#i believe in the power of communication even though i suck at it

[lastofthe20thcenturygirls]

it's really good jun-ho told her none of her date ideas were fun for him and didn't keep it in even though he might have but only mentioned it when she said they aren't dating yet bc otherwise woo young-woo never would have guessed i think it's good for both of them

[big-tiddy-bi]

Without ao3 I became inspired. Ok so being tired of the justice league not helping/believing brakes into the tower while a meeting is taking place to show one of the heroes what is happening I.E. you failed and don’t come here we don’t want you, we don’t need you. You come here and you will be treated as a super villain and dealt with as such.

—————

Danny was sick, tired and powerful. A dangerous combination for most peoples. Myths and legends written throughout every religion every people every and every world based on gods feeling those exact things, and that is the thing Danny closest too, not ghost, not human, but a god. Even if he does not himself as such.

Today was the justice league’s last chance, Walker had decided to change up his tactics. Instead of going after Danny directly he was going to play dirty. Imprisoning 300 living for ”harboring a fugitive”. The justice league was called, one last chance before thing got out of hand. 300 people held captive in another dimension should be a priority for a group called the justice league.

Their response “the justice league contact system should only be used for emergencies, pranks will not be tolerated”. a simple response. directed and to the point. A metaphorical death sentence for the justice league and the people of amity’s faith in them.

No one died, thank the ancients, but blood was spilled. Red and green fell to the floor like water from the large cuts on Danny’s arms and the side of his torso, he was mostly fine, a couple stitches, about a gallon of filtered ectoplasm and a trip to the nasty burger had fixed him up. Meaning that every time he tried to move his arms he felt like he was being stabbed and he could not breathe without pain, which in all fairness was kind of normal for him, it sucked but it was normal.

The real problem was the 300 people I’m the hospital, ecto contamination, not to the extent of being fatal but extremely painful. That could have been avoided if Danny had more help than just his team of 4 other teenage vigilantes and his adult sister.

So after that fiasco Danny did something, else, something more political, he mad deals. With permission from the most important people in town the ones who keeps everything running, IE Mr lancer and Jazz. He also got permission from the mayor, bribed with Danny going to a Green Bay packers game with him.

Johnny 13 and kitty could joy ride before 12 am and after 9am as long as property damage stays at a minimum, a couple smashed mailboxes, broken windows and spray painted cars/buildings paid for by the mayors office was better than bad luck to the entire town and people disappearing.

Skulked got to hunt Danny in a building made for that purpose, Spector-cameras installed in it so people could stream it live to “witness the greatest hunter of the ghost zone”.

Ember got to play her music and travel on tour as she pleased as long as she didn’t mind control people.

Some wouldn’t take the deals but most of the heavy hitters did, it calmed down a lot, but as they say it the calm before the storm.

With the viewers of the “ghost battles” (it was basically a game of extreme tag) and embers fans talking, the ghost situation became a known thing

And again the justice league responded. “we will be there in a month”

No apologies for not believing them no apologies for not helping, just a we are on our way 8 months after the incident and they were going to be there 9 months after. All the people where health again, Walker was punished, locked in his haunt for the next 100 years. The justice league has nothing to do. They have no point in coming to amity. Where they just going to show up, say “sorry for not helping you, welp peace” and then just leave.

Maybe that was the point, that though crossed Danny’s mind as he read the message out loud to his team. They didn’t have any to do, a vanity project, help the small community that they abandoned so that the people don’t go blabbing to the papers, a pr move.

Sam and Valerie had voiced the same opinions on what the justice league was doing. The rest of the team agreed after a short conversation.

This led to Tucker hacking the league computer system to find the next meeting date and we’re it would be held. “Unhackabal my ass” and a plan was made.

So here he is, invisible, intangible and floating above the justice league. Batman walked up to the podium and began to present.

“8 and a half months ago the league got a report of 300 people being kidnapped and sent to the ghost dimension, this was believed to be a prank and filled as such, we were wrong” he said while clicking through slides, some of medical reports of the victims, some of the photos taken of him helping people out of the portal next to the hospital he mad to help the victims faster. Then he said “ this is the city’s resident hero team” the next slide showing the picture of Danny, Sam , Wes, Valerie, tucker and jazz receiving the key to the city. 

“We one know of this misstep because of videos posted online of phantom pictured here” he pointed an Danny receiving the key, another picture of him helping a man to the hospital appeared “and here”

“Do we know who trained them they don’t look older than sixteen” Wonder Woman asked. Before batman could answer Danny revealed himself, though he made his skin slightly translucent to show his bones, it was all part of the plan.

He floated down to the floor and looked directly at her “we trained ourselves”

He turned to face the whole room. “ I am not here to fight you” he said as a couple of hero quickly moved from their seats. “ I came to warn you”

He took in a breath “ I came to warn you, stay out of amity and stay in your lane.” He put a small amount of his ghostly wale into his voice, just enough to shake up their hearts. “ we don’t need you. We don’t WANT you” he cold the room slowly a couple degrees a word. “ do not ask around for us ghosts, do not look for us, if you find one of us. RUN.” He dropped his voice louder as emphasis. “ if you find one of us causing trouble, send us a message, but otherwise don’t acknowledge us or amity, the dead have nothing to give to you” his eyes became fussy staring at nothing green tears fell out of his eyes,and his Lichtenberg scars began to glow Ice blue, but his voice did not waver,.“ you may not have killed us yourself but you signed our death warrant long ago, you have ignored us far to long” is voice soften at the last word.

Then his eyes turns red, as fast as he could he pulled Superman out of his chair and pushed him to the wall. Danny’s hand went intangible as he pushed in into Superman’s chest. His hand wrapped around Superman’s heart, Danny soften the intangibility so Superman could fell the hand but not get hurt. “I can rip your heart out without a single fight” his skin became entirely invisible to show his skeleton. “To all of amity” Superman’s breathing quickened “to me” he move close to Superman’s ear “you are villains, and will be treated as such” he dropped Superman to the floor.

“Stay in your domain and I’ll stay in mine” ice began to form at his feet, looking mor like crystals than ice. “Come to us with please of forgiveness is as pointless as asking of it from your god” ectoplasm dripped from his mouth onto the floor. “Do not come to amity” and with that he went invisible again and watched the room in amusement. He was kinda freaking out at how awesome he sounded.

A couple minutes of silence followed. As John Constantine entered the room, “what did I miss?”

———————-

Hope y’all like it <3 Sorry for spelling mistakes. I don’t think this need trigger warnings but if you think so please comment so I can add them. I started writing this and I couldn’t stop. If only I had that energy for the original story’s I want to write lol Have a nice day/night and drink some liquids that aren’t caffeinated and/or poisonous <3

[cirrus-ghoulette]

Too High

Rating: General

Word count: 1,917

Summary: When the ghouls point out that Copia smells really bad after a Ritual, he realises that something is wrong.

Key tags/warnings: Diabetic Copia, usage of medical instruments including needles, blood

It had been on his first tour as a Cardinal.

They were still getting used to life together on tour. Living in close quarters, having to learn to share, long days of travelling being capped off by high energy rituals. Getting used to being around ghouls and their instincts had been a BIG adjustment for Copia. He was slowly adjusting to all the growls and hisses and posturing.

They'd just finished their first New York show, and they were back on the road on the same night, heading for Ohio.

The ghouls had changed out of their uniforms and into loungewear. Copia had noticed that their clothes seemed to be communal, as Rain was wearing a hoodie clearly too big for him, and Cumulus was wearing a crop top that looked a bit too well-fitting to be hers.

Copia himself was dressed in a pair of jogging bottoms and an old ABBA t-shirt, the logo now faded on it. As he walked out of the master bedroom on the bus, he caught the sound of Swiss talking.

"Eugh… Something stinks of absolute shit."

Well, that was nice.

Copia quickly sniffed himself, and yes, he'd remembered to put on deodorant and his ghoul-approved cologne. He frowned.

Then, he walked through to the lounge, where all the ghouls were draped over the sofas. They looked up at the sight of him, and Swiss still had a look on his face that Copia was sure would stick if the wind changed direction.

"Eh…" He looked over his pack, then clapped his hands together, needing to give them a rousing speech after such a good performance. "Wonderful show tonight. Very good, I liked the… Guitar duel, with the- the New York song, very fitting." He nodded to Aether and Dew, who were sat shoulder to shoulder. Dew had his hoodie pulled up over his mouth and nose, like a mask. "And my beautiful lionesses!" He turned to the pair of ghoulettes, Cirrus in Cumulus' lap. "What dulcet tones you sang, what powerful chords you hit." He leaned forward to cup Cumulus' cheek, and she went to flinch away before stopping herself. She leaned into the touch, though her face was one of someone who had just sucked on a lemon.

Copia frowned.

"Alrighty. There is something going on here." He waggled his finger at the group. "What is it?"

"Don't know what you're talking about, Cardinal." Dew shrugged, pulling his hoodie strings so that the hood closed around his face.

"There is clearly something that is the matter. Is someone in heat? I believe it's the smell that's making you… All funny, si?" He put his hands on his hips, not unlike a stern mother, willing to wait out the group.

The ghouls went silent. They stared at him. He stared back, a disapproving eyebrow raised.

Eventually, Rain spoke up. His nose was buried in the crook of his forearm. "We… We think it might be you, Cardinal." He said softly, almost too quietly to hear. "Sorry."

"Me?" Copia's jaw dropped. He sniffed himself again. "Ghouls, I smell fine. I have had a shower, I have dried, I have put on more deodorant and the cologne that your pack picked out for me. The one that you specifically said made me smell nice. How can I smell bad?"

"I'm sorry… You do smell really bad." Mountain winced, his hand twitching to grab the Febreeze from the counter a few feet away.

"I do not!" Copia snapped defensively.

"You really do." Dew groaned, behind the cocoon of his hoodie. Even Aether had covered his own nose and mouth.

"Cirrus…" Copia pleaded, crouching to look her in the eyes. The one ghoul who didn't wear an expression like he'd just rolled in hot garbage. "I don't smell, do I?"

"Um…" She shifted in her seat, gave Cumulus an uncomfortable look. Cumulus shook her head, letting Cirrus deal with this one alone. Cirrus glared at her, her upper lip twitching in a warning snarl, just for a moment. "You… Uhm…" She licked her lips. "You don't smell amazing right now, Cardinal, to tell you the truth." She grimaced.

"Fuck!" Copia growled, standing back up to full height. "What is it, then? What has caused this- this sudden aversion to my smell?"

"Smell weird." Dew supplemented in an almost peurile tone.

"Thank you." He grumbled, the words dripping with sarcasm. "'Smell weird' how?"

"It's hard to explain." Aether huffed, a wince etched on his face from the scent alone. "We don't think it's your cologne. Uh… You usually have a pretty generic smell around you? Like ozone, almost?" He shrugged, dropped his hand to sniff the air, then quickly shook his head in aversion to the scent and clapped his hand back over his nose and mouth. "Sathanas. But now you just smell sweet. Really sweet. Sickly. It, uh. Isn't nice."

"Hot garbage comes to mind." Swiss muttered, and received a slap behind the ears by Rain for that.

"Hot garbage?!" Copia yelped, holding his hand over his chest, as if he was emotionally wounded. "What do I need to do? Do I need to shower, or- or-?"

"It's underneath." Mountain said. "Like this bad scent is woven into every fibre of you. I don't know how long it'll last, but- we really want your normal scent back."

"Hmm." Copia sat down on the edge of the sofa. Rain moved away from him. Thanks. "You say that I have quite a neutral scent usually?" He asked. The ghouls nodded.

"I think it smells like a fresh breeze." Mountain nodded. "It's nice. Nothing like how you smell right now. Sorry."

"And now I smell like…?"

"If a human kit ate their body weight in candy and then threw it all back up." Dew nodded. Now it was his turn to get a quick flick behind the ears by Aether. He hissed at the larger ghoul in response. "What? Just telling the truth."

"You don't have to be such a dick about it." Aether grumbled.

"I smell sweet..." Copia murmured. Then, his eyes widened. "Oh, shit." He breathed. He was up in a second, speedwalking through to the bedroom.

"Told you he'd forgotten deodorant." Swiss scoffed.

Copia was back a moment later, carrying a small black bag, cursing at himself in Italian. "Uomo idiota, come hai potuto dimenticare? Stupido, stupido…" He hissed under his breath, then sat down on the sofa again.

All the ghouls looked at him curiously, but their hands and hoodies and sleeves were still hiding their noses and mouths.

Copia unzipped the bag and dug through it, taking out a small black device, a yellow container, and a pen-looking thing. He placed a paper strip from the bag into the device, then put it to the side. The ghouls were intrigued now.

"What's that?" Cumulus finally chirped.

"Oh, it is, ehhh…" Copia trailed off, uncapping the pen and pressing it into the side of his fingertip. The pen clicked, and Copia withdrew it with a flourish. On the side of his finger was a perfect bead of blood. "It is…"

Rain chirruped, his pupils blowing wide at the sight of the blood just sitting there on Copia's finger, ripe for the taking. He licked his lips, then grumbled as Swiss held him back.

"Ehhh…" It turned out Copia wasn't a good multitasker. He was focused solely on wiping the droplet of blood onto the white card of the device, Cumulus' question going unanswered. He sucked on the tip of his finger as the device flashed, then beeped three times. "Ah, shit…" He whispered.

"What's wrong?" Aether asked. "What is it?"

"Blood sugars." Copia shifted the bag and all its paraphernalia off of his lap and onto the counter. He deposited the tip of the pen in the little yellow bin.

He popped his finger out of his mouth and checked to ensure it had stopped bleeding, then wiped it dry on his leg. "That will be why I smell so terrible to you ghouls." He stood and walked over to the kitchenette, rooting through the minifridge. He came back with a small glass vial with a silver cap.

"I don't get it." Dew said. Like Rain, he, too, was staring at the test strip, saturated in Copia's blood. He wanted to steal it.

"I'm diabetic." Copia gave a small shrug. "Though I don't tend to announce it to the world. Showing weakness is not good when I am climbing the ranks, you know?" He sat down again and started digging through the bag. He brought out a capped syringe and an alcohol pad and lifted his shirt, revealing his soft belly. He ripped open the packaging on the wipe, felt around his stomach for a second, then wiped over the perfect area. "But it is useful for you all to know, since I am in close quarters with you."

"I don't think I've ever seen a diabetic human before." Rain hummed, tipping his head to the side as Copia uncapped the syringe and drew up some of the liquid from the vial into it.

"Seen a few siblings." Dew answered non-committally. He was too busy focusing on what the cardinal was doing. "With needles and blood and stuff. They fucking stink too, now that I think about it."

"Mm, yes, thank you. I was a bit high." Copia nodded to the glucose monitor sat beside him, then tapped the syringe until all of the bubbles escaped it. Then, he turned to the side, hiding himself from the ghouls as he pinched the fat of his belly with one hand and injected himself with the other. He let out a soft hiss, then slowly withdrew the needle. "Done. I should start smelling better soon, I hope."

"That's it?" Cumulus asked, peering around Cirrus as Copia deposited the needle in the container and started to clean up. "How often do you have to do that?"

"Oh, ehhh… Depends. I had a big dinner tonight, but I clearly didn't burn it all off while performing. I'll try harder next time." He chuckled, patting his belly. "I check my blood, eh, five, six times a day? It depends how I am feeling, si?"

"And the injection, do you do that every time?" Cirrus tipped her head to the side like an intrigued puppy. "Can we help?"

"Oh! Ah… I only inject when my sugar is too high. You can probably smell it on my breath, too. Not that I would like to smell my breath, if I were you." Copia tutted, zipping the bag up. "Help? Well, I am pretty well versed in checking my bloods and injecting myself nowadays, but, eh… If you could warn me. When I start smelling bad again. I would appreciate it, si?"

"We can do that." Swiss nodded. He'd stopped covering his nose. "You're already smelling a little better."

"Don't let me get that bad before you make me aware. Though I am offended that you say I smell like 'hot garbage', if you warn me early, I can check and make sure the smell goes away al momento. It will be better for all of us. I won't smell like shit to you, and I won't end up in a hyper."

"We'll prewarn you, Cardinal." Dew nodded, rather seriously for his usually bouncy and stompy ghoul. "Now that you don't smell as bad, you can come cuddle us, if you wanna."

"Ghoul." Copia smiled fondly. "I would enjoy nothing more."

[pillarsalt]

hi Im the same ex transmasc anon who sent you that aask about rhe tumblr ban thing, I did a lot of reading without forcing myself away this time. (I used to look at radblr sometimes bc I got curious, but when it started making too much sense i would make myself stop reading and tell myself I was being manipulated and try to forget about it..looking back that probably wasnt normal haha,)

I have mixed feelings tho. I don’t regret looking closer, the amount of sexism in the trans community was horrible. I think even radfems don’t understand how bad it was because it was all subtle styff. But seeing it constantly irl and online was terrible for me as a female. It gave me so much internalized misogyny, it made me hate myself and I felt worthless and stupid! and whiny! and annoying! all the time!! unless I was able to be perceived as a man. I felt like I had to be a man to have any respect in the community. I remember being so amazed to see abortion be covered by trans people I followed in even a reblog because it was the first time I saw people in the community talk about female issues at all. Even then it was covered with disclaimers and terfs DNI banners. male,opinions were always prioritized.

I thought this was dysphoria and a sign I was really a man. then I started reading radfem things and its like that feeling instantly lifted. I felt respected, listened to, even though I wasn’t speaking. It was also like all this stuff I’d internalized from being female, all the trauma around sex based oppression, was actually being addressed. in trans circles you get called a terf for acknowledging females face any kind of oppression (they acknowledge sex when it’s to talk about how hard male loneliness is on young trans women, and how the incel to trans woman pipeline happens, though…)

but the reason I have mixed feelings is bc I now feel….dumb? And afraid. And angry. I spend well over a decade being part of this community, half my friends are in the community, I’ve been trans since I was 9. My typings not the best… dyslexia sucks lol. But I like to think I’m smart. Now I don’t know,

And it makes me think totally different of these people I saw as progressive cis male allies, who were so loud about trans rights and hating JKR and terfs. Now they just feel like the same flavor of anti-feminist man I hate.

And the community is so huge and it’s so widely accepted and I don’t know how to deal!

But I am happy to be a woman now. In a healthy way I haven’t been for a long time. thats all that matters.

I'm sorry for everything you were put through. Many girls and women have been sucked into this thinking it will provide a solution for their distress at the social ramifications of the body they're born in, only for more people, namely men, to take advantage of their distress and gain power over them. As you mentioned, even "cis" men get in on the action when they justify intimidating and threatening women with violence in response to perceived transphobia. It's a terrible situation to be in. Made worse when you can't openly talk about with people you're close to for fear of alienating them.

I think you should give yourself more credit. You ARE smart. You questioned what you were told was never allowed to be questioned and realized you were being misled. And what you said about trying to make yourself forget the realizations you've had, that is normal. It's a difficult and scary thing to hold opinions that conflict with those of the majority of your peers. I think it's like the climax of cognitive dissonance -- when what you know is true clashes so hard against what you want to believe, you find it impossible to justify anymore, so you just resort to pretending you never learned the information in the first place. Been there.

I'm just being a stereotype now, but there's a classic Dworkin quote for this:

"Many women, I think, resist feminism because it is an agony to be fully conscious of the brutal misogyny which permeates culture, society, and all personal relationships."

Anyway my point is, don't beat yourself up. I'm really happy to read that you're accepting your womanhood, it's a hard journey but it's worth it to have a good relationship with yourself. And in my experience (at the sage and wisened age of 25) that it gets easier as you get older. You work through mistakes, and that prepares you to handle the next mistake better. You're right, your health and happiness is all that matters, keep striving for that and it will steer you right.

I wanted to give you some reading recommendations, you mentioned you have dyslexia but I believe these two are available in audiobook form if that's up your alley:

Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine

Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez

There are tons more great books on feminism but these two are my go-tos for hard facts on gender, socialization, and the systematic discrimination against women worldwide through biases that are built into society.

Well uh; TLDR thanks for gracing my inbox, anon :) Hope you keep well.

[dorianwolfforest]

I really want to hear all your points regarding hating Sabine I’m super curious.

I don't really hate her as a character, I hate how she is written.

I could start off with the fact that she's an incredibly aggressive, "beastly" character who is also non-white, with native american features, which is a harmful stereotype against native americans (See: the violent savage stereotype, not only something apparent in media (Twilight, for example), but real, tangible racism and propaganda in the united states that is still rampant) and even if she's not native american, she's still an aggressive, beastly non-white character, but I don't know if I am the person to make those claims.

Moving on, she's just poorly managed by the company. She's an evil murderer, a person lacking empathy, someone who seeks to destroy Jorvik and all it holds dear because she is promised power... and she's upset that she doesn't get to play with the other kids on the playground. She doesn't like how the riding clubs are mean to each other. She releases balloons because people are having fun. She's either the darkest, most twisted person on the island or she gets her feefees hurt because other people are having fun without her.

The way they write her, she becomes an extreme hypocrite. The other riders are bad and mean for not letting her participate in the games? She imprisoned someone in a world that would slowly and horrifically kill them. Think exposing someone to severe radiation damage knowingly and with malintent. Yet Loretta is a meanie because she thinks Ginny's outfits suck.

The other part of it is the community response. She is sexualized only and merely for her body, with her audience completely ignoring her character, her traits, her personality and her arc, only really acknowledging her "dark" side if they can sexualize it. "but they did it to ydris too", you might claim, ignoring that ydris knowingly, consensually flirted with the main character and took on the persona of someone who enjoyed and wanted the attention. Sabine would hate sabine stans, and the stans ignore that and push her personality aside because she's hot. It's incredibly demeaning to boil her down only to her body and then act as though she is something she's not, namely a person capable of loving anything other than herself and her quest for power, something that is well established in the lore of her character.

The social media team, in response to the fan admiration, has played up Sabine's character and her appearances on their social media sites, and the fandom has gone so far as to influencing the writers into making her more easy to enjoy. The writers (there are no writers at SSE, but that's besides the point) have gone back on what Sabine is meant to be and represent so that the fans will engage with their story more, and the socmed team has pushed her to the forefront of their existence, making several tweets and tiktoks about her and how hot she is. I personally believe that this goes against what any self-appointed feminist company should be doing, and that SSE has a wonderful cast that deserves the spotlight far more. Jill Goldspur, for example, is a queen and she deserves recognition.

All in all, I don't hate Sabine, I hate everything that surrounds her and, as such, I wish she would simply disappear from the story so I don't have to fucking deal with it anymore.

[kaialone]

Just some interesting details mentioned about Paracelsus in the Slash Beat Encyclopedia and the 10th Memorial Book:

He was originally a stone ax created during the final period of the Crusades (remember, they lasted like a 100 years.)

It's described that it'd display its full power by sucking up blood, even before it was a sentient being. (So, I'm assuming he was some kind of magical weapon from the start? Slash Beat Encyclopedia even indicates it was a bio-mechanical weapon, but that bit is not mentioned in the 10th Memorial Book, and that one's more recent.)

Its transformation into a Magical Foci (though for the reference, this specific term wasn't applied to Paracelsus until Xrd, I believe) and gaining a sense of self is said to have been a gradual result of him absorbing too much blood. (There's some additional details about how Magical Foci in general are born from Xrd's GGW and onward that don't come up here yet)

He began to communicate and even started picking his own wielders and the like, and sought for a purpose in life through his achievements in battle.

[scientistservant]

I'm sorry for sending in another ask 🙈 But I need to know your opinion, as I haven't had a chance to read it. Sooooooo, why is Long Live The Pumpkin Queen, bad? Did they fuck up the doc and Sally that badly? Like are we talking about Love Never Dies level of shitty? (musical sequel to Phantom of the opera that most of us fans loathe.)

Oh boy, okay

This is gonna be long, please bare with me 😭

So the book completely changes/“fixes” Sally’s origins. She wasn’t a creation, or never even FROM Halloween Town.

She’s a special princess of dolls from “Dream Town” and has parents who are also dolls. She was kidnapped from her bedroom when she was like 12 by Finkelstein.

This is fucking bullshit.

How she even physically ages or how dolls can even conceive is never brought up or explained. Nor is how Fink even kidnapped her in the first place. The book and author just expects you to accept this new canon, which conveniently comes out like three decades after the source material.

Because the book is in first person and in Sally’s point of view we NEVER hear any perspective or proper explanation from Fink or any other character about anything.

Fink is just reduced to a one-dimensional villain who kidnapped Sally all because he apparently can’t create life or bring things back to life via science. You know… HIS FUCKING JOB.

He despises that Jack and Sally get married, despite that Fink would be ecstatic at this (Sally’s his creation and Jack one of his very old friends.)

Sally is also reduced to a one-dimensional protagonist who never questions anything and every third word from her mouth/brain is either “sad”, “ragdoll”, or “stitches/seams”.

She just believes these two doll people who she’s never met before, and doesn’t bother to leave “Dream Town” to ask the elderly scientist she’s known for her entire existence about this (not to mention everyone in the entire world including the holiday realms are dead asleep at this point at this part in the book anyway…)

Oh yeah, the book has a main villain too, surprisingly. It’s not Fink, even though the book certainly treats him like it.

It’s the fake ruler of “Dream Town”, Sandman, who’s actually kind of cool and creepy. But his reasoning for his villainy is bullshit, just like everything else in this damn book.

He’s just tired.

Yeah.

The Sandman is tired because he can’t sleep and his sand doesn’t work on him so he can’t get to sleep. You’d think a being as powerful and seemingly dangerous as this guy wouldn’t need sleep, but apparently he does. He’s cranky and needs a nap with his blanky, boo-fucking-hoo.

The ONLY thing I actually sort of enjoyed in the book was the bit where Sandman was stalking Halloween Town, putting everyone to sleep, and Sally was hiding from him. That was actually kind of suspenseful and I wish Sandman was that threatening throughout.

And does Sandman get any punishment for taking over “Dream Town” and putting everyone in an eternal sleep?

Nope. But FINK gets punished! Firstly, Jack completely believes these two random doll creatures he has never met before and that say they’re Sally’s parents. He yells at Fink, without asking his dear old friend if any of this is even true. And then Fink gets 100 years of prison and community service, which is stupid because why the fuck would Holiday realm laws, much less HALLOWEEN TOWN laws, function the same as the real world’s?

Speaking of which, apparently Halloween Town’s an actual monarchy, and the Pumpkin King isn’t just a cool title for the face/mascot/figurehead of the realm. The book even lampshades this, but doesn’t take this anywhere further aside from Sally complaining she has to wear a crown and Jack doesn’t.

This whole book is stupid and I will never accept it as canon, ever.

What sucks about this is that I fucking PREORDERED the book! I thought it was gonna be a story about how and why Sally was created, and get some backstory/lore for Fink, as well as explanation of why his relationship with his creation got so bad. Maybe a little extra plot of how Sally and Jack met.

But it didn’t. I fucking cried. This book made me cry my fucking eyes out, out of anger and betrayal because my favourite character and his creation/daughter was butchered.

After reading the whole thing I threw the book in a little library and never looked back.

I’m still working on a complete and total rewrite/fix-it-fic, it’s just gotten put on the back-burner because of other projects I’m currently working/fixated on. Apologies for that. But I promise it won’t be forgotten!

EDIT: Oh yeah, and the Holiday rulers have a meeting about climate change. Because Holidays have super importance with the weather or some shit. I’m not fucking kidding.

EDIT 2: The author is also a New York Times best-seller which is already pretty suspicious since that is basically a huge scam. The book has hundreds of 4-5 star reviews that don't even really get into the specifics of WHY it's good. They're all either extreme Jack x Sally fans (the book starts off with them getting married and Sally's main dilemma is worrying about being "a good enough queen") that like anything tnbc/Jally related OR a bunch of people were paid to give this book glowing reviews.

[kairiscorner]

Can I get something with Miguel with a fem s/o that's a witch. Like they're both from the same dimension and he barely finds out she's not really using modern technology much, as she is using her own magic to complete daily tasks? 🎃

that is interesting,,, SURE ANON !!!

(reblogs are greatly appreciated, it helps get my content out there! if you guys like what you see, please reblog it too <:D)

miguel o'hara x witch!reader (headcanons and blurbs !!)

miguel would not be the type to believe in anything mystical nor magic, though after meeting you, he might've had some second thoughts when he saw your powers in action.

he used to think you were using simulations or advanced holographic technology to cast your spells and illusions, he is skeptical to a FAULT, he refuses to believe anything that can be explained beyond science exists.

showing him your magic for the first time scared him, because he couldn't explain through a scientific or logical manner how phenomena like that is possible. he did get amazed by how you can use your magic in practical ways, though, but he stands by the use of technology, he doesn't think he can do magic very well.

"this is... very intricate technology you have here." miguel said as he looked at the translucent creature you summoned, inspecting it all around. you looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "technology?" "what is it, nanotech? holograms? don't tell me you're an arts and design major, because as impressive as the design is, i can't believe you'd plant a million little cameras all for this." he said in subtle awe as he reached out to touch the 'hologram', when all of a sudden... it licked him; the creature reached out and licked him.

you chuckled as you placed your hand on the creature's snout, with it purring and nuzzling towards your palm. miguel stepped back a little and tried to comprehend what just happened. "it... licks." "it does." you said with a smile as miguel's hand felt wet and sopping. "how did you, um, program it to... to salivate?" "i didn't program, i summoned." you corrected him as he muttered under his breath something in spanish. "no, it's... it's a hologram." "familiars aren't holograms." miguel stayed silent as he tried to come up with a logical answer as to why the creature you had was able to salivate, and seemingly blink, breathe, smile, nuzzle up to you as if it had a corporeal form, and have a heartbeat. no way was magic the reason, right?

every time he calls for you to get him something, it's always there in an instant, even when you're lying down or lounging around because of your telekinetic magic. you don't have to fold clothes or get up to make a coffee for yourself, you do all that and more with your telekinesis, and... miguel is super jealous you don't need that much brain power to multitask, unlike him.

if you had teleportation magic, miguel NEVER gets used to you just randomly popping up behind or next to him. he always gets spooked by you whenever he just turns around and sees you there or hears your voice so closely that he jumps out of his skin.

your summoning magic is not only very helpful, but it kinda makes miguel a little competitive with you. he thinks he can make lyla summon stuff faster than you, but ultimately, AI just can't beat raw talent, and of course, your raw talent and aptitude at magic cannot be beaten.

he doesn't know too much about technology, however, since he majored in biology, but he thinks using technology is much more convenient and tries to teach you how to at least use a basic communication device.

you both have one thing in common, though, you both suck horribly at using 21st century technology.

"what the shock am i doing?" you asked yourself aloud as you tapped on the screen of the phone you borrowed from a random stranger to try and contact miguel. being stranded in the past is awful, especially when your powers were on the fritz that day for some reason and you couldn't contact miguel through any medium other than through the technology of the 21st century. the stranger tried helping you out, with you failing to understand fully how to make a call to him, but when you did call him, you were surprised to see his face so up close to the screen.

it took you both a few tries to talk through the phone, but eventually, you both managed to have a very choppy and unintelligible conversation that was courtesy of bad signal and free crappy wifi at the local coffee shop miguel was at. "man, fuck this." you muttered as you handed the stranger their phone back and tried to find him, but without technology from 2099 nor your powers, you were in for a shitty day ahead of you.

he will admit, though, your magic makes up for technology's shortcomings. your magic hardly fails or screw up badly since you've been a witch for a long time already, though he says it in the most forced out and long-winded way as possible like ,,,,

after you saved miguel's tight ass from that eldritch monster that threatened to destroy nueva york from the ground up with only the raw magic you could muster and the abilities you were taught from a very young age, miguel had... sort of admired you for what you did for him. he was relieved he was saved, but to know magic was what would save him and not the technology he invested so much of his time on, he had felt a little embarrassed that it couldn't hold a candle to your talents, but he shouldn't have to be surprised that you were this strong this whole time.

"um..." he began as he got to his feet, with you helping him up with your powers. "yeah?" "...you did very... very little to destroy the city more than that monster had. it's very commendable, o-on your part. i'm... i'm glad you understand your powers well enough to... to keep mass destruction from- from occurring." he said with a slight bashfulness in his tone. "...and thank you for... helping evacuate all those people. i-i mean, i could've done it, but, y'know, the monster and all had like, 8 tentacles and i only have 4 limbs, so..." "you're welcome, miguel." you said with a bright smile, which made him even more flustered and embarrassed at how humble you were, how you didn't brag about how right you were that magic truly was a powerful asset, even in the 22nd century.

he tried not to expose himself for his embarrassment and tried to tell you how you could use the tech he gifted you to your advantage, but he couldn't even do that when he realized his tech couldn't even hold the monster back and had to get you to help him with your magic. "if it's... possible, would you like to... teach me some basic... basic... shock it, would you please teach me some basic magic?" he finally blurted out, to which you immediately said, 'yes!' to. he couldn't believe he was doing this, but, he had to admit, your magic was a force to be reckoned with; you were a force to be reckoned with. he wants to keep his home, family, friends and... you safe, of course, so to do that, he'd have to learn from the best of the best to get a little more creative and find better solutions to keep this city safe.

tags !! @miguelswifey04 @binibinileonara @simsrandomstuff @fiannee @luvstarrstruck @popeheywardssecretgf @meeom @arachnoia @melovetitties @ophanimgold

[japhan2024]

I had no idea you liked star trek too, I just knew you for smosh and Dan and Phil. That's so cool!! Would you be willing to write a little ianthony star trek au? Or have you already? No problem if not, I know that's kinda vague. Love your blog btw :)

Yes I LOVE Star Trek! I literally had so much fun writing this, it got a bit out of control LOL! But yeah I hope you like it!!

The logical choice

Words: 2,436

Genre: action/adventure, a Star Trek episode, first kiss

Rating: teen or general audiences

Read on AO3:

"Captain's log, stardate ???[writer's note: I can't do math!]. What would have been a diplomatic mission to Vulcan, a completely safe route, turned out to become something quite different. Ian was going to let our starship T'hy'la be blessed, and we would join a Vulcan fleet to covertly inspect the edges of Federation space. But all of a sudden, we were violently sucked into a wormhole, and were spat out, smack dab in the middle of the Delta Quadrant."

Anthony paused. He looked out of the window of his suite. He'd read a lot about Captain Janeway's voyages through this quadrant, and her years long quest to get back home. Panic stirred deep within him. He shut his eyes tightly and took a few deep breaths.

"We've been stranded here for a few days now. Chief Agnew, Ensign Bowe and their crew have been hard at work to repair the damage done by the violent yanking through space that T'hy'la has endured. Our deflector shields malfunctioned and structural integrity scraped by within an inch of collapsing. I truly believe that a bout of fate has saved us."

His communicator chimed. It was a benign sound, but it still made him jump.

"Captain, we've done all we can. Technically the ship works, but we lost a lot of deuterium. We repaired the injection subsystem, Tommy really outdid himself. But it's no use, we can't start with this little fuel."

"Thank you, Spencer," Anthony answered, trying to sound comforting. "You've done well. it may be time for us to try and reach out for help."

The door beeped.

"Come in."

"Captain," Ian strode into the room.

Anthony's Number One, and a Vulcan, Ian somehow always calmed Anthony down. And it was better, the closer they stood to each other.

"Number One, please tell me what you think of the situation?"

"We have done short- and long range scans, and have found no life-forms or ships. However," Ian raised one sharp eyebrow, "We did scan a gaseous nebula. It's all around us and could be the reason our sensors didn't pick anything up. Although it is not without risk, logic suggests we send out a distress signal."

"Agreed." Anthony sighed. Who knows what kind of aliens were out and about here, but they might as well try.

~

"Amanda, what's the matter?" Mister Topp, the ship's EMH, asked with kind, light-blue eyes.

"Shayne, I feel something big," she collapsed dramatically on a medical bed in the sickbay. "It's something I've never felt before, and you know I sense almost anything, being quarter Betazoid. "I- I don't know. It's not good, but also not evil. It's just... something infinite, almost. Like an ultimate power. It makes me dizzy."

"Well," Shayne smirked, "Courtney was just here, and her ego does tend to be infinitely big. I guess her Klingon side gives her the extra confidence." He sighed. "But she could be a bit nicer to me."

"Shayne," Trevor intervened. "You were flirting with her the entire time. She wasn't even here for a medical exam. She just checked in on us to see if everything was safe and you insisted she take three different blood tests! I'd be annoyed too," he laughed.

"I wish I could sense how you're feeling," Amanda beamed at Shayne. "But I can't sense a hologram. I do know how Courtney feels, though..." She winked at Shayne, who blushed.

"Amanda, it seems like you're back to normal. Please report back here if that changes again. Bye now!"

"Not without my hug," she teased.

"Why do Betazoids always want to hug!"

"I think it's just her," Trevor giggled.

"Get in here!" Amanda commanded. After the group hug, she went back to her Ship's counsellor's office.

Her communicator chimed.

"Hello commander Hecox," she smiled, as she sat down and crossed her legs over the couch, usually reserved for her patients.

"Counsellor Lehan-Canto. We need to talk."

~

Keith, the ship's Conn officer, observed the Bridge while captain Padilla was resting. He had never thought he'd be this far from home, but there he was, in the Delta Quadrant. Strangely, he wasn't worried. He looked at the beautiful multicolored nebula outside.

Suddenly, he got a transmission request.

"Captain, to the Bridge, we're being hailed!"

Not a moment later, Anthony walked in. "On screen," he commanded.

"WELL WELL WELL," a grinning, huffing alien said to them. "WHAT HAVE WE HERE!!! A NICE STARFLEET SHIP, NO LESS! "WHAT ARE YOU DOING SO FAR FROM HOME?"

"This is captain Anthony Padilla of the starship T'hy'la. I assume you received our distress call."

"WE SURE DID, RIGHT, GUYS?" the alien looked at two very beautiful and scantily-clothed people on each side of her.

"Oh yes, Angela, we sure did," one of them replied with a honey-sweet voice.

"YES, WE DID, CAPTAIN. LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF. I'M ANGELA, AND THESE ARE MY FRIENDS CHANSE AND ARASHA. And..." Angela lowered her voice menacingly, "you have invaded OUR space."

"We've been sucked into a wormhole against our will and are stranded here without deuterium. We could trade you for it, We have latinum on board. Don't Ferengi always like a good deal?

"HA! YOU THINK YOU KNOW THE FERENGI HUH! Yeah, we do always want a good deal. But I don't think you'll be able to give us one. Your starship is called T'hy'la? HA! What a weak Vulcan/human hybrid concept. Don't you know the Rules of Acquisition? Rule 21: Never place friendship above profit. So, my little FRIEND, why don't you give your ship to me, and I will send you on your way back to the wormhole?"

Anthony scoffed. "I'm sorry, but have you scanned our ship? We could easily defeat you."

"Well..." Angela smirked even wider, and scratched behind her enormous ear. "I guess I didn't make myself clear. If you DON'T give me your ship, you will be dealing with my friends. Not these idiots here," she gestured to Chanse and Arasha. "I mean them."

And in one moment, all hope left Anthony's soul: two large, square spaceships emerged. It was the Borg.

" HAHAHA! You have one hour to respond!"

Angela disconnected.

"Red Alert," Anthony commanded.

~

The sirens were wailing through the ship.

"Not Red Alert again? We just fixed up the entire ship!" Tommy threw up his hands in exasperation.

Spencer put his gloved hand on his shoulder. "I was really hoping we could go to the holodeck and play DnD again. But it's not in the cards for us this time."

"Sword and shield in hand," Tommy bumped his shoulder into Spencer.

"Saving the day, just like we do everyday at work!"

"Even though I never get a promotion!"

"You really should, Tommy."

They were play-fighting with their engineer gear, and seeing Spencer laugh and goof off, suddenly made Tommy realize something. He was in love with his boss.

"Hey, why'd you stop?" Spencer was still booping him with a pretend-sword.

"You're adorable."

"Dude. I know."

"I mean... I..."

"AB," Ian said, walking quickly past them.

"Did he make up a nickname for us?!" Tommy said, wide-eyed. "Do Vulcans do that?"

"I think Amanda has been teaching him to be more normal, I mean, better at communication. Not doing that is normal for a Vulcan, of course."

"Imagine them together in a room!" Tommy laughed. A Vulcan and a Betazoid, they couldn't be more opposite!"

"Well, if I can sense anything, it's that those two have some chemistry going on," Spencer said with a smug look on his face. "I mean, she calls everyone 'imzadi' but her voice is softer when she says it to Ian. Huh... But sorry, you were going to say something?"

"Oh..." Tommy blushed. "Nevermind..."

~

"Ian, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Amanda visited Ian's quarters. It was very clean and neat and indeed very Vulcan.

"Please, sit," Ian gestured to the one table in the room, with two small chairs.

They both sat down. Amanda couldn't help but feel attracted to Ian's stoic earnest. And he was cute, too...

"I heard you sensed a presence, ever since we've been stranded here."

"Yes! I have been, and it seems like it's getting stronger too! If that is even possible. It's like we're at the epicenter of something."

"I sense it too."

"You do?"

"Yes. We Vulcans might not show our emotions, but we feel a lot of things. And I have felt this once before. Amanda, we are in grave danger."

~

"Ia- Number One!" Anthony was so glad to see Ian as he walked onto the Bridge.

"We are very much outnumbered, captain," Ian said. "It would be logical to surrender."

Ian walked closer to Anthony. Anthony sighed in relief. Whatever would come next, he could bear it with Ian at his side.

"But I advice against it."

"What?"

"The Ferengi woman is the obvious culprit, luring ships here to loot and then let them be assimilated by the Borg. However... She is not the one in control here."

Ian and Anthony heard clapping behind them.

"Well done, commander Hecox," a woman with long black hair, dressed in all black, spoke.

"Who are you?" Anthony demanded.

"She is Q, the most powerful being in the universe."

"You know her, Ian?"

"I know her, from long ago. She called herself Olivia Sui then."

"And I kept my eye on you, Ian. I expected great things from you! And even though you are obviously the smartest one on this ship of idiots, you've become boring! You used to make me laugh, Ian..."

Anthony felt a sudden annoyance at this Q. Why was she so interested in his Number One?!

"What do you want, Q?"

"What do I want?! I want to laugh again, damnit! So," and she snapped her fingers, and the entire ship was gone. Instead, he, Ian and Amanda stood in an empty, white world. Angela, Arasha and Chanse were also there. "If you make me laugh first, I'll zap you straight home! But if not... then you're back at the mercy of Angela here."

Amanda, Anthony and Ian huddled together.

"So, is she an ex of yours or something?" Amanda whispered.

"We were betrothed once."

"What?!" Anthony fumed.

"Ha, your anger amuses me already, captain. But I'm not laughing just yet!"

Anthony looked straight at Q, and began to mime. Physical humor was his strong suit. He fell over, mimed that he was stuck, rolled over the ground... to no avail.

"You failed! Next!"

Angela walked forward.

"SO, HERE'S THE JOKE! TWO BARS OF LATINUM WALKED ACROSS THE STREET! AND ONE OF THEM SAID, LET ME WALK IN THE MIDDLE NOW"

"Elementary concept, expertly executed," Q said. "But not enough to make me laugh. NEXT!"

Amanda walked forward. She got really close to Q, and Anthony felt Ian tense up. He took his hand. Ian squeezed extremely hard. He probably forgot his Vulcan strength for a second.

Wait, did Ian care this much about Amanda? Were they- was Ian just dating everyone and Anthony didn't know it? He figured, he couldn't blame the girls. Ian was so handsome, so strong...

"I guess you don't know who I am," Amanda began. "I am the daughter of Deanna Troi and William Riker. That makes me one quarter Betazoid... and I sense that you don't want to laugh at all. You want to FEEL something. And I'll give it to you. I've reached a certain age, you know..." Amanda tip-toed her fingers up Q's arm.

"Give mommy a smooch!"

"Noo, no, get away from me!" Q took a few steps away.

"HA! THERE, YOU GIGGLED!"

"Did not!"

"I saw it! You laughed, Q!"

"Okay, fine, I did! But I'm not done just yet! I guess I will zap you and your stupid ship back home.... after.... THEY kiss."

"Who?"

"The captain and his Number One."

"What?" Ian and Anthony said in sync.

"Yeah, hahaha! That will really make my day! Don't tell me you haven't sensed it, Betazoid? They are all in."

Amanda looked down. She really liked Ian and he liked her too, but she knew that his heart belonged to his captain. On all their intergalactic adventures, Ian had saved Anthony so many times and vice versa, they had developed an unbreakable bond. They had never acted on it before, but now, apparently it was the only thing that would save them.

"So, you cooked up this whole charade, just to get them to kiss?"

"What? It's not a charade, I'm eternally bored, I had to think of something!"

Q walked up to Ian and Anthony. "Now, do the thing," she said, pressing her two index fingers together.

Ian looked at Anthony. The intense warmth of his brown eyes overwhelmed the Vulcan. He would normally never show it, in fact he had never given Anthony a clue that he was interested. But he was. All the times he had seen Anthony change clothes, when Anthony had hugged him after they were safe from danger, he had never reciprocated. But now, he had no choice.

"It's only logical that we do this. But I have to confess, Anthony... I've been longing for a kiss from you for an eternity. And I need to know if you're okay with it now."

Anthony blushed deeply. Was Ian just saying this because of the situation? Why did he make it more dramatic than it needed to be? "Ian... Have you really? I've loved you for such a long time... And I've also always wanted an opportunity to kiss you. But I never dared, I never thought it was appropriate, seeing as I'm your captain and all."

"Yes, you acted logically as well."

"Ian..."

Anthony took Ian's chin between his fingers and pushed it upwards.

"Excellent!" Q said, but they didn't hear her.

"Anthony..." Anthony saw a wild fire ignite between Ian's eyes. It was scary but Anthony wasn't afraid. He pressed his lips agains Ian's.

Ian growled and kissed him back, grabbing on Anthony's curls. Anthony couldn't believe the feeling. It was scorching hot, but so, so comfortable. He wanted to stay like this forever.

When he opened his eyes, they were back on the T'hy'la and back in the Alpha Quadrant.

"Are you okay, captain?"

Anthony looked at Ian. He could cry. Nobody remembered anything, except for him.

"I- I need to take a break..."

He walked off the bridge. As if by magic, Amanda was waiting for him there.

"Captain, I sensed your emotions, they quickly heightened. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I think that's best, Counsellor."

"Come on, I'll take you to my office."

[maebyshifting]

hey, apologies if this doesnt make sense, its like 1 am and i just got done with dance lol

so, bascially, im doubting shifting. How can i know if its real? Anti-shifters call shifting schizophrenia (however you spell it) or some sort of lucid dreaming. i dont want to waste my time if something isnt real yk? and other people say its just imagination and that i’m stupid for believing that i can shift realities. how can i fully believe shifting, with the little amount of evidence there is?

im not an anti-shifter btw, just curious! also sorry if these questions dont make sense, im in middle school and my english sucks (even though its my first language, lmao)

have a good day! happy shifting <333

shifting antis are usually people who gave up shifting they never shifted or genuinely think it’s a dream and we’re making things up.

i have lucid dreamt for a bit now. while dreams feel real, once you realize you’re dreaming and go lucid, everything feels malleable. shifting doesn’t feel like that. there’s a lucid dreaming term called persistent dreams or persistent realms (something along these lines) that has been talked about for a long time that is basically describing shifting using the lucid dream method under a different name.

lucid dreaming was heavily criticized when i was a kid (and way before even that) because it seemed impossible that people could control their dreams. now there’s tons of research on it. we are a tiny speck in a vast universe that is constantly expanding. if shifting is a super realistic version of lucid dreaming? i’m okay with that! i still know the experiences that i’ll experience are real to me. doesn’t matter what other people think.

because there’s not much research it can be hard to believe. but then i remember shifters talking about their grandparents shifting and keeping it to themselves, not putting a name on it. i think about our younger selves who shifted because our imaginations were so powerful to us. i think of the relief people feel when they shift for the first time. i think of the community that’s been brought together that gains nothing from lying about this. most of all i think about how we discovered this thing for a reason.

best advice i can give is join communities that allow you to talk to other shifters. shiftblr, discord servers, etc. are places you can talk to people who are likeminded and lots of people have genuine stories. for me, i keep shifting as a private thing only for myself and don’t really talk about it with irl friends. i’m not saying you have to do that, but that’s the balance that’s worked for me. but everyone’s different! listen to peoples stories and experiences and it helps so much <3 i hope that helps a little bit? my dms are open so feel free to dm me if you need anything!

[samuel-is-an-idiot]

I love seeing realistic kids like Atreus who gets cocky when he learns he isnt sick or cursed like he's believed his whole life but he's a god, because it's REALISTIC, a 12 year old kid learning he has powers would get cocky, he got knocked some sense into in the end and that's what matters.

I like seeing the violent shifts between his character arcs; this is how 12 year old kids are they're all or nothing!

I LOVE RAGNAROK ATREUS! He's awkward, he's a dumbass, he makes mistakes, he talks back, has outbursts- he's a teen! He thinks he's invincible and untouchable and we get to see him be beaten, wounded and corrupted. We see the whole process of growing up! We see a character, a person growing in and out of toxic phases and learning from their mistakes!

Atreus is a work in progress he's not finished yet, not ready to go on his own he still needs and seeks guidance, which is why he gets corrupted, why he gets trapped and controlled by Odin but once he's ready he goes, he leaves. He leaves to live on his own and to finish his work in progress on his own, with purpose and his father's voice in his head. And that's growing up for you.

I recognize myself easily in Atreus, a kid who had to grow up too fast due to some event regarding his mother, who sees the best in people no matter what has been done or has happened to him, who has had to evolved and skip important steps of his evolution to get to where his father needed him to be at the moment. A kid who does his best and still manages to fuck up and disappoint a father who was absent during his childhood but is now very real and present in his life though not yet emotionally available but he's getting there, you can do it dad/Kratos. But at the same time the father is very proud of the kid because he's his kid still but he's kind of a dumbass sometimes, but he doesnt know how to communicate his feelings correctly and thinks the kid already know it but he doesnt actually but the kid doesnt dare ask for it just in case this might be a mistake as well.

I see myself in Atreus because I too have lost a mother and gained a father and I too am struggling with what is my purpose in this world. So i make mistakes. Because that's what happens when you grow up. You fuck up. Atreus is a great character I'm really proud of his evolution.

All that to say: If you do mistakes; good. Grow, learn from them, take from them what you can. And even if they suck, if they're scary as fuck you cant avoid them so embrace them. Like a fucking tornado in the face. Just avoid freeing giant dogs from Helheim. Also; be as awkward and as much of a dumbass as you can while you can; do stupid shit. Have fun. Be a kid, be a teen while you can cause some people couldnt.

TLDR: Atreus is a realistic character that I love dearly and we may have the same backstory somehow. Also: be dumb, make mistakes and break the elderly with your awkward references and social skills!

[toushindai]

Seeing your thoughts on Rauru, I am now curious: how do you approach Ganondorf as a character? How does that compare or contrast with how you think about Rauru?

Thank you for the ask and all your thoughtful comments!! I've really appreciated them.

Approaching Ganondorf has been a different, more conscious process from how I approached Rauru; when I sat down to start brainstorming "A Sense of Entitlement" there was very much a moment where I had to ask myself "well, what am I trying to communicate about Ganondorf here?" I felt like, because I was putting all this mental work into complicating Rauru, I owed it to Ganondorf to complicate him as well, but I don't think the game presents quite as many juicy contradictions in Ganondorf's character. The game doesn't really seem interested in a well-rounded Ganondorf, a Ganondorf who has a point in resisting Hyrule's formation. Which sucks! Thank god we've all invented fanfiction and can do whatever we want forever.

It took me a little while to pin down the exact shape of him, but what I did decide on very early was that he is just deeply unhappy, the way a bottomless pit is unhappy. Nothing can fill him up besides being in control and exerting that control cruelly. Trace that backwards a bit--back further than he is willing to trace it, because there could be weakness at its source--and there is a paranoia, an inability to trust: only force and domination can be trusted to be real, anything else will be toppled when a strong enough force comes along. Any ally who does not fall 100% in line must be brought into line or self-evidently cannot be trusted. And then peel that feeling back a little more and I see alienation and a hideous, howling loneliness. A how-do-you-survive-this loneliness. And that's the feeling I place at his core--though it's well and truly obliterated from his conscious awareness.

I like writing about alienation? Not realizing that you're queer and autistic until you're in your twenties will do that to you, eh. The alienation from his people that I see in Ganondorf I do honestly read as a bit of a queer one, specifically, given that he is the only person in his culture who is going to exist in his gender category for the entire length of his lifespan. I think that has to feel pretty weird! I think it has to feel alienating, even if the form the alienation takes is that of putting him on a pedestal as king (but also, I have to assume--I will take the liberty of assuming--still being suspicious of other voe in a way that would be obviously visible to Ganondorf). In the fic I have him speaking of the Eighth Heroine, and while when I originally wanted that to be something he learned from Twinrova to inspire him to take pride in himself and the people he would one day lead, I uh. I had to nix that idea because the story of the Eighth Heroine doesn't accomplish that. It is not a story that would make a male Gerudo feel welcome among his people OR reassure him of his people's power! (It is frankly a bad story.) So instead it's something he found when he was--as a much younger man--searching for any evidence that a voe might have a place integrated into Gerudo society. The answer he found was "lmao not even if you save our entire ass 😌." He does not like this story. But to acknowledge how rejected it made him feel would be to look at something he believes is weakness, so instead he focuses on his disgust that even the Seven Heroines needed the strength of an outsider to conquer their enemy.

He has no place in his culture but he has an inescapably prescriptive place in his culture. He was raised knowing that he would be king, that everything he desired would be given to him because he is male. It is impossible to say textually what Twinrova wanted for him because they are. easter eggs. and so I just had to make it up: and what I decided was that they wanted him to be a conqueror, to lead the Gerudo and take over the rest of the land (solidified at some point during his lifespan into the kingdom of Hyrule). They wanted him to rule the Gerudo and the Gerudo to rule the world; but when Ganondorf lost his faith in his kinswomen he also lost interest in being an arm of the Gerudo and instead just wanted power for power's sake. I said this in a comment response but if the game is not going to give me a Ganondorf who is resisting Hyrule for the sake of his people--if it is going to give me a Ganondorf who, upon ascension to the form of the Demon King, seemingly abandons his Gerudo soldiers (Gerudo soldiers who were on board with his attacks on Hyrule! COME BACK THAT WAS INTERESTING) to go joyriding with a bunch of monsters and a rather cool horse instead--then I am going to make that a part of the tragedy of his character. It is a tragedy that he is so disconnected from his people. It is an enormous gaping hole inside him, this lack of connection with anyone.

But to acknowledge that, to feel it, would be to feel weak, and he cannot ever allow that. So he converts it all into cruelty and hatred and misery. He looks at people who have allied with each other and judges them weak for loving peace, for joining together instead of tearing each other apart. (In the Japanese, I am told, he explicitly hates the Zonai for accelerating this process.) He looks at any subordinate--or frankly at any other Gerudo--who does not fall in line with his agenda of unflinching conquest and scorns them for disloyalty and softheartedness. He hates whatever he sees and that hatred would be all-consuming if he were not so strong, so deliberately in control of himself. NOT to toot my own horn but I'm damn proud of this sentence:

Each movement is almost a meditation on his rage, fostering a measured alliance with the disgust and hatred he feels.

I think that is how he experiences just about every waking second. He has cut off all his access to happiness that does not come from dominating and taking away the power and happiness of others, and he has walked so far down this path--each step taking him further away from holistic contentment, each step taking him closer to the ability to dominate all he sees--that he could never turn back now.

Urbosa could've fixed him. imo. when he was much younger. (I'm saying this like a joke but I mean it.)

WAit I forgot to get into how he contrasts with Rauru. The thing between them is that both of them want power, want to have power over others; but Rauru hides this from himself because he thinks the desire for power is evil and he wants to think himself good, whereas Ganondorf... I think is probably comfortable thinking of himself as evil, or at least as what others term evil. And his comfort with his desire for power allows him to wield it much more effectively than Rauru does. We've got a bit of a hard power/soft power contrast going on. Ganondorf believes in power and physical force but Rauru's power lies in diplomacy and civility. In the trappings of social niceties. Ganondorf subjects himself to this framework by swearing his false fealty to Hyrule and finds it more ensnaring than he enjoys (he enjoys it zero), but once he has the opportunity to actually act in his own element by seizing Sonia's secret stone, the social niceties are powerless against his brute force.

[electronickingdomfox]

"World Without End" review

A novel from 1979, by Joe Haldeman (author of the previous TOS novel "Planet of Judgement"). This is one of those stories where an initial minor problem keeps compounding more and more, until everyone is in the brink of death... and then there are Klingons on top. The story is pretty exciting; would have made a nice movie. The downside is that the constant action and fast pace leaves little room for character development, but the personalities are all there.

Also, though it's not exactly a comedic novel, there's a pretty funny snarky tone going around (not intentional on the side of the aliens, but very much on purpose on the side of the crew, specially McCoy). As well as the occasional touch of black humor. So I found myself chuckling more with this novel than the others so far.

Also attention for Scotty/Uhura fans. This is the first time they're seen as a romantic couple, years before The Final Frontier.

Spoilers under the cut:

The Enterprise finds a spherical ship with life aboard (AGAIN!? the two previous TOS novels also had bubble worlds). The ship is losing power, and will eventually be dead in space with no energy, so Kirk, McCoy, a linguist, and two redshirts beam inside the sphere to warn the natives. They appear in a city, populated by some bizarre, furry and winged aliens, that at first ignore them. But then, they call their police and put them in jail. The aliens, called Chatalia, insist that Kirk and co. are members of the "magician" caste, who aren't supposed to be there. And later they believe they're Klingons, who had visited the planet centuries ago, as proven by a derelict Klingon ship on the sphere's surface. No matter how they try to explain they're humans, the aliens won't believe there's anything outside their own sphere. Also, they can't beam back to the Enterprise, since a layer of super-dense metal in the sphere's structure makes the transporter to work one-way only (it's funny, because Scotty can still beam food and all sorts of junk to Kirk, so they get some kind of instant home delivery service).

Through the help of a Chatalia interpreter, the landing party learns more about the alien society. This is stratified into castes to an absurd point, so a member of a caste can't talk to the member of another, as they don't even share the same language. Apart from the Chatalias, the magicians are a different species (more similar to devils), who are tasked with the creation of more Chatalias via cloning (since the aliens are all sexless), and live in a separate island. There's some satire here about closed off, hierarchical societies, that can't see beyond their own traditions and narrow view of the world. Anyway, as the Chatalias are still convinced that Kirk and his men are magicians, they send a magician to their cell, so he can judge what to do with them himself. The magician chooses to kill them all save Kirk. This is Spock's cue to enter, as he's been listening everything from the Enterprise through an open communicator. Spock beams down to the cell and stuns all the aliens. After freeing Kirk and the others, they take the magician and the Chatalia interpreter as hostages. And everyone starts a perilous journey to Mordor the magician's island. In the way, they encounter defective, feral Chatalias in the jungle, as well as all sorts of grotesque creatures (amazingly, no redshirt dies throughout the whole novel). They also need to fly over a lake to reach the magician's island, using artificial wings, and taking advantage of the low gravity at the sphere's axis.

Meanwhile, Scotty has been left in charge of the Enterprise, and things start looking really ugly. The planetoid has trapped the ship with some invisible tendrils of super-dense metal (as it did with the old Klingon ship), and they're sucking all the energy from it. To make things worse, the Enterprise's distress message was intercepted by a Klingon ship. So the Klingons have launched a nova bomb to dispose of the dangerous sphere, as well as the trapped Enterprise, as collateral damage. Everyone save Scotty is beaming down to the planet, hoping to survive a little longer there. While Scotty is left alone in the dying ship, to divert the bomb at the last moment, if possible. Scotty and Uhura basically confess their love for each other before saying goodbye. And it's really sweet and sad. There's a pretty poignant scene then, as Scotty spends his last hours alone, drinking brandy, with all systems failing around him. Later, the Klingon captain is stupid enough to beam aboard the freezing Enterprise, so he and Scotty end up cuddling together under a blanket, drinking more brandy, and complaining about each other's smell. They part as friends.

In the end, Kirk, Spock and the others come face to face with the true engineer of the Chatalia's world: the Father Machine, responsible of cloning the aliens and supplying the world-ship with energy. It's some kind of giant, sentient artichoke. And of course, Spock can't resist the urge of melding with it. Things happen etc... And I didn't understand this part very well, but the crew can finally beam back to the ship, and power is restored to the Enterprise. Spock's conclusion is that the giant artichoke had a better sense of humor than McCoy.

Apart from the plot, there are some curious elements introduced in this novel: It seems that Vulcans don't perspire (???? Is this ever mentioned in the series? I honestly don't know). Klingons have two livers. Possibly the first introduction of this concept of Klingon's organ redundancy. There's a Disneyland park in Earth's moon, called Disneymoon. Kirk's father was some sort of amish politician who made his son work in the farm. And at some point, Kirk lets out a "yeehaw!" as the cowboy he is, while riding a six-legged rat. Also, we see some interesting aspects of Klingon religion, which is as sadistic as you'd imagine.

Spirk Meter: 0/10*. Would you look at that!? Really, given the little space for character interaction outside the plot, it's not so surprising.

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.

[meatydilfpp]

Like Moth to Flame (Stu Marcher x fem!Reader)

Summary: Stu had always been followed by some kind of darkness, that most people did not seem to realise. You however, revelled in it.

In which reader is equally deranged as Stu, and suspects he had something to do with the murders of Casey and her boyfriend. She wants him to open up to her and be hers once and for all.

Warnings/Tags: Explicit sexual content, obsessive behaviour, infatuation, vaginal fingering, oral (f receiving), unprotected sex, creampies, discussions of murder, mentions of blood, reader is equally deranged as Stu is. No use of Y/N, reader has no physical description other than being shorter than Stu. Reader has female anatomy.

Words: 4.3k

Cross-posted on ao3.

A/N: This is my first time writing fan fiction since 2018 and I wanna come back strong baby. Additionally, this is my first time ever posting on tumblr so pls be kind while I learn to navigate. I found the lack of exclusive Stu x reader fics disturbing, so I did something about it. Likes and reblogs, as always, greatly appreciated.

Guys, I want the constructive criticism, so feel free to rant about it in my asks if you want! More to come soon x

Also, not beta read 😬

Stu had always been followed by some kind of darkness, that most people did not seem to realise. A kind of malevolent energy followed his every step and action, even though he appeared like a typical teenage boy, forever shrouded in the shadow of Billy Loomis, the guy every girl in school wanted to date, and every boy in school wanted to be mates with. You however, revelled in that darkness, drawn to it like a moth to flame. It was just as well that Stu himself was incredibly social and engaged in regular conversation with you, about everything and anything. It sometimes made you wonder if he was drawn to you the way you were drawn to him. You didn’t have many friends, just a small group of people, you weren’t part of any clubs or societies, you were just there, going to classes, then home, rinse and repeat.

So when the murders of Casey Becker and her boyfriend shook everyone else to the core, you were unbelievably intrigued. And the only person who seemed to be just as unfased as you was Stu.

“I’m just saying, it seems counter productive to call the person you’re trying to kill beforehand. Gets rid of your element of surprise.” Stu said looking down at you as he leaned against a locker and sucking on a lollipop. Next period was soon, and you needed to grab a few books from your locker for your next class. “No you’re right, but-“ you slammed the door to your locker shut, “It’s more fun that way.” You finished with a slight smirk on your face looking up at him. He was so much taller.

More fun that way. Stu could feel his cheeks getting hotter and the fire at the pit of his belly growing larger at your words. You understood. You were just like him. He was sure that if you were to be let out and do something as heinous as what he and Billy have been doing, you would do just as well if not better. Billy had his own motives for what they had done and were planning to do, but he was just there for the thrill of it. Seeing someone beg for their life on their knees in front of him, while he had the power to take it all away, made him feel like a god. Stu had been speaking to you for a while now, he knew you were interested in true crime, horror movies and the like. For a while he believed that your interests simply ended there. Something that intrigued you, something to do to pass the time. But ever since the case of Casey broke out in the community, he has seen nothing but genuine interest in finding out who Ghostface was from you. Not the simplicity of finally identifying who the killer is, but something deeper. He saw how you wanted to get to know him on a more substantial level, understand his motives, his thought process, everything. Sometimes he wondered what you’d do if he told you. Even better, how would things be if you joined him instead of Billy.

He looked down at you with a smirk on his face “Oh yeah? How would you do it then?” You hummed in thought as you walked with him to your next class. You figured if you went into too much detail he’d probably freak out, so instead you simply said: “I would make sure she knew I was coming for her. Nothing personal, but you know, if I am to do something horrible like that, I should at least go all out.”

“So you’d go for something slasher-like or?”

“Slasher. The more blood the better.” You cut him off.

He could barely contain his smile, every word coming out of your mouth drew you to him even more. He had to find a way to get closer to you. He even felt the need to drop in front of you on his knees and tell you everything. You’d probably shake your head at him disappointed and berate him for his sloppiness. He hoped you’d tell him how to do it better, give him ideas, maybe even tell him who to go after next.

“I didn’t think you’d be so messy with it. Being sloppy can lead to getting caught, you know.” He said.

“How do you know Stu, have you done this before?” You asked as you rounded a corner on your way to your classroom. You didn’t know why, but you had a feeling Stu was somehow involved. Logically, you had no reason to suspect him, no more than anyone else in the school, but you felt it deep within you that he wasn’t innocent. There was a glint in his eye every time the incident was brought up, a suppressed look of pride at his actions that he wasn’t able to let out. You wanted to pull that out from him, wanted him to open up to you and only you. If he was Ghostface that is. You were aware that you might be hallucinating the whole thing, but you wouldn’t let that stop you. You wanted to draw that side of him out, and you’d try your best to do just that. The answers to his questions were genuine, and the way he looked at you made you want to fall to your knees for him and worship him; reward him for a job well done. Clean his knives for him, wipe the blood from his face.

“Are you serious?” He quipped back, a slight frown on his face, and you shrugged.

“You seem to know an awful lot Stu.” You said looking up at him suspiciously.

Suddenly, you saw his chest in front of you and you felt yourself be pushed against the wall. Stu leaned his head to look down at you, his one hand toying with the lollipop between his lips. “So do you.” His voice was low “You wouldn’t want me to think it is you, now would you?”

Your eyes danced between his plump lips and icy blue eyes. You toyed with the idea of telling him that it was you, and see his reaction to you taking credit for his work. You decided otherwise, you wouldn’t want to get to his bad side after all, even though you knew he was aware that this was a game for the both of you.

“It’s not me, Stu.” You gently placed your hand on his chest, your eyes staring up at him from underneath your eyelashes. He didn’t say anything back, his eyes boring into yours, his heartbeat a steady rhythm underneath your fingertips. You were so close to him, physically that is, that you could feel the heat radiating off of him. Suddenly, you noticed how red his lips seemed, probably from the lollipop he was sucking. You wanted to take it from him, so that he would finally be able to lean down and place his lips on top of yours. His deep breathing seemed like he was about to do just that, before he let out a deep chuckle that resonated within you.

“You wouldn’t have it in you anyway.” he taunted as he leaned away to let you resume your walking. That statement alone made you want to kill him. He didn’t know what you were and weren’t capable of doing. If he gave you a chance you could prove him wrong any day, properly show him how you would’ve done it.

You shook your head at him. “Whatever you say, Stu.” You turned around to walk away before the sound of your name brought you to a halt.

“Come over to my place tonight.” He said with a look full of confidence, like he was sure you wouldn’t deny him. You were certainly intrigued, this would be the first time you’d hang out with him outside school, and you had zero inclination as to what he may possibly want from you. Regardless, you wanted to humour him, and above all you wanted to be alone with him. It was very obvious you were into him, in more ways than just physically. The darkness that drew you to him seemed to be drawing him to you equally and you wouldn’t pass that opportunity.

“Okay.” You simply said before turning around and heading to your next class, leaving him standing in the middle of the hallway, as people passed by him.

——

Later in the evening, after school, after homework, and after contemplating every possible scenario regarding tonight’s encounter, you suddenly found yourself in Stu’s bedroom, some horror film playing in the background. The room itself held a mix of horror memorabilia, along with the remnants of a seemingly ordinary life- books, movie posters, and a well-worn jacker casually thrown over his desk chair. Your legs crossed, you were sitting on top of his bed, your back against the headboard, the muted glow of a single desk lamp casting an amber hue. Stu was sat next to you, his side touching yours, the heat from his body keeping you warm. A million thoughts were racing through your head, as he hadn’t said anything profound the entire night. Just a single greeting as he met you at his front door, and a question about what horror film you guys should watch. This was all so uncharacteristic of him, his usual loud, outgoing, albeit sometimes annoying demeanour being totally replaced by a quiet, stoic version of himself. A deep sense of discomfort filled you as a result, with a strong desire hidden underneath. Somehow you knew, this was him, not the loud obnoxious guy you knew from school, but this calculating, slightly cold man that was now sat next to you.

A shrill scream sounded from the television, some girl being close to her death probably, but you weren’t paying much attention anyway. You didn’t know if you wanted to climb on Stu’s lap, or confront him about everything.

“See, in real life she wouldn’t sound like that.” His voice was low, his eyes still glued to the screen. Your head snapped at him with the sound of his voice, a stark contrast to the otherwise silent room. You felt as if this was an invitation for you to prod further.

“Yeah?” Your voice barely above a whisper. “How would it be then?” You continued, as you looked up at the side of his face. The glow from the lamp was accentuating his features, the dip of his cheekbones, and the near black of his irises as he turned his head towards you.

“Well, for starters, she wouldn’t scream like that. She’d be too panicked to make any sound.” He said in a low voice as his eyes trailed down your face to your lips. “Then, when she realises what’s going to happen to her, then she’ll scream.” His hand was trailing up to grasp the side of your face bringing you closer to him. “She wouldn’t last long though. I would end her before she made too much noise.” He finished as his breath fanned your face. Your heart was about to beat out of your chest, the way he spoke as if he was the one doing everything send a thrill down your spine, unlike anything you had ever felt before. You couldn’t know for sure, but deep down you knew this was his way of confessing to you, his way of admitting everything without actually admitting to anything. The atmosphere was so charged with the tension of your attraction to him, and the weight of his words, that you could cut through it with a knife. So many different sensations bombarding you at once, that you wanted to straight up combust. You decided that it was now or never. Stu threw the bait, now it was time for you to take it. In a breathless voice you asked, “Did Casey scream?” The smirk on his face and the way his breath hitched told you everything you needed to know. “Yeah, she did.” he said before closing the gap and placing his lips on yours, giving you a slow passionate kiss that made your heart jump out of your chest. His other hand came up to hold the other side of your face, as his kiss deepened and his breath grew heavier. You were ecstatic. You got him to admit it to you. Only you. He was now forever yours. Surely, he was aware of what you were, otherwise he wouldn’t have opened up so easily. You didn’t want to think any of that now. The only thing you wanted to focus on was the feeling of his lips against yours, the touch of his hands on your face, the heat radiating off his body.

Suddenly, you felt yourself be pushed into the bed as his weight came to rest on top of yours. You immediately closed your leg around his waist and pulled him closer to your body. His one hand trailed underneath your shirt to wander against your scorching skin. His touch set your core ablaze, as you finally got to be in the place you wanted to be the most. Beneath Stu, making him feel good. His kisses and ministrations grew ever more passionate as he leaned backwards to take your shirt off you, before doing the same to his soft sweater and discarding it somewhere across his room. The glow of the yellow light coming from the lamp next to his bed combined with the soft street lights streaming in from the window, danced across the curves of the muscles of his toned torso and arms. He was even more beautiful like this. You imagined what he’d looked like with specs of someone’s blood on him, how it would glisten in the light, how you would make sure to meticulously clean it all off, before falling on your knees and sucking him off. You wanted to make him happy, you wanted to do whatever he asked of you. He was sick and deranged, he killed two people, and then gloated about the fact to everyone, without actually admitting to anything.

His head dipped to the side of your neck to suck and lick and nibble as you ran your hands through his short hair and tugged at it. Your heavy breaths drove him crazy, he wanted to devour every single inch of you, coax every sweet sound that he could out of you. His kisses trailed from your neck to your chest, his mouth peppering kisses across your breast, as his hand came up to squeeze the other. His lips wrapped around your nipple, his teeth nipping at it making you let out a long moan. His blue eyes, dark with lust stared at you from your chest, the sounds you were making were driving him insane. He continued trailing kisses down your stomach, before he reached the waistband of your jeans. He made quick work of them, pulling them off along with your underwear in one go. His hands grabbed both your knees and roughly spread your legs apart, his eyes looking down at your glistening pussy, a wide grin taking over his features. He glanced up in your eyes, to look at your fucked out expression. He hadn’t even done anything to you yet, and you were already a mess under him.

“You have no idea the things I wanna do to you baby.” He said breathlessly as he dipped his head between your legs, his mouth attacking your clit instantly. A scream escaped your throat, as your hand instantly shot down to grab his hair and pull him closer. His breath was heavy, and he let a low satisfactory hum at your reaction to his assault on your clit. His hands held your legs open as he licked and sucked on your clit like a man starved.

“Fuck baby you taste so good.” He mumbled in-between licks and prods before going back to the task at hand. He wanted to make you cum using his mouth, and then he would make you cum again around his cock. He had always known you weren’t like the rest of them, and all he wanted was to ruin you for him even more. Mold you and turn you into the perfect little thing to be by his side and use whenever he felt like it. And he had done it. He knew you had been aware that something was up with him, but he wanted to see how far you were willing to take your own curiosity in regards to his relation with the murders. He didn’t expect you to be as bold as you were, but it was a pleasant surprise nonetheless.

The more he licked around your clit, the sweeter sounds you made which drove him insane. The finger he decided to slowly push in you slipped inside so easily, that he almost creamed his underwear at the implication. You were so wet for him. He wondered how much of that was due to what he was doing and how much was due to the knowledge that he had killed people. He hoped it was both. His finger made quick work in finding your most sensitive spot before he added a second one. He curled his fingers in and out of you harshly as he sucked your clit so hard, you thought he was gonna rip it off. He was so unbelievably turned on, he wanted to fuck you and hurt you at the same time. The sensations of pleasure and pain ignited a fire within the pit of your belly that you made sure to voice to him.

“Stu I’m gonna cum. Please. Please, don’t stop!” You whined as you threw your head back, your leg twitching and spasming as his harsh movements made you cum right on his face and fingers. The groan he left as he felt your walls squeeze him tight was almost guttural. He couldn’t wait any longer, he wanted to have you now. He slowly pulled his fingers out of you, soaked through. He pulled them apart from each other, strings of your arousal connecting and breaking from between his two fingers.

His eyes marvelled at the sight of his drenched digits, your glistening pussy, your hard nipples, the heat coming off of your skin, and your fucked out expression. He shuffled closer to you, and leaned down again, brining his fingers to your mouth. You didn’t need instructions, you stared deep into your eyes as you grabbed at his wrist with both hands and sucked his fingers clean, your tongue running between his digits, a sly smirk adorning his face the whole time.

“Good girl.” He said as he leaned back, his massive erection tenting his underwear. He quickly kicked them off before grabbing your ankle and pulling you towards the edge of the bed, you ass almost hanging out of his as he towered above you. He looked so ethereal, the glow on his naked skin, the darkness in his eyes, the expression of pure determination to fuck you silly. You were in love.

He brought your legs to rest on his chest, he was too tall for them to rest on his shoulders anyway, and bent his head down to give your ankle a peck as he stared deep into your eyes before bending down and slowly pushing his cock inside. The stretch of his dick made you shudder out a breath as he bottomed out.

“Look at that baby. You swallowed me whole.” A tremble in his voice as he stared down at his pelvis flush against yours in awe. “I thought you’d need more time but you’re such a good girl you took it so easily huh?” He said as he started thrusting in and out of you, each pump of his hips becoming harder and faster. You couldn’t reply to him, all you could do was stare up at him, at the way he was fucking you like he had been craving to do that for ages. Which he did.

His cock was the perfect size and girth, brushing all the sweet spots inside you, the lewd sound of his hips snapping against the back of your thighs filling up the room, the sounds of the movie still playing in the background fading away as the sound of his breaths took over your senses. The grip on your legs tightened as his thrusts grew harder and harder. Your head was thrown back in ecstasy, you couldn’t think of anything else that could make you feel any better in this moment, but when the feeling of his thumb suddenly resting on your clit and starting to rub languid circles in time with his thrusts came to you, you let out a guttural moan. His breaths came out ragged, sweat accumulating on his forehead and chest as he thrust chasing his release.

You could feel the familiar tickle of an orgasm forming within your belly and you told him as such. He bit his lip at the sound of you coming close to climaxing, his ministrations on your clit becoming more erratic. You suddenly felt the cord of your release snap, cumming and clenching all around his dick.

“Oh fuck, oh shit.” He said through gritted teeth, as he felt your pussy convulse around him, he couldn’t describe this feeling as anything else less than euphoric. The feeling of your tight wet heat around him was enough to send him over the edge, and he now didn’t have a reason to hold back. He wrapped his arms around your thighs and thrust into you with whatever little strength was left in him before letting out a strained groan and shooting his load deep inside you.

He stayed inside you like that, your breaths and his coming out heavy. You looked so fucked out, pride filled his chest. He slowly pulled out of your pussy, his cum following suit dripping out of you in thick strings. He trailed his hand between your folds pushing any that leaked out back into you before giving your clit one last little stroke, the feeling making you clench around nothing. You were too sensitive, and too blissed out to worry about the implications of him cumming inside you. If you were being honest with yourself, you didn’t mind. You wanted to be as close and bound to him as possible, this was just another way to achieve that.

You weren’t moving other than your chest rising and falling as you breathed. Stu, probably for the first time in his life, found himself at a loss of words. You looked incredible like this and he wanted more, that much he knew. He pulled his underwear up before grabbing his discarded sweater and throwing it over your head and helping your arms through the sleeves. You unashamedly pulled the collar up to your nose and took a long sniff as you stared deep into his eyes, which made him let out a small chuckle. Cute, he thought.

You scooted back to lean your back against the headboard and cross your legs as Stu rounded the bed and sat down next to you. He broke the silence speaking in a whisper, “You know, most people would run away screaming if they knew the truth. But not you.” His fingers idly traced your thigh where his hand had come to rest. You were staring at him the entire time he spoke. You tentatively shuffled closer to him, your gaze never leaving Stu’s, a silent acknowledgment of the forbidden connection that bound you together. The room seemed to close in around you, and the outside world faded away leaving you two in the shadows.

Stu’s hand reached out, fingertips brushing against your cheek, a feather-light caress that sent a shiver through your entire being. The touch held a promise, an unspoken agreement that transcended the boundaries of reason. Your heart raced, torn between the thrill of the unknown and the magnetic pull of Stu. He knew he didn’t have to say anything more. You knew, and you revelled in it. You revelled in the fact that you were right about him, about who- what he was, what he’d done.

“You’re different.” Stu murmured, his voice a seductive melody against your ears. He had you within his grasp now, and he wouldn’t let you go. “Most people fear what they don’t understand, but not you. You revel in it.” He concluded. His thumb slowly rubbed circles around your cheek as he rubbed your face.

In that charged moment, with the post sex bliss setting in, the unspoken tension crackled like electricity. The room suddenly became the sanctuary of your shared secrets, his, the things he did, and yours, the fact that you loved him all the more for it, a haven for those who dared to dance on the precipice of chaos and desire.

It was a sick and twisted thing, for so many reasons, but your infatuation with him was nothing less than love, you knew that within you. You were willing to do just as much if not worse than him if he asked for it. You were his in any way that he’d have you, and even though you didn’t know, Stu was yours just as much. He would give himself to you in a way that no one else would ever have. He didn’t believe in the concept of soulmates or even love for that matter, but he knew he would do horrible things if it meant making you happy. He couldn’t wait to see how you’d stick by his side, see you actively participate in what he did, but he was excited to find out.

In this moment, you, aware of the risks, couldn’t deny the magnetic pull that drew you closer to him, willingly surrendering to the allure of the abyss. You leaned your head against his chest. You were drawn to him like a moth to flame, you knew it, but you didn’t care, even if it meant you’d burn.

[deramin2]

Bell's Hells are so stupidly reckless and refuse to communicate even though they're breaking down from the stress and have all decided their lives aren't worth living so they'll fatally gamble for the cause. But also they love each other very much from the trauma bonding of the last 81 days and if any of them died the others worried destroy the world in their grief. They are walking disasters who should not be relied on to make cookies for a pot luck but have just been tasked with one of the riskiest and most critical scouting missions in history that could be the only thing that stops or mitigates a second Calamity. They might end up fighting each other to the death.

I love them so much. They are each my blorbos that I endlessly rotate around my brain. I'm having fun with seeing where this goes precisely because it feels unpredictable. Or like Uncut Gems where the whole appeal is that the main character is digging himself into a deeper and more dangerous hole with every decision and you're just curious how far he's going to get. And because it feels so real.

Love my representation for people that are mentally ill in very realistic ways where you really do just continually sabotage yourself and suffer through it but that always feels like what you deserve in the moment. The desperate need to prove your worth while feeling like you've lied to anyone who deems you worthy and they're going to figure it out any second now and everything's going to come crashing down. It NEEDS to come crashing down. But like, it doesn't and all that does is dump all your baggage all over the floor and some of it breaks and is sticky.

Exandria Unlimited: Calamity was fun because three explicit premise was the heroes were going to fail and the world would be destroyed because of it.

Campaign 3 is between Calamity and Vox Machina. Vox Machina were chaotic but it was a deeply heroic fantasy story where good is supposed to triumph over evil. There was always the risk they could fail, but that wasn't the favored option. Calamity they were doomed to failure and couldn't win.

But Bell's Hells feels like there is 50/50 odds on whether they win. It's far more challenging and urgent to stop Ludinus. And crucially the CHARACTERS are meant to be more challenging to have win. They are getting in their own way as real people do. They're all teetering on three edge of a corruption arc.

Corruption is what doomed The Ring of Brass. Covering up experiments. Trusting the wrong god because of incredible hubris. Manipulating the truth. Enabling others to do the same. They were so focused on their own ambition that they ignored or minimized the risks in their calculations.

Bell's Hells' greatest weakness is they're all self-sacrificing and willing to embrace dangerous powers to make themselves stronger at whatever cost to themselves or each other. They don't think they're good enough but they desperately need to be because there is no one else. Chetney voiced what they all believe: that their biggest asset right now is they're expendable.

And that's not really something you talk about with your friends because it sucks when you verbalize it like that. Your friends (of they are friends) are going to try to talk you out of that line of thinking even if they're deeply empathetic about why you're feeling that way. Just voicing their fears was a lot. Imogen feeling disappointed with Fearne because she didn't take the shard was really that Fearne was more afraid of sacrificing herself (and giving into corruption) than everyone else.

What if the heroes weren't heroic? What if they were in touch with their feelings on the surface but struggled to ever talk about it or change? (This is a theme in a lot of queer media.) What if they aren't good enough? What if they could be but there's no guarantee. Everyone agrees in advance that failure is just as interesting and pleasurable and fun here as succeeding. Just to watch the world change as a result of your actions. It's a very different tone.

Three Mighty Nein were nobodies who largely stayed nobodies even though they had a profound impact on the world. Bell's Hells are nobodies getting a crash course in becoming somebodies caught up in a nightmarish struggle, and they're crumbling under the weight of it. That's the story that rarely gets told even though it's far truer than heroism.

This is in line with the kinds of stories being told in Candela Obscura where mortality and heroism are more troubled in the face of unending nightmares. D&D's Epic fantasy is just a rarer setting to tell that story than horror. Personally I find that more mature and nuanced storytelling. Equally enjoyable but here there's more room to say something less often said and progressively more exploded than power fantasies.

This is like an evil campaign where every one of them is a mostly good person that has the capability to do great harm that others will curse their name for. They're desperately trying to pull out of that nose dive while the winds of change push down on them.

Tybee point isn't to make optimal decisions, it's to make interesting decisions. Press the big red button just to see what happens. Be brave enough to fail and see what happens when your character falls down. As Travis said her plays by following intrusive thoughts.

I'm having a lot of fun with this one because I get to follow why the characters made a decision and by what twisted logic that felt like a good idea even though it's very likely to blow up in their face. It's juicy. It's dramatic. It reflects a mindset I struggle with. It's different.

[lakesbian]

here’s a question, do you think Blake’s responses to Rose would be fundamentally different if Rose was a guy? cause like- there’s Absolutely misogyny to it, as is, but I always thought Blake would’ve reacted like a cat being shoved in a bath to anyone trying to “tell him what to do” (quote unquote).

genuinely could not keep reading pact until i blake misogyny posted because he's sooo bad. he's literally worse than brian. like he's out here making brian look like a feminist. the thing that really sucks about Blake Misogyny is like.

brian will espouse misogynistic gender essentialist viewpoints he believes to be The Natural State Of The World, but in the context of his social environment, it's sort of just him beating himself against a brick wall. if it doesn't successfully alter his social environment to his preferences--which it never does--he'll get crotchety about it, but he's really not manipulative or vitriolic about it. it has 0 impact on the behavior of his female teammates, and he ultimately has to live with that. sure, in a different circumstance he might be able to socially steamroll over women, but as-is all he's doing is giving himself a concussion.

blake, on the other hand, is misogynist with plausible deniability. which is how vast portions of misogynistic behavior presents itself! obviously men believe (& frequently outright say) the things brian says, but they also have consistent interactions w/ women they have material power over where they demean, exert control over, and expect the women to cater to them--all while never directly bringing gender up and thus leaving them with enough plausible deniability that someone can go "well, he might respond the same way if she was a man, right?"

the answer to that question doesn't matter--even though it's very plausible that rose would be afforded far more respect if she was a man, it's insidiously impossible to prove it (which is part of the point of the behavior!), and either way proving it is irrelevant to our ability to point out the ways in which blake's interactions with her are already fundamentally misogynist.

as i've already mentioned, he does a lot of expecting her to "compromise" where "compromise" just means "you do what i want and i put up with the agonizing ordeal of knowing that you're not 100% happy about it," and he's also really prone to putting the burden on her to "communicate" while being fundamentally hostile to sentiment which even remotely infringes on his utter control over a situation (& subsequently over both of their survival). not to MENTION how gendered their division of labor is. you know how, 4 example, men are the ones supposed to know how to fix a car/drive (& are subsequently given the power of freedom of independent movement) whereas women are the ones supposed to do, 4 example, the laundry (confers no power, is labor which consistently services the man in the household)? similarly, rose is the one who does consistent domestic labor--i.e reading/researching/memorizing information to support blake with (thus consistently lowering his workload without having influential power over his behavior)--whereas blake holds power over infrequent & power-conferring tasks like deciding what they're buying* or calling all of the shots in a social interaction.

(*while mundane and laborious financial decisions are usually the woman's responsibility, like what to buy for dinner each week, the infrequent & high-stakes circumstance of purchasing survival supplies mean that blake is in fact the one holding power by being responsible for determining what weapons/etc to buy.)

also, to circle back to the topic of blake's expectations regarding "communication" for a second, i think this post is an exceedingly good explanation of exactly how that little dynamic works between them. hint: it's also him being misogynist. (yes, that post is mandatory reading for this post.)

all of these points culminate in this awful little exemplifying example of his behavior here in 2.1:

“Don’t worry about me if you’re not going to worry about yourself,” Rose said.  “You look as tired as I feel, and since you’re the one making the big decisions, like when to go out and-” “Woah,” I said.  “Woah, woah.  You’re talking about this?” “About going out with Laird.” “I thought we weren’t fighting.” I could see her expression change.  Barely restrained frustration, slowly but surely being covered up, hidden behind a mask.  “We’re not.  Nevermind.  I got carried away.  I’ll meet you downstairs in a bit, and then we’ll go?” A big part of me wanted to argue.  To press the issue.  To air grievances and get things on a more even keel.  To convince her that I didn’t want her as a slave or a servant. Except we had more pressing matters.  Better to find a way to show it to her rather than tell her. “Sure,” I said.

he's:

dramatically interpreting rose mentioning that he's been the one to make big decisions thus far as "fighting," manipulatively smothering both her ability to acknowledge their social dynamics + division of labor & her ability to even approach critiquing his decisionmaking--because how can she criticize him, when even mentioning a circumstance that turned out badly, with zero focus on his errors, results in him treating her as if she's being cruel?

again internally focusing on the idea of "communicating" ("airing grievances/getting on a more even keel"), but outright stating that the intended outcome of the "communication" he wants to have is "to convince her that he didn't want her as a slave or a servant"--in other words, he's viewing her feelings as something inaccurate that need to be corrected and brought in line with his viewpoints vs. as possible indicators that he needs to alter his mindset or behavior

sure, he purchases the bike mirrors as part of his attempt to "show it to her," but without self-awareness regarding how he's treating her, it will ultimately just be an attempt to "convince her" vs to genuinely address her concerns. i actually find it hard to believe that she was smiling about the bike mirrors when he was shopping for them--i don't think she would have any reason to read it as a genuine shift in his mindset & intentions. i'd be willing to guess that she had something else going on over there she was smiling about and he coincidentally caught her at the right moment to misinterpret it as being about bike mirrors.

in conclusion: "damages 2.1" more like. Damaging your relationship with rose thorburn by being a bitch idiot misogynist