#he can not handle that level of diplomacy

[spore-loser]

Rhys holding grudges against Lucien and Nesta despite Feyre forgiving them is disrespectful of her wishes and hypocritical of him in general.

ACOFS: “But I cannot let go of how [Lucien] treated you after Under the Mountain.” “I can. I’ve forgiven him for that.” “Well, you’ll forgive me if I can’t.”

Lucien tried his best to help Feyre after UTM. He advocated for her at his own expense and there was only so much he could do because he was not the HL. He tried to bring Feyre back to the SC because he thought she had been kidnapped, was being mind-controlled, and sexually assaulted. Then (regardless of his reasoning) Lucien risked his life to get Feyre back to the NC.

“You still can barely talk to Nesta,” I said. “Yet Elain you can talk to nicely.” “Elain is Elain.” “If you blame one, you have to blame the other.” “No, I don’t. Elain is Elain,” he repeated. “Nesta is … she’s Illyrian. I mean that as a compliment, but she’s an Illyrian at heart. So there is no excuse for her behavior.” “She more than made up for it this summer, Rhys.” “I cannot forgive anyone who made you suffer.”

Feyre was right but Rhys just brushed it off with infantilization of Elain and a vague statement about Nesta. Both Elain and Feyre at that point had called out the double standard of blaming Nesta and not Elain.

The IC could judge Nesta all they wanted but none of them had a right to hold Nesta accountable for that situation. It was Archeron family business and Feyre’s choice to forgive Nesta. It is disrespectful to her and that choice for Rhys to forever hold a grudge and let it affect his behavior. Feyre repeatedly told him to back off her sister. She knew Nesta in a way the IC did not, did not take her behavior personally post-cabin, and could handle her. Being antagonistic to Nesta would in no way help Feyre’s relationship with her and only contribute to the strain.

What does Nesta being Illyrian at heart even mean? We didn’t get an explanation on that, so it is left up to our interpretations. 

“The Illyrians (…) are unparalleled warriors, and are rich with stories and traditions.” -ACOMAF

This is how Rhys introduced Feyre to his and his mother’s people. So I assume what he meant with the comparison is that Nesta is strong(-willed) and ruthless. Whatever he meant, his reasoning is: due to her similarity, Nesta’s behavior is inexcusable. 

I’m not saying Nesta’s treatment of Feyre was excusable, but at that point Nesta had done everything Feyre asked of her and then some. She had been involved in the war effort on every level, from diplomacy to helping in the camps to strategy to the battlefield. She saved Cassian’s life multiple times. She directly risked her life to distract the King of Hybern. She helped kill the King of Hybern. She was crucial to the war effort and Rhys just ignored that because of something Feyre had already forgiven Nesta for.

Rhys himself is actually Illyrian so why is his behavior excusable? For weeks he sexually exploited Feyre in front of everyone UTM without any logical reason except to get back at Tamlin. (Link) Feyre forgave him and they moved on without Rhys even offering an apology or them having a real discussion on how it hurt her. Why does Rhys get away with his abuse so easily but for the rest of Nesta’s life she is to be held responsible for something she was singled out for? (Not even holding her accountable for the verbal abuse, but specifically the hunting thing.)

“They’re my family. You have to forgive Nesta at some point.” (…) “Should that be my Solstice gift to you?” he murmured. “Forgiving Nesta for letting her fourteen-year-old sister go into those woods?”

It was not Rhys’ place to forgive, it was Feyre’s. And why did Rhys only blame Nesta for letting Feyre go? Their father was the one responsible for the Archeron’s poverty and he made no attempt to work even before his attack. Rhys knew this.

he hadn’t argued when I announced that I was going hunting. He hadn’t bothered to attempt to stand from his seat by the fire, hadn’t bothered to look up from his wood carving. He just let me walk into those deadly, eerie woods that even the most seasoned hunters were wary of. -ACOTAR

“My mother died when I was eight; my father lost his fortune three years later. He sold everything to pay off his debts, moved us into a hovel, and didn’t bother to find work while he let us slowly starve for years. I was fourteen when the last of the money ran out, along with the food. He wouldn’t work—couldn’t, because the debtors came and shattered his leg in front of us. So I went into the forest and taught myself to hunt. And I kept us all alive, if not near starvation at times, for five years.” -ACOMAF

Why did Rhys not hold it against Feyre’s father that he sat by and did nothing while his youngest daughter went out to hunt? Instead, Rhys asked Feyre if she wanted to name their son after him. The narrative obviously treated the Archeron father differently because he came through for his daughters in the end and gave his life for them, but why was he never judged by the IC for his failure to his daughters in the first place? 

Rhys holding a grudge against Lucien and Nesta for how they treated Feyre is peak hypocrisy. He mistreated Feyre throughout their whole relationship. (Link 1) (Link 2)

ACOTAR: Going into Feyre’s mind and using it to humiliate her, and everything UTM, which was all completely counterintuitive and unnecessary to their survival.

ACOMAF: Rhys only gave Feyre the illusion of choice, emotionally manipulated her, and gaslit her about Tamlin. (Link 1) (Link 2) He put Feyre in dangerous situations several times without all the facts both at the Weaver’s cottage and using her to bait the Attor (near the Archeron house, also putting them at risk).  

ACOWAR: Being 500+ years old, he should have been the one to think better of entering into a toxically co-dependent death pact with his only twenty-year-old mate. 

ACOSF: Regardless of his reasoning for it, hiding that Feyre’s pregnancy was life-threatening is medical abuse. It’s disrespectful to her on multiple levels because she made it very clear to Rhys she never wanted to be left in the dark. He had her whole support system in on it too, isolating Feyre emotionally. Her whole family betrayed her trust over something Feyre should have been told before she even got pregnant. Even if Rhys is only half Illyrian, there was always a chance of his and Feyre’s children having wings, and it was common knowledge among the bat boys that wings were a danger to high fae mothers. 

[shinekocreator]

It seems the Nimona fandom has decided that Ballister is god and the best at everything, and I'm here to fix that, so here's a list of things I think Ambrosius would be better at than (or on the same level as) Ballister (this is about the movie versions, feel free to add your own or argue in the reblogs):

Cooking 🍳: after he saw Ballister cooking for himself for the first time, Ambrosius took interest (it was also a major reality check for him. He started learning on his own and took some classes, primarily because he wanted to impress Ballister and feel like he was good enough for him. On their first date, Ambrosius took Ballister on a picnic, all the food was made by Ambrosius himself. He also partially learned how to cook BC of his allergy.

Socialising: he hates it, but he can do it, with Bal it's a problem of anxiety, with Amb it's a problem of will.

Botany 🌿, zoology 🐺, and psychology🧠: Bal has a better grip in biology, chemistry, maths, engineering, and physics, but when it comes to behaviour patterns, Amb is better (botany is because it's something Amb is extremely passionate about)

Which brings us to gardening 🧑‍🌾: partly because I want to believe that Amb still has some similarities to his comic counterpart.

Long range combat: Bal has hand to hand and short range combat in the bag, but in long range combat Ambrosius is better (he underperformed in some of his tests on purpose so they couldn't kick Ballister out)(that's also why they're the dream team). He's also better with long range weapons (archery and sniper guns)

Reading 📗: Bal and Amb have about the same level of reading comprehension, but Ambrosius can read slightly faster.

Kids 🧒: Amb and Bal have the same level of skill in handling kids, but when it comes to levels of popularity, the closer to the outskirts you are, the more popular Bal is and vice versa, the closer you are to the central city, the more popular Ambrosius is.

Dancing 💃: when it comes to the club, they have roughly the same dancing skills, but Amb isn't as shy, when it comes to partner dancing (ballroom and Latin) Amb is better.

Walk in heels 👠: Bal can do this, but still struggles a little when it's 4 inch heels or longer, Amb can handle high heels without even the slightest bit of a struggle.

Diplomacy: Bal has the ideas, Ambrosius does the talking.

Social media: I think this one is self explanatory, Ambrosius has a better hang on how social media works.

Humour 😂: Ambrosius is deemed objectively funnier because his humour is adaptive (his entire personality was perfectly curated to appeal to as many people as possible).

Now for the less safe for work

Drinking 🍸: I wanna believe Amb is slightly better at holding his alcohol, just because.

Kissing 💋: Amb is slightly more experienced, and communicative, while Bal is still learning what he prefers.

Bedroom 🛏️: see above mention. Bal and Amb were each other's first time, but Amb is better at communicating and is more flexible (he can switch positions easily, set the mood, dirty talk, dominate, submit, etc)

[celestoria]

Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now

Summary: Both of you have already broken up but, deep down, he knows he still loves you. Worst part about this? You’re dating his best friend.

Characters: Ayato x Reader x Thoma, Kaveh x Reader x Alhaitham

TW: ABUSE OF ALCOHOL

A/n: It’s been a long time since I wrote anything and out of all times, I chose to write at 3 AM with no glasses. Anywho, I hope you enjoy!

Ayato 

Ayato should have seen this coming. 

When the both of you were dating, there was so much pressure placed on you as his significant other. Even if you did nothing wrong, judgemental eyes would stare down at you. 

Everyone looks up to the head of the Kamisato clan for all the things he has done for the nation of Inzuma and with that, the masses have placed a standard for whoever he is with. They expect them to catch up on the same level as him in terms of diplomacy, bravery, and etiquette to ensure the honor of the Kamisato clan is in good hands. Sadly, you weren’t built for their expectations.

You forced yourself to fit into what you want them to be out of societal pressure. You loved Ayato so much, you didn’t want to be the reason why they would give his family dirty looks. You’ve changed so much since the first time you met that you don’t recognize yourself anymore. 

After you called it quits, Thoma was always there to comfort you. He knew that you were just trying your best but you were perfect the way you were. He was always there when you needed him. It wasn’t long that both of you saw your friendship in a different perspective.

When Ayato saw you with Thoma accompanying him on his errands as he held your hand, he can’t help but hear his heart break into a million pieces. 

You had the same glint in your eyes when you were smiling so freely at Thoma, something that was lost when you were with him. 

Ayato eventually turned to pile more work on himself. There was little room for love in his life. With you gone, it felt like half of him was missing. He wanted to be distracted from that feeling of loneliness and work felt like the most efficient way to do it.

He wanted to rip that pain off his chest and forget about you, but how can he when every little thing would remind him of you? 

From the sakura blossoms of spring to the first fall of snow, a vision of you would always come into his mind.

Still, he didn’t want to take you away for himself. Especially from Thoma who has been so selfless since the very start. The blond man looks so happy every time you give him little kisses on the cheek or when you made him homemade lunch. 

All he can ever do is smile and pretend that his lonely heart doesn’t crave your touch…

Kaveh 

When he’s sober, he’d blame you saw things differently and you often never tried to understand him. Both of you have common interests but your ideologies never crossed paths. 

However, when he’s drunk on whatever he is in his cup, he’d babble to himself that it was all his fault. He knew he had too much emotional baggage for one person to handle. He knew his sensitive nature would be the demise of your relationship since no amount of love could change the fact that everything felt so draining for you.

Kaveh also blamed his tendency to get drunk every other day. You had to pick him up, walk him home, and cry yourself with how frustrating it is to deal with this. 

Being with him felt more like taking care of a sad man rather than falling in love. 

Now that you’re gone, alcohol was the only thing that gave him comfort. Oh, how it numbed him from the pain of losing you. Specifically losing you to someone who he considers the worst person in the world. 

You seemed more tranquil and carefree now that you’re with Alhaitham. You don’t have to walk a staggering man home often and listen to him rant about the smallest of things. 

What he hates the most about all of this is that he still sees you every day when you come by their home. 

Kaveh wears his heart on his sleeve. So much restraint has to be placed for him to not just fling himself onto you and beg you to take him back. It’s a miracle that he hasn’t whined about Alhaitham dating you (you can blame that on the guilt that weighs on him)

He’s surprised that you don’t see the heartbreak and regret in his eyes. Probably because you’re too busy staring at Alhaitham’s, which are filled with a sort of tenderness not everyone can see from a stiff man like him. 

Mr. Heartless was the last person Kaveh thought to fall in love with anyone, yet here he is with his head on your lap while you ruffle his hair while you snuggle on the sofa.

Kaveh missed the times you also had your hands on his locks. It brought him so much comfort and peace of mind that made him forget all his troubles. Now, none of that is for him but all of it is for Alhaitham.

The worst part is, he can’t tell this to Cyno or Tighnari. The two are always up to date regarding his complaints about everything whenever they meet up for a game of TCG at Puspa cafe. However, Kaveh fears that his troubles would reach his roommate via Cyno and Tighnari, and eventually would end up going to you. He can’t handle the shame of his jealousy and inability to move on from you.

All he could do is waste away in a corner of the cafe as he deludes himself that it was the warmth of your love filling him and not the daze of countless wine bottles he drowns himself in to get out of this dreadful nightmare. 

[sagittarot]

🔥 Mars 🔥

Mars - known for aggression, motivation, conquest, acting on desire, sex, and stamina

One's mars sign can drastically influence the way they carry themselves, are seen, and impact personal relations and diplomacy. Mars is Energy.

❤️‍🔥 Mars aspecting Chiron can lead to wounds being healed through physical activity- such as martial arts. It should also be noted that it may also indicate particularly violent wounds, or wounds involving domineering men.

❤️‍🔥Mars in pisces need to learn to act on instinct. Decisions are made intuitively and felt through. Because pisces is co-ruled by Jupiter- luck tends to be on their side in accidents or conflict. The type to be in a serious car wreck without a scratch.

❤️‍🔥Mars in cancer are very moody individuals. They can be very shy in private, but project confidence in group settings. They claim to be loners, but I usually see them socializing and going with the mood of the crowd they’re in. Super sweet, but more on the guarded side of cancer placements.

❤️‍🔥Virgo mars have ANGER issues. The type to journal their darker feelings graphically. Think of constant bickering and debates as stimulating and engaging. PE teacher vibes.

❤️‍🔥Libra mars are by far the most charming libra placement I’ve encountered. They can really make everyone comfortable and smooth rough edges in their environment. The type to just shrug and go “this too shall pass” at high stress situations. Very loyal and old fashioned lovers. Their energy is directed towards unity.

❤️‍🔥Pisces mars genuinely need to have a hold on their escapist tendencies. I notice we’re either running from something or highly highly spiritual. Mediums fr tho.

❤️‍🔥 Gemini Mars 🤝 Arguing as a way to flirt

❤️‍🔥 Pluto-Mars aspects and their eternal struggle with control and power is real. You know they aren’t in a good place when they keep trying to death-grip everything in their lives.

❤️‍🔥Saturn-Mars and needing to build up tension

❤️‍🔥 Mercury-Mars and the voice *chefs kiss* 🤌🏻

❤️‍🔥 5th house mars 🤝 being addicted to high risk activities.

❤️‍🔥 Mars in 1st house can appear to always be injured/ in accidents. Commonly seen for the first time with casts and braces. Athletic. Also prone to arguing about themselves. “I’m not like that at all!” “my leg is fine! Just leave me alone, I can handle myself!” Etc

❤️‍🔥 Capricorn mars is NOTORIOUS for their waiting. I’m not saying they don’t take action (they DEFINITELY do and BOLDLY) but it’s more structured when they do. When they move, they make it so NOTHING can disrupt their foundation. They’re slow and steady FS. Very respectful of lover’s boundaries in my experience.

❤️‍🔥 Mars in 2nd house constantly argue about their worth, fortune, and their structure. Sign will color how this plays out. My mom has Aries mars in 2nd house- always arguing with people ab money, her values, eating habits, etc. my father also has mars here- but it’s Virgo, and he will debate about giving away his money, debate values, etc. he tends to be less aggressive than my mother in this house.

❤️‍🔥 Mars in 7th literally HAVE to argue with their partners. I don’t know why. They get really upset when their partners don’t argue back. They really like bratty banter.

❤️‍🔥 10th house mars 🤝 arguing with authority figures

❤️‍🔥 Mars-moon hard aspects have a hard time balancing their emotional reactions, and tend to have very impulsive responses to stimuli.

❤️‍🔥 Mars in detriment or fall signs tend to have lower energy levels and aren’t necessarily motivated to act easily.

❤️‍🔥 Mars in water signs and houses can and will be angry if those around them are. Very reflective lol. Also the type to get hype/motivated when in a crowd. Probably loves mosh pits tbh. Hard for them to release that emotion.

❤️‍🔥 Mars-Venus are charming individuals, often making peace during war, but can sometimes take out their angers and frustration on their closer friends and lovers. Could also just find conflict with social relationships.

❤️‍🔥 Mars Opposite Jupiter (cap mars) can be VERY quick. For some reason he wanted to edge himself??? Literally went in and exited immediately.

❤️‍🔥 EVERY Sagittarius Mars i have met was so funny and sooo nerdy. 10/10 my Sag Venus falls SO hard for this mars sign (esp bc its in my 5th house). Most around my age have aspects to pluto, which is very hot omg. In true fire mars fashion,(in an unserious and joking tone) i have been told by this placement, "I don't want to share you," and that they would flip off anyone checking me out.

[popatochisssp]

happy late thanksgiving, poppy!!!! i hope you spent your day relaxing! also, has nobody asked for the full transcendtale story yet? if not then consider this my formal request lol! xx

I had almost forgotten about it, but you're right! So here it is!

Transcendtale

Monsters are at war with humanity.

Or at least, with one human.

A sadistic, single-minded human has set their sights on the Underground, locking the monsters within into an endless cycle of RESETs.

In the beginning, most monsters were only peripherally aware that something was wrong—recurring déjà vu, nightmares that felt like memories, knowledge of things they didn’t remember learning.

But as the RESETs persisted, this awareness grew stronger and stronger, compiling across many, many repeated timelines until people really were remembering things.

The natural change in their behavior only seemed to encourage the human to keep repeating the cycle, almost as if to see what would be different this time—strengthening the awareness further.

Monsters began to talk to each other about it, realizing they’re all experiencing the same; realizing that the looping of time is actually something that’s happening.

A lot of secrets end up out in the open, once people start talking.

The machine back behind Sans’ house is one such secret, actively recording data on the anomaly that seems to be tampering with the timeline and providing solid proof that what they’re all going through isn’t a shared hallucination.

No one blames Sans for not coming forward with that information earlier, of course, being that his memory transfer across RESETs is so poor.

The guy can pick up context clues and read a room fast as anything, and being able to check on that data when he felt something odd was going on helped catch him up to speed, but in terms of actually remembering…

Well, it seems that the strongest recall of memory across RESET timelines is linked to levels of Determination, and there are many things to be said about Sans but ‘determined’ is not one of them.

Still, his data is helpful.

Monsters begin to try to organize, trying different strategies to combat the human’s relentless assault against them.

Gradually, the Underground becomes a siege, or something like it, a handful of the same days repeated over and over again to the point that the monsters living them—now remembering them all—feel like years are passing.

In spite of trying everything they can think of, the human manages to thwart them at every turn—or if they do manage to turn the tide for a short while, the human comes back again and again until they force their way through.

Potential solutions escalate, from attempted diplomacy to guerrilla tactics to the height of desperation.

It would be one thing if it was only the (repeated) extinction of their species they were fighting against, but another entirely to know that when the human finishes with everyone else and kills Asgore, the entire universe ends—not a single timeline in thousands extending past that point.

No one’s been left alive to see what happens, but inevitably everything ceases and goes right back to the start, for the killing to begin anew.

It has to stop before then, whatever the cost.

The human is far too strong for any one monster to handle, even groups of monsters, and they know that because they’ve tried, and the human will always come back, learn their patterns and break through.

It’s no job for any monster.

They consider that they may need a god instead.

Asgore, the strongest boss monster of their number, absorbs the six human souls, becoming something terrible and powerful and deeply unnatural.

………

It takes the human under a hundred tries to get through him.

The monsters are at a loss, for awhile.

Their biggest and strongest boss still isn’t enough…

…can they make a stronger one?

Normally, this would be a ludicrous thought—just making a stronger monster—but Sans isn’t the only one whose strange secrets are out, now that everyone remembers RESET timelines.

Flowey’s busted too—at least, to the extent that he’s an artificial monster brought to life by dust and DT.

Initially, he was on the human’s side for………reasons………but being killed a few hundred, thousand, whatever times has a way of changing one’s loyalties, and he’s been (begrudgingly) siding with monsters for awhile.

So when the suggestion is laid on the table—make a new bigger and better monster—Flowey has a couple cents to throw in on the matter.

That still wouldn’t be enough.

He fought the human once before, and even something like him plus all the human souls they have couldn’t keep them down for good. If they want that to work, they’re going to have to find a way to make it really tough, and good luck with that because it’d probably take the equivalent of all monsterkind to have a shot at taking that killer down.

…The equivalent of all monsterkind.

That…is an idea.

A terrible idea, horrible, unthinkable, no one wants to discuss that further.

Until.

The RESETs continue.

Death, again and again and again.

Suffering, with no hope of an end anywhere in sight.

Desperate times…do call for desperate measures, and eventually even the most ghoulish way out of it is given its due consideration.

So…what if they do use all of monsterkind?

What if everyone pooled all of themselves—their magic, their souls, their hopes and dreams—everything, together with the human souls.

Could that be enough?

With the few faint memories Flowey has of a pacifist timeline, he posits a less than confident, “Maybe?”

It’s not a no, and it’s the best they have to go on.

They have to try something.

A vessel of some kind will be needed, something capable of containing all of monsterkind. They have an excellent roboticist in Alphys, who has already made one robotic body for a monster to occupy and is relatively confident she can do it again.

The logistics will be different from that, of course. It was simple enough to make a shell for a willing ghost monster to occupy, but they’re all out of ghost monsters capable of taking on a body, so…

It’ll have to be piloted…the way Flowey occupied his vessel.

Monster dust laid onto the vessel and brought to life by DT.

Someone needs to volunteer to do it, to be resurrected into a soulless body after their death, to give intent and sentient function to the vessel of everyone’s hopes and dreams and use their power to bring an end to the perpetual terror hanging over monsterkind.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Undyne is the first to volunteer.

…Then Asgore.

And Toriel.

Papyrus.

Mettaton.

Many others.

It won’t take.

The human runs through several presumably confusing yet intriguing timelines where the Underground has gone empty, save for Flowey trying to distract them and Alphys in her lab trying desperately, fruitlessly to get her mysterious project to work.

At least, before they kill her and begin it all again.

Eventually, Alphys manages to at least figure out what the problem is, why the vessel keeps malfunctioning and the volunteer monster’s dust never seems to properly take.

She determines that when DT extract is introduced to the volunteer’s remains, it awakens and joins with whatever existing DT that monster had in life. This amount is typically small, as most monsters can’t handle high concentrations of DT, not the way humans can.

But this time, it happens to be doing the same to the vessel—a construct made of nearly every monster in the Underground.

Flowey was a different equation, monster dust added onto an inanimate vessel with zero DT of its own, and now with a vessel overbalancing the amount of the unstable element, it’s not working.

But it could.

If…

If the volunteer monster were someone with extremely low DT, so that there would be less to activate when the extract was introduced…

Suddenly, everyone in the room is looking at Sans and he is less than enthused.

Dying over and over again was one thing—he was just about used to that, at this point—but dying and living again? As something neither monster nor human? With the grand responsibility of avenging the entirety of monsterkind, nearly literally carrying everyone’s hopes and dreams on his shoulders?

That sucks.

There was a reason he didn’t volunteer, but now it seems like he’s being voluntold—nobody’s saying it, but…he has to, there’s no one else with DT as low as his and everyone knows it, the numbers from the machine being what they are, the human already bearing down on them for yet another assault, they’re all counting on him to agree.

So, he says—

“NO.”

Papyrus refuses this option point-blank.

There is no way in hell that he is letting his brother do that alone—he will have to be there too!

He is spoken to and encouraged and pleaded to be reasonable. All of monsterkind’s peace is at stake, of course he cares about his brother, but he must see that everyone is making sacrifices to end this horrible cycle once and for all.

And yes, certainly, Papyrus can see that. Obviously, he can—he’s made a lot of moral concessions himself over the past few time-looped years, he and Sans both have fought and been killed and willingly sacrificed themselves, and all manner of other terrible things, over and over and over again.

And they’ve been happy (for a given definition of ‘happy’) to do so!

But this is the line.

His, anyway.

He will not let Sans do this thing unless they can find some way for him to be there too, and he’s not budging—so figure something out.

(Sans could’ve protested and just willingly damned himself, but grateful for Papyrus’ interference, he…didn’t.)

So fine, apparently this is the hill that everyone will die on—again and again and again and again—if they don’t ‘figure something out.’

The problem is now how to make it so that Papyrus can ‘be there’ after he chronologically needs to have been incorporated into the vessel with all the other monsters.

Well… his soul needs to be there.

Does he need that to exist? To be present?

Sans won’t have that and he’ll be around, if this works the way it’s supposed to.

Flowey doesn’t have that and he’s around.

Maybe…

Maybe there’s a way to take a snapshot of a living monster—a scan of their knowledge, their memories, their experiences and thoughts and personality—and save it, like a program, or…an AI?

It wouldn’t have a soul but clearly that isn’t a requirement for sentient life, functionally it should be all but identical to a person’s continued existence.

…It raises a whole lot of ethical and philosophical questions, certainly, but if it can be done, it could be a very, very good thing.

After all, monsterkind was more or less going to be gone after this, a Pyrrhic victory to finally end their never-ending nightmare at the cost of all their lives.

This way, they could be preserved, in a digital space or a virtual reality, after their physical bodies and selves were gone, and that’s worth something, isn’t it?

At least a notch above total, permanent extinction.

Many monsters agree, previously resigned to total cessation and hopeful to carry on in some form, to have scans of themselves done when the tech is sorted.

Papyrus is of course among their number, and entirely too smug about it since all this was his idea…or at least, Alphys wouldn’t have developed it without his ultimatum, so it’s basically the same as being his idea!

And ultimately, with the assurance that he won’t be alone on the other side…

Sans agrees to volunteer.

The human’s final timeline is a very different experience than what they’ve become used to.

Sans, resurrected into a body filled with truly godly power, is their only opponent, one they never would have had a chance to beat.

With ease, he removes all of their options—refusing to allow them to FIGHT or to use MERCY. He blocks their path, corrupts their SAVES, and severs their connection to whatever entity has granted them to power to do what they’ve done…permanently.

The human falls, like a puppet with its strings cut, and simple as that…

It’s all over.

The barrier is broken, almost as an afterthought, and the few remaining monsters that can go up to the Surface.

Monsterkind itself exists almost entirely virtually now. As a species, they’re on the down-low with regards to humanity, off the grid, as there’s only (currently) three among their number who exist physically and trying to establish anything official with so few feels…trivial.

Some monsters are looking forward to obtaining robotic bodies of their own to begin interacting with the surface world, but others are content to remain digital.

It’s not exactly a happy ending…but it’s not an ending, and monsterkind has transcended from one phase of existence to the next, and will adapt accordingly.

Spectr (Transcendtale Sans)

A soulless consciousness inhabiting an exoskeletal body that at least mostly resembles his old one—a favor from Alphys—shining chrome and white plating with prismatic flecks of rainbow that catch in the light. Heavily dysphoric about his body and averse to seeing ‘himself,’ he's always covered up and tends to avoid reflections.

No longer reality-bendingly strong, without the power of the human souls, but still in possession of the condensed power of all monsterkind and fully capable of unleashing terrifying strength and magic if needed. …He would rather not.

Because he lacks a soul, his emotions are distant and muted, and because he was resurrected and not scanned in great detail, his memory is mostly intact but can be spotty—especially with regards to things that happened between RESETs.

Spends a lot of time thinking about personhood and existence—is he who he was before, now that he doesn’t have a soul? Can he claim those memories, that self, or is he too different? Does he even count as ‘alive’?

Trying to find meaning in his current state of being, roaming the Surface and seeking small pleasures and maybe the hope of some kind of inner peace out in the world.

PapAIrus (Transcendtale Papyrus)

Technically not The Original, a scanned digital copy of everything that made Papyrus…Papyrus—and completely fine with it, entirely bypassing the philosophical questions his brother dwells on. As far as he’s concerned, he’s himself: he has all of his thoughts and memories and feels like himself, so he is! Easy, why make it so complicated?

Exists mostly in a virtual state and can traverse through and access most any electronic device, but he can also manifest physically as a hard-light projection via any device that emits light. He has access to most of his brother’s systems and can communicate or project himself through him as a conduit…unless said brother has intentionally blocked him out

A bit different than he was before all the RESETs, a little looser with his moral code and more of a wisecracker—he lived a lot of years under siege and had to adapt to an enemy that really couldn’t be better and didn’t want to try, and filling in for the jokes his brother had become too downtrodden to tell

Spends his time everywhere and nowhere, surfing the ‘net and making a splash as a holographic DJ and periodically checking in on his brother to make sure he’s as okay as he can be—basically doing everything he wants to do, whenever he wants to do it

…Possibly nurturing a slight god-complex, but mostly just enjoying a new phase of his life with near-limitless access to anyone, anything and anywhere, totally untethered by all of his previous mortal limitations (…okay yeah, it’s a god-complex, but it’s fine, don’t worry about it)

[thegoldenshi-shi]

I just have to ask you 2 questions fiejfbdjrj

Are you an Egyptology nerd? Or avid fan, if you haven't hyperfixated like me 0//0 if you are, I'd like to know the whole story behind the ancient Egypt au bc it f u e l s me in a way-

Secondly, can I pls make fics on the ancient Egypt au 🥺🥺🥺🥺 it's so pretty and I'm not really sure ill be able to capture everything bc I did see some wips, but I still wanna write it ^^

Firstly: thank you very much~ I'm glad that you think my Egyptian things to be pretty 💕

(your username is cool btw, I like it a lot)

I'd never thought about whether I'm a nerd or not… I'm fascinated with ancient history in general,(currently combing through Mesoamerican history atm) but yeah, I'll say that Ancient Egypt has a soft spot in my heart. I took a course in Egyptian Hieroglyphics and have several books ranging from a difficult book on Middle Egyptian literature (in hieroglyphics)to books on their mythology to a large National Geographic book that spans the entire history. Now that I think about it, I guess I do count as an Egyptology nerd hehe

✨Word-Vomit-Time ✨

Honestly, the whole thing began as a desire to draw Leona as a pharaoh because I thought he'd be pretty. Then it snowballed into how best to adjust Ramses the Great's exploits to account for magic, whether or not I wanted Falena as an Akhenaten-type or as a nice pharaoh and whether or not I should try to translate Leona's UM chant into hieroglyphics for the sake of authenticity.

So far as the au is concerned it actually spans more than just Egypt. I selected a culture/country for each dorm and re-worked them with that as a base. So just as all of Savanaclaw are Egyptian, Diasomnia is Celtic, Scarabia is an amalgamation of the countries found along the Silk Road, etc.

I've worked with Savanaclaw and Diasomnia (Ancient Egypt and the Celtic Tribes) the most and they have a tense respect that could become violent if the wrong moves are made. Leona is angry at having to deal with diplomacy that should be Falena's job, but doesn't want it botched and has to handle it himself. Malleus is fascinated with the radically different culture that Leona represents and likes pushing people's buttons…. You can get the picture hehe.

With the individual characters: I have Jack functioning as a guard/military figure, since jackals and other canines were often associated with protection. (Thinking about Anubis, and Wepawet) He works directly under the royal family, specifically Leona.

Leona is still not very liked due to his sand-magic in a desert environment BUT he is valued for his offensive capacity (and for his Nefertiti-level pretty face). Defending the borders and war were the domains of the lion deities Anhur and Sekhmet. Of course I really want to work parallels to Set into him as well, but that's a story for another day.

Ruggie is kind of floating around as a free agent, but he works as a good spy since nobody pays him any mind. I don't really know how Falena and Cheka fit in outside of the fact that Falena is Pharaoh and Checka is the Crown Prince.

By all means, go ahead and make as many fics as you like on the au. I really enjoy adding things to it as I go but my free time has been non-existent lately. I'm happy that you like the au enough to want to add your own things to it.

If you do, please let me know, I'd be interested to see what you come up with👀

Thank you so much once again for your ask! I appreciate that you took time to reach out and say something to me ^J^

[maeve-on-mustafar]

Listen, no one can take Matt Stover's crown as #1 Obikin shipper, but I deeply respect Mike Chen for carrying on the torch.

Behold, Obi-Wan's various thoughts on Anakin in Brotherhood:

Every step here kept him alone by design, and even when he had the choice, he chose to keep Anakin at arm’s length. The thing was, every single time he tried to keep Anakin away, he found a way in. That was simply who Anakin Skywalker was.

Even when Obi-Wan tries to ignore his feelings for Anakin, he can't. They're too strong.

Obi-Wan laughed at the mysterious twists and turns of the Force. Their first time truly apart—not as easy as one off to a remote system while the other handled tasks on Coruscant, but pulled in completely different directions—and of course every plan that he’d tried to conjure up came with the caveat of “if only Anakin were here.”

Literally, this man cannot make a plan because he's too busy missing Anakin.

That was what Anakin did: find a way. They didn’t even need to directly attack the situation together, but Anakin’s resourcefulness, stubbornness, impulsiveness, his sheer Anakin-ness, felt necessary at this point. Without it, Obi-Wan may as well have been flying blind or missing a limb.

Like, Obi-Wan feels physically bereft when he's apart from Anakin.

It took not having that intrinsic link to Anakin for Obi-Wan to finally see how much they needed each other. Not just on a strategic level, but to keep each other in check—Obi-Wan’s tactful diplomacy pulling in Anakin’s impossible drive, and Anakin’s overwhelming everything-ness removing a layer of Obi-Wan’s measured, clinical thinking. If he survived this, perhaps he’d even tell Anakin someday.

Aw, and at the end, he realizes they belong together. 💖

Anyway, I never hear anyone talking about Brotherhood, but it's a great Anakin and Obi-Wan adventure, so pick it up if you have the chance!

[soylent-crocodile]

War Medic (Prestige Class)

(art by Rialll on deviantart)

(This is the first in what ended up being a trio of prestige classes for martial characters that fulfil the Healer-Tank-DPS roles of MMORPGs. It's old, but I'm quite proud of it!)

Healing is, generally, considered the role of clerics and similar faithful. These specialized healers are premier methods of keeping one's heart beating, but sometimes they are simply not available, or could simply use some backup. This is the job of the war medic, a soldier or warrior who is trained to patch up his allies in the thick of battle.

Role: War medics are invaluable both on and off the battlefield, wielding a deadly weapon in one hand and keeping their allies alive with the other. Alignment: War medics can be any alignment HD: d10

Prerequisites

Skills: Heal 5 Feats: Combat Medic Ability Scores: Wis 13 Other: Proficiency with all Martial Weapons, Possession of a Medical Kit

Skills A war medic gains 6+int mod skill ranks per level A war medic’s skill list is Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha,) Heal (Wis), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Sleight of Hand (Dex), and Survival (Wis)

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies A war medic gains no weapon and armor proficiencies.

Surgical Precision (Ex)

A war medic’s doctoral training lets him heal as well as harm. As long as he is wielding a light or one handed melee weapon and has a free hand, he deals an extra 1d8 precision damage, as a rogue’s Sneak Attack ability. Unlike a rogue’s Sneak Attack, this damage does not increase as the War Medic levels up.

Med Kit (Ex)

A war medic’s greatest tool is his med kit- he carries within it supplies needed to heal ailments of all types, from mundane wounds to magical curses. His med kit contains a number of supply points equal to his wisdom modifier+his level in war medic. At the start of his day he may spend an hour cleaning and salvaging his supplies. If he does, he regains a number of supply points equal to his wisdom modifier. Additionally, at any settlement sized large town or larger he may fully refresh his supply points by shopping for one hour and spending 10g. These supply points can also be spent as uses of a healer’s kit.

As a standard action, a war medic with a free hand may spend 1 supply point to give any creature within touch range 2d6 temporary hit points plus his wisdom modifier. These hit points wear off after 2 hours. At levels 4, 7, and 10, he adds 1d6 to his temporary hit points. This does not trigger an attack of opportunity.

Trained Healer (Ex)

A war medic is as much a healer as he is a warrior; he adds his level in war medic to his heal skill. Additionally, he halves the required time taken to perform any heal action that takes longer than a full round.

First Responder (Ex)

At level 2 a war medic adds his wisdom modifier to his initiative.

Medic’s Trick

At level 2, then at level 3 and every two levels thereafter, a war medic gains access to a medic’s trick chosen from a list. A war medic can only apply one trick to his surgical precision damage at a time, and these abilities do not stack with themself unless stated otherwise. The DC of a medic’s trick is equal to 10+his level in war medic+his wisdom modifier. All penalties applied with medic’s trick can be ended early with a successful Heal check with the same DC as a standard action.

Heal Thyself (Ex) A war medic with this trick may spend a swift action and a supply point to give himself temporary hit points as with his med kit. 

Immediate Care (Ex) A war medic with this trick may choose to use one of his attacks in a full attack action to grant temporary hit points with his med kit, rather than a standard action.

Hobble (Ex) A war medic may apply this trick to his surgical precision. If he successfully lands a hit that deals surgical precision damage, that creature must make a fortitude save or have its movement speeds reduced by 10, to a minimum of 5, for 1 minute.

Worsening Condition (Ex) A war medic may apply this trick to his surgical precision. If he successfully lands a hit that deals surgical precision damage, that creature must make a fortitude save. If they fail, they take a -2 penalty to saves for 1 minute.

Myopia (Ex) A war medic may apply this trick to surgical precision. If he successfully lands a hit that deals surgical precision damage, that creature must make a fortitude save. If they fail, they treat all creatures including willing targets as though they had partial concealment for 1 minute. Blind creatures and creatures with blindsight are immune to this effect, but creatures that can see through fog or similar concealment are not.

Break Fantasies (Ex) A war medic may apply this trick to surgical precision. If he successfully lands a hit that deals surgical precision damage, that creature must make a fortitude save. If they fail, they must make a concentration check with DC equal to 10+the war medic’s level in war medic+his wisdom modifier in order to cast a spell during the next 1 minute.

Strike the Vein (Ex) A war medic may apply this trick to surgical precision. If he successfully lands a hit that deals surgical precision damage, it inflicts bleed 1. This ability stacks with itself.

Blue Shield (Ex) A war medic with this trick gains proficiency with light and medium shields if he does not already have them, and may apply his surgical precision damage if he is wielding a shield in his free hand.

Bedside Manners (Ex) A war medic with this trick may use his wisdom in place of charisma for Bluff and Diplomacy and gets a +2 bonus to those skills.

Alternative Medicine (Ex) A war medic with this trick treats Use Magic Device as a class skill and may use his wisdom in place of charisma for Use Magic Device. He may apply his surgical precision damage if he is wielding a wand or scroll in his free hand.

Supernatural Healing (Su) A war medic with this trick may choose to heal damage with his med kit rather than give temporary hit points.

Extra Mercy (Ex) A war medic with this trick gains an additional Mercy from those available to him.

Combat Feat (Ex) A war medic with this trick gains a feat chosen from the combat feat list.

Mercy (Ex)

At level 2 and every two thereafter until level 8, a war medic chooses a mercy from the paladin’s mercy list, although he gains it at a heightened pace. At level 2, he gains access to the paladin’s level 3 mercies, at level 4, he gains access to the paladin’s level 6 mercies, at level 6, he gains access to the paladin’s level 9 mercies, and at level 8, he gains access to the paladin’s level 12 mercies. Saves related to mercies instead have a DC equal to 10+the war medic’s Wisdom modifier+his level in War Medic. This ability functions like the paladin ability of the same name, except it applies to temporary hit points granted by his med kit, rather than his lay on hands, and as noted above.

Floating Mercy (Ex)

At level 10, a war medic gains a floating mercy. At the start of each day, while refreshing his med kit, a war medic may choose one mercy from among those available to him. That mercy applies to his med kit for the rest of the day.

[phoenixkaptain]

Was rereading some of my old Qui-Gon - Luke parallel posts and I had the abrupt realization:

Luke is technically on the same level as Qui-Gon in terms of diplomatic ability.

Granted, this is mostly extrapolated from external works, the novels and comics and such, because the Original Trilogy doesn’t put Luke in any realy situations where he needs to act diplomatically (aside from the scene with Jabba, but I will come back to that) and, as we all know, Luke Skywalker was only ever portrayed as a baby in the prequel trilogy and then he was never portrayed ever again outside of that instance that the Original Trilogy, there were no other major motion pictures with Luke in them, unfortunately, and as we all know and accept with sadness in our hearts, the next time we saw Luke in live-action was in the Mandalorian. It’s wild, they never put him in anything else ever, never ever, not once, not twice, it was OT, PT, then Mandalorian S2, wild-

Let’s begin with the movies.

We see Qui-Gon’s diplomatic prowess in the Phantom Menace, when the diplomatic talks with the Neimoidians go south almost immediately and he has to fight his way out.

We see Luke’s diplomatic prowess in the Return of the Jedi, when the diplomatic talks (thinly veiled threats) with Jabba go south almost immediately and he has to fight his way out.

(Leia and Obi-Wan are my parallels in these scenes. Not because I think they actually are supposed to parallel each other in the text, but because they both are part of the action while being cute, so like-)

Already, we can see that they’re both prime examples of Jedi Diplomacy. Something goes south and they have to fight their way out of it. The Jedi way :) (look at Mace’s attempt to rescue Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme, my guy started by pulling out his lightsaber. At the very least, Qui-Gon and Luke both waited a bit longer to start beheading people.)

But, what I actually want to draw reference to is that Luke is skilled at de-escalating situations. In the 2015 comics, he is one of the only reasons Leia and Han don’t start wrestling each other like feral dogs. In the novels, specifically in the Thrawn Trilogy, there’s a scene where Luke handles a diplomatic situation by being as polite and fair as he can be. Also, he is a Jedi, which means that he is polite, fair, and nobody really wants to go against him because he’s the man who blew up the Death Star and can kill literally anybody in the room without lifting a finger.

We know from the text that Qui-Gon’s diplomacy was probably similar. Because, Obi-Wan learned negotiating from Qui-Gon, so if we look at how Obi-Wan deals with tense political situations, we can make an educated guess as to how Qui-Gon did so.

We know from Tales of the Jedi that Qui-Gon’s go-to in tense situations was de-escalation. Because if he didn’t de-escalate that shit really fast, his Master would kill literally everybody. He also seems to try and take the polite and fair road. Of course, he also is a Jedi, plus he has his Jedi Master growling at everyone from over his shoulder, only held back from committing senseless murder because Qui-Gon told him to please not to, so nobody really wants to go against him.

I don’t know. The parallels, the strange, strange parallels, are certainly present in the text. Which could mean a few things. We have options.

Option 1: Luke learned really, really fast from Obi-Wan. An option that, theoretically, does make sense. After all, we know that Luke knew Ben Kenobi before learning he was a Jedi Master, which means he could have mimicked the behaviour he witnessed. And we can reasonably assume that Ben Kenobi, crazy old desert wizard, was probably more talking his way out of trouble in the desert than fighting his way out.

Option 2: Luke and Qui-Gon really are just narratively mirrored. They act similar even if they don’t seem like they should, so Qui-Gon’s talent in political talks is based off of Luke’s inexplicable ability to make everyone in the room either begrudgingly accept what he says or be too terrified of him to argue. This would make sense, since they do parallel each other in quite a few ways anyway. One more parallel isn’t too strange to think about.

Option 3: I’m looking way too deeply into the theoretical political power of two fictional characters whose prowess in debates we know of only through sources of questionable canonicity, both of which are considered unskilled in this particular field by the fanbase at large, which for some reason rubs me the wrong way enough that I feel it necessary to make an incredibly long text post detailing my thoughts.

It could go any way ¯\ _(ツ)_/¯

[tgrailwar-zero]

It's... Complicated. I wouldn't say that the split in consensus in regards to summoning our Servant has caused things to be exactly smooth-sailing for us. Putting the matters of the Red/Blue Team aside, we can tell you this:

The decision to determine your identity, or rather, the identity of this War's Rider, was a boon granted to us by the Administrator of this War. In fact, we were aiming to summon another Rider, one in which we had personal history with, but he was disqualified from actual summoning due to certain... Reasons. The offer still stood, so we chose you instead, although we never thought that we would actually be your Masters alongside Avenger's.

Also, the reason why your Skills don't have descriptions sounds similar to something we've seen before, and is almost certainly a result of this divide in decision-making.

We would share the full extent of the information we're privy to at this moment, but I understand that it would be a conflict of interest if we're still talking along the lines of Teams, and we would like for you to know where you stand on this matter before you make any decisions. So, would you happen to have any questions for us? We'll try to answer them if they're not about Avenger.

He listened quietly, his expression level, not relaying any emotion that would expose his inner thoughts on the matter.

There was the sense that the 'block' on RIDER's further skills is more of one that defines the gulf between you all and him. As if due to his status as a 'Red Servant' being aware of your status as opposing yet legitimate Masters, he's withholding the intricacies of his abilities, in the case of any sort of sudden betrayal.

After all, unlike AVENGER, he was confidently fighting those Enemy Programs on his own without any guidance or worry.

"...I see. Despite the absurdity of the situation, I have half a mind to believe you. Masters given the authority of two Servants that should be opposing each other... the concept does offer a sense of curiosity on the deeper workings of this war. If you're telling the truth, and your acquisition of my Command Spells isn't a trick, then..."

He closed his eyes, thinking.

"While I have spent my time here assisting the locals with Enemy Programs, I do have another purpose on this isle. The contact with my fellow teammates has been sparse due to an apprehension regarding my 'Masterless' state, however… Caster has inquired of me to search for an item called a 'Trigger Key'. These keys are guarded by 'Lair Servants', the violent, possessive data of Heroic Spirits only meant to guard over the Trigger Keys and nothing else."

He opened his eyes, with a bit of a knowing smile as he spoke with a sense of cool diplomacy.

"I'll allow you to accompany me on this journey, commanding me as a Master would. Depending on how you handle that task will define our relationship going forward."

RIDER spoke, his tone even without a hint of fear. The sort of boldness one would expect from an emperor.

"Consider it a test of faith. After all, if you're opposing Masters, if I relinquish my choices to you then that's the simplest way for you to get rid of potential competition- lead me somewhere unsafe and force me to face the consequences while learning the location of a valuable item for yourselves and Avenger. That, or allow me and my team access to a potentially valuable item. How does that sound?"

The deal itself was heavily stacked against him at a glance, but perhaps even that was a reliance- or perhaps a genuine confidence in his faith as well.

[warlordfelwinter]

Josephine & Iron Bull for your DA:I guy!

Ella likes them both!

Josephine was one of the first people in the Inquisition to earn his respect, literally just because she greeted him in elvish. a little thing, but no one else bothered to try meeting him on that level. he appreciates her endlessly for understanding politics and handling the diplomacy side of things for him. he finds all the various machinations she has to navigate fascinating from like an observer point of view. he has no wish to embroil himself in it, but he'll listen to her talk about it for hours, and they have gossip sessions every few days so he can get caught up on the state of the world and she can vent.

Bull is the exact opposite of the type of person Ellassan ever would have thought he would be friends with. but it turns out Ella does have a feral side and Bull encourages it to come out, which is great fun for both of them. they both love dragons and can spend hours talking about them from different view points. Ella is more scientifically fascinated by them, and is just as eager to hunt them as Bull, much to the dismay of the rest of the team i think. Ella also appreciates him for being tall and broad enough that he can hide behind him if needed.

[thespyinred]

「 HEADCANON // early life + background: because we know almost nothing about Ada's background in canon, this is pretty much all created by me, so I figured I'd share. It's on my carrd, too, but here's my take on Ada.

➞ trigger warning for murder, child slavery, and mention of sex slavery.

The details of her upbringing are known only to her as the last surviving member of the Zhao crime family. Her grandfather was the head of that prominent Chinese criminal organization. Her father and youngest Zhao son, didn't want to raise his family in a world of violence and corruption, so he moved his wife and daughter to Saigon. Despite cutting ties, when a rival organization moved to wipe out the entire Zhao family, that included the estranged youngest son. Ada was only four when she watched her home burn to the ground, her parents still inside.

Ada attempted to live on the streets, but soon she was kidnapped and sold into child slavery, ending up in Hong Kong, China. At the age of seven, she ended up in a brothel where she was meant to be forced to work as a sex worker. Fortunately for her, the matron of the establishment took a liking to her before she ever had to engage in such activities. Ada's first prospective client was in for a shock when the little girl stole his pocket knife, broke his hand, and held the knife to his throat. The matron decided that she was better suited in other ways such as security, and her own personal shopper who can steal anything from anywhere.

At the age of ten, Ada's talents were discovered by an American covert operative who's mission brought the young thief into his crosshairs. His name was Owen Strathern, and he recognized talent in Ada that she was squandering. Taking on the role of her mentor, Strathern took her to New York City and set her up with an American citizenship. This is when she adopted the name Ada Wong. There, she trained with him and his colleagues in the ways of espionage, combat, weapons handling, and political diplomacy. She learned a variety of languages and how to move amongst the masses in any part of the world. Strathern was killed in action when she was eighteen, but she inherited many of his clients and took his work to the next level.

On her own, Ada has carved out her place in the world. She doesn't have a permanent home, owning penthouses across the world and keeping her things stored in safehouses. She purposely tries to fill all of her time working so that she won't have to face the loneliness of her real life. The scary truth is, Ada doesn't really know what kind of person she is, always bouncing from one persona to the next. She keeps herself busy so that she's never completely alone with her thoughts, afraid that she won't like the person inside. 」

[eco-lite]

Time for another Star Trek book review! This time: Sarek by A.C. Crispin.

When I picked up this book at my local used book store, I figured it was going to be "Daddy Issues: The Book." And frankly, that's what I wanted it to be. I have a deep need to read about Spock confronting Sarek for all the bullshit he put Spock through, his refusal to connect with Spock on a level they can both understand, his inability to have a suitably emotional reaction to Amanda's death, etc. And there was some of that--just not as much as I was expecting.

Likewise, I expected Amanda's death to be the focal point of this story--the event that becomes the catalyst for Spock and Sarek's further division and perhaps eventual reconciliation. However, all of that is the side plot. The main plot centers around a Romulan scheme to sow xenophobia and division amongst the Federation using non-consensual telepathic suggestion carried out by kidnapped Vulcans. And only Sarek is uniquely suited to foil their plan! Yeah... Don't get me wrong, it was a very interesting plot; it just came out of nowhere.

Author A.C. Crispin has a lot of interesting ideas about inter-planetary politics and diplomacy, which is a bit of a double-edged sword. While it was great to see multiple different perspectives of this political conflict--Federation, Romulan, and Klingon--the story became a bit bogged down by the shear number of POV characters and story lines going on at the same time. I never thought half of this book about Sarek would be from the perspective of Kirk's nephew Peter, but that's what we got. (Peter kind of sucks, but Valdyr is great. Read this book for Valdyr.)

You know who I wish had gotten more time dedicated to her? Amanda! She is a very important character in this story, yet we get very limited moments of her perspective in the events leading up to her death--although her death was handled very well. After her death, we still get to see her point of view as Sarek reads her journals she left behind. I thought these journals were a great plot device to keep Amanda present in the story, but she really gets lost in the middle when all the action and drama with the Klingons and Romulans is going down. It's a shame because I felt Crispin writes for Amanda very well. I wanted more!

Crispin actually does a great job capturing the family dynamics between Spock, Amanda, and Sarek very well. Each character's thoughts and actions feel very true to canon, drawing especially from the TOS episode "Journey to Babel" (my favorite episode). The interplay between these three was the best part of the book. And it was nice to see an author develop Sarek and Amanda's relationship further, and posit what their lives together had been like. Again, I wish there was more of it!

Overall--while not what I was expecting--this was quite an enjoyable read with an interesting (though messy) plot and nice character details. I also like how it bridges some of the gap between the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and the TNG episode "Unification." Pretty good job, A.C. Crispin.

[onstoryladders]

god the control group is a fucking mess. what seth did is unforgivable but kirin and josh didn't handle the situation well, kirin wouldn't know the definition of the word diplomacy if it kicked him in the nuts, and josh is so fucking traumatized that he's becoming all the things he was trying so hard to avoid before and it's all because of seth

and i hate that the others went back to him because fuck that shit, what he did was terrible and it makes me sick just to think about it, and yet i see that the main camp was too toxic and no one could handle it anymore

but now seth thinks he's back in the game and i fucking hate that because he's unstable and he's dangerous and he didn't even fucking apologize, only tried to deflect and put the blame on josh saying that he got things wrong and was drunk etc

and of course the others just want to survive so they're just taking what they think is the best way out but this is still so frustrating to watch

because now they want to follow seth's bullshit idea of "one crew, fresh start" but how can you ask someone to have a fresh start with the guy who fucking SEXUALLY ASSAULTED THEM? it's so sick to even CONSIDER it and yet they really wanna go with it

like no. sorry but no. this sucks on so many levels. they're all spineless little bitches and ivan is a massive hypocrite, he's all "we have to fight our battles yada yada" but as soon as the battle isn't about him then it's fine to take the abuser's side? and don't get me wrong I KNOW why he did it, we all saw his mental process, but this ain't it

kirin is a dumbass but at least he's loyal and he doesn't let his own morals waver even if it means ending up alone against the world and it takes a whole lot of courage to do that

like really i'm trying to have empathy for all of them and i do, i understand, but also. also this is so fucked up

[whatdoyoumeanitsnotcanon]

Guilliman is the daddy. Ultrawife and Robby are churning out kiddos.

(okay be prepared to see this scene for real later without Emps, but it tickles me. Pretend it's an AU. This is just tooth rotting fluff. I'm sick and stuck in bed I'M ALLOWED MY LIL INDULGENCE)

TW CHILDBIRTH.

It took 26 hours, ultimately, for your firstborn to arrive.

In the 26 hours, you experienced a gauntlet of emotions, from joy, to fear, to rage, to fear again. Despite having the best medical care the galaxy could offer, you were terrified.

It didn't help that Roboute was on the precipice of a total breakdown. The Primarch paced like a wounded animal across the floor of the bedchamber.

"Is this normal?"

"Yes, My Lord."

"Is there nothing you can do to ease the pain?"

"We've administered the standard pain re-"

"She looks pale, why is she pale?"

"Roboute?"

"My Lord Primarch, it's common for mothers to experience a level of-"

"Are you certain she's alright?"

"ROBOUTE!"

All fell silent as your husband looked at you, then rushed to your side. "Everything is going just fine. It's supposed to hurt thats norm- FUCK!"

Another contraction hit, and the room descended into chaos again.

"Roboute." The voice want any louder than a conversational tone, but all fell silent as your father in law appeared in the doorway. The team of apothecaries, Sister Midwives, and servants dropped to their knees as he strode into the room, and supplanted Rob at your bedside. "Are you well?"

"As much as I can be, Lord, it's all very new."

He placed a hand against your forehead, and the pain lessened to an ache. He whispered. "Would you like me to take my son outside? I'm rather worried he'll strangle one of these people."

"That might be best, Lord."

He smiled at you. "You'll do just fine."

---

"What if she dies?" Roboute asked, hushed.

"She will not, and you are not helping her by losing your composure."

Guilliman's jaw tightened, and it seemed he would become angry, before his expression fell.

"I don't think I'm strong enough to lose her, Father."

The Emperor stiffened, and was silent for a long moment. Father. Usually Guilliman called him Lord, these days. He never sought fatherly affection, certainly not fatherly advice.

He placed a hand on Guilliman's shoulder. "Her name was Ayatarsa."

"I don't understand."

"The mother of my first, in the ancient days. It was dangerous, then, having children. Many women I knew perished doing so. I was... Deeply and truly afraid, then. Battle, diplomacy, these were things I understood. But when I held our child for the first time-"

You screamed from behind the closed door, and the Emperor's grip tightened.

"I knew, also for the first time, the real and true terror of loss. It makes you human, Guilliman, to fear for her, for the child."

He sighed. "I've lost so much of myself, in the last ten millennia."

The two sat for a time, in silence.

"I never got to hold you."

"What?"

"You were a weapon, Roboute, that I created to forge our way into an era of peace. But one of my most potent regrets is that I never held you, or any of your brothers."

There were few times in his long life when Roboute Guilliman was speechless. This was one.

"I made you to handle anything and everything, any challenge, any circumstance. You'll be just fine."

And a small, but powerful cry pierced the air.

---

You held the small, wiggling bundle, wrapped in a soft, blue blanket, and the axis of your world shifted.

The doors flew open, and Roboute stared.

One of the midwives spoke. "It's a son, My Lord."

He walked over to you, his eyes wide with wonder.

"Look at our boy, Rob!" The infant had a shock of golden hair.

"What if I drop him?"

"You won't."

Rob held the boy for a long time, bouncing his little form, and cooing.

This man has conquered star systems, but it seemed his proudest accomplishment was this.

The Emperor followed him in.

Roboute turned, and asked. "Would you... Like to hold him?"

They exchanged a strange, loaded look, and your husband passed the child to his father. The Emperor looked down, and smiled.

"Well hello, little one." The baby gurgled, and you swore your father in law's eyes were shining. Then Hh gasped. "He... He has my mother's eyes."

"What?"

"Strange is not, to see the eyes of woman dead for 50 millennia?"

It took great effort to persuade him to pass his grandson back to you.

One of the apothecaries coughed politely. "Shall we make the announcement, My Lord?"

"Yes. This signals hope for the future, and -"

Guilliman looked back at you, you grinned.

The Emperor was making noises. Little nonsense noises, as he hovered over the child. The baby giggled, and all three of you beamed.

"Hope for the future."

(I needed a seratonin boost and for these idiots to be happy.)

-Long Anon

[awritingcaitlin]

Find the Word Tag

I was tagged by @legiomiam! (Sorry I am once again behind on tag games whoops!)

My words are: head, enemy, hold, slump, inside

I'll be tagging: @juls-writes, @saphoblin, @sentfromwolves, @muddshadow, and @tananaphone for the words: run, trust, back, dry, fine

Snippets are from Siege of Berthingtonn under the cut!

🧡HEAD

“Care to go running with me this morning?” Taryn asked.

“Absolutely not,” Rinnie said. “I tried it once and didn’t like the experience enough to do it again.”

Taryn sat up, taking the warmth of the covers with her. “I figured you’d say something like that.”

She got out of bed, climbing over Rinnie as she did so. Rinnie took the opportunity to trace one of the backs of her hands along Taryn’s side and back. Taryn caught Rinnie’s hand in her own and kissed it.

“I’m going to run now,” she said. She stood and rummaged around in a pile of things she kept in Rinnie’s room for her running clothes—a simple shirt and cutoff shorts. She ran a hand through her short brown hair to get the small bits that could small into her face out of it and then disappeared into the washroom.

Rinnie stretched again, taking up the entire bed for a moment, before getting up herself. She tied a sarong around herself and released her unruly red curls from her silken hair bonnet. Using the elastic around her wrist, she pulled said curls into a messy bun on top of her head. It took an extra second because some of the curls caught in the various small hoops she wore in her ears.

.

💥ENEMY

“We have to stay and help!” Rinnie shouted, finding her voice.

“We have to move!” Killian responded in kind. “There are other bombs about to go off. We have less time than I thought, and we still don’t know who we can actually trust.”

Rinnie’s heart wrenched. Aenehra was a goddess families worshipped. People had likely sought refuge in that Temple, hoping they’d be safer than taking their chances trying to get inside the Gates. She looked down at her hands, covered in blood, and looked back at the rubble. Emotions she had no name for roiled inside of her. She gave Killian a level look.

“I can’t tell you who to trust, but I can tell you who the enemy is.”

“How thin will you stretch yourself?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

.

🔫HOLD

“Right then,” Killian said, drawing his gun and aiming it at Elenore. “It looks like diplomacy can be put on hold.”

“Take one step closer or I’ll take the shield down,” Bernhard said, his hands hovering over some controls. “You know what that means for all of Berthingtonn!”

“Back away from the console or I will kill you both,” Killian said.

Bernhard didn’t move.

“I said back away from the console,” Killian continued.

.

🦴SLUMP

Killian pressed his fingertips against the shield, testing. Then he pulled back his arm and punched it. Bernhard couldn’t bring it down fast enough.

The impact of Killian’s blow sent the wizard reeling as if the punch had hit him physically.

“Why do mages always do this?” Killian asked, grabbing Bernhard by his lapels. “Bernhard, you should know better, so I don’t actually feel sorry for you.”

Bernhard looked like he went to call power to himself, but then slumped in Killian’s grasp.

“You’re nearly bone dry,” Rinnie said aloud, for everyone else’s benefit. “Good luck doing anything without a meal and a good night’s sleep first.”

.

💙INSIDE

“I’m sure it’ll be…” Ryan began.

“If you say ‘fine’ so help me,” Rinnie growled. “That’s how all the stories start.”

“You’ll do great,” Ryan finished instead. “I’m gonna seal you in.” He pointed to a set of levers. “The one with the red handle will cage the gun and line up the hatch. The blue one will open the hatch from the inside. Gods help you if you have to use the yellow and black one.”

“What’s that one do?”

“It jettisons the ball turret if, for some reason, the hatch doesn’t open.”

Rinnie’s heart sunk into her intestines.