#hmmm i think it's with the way she manages her energy

[noxtivagus]

time to rest c:

[proxycrit]

Part 1 / Part 2

Emmet remembers when he and Ingo first brought Elesa to explore Celestial Tower, back when they were fourteen and thought they were immortal.

“Allegedly, the bell chime will bring ghosts home”, ingo had told emmet with the pompous knowing energy of a child who read way too much brochures. “It’s culturally significant! We must ring it.”

“Hmmm,” emmet had responded suspiciously. “Brother. The bell is at the top of the tower.” The implication stands: Ingo, there are thirty flights of stairs between here and the top, and no elevator to speak of.

Don’t be a coward, Litwick had told Emmet with the blaise tone of somebody who’s going to be piggy backing off of somebody else. Go ring the bell. Tynamo, sensing a litten fight, floated towards a loitering blitzle.

Ingo turns his lilipup eyes on Elesa, who’s squinting at the carved stone faces of the front door.

“Elesa? What do you think?”

Elesa thinks. She shrugs. “We already made our way here,” she said in accented galarian. “Might as well make it the rest of the way. Ganbatte!”

Emmet sighs. “This is a mistake,” he tells the two in exhaustive patience, but lets himself be dragged into the building.

Last time the twins were here, Ingo caught litwick— but not before she managed to nab a good chunk of Emmet’s soul. It’s not terrible; he felt fatigued for a week and bounced back pretty quickly, but it was the principle of the whole situation— celestial tower’s a pain in the ass and Emmet will stand by that until the day he dies.

Like right now.

The map isn’t working. Emmet checked it once. He’s checked it twice. He’s taken out his pen and written on it, which he would usually never do but desperate times call for desperate measures. The compass he brought spins useless circles. It’s like chargestone cave up here, but worse because instead if electric pokemon it’s all ghosts.

“We’re lost, yyup yup!” He announced to the crew. “I vote we eat Ingo first.”

“I love you too,” Ingo told Emmet placidly. “But we all know between the two of us, you’re the tastier one.” Litwick gives Emmet a thumbs up. Emmet gasps in mock affront.

“Elesa, help!”

Elesa gives the two of them a wary look. It took two floors for her to realize this is not just a weird temple with strange rocks, but a full out graveyard. She’s not very happy about that development.

“Don’t drag me into this,” she tells them. “Teme wa urusaii.”

“I will take that as a compliment,” Ingo reports back.

Emmet, who’s cheerfully struggles with Galarian on a good day, simply gives her a thumbs up.

The three painstakingly crawl their way up. And up. If all else fails, Emmet told himself, at least they can orient themselves towards high ground.

“We’re like pidoves,” Ingo gasps. He has fallen behind them on the stairs, with Emmet taking the lead through sheer spite despite his legs going numb on floor twenty two. “We, hah, we are attracted by the magnet of the bell, like, like probopass-“

“I am emmet! You are not making, sense!” Emmet called back. Elesa, who’s stuck between them and looking two steps from perpetual collapse, giggles.

“No, no hear me out, Ingo wheezes. “What if the bell’s a magnetic pole? And that’s why your compass doesn’t wo, woo, hahh, work.”

Emmet stops to rest, just because Ingo is using precious breathing air to infodump. Elesa gratefully slumps against the railing. Tynamo and litwick, lazy in their still small size, have settled on a weary blitzle and look very smug doing so. (Emmet is not jealous, he tells himself. Emmet is also lying.)

“The bell’s important,” Ingo had repeated.

“Okay,” Elesa responds. “If it’s important to you, then it’s important to us.”

And Emmet finds that he agrees with Elesa. Partially because they crawled up twenty fucking three flights of stairs, but also because Ingo thinks this is important, so it is.

And here’s the thing—

— emmet doesn’t remember much after that.

The rest of that trip was a blur of exhausted groaning and burning legs, and by the time the trio managed to breach floor thirty, people’s brains have all but dribbled out their ears. Emmet remembers being disgustingly sweaty. He remembers blitzle almost tripping to death and litwick’s swearing. He remembers tynamo sticking to his neck like a damp towel. He remembers Ingo’s excited sneasel smile, and the way the sunset bounced off of Elesa’s hair.

He remembers the brassy ring of the Celestial bell. It sounded like victory.

But it was Elesa’s cackle turned scream as Ingo swiped cold hands down her neck that sounded like home.

—-

So when the conductor at thirty one, lost and disoriented in the Impossible Place, heard the sound of a familiar bell, ringing over and over and over-

-the sound of laughter-

-EMMET! Elesa cried-

-like a homing pidove, the conductor, thinks nonsensically as something in him perks up.

(Emmet had always liked winning, more than anything else, and the sound of victory calls him home.)

—

Elesa catches lightning in a bottle. Elesa, arms outstretched, finds purchase in her brother, and does not let go.

Emmet is so, so cold, Elesa thinks as the wind steals air from her lungs. (That’s okay. She’s already breathless from a terrible business called hope.)

Emmet stares back. His hands flap against Elesa’s jacket. Elesa desperately drinks in his wan face and too wide eyes and his frost bitten lips. In a tiny, meek voice, almost lost to the wind, he asks:

“Are you real?”

Elesa lets out an ugly sob. Her tears whip away in the wind as they fall. Emmet’s frightened countenance turns immediately to alarm. His shaky grasp becomes a solid grip as they spin through the air, cushioned by chandelure’s psychic.

“I think so??” Elesa warbles. She sees Emmet’s eyes dart to her mouth. He’s reading mirroring her, she realizes with giddy delight— it’s such an Emmet thing to do, to read lips, and-

“I am Emmet,” Emmet breathes. His eyes have started to water. “Yyou are Elesa- Oh dragons, Elesa!?“

Elesa reaches. Hesitates.

Emmet grabs elesa by the lapels and crushes her tight against him. Elesa holds on, and the grief and relief in her accumulates into a wet sopping mess. She’s ruining his jacket, she mourns, but its okay because he’s dripping all over hers.

She can’t hear what he’s saying into her shoulder, can’t read what he says, but everything’s okay because every part of her is chiming

You came back

You’re here

I’m not alone anymore.

Around them, the air distorts as Chandelure’s psychic wavers, flutters, and solidifies. Gravity reverses its call as they settle gently on the ground, dust billowing in all directions.

The ghost pokemon drops next to them, shaking so hard the musical clang of glass makes Elesa flinch.

You fucks, Chandelure gasps. DON’T GO LEAPING OFF BUILDINGS, I AM NOT YOUR EMERGENCY PARACHUTE.

“I’m sorry,” Elesa gasps, still giddy from the adrenaline.

AND YOU! Chandelure howls, whirling on Emmet, who’s still staring at the ghost with huge eyes. He’s gripping on to solid ground with the energy of a man who realized he could have been a splat on the ground.

YOU LEFT!

Emmet winces.

You- You left us, you left me-

Ah, ah no, Elesa thinks as golden globules of light shed from Chandelure. This is what a ghost looks like crying.

Emmet holds out his arms. Chandelure drifts into his embrace, and shakes, and shakes, and shakes.

You left me, the ghost pokemon whispers. How dare you. How could you.

“I didn’t mean to,” Emmet whispers. “I’m sorry.”

Stop doing this to me, Chandelure demands. Golden brine joins human tears, like drops of sun trapped in wet glass. Stop going where I can not follow.

And Emmet holds his tongue, because he knows he can not promise staying. Not while Ingo and Eelektross are still in Hisui.

(In the back of Emmet’s hurt and shattered mind is a spark. Synapses connect. The cold breach of the Distortion does nothing to drown out the sudden flare of hope in Emmet’s chest, so great he can not breathe, so strong he can not feel, because there’s a path. A difficult, painful path through the Space that Can Not Be, but a path all the same.)

“Elesa, Chandelure-“ Emmet’s voice breaks. He wants to tell them about Eelektross. He wants to tell them about the terrible past that is Hisui. He wants to explain how the last five months were filled with horror and wonder and fear and hope.

Hope, he thinks. So he says this:

“I know how to get Ingo home.”

NOTES:

AAAAAND THAT’S ALL FOR THIS DRABBLE. ITS OUT NOW. I CAN FINALLY GO BACK TO POSTING HAPPY SHENANIGANS! (Now you know the shape of their story.)

Thanks for reading this monster of a post!

[kaija-rayne-author]

Ugh I can’t not theorize. I’ve been at it non stop. Once a story catches my interest my brain just going into hyper speed trying to figure out how the writers (if they do a good job) will bring all of their themes, hints, etc to fruition. All I’m missing is a cork board, pins, and miles of red string.

What’s super exciting this time is I’m actually dealing with a property where the writers are….good? I’m so used to being disappointed when fan theories (often my own) turn out to be much better than the canon, but I don’t see that happening here. Weekes is clearly a masterful writer and knows how to build up to a satisfying twist.

Because you just know another twist is coming. Solas, despite everything, is just too soft hearted to make a convincing final boss. It couldn’t be more obvious that being The Dreadwolf and putting aside his own conscience takes every ounce of energy he has. Eventually he’ll have his breaking point and that’s when we’ll find out who our true villain is.

It’s Mythal. I’ll eat my damn hat if it isn’t. She’s either not the person Solas remembers, or maybe she never was. In either case, there’s been plenty of clues both in DAI and in subsequent materials (specifically Tevinter Knights) to imply that there’s something else going on here.

We keep seeing imagery of the Dreadwolf as a mutant abomination that is part wolf and part dragon. It’s easy to point to the end credit scene of DAI and say “well yeah he fused with Mythal who is a dragon” and sure it looked that way…but is that actually what happened?

We saw Flemeth part with some form of magical energy before Solas arrived. We also know that she’d taken the soul of Uthemiel from Kieran. Uthemiel happens to be a dragon, or was until he was tainted and became an Archdemon.

Archdemons can control Darkspawn. And taking a Darkspawn army past the Veil to enact vengeance upon the Evanuris sees like something Flemeth would do. But that doesn’t seem like something Solas would want. His agenda has always been to fix his past mistakes and tear down the Veil for the greater good. He doesn’t seem that fond of Darkspawn, in fact he was pretty pissed at the Wardens for screwing around with them.

Where I’m going with this, is I think it’s entirely possible Solas is being used. He may have unwittingly fused himself with an Archdemon, assuming it was the essence of Mythal. The real plan, now that plan A failed, might be turning him into an Archdemon so Flemeth/Mythal can use him to start another blight and wield the darkspawn. Corypheus managed to mind control an Archdemon, so clearly it can be done.

And if that’s the case, then ooooooh boy.

Poor Solas.

OMG. I missed this one and I'm so glad I finally found it!

What a fascinating idea. Holy shitballs.

Okay, so I just restarted DAO, I'll be on the lookout through these playthroughs (I'm doing DA2 next, then probably DAI again, because I'm an utter sucker for lore) for hints about all that!

I thought the whole point of the dark ritual w/Morrigan was to purify Urthemiel's 'soul' through being born as an innocent child. But what if that didn't work?

But then, wouldn't Kieran have shown signs of taint? Hmmm. Maybe not, given it's just the soul?

I'm still not convinced that Flemythal parted with any kind of energy in that scene. BUT if she did... well, she's pulled the whole 'soul piece recovery schtick' before. So if it was energy or a soul, it could've been hers. Leaving just Urthemiel. Which would very possibly warp Solas into a dragon/wolf thing. And Mythal is very used to Solas going along with what she wants. So it feels like something she wouldn't think twice about. She uses Morrigan too, and Kieran, so it’s definitely something she's used to doing.

I have a strong feeling Solas is indeed being used. And has been since he was 'born' from the fade. There's a lot of hints to his resignation, nay, even belief that it's right that Mythal used him. (This is... common, in abuse survivors, FWIW.)

But I believe it's canon that his forehead scar came from when he burnt off Mythal's Vallaslin? I have to see if I can find that again. I can't remember where I read it.

I think Mythal will be rather unpleasantly surprised in the spine Solas has developed since her 'murder'. He doesn't seem at all likely to me to be all 'hey! My enslaver is back! Let me just get my slave brands again'. Now, if he were still truly alone, he might just cave into it because man, does Solas have some pretty massive Mythal issues. Not sure if he regards her as his mom or something else or a mix of things, urk.

BUT he's not actually truly alone anymore is he? No matter how hard he tries to be. A Romanced Lavellan can tell him "Var lath vir suledin" which translates sorta, into "Our - love - way/path - endure/strength to withstand loss."

So he knows he's not alone. That inky will absolutely go to the mat for him. He has actual friends, too. He said Bull has him, if you don't betray Bull w/the Chargers. Solas doesn't strike me as someone to say that lightly.

So, he also knows he has friends, too.

I think, if Mythal actually is the big bad (kinda hoping for this tbh) she's gonna have a rather rude awakening when it comes to Solas. Who, from all I can tell, has always willingly served her whims. Because she was 'the best of them' doesn't mean she was actually good.

I talked about how he's heavily neurodivergent coded before, and we're generally loyal to a fault, which Solas very much shows.

But we do also often, eventually, reach a 'no more' point. After which, we'll absolutely close all those doors we'd previously left open.

If Solas acts the way I suspect he might, he'd then use everything he knows about Mythal and the Evanuris to help the game protag (I still wish I could just carry my inky over) defeat the buggers.

But what would it take for him to finally reach that point with Mythal? Mommy issues are soooo hard to deal with in therapy because it's so damned easy to backslide.

Hurting Inky? Doing something that will destroy the fade (like marching a darkspawn army into it)? Making him betray all of his followers who truly believe in him and his goals of freeing enslaved elves?

Solas deeply believes that slavery is wrong. In a way that makes me think he was actually enslaved at one point. Obviously to Mythal.

Oh, fuck me. What an amazing story they could tell about the whole 'but there were good slave owners' bullshit nonsense some people like to spout.

Of course, I still really wish Bioware would tell a story with a disabled protag. Which the end of Inquisition really would set up nicely. But given their shit disability rep, I know not to hold my breath over that.

[ikeromantic]

Optional

------

Sasuke, D is for Dear, 🥹

Mitsuhide, S is for Secret, 🫣

Ieyasu, A is for Appetite, 😉

Kenshin, B is for Beauty, 😘

------

For these please don't feel even a little bit like you need to do them, but if any catch your fancy and you just want to I won't complain! ❤️

I chose Ieyasu. I think he needed a little more love ^_^ I feel like this ended up being more 😘 than 😉, but here we go! Approx. 900 words.

Ieyasu felt an itch under his skin. Not literally. He would have preferred literal. An itch could be resolved. Scratched until satisfied. Treated with some medicine. Ignored, even. But this itch . . . tossed herself in his way every day. He could not find a place she did not haunt. And when she was not there in form, she was in his thoughts. 

Her presence was driving him mad. He could not focus on work. His only escape was in the rigor of sword practice. Which was why the pale morning sun found him in the practice yard, faced off against Masamune. 

“Again,” Ieyasu called, and lifted his sparring sword. 

“Hungry for another round, lad?” Masamune laughed and came at him once again. So far, the one-eyed dragon held four victories to Ieyasu’s three. He probably thought the young warlord was hoping to draw even. If he really knew the reason . . .

Masamune’s practice blade caught him in the thigh. Ieyasu threw himself out of the way. His own sword whistled through the air in a wild slash that the dragon easily avoided. 

“You getting tired?” Masamune’s grin was infuriating.

“No.” Ieyasu answered the challenge with a flurry of slashes, changing his stance in a whirlwind of motion. He was a good swordsman. Great, even. But so was Masamune. He only managed to drive the one-eyed dragon back, his edge catching nothing but air. 

“Huh.” Masamune circled, looking for an opening. He wasn’t one to waste energy on an ill-timed strike. “Not tired then. Distracted?”

Ieyasu ignored the question. He lunged forward, but his attack was parried. He danced back to a defensive posture. 

“Hmmm. But distracted by what?” Masamune’s grin widened. “If a man had to guess . . . I bet this distraction has big eyes and a sweet smile and hair that -”

“Shut up.” Ieyasu’s jaw clenched so tight it hurt. Was he so obvious? Or was the one-eyed dragon so intuitive? “I am not distracted.” He launched another attack and this time scored a glancing blow to Masamune’s side. 

He laughed off the hit, and used the moment to create his own opening. Masamune’s sword slammed into Ieyasu’s upper shoulder. A hit that in a real fight might have been lethal. “No? Maybe just hungry then.” 

“I ate.” Ieyasu ignored the sweat that trickled down his forehead and back. The throbbing pain in his shoulder and leg. He could feel the bruises there already swelling. 

Masamune’s blue eye glinted with a fierce playfulness. “Sure, but it’s about what. Sometimes a man gets hungry for just one, specific thing.”

Ieyasu darted forward, another slash and another parry. He was not going to dignify this ridiculous line of conversation with a response.

“Nothing else will satisfy.” Masamune grunted as he repelled another attack. He leapt and shifted. “That hunger eats at you.” He brought his sword around to almost land another blow to Ieyasu’s damaged shoulder. “Nibbling at your spirit.”

“Nothing is nibbling!” Ieyasu barely managed to avoid being hit again. He went on another full out attack, and for a moment there was no conversation. Only strained breath and the screech of dulled edges sliding off one another. 

Masamune took a hit to his arm, but ignored it. He lunged into the blow and used his momentum to knock Ieyasu off his feet. His sword came down fast, stopping just short of Ieyasu’s throat. The metal rested coolly against the blonde’s hot skin. “You can’t think until you sate it, lad.” 

They shared a look. Ieyasu felt a tangle of burning emotions well up in his chest. Annoyance, affection, desire, shame . . . all of it coming too fast and hard to swallow down. These were feelings they both understood, a brotherhood of trauma, stress, and loneliness.

Masamune let him up. 

Ieyasu stood and walked out. He barely noticed what he passed, where he was going. He wasn’t thinking, just moving. Letting his heart lead, in all its wildness and contradiction. His feet led him forward until he found himself there, standing in front of her. 

She sat there with a swath of fabric in her lap, a needle and thread in hand. Her smile lit up her eyes as she saw him, so bright and sweet and naive. 

He couldn’t take it anymore. Ieyasu held out his hand. 

The chatelaine set down her work and took it, one brow rising in an unspoken question. A question that remained unspoken as he pulled her close. Holding her so tightly that neither could properly draw breath. 

His mouth found hers, crushed her lips to his. She was so soft, so sweet. The taste on her lips of mint and tea and honey. The warmth of her tongue as she pushed past his barriers to return the kiss with the same passion that burned in him. Ieyasu thought, as he kissed her, that Masamune was so very wrong. 

The hunger in him was only growing as he tried to satisfy it. Holding her, kissing her . . . he wanted more. He wanted all of her. Not just the feel of her body but the joy in her heart. The love in her gaze. Every sigh, every glance. She’d broken him wide open. Torn down his walls and left him bare and desperate. 

When he finally drew back from the kiss, his lungs aching for air, he rasped three little words. ”I love you.”

[boyakishantriage]

"I will stab you. Fuck off."

The alien wisely fucked off. My first time ever on a ship and aliens already assuming that humans are all the same. An adage of crew, Christ is is gonna be a long two years.

"... The new humans are different."

"Eh? Oh. Yeah. Ellie's a bit. It takes a while before she's. Y'know. Plus she uh. Lost a few people recently so she's been a little."

"bit of a bitch."

"I was gonna say prickly, but that works too."

It took a week before it wore off. Dan and Sarah both managing to not freak out the rest of the crew when I say on top of the ship. Not wearing a space suit.

"WHY IS SHE UP THERE?"

"Oh. Right. Um."

"HOW DID SHE GET THERE??"

"See, the uh. Funny thing-"

"... Where's her space suit?"

A tall ass lanky mother fucker tapped my shoulder, small jelly fish glowing animals floating around me as he sat beside me.

"Y'know, I've seen a lot of things in my life."

"Hm?"

"But humans are the strangest thing-"

"Drop the pretentious shit."

"Pardon?"

"has anyone every told you you sound like an old man?"

"I- I do??"

"Seen a lot of things in my life. Sounds like my fucking old ass friends. How old are you?"

"489 earth years."

"You species. How old are ya?"

"24"

"Sorry, I didn't hear that."

"gargoborble"

"English."

"...24."

"24 and you talk with the same pretentious fuckery as a 120 year old who wants to fuck with the youth. I'm fucking 34 and I have less obviousness than you."

She flicked the keys to the ship between her hands. The jelly fish like animals floating away as they lost interest in her.

" Oh right. How are you-"

"Magic."

"magic?"

"Y'know what mana is?"

"..."

"Basic idea. Everything connected, even void. Matter. Energy. Whatever you call it's the thing that connects all shit is called mana. Magic is wielding that mana to do shit. Augment strength, harden skin, shields. Protection. Blah blah blah. Long story..."

She trailed off, looking over at the asteroid field as it passed.

"did you see that?"

"... What?"

"thought I saw a ship."

"Out here?"

"Hmmm. Yeah I'm gonna go inside."

She walked past the captain, walking along the steel as her feet glowed. Placing hand on the controller, it glowing with blue light before the door opened. Without the key into the ship.

"You coming?"

A crowd of aliens rushed forward, asking questions and increasing my headache. I grumbled, before pushing mana out. Same motion as moving your arms out to push people away, a circle formed around me as the captain walked in.

Ignoring the increased questions, as aliens stood in shock. I then lifted the crew up.

"Someone go check the monitors before I lose my patience. Saw something out there. I can explain how I'm doing this when we're not-"

The ship's gravity suddenly shifted, people falling backwards as I held my ground. Something clamped onto the back end of the ship, magnets of some sort near the botanical ball.

"EIGHTY-"

"Nine pirates. I know. DAN. SWORDS!"

He tossed me my swords.

"Ok. So captain. I can either go kill them all, or I can let you do whatever you think we should do."

Tall, lanky grey ish purple and with a purple supernova in his eyes, he thought carefully. Dan already had herded the crew back, Sarah no doubt already had stolen a gun and was hiding in ambush somewhere.

The man shrugged. Turning to the panicking crew. So not no. Not yes. And I had no idea what U was gonna fight so...

I charged down the hall, sword in hand as I slid my way down halls. Technically I had some idea, but the ship was kinda big. Like a container ship big, the lower deck had a lot of crates and shit, only way in is the hangar which is locked and stuff and you can't cut that open or something.

I soon bumped into my first group of pirates. Chicken men, scars lining body. Hmm. Kinda like that Ben ten race-

The human ducked under the flames, blade catching the heat as she swung the weapon forward. My brother caught the blade, before he was thrown into me.

Momentum, basic idea is I just swirl around and I can redirect inertia towards an object, using this, I can turn a kick into a swivel and a stumble into a toss.

Ice forced the two against the wall, unable to move their legs what heat they produced barely even melted the pair. Sword in hand, the woman. Raced down the hall.

"ATTACK!!" The buffalo like alien had time to turn, drop the captive as then get a sword stuck in his chest.

The human rose up, the big guy's back turning to face them as she threw the body over herself, sword embedded in his chest throwing the line of pirates into the shit as she drew a second blade.

Plasma blades were drawn, the insect like thing swinging the glaive quickly as he scraped the floor, long sword twirling, catching the sword, I kicked the insects leg out. Pulling a striking claw away, before slicing the insect with its own glaive stabbing it into the ground as it tried to regenerate or something.

The human began using the glaive with panicked ease, parry and slicing legs, U til.it was taken off her in which she headbutted the alien hard enough it staggered. Growling, claws grew from her hands. Her body glowing as she dropped to her fours and charged into the ship.

She drove the ship into the hanger, claw marks covering the pirates' crew, tied up in the smaller more mobile ship.

The crew stared at the woman, then the tied up crew.

"Getting the feeling, some of y'all have never seen a human special forces person before." She stated, pulling the sword out the quarsian's chest, flame cauterizing the wound.

[true-blue-sonic]

Hot take: I prefer Silver's chemistry with Amy than with Blaze. I think the idea with Blaze is that she's Silver's braincell, sort of like a Red Oni Blue Oni situation? But in '06, I liked how Silver and Amy meshed. Silver was deadset on his mission, but Amy managed to distract him with his enthusiasm. Amy is boundless energy, while Silver is focused energy. Silver was ready to kill for the good of mankind, but Amy made him reconsider with her unshaking faith to Sonic - surely, if she trusts him that much, he cannot be evil, right? Also I really love that scene of Silver marveling at the beauty of the desert, which I think fits with Amy's optimism.

I guess this is my way to say that I wish they interacted more and silver wasn't joined at blaze's hip lol

Strongly agree | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | Strongly disagree

That's an interesting take! ^-^ Here I must readily admit that I do really enjoy Silvaze and I like seeing Silver and Blaze interact, so though I understand why people feel they're paired up too much, I don't mind it myself. But especially the English dub of '06 appears to awkwardly show Silver as being heavily dependent on Blaze: in the Japanese version he doesn't seem to say "I wouldn't know what to do without you!" in his finale, for example. And Blaze doesn't call him "pretty insecure"; iirc she used a term that states he just brashly rushes into something without thinking, which fits WAY better with Silver's personality. When he ends up in the past for the first time, he's kinda awkwardly running around calling for Blaze... for two seconds, and then he's off on his mission first and foremost. Not much insecurity there XD So the concept that Silver needs Blaze or she is The Holder Of The Braincell (which, based on what I've heard about '06 complaints, isn't present much in the game anyway lol) isn't conveyed so strongly: at most, her encouragement that something must be done to save the future is what gets him out of his rut and back to action. I think that shows better what Silver needs Blaze for: the difficult decisions, things that clash with his black-and-white worldview, and to temper his brashness. Not so much because he cannot carry himself on his own and needs to be handheld, haha.

Here I find it interesting that Amy is almost like a foil to the situation between Silver and Blaze, in a way. Blaze firmly encourages Silver to keep going, but it is also clear that Silver is the one making the final decision to do so. Whatever Silver decides, Blaze follows. Contrary to that, Amy comes literally bursting in, yoinks Silver entirely off-balance both literally and figuratively, and then forces him into something he does not agree to while giving him zero room to protest. But indeed, I think Silver got inspired by the beauty of the world and perhaps also Amy's enthusiasm, and thus decided he wanted to help her too (because he's a sweetheart <3). I think that they go well together, but generally, I'd really liked to have seen more of them together. They don't team up for long: after Silver tries to kill Amy for the first time and they have their fallout, they just don't interact anymore. Plus, in the final story they don't talk to each other at all either. But what we did see is nicely as you described, indeed! Amy is The Heart of the group, so it makes sense that she could shake up Silver's resolve and show him there's more to this discussion that only the world. (Unrelated but I looooooove how that loops right back to Silver's finale, where he is now the one choosing Blaze over the world, just like Amy with Sonic. Hmmm it's so good I adore how Silver's story culminates in him learning also he has someone he finds more important than the world.) So overall, I like the chemistry between Silver and Blaze because I don't entirely see it as presented in the English version, but I'm intrigued by what Amy and Silver have going on as well. Their interactions are limited, but I like what we've been given! ^-^

[apyrisol]

🍒🦁🐛🌙🍅 + theu :3

YOPPEEE AN ASK THANK YOU SOSOSO MUCH

this is pretty long, so have a theu doodle before the cut :3

🍒 Out of all of the Dream Friends [Kirby included], which ones would they get along with the most? The least? 🍒

hmmm i have to think about this. theu is kinda quiet, she's not used to the modern era and all it's changes and new folk make them nervous. she might like bandee but his enthusiasm is a lot for her sometimes. i think they would understand eachothers mentalities; both serve someone else but not in a servant way, they're close with the one who gives them orders and appreciate all they've done for them therefore will do what they can in turn to repay them (with bandee being a guard for dedede and theu having been a personal assistant to an ancient mage). meta knight is another they might be somewhat comfortable around but they wouldn't quite be friends, they'd just take solace in eachothers quiet company when everyone else is off being loud and doing stuff. meta would probably be interested in the small bits of magic she knows if anything. (sorry for making a fave befriend my oc im not immune to it lmao)

🦁 If they were an animal — that is, of the Earth / Shiver Star / New World variety — which animal would they be? If they already are an animal, what real-life species or subspecies are they most similar to? 🦁

physically she resembles a monkey since they're a key dee n all, but she acts more like a nervous stray cat than anything ^^ somewhat skittish and tough to gain trust but will warm up to you in time and silently follow you around

🐛 What are your OC’s greatest fears, and why? How do they act or react when they’re afraid? 🐛

she's very afraid a lot of the time of a lot of things i think. nothing is as they remember, nobody they knew is still around, magic is rarer than ever, she's living on literal borrowed time, the one who woke them up is messing with forces he Really Should Not be (not his fault not his fault morpho shoulda been more careful or got there sooner before beau got in a brawl with a corrupted soul). there's a lot to fear in her current situation. she's always been quiet but since waking up in this new era it's more of an anxious quiet, she tends to cling to beau despite not quite agreeing with his quest (they do their best to steer him off the path he's decided on and eventually he does see reason! but he still wants to do Something about what happened to him). they're used to clinging to the mage they served but with them long gone there's nobody left she can truly find comfort in, so beau is the stand-in for that missing piece of her world. they're more flight than fight or freeze. i think what she's most afraid of is the thought that they'll never feel comfortable in the modern era and always feeling alienated and alone (that is if they manage to find a way to keep the magic keeping her alive going. she's also afraid of perishing for good i suppose but they've practically died before so it's something she's sortof come to terms with. still scary though)

🌙 Is your OC a particularly light or heavy sleeper? Somewhere in-between? Do they take naps? 🌙

she needs to rest a lot because her energy wavers quite a bit, but the sleep they get is usually pretty light. anxiety will do that to you. beau carries her when they need it, she wraps her tail around his intact horn and pulls their hat over their eyes. he's given her his cape as a blanket many times over their journey.

🍅 If Kirby absorbed them or their attacks, what Copy Ability [or Abilities] would he get? Alternatively, if they themselves are capable of using the Copy Ability, do they have a favourite? 🍅

ogh this is a hard one since key dees typically don't give you anything. mmmaybe ghost, sleep, or esp? ghost because they aren't really alive in a sense, she runs on the magic charm her dear mage gifted them (the thing on their tail) which saved their life back in ancient times and preserved them all that time between then and now. sleep because of what i stated in the last question, and esp because that's teleporting if i remember right and most of the magic they Do know is physical space and transition related (i call it "door" magic, still figuring out the finer details of it tho. alas she can't use it much because it's super super draining)

THANK U A TON FOR ASKING ME ABOUT MY ANIAMLLLL I LOVE TALKING ABOUT MY BEASTS YAHOO YOPPEE

[spacemagicandlaserswords]

Tech Lives Reason #2

Humans have survived long falls before.

I don't care how clutching at straws (toothpicks?) this is, there are numerous recorded examples from history of humans surviving long falls. @ilcuoreardendo-fic wrote the wonderful ficlet The Fall (don't worry it's a fix-it where Tech lives), which was one of the first pieces of fanfic that I could manage to read after the season 2 finale. In the notes they mention an example that I've since seen cited in other posts about this topic.

Alan Magee

He was an USAAF airman in World War II who survived a fall of 6,700m/22,000ft from his B-17 Flying Fortress after it was shot down.

That is a fall of 6.7 kilometers. He fell over 4 miles.

How did he survive?

He fell through the glass roof of the Saint-Nazaire railway station in France.

That's not to say that he wasn't injured. Magee suffered serious injuries including a broken right leg and ankle, almost severed right arm, 28 shrapnel wounds, punctured lung and kidney, severely damaged eye and nose, partially crushed lungs and other internal organs, along with injuries to his teeth, knee, leg and ankle.

But he survived. He lived.

Interestingly, Magee was treated by a doctor in the German military, who said to him "we are enemies, but I am first a doctor and I will do my best to save your arm." Parallels to Tech being captured and kept alive by Dr Hemlock? Hmmm?! Coincidence? I think not!

There are numerous other examples of humans surviving long falls as well.

Vesna Vulović, who holds the Guinness World Record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute, a distance of 10,160m/33,000ft. She was trapped in the fuselage of the DC-9 that she was a flight attendant on after it exploded mid-air in an attack in 1972. The fuselage, with Vulović inside, crashed at an angle and then slid down the snow-covered and heavily wooded mountainside near the village of Srbská Kamenice in the Czech Republic.

Ivan Chisov, a Soviet Air Force lieutenant in World War II who survived a fall of around 7,000m/23,000ft after he had to bail out of his plane that was attacked in 1942. He hit the edge of a snowy ravine and then tumbled down the rest of the way. Severely injured (spinal injuries and a broken pelvis) and was in a critical condition for a month after surgery but was back flying 3 months later.

Nicholas Alkemade, a Flight Sergeant in the RAF who survived a fall of 5,500m/18,000ft after leaping from his burning plane upon discovering that his parachute had been destroyed in the fire. He landed in a deep snow drift in a pine forest outside Berlin. Astoundingly, his only injury from the fall was a sprained knee. His other injuries (burns, cuts and shrapnel wounds) were from when his plane was attacked and was literally burning and crashing around him. Interestingly, both of his flying boots were missing when he landed, which may be because they were ripped off as he crashed into tree branches on the way down.

Christine McKenzie, a South African skydiver who survived a fall of 3,400m/11,000ft in 2004 after both her main and emergency parachute failed. Despite this, she survived with only a broken pelvis and bruising as she fell into power lines before hitting the ground. These were key to her survival as they appear to have absorbed a lot of the energy from her fall.

James Boole, another skydiver who survived a fall of 1,829m/6,000ft in the Kamchatka Peninsula in 2009 after only opening his parachute 20m from the ground. He left a 1 meter crater in the snow where he landed. Despite this, he survived, even with a lung full of blood, internal bleeding and a broken back and rib.

Juliane Koepcke, who survived a fall of 3,200m/10,000ft in 1971 after the plane she was flying in disintegrated mid-air after being struck by lightning. She survived and managed to walk away from the crash with a broken collarbone, deep cut in her right arm and cuts on her legs, along with an injured eye, ruptured knee ligament and concussion. After all of this, she then managed to survive for 11 days alone in the Peruvian rainforest before finding people to help her. She has a number of ideas as to why she survived, including that the bench seat she was strapped to slowed her fall and that it also helped to cushion her fall when it struck the trees in the dense rain forest on her way down.

So there is precedence and there is hope. Tech can survive that fall. The chances of him surviving are admittedly not great. Very slim in fact. Though I'm sure Tech has already calculated the odds of survival and also knows exactly what he needs to do in order to give himself the best chance of surviving. This is Tech we're talking about. The man's a genius.

Tech has his vast brainpower to his advantage but he's going to need a lot of other things to go right for him. Fortunately, the survival examples I listed, and others that I've read, all have a consistent theme.

Every person had their fall broken by something.

The common one seems to be snow and tree branches from a tree dense environment, such as forests or jungles.

Now, the Batch were on Eriadu to try and sneak into Empire Con (thank you to for @feltpool who came up with this, it continues to amuse me far too much).

And what does Wookieepedia list as the primary terrain on Eriadu?

Mountains and jungles.

So we're at least in an environment where tree branches and densely populated trees could break Tech's fall. One of the examples I listed above even survived their fall in a jungle.

However, due to the clouds, we aren't able to see what sort of environment is beneath Tech when he falls. From a narrative and storytelling perspective, that is definitely deliberate. There isn't even any mention of what sort of environment is below the rail car line in any of the dialogue either. I think Omega refers to it as 'down there' or 'that' at one point but there's no way I'm going through the emotional destruction of watching that finale again so I'm just going to have to go with my memory for now. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, you brave souls that can rewatch something like that. Basically, we get very little to almost no information on what the terrain is below the rail car line, but we do see what the environment is like near by.

After landing on Eriadu, the Batch creep through what appears to be a wooded forest-like environment, complete with trees that look suspiciously like pine trees. Take a look at this gif from @barissoffee (who continues to do just amazing work with their gifsets).

Gif from this gifset by @barissoffee

Look at the branches and leaves in the background. That's a pine tree. You can see the trunk of a big pine tree behind Tech and Echo in this gif and there are two pine trees fairly close to each other behind Wrecker and Omega in this gif. Add in the dappled sunlight breaking through the shade and what looks like moss covering the rocks on the ground in this hilarious gif (poor Wrecker) and they are definitely in a pine tree forest.

So we have an entirely probable likelihood of the terrain on Eriadu, and thus the terrain below the rail car, being an environment that is suited to breaking a fall. All we need now is some snow. However, I don't think that's going to be the case. We don't see any snow on the top of the mountain where Tarkin's compound is, which appears to be the highest peak. From a narrative perspective, I don't think snow is likely to appear either. Crosshair's episode 'The Outpost' was still fairly recent and that was a completely snow covered shitstorm of emotional devastation for everyone involved. (Someone please just give Crosshair a hug. @crosshairs-wife are you able to come and get your man and wrap him up in a blankie?)

So Eriadu probably doesn't have snow but it does have mountains, which may aid in breaking and slowing down Tech's fall and reducing the distance he has to fall as well. The clouds cover the (likely) pine tree forest below the rail car line and given that Eriadu is mountainous, it is entirely possible that there are smaller mountains below the clouds. Rather than falling straight from the rail car to ground level, Tech may hit the side of a smaller mountain below the cloud line and then continue to tumble down the side of said mountain before eventually coming to a stop. @heyclickadee made an excellent post about this, which even includes diagrams!

Image from this post by @heyclickadee

This lines up with what some people have been able to get from screenshots and gifs. Here's a screenshot from @ellie-the-oracle that shows Wrecker's perspective looking down from the rail car.

Image from this post by @ellie-the-oracle

This is the clearest shot I've seen of the terrain below the rail car line. It's still partially obscured by the clouds but what we can see looks an awful lot like the steep side of a mountain peak surrounded by forest.

The next two examples include gifs from Tech's death scene so consider yourself warned and feel free to skip ahead if it's too much. The first gif does include Tech Thighs and Crotch, if that would help ease your pain.

This gif from @dreamswithghosts shows what looks like the lower peaks of a mountain range behind Tech as he's up on the top of the rail car line in the clouds.

Gif from this gifset by @dreamswithghosts

It also gives us a medium shot of Tech Thighs and Crotch walking straight at the camera. Feel free to walk straight towards me with those anytime sir.

And in a completely record scratching change of tone, this gif from @barissoffee of Tech dangling below the rail car (*sobs*) shows what looks like the side of a mountain peak in the background, just above the blaster in his holster on his left thigh.

Gif from this heartbreaking gifset by @barissoffee

In fact, one might say that is looks intriguingly similar to the steep side of a mountain peak we saw in the first screenshot.

Basically, there's mountains and a pine tree forest below the rail car line. I think I've made my point. Tech is falling into terrain that is advantageous to breaking his fall and helping him survive. If he was falling straight to sea-level with nothing in-between then he'd be toast.

Which reminds me of a quote from a trauma surgeon I found while researching whatever this giant ramble has turned into. Dr Izenberg states that "Anything above 10 or 12 stories and you've reached terminal velocity. So a fall from 20,000 feet sounds dramatic, but there's really no difference from a 500-foot fall." So it really doesn't matter how far Tech is falling, once he's reached terminal velocity then he can't fall any faster. I think this contradicts one of my earlier points but who said this was going to be in any way coherent. It's also important to remember that terminal velocity is not the point at which falling speed becomes deadly. It is the maximum speed an object can obtain when falling through a fluid, usually air. So basically, the fastest speed that humans can fall, which is about 200km/h (120mph) in a stable, belly to earth position.

Dr Izenberg also gives us another other small crumb of comfort. Regarding the skydiver Christine McKenzie, who crashed into power lines that broke her fall, Izenberg states that "By the time she hit the ground she had already used up and transferred the energy when she hit the power lines". This emphasizes again the importance of having something, or even multiple somethings, break Tech's fall. What a good thing that there's mountain slopes for him to tumble down and the branches of pine trees for him crash through. I going to turn into a pine tree after this with the amount of times I've typed those words. Pine trees pine trees pine trees.

There's one final point about the quote "It's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop." from Douglas Adams. Izenberg emphasizes "that's really true, whether you're talking about a fall or an automobile accident. You have a rapid deceleration, a sudden transfer of energy."

TL;DR Tech needs to break his fall and slow his descent to survive and the mountain slopes and pine tree forest below the rail car line are very well suited to doing just that.

It's probably worth mentioning at this point that water isn't the best surface to fall onto. While it sounds like a good idea, there are a number of problems with falling into water. Firstly, liquid doesn't compress, which means that hitting water is basically like smacking straight into the pavement. The other problems are that hitting water tends to knock people unconscious and as you can't swim when you've passed out, you're then more likely to drown. As counter intuitive as it sounds, Tech will actually want to avoid falling into a river or lake, but I'm sure he already knew that.

So what does this all mean for Tech. Can he survive that fall? Yes. Are the odds of him surviving that sort of fall good? Not particularly but it has been done in the past. Is Tech going to be ok after the fall. Probably not. In all likelihood, he will be very badly injured. This is going to pose more problems for what happens to Tech after his fall but that point is for another post.

Is Tech still alive? Yes.

I am still firmly in camp Tech Lives and for a whole multitude of reasons but the rest of those are going to have to wait for subsequent posts because I've already rambled on for far too long and this post has turned into an unwieldy monster. Well done to you if you made it through this entire thing. Go reward yourself with some excellent fix-it Tech Lives fanfic. There's even a tag.

I'll be interested to see if they actually show how Tech survives the fall or if we get any kind of explanation, maybe Hemlock monologuing or Emerie briefly mentioning it when she's alone with Crosshair. Or will it's just be sort of alluded to or implied that Tech survived somehow and then hand waved off and narrative focus brought back to the current problem of Tech's injuries and his situation (probably captured by Hemlock) and we all focus on that and forget to question how he actually survived the fall.

But for now, take comfort in the fact that Tech can survive that fall and for a multitude of reasons, I still firmly believe that Tech is alive.

[spurgie-cousin]

update on quitting my soul-draining job (it's been like, a week i think since i told my boss i was finishing my last projects and quitting):

my manager actually didn't try to manipulate me into staying which was very unlike her and a pleasant surprise, bc all she talks about usually is how the entire dept is understaffed (and i've mentioned quitting before which she talked me out of). maybe she's planning on quitting too?

god the ✨RELIEF✨!!!!!!!!!! i've been conditioned to feel waves of panic at certain times of the day for so long lmao and now when they come i can just breathe and be like 😊doesn't matter anymore! insurance executives pressuring me? go at my pace or eat a dick! clients pissed off about something insignificant? wow sounds stressful good thing i won't have anything to do with you or this place in 2 weeks! department needs someone to pick up training or extra work? hmmm maybe there'd be more help around if you had a better environment with support for contractors sounds like a you problem. i feel zen af

i've actually had time in the afternoon to plan my garden this year and it's already so much better than a few hastily planted peppers and tomatoes. can't wait to do more with that.

i've had the time and mental energy to START A BOOK for FUN for the first time in like, a year.

nightly panic sessions about being bad at my job and how i'm not productive enough and therefore am a bad person who doesn't deserve anything good are waning and i think will eventually disappear.

i found a local CBT therapist in my actual town (a complete mind fuck as i've been looking for months and my area is a mental health wasteland) that i'll be starting in the near future! very excited to have that support in addition to the time and mental energy to work on my goals as far as ADHD/somatic depresh goes

i've also had the mental energy to pick up other forgotten hobbies and projects that i found fun, including Cult Book Club, which has been making me really happy. i'm almost done re-filming Jill Rod's book and i'm on a library waiting list for Jinger's book and I borrowed a copy of my aunt's cult leader's book from my mom and have been making outlines. i've decided to move everything over to tiktok though, which i think is just a more conducive platform for me while i work on focus and attention. youtube felt like way more of a time-consuming production and TT has just been coming more naturally to me, but i'll post more about that later on here and youtube when i have it all together (i have saved the cultbookclub handle on TT though).

all in all i'm feeling a lot more happy and hopeful and excited to focus on myself for a bit. if you need a sign to quit a job that is making your life miserable, this is it!!!

[kaizoku-musume]

Devotion

Entry #8 in @xxsycamore’s Visions of Temptation kinktober event. Link to the fic on AO3.

Fandom: Olympia Soiree

Pairing: Yosuga x Byakuya

Word count: 1.7k

Prompts: Facesitting | Deep-throating

Byakuya and Yosuga were in the middle of a heavy makeout session on their bed when Yosuga made the offer. She was settled firmly in his lap, held close but trying to squirm even closer. Her tongue was shoved deep in his mouth, gliding against his own, excitedly exploring the wet cavern as thoroughly as she was able.

Yosuga managed to break away with a gasp, panting for breath after his wife’s onslaught. Not nearly done with him, Byakuya mouthed at his jaw, lips and tongue working on thin, sensitive skin. “Ah, love, a moment, please,” Yosuga said reluctantly, his hips hitching at her ministrations. “I have an idea I think you will like."

“Hmmm?” Byakuya hummed, pulling away with a distinct amount of unwillingness, if her pout was anything to go by. Her hands plucked at the hem of his shirt, like she was ready to tear it off him at any moment. Yosuga figured he had three seconds before she slipped her hands under his top.

“You’ve expressed how much you love my mouth, correct?” Yosuga held her hands in his, bringing them up to kiss her knuckles.

Her eyes focused back on his lips at the mention of them, her hands twitching in Yosuga’s grip as though to attempt to reach out and trace the shape of them. Perhaps letting her get this worked up was not a good plan. “I adore your mouth,,” Byakuya confirmed.

Yosuga sensually trailed a hand down her chest and stomach until he cupped her core, feeling the heat of her through her clothes. “And you like when I make good use of my mouth, yes?”

Byakuya giggled, half shyly, half playful. “I dooo,” she sing-songed, growing confident in where she believed this was going.

“I’m very aware of how much you appreciate my talents,” Yosuga leaned in to kiss her nose, “which is why I know you will love this. I was thinking of having you take the reins, so to speak.” At Byakuya’s questioning look, he said, “It will be easier to show you.”

Yosuga tugged on her ribbon, unlacing it with deft movements. Quickly getting with the program, Byakuya started undressing Yosuga at the same time. It was a bit of a struggle, but they had fun with it: kissing at every new bit of skin that was exposed, pretending to topple into each other just to sneak in a brief grope.

When they were fully naked and worked through most of their playful energy, Yosuga pulled Byakuya back into his lap in order to execute his plan. He slowly leaned back, guiding Byakuya to shuffle forward on her knees, passing over his torso as he gradually lowered himself to the bed. Once he was lying flat on the sheets, he encouragingly nudged Byakuya to move up even further until her knees were settled right above her shoulders, her butt resting on his upper chest.

Byakuya’s eyes widened once she realized Yosuga’s goal. “Is this really okay? What if I’m too heavy and smother you?” she worriedly nibbled on her lip, slightly ashamed at how the sight of Yosuga’s mouth so close to her pussy and in such a position was so enticing to her. She wasn’t sure exactly how this was supposed to work, but she had a rough idea, and imagining it-oh, she dearly hoped Yosuga couldn’t notice her getting wet.

“I wouldn’t be able to think of a better way to go, if that were the case,” Yosuga joked. At Byakuya’s reproachful look, he reassured, “It will be fine. There is no real worry if you accidentally press down too hard for a moment or two, Byakuya; that would not be enough to cause me any harm. And if for some reason I do have trouble breathing, I will tap your thigh twice.” As an added measure, he cupped her cheek and purred, “I trust you, and I would love to be able to do this for you.”

That successfully won her over, and she hesitantly scooted forward the last tiny bit until she was hovering over his face. With Yosuga’s hands settled on her thighs like guiding posts, she lowered herself until she was mere centimeters above his mouth. “Okay, I am counting on you to let me know if you need air or space or anything else,” she said.

“I will,” Yosuga replied, and licked at Byakuya’s folds before she could go on another spiel. He lapped at her labia, tongue sliding across her slit before circling her clit. Byakuya closed her eyes and ran her fingers through his hair as she hummed in pleasure, her earlier reluctance melting away in light of Yosuga’s confidence and the ease with which he wound her up.

Yosuga traded his attention between Byakuya’s cunt and clit, collecting the slick slowly dripping out of her to apply it to her clit when he went to draw the flat of his tongue across the hooded bud. He lifted his head in order to better mouth at her entrance, lips closing around her hole and sucking, tonguing at the rim of her, teasing at pushing it in. Byakuya moaned, hips rocking forward and back, still trying to be careful not to drop too much weight on her husband. Her resolve wavered when he did the exact same thing to her clit.

“Oh, that’s good,” she sighed, hands tangling in silken strands of purple. Her own hair was changing, a lavender tint to the ends that was rapidly spreading and darkening to a deeper purple. She continued to pet Yosuga as he worked her over, lips and tongue and even teeth employed to steadily draw her to an orgasm.

Byakuya tipped her head back toward the ceiling as Yosuga managed to wriggle a single finger inside her, squeezed into the tiny amount of space between them. He latched onto her clit as he slid his index finger as far as he could inside her, pumping in and out at a steady pace that matched the suction he applied to her clit. “Ohhhh, yessss,” Byakuya hissed, gripping Yosuga’s head as she rocked into him. 

“I’m-I’m already close,” Byakuya warned, clutching at him for support. Yosuga picked up his efforts, his finger thrusting into her like his cock would, tongue furiously rubbing across her clit. Her cries grew higher in pitch the closer she got to the precipice until she fell over the edge, just barely managing not to collapse on top of Yosuga, keeping herself lifted on her knees while her upper torso bent over.

Yosuga gentled her through it, finger slipping out of her once she stopped shaking, smoothing his hands up and down her thighs. “Beautiful,” he murmured, voice muffled against her folds, sending a fresh wave of shudders through Byakuya. “Do you think you could give me another?” he licked at the slick leaking out of her.

“I’m not sure if I can hold myself up a second time,” Byakuya hedged. She already felt like sinking down, and wasn’t sure she’d be able to resist keeping herself high enough from his mouth, not when he was so good with it.

“I have faith in you,” Yosuga insisted, “And remember, I still have a way of letting you know if it is too much. And if worst comes to worst, you are light enough for me to lift up.”

That . . . was true. Byakuya certainly wouldn’t be offended if Yosuga went so far as to push her off him if he absolutely had to. And, well, it had been fun, as his ideas always were. “Okay, let’s do it,” she  nodded.

Yosuga beamed at her, something she could tell by the way his eyes scrunched up with the force of his smile and the way his lips moved against her labia. He wasted no time in using his grip on her thighs to tug her down even further so he wasn’t straining his neck as much to lean into her. He traced her folds with his tongue before dipping it in her cunt, her walls clenching around him. He let his nose nudge against her clit, just enough sensation to not irritate the sensitive nub as he ate her out.

“Mmmm!” Byakuya crooned sharply, unprepared for how quickly Yosuga would get things started. She kept her eyes open this time, staring down at him and his intense gaze back up at her, watching her with appreciation and amusement. Well, if that was how he wanted to play it, then Byakuya was going to give him a show. She let her hands skim up from her thighs to her torso, her chest, her neck, leaning enticingly into her own touch, highlighting the curves of her body.

Yosuga’s eyes widened in surprise, focused on Byakuya’s exploration of her own body. Emboldened by her husband’s response, Byakuya brought one hand to her breast, tweaking and plucking at her nipple while her other hand drew sensual patterns up and down the pale skin of her stomach and hips. Yosuga moaned, the vibration of the sound against her pussy causing Byakuya to bring her own hand to her clit to rub herself.

There was no attempt to draw anything out after that. Yosuga fucked Byakuya with her tongue like he was aiming to win a prize, dragging it against her walls and thrusting it in as far as it could go. Byakuya rode his tongue with little care for the fact that she was essentially sitting on his face. Yosuga simply pulled her even closer, burying himself in her pussy, her thighs splayed out on either side of his head clamped tight around his skull. He could barely hear the sounds Byakuya made as they strove to make her come, but he could feel the way her walls fluttered around him, the way her hips rocked desperately in chase of that peak.

Yosuga knew Byakuya was coming by the way she squeezed tight around him, hips stilling, a rush of fluid meeting his tongue. He would have drawn it out, happy to lap her up, but amidst her shivering aftershocks, Byakuya managed to lift herself up enough to sit back on his chest so as not to smother him. Mildly disappointed but smart enough not to push his luck, Yosuga reached out and held her hand in his as she came down from her high. “That was good, right?” he asked despite knowing the answer.

Byakuya gazed down at him, at her slick coating his lips and chin, purple hair stark against the white sheets. “It was a very good idea,” she agreed, already thinking about the next time they could do this.

[milkywaygg]

Confidential Affairs (Chapter 3)

Interpretations of the Cosmas belong to @eripops. Enjoy!

Month One

For once in god know how long, Euphemia finally managed to get a day off from work. Despite not being well-taught at house keeping chores given that her mother felt that it was the woman’s job to provide for the family, she spent all morning in front of the stove, scrambling eggs and cooking toast for her fiancé, pouring some orange juice into a cup before setting it all down of a tray. With a red rose lying down across the plate, she took the tray and carried it to the room she shared with him, setting it down gently as Jules rubbed his eyes and put his reading glasses on.

“Breakfast? Aw sweetie…thank you.”, Jules said warmly, kissing her on the cheek, “But I’m not very far along. I can still get up..”

“No no, you just relax.”, Euphemia said, massaging his shoulders as he picked up his fork and knife, “You’re going to need a much energy as possible.”

“Oh my…”, Jules said softly, tears  falling down his cheeks. Euphemia took this as an opportunity to sit up next to him in bed, wiping the tears drops off his cheeks, “Can you believe it? A baby!”

Euphemia said nothing, but smiled lovingly at her fiancé as she pressed her hand against his stomach, rubbing it gently as her fingers went over the small bump that formed. For a moment, all her troubles from the previous night went away as she imagined what the little one would look like. Would he or she have her eyes and Jules’ hair? Hopefully not his poor vision. She really didn’t want to be spending money on prescription glasses anytime soon.

“Oh golly, how did I get so lucky to end up with someone like you, sugar plum? You’ve made me the happiest man in the galaxy”, Jules purred, sneaking a quick kiss on the lips before turning back to his breakfast, “You know, I couldn’t help but do some thinking last night while I was waiting for you to come home.”

“Hmmm? What’s that darling?”

“What did you have in mind for the wedding? You know, it would be the bees knees if we could be married before our baby got here.”, Jules said softly, rubbing his tummy lovingly as he rested his head on Euphemia’s hand, “I know your parents aren’t exactly superstar fans of me, but do you reckon they’d help chip in? You know, if we told them their first grandchild was on the way..”

As soon as he reminded her of her parents, Euphemia stopped massaging Jules, her nervousness coming back. She knew all of this was something that he needed to know, but every time she looked at his face, she couldn’t help but want to give him the world. While they were dating, Jules had told him all about his home life and all the time something as simple as a TV Dinner was considered fancy dining to him and his family. However, given how she had spoken to her mother last night, and how enraged she was to see Jules’ engagement ring, she’d have a better shot riding a volcano than asking her parents to pay for the wedding.

“Darling?”, Jule’s voice asked her again, “Are you alright? What’s the matter?”

“Err…nothing dear. It’s just-“, Euphemia paused, unsure of what to say, “Let’s just say they’re not exactly thrilled with me right now.”

“Oh…that’s right.”, Jules said softly, his saddened voice tugging at Euphemia’s heart, “Do…do you still want to marry me? I mean..I guess we don’t have to if you don’t want”

“Are you insane? Of course I want to marry you!”, Euphemia snapped, making Jules jump back slightly. Seeing his surprised reaction, Euphemia took a breath, “I mean, yes. I still want to marry you. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”

“But what about your parents?”

“Let me worry about them. You just worry about our baby.”, Euphemia commanded, getting up from her spot, “I don’t want you straining yourself now, and I expect you to start taking it easy from now on, even if it means taking time off from your job.”

“Well baby doll..”, Jules asked nervously, twiddling his fingers a bit, “Are you going to be taking time off too? I mean, I don’t want to worry about this baby all by myself.”

“I’ll do what I got to do…you just rest.”

“Well Mr Cosma, everything seems to be going smoothly. Looks like you’re about 2 weeks in now and seems to be developing at quite a nice pace.”, Rubella, Jules’ gynecologist, commented, smiling warmly at the green-haired male, “That would explain the incident with the roses earlier.”

“What? How come?”

“You didn’t pay very close attention in Sex Ed, did you?”, she smirked, receiving a head shake, “Well, as most fairies know, when a male fairy gets pregnant, their bodies develop a 6th core towards where the umbilical cord generally is. Therefore, instead of focusing so much on your ability to produce magic and conjure spells, your body is transferring some of that energy over to focus on the well-being of your baby.”

“Wha wha what?”

“Your body needs your magic to take care of the baby.”, Rubella said in simpler terms, earning a smile from Jules as he finally understood what was said, “It’s kinda like food. You eat more because you need to feed yourself and your baby, right? Magic is kinda like that.”

“Ooohh gotcha. So…wait….does that mean the baby is stealing my magic?”, Jules asked, “Am I not gonna be able to produce magic anymore?”

“Not really stealing….more like borrowing. You’re going to be magically vulnerable for a good while; I’d say at least until a year after you have the baby. You need to be extremely cautious.”

“Cau-what?”

“Careful, Mr. Cosma. Around the next 4 months of so, you shouldn’t be able to produce magic at all and at that time, you’ll lose your immortality as well.”, Rubella explained, earning yet another blank look from her patient. “Honestly, I don’t think you read enough as a kid.”

“I-I’m sorry Doc. I’m just kinda nervous.”, Jules said, crossing her legs, “I’ve never done this before and it’s making me and Euphemia nervous.”

“Euphemia?”

“My fiancé. We’re getting married soon. I love her so so so much, but…”, Jules’s tone turned rather worried, “She’s been acting really weird lately. I asked her what we were going to do about the wedding, and she pretty much just brushed me off and said not to worry about it. I mean, I asked her if she still wanted to marry me and she said yes, but I’m not so sure if she’s telling the truth.”

“Well, maybe she’s stressed out. I mean, from what you tell me, a wedding AND a new baby? That’s got to be a lot of pressure.”

“Yeah…and she’s been working lots. She’s always coming home super duper late and…I dunno. I don’t want her to be stressed. Maybe…I should do something for her”, Jules mumbled, getting up from the patient’s seat, “Thanks for checking me out. I’m glad you had time to see me today.”

“I’ll see you again in a couple of weeks, like we discussed.”, Rubella smiled as Jules left to talk briefly with the receptionist before leaving, his thoughts spiraling from his new baby to the upcoming wedding and how stressed Euphemia had been lately.

The way she acted just didn’t sit right with him. He has to take it easy while she goes out and does all the hard work? He’s not even a month in and she’s already putting him to bed rest. Jules knew that she meant well and wanted to take care of him, but he didn’t feel that she needed to babysit him or slave away just for him. It wasn’t right…

His head began to pound and his stomach churned as he continued to float down the street, fighting the urge to not puke all over the street as he made it to his house, hoping that Euphemia hadn’t been whisked away to work on her day off, like she had for the past few weeks.

“Jules! There you are.”, Euphemia said, kissing him on the cheek, “How did the doctor go? What took you so long getting home?”

“I…uh…”

“Ugh! You know what, sit down.”, she instructed, placing her hands firmly but gently on Jules’ shoulders and forcing him to sit down on the couch, “Did you walk home?”

��Well yea..I mean how else could I?”

“You should have called me. I would have picked you up.”

“And carry me home? Dear, you’re crazy.”

“No. I meant I would have teleported you home. You don’t need to be stressing yourself out like this.”

“Darling I’m fine.”, Jules said, frowning with concern as he looked at Euphemia body language. Her shoulders were square and tense, and her eyes looked intensely into his. In an attempt to calm her down, Jules took her hand into his and rubbed small circle in the middle of her palm, “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

“I-I know…it’s just…”

“Euphemia…talk to me. Please?”

“I…I don’t know. I guess it’s just my parents from last night…I wish they weren’t so awful to you.”

“It doesn’t bother me, darling. I’m used to it.”, Jules shrugged, before frowning again, “But you didn’t seem to want to talk about the wedding. A-are you sure you still want to marry me, or are you still mad over the party?”

Ah yes, the party. Euphemia couldn’t say she wasn’t embarrassed by his squirrely performance, but given how she knew nothing was good enough for her parents, she didn’t hold a lot of resentment towards him. Yet, there had been some hope that if he acted classy enough, that they’d disregard his background and accept him as part of the family  Only know did she realize that wishful thinking was often unrealistic.

“No..I’m not mad, and I told you earlier. Of course, I want to marry you. Just…I really need you to take care of yourself for me, ok? For me? For our baby? I love you and can’t imagine my life without you.”

“Oh darling, I love you too. It’s just…you know I am capable to taking care of myself, right?”

“I know that”, Euphemia snorted, “But it’s my job to take care of you. My job to provide for you.”

“And you do a stellar job, but I’m not a child. I’m your fiancé, and I want to be treated as such.”, Jules said, making his tone slightly firm but still soft.

“I know but I don’t want you to worry about me so much. I’m fine you know.”

“Then how come you look so stressed every evening after work?”

“You know how work is. Just a lot of projects and assignments to work on.”, Euphemia excused herself.

“And the night you came back as a frog?”, Jules asked, crossing his arms, “You want to explain that?”

“Mother’s wand malfunctioned.”

“Uh huh…”

“Sweetheart,” Euphemia got up and kneeling down, taking his hand into hers, “I promise I’m going to be ok. Just let me work everything out while you manage everything with the baby ok?”, she asked, kissing his hand softly.

“Ohhh, you know how much I love it when you do that.”, Jules blushed, “But you promise to tell me if something going on.” “Swear by it.”

[brown-little-robin]

OC asks:

Merx: 🐺 - How does this oc deal with solitude? AND 🌈 - Do you associate any colors with them?

Hestia: 🔅 - How does this oc deal with physical pain? AND 💭 - How is their mental health? Do they struggle with guilt or shame?

Rhea: ❗- What are the highest priorities to this oc (at a point in their life of your choosing)?

Malware: 🌕 - If this oc was an animal, what kind would they be?

Eve: 💛 - Are they ‘good with children’, or more awkward?

Shiva: 🐸 - What’s this oc’s sense of humor like? AND 🐰 - How huggable is this oc?

Grief: 🌨️ - If this oc had a day free from all their responsibilities, how would they spend it? AND 📓 - Do you associate any quotes or lyrics with this oc?

hiiii thanks!! good questions!

Merx: 🐺 - How does this oc deal with solitude? AND 🌈 - Do you associate any colors with them?

Solitude? In the short term, fairly well. As long as there's a set time when he can look forward to being with Hestia, he's okay. He needs time alone to recharge anyway. Dealing well with alone time is a requirement for becoming a spaceship! AND 🌈 I associate red-and-black with Merx, specifically because that's the color combination which on koi fish symbolizes feminine AND masculine qualities. Also I associate him with dark blue, but that's about his spaceship body.

Hestia: 🔅 - How does this oc deal with physical pain? AND 💭 - How is their mental health? Do they struggle with guilt or shame?

🔅 Hestia doesn't like physical pain. It sucks. She holds it together when she's doing anything public or she's in front of strangers, but once she's in private she pampers herself about it. Hestia rarely whines or complains, but Merx (and her bodyguards and friends) can tell when she's in pain because she starts, like, carrying around heat packs and taking long baths and drinking specialty tea and taking medication EXACTLY as often as recommended. AND 💭 Hestia's mental health is pretty good overall. Taking care of Merx does take its toll on her—his depressive episodes can be difficult. But she's got a lot of resilience! And she doesn't really have any issues with guilt or shame. She has done nothing wrong in her life <3 (this is not true, she just chooses not to dwell on her failings <3)

Rhea: ❗- What are the highest priorities to this oc (at a point in their life of your choosing)?

Empress Rhea's highest priority, in her old age, is to think of herself as a good person. Her first priority is to provide for her friends and family, and secondarily she cares for managing the empire in a way that keeps it running without breakdowns. She believes that goodness can only be achieved at an individual level, so she spends a lot of energy trying to be a good person rather than a good empress.

Malware: 🌕 - If this oc was an animal, what kind would they be?

Hmmm, maybe a weasel!! Too smart for its own good, random quick movements all the time, thievery, competitiveness, and an affectionate but sharp-toothed nature? YESSS okay that's Malware. A digital weasel. <333

Eve: 💛 - Are they ‘good with children’, or more awkward?

Mmm, the old-woman version of Eve who's with the spaceship crew is good with children! The other version of Eve, who is a disembodied mind in control of 1/4 of the military's robots, cringes away from children because she hardly has any positive interactions with ANYONE and if she sees a child that's probably bad. For the child.

Shiva: 🐸 - What’s this oc’s sense of humor like? AND 🐰 - How huggable is this oc?

Shiva will laugh at anything. His attitude toward life is one of humor; he doesn't take too many things seriously. He's easily impressed by puns and jokes. You can get a real belly laugh out of him for really good witticisms. He doesn't like mean-spirited humor, though :((( AND 🐰 hmmmmmm. in spirit, Shiva is the MOST huggable. however, in practice, he's constantly shapeshifting himself into spiky metal and back again, so it would be a big risk. and it gets worse when people touch him, so the most you can probably do is hold his hand for a while before his concentration slips and you get lightly stabbed.

Grief: 🌨️ - If this oc had a day free from all their responsibilities, how would they spend it? AND 📓 - Do you associate any quotes or lyrics with this oc?

He'd probably find something very relaxing and alone to do for the morning, like hanging out in a garden if he's on a planet. And then he'd hang out with his (mostly long-distance) friends in the afternoon/evening! He misses them so badly. AND 📓 yeah! "There's change coming once and for all / you makes the front page and then you is major news / tomorrow they'll see what we are / and sure as a star / we ain't come this far / to lose", the first lines of Once and for All, a song from Newsies! the Broadway Musical!

[whowhatifs]

ooh - how about relationships with bandmates & fans and persona for hedwig? :eyes:

Thank you so much for the ask! I told myself I would wait until I was done studying, but alas I cannot stay away. Disclaimer that all of my Infamous MCs are still very much under development, but that’s part of the point of this so here goes!

Character:

Name: [legal name] “Hedwig” Lorne (ze/hir, friends can use she/her sometimes) Stage name: [TBD] Band: Echo Chamber

Bandmates: How do they feel about the members of the band? Would they still be interested in stardom if they weren’t with that group?

When the band first started out, making music with hir friends and exploring art and expression was Hedwig’s aim. Very “us against the world” but in a bonding-with-friends way, not in a confrontational-with-others way. An enthusiastic crowd feels like an extension of hir and hir friends’ energy, which is why ze loves it and it’s the reason ze’s pursuing this as a career. So I guess ze loves music because ze loves people, especially hir friends. 

After Seven left, Hedwig was distant from the other members for a while and developed a bit of a wall between hir personal and professional relationships with them. That vote took hir by surprise, and ze had to reexamine hir interpretations of the others’ priorities. Ze spent some time processing that (alone at first, then with the help of the others), learned about hirself, tweaked boundaries, and is more centred in hirself now. There is still a professional distance with the band that wasn’t there before (not inherently good or bad), but overall ze has a very good relationship with the other members. 

Fans: How is their relationship with their fans? Do they go out of their way to interact?

Hmmm… okay so Hedwig adores the fans of the band’s music but struggles with people being fans of hir. Ze loves seeing the emotional interpretations of hir and hir bands’ works, so stuff like interpretive abstract artwork and emotional covers of their songs make hir feel like ze’s on cloud nine. Stories about what the band’s music means to a fan is also a big one. At concerts/parties/etc, seeing an excited fan gets Hedwig enthusiastic too and ze’s just incredibly grateful for it all.

On the flip side, Hedwig is uncomfortable not being able to separate hir private and public life though, and doesn’t really like reminders. So things like interviews or being recognized in hir day-to-day life make hir soul slip out of hir body for a second. That’s when hir less genuine (but still caring) professional face comes out and ze just tries to get through it as kindly and least revealingly as possible. 

Persona: How does their day-to-day personality compare to their on-stage persona? 

Hedwig was very quiet growing up and only managed to get into music by sort of separating hirself from who ze is on stage. Both are equally genuine, but… hmmm… it’s like ze uses music to sort of cloak hirself in this feeling of safety, hir emotions pouring out and sweeping away the barbs of other people’s judgements. Over time that cloak spread to include Seven first, then the members of the band, then eventually the audience, and now even after the concerts when that same energy is still present! Those lines between Hedwig’s public and private self have definitely gotten blurrier over the years, but are very much there. 

Hedwig is reserved. Not so much shy anymore as just easygoing and introverted? Crowds don’t make hir anxious anymore the same way that they used to, but ze just doesn’t have much interest. Hedwig’s lives hir life slowly while savoring the “little” things. 

[Stage name] radiates an energy I can’t quite describe. Still very similar at hir core, but more detached unless ze’s singing. Ze’s known as being kind of mysterious, but not in a self-important way? Think Keanu Reeves vibes ish, if Keanu turned into Florence Welsh on stage, but without as much experience with all of this.

Infamous MC ask game

[zhongrin]

*a snow fox as big as a bear comes up the mountain with a casket*

------------------------------

Hey Sweety~

I couldn't resist writing you again after your letter! This is Antares, one of the messengers of our household. If you ask nicely, he will even let you pet him, but only you.

He will wait for your letter. If you need a few days, just tell him that and he will hunt for himself. You can call him back with a short whistle ♡

The antlers do, in fact, give off a faint blue glow in the dark and if you inject cryo elemental energy, they even give off a low hum! A beautiful thing to look at over the chimney.

In the casket are new things our division was developing because some complained too much about fingers falling off you just need to inject elemental energy into them and the liquid should freeze. No worries, you can stuff them into your jackets or just hold them and they will warm you up~ When they are cooled down, just heat the liquid up with warm water (or hot water, they won't melt.)

You know, with my dear Capitano, it was a really slow romance going until it just clicked. Ahh, the highlight was of course him decapitating an...eyesore with his claymore. I could die for this man, but currently he wants me to live for him <33333

How was it with Albedo and you? How did you meet again? What was your romance like? I can't seem...to remember :)

With love

Queen Belial

-------------------------------

The snow fox gracefully lets you take the letter and calmly walks over to Albedo. For a moment it seems like the fox very much would like to jump him, but refrains and delievers a short note.

If you harm her you will suffer.

dear queen,

oh my goodness, antares is majestic!! he did let me pet him after i bribed him with some food... i'm so honored!

oh, that sounds like they would be very pretty. i wonder how they would look if injected with geo elemental energy. albedo's vision always shines so brightly and it's such a beautiful light!

and that's convenient! i just asked bedo to channel some elemental energy to them (the woes of those who don't have a vision...) and it became so warm!! this is perfect and it's such a thoughtful gift considering our circumstances currently, thank you!

it was surprisingly kind of fast for us! see, it all started when i travelled to mondstadt, and i met klee while she was fishbla playing in windrise. we ended up bonding through the minor inconvenience, i got to know albedo from there, and well... he was such a sweetheart and a gentleman, and it's not like i was attached to anyone, so... you know. we got together in the end! and because of that now i'm staying in mondstadt!

i'll be sad to send antares off; he's been such a joy to have around. big animals are so fascinating and have this... regality to them, don't you think? anyway, i'm sending you a care package along with this letter, i hope it'll reach you safely and i hope you'll like them!

hugs and headpats, meirin

ps. albedo added something to the package too! <3

"are you sending the letter back?"

the girl nods. her eyes stray to the envelope in his hand and a smile spreads across her lips, "you have your reply too? great! i can send them all now."

"can you put this into the box? i'd like to send your friend a gift too since she has been very kind."

"oh, sure!" she examined the package in interest, missing the way the snow fox anxiously tap his paws against the ground of the laboratory, "what's in it?"

"since she seems to be into hunting - just some animal fur i got recently."

"i see, that's very kind of you."

placing the wrapped package along with some coffee, scented candles, and a little bouquet of dried cecilias, she rewrapped the box securely and turned to the big snow fox, who recoiled when she tried to put the box into the casket, "ah- what's wrong, sweetheart? oh, does the coffee smell too strong for you? hmmm...."

after much persuasion, they finally manage to send the fox his way. she watches silently as the animal descended down the mountains before being obscured by the raging snow.

"... starlight."

"hmm?"

"is everything okay? you seem a little absentminded today."

"huh? oh... yeah, everything's fine! sorry, i'm just... i stayed up late last night so i'm just a little sleepy."

"for the codes? did you manage to crack it?"

she blinks and shakes her head. her smile trembles when she answered him, eyes avoiding his sharp gaze, "no, unfortunately not."

"i see.... that's too bad. why don't you turn in early tonight? i don't want you to jeopardize your health."

"yeah, that's actually a good idea. i think i'll do just that. thanks, albedo."

"'albedo'.... huh."

[anthonysstupiddailyblog]

Anthony's Stupid Daily Blog (795): Mon 20th May 2024

Like a fool I listened to Chris Jericho's band Fozzy's new ingle that he's been using as his entrance music in AEW for the last few weeks called "Spotlight" and GOD DAMN IT, now Fozzy have two songs that I like. If I keep liking their songs that will really make it hard to maintain my narrative that the band is shit. This damn song was stuck in my head all damn day which made it feel even longer. I agreed to so an extra half hour overtime again after my shift had finished. I'm lucky that this has come along because it's extra money for doing fuck all really as all we have to do is walk around doing as much cleaning as we can in half an hour. The time goes by really quickly and if I do this for a week once a month then that will pay for my petrol for the entire month so I'd be a fool not to do it really. Getting this car really was the best decision I could have made because not only do I not have to agonise about whehter I'll actually make it to work like I was with that fucking bike but now I'm prioritising my money to make sure I've got my rent and car payments sorted out before I pay for anything else. Annoyingly whenever I'm driving home down the narrow road towards Sunderland there has recenlty been a group of about ten or fifteen kids just wandering along it in a big cluster, not even in a straight line like the Lost Boys do during the Following The Leader song in Peter Pan. They always take their sweet sweet time getting the fuck out of the way too. I realize that I can't mow them all down because I think that's still illegal in my neck of the woods but if they would just walk in a line then I could just mow down the one at the back who would then fall onto the kid in front of him and so on and so on creating a domino effect. If I did this I think I could convince the courts that I only meant to kill the one at the back and the remaining fourteen deaths was just a hilarious case of manslaughter. WHen I got home I re-watched the iconic Texas Chain Saw Massacre, a movie that impressively has gone on to cultivate a legacy as one of the greatest horror movies ever made despite not containing that much blood or gore. Much of the horror in Texas Chainsaw comes from what you don't see and is merely implied and the horror in question is beautifully illustrated by the blood curdling screams of actors Teri McMinn (Pam) and Marilyn Burns (Sally). Their screams of agony and torment mean that you don't need to see what they are seeing, their shrieks paint a horrific enough picture in your mind as it is. The one part of the movie that still frightens me to this day despite half a dozen viewings is the bit where Jerry opens the freezer and sees the presumed dead body of Pam lying there which then sits up and uses the last bit of energy to try to get out of the freezer before Leatherface shows up, caves Jerry's head in and then puts Pam back in the freezer. It's even more terrifying when she sits up as it's accompanied by the sound of a wooden door opening which you wouldn't think would go with this scene but I'm telling you the sound plus the look of desperation in McMinn's face is the stuff of nightmares. I read an interview with McMinn where she says that her character of Pam was a born fighter and McGinn believes that she would've found a way out of her predicament and survived…hmmm yeah you keep thinking that Teri. I personally can't think of a way that a woman who had spent an undisclosed amount of time hanging by their back from a meathook and then placed in a freezer would manage to escape despite massive blood loss and possible hypothermia but if you can that's this week's competition so if you can think of an answer just write it on a shovel and then whack yourself in the face with it.

[hungerandthirst]

okay first program of the season is over (grade 4s from an all-girls school) and this is where we’re at

i miss having the bigger staff team at my old workplace (about 20 to 25 people there vs 4 to 6 of us at this place)

i kiiiiind of miss having younger coworkers but i also kind of don’t? the people here are a huge range (next youngest after me is late 20s, one in early 30s, two in their 40s, and one guy who’s almost 70!) and from a fun-with-coworkers perspective i feel like it’s not as good but it also brings a really different energy to the program and i think i can learn a lot from them

ethically/educationally i think our messaging is really strong – all of the staff here have a much more nuanced understanding of the environmental crises of the world and how they interplay with socioeconomics than my old bosses did, and they really genuinely care about making an impact and getting these kids outdoors. a lot of the kids this week sat on the forest floor for the first time ever in their lives.

on that point, this actually feels like “outdoor education” rather than “activities that happen outdoors.” soooooo many camps are just like archery and rock climbing and biking and it’s all about “personal development” but here they manage to do that while actually teaching about nature

i did aunt houda’s chickens at the campfire and it KILLED

god this job is tiring. mostly in a good way. but i’m excited for the summer and just working with adults because you don’t have to be switched on in the same way.

the thing i’m honestly the most nervous about is just getting lost in the forest with the kids. the “trails” we follow are just pieces of flagging tape and i’m gonna be out there with them for like 3 hours walking around. so scared of not being able to get back 😬

i really really really don’t like the way the owner of this place talks to his wife. literally everything else about him is great, but sometimes his wife will be trying to say something and he’ll talk to her like she’s a child until she stops talking. it’s so uncomfortable to watch. and she doesn’t even seem bothered by it but he literally just keeps repeating her name in the most patronizing tone of voice until she stops trying to talk.

we mostly cater to private schools (and this is unfortunately extremely prevalent in outdoor education just by virtue of which schools can afford to come and do our kinds of programs) which is too bad because i think kids from less privileged backgrounds would really benefit from what we’re doing. at the same time it’s a good opportunity to talk to kids with more resources and get them to think critically about how their consumption impacts people and the planet.

spitballing off of that point: what if we went to private schools and asked families to donate the outdoor gear that their kids have grown out of, until we eventually had a big enough stock to supply a whole grade with appropriate clothing and footwear? maybe we could also ask for monetary donations when parents are signing the consent forms and could get enough money to waive the fee for a school from the DTES? staff could potentially volunteer or accept a pay reduction for those 3 days or whatever, and then we could potentially provide an almost cost-free opportunity for lower income schools to send their kids to us. hmmm.

okay well ultimately, i had a lot of fun, i’m absolutely exhausted, and i made $750 in three days. so all in all life is pretty good