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mccromy · 6 months

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I've seen sometimes people arguing that Shen Yuan as Shen Qingqiu is constantly performing, faking his personality, and therefore Luo Binghe fell for someone who doesn't actually exist.

And fortunately that is wrong.

Shen Qingqiu has to act like an aloof immortal to keep his image, but he hasn't acted anything remotely like og!Shen Qingqiu since the skinner incident. And even with the OOC locks on, he kept losing points for acting OOC.

So, he's not acting as Shen Jiu, he behaves in a way he thinks an immortal cultivator should, which is basically himself but more calm, with Shen Jiu's muscle memory helping him to keep a blank face.

The thing is, that's how most people act. If you're as thin faced as he is, as easily embarrassed you tend to avoid embarrassing situations, refrain yourself from saying embarrassing things, constantly trying to pretend you aren't embarrassed at all.

His internal monologue is different to what he shows, but that's how it works for most people. Put yourself in a situation in which a friend asks you about something you absolutely don't care about, you think inside your head something along the lines of: " I don't caaaare" "I don't give a shit" "THIS AGAIN. WHY. I DON'T CARE I DON'T CARE." etc, and depending on your personality you might answer differently. If you're blunt you'd say something like "Couldn't care less", if you're cruel you'd say "Nobody gives a shit" if you're kind you'd consider what they asked and answer even though you don't care, if you're assertive you'd answer and also say something like "please don't ask about it again" and that's without taking into consideration how much you care about said friend, how you behave with this person in particular.

Shen Qingqiu, would say to Shang Qinghua. "I don't give a shit," he feels comfortable enough to be crass and doesn't care much about his opinion of him, to Liu Qingge he'd say something like "Liu-shidi really focuses on the strangest things" doesn't want to hurt his feelings, but feels comfortable enough to hint that he doesn't care about it. To Ning YingYing he'd answer and then change subjects, cares enough to not hurt her but doesn't feel comfortable enough to show he doesn't care about whatever she said. To Luo Binghe, he'd take the time to answer and then add something like "This master really doesn't care about such things" because he doesn't want to hurt Binghe, but he is comfortable enough to confess how he really feels about it, he answers and then kindly informs him about his feelings on the subject.

That's not faking, that's something everybody does.

Shen Qingqiu doesn't lie more than the average person (who has a nightmare AI clinging to their soul) to others, but does constantly lie to himself (even though when you read you can tell he's aware of the truth, but actively convinces himself that it can't be, that that's what a less informed person would think, but not him who knows PIDW like the palm of his hand and therefore knows better etc, etc.) If he obfuscates his real thoughts or feelings, it's not in an attempt to deceive others, but a result of his constant inner gaslighting and paper thin face.

"But he didn't act like that as Peerless Cucumber!" If you behave the same way irl as you do online you need to spend less time online.

Logically, it's impossible to keep a facade 24/7, so it can be argued that Luo Binghe saw him in a more relaxed state, consolidated his love for him when he got to know him while sharing a home for two years. I don't believe that Shen Qingqiu kept his Qingqiusona on at all times, but I do believe he would've been more reserved in front of his disciple. And, as I said before, you behave differently depending on who you're with, and of course never say out loud all the things running inside your head.

I believe that if Shen Yuan transmigrated into some random NPC and not Shen Qingqiu, he would have behaved pretty much the same, but would've been far more easier to read and less formal, although formal enough as according to whatever station he belonged in such a case.

It can also be argued that, after acting for almost a decade as how he believed an immortal should act, it became an actual part of his personality, being aloof and reserved, keeping quiet when in doubt instead of spouting a cutting remark (as I picture he would pre-transmigration).

People do change, they can become louder or quieter, kinder or crueler, less or more confident. Such changes happen according to your choices, choices that become easier and easier to make as time passes, until the choice to be loud or quiet, kind or cruel, becomes your instinctive response.

So no, Shen Qingqiu hasn't put on an act beyond what's normal (trying to appear calm when you aren't, trying to seem unbothered when ashamed) since the skinner arc.

So, does he keep acting like a cold master after he and Luo Binghe got together? No. He doesn't. He's never been cold to Luo Binghe, unless forced by the System or when he was scared out of his mind with fear in Jinlan City. In fact, after they got together Bingqiu acts very much like any other couple would (... When the couple is bingqiu.)

For example, we can see them being playful in the extras, like in the Honeymoon Chronicle:

Shen Qingqiu feels comfortable enough to fool around with Luo Binghe, as long as It's the two of them alone.

Shen Qingqiu is not putting on an act, and hasn't done so since the first year after he transmigrated. This is his real personality. Would he have behaved differently had he not transmigrated? Yes, of course. And had he transmigrated as someone else? Yes, obviously. Our experiences shape us. He would've been different but not unrecognizable. To become drastically different, he'd have to also live through some drastic experiences. But, in the same way you can recognize yourself in the person you were 10, 20, 30 years ago, despite all the glaring differences, despite all the ways you've changed, Shen Qingqiu would've remained the same at his core.

#which is stupid #lmao #jk jk #svsss #shen qingqiu #shen yuan #these are just my humble reasonings #mip #made this on my phone sorry if the screenshot looks like shit if you read this from your laptop lol

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randomfoggytiger · 5 months

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Collector's Edition: Reviving that Love

Let's have an assortment of mature, (mostly) fluffy, coupley Revival fics, shall we?

This list only scratches the surface; but hopefully it's enough to soothe a particular itch.

**Note**: Another Revival list I've done is Beefy Revival Mulder (and Other Muscular Mentions)-- perfect pairing to this, I believe.

Loose chronological order below~

@oohnotvery/the_eternal_optimist's Always Wanted

But he has a key to her place, because they’ve always had keys to the other’s place, even in horrible times. It arrived in the mail one day, sealed tightly in a bubble-wrapped envelope, addressed from her to him with a handwritten note that he hadn’t even bothered to read before crushing it up in a ball and tossing it into the trash can. Several hours later, in a fit of frustration, he had fished the note out of the trash and shoved it, unread, into a kitchen drawer.

Breakup Mulder realizes Scully has been waiting for him.

@aloysiavirgata’s (Ao3, WBM, Gossamer, LJ, Alt. LJ)

Si Hoc Legere Potes, Liberaliter Educatus

"It was very important to Deputy Director Skinner that you two meet with me. He felt that you needed some guidance before you could resume any kind of professional partnership."

I grit my teeth. You're a dead man, Skinner.

S10 Mulder and Scully run laps around the FBI recruitment therapist.

I need a fic with Scully's stolen dog Dagoo, and her wearing a Knicks tshirt.

“This is the one I ripped a piece off of for Boggs, Scully. This isn’t just my Knicks shirt. This is my favorite Knicks shirt. I’ve been looking for it!”

She pulls Tesla closer. “Stop violating the fourth amendment, Agent.”

“Stop violating the eighth commandment, Doctor.”

Post The Weremonster Mulder and Scully debate dog names and Knicks T-shirts.

What's your Mulder and Scully Thanksgiving sex headcanon?

"I'm going to die," she mumbles, her eyes half-lidded in tryptophanic stupor.

Mulder and Scully are stuffed after dinner.

@flukemen?/@pinebluffvariants/scienceandmysticism/contradictiontonature's (Ao3) Tie (prompt #1)

“Hello?”

“You know it’s me.” He did. “What are you doing?”

“I’m shopping. And I hope you’re using your bluetooth.” He could tell she was driving from the white noise over the sound of her breathing.

Mulder uses Scully's expertise to pick out a tie.

@hemisphaeric's (Ao3)

"Mulder you need new clothes"

The next day they decided to go into town and do some shopping, after Scully had had to tell Mulder for the tenth time he needed clothes and that no, he couldn’t wear those old ones just to seduce her.

Scully helps Mulder pick out new suits for his new job.

Let me carry some of the pain for you

Suddenly warm hands were touching him but he didn’t react. He couldn’t react, feeling so distant from everything. Scully was speaking, he recognized her voice, but not her words, those were like a white noise in the back of his head, which was so loudly screaming.

“I am better Scully, for real” he didn’t realize he had started talking at first, but he couldn’t stop, tears fogging up his vision.

Mulder panics, thinking Scully will leave him again.

touch.

Things had changed again in the last period though, she had come home; she had been spending time there with him more and more frequently. He understood her necessity to take things slowly, to test the territory before diving in head first, but he felt ready for it.

Mulder is glad to have Scully back.

Mulder, Scully and Elon Musk

She pushed him away and swatted at his arm. “You woke me up early to talk about Elon Musk??”

Mulder wakes Scully early for Elon's rocket news.

grumpysimon's Morse Code

He asks you for a pen. The genius always loses things. Your coffee comes and he spills a little on the napkin. He taps on the table. Morse code, maybe. You’re too tired to figure out what he’s saying to you in secret. You say his name and that smile is more crooked than ever.

Scully secretly loves Mulder's obsessive passion.

@baronessblixen/Baroness_Blixen's

Belong

He closes his eyes and counts. What will it be, he wonders. The sound of a car or their creaky door?

Another minute passes before he hears the soft squeak behind him.

Mulder tells Scully he's "done okay without her."

A few months after they're back on the x-files, Mulder's notices that his neck and shoulders are sore.

Mulder feels better and promises - with a wink - to do the same for her, she just needs to ask. She doesn't ask but Mulder knows her feet are sore a few days later, after hours of walking around. He silently starts massaging her feet while consorting in his hotel room, half-empty take-out containers on the bed next to them....

Mulder doesn't replace his chair-- which is just fine, because Scully becomes his masseuse.

Mulder giving Scully a foot massage

“Exactly. My feet hurt and I need a break. I’m not…” She trails off again as she massages her foot.

“Not young anymore?” Mulder offers and her head shoots up like a rocket, her eyes shooting daggers.

“Not used to it anymore.”

Post Ghoulie Scully's high heels finally catch up to her.

There's No Place Like Home (Ao3)

He loves her stubbornness. Once, she told him that she fell in love with him because he was stubborn. Well. That was the pot calling the kettle black. No one is as stubborn as his Scully.

AU-- Nothing Lasts Forever Mulder brings an injured Scully home.

Growing Old (with You) (Ao3)

“Just wait til you’re my age,” he jokes.

“55 looks good on you.” She proves her point with a kiss on his nose. “I can only hope to look as good as you when I turn 55.”

“You will. And I will remind you of it. If I’m invited to your birthday, that is.”

“You’re always invited to my birthday.”

Scully drops in for Mulder's 55th, assuring him his aging concerns are overblown.

A Study in Chemistry

"I didn't know you cared for this kind of movie, Scully." Mulder, sprawling on her bed, in her motel room, looks slightly disgusted at the small screen where two generic actors share a truly boring, less than passionate kiss in a typical, cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie.

"I don't," she says, returning her attention to the case report they're supposed to be working on. Despite his words, Mulder's eyes are glued to the movie and Scully can't help but smile.

Mulder and Scully bridge the gap between them-- and all because of Hallmark and memories.

Surprises Are Best Served Ice-Cold - Chapter 1

They both start towards each other at the same time, laughing.

“Mulder, I don’t remember how to stop,” she says, trying to get her skates under control.

“I’ve got you,” he says calmly and she hopes he’s right because she loses her balance, stumbles the last few steps towards him and crashes right into his chest, knocking him to the ground.

Mulder surprises Scully with a frozen over lake for Christmas.

A Day in May (Ao3)

Mulder puts on cheesy Christmas music and turns down the lights, creating a mood. They share a cup of sugary hot cocoa with mini marshmallows and whipped cream. When Scully raises her eyebrows at the cream, Mulder dips a finger in and deposits a blob on her nose.

“Live a little, Scully.”

And she does.

Mulder forgoes sleep to help Scully decorate their tree on Christmas Eve.

Night Out

"I can't breathe." Mulder is pouting. She wants to be angry with him - all of this is his own fault, after all - but he looks so miserable and yet so adorable that she feels sympathetic. She strokes his cheek and smiles at him.

"I'll make you make some soup."

"Are you sure I'm not dying?" he asks again, coughing. She offers him some tea and he sips it noisily.

Mulder gets sick after a night of Squatchin.

@wtfmulder/@momdadimpoppunk‘s (Ao3)

post-Plus One

“You reasoned your doppelgänger out of existence,” he says flatly. She smiles against his bare shoulder, nodding.

“She was a very reasonable woman.”

He laughs softly, the rumble of it caressing her cheek.

Post Plus One Mulder and Scully catch a few winks.

ficlet; twenty-six years

On her side of the desk, he has procured for her a plain blue baseball cap, a skinny caramel macchiato, and a not-skinny blueberry muffin.

She sits down as he hums and types away at something, taking a bite of the muffin and putting the cap on her head.

Scully always guesses which anniversary Mulder is celebrating.

fluff 🤢

They’re packing up the basement just one last time. They both learned early in life that saying goodbye is so much easier when it’s a choice, and the moment holds no bitterness, no fear.

Post Revival Scully finds flowers she'd once given Mulder in their basement office.

@myassbrokethefall's untitled rm9sbg93zxjz post-ep

Scully had chanced to see a picture of a blobfish on the internet some months ago and he wasn't sure he had ever, in their years and years together, seen her laugh so hard. It was one of the best things that had ever happened to him, frankly, watching the outsizedly hysterical reaction of Dana Scully MD, his serious scientist partner, to a picture of a lumpy, slimy, theatrically frowning fish on the internet. He had brought it up at every opportunity for weeks, renamed the wireless network at the house Blobfish Cove, found a way to work a reference to it into a meeting with Skinner, once printed out a picture of it and left it on Scully’s pillow, and watched in utter delight as she got the helpless giggles every single time. (Even the Skinner time. He hadn't even asked, just looked wearily at some point behind their heads for a few seconds before sighing and continuing on.)

AU-- Robot episode Mulder dreamed up the whole thing.

@onpaperfirst's (Ao3) Honey Hi

The doors slid open and Mulder wrangled a cart from the corral.

“They set up the little rooms and it makes you feel like you’re at home,” she said. “It dulls your senses. You forget you’re in public. And all of a sudden you’re in the middle of a fight about which rug matches the couch.”

“Let’s not fight in Ikea, Scully. It’s so bourgeois.”

Part II to Home, Home, Mulder and Scully's romantic life is examined through the lens of perfectly balanced humor... and their IKEA trip.

@ghostbustermelanieking's (Ao3) bearing north (Ao3)

“The cops out front will stop him,” Mulder says comfortingly.

She nods. Her skull is still pounding, but she feels limp in his arms, safe. “I tried to fight him off,” she says. “I almost did. But he got angry and shoved me into the pool. I hit my head.”

Mulder takes Scully home after she's injured while pursuing a perp.

"You’re beautiful, you know that?” (Ao3)

She turns her eyes up to meet his, burning blue eyes in the night. “You’re… all I have left now, Mulder.” Names are left unsaid between them, but they all register in his brain, like a knife. “I think my leaving was for the best, but I’m ready to come back. You’re my family, Mulder.”

Scully proposes to her Mulder.

@settle-down-frohike's Headcanon: It started after her first disappearance, on a flight to nowhere North Dakota.

It started after her first disappearance, on a flight to nowhere North Dakota. She was flipping through a dossier and he was dozing, as per usual. She heard a mumbled version of her name and threw a distracted “Hm?” his way without glancing up. “Scully.” Firmer, more forceful this time. She looked over, annoyed, and spat “What Mu-“ and realized he was still asleep, but fitfully so.

My Struggle II Scully hopes she can comfort Mulder once more.

@lilydalexf/LilydaleXF 's My Andromeda

He looks back at the road and answers honestly, "I didn't watch many shows. The ones I really wanted to see I wasn't allowed to watch. Except after excessive begging."

"And on nights you could successfully sneak into the TV room after your parents fell asleep." It's a statement, not a question.

"You know me so well, Scully."

Mulder and Scully imagine a night of stargazing.

Eternity Awaits

"Mulder…. We need to go to bed."

"You don't want to freeze together?"

"Not on this decrepit couch I don't."

Post This Mulder and Scully discuss their eternal conversations.

Apostrophic/@mappingthexfiles's

This

Mulder said Push a third time and they both groaned with the effort of heaving the massive piece another three feet, barricading it firmly against the bedroom door.

“What does this,” he gasped, “remind you of?”

Scully, drawing in deep gulps of air, pushed herself up on her elbows, propped on the edge of the chest. She did not say the fleeting thought that had gone through her head: maybe it was not a bad thing Mulder had not been present at the birth of their child.

“Um,” Scully said.

“Yeah,” Mulder said. Panting out, “Towers of furniture.”

Post This Mulder and Scully move their furniture back into place.

The Scully Treehouse of Horror

The automatic taps don’t turn on and off for him. He’s invisible to its sensors. The alarm, on the other hand, blares every time he walks in the door. Sometimes, even, once he’s inside the door and has been for some time. He’ll get up at night for a drink of water and Scully gets jarred out of postcoital bliss by the klaxon siren of intruder alert, intruder alert, Mulder cursing at the sink in the kitchen, yelling for Scully....

If she yells back for him to punch in the code, he does the wrong birthdate or botches the spelling of Queequeg. More often than not, she pads out in bare feet, tying her robe, entering the right code, filling the glass with cold water, sleepily herding a grumbling Mulder back to the warm bed.

Scully's house hates Mulder; and she loves him all the more for it.

Lapsed_Scholar's Wake-Up Calls

On their way into work, his phone rings. It’s just a wrong number, and the other commuters don’t really take any notice, but Scully arches her eyebrow.

At her questioning look, “Do you recognize this theme?”

“Vaguely. Should I?”

“It’s our theme song, Scully! And I think it suits us. Kind of spooky.” A beat. “Don’t you remember our movie?”

If possible, her eyebrow climbs higher.

Mulder always ratted he and Scully out to people-- and still does now, years and years later.

@slippinmickeys/SlippinMickeys's

Prompt: ballet slippers, chocolate pudding in a can, Wyoming

It was like a Carlton Varney fever dream; like a brothel with aspirations. Mulder actually paused in the doorway and leaned back out to double check the address number on the side of the house.

“Wow,” Scully said, daintily setting down her suitcase a few feet inside the door. She wanted to make a joke, but Mulder looked appalled.

Mulder books a truly terrible vacation spot.

Prompt Drabble Collection - Chapter 12

“I want something I can’t make.”

It was Day 18 of self-isolation and if you looked at quarantine like the stages of grief, they had rolled easily past panic and guilt, skipped loneliness altogether and were deep in the grip of isolation.

Scully shot him a look.

Mulder and Scully are sick and tired of COVID quarantine.

Prompt: Mulder & Scully vacation Christmas/Hanukah at the Quonochontaug cabin post season 11

“When was the last time you stayed here?” she asked, wrinkling her sensitive nose at the smell of dust, of mildew.

One suitcase on the floor at his feet, one still in his hand, Mulder closed the door behind him, his face ponderous. “Overnight?” he clarified. “I think I was nineteen?”

Post Revival Mulder and Scully spend the New Years in the old Mulder summer home.

outsquatchin94's Joy to You and Me

“Those hipsters… But Scully, that was such a look. Also, I hate to break this to you, but I’m quite sure it’s in the back spare room somewhere in a box.”

For a moment, he thinks she’ll spring off the couch and go find the offending object. She doesn’t though, she only smiles a little.

“I think we turned out okay in the end, even without the sleeping bags.” And Mulder has to agree with her.

Mulder and Scully discuss her old jacket.

@msrafterdark/msrafterdark's A concept : slow dancing on an ill lit front porch late in the evening while it’s thundering and maybe just starting to rain?

When they’re like this again, as though no time has passed, the pleasure of the familiarity is so good it almost hurts her. To have him well again, to be safe and wanted and in his arms is only made sweeter by the fact that the knocks and falls they have taken ultimately only made them stronger.

Mulder and Scully, the Unremarkable House and dancing.

@tofuttim's Comfort and Chaos (Ao3)

The rain pelted relentlessly against the windows of the small cabin. The night air was cold, but inside the cabin, a fire and a shared bed with Mulder kept her warm. The sound of the storm thrusted her thoughts back to the beginning.

The beginning of forever.

Scully asks Mulder what he remembers about their first case.

@defnotmeyo's (Ao3) The Cost of Living is Just Right

The beds are wrapped in white and light grey sheets with sky blue pillow cases on the spare pillows. The tables all look like something you would have seen on the Jetsons.

It takes a bit of time for Mulder to feel comfortable at Scully's apt.

Ingot Silver

“Birthday time, huh? We could go uh,” he licked some sauce off his finger as he moved a dish over to the sink, “we could go squatchin’.” He turned and winked at her.

Mulder learned plans an evening dinner for he and his Scully.

the “before i even needed glasses” line

Then, on days he doesn’t hate himself (and those days are multiplying and growing closer together all the time), he remembers he has a son, healthy and alive. He has the love of his life and while she’s not home yet, her toothbrush is back in his bathroom.

Post Cathedral episode Mulder isn't letting his homie get away ever again.

It really looks like Mulder when youre seeing two of everything.

“Mulder… you… you hurled a raccoon down our stairs.”

He shrugs, sheepish as ever.

“Like… you hurled him.”

“It was for Daggoo!”

A raccoon holds the Mulder-Scully household hostage.

I always laugh at that bit in detour where mulder is like “if ur lucky u get seventy-five (75) yrs. if ur rly lucky u get eighty

She refrains from rolling her eyes, instead slides in front of him and slinks an arm around him, patting that soft of his oblique threatening to turn into a love handle.

“Charlie has a decent head of hair,” Mulder mumbles.

“Charlie is four years younger. And you made it passed 50, Mulder. You won.”

Scully reassures Mulder he still looks gooooooooood.

BONUS (HAD TO INCLUDE THESE FOR THE MSR)

@monikafilefan/MonikaFileFan's

Language of Love: Prompts of Angst and Romance - Chapter 6

A sudden rise in emotion crests in her throat when she sees the wondrous look of awe and admiration seize the love of her life.

It’s the exact look she saw grace is face eighteen years ago.

“Mulder…” she whispers, raking her fingers through his silky hair as he grins up at her with a trembling chin.

Post Revival Mulder feels his baby move during the witching hour.

39 and 82 from the prompt list 😁/Just Breathe

“She’s here and she’s beautiful, honey, she’s just—”

“What, Mulder?” Scully shot up onto her elbows with her heart in her throat. “She’s just what?”

“It’s fine. She’s fine, Scully. She just looks like a he.”

Her jaw dropped. “What are you—are you sure?” Their slippery, pink baby covered in layers of vernix and blood mewled in protest as Mulder lifted the tiny bundle away from the comfort of his warm chest and pointed wide-eyed between its legs.

Mulder and Scully and unexpectedly fast Halloween baby makes a chaotically competent three.

RoseThornhill's

Spooky Mulder: The Revenge

Excited dad!Mulder wants a spooky theme for his Halloween daughter's name.

Alice is a Punk Rocker

Mulder, Scully, and their Halloween baby are happy together, despite a few bumpy patches.

@myownsuperintendent/MyOwnSuperintendent’s Renewal

She tries to shift in the bed, to touch him too, and he stops and pulls back. “Don’t try to sit up,” he says. “They made me promise I wouldn’t disturb you.” He’s trying to smile at her through the tears in his eyes. “You’re all right,” he repeats. “Please don’t scare me like that again. Not ever again.”

Post Revival Scully loses a lot of blood during delivery, which helps convince Jackson to stay with his family and new sister a bit longer.

Thanks for reading~

Enjoy!

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shuttershocky · 4 months

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Penny for your thoughts about this thread? Just wanna hear some more opinions from people who work in the industry.

I don't want to fucking talk about pricing and monetization and markets and how F2P live service titles have warped the industry beyond recognition anymore.

The insights look good (of course they look good, this guy literally worked with Square Enix) I just can't fucking take it anymore I know what he says before I even finish reading the tweets and it's reminding me of how I started getting into learning game development in 2010-2011? (I don't remember anymore it's been that long) and EVERY SINGLE TALK AND MEETUP AND LECTURE WAS ABOUT MONETIZATION (to be fair, my local industry was a small one that could only really support mobile back then)

I watched all of this happen. I saw how the mobile industry's designs slowly bled out of mobile and into the AAA industry, warping it forever. I was in college when I first learned what minnows, dolphins, and whales were and why your games ought to be fishing for whales. I watched Team Fortress 2 go from a premium game you got all the content at the start to introducing lootboxes (they popularized that shit outside the gacha sphere btw, people blame Overwatch, but TF2 started that trend) to going F2P. I've been an active Dota player since 2012, meaning I was there when the concept of Battlepasses were first birthed into the world during 2013's The International 3 and which made other companies realize live service titles could gain yet another psychological hold on people to add on to World of Warcraft's skinner boxes.

"We are seeing standard singleplayer games no longer able to gain new audiences as they are crowded out by increasingly growing live service titles like Fortnite" "Why would someone spend 60 dollars to play FF16 for 100 hours when they could continue playing Fortnite and Minecraft and Roblox for free where all their friends are"

I have seen all of this before I remember when Overwatch first came out in 2016 a peculiar statistic was that almost every popular title at the time saw their playerbase drop as everyone moved to Overwatch, EXCEPT for Dota 2's because of how hard Valve had captured their audience to the point where they would not play other games. Of fucking course everyone else learned that was actually an incredibly efficient way to make money forever and they should do that too (except Dota was free and had all characters and all game mdoes unlocked for free, but these other games would now ask you for 60 dollars to play as 4 guys with a 100 hr grind for the rest)

I might feel a little unhinged right now because I have worked for two weekends straight and it's a Sunday night (EDIT - put it in drafts and it is now Monday and I am at work) and I'm still at work working on video games and tomorrow will be Monday and another work week working on video games where if we don't sell our upcoming titles my job is toast but fuuuuuuccckkk dude I just wanted to help make things that people would find fun

Capitalism and corporate greed (but I repeat myself) has twisted an industry that was already shitty in the 90s to be something hideous and completely hostile to the idea of creatives being able to make games that are meant to be played, finished, and remembered fondly and even wholly single player one and done experiences like Insomniac's Spider-Man games need to fill themselves up with checklists or else their audience will claim they got ripped off because the time they spent on it was simply not worth the money which STILL happened with Spider-Man 2 anyway

I'm not against live service games as a concept I love seeing a title like Dota get constant support since 2011 (or 2003ish if you want to count the original WC3 mod) and witness it grow and evolve with the times but I hate how it's become increasingly difficult for other games to exist.

I don't actually have a point to make here I'm just rambling. FF7Rebirth was fucking great though (and I hated FF7Remake as a game) so I hope it actually makes its sales target eventually so it doesn't scare Square into adding even more bullshit filler or worse into the 3rd game. I need to play Vincent Valentine with Rebirth's combat system. it's not a want, but a need. A thirst even.

#Locking reblogs because every time I make one of these posts it leaves containment and i get gamers who don't know what theyre talking about

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bloodycorpz3 · 3 months

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Isolating success - a shit post.

My entire day consists of what I'm going to eat for breakfast, what I'm going to eat for lunch, and what I'm going to eat for dinner- as well as what not I'm going to eat, and everything I can do to prevent myself from doing so.

I've lost so many friends and so much of myself because of this. Ana is so romanticized, but I am in pain, you know? I don't know who I am anymore if not just a person trying to get skinner. I have no hobbies, I don't paint anymore, it's been so long since I've drawn. I don't read or write, I've abandoned my characters and almost everything that makes me me.

All my energy, my time, and effort is spent on anorexia. The only creative thing about me left is now wasted on meal plans and trackers and ways to burn calories. I try too, you know? To make it less depressing than it sounds. I decorate my whiteboard with colors as I mark down my daily weigh-in, I use sparkly gel pens as I list my safe foods and count my calories, I browse on Pinterest making cute boards as I fantasize about all the clothes I get to wear when I'm thin.

I adorn my self sabotage with a fucking bow.

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television-overload · 5 months

Text

of our own making

(an X-Files fanfic)

Chapter 17/34 - wires and tubes

[read on AO3]

Oops. Do you know how many times I've almost accidentally posted a chapter? It finally happened. Well, here you go 😂

The call comes in the midst of a case that already has Mulder torn up and wild with determination. He never did do well with missing persons cases, especially where little girls were involved. It's even worse now that they actually kind of, sort of, might have a baby on the way, and she worries he won't be able to handle it.

She doesn't want him to lose himself in this. She needs him now more than ever, and it scares her when he gets this way. She only hopes Skinner can talk some sense into him.

But she's the one to answer the phone. She's the one who has to tell him the news. She's the one who has to break his heart in its already fragile state, praying he'll come out on the other side of it okay.

So she opens the door to Skinner's office, and meets her partner's eyes from across the room.

“What?” he asks, frustration simmering below the surface. Evidently his talk with the Assistant Director isn't going well, but that hardly matters now.

She shakes her head, wishing he would just come with her so they could talk in private. But he and Skinner are adamant that they need to finish this discussion, completely unaware of the tragic event that has occurred.

“Mulder…” she says, sorrow dripping from her voice. “It's your mother.”

-.-.-

He's out of the office in a flash before she can even explain what happened. It’s all she can do to keep up with him as he rushes toward the garage, his fear and anger wafting off him in waves.

“Where are you going?” she calls after him.

“My mother's house,” he answers.

She chokes back a sob, willing herself to hold things together for the both of them. To keep a level head. “She's not there, Mulder,” she speaks, her words halting him in his tracks.

He whirls on her, crossing the distance and stopping a foot in front of her, seething silently with a wild, frantic look in his eye that she never likes seeing.

“Where is she?” he grits out, his voice low.

She tries to grab for one of his hands, but he pulls back, rejecting the proffered comfort.

“The hospital,” she answers, her brows slanted in silent apology. “A neighbor called, concerned about the smell of gas. The paramedics found her. Mulder, your mother overdosed on sleeping pills. She tried to suffocate herself.” His face falls, but he quickly recovers, replacing the dejected expression with one of adamant denial.

That's another look Scully doesn't like to see.

“She's alive, but in a coma,” she explains, hoping to put a stop to Mulder’s spiraling before it starts, but it's too late.

“She tried to call me,” he says, starting to pace. “She left a message wanting to talk, but I didn't– I didn’t call her—”

He stops, crouching low to the ground and practically pulling his hair out of his head, fighting back red hot tears in his eyes.

“She wouldn't do this,” he says angrily, shaking his head, and if being loud meant being confident, then she might be convinced. “Th– they got to her! They tried to kill her!”

“No, Mulder.”

“Yes!” he yells, drawing suspicious glances from other agents in the hallway. “She must have had information about the case,” he continues, standing back to his full height and resuming his pacing. “It's all connected, just like I thought. Samantha—”

“Mulder, STOP!” Scully yells, gripping his bicep with her hand and holding him in place by sheer force of will. She slows her breathing, lowering her voice. “She may not ever wake up, but right now your mother is alive and in the hospital,” she says, appealing to his rational mind. “Before you go chasing after shadows, at least go see her.”

She lets her plea hang in the silence of the hallway. It seems their display has effectively scared off everyone within hearing distance, and she counts herself lucky that security hasn't come to escort them out of the building.

She can see him fighting back against his own reason, determinedly keeping his face screwed up in anger so as not to lose hold of the fury that fuels him. But her prolonged stare causes it to melt away, and his face crumples in defeat just before he collapses in her arms.

Sobs shake him, and it takes all her strength to keep him standing. His face buries into the crook of her shoulder, and she wraps her arms around his back, rubbing soft circles between his shoulder blades.

She hears Skinner pop his head out of his doorway, and she meets his eyes, beyond caring about the physical display in their place of work. The man merely nods in understanding, giving his stamp of approval for whatever needs to be done.

-.-.-

The hospital is eerily quiet, the sterile white walls echoing with every minute sound.

“Teena Mulder, please,” Scully says to the woman at the desk.

Mulder follows behind her looking lost.

They're shown to a hospital room where his mother lies surrounded by wires and tubes, her heartbeat beeping out slowly but steadily over the monitor.

Mulder goes to her side, grabbing her hand in his.

She hates to see him in agony like this. He falls to his knees beside her bed, murmuring incomprehensible apologies and pleadings between bouts of tears. He clings to her cold, frail hand like a lifeline, and though most times his relationship with his mother seems fraught, it's times like this—she knows—when he's at risk of losing what little he has, that she remembers that he loves his mother, just as any little boy might.

A doctor comes by and tells them what happened. The implications are clear, to someone with a medical background. Today was almost the day Mulder became an orphan. Today he almost became the last Mulder standing.

Eventually he's able to calm down a little, allowing himself to be pushed into a chair by her bedside.

“She might never know, Scully,” he says dejectedly. “She has no idea that she might be a grandmother soon. That she has a daughter-in-law.”

A daughter, for a woman who lost hers so long ago.

The fact that their marriage isn't real doesn't even cross their minds. In this moment, they are husband and wife, and right now this is one of those “for worse” moments they mentioned in their vows. She’s going to uphold that promise come hell or high water.

“You can tell her now,” Scully says, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “She might not hear you, but it's still good to talk to her.”

“She always wanted me to get married,” he says. “She said I needed to move on, to have my own family. Stop thinking about the one I lost. I hated her for that. I couldn't understand how she could give up on our family. How she’d think I could replace it, like a worn out pair of sneakers.”

“Mulder…”

“I understand now, Scully. That was never what she was telling me to do. I think– I think she just wanted me to be happy.”

She wipes the wetness from his cheek with her thumb, holding her hand there and cupping his jaw. He looks up at her, eyes gleaming in adoration. Then he stands, leaning over his mother and holding her hand in his.

“Mom, I am happy,” he says. “I'm so happy. I just want you to be here to see it. To meet Scully again and our child, someday when we have one. Please…”

He bows his head, another wave of fresh tears filling his eyes.

“I still don't understand,” he says. “why she would do this…”

“I looked at her chart earlier,” Scully says. “Your mother is suffering from a disease known as Paget's Carcinoma. It's a horribly painful and disfiguring disease, Mulder. She didn't want to live.”

“But she has to!” he says, insistent. “She has to, at least for a little longer… I want to talk to her.”

“I know you do,” she says. “But there's nothing we can do until she wakes.

“She was going to tell me something. What did she want to tell me, Scully?” he looks to her, his eyes pleading. She wishes she knew, so she could take away his burden. But she doesn't, so she just holds him as he sobs into her shoulder, and comforts him.

-.-.-

She's roused from her uncomfortable sleep in the hospital chair by none other than Walter Skinner. Mulder is fast asleep still in his own chair, his face pressed against the scratchy blankets of his mother's hospital bed.

“The case is heating up,” Skinner says, whispering so as not to wake Mulder. “The LaPierres are asking for him. I know it's probably not a good time, but—”

“No, it’s fine,” she says, surprising even herself by agreeing with him. “He needs to get away. From what I'm told, she's stable but not likely to wake anytime soon. The drugs are still making their way out of her system. Can you book us both a ticket?”

“Of course. I'll be coming as well, the Bureau needs this one wrapped up,” Skinner says, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “Should I get you one room or two at the motel?”

At first, Scully isn’t sure she’d heard him correctly. “...Sir?” she asks. “You know we're not…”

“I know,” he says. “I just wasn't sure if you'd want to… keep an eye on him.”

It’s nice of him to ask, she supposes. The answer is yes, she would like to keep an eye on him, actually. But even this isn’t enough for her to forsake the appearances they’ve worked so hard to keep up these last few months.

“Two is fine,” she says with finality.

Skinner nods, and disappears the way he came.

-.-.-

She feels sick, standing in a field littered with tiny graves.

What makes her even more sick is seeing how desperately Mulder hopes to find his sister in each one they dig up. It's written plainly on his face, and she sees him sink deeper into himself with each one that doesn't match her description.

He just wants this to be over. He wants to move on, and she can't blame him.

But after all this time, she really does wish there could be a happier ending. The one he'd hoped for for so long, where he rides off into the sunset with his sister in tow. Somewhere along the way, she'd begun to hope for that too.

And somewhere along the way, he'd stopped.

She tries to get him to come back to Washington with her and Skinner, but her efforts are in vain. He stays, swindled by some self-proclaimed police psychic who claims he can help find Amber Lynn LaPierre, who also was never identified amongst the other victims.

She leaves him, promising to check in on his mother and let him know how she's doing. But of course, her worry for him won't let sleeping dogs lie.

She pokes around, digging into his regression hypnosis recordings. She even visits Mrs. Mulder's home, looking for what? She isn't sure.

But she finds it.

Burnt documents putting an end to the search for Samantha in 1973.

And the initials C.G.B.S.

~~~

Lovely tag list ♡: [if you would like to be added or removed, let me know!]

@today-in-fic @ao3feed-msr @agent-troi @angegova @baronessblixen @calimanc @captainsolocide @clo-thespin @cutemothman @danasculls @deathsbestgirl @edierone @enigmaticxbee @figureofdismay @frogsmulder @gillian-anderson-in-the-tardis @hippocampouts @invidiosa @monaiargancoconutsoy @msrafterdark @numinousmysteries @primrose19 @randomfoggytiger @skelavender @skylarksong @stephy-gold @teenie-xf @the-redhead-in-a-dress @vincentsleftear

#msr #txf #x files #xf fanfic #my fanfiction #ooom #msr adoption fic #fox mulder #dana scully #mulder and scully #adoption #if this is formatted badly it's because i'm on my phone at work because i didn’t mean to post this 💀#but now i'm committing #sein und zeit #teena mulder

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hdra77 · 2 months

Note

Well, Seymour, I made it, despite your directions.

Ah, Superintendent Chalmers, Welcome! I hope you're prepared for an unforgettable luncheon!

Myeh.

[GASP] Oh ye gods, my roast is ruined! But what if... I were to purchase fast food and disguise it as my own cooking? Ho ho ho ho ho, delightfully devilish, Seymour!

Ah-

Skinner with his crazy explanations,

The superintendent's gonna need his medication,

When he hears Skinner's lame exaggerations,

There'll be trouble in town tonight!

SEYMOUR!

Superintendent, I was just- uh, just stretching my calves on the windowsill. Isometric exercise! Care to join me?

Why is there smoke coming out of your oven, Seymour?

Uhh, oh! That isn't smoke. It's steam. Steam from the steamed clams we're having! Mmm... steamed clams!

Phew!

Superintendent, I hope you're ready for mouth watering hamburgers!

I thought we were having steamed clams.

D'oh, no. I said steamed hams! That's what I call hamburgers!

You call hamburgers "steamed hams"?

Yes! It's a regional dialect.

Uh-huh. Eh, what region?

Uhh, upstate New York?

Really? Well, I'm from Utica, and I've never heard anyone use the phrase "steamed hams".

Oh, not in Utica, no. It's an Albany expression.

I see. You know, these hamburgers are quite similar to the ones they have at Krusty Burger.

Ho ho ho ho, no, patented Skinner burgers. Old family recipe.

For steamed hams?

Yes.

Yeah, so you call them "steamed hams" despite the fact they are obviously grilled.

Ye- uh- you know, the- one thing I should- excuse me for one second.

Of course.

[YAWN] Well, that was wonderful. A good time was had by all, I'm pooped.

Yes, I should be- Good Lord, what is happening in there!?

Aurora borealis?

Ah- aurora borealis!? At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your kitchen?!

Yes!

May I see it?

No.

Seymour, the house is on fire!

No, mother, it's just the northern lights!

Well, Seymour, you are an odd fellow, but I must say, you steam a good ham.

Help! Help!

Crispy, spicy chicken tenders are better than the fast food favorite. The meat is tender and juicy and the coating is perfectly crisp and spicy. Deep fryer, skillet, and air fryer instructions included. Because of the hot oil this recipe is not recommended for young cooks. Difficulty level 2/10

Copycat Popeye's Chicken Strips

Published: Mar 26, 2020 Last Updated: Sep 26, 2023 by Marye 1773 words. | About 9 minutes to read this article.

Prep Time15minutes mins

Cook Time20minutes mins

Marinate30minutes mins

Total Time1hour hr 5minutes mins

Jump to Recipe

Good news! You're about to save a lot of money! This Copycat Popeye's Chicken is so easy you'll never go back to fast food again

Shopping list

If you don't have a Popeye's Chicken in your neck of the woods then you don't understand the enormity of posting this recipe. Popeye's makes fried chicken like no other — spicy, smoky, crispy perfection. They have their own special sauce to dip it in but my kids like honey mustard sauce or bbq the best.

Or Ranch. You can't go wrong with Ranch.

Boneless chicken breast or thighs

Louisiana hot sauce

Buttermilk

Peanut oil (if deep frying)

Chipotle powder

All-purpose flour

Smoked paprika

Eggs

Salt

Instructions

There are three ways to make these:

In a deep fryer

In a cast iron skillet

In an air fryer

To me the very best flavor is when they're done in a deep fryer but I think it's good to have options, right?

No matter which way you make these chicken strips you'll start the same. Always marinate for 30 minutes in the buttermilk mixture but not more than an hour.

Remove a chicken bread strip from the marinade and dredge in flour.

Dip in the egg mixture.

Dredge with flour again. Set aside.

Bring oil to 360F.

Add the chicken a little at a time without crowding.

Fry until golden.

Remove to a paper towel covered plate. Keep warm.

Serve hot.

Add your favorite dipping sauce.

#asks

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verycharismaticdragon · 10 months

Note

Do you know why everyone and their mother keeps saying that Sheb Qingqiu's secluded cultivation lasts for a year or 3??? Last I checked, wasn't he only in the cave for several months??

...I haven't seen a fic use that timeframe in quite a while - am I the delusional one??

Having intensively cultivated for several months, he could freely control his spiritual energy and had risen one level above his original cultivation base.

... nope, still as I remembered from the official book, page 85 in my copy. Even my old Exiled Rebels translation puts it as, "several months." Last I checked, 12 (or 36) months is far too many to simply be considered "several", so what am I missing? It just- throws off the timeline so badly and greatly increases the amount of time poor Binghe is stuck in the woodshed, for what?

Okay, so the 3 years thing comes from the donghua, no need to look further. It's one of those things that directly go against canon but have stuck in people's minds, similar to 'the washerwoman was the one to pull baby Binghe out of the river' and 'Shen Qingqiu fainted dramatically several times early on in his transmigration'.

Then, I don't believe I have seen 1 year myself, but if I had to guess, it may come from the fact that Binghe is 14yo prior to SQQ entering seclusion and 15 once he leaves. That said, an entire year makes zero sense considering what we know of the timeline.

Which is where I confess that I tore out some hair over the length of SQQ's seclusion when constructing the timeline for Transmigrator Time Traveler, because for me 'several' months means 3 to 5, but given all the facts, SQQ's seclusion had to last somewhere between 6 and 10 instead. (I went with 9 in the end, for the fic, cause I've read that 9 is a significant number for spiritual practices cultivation is based on? the source was a little vague so i don't know how true that is, but I needed a number.)

Nevermind, to the aforementioned facts. MXTX confirmed the date of the first chapter publication - Sept.21 - to be the date of SQQ's transmigration. (Small note: I'll be using modern months, even though SV's world uses lunar calendar, because it's easier to gauge weather and stuff. For characters in the novel, they might see those as different months/seasons, but that doesn't really affect our purpose here.) Luo Binghe’s 15th birthday - which Shen Qingqiu missed in seclusion - is in winter ('coldest day' which I after some research came to hc as jan6, though that's not particularly relevant, because...) Demon invasion happened on a 'hot day' (SQQ mentions it in relation to how SHL is dressed) - which puts it in May at the earliest, August at the latest. So these are the 'borders' we are working with.

Now, to my actual calculations. We know SQQ spent some time on the Peak after transmigration, before the Skinner mission that led to him going to seclusion. So I'm gonna say that happened in October at the earliest, December if you stretch it (though I feel like his tatas would freeze off if the Skinner left him half-undressed in December...) - but definitely not later, cause Binghe’s birthday has to happen off-screen. So if we take the longest possible time frame, October to August, we get 10 months. The slimmest possible window - December to May - gives us 5 months, but between the aforementioned boob hypothermia issue and the fact that May is a bit of a stretch for the 'hot day', I think that 6 months is the shortest you can go.

Which, again, doesn't align with my understanding of what should be described as 'several' months, but what can you do... tbh, im not sure MXTX thought all that hard about the timeline, which is understandable as a writer - but as a fan, frustrating

So yeah - definitely less than a year (and absolutely not 3, donghua), though the math gets fuzzier after that.

#that said im pretty sure that donghua's 3 years is to save on Binghe models... he def has different ones pre and post seclusion #but im pretty sure that demon invasion and IAC binghes have at the very least the same head. not sure about if the clothes are a recolor too #still... feel like they couldve handled it more gracefully. like for example not mentioning the time frame at all 🙄#svsss #shen qingqiu #luo binghe #svsss meta

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blueboyluca · 1 year

Text

These two books are wonderful companions that I highly recommend.

Wonderdog is the history of dog science, covering Darwin, Morgan, Pavlov, Skinner, Scott & Fuller, Miklósi, Hare, Bradshaw, Horowitz, Wynne and Berns (among others). It tracks the path of our understanding of what dogs are, how they work and where they fit.

The Secret History of Kindness follows another path. Starting with Skinner, it tracks the history of positive reinforcement training through the Brelands, Bailey, Pryor, Donaldson and ending up at Sidman. It's a different kind of read, but it spends a lot of time thinking out loud about how to understand dogs, how to treat them kindly, and what we need to change to do so.

One thing that really struck me when reading Holbrook Pierson's book was her stubbornness when it comes to love. I see this theme very commonly among dog trainers, their aversion to using the word love and their hesitation to apply it to dog behaviour. I share their skepticism, as we all know my thoughts about dog buttons, particularly their use of such an abstract term. And I used to harbour sharper thoughts about the topic, but I've since softened. What does it matter either way? I love my dogs, and the behaviour they show to me may as well be love. I'm not afraid of it, of its authenticity, of its depth, of anything.

While Howard comes at the topic of love from a similarly scientific perspective, he comes to the conclusion that it may as well be love. Wynne, the author of Dog is Love (currently reading), fully argues the point. There is a lot of evidence to support the idea: brain hormones, separation distress, heartbeat, MRI scans and ethological observation.

This is enough for these men, why isn't is enough for Holbrook Pierson? My guess is the gender thing. Knapp covered this in her exquisite book Pack of Two. Women get judged more for showing love to animals. Their feelings are routinely diminished, their behaviour ridiculed. I can't help but feel that Holbrook Pierson is holding back, not allowing herself to fully accept the idea of a dog's love. She wrote, "...being successful as a positive-reinforcement trainer depends on leaving the lovely messiness, the hopes and expectations, the merged emotions, the story line of love, out of the matter entirely." I simply don't agree. I contain multitudes, and so do my dogs.

These two books have been some of the best I've read in my ongoing self-education around dogs. They are excellent histories of dog science: thoughtful, nuanced and very enriching.

#dog books #dog thoughts

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somanyfuckedupiftruebooks · 2 years

Text

Mag 87

It's so great that Jon just assumes Georgie's worried about the tape recorder and she has to be like, 'No, idiot, I'm worried about you!' with a side note of 'I use actual recording equipment at my job.'

Georgie is trying so hard to reach out and be there for Jon and he's just like ...alright, I can take a hint. :( I'll move out. :(

Hurray!! It's Sebastian Skinner!! I often joke about statement-givers (and Archivists) being oblivious, so naturally I'm a fan of the most oblivious man in the podcast.

Okay, time to start a List of Things Sebastian Failed to Notice:

Megan is a literal mannequin with a painted on face and a suit of stolen skin.

Also, I've gone back and forth in the past on whether Megan is Nikola or not. There's definitely evidence both ways, but I think I've settled on her being a random Stranger avatar and not Nikola.

Love Megan posing dramatically in the entrance, expecting terror and screaming, and then being thrown by Sebastian's absolute inability to notice anything ever. She simply has no idea what to do with this man.

List of Things Sebastian Failed to Notice:

Megan is a literal mannequin with a painted on face and a suit of stolen skin.

The room she took him into smelled like blood because there was a pile of bodies in the corner.

There was a pile of bodies in the corner.

Also it was full of still-living decapitated heads being skinned.

List of Things Sebastian Failed to Notice:

Megan is a literal mannequin with a painted on face and a suit of stolen skin.

The room she took him into smelled like blood because there was a pile of bodies in the corner.

There was a pile of bodies in the corner.

Also it was full of still-living decapitated heads being skinned.

The people doing the skinning were not people at all.

A massive pool of blood around the drain he is actively working on.

Poor Megan, so uneqipped to deal with Sebastian's single minded focus on plumbing that she has to resort to just straight up telling him that's she's going to cut his skin off. And he still doesn't react!

List of Things Sebastian Failed to Notice:

Megan is a literal mannequin with a painted on face and a suit of stolen skin.

The room she took him into smelled like blood because there was a pile of bodies in the corner.

There was a pile of bodies in the corner.

Also it was full of still-living decapitated heads being skinned.

The people doing the skinning were not people at all.

A massive pool of blood around the drain he is actively working on.

A literal mannequin whispering threats to skin him alive.

I wonder how Megan thought this was going to go. Like, obviously she wanted to terrify the plumber and take his skin, but she's been actively trying to show him horrors from the moment he arrived. What about the blocked plumbing? It's broken and needs to be fixed, that's why she called the plumber in the first place. Unless she was just going through the phonebook and calling anyone with a thematically appropriate surname? But that doesn't make sense because the pipes were actually blocked. If she needed him to do the job, shouldn't she have been trying to hide the horrors from him until after the blockage was removed, and then take him to the flensing room?

I know it doesn't matter because Sebastian the champion simply did not see, but I'm still confused about how this was supposed to play out.

I think that Jude's presence here indicates that the Stranger and the Desolation are allied with each other in a similar way to how the Eye and the Lonely are allied. Megan called Jude in to help her clean up her flensing warehouse by burning everything down and Jude agreed because it's mutually beneficial to both their Entities.

First up, the clown costume. It's totally valid to read Megan as being Nikola, but I still think she's a seperate thing. The colours of the costume are the same as how Nikola has previously been described, but without the pom-poms that I think are essential to the look (although it's very possible that Sebastian simply did not notice them). This is a meta point, but I also think the podcast has moved on from casting Nikola as a generic clown and promoted her to the role of ringmaster. In universe, she should be wearing a ringmaster's outfit by this point.

My read on how Sebastian is involved is that Megan realised that his utter lack of ability to be aware/afraid of things being just slightly wrong makes him utterly unsuitable to feeding the Stranger, so she's offering him to the Desolation in payment for Jude's help. That's the meaning behind Megan and Jude's exchange when he arrives and the reason why Jude starts laughing.

List of Things Sebastian Failed to Notice:

Megan is a literal mannequin with a painted on face and a suit of stolen skin.

The room she took him into smelled like blood because there was a pile of bodies in the corner.

There was a pile of bodies in the corner.

Also it was full of still-living decapitated heads being skinned.

The people doing the skinning were not people at all.

A massive pool of blood around the drain he is actively working on.

A literal mannequin whispering theeats to skin him alive.

Megan may have been dressed as a clown both times he met her.

Eww plastic wrapped in raw bacon!! Yuck!!

List of Things Sebastian Failed to Notice:

Megan is a literal mannequin with a painted on face and a suit of stolen skin.

The room she took him into smelled like blood because there was a pile of bodies in the corner.

There was a pile of bodies in the corner.

Also it was full of still-living decapitated heads being skinned.

The people doing the skinning were not people at all.

A massive pool of blood around the drain he is actively working on.

A literal mannequin whispering theeats to skin him alive.

Megan may have been dressed as a clown both times he met her.

The literal mannequin wearing human skin and a clown costume coming directly at him and getting within grabbing distance.

#a mag a day #reeah reacts to tma #mag 87 #georgie barker #gertrude robinson #jude perry #the stranger #sebastian skinner #nikola orsinov

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tschulijulesjulie · 1 year

Text

I do have two upcoming exams in two and three days respectively so naturally i spend all my time thinking about Radskier (as you do). Those circumstances let me to a thought which will not leave my mind, and i'd love to here more opinions on it. (sorry, long post incoming)

Before i start, a little disclaimer: I haven't read the books nor played the game, so what im about to say is only and purely based on and referring to the show.

So, I'm not sure how everyone else feels about Radovid, but it actually took me some time for him to grow on me. And this is partially because i had envisioned him differently, especially after seeing Hugh Skinner being cast.

So my first thought seeing him on screen was literally "what's this wet cat looking man?"

Those didn’t quite fit, but i couldn't put a finger on what's my actual association was. So I ignored it. The man and the ship grew on me, and so I've spent quite some time watching fan-edits of Radskier on YT these past days (side note: i need MORE, there aren't enough out there!)

One of those videos feature The Calling from TAD's lates album ruin and when Madeleine sang about that fox, it hit me. THAT was my initial association!!!

I mean, just LOOK at him, he's so fox-coded?! the hair(-colour), his red coat, the FURR!!! And thats only the visual resemblance. I can't help but also notice parallels in his characterisation and with what personality traits foxes are usually associated.

all of those traits we have also already seen in - or can assume for - Radovid.

He's intelligent (and tries to hide it), as Jaskier so perfectly points out for us. He's sly, and deceptive. Cunning, and determined - and charming. We might also assume that he has at least some cruel tendencies from the way he's portrayed in the games...

But now, whats REALLY interesting is looking from this perspective at the Geralt/Radovid comparison, which Jaskier so cleverly opened with his hammer-spoon-metaphor.

Because more than Radovid, Geralt even is canonly referred to as "White Wolf" (which a friend of mine so cleverly pointed out might have been Jaskiers invention!)

This is not only because he is from the school of wolf witchers and has white-ish hair. He's tall, muscular, grumpy looking, fast, a hunter and so on.

But he's also characterised that way!

He might be the lone wolf, but he cares for nothing more than his pack and will protect them at all cost.

Both animals are canines, but theyre characterised as differently as possible. Both are predators but but their way of hunting couldn't be more different.

Now, coming back to the witcher and those two characters, it's easy to assume this character design of Radovid wasn't a coincidence.

In a way they're parallels when it comes to Jaskier, both fighting for his heart loyalty.

Geralt is a hammer, a wolf, secure in his ways, stubborn, but not always right.

Radovid is a spoon, a knife, a fox, with tricks up his sleeve and a mind like a maze.

#this isn't me trying to bash Radovid btw #he's an amazing character and i cannot wait to discover more of his depths #AND him and Jaskier are so an interesting ship?!?!#the tension #the looming doom!!#delicious!#this is merely a observation i made that i found quite interesting #and wanted to share #radovid #radskier #geralt of rivia #geraskier #jaskier #the witcher #the witcher s03

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trickybonmot · 2 months

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cw: mention of childhood sexual abuse. This post isn't about that but it mentions a specific case of csa in the second paragraph.

So, my dad is a boomer and a pro-Trump Republican. Like a lot of people in that situation, I've been very puzzled, confused, and betrayed at how the person who taught me many of my progressive values, like belief in science, being kind to others, etc. can support what Republicans support.

I read something the other day that made it much clearer to me. Actually, it was in this post by Brandon Taylor about the sexual abuse suffered by Andrea Skinner, daughter of celebrated writer Alice Munroe, at the hands of her stepfather. The author, Brandon, draws a parallel to their own experience of disclosing their sexual abuse and having their family ignore it, minimize it, and even make jokes about it. Why did the family act that way? Why didn't they empathize with the victim and seek justice?

Here's a quote from the article:

Among my people, the rural and working poor, to make a history out of the past is taboo. To speak of a thing done is to make too much of it. To be fishing for sympathy, and for what, when there’s nothing to be done about it anyway.

Here is something that I remember about my dad. We used to watch David Attenborough's nature documentaries together, the old ones, Life on Earth and The Living Planet. In those days David Attenborough himself was in the shows; he would go to the locations and walk along and talk in his nice calm accent and point out the plants and animals. My dad, like me, was an atheist, so we didn't share any mythos of the workings of the world except the one that David Attenborough gave us: the cold, hard, fascinating, miraculous truth of evolution. To me, this was religion.

The last episode of each series was about Man on earth. Even back then, the closing message was a cautionary one: Man was changing the earth, Man was destroying nature with pollution and unchecked urbanization. My dad? Wouldn't watch that. He would turn it off and tell me that he hated that stuff. He didn't tell me that it wasn't true! But I came to understand that he felt there was a kind of wallowing, finger-wagging quality to it that simply made him cringe. Still to this day, when I see this kind of media my first thought is my dad would hate this.

To speak of a thing done is to make too much of it.

This quote hit me like a ton of bricks because I think this is exactly my dad's attitude toward everything bad in the world. This is why all talk of environmentalism, racial justice, reparations--any issue where people are seeking redress or repair of something awful that happened in the past. To make a history out of the past is taboo. To speak of a thing done is to make too much of it. To be fishing for sympathy, and for what, when there’s nothing to be done about it anyway. THAT IS MY DAD. And if you're wondering whether it also came up in the context of being raised by him, IT SURE FUCKING DID but that's a story for another time.

I think he knows that climate change is bad. I think he knows that racism is bad, and that what this nation has done to Black people is bad, and all the rest of it. But when people talk about it? When people beg for something to be done about it? Man, he just doesn't want to hear it. It makes him cringe inside. It's just unbearably awkward. In fact, I think the very hugeness of these issues, the very awfulness of what has been done and it still being done, is exactly why it's so out of line to bring them up.

So he's supporting the party that doesn't put that stuff up in his face all the time, is all. That's what I think. His reaction to the progressive agenda is just a knee jerk, gut-level negativity that has nothing to do with whether what we're asking for is good or right. He just can't stand for that asking to happen, because the MAIN value he was raised with was exactly this: you put your shoulder to the wheel and get on with things. I was talking to him about Putin or something and he said, "well, like my old ma would say, the trash still has to get taken out."

Now, for sure he has also been brainwashed by Fox News and he believes a lot of things that aren't true. But I think what initially opened the door for it was this feeling that it's just unseemly to make a fuss, to make a history out of the past.

I don't know if there's any hope, here--if being aware of this attitude can change anything. But it was comforting to me to find this clue, and maybe it can open the door to a way of talking about politics that doesn't activate his fight-or-flight response!

#us politics #personal #boomers

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skelavender · 5 months

Text

“It’s snowing,” she says. Mulder follows her gaze. “The first of the season.” “Huh, look at that.” “Yeah,” She sighs absently, leaning back into his body. “It’s so peaceful.” “It is.”

read chapter seven of you are in love on ao3, or below the cut!

And so it goes

You two are dancing in a snow globe, 'round and 'round

And he keeps the picture of you in his office downtown

And you understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars

And why I've spent my whole life tryin' to put it into words

'Cause you can hear in the silence

You can feel it on the way home

You can see it with the lights out

You are in love, true love

You are in love

***

January 1997

Scully is fucking bored.

She’s pacing the office aimlessly while Mulder is out who-knows-where, probably meeting an informant that he won’t tell Scully anything about. It’s not often that she’s here when Mulder isn’t, but when it does occur, it’s the worst. He can occupy himself by organizing and reorganizing the X-Files themselves, but she’s not going to mess with his (allegedly) organized chaos.

She fills the time by inspecting Mulder’s wall of insanity behind his desk. It’s covered in everything from sketches to newspaper clippings to a photo of them at a crime scene. She’s noticed it before, of course, but it’s slightly shifted and showing a sliver of another image stuck behind it. They’re lined up almost perfectly, but not sticking together, so it must be intentional.

Scully removes the pin, and behind the photo is another one of them, this one from their wedding day. Skinner must have taken it. She hadn’t even noticed he had a camera.

And here the photo lives, behind a far less innocuous one, but there all the same. Its mere existence threatens their partnership within the FBI, and yet Mulder keeps it here, close to him, in their space. She wonders how she had never noticed it before.

She and Mulder are framed in cascading sunlight, walking down the white arched walkway outside the courthouse. His hand is on her lower back, as it often is when they walk side-by-side like this, and her hand is angled up to rest on his mid back. He looks down at her, and she up at him like… shit, she looks up at him like she’s in love with him. She was. She is.

Is this how she always looks at him, with this gaze? How they appear to every outsider? No wonder people have been making their assumptions about them since they started to work together, if she’s constantly looking at him like he hung the stars she wishes on.

“Scully, you’re not gonna believe this,” Mulder says as he bursts through the door, filling the room with his excited energy. He approaches her and presses a kiss to the corner of her mouth in greeting before he continues. “What do you know about Mexican folklore?”

Scully doesn’t register what he’s said, she barely even glances up at him. Her eyes remain glued to the photo between her fingers.

“I didn’t know there were photos.” She murmurs absently.

“What?” Mulder’s eyes catch on the glossy paper between her fingers. “Oh.”

“Did Skinner give it to you?”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t know he brought a camera.”

“Neither did I, until he gave me the photo.” Mulder forces an awkward chuckle. “It’s, uh, it’s the only copy, and I have the negative, if that’s what you’re worried about. I asked. And I figured if I kept it behind other stuff, it was innocuous enough, but if you think it’d be safer to get rid of it…”

“Do you think we could get a copy?” She asks before she can lose her nerve. She looks up at him. “I’d like one.”

Mulder is a bit shocked by this. He hadn’t expected her to be so… eager about it. “Uh, yeah. I can get one for you.”

“Thanks.” She smiles up at him like he’s offered some grand gesture, like she doesn’t know he would go to the ends of the earth for her. Like this small favor is everything he would ever ask for.

“Of course.” He wraps his arm around her and pulls her in to his body. Her hand settles on his mid back, their position mirroring their wedding photo. He presses a kiss into her hair, and pulls her into a hug.

She wants a copy of their wedding photo. Mulder feels like they’re teetering on the edge of something, but he can’t quite tell what.

***

Mulder doesn’t even realize he’s in pain until a hand on his shoulder breaks him from his trance. His eyes burn from staring at the flickering computer screen for hours and his back and shoulders ache from an extended period of his horrible computer hunch. He breaks his stare down with the computer to look up at Scully, who is standing behind him with concern painted across her features and the blanket that usually lays at the end of her bed draped over her shoulders.

“Mulder? Are you alright?”

“Huh?” He says dazedly. He’s shifted gears too suddenly, now left feeling like he’s stepped into a dream.

“You weren’t responding when I called your name. Are you okay?”

“Yeah— yeah. Sorry, Scully, I got a little… caught up.”

“In what?”

Mulder rubs his stinging eyes. “A potential case, which is looking less and less like an actual case. What time is it?”

“Close to two.”

“Why are you up?”

“I was cold.” She grumbled. “We might want to look into getting the windows resealed, it gets so drafty in the bedroom.”

“I’ll put it on the list.” Mulder rises, pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “C’mon, Scully, let’s go to bed. I’ll keep you warm.”

At the top of the stairs, Scully pauses. “Do you want some tea, Mulder? It might help you sleep.”

This is an offer Scully makes frequently, but one that Mulder doesn’t take. He’s so used to being awake at all hours that he doesn’t think something as simple as a cup of tea would help.

But Scully is cold, and if she’s making a cup for him, she’ll make some for herself as well.

“Sure.”

She doesn’t look surprised that he’s finally agreed, she just fills the kettle and places it in its usual home on the back burner before flicking it on. She reaches for the teabags and Mulder for the mugs, which sit on a higher shelf. There’s a light smile on her face as she settles a tea bag into each mug, as if there’s no place she would be more content than their kitchen at 2AM.

Wind blasts against the walls, singing through the trees in the side yard. The cold air seems in slightly, and Scully shivers despite her blanket. Mulder gathers her into his arms, wrapping the blanket around him too so that it captures both of their body heat. He rests his face in her hair and closes his eyes, breathing the moment into his lungs and letting it enter his bloodstream.

Scully hums into his chest, content and sleepy. They just stand there in each other’s arms as the water boils.

Mulder doesn’t even notice they’re swaying until the singing of the kettle makes him open his eyes. Softly shifting back and forth, not quite in a dance, just enough movement to lull them into a sleepy, drifting state.

Scully blinks slowly as Mulder pulls away to pour the water. She could have fallen asleep standing up, comforted by the warmth of Mulder’s embrace. Her eyes drift out the window, and a smile graces her face.

“It’s snowing,” she says. Mulder follows her gaze. “The first of the season.”

“Huh, look at that.”

“Yeah,” She sighs absently, leaning back into his body. “It’s so peaceful.”

“It is.”

They’re silent for a moment, standing in each other’s arms watching the snow fall as their tea steeps.

***

It’s a quiet Friday evening when everything changes. They’ve just gotten back from their latest case in California and had finished the paperwork this morning, but haven’t haven’t started a new one yet. The window and cabinet are fixed from the ordeal with the Excellium Medical Group case, they haven't heard from Krychek or the Cigarette Smoking Man, and everything is quiet. They’re at peace.

In this moment especially. They’re on the couch with an old movie on the TV and abandoned takeout containers on the coffee table in front of them. January rain pelts the windows, making their space feel fuller, safer. These four walls keep the rain out and the love in.

Mulder is leaning against Scully’s shoulder, her cheek resting on the top of his head, half asleep. She feels so full. It's one of those moments, ones she has often, these days, where she’s overwhelmed by the pressure of how much she wants, wants him, wants a life together, wants bliss.

Scully reaches for one of her fantasies, the ones she keeps on the shelf in her brain she can only touch on special occasions, the distant dreams involving her and Mulder. The unattainable things she doesn’t have, things she can’t have, much still make her chest ache with sticky-sweet yearning. She finds the shelf empty.

In the blink of an eye, it all falls into place.

Oh. Oh.

Just as the feeling is rising in her throat and starting to choke her, she realizes that she has it. Every domestic fantasy she’s had about Mulder over the years, she has. The quiet evenings, the loud and bumbling mornings, the laughter and casual affection in between. She has him, and she has for a while. There’s nothing else to be afraid of.

“We’re married” The words slip past her lips without meaning to.

“Uh, yeah? I was there?” Mulder says with a laugh, “I get people forget anniversaries, Scully, but the entire marriage?”

“No, I mean – we’re married, Mulder. We’re… a couple.” The realization has caught her off guard, and she’s a bit breathless when she says it.

“Oh.” He sounds just as surprised about it as she is. Neither of them have noticed the direction they’ve been shifting in, too preoccupied by want for a step they haven’t quite yet reached.

“Yeah.”

“What do we… do about that?”

“I don't know.”

A moment passes, thick and full of things thus far left unsaid. Mulder is the one to break it.

“Do we just… let it happen?” he suggests.

She pretends to think for a moment. Like the suggestion doesn’t make her heart skip a beat. Like this isn't everything she's always wanted. “Alright.”

He looks up at her with his puppy dog eyes, wide and vulnerable. Full of hope, of wonder. It’s the same way he looked at her while stargazing in West Virginia a couple months ago, and oh, he’s had this simmering inside him too. He’s wanted her, just like she’s wanted him.

Quietly, she says, “I can't imagine being married to anyone else, Mulder. I don’t want to.” She takes a shaky breath, “You’re my person.”

“I love you.”

She places two fingers under his chin, and pulls him in to kiss her. It's slow, easy as breathing. Peaceful. When they break apart, she looks into his wide, awed eyes and his Christmas tree smile, and places a light kiss on his nose before pulling him closer. They lay on the couch, intertwined, hugging each other a little tighter than they had been before.

Perhaps it’s silly, to perceive something as simple as a kiss as world-changing, as redefining a four-year-long relationship. But with that small contact, just like that, they’re married. Actually married, not just on paper, but finally in agreement on the shape of a them. They’re together. They’re in love.

Scully understands love songs. She understands poetry. She understands how people lose themselves in the depths of this feeling. Her chest is ballooned with pure emotion, like her body is too small to hold all of her love for him so it’s leaking out at the seams, in the spaces her own practiced hands have sutured together old wounds.

She doesn’t realize at first that he’s playing with her ring where it lays on top of her shirt. She wears it openly when they’re at home, and she had caught him staring at it a couple times before. Actually, looking back at it, that might’ve been him looking at her chest. Huh.

“Do you,” he clears his throat, “Do you want to start wearing this on your finger?”

A small smile spreads across her face, warm and slow. she runs her hand through his hair, encouraging him to look up at her.

“Ask me properly, Mulder.”

“Scully,” he says, breathless and with his lips scant centimeters away from hers, “Will you marry me?”

She echoes his words from last year before she kisses him. “Any day of the week, honey.”

<- previous chapter next chapter ->

#fall into place series #LTWrites #LTW: you are in love #fics #.txt #the x files

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randomfoggytiger · 2 months

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Hi! I’ve read many of your meta and analyses (and loved them all really) so I was curious to know what your thoughts are on Reyes as a character cause I remember reading some on Doggett but I’m not sure if you’ve ever talked about Reyes

TLDR; Monica Reyes is a sunny but FBI-tempered version of Melissa Scully (with just enough cynicism and drive to differentiate them.)

Monica Reyes doesn't really have a distinct character-- in Season 8, at least, where I park canon. Haven't seen Season 9, but from what I've read it's pretty similar.

Reyes was even more one-dimensional in the scripts-- shoutout to boggsfiles's website-- depicted as sunshiney and cheerful (so much so she endeared Mulder to her pushy ways) and less able to control her expressive feelings (displaying more obvious fear during Scully's labor and delivery.) Annabeth Gish gave her a little balance, I think: her sunshine is more stable, mature; and, though she's FBI-trained, investigator pushy, it's not to the same degree as Melissa-Scully-barreling-past-all-signals-known-to-man pushy. She slots very nicely into Scully's sister's niche... which reminds me.

I'm pretty sure CC meant her to be a Melissa 2.0.

In poking about canon with a fine-toothed comb, I found it was CC who refused to let Mulder and Melissa hit it off romantically (a wise choice), CC who chose to kill Melissa off, and CC who, apparently, brought her constantly back. For whatever reason, he really connected to her character or her connection to Scully's character. Which is great-- it gave us many moments that addressed, instead of ignored, the impact of her death on Scully. But back to Reyes.

Monica is directly compared to Melissa in Existence, is given her "powers" or "vibes" or whathaveyou, is able to stand up to and annoy Mulder in the same breath (and in the same way), and is "Melissa Scully right" about her intuitions. She is introduced to all as a friend, not a romantic option (which changes in S9, I guess.) However, she's also not an outright believer-- not quite buying Scully's alien abduction theory in This Is Not Happening, but not not buying it-- although that's likely because the FBI trained her to be wisely skeptical instead of breathlessly accepting. And she, unlike Melissa, likes poking around in the unresolved. Melissa prefers acceptance and closure, asking Scully to access her repressed memories not to get to "the truth", but in order to move past her experience. Monica, meanwhile, requires in-depth exploration, reopening Luke Doggett's case and investigating behind Doggett's back with Mulder to get to the heart of the matter-- more hard-wired to seek the truth with a capital T.

I need to dive deeper into This Is Not Happening because that's the episode where her character is depicted (if I recall correctly) with nuance... despite the large chunk of time on-screen during Empedocles and Existence (a problem S8 had with length of time vs. depth of writing.)

What I will say: she beats to her own drum, more so than Melissa, more so than Mulder. While Scully is interconnected for praise and strength, Mulder is interconnected for trust and support, Doggett is interconnected for companionship and loyalty, Skinner is interconnected for protection and duty, and Melissa is interconnected for love and caregiving, Monica is interconnected for alliance and forward progress.

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gracesimp · 2 years

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hi! honestly, my first post and despite having tumblr for a while, I have no idea how to use it! xD

This is just something that's been on my mind. I haven't written in AGES, so it might feel awkward and unnatural and for that I apologise! Do I need to say anything else? I'm trying to think and mimic what I've seen but I'm useless at this lmao.

Happy reading? 😭

The other woman.

tenth doctor x reader.

"I love you."

The words flew into the air and floated for a few seconds, the weight from my shoulders disappearing completely. The three little words i had kept hidden for so long were now out in the open. I had never felt so secure yet so vulnerable in my life. Being chased by outerspace creatures would be more preferable to being stuck in the console room with a thick tension of regret and rejection growing in the air. But still, I felt free.

I looked up. Only because I knew I'd have to at some point. His eyebrows were scrunched together and his lips were downturned. His mind was racing; trying to think of soft ways to let me down.

I honestly didn't mind. I knew. I've always known.

I watch as his lips open and close repeatedly and I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear in a nervous gesture. When his eyes reach mine, I can't stop the smile growing on my lips as they soften. He returns the smile, sad, but could still pass as genuine. My legs move before my mind does, and I take a step forwards.

I used to watch his mouth a lot. That probably sounds weird but I just feel that everything about him is perfect. But his lips were art. The greatest of artists took their time to design those lips. So plump. So light. So pink. So pretty and perfectly sculptured for someone else's lips to mould together with them.

Just not mine.

Cutting him off as he makes an attempt to speak for the umpteenth time, I see his hand rested absently on the console and place mine delicately upon his.

"No, please. don't speak - whatever you're about to say I know. I really do. It's okay," I say. And it is.

After hearing my words, understanding roams his eyes. He looks down again, possibly in guilt, but he has no reason to feel that way. None at all.

"I'm not saying this to make you feel bad. I'm not even saying this because I want you to respond. Or that I want to give you a choice. Please, don't think that's why I'm doing this."

For no longer I can hold in the tears and a lone drop travels down my blushed cheek, smudging my mascara.

"I know you love Rose. and I'm so happy for you - really, I am." Everything I say is the truth. I love him and I love Rose. and I cannot think of two people more deserving of each other. I just hate that I spend my nights thinking about what would've happened if I had met the doctor first. if I had been skinner. If I had been prettier.

Would I ever had stood a chance? Even if Rose wasn't in the picture? And I curse myself every chance I get for my toxic mentality, though I can't seem to shake these thoughts that torture me.

"y/n-" he tries.

"No, please. I fear if I don't say this now I won't get the chance to ever say it again. And it needs to be said. For me to get closure. For me to be happy. Please." I beg. I actually beg. There's a whine that can be heard in my voice, making me feel weak. Never had I felt so embarrassed.

But if not now..

He nods, accepting my request of proclaiming my unrequited love. And I'm grateful.

"Before now, I had never been in love before. I had never felt love, for all its pain and comfort. But Doctor, I am so in love with you. And that's never going to change." I sniffle. "I just wanted you to know this now."

His hand reaches forward and cups my cheek. His palm feels warm on my face but I'm sure my heated cheek is a contributing factor. His eyes search mine as he just stares at me for a few seconds. I have absolutely no idea what he's thinking. Maybe that's for the best.

Almost hesitantly, his thumb slowly wipes under my eye with so little pressure I could mistake is for a stray hair. Then, he steps back and blows out a breath of air.

"Okay," he begins, face conflicted but understanding. "Right. you don't want me to talk about it?" I nod in confirmation. "Okay.. just one question. why are you telling me this now?"

I smile, so obviously sad before looking down at my shoes.

"Because I think this is the last time I'll have the opportunity."

#doctor who x reader #the doctor x reader #10th doctor x reader #tenth doctor x reader #david tennant #tenth doctor #tenth doctor x y/n #tenth doctor x you #10th doctor #10th doctor x you #doctor who #doctor who x you #doctor who x y/n #ten x reader #ten x rose #tenrose

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dreadfutures · 2 months

Text

Fics for Blue

I’ve been honored to receive so many gift works since joining the Dragon Age fandom. Some are from Exchanges (more about Dragon Age Fanwork Exchanges), some are from discord community server events, some have just spawned out of shared headcanons gone wild, like the Mirrorverse.

In general, feel free to make fanart, podfics, and derivative works of my fics, art, and characters, as long as a heads-up & credit is given. I always appreciate the creativity of this community. See my full use statement here.

Banner credit.

In addition to reading the fics I've been gifted, please check out the rest of the writers' works - they are all so talented!

General Gifts

Dawn in Antiva - [delawana | @the-rebel-archivist]. Oneshot.

Rating: T. (Andarateia Cantori/Viago de Riva) | In the wake of the Qunari occupation of Treviso, Viago de Riva is disgruntled that Antiva carried on with its festivals. Andarateia Cantori gives him a new perspective on another way to fight their enemies.

I love the descriptions of the setting, how it perfectly fit the vibes of the moodboard that inspired it, and the push and pull of Viago's inner gloom and the light that Teia brings.

A Snowflake Distinct Among Snowflakes - [Missjlh]. Multichap. Complete.

Rating: T. (Solas & Dorian Pavus) | Solas is a mystery to Dorian and he finds himself looking for the man's approval. In a bid to get to know him better, Dorian offers to share his research notes, but in the end, it's Solas' advice regarding how to free the slaves of Tevinter that leaves its mark, even years later, after the truth of who Solas is has come to light.

I love, love, love the progression of Dorian and Solas' interactions. A gift from @arlathanxchange 2024 that tracks Solas & Dorian from the Inquisition to what happens after.

Strawberries and Lace - [@enigmalae]

Rating: T. (Solas/Lace Harding) | A chance encounter in skyhold leads to the start of something more.

Dancing, flirting, and a first kiss. A gift from @arlathanxchange 2024.

Provenance - [@kiastirling-fanfic]

Rating: G. (Solas & Dorian Pavus) | “Do you always throw misbehaving tomes on the heads of unassuming passerby?” Dorian's disregard for the Inquisition's questionable literature leads to a discussion with the resident apostate.

A gift from @arlathanxchange 2024. When I see "magical academia" my heart sings - and the bickering truly lives up to it.

Impeccable Timing - [@RosellaWrites]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: G. (Solas/Josephine Montilyet) | Josephine Montilyet intimately understands the Game, even under such circumstances found at the Winter Palace. What surprises her, however, is that an elven mage navigates it just as surely as she.

I love the inside peek into Josie's mind, the hints at being a little too attentive to Solas while remaining unflappable just as she always is. A gift from @arlathanxchange 2024.

Power lies with thos who grasp it - [Toshi_Nama]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: M. (Briala & Skinner)

From my prompt: maybe Skinner is secretly one of Briala’s own agents, even while she is a member of Bull’s Chargers. Or maybe Skinner thinks Briala’s a poser. Maybe both. I think there’s interesting potential for conflict, contrast, or highlighting–Skinner could be a way to push Briala to change in certain ways, or to prove herself, or encourage her to continue on as she has. Maybe they have some secret history. A gift from @arlathanxchange 2023.

the world would crmble to dust before you ran out of ills to fight - [@RosellaWrites]. _Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: G. (Solas/Lace Harding) | Scout Lace Harding retraces Solas's footsteps alongside Varric in a race to stop him… or change his mind. Lace remembers her time with the so-called apostate along the way.

A gift from @arlathanxchange 2023.

The Firefall - [Dragon_Sage]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: M. (Solas/F!Lavellan). Post-Trespasser. | Solas is camped in the ruins of Mythal's most cherished palace, plagued by Regret and guilt around the circumstances of her murder. He would leave, but he desperately requires what he suspects his old friend may have hidden there. Unfortunately, the final obstacle in his path is a door that only one person in Thedas can open: Ellana Lavellan.

This is a beautiful and cinematic adventure fic with a bittersweet twist! Just my kind of gift. I would love for everyone to read it and join me in imagining this beautiful, mysterious palace that Dragon Sage created as a backdrop!

Shadows in the Glass - [@silvanils | KnightDawn] Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: T. (Marquis of Serault & Marquise of Serault) | “The eyes were all wrong. I should know. I see the right ones every morning.”Something strange is happening in Serault. What else is new?

A mirrorverse of sorts for the Marquis(e) of Serault! Several heroes from different universes reach out to each other in dreamlike, beautiful quality.

Comrades in Arms, Brothers in Broken Chains - [@rosella-writes]. PODFIC.

Rosella BEAUTIFULLY read a piece I wrote out loud as a podfic!

The Seven Halla - [Ciella]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: T. (Solas/F!Lavellan) | A Dragon Age version of the German fairy tale, The Six Swans.

A perfect gift from the @solavellanhellexchange

Homecoming - [@queenaeducan-writes]. Two chapters. Complete.

Rating: T. (Genfic) | Charter and Harding know that Fen'Harel seeks something in the vaults of a Tevinter Magister. It's a race to gain access to this mysterious artifact, and to keep it out of enemy hands. Until it isn't.

This fic--an adventure, an intrigue, a world-building exploration, an action piece, and so much more--grabbed me by the heart and didn't let go. Gift from the @arlathanxchange

Bright Days of Halcyon - [@darethshirl]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: G. (Solas & Keeper Hawen) | Solas joins Hawen’s clan for a slice of life and celebration. He finds traces of the familiar, fragments of the past, and welcome.

This fic actually drove me to tears, it was nostalgic, poignant, and touching. It is both full of joy and full of tragedy. Gift from the @arlathanxchange.

oily marks appear on walls (where pleasure moments hung before) - [@rosella-writes] Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: M. (Solas/Felassan) | As an Evanuris, Solas has no vallaslin. He would lay claim to no one. Not even the man he loves.

Just an absolutely gorgeous piece highlighting a tension between Solas and Felassan, yet another problem entirely of Solas's own making. Gift from the @arlathanxchange.

What Pride Had Wrought - [@rosella-writes ]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: G. (Solas & Mythal) | Mythal through the ages, with Pride at her side.

Gift fic from the Beyond The Veil Discord Server’s Masked Satinalia holiday exchange!

Pride’s Hope - [@rosella-writes]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: G. (Solas/Felassan) | Solas may have always been Pride, but Felassan was not always Felassan. Once he chafed under the mantle of another name.

Rosella wrote a deliciously angsty Solas (Pride)/Felassan (Hope) fic <3

grab hold of the earth’s four corners - [@rosella-writes]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: E. (Female Lavellan/Krem) | The Chargers survived their Venatori encounter at the Storm Coast. Virelan and Krem celebrate together behind the Herald's Rest.

Gift from Rosella furthering the Lavellan/Krem agenda!

Gifts about Ixchel Lavellan

Lead Her Through the Darkness - [BECandCall | @warpedlegacy]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: T. (Solo: Female Lavellan) | This is THE story of how Ixchel found her name. BECandCall aka DuchessofSwoll wrote this gift for me during the Dragon Age Fanfiction discord server’s OC swap month.

The Day the Dread Wolf Wed the Brave Guide - [exalted_dawn | @exalted-dawn-drabbles] Ongoing.

Rating: T. (Female Lavellan/Solas, Female Lavellan & Dalish OCs) | My beautiful friend and dear Beta, Ed, decided to write how her Dalish OC Talenna convinced and orchestrated Ixchel to do a bonding ceremony with Solas, at the Arlathvhen, after Corypheus’s defeat. It’s beautiful and I adore it.

Finding Hope in Ruins - [BlueWren]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: G. (Female Lavellan/Solas) | A gift from the 2022 April OC Swap for the DAFF Discord Server, where Solas and Ixchel talk about hope together.

The Inexorable Tide - [kittynomsdeplume]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: T. (Dirthame/Female Lavellan) | Ixchel appeared in Elvhenan in an explosion that leveled Falon’Din’s temple. Dirthamen takes her in, for she wears his vallaslin, and slowly teaches her the Elvhen language…and they fall in love.

A BEAUTIFUL GIFT from the 2021 Beyond The Veil Discord Server Satinalia Exchange

Champion- [Fenrevas | @rakshadow]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: G. (Female Lavellan & Female Hawke) | Rak wrote this lovely interaction for a Discord server event <3 A Boxing Club au where Ash Hawke meets Ixchel Lavellan, her new boxing instructor.

Alas’nira - [thebrain_urchin | @dalishkadan]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: E (Female Lavellan/Solas) The Dalish warn their children to watch out, lest the Dread Wolf catch them. They never speak on what it would be like for the Dread Wolf to be caught instead.

Fade-Touched - [ @rosella-writes]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: M. (Dirthamen/Female Lavellan) | Dirthamen learns from his Champion to set aside study. Dirthamen (yes that one) and Ixchel bang in a magical orchard with aphrodisiac peaches.

A gift from 2022's Beyond the Veil Discord server's Masked Satinalia.

Gifts about my other OCs.

to be seen feeling - [@inquisimer] Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: T. (Mahariel/Morrigan, Mahariel, Others. Genfic!) | Duty pulls Halevune from his fragile family and the home they’ve carved in the Crossroads. In which Mahariel navigates his relationship with Morrigan, fatherhood, and the politics of the Wardens and being an elven Teryn.

The Stories We Tell - [@about2dance]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: G. (Female Lavellan & Dalish Male OC). Terinelan Lavellan, the First of the Lavellan Clan, explores a ruin that the Inquisitor discovered. She has worried that she's not Dalish enough, so he tells her the story of how the Clan came to accept her.

A gift from the Dragon Age FanFic server's 2024 OC Swap.

Mari Enasal - [@RosellaWrites]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: G. (Kieran & Male Mahariel, Male Mahariel & Merrill). Halevune shares a spooky Dalish tale with his son. Kieran has heard this one so many times that it's no longer scary.

A gift from the Dragon Age FanFic server's 2023 holiday exchange.

The Mirrorverse.

The Dragon Age Fanfic Writers Discord Server anniversary (Aug 2021) generated a bunch of crossover-type gift fis and introduced the idea of a multiverse connected by eluvians. Thus, the Mirrorverse was born.

The Bar at the End of the Multiverse - [CrackingLamb]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: T | Multiple Inquisitor Lavellans wander through mysterious eluvians and find themselves at a bar for some bonding time.

The one that started it all!

i want to share your mouthful - [RosellaWrites]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: E. (Female Lavellan/Female Lavellan, past Female Lavellan/Solas) | Virelan Lavellan post-Trespasser struggles to let go of the weight of her responsibilities as Inquisitor and mother. Ixchel helps with sparring, bathing, and some sex.

to call for hands of above (to lean on) - [RosellaWrites]. Ongoing.

Rating: G. (Female Lavellan/Solas) | Virelan Lavellan and Solas have reunited, and now their son Tulin is coming of age. Tulin wants to take the vallaslin, knowing what it represents--but he wants Solas and Virelan to help in the ritual. Virelan doesn’t know how to ask Solas such a favor, and turns to Ixchel for some hope.

tell me if i drown - [Lalaen]. Oneshot.Complete.

Rating: M. (Male Lavellan & Female Lavellan) | Gethrael Lavellan, reeling after a horrific experience in Wicked Eyes, Wicked Hearts, goes to the Bar at the End of the Multiverse and runs into Ixchel.

The Brave Guide’s Friend - [@ExaltedDawn].

Rating: M. (Female Lavellan & Female Dalish OC) | When the Eluvian had appeared before her, Ixchel could have never suspected that it would lead to the loss of a friend. But when Talenna stumbled through the glass, bloodied and afraid and clutching two young children, Ixchel is forced to come to terms with the fact that she will yet again have to say goodbye to someone she loves. And in doing so, will finally repay a favor long owed.

to all who feel rain - [@inquisimer]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: G. (Female Lavellan/Female Lavellan). Neria and Ixchel share a warm drink and a moment of peace.

a butchered tongue still singing - [@RosellaWrites]. Oneshot. Complete.

Rating: T. (Male Mahariel/Morrigan, Female Mahariel/Zevran, Female Mahariel & Male Mahariel) | An eluvian connects Rhiannon Mahariel to the life of another like herself, who was also tainted by a cursed mirror.

#long post #gift fics #fics for blue #needed an update and overhaul so decided to just make a new post

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