to the over-masculinization of perception of black women.

As a nonhuman who is just as marginalized for my humanity on the basis of its relation to my nonhumanity alone, but also without my nonhumanity would still be inherently marginalized and cause me to face oppression, misanthropy is not harmless nor is the harm it can do justified or even effective in fighting our oppression. That being said, I think there are ways to create safe spaces for expressing negative feelings even towards innate traits and identities that often correspond to systemic inequity and structural oppression.

Theory aside, I think the easiest way to start is to bookend venting with two very short phrases:

"I feel like..." [insert vent] "but this is just my personal experience right now"

Because the thing is, it doesn't even require you to state that the identity isn't inherently bad (I think it's worth doing if you can, but still).

All it is, is acknowledging that you're not making an objective statement on the inherent morality or value of an entire group of people.

Heck, I have an ex-friend (ex- for very different reasons) who told us straight up that they hated men/manhood, but would not mistreat men in the server we shared. They also said that it was something they were working, but we told them from the beginning that what mattered is how they treated people. Even with manhood being a part of our genderfluidity, that was the main important thing. We only asked them to spoiler text if they needed to vent about men in the vent channels and leave a content warning, so that we and others who identified as masc or men could also give her the space to have those valid feelings and even those of us up for it at a given point could offer reassurance and help her to process everything.

At the end of the day, it's about not assuming that everyone of a specific identity is also a member of that oppressor class/nonmarginalized/not harmed by the structures most of their identity benefit from. It's also about acknowledging that just because the "exceptions" might be rare (though often less rare than people think, as in the case of trans men, because erasure is a crucial tool of oppression), that often they are part of our communities or victims of our same or similar oppression, at the bottom of the system with us. These people deserve safety and community, and it's important not to push them away or further harm them, especially since those very same structures of oppression rely on us being divided and isolated.

At the end of the day, even when working through strong difficult feelings, it's worth it to try and soften edges which may hurt not just innocent but vulnerable targets. It's worth it to hold onto a little bit of compassion, and just reframe misanthropy as more clearly processing very personal trauma and pain. And it's worth it to consider minority groups even within marginalized communities - because before punching up, it's important to make sure you know which way is up.

Sometimes I genuinely want to reblog some of these posts just swapping every instance of "human" for "gay" and "misanthropy" for "homophobia," because it really puts it into perspective.

"But of course I know there are good humans out there -" Saying something to the effect of "Gay people are horrible" and then following up with "but of course I know there are good gays out there <3" doesn't actually make you not homophobic.

"But humans have actually done bad things that destroy the planet -!" 90% of my mom's internalized homophobia stems from real gay people she knew who intentionally spread HIV to other people, and that being her only exposure to the queer community before, like, me. Do you think that makes it fair for someone to be homophobic? Because a small proportion of the gay community does terrible things? Like, no, right? So why do you think it's fair for you to act misanthropic because a small proportion of the human species does terrible things?

[venomnyx]

THE FOOL CARD - Josh Washington x F!Reader AO3 // Spotify Playlist

WORD COUNT - 3.1k SUMMARY - You've been sneaking around with your best friend's older brother since summer. If it's supposed to be easy and casual, why does it feel so foolish? TAGS/WARNINGS - friends with benefits to lovers, female anatomy reader, teasing, alcohol/drinking, cursing, unprotected p in v sex, brief mentions of asphyxiation, creampie, josh has feelings first, dialogue heavy? NOTES - this is a self-indulgent fantasy smutty dialogue pracitce that isn't edited bc who has time for that these days. ignore overuse/repeat words if u love me. fan of josh since '15 only now i have the ability to do something about it

“You don’t really believe in that stuff, do you?” Josh asks, leaning against the doorway, casually sipping a beer.

You glance up from the cards spread out in front of you. Ashley sits opposite you, deer-eyes round with awe from when she held off of your every word, hinting at her friendship with Chris potentially becoming something more. A small smile grows on your face as you gather the silky cards together and slot them back into place.

“You’re not just saying that because you’re scared, are you, Joshy boy?”

With another sip, the corner of his mouth ticks up with intrigue. He shoulders off the doorway and saunters over, eyes never leaving you.

“Alright, I’ll bite,” he says cooly, sliding onto the stool that Ashley scoots out of. She shoots you a knowing look, a glimmer in the ring of her green eyes, a flush to her cheeks as she scurries back into the chatter-filled living room.

“Tell me,” he begins, lounging back in the wooden chair with a low, shadowed look on his face. A long sip of beer, a generous amount of lash-lidded eye contact. “What does my future hold?”

“Your future?” You smirk, skillfully shuffling the cards in your hand, cheeks warm when you lose the competition of holding his confident stare. The tarot cards are glossy and thick, a high-quality deck gilded with gold that you’d nabbed from a crystal shop that stunk of coconut incense and white sage.

A card flies from the deck, landing face-down. You reach and flip it over, revealing The Tower—a crumbling structure, lit with a devastating fire.

“Sudden, eruptive change.”

He leans closer, interest piqued. “What kind of change?”

“Well… let’s ask the cards to clarify,” you continue, reshuffling until another card leaps out. You pick it up, revealing a heart, daggered with three, long swords. “The Three of Swords. Heartache, and pain.”

He scoffs humorously. “The only heartbreaking and painful thing about this week was Chris eating my leftover pizza.”

You hum, unconvinced. Another card.

Ten of Cups reversed. Familial despair.

“It feels like a warning,” you say, trying not to look at the blatant picture. Familial grieving, pain, loss. Clearing your throat, you glance back up at him. “Almost like everything you know is about to change.”

“Hm. Seems ominous,” he replies, entirely not convinced. “What about my near future?” He perks a suggestive brow, licks the dry of his lips. “What are the cards saying about tonight?”

You roll your eyes, feigning indifference, but your hands tremble when you pull two cards. The Moon, and The Lovers.

“Hmm… looks like the cards are saying…” you faux scan the cards, then glance over your shoulder to ensure there aren’t any eavesdroppers. When you’re satisfied they’re distracted, you return with your chin propped on two folded hands and a small, mischievous smile.

“Your room. Midnight?”

His lips stretch into a grin. “Y’know, if the cards keep saying things like this, I might just become a believer.”

You mirror his smile, tucking yourself in tight as you lean closer to the counter.

Hannah walks in, playing with her fingers nervously, and you instinctively lean back. She glances between you, Josh, the cards, and twists her feet against the tile seams.

“You want a go, Han?” You ask. She nods, but appears apprehensive.

“Come on, Josh, client confidentiality. Get outta here. Scram.”

Josh laughs, once. “Alright. I’ll leave you ladies to it.”

Your eyes flicker to him for a moment. He nods with a poker face like steel, raises his beer in acknowledgement of his sister, and leaves the room without a second look.

It’s cruel, how he walks away. Cruel like it’ll never mean more to him.

Ashley, face pink from cocktails, corners you when you return from the readings, hand pawing at your arm.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, Ash. What’s up?”

She leans closer, voice lowering. “Do you have a crush on Josh?”

You’re mid-sip of wine when she asks, and you sputter a cough.

“Excuse me?”

She grins. “You know. Do you like like him?”

Ever the butt of the joke, your defensiveness flares like the prickle of young flames. Is she teasing you? Your fingers tighten around the glass stem.

“No, I know what you meant,” you reply, face warming. “Um, no, Ash. I don’t have a crush on Josh.”

“You know you can tell me anything, right? I could totally set you guys up. I mean, I told you about my crush on…” she glances around, tactically lowering her voice. “…Chris. So, you can trust me!”

“Ash, I think everybody knows about your crush on Chris.”

She blinks like a doe in headlights. “No, they don’t,” her gaze slips away. “Do they?”

You sip from your glass. “Everybody except Chris, apparently.”

She whacks your arm gently. “Shut up! He might hear you!” She scolds, embarrassed. You chuckle to yourself, eyes drawn to your cup as you mindlessly swirl the drink.

“But, seriously, it’s probably good that you don’t have a crush on Josh. Hannah and Beth would kill you!” She laughs.

Your blood turns icy as your mind is suddenly overwhelmed by a flurry of hook-up flashbacks, and you take a healthy, guilt-numbing swig of your drink before replying.

“Haha. Yeah. You’re probably right about that.”

Two glasses of wine later, you excuse yourself for the bathroom and veer off path when the coast is clear to Josh’s room. His door is ajar, feeding through a slim slice of warm lamp lighting onto the dark hallway.

A familiar routine— a scratch for the itch, a hit for the craving. Can’t keep your hands off him, not since the first time. You’d be in so much trouble if the twins knew you were hooking up with their older brother, but the scandal of it all gives you hot flashes between the thighs.

Hands tickle up your sides when you sneak in. A flat palm over your shoulder to click the door shut.

“You’re late,” he teases.

You stifle your giggles. “Yeah, well, unless you want everybody finding out about whatever we’re doing, then you’ll have to be patient for me to find my moment to sneak off.”

He closes the space between you, pressing against your chest to tilt you against the dresser, feeling small beneath his frame. Knees locked around his hips when you hop up.

“Would it be so bad?” He murmurs, immediately kissing along your neck, hands greedy on your waist. “You know… if they knew? About us?”

Us. A word like hot coals, fingers instinctively recoiling from the topic. Excited butterflies turned to anxious wasps in your belly. Casual moments bleeding into lingering stares, “we’re just friends” to eye contact and hand-holding when he makes you cum.

You think Emily knows. She’s quick-witted and perceptive whenever you leave the room, eyes sharp like a bristled cat ready to pounce.

“What’s there to know? We’re just friends,” you say, and he hums sceptically in response. You clutch his shoulders, warm beneath wine-numb fingers. “Besides, Hannah and Beth would kill me—”

“So, that’s it?” He grins, pulling away just enough that you can feel his breath fanning across your clavicle. You smell alcohol and peppermint gum and your head spins from the proximity.

“I’m just your dirty little secret?”

He’s making fun of you.

“Shut up,” you whine, breath laboured from the tingly feeling he produces against your skin with his mouth. Arousal so severe you feel like you’re sixteen again, a hormonal ball of teenage puppy fat and insecurity.

“Fine. How’d Hannah’s reading go? What’d she wanna know?”

You sigh with frustration, trying to nudge your hips closer to his. “Josh, please don’t talk about your sister when I’m trying to fuck you.”

“Oh, just like that, huh? Like I’m a piece of meat?”

“Isn’t that what you signed up for, pretty boy?”

He nips harder. “You think I’m pretty?”

A severe eye roll. “I don’t know why I put up with you.”

“Well, I can be pretty convincing,” he mutters, pushing the hemline of your skirt up your thigh. “Your dress is cute. You wear it for me?”

You had— all butterflies and anticipation at the thought of easy access. A short, black milk-maid thing, as well as enduring an everything shower the night before, sore from vanilla-sugar exfoliation. Soft for him.

The words escape you in a stuttered breath when he thumbs up to your panty line, tipping it to the side.

“You wish.”

He noses against the column of your throat when he slips a finger against you, shuddery breaths when the slick gathers on his palm.

“Always so wet,” he strains, tipsy touches circling your clit, pressing into the honeyed entrance. “You’re insatiable, you know that? Can’t get enough of me?”

No.

“Mm… don’t flatter yourself. Consider it convenient.”

He tilts his head. “Is that supposed to hurt my feelings?”

“Stop— stop being such a dick,” you pant, muscles seizing against the sudden onslaught of building pleasure.

“Thought you liked me a little mean.”

He slides a singular finger into you, all molten and tingly as he knuckle-fucks you.

“Oh God, shut up.”

He sucks pressure onto your neck, affectionate with a hand on the small of your back. Your insides clench, aching with the urge to be filled, a desire his fingers would never be fully be able to satisfy.

You palm the growing mound behind his denim. “Need to feel you.”

He leans back, looking at you boyishly, pausing the work of his wrist.

“Right now?” His voice peaks. “But you’re hardly ready—”

“Gotta be quick.” You tug on his belt buckle and challenge his eye contact with lowered eyelids. “I can take it.”

You’ve rendered him stun-locked, shy.

He blinks. “Fuck— shit, okay,” he reaches for the zipper on his jeans, already steel-hard when he releases himself. He nudges closer, but you’ve never done it like this before. Not without a condom.

“This okay?” He asks hurriedly, the strain to his voice a sobering splash.

The wine blurs the line you promised not to cross. You glance down to where he fists himself, hastily spreading your slick across his length, and your lower belly flips.

You nod, bottom lip captured between your teeth. “Fuck. Please.”

“You sure?”

“Josh—”

“Alright, alright, needy.”

He slips a hand over the curve of your ass, propping you firmly on the dresser and nestling further between your thighs, notching his tip against your wet heat before pushing in. A sharp inhale accompanied by a hand on his chest, urging him to go slower.

It’s a tight stretch as you adjust to the weight of him pressing inside you, nails digging reflexively into the meat of his shoulders.

“Easy, I got you,” he murmurs, hand sliding up from guiding himself inside of you to the wall beside your head. His mouth captures yours as he sinks deeper, a balm to soothe the sting.

You don’t normally kiss. Not often, usually only when you’re drunk. It felt too intimate at first, too weird— because two “just friends” fucking each other’s brains out certainly wasn’t, but you sigh-melt when his tongue slips past the parting of your lips.

He rolls his hips shallowly once, twice— until the burn turns honey-silk, sheathed heavily in your velvet. He’s panting when he leans back, reaching up for purchase, something to ground himself. He instinctively goes for your waist, second-guesses himself, and leans a hand against the wall.

Dark eyes search for yours in the haze. “You alright?”

You slide your hands underneath his plaid shirt. “You trying to be romantic or something?”

He rolls his eyes. “Quit it.”

You bite down on your lower lip, suppressing a grin, and dig the ball of your foot into his ass to pull him closer.

“Get on with it, then.”

He obliges with a groan, pistoning slowly at first. A gentle back-and-forth, slickening himself up all sweet for you, precarious where he tries not to make the dresser rock too much. Helplessly his fingers cling to you, digging into the plush of your thigh, thumbing along the crease where the skin meets your hip.

He reaches to cradle your face and parts your kiss-wet lips with a thumb. You suck him into the cup of your mouth, tongue curling around his skin. You’ve never blowed him before but you’re sure he pictures you pretty on your knees with the way his eyes darken.

His thumb releases with a pop and he presses it against your clit, puffy with need.

The rhythm catches up, and soon you’re panting as you rock against one another. Arms clinging to the broad spread of his shoulders, legs squeezing around his waist. You could stay here forever, you think— drunk on the way he fucks you like he cares what you feel, what you think. Attentive, giving. Better than any exes and you’re sure he knows it— why else would you stick around?

Your best friend’s older brother.

“We should stop doing this,” you concede, words strung high across a moan. “Ashley thinks I’ve got a crush on you.”

A tilt of his head. Something flickers on his face, sparkles in his eye when his lip quirks up. Amusement.

“That right?” He breathes, teeth flashing. “Cute.”

“Jesus, right there—”

Panting breaths melt together between a symphony of curses. A roll of your eyes as your head tilts forward, nails digging into his tense biceps, bracing yourself against the pulse at your centre as his spit-silky thumb circles your clit.

He swallows thickly, throat bobbing against your temple. “Well… do you?”

You pull back from the crook of his neck you’d buried yourself into. “What?”

“Have a crush on me?”

You sock his shoulder. “Don’t make it weird.”

He grins, followed by a roll of his hips. “Oh, right, because that’ll make things weird.”

“Just— just keep doing that, please.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Footsteps and laughter.

Your eyes widen, nerves doused with adrenaline. “Someone’s coming—”

Josh’s hand snaps up and clamps across your mouth, his hips shifting to continue their pace but careful to mind knocking against the dresser. Eyes low and dark as he leans closer, cheeks flushed as he squeezes your face.

From outside the door, “Yo, where’s Josh?”

“He said he was going to get more beer!”

It’s Chris and Mike.

“He’s been gone for a while. Do you think he’s passed out in his room?”

Your brows scrunch, torn between the thrill of fear and pleasure. A moan squeaks behind his palm, every thrust a countdown. Josh mime-shushes you, licking his lips and glancing over at the door as footsteps pass by. Nothing but a piece of wood between you and a secret spilt.

You whimper, pussy turning to liquid heat between your thighs, fizzy with ecstasy, clamping down hard around his hips. Cobra tight around the lava sink and drag of his cock.

“Nah, man. Let’s check the wine cellar.”

The footsteps continue down the hallway, easing your adrenaline with each step as you turn gelatinous in his arms. He releases you at once and the oxygen runs to your head with a dizzying force, eyes wild as they address you.

“Did you…?”

“Mhm.” It pitches high, and his eyes widen with the realisation.

“You liked that. Do you want us to get caught?”

You tremble with the aftershocks of your orgasm. “Maybe I just liked you choking me.”

His brows raise. “Wait. Really?”

You smile wickedly in response, leaving the question unanswered— you aren’t trying to give him any ideas, but you feel that bubbly-wistfulness in your belly at the thought of his hand around your throat the next time he takes you.

You’re not meant to daydream or hope for the next time; this was only supposed to be a one-time thing— just shy of your nineteenth birthdays, fucking yourselves through a dry spell, but you’ve been jumping his bones since the Washington’s invited you to stay with them last summer and he showed you how to smoke your first joint.

You’re a sweet girl, their parents said. Hannah and Beth couldn’t have been more excited that their best friend was coming to stay for six weeks. They hadn’t suspected a thing.

That was last August. Now you’re here with the others for the annual winter getaway— the lodge all to yourselves, and you’d not even lasted a night before you’d tip-toed into his room at 1 AM.

Josh grunts into your neck, cock twitching within you, sliding in and out of your slickened pussy like water.

“Where should I…”

A vulnerable split-second of eye contact. Shivery energy zips between you and something atmospherically shifts, like a moon falling into orbital alignment. The space behind your rib cage becomes soft and malleable, gravity tugging on your heartstrings.

The Fool Card.

A dangerous cliff edge that you’re too wrapped up in the moment to take mind of. You’re already in this deep— might as well fling yourself over it.

You dig your fingers into him. “Inside.”

His eyes flash wide. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, yeah— fuck, Josh, let me feel you.”

“Oh, shit. Okay. So fuckin’ hot.”

He thrusts with more urgency now, brows knit, teeth bared. Sharp when they slide along the skin of your shoulder.

He releases a cute grunt when he comes, nose buried in your neck, cock pulsing strongly inside of you. A sharp little rut of his hips, pushing himself deep, milking dry what remains.

Panting breaths mingle together, misty with post-sex sweat. You stroke the back of his exertion-damp head, cradled gently against your shoulder, his knuckles white as they brace against the dresser.

This is usually the time when you clear your throats and tug your clothes back on, but when he lifts his head to look at you, there’s something soft and sticky-sweet in the post-clarity lax of his features, the seraphic upturn of his brows.

“Can I kiss you?”

You blink at him. “Josh…”

Something visibly deflates on his face. “Sorry, sorry, I overstepped, I forgot the 'rules'—”

You grab him by the neck, thumb affectionately along the line of his jaw, and capture his mouth against yours. When you kiss he’s still sheathed to the hilt, chests pressing together, and you suddenly don’t feel so drunk anymore.

Everything narrows down, vision tunnelling. You’re suddenly not in a lodge with all of your friends, not propped up on his dresser, not just friends with benefits. You can pretend in the safety of his bedroom, making out like lovers, because when it’s this dark it’s just him, him, him, an utter mind-reeling consumption, so warm and soft and tender you feel shame trickle down your spine.

It’s not supposed to feel this good.

Spit strings between your mouths when you pull back.

“We should… go back to the others. Probably wondering where we are.”

He pants, gazing down at your lips. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. We should do that.”

It’s cruel, the way he looks at you. Cruel like this means more to him, too.

dividers credit @saradika-graphics // mdni graphics credit @arcielee

[raayllum]

Ok, I was thinking… Zym had less prominence these last two seasons (in s5 even Stella had more shine than him). Makes sense I guess, because this arc is called "the mystery of Aaraos", but the series is still called "the dragon prince". So… Do you think Zym is going to be a key piece for the development of the last arc? Like, do you think it's a piece of Aaravos's game or a piece to defeat him?

So while Zym is the 'central' figure in arc 1... he's effectively a macguffin, both in and outside of the egg. Like - Zym gets a small arc about fear and flying that is mostly tethered to Ezran in S2 (and carries over in 3x09) and a tiny, 2-ep arc of being scared to go see his mother (pretty much on her deathbed) in 3x08-3x09. Like, he has personality and importance, but he's mostly there to illuminate the other characters choices surrounding his existence. All of the dragons in arc 1 are, effectively, far more plot devices than characters with maybe the exception of Avizandum in 3x06 (and even then that's malleable) and possibly Sol Regem, but he exists more to be a bigoted obstacle than a character in 3x01 (save for the flashbacks).

S4 is the first season that changes this radically, featuring Zym, Zubiea, and Rex Igneous as fully realized characters. Zym has more emotional resonance as a character (his bond with Ibis, his love for his mother and Ez, his complex responses to Rex Igneous besmirching the father he'll never know, etc). While it's definitely on the back burner in S5, it's more so of a 'return to form' of the previous seasons than anything new or different in terms of prominence. After all, Zym only saves the kids once (1) in S2 as well, and he does the same thing in S5. However, Zubeia and Sol Regem keep us tethered to "having dragons as characters" element.

That said, I do think Zym's presence in the story will continue to be important - he'll likely have an arc of missing / reuniting / replacing (?) his mother next season, maybe having to look into the logistics of a draconic child king (if that's even a Thing) and some nice Ezran parallels. Aaravos also said that "the key is the dragon prince" in regards to Viren's plans for Xadia (and presumably Aaravos' initial plans for getting out) in 3x09, but it's not clear if that still holds. However, I do think that Zym plays some part in arc 2 - whether as an aspect of defeat or victory for Aaravos - simply because Zym is literally in the stars in the intro. (His existence being what Leola wished for, maybe?)

Like arc 1 was about Zym, long thought dead/gone, being returned to the world. Now Aaravos is on that same path, with his own two Katolian humans + one elf team. So Zym's still gonna be important. He'll just never be as developed as our human/elf main cast of characters, and I don't think he needs to be.

[orengejoshi]

do u write fanfics? i need to GOON 💔

damn brother, you just gonna come at me like that? alright I see you

that's a great question tho! I have indeed thought about writing a fic... for years tbh...

but there's a myriad of problems

well first of all I'm not native in english. that is probably noticeable more often than not. I sometimes even use a translator, I always secretly got google/dict.cc open in a second tab. didn't formally learn english, I just snagged it by proxy listening to American Youtubers and reading manga online. that's why I prefer to ramble a bit in public or to my damn self in private areas than live-texting 1 on 1/in groups; bc I can take more time totally judgement-free. you're gonna see me "typing..." for 30 minutes and wonder wtf is taking this mf so long?!

apart from that there's dyslexia. I can't spell one word correctly without swipe-to-type autocorrect. I think all arguments I've gotten into stem from me mistyping, using completely wrong words, messing up the sentence structure etc

my brain is a single dense cloud of fog that'll occasionally split open to drizzle down a bunch of jumbled thoughts that I could turn into barely cohesive words if I'm brave enough and exude copious amounts of energy.

so my linguistic skills are not up to par. my intelligence lies more in... intrapersonal and existential departments.

unsurprisingly I've thus become a visual artist to express myself.

the catch is... that I understand paperhat, I do.

but I can't seem to draw toxic dynamics. my head is just empty about how to depict it. it's like it doesn't come naturally to me. not without going overboard and making a whole comic that I would likely abandon before even reaching the half mark. I've been given these angelic skills along with the curse that I shall only draw joyous, bright scenes.

however if I could write it... now we're talking.

as a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure that most of my ideas are way too dark and sober. people don't know me like that so I'm petrified about the presumably shocked response when and if I did drop smth like that.

I'm not ready for that... I have really severe OCD (that the internet is making way worse with their anxious tendencies to interpret smth sinister into any and all fiction that is not happiness and rainbows. which seems new to me, idk where this mindset to read so deep into shit is suddenly coming from. I was here 2017-19, left for like 3 years and all of a sudden everybody's fallen off their rockers)

writing domestic stuff is too boring for me... there's gotta be gut-wrenching horrors and drama and tragedy and conflict!

none of this would be PG (which is what I assume you're asking for anyway) I'd just write smut with sprinkles of character studies and a pinch of comedy mayhaps, but I used to do that about 10 years ago and it was so bad. the way I describe these scenes comes off very plump and cringe

I... might. dip my toes into it later this year.

I'll drop a few ideas in the tags... maybe 2 ideas. very roughly. without spoilers, just in case.

[tibby-art]

(rly sorry if I’m asking this on the wrong blog)

I yearn for the convexian hitman au

I’m actually so invested in this story it seems so fun & intresting /gen

I def don’t want u to get burnt out or be forced to do a lot of something at once (/gen) and yet I need more of this au so

are there any ao3 (or other fan fiction websites) fics of this au? I’ve already read the clips of potential fics on ur blog and I loved them!!!!! /gen :]

thank you so much :D

there’s a lot i want to doodle about the au, i have ideas but i’m not good at structuring a story. i’m also my own worst enemy bc sometimes i come up with ideas for like grian powers or something but then i think “what if this is silly.. what if this doesnt make sense..” loll

i’ve been meaning to upload the snippets i’ve written to ao3, but haven’t gotten around to it. for now the best way to find all the chau stuff in one place would be my tag for it on this blog 👍

[cinderellarhea]

people i want to know better!

tagged by @herrmannhalsteadproduction (I love stuff like this thank u for tagging ❤️❤️)

LAST SONG? Live and let die by Paul McCartney (it was in my head bc of this bucktommy spy au fic by @herrmannhalsteadproduction (whaaa who’s that hehe 🥰) which everyone should read!!!! https://archiveofourown.org/works/57261649/chapters/145654609 )

FAVORITE COLOR? PINK 🩷

CURRENTLY WATCHING? I binged all of 911 this summer so then I just…. went back to season 1 and started again 🥰 I’m also rewatching Leverage for the like 1000th time ! Everyone should watch/rewatch leverage in the summer it’s so fun!!!!!

LAST MOVIE? Twister (my sister wanted to see this as a joke and but it was like really good) also. Whenever I watch stuff I ask: Could Destiel do this? The answer for Twister is yes.

SWEET/SPICY/SAVORY? Sweet!!!!!! I love chocolate the most 🩷🍫🍩🍪

RELATIONSHIP STATUS? Single :0 I want a girlfriend sooooo bad is anyone taking applications hahah 😘🏳️‍🌈

CURRENT OBSESSIONS? Im like. Obsessed with 911. Like it’s bad I have it bad. Like Evan Buck Buckley is soooooooo blorbo I’m rotating him in my mind 🫡❤️ I have like …… 124 ao3 tabs open rn. I’m not exaggerating. 😂🥰 also !!!!! Really obsessed with storytelling/story structures rn - I think it’s bc a lot of my students are doing college essays rn and bc I took another writing class this summer ! But I’m just so interested in the movement and flow and structure of stories rn ! Im like usually obsessed with that but I’m working on my own fiction too rn so like the obsession is stronger again!!!!!

LAST THING YOU GOOGLED? Im not 100% sure and when I went to check my tabs it’s just all ao3 so like. Yeah. Idk.

This was fun! Tagging ppl no pressure but if you wanna make one!!! ❤️

@daalcuntynatural @butch--dean @chronicpainnatural @kerryweaverlesbian @ohithankyou @desert--moonchild @kinard-buckley @ily-tothecore @perfectlysunny02 @aspecbuddie

[alchemicourtesy]

HEYEY! glad to see more people into vat7k!!! Would you mind sharing more of the insight n what your perceptions of the characters are? I saw your post about Hugo n Var as well as the involvement with Nuru in the tags and was wondering!!! No pressure ofc <3 also love your art it's REALLY AWESOME !

hi! thank you so much :] im rlly glad ur interested... as new as i am to this story and world i'm still ironing out my own opinions and headcanons and ideas so everything is in a rough place atm but i'd love to talk about what i Do have right now ^^

i'm sort of operating under the idea of what this would look like if it were a tv show rather than a comic only for the sake of structure and me being able to visualize it haha. doesnt mean anything beyond that.

i love the idea of there being 7 kingdoms, 7 alchemic laws, and 7 "lessons" for the characters to learn and id probably divide it through 3 seasons with the last season focusing on either 2 or 1 (heavy emphasis on what would be the "library arc") and allocating the extra "arcs" to s1. but anyways

mainly i like the idea of like. each of the group getting a chance to shine an equal amount. obviously they'd all have something to gain from every lesson but imo id put a particular emphasis on them all getting 2 each to hammer home their development and experiences. i havent ironed out who learns what and its not like...an exact science rn so thats a work in progress

nuru is interesting to me in particular bc i think theres a notable position she is in being a princess and wanting to be hands on. for her character particularly i feel like its important she be able to learn how to care for her subjects and hone the skills she needs for the responsibility she has but also allowing herself to understand herself as a person and an individual without having to sacrifice her duty to her people and her community. too many times i see in media where a character has this huge responsibility and they have to learn to care about and understand Themselves first and while thats important i feel like its not always possible or feasible and also it's hard. it's rlly hard to grapple with both of those things at the same time. and nuru being a princess she Wants to help her people. she Wants to have the responsibility to care for them but she still must learn what that will look like for her specifically and how she can be that person she wants to be without phoning it in or anything.

with yong i saw it was mentioned he has a huge loving family that supports him and wants to see him succeed, but he's just sort of wild and unpredictable in ways i think varian can relate to from when he was younger. there's nothing really "wrong" with yong, but he has to understand and learn balance and control where he struggles with it and that he can be the person he wants to be but there has to be instances where he takes his time and understands that progress isnt linear. which gives varian a good place to act as an older brother figure obviously bc thats shit he himself learned in tts lol

varian's arc Kind of began and ended in tts so i just see vat7k as a way of expanding on stuff he already has learned yet not rlly like. rehashing stuff he should already know

hugo is a little trickier for me bc i think there are a Lot of similarities he shares narratively with eugene (which makes sense given that he was said to have been acquainted with eugene in the past, at least somewhat). they're similar but they're not the Same, so i wouldnt want hugo to just be repeating the same beats that eugene already learned. in my opinion hugo is smug and he thinks somewhat highly of himself, but hes not a bragger. hes not snarky nor will he actively antagonize the group. what reason would he have to? he wants them to like and trust him and i dont rlly see that happening if hes always being a jerk to them haha.

thats all i got for now i think but feel free to ask me abt more stuff if ur interested : )

[theallianceofcelestials]

I know what ur thinking more Arcade with SEA stuff?! nah ur wrong WN turned into Rainworld but add Arcade, Betty, and Totality + Partiality (Dr Rey is a iterator in this random au I made and isn’t mentioned like at all in the small drabble I made) knowledge u should know if ur gonna read this: Pebs rot spread really far and this is before Saint, rot can infect things and has infected most of the things (excluding scavs bc they are very careful to avoid it) around Rey’s superstructure but it hasn’t rooted too deeply into their structure yet, yeah thats my excuse for why no one trusts slugcats or anything else and definitely not scavs bc scavs hate slugpups ever since artificer yippeeeee- and yeah so that’s why Kc in this is like: ‘A h, a living creature. Must be bad, throw spear-‘ at Arcade also don’t mind me tagging Fey bc Betty is here- @morriganfey

—

Thats a strange long legs… it doesn’t have long legs-

The large slugcat’s paws hit the ground with a barely audible thud. His three slugpups clung to his fur and the eldest held a broken in half spear. Eclipse whined as Rusty’s claws snagged on his ear, but that didn’t matter compared to what was… crawling just beyond their hiding spot.

A strange slugcat pawed the ground, and the build and fur of the creature resembled Eclipse, strangely enough. The deep red-black fur with accents of ruby, orange, and yellows were far too similar to his small pup. 

It seemed to not be infected, but with how much has been overtaken by the rot, it is likely that it is despite their appearance. The bulbs of infection could be hidden within the fur instead of visible, even if it was unlikely.

A slight buzz could be heard in the air and Killcode’s head snapped up. A pale, off-white creature that resembled a slugcat glided into the tunnel. This one is obviously not infected, no bulbs in sight and the fur is not thick enough to hide them. 

His eyes shot back to the strange creature and he had to keep himself from yelping a warning to the new creature as its head snapped up and it leaped towards it.

Though he did throw a spear.

The spear hit it in the shoulder instead of the head he was aiming at, but it had the desired effect of the other slugcat being distracted and hitting the ground with a crash far enough away for the strange one to escape.

To Killcode’s distress, it did the exact opposite and squeaked before running towards it and pulling the spear out of its shoulder with a yelp. Two, identical black and white slugpups wiggled out of a hiding spot and ran towards the red one as well. They both squeaked worriedly and jumped around the hurt slugcat as it slowly stood back up.

Eclipse stopped whining quietly to look up and Bloody stopped trying to escape Killcode’s hold and looked up as well. Eclipse squeaked, loud enough for the strange group of creatures to hear.

A dark red face with fiery highlights turned to stare directly into his eyes and he covered his pups defensively, not noticing a decorated scavenger raising an electric spear right behind him.

—

hopefully u enjoyed, bc Rainworld aus like this have rotted my brain for like hundreds of years totally. Though i do apologize bc I was actually tired while writing this so it may be bad

And yes that is 100% an elite scav about to commit a crime

(Kc: artificer | Eclipse + Bm: survivor | Arcade: Hunter without time limit | Betty: idk honestly just give hunter bat wings and take out time limit lol | T+P: survivor)

Man, I love Rain World AUs so much, I should probs write the one we have with Sunray.

Also, dw, it's perfectly juicy and lovable, and I lob it. It is great and fantastic

Rip to Arcade tho, maybe if you looked less terrifying

The slugpups, I can't, I have to

I love slugpups so much and I love this and I lo-

I love Rain World AU, I love this, I love Arcade the not so fishy silly fish amd Betty amd- (I love all and every)

Also, I'm on full board with more Arcade and SEA stuff, I'm more than happy to hear about the silly fish and their adventures

[wecandoit]

Hi everyone! I've been doing this challenge called 30 days of intentionality (30doi) and I thought I'd explain how I'm doing it in case anyone wants to join in! I have no prompts for this one bc it is by nature quite personal.

THE CHALLENGE

Similar to the 30 days of productivity challenge, this one is really open to interpretation. Anyone can do it and mold it however they like, I'm just here to give a little bit of guidance to those who need it.

For me, intentions include 'keeping in good health', 'studying for my dream job', 'working towards my career', 'maintaining and building good friendships'.

If you're unsure about how to format your posts, this is what i include:

- date - intentions (if you make these vague, it's a good idea to elaborate on how you plan to achieve your intentions) - a recommendation (current reads, songs, movies, videos, etc) - reflection - tags with #30doi here's an example of one of my 30doi posts for reference

other notes:

I usually update my post throughout the day, crossing out the stuff I've done and adding in a reflection before bed if i can.

You can do this challenge manually, I sometimes write my intentions down on paper for a few days and then transcribe (you don't have to transcribe)

This challenge should be for you, don't worry about posting consistently, or making your posts pretty. the important thing is that you are being intentional with your day.

Even if you don't physically post or write your intentions, try to think to yourself what they might be each day, and try your best to meet those.

Off-days are okay, in fact, they are what make this challenge a real challenge. if you're just running on the momentum of having had a perfect streak, there's no difficulty in this

Tag your posts under the tag #30doi so that others can see your posts and interact (including me)

if you want a reblog, i track the tag #heydilli which can be used for non-challenge posts too

That's all I can think of for now, but like I said, the 30doi is open to interpretation and i am by no means taking credit for 'creating' the challenge. like i mentioned for the 30dop, i don't really believe these challenges can be created. Below the cut is a rant about intentionality and my reasons for doing this challenge if you want to have a read.

Hope to see your posts and progress, xx dilli 🤍

What is intentionality?

We all know what intentions are—your purpose and meaning behind doing something. Intentionality is bigger, it is "the structure which gives meaning to experience." Intentionality is your capacity to have intentions. Having intentions governs how you perceive every experience you have. Take this example: if your intention for tonight is to wind down and relax, settling down in front of the TV will be viewed as a way to rest, reset, recover. If however, your intention for tonight is finish up uni work, watching TV will be viewed as a way that you procrastinate and avoid doing your work. Your perception of anything, then, is informed by your intentions. Without intentions, anything that you do can seem pointless. I often have a never-ending list of assignments, but if I don't actively intend to do work, watching Youtube all night doesn't seem like a bad thing—after all, it's not like I intended to do anything else with my time.

Why am I doing this challenge?

Lately I find myself moving through my daily routine rather mindlessly. I do a bit of schoolwork here, a bit of mindless scrolling there, but I don't really know why I'm doing these things. I have goals that I'm working towards, but they seem distant and unaffected by my day-to-day choices. In reality, though, the choices that I make every day are what determine whether I reach my goals, where I will be and what kind of person I am in five or ten or however many years. By setting intentions, I will make it clear what I should be doing and why it is important that I do it. The idea is that by merely logging my intentions and results over these 30days, I will subconsciously be predisposed to fulfil those intentions

Read more about intentionality here