#she lives in my head rent-free because I do not quite understand her but I want to SO BAD

[arsenicpanda]

Someone needs to write the essay on Betty Cooper, the sins of the father, generational cycles, serial killer genes, and Calvinism

[nobodysdaydreams]

Hatchetverse Theory: The Parallels Between Paul (TGWDLM) and Grace (NPMD):

More thoughts and parallel screenshots under the keep reading, part of my #hatchetverse theory posts. Sorry these are all awful screen shots, I'm bad at gifs, but I hope I made my point.

The screenshots are pretty self-explanatory, but the parallels between Paul and Grace, especially with what happens to their characters at the end of their respective musicals, has been living in my head rent free, and I want to talk about it.

I've seen a lot of posts that speculate that the reason Grace went crazy at the end of NPMD is because she's just that blood thirsty and willing to kill, and while her character (at least of what I've seen of her in NPMD and what I've seen of nightmare time) is certainly intense, I wouldn't quite go so far to say she's always been that willing to hurt others, even for what she believes.

In fact, after rewatching NPMD, I realized something. When the kids first go to the Waylon Place, the others are the ones suggesting ways they can violently hurt Max. Pete even calls Grace's plan "goofy" and Richie is the one who suggests beating Max up. Grace is the one who tells them that all she wants to do is teach him a lesson and scare him and rejects their more violent ideas.

But after Max dies? That's when Grace's intensity starts taking a darker turn, and it's not as noticeable as it might be in the other kids because "Grace has always been kinda weird and intense" and the show has been playing that up for laughs since the beginning. But when you look at what happens to Grace in terms of her character's choices, she's the one who suddenly pulls a "bury the bully" plan out of nowhere when she was against even beating him up just a few hours ago. She's the one who suggests lying to the cops and trying to cover up what happened. She's the one who has a prophetic nightmare after the incident at the Waylon Place. That's also the moment when she symbolically loses her WWJD bracelet (though others have already pointed that out).

And if the LIB could infect Paul with spores just because he happened to be in close proximity to the meteor, then they could probably do something similar to any of the kids in the Waylon Place (and you cannot convince me that they were not the ones who collapsed the floorboards in the Waylon Place and killed Max).

But why would they target Grace you ask? Why not one of the other kids? That's a good question. I have a few theories.

The first has to do with what I mentioned before about hatchetverse's history of Webby's powers seeming to favor kids, and the LIB powers struggling to work on kids. We don't know how old most of the kids in NPMD are exactly, but the musical makes a point to tell us several times that Grace is "only 18" (Shaprio says she's a legal adult and will be tried as an adult in court). The musical also makes a point to have this be the Homecoming Dance (not Prom), which is in the fall, so most of the senior students wouldn't have turned 18 yet. We can also make an educated guess that Stephanie has turned 18 and Pete hasn't because she sings "wake me up when you turn 18" during their song. You could combat this by asking why the LIB never address Grace during the summoning and targeted Steph instead, which is a fair point. But interestingly, if you watch Grace, Steph, and Pete during the Summoning, Grace is silent most of the song, but looks completely horrified (especially when they tell her that they want what she cherishes most), despite the fact that from our perspective, the LIB aren't talking to her. She also seems to know exactly what the LIB want from her, because the next scene she's in is when she shows up to save Steph and Pete. During the Summoning, Pete, on the other hand, seems to mostly be involved in the conversation the LIB are having with Stephanie, although Grace also seems to understand what the LIB want from Stephanie. It's possible that this was intentional on the LIB's part, since they can see every timeline (in the "Abstinence Camp" episode of Nightmare Time, Grace gets between Steph, Pete, and Lumberaxe, risking her own life so that Lumberaxe doesn't hurt them. Grace might be willing to lose her own life for what she believes, but she might not be willing to lose her friends' lives. If the LIB know this, they'd likely want to make sure Grace understands that Steph or Pete will die unless she's the one who pays the price).

They have a personal reason for wanting her. In TGWDLM, Pokey hates Paul because...well, Paul doesn't like musicals but bigger picture, Paul resists Pokey's hive mind. Why would the LIB hate Grace? Possibly because she hates evil, the devil, and sin to an extreme degree. It could be a point of pride for the LIB: "we got the guy who didn't like musicals to join our musical and brainwash the world, and we got the girl who didn't like sin to devour souls for us." I've also seen a theory that Paul has some sort of resistance to the LIB because he doesn't like musicals and in a way sort of serves as a "prophet" in TGWDLM by warning others that musicals are bad. Grace arguably serves a similar role to Max in NPMD. She suggests Max becomes a better person "before he ends up in hell", which is ironic because then Max goes on to beat up Pete, which turns the nerds against him, setting off the chain of events that eventually lead him to actually being sent to hell (the black) by Grace. I've also seen some other theories suggesting that the LIB getting Paul in TGWDLM was really about getting Emma (since she was the one who starred in a musical before), and following that logic, it's possible that the LIB killing Max at the Waylon Place was really about getting Grace, because she'd still actually be alive. The LIB might have known this would work if they knew Max and Grace liked each other, and as seen in nightmare time, Grace is willing to risk her own life for her friends, and this might be consistent across several timelines.

Speaking of sacrifice, I know I covered this with the gifs, but the fact that Paul's last act was giving up his life, and Grace's was giving up what was essentially her morality and who she was so they could save their friends, only to have themselves turned into the very monsters they tried to destroy? Absolute tragedy.

But what's also interesting to me is how this happens. The way Grace and Paul both seem to lose control of themselves. With Paul it happens in one song and is more noticeable, but with Grace, it's a lot slower, and the more bad and morally questionable stuff she does, the funnier it is, and her character has been intense and over the top from the beginning, so you almost don't notice the difference in her actions until you rewatch the show. But her and Paul asking "Who am I?" has a similar creepy vibe, the screenshots I found for those moments (pictured below) even ended up looking very similar, though with Paul, you can see more of the fight happening during the song, whereas with Grace, it's more drawn out over the course of the show with these little moments of clarity where she has a complete breakdown.

Then of course there's the whole: What do you want thing?

Why do the LIB want what Grace cherishes most? Why do they want Paul to want anything at all?

And why do they phrase it in the creepiest way possible, asking for "a peek at Paul's soul" and telling him to "give up his choice" and telling Grace that they'll get "whatever they want" and that she'll "be forever in their debt?"

Well, probably because that does seem to be what happens. The most obvious screenshot parallels are probably their final numbers in their shows, which I think speak for themselves. The only unknown is what exactly is happening with the LIB and their whole "what do you want" thing. By taking what someone wants, do they replace that "want" in the person with wanting to serve them? How does that work?

At this point, I'm not sure, and I'm too tired to continue the rant, but I'd be happy to hear anyone else's thoughts on this.

I hope you enjoy Starkid fandom. Thank you for listening to my rants!

[colectingstrz]

THE RECEPTIONIST ☏

➤ (📞) GENRE: fluff, strangers to lovers | PAIRING: jay x fem reader | WC : 1.9k | SUMMARY: When you find your self crushing hard and constantly go to your local hospital just so you could see the cute receptionist again or in which the cute receptionist is amused by your antics and secretly anticipates your return.

SOO’S SMOL NOETY 📝:

𖤐 lowkey off topic but I’m quite embarrassed to say I’ve never seen these pictures of jay before... (＃＞＜) Like ive been stanning enha sine iland as well I don’t get it.. I came across this and was so shocked cuz how come I’ve NEVER SEEN THESE JAY PICS!!?? it’s just added an extra 5 years onto my lifespan (thank you to my man!! 🥰) + this is 80% proof read see a weird word? Erase it from your memory ❤️

YOUR MOTHER WAS DRAMATIC. Everything little thing that happened, she would inflate out of proportion, just like today. When you called her and told her you had some odd rashes, she freaked out and arrived to your university accommodation within 10 minutes. You tried to reassure her that it wasn't deep, but she didn't want to hear it. Assuming the worst, she literally dragged you by your ear to her car and drove you to the hospital.

The whole thing was humiliating as your friends and anyone who lived in your section watched the whole interaction form their windows. You understand your mother wanted to make sure you were alright. Especially as you were the youngest sibling she always was extra mindful of you. But she was doing way to much for your liking. You just wanted to get this over with and go home.

Once you arrived you and your mother approached the counter and rang the bell so that a receptionists could be alerted. Soon a tall male appeared “ I apologise for the wait I had an important call.. what can I do for you miss?” You shot your head up once you heard the voice stepping closer and locking eyes with him .

For you, it was love at first sight. He was cute, he was handsome, and all of the above. You had never seen anyone as attractive as him in your 20 years of living. Who is this angel from above his jawline? I need him to cut me in ha- " y/n sweetie, why don't you explain your problem to the gentleman?"

Oh yeah..my rashes

“uh... I have some rashes uh... that are uh... spreading all over umm..my back” you internally slapped yourself for speaking like that and stuttering it's bad enough you showed up with your mum at your big age and now this..what was he supposed to think of you. It was difficult to concentrate on your words as his deep brown eyes were fixed on you.

He hummed as he scribbled something on his notes, “ladies please sit over there on the red chairs and make yourself comfortable I'll set you up with one of our doctors in a minute ” oh I'll make myself comfortable alright “pardon? ” You covered your mouth with your hands as you gasped, realising you had spoken out loud. Here I am again, embarrassing myself in front of him .

The male chuckled to himself before heading off down the hall.

Later that week more like 2 days after you found yourself at the hospital again Why? Because you were sick sick. Suffering from what? A bad case of I’m attracted to my hospitals receptionist syndrome and you needed an antidote quickly.So What perfect way to curs yourself by seeing the cause instead.

Plus you couldn’t focus at uni he lived in your head rent free and you didn’t even know his name. You wanted to talk to him again to hear his deep voice. Maybe you were obsessed ? Crazy? But you were crazy in love and needed to see him. So during your free you took the train and made your way to the hospital.

As you approached the counter you were met with an unfamiliar pair of eyes it was another receptionist. Where’s the sexy jawline dude who the hell is this old woman? “ umm excuse me ? Where’s the hot receptionist” the lady looked up from her paper and raised a brow eyeing you up and down “ if your a fan girl please excuse yourself out the hospital if your not actually sick “ tch she has an attitude “ uhh..im actually his girlfriend im here to drop somthing off ! I’ll be quick” you forced a smile as she squinted her eyes once more giving you a look as if searching for you obvious lie but she seemed to buy it “ I’ll call him for you stay here ” she disappears into the back and eventually your “boyfriend” comes out.

“ boyfriend ? “ he raised a brow with an amused smile on his face. You will be soon you just don’t know it yet “ i..uhh I only said that so you could come out please don’t misunderstand anything ” he nodded sitting down on the chair “ well then since you requested me what do you need ? ” you didn’t actually come there with a plan. Not having enough time to think of some fake diagnosis to give yourself you chose to be honest.

A sudden wave of confidence washes over you “ I need you ” he raised a brow “pardon ?” You nodd “ you heard me” the male chuckles to himself “you came all the way just to say this.. I’ll applaud you for your determination but im not interested ” im going to throw my self of a building “ don’t speak so soon.. once you get to know me your going to become interested” he hummed “ sure sure” you crossed your arms “ well if your going to reject me can I at least know the name of the guy I’ve been dreaming about ” he smirks “ you’ve been dreaming about me? Your very honest I like that.. and the names jay “ even his name is sexy

“ I’m honest and a lot more things you will like if your willing to find out jay..” you graced your fingers over his lightly before turning off to leave. With a proud smile on your face

Jay didn’t really understand what just happed but he found you amusing. It’s not like he hadn’t had girls come here and put it on him but something about the way you carried yourself and acted was different. He wouldn’t admit it but he hoped to see you some time soon.

As quick as the next day you showed up. You approach the counter to be met with the same old annoying lady “ here to see your boyfriend? I’ll get him ” maybe she’s not so annoying anymore you smiled to yourself as your little lie seemed to be doing you wonders

“ good afternoon jay how’ve you been did you miss me” he rolled his eyes while flicking though some documents “ you’ve been gone for 21 hours.. there’s nothing to miss it hasn’t even been a full day” he was counting..? “ you counted how many hours soooo…you did miss me didn’t you ?” you spoke with a slight blush on your cheeks at the thought that he actually missed you to some extent. Jay noticed this he thought it was cute how easily flustered you got “ your cute when you blush ” hearing him say that you made your legs melt like jelly almost losing balance to the point jay even stood up reaching out for your arm in concern

“ y/n.. are you alright ?” You nodd slowly “ you know my name..” you speak in a dazed tone to which jay smiles “ of course your not someone to forget.. so are you actually sick or.. you came here to see me” what do you think “ no this time I’m actually a little under the weather do you want to know why jay ” he nodded getting out his notepad

“ I’m stuffing from unrequited love.. the guy I like doesn’t feel the same way.. and I think I might die from a broken heart ” you spoke dramatically with a small pout flashing jay your doe eyes hoping he would be tranced by your attempt to be cute and fall in love with you. To your shock he flicked your forehead “ ouch! Why would you do that ! ” he now moved closer to you placing his hands on the counter staring at you deeply

“ it seems your suffering form something else too.. stupidity ” huh? What is that supposed to mean “ what.. please elaborate I’m unaware of this symptom” you speak deeply confused so you move closer to jay urging him for an answer. Almost closing the distance between the two of you. You action caught jay of guard causing him to move back and hide his deep blush with a cough “ that’s a conversation for another time “ you raise a brow “ another time? So you intend to see me again when’s the date ” he laughs “ I never said I was taking you out on a date ” you pout again

“ fine then.. I guess I’ll just go to another hospital form now on..” you turn to leave wishing he would follow you but the more you headed to the entrance you realised he wasn’t. You sighed maybe this is a sign I should move on.

Though just as you stepped foot out the entrance you felt a force pull you to an outside wall pushing you against it. You were shocked to see jay. “ are you that dense y/n” what what what “Huh..? I don’t I.. I don’t understand ” his eyes flicked from your eyes to your lips he seemed as if he heisted at the thought of kissing you

“ on second thought.. I-I don’t need to understand if your going to kiss me just do it ” he chuckled lightly placing his finger on your lips “ I want to make that move in a better and more appropriate setting if you get what I mean” he still wants to kiss me so a win is a win.

you couldn’t belive that this whole time jay liked you back you mentally facepalm yourself for being so dense how did you not notice sooner? A regular person would have shooed you away yet he entertained it all. It was so obvious I’m an idiot

He pulls away from you slightly now resting on the wall next to you

“ wait so you really did miss me? ” he nodded but you didn’t fail to miss the small tint of red that was evident on his ears as he attempted to turn away “ yeah.. I actually gave you my number but I guess you didn’t notice “ you raise a brow number HE GAVE ME HIS NUMBER AND I DIDINT NOTICE !?

“ wait wait wait when? “ he shrugged “ on the first day I wrote it on a sheet of paper and when I escorted you and your mom to the doctor I slipped it into your bag since you left it open Damm it this was the 3rd mental facepalming you had revived for your actions, as you do in fact remember seeing a scrunched up ball of paper but assumed it was rubbish and threw it in the trash.

“ I threw that in the bin thinking it was rubbish oh my gosh Jay why didn’t you just straight up say it to me my memory is impeccable!” he smiles “ I wanted to tease you a little bit longer I like seeing you all cute and flustered ” now it was your turn away and hide the blush on your face.

You had so much more you wanted to say to him but the interaction was cut short by that annoying old lady. Yes after what interrupting your lil moment with jay she became annoying again

“ Jay.. stop sucking your girlfriends face off and answer to some customers I’m on my break !” She yells as you could hear her approaching. You turn to jay with a frown. Though Shocking both you and him Jay unknowingly places a quick kiss on your cheek mouthing a small “I’ll see you later” before running back into the hospital.

You sigh as you lean on the wall placing your hand on your cheek as you relived the moment on reply. Again and again and again and again- “ y/n!” you hear jay call out for you. He approached you quickly placing a folded paper in your Palm “ my number.. please don’t throw it away again and call me”

And he sped off again

You smiled to yourself as you held the paper firmly in your hand not wanting to let go. You never knew in your life that you would be thanking your mother for being so dramatic.

@COPYRIGHTS SOOTREEPEAR 2023

𖤐 steal my work and I’ll come to your house and suck your blood 🧛‍♀️

𖤐 This story is very personal to me not that I’ve done this before 💀 but like it’s so real to me cuz this is exactly what i would do if In some other universe jay was a receptionist at my local hospital tho the difference is I’ll just admire him from after 😔 Aniiii ways I hope you liked it !!

- peace and love ♡︎

𖤐 link to my other works

[solaneceae]

my battery is low, and it's getting dark.

a codebreakers fanfic about étoiles losing his sight. read on Ao3

It starts off with light blurriness — the kind you get when you forget to remove your contacts before bed, dryness and irritation welcoming you back to the waking world. Étoiles doesn’t wear contacts, although he does don a pair of sturdy, cheap rectangular glasses on occasion, whenever reports have to be read or written in thin leather-bound books for the Résistance’s upper echelon. 

(Upper echelon he’s never caught a whiff off, by the way. Étoiles understands the need for secrecy, for compartmentalization — but damn, it does get lonely here in headquarters, with nothing but his own voice and long-dried ink speaking of codes going rogue and islander alignments to entertain himself with.)

He blinks, once, twice, rubbing at his eyeballs through the skin of his lids. No amelioration. He shrugs it off, readjusts the straps of his slime armor. It’s a shit one, not even the good enchants on it. But he’s been restless lately, antsy. Not quite worried, but something else, something in the negative shape of a beloved, beret-wearing egg. Ants under his greenish skin, a fire only the cold bite of enemy blades and a close brush with Lady Death can fix.

He likes Kristin. She’s funny, with her large brimmed hat and gentle smile and gentler words still. Philza’s a lucky man.

“You are sad,” she would say, in the space-between-spaces he would drift to when downed, just before the ‘doom-doom’ of revival. The crimson bud of her smile would twist into a scowl, as she watched him give her a two-fingered salute. “Is that why I see you so often, starling?”

“I’m not sad,” he would answer without fail — the ache inside his chest wasn’t sadness. Étoiles didn’t do sad. He killed, he destroyed, his body grown in a weapon meant to hurt and maim and be hurt in return. Meant to be wielded by someone worthy. (He thinks of pitch-black feathers and a wheezy laugh, the tingle of wither-decay dancing on his skin, the smell of bone. Claws digging into his bony hips, a litany of trills speaking of ownership-claim, great shadows trapping him in so effectively. His knee guards stained by fresh soil where potatoes are endlessly grown in honor of a great warrior he once crossed blades with. Worship, devotion.)

“I’m not sad,” he mumbles, jumping down the well and into the darkness of the dungeon below. Hopefully it wouldn’t be a shit one, and he could scratch that itch in the back of his mind that demanded blood be spilled, be it his or otherwise. “Maybe I die for real today, let’s goooo.”

He never does. He’s too good at dungeoning, too good at placing blocks and throwing splash potions at his feet, golden apples now a rare last resort because he knows what happens when he eats too many. Aaaah, what a pity, he thinks, as he loses himself in the clash of metal on metal and the grunt of mobs falling at his feet. What a pity, I feel nothing. Bad day for me, bad day.

***

The blurriness stays. Days go by, sluggish and quiet, too quiet on this shit island, and no amount of sleep or healing potions make it any better. His arm stings with static-burn where the black and green binary tar has spread, higher, creeping up his neck. But it does nothing to hinder his movements, doesn’t dull the sharpness of his mind. So he ignores it. “Maybe you should get that checked out or something,” Foolish pokes at it once, as they sit and talk atop the Titan’s head using the blue and green plush chairs the TazerCraft have sneaked in. Pac e Mike, wow wow, sings a little voice in Étoiles’ mind whenever he sees splashes of blue and green, because those two live rent-free in everyone’s builds and brains.

“It’s okay,” he smiles at the shark-totem, easy and casual and Étoiles. “It doesn’t hurt.” It doesn’t. “It’s not changing me.” He is changing, that softness that Pomme had made bloom inside him eroding away with every day she’s gone. It’s harder to stay still, harder to stop and talk to the others, because half of them are depressed and the other half are going insane. But none of that is the code’s doing. “Look, I’ll prove it! 1v1 stick?” he jumps to his feet, throwing a wooden stick at his friend with a fiendish grin. “1v1, right now, let’s go.”

Foolish chuckles, even though his smile doesn’t reach his emerald-carved eyes. (His features are hazy, fuzziness getting worse every time Étoiles wakes. Doesn’t matter.) 

They fight, Étoiles takes it home with six hearts to spare. And he still feels empty.

***

Lilacs. Sunflowers. Cornflowers. Poppies.

Flower biomes were Pomme’s favorites. They’re hard to find, but Étoiles is one patient, stubborn cucumber. “T’aurais adoré ça, légende,” he hums, picking another poppy by the stem and stuffing it into his inventory, the frozen subspace keeping it suspended in time and fresh. He can almost hear the pitter-patter of her little cheeto legs in the grass, the rustle of the blades against her shell. The bomp of a red sign being placed, asking for more red, more blue, more of every color to make her siblings flower crowns and dye her trusty scythe like a rainbow.

He can barely make out their shape anymore, only differentiating roses from poppies by tracing their petals with gold-scarred fingers. He sees a blue blur somewhere at his right, oh, cornflower probably. Her secret code.

He lets out a deep, guttural groan and lets his body fall backwards, hitting the plush grass with a thump. A few butterflies flutter out of the way, one of them settling back on the bridge of the warrior’s nose. He glares at it, faded golden stars comically crossed. He only sees the yellow of its wings, stark against sky blue. “Hey, hey. Tu vas rien trouver ici, tu sais. J’ai pas fleuri depuis des plombes.”

The critter’s wings flap once, unbothered. Étoiles blows on it to make it go away, fails. (He’s a failure, at everything. Fails to keep his kid safe, fails to win a 1v1 against an insect.) Soon enough, there is enough butterflies on him to pin him to the ground under the would-be guilt of disturbing them. Étoiles whines, childish and unserious. “Vas-y, j’peux plus bouger. Pas juste. Même la nature me déteste, c’est bon.”

He’s missed this. The warmth of a sunbeam, the scent of fertile soil, the brush of grass blades, the call of the earth below pulling at him. Part of him wants to sink into it, curl up in Her embrace like a child would in their mother’s womb, forget about the world and the Federation and the Codes and all this shit. Maybe he could fall asleep right here. Let his body soak up the sun, let himself bloom again. Let that softness grow out of his skin for all to see, like he used to. Or, he thinks he used to. The memories of Before are static-fuzz between his ears, unreachable unless he looks at them at the corner of his eye, so to speak.

(The freezing cold, then heat as air exploded around him, an impact. Physicality, sudden and unexpected, the song of the stars loud in his ears as he opened his eyes for the first time in front of a bewildered human in a frayed straw hat. He was happy, wasn’t it? He thinks he used to be happy. What happened?)

But Étoiles is a warrior, a weapon, and weapons dull and rust and grow weak if left to rest. So he takes a deep breath, pushes himself up. “Désolé,” he hums to the butterflies as they scatter away. They are but bright, colorful blobs in his dulling eyes. “Désolé,” he says as he warps back home to forge yet another axe. 

His inventory is full of flowers that he’ll forget about, wrapping him in a constant mix of herbal scents that has Cellbit recoiling next time they cross paths. Étoiles doesn’t notice it, the Brazilian’s bothered expression lost on his rapidly-decaying vision.

***

By the time the Code challenges him to what Étoiles knows will be their last duel for the foreseeable future, his sight is all but gone, everyone and their dog has taken notice, and he has brushed off their concern. “I don’t need to see to click good,” he boasts, slamming down deepslate to launch himself fast and run circles around a disgruntled Pac. “See, see! I’m strafing, I’m doing it, playing the game.” Pac makes a strange sound, one he struggles to guess the emotion behind without body language. “It’s okay, Pac. It’s easy. There’s no problem, at all.”

Phil isn’t here yet, can’t see any names on his comlink but Tubbo told him he wasn’t. Shame, shame he won’t be there to see him die, Étoiles thinks as the rain soaks through his shirt, the boom of lightning bothering him more than he lets show. His ears are ringing as he jumps, ducks, tugs at the string of his bow and sends an arrow flying where he knows the Code is, he can feel it, the only spot that doesn’t smell like anything but void. But there’s no feedback, no satisfying sound of health being chipped at, nothing.

This Code is too strong, his sword winging an off-tune melody as it goes through the binary without ripping or tearing. No damage. Ah, he thinks, so they have finally stopped playing. I see now.

The back of his chestplate shatters into a blast of broken enchant magic and diamond shards, some of them lodging themselves into his flesh. Something cold sinks between his ribs, brushing against his spine in a white-hot flash of pain that irradiates through his whole body, and oh, yeah, it’s over. It’s joever, as Tubbo would say. “GGs,” he gasps through a mouthful of dark green blood. He coughs it up, lets it splash down his neck and paint his shirt. Tubbo’s screaming somewhere, too far away for Étoiles to discern the words. “You- eugh, you slash-kill’ed me, good job you cheater. Easy win.”

The entity growls, a hum-buzz that makes his brain (or whatever he has for brains, maybe lettuce?) rattle inside his skull. The blade slides out, cutting away at him further on its way out, and his body falls into a puddle of rainwater and mud with a wet thud. It hurts, blackered arm buzzing, pain creeping up his neck and the right side of his face, extinguishing the last of his remaining sight. 

He faintly realises that almost nobody knows about his respaw mechanic. Ah, et merde. He hopes they’ll have the presence of mind to ask Antoine, when they realise he wouldn’t just re-pop into existence seconds after his death… or when they noticed his body starting to wilt and decay, if they stuck around for long enough.

(Tallulah knows, he remembers. He told her. But had she told Philza, before she disappeared along with all the other eggs?)

Through his fading senses, his comm buzzes with what he knows is his first death message in a really long time. He can make out the sound of rapid footsteps, clickety hooves and heavy, leather work boots. Tubbo and Pierre. He closes his eyes, not that he needs to anymore for darkness to cradle him. He lets go.

He doesn’t see Kristin this time, only hears a faint sigh and a gentle breath sending him off into the void. He hopes they find his seed soon. He doesn’t wanna stay missing for too long, after all.

***

His personal death-void is not so bad of a place. Boring, obviously, but there’s a familiarity to it, to the way the darkness shrouds him like a heavy blanket, pushing against him from all sides. Not oppressive but comforting. Cradling, instead of crushing.

It reminds him of the dirt patch he was born in — he had been asleep and new, just ripe for the picking, dirt-stained hands pulling at his stem with the roughness of a long-repeated gesture. He had screamed, he thinks, not in pain, but to show the world he was here and alive, hello, hello sun, hello dirt, hello person! Had given poor old Théo a heart attack too.

Ah. He could remember, now. Théo, his leathered face and kind eyes with crow feet, wary at first before this walking, talking little legume with the night sky in his eyes, flower-covered vine-tail like some sort of umbilical cord trailing behind him as he follows the old farmer around, asking him endless questions in barely-legible French. But… yes, he’d been kind to him, Étoiles thinks. The first face his face saw. Makes sense it would be one of the first things that came back to him. Maybe remembering was easier in the void? Maybe he should die more often.

…Nah. Dying wasn’t his style. And having to regrow a whole new body over a week was annoying. He had things to do in the island! Like talking with people (eurgh), and giving them things (yes) and fighting with Philza (yes! yes! yes!) and have fun!

So he waits, oblivion pulling at him like gravity. The void is a quiet place, sometimes, but more often it’s not, with the song of supernovas and wailing stars far away keeping him aware, listening. He hums along to it with no mouth or vocal chords (not yet, still growing, still so small, unripe), and sometimes he swears he can hear another voice singing with him. Off-key, awful really, almost crow-like, but it sounds like someone he cares about, so he’s happy to listen to its drone.

Other times, he sleeps. And he dreams of tiny hands and quiet chirps and clicks, of the yesyes uncle Phil taught her, of the chrr-chrr-peep that means him, when she calls Étoiles’ name in her own little language. And he curls around the memory, softness, and lets it carry him up into the stars glittering behind still-forming eyelids.

***

“Étoiles.”

He hums — warmth, the slow beating heart of the earth. The choir of stars constantly burning far, far away. He could listen to it forever, because he had been listening to it since the birth of the first star, he knew.

“Mate. You with me? C’mon, s’been a week already. Come up here, you can do it.”

The voice scratches pleasantly at the back of his brain. But the earth is so warm, so comfy, a cocoon of peace and respite he’s not sure he wants to leave. He sighs with no lungs to breathe, no need for them, when all he could ever need is right there — perfect temp, perfect moisture, glucose, carbon dioxide, rich nutrients all around. Who needs gapples, really. Or thoughts. Or responsibilities. This is the best.

“...Mh. Alright then.”

The voice grates on his ears, ears that try to flick but are stopped by the soil packed around them. He groans in drowsy irritation, curls in on himself in an attempt to shield himself from it and from the world. It seems to work, the noises fading into nothing, and Étoiles feels his thoughts scatter as a faint scratching sound seeps through the earth and into his mind like white noise. Sleep pulls at him again, and he lets it.

He’s startled back into wakefulness by something pulling harshly, somewhere that feels a bit away but is still part of him. His eyes fly open in pained surprise because ow, ow, that’s my— “Come here, you lazy fuck!” That voice — high-pitched, that heavy accent he’s come to love, amusement and exasperation combined, Phil, his Phil, his GOAT, his brother in arms, his Death-touched angel.

Étoiles blinks, unseeing. Étoiles remembers. And with awareness comes something else, something that shimmers and calls his name in gentle whisper-echoes, as he feels himself being pulled up, and up, dirt parting to let him ascend back to the surface. Aah. Goodbye mama. Hello problems. “Get harvested, idiot!” Philza Minecraft grunts with effort somewhere above him, and the tug gets stronger, prompting a pained ow out of him as the ground crackles and breaks above him, and he feels air-sun-outside on his back as he’s forcefully pulled from the ground like the fresh crop he is. He flails a little bit, kicking off dirt and soil (it’s everywhere, in his hair and between his toes and a little in his mouth and nose, bleh!), then rolls onto his back with a groan, frowning up at the sky he knows is there, blue and clear, because it doesn’t smell like rain and the surface soil is dry and warm.

He’s back. And he sees nothing at all. Welp, better close his eyes again then. He feels a shadow fall on him, feels a sandaled foot nudge his side. “Helloooooo. Hello Phil,” he greets the other leaning hard on the deadpan because he knows it makes his friend laugh when he does that. It lands. “What, that’s it?” the elytrian caws, kneeling beside him and poking at his face, talons dulled to a gentle roundness. Étoiles wishes he didn’t trim them, but Phil is too nice, too careful, too eager to smooth himself down for others, for the eggs. Docile.

Étoiles despises it, but he keeps quiet because he knows Phil doesn’t like to talk about those things. “You get yourself killed by a fucking Code of all things,” Phil keeps going, “make everyone freak the fuck out because you won’t respawn like a normal fucking person, and that’s all you have to say for yourself?”

“Antoine knows. And I’m here now, so it’s okay.”

“Antoine barely logs on, you absolute dumbass. You’re lucky Lullah told me about the seed thing, because you would’ve been fucked six ways to Sunday.”

He opens his eyes, if only to shoot Phil a halfhearted glare. And then immediately forgets about it, blinks owlishly. Sits up to get closer to the other man. “Phil. Why are you stars?”

“What.”

He sees stars. (And not in the sex way, because he doesn't do that.) It’s not night, but there are stars in his vision, where pitch blackness used to be, and the constellation is Phil-shaped.

Philza is a cosmic cluster, a nebula shining bright in the darkness that has become his world. He can see nothing beyond him, not the plants surrounding him, not the long vine attached to his lower back Phil used to pull him out. He can tell it’s there, though, lightly thumping at the ground in agitation. “You, are stars. That’s how I see you now.”

“Wait. Can you, like, see again?” Phil asks, uncharacteristically soft. “I know it was getting… bad. And your eyes are like, all greyed out. Did the code stuff on your arm do that?” Étoiles sees a cluster of stars approaching his face — hand — and feels fingers brushing just under his right eye. He’s a bit startled by the contact, the area usually covered by his trust bandana (he needs it back, needs his stuff back, hopefully someone held onto it for him). Phil draws away, an apology ready from the way his constellation-body shifts, but Étoiles doesn’t let him. “I can’t,” he answers, tilting his head, ear flicking in focus — the stars that make up Phil sharpen, and he can almost make out the shape of the wings bound behind his back. “But I can See. I think.” He also wouldn’t mind Phil’s hand on his face again. It feels nice. Scratches at something long-buried, and denied.

Philza makes a confused sound. “Okay, I heard that capital S there. What’s that mean? Are you pulling a Daredevil?”

Étoiles grins, sharp-toothed and playful. “Oh, oh! He thinks I’m a superhero? He thinks I’m cool, Felipe Minecraft? Big win for me.” Phil rolls his eyes, which Étoiles can tell because the crow always makes that low warble when he does. “But no, it’s not like that. I still need my eyes to see like this, and I don’t hear or smell better than before.” Although his status as a hybrid means his baseline is still higher than the average person’s, but that’s irrelevant. “FF.”

“So no cool blindfold for you, ey?”

“No cool blindfold. I will just do a Pomme and drown myself later, to make up for how uncool I am.” (He cannot drown. No lungs. But he can pretend.)

He squints. There’s a little cluster, right there at the side of Phil’s head. He can connect the dots, identify the shape of the elytrian’s bucket hat, but there’s something else there too. “What’s that on your head, Phil? I can’t make it out well.”

“Oh— here,” the other takes his hand and guides it towards his hair, and Étoiles feels a familiar texture under his pads. He makes a noise of surprise. “That’s. Mine.”

“Do you want it back?” Phil hums, brushing at the large cucumber flower tucked in the band of his hat. “It bloomed this morning, on top of the plant you were growing under. Took it as a sign you were, uh, done cooking.” Étoiles snorts. Good guess. “But uh, I guess the plant was also you, cuz it’s at the end of your tail now. Dragging.” Ah. Yeah. He really ought to cut it. “Is it weird? That I’m wearing a piece of you? I don’t know what… fuckin’... cucumber etiquette is.”

“It’s not weird,” Étoiles says, because he doesn’t think it is. “You can keep it.” He kind of likes it. That Phil’s wearing a piece of him. It makes him, happy? “You know, that I am your weapon. Yes? So it makes sense, that you show it.”

“You’re my friend. Don’t call yourself a weapon, man.”

“Same thing for me.”

Phil’s response is wordless, a simple, noncommittal mmh. But Étoiles can hear the hidden fondness in it. He pushes a little further, crudely imitates that  one bird sound Philza makes when he’s happy. Whoops internally when Phil puffs out his feathers and trills out a yesyes in return. Héhé. “Yes yes, Philza? Fight me, right now?” he slips into his usual stance, just a bit offset by the lack of armor weighing him down. “1v1, no weapons, no armor? Fistfight, let’s go.”

Phil cackles, crow-like. “I am not fighting you right now, you little shit. You menace. What’s wrong with you?”

“Aww, Phil hates me,” the warrior whines. “He hates me. He won’t 1v1 me, he must hate me. Sad.”

“Oh my god, stop being a baby.”

“I was literally born five minutes ago. I am baby, and Felipe Minecraft hates me,” he sasses back, and Phil throws his arms towards the sky in exasperation. “Oh come on. I spent a week protecting your green ass! Making sure you got enough sun and water and shit, it was like doing egg tasks all over again. Antoine even talked me into fucking singing, pretty sure he was pranking me with that one by the way, and still you think I hate you?”

“Nice caulk, Phil.”

He can’t see it, but Étoiles knows Phil’s eyelid is twitching. “Mate. I got a faceful of ass pulling you out of here, you’re on thin fucking ice.”

The cucumber snorts. “Héhé, got mooned by the stars.” That was kinda funny. “You were pulling me by the tail, I do not know what you expected. You’re lucky I’m a plant, or there would have been full cock and balls there.”

“Bruh. I thought it would be connected to your… plant belly button, or whatever, like an umbilical cord.”

“It’s an ass button, GGs.”

“Jesus Christ, please don’t call it that. I didn’t even know you had a tail. You didn’t before.”

“That’s because I always cut it,” the warrior huffs, said tail lashing behind him from the restless energy that always accompanies a new body. Its leaves drag around the loose dirt in little swish-y sounds. “Give me a sword, Phil, it’s already annoying me.”

The crow peers down at the vine, then back at him. “I dunno, man. You look kinda fun with it.” Étoiles squints. He can’t quite make out Phil’s expression like this, all stars and nothing between them, but he can hear the hidden laughter in his voice. “...I will cut it with my teeth then.”

“Won’t that hurt more than with a blade?”

“It doesn’t hurt. Only the base. Like when you pulled on it.”

“Why not keep it? It’s a part of you.”

Because it speaks for me, he considers replying. Because it says and shows things that I don’t want people to see. Even now, it wags, because Phil is here and now brushing stray dirt out of his hair and it’s very nice. (Is he touch-starved? He might be. Pomme is gone, and he doesn’t trust people to touch him, other than with blunt force and sharp diamond blades.) But Étoiles hasn’t kept his tail since he was a child, still wide-eyed and showing his innermost self to the whole world without any shield. He feels weird. Exposed. And it’s okay with Phil, because Phil is Phil, but it’s not okay because they’re out in the open and anyone could come and see. He doesn’t like that. “Because people can grab it, and it gets stuck in things, and it’s annoying. I cut it, now.” He tugs at the appendage, bringing it up to his mouth. “Nope,” Phil snatches it away, and Étoiles hisses at him. “Calm down, dude. At least let’s do it cleanly.”

“Eeeeuugh. Okay.”

”Then we’re getting your stuff back from Antoine’s, good god. You’re still butt-naked and I won’t have you strut around like that.”

“He has my things? Comms, armor, my backpacks?”

“All of it, yeah,” the older man huffs, and Étoiles can hear the telltale sound of an item being summoned of an inventory. Enchanted axe, he parses, recognizing the ozone-y smell of the sharpness enchant and the sound of the air being sliced downward. He doesn’t feel anything when the vine is severed, frowns when he realises Phil left a good… fifty centimeters of it, still attached to his body. “Phil. You misclick? You aim like shit today?”

“You said it hurts near the base,” the elytrian huffs, finality lacing his every word. “Keep it or cut the rest later, your pick, but I’m not hurting you.”

Étoiles’ ear flicks in confusion, and so does his tail. It moves faster, easier now without the rest of the plant weighing it down. “...We fight each other all the time, that hurts more. I don’t care.”

Phil stays silent for a few seconds. Nebula-Phil shifts before him. “It’s. Different.”

Étoiles hums. Philza has the Tone™ again, the one that means he’s thinking of things that hurt. He thinks of clipped feathers, of matted down that he wishes he could run his fingers through and fix, fix, let me fix it, let me do this for you. But he says nothing. Maybe another time, when they’re both ready for that conversation. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Maybe I keep it this time. Maybe.”

He can hear Phil’s smile in the next word he speaks. “Attaboy.” And he tries to ignore the way his tail wags with renewed enthusiasm at that.

[sylvainahyperfixation]

Your life is mine. Accept your inheritance, or I will reclaim it.

I'd rather die.

---

you know what i thought was REALLY WEIRD. this has been living rent free in my head ever since my first durge playthrough but. (spoilers ahead) minthara's so on board with you being a slayer and taking bhaal's legacy just because she thinks you should take any power available to you. of course in my playthrough i was like holy shit she would LOVE IT she called me her slayer, we're fucking doing it!!! but as you have that convo with bhaal you come to the slow realization that you'll just be his pawn forever - surely your life is worth more, surely you'd want more than doing some shitty god's bidding forever, father or not...i had a moment where i was like, im sorry minthara but i can't choose this. so i chose to defy him. and of course he kills you, withers shows up blah blah.

but.

we KNOW from minthara's characterization (for example in her ending with karlach) she doesn't want her love to die and she would rather jump headfirst into hell to fight against it. she'll never accept it or understand it. i just refuse to believe that if she knew what the consequences were for going down this path (the ending is quite linear and it's canonically Bad) she'd advise you to take the power.

but that's not really even what i was unsatisfied with - let's just say regardless of reasoning it all does happen the way it happened in my playthrough - there's no scene where she (or any other companion you're romancing as durge for that matter from what i've read online) actually reacts to the fact that you DIED. if withers wasnt a bro you'd be permadead. okay, no cutscene? maybe we can have some durge romance specific dialogue...? nope.

anyways larian PLEASE i know she'd be devastated i just want to hear her say no power is worth losing you /sob

[pianokantzart]

Can you imagine if the Mario bros from the movie met with their game counterparts?

There’s so much potential there, if they are so similar but so different: take Mario who has grown up in Brooklyn, never felt like he was making a difference, and JUST discovered a magical world where he belongs, compared to Mario who has grown up in the mushroom kingdom, is a world wide hero doing enough feats of talent to show that he lives up to the fame in a week, and has live as a hero his whole life

Plus there’s different mechanics and story lines, imagine if one of the game Mario bros die but come back with an extra life and just act like it’s normal, what if they swap universes for a day and you have a new inexperienced Mario meets classic characters and a experienced Mario meeting a Peach who had to fill his role as the jack of all trades

I thought this was a really cool obvious idea but I haven’t seen anyone else’s take on it

It's funny you should bring it up! Because even though I've never written it down (and probably will never write it down) I've thought about a situation where Movie Mario and Game Mario suddenly switch places due to some interdimentional fluke or magic gone awry.

Both Marios are extremely confused, but they are both communicative about what happened and how– though they are Mario– something's gone wrong, and their life is suddenly very different from what they remember. Both Luigis and Peaches help out however they can. They eventually succeed in piecing together what happened, and start forming a plan to undo the weird dimensional change and get their own Marios back.

Some possible scenes that live in my head rent-free:

Game Luigi is surprised to find himself the voice of experience for once, helping this alternate version of his big brother understand the mechanics of this new world. Game Luigi regales him with stories of all the foes they faced over the years, and Movie Mario is fascinated, amazed, and a little intimidated by it all.

Game Mario suggests he and Movie Luigi stock up on "1-ups" before they enter a dangerous situation. Movie Luigi asks "what's a 1-up?" Game Mario thinks he's joking. Movie Luigi is not joking. Game Mario realizes the situation is far more dire than he thought.

Game Mario having dinner with Movie Mario's family

The moment Movie Mario lays eyes on Game Bowser he is completely on edge. His fists are raised and he's ready to throw down, already motioning for Game Luigi to get behind him. Game Bowser very quickly decides he likes this version of Mario– a little temperamental and rightfully fearful of him. The feeling isn't mutual.

Game Mario is startled by exactly how ruthless Movie Bowser is, and how risky fighting him is now that there are no extra lives involved. He doesn't like to show it, but he's more scared than he's ever been before. Luigi sees the fear despite Mario's attempts to conceal it, and takes a moment to comfort him.

The moment anyone is the least bit mean or condescending to Game Luigi, Movie Mario is on their case. Whether it's an enemy, a toad, or a royal representative, he makes it crystal clear that nobody is allowed to talk to Luigi like that– he doesn't care technically isn't his Luigi. Game Luigi tries to assure Movie Mario that it's fine, but Movie Mario won't hear it.

Game Mario is not quite sure what to make of Movie Peach. Of course he's protective and respectful as always, but the fact that she's so fiercely independent and an incredible fighter is not something he knows what to do with. He's been protecting her for so long...

Game Bowser and Movie Bowser would like each other at first. Then, the longer they talk, the more they rub each-other the wrong way, until eventually they're throwing fists and fire balls.

[sojourner-between-worlds]

A random assortment of autistic!Yusei headcanons on this fine Friday in December.

Yusei got a weighted blanket after the whole Arc Cradle ordeal. Best sleep he's ever had. Crow tried to borrow it once; it did not end well for him, lol.

Eye contact? What's that? Yusei doesn't know her.

He's more prone to shutdowns than meltdowns but they both do happen. (He's definitely accidently hurt himself on more than one occasion but he's gotten better at redirecting those behaviors even on his own as he's gotten older and his reactions less severe.)

He's semi-verbal to begin with so periods of losing speech entirely are a fairly normal occurrence. He's usually fine, and if he still needs to say something, the boys all know sign language anyway. (It's not "real" SL but rather a dialect of Satellite the citizens created to be able to communicate without Sector Security understanding them. Yes, I stole this from @/shitpostingkats, what of it? It lives rent free in my head.) The first time it happens after moving to the City, Yusei doesn't even consider that Aki and the twins don't know their SL and so he signs. Crow laughs at everyone's dumbfounded looks before he both translates for Yusei and then explains. All three are more than eager to learn it. (Rua thinks its "the coolest thing ever" in typical Rua fashion.)

Never quite breaks out of the "subtle stims only" mindset that was forced by necessity of the environment he grew up in. He wasn't about to give Sector Security any reason to single him out, after all, and old habits die really hard. Aki noticed he tended to rub his fingers together a lot, to the point of sometimes accidently scratching himself on the sharper edges of his nails when he's not wearing his gloves and started looking for other options. She bought him a spinner ring for his birthday and while it didn't 100% fix the problem, it did help quite a bit. (Between that and a tangle, he's practically good to go. He never had anything like that growing up, and they bring him great joy to have now.)

For the same reason, he was technically never diagnosed as a kid because Martha didn't want to paint a target on his back with SS. When he moved to the City, he didn't see any point. He was self-employed so any accommodations he could possibly need he could just, ya know, give himself. The first time he ever truly considered it was after he started working for MIDS and was working on his degree. (Even then it took quite a bit of convincing because he wasn't sold on it actually being helpful.)

Feel free to add on!

[blackjackkent]

A drabble dedicated to @rhysintherain because this has been living rent-free in my head since I posted yesterday about Rakha and Lae'zel going to shake down Zorru:

------

Karlach settles into camp quickly. She has spent a lot of time on the move as part of Zariel's army, and part of being a soldier is being able to make herself comfortable in any random bit of space big enough for a kip. Hells - having her own tent and space around it is practically palatial compared to the bunkroom full of cambions that was her primary resting place in Avernus.

Almost the first thing she does as soon as she's got her tent set up is sprawl out on the ground and stretch her arms and legs out as far as they'll go in all directions and let the sun beat down on her. It's not really home, not quite yet, but it's close. This is the happiest she's been in a long time.

She's halfway to dozing off for a comfortable nap when she realizes Rakha has wandered back and is just...standing there, staring at her.

Karlach opens one eye and peers up at the half-orc curiously. "Can I help you?"

She's already learning that her new friend is kind of a strange one, even without what she's been told about the other woman's memory loss and intrusive murder thoughts. Rakha doesn't always seem to know how to talk, and certainly not what normal conversation sounds like; she just says things, blunt and clipped, without concern for niceties. And she blinks just slightly too little, which makes her steady gaze a smidgen unnerving.

"I have a question," she says.

"Oh?" Karlach sits up slowly into a cross-legged position, jerks her head to indicate Rakha should sit down. "Well, let's hear it, then."

Rakha does not sit - does not, in fact, move at all. "Your race. Is it tiefling or teeth-ling?" she asks, with the same level of gravity she might have brought to ripping Karlach's head off.

Karlach blinks rapidly. "Sorry, what?"

"You are like those in the grove. The refugees," Rakha says. It's not a question, merely a collection of facts gathered for appraisal. "Gale called you tieflings, after we killed two rescuing Lae'zel. Lae'zel, however, pronounced it teeth-lings." She squints at Karlach intently. "I require your clarification."

"Oh." It's not really fair to laugh - and really, Karlach's amusement isn't at Rakha's lack of knowledge. It's the incredible seriousness of the demand, as if this question lies on par with all the unanswered ones about the worms in their heads. "Well, I can understand the confusion," she says, keeping her expression serious with an extreme effort of will.

"Yes." Rakha folds her arms. "Lae'zel would not mislead me, I think," she adds pensively after a slight pause. "She guided me from the nautiloid. She speaks with knowledge and without pretense."

"And Gale doesn't?" Karlach grins crookedly.

Rakha's expression twists with something like confusion. "I do not understand Gale," she admits slowly. "He knows much I wish to learn. But I feel foolish when he speaks."

"Too many words," Karlach agrees commiseratingly.

"Yes."

Well, it's almost an act of kindness, then, if that's how she feels about it, Karlach thinks to herself. A morale boost for her friendship with Lae'zel. It'd be doing her a favor.

But really, it's just the fact that it's the first time she's had the opportunity to do something funny in almost a decade, and she's not emotionally strong enough to resist that temptation.

"Well, I can tell you for certain, it's definitely teeth-ling," she says, serious as a funeral. "Lae'zel was right on top of it."

Rakha nods gravely. "Ah. Excellent." A pause. "Thank you."

She turns and walks away. Karlach crawls at once into her tent, curls into her bedroll, stuffs the pillow in her mouth, and howls with laughter.

-----

"This is your doing, isn't it?" Gale asks her several days later.

"No idea what you're talking about," Karlach says around a mouthful of the camp's latest attempt at "stew". It's a particularly unimpressive attempt tonight; the vast majority is carrots, and the rest is a very uninspiring cut of meat that is uncomfortably grey. And yet, somehow, it's still better than anything Zariel ever fed her.

"Rakha called Zevlor a teeth-ling to his face this afternoon."

Karlach lets out strangled giggle. "Oh, my gods. Seriously?" She drops her spoon back into her bowl with a clatter and gives him her full attention. "Tell me everything. What did his face look like?"

"Even my prodigious powers of description fail me on the subject. I think we may count ourselves lucky that he was too perplexed to be offended," Gale says dryly. "But most significantly to the point, any attempts to correct her afterwards have come to naught. She claimed that you were responsible for this particular crime against pronunciation and considered the matter irrevocably closed."

"Hmph," Karlach says cheerfully. "It was Lae'zel who came up with it. I just confirmed it."

He rolls his eyes. "You're enjoying this linguistic catastrophe, aren't you?"

"Listen, Gale - she's not hurting anyone, and the last time I had a little stupid harmless fun was 1481. Give me a break."

[smokersbaby]

Hello :D first of all, I love your Tumblr blog and writing, your posts about Smoker make me feel butterflies in my tummy. (Yeah, he deserves more love, he's such an underrated character and husband material, so I'm really happy to read all your writing about him ✨) Sorry for not sending a request or leaving a comment sooner (I was nervous because I don't speak italian, my native language is spanish, and I'm insecure about my english knowlege 🙏) I'm so excited to see blogs like yours, Smoker is my favorite One Piece character and let's say he was my unexpected fictional crush from the series haha. (He is such a handsome, kind, righteous and complex character, I feel an unhealthy amount of love for him😭)

So, after all that thirst for Smoker, the request. Do you have some thoughts or headcanons of him being a husband or even a father? I've noticed that people often forget that he is such a sweet man with children and that side of him just melts my heart. (The moment with the ice cream little girl in Loguetown made me fall in love with him in the first place💖)

Thanks for all the love and effort you put in your writing :D you don't need to answer my request if you don't feel comfortable with it so feel free to ignore it, I will understand 👍🏻✨ And keep on writing, you're doing amazing🌟

Thank you so much for all your kind words! Don't you worry about the language since I'm the first one who makes a lot of errors here! Moreover, my sister lives in Spain so when she comes to Italy with her little daughter we speak in Spanish (at least I try).

Smoker is the perfect husband material, I'm sorry if I haven't written more SFW about him until now but I didn't have the chance, so I am more than happy to expose him like that! (that scene in Loguetown lives in my head/heart rent free and I go look at it every time I'm sad, just to let you know) 💕

Characters: Smoker TW: mention of sex (intimate moments part) Notes: if you love Smoker and need some comfort, this is the perfect fanfic for you, I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it 💕

-> As a husband <-

Jealousy -> he isn't the kind of person that demonstrates openly how jealous he is towards you when someone else gives you attention (there will not be jealousy dramas), but he'll look at the other person with a deadly look from distance. He is jealous of you, more than you could imagine, he can't think of you in someone else's arms.

Sleeping together -> He loves when you use his chest as a pillow (and you love poking and squeezing his boobies too, let's say that), with his arms caressing your back when you fall asleep on him. He doesn't move a muscle when you nap, even though he grunts as he starts to feel his arms getting dizzy from the uncomfortable position due to your weight on him. He snores when he sleeps (sorry for that) and can be a quite heavy sleeper when it's with you (the opposite happens when he has a mission and must be alert).

Protection -> do you remember Smoker saying "you ain't laying a finger on my soldiers!" when he fights pirates? Well, he's protective towards you as well, but hundred times as much! Nobody could harm you when you are with him, if someone does, that person would be torn apart within minutes.

Cuddles -> he doesn't demonstrate his love in public, and Smoker blushes a lot trying to stay calm when you try to do mushy stuff with him in front of people. But, when you two are alone, he loves cuddling you whenever he has the opportunity. The thing he loves the most is hugging you from behind and placing his chin over your head as he does so, it happens almost whenever you are in the kitchen cooking or just brushing your teeth in the bathroom.

Cooking -> Smoker is not the best cook in the couple, he tried a lot of times and with a huge effort trying to impress you but he ended up throwing away a lot of pans since they were almost burnt or too difficult to clean after he finished. Once he gave you the only edible meal he cooked and he thought you were joking as you told him that it was quite good.

Living together -> Smoker never thought he could enjoy living with someone else this much. Since you two moved in together, he started to do everything with you, most of all because his work schedule it's quite strict and he tries to spend time with you as much as possible in your shared house. He's quite an organized person, if you thought he might be messy with clothes you're wrong: it's mostly the times he reproaches you for not putting your things in order (he's a marine after all, what did you expect?)

Going out -> He loves taking you out to play pool with him. He can't help but chuckle seeing you try your best and lose against him. When you make mistakes missing the balls with the billiard clues Smoker laughs a bit, but just because he can use this opportunity as his advance, placing his hands on your waist trying to teach you how to play properly (of course most of the time you pretend you can't play to make him approach you).

Intimate moments -> He's intense, for real. He won't let you leave the bedroom until he satisfies every desire of yours (it's him that insists to do that, not you). He loves your body and kisses every inch of you before using his mouth to make you see stars. Smoker adores you when you ride him taking the lead since he's accustomed to giving orders in his job, it's like a kind of role reversal to him. He can be a little bit rough at times in bed, grabbing you by your thighs and leaving small bites on your neck, but he won't ever push you beyond your limits. Smoker also loves when you ask him to spank your butt since he can't take his hands off of it. He has a slightly praising kink and loves telling you how good you are at taking him all inside of you.

-> As a father <-

Smoking -> he doesn't smoke around you when you are pregnant as doesn't smoke around his children since his family is the top priority to him, but since his kids want to be with their dad all the time he's quite stressed about abstinence from smoke.

Protection -> Good luck to everyone who tries to harm his children, no one could ever think about such a thing, and when the idea of someone harming his children comes into Smoker's mind, he can't help but think about all the things he would do to make these people pay in the most atrocious ways.

Boy or girl? -> He wants a girl, definitely, but he'll be hella protective towards her when she starts growing up. He'll treat her like her little princess and bring her on his shoulder every time he can. Smoker can't resist but give her all she wants, even when he knows he shouldn't spoil her but he can't say no to his little princess.

Cherishes your body -> There's no need to be insecure about your body after giving birth since he'll love every curve of yours during and after pregnancy: every pound you gained in the 9 months is a pound more for him to love. Your stretchmarks are just a sign of you bringing to this world his child. He doesn't care if your body changed after the birth of your babies, this is just another reason to make you feel appreciated more than before since he can't see you sad about it and won't ever let it happen.

Finds time to stay with you -> Probably it won't be easy for you two to find time for yourself when you both have children to take care of and he's away in marine missions for days. But when you finally find a little bit of time to spend alone with Smoker it's like when you were just married, snuggling in bed as he gives you all the attention he can to the person he loves the most.

Playtime -> Smoker tries to find time to play with them, which can be kinda difficult at times because of his job. His children love pranking him while he's busy or distracted. Smoker sighs and puts on a (fake) grunt on his face as this happens and then starts chasing them playfully all over the house. They love pretending to be pirates escaping from the big marine that is their father, Smoker plays along but he's kinda worried when he sees his children enjoying this game, he hopes with all his heart that his kids won't ever become pirates.

When the kids grow up -> He teaches them the difference between what's right and what's simple, which can be difficult since he has seen so many people taking the wrong way in life, but he tries to not push them about it since he knows he'll probably get the opposite reaction from them. He loves his children so much and is a little bit scared of them growing up, Smoker wants the best for them.

[miitarashi]

Hello~

So I've been thinking about some fluff with Tintin (he lives in my mind rent-free).

I would like to request Tintin with a fem reader who likes to be praised. Just like, she tries hard to work well during the day and does everything quietly. So at the end of the day she likes someone to pat her on the head and just tell her that she did a good job. She doesn't say she likes it, but Tintin notices.

Only do this if you can and want to, thank you! And forgive me if this seems a little confusing, English is not my first language.

Owww,this is so cute tho. Such a cute thing need to be writed! And don't worry,english is not my first language either and i understood pretty well,you're doing a good job so far at learning! I'm proud of you unknow person. 😌❤️

[Name] = reader (female)

Warnings: none,just cuteness

Prompt: You're a hardworking person who loves headpats.

When you met Tintin for the first time, you we're working on the local library taking this opportunity to study on your breaks because you wanted to apply for a position as an assistant to a local historian you greatly admired. Because of it, the subject you were studying was something that Tintin was needing more informations of,so he asked for your help, becoming friends ever since.

Consequently, he ended up watching your dedication for the position you was applying for. He saw your eyes focused on your notebooks and books, the post-it notes on your wall to help you remember important things when he come to a quick visit, even finding it cute when you turned up your nose when you saw something you didn't understand or pressed your lips together when you tried to put the pieces together to help him with his new article.

But the top 1 was definitely the happy smile and light blush that covered your cheeks when someone pats you on the head. Even if you didn't say it, it was pretty obvious when you did, you kept quiet because you didn't want to draw so much attention. However the journalist discovered it and waited for the right moment to do so, which was precisely when you applied to be an assistant to this historian who you greatly admired.

The day of the decision came and went, Tintin found it a little strange not having a reaction from you about the result so he decided to stop by your apartement when he was free and after a few minutes of conversation about that new article, he casually asked:

"Oh,[Name],did you already got the results of your application?"

"Hm? Oh yes,i got it yesterday and will be working with him by tomorrow" — his eyes widen a bit in surprise,mostly by the nonchalant tone you tried to say it,but still feeling that animated subtone.

"Well,by how much you worked hard for it,i would be surprised if you didn't get it" — he chuckle a bit,letting a small sigh and finally he could do it.

His hand reach the top of your head giving some pats in a caring way,smilling when that cute smirk appeared on your lips along with the tiny blush he adore so much to see,he would even hug and kiss your forehead if he could because you deserve it and even more,however he didn't want to cross any bondaries or end up making things awkaward by this sudden act.

"I'm really proud of you [Name],you worked really hard for it"

"Thank you Tintin" — you said looking back at him,smilling happily. His eyes soften,taking his time to just look at you cute face before looking away a bit.

"Your welcome and from now on,i guess i'll be having an even more capable help on my researchs."

"Yes,i'm really looking forward for it"

"..Me too" — he said in a light,careful dreamy tone almost, watching your little excited squirm making sure to keep this memory in his heart.

You both smiled,quite excited as you will start your dream job and Tintin will keep his little excuse to stay close and having your help on his cases. A win is a win.

————————————————————————

A/N: there it is,a cute request fresh out of the oven! (Yes i know,it's a bit short) And sorry for the delay,i literally forgot to post on the last sunday :( but! I already have some good ideas and some special things being prepared~ so just wait a little,i promise y'all will not disappointed! Hope you liked unknow person! Thanks for reading!

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Who does Zuko care about the most in the series (other than himself)?

Quite a lot of people: Iroh, Ursa, and Mai, plus the Gaang after his redemption. We don't know if he was ever close with his cousin Lu Ten, but it's clear he can at the very least understand the tragedy of his death. I don't take the comics as canon, but I do like how nice he is Kiyi, his youngest sister, in them.

Plus, the whole tragedy of the Last Agni Kai only works so well because of the more gentle moments between him and Azula, like her saying she restored his own honor in Ba Sing Se, or warning him to be careful when visiting Iroh without any ulterior motive, or him looking conflicted when seeing her falling "to her death", or ya, know, this blink and you'll miss it moment that lives rent free in my head:

There's also the fact that he loved the Fire Nation itself - the people very much included. It's why he was banished and why he eventually became Fire Lord. There was some of that "entitled royal" factor in it, but he did genuinely care and want what was best for his nation - which is why even when he chooses to leave, he still says he's doing it to save his country. He loves his nation, his people and his culture.

Zuko could be a self-centered jerk sometimes, but he loved A LOT of people - the main tragedy of his character is that he spent his entire life caring for and trying to get the approval of his abusive father, whom he loved deeply.

[journey-to-the-attic]

I need more pet zoo hcs bc that au lives rent free in my head

i love this au as well so i shall provide!!

even upon being turned back into demons and returning the devildom, the brothers still respond when called by their nicknames as animals

lucifer hates that he also responds to peter now but it's too late, the name's there to stay

in this au when solomon meets asmo he finds out about the animal ordeal, because he makes a joke along the lines of "whatever the duchess decrees", and asmo immediately bursts into tears because that WAS his name, once upon a time......

as animals, if provoked, they'd have a sort of demon form equivalent where they become more monstrous-looking (to the point of being vaguely eldritch if angry enough)

though the latter happens very very rarely, since there's not much in the human realm that could aggravate them that much

they do it do varying degrees of frequency - at first levi can't go a day without getting startled and suddenly growing an extra set of teeth

whereas lucifer does it exactly once throughout the entire ordeal: when diavolo and barbatos arrive and first attempt to send them to the devildom

mammon hangs out with ik pretty much 24/7, but he especially likes to chill with her while she does homework and stuff

he perches on the table attempting to help, but mostly just chews on her pens and mumbles "clever girl" in approval every few seconds

satan spends most of his time either people-watching from the windows (he has an unusual fascination with lawn mowers and the garbage trucks)

he has this habit of sleeping in the dead centre of the bed, and zhao is too scared of getting scratched to move him like ik does, so sometimes he ends up on the sofa because satan has now commandeered his room

for some reason belphie HATES the feather duster. when zhao gets it out to do some cleaning he spends the entire time trailing behind him and just glaring at it

mammon nicks little trinkets everywhere he goes and stows them all in ik's pillowcase (ik has to clear it out every now and then because it starts getting uncomfortable)

levi seems incredibly elusive, but in fact you can usually find him in one of two places: in his box, or wrapped around ik's wrist

when he's not watching the tv, he likes to just quietly observe what she's doing (so quietly that sometimes even ik forgets he's there)

asmo spends a not-insignificant amount of time sitting in the front window and waiting for passersby to notice him

sometimes it works and they stop to point and coo at the fluffy bunny, other times it doesn't and he has to slink to ik or zhao for sympathy

just flops down at their feet/across their laps looking like the absolute saddest little rabbit ever, waiting to be fussed over

he keeps himself very well-groomed, but he absolutely HAS to be brushed every evening or he'll throw a fit (running around the house and thumping his feet angrily until sufficient attention is paid)

lucifer mellows out unexpectedly quickly, and he actually defers to either human of the household without much protest

that's not to say he won't give you the most disparaging look a bird possibly could if you do something that he doesn't approve of though

there's a burglary on their street at some point and lucifer spends an entire fortnight hyper-vigilant about the house's security - he stays up late to keep guard and everything

he keeps going to sleep in the corner of the living room, to the point where they start putting blankets there. eventually it starts getting lovingly referred to as 'peter's nest'

(lucifer won't tell anyone this, but he secretly takes one of the blankets with him when it's time to go back to the devildom)

beel is such a big fur-ball but he never seems to quite understand just how large a dog he is

belphie likes to sneak into the hallway cupboard for some naptime, and beel always seems genuinely confused that he can't fit in with him

he always wakes up immediately after zhao because he's always giving him scraps from the fridge

there's an old lady down the road that just adores him, so ik takes him on walks past her house often and she'll ply with just endless amounts of ham

sometimes beel will attempt to share his food with belphie or his other brothers, but because he'll have had most of it in his mouth while carrying it over, they usually decline

though belphie will at least sniff at it and maybe nibble around the edges

belphie's constantly burrowing around in local hedges to find comfy sleeping spots and getting himself mucky, but then he gets so mad when they have to give him a bath

he'll put up with it because he doesn't want to get mud all over the comfy furniture, but the entire time he just looks livid

one time he crawled into the laundry machine while zhao was doing chores and he very nearly put him on spin cycle

satan likes to sit in front of the laundry machine and just watch it spin

sometimes lucifer sits with him, and this is how they bond in this form

one day ik trips and splits her knee on the way home from school, and somehow all seven of them get a premonition about it and swarm her as soon she opens the door

another time she's upset and getting shouted at while at school, and mammon senses this and dive-bombs through an open window to get at the offending teacher

in general they all develop a kind of sixth sense for each other. ik will be half-asleep in history and suddenly sit bolt-upright like "socks [levi] is stuck in the airing cupboard again"

i like to think it somehow carries through a little even when the brothers have settled into the devildom

diavolo is explaining his idea for the rad to them and suddenly, at the exact same time, all seven of them stiffen

he asks what's wrong and lucifer quickly dismisses it as a cold breeze, because no one wants to explain to him that they've all felt a sudden and extremely potent pang of loneliness that definitely wasn't theirs

so diavolo has to make the brothers cut ties for inter-realm safety when they're first brought to the devildom

and now that i think about it we'll have to do some tweaking in terms of the timeline - accelerate the events so that they can feasibly happen within ik's lifetime, since she'd be long gone if we were to follow the original course of events

in this case maybe the whole animal happens when she's younger (say like, ten to eleven), and then the exchange year starts when she's fifteen as per jtta

diavolo gets inspired to set up the exchange program a lot sooner, since ik and the brothers have already proven that humans and demons can form lasting bonds (also so that he can reunite them, because he feels so bad about having split them up)

also bringing in that other anon's idea where ik appears as a little sheep

the brothers, watching this ball of fluff appear in the council room: a sheep?

[dramatic zoom in on the sheep's head. somehow, it has an ahoge]

the brothers: IK?!?!!?!?!?

i can imagine that ik would be sorta cold for a bit. she hasn't really forgiven them for leaving her alone. sure, it wasn't their choice, but still....

she does warm up again, though - it's hard not to with them all compensating for the long separating by being EXTRA doting

it's also returning the favour, since ik was doing most of the looking after back when they were animals

side note though i feel like we can't even comprehend how ridiculous and cute ik would be as a lamb

have you seen that one video of a sheep being held up and spun around and it has the MOST "head empty" look on its face possible

ik just permanently looks like this is the only thing going on upstairs

also this video of lambs jumping on an older sheep. i like to imagine ik just absolutely trampling all over the others for fun (especially beel and diavolo, whose shoulders are broadest and easiest to traverse)

(she'd hold a bit of a grudge against the royals for some time though, given they were the ones who took the brothers away)

(diavolo is devastated by this because he loves small cute things and he wants to hold the little sheep so badly)

[dangerously-human]

Never, ever over anything about The Necklace Scene. (What, really? The one you changed your blog name for, for the first time in a decade? Shocking, I know.) I've got too many thoughts pinging around at high speed to really trace them all, but here's my attempt to nail down a few:

In response to Lockwood's attempt at reassurance ahead of what they know will be, in one way or another, The End, Lucy tells him, "I trust your Talent and your leadership." The two things that have caused so much tension between them, on both sides. That's a lot of what Lucy left over at the end of The Hollow Boy, what Lockwood went out of his way in The Creeping Shadow to show her, that he did trust her Talent and her decision-making. And here, Lucy's returning the favor. It matters, a lot, that she believes in Lockwood's leadership. That's been a huge area of growth for him throughout the series, and it says she'll follow him not just because she loves him, but because she truly believes in where he'll lead.

But then she adds, "It's the way you seem to be enjoying this that I can't quite understand," and that gives Lockwood the chance to explain himself, to reveal how his outlook has changed so much for the healthier in recent days. Lucy trusts Lockwood but she does not 100% trust his motives, and here he is finally able to admit openly to what's been driving him, the nihilism and depression - and to say that he isn't making the heroic call this time, he's not dragging them on a suicide mission, he's found meaning in the grief and he's only going to take them down this path as a last resort. Which allows Lucy to put her full faith in him at last, to take that final leap, to know that wherever he goes, she'll follow, and vice versa, and they don't have to second-guess each other anymore.

I could write essays, plural, on the necklace itself and what Lockwood was thinking when he set that aside to give to Lucy in this moment - I'm thinking a LOT about it in the context of the next chapter of Not Even a Doorknob Between You, hint hint - but right now, the thing I'm crying about is that it's gold. Do you get what that means? That gorgeous post comparing the two necklaces lives in my head rent-free, the one with the commentary about "one because you can die and one because love will not" (I'm badly paraphrasing some of the most beautiful meta I've ever read), and I'm sure there is more to be said here than I could ever put words to, but one necklace saves Lucy's life, saves all of them, from ghosts, and that's lovely but it's even more powerful that the other can't do that at all. It's beautiful for beauty's sake, it's gold, it's offering her a future, it's saying, "Even in a world at peace, where we are not in battle together, I want to be at your side. Whatever brought us together, whatever's next, I'm here with you. I love you." And for two people who've spent their lives running from the past and fearing the future, to take a gift from the past and turn it into a promise for the future, whatever that looks like - to hold out the chance at forever, together - that's the kind of thing that imprints on your brain for all of time, okay!! "It couldn't be anything else," indeed!!

[sweetblossoms]

saw your post abt rapunzel manipulating tim in their convo and god hard agree it Is concerning that so many ppl didn't see it. also crazy to me that ppl are mad at tim and defending rapunzel, saying that they would have taken the book too because tim was being rude etc. to me it seemed that both tim the character and ally the player Wanted to believe that rapunzel wasn't part of the plan and was good but just kind of strange, and both are successfully fooled. tim absolutely fumbles the interaction and ally could have played things better, but rapunzel was so clearly in charge of the conversation, leading him into saying worse and worse things and putting his foot in his mouth while tim was genuinely trying to be nice. tim is awkward and blunt and eccentric with Everyone, it's weird that ppl are saying he was being singularly rude to her or patronizing her or that he deserved to get the book taken. that interaction was clumsy as hell and so many words could have been chosen better but tim so clearly was trying so hard to fix his initial fuck up and be friendly w her in the same weird way he talks to everyone. I don't see how ppl came out of that scene on her side even if tim was a little rude and unfortunate w his word choice, and it's concerning to see ppl being like "ha take that stupid old man!!" abt the book being taken + in defense of a character we met an episode and a half ago and who we have been told outright is an expert at deceiving people. the princesses are so so interesting as characters and the morals going on are complex and that's a whole different conversation, but I feel like no matter whether you love rapunzel or not, ppl should be able to recognize that she was manipulating tim in that moment and taking advantage of his trusting disposition. not trying to start discourse in your ask box ofc!!! I've just seen No One Else express discomfort w rapunzel in that scene

anon this ask has been living in my head rent free since you sent it, i've been stewing over how to respond because y e s. for context, check out this post to save discourse on main (this is about to be a long one of fan critic analysis, get your popcorn and settle in if you wanna read, this is the longest post i've ever made), im gonna put my thoughts and response under a read more, sososo many spoilers under the cut read at your own risk

These were all in the replies and tags and I want to reply to all of them bc they're all worthy of being talked about bc i feel like the majority of the fandom is almost scared to critique?? So like let's talk about it since nobody else seems to be taking this approach from what I can tell (thank you to you anon for being on my side as well as the rest of you who are screaming with me) I will begin by saying that my original post is not critiquing ally the player, or any of the other players. i understand that they were in that dome, filming a session of dungeons and dragons, and improv acting and roleplaying for many hours on end with back to back episodes. i kind of get ally and the rest of the table maybe just wanting to "hope for the best", especially ally as they are quite a "hope for the good in others" type of person. it's frustrating from a viewer perspective sure, but i totally dont blame anyone ever for making a "wrong" or "non-optimal" choice while playing a ttrpg, they just have the misfortune of being filmed while doing so. i myself have made tons of bag fumbles while playing dnd, even when i thought everything through ten times over. so anything i have said or will say forward isn't to put any shouldering on to the people playing these silly storybook characters, like, i Get It

What i do want to critique is the fan response, which is the more worrying one!!! like i said in my original post, i was surprised by my d20 watch buddy having a similar response to ally. the total "oh, maybe she's just quirky bc of the self isolation, maybe she's autism rep" approach. my friend, love her to death, is also one of those "sees the best in others and hope everyone is always aiming to be their best selves" type of person, very similar to ally. i came online after that episode expecting everybody on the fanbase level to be screaming with me in a "i told you so!!" way

instead. i came online and saw people just on the attack and the defense in absolutely skewed ways!! out of NOWHERE, all these fans have come on to post about how "tim was patronizing her, and thats why she stole the book" "wow i would have hated being called girly and honey as well" "wow these conversations really didnt go their way why was tim so mean to her :(" or the opposite of "rapunzel is the evilest person to ever exist bc xyz these princesses are evil villains" or "we need to protect these princesses bc they just didnt know any better uwu"

i feel like, on a fan level, me and you anon (+all these lovely folks in the notes of that post) were the only ones screaming "hold on, that is literally not the same media i just watched"

i've seen before a lot of people be like "wow, media literacy is at an all time low" and i never really understood that until i saw the reactions after that episode. as a fan or viewer watching any media, we have the privilege of seeing more about the media than the people who are creating it. that's the best joy of being a viewer, we get to sit back and spot those foreshadowing moments and bite our nails in suspense when the music goes creepy and see the artwork and overall, we have the privilege of catching vibes that maybe those acting in it do not. this leads to those bonding moments of "i told you so" "wow im biting my nails and pacing" "oh they're gonna REGRET that". and, an "oh my god no no no do not hug her she wants to take your book god now she's feeling you up with her hair she's looking for the book ROLL INITIATIVE!!!!". it leads to glorious moments of ~dramatic irony~, a literary term for literally when something is happening in a story and the readers can catch it, but the protagonist probably didnt bc they're not seeing the full picture. While watching, from my perspective, yeah it was frustrating to watch the player bag fumble turn after turn, but it's a game of dnd, they film so many back to back, they don't get the same experience as us. however.

brennan did a great job at dropping the foreshadowing, to the point of not even so much subtly foreshadowing, he DIRECTLY TOLD THEM rapunzel was a liar and uses her words as knives. like someone pointed out, the players even PAID for that information, with the golden bridle. by the time they met these princesses, they probably knew the most about rapunzel's true nature over all the other princesses, that she uses her charisma to her advantage. the players made their choice to do the diplomatic route, to split up and chat. ally did the right thing for picking rapunzel with tim's 19 charisma stat, it would have been charisma against charisma, and an even playing field for someone they have been explicitly told is a master of words and deceit.

as fans, we've seen these episodes edited and put back to back. clues are lined up in a row. was it frustrating to see ally playing tim in a naïve way? sure. but tim's been pretty naïve this whole time, so you could stack it up to a character choice. what's more frustrating is seeing the responses of viewers being blindsided by the book thieving and chalking it all up to "evil vs good" and rapunzel's choice shaking them to their cores.

by this point in the story, by the time you get to that episode, rapunzel already gave enough bad vibes with the talk of her charismatic deceits and with her hair everywhere spying on them. maybe that last one wasn't explicitly stated, but it was heavily implied to the point of gerard writing the plans on a note instead of wanting them said out loud by elody, a scene that happened way before tim's. by the time we see rapunzel get to the kitchen, she is INSTANTLY catty. someone described her on the post as "eldritch regina george" and. yes. exactly. eldritch regina george. from our privileged spot as a viewer, rapunzel comes in, puts on the fake smile, puts on her fake tone, and says "what are you doing in here? :)". she was already ready to fight timothy. that first sentence was hostile. she was OFFENDED and checking on tim to make sure mother goose wasn't counter-spying. i honestly didnt think that would have to have been explicitly stated, she was in attack mode and plastered the fake smile for a show so that she had the upperhand in the conversation that was about to happen. this is something that fans should have at least caught on to right off the bat, we've been explicitly told that she is fake more than she is honest for the sake of being a "performative person"

the conversation happens, and she starts becoming more verbally hostile. "i dont know, what SHOULD we do hehe. it's ruined now :)" "no use in crying over spilt milk *pours milk with hair on the floor with a smile* oh no :)" "...or if it was on purpose :/ :)" "why dont you go get a mop :)" "i chose to be charming :)"

every sentence she replied with was carefully chosen. as viewers, we can watch brennan's face in full clarity of intimidation. we can have the knowledge that has been provided to not trust rapunzel as she is a charismatic spy who has words for knives. in my opinion, even without those clues before now, her show that she put on in the kitchen should have been enough as is to show that she is acting maliciously and with hostility. the smile is there as to not incite physical violence on tim's part bc then it would make TIM look like the bad guy if he attacked first. by the time she goes in for the hug. im sorry. but ally the player should have caught that, the whole table should have caught that, and-more importantly-the fans should have caught that. we all watched the same thing. we have all been told the same information. to purposefully ignore all of the red flags just to pull a "well tim was kind of mean and patronizing, and rapunzel doesnt have social skills from being locked in a tower, i forgive her, wow i didnt see that coming" is absolutely *batshit*

the lack of people catching on is what concerns me. i've met TONS of people growing up (sorry here, im all for women's wrongs, but mainly cis-girls tbh) who act like rapunzel does. from middle school and high school bullies/mean girls. mean girls at college. from parents or teachers or bosses. from normal adults in my life. they always have the same tone and inflections in the same places. the same faces with the wrinkled nose. the same sickly sweet smile. brennan played rapunzel, a known manipulator, perfectly. to a T. he embodied it fully. people JUST LIKE RAPUNZEL walk amongst us every day. i can guarantee you that even these fans that didnt catch it have met people like rapunzel in their own lives.

rapunzel is a character yes, but she is a character that mimics a masterclass manipulator. she IS the mean girl, the regina george. it leaked out of her every word, tone, and inflection. every single thing told about her and shown was, in no world, some "uwu the sweet bean was locked in a tower and doesnt have social skills". that was her origin, her start point. just like sleeping beauty locked in a castle, snow locked in her coffin. rapunzel directly says "i chose to be charming. :)." she had her origin of no social skills, her sad origin of being locked in isolation in her tower, and said "this is my greatest flaw, so i am going to dedicate my life to improving this skill bc it's what stopping me from achieving my goals." she trained her social skills to be good. too good. so good that she hopes nobody will catch her sweet charming self in the act of malicious intentions. this. was. directly. stated.

it worries me on a psychological level of the fans. yes it shows a lack of media literacy, something is frustrating on a fan-to-fan level. it shows a lack of ability of critical thinking. it shows a lack of ability to participate in dramatic irony, a necessary literary device to instill tension into a horror campaign. but also, and to what is probably my main point in this novel long hot take: it has real world implications. mean girls like rapunzel are a guarantee in life. i'm sorry, but it's true. maybe the person acts differently, maybe they aren't as obvious or more obvious. but these people walk amongst us. they use the same tone and same cadence to their words. these manipulators see what they want, and devise a way to convince the person into giving them what they want. rapunzel did not use the Charm Person spell, or the Friendship spell. She used. her words. like a normal human being. and by doing so, we as the fans were able to catch on and should have had a moment of "RUN GOOSE, RUN AWAY, NO DONT LET HER HUG YOU". but instead, a lot of people turn a blind eye to these manipulators in their lives. they pull a "aw but they have a tragic backstory, they're just confused and need love :/" "they cant be THAT bad..." they see a sweet little smile on the face and an upticked tone of voice, and go "well, they're playing nice, so now i have to play nice bc otherwise im the bad guy here" which!!! you do not!!

this is exactly how manipulators worm their ways in, this is what ALLOWS manipulation to work in its various forms. it's how people get trapped in abusive relationships. it's how people get scammed. on a personal end, i lived a narcissistic manipulator for a long time growing up, and it was exhausting. once you could put down the rose colored glasses and see right through the act, you notice how every inch of their mannerisms are performative. everything they say and do comes with the caveat of them wanting something from you and are trying to butter you up in the meantime. if you catch and call onto it, they IMMEDIATELY turn on you, they sneer and retreat to their next target who it will fool. the cycle continues, the next target is selected.

on a fan level, if we as fans cannot play into dramatic irony as a practice, if we cannot exit our seats of mind to catch on to those "eldritch regina george" quirks at the bud in a piece of fictional media where the puzzle has been handed on a silver platter, then there is a l o t more work to be done on 1) general media literacy 2) ANY fandom perception on media and 3) general awareness of how to spot and deal with manipulators in real life. if you can't catch on to it in a silly fictional ttrpg media, how do you expect to catch on to it in real life? how many of these same fans are trapped in manipulative relationships around them? how many more will they fall for bc of the "oh no but they have tragic backstory so it's forgiven uwu"? as fans, you cant sit there in the same breath saying that tim was condescending to rapunzel and then follow it up with not noticing what was ACTUALLY happening in real time. if you wanna say that rapunzel was ALLOWED to be a manipulator because of her origin, what other manipulators are you defending in your real life? how many of these manipulators continue their tricks BECAUSE they know naïve people exist and will fall for it? how many have been enabled in the same cycle bc it worked on one so it'll work on the next?

i wish i had a fun way to conclude this absolutely massive chunk of fandom critique gibberish, but i just dont. i wish i could find a more comprehensive way to scream about this, so take this post as me SCREAMING about this, anon my dm's are open if we wanna rant some more

[muffinrecord]

I keep reading that Himena is mentally ill, but I don’t know enough about her to actually see that. How does… her mental thing come across like that? I don’t know how to ask this.

I don't know enough about Himena to really give an answer on this-- I have a basic, broad understanding but not enough to go into true depth.

I can't point to a specific mental illness or even confirm that she actually has one, but I think one can absolutely read her as having one the same way you can for someone like Juri.

Her thing is that her boyfriend, Hiko, committed suicide after intense bullying-- it was partially based on their relationship because the two were so different (it was like a Romeo and Juliet thing, sort of?). If I recall correctly, Hiko did not want to be saved. Himena therefor made this her wish after his death: “Make it so that Hiko and I can be together within me.”

Now Hiko lives inside her head as a voice that only she can hear. It's confirmed through Kanagi (again, if I recall this correctly) that he does actually exist in there.

Of course, this means that very few people who aren't magical girls with knowledge of wishes and magic are not going to believe her. And this really frustrates and hurts Himena in return. Her reality is questioned and disbelieved. People don't try to understand her. She feels like her love is not allowed and she wants to change that. She also wants to support her new friends that seem to be suffering quite a bit.

Just based on the little I've seen of her, I do wonder if she has something else going on beyond the possible symbolism of having a dead boyfriend's voice inside her head. She takes rejection very personally and seems to be hurt by it more deeply than others, she seems to swing between emotions quickly, and she's got some interesting internal logic going on regarding morality and such.

How much of that is thanks to the trauma of her boyfriend committing suicide and then the subsequent consequence of having him inside her head, her age, and to an actual mental illness is up for debate. Also, I'm not sure what kind of guy Hiko was/is. It's possible he's a negative influence in there just as much as he can be a comforting one.

The way that Himena reacts to people around her, particularly her mom, can also feel very real and symbolic in terms of mental illness. I think it can be absolutely argued that one reason she takes some of her worst actions is a lack of support and love around her. Obviously the bullying was bad, but the lack of attempt at understanding and compassion hurt her too. "Hurt people hurt people" and all that.

As for how it comes across... this is arguable, but this is my personal opinion for what little I know. I don't think that Himena is a bad person or portrayed as such (VERY DEBATEABLE IN THE FANDOM). I think she went through something horribly traumatic and then found support in a very bad way-- I'm not just talking about Hiko living in her head rent-free, but also her new "friends" (aka Neo-Magius) that give her motivation to push herself to massive extremes. It's notable that Himena is only fourteen years old too. I think a lot of her actions can be explained as a consequence of giving a young teenager too much power, too much responsibility, and not reconciling their traumas-- couple that with no oversight and I'm not surprised that things ended up as bad as they did.

Again, I don't know too much about her beyond vague summaries and what I've seen in events. So take it all with a grain of salt.

(Neo-magius isn't really my thing, they're easily my least favorite faction, so them and their characters aren't my wheelhouse.)

Other folks, please feel free to correct me if I got something wrong, or chime in with your own opinion!

[thesilverlady]

Unpopular opinion: having Aegon as this failson momma's boy is BORING let characters have agency let them make their own decisions even if it's morally ambiguous,or downright wrong. there is nothing absolutely wrong with a character who has agency, a well defined goal and solid characterization. Having a character that is reduced to be another character plot device is not moral complexity or "greyness"

hmm half agree, half disagree anon 😅

On the one hand, Aegon being failure in regards to the family expectations is part of his character, so I personally wouldn't take it away to prop him up. Him being sullen and unmotivated/lazy as well as quick tempered are the only traits we do in fact have about the character from canon.

Now, I'll agree the execution was bad. For instance in the show aemond is clearly the favorite one because he's calm, disciplined, studious and obedient. (basically a pollar opposite of his book self). While in the f&b we never get to see who alicent's favorite is, it makes sense for aegon to get her most attention; he remains her firstborn son, his "rights" have been robbed in her eyes, and his presence/existence alone is a weapon to wield against rhaenyra (who seem to live rent free in alicent's head)

The spin they went into for the show that alicent is this disappointed mother with the failure of her first son, her odd daughter and her only comfort is her second son - who also breaks the illusion when he kills her bff's son was.... a choice.

Alicent at core is a hypocrite. And I'm not saying this with hate. it's her trait. It can be as fun as it can be obnoxious, depending on the way you're viewing things. She would never acknowledge her children's flaws or pin blame on them.

So back to show Aegon, not only he doesn't have his mother's blind love/support, he doesn't even seem to have any relationship with his own brother whatsoever.

I've mentioned my disdain over the age changes for the show because essentially they serve nothing. Aegon being "friendly" with Jace for 3 minutes didn't add anything more because guess what, we only see the kids in two episodes. Aegon bullying his brother.... because his nephews were more interesting? again makes no sense

Objectively i think they wanted to toy with the shared childhood to build emotional bonds and to hurt more when you see all these people killing each other. But that doesn't work when you have timeskips in every single episode.

So Aegon is left as this guy whose father hates his guts for no reason (we never see if he even knows about the maids, or drinking or his son's general behavior), his mother seem like she cannot stand him. His brother is indifferent to him at best or looks down to him as worst. The only neutral is kinda Helaena - which doesn't last long if you pay attention to her dinner speech 😬

Aegon in the book is quite terrible, but TV people have forgotten that viewers used to enjoy characters like these without any need to "related" to them. Not to mention, I feel hotd as a writing point always calls the viewers dumb because in order for them to understand that aegon in the show is also not a great guy they have to turn every single person from his circle against him.