#literally this used to be my whole entire thing

[glowettee]

✧ how to reinvent yourself without deleting everything this summer ✧

hey lovelies!! WELCOME TO SUMMER! so i've been obsessing over this idea of reinvention lately... like literally woke up at 3am last night to jot down notes in my phone because my brain wouldn't stop thinking about it?? summer always feels like this dreamy little pocket of time where anything is possible... where you can try on different versions of yourself between iced matcha lattes and sunset walks.

i know we've all been there... that moment when you're scrolling through pinterest at midnight and suddenly you're like "what if i just... became someone else??" (guilty of creating entire secret boards dedicated to my "french girl era" that never actually happened lmao). but the thing is, completely starting over is exhausting?? and honestly kind of impossible unless you're in a witness protection program??

so this post is for my girls who want that reinvention feeling without the whole dramatic disappearing act. because honestly? the you that exists right now is already pretty magical, we're just gonna help her shine in some new ways.

✧ why gentle reinvention just hits different ✧

i had this realization while reorganizing my bookshelf last week (yes, for the third time this month, don't judge me) the most interesting characters aren't the ones who completely transform overnight. they're the ones who slowly evolve, keeping their essence while discovering new facets of themselves.

like, remember in "emma" when she realizes she's been in love with mr. knightley the whole time?? she didn't become a different person, she just finally understood something that was already there. that's the kind of reinvention i'm talking about: the recognition, not rejection, of who you are.

✧ actually magical reinvention tips that feel like character development ✧

digital presence evolution (without the cringe factor)

• create a finsta where you post the aesthetic you're curious about but not ready to commit to (mine started as dark academia but somehow evolved into cottagecore with a side of astrology memes??)

• change your social media bios to describe who you're becoming, not who you've been

• make an email signature that makes you feel like the main character (mine has a tiny moon emoji that literally no one has commented on but makes me happy every time)

• curate a new spotify playlist with songs that feel like your "becoming" soundtrack (tip: add one new song every morning as a little ritual)

• start ending your texts with a new sign-off or emoji (i switched from "x" to "✨" and now my friends get worried if i don't include the sparkle)

• take selfies from a completely different angle than your usual (overhead instead of straight-on changed my LIFE)

tiny identity shifts that nobody notices but YOU

• give a slightly different name at starbucks, not completely different, just a variation that feels like an alter ego (i use "amelia" which is my middle name and it feels like slipping into another dimension for 5 minutes)

• create a secret signature scent combination by layering two perfumes you already own (vanilla + something citrusy has main character energy, trust me)

• change your handwriting slightly, make your y's loopier or dot your i's differently (sounds so minor but feels so intentional)

• develop a subtle personal symbol and incorporate it places only you would notice (i draw tiny stars on the corners of important journal pages)

• start carrying something unexpected in your bag that represents your new era (i have a tiny rose quartz crystal that literally no one knows about)

• choose a "power color" you don't usually wear and incorporate it somewhere small every day (even just as a hair tie or phone background)

space magic that costs zero dollars

• rearrange your room based on the energy you want to create (bed facing the window changed my sleep quality so much??)

• create a tiny altar/intention space somewhere private with objects that represent who you're becoming

• switch up where you do everyday activities (i started doing my skincare routine by the window instead of the bathroom and it feels like a whole spa moment)

• change the scent of your space. different candles, incense, or even just boiling cinnamon sticks on the stove

• put up photos from a completely different phase of your life than what you usually display

• rearrange your books by color or theme instead of author (my shelf organized by "books that made me cry" vs "books that changed my mind" feels so personal)

• sleep on the opposite side of the bed or with your head where your feet usually go (literally changes your dreams, i swear)

style whispers that feel like screams

• start wearing your hair in a completely new way just one day a week (slicked back bun on tuesdays has become apart of my routine)

• change where you wear your everyday jewelry. ankle bracelet instead of wrist, rings on different fingers

• try "dopamine dressing" where you wear something purely because the color makes you happy, not because it "goes" with anything

• experiment with makeup placement rather than buying new products (blush higher on cheekbones or across nose bridge instead of apples of cheeks feels revolutionary)

• wear the "special occasion" clothes on random weekdays

• try to add one unexpected accessory to elevate basic outfits (a silky scarf tied on your bag handle)

• match your nail color to your current emotional goal rather than your outfit (blues for calm, reds for confidence)

routine alchemy that changes everything

• take a completely different route home, even if it's longer

• switch when you shower AND the temperature (night showers ending with 30 seconds of cold water changed my sleep quality)

• read the last page of a book first before starting it (chaotic energy but changes how you perceive the story)

• change where you sit in every familiar setting... different spot on the couch, different chair at the dining table

• set alarms for weird specific times (9:43 instead of 9:45) so you actually notice them

relationship refreshers that feel magical

• respond to texts with voice memos if you usually type (this transformed my friendship with my long-distance bestie)

• ask people completely different questions than usual ("what made you smile today?" instead of "how was your day?")

• suggest a different type of hangout than your usual (art gallery instead of coffee shop, sunrise instead of brunch)

• share something slightly vulnerable if you're usually private (i told my friend about my secret passion for astrology and now we have the best conversations about it)

• write actual handwritten notes to people instead of texting

• create little rituals with friends that feel special

• be the first to suggest plans if you usually wait for others (this tiny shift literally expanded my social circle overnight)

mindset magic that costs nothing

• choose a new word to eliminate from your vocabulary (i stopped saying "sorry" before asking questions)

• pick a new word to deliberately use more (i've been using "delightful" instead of "cool" and it makes ordinary things feel magical)

• create a secret personal holiday that only you celebrate (i have "manuscript monday" where i work on my secret novel for just 20 minutes)

• start a collection of something weird and specific (i collect interesting sugar packets from cafes and it makes every coffee shop visit feel like a treasure hunt + i get to discover new food brands).

i literally started taking a different route to my morning coffee last month and ended up discovering this tiny bookstore that's now my favorite place?? sometimes the smallest detours lead to the biggest discoveries.

the most interesting people aren't completely different versions of themselves every season. they're just constantly evolving.

xoxo, mindy 🤍

p.s. make sure to rest this summer, you're gonna need it <3

[cabin13cappuccino]

Jackie. I love your writing + how your brain works. And what you wrote about Will is so beautiful and true. So know I say this with love and respect: I think the above includes a reductive take on Nico's grief to the point of erasing it and his growth. I do think there is an easy remedy that strengthens what you have written, though.

My thesis is the following: Nico's grief is a backpack by the time he starts dating Will only because he lived with it as ballast trying to drown him and he worked through it. He is uniquely positioned to be the Beatrice to Will's Danté to help guide Will to do the same.

Let's start with some textual support:

Nico offering himself repeatedly for the "a soul for a soul" exchange as evidenced by the conversation in BotL we overhear from Percy's dream is peak self-hating behavior. He'd rather give up his life to bring his sister back, who would then be free of him (the very thing that drove her to the Hunters in the first place). Yes, he wants her back, but if given a choice between bringing her back and continuing to live, his first move was to offer himself. That's simultaneously indicative of love and of how little Nico regarded his own life.

He says he hated himself in HoH because he had feelings for Percy, i.e. the guy he held responsible for his sister's death. Even in the context of internalized homophobia, how could he not have construed that as a betrayal of her? His grief is fueling his self-loathing.

Now let's zoom out a bit:

When Nico lost Bianca, he lost the only person in the world he knew (and remembered) loved him. His only caretaker, his only family. That is a grief you, by definition, cannot bury. You have to face it because it obliterates your world. It was a grief that destroyed his life: he became homeless, alone, and obsessed with getting her back. He was sleeping on the banks of the Styx. Once it was clear Bianca didn't want to be brought back, Nico was visibly set adrift. That scene in BotL as the quest group is leaving the ranch and asking Nico to come along very clearly has him broken: he looks like he hasn't slept, he's wearing an oversized bathrobe (not exactly the dress of someone who is a paragon of mental health), and the shadows are literally reaching for him.

Now, that is a turning point: after that, Nico threw himself into the fight against Kronos. This is the point where you can argue that the grief starts becoming an inspiration in his life, but I wrote a whole thing about how he behaves in a way that demonstrates - at best- a reckless disregard for and devaluing of his own life. It's not until the back half of HoH (a little) and BoO where he begins to be challenged on the "please use me up until there's nothing left otherwise what am I good for" mentality and starts to move away from it.

The Solangelo contrast is more the juxtaposition of Nico's "my grief has blown up my entire world, internal and external, and left me with nothing so I have to claw my way back through it or remain stuck forever" versus Will's "my grief blew up my internal world but my external world kept demanding I push it down and be useful so I stomp on it until it chokes me".

tl;dr: Nico had no choice but to face his grief. Will was never given the choice to do so.

I'm sorry Jackie plz don't hate me

every time i write will. no matter in what way. teasing laughing breaking or intimate. he is soaked in quiet grief. no matter what i try. whereas nico when i write nico he can be focused.

i think the difference is like. nicos grief propels him. he has leaned into it as long as hes had it for support. for inspiration. it has always been a thick cloud behind him, to fall back onto should he want to need to. he knows intimately how to deal with his grief because he never tried not to. it does not surprise him or interrupt him, it is so much under his control...because he wants it there. to him it is love. he has never hated himself because bianca was killed. he hated percy. his father. kronos. camp.

whereas will...will shoved his grief down so deep that he has no control when it bubbles up and blows in his face. he does not know how to stop it and it is too far down for him to control it. he is swimming desperately on top of a bubbling geyser and getting constantly burned by the heavy jetstreams. and he blames himself for drowning. you know

nico's grief is a backpack will's is a rock on a chain he drags everywhere and keeps trying only to lengthen the links that continue to make the weight heavier

[writingwisterias]

Don’t think I’ve sent you an ask yet, but I have the perfect one!

Can you do the ERAs Leon, but what kind of drink they would order if they went to a bar with the reader? It could alcoholic or non alcoholic. Also would be fun to see how they would respond to other men hitting on you at the bar with him standing right there 🤭

Hey shy 😘💕 I hope you enjoy it, I used my alcoholic knowledge for this one...I said I was churning these out finally....

Eras Masterlist Discord server

Warnings: Drinking 🤷🏼‍♀️

RE2: Definitely drinks cheap beer/vodka. He's not really got a Taste on what is decent alcohol. So he just drinks whatever's cheapest and does the job. I think on dates with the reader however he wouldn't drink, unless you were going out somewhere. His first dates vibes gives me more romantic and young love instead of dinner and drinks. In terms of people hitting on you, I think it would be more of a diplomatic approach until it's not aka until he loses his cool or you get touched etc

RE4R: Probably some shit IPA, crap taste with nothing really to it. Has a kick but it's not intense enough to be noticable. Literally there's no point in anyone trying to hit on you because he's staring at you like the sun is shining out of your ass. He also gives me needy/touchy drunk vibes so he's all over you anyway like a giant man child

Infinite Darkness: Loves it if you order the huge cocktails with the umbrellas or pitchers but he ends up drinking almost the whole thing because "it doesn't taste of alcohol". A guy just has to look at you wrong for Leon to be up in his business but more of in a cocky shameful way, like his intention is to embarrass they guy UNLESS he touches you, then she's swinging

Damnation: Spiced rum, neat as well so he really feels it in his chest. He might be adventurous with his flavors maybe having a fruity one but spiced is his favorite. He also gives me vibes that he would be itching for a fight, so he's almost hopefully someone takes a chance on you

RE6: Call me crazy but because of the % I think he would go for Gin. Neat as well, no mixer. I think he really likes the straight up alcohol taste, it lingers and burns. He gets drunk faster and if you are at an event then he will add a mixture just so people don't really pay attention. Not a chance for people to do anything with you, he's touchy and needy.

Vendetta: I think he would be more of a whiskey drinker however in the novel of vendetta he's drinking Beer. So Its probably more of a "if it can get him drunk" type of drinking. I think he would always order the reader something cute and fruity like a Pina Colada or Sex on the Beach. I don't think he would do anything drastic about a guy hitting on you but he's also not going to be chill about it. Depends on how far the person takes it and if he's looking for a fight

Death Island: I don't think he would have quit drinking entirely, but it would probably be something with less %. Maybe like a cider? I don't think it would be a very fruity cider either just something with a bit of a bitter taste. There's no chance a guy can even make a move on you, he's got you in his side the entire time.

[frozenwolftemplar]

Carmen Sandiego Money Headcanons

I said I'd do a longer post! ;)

(thanks and kudos to @mmaricarmen23 @bisexually-finger-guns @backofthepencil11 for spurring this)

-- Growing up, Carmen really only knew about money in a vague, conceptual sense: money was a thing that VILE needed in order to function and was an indicator of how valuable something was (with 'something' being the 'imports' that were brought to the Island). That's it. Once a year it needed to be...whatever Cookie Booker did, but other than that you didn't need to think about it. Pretty easy low-maintenance stuff.

-- She got a bit of a wake-up call when she left the Island and hadn't yet started lining her pockets with VILE's ill-begotten funds: apart from a roll of bills in the pocket of Cookie's coat and some of his own savings account money that Player quietly wired to her (don't tell his parents), she was flat broke. It was here that Player first grasped just how...few life skills his bestie possessed.

-- Carmen: Player, guess what? I saw this place off the highway that teaches you to ride a motorcycle and-

Player: Red. Please tell me you didn't...

Carmen: ...Why wouldn't I?

Player: How much did this cost?

Carmen: I dunno, a hundred?

Player: RED!!! THAT'S LIKE YOUR MOTEL ROOMS FOR THE WEEK!

Carmen: But! I can ride a motorcycle now. 😎

-- He is now bestie/hacker/money manager

-- Once they joined her, Zach and Ivy had a hard time wrapping their heads around (a) how much money their new friend had (b) how freely she spent it, and (c) how willing their new- boss? friend? something?- is to spend it on them.

Zach: Whoa! You wanna eat here? Isn't it kinda...expensive? (it's literally an Olive Garden)

Carmen: No worries; tab's on me. 😉

Zach: ....Ives, we died and went to Heaven. 😍

Carmen: ...We're in Ohio?

-- It was...hard to get used to. Especially for Ivy; she'd been the one to manage the money when her and Zach were on their own (he would have spent it all at McDonald's, something he has freely admitted) and is well aware of how much things costs and what smart spending looks like. Seeing someone basically burning through a bank account (never mind it seems to be bottomless?) is...well.

Ivy: Boss, you can't buy these! $400 is way too much for sunglasses!

Carmen: ...It is?

Ivy: .....YES!!!

-- And she just...doesn't feel completely comfortable with sponging off someone they just met, even if she is really nice and offering to pay for room service and hotel room movie rentals and anything else they could ever need or want. That's not the world she came from; in her experience, everyone has an angle they're playing, and money is how they keep you beholden to them. Plus this whole vigilante thing? Yeah, it had to be a one-and-done for this...she wants to say 'heiress?' She made that mistake with Eddie, and she's not making it again.

-- Zach is more comfortable with the spending sprees. He's a little uneasy at first (he, too, knows the value of a dollar), but quickly and easily adapts to a life where he doesn't have to feel shy about asking for seconds.

-- Update: Carmen really doesn't have an angle; they really are doing this vigilante thing, she really is footing the bill, and she really expects nothing in return. She also, Ivy quickly realizes, has no idea how money works beyond buying things. Good thing she has practice explaining this stuff to Zach

Ivy: The drugstore sells pairs for less than $12 that work just as well. Just go there to-

Carmen, already wearing the sunglasses: Still getting these

Ivy: At one point, my entire wardrobe cost less than that. Think about that for a minute.

-- This is not going to be easy.

-- Shadowsan feels some guilt for not teaching Carmen about money management better, and for being the reason she spends like it's her last day on earth (which it could be with VILE hunting them but we're doing that today), but he doesn't take much action beyond occasionally remarking on something being too expensive. It's not like he was responsible with money when he was her age. Or ever.

-- No one pursues money management 101 in earnest, though. Ivy and Zach and Shadowsan and Player...they all know how unfair the world can be, and all know what it is to be dealt a bad hand. They all (well, the kids; Shadowsan has Guilt (TM)), to an extent, kind of....feel they deserve this (hey! tons of people far worse than them get to have nice things; why can't they?). They want and like this lifestyle, of jet setting and high living, the fantasy come real. It's fun, and really nice to not have to worry about being unable to afford their next meal or next month's rent. Plus they like the perks; the cars and tools, the bayside warehouse and the super-fast CPU Player wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise. It's hard to want to stop all that.

-- Maybe they can just...ignore that part of Carmen's Life Skills curriculum? Wolfe's secret accounts were seized by VILE, so a good chunk of this ill-begotten money is technically Carmen's by rights. The interest alone is a king's ransom, so she...doesn't really need to learn budgeting, right?

-- Carlotta disagrees.

-- She wants her daughter to be able to manage her own money. Responsibly.

Carlotta: Hija, you spent almost $200 (US dollars for simplicity's sake) on shampoo this month. Do you truly think that's sustainable?

Carmen: ...Yeah? I mean, I recycle the bottle.

Carlotta: Dear Lord. 🤦‍♀️

-- It's hard to see just how ignorant she is about money; it just reminds her how her baby was raised to be a weapon against humanity, one who was never meant to exist outside VILE. But stewing over it won't change matters, and anyway, after missing so much of her life, she actually welcomes to chance to teach her daughter Life Skills. And anyway, Carmen has a good head on her shoulders; how hard could it be?

Carlotta: Now, mira, see these bottles? The same size as the expensive one, but cost far less. You'd have more money for other necessities.

Carmen: Like the expensive shampoo?

Carlotta: ....Like food.

-- This may take longer than she thought...

[doublel27]

you can only remember (what you want to forget) - T - 2.5K

Ramil/Paytai - Episode 4 Coda/Deleted Scene

“Your highness, you shouldn’t be the one to do this,” Paytai softly chides, a familiar refrain. “It’s beneath you.”

or

In the aftermath of Ramil's stunt and his father's rage, Ramil tends to Paytai.

Read on AO3 ~*~

The duality of skin has always amazed Ramil. No one tells you that a whip can leave clothing perfectly intact and leave the skin beneath with bruises, welts, and places where the skin has literally popped open. Then it heals, raised and stronger somehow. Frankly, Ramil is surprised that there are still places on Paytai’s back where the skin will still pop open under clothing rather than just a myriad of welts and bruises. 

But here they are, red and raw with trails of blood weeping down Paytai’s back. 

The feeling of sick begins to rise in his throat, and the tremor in his hands won’t stop. Ramil closes his eyes and forces a deep breath in through his nose and curses internally about how unsteady it is. He should be better than this, stronger at least. Ramil certainly isn’t the one who was beaten. 

“Your highness, you shouldn’t be the one to do this,” Paytai softly chides, a familiar refrain. “It’s beneath you.”

His eyes snap open; they're still in Paytai’s room that holds all the signifiers of a man of Paytai’s station and nothing truly visible of the man Paytai is. They’ve never known anything besides the opulence of his father’s palace, with the brocade walls and ornate furniture. There are hints of Paytai’s choices, if you know what to look for, a rose from Prince Khanin’s coronation drying on a shelf, a rapier that Paytai took to be repaired months ago that remains. There’s a framed photo of the parents that gave him over to the Bhuchongpisut family and seemingly never looked back. He wonders if the land and additional title they received in exchange for their son’s life was worth it to them. 

Ramil forces his attention back to the situation at hand. The silver  tray beside him is set up the way it always is: a silver bowl with fresh water in one corner, green cloths freshly laundered and carefully folded, to their right a bundle of antiseptic swabs, further right still sit two pots of salve: one for bruises and one for open wounds, and then finally bandages and a fever patch.

Twenty years. It’s been twenty years since the first time his father made Ramil stand and watch as he beat Paytai. When he was little he wondered if it would ever get easier. Somehow, for Ramil, it’s only ever gotten worse. 

The crack of the whip is still a shock every time. And now Paytai doesn’t cry like he used to, somehow holding back the pain. His hands aren’t even shaking as he sits between Ramil’s thighs and carefully launders his blouse in his own bowl of water, a drying rack to his left, in an attempt to keep the blood from setting. 

“You’re my responsibility,” Ramil snaps, the imperiousness a replacement for his impotence.

And it’s a lie. Paytai has been responsible for Ramil their whole lives.  

Ramil is however responsible for the damage done to Paytai. It is, as his father likes to remind him, entirely his fault Paytai is like this. So he clenches his jaw, takes his shaking hands and picks up a clean cloth and dips it into the warm water. He slides a long, gentle stroke down Paytai’s back, listening for any hint of pain. The only thing he hears is the soft sluicing of water as Paytai continues with his task. 

So Ramil continues with his own. Gently wiping away the blood, leaving the bowl of fresh water tinged with pink. 

The first time his father had deemed them old enough and the infraction serious enough to warrant the bullwhip, Ramil had wailed in concert with Paytai demanding that someone, anyone, help him. When the nurse had apologetically said they were forbidden from helping as this was Ramil’s punishment, he had ordered her to bring him the proper materials and tell him what he needed to do. 

This is his karma. 

“How did you envision this ending, your highness?” Paytai asks, as he sets the blouse aside on the rack and begins working on his undershirt. 

Even now, Ramil doesn’t think he ever envisioned the ending. Not really. He knew what he wanted them to feel: lost, alone, helpless, terrified.

“You weren’t supposed to be home!” Ramil snaps, instead of answering, because the only thing he could actually envision as the end was this. And how he might avoid it.

“He would have just picked someone else,” Paytai reasons. Before Ramil can point out that was his hope, Paytai whispers, ”or waited.”

The ill feeling comes back. Ramil forces it back down while opening an antiseptic swab with more force than is necessary, and the swab nearly flies out of his hands. Clenching it and his jaw, Ramil narrows his eyes and starts on the first wound. 

“What were you thinking?”

“Clearly, I wasn’t,” Ramil grinds out. 

It’s a familiar question and again the answer is always the same. He’s been called thoughtless his whole life. Any time Ramil attempts to try to think how his father might, what his father would expect, it always ends the same. 

There’s a loud hissing sound and a splash. Ramil pulls back as if burned. He hadn’t even realized how hard he was cleaning the wounds. 

A hand covers his own, and Paytai is looking at him with those dark eyes. “Talk to me.”

The request is softer and kinder than Ramil deserves. Feelings threaten to choke him and Ramil breaks eye contact. 

“Turn around,” he orders, forcing the feelings away. “You know the longer we wait the worse the chance of scarring will be. I had the doctors at the medical center work on a new formula.”

“P’Ramil,” Paytai says, dropping the formality required of their divergent ranks. 

And to that, Ramil has no defenses. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath and lets it out. When he opens his eyes, Paytai is still looking up at him with a love Ramil has never deserved.

“Turn around, please,” Ramil asks, gentling his voice from a command to a request. 

Paytai gives him a nod and turns back around, but doesn’t pick up his washing. Instead he pillows his chin on his knees. The price of Paytai’s acquiescence is of course that Ramil also complies. 

Ramil forces himself to be gentle as he resumes cleaning the open wounds. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I just…” 

The rage is still there, simmering under the surface. It’s not even that Khanin’s arrival means that there are more ways for him to fail to live up to his father’s expectations and no guarantee of the Bhuchongpisut family reascending to the throne. 

“He was raised outside of Emmaly with no idea of his station, or decorum, or proper etiquette, and everyone thinks the sun shines out of his fucking ass.”

“You’re jealous,” Paytai translates. 

And why the hell wouldn’t he be?! He’d spent the entirety of Prince Khanin’s coronation dance, as he had the dozens of official events that had come before, watching for any glimpse of Paytai. And then not only had Khanin dared to grab Charan but they had stayed in that damn embrace forever. As if they belonged together, center of attention. 

And then—

“I can’t even brush up against you in public and they got a whole damn publicity campaign after that fucking dance?!” Ramil asks, trashing the last of the swabs. It falls softly and not with the clatter he had wanted. 

The unfairness threatens to choke him. Ramil would give anything to dance with Paytai, except the one thing it would likely cost them—their ability to be together. If he had embarrassed his father on such a large scale, Ramil doesn’t know how his father would choose to torture him: would he just send Paytai away? Kill him and make Ramil watch? Or just go to his favorite long-term punishment of spacing the whippings out every three days so that Paytai would just start to heal before reopening the wounds. Sometimes he would lock them in separate rooms, afterward. His father particularly enjoyed leaving Paytai in a room with cameras so Ramil could see him but couldn’t get to him. 

Ramil picks up the fresh pot of salve and begins to carefully apply the new formula to the wounds across Paytai’s back. 

“Prince Khanin wasn’t raised as royalty,” Paytai reminds him, ”He doesn’t understand.”

“That’s not what bothers me!” Ramil yells, knowing he’d pointed out Khanin’s naivitate moments ago. “It doesn’t matter if he understands or not. It matters that he is allowed. That it was encouraged by the palace. That he is praised and called benevolent and kind and warm.”

When Ramil was young, he used to think it would have been better if he was the prince who had died. He could never be the son his father wants, no matter how hard he tries. Ramil had been certain that Prince Khanin would have been a good prince, one that made his father proud, the right sort of child to ensure his father’s legacy. The world might have been better off if Ramil had been the one to die, as he’d never been quite right as a prince of a royal house of Emmaly. Besides, Father considered Uncle Tharin soft. Chances were a child raised by Prince Tharin would have been given the grace to be a child. 

Now faced with the reality of Prince Khanin, Ramil hates it even more. Because they’re the same, Khanin and him. Except Khanin is free. He’s allowed to be loud and himself and touch a man that he shouldn’t and he shines when he walks into a room. And Ramil is aware that he is considered cold and remote, but what could he have been if he didn’t have to be exactly what his father expects at all times? 

“That’s not his highness’s fault,” Paytai reminds him, generous to a fault. 

“I know.”

“It’s not yours, either,” Paytai adds.

Ramil drops his hand from Paytai’s back.

“Do you know what I would do to be able to dance with you in public? To hold your hand? To add food to your plate at a formal dinner? To merely be allowed to stand side by side rather than have you remain a foot behind?”

“But I can’t. There’s nothing I can do that won’t end up…here.”

With a whip in his father’s hands landing across Paytai’s back. In this room that Ramil sneaks to through the servant’s passages with the fresh wounds and scars crossing Paytai’s back. This space is the only place they have to actually spend time together out of the surveillance of his father. And while Ramil tests the boundaries of what his father knows of and doesn’t speak on, he knows that if his father felt publicly humiliated it would be a different story. 

Nothing he can do that doesn’t end with fresh scars across Paytai’s back. He’s tried to be the son who wasn’t a disappointment. To be someone who his father saw as worthy and spare Paytai the pain of bearing the weight of Ramil’s failures. 

“It’s not fair,” he grumbles mostly to himself.

“It was never going to be.”

And just like that the rage he’d banked down to embers rages into a full fire again. Paytai’s words are true. Their lives were never going to be fair. But oh, watching Prince Khanin be offered even the illusion of choosing his fate when Ramil has known for years he will have to marry the wife of his father’s choosing, someone in whom Ramil will have no real interest or care in, and betray Paytai to bring fresh heirs to the Bhuchongpisut line. 

“How the hell can you be so damn accepting? Aren’t you furious?”

Ramil swallows the rage down every day, so much that it threatens to choke him. But the rage has become what he lives on. It sustains him in the moments he thinks about giving up. He cannot give up before his father dies and Ramil is able to spit on his grave.

“What should I do?” Paytai snaps back, turning his head to look at Ramil. “Rage about the room? Lose people in caves in a fit of pique?”

“Maybe!”

Paytai sniffs before turning his head back. His voice turns remote as he says, “You’ve got that quite covered for us, then.”

The rage gives way to shame again, in this endless cycle Ramil is impotent to escape. 

“I’m sorry. I’m no good at any of it.”

Not at being the Bhuchongpusit heir. Not at finding clever ways to outflank his enemies. Not at being able to envision the end from the beginning. Not at preventing the inevitable future for himself and Paytai.

“You’re good at plenty of things, your highness. You just let your emotions get the better of you.” Paytai leaves off the word <i>again</i> but Ramil still hears it.  

“Sometimes,” Ramil says, picking up the bandages to begin the final phase of tending to Paytai’s back. “I think my father would have preferred you as an heir to me.”

“No, your highness, I’m still the wrong sort entirely.” His voice has taken on a hint of amusement that Ramil has no idea where Paytai has pulled that emotion from.

“Phi,” Ramil insists, brain snagging on an entirely different problem in that sentence. “In here it should be phi.”

“Unless you’re cross with me and then it’s always your highness.”

“You really should leave.” Ramil does not add: me, this castle, the kingdom.

The bandages cover the wounds that will soon become scars, but it doesn't cover what has happened. Instead it’s another reminder of what is and what has always been. 

“There’s nowhere for me to go, phi. I’m just as trapped as you are.” Which hurts even more. Ramil can never be certain if Paytai would actually stay with him if they were to be freed. “I just wish you wouldn’t swipe at anything that reminds you we’re in this cage.”

“I really thought you would be out of town. That this one wouldn’t touch you.”

Paytai’s head sags further onto his knees as a shiver begins to take over his body. “I came back when I realized Prince Khanin would be staying with us. I knew how you felt,” Paytai slurs, voice becoming heavy with sleep. “I didn’t want you to have to face his royal highness and Charan alone.”

Paytai remains better than Ramil in every way, and Ramil will never actually deserve to have this man by his side. 

Ramil places the last bandage and cups his hands under Paytai’s elbows to support his companion to his feet. “The fever is starting to set in. Let’s get you into bed.”

The familiar cadence of wrapping Ramil in his night clothes, handing him some paracetamol, and putting a fever patch across his forehead take no time at all. He’s pliable now as Ramil ushers him under the covers. Paytai whines as Ramil steps away to ready himself for sleep. When he crawls under the covers,  Paytai finds his way into Ramil’s arms in a way that belies how tired and vulnerable he is at the moment. Ramil cannot hold him back, though, for fear of touching the wounds he’s just dressed. 

And in the dark of a lower bedroom, Ramil stares at the ceiling while Paytai shivers, and dreams of a world where they win, just once. 

[bedheaded-league]

I just binged all of Fawx & Stallion in like 2 days and it has an absolute chokehold on my brain so now I need to talk about all of the things I fucking loved about it because I'm super super duper normal about this show. Major spoilers ahead.

Like everyone else, I've replayed the "very sincerely yours" scene like 5 times already and it just doesn't get any less devastating/beautiful/cathartic. This is THE best post-Reichenbach reunion scene I have EVER seen in a Holmes adaptation, HANDS DOWN. Obviously the Reichenbach story is one of the most popular bits of the Holmes canon to retell, because it's just so crazy and ripe for raw emotion. But frequently I feel like the reunion scenes are either infuriating and completely emotionally unsatisfying (I'm looking at you, BBC) or beautiful and tender but still leaving us with the feeling that we're not getting the whole story (like with canon and Granada). This was beautiful, tender, harsh, painful, devastating, honest, and SO FUCKING SATISFYING. Jesus christ, I feel like this is the emotional catharsis Holmes fans have been waiting for since 1893.

I don't think I've ever heard an actor put SO MUCH into a single word as that fucking "Yours." Is it possible to tell someone that they're the love of your life and nothing in the world matters more to you than being with them in just one single syllable? Apparently! Because Rob Kauzlaric fucking did it! What the fuck!

I've never really had an answer for who my favorite Watson was before (I love Burke and Hardwicke, but I just have this very specific idea of Watson in my head that no actor has ever matched) but now I know who it is and it's Tom fucking Crowley. Fucking flawless performance. This Watson struck the perfect balance between being the kindest person you'll ever meet and also being sort of a bitch! He's long-suffering, he's funny, he's a chaotic bisexual who's a bit of a slut but has also been pining after the same man for ten years, he's The Guy Of All Time. His characterization was perfect and Tom Crowley gave him a perfect voice.

And GOD this interpretation of Holmes is so good. He's silly and endlessly annoying. He's a burnt out former gifted kid who's tied his entire self-worth to this cool thing he can do and how much he can impress everybody and so if he ever stops for one second he'll lose everyone he cares about. What a perfect character arc for him. He's desperately in love with someone who he thinks will never love him back because he can't imagine a reason for anyone to love him that isn't about the service he can provide to others. Out of all the characters, he has some of the most heartwrenching line deliveries. "It's too late." "Because he wrote about it." "No, no, I'll GET IT." "Very sincerely yours." FUCK

Listening to Filched Fork over again is so heartbreaking. Watson not mentioning the fork because he thinks it's just much less interesting compared to all of the dazzling things that Holmes does and also because he wants to keep the sweetest parts of Holmes to himself because those are private, but Holmes thinking that it means that the moment wasn't important *to him.* Watson literally begging Holmes how to do it (the writing, their relationship) correctly, desperately trying to reach out to the man he loves so that they can understand each other, and Holmes immediately closing himself off instead. Meanwhile we can see the hints of his impending burnout already happening here, which of course ties into his panic about Watson moving on without him if he can't be amazing all the time.

The way I absolutely screamed when I heard the thunk of the fork dropping on the table out of Fitzy's pocket. I mean I already figured out that it was Holmes (I feel like there were enough hints that we were meant to figure it out) but the reveal was SO GOOD.

Not only adapting the "This article is shit" "Oh really? I wrote it." scene but having HOLMES' LOVE CONFESSION DIRECTLY REFERENCE BACK TO IT??? THE MOMENT THEY FIRST BECAME FRIENDS???? TEN YEARS LATER??? AFTER SPENDING TEN YEARS KEEPING UP THE SAME INSIDE JOKE THAT ORIGINATED FROM THAT ONE CONVERSATION??? BECAUSE THAT DUMB JOKE WAS THE FIRST TIME HOLMES MADE WATSON LAUGH??? AND WATSON HADN'T LAUGHED IN MONTHS BECAUSE HE WAS TOO DEPRESSED FROM THE WAR??? I'M EATING THE WALLS

Holmes' nervous ADHD rambling my beloved

Holmes: "Hi, I'm Sherlock Holmes." James: "Nope."

James' monologue during the improv scene was so tender and heartbreaking and beautiful. It works so perfectly for James and Archie but also so perfectly for Holmes and Watson? God the fucking CHARACTER FOILS, FUCK.

Just in general the concept of the 224 gang being a foil to the 221 boys both in that Fawx/Stallion are bad at crime solving and Holmes/Watson are good at it AND that Holmes and Watson are in a fucked up situationship for a decade because they can't communicate but meanwhile James and Archie are in a healthy relationship because they actually talk about their feelings.

"Do you know how frustrating it is to love someone who doesn’t love themselves the way you love them? It’s like being told you're an idiot for breathing air." FUCK

James and Archie confronting the same problem that Holmes and Watson did, and in the end they didn't actually figure out the solution, but they love each other and they're in it together and that's all that matters.

Watson reading the book quotes while Holmes realizes that Watson's in love with him I'M SO NORMAL ABOUT THIS

"Well, the person saying that might have been biased." "Oh, is that what we're calling it now?" Archie passive aggressive queen

"Because he wrote about it" AAUUGGGHHH

Archie's impassioned speech about the difference between cooking and baking is so valid

"I really want to get rescued right now!" "YES CHEEEEFFF!!!" can you hear that sound in the background that's me losing my fucking mind

Holmes: Your relationship is doomed and love isn't real. James: Actually I think you're just stupid.

Archie saw Holmes stand there frozen solid making the shocked pikachu face as he realizes that the man he's been in love with for 10 years has loved him back the whole time and then Archie immediately came up with an elaborate lie to manipulate this dramatic gay dumbass into actually going and talking to the man in question. What an icon.

Please tell me we're gonna get more Iphy in the next season because I'm in love with her and she's my wife now

[alacants]

Tell us more about this whole fic you plotted 👀

(ref: this photo)

WOW how kind of you to ask i was going to inflict this post on everyone anyway but it's much nicer to be prompted to do it. ^_^

fair warning that this is not actually novak/carlos, it's novandy with a side of sincaraz. (typical!) once again this was a joint production with anon bff although this time i nicely rewrote and streamlined everything instead of forcing you to read my chat history verbatim:

word on the street is that post-sinnerskaya, jannik is dating someone new. not just someone. A Boyfriend. (inspired by the alex socialmediamanager selfie, but identity is dealer's choice.) carlos is visibly miserable. novak is not that all impressed with sinner either. ginger dating someone other than his tennis-assigned special rival? unforgivable. his attempt to express sympathy results in carlos literally crying on his shoulder which is something he is really not equipped to deal with thanks. but. he does his best. because he likes carlos. which would be fine if no one saw this happen but unfortunately. someone did. 

and now juanki thinks carlitos somehow managed to get over sinner by dating djokovic which is... not. better. next thing you know juanki is trying to threateningly corner novak djokovic like keep your hands off my player. novak meanwhile is utterly horrified that anyone thinks he would want to date (or worse, hook up with) A TWENTY-ONE-YEAR OLD, like jesus CHRIST you guys am i the only sane person here???? <- not a position he can take very often lmao. by dint of supreme effort he avoids violence in favor of laughing in juanki's face. so juanki goes to the one person djokovic might actually listen to.

meanwhile, carlos is coping/acting out by hooking up indiscriminately. hurricane carlitos hits the atp tour, 12 dead 193 wounded. (or at least that's what it sounds like according to flavio cobolli, world's least reliable narrator. you make eyes at ben/matteo/flavio-ship-of-choice one time…) at which point two parallel streams of the rumor mill merge catastrophically to produce: hurricane carlitos stomped on djokovic's heart. or whatever he has in its place.

and just when novak thinks this can't get any worse, andy murray corners him to have A Serious Conversation which starts with "for what it's worth i know it can't have been easy all these years and i'm proud of you for how far you've come" and ends with aN INTERVENTION BECAUSE ANDY THINKS MAYBE NOVAK SHOULD TRY DATING SOMEONE HIS OWN AGE WHILE HE'S FIGURING THINGS OUT.

(sure, novak's down to date someone his own age. exactly his own age. say, a week apart.)

obviously this tangled web ultimately resolves to the satisfaction of all involved but not before everyone* has been humiliated within an inch of their lives. the end.

*even jannik, who wasn't actually dating this guy they just hooked up a couple times because jannik was lonely and yes, kind of horny, thanks for making him clarify this to THE ENTIRE WORLD. don't worry, jannik, you'll never have this problem again since you're about to experience actual hurricane carlitos.

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

I saw this post right now and it just felt weird to me. It was about some person counting exactly how many episodes Zuko was actually "terrorizing" the gaang and their conclusion was "only 9 episodes" and I guess they did that because we say "if you think that katara shouldn't forgive aang for a single mistake then why should she be with the guy who terrorized her and her friends for 2/3rds of the show".

I couldn't read all the points because my tumblr refreshed midway but I was counting along op and it became till 10 when weren't even halfway through the list for me?

Anyways all that is besides the point since the whole "number of episodes" thing is stupid the characters aren't counting their life in the show by the number of episodes it's their continuous life for them.

I don't really know how to articulate it properly. But just counting "the number of episodes" and saying "cmon he only was an asshole for 9 episodes that's not bad" is.. kind of a weird way to read the story.

And they concluded it with "that's why he's not comparable to zhao, ozai, azula or even minor douchebags like jet". And I ask... why not? Using op's on logic, if we count the exact number of episodes where these people were explicitly terrorizing the gaang it would be on par with him (maybe even less). Like, Jet wasn't even present for nine episodes!

My fucking God, the cope. Zuko was chasing the heroes around through the entire world for months, including when it put his own life in danger. And even when he wasn't, he sent an assassin after them. The ONE time he actually chilled, it was so out of character it literally made him sick to the point of spending a whole episode hallucinating because NOT being an asshole for five minutes completely broke his perception of himself.

Zuko has got to be one of the most relentless antagonist ever because he's stubborn as fuck. You know what? Fuck it, I'm checking the episode list and doing the math.

Jet terrorized the Gaang for 1 episode out of 61 (and not only did he regret it, he was forgiven by them).

Zhao's evil bastard count is 6 out of 61 (Winter Solstice Part 2, The Blue Spirit, The Deserter, The Northern Air Temple, and Siege Of The North parts 1 & 2). If we REALLY want to push it and include The Library and The Day Of Black Sun Parts 1&2 since his past actions affected caused trouble for the heroes, it brings him to an 9 episode count.

Azula, if we're counting only direct confrontations with the good guys, has her evil bastard count at 10 out of 61 (Return To Omashu, The Chase, The Drill, Appa's Lost Days, Crossroads Of Destiny, The Day Of Black Sun Part 2, Boiling Rock Part 2, Souther Raiders, and 2/4 of the finale). If we include her evil scheming against them/their side, which is fair, it'd add the episodes The Guru, Nightmares and Daydreams and the first part of the series finale to the list, bringing it to 14 out 61. If we want to push it and add the cliffhangers of the episodes Cave of Two Lovers, The Serpent's Pass and The Earth King to the list, she'd be at 17 out of 61.

Even if we take this bullshit "Zuko only terrorized the Gaang for nine episodes" nonsense seriously, that'd still put him in the top 2 of foes that put them through hell, losing to Azula only by four points. Not exactly a saint, to put it mildly.

Now let's look at the ACTUAL number of episodes in which Zuko got in a direct conflict with the Gaang.

The Boy In The Iceberg, The Avatar Returns, Warriors Of Kyoshi, Winter Solstice Part 2, The Waterbending Scroll, The Blue Spirit, Bato Of The Water Tribe, and Siege Of The North Parts 1&2. We're up to the supposed 9 episodes already and it's only season one. Not looking good considering Zuko won't be redeemed for another season and half (and I'm not couting Imprisoned as I'm going with the same no cliffhanger rule for Azula, and I'm also not including part 1 of Winter Solstice or The Storm, as Zuko only considered going after the Gaang, but didn't actually do it).

Once we get to season 2, we have The Chase and Crossroads of Destiny, bringing his evil bastard count to 11, and I'm once again ignoring an episode, this time a much more relvant one as Zuko might have freed Appa in Lake Laogai, but his original intention was to capture him and thus bait Aang. Only 3 more points and he'll have caught up with Azula.

In season 3 we don't see him getting in a direct fight with the Gaang, but he sent combustion man after them, and since we're counting Azula's evil schemes, we gotta do the same here, adding The Beach and The Runaway to the list, bringing him to 13 points (again, no cliffhanger, so no The Headband). I'm not counting Nightmares & Daydreams or The Western Air Temple, even though I easily could, as Zuko took direct action to address the war meeting and tried to stop combustion man.

(If I were to count these, he'd be at 15 out of 61. If we add Lake Laogai it'd be 16, and if we add in the "considered, but didn't do it" it'd be 18. Finally, adding the cliffhangers we reach 20 out 61)

So either Azula just BARELY gets first place against her brother for most insufferable foe the Gaang ever faced, with 14 points while Zuko has 13, or Zuko can beat her by anywhere from 1 to 4 points depending on what rule we're using. Considering Azula wasn't in season one at all and Zuko had very limited resources in book 2 and was redeemed in the second half of book 3, it makes sense, as they both had far more screentime than any other villain.

This, of course, is me deliberately ignoring the Ozai-shaped elephant in the room, as despite only directly confronting one of the heroes in the finale, he's the only villain to get the full 61 evil bastard points, as he's responsible for nearly every bad thing we see happening in the show due to being Fire Lord (well, only living villain, otherwise Azulon and Sozin also get the same numbers).

And acknowledging said bastard shapped elephant in the room leads to yet another thing that proves this "Zuko only terrorized the Gaang for nine episodes" thing is bullshit. One thing that you have pointed out in your ask and that Zuko stans, particularly if they ship Zutara, tend to ignore: Imperialism does harm NON-STOP, and all the Fire Nation villains are guilty of not only supporting it, but of going out of their way to keep it thriving.

Meaning that actually Zhao has 20 points, Azula has 61 (or 41 if we decide to give her a pass for season 1 since she wasn't an active player yet), and Zuko has 49 points, as they're doing harm through their entire time as villains in the show. Again, Zuko is one of the most relentless antagonists ever due to sheer fucking persistance, meaning the Gaang, and Katara, had A LOT to forgive him for.

And the thing is, they did. She did. But she also forgave Aang for his much smaller, much more forgivable mistakes. Can't have that, therefore Zuko's actions CAN'T be that bad, otherwise it makes it harder to demonize Aang. Because if the Ember Island kiss is unforgivable, what word do you use for SUPPORTING AND PARTICIPATING IN IMPERIALISM AND GENOCIDE?

And I gotta wonder: do these Zuko/Zutara stans see characters like Azula, or even Zhao or Jet who had much smaller roles (and again in Jet's case, were also redeemed), as being OH so much more evil than their precious boy ever was just because they ignore Zuko's own vilany or because, on top of doing that, they also see these character's antagonism towards Zuko as antagonism towards the heroes, even though 90% of it happened when he was a villain too? In fact, do they think that being a dick to Zuko, no matter the reason or to what extent, is somehow WORSE than genocide?

I think I know the answer.

[chaoticmentalitystrawberry]

I don’t usually make Tumblr posts but I have the wildest theory for the most recent Doctor Who episodes.

I think The Rani was meant to be the Master but somewhere between Season 1 and Season 2 it got changed.

And I have a lot to say about it.

Season 1 hints

Season 1 of the New Who was filled with reference to The Master. Off the top of my head, Maestro playing his theme; attacking with drums; calling the one from 72 yards the worst prime minister the UK's ever had, the Skye Boat song and the Missy quote from Boom.

RTD has a history of doing this, in 10’s second season he hinted at Saxon so many times, plastering his poster everywhere and various calls to the prime minister or Mr. Saxon.

However the second season has had not a single reference to them, not even in passing, almost like They're intentionally avoiding anything that could be constituted as a Master reference.

Mischaracterisation

The Rani hates Galifrey. From Old Who, she has hated them since she got exiled for her experiments. And what's another thing, she isn’t running a single experiment and she isn’t regarding The Doctor with contempt as she usually does. She’s treating him like Missy does in fact, flirting with him, dancing with him. “We were lovers, we used to dance.”

The Master is the flirt with The Doctor type. From Missy kissing him, to the Spy master calling her dear. Even The Saxon Master was flirting with him. And don'ts get me started on the older Masters, from Delgado calling him “My Dear Doctor” repeatedly.

Disguise

Disguising herself in order to follow The Doctor around the universe is pulled straight from The Master’s book. From Mr Saxon, to O, to Missy pretending to be a robot, the disguises are a classic Master plot. The Rani has disguised herself once in her history for information from The Doctor.

The plot

The plot of releasing Omega to create a new Gallifrey is a very Master plan. The Rani has expressed her hate for Time Lords every since she was expelled from Galifrey for her experiments. She is a scientist that wants to run her experiments.

Where's a quote that says “Unlike the power-hungry villain archetype of the Master, the Rani was a ruthless evil scientist who wasn’t interested in ruling the universe as much as she wanted to understand it, no matter the cost.” I don’t see how any of this Omega plot is in understanding the universe.

Where's a quote that says “Unlike the power-hungry villain archetype of the Master, the Rani was a ruthless evil scientist who wasn’t interested in ruling the universe as much as she wanted to understand it, no matter the cost.” I don’t see how any of this is in understanding the universe.

On the other hand The Master continuously returns to it to try and rule it. Also taking over the entire Earth and hypnotising the entire population is also a very Master plot compared to the Rani. He literally hypnotised most of the UK as Mr Saxon whereas there’s no hypnotised in the Randi's past.

RTD and other erasures

Everyone talks about Robot Revolution being the poor man’s cyberman plot. But with this realisation, I believe it was meant to be a cyberman episode that was changed for some reason. It has the same hallmarks of a cyberman episode, with the resistance, with turning a human into part robot.

RTD recently quoted The Master “Peoples of the universe: Please attend carefully.”. And he was the first writer to bring the Master back in the newer seasons with the Saxon Master. I think he was going for another return and had to change it but kept the whole storyline the same and just replaced the Master with the Rani.

I don't know why this has happened, whether it was some other influence or not. But it doesn’t matter. This storyline was written for The Master and they were replaced by the Rani.

Now where does this leave us? In a dire place. I don't hate the Rani returning or any older villains returning and I don't hate the New Who. But what we have here is a plot written for one villain that was given to another. That has now introduced this old villain with the characterisation of another. This is the new generation of Who, some people’s first iteration of the show. And they are messing up long established characters for some reason. I don't know about anyone else but I don't feel good about this.

If you have anymore to add to this theory, tell me more.

(And thank you to my partner Vic who had to listen to all of this conspiracy theory through voice memos of me rambling)

[packleaderbriggan]

THE FANTABULOUS FUCK-UPS OF FANTASTIC BEASTS

Tagging @keepmeinmind-01 , as promised. Thank you for the lovely ask, friend 😁🫶

Alright, so to start off, I just want to get this out of the way: Fuck JK Rowling, trans rights are human rights, free Palestine, black lives matter, and bigotry of any kind is an absolutely disgusting use of free will.

I was going to throw all of my issues into the answer to your ask, but I got part way through the first section and went, "This is a lot. Maybe I should just make a post." So here we are.

I'm going to be breaking this post into sections, just to keep it a bit more cohesive and less wall-of-text-y. First up:

MAJOR PLOT HOLES AND INCONSISTENCIES

(More under the cut 😁🫶💝)

There is absolutely no mention of Credence at all in the original books. If he was such a pivotal character, especially one related to the Dumbledore's, how did he just disappear into obscurity (no pun intended) by the time the main series took place?

Gellert’s “Your brother abandoned you” comment at the end of CoG makes no sense. If Aberforth is the father, that would make Albus an uncle… and if Grindelwald knows oh-so-much about the Dumbledore family, you’d think he would know enough to not make that mistake

Jacob in Hogwarts is literally impossible... Unless he’s a squib. But if he is a squib, we should have gotten even a tiny hint of magical ancestry. Now, we're just assuming things to make the dots connect, and if your readers have to go through such mental gymnastics to understand the story you've written, you've done something wrong.

The Queenie/Jacob marriage at the end of SoD takes place in Queens, in Jacob’s bakery. But how are they getting married in the US? The laws regarding No-Maj/Wizarding relationships haven’t changed yet!

‘Vulnera Sanentur’ is the counter-curse for ‘Sectum Sempra’… A spell that was invented by the Half-Blood Prince… who has not been born yet. I mean, come on. That's just lazy writing.

Ariana’s death in the three-way duel between Gellert, Aberforth, and Albus directly goes against the blood pact! Killing curses were being exchanged, so why didn’t the pact have any effect then?

The whole blood pact in general makes no sense tbh. If thinking about harming the other is enough to activate the curse, why is murder by proxy allowed? They're still thinking of hurting each other, just by manipulating other people to do it for them. Is that not seen as "direct harm"???

Leta and Corvus Jr are very explicitly stated to be the last of the Lestrange line… But they’re obviously not? Where did Rabastian or Rudolphus come from? Did they just spawn in? Or could it be that the entire Lestrange plot line in CoG just meant absolutely nothing

The twin Qilin being dead means that it. Is. Dead. Magic cannot bring back the dead, which was the whole point of the OG books. So is it an inferi now? An animated corpse? But it apparently still uses magic to figure out who to bow to, which is something I'm pretty sure an inferi is incapable of. So what is it??

The future is the future is the future. Gellert saw the future. So anything that happens between the present and the point he saw was *always going to happen*. The whole “counter-sight” plot doesn’t make any sense because the only ones confused are the characters and us. The future has already been set!

In CoG, Albus is a DADA teacher… But he never taught Defense. He was the Transfiguration professor! We know this because it was stated in the original books that Tom Riddle asked for the Defense position when the previous teacher (who had been working there for 50 years) retired. So how on earth is albus teaching DADA 10 years before Tom starts school??

The Qilin bowing to Albus makes no sense. His entire arc in The Deathly Hallows was there to prove that he was not pure of heart, nor was he deserving of a powerful station.

After all the lead-up and hints that Jacob is pure and virtuous, it would have made more sense for it to bow to him… By which I mean, it still makes no sense, but it would have been a better twist than whatever bs they actually tried to pull.

Yusuf Kama going to Grindelwald serves no purpose other than to add suspense for the audience… As far as the others know, he was loyal to them for the entire time. The whole question of "will he, won't he" is totally irrelevant to the other characters because they know him to be on their side. It's not a surprise to them when he turns on the wizard nazis

There is absolutely 0 continuity with the Dumbledore/Phoenix thing. If Credence’s came to him because he was dying, then does that mean Ariana had one, too?

Honestly, on the topic of Credence, his entire story was just. Anticlimactic. You mean to tell me that after all that build-up, all those hints that his mother will finally be revealed... We get literally nothing about her?? Then he just dies??? Off-screen??? WTH Joanne??

If Yusuf couldn’t follow Corvus Jr because Irma’s magical signature was too weak, then WHY SEND LETA? Wouldn’t she have a magical presence he could trace? She could jeopardize the entire operation, all for what?? Some convoluted baby swap scheme? That also makes no sense??

AND WHY LEAVE HIM WITH A RANDOM LADY - no way to contact him, no way to find him, nothing - especially if that lady happens to be descended from the witch hunters responsible for the Salem witch trials??? Me thinks Corvus Sr put zero thought into this entire situation

Timeline Fucky Wuckys

I know this one comes up a lot, but how is Minerva McGonagall teaching at Hogwarts a full three decades before she was born?? Her birthday is in October of 1935, yet she's somehow teaching Newt and Leta in the 1910s??

SoD takes place sometime before 1939 because WW2 hadn’t started yet. BUT Tom Riddle starts school in 1938… And he needs his wand, which means Fawkes had to have been with Albus already in order to donate the two feathers for the brother wands. When did Fawkes come to Albus? How long was he with him? We have no answers!

Lally says it’s been, “... a little over a year,” since the events of the first movie. But it’s not? It’s been, at the very least, 5 years! Just more timeline confusion

FBaWtFT takes place in 1926. Credence is supposed to be 18 years old. But in SoD, it’s revealed that he was conceived in 1899… So either his mother (whoever she is, we still have no gd clue) was pregnant for about 8 years, or it just doesn’t make any sense period.

Minor Mistakes and General Questions

Mistakes

Tina and Theseus have the same job… So why could Theseus participate in the third movie but Tina somehow couldn’t?

There is some Portkey vs Floo Network confusion in SoD. Jacob comes whooshing onto the train *through the fireplace*, yet still calls that transportation a Port Key? Maybe he's just a little confused, or maybe the writers just overlooked it?

There are quite a few Vanishing Characters throughout the franchise, but 3 main ones: Abernathy, who they were implying was high-up in grindelwald's close circle; Nagini, apparently a shape shifter somehow; and Tina Goldstein?? A main protagonist???

Albus tells Jacob to, “Keep it close,” referring to his snake-wood wand. But why? Why go out of his way to instruct caution for absolutely no reason? As far as they know, it's just a stick! The wand doesn't have a core, so even if it is made out of a rare type of wood, it's still just a stick??

If the Swooping Evil venom from the first movie only works on “bad memories”, then Langdon Shaw wouldn’t be affected either. He was ecstatic to find out witches were real! Even if he was labeled as a crazy man and completely disregarded, it is entirely plausible that other people (ehem, Jacob) would have remembered the events of the last fight.

I hold very firmly to the idea that if Bunty had been introduced in the first movie, she and Newt would have ended up together. Instead, they're both just left pining with no resolution.

Questions

For a show called Fantastic Beasts, there really aren't a lot of beasts in the later films, are there? What happened to the whimsy of the first movie? Where did it go?

What is Aberforth's thing with mirrors? It was in the Deathly Hallows, and here it is again in SoD. Does he have a specific affinity for mirror magic?? Is that even a thing???

Speaking of Aberforth, what's with the goats? We have no explanation for any of that, even though it was an established piece of his character in the og book.

The whole "mirror dimension/inverse realm" in SoD also makes no sense? What kind of magic was that? Why does it never come up again? Is that just one of Albus Dumbledore's many talents, or was it just something the writers threw in because it looked cool?

On the topic of Albus, is he a seer or is he just really lucky?? In the books, it was implied that he was a very talented statistician, not a prophetic wizard. He could look at memories and easily distinguish patterns, thereby allowing him to guess at the most likely immediate future. But in SoD, it's pretty heavily implied that he saw some glimpse of the future and that's how he knows the counter-sight plan will work.

How do American muggle-borns get their letters to Ilvermorny if it’s literally illegal for any non-wizard to even know about the existence of magic? How does magic *work* in the US if it must all be kept strictly underground??

Bunty orders 6 identical cases, but only 4 of them are used in the plot. What happened to the other 2?

In the books, Aberforth hated Albus since the day Ariana was killed. That has already happened in the movies, and yet they get along relatively well? So what happened?

Why establish a connection between Newt and dragons in the first film, and then just abandon that detail to the void? Do you have any idea how cool it would be to have newt right in on the back of a Ukrainian Ironbelly to fight literal nazis?? That would have been SWEET

If you're cursed after killing a unicorn, the slaying of a being as pure as a Qilin would have a similar effect, yes? Apparently not.

I'm sure there are lots and lots that I overlooked, but I this is a pretty good list for now!! I think I might make another post for my theories and how I plan on fixing this whole mess in my rewrite... but that will be a project for another time.

Thanks for reading!! Feel free to scream at me about discrepancies I missed in the comments 🙏 I'm sure I missed some somewhere

[amethyst-marshmallow]

Please hold me / I'll hold you no matter what

woke up in a cold sweat had to draw gays/ref kinda erm anyway

rbs over likes!!!!!!!!!

yapping under cut :3 i love these guys sooo much (contains hcs for both and also their relationship) also erm side note this is like basically half the shrimpo yapping post i mentioned making and side note 2 ignore it if this makes no sense and it has one william typos it is currently past 2 am as im writing this and i am VIBRATING i lvoe them sm

i like to imagine cosmo as being like a doctor/medic of some sort to the other toons (given his ability to heal)(sprout and ginger (and whatever other healers end up getting added but they kinda have their own shit goin on with sprout being a main and ginger only being around during christmastimes) would also be kinda like this but cosmo is like this especially to me) not only in physical health but also mental health,, i think he just naturally is the type of person who is very good at comforting others plus he also probably does extra research to be able to help ppl and make sure everyones doing ok ^-^ even if it takes a toll on him too (why his ability also takes one of his own hearts*)

*i imagine that the hearts ingame are not only representative of their physical health but also MENTAL health,,, since ichor corrupts you by first taking over your MIND then twisting u to the point ur basically a zombiee (in my hcs)(i have a wip yap post about this too) which is why the mains have one heart permanently broken bc the whole situation stresses them out more,,

(Tw i use he/she/they for shrimpo and i use them all interchangeably sorry if this is confusing lmaooo)

Shrimpo on the other hand is sooo touch starved like SOOOO touch starved. they have many many issues and i also imagine that they were kinda disregarded/treated like shit by the toon handlers and also other ppl due to his role in the show. Also another pretty common hc but i imagine that bc of her species they have to drink more water than other toons but they were never??? told for some reason?????? speaking to how little they actually cared for shrimpo.,, anyway while gardenview was still active she was told to drink water but they viewed it more as the toon handlers just asking him to do stuff for no reason since you know. they were never told WHY and also he was given so little affection in general that sh ejust became really touch starved and got the impression that no one likes him and hes only there as a joke WHICH TO BE FAIR. IS PARTIALLY TRUE. so now hes just kinda worries that he HAS to be mean otherwise he will be literally forgotten by EVERYONE since he just. doesnt think he has any other defining characteristics (i actually think she does have many hobbies and talents/skills but she doesnt think shes as good as any of the other toons making him disregard any of those talents entirely) (the main intrest i have for him is writing but liek i just said he has intrests in like a zillion other things too) (am i projecting WHO KNOWSSSSSSSSSSSSS)

(ok for this paragraph i only used she/her for shrimpo and he/him for cosmo to hopefully make it less confusing)

So for their relationship would probably be literally the best thing to happen to shrimpo since cosmo is THERE for her to give her the affection she never got to get, to comfort her which is a thing shes never had before,, she couldnt even take a complement without assuming its a joke at first and now she has someone to support her to care for her,,, like almost a hurt/comfort kinda trope??????

Cosmo i think would probably have suspected she was hurting a long time ago like maybe even before gardenview shut down but once he KNEW he was hurting he wanted to help him,, and the experience is healing for them both bc cosmo kinda feels liek its his purpose to heal people and to be sprouts companion (BOO ANOTHER COMMON HEADCANON) but shrimpo has experienced thinking you only have one purpose before SO shes also there for HIM to let him know hes SO MUCH MORE than just a doctor,,,,,,,,,,, jkdbifjas so theyre there for EACH OTHER so SUPPORT EACH OTHER TOGETHER!!,!! and also its a reather common hc that while cosmo IS nice he is also very very polite so he wont rlly insult anyone but shrimpo is almost like the opposite so cosmo can teach shrimpo patience while shrimpo can teach cosmo that its ok to not neccisarily be polite about everythigns and to let ppl know when ur at ur limit :3 if you know what i mean,,,,,, ndifsiofbisan they can be SO GOOD together theyre such an underrated ship

ok rant OVER than k

[luvonmes-blog]

idk if u take request but can do alien toji headcanons sfw and nsfw🎀

DROOLING

sfw

he’s huge and while alien toji still is just as mean, he’s a cuddle bug, even if he’ll never admit

engulfs your entire form, you’re literally smushed between him and whatever surface he has you between when you’re cuddling

i like to think he has antennas at the front of his head that are a lil sensitive so you play with them while laid up in the bed

def has a greenish bluish hue to him so on the rare occasion you make him blush, it’s purple🙂‍↕️

loves to have his hands on you, around you, anywhere he can get them really

calls you “my little human”

doesn’t really care for anyone else on planet earth but you

lovessss kisses, his lips, his forehead, his cheek, anywhere and will put his face in yours until you kiss him

wants a family with you, half human half alien babies running around the house that look like a perfect mix of you and him

i don’t really think he’s fond of animals and it takes him a long time to get used to having them around if you have any (he hates cats and yours gives him a weird look and he swears it’s plotting his demise)

gets insanely possessive when other men come around especially humans, gives big “i wanna take you away from all this” energy

he wants you to come back to his planet and he wants to parade you around and show everyone the perfect little thing he got from his trek on planet earth

tries to teach you his alien language but you fail miserably at the pronunciation and he just gives you a weird stare the first time you try (you butchered it so bad you insulted his mother)

if and when he finally does get you pregnant, he never leaves your side, follows you everywhere and does everything for you

he’s just so in love with you and can’t imagine his life any other way and would (literally) kill for you.

nsfw

biggest breeding kink ever, is obsessed with the idea of getting you pregnant and fucks you so full of his cum it’s still leaking out 5 hours later

his tongue is ribbed and loooong, so long that when he eats you out you swear it’s touching your cervix

those sensitive antennas? play with them while he’s balls deep in you and watch his eyes cross and listen to him whimper likes he’s your bitch

he likes to make you cry, not in a bad way but he’ll fuck you so hard tears will leak from your eyes and he’ll lick them right up

he’s so freaked out, you don’t know if it’s because of what he is or if he’s just experimenting with you but he has you doing shit you’d never imagined in a million years

he’s so big each time he pulls his alien cock out you wonder how it’ll fit into you, his whole body swallows up your entire frame and he uses that to his advantage

hell fuck you anywhere and i mean anywhere

in the bed, on the couch, in your car, in an alleyway, the bathroom of some ran down gas station he made you pull into because he just couldn’t wait to get into you one night

you tell him you’re finally pregnant one night and the next moment he’s fucking you so good he swears he’ll make it twins

loves loves lovesss when you give him head, he likes to watch you struggle to take his big dick down your throat

cums in copious amounts, it’s sooo much and you can never figure out if it’s a toji thing or if it’s because he’s an alien

whispers the nasties things to you in his language and loves to watch the confusion wash over your face as you try to figure out wtf he just said to you

the human body is so different compared the the aliens back on his planet so sometimes he’ll strip you bare and sit you back on the bed just to touch all over you, he yearns to find out what makes you tic

licks, kisses, sucks and bites all over your body, loves to mark all over you

that jealousy streak runs so deep in him, he finds some guys number in your phone one day, you’ve rejected him but he just won’t leave you alone, toji fucks you and records a voice memo and sends it to the guy, all smiles while you’re staring at him surprised by what he just did

—————————————————————————

hey guys😬 so ik i disappeared for a while. apparently that whole authors curse thing is true and i had the absolute worst year of my life but i’m back now and i will try to write more often. requests are open!!!

[dioslesbianwife]

I really love all of the fics you wrote! Can you do Bucciarati gang with reader who’s great at rhythm games? Games like Osu or DDR.

<33 thank you!! lol words cannot describe how bad i suck at rhythm games haha- anyways sure, ty for requesting and i hope you enjoy!

Bucciarati

He’s supportive from the start, even if he doesn’t totally understand how the games work.

Watches you play Osu with a respectful, hands-behind-his-back expression like you’re performing surgery.

When he sees you play DDR for the first time, he smiles proudly like a soccer mom.

“That was… incredible. I didn’t know a human body could move that quickly without a Stand.”

Offers you towels and water between sessions like a coach.

Once tried to play with you and had the stiffest, most awkward footwork you’ve ever seen- but he was so serious about it you didn’t laugh.

“Perhaps I should leave it to the professionals, eh?”

Always claps when you get a full combo.

Giorno

He’s fascinated. He watches every detail and picks up the mechanics unnaturally fast.

Secretly tries to practice when you’re not around. One day he nearly matches your high score and you're like “??? Have you been TRAINING?!”

“I merely observed your form and committed it to memory.”

No Giorno. You grinded on Extreme Mode every night.

If you do a VR rhythm game like Beat Saber, he’s entranced by the flow of movement and asks philosophical questions.

“It’s like a dance of light. Is this what digital harmony looks like?”

You, sweaty and screaming: “I JUST FULL COMBO’D MELTDOWN ON EXTREME!!!”

Abbacchio

“Hmph. Pointless games.”

That’s what he says. But he peeks over your shoulder constantly and flinches every time you miss a note.

Accidentally gets invested and blurts, “Come on, hit the red!”

Then pretends he didn’t say it.

If you invite him to play, he rolls his eyes and acts like it’s a waste of time.

Proceeds to rage when he fails the tutorial.

“This game is broken. These arrows are bullshit.”

Eventually gets weirdly competitive and spends a week trying to beat you. He never does.

Mista

His mind is blown.

You’re jumping around on a DDR pad like a beast and he’s like “HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT??”

Tries to join you. Trips. Gets boo’d off the pad by the Pistols.

You try to teach him and he just flails like a confused duck.

“Wait wait wait- red arrow means what??”

Treats you like a gaming god. “I will give you my entire paycheck if you beat this song again.”

He talks a lot while you’re playing: “You’re like a ninja! You’re a note ninja!!”

Sometimes makes a little cheering section with the Sex Pistols: “Go Y/N go Y/N!!”

Fugo

Secretly thinks it’s one of the most impressive things he’s ever seen.

You show him your full combo on a 10-star Osu map and he pauses like, “That’s… actually really difficult. You have incredible cognitive processing speed.”

Starts breaking down the math of timing windows and BPM like a nerd.

“Did you memorize the whole chart? Or are you processing it live?”

You: “Uh. I just… vibe.”

He’s the only one who could keep up with you if he practiced, but he gets so mad when he misses one note that it’s not worth it.

Once rage quit and screamed “WHY IS MIKU LAUGHING AT ME?!”

Trish

Pretends not to be impressed, but she is SO impressed.

“It’s just pressing buttons in time, right?” she says, but her jaw is tight.

She tries it one time and dies instantly, then looks at you like you’re some mythical beast.

“Okay… how do your fingers move like that? Are you using a Stand? Be honest.”

Lowkey films you and posts clips online. “My friend/partner is literally insane at rhythm games.”

Starts requesting songs like a DJ. “Do the Pretty Cure one. You’re cute when you’re focused.”

Buys you pink fingerless gloves to wear while gaming. “So your hands don’t get sore. Also because it’s fashionable.”

Narancia

YOUR #1 FAN.

You are like a deity to him. He thinks you’re the coolest human being on Earth.

“BRO!! You just did a double spin kick!! YOU’RE NOT EVEN HUMAN!!”

Bounces up and down during your songs like a kid on sugar.

He’s awful at the games but so enthusiastic that it’s hilarious.

“WHY DO I KEEP FAILING ‘BUTTERFLY’?? THAT SONG’S FOR BABIES!!!”

You: “It’s okay. You’re still doing good.”

Narancia: 🥹💥💘💘

He tries to create a song just for you on StepMania. It’s mostly “BAKA MITAI” but with gun sound effects.

[cheesecakeluvrs]

Starco had so much platonic potential

Opinions on Star and Marco are all over the place when it comes to the svtfoe fandom, however, ever since that one chibi episode came out there has been a lot more hate. Now I was a small child when this show came out so I was never apart of the fandom then but from what I have heard I believe they were quite popular during its airing. I have personally always disliked Star and Marco, not so much their dynamic but more so how it was handled (this is also coming from the biggest tomstar fan). There is also some very large misconception that the show runners were pressured into making them canon at the end but this is not true, and frankly it has been very clear they were going to be endgame from the blood moon curse. For some reason whenever their ship isn’t canon people love making up rumors that it was originally going to be someone else, looking at you ohshs fandom…

To me the part that really irks me about them is their whole dynamic and relationship is basically just built off of the whole, every guy and girl, especially in older cartoons has to be together. The fact that this COULD have been the one show that was different is what disappoints everyone. Hoping and hoping but the inevitable ending of their relationship is constantly looming behind me whenever I first watched and rewatch the show.

I really want to talk about the “what could have been” with them especially when it comes to the blood moon curse

I mean just imagine this; these two characters are constantly being shipped by others and joked about and even have a stupid curse that forces them to be together in the end (a representation the inevitable fate of all male/female duos in these shows AAAAAAAH), then through the sheer power of platonic friendship are able to continue their relationship with no romance waiting for them, even with a curse constantly trying to push them together they are able to find other people and become one of the most powerful platonic loves ever. Though… that is nothing more than a dream.

As I mentioned before my biggest issue with their relationship is how it was developed. The first two seasons it’s a lot of little crush drama but not much more but then they just go off again and date other people…? Then they develop their relationship… while Star is in a relationship with Tom.

Now don’t even get me started on Tom, I love Tom. The fact that he was willing to improve himself so much just for her is so amazing. I know the biggest argument about their relationship is on Stars side with her lack of communication and just hesitance on their relationship. These are definitely true things but I would like to say one thing… their relationship was so good, so healthy… when Marco wasn’t there. It’s not even that Marco was some alluring being for Star driving her away from Tom but he was just… in the way and making things messy for no reason. They even state this point blank in the show when he comes back. Stars mistakes I think derive from two things, Marco being Marco (I love him), and the fact that she’s saving the damn world as a teenager. I bring this argument up all the time when talking about relationships in shows like these because first of all they’re literal children, they’re not going to have a lot of romantic maturity and not only that, they’re children with the entire weight of the world on their shoulders. So yes sometimes they might be a little stressed and it will probably take a toll on their relationships. I love all of the episodes where it’s just Tom and Star having a good time together because they are just too sweet. On top of that what’s the show… a damn discrimination analogy using monsters… and what’s Tom? A MONSTER. It would have been so good for her to end up with a monster in the end! Oh my gosh. There is also the whole thing with Tom being treated differently than other monsters and the themes behind that but I just think they could’ve expanded more on that if they actually had them together.

Well back to what I was saying, they spend so much time developing these other relationships it just felt so unsatisfying when they actually ended together. It was just disappointing because you made us fall in love with these other relationships just to do a 180 back to your original plan? A huge thing with me is if Tom was just there to expand and develop Star so she could be better with Marco then why did you end it the way you did? Why was Tom the more mature one at the end of their relationship? It made no sense. And then there was the whole deal with putting Marco with random women then forgetting about them like an episode later. Now for my biggest argument against Starco, something that we don’t talk about enough, Marco… is an adult… Marco… is an adult… like he just is, and I’m just reminded of that every so often. Their romantic relationship felt dull and they don’t actually have much chemistry besides their friendship. They could have just been a basic couple that people don’t talk about much but the only reason people talk about them all the time is because they’re so disliked because of all these other relationships! To me the whole thing is just weird… it’s like they were confused but they were holding a simple map of their relationship from the very start.

Anyways, I talked way too much about Tom for a post which was meant to be like a paragraph long but I digress. I think Tom and Star should’ve ended together, I don’t like the cheating thing but that brings me to another point, A COUPLE THAT HAD ONE CHEATING WITH THE OTHER NEVER WORKS OUT… not that that’s necessarily the start but it’s a huge turning point in their relationship and so… weird! Well thank you for listening to my very unorganized rant about a kids show

[angelpuns]

redrew a bunch of angels from like pre-2020 cause I was thinking bout em today :) The bottom girlies are lesbian angels and I still love their designs :)

Also the two traditional drawings are like..the very first angel I ever drew and some amgic lady. From 2012 at the earliest. So yeah. Enjoy. I like redrawing things, it makes me very happy :)

[egophiliac]

do skully have pokemon?

Pumpkaboo is the obvious one, but y'know, sometimes the obvious one is the right one! (we'll say SUPER SIZE Pumpkaboo, just for fun. big pumpkin for big skeleton boy.) and another person actually also suggested Greavard, which I somehow hadn't considered, but feels so perfect that I feel like I should have. dangit.

(they can also have little Nightmare Suit costumes :D)