#i've heard some say white people are aliens

[a-god-in-ruins-rises]

I was going through your blog and I saw you made a post about Black Indians and how ridiculous you think they are. I just wanted to let you know that it's a historical fact that Africans and Native Americans mixed regardless of how you feel. That's all.

i think you're misunderstanding. (it's okay. there's been a lot of misunderstandings around here lately.)

i wasn't talking about actual black indians. i fully acknowledge that there was some degree of mixing between africans and native americans. though it's important to note that this was only ever in very small numbers and was mostly limited to the seminoles. other examples of "black indians" are mostly the result of former slaves gaining membership within the native american nation they were enslaved by (like the cherokee nation, most prominently). there was a whole legal controversy about this.

no, what i was talking about in that post was this new afro-centric conspiracy theory that insists the original and true native americans were actually african. except they don't believe they were actually africans. as in, they don't believe they came here from africa. they believed humanity (except white people who they don't consider humans) started with the original true "black indians" here in america. and then they spread throughout the world until white people came along and ruined everything and attempted to suppress this "true" histroy.

so yeah, these are two very different ideas. i fully acknowledge the former and i think the latter is outrageous and stupid (though very entertaining).

[corkinavoid]

DPxDC Multiverse Police

I've seen the idea that GIW is actually SCP foundation somewhere, and lately, I've been thinking a lot about Fenton Happy Ending, so I bring you this. Behold, GIW/SCP, Team Phantom, and Fentons are working all together, and the whole wide multiverse fears them.

So, a giant green Lazarus Pit that looks more like a vortex than an actual Pit randomly opens in, say, Ohio. Because I heard a lot of weird shit happens in Ohio. The world is worried, JL gets sent there, but they are not exactly sure of what to do with it. Nothing comes out of it, and, well, no one is volunteering to just jump inside it - Batman made everyone read his files on Lazarus Waters, and they are reasonably wary.

But then a thing appears literally out of thin air on top of it. It looks like a spaceship, kind of, but more sci-fi than what real spaceships look like. And before anyone says anything, a large green - Lazarus green - dome appears, effectively covering both the ship and the Pit and cutting the heroes off.

The heroes are Confused (tm). And worried. And no one has an idea of what the fuck is going on, for all they know it could be some kind of yet another alien invasion.

Then, two figures on the hoverboards - one read and one teal - come out of the ship, flying over the Pit. They are followed by drones, and they all look like they are... scanning the Pit? A few more people, wearing black visors and shiny white suits that look like they are packed with all kinds of tech, slide down on the ropes straight inside the Pit. It sure looks like they are very familiar with it and have a good idea of what they are doing, working as a team.

One of the figures on the hoverboard, the one in a teal suit, notices the heroes on the other side of the green dome. She - because both of them look feminine enough - slows down and flies down to the ground, landing in front of Superman and taking off her helmet. It reveals a rather young, no older than twenty years old girl with fiery red hair tied in a bun, with eyes the same color as her suit. She smiles at them.

"Hi, you must be the Justice League?" She asks politely, and as Superman gives her a nod just out of surprise at her friendly attitude, she touches her ear, "Mom, this is DC sector universe. Pretty sure it's not a dimension we've been before, though." She turns back to Superman, "You don't recognize any of this, do you?"

Batman intervenes before Supes has the time to answer, "Who are you?"

The girl nods and taps her ear again, "Yeah, they definitely don't know us. So mark it as either an unfamiliar dimension or an unfamiliar timeline." Then she turns to Batman and smiles.

"You can call us interdimensional police. And since all the Batmans we ever encountered never believed us, I'm going to send you a copy of the files your other versions complied all together, so you can read and add more if you feel like it."

She touches her wrist computer, and, a few moments later, Batman's comm comes online with Oracle's voice:

"B, I'm getting a shit ton of files on... Multiverse Law Enforcement?.. out of nowhere. What's going on?"

Now, JL is baffled. Some of them - Flashes and Bats, for example - knew there was a whole wide multiverse going on, but to learn the multiverse has police? That's new.

Meanwhile, the redhead continues:

"The green thing behind me is a natural portal to the Infinite Realms, the dimension between dimensions. Which is really not what is supposed to be happening, so we are in the process of fixing it. It will take from ten minutes to a few hours, depending on what's on the other side, but the portal will be gone soon, and then I'll have to ask you some questions."

"Questions about what?" Asks Flash, and the girl waves her hand in the air.

"Oh, well, about the portals? If one so big is opening up, it means a few smaller ones had to exist in this dimension already. Our tech is not picking them up if they are smaller than a certain size, but you must have seen them before. I believe in the DC sector, you call them Lazarus Pits? We can take care of them later, too."

The second hoverboarder flies closer to them and revs her engine.

"Jazz, talk to them later, Tucker and Agents are done. Fentons are about to get Dannies down, so you need to either come up or leave the shield."

The girl - Jazz - looks surprised.

"Dan, too?"

"Yeah, it's the Toothy Jungle on the other side. They wanted to ask Ember, but, eh, what's her guitar gonna do to plants, even if they are sentient?" The red hoverboarder shrugs, and Jazz tilts her head, looking back to the heroes.

"I think I'll stay with them. You know it gets violent when Dan goes down, so people get antsy about us. I don't want to give the wrong impression."

The other girl huffs, but doesn't argue.

"Okay. Get out of the shield, then, and for Ancients sake, keep your comm open. Danny has an aneurysm every time you turn it off." With that, she flies away, back to the ship, and Jazz taps her hoverboard so it folds down into a hexagon shape no bigger than a backpack. Then, she steps through the shield, joining the JL on the other side of it.

"Are you not scared we might take you hostage?" Asks Wonder Woman just out of curiosity, and Jazz smiles pleasantly at her.

"Don't judge a girl by her looks. I don't want to brag, but I did fist fight Superman once and won."

----------

So basically, after Amity Park got sucked into Infinite Realms, the whole town just kind of collectively decided they like it there. And somehow they reached a happily ever after with both Danny's reveal to his parents and GIW, and then Clockwork showed up and was like, you guys want human food supply, running water and electricity, right? Well, I can do that, and so much more, you can be the ultimate perfect town. And for the price? You gonna go on adventures from time to time and fix the multiverse when shit hits the fan in various dimensions and universes. Doesn't that sound like fun?

And Amity Park, who's seen so much weird stuff over the years that it greatly affected their idea of common sense, goes yeah, that does sound fun! Let's go, people!

So here they are, appearing in different universes and doing damage control. They are, like, the superheroes for superheroes.

I'm probably going to write a part 2 to it, I want to show off Danny and Dan and Dani too. Halfas on the loose, JL is mildly concerned and kind of scared, and Jazz is just like yeah, that's just another regular Tuesday :)

I love Jazz being a badass, yes. Also, if you didn't get it, the other one on the hoverboard is Val, the drones are controlled by Tucker, and the people on the ropes are GIW agents.

| next -> |

[anonymous-dentist]

The following story is inspired by actual documented accounts.

-

I was first introduced to Agent Cellbit upon the request of Agent Elena....

-

"How aware are you of Agent Cellbit?"

The office is dead silent. There's the clock on Elena's desk, stopped. There's Elena's breathing, and Roier's.

It's... awkward.

But Roier shrugs and answers with an easy smile on his face: "I've heard of him. He's some kind of genius, right? He's solved, like, all of your cases for you since you recruited him. He's the Enigma Guy."

Elena's left eye twitches slightly. The man with the cigarette turns towards the window.

"You're right," Elena says. "But, recently, he's gone... weird."

"He's always been kind of weird, though, right?" Roier asks.

"Yes, but now he's." She lets out a breath, clasps her hands in front of her on her desk, looks Roier in the eyes. "What do you know about the X-Files, Agent Roier?"

Roier blinks, confused. "They're cases the Federation doesn't want to deal with because they're too weird. Aliens and stuff, right?"

Elena nods. "The unexplained and impossible. But they're what Agent Cellbit has become obsessed with, and now he won't work on any actual cases. We would like you to complete a psychological profile of him and determine whether or not he's still fit for duty."

It's Roier's turn to nod. Of course, right. He's the psychologist... technically. He does more crime-fighting than psychoanalyzing these days, but he can do both. He's great at multitasking.

The man with the cigarette doesn't turn away from the window. His hair, pure white, shines in the sunlight.

Roier stares at him. Who is this guy?

Elena clears her throat, says, "We would prefer it if you didn't let Agent Cellbit know that he's being monitored."

"Of course," Roier responds. No shit.

He isn't an amateur. He's a FBI agent! He's got this!

-

Agent Cellbit is in the basement along with the X-Files themselves. He has his own office, and he's never interrupted. He doesn't have a partner, unlike most other agents, and he's become so reclusive recently that people are starting to think that he's dead.

But, no, he's alive.

"I can't believe that they think I'm crazy," Cellbit scoffs.

He's alive, and he's short. He's about at the same height as Roier's chin, but he more than makes up for it with how freaking cool his hair is. The white streak in his bangs goes down through his eyebrow, eyelashes, and his facial hair. And his eyes, they're so blue that he can probably see into another dimension. (Not that those are real.)

He's dressed neatly, at least: he's following bureau policy save for the lack of a tie and a pair of hiking boots where a pair of standard loafers should be. He has a pair of reading glasses pushed up in his hair, and he looks exhausted, and he's exactly who Roier had been picturing through all the rumors.

Cellbit isn't looking at Roier. He's rummaging through a bunch of papers on his mess of a desk, instead. He's pissed, and for good reason! His bosses think he's nuts!

Roier doesn't argue. He didn't mean for Cellbit to see through his lie of being his new partner, but he didn't not expect it; Agent Cellbit is a genius, everybody knows it.

"I'm not crazy," Cellbit says. He turns and points a finger at Roier. "Don't put that in your report. Crazy people always say that they aren't."

He goes back to his desk before Roier can say anything.

Roier rolls his eyes. Wow, rude!

He looks around the office. There are posters plastered across every inch of every wall, each one with something absolutely insane on it: aliens, UFOs, werewolves, vampires. There's even something that looks like the Loch Ness Monster that Cellbit has labeled 'MERMAID?????' in big red letters.

"Since you're here," Cellbit sighs, finally finding what he wanted on his desk and grabbing it, "can I get your opinion on something? Psychology really isn't my thing anymore."

Okay, that's a lie, Roier read Cellbit's profile before heading to the basement. Prior to becoming a Federation employee, Cellbit was a detective specializing in violent crime. He was, and debatably still is, an expert in criminal psychology. He can just get into killers' heads and figure them out, and, honestly? Roier's jealous. Just a little.

Just a little.

Reaching over and poking at his laptop's track pad, Cellbit opens a PowerPoint presentation that projects itself onto the wall behind Roier.

Roier turns to look at it. And he's immediately met with a photo of a dead girl in a pile of leaves. Blood is streaking down her nose, and her eyes are shut. She's in her pajamas.

"Elisangela Neide," says Cellbit, "the fourth person to die in this exact way, in this exact location."

He taps to the next slide. This photo is (presumably) of the victim's back, and two raised bumps next to each other on it.

"But," Cellbit continues, "she is the first to have been discovered with these marks on her lower back."

"Mosquito bites," Roier immediately says. "Look at the forest she's in, it's gotta be full of mosquitos."

"Sure, but they aren't mosquito bites." (Cellbit clicks to the next slide.) "See this? It's the chemical formula for the compound found around the marks."

The formula is... weird. Roier didn't pass chemistry on his first try, but he knows something organic when he sees it. This is organic, definitely, but-

"And," Cellbit continues, "we might already have the killer on record."

He clicks to the next slide and moves to stand next to Roier. The file in his hands is open and showing the same mugshot that's on the presentation: a young man with blank eyes staring at the camera.

Roier shudders. Creepy.

"Here's why this case is with the X-Files," Cellbit explains. "The killer claims to have been working under the orders of aliens."

Roier gives Cellbit a look. "Aliens aren't real. We'd know if they were."

"Unless the government was hiding them from us, but, sure, keep believing that."

"Whatever. If we know the killer, why is the case still open?"

"Because he was in a coma when the four murders happened. Despite that, his fingerprints were found on three of the four bodies, and he's gone to the police in his city almost daily since waking up from his coma saying that he's the killer."

...Huh.

Roier takes another look at the file in Cellbit's hands. Missa Muerto, what a fucking name. Was in a coma for four years after a car accident, has been awake for two weeks, woke up the day after the discovery of Elisangela Neide's body. Fingerprints were not found on her body, but were found on the previous three victims'.

"Weird," Roier comments. He looks back up at Cellbit, meeting his eyes and smiling. "So, are we going?"

Cellbit frowns and backs away slightly, pulling the file close to his chest.

"You aren't actually my partner, you know," he says.

"No, I am. I'm just also here to make sure you're doing your job."

"And psychoanalyzing me."

"Maybe, maybe not. But that isn't important. What is important," Roier says, gesturing towards Missa's projected mugshot, "is bringing the actual killer to justice. Whether it's this guy or not, we need to figure out what's going on."

"...You still think he's the killer?"

"I won't know until I get to interview him myself. Soooo... let's go?"

Cellbit stares at him for a second before turning away with a small huff of laughter. "You really are a psychologist."

And Roier chooses to take it as a compliment. Finally, he's getting some appreciation!

-

Missa Muerto is currently being held in custody in a psychiatric facility in his home city, and so that's where Roier makes Cellbit take him first.

But, before they get to the hospital, their car stops right in the middle of the road.

Roier, driving, groans and slams his foot against the gas pedal a few times. "Come on!"

Cellbit's eyes are wide, and his reading glasses are on, and the case file is in his lap.

He leaves his glasses and the file behind and clambers out of the car, ignoring Roier's questioning noises.

Rolling his eyes, Roier gets out and follows Cellbit around to the trunk of the car. He watches as Cellbit opens the trunk, digs around a little, and pulls out a shiny orange can of spray paint.

Cellbit takes three big steps backwards, nearly trips on his own shoelace, turns around, and paints a big orange 'X' over the road.

"Electronic interference is a classic sign of alien activity," he explains.

"Yeah, or we just have a shitty car," Roier snorts. "Come on, help me push this thing."

Just as he turns around, the car starts back up again. All by itself.

"See? Aliens," Cellbit insists. "Missa is right."

He heads back to the car, but Roier lingers just for a moment. He stares at the car, and then he looks up at the sky.

Nothing.

-

They finally manage to meet with Missa, and the first thing Missa does is insist that Roier and Cellbit both prove that they don't have anything shoved up their noses.

Cellbit chooses to blow his nose as proof. He shows Missa the empty tissue; Missa considers, sighs, and nods his approval.

Roier takes a slightly different approach.

"Come and check for yourself," he tells Missa. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and turns the flashlight on and holds it out. "Here."

"Roier..." Cellbit warns.

But Missa just snatches the phone up and holds it to his chest, the flashlight shining right into Roier's eyes.

"You know what you're looking for, right?" Roier asks, squinting through the light.

Missa nods, hesitant.

More hesitant, he takes a step closer. And then another step. And another.

"It's small," he mumbles, his feet and his words both unsure. "Metal. Kind of shaped like a piece of candy. They put one up me and I can't get it out."

Roier generously tips his head back so Missa can inspect his nostrils properly.

"Nobody believes me," Missa breathes. "But it's real! It's right here!"

He taps the side of his nose vigorously. Now that he's closer, Roier can see blood crusted around the rim of Missa's right nostril. Nosebleed, or he was trying to get the... thing out himself.

"Has anybody done an x-ray?" Cellbit kindly asks.

Missa nods, shining the flashlight right up Roier's nose. "They didn't see anything, but that's impossible! Because it's there! I can feel it!"

He peers into Roier's nose, entirely too close for Roier's comfort. But, really, it's fine. Roier's own dad does weird shit with flashlights all the time, this is fine.

"The aliens put it there?" Cellbit asks.

Missa freezes. "Them."

His hand starts to shake. So do his knees.

Suddenly, he drops Roier's phone and grabs him by the shirt with both hands in a white-knuckled grip.

"Please," he pleads, face twisted up in desperation, "you have to stop me! They say that I have one more to bring them, but I can't! I don't want to!"

Cellbit makes a move closer, but Roier gives him a Look (capital-'L'), and he stops.

Gently, Roier raises his hands and wraps them around Missa's wrists. Loose, easy to break out of.

"Have you ever tried just... telling them 'no'?" Roier asks.

Missa pauses. "Uh. Well..."

Roier takes the opportunity to pull Missa off of him.

"To me, it sounds like you're in a toxic relationship with them," he says. "You're doing good by asking for help. That's step one. Step two is taking accountability."

"But I am taking accountability!" Missa shouts. "I confessed to the murders!"

"And that's good! That's step one-and-a-half. But now you need to do step two, which is you taking accountability for yourself. You need to cut them off."

"How?!" Missa cries.

And then he screams, collapsing to the floor and curling into a ball.

His hands, of course, fly to his nose.

Roier immediately drops to his knees next to Missa. Cellbit kneels on Missa's other side. Neither of them move as a squad of nurses and orderlies rush into the room and start trying to help Missa off of the floor.

"Another!" Missa screams. He thrashes in the nurses' grips, blood leaking out from between his hands. "I can't do it! I won't! I can't! No!"

Roier watches as Missa is taken away. He frowns.

"I think he broke my phone," he say, not looking at his phone, still on the floor. "What the fuck was that?"

He looks to Cellbit, who's just smiling.

He's smiling.

"Well, Doctor Roier?" he asks, turning his head to smile creepily in Roier's direction. "What's your diagnosis?"

Roier absently scratches his nose, avoiding Cellibt's gaze.

"I think that he needs help," Roier says.

"That's fair. I think that we need to redo Elisangela Neide's autopsy and check her nasal cavity."

"What, you think Missa was right?"

"I think that you need to expand your horizons. Sure, he might be crazy, but his nose basically exploded as soon as you told him to stop listening to the aliens. They're listening. Who's to say that he's the only one they're listening to?"

-

The autopsy is done again. Cellbit stays and watches. Roier doesn't. (He hates the smell of dead people, yuck!)

After a few hours, Cellbit comes out of the morgue with a little glass vial held triumphantly in his hand.

"I knew it!" he crows, wiggling the tube around like a chemist.

Roier snatches the vial as soon as it's within reach, and he almost immediately drops it.

"What the fuck?" he wheezes. "Why is it heavy!"

He manages to catch it, but just barely.

And then he sees it: a dull metallic object vaguely shaped like a pill. Little wires poke out of cracks in its... shell? Its shell.

Slowly, Roier looks up at a giddy Cellbit.

"Try explaining this in your report," Cellbit taunts. "If I'm crazy for seeing this, then so is the medical examiner. And so are you."

...Fuck, Roier's report!

Sliding the vial into his coat pocket, Roier stands and meets Cellbit's gaze.

"This isn't about the report," he lies. "This is about the truth. Like I said back at the office, this isn't about me proving that you're crazy. It's about finding out who's actually killing people out here."

"Right," Cellbit dryly responds. "And who do you think is 'actually killing people out here'?"

"You're gonna say it's aliens, but I think it's something way simpler. Like a cult. That's the 'them' that Missa is so scared of. They convinced him to kill Elisangela Neide, and they convinced him that he killed the other three victims. Obviously."

Cellbit looks frustrated. Good, Roier feels frustrated.

"A cult," Cellbit flatly says. "Right. A cult is sticking metal tracking devices up people's noses and sending them psychic messages."

Again, frustrated, Roier throws his arms in the air and shouts, "I don't know, man! This is weird!"

"Exactly! Now you know why I have to be the one handling these cases. I'm the only one taking them seriously!"

Roier is ready to start a proper argument, report be damned, but he's stopped by Cellbit's phone ringing in his pocket.

Cellbit takes his phone out and answers the call: "Hello?"

He frowns: "Who is this?"

He pales: "Oh. He- what?"

He sighs: "We're on it."

The call ends. He puts his phone away, scrubs at his face with his hand, sighs again.

He then looks at Roier and explains, "That was the hospital. Missa escaped. The last thing he told the nurses was that he was going to 'take accountability'."

Roier's blood freezes.

Ah. Shit.

-

"Aren't you supposed to be a psychologist?" Cellbit demands as they run through the forest outside of the hospital.

Roier puffs out his cheeks in annoyance. "I'm a psychologist, not a therapist! I'm not trained to actually deal with patients!"

"Are you even trained at all?"

Roier trips over an exposed root and nearly falls, but he narrowly manages to catch himself on a tree.

Leaning against the tree, he shoots Cellbit a dirty look.

"What were you doing, eh?" he snaps. "You were just standing there!"

He takes off again after Cellbit, who hadn't slowed down or stopped to wait. Asshole.

"I was observing," Cellbit huffs. "Keep an eye out for Missa."

"Well, yeah."

"And listen for any strange noises."

"Like what?"

They both skid to a stop as a sudden high-pitched whine fills the air around them, like metallic fingernails scraping down a chalkboard.

Cellbit claps his hands over his ears. "Like that!"

He looks up at the sky. Roier doesn't. Why should he?

"What is that?" he asks.

And then there's a familiar-sounding scream from deeper in the woods.

"Missa!" Roier yells. "Hold on! Don't do anything stupid!"

Ignoring Cellbit's protests, he pulls his gun out and bolts in the direction the scream came from.

"I'm done with you!" Missa shouts. "Leave me alone! Find someone else to bring them to you!"

Leaves crunch and skid under Roier's feet. Twigs snap in his face, leaves pull at his hair.

The noise continues, and it only grows louder the closer Roier gets to Missa.

"First it was Alexandre," Missa rants, barely able to be heard above the noise, "and then it was Reyna, and then it was Casper, and now it's Elisangela! You say you need one more, well! Fuck you, aliens!"

Gasping for breath, Cellbit manages to catch up to Roier. He's pulled his own gun out, and did Elena really let the supposed security risk leave the office with a firearm? What the fuck?

"He was scared of them this morning," Cellbit wheezes. "What the fuck happened?"

"Maybe I am good with patients after all!" Roier suggests.

"That was terrible advice!"

"I'm not a relationship counselor!"

"I can tell!"

Missa continues ranting and shouting even as the noise grows louder and louder. He's unintelligible at this point, speaking in a language that Roier can't understand. (What is it, French?)

The trees are starting to thin out around Roier. A clearing? Gotta be. That's where Missa has to be.

And, Roier realizes as he approaches the tree line, it's where Missa's four victims were found dead.

Missa stands in the middle of a field of leaves and blood staring up at the sky. Wind whips around him, twisting his hair into knots and ruffling his hospital gown so hard that it's starting to tear. His nose is bleeding again.

Roier skids to a stop and aims his gun towards Missa's knee. Just in case he tries to run, that's all.

"Missa, look at me," he carefully says. "Don't listen to them."

Missa doesn't look at him. Missa doesn't look at anything.

His eyes, Roier notices, are a pure black color. They almost seem to be oozing black gunk. It's like he's crying.

"Missa!" Roier calls. "Look at me! Whatever they're telling you is wrong! You're better than them, you know that!"

Next to him, Cellbit quietly says, "Roier. Look up."

He's looking up.

And so Roier does as well.

He looks up, and he sees a bright light, and-

-

Agent Cellbit is fit for duty, but that he needs someone to keep an eye on him. He's invested in his cases, but that means that he needs a partner willing to both act as the skeptic and entertain his wild theories. Otherwise, there is a small possibility of him going rogue. Agent Cellbit appears to be psychologically sound, but further study is needed to make a sound conclusion. I, Agent Roier Brown, submit this report to the committee of sound mind.

Elena doesn't look too impressed.

"You do realize how ridiculous this sounds, right?" she asks, closing the file and placing it on her desk. "A UFO? Really?"

"Maybe a UFO," Roier corrects. "I didn't get a good look at it. It was... really bright."

"Right."

Elena pinches the bridge of her nose. The man with the cigarette is still facing the window.

"Do you, at least, still have the 'metallic object' the medical examiner retrieved from the victim's nose?" Elena asks.

Roier nods and smiles and reaches into his pocket. "Yep! Right here."

He pulls the vial out and places it on Elena's desk.

The man with the cigarette turns around. His suit is white, and so is his cigarette smoke.

Elena's eyes widen slightly. She picks up the vial, turns it around, holds it up to the light. Holds it out for the man with the cigarette to take.

"I see," she awkwardly says.

She coughs even more awkwardly and adds, "As per your report, I'm going to be permanently assigning you to the X-Files unit with Agent Cellbit. Keep an eye on him. If he starts to go AWOL, contact me immediately."

Roier nods again, slightly less smiley. "Got it."

It's her turn to nod. "That will be all, Agent Roier."

Roier nods one last time.

He stands.

He leaves.

He scratches his nose once he's out the door.

Cellbit is outside waiting for him with a new file in his hand.

"They still haven't found Missa's body," he says.

Roier rolls his eyes. "What happened to 'hello'?"

"And the local file for the deaths he caused has vanished. I called, and they told me that there was a fire. Every file was found intact except for Missa's."

Roier thinks back to the light in the sky and the figure within it. Its hand was extended downwards, and Missa's hand was extended up.

"The only copy left is the X-File," Roier supposes.

Cellbit nods. "I won't let him be erased."

That's what the X-Files are for, Roier realizes. They aren't about aliens or monsters or whatever-the-fuck.

They're about remembering those who would otherwise be forgotten. Those that are meant to be forgotten.

Maybe Cellbit isn't that crazy, after all.

(But Roier volunteered to help him for the foreseeable future, so what does that say about him?)

-

[For Spiderbit Week Day Three: Sci-Fi | First Meetings]

[tinystepsforward]

ngl it makes me want to die a little bit that it's so often trans people who feel that sex is mutable but oppression is always-forever based on asab in ways that allow them to demand that information from other trans people. like it feels fucking bad. it feels bad when it's people holding up someone who posts a lot of selfies as transition goals to a degree they have to clarify what they have or haven't done or what "direction" they're going in, it feels worse when people are out there like "caster semenya is not tma" or whatever the fuck. i am, as always, not a trans woman, but here's a sentiment echoed by many of the trans women around me who log the fuck off, quoted directly from one: "people who draw a clear line where they say that semenya or khelif are tme and then call me tma are just calling me male at this point".

like i get it. i really do. we seek community and shared experiences, and we feel betrayed when people have less in common with us than we thought they did. [*more on this later.] but that's not those people's faults and my god in the case i'm seeing play out on twitter rn this poor person did absolutely nothing to intentionally mislead people, just posted pictures of their actual kid self. who looks a lot like i did, because shockingly enough "we can always tell" doesn't fucking work for trans people either!

on the one hand i move in intersex circles which are unapologetically welcoming in cis "dyadic" people with pcos, because it serves nobody to draw a clear line where mutilation or genetics or some ineffable childhood suffering are what make somebody intersex, especially when most of us (esp in places like nz) have never been karyotyped and are being treated for symptoms without a pinned-down cause anyway. the more of us there are the stronger we are, the more pressure we can exert on a medical profession which doesn't like to consider how common outliers are, how uneasy sex is at all. and then on the other hand there's dyadic trans people on the internet who've yelled me out of spaces because a couple of traumatised incarcerated trans women i worked with as a prison abolitionist assumed i was also a trans woman and i didn't immediately tell them my entire csa-involved history of being sexed in varying ways as an infant and child and/or exactly how big my phallus was at birth or where in my junk config my urethra lives so they could decide i was tme or whatever.

returning to the * for a related but not identical thought: i think presuming shared experiences leads to some fucked shit in general! "oh we all had a radfem phase" or "oh we all were channers" no we fucking weren't and it's particularly obnoxious when me & mine are trying to build trans community locally to organise and resist the growing wave of far-right backlash against our existence, and there's just white people in there on a spectrum from "straight up being antisemitic and trying to get the n-word pass" through "handwringing about how they need to make space for people who aren't politically correct" to "handwringing about how brown people are right to be mad at them but doing shit fuckall". and then the other fucking brown people in the space are on some identity politics shit where they're like "trans joy inherently excludes those of us who could get deported" or "big city white queers are killing us by being visible instead of going stealth bc it stirs up the discourse" or whatever the fuck i've heard pulled out this year. there's a bunch of reasons i primarily organise outside of trans spaces and that's one of them. i've never felt more alone in spaces where people claim we're all the same than being left as the brownest moderator or organiser in a space full of people to whom "this is a safe trans space" apparently means they get to abdicate all other responsibilities not to lapse into presumed shared patterns that are fucking racist or otherwise alienating. i've never felt more alone than surrounded by exclusively trans people who sort people into boxes and assume everyone in those boxes has the transition goals they have. like i was on cypro until it disagreed with me to the point of endocrine crisis and now i'm on t and at both those points people were so fucking presumptive or entitled to my reasons or journey or personal relationship w my body

literally just submitted on (and was invited to consult on) the nz law commission's review of the human rights act and like. it's straight up fucked how many nz trans people fully do not comprehend that any "sex assigned at birth" type definitions fundamentally exclude migrants who have no way of proving it and many intersex people who happen to have been reassigned later or many times or never assigned at all as a baby. we can't make law with this shit and that's why we have to have symmetrical protections for all genders/sexes/expressions/presentations, bc naming and defining a protected class here often leaves the people who already are left out from those shared experiences of marginalisation out in the cold when they face violence

[fellthemarvelous]

The Giggle is a true work of art

It's a love letter to humanity, but everyone has to be willing to listen for it to work.

I love this gif. Think about it. The MCU has a LARGE audience base and Tony Stark is the face of the MCU and is one of the richest men alive. It is no accident that UNIT looks like a tower that was erected by a a white male American narcissist who sacrificed his life to save the entire universe. Love him or hate him, Tony Stark gets your attention. And so does Iron Man. And so do the other Avengers. You know who else has a tower? Batman. (Right?). He's DC. Some people like both. I don't know enough about the DC characters.

And think about RDJ who is trying to step away from the Tony Stark image. It's a character he loved, a character that changed his life after he got out of prison, and he will always love Tony Stark, but he and Tony Stark are not the same person.

https://www.thestreet.com/media/vintage-video-of-robert-downey-jr-visiting-wall-street-resurfaces-goes-viral

Robert Downey Jr told us what was up in the 1990s.

This is meant to connect to the people who love superheroes and superhero movies. To see that Robert Downey Jr is the way he is because he's seen the ugly side of humanity and he has always told us what he really thinks. People look up to him.

This is meant to catch their eye, to say THIS IS WHAT WE ARE DOING. Please listen to our message.

Nerd culture is beautiful art.

And if you don't spend your time asking yourself how often Neil Patrick Harris is bullshitting us because I refuse to believe that he had never heard of Doctor Who before joining the cast. I think he just threw 100% of his "please" attitude into Barney Stinson.

Remember when Neil Patrick Harris played Doogie Howser, MD? The 14 year old Doctor?

Oh, he was a Doctor too! So let's not forget this other cult classic Doctor character he played. If you haven't seen Doctor Horrible and His Sing-along Blog you are missing out.

He was once listed as one of Times' 100 Most Influential People in 2010.

He's charismatic and is openly affectionate with his husband and their children.

Love him or hate him, he has a large fanbase. And he is an AMAZING actor. And a really good magician too.

And they used his skills as a magician on Doctor Who, took us to Soho in 1925, and the Good Omens fandom arose from our slumber severe hyperfixation and meticulous meta analysis to dig into a fandom where David Tennant is the most popular incarnation of a particular character, so we are already doing nonstop detective work.

The Good Omens fandom LOVES David Tennant. He is our favorite rebellious demon.

He played the MCU's most terrifying villain (there is not one single MCU villain that has ever terrified me as much as Kilgrave because that fucker uses his powers of mind control to force Jessica Jones into being in a relationship with him...among other things). As a character though, he was fucking fascinating despite the fact we have met so many men who act just like him, and we hate all of them.

Side note: When I typed "Doogie Howzer" into the gif search, this is the most popular image that came up. I consistently get Howser and Howzer confused.

Now I've got the attention of the Star Wars fandom! Howzer rocks.

You know who else appeared on a Star Wars show (again) this year?

This entire episode was crafted in a way that it formed as many connections as it could with other fandoms.

And not just that. It made sure to include as much representation as possible. Was it perfect? No, but the point is that Doctor Who is telling the world that it is moving on. It is ready to grow and it is ready to be a mainstream voice for everyone whose existence is being threatened by unjust laws.

The new Doctor defied expectations. This Doctor is a breath of fresh air, and a reminder that we will all be okay, but change is inevitable and this sci-fi show about an alien who is either 2,000 or 4,000,000,005 years old. I can't keep up anymore. It doesn't matter because he's a Doctor free from the confines of societal expectations.

Nerd culture is vast, and I know I've left out fandoms because I don't really have all day nor do I know all the fandoms, so I'm just giving you a taste of what I do love.

This episode is meant to be for everyone who needs a place to call home.

And the old Doctor finally gets to retire to make way for the new Doctor.

And as a reward for longtime fans, the retired Doctor has found a place to call home on Earth with his best friend. David Tennant will always be Doctor Who because the old Doctor was allowed to live.

And for the Staged fandom, you know what that means, Michael?

[lemonhemlock]

I think the thing that bothers me the most about Alicent’s betrayal of Aegon is that it’s essentially a mother giving up her disabled son to death so she can be ‘free’.

I have a few disabled family members, and have unfortunately heard people say to their parents to just put them in a care home so they (the parents) can ‘have their lives back’. I don’t think Condal/Hess meant for that meaning, and perhaps I’m being too sensitive, but it infuriated me because there is already so much ableism in this show (that they’ve made worse from the books in some cases), and this was I think my final straw to keep watching this show.

No, you're right, on a human level, if Alicent Hightower were a real person, we should be appalled if she acted the way she did in Season 2. This is a sensitive subject that this gaggle of writers isn't really interested in tackling properly, so I hope these blunders don't stick in your mind for too long. You decision to abandon it is completely understandable.

One indication that they are out of their depth is how they never stopped to think how it would look to eliminate the sympathy or understanding from the side who basically has all the disabled characters and then paint them all as doomed because they were not 'progressive' enough.* Another indication is how they practically pigeonholed the character of Helaena into a very stock autistic-coded box and did not bother to give her any interiority or motivations or present her in any way that doesn't infantilise this almost-20-year-old young woman. Aemond, of course, was sidelined this season after a very successful introduction in S1 that advanced him more than a cartoon mustache-twirling villain. Much has been written about Larys even before S2 aired, so I won't revisit that discourse right now, as this post is already too long.

*not meant as a dig against progressive politics, but as a comment on how HotD views progressive to mean 'stan of Rhaenyra', who is not a disruptor of the patriarchal status-quo by any quantifiable means.

A delicate topic such as this one is always going to split opinion and cause controversy and I think that sometimes a lot of feelings can be hurt by untactful takes and can cause many minority, underrepresented groups to feel even more unseen and disenfranchised. I personally hope I can convey my thoughts on the matter in a way that doesn't alienate the members of these groups, but sometimes even I lack the best words to properly express myself.

I would like to point out that, on the one hand, in the ASOIAF universe and especially in such a chapter like the Dance of the Dragons, the characters are often very flawed people that flirt with the boundaries of villainy more often than not and end up performing unforgivable acts, be they disabled or not, high born or not, men or women. At this point, such a statement reads more self-evident than not. In this regard, there have been times I've found fans who were exasperated with other segments of the fandom vying for more positive representation when it comes to these oft-ignored character typologies, citing the fact that, on the contrary, endowing them with negative or unpalatable traits emphasizes their humanity and promotes them beyond a stereotypical rendition that can easily be absorbed into some kind of artificial, formulaic 'woke' quota in media.

However, I think we should remember that for people who are part of these minority groups, whose lived experiences are marred by discrimination and harmful prejudices, these narrative arguments can (even unintentionally) feel callous or exclusionary. It not easy or encouraging to see how you are almost always represented on screen in a way that is reprehensible or ignoble or detrimental in some way - that is, in the few cases when the text in question is inclusive enough to even remember you exist.

In such a context, I have to recognise and acknowledge that, as a white / cis / able-bodied person myself, it is way easier for me to simply rely on narrative merit, because I am represented so much in media that I have the luxury of many stories catered personally for me, both heroic and villainous, and I can simply choose what to engage with if relatability becomes a problem. And it would feel inhospitable and condescending for me to simply expect the members of underrepresented groups to 'get over it' because it makes sense in the context of the story.

A while ago there was a viral post that I keep referencing back in these situations because I think it's the best explanation for this type of divide: the watsonian / doylist interaction of critiques. As such, disenfranchised characters can be portrayed in an unsympathetic manner within any story, but, at the same, the real-life individuals from that group have the right to feel estranged and frustrated by that portrayal, because they don't consume media in a void and, for them, it isn't a hypothetical situation that they can subordinate to the priorities of storytelling. They should also have the space to express that discontent within fandom without having to be involuntarily accused of wanting to moralize or sanitize the media landscape. I think that we should start accepting that both things can be true and integrate that sentiment within our analyses.

That being said, since Alicent is not a real person, in the second part of this post I would like to dismantle the potential argument regarding the right to tell stories about awful people and how a woman being a bad mother or a bad person fits that bill. As I said, in principle, I agree with the sentiment. But I don't believe that the writers were at all successful in pulling this off. Their storytelling skills have proved inadequate and they were unable to craft a believable arc for Alicent to justify her so drastically shifting her entire world view in a few short weeks. And, by 'believable' I absolutely don't mean something naturalistic in the framework of the 21st century on Earth where dragons and magic don't exist; I mean plausible and reasonable behaviour for a human person in the confines of the fictional universe in which they operate.

I'm all for villainstanning and difficult female characters, but this season should have taken Alicent from

point A: doing everything in her power to put Aegon on the throne and even shielding his body from the dragon Meleys

to

point B: offering him to Rhaenyra for execution

in the span of weeks.

This season should have given her a proper motivation to basically hand over her male children to the person married to the assassin of her grandson. If nothing else, Alicent should have demanded Daemon's head. Speaking of which, there is no way to delve into Alicent's psyche, into the mind of a person in her position, after years of paranoia about a loose-cannon like Daemon (a notoriously disliked figure in Westeros), and arrive at the conclusion that, yes, Daemon as King consort would somehow be a better solution for the realm than any of her sons. It's just not. Even with rhaenicent rose-tinted glasses, he should have been a dealbreaker. This type of shortcoming makes me think that they can't truly immerse themselves in the mind of a character to properly gauge how someone could react to the events around them.

As such, let's see what disservices were done to Alicent this season that might have made her regret her initial decision. Let's see what the writers think would be reason enough for Alicent to switch sides and undo 20 years of wanting to place Aegon on the throne:

?????

2. Aemond burns Aegon

3. Aemond boots her from the council

4. Smallfolk suffering & revolts

5. Assassination attempt of Rhaenyra

6. Otto booted from the Council

7. she takes a few baths

8. goes camping

9. ??????

10. Dragonseeds

11. Aemond burns Sharp Point (?)

12. Aemond may endanger Helaena

Now let's see the plotholes in Alicent's thinking:

Most of these concern Aemond. Aegon, Criston, Otto, Gwayne and Daeron haven't committed any grievous sin against her that should be punished, yet, by conspiring with Rhaenyra, she would doom them all to their deaths. Even if Alicent is shown to have a complicated relationship with the first four, she has no reason against her 'nice' son Daeron and her brother Gwayne who was deferential and sympathetic to her. Now there is no way to make Queen Alicent Hightower "kind of forget" about Daeron and Gwayne or her Hightower uncle or cousins and not consider they would have to be executed by Rhaenyra/Daemon. If you have to suddenly make a character stupid or amnesic in order to fit your plot point, then it's not a good plot point. And Alicent has never before shown to be either stupid or amnesic. On the contrary, she is an anxious person who worries about everything.

Of course, one can argue Otto has manipulated her throughout her life and she could have reasonably developed feelings of animosity towards him, but he doesn't really factor in show!Alicent's decision at all. She isn't depicted to be thinking about him or to bring him up in any capacity after he leaves for Oldtown. Thus, we can't reasonably be expected to 'fill in the blanks' that Alicent is upset because of something Otto did.

She does not verbalise any opinion about Aegon & Criston sending Ser Arryk to assassinate Rhaenyra. At the end of that same episode, she is shown to slap Criston. But is that because he tried to assassinate Rhaenyra? Is it because Otto was booted from the Council and Criston became the new Hand? Is it because she told him they're not going to have sex anymore and he still came to her chambers? We don't know. They proceed to have another consensual sex scene. Later on, Alicent seems pissed because Criston is not telling her the truth about Rook's Rest. They part on OK terms, even though she is seen to be a little cold, but she does give him her favour. Is she even pissed at Criston? We don't know. Could she possibly be pissed enough at him that she would doom him to his death? No, I don't think that's reasonable to assume based on what we've seen. Show, don't tell. Golden rule of storytelling. In this case, neither did they show, nor did they tell.

I hesitate to assign Alicent any particular concern for the well-being of the smallfolk beyond a general sentiment to reduce bloodshed and not cause suffering on a grand scale. But individually? She is portrayed in Season 1 wanting to help Dyana and being affected by her situation. She tries to stop the guards from cutting off a man's hand during the riots, that is true. But she also allowed Larys to basically torture / execute her household staff without nary a thought. So which is it?

Coming back to Aemond. He remains the main point of contention. I am going to ignore his cartoonification this season, but, let us accept, for the sake of the argument, that Alicent did not realise how unstable he is and that now she regrets facilitating a situation in which he has so much power. If she has the power to make the guards surrender, like she tells Rhaenyra, then she is not as powerless as she laments, is she not? Then she could possibly even stage a coup against Aemond and arrest him. The fact that Aegon did not do so the minute he became conscious is another plothole. Aemond is one man with no network or friends because of his anti-social and anti-politics behaviour. He has a dragon but his access to her is restricted if he needs to ride a horse for several miles outside of the city to get to her. When he is inside the castle, as skilled a warrior as he is, he is still only one man. Him still being Prince Regent after Aegon wakes up is preposterous.

Larys does bring up the fact that without Vhagar, the greens are terribly outmatched at the moment when it comes to dragon warfare. That is true. But, if Aemond is a loose cannon who is threatening the life of the King and Queen, he cannot stay un-arrested. There's no reason they couldn't have kept it hushed for a while to buy some more time either. If Alicent is so sorry for what Aegon went through, she could have sued for peace after Aemond's ass was in a jailcell. But she makes no attempt to protect him from his supposed assassin. Her being overwhelmed with Rhaenyra's dragon superiority after Vhagar is out of commission would make more sense as a motivation for the second rhaenicent scene, it would give her more agency and not need her to abandon Aegon and the rest of her family all of a sudden.

But Aemond can't suddenly be removed from the narrative like that, because he has a part to play later on. Of course, in the books, there's not a lot to cling to when it comes to regicide. The narrator makes no such claim, nor is anyone else recorded to do so. Alicent is not upset with Aemond. Aemond doesn't attempt to kill Aegon during his long convalescence. You can argue it's not clear cut because Vhagar fell upon both Sunfyre and Meleys from above, but all three of them are reported to crash into the ground. Vhagar is old and slow, there is no certainty that she could have been sprightly enough to stop just in time so as to not crash fatally. It is not impossible to read this excerpt and think that Aemond may have tried to rid himself of his brother under the guise of battle. It is also equally possible to read Aemond's actions as a rash, dangerous move that could have ended in his death as well. It is self-preservation to let Sunfyre and Meleys kill each other. It is not self-preservation to rely on Vhagar's agility to save your life at the last moment. However, whichever way a screenwriter would like to go, Alicent can't suspect that Aemond tried to kill his brother or that he would place her beloved daughter in danger, because she would then act differently! This is another example of changing elements for the sake of changing them and not allowing the natural consequences of those changes to materialize because they would modify the sequence of events too much.

Like Rhaenyra in the sept scene, Alicent seems to be the worst negotiator ever. She doesn't get one concession from Rhaenyra when she goes to Dragonstone. Is that fair and unbiased storytelling? Helaena and Jaehaera's lives were never truly at stake, since they are girls and could always be married back into the black branch of the family. Why execute them when they could become useful? Alicent should know this, yet they need her again to be stupid and forgetful because she went to a live laugh love retreat in the woods. There is no attempt to truly settle this diplomatically. The scene is just a new pretext to humiliate Alicent and have her grovel at Rhaenyra's feet.

Below I am going to dismantle the narrative decisions regarding the dragonseeds.

Bear in mind that if we are to have 4 seasons of this story, then the sides must remain balanced for quite some time. Someone should tell the writers that biases and preferences are irrelevant because if the force differences become too great, the war ends and there will be no story left to milk.

The unavoidable truth of the matter is that the writers overpowered the blacks too much at this stage and this decision ended up massively affecting the plot. As it stands, the dragon parity at the end of the season became 2:7 - Vhagar & Tessarion vs Syrax, Caraxes, Arrax, Moondancer, Seasmoke, Vermithor & Silverwing. Out of these, Syrax was never truly considered a potential threat in battle. She is notoriously useless, does not hunt and does not fly in bad weather. Baela also rode Moondancer a grand total of one time at the end of the conflict and was never counted as a force during the war. They made Rhaenyra and Baela active dragonriders, but they refuse to do the same for Helaena to balance the forces a little bit more (Dreamfyre is a very large dragon, probably on par with Silverwing and a little smaller than Vermithor).

The book parity at this point was still unbalanced, but at the very least GRRM realised that and tried to mitigate it by moving the Battle of the Gullet close to the Sowing and making Ulf and Hugh betray Rhaenyra's side. Book!Alicent doesn't have to sue for peace because the greens get a fighting chance. I still think the Dance in the books suffers greatly from non-sensical military strategies and division of resources, but it surpasses the show with flying colours.

Let us return, however, to show!Alicent's POV. For a fictional universe famous for its amount of politicking, there is little to none in this adaptation. The writers are trying to sell us the idea that Alicent has to give up her disabled son for the good of the Realm or, like anon said, to "be free". Authorial intent is unclear on this point, but there is at least the germination of the idea that Alicent is "sacrificing" something - her family, her own ambitions etc - because she is desperate and there are no other options open to her. But is that true?

If the writers refuse to make Helaena a combatant because of reasons only they understand, even if they have no problem performing ~girlboss changes like that for TB (yes, I'm bitter about it), they could have at least given the greens the upper hand in politicking. But they don't because I'm not really sure they understand the universe they write for or posses that level of imagination. Why don't they have, say, spies in the Vale that report Aegon the Younger and his brother Viserys are on their way to Pentos as we speak? Alicent could have been shown to plot for them to be intercepted with the help of the Triarchy secured by Tyland.

Why doesn't she try to find out who these dragonseeds are. Can they be bribed? Do they have weaknesses? Ulf has a wife, no? Is there some way to use their friends and family against them and make them turn sides? Does Vaemond Velaryon not have any disgruntled relatives that have a bone to pick with Rhaenyra & Corlys and would be appalled by the decision to make Addam the heir to Driftmark? (in the books he did and they actually fought for the green side). Can they not try to assassinate one of Addam, Corlys, Seasmoke or Rhaenyra?

Alicent being involved in any of these plots would have been a more satisfying progression to her story that would have allowed her to remain relevant and maintain her screen time. Even her having a little more dignity and attempting genuine peace talks would have been more believable if she at least stuck to her guns when it comes to her family's lives, especially the son she herself placed on the throne and the one who turned out gentle and kind and has not wronged her in any way. But, of course, the show in that moment pretends yet again that Daeron doesn't exist and any other points of contention (like Gwayne and Jaehaerys) are swept under the rug because it would dismantle Rhaenyra's righteous stance. So Aegon is presented as this sacrificial lamb that Alicent must relinquish as the only way forward.

Even though the show has not established any substantial reason for Alicent to object to any tangible decision Aegon has made as king, even though she is specifically shown to regret what happened to him, even though she made no efforts via political maneuvering to mitigate Rhaenyra's advantages and even though it would have been more merciful for her to give Aegon a painless death via milk of the poppy. Instead of being an ambitious and shrewd politician, she is given a nebulous motivation of "finding herself" and discovering feminism, which apparently means her disabled son must be subjected to even more humiliation and pain. It is a very unfortunate framing because the scene invites you to think that Alicent is finally seeing reason and is trying to atone for her mistake of not stanning for Rhaenyra. Yes, Aegon is also portrayed as downtrodden and not deserving of more violence, but Rhaenyra is also not portrayed as being "wrong" to demand for Aegon's head? She is shown in soft lighting, soft-spoken, with tears in her eyes, hurt, wronged and Alicent doesn't argue back. Their parting words are bittersweet and yearning.

How can you make Alicent a selfish character overnight when you have spent so much time painting her the exact opposite and you don't even give her plausible motivations or any breaking point? She doesn't even do anything to try and gain power back for herself, change the things she doesn't like or counteract Rhaenyra's moves before she goes to Dragonstone. Her one attempt is proposing herself for the regency and it's supposed to be this grand moment of her realizing misogyny is real, even though that has been the case her entire life and, as a stand-in for her husband and a Council member, she would have encountered it often as a daily routine when trying to get anything done.

Ergo, I do have to ask again: how does Alicent get from point A to point B exactly?

[jesncin]

Part of me thinks that under WarnerMedia while My Adventures with Superman got greenlit in 2021, some of these decisions could either feel self-insert like with Mindy Kaling’s Velma or a mandated checkbox fulfillment to suit corporate desires. It can explain why they wanted Lois Lane to be a more prominent character to fit current narratives and trends. I’m all in for well written characters, but it needs to be done in a way where it makes sense. Here’s too hope James Gunn handles her well with the same craft as with Richard Donner and Bruce Timm’s iterations.

so I heavily disagree with this and I'm spider-sensing some uncomfortable dogwhistles here. What do Kaling's Velma and MAWS even have in common? MAWS' marketing didn't push a titular celebrity to the extent Velma did. Any reason you've decided to compare two shows on the basis that both have prominent women of color in the lead? Velma's an adult comedy mystery while MAWS is an action adventure with a heavy focus on romance (it may be on Adult Swim, but it was never intended for an adult audience. That was corporate shenanigans). Saying they're catching some sort of trend to follow Velma is pretty ignorant of how difficult it is to pitch an action animated kids show with a woman in the lead. Entirely different markets and genres. And from what I've heard, the MAWS crew mention they had surprisingly little executive restraints which allowed them to go out of the box with their takes.

Also Lois being prominent or the lead of a Superman adaptation is not new or a trend. "Lois & Clark", "Superman & Lois", even one off animated movies like Reign of Supermen had Lois as the POV lead or heavily involved. She has led many comics on her own. I don't love this insinuation that her being racebent is a "trend"- especially when the MAWS crew mention American Alien as their source of reference for their version of Lois and Jimmy.

"I'm all for well written characters, but it needs to be done in a way where it makes sense". I don't know what you mean by this. 1. there are no well written characters in the entirety of MAWS, and 2. What needs justifying to you? Aren't well written characters self justified by being well written? Is there something about a WOC in the lead that is threatening your suspension of disbelief? Because boy have I heard that tons of times before.

I get that film and tv adaptation heavily influences popular perception of a character, but why do we place our hopes on these white guys to do justice on a character like Lois of all people. This dismisses the many women and other talented creatives who got to work on Lois in the comics. Like why zero in on MAWS Lois being a "self insert"? I don't like to auteur-ify a collaborative medium like an animated series, but MAWS was pitched by Jake Wyatt. He's the showrunner. Lois is Asian in his pitch packet. How is that a self insert? If anything, I wish an Asian creative put more of their life experiences onto Lois because then she wouldn't feel like someone so interchangeable with a white woman. And misogynisticly written.

Just kind of weird to ask this to us, the chindo authors who made a fancomic about Lois being chindo, informed by our lived experiences as chindos. That's arguably as self insert as it gets. While I'm interested in James Gunn's take on the Superman mythos, I'm not getting my hopes up on a pre-dominantly white cast and no current narrative emphasis on committing to Superman as an immigrant. Also I didn't suffer through Guardians 2's take on Mantis just to hold this white guy up as the pinnacle on writing women.

[ckret2]

Hello. 

I read chapter 49, and I really liked the way you portrayed what it’s like to have a paranormal experience. One could either brush it off and go on with their lives, or spend a long time obsessing over it and potentially have their worldview turned upside down. As someone who has had several experiences, the line "Once your eyes have been too dazzled by the sunlight to see the dim shadows, you'll never be awed by a candle again." is going to stick with me for a while.

I was wondering if you’ve had any paranormal experiences yourself. If you would be comfortable sharing them, of course. I write original fiction, and I’ve used my own experiences as inspiration. 

Sorry if this has already been mentioned somewhere on your blog. I still haven’t read the entire fic yet.

Have a nice day.

Nope! I just read a whole lotta paranormal horror and cosmic horror, have taken a lot of philosophy, and listen to a podcast that does nothing but play/read people's firsthand accounts of paranormal experiences they say they've had so at this point I've heard hundreds if not thousands.

There's a commonality in the alienation that comes from experiencing something that not only nobody around you has experienced, but also nobody around you believes. I wasn't specifically thinking about irl paranormal experiences—I was thinking about Plato's Cave, the Square trying to explain the third dimension to Flatlanders, and how to convey the maddening dread of a Lovecraftian protagonist while undermining Lovecraft's insecure white man "it goes against the natural order when the universe doesn't revolve around me" theme—buuut no doubt some of those ghost stories subconsciously crept in somewhere.

[velvetvexations]

An issue in transmasc communities is that trans ppl who opt for SRS in the direction of meta/more commonly phallo often say they are leaving the trans community afterwards and that it has no bearing on their life anymore. I can't comment on how true this is, especially since I usually see this from white trans men that pass well (but not always), but there is indeed a sense of alienation that trans men who get SRS feel from the rest of the community. Phallo is still insanely demonized and touted around to be so "dangerous" or "ugly" or "mutiliation", and people who claim to be simply sharing risks are instead spreading transphobic misinformation to the point it gets hard to distinguish who's right. I fell into the trap of fearing SRS until I read some actual real accounts of people getting phallo and now I want that more than anything - which sucks when I still see people saying that it's akin to mutilating yourself and "you'll never be a cis man" coming from other trans men (when that's not even the point but yknow). Anyway this isn't really related to anything being talked about I just was reminded of it with discussion on SRS at the moment

A very important addition, thank you! I've heard some even prior to really throwing myself into transmasc-related discourse as I have about how phallo is often viewed. It's very unfortunate that so many transmascs who receive it feel they no longer have any reason to stay in a community that treats them so poorly, since I can't imagine that SRS really does make being trans no longer have any bearing on their life.

[adventuretolkienlover]

My Atlantis The Lost Empire Review!🗺️🪖💎🏺💣🛞🧭⚓🛟

I finally got the courage to do it! Yay!

First I'd just like to start out by saying AOAHSJDJDHFBJFJFJFJFIGJGJDKSOXJVJFJDJUVJFUFJFUGUGHFHFUDIDJDJFHFHFUFHFJ!!!!!!!!!

🤩🤩🤩

Okay, stimming done! I should note, I don't hold back in my reviews. I see something wrong? I can and WILL say it! Luckily, there's like, nothing wrong with this movie, so you won't hear much of that from me! Lol!🤣 This is first time doing this kinda thing. So I apologize for any errors or incorrect formatting.

Now, without further adu, the review! (Hey that rhymes!) Below the cut cus it's LOOOOOOOOOONG!!!! It's literally the longest post I've made. And there's SPOILERS! So beware!

Okay, I'm not even sure where to start cus this is one INSANE ride of a movie! I mean HOLY COW!!! IF ALL OF DISNEY'S MOVIES WERE THIS GOOD, I'D WATCH

EVERY

SINGLE

ONE.

I'm not even kidding. I don't know what I'm doing, so let's just start with the World building.

WORLD BUILDING

This movie ROCKS in the world building department. Everything is well rounded out and looks stunning. One of the things that I found most exciting was the fact that they made a WHOLE FRICKEN USEABLE LANGUAGE FOR THIS MOVIE!!!!!! They actually brought in a linguist to make it!!!! That's how committed they were!!! Do you hear about Disney doing this nowadays? NOOOOOOOOOOO!

Also, THE STEAMPUNK AESTHETIC.

LOOK AT THIS SUB!!!! LOOK AT IT!!!!!

It's so detailed and cool looking!!!! If I saw this in love action, I think I'd freak! How can steam powered vessel go below the crush depth?

I DON'T CARE!!! IT'S AWESOME!!! (I especially like that bubble in the front. How fun! I'd definitely be looking out of that thing all the time!) I heard people say that watched the scene with the Leviathan attacking the sub thought it looked so real, that some people who worked on army subs got FLASHBACKS!!! I'm not even kidding! Everything during those scenes felt so real and immersive! You can tell Disney did their home work!

Okay now Atlantis itself!

It feels like it's own culture. It's feels real. It doesn't feel or look like a lazy combination of two cultures. It's distinct and interesting looking. And the people are very unique in appearance too. With their blue eyes, white hair, and coppery brown skin. It's a beautiful combination. And their clothes are nice as well. Lots of bright colors. Mostly blues, purples, magentas, etc. Very beautiful.❤️

OH! OH! AND THEIR TECHNOLOGY!!!! Oh my gosh!!! That leviathan and those fish shaped flying machines?!! HECKIN RAD!!!! How are they made?!?? What are they made out of?!??? So many QUESTIONS!!!!!!

I especially love the use of crystals in the Atlantian technology. I actually studied stuff like that and from what I've found in my research, it was actually entirely possible that ancient civilizations, like Atlantis used Crystals in somes ways of energy. Which is amazing! I don't know if that's where they got inspiration. But I found it intriguing none the less!

And the Creatures were also cool! They felt almost alien or prehistoric in appearance! It was really cool. Some of the creatures looked like they came straight from Pandora from the movie Avatar! I'm a sucker for fantasy creatures and speculative biology. So I'd love to see If I could figure out everything about the ecosystem of Atlantis! To bad they didn't go into more detail about it, but the movie wasn't about the critters. Still, hats of to the crew for giving them such interesting designs!

Okay, Onto more stuff!

THE CHARACTERS

Milo. He's adorkable.

That's it. He's perfect. I love him.

Okay, lol. Actually I have a lot to say. They gave him SOOOOOOOOO much personality! He's dynamic and easy to read! He's allowed to push his expressions and be exaggerated! He's just so fun to watch! Big thumbs up to his animator(s). And look at those glasses! And that hair! Such a good character design! He's just so fun and loveable looking!❤️

And he's allowed to show a full range of emotions! I know this one sounds weird. But it drive me crazy when a character is only allowed to show one emotion and by completely defined by it. Like being sickingly happy go lucky, or dark and moody. It's like, that's all you're going to do with them? But Milo, goes through the full range of emotions in the movie. He's got excitement from going into the unknown. Sadness and grief from the loss of his grandpa and parents. Anger at Commander Rourke's betrayal and utter disregard for the Atlantian people's lives. He experiences everything and it all feels so relatable. He's just the best. I also love how enthusiastic and kind hearted he is. He has the heart of a hero despite his first impressions. And his cute crush on Kida is the best. He's such a goober. He needs to be considered a Disney Prince. He deserves it more than most.

✨KIDA.✨ Just KIDA.🤩

Kida is GORGEOUS. 🤩🤩🤩🤩❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ LOOK AT HER DESIGN! IT ROCKS!!!! WHY THE HECK IS SHE NOT AN OFFICIAL DISNEY PRINCESS!?!??!? SHAME ON YOU DISNEY!!!! She has ALL the qualifications!!!!

She's strong! Mentally, emotionally, AND fricken physically!!! She cares deeply about her people and her culture!!!! She is ROYALTY. She is a WARRIOR!!! She is a QUEEN!!! If any of the "forgotten Disney Princesses" deserved the title of official princess, it HER! FORGET RAYA!!! You're telling me that the Disney heroin that taught people to trust their abusers, EVEN AFTER THEY'VE HURT THEM MULTIPLE TIMES and then GUILT TRIPS THEM, deserved the title of Disney Princess more than THIS WOMAN?!??! BULL! ABSOLUTE BULL! (Sorry for the rant. I have to refrain myself for going on a lecture about how Raya never deserved that title. She is my least favorite Disney princess. 😖👎 KIDA ALL THE WAY!!!!😄👍💕)

Oh, and her and Milo are the cutest couple. I heard people were upset because they didn't get a big kiss at the end. NO! They didn't kiss at the end of the movie! They didn't need to! They just FLIPPEN met!!! I wouldn't either! We're they still an adorable couple? HECK YES!!! They cared about each other and learned from each other and UGH! They so CUTE!!!!! And Milo gets to be King Consort of the Kingdom he spent his entire life searching for alongside his Queen who is also the woman he loves! How great an ending is that?! He knows they were both great rulers. You know it.

Commander Rourke. I hate this man.

I can't even find any good gifs of him. THAT'S HOW MUCH PEOPLE DESPISE HIM! Rourke is the DEVIL! Hidden under the guise of a good old American Army Commander! Which is why he is one of the BEST if not THE BEST Disney villains! He was about to let an entire lost civilization of people die, just because he wanted their LIFE FORCE!!! He definitely deserved to be transformed into a crystal creature then shattered. What a complete MONSTER!!!

I have to admit, I was actually already spoiled by the twist ending. I already knew about it from multiple sources. But somehow, that didn't matter! I watched it and I still felt connected to Rourke, even though I knew what was coming! It was so good! Rourke was written as the stereotypical brave army commander. Down to the last detail. Making a memorial for the lost crew mates. Being friendly with the main cast. Acting like a true gentleman. This is why he makes such a good villain. Nobody expects someone like him to be in league with the NAZIS of all things! Ultimately, he was an absolutely cruel and insane man, that nobody saw coming. It is probably the BEST twist villain I have EVER seen. Incredible writing. Wow.

Now, I'm not sure If I want to go through every single character. But I loved the all and definitely have thoughts on them, so I'm gonna speed run this.

Lieutenant Helga Katrina Sinclair. MA'AM??? Just what do you think you're doing in a kids movie?!!??

🤣 Okay, in all seriousness. She was actually a cool character. She was tough as nails, beautiful, confident. To bad she was that jerk Rourke's head lackey. I mean, she sort redeemed herself toward the end. But it was mostly because she was mad at Rourke for betraying her. Not because she cared about the Atlantis or Kida. Soooooooo... I don't know.🤔

Audrey Rocio Ramirez. LOVE HER!!!!

Her backstory his incredible. Her dad wanted sons. He got two daughters. Audrey and her sister. But you know what? That didn't stop them! He wanted someone to run the garage with him? HE GOT IT! And she's good too! I also love the little detail in her backstory that says her sister is a literal heavy weight boxing champion. You go girl! Show'm what's up! I wish they had given her a name. (I'm gonna give her the name Rosa. That feels right.)

Wilhelmina Bertha Packard. Honestly the most relatable character in the movie.😂 This one gif pretty much sums it up for me.

Somehow, I feel like me and old Mrs. Packard would get along just fine.🤣

Vincenzo "Vinny" Santorini. I'm not sure whether he's crazy or just like explosives a whole lot. Lol.

I actually thought he was Russian the first time I saw him. It wasn't until I found out he was Italian that I realized I made a horrible mistake in identifying his accent. 😂 His almost always neutral expression is helirious. I guess once you've blow up a lot of stuff, nothing phases you. Haha!

Dr. Joshua Strongbear Sweet. *Squeees*

As someone who has Native American ancestry, (my grandfather is Apache,) I was SO excited to see a someone who is half Native American in this film! I mean, half Black and half Native American?! That's INCREDIBLE! I can safely say I've never seen that type of representation in a film before. And he's also one of my favorite characters.

Gaetan "Mole" Molière. This dude is WEIRD... And of course I love him. Haha!

"You have disturbed the dirt." - Mole

I was laughing so hard when I first saw this guy come on screen. He's so dramatic! But he's french, so I guess that fits.

Jebidiah Allardyce "Cookie" Farnsworth. He said this.👇

That's one of the best lines in the film. ☝️😂 But seriously, what can I say? Crazy southern chuckwagon cook with as many unhinged stories as he has pounds of bacon grease. How could I not love him? 😂❤️ One thing I wondered was if this was such a high budget expedition, why couldn't they get like a five star chef instead? NOT THAT I'D WANT THAT BESIDES COOKIE!!! I'd be so mad if they replaced him. I was just curious. But I'm not gonna question it. He's the best and I love him. No five star chef could ever top Cookie.

Kashekim Nedakh i.e The King of Atlantis! WOW.

LEONARD NIMOY?!!?!?? That was pretty much my reaction when I found out who played Kida's father. Who would have guessed that Spock would end up playing a king from a lost empire?! The crew that worked on this movie said that while he was in the recording both, they were stunned. He put his whole heart into the role. They felt like the king was standing there in the room with them! And I FELT that. He sounded just so real! It actually sounded like I was listening to a real ancient king speaking. He was amazing for the role. I'm floored.

THE STORY

The story was amazing. I got a lot of Jules Vern Journey to The Center of The Earth vibes. It was clearly inspired by it.

Milo felt very much like the Axel of the story. Despite being much braver then him. The whole thing felt so cinematic and thrilling! Me and my family were either screaming with excitement or laughing super hard the whole way though.

As the for the moral? Well, it's actually kinda hard to pinpoint exactly. But I think that because unlike other movies, it lets the story show the moral instead of the characters telling us directly.

I would say it shows what happens when people value money and power over human life. Which is important in the time we live in. And that people's culture should be respected.

In all. A very good movie and I highly recommend it. It's a fun, bold, thrilling adventure that you will love.

✨Thanks for reading my review! Bye!✨

[desertfangs]

Make the Season Bright Or, A Very Chase Years Christmas [AO3]

Armand/Daniel - Explicit - 6,173 words

After four years of being chased around by Armand, things have changed… somewhat. On this last Christmas before they officially get together, Daniel finds himself in a shopping mall on Christmas Eve with his vampire stalker.

It's a holiday fic! I got to use the tag "Christmas Smut" so if nothing else, this was worth it. As you may know, I've been mildly obsessed with the Chase Years recently, so it was only fitting to write a holiday story about that time. I had a blast writing this and I hope you enjoy reading it!

Short Excerpt:

Daniel scanned the mall, looking up to the second and third floors. He thought the food court was on top, but there were restaurants on the main floor and those served alcohol. Probably a better bet. He was about to go find the directory when a flash of auburn and white caught his eye from up above. His pulse jumped. He dropped his gaze to the floor.

Maybe if he pretended he wasn’t there…

But part of him buzzed with elation and relief. Sometimes when he didn’t see the vampire for huge swaths of time, he began to doubt his sanity. Or worse, to worry that Armand had grown bored and left him for good. 

He glanced back up and saw those piercing eyes staring right at him. He sighed and headed for the escalator. 

Armand was leaning against the railing on the second story. He wore a soft looking brown coat—designed for warmth but not the elements—and jeans. His sneakers were scuffed. Daniel wondered what poor bastard had died to provide him with the outfit. Armand’s russet hair curled around his face, and his pale cheeks were tinged pink, as if he’d been outside too long in the cold, but Daniel knew it was from the blood he’d drunk. He swallowed, his own face flushing at the thought. 

“What’s the purpose of bringing the snow inside?” Armand asked, gesturing at the giant glittery snowflakes dangling from the ceiling high above on long wires. “Isn’t the point of these holiday decorations for the light to diffuse the cold and darkness?” 

Daniel had never heard anyone put it like that and for a moment, he didn’t know what to say. “They’re decorations. They’re just supposed to be pretty.” He looked up at them. From here, it was much easier to see the glittery designs. “Not everything has a purpose.” 

Armand rolled his eyes, a gesture that was so human—so youthful—it took Daniel back. He let go of the railing. “It does when it’s deliberately displayed.” 

“Well, the purpose here is to make the mall inviting and nice looking so people stay and buy more shit,” Daniel said. 

Armand stared at him for a long moment with those big, amber eyes. Daniel could feel the heat of his gaze cutting into him. “Is that why you’re here? What ‘shit’ are you buying?” 

Daniel laughed. He always found it a little funny when Armand swore or used modern slang. It always sounded slightly off, like an alien trying to imitate human culture. “I’m here because some psychotic vampire is chasing me around and this is where I landed. Like a moth, I headed to the brightest building.” 

Armand frowned deeply, though whether he was actually offended or just considering Daniel’s words, he could never really tell. Armand was an enigma. He stood silent and unreadable as a statue. Finally, he said, “I’m not psychotic.” 

Daniel laughed again. That wasn’t a debate he was prepared to have. “I’m teasing. It’s kind of funny, you know? You following me around like you do, and here we are on Christmas Eve in a gaudy, brightly lit shopping mall. Not exactly where I thought my pursuit of vampires would take me.” 

Read the Rest on AO3

[glittter-vamp]

CHAPTER 9

Joe Burrow x Bisexual OC.

Warnings: 18+MDNI. Mention Of Death & Grief. Emotional Intimacy pretty much at 100 and smut-ish themes. Homophobia. Angsty yet Fluffy. Pretty heavy chapter overall.

Word Count: 3.4k

"Thank you for shopping with us, have a great day!" Val smiles at a customer that was in the store while handing them their shopping bag. It was Sunday which she usually didn't come in for but Elsa had went a little too hard at the Pride parade the day prior and Dani was off. So, it was just her and Kade in the store today making things happen. 

"Almost time to close, what a weekend!" Kade sighs moving a box of hangers. 

"It was pretty crazy, I guess since we closed yesterday for the parade people came today instead." Val says organizing a rack of shirts.

"I'm so glad I'm off for the next two days, I'm drinking a whole bottle of wine by myself tonight to destress." Kade lets out a breath. 

"You and me both." Val smiles. Them two make it through the last work hour with only one other customer coming in. Cleaning up quickly, they make it out of the store by 4:50 and in their cars to go home. Since it was Sunday evening the traffic wasn't so bad but living in a city meant it was still there regardless. As Val drove home she got a call from Joe. She had talked to him here and there, all through text after that argument they had. 

"Hello?" Val answers on the car Bluetooth. 

"Hey...are you out of work?" Joe asks. 

"I am. Why?" Val asks wondering why. 

"Would you mind stopping by the house today? Something came for you at the house." Joe says sounding just as confused as she was hearing that. 

"Uh, what do you mean something came for me...to your house? I've never your given address for anything to anyone." Val questions. 

"I'm just confused as you about it are but it's addressed to you, it's a letter." He says. 

"Does it seems like junk mail or something? That's so weird..." She asks as she drives. 

"No, it's hand written from within the state. Say's its from someone named Sabrina Farley." Joe responds back, Val's heart dropping hearing that. 

"Are you sure!?" Val asks trying to remain her cool. 

"That's what it says, I can drop it off during the week if you're busy--

"No, I'll come get it now. I'm in the car driving anyway." Val says. 

"Alright, you can let your self in. I have to rest up my leg. My knee has been feeling weird." Joe says. 

"Do you need anything?" Val asks. 

"Nah I'm good, but thanks. I appreciate that." Joe yawns. They hang up soon after and Val makes her way to Joe's.

***************************************

Pulling up to his house she parks in the driveway and lets her self in like he told her too. She could hear the tv, Joe was of course was watching some alien documentary like usual. Walking to the living room she see's Joe laying on his couch icing his knee. 

"So, what'd you do to your knee?" Val speaks up startling Joe and making her laugh. 

"I didn't hear you come in... but I think I went to hard in the gym yesterday." He shrugs looking at his leg,

"Better chill before everyone gets on your ass or you injure yourself again." Val shakes her head. 

"I know..." Joe sighs. 

"So about the letter?" Val asks awkwardly. 

"Oh yeah, here!" Joe reaches over and grabs the letter that was sitting beside the remote. 

"Here you go, I didn't open it or anything." He says handing her the white envelope. Val reads the name and she starts to feel uneasy about it. 

"I really have no idea how this person got your address. I'm real sorry this came here, that's super invasive." Val bites her lip looking at Joe. 

"It's alright. Do you know who that person is though?" Joe asks and she nods yes. 

"My older sister. Since I cut off contact from the family , they haven't had my number or address except for the twins who I actually haven't heard from in months." Val shakes her head. 

"Do you think it's something serious?" Joe asks sitting up, intrigued by what that letter held. 

"Must be if they sent it to your house and not mine, my store or any of my other friends houses." Val says ripping the letter open. 

Val starts reading the letter which was starting off first by apologizing being sent to Joe's house but that they couldn't find her address anywhere online and was scared that if it got sent to the store it would end up in someone else's business mailbox instead. Which Val found very weird but she continued reading. As she read the next line her heart sunk and felt her eyes water. 

"I hate to inform you that dad has been involved in a car accident two weeks prior from when I'm writing this. He doesn't seem to be progressing at all, therefore mom is going to make the hard decision to take him off life support tomorrow. Though, we felt the need to tell you, we ask that you do not come to the funereal nor contact any of us. We've seen you in the tabloids and still don't approve of your life choices and out of respect to god, the church, the family and most importantly dad it's best if you don't come. We don't need any shameful people around us during this hard time or someone to take the attention away from dad." 

"Val...Hey, Hey...what's going on? Breathe." Joe says to her as he runs up to her and catches her as she falls to her knees at the news she just read. Val lets out a sob as Joe tries to console her and get her seated on the couch. Not being able to barely breathe let alone talk, she hands the letter to Joe and he reads it keeping one hand on Val and rubbing her back as she cries. 

"I'm so sorry Val. This is isn't the way they should've told you." Joe says hugging her tight and kiss her head as she cries. 

"I probably already missed his funeral since this was sent a week ago. Why would they do that?" She sniffles shaking her head. 

"If you did, that's entirely their fault. They know what they were doing sending this letter, they could of called, sent this to your actual house or business or even gone to your store in person...instead they sent it to my house not even knowing if it would get to you two weeks after your fathers accident in which they didn't contact you. This was malicious on their part, you did nothing wrong." Joe says feeling nothing but anger over this situation for Val. He couldn't believe they would treat her this way but it became clear why Val separated herself from them.

"I-I should go home. I'm sorry for breaking down like this here. I should of opened that letter at home or something." Val says quickly getting up and wiping her tears, desperately trying to get herself together. 

"What?! No--Val, you're not driving while you're emotions are hitting you like this. You're still processing this." Joe says shaking his head and Val sighs. 

"I just know things aren't okay between us and going through this here--

"That's not important right now, what's important is that you stay here and not get behind the wheel while you're crying. I'm going to get you water, please just stay here and take a breath." Joe says sitting her down again and she just nods beginning to cry again. Val didn't couldn't believe that letter. Still processing everything from her fathers accident to him being taken off life support to her family asking her not to come to the funeral because of who she was was just something she couldn't believe but hurt like hell. It proved that she was yet not healed from her past with her family.

"Here." Joe says coming back with a water bottle. Val takes it and takes a few sips. 

"Is there anything I can do?" Joe asks sitting next to her. 

"Get me a time machine so I could tell my parents not to have me and spare everyone the disappointment that I am." Val sighs wiping her tears. 

"Don't say that. Just because they have a problem with who you are doesn't mean you don't have people around you that love and support you. Plus, you've basically built your own family, you have the girls, Mateo, Kade and Elsa...Me and my family." Joe says hesitating on that last part. 

"I don't even know how your family views me right now so I wouldn't count them in there." Val shakes her head. 

" They haven't said anything to me about it so...well my mom obviously asked about what was going on cause she knows we're together but she didn't comment on anything else. My dad is never one to get into my personal relationships so..." Joe shakes his head. 

"Still doesn't mean anything." Val mutters. 

"Why don't I draw you a nice bath? I'll go pick up some food in the meantime while you soak." Joe says patting her knee. 

"You don't have to do that." Val shakes her head. 

"You need it, c'mon." Joe slowly pulls Val off the couch and they make their way upstairs letting the letter on the couch. 

"You still have clothes in your drawer, I haven't touched them." Joe says softly as they enter his room. 

"Thanks." Val sniffles heading over to where she always kept her clothes.

Joe headed to the bathroom and filled up the tub for her while she chose some clothes. Her mind was having a million different thoughts about what's happened. Though she was heartbroken over the news of her dad she was also incredibly angry at how it was handled. She couldn't stand the way her family has treated her since she came out in college. Val makes her way to the bathroom where Joe was making sure the water was a perfect temperature and the tub was getting filled up. 

"You can get in while it fills it takes a bit, did you need anything else? I haven't restocked on your wine but I can get you something else..." Joe asks as Val set her clothes down on the counter. 

"I think this moment calls for one of your vodka tonics." Val smiles. 

"Woah...I haven't heard those words since you opened up Pixies." Joe says making her chuckle. 

"I know it's a dangerous thing to say but I really need it." Val sighs. 

"You're wish is my command." Joe smiles leaving the bathroom. Val undresses and realizes she still has the markings from Summer on her body. Shaking her head and setting that aside she steps into the warm bath that smelled like lavender. Val feels herself relax into the semi filled tub and soon enough Joe comes back with her drink. 

"Here." Joe smiles handing her the drink. 

"Thanks." She smiles back taking a sip of the ridiculously strong drink. 

"Jeez, did you put any club soda in that?" Val shudders as the liquor runs through her body and sort of gives her a shock. 

"You knew what you were asking for. I put a lot of ice so just let it water down a bit." Joe says squatting down to her level and turning the water off for her. There wasn't many bubbles in the tub so Val saw Joe's eyes lingering on her body thought the soapy water. 

"What did you want to eat?" Joe asks clearing his throat. 

"It's Sunday evening so everything closes pretty early...whatever is open is fine. No healthy stuff though, I need good savory comfort food."  

"I'll be back, call me if anything. Make yourself at home." Joe says giving Val a gentle kiss on the head before leaving. It felt nice for Val to have Joe there for her. This was one of the things she couldn't complain about when it came to him. He was always there for Val when she needed him the most with no questions asked. Relaxing in the hot bath and downing the drink she eventually gets out and takes a quick shower being one of those people that can't just take a bath first. 

After her shower, drying off and draining the tub, she gets dressed and heads downstairs taking the glass that was now empty. As she washed her cup, Joe comes in with the bags of food.

 "So I got us sushi, and I stopped to get us ice cream. Hope that's okay!" Joe says smiling at Val. 

"That sounds really great. Thank you." Val smiles back. 

"We can put on a movie or whatever you want." Joe says setting the bags down to put the ice cream in the freezer.

"Sure." Val nods. She grabs water for them both from the fridge and make their way to the living room. 

"So, what do you want to watch?" Joe asks after they settle on the couch with the food. 

"Um, something funny I guess." she shrugs taking a bite of the spicy shrimp tempura roll. Joe turns on Superbad.

"I saw that you went the pride parade, how was that?" Joe asks failing miserably to use his chopsticks like usual making val laugh. 

"It was fun. Everyone had a goodtime." Val nods. 

"I saw that Summer went...you guys were posting on instagram" Joe says. Val knew she was going hear something about about her come from Joe eventually. 

"She was." Val says nods eyeing Joe. The last thing she wanted right now was to get in an argument with Joe about Summer again after what she just learned. Her emotions were way to high right now for that and she knew it.

"Is she...at least making you happy?" He asks softly and Val sighs. 

"Joe, I really don't need this right now." Val rolls her eyes.

"I'm not mad or trying to start anything. I just want to know she's at least treating you right given your history with her and having your own complaints with me" Joe says, he seemed genuine. 

"We only messed around once after that fight we had, we're not dating though and she's been fine to me. No drama. There, happy?" Val answers truthfully. 

"Very." Joe smirks which annoyed Val. 

"How about you? Any girls you've brought back here and shown them what a night with America's QB heartthrob is like?" Val asks trying to annoy him.

"Nope. Those nights are reserved for you." Joe smirks. 

"and Sofia the baddie ig model." Val nods popping another piece of sushi into her mouth pretending she didn't see Joe's annoyed face when she said that. 

"Okay...maybe I see how asking about Summer and throwing her in your face could be annoying." Joe says making Val snort. 

"But, since we're on the topic of girls and I still have my list of questions of you..." Joe trails off, Val sighing preparing for what's about to come out of his mouth next.

"Is it true that you guys can last for hours during sex? How is that even possible? How come you don't last with me that long?" Joe asks making Val almost choke on her food. 

"We technically can...but it's courtesy of the strap and we take breaks and then go back and forth through the night until we can't anymore and...I have no problem lasting that long but you on the other hand..." Val sips her drink and Joe looks in complete shock. 

"If that's the case...why the hell are you dating men? Let alone me." Joe mutters that last part. 

"Because that's how bisexuality works, I like all genders...and what do you mean let alone you? You're the only guy I've been with that actually gives a fuck about getting me off every time we have sex." Val snorts. 

"Do you have one?" Joe asks as he eats. 

"A what?" She asks confused. 

"A...strap or whatever it is you guys call it." Joe clears his throat which made Val laugh at his awkwardness. 

"I think... I have my harness somewhere at my condo, as for the toy itself...I have to get a new one." Val nods. 

"I saw that they had strapless ones." Joe nods and Val does a double take towards him hearing that. 

"Have you...been researching lesbian stuff!?" Val says rather loudly and clearly embarrassing Joe seeing his face turn a light shade of pink. 

"And by researching I know it's just porn." Val teases him. 

"No. I've actually been on educational websites for your information. I was wondering about the stereotypes. " Joe defends himself. Val thought it was actually very cute that Joe was educating himself about stuff. Most men would just ask when the threesome was happening and call it day.  

"Can I ask if you have a preference? Like do you prefer having sex with women or more with men?" Joe asks. 

"Overall, I say that I wouldn't. But there's certain things that I appreciate about both that's different." Val admits. 

"Like what?" 

"Well with girls I like the softness of it, the foreplay is usually on another level and the after care is really nice too. Plus there's a different sense of comfortability with women knowing they have the same parts as I do and know how are bodies are naturally. Also it's a plus that they're more on top of stuff like their status and there's no risk of pregnancy. " Val says and Joe nods. 

"And with men?" Joe asks seeming to be nervous to ask about it. 

"Well, my prior experiences with men were all college guys so I'm not gonna go there but with you specifically... I like how strong you are with me and assertive you are. Also getting to actually...feel you inside me is something I can only experience with women to a certain extent. Plus moans from any gender are hot but the list goes on for both, I just like what I like. There's really no competition here, we at least between you and any other woman because I've heard of plenty hook up stories from Gen with guys"  Val shrugs making Joe chuckle.

"Thank you for talking to me about this stuff...I know it's weird of me to ask this stuff." Joe says sheepishly. 

"Like I said before, if it's in good faith and you're being genuine...I don't have anything to hide. I appreciate you being respectful about it and not with stereotypical things like other guys would probably do." Val smiles.

 They both finish their meal and start paying attention to the movie that was already a good chunk through it. They eat their ice creams after finishing the dinner, Val still thinking of her dad and family, still figuring out how to navigate this situation from here. 

"You can take my room... I'll sleep in the guest room. Give you some space." Joe says as they clean up the mess of food in the living room and take it to the trash in the kitchen. 

"Oh you don't have to." Val shakes her head. 

"It's not up for discussion, I'll finish up here. You should go get some rest." Joe smiles and Val just nods. Even though it wasn't even 9PM yet, she did feel exhausted after the news she had received today. 

"Thanks, I'll uh see you in the morning...goodnight." Val says giving Joe a small smile which eh returns. 

"Goodnight." 

Val head upstairs grabbing her phone and goes into Joe's room. She uses the bathroom quickly and gets into the comfortable bed when there was a small knock on the door as it opened. 

"Thought you'd like some water." Joe says bringing her a water bottle and setting it on the nightstand. Val thanks him and he goes to leave when she grabs his hand and stops him in his tracks. 

"Stay...please." She says softly and Joe gives her a look of sadness and pity before he gently nods. 

"Let me just turn off the hall light." He says squeezing her hand. Val nods letting go of him. Coming back into the room, Joe this time around doesn't say anything about Val being on his side of the bed and just turns off the light and gets in bed next to her. Val cuddles up to him inhaling his familiar comforting scent that she loved so much and Joe places a few kisses on her head as he slowly and gently rubs her back as she lets sleep take over, feeling fully comforted and cared for by the person who has her heart.

A/N: That was heavy chapter! But BF Joe showed up 👀

[blackkatmagic]

Hi, Kat! I saw your post earlier about the New Mandalorians, and wondered if you have the time or energy to expand on that at all? If not, or you don't feel like it, feel free to ignore this. I've been interested in writing a fic where Mandalorians play a major role, but have been avoiding it given how much contention there is around so much of it, and just how challenging it is to keep straight what's Disney canon, Legends, and fanon. I'm also mostly not a comics reader, so I know I'm missing a big chunk of info there. So any chance you could point me to where to look for some of this information? Like, Death Watch being deported to an "overcrowded and undersupplied" moon. Is that extrapolation from what we see of Concordia in TCW, or are there additional sources that get into more detail? I'm also curious where we see Death Watch/warrior Mandalorians being POC? Jango is, of course, but I've heard other people claim that, other than Jango and the KOTOR materials set several thousand years in the past, we don't really see onscreen Mando POC until Rebels, after TCW creators got backlash for making all the New Mandalorians and Death Watch white Vikings. Are there other sources that show the exiled warrior Mandos being POC? Any help you can give me figuring this out would be greatly appreciated! I know fanworks can go in whatever directions their creators want to, but I want to at least make sure I'm working from a clear understanding of what I'm starting from! Thanks you.

It's very definitely an extrapolation, but based on what we see pretty much solely in TCW, specifically "The Mandalore Plot" episodes.

First, if you look at shots of Sundari, the Mandalorian capital, everyone is white and blond and Human. Maybe it was the animators being lazy, maybe it was a conscious choice, but it's still jarring, especially in contrast to most background shots elsewhere in the galaxy. Take a screencap of anywhere else and it's pretty mixed as far as Humans and aliens go. Not in Sundari.

Second, re: Death Watch being deported. I'm not talking about Death Watch. I'm talking about the warriors, who Satine specifically says were "exiled" to Concordia. And she and Obi-Wan have a conversation about how, even though Concordia was once an agricultural settlement, it was strip-mined to the point that forests were just starting to grow back. Extrapolating, that means Concordia probably has to import everything. I can't remember if it's Satine specifically who says it, or one of the other NMs, but they also say they presume all the warriors have all died out. And like. yikes. There's a pretty big implication there.

As for the warrior Mandalorians being POC, at the very least there are more POC characters among them than among the NMs. Clan Wren, I'm thinking of, and then. Jango and his disavowal by the NMs is a whole other can of worms that has a lot of racist overtones, imo. This post has a good breakdown of the issues regarding the Fetts, if you'd like to read it. It dips into Legends, but it's mostly based on TCW and the movies in those sections, so. There are your sources.

Edit: To clarify on why I find the "we presume the warriors all died out" so yikes. It's been about 20 years since Satine took power at most. A lot of the people exiled were probably young, to say nothing of how long people live in the gffa. How exactly are that many people supposed to have died in 20 years max without some outside factor? Add that to the fact that Concordia is mostly barren and like. Hella yikes, imo.

[aristocraticelegance]

Reading for February 2024. This was a Tanith Lee heavy month, because as I try to make my way through my backlog of books purchased at secondhand book stores I have been forced to confront the fact that I own far more Tanith Lee than I've actually read. This is because I don't come across her books that often, so when I do I buy them all and hoard them.

The Secret Books of Paradys I & II, Tanith Lee, 1988. I started reading this several years ago, because the first half is 2 novellas, so I would read one and then go do other things, and then come back. The second part is a novel, but it is organized in such a way that it reads similarly to a collection of novellas, but more clearly interconnected. The thing about Tanith Lee's writing is that she presents you with any number of fantastic, horrible, or fantastically horrble things and doesn't blink once. In one story a character is buried alive and then comes back a different gender. Another one starts off with sexual assault AND THEN SOMEHOW GETS WORSE. There were regularly parts throughout this collection where I had no idea where it was going next, but it was great. If a collection of horror-fantasy stories set between ancient Roman and 1920's pseudo-Paris sound like a good time to you, it's worth reading.

Cordelia's Honor, Lois McMaster Bujold, 1986-1996. Technically this is two books, Shards of Honor and Barrayar, but I had already read the first one and while I thought it was fine, I wasn't really interested in reading more. However, I've heard enough good things about the rest of the series that I decided to read the second half, and I'm glad I did. Technically sci-fi, but set on a planet that's late 18-early 1900s coded, it's an interesting look at pregnancy and motherhood through that specific lens. There's not a lot of pregnancy in sci-fi; you'd kind of think there'd be more by now. Still not my favorite of McMaster Bujold's (the Chalion books are great), but I feel motivated to read more of this series now.

3. The White Serpent, Tanith Lee, 1988. I have no idea how she published all of this in one year. I assume it was not all written in one go. Anyways, in a bold move I chose to read the third book of a trilogy without having read the previous two books. This is because I found this one at Half Price books, saw it was by Tanith Lee, and thought the cover looked cool. This wasn't a huge issue, because this seems to be a series of stories set in different generations in the same world, so events from the previous books are mentioned as historical details. I really liked this one; Lee is great at telling big, sweeping stories in a relatively small space. I also like her approach to rendering deeply sexist societies, simultaneously blunt in the way the characters are confronted with the reality of their situation and nuanced in how they manage to navigate it. Also? She can describe a sunset like no one's business. This is what's wrong with fantasy today: no one describes the sunsets or the trees. I want to know about the trees!! (Also weather plays a weirdly important part in this book. Like a major plot point hinges on some really bad weather). I realize I've said nothing about the plot, and that's because it A. doesn't matter and B. is impossible to summarize. At the core of it is a guy who is a gladiator in a kind of fantasy Rome-type city, but a lot happens before and after that. There are also some white people (literally white) who might be aliens. I'll probably go back and read the first two books, since this one was pretty weird. Modern readers might take issue with the way race is handled (see above RE: bluntness and nuance) but I can't really say much on that front.

4. Black God's Kiss, C. L. Moore, 1930s. A collection of the Jirel of Joiry stort stories from the 30s, which I only learned existed about a month ago. There was a lady protagonist in sword and sorcery! Written by a woman! Amazing. I did generally like these; the titular story was great (except for the very end, which I did not like, but the sequel story kind of made it better). I've seen these stories described as female Conan meets Alice in Wonderland, but the wonderland bits reminded me more of Arthur Machen's work. Some great descriptions overall, even if some parts felt dated in an annoying way. Also, this particular cover is ridiculous, but she is described as running around in a chain mail shirt with her thighs out, for some reason. Presumably because sword & sorcery abhors a pair of pants.

Link to January's books

[lawain-dimensional-heroes]

Maroon's Maplestory Timeline drabble 1 - a new leaf

In every world there are tales, ones of myth, ones of legends, one of fantasy. Though very few stories are rooted by a person's own experience. Though there is one world where such stories are all stories starts off with a brave individual setting out to live the life of adventures.

One such stories began with a loud crash in the middle of the night at the nearest farm near a Town known as Henesys, leading to the people of the farm check where the sound came from. It turned out to be a crater, one where nothing was present at the center of it.

Rumors and speculations ran across the village of what it could have been. A strange meteor or a UFO crashing into the farm? As more and more people heard of the rumors, it has started to gain attention of brave adventurers across the village who decided to try and look for what might've been the cause of the crater. at some point there even came a note hanging on the city's nearest billboard about the rumor. Of course, the rumors either made the situation so crazy that it was either unbelievable, or it was not what it really was.

One person who's attention was caught was a blonde male, currently not known by the people of this world, a male who was took this rumor not as an opportunity to search like all others, but to look for clues about this world.

Meanwhile, at the farm where the crater originated was what seemed to be at first glance an ordinary explorer, a red headed adventuring female Wizard asking around the family who runs the farm, having even visited the crater itself.

But those who know her or knew who she works for knew she was an important figure in this world.

"So.." The father of this family of farmers spoke up after seeing the red hair coming back to them, "Oz-- that's your name, is it? Any information about this crater? That is if it's anything special as the rumours made it out to be."

The red-haired wizard named Oz had already written a few notes on her notebook before checking on the man.

"You could say that," Oz responded with a quick nod as she quickly pulled out her notebook.

"From what I can see I'm not sure if there is a UFO that crashed here or not. However, I've noticed footsteps that matches both the ones I saw from the crater and outside of it. While I doubt there's an UFO there, although I do have to ask: did anyone by chance drop into the crater before I arrived here?"

The farmer shook his head "N-no, if anything, I made sure no one came inside the crater. Why'd you ask that? You assume whatever was in the crater is..."

"The potential alien may still be alive," Oz responded with a nod. "As much as I like to say it's nothing too major, we don't know how dangerous they could be. Don't worry though, I'll inform the Cygnus Knights about what I've gathered. If needed, we'll ask everyone from the Maple Alliance to help find the potential alien. I'm sure we all want to know who and what happened to them and how we can bring them back home."

The conversation ended shortly after she decided it was a good time to head out.

Days passed as less explorers decided to continue persuing who/what came from the crater as the rumors on the billboard were replaced by an official note from the Empress Cygnus herself as well as from the Maple Alliance that they'll be looking into the issue, explaining what might've crash landed was likely an alien.

Most adventurers knew that if it's an issue that the Maple Alliance and the Cygnus Knights are involved it's likely not worth the hassle. All, but for one one white haired Pirate-- a Cannoneer by the name of Jack, who has a little monkey he called Kokonutt with a propeller hat that somehow allows the little monkey to fly.

He looked at the official note on the billboard not as a sign of danger or hastle, he saw potential for money and fame. And if nothing else? A fun time.

And thus, with a confident grin, he sets off to look throughout Victoria Island-- the same Island where Heneysis is on, starting with the outskirts of Henesys.

Jack was looking throughout the whole outskirts of henesys and ended up in the mushmom forest trail, still searching for the missing cause of the crater. He was searching over the hills all while taking on the orange mushrooms that are heading his way.

As time passes with him continuing looking for whatever left the crater, he sighed, annoyed that after such a while searching for it he didn't find a single clue.

"Argh, how far did that thing travel?" Jack spoke aloud, mostly to himself. Kokonutt was getting a it hungry from the search, albeit didn't do much searching to begin with.

"At this rate our treasure from the crater won't be worth the cost this treasure hunt is taking us!"

"Hold on-- That 'treasure from the crater' isn't just some object you can just sell to get some money!" A voice that's unfamiliar to Jack replied in the distance, which originated from Oz who overheard him while checking the same area he was in.

"Hmm?" Jack turned to look at her in confusion. To him, Oz was unknown to him, especially with the attire she was currently wearing that made her look more like an average mage. One of his eyebrows cocked up, wondering why a stranger is telling him that. "Come again? So you're on the look for whatever was there too?"

"No-- well, yes I am, but you're not going to find treasure--" Oz responded, letting out a sigh, giving herself a second to take a deep breath.

"Look, from what we've heard thus far is that what was in the crater was likely a living organism. I personally checked the crater myself and noticed those footprints. It's very likely what we're looking for is an alien. Y'know, Little Green Men from those sci-fi movies?"

Jack had a visible look of confusion on his face. Living organism? Aliens? LGMs? He took some time to process that, but even then his reaction was headscratching in confusion.

"..Are you pullin' my leg or something cause I saw that poster from the Maple Alliance about the crater and I don't think I saw anything regarding aliens or something."

Kokonutt couldn't help but chuckle at Jack's response, while Oz imagined the kind of person Jack is after hearing it.

"Well clearly you haven't read it properly, because it was stated in the official note stated clearly that it's very likely an alien."

"I--ehh--" He took a second to think, only to remember exactly reading that part, but glossing over that part in hopes for treasures still. "...Ohh, now that you've mentioned it, I guess you are right." A guy with a lot of common sense he is not, but he still couldn't believe the notice. There has to be more than just an alien, right?

"B-but is that really true? I know the Maple Alliance is big, but who's to say the information is 100% true? Do we know who exactly has given that information to the alliance?"

"Well. If you must know that, then you should know you're looking at--" Oz was about to finish her sentence, before the two could feel the ground shake, almost in a rhythm of a being moving, getting more intense with each shake. They might not agree on the alien part, but they both know all too well they're in the territory of one orange mushroom that topple over them size wise, one that was heading towards them: the Mushmom,

"...Let's run--" Jack said to Oz, not wanting to deal with Mushmom for today and while she could handle it if she wanted to, Oz nodded in agreement as she found it best to get Jack to safety. "Yes, let's make a run for it." They both decided to make a run for it, attacking any mushrooms that were in their way from the path they're running towards.

As they were both running, there was one person observing them from the distance after having seen the Mushmom walking. This person, a blonde male known to a couple of individuals across dimensions, observed the amount of mushrooms that were blocking their way.

“There seemed to be at least a hundred of these odd mushrooms heading their way-- and that giant one. Must it be the alpha of the herd?“

While Jack and Oz were able take down a good amount of mushrooms, it did give the Mushmom some time to catch up to the two.

“Crap—” Oz, with her ability to teleport could’ve gotten out of there with ease, but Jack, who isn’t a mage, wasn’t able to teleport-- not only that she’s not sure how strong Jack really is so to make sure he’s safe, she was going to have to stay and help him, even if it meant that they’re going to be in a potential life or death situation.

So there they were, trying to fend themselves off against those mushrooms while the Mushmom was heading towards them, inching closer and closer. It was at that moment where the blonde male from the distant wasn’t at the same spot a moment ago.

“Damn it, there’s just too many of these buggers out there--” Jack spoke up, having already launched a few cannon shots against the mushrooms. These shots hit a lot of them at once was slow to load, while Oz’s magic was quick and effective, but consumes a good amount of mana, as well as being as hot as actual fire, as well as consuming a bit of her stamina. “..You can say that again. Guess we have to confront her, huh? Do you think your arsenal can take her on?” Oz asked to him as he already has his cannon aimed and ready to be fired.

“...Might need a bit of help on that one, but with the right distractions I can--”

“If you guys need fire power--” A voice echoed around them as a blitz of green, yellow black and orange passed them by and hit the Mushmom square in the face, causing her to be flung back meters from the impact, leaving a trail where the Mushmom’s body got grinded by the ground, like a meteor leaving a trail on the ground.

As soon as the two were aware what has happened, there was the new face. A blonde male with a green hoodie, with him wearing two pairs of gauntlets which were now covered by his flames as his arms had a circuitry like patten glowing from each arm. His eyes were as blue like the crystal on his chest. It was clear that he had power. They were looking for power to defeat the Mushmom and if they needed power…

“—then I can fill in the void!” The Blonde stranger’s grinned at the two who seemed surprised by the stranger’s strength, but this stranger just helped them and that’s all they needed to know at the moment to trust his capabilities. The mushroom’s also took note of the strength, having backed off a few meters, but not running away yet as if they’re waiting for him to move out.

“...Okay then--” Oz replied with a nod. “But are you going to be fine?”

“Me?” The blonde asked, before letting out a chuckle. “Relax, I’ve got this one in the bag. You two go and escape while I’ll take on the alpha mushroom--”

“Mushmom—” Oz corrected the male.

“Right-- Mushmom. Wait, Mushmom? Where’s Mushdad?” the male asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Huh—” To Oz it was a weird question. Well it made sense, but the question wasn’t really suited for the situation they’re now in. “I-It’s not important right now, you need to take care of this thing.”

“Okay—” the blonde spoke up. “Where are you two heading?”

“Henesys is the best place to be in for us right now.”

“Henesys, what’s that?”

“…” Oz almost couldn’t believe what he said. How could anyone NOT know about the well known village. Unless… No, that question has to be asked for another time. “It’s the village with mushrooms for houses. You’ll know you’re there when you see the trade market.”

“Okay, got it--” the blonde male responded. He has his fist clenched and he looked at the direction he saw the Mushmom returning, more annoyed than anything. He assumed a fighting stance, ready to fight while looking at the two.

“Welp. I’ll see you guys over at Henesys then.”

And with that, with a speedy dash, the blonde male dashed towards the Mushmom once more to resume battle, but with him fighting her once more meant that the mushrooms didn’t have to worry about facing him, so as if he was never been here before, the mushrooms decided to attack, but now that Jack and Oz didn’t have to worry about Mushmom since she’s preoccupied with the stranger, they were now able to fair a better fight against these mushrooms.

Meanwhile with the fight against the Mushmom, to the blonde fighter it wasn’t a difficult match. Mostly likely because he had the upperhand when it comes to speed, agility and power. While the Mushmom can stomp hard, it’s basically ineffective if she cannot even hit the stranger.

Once Oz and Jack were out of mushmom forest trail they decided that it’s best to be in Henesys for the time being to recuperate, get some food and potions. Oz spoke up to him once more.

“So WHY did you even decide to look for that alien anyway?”

“Why, ya asked?” Jack responds, having already gotten a couple of good grubs in his belly. “Because I needed th’ money and it’s a fine bounty I’d be getting once I had it-- er them.”

“Needed the money?” Oz repeated that part, “For what? Aren’t pirates known to be rich or something.”

“Well ya see, that’s where y’er wrong.” Jack responds. “Pirates get a good income in terms of gold. No one says they were good in knowing what to spend their money on.”

“So in other words, you’re broke.” Oz side-eyes him, already imagining the kind of person he may be.

“Hey I didn’t imply that!”

“Well you did--” A soft sigh escaped Oz’s lips. So far no alien...Or was there? “But so far it seems like the alien is further than we thought. Hopefully we can find him sooner rather than later.”

“Why’d you want to find the alien? Why is an alien so special then?”

“Have you ever been into contact with one?” Oz asked.

“N-no, but aren’t aliens just long weird looking being riding in UFOs?”

“True, but who knows what aliens are capable of. It’s because of that reason why I’m looking for them right now. We don’t even know if they’re hostile or not. And if they’re not I want to help them and bring them back home.”

“Sounds like an interesting conversation you two were having-” the familiar voice was able to be heard from nearby. It was that same blonde male who helped them.

“Ohey, it’s you--” Oz spoke up, already heading towards him. “Thank you for helping us out here. We had to confront the Mushmom otherwise. Welcome to Henesys by the way, must be your first time.”

“Well…” The blonde male scratched the back of his head. “It’s actually my uhh...6th time here already? There’s no real sign that says Henesys village here. It’s my first time knowing the name of this village. You two are talking about an alien, right?”

“That’s right,” Oz replied with a nod. “Are you here to look for the alien as well?”

But before the male can speak up, Jack looked at the male’s attire. It’s different from the fashion style most have in Mapleworld that it seemed...Out of this world.

“He’s probably alien himself. Like look at what he’s wearing!!”

“…” The male chuckled. With a light shrug he responds. “Well you’re not wrong though, I did not come from this world.”

“Oh—” Jack raised an eyebrow before responding, “I uhhh-- was only joking about the alien part, no offence on the attire-- looking good but you seem like you’re--”

“Oh I take no offence to that. But I’m not lying when I say I’m not from here.”

“So you’re actually an alien?” Oz asked, a bit surprised that the potential alien seemed so...human like. “So are you like from Grandis or something?”

“Grandis?” Maroon raised an eyebrow, having one his hands on his hip. “I don’t even know what that place is. I actually come from another dimension if you two can believe it.” He has his hand reached out, ready to give the two a handshake.

“My name’s Maroon-- and I come from Lawain City, maybe a couple of dimensions away from the one we’re in now. I’m mostly here to train and such, but maybe I could also add exploring this dimension as part of my reason for being here. I kinda dig this planet’s vibe.”

the two looked at eachother before looking back at otherworlder, before deciding to shake his hand.

“Well I’m Oz-- and this man here is uhh...What’s your name again?”

“Jack the Cannoneer, aiming to be the strongest pirate in all of Mapleworld!”

“Right...Anyway, since you’re not from here, might I ask: have you heard of the news of the crater at a farm?”

“A crater--” Maroon had to think for a second, but he knew exactly what crater she meant. Everytime he enters a world for the first time he always left one by accident.

“...Oh, yeah.” He mumbled in his reply. “That wasn’t my intention when entering here. My father always helped me get to one world after another. And every first time he brings me there, he always has his portal way too high up. So fell to the ground and that’s why I left that crater.”

“...Oh—” Oz responds, but realizes what that meant. “—Wait are you okay? You’re not hurt from that, are you?”

“I mean I was--” Maroon responds back, “but my body already recovered from the injury. What about the owners of the farm? Is the cost to the damages severe?”

“Oh no they’re covered by their warranty.” Oz responds. “Besides, their son makes a lot of money for them and knowing the nice guy he is he probably helped them out as well so it’s all fine.”

“Ah, that’s a relief…” With a soft sight, Maroon looked at the environment they’re in. Seeing the interest in his eyes, Oz was considering the free time she has at the moment before thinking of an idea.

”Say, how about we go see the world together? You’ve got a reliable guide with you and there will be adventures awaiting. How’s that for an idea?”

“Adventures also means treasure, ye?” Jack spoke up, the adventure part already caught his ears.

“I...Well...Yeah I guess, but--”

“Then I’m joining!” Jack responds before Oz can continue her sentence. This cause Maroon to chuckle seeing the enthusiasm on Jack’s face.

“Well then, I guess we can say that we’ll be having a wonderful adventure.”

[semi-imaginary-place]

Which Lord comfort scene is your favorite?

It's fascinating how each has a different approach, but also how different players have had vastly different reactions to each of the 3 of them. People grieve differently, and different things work or don't work for different people. Claude is my favorite because it is such a key point in Verdant Wind. I personally find Edelgard's most compelling followed shortly by Claude. Dimitri's didn't land for me.

Dimitri is an emotions first person so he empathizes, and is angered and grieved, and then swears to kill for Byleth. I personally found his the least compelling or useful it was kinda alienating to me that he made it about himself.

Edelgard tells Byleth to channel their grief into something actionable and useful because the world won't wait for them, what's over is over there's only what can be done about it. It's practical and useful advice that will make Byleth's situation better. I've heard people talk about how they found her approach callous, cold, and heartless. Very interestingly Claude echoes Edelgard in non Golden Deer routes, also saying that the world won't wait for you to grieve. However while Edelgard means it in the sense of a warning that Byleth not fall behind, Claude means it in the sense that it's freeing in the sense of taking a step back and realizing this one tragedy isn't the end, that not all things will always be bad, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Menwhile Claude in his route does something even more actionable than Edelgard by directly taking action to uncover the greater conspiracy surrounding Jeralt. Claude is thus the only house leader to learn Byleth's circumstances as a human experiment a stillborn resurrected by Rhea as well as Byleth's semi human status as someone without a heartbeat This is one of my favorite parts of the game and the game will literally not let you progress without choosing to trust in Claude. Up until this point Claude has been prodding and testing Byleth to see if they are trustworthy and the entrusting of the diary is the moment in which their relationship changes for the better. The plot does not work if Byleth cannot trust Claude.

Claude is the only lord with an equal relationship with Byleth where they aren't emotionally dependent on Byleth. With Edelgard and Dimitri the Byleth supports are a tool to revel more of their character and backstory to the player. Claude's support and the route as a whole meanwhile are about the actual friendship between Claude and Byleth so much so that there is an actual game mechanic mid way through. It's a very compelling story on the themes of trust, from misunderstandings to taking the first step that leap of faith in placing one's trust in another.

Raphael has some of the most generally useful advice though which is to take care of your body, eat regularly, go outside and get some exercise, take things one step at a time.

I heard a hypothesis a while back that I rather like is how each of the lords comforts Byleth in the method they used to overcome struggles in their own lives. There's another one about how Byleth's characterization subtly changes based on the House choice.

An important detail Byleth is the way they 'vibe' with the lords. They caught on to their facades instantly and also a few days before ever getting to pick a house. One thing I think is not always understood properly is that picking a lord subtly changes Byleths characterization. They picked one willingly above the others, and in all interactions from that point forward Byleth has some degree of affinity with them specifically, and their responses and interests seem to lean into the lords personality, priorities, and worldview. For example if I remember correctly in verdant wind white Clouds Byleth at one point can suggest to get some information out of Flayn to a degree it makes Claude uncomfortable. It's not something I see the other routes suggesting. Deer Byleth also has some Claude's curiosity and hunger for knowledge, Likewise Eagles Byleth can lean a little into Edelgards kind of resolve, or Lion Byleth Dimitri's chivalry. The lords comfort scenes have been analysed to also show the flaws of the lords and how they kind of project themselves in these emotional circumstances. If so inclined the player through Byleth can react coldly instead(the issue with Claude is that doing so is a But Thou Must loop messing with that choice.) But the option for Byleth to react positively is more interesting here, and kind of my canon response for the Byleth that would pick them. By that point Byleth has a history with talking to the lords about more complex subjects/feelings and build some chemistry and a sort of Modus Operandi. It's with that context Edelgards aggressive approach to pull themselves together, Dimitri's allowance of grief but also a firm focus on revenge, and Claude being friendy but focused on the mystery at hand don't entirety come out of left field and quite possibly something the route specific Byleths actually appreciate to help snap them out of lethargy due to the appeal to their shared values they established before. If you take Byleth as a single unchanging character or having another route in mind it won't make sense. The comfort scene is but a single step the of development and friendship with that lord depending on context of scenes before and afterwards. (WouterW24)