#even if people understand where they are coming from they still consider them to be utterly insane

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hey um, what if the Overblot boys told each other their backstories?

Mmm… Well firstly, I think it would take a lot of effort to arrive at a point where all of the OB boys would even feel comfortable being that emotionally intimate with the others. Many of the OB boys are highly guarded and resistant to putting themselves in compromising positions. For example, I can easily see Azul being paranoid that the others would use his background as blackmail; he would not risk having his own vulnerabilities becoming public knowledge. Would Leona really be okay with being sentimental in front of various people he dislikes, especially Malleus and Vil? Would Idia feel safe unpacking his trauma and grief in front of his peers? Etc, etc, etc.

Secondly, I think that even if the OB boys were hypothetically at the point where they were okay sharing their backstories with the others, it wouldn’t change much about their immediate circumstances?? The OB boys generally don’t strike me as particularly… empathetic? At least not automatically empathetic. It’s something they would need to put effort into and actively work on. I imagine that they’d otherwise just pull a Zuko-style “That’s rough, buddy” or potentially even say something tactless that rubs their peers the wrong way (for example, not fully understanding the situation or even downplaying one another’s trauma). Riddle (someone with very little to no experience with social media and entertainment mediums) might not get how being a celebrity influences Vil’s life, Leona might insult Malleus (someone whom he has a bone to pick with), everyone might still be upset with Malleus for what he did to them in book 7. etc. Each OB boy only has their own experiences as the lens through which they see and interact with the world, and it’s not that easy for just anyone to put themselves in the shoes of another person.

Hearing a (for lack of a better term) traumadump doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll connect with it or understand just how grueling it was for the person who experienced said trauma. It would usually take a significant amount of time and reflection (ideally facilitated by a licensed mediator or professional) to digest those stories in group therapy and to make sure that everyone actually understands one another. A surface-level story retelling alone in most cases isn’t (again, for lack of a better term) “enough”, especially with how self-centered, emotionally immature, and different many of the OB boys are.

Think of empathy like a skill or a muscle. It isn’t innate. You need to develop it and train it, and not putting it to use can lead to atrophy. And given how arrogant and independent your usual NRC student is… yeah, it’s definitely going to be something for them all to work on.

If you want to think of it another way, it’s like how different players will react differently to reading the OB boys’s backstories. Someone who experienced bullying similar to Azul could more easily empathize with him while also not fully “getting” the full scope of other stories they hear. Maybe they can’t understand why Riddle still cares about the mother who mistreated him. Maybe they don’t see why Jamil sacrifices so much for his family. It doesn’t make the player a bad person for not understanding all the stories, it simply means they have a limited perspective. The same is true of the TWST characters; they, too, have incomplete points of views.

Maybe knowing their backstories in advance would change some scenes in small ways (such as book 6, when they split up and then butt heads with each other). They’d know where the other boys were coming from, and how that informs how they act in present day. However, I maintain that I think not much would change from the original. In a stressful situation like book 6, they could easily slip up and say something insensitive/make assumptions about their behavior based on their background/overlook or not even consider their background in the first place since they’re so focused on the current task. For example, Azul, feeling insulted that Riddle is underestimating him, could make a snide remark that just because his mother was a control freak doesn’t mean Riddle also has to be. Jamil could still see Leona as a spoiled prince because, despite being treated like an outcast, he still grew up in immense privilege as royalty. They can so easily fixate on their own interpretations of events that it colors how they perceive others, rather than how they can relate to others no matter how similar or dissimilar their experiences were.

In other ways, I think the OB boys sharing their backstories with one another stifles potentially meaningful development. Character growth in TWST isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon, and we’re here for the long haul. What does depositing all the backstories in their laps achieve for the OB boys? It artificially puts them in a situation to “better know” their peers rather than let it happen organically or allowing them to grow closer through their own efforts. Let’s look at the Deuce-Epel beach scene from book 5. Do you think it would have been as impactful of a scene if Epel explained his life in the countryside and how he got his traditional views on gender norms to Deuce? Personally, I don’t think so. The scene we currently have has them bonding and connecting through a shared activity (shouting at the sea), then having a heart-to-heart without a heavy backstory exposition. It’s through that, not explicit backstory sharing, that the two form an attachment and become genuine friends.

Those are all my thoughts!! ^^

[paper-mario-wiki]

"no art is good bc it's a misconfiguration of the natural world to suit man's vanity" Is an extremely misanthropic take on art. Is humanity not part of "the natural world"? Can one not make pigments from flowers or minerals? You say that the universe would never align so that a piece of art is made without human intervention, but the universe did align so that it could be made, you just assume humans aren't part of it. I understand that this is some faux-deep shit I'm on, but I love art and while I think good is kind of useless adjective when talking about art in general, to compare the concept of art to a tumor is a pretty bad faith take. Sorry if that was like, ironic or something and I just sent a rant into your inbox for nothing.

your faux-deep shit could never reach the faux-depths of my even shallower faux-deepness.

i think the main problem when establishing this argument in the first place was saying "all art is bad" because someone asked me if i liked any bad art, and i answered using "bad" as a shorthand for "not good". if i had known i'd be getting into this pedantic of an argument about it i definitely would have changed my wording, because things that are "not good" are not inherently "bad", which seems to be where the majority of the misunderstandings of my stance come from.

i'd ask you this: what could be considered "good" outside of something that affects humanity in some capacity? to be clear, you're absolutely right, humans ARE natural, humans ARE part of the world. but the idea of something being "good" didn't exist until humans came up with it.

100,000,000,000,000,000 light years away, two planets crash into each other, each with their own forms of biological life so different from earth's that we would find it difficult to even classify it as life if we were given the chance to observe it, but that doesn't matter because we would have never been given the opportunity to reach those planets anyway under any circumstances. is this a good thing? is it a bad thing? i don't think it's either, it's just something that happened.

because "good" and "bad" are code words used to reflect the societal values of the person using them, they cannot exist in a vacuum.

so if that's the case, and "good" and "bad" only exist to us, what does it mean to us?

well, something "good" is something with objective benefit or subjective enjoyment-- but subjective enjoyment of something can also contradict the nature of its objectivity. soup can be considered "good" because it sustains us and is therefore beneficial. soup can be considered to "taste good" because someone might enjoy the flavor. but "torture" can only be seen as "enjoyable", but it benefits nobody-- even if the person doing it enjoys it. that's just them subjectively enjoying it.

conversely, something can be objectively good but still subjectively unenjoyable, like having a soup that's healthy in a way you think tastes bad! you'd still benefit from it, even if you didn't enjoy the experience. but regardless of whether or not you enjoyed it, what has the greatest bearing on something being considered "good" is its objectivity, as it's something fewer people can debate.

now, all of that being considered, what can "art" do that is objectively good, without it serving some secondary purpose? something that is objectively good can be artistically created, like a children's hospital designed by a genius architect-- but its goodness in that case would be derived from its benefit, with the subjectivity of it being something that only enhances its good.

a piece of fabric, stretched across a wooden frame and painted using colorful oils, creates no benefit objectively, it exists solely in the world of subjectivity. how can something be "good" if the only thing it does is hold the potential (not the guarantee) for a person to look at it, and enjoy looking at it?

more importantly though, is that bad? it's not.

but it is superfluous.

^ please forgive me for typing all of this. im so sorry. it's just so easy to be pedantic. i promise im not a stick in the mud and i love art, i just also happen to be someone who is personally deeply concerned with rhetorically whittling communication down to the bare knob of its meaning (XRA style).

because it is something i find subjectively enjoyable.

[cotton-could]

The depth of the Beetles brothers

My favourite sibling relationship in KND is definitely the Beetles brothers and I feel like they don't get the recognation they deserve, they're very adorable and is by far the most healthy sibling relationship but it does have some interesting aspects. Lemme break it down:

🍼; Wally had to step in to parent Joey

I find it interesting how the normally irresponsable Wally is suddenly the most responsible boy when his brother is concerned, almost like he's fulfilling the role his parents failed to fulfill. Wally's parents are oblivious at best and painfully irresponsible as seen in the D.O.D.G.E.B.A.L.L episode, where both parents doesn't even react to a grown and elderly wizard attacking their baby, they don't even get mad at him. I know it's "haha adults are being dumb and useless 😂" but this doesn't paint them in a good light since Joey needs someomeone to rely on and clearly he can't rely on his parents (I'll talk about it later), Wally on the other hand, he protects him, scolds him, looks after him and raise him, despite being the eldest brother, he acts more like a stern but loving father than a brother. The guy went berserk when he thought his baby brother was hurt, a clear contrast to their parents' reactions when Joey was in real danger. Wally became the "adult" Joey needed at such a young age...

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🧸; Wally is Joey's comfort and safe source

What I find most endearing in their relationship is that Wally of all people is Joey's source of comfort. He knows how to take care of himself as seen in D.O.D.G.E.B.A.L.L but this trait is apparently forgotten because in S.A.F.E.T.Y he doesn't use his dodgeball skills but actually, the trait wasn't forgotten, it's because he feels safe and protected with Wally. Remember his brother was knocked out when he was fighting against the wizard while his parents did nothing but in S.A.F.E.T.Y he didn't even tried to crawl away from danger, he's either paralyzed or searching/waiting for his brother but after seeing his older brother, he's cheerful and smiling again.

So when his source of comfort is shattered (when Wally gets mad at him), he just crawls away from him while crying and refuses to hear his apology. And this is despite the fact that Joey has seen his mom get mad (who's scarier than his brother when angered) at Wally and didn't cried. And this makes sense because his mom isn't his source of comfort like Wally.

Joey probably considers Wally his best friend, as he's always there for him when he needs it and gets to be vulnerable.

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🍬; Their parents' irresponsability are what makes their bond strong

Similar to the previous point but now more focused on the parents. They're trying, their dad works 2-3 jobs and the mom is a housewife but.... they're very irresponsable. They let a baby fight a wizard (I know they were tied but they didn't even tried to break free or telling the wizard to back off) and let a baby wander around all alone without bothering to look after him. It's one thing to be busy and to try but it's another to leave a baby who's at oldest a year old, see his brother without thinking of the possibilities he might get run over, kidnapped, get lost, crushed, etc... Yes, he knows how to defend himself but he's still a naïve baby, this would make Joey finding safety in Wally more understandable.

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🥧; He brings the best side in Wally

It's undeniable Wally is a good person but he always does his hardest to keep his sweeter side hidden, even with Kuki, so when it comes to apologizing.... He pretty much needs to go through painful experiences or get his pride in shambles to do it but with Joey it's a different case. He's not only openly affectionate with him (when he always avoid to do it with his friends and sometimes acts disgusted when he receives affection) but he genuinely apologizes to Joey in front of his friend/ally and the villain, he shows vulnerability in an environment he knows his pride would be destroyed and taken advantage by the villain of the episode but he doesn't care because his brother comes first. He calls Hoagie out when he asked Joey to dance, whispering him he's doing it because he wanted to be nice. Wally is not the nicest kid and it speaks volume of how much he cares about his brother's feelings when he wants to show his softer side.

And let's not forget how he spent the whole episode using his own body as a shield for Joey, not caring about the competition he's been trying to win because his baby brother is hurt, etc... When Joey is in the picture, Wally drops all his foolishness and becomes serious and responsable.

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🍟; Wally's parental role is taking a toll on him

It wasn't really focused on the show but from what we saw, it can be assumed he's also playing a fatherly role to Joey but... in the scenes he was shown crying, he takes it a bit too far, he's reacting how Joey should be (the cut was fake but still) and has a meltdown after destroying the robot because his brother is hurt but he reacts more like he failed Joey.

And I get him, because in the whole episode he was a jerk to him, made him cry, Joey didn't really accepted his apology, he indirectly caused Joey's "cut" and is bleeding. None of it were positive interactions at all and it kept getting worse, even if he protects him, it feels like it's not enough. If it weren't for Hoagie, Wally wouldn't even forgive himself at all and would think he's a failure of a brother because he couldn't prevent his little brother from getting hurt.

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🧃; Wally's hidden jealousy

This one isn't that big of a story but it's still interesting. While he has a positive relationship with Joey, it's implied he's jealous of him and we can see that in S.A.F.E.T.Y when Joey unintentionally stole the spotlight from him, telling him to go home and eventually snaps at him.

And in D.O.D.G.E.BA.L.L he might be secretly in denial about not really defeating the wizard but Joey. When Hoagie tries to inform him, he immediately refuses to hear him because deep down he knows Joey did it.

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🍭; In spite of this, Joey does admire Wally and is his hero

In a blink-or-miss moment, Wally does his silly dance before preparing himself and in the next few scenes, Joey is seen the make the same dumb dance as Wally for the whole episode (which Wally is completely unaware of).

Joey's reason to be here in the first place is because he wanted to see his brother in action and to root for him. He does have/mimick some of Wally's habits such as being a great fighter, being aggressive to enemies he can take down, being bored of his dad's stories and the silly dance.

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🍊; Wally is actually the father figure Joey needed

They may bicker and stuff but it's clear they love each other. With their parents being irresponsable and Joey not having an adult to rely on, Wally is the closest thing he has to a father figure. He's not the perfect one because of his anger issues but considering his age, it's justified but despite that, Wally is a good influence and presence in Joey's life. Wally takes great care of him and is always gentle when handling him even when he's mad at him (like carefully putting him on the floor instead of dropping him on the floor). Yes, Wally can be very harsh on him but it was mostly out of love, anger and concern (he could've been more tactful about it but his anger was understandable). And Wally has more emotional responsability than most adults in KND as he apologizes to Joey and makes up for his harsh behavior with hugs protecting him from danger. And his actions are what made Joey forgive him, he rejected his apology but after seeing how Wally will put himself at risk so he can be safe was what made him realize that Wally does care about him even when he gets mad at him.

It can be unfair for Wally to fulfill such a heavy role at such a young age but it's clear he doesn't regret it and knows no one else would look after him. He never took it out on Joey and this shows the maturity Wally has.

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Hope you guys liked my post about them, those 2 makes me so ill, I love those sillies so much! If anybody makes content of them or Joey content, please tag me, I'm a huge Beetles Brothers and Joey enjoyer.

[werewolfsister]

PSA: COMIC DRAMA

I've been slowly receiving critical, entitled, and passive-aggressive messages about the way I've been writing my comic! I wanted to address this behavior.

That being said, the majority of my readers have been nothing but positive! And when they spot a problem, they're kind about it. I really appreciate this; thank you to those who choose to be civil.

I'm making this post to address some issues, complaints, and questions I've seen. Let's take a look & see what we can discuss!

READ MORE UNDER THE CUT!

🦈-> I want you to use my character in your comic, but you're not using them! Sometimes, a character doesn't quite fit my vision for the comic-- even when they're designs that I love! I really do try to use as many people's characters as possible. I think it adds to the world & makes the comic feel more full of life! But I can't accommodate everyone's desires.

🐟->You're using my character in your comic, but you're not giving them enough screen time! Similar to the above issue, sometimes I don't think focusing on a particular character for any longer will serve the story well. Ultimately, I have final say on what happens in the comic. My advice is, if you feel your character isn't appearing enough, make your own content! Draw, write, craft, etc like I mention farther down below!

🐠->You said you were going to use my diplomat/character(s), but you only drew them in 1-2 panels. Why aren't you using them more? Similar to the points above! I was never planning on going into a TON of depth with the diplomats-- the comic focus also drastically changed, as I mention below.

🐡->You're using characters in the story that I don't like! Ahh that is too bad, but! In that case, you can always take a break from the comic & come back later to check if the characters are no longer being used, or maybe stop reading the comic altogether. However! If you have concerns with how the character is portrayed because of legitimate sexual/violence/illicit/illegal issues, then that's another issue entirely and you should let me know.

🪼->I thought this story was about rescuing Kenne, but now she's not even in the comic! I don't like the way this story is going! This is a big issue some people are having and I completely understand. There's been a lot of things going on behind the scenes that I haven't explained, which must be generating a lot of confusion. Originally, @kenneduck and I were collaborating closely on this comic. Recently, the dynamic shifted, and we're now working on the comic separately. @kenneduck is now responsible for the part of the story that heavily features her characters, i.e. Princess Kenne's perspective of the rescue, her rescue effort, and what's happening in the Domain of the Luminous trench. I am now working on a different angle of the story-- the diplomatic efforts of Zora's Domain in their attempt to negotiate for Princess Kenne's return. So, the story is still the same... the focuses have just changed and split!

🦑->You reblogged my fan art and/or linked it in your comic directory-- does that make my content canon? Oooh, this is actually kind of a tough one! Normally, if something is in the comic directory, I consider it to be canon to the story. So, if you've drawn something, and I add it to my directory for a comic chapter, I'll consider it to have happened in real time. THERE'S AN EXCEPTION! And it may be confusing, so I'm genuinely sorry! If you have drawn something where you are heavily modifying someone else's character--this means cosmetic changes, giving the character children/spouses/family, killing the character, altering their personality-- WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION, then I cannot accept that as canon. It's still fantastic that you drew/wrote/created something and I will probably put it in the MISCELLANEOUS section of the comic directory. I'VE MADE MISTAKES ON THIS! So, I've since updated the directory. And, sorry for all confusion on this issue! If you've made something & intended it to be canon, let's talk about it!

🐳->I want to collaborate with you on your comic, can I do that? That's awesome! Maybe in the future, but right now I'm not taking on any more partners. Maybe you can make your own separate additions, with your character(s) like I mention below!

🐙>I want to make fan art, can I do that? You absolutely can. Go for it. This was originally meant to be a very interactive comic, so draw/write/create away!!!

🦀->I want to draw my character(s) doing something in the world of your comic, can I do that? You absolutely can. Go for it! Like I mentioned above, however, I may or may not deem it canon to the events of the comic. But even if I don't, I'll add it to the MISCELLANEOUS section of my comic directory! ...as long as you don't alterate someone's character without permission! If you've made something & intended it to be canon, let's talk about it!

🐬->I want to make a character based on a Domain you created/idea you drew/etc., can I do that? Of course! Go for it. I love seeing what people make!

I know this is a lot of text, but it's better to be comprehensive! Please, keep in mind, I'm just one hobby artist making a comic for fun, with the spirit of interactivity and collaboration in mind. But it's impossible to keep that spirit going when people feel entitled and demand things of me that I am not obligated to give.

I queue out my pages several weeks in advance with the help of the people I'm working with, so what you see in the comic is the product of a lot of thought and work. You're getting something for free here, y'all. It ain't so serious!!!!

Anyways, thanks for reading this! And for reading the comic! Peace out ✌️

[cherryys]

Gojo and Megumi exist as wretched mirrors of each other; you are all I could've been and you are all i might be.

how their characters and their narrative arcs are foils of each other, a post:

1. Intro

Gojo and Megumi's origins start off pretty similarly: they were born from the 3 major clans, and they inherited the prized technique and let that dictate their lives, for better or for worse.

The divergence in fate starts when Gojo chooses to take Megumi in instead of letting him be subjected to the Zenin Clan's whims, i.e making him go down the same path Gojo had been born into and end up isolated and alone just like he was before Geto.

Here is where the first key component that separates Megumi entirely from Gojo fundamentally and the fate Megumi would've eventually found himself trapped in:

2. Tsumiki

Here, when Megumi is asked what he wants, he asks about Tsumiki, about her happiness. Megumi has someone he cares about and someone that cares about him from a young age, something Gojo didn't have yet.

Tsumiki was the reason he chose to go with Gojo. Had she not existed, Megumi wouldn't have taken Gojo's deal and probably dismissed him as he would've gained nothing from going with him, which would've ended with him with the Zenin Clan per Toji's deal.

in fact, she's the reason why Megumi turned out so differently despite being under Gojo's tutelage. Because of her, Megumi had someone to ground him, someone to connect him to non-sorcerers and "weak people", something Gojo didn't have. Because of her kindness, he had made it his

ideal to save people. there's an emotional weight and connection because Megumi grew up surrounded by non-sorcerers (went to a normal middle school) and was influenced heavily by them (Tsumiki).

So despite his grievances with people in general, he gets it. he understands where they're coming from, he despises it exactly because he grew up in it, and he sees it reflected in himself. but his sister changed him and showed him that some people are worth saving and fighting for.

unlike Gojo when he was a teen who, because he didn't have any connection to non-sorcerers or "weak" people growing up, viewed himself above them and saw that saving them was an unnecessary chore. and even with Geto, he was still indifferent.

it wasn't until Riko and Geto's defection that he saw value in saving these "weak" people too, but even then, there was still a sense of detachment from everyone else. a duty he had to carry out.

But because Megumi had earthly attachments (Tsumiki) he wasn't able to awaken or reach enlightment the way Gojo was able to in HI. in that moment of awakening, Gojo had momentarily let go of everything— Riko's death. Of course, Riko and Tsumiki are completely different in regards of how much they mean to Gojo and Megumi respectively (one is someone gojo knew for a few days at most while Megumi grew up with Tsumiki) but the point is Gojo had a separation from everyone else since the start (barring Geto), a separation Megumi never had because he had someone to tether him to the "world", so to speak, and that was what Sukuna exploited to completely destroy him.

3. Connection

Because Megumi was more "grounded", he was able to connect and interact with his classmates and upper classmates in a way Gojo wasn't able to before (barring Geto). Megumi didn't separate himself from the people around him, and spoke to them very respectfully.

he speaks to his upperclassmen formally using polite speech and honorifics, he still considers himself part of them, not a higher being or anything. Hell, he even trains with them (Maki), and heeds their advice well.

And while at the start he had an aloof air about him, he's quick to form bonds with Yuuji and Nobara, and by CH. 58, he was able to share a vulnerability with them and trust them to help him save his sister. Hell, as early as CH. 10, they had already impacted him hard enough for him to honor their wishes.

Gojo never had that with anyone before Geto, and he never had it with anyone else other than him.

This isolation Gojo felt is because of being The Strongest, but it's also because he grew up alone in the Clan, so it was what he was used to, unlike Megumi who grew up with Tsumiki.

4. Techniques

Their techniques and the way they work reflect their characters and contrast each other. Limitless is a very strong offensive Technique that requires precision to master, and it's one that works best alone. Its destructive power doesn't allow for any team-ups, and Infinity only protects him from any dangers, so it's isolating in nature. That's why Gojo works best alone. it doesn't allow for cooperation.

Contrastingly, 10S is a very versatile technique that has many uses besides offensive, and it is one that relies on cooperation because you can use many shikigamis at once, and it's one that doesn't isolate the user because you can utilise it in team-ups, too. its strength is in numbers. That reflects on their characters, their insecurities, and flaws.

Limitless sacrifices companionship for strength, and 10S sacrifices strength for companionship.

Likewise, Gojo loves the strength that comes with it yet he loathes the loneliness that it subjects him to, and Megumi loves the companionship that comes with it yet loathes the inadequacy he feels that comes from not being strong enough to protect the people he cares about.

10S is a technique that works against the user because you have to put your life on the line for the rituals, but you have your shikigami to aid you. while Limitless is one you can train freely with little to no immediate danger on the user, but you have to do it alone.

Gojo grew up being told he is strong while Megumi grew up being told he could be strong. That's why Gojo thrived and Megumi didn't. Gojo was constantly assured he was The Strongest every step, while Megumi was pushed to grow faster despite his efforts.

5. Dreams

Gojo had always loved Jujutsu, and he preferred his death by Sukuna's hand over something "boring" like dying of old age. He doesn't like simplicity. while Megumi wanted that. he never liked Jujutsu and would've preferred he lived a quiet and peaceful life.

6. Conclusion

Megumi exists as a harsh reminder for Gojo: He is all he could've been—able to connect with the people around him and have empathy for those who are weaker than him, and Gojo exists as a harsh reminder for Megumi: you are all i might be—powerful, but alone.

6.5. Prediction

this is just a prediction, a theory if you will, but there is a chance that Megumi could have his awakening in Chapter 271, surrounded by his friends, as opposed to Gojo who had his alone and detached from everyone else. who's to say ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[bubba-luz]

Do you have like a summary of petals somewhere? From what i can understand from the comics its a zosan centric infection au and i wanna know more

Hi, thank you for the question.

Petals was an au for a now defunct fic I was writing earlier this year called “petals, a bloodied tongue” . I had published the first chapter and was working on the second chapter, but due to lack of interest from others and not really knowing what I was doing with a big story I wanted, I deleted it. I did make art for it, as you can see, and some notes when I was trying to map out the story.

You got it mostly right, it is an infection au, though I considered it be more Zoro centric, since I planned it to be told majority from his pov. I got the idea from One Piece Movie 6 Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island and a 2008 film called The Ruins. It was a plant-based horror story with some cosmic elements. I mostly wanted to write a story where Zoro couldn’t really protect anyone. Zoro makes it his job to be the strongest and always protect the crew. But this is something beyond his control and he can’t slash his way through it.

The Strawhats end up on a mysterious island after a strange storm the night before. The island looks peaceful and has weird animals and creatures on it, but overall nice temporary vacation spot. Then Chopper goes missing. Then Nami and Robin. They find Robin, but shes sick? Nami is no where to be seen. So they eventually get picked off one by one. I made a numbered list of who goes first:

And manner of “death”:

The island itself is alive, it is it’s own being/animal. The souls of those that are consumed are trapped at the heart of the island, and their bodies are essentially fertilizers, some people grow into trees, or flowers, etc. There was a scene I wrote as a test run, of zoro finding a tangerine tree, the tangerines taste metallic like blood, and the juice is a red orange. So their blood also runs through the island.

For humans and the like it tends to infect them, they may cough up blood, sweat, hallucinate. They grow weaker in a matter of hours and lose mobility and the ability to speak, as there are plants growing inside them. Eventually they bloom and are consumed by the island.

Majority of the arts I did were scenes from the story, like Zoro giving the flowers to Sanji, Sanji telling Zoro he’s sick, Frobin having a moment.

This is the full layout notes I did:

I had some in between stuff planned, like Robin’s group exploring abandoned ruins which is where they are attacked and Robin is infected. Zoro and Robin have a conversation about some groups believing that when they die they become a star in the sky, so, eventually, they’ll see their loved ones again. Zoro digging into the ground hysterically after he realizes Sanji is gone.

The infection hits Sanji the hardest and slowest because of his genes and he’s the last to leave Zoro.

As for why Zoro never gets infected, I had this weird idea that the island recognizes Zoro as an animal like the island is. This would tie back to Sanji telling Zoro that he “doesn’t think Zoro is a mindless wild animal, even if he fights like one sometimes.”

Also I forgot to post this:

This would be Luffy’s death, but he comes back as the little dancing monkey orchid that Zoro sees when he’s all alone. Zoro believes he has lost it from grief.

Chopper turned into the little bean guys you keep seeing, he’s the one with the broken leaf. He seems to still remember Zoro.

Sanji turns into a field of dandelions and daisies. He got infected when he smelled the flowers Zoro gave him. The field seems to protect Zoro from any hostile animals.

Zoro has these recurring dreams of Sanji running away and leaving him, much to Zoro’s efforts. His final dream Sanji places a hand on Zoro’s heart and smiles and disappears, Zoro wakes up to Sanji gone.

Zoro also sleeps more now, since he sleeps with Sanji. He feels safe with Sanji, so he let’s his guard down.

Here’s chapter one, unfinished two, test run

If you have any specific questions, please send an ask in the inbox.

[jemmo]

i can’t tell you how much i usually hate these ignoring, distancing plots in shows and how much i absolutely adore everything about these 2 episodes of the eighth sense. like im not having a good time, and it’s fantastic.

bc the thing is, in all of this, i can’t see the right way to go, i can’t find the person to blame, i can’t find the way to make it better. I can’t single out a single moment or a thing someone did and say “this is why everything went wrong”. it’s just this coming together and rise and swell of things happening and people feeling things that has us ending up here and it feels beautifully and horribly organic bc we can’t find that point where it all went wrong. was it on that rooftop? was it at the beach? was it when they first met? was it when his brother died? was it when he was born into this family? there is no single point. it’s all of them and it’s none of them. there is truly nothing and no one to blame. and there are bad characters in the show, people you can hate, eunji and taehyung, but neither of them are to blame for any of the bad stuff that happens in the show. you’re not waiting for them to be taken down bc that doesn’t solve anything. instead, it’s just two people hurting, and not knowing how to make it better.

bc you take jaewon, and after what he says at the end of ep 8, you want to hate him, you want to be so angry at him for what he says, for how he acts, how dismissive and hurtful he is, and yet you’ve been made to understand 100% why, and not just in a “i get it but that wasn’t the right thing to do” way, in a “that was horrible and yet i know he doesn’t see any other way to handle this” way. like you don’t see this as a misstep, or a step to far, bc you know for him, in his state of mind, it is completely justified, it’s necessary. bc it not only punishes the person he blames for all of this, himself, but he sees it as a way to protect jihyun. and not even in a cliche “bad things happen when people around me, the people I love always get hurt” kinda way, but more so in that he sees that he is a scared, messy, struggling person that doesn’t know how to handle himself, and doesn’t want to inflict that on anyone, let alone the person he cares about. so what’s worse, a quick, swift blow that hurts but cuts everything off cleanly, or this prolonged relationship where he inevitably continues to weigh jihyun down with the weight of his trauma, and take it out on him. what’s the point of having a place of refuge when you ruin it more and more every time you depend on it, until it eventually can’t offer you comfort. it’s a lesser of two evils, jaewon’s choice is obvious to him.

but then you take jihyun. and we talk about masks and fronts but we never once question whether jihyun wears a mask bc he appears so sweet and innocent and naive, what can this boy possibly be putting up a front for. but i see it, this almost fake it till you make it confidence front that yes is becoming more natural. but my god just think about what he’s gone through for a second. think about it. left home for the first time in his life, moved to an unfamiliar and intimidating city with only one other person he knows, started a new job, started university, tried to build relationships, met a man that intrigues him, and perused him only to be kissed and then ignored, then maybe establish something tentative, only to then see him spiral, go on a trip where he shared his trauma, you have an intimate night together only to almost die, and then be not only ignored, but plain and simple rejected and pushed away. like… you can say all you want about jihyun growing as a person and having more courage, but no amount of growth for however many months this has been going on for can prepare you for that. for the mixed messages on steroids. for the back and forth, not knowing. to give yourself to someone like that and go through something traumatic and then be abandoned by that person. we get it, bc we see all of jaewon’s story. but apart from what jaewon shared at the beach, jihyun doesn’t know any more than that. he doesn’t know about therapy, about how his father acts towards him, about the extent of his trauma and how it manifests and affects his mental health, and how he is struggling every single day. and you can’t expect him to know the depths of that no matter how empathetic and connected he is, how much he cares about jaewon, he can’t be superhuman. and so you get why he pushes and fights for jaewon. like… he is in love. it’s clear. he’s fallen in love with him. he is this wide-eyed, open kid that fell in love with a senior. and jaewon has just messed with his head, he’s never been clear, and you can’t expect jihyun to just get past that bc he knows something is up with jaewon. he can’t know the full story, but even if he did, that can’t be a reason or a justification to be treated the way jaewon treats him. bc we’re all about jaewon putting himself first and doing what he wants and respecting himself like that, but jihyun deserves that too. and it’s such a fine line to tread when you know someone is going through something, bc again you understand why, but you’re still the one being treated that way. like we talk about jaewon’s trauma, but here jihyun was part of it, he went through that traumatic experience. he’s the one that nearly lost his life. and yes, he appears to handle it well, and no matter to what extent that’s true or not, you can’t not look at jaewon struggling and understand it and then not look at jihyun with that same understanding. it’s not about comparing trauma and pain and deciding who is suffering more, it’s seeing that there are two people in this, and they’ve both been affected, so we should give them the same level of understanding.

and that’s something jaewon has to see. that his self-preservation is selfish. that his destructive behavior doesn’t just affect jihyun, instead it feels pointed and directed, bc every way jaewon hurts himself hurts jihyun. and it comes bc jihyun was so much of what was good about jaewon’s life for a second, so attacking that is his only form of self-sabotage. he can’t mess up his relationship with his friends or parents bc they were broken in the first place, and he can’t sabotage his future bc it’s already been ruined the moment he didn’t pursue his photography major. him nearly getting kicked out of school affected him so little not just bc he wanted that punishment, but bc even that punishment meant so little to him. all these things are established and they already contribute to his suffering. removing jihyun from his life is the only active thing he can do to make himself feel worse, and he can veil it in an act of protection, and even feel like he’s doing the right thing, but that deceives them both into believing this is done from a good place, when no good can actually come of it. in trying to protect jihyun, you hurt him more. in trying to hurt yourself, you hurt him too. and when someone is in a headspace like jaewon is, you look for that thing that’ll break through. bc he is so distant, he’s trying to remove himself from reality, and jihyun needs to act as this person that can anchor him to it. when you’re trying to isolate and separate yourself, sometimes seeing that you still affect things, that there’s a persons that exists that is affected and hurt by your actions, and no matter how you try to cut yourself off, you cannot stop that, separating yourself still hurts them, maybe that’s a thing that can get through. but that’s something that depends on jaewon. ultimately, he’s the only one that can get himself out of this place, and that’s what makes it so hard, that no matter how much jihyun cares and how much he fights for him, nothing can come of that effort is jaewon doesn’t meet him there. and it’d be so easy for jihyun to give in, to take the hurt, but over the course of this show we’ve seen the strength jihyun has developed, which has only seemed to increase more so after the accident, call it a renewed vigor for life or something. he has the strength that jaewon doesn’t, to not let his pain consume him. and in a beautiful full-circle moment, it’s because of jaewon, bc when they first spoke he sparked in jihyun a want to be stronger, to be more than the country mouse, and he’s done it. and it’s that courage that means he can fight for jaewon, even in the face of rejection. he trusts himself and that he knows jaewon, the real jaewon, to see past words that are intended to hurt them both, and go after the person that’s still inside jaewon somewhere. no, he can’t do it for him, and no them being together is not some magical cure for jaewon, but it’s what can put him on a path of caring for himself again, and sometimes that has to start with caring about someone else (and suddenly I’m reminded of my beautiful man 2 and how kiyoi tries to break hira out of his worthless mindset by making him care about him, and how ultimately that can’t be enough, and that hira has to take those first steps of seeing his self worth by himself). what jihyun can do by fighting is again act as that tether to reality and try to be this representation of the good jaewon can be and do. bc look at jihyun, look at how confident and strong he has become, and look at how he got there, bc you saw that country mouse and gave him the time of day and helped him grow and gave him new experiences. you jaewon, you. and that shift in mindset, from jihyun representing hurt and the accident and the trauma of his brother and everything he can’t do, to being that light and refuge and everything he can do is again something that might breaks through. and the fact it has such narrative strength and satisfaction makes me hopeful that that’s what we might actually get.

[uncanny-tranny]

transsexual thursday!!!

been on HRT for almost 2 years now (2 years in november) and its going swimmingly. i don't regret it for a moment.

honestly i'm so glad i'm on gel now and not needles. needles suck SO hard. literally the only complaint i've ever had about HRT lmao. though now i briefly smell like rubbing alcohol in the mornings, which isn't a bad tradeoff i think. though i can't pet my cats in the mornings before work :(

I'm sure your cats know how much you love them even if you can't say bye to them before work (not that this changes anything, but I'm so confident they know they're loved <3)!

[sage-nebula]

I can understand having a preference for one type of pet over another, for a wide variety of reasons (e.g. allergies, what goes in to taking care of them, your lifestyle, etc) but I'll never understand people who hate a certain type of pet. Like self-professed cat people who say they hate dogs, or vice versa. I've had dogs my entire life, and I consider myself a dog person, but I do like cats, too. Why wouldn't I? They're soft and cute and do funny things sometimes. Even when it comes to pets that I don't find as interesting, like fish, I don't hate them. And even ones I'm legitimately scared of, like tarantulas . . . again, I don't hate them, I'm just afraid of them, just like I'm afraid of all arachnids. It's an irrational fear, but it's one deeply ingrained in me nonetheless.

Anyway.

I just don't understand when people are like "I hate cats" or "I hate dogs" . . . how can you hate an entire species of animal? Being allergic or afraid, okay, I can understand that. Even if I don't understand being afraid because you've been attacked before (I have been severely bitten by dogs and severely scratched up by cats), I'm afraid of arachnids even though I can't remember the last time I had a spider bite, so you know, fears are fears, you can't control them. But hate? I just don't understand it, man. Hate an individual animal, sure. Just like humans, individual dogs or cats can have bad temperaments and behaviors. But a whole species? When most of the individual animals in those species are so easily befriended? It just makes no sense to me. Again, I get having a preference for one pet over another, especially if the needs of one animal suit your lifestyle while the needs of another don't. But to hate a whole species . . . I will never understand.

[idiosyncraticrednebula]

Trying to have a reasonable discussion with a r****m is a lost cause, specially on social media. They have already made up their minds about the world and how it affects them. They are immersed too deeply in that ideology due to years and years of trauma, disappointment and loss. It's gotten to the point that it has manifested in STRONG and DEEP hatred, anger and bitterness. This isn't easy to get rid of. The vast majority of them have actually been ingrained stuff like this since childhood because most came from either extremely rigid or chaotic households with all types of fucked up and toxic ideas being taught to them. This resulted in repressing or desperation, which led to them getting exploited and abused by others outside of their family. To be honest, they need to be re-born in order for them to truly abandon an ideology as twisted as r*****l f******m.

[thatdemiboymess]

"Generally phobic" oh God just say you hate mentally ill people and go. Using a mental illness synonymous with "Bad" says it all

That line in my bio refers to things like being xenophobic, queerphobic, homophobic, acephobic, arophobic, transphobic, biphobic, panphobic, enbyphobic, intersexist, ableist, psychophobic, ageist, antisemitismect, islamophobic, misogynistic, sexist, ect. Not...not legit phobias. I do admit I could have worded it better but I figured, at the time of writing it, that with the general context of the rest of the statement that would be clear.

I'm not not gonna mock or block someone for a legit phobia (i.e. arachnophobia, agoraphobia, acrophobia, et cetera). That was intended as a quick "don't be an asshole in my notes or inbox" line because my bio was getting too long as was. That does not change that this was an oversight on my part of the potential ableist or sanest connotations of the phrase, and I do thank you for bringing that to my attention. Do you have any suggestions for a way I could word it that would be clearer and also wouldn't be potentially stigmatizing?

EDIT: I do believe I have fixed the issue with the wording on my own but if anyone believes it to still be worded in a stigmatizing way, please do tell me! ☺️👍✨

[heich0e]

yuuji calls sukuna a lot.

it's almost like second nature to him now, muscle memory even, so many years since getting his first cellphone; any time he finds himself idle, maybe on his walk home after his part-time job, or on a break between his college classes, he picks up his phone and dials his older brother without thinking. they never talk about anything of importance—maybe just what yuuji did that day, or some gossip he overheard, or what the two of them should have that night for dinner—but he still makes the call.

sukuna always acts annoyed when he answers, greeting him with a characteristically terse 'yeah, what?' that yuuji never pays any mind to. but he still answers the call—at least most of the time—and that simple truth speaks volumes in and of itself.

sukuna's phone rings at a few minutes past 1am, and his little brother's name lights up the caller ID.

"yeah, what?" sukuna snaps groggily, holding his phone up to his ear. he'd passed out on the couch soon after he got home from work, a half-drunk and now room temperature can of beer left abandoned on the table in front of his spread knees. yuuji's babbling starts as soon as the call connects and his brother greets him, and it takes sukuna a moment to make sense of him.

"—'n now i can't finder!"

"the hell are you talking about, dumbass?" the elder of the two grumbles, scrubbing a hand across his face. his brother's voice is panicked and hard to understand.

"we got spliddup at the bar, 'n now i dunno where she is anymore—"

"don't know where who is? fuck, are you hammered?" sukuna complains, sitting himself upright on the sofa as he wipes sleep from the corner of his eyes, suddenly a bit more awake than he was when the phone first rang.

yuuji says your name with a croaking, worried voice, and sukuna sighs exasperatedly. he stares down pensively at the can of beer he forgot to drink on the coffee table, then his eyes flicker to a framed photo hanging on the wall across the room—the glass smudged, frame slightly crooked, and photograph sun-bleached from the years it's spent hanging there.

"just..." he grunts as he pushes himself up to his feet, "fuckin' send me the address and stay where you are, idiot."

it's not hard to find his little brother once he arrives to the address yuuji sent him—especially since the youngest itadori brother is waiting (as promised) right by the entrance of the familiar bar near the university campus where both you and yuuji attend classes. it's still busy for so late in the night, but the clubs are closed now and little bars like this are the only places still open. sukuna's not even sure what the difference is anyway, because the lights here are still dim and the music is loud and there are still people dancing off to one side of the establishment, so the distinction between the two seems tenuous if not entirely negligible. but as someone who's spent his fair share of nights in bars just like (and including) this one, he's usually not really one to complain.

but tonight's different.

yuuji is teetering a bit when his brother arrives—an unusual sight, considering he's usually pretty good at holding his liquor.

"shit, how much did you drink?" are the first words out of sukuna's mouth when he approaches.

the youngest itadori's cheeks are flushed as pink as his hair, and he grimaces in the wake of the eldest's question—he's always been a terrible liar, especially when it comes to his brother, so he doesn't even bother trying to deny it. sukuna doesn't wait for a response in any case, turning his head towards the thick of the crowd and letting his eyes scan through it.

he doesn't see you.

"where'd you see her last?" he asks, leaning towards his brother to be heard over the music.

"by the bar!" yuuji replies, raising his own voice to overcome the bass. "she said she was getting one last drink, but she never came back to the table."

yuuji's lip wobbles a bit as he concludes his sentence, but he sucks it quickly into his mouth and catches it between his teeth.

"and you looked for her?" sukuna asks again.

"all over," yuuji nods, letting his lip slip out from between the bite of his incisors to reply. "fushiguro's doing another lap. nobara's checking the bathrooms."

sukuna ruffles a hand through his hair, suddenly realizing it's probably a mess from his rudely-interrupted slumber. "maybe she just left or somethin'."

"she wouldn't do that, you know that," yuuji says firmly. there's an insistence burning behind his eyes as he looks to his older brother, and it's the most sober he's seemed all night.

sukuna rolls his eyes, even though he knows yuuji's right—you'd never leave on your own, much less without so much as a goodbye. the two of you have been joined at the hip for long enough he's almost surprised that yuuji wasn't able to find you with some weird telepathic form of echolocation. he swings an arm up over his little brother's shoulders pushing him down a little just to tease him, before using his grip to tug him towards the crowd.

"you track down that little sea urchin friend of yours and i'll take a look around. meet me back here in ten minutes or text me if you find that little pest, alright?"

the bar is harder to navigate the further in sukuna travels from the entrance, the bodies pressing closer together with every step he takes away from fresh night air. he's pissed off, but that's not out of character for him. he's more pissed off than he usually is, considering not even an hour before he'd been peacefully sleeping at home, and now he's glaring at some drunk college kid who just almost spilled their beer on him.

"move," he hisses through his teeth at the wide-eyed kid whose life he can practically see flashing through his eyes as he shoulders past him. sukuna would be lying if he said the look didn't improve his mood at least marginally.

as sukuna weaves through the bodies in the bar, his eyes don't stop looking for you. it's almost startling how quickly he can rule people out—how definitively he can say that someone is or isn't you with just a passing glance. he starts to doubt himself as he reaches the far corner of the bar and begins to round back towards the entrance, an annoying, grating irritation in the back of his mind. worry, maybe, if he were the type.

then he sees you.

just the faintest glimpse of your profile, caught behind the shoulder of the man who has you backed into a corner by a pillar, hidden mostly away from the crowd—at least as hidden as anyone can be in a place like this.

sukuna feels his lip curling into a furious sneer as he takes a step towards you—people move out of his path wordlessly as he trudges over to that dark corner where you're tucked away.

it's only when he gets a bit closer that he's able to read the lines of your body properly. you're teetering, just like yuuji had been—the two of you had probably enabled each other in your intoxication that night like the stupid kids sukuna knows you both to be. but you're also distinctly uncomfortable, pressed up against the wall as if to put as much distance between you and the man hovering over you as you possibly can. your eyes glance off to the side, like you're searching uselessly for an escape.

instead, they meet his.

"sukuna," you gasp out in surprise, and the man you're speaking to glances over his shoulder in confusion. he seems annoyed, and a bit nervous, when he spots the man (taller, and broader than he is) standing behind him with a scowl.

sukuna hears the relief in your voice when you say his name. reads it behind your glassy eyes.

"what are you doing here?" you ask, reaching out towards him clumsily.

the man in front of you puts a hand on your waist—possibly to steady you, more likely to stop you—and it makes sukuna see red.

"hands off," sukuna snaps, wrapping a hand around your upper arm and tugging you into his side away from the creep.

"who's this? you said you don't have a boyfriend," the kid asks you, jutting a thumb towards sukuna accusatorially.

you mumble something quietly in reply about him being yuuji's brother, tucking yourself a bit closer to sukuna as you say it.

"your brother?" he asks as his eyes squint in confusion, having clearly only caught part of your explanation. "you're ditching me for your brother?"

sukuna's anger flares again at the entitlement this little brat has the nerve to display so flagrantly. the older man's hand slips down to your waist on instinct, and then lower still to the curve of your ass, making a show of how his big hand grips into the flesh beneath it. you squeak quietly at the contact, turning and hiding your burning face against sukuna's chest. he keeps his hand right where it is.

the stranger's eyes widen at the inappropriate display before him and sukuna leans in close with a vicious, almost manic grin.

"we're very close."

[thewritetofreespeech]

Flourish

pairing: Aemond Targaryen x Reader

summary: Aemond had not been joking when he said they would work on another child after their first was born. Aemond never joked. [ part ii of this work ]

tags: heterosexual sex (m/f), fingering, breeding kink, mentions of past pregnancy, use of High Valyrian, Aemond so in love with his wife that he might fall over.

words: 2K Ao3

-------------------------------⚔️-------------------------------

The fire was warm as it crackled in the hearth. Staying off the coming chill of the cooler months settling in upon them.

Aemond stared into the hypnotic flames. His wine from dinner at his left while his wife sat in her twin seat at his right, wrestling with the babe in her arms. “Stop fighting little one.” She whispered under her breath at their child. To which Aemond had to scoff quietly as his cheeks raised in a smirk. You might as well tell a bird not to fly, if it was one of his children.

His beloved wife had given him the child he had asked for. A beautiful, strong, silver-haired paragon. With her mother’s eyes instead of his own, but no less the perfect Targaryen jewel. They named her Amena, after much debate of naming her Alyssa or Alysanne after his grandmothers. Truly they had considered it but, in the end, Aemond wanted his children to be their own person for as much as they could. So much of their lives would not be their own; their duties, their battles, their matches. Let them at least have their names.

The princess eventually settled and suckled at her mother’s breast for a time before a nurse came in to take her to the nursery. Though the Keep kept some of the finest wet nurses in all Seven Kingdoms, his wife insisted on giving their child her first & last feedings every day. No exceptions. He knew she would make an excellent mother, even before their child had been born.

The nurse gathered the babe from his wife’s arms, kneeling down to let her kiss Amena’s soft crown, before she came over to Aemond and did the same. “Sleep well, riñītsos.” He whispered to her, before she was carried away and the two of them were left alone.

His wife sighed heavily once the door closed. Slouching and sliding down into her chair in a very relaxed, but undignified, manner. “So, what shall we do for the rest of our night husband?”

“I want another child.”

Understandably, his wife was surprised. It was not the response one would often expect to hear when asking how they should spend the evening before bed. Cards. Reading. Surely not perpetuating a dynasty. “Did I not just give you that one?”

Aemond chuckled as she pointed towards the door where the nurse had disappeared through. “Yes. You did. But I would like us to have another.”

“Really? And what brought on this sudden change in perspective?”

He doesn’t know if he should tell her that it was not a ‘sudden’ change in perspective. Since that night they conceived Amena, Aemond’s goal had been to fill his wife and their wing of the castle with children. He just didn’t realize how persistent the urge would be once they had one.

“I thought you wanted Amena to have siblings.”

“I do,” she agreed, which was a good start, “but I did not think you meant now. Perhaps when they are older. I just got my body back.”

His eye roamed over his wife’s figure. Back nearly to where it had been before and still beautiful, but he would be lying if he said he had not been thoroughly attracted to her those nine months she had been pregnant. Seeing her swell heavy with his child. Watching her body change. Her breasts grow heavy. It almost set Aemond to drool.

“I thought you said you liked being pregnant.” He reminded her, as he stood up and knelt in front of her chair. The heat from the fire on his back almost as hot as his gaze fixed on her.

He knew that pregnancy wasn’t easy. Seeing his mother, his sister, and now his own wife go through it, he was aware it was not the tranquil beauty & reverence people made it out to be. But he did not think his wife despised it. She commented often on how she loved carrying their child, even amidst the complaints.

“Well, it…was an experience…I did not hate it.” He could see her waver as he took her hand in his. Good. Aemond did not think of himself as the clever charmer, full of charisma, like his brother was, but he was not without his own Targaryen silver tongue.

“Do you not want to give Amena a brother?”

“Is that what this is about?” Aemond stopped kissing her fingers at the sharp shift in her tone and looked up at her. “You don’t want another child. You want a son?” His silver tongue might not be as polished as he thought.

When she had been pregnant, she had asked him what he was hoping for and Aemond said he did not care. Which had been true. Sons carry a man’s name, but when you have the name ‘Targaryen’ the point was moot. And, as an avid learner of history, he knew that there were some Targaryen women that carried the name higher & finer than some of the men. If Amena had been male, he would have rejoiced all the same. But clearly now his wife was thinking that maybe he had hoped for a son and been disappointed. That they could try again and ‘get it right’. That was not what he meant.

“No. I have no more of a wish for a son than daughter. We could have 15 princesses, it would not bother me.”

“15??” His wife repeated with a laugh. Her concern and ire waning quickly. “I am not giving you 15 children, of any variety.”

“But you’ll give me another one, eh?”

Aemond lifted up on his knees. Back to seducing his wife as he leaned in close to her. His lips brushed against hers softly, before they traveled down her jaw to her neck. His wife sighed in his ear. Sinking further into her chair as she tilted her head back. Relaxed and pliable under his touch.

He continued to kiss her while his hands moved to undo the lacings in the front of her evening gown. A sharp gasp came to his ear, followed by a moan, as his cool hands slithered in to touch her breast. They were sensitive and tender. She had told him as much. The newfound weight of them in his hands from what they had been before made him moan as well and a shiver raced down her spine when he pulled the gown down to expose them fully.

“Aemond….” She sighed out as he kissed along the edge of her breast. Imagining another babe of silver at her left since Amena seemed to favor her right.

“Let us to bed, issa jorrāelagon.”

His wife nodded eagerly and Aemond rolled up to his feet with all the grace his training allowed him, before he offered her his hand. She of course took it, and he pulled her to her feet and against him. Holding her there for a moment to look down at her before he gave her another kiss on the lips and led them to bed.

As they were already in their evening clothes, the matter of getting undressed was easy. Aemond laid his wife on the bed and was quick to catch her arm before it moved to cover herself. She had become shy about her body and being naked in front of him since giving birth. A trend he hoped would pass. He certainly had not given her any indication that he did not still find her desirable. His hard cock stroked against the interior of her thigh, just in case she needed further encouragement.

She moaned quietly as his member brushed against her soft skin, then leaned up to kiss him. Aemond is happy to meet her. Her lips are soft as well. He always thought that. Everything about her was soft in comparison to his hard lines and, well, everything. It was why they were perfect together. Why the world needed more of their two halves in one whole, to make it better & perfect as well.

“Open for me.” He told his wife as his fingers brushed against her thigh as well to spread them that little bit further to give him entry.

She does, and his fingers slid in to toy with her already damp sex. “See. You may lie, issa jorrāelagon, but this part of you cannot. You want me to put another babe in you, don’t you?”

“Aemond…” Her voice sighed out his name as her head tipped back whilst his fingers pressed in.

“You want another Targaryen fire in your belly, yes?”

“I just want you inside me, Aemond.” She insisted and he smirked.

“I will be. And I will be every night until we make a new scion, if you’ll have me.” His thumb brushed over her clit. Swollen and beaded out as his fingers continue to thrust inside her. His pretty wife bowed her back. Called his name and begged him to enter her. “Tell me true, wife.” He whispered in her ear as she was nearly close to crying with want. “Do you want me to fill you up with my seed and plant a new babe in your womb?”

“Yes!” She finally admitted. “Yes Aemond, I do! I want another babe. To give that to you. I want you to fuck another child into me like you did before! Please, please, give it to me Aemond!”

The prince gripped his wife’s hair and pulled her in for a hard kiss. A reward for her honesty. As he was doing that, he pulled his fingers from her cunt and lined his cock up to refill it. Sheathing all of him in her warmth in just a single thrust. “Hells Aemond!”

He gave her but a moment to adjust before he started thrusting into her. Those beautiful, full breasts of hers bouncing obscenely in front of him. His eye roaming down to her again flat stomach and imagining it full again, before traveling lower to where there sexes meet and watched his cock thrust hard to put a child into her.

“A-A-Aemond!” His wife cried out. Voice stammered by his thrusts. Hands clinging to the bedding as her legs wrapped around him.

“Not going to let me go, are you issa jorrāelagon.”

“Never.” She told him. With this look in her eyes that shot Aemond right to his soul.

He grabbed hold of her arm and flipped them up while they kissed. Her legs still wrapped around him as she was now seated neatly in his lap as he thrust up. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” The sweet words somehow tainted a little with all the wanton, animal panting between them, but no less meaningful. “Now give me our son.”

Aemond groaned. His back teeth grinding while his wife’s hips were grinding into his lap. He held her still and flush against him as his cock burst forth deep inside. She moaned sweetly against his ear as he filled her. Not letting go until he was sure every drop was inside his wife, then laid her down on the mattress. “Just the once, husband?”

“Do not tempt me, wife.” Aemond warned her. Both remembering the mad frenzy that had been their first bout to conceive. “Did you really mean it?” He asked when they were settled in bed for just sleep now. “Would you really want a son?”

The conversation earlier had led him to believe that she was not interested in one, but then her remark a moment ago made him question. Although Aemond was not fool enough to believe what a person said in the throws of passion anymore than what a person said when they had imbibed.

“Hmm…I have no opinion really.” She confessed. Settling into her spot on the bed between her pillow and his chest. “I know that is what everyone hopes for us. More Targaryen sons.” Aemond hummed once. He wouldn’t patronize his wife by telling her that that wasn’t true. “But, having one of each wouldn’t be so bad.” Aemond looked down at his wife just as she looked up at him. A shared moment between them. “I am not giving you 15 children though.”

Aemond smirked at her quip. “We shall see, now won’t we.”

*****

riñītsos: little one, little child

issa jorrāelagon: my love

Amena (origin, Arabic): meaning trustworthy, loyal, protected. [Not a Targaryen name but sounded pretty close, in my opinion]

[harmoonix]

🌹𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨🌹

🌹 Rosa que linda eres 🌹

🌹●🌹●🌹●🌹●🌹●🌹●🌹●🌹●🌹●🌹●🌹●🌹●🌹●

🌹 - A lot of fire placements in the birth chart can indicate a very passionate person and someone with a big attitude

🌹 - Fire & Air Risings are both known for their impressive personality, strong figures, and always making their presence known in the group

🌹 - Having a fire sign in your 11H can indicate you manifest things more easily and fast

🌹 - Mercury aspecting Venus gives a very beautiful voice to the native. Your voice is very enchanting

🌹 - Uranus aspecting Sun natives have an electrifying energy, also very intelligent natives, they always think fast and in the future

🌹 - Having Midheaven empty from aspects or harsh aspects of other planets can indicate you don't know which path to choose in life

🌹 - Those with the 5th house in the fire signs can be tempted and deceived by others, and flirting can occur as well

🌹 - Having Capricorn or Aries placements can indicate you're the leader of the group, it can be any group you have

🌹 - Aquarius Venus and Mars are the ones who can feel people's emotions just from making eye contact with them

🌹 - Sagittarius Mercuries have a really cute laugh. Also, you may have the feeling to laugh a lot when you're around a Sag Mercury

🌹 - Having Venus and Mars aspects can also indicate you tend to attract people who have "enemies to lovers" kind of energy

🌹 - Mars being less aspected or empty in a chart can indicate a person who is dealing better with their anger

🌹 - A lot of people who tend to be very flirty and romantic have a fire or water sign in their 3rd house

🌹 - Fire Sun + Water Moon/Water Sun + Fire Moon = Has a hard time dealing with their emotions, is like they can't fully understand themselves yet

🌹 - Planets in your 2H can tell about your body appearance:

Uranus in your 2H can tell you have a specific unique thing when it comes to your body, maybe a birthmark

Venus in the 2H tells your body is sensual and gives a lot of atractive energy

Neptune in the 2H is also blessed with a very beautiful skin

Jupiter in the 2H may have a body part that will stick out to the world, legs, hands, thighs, etc

Sun in the 2H says that your body may be light up, tall, lovely skin, your body may influence you a lot during your everyday

🌹 - Libra/Taurus/Pisces Placements may love to make out it in the roses really, you know, is giving 100% venusian vibes

🌹 - You're tied to someone karmic when they have the north node in the same sign as your sun/moon/rising

🌹 - Libra Jupiter/Jupiter in the 7h can really be blessed with beauty, even if you don't consider yourself beautiful...the beauty is still there

🌹 - Mars in the 6H/in Virgo, making out can actually release them from negative energy, because the 6th house is tied with the brain and nervous system

🌹 - Sagittarius is also very tied with a person's culture and ethnicity. If you have major Sagittarius placements, you can be very proud of your culture

🌹 - Mars/Neptune and Sun in the 12H house can make a native more private when it comes to their intimacy. They don't usually like to speak out loud about those things

🌹 - Groom 5129 in Gemini/3H can indicate you and your spouse calling each other cute names/long conversations with them and them being very funny

🌹 - Groom (5129) in Sagittarius/9H can indicate your spouse is from another ethnicity or from another culture, those being said. Your spouses family can like you a lot

🌹 - Groom aspecting Moon in good aspects can indicate you getting attached to early in the relationship

🌹 - Groom 5129 in Scoprio/8H can indicate a private relationship or marriage/sensual marriage, sexual topics can be a healing key for both for you and making you feeling better

🌹 - Groom 5129 aspecting Mars is an intense energy where you and your spouse can be very loyal/devoted/sexually dominated with each other

🌹 - Sometimes having love planets/asteroids in Aquarius/11H can indicate meeting your spouse on the internet/online

🌹 - If you ever had the chance to be loved by Taurus Venus, I tell you it is like you're loved by an angel

🌹 - Is very common for those with heavy Uranus placements/Uranus chart rulers to feel different from the others. Sometimes, to feel left out. It is because you're meant to be different

🌹 - Having Vertex in the 7H is like the universe put you away from others to not hurt you romantically because the one who will eventually become your spouse will never hurt you

🌹 - Mars/Venus/Mercury in Pisces are such hotties, like your energy girlll is giving dangerous mermaid and I'm living for it

🌹 - If you have the next degrees on your rising sign, you can feel more in touch with your inner child:

4° 16° 28° 5° 17° 29° 3° 15° 27° degrees

🌹 - If your 6H is connected with the 11H your pets can be your best friends... is adorableee because animals are literally the most purest things on earth

🌹 -If you have an earth rising/sun/moon, people will never understand your connection with nature, Is something only you can feel

🌹 - Never be ashamed of yourself if you have these degrees on your ascendant:

1° 13° 25° 10° 22° 8° 20° degrees

🌹 - Moon in the 9h or Moon under 9° 21° degrees can have a unique nurturing style through their thoughts, Moon is very optimistic in this energy

🌹 - Moon/Cancer in the 6H get so many random health attacks like a random headache and then it can continue on other body parts

🌹 - Pluto in the 5H can make you have flashbacks from your childhood (It can also be traumatic episodes)

🌹 - You have a kind energy if you have your Sun at these degrees:

2° 14° 26° 12° 24° 9° 21° degrees

🌹 - South Node in Leo can talk about a person who focused too much on themselves or was a selfish person in a past life

🌹 - Taurus Mercury/Mercury in the 2H can have such a warm voice is like you feel so safe and comforted around them

🌹 - Taurus Chiron can indicate wounds with finding peace while you're focused on material things

🌹 - Gemini's can be very erotic and sexual people well the thing with them is they will be more verbally erotic than others

🌹 - I swear having Capricorn/Saturn in the 12H feels like Saturn is watching every mistake you make and trying to make you to act better

🌹 - Sun in the 7H people really love the feeling when they're in a relationship, the thing is the relationship needs to be healthy, you can tell they love their partners a lot

🌹 - Aries in the 7H/11H/10H can make you to take the lead in everything you are, your friends group, your relationship, your career

🌹 - I have my Hekate Asteroid (100) in the 1H beside my love for Hekate, this asteroid shows a lot of intuition and attraction to hidden things, Hekate can also be a close deity to you with this placement

🌹 - I feel like people with Gemini in the 7H will get such a cute spouse.. they will appreciate the open talks so much

🌹 - 8H in water/Earth signs may have a hard time to trust people and being intimate with them

🌹 - Mercury + Neptune/Jupiter aspects know more than they actually show. They're so clever

🌹 - Venus in the 1H is such a power move placement it literally does a lot of things on your benefits

🌹 - Mars aspecting Jupiter natives are full of sexual energy, same if you have Jupiter and Lilith aspcts

🌹 - Prioritizing yourself can also fit for the Virgo Placements, sincs they love to serve for others, focus on yourself as well

🌹 - Neptune or Pisces in the 2H can buy lots of spiritual sutff/items their house can actually be decorated with such things

🌹 - Mercury/Mars/Venus in the 9H or at 9° 21° degrees may be interested in learning foreign languages or foreign cultures

🌹 - North Node in the 7H can talk about your life path involving some relationships/things with your spouse

🌹 - Juno aspecting the north node can indicate your life path can be to marry/to have a specific relationship with a person

🌹 - Mars in the 1H/10H can be very passionate about their hobbies/sports/a very competitive person

🌹 - Mars aspecting the Midheaven can indicate you nay get a job fast, also you can manifest a specific job to come in your way

🌹 - Mercury in the 1H is such an enchanting placement to have in your 1H because Mercury loves it here. You may be drawn by fantasy and music

🌹 - I common thing i saw at Air Risings is that they love to gesture a lot while talking, especially Gemini Risings

We are already in the half of 2024. Can't believe it guys.

🤍🪐 Hope you all have a blessed Tuesday 🪐🤍

[thewisecheerio]

Messmer's actually terrible at his job. (affectionate)

Messmer is a fascinating villain, because he is strangely compassionate. I would go so far as to argue that this same compassion that is so at odds with his villainy is the very thing that drove him to become that villain in the first place. Hang with me; this is a long post.

Spoilers for Elden Ring DLC. Obviously.

Messmer tells us himself that his purpose is to purge all those stripped of the grace of gold. "Yet...my purpose standeth unchanged. Those stripped of grace of gold shall all meet death...in the embrace of Messmer's flame." We can piece together who gave him this genocidal purpose from his armor set's description, which tells us directly that he's working on his mother's behalf *and also* taking all the blame for it.

So he's playing war criminal on Marika's behalf. And I do mean playing. I'm not downplaying the fact that he is a war criminal; he has murdered on entire people. But here's the thing: he's *terrible* at playing the sole part of the spiteful, hateful overlord. He's *awful* at reveling in war and its victories.

Why? Empathy.

Messmer is strangely empathic for what could have otherwise been a cut-and-dry villain:

1. His relationship with Gaius, an Albinauric: We learn from Gaius's Remembrance that he was Messmer's bestie. We also know that Gaius was an Albinauric both from his armor as well as the location "Albinauric's Hut" in the direction he comes from at the beginning of his fight. Albinaurics are despised by the Golden Order, but Messmer didn't seem to care. In fact, he cared so little that he gave Gaius command of either a huge chunk or perhaps his entire army, second only to him. And what is given as the basis of this friendship? The fact that they were "both cursed from birth", i.e. a mutual understanding of what it is to be despised. They're trauma bonded because they have empathy for each other's predicament.

2. His relationship with the Jar people: Even though the Jar people were used as weapons of war against his own people, he doesn't seem to resent them. How do we know? There is a hospital where the Jars and their innards are being cared for in the Storehouse, a stone's throw away from where Messmer spends all his time. There are even a few baby Jars running around in it. Strange thing to do to what is essentially an enemy of your people, unless you consider them to also be victims of the same conflict.

3. His relationship with his soldiers: Messmer shares his own flame with his army. Yeah, that absolutely could be interpreted as a utilitarian move for the sake of war. Power up the troops, boost your chance at victory. But it's a strange choice when he could have just armed them in the traditional way of handing them sharp, pointy objects and pointing in the desired direction of stabbing. Instead, arming your soldiers with your own power could also be interpreted as something you do when you care about their survival and are potentially working directly with them to ensure it.

4. The mourning of people who betray him: Speaking of his soldiers, Messmer gets betrayed by at least a few of them. We learn this from the ashes of Andreas and Huw. Huw's ashes further tell us that Messmer *mourned their loss* as brothers-in-arms. Weird thing to do to someone who has betrayed you, unless you care very deeply about them to begin with.

5. The implications of the Storehouse: Even though he is actively genociding Hornsent on Marika's orders, he somehow has preserved an entire library of their history. At first, I thought this was maybe just British Museum vibes: steal all the artifacts and refuse to give them back. (And that could still be a correct interpretation.) But in context of the rest of these points, if you're truly hellbent on erasing a culture, why would you bother to preserve any of it? Would you not burn the libraries along with the people? It's a fairly common thing to do in our world's wars--destroy the art and history to ensure full erasure. And yet, it seems he can't even bring himself to avoid some small amount of sympathy for the people he was explicitly tasked with killing. If you really *think* about the basis for his sympathy for Marika, this does make a lot of sense. Messmer is following Marika's orders because he knows about what the Hornsent did to the Shaman. Wouldn't it then also be the case that once Marika's reign became nothing but genocide, i.e. an exact reversal of what was done to her people, he would have the same kind of sympathy for them? Perhaps this is a form of harm reduction in the only way he could square with what he thinks is his purpose.

6. His own self-hatred: Messmer despises his own flames, which we learn from the Messmer's Orb description. If you were happy to be Doing a Genocide, would you not celebrate your weapons of war? Wouldn't you take pride in them as tools of power? Unless, of course, you're not actually as happy as we think and maybe having regrets and come to be filled with severe self-hatred. Woops.

So then, if Messmer is this guy running around with a lot of Big Feelings (and probably a deep need for a Prozac prescription), why does he even agree to this genocide in the first place? Isn't that an *odd* choice for someone who seems to care pretty deeply about people, even people despised by his family's governing order? Why does he carry out these orders even to the point of developing a deep self-hatred?

This is where Messmer's sympathy, one of his best aspects, also becomes his fatal flaw.

I mentioned above in 5 that Messmer has access to information about both sides of this conflict. As much as he might have sympathy for everyone around him--including weapons used against the Shaman like the Jars--that means he *also* has sympathy for the Shaman. So if you have sympathy for the other side and sympathy for your side, and you are raised by your own side, then what is the natural outcome? Your side wins. If you must choose a side, then you fight on behalf of Child Soldier Fostering Mother Marika. She raised you, after all. It's inevitable.

In the end, that same sympathy he seems to extend to others also is what causes him to do war crimes. Out of an abundance of sympathy for what happened to the Shamans, he agrees to take up arms.

At the end of the day, he's still a villain that needs to be stopped so that he'll stop oppressing an entire people on behalf of his mother's misguided attempts at revenge. But making his reasoning to agree to become that villain in the first place *empathy* of all things? Fascinating.

[where-nothing-is-tagged]

idk tumblr I feel like we shouldn't be equating ones personal morality or political stances with their grooming habits