#sort of? it's a little unclear on purpose

[happyk44]

Oh. The cupid scene except instead of batting Nico around, Eros fucks him in front of a heavily pinned down Jason and Jason is like torn between "I need to help! I need to do something" and "wow he's stretchy"

Nico crying on Eros' dick, refusing to admit his feelings until Eros starts yanking at his hair, showing him off to a panting and confused but turned on Jason, hissing in his ear that he'll get relief when he calls out the name of his beloved and Nico comes, weeping as he releases Percy's name into the air with the most strangled desperate tone any of them have ever heard.

Then there's a shift, as Nico is dropped unceremoniously to the broken floors, and Jason watches as Percy, with Eros' blood red eyes, pounds away to completion before dropping the scepter and disappearing.

He says nothing to Nico about it, who's embarrassed, shivering and still crying. He has a feeling Nico knows though, what Eros just did. It's a weird sentiment.

Was it supposed to be loving or a promise?

He'll never love you for anything.

This is the only way you'll have him.

When Jason visits camp, he spots Nico. As he's fiddling with a turtleneck in the dead heat of summer, Jason spots a familiar red hand print burned into his throat.

[wheucto]

an ii/su crossover would be fun just for the trichotomy of light-based beings. inorganic light/organic light/whatever the ii contestants are

[magneto-was-fucking-right]

Envy (Part 1)

Summary: Simon Riley's sleep is rudely interrupted by the commotion coming from next door, and this time, curiosity (and horniness) gets the best of him. Pairing: König x Reader (x Ghost) Word Count: 2.5k

Content Warnings: Unprotected sex (Wrap it before you tap it!); Perv! behaviour (voyeurism); degrading vocabulary.

Read part 2 here

It was three in the morning.

He knew that because he had checked his digital watch every two minutes during his agitated “rest” in the musty sleeping bag, spread across the filthy floor. He couldn’t sleep. The heat of the middle eastern countries didn’t quite affect him anymore, years of experience on the field forcing his body to grow accustomed to the ridiculous temperatures he had never experienced in England before. The mosquitoes couldn’t bother him either, since he seldom exposed his skin, his face covered with a light-material skull balaclava. His stiff shoulders and hardened back sometimes felt damaged beyond repair from the numerous nights spent on hardwood or concrete floors, a soft patch of dirt and grass if he was lucky, but his aching muscles weren’t the reason for his troubled sleep.

The continuous bang of the bed’s headboard against the wall was. And so were her moans. Simon Riley felt as he if was quickly spiraling into insanity as he shut his eyes tightly and feverishly tried to ignore the mattress’ springs, the slap of skin against skin, and the worst part of it, his desperate moans. He always felt a deep, sickening rage towards the Austrian soldier, as his pathetic little whines and obedient pleas echoed through the walls, begging her for more. More kisses, more skin, more wandering hands through her naked flesh and supple breasts. More pressure on her hand as she palmed him through his fatigues, or as she jerked off his length coated in her spit. Nasty slut, he thought bitterly every time he heard her dirty words, commanding him to comply to her fantasies “like a good boy”. He was angry when he heard her seduce him in the safehouse once more. He was furious because he knew she must do it on purpose. She had to. There was no way she didn’t when she knew Simon would be sleeping right next door, that she was a loud fuck and so was he, because who wouldn’t be loud when she was riding it that good and that deep. She wanted him to hear it. She wanted him to think and dream about it. Simon was sure of it.

And therefore, when he had gotten in his sleeping bag to prepare for a few hours of rest, he hadn’t even tried to fall asleep because he knew it would happen again. She always used the same tactics with König: she went for a shower in the old house’s low pressure tepid water and a bar of Dove soap that Simon definitely hadn’t sneaked a whiff from before, making it clear that he was to watch her six. But he always got to watch more than that, as she usually left the door open. Simon knew this because he had once heard the naïve colonel warn her that she had forgotten to lock it, to which she had responded only with an amused giggle. How stupid can he be, Simon had grinded his teeth throughout the whole interaction. Then, as the door to the room was closed in a very clear failed attempt at some sort of privacy, the smothered laughter began, followed by unclear mumblings in German, and soon enough, sighs and whimpers. He folded so easily, Simon thought. He tried to convince himself that he wouldn’t have, that he would’ve given her a harder time trying to get him laid. That he would make her beg him to fuck her before he even took her clothes off.

But the truth was, every time one of her delicious moans travelled through the walls, or a slightly opened door, he was immediately fighting back a raging boner that ached to be relieved through her touch. It was once again the case. He palmed himself through his pants in the sleeping bag, cursing them out as he wondered how long they would take this time. Usually, König came rather quickly. Loudly too. Sometimes inside, sometimes on her tits and her open mouth (he knew this was her favorite because it made her moan like a whore the entire time), and sometimes on himself, as she forced him to run his fingers over his soiled abdomen and suck them clean. What a pathetic fuck, he thought.

He knew she was riding him this time because she always set a frantic pace, that despite her best efforts didn’t match the speed to which the Austrian could plow into her from bellow if he wished to. Bang, bang, bang, bang – the poor wall kept being beaten over and over again, and he heard his usual plea.

“Please Schatz, I can’t hold it for much longer.”

“Of course you can König, you’re such a good boy.” She grunted in between panting, the wet slaps slowing down to a passionate grind.

Simon gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to peek, because maybe, just maybe…he had carved a hole with his knife in the weak cement wall that morning in preparation, just small enough to provide him with a little tease if the two lovers decided to get down and dirty once again. It’s so wrong, he fought himself mentally. Fucking hell, what’s wrong with me?

But all he could think about were the sounds of humanity’s most primal, animalistic instincts that flooded from next door and clouded his mind in a sex-drunken haze of languid desire. I need to see. Just once, just out of curiosity, and then I’ll be able to sleep, he tried to convince himself as he roughly got up from the sleeping bag and carefully moved to the area of the wall where he had shaped the peephole. He felt his cock twitch in his briefs, painfully hard.

There she was, sat on top of him in full glory, her round breasts on his face as he suckled on both of her nipples at the same time, his large hands pushing the fat of her tits together. Simon didn’t know where to look at first. His mind couldn’t quite process the wholeness of her fully naked body, at last obtaining answers to the curious questions of his lustful mind: as he had so often wondered about, her body was deliciously curvy and supple, her pubis covered in soft curls trimmed to perfection and her wet cunt sunk halfway König’s large cock. He could see scars in her abdomen and right shoulder, most likely old combat wounds that she had luckily gotten away with. Her hair was messy from the Austrian’s passionate touches, giving her a natural erotic aura that seemed to linger all around her and the way she moved so confidently on top of him. Her cheeks were flushed, her skin gleaming with sweat from the physical effort of both riding König and taking the slightly painful stretch of his thick shaft. Simon had to give it to him, the man was built like a fucking Greek god, with firm muscles all the way down to his navel. Her hands roamed his body freely and it seemed to make her feral: once she reached his perfectly built abdomen she bit her lip, pushing him away from her breasts and forcing him to lay flat on his back once again, before returning to her killer pace.

“Break is over big guy. Your face looks too good to be hiding in my tits.” He whimpered at her comment, blushing profusely as her breasts bounced on top of him once again, now covered in his own saliva.

“I-I won’t last, Schatz.” He warned, breathing heavily and holding on to her hips for dear life.

Ghost couldn’t take his eyes off her, dipping his hand on his briefs and slowly pumping himself to the view.

A mischievous smirk spread across her angelic features as she rode him faster, bringing him to the brink of a bed shattering orgasm, “Yes you will, my sweet.” She observed his face attentively, looking for the little nose scrunch he did every time he was about to cum. It was much easier to know now that he was comfortable enough to leave the hood that usually covered his face right next to the pile of his clothes. Once she saw it, she halted her actions completely, pulling herself off him, disconnecting their bodies and making him grunt in frustration. “Sei ein guter Junge, König” (Be a good boy, König), she commanded, making his cock twitch as he heard his native tongue.

Simon’s insides were burning with envy, wishing he would be given the chance to correct her bratty attitude, dominating her into submission. How he longed to sink into her slowly, feeling the warmth and wetness of her cunt, stretching her open inch by inch until she was a moaning and begging mess. His hand moved faster on his cock, but for now, all he could do was watch as she kissed the Austrian passionately on the lips, before moving down his body slowly, a trail of wet kisses all the way from his neck, which she had filled with hickeys and love bites, to his groin, his cock twitching against her cheek.

“If I put you in my mouth, will you behave and not cum until I tell you to?” She teased, holding his fat cock in one hand and gently cradling his heavy balls with the other. Simon gritted his teeth once again, fighting the urge to reply “Yes” himself.

“Ja Schatz. I promise, I do, I promise.” König’s eyes were shut, most likely trying to think of unerotic things that would help him hold on for a little longer, but once her tongue gave a wet lick from his balls all the way to the tip of the head he was done for, whimpering in pleasure as she worked the best sloppy blowjob of his life.

Simon pumped himself so much harder now at the sight of her head bobbing up and down as she progressively took more and more of the man’s cock, that he was fighting his own orgasm, bound to happen at any moment. He watched as she languidly sucked on König’s pink tip like a lollipop, saliva running down his veiny shaft and coating her chin and lips, as she hummed with her eyes closed.

“You taste like me” She moaned, since he had been inside of her only a few minutes ago. König moaned as she deepthroated him expertly, chocking slightly on his girth, tears in her eyes as she went all the way to the base, before coming back up and coughing. He fisted the sheets roughly and mumbled gibberish in German as she repeated the process over and over again, interrupting it only to suck on his balls once and again, making sure they weren’t neglected.

“I-I’m gonna…” He interjected, forcefully holding her hand away from his shaft as he almost came without permission. She removed her mouth from his cock, smirking.

“I won’t torture you any longer, baby. You’ve been so good to me today. I’ll let you cum, but inside of me.” She whispered softly and Simon’s body shuddered involuntarily as he watched, trying to hold off his climax. He felt as flustered and horny as when he watched his first porno, almost completely overwhelmed by his instincts that wouldn’t allow him to think properly.

And then something unexpected happened. She looked right at him through the hole in the wall. Simon held his breath, his heart racing as he halted his movements, his hand still inside his briefs. She can’t possibly see me. He reasoned with himself. They had the small light on the nightstand on, but the room in which Simon “slept” in was in total darkness. He had positioned the peephole very carefully, in a part of the wall with several other smaller holes that the safehouse had sustained from its abandonment. How had she noticed?

He was frozen in place, and she smiled innocently, before laying belly down on the bed, faced turned to him and her round ass perked up in the air. She sucked on her fingers softly, with her eyes closed, before spitting on them and moving her hand back, coating her folds generously to make sure she was well lubricated once again. Simon couldn’t breathe as König moved behind her, sinking back into her with the weak whimper of a man desperate for release. Simon restarted his movements on his cock, staring back at her eagerly, as if in a trance. He could see every change of her expression, every scrunch of her nose and tremble of her lips as the Austrian rammed her from behind roughly (still not roughly enough for his taste, but he couldn’t exactly go on giving him instructions from behind the wall). She moaned and whimpered and screamed, the depraved sounds of wet skin slapping as König’s heavy balls hit her clit with every slam of their hips.

Ghost let out a shaky breath as he was close too, and strangely enough, seeing her face contort in pleasure was getting him off much harder than seeing the way her ass recoiled with the power of König’s strokes, his large hands tightly secured against her hips. Her eyes still looked so innocent, even as she arched her back like a slut and drool fell from open mouth as she rode her cock-drunken haze.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck” She cried out, her eyes tightly shut as her hand moved to rub her clit quickly as König pulled on her hair softly “Don’t stop!” she whimpered in a broken voice as she felt him hit that sweet spot inside of her. Simon felt sweat dribble on his forehead under the balaclava, his wrist aching from his continuous ministrations. König let out a deep guttural moan as he felt her clench around him, her body shuddering uncontrollably as she orgasmed, her cunt squeezing his cock and milking him for all he got. She let out a muffled scream as she buried her face on her bed sheets. Simon couldn’t contain a low moan as he felt himself soil his pants, a ridiculous amount of white, sticky fluid pooling in his briefs and soaking though his pants. König had come at the same time, his pace faltering as his hips slammed against her two more times before he buried himself as deep as possible and moaned loudly, feeling his warm seed fill her to the brim. He lay his body on top of hers momentarily, kissing the top of her head tenderly and then her back.

When she finally opened her eyes, still panting and recovering from the high, she looked at the hole again, smiling mischievously. She got on her knees, turning to König, behind her, and kissing him softly, purposefully arching her back slightly and allowing Simon the perfect view of her spent pussy, still swollen and dripping cum onto her thighs. His hand pressed harshly against the wall. How he wished he could’ve been the one making that mess. How he wished he could be the one to ruin her.

As it turned out; he wouldn’t have to wait very long…

A/N: you guys wouldn't believe how many imagines I have on my laptop that I'm either too lazy to finish or don't consider good enough to post :'). I'm trying to get my work out there more often so you guys get to enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. Do reblog if you can and let me know if you'd like to be tagged for the two upcoming parts, which will include smut with Ghost x reader and finally Ghost x reader x Konig!

[thefirstknife]

Hi! I was wondering if you could explain the lore surrounding Saint and how he says he looked up to us? That whole time fuckery always confused me + the Vex apparently made him a tomb? What was that about? I really just have no idea what happened in Season of Dawn

Yes!

So, we should start with Osiris being exiled from the City (some time around the Twilight Gap, unclear when exactly, but vaguely at that time). Osiris packed his stuff and left to go do his research in peace; he went to Mercury for the Infinite Forest.

This upset Saint a lot and he decided to go after him. He even left a letter for him which destroys me every time:

Ship's Final Log: Osiris. I hope whatever you find in this place is worth it. My recommendation to install you as Vanguard Commander was not a gesture to stroke your ego. It was an order to stay and help the City achieve all that it could. An order you refused to follow. News of my demise will no doubt reach you late. I can already see your response—the guilt that will follow, however fleeting. I thought you had changed after Six Fronts; that seeing your people on the brink of destruction and spared from death would be reward enough to stay. To fight. I'll fight in your stead one last time.

However, note the following at the end:

To my inspiration. Your final gift to me I now send back to you. It will be good to see you again.

This was very bizarre at the time because there was no context to this. While we knew some little bits and pieces of Saint's story before, it wasn't until Curse of Osiris that we got the proper introduction.

Fast forward, Saint entered the Forest after Osiris and got lost in there. He wandered a lot, fought the Vex, eventually got them so upset that the Vex put all of their resources into constructing a special Vex Mind that was capable of draining Saint's Light. When they succeeded, Saint died in the Forest. The Vex were so impressed that they came to respect him enough to make a tomb for him in the Forest:

Finding this tomb was a quest in Curse of Osiris: links to the full questline. When we got to the tomb, we took information from Saint's body and used it to forge his gun: Perfect Paradox. The lore on it is also very peculiar, addressing someone that Saint looked up to. Again, we could only speculate at the time because we didn't have the whole story, but it appeared there was some sort of weird shenanigans here that potentially involved us, the player. Important:

All I have left is this weapon. The Cryptarchs say you crafted it yourself, built it out of scraps and Light and sheer will, inside the Infinite Forge.

We did indeed do that. But how can Saint know that and why is he addressing us? We've never met him; he disappeared into the Forest long before we existed.

It would take 3 years for this to be resolved, in Season of Dawn. In Season of Dawn, Osiris revealed that following our discovery of Saint's tomb, he went to work on creating the Sundial. The sole purpose of the Sundial would be to essentially allow entry into Saint's personal timeline and past, to find him in the right moment, and save him from certain death. Osiris tried to do this himself and failed. For some reason, he could not find the right Saint in the right moment. He begrudgingly gave up and put the Sundial away.

When it was discovered by the Psions and used for their nefarious purposes, Osiris told us about this briefly and let us give it a shot to try and find Saint. He advised against it and deemed it "an impossible task." However, unknown to him (and us), we were the link needed to make this possible.

We went in there and we found the right Saint in the right moment. We found him desperately fighting against the Eliksni on Mercury in his personal past, during the Dark Age. We met up with him and helped him win. After that, we talked to him. Saint seemed super defeated and hopeless, but Ghost then told him about the future where people are safe and showed him a projection of the City from the future. We also gave him the Perfect Paradox. Our Ghost pulled our weapon that we made and gave it to Saint.

The Shotgun you crafted in the Infinite Forge is reacting to the Sundial! An onboard transponder is broadcasting coordinates: a path through the Sundial, crossing two time periods. The prophecy blueprint you used to create the Perfect Paradox must have included this broadcast.

This was the link between us and Saint that allowed us to use the Sundial to save him in a way Osiris could not. The gun is a bootstrap paradox: it exists "out of nowhere" basically. We give it to Saint in his past and we pick it up from his body in the future and then we take it back to the past and give it to him. Saint had information needed to craft it because we gave him the gun, but we only gave him the gun because he had it in the first place.

Saint takes the weapon and we leave him in his personal timeline, but to him, at the time, we're a hero who saved him and showed him a future where the City thrives and people are safe. He kept that hope with him and considered us someone who inspired him to do better and to fight. He could never explain who we were, because for everyone else we did not exist yet: Saint only met us because we showed up from the future to meet him.

We end up going back to the Sundial to find Saint again in the right time when he's found by the Vex Mind designed to drain his Light. Only this time he doesn't fight alone and we save him, essentially changing the course of time. Saint doesn't die; we save him and he's able to stay in the Forest until we can open it from the outside years later in the present day.

Saint never forgot about us and how we saved him and gave him the shotgun. He spent his life with us as an inspiration; someone who appeared out of nowhere and promised him that one day the City will be safe and people protected. It kept him going, even when nobody really understood what he was talking about. Osiris also mentions this when we finish the quest:

In his youth, he talked often about the Guardian who inspired him. I should have guessed it would be you.

Osiris I promise that it's okay that you couldn't guess that Saint was talking about a Guardian time travelling from the future.

I definitely recommend checking out both quests for this whole thing, they're really cool, especially the ones from Dawn because they're more expansive and also Saint is alive there. But the setup from Curse of Osiris is really neat because they heavily hinted at Saint coming back since then. Both the exotic ship and the shotgun itself have lore that clearly reference Saint having already met us, a plotline that we waited 3 years to resolve.

Hopefully that makes a bit more sense!

[pluckyredhead]

Please ship Orion and Lightray with me, thank you

If you've been reading my Fourth World posting, you might have noticed me mentioning Orion and Lightray's relationship. This is because they're in love and I'm obsessed with them. Please join me in grumpy/sunshine-but-they're-alien-demigods hell, with visual references below.

So Orion, as we know, is the son of Darkseid who was raised on New Genesis but has always felt different and monstrous compared to his peers. Lightray is his best friend, who thinks Orion is just the best thing since sliced bread and says so constantly.

This is literally how we're introduced to them, in New Gods #1:

Lightray: Don't be sad. Hug time! Orion: Hugs are not for one such as me. But you're still my best friend. Lightray: Please let me enter your chambers. Orion: NO THEY ARE TOO DARK. Lightray: D:

This panel, from #6, sums up their whole dynamic really well:

Lightray doesn't crave battle the way Orion does but he is determined to stay by his side, while Orion doesn't want Lightray to fight beside him because he thinks Lightray is too good and pure to be tainted by violence.

Zero personal space.

So one of the things about Orion is that his real face is sort of brutish and not traditionally handsome (the eyebrows are WILD), but he uses his Mother Box (like a living pocket computer that loves you) to make himself look more like the people of New Genesis. In #8, he gets into a knock-down, drag-out fight with his half-brother Kalibak that nearly kills them both, and Mother Box can't maintain the illusion (and also his face is, like, pulverized). And then this happens:

I WEEP. LIGHTRAY LOVES YOU JUST THE WAY YOU ARE, ORION.

New Gods was canceled soon after this, but when Kirby returned a decade later, he went all in on the homoerotic devotion. So Orion goes to Apokolips to kill his dad and rescue his mom, and who do you think follows him?

That second panel makes me laugh so hard. "Here, honey, you forgot your Scooty Puff Jr!"

My favorite thing about this is that Lightray is playing dumb. He shot at Orion earlier and then said something vague about missing on purpose...but he didn't:

HE REALLY TRIED TO WOUND ORION ENOUGH TO STOP HIS SUICIDE MISSION. And the way he just shuts his eyes and takes Orion's anger because he doesn't care what happens as long as he saves his friend's life...! (Orion doesn't hurt him, they just touch each other a lot.)

Anyway they argue for multiple pages, with Orion insisting that Lightray go home and Lightray insisting that he stay, until finally:

This is so intensely romantic and also so unintentionally hilarious that I can't stand it. The homoerotic gazing into one another's eyes and then the stupid mutual thumbs up! Whatever is going on with that closeup of Orion in the second panel! I die!

...And you know who else dies? Orion! Or at least he comes very close (it's unclear), but is rescued by a freedom fighter named Himon and nursed back to health by Himon and his daughter Bekka. We get a little romance between Orion and Bekka, but we also get Lightray coming to visit:

That is some FULL CONTACT wrestling, boys. Orion pinning Lightray to the ground while telling him it's good to see him is so much, but the fourth panel is even mucher. My goodness.

And then things get serious, because they both believe they are going to die in the upcoming battle (they don't), so they bid each other farewell and Lightray leaves, and then:

Orion yells after Lightray how smart and funny he is and then collapses in despair because his friend is gone. "HOW LIKE A WANDERING STAR HE SEEMS." Oh my god, Orion.

That's it for Kirby, so I'll move on to other writers and artists, but I want to clear that I'm only sharing the most intense scenes between them. There are so many panels, from Kirby and others, of Lightray faithfully following Orion around, joyously welcoming him back to New Genesis, gently teasing him, and talking about how brave and noble he is. And of Orion only smiling for Lightray, going feral when he gets hurt, and telling him he's too good and pretty for battle. And of the two of them touching each other. A lot.

Literally just two random examples. THEY DO THIS SHIT ALL THE TIME.

The next really big moment comes in New Gods (1995), where the Source (basically God/Heaven) becomes corrupted and Lightray goes evil and Orion has to beat him up to stop him and I will never ever ever recover from these pages:

"You want the beast? Do you like it?" on its own is...hoo boy, SOMETHING. But it is eclipsed by the tremulous "Maybe...maybe if I can just hold him" and Orion gathering Lightray up in his arms while telling him he loves him. LIKE. THIS IS SO MUCH. (P.S. Lightray's fine don't worry. And yes, he does want the beast.)

Then we get to Orion (PLEASE read this comic) and the biggest smile Orion has ever smolt:

Look at how happy he is!!! You need to understand that his mother died in his arms ten minutes ago and he's still like "Lightray! Omg hi!!!" (To be fair, his mother was terrible.) Plus bonus unnecessary touching, Lightray's love language being gifts, and Orion giggling and twirling his hair while going "Omg you're so smart."

(Also, when Lightray mentions his "brief but troubling visit" to Apokolips in the second panel, what's not saying is that he put on a silly disguise and went to see a fortuneteller to try to figure out if Orion's mom was lying about Darkseid not being his real dad (she was; again, she was terrible), and when the fortuneteller is like "You DARE come to Apokolips?!" he goes "I would dare anything for my friend!" I know you would, honey. I know you would.)

The next bit requires some explanation. So, as briefly as possible: Orion kills Darkseid (or so he thinks), takes over Apokolips, and tries very hard to change it for the better. He also accidentally gains possession of the Anti-Life Equation, the formula Darkseid is always searching for that eradicates free will, and gradually is driven to use it to FORCE everyone on Apokolips to be good. And Earth. And New Genesis.

Eventually, Orion is seemingly killed, but actually he's been teleported somewhere unfathomably far away, where he realizes what he's done and sinks into suicidal despair. In the midst of this, he manages to both destroy the Anti-Life Equation AND save all of reality (and nearly die in the process), but he still thinks that because he used the Equation, he's irredeemable and doesn't deserve to exist.

So when he's teleported back to Earth and captured by a human who blinds him and rigs him up to a torture device so that he can drain Orion's life force and use it to be eternally youthful, Orion just...lets it happen. Because he thinks he deserves it. For SEVEN MONTHS.

But eventually he's like "Wait...I deserve this, but probably whatever is being done with my energy is not good and I should stop it." He tries to escape but only manages to let out a single scream.

Luckily, Lightray has been searching for him nonstop for those seven months, despite the face that Orion is supposed to be dead. And then we get this:

To be clear: this is sweet, gentle Lightray absolutely obliterating the men who kept Orion in the torture device.

Nakey.

Lightray gives Orion the crushed remnants of his wrist cuffs, and Orion does a magical girl transformation about it:

For everyone playing along at home, that's the second time Orion has canonically told Lightray that he loves him.

Anyway, Orion goes off to get revenge on the guy who did this to him (it's very satisfying, please read Orion), and then he's depressed some more until he has some brotherly bonding time with Scott and finally feels well enough to go back to New Genesis. His last line of dialogue in the series is "For it is late, and the sunrise and friend Lightray await us in the gleaming city of the gods." OKAY!

Tragically, almost every New Gods appearance after this is complete dogshit, although there is a great moment in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps (a Rebirth series) where they need information from Orion but he's comatose so they bring in a telepath and the only word he can get out of Orion's mind is "Lightray." I'LL BET.

IN CONCLUSION: Orion and Lightray love each other so so much and I believe it is honoring Jack Kirby's legacy to think about them smooching. It's what the King would have wanted!

[mixelation]

I recently read Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer! I was a bit skeptical of it because I really disliked the movie, and the reasons people said the book was far superior had very little to do with why I disliked the movie. However, I found the book pretty engaging. The prose seems a little rigid at first, but you get used to it as a stylistic choice to reflect the voice of the POV character pretty quickly. I thought the pacing was pretty good and sense of suspense well done, and as a result I read it in about two sittings (which is fast for me lol).

Annihilation is about a team of four women entering the mysterious Area X, a deserted zone of "ecological disaster." Their team's goal seems to be to explore the area, but as the story progresses, we learn a lot of information has been withheld and the expedition's true purpose is unclear. Area X is a sort of supernatural-meets-scifi area of strange occurrences: there's a strange wailing of unknown origin at night, the narrator character (a biologist) is constantly noting strange fungus-like growths, there's ~unknowable~ creatures wandering around. Oh, and it's also the sort of story where all the characters are slowly losing their minds for various reasons. I've seen the genre described as horror, although I'd describe the mood as vaguely unsettling rather than frightening.

My main complaint about the movie was that, IIRC, a lot of it leaned heavily on unknown-biology-as-horror and very poor biological explanations. The book isn't like this: the POV character specializes in "transitional environments," by which I think it's meant she's a community ecologist interested in ecological succession or else how environmental perturbances alter ecology. So there's a lot of prose of her describing ecological communities, both real ones and the almost-supernatural ones of Area X, but it's done without the infuriating attempts at an "explanation" which makes no sense, nor is discovering a new community arising villainized as being horrifying in how unknown it is. In some ways, getting to watch such a new community talk hold is portrayed as soothing to the main character. So in that regard, I enjoyed the novel.

Most of the negative reviews I saw of this book focused on the unreliability of the narrator or the lack of resolution for mysteries encountered. It is very true that the narrator is unreliable and she occasionally admits to withholding information form the reader, or in some places it's not clear if what she describes even really happened or was a hallucination. If you don't like that trope, you will hate this book. If you love unreliable narrators.... I wouldn't call this a stand-out or particularly interesting example, but it sure is unreliable.

Now, given this book is basically all suspense for a building mystery, I did feel throughout the whole read that the end would make or break it. And my conclusion upon finishing it is.... it's fine? I wasn't blown away by the ending, but I wasn't dissatisfied. However, I think you will be very frustrated as a reader if you expect clear-cut explanations, or for every detail to be resolved. The mysteries put forth by this book come in three categories:

the narrator - we get a full character arc with her, and in this regard I found the ending satisfying. again, it's not mind-blowing, but it does feel adequately resolved. you do have to be alright with some ambiguities and making your own conclusions, but i personally like this in a story.

the southern reach - this is the name of the agency organizing the expedition (and the name of the trilogy). Their purpose/goals are unclear, and we become aware rather quickly that they are sending people to gruesome deaths and outright lying to them about it. Personally, I didn't find them that compelling as a mystery, and didn't care to learn more than "they're a generic cryptic agency, you know the type." Some, but not all, of these mysteries will be resolved, and some of those resolutions will just open up more questions, which could be frustrating if you are interested in this element of the plot and are also the type of reader who expects all questions to be answered by the end of a story. Worry not, though-- there's two more books!

Area X itself -- like I said, there's very little attempt to actually explain WTF is going on here and why, although you sort of start to intuit the logic of this strange world. honestly, i feel that "solving" the mystery of Area X is beyond the point of the story (which is about the narrator being obsessed with ecological change but terrified and unwillingly to cope with change in her own life) and trying to shove an explanation into the movie was doomed to fail. it's unclear to me if the subsequent books will get into this or not.

Overall, a pretty good read, would recommend. I might read the other two books one day, but probably not for my next read.

[snobgoblin]

SO... the Gangreen Gang's shack. let's get that sorted just for reference purposes

before I get into it im gonna say i only referenced two episodes for this post- Buttercrush and Slave The Day, since im like 99% sure those are the only episodes it appears in. but i definitely could be wrong lol i just didnt feel like watching every gangreen gang episode again at 3 am

ALRIGHT let's start with the outside, this first one is what it looks like in Buttercrush, the second one is STD (wow very unfortunate abbreviation of that episode name), and the third ones are STD again, but in this scene there is a window that looks invisible in the day time

interestingly this window can also be seen in this STD shot, and nowhere else

otherwise the walls of the shack are completely barren. for reference here's what a majority of shots inside of it look like (I didn't screenshot every single instance of a blank wall because I didn't find it necessary so just know this post isn't every single possible shot)

there is also quite a long rectangular table in Buttercrush...

that doesn't seem nearly as long in the next shot

I also suspect it's the same table as this shot in STD

and we know this table is right across from this couch

BUT that's not the only table in this shack, there are at least two. there's also this round one that almost seems like a semicircle but that's probably weird perspective, as from a higher angle it's definitely circular (plus there's a ceiling lamp over here!)

the placement makes it so that this table is visible from the entrance, though the placement of other furniture is left vague

that about covers it for furniture but there is one last weird little thing in Buttercrush- this corner of the shack which appears to have speakers mounted into the walls

as you can see, in the first image there are at least three speakers in two of the walls, but also as you can see, when Buttercup breaks this wall, the wall on the opposite side also has speakers. so, how many speakers there are is unclear, but they are mounted on about two or three of the walls (its a little unclear)

I hope this helps you!!!

keep in mind I did not include content from any books or comics at this time, though I am aware there is content to be found there. keep in mind also i did not count the Villainous cameo the gangreen gang had (though if you do want to count that you can add a bunny ears box tv on the ground, three gorillaz posters, and some cds on the ground) you are welcome to add on with anything else you may find!

[unsoundedcomic]

Why *does* Cutter want memories to be erased so fervently? It seems like it shouldn’t matter - either way when he’s dead he’s dead. Sure there’ll be what is essentially some twisted little museum exhibit somewhere in the khert of his experiences, but he himself won’t be actively suffering. At worst his soul will be reincarnated and still existing, but shorn of his memories it won’t really be him anymore. The entity and personality known as Prakhuta will be gone for all intents and purposes and will no longer be suffering.

Prakhuta has distilled pain grafted onto his "soul," reshaping it into something recogniseable by the khert. So he takes these eternal memories pretty personally, and sees them as more than picture shows, but as scattered pieces of sentient minds that are stuck living out these narrow slices of history over and over and over again.

He might be right. It's unclear if memories in this world are anything more than data. It does seem suspicious that when enough of them congeal, they form eels, squishes, and other strange creatures with their own sort of minds and agency. Troubling.

But that's why Prakhuta wants all of this done away with. He sees it as hell itself, and no one's coming to harrow it. It's not safe to die when such a thing is waiting.

[yanderes-galore]

Michael Myers yandere alphabet please!?

I don't think there's many changes from the DBD one, but I'll do my best!

Yandere Alphabet - Michael Myers

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic (Unclear)

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Stalking, Violence, Murder/Death, Blood, Possessive behavior, Kidnapping, Isolation, Marking with a knife, Forced companionship.

Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?

Michael is someone who would stay out of his obsession's sight for a long time. He is also shown to fixate on one target for long periods of time. His obsession is observing you, staying out of sight yet causing you anxiety.

Most of his obsession is the stalker stage. When he actually gets his hands on you his "affection" is rough. He is a yandere who seems more docile until he actually closes in on you... then he's intense.

Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?

Being a slasher and called literal "evil", safe to say he thrives off the mess he makes. He shows little emotion in general, especially towards blood and corpses.

Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?

Michael is silent yet imposing once he takes you in. He makes no sound but it's clear he wants you to stay where he's put you. He doesn't mock... he doesn't say much of anything, really.

He just likes to stare at you... the only thing you hear is his breathing through the mask.

Darling: Aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?

If he feels you're going to try and avoid him, yes.

Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

Not vulnerable and hard to read. Michael doesn't let you know anything about his intentions. Not being able to read him keeps you on edge.

Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?

Silent and stoic as usual, you can't tell. What you do know is he is at least annoyed due to his attempts to restrain you.

Game: Is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?

Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

Hard to tell but I'd say no and he seems annoyed if you try to leave.

You're trying your luck.

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

With Michael there can be a lot. I'd say him killing your loved ones or even being rough with you to try and make you more docile.

Isolating you after the trauma that comes with getting rid of your loved ones is probably the worst.

Nothing specific comes to mind for him, he just feels he wants you... so that's that.

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?

Hard to tell but he lashes out anyways, which makes it hard to tell if he's jealous or not.

Kisses: How do they act around or with their darling?

Love letters: How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?

He's not a fluffy type of affectionate, he's rough and intimidating. While he mainly stalks you, if he's up close his "adoration" comes off as violent. I doubt he knows how to show genuine affection.

I've stated before that he'd be fascinated if you had hair, to the point of tearing some out to keep it. He keeps all sorts of belongings that remind him of you.

He isn't empathetic and just knows to take what he wants.

Which ends up in some pain for you... on purpose or not.

Mask: Are their true colors drastically different from the way they act around everyone else?

Would start by stalking you. He watches your routine for possibly even months before he approaches. He takes things from you to soothe his obsession.

That is until it all builds up... leaving him desperate for more...

Right until he takes you away.

Not really. His mercy isn't even entirely mercy.

Naughty: How would they punish their darling?

Oppression: How many rights would they take away from their darling?

I imagine Michael would do some cruel things to punish. What comes to mind is cutting your skin ever so slightly. Enough to learn your lesson... but not enough to kill.

Cruel, but he's done worse...

He could do so much worse.

Most if not all of them.

Patience: How patient are they with their darling?

Very patient.

Quit: If their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?

Regret: Would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling? Would they ever let their darling go?

Hard to tell... but it seems like yes or he just doesn't let people know.

He will get volatile if anyone brings you up... so I guess that's a hint.

No and no.

Stigma: What brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?

Hard to say, upbringing?

Tears: How do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?

He leaves you alone for the most part, maybe feels a bit irritated but gives you your space.

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

I'm just not going to answer this question as the answer is most likely yes when it comes to my work

Vice: What weakness can their darling exploit in order to escape?

Signaling help or trying to incapacitate him. Good luck, you'll need it.

Wit’s end: Would they ever hurt their darling?

Yes, unfortunately.

Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?

Not a worship yandere but would slaughter any who try to take you.

Yearn: How long do they pine after their darling before they snap?

Months, maybe even years.

Zenith: Would they ever break their darling?

Yes.

[spicyviren]

What happens when you die and you have holes in your soul?

So Kosmo says this:

Later, when Rayla is about to go into the Moon Nexus, Lujanne says this:

And in the Spirit Realm, Rayla tells Runaan this:

Now this is predicated on "spirit" = "soul" and that something with a corrupted emptiness is essentially the same as something being incomplete.

So, if the coins do not actually trap the entire soul, and Dark Magic is taking a little bit of the caster's spirit with it, is the Spirit Realm full of Dark Mages who are effectively dead but whose spirits are incomplete and can't move on?

It would also explain whatever the hell THIS was:

Aaravos wrapped up a snack to eat later.

The suggestion here, therefore, would be that Rayla has just encountered Viren's corrupted soul the same way she encountered Runaan's. What complicates her encounter with Viren is that, as far as we know, Viren properly died when he fell from the Storm Spire; he was not a so-called "living spirit," as Aaravos put it. So either Aaravos did something to trap part of Viren's soul without him knowing (like the caterpillar) or him having used Dark Magic was enough. Viren is also wrapped in a cocoon when Rayla finds him and it's unclear whether that's a natural spiritual existence for him or if some outside force has purposely done something to keep him in place.

"Death Alive" certainly makes me think the Spirit Realm will feature heavily or at least importantly in the final season. And that, in conjunction with the season being called "Dark," makes me think that there could be some sort of association there that Aaravos may be looking to exploit.

[nalyra-dreaming]

hii! i was wondering if you’d be willing to provide sort of a summary on armand’s backstory? i don’t mind spoilers, it’s just that i’d really like to know a bit more about him and what shapes his actions. i’ve read iwtv and he happened to be my favourite character in it :) plus, i’m very excited for his involvement this coming season, especially in the present day interview. i’m trying to read the books in order so i’ll probably fit in tvl before may but there’s no chance of me reaching qotd or tva until after s2

Hey!

Sure! TVL will have some of it in it (though not the whole story).

I'm putting this under the cut, just in case. Obviously this is the backstory as it stands right now... though given the little hints we have already I actually do not think they will or need to change that much.

This is a rough overview, with a handful of comments wrt the show.

Please let me know if something is unclear.

Armand was born near today's Kiew, that area was heavily contested then. He was a gifted icon painter, and more or less expected to be one of the entombed monks one day. His actual name is Andrei.

On a ride with his father he is kidnapped and sold as a sex slave to brothels. Marius, an ancient, blond, originally roman vampire who likes to dress in red eventually buys him and gives him a home and education, with other boys, in Venice. Over the years their relationship develops, and Armand, then called "Amadeo" grows more to, let's say an intimate confidante slash lover to Marius. He knows Marius is not human, and he wants to be what he is. Marius is not wholly willing, though over time his resolve breaks, and when Armand is mortally injured he turns him as not to lose him.

Shortly after the turning they are attacked by the "Children of Satan", who kill (most of) the other boys, and who kidnap Armand. Armand thinks Marius destroyed, since he saw him burning.

Armand is tortured until he breaks and accepts the rules of the "Children of Satan", led by Santino. He lives with them, until he is assigned the role of the leader of the coven in Paris. Allessandra, who gives him the name "Armand", goes there with him.

A few centuries later Armand encounters a blond blood drinker who wears red - he is heavily reminded of his maker, and in a way "imprints" on him - this is, of course, Lestat. Lestat, who brings his mother Gabrielle, and then his lover Nicolas across. Lestat who defies the rules Armand tries to impose on him (Armand tries to enforce the rules and make Lestat submit by hunting him, and kidnapping and torturing Nicolas) immediately, and who ultimately ends up destroying the remnants of Armand's world view when he does so.

Armand, unmoored and almost alone after having thrown a lot of his own coven into the fire, tries to find a new purpose. Lestat gives the theater to him, and Nicolas, who has gone more or less mad after turning. Though Armand tries to make Lestat love him, the way he goes about it actually makes sure he does not succeed, because he tries by force, by spell-binding and force-feeding. There is attraction though, but it stays an attraction that never takes the last step.

Armand tells Lestat and Gabrielle his story, and hopes to come with them, but Lestat and Gabrielle decline. Armand tells Lestat he can always come back for help.

Lestat leaves Paris with Gabrielle to look for Marius, of whom he knows from Armand's story.

Armand leads the coven in the theater, Nicolas writes plays and music for them, until he goes so mad Armand knows no other way to control Nicolas other than to cut off his hands and starve him, and eventually Nicolas goes fully mad by hunger and pain, and when he gets his hands back (limbs/digits etc can be reattached) he throws himself into a fire.

(In the show we know Lestat returned twice to Paris, so it stands to reason they might have met up again then as well, but that is a change from the books.)

Armand continues to lead the theater, but he gets more and more disillusioned with it all, and when Louis comes along the coven of that theater consists of (almost completely) different vampires than when Lestat left there.

It's a bit unclear what the exact time frame is, but Lestat arrives approximately at the same time as Louis does.

Lestat goes to Armand after the murder attempt, to beg for healing blood - and Louis' (and Claudia's) life. Armand, mightily interested in this "Louis", this most human vampire... throws Lestat in a dungeon and goes to meet Louis. And, fortunately, falls for him.

He influences Louis to turn Madeleine so she and Claudia can leave, but Louis refuses to leave them. The coven knows that Claudia attempted to kill Lestat and there is a trial, a trial Armand does not stop. A trial where a tortured and half mad Lestat is made to testify against them. A trial where Louis is judged to be entombed, and Claudia and Madeleine to death.

Armand sees this as an opportunity to try out a surgery, ostensibly to give Claudia what she wants most - a grown up body. He chops off her head and sews it onto another vampire's body. The procedure works, but Armand himself is repulsed by the horrific result and has Claudia and Madeleine put into the sun, where they burn to ashes.

The vampires give the yellow dress Claudia wore to Lestat afterwards. Armand (eventually) frees Louis, claiming he could not prevent it, and takes him to Claudia. Louis tries to gather her ashes but Armand takes him away, and spell-binds him, when he asks for Lestat.

Louis eventually breaks free, and tells Armand not to go to the theater the next night. He goes and burns the whole thing down, killing all inside.

Armand takes Lestat and throws him off a tower, telling him Louis is dead.

Louis is numb after, and Armand goes with him. Armand tells Louis Lestat is dead. They wander the world for decades. Live in New York for a long time. Eventually Armand tells Louis that Lestat had not died in the fire, which makes them go to New Orleans. There Louis tries to find Lestat.

Supposedly Louis finds Lestat, broken and still healing, and leaves him there. (Lestat contradicts that later.) And supposedly Armand goes to Lestat to complain about Louis.

Armand and Louis break up after that.

Armand goes on alone, for a while (in the books).

When Louis gives his interview to Daniel in San Francisco he is around though, and he saves Daniel. In the books, he puts him in a cage, and then tells him to run. He hunts Daniel around the globe. The hunt becomes a chase, and eventually Armand falls in love with Daniel - and Daniel with him, though the relationship is not exactly the healthiest for Daniel. (That is "The Devil's Minion" chapter in QotD.) Night Island happens.

Lestat wakes up, tries to find Louis (and shield him) by becoming a rockstar, giving out their secrets, and writing his own life story. In the books Akasha rises, and burns a lot of their kind. Armand brings Daniel across in more or less desperation, on the way to Lestat's concert.

>> This obviously has been changed. I have theorized that Akasha did not rise, which would have chain-event repercussions. But we will have to see that, for the show. Daniel did not get changed but loses his memory instead.

In the books Akasha is eventually defeated, and the remaining vampires all come together on Night Island afterwards. But most of them are not "ready" yet. They break apart again.

When Lestat encounters the Devil Armand is there for him, and after Lestat goes mad at the end, he tries to commit suicide, but fails. In the aftermath Marius turns two mortals he loves for him, Benji and Sybille, because Armand would not. Armand dictates his life story to David.

Armand is also one of the few who may drink from Lestat while he is in the coma (and who sees "Christ" when he does so), and who can wake Lestat. He is also the one who routinely "cleans up" everywhere he is (namely any other vampires around).

Armand eventually goes back to New York, and acquires three connected town houses, the so called "Trinity Gate", in which many vampires seek shelter from time to time. Louis eventually goes and lives with him there.

>> That might be the show's Dubai penthouse, we'll see.

Armand has "lost" Daniel to Marius for a while. Daniel went a bit mad after turning, and Marius took care of him.

When the threat around Amel and Rhoshamandes happens and Lestat opens his castle in the Auvergne most vampires come together there, including Louis and Armand (and others).

Armand and Daniel reunite there, and last we see them they are together again.

Armand is one of the major players at the "court", and the past has mostly been forgiven (to errr... simplify it).

In the end, he lives with Daniel, Marius, Lestat and Louis (and a lot of others) at the court.

... I'm not sure if this summary suffices to "understand" Armand. I think you might need to actually read the books (and especially his book) there... but feel free to ask if you have further questions :)

[anastacialy]

alright that last post had me thinking. i understand a ton of people wish penelope and colin got more screen time directly. believe me, i get that! i am always the first to say we should have gotten ten episodes, not eight, just to let the other plots and especially scenes with colin and penelope breathe a little more. but. i keep hearing a lot about how some of the other plots were "completely unnecessary" and "didn't add any value" and that's just plain incorrect. i think a lot of people who i see saying this just sort of... don't understand? narrative foils?

for those uninitiated, a foil is "a literary device that compares and contrasts one character with another to reveal their traits, values or motivations of one character through the comparison and contrast of another character." think of this like a mirror, or a photo negative.

if you are looking for foils of only penelope and colin, we've got plenty, though many other characters foil each other, too. this is bound to happen naturally in a show with so many characters, but for this post i'll focus on them first and foremost: - the mondriches: many wondered what the point of the mondriches plotline was, and though i simply enjoy having them on my screen, (they are incredibly cute together) their narrative purpose is very clear. their son is now a baron, and they must navigate the world as not someone with title, but as the mother and father of a titled lord. penelope and colin, we learn by the end of the season, also have a son, who will be the new baron featherington. it is the very same solicitor that delivers the news to alice and will, who threatens to take away the chance at keeping the estate from the featheringtons. the titled son plotline was clear from the beginning, though it was a "mystery" which sister would turn out to be the mother of the new lord featherington. (mystery is in quotation marks since i doubt anyone actually believed that it wouldn't be penelope). either way, they are foils to another family, and other main characters.

still, they are not finished in their role, as they also serve to illustrate the struggle of working members of the ton, and the argument to give up a business you love in order to remain in good standing. in this, will is penelope's foil, and alice is colin's. though i love both alice and colin, they initially do not understand what it means to give up something you have worked unbelievably hard for, and see their partners giving up their businesses as the easy, clear choice. alice contrasts colin by winning her argument, and convincing will to let go of his bar. will contrasts penelope in the same way, by letting go of something that was important to him in order to make room for other ventures. while will and alice come to a compromise that prioritizes alice's desires (hosting balls to entertain rather than keeping the bar) penelope and colin come to a compromise that prioritizes penelope's desires (revealing her identity as whistledown and getting permission from the queen to continue writing). yet, both pairs have made the choices that are right for them, and both feel satisfied by the compromises.

and the last note on the mondriches' purpose: they show us what is expected of families of the ton, to inform penelope and colin's arguments later in the show. we are shown alice and will being given separate bedrooms, as many of the other families have been shown to have, though it hasn't been quite as clearly remarked upon until now. in their plotline, it is quite a big deal that they are expected to sleep separately, as they haven't before, and do not wish to now. they ultimately decide that they will share alice's designated room — and later, we see that after they argue, it is likely penelope's room that colin is sleeping in front of, rather than going to (presumably) his own. now, it is unclear whether this was simply a set limitation or not, as we never see an interior of colin's bedroom, but it's likely that he had long since decided they'd be sharing penelope's, as that is the room he chooses to introduce to her in the mirror scene, and the sitting area of that room is where he places his desk, whereas hers is inside the bedroom proper. (we only see this and their drawing room, but i don't doubt that the house is larger than was shown, given the size of both those rooms and the hallways that connect them.) - violet, agatha, and marcus: let's see, a brother and a sister, where the sister's best friend wants to be romantically involved with the brother, and all three of them are being weird about it. now where have i heard that one before? in these moments, agatha is a foil to eloise, marcus to colin, and violet to penelope. through them, we can extrapolate ways eloise may be feeling about penelope and colin's relationship, as violet and agatha talk it out, whereas eliose scampers off to scotland quite quickly. the contrast here is that violet and marcus are very timid and reserved in their relationship until they obtain the 'blessing' of agatha to pursue it, whereas penelope and colin dive headfirst into marriage before eloise and penelope reconcile their damaged friendship. however strangely, though, the foils here seem to swap characters often: marcus also mirrors penelope, as it is him who wronged agatha, not violet. another comparison within these three are violet and agatha mirroring penelope and colin, as violet has to outright state to agatha: "i hope you know that my care for you is not contingent on your aid. i am here for you, agatha, always." which shares a sentiment with what penelope states to colin later: "it is not what you do for me that makes me love you. [...] just being you is enough, colin. i do not need you to save me, i just need you to stand by me." agatha and colin, here, both assume their value lies in what they can do for others, rather than simply being themselves with those closest to them. - benedict, tilley, and paul: what, do you not want to see benedict kiss a guy? the fuck?

[the-priestess-of-dawn]

Been thinking about a postgame scenario that goes in a direction I don't think canon would ever take in a million years, but like... I think it could be really compelling...

And that's the idea of Chrom becoming Plegia's king after Grima's defeat. And specifically giving up his claim to Ylisse's throne to do it (leaving it to Lucina when she's old enough).

Because here's the thing... The game ends with Grima's defeat/Robin's return in the sacrifice ending. It doesn't address what happens to Plegia at all, and while I personally maintain that Aversa is the most qualified candidate to rule, her canon ending provides that she goes back to the village she was born in. So, fine. Let's give her that.

But SOMEONE has to do SOMETHING because realistically, Plegia is in dire straits. Validar, the king and the leader of the Grimleal, is dead. He gave, like, ALL of Plegia's resources to the Ylissean League (well, okay, we don't know how much, if any, he left in reserve, but... He really needed Walhart gone and it's not like he had any reason to think that anyone would need resources once Grima was running around, so... chances are good there's little to nothing left in the wake of the averted apocalypse). And the population has been utterly devastated, because not only did people (exactly how many is unclear, but presumably it took more than just a couple) have to sacrifice themselves to renew the fell dragon's power, but Grima was also spawning Grimleal onto their back at the final battle. Their losses are so immense...

So first of all, Chrom is definitely responsible for taking all their resources and setting half of them on fire (Now to be fair, Flavia and Basilio are also responsible, but... Idk, I kinda feel like they'd bicker with each other over who has to do the crappy parts of the job and then agree that they should just ask Chrom if he can do it. Like "Haha, if you didn't want to deal with thieves ambushing the Longfort to steal construction supplies, you shouldn't have gone and beaten me at the last tournament!" "Oh, shut up. Let's see if Chrom can send his thief friend over to talk these guys down. Or kill them, whichever." I mean, Chrom is always going to be their guy who knows a guy.) There's just no way Chrom would abandon the surviving Plegians who need help anyway, but especially not when he knows the war with Valm would've ended before it could begin without them.

Of course, there's the historical hostility between Ylisse and Plegia to consider, but... If anyone's protesting, it's probably the Ylisseans. Because the survivng Plegians, uh... probably were never Grima's most devoted followers in the first place (if you really wanted to give Grima your life, you'd rush to the front of the line at the Dragon's Table, right?) and even if they used to consider themselves true Grimleal, the religion's leadership is destroyed, and—for the purpose of this scenario, I'm considering it post-sacrifice ending—the fell dragon is gone and not coming back. These people narrowly avoided becoming Grima's breakfast or Grima's meat shields. They all almost certainly know someone who wasn't as lucky. And the one who saved them... Well, it was Chrom, wasn't it? Because he believed in humanity enough to challenge the concept of fate, a fate that the people of Plegia were surely taught was inescapable. Despite their history with Ylisse, it's hardly unreasonable for them to see Chrom as a savior to them specifically. The second coming of the Hero-King who ought for the lives of all humans, really.

And yeah, I'm going here... Chrom is Marth's descendant. Marth was Altean. Former Altea is is modern Plegia, so technically, the people can argue that he's actually theirs.

Doesn't it sort of make sense, even? Plegia is ruined, the god to whom the theocracy was devoted killed. "What we need is to restore the glory of ancient Altea!" And who better to help them than Chrom, Marth's successor in blood and in spirit?

But Chrom would frown and say no. Of course he's going to help them restore their country to prosperity—or at least to independent, peaceful functioning. But king? Sheesh, that's going too far. Come on guys, you don't really want that. Besides, he's already ruling Ylisse...

Except, he's not ruling it as Exalt. At least, not at first he's not. He forswore the title when he started his rule and in canon he is only official welcomed as Exalt after Grima's defeat. But what if he just... continued to not accept it. It's not like he ever wanted to be Exalt. He only has the right to rule because Emmeryn died—because he failed to protect her. It has nothing to do with any of his successes.

But if the Plegians made him their king, then it would be because of his own accomplishments.

And in a way I also can't help but find it heartwarming, because it was the Plegian people who got him to truly understand Emmeryn's ideals. He wanted peace, he wanted to follow her path, but it wasn't until the Plegians took her sacrifice for the peace offer it was and refused to continue fighting Ylisse that Chrom was finally able to comprehend what it meant that Emmeryn believed that all people wanted the same thing, that peace is something for everyone and not just purehearted saints like her who would never hurt a fly. So wouldn't it be sweet to expand on that existing connection? For the people who once bore a grudge against him and his nation to say, actually, our home is your home and you belong with us... For Chrom to reach back and decide that these are his people and that he will protect them...

Especially because that's what he's always done for Robin. Your father doesn't get to determine your path for you, your past doesn't dictate your future, you always have a place beside me because we are two halves of a greater whole. This AU is definitely a chrobin AU, because when Robin gets back I want them to rule at his side (after all, I do have feelings about Grima's loyalty to a people who have been praying to them to end their suffering for a thousand years).

Now, I do think that Chrom would never leave Ylisse while little Lucina was still growing up, but... Honestly it would probably take quite some time to establish a castle for Plegia's new ruler anyway (especially if they go super hard on the Altean revival theme and want it to be IN former Altean territory, which has become the "border wastes" and undoubtedly needs some help... But EVERYWHERE in Plegia needs help, so what better time to give the land some attention?) So when Lucina is an adult she can take over as Ylisse's true Exalt, and Chrom can focus his efforts on the other side of the border. I think he'd still be awkward about the whole thing, approaching it like "Well, I guess I'm here if you all still want me..." but Robin's there to give him confidence and the people there are SO excited for their hero to come and live with them and together they all usher in a new era of peace and prosperity as Ylisse and Plegia themselves become like two halves of a greater whole.

[martianbugsbunny]

He Waits By The Riverside (A Bad Batch Fic)

*approaches in a swan paddleboat* so I cried myself to sleep last night about the fact that Tech is actually dead, hence the need for a boat. I'm living in a lake of my own tears at this point. I didn't cry for him properly when he died because I had hope that he wasn't really dead after all and now it's hitting so hard, especially because he's the only one who didn't get to grow old. My chest gets tight when I think about how horribly unfair that seems. So I wrote a fic to put that sadness somewhere, inspired by He Waits, By The Riverside from Renegade Nell. I tried my hardest to make the fic feel the same way the song does (absolutely heartbreaking in a way that holds your hand) and honestly I think I did a pretty good job. So read on and enjoy (?)

Tech opened his eyes. His goggles were gone—his sight was acceptable without them, but he couldn’t see the more precise details of the landscape surrounding him. One was thing was certain, though: it wasn’t what he had been expecting when he plummeted, heart stopped, chest tight, through the clouds.

“Welcome, beloved,” a voice said. Not the gravelly voice of his sergeant, or Wrecker’s warm one, or Omega’s enthusiastic chirp, or Echo’s soft laugh—not even Crosshair’s pinched tone. It was the sort of voice that seemed like the wind, drifting out in one instant and fading away in the next, with no single pitch or volume but constantly shifting, shifting, shifting like the fog Tech had fallen through. Wind itself, however, was absent from the surroundings, not even a breath of it stirring.

Tech looked around, sitting up, searching for the voice’s owner. There was a pounding in his ears, either his heart or a far-off drum; he couldn’t decipher which, or even which made more sense in his current context.

The first thing he noticed properly was, at his feet, a mass of water that was not quite a river. It was long and gently curving into the distance like a river, and he estimated it was about five feet wide, but it didn’t flow. It was utterly still, just as the air was. It was unnatural, and yet somehow, it didn’t fill him with the creeping dread that perhaps it should have.

“You’ve come later than I expected,” the voice said. “Many of your kind joined me much sooner.”

Tears were blurring Tech's vision a little more, although he didn’t know why. A bird with a lilting song—one he could identify after a moment as a Yavin nightingale—was singing in the distance. Fish glittered vaguely in the river that didn’t flow past his feet, sunlight pouring down around them like rain.

That wasn’t right. The sunlight shouldn’t reach down here.

“Sooner than I hoped.”

The bird continued to sing, sweetly, brightly.

There were no bulrushes growing on the not-river banks, allowing Tech an unobstructed view of the creatures thrashing in the reflective water, scales aglow in the light that shouldn't have cut through the clouds. He couldn't bring himself to look up and see if there actually were any now.

“Ah, well.”

The sweet song was becoming a monotonous drone as it went endlessly, unhesitatingly, on. The fish in their sparkling glory were flames in Tech’s slightly unclear vision, kicking up sand from the bottom of the riverbed that drifted around them as the fog had about him. The reed grasses beneath him rustled as he got to his feet and turned his face to the cloudless grey sky.

He knew why he was crying.

A creature stood on the opposite bank, sheathed in a long white robe, bare-footed, with its face invisible except for a peculiarly unreadable grin made of white teeth and red lips. “Join me, love,” it said.

He knew why he was crying.

For a moment, there was a phantom pain across his body, the immense impact of sharp stones after a long fall. Another tear slipped down his bare face, and he knew he had succeeded. They were all safe: Hunter with his wide heart, Wrecker and his brilliant smile, Omega with her endless hope, Echo for his new purpose, maybe even Crosshair despite his mercurial loyalties.

He knew why he was crying.

“Do I have to?” he asked, despite already knowing the answer. This one time, he wished logic would fail to hold, and he could be released to rejoin the family he had made safe. To enjoy the fruits of his final and hardest labor.

“All that is loved becomes mine eventually,” it said. “You have been loved.”

Tech sobbed.

As the creature compelled him on, softly playing a military tune on an ebony fiddle and urging with its strange and sighing voice, Tech stepped into the river and crossed over to the other side.

….

In the still water—there were no fish to be seen from this angle—he could see them, by turns, running from the Empire, running towards the Empire, doing the best they could to keep their broken family from rifting any further, trying to mend it as best they could. It ached to watch, knowing they could never be truly whole again now that he was gone. Knowing that they were becoming more whole by the day, however, as Omega brought Crosshair back to them, and that he had sacrificed not only his life, but also his chance to be part of a reunited family.

Their lives continued to be dangerous, and every so often he would glance across the water, afraid he would see Hunter or Wrecker there and that the family on his side of the river would become more whole while that on the other side became more fractured and grief-stricken. He had a world without end. It hurt, but he would rather wait until the others were all old to hold them again. He didn’t want them to die young like he did, even if it meant sitting alone beside the water for another hundred years.

So Tech sat there, on the other side, and sang, slightly off-key, as though he could warn them, as though they could hear him, as though he could put off their final reunion for longer if only he was as determined as the nightingale that he could no longer hear.

“He waits by the riverside, and he waits by the road; he’ll play you his drum and the fiddle he’ll bow. So caution yourself—beware of his tongue.

“Cause all that is loved….”

Can crumble to none.

[gothhabiba]

this is not to disagree with any of your points on antipsychiatry which i 95% agree with, but to provide a data point/share something that makes my brain itch.i've been diagnosed with functional neurological disorder, which was formerly called conversion disorder, and before that hysteria. new advances in fMRI technology are showing us that there are measurable changes in brain function and stereotyped symptoms that are consistent across centuries.

many hysterics had what is now recognised as a neurological disorder that is moving away from the realm of psychiatry. FND symptoms are also remarkably consistent across cultures. ( There’s a paper called “why FND is not feigning or malingering” on Jon Stone’s twitter that discusses this. His tweet on Feb 16t has a free link - it’s not on scihub yet afaik.)

It’s odd to be someone with a disabling and contested condition that’s been turned into a punchline/gotcha (deservedly!). that makes it difficult to engage with antipsychiatry at times. Are there any writers you know of that address this? Am I being a silly little rabbit that is uncomfortable when we are not about me? Thanks for the excellent writing and nonexistent cooking blog, would truly appreciate your thoughts on this

Thanks for the compliment, though I don't see why a blog that doesn't even exist is being brought into this...?

Anyway—if you believe that this example furnishes a contradiction to the aims and claims of anti-psychiatry*, then it's likely that you have the too-narrow view of what anti-psychiatry necessarily 'says' about the purpose of psychiatry in a capitalist / imperialist state that the post you're referencing criticises.

The post asserts that it is not sufficient to claim that capitalism creates or causes certain symptoms which it then pathologises (i.e., claims is a specific 'sickness' inhering in the individual). Rather, we have to also consider how and why it constructs the idea of 'sickness' (here, "mental illness") in the first place. The claim is that it is the way that we consider symptoms, how they are sorted and classified, how they are considered "abnormal" and "disordered" because and to the extent that they are associated with an inability to work or otherwise be compliant in a capitalist society, that characterises psychiatry under capitalism.

The fact that certain symptoms are "neurologically instantiated" doesn't 'break' this claim, then, because the claim does not rest on the idea that capitalism must necessarily create the symptoms it pathologises. Sometimes you can point to a pretty clear example of psychiatry 'making up' a disorder out of whole cloth, where the neurological component of it is unclear or irrelevant (e.g. "child is disobedient" disorder or "wife is disobedient" disorder or "slave runs away" disorder). But the claims and goals of antipsychiatry do not wholly rest on such instances, because even a disorder which is neurologically instantiated, even an instance of clear neurological or physical difference (and here the logic overlaps with that of the social model of disability), is still parsed and classified and read as deviant in a particular way according to the logic of (and in order to serve the goals of) capital and empire.

So let's say it's true that the symptoms associated with a disorder formerly commonly known as "hysteria" are neurologically instantiated. Psychiatric logic and institutions saw a variety of symptoms (of yet unclear etiology), grouped them together and classified them as a single disorder under the name "hysteria," reserved this diagnosis largely for bourgeois white women (since this kind of heightened emotionality was unexpected but 'treatable' in white women, but expected of and criminalised in 'savages'), and used that diagnosis (and its withholding) to control populations. None of this is in contradiction to any of the claims about psychiatry that this line of argument makes.

Again, we are not claiming that psychiatry always makes disorders up from nothing, or that the symptoms that it pathologises are always created by capitalism, reasonable coping behaviours in traumatic situations, reasonable actions taken against oppressive conditions, &c. Examples of this kind of thing should be read in line with claims that psychiatry is given the job of controlling populations in a capitalist state, that psychiatry gets to differentiate "normal" from "abnormal" according to its own logic in the the first place, &c. This exact idea—that thinking that psychiatry always makes disorders up from nothing is a "pitfall" in understanding what antipsychiatry is about—is in fact the central argument of the post that kicked all of this off. Plus the second bit of the post you're referencing was in direct response to the exact same sort of question (“Are you arguing that the biological processes which produce the things we call mental illnesses would themselves not exist, and/or not cause suffering, and/or not warrant description/categorization, in a non-capitalistic world?”), so I'd suggest rereading it.

Perhaps your confusion comes in with thinking that psychiatry = "mental" and thus illusory, while medicine = "physical" and thus necessarily 'real' / robust (you note that this disorder is "recognised as a neurological disorder that is moving away from the realm of psychiatry")? But the same criticisms that psychiatry comes in for apply to disorders that are thought of as "physical"—even when physical difference obviously exists (and even when it obviously causes suffering on its own), the medical model still considers "disability" as an "abnormality" defined by inability to work and otherwise be an obedient citizen of a capitalist state. Its idea of "normal" is a capitalist one that must be criticised.

*Please note that this is an oversimplification, as different people in different decades write under this banner. I'm discussing the strain of 'antipsychiatry' that's specifically at issue here, namely one that views pyschiatry and psychiatric pathologisation as one aspect of the bio-medical arm of capitalism and empire.

[kassandras-one-braincell]

Hi ok so if ur still accepting the brainworms, here is a little Eivor idea i have been toying with? Its a really loose sort of idea, and i havent written reader inserts before, but i wanted to share it!! Sorry if this is a lot

So okay so

Being a nobleman/King/earl's youngest daughter, sent to live in Ravensthorpe as like, collateral, as part of a treaty between ur father and the Raven Clan (like a "we'll just hold onto one of your kids so you don't fuck us over" situation, idk this part is LESS important than the gay stuff)

And as you live there and become part of the community Eivor takes you under her wing, trains you to fight, and you give her information about neighboring kingdoms/Shires for raiding, etc etc and of COURSE you fall in love (because that's what we are all here for, falling in love with Eivor), and over time the two of you are just a power couple running Ravensthorpe?? You are thriving And Eivor adores you, u are her Princess (and I definitely don't like awake at night thinking about Eivor calling me Princess. I don't do that at all,,,,,)

And bc I love drama, I think some ratty little dude from another shire reaches out to your father for your hand in marriage, shows up in Ravensthorpe to whisk you away only to be confronted with the Beefiest Norsewoman Ever on your arm, and he starts running his mouth

And then Eivor. Beats the shit out of him? Because I'm gay, and I love watching that woman pummel dudes into the ground

Thats all I have so far, but I can and will go deeper and more detailed on this little idea if wanted

Always welcoming brainworms. Perpetual state of brainworm acceptance. Please give me the worms 🧠🪱🧎

I'm vibing with the collateral lore, specifically because it makes the ensuing build-up to the inevitable falling-in-love even gayer. The whole "we'll hold onto your princess so you honour your bargain" political manoeuvre has an unspoken contract. It's technically a hostage situation, pulled with the intent of holding leverage over someone, and...oh, no, the most respected warrior in our settlement is teaching the hostage to defend themself. And now the hostage is...offering tactical guidance that will boost our economy, possibly to the detriment of theirs. They also have an axe now. Motive unclear, but homoerotic.

Rat bastard's deployment is a plot to skew this arrangement in favour of your kingdom; your kingdom laid siege to a fortress, only to find it barren of loot with evidence of the Raven Clan's visitation. Clearly, your father thinks, the clan had blackmailed or tortured some information out of you, and a marriage would see your undisputed safe passage out of Ravensthorpe (fine print?). Rat bastard offered the highest dowry.

Your peaceful afternoon in the sun, draped across Eivor's lap while she feeds you slices of apple, is rudely interrupted by Rat bastard (RB hereon out) making his gaudy introduction. You can see Alvis a short distance behind, clearly biting back laughter. Eivor's grip on the knife shifts as RB states his purpose in a monologue littered with objectifying remarks aimed at you, o the children you'll bear him (grim), the money and land he offered for your hand - flattering stuff.

That's what pushes her over the edge. A princess as lovely as yourself is bound to attract suitors. Ordinarily, she'd grit her teeth through it. But RB thought you a trinket to be possessed and used, and your father was willing to throw you to highest bidder. Eivor is having none of it.

Relief flickers over his face as Eivor sets down the knife, but panic returns tenfold as she rises to her full height and rolls her shoulders. "Where is it you hail from again?" she asks with a voice of steel.

RB, bricking it, meagrely clears his throat and answers. Nowhere important, certainly not amongst the allies of the Raven Clan. Eivor therefore has no reservations about sending him packing with a few less teeth, a couple of broken bones, shakily clutching a piece of parchment detailing a change in contract regarding a certain princess. By the time your father reads the draft, you and Eivor are already wed.

I'm dying to read any other ideas you have on this or how it continued in your head! I love how your brain works. :)

princess in her voice hhhhhhhhhh PLEASE