#i really don't think it's him but if it somehow is?? it isn't...but if it WAS...i would be gagged so hard

[unfairunknown]

And somehow Rogue's super-hell fate isn't even the thing I was most sucker-punched in the gut about, in regards to going into these RTD2 seasons with good faith and being disappointed at nearly every turn. I have to get some DW thoughts out, I think. It's a long one, so I put under the cut. TL:DR is

Disappointed by RTD2 era DW which feels like I'm being gaslit by an entire IP.

Verada Sethu is an incredible talent, and if I had a nickel for every time a prominent long running sci Fi series show horned her character into terrible misogynistic tropes in 2025, I'd have two nickels....

Ncuti Gatwa was the bright light of the season. Beautiful, effervescent, charming, what a delight as the Doctor.

"The Story and the Engine" was the best of this run.

My knee-jerk reaction to Rose Noble, as a transgender person myself, was deep discomfort that never quite resolved....there's something slightly *off* with how I feel RTD presented her I never quite managed to land on, beyond that I think it was really problematic to insinuate that Donna absorbing feminine magic while she had a child in utero is why that child "became" a girl...but I have lost a lot of my tolerance for transgender "discourse" because of a lack of good faith critical thought and conversation...I don't even know what I'm saying besides, did other transgender people feel that way?

Also, while DW has always been campy, it's also often made some kind of social statement. And yet I feel this entire run lacked the fangs or impact of any true statement or positionality. A problem would be introduced, as of to say 'look how aware of the social contexts we are,' only to ignore or refuse to contend with what that issue actually means or would impact. Like Rogue's arc, for example.

The "problems" I think his character seems to address:

1. That the Doctor never says they love their companions to their faces. Heavily implied to mean romantic love (see the famous Ten/Rose sequence) but not always.

2. Having a canonically confirmed queer element to the Doctor. I.e. diversity/representation, etc.

But what the narrative actually DOES is more important, to me, than saying something exists on the page. "Look, we confirmed the doctor was queer by having him kiss Rogue and say he loves Belinda to her face!' yes, and that's nice, sure, in 2025, but here's why I have a problem with these things:

1. While the longing and angst is certainly an intentional element in storytelling, the let the Doctor tell their companions they love them thing, when juxtaposed with Thirteen's appearance and commentary regarding her romantic love for Yaz, which I think was pretty clearly stated "it would be you," but I digress...if the core of these longings is romantic queerness, then the Doctor saying he loves Belinda, whose own ending is so....awful, doesn't actually address what the desire for the 'I love you" commentary actually WAS. It's a bit like saying retroactively Dumbledore was gay the whole time...and like I do think it's important to show and express platonic love, but I think that message is lost by refusing to even acknowledge the lurking spectre of queer desire present since original DW. 15 talking about his love for any other companion, especially non romantic ones like Graham, could have assuaged me here.

2. Rogue. In a lot of ways the episode mirrored Ten's "The Girl in the Fireplace," which was also heavily implied romantic/sexual that ended without Ten getting his happily ever after, too.

Except in that case, his love interest went on to love a fulfilling happy life where she was the consort to a powerful man who she seemed to hold in high regard, even if she did have true feelings for the Doctor.

And Rogue...went to hell. He isn't dead, but he isn't coming back any time soon.

And I can't help but feel like the conservative issues I had with RTD1 era and Moffat era in general have been enhanced by Disney's corporate sanitization?

'look at all the diversity' but what does that actually MEAN? The beat episode of Ncuti's run WAS written and directed by the people whose story was being told, and you could tell! It was incredible! And it wasn't *trying* to make a point without understanding what it's core context is in the world of 2025.

Finally, I have all these feelings, and I am deeply upset by these seasons of a television show, because I want to belong to the IP's I love, I want them to cling to me, too. If I didn't love it, it wouldn't hurt.

poor rogue saved the world from compulsory heterosexuality and is still chilling in gay super hell (only other occupent: castiell)

[ghouljams]

Okay… I hope this isn’t weird but I really do love cannibal kinks and the symbolism of giving oneself to the other for them to live but also… I like it when they’re deranged as hell.

I remember you talking about Ghost and how he’d definitely survive the apocalypse by going to cannibalism when food runs out and you’re so, so right.

I want to say he doesn't even wait for food to run out but that would be a lie, the man is utilitarian to his core. He stockpiles dry food, canned goods, he butchers the cow and deer he buys from farmers outside the city, stores them in his deep freeze (the one with its own generator). He has meat for months, rations for years, and yet as soon as shit hits the fan his shitty apartment in the city doesn't cut it the way he thought it would. There are too many people, too much noise, too much chaos. Not the sort he relishes in, the kind that crashes into buildings like a wave, attempting to shake their foundations like the horns of Jericho. It's a chaos he knows, the kind that always follows political upheaval, the kind that makes leaving the city feel less risky than sticking around.

So he packs what he can into his car, and to be fair he can pack quite a bit in there, and he gets the fuck out of the city. Takes the back roads, avoids highways and the city center. He pats himself on the back for getting something suited to rough terrain, remembers Soap complaining that he was bringing the military home with him. He finds a cabin out in the middle of the woods, remembers seeing a listing for it on some bnb website while the internet was still up, and hopes no one else had the same idea.

He avoids opening the freezer he managed to stuff in the back seat, digs a cup into a sack of beans, eats them just barely cooked while he checks the ropes on the generator strapped to the top of his car. He chews on jerky while he drives, tries to remember the farms in the area, reasons over whether or not he could nab a cow even just for the milk. Considers setting rabbit traps, nearly grabs a duck from a pond he drives past for the eggs, thinks better of it when he has the poor creature by the neck and isn't sure where he's supposed to put it in his crammed car.

All this to say he's fucking exhausted by the time he reaches the dark little cabin. Somehow all that sleep deprived insanity reaches a peak spotting your little sedan sitting between the trees, the flutter of someone peeking through the curtains... he hardly waits to unload his own vehicle before breaking the door down to see what a suddenly merciful God has granted him. Toys, he thinks to himself as you spit and kick and scream for someone to help, knew I forgot something.

The skin around his eye is starting to darken by the time he gets dinner on the table. Most of the fight went out of you at the promise of food, and you'd even been kind enough to help him get the freezer inside once he'd gotten the generator running. He'd have to get some of the trees around the place limbed up so the solar can keep it running, but he'll worry about that tomorrow.

"What's this," You sniff at the meat sitting nicely charred on your plate.

"Don't remember 'is name." Ghost smiles, the scars around his lips tugging the skin twisted. You grimace and push the plate away, your lip starting to wobble for a second time. "Eat," He tell you, "or it'll be you next."

You give him a long searching look, likely trying to see if he's serious. You must not like what you find, because you drag the plate close and start to pick at the meat. You do your best to hide the gag that nearly slips past your lips, choking down distinctly inhuman meat. Oh well, Ghost thinks, be easier to get you to eat it later.

[erwinsvow]

Omg let’s talk Robby’s shy wifey!!

Is she shy with him? I picture she’s open with him and comfortable but he can easily make her go all shy and bushy if he wants to esp with sex stuff

Also he is the perfect guy to cling to if you’re feeling shy in a public setting ughhh he’s so big and beautiful and I love him

Also, I clocked your tags girl & I love it! She’s comfy with jack ofc 💖

i think she's really shy with him at first.. he's pretty intense even when he's trying to be normal like the eye contact and probably trying to diffuse and calm her down because she seems skittish and whatever he's doing isn't working. it'd have to be a non medicine setting so idk how to explore this relationship when he's not at the hospital like what context he'd see her in... maybe if she is a florist or owns a bakery or whatever cute tropes we love to give our readers and he's a regular.. why is he a regular at the florist i don't exactly know but assuming this man comes in regularly for his- okay interrupting myself mid thought because her being a baker makes much more sense. bakery with good coffee near the hospital and you're always the quiet one baking in the back and if no one's there you have to check him out and give him his large hot coffee labeled michael in your pretty handwriting and whatever sort of pastry you made. hmmm this makes much more sense to me. when you look up at him and then look back down quickly and avoid eye contact and it sucks because he's so cute and becomes a regular but you're just soooo not the kind of girl who flirts up customers, because normally you don't even talk to customers. one day you're not there in the back organizing the displays like you normally are and he asks where you are and ooo boy is that a mistake. the other workers tease you until you're ready to hand in your apron and quit altogether from the sheer overwhelmedness of it all. start calling robby your boyfriend like "oh your boyfriend's about to walk in. i'm gonna go take my break, you got this, right?" like making you talk to him. however... nothing happens besides a slightly prolonged conversation though you get better at eye contact over time and he kind of paints a picture of the sort of girl you are in his head—definitely way too good to be with him. and then you get into an accident with a hot tray or a frosting knife and they take you to the emergency room and you're with one of the residents but robby sees you and maybe takes over your care.. cue exchanged glances between everyone.. dana stopping by to see what all the fuss is... people staring at robby tenderly wrapping you wound while you stare up at him with huge wet eyes and he's being quiet and telling you you'll be okay, kid and back to baking in no time. and then you have to be like "michael?" "yeah kid?" "why is everyone staring at us?" [shuts curtain quickly]

okay that was a loooot. i do think though he's the type to pick your head back up and hold you in place if you bury it into his neck or a pillow because you can't hold eye contact during sex. veryyyyy eyes on me, kid. kind of breaks through the shyness because he has a very dirty mouth and you kind of are forced to break through because you enjoy it so much and you don't want him to stop. shy sweetheart wife has layers and he peels them all away. goes from girlfriend to wife really quickly, like, surprisingly quickly. it's because of the type of girlfriend she is, the waiting at home with dinner and dessert and making his house feel like a home with the smell of cookies and just really bringing warmth into that old man's bones. lots of you're killing me here, kid, when you're just staring up at him confused because what did you even do???? (gave him the reality of a life he thought he'd never have or be able to keep). an anxiety emotional shy girl.. lowkey perfect for him. lets him decompress and breakdown after a really bad day and wipes away his tears and somehow ends up crying too which just makes him smile because he knows how much you love him. i'm sure she brings in treats from the bakery to the hospital all the time around five thirty when the store closes, and she can be found hiding behind robby while he tells someone to bring it to the break room and thank his girlfriend (turns into don't forget to thank my wife real quick though). but it's endearing to robby. it's endearing to jack too, but that's for another time.

[therobotsarestuckinmyhead]

Hey, are you doing okay? Could you write a Transformers: Animated headcanon with Optimus, Bumblebee, and Ratchet being friends with a reader who's super unlucky? Like, they're constantly getting into accidents or being flung across the room, yet somehow they always survive? As if the universe is playing a big prank on them XD

☆ [TFA] BOTS w/ an Extremely Unlucky Reader

i am doing fine anon! thanks for asking, i had a lot of fun writing this request :3 i think a reader with comically bad luck is interesting— each bot would have a very different way on dealing with it. i couldn't stop thinking of 'Wonder Of U' from JoJolion for some reason when i saw this request. reader is a victim of calamity lmao

scenario: your crew is trying to help you despite a few of them thinking you might be cursed. reader is a lot younger than Ratchet, like the rest of the crew.

including: Optimus, Bumblebee, Ratchet

Optimus:

— Optimus isn't really sure what's up with you, or how you even manage it. You're always the first to find a Decepticon, you're the first to get attacked by the Decepticons, you're getting tail-swatted away by Grimlock half the time out of sheer bad luck because that T. Rex doesn't seem to like any of them and you get it the worst.

— Now that he's thinking about it, you get everything the worst. He can't leave you alone for ten minutes. If it's not the Decepticons coming to offline you then its your surroundings. He suspects that you might have the environmental awareness of a rock. But that changes pretty quickly when he realizes you're just that unfortunate.

— One time, you drove into a cement pit and nearly got buried alive with cement if it weren't for Bulkhead interrupting those construction workers. The other time, you wandered into a demolishing ground and almost got flattened by debris. You're like a character from that Earth film Sari watched with Bee… a ‘Final Destination’ protagonist with the way you barely survive your day-to-day life. Optimus doesn't know how a single bot can get so much bad luck, it isn't even funny to him (it is to a certain someone else though). He may or may not be concerned.

— So, Optimus being the leader that he is, puts you under his supervision all the time. You're right where he can see you and nowhere else. But it takes a downhill turn.

— He ends up getting stuck in precarious situations with you. As if your misfortune is communicable and he can tell you don't mean it with the way you're looking at him as if you might explode into tears with absolute frustration. You don't mean for any of this to happen and it makes him feel... bad in a way.

— After being in a lot of near-death situations with you, he's gotten to know you a lot more better now so Optimus is a bit more protective over you and he can tell all of these repeated almost-encounters with Primus has definitely left you paranoid with a pessimistic streak. But hey, Optimus is trying his best to make you feel better and more hopeful about the next fight. Usually with a pep-talk or a pat on your pauldron. He is a bit protective over you, mostly because you seem to have the highest chance of getting dying and he doesn't want to lose a good Autobot.

— Eventually, he decided to keep you in the base at all times because of you being, and i quote, “a walking natural disaster surviving on mere gambles” only for a Decepticon to crash the base when the rest of the crew were out on the very same solarcycle.

— Optimus did this not only because of safety concerns but also because your bad luck is unpredictable; it could either be tripping when you're trying to run or get shot at point blank with a fusion cannon (and somehow miraculously survive). He thinks it's a liability for the team. Optimus is still figuring out how to be a leader here, he's figuring things out just like you are.

— Despite everything that goes down, your wit helps you survive all of these near termination situations that you get thrown into so Optimus is kind of impressed with your quick thinking. If only you weren't cursed with such bad luck, you might’ve made a wonderful addition to the Elite Guard. Or so Optimus thinks. Your case is unfortunate.

— He is definitely hesitant about letting you near Sari way too often when Optimus isn't there to make sure that you don't trigger the end of the universe by just existing. Primus knows what chaos would ensue with you and Sari in the same room.

— Optimus feels bad for you but he isn't sure what he's going to do with you. At all. He eventually realizes that your bad luck is just inevitable and the team has to push through it, especially when you start using your bad luck against the Decepticons.

Bumblebee:

— At first, this mech had absolutely no hesitation about laughing his aft off at every single one of your misfortunes as if there was a reality TV show unfurling in front of him. Bumblebee was borderline insufferable.

— But then, it slowly gets more concerning. Especially after the whole Allspark incident. He still gets a laugh every now and then, don't get him wrong but he may or may not be a teensy bit concerned now.

— Watching you getting flattened after Bulkhead tripped and fell right on top of you was pretty damn funny but at the same time, you being nearly made into molten metal by Blitzwing wasn't exactly something to laugh at. Or the fact that Megatron grabbed you and almost crushed you into bits with a single servo. That was painful to watch.

— Bumblebee feels genuinely sorry for you when Optimus basically grounds you saying that its for your safety and everyone else's safety. Sure you got a lot of bad luck but it can't be that bad!

— So Bee went against the big bot and helps you sneak out of base with Sari. You're not supposed to be around the human but Bumblebee thinks thats scrap!

— Bee pretty much stands up for you when Optimus decides to beach you and you seem clearly upset with it. He may be an aft sometimes but that doesn't mean he is one all the time. Bumblebee just likes cracking way too many jokes than he should.

— Has nominated you, without your consent to be bait to lure in Decepticons. You're a trouble magnet. Bee is pretty sure that if you were kept tied to a post, all the Decepticons in the vicinity would instantly be drawn out to the area. He clarified it was a joke.

— Bumblebee & Sari theorizes that your bad luck might just be your ability. Optimus Prime has his grapples and foam, Ratchet has his EMP burst, Prowl has his ninja skills, Bee has his stinger and Bulk has his ridiculous strength. You don't really seem to have any particularly special abilities.

— At some point, even some of the Decepticons (Blitzwing) notices how particularly unlucky you are and mocks you mid battle because you're stuck under a boulder that seemed to have come from absolutely nowhere. Bee stands up for you and says something like, “HEY, THREE FACE! I’m the only one who gets to make fun of ‘em!”.

— He goes from consistently making fun of your mishaps to "hey, dont take it too hard" after getting closer and closer with you. When he helps you sneak out, the two of you have gotten into a lot of mishaps together and almost died but Optimus doesn't need to know that part.

— Bee is more of a “We can work through your unfortunate circumstances together because I care about you!” type mech than a “I care about you as well as everyone else on the team so I'm going to set you aside so no one gets hurt." like Optimus is initially. So he doesn't really think you should avoid doing something just because you're basically cursed by Primus.

Ratchet:

— Out of all of them all, he probably pities your misfortune the most because he's the one repairing you afterwards.

— You and Ratchet are really close because of your repeated visits to the medbay back when you guys were just a usual Space-Bridge repair crew. You somehow managed to get yourself hurt even in that.

— The fact that you're alive is a medical mystery with the sheer amount of damages your endoskeleton has suffered. He remembers the first time he looked into your internals and his optics practically widened into bulbs. Theres cracks nearly everywhere and it took nearly forever for him to fix them all.

— To make sure he never has to spend cycles soldering and rewiring your frame, Ratchet makes regular check ups on you after a battle. Just to make sure you haven't sustained any damage trigged by your mythical levels of misfortune.

— You're capable, he can clearly see that. Ratchet also makes sure to teach you some basic repairs so that in the situation that you're on the battlefield and your stupid luck nearly gets you offline again, you can pick yourself back up.

— Ratchet can see how disheartened you are when something goes awry during a mission involving you and he isn't the best at comforting you so he just goes "it'll go better next time.". Implying that there will be a next time because you're practically a tenant in his medbay with how often you get injured.

— He's also pretty strict about you resting after a battle because you've sustained the most damage almost all the time. Ratchet wants you to be fully recovered before you go off to have another near-Primus-meeting incident again. But Bee sometimes sneaks you out regardless because you need to have fun! Despite what Ratchet says.

— He's very concerned but hes not really saying a word. Just raising his optical ridge, questioning Bumblebee when he says that you should come along to do something he perceives as reckless. Then he says something real snarky which makes Bee shut up near immediately and regret even suggesting that.

— He's your supportive yet very concerned grouchy grandpa. You're probably the only one who actually listens to some of his stories he talks about while repairing because when you're in the medbay, its usually for a longer time considering the amount of damages you sustain. So you really have nothing better to do.

[sillygoofyqueer]

I have the doc opened for it right now so it's getting written either way but a TGCF and SVSSS crossover AU that has been on my mind for three or four days exactly. Basically, I'm thinking Shang Qinghua (with a more relaxed system) gets just really fucking pissed off at how he's treated by all of the other peak lords (probably prior to learning that Shen Qingqiu is also a transmigrator) and basically plans and carries out his own fake death. He leaves the fake body in his office, and it's probably a violent death because Shang Qinghua is using his fake body as a stress ball for his frustration, before going to solely be Mobei-Jun's right hand man. He expects there to be some sort of reaction to a peak lord being supposedly killed within the sect, and waits for the news to come from spies and whispers from the human realm, morbidly curious as to how people will react. PLUS, he's the backbone of the sect! It would most definitely collapse without him. Nothing comes. He's like "oh...wow...guess they don't care. Guess my hard work was really worth nothing!"

He's pretty bummed out by this, but he goes on with his life as Mobei-Jun's guy. At some point, he realises that he somehow left a very important book he wrote about all of his knowledge of PIDW storylines at his old residence, and goes to grab it - after all, nobody takes over a peak lord's role until the next generation comes in, so his office will be empty. He tries to figure out where he left it, looking around, and then hears someone approaching, so he freaks out and hides nearby while frantically signalling to Mobei-Jun that he needs OUT through a talisman. Who bursts in the door but Shang Qinghua, arms filled with scrolls and an eerily familiar panicked expression on his face as he says something over his shoulder, before closing the door. The panicked expression disappears, scrolls are dropped carelessly onto the desk, and 'Shang Qinghua' drops down in front of it with an eyeroll as the disguise drops. When news of some sort of 'rift' appears near Ghost City, Hua Cheng isn't quite sure what to do. He sends a butterfly across so it can report back about what it sees, and then sends a couple more through when he learns that it's not dangerous. The butterflies bring back information, Yin Yu is in charge of documenting all of the information they bring back, and he realises that they...don't have much information on one of the 'sects' that seem to dominate the Jianghu of what appears to be a completely different world. Cang Qiong Sect is a weak spot in their research, and the butterflies can't make it through the defenses that the sect has in place to keep out intruders. What do they do about this? Hua Cheng calls on He Xuan's debt as usual, and tells him to go in and get more information on the sect, armed with the knowledge of what they know about this place already. He Xuan is like "ughghghhh fiiinnneee", and goes through! (He's not got a lot going on since blackwater arc, okay?)

He spends a bit of time learning what he can do in this place (he retains most of his Ghost King abilities, thank Gods), and then sneaks into the sect by disguising himself as an An Ding disciple because they appear to be the most unnoticed. Blah blah blah, he infiltrates the sect and decides that it isn't enough to be in the sect, he has to do what he did with the Heavens and pretend to be one of the ones in charge. It's painfully easy to do so - he picks the target of the forgotten yet most key worker of the sect, the one who's there for every secret meeting and knows everything about the sect, and starts learning his schedule. His other language. His secrets. He's both the creator and a victim of this world. Everything there is to Shang Qinghua, he learns it all. Soon, he just needs to remove Shang Qinghua from the equation - and Shang Qinghua DOES IT HIMSELF! He just!! Fakes his death! Such a stroke of luck is unheard of for He Xuan, but he's not going to complain about it.

He waits for Shang Qinghua to leave, cleans up the dead body, and then seamlessly takes Shang Qinghua's place as though he is not a completely different person, reporting back to Hua Cheng the whole time. It's rather easy - the workload could be classed as intense for a normal person, but he once pretended to be a heavenly official in the Palace of Ling Wen and took on all of those responsibilities for authenticity. This is a breeze compared to that, and this time he even has underlings to dole out work to when he doesn't want to do something! The most frustrating part of the whole experience is how everyone treats him as Shang Qinghua, as though he couldn't destroy this whole sect with just a single flick of his fingers (and that's without using his ghost king abilities). If he were a human, he too would have pretended to be dead so he could go work full time for the hot demon (he is hot, okay? Yin Yu agrees with him).

This is all going very smoothly, even with He Xuan casually reading all these different notes that Shang Qinghua made about the future of this world. He would usually be completely apathetic to this, but if the boy responsible for it all (Luo Binghe) takes over this world, who's to say he won't find the rift and make trouble for them? Better to avoid it completely than risk such an inconvenience in the long run, in his opinion. The Shen Qingqiu of this world appears to act differently to how Shang Qinghua wrote him to, implying that he too is not originally from this world (transmigration? Fascinating word), but it's also said that being thrown into the Abyss is a "canon event" or whatever. Best to stick around until then so he can just ensure the avoidance of whatever these guys are so worried about, even if it means just catching the kid after he's pushed and explaining the situation to him.

Then Shang Qinghua learns of what he's doing. He's staring down at this snivelling little pipsqueak, a man who is just as much of an actor as he is, and goes "so...do you get paid better by the demon?" He's not about starting beef with this guy if he's got no reason to, he's just here to get information and then save this entire world and then go back home to brood more. Reasonable schedule, if you ask him. He does, however, also not want to risk his cover, so he has tied Shang Qinghua up and is now sitting across from him at the table - he's in a good mood, he can extend a little courtesy before threatening the pathetic man's life. Shang Qinghua is bawling and begging for mercy, but he's seen this exact situation play out more times than he can count and just drinks his tea while he waits for the man to finish. Honestly, wearing Shang Qinghua's face should mean nothing to the man, considering that he faked his own death to get out of this place.

[halfbloodfics]

let me get what i want - part 2

A/N: {i made you guys wait MONTHS for this and i'm still getting comments about a part two so here u go xox}

18+ minors dni

rating/tags: explicit, smut, soft smut, gentledomfem!reader, sub!snape, snapes first time, praise, lil bit of aftercare shown, insecurity, lil angst, sev is touch starved af

song: please, please, please let me get what i want by the smiths

PART ONE

MASTERLIST

It had been weeks since Severus... Indulged.

In those weeks, he couldn't bear to even spare the Herbology professor a passing glance. Not in the hallways between classes, not at the professors table. Nowhere in the Castle or hell, nowhere on God's green Earth, would Severus look that woman in the eye ever again.

He pretended not to notice the way she'd begun to look at him with concern, or even worse, with disapointment, as the weeks progressed. But hidden deep down, he knew she was confused and hurt by his sudden change in behaviour.

But why wouldn't she be hurt? They had gone from conversing nearly every single day, something Severus had done with no one, to not talking at all. Not only that but he had even been brushing her off, blatantly ignoring her. She used to bring him small gifts, offerings almost; and he would invite her into his office under the guise of strictly professional meetings. Brew her tea out of politeness, surely nothing more. But lately, he had been sending her away at the door. Closing it in her face. Shutting her out.

But the truth was, he just couldn't look at her.

Severus spent that night the same he had for the past several weeks, alone in his office, buried in papers, trying desperetly to ignore the storm of feelings brewing inside him.

However, a knock sounded at the door.

Peeking through his long, black hair with repressed hope, he spoke: "Enter."

When she entered, Severus didn't know whether to feel relieved or annoyed.

There she was, in that damnable shade of yellow that for reasons unknown to him had begun to plague his dreams. Standing almost nervously, she closed the door behind her and stepped only a few feet forward into his office.

"Good evening, Severus." The way she spoke was soft, timid but somehow assured at the same time.

Severus gaze dropped back down to his papers, as if he could even focus on them with her standing right there.

"How can I help you, Professor." He spoke, voice cold.

The silence that followed was defeaning. Only the gentle bubbling from various cauldrons across the office filled the room.

"I came to apologize."

It was then that Severus looked at her, really looked at her. She was fidgeting with her fingers, holding them in front of that yellow dress, looking at him with a truly apologetic expression. Her eyes, which he had grown so accustomed to looking up at him brightly, now looked tired and sad, staring across at him from the stiff room.

Severus stared at her for a minute, as if commiting every detail of her face to memory as remedy for what had occured.

She took that as her cue to speak, "Severus. I think I upset you, a few weeks ago. I was trying to be kind.. And when I called you a friend, I meant it-"

Severus looked away. She stepped closer.

"But I didn't mean to upset you. And Severus, frankly, I don't regret it. I do consider you my-"

"Stop," Severus murmered, his gaze cast on the papers in front of him.

"Friend. You are my friend. And I'm sorry that upsets you for some reason. I'm sorry the idea of being friends with me is so horrible that you can't find it in yourself to speak to me for weeks-"

"Stop." Severus murmered, a little firmer this time, his gaze remaining unmoved.

"No you shut up and listen." She snapped.

And shut the fuck up he did.

Severus head snapped up, staring at her in plain disbelief. She raised her voice. Actually raised her voice.

Why isn't he furious? Why isn't he yelling back? Why are his pants tig-

She stepped forward, the look on her face both pained and frustrated. "Severus. You are my friend. You might very well be my best friend. And I know that you might not even like me very much, but I happen to like you. So why can't you just tell me what about me is so intolerable that you push me away so hard after I call you a friend?" She spoke, her voice lower now, but still firm.

Severus hesitated, opened his mouth, closed it again.

What could he say?

But she only continued to look at him with that expectant expression on her face. She wanted an explanation he couldn't give her. But he was backed into a corner, for the first time in years, no control in his hands. No power. Just... her.

He swallowed, spoke lowly: "You are not intolerable..."

She blinked, now even more confused.

He sighed, reluctantly realising he must elaborate, "Only you are."

When he met her gaze again, he watched as her expression shifted, changing from confused to... understanding?

She blinked, stepped forward again, closer to the desk where he sat. Her eyes widened, lips parted, then closed again.

And then she said possibly the worst thing she could have: "You're frightened."

Severus clenched his jaw, stood up from his chair at once, now towering over her.

Control. He needed control. "I am not a coward."

Something shifted in her again, a dangerous glint in her eyes as she stepped forward, now directly in front of the desk across from him. For a moment, Severus considered backing up, then immediately scolded himself.

She whispered: "You aren't?"

Severus clenched his jaw, straightening his back. "You know I am not."

Her head cocked as she rounded the table, walking closer to him. Without even comprehending it, he slowly began moving back, the action unknown to him until the back of his head hit the wall.

She looked up at him, smirking almost, only inches away from him now. Like a predator toying with its meal, she gazed at him with wicked amusement.

"Severus," she started, almost teasingly.

His breath hitched.

"Severus, did I ever tell you, how proud I am of you for that that Polyjuice potion you brewed a few weeks ago?

His stomach flipped, cheeks flushing crimson without his permission. Severus opened his mouth, but she spoke again.

"That must have been... truly difficult. Really. I heard those potions take weeks. But you did, so well. In fact, no one can do it as good as you can." The smirk on her face was growing now as she stepped impossibly closer.

Breathe. He couldn't. Breathe.

How. Do. I. Breathe.

He didn't realise he was practically panting until he felt his own breath against her lips. She looked up at him, having to crane her neck to do so. "Is that it, Severus?" She whispered. "Is it my friendship that scares you so much? Or is it my praise?

He stopped breathing.

Her lips grazed his, whispered: "Or is it my touch?

At the same time, her fingertips began to trail up his arm, her touch feather light. At this, Severus found his breath, gasping slightly, looking down at her with his mask completely fallen. For the first time in his life, Severus allowed himself to be completely powerless at the hands of another. While others had controlled his entire life, Dumbledore, Voldemort, this was different. This was... welcome.

He allowed her to put her hands on his chest. He allowed her to back her up against the wall even further. He allowed her to crash her lips against his own.

The sound that came from his lips as they met hers was practically a whimper. He felt his face flush and the growing smirk on her own lips as they continued their kiss.

Her movements, the way her fingers tangled in his hair, the way she bit and flicked her tongue against his. She was as hungry as he was. Starved.

Panting, she pulled away and looked up at the mess he had become. His pale skin flushed, hair a mess, chest rising and falling rapidly as his lips parted, searching and failing to find the words.

She whispered, finding them for him. "Do you want this, Severus."

He stuttered, "t-this?"

Her lips grazed his neck and his legs buckled. "Me. Severus do you want me?"

She pulled back then, searching his eyes for any sign of hesitance or reject. Instead, she found only desire and the fear of it. The understanding that the fear, the cowardice, he'd exhibited had only been derived out of desire.

Severus nodded, murmered, surprising himself with how steady his voice sounded "I do."

She smiled softly, hummed as if the answer had pleased her greatly. "Sit," She murmered against his ear.

Severus found himself obeying quicker than he'd like to admit. His hands found the seat of his arm chair as he sat down, using all his strength not to shake as he did so.

She stood directly in front of him, her long fingers working at the buttons of her yellow dress, un-doing them.

He swallowed.

"Severus Snape," She murmered, continuing with her buttons, "Potions master. Veteran of the first Wizarding War. Looked straight into the eyes of Voldemort and lied to him. And who am I?" She paused with her buttons, looking up at him, "The newest Herbology professor? Half your age? A foot shorter than you? Do I frighten you, Professor."

His breath hitched as she slid the dress off, standing before him in only her undergarments, a black bra and panties. It shocked him, the image of both her near naked body and the colour of her underwear. Of what was really hiding underneath that insufferable colour of yellow. Even in those fantasies, the ones with his hands deep in his trousers, even then he didn't come close to picturing... this.

Her fingers reached back, unclasped the bra and it fell to the floor at his feet. His eyes wide, glued in place, he couldn't look away if the Dark Lord himself cast the imperiatus curse.

"Professor," She murmered, "Do I frighten you."

"Yes," The words fell from his lips in a shaky breath.

She fell to her knees, looking up at him with her hands on his thighs.

"But you're being so brave, Severus. Aren't you?" She murmered, placing a small kiss on his knee.

He gasped, nearly jolted, hands gripping the armrest so tight his knuckled turned white.

I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming. I'm hallucinating. Maybe I'm dead. Maybe I actually died and this is heaven and at some great mistake I'm here instead of down-

There.

She kissed up his thigh, relising in each gasp as she did.

Severus panted, looked down at her as her hands found the buckle of his belt.

"W-wait," he said suddenly, voice shaky.

She stopped her movements immediately, looking up at him.

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "If you.. do that... I won't... I can't.."

She spoke softly, "You won't last?"

He swallowed what remained of his pride, met her dark gaze. "Yes."

He expected her to laugh, or maybe to be annoyed, frustrated. Instead she nodded, still holding that soft look on her face as she stood again, looking down at him in the chair.

"I'll last long enough for the both of us then." She said softly, dipping her fingers into her panties and pullling them down to her ankles, kicking them to the side.

Severus could have died right then and there. His eyes widened, jaw weak, as he looked at her, fully naked before him.

Softly, she spoke again, "Have you ever touched a woman?"

He swallowed, shook his head.

"Would you like to?"

He nodded.

She took his hands then, saying nothing of the slight tremor of them and placed them gently on her hips. Whispered, "There... Just like that. That's it."

His breath hitched. She was so much, softer, warmer, than he'd imagined. Even through the callosus on his fingers, he could feel how soft she was. Like a balm on aching skin..

He looked up at her, suddenly very aware his hands were on her and unmoving, yet unsure of what to do.

Her smile was gentle. "There you go. Touch whereever you'd like Severus."

Severus eyes raked over her naked body, commiting it to memory in case he really were about to wake up. He'd dreamt of this how many times, been tortured by the idea of it. But with his hands, physically, on her.... He wanted to touch everywhere.

He began to move them, hesitantly, gentle touching her as though she might break under the weight of his fingertips. When his hands found her breasts, her lips parted, his own breath hitching as though he was recieving her pleasure.

She watched, gaze soft, as he began to hesitantly caress and feel her. When his thumb traced over her nipple she sighed softly, causing Severus's breath to immediately hitch.

His gaze alternating between her breasts and her face, Severus allowed his hands to move on their own accord, trailing down her rib cage. His fingers ghosted over each bone, patiently tracing each bone. They continued, moving down her stomach, past her navel, to her hips.

"Do you want my help?" In any other scenario Severus would have scoffed, maybe even snapped. An offensive, degrading question.

But the word that fell from his lips was "Yes."

So she did. Gently, she took his right hand and guided it between her legs.

Severus gasped softly, staring at his hand where it met her, unmoving.

"Explore, Severus," She murmered, "It's alright."

He swallowed, allowing his fingers to tentatively brush against her wet folds.

She's so.. Warm.

He racked his brain, trying desperately to remember his school days. He'd been tortured nightly by hearing all about Lucius conquests, late at night in the dorms. He tried to remember what he'd said.. How he'd pleasured them..

I never thought I'd wish I'd paid more attention to Lucius sex tales.

He remembered one thing though. Trailing up his middle finger, he carefully pressed it against the apex of her core, at the very top. She gasped, and his head snapped up to her face.

"Are you hurt?" He whispered, stomach dropping.

She smiled, laughed breathlessly. "No, Severus. That felt good."

Oh.

Oh.

He looked back down at her, carefully, unsurely, began to move his middle finger in soft circles on her clit.

She gasped, gripped her shoulder, balencing herself on him and he nearly bit back a moan.

She was gasping for him. Moaning for him. He was bringing her pleasure, he was-

"So good..." She moaned, tilting her head back, "Fuck Severus... That feels so good..."

He exhaled shakily, picking up the pace just a little bit and watching her reaction as her hips bucked slightly forward. With that, he pressed his finger a little harder.

The sound that left her lips couldn't have been compared to any of his dreams.

She moaned, panting, grinding slightly against his hand while he worked her until she suddenly stopped and looked down at him, flushed.

"Switch places with me." She said.

Severus began to move before he asked why. Kneeling down before her now as she sat in the chair, he looked up, finding his face eye level with her dripping cunt.

"Do you want to taste me?" She whispered, reaching down to trail one of her hands through his black strands of hair.

He could have came right then and there but he closed his eyes, steadying himself until he felt ready enough to look up at her, at which point he nodded.

He pushed her legs gently to the side as if frightened he might hurt her. Inching forward, he looked up at her.

"Kiss up my thighs first," she whispered, "tease me a little."

Severus obeyed, leaving gentle, soft kisses on her inner thigh. Fuck. It was the first time he'd ever kissed a womans body. And he was on his knees. His bloody knees. In his office. For a woman half his age.

Still, he kissed gently, sucking softly and licking up her thigh. He wasn't exactly sure where this sudden knowledge or confidence was coming from. It was as though he was running on autopilot, straight instinct.

He stopped just in front of it, looked up at her through his eyelashes and found she was breathing just as heavily as he was. She nodded.

With that, Severus gave a small lick, breath hitching as she gasped and gripped the armrests beside his head. Again. A small lick.

The groan that left his throat surprised even him.

She tasted... Addictive.

Something inside him snapped and he attatched himself to her, licking and sucking messily at her. He wasn't sure what he was doing, other than to focus on that same particular spot from before that seemed to make her gasp, and that certainly seemed to do the trick.

She arched her back, gasping as her fingers tangled in his hair.

"Severus," She moaned. It took all of his will to focus, continuing to eat her out feverishly despite the painful strain in his trousers. He wanted to reach down and palm himself right there, but stopped out of fear of this finishing too early.

He flicked his tongue across that spot again. Her back arched. Again, she moaned his name.

Again. Again. Again.

Studying her responses, her gasps, her body like he was studying for the most important exam of his life. He panted against her, his grip on her thighs tightening as he continued flicking his tongue in that way.

She tossed her head back in pleasure and Severus watched every moment of it as she squirmed and panted. Her face contorted in bliss, she panted out his name.

"Severus fuck... That feels so fucking good..."

He moaned, dipped his tongue into her entrance and moaned as she did.

"Yes.." She panted, "You're doing so well... Just like that.. Fuck you make me feel so good."

Severus felt dizzy as he began flicking his tongue again, alternating between long and small strokes, trying to best decipher which she liked the best.

When he found her body jerking more at the quick, rough licks, he licked his way back up to that particular spot and began doing so in quick, rapid succession.

A moan tore from her lips, the loudest one yet as she gripped his hair. Severus whimpered, latching onto her, sucking and flicking his tongue across her desperately.

Her thighs began to shake around his head, her breath coming in quick pants.

Was she...

"Close," She moaned. "Fuck Severus, you're going to make me cum."

He moaned, nodded against her, continued with even more urgency.

He needed it. Needed to make her feel good, for her to cum. For her to cum on his tongue. Needed to taste it. How her release felt when it was him who was drawing it out of her. He needed the satisfaction, the pride.

He gripped her thighs a little tighter, hummed.

She gripped a fistful of his hair even tighter as she grinded against his face, desperately chasing her release.

"Severus fuck.... Like that, like that... Don't stop.."

He would never stop. He could stay here like this all day if she wanted him to. If she kept saying those words to him, kept making those sounds.

She whimpered and shook, and Severus didn't need to know much about sex to know she was cumming. He continued lapping at her until she was done shaking and whimpering, until her breath began to come out in slower pants. Only then did he pull away, chin and lips glistening as he looked up at her with clouded eyes.

She panted, catching her breath and released his hair from her grip.

"Fuck.." She gasped. "Fast learner."

He smirked ever so slightly, almost pridefully, his grip lessening on her thighs as he absent mindedly tracing small circles over her hips and thighs.

"That was," he started, "you're... you're beautiful."

She smiled, still panting, as she tiled his chin up to look at her as she stood.

"Get in the chair." She murmered.

And once again, Severus found himself complying.

When he was in the seat, his hands found the armests as she stood between his legs. Her hands made quick work of his zipper, undoing it and pulling his pants down only slightly.

Severus's breath hitched. Suddenly self concious of everything. He didn't expect this... What if she didn't like the look of him? What if she was disgusted? Worse, what if she laughed?

He watched, frozen, as the corners of her lips didn't turn up into a smirk as she pulled him out. Instead, her tongue darted across her lips, exhaling heavily as she held him in her hand.

"You're beautiful," She murmered.

Severus felt dizzy. Her hand, she was touching him. Touching him. There. Calling him beautiful. There was no malice in her voice, no surpressed laughter, no mocking tone. Only honesty... And need.

He looked up at her, almost vulnerably, his breath coming in quick pants as she stroked him. Her hand was smaller than his, softer, warmer. If she kept up with this... he wouldn't last.

As if she knew, she straddled him, hips hovering just above his. With a gentle hum, she tucked his sweaty hair behind his ear. "Do you want this?" She whispered.

Severus could have said no. He could have shook his head and he sensed she would respect it. But he also knew he couldn't... Wouldn't forgive himself he denied himself any more pleasure. Especially from her.

With a shaky breath, he whispered: "Please."

A soft smile and a gentle kiss on his forehead, she sunk down slowly on him.

The gasp that flew from Severus's mouth shocked them both. His hands flew to her waist, holding her in place when she had sunk down on his entire length.

Holy. Shit.

She was warm. And wet. And tight. And beautiful.

He was breathing even heavier now, his fingers digging into her hips as he maintained eye contact. For once, when he looked at her, for the first time in weeks, he let his guard fully down. Perhaps that was the first time he'd done that in his life, allowed someone to truly look into his eyes and find some truth behind them.

She held his gaze gently, as though she were holding something delicate, sacred. "Severus," She whispered, "It's okay. You're okay."

That seemed to break something in him, he swallowed, nearly whimpered. "Please..." He whispered.

She didn't make him say anything more. She knew what he needed. Her hips began to move, gently, slowly at first; rising up and down in slow, fluid motions.

Severus's legs shook, his breath hitched.

Merlin. He could die now and be perfectly happy.

Then, she moaned softly. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she buried her face in his neck, planting soft, gentle kisses as she continued to ride him.

It was too much. Her kissing, her moans... The feel of her hands in his hair and rubbing his back... The feel of her tightening around him.

He panted, his own hands gripping impossibly tighter on her hips as she began to move faster, bucking her hips against his.

The moan that flew from his mouth was obscene. Loud, deep. He moaned her first name, saying it out loud for the first time with a desperate edge to it he was too far gone to be embarassed about.

It only seemed to spur her on. Moving faster now, she bounced on him, kissing his neck, whispering in his ear. "Fuck Severus, you're so big," She murmered, "Feels so good."

He panted, eyes squeezed shut. Any sembelence, any last ounce of control fled him as he allowed his eyes to flutter shut, his head leaning back against the chair as she rode with a fierce intensity.

"You're so handsome like this Severus... All needy for me," She whispered, her breath hot against his neck as she panted.

His hips jerked, rising impatiently to meet hers as shame completely abandoned him. "Pl-please... I.. I can't.."

She hummed against him, not slowing down. "I know baby. Do I feel good?"

The nickname alone could have made him cum. He nodded desperately, his hands shaking against her hips, head thrown back in shamless pleasure. "T-too good... I.."

"Shhh," She murmered, grinding against him even faster, "I've got you baby. Let go for me."

If he was thinking clearly, he might have considered pulling out. Or in the very least asking where he should cum. But in that moment, sweaty and dazed, her naked body on top of him, riding and praising him.. His mind only echoed her name.

Shaking, he tilted his head foreward, resting it against her shoulder as if he needed the support. The tightening in his lower abdomen grew and with small, quick whimpers, he came into her, his hips jerking and stuttering.

She hummed, panting as she slowed down, kissing up his neck to his cheek.

For what felt like an eternity, Severus stayed completely still, leaned against her, catching his breath. He felt as though he were floating. Half out of his body, half in it. As though he were in a dream. No potion could brew this. No spell could conjure it. Only her.

She kissed his cheek one last time before rising off him. He hissed in sensitivity as she slowly got off, tucked him gently into his boxers, leaving his pants unzipped.

Severus panted. The absence of her touch seemed to jolt him from the daze and he suddenly became very aware of what they had done, what he had allowed himself to do.

He couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"I'm sorry," He panted, the words sounding weak, "I'm sorry-"

He wanted to continue, but she tilted his chin up and forced his gaze back on her. On her face there was no disgust. No regret. Only a gentle expression he couldn't quite place.

And then she kissed him.

It wasn't like earlier. Not a hungry, passionate, needy kiss. It was soft, gentle, careful. Her lips grazed his delicately before she pulled back and met his widened eyes.

"That was incredible," She whispered.

His stomach flipped again but he remained still.

She straddled him again, though once again in a completely different nature. Her weight resting gently on him as she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

Severus blinked. Blinked again. He didn't realise he was crying until he felt the tears against her hair as she hugged him.

For awhile, they sat there in silence. She rubbed his back, rubbing in small circles and playing with his hair. She kissed his cheek and assured him that she enjoyed it, asking him if he did as well.

He did. He so did. And he didn't fully understand why he was so overwhelmed, so emotional. But so much was happening all at once. He'd had sex for the first time with the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, pleasure, lust.... love.... These feelings were foreign to him. Believed for so long to be out of his reach.

And all of a sudden they were all in his hands.

They stayed like that for awhile. Her hands gently massaging as she whispered assurances in his ear. When she finally pulled back, she looked at his glossy eyes and smiled softly.

"Can you stop avoiding me now, please?" She said, smirking.

He exhaled shakily, nodded. For a moment he looked at her and then felt a small smile tugging against the corner of his lips. He allowed it.

"I will.. Try." He spoke at last.

She kissed his forehead again, whispered against it. "Thank you."

Severus sighed again, melted in to her touch and her whispers. For once... Maybe he could allow himself the liberty of pleasure. Maybe he could get used to the feeling of her. He wasn't sure that after tonight he could ever go back to an existence without her touch. If he had gone his life without it, perhaps he could've. But to have had it and to lose it again...

"Stay," Severus whispered. "Please."

The look in her eyes when he met her gaze was soft. She nodded, trailing her fingers up and down his arms as she spoke, "I'm staying."

~

gang im gonna be completely honest i wrote this at about 1 am, high as a kite after watching deathly hollows pt 2 and crying at snapes death. i barely edited this thing. so if it sucks im sorry but everyone in my inbox is begging for sub snape and i am a listener LOL.

anyways. i missed u. have sub snape being a mess for a pretty lady. me too.

cheerio

~

TAGLIST (dm to be added or removed)

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**@herbologygremlin @kittenlittle24 @aleck-cross @macaroni7932 @xodilfluvr @unclosetedrickmaniac**

[applesaucesims]

The sun had mostly set, and the moon was already shining bright, when Erin ran up to the beach, where Kavi was already waiting for her, greeting her with an excited wave. The couple was quickly engrossed by each other, not noticing that, from just behind the bushes, they were being watched.

When Kavi had announced his plans for the night, Louis had come to the conclusion that it would be best if his friend had somebody there with him who could stand by and help, if he were to make a complete fool of himself. But, not wanting to sit there in the bushes by himself, he convinced a reluctant Zack to join him.

The remaining sunlight disappeared quickly, with the only light now coming from the moon. Although it had only been a few minutes, it had felt like an eternity to Zachary and Louis, who were already getting bored from just sitting and watching.

Figuring it could not get any more awkward, Zack decided to use the opportunity to come clean about something. Watching the couple in front of them made him wonder why Louis had asked him in the first place, when he really was the last person who would be able to help with girl issues. Although he had his suspicions that Louis had similar attractions to him, he could feel his nerves boiling over as he was trying to form the right words. He liked boys, not girls, and in his experience, people did not react very welcoming to that information.

However, Zack had nothing to worry about. Not only was Louis very much accepting of his friend's confession, he also eased the tension by coming out about his own preferences in that way. Although, he never really considered there to be much of any preference. He just liked people, really, and sure, sometimes that included his teachers, but that was neither here nor there. There was no time to think about people's gender when he had barely even figured out where he fit in himself, in the whole separation of boys and girls.

Thankfully, Zachary was understanding as well, or at least he did not want to bother Louis with any further questions, if he had them. Above all, they were glad to have shared a special bonding moment they had not had the chance to have with anyone else before. Somehow they knew this could be the foundation of great friendship.

[TRANSCRIPT]

Louis: "It's so romantic, isn't it?"

Zachary: "I suppose so. Why are we watching again?"

Louis: "Well, we've got to make sure Kavi doesn't embarrass himself."

Zachary: "Right..."

...

Zachary: "Gee, how long are they going to be?"

Louis: "Yeah, maybe this wasn't my best idea."

Zachary: "Uhm, while we're here... can I tell you something? I've got this secret, but I feel like you'd understand."

Louis: "Sure, I can keep a secret."

Zachary: "Well, when it comes to girls... I don't think I like them like that."

Louis: "Like what?"

Zachary: "Like Kavi, for instance. I always felt like I..." *clears throat* "I guess I'd... prefer boys."

Louis: "Oh! That's all?"

Zachary: "What- You don't mind?"

Louis: "Why would I?"

Zachary: "I guess you wouldn't. I've just had bad experience. Let's just say ballet isn't the only reason my dad kicked me out of the house."

Louis: "Oh... I'm sorry that happened."

Zachary: "It's fine. Life is much better with my aunt, anyway."

Louis: "Well, for what it's worth... I sort of like boys, too."

Zachary: "I, uhm, kind of figured. I saw the way you were looking at Mr. Booth that time."

Louis: "Oh... really?"

Zachary: "Hey, I was definitely looking, too."

Louis: *chuckles* "Well, I don't actually think I have any preference at all. I don't get the whole boys and girls thing most times, to be honest."

Zachary: "Don't worry. I can keep a secret, too."

[crescenthistory]

in your opinion, what sort of facial hair would the marauders and Slytherin Skittles have ? like, would they even have any, beard or mustache or both, would they start to let their hair grow as they get older and all that crap...

and also their haircuts in general, like do they keep it short or let it grow, take care of it, style it even (ofc we know Sirius is that shiny hair diva but what about the others 👀)

it's kinda useless but I'd love to hear your opinion haha

feel free to skip if I bore you

love you and what you write <3

what an entertaining question! i feel like i describe everyone's hair quite in-depth in most of my fics lol, but i do have some musings about facial hair for sure 🙂↕️ love you too darling<33

sirius – a fashion queen and diva who grows hair very fast and easily and thus has experimented with absolutely every style. we're talking van dyke, hungarian, swirly stache, everything. his partner(s)' favourite on him is surely the stubble he gets almost immediately after shaving <3

remus – quite standard growth and facial hair that matches his tawny hair colour. i mostly see him shaving for the convenience of it all, but every now and again he'll keep a light mustache that he somehow wears with grace.

james – grows hair almost as quickly as sirius, but it's much coarser. he tried throughout all his 20s to rock a mustache, but it always wound up looking like what sirius and lily declared a "pedostache" and they hounded him until he shaved. i think in his 30s and 40s when he becomes a proper Dad, though, he will grow a full, well-trimmed beard and will look insanely good with it<3

barty – i can see him playing with his facial hair for shits and giggles but not actually want to Commit to a style. i don't think he has a lot naturally and he usually isn't bothered to shave very often, much preferring to focus on other aspects of his looks, so he ends up with a light stubble quite often. he will purposefully avoid shaving before events with his father to piss him off, just like he will intentionally shave if his partner (especially reg) gets a sensory issue from it:)

regulus – i mostly hc regulus as trans, so i don't really think facial hair became much of a topic for him until he had been on hrt for a while. for him, i imagine he tried to embrace the facial hair he got for a while (used all of sirius' tips) to feel more masculine, but just wound up not feeling like himself and shaved it all off. regulus is definitely a clean-shaven type of guy in my head; he likes the fresh aesthetic and he likes to be In Control of his body lol.

evan – i view evan as having completely white hair, and that goes for his facial hair as well. i think he doesn't grow too much during his teens, but it sets in during his 20s, mostly a light scattering over his lips and a slightly thicker patch under his chin. i can see him growing it out somewhat longer when he's older, but he wouldn't want it to interfere with his daily activities.

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

hey continuing on with this thing from my rewatch:

eddie getting home from the academy one day and sitting down with a beer after getting chris to bed.

he clicks on his tv and it comes alive on the same station it always does when it's just been turned on, KDLA Channel 10.

And hey, that's a firehouse.. wait, this is about that guy who fell from the coaster isn't it?

Oh duh, this is why we'd done more hanging rescue training the last couple days. Eddie thinks to himself.

"---with fireman Evan "Buck" Buckley, who people are calling the County Fair Spider-Man for his daring rescue." the voiceover says, making Eddie cringe.

"Poor guy." he laments as the feed changes to show the secondary reporter and what must be the hero fireman and damn.

Eddie blinks.

Damn. This guy's hot as hell! What Eddie'd give to be at that guy's station after he's done with training.

Listen, it's been a good couple years now since he and Shannon split, her taking off suddenly and the divorce papers arriving in the mail two years later, just a couple days before he and Christopher had made the move to California.

And he's had enough time to somewhat come to terms about some things.

He's gay.

Or some variation of gay at least, so he knows hot guy when he sees hot guy.

And this hot guy's a huge hunk of man meat.

But then the guy (what'd the reporter call him? Bucky? Like the superhero guy?) starts talking and.. shit... even his voice is nice..

"I was just doing my job." Bucky the Babe says, "I'm happy we were able to help the people we helped and I'm-I'm really sorry about those we--we couldn't save."

Eddie's mulling over the fact that this beautiful beautiful man is also somehow humble too when someone in the background of the shot opens the engine door and there it is. There's the station number.

"One-eighteen, huh?" He takes a sip of his beer and files away that number for later.

"We're getting a lot of Twitter questions from our audience, most just want to know if you're single." The reporter turns the microphone back on Bucky and Eddie starts to lean forward for a second before catching himself.

Bucky smirks and looks down the camera and "Fuck."

He's hot, he's pretty, and damn those eyes. It's like he's looking right through the screen at Eddie whenever his eyes jump up.

"Oh, uh, that's very sweet of them," Bucky hedges, "I'm sure they're just turned on by the uniform."

"I know I am..." Eddie mutters, taking another pull from his drink.

"I don't know if they would feel that way if they saw me out of it."

Eddie spits his drink out over his coffee table as Bucky has the gall to smirk and laugh awkwardly and endearingly while Eddie tries to wipe up the beer with the arm of his sweatshirt.

"Oh, I-I don't mean it like that." Stupid hot Bucky continues, with his stupid hot face on Eddie's stupid beer-spattered TV screen.

"Well thanks, Buck, and thanks for all that you do day in and day out." the reporter says, a smile pulling at her lips.

"Uh, y-you're welcome." Bucky, Buck, smiles again and ducks his head, turning to walk back into the station.

Eddie keeps his eyes on the man as long as he can, watching as Buck stuffs one hand into his pocket and the other comes up to scratch absently at the back of his head.

Somehow, even blurry, Buck is hot; striding away from the camera with legs that seem to go on for miles.

[antianakin]

@theneutralmime

I think I'm going to have to hit this point by point.

The Jedi saying "We can't fight in wars because we're technically peacekeepers" isn't them finding a legal loophole, it's just them refusing to obey an order given by someone who seemingly does have some level of legal authority over them. And the Jedi can always say no, that is obviously always in their purview, but saying no comes with consequences.

The thing with Palpatine is that he is VERY VERY GOOD at turning situations to his advantage because he spends a very long time putting himself in a position where he has the power to know a lot of information in advance and have enough influence to make life really difficult for anyone who tries to stand against him. So even if the Jedi tried something like this, Palpatine isn't just going to be like "Oh no how dare the Jedi use a legal loophole on me, guess my entire plan is defeated now!" No, he's going to ask Dooku to find a way to keep attacking the Republic planets in really blatantly awful ways (because it doesn't actually matter what the Separatist politicians do or don't want to do when they clearly have zero control over the droid army and don't even really know what it's doing in their name) and Palpatine can very very easily now blame the Jedi for everyone dying because, well, they refused to fight and found a legal loophole to take the Republic's army with them, but that doesn't stop the Separatists from choosing to be aggressive and attack them anyway to try to conquer them, so really the Jedi just abandoned them and are probably in league with the Separatists because they secretly wanted to tear down the Republic anyway because the Jedi have gotten arrogant and fallen from grace and oh whoops now the Jedi are the villains and it's very very easy to have Order 66 with everyone cheering it on.

That's the WHOLE POINT of Palpatine and this plan is that it's not necessarily unbeatable, but that there is no real legal loophole that would defeat Palpatine. The whole point is that he's put so many pieces into specific places that it takes almost zero effort to thwart any plan against him because nobody realizes just how involved he actually is in all of the things happening around the galaxy at this time. He's got eyes and ears nearly everywhere. The one thing that's supposed to be able to keep him from his total domination is ANAKIN and Anakin's choices, and Anakin makes the wrong one and everyone suffers as a result. The whole point is that many of the characters are forced into making certain choices because Palpatine engineers these scenarios specifically to lead them down that path. He knows the Jedi aren't going to just abandon the Republic to being attacked by the droid army, he knows they aren't just going to abandon the clones (who DON'T belong to the Jedi because even if a Jedi is the one who ordered them, he seems to have ordered them ON BEHALF OF THE REPUBLIC, not on behalf of the Jedi Order, which means that legal loophole of "oops we can just steal your army" is never going to work), so if he can start a war then the Jedi are always going to step in to fight it. Always.

The Jedi would somehow have to destroy BOTH armies, clone and droid, before they even begin to fight each other in order to keep that war from happening. And that's a pretty tall order for the Jedi since it involves not just somehow destroying TWO ARMIES but discovering said armies early enough to actually be able to even try to do something about it. And even though they DO discover both armies early, Palpatine still has so many pieces already in place that it doesn't matter because he's able to just move his timetable up and take advantage of what's happening to start the war and force the Jedi into it anyway.

There isn't a way for the Jedi to weasel their way out of this. There's no convenient legal loophole that just magically keeps Palpatine from being able to do anything at all to start the war and turn the people of the galaxy against the Jedi. It just doesn't happen.

[lunabug2004]

So... I reblogged one of the posts you're talking about and said I agree with them, but after a bit more thinking I really think it's a crazy mix of comphet, internalized homophobia, depression, and trauma, among other things, that drive a lot of Mike's decisions and story.

I don't really think I'm the best person to answer this question because I prefer to think that Mike is gay and as I stated before, I do think he experiences internalized homophobia. I just wanted to share my thoughts.

I think in seasons 1 & 2, Mike was completely oblivious to his feelings towards Will being romantic. I think he knew he felt differently towards Will than anyone else, but he didn't know what romantic feelings felt like. That's why he fell victim to comphet so easily in season 1. Everyone around him was telling him he liked El, so he must, right? Sometimes I think he may have even confused a trauma bond, or just a feeling of needing someone, like how he felt he needed her in order to find Will, as romantic feelings.

Anyways, I don't think he realized the extent of his feelings towards Will or realized that they were romantic until around the end of season 2 (the end of season 3 is when he realized the feelings were really not going to go away imo). And I think that he started disallowing himself to feel differently towards Will, and that's why he acts the way he does in seasons 3 & 4. That's why we get so much projection from him, too. Because he's forcing himself to be oblivious to these feelings. Every time he himself or someone else thinks anything that could possibly be about his romantic feelings towards Will or his platonic feelings for El (which he is trying to convince himself are romantic) he shuts it down immediately by going on the defensive (e.g. "What about us?" or "You never say it").

I could also talk about how I think his realization of his feelings and the fact that he thinks he failed himself by them not going away by the end of season 3 really affected his depression (he's pushing ppl away and shutting himself off bc he's depressed bc he realized his feelings are not changing) but I've already talked way too much, I feel ����

Anyways, I know this isn't the answers to your questions but as someone who is kinda in the middle (in the way that I think he experiences internalized homophobia while also somehow forcing himself not to by pretending to himself that he is oblivious to his feelings), I wanted to jump into this convo. I hope this wasn't too confusing! Honestly I confuse myself writing these sometimes because Mike's such a complex character...

I'm genuinely interested because I'm trying to see Mike Wheeler from a different perspective.

How do bi Mike truthers who don't think he has internalized homophobia and is just oblivious to his feelings for Will explain the airport scene, the rink-o-mania fight, the "It's not my fault you don't like girls", his weird reaction to El kissing him in front of the closet in season 3 etc.? Because I feel like a lot of "Byler proofs" don't really make sense if Mike is actually bi and doesn't struggle with internalized homophobia so I really want to hear your thoughts on some of these scenes because I want to be able to see the bi Mike vision as well...

+++edit: i know bisexual people can also experience internalized homophobia obviously but I've seen a lot of people specifically state that they believe Mike is bi and does not experience internalized homophobia+++

[egophiliac]

don't think I'm not still obsessing over 7-12

[auguryofjellyfish]

I HAVEN'T WATCHED ALL OF TODAY'S EPISODES SO I MIGHT BE PROVEN WRONG BUT I'M SORRY TO SAY THAT I'M MAJORLY SUS OF WADA

Wada's punishment from Loyalty Game was that he wasn't allowed to enter the basement level until the next killing happens. He and Ojima were the ones to discover Hayashi's body floating in the pool, WHICH IS IN THE BASEMENT.

Why would Wada be allowed to go down there?? Yes, the killing had already happened, but HE shouldn't have known that. The only reason why he would have gone down there is if he already knew that Mai was dead and so there was no risk of further punishment for breaking the rules.

If Wada was under the impression he wasn't allowed down there, he would have - SHOULD HAVE - remained upstairs.

Istg if Wada killed Mai I'm gonna McFucking LOSE IT

dude GO WATCH THE EPISODES!!

also...yeah. i'm ngl. he is kinda sus. first point, as you said, him not questioning how he was able to go to the basement without being punished. that's really weird, but. this one could be explained by wada (and ojima) just having a dumdum moment. he's been starving for 6 days, he's definitely not at his best cognitively. he could have just forgotten. i know it's a very flimsy explanation but it's not that unlikely.

the second sus point is like... him going in and out of the arsenal. especially that he wasn't carrying anything in or out?? this one got me like 🤨...okay...? why the fuck would he be there then...that's definitely sus. HOWEVER...

him potentially being mai's killer. i just got one question...how? there's no way. either he was holding a knife and mai stabbed herself on it and then jumped off the pool balcony and fell into the pool, or it's not possible. at least, i really don't think so. if it was anyone but mai, maybe, but she has like at least 60kg on him, she could literally snap him in half. buut...the murder might have been some sort of agreement between mai and the killer, so they didn't necessarily have to get a drop on her (if it fr was self-sacrifice i will cry). still, i really don't think it's wada in any capacity.

another argument against it being him: for weeks now, the main justification behind him not being the trapper was that he's incredibly weak right now due to starvation. the trapper and the killer definitely are the same person, and if he can't be the trapper, he can't be the killer. he was feeling very weak during the investigation, tamba remarked that he looked pale, and he sounded like he was on the verge of passing out a few times. it was difficult for him to even roll mai's body over. he did pass out when they discovered her body too! i really can't see him faking that. the bomb traps wouldn't be that difficult to set up, but the other traps disqualify him. he's just physically not strong enough to even carry a bucket of gasoline around.

more arguments against: his reward. why would he be so excited to show tamba his security cameras reward if he was the culprit? we know he didn't mess with the footage beforehand, because tamba was there to see him having to download it. but even if he didn't have to download and could edit it, it still wouldn't make sense, if he missed even one thing he would have been caught instantly. the best and the easiest course of action is just to not say anything about the cameras in the first place.

i think that's all i have for now. him forgetting about his punishment and it being impossible for him to be the trapper could be argued against potentially, but the security camera perk really solidifies for me that it's really not him. if he was the killer, him showing it to tamba wouldn't be some crazy 5D chess move, it would be like 0D, stupid as all hell.

with that said, what in the goddamn was he doing in the arsenal?? i really don't know, but, if he's not the killer and i had to guess...maybe he was checking if anything was missing from it? he was there with mai when she was noting down the inventory, he would be more familiar with what's in there than most of the others. other possibility, i'm nooot really feeling this one, but maybe being in a room full of deadly weapons paradoxically made him feel safer because he had so many tools to defend himself with?...there would be also a lot of tools to kill him with, so that's eeeeeeeh, plus it doesn't explain him going in and out. and the silliest option i could think of...maybe he was the one who emptied out the arsenal. he wasn't seen carrying anything because he just took things one by one and stuffed them under his baggy as fuck tracksuit. that'd be hilarious. but then again, if he did that and his goal was so people can't use this stuff, why wouldn't he fess up immediately? hmmm. i dunno. he did clam up when tamba asked why he was there, which makes me think that him going to the arsenal wasn't a purely righteous thing if he's that stressed about it, but i'm not sure. he might just have been afraid of being told off because going to the arsenal was frowned upon in general. i seriously don't think he used anything from there.

to sum up...he's a bit sus...but i reaally don't see how he could have killed mai. i haven't read a lot of speculation yet so maybe that will change somehow, but i don't think so. so in the end, him forgetting about the punishment was probably him being a giant dummy.

[fascinationstreetmp3]

anne rice making daniel be so gentle and kind and patient with marius in prince lestat sucks to me. if he has to he can live/be with marius, fine, whatever, but their relationship vibes should at least be more along the lines of "have a safe flight" "i don't really have a say in the matter do i" "okay die then bitch". at the LEAST. they should be having years long disagreements over things that will never ever get settled. marius should be so condescending about everything daniel likes and does and daniel should be criticising every word that comes out of marius' mouth. the unmentioned presence of armand should be looming over the whole thing. instead, daniel's "pleading in a gentlemanly fashion" when he wants marius to come clubbing with him? and he's all understanding and nice when marius doesn't want to go? and daniel apparently only ever feels grateful, he never wants to defy marius or leave him in any way and doesn't feel trapped at all anymore even though marius still tries to control him? well. i don't know who that man is but marius could not have tolerated 70s/80s human daniel that's what i think.

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

So we know that Wei Wuxian's treatment after his death was horrible. Even if nothing could impact him directly, there was still neverending slander, hatred, misinformation, theft...

But, for a while after he died, the sects did try to impact him directly – namely, frequently trying to resummon his soul. And today I'll explore the possible reasons for this, their likelihoods, and why I'm so, so thankful that Wei Wuxian's soul managed to resist the summons. Because, spoiler alert (or, you know. maybe not)... none of them are good.

(Long meta ahead)

In my opinion, there are four likely motivations for this: confinement, coercion, torment, and potentially destruction.

Out of all of these, confinement is probably the most likely motivation, at least for most sects (Jins and Jiangs excluded, though it was likely what the Jin sect said their motivations were – but I'll get to them later). This one is the most simple – we know spirit-trapping pouches exist, and we know the sects also placed 120 stone beasts on the Burial Mounds to prevent Wei Wuxian's soul from escaping. Therefore, this seems to be the most likely motivation – and fortunately for Wei Wuxian, probably also the best case scenario, though it still certainly isn't a good one.

For the second, coercion – this is where the Jin sect come in (more specifically Jin Guangshan with the help of Jin Guangyao). Due to their wealth and resources, they're likely the sect who played the largest role in the soul-summoning rituals. We know what they're willing to do to try to gain power – keeping Wen Ning under the pretence he was burned to death and trying to control him with the nails, and working with and helping Xue Yang torture people to help him refine his demonic cultivation, in order to have the Yin hufu fixed. Along with working with many other cultivators, alongside Xue Yang – Jin Guangshan really, really wanted that seal.

And so, Jin GuangShan sought after all those who imitated Wei WuXian in cultivating the ghostly path and gathered them under his rule. He spent a great amount of money and resources and these people, ordering them to study and analyze the structure of the Tiger Seal in secrecy so that they could replicate and restore it. - Villainous Friends extra, EXR

(Note that working with these cultivators very likely happened after Wei Wuxian's soul had failed to be summoned, since this happens some time after Wei Wuxian's death, whereas the soul-summoning ceromonies presumably started happening very close to it.)

In the previous paragraph, he's also quoted as having 'lusted after' the Yin hufu, which we already knew but it's nice to have a direct quote as evidence.

Now, would Wei WuXian willingly work with the Jin sect in doing this? No. We know that, and, given Wei Wuxian's actions in his first life (refusing to hand over the Tally, not being afraid to stand up to the sects, etc), I’m pretty sure Jin Guangshan knows that, too:

He beat around the bush a couple of times, using all his skills, yet Wei WuXian didn’t give in no matter what, and it made him run into a bunch of obstacles. - Villainous Friends extra, EXR

So this could actually make things go two ways. One, I'm wrong and that wasn't actually part of the Jin sect's motivations, since they know they wouldn't be able to control him (and in that case, had they managed to summon him, I could imagine them putting him in a spirit-trapping pouch and doing something similar to what Jin Guangyao did to Nie Mingjue's head. Which, also, not good). Two, it was a part of their motivations, and they hoped to find a way around that. After all, there are other guidao users out there now, and Wei Wuxian would now be a gui*. Also, cultivators can obviously harm ghosts – see the very existence of Night Hunts, and I'd include Xue Yang's talisman-caused destruction of A-Qing as well (while he isn't a traditional cultivator, talismans can be used by everyone).

Now, would either of these methods actually work? I'm inclined to think not really (and I expand on the former method in a note below). Would that stop Jin Guangshan/Jin Guangyao/the cultivators they employ from trying? Especially considering Jin Guangshan's lust for power?

I'm inclined to think no, too.

For the third, look no further than Jiang Cheng's reputation of capturing and torturing demonic cultivators after Wei Wuxian's death, due to thinking they could be him. And this does happen – Jin Ling knows and talks about it, and there's not real motivation for him to negatively lie about someone he loves. Also, when they come across each other at Dafan Mountain, we're told this in Jiang Cheng's inner voice:

A moment ago, Jiang Cheng was certain that this person was Wei WuXian, and all of the blood in his body started to boil. Yet, now, Zidian was clearly telling him that he wasn’t. Zidian definitely wouldn’t deceive him or make a mistake, so he quickly calmed himself and thought, this doesn’t mean anything. I should first find an excuse to take him back and use every possible method to get information out of him. It’s impossible for him to not confess anything or give himself away. I’ve done things like this in the past anyways. - MDZS Chapter 10, EXR translation

This mainly shows that he's tortured people before, rather than that he's tortured people because he thinks they're Wei Wuxian, but this reason is confirmed by Jin Ling in Chapter 24. Of course, the reason is also mentioned in this chapter, and there are other moments in the chapter that illustrate my point better**, but they come from second-hand sources which I know are easier to deny. Do take note of Jiang Cheng's expression both times he comes across 'Mo Xuanyu' (after he suspects he's Wei Wuxian) in Book One***, though:

After a moment, the corners of Jiang Cheng’s lips pulled into a twisted smile. His left hand started to unconsciously stroke the ring [Zidian] again. He spoke softly, “… Well, well. So you’re back?” - Chapter 10, EXR Although his face had always been clouded, marked with arrogance and satire, it seemed as if every corner of it had come alive. It was difficult to determine whether it was vengeful wrath, fathomless hatred, or raving ecstasy. - Chapter 23, EXR

This does seem to line up with what people say his attitude to Wei Wuxian is – there doesn't seem to be any happiness at seeing him again at all. The only time a word that could suggest that ('ecstasy') is used, it's accompanied by 'raving', and considering the context and the other possibilities of his expression, it's... probably not due to happiness at being reunited.

So, considering 1) this, 2) his contribution to the Siege specifically intended to kill Wei Wuxian, and 3) that at the time of frequent soul-summoning Jiang Yanli's death would be even closer for him, I feel pretty confident in saying that yes, this is likely a motivation for the Jiang sect in trying to re-summon Wei Wuxian's soul after his death. And, as mentioned earlier, cultivators can harm ghosts (and we know Zidian is able to remove souls posessing a body from that body, and that Jiang Cheng used Zidian on 'Mo Xuanyu' in Chapter 10. If it wasn't able to restrain/harm ghosts, or other methods weren't able to, why would he risk Wei Wuxian's soul escaping?).

And finally, option four: destruction. We're heading into much more speculative territory here, so don't consider this on par with the first three. But consider this:

We know there are some spells, like Xue Yang's talisman used on A-Qing and the body-offering ritual, that can ruin the returning soul’s reincarnation cycle by destroying it. Therefore, soul destruction is possible.

The 'main'/supposed reason for summoning Wei Wuxian's soul back is to stop the "cultivation world, or even all of mortal land" from being "faced with the most insane damnation and revenge, sinking into nothing but chaos and despair" when Wei Wuxian inevitably returns. While, as mentioned above, I severely doubt this is the motivation for certain sects – and to me is likely a rumour which the Jins (again, especially Jin Guangsha) fanned the flames of to justify summoning Wei Wuxian back for their own purposes**** – there are other sects which would take it more seriously.

Although likely disrespectful, people already thought it served Wei Wuxian right to die without his body intact by the time of the second siege – something believed to negatively affect your reincarnation in your next life*****. This is only the logical next step, and I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people would believe that, again, it would serve Wei Wuxian right, or would at least lead to less harm of the world in the long run.

For these reasons, I could definitely see this as an option for some sects, especially the sects who consider themselves more 'righteous' (cough cough the Nies under Nie Mingjue cough cough). After all, evil is evil and good is good, and the evil deserve what's coming to them. And what better way to prevent that than from preventing his soul from returning at all? So for the Nie sect – and likely some of the smaller sects involved in the Siege, since among them, additudes probably vary – yes, I do think it could be a motivation.

I’m not as sure about the Lans being willing to go this far, and that’s largely for two reasons. One, Lan Wangji’s presence and his relationship to Lan Xichen, who does (not always, but he does) let this affect how he treats Wei Wuxian. An example of this is that, when Wei Wuxian's return is made public, Lan Xichen does let him hide and shelter at the Cloud Recesses instead of trying to pursue him, likely majorly due to Lan Wangji. I'd argue that the aftermath of the Nightless City also acts as an example of this, although it definitely isn't perfect. But though he, Lan Qiren and the 33 elders do come to find Lan Wangji and do not let him continue to shelter Wei Wuxian (after they see Lan Wangji's feelings), Lan Xichen doesn't use this opportunity to kill/capture Wei Wuxian, despite Lan Wangji being in a worse condition due to having fought 33 elders, Wei Wuxian being catatonic, and Lan Qiren likely supporting this outcome (especially considering he was the one who led the Lan sect in the Siege – chapter 68, Wei Wuxian's POV). And he did let Lan Wangji take Wei Wuxian back to the Burial Mounds after:

After he went out of his way to send you back to Burial Mound and returned in such low spirits to receive his punishment, how long he kneeled before the Wall of Rules! - Chapter 99, EXR

Again, this was right after the Nightless City massacre – there isn't any goodwill towards Wei Wuxian at this point in time.

Of course, the Lan sect did participate in the siege after Lan Xichen knew of Lan Wangji's feelings towards Wei Wuxian, which Lan Xichen was no doubt a part of (although Lan Qiren lead the Lan sect in the siege, Lan XIchen had to have at least known/given his support, if not participated.) And it should be considered that Lan Xichen letting Wei Wuxian shelter at the Cloud Recesses was after Wei Wuxian had been back for a while, and had not caused the downfall of the Cultivation World, like many suspected he would after his death. And of course, as stated previously, his handling of the aftermath of Nightless City wasn't perfect either (though please note that his main motive here was to protect Lan Wangji from being potentially executed, rather than anything about Wei Wuxian himself). So caring about Lan Wangji doesn't mean he won't harm Wei Wuxian. But I do think he could find bringing Wei Wuxian's soul back to completely destroy it a bit excessive. There is, though, the chance that the elders of the Lan Sect would react to this differently, and of course they would have a sway on both Lan Xichen and the Lan sect as well.

The second reason is smaller, but there seems to be more focus in the Lan sect than in others when it comes to letting ghosts rest peacefully/helping them move on. And that could definitely lead to more resistance to the idea of summoning a soul back to destroy it as well, which could especially impact the elders. So I'd assume that the Lan sect would be the most likely sect to summon Wei Wuxian's soul back just for confinement, or just for some way of making sure any resentment is disippated, his spirit moves on, and he can't cause more harm to the world (eg via Inquiry)******. Not that he would or does as a ghost or as a reborn person, but that's unfortunately not relevant to this.

But yes, as a motivation for the Nie Mingjue-led Nie sect? Absolutely.

So, these are the main motives I suspect to be behind the attempted summoning of Wei Wuxian's soul after his death (and if I've missed any, please let me know – I'd love to have a discussion). And, of course, none of them lead to anywhere good. Because of course it wasn’t enough to besiege Wei Wuxian, murder the 50 non-combatants he was responsible for (and throwing them into the blood pit as a mark of disrespect because why not?), and lead to his death via him getting torn apart. It wasn’t enough to steal all his inventions, and use them commonly while still slandering him with no reprieve – or to steal his notes and give them to people like Xue Yang to study (Villainous Friends, again) and to use for their own, extremely extremely harmful, purposes. Of course, the cultivation world has to try to harm Wei Wuxian after death as well ((:

We don't know whether Wei Wuxian rejecting the summoning ceremonies was conscious or unconscious, but if it was the former, these are very likely reasons he refused to return in this way. If it was unconscious – for example, maybe during the frequent soul-summons his soul was in a weakened state due to him dying from a backlash of resentful energy and getting torn apart, and it healed over time but not before the soul-summoning rituals stopped – well, I can only be thankful.

Finally, let me leave you on the thought that – although it may well have happened since we don't spend much time in the immediate aftermath of the Sunshot campaign – there isn't even any textual mention of this happening to Wen Ruohan. Who, while not being a guidao user, was still very dangerous, still an extremely powerful cultivator, and still had a lot of reason to feel resentment. So.

:')

Thank you for reading!

--

*Considering what we see of how Wei Wuxian's guidao functions – redirecting the ghosts'/corpses' resentment into doing something they'd want to do, eg attacking people, and directing it towards a target – I'm not sure using it to force a spirit to do something 1) extremely specific, and 2) explicitly against their will would actually work. Iirc the closest thing we get to this in text is Wei Wuxian using the corpses of Wens to attack other Wens in the Sunshot Campaign, but he's still just directing their resentment to a target of his choice, and fierce corpses do tend to be on the less concious side of things (hence why Wei Wuxian had to awaken Wen Ning's consciousness). Considering how Wen Ning attacks Wei Wuxian and the Burial Mound Wens before his consciousness had fully awoken, I... really don't think those fierce corpses were able to differentiate (or didn't care).

Meanwhile, ghosts seem to be a bit more in control of themselves – see A-Qing, and Wei Wuxian's own descriptions of his ghost self.

That, alongside ghost!Wei Wuxian being able to resist his soul-summoning and the fact that pretty much all of the new guidao users are a lot weaker than he was, does make me think that this this wouldn't work. I do wonder about Xue Yang, since his methods are pretty different as well, but he's more of a modao user than a guidao user (he controls living corpses rather than dead people) and I don't think you can insert physical nails into ghosts?? Though if he was specifically instructed to figure out some way to control ghost!Wei Wuxian (who's probably kept in a spirit-trapping pouch in this scenario), he might be able to do something at least. Though also he was also struggling to piece Xiao Xingchen's ghost soul back together, so he may struggle with those areas?

Well, whatever the potential outcome, I'm so so happy once again that Wei Wuxian's soul managed to resist the soul-summonings...

**Mainly this:

Everyone in the cultivation world knew that the young leader of the Jiang Clan watched out for Wei WuXian in an almost crazed manner. He would rather catch the wrong person than let go of any possibility, and took anyone who seemed like they held the soul of Wei WuXian away to the YunmengJiang Sect, inflicting severe torture on his victim. If he wanted to take someone back, the opposition would surely lose half of their life. - Chapter 10, EXR

But I have heard people say 'you can't prove that it's just more rumours' before, and I wanted my evidence to be as watertight as possible.

(And, off-topic... isn't it really sad how Jiang Cheng, in the present day, is described as young? Because, for a clan leader, he is. And another thing he is, is close in age to Wei Wuxian – who was killed 13 whole years prior :') )

***And do note that the only other time they run into each other before Wei Wuxian's identity is revealed to the world apart from this is their brief interaction at Jinlintai, where he can't just act however he wants. The next time they run into each other after it, Jiang Cheng is literally taking part in another siege against him, and still extremely hostile ("surrounded by hostile energy, face insidious, staring straight at him" – from EXR chapter 60). Then he loses his spiritual powers and can't do anything. By the time he regains his powers, Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji and the Wen remnants' corpses have saved everyone during the Second Siege, and though public opinion hasn't properly shifted quite yet, it will soon after Sisi and Bicao tell the story of Jin Guangyao, and voila, a new scapegoat (do note that he doesn't completely bar Wei Wuxian from entering Lotus Pier after the Second Siege, though). Plus, throughout it all, Lan Wangji is still constantly present, which makes it hard for Jiang Cheng to really do anything. And then he's finally faced with the Golden Core reveal, which does alter his motivations towards Wei Wuxian (obviously the resentment is still there – read chapter 102 – but it's also mixed with other complex emotions, and he seems to start being able to move away from that a little in Chapter 103). I still definitely wouldn't describe Jiang Cheng's attitude towards him as positive, but it isn't at the point it was at the start of the novel (eg Chapter 10).

But even if his attitude does change, or would for whatever other reason apart from the reveal, that still doesn't change an initial motivation so isn't relevant to this meta. We know his intentions at the start.

****It's also possible they may have originated it, but I think WWX's reputation was bad enough for it to form naturally. Though you can trace a major part of that back to them, too.

*****That belief isn't outright stated in MDZS, but the fact people are specifically talking about the status of WWX's body in the aftermath of his death suggests that this belief does have some grounding in the MDZS universe, at least? And we know MXTX has included it in TGCF (though that doesn't mean it's definitely in MDZS), so she has used it in her works. If this isn't the case in the MDZS universe I am sorry (although that could also mean there's less importance placed on not disturbing the reincarnation cycle in the world of MDZS...? Which would work towards my original argument) – I don't want to spread misinformation that something is definitely true, I just think there's evidence to suggest it is true, which isn't the same thing.

******Again, I think this would depend on who ends up having more influence over who in the Lan sect. After all, normal resentful spirits only do what they do because of their resentment in death, whereas Wei Wuxian is 'dangerous' because of who everyone thinks he was in life – so him being reborn naturally could also 'cause a lot of harm to the world' during the time period this version of him would live in, unlike the resentful ghosts they appease. This could definitely lead to many advocating for confinement, I think.

[fallloverfic]

Obviously you can headcanon what you want, there's a lot of room for messing with stuff for fun, I'm just referencing what's in the novel for clarity:

“Qin Su came from the Qin Clan of Laoling, an affiliate clan to the Jin Clan of Lanling. The family head of the Qin Clan of Laoling, Qin Cangye, was a former subordinate of Jin Guangshan’s and had followed him for years. While Jin Guangyao was Jin Guangshan’s son, his mother’s background meant he and Qin Su were not of equal social standing.” - Volume 2, Chapter 10: The Beguiling Boy

In Volume 4, Chapter 19: Core of the Truehearted, Bicao says that Madame Qin (Qin Su's mother) "was too terrified" to speak out against Jin Guangshan because Qin Cangye "was loyal" to Jin Guangshan. It's not really stated how necessarily close Jin Guangshan and Jin Cangye were outside the bonds of clan loyalty. You can work closely with someone and even be "loyal" to them, and not necessarily be friends and still turn on them, as Jin Guangshan demonstrated a bit. It's possible they were allies, not friends. Given the book universe is patriarchal, Madame Qin's unwillingness to stand up for herself was likely partly trauma from assault, as well as self-preservation (she didn't want to lose her standing for being violated) and because she likely imagined Qin Cangye wouldn't believe her, and would instead accept the word of his male ally. Jin Cangye would also likely prioritize his clan's standing over his wife's honor (being head of an affiliate clan would encourage him to play nice with Jin Guangshan). All this to say: what little we know about Qin Cangye is likely somewhat polite reframing of the workings of a sexist society than proof he and Jin Guangshan were friends.

I also think it's important to remember Bicao states that Madame Qin stated that Jin Guangshan was drunk at the time. Yes, it's likely their clan status that led them to be around each other, and he allegedly lusted after her outside that, but he was allegedly drunk when he assaulted her. So his potential friendship with Qin Cangye isn't necessarily relevant to the act itself other than giving Jin Guangshan opportunity.

I don't personally recall anything about Jiang Fengmian being close with Jin Guangshan, just that they were maybe amicable as clan leaders, which seems additionally likely given their position and that their wives were friends. They were both decent at diplomacy (at least at times), but that doesn't mean they were necessarily close outside what was required of their children being engaged and meeting up for events. Jin Guangshan liked cosying up to people and Jiang Fengmian was generally polite, so even a semblance of amicability might have been for diplomatic reasons, not real friendship.

I don't think it's ever stated if Madame Qin was a cultivator, so it's hard to know how strong she was (though her position implies that even if she was a cultivator, she likely wasn't a strong one), but I highly doubt even a sober Jin Guangshan would have been able to overpower Yu Ziyuan, the Purple Spider. And I highly doubt that Yu Ziyuan would have kept silent about it if she had any memory of the connection. I'm pretty sure she would have murdered Jin Guangshan, and I honestly imagine Madame Jin might have helped her. And I don't think Yu Ziyuan would have gone to Jin Guangshan of her own volition or spent much time, if any, alone with him. She had no apparent interest in him, and focused on duty. She also had two bodyguards with her/near her most of the time, and even if she somehow became overcome, they'd have likely been there to help. Or at least taken revenge afterward, even if they died and/or were imprisoned for it.

Thinking about it from the perspective of Jin Guangshan as well, while we don't know all the women he slept with, he seemed to target weaker women (e.g., Mo Xuanyu's mother, who was not a cultivator, Madame Qin, who was wife of an affiliate clan head, and Jin Guangyao's mother, who was not a cultivator and also a prostitute). Yu Ziyuan, on top of being close with Madame Jin, as well as a powerful cultivator and the wife of a powerful clan leader, and coming from a prominent clan herself (the Meishan Yu) just doesn't fit Jin Guangshan's target profile (people can change, it just seems less likely; and yeah, I know he was arrogant and liked strong things, too, it just doesn't seem to fit at least the few targets we know of). And if he was too drunk to consider why he might not otherwise want to be with her, I think he'd have been less likely to overpower her (due to drunkenness).

I'm not seeing the description of "mother's son" anywhere for Jiang Cheng, unless you mean this section (which, you have to remember, is framed via cultivation world gossip, and thus, like most things framed this way, is highly suspect for its veracity; this whole section begins "The entire cultivation world knew"): “Jiang Cheng took after his mother in looks and personality, which had never been to Jiang Fengmian’s liking. He had tried to educate Jiang Cheng in a myriad of ways, but it had all been for naught. This was why it always appeared as though he didn’t favor his son.” - Volume 3, Chapter 12: Sandu: The Three Poisons.

This seems to emphasize more how bad a father Jiang Fengmian was than anything else (right before this it's explained how he and his wife didn't get along, and thus of course he wouldn't get along with a child who reminds him of his wife). Jiang Cheng's personality is more of a blend of his parents, but I imagine a bit of sexism is involved in blaming his flaws on his mother rather than his father, and highlighting his mother's flaws while ignoring his father's. Obviously there could have been other reasons for Jiang Fengmian's distance, but I don't think "he was secretly someone else's biological child and Jiang Fengmian knew/suspected and that's why he was distant from Yu Ziyuan/Jiang Cheng" is a thing. It's also notable that Jiang Cheng inherited Zidian, which was Yu Ziyuan's weapon, and unlike Jin Ling, didn't inherit his father's sword, again drawing parallels between him and his mother, and creating that seeming distance between Jiang Cheng and Jiang Fengmian. Though it's important to remember that Jiang Fengmian could bear Zidian and did love Jiang Cheng (I know the point of this is mostly focusing on Yu Ziyuan, I'm just adding to the angle of how Jiang Fengmian fits into this; I think even if Jiang Cheng wasn't biologically his, Wei Wuxian demonstrates Jiang Fengmian could have still cared for him, but still).

Like obviously headcanon away all you want, there's room for all kinds of things (and whumping Jiang Cheng is always fun, and Yu Ziyuan is a fun character to mess with, I wish y'all godspeed), I just don't at all believe Jiang Cheng being Jin Guangshan's biological son is a thing in canon.

hey so correct me if i’m wrong but wasn’t qin su’s dad jgs’s friend. and he still raped her mom. and while it might have been madam jin and yzy’s close ties that had jzx and jyl engaged, there was still some amicability between jfm and jgs was there not? and and. this would be so fucked up but since jc’s described as his mother’s son um. could it not be possible that jgs is his biological father question mark