#it’s kinda scary because I feel this move coming from the US kinda legitimate other injustices around the world

[sablegear0]

Finished TotK Finally

As in, finished the story. End numbers after buying the last boss pictures and completing the Compendium were 87.72% complete. I may go back and do koroks and minigames sporadically when I want to wander around in the world again.

So I suppose people might expect my thoughts or a review. Idk if I have anything unique to say but I may as well so: Plot and BIG ending spoilers under the cut. Also extremely long detailed opinions. Like this one got REALLY long. TL;DR at the very bottom.

The End Bits The Light Dragon In a previous blog I applauded Nintendo for letting their women characters turn into incomprehensible beasties lately (TotK, Dread). For the record, I posted that shortly before being spoiled on the fact that Zelda changes back at the end. Needless to say I was re-disappointed. I get WHY they did it. Permanently removing the title character from the game via 10,000 years of ego death doesn't really seem like a great reward for the player seeking out the plot; BotW/TotK Link and Zelda have gone through more than most of their incarnations to get where they are, so it's nice to give them a happy ending, etc. It just... kinda sucks because that was a really cool move otherwise. But Nintendo will not tell us an intentionally tragic (or even bittersweet) story so we got our girl back.

Also she was fine, by the way. She just woke up fully able to move and speak like she'd just had a bit of a rough nap. She also canonically does not remember her millennia spent as a dragon in any fashion. I know the fan writers are probably having a field day with injury/trauma recovery fics for her and I don't blame them. 10k years of ego death and a monstrous transformation should come with some consequences, shouldn't it?

To be honest the nature of the deus ex machina in question bugs me more than the fact that it happened. "Idk Sonia and Rauru did something" is the actual explanation we get (thanks Mineru, you're a real one tho) and it feels... hollow. Like, if the two dragons had clashed and injured one another, and "dying" knocked Zelda out of the transformation the same way destroying the Secret Stone that Ganondorf had taken destroyed his dragon form, that would make more sense, right? You still get your dramatic ending that's a cinematic reflection of Skyward Sword and a symbolic close (presumably) to Ganon's cycle of reincarnation. The arbitrary "power of love" (and not even the Hero's love, come on) ending just doesn't sit right.

Ganondorf Neither did the actual fight with Ganondorf, to be honest. I prepped some pretty high-value weapons, assuming that like BotW I'd have to break a few swords on him before the fight was over. But they just, again, deus ex machina'd that the Master Sword was indestructible for that fight and at no other time. My big scary weapons did see some good use in the wave fight beforehand, which was kind of neat but also kind of underwhelming. I guess that's the point where the game checks if you can handle that many enemies (ie. did you bring enough friends), similar to how doing the Divine Beasts halves Calamity Ganon's HP in BotW.

The duel-style fight for the first two phases was kind of cool. Made a bit annoying by TotK's tighter timing on parries and dodges. And the fact that the legitimate pressure of having your HP outright destroyed (cool, stressful) was removed by the third phase (annoying, no consequences for doing poorly in that part of the fight).

Third phase was neat. It was cinematic, but with no actual danger. I don't think I took any damage that wasn't just gloom-ticks from standing on the demon dragon to attack it. Didn't even get to use my cool bows in the aerial battle. Additionally I didn't have any need for the cool armour I had worked so hard to upgrade. I spent quite a lot of time and effort upgrading the Ancient Hero's Aspect and a second high-defense set (Champion's Leathers, Soldier's Greaves, Amber Earrings). The latter I did use in the demon dragon phase because it looked cool. The former I completely forgot that I had (despite having had to kill an ungodly amount of King Gleeoks to complete it). I used the Depths set for the first two-thirds of the fight because of the Gloom resistance it offered.

The Mechanics Devices All that said, what TotK set out to do it did decently well. It expanded on the physics-heavy improvisational gameplay of BotW with the addition of the Ultrahand fusion mechanic and Zonai Devices, improving on their base engine to create a system that I have heard other devs consider basically magic. Devices and weapon fusion, however, were clearly balanced with the early-to-mid-game in mind. The devices were tools, not weapons, even the ones that were nominally weapons. They simply did not put out enough raw damage to be used offensively, and were better as deterrents or distractions for enemies.

Weapon Fusion I know people weren't crazy about weapon degradation in BotW and I think TotK managed to make it slightly worse. In BotW, all you had to do was find where a desirable weapon spawned and make note of it so you could come back to pick it up after the Bloodmoon respawned everything. In TotK, you have to do that AND fight a monster with a good fuseable part to improve it. You have to do twice as much farming for about the same amount of gain. And that's not even accounting for the weapons you'd break fighting something big like a Lynel - sure they drop good parts, but you might break 2 or 3 weapons taking one down, even with help from your sages. You're operating at a net loss.

Granted the fused part of a weapon does the bulk of the work, but TotK did the interesting thing of making each flavour of weapon ("Soldier's", "Zonaite", "Gerudo", etc) have its own unique properties. This is very cool, until you find a type you like and struggle to find enough of them. Again, you have to trek around to find them and also hope you have the materials for a good fusion. It has its moments, like sticking a Silver Lynel horn on a Gerudo weapon to get a damage value over 100 (which is absurd, most "good" weapons cap out around 50 on average, barring any extra effects), but again, you're usually operating at a slight loss with respect to weapons.

Armour Upgrades To be frank: It's bad. It's bloated and way too resource-intensive. In BotW there were a limited number of sets you'd actually want to upgrade, as each had its own unique thing and that's it, there's one of each. Even doing all of them for completion's sake was achievable. In TotK they have those basic sets, plus a few more unique sets, plus a few redundant sets, and a frankly absurd number of generic aesthetic sets (which flavour of Link would you like? Ocarina of Time? Twilight Princess? Link's Awakenng Remake?) And in all of this they never thought to rebalance the amount of materials required for upgrading.

And on top of THAT, I think they messed with the item drop-rates too! Most enemies can drop 2 kinds of resources, some potentially have more, some only drop 1. in BotW I don't think (thought I may have to check) each type was a guaranteed drop, but you saw every type fairly frequently. In TotK each enemy now has distinct rare drops. And they can be RARE. And the worst part is you need a LOT of them for some armour upgrades. For example; Lizalfos tails are the Lizalfos rare drop, and the armour sets that need them can need up to 15 of the stupid things from a particular species of Lizalfos. Have fun grinding, because now you're playing Monster Hunter instead of Zelda.

Vehicles and Horses The vehicles both did and didn't trivialize crossing the map; a significant amount of grinding is needed before you have enough batteries to cover any distance, Wings (the bird-shaped gliders) have a limited lifespan to keep you from just flying everywhere, and the overworld is generally complicated enough that any fast wheeled vehicle will not be useful for long, and any all-terrain vehicle moves only at a modest speed. Ironically, just use horses where available. They're faster, more versatile, and can be called to you if they're within earshot. Also horses can spawn with overall higher stats than in BotW, and can be upgraded, though with significant resource investment. (It is worth noting that the "best" horse in base BotW, the royal white horse, is only middling to above-average stat-wise when compared to a good wild-caught horse in TotK. They power-crept the horses!)

The most interesting vehicles/movement devices, to me, were the rockets and hot-air balloons. Both add a lot instant verticality in a game that is all about traversal. Fusing a rocket to a shield gets you a huge boost for little resource expenditure (rockets are a bit rare until you can purchase devices). And once you find the Autobuild schematic for a hot air balloon base, all you need to add is a flame-emitter and you can ascend as far as your batteries allow.

Shrines In my humble opinion, TotK knocked it out of the park with its shrines. The ones that have actual puzzles, anyway. There is an unfortunately large proportion of "blessing" shrines that have no puzzle in them, and not all of them even need to be worked for that hard. The ones that do have puzzles are excellent. There are quite a few that highlight different uses for devices, and a good handful that take the Eventide Island/Master Trials-style challenge of stripping you of all your gear and put some twist on it. (Notably these are most interesting in the mid-game, when you have enough hearts to survive but not to trivialize the no-armour combat difficulty.)

They also did the very classy thing of not locking outfit parts behind hidden chests in Shrines. All the hidden chests were perfectly optional bonus chests that required no frustrating re-visits after finding out where that last piece of armour was hiding. Also the slight variations on the music theme was a nice touch that kept the shrines feeling fresh. No shade to the Sheikah Shrine theme, but the strong synths could get a bit grating at times. TotK's gentle, plinky shrine theme variations were an improvement.

The Map The Overworld Probably(?) the most common complaint about TotK and one I share. It's too damn big. In addition to mostly recycling the map from BotW (which bothered some people more than it bothered me, I think), they added an equivalent-sized map for the Depths. Now, BotW's overworld already felt a bit sparse, but it fit the tone of a literal post-apocalyptic world and encouraged you to poke around looking for koroks and investigating enemy camps. TotK's surface overworld is dotted with far more enemy camps and significantly fewer koroks, so it is about as dense but more dangerous/annoying (depending on your hp and gear) to traverse.

There are some major changes to the surface, beyond adding ruins to some spots; most of Death mountain is now safe to travel on foot (probably to encourage use of vehicles) and is no longer superheated, and there are a few spots where the road network is broken, dividing the map into 2 halves that cannot be crossed between on horseback. (In BotW, by comparison, all the roads were connected and you could auto-pilot a horse from one end of the map to the other, provided you took roads marked on the map.)

The Sky The Sky islands were relatively few, for all the hype they got in the promotional material. However I think their self-contained structure and handful of unique features (the "death star" islands, the dive challenges) helped them not overstay their welcome. Besides, the islands themselves are technically also ruins, 10,000 years old and finally visible to the naked eye from the surface, It's a wonder there's as much left and it's as functional as it is. They are beautiful, though. I did enjoy just loitering around in the sky to take in the view and the relaxed atmosphere, as there are fewer enemies up there.

The Depths The Depths... I think I share the majority gripe with the Depths. They're too big. The Depths are another whole open world that is more hostile with even less in it. It exists to grind for resources and pad the playtime. The challenge of the depths is in initially traversing it, having to light your way through impenetrable darkness and navigate dense enemy encampments and find Light Roots to fill out the map. After that, provided you have enough battery power, it can generally be ignored by flying over it. Which is unfortunate. If I were to fix the Depths, I would make it more akin to the Sky Islands; more self-contained, make it a series of winding, interconnected discrete caves, like one big dungeon crawl, rather than a second open world to ignore. Still have the Light Roots be important to vision and mapping, but have the general landscape be more contained. Maybe even have a few more areas that are inaccessible at first except by dropping into the correct chasms, like they did with the Eventide Island and Tingle Island Chain areas of the Depths.

Everything Else Side Quests and Koroks Honestly I enjoyed the variety of sidequests in TotK, and also enjoyed that some of them were quite involved. TotK had two "Tarrey Town"-equivalent long-form side-quest lines; one being visiting all the stables with Penn (I am counting this as one quest because you get drip-fed armour pieces from a unique set throughout it), and the other being the Mayoral Election / Local Cuisine questline in Hateno Village. There were also side-quests to optionally construct the Champions' weapons, which was neat, and to build a house with crazy Ultrahand powers, which was totally frivolous but fun to do. The one thing that bugged me a bit about the side-quests was running into NPCs that reasonably should have remembered Link but didn't. It felt odd, especially poking around Tarrey Town initially.

The Korok puzzles had some new variety to them, which was nice. The block puzzles were given the extra interest of being able to rotate things with Ultrahand, and the vehicle/towing mechanics were given a chance to shine with the "help me reach my friend" puzzles. Having Hestu appear in some less-than-ideal places to begin with (and the whole Lost Woods thing omg what a pain) kind of sucked, but getting those sweet sweet inventory upgrades is always worth it.

The Characters I love all the Sages, I'm going to say it right now. It was really cool to see some familiar faces from BotW (that actually recognized me) and learn what they'd been up to in the ambiguous time-gap. Teba being the slight exception but honestly - meeting Tulin and realizing this sweet bean bird boy looks just like both his parents hit me right in the heart. Mineru was also very cool and I'm glad we got to hang out with her (and bid her a tearful goodbye... my lovely lanky lady...). I also appreciated that doing the Ancient Writings quest teases Mineru's introduction. That was a nice touch.

Penn and Purah are fun, and the Lucky Clover Gazette and Monster Control Crew quests add some depth and background progression to BotW's Hyrule. You get to see how ordinary people are faring and how things are advancing post-Calamity. Seeing the various peoples of Hyrule gather at Lookout Landing after clearing a regional temple was neat, even if it was really only for show.

I know some people have beef with Rauru and that's maybe a blog for another time, but I don't think I have a strong enough opinion to bother. I didn't mind him, I think his arc was clear enough, I think I would have liked to see more of him and Sonia interacting with Zelda in a more everyday fashion - it seemed like she had a lot of fun in the distant past and something more than just a text log of that and a couple cutscenes might have been nice. Honestly I think I would have liked to see more of Sonia especially, she seems like an interesting lady (again, something more than Chaucerian text as proof would have been nice).

I'm honestly kind of mid on Matt Mercer's Ganondorf? I get that he's a big name and people were excited to hear him in the role but idk if the voice was entirely a good fit. They rocked the hell out of his visual design, though. Very good updated look, borrowing elements from some of his previous incarnations. Again I would have liked to see more elaboration on him though; what was the Gerudo tribe like under his rule? Were there dissenters? Give me more worldbuilding or I'll be forced to do it myself.

Music Mostly the same, actually. Overworld themes were recycled. Shrine themes were different and an upgrade imo. Combat themes were slightly different but I probably wouldn't be able to tell them apart at a listen. The Temple music though, oh boy. I loved these themes; they took the ramping instruments from the Divine Beasts control panel gimmick and mixed the Divine Beast Approach themes with each Sage's unique motif to create some really cool but pleasantly unobtrusive tracks. The Depths ambience was appropriately spooky, and the dynamic theme that kicks in when you high-dive was a nice touch, especially since there are distinct versions for diving to the surface and diving to the Depths.

But the standout tracks for me? First, the intro sequence where you descend with Zelda into the foundations of Hyrule Castle and hear the ever-layering Zonai chanting with the spooky reversed voice clips? MMM. 👌 So spooky, so tasty. Genuinely had me on edge even though I knew nothing would happen because it was the intro. The return sequence by the endgame has it build even more intensely as you descend even further and it's fantastic. Second is the Gloom's Approach / Gloom's Source battle theme. The distinctly electronic drone and beat associated with the Depths/gloom-related stuff gets room to shine when this tense bass-heavy track kicks in.

The Little Things I am actually going to stop this one here because I think this part deserves its own blog. There are a ton of little details in TotK that I absolutely adored and I want to gush about them with proper space allotted.

TL;DR TotK is alright. I know I'll catch flak for saying it's "good", so I won't. Settle down. It's alright. Some things it does extremely well, some things could have been edited for time, and some things remained just kinda mid from the original.

If I have to give it a number, it's a solid 6.5-7/10 . Competently constructed, technically impressive, mostly cut-and-pasted, mildly bloated, narratively kind of boring with no sense of stakes and an ending that undoes some otherwise interesting choices.

[a-libra-writes]

Hi Libra 💕 I’m back again for your opinions & to pick your brain juuust a little again. I LOVED your answer (about the free cities in Essos, doing my due diligence in researching the Wiki for the fic 🫡). Again, this is a “do you think this makes sense? Could this happen?” Very loaded, I’m so sorry.

So, I decided that the foreign woman in question is a bastard of Tywins. Her mother was a wealthy merchant from Braavos, trading in Westeros. I’m thinking their short-lived affair was about 5-10 years after he became a widower; she resembled Johanna just enough & Tywin was deep in his cups so he was like ok time to ✨make a dumb decision✨. He sent the pregnant Braavosi woman away with a lot of gold, very hush hush. Her daughter was raised well; with the gold Tywin gave, the mother decided to focus that on bringing up his bastard daughter well-educated & refined. I’ve got some more plot points (if you’d care to hear them I’ll be happy to share it!!), but essentially: the bastard daughter arrives in Westeros. She knows of their customs, and very clever + capable within the politics of Westeros.

My questions are 1) do you think Tywin, with a seat now being within the Crown, would legitimize her - especially after she proves herself - and marry her off to a lord for political gain? My reasoning is that his only daughter was already married off to King Robert, he has three Royal grandchildren & his brain is working hard on how he can turn this situation into something he could benefit politically from, potentially

2) Roose is kinda my hyper fixation character rn & I was thinking, to further his own goals, like betraying Robb in the War of the Five Kings (and his pockets - she’d had to have a high dowry being a foreign bastard to sweeten the deal, I think) would he accept or otherwise offer a marriage to her?

(I kinda have this scene of Roose & her getting into a fight. she gets upset, forgets her Common Tongue, and swears at him in Valyrian & it’s givin me a giggle. He’s just like 🧍pls don’t tell ur lord father & she’s like 🤬 *string of Valyrian he assumes is either a threat or continuous insults*)

Thank you, again, if you’re able to find the time & energy for this!! 💕 i decided, I wanna give the foreigner a LOT of power & leverage (I.e, bastard of Tywin) bc Westeros is scary & while she’s capable of protecting herself, lineage is a big factor into how well situations can go.

Thoughts below -

I honestly don't think Tywin would want to keep a bastard around, or he'd at least hide the fact she was his (they do keep Joy Hill around because that was the only child Gerion fathered, and Tywin def had a lot of guilt/emotion about his death even if he denies it). She might be passed off as another Lannister's kid. But this is a central part of your fanfic so let's handwave and move on.

Her being more Westeros-educated and not ""foreign"" would certainly help, with any traces of a Braavosi accent or dress probably coming across as 'interesting' or 'exotic' because it's just enough and not too much.

I don't think she would be legitimized because that would mean Tywin Lannister is admitting to 1) having a bastard in the first place, therefore frequenting whores and 2) he's willing to totally, stubbornly disregard Tyrion as lawful heir (no Jaime is NOT coming back dude he's Kingsguard you can't overturn that STOP THINKING YOU CAN), so I can understand him totally disregarding an out-of-wedlock daughter that is clearly his. That said, like Joy Hill, she can still be used as a bargaining chip because she is still half-Lannister and could come with a dowry. If there's something Tywin can do, it's find a way to use a piece, no matter how it's overlooked by others or not considered. So even if he feels negatively or indifferent of her, she's fair game to be used, like anyone in his family.

as far as roose accepting/gunning for a marriage, you can easily twist this. He accepted Walda because that was the terms of Frey turning on Robb to assist Roose - it's not clear what Tywin gave Roose, but i bet it was less a bribe and more a threat: 'we'll pull back and stop the war, because you know you aren't going to win this, also if you refuse I'll make sure Frey betrays you and Robb dies anyway, so really this is the best option for you getting out alive and on top'. Totally feasible for him to get your character as a bride instead, while Walda is given to some other Northern house to helps or to some Lannister. Brides and girls are just bargaining chips as far as most nobility is concerned, after all. And don't forget how Tywin arranged for Robb to upset the Freys in the first place with Jeyne Westerling!

Anyhoo, those are my thoughts. It's your fic so you can twist and play as you desire; and you could always alter certain events just so in order for things to puzzle out easier in your head. War is chaotic, and alliances (esp those forged through betrayal) can be shaky.

[crystalelemental]

Champion Stadium clears, testing out the new sync pairs, and trying to stay mostly within the F2P lines. There are some exceptions, though...

Vs. Karen BP Barry is really good. Like, this kit rules. Him and base Erika form a really strong partnership to an EX Striker like Lusamine, who may need a bit of crit, and a lot of special attack. Barry supplies it all, with solid defensive profile and Synthesis to sustain. I am exceptionally impressed with his work.

Vs. Will Defensive supports are nice for pairs that are offensively self-sufficient, or for longer modes like Gauntlet. In CS, I feel like defensive supports largely exist for stall. You'll be happy to know, Olivia does this pretty well. X Regen All is nice gradual recovery for the sides to shrug off sync, while her own Protect and First Aid 4 can keep her in place longer than you might expect. I'm not blown away by her performance, but she accomplishes a goal and serves nicely within Stall Meta.

Vs. Koga And now we reach mistakes. A major problem with the BP Master Pairs this time around is that the buffing kit is very poor. Registeel, in particular, kinda sucks. Defensive boosts are decent, but only self-applied, which means sides will obliterate your allies with AoE. Cutting healing in half is a generally smart strat in CS, but Registeel works entirely with recovery so it's hard to facilitate. Its speed boosting, a major draw of its kit, is slow to start up given your two TMs to max defenses, then probably throwing out Potions as needed, resulting in few actual attacks occurring. It's also just not that sturdy. Even with +6, it didn't take much for Koga to overwhelm it. This was carried by Kukui's flinch and Candice's sync bombs, which also needed to remember to reset Hail for Sure Crit or she'd die.

Vs. Bruno Believe it or not, I actually don't respect SEUN on its own. Even aside from how much content these days focuses on off-type, a major issue is that it tends to come with limited offensive support. Dana is a pretty good example of the issue. When looking to the lower tiers that most want this, they can't buff, and she can't help them. The closest we came was Gardenia, who had two problems. One is setup. Without 3/5 Dana, we just didn't have the ability to save a turn off Dire Hit+, or the ability to boost special attack enough for Gardenia to win. The other is bulk. Dana can buff both defenses eventually, but skews special, so a physical stage like this is very difficult for her. I had to settle on SS Erika as the only option with really good self-setup, and to be honest, Erika could've done with this other pairs. This is decisively not Dana's best showing, and I'm feeling very strongly that this is a pair that lives and dies by 3/5 access when considering anything but the elite in self-setup.

Vs. Lance Look, I needed to test out BP Valerie, I adore her. Off-typing Lance it is. This is a particularly scary fight, because of the high BP moves that Lance throws around constantly. Even H!Caitlin has trouble with it. That said, permanent field condition is a choice this time, so welcome to easy street. Caitlin's shields last through Lance's sync, and Colress can debuff accuracy to really cheese round 2. I will say, with concentrated DPS and a flinch off Iron Head, it...legitimately might have been possible to pre-sync clear center. Valerie's pretty impressive on DPS. Sync isn't fantastic without on-type, but we knew that already. Overall though, very satisfied with her performance.

BP Falkner Falkner was the odd man out here. I wasn't exactly confident in his off-type sync potential, so I dropped it. That said, in more closely assessing how he could've been used, I did recognize two things. One is, his speed debuffing is great for Cakewalk. Second, his attack debuffing with Defog would've made something like Bruno much, much easier to handle, as he removes all the shields and offsets parameters. Third, Confuse. This one was especially salient, because I remembered Tate exists, and has hilarious DPS numbers on-type when facilitated, with Cakewalk as the sync. Tate might be Falkner's best F2P partner, facilitating effectively every condition for DPS and Sync that Tate needs. Now if only we had a Psychic Terrain support.

[monsterkissed]

so the whole argument that goes “if you don’t defend the rights of [minority x] then next they’ll come for [minority y]’s rights or maybe even yours!!” is obviously often factually true but kinda flawed in multiple ways as an argument but aside from any of that...

does it actually work? is this a rhetorical move that actually convinces neutral parties to pick sides reliably?

i am not sure how to go about looking into research for this (the fact i’m not even sure what we call it is a factor. the specifically self-interested slippery slope?) but my feeling is that you have a situation here: there’s an individual, let’s call them Fencey, who has no strong feelings either way about minority x aside from perhaps some enduring apathy. they might not hate minority x but they have no real interest in personally acting on or speaking out about social and legal and systematic harm to them. they don’t think it’s a vital issue or don’t think it’s that bad or are not very educated on the subject or whatever.

now on the one side are a group of minority x members and allies telling Fencey “hey, if you don’t side with us and fast then bad things will happen, maybe even to you or groups you do care about” but at this point, obviously, Fencey hasn’t yet seen compelling evidence that this is true (or they would presumably no longer be on the fence).

on the other side are the anti-minority x group, saying, “no, that’s silly, of course we don’t want to do any of that stuff, we’re normal people like you and why would we target some of our own members? we only have legitimate concerns about minority x and those people are trying to scare you into joining them” which is a statement that potentially both allays Fencey’s fears and assuages any guilt they might have about their inaction. it will fit with what Fencey sees as the facts because again, if they had already perceived this threat and understood it this would not be a debate.

who is a person who again, does not care about this issue in and of itself going to gravitate towards? someone offering them no reason to care other than a scary threat and asking them to spend time and energy being vocally active against the issue, or someone telling them that’s all a load of guff and also a really mean thing to lie about on the internet, don’t worry about it you’re doing fine?

i’ve seen a lot of debate in the notes and comments of people making this argument about the ethics of it but i cannot remember ever seeing someone responding to say that they still don’t care about the human rights and dignity of minority x but now that they feel personally threatened they’re all in on this activism thing

[black-rose-writings]

I read Ruin and Rising because I’m bored

And I also hate myself

Like with the last book, I have a vague idea of the plot and stuff from tumblr and fanfics. I will also be refering to Darkling as Sasha for most of this.

I am still Darklina trash and don’t particularly like Mal.

On a different note, I’ve finally moved for college, but the internet here is trash, so I’ll probably have a lot more reading time now, since most games I play are online and will crash without internet.

Before

Cool story. Let’s hope Alina stays a badass.

Who am I joking, I know how this ends.

Chapter 1

So far so good. I hate the Apparat, per usual. Alina’s there basically dying and that bitch can’t wait to see her do so.

Cult leader to the core this one. He probably hates that his figurehead is alive and also not brainwashed.

Cult leader doesn’t like swearing. How surprising.

My boy David is completely right. What kind of irresponsible dingus keeps centuries old books in a fucking wet-ass cave? (Or a tree for that matter *cough cough* The Last Jedi *cough, cough*).

Genya is fun to be around.

Oh, shit, let’s go.

Chapter 2

Jesus Christ, Alina, Zoya isn’t that bad.

This is one hell of a shitshow.

I live for this version of Alina. Badass. Scary. I want more of this Alina.

Chapter 3

Out of all the random little details from crappy smut fics, I did not expect Oncat to be from the books, lol.

Mal actually has a supernatural tracking ability. Like, literally, they put a bug into the pouch with gunpowder so he could make the shot. I guess this was kinda said before, but never this directly, right?

Alina’s merzost-skyping Sasha now, yay.

Alina is horny for Sasha boy. Yay.

Alina canonically has a praise kink. Nice.

I hate LB with all of my heart at this very moment. How dare she bait us Darklina people like this? How DARE she? (Shipbaiting is the worst, seriously.)

Yes, yes, yes. These two lines. That’s what their relationship is all about. They’re each others foils, the yin to the other’s yang and... ugh. I am Darklina trash to the core and this hurts.

Darklina: You have a terrible taste in men.

Alina: I liked you once.

My boy Sasha walked into that one.

Chapter 4

Alina is a Queen. And we love her.

David, my beloved, my spirit animal.

It’s surprising they can read it at all, given it’s been centuries. Have you ever tried reading medieval manuscripts?

Honestly, with a father that crazy, it’s no wonder Baghra’s a bitch. And I’ve seen it said somewhere that the books imply Ilya’s experiments are what caused Baghra to be a shadow summoner and you know what? I can see how you’d make that connection.

Why is there so few Tidemakers in the books? Waterbenders are useful. I want more waterbenders.

Alina picking up some habits from Baghra I see.

Ah, yes, we love an educated giant.

I’m starting to think Harshaw is a bit nuts.

Shut up, Hershey. Or at least share the weed with the class. I’m not here for this “He’s mean to you because he likes you”. I might believe that in like, elementary school, but yall are (more or less) adults. Jesus.

Well, that was a bombshell of a twist.

Chapter 5

Oh boy, we’ve got some trauma bonding for out merry band of misfits. Yay.

Adrik has a crush on Zoya. And she hates it, lol. Cut the kid some slack, he’s like 15 or something.

That reminds me, I have a four-leaf clover pressed in books from close to year and a half ago. Time flies.

They’re really diving into the Mal has supernatural powers, huh?

Ghosts, let’s go.

Alina “I’m so happy to be outside I start to shine like a fucking fairy” Starkov and Mal is entranced. He’s definitelly nicer now. I’m not forgiving him for all the shit he’s pulled before and for using the silent treatment way too much, but hey, at least he’s improving.

I am not a Zoyalina person, but like... gay? Please? Rivals to grudging allies to friends to lovers, 300k slowburn? Sounds more fun than whatever Mala dn Alina have going on, lol.

(I’m starting to realize I’m not as much a Darklina person as I am anti-Malina person, lol. Like, literally everyone has a more interesting dynamic with Alina than tracker boy over there. Malina is at best boring AF and at worst toxic, codependent and emotionally abusive, while also being boring AF at the same time. It has literally nothing going for it except God herself liking it).

I can see why Nadia is gay in the show. The book version of her definitelly has a crush on Tamar. Homegirl likes a woman, who can murder her with the flick of her wrist and honestly? Same.

Alina has some big “coming out of lockdown after a year” energy atm.

The cat is one of the most realistic characters in this thing, lol.

And since Tamar is also heavily queercoded, our lovely ladies make off into the night, flirting. Or maybe not. Let me dream, though.

At least Blade Boy is aware that his tattoo is stupid. To quote someone ranting about him on tumblr: He’s embracing his identity as a tool.

Oh, boy, this will be fun.

Evil soldier is horny for Mal. Saints, is there a woman in this book who isn’t horny for Blade Boy?

And here comes Niki to save the day.

Chapter 6

Niki saved the day.

Fiberglass? And David being David. Genya being in love with her nerd of a boyfriend.

Jesus Christ, this one crazy kid has moved the technology in this universe a whole century on his own. So, when is David going to propose to him?

Baghra hasn’t changed much I see.

Baghra’s about to drop some truthbombs, but no, we have to be rudely interupted because Genya’s rapist is throwing a fit.

Chapter 7

How does Mal sound? Is she gonna say the Blade boy sounds like her dad? I mean, I know voices are partially genetic, but it has been tens of generations between them, probably.

So, we’re finally taking Genya’s trauma seriously after all this time? Good. Better late than never, I guess.

I wish that regicide was already finished and I’m pretty sure that Genya does, too. Stop defending the fucking king, narrative.

David’s a nerd in all things I see.

Someone please just kill the king already. And the queen, too, for good measure.

Now that’s a romance.

Infodumping and listening to said infodumps is a legitimate love language, Alina. Let them nerd out over poisons.

Wait, has Alina never directly killed anyone before? I thought she did... hmmm.

And just like that, it should have been over. Ugh.

Somehow, Baghra is a better teacher now than she was before. She half feels like a completely different character.

Nevermind, she’s back at it.

Chapter 8

Holy shit, Nadia and Tamar are canon. They have canon gays here.

So, which one of them is gonna die?

Chapter 9

We arrive at that scene. The one, where they should have fucked.

Jeez, girl, get a hold of yourself. Life is short, fuck a villain.

In other news, Genya and David definitelly fucked.

Chapter 10

Poor David. He just wanted to know.

Damn... I never realized just how young Baghra was, when she killed her sister.

I’ve already made a post about this, but it really does strike me like Baghra has already decided to end her life at this point in the book.

Why is that whole “but what if we’re related” thing even in there?

Chapter 11

We love a suprise attack.

When did Sasha boy learn that trick?

Baghra really just did that. Oh boy.

Chapter 12

No, don’t kill the kid... ugh.

Emotiona support cat. She should be friends with Milo.

Porrige for brains. Oof.

So Nadia was the one, who got bees set on her in the book. Cool.

That’s a good question. Why was it never brought up to Alina, that other Grisha get blocks, too?

David already thinking of steampunk prosthetic for Adrik is honestly kinda sweet.

Chapter 13

Back home... kinda.

Is that really... you really care about Mal bonking the Grisha school mean girl over a year ago? Okay.

Chapter 14

Angst! Yay!

And more angst.

Chapter 15

Sasha really went “My mom killed herself to save you? Well, I’ll kill the closest thing to parents you have.”

Chapter 16

Nikolai’s alive. Kinda.

And these two have such a sibling energy, I can’t.

And then they fuck. Ew.

Chapter 17

Wait, wait wait... so Alina isn’t even the one to destroy the Fold?

Okay. That’s... weird.

Holy shit. That was...

So, Aleksander is dead. Mal isn’t. Someone else destroyed the Fold for Alina and now she has no powers.

Okay.

That’s a weird-ass ending.

Chapter 18

The gays survived, so that’s nice.

Genya made good on her promise of making Alina a ginger, lol.

After

What emotion is this supposed to give me? Cause all I feel is kinda sad.

[theredraccoon]

A Desperate Proposal - Ch 2

The soft snick of the heavy office door closing was overly loud in the quiet room and Simon raised his head, blinking rapidly. Like breathing, blinking was still a habit that Simon had yet to shake in his five years as a vampire, but whatever, he had time. Oodles of time, apparently; a fact that still threw him on a regular basis. He blinked again, actually registering the quiet— when had his music stopped? Wasn’t his playlist something like five hours long? Had he really been working that long? What time was it?

This time it was the creak of the chair in front of his desk that got his attention. Simon finally snapped back to the real world and took in the sight of his Sire, sitting prim and proper as usual. Raphael’s face was a mix of resignation, amusement, and irritation; in other words, it was his “Simon Face.” 

“Good afternoon, Simon. How are the books looking today?” Raphael’s voice was smooth and dry.

Simon automatically straightened and his hands started to shuffle the papers around on his desk, moving his laptop back, rearranging pens, voice getting brighter and louder as he talked. “Oh! It’s going well. The numbers for last month look good, we've made some necessary adjustments. Forcing you to let me buy Quickbooks is paying off, I’ve been able to sort through the mess from, err, before, so much faster and I think that if make a few strategic changes we’ll be able to set up the new vampires with like, an income that will let them not be whiny assholes about what they’re missing from their former lives and I think… that you are not actually here to talk about accounting, are you.” 

Simon thought he could detect at least a hint of “impressed” in the lines of Raphael’s face now, but the irritation was also stronger. Simon shifted in the ornate chair and bit his cheek as he kept his mouth shut and let the silence grow. 

Finally, Raphael spoke. “No, Simon, I’m not here to talk about accounting. I’m here to relay the latest news from the Downworld Cabinet. Decisions have finally been made and they affect you. Directly affect you, in fact.” Raphael tugged at his cuffs, the crisp white shirt peeking out from the dark blue of his suit jacket. Simon’s eyebrows rose; he wasn’t used to any signs of nervousness from his Sire. His curiosity grew, along with some burgeoning apprehension.

Rapael continued, his voice firming as he went along. “The Cabinet has had a series of emergency meetings with the Clave. After much negotiation we have what we hope is the start of a solution to the... problem we are facing. There will be a series of marriages, between the Downworld and the Shadowhunters of New York. These alliances, if they prove effective, will then take place across the world as we attempt to figure out what is happening and how to counter it. If, and only if, our help is essential to defeating whatever is causing the Shadowhunters to drop like flies, we - the Downworld - will be able to renegotiate the Accords in a manner that is fair and equitable to us and not the Clave. So. We are obviously very invested in making these marriages work and be productive.” 

Simon was blinking rapidly again. He felt his brain kickstart into a different gear as he struggled to comprehend what Raphael was saying and the implications of what he was hearing. Marriages? The Clave willing to renegotiate the Accords? Really? Those stubborn assholes? He knew the situation was serious, but really? Marriages? Who was getting married? Wait, why did Raphael say that he, Simon, was going to be directly affected?

His mouth popped open and Simon heard himself say, in a strange tone he’d never heard himself use before, “Who am I marrying, Sire?” Then Simon froze in his chair, his body startled by the leap his brain had made. He watched Raphael twitch slightly.

“The Second in Command of the New York Institute, Jace Lightwood. Alexander Lightwood’s brother.”

The words fell like dead weights in the middle of the room. Simon’s muscles felt locked in place, while his thoughts started to race forward like a bullet train.

The events of the past few months flicked through Simon’s head like a movie on steroids. Simon noticing expenses for the Hotel Dumort increasing suddenly for no discernable reason. The realization that Downworlders and foreign vampires were quietly flooding into New York at rates that surprised even the older vampires in the Clan, causing them to spend more and more money to hide their presence in the city. Raphael taking his concerns to Magnus. Magnus talking to Alec about the increased number of Downworlders in the New York Institute’s territory. 

And then the horrifying knowledge that Shadowhunters were dying, dying everywhere, and it was forcing Downworlders into the city as they sought the protection of the Nephilim that remained, the protection that they would have fiercely denied ever needing in the past. Finally, endless hushed meetings between the various contingents of the Downworld as they struggled to make sense of what was happening. Simon, as Raphael’s reluctant Second, had attended several before his annoyance at the Seelie representative and his general impatience at the slow pace had led to Raphael kicking him out. 

And now here they were, and Simon was beginning to realize that hiding his head in the accounting nightmare that was the New York Clan for the last month had probably been a mistake.  

“I’m sorry, what? I’m marrying who? Why him? Why me? Who else is getting married? When are these marriages happening? What about the fact that I’m a vampire? The Seelies agreed to this? The werewolves? Is that what you’re saying? Really? I’m getting married? But my mom won’t be there. Or my sister. I never thought I’d get married without my mom there. What am I going to wear? Are the marriages taking place at the same time? Is this really the only way? Is Jace the hot blond one? The one who always looks constipated? I’m getting married?”

Raphael’s hands were suddenly on his face, cold brands on his cheeks, and Simon realized that at some point during his semi-hysterical rant he’d gotten up and was standing in front of his Sire. His body was vibrating.

“Simon. Child. I am here. I know that this is a shock and I am sorry for it. But yes, this is the only way. The Nephilim have been hiding their true situation, or they actually didn’t realize it until now, it’s unclear. Regardless, their numbers are now so low that the Downworld is legitimately in danger. We need them and for the first time in forever, they are admitting that they need us. Alliance through marriage has worked for Mundanes for millenia, we might as well try it. This is happening.”

“But why me?” Simon’s voice was a whine that he couldn’t control. Simon stayed still even as Raphael let go of his face and moved back to the chair in front of Simon’s desk. Watched Raphael settle back down, adjusting his suit for the second time. Finally, he spoke.

“Simon, I’m not sure if you have ever fully realized your power, or your responsibilities, as my Second. When I Turned you, you automatically had greater status than most as my Child, but when you presented as a Daylighter… Simon, the only reason that the New York Clan is mine is because I am your Sire. If I were not here, the other vampires would follow you. That is how powerful the draw of a Daylighter is. Especially because we have no idea why they exist, why you are one. If this plan is to work, each representative has to be of high importance, someone that proves that we are committed and have power to offer.” 

Simon’s mouth opened. And closed. And opened and then closed again. He felt like a fish out of water, trying to grasp the full weight of what Raphael was saying. He’d known that the other vampires treated him differently but he’d thought it was just because he was young. And a bit of a spaz. And a nerd spouting pop culture references to creatures that were around when the only entertainment was going to see P.T. Barnum and his fish-monkeys. This was different. Slightly scary.

A brief wince crossed Raphael’s face and Simon’s focus sharpened. “What else, Raphael? What aren’t you telling me?”

“The Shadowhunters— Alec— put Jace’s name into the negotiations first, as a sign that they were willing to offer their best and brightest, and someone near and dear to the Institute. But we still weren’t sure how desperate they were and if the Clave was actually committed to changing some of their… prejudices. So we offered you. And they agreed. They are serious. Alec Lightwood is the one that discovered the depth of the problem in the first place. He seems level headed and not as willing to put up with the Clave’s bullshit."

The hits kept coming, apparently. “Does Jace even like guys? Do I have to get married to a straight guy? I thought this wasn’t supposed to be a complete sham?”

“Alec has assured me that his brother is bisexual and I believe him. But Shadowhunters are notoriously homophobic and it might be... difficult for a while. You remember the scandal when news of Magnus dating Alec broke. I think the Nephilim were more upset that Magnus was a man than he was a Downworlder. Or maybe it was equal, who knows. Regardless, no, you will not be marrying someone who isn’t interested in men. These marriages are meant to be alliances, they need a chance to work. ”

Simon drifted back to his own chair and sat down. “Well, at least there’s that. Although he could just be an asshole. The few times I’ve seen him lurking around Pandemonium he always looks angry. Maybe he just has Resting Bitch Face. Hopefully.” He met Raphael’s eyes. “This is really happening? It’s the only way? I feel like a broken record, but I need to know. I kinda gave up on marriage when I became a vampire, I’m not sure how to feel about this.”

Raphael leaned forward and kept Simon’s gaze. “Yes, Simon, this needs to happen. We don’t know what’s killing the Shadowhunters and it’s affecting all of us worse than we could have imagined. We need to figure out what’s happening and stop it, hopefully without too many more casualties. And we can use these marriages to make a better life for ourselves afterwards. If there is an afterwards.” His voice faded away and there was silence again.

“Shit. I guess I’m marrying a Shadowhunter.” Simon let his head rest against the heavy wooden chair and closed his eyes.

“Yes. Simon. Thank you. We’ll talk more soon.” 

Simon heard Raphael get up and walk towards the door, enhanced hearing picking up every footfall and swish of cloth, knowing that it was deliberate, that Raphael was a master of silent movement, that his Sire wanted Simon to know that he was leaving, that he was retreating to give Simon space to absorb the bombshells dropped into his life. 

The door shut soundlessly this time, just a whiff of displaced air. Simon swallowed hard.

[warmau]

ghost hunting w mark .?

★ ghost hunting!au mark lee | other nct aus

when people talk about fun places, you’re sure they don’t list haunted amusement parks as one of their go-to picks

that is - you don’t think a haunted amusement park is anyone's go-to pick in general for anything

but you are ecstatic about the fact that you’re finally getting to go to one

if one because you love amusement parks and also.............any place that might have ghosts

which is why you’ve taken up vlogging about these spooky encounters, ghost adventures was going to end up having nothing on you if everything went well

mark lee, your best friend and designated camera man for this adventure, is the total opposite

“listen - isn’t this considered trespassing?”

he asks, voice shaking and camcorder shaking too, as you two slip through a small opening in the large gates leading to the park which have now grown over with moss

the only reason mark even agreed to come with you is because the camcorder is his dads..........and trusting you alone with technology is..........well..........

“not really, it doesnt say private property keep out anywhere!”

“yes it does, we passed a sign when we were-”

you wave your hand around as if to dismiss the legitimate claim he’s making 

instead you look around at the broken down rides and abandoned roller coasters

the peeling paint on some of the plastic figures of animals that are strewn around and the rolling pieces of garbage that signify that people did once come around here to enjoy themselves

now it’s just .......empty........slowly being reclaimed by nature and-

“ghosts! ghosts mark, im sure someone has had an freak accident here and is now roaming around seeking revenge!”

you say it with such cheer in your voice, but poor mark pales at the thought

you start to scope out a good place to film and end up pointing straight at a huge, heart shaped tunnel

“lovers lane! imagine if a couple went in there years ago and never went back out - and if we go in there we can meet them and they’ll-”

“try to kill us?”

mark finishes your sentence and you pout, “no! they’ll tell us their story and we can lament their woos together - now lets go!”

you grab mark’s hand, pulling him toward the dingy looking ride and although the situation is one that mark wishes so desperately he wasnt in

the warmth of your palm in his makes up for it

but

as soon as you manage to hop over the broken chain, moving deeper and deeper into the tunnel

mark starts to rethink that

because of course he likes you, but does he like you enough to go ahead and get himself dragged into the underworld by angry spirits well-

“mark? are you coming? if not, you can wait out there by yourself!”

on second thought, he rushes in right after you - nearly tripping on himself and bumping into your back

you turn, steadying him and your touch again makes this whole bizarre thing seem a little more ok

“im ok!”

he says, happy that the near pitch black darkness hides any goofy expression he might be making

but for some odd reason, you’re not saying anything back

he can still feel your hands steady on his shoulders - you aren’t letting him go

in fact, he thinks you might actually be gripping him pretty hard

“hey-”

he starts and you, who is staring behind mark 

over his head at the long and frightening shadow behind him

it’s white and glowing and its eyes are deranged, long hair whipping around its face as if to hide what it truly looks like

swallows

“are you ok, whats wrong?”

he asks again, lifting the camcorder and using the light from the recording flash to try and read your expression

mark registers your shock too late, as the shadow from behind him - pushes him hard against you

you tumble over, feeling your feet catch on the edge of the side of the tunnel

you think you’re going to hit the gross, murky water but instead you fall hard into one of the boats thats been docked there for god knows how long

and mark topples in right after you

the camcorder gets flung from his hand as he braces himself as to not squash you and just as he manages to steady his fall 

hands blistering where his palms hit the old wood of the boat

the tunnel lights up and you hear a long, scratchy laugh echo through

the lights are pink and flashing on and off, something somewhere is still laughing and you look up into mark’s terrified eyes as he hovers over you

“c’mon new lovers, won’t you stay and take a trip down the lane?”

you scream and as does mark, struggling to get back up and then outstretching his hand to help you two

without thinking, you push yourself directly into his chest and yell that you two need to run. now!

the voice returns and you swear you feel something try to tug on the back of your shirt. mark feels it too.

“where are you going? you two can’t leave without professing your feelings!”

he hops out of the boat and tugs you after him as you two try to scurry back toward the entrance

marks hand is clutching yours, even though you’re both sweating with anxiousness and fear

just as you two make it to what looks like the outside, the shadow appears again

this time you do see its face - a long slit mouth and cracked, scaled skin

“no no, you can’t leave. go back inside, take a trip with me! spend the rest of your life in a tunnel of love!”

it lifts its hand and you think its going to slam it down, claws dripping of something red are about to dig into mark

when you remember what this thing had said before

profess your feelings?

you close your eyes and shout

“i love mark lee!”

the shadow fixates its deranged glare on you - then lifts its hand again

oh no did it not work?!?!

but mark seems to have caught onto your train of thought, even panicked out of his mind, he yells back his confession

that he loves you

and the shadow which looked so real and scary is gone in a cloud of smoke

the flickering pink lights dull into that darkness again and you and mark fall out of the entrance, which when you turn back has changed from the heart shaped lovers lane into a pile of old racing go-carts

you look at mark and he nods

still holding hands, you two get the hell out of there

only to realize hours later when you’re sitting together in disbelief on the floor of your bedroom

that one) mark’s dad is gonna kill him for losing that camcorder

and two) those confessions you both yelled back there

kinda sounded real

past the fact you were doing it to save yourselves from a huge, ugly apparition

“so-”

you look and see mark shyly scratching the back of his neck

“how about we pick a place that isn’t haunted for our first date?”

mark breathes a sigh of relief 

“im so happy you said that.”

[realtalkswithfinn]

Being Ginny Weasleys Twin Sister would include...

A/N: I totally didn’t write this because I have red hair and want to be a weasley... for sure I did not...

Ron literally can not stand when you both come to Hogwarts because now not only does he have to watch out for Fred and George but you guys too

You insult him tag team style.

“Merlin Ronald, you look like you brushed your hair with your fingers this morning.”

“Nice one Gin, though it’s bold of you to assume he brushes his hair at all.”

Absolutely loosing your marbles when Ginny goes missing in CoS

Turning to your brothers for emotional support even though they kinda suck at it

They’re so tall and give good hugs so it almost doesn’t matter that they don’t know what to say when you’re crying

Ginny confiding her crush on Harry to you

You hardcore shipping it

“How is he so oblivious?”

“Ginny, this is Harry we’re talking about.”

When either of you get a new partner, the other threatens them

“I swear on my life I will break your kneecaps if you hurt my sister.”

Your brothers try to be just ask scary but let’s be honest, they will never be as scary as a short, pissed off redhead girl

You’re NEVER allowed to even look at someone in a romantic way, not with all your brothers around

“Leave her alone Fred, she’s allowed to accept dates.”

“Not from a FIFTH YEAR SLYTHERIN-“

Always being jealous of Fred and George for being able to pull a switch-a-roo

While they were identical, you and Ginny were just different enough for your close friends and family to tell who’s who

Even still you both were color coded as a kid lmao

She was pink, you were blue

You shared a room and always got mad when the other made a mess

Of course, it continued when you shared a dorm at Hogwarts

“DUDE GET YOUR QUITTITCH STUFF OFF MY BED IT LITERALLY STINKS.”

Knocking Percy off his high horse

“You can’t tell us to do our homework anymore Percy we’re not at school.”

“Yeah, that badge means NOTHING to us.”

You’re best friends with Luna

When the older Twins open up the Joke Shop, they give you a discount.

“Just don’t tell Ron.”

Matching Pygmy Puffs

Hers is pink yours is blue

Play fighting when you’re even slightly agitated

“I KNOW YOU WORE MY SHIRT TO HOGSMEAD GET READY TO SQUARE THE FUCK UP-“

Literally attacking Bill and Charlie when they come home because you need a break from your other brothers

Asking Harry and Hermione what you should get Aurthor from the Muggle world for Christmas

They help you make a scrap book of pictures that don’t move and he LOVES IT

Of course you guys put yourselves on the first page with the title “the best daughters ever.”

Molly making you and Ginny Christmas sweaters in which yours is Blue with a pink letter and hers is Pink with a blue letter

Whenever you take a family picture, you always get on Freds shoulders while Ginny gets on George’s

You guys still use pinky promises as a legitimate form of trust

Braiding each other’s hair before matches

Managing to evesdrop in Order meetings

Helping each other out during DA meetings

When Harry, Ron and Hermione are out destroying Horcruxes, you two keep the peace in Hogwarts

You try to provide hope, but late at night you talk about how worried you are with Neville and Luna

Completely breaking when Harry “dies” not only because he was your friend, but also because you know how heartbroken Ginny is

When Fred dies in the war, neither of you leave George’s side for months

Feeling a little guilty because when Ginny was “gone”, she came back

Getting to be Ginnys maid of Honor

Just having a family that absolutely adores you and a sister you wouldn’t trade the world for

This was so self indulgent lmao

[funny-house]

huhu u got me to watch opal the other day since u keep talking abt it and im glad bc i Really Enjoyed It but !! anyways , i saw u mention mirror man doing makeup for someone and i keep thinking about it so Thoughts Incoming sorry in advance lmao. i think he would like to do claires makeup (and teach her abt it in general) when she gets a bit older,, both bc it seems like a legitimate hobby he would enjoy (i imagine if he werent Like That he probably could have been a makeup artist or something similar!) and bc he would like to ‘prettify’ her a bit.

and ah well,,, a lot of parents Like Him sometimes try 2 make their child a carbon copy of themselves or of an image they enjoy so if he grew to like claire more or already does like her enough for that (or just, wants things to revolve around him More) hed try to nudge things in that direction. and in his own way i think He might think hes doing something good, he knows when he was her age he would have killed to have a parent so eager to help him learn makeup and stuff but. claire isnt him. she probably isnt even interested in it at all but shes kinda desperate for Nice Moments and also doesnt wanna risk making him angry so she goes along with it. she always has her head in the clouds so all the things hes saying is too much at once but shes trying to comprehend it,,,,,

nd he keeps giggling at her for how awkwardly she moves her arm when putting on foundation and blush nd gets kind of annoyed with her for repeatedly flinching when he tries to help her with mascara nd teases her a bit for trying to taste the lip gloss (and keeps pointing out a flaw or two on her face “well, youve always had a sort of weird shaped face but youve always had the cutest little smile, its like Mine :)”) but they do it !! together !!! and nothing (that) bad happened !!!!!! so claire is happy,,,,,,,,,,, until that inevitably opens the gates of him trying to pick out what she wears for her and “””suggesting””” hairstyles for her and getting manipulative and even flatout Angry when she doesnt do what he wants her to (bc even when things Seem like theyre about claire they Are Not, its what He wants for her , in the end its still all about him) but, ive rambled enough to you already <:o) sorry for talking so much i just wanted to chat a bit abt opal with you !!!! hope ur doing well hehe . and im sorry this is rambly nd probably incomprehensible i just did a lot of work hkehri

ohhhhhhhh !!! FIRST  I am super glad that all my constant rambling about this man has allowed you to go watch Jack Stauber’s awesome little short, it’s really good and deserves all the support !!!

also i totally appreciate you wanting to share your thoughts with me ;u;

AND I TOTALLY AGREE  the whole idea of him projecting himself onto her, trying to take over her, I think that is so fitting for the short itself tbh, because it’s a reflection ( mirrors, hehe ) of what the mother wants from Claire as well. The thing that terrified Claire near the end is the mother reaching to hold onto her, specifically after the mom said that she was going to become just like her. The idea of her becoming her parents? it terrifies her, clearly!!

And Mirror Man, he is what they call a “archetypal narcissistic abuser”, in my eyes at least,  and it would be really really common to see someone like that not only be so controlling and self absorbed that they treat their child like a decoration to themselves, but also use that child, especially as they get old enough to have opinions on the situation, to turn them against their partner-- such as.... the mom

so picture this

Claire is like 10-12, and she’s bright and she’s got a good heart but she’s WELL and truly Affected by the years of being brought up in that ridiculously toxic hell hole-- I mean house no idea if the grandpa would live that long uhhh in his state, but even if he does, he’s still very sick, disabled, and senile and he isn’t going to be much help. and Claire, she’s starting to have Opinions,, on how things are running around here,,      but in swoops Mirror Dad

He’s like........ it’s your mother’s fault. Oh, absolutely, have you seen her? I mean look at her, she’s disgusting. she’s a drug addict, she’s a drunk, she’s ugly, she’s the reason you feel like this-- and maybe some of that is understandable, i mean she’s a real mess of a mom, no mistake, but hey

Nobody’s going to tell Claire who made her that way! Nobody’s going to tell her Mirror Dad was the one who trapped her in an unloving, possibly violent relationship, with a kid, and ripped apart every inch of her self worth !!!

Nope. she just sees the aftermath. So mirror dad...... turns claire on her. And she starts to side with him on things and she starts to even kinda talk like him maybe even....... learns how to do that dark and scary insecurity voice of his and one day She walks by the.... Reflection Chamber and Mirror Man is there in that way He Always Is in that seat he always sits in, and he says something very very odd to her!   he raises a finger and curls it in and says    come sit on my lap you haven’t gotten too big to sit on my lap have you?? come here!! and i mean Claire is still very very uncomfortable even being near him, and this feels like a trap, but i mean she can’t just say no, and there’s a part of her that’s kinda hoping... maybe he really is trying to be nice. and so she does and she sits with her but you’ll notice he is never looking directly at her. Even as she’s approaching literally right in his line of sight, he stares straight into her reflection, never her face.  It’s like she’s not even real unless she’s in those mirrors.

And he tells her he wants to do her makeup! yay! how fun! and he tells her to close her eyes and pout her lips and try not to flinch when the sculpting starts or he’ll use his deep voice-- and how he’s going to finally FIX her. Goody!! then maybe the constant barrage of insults and negs and criticisms will stop!! (p.s. they wouldn’t have )

And so she opens her eyes..... and the face of her abuser is looking right back. It’s her face. Or it used to be-- now it’s literally his and it’s hideous-- it does not AT ALL belong on that body, and the only thing left of her is her big shiny eyes

and she  S C R E A M S that way Claire does,,,

but this time, loud enough to crack the mirrors, and stun the dad just long enough for him not to catch her in his hands when she leaps off his lap and books it for the attic the attic, the view of the billboard with the same worn out, not updated ad for Opal’s in the window. She locks the door, it doesn’t take long for mirror man to come banging on it, telling her she’s ungrateful, she doesn’t deserve what little she has, taking back every nice thing he ever said, etc,,,

and Opal just starts clawing off the makeup/clay/whatever from her face in the mirror’s glass reflection, putting her hair back into the pigtails her father said made her look stupid

but she isn’t Opal, she’s changed, she’s aged, but Opal-- she’s always the same!! happy!! cared for!! and what is she supposed to be under the makeup? huh? Who is she besides the abuse she’s put through, that billboard and what it sells to her?  she doesn’t know! nobody does nobody ever bothered to get to know what it even means to be Claire.

[dreaming-of-assclass]

UwU would like to hear your thoughts on Irina civil war

Nao! (I’m so sorry, this is so late. It got buried in my drafts ihhhhh)

Ah yes: one of my favorite Civil War concepts 😤

So basically the class would be split in:

A) Allow Irina to stay in the class. She’s young, has lived a very traumatized life...she deserves a second chance.

B) Hell no. She tried to kill us, she betrayed us. I don’t feel comfortable being around her.

I mean, those are the basics. All of this is way more nuanced than that.

Side A would bring up the argument that Irina was stuck in a tough position herself. She was heartbroken, vulnerable, and you can’t exactly say no to the Reaper. He would have killed her immediately. She was trying to protect herself too.

Side B would say to keep in mind that things had gone well for few months...like Irina was getting adjusted to the class and truly seemed like she cared for them. And then she betrayed them...they almost died. That 180 switch in how she treated them...how can they trust her again?? How do they know this won’t happen again no matter what she says??

Both sides have understandable views on the matter. Unfortunately they both feel that the other is either invalidating their feelings...or being plain cruel.

THE SNIPERS ARE SPLIT UP FOR ONCE OOOOOOOOHHHHH. Yeah I bet y’all weren’t expecting that hehehe.

Side A: Irina, stay with us!

Her trusted students: Yada and Kurahashi. They both are fiercely protective of her return to the class and are the most vocal in their opinions.

Terasaka...he was the first one to forgive her in canon and I think that’s very true to his character. After his redemption, he wants to give others a chance...just like how everyone gave him one.

In a similar vein to him, Kayano also knows that she’s far from being a perfect person...in fact the guilt from the tentacles is always in the back of her mind, even if her desire for revenge far outweighs it. She believes it’s only fair to give Irina another chance.

Also similar to both of them is Itona, who also feels weighed down at times by his past actions. He knows he had a rocky start to the class...and so he feels it’s not really his place to just write Irina off. He feels a bit of solidarity between their experiences as well: they’re pretty similar ngl.

Okano, Kataoka, and Nakamura also were some of Irina’s fave students. And although they don’t feel as strongly as Yada and Kurahashi, they are attached to her...and want her to stay as their teacher in the family they’ve built in 3-E.

With Kanzaki...she’s naturally an open-minded person. And in regards to this, I think she could easily find it in herself to forgive Irina and understand why it all happened. She’s good at including every detail, analyzing situations and seeing things from Irina’s point of view. (Haha our literature nerd cutie)

Takebayashi has a similar case to many above: he’s betrayed the class himself (although on a way lesser scale). But he gets it: and he thinks Irina deserves the same kindness that was shown to him.

Maehara and Okajima are both pretty lighthearted and forgiving guys. This situation hits them both hard and they have a difficult time deciding...but ultimately they believe Irina really does care for the class. And that the last months they spent with her meant something.

Kimura...has a somewhat skewed sense of justice, due to personal things (cough his dad cough). And he does A LOT of reflection after everything. And as scary as it was...he decides that Irina can redeem herself. Even though he hates her boob lessons...she’s still his teacher who’s taught their class so much and was apart of their family.

Chiba is a naturally kind and empathetic person. I think once he really sits down and processes what Irina went through, the logistics of the situation, just so many nuances...he can find it in himself to give her a second chance.

Side B: Irina, get out of here!

Ooh, this is gonna catch you off guard. But yes, Nagisa, Sugino, and Hara are anti-Irina. The latter two are kind and empathetic people yes...but they’re also both fiercely protective of their classmates/friends. And in this situation, the safety of their friends would definitely be more important than Irina’s feelings. They’d see her as a threat.

For Nagisa...I think the experience of dealing with 2.0 hit him harder in a different way. He saw how Reaper tried to break Kayano’s ribs. That’s his best friend...he felt so angry and hurt in this situation, WE SAW. That’s why I truly believe Nagisa would be less than forgiving towards Irina, who aided in hurting him and his friends.

Hayami gets hurt in a different way in this situation...she’s gotten taken advantage of and never allowed to express her dissent in anything for SO LONG. And now after finally building confidence in 3-E...she’s supposed to just let their traitor teacher come back?? And act like she’s totally fine?? Hell no, she’s not.

Karma is pretty self-explanatory lmao. He really has a near-impossible time trying to forgive her and feel comfortable in the class again. He’s on high-alert all the time and feels protective over his friends... Like this kid has bad trust issues in general, there’s no way he can ever feel totally fine with Irina again let’s be real.

Okuda was legitimately terrified for her life that night with Reaper. And she never ever wants to feel that paralyzing sense of fear again. She also has a hard time being around Irina again.

Isogai! Surprise haha. There’s lots of angst with this one. The class could’ve died that night partly because of Irina’s actions. And he can’t forgive that easily. Like he has an impoverished family to think about. His sick mom and siblings need him. He’s the main provider at home. If he died that night because of Irina...his family would just break apart. And thinking about such awful possibilities cements Isogai’s opinion that she needs to leave. They’ll be fine without her.

Sugaya, Muramatsu, and Mimura all have pretty much the same view. They were terrified for their lives, are pissed that she did that, etc. They’re slightly torn since they’d like the class to go back to normal but...it needs to be addressed.

Fuwa kinda was brought back down to reality after all that. Like yes it was kind of a cool experience to talk about, like action-packed. But once the adrenaline left, it hit her how much danger she was truly in. Fuwa wants adventure, but not at the cost of her safety or others.

Hazama and Yoshida are on the same wavelength...they’re partly there to support Muramatsu and Hara, and also because Irina leaving is the safe way out. Like logically speaking...the woman is an assassin. She’ll just move on with her life, they’ll be safer, etc. So much more good to come out of it.

Ritsu remains neutral, just like she does in canon.

Korosensei and Karasuma both step back and decide to let the students figure it out, having trust in their decisions...and because it’s ultimately an experience that only the students have shared. It’s not their place to dictate how the kids feel. They both push aside their personal feelings about Irina to focus on the kids, who are top priority.

Irina is...trying her best to keep a cool face. A small deep part of her is on the defensive, wanting to continue to prove herself as a teacher and assassin. But the majority of her understands how they feel and respects that completely. She mentally prepares herself to leave the class and forget the kids forever...even though it’ll be so hard.

[aalt-ctrl-del]

I'm thankfully for your posts on covid and it's variants. Though I do wonder does covid create a biological backdoor on the previously infected? With the way you've been talking about delta.

I'm glad the vaccines work. But the idea the raw covid might be setting up its hosts for reinfection is kinda scary.

Let me remind followers, and I say it also in my long ass post. I'm not a doctor, or nurse, I'm a marketing agent. I study trends and patterns and psychographics present in our society and culture.

However, I do casually browse medical journals and documents certified by credible sources such as the National Library of Medicine and the Mayo Clinic is a good resource. Much of my reporting is based on current information on viral pathogens and how they spread, coupled with historical emphasis, how the general population reacts to these cataclysms - See Spanish Flu 1918. I speculate and converse extensively with my family member, who is a retired nurse. I never want people to think I know everything or anything at all, if I feel secure in posting or 'reporting' some information, I will. But don't believe anything I post about faithlessly, because like the doctors and trained medical professionals, we are still learning from this virus. The learning will never stop, and it is our only tool to protecting those we care about.

As always, please communicate with your doctor or medial provider, have a good relationship if you can. If you don't have a doctor, then gently search through sources available online. We are fortunate to have access to so much.

And please, for the love of the RNG gods, do not gargle iodine. Do not take horse grade deworming paste. Wear a mask. Social distance. Wash your hands. Get vaccinated if it is medically possible for you. Shooting a light up your butt is not the answer.

The vaccine and its recipients who have been battling covid for months – the long-haulers – has shown to improve their overall health, though as I remind people, the vaccine and its impact depends on the receiver and their health history. The vaccine is always the last line of defense, when all else have failed, because you really don’t want to be a Patient Zero case.

I like this term biological backdoor, like in the same way malware can breech security in an otherwise fortified database. We still do not know enough to really discern why delta is hitting previously ‘immune’ individuals, wherein these people did not take the same level of precautions in state counties dense with covid infection. The ideal that some viral pathogens can set up a host carrier for another infection from a virus or bacteria is not new, and this is why early vaccinations for so many illness remain essential for kids before attending schools. Even if a child, as in the case with Polio, may not become horrendously ill from a virus, the encounter can leave an imprint which disarms them against other pathogens later in life.

Covid is so very new in its behavior, and it really hinges on being primmed to encounter it before irreversible damage is done, or worse. I discuss that people I have observed may have contracted covid at some point, but the majority did not appear ‘afflicted’ by the infection, as is the case in covid original. Some people tested positive for it, but the illness didn’t do anything but present as a flu. In some people it destroyed without remorse, and in others it was considered a ‘mild infection’. But I always refer to the asymptomatic carrier as a myth, because covid may not immediately overrun the alveoli tissue in the lungs, and might instead establish itself in the blood tissue foremost, and move on to other softer tissues via the capillaries. In this, the person is infected, and during this time they are not healthy – usually lethargy or other mild side effects unrelated to what may be perceived as rhino virus or flu. Some of these people could be unknown carriers of covid for months, before their immune system begins to falter under the strain of fighting off a foreign invasion and covid crash occurs. That is, the cytokine storm wherein the body launches a massive auto-immune attack on itself because it cannot establish what cells are viable and which cells have been compromised.

In these individuals, if the immune system responds aptly and destroys infected cells, that have not nested in organ tissue such as kidney or liver, then the body removes the carrier cells without detrimental affects to the host. However, because covid has placed itself in blood tissue, removing all traces of the virus might be impossible without intervention. This is why the vaccine was so critical. In some individuals, the appropriate immune response couldn’t nullify the covid threat fully – the virus may not kill them immediately, but they cannot recover either. Such as the long-haulers who waited in limbo with persisting side-effects from the initial infection.

In others, trace cells may remain from the infection. Compromised cells which have not been removed, due to the lack of Monocytes responsible for the entire supply of red blood cells that might be compromised. There is a top 8% of monocytes out of the entire white cell count. As well, it takes about a month for a red blood cell to complete its life cycle, in that aspect, I estimate it can take months or years for these individuals to purge completely of viral traces. These damaged cells remain though, and might offer host to the delta variant. Or in the least, provide a blueprint or trace chemical/RNA information for the virus to replicate on. All in all, those who have a prior infection to covid but did not present symptoms, does not stop cells from being compromised and as such, leaves the host vulnerable to the delta wave regardless of prior health history.

All of these hypotheticals are based on information gathered on HIV, rabies, meningitis, ebola, and many others – regarding what makes a virus deadly, what constitutes a healthy carrier, and where antibodies might produce. It depends on genetics and a trained immunity response – ie, vaccination and good health.

This is why the vaccine is essential to the general public. It is a step towards teaching the body what to look for if a covid encounter occurs. Once covid begins replicating without contest, it can be difficult for the body to deal with ongoing. And other medical reports have stated that those who had covid prior, then get vaccinated, have good protection from the virus. A hybrid protection.

But because we don’t have a method for testing the density of a viral load in the body, not just the swab test, but checking the blood itself for traces of covid presence, we never really know who has been infected, and who might be primed for a worse infection. Covid raw/original on its own is hard on the immune system, it has to work to clean up these compromised cells. So it is a plausible theory to say, covid original does make potential hosts more susceptible to a future infection. Only because the body has not been given the chance to recover from a prior infection.

And let me state once more. I’m not a doctor nor an immunologist – all of my information comes from the National Library of Medicine, along with other board-certified sources which document findings of the covid and its variants. I’ve casually studied medicine and biology my entire life, because I live in American and you have to stay healthy or you risk dying. Or worse. Legitimate resources are out there, Mayo Clinic is a good starting point.

So much of the covid and its variants I speculate ENDLESSLY ON. Because I am very impatient, and also my past assessments have had frightening accuracy and I don’t like that. I listen carefully to Dr. Fauci, hematologists, Dr. Campbell, pulmonary specialists – and use historical reference, along with medical findings of tame and preexisting viruses to base my analysis. And of course, a lot of what I rehash or backtrack over, these specialists are fully aware of. They stare this infection right in the face, and are treating the people that refuse the vaccine, and look at their blood and their lung tissue. But it takes time for science to peer review what it is seeing and verify which trends are consistent or reappearing.

And likely their have been other variants of the covid out there, but they were either too fatal to spread into the population or not warranted concern because they were near identical to the covid original, and were no more detrimental to those that contracted it.

Tl;dr – get vaccinated if you can do so, if you have no medical complexities to prevent you. We want you to be safe, we want you to be healthy.

[thetriggeredhappy]

scout likes sniper but can't help but blush and go awkward when he sees it

me, who saw a very pretty girl with bitchin’ tattoos and temporarily forgot how to speak english for about five minutes today: ha check out this fuckin loser having’ crushes and stuff..... ha what a fuckin goobus

(no warnings)

-

He really did legitimately hate the fact that he always made such an idiot out of himself in front of people he liked.

Like, he had literally no problem just hooking up with people. Absolutely no shame. See someone good-looking, walk up, ask them if they wanna bang, either get slapped or get in a car. He didn’t feel even a little bit bad about it, he was just being really honest about exactly what it was he wanted. And plenty of people respected that he wasn’t one to play stupid games.

The issue was that as soon as he got like, more than moderately invested before he could cut to the chase, he was absolutely fucked.

Miss Pauling was a great example. The situation surrounding him first meeting her was such a whirlwind and so weird that he didn’t really get a chance to ask her out, and so he’d just sorta been left to stew on it, and then he got cheesy. Started thinking about all kinds of romantic shit. And that was a complete fuckin’ mess for like, literally years until he found out she was seeing some girl and promptly stepped off because he was a hopeless romantic, not an animal.

And that had like, sucked, but at least he was functional. He only saw Miss P like, on the monthly maybe, and usually just over the phone or whatever and not in person. At least he could spend the vast majority of his time being exactly as much of a doofus as he usually was and not just a hoppy sappy mess.

But then. Oh, but fucking then.

He glanced in his periphery as subtly as he could, popping his gum to try and just for a second act natural, so frustrated with himself over how warm his face had gotten all of a sudden.

It was especially frustrating because like, it had kinda snuck up on him, all the gross heart-fluttery crap that always came along for the ride whenever he got a thing for someone. And he hadn’t really pieced it together for such a long time, but then one thing happened and everything cracked wide open all at once and now he couldn’t even just sit through the team meeting without—

Sniper moved to tug on his own hat idly, nudging his shades up his nose the millimeter or two they’d slid down since he last adjusted them maybe a minute and a half previously, and Scout had to force himself to stop looking at the guy for like ten seconds. And ten seconds was exactly how long he lasted before he was looking over again.

It sucked. Like, he’d gone years and years just kinda letting Sniper do his thing—the guy clearly just wanted to be left alone, didn’t want to be bothered with their shenanigans, so he really didn’t ever see Sniper around much. Barely knew the guy beyond like, some very basic stuff. And he kinda got the impression at first that Sniper was actually just way too cool for him to talk to, a hired assassin from fuckin’ Australia of all places, beyond skilled and into intimidating in his particular practice, maybe a little scary in the few interactions Scout caught him in during battle.

And he was like, more an idea of a person than an actual person, for those reasons. Scout didn’t really think much about what he had to actually be like.

Then one night Scout woke up around 3 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep and he decided to just go grab a snack from the kitchen to try and maybe squeeze a nap in before he was meant to be awake at 6:30, and he’d walked in and seen Sniper standing there.

Sniper was pretty professional in all interactions Scout ever had with him. Only ever showed up in the base proper in full uniform, and while he wasn’t like, Medic or Spy levels of crisp clean-cut, he still always at least looked put-together. But now Scout was confronted with the concept of what Sniper wore for pajamas, something he’d only ever thought about once or twice before, and was now suddenly witnessing.

Sweatpants, apparently, and a sweater. Green and grey, knitted. Socks. No hat or sunglasses, which was weird enough that it actually kind of took Scout a second to understand who he was looking at.

Sniper looked up at him when he walked in, and Scout knew he probably looked like hell, but Sniper didn’t look all that much better. He seemed pretty tired, and Scout watched as he visibly tried to sort himself out, standing up straight and squaring his shoulders a little, leaning less heavily on the counter.

“Uh, sup,” Scout said, and walked over to the fridge, deciding to just kinda play it cool and like he was totally anticipating that someone might be in the kitchen at 3 AM, and also that it wasn’t weird that he was in the kitchen at 3 AM.

“...‘llo,” Sniper mumbled, and glanced back down at what he’d been doing before Scout showed up.

Eating cereal, apparently, the bland wheat garbage that about half the team usually put up with, he and Pyro being the ones who tended to go for the more sugary brands. Scout occupied himself with trying to sift through the over-stuffed fridge for something he could feasibly eat, deciding not to stare.

But the silence was pretty painful. He didn’t like silence, it always felt almost itchy to stand there and not say anything when there was someone like five feet away, so he broke it after a few seconds. “Doesn’t it get hot in that?” he asked, not looking over at Sniper.

A pause long enough that Scout was half convinced Sniper was just going to ignore him, but he did end up speaking. “Gets cold at night. ‘Specially out there, it’s... warmer in the base,” Sniper murmured. “Used to it being warm, besides.”

“Fair,” Scout shrugged, pulled out a container, glanced at it, put it back. “Probably hotter in—“

“Australia, yeah,” Sniper agreed, in a tone that implied he’d heard that a hundred times before.

“It’s summer there right now, right?” Scout asked, pulling out a different container and scowling when he saw Engie’s name on it, begrudgingly putting it back.

“...Yeah.”

Scout finally found a leftover Chinese takeout box that he was at least reasonably sure was his own, and moved over to the microwave, dropping the leftovers on a plate and putting in some random amount of time, aware he’d just be stopping the microwave when noises started happening anyways. He glanced back over at Sniper. Sniper wasn’t looking at him. “That’s a cool sweater, though,” Scout finally said.

“Thanks,” Sniper said into his bowl. “It’s, er...”

There was a very long silence as Scout waited for Sniper to finish his sentence and he didn’t. He popped the microwave open to check on his leftovers. Not warm enough. He closed it again, turned back around. Kept waiting.

Apparently Sniper did decide to finish his sentence eventually. “It’s wool. From... back home,” he said, voice still quiet.

“Huh?” Scout asked, a little confused.

Sniper finished his bowl, put it on the counter next to him. Scratched at the back of his neck. Without the hat it was much more obvious how Sniper’s hair just kinda flipped up in the back, and how unruly the rest of his hair was as well, even deliberately brushed back out of the way. “Family’s sheep farmers,” he finally said.

Scout’s eyebrows rose. “Yeah?”

Sniper nodded. “We don’t... spin the wool, some other bloke does that, but we get to sell the yarn at least. Usually m’parents keep at least a little bit. Mum knits. Gives... gloves and the like to any kids in town.”

“She made that too?” Scout asked, glancing the sweater up and down again. “Jesus, how long did that take?”

Sniper shrugged. “Week, maybe two.”

“That’s pretty cool.” Scout scratched at his arm as a memory occurred to him. “Only sweaters I ever had were hand-me-downs from my brothers, itchy as all fuck. They never wanted to pass down the softer ones.”

Sniper nodded at that. “Makes sense.”

There was a long silence then, in which Scout finally noticed his food was starting to make popping noises and he pulled it out. Mostly hot, some cold bits in the middle, but he grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the drawer of assorted utensils and stirred it around so it was more even. It was just noodles, so it didn’t matter much.

“Late dinner,” Sniper said, almost managing to make it sound like a joke.

“Early breakfast,” Scout shot back, nodding at the cereal bowl and stirring his food around a bit more.

Sniper tilted his head in a vague sort of agreement, going quiet again. Scout started eating, and winced a little at how some noodles were weirdly dry and others were goopy, but hey, beggars couldn’t be choosers.

Silence again, but at least Scout could keep himself occupied with eating instead of thinking about it.

“You know how to use chopsticks?” Sniper finally asked, surprising Scout a little bit. He glanced up.

“Yeah, duh, who doesn’t?” Scout scoffed.

Silence for a second. “I don’t,” Sniper said.

Scout looked up again, befuddled. “Man, are you serious? I learned that when I was like, five,” he prodded.

Sniper shrugged, looking away again. “Just never learnt. Never really had to, didn’t come up.”

“Fuckin’, learn how to use chopsticks, man. What’re you waiting for, a written invitation?” Scout joked.

“Eh. I’ll get to it,” Sniper shrugged again, and rubbed at his eye, and suddenly it hit Scout how much of a human being Sniper was. Standing there in a sweater his mom knit for him, eating cereal at three in the morning, admitting that he just never learned how to use chopsticks.

What the fuck, Sniper was just a regular dude who happened to be in their line of work.

What the fuck.

(He did look pretty good out of uniform, huh—?)

And that was it for him, a series of back-to-back realizations compounding until he realized how good-looking Sniper was, even rumbled at three in the morning under the shitty fluorescents of the kitchen—especially like that. And he felt his face go burning hot, and he dug into his noodles to try and cover it, and he almost choked on his food.

Absolute fucking mess.

And like—now Scout was noticing all kinds of tiny little things. Sniper always crossed his legs at the ankle, left-over right, and his arms right-over-left. He had a bruise on his thumb from jamming it on his rifle, and his shades were crooked a little tiny bit to the left, and his hair was all flippy-uppy in the back but there was this one lock of hair that was especially flippy-uppy. He didn’t put anything in his coffee like an absolute monster but did put just a little bit of sugar on his cereal, apparently. He kept nodding off during meetings but nobody else seemed to notice since he had the shades on and you had to be looking pretty closely and from roughly Scout’s angle at the table to see his eyes were closed, and he didn’t have any other tells besides his jaw being a little tight.

Twice so far he’d been asked by Medic if he had a fever, he was blushing so hard. At once point Demo had dunked on him a little bit about “zoning out” and “thinkin’ about someone special, probably”, and he’d only barely escaped by rolling his eyes and rolling with the joke instead of getting defensive. He’d gotten mysteriously more clumsy in front of the team at large, fumbling and tripping over his words and even stammering sometimes. He was such a goddamn sappy mess.

God. He was so fucked.

[whatsupmrstark]

NSFW alphabet: Peter B. Parker

This is just for the understanding of how I write/ imagine peter

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Peter is an absolute dreamboat, after making sure your comfy and have whatever your heart desires he usually just likes to lay in bed and cuddle. He really likes laying his head on your bare chest and having you play in his hair.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Peter loves your mouth. For more than one reason, he likes hearing your voice and all the noises you make. And of course you’re secret skills you have with oral. He thinks you have such pretty lips and gets lost sometimes just watching you talk.

For him he’s not to insecure, he’s confident, but he doesn’t really like anything in particular about himself. He likes his arms though if he had to choose, he likes how strong he is and that he can hold you up.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

We all know he wanted to play it safe so when you first started having sex it was strictly condoms and pulling out. But then it was just pulling out, then you got on birth control and he couldn’t get enough of cumming in you. What can he say, he likes knowing he’s the only one who can do that.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Peter really wants to try anal. He brought it up once you said no and it never got looped back into conversation. But sometimes he thinks about what you’d do it he just “slipped”

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Peter had experience with kissing and head before he met you, but soon after the first few times ,once he got comfortable, you guys tried all sorts of things. He knows what works and what doesn’t and now you’d say he’s got a good amount of experience.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Ahah- here’s the tricky thing about peter. He’s simply never admitted to his favorite position. But if you had to guess just based on how eager he gets when you request, he likes to fuck You in a spooning position. Usually fresh in the morning holding you close and whispering in your ear and kissing your neck.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

He’s a big goofball, he’s never serious at all, or too dominant. The sex you two share is loose and comfortable. He doesn’t try to be funny but sometimes he’s just being peter parker in the most Humorous way.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

The first time you told peter you wanted to try sucking his dick he shaved for you. Poor peter didn’t really know what he was doing and got really bad razor burn. Ended up with painful stubble and swore off a full shave. He does keep it very trimmed and neat for you though. (He even got a wax for Valentine’s Day and he’s more scared of waxing now)

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

His complete focus is on you and your pleasure in the moment. He simply gets off by you getting off.

Peter also enjoys the intimacy sex brings to your realationship. While he’s never used the “i” word because he thinks of it as taboo, he does get a little rush from being so close to you in such a spiritual and Romantic way.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Peter used to mastubate a lot before you two started doing... things. But after, Well you keep him completely satisfied And satiated. But he does have the occasional wank If either of you are gone. But who’s to say you don’t help him out ;)

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

We all know baby parker has a praise kink. (In reference to ‘intimacy’) peter likes knowing how good he makes you feel. Even just simple moans of his name makes him fluttery.

Now he didn’t exactly know it was a kink but he is a bit into voyeurism. He had walked in on you naked playing with yourself and it stuck to him since. You caught on and would sometimes give him a Show as foreplay.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Anywhere in your home really, on the bed, on the floor, on the couch, on the counter- there’s most likely not a surface that hasn’t had something happen on it.

Usually you two opt for a bed.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

You really. Peters super senses are dialed into you so strongly. He can smell you from a mile away so when You get turned on 25 feet away he knows and it instantly just does it for him.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Pretty much anything that causes you actual pain. Or involves feet.

Peter doesn’t even dare to hurt you, in any way, and he gets squeamish by mblood and feet so period sex is also off the table.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Peter genuinely enjoys oral sex. He loves to 69 and could spend days between your legs just giving you orgasm after orgasm.

It’s safe to say he’s a solid 9.5/10

When it comes to receiving he doesn’t mind but it just makes him want to get his tongue on you even more.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

More of the latter when it come to the day to day stuff. He’s so passionate and calm sometimes it’s scary, long and slow strokes that have you clawing at his back and begging.

Of course there’s the occasional anger fueled sex that has you bent over the nearest object and he goes pretty fast but never to hard to hurt you. But even then it’s only a few times a year.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Usually quickies only happen if necessary, you two are adults with full lives so your sex happens at night or in the morning and on the occasional day off.

And there are the days you text peter to come pound your brains out on your lunch break. But they’re completely necessary.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Peter is always game to experiment or at least try something once as long as you’re comfortable with it he’s game.

Pretty much everything you did before you moved in together was risky, so he’s not new to it. But he doesn’t go out of his way to take risks. If they happen it’s naturally.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

This is kinda a trick question.

Peter can just go until he- or you- are physically spent. Even though he usually takes a lot longer, it’s nothing to complain about.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

You own a bullet vibrator that peter took a liking to, being able to stimulate you in Differnt ways was a fun thing for him. You don’t use it often and sometimes when you think he’s just forgotten about it you feel him reach over to your nightstand

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Peter is really into foreplay but teasing not so much.

Sometimes he can’t help but do something to mess with you but he never leaves you unsatisfied

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

The. Noises. Peter. Benjamin. Parker. Makes. During. Sex. Are purely pornagraphic. He could legitimately make you orgasm just by hearing him.

He’s generally average volume. Not too loud but sometimes he gets super quiet and focuses so hard he’s biting his lips and scrunching up his face.

He makes pretty much every sound in the book. And you can’t get enough.

He really likes to get low and intimate sometimes just hearing each other breath after your orgasms. Just fantastic.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Peter loves having sex in the mornings. He thinks it the perfect way to start the day. Sometimes he even just like to finger You or eat you out, he noticed the difference in your attitude through the day when he did.

He thinks you’re the most raw and beautiful in the morning. He nearly always wakes up with a hard on and usually you two put that to use.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Peters italian Nuff said there. But The spider bite did something for All Appendages.

And whewwww he knew exactly how to use it.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

No matter how much he says it peter genuinely couldn’t handle having sex every single day. You have your fair share of sex three times on the weekend and four times a week and it’s a lot to handle then.

And sometimes peter likes to poke fun but you just know it’s cover for how horny he gets.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Peter likes seeing you sleep after. So he waits for you to fall out first, watching you snore against your pillow.

He likes to see you sleeping in general. He likes how content and soft you look. Only then does he even think of passing out.

[dailyaudiobible]

03/29/2021 DAB Transcript

Deuteronomy 11:1-12:32, Luke 8:22-39, Psalms 70:1-5, Proverbs 12:4

Today is the 29th day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it's great to be here with you today. It's great to be here with you every day including today. It's great to be here around the Global Campfire as we continue moving forward and that moving forward will take us back into the book of Deuteronomy. We’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week. Deuteronomy chapters 11 and 12 today.

Commentary:

Okay. We are in the book of Luke, obviously in the New Testament and we’ve come to this…this story. And we…we’ve seen this story before but I just…when I come to it in the Gospel of Luke it's like every year this is one of the places where we kinda talk about something very specific. Even though every year at the Daily Audio Bible we’re talking about all kinds of stuff we’ve never talked about before, this story, I don’t what it is because it's…it's always been a riveting story to me for some reason. But then after having been on the site of this story walking around it's just…it's like imprinted on my mind, mostly because the story…every time I come to it, I’m like this is…this is…this is how I have reacted more often than not. And, so, what happens here is that Jesus is on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. And it's…it's if you’ve never been there and like you don't have a map or whatever, most of Jesus ministry would be situated on the northwest corner or the northwest shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. This is where the cities of Capernaum and Bethsaida, Chorazim, Magdala are, the cities that Jesus would've frequented. And it's also near a main road that would've climbed up from the Sea of Galilee and headed west toward places like Nazareth and Cana. So, this is where Jesus spent most of His time. But when He got into the boat to sail with the disciples they were heading to the sort of North East side of things to another people and they were moving into a region that was controlled by one of the Decapolis cities and that city was known as Hippos or Sussita. So, a Gentile area, a Roman area, cosmopolitan area, a very non-Jewish area, but I mean, we should notice that by the fact that there were a herd of pigs being shepherded. That's not something that you would find a Hebrew Shepherd typically doing. So, Jesus is exhausted enough that He gets the back of the boat and goes to sleep and when this storm comes up and it's violent...and let's remember like these aren't like little kids rowing the boat for Jesus, these are experienced fishermen on the water. So, if they're freaking out it's a legitimate problem. And they were freaking out, enough to go wake Jesus up and I guess, you know, you’re terrified…so like, “we’re gonna drown”, you know, “wake up” and…and he does, and He instructs the storm to calm down and it does, which is an amazing thing to even imagine but definitely something that struck the disciples silent, “like who is this? Even the wind and the water obey Him.” That's all going on before we ever get to that northeast side of things. And then we land on the shore and there's this naked man running toward you. And I can…I mean…you visualize that whether you want to or not and there's a naked man running down the shore and he's yelling and he’s screaming, and he addresses Jesus, “what do You have to do with me? What do You want with me?” Or in another translations, “why are you interfering with me?” Like, I mean for me, I can stop right there and find myself in the story in that man's response to the presence of God. The presence of Christ comes and then there’s this reaction immediately – “what…why are you interfering with me? What do you have to do with me?” We might not agree that we’d say that out loud to Jesus in that context, but our lives, that's all you have to do is just look at our lives. What happens when we’re disrupted? When we’re disrupted, we immediately think it's bad, we immediately start cursing the devil. But what we see in the Gospels is that wherever Jesus goes things are disrupted and He's not bringing evil and He's not trying to challenge the people by attacking them in some sort of way. He's trying to bring light into the darkness, which disrupts what's hiding and lurking in the darkness. And as soon as it comes on and is exposed then it starts squirming to find more darkness so that it’s not exposed. And when that light comes, and we’re exposed and we’re looking for a place to hide so we can feel safe, and we feel like “why are you interfering with me? What you have to do with me?” We may be speaking to the circumstance and rebuking the circumstance when God may be after something in us. So, I can, at least myself, I can see myself in that story but, you know, as the story goes on the evil spirits are thrown into the pigs who run into the water and drown and then the man gets dressed and is in his right mind speaking with Jesus and the people come around and they see this. And certainly, just seeing pigs floating in the water and the insane man, the demoniac well and in his right mind, that would be startling and disruptive for sure, but you would think on the one hand it would be a mighty power that would set that man free since according to the Scriptures he already been bound and put in leg irons and chained and under guard, and he'd always broken free of all that. So, to come around this man and find him with clothes on in his right mind having a conversation you would at least have to say a mighty power, like something extraordinary has happened. And in this case since everybody knew this demoniac and what he was capable of you’d have to think that this is a move in the right direction, like a positive move but it scared them so bad they were in terror to the point that they asked Jesus to leave. And that's the part. That's the part that just like…it's like an arrow to the heart to come by this territory in Luke because that's just it. We get…we get all whipped up in worship. We might have our hands raised and we’re like, “do with me what you will. Send your consuming fire upon me” and, you know, “take me and use me as a vessel” or whatever kind of sentiment that we would offer. We would say these things in our prayers and “I just want to be used by you, I just want to be available, I just want to be aware, I just want to know what's going on so I can make some sense of this” and then God comes and it's disruptive and perhaps makes us uncomfortable or brings us to a place of fear. And even though we can see the good, the power, the strength, even though we can see God at work, we…we can’t put ourselves in that story. We’re too afraid, it’s too risky, it's too much out of our control, it’s too much out of our wheelhouse, it's too much out of our comfort zone. And, so, in so many functional ways we…we ask Him to leave when He was coming to answer our prayer and invite us deeper. And that's the thing about faith. For some reason we have it in our mind that it…it’s like…it’s gonna be easy and we’ll walk into it no problem and we’ll just keep growing in our faith but how in the world will we ever grow in our faith if it isn't tested? Like, how does a muscle growth if it isn’t strained? How does anything grow if it's not challenged? If all we are is operating in operating in our wheelhouse, everything is good, everything is under control, everything is in our control…well…if we’re gonna ask for more faith then that's going to be answered and it's going to be answered by us having to exercise our faith so that it can grow, which is the opposite of what we see happening with these people in this story, which is why it’s like an arrow to the heart sometimes to think I missed so many opportunities along the way because I wasn't willing to step into faith. I wasn't actually willing to live by faith. I can say over the years I've grown. I can say like if I look back 15 years or whatever when we were starting all of this, the things that were scary then are not scary now. I have grown in my faith, but any time we are ever going to grow in our faith it's gonna be faith, which means we’re gonna be reaching for what we cannot know or what we cannot prove but we still know anyway. And that's gonna bring tension. That’s always gonna stretch us. That's what growing in faith looks like. And, so, let's think about that today as we move into this week.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit come into that. So often we put labels on things and anything that's hard is bad, but actually the hard things are the things that make us grow and they’re things that expand us, they’re the things that make us strong. And, so, help us to have a discerning heart and an acute awareness of Your Holy Spirit's leading, the voice of the Spirit in our lives we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link on the homepage or if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or if you like the mail better the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial several…one of several numbers depending on where you are in the world. In the United States or the Americas 877-942-4253 is number to call. In the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number. If you are in Australia or that part of the world the lands down under 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

And that's it for today, I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

This is Doctor John in Illinois. I was listening to the DAB the other day and just reminded of faithfulness. I listened to Victoria Soldier and Blind Tony and Jill and Brian and their family – faithfulness, faithfulness. And I listened to Victoria Soldier now and she's crying out for help. And I think of all the times that she's prayed, you listen to her so frequently and all these others - Blind Tony - and again I can't even name all those I've listened to the last six years and they’re faithful. And, so, Lord I want to lift up them right now. Heavenly father would You…would You from heaven today and for all those Lord that are faithful that lift their voice to You that cry out and petition You Lord for all these others when they're hurting and we all have needs Lord we’re all broken we're all in desperate need of a savior. Today Lord would You be that Redeemer? Would You be that way maker that promise keeper? And father I'm thankful for this ministry, thankful God for this…these that cry out Lord in desperation for their brothers and sisters Lord even when they’re in need themselves. Lord would You meet that need today? And father, again would You bless the Hardin family Lord for their dedication. And Lord bless them because of all the suffering they've injured and all the hardships they've endured, but they do it with joy because of a hope in You and hope in Christ in His perfect service. Lord would You bless them today. Lord thank You for the DAB Lord bless this family and all those…

Hey this is DABber Danny from Southern Oregon. Micah in Awe you're one of my favorite callers. You're so compassionate and your voice comes through so powerfully and I just love it when you call in. So, when you called in and you prayed for me, I just really appreciated that, especially because I have a son named Micah and I long for him to be in awe of God's glory. And he's not walking with the Lord. He's 18 and I wonder if you all could just pray for him. He is living on his own and he just found out he's gonna be a daddy and the mom is only 16. And, so, if you could…if you could pray for them. I had the privilege of hearing from the Lord a couple of days before I found out and the Lord told me that this is going to be happening and so I was completely prepared when he actually told me. And, so, I'm OK with it. I think that this baby might, you know, turn him around and bring him into a closer relationship with us and also with the Lord, I hope. And, so, if you could all pray for my son Micah, I would really appreciate that, that he would just be a godly father. And he's never wanted anything to do with God. So, anyway if you could pray for his heart, I would appreciate that. Love you all.

Hello DABbers, my name is Jay from the East Coast I've called before. I have a praise report. I had gotten a job after…since November 2019. It was very hard, a lot of applications, but I wanted to thank you guys and I know that you guys always pray and…but I'm also asking for prayer for my nephew who's in the military. And he, in 2018, he suffered a loss of my brother, his father, and he took up to alcohol to…to…to deal with it and both his mother and father suffered from that and his father, my brother, it was part of the reason why he died. He is a young man. He's afraid to go for help because he's afraid of what it might mean for his military career. Please pray that he would do the right thing and that he would…that God would heal him from this addiction and also if he needs to get that help and it’s being offered that he will take it before anything else goes wrong. He's very bright young man and dealing with a lot of…of emotional issues now because of the…the bad grieving, not grieving well and not having support to grieve because they're pretty much locked…locked down where they are and all he has is on the base and just friends who would just not talk about things. He feels isolated. I need your help guys and especially those who were in the military who knows how that is. Thank you.

Hi this is Joseph from Dublin New South Wales Australia. My wife’s an Australian. I'm an American obviously. Just like to give a praise report and thank you all the Daily Audio Bible family for keeping us up in prayer. My wife gave a safe delivery to our son Gia on the 30th of April. And please pray for my wife for complete healing. She tore while giving delivery. And I’d also like to ask for prayer for me and my wife for reconnection in our marriage because lately we've been feeling incredibly distant from each other and I just I thank the Daily Audio Bible family out there. Thanks for keeping us up in prayer. Thanks bye.

Good morning Brian and Daily Audio Bible family my name is Glenn, and we have a son that has had a really bad alcohol problem that came to a head with his family in a pretty tragic way. He ended up being shot but God miraculously saved him, and he's had an awakening that is very real but he's in a place right now of trying to sort his life out and he wants…he wants the help that he needs, and he has a real firm faith in God. It's been difficult but we're just asking that you might pray along with us, that the things that need to occur will and that God will be gracious to him and his family and that he will touch his wife and children and comfort them and just that His will be done. Appreciate you guys. Love you very much. Glenn and Sharon.

[glare0322]

h.i.v.e. head canons

just some character and relationship/friendship head canons :)

laura

- plays the piano and quite well. she doesn’t want to play much at h.i.v.e. because it reminds her of scotland and her family. after book eight, she plays a lot more frequently cause she really sees h.i.v.e. and the people there as her home.

- is not organized in anything but school and files on her computer. her brain runs a million miles an hour which leads to things getting messy fast.

- becomes a lot closer with raven after the greenhouse since they now have a bit of shared trauma especially in the fact anastasia favored to torture both of them.

- still sucks at driving even after h.i.v.e.

- after h.i.v.e. laura goes and lives with her family for a month back in scotland. they talk about h.i.v.e., shelby and her other friends, whats been happening here, and other general catching up topics. mary (mrs. brand) takes a special interest in meeting otto and laura reminds her mom every day not to make a big deal about it. yet she still counts down the days until she gets to meet her daughter’s boyfriend.

otto

- gets very frustrated when he can’t grasp certain concepts or master specific skills. he is known as the boy genius after all.

- went through an edgy phase while at h.i.v.e. not emo, but he would throw in more hurtful quips towards shelby during their usually playful spits and his jokes were just a little too dark. otto got a lot more detentions during this time and even the thought of trying to escape again reoccurred in his mind. he eventually noticed how wing was not a fan of it and slammed the breaks. of course everyone still makes fun of him for it.

- if you don’t think otto wouldn’t cry at the sight of his newborn child/ren then um...you’re wrong

- he looks back on his little prime minister scheme with pride and cringes terribly at it. on one hand, it was his beginnings and the device he made not only worked but was something like no other. and then he remembers how he made the prime minister moon everyone. when he was younger it was hilarious, now that he’s a tad older otto hates the fact he did that. there is just something immature and lacking taste about the whole thing.

- lives in sweaters/jumpers. i know this one is random, but something about them just suits otto.

wing

- has a gentle singing voice. he only sings lullabies to his kids and if one of his friends needs it. besides that wing does not sing often. it’s always a treat when he does.

- wing is really scared to be a dad. the thought of being like his father is incredibly scary to him.

- i really can not see wing becoming a villain but an antihero, now that i can definitely see. his methods are immoral in the sense he is still technically a murder, but he only goes after truly evil corporations. like human trafficking kind of evil.

- he teaches his kid/s self-defense and martial arts.

- trilingual and speaks english, japanese, and mandarin. the first two are canon to the story but i feel like his parents probably would have taught him at least some mandarin.

shelby

- shelby hated how laura would stay up for hours in the night tapping away on her computer. however when she moved out, it seemed weird not to fall asleep to the sound of a typing keyboard.

- if there is a h.i.v.e. gymnastics team/program (since there is a water polo team) shelby would totally do it. she waves to her friends before her round and even sometimes blows a kiss to her supportive boyfriend who is always there to see her.

- after h.i.v.e. she pursues gymnastics professionally. it provides the same wealth she was used to back with her parents, she likes to do it, but most importantly it’s an amazing cover up for why she’s traveling so many places around the world. (to steal of course) it also funds these trips and gives her, and wing for that matter, a great public image. plus she likes the spotlight a bit.

- i’ve said this before but shelby eventually gets lessons from raven. i just love this idea with my whole heart especially because how different these two are.

- had a bit of affluenza before h.i.v.e. which played into her desire for stealing diamonds along with her crappy parents. (my theory on shelb’s parents is right here)

laura and otto

- otto adores laura’s piano playing. there is something peaceful about it to him which he finds really comforting.

- they go to university together in scotland and help each other get through it. the two live in an apartment together go to school then see each other after classes at home.

- laura has some zero ptsd and it occasionally effects her relationship with otto in the sense she gets flashbacks and is genuinely scared. otto completely understands this though and is super patient with her. obviously it bothers him since he’s not zero, but he understands why she’s experiencing this and loves her enough to put his annoyance aside for her.

- these two wanted their kids’ names to be after someone. so if they would ever have a daughter her name would be lucy and the middle name of their son would be wing. laura wanted to include shelby but it just didn’t fit anywhere.

- if otto can’t find a shirt, then laura is wearing it. she wears his clothes super frequently and he won’t complain. she looks cute :,)

laura and shelby

- shelby likes things to look pretty, so she ends up being the one that keeps their room tidy, makes the beds, and other cleanly stuff like that. especially when they live together outside of h.i.v.e. she does the dishes pretty often, keeps their room looking nice, and stocks their fridge. laura is messy, but it doesn’t effect her much cause shelbs takes care of it. she doesn’t mind and only teases laura when people are over to embarrass her (all in good fun).

- laura doesn’t like girly things (we been knew). shelby tried for a while to get her into these things and a few stick on: nail polish, very light make up, and shopping. but never and i mean never would shelby make laura do something she didn’t want to. of course laura introduces shelby to her more geeky/nerdy stuff. they watch superhero shows together, shelbs has a black widow t-shirt in her closet now, and even some basic hacking codes.

- laura didn’t like shelby at first not only because of her nasty personality, but because she was a lot like the girls who would talk about laura behind her back.

- basically canon, but shelby was the number one ottra shipper. she had been rooting for them since day one of h.i.v.e. laura comes to her for advice with otto and shelby consoles her when lucy and otto get together. they both were disappointed the two didn’t get together.

- laura is really good at baking and shelby asks her once to help her bake something for wing. (she was really trying y’all) long story short, even laura couldn’t help shelby’s terrible baking skills and they set off the fire alarms in their apartment along with the sprinklers.

wing and otto

- otto wanted to do one of wing’s workouts despite his best friends many warnings it would be rough. it was safe to say otto underestimated the intensity of the workout.

- oh god the scene where these two will eventually leave each other to go move on past h.i.v.e. is just absolutely gut wrenching. they both acknowledge how the other had such an influence on their lives and hope to see them prosper in life. honestly this is like a rare moment where i can see wing legitimately crying.

- so we all know how wing has half the overlord protocol necklace (he has yang) if shelby doesn’t get the yin half then otto should because he kinda fits the yin meaning and is best bros with wing.

- for wing’s “bachelor party” they honestly just get all the guys from h.i.v.e. together and hang out for a couple hours. after, however, he and otto go out and go have some fun doing morally gray criminal activity.

- they still sometimes speak in japanese to each other on missions and stuff or if they need to plan something without anyone else knowing.

shelby and wing

- they move permanently to america, but visit china and japan quite frequently.

- one of the first things shelby does after she and wing get out of h.i.v.e. is watch a bunch of disney movies and american movie classics so he can understand the pop culture references she has been making for the past five years.

- i totally think shelby gets the other half over otto, or at least a replica. there’s kinda set up for this as well, the other half (yin) is known as the feminine half.

- if they would ever have a daughter her name would be mei or raven.

- she always knows exactly what to get him as a gift or even just in general. she’s observant and can pick up on what he needs before he does. wing has mentioned before shelby is a little...less predictable but he tries his hardest and oh my goodness does shelby appreciate his efforts. of course it irritates her, but she knows her slightly emotionally-unavailable boyfriend is trying an insane amount to sort through her emotions right.

shelby and otto

- they totally bond over how wing is great, but have an urge to smother him in his sleep because of the obnoxiously loud snoring

- menaces to the public when these two are together. i couldn’t even begin to tell you all the crafty things that would conspire between these two. pranking teachers, seeing who can steal the answers first, racing in stealth or in fitness classes. (wing beats both of them in combat/fitness so their efforts are often pointless)

- when they first came to h.i.v.e. shelby was taller than otto, by quite a margin too. she teased him into another galaxy about it. so when the day came that otto was officially taller than her, she mourned the countless jokes that could no longer be made.

- asks a lot of those “wait who logically thought to make butter?” questions. they also argue whether these people were geniuses or a new level of stupid. (seriously who thought to mix together milk until it gets to a solid consistency and then eat it?)

- they have to live together for one month after h.i.v.e. in the beginning, they like wanted to choke each other, but by the end of the month they were upset to not live with each other any more. (fic is dropping soon 🙈)

wing and laura

- after the greenhouse incident, laura went to wing asking him to teach her some martial arts since she felt really weak physically while in there. he doesn’t initially think it’s the best idea, but laura convinces him it will be okay.

- they’re a lot better friends then people would initially think. she hugged him like twice in the first book alone and is grateful for him saving her life. laura and wing seem like the two that just relax with each other. no shenanigans, no combat, honestly just vibing. they drink tea and watch murder mystery shows while catching up on the latest things and theorizing about the show.

- the entire gang goes to tokyo all together at one point in their life. laura and wing go to all the historical places in the city and chat about them for hours.

- they go on hikes together. that’s it. i’m right and you know it.

- i always imagined at least once wing decided to try and take the high road instead of cheating by asking laura to tutor him. it worked pretty well for him and now whenever he needs help with work, he just goes to laura and they work through it together.

[tslasvegas]

Episode 8: “On the upside we got the numbers.” - Andrew (who is then voted out by those numbers)

It’s always a sad and unfortunate thing when a player needs to leave a game for personal reasons. I’m wishing Kevin all the best! 

Welp. I don't wanna say that this sucks, but this sucks. My closest ally walked from the game, and I hope he's ok. I really hope everything is ok with him. But now, I'm a green in a world of pinks. What my pink friends don't realize though, is I have a Safety Without Power advantage. Nobody knows about it. So if we lose, they cannibalize themselves, and that will be a sight to see. But I'd like to keep my advantage for as long as possible. But if we lose, that'll be a fun tribal council. I can only hope it's a double tribal. Now this - this is a redemption arc.

If a merge at 13 is next, then we are done! ugh. 

MERGE HAPPENS

We merged!! And I only had to attend a single tribal council in the premerge with 8 eliminations. That’s wild! We’re sitting here in merge with 7 OG Palazzo, 3 OG Bellagio and 3 OG Luxor. If Palazzo sticks together, we’d have the majority whichever way you look at it. However, I don’t imagine that group is going to stick together very long. Joey wants to get myself and Jaiden into single digits. I’d love to help get Jake into single digits as well. And I’d also like to get Livingston to at least 6th place. Honestly a group of that 5 sounds like a pretty good idea, and I might pitch it to Joey later today. And now we’re doing mastermind! A game I love but rarely ever win. I usually come close and I’m hoping this time around I can snag a win and be safe this first tribal. Nothing is scarier than the merge round of the game. Anything at all can happen. There’s still some idols and extra votes floating around, maybe some steal a votes too. There’s also that safety without power and the legacy advantage, which may be able to be played this round? Exciting things are brewing im sure. 

We made the merge!!

So OG Palazzo must be tight. Good thing Steph and Joey are still reaching out. But I don't know if we can build up a resistance with the non-OGPalazzo. I mean, in theory, it can happen. 6 of us, with a steal a vote. But so much has happened voting on opposite sides, I don't know if it is doable. We can try. Better to go out blazing at 13th, than just waiting for your turn to be voted out before F7.

I MADE IT TO MERGE AGAIN... okay I feel good about my surroundings, as well as the people I’m next to. OG Palazzo wants to go all the way to Final 7, but I know that ain’t gonna happen, cause I’m turning on them as fast as humanly possible. I need others to see that I’m a strengthener to their games, and now that its every player for themselves, I think I can grab some allies and make shit happen. I have a Legacy Advantage, and I’m just trying to get to 6.

I’m sad I lost all my chips. On the upside we got the numbers

MERGE BITCH

Ok but for serious I don't have much to say so I'm just going to do an assessment of everyone on the tribe. Andrew - I thought I was gonna like Andrew bc I thought he was c*te then I find out he likes The Sims so there was something easy for us to talk about!! But then... come to find out. He's not really interested in talking I guess. So I'm just going to leave him alone and not carry on a conversation. Ben - WHY is Ben still here. I'm so annoyed. Ben tries so hard to be my ally but I don't trust him that much. Before the merge, he pitched a plan to pool our coins (meaning: I had to send him all of mine) so that I could spin the wheel and avoid going bankrupt. Then he said we're a final two. I was like,,, no thanks. I feel like he's going to blow up his game at some point, but I just gotta pretend better to be on his side. Idk how to do that exactly... Jake - Jake has been THE biggest surprise of the merge to be honest. I actually really like Jake. He's a little "irritating" I guess, but more in the sense that he is just pretty bro-y and that's not my energy. I respect Jake's desire to be great in Tumblr Survivor, we have that in common here. I think right now, Jake and I are as close as you can get to working together without actually being a legitimate alliance. I want to see where this takes us because he's a cool guy and I really feel bad for talking shit about him before the merge. Jeff - Part of me likes Jeff, but part of me views him as the enemy simply because he's part of the "Palazzo 7". I want to try and work on Jeff because maybe he and I see things the same way? I don't think this game is strictly "seven strong" like Joey perpetuates, I'll get to that in a minute though. Anyways, I want to see how things go with Jeff cuz he seems like a cool dude and I'm definitely a meninist and want to be his bitch! Joey - I hate that I'm in a position where I both know Joey is vital for my game right now, but also that I can't stand his strategy. I like him as a person, let's make that very clear for the post-season - I just don't subscribe to his idea that there's a seven person alliance (which btw includes him according to numbers???) running the show. I will definitely feel Joey out some more before I make any decision to attach myself to him fully or throw him to the wolves. John - THREAT. I'm on high alert for John and kinda trying to maintain a safe, social-distancing-approved level of space between us. I think that John is definitely running things at least in one or two circles and I don't want him to turn that target around on me. I also can't let him know that I'm onto him. John is probably playing it where everybody just likes him and includes him in plans, but in the event that he is pulling strings, that's where the issues start. Kailyn - I don't really care for Kailyn anymore tbh. I kinda think Kailyn is playing a good under the radar game and I think it's in a lot of people's benefit to send her off to the jury sooner rather than later. I have no read on who she's close with though so that's the danger. Probably John? But who knows. Keegan - I also am surprised that I like Keegan as much as I do. He seemed a little bit too smart for his own good? But he's actually rather nice. He flops like I do but I think he's a danger if I'm not careful. I'll keep on this guy and hopefully he doesn't target me <3 I'd rather work with Keegan than against him especially now. 

Livingston - WOW I thought I'd like Livingston but goddamn this guy is BORING. Not only does he not message back, but he has nothing interesting to provide to a conversation. If he was the first person to go this round I wouldn't really be upset oop Pat - We talked a lot about drag race. We played an org together and I remember now that Pat was fucking IRRELEVANT so I'm surprised to see this new energy. Who are you and what did you do with the real Pat? Stephanie - I don't really like Stephanie's strategy either, she's just too damn likable and kind of floats on by, I wish she had left last time instead of Rachael because then it's likely Rachael gets the boot soon. But we'll see what happens. I just hope that me voting for her isn't going to kill our relationship and we can work together at some point, at least until she gets voted out. Xavier - I have a hard time reading Xavier. I think I'm calmed down from feeling threatened by him. I trust Xavier enough to not go and screw up a vote again, but does he trust me? Don't really know. I want to work with Xavier at least for a couple votes but I know that he and Ben aren't on good terms and Ben is a vote that I need right now :/ The issue I have with Xavier is that he is positioning himself to kinda be a doormat just doing whatever people want and not necessarily.. taking control of how people look at him I guess. He sticks out for being the "dad" on the tribe and doesn't bring a lot of his own personality to conversation - it's just really basic strategy. I don't know anything about him that I didn't have to go fucking find out about him on his public YouTube. Insert clown emoji here. Anyways, overall I feel okay about my chances on this tribe... So far. I honestly don't see myself playing a winning game right now - BUT it's final thirteen and there is a lot of time to turn that around for myself. I feel good in comparison to my previous Tumblr Survivor seasons because there hasn't been a vote where I've completely made myself stand out like a sore thumb. My head is in a good place to finish out this game strong, just gotta put the pedal to the metal and work shit out. Maybe win a couple challenges! Whatever twists are ahead... I'm not prepared. But I am going to walk away from this season for the better, one way or another. Eight people down, twelve left to go. 

Well, I came close to winning but unfortunately didn't. Kailyn won immunity and we had a twist where we all had to choose between two buttons. Aaaaand Kailyn now has immunity this tribal and next tribal. Lovely. After the challenge, Andrew immediately threw out Jake's name, which was worrying but I think Jeff and I have managed to sway things towards Ben. Which is a little scary, since it's highly possible he has an idol or advantage (though he did play an idol on himself at the Rachael boot. So maybe not?) Now, the question is going to become: how do Livingston and myself navigate these next few tribals with Jake? We need to keep him safe and the target off his back. There's also Joey and Jaiden who I definitely want to keep working with moving forward. I think I'm in a decent spot. I really don't see Jaiden or Jake keeping their mouth shut if my name comes up. I think I've managed to build enough of a bond with them that they won't target me. My concern is definitely Ben being a little sneak, as well as Kailyn and Xavier, who really don't talk at all. John... can also be kinda sneaky and he also has been super quiet. However, when all is said and done, I just want a single digit placement. I don't care what happens before/after that, just please let me get there. 

My first merge in 3 seasons of Tumblr Survivor, finally! It would be awesome if the tyrannical force of pink wasn’t here. Right now I’m practically a sitting duck. I’ve made connections with Jaiden and Joey who I just met, I’m hoping they’d watch my back. Ben and I are great friends from outside the game, we’re called the Jew-O Duo, for obvious reasons. I’m in a duo with Jeff called Jeff Squared, a duo with Pat called The Best Men, a trio with Liv and Keegan (that’s super dangerous cause I know they’re friends), and me John and Xavier are the Luxor Losers. I should feel protected - but I don’t. I need to keep working socially and hope that I can scoot by a couple more rounds. I wanna buddy up with Steph and Kailyn, I have no interest in working with Andrew after he flat out told me he wasn’t turning on Pink. It could be me tonight. We’ll just have to see.

....five seconds later

No. No no no no no no no. I'm sick of Andrew trying to get me out, and then going after my allies instead. I can't just sit here and let him walk all over me the entire game. He has been wishy washy and fake with me since I met him. I'm not gonna play a game of what ifs, I'm taking a gamble and gonna get his own tribe to flip on him. I've got enough information from Jeff, Pat, and Liv to spin into a lie. I know Andrew said my name - but Jeff and Keegan changed it to Ben, so if I tell Keegan that Andrew blamed him on my name coming up I think I can flip him. I can try to get John, Ben, and Xavier, Keegan can get Liv and Joey, that's 7. If it blows up in my face - Oh well. This is season 99! We're high rolling now.

Had a nice long conversation with Jake this morning. Andrew has been throwing my name under the bus for some reason? Well Andrew, better watch out because I’m driving that bus and swerving it at you. OG Palazzo is... not my favourite. Honestly I’m okay if it dies tonight. Jake, Livingston, Ben, Joey, Jaiden and myself can definitely switch things up. I imagine we can get John and Xavier on board as well, maybe even Kailyn. I was perfectly okay riding the pink wave for a few rounds, but Andrew you just had to go and mess that up. Why? For what reason? Hoping it’s you tonight. xoxo Gossip Girl

I feel good about tribal, rip Andrew I guess, but I'm nervous as hell for some reason that it could be me. It would be perfect because I don't even see it coming... :/

I don't know what happened, but there seems to be a "merging" of tribal lines. Which is good for me. The vote is going Andrew with 9. And the 4 are voting Ben. Or everyone is playing everyone. I am just happy I am not one of the options BUT I was told that Steph and I are being mentioned by people as a tight 2. Well, they're right, but I didn't want that to come out.

Andrew is being his paranoid self. And rightfully so. Unless I’m getting completely bamboozled, the vote should between 7 and 9 votes for Andrew, and between 6 and 4 votes for Ben. Fingers crossed this goes off without a hitch

Okay so premerge wasn’t too hard tbh. Just making friendships with my og palazzo. I just hope that every week people see someone else as less important to their game. I have a long mental game for this and I am prepared to take this game week by week and adjust to everything that comes. I just pray that I make it through this week and even if I lose Andrew I don’t mind tbh because then I have an idol to myself. I’m obsessed with Livingston tbh he’s so funny and I like a good amount of the people I didn’t get a chance to meet premerge so I think there’s good room to move about 

After last tribal I honestly want Ben gone. He’s kind of rude and frustrating. OG Pallazzo has the numbers so in theory we should be set but who knows? 🤷🏼‍♀️