#i think it was born from a wild discord discussion

[quarriawesome]

mods asleep post Christmas Treeku

[docholligay]

Ep 5: Taissa

Hello! This is about up to Episode 5 of Yellowjackets, and ONLY episode 5 of Yellowjackets. I have not seen beyond the fifth episode, at all, and know NOTHING about this show. Please do not spoil it for me.  Things that are spoilery in nature, for me, include: saying things like  “Just wait!!” confirming or denying anything I put forward, outside information about the cast interviews or creator statements, leading questions like “Do you think “blank moment” means anything?” etc. Remember  that Y’ALL HAVE SEEN THE SHOW AND I HAVE NOT. This informs the way you  talk about things relating to the show. Just be really careful is all  I’m asking. Also: If there is LITERALLY any stance I  could take on this show or character that would make you upset, please  just fucking block the tag

If you WOULD like to discuss the show and my takes on it, the Discord is right here! I don’t go there, so it’s a great place to get every emotion out.

Please thank @sailorsunspot and @moonlight-frittata for backing this odd way of doing a liveblog, and remember my tip jar is always open

Taissa’s absolute inability to be anything other than herself, anything other than an animal with teeth and violence, is wonderful. 

When the wolf is outside, the wolf is not coming for Taissa, the wolf is Taissa, but even with that still being true, the wolf is something she has to protect her family from. It’s this part of her she’s attempted to keep hidden and secret, that she’s attempted to tame, but like everything else at this point in their lives, it’s returning, it’s ready to feed. 

Important note when she sees the wolf: Her thought isn’t, “Why the fuck would there be a wolf outside in the middle of a major city on the east coast?” her thought is “I need to kill it” On some level, she knows this thing is waiting and that it’s waiting for her and it is her and it threatens everything she loves. SHE threatens everything she loves. 

When she sees the “Spill” paint across her door, my thought was in fact that she had done it in some sort of trance or something. (Or that it was Misty because at this point for me literally everything could be Misty) 

And this wolfishness is, to an extent, passing onto Simone, who all of a sudden is very okay with putting Bathurst’s daughter into the middle of all of this, and even Taissa mentions herself that she thought Simone was above that. Sammy is becoming something completely different, Sammy is talking to “the bad one” and is that the shadow Taissa? I think back to where he specifically says, ‘I know you’re not the bad one.” Now that’s not just saying, “There is a bad one” that’s saying, “there is a bad one that I think could be mistaken for you in some way, but I don’t worry because haven’t” I do think it is absolutely wild that Simone thinks their child is seeing ghosts and painting threats on front doors because Taissa is a less present mom, but okay. 

All that does is show that Simone, though she has a tiny moment, is not made for the life of a wolf. She says “I would never ask you to” about dropping out, but that’s what she wants. She doesn’t want the life of the predator. And Taissa WANTS that for herself, the peace, the walking away, but it isn’t what she’s born to and it isn’t where she thrives and that’s why she can’t drop out. It’s why she has to lie about the painting on the door, because she has to justify to the world why she needs to stay in the race, why she needs to continue the hunt. She sees the word “spill” and we now know that doesn’t mean “spill the story” but “spill blood.” Lottie tells us so. 

This wolf is in the house, this wolf is coming, but this wolf has also, I think, been here the entire time.

[ficsforeren]

Who do you think from all your erens are the best boyfriends?? Like out of 10 what would you rate them? BUT LETS MAKE THIS BETTER BY RATING THEM FROM

At kissing

At sex

At cuddling

At dates

At making you feel loved

At making you laugh

Sooo yeah, if I didn't explain good, besically you rate all ur erens at of 10 about the things above^^

LMAOOOO DUDE I SHIT YOU NOT I ACTUALLY MADE A POLL FOR THIS! My moots and I had a chaotic discussion about this on discord so I made a poll but I'm not planning to release it until I've posted Never Let Me Go, Tainted and Eternity.

but let me answer your questions.

At kissing:

Rockstar Eren 100000000000/10 (tongue. lips. teeth. this bitch knows how to work 'em)

Soldier Eren 8/10 (he's too sweet)

Knight Eren 10/10 (used to be 6 but he's a fast learner)

Mafia Eren 7/10 (too rough)

Vampire Eren 7/10 (his fangs hurt)

ZombieFighter Eren OKAY I WANNA SAY HE'S 10000000/10 but let's be real, he's probably 8/10

College Eren 9/10

Secret Agent Eren 245239045820384502/10 (I'M SORRY THIS MAN IS SEXY AF ONE KISS CAN LEAVE YOU DIZZY)

Idol Eren 7/10 (he's obsessed with spitting into your mouth)

At sex:

Rockstar Eren 10000000/10 (can and will make you cum in three minutes)

Soldier Eren 8/10 (again, he's too sweet)

Knight Eren 10/10 (can be extra vanilla and feral at the same time)

Mafia Eren omg this bitch gets 124912401239401239/10 if you like being treated as a cumslut in bed. if you want romance then he's -1241924019102491/10

Vampire Eren 8/10 (too much biting and blood sucking)

ZombieFighter Eren 10000000/10 (he's awkward af but he has the biggest dick so)

College Eren 8/10 (can be a bit selfish in bed sometimes)

Secret Agent Eren oh my lord GAZILLION TIMES A GAZILLION OUT OF TEN (this man knows how to fuck)

Idol Eren 8/10 (can be too wild sometimes when it comes to... experimenting)

At cuddling:

Rockstar Eren 10/10 (will kiss your shoulder and nape 24/7)

Soldier Eren 10/10 (gives the sweetest hug)

Knight Eren 10/10 (super romantic)

Mafia Eren -120941092120/10 (this bitch is allergic to cuddles)

Vampire Eren 2/10 (will end up sucking your blood as he hugs you from behind)

ZombieFighter Eren AAAAHHHH 1024810928410928/10 (HE GIVES YOU THE BIGGEST SWEETEST WARMEST TEDDY BEAR HUG OKAY THIS MAN IS BORN TO GIVE CUDDLES)

College Eren 6/10 (he'll probably only cuddle you for like 2 minutes and then "babe sorry i think my arm is dead")

Secret Agent Eren 4/10 (cuddles will lead you to more sex that's the only way he knows how so no, don't cuddle)

Idol Eren 7/10 (surprisingly good at giving cuddles despite him being an asshole seven days a week)

At dates:

Rockstar Eren 1/10 (don't get me wrong, he's so great when it comes to it, his fangirls, however, are not and trust me they always tag along)

Soldier Eren 1/10 (he doesn't do 'dates' my man's too busy fighting a war sorry)

Knight Eren 1/10 (every time you go on a date with him, you risk yourself getting beheaded before sunset)

Mafia Eren -2194801480192/10 (this bitch only knows how to have animalistic sex)

Vampire Eren 0/10 (he can't go out during daytime and he needs to be invited in at restaurants before he can go in)

ZombieFighter Eren 7/10 (he flirts a lot but he always blushes like a schoolgirl everytime you flirt back so imagine how crazy it would be for him to go on an actual date)

College Eren 9/10 (fun, spontaneous, will probably end up with you being pushed against the wall in an abandoned alley to have a quickie)

Secret Agent Eren 100000/10 (he's very suave, very smooth, very sexy and it will be the most expensive date you'll get the pleasure to experience. don't worry, he's rich af, he'll get you covered)

Idol Eren 1/10 (like rockstar eren, he's constantly surrounded by fangirls. plus, he's an annoying little shit. actually, make it -100/10)

At making you feel loved:

Rockstar Eren 12904801984091240/10 (BITCH DO I NEED TO GIVE YOU A REASON)

Soldier Eren also 12481902481029401/10 (this man would literally sacrifice everything to be with you)

Knight Eren 1000000000000000/10 (this man literally fucked you against the door right after your wedding ceremony with another man ended, if that's not love, i don't know what that is)

Mafia Eren -10000000000/10 (he knows how to make himself feel loved, and that's by shoving his cock down your throat)

Vampire Eren 9/10 (he can be very sweet sometimes, especially after he sucked your blood too much)

ZombieFighter Eren THIS MAN IS 1924719280124012/10 (i don't want to say anything too soon but let's just say he's the romeo to your juliet 😏😏😏😏😏)

College Eren 7/10? (i don't think he's ready to be committed yet)

Secret Agent Eren 1/10 (used to be 1000000/10 but then he tried to kill you several times so)

Idol Eren 7/10 (he's a little brat but he can be cute and is decent at taking care of you sometimes)

At making you laugh:

Rockstar Eren 7/10 (he makes you blush a lot, but when it comes to comedy, there's still room for improvement)

Soldier Eren 5/10 (he's all about being sweet and serious, funny is not his thing)

Knight Eren 8/10 (he can be quite playful, his pout always makes you laugh)

Mafia Eren -19999009920/10 (bitch only knows how to give you pain and endless suffering)

Vampire Eren 10/10 (is actually very funny. doesn't take anything seriously. also he's older than your great great great great grandfather so I'm sure he has a lot of funny stories to tell. he probably knew Jesus)

ZombieFighter Eren 10284109284018401920/10 (very witty, very playful, very boyish, and always blushes whenever you flirt back so that's entertaining)

College Eren 8/10 (he can be a bit naughty and creative with his prank)

Secret Agent Eren 6/10 (he's sexy af but not too much on being funny)

Idol Eren depends, if you like snarky, witty comebacks 10294101240/10 if you don't like them -100000000/10

[lucreziasoares]

Hi, sweethearts !! My name is June ( he / him, 27 ) and while I know I’m late to the party, I can’t tell you how excited I am to be here. ♡ Enough about me, though. I’d love to present to you 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐙𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐎𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐒, otherwise known as 𝑳𝒖 to her closest friends, family, and lovers. Hailing from TX, she comes from a wealthy background and has recently relocated to Phoenix to start a new life with her husband... which she’s not exactly happy about, honestly. While she's glad for the change, she’s stuck in a loveless marriage that she ( spoiler alert ! ) steps out on whenever she can. Sooo, maybe she’s not the most faithful companion —— she definitely has her flaws, but she tries to make up for them in various other ways.

You’ll find a few links below that’ll guide you to the important pages on her blog, and beneath the cut, you’ll find some TL;DR information about her. As per usual, if you’re interested in plotting, like this post and I’ll reach out via IM! Discord available upon request from you if that’s where you prefer to plot and chat. Thank you !! ♡

●  𝐁𝐈𝐎𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐘  ●  𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒  ●  𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒  ●

𝐔𝐏𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆 & 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐘𝐋𝐄.

Born to an old money, old tycoon heiress mother and real estate agent father.

Mom inherited the wealth of her father, dad’s a self-made multi-millionaire.

Lucrezia’s purpose in her family is to keep appearances; to be a trophy of sorts.

Mom and dad weren’t great about raising her to be independent and strong.

As her older brother is the heir to her dad’s business, she was treated like a doll.

Dressed up to the nines, sent to cotillions, taught to be submissive and meek.

Despite having the world at her fingertips, she really hates how she was raised.

In school, she was prom queen, head cheerleader, and notoriously rebellious.

Never going to college, she married at 20 years old to a man she doesn’t love.

Only reason she got married was due to a merger in the oil business in Texas.

It’s a super ❝ old school ❞ set-up and she hates that she was pushed into it.

Falling into a depression, she felt like a prisoner in her own home and family.

So, when her husband found work in Phoenix, she reluctantly moved with him.

Over time, she began to realize that she can sort of reinvent herself in Phoenix.

Now, she lives completely how she wants to; raising a middle finger high up.

She’s great at keeping up appearances still, but does whatever she wants now.

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 & 𝐅𝐔𝐍 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒.

She grew up sheltered with a helicopter mother constantly over her shoulder.

That said, she remained extremely buttoned up and anxious during childhood.

She was never allowed to do anything that’d get her clothing dirty, for example.

There was a feeling of resentment for her parents and jealousy of her brother.

As she aged, she treated those closest to her with charisma, charm, and wit.

No matter how unhappy she was, she’d fake a smile if she had to; still does tbh.

In school, she was either adored or despised; many considered her snobbish.

They weren’t exactly lying back then; she expects the best of everything.

Think of the typical head cheerleader type in shows: beautiful and addictive.

But also vengeful, mysterious, competitive, wild-spirited, superficial, and vain.

Today, she’s kept her adolescent personality intact with added sophistication.

For the first 7-to-8 years of her marriage, she tried being the perfect wife.

Now that she’s no longer in TX, she’s transformed into a real, true hedonist.

She loves a good time, staying out all night, flirting with strangers and danger.

She doesn’t let people in too close to her, she loves remaining an enigma.

In her opinion, an air of mystery keeps her even sexier to men and women.

𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐒 & 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐒.

Her official plot page is still very much a work-in-progress, but here are some small ideas below. I’m also happy to brainstorm, too, of course !!

As she’s known to step out on her husband, I’d love for her to have numerous FWB’s —— gender doesn’t matter to her, really, but she does have a romantic preference for the opposite sex. Your muse can know about her marital status or they can be in the dark, whatever your comfort level is. I know this is a triggering subject, so please ask about these ideas at your own risk. I wouldn’t ever want you to be uncomfortable while writing and plotting with us. ♡

I would also KILL for her to have a really close best friend she made after moving to Arizona. In my mind, she’d definitely be the more ❝ chaotic ❞ of the two. For this, gender wouldn’t matter much either, but someone near her age is preferred.

Possibly someone who knows what she’s doing and knows a little about her past. They’re not impressed with how she’s decided to handle her life and try to steer her towards the morally right direction, but she often just shrugs off their advice.

Maybe your muse is the partner of a person she slept with, Lucrezia essentially becoming ❝ the other woman ❞ in that situation. This could help her slowly realize just how much damage she causes people, particularly her husband.

I’d love for her to have some bad blood with people, too, and I’m open to discuss these types of connections in detail with typists. Do you find her annoying and entitled? Do you think she just reeks of privilege and snobbery? Great! Let’s do something with it! Really, I’m incredibly into Real Housewives messiness for her!

I’d also be open to discussing the possibility of bringing her husband into the group if you’re interested in filling that role. He’s completely up to your creation as long as he’s from a similar part of Dallas, TX like Lucrezia is. Extensive plotting is needed here, so if you’re interested, please IM me at your convenience!

Honestly, I’m up for anything! Once I get her plot page created, I’ll let you know!

[the-wanted-man]

The Ex-Con | ‘Lawrence’ ⌐ LFRP

THE BASICS –––

Name: Roman “Lawrence” Wyld In-Game: The Outlaw

Age: 25

Nameday:  Uncelebrated or unremembered. (29th Sun/4th Umbral Moon.)

Born:  The New World (Raised in Garlemald)

Race: Hyur - Whalaqee & Garlean

Gender: Male.

Alignment: Chaotic Good w/occasional deviation towards what feels good.

Marital Status: Easy come, easy go.

Orientation: Poly. Mostly straight. 

Server: Balmung

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE –––

Hair:  Short to Mid length and unkempt. Dark brown w/ white highlights.

Eyes: Silver. A swirling mix of mercury and ash.

Height: 6′3

Weight: 238 lbs

Distinguishing Marks: A long scar over his left eye reaching brow to cheek. Various other mappings of scars across his body. Particularly stabbings, bullet wounds, and burns.

Build: He’s tall, almost lanky for a normal hyur with strong shoulders that slope downward over a broad chest. His waist is tapered, his legs are long. His hands calloused. Both his weight and musculature are practically built, and his lifestyle keeps him lean like a coyote with a noticeable lack of fat to spare. If he missed a meal he’d surely feel it. He seems the type for dexterous tasks, but carries deceptive strength.

Common Accessories: Two loaded six shooters, a cutlass or his Gunblade. A bowie knife/ hatchet, some lock picking & whittling tools. Paracord or rope. Extra revolver cartridges (regular and aether loaded). A deck of cards numbering 51, or magitek dice for recreation. Magitek gizmos. Peanuts, Cigarettes, a flask of whiskey. A single tarot card (The Star), kept in his left breast pocket. A red bandana. Compass / Pocket Watch. An eagle totem necklace. (2) multitools: one with eating utensils, bottle/wine opener, and knife. The other with Magitek specialty tools. A big, gold belt buckle. A cowboy hat, usually dark. Wolf fang earrings. (1) perfectly weighted coin.

PERSONAL –––-

Profession: Handyman. Gun-for-hire. Gardening & Gravedigging. Naturalist & Survivalist.

Hobbies: Finger dexterity puzzles. Card games. Gambling. Sketching, whittling.

Languages: Common. Garlean. Whalaqee. Some Ishgardian.

Residence(s): Nomadic, favors Wellwick Woods and the Burning Wall. Any wild will do though. Has an unknown location of interest in the deep Shroud.

Religion:  His religion has no name.

Patron Diety / Spiritual Guide: The Wanderer  | The Eagle

Fears: Cleithrophobia. He’ll get really freaked out if he thinks he’s stuck somewhere.

Distinguishing Traits: A rural drawl that lilts and flows.

Relationships ––– -

Spouse: Never. 

Parents:  Augustus cen Ferox & Valentina wir Maximian

Siblings: An older half-brother, Leviticus wir Maximian

Other Relatives: Cousins he’s not close to.

Pets: No pets, just all manners of beasts both companionable and not.          • A paint mustang named Trigger          • A multi-colored dog w/ no name yet.

Traits ––– -

*doing something a bit different

5 Positive Traits (Generally beneficial)

Truthful • Hardworking • Easy going • Agreeable • Optimistic

5 Neutral Traits (Can be good or bad)

Lustful • Restless • Pensive • Observant • Trusting  

5 Problematic Traits (Generally never good)

Mercurial • Irritable • Reckless • Trigger Happy • Indulgent

RP Hooks ––– –

Past History: Lawrence has had a variety of names and sobriquets he’s gone by. He’s wandered wide and far. Significant history points can be from his growing up in Garlemald, or his crash landing in Eorzea. He’s been imprisoned in several Eorzean Gaols, and has had cellmates. He’s saved and helped commoners and utilizes allies to do that as well. He robs the rich and gives to the poor.

Present Hooks:  He can meet people just about anywhere and will generally be found getting up to trouble, or working his way there. Known to be an ex-convict of some caliber. Can more commonly be found out in the wilds, but on occasion hits cities and residential zones. He’s been known to pick fights with bullies, and be fairly helpful. Clever minds and observant eyes can likely piece his bounties together to determine his identity, or recognize him from some old wanted board.

Hiring Hooks: As an ex-convict, he’s in constant need of employment and is more than willing to work. He’s got a wide set of skills that are largely based in that of a naturalist and outdoorsman. He’s also a fine craftsman, and has been known to tend estate gardens and gravedig for local churches. He can be consulted for knowledge on the flora and fauna of the land, as well as knowledge on native beast tribes and their relations with other spoken.

Ally Hooks : He’s in constant need of healing and safe spaces, given his ongoing fugitive status. ‘I need healing’ would be a common phrase from him if he was an NPC. He can always use teachers or mentors to help him learn more - particularly when it comes to magic, aetherology, and demonology/voidsent. Posse members, and people who do crime for good reasons can become fast allies. Closer relationships can be talked down like family, or ex loves, etc.

Friction Hooks:  I always welcome friction. Not every interaction is a great one and I like to embrace these ideas on an IC level. He could certainly use some rivals, or people with conflicting mentalities to him such as bounty hunters, corrupt officials (or lawful ones), bullies, villains. People that can challenge him, his morals, his limits, etc. As long as the dynamic isn’t one sided. The goal here isn’t ultimate capture or ultimate defeat to me but rather the growth developed through antagonistic engagements.

Contact Information  ––– –

Discord: Message me here first and I’ll pass it.

Additional OOC: 

Shipping: I prefer slow burn ships for anything specifically serious and won’t jump into ERP with anyone unless it makes sense story wise. Even then, FTB is a high possibility with strangers. Sorry. Additionally, Roman is poly and will be unlikely to solo-ship. 

Will Nots: I don’t engage in explicit self-harm/suicide/extreme depression storylines or scenes of sexual violence/abuse. Vague references or allusions I’ll deal with, but prefer any explicit detail 1000 miles awaaaaaaaaay. 

Boundaries: I like making friends and highly value platonic relationships IC and OOC. That said, I am skittish and will cut engagements if I feel discomforted by something. This includes the pushing of character boundaries I’ve established as not possible without my consent. Please, if I have discussed something as a lacking possibility, do not keep suggesting it. 

Communication. This is big for me. I will speak up if uncomfortable, and encourage the same! This is a definite requirement if we’re doing deeper plotlines. I don’t need to be talked to every day, just let me know if something’s up so I can adjust. We’re all here to have fun! 

Health & Scheduling: I have a pretty shit schedule being an essential worker and all, on top of being PST. 44 hours a week without a phone, no less.  Mon-Thur I’m basically non-existent until the weekends and these will be the days I am not as talkative/active. Coupling that with chronic pain and mental health that is also affected by my job, some days I am just not capable of being around. I try to be up front about this. I don’t always have the energy. If I’ve dropped off, there’s a high chance my health took a serious dive and I just can’t bring myself to be about. All I ask is patience. Move on if you need to, but don’t be a jerk! 

[heartfullofpony]

Not Knowing

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was constantly in the process of reinventing itself. It started out as a "Rated E for Everyone" show that had trouble getting the word "egghead" past the censors, and ultimately evolved into the kind of program where massive battle scenes felt totally in place and appropriate.

It's wild - this journey - this evolution.

I've been slowly re-watching the series, as well you know, and one thing that's lost in the experience is the sense of anticipation - the sense of not knowing where the show was heading next. That mystery was once a source of tremendous excitement.

Take Princess Luna, for example. When Season One wrapped up, a lot of us were left wondering if Princess Luna would ever return, or if her very presence had been a mere fluke of the pilot.

Why wasn't she at the Grand Galloping Gala? Why? Why? Whyyyyyyyyyyyy?!

When she finally did appear in Luna Eclipsed - a full year after the pilot had first aired - many of us reasonably speculated that the suits in charge of Studio B had deemed her too spooky to appear in anything other than a Halloween episode. After all, for months and months and months after Nightmare Night, Luna still showed no sign of being integrated organically into the MLP universe.  When Canterlot Wedding aired, we freaked out in utter delight when Princess Luna was briefly seen way off in the distance. She simply said, "as always, I will guard the night," and flew away, but to us, this was amazing.

They had that confirmed that Princess Luna legitimately had something to do!  It seems like such a small thing now - a detail that should have been taken for granted, but the show had given us very little indication up until that point that they were planning on fully incorporating Luna into the show. It wasn't until Sleepless in Ponyville that Princess Luna finally had an actual role in Equestria - the Princess of Dreams - and that was two whole years after Friendship is Magic had premiered.

Luna fans had spent every moment in between eagerly anticipating the mere possibility of her return. We filled in the blanks with memes and discussions - with songs, and stories, and comics, and works of fanart. That was our attitude toward everything - taking a not-fully-fleshed-out universe that we somehow felt a part of right from the start, and just...building.

That not knowing - that mystery. At its best, it was actually part of the magic.

At its worst, it also left folks doubting the very future of the show.

It's sort of legendary how big of a wedge Magical Mystery Cure drove into the fandom when it first alicornized Twilight Sparkle. While binge watching Seasons 1-3, it's totally easy to forget that, after MMC initially aired, we didn't have the option of skipping ahead, and seeing where they were going with this idea. It left a lot of people nervous, myself included.

Looking back, Season 3 took a lot of risks - made a lot of bold changes in a very short period of time - world-altering ideas like the reformation of Discord, and the alicornization of Twilight (that probably could have benefited from a bit more build up and development). All this happened with a new show runner in Meghan McCarthy, a thirteen episode timeline, and an overworked staff simultaneously developing Equestria Girls on the side. Season 3 always felt a little disjointed to me, even though it's got a few gems in it, and that's okay.

I don't think quite as many of us would have quit the show, left the fandom, or gotten into such heated debates over Magical Mystery Cure if we could simply have skipped ahead to binge Season 4, and seen for ourselves what a spectacular job the show was going to do of following up on the idea of Twilight Sparkle, Alicorn Princess. Also those who loved MMC from the start wouldn't have had to deal with quite so much division in the fandom.

Looking back now, I realize that such a split was inevitable. Like I said, so much of our energy as a fandom was borne of anticipation. With no clear sign of where they would be going with the concept of alicorn Twilight - a lot of us, particularly those who found Magical Mystery Cure somewhat lacking as an episode - anticipated the worst. It seems so very silly now, but like I stated earlier, the very momentum of bronydom itself came from so much not knowing.

There's no way to recapture that experience - the good or the bad.

I'm glad I was around to watch the show evolve in real time - to get hyped - even to experience doubts. But I'm not writing this to wax nostalgic about the good old days of the fandom, (if such a thing can even be said to exist). In fact, I'm even more thrilled now that I can watch the whole darn thing from start to finish with the benefit of hindsight. Looking back, I not only love the shape that the show ended up taking, (especially in the very end), but I finally respect the struggle that it took to get there - the commitment to trying new things - the fearlessness. At the time, I didn't always like or agree with every single twist and turn, (and I admit that sometimes, not knowing got the better of me), but that journey, in its own way, is a huge part of the soul of My Little Pony - a constant evolution - a perpetual reinvention of itself.

There's nothing else quite like it, and there never will be again. Isn't it great to have been there as it happened, (even if you only joined the herd in the later seasons)? Isn't it magical? This quaint little show that become an inexplicable phenomenon.

What a long strange trip it's been. Sprocket

If you enjoy essays like these, please consider supporting my work on Patreon. You can also follow Heart Full of Pony on FimFic.

[akimmito]

Heroes are made by the path they choose

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Master List

Chapter 13

Being married to Lila Rossi, now Agreste, for six years has been... an experience. The woman goes through life following her own path and coaxing people left and right, while he cannot say or do anything without the sole control over his mother's life being lost. Why would a man like Gabriel Agreste who claims to love his wife so much do such a vile thing? The worst thing is that he managed to sustain him legally and catch him with the last woman in the world he would have thought of marrying.

He must remain married to Lila as long as his mother remains in a coma or the hospital will be forced to kill her. Adrien has no other words for what would happen if he divorces her, but it's so sad to be married to a woman he doesn't love and he's the only one who must fulfill the damn contract, because if they discover an infidelity is the same as divorcing.

His mother deserved more, if she had followed that childhood love instead of his father, she woulded be happy...

Chloe and Marinette have been looking for ways to free him from torture, even Felix decided to help in order to free him from his sad fate. At least, it stopped being Chat Noir or that could have played against him, with how easy Lila manipulates people. He get migraines just from imagining making a mistake.

"Adrien, I'm going out to eat with Alya." Lila appears in his field of vision in her usual expensive way, always looking like he's attending a fashion event (which means expense and that translates directly to him working as a slave in different contracts. She makes her money, sure, but her expenses exceed those gains.) She barely looks at him as she checks her phone, probably talking to Alya or one of her lovers, not that he really cares.

"Sure, say hi on my behalf." She turns to leave, but Adrien stops her. "Remember that today we will have dinner with Michel Laforet for next month's charity event. "

"I wouldn't forget it."

They say goodbye barely looking at each other. Adrien is busy reviewing the job proposals, Marinette sent him a couple of locations to investigate a few weeks ago, due to a group of drug traffickers who settled in Paris and need to know their links, he of course must follow their leads and possible connections to find a way to disrupt it. He's now free to continue his work, especially since the MT is busy dealing with Akuma.

He was very surprised when he saw his first Akuma in seven years, he is also quite fearful of what this new villain intends. The way he has attacked, his champions are very different and, consistent with his cousin, he seems to be trying to measure the heroes. For that reason, he approves of Marinette's approach of keeping Luka in a safe place so that no one notices the use of the second chance, that way the villain will never know if his plans could have been altered in any way.

Wait this time it doesn't last for several years.

Now if he could understand why they want him to model in a banana suit for a soup ad, maybe he could consider it.

-----

The Anibiotic: How are bananas and soup related?

Wild goat: If it's another one of your jokes, I swear by Satan that I'll burn your house down

Silent Hill: I approve the plan

Plasticine: Your jokes are really bad, bro

Dragon Tamer: I think this is a serious question

The Antibiotic: It's a modeling proposal

Needle: They offer you the weirdest roles

Plasticine: Like the sardines!

Three balls: that was good

Not in hell: Maybe it's a way to get attention by putting two discordant elements together

Not in hell: You guys are that strange

Almost pretty: Pleasant

Wild goat: We are great, you know, there is no other creation as stylish as us

Not in hell: I would keep my comments, but I completely disagree

Dragon Tamer: If you start a discussion about this, I'm going to ban you from the chat

Wild goat: Tyranny! I will arm a revolution

Plasticine: Maybe it's banana soup. You don't understand art!

Three balls: Neither do you

Perfect Crime: You’re a disappointment

------

John Constantine was not planning to spend his morning avoiding being stabbed by a ten-year-old boy, nor avoiding being eaten by two German shepherds. But there he's, avoiding the edge of a Swiss knife as he tries to shake off two huge dogs without hurting them, because he's sure the boy's murderous intentions would triple if he hears a single screech from one of his pets.

He may not have met Damian in person, but he know enough about him from the chats and from what Marinette shared with him.

"Look, kid, stop, okay? Damn, I haven't drink enough for this... "

"Why?"

"I don't read minds, kido, you'll have to explain yourself." Damian frowns and presses the knife against the blonde's neck, if it wasn't for the dogs he couldn't have him subdued. The Kwami hesitate about what to do, they are talking... only in a very violent way.

"Why are you do with my mother?"

"Did they give you the talk yet? Because it would be very uncomfortable for you to receive it from me. ”John looks at the boy, who doesn't flinch at anything and seems ready to stab him. It would be better to collaborate, he doesn't want to harm the child, he can only imagine the adorable woman's anger if her son is hurt in some interaction between them. "Sure... Sexual attraction, simple like that. I don't pretend to be your father or to be a stable romantic couple, she deserves something much better than me. I'm just content to enjoy our time together, happy?

"Don't you want to be my father?"

"No, I'm the worst candidate for that position. What made you think that, kid? "Now it's his turn to frown. Much love can be had (he will not deny it), but both are aware that they would be the ruin of the other, he doesn't want to condemn her to a life as dark as his and expose her to all the demons that follow him, she truly deserves something better than misery fllow him.

He also knows that, despite all his complaints, Plagg has told him that he's its true owner and that his soul is balanced with that of Marinette, that's why they gravitate around each other and could trust as if they were born together. That doesn't mean they are romantically good to each other. Sexually? Magical, but the romance in their lives has been tragic and putting that together, well, it could be a problem for everyone.

"You've been with her for four years."

"We are mainly friends, confidants. Do we have sex? Yes, do we want to get married and have more children? No... We would just be miserable. Those stories that soulmates are happy together? Son, these are lies, romantic shit from movies and junk books.

Damian recoils, shocked by the information, all of it. Her mother had hinted at a casual relationship, but the look in her eyes told him otherwise. Soulmates? That doesn't exist, but the Kwami didn't exist for him either until his mother introduced them to him. Wretched? He need to analyze what he have learned.

"Why do you say that?"

"Experience, son. Do you want to sit down or go for a walk? The second seems to excite your friends more."

Damian snaps his fingers and the hounds stand beside him, freeing Constantine. Her kind gaze is very dark, long-suffering and ironic.

Just when he's about to answer, the alarm on his phone goes off and he knows what it means.

Akuma attack.

"Go away, I won't say anything."

Damian nods and Kaalki opens the portal, just look at the man's tired posture for a moment before breaking through the portal back to the MT. Agatha and Edgar just behind, have a job to do.

-------

Chloe B. @BourgeoisQueen

What a wonderful day for an Akuma attack. Somebody take the stick out of the villain's ass because the beast is horrible, nor Hawkmoth dared so much

Dick Grayson @TheFlyingGrayson

WHAT HAPPENS WITH PARIS? IS IT A VIOLET DOLPHIN WITH BAT WINGS?

The Last Hours @Toogoodtodie

@TheFlyingGrayson Paris would appreciate if you blocked any information on the city from external sources in the country, if you do not know how, you can contact the @MaxKan_Tech offices to receive information

Dick Grayson @TheFlyingGrayson

@Toogoodtodie ok?

Max K. @MaxKan_Tech

@TheFlyingGrayson @Toogoodtodie Subtle, Anthony. Please, Mr. Grayson, contact my office and we'll make your stay in Paris much more pleasant. You can also contact the prosecution to find out the legal procedures for staying in Paris and the security regarding the Akuma

Marc @MarcAC_twt

Does our villain use drugs?

[mariaiscrafting]

I read that long answer you had to that ask about gender and I just started typing and this happened aaaa

I wanted to say if you don't already know Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyèwùmí, I think you would enjoy her work!

She goes into a lot about how gender categories were diverse, not necessarily tied to anatomy and in many ways very, very porous when compared to the European system.

If you wanna dig into the meat and bones of gender as a social construct theory, she definitely gets in to it and does not skirt around the fact that when discussing it things like colonialism and capitalism cannot be ignored.

I'd also suggest looking into how anarchists view gender and it's origins/function 👉👈 totally not biased because I am an Anarchist but some of the most refreshing perspectives on gender across the board have come from trans anarchists just saying :')

And bro I won't lie when I first realized I wasn't cis, I felt trapped in a box and like I had to have a full grasp of who I was and what labels/pronouns I wanted to use immediately- I had to justify myself at every turn to cis people and if I was even slightly flaky they would corner me in the box of cis-ness that comes with ideas like "male brains and female brains" and "born in the wrong body" and transmedicalist language among all these other things we often hear flying around as explanations to debate the very existence of trans people.

When I learned about the connection of pre-colonial gender systems to queer and trans emancipation/resistance- I won't lie to you, it got a lot easier to understand who I was and what it looked like to both be trans and fight for trans rights/visibility. Like it fostered as much of a sense of liberation as it did a quiet sense of frustration when I started reconstructing the very idea of gender in my mind down to the very definition.

I was mostly frustrated because I realized much of the language trans people, especially young trans people, use to talk about themselves was being dictated by cis people just so cis people could "understand" it's just... Not good. Like plain and simple.

I'd argue cis people aren't owed some easy way to discuss or swallow down something they will never understand, I don't even care if that sounds harsh- but cis people discussing gender around trans people is a lot like watching someone try to put the square block through the circle in one of those kid's puzzles. It's cumbersome and embarrassing smh.

Sorry that was super long and a pretty random thing to drop in but I enjoyed reading what you thought about the theories of gender and your own personal dealings with gender identity/ how you view expression vs. identity! It's neat to see how others look at all that stuff and how their ideas of it grow and evolve over time.

And I think if you're questioning things and feeling like you're not cis- go buck wild dude! Keep reading up on things, and move into your own individual understanding of your gender- that's honestly super awesome and I wish you the best of luck!!!!

This is honestly probably the best ask I’ve ever gotten. I’m 100% going to check her out, tysm for the rec. On queer anarchists, I fucking love their perspectives on gender. Some of the best shit I’ve read on gender came from trans anarchists, and it’s so refreshing compared to what I usually have read in an academic setting - that is, mostly cis ladies’ writings lol.

Honestly, I think one of the primary things that got me to start questioning my own gender in the first place was when I broke away from the language cis people use to rationalize the trans experience. Like, before, when it was explained to me as “born in the wrong body” and “always knew I was x” and in terms of binary trans experiences only and in the perspective of transmedicalism, etc., etc., I was like nope, no way I’m trans. But once I got rid of those kinda reductive notions on gender and what it means to be trans, and started learning from trans people who were redefining gender and sexuality for themselves, I realized that it’s not as simple as that - that I didn’t have to fit into this box of the binary trans ftm who has dysphoria and feels like they were born in the wrong body and figured it out via wearing pants and playing basketball when I was little and wants to bind and get things like facial realignment surgery, etc. Like, the subject is so much more fluid and complex than what I was first taught, and it was just so fucking freeing to finally realize that.

But anyways, yeah, I would say, right now, that I am “cis-ish”, I guess, just because I don’t know where I stand and am uncomfortable with about 101 things when I think about my own body and gender and mind. Honestly, I look at younger people who aren’t even that much younger than me - only by, like, 3-5 years, tops - and the culture they’ve got going online, in Discord and Twitter and Tumblr and Tik Tok and I’m fucking glad that so many of them seem so comfortable with the fluidity of the subject, so much more comfortable than I am, and that they can adapt so easily to differing theories, identities, perceptions of others and theirselves, expressions, names, pronouns, etc. Lol that’s kinda the point of ease and comfort I hope to reach one day, I suppose.

But seriously ty for this ask :) It makes me feel less alone, and I am for sure going to check out your recommendations!

[msublake]

HELLO EVERYONE !  ♥ i’m faye ( she/her ) and this is my little fireball blake jung. it feels like i have been waiting forever to join ( literally have been wanting to since the first week mokseong opened ), so i am super excited to finally be able to bring her here! she’s a  💦 suseong  💦 sophomore majoring in pre law and minoring in creative writing. known for her short-fuse cute face, she’s honestly just trying to live her best life at mokseong. sadly, i have been slacking and failed to get her full profile up by her acceptance. however, i do have her STUDENT PROFILE up that has a a little bit of information! i do plan on finishing up her main profile soon and getting some open plots up, but in the meantime you can take a peak under the read more to learn more about miss blake and contact me for plotting either here, on twitter (foxglves), discord (𝙁𝘼𝙔𝙀.#7009)

/ * BACKSTORY * \

tw: mentions of adoption, divorce, self-loathing, bullying.

CLICK HERE FOR A MORE DEEP DIVE INTO HER PAST !

okay so i’m going to try and keep this short. story starts in COUPEVILLE, WASHINGTON where her father, ERIC JUNG, is born and raised. he’s an outcast cause he’s a lil quirky but he befriends another little boy who is also socially excluded. turns out this little boy is a wizard yayyyyy and this absolutely fascinating to her father. basically this is what starts his obsession with magic.

fast forwards a few years and he marries a nice lady named MICHELLE. she’s a lot more quiet and reserved than he is, but they think they’re the perfect pair. she’s a mortician and he’s a writer for the newspaper, but also runs a blog where he rants and raves about magic. a mortician and the local weirdo who is obsessed with magic? needless to say, they quickly became notorious in their town.

after years of being unable to conceive, the couple adopt a baby girl who they name JUNG BARAM, but she just goes by BLAKE. as their only child, she is the apple of their eye. they think she is so smart, so sweet, so special, and come to find out they’re not exactly wrong. 

she’s SIX when she presents magical abilities. she gets inspired by the fairy godmother from cinderella and suddenly all her clothes start flying around her room as she sings   bibbidi bobbidi boo! 

her mother is shook but her father is like  👀👀👀👀

now that they know she’s a wizard, her father is so obsessed with her. like to an unhealthy level. she’s not allowed to play with other children without supervision, can’t go out anywhere with her dad without him trying to get her to do something crazy. blake is now the topic of his blog continuously, which earns her teasing from her classmates. 

now she hates the magic that once made her feel special because she’s getting bullied for it and her dad is an obsessed weirdo. her parents also divorce when she’s EIGHT YEARS OLD because her mother can’t handle the person her father has become. 

her mother easily wins custody of blake and the two move to SEATTLE to start over. while her mother did want a life free of bullying and judgmental eyes, she also brought them to seattle in hopes of finding someone who could understand blake. her mother didn’t exactly hate her daughter, she still loved her, but she feared what she could not control. 

the search brought them to @msuastrid​ ‘s family where blake would grow to love and appreciate herself a bit more. while her faith hadn’t been completely restored, the family taught her to value her magic and this was a huge inspiration to her. 

enrolls in ILVERMORNY when it’s about that time and she thrives there. she loved exploring her capabilities and found her inspiration to be a wizarding lawyer here ( idk maybe saw some important lawyer woman and she got Inspired ).

most of her adult personality developed there

now comes her entrance to MOKSEONG in 2019. chose the school to get away and hopefully start a successful life. she wants to find a sense of belonging here and just basically live her best life tbh

/ * EXTRAS & PLOT IDEAS MAYBE? * \

personality wise she is firecracker. definitely a bit quirky like her father and has loads of energy. even when she’s angry she’s smiling!! which is admittedly a bit scary

on the top of anger, blake here has quite the temper. while she’s overall easy to get along with, she’s easy to anger although she quickly gets over it. this paired with impatience is never good. 

very kind, would give you the shirt off her back.

LOATHES bullying of any kind. if she catches you just teasing your friend out of love, be careful she may cause a scene if she even thinks there’s any malice.

acts like she’s so confident in her abilities and every aspect of her life, but in reality she has a lot of self-loathing. fears failure so much she studies her ass off and sacrifices a lot of sleep. but this in turn actually makes her pretty smart so 🤘🤘🤘

( she may do your homework if you ask and compensate kindly wink wink )

also doesn’t talk about her parents really. she’s lowkey still embarrassed of her dad so if you ever catch wind of that situation, do not bring it up.

party animal then, party animal now

will try anything once HONESTLY

very chaotic. she exhausts me

fellow ilvermorny alumns???? lets goooooo

was a more popular girl, either by association with @msuastrid​ or just her personality tbh she was a pretty girl with a wild streak and attracted all sorts of people. very much a social butterfly. 

on the topic of ilvermorny, she was kind of notorious for having bad taste in men/women. so hey you got a muse that could be labeled as a shitty ex??? let’s fucking go. she probably wasn’t the best partner either tbh

longs for a sense of belonging so she has a bunchhhhh of acquaintances. really wants close friends she could call her family ya know?

also she’s a waitress at borealis bar so gimme regulars and irritating drunks/flirts!! or the sad ones she can comfort

SPECIFIC WANTED CONNECTION: when she entered mokseong, she wanted to start over and get rid of any reputations she had at ilvermorny. butttt she kind of messed that up when she dated a specific someone her freshman year (2019) and it didn’t end well ( per usual ). so gimme a “shitty” ex from last year please!!! can be further discussed

after that breakup, she decided to focus on her studies bc f that

also has a good social media presence,,, i’ll be working on her accounts later

maybe some cousin plots???? people from her hometown??? old bullies??? 

a freshman she’s taken under her wing because “i’ve always wanted a younger sibling!!”

also “our cats have great chemistry, they’re married now”

okay that’s enough

i love you all  🥺

[pandoriasbox]

Jade’s SSO Rambles - 9 Rescue Ranch and Jorvik Rangers

(Please keep in mind that these are my thoughts and opinions at the time of writing these rambles. I may change my mind in the future.)

While sorting out ideas for a new care system and how the player care skill could be improved I started brainstorming some potential new content that could be done with the Rescue Ranch and the Rangers.

Rescue Ranch Overview

Every week the player is given a chance to take on a new rescue horse to the ranch. The player can care for up to 5 horses at a time. Horses are randomized but I imagine that some rescue cases are locked off to higher levels of the ranch and require more “experience” working there to rescue.

After “rescuing” a horse (which could involve simply accepting someone’s horse or going out to find a wild horse) the horse is kept in the pen at the ranch. Each horse’s status is tracked on the board and the player can pick who to work with from there. Depending on the reason the horse came to the ranch the player will need to tend to their needs. This may involve administering medicine, making sure the animal is fed and watered, tending to a wound, ect.

Potentially instead of a new horse for the player to take in they could have a random mission available during that week such as helping a pregnant mare deliver her foal. This would require the player to visit the location of the mare (either wild or domestic) and make sure that the foal is safely born.

Other interactions the player could have may involve crafting medicine and going through an investigation series to understand what is wrong with the horse and how to cure them.

The care skill would factor heavily into all of this, making it so the player can complete tasks quicker and have higher chances of success.

Potential Horses or Quests Available for Rescue

Wild Full Grown Horse (Injury or Sickness)

Wild Foal (Injury or Sickness)

Domestic Horse for Special Care (Injury or Sickness)

Help a Pregnant Mare Deliver

This might overlap with using the wild foal idea for rangers

But could also focus more on house calls for domestic horse care in Silverglade

Jorvik Rangers Overview

The idea of this is more in line with druid missions and soul riding but instead you rise through the ranks from an initiate ranger to a full fledged member. The missions are more ranger focused with a variety of far more casual themed tasks. These can be picked up at both the Mistfall and Firgrove ranger stations across Jorvik.

The player may initially start off with basic training which could even take place in the sandpit in Firgrove before they are allowed on more advanced tasks and then full missions.

The rangers idea has a lot of crossover with the rescue ranch idea in terms of helping horses mixed with several other gameplay features such as the Spirit quests to help wild animals, taking samples from nature like in Epona, moving Violet’s photography work into ranger missions and using quests like picking up trash in Valedale and Goldenhills or the chainsawing done previously in Mistfall. The player could also have to follow tracks to find missing horse, rider or animals again like Nic Stoneground’s quest in Dino Valley.

Much like the rescue ranch I think care can factor into this as well with the player being able to perform tasks more efficiently or having a higher chance of success such as with interacting with wild animals.

Rangers missions could be introduced as part of the opening of Northern Mistfall as perhaps the rangers are recruiting in order to connect with or explore the northern half.

Unique Missions/Tasks

Newborn Foal

Observe foal birth

Help foal feed

Water mother

Condition foal?

Trail Accident

Rider First Aid/Injury Check

Horse First Aid/Injury Check

Calm a Panicked or Runaway Horse

Herd Lost Animals Home

Andy’s animals have escaped their enclosure and need to be led back

Assist Wild Animals (Thinking of old spirit missions)

Return Lost Baby to Its Parent

Perform First Aid on Injured Animal

Clean Up

Remove Trash

Put out Fires

Unblock Trails (Chainsawing Logs/Thorns?)

Violet’s Photography/Surveying

Photograph Animals

Survey Water?

Survey Plants?

Photograph the Land?

I definitely think that we should see more partnering between Hugh and the Rangers as well, I think lore wise they’d do a great service to Jorvik working together. The rangers could help bring in or direct people to the ranch when they need care and Hugh could help assist in medical needs or training.

This ramble is one I think I will be returning to in the future as I would love to flesh out some deeper concepts on how the actual mission quests and gameplay aspects could work for both. I also would love to make some concept UI and such after my test for the Jorvik Divined Rune Bingo. 

Once again some of my ideas are inspired by Amelia and Leila’s interview so make sure to check that out if you haven’t already! I also must admit that Amelia’s discussion of how injuries could work in the game got me thinking about how I would approach horse injury in SSO. Also worth noting is her brief discussion of the rescue ranch which I took a glance at following my initial writing of this ramble. I’d also like to thank the folks on the Riders on Jorvik discord server as some discussion that came up earlier this year is what gave me the initial inspiration to write about the Jorvik Rangers idea!

I hope you enjoyed this quick ramble on some potential ideas for expanding both the Rescue Ranch and the Rangers, let me know what you think with a reblog, reply or ask! Likes are always appreciated as well and thank you for reading through the whole thing!

[growupfcst]

✎ 「 have you seen MALAKAI ‘MACK’ SPARKS yet this school year ?? maybe in DRAMA, DEBATE, OR BIOLOGY ?? i heard some wild rumors about the SIXTEEN year old last semester, but now that they’re a SOPHOMORE it might be a different story. according to their friends they’re pretty DEVOTED, but sometimes HE can be GUARDED. who knows, this might just be HIS year ! 」[ CONNOR FRANTA ]

Trigger Warnings for parental abandonment, discussion of abuse from a foster family, and anxiety in his bio!

And here’s my second son! This is Malakai ‘Mack’ Thomas Sparks and lemme tell you...he’s a hot mess. *Cue Hot Mess by Cobra Starship*

(I cannot tell you how long I’ve been waiting to use that joke! But back to his bio!)

So, Mack was born on April Fool’s Day and he loves joking about how it influenced the class clown & life of the party portions of his personality. History wise however? His parents went and abandoned him, so hello foster care system.

As he’ll tell you himself, he got lucky for the first years of his life because his foster families were all gems. This is what basically established the kindhearted parts of his personality, the side of him that’s full of love and loyalty towards his partners in crime.

Mack’s a bright kid when it comes to smarts. He’s got a good head on his shoulders, knows just to use in the classroom as well as out of it. Of course, there are some situations where he is an absolute dumbass. A chief example? Whenever a guy starts flirting with him.

(Side note: he’s openly gay!)

On Mack’s 10th birthday, he was taken in by a new foster family. This was when his luck changed from having awesome foster families to being stuck in households that felt like personal hellscapes.

At first, he only ran away from these particular families. But when he turned 13, that’s when he started fighting back against whichever family member was giving him hell. If the abuse was verbal, he made sure that his comebacks were faster and louder. If the abuse was physical? Let’s just say there was a reason he asked a friend of his to teach him how to fight.

Of course, school was trading one battleground for another. It’s not exactly his fault if he happened to overhear one classmate taunting or straight up bullying another, he just happened to be in the same vicinity. And “you can’t prove I punched them first. It’s my word against theirs.” is a statement that would make the faculty rich with the amount of times they’ve heard it come out of his mouth.

This year, however, Mack was placed in a group home. Everyone around him denies that it’s for troubled kids, but he couldn’t possibly care less at this point. It’s a stable place to be and could actually be a home until he ages out of the system.

The head of the home was the one who actually noticed the generalized anxiety disorder symptoms Mack had been dealing with for a few years now and took him to get an official diagnosis of G.A.D.

And now, we arrive at the present day. This year, he’s admittedly been trying to lay low and just continue pursuing his dreams of being an actor by being in drama club. He’s a recent addition to the debate team too. Mostly to keep his mind sharp and keep learning how to think on his feet, but his silver tongue could probably come in handy.

However, don’t think that Mack the avenging angel won’t make a reappearance if he sees or hears someone getting bullied. He might be a loudmouth who never fails to find trouble, but his heart of gold leaves an equally significant impression on people. He might be going about things the wrong way yet his intentions are always benevolent.

With that, I believe that’s all I’ve got! Like Cam, feel free to like this or send a message through Tumblr or Discord to ask questions/get started on plotting/etc!

[docholligay]

Misty: Ep 2

Hello! This is about up to Episode 2 of Yellowjackets, and ONLY episode 2 of Yellowjackets. I have not seen beyond the second episode, at all, and know NOTHING about this show. Please do not spoil it for me.  Things that are spoilery in nature, for me, include: saying things like  “Just wait!!” confirming or denying anything I put forward, outside information about the cast interviews or creator statements, leading questions like “Do you think “blank moment” means anything?” etc. Remember  that Y’ALL HAVE SEEN THE SHOW AND I HAVE NOT. This informs the way you  talk about things relating to the show. Just be really careful is all  I’m asking. Also: If there is LITERALLY any stance I  could take on this show or character that would make you upset, please  just fucking block the tag

If you WOULD like to discuss the show and my takes on it, the Discord is right here! I don’t go there, so it’s a great place to get every emotion out.

Please thank @sailorsunspot and @moonlight-frittata for backing this odd way of doing a liveblog, and remember my tip jar is always open!

One of the major victories, so far, of this show is the way it handles Misty. Misty is both a victim and a villain, and that is one of my absolute favorite places for a character to be. They also really avoid the “poor, beleaguered nerd cri cri” that I am so opposed to in fiction. 

Don’t misunderstand me, I feel deeply for Misty in that opening scene with the phone call, because I was her, minus that fact that I most definitely did not have my own phone line*. When she talks about Plato and opinion being the wilderness between knowledge and ignorance, but she’s so socially uncanny she has no idea how to respond to the girls on the other end of the line without playing more into their trap, I cringed because that could have described me PERFECTLY from about the ages of 7 to 13. When i was little, it was basically decided by my classmates that no one was going to attend my birthday party, and so, not a single person showed up. I am not unsympathetic to what this shit feels like. 

So I LOVE how the show goes, “Oh, you feel for her, but as an adult, you also would find her offputting and unlikeable” and they throw us into this date situation where Misty is being unspeakably weird, and not understanding how the social game is played. There are many, many of us who were Misty as children, and grew up to learn how the game was played. I learned it so well I actually became a mean girl human nightmare from about the ages of 15 to 22-23. Calling it a game is even a touch dismissive. We are pack animals, and understanding how pack communication is done is a life skill. 

Misty is, even as an adult, unlikeable. Part of me wonders if she, too, is trapped at 17 the way I’ve accused other characters of being. Did it have to be this way? Might her life have changed if she went to college, was able to reinvent herself? I mean, we aren’t really given anything, but in that opening scene, I can see she has a very nice room, with her own phone line, and nice clothes. It SEEMS like her parents care about her at least to some degree. And that is, I think, a major part of resilience. What might Misty have been if she wasn’t out in the wild? Who might she have become, and would it be a more socially appropriate person than she is now? 

Because she found a part of herself out there that I think she’s still clinging to. 

There are people who are born for certain situations, and certain moments. People who are incredibly good in a crisis. I may be an abrasive piece of shit in my day to day life, but I also am fairly good in a crisis. There’s Winston Churchill. Anyway, Misty is also one of those people who is great in a crisis. From the word go, she manages the situation with a very clear head, bracing herself as the plane crashes, immediately looking for the emergency door. She has excellent first aid skills--though I scoff at her having taken babysitter first aid, I have taken wilderness first aid, and that is shit from wilderness first aid and even a bit beyond--and proves herself invaluable to the team. 

All of that is fine. All of that is great, actually. 

But what this leads to is her manufacturing a crisis--well, that’s not fair, let’s instead say prolonging a crisis--so that she can continue to be liked and useful. When I saw the end of t6he episode, I was appalled, but I wasn’t SHOCKED. I think that’s a credit to the writers, who have shown us time and again how a REASONABLE person could not like Misty or find her offputting. This is the first time in her life that people have had nice things to say about her. She helped someone in need. 

And so it doesn’t surprise me that she went into healthcare, and I am 100% sure, though please, don’t tell me, that she wrecked Nat’s car. That’s why she’s joined up with the citizen detectives. Misty has CONTINUED to find ways to make herself the only one that can help. She has continued to chase that high of being in the woods and being the only one who knows what to do and it wouldn’t surprise me if she continued to either manufacture or prolong crises in order to maintain that position of usefulness. If the girls can’t LIKE her, they will NEED her.

[ja-khajay]

Thoughts on the new Khajiit lore books and their take on Khajiit religion

After discussions with the Beyond Skyrim team and also my friends, and seeing @fadomay‘s posts on the matter, I’ve decided to post my own opinion on the new khajiit lore books leaked from the ESO Pellitine expansion! 

Transcribed from a conversation I had with Aqo @madamefirilanyaofficial on Discord. With a few editing and annotations to what books we were referencing!

TL:DR I Do Not Like Them. They oversimplified Khajiit religion like Bethesda did to the Nordic pantheon in Skyrim, and removed some aspects I found made Khajiit stand out as a well written, unique fictional belief system, that worked perfectly for its setting.

Aqo : have you seen the leaked eso lore ?

J : I've seen some books about khajiit dieties but they're uh......Not good

in what ways?it feels like its written by an avid azura fan asdfgh

Have you read clan mother ahnissi*

that book lists khajiit dieties in a very distinctive writing style that's associated with khajiit

Well the leaks I read surf on that book but badly written the what's new is they added imperial dieties to the list by just giving them names with slightly different sonorities

yea i noticd that

Boethra is the best example. Before eso I hadn't seen and khajiit mention of Boethiah - but her sphere is "violent overthrow of order" and khajiit don't need that they're already an extremely chaotic aligned people

and they realy focus on boethiah and  mephala, like the dunmer

Instead of having a smaller pantheon + a few original gods (ban daar, rahjin, the Ja'Kha'jay) they just went "lol it's just like the imperial pantheon but with funny names right???" just like what Skyrim did to nord religion.

Before skyrim nords also had a smaller pantheon with gods that were born from the same concept as a few imperial ones, but with different names and associations, and skyrim just steamrolled that

it feels like they did take existing pantheons and just khajiitized them

It makes sense to have different cultures take from each other, khajiit live right next to imperials and we already have proof of them adopting a foreign god with Yffer

who now is like evil?

That's not how it works. Khajiit have their own drastically different roles for each diety. I don't like seeing TES dieties as one entity named [add imperial name since that's obviously the default now] that each culture that's not imperial sees under a warped light. That's ridiculous

Khajiit religion was good BECAUSE it did wild stuff with established concepts, and was written before oblivion when religious texts were still kind of out there. It showed radically different associations : Namiira being evil, Padomai being good off the top of my head

I like to think gods in TES are more like concepts, made out of what people believe. See almsivi - they are powerful, but a character like Fyr** is as powerful as them, the difference is their believers....yes the daedra have personalities but that doesn't mean they should be exactly the same, each culture interacts with their sphere differently. Hell khajiit don't even make a difference between d.aedra, and I can't wait for ESO to cut that out too

What sucks is the imperials are well, an empire, and you could legitimately make a whole deal out of their vision of the world spreading into the provinces they've conquered. It happened with the Romans (see Bath), it happened when the Hittites invaded Mesopotamia, it's a legit dynamic and could be fascinating to explore but writers don't think that far it seems

its like the khajiit just took the imperials religion without a fight but thats not how khajiit work azertjvklthe whole y'ffre/nirn/ hircine dymanics seems.... kinda weird?

wow it would be so cool if we had a canonical proof of khajiit and imperial feuds over invasions like some kind of faction or something what if we wrote a manifesto of a faction against the empire like radical pro Elsweyr fighters could you imagine oh wait***

"Sangiin. Blood God of the Second Litter. Sangiin is not an evil spirit by nature, but Khajiit must know that all things within his sphere turn True Cats from the Path. These are the urges of blood and pleasure without purpose. To fall to Sangiin is not to give in to the Dark, but to give in to the flesh. He tries to tempt Khajiit into making their flesh immortal, and this is a prison to all spirits of the ja-Kha'jay. Sangiin is therefore a spirit that will test you on the Path and must be overcome. The secret to defeating him is to ignore him, and this we learned from Mafala, who said: Lust for nothing but Truth." the khajiit become catholic

this is so stupid khajiit are notoriously horny and open minded bro. khajiit wouldn't see sex as bad

yeah like

i just hope there will be some context for the books. people have pointed out that its verry dunmeri and even has names only dunmer use. like some propaganda  by dunmer or something

I hope it'll be dunmer propaganda, that'd make a whole lot of sense actually holy fuck?? Like the daedric corners being all added, Sheggorath's association with Skooma (a dunmer drug which is a plague to khajiit) removed, plus the dunmer have used khajiit as slaves forever, it could be part of a really fucked up plan to grab a piece of Elsweyr

yeah in that case it works like the added importance on mephala and boethiah.

Annotations :

* Words of Clan Mother Ahnissi

** Divayth Fyr

*** Ahzirr Traajijazeri

[imuybemovoko]

My beliefs now

I set this blog up for a bunch of different purposes including conlangs/worldbuilding stuff, my writing, and my views on religion and maybe also politics. So far, mostly, I’ve ranted a lot about the beliefs I left behind. Now that I’ve let that particular sketchy brand of Christianity, now that I’ve discovered the ways it and my conservative family background were probably turning me into a fascist while I was still in all that, I figure I might as well try to hash out where I stand now. I’m around eleven months out from my deconversion, and a lot has already changed. I might try to attempt a before and after thing but there’s a lot to unpack about how I used to think and I’m not sure I’ve understood everything yet. I think I made the mistake of thinking that not very long before that repressed memory about “Sharon” and her Jonah display came crashing back in March. This is current to late July 2020 and may not include everything. 

So without any further ado, let’s talk background. First, some things I’ve already either mentioned or given more than enough evidence for. I used to be a Christian fundamentalist. (Clearly. I rant about it a lot.) I got into that because I was raised religious, then let myself fall right the fuck into what I’ll call “deep end lite” shortly before senior year in high school. Some local churches in my small town arranged a missions trip thing and the way I agreed to go along felt in the moment like surrendering to a voice that’s been speaking to me all along. In ...a way, it was. Just not the voice I thought. I’m pretty sure I didn’t want this god, at any point like ever, until that little part of me whispered that it would be easier to accept him. I have a megathread document that I’ve stored a lot of my “God stories” from my time as a Christian in. Unfortunately I didn’t remember many specific details of this experience to write down in there, but I did write a bit of a “life-story” thing that reminds me that, chronologically, that happened after a period of focused attempts by the church to indoctrinate me, some traumatic things my family did, social struggles, and feeling like an asshole because of things I’d done in the past. I remember having this growing sense over the previous year that I was approaching some kind of very dangerous breaking point, to the point where (trigger warning: mental instability, school shooter mention. Please either stop here or skip to where it says “in other words” in the next paragraph after this if that’s going to be an issue. It also keeps getting dark from there for a minute. Please, please tread with care if you need to. There is no shame at all if this becomes too much. Take care of yourself first and foremost.) 

when discussing how I came to accept the faith, I told some of my Christian friends that I felt like there was a scary chance of me becoming a school shooter. I think this may have been a post-hoc projection, but I can’t quite be sure of that. I was in a bad place for a bit there in high school. I had a wild temper and some sketchy intrusive thoughts.

In other words, it hit at a perfect moment of weakness. That’s how oppressive forms of spirituality function, it’s how hate groups function... it’s a massive shit cocktail and I found a pretty bad influence in the form of people who promote that whole “born again experience” thing in Christianity. I’d say I’m glad I missed out on being dragged into a fascist ideology this way, but uh... I’m no longer convinced I didn’t grow up around something like that. More later. 

From there I spiraled my way through my first attempts at college through the university’s chapter of the Chi Alpha campus ministry and, peripherally through that, Assemblies of God (holy shit those guys are wild), then through a local Baptist church (more peripherally) and Calvary Chapel (I was a worship guitarist here for like 18 months and helped with their youth ministry for almost as long) closer to home and a CRU chapter at my community college. With each passing year I slipped further and further into this weird shame-induced funk where I got like... addicted to Jesus and hated myself or something. It’s a bit hard to find words that don’t take multiple entire extra pages and I want to be concise, so I’ll simply call it “Jesus-flavored depression” for brevity and because that was enough of a genuinely bad time (and I’m still fucked up enough) that I might need some fairly serious therapy.

Near the end of 2018 I was reaching a breaking point, wondering why nothing ever seemed to change in my life from “sexual sin” (...which in my case literally consisted of being attracted to women and occasional self-pleasure, but they literally teach you to hate yourself for less than that in the spicier churches rip) to my direction in life to how trapped I felt by my family. I also started to have more questions about the violence in the Bible and some of the sketchier doctrines, and that was strongly reinforced by some of the things I saw in a creative writing class I took, including an atheist who shared a story of a profoundly negative experience involving being taught about hell at a very young age. All that led to the absolute disaster that was December 2018. It was my last semester at the community college I went to. Finals week was a fucking disaster, and the week before that too, and my grades were really good but at great cost. I won’t go into a ton of detail because 1. space concerns and 2. this time is still damn painful to discuss, but just know that I’m unconvinced I’d have survived that month without this song. (Yes, that’s Paramore. Shut up xD they’re still good.) I looped it for like three days straight and I think it was just enough to keep me going through what was the third time I had any suicidal kind of thoughts ever and by far the worst and longest period of it so far.

So the next several months (and I won’t go into a ton of detail about this, I intended this post more to describe my current position and I don’t wanna get too in the weeds with background) were a confusing period of questioning, starting with, of all things, my family dynamic. The spiral after the week before finals was ...considerably worsened by some comments my dad made, and between that and some experiences in the past that the creative writing class I took that fall reminded me of, I was exposed to a bit of a deeply toxic pattern. I might discuss that more deeply in another post, but for now suffice it to say that extensive youtube binges and some other research between about January and March told me the situation is probably adjacent to pathological narcissism in some way. I brought some of this up to the church I was attending at the time (a small town Calvary Chapel, if I haven’t mentioned that already) and their responses were ...inconsistent. Some people blamed me, some people said “oh dang your dad is abusive”, and some people took the “your parents are trying their best” tack. In retrospect I think that made me doubt if God’s messaging to these people could really be trusted. Then, in about April, the question of hell came up again. I was helping in the church’s budding youth ministry at the time and we had about four regular attendees between the ages of 12 and 18. There were about three weeks in a row when one of the other adults (I’ll call her Kelly for the purposes of not doxxing; also more on her later) talked at length about how unbelief leads to hell. I remembered that atheist from creative writing, made the connection to these four kids, and thought, “what the hell are we doing?” (Pun not intended but rather convenient.) I immediately backed down from my role in the youth ministry, citing other equally valid but less pressing reasons involving stress from the issues with my dad, and tried to go on with life. But the floodgates were open. 

In late May or early June, I was staring out a window one morning and suddenly a question crossed my mind unbidden: “Is God a narcissist?” I thought back to a relatively recent sermon by the associate pastor in which he explained that the purpose of the world was “for God’s glory”, to some apparent sudden flights of rage, and some other factors in the scriptures, and thought, “holy shit, I need to investigate this, because God is also very adjacent to narcissism.” It took a hot minute for the ball to really get rolling with that, but once it did... I came to a point by late June or early July where I delivered an ultimatum to God, something to the tune of “Ok, either show me how all these questions I have can be answered beyond a doubt or I’m done.” 

There was no answer. 

God was silent during this time, and the people in the church were shocked that I had the questions I did and either concerned or ...rather spicy. I joined an ex-Christian discord server to aid in a proper, thorough investigation. I aired my questions both there and on a Christian discord server. The Christian server was toxic as fuck and the ex-Christians started making a crazy amount of sense. I watched some videos from Cosmic Skeptic and TheraminTrees (most notably the latter’s deconversion story) for new perspectives and, by mid-August, had crashed out of the faith altogether.

So the last time I ever stepped into a church with the intent of attending service (I showed up after once in January of 2020 to kinda let them know and that went pretty badly lol) was about two weeks before I started college again in the fall. I burned all but one of my Bibles and a collection of gospel tracts I never did anything else with and stylized it like my limited understanding of what a satanic/pagan ritual looked like, complete with a chant in my conlang Aylaan for a more personal twist because of course, to feel edgy. (I did a lot of kind of weird shit to feel edgy; that’s one of two of them I’m sure I don’t regret.) And after that, things got ...ah, confusing?

Because of course when the linchpin of your understanding of the world gives way, everything becomes fucked for a hot minute. 

So the first thing that happened was a couple months of anxiety and confusion. I slowly started to deconstruct my inherited political views too. (More on that later.) Then I had this really beautiful interesting moment in late September where I walked past a tree on the way to a class and had a sudden realization that I didn’t have to force the tree into a Christian framework anymore, it was just a beautiful mass of green shit and cellulose. I could appreciate it in whatever way I felt was best. I damn near broke down crying in the bathroom before class, it hit me that hard. So that’s fun xD

Since then I’ve kinda gone through a bunch of funky phases with this, including a couple of months of fairly salty atheism. Along with that process, I started questioning my sexuality in December (more on that in another post in a minute lmao it’s a trip) and literally shredding my politics in the face of Trump being a crackhead in a dangerous position getting away with confirmed illegal shit, COVID-19 and the ...dehumanizing responses of corporations and their sponsored politicians, and then what I noticed about the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd and the fallout from that. (In a nutshell, holy FUCK there’s a huge problem and it’s messed up that people don’t see it.) At this point, I’m socially progressive and pretty left leaning. I don’t know what the hell to do about it or how either other than some of the tense discussions I’ve been having, but I’d like to work against racism and discrimination too. So that’s cool and a lot better than where I was... 

which... I regret deeply.

I don’t know exactly how to define my old political views, and they were marked by considerable cognitive dissonance. I’ll try to illustrate this as best I can but I don’t know what label I can use. Here goes. 

Cursed images aside, I think the best way to explain this is through some background, i.e. what my parents believe, because my beliefs were largely inherited. 

This might be majorly over-simplified and based on what I remember of my own pre-deconstruction views and what I hear them say lately. I’m doing my best, but take it with a grain of salt. Basically, it seems like they walk this weird line between constitutionalist and very authoritarian that I see a hell of a lot of in rural America. Kinda like the Republic party used to before they yeeted into Trump’s mindfuck wholeheartedly. They’re homophobic to a rather alarming degree (more on that in another post soon) and not ...overtly Christian-supremacist but you can tell that their ethics are dripping with it and they’re terrified of Islam and they’d like to legislate some aspects of Christian morality. They also support the second amendment, which is the one thing I still agree with them on that I’m aware of, but they take it to more of an extreme than I’m willing to. For further ...flavor, they also reject the premise that parts of our society are systemically racist (and maybe also the idea that such a thing is even possible because of course), subscribe to the “bootstrap theory” for everything they can think to apply it to, reject climate science, and have been extremely conspiratorial about COVID-19. Also they like making it out like everything is a Democrat conspiracy theory, compare the Democrats to Hitler and Stalin to a weird degree, have on at least one occasion called Fox Motherfucking News left-leaning, and think Alex Jones is wacky but sometimes raises valid points. 

So that’s, in a nutshell, a bit of a look at my past political views, except I think I was a bit more Christian-dominionist than them and I think I had moments of “...does this really make any sense?” for years before I crashed out of everything. The first domino was my Christianity, but once that fell, my entire approach to the world went some places. 

So ...yeah. Oof. I was sketchy as shit. Glad that’s changed. 

So uh... I’ve already mentioned a vague (read: as much detail as I feel confident providing) description of my political views now, but after all this bullshit let’s finally get to the other half of my titular current beliefs. This ...isn’t going to be easy to explain either, but I feel more confident going into more detail. Buckle up :^)

Alright. So except for a couple of months where I was like “there is no god reeee” half because I was sOmE hYpErInTeLlEcTuAl SkEpTiC and half because of trauma from the toxic flavor of Christianity I left and some shitty developments in both politics and my social circles (I’ll talk at some length about “Kelly” in a sec here I think), since leaving Christianity I’ve always been what I’ll call “hopeful agnostic” (I think I stole this term from Rhett and/or Link lol). In a nutshell, what that means to me is “there may or may not be a god, but I hope there is at least one and they’re nice, or like, at least some spiritual thing that has a good aspect that can help me”. I also dabble in shitty rituals where I burn dead plants and occasionally also hate literature like gospel tracts (and, that one time, a couple of bibles) and basically call on “anyone who is listening and gives a fuck, else the placebo effect” for whatever my goal is. Like... witchy-adjacent but I don’t think about it very much at this stage. I kind of enjoy it, and I think for one reason or another it can be good for my mental health, but I’m wary of any kind of commitment or even more serious experimentation, even as I hope to find something good, because ...trauma, and maybe even absent that a desire to not be wrong in a way that’s dangerous to anyone else again. So that’s fun :^)

So if you’ve made it this far through this weird bullshit, thanks, this story is kind of important to me xD and if you couldn’t, and you’re not reading this ending thingy because it got too dark or it pissed you off or something, that’s cool too and you’re beautiful and valid. Whoever you are, I hope you find whatever healing you need. :)

[always-l-o-v-e]

Proposing a Proposal: Why the Idea Works, But Not in the Way You May Think – A Review of GoT Redirection

In 8x01, “Winterfell”, we had a scene where Davos, Tyrion, and Varys are observing Jon and Dany from the battlements of Winterfell.

Davos: “The Northmen are loyal to Jon Snow not to [Daenerys] her. They don’t know her. The Free Folk don’t know her. I’ve been up here a while and I’m telling you they’re as stubborn as goats. You want their loyalty, you have to earn it.”

Tyrion: “I sense that you’re leading to a proposal.”

Davos: “A proposal is what I’m proposing. On the off chance that we survive the Night King, what if the Seven Kingdoms, for once in their whole shit-history, were ruled by a just woman and an honorable man?”

Varys claims, “Nothing lasts.” However, beyond his point, GoT has a history of teasing possible marriages only to skew these relationships into something else. This kind of redirection has been shown multiple times in the series, for better and for worse. It is through marriage that the strongest relationship between two individuals and their respective houses is created. Here are some examples to date:

Brandon Stark & Catelyn Tully --> Ned Stark & Catelyn Tully (for security)

             - Catelyn deeply loved Brandon and they were engaged to be wed up until his death by the hands of the Mad King. To maintain the alliance between House Tully and House Stark, Catelyn was promised to Brandon’s brother, Ned, and although they did not love each other at the time they were married, they grew to. As Catelyn said, they built their love “stone by stone”. Ned and Cat’s relationship remains the healthiest we have seen thus far on the entire show.

Cersei Lannister & Rhaegar Targaryen --> Cersei Lannister & Robert Baretheon (for power via Tywin Lannister)

             - Cersei was enamored with Prince Rhaegar since she was a little girl and dreamed of marrying him in hopes of becoming his queen, but instead, Rhaegar married Elia Martell and he was later killed by Robert Baratheon during the Rebellion. Tywin would then marry Cersei off to Robert, the new king, and we all know how that turned out.

Lyanna Stark & Robert Baratheon --> Lyanna Stark & Rhaegar Targaryen (for love)

             - Lyanna was promised to Robert prior to the Rebellion. She was renowned as a wild beauty with a kind heart, but even she would not overlook Robert’s adulterous ways: “Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man's nature.” Based on the show’s interpretation, Lyanna and Rhaegar truly loved each other and ran away to be wed in secret, after Rhaegar annulled his marriage to Elia. Lyanna would die from childbirth just after bringing Aegon Targaryen VI (AKA Jon Snow) into the world, whom Ned Stark swore to keep safe. Her apparent kidnapping at the hands of the Targaryen prince was the match that started the flames of Robert’s Rebellion and the rest is history.

Robb Stark & Roslin Frey --> Robb Stark & Talisa (for love)

             - THE RED WEDDING. Need I say more?

Sansa Stark & Loras Tyrell --> Sansa Stark & Tyrion Lannister (for power via Tywin Lannister)

             - With the pending doom of Robb’s fall from power, Sansa becomes identified as the new “key to the North”. In season 3, Lady Olenna Tyrell and Varys discuss marrying Sansa to Loras to strengthen House Tyrell’s seat of power and to prevent Littlefinger from whisking Sansa away for himself. But before any of this can occur, Tywin swoops in and has Tyrion marry Sansa instead as their heir would inherit Casterly Rock and Winterfell, further strengthening House Lannister’s influence.  Then, THE PURPLE WEDDING.

Jon Snow & Daenerys Targaryen --> ? (for ?)

             - The show has mentioned a possible marriage between Jon and Dany twice now: once by Littlefinger and again by Davos. And the unification would have been favorable had Jon Snow remained the respected Northern bastard everyone else thought he was, but he isn’t. He never was. He is Aegon Targaryen VI, son of Prince Rhaegar and Lady Lyanna Stark, apparent heir to the Iron Throne. When the Northern lords find out Jon is a Targaryen, they will be furious. But when they find out he’s a Targaryen who bent the knee to another Targaryen, because he loves her, and said-Targaryen desires to rule the Seven Kingdoms, which includes the North, the lords will be relentless. 

Whether you like it or not, whether it’s fair or not, the show has reiterated this fact to us time-and-time again: The North is very prejudiced against the Targaryens.

The North remembers. They remember the Mad King. They remember Rickard and Brandon being burned alive. They remember their beloved Lyanna being “kidnapped”. They remember Aegon the Conqueror, the subjugation endured under his reign, and having to give up their independence.  

Even Lord Royce, who isn’t Northern, said a Targaryen cannot be trusted.

They will consider Jon’s parentage a betrayal to the North and may even accuse him of giving the North to Daenerys because he’s a Targaryen. They will question his Northern roots, despite the fact that he is still very much half-Stark.

Jon and Dany’s union would be one the North would never accept and it would deepen the rift between House Targaryen and the North even further.

What is the best way to mitigate discord? Marriage, of course. But to who?

THEORY: Jon Snow & Daenerys Targaryen --> Jon Snow & Sansa Stark (for security)

             - Now, I know many of you are thinking “Wait, aren’t they cousins?” Yes, they are, and so were Tywin and Joanna Lannister, among others. It’s odd, I get it, but it makes the most sense. Sansa Stark, as the Lady of Winterfell, holds the most powerful seat in the North along with having the support of two other Great Houses in House Tully (Riverrun – Uncle Edmure) and House Arryn (The Vale – Sweet Robin). A union with Jon would secure four out of the six Great Houses remaining, except for Lannister. Possibly even five out of the six depending on where the Greyjoys stand after the war; we know Theon supports Sansa, but Yara would have to declare for them too. This is Game of Thrones we’re talking about, where power comes from the spread of influence, and the show has purposefully set up House Stark to have, possibly, the greatest influence over what is left of the Seven Kingdoms. Jon and Sansa’s union would be one for security, similar to Ned and Cat: it would be able to shield Jon from the Northern prejudice and keep the Stark Pack together. There are also underlying threads of poetic justice here: Robert’s Rebellion began over the convergence of a Stark and a Targaryen, and The Great War would end with the convergence of a Stark and a Targaryen. Not to mention threads of irony: A Targaryen ends up marrying someone he thought was his sister, but is actually his cousin, and Sansa grew up dreaming she would marry a prince and was betrothed to Joffrey (actually bastard, not a prince), only to end up marrying Jon (actually a prince, not a bastard). Davos’ words still hold true in this case too. The Seven Kingdoms would be ruled by a just woman and an honorable man. Sansa is pragmatic and Jon is a natural-born leader; a healthy balance of what it takes to rule. Whether they rule from the Iron Throne or maintain an independent North, Stark loyalty is fierce and anyone under their protection would thrive.

It’s rumored the final book of the series was going to be titled “A Time for Wolves”.

This story started with the Starks. I see no better way to end it.

I know some of you may ask, where does that leave Dany? Truth be told, I don’t know. I just hope that, wherever they take her character, it’s somewhere compelling, memorable, and epic, because she deserves that. Daario once called her a conqueror. In a perfect world, I imagine she, Arya, and Drogon go off to discover what’s west of Westeros.

A/N: Friendly reminder this is just a theory in regards to a possible ending to GoT! It is not meant to demean, judge, or bash any of the characters mentioned above. GRRM spent nearly 30 years crafting characters with such depth and even if you don’t agree with their philosophy or ways of doing things, I think you should still respect them as they are and all the work that has gone into developing them. Keep the comments section peaceful. Let’s enjoy the next 5 weeks to come. I’m sure we’ll all cry together once it’s over.

[etherian-affairs]

Mermista's Wild Ride.

This is a crackship roller coaster. It includes Merdak, Entrapdak, Mertrapta, and Perfume Weaver mentions.

Every section was written based on reaction to the previous section in the discord server I wrote this in. In real time!

Anyway buckle up.

==========

The Hordak esq creature was baring down on Mermista fast. Entirely too fast. She had also made the mistake of not noticing it over the other soldiers she was fighting. A rather large mistake. For a brief moment Mermista really thought she was going to finally bite it. Fear fills her in her final moments, real deep fear.

As the thing reared up its weapon, sneering at her, the Princess of Salineas finds an arm warp around her waste. With a yelp she's tugged to the side, and a large energy cannon attached to an armor encased arm is extended out. It hums with power for a moment, power that is suddenly unleashed.

The brutes arm is gone in a flash. Then there's another flash and the top half of its body is gone, simply erased from existence. The remains fall over lifeless.

Lord Hordak releases Mermista, she stumbles, wide eyed and staring up at the alien conquerer in shock and something else.

He looks serious, focusing on the battlefield as he releases the built up heat from his arm cannon. The flames of destruction that he himself has born during this engagement flicker in the backdrop to highlight him. Like a stoic god of war in an oil painting. "Are you alright?" He asks as he glances down at Mermista.

"Uh... Yeah... I'm good." Mermista feels a burning sensation crawl up her cheeks.

"Good. Pay more attention to your sorroundings moving forward." Hordak adds as he readies his weapon and fires on another target, returning to the fray proper as if this entire moment did not happen.

...

"Princess Mermista. You seem distracted." The voice jolts Mermista out of her daydreaming. Hordak is standing before her, quirking a brow at her surprise. When had he approached her? She had been watching him how could he have approached her without her noticing?!

Watching him for entirely Alliance related reasons of course.

"Oh. Yeah sorry. I've just been... Thinking about stuff." The princess tries to brush it off casually. He does not need to know anything about these nonsense feelings swirling inside of her mind.

Hordak nods, seeming to ponder that response before looking out from their campsite to the fields below. Visibly charred and broken from the battle earlier, even in the moonlight. "Indeed. There is much to think about. It seems we have Prime's forces on the run... For now. The use of heavy weaponry has closed the bottleneck of his armies entry."

"Yeah..."

"Still. If you cannot remain focused you should get rest while things are calm." Hordak notes, nodding to Mermista. "I can keep watch of this post while you do so, so do not worry."

Again heat flushes Mermistas cheeks. Why? He's just being a fellow soldier. Collected and calculating and thoughtful...

"Thanks. I think I will." Mermista tries to say casually. Taking a deep breath and heading to her sleeping roll. Best to sleep this off.

...

Burning cheeks? Easy to handle. A flutter in the chest when he brings her coffee in the mornings of their shared deployment? That can be pushed down. That slight pleasant burning in her core as he destroys the armies of their enemy? That's a fluke.

This though. This... Ache in her chest... This Mermista can barely stand. It's eating at her.

They've met back up with another group of Alliance soldiers. Specifically a group with Entrapta in it. It was immediate, the Princess of Dryl shouting "Hordak!" And literally leaping into his arms with a happy laugh.

And Hordak catching her.

The way they smile at each other. The way they nuzzle and give each other gentle loving kisses. The sheer... Apparentness of their love. The bottomless affection they seem to share. Even the way they immediately and seamlessly get to work together. As if they barely need to say anything to know each other's thoughts.

It hurts. Mermista hurts.

It doesn't help that Sea Hawk is here too. He's nice and she is fond of him but he does not currently mix well with these very problematic feelings.

"Oh Mermiiiistaaaa! The greatest soldier there ever waaaaas!" Sea Hawk sings at her side.

She groans and glowers. Pulling her eyes away from the happy lab couple working on bots nearby. "Please stop..."

She isn't sure who she's talking to at this point.

...

"Oh I can share." Entrapta says with a mischievous grin.

Mermista stammers. Actually stammers. How had it come to this? Sure she had been a tad surly and more flippant than usual but how had Entrapta of all people figured out what was going on? And why was Entrapta okay with it?! "yeah well... What about Hordak?"

Entrapta giggles. "Oh he's fine with it too. Watch!" She glances back. "Hordak!"

The Lord looks up from his maintenance of Emily. "Hmm?"

"Would you want to sleep with Mermista sometimes?" Entrapta asks. "It would help her morale!"

Mermista is beat red. Entrapta is shouting right now. Alliance soldiers are staring. This is awful. All Mermista can do is wait for Hordak to tell Entrapta no. That Entrapta is being ridiculous as she tends to do.

However Hordak just nods. "Very well. It will likely increase her battlefield efficiency if she has been desiring that."

Mermista gapes.

Some of the people listening in gape too.

...

"No!" Adora shouts. "No! No no no! No!"

Mermista is clutching her forehead. Beat red. Entrapta can be so loud and soldiers gossip and now everyone knows.

Everyone. Knows. The other Princesses, the entire army, probably Horde Prime himself.

"It's already... Weird! That Entrapta and Hordak are a thing!" Adora adds on to her exclaiming.

"Pretty sure that's rude!" Entrapta shoots back looking grumpy.

"It is." Hordak assures his wife. He's unbelievably calm.

Suddenly Sea Hawk let's out another loud sob. He has been doing that. "Mermista! I thought we HAD SOMETHING!!!" His eyes are red, filled with tears.

Mermista wants to die. Just bury her at sea right now.

Catra raises her hand from the crate she's sitting on. "To be fair to Mermista. Hordak IS hot."

"Catra No!" Adora screams in horror.

"I will not be sleeping with Catra, even if it won the war." Hordak notes mostly to Entrapta.

"Ouch." Catra fires back sarcastically.

This is all the worst.

...

"So let me get this straight" Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon looks over the assembled Etherian Alliance Ruling Council. "You have all called a council meeting to discuss... A moratorium on sleeping with Hordak?..."

"Yes!" Adora stands and shouts. "It's a distraction from the war effort!"

"This is ridiculous!" Entrapta shouts back. "It's a morale boosting activity!"

"He's evil Entrapta! It's already weird you do it!"

Mermista is currently trying to slide under the table to hide. Anything to get away from this.

Perfuma raises her hand. "Excuse me... I have a question."

Glimmer sighs. "Yes Perfuma?"

"Is the issue that Hordak is evil?..."

"Yes!" Adora shouts.

"That's irrelevant!" Entrapta shouts back. "He's just ethically divergent!"

Perfuma cuts through. "Um... Okay... So... If the issue is he's evil... Can we still sleep with other evil people? Like Shadow Weaver?"

"WHAT?!" Catra and Adora both scream in unbridled horror.

Even Hordak looks over at Perfuma with wide eyes at that one. Mermista feels slightly better for a moment as the focus leaves her.

...

"Okay!" Adora shouts. She never stops shoutong. She's gesturing to the large board covered in pictures and documents with string and other nonsense. They've been here for hours. "I think we have this worked out!"

Entrapta, standing next to Adora nods. "Yes! This seems fair!"

Everyone else is sitting back watching this unfold. Entrapta and Adora basically completely took over for this whole meeting. Mermista continues to look and feel like dying, Hordak looks quietly amused, Catra is glowering, Perfuma strangely hopeful.

Queen Glimmer just looks so tired.

Really everyone else is some mix of those and the air in the room is heavy and awkward.

"So!" Adora continues. "There will be no more casual sleeping with Hordak with the singular exception of Entrapta who due to sleeping with him previously and remaining effective is allowed to continue. However others may petition the alliance council for permission to sleep with Hordak if they can show good cause that it would somehow aid the war effort!"

Entrapta nods. "Hordak and I retain full rights to veto any yes given by the council in this regard though!" She adds.

"This is so stupid." Catra mutters quietly.

"Furthermore!" Adora says loudly. "We should all be aware of the Shadow Weaver clause that states that Princess Perfuma, and only her, may sleep with Shadow Weaver under stipulation that she never ever talk about it again!"

"Yay" Perfuma claps.

...

As everyone leaves Hordak approaches Mermista. The Princess of Salineas looks up at him, feeling so... Everything. This crush spiralled out of control in ways she could scarcely comprehend and she just wanted to hide in Salineas forever.

"Hordak..." She mutters.

"Princess Mermista." He replies, glancing around as people file out quickly. Trying to escape this horrible meeting.

Suddenly when they're mostly alone the Lord leans forward, close to Mermista. She almost shivers. "Petty Alliance rulings aside. Feel free to visit Dryl as you desire." He grins. Red teeth glinting in the light. "We are good at being discrete." He adds before standing back up and marching away to rejoin Entrapta.

Mermista is beet red.

...

Mermista stares up at the ceiling of the royal chambers of Dryl. A room of metal and purple and fluffy furniture. She's in the bed, a massive thing. How did she even get here? It's all a blur. Not actually of course, she knows exactly how she got here, she followed through on the invitation. The emotional journey is what's a blur.

All because Hordak saved her life. Honestly that's kind of cliche and pathetic.

Before Mermista can let out a groan of defeat she feels a body press against get and glances over. Entrapta. Naked and curled against the Princess of Salineas. Snoring and cuddling. Mermista stares at her for a moment in... Bewilderment? This whole situation is so bizarre.

Then the person on her opposite side speaks. "Cute isn't she?" Hordak asks with a pleased tone. "Do not worry about waking her, Entrapta sleeps like the dead." He adds.

"Yeah..." Mermista nods absently before staring back up at the ceiling. "The alliance is going to kill me..."

"They don't need to know." Hordak adds. "Do you want breakfast? I can make something for you two."

Mermista looks over at him. "Uh... Okay." Might as well get free food if this is happening after all.