#blah blah reminder that this is JUST FICTION and me having fun

[diningchairs]

dewmac thesis? please? for the sake of the people of course

OH BOY, YIPEE!!

i am going to be so annoying, so for all the dewmac enjoyers (hi taylor and katie) and dewmac-curious people, let me explain

some people may ask WHY i ship them and the answer is simple: i am a freak enjoyer, delusional and these are my barbie dolls.

first, i’m gonna go over the lore…which is very limited but when had that EVER stopped me from shipping??

October 30, 2021 - nate goes after dewey after dewey lays a dirty hit on bo byram. they’re both bad at fighting, so it’s funny. love the quote, “down he goes, duhaime on top of him”. (x)

now all the way too

March 7th, 2024 - Brandon Duhaime gets traded to the Colorado Avalanche

March 12th, 2024 - Attack Dog. During a game against the Calgary Flames, Dewey goes after a player who was bothering Nate. NOW THIS IS WHAT I LIKE TO SEE!! That is exactly what you’re supposed to do, Dewey, good boy. Connor McGahey had this say about it in an episode of Peak Access:

“There was a Calgary player who was wacking at Mackinnon and immediately, Duhaime recognized the situation and went to the Flames player and tried to track him down and made sure that he was leaving Nathan Mackinnon alone and then went back on the bench and gave Nathan Mackinnon a little tap on the knee and said, ‘I got you, I got your back’ and that’s the time of player Duhaime is, he’s got you back” (x, 5:53 is the bit about Dewey)

SO FUN, RIGHT?!?!?!!!!

March 30th, 2024 - I have no videos for this but just know that I saw them laughing on the bench together and everything felt right. Now as a Nate supporter first, human being second, I felt very protective over Nate and certain people claiming that he was going to “ruin” Dewey. So when I saw them laughing and having a good time, I was just happy because believe it or not, Nate isn’t some evil person devoid of fun, happiness, and sugar.

April 8th, 2024 - DEWEY’S FIRST GOAL AS AN AV! And guess what… he points to Nate RIGHT after (x)

Okay so now onto my thesis.

Obviously a big reason for shipping them is seeing two freaks and thinking, “ooo, they should fuck nasty” but there’s a little more to the narrative here.

Dewey was traded away from HIS TEAM, from his team that meant to much to him. He even said in the Peak Access episode I mentioned earlier that he was excited to play for Colorado but sad to leave Minnesota. He was also RIPPED AWAY from his best friend, Connor Dewar, who was then ripped away from Minnesota. Not to mention, Dewey was brought here because we needed a physical player for our playoffs roster.

So. Dewey’s now in Colorado, all alone. (Yes, we’ve all seen the arrival and airport photos where he looks miserable, which i’m not denying he wasn’t but also: That’s Just His Face)

And just a few games after being traded, he becomes an attack dog for Nate. And GOD, it was just hot and kind of unexpected?

Dewey takes all of his anger/frustration/sadness from the trade and puts that into defending his new team—especially Nate—by getting physical and going after other players.

In my mind, they’re friends with benefits. And they absolutely know that they are NOT each other’s first choice. But they still fuck nasty. And Dewey was never intimated by Nate at all. He was so pissed from the trade that he just doesn’t GIVE A FUCK. And then he plays with the Avs and is like, “ohhhh okay, I will lay down my life for Nate I guess. Also I want to fuck him to fuck me.” And so he’s using Nate as someplace to put his emotions again.

And Nate is all for it. Another fun thing is that, *slaps Nate*, you can fit so many terrible love situations into this bad boy! Is he fucking Dewey because his love for Sid is unrequited? Is Cale ignoring his texts? Was he reminded of his thing with Tyson Barrie? Or Burky?

More on their relationship dynamic:

So yeah. In conclusion, dewmac nation NEEDS TO RISE because they are so mean and nasty to each other yet they need each other to balance out their emotions from stupid trades and playoffs and other hockey related problems.

I hope you enjoyed! It’s kind of hard for me to explain ship dynamics sometimes because I will just keep rambling. And ships are always evolving in my head as I get more comfortable with writing them.

Okay, now i’m gonna go write something about these freaks

[skitskatdacat63]

Boy King au literally haunts me, I feel like one of those medieval age monks who would receive divine visions, except it's historical au old man yaoi. They just. Live in my head. Constantly. Like I so badly want to draw and write things for them, but it just can't live up to the world that's developed in my head 😭😭 Idk. I just think about them and I'm just lost in it aahsjdkfkfk. Just the whole world of it, and their characterization within it. They are real to me >:)

[ariel26c]

🎀Things I’ve learned about Shifting 🎀

1. Background noise doesn’t matter. I come from a Hispanic family household and let me tell you hun it’s freaking loud as hell. It’s like a zoo lol but guess what? I still shifted. At some point you will start to feel your CR kinda “fade away”. I have been in this state where I am in between my CR and DR. I can hear background noise from my CR but I still feel like I’m in a different room or I hear sounds from my DR as well. Has anyone experienced this?? Let me know, I’m curious 🤨

2. Have patience. Allow yourself to relax and naturally connect to your DR. Don’t stress about having random thoughts or having an itch or things like that. Have patience with yourself like seriously you got this babe. Sometimes for me it’s feels like it’s takes 1 or 2 hours until I feel fully connected to my DR. (It’s different for everyone btw) you may take less time than I do. Those things don’t matter if you decide that those things don’t matter.

3. Methods really aren’t needed. If you think about it all methods consist of the same thing usually. It usually consists of affirmations, visualization, subliminal audios, meditation, counting, blah blah blah. If you want to use a method, then do that but don’t force yourself to do a method that doesn’t resonate with you. If you don’t like counting, then don’t count. If you don’t like visualizing, then don’t visualize. Change things up a bit and listen to music that reminds you of your DR or do something that you think is fun.

4. Just because some people like to lie about their shifting experiences doesn’t mean that shifting is fake. Just like in every community there is going to be people that are dishonest or don’t have the best intentions but that doesn’t mean that shifting is a big inside joke. Don’t allow these people to discourage you from shifting to your DR or make you doubt in its existence. Don’t depend on other people's content to feel motivated or believe in shifting. Just KNOW it’s real and motivate yourself to shift. (even though motivation isn’t needed to shift)

5. Shifting is Real. I think we all should know this by now, but I don’t think people really fully understand just how REAL shifting is. I mean you are going to be able to use all of your senses. You will be able to taste food, see your reflection in the mirror, talk to people that may be considered as fictional in this reality, etc. The process of shifting is safe but if you are shifting somewhere that has violence or gore make sure you script your own well-being. High pain tolerance, no trauma, etc.

6. Time isn't important. Just because it's been 4 years or 5 doesn't mean you can't do it. Time doesn't apply to shifting because time is just man-made thing. We created the concept of time not the Universe. Don't blame the Universe for your "Failure". (Spoiler alert: it's not failure) You just need to realize that no matter what, it will happen. It is completely inevitable. Some people have shifted after 5 years so don't give up! It will be worth it.

7. You can't fail at shifting. When you do your method, you will shift to your DR or shift to your CR. You shift all the time. We are constantly shifting consciously or unconsciously. Manifestation and shifting are very much closely related. (But that's another discussion for another time) Just like how we are manifesting on autopilot we are also shifting on autopilot. So, when you do a sleep method, and you wake up in this reality instead of your DR you still shifted. (Just not to your DR) (Get it?)

I hope you found this post helpful! :)

[marthawrites]

I'm feeling ranty and I'm not even putting this bitch under a read more

Ewan Mitchell is an ACTOR. He's not your friend, boyfriend, celebrity hook up, or even someone you can follow on social media. He's an actor who, assumedly, prefers to live a private life outside of his JOB of acting

Literally everything we know about him from behind the scene stuff from The Last Kingdom and House of the Dragon (I assume more of his projects too but idk) is that he is a lovely person, very kind, and generally a good dude. Like, that's what EVERYONE says

And given all the event content we've seen of him over the last week, all those people who've talked good on his name are correct! He really does seem like a genuinely good dude!

Idk why so many people are (badly) foaming at the mouth about it???

He's an adult who can do whatever he wants. If he wants to wear that, he can. If he wants to go to two different events in the same week he can. If he wants to bombard the media with pretty boy behind the scene sillies, HE CAN

HES AN ACTOR. DOING A JOB. FOR THE BIG STUDIOS HES WORKING FOR. HE PROBS HAS A CONTRACT.

"He's an introvert" "he doesn't like being in the spot light" "he doesn't like interviews" "he just wants to live a quiet life" BLAH BLAH BLAH

You can still be an introvert and have fun at parties. Like wtf. Introverts aren't weird little hermits who live in caves and don't ever have fun

As much fun as I've had seeing Ewan Mitchell content this past week it's also a huge reminder of why I've never dove into fandoms like I have with HotD. People are insane over celebrities. It's gross. It makes me uncomfortable. The way people treat and obsess over celebrities is genuinely ODD and sometimes disturbing behavior

Do I admire and respect Ewan Mitchell? Absolutely. This last week hasn't changed that

BUT at the end of the day this blog is centered around FICTION, reading and writing imaginary stories, and CHARACTERS within their respective universes. I avoid the celebrity bullshit as much as I can. I'm here for the CHARACTERS actors portray

I really enjoy my fandom space here. But wow this last week has really opened my eyes a lot to how people feel about celebrities aside from their acting capabilities

END RANT.

[thranduel]

bg3 is getting popular and the fandom is getting bigger so i’m just gonna say this now lol

i’m already waiting for the astarion hate to begin just because he’s a popular character and the internet always gets mad when someone gets popular lol :/ “he’s so overrated!!!!”, “he’s not even that good”, “he’s horrible and mean”, blah blah blah. he’s a well-written and very complex fictional character with an incredibly talented voice actor that most of us have been excited to see in the full game for the past 3 years. people are allowed to like him. he’s popular for many reasons, not just “wow handsome vampire”. his character tropes are also very popular in fiction and people tend to get drawn to characters like him because they’re interesting, have deep backstories and we want to see redemption arcs. enemies to friends + enemies to lovers are also some of the most well-loved tropes. characters being loved and popular is NOT a bad thing and i don’t know why people get so bitter about it. and fyi this isn’t about people who simply don’t like him for their own reasons, i understand why he might not be everyone’s cup of tea and that’s totally valid, it’s more about people who only randomly started to hate him just because he’s popular

it kinda reminds me of when the internet turned on eddie munson from stranger things. i still can’t get over how everyone immediately switched up on him and hopped on the hate bandwagon just because he became popular. and then it became “trendy” to hate him. people who previously liked him when volume 1 came out totally changed and then started picking out every tiny little flaw just to hate on him. i used to see edits of him everywhere and then it turned into calling him cringe and making fun of anyone who liked him. even cosplayers got hated on and bullied for… having fun? like yeah you might find some things cringe but the way the entire internet bullied these people and enjoyed laughing at them was SO weird to me

again, it’s totally fine for people to dislike certain characters and have their own opinions. but ONLY hating on them just because they’re popular and then trying to guilt trip/make people feel like idiots for liking them is so weird

[gofancyninjaworld]

I've been really annoyed at a lot of takes I see on Reddit and couldn't put my finger on why, but today I realized it's because they have a lot of snobbery towards shounen and assume ONE is making fun of every element of it. which I don't think is true. he pokes fun for sure, but I see a lot of "he's deconstructing the shallow shounen trope of blah blah and ridiculing it" which feels excessively mean. Most of the time someone presents the trope being "deconstructed," it's something shounen already handles with nuance. So it's extra annoying because it sounds like people who don't actually read shounen and just assume everything in OPM is ridiculing it. OPM is definitely subversive, but idk. It reminds me of how people who read "real literature" scoff at YA fiction as if there's no way it could ever tackle nuanced themes. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. I guess I just dont wanna think of ONE as being so petty and snobby. What do you think? Maybe i'm too sensitive

Talk about a late, late reply. Sorry!

It's a good observation. I'm not the right person to talk about shonen in detail because I tend to dip in and out of individual titles so there's a lot of nuance I do miss, but you're right, people who dislike a genre tend to lump all its tropes together into an undifferentiated mass.

A slight digression as I introduce you to Boulet, a fantastic French comic strip artist, has a splendid comic collection online (https://english.bouletcorp.com/). Sadly, I'm unable to find the specific strip I have in mind but in it he's imagining how vastly different films would feel if you just kept the camera rolling a little longer. So we get to the aftermath of the Ewoks's victory and see these cute critters dragging the corpses of the Stormtroopers away, mocking some of them... really changes the feel of it. The thing that's different about ONE's handling of shonen tropes in One-Punch Man isn't that he deconstructs them per say -- he loves shonen stories and really has put a lot of thought into how they work -- it's that he keeps the camera rolling. What happens then? So what? What happens as a result? And then? That's what makes it feel like a deconstruction and also serves as the springboard for its seinen genre...

More seriously though, One-Punch Man isn't a parody at its heart: it has a lot of parodic elements but its focus isn't a genre -- it's got bigger things to tackle. ONE does remind me of Terry Pratchett in a way: the Discworld series may have started out as parodies of common fantasy tropes but they quickly outgrew that purpose and the stories became much richer explorations of various aspects of human nature, all while staying fantastic and funny.

I tend to say that ONE parodies heroes -- he loves the weird, contradictory, earnest people who step forward when everyone else avoids trouble and there's a lot of affection for them even as he pokes fun at some of the silliness the superhero genre has thrown up. He satirises corporate culture, and there's a lot of horror that's just put out there without comment for the smart reader to notice and piece together.

It does get annoying when there's fans who claim it can all be understood at a high level and that it needs must be a zero-sum game: if you like OPM, you must disparage the 'standard shonen'. Fortunately, one can simply... ignore the fools. I know I do!

Life is short. You won't stay young forever -- unproductive discourse is something to cut hard and early out of one's life!

[glorified-red]

Do you only read fan fiction or do you also read books?

Like irl?

Made from paper?

Made from trees?

Sorry, I just wanted to remind you of what a real book was like considering it seems like all u do is read (and write) smutty fan fiction

/j

The funniest part about this is I actually rarely read smut :P

I also don't really reach much fanfiction funnily enough. I just don't got the time. Whenever I do have time to read fics, it's usually hurt/comfort or whump related. Smut is only when my mutuals send me stuff.

Which is why we're gonna ignore the Mando smut fics I reblogged earlier 🤭

Plus, I'll always support my other writers on here so I'll read a quick fic whenever I can but it's mostly when I'm sent them or tagged in them.

As for real life books? I think you guys forget I'm an English major sometimes 😂 I have to read books. I'm literally in a nationally funded dictionary project where I have to read Samuel Johnson's dictionary. Do you know how big that thing is???

I have to read Shakespeare, Jane Austen, blah blah blah classic blah blah blah whatever. Hate it.

I actually annotate books for fun tho on my downtime. I have a few books I bought from the library the other day that I burned through and now I gotta go back and get more. I still have to finish annotating a book for a friend ☠️

I was raised on paper books broski. Enough that whenever I go to the library my mom gives me book allowance. Because she always says "no kid of mine is going to spend their money on books, they'll spend my money."

She gets sad when I come home with new books and I forgot to use her credit card. It's actually kinda funny.

[danpuff-ao3]

The Making of: Obscene

For something that is only 1,864 words, Obscene was hell to write.

2022 Kinkuary. Day 23: A/B/O.

After my great accomplishment during 2021 Kinktober (7 works in one month, not bad!!) I was determined to write for Kinkuary. (Spoiler: I only managed 2 works that month.) (Still not too shabby, tbf.)

I had a handful of ideas, all jotted down in a notebook. Of them all, the 2 I completed were my top priorities. The first was The Alchymist II....which is a story in of itself. But that work was a rewrite and repost of a previously deleted fic.

Obscene was new. And while I retain complicated feelings towards The Alchymist series, Obscene is...special.

For one, I really love a/b/o stories, and I'd been wanting to write one. I was also, oddly, scared to write one.

There is a lot of great commentary on the potential of a/b/o stories, with a lot of worldbuilding and as a statement of real life issues. It's valid commentary, and I do love a good a/b/o story that delves into all of that juicy potential.

But I'm not gonna lie to you. I really love the smut.

I love the animalistic urges. I love the dubcon (if not outright noncon) vibe of it. I love the weird biology. I love the built in excuse for mpreg.

And I'm really, really, really into...well...bodily fluids.

I looooove me some bodily fluids in stories. I love the grossness. I love a good mess. I was drooling at the thought of just fully leaning into all the fun bits of a/b/o, or what I really enjoy in them. But let me not get too explicit here. You can read the fic itself for that.

But that drive is what really drove the whole story. And it really gave me my opening:

Never has Severus been so wet outside of heat. 

It’s humiliating; obscene.

There were a few pressures at play. For one, never really having written a/b/o and feeling that people would have expectations of it. How many times I reminded myself it's a fictional construct in a fictional story and I could do whatever the heck I wanted! Secondly, the worry of writing "yet another a/b/o porn." Again: reminder to self, you can write whatever you want. If people want an in-depth exploration of society and biology and blah blah they can do it themselves. Three: the "deadline."

For reference, daily prompt events don't usually have a hard rule about posting on the prompt day. That is primarily my OCD brain being ultra particular and restrictive. I did, in fact, miss the prompt day. Day 23 was a/b/o day. This fic went up on Day 28. But since Day 28 was "free day", I didn't beat myself up too hard over it!

Lastly...I decided to gift this fic to LilaDiurne.

Which presented a whole host of other concerns. Gifting fics can be so scary! Especially when you're gifting works to such a gifted writer. Even more so because Lila has a fabulous a/b/o of her own, Brighter Than Bright. I know Lila enjoys a/b/o, and I knew she wouldn't mind some good a/b/o smut, but...well. I was still daunted.

There were aspects of the story I worried wouldn't be to her liking. I worried the end product wouldn't be good enough. Endless worries and second guessing. But it mattered to me to write this story. And it mattered to me to gift it to a friend.

Every word was hard won. Stress, I find, is very detrimental to my creative process.

And...well...I can admit one last issue. Aside from the stress, when I'm personally...well...into smut, it becomes a challenge to write. Normally because I'm overheated and panting at the screen. How embarrassing!

So...stress + breaks to be horny. A winning combination for the Struggle Bus.

Eventually I completed the dang thing. And edited it to death. And posted it and crossed my fingers that Lila wouldn't hate me or judge me for it. (Silly of me, really. I'm sure she'd have appreciated it even if she hadn't liked the story.)

That Lila did like it was a huge relief to me!

That so many other people liked it, well...that was a shock. A very happy one!

Any fic doing well is great, but especially one you've pulled hair out over! Makes the whole ordeal feel like it was worth it all, in the end.

[sugar-omi]

hi! I keep seeing stuff about mechats (online, ads, etc) but I have no idea what it is and im kinda scared but mostly intrigued??

LOL I GET IT!!! if it helps, its literally like a dating app. although no one is creepy (to an extent. there are some INTERESTING characters)

n no one can really reject you? like, you may not match once. but you may match again? or you can force it by hitting the "crown" icon and force a match with whoever you see is getting a game update or is new. or you can change your likes!

because like i said, its like a dating app. so if you say pick everything but "spicy" you may not match with characters whose storyline, like glenn, is reallyyyy sexual. but if you do pick it, you'll most likely/definitely will match with them!

again, you can always keep swiping right on em, n you'll match eventually so you don't have to be all sneaky abt choosing preferences n blah blah blah. but yeah, that's how the matching system works to my understanding. but don't quote me!!🙅🙅 bc i'd hate to be wrong n get flack 💀

eta, i'm looking at the wiki n apparently there are some you can't match with??? i've never seen that before. but it says something about how the game hasn't uploaded storylines for them yet. so. just in case you run into them, there's that info apparently.

OH AND THERE'S A WIKI!! IF YOU WANNA SEE WHATSUP W THE CHARACTERS

they have counterparts n stuff, so if someone isn't your type.. see if they have a counterpart. most of them do. the storyline is the same though! can even switch em half way through...

IF YOU DO PLAY. I HIGHLYYY RECCOMMEND ZAOS VALCAN. (/lewis hill /dejerius lane)

he's so sweet. so cute. amazing... it starts off very cute, n youre friends for a bit. you meet on a video game n a lot of his pictures n dates are fantasy like, n he's so romantic n he's just a amazing... i need him to get an update QUICKLY. I MISS MY POOKIE <///3

or if you're a freak, i highly rec glenn hobbs (/niles robinson) for all your freaky, and non-committal (eventually committal) needs

OR IF YOU'RE A REALLL FREAK. AND A DOM. I REC ARCHIBALD (/ravi /thiago) i refuse to elaborate. just know... that's where the master/servant cake is. and i fucking love it.

oh n i think at the beginning, when signing up, you can filter out the 18+ storylines?? so you won't get NSFW? it's been a long time, but i'm looking at the wiki n it just reminded me.

but there's a whole bunch of characters!!! you can check the "matches > storyline" part of the wiki, to see whats up, see what troupes there are that you might like.

i've browsed the mechat reddit sub briefly for information on different things, so idk how it is over there. but that's a thing too..

i swear its a fun app, had me kicking my feet n squealing n blushing n shit. its so cute n so fun n so good ok trust me

ANYWAY IM RAMBLING. I FEEL A BIT CRAZY W ALL THIS YAPPING ABT A FICTIONAL DATING APP... BUT.... ANYWAY. IF I GOT U EXCITED ABT IT, YOURE WELCOME. HAVE FUN.

OR IF YOU, OR ANYONE, HAS ANY MORE QUESTIONS.. IM HAPPY TO ANSWER.

[aithusarosekiller]

So you rated Evan in fics, but can we see a similar review for Barty?

Btw, hope you’re okay with the covid :)

YES

(And I'm not brilliant but I'm not dead so that's good haha)

Gonna do the same fics as the Ev one bc I'm fucking lazy

Again it isn't on how well developed they are, it's how much I love them blah blah blah

1) Choices. I'm sorry, he's funny and loyal to his friends and everything but like...you can see how he's difficult to like after what he did sooo...if he hadn't done that, maybe he would be a little bit higher because he's kinda fun as a character to read. He's also gonna be one of the only characters who doesn't die so that gets some extra girlboss points. His character was done really well but you can see where I'm coming from.

2) Carpe Noctem. I do love him, I do...but I know he's not been perfect and he has definitely done something in the past, probably to do with Sirius, I have ideas but that does have to take away some loml points.

3) Larded With Sweet Flowers. Yes, I am rating my own characterisation in the lower half but I still love the version I wrote, he's just a little bit too much of a dumb himbo sometimes and I am not going back and changing it because I love that for him but sometimes I write something he is saying or thinking and just want to drown him. He is very indecisive and as much as I love him...A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH IS NOT AN INCONVENIENCE! I do love him though. He's a stupid bitch but he's my stupid bitch.

4) The Filth. Mmm, we're getting into proper 'canon could never' area now. This vers is very <3 he's just a horny little bastard and I love that for him. He deserves the world. And all those dicks he's lusting after for 15k words, of course. I love him <333

5) Tell Me Pretty Lies. This was almost number 6 because I can't decide and 5 seems too low for the both of them so I forced myself to pick one over the other and almost screamed doing so. Anyway, I adore him so much. Protective friend and boyfriend? Perfect. The whole 'I love you but you were a bitch <3' thing was perfect. Just...I love him so much, I can't actually describe it. He also has excellent taste in potential sexual and romantic partners so like...that makes it even better. Love a man with taste.

6) Drugs And Surgical Scrubs. What do you mean you can't marry a fictional character? Okay, I've already said this was almost a tie but I had to pick this Bar because he has that 'loveable bitch you can't get rid of' energy and I live for that. I eat that the fuck up. He's like that one mother in the back of a primary school production that will just stand up and give an aggressive thumb-up whenever their child says a line or walks on stage but will then snap at other parents who d the same thing for 'getting in their way'. That is what he reminds me of and I love it.

7) When You Were Mine. I DON'T KNOW EITHER, WE BARELY SEE THE POOR GUY BUT I STILL LOVE HIM OKAY?! It's the way he's just so nice and he genuinely cares and I just AAA, I have an emotional attachment for no reason. He's just so sweet I can't function. There's something about him I just love and I don't know how to word it.

[khaleesiofalicante]

I’m newish here so sorry if you’ve answered this before but — how do you go about writing OCs? (You just do it so well, and I’m incredibly jealous!)

All of the creative writing classes I’ve taken stressed the importance of character sheets, but I find that when I go that route the characters feel flat and overall blah. Just no pizzazz.

BUT if I free-ball it, I have to constantly keep going back through my writing to double check that the character is consistent. Which is also frustrating.

I started doing Pinterest boards to help, but curious how others do it.

Hello!

This is a tough one to answer. Oof.

I think consistency is not something you should aim for. People are not that consistent in real life, are they? I think what you can focus on is whether the character feels right. Focus on whether the character feels real. Sometimes characters might be consistent, but they might not feel real. They might feel too fictional or too well written, if you know what I mean. It helps to think that you are not building a character. You are building a person. An actual person. So, don't try to make it perfect. Making a person is hard af.

Developing OCs is literally like raising a child. You literally have to create them from scratch and watch them grow little by little.

If ask myself "what would (insert OC name) do?" in a particular situation, at the beginning of my development process, I might not have a clear answer. But the more I work on these characters, the more I understand them and the better I get at answering this question.

I think "understanding my OC" is basically just thinking about. A lot. But instead of focusing on our typical characterisation like "what are their strengths" or "who is their favorite author" or "what is their signature weapon" - I like to dig a little deeper.

What is their favourite Taylor Swift Album? Do they like pineapple on their pizza? Who was their favorite avenger? What is their sleeping position? If I were to introduce them to my parents, what would my parents think (this was a fun one - my mom loved Rafael but hated Max lol).

I also find that playlists help. Not songs that remind you of the character. But songs the character listen to. For example, when I write Max pov or I am trying to figure out aspects of his character, I listen to a lot of 80s rock, because that's what he would be listening when he is trying to focus. It helps me get into his head a little better.

I hope this helps you! I am still figuring out this whole thing myself. But it so much fun and very exciting.

Sending you a lot of inspiration!

[idreamtofmanderleyagain]

Finally finished the new Star Wars trilogy. This is not going to be a deep take, because I don’t care all that much to spend to much energy on deep analysis for it right now. Here’s my thoughts:

In regards to the films themselves, It was okay. it was fun. Last Jedi was overall the most narratively compelling one, Force Awakens was the most fun, “star wars-y” of the three. ROS did kinda suck. Had some cool bits anyway. Finn is a great character. Rey is an okay character who they mishandled in ROS. Reylo is mostly fine, severely underdeveloped by the last act, with a few personal caveats that I don’t feel like hashing out. But it’s not particularly for me. It’s pretty standard faire imo. I get why some found Driver’s Kylo compelling, because the performances from the three of them were consistently solid and emotionally evocative. That said, in the writing I think they pretty consistenly failed to really nail what they wanted to do with him as a character and thus his overall arc suffered for it, no matter what role you want to place him in by the last act.

In regards to the fandom, I’m kind of appalled by the scale of the toxic bullshit considering how ultimately kind of blah and unimportant these films are. I don’t think there’s any real substantial social commentary in them either, but with the way people talked about it, I expected that to be there. It just wasn’t, not really, because shock of all shocks, the people making it were trying to make Star Wars blockbusters to get the most people into seats and to sell toys and merch to children.

In regards to the hot button issue of Kylo and Reylo, honestly I just don’t care. It’s fine and people are fine if they want to like it. It’s nowhere near as bad as some make it out to be on the “abuse” front imo. There’s room for that criticism but I’m just not particularly moved by that take overall, I don’t think it gets to define everyone’s perspective. You’re also fine if it’s not for you or if you don’t like Kylo, or if he reminds you of things that make you uncomfortable. I personally wasn’t comfy with his consistent rage outbursts, but that’s me.

IMO, if you just cannot stop yourself from publicly raging about how you think that Kylo/Reylo fans are garbage because for you, he’s this irredeemable abuser and the girls who like him are badwrong and/or asking to be abused, and/or you really like making and rebloging hate posts and going into stranger’s inboxes because you get a fucking kick out of it, then lol you in this case might actually be the one behaving like an asshole. This is infinately more true if you otherwise engage in fandoms for villains (like Loki, Zemo, Spooky White Man #547, or if you follow my fucking Hellraiser blog where I stan Pinhead for christsake). You aren’t special and I don’t trust people who act one way and then say something else. Fix your shit.

If you think fans of color taking a critical look at the dynamics of Finn’s involvement and fandom’s response to Finn vs. Kylo and their ships with Rey is the same as the above, and therefore you are prone to throwing tears and melodramatics around every time it pops up, then you might be the asshole. You don’t get to decide the context for people of color, and you’re just going to have to live with it if in this case what fictional content you like might make people with different experiences respond negatively. This is a standard critical analysis of any major popular piece of media that needs to happen. Just calm down, absorb what people said, and enjoy what you enjoy while keeping that critical eye in mind when it comes to HOW you engage. ffs. Fix. Your. Shit.

Just as an example regarding all arguments surrounding this, I find a lot of old James Bond movies to be hella sexist. I cannot watch them with the same context that my boyfirend can. Sometimes I have fun, sometimes I argue with the screen (and that can be fun). That doesn’t mean he’s automatically a huge sexist for enjoying them. Furthermore, he’s enough of an adult to listen to me talk about what my context is, and respect and understand where I’m coming from. Sometimes he’s already aware of the issue. Sometimes I have a perspective he never considered. We can sit and talk about the dynamics of this without making eachother miserable, because we do not tie our entire identities to our enjoyment (or lackthereof) of James Bond.

Star Wars is so fucking dumb, ya’ll. I don’t know why everyone regresses into screaming children over it. Kylo is not that important. The idea of attaching this much caustic emotional energy to arguing about this relatively okay work of fiction and this one dude who’s mostly derivative of other dudes like him, and whether it’s okay or not if the one mostly derivative girl heroine can fuck him in other people’s daydreams... is just...astronomically unbelievable to me. Go sit somewhere quiet and enjoy some hot soup.

[aflyingcontradiction]

The Magnus Archives Relisten: Episode 89 - Twice as Bright

Jon: Right. But no more abattoir metaphors, please. Jude: Suppose it’s not really me, is it?

Yeah, too Fleshy.

Jon: I just have a few questions. Did you burn down a section of Gwydir Forest last year? Jude: Not alone, but yes. You should have seen how devastated they were, such a loss. Jon: I’m sure the Forestry Commission were mortified. Why? Jude: Stop that! And it was because Nikola Orsinov asked us to.

Jon doesn't even know what he's doing and Jude is getting all bristly, like a scared cat hissing.

Jon: I just… er, you were a friend of Agnes Montague, correct? Jude: She’s not one of your little stories. Jon: According to the statement of Jack Barnabas, she very much is.

Anyone going to throw things at me if I say "Oooh, burn!" in this context? Because, this is very much an Ooooh burn sort of situation.

Jon: Yes, yes, I understand, you could easily kill me, I’m at your mercy, blah, blah, blah. I have heard it before. And from things much scarier than you.

Jeez, Jon, where's all THIS coming from all of the sudden? Man, I wish I ever went from 'exhaustedly done with the world's shit' to 'I'm giving the world its shit right back!' like that!

Jude: Are you trying to talk me into killing you? If I wanted, I could reach through your chest like runny wax, and hold your heart while it cooked. No-one would even notice, if I didn’t give you time to scream.

Oh god, I love Jude. Every other avatar we've met is all quiet menace until they go full-monster and even then they're just 'JooOoon, coming to fiiiiind youuuu'. And here's Jude just CHEWING the goddamn scenery with relish, cutting things asunder with her edge. I've said this multiple times to people while discussing TMA but Jude is just basically the navy seal copypasta of avatardom and I'm enjoying her so much right now!

Jude: Hard to say. When I look at you I feel that burning liquid pain, eager to flow out and purify your rotten carcass, but I feel that a lot. Jon: Oh. M-More or less than normal? Jude: Hard to say when every nerve ending’s on fire. Hard to tell degrees. Jon: Third degree, maybe?

I cannot tell you which of the two I want to squeal at more right now. I adore this entire dialogue so much.

Jude: Oh please, your god is nothing! The Eye, Beholding, Ceaseless Watcher, whatever you call it, that’s all it does, it watches and knows, sitting bulbous and comfortable in the ignorance of infinite knowledge. I serve a reckoning, a surging tide of destruction and pain.

Okay, but you still react like a cat that's been sprayed with water whenever Jon asks you a question, Jude, love, you're not fooling anyone...

Jude: The unfathomable contest of eternal forces is not the only reason I might want someone dead.

This is important right here. Obviously the idea that avatars are still their own people, regardless of the Entity they serve, became really obvious somewhere along the line, but at this point in my first go I was still basically thinking in terms of "Hm, well, this power and that power interact in this way... wait, that makes no sense..." and sort of discounting that it's not always ABOUT the powers, despite how obvious that was!

Jon: Statement of Jude Perry, regarding… some advice.

Jon just vacillates wildly between fear and being so DONE with Jude's bullshit and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Jude: The pain is sensational. You feel your flesh cooking, your nerves screaming out as they die exquisitely. Your whole body changes texture as you become that which feeds the fire. In that agonising, beautiful transformation, you can feel it ignite again and again and again.

Okay, now she's just making self-immolation sound tempting...

It was Agnes, of course. I don’t know where she found me, I only remember sitting in a booth with a beautiful young woman who smelled like matches and incense.

Well, someone's certainly smitten...

And with each act of glorious, hateful destruction, I felt my god’s love embrace me, consume me, give me life. Any feelings of pity or mercy I might have had for the poor woman I fed from were cauterised.

Ah, come on, like they existed to need cauterising in the first place...

And so I ended it. For all the agony and pain on Gretchen’s face, she didn’t seem surprised when I doused myself in kerosene and set it alight. I think she screamed. She must have screamed.

Tbh, Gretchen may have been traumatised for life but Jude seems to have lost interest in her after, so that was probably fucking lucky for poor Gretchen here.

Jon: Michael? (...) Corridors, weird limbs, laughs like a… headache? Jude: What? No. He’s pale, got a big, weird scar. Smells of, um… Jon: Oh, ozone! Jude: Yeah, that’s the one. Hangs around with the Fairchilds sometimes.

I love that the podcast is lampshading the fact that they've got two recurring characters named Michael (AND one Mikaele on top but at least he's usually referred to by his last name). I wonder at what point Johnny went "Whoops, I may have created a confusion." (I mean, not that it's unrealistic, my UK friend group-and-adjacent-people had enough Andrews, Johns and Matts that they basically all ended up with weird nicknames but it's just a bad idea to have identical names in fiction.)

Jude: Come on. It won’t hurt. (...) I lied. Jon: - SCREAMING IN INCREASING AGONY -

I mean, first of all, duh, yeah, OF COURSE SHE LIED! But also, Johnny is not a bad actor. The scream reminded me a little of that one time that my partner managed to scald a hand with boiling water while making tea (one of the worst sounds I've ever heard, incidentally, would like to not hear that again.)

My impression of this episode

First of all, I adore Jude. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean I'd be friends with her (I mean, duh, she was despicable as a human being and is now a fully devoted servant of the Entity-of-torment-and-loss, having near-orgasms over the idea of making people suffer, so...) but as a character she's just so beautifully over the top! It's fun! And Jon's interaction with her is incredibly interesting because, well, this may be the first time that Jon meets anything Entity-adjacent that is actually afraid of HIM (and yeah, Jude may be putting on a tough act, but she seems fucking terrified.) That was just really fun to watch, to be honest. A little bit of ... vicarious power fantasy, perhaps, at least until Jude turns the tables again. This was just a really enjoyable episode!

[popculturebuffet]

Amphibia: Night Drivers/Return to Wartwood Review “Many Happy Returns”

Hello you happy people. And Amphibia is back and that means my reviews are back! As for why this reviews a bit late despite it leaking, I wanted to wait for today, and long story short both focused on finishing a review that WASN’T time senstive, instead of finishing it Sunday, and overestimated how much time i’d have to do two reviews on a day that included my first covid shot, grocery shopping, helping mom clean the car, and my friend coming over to watch Judas and the Black Messiah. Excellent film by hte way, as was the Sound of Metal which we watched after. Point is I done goofed and I will try to at the very least actually get the reviews of the episodes out on the same day they come out. 

But slip up or not i’m happy to be back in the saddle, and back to Wartwood. I’m pumped for the heavier second half, with more secrets to uncover, some zelda style temple action, and some heavy drama with just a whiff of keith david, as well as to see the supporting cast from Wartwood again after far too long. So how’d the mid-season premire pair fair? Join me under the cut to find out. 

Night Drivers: I was really excited by the Road Trip idea when first announced for season 2. A chance to expand the world and get the plantars out of their comfort zone was an amazing concept and it did lead to some really great stories and interesting locales.. mixed with episodes that had interesting locations but no interesting plot or character stuff. It was a mixed bag, and disappointing after close to a year’s wait to continue the plot that it really didn’t outside of “Toadcatcher”. Anne never really dealt with her trauma and the show never dealt with hop pop’s poularity or anything else. Again there were GOOD episodes and ideas but it felt like the show stalled for a good chunk of the season till we got to Netwopia which while still having tons of slice of life stuff felt a lot fresher with it, and had a lot more fun playing with stock plots and gave us a fresh new setting to dig into. 

So I was a bit hesitant to go back to the road for an episode.. even if it was just one episode. Thankfully I was very wrong there as Night Drivers was a pretty good episode and would fit well among the best of the road trip arc like “Truck Stop Polly” “Fort in the Road” “Anne Hunter” “Toadcatcher” and “Wax Museum”.

The plot is straightforward: Sprig and Polly are excited that their almost home to wartwood and if Anne and Hop Pop drive all night they’ll be there by morning. Polly will get pillbug pancakes and Sprig will see Ivy again. This is part of a long tradtion of “skiping over the journey home because we’re tired and we wanna go home” in fiction. Jokes aside it’s a resonable device used to prevent ending fatigue and in this case to free up episodes for the second half. We already saw the journey once, we usually don’t need to see it again. To Amphibia’s credit they have valid reasons for it: The journey is LITERALLY sped up, as Hop Pop and Anne have been driving for 20 hours straight.. and their on a timer. As was established last time.. well the last time that wasn’t a spooky halloween episode, The Plantars have to get back for the harvest and really don’t have time to sightsee, while they all have to be there for whenever Marcy comes back to take Anne to the first temple. They’ve also traveled these roads before so while their going a whole other directoin, they know what perils to avoid. 

But as anyone whose taken a long cartrip can tell you, you can’t shotgun it forever and the two eventually tap out with Hop Pop telling Sprig and Polly not to night drive as it’s dangerous and blah blah blah standard parental warning that will be swiftly ignored. So once Hop Pop and Anne are conked out they swiftly ignore it after we get their dreams.. which are the best gags of the episode: Hop Pop has a dream with weird, really cool looking monsters that represent his faults, only for it to turn Lucid and him to start flying and take his shirt off and whip it around Muscle Man style. 

While Anne’s is about a yogurt world where there’s only one flavor... BLACK LICORICE. Yeah it quickly turns from Shopkins to the Lich From Adventure Time really fucking quick. 

So while Anne has a nightmare and Hop Pop becomes unto a god, Sprig and Polly drive all night, repreadtly running into a creepy hitchiker and realizing it is as dangerous as they said with bolders, even worse creatures than usual because of course theye’d be a lot of nasty things lurk in the dark why wouldn’t they on froggy death world, a nightmarish fog and nearly dying on said foggy road they took to evade the hitchiker. Naturally the scary hook handed hitchiker.. is a friendly one, simply trying to help them and saving them from going over a cliff. They do make it three miles from Wartwood and Hop Pop wakes up angry to find they disobeyed him.. but Anne gets him to back off as they clearly learned their lesson from the sleep deprviation and nearly dying, and our heroes head for home. 

Night Drivers isn’t an exceptional episode, but it is decent and still does belong with the other good road trip episodes, with some good dream sequences and a nice dynamic between Sprig and Polly. It was nice to have an episode with the two that was good unlike Quarallers Pass which made me want to run full speed into my nearest wall until I was given the sweet gift of unconciousness. While the Hook Handed man thing was a bit obvious it lead to some great gags. It’s a nice breather after the tearjerking mid-season finale and while we’ve obviously had months and a haloween episode between that, the creators rightfully realized a lot of people will be binging the series in the future. The issue I had with the first quarter of the season was it was ALL break and only a little plot progression. Here we’ve had a lot of plot progression in the last episode chronlogically, and are going to have a lot in the coming episodes with ‘After the Rain” coming next week. It’s nice to take a break and see the forest for the hook handed ghosts.

Return to Wartwood: I was excited and terrified of this one. I was excited because I missed the supporting cast from season one, mostly Ivy and Maddie, and was delighted to see them again in full. But I was also worried the show might pull out a melancholy breakup plot and having gotten attached to Ivy/Sprig and Hop Pop/Sylvia I was worried. And I was delightfully wrong as instead it’s another breather episode and an utterly fantastic one after the simply decent one above. 

Our heroes return, without being drawn by rob liefield or replaced by the Squadron Supreme first, and are happily greeted by the town. Aformentoined fears died a happy death as Sylvia squeezes Hop Pop and as for Sprig, Ivy unsuprisingly ambushes him. Everyone’s back and the Mayor, who I also badly missed is back using Toadie as a gong to get everyone back to buisness, with Swampy inviting them for a big dinner at his diner that night to celebrate and welcome them back.. and to give out their gifts. 

Sprig and Anne are equally confused while Polly and Hop Pop are sweating bullets. Turns out when they got the Fwagon they agreed to get a bunch of stuff for the town and forgot and now everyone’s on the hook for it and want to lie their butts off to solve it. In a nice show of character development, Anne has learned that the lying never solves anything “I think we’ve learned that lesson by now”. After SO many plots of the characters lying and it going terribly, it’s nice to have someone speak up. Sprig also wants to lie but only becuase he’s deeply afraid Ivy will break up with him as she wanted a Red Sun shell to go with the blue moon shell she gave him. Awwww. And oh crap. 

So our heroes head home to plan and kick Chuck out (“I grew tulips”). So they do the natural thing... and decide to summon an edltich beast from the necronomicon... which of course Maddie gave Sprig as a present (”Aww that’s nice”. Agreed Polly, agreed.). I also can’t help but love the line “We’re all cull with practicing the dark arts to solve our problem right?” So our heroes get the proper summoning horn, thing to go with the horn and some candles.. i’ts not part of the ritual but Anne says it helps with ambience and it’s right. 

So our heroes summon the Chikalisk, an edltich god that’s naturally basalisk in all but name, which dosen’t attack unless attacked and goes after gold. So they fake some golden presents, and the beast attacks at the party.. but the town naturally fights back, and our heroes are forced to help fight the monster as it stonifies people. So we get a truly glorious battle sequences as the whole town shows off how badass they are, with Maddie curing people, Sylvia showing she can keep up with Hop Pop and Ivy showing her already established badass bonafieds. It’s just awesome. Also the Mayor uses Toadie as a shield not realizing he’s turned to stone which can only remind me of this. 

Once the townsfolk are freed they get into Chickalisk formation (”We have a formation for that?” “We have a formation for everything!”) And it’s offended enough to just nope out. The townsfolk are depressed though the presents got destroyed and Anne glares the family into coming clean. And while the mayor seems mad at first... he just laughs with everyone taking it in stride: It was boring without them getting into trouble and learning lessons every week, and they missed them.  Ivy likewise dosen’t care about a gift she just missed her boyfriend.. and asks Sprig to take her on a proper date and smooches him on the cheek leaving both him and Anne catatonic, with Polly dragging Anne away and sprig just falling over before Maddie hits him with the potion. It dosen’t work that way, end episode. 

Return To Wartwood was a standout episode, with tons of great jokes, pacing and a nice plot that showed growth in anne. While Night Drivers was decent, this was the show at it’s : Sweet, deranged and adventurous all in one episode. While Night Drivers was a good appitizer this was one hell of an entree. Or an appetizer sampler which I often use as an entree. Great episode and a nice high note to start on. 

Next Time: We get an Ivy focused episode!

And Hop Pop is finally forced to own up to his lies!

As the twin kermits sooth you if you liked this review, follow me for more, check the amphibia tag for more reviews from this season and join me on patreon. If I get another patreon, i’ll add reviewing season 1 to my 25 dollar stretch goal so look out for that and my next one at 20 dollars, only 5 dollars away, nets a monthly review of a darkwing duck episode. Check it out and i’ll see you at the next rainbow. 

[sapphosboy]

I like Tumblr so much more. Everyone on Instagram & Twitter is being so bitchy about the Destiel confession and them becoming canon. Like let me be fucking happy that this happened!! This was really big!! And people who’ve either never seen the show or haven’t watched in years are calling it homophobic? Need I remind you that it’s not “super mega hell” They literally just sleep for eternity, it’s just not existing. He died, there’s no heaven or hell situation. Besides, he would’ve gone there after he died no matter the circumstances. Now, I will admit there have definitely been homophobic moments in the show (just one example is Charlie dying. Yes I will forever be pissed.) but this was not one of them. Castiel going to the Empty after that confession was not a homophobic moment. It was something the show prepared us for in season 14. We all knew that it was coming, but we didn’t know what would make him happy. Him being open about his feelings and finally understanding what true happiness was is a big deal. That moment (and I don’t just mean the love confession) was a huge moment for Castiel, it was a beautiful scene. I hate seeing people trash talking about it. Even if you didn’t like the scene why do you feel the need to make people who did like it feel shitty? Destiel literally became canon, you can try to interpret the scene like it’s not, that’s your own decision, but don’t @ people who are happy right now about it. Also people are shitting on Dean, calling him “homophobic“? I’m sorry but for the past 15 years you all have been talking nonstop about how he is a repressed closeted bisexual. He is literally a repressed closeted bisexual character. Dean also deals with some of the most intense self-loathing I’ve ever seen in a fictional character (aside from Bojack Horseman) and Cas even addresses that. Cas literally challenged the entire way Dean views himself, and tells him that everything Dean does he does out of love. Then Cas straight up confessed his feelings. Dean, a bisexual character dealing with internalized homophobia and deep rooted self loathing, was told that by someone who means everything to him, while the world literally was ending, and then had to watch them die right in front of him.  I’m just tired of seeing people these past two days shit on a show that means a lot to so many people. People being happy about this scene should not affect you. So if you still disagree with everything I just said, don’t comment. I come onto Tumblr to be happy. The world is fucking crazy enough and I just wanna be surrounded by people who are excited about the same things I am. Is that so much to ask for? I’m sure you feel the same way! So why should we spend our “happy tumblr time” trying to make others who disagree with you about a TV show ship, unhappy? Because at the end of the day people shipping Destiel and being happy that it’s finally canon should not affect you, because the excitement and celebration is not for you. Nobody is demanding that you feel the same way we do. We are excited because we ship it. 12 years of waiting is a long ass time. The only ship on that show that should really gross you out and you should be pissed about is wincest. That ship is literally incest. That is the only ship that you should be grossed out by.  If you’ve read this far, I want to thank you for reading this. And if you don’t have anything positive to say please don’t say anything. I know that sounds kind of... blah, but mental health issues are never easy to deal with and having to deal with hate and negativity in a place where I go to escape all of that, is just not fun or particularly helpful.

[pheita]

Flash Fiction Friday: Cleansing of the Soul

Ok, this is technically the second part to the German flash fic prompt which was “fire-proof”.  You can read the English translation here at  Hell of a Family Part 1 And now we head to part 2 for @flashfictionfridayofficial​  taggin @writtendevastation​ since you liked the first part.  Have fun Warning for mentions of sex and sexual preferences 

Part 2 

It wasn't an everyday occurrence that you learned that your own father was the devil, and it was even less likely that you ended up being spontaneously invited to hell. After Finn was shown his new room and how he could freely switch back and forth between hell and earth at will, he finally had time to process the last hour of his life. Confused, he looked at the cell phone, which interestingly still had reception. One of the things he'll eventually ask someone how that came about, as well as other things. "There you are!" a young woman burst in. Her black hair was artfully pinned up in a way Finn only knew from the girls back at prom. "You must be Sammy?" He looked at her a little from the side, skeptical that he was right in his assumption. "Of course, I am. Samantha Rebecca Morningstar, torment of men, delight of ladies, pride of hell, and your big sister, dear." She dropped into the heavy velvet-covered sofa and looked at him with wide eyes. "A simple yes would have sufficed." "But that would have been BORING. So..." she leaned forward, eyes wide, "You can control hellfire?" "So that's what the flames were. And controlling is an optimistic view. Spontaneous combustion is a better way to put it." Laughing, Sammy fell back into the back of the chair. "Now I see why Mom lets him stew like that."

It took Finn a second or two to understand who she meant. Slowly it was all too much for his brain. "Your mom...Lillith, right...he said something like that." "Come on, I'll show you around a bit as long as Dad gets his head ripped off. I mean it's not like the two of them haven't been separated for centuries, but whatever the hell they want to do." "At least that gives me the answer to one question." Sammy stood up with a flourish and gestured with a finger for her to follow. "We'll get all that worked out. But tell me, you little devil, what about women? Or do you prefer men?" "What?" With difficulty Finn came up behind her. They walked down a long hallway at the end of which stood a structure that reminded him of the metal detectors at the airport. "You know, sexual preferences." Her nonchalant manner took some getting used to. "I don't know, haven't really thought about it that much so far..." They walked through the metal detector part and a strange tingle ran through him. Confused, he looked over his shoulder. "What was that?" "That?", Sammy also looked over his shoulder, "That was just cleansing the soul. Tingles, doesn't it?" "It must be?" "Yeah, actually that thing is meant for the souls that eventually ascend. So, the last purification before entering paradise...blah blah...you know. It doesn't do anything for us, except it tingles funny. When I was a kid, I used to run through it so many times I couldn't stop laughing. It was really funny." There was something infectious about her giggle. "I can imagine. It's like sitting on the merry-go-round until you puke." "I knew you'd understand," Sammy laughed out, and at the same moment was also almost nose-to-nose with his, "So? Sex?" "You're a little obsessed with it, aren't you?" “Maybe”, she grinned. "There hasn't been that much sex there yet. I mean, I had a girlfriend, but that didn't last long." "So the ladies it is. Noted. Other than that, you've got eons to try now." Satisfied, she hopped on and opened a large gate. Behind it emerged a large room with comfortable couches, armchairs and a fireplace. "Welcome to the most comfortable part of hell: the family living room." It was strange to hear hell and family living room in the same sentence, but hopefully he was getting used to that. Again, Sammy fell as if she were tons heavy into a sofa and made herself big. It was her quirk, apparently. "Lillith, honey, dearest...there's still time...he just got here." Finn didn't have to do much guessing to know that Luke was just trying to save his neck. At the same moment, Lillith walked in. It was immediately obvious who Sammy had gotten the look from. She came straight at him in her high heels that clacked on the floor as if they were warnings. Finn was just able to formulate in his mind the question of why Lillith was actually wearing high heels when she stood in front of him as well. "So, you're Finn." With narrowed eyes, she looked at him still standing in the middle of the room. Lillith gestured with a motion of her head for Sammy to leave, and in the background, Finn saw Luke leave as well. It looked like Lillith was in charge here. He heard a door slam into the lock. Unexpectedly, Lillith started laughing. "Don't worry, Finn, I won't hurt you. I just want to give Lucifer a little hell. So, my boy, how's your mother? I should stop by for coffee again sometime." She put her arm around his shoulders amicably and directed him to the nearest sofa. "Could it be that he has no business anywhere?" "So obvious, huh?" just laughed Lillith. Hell had just gotten a whole lot more interesting. "A little," Finn admitted, "So what's the deal with him and visiting Earth?" Lillith rolled her eyes. "He was miffed because I let Sammy do it. But let's talk about you. I'll teach you how to control hellfire and whatever other abilities come up. And if your father's around, we'll let him stew nicely." "You want me to pretend to be afraid of you?" "Exactly that." Her wide grin caused Finn to grin as well. This promised to be fun. “I’m in.”