#hopefully I captured that to an extent

[booksandpaperss]

Sooo after my bestie @wayward-sherlock pointed out that Achilles Come Down by Gang of Youths is literally the perfect song for Mike getting Vecna’d and Will begging him to live and come back, I listened to the song again and promptly had a mini mental breakdown, so then ofc I listened to I Know the End bc I was in the right mood, and I ended up feeling really inspired so-

-I spit balled a poem about Mike getting Vecna’d from Will’s POV. It *attempts* to combine phrases, motifs, and themes from Achilles Come Down and I Know the End, and it is definitely one of the messiest poems I have ever written in my typical poetry style so I have no idea if it’s genius or literal word vomit (it definitely will not make sense to u if you don’t listen to the two songs so go and do that if u haven’t already at some point), but I figured I should share it here and let you guys decide that hehe (cries)

Haha anyway… Enjoy the results of my Greek mythology and Pheobe Bridgers induced mental breakdown 🫡

To Swing in our Rusty Memory (like the age old pact)

An old, haunted house

Somewhere in Indiana

Old memories

A swingset, rusty and

Metal damp from Rain

Do you remember

The promise

The pact we made

Do you, do you, do you

Don’t.

Don't listen to Him

Stay, and swing

Swing with me

In my loving memory

I’ll keep you close

Where you go, I’ll go too

So tell me

Tell me, is it the same

For you

Would you stay

Will you stay

Stay and swing

Swing with me

A reason to live or to die, you say

Oh sure

Just rip

Rip him away from me

Just go ahead and rip and tear

him away

All I have left

Of a happier time

Of a swingset

Rusty with rain

Lie, lie, lie

That is all

all they do

Do not listen to their whispers

Their callousness

It is all a Falsehood

I beg of you, Do not listen.

When we held

One another

An innocent touch

Hand to hand

So light

How can that be Wrong

Please, please, remember

Remember our

Swingset

All rusty and old

When you reached for my hand

It can be new again

We

Can be new

New again

As the end approaches

As the world falls away

I want, I need

Need you

By my side

So please, please

Step away from Him

From Them

Choose the Rain

The Rust

Choose Us.

Choose our swingset

And come Swing

Swing with me

In our loving Memory

I promise

Like our age old pact

Where you go, I’m going

Like our age old pact

The End is near

So come. Come Home

And I swear won’t desert you

[larcenywrites]

Now… how do you think Sabretooth will be as an S/O?

I worry about writing for him bc idk if I can capture him properly… but! We can try to dabble around with a few ideas!

Sabretooth x Reader

Warnings: some pretty mild NSFW | no pronouns given to reader | there might be some typos pls let me know if so!

🐈 Honestly who knows exactly how you even managed to become his plaything s/o in the first place….

🐈 Perhaps he even, uh, acquired you!

🐈 Even so, I think Victor will surprise you! Despite the claws and fangs and being muscularly massive, he can be pretty gentle 💛

🐈 Loving? in his own way, sure! But traditionally? Not really 😅

🐈 He probably doesn’t smile much, he probably doesn’t say very much half the time…

🐈 But hopefully you can do all of that for him instead 😉

🐈 Okay, he does smile, but it’s probably more soft and neutral 😇

🐈 And even when he is trying to keep his one more soft and quiet, it’s probably still pretty neutral and gruff

🐈 You probably aren’t ever going to know where he picked up that trinket or ring or whatever the hell else you may find around your bed (and probably don’t want to know), but you can rest assured knowing that he thought of you when he saw it :) yet probably won’t even acknowledge it next time you see him… but if it’s something wearable, he’ll still definitely spy it on you 😌

🐈 I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s a cuddler, but more of a space invader 😼 Sitting on the couch? He’s directly pressed next to you with his arm around you but he’s just there. Not saying anything, not doing anything… really just- go on about your business reading or whatever, he’s just fine where he is!

🐈 In bed, it’s probably a similar situation. Honestly I hope you’re a stomach sleeper because it’ll probably make it easier for both of you when he suddenly decides to come lay on top of you 😅 He’ll hardly even acknowledge it or do anything else! Arms not really wrapped around you or anything. He’s just- there!

🐈 Though, he obviously has his sweeter moments! Sometimes he’ll simply lay his head on your stomach or chest or lap 🥰

🐈 Don’t be afraid to pet his head and play with his hair. He likes it 😘

🐈 Tbh if you roll over to spoon him (aka trying to just wrap yourself over him because he’s likely still bigger than you), he’ll probably growl a little 😔

🐈 Not in a mean way! It’s a soft growl! He’s probably just a light sleeper and maybe it’s supposed to be more like that little acknowledging burr sound cats make when you pet while they’re dozing off!

🐈 And let’s be real, it’s hot even if it is a warning growl 😏

🐈 This isn’t to say he isn’t a cuddler to an extent under the right circumstances! But those circumstances are typically related to him just getting jealous and possessive 🙄

🐈 He can smell whoever’s been hanging around you, and can even smell if they were happy, sad, or horny! He’s usually pretty unhappy about it 😒 and vocal about it 😒 especially if it’s someone he knows and doesn’t like (which is damn near everyone it seems)

🐈 But hey, at least this means that you’ll actually get cuddles in bed tonight! Arms wrapped around you and everything 😃 he’s probably also halfway on top of you buuuuut what are you gonna do? Push him off?

🐈 Obviously the bed isn’t just for sleeping 😏 But when it comes to sex, I don’t think loving and extensive foreplay is usually at the forefront of his mind 😅 besides he… can’t really do much with those claws 😬🫡

🐈 I mean… he technically could… but only once 🤧☝️

🐈 And when he’s in the mood, he’s probably not typically doing the whole handsy stuff…

🐈 He’s probably just going to bite you. Like some kind of overstimulated cat. Right on the shoulder too 🤕

🐈 And he’ll be very smug about it! You’ll swear he only smiles when he’s being a prick in some way!

🐈 You better hope you won the genetic lottery and got some of those regenerative genes or the like because otherwise, you’re definitely just going to have bites all over you 😮‍💨 fangs and all! He’s not shy about where he bites! Thigh? Sexy. On your forearm for no fucking reason? Fun! Neck? Sexy 😏 on your ankle while your legs are on his shoulders??? Now you’re just being annoying 😤

🐈 You’re asleep at 3am in bed? Doesn’t matter. If him crawling onto the mattress doesn’t wake you up, him biting your shoulder definitely will 😒

🐈 His sex drive probably is really high? Like sure, once you get him going, he’s an animal, but he probably isn’t initiating anything every day. Cut him some slack, the guy’s over 200 years old!

🐈 But that probably just depends on his partner as well 🤔 Not necessarily because he’s adaptable, but Victor can smell everything remember? Read something that made you even slightly horny?? He knows and he’s probably on it 😏 So he probably just responds to his partner’s needs!

🐈 You know, bath time is probably pretty great! Sure less stinky is a plus 🤧 but he definitely loves to be bathed 😘 beside it’s probably less hassle for him anyway considering the claws…

🐈 Which also means he probably won’t really be able to bathe you back 😔 you have enough claw marks as it is 🤭

🐈 But lowkey he likes to be taken care of 🥰 he won’t admit it, and he’ll probably play it as more of a I’m high and mighty sort of thing (which is also true!)

🐈 He’s not usually tense. A beast like him never has a reason to! But… he probably does get anxious about like, what he does… all the enemies he’s made… and how it’ll affect you ☹️

🐈 probably avoids bringing up any of that stuff around you, even though there’s, like, no way you don’t know… you just don’t know any specifics.

🐈 Can’t decide if he feels better having you at his mansion or at your own place :( He’d say both are dangerous, but that’s not really it— he’s dangerous 😔

[onyour-right]

First things first, I'm gonna need Gen V to never fucking do that again. How dare they release such a good episode and only have it be 34 minutes??? Is it a fucking sitcom??? They do that again and we WILL have problems.

Now, Cate. I done told y'all she was the mole and now look. I mean do I still love her? Absolutely. Do I think she is a victim of Dean Shetty's manipulations? 100%. Do I believe she thought she was protecting her friends? Yup. But do I also think Andre was right somewhat in what he said? Yeah, kinda do. Listen, with all the good intentions in the world the fact that she repeatedly made Luke forget about his baby brother when she knew the type of turmoil it was causing in him is twisted. The same way she was going to confess to Andre before the text came is the same way she should have confessed to Luke. Granted I think the reason she was even going to confess to Andre was because of how wrong things were going. But still, she ain't right for that..

So, I see three possible avenues they might take with her: first, kill her off at the end of the season in order to redeem herself to her friends; second, she could become an antagonist to the group (tho this is less likely); or third, she may act as a double agent and spy back on shetty so they can find out what's really going on..

Jordan Li. My beloved. My baby boy/baby girl. I can understand why they thought Marie couldn't accept both sides of them and I'm so glad they explored a bit more into their character's history. But baby, Marie wants to love on you no matter what your gender so just let her!!! At least they got to a point where they realised they were being unfair to Marie over the whole situation though, so hopefully episode 6 will have them talking about it properly. Alsooooo, Jordan getting pissed when Marie's brain was tampered with again? Good fucking food. Jordan moving closer to Marie at Cate's reveal? I was eating that shit upppp. Jordan this whole episode was kinda unhinged and you know what? I wanna see more, please and thank you!!!

Alsoooo, can we talk real quick about Jordan's conversation with Andre and Cate because I cannot have been the only one who was straight dyingggg through it. "is it a black thing?" "...oh my God!!!". The way Jordan didnt even dismiss the fact that him and Marie made a good couple too. Likeeeee. C'monnnnn.

Marie, my sweet girl. Once she finds out the true extent of her powers its over for everyoneeeee; she's gonna fuck everyone up and I personally will be cheering her on at the sidelines!! Slightly worried though because 1) who is her benefactor?? and 2) what if they are able to capture her somehow??? She is yet to go unhinged and I would like to see it, especially if it's in relation to something happening to Jordan.

Emma and Sam. I mean you know its real when one half of the pairing's mind has been wiped and still there is an undeniable connection between them.The fact that Sam went out of his way to find Emma after all the shit that went down??? Ooof, I'm living for itttt. The fact that even though Emma hadn't gotten back her memories she still believed him? Don't make me cryyyyy. I loved how Emma realised how wrong her mother was about her "getting big" & how she's beginning to carve out who she wants to be for herself. Also, her and Marie's friendship is honestly just goals.

Also, lowkey everyone should have just let Sam kill that Dr Cardosa because he's gonna bring big problemssss I fear, and on that note they should have him kill Dean Shetty too because ole girl needs to skedaddle her way out (although the person who takes her place could be even worse, so idk about that yet)

Also, someone please give Andre a hug that boy needs it. Seeing him unhinged tho?? Ooofffffff 10/10.

[deviousdeliciousness]

Pinning Board - G/T Story Prompt

Fairy g/t

This is a story idt I'd do myself (the premise is a bit darker than my usual, even), but I feel like it would be a really good read if anyone managed it, since it has many opportunities to apply liberal angst (hopefully with a happy ending).

----

Fairy gets caught in a giant's net and passes out.

Wakes up in a terrarium with the room outside of it being just wall after wall covered in pinned fairies, their lifeless glass eyes seeming staring back at them.

The Doc that captured them is mildly sad but not surprised when the fairy is seemingly hostile/afraid of him.

Doc thinks fairies are pretty much mindless creatures, little more than butterflies. He doesn't kill them, though! He lets them live out the full extent of their lives, providing them with whatever they might want/need, and when they pass, he pins them to continue admiring their beauty after their deaths.

Little does he know, fairies are more than sentient, and they rely on happiness (or maybe hope or freedom or some rare thing they can only get in their natural environment) to live, so it wasn't that fairies have short lifespans that made them die so quickly in the Doc's care, it was that they were miserable and terrified and were slated to die because of the fate the Doc had unwittingly handed to them.

Big oof potential ya'll.

For the good resolution, maybe our main fairy boi has/finds some way to communicate with the Doc that the other fairies didn't try out of fear/panic/misery/hopelessness. Doc is devastated when he finds out and rightfully sickened when he realizes what he's done.

.... okay I'm not sure how good an ending this can have with the premise ngl but uhhh, yeah here's the thought of the day!

[srbachchan]

DAY 5701

Jalsa, Mumbai Sept 26, 2023 Tue 10:40 PM

Work in progress .. as they would say in abbrev., WIP

More of this later in time ..

The general belief within is that until you speak , you remain unnoticed ..

Really .. ?

I wonder if this holds true, for there have been several examples in the past and present and shall prevail in the, hopefully, futures well ..

So they say keep talking speaking giving informations and keep the readers and the audience occupied with the events or news that are needing reference and interest .. and many theories support the thought ..

In an obtuse manner , it is often referred to as the Goebbels syndrome .. of propaganda during the time of the Nazis .. he succeeded to some extent, but eventually committed suicide, in order not to be captured by the Allied forces during WW 2 ..

Keep repeating until it it believed .. was the impressionable philosophy .. if it can be called that .. !!

Many practice it .. may stay away ..

I do not know which is more desirable ..

So a question, dear Ef's ..😜😜😳😂

BLOG DAY 5701 .. each day from its inception .. !!!!

Propaganda or affection .. 😂😂

Haha ..

Time for some fun before turning in ..

Amitabh Bachchan

[anamoon63]

RL and Sims update post + a thank you note

(Warning: long post ahead, read at your own risk).

I wrote this post to thank you guys for all the likes and comments you keep leaving on my posts, even though, as you may have noticed, I can't be here as often as I used to. Real life has taken over almost completely, as I think it should. There are too many things going on, with me, my family, my country, even my sims and other games, lol.

I'm not going to bore you with daily life problems, much less with sad and depressive stuff, or with previews of a story I don't know when/if I'll ever finish, the only thing I can tell you is that I'm still busy with a lot of work, (fortunately) and family stuff; plus, I (finally) started going to therapy (yes, at my age). So right now, I'm juggling even more things than I already was.

And so I wanted to thank you for sticking with me, for continuing to read the chaotic stories of my wacky characters without judging them; thank you as well for each and every message you have sent to my inbox, be it questions, or flowers and love; and to all of you who continue to tag me both on sims stuff and cute games, knowing that I most likely won't be able to answer you, really, thank you for continuing to think of me. Your messages soothe my heart in difficult moments, and I wish to answer them all, I just don't know when I will be able to do that, hopefully someday.

Now, my sims story. For those of you who might remotely still be interested, I'm currently revising the next few episodes of Time Traveler which I wrote earlier this year. To be honest, I don't know when they will be ready, I just know the story goes on and as soon as I have reviewed these episodes, I'll start taking the pictures. When will they be published? Frankly, I don't know. It could be early 2025, but no promises, as I don't have much free time on my hands now. I manage to write in the evenings, but in-game photo shoots are quite time consuming and have to be done in peace and privacy, of which I don't have much at the moment. So, if I do decide to publish these episodes, it will likely be early next year, and at a rather slow pace.

About my gameplay, in Sims 4 we will continue with the Wilsons until the end of the season (coming soon), and then we will take a small break. As for The Sims 3, we just finished Patrick's story in Bridgeport, so now we'll go back with The Cho Brothers. First, we'll take a brief trip to Lucky Palms with Terence and Cynthia Cho; then we'll spend a rather long time in Hidden Springs and Starlight Shores, to see what has happened with Tyron, the eldest of the Cho brothers. And last but not least, we'll go back to Uni with Dale and Kelly, who I hope will FINALLY graduate this year, hahaha.

Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I am not gone (yet), that if one day I decide to retire I will make a special post about it, I won't leave without saying goodbye, but that day seems far away at least for the moment. 

Now, regarding Inzoi…

I admit Inzoi has captured my interest. As usual, I'm late to the comment party, but I still want to put my two cents about this amazing game. Seeing the trailers and all those beautiful Inzois created by other simmers got me so excited, and at the same time, terribly frustrated to see that the demo didn't contain any gameplay. I need to actually play the game to give an opinion on it! So far it looks beautiful, though I must say that the character creator disappointed me because the sliders are Sims 4 style, which I've always found a bit complicated, I'll forever prefer the Sims 3 sliders, but hey, I had a lot of fun creating my own Inzois.

Hopefully the graphics and gameplay are as good as seen in the previews and its developers won't “break” it into multiple or turn the into a malfunctioning cash cow like EA did with The Sims 4, and to a certain extent, also with the Sims 3 in its time. I hope with Inzoi they'll go for a complete game, no matter if it's expensive, if I consider it is worth it, I'll give them my money as soon as it comes out.

That being said, it is important for me to clarify that I will not abandon The Sims 3 (or even Sims 4 though I don't play it much) for Inzoi. Ever. Neither do I plan to recreate my sims OCs/games in it, because my sims are exactly that, sims. If I ever get to play Inzoi it will be with entirely new characters, although I confess, I did try to reproduce two of my most beloved sims (a boy from the future and a college girl who is a model *wink*) and they turned out pretty well, but nowhere near as adorable as they look in The Sims 3. Plus, the environments in which those two OCs currently move could not be reproduced in Inzoi, at least as far as I know.

Okay, enough of Inzoi. In short: I'm not gone, I'm still here, I'm still reading all your stories, only at a much slower pace, two or 3 simblrs per day at the most. I'm going to read them all, just bear with me, and forgive me again if I don't always comment. Sometimes I don't even have the time or the energy for that. Believe me, 2024 has been an intense year in every possible way, sometimes I really need a break, but I try to be around and will always find a way to keep in touch, even if at times it seems like I'm nowhere to be found, I'll get back to you at some point.

That's all, thanks for reading this far! Have a nice and beautiful start of the week. 💗

P.S. I wrote this post three days ago, wish I had published it earlier, that way I probably wouldn't have gotten a notification that some Simblrs Community 'removed my membership'. When I clicked in said Simblrs Community icon, it said the community was 'private'. I don't know if that's some kind of automatic Tumblr thing, if there's a committee that decides about this, or if it was just a glitch in the matrix; whatever it was, I'm so sorry I wasn't able to be here to keep said membership. I didn't even know Simblr was a private membership. For what it's worth, it wasn't neglect or lack of interest for my part, just lack of time. I hope one day to be able to qualify again and be worthy of this membership. At any rate, I thank you for thinking of me and admitting me in your community in the first place.

[happilychaengs]

the expression of love

a/n: my third and last fic for valentine's. i'm extremely tired but i tried working through it. hopefully this makes sense.

word count: 607

yunjin x gender neutral reader

fluff

yunjin wrote her own songs. she was a lyricist. she was good with words wasn't she? she thought she was good at coming up with stuff, so why for the life of her could she not write anything about how much love she held for you?

she's been staring at her empty journal for approximately... 3 hours just trying to come up with anything to say to you. lyrics to a song. a poem. it didn't matter to her. she just wanted to do something to show much she loved you before you came back from work but not a single word came to mind. she wrote your name a couple of times but quickly erased it, not really sure where she was taking it.

she let out a long exaggerated sigh as she set her journal down and walked around the house you two shared, hoping to get some form of inspiration to help her write. as she walked down the hallway, she sees the picture frames the two of you hung up on the wall, all capturing one of your many escapades.

"yunjin."

"what is it?" her body turned around and she couldn't really prepare herself for what was to happen. she feels your plump lips on hers as she feels your hands pull her head closer. she smiles into it as she reciprocates your feelings fully.

the two of you disconnect and she sees nothing but stars in your eyes. "what was that for, y/n?"

"nothing. i just love you. that's all."

she loved your spontaneity. you didn't have every step planned out. you went where life took you and much to her dismay, you were a much needed addition to her very intoxicating lifestyle. you made her feel free.

"are you okay?"

"what do you mean?" was there something wrong with her today?

"you don't usually eat this little."

her brows furrowed as she tried thinking about what could possibly make you worry about her. was she really eating less? before she could respond, her stomach grumbled as she saw you stick out a spoonful of rice up to her face.

"you don't even know you're hungry?"

she laughed to herself as she took a bite, "i guess not."

she loved how observant you were of her. sometimes catching on to things that she herself didn't even realize and she has always been thankful for that. she would be in a very different situation without you.

"knock knock, yunjin!"

her ears perk up at the sound of your voice. you making a knock knock joke? was it her birthday today or something?

"who's there?"

"boo!"

"boo who?"

she feels a pair of arms wrap around her torso as she feels your chin on her shoulders, your playful voice ringing in her ears, "aw, don't cry!"

she's dragged out of her thoughts as she hears the door swing open, time passing by a little too fast for her liking but thankfully she's finally realized how to tell you her feelings. it was just everything about you. it wasn't one specific thing that made her love you. you were just you and that was enough for her.

there was no one thing she could tell you that would show much she loved you. no poem or song that she could've made to fully express the extent. so she tells you upright, and hopefully you'd know how much you meant to her.

"y/n."

you hung up your coat as you looked at yunjin, "what is it?"

"i love you." she quickly runs up to you and plants her lips on yours, "happy valentine's day."

[archandshri]

23rd May ‘24 - [arch] Witch Hat Atelier Takeover Episode

Greetings! I am back from the dead! I have had a fair few weeks of rest and admin and now I have lots of art thoughts! (lets see if I can get some down)

OMG Shri I am in LOVE with your last few posts!!! Have you considered not hitting it out of the park every time?? I have thoughts about the mind’s eye thing and picturing your work… maybe at some point I’ll write a blog about it :0

I’m working on a super cool comic for some people I can’t yet talk about but I’m going through a HUGE research process for it. It’s awesome, it feels like I’m back at uni. Learning so many skills and documenting my research properly in my slides again 💪💪

Though I can’t talk about the project itself, I would love to share a bit of analysis I’ve been doing on Witch Hat Atelier!! (Heads up - the following post contains spoilers for the first half of the first volume)

Expressions!!!

Though not unique to Witch Hat Atelier (WHA from now on), the manga uses a combination of subtler, realistic illustrations combined with goofy exaggerated ones - in particular using styles found commonly in manga.

The first few pages have quite minimal facial expressions - they’re still obvious (and to a degree, exaggerated in Coco's case) but not goofy. Shirahama uses additional techniques like text and sparkles on the right hand page to communicate Coco's excitement.

Traditional manga expressions, with more exaggerated and goofy features, are saved for comedic moments - in this instance from Coco’s childlike excitement.

Here we have quite realistic expressions, exaggerated by a combination of shadow (right-hand page) and tight close-ups. This. brings us into Coco's wonder, and communicates her high level of engagement.

In fact, the goofy expressions are almost exclusively saved for smaller panels, whilst more high drama or wonder moments take up larger panels and whole pages, so there's space for that high level of detail.

In this spread, expressions are playing a more minor role until the last two panels. In the panel circled in red, Coco’s expression is distressed. Because it’s a smaller panel, mid shot panel, her expression is emphasized by more cartoonish techniques (eg. The lines down her face.)

The last two panels return to slightly more realistic expressions, without the more cartoonish aids. This makes the moment feel more dire. Shirahama emphasises this once again by using close-ups and darkness surrounding them for the appropriate ambience.

Shirahama uses a high level of detail to capture moments of high wonder. They force the reader to take in the extent of the image. These are usually paired with minimal text which also requests that the reader takes time to absorb the image, rather than skimming over text.

Panel Pacing and Flow :0

For the ‘day to day’ ordinary scenes, pretty straightforward paneling is used. On a grid, straight lines, very little overlapping.

This is broken in moments, like introducing Qifrey. A three-quarter image of him breaks the panel structure to say ‘hey, this guy is important’.

Overlapping panels are first introduced in this moment - which is huge for Coco, as she realises how magic is used. The change in format once again tells the reader that this is important by adding more visual interest. The images sit like a bunch of disjointed puzzle pieces, like she’s about to put something together.

On the second page of the spread, the format returns to (mostly) normal as everything slots into place.

What can I say... line of action!!! Look at those gorgeous textures that lead the composition into that curve. That's all from me today folks, hope you enjoyed reading through! I've got a bit more stability in my life now, so hopefully I'll be more consistent with my uploads. (no promises I'm taking it easy) lots of love! :D Archie

[an-abyss-of-stars]

Rhaemond Pirate fic headcanon(s)

OKAYYYY so the shimmering water-like sheer dresses! I've found MORE! THIS IS A COLLECTION NOW!!

LIKEEEEEEE I have the vaguest idea that the dreaded Pirate Captain Aemond has an obsession with Velaryon myths in this universe. Like maybe it was once said that the Velaryon family/bloodline was descended from water nymphs, mermaids, Gods/Goddesses like maybe altering the form of the God Caraxes (the God of water) into something less dragon-like. Like maybe I'll even make each Valyrian family name a descendant from a God or Goddess/ God AND Goddess pairing. Which will probably mean there won't be any dragons in this, BUT maybe there'll be some form of magic and mysticism??

Either way, The Dark Prince, Captain of the Goddess Of War, Aemond, has been obsessed with these tales his whole life. Of course, he's still obsessed with how his family name and lineage of the royal Targaryens are descended from fire and Gaelithox (the God of fire)...etc. BUT ever since he's really been living his life on the seas, those tales of Velaryon water nymphs and mermaids have been his THING.

And I think I said he already knows Rhaena is his cousin when he captures her, so the assumption would be that he also already knows she's part Velaryon. Which would absolutely fuel his obsession with her beyond the fact that he's already taken with her beauty and her behaviour from the moment he sees her.

I STILL DON'T KNOW HOW HE'LL ACQUIRE THESE DRESSES, BUT I JUST KNOW THEY NEED TO BE USED IN A SENSUAL YET DOMINATING/POWERFUL WAY!! Dress #1 is definitely what she'll be instructed to wear when she "dines with captain" for the first time. Dresses #2 and #3 are increasingly more revealing, so it would track that she'd wear those as the story progresses and their relationship becomes more sexual 🤔 I think at least 😂😂 Maybe it's thing dominating thing, he has her wear these revealing things in his company, but JUST his company in his quarters. Just because he can, because it feeds into his fantasy, because he wants any excuse to see more of her than any other man...etc.

Since this Pirate fic is going to be a dead dove story now, however she consents (dubious at times) to wearing these dresses, it doesn't have to be entirely voluntary. She is his captive, and she is prisoner to an extent 🤔🤔 I think the sex will always consented to for the most part, it's just the lengths that Pirate!Aemond will go and the things he does that'll make this a dead dove, I think. The darker possessive behaviour, the obsessive behaviour will be PEAK.

I'm just thinking and plotting aloud, idek know if any of this sounds good or makes any sense 😂😂 hopefully it does.

[liketwoswansinbalance]

Do Not Fear! My Return Is Nigh.

My hiatus from posting is over, and I'm back. To haunt you. No, not really. Hopefully, I will manage to do so in my writing though. I've got future projects all laid out, and tons of unwritten, draft outlines—if I ever finish them. No promises.

And, I've read Fall. And, well, I have a lot to say about it. It was incredible, but there were some things that irked me about it.

Also, as you can see above, I have made a gif that reminds me of Rafal! I had to make a gif of this scene because this actor looked just like Rafal from this angle. Plus, the red and gold color scheme of Fall’s cover is definitely present.

The source of the cinematography I used for the gif is the film Tale of Tales (2015). It's subversive and fairy-tale-like, but seems to lack a clear "moral." I feel like it lacks meaning set next to SGE, but I haven't analyzed it to the same, in-depth extent, so I can't say for sure. And, that's more of a surface judgement anyway. It's an exceptionally sensual, hedonistic movie from my point of reference. The film is rated R, by the way, so I wouldn't recommend it if you are sensitive to graphic imagery. I couldn't even watch some scenes. The visual juxtapositions are spectacular, and the costuming and sets are superb. It's fascinating, yet its ending is near-ambiguous and abrupt, and lies between satisfying and unsatisfying. I don't know how to define it because it's hard to define. Yes, it gave me Beasts and Beauty vibes, but it was more aimless and incoherent from my impression. The plot didn't culminate to a big, overarching point or revelation. It was closer to a movie capturing an anthology than a plot with subplots. I don't know.

Anyway, I may not post extremely frequently because I now have school. I will post some Fall content, and other, older posts I never had the chance to publish with reactions, thoughts, analyses, etc. Also, you can expect more fics, if I have the time. I will try not to disappoint.

[angeldrawsstuffs]

No Title, Just RBG Angst (Puppet AU)

Summary: After over a year, the ninja have tracked down Kai’s location to a small village, but what exactly he’s doing there, none of them could’ve expected.

(Like all Puppet AU content, the AU isn’t mine, it’s @kittydemon9000’s, go look at their cool shit)

The blood in Nya’s veins is boiling.

Seriously, more than it ever has, even for someone like Nadakhan. Because this? This is too far.

It’s been over a year since she last saw her older brother, and she and the others have barely slept, Lloyd especially. Even Misako and Sensei Wu haven’t rested since Kai’s disappearance.

It was supposed to be a simple mission: capture some rouge Serpentine and get them back to the city for Skales to deal with, nothing new there, just a typical Tuesday.

But it was new.

Because Kai never came back, gone without trace.

That’s when the search began. Posters, emails, billboards, TV appearances… anything they could do to get the word out and let people know to be on the lookout…

And that leads to earlier in the day.

Someone had contacted The Bounty, saying they saw someone that looks just like Kai in a village a few hundred miles from Ninjago City. After a year of dead ends, the ninja team ventured out on foot so as to not alert Kai’s kidnappers. If this was, in fact, Kai.

But they found nothing. Many villagers claimed they saw him, but none could tell them where he went.

That’s when they stumbled upon a chalkboard advertisement.

It was for a puppet show, run by some semi-known legacy performer. The ninja went just because they thought they could use a break, something to take their minds off of things…

The puppet should’ve been their first hint something was very wrong.

“It” looked just like Kai, but, since it was just a marionette, the team didn’t- they didn’t think-

They went up to the owner of the show afterwards, a tall, very unsettling person who only addresses themselves by “Puppeteer”. If they only had the purple suit and cape, then yeah, maybe they were just a little eccentric…

But his mask was downright CREEPY.

It was made to look like one of those comedy masks from ancient theater, the kind of stuff Sensei Wu would’ve seen around when he was young.

Anyway, Lloyd asked about the doll, explaining their situation with Kai being missing. They thought that, behind the creepy mask and weirdly on the nose stage name, Puppeteer was truly trying to help them.

They should’ve known better.

The team was allowed backstage to talk privately, away from any stragglers in the audience, which is where Nya saw the puppet hanging from a giant cross brace on stage left. “It” looked even more like her brother up close, even having a chip in “its” “skin” over “its” eye to match Kai’s scar.

Puppeteer called it attention to detail.

Nya calls it sick degeneracy.

While the others talked, Nya’s gaze was kept firmly on the puppet, something about “it” seeming just… too uncanny for her liking.

And that’s when she noticed it.

A detail so small, so perfect, that not even Puppeteer’s alleged “attention to detail” could catch.

A scar. One small, tiny scar ok the puppet’s foot.

A scar on Kai that only he and Nya knew about. One he’d gotten from a minor blacksmithing accident when they were kids.

That’s when it all clicked.

The puppet didn’t just look like Kai…

It was Kai.

All this time he was gone, he was really here, with some traveling show, stuck as the main attraction: a puppet!

Nya couldn’t imagine how long her brother’s been stuck like this. Could he even think anymore? Was he aware of his surroundings? What exactly is the extent of what this monster’s done to him?

Which is why she and the others are currently outside of the carriage they followed Puppeteer to.

They know where Kai is now. They just need to get him back and hopefully reverse whatever magic’s been done to him.

“Zane.” Nya whispers, “Do you hear anyone inside?”

“I do not hear nor sense anyone is currently in the main entrance. We are free to enter.” Zane replies.

Without another thought to the matter, Nya hastily finished picking the lock and quietly sprints into the main room, which appears to be a small auditorium of some kind.

“Kai’s probably somewhere back there!” Lloyd exclaims, frantically gesturing to the stage.

Jay turns around to look at Lloyd annoyedly “Oh, really? This crazed puppet guy who turned Kai into some sideshow puppet wouldn’t just keep his star attraction out on the open?? WHAT A SUR- mrf-!”

Cole covers his friend’s mouth.

“Shut up! Do you want to find out what happens if we’re caught??” He questions.

Jay shakes his head, still glaring at Cole.

“Well then cram it, Zaptrap. This could be our one shot to get Kai back.”

Cole lets go of the motormouth, with a light shove for good measure.

“Stop messing around, guys.” Lloyd comments as he makes his way behind the curtains.

“But they were not, they simply-“ Zane tries to say but is cut off by Cole’s hand on his shoulder.

“Greenie’s just worried, Frosty. Let’s not focus on the semantics.”

Zane nods before he and the rest of the team follow Lloyd backstage, where, much to their dismay, Kai isn’t.

But that’s when they hear it.

Exuding from a seemingly unimportant door, comes music. Older music, sure, but music nonetheless.

Lloyd looks amongst his team before drawing his sword, the others doing the same with their respective weapons, all understanding they may be in for the fight of their lives.

With a deep breath, Lloyd opens the door to reveal…

A corridor.

A long, dark, creepy corridor.

Lloyd motions for the others to follow him, the only lights in their path being the glow of Zane’s eyes.

Nya hates to admit it, but the whole thing is makes her skin crawl. Has this carriage really been Kai’s whole world for a year?

It must’ve been hell…

The music grows louder.

A few doors down, Zane halts the group, pointing to the door they’re currently in front of.

“Here is where the music is coming from.” Zane states.

“Then what are we waiting for??” Nya impatiently asks, “Let’s go get my brother!”

“Perhaps we should think of a plan before we jump to any-“

Zane’s words fall on deaf ears as Nya and Lloyd bust open the door, trident and sword ready to maim Puppeteer at a moment’s notice.

But that isn’t what they come across when inside.

No, instead of anger, the sight makes their hearts simultaneously drop and pound in their chests. The siblings’ grips on their weapons loosing as their eyes widen in shock, tears pricking at their eyes.

Why?

Because in the door, dancing almost hauntingly perfectly, is Kai.

Not a puppet, nor made of a wood, just… Kai.

He’s in a black dance uniform with his hair slicked down, but he’s still Kai!

“Kai!” Nya exclaims, “We- We’re here! We’re gonna bring you home!”

The master of water’s hear pounds in anticipation of her brother’s response…

But none comes.

“Kai..?” Lloyd asks, “You- you do know who we are, right?”

Nya’s heart practically stops at Lloyd’s insinuation. She hadn’t considered the idea of brainwashing. Puppeteer could’ve convinced Kai of anything he wanted if that was the case…

Maybe even something like forgetting his family.

“Hairgel, this isn’t the time to be ignoring us.” Cole steps into the room, “You need to stop dancing.”

Kai makes a leap across the room…

Still no response.

“Ugh! This is IMPOSSIBLE!” Jay groans, “We’re not gonna get Kai back because he’s probably been BRAINWASHED into thinking this is ok and that- OW!”

Cole smacks the back of Jay’s head.

“Motormouth, he’s been stuck here for a year! Maybe think about that before talking!

Jay rubs his head, but shuts up.

“Kai… please, answer us.” Nya pleads, “We’re going to rescue you! You don’t have to be here anymore! Not- Not with that monster!”

Kai halts his dance, side-eyeing his sister.

The ninja hold their breaths.

Kai silently walks over to the record player, where the music was evidently coming from, and turns it of.

“And what makes you think I want to leave?” He asks monotonously.

“What?” Nya gasps, “B-Because you were kidnapped! We’ve been looking-“

“If you were looking, you would’ve found me earlier.” Kai accuses.

“Realistically, given that you were constantly changing locations, no, we could not have.” Zane rebuts.

“Heh- oh yeah? Then I’m sure you all immediately realized who I was onstage then, right?”

The group falls silent…

Nya wants to say something, but even she didn’t realize until seeing Kai up close.

“That’s what I thought. Just do us all a favor and forget I’m here, I’m not interested in rejoining you all.”

“But- Kai-“ Lloyd chokes out.

“Don’t ‘but Kai’ me! You all abandoned me!” Kai shouts, tears sparkling in the corners of his eyes.

“We were looking! We haven’t stopped this whole time!”

“Then why didn’t you find me?! It’s not like I was in the same village I disappeared in for *days* after Puppeteer took me in!”

“We- we checked the whole village! People saw you run off… but not where to.”

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

“Where’s your uniform?” Jay asks without thinking, “You’re kinda gonna need it for-“

“Don’t you get it?!” Kai snaps back, “*This* is my uniform now.”

“You’re not a dancer, Kai.” Cole adds.

“You’re absolutely right.” Kai responds, leaving the others at a loss for words.

Not a dancer? But that’s what he’s been doing, is it not? If not a dancer, then what-

“I’m Puppeteer’s doll now.”

“…What?!” Nya demands, anger rising in her voice.

“Did I stutter?? I said-”

“We heard you.” Lloyd interjects, “But this isn’t you! You- you’re a ninja, Kai! You’re not some- some doll!”

“Last I checked, I get a say in what I am, and I’ve gotta say: being a doll for Puppeteer is better than being a ninja for you any day! So leave me alone and stop acting like we’re still family!”

A silence befalls the ninja.

Lloyd’s sword drops.

Nya has to catch her brother, who almost collapses in shock.

“The hell, Kai?!”

“Hestia.”

“What-“

“I don’t really use ‘Kai’ anymore.” He states, shockingly unresponsive to his little brother’s plight.

“But that’s your name!” Nya shouts back, “You’re Kai! Kai Smith! Master of Fire! Red Ninja! Our brother!”

“Well, it’s too bad you threw away all of those things when you decided to stop looking for me! Puppeteer warned me you’d try to lie like this, and I’m not fucking having it, ok?! I’m not Kai, I’m not your brother, and I’m absolutely NOT a ninja! Ok?!”

Nya grits her teeth, eyes narrowing at her brother.

“SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO YOURSELF! YOU’VE BEEN BRAINWASHED, KAI! LET US HELP YOU!”

“Well I-”

“𝐿𝒾𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝒮𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓀𝓁𝑒𝓇? Is everything alright?” A voice comes from the doorway.

The ninja all snap their heads to face Puppeteer, mask and voice has chipper as before.

Nya hands Lloyd off to Zane.

“Everything is NOT alright you SON OF A-“

As Nya draws her sword to attack, a wall of fire separates her from Puppeteer.

“H-Huh?” She looks at back to brother, flames licking his frame as his arms are outstretched.

“Don’t hurt him. He’s more my family than you were.” Kai glares.

Nya would be lying if she said that didn’t sting.

“And no, Puppeteer, they were just watching me practice our new routine and were about to leave.” he continues.

“Like hell we-“

“Please, escort them out.”

“Kai… we’re not going to leave-“ Lloyd tries to say, but is cut off.

“Out. Now.”

Nya’s grip on her trident tightens as her whole body tenses.

She- she can’t leave her brother. She just- she can’t! He’s so clearly been brainwashed by this lunatic that he- he-

“AUGH!” Nya shouts, all of her pain and frustration unable to be put into words.

“𝒪𝒽 𝓂𝓎, you are quite the 𝒻𝒾𝑒𝓈𝓉𝓎 one, aren’t you?” Puppeteer comments.

“Cram it, asshole! You’re nothing more than a fucking monster!”

Puppeteer falls silent for a moment.

“𝐿𝒾𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝒮𝓅𝒶𝓇𝓀𝓁𝑒𝓇, might I..?”

“Don’t, it’ll just convince them more I’m somehow suffering here. Just… get them out some other way.”

“Ah, 𝐼 𝓈𝑒𝑒.” Puppeteer comments, looking around at the ninja before speaking once more, this time in some kind of… unknown language.

Nya conjures a torrent of water, channeling all of her rage, all of her fury, and all of her pain into one singular blast of water, and once it’s fired…

It slices a tree clean in half.

…A tree? But they were all just-

Looking around, Nya and the others notice how they’re no longer in the carriage, but, rather, about a few yards away from it outside.

…What?

Before anyone can properly react, the sound of clopping hooves and turning wheels echos throughout the thin forest.

The carriage- it’s leaving.

No- not now, not today, LIKE FUCKING HELL THEY’RE TAKING HER BROTHER AWAY AGAIN!

And so, Nya runs.

For how long? She couldn’t tell you.

But by the end of it, the carriage is at least half a mile away and the sun is peeking up over the horizon.

She falls to the ground, legs too exhausted to carry her anymore.

She isn’t sure when she falls asleep, but she wakes back in bed to Misako holding a cold washcloth onto her forehead.

Misako says something Nya doesn’t understand.

But she doesn’t care.

She’d care if her brother were around.

But he isn’t.

She failed.

[ethaneldritch]

@indianampasta AHA you've fallen for my trap >:)

Allow me to introduce you to my Alhaitham, the most unfortunate character in my entire roster.

Here he is in a team all by his lonesome (deserving, tbh). I don't know how long he's been there, but it's at least been long enough for me to forget about him. like leaving a wet cardboard box on the back porch for a few too many months.

it all started when i realized that he looks very similar to a character i main in another game, so i decided to pull for him on his release banner:

Alhaitham from Genshin (left), Ainchase Ishmael from Elsword (right). There was a running joke in the Elsword fandom for a while because people kept posting Alhaitham fanart without realizing it.

Anyway, I was EXTREMELY lucky on his banner and got him within 30-ish pulls (I'd already built up some pity before then, though).

But that was the extent of my good fortune.

I don't know whether my specific copy of Alhaitham had been secretly swapped for a costumed Bennett or he was just the runt of his gacha litter, but this man was plagued with mishaps from the moment he joined my team.

And I do mean the moment he joined. I slotted him into my team, closed the interface, and immediately misclicked the sprint button, sending him shooting off the very near cliff edge I'd forgotten I was standing on. In my panic I wasn't able to open the glider in time and he buckled like a crumpled napkin on the ground miles below.

Incidents like these soon became a regular issue when playing with him: Enemies would jump us out of nowhere, lightning seemed particularly interested in landing accuracy shots, command buttons wouldn't fire the way they were supposed to and/or had significant delay...the list goes on.

Exhibit A.

Why are you walking??

I'm fairly certain he wasn't when I stopped to do the puzzle, AND this is the highest one on the whole thing, so I had to fall ALL THE WAY DOWN AND FREAKING DIE on the mountains below because you can't open your daggone glider when you've been HIT-

anyway

he's now quarantined in my teapot.

i don't remember where i put him, but he's probably still lurking in the attic somewhere, muttering about new books.

here is a picture I drew of him in MSPaint. I think it captures his essence well.

Will he ever rejoin my team? perhaps. I need to start building a second dps soon.

in the meantime, he will continue to languish in the recesses of my account, and hopefully one day i'll be able to pair him up with a very dedicated healer.

thank you for asking :D

[macravishedbymactavish]

Satellites (Act iii) - David "Hesh" Walker

TW: I'm hurting myself and others. Lots of angst, mention of injury, Hesh isn't okay following the canon Ghosts ending. Keegan being a bit of an angry ass in this

Blog HQ

Throat raw from the screaming, head pounding as his chest ached from grief and injury; breathing shallow as he laid on the sand. Cursing to any god or higher power that could hear him, wishing and begging for the roles to be reversed. In the same breath begging for evac to hurry up and get him off this fucking beach.

In any other situation, he would see the irony in all of this. What he used to consider a safe haven has become his personal hell. The nights spent laughing, running from the waves and admiring how the moon reflected off the water. Days spent making bad decisions, writhing in pain on a beach because he took Logan up on the dare to poke the mysterious mucus that washed ashore.

Logan eventually admitted that he knew it was a jellyfish all along and wasn't expecting Hesh to be so serious about poking it.

He would poke a thousand more jellyfish if it meant his brother was home safe, and not captured and taken god only knows where. He'd lick a thousand and one jellyfish if it meant he had his family back.

Blinking hard, he focused on the thrumming sound in the background. His vision becoming dark as he tried to decide if it was evac, the pulse pounding in his ears, or the consequences of all his choices finally catching up to him.

Choices...

His mind foggy, vision spotty as he felt himself falling in and out of consciousness. Opening his eyes a crack, swallowing the nausea building up in his throat he shifted on the ground. His body screaming in protest, every nerve on fire as he hissed.

"Hey now, you're okay. I'm going to give you something--" an unfamiliar voice started from behind him, being cut off by a sound of surprise as he forced himself off the ground. Pinning the person to the ground, adrenaline filling his veins.

"Where the fuck is he?!" Hesh yelled, ignoring how badly his body was shaking. "Where is Logan?!" He heard distant yelling in the background, unable to distinguish who it was over the rage ringing in his ears and mind.

A hand grabbed his shoulder, unmoving but applying enough pressure to get his attention. "Get off me! I need to find him." Hesh snapped through gritted teeth, jerking his shoulder forward as he focused back on the Federation soldier he had pinned. Except....they looked so familiar? His vision became blurry as he finally absorbed the details of his surroundings.

He was in the back of a plane, the engine humming in the background.

The federation soldier actually being one of the medics from base.

The hand belonging to his new commander.

His brother was captured by the enemy.

It's his fault Logan is gone.

Tears now freely falling as he felt his arms become unstable under him; his entire body shaking as he let himself be pulled back into a sitting position. He knew Merrick was talking to him, but he couldn't make out the words. The adrenaline and rush now long gone, leaving him to the full extent of his injuries and guilt.

Everything inside and out hurts..

"He's going to give you something for pain and to sleep, don't lose your mind this time" Merrick explained, hands now resting on his shoulders. To keep him from pouncing again no doubt.. "Get some sleep, David. We'll deal with this in the morning"

--

Hesh truly thought he died on that beach, especially waking up the next morning. He has never felt this light, physically. Like his entire body is floating in salt water, like he doesn't weigh anything. Head lulling to the side he let his eyes open, seeing a figure sitting beside his bed.

"Logan?" He asked hopefully, blinking a few times before being able to focus. Heart sinking when he realized it was Keegan beside him.

A very pissed off Keegan at that...

"Kid's gone, Merrick has everyone looking for any leads on Rorke" he deadpanned, arms crossed over his chest. "What the fuck were you thinking?"

Bile rising in his throat as his heart began beating faster. Slamming against his ribs with every beat. Sucking in a deep breath as he felt his stomach sink, Hesh leaned over the side of the bed. Expelling the small amount of stomach contents he had into the garbage can. Coughing and groaning, arms shaking below him.

"How did Rorke survive?" Hesh mumbled pathetically, head still hanging over the side of the bed. "We did everything in our power to kill him and he survives like a fucking cockroach"

The annoyed huff from the older man caused him to lift his head and lean back in the bed. Grimacing when the stitches pulled at his skin. He may not have known Keegan for long, but this sudden outward display of emotion was terrifying. Considering he's never seen the man show any form of emotion after their first mission together.

Rolling his eyes, Keegan leaned forward, unfiltered anger and disgust filling his features. "Logan is god knows where, dealing with god only knows what...and all you can think about is fucking Rorke?" He snapped, raising his voice. "The kid might as well be dead because of you, and all you're focused on is the fucking mission?"

Heart sinking, Hesh sat quietly. Actively trying not to puke again as his teammate ranted beside him.

"That's enough, Keegan" Merrick sighed, walking into the room. "Keep that up and they'll kick you out. Not to mention, Hesh doesn't need this right now" eyes darting back and forth between the two. He picked up on the pointed look Merrick was giving the other man.

"He disobeyed a direct order, put not only himself but another soldier in danger. His own brother at that, and we're not supposed to talk about it?" Keegan scoffed, sliding back into his chair as the commander sat beside him.

"We'll have a proper briefing once he's healed up. Screaming at him like a maniac isn't going to do anything" Looking over at Hesh, he continued "how are you feeling?"

Tears welling up in his eyes, the words echoing in his head the kid might as well be dead because of you, and all you're focused on is the fucking mission?

"Been better, obviously" he shrugged, letting his head fall back against the pillows. Staring up at the ceiling, feeling the warmth of tears now flowing down his cheeks. He wiped them away, frustrated that his body chose to react like this. You made your bed, now it's time to sleep in it.

"Give us a moment?" He heard in the background, followed by shuffling and a door closing. "You don't get to carry this burden on your own, David. I pulled the trigger, I'm over half the reason why we're here"

Hesh shook his head, not lowering his gaze. If he didn't disobey the original order his brother would still be here, he wouldn't be injured. Things would be okay because they would've had one another.

Taking in a deep breath, "I was so caught in up in avenging my dad, and the opportunity to kill Rorke and end this once and for all was right there. I thought that if we took action while we had a chance I could protect us all. Stop his manhunt" he whispered, voice breaking partially through. Whatever drugs they gave him causing him to be far more open about this than he wanted to be.

"Anyone in your situation would have thought the same way" Merrick offered with a sigh, fighting his own guilt. "You had good intentions"

Tears now falling freely, he lowered his gaze. His expression filled with pain and guilt. "I got caught up in the anger, and need for revenge. I thought killing Rorke was the only option....but turns out I did what he wanted me to. I became another pawn in his game, another angry voice that's adding to the chaos of this war. You can defend the intentions all you want, but I handed over a damn good soldier and even better person to the enemy. On a goddamn silver platter"

A sob broke through his chest as he worked to continue. "I had to sit and watch him take my brother...take Logan away"

After the words left his mouth, it felt like he was back underwater. Like he was drowning, with no way to swim up and take a breath. Saying the words out loud made it real.

Logan was gone, and he was to blame.

Taglist: @pearldog30 (you hyped this up so much thank you ❤️) @bloodonmyhands-1221 @v1naco @bowtruckleninja @ai-luni

[alectoperdita]

take care of yourself! but if you have the time, please tell me your thoughts on the last couple of 7th time loop eps.

Episode 6

Again, the Theodore-Mokuba connection is strong in my head for some reason. Mostly because Theodore seems desperate for his brother's acknowledgment and respect.

Also I love that Rishe just escaped capture within like minutes. Arnold wasn't even worried about her safety. He knows his wifey is super competent! Hahah. What a boss! I love that image of Jou breaking free to give a lecture, "yo, this is how you properly take someone prisoner."

Lol, Arnold full-on warning her: "you cannot fix me."

Okay, yeah, there's that brand of fucked up trust/codependency/misplaced self-sacrifice I can see between the Kaiba brothers.

Also the way she collapsed 👀. I feel like that may have been an indicator of a pivotal moment/relationship changed?

Yoooo how could I (and Rishe) forget about the kiss from the previous episode???

Episode 7

Ooooo she had a room prepared specifically for him at the villa! She wants to keep the same residence as him. 🥰🥰🥰

I can't believe it's only been three weeks in storytime with everything that's happened.

Yes! They're finally sparring! Haha I love the handicap equipment they're wearing for this duel. I know it's to demonstrate how hardcore the training can get, but the aesthetic is also very on point.

Also this dude, getting jealous over himself again. We love to see this. He just wants to monopolize all of Rishe's attention and focus on him. Also adore the fact that she's basically reenacting the duel to her last death.

Omg omg, scar touching! SCAR TOUCHING! The intimacy! Thank you I am eating well just on that one bit. And girl, baring your collarbone like that. You are testing him.

OF COURSE SHE CROSSDRESSES TO START KNIGHT TRAINING. Brilliant. Five stars. I'm already going feral over the idea. Especially if this allows her to go into the battlefield alongside him. Can you imagine her fighting on his side this time??? (Hopefully not for the intention of world conquest or whatever this time). But girl's gonna be one fierce knight/honor guard and no one will touch her liege. 🔪🔪🔪🔪 Truly this speaks to my Tortall loving ass. 😭😭😭

Episode 8

Also Theodore is being such a troll. He's getting a kick out of the idea of knowing a secret that his brother doesn't yet know about. I love the little gremlin.

"I must give your maid my highest praise." Translation, you look really pretty today.

Rishe is so smart, yet so dense. We love her. This is clearly a date, hehe. The man is playing hooky from work to take you out on the town and buy you pretty jewelry (and maybe test the extent of your wide and varied knowledge).

OMGGGG IT'S RING SHOPPING!!!!

Hahaha and he gets her to accept by framing the extravagant purchase as a way to inject funds into the local economy.

Omg yesss, get a stone that matches the color of his eyes!!!!

"I JUST THINK THE COLOR IS PRETTY!" She protests. I'm dying over here.

(Also think of Jou in a similar scene 🥰)

He admitted to wanting to give her a ring because he's feeling possessive. And he gets soooo jealous when Kyle compliments her.

Episode 9

Oooo another one of Rishe's relationships from a past life.

Omg, what is with this scene with Michel force-feeding the medicine to Kyle and then making him explain it? I feel like I'm intruding on someone's specific and private kink play/scene. 🤣

Ahhh!!! Arnold gave her his pocket watch!!

We get some politics in this episode. It's so interesting to see all the little disparate pieces come together and present the picture of how Arnold may move against the nations of the world later. Because Kyle has just exposed a crippling weakness in his nation's prosperity. Any power-mongering nation would come to the same conclusion that Arnold presents at the end of the conversation.

Love the image of Arnold's eyes glowing like that. We love to see him play to his sinister image too.

Episode 10

The way I fucking cackled when Arnold showed up to knight candidates training.

"He's letting me get away with it! Yay!" Next scene: angry kabedon!

No reason Arnold can't have his wife and his knight side-piece. HAHAHAHA. I'm dying imagining the rumors already.

Oh... black powder must be gun powder... Michel wants to use it to rock the very foundations of the world...

Ahhh I love that Theodore has his little intelligence network.

So that's Michel's damage.

I like that not everyone Rishe has met or had relationships with is a net good or bad person, and that she doesn't write them off forever. Maybe in that given life she didn't have the knowledge or leverage to affect them, but she can try again in different lives if they meet again. I like the tenacity of her character.

[last-capy-hupping]

Part 3: The Siege of Angband counted as an attempt to fulfill the Oath, which is why it “slept” until Blúthien stole a Silmaril, and it was not four hundred years of inaction.

The idea that the Siege was a period of inaction/lack of effort to fulfill the Oath is a take that I see pretty often, and it surprises me, to be honest. I get that to an extent—the text describes the Oath as “sleeping” during this period—but it also ignores all that the Ñoldor, the Sindar, and the Edain achieved during this period that ultimately enabled them to defeat Morgoth in the War of Wrath. Also, it ignores the point of a siege.

So, what do I think happened? Why did the Oath “sleep”? Well, let’s start with what happened when the Fëanorians arrived. They tried to take on Morgoth’s forces without the Ñolofinwions and Arafinwions and without gathering Sindarin allies. As a result, Fëanor, their most powerful commander and mightiest asset, died. Then they tried diplomacy, and Maedhros, their best remaining strategist, got captured. All in all, those two strategies left them in a position where they were less able to actually fulfill the Oath and get the Silmarils back. The Oath doesn’t have a non-suicide clause, but its primary objective is Silmaril reclamation, not glorious death.

Now, the Fëanorians have an advantage that Finrod didn’t have when Beren showed up. They’re all functionally immortal. Beren is mortal. The Oath of Barahir, once activated, has a time limit. Finrod has to help Beren before he dies of illness or old age. The Oath of Fëanor does not have the same time constraints. They can besiege Morgoth, cut him off from the outside world, whittle away at his forces, and grow their own strength for hundreds of years, if need be. One thing that they can’t do, though, seems to be ignoring a vulnerable Silmaril holder.

So, during the Siege of Angband, the Fëanorians were making a good faith effort to weaken their foe and strengthen themselves. While Morgoth did manage to grow his forces within Angband, though, they limited his ability to corrupt the world around him. It’s worth noting that Morgoth’s most successful attempts to corrupt Men only happened after the breaking of the Siege. The earlier attempt with Amlach was far less successful and effective. On the other hand, the three houses of the Edain flourished and were able to ultimately produce heroes who ultimately helped defeat Morgoth, including Beren, Túrin (killing Glaurung mattered, okay?), Elwing, and Eärendil. Sindar outside of Doriath survived. The Ñoldor didn’t exhaust themselves trying to storm Angband after the Dagor Aglareb. This all did ultimately enable the defeat of Morgoth.

Now, what “woke” the Oath? I’d argue that it was two things combined. The first thing was Fingolfin’s duel with Morgoth, where a mere elf injured a Vala seven (or eight) times and actually crippled him. The second thing was Beren and Lúthien’s successful mission. When Maedhros and his brothers saw that Morgoth was not unassailable and was in fact far more vulnerable than they thought, they had to act. The Oath awoke. Between the Nirnaeth and the departure of Melian/the death of Lúthien, all Silmarils were unassailable and the only way to hopefully fulfill the Oath eventually was to rest and regroup. When Doriath became vulnerable, the Fëanorians attacked. Sirion, I’ve already explained.

Again, this isn’t a Kinslaying defense post. However, this is a Siege of Angband defense post. The Oath slept during the Siege because it was part of a legitimate longterm Silmaril reclamation strategy. They were building up their strength until Morgoth was shown to be vulnerable. Beren and Lúthien did that. The resulting misfortunes and mass murders are well known.

[cchapsticck]

20 Questions for fic writers

@dreamwatch tagged me and I actually woke up with enough time to do things before I need to go into work

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

10 - Which is very surprising to me considering my reluctance to release anything beyond my google docs for many years.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

142,085 lord

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Stranger Things (but Eddie Munson in specific honestly) primarily, but I've got some Baldur's Gate and Critical Role in the tubes right now too. The unifying theme here being I Am A Tremendous Nerd Who Likes DnD

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

UNTITLED RECORDING rcd ca. 1987-1988 in the #1 slot by a wide margin, followed by ANACRUSIS ca. 1987, head line, wait, runner, and sunflower broke.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I sincerely try to! I am bad at accepting compliments or feedback so I always feel like I'm giving these sort of boilerplate platitudes and thanks and I wish I could accurately capture me reading every comment about 15 times kicking my leg under my desk. I try to be loudly receptive to the feedback I get. People took the time to read and respond! They don't have to do that!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

At first when I was going to respond to this I thought to myself "I'm not sure I really have a lot of fics that end with angst- oh its dog." Its dog. Its dog at the door. Its absolutely dog at the door. I apparently forgot I wrote it, but its dog.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I don't necessarily think of myself who writes things with uncomplicated, expressly happy endings. I think a lot of my work that does end hopefully ends with a kind of watery fragile kind of happy. That probably says something about me but maybe it doesn't. But, to answer the question properly, I think head line is probably the least complicated sense of happy.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not that I've been made aware of. I'm sure that my writing style and my takes on characters are not everyone's cup of tea, but that's just the mark of a healthy fandom ecosystem. I'm also not a very """""big""""" writer so ain't no one looking at me.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I have in the past, but I've never felt very confident in my writing when I do. I don't really feel like I can craft very erotic or romantic scenarios when it comes to physical expressions of sexuality, maybe its my writing style working against me or its just a generalized internal cringe @ me when I do. So these days I tend to skirt around it or speak more evocatively when necessary. I just feel like a total fucking goober when I start getting more direct and descriptive.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Always curious what constitutes as a crossover and what constitutes as an AU to some - ao3 tagging seems to muddy the waters for me. Because if you tag the source material for your AU it looks like a crossover but maybe you're simply using the world's logic but none of its characters? And that feels different to me than a strict crossover where characters from other titles are interacting with each other. Y'know? Instructions unclear wrote a DnD AU, one's mileage may vary if that's a crossover or not.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

That's a thing? I mean. I guess people translating without attribution or reposting fics on other platforms is a thing. I guess that's that. Huh.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Sort of? Not really? I definitely have played in the sandbox with @cwstau and their work, and have my own little toenail clipping a thing based on that work. I've done a little art here and there, and served as a sounding board, to a certain extent, in the formative stages of that fic's life but all of the heavy lifting is exclusively L's work. And while none of it will ever see the light of day I've also definitely theory crafted entire character dynamics and, sort of, speculative futures with friends in DMs. A lot of Yes And-ing each other about the threads we'll pull on.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Man don't ask me that. I'm all over the road, I'm in the wind. I'll be hard in the paint on one thing and then something old will reemerge on the breeze and I just go back to places I one dwelled and be insane there.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

lol any of them. Seriously, the fact that I have finished and published 10 things this year is a testament to. Something. I have no idea what. Something, because I have never been this kind of productive in many many moons and that productivity is a fickle thing that could leave just as soon as its arrived. My google docs is a graveyard of fics I've started and stopped and had grand plans for and mostly finished or entirely finished but never did anything with.

16. What are your writing strengths?

hahah bad at this question but I think I am good at research, when the fic in question demands it. I like to think I can synthesize that research into interesting things when the fic calls for it. I also think I can do cool things with character voice? At least, I always want to try to be interesting with that.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I am very bad at drafting, which is to say I often don't and I get frustrated and discouraged when I can't articulate myself the way I want on the first pass - which is particularly sore spot for me when I always feel like I'm trying to do things very intentionally with character voice and interpretation. I never feel super confident with my dialogue either. I'll write internal monologues for several thousand words but the minute two characters need to have an honest to god conversation I forget how human speech works. I'm also just bad at being concise. I really struggle to just let things stand, it is very hard for me to do those "200 words" writing prompt challenges because I'll start on one concept and my brain branches into a million other places this could go with a lot of detail and intersecting relevance and it can be so so hard for me to kill my darlings.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I think there's a due diligence required when writing for and in languages you, yourself, don't speak. Google translate isn't necessarily a viable solution to your multi-lingual needs, which I think everyone knows so its not like that's a bold stance. Seek out native speakers, ask for feedback, etc. When its my own work I try not to overly complicate the matter, if all parties in the fiction understand the language I'm going to keep writing in the language of the fic itself. There's a fandom I'm a part of that, in canon, uses German as a proxy language for a fantasy language - which is a language I am conversationally fluent in - and even then I find myself hesitant to just indulge in peppering in German words and phrases because that's just, in my experience, not how of multilingual people use language. Authenticity sort of matters in that regard, and there's a weird artificial presentational-ness to just jamming vocabulary words of other languages into dialogue or text that isn't justified by the character or the conversation itself. idk where I'm going with this.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Weeaboo past revealed: I'm pretty sure it was KHR but I cannot be sure anymore.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

This fluctuates based on which one I'm less mad about when I think about it retrospect on any given day, but I think UNTITLED stands as a testament to me writing in long(ish) form, something I've never done before, and was where I really learned a lot about character voice and how to use it. There's plenty I think I'd change or edit now (honestly, was talking to a friend about making a director's cut of some of the chapters of the whole MH series) but it was a big undertaking and I met a lot of really excellent people through the writing and response to that particular fic.

No pressure tags for: @cwstau, @nameslikeguns, @greenlikethesea, @dodger-chan