#sources: i birthed him that’s my child i know better than everyone else

[pixiesnooze]

kageyama blushes with his whole face, ears and all when he gets complimented on anything other than his volleyball skills

[angelofthepage]

BATDR Speculation: Who is Bendy?

So the internet is currently freaking out over little Baby Benders (rightfully so, he’s ADORABLE), and we all have a lot of questions about him. Is he as cute and innocent as he seems? Is he going to betray us? Is he the lighter half of an ink demon split into pieces? Does he have a soul? If so, is it someone we know? I have a lot of thoughts on this, and none of them are concrete, but today I want to talk about one of my favorite musings so far: How Joey and Henry might be involved in this. I wanna talk about The Illusion of Living.

https://twitter.com/LaurenSynger/status/1587778374038069249?s=20&t=b-DLbISPVNI584xRm5ALAg

Warning: if you haven’t read the Illusion of Living by Adrienne Kress, HIGHLY recommend it, as there are spoilers ahead. This book is delightful, and it’s not what I expected. When I picked it up, I thought we were getting a narrative about Joey’s life, and we did to an extent. But the real treasure of this book is that it’s a character study of Joey Drew. It gives us so much to think about in terms of who he is as a person. Because he’s Joey, you’d expect him to bend the truth (pun absolutely intended), and there are moments where it feels like some details aren’t entirely true. But there are some scenes that are written in such a way that feel all too earnest, and one of them is the scene in Joey’s apartment: the birth of Bendy.

The way Joey tells it, he’s the one who had the concept for Bendy, then his friend Abby Lambert attempted to draw it, but nothing was looking right. Abby brought Henry on board to help without consulting Joey first. Then they all sat on the floor of Joey’s apartment while Henry sketched out what would become the signature Bendy design (with critiques from Joey along the way). It’s made out to be this magical moment, and it’s believable. What reason would Joey have to lie about this? He may have a lot of feelings about Henry, mostly negative from what we’ve seen in DCTL, but he gave Henry credit here. He didn’t downplay Henry’s importance in all of this, which surprised me, and I like that a lot.

Joey comes off as being so deeply in love with his creation that it doesn’t matter who did what, the fact remains that Bendy is still his in the ways that count the most. He was made with love, dreams, and wonder at his core, Joey’s ideas and writing, Henry’s artistic execution. He belongs to both of them. I get the sense that a lot of people are going to jump into debating whether this little Bendy is somehow made using Henry’s soul or Joey’s. But I’d like to propose this: what if he’s made with both? His creation isn’t credited to a single person, but two, and who better to give Bendy a soul than both of his creators, two halves of a whole?

It gives another layer to why Joey would send Henry into the studio in the first place. Like why Henry? Henry’s just a guy who supposedly worked with Joey as an animator and business partner for one year before vanishing forever, why send him in? Is he a last resort where others failed (maybe Tom was sent in first and couldn’t fix things), or is it because he’s so integral to Bendy’s creation? Surely he has something grand to offer in that regard, by Joey’s logic. Send Henry in, sure, if anyone can stop this twisted version of Bendy, it’s his creator, right? No, this story isn’t one that you can solve by making Henry the protagonist, it’s one that needs both of them. It’s a story that needs Joey to acknowledge a lot of things in order for it to change. That could be why it’s a loop, the story can’t end without Joey playing his part, but he’s too busy blaming everyone else for the trouble he’s caused, not taking responsibility for his actions.

One of the theories I’ve seen that I really love from the first game came from @dreamfisher-nux​ which I’ll link here: https://www.tumblr.com/dreamfisher-nux/184575733862/that-child-at-the-end-might-not-have-been-human?source=share The idea that the child we hear say “tell me another one Uncle Joey” might not be human based on the milk carton texture’s inky handprints gives me a lot to think on. I have to wonder if that child might have been his last attempt to make Bendy. Yes, I know, five fingers is too many, but that’s exactly why I say “attempt,” not success. I mean he has the studio full of his previous employees, souls he’s claimed he owns, and now Henry is in there too. Is it possible this was all a plan to get Henry’s soul to make into his creation? I’ll admit, while I was around for the emergence of the “Henry is a perfect Bendy” theory, I’m not 100% sold on it for canon (though I do love it in fandom works), but an imperfect Bendy, or something close to Allison or Twisted Alice in nature? That I would buy. Henry alone may not be enough to give Joey what he wants. So what if, before the end of his lifetime, Joey gave himself up? Bendy is in part his creation, a part of him, just as Alice is a part of Susie, there is something they give to that character that no one else has. And much like Susie, Joey would do anything for the character he loves. He went to great lengths to try and see it through, sacrificed so much (much of which was never his to sacrifice).

When I first heard Joey’s tape about cheating death itself, I assumed his goal was immortality for the longest time. But TIOL has me thinking that that’s only half the story. You’re never dead if your legacy is still alive, and Bendy is Joey’s legacy. Making Bendy real and innovating beyond what any artist or engineer has done before is at the core of what he wants, to make dreams into reality. And if he’s gone, but Bendy is here and real and perfect? I think, that’s a sacrifice Joey would be willing to make, his dream would be achieved and that’s what matters. Throw on the machine machine one more time, take the child, his child, that was so close and take one more chance, add his piece to the puzzle, his soul to the mix. Become part of your creation. It’s an act of love, “but love requires sacrifice.”

Joey is believed to be dead in 1972, and this is where Arch Gate comes in. They have control of the Bendy brand, they own the rights and assets to it. Nathan was someone that was believed to be Joey’s friend, even though he’s done things a friend wouldn’t do. What does Nathan Arch know of Joey’s marvelous machine, of his dreams? While I don’t know if I buy Nathan as a benevolent character given what he’s said in the books, I do believe he would carry out some of Joey’s final wishes, though maybe not exactly the way Joey would want him to. And handing Bendy over to him, his most precious creation, to be taken care of? Well, that would be an interesting thing, wouldn’t it? You don’t leave your child in the hands of just anyone. It’s as Tom says in TLO, you don’t give up on a miracle.

Or course, take this all with a grain of salt. I think this would be an intriguing story to follow, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I expect it to be canon. Canon or not though, it’s an interesting thought, isn’t it?

[cityandking]

5, 35, 54, 62, 83 for dai, minah and narayani!

ty my dear! // 93 fun oc asks

5. What’s their relationship with their parents like? What about other relatives?

DAI — dai's relationship with his dad is good! they're incredibly similar and dai has always looked up to t'velle as a role model and an inspiration and a source of wisdom. it's been a little strange to come home and have that moment of realizing his dad is also just A Guy. dai's relationship with his other parent is largely nonexistent, as they were an earth djinn who used their final Wish to wish daichi into existence as a fuck-you to dai's horrible grandmother, and dai has some very complicated feelings about that—some pride, some guilt, some grief. he's been reading through musa's diary and it's bittersweet to see parts of himself reflected in someone he's never going to get to meet. beyond that, dai gets on well with his uncle, does not get on well with his grandmother (the bitch), and is fond of (if often exhausted by) his cousin lhoris. (and of course, he loves his other dad pelor so much, and historically he's gotten on well (if awkwardly) with his other other dad tempus) MINAH — minah was absolutely a daddy's girl growing up and wanted to be like him and do him proud. her family got along well, though they had their usual spats and arguments. unfortunately her parents are dead, so there's not much of a relationship anymore. (she misses them horribly) NARAYANI — rani's birth clan is gone and she never knew her parents, but she was taken in and raised by clan lavellan as a sort of collective village+child thing, and she loves—loved—them all very much. she was closest to one of the elders who was something of a grandmother to her and really took her under her wing, but she considered the entire clan her family. it wasn't their fault she grew apart, not really. she just spent so long being the thing that protected them that she forgot to be their da'ayani

35. What is the easiest way to annoy them?

DAI — insist on things being true when they aren't. the more inane and stupid the better. dai would have hated the lolz so random era of internet humor. MINAH — complain about helping with things that everyone else is doing. she doesn't mind some kvetching but there's a time and a place, y'know? also, nosiness NARAYANI — every single unthinking, unconsidered word out of a shem's mouth is annoying to her. "the elves" she's already tuning you out.

54. What is their current hairstyle? What have been some of their past hairstyles? Which was their favorite hairstyle?

DAI — currently he's got cornrows capped with little gold beads and a sorta black/gold ombre thing going on (it gets lighter at the ends). in the past he's had long locs, a buzz cut, and natural hair. when he has a minute to restyle it, he's gonna go back to locs, but shorter this time. this vibe MINAH & NARAYANI — answered!

62. Have they ever been betrayed? How did it affect their ability to trust others?

DAI — he's definitely been screwed over and is far less trusting of people than he was before the campaign, but I'm not sure he's been in a position to trust anyone enough for being turned on to feel like a betrayal. he felt a little betrayed when zaref first revealed he was a void tiefling/got them trapped in the void, but he's level-headed enough to know that wasn't actually a betrayal. MINAH — yes. as we've all seen, she's totally normal about it (girl has intense trust issues) NARAYANI — absolutely, but she's slow to take it personally. she's got plenty of other stuff going on that makes her wary of trusting others; past betrayals don't change much. (she also insists—once, firmly, when someone brings it up, and then it never comes up again—that what solas did wasn't a betrayal. it was a lot of other things, but she never felt betrayed by his actions. she is, perhaps, a little biased)

83. Can they swim? How well? Do they like to swim?

DAI — yes, mostly just enough not to drown. I think he probably learned from one of the soldiers during the rebellion (I'm not sure his dad even knows how to swim? I guess there might be underground lakes in Il'hesa but I'm not sure I'd trust them). he's ambivalent about it; the water is nice but he tends to sink like. well. like a stone. also he's died underwater twice now and that kinda puts a damper on beach days. MINAH — yes! she grew up near a river and enjoys swimming. one of the best parts of traveling with the troupe was camping by a lake or a river and getting to take a dip. NARAYANI — yes, very well. she enjoys swimming on a hot day and the freedom of moving through the water. it's a pity the south is so cold

[maybanksbabe]

https://www.tumblr.com/maybanksbabe/722221041342169088/what-would-happen-if-rafe-cheated-on-any-of-the?source=share

"mommy where's daddy going?" Her son looks up at her as rafe is gathering his things.

"he's not your daddy anymore pup" she looks down at him. She's trying to keep herself from crying. If she cries, everyone else will. She has to stay strong for everyone else. Just like she has been for quite awhile, she thought rafe could have helped but maybe that was a mistake. Maybe he was a mistake.

"I'm sorry kiddo, I'm really really sorry, but I gotta go now." He goes down to his level. On his knees so they can talk eye to eye.

"where are you going daddy?" He's holding onto to the stuffie rafe won gor him at the fair. Rafe said as long as he has that, nothing will go wrong. Ah how times have changed. And yet this little boy won't.

"I'm not your daddy anymore, I'm going back to my house" rafe feels terrible. Rafe always thought he'd never do this. He'd thought he was stronger. That he could be strong for this woman and her child and baby on the way. Rafe is weak and it was wrong to ask her to let him stay. To give him another chance. That's why he's pretending to be strong. For her and him.

"can we come with you?" He's looking at rafe with those sad puppy dog eyes. No matter how much he wants to see this beautiful woman and her amazing son. He can never see them again, if he can help it.

"afraid not kid, be good for your momma ok?" He hopes this wonderful little boy won't turn out like him. He can't imagine how his birth mother would feel about him doing the same thing his father did to her. The disappointment he would see in her eyes. Although it isn't as bad when he looks at strong woman before him. Not only is there disappointment, there's hurt and anger and sadness. And knowing he's the reason why, he wishes he could do things differently. He knows he can't. But he wants to so badly

"will you come back?" He's looking at him with hope in his eyes. But rafe can tell, even this brave little boy knows he never will. He knows but he doesn't want it to be true. Neither does Rafe, or r. But it's true, they all have to accept it. No matter how badly it makes them feel. They have to keep moving forward. He hopes that the next guy will be better than him. He doesn't want there to be a next guy, he wants to be the only one. But it's a selfish thing to want. Rafe's always been known to be selfish anyways, but to ask to stay in their life would be the most selfish thing he could ever do.

"I'm sorry kid, but I won't be coming back. Ever. But I'll always love you guys, all of you" he looks up at r and the baby,then back to boy. He sighs and realizes it's his time to go. He wants to stay forever. He wants to be selfish and convince her to let him stay. Stay in this little paradise they've made here. But he looks into her eyes as he stands up. When he does, he knows he shouldn't. He couldn't do that to her. No he's going to leave, and leave for good. Not because he wants to, not because she wants him too. But because it's the right thing to do.

She wants him to stay, to forget about it. But everytime she does try. she just feels disgusting. He cheated with someone younger, someone who can do things she can't. Someone who isn't carrying someone else's child. She feels so badly, all she wants is someone to hold her. For him to hold her. But she knows if he did, all she could think about is how he held that girl the way he should have held her. She knows he would never do it again if she let him stay. But she would be living a lie if she were to give into what she wants instead of what she needs. She'd be pretending to not to know about the things he's done. She would lose herself completely, she can't do that. She'll keep her head up and raise her son on her own. The baby she's carrying will never know rafe. She'll keep going forward. She has too.

I know you said phone on the table but I couldn't help myself

ANON YOU'RE GROUNDED GO SIT IN TIME OUT RIGHT NOW - HOW DARE YOU 😭😭😭😭

[theneeksilva]

(—) ★ spotted !! neek silva on the cover of this week’s most recent tabloid! many say that the 31 year old looks like chay suede, but i don’t really see it. while the humanitarian aide worker / media sensation is known for being selfless my inside sources say that they have a tendency to be egotistical. i swear, every time i think of them, i hear the song let it be by the beatles.

AGE:    thirty   -  one     .

DATE     OF     BIRTH:   may   15th     .

mainly known for activism but was the bachelor in 2020.

PERSONA:    neek silva is a self proclaimed martyr ( and saint ) . wholly delusional and rich as fuck . if you’re lucky enough to be blessed by knowing him then you’re more than likely to end up being told all about what’s wrong with the world , a total dissatisfaction with any correction , neek is always seeking to improve on things and make the world a better place with little consideration for the little people that he affects along the way . in general though he is self - sacrificing , generous , creating and innovative but his head barely fits through the door . he can’t let any little trivial things stand in his way and he’s more than willing to leave pretty much anyone in the dust along the way - sorry guys ! neek isn’t the type of person that you want to make a permanent part of your life although he is a good catch in terms of net worth and moral value to the public appearance . he’s stubborn , stuck in his ways and always seeking a new adventure . he will never be satisfied .

LIFE   STORY:

neek silva had the fortunate to be born into a long line of socialites who made their money by simply feeding into the extravagance of being rich . he and his younger sister bluebell were the only children to their parents and were spoiled in every single fashion , loved wholeheartedly and given whatever their hearts desired . unfortunately , neek seemed to desire more than material possessions , his passions ranging from beginning in donating to the poor to becoming a vegetarian and calling his parents murderers every night at dinner . neek was no easy child and his behaviour escalated from simply verbal judgements to taking action against this wrong behaviour ; his parents were not best pleased but they still tried their best .

as they grew up , six years separated himself and his sister and he loathed her selfish , manipulative and fake ways . they could argue for hours on end and neither was able to identify a single thing that the other was doing right . he and his little sister were opposites in every single way and everything that was wrong with the world , neek believed was due to people like his family . now , don’t misinterpret neek for being a good person because in a way he was exactly the same as them … out of touch with reality and stumbling through life making decisions that negatively affected all around him and claiming he was doing it for good . when neek donated all of his parents clothes to charity , signed his sister up to be a guest speaker at the local church , invited the homeless into their mansion or dosed his mother in pigs blood to show that meat was murder … he might have thought that he was being a good person but he was actually just trying to force his beliefs on everyone else . over the years there was a certain friction growing and as he headed into his latter teens then that would come to a head , a number of arrests for activism , inciting protests , slander against corporations and rich families ; neek was causing great embarrassment to his family . still hanging on by a thread , the final straw seemed to be when neek publicly denounced one of their close family friends science foundation as morally wrong and claimed that during a break in he had seen that they were planning to test unknown substances on humans . of course , his claims were refuted but it sure did make a splash in the local news – had neek been right ? it was unclear , but , in his eyes , he was saving the world … or whatever . a few weeks later someone set fire to a tree in his parents front yard and he was told that he could either issue an apology or get out of their house and take his claims with him . he left .

neek felt after this point that he was a true joan of arc type character , a martyr who needed to be vindicated and appreciated ( very wholesome thoughts ) and headed out into the local community to his small following to continue causing a ruckus . he always started things but he never stuck around to see how it ended … peace to the people ! he was easy enough to get feathers ruffled but he only ever faced superficial consequences even without his parents , nobody really wanted to interfere with the rich boy who liked to scream and shout . his followers often ended up in way bigger trouble but they still loved him just the same . by the time he reached his mid twenties then he was touring the world doing humanitarian work and being hailed as a saint … even his parents were coming around although he still played his same old tricks , implying they were awful people unlike him .

WANTED CONNECTIONS .

rich people who know he’s also rich and think he’s a total idiot however he thinks he’s just on the moral high ground so they have to hate him

people who can’t stand to be around him but are allys in public for their reputations

ex husband/ex wife that wants to scream every time they see him. this probably stems from the fact that neek is a terrible partner who focuses all his energy on strangers rather than anything occurring in his personal life

friends who are involved in the same charitable activities although probably have better moral code than neek

someone who tells him off because he acts like an idiot

[changelingz]

(—)  ★  spotted  !!  neek  silva  on  the  cover  of  this  week’s  most  recent  tabloid!  many  say  that  the  31  year  old  looks  like  chay  suede,  but  i  don’t  really  see  it.  while  the  humanitarian  aide  worker  /  media  sensation  is  known  for  being  selfless  my  inside  sources  say  that  they  have  a  tendency  to  be  egotistical.  i  swear,  every  time  i  think  of  them,  i  hear  the  song  let  it  be  by  the  beatles.

AGE:    thirty   -  one     .

DATE     OF     BIRTH:   may   15th     .

PERSONA:    neek  silva  is  a  self  proclaimed  martyr  (  and  saint  )  .  wholly  delusional  and  rich  as  fuck  .  if  you’re  lucky  enough  to  be  blessed  by  knowing  him  then  you’re  more  than  likely  to  end  up  being  told  all  about  what’s  wrong  with  the  world  ,  a  total  dissatisfaction  with  any  correction  ,  neek  is  always  seeking  to  improve  on  things  and  make  the  world  a  better  place  with  little  consideration  for  the  little  people  that  he  affects  along  the  way  .  in  general  though  he  is  self  -  sacrificing  ,  generous  ,  creating  and  innovative  but  his  head  barely  fits  through  the  door  .  he  can’t  let  any  little  trivial  things  stand  in  his  way  and  he’s  more  than  willing  to  leave  pretty  much  anyone  in  the  dust  along  the  way  -  sorry  guys  !  neek  isn’t  the  type  of  person  that  you  want  to  make  a  permanent  part  of  your  life  although  he  is  a  good  catch  in  terms  of  net  worth  and  moral  value  to  the  public  appearance  .  he’s  stubborn  ,  stuck  in  his  ways  and  always  seeking  a  new  adventure  .  he  will  never  be  satisfied  .

LIFE   STORY:

neek  silva  had  the  fortunate  to  be  born  into  a  long  line  of  socialites  who  made  their  money  by  simply  feeding  into  the  extravagance  of  being  rich  .  he  and  his  younger  sister  bluebell  were  the  only  children  to  their  parents  and  were  spoiled  in  every  single  fashion  ,  loved  wholeheartedly  and  given  whatever  their  hearts  desired  .  unfortunately  ,  neek  seemed  to  desire  more  than  material  possessions  ,  his  passions  ranging  from  beginning  in  donating  to  the  poor  to  becoming  a  vegetarian  and  calling  his  parents  murderers  every  night  at  dinner  .  neek  was  no  easy  child  and  his  behaviour  escalated  from  simply  verbal  judgements  to  taking  action  against  this  wrong  behaviour  ;  his  parents  were  not  best  pleased  but  they  still  tried  their  best  .

as  they  grew  up  ,  six  years  separated  himself  and  his  sister  and  he  loathed  her  selfish  ,  manipulative  and  fake  ways  .  they  could  argue  for  hours  on  end  and  neither  was  able  to  identify  a  single  thing  that  the  other  was  doing  right  .  he  and  his  little  sister  were  opposites  in  every  single  way  and  everything  that  was  wrong  with  the  world  ,  neek  believed  was  due  to  people  like  his  family  .  now  ,  don’t  misinterpret  neek  for  being  a  good  person  because  in  a  way  he  was  exactly  the  same  as  them  …  out  of  touch  with  reality  and  stumbling  through  life  making  decisions  that  negatively  affected  all  around  him  and  claiming  he  was  doing  it  for  good  .  when  neek  donated  all  of  his  parents  clothes  to  charity  ,  signed  his  sister  up  to  be  a  guest  speaker  at  the  local  church  ,  invited  the  homeless  into  their  mansion  or  dosed  his  mother  in  pigs  blood  to  show  that  meat  was  murder  …  he  might  have  thought  that  he  was  being  a  good  person  but  he  was  actually  just  trying  to  force  his  beliefs  on  everyone  else  .  over  the  years  there  was  a  certain  friction  growing  and  as  he  headed  into  his  latter  teens  then  that  would  come  to  a  head  ,  a  number  of  arrests  for  activism  ,  inciting  protests  ,  slander  against  corporations  and  rich  families  ;  neek  was  causing  great  embarrassment  to  his  family  .  still  hanging  on  by  a  thread  ,  the  final  straw  seemed  to  be  when  neek  publicly  denounced  one  of  their  close  family  friends  science  foundation  as  morally  wrong  and  claimed  that  during  a  break  in  he  had  seen  that  they  were  planning  to  test  unknown  substances  on  humans  .  of  course  ,  his  claims  were  refuted  but  it  sure  did  make  a  splash  in  the  local  news  –  had  neek  been  right  ?  it  was  unclear  ,  but  ,  in  his  eyes  ,  he  was  saving  the  world  …  or  whatever  .  a  few  weeks  later  someone  set  fire  to  a  tree  in  his  parents  front  yard  and  he  was  told  that  he  could  either  issue  an  apology  or  get  out  of  their  house  and  take  his  claims  with  him  .  he  left  .

neek  felt  after  this  point  that  he  was  a  true  joan  of  arc  type  character  ,  a  martyr  who  needed  to  be  vindicated  and  appreciated  (  very  wholesome  thoughts  )  and  headed  out  into  the  local  community  to  his  small  following  to  continue  causing  a  ruckus  .  he  always  started  things  but  he  never  stuck  around  to  see  how  it  ended  …  peace  to  the  people  !  he  was  easy  enough  to  get  feathers  ruffled  but  he  only  ever  faced  superficial  consequences  even  without  his  parents  ,  nobody  really  wanted  to  interfere  with  the  rich  boy  who  liked  to  scream  and  shout  .  his  followers  often  ended  up  in  way  bigger  trouble  but  they  still  loved  him  just  the  same  .  by  the  time  he  reached  his  mid  twenties  then  he  was  touring  the  world  doing  humanitarian  work  and  being  hailed  as  a  saint  …  even  his  parents  were  coming  around  although  he  still  played  his  same  old  tricks  ,  implying  they  were  awful  people  unlike  him  .

[sirneeksilva]

NEEK SILVA . 

(—) ★ spotted !! neek silva on the cover of this week’s most recent tabloid! many say that the 31 year old looks like chay suede, but i don’t really see it. while the humanitarian aide worker / media sensation is known for being selfless my inside sources say that they have a tendency to be egotistical. i swear, every time i think of them, i hear the song let it be by the beatles.

AGE:    thirty   -  one     .

DATE     OF     BIRTH:    may   15th     .

PERSONA:     neek silva is a self proclaimed martyr ( and saint ) . wholly delusional and rich as fuck . if you’re lucky enough to be blessed by knowing him then you’re more than likely to end up being told all about what’s wrong with the world , a total dissatisfaction with any correction , neek is always seeking to improve on things and make the world a better place with little consideration for the little people that he affects along the way . in general though he is self - sacrificing , generous , creating and innovative but his head barely fits through the door . he can’t let any little trivial things stand in his way and he’s more than willing to leave pretty much anyone in the dust along the way - sorry guys ! neek isn’t the type of person that you want to make a permanent part of your life although he is a good catch in terms of net worth and moral value to the public appearance . he’s stubborn , stuck in his ways and always seeking a new adventure . he will never be satisfied . 

LIFE   STORY:

neek silva had the fortunate to be born into a long line of socialites who made their money by simply feeding into the extravagance of being rich . he and his younger sister bluebell were the only children to their parents and were spoiled in every single fashion , loved wholeheartedly and given whatever their hearts desired . unfortunately , neek seemed to desire more than material possessions , his passions ranging from beginning in donating to the poor to becoming a vegetarian and calling his parents murderers every night at dinner . neek was no easy child and his behaviour escalated from simply verbal judgements to taking action against this wrong behaviour ; his parents were not best pleased but they still tried their best . 

as they grew up , six years separated himself and his sister and he loathed her selfish , manipulative and fake ways . they could argue for hours on end and neither was able to identify a single thing that the other was doing right . he and his little sister were opposites in every single way and everything that was wrong with the world , neek believed was due to people like his family . now , don’t misinterpret neek for being a good person because in a way he was exactly the same as them ... out of touch with reality and stumbling through life making decisions that negatively affected all around him and claiming he was doing it for good . when neek donated all of his parents clothes to charity , signed his sister up to be a guest speaker at the local church , invited the homeless into their mansion or dosed his mother in pigs blood to show that meat was murder ... he might have thought that he was being a good person but he was actually just trying to force his beliefs on everyone else . over the years there was a certain friction growing and as he headed into his latter teens then that would come to a head , a number of arrests for activism , inciting protests , slander against corporations and rich families ; neek was causing great embarrassment to his family . still hanging on by a thread , the final straw seemed to be when neek publicly denounced one of their close family friends science foundation as morally wrong and claimed that during a break in he had seen that they were planning to test unknown substances on humans . of course , his claims were refuted but it sure did make a splash in the local news -- had neek been right ? it was unclear , but , in his eyes , he was saving the world ... or whatever . a few weeks later someone set fire to a tree in his parents front yard and he was told that he could either issue an apology or get out of their house and take his claims with him . he left . 

neek felt after this point that he was a true joan of arc type character , a martyr who needed to be vindicated and appreciated ( very wholesome thoughts ) and headed out into the local community to his small following to continue causing a ruckus . he always started things but he never stuck around to see how it ended ... peace to the people ! he was easy enough to get feathers ruffled but he only ever faced superficial consequences even without his parents , nobody really wanted to interfere with the rich boy who liked to scream and shout . his followers often ended up in way bigger trouble but they still loved him just the same . by the time he reached his mid twenties then he was touring the world doing humanitarian work and being hailed as a saint ... even his parents were coming around although he still played his same old tricks , implying they were awful people unlike him . 

WANTED CONNECTIONS . 

rich people who know he’s also rich and think he’s a total idiot however he thinks he’s just on the moral high ground so they have to hate him 

people who can’t stand to be around him but are allys in public for their reputations 

ex husband/ex wife that wants to scream every time they see him. this probably stems from the fact that neek is a terrible partner who focuses all his energy on strangers rather than anything occurring in his personal life

friends who are involved in the same charitable activities although probably have better moral code than neek 

someone who tells him off because he acts like an idiot

[kindtobechurlish]

What is so complicated? The three classes of Marxism is the bourgeoisie, the landowner, and the proletariat. The proletariat owns his labor, and sells it for a wage. The landowner makes a living according to rent and land, he gets income due to his property. The bourgeoisie is the means for production, such as machinery and factory buildings, and his source of income is profit. The proletariat is always extorted, by the landowner and bourgeoisie. Government uses this to get the vote, and attempt to make more people into bourgeoisie. “Increase.” Now, people in America all aim to be of the middle class, that’s the American dream. If they can’t get the American dream, birth hotel makes it open for for children.. and now you see the act of separating families or not. If the parent is deported, as its child was enabled by birth hotel, the anchor baby is a citizen and now is rival to an orphan. Now you can see people make something legal into a moral issue. By means of immigration can I personify what I am doing. Oh, the parents who are enabled by birth hotel – they aren’t bourgeoisie but rather they are proletariats. Now, you see a dream as dream.

I would have product, and as I have means for product I would establish things by brothel and taxes. I have means to get in government and produce opium, and they oppress me.. for what reason? They are drifting authority. If they did what was right, I would not be doing what I am doing. Putin gives me signs, “how to be a king”, I know what it takes and he makes things about safety. That asshole with a hoary head, mustache, acting sophisticated in his western clothes, isn’t better than me. But because Putin and everyone else promotes democracy, you see them act like I am too radical. Putin isn’t a king. I am, I know what it takes, even better.. “if the people need a hero we shall supply him”, so now I talk a about Albert Pike and I’m not supplied. I just have some woman ready to tell me, “not tonight” or not do more than personify that “she is my dream.” I’m not fond of that, just like I’m no longer fond of sex. You get naked with someone and you engage fluids that is not blood but it comes from the body. Yuck! I’m not fond of putting some woman’s foot in my mouth. I’m not fond of sex

[evilphrog]

Watching Wheel of Time without reading the books: episode 4

Continuing this because it blew up much bigger than I expected it to.  Okay, folks, here are my thoughts on the new episode:

New theory: the dragon is actually all 5 of them.  They were reincarnated into 5 different bodies, for reasons I am not yet sure of.  But yeah, Nynaeve, Egwene, Perrin, Mat, and Rand are ALL one soul split into fifths.  Makes sense for why they are so devoted to each other, and universally supportive/forgiving of each other.

I really thought for a second that Mat had killed that family.  Like one, single, soul-crushing second. I thought the evil knife possessed him and he was going to have to wake up to the knowledge that his own actions directly led to him killing them.  And then I realized he was trying to protect them from the Eyeless, and my heart broke even more.  I can see his guilt complex blaming himself entirely, because he took the girl’s protection doll, and because he couldn’t stop the eyeless.  

Thom is very interesting as a character.  He says he knows the past.  I can’t figure out if he means that he remembers his previous lives, or that he studies history.  I love that his main concern upon suspecting Mat of drawing on the One Power is to protect him and keep him safe.  Getting strong shipper eyes for those two.  Mat has daddy issues as it is, I could see this working for both of them.  I might just see this because I am projecting hard onto Mat.  

My understanding of how magic works so far: men and women tap into the One Power from different sources.  The dark one tainted the source from which men draw their power, which causes them to go insane.  This can be very destructive, which is why magic is outlawed for men. But it also appears that men who draw on magic mostly do so by accident.  I get the impression everyone is connected to the One Power, and it is a source of their life force or energy or reincarnation or something.  Gentling severs that connection.  Thom said it is horrible for men who have tasted the power, but it must also be horrible for men who haven’t.  Otherwise, I feel like it would be common practice to just gentle every man upon birth, so they don’t risk falling into madness on accident.  Do people who are gentled lose the ability to be reincarnated?

The Aes Sedai interacting gave me flashbacks to middle school lunch tables.  The blonde one with the red robes I am going to refer to as JK Rowling from now on.  I know she has a name and  it starts with L, but she is 100% JK Rowling.  Anyways, she is the girl in middle school who has rich parents and can wear all Abercrombie clothes, who understands makeup before anyone else. By contrast, Moirane seems to be the girl who has a hyperfixation on insects and tries to connect with the other girls by showing them a really cool beetle she found on the playground.  I now have the understanding that she basically ran away, and I can see why.  She doesn’t really fit in with the other Aes Sedai any better than she does with the villagers.  Lan is basically her only friend in the world.  A few of the other Aes Sedai are willing to be nice to her privately, and seem to want to show support, but they ultimately follow whatever JK Rowling says because they don’t want to be kicked out of the lunch table and have to go eat in the bathroom.  Getting a strong feeling that JK Rowling orchestrated everything that happened there, because the only person to die was the one who spoke against her, and she got her way in the end, being able to gentle the false dragon.  

The nomad people, I am pretty sure, is where my husband derives his entire life philosophy.  He follows the way of the leaf for sure.  Listening to the grandma explain that the best revenge against death is life, and the best revenge against violence is peace, it gave me a huge insight for how my husband read these books as a child and how they shaped his life.  This is the opposite of the bartender believing the only way to end the cycle is to end the world.  This is “If the world is cyclical anyways, everything will happen as it is supposed to.  I do not have to go against my morals to make hard choices, because the choices have already been made and everything will play out as it is supposed to regardless.”  This is the same belief system interpreted in wildly different ways, and I appreciate that juxtaposition.  If the wheel keeps turning, why NOT choose to lay down your arms and accept death when it comes, secure in the belief that the world you are reincarnated into might be more peaceful?  I also love the mythology of the Song, and how the elders take religion much more seriously than the children.  That is a nice touch of realistic world-building.  Pretty sure the nomads are all low-key psychic.  Possibly drawing unconsciously from the One Power, but at a low enough level that they don’t get madness?

I hope Perrin finds immense healing in that life philosophy.  He is such a fantastic character.  Side note, but I love the actor who portrays him.  I don’t know that I could successfully portray “Appears vacant and stupid to others on purpose, but inside his mind is swirling with complex thoughts that he will not voice until he has them solidified in his head 5 days later.”  He does such a good job of showing extreme intelligence that he prefers to keep hidden from others.  I don’t think Perrin sees himself as intelligent, but he clearly is.  He seems like one of those uncommonly gifted and sweet and caring people, and when others tell him how rare and special he is, he doesn’t believe them.  He thinks most people are the same as him.  

The more I learn about Lan, the more my original impression holds true.  He is horny for anyone who can kick his ass, especially Nyneave.  They will 100% bone.  His warder buddies certainly seem to think he has a type, which has me wondering about his past.  I had originally read him as totally asexual, but he just isn’t isn’t attracted to Moiraine.  The two of them talking in the tent was hilarious.  

Moiraine: states facts, but also displays loyalty. Holds his hand, but still speaks neutrally.

Lan: God, you’re so emotional when I drink.  

Probably gonna make a few memes of them later, because they are RIDICULOUS. Remind me of Amy Santiago and Captain Holt trying to express affection for each other. I loved getting to see Lan with his warder buddies.  It was interesting that two of the other warders are clearly in a triad with each other and the one Aes Sedai.  That side bit let me know that A) yes warders and their Aes Sedai can be romantic, Lan and Moiraine just don’t see each other that way. B) homosexuality and polyamory are actually super normal in this world. There was a lot of world-building packed into that one little scene.  

I had Nyneave all wrong before.  She projects the unhinged full agro vibes because it is her armor against fear.  Very “courage is not the absence of fear, but choosing to do the right thing in spite of it” of her.  It appears that she tries to keep that persona on to stave off the panic attacks?  Wonder if her developing relationship with Lan will have her reworking her coping skills, since she seems to be more and more inclined to let her guard down around him.  Interesting that her village was invaded when she was a young child.  Explains a lot about her.  Was that the village of the two rivers, or another village?  I can’t remember if she moved there later.  If not, man that village has some shitty luck.  Love how she chose to hang with the warders, and not with the Aes Sedai.  Reminded me of Kaylee in firefly at the fancy ball surrounded by dudes asking about engine maintenance.  She’s actually not surly and a loner.  She just only opens up around people she feels comfortable with.  I was so glad to get to see a softer side of her.

Edit: I forgot to say, but I was super excited at the tiny touch of realism that the family at the farm had two Mediterranean parents with blonde children. I never see it portrayed on TV because I assume many white audiences would not believe the kids are biologically related to the parents.  I was so excited I basically screamed when I saw the kids.  It is such a tiny detail that probably meant nothing to anyone else, but it was huge for me.  (For non-Arabs, our hair frequently starts out blonde, then darkens up as we age. I have no idea why, and have never bothered to ask or look it up)

Other episode reviews

[letarasstuff]

Normal People don't know their IQ

(A/N): Inspired by me, who recently discovered normal people don’t know their IQ, while I was tested two or three times already...

Summary: A certain someone is the only way to get the UnSub. But there’s also something different that makes her special.

Warnings: Angst (fluffy end, I swear), language, mentions of rape and torture, mention of dead people, the usual CM stuff I guess Wordcount: 2.0k

✨Masterlist✨ _________________________________________

“Garcia, I need you to look into high school teachers, who are suspended or fired for inappropriate behavior towards students and live in the area of the kidnappings”, Hotch orders in a stern voice. But you can’t blame him, after all there are currently six dead teenage girls and one missing. One can only hope and work as fast as possible to get her back to her parents alive.

The team is working a case in Sacramento, California. Teenage girls get abducted on their way home from school, are held for exactly a week and are killed by a simple cut to their throat. The torture they have to endure beforehand isn’t as simple. The last two also show signs of rape.

The dumbing sites are different parks all over the city. The placing happens overnight only to have the girls found the next morning by a clueless jogger or stroller.

“Let’s go over the profile again, I feel like we are missing something”, Rossi commands. His gut feeling tells him only that much, he just has to find out what it is.

“It’s a white male in his mid thirties to late forties. He blends in, so he has to be or has been a teacher. Someone who looks like they belong into a school isn’t suspicious”, Spencer counts the facts.

“The victims all look similar, probably resembling an ex-wife or girlfriend”, Morgan adds. Before he can get into the depth of the torture a phone rings.

“My lovely crime fighters, I got an address. Charles Collins. philosophy and history. Got suspended for suggestive talk towards his female students. He is also said to stare at them and certain body parts for way too long and way too obvious. Gross. Annnd that- wait”

“What is it, Garcia?” Hotch asks after a moment of silence, which is unusual for the ever bubbly tech analyst.

“You got your profile wrong. Collins doesn’t take these girls because of an ex flame.”

The team looks at each other in confusion. Garcia always stresses how she isn’t a profiler and can’t judge over people, because she only wants to see the good in them. How is she able to tell that the profile is off?

“Shoot baby girl, we don’t have much time left”, Derek urges her. He wants nothing more than to have this SOB finally behind bars. The whole team wants that.

“He has a daughter. Technically it’s not his daughter, it’s someone else’s, but he is her foster father. Go and please save both girls!”

Penelope doesn’t have to say it twice. After a brief thank you and goodbye the team is on their way to the given address. As soons as they get there, everyone notices the absence of a car in the driveway. Hotch sends Spencer, Emily and Derek through the back door, the rest goes in from the front.

“FBI! OPEN UP!”

It’s needless to say that nobody opens up. There is no other way than kicking the doors down.

After entering the house and clearing the first floor, Rossi points towards the stairs that leads to the first story. There are only two rooms. A bathroom right hand and a closed door left hand.

Morgan counts quietly down before also kicking this door down and screaming “FBI!” But he seemingly talks with air, because there is no one to be found. Once again the team swarms out to look for evidence or clues.

As Spencer looks through the room they cleared last, he sees various things that make him smile. Several bookshelves are flooded with all kinds of genres, authors and covers. At first he can’t make out in which way they are sorted. But a closer look makes him realize that they are sorted by the author’s birth year. The doctor is kind of impressed, because that means the person knows when they are born in order to find a certain book. He likes the idea, it is a nice little challenge.

While he investigates further a sound makes him stop. He sends a text to Emily and waits for her. When she enters the room Spencer gestures to her to keep it quiet. Then he points to the bed.

They lower themselves down to the floor at the same time on each side of it. A girl, no older than 14 years, lays there shivering in angst. With big doe eyes she looks at Spencer and whispers:

“Please don’t hurt me.”

A while later the team is back at the station with the girl sitting in one of the interrogation rooms. The temperature is already set down, though Hotch feels really bad for it. Still there is another girl out there waiting to be safed.

“Baby girl, what can you give us on her?” Morgan sets his phone in the middle of the table and switches the speaker on.

“Our little girl’s name is (Y/N) (Y/L/N), fourteen years old. Parents were deemed to be unable to look after her since they are both heavy drug addicts and didn’t even register her crying for two hours straight. Since the age of six months she bounces through the system with nobody wanting to keep her longer than two years. They claim she is too smart for them and want somebody to look after her, who can challenge her intellectually.

“Collins took her in one and a half years ago. He got her signed up in several activities after school, like chess and academic decathlon. As of right now she is a junior with an opportunity to graduate next year. Her teachers describe her as incredibly bright with a complicated way of thinking.”

“Complicated way of thinking? Her intelligence was neglected for years, so she gave herself her own challenges. I found her books sorted by the birth year of the authors. She found ways of making things more difficult for herself, that’s why she fabricated strange ways of thinking. This is often found in children with high intelligence, who are not boosted enough by their environment”, Spencer explains, getting more and more furious.

His colleagues feel that this is a sensitive subject for their resident genius. JJ comfortably puts a hand on his shoulder, making the tense go away.

“Emily and Dave, I want both of you to interrogate her. We need to know where he hides the girls. JJ, try to hold the press off for a bit longer. Morgan, Reid, I want you to watch and look for tells or anything else”, Aaron orders.

Everyone works on their given task immediately.

You don’t need to be a profiler to see that (Y/N) is scared out of her mind. She has her feet on her chair and her head lies on her knees. When the two agents enter, she tries to at least fake some kind of composer. But she fails miserably at it.

“Hello (Y/N), may I call you that?” Emily begins in a soft voice. The teenager nods shyly. “Good, (Y/N). My name is Emily Prentiss and this is David Rossi. We are agents from the Behavior Analysis Unit from the FBI. Do you know why you are here?” The teenager shakes her head.

“Ok, let’s cut the chase”, David's voice booms through the small room. “You know exactly why you are here. From what we saw in your room you are an incredibly smart girl. How high is your IQ? 130? 135?”

“147 a-actually”, she nervously corrects the agent, never meeting his eye. The team notices this fairly quickly.

“Even better, normal people don’t know their IQ. So you know what your forster father does. You saw the news, you read the papers, you heard your classmates talk. In addition to that, the girls look alarmingly similar to you. And all of the sudden Charles is more often out than usual. So do us a favor and come clear.” Then he pulls out a picture from a manila folder on the table. Emily tries to intervene.

“Rossi, don’t. She is not the UnSub. (Y/N) is just unfortunate to be at the wrong place.” “She might as well be another UnSub if she doesn’t do anything to help us. Do you know how long you are going to jail for helping hi-”

“I don’t know anything. I- of course I saw what is h-happening. A-and I connected the dots a long time a-ago. You know, Charles lost his job and that’s a stressor. T-then Child Service was investigating him, because of the suspension’s reasons. I-I couldn’t do anything. I had no evidence, the police wouldn’t believe me. I asked him once wh-what he thinks about, you know, what’s happening. He slapped me and told me to not talk about it again. I’m so sorry, I wanna help. The only thing that comes into my mind is an old cabin he once mentioned when I first arrived at his. B-but I don’t know if it helps you. P-please, I don’t want to go to jail or juvenile, I-” Then (Y/N) breaks down into tears.

Emily is in an instant by her side trying to calm her down, while Hotch gives the information to Garcia. As soon as she finds the location, JJ takes a seat next to (Y/N) and the rest of the team flies out.

“You don’t have to be scared of him anymore, Sweetheart. My colleagues will find him and he will be tried and convicted. He will never be a threat to you again”, the blonde tries to comfort her.

“Whenever I leave an abusive home, there will be another one that’s exactly the same. The only difference with Charles was that he seemed to understand me. He helped me. There’s nobody who is willing to do what he did for me”, she admits sadly.

It breaks JJ’s heart, because her words are true. Even though he is a killer, Collins did help her. But she is also determined to show the young girl that he isn’t the only one who can do that. That there are more people out there, who are kind and as helpful if not more.

Not long after this the team brings the man into the station, Morgan guiding him with a deadbolt-like grip.

Rossi spots (Y/N) in a break room with a hot drink in her hands. While making his way over there, Spencer follows him. He wants to talk with her as well.

“(Y/N) I’m sincerely sorry if I hurt you earlier. I didn’t intend to scare you, we just had to act quickly and you were the only source of information available. I also wanted to tell you, that your achievements are astonishing and I guarantee you a bright future, maybe even at the FBI”, he winks at the end of his last sentence.

“I understand, Agent Rossi. But doesn’t everybody know their IQ? I assumed everybody gets at least tested once in their life in some way”, she asks with surprise in her voice.

At that the older man is speechless. Of all things she could accuse him of legitimately, (Y/N) goes with the most innocent question.

“Actually, not everybody gets tested. A reliable test has to be done by a psychologist and most people don’t go to one. Furthermore there has to be a valid reason to do one, that’s why a great part of the population doesn’t know their IQ”, intervenes Spencer. He has to infodump, since the last time was over half an hour ago.

“But you also have to differentiate between the several kinds of intelligence, because intelligence is way more than being good at math. There…”

Rossi stopped listening to the excited interaction between the two geniuses. Instead he watches their body languages and facial expressions. He hasn’t seen both of them more at calm than they are now.

After all there might be a way for (Y/N) to get a little Happy End.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Same universe as the one where LXC kills JGY on a boat to not-Japan. JRS-centric as he grows up in the Nie clan and deals with his reputation as an inbred son of a traitorous bastard.

so I don't think I've ever written a fic in which LXC kills JGY on a boat, and definitely not one where JRS is a character? I mean, I've written a lot of fics, so possibly I did and I forgot, but I'm pretty sure about this one.

That being said, I don't think I've gotten any Jin Rusong prompts before so I'm reinterpreting this to be a prompt for a fic about JRS growing up in the Nie clan. Fic below!

ao3

-

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, Nie Huaisang reminded himself. Risk is proportionate with reward. Your spine should be made of steel, just as your saber is.

He licked his lips, thought of his brother who had loved him, and threw himself forward with tears in his eyes.

“Oh, gongzi!” he blubbered. “Can you help me? I’ve gotten completelylost, I don’t even know where to begin –”

Xue Yang blinked at him, the lids of his eyes moving slowly like a reptile.

“Maybe you know where my san-ge is? Lianfeng-zun?”

The feeling of immediate threat lessened. It seemed he’d gambled right, and the rabid dog that was Xue Yang could still be controlled by reference to Jin Guangyao.

“I’d really appreciate it if you could just give me some guidance on where to find him,” Nie Huaisang said, lowering his voice confidentially. “I’d be sure to pay you back! If there’s anything you want –”

“Do you have any snacks?” Xue Yang asked.

Nie Huaisang, who had come prepared based on the rumors he’d painstakingly collected, produced some dragons’ beard candy.

“Not bad,” Xue Yang said. “Okay, sure.”

Nie Huaisang smiled, and even meant it.

-

“Hey, good-for-nothing,” Xue Yang said, and Nie Huaisang turned to look at his least favorite but nevertheless highly useful source of information in Lanling Jin. The fact that Xue Yang had no idea that he was functioning as such just made it more satisfactory. “You like kids, right?”

Nie Huaisang blinked. “Yes?” he hazarded, not so much because he actually did – he’d never had strong feelings about children one way or the other, though perhaps he was being presumptuous in thinking that the reference did not involve goats – but because that seemed to be the answer Xue Yang was looking for.

Xue Yang wrinkled his nose in distaste, though not, Nie Huaisang thought, at him.

“Theoretically,” he said, and he wouldn’t know ‘theoretical’ if it hit him in the face, “if there were, I don’t know, a whole bunch of them hanging around somewhere without parents, you’d be able to do something about that, right? Especially if they had a talent for cultivation?”

It took only a moment to piece together what must have happened to lead to such a question, given the ruthlessness of the cultivation world and of Jin Guangyao in particular, and Nie Huaisang marveled briefly at the idea that Xue Yang might draw a moral line in the sand over something. Presumably he felt some kinship to the children, being similarly utterly infantile, amoral, and fond of sweet things.

“Oh sure!” he said, playing up the brainless idiot who didn’t know to ask questions. “My sect is always recruiting, you know. We took some losses in the war and, well, I feel like adult cultivators aren’t really all that interestedin joining ever since I took over…”

“Because you’re a waste of space,” Xue Yang said, and Nie Huaisang pouted at him. “Whatever, the important thing is that you have space for kids. Orphans. Think, like, a whole orphanage getting shut down or whatever – anyway, not important. You’d take them back to Qinghe, right?”

“Oh, that would be so wonderful!” Nie Huaisang clapped. “That would suit everyone, wouldn’t it? They don’t have to worry about the children, and we get new disciples. I should tell san-ge – no, on second thought, he might be too busy –”

“Definitely too busy,” Xue Yang said quickly. “Wouldn’t it be nice to accomplish something yourself? You could casually show him that your numbers went up at the end of the month instead so he gives you the credit, without explaining that it’s kids making up the increase.”

“That’s a great idea! He’ll be much more impressed by that, I should definitely do that. Where is the orphanage?”

“…uh, in the forest. The back forest.”

You couldn’t come up with a better lie?

“You already brought them here?” Nie Huaisang asked, batting his eyelashes. “You’re so nice, Xue-xiong! I’ll go tell my second in command to go deal with it right away!”

-

It was in the fifth round of kids getting picked up – small cultivation clans being massacred and there was nothing Nie Huaisang could do about it, because there was either no evidence or else Jin Guangyao had come up with some motive to justify his actions and, inevitably, Lan Xichen would be there behind him, soothing over tempers and providing explanations because he believed him, every time – that something unusual happened.

“Sect Leader Nie,” one of his most trusted subordinates murmured into his ear. “There’s a problem.”

Nie Huaisang found a reason to leave the party early, a reason to go to the rendezvous point, and, once there, found the reason for the problem.

“Oh, hey there,” he said with a smile fixed onto his face by sheer force of willpower, crouching down to make himself seem less intimidating. Not that he was ever particularly intimidating, though given the rage coursing through his veins right now, he thought he might be able to pull it off if he tried. “What a lucky chance! It’s so funny, finding you here, Songsong. How are you?”

Jin Rusong wiped his eyes and looked tearily at him, recognized that the person asking was his Little Uncle Nie, and threw himself into Nie Huaisang’s arms with a howl.

This was pretty typical – Jin Rusong wasn’t much of a crier, but when he did he definitely took Nie Huaisang as his model, something all the other adults in the cultivation world had a tendency to give Nie Huaisang dirty looks over.

The only problem here, of course, was that Jin Rusong was dead.

Or, rather…he was supposed to be dead.

And if Jin Rusong was here – here, in the rendezvous point where Xue Yang put those of his prospective victims that happened to be a little too young for even him to stomach killing, at least without the personal grudge that had driven him to slaughter the Chang clan in its entirety – that meant only one thing.

Jin Guangyao had ordered his own son to be murdered.

Through demonic cultivation, no less, which was a pretty nasty way to go. There was a reason everyone implicitly countenanced Jiang Cheng’s vendetta against demonic cultivators no matter where they were, even when he ignored all territory lines and forgot to not ask for permission – the things a demonic cultivator gone bad could do were just so much worse than what anyone else could that they couldn’t risk any delay in dealing with the problem.

Well, shit, Nie Huaisang thought, even as he comforted Jin Rusong, petting the toddler’s back to try to get him to calm down. What do I do now?

-

“There has to be a reason,” Nie Huaisang insisted. “He’s not rabid. Songsong was his son!”

“Sect Leader Nie, we can’t find anything that might explain it.”

“Look harder. I don’t care how minor it is, I want to know everythingto do with Songsong. Every little detail – every person who saw him – every medical report, every compliment, every good grade –”

“He placed last in one of his classes,” one of his spies volunteered.

“What?”

“He placed last in one of his classes. About two months before his ‘assassination’, and shortly before his father started collecting evidence against the other sects that were in his way, which he later used to ‘prove’ that they had been involved in the alleged murder.”

“He wouldn’t kill his son for failing a class,” one of the others objected. “The kid’s barely more than a baby. What’s he expecting, genius from birth?”

“He’s a genius himself. Why not?”

“If everyone inherited everything directly from their parents, he’d be a whore.”

“He’d be a Jin. They’ve all got that nose, every one of them…”

“I heard he’s having the other Jin bastards killed. All of them, even the women…”

Something snapped in Nie Huaisang’s hands.

They all turned to look at him.

“Investigate Qin Su,” he said, looking down at the mess of wood and paper that had once been a fan. “Come to think of it, she has a Jin nose, too.”

-

“I don’t want to go!”

“I don’t want you to go, either,” Nie Huaisang said, feeling tired and also much more in sympathy with his poor older brother than he’d ever been while Nie Mingjue had been alive. “But you disobeyed me, and that means we don’t have a choice. You have to go.”

Nie Songsong looked down at the ground, his lip quivering. “I didn’t mean to…”

“You did,” Nie Huaisang said. “You have to own your decisions, Songsong. You can’t take them back once they’re done, no matter what the consequences. Not even if you feel bad, but definitely not because you feel bad for having to pay for what you did.”

“But…”

“No, Songsong. You cannot be in the Unclean Realm when – when he’s here.”

Nie Songsong hung his head.

“He’s not your father anymore,” Nie Huaisang said. “You know that, right?”

Nie Songsong nodded.

Nie Huaisang sighed and held out his hands, and his arms were full of a teary-eyed child a moment later.

“He loved you once,” Nie Huaisang murmured into his child’s hair. “I love you now. I wish I could give you more than that – I wish I could give you an answer, tell you why he didn’t love you enough to keep from doing what he did. But I can’t. All I can do…”

Is what I’m already doing.

“You’re enough, er-ge,” Nie Songsong whispered back. “You’re enough. I promise.”

-

“When will I get to go night-hunting?”

“You go night-hunting all the time,” Nie Huaisang grumbled. “You’re a fraction my age, and already my height, my weight, yet you wield a saber like my brother was around to raise you properly. You’re ruining my reputation, you know; now no one will believe that my incompetence comes from how short I am…”

“Not night-hunting with the rest of the sect, er-ge,” Nie Songsong said, rolling his eyes. “With other juniors!”

“Not long now,” Nie Huaisang said, looking down at the paper beneath his hands. It was all finally coming together. “Not long now. Just give er-ge a little more time to finish taking care of matters for da-ge, and you’ll be able to go night-hunting with anyone you like.”

-

“Er-ge! Are you all right? You look so pale…”

“I’m sorry,” Nie Huaisang whispered. “Songsong – I’m sorry. I’m so sorry –”

“What happened? Are you injured?” Nie Songsong demanded, already starting to pat him over, looking for wounds. “Er-ge, what’s wrong –”

“Your mother’s dead.”

Nie Songsong’s hands stilled.

“I told her about your heritage,” Nie Huaisang said, his lips numb. He’d never tried to hide it from Nie Songsong, although he’d introduced the subject very gradually and only once he thought that he’d be able to handle the revelation. “About your father – your grandfather. What they did. I wanted her to be angry at him, to turn against him, to distract him…instead, she killed herself.”

“Er-ge…”

“I shouldn’t have told her. If I knew –”

“Er-ge.”

“I should have brought her in earlier – told her about you surviving – I kept her from you for years –”

“Er-ge!”

Nie Huaisang looked at the child he had raised as a little brother the way his older brother had raised him, a father in everything but name, and who he had the constant feeling of having failed.

He wondered, as he always did, whether his brother had felt the same about him.

“Er-ge, it’s all right,” his little brother, his adopted son, said, and took his hands in his. “It’s all right. You tried, remember? Time after time, you tried to talk to her, but every single time you concluded that she would’ve told her husband instead of trusting you. She would’ve ruined everything. If she did that, I’d be dead all over again, and you with me.”

That had been what Nie Huaisang had concluded. That was why he’d never told her.

But…

“She’s your mother.”

“And you’re my er-ge. As long as you don’t die on me, too, it’ll be all right. Okay? It’ll be all right. It’ll be worth it in the end.”

Nie Huaisang shook his head. He’d already done so much, caused so much chaos and strife, and yet this moment – this was the step too far.

This was the first time he realized that he wasn’t sure he believed that it would be worth it anymore.

But by now…what else was left to do? There were no ways out of the plan he’d made himself; he’d designed it that way on purpose, because he’d known that if there was a way out, that snake would find a way to slither through it. He just hadn’t thought that he would be the one looking for it.

It didn’t matter.

He had to keep going.

His older brother deserved it, even if the younger one didn’t.

-

“I represent the Nie sect,” the young man – just about their age, though shorter than either of them – said with a smile. He seemed kind, gentle and polite, easy-going, but Lan Jingyi and Lan Sizhui looked at each other, and then at Jin Ling, who just scowled. “Can I come in?”

“Were you even invited?” Jin Ling asked in bitten off words. He was still bitter about some of the things that had happened in the Guayin Temple a month before, and of all them the one he was most bitter about was his second uncle’s retreat into seclusion – they were all upset about that.

“But it’s a discussion conference,” the young man said, blinking in confusion. “We’re a Great Sect. Why wouldn’t we be invited?”

In the face of such profound ignorance, there really wasn’t very much they could say, and eventually Lan Sizhui stepped forward with a smile, welcoming the young man – Nie Songsong, he introduced himself – into the Cloud Recesses.

Everything seemed fine for a little while. Lan Sizhui was able to talk to the people in charge of arranging juniors into finding another place for Nie Songsong to stay, although it would be a little delayed – Nie Songsong assured them that there was no issue – and as recompense they even showed him, at his request, a few of the main landmarks.

And then they turned around and their guest had disappeared.

“I knew he was up to no good!” Jin Ling exclaimed.

“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Lan Sizhui told him.

“I’m with Jin Ling,” Lan Jingyi said. “He seemed so nice and understated – just like you know –”

“Don’t talk about my little uncle,” Jin Ling hissed at him. “I know it’s true, but just – don’t, okay?”

“We should find where he went,” Lan Sizhui decided.

It took them a while, but in the end they found him in the most unexpected place: in the rooms their sect leader had chosen for his seclusion, sitting on the bed with Lan Xichen’s head on his shoulder, sobbing as if his heart had been broken.

“What are you doing?” Lan Sizhui exclaimed, unnerved even out of his own habitual politeness.

“I came to greet my uncle,” Nie Songsong said, his manner just as gentle and polite as it had been from the beginning, although it was now evident that he was as stubborn as a rock and not easy-going at all.

“Your uncle?” Lan Jingyi gaped. “How can he be your uncle?”

“You’re Sect Leader Nie’s son!” Jin Ling accused.

“I’m Sect Leader Nie’s little brother by adoption,” Nie Songsong corrected. “It’s through my father that he’s my uncle – and you my cousin, I suppose.”

“Your – father?”

“Oh, yes. My birth name, you see,” Nie Songsong said, “was Jin Rusong.”

-

“Why did you choose to reveal yourself?” Lan Sizhui asked. “Given that everyone knows – well –”

Nie Songsong finished the character he was writing and put down his brush. “Wondering if you should let it be known that you were born with the surname Wen?”

Lan Sizhui jerked in surprise, then flushed. “How did you – that didn’t come out in Guanyin Temple.”

“No, I knew it before,” Nie Songsong said. “My er-ge is very clever, you know.”

“Yes, I suppose I do...why do you call him brother? Shouldn’t he be uncle, or – or –”

“Uncle is probably right,” Nie Songsong said. “But he raised me like a son, just as his brother did for him.”

Lan Sizhui looked down at his hands.

“Why did he publicly reveal your background, knowing that you were still around?” he asked again. “Everyone will know. Who your father was, all those terrible things he did, his relationship with your mother –”

“Why shouldn’t he? He did do all those things, and he did have that relationship with my mother.”

“But what about you? What about your reputation –”

“Are you planning on sweeping Wen Ruohan’s grave?”

Lan Sizhui stared at him.

“He’s your grandfather, isn’t he?” Nie Songsong looked calmly back at him. “Who he was, all those terrible things he did –”

“That’s nothing to do with me!”

“And the crimes of my father are nothing to do with me. My er-ge gave me his surname, just as Hanguang-jun gave you his, and for the same reason – to cut us off from the sins of our original family.”

“I suppose that’s true. But – no one knew about you, just as no one knew about me until I told them, and I only told them because they were my friends. Why’d you tell us? Aren’t you worried we’d tell more people?”

“Of course I am,” Nie Songsong said. “I hope you don’t, of course, but you would’ve found out regardless – second uncle wasn’t exactly subtle in his grief. And I had to tell him.”

“Why? To bring him out of seclusion?” Lan Sizhui hesitated. “Do you care so much for him?”

“Of course not. The last time I met him, I was a small child, and my father was just about to order me murdered; that’s not much of a basis to build a relationship. But having him lock himself away like that, as if he were in mourning…it hurt er-ge. And I won’t let anything hurt my er-ge. Anything, or anyone.”

They looked at each other for a long moment.

“I understand,” Lan Sizhui said.

“I’m glad you do,” Nie Songsong said, and then smiled. “I would’ve had to escalate to threats next, and I’m given to understand that I’m too short to really pull them off properly.”

Lan Sizhui snorted. “I think we’ve all learned that that’snot true.”

-

“Should we talk about this?” Jin Ling asked, arms crossed over his chest and glaring.

“What do you want to talk about?” Nie Songsong replied.

“How about the fact that your father tried to kill me?”

“Sure. Can we talk about the fact that you got all of his affection for years and years after he tried to kill me?”

Jin Ling blanched.

“I wonder if he would’ve gotten me a dog, too,” Nie Songsong mused. “I was too young for that when he ordered his demonic cultivator to feed me to fierce corpses and have my body ravaged until it was barely recognizable…but sure, let’s talk about how he tried to kill you.”

“I was talking about Sect Leader Nie!”

“Well, then, you should have been more specific. Sect Leader Nie’s my brother, not my father.”

“He’s a whole generation older than you!”

“My little uncle, then.”

Jin Ling flinched. “That’s worse. Go back to calling him your brother.”

Nie Songsong shrugged. “Would it help if we fought?”

“…what?”

“It makes me feel better, sometimes. Besides, I may be short, but I’m pretty good with the saber. I bet I could match your sword…maybe not your arrows. But I’ve always wanted to try.”

Jin Ling looked at him suspiciously for a long moment.

“Okay,” he finally said. “Sure. Why not?”

-

“I really hate that you’re kind of cool,” Lan Jingyi told him.

“I am so cool,” Nie Songsong said, and passed him another jar of wine. “Want to see my spring book collection?”

“…yes please.”

-

“Thank you for taking care of him,” Lan Xichen said to Nie Huaisang, who shrugged. “I’m sorry that you couldn’t trust me to help.”

“It’s only what I should have done,” Nie Huaisang said, not for the first time. He’d said it so often these past few days that it felt like a new refrain, an alternative to the old I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know. He preferred the original. “I was his little uncle, remember? I held him on his first month party. How could I do any less?”

He did not say that Lan Xichen, who could be classified as Jin Rusong’s older uncle, had done much less, but from Lan Xichen’s expression, he’d taken it that way anyway.

“You never…” Lan Xichen hesitated. “Did you ever have any – concerns?”

“That he’d turn out an idiot? No. I figured he’d be in good company, with me.”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“Oh, you meant whether I was worried that he’d grow up longing for his blood family over his adopted family and turn against me in favor of his real father?” Nie Huaisang asked mildly. “No, not really. The memory of your father ordering you to be mauled by fierce corpses and to make sure your face is destroyed so that there’s a reason to refuse to let your mother see the body, as it would only upset her, is a fairly effective panacea against things like that.”

“No,” Lan Xichen said, though he looked sick all over again at the reminder of how considerate Jin Guangyao could be when it came to those he thought of as people, and how monstrous he was towards those he didn’t. “No, just – your brother always took such a hard line against the Wen sect…”

“Because they were raised with the philosophy that they were superior to the rest of us and my brother purposefully made himself into the symbol of their fallibility, thereby making himself and all the rest of us the primary target for their traumatic realization that they’re just as weak and vulnerable as everyone else,” Nie Huaisang said, rolling his eyes. “Our Nie sect cultivators were always especially targeted whenever we were captured – our survival rate as prisoners of war was less than half all the other sects, and it wasn’t just because we were usually more injured when we got caught. Even the civilians surnamed Wen would pull out knives and try to stab us in the back if they had half a chance! We were in a blood feud with them, er-ge. You don’t put down blood feuds just like that, not even if you want to. That’s not how it works.”

Lan Xichen nodded slowly, thoughtful.

“Anyway, Songsong is mine now,” Nie Huaisang said. “Just as Lan Sizhui is your brother’s, and Jin Ling Jiang Cheng’s. Can’t we all just agree to not care about the rest?”

“I suppose we have to,” Lan Xichen said, bowing his head. “Huaisang…did you ever think about what happens now? I mean – what should we do next?”

“I don’t know,” Nie Huaisang said, and smiled humorlessly when Lan Xichen looked at him. “I’m not joking. I didn’t know what to do when I got Songsong for the first time, er-ge, and I don’t know what to do now, either. I just wanted to see justice done for my da-ge, and I did, and for the rest – I don’t know.”

“That’s fine,” Lan Xichen said. “I don’t know, either.”

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, Nie Huaisang thought. Spine as steel as your saber.

“Would you like to come visit the Unclean Realm sometime?” he asked, pretending to be casual. “Perhaps we can figure out what we don’t know together. If you like.”

“…perhaps I will,” Lan Xichen said.

[bratz-kitten]

attack on titan characters - birth chart analysis 🌙

Here is my take on the big 6 of Levi, Eren, Armin and Mikasa of attack on titan/shingeki no kyojin! I kept their sun signs since we know the day and month of their birthday and since I think they’re absolutely perfect. If you want me to do my take on the others (like Jean, Historia, Erwin, Hanji, Connie, Sasha, Reiner, etc) please let me know! (spoiler warning!)

Levi Ackerman

sun in capricorn - levi mf ackerman is fuelled by three things and three things only: LOYALTY, a strong moral code and power. he is seen by most people as a heartless, unemotional bastard but is canonically the most emotional character - he shows love through very indirect ways and he’s the peak of capricorn in the sense that he represses his emotions – he smiled literally ONE time in four seasons, and didn’t once shed a tear. he’s very hard to read. has a lot of respect for his superiors and follows the orders of only those he’s loyal to. he’s driven by his moral codes in the sense that the protection of humanity is his prime motive for fighting titans. like a true capricorn, is the master of his field of work and cares the most about being a survey corp member. please protect this tragic baby. 

virgo rising - two words: CLEAN FREAK. this man has a strong need to be presentable at all times and hates getting blood on his hands for the single fact that he needs himself and his environment to be clean. his obsession with being clean is very much due to his childhood trauma and how he lived in in poor conditions in the underground. he has many quirks that correlate with this: the way he holds his cup, the carvat he uses bc of his mother, and the way he always cuts his own hair because that’s the way his mother used to do it.  intimidating and demands respect. DRY HUMOUR. 

moon in scorpio - i think he has many similarities with mikasa, especially in the moon and venus. introverted and hates people but will go to the ends of the earth to protect the ones he loves and respects. represses emotions and internalizes his hatred until he has a mental breakdown - which happens in the form of extreme violence. VERY sensitive and emotional even if he doesn’t show it. he’s very intuitive and often acts based on gut; he’s secretive and vindictive. very wise and great at giving advice. doesn’t let himself get manipulated and uses shitty situations to his advantage (like with the reeves company). trust is the most important thing to him.

mercury in aquarius - levi is extremely logical, and hates when others involve their feelings in the making of decisions. his decisions are always backed up by strong arguments and others often see him as cold and detached. i saw someone  mention something extremely interesting about aquarius mercury’s/people with their mercuries in the 11th house: despite not being very sociable, others are drawn to them for friendships – and often they’re the introverts who get “adopted” by extroverts. this is 100% levi’s case, hanji and erwin practically adopted him. being very vulgar with his words and having a distinctive sense of humour, he’s very humanitarian and is actually really talkative but only when he’s very comfortable around someone. blunt, always tells it like it is – like when he tells eren he can’t know what the right choice really is and he needs to choose it himself. teases and insults his friends as a form of affection.

mars in scorpio - levi’s a fighter, a survivor. he knows what it’s like to come from nothing and have to build himself up. very confrontational. reclaims his power by exerting intimidation and mastering violence. others fear doing as much as make a joke at his expense. understands other’s motivations and characters very easily. he’s very intuitive. very serious due to his need for having an intense and demanding presence, for being respected and valued. he’s the one who everyone sighs of relief when things go to shit and he appears because you know he’s the strongest and most dependable person.

venus in capricorn - good luck getting this motherfucker to open up. his trust is very hard to gain but is necessary for working with him – he places his full trust in his comrades and demands the same from them. very work-oriented and takes relationships very serious; it’s really telling that he cares little for romance because capricorn venuses are the ones to date to marry, and will only devote themselves to someone once they believe they’ve met the one. they either want a more powerful and mature partner or they exude that energy (levi is the latter). slightly parental – we see this in the way that levi is pretty much the dad figure. it’s called squad levi for a reason, after all. very responsible. takes care of loved ones and often uses tough love as a form of discipline.

Eren Jaeger - im not even kidding with this one, he has extreme aries energy

sun in aries - eren feels the need to be very independent and he hates whenever he has to depend on mikasa and others, wanting to be strong enough to reverse the roles. he’s very self-confident, bold and direct. very impulsive, he’s quick to anger but is also very quick to forget - especially seen with his arguments with jean, fighting him is basically a love language at this point. aries suns are very fast thinkers and their strong energy may come off as intimidating. they have great intentions but that often becomes muddled with their impulsivity and the fact that they don’t think ideas through. eren is unabashedly himself and fights relentlessly for what he wants. his aries energy also makes him extremely motivated! he believes in the impossible and will make it happen no matter what.

aries rising – aries risings are the trailblazers. they ooze intensity. eren has very much a baby face and, due to his impulsivity and childish charm, people tend to baby him a lot – in the sense that he’s this kid surrounded by adults who needs supervision at all times or he’ll get into deep shit. aries risings are also marked by their extreme need for action, they’re the ones to do now and apologize later instead of asking for permission to do something in the first place. he is guided by his passion and is a natural leader who inspires everyone to fight alongside him. aries risings have a lot of energy which they need to express in a physical way, making them be prone to be very athletic and lead very active lives. he’s also extremely competitive and is driven by the force of becoming stronger than mikasa, and often feels angry when he realizes how stronger than him other people can be. at the same time, this pressure to be better is put solely on himself. he’s a dumbass with a good-heart and pure intentions.

moon in sagittarius – all this motherfucker talks about is freedom and seeing the world past the walls. he craves adventure and is extremely optimistic. but even if a sagittarius moon needs their freedom, they are still absolutely ride-or-dies and once they’ve commited to something, NOTHING or NO ONE can stop their determination. these are also the people to try their best to always appear cheerful and full of determination to hide their sad façade – like when he was nearly vomiting when talking about the titans to the other recruits when they began the training in the military but still forced himself to say that the titans aren’t scary at all and that they aren’t a big deal; he naturally inspires others and fills them with courage. but the way they put on this strong and brave façade leads to a strong emotional turmoil, violent urges and a sudden hostility to others. they are filled with surpressed anger that can lead them through very destructive paths – and the happy-go-lucky child might just lose her hope. we see this in eren in the most heartbreaking way.

mercury in aries – LOUD!!! eren speaks what’s on his mind with NO hesitation whatsover. he’s very quick to defend his friends and points of view, and speaks openly about his passions and dreams. he’s very assertive and tenacious. short attention span and not afraid to give a different opinion from someone else’s. very passionate about what he argues about. very expressive and when an aries mercury disagrees with you, you’ll know it immediately by their facial expression. confident and thrives on inspiring others. remember him being mad when it was discovered the possibility of all titans being humans because now he didn’t know who the enemy is and he NEEDS to hate someone and blame them in order to keep going? ARIES MERCURY ENERGY!!

mars in aries - people look to mars in aries to lead them. they’re full of energy and dynamic, and very athletic - eren exceeds at hand-to-hand combat and, in the other subjects where he’s not so good, his determination makes him push forward and become better. VERY hot-headed and confrontational, which is both the source of all their problems and their strength - they are not afraid of going after what they want and are willing to go through any obstacle to do so, and they’re also not afraid of upsetting other people in order to do so. eren is courageous, loves to take initiative and is very enthusiastic - something that is very contageous. competitive and hates compromise, he likes getting his own way. aries mars are also very individualistic and can have a huge ego.

venus in pisces - i know this is going to confuse a lot of people - like, how does he have so much aries energy, how is he so intense yet has one of the softest venus placements? i deeply believe he’s a pisces venus, and here’s why. his friends are EVERYTHING to him. pisces venus’ love very deeply and are very dependent on their loved ones, and eren is extremely protective of his loved ones and is willing to do anything to protect them. pisces venus’ are very vengeful, too, something that people seem to brush off about them - they might not do anything when you mess with them but as soon as you mess with their friends it’s game over. i also get a lot of “there was no other way, the word had to be fixed” vibes from this placement? like, this placement gives me the energy of someone willing to commit awful crimes under the excuse of it being for the greater good, which is something he dramatically experiences as he grows older and witnesses the cruelty of the world.

Armin Arlert

sun in scorpio - armin very resourceful!! he easily adapts to the circunstances he’s in and works his way around it. very intelligent and with great memory. extremely manipulative, cunning and perceptive. scorpios are known for their capability to be great investigators due to their natural curiosity, and armin has this deep need to see the world outside of the walls and he studies all there is to know about it with great passion. determined to succeed. 

cancer rising - armin just wants to achieve his dream and it’s so soft. cancer risings are very receptive of other’s emotions and incredibly sensitive, but it’s difficult for them to open up to others. his appearance is very soft and delicate. loves to help others and has a naturally warm presence that makes others feel comfortable in his presence. give off a very grounded and stable energy, but this is often because they try to hide their most intense emotions and don’t know how to deal with them/don’t want to bother others by opening up about it. 

moon in pisces - one word: EMPATHY!!! very compassionate. tendency to become a martyr and be very self-sacrificial. VERY imaginative, he is the strategist, after all. can feel others emotions and read them very easily. avoids confrontation but feels a strong need to take the weight off of others’ shoulders and to solve all their problems. very loving and giving, in tune with his emotions and emotionally intelligent. on the other side, this caring side of him can make him see other people through rose-colored glasses, and he is prone to believing in the best in people and giving them the benefit of the doubt. but when they’ve proven their true nature to him, he’ll see them for what they are and will no longer defend them, even if still feeling remorse. notice how he’s always like “this had to be done, we had no other choice” to justify his actions.

mercury in scorpio - bro armin’s eyes are so intense. when he gets on his manipulative bullshit it’s IMPOSSIBLE to look away from his gaze. he practically communicates through the eyes. armin is very sharp and his innocent appearance has everyone still thinking of him as a sweet angel as if he isn’t a whole war criminal. he easily psychoanalizes others to know what they want and uses it to his advantage, like how he used berthold’s love for annie to manipulate him to let eren go after him and reiner kidnapped him. scorpio mercuries be knowing shit, they be knowing everyone’s secrets and others usually confide in them as if they’re their therapists. 

mars in pisces - mars in pisces makes a person avoid physical confrontation at all costs. notice how armin’s first response to everyone wanting to kill reiner and bertold/the marleyans was “please let’s just talk about this first”? he hates violence and deems it not worthy most times. he is very physically weak and aware of his limitations, unlike eren and levi, whose first instinct is to use violence in order to get what they want. no, armin has developed a much more subtle and effective way to get what he wants without using violence: emotional manipulation. he is the KING of appearing innocent and naïve and having people feel bad for him and want to baby him and protect him, and due to his extremely intuitive nature, he knows EXACTLY what to say to someone to get under their skin. he twists his words and emotions to get what he needs out of people and it’s both incredible and dangerous. also, very self-sacrifical and his goals are based on his emotions.

venus in cancer - he loves so much and it’s so beautiful and heartbreaking. he gives everything to the ones he loves and thrives off of being helpful and keeping everyone safe. reads a lot into the behaviour of the people he loves. very emotionally intelligent, wants stability and to maintain peace and may bend over backwords to achieve that. needs to feel understood and has a soft spot for troubled people, those who are more demanding and assertive (eren and mikasa), people he can take care of and who can take care of him in return. very affectionate and communicative. warm presence, you can pretty much feel the love radiating out of him. 

Mikasa Ackerman 

sun in aquarius - if you get past the emotional walls of an aquarius that has them appearing detached and distant because they’d rather use intelligence than seem emotional, you’ll be met with an incredibly soft, loving and caring person. an aquarius strength is their ability to be very unique, individualistic and humanitarian individuals - they truly march to the beat of their own drum. mikasa possesses a great deal of determination and isn’t afraid of being rebellious, especially when her loved ones are in danger. 

capricorn rising - people with capricorn rising had to learn to be very independent from a very young age. mikasa is very intimidating but she has a very doll-like beauty, common to many capricorn risings. these people have had to deal with a lot ever since childhood, but they are fighters and their determination has them being able to survive even unsurmountable odds stacked up against them. capricorn risings tend to be serious and disciplined, and with a melancholic aura to them – which mikasa perfectly embodies. but the fact that these people have cancer in their descendant makes them strongly emotionally attached to their loved ones.

aquarius moon - even under the most stressful and dangerous situations, mikasa always remains in control of her emotions. she thrives in those situations, it’s the adrenaline of the moment that has her being so good at controlling her emotions until it’s safe to be anything but racional again. aquarius moons are feel very misunderstood and tend to racionalize their emotions a lot. however, it’s only due to their fear of vulnerability that they build this emotional walls, because they experience very intense emotions. i always think about that survey corp member saying “what did you have to go through for you to be like this?” when she was perfectly stable in a life-or-death situation. 

mercury in capricorn - mikasa is incredibly action-oriented and she speaks in a structured but confident way. although she’s on the quieter side and is reserved, she’s able to inspire everyone when all hope seems lost, and she’s taken up eren’s words of “if we don’t fight, we can’t win” and uses it constantly in order to keep going. she’s very hard to read due to her usually expressionless face, giving her a mysterious aura. she’s very ambitious, persuasive and determined. 

mars in capricorn - when people say that mars in capricorn people are the scariest when they’re angry, they’re not wrong. they act so calm and collected until suddenly they’re fixing you with a death glare and you’re rethinking all your life choices up until this point. mikasa might be extremely rational and calm, but as soon as someone threatens the ones she loves, she’ll stop at nothing to eliminate the threat. it’s like she fears nothing but ever being unable not to save them. she’s very responsible and reliable, with a lot of physical strength and stamina. very PROTECTIVE, grounded and GIVING 

venus in virgo - this is one of the things that makes mikasa so similar to levi, the way they love. this bitch is LOYAL to her very core. she knows very well where her loyalties are - eren and armin - and is ready to kill all her close friends and superiors in order to protect them. she threatened to kill historia if she got in the way of getting eren back home safely, jumped levi on sight when he wanted to save erwin instead of armin, and got pissed at connie for doubting eren’s intentions after the whole marleyan ordeal. acts of service are very much her love language - she constantly picks up eren’s and armin’s stuff and carries it herself or orders them to rest while she works. it’s very hard to gain her trust and loyalty but once you do it’s forever, she’s very selective about the people she cares for. she’s possessive, too - giving historia the coldest death glare in the world when she saw her with eren. i’ve also noticed that venus in virgo are very difficult to declare their emotions!! they’ll just wait for the person to notice their indirect acts of affection. very attentive to the needs and details of loved ones.  

[starshipsofstarlord]

Jim and Jody - Bucky Barnes x reader

Summary; it was one of the biggest decisions of your life, but will you change your mind before your future is sealed?

Warnings; angst, mentions of abortion (everyone is permitted to do what they want with their body, in this imagine the reader wants to keep the baby, but pro choice, as everyone deserves control over their bodies and all 🤍), brief mention of sex and threats

Masterlist Link

To see him so relaxed, so completely and utterly himself was a paradise all on its own. There was a heaviness aboard your shoulders, but as you watched him goof tirelessly about, you had no other concerns, not even as you subconsciously raised your hand over your stomach. You shook your head at the sentiment, the two of you had already made the decision to abort this child, it was unknown how the poor fellow would turn out to be; with the combination of your powers and his super everything, it was sure to be quite the complication, and not one that you supposed was to be an easy course.

A smile pried at your face, simply from viewing him with the pack of children, the wind from the docks swept your hair into your face, and in turn, you swept the locks out and away from your vision, so that you had further access to watch the man that you loved in his absolute element. Through the years, past and recent, he had lost so much, and this child was just to be another mantle on the wall of memorial in his mind, it was sad really. If the two of you were normal, with average and lives that had perceptions with no regards of being heroic, there’d be no query about it, you’d keep the baby.

That life though, to your grave misfortune, did not exist, it was merely a fantasy living painfully inside of your mind, haunting you whenever you closed your eyes, with the flashing images of a resolution and end to the errors in your lifestyle. There’d be a big house, yet nothing to prissy, just enough room for the pair of you and few children of your own, a grand garden with a swing set and sand pit, where the infants could grow up and play in once they were older. Then there’d also be a shed for Bucky to work on small projects, such as attaining some love and care to his motor bike, as well as storing the supplies that he’d need to do so.

All that is a universe away, muffled from possibility by the stars expediting through the gorgeous veil of the galaxy, corrupting the possibilities of ever gaining access to such... peace. That was the one thing that the pair of you wanted, however catching a break was rather rare within your predicament. A stifled laugh reeled from the conjunction of your lips as you simply and endearingly surveyed how the boys, specifically Sam’s nephews hung from the vibranium branch of his arm. It was all your attention was focused on, until an extra person took a seat on the picnic table beside you, his sweet yet musky scent detailing whom it was. “If your not going to eat that, I’m sure Barnes Junior might want an opinion on that.”

The underlining of the words caused an abstract grimace to forlorn your features, as you stared not at the speaker of whom you were close with, but instead the slather of cake that was planted on a paper plate before you, the icing beginning to become slightly sick from the beating of the viable son. “You’re glowing, you know? Motherhood is a good look on you y/n/n, I wouldn’t be so soon to let that go.” Your fingers pried at the dismantled crumbs off your section of desert as you looked to your new captain, a resonating conformation fo bridled suffering and hopelessness clouding your view of his attempt at making you atone before you made a sin that you’d forever regret.

He, like many others, knew that the family life was what you wanted; you wanted to be your child’s hero, tending to their each necessary (and unnecessary) need, them being your main focus and project and life. Instead, you had been handed your options on a short stick, and thus, your decision, albeit somewhat of a sensible one, didn’t make it hurt any less. “Sam.” You spoke his name, observing from the corner of your eye how Bucky paraded around the dock with Jim and Jody. It’d be nice to give him a slice of this kinda life, he was thriving as an adult around children, you could only imagine him in the case of this one being birthed into the world. “It’s not that easy.”

“No one said it was going to be easy.” Sam responded quickly, affirming your fears to your nerve wrecked face. “I get it, I do. People will be after this kid, and that is no way to live, but you two aren’t alone in any of this, nor will you be in that. You have me, along with many other old friends of ours, hell even the Wakandan’s. Do you really want to sacrifice this one life so you can continue living this one? You and Bucky have both lost so much, you don’t have to force yourself to willingly give away something else. The decision can be changed the last minute, it’s a lot to take in, I get that, but I see the way Buck is with my nephews, and how you watch them when you think nobody’s looking over at you. With your state pardon, you two can retire, and go far away, and abandon everything for this one little guy or gal, because I know that if you do, no matter what, they’ll be worth it.”

Bucky wailed a warrior’s shout as Jim and Jody playfully struck him down, his unsheathed metal hand grasping at the cloth that was tightly aboard his addictive chest. He rolled on the ground as the children ran to retrieve their toy lightsabers, leaving him to be expendable against their weapons. There was a giddy and fitting smile smouldering his usual stoic expression. It was no wander why he found calm in visiting Sam and his sister’s small, and accepting family. The kids brought out another side of him, which he had been tortured to refrain from showing, but you had seen, and were contemplating many things within your mind. You were lapping up the image, as though you were dehydrated and the sight of him appeased by the company of young ones was a source of water.

Sam was right, he always was and had been. “The decision was on both of our parts, you don’t think Buck’ll change his mind, or do you?” You were invested in getting a responsive answer, yet the man spluttered a laugh at your confused expense. He heaved for a moment, bracing his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. There was nothing stopping him from gaining it back, unlike Bucky whom had grabbed a saber of his own and lightly began to paddle against the one that was directed against him, other than another round of hysterics that abandoned him. A reasonable smile resonated a comfortable position upon the former falcon’s face, as he tentatively patted your knee, watching as you broke off a small rupture of cake and popped it in your mouth, feeding not only yourself but the inmate within your womb.

“There isn’t really much for me to say, it’s easy, look at him. He will be fine with whatever decision that the pair of you succumb to, after all, it’s your body, but it will pain him like nothing else ever has if you go through with the abortion, and if not, then trust me, we’ve both seen how hard he fights; think of that but ten times the mass in consideration of this baby, because I am certain that he’d do anything for them. He lost his entire family when he awoke from his mode of hydra assassin, this could be him getting it back. Different members, but a family all the same.” He stole a little of your cake, making you lightly elbow him as a smirk rendered a beauty upon his face.

“What’s that going to make you, the patriotic uncle who just can’t keep himself from flashing his shield?” Now it was his turn to retaliate, he lightly scuffed your ankle with a feather light tap of the toe of his shoe, causing you to promiscuously roll your eyes. “I’m joking, that was Steve’s aesthetic, this new version of cap is your baby, I have great faith in you to make this world a better and safer place. The funny thing is, when you finally accepted that shield was yours, that’s when my mind shifted to the possibility of keeping this kid. It was and has always been a sign of hope and protection to Bucky, maybe it could be the same for our little one. It was just a thought, I’m not meaning to put pressure on your or anything bu-“

“I get it, and I’m honoured. And if that is how it seems, then I want you to know that I’ll be there to protect them too. The main bump in the road for now is for you to talk to that grumpy ass boyfriend of yours and figure this sperm plus egg equation out, send Jim and Jody over here, I got somethin’ to show those two anyway.” With a nod and a grateful pat upon your friend’s head, you slowly plodded over to where Bucky was being cornered against the side of the truck by the boys. His blue orbs danced around their small and imaginative beings, until they landed on you, it was as though his pupils were calling out for help, begging for you to spare some mercy upon him.

“Jim, Jody, your uncle Sammy has something for you two to see.” They groaned lightly, having been pulled away from the narrative of their play time, but nevertheless their faces were clean slates as they expressed hyper smiles, and bolted their route towards their mother’s sibling, carrying their lightsaber replicas along with them. “Two kids beat an infamous, deadly badass with a metal arm. I think you might be getting too old for these kinda battles Buck, you were losing, and quite terribly if I say so myself.” Crossing your arms, as he came to an upright stand, hoisting himself off the ground, so that he could be more level with you.

“Yeah, yeah, rub it in. Thought you were supposed to be supportive of me and all that, as you said to Zemo, you’d quite happily cut his dick off if he compared me to the shadow that I used to be.” His brow raised, as he reminisced on the thought of you threatening Zemo; it was hot, and certainly had gotten him going, which had shortly left you in this predicament, trying to save the world and execute the one last thing that exhumed hope to either one of you. The baby. It was almost a certain and solid fact that the little one inside of you had been procreated on the Baron’s private jet, more specifically, the small and clean bathroom that had became dirty with your primal sins.

“And I still regret not doing that, he’d have had much less leverage in any sense of the word of phallic if he had it sectioned off.” Silence emitted between the two of you, although a humoured smirk tantalised upon Bucky’s graceful face. For a change, he was not prompting the expression of a grumpy cat that was refused its nip, no, instead he could be compared to a future - actually, he already was a father to the bean held in the shield of your body, having been an ample ingredient in bringing the small person into being. “So, you having fun with Sarah’s kids, sure looks like you were quite in your element before I cut in.”

“I’m always in my element when you’re around doll.” He smiled, wrapping his uncoordinated hands around the oval of your waist, and tugging you sentimentally closer, your hips bumped with his, as your eyes ogled infatuatedly up at him. “They’re great kids, makes me realise exactly what we’re gonna be missing out on.” Bucky gulped, sparks of emotion taunted the behind of his eyes, like saucers of resentful fire. “You’d be the perfect mother, you know that right? After all you’ve done for me, you’ve nurtured me close to the man that I once was, the only difference is that I want to settle, but I don’t know how to go about dropping everything. This kid is killing me, he’s making me question everything.”

“That’s what kids are supposed to do, unborn, or very much avidly attacking grown men with false lightsabers.” Bucky deeply into your frustrated and corresponding eyes, your hands reaching up to play defiantly with the smooth dip in his chin that could be seen through the shading of his light stubble. “What if we did have a Jim and Jody of our own some day? We could keep him or her, they’d be our greatest concern, we don’t have to go down this painful and longing, rusted road. We could bring something good into this world, protect them against all forces that threaten to disrupt their life, I want this with you Bucky. We could move far far away, or go somewhere close to home.”

“Brooklyn.” He stated, causing a line to crease gently in the plain of his forehead. “I want to call them Brooklyn, if I am to fight the rest of my life for something, I want it to be my home. Last time I had to leave there, but it’s my amends to never leave this child of ours, if we’re going to do this, we need to put them in front of everything, and I mean everything.” He spoke, in reference to the other avengers and other aliases that you had stood by for so long. Bleakly you nodded, grasping his jaw down for an amorous kiss, humming against the palette of his lips, as your hands entwined behind his neck, pulling his face closer to your own, prompting his tongue to travel deeper within the realm of your mouth.

“Brooklyn is a nice name. How about Brooklyn Margaret Barnes? I think that has quite the ring to it.” You offered, and he hardly reacted, instead quickly appraising a pleasant smile onto the canvas of his work of art face, as he ducked his head down, conjoining the pair of you into a passionate and meaningful collide of your lips. Sam smiled as he watched the pair of you, pointing at you two from afar, as his nephews from afar. He was giving them a man to men talk, offering them advice that they would have valuable usage of in the future.

“Now that is love. You don’t give up for the one thing that connects you, and those two, well Bucky and y/n have been through a hell of a lot. They deserve this, and when you meet a woman when you’re older, and your mum is watching on towards the two of you, I want you to make her proud by treating your girl like a princess, willing to sacrifice everything simply to create the future that she wishes for you.” He emotionally wiped his eyes, rushing to stand before he grasped a lightsaber, leaving the other to spare for one of them. “Now Jim and Jody, which one of you will be my padawan?”

[nikethestatue]

Depth of Your Eyes

Extreme Fluff.

Domestic fluff. Babies!

Elriel Month - Day 24

“Why do you hate me?” lamented the feared and exalted Shadowsinger of the Night Court.

Feared and admired, worshipped for his immense Illyrian power, for his stealth and strength, he, the great and mysterious spy master, the male who made enemies tremble and flee, and females swoon, failed utterly and completely at this one task—having his chunky newborn son open his eyes for him.

When his son was born, the first thing that shocked everyone—parents and healer and midwife—was his very impressive size. How the delicate, slender, elegant Elain even managed to bear him—without much difficulty too—was a mystery.

But the Cauldron loved Elain and strove to make Elain happy. It gave Elain an almost painless labour, though it was lengthy and uncomfortable nevertheless, and while Azriel was out of his mind with worry and trepidation, not knowing whether the baby’s wings would cause damage or even more serious issues, Elain was serene and happy.

The nightmare that was Nyx’s birth was still fresh in Aziel’s mind—the blood, the gore, Nyx’s tiny lifeless body in Mor’s arms, and Feyre, with a horrific gaping slash across her abdomen, bleeding out, Death hovering just above her. Therefore, Azriel dreaded Elain’s labour. For ten months he was a wreck. He was too happy, too elated, too content, too joyful in his life, and there bound to be repercussions for all that bliss.

The baby was conceived momentarily. “Let’s make a baby,” Azriel proposed a little drunkenly to the giggling and smiling Elain. They were enjoying a glorious sunset on the sea, in a tiny town with whitewashed buildings and blue roofs, in the Summer Court. It was far from Adriata, far from visitors and everyone else and they indulged in endless white sand beaches, fresh seafood and lots of local wine, swimming in the azure waters of the sea and enough lovemaking to leave them both sore and hoarse. “Now?” Elain kissed him. He shrugged, “why not now?”

And it happened—‘now’. When they returned from their holiday, she found out that she was expecting their baby.

Azriel couldn’t lie, but he was feeling rather smug.

“What the fuck kind of seed you got, brother?” muttered Cassian. “You just knocked her up in a day?”

Azriel only shrugged innocently.

As if this was to be expected. Of course he’d impregnate her in a day! But it wasn’t at all what he thought would happen—he thought that as with all Fae, this would be a lengthy process full of false starts, crushed hopes and nerves. But the Cauldron loved Elain and wanted to make her happy.

Now, he was holding his chunky son in his arms. Calm and peaceful, the baby took after his parents in temperament. He was mellow and not fussy, docile and good-natured. His appetite was monstrous though. He ate and ate and ate. At his already great size, Azriel muttered ‘you are going to be Cassian’s size by the time you are three’. And because he ate so much, he was rather plump, to put it kindly, which meant that his hamster-like cheeks obscured his eyes. At three weeks, their baby mostly slept and ate, so periods of play and interaction were minimal—hence, Azriel’s failure to actually see the colour of his son’s eyes.

Elain claimed that the eyes were hazel. Nesta insisted that they were ‘Archeron’ eyes. Cassian’s assessment was ‘I think brown. Like dirt’. Amren went with ‘I don’t know, I didn’t look closely’. Yet they all claimed that they’d seen his eyes.

Azriel was seated on top of the covers in their bed, propped against the cushioned headboard. His wing curled around Elain, who was sleeping next to him, pressed to his side, her arm thrown over his stomach. Their son, sturdy and large, almost the size of Azriel’s forearm now, was sucking noisily, eating like he hasn’t been fed in a week. He was fed less than three hours ago.

The bottle—a new invention from Dawn—wasn’t widely used just yet, but Azriel loved it. At first, Elain was reluctant to utilize it, preferring to breastfeed at all times, but then…well, then she came to accept how convenient this bottle invention was. Especially because Azriel was a nocturnal creature and had no issues with staying up or waking in the middle of the night. And with their gluttonous son demanding food all the time, she was still able to function and rest and sleep, since he didn’t really care which way he was getting his food, as long as he was getting it.

Azriel was looking down at the delicious bundle in his arms, and thought that his baby would end up looking very much like him, if he wasn’t so chubby. Right now, he was all round and soft and filled with folds that others wanted to bite and pinch.

Cassian, in fact, did bite his nephew’s little fat wrist, and Elain caught them, warning that Cassian wouldn’t be allowed to feed him if it happened again. “but it didn’t even hurt!” he defended himself feebly. “Just a little nibble…He is such a fatty!”

“No. Biting.” ordered Elain. “Or you’ll be off bottle duty!”

That was a serious threat that Cassian took to heart, because he absolutely adored feeding the baby with the bottle. He and Nesta were enthralled with him, quietly arguing and fighting about whose turn it was to feed him next. Elain and Azriel frequently overheard ‘you did it last time!” “no, but he likes me more…” “gods above, he does not like you more! He clearly prefers me!” “he was crying with you!” “yes, that’s because you made him cry!”

“We only have two choices,” said Azriel with a sigh, watching Cassian coo and babble to the baby one day, rocking him and singing him all kinds of bawdy Illyrian songs. “We either forbid them entry into the house,” at that, Elain frowned. “Or, we just let them be and simply assume that our son’s first word will be ‘fuck’.”

Adhering to the Illyrian tradition of not naming a child until he was one month old, the baby remained nameless. Well, Elain and Azriel knew what he would be called, but speculation ran rampant.

Elain had officially asked Cassian and Nesta to be the baby’s Guardians, a very important and respected position in the Illyrian society. It would fall on Cassian to start teaching his nephew how to fly—and when Elain formally requested for him to become the Guardian, Cassian shyly teared up.

“Yes, Petal, of course,” he nodded nervously, with aching sincerity, “it would be an honour. Are you sure?” Cassian still worried, “are you sure you don’t want to ask Rhys?”

Elain embraced the General gently and lovingly, and whispered, “I’ve never been more sure of anything, Cass. Only you. I’d only trust him with you and Nesta.”

It was Elain’s right as the mother to select the Guardians for her child, so while Azriel suspected who her choice would be, he waited for the official announcement along with everyone else. Eventually, the Guardian would present their son with his first sword, and begin teaching him to fight.

“Well, I want my baby to have the best,” said Elain, kissing Nesta’s flushed cheek. “Who is better than the Commander General of the Night Court armies and the Valkyrie herself? Will you two do us the honour of accepting him into your Guardianship?”

“Yes!” both of them almost yelled their acceptance.

Now, Nesta and Cassian was preparing something grandiose for the Naming Ceremony.

But first things first.

“Hey lovie, why don’t you look at me?” murmured Azriel, rocking his son gently against his chest. At first, the baby leapt towards his nipple, received nothing from it and gave an angry squeak of disappointment.

“Sorry, my friend, at this point, I think you should already know where the good stuff comes from,” said Azriel, as he offered the bottle. “I know, I know, not the same, but close enough. Believe me, I tried it straight from the delicious source and I agree, it is much better,”

“Stop being gross,” moaned Elain, and slapped his stomach.

He laughed.

“I am not being gross. Just honest. If I can suck on your titties,”

“Oh, gods, yes, I know. You’d rather suck on my titties than a bottle. I’ve heard this before,”

“And I stand by my opinion. So does my son. He has good taste. Now, go back to sleep.”

Elain ran a sleepy hand over the edge of his wing and turned around, pressing her lush ass into his thigh.

He drew his knuckles over her cheek and she reached for his fingers with her lips, kissing them, before tumbling back into her slumber.

Gods, he loved her.

The baby didn’t like all this jostling around him, and grabbed Azriel’s hand with his stubby fat fingers, steadying him and the bottle.

“Sorry,” Azriel murmured and looked down, stroking his baby’s soft brown curl that jutted out proudly on top of his head. “Mama is such a beauty…we can’t forget her either, even with you. I love you both very much.”

The baby nodded sagely, as if agreeing with his father. Yes, indeed, his mother was gorgeous and beautiful and very nice, and required his father’s attention. It was very understandable.

But this male, this father of his—he liked him very much as well. He was very kind and he fed him and changed him, and sang songs with him, and played with him, and…well, he loved him.

Azriel was smiling softly to himself, watching the baby, and then, suddenly, his son opened his eyes and grinned at him. Grinned a huge toothless smile—his very first one. He never smiled for anyone before, but this was it.

This was for his father.

This male, who’s waited for him for a long, long time, hoping against hope that one night, he’d have him in his arms and receive this huge, satisfied smile, which was meant only for him. An undeniable, glorious reward for centuries of suffering and sadness. He grabbed his father’s scarred finger in his fist and blinked at him with the depth of his Archeron eyes.

[a-funny-little-sunflower]

Yandere Elves stuck in Mandos Au Part 1

In this Au, our lovely Yandere Elves are now in Mandos domain, some are there for longer than others but the thing to remember is that they are currently unable to leave, but it is possible to break out, but keep in mind that this is an incredibly difficult feat. So, unless they manage to escape, they are unable to see their darling, and because these elves are Yandere’s, this face upsets them incredibly.

The elves that are currently being kept in Mandos is Feanor, Fingolfin, Celegorm, Fingon, Glorfindel, Finwe, Maedhros, Maglor and many more! Requests are open for more elves so don’t be afraid to ask! They don’t even have to be canonically in Mandos.

So, because of this, misbehaviour in Mandos began to run rampant and arguments, as well as physical fighting, broke out easily.

Now, Mandos decided that he needed to find a way to stop this, so he set up a reward system to keep the elves in check. One of the first few things put in place was the production of pictures in the likeness of the elves s/o. The reward system was simple, if you behave well, you get pictures of your s/o.

The pictures quickly became a hot commodity in Mandos. Can't see your darling? Pull out that photo and try not to get anything on it.

However, some of the elves decided that a simple picture of their s/o was much too common of a thing to have, and the more elite elvish residence of Mandos decided to commission portraits of their s/o. That way, they could have control over what position their s/o was in or what level of clothing they were in.

However, not everyone can afford such high price portraits and so Mandos decided that he would start offering a catalogue of care packages! These care packages can vary but the cheapest one usually consists of a small magazine similar to a playboy one, except, it’s all hand-painted pictures of the s/o.

As well as that they usually have a recording of the s/o’s voice, a fleshlight, a plant that allows the owner to have more realistic and lifelike dreams of their s/o and an article of clothing belonging to their s/o. The more expensive the care package is, the more things are included.

When it comes to the making of said portraits, no one wants to be the painter for Feanor's s/o. He's already got a critical eye before Yandereness. Can you imagine if you mess up her face or something like that? If you mess up a single feature of his beloved, he's gonna mess up your entire bodily anatomy.

However, Mandos sees the potential to expand the lines of communication once more. Mandos has recently installed a Palantir so that the Elves can communicate with their s/o’s. Some of the families even have Palantir in their quarters.

Palantir’s are used for facetime or sending messages to s/o. The Palantir glows in preparation for an incoming message, and it’s even possible to send ‘gifts’ or audios with the Palantir. However, there aren’t enough Palantir’s for everybody. They are normally used by the elite, like princes or elven lords. But Mandos has to decide who gets them since there's a limited quantity.

The problems about the Palantir’s starts when there isn't enough and Feanor keeps hogging all the airtime. This leads Fingolfin to confront Feanor by saying, “stop hogging the Palantir, I want to talk to my s/o too!”, which quickly develops into pushing and shoving.

Eventually, the solution they came to at council is that Feanor will be last in line to use it due to his offences of hogging airtime. If he tries to go before his turn, the Palantir will not respond to him and not send his messages, it acts as a phone without service.

(A more detailed post on the Palantir is coming soon!)

When you are unwilling to send gifts in the beginning, each of the elves reacts differently.

Some Yandere have no shame and will outright demand audios or pictures of you, but this rudeness causes Mandos to hover over them and threaten to take the Palantir away, causing the elf in question to get bitchy and glare at Mandos.

In retaliation, Mandos would snatch the Palantir, and nobody gets it. He puts it on a high shelf in his office...Which results in the elves getting on each other’s shoulders to get at it.

Eventually, Mandos decided that he will allow visitors in, which means that the elves finally get to see their s/o! In advance, Mandos set up a system that goes as follows. If you were on good behaviour, you get these rewards:

•You get to see your s/o.

•You get a calendar to mark down the days until the next visit.

•You get more time to rail the reader.

•The ability to send their s/o letters and being allowed to have pictures and painting of their s/o in their room.

Feanor’s s/o doesn’t want to visit him at first, but eventually, they are forced to go because Feanor isn't behaving and Mandos is tired of it. So, they sent Eonwe to retrieve them.

Feanor would be a combination of happy yet disappointed if s/o had to bring to Mandos by force to visit him. He would be happy that you're there but when finds out that you were forced on him, he would feel so hurt.

When visiting finally does begin, it's utter madness. Mandos would have chains over the door whenever the reader comes to visit, especially if they are visiting Feanor. Mandos is very happy about you being there because Feanor is always on good behaviour whenever you’re there. As well as that, Feanor would rail the reader for hours on end when they come to visit.

When it comes to Fingolfin, he would be tamer if his s/o were to visit him. He understands that he just died, and they've been separated, so he’s willing to wait a while, or at least, after the 2nd or 3rd visit...then he just wants to rail his s/o and be warned, Fingolfin will make it so you can’t walk for a while.

Some Yanderes like Celegorm would try to keep their s/o with them in Mandos for longer by wearing out their legs. Glorfindel will just tie you to the bed to keep you there. However, there would be some Yandere like Fingolfin and Fingon who might let you go but the thought of you all to themselves might be too tempting.

When it comes to making excuses for not visiting, there are many different ways to go about doing it.

Say you had an argument with your yandere, and you decide to punish them by not coming back for a visit, you could do that, but then the elf might act up and Mandos would bring you back by force.

If you make the excuse that you’ve been sick, you better get ready for puppy eyes, tears and begging you not to leave when you finally do come to visit.

If you use the “I’m pregnant” excuse with Celegorm to explain why you haven’t or won't visit, he will break out to come to see you. Also, if you are telling the truth about being pregnant when you finally give birth and come to visit again, Celegorm would put his dick inside you from behind while you breastfeed your child.

If you and Feanor or Celegorm have had a baby, they would be expecting to see their child on visits, and they will also want for you to stay for longer so they can have more family time.

Now when it comes to leaving, your yandere doesn’t want you to go so they may try to trap you there. Now you could try to plead with Mandos to help you leave but he might just keep her there to save himself the trouble of having to deal with a misbehaving yandere.

However, the s/o can leave if they're fast enough. By that I mean, if they can get to the gates before the hourglass runs out, they can go home but that includes running across the hall with fluids dripping out. As well as that, their legs would be aching because of how much their yandere had railed them.

But say you do manage to escape, the yandere’s only source of contact with you will be by using the Palantir, and as soon as they’ve realised that you’ve escaped, they will be demanding that you send them audios, pictures, the works.

However, you may be unwilling to send pictures of yourself, so you may decide to send fake pictures, and by that, I mean, sending a picture of someone else, for example, a picture of the famous porn actress Belle Delphine could be used.

If you sent a fake picture to Feanor, he would immediately be like “Who is this? This isn’t you; her chest is lopsided, and her body is unproportionate!” He would then proceed to demand Mandos return that picture, even though Feanor already used his weekly time at the Palantir.

With Fingolfin, the only time he gets pissed is when he doesn't get his visits from s/o or if he gets pictures of Belle Delphine. He doesn’t want those; he wants audios of his s/o in the millions. (I’m serious, he’s pulled a dagger on Mandos and demanded hours’ worth of audios of you touching yourself before.)

If you constantly make excuses to not see Fingolfin, he will break into Rivendell and bring a vibrator with him. You can try to run from him, but Fingolfin is already chasing you throughout Rivendell.

This man would be full feral at this point, he hasn't had you in God knows how long so the second he grabs you; he’ll take you to the floor to rail you. Doesn't matter if you're in public or not.

(After this incident, Elrond and Erestor make the place of limits. So, because of this, a black market of bribery emerges. Erestor takes bribes of books and silence in his library.)

When sending things to Finwe, his preference is breast pictures or pictures of your face on the brink of orgasm. If you think playing play dumb will work with him, and decide to say, “What's an orgasm?” jokes on you, he has a corruption kink, and it turns him on when you pretend not to know what he's talking about.

If you didn’t send Finrod any goods it would upset him because he thought that you loved him and would want him to be a part of everything, and he thought that you loved him enough to send such photos.

On the unlikely occasion that a Palantir ends up sending your nude picture to another elf on accident, if that elf teases the Yandere, or says that they enjoyed the picture, they're gonna wind up dead.

Now eventually, the elves are allowed to leave Mandos. After leaving Mandos, all this portrait and audio business would be something that the elves never discuss. Everyone knows that they did it, but no one talks about it, if it’s even hinted at in public every elf in the vicinity freezes.

At least until Mandos starts expanding his services….

You see, Mandos realised the potential of his reward system and the thought eventually hit him. Why not expand?

So, in short, Mandos has become the Hugh Hefner of middle earth. It all started as a reward system. Now they’re expanding their services to living people. Hey, you're on guard duty in Lothlorien or fighting orcs in Rivendell? Well go to your local Palantir and order a portrait of your s/o. They have a Maiar deliver it straight to you, and if you're royalty, one of Manwe's eagles will have it delivered to you.

He even has bargains, like you know those 75% per cent off Bath and Bodyworks sale? Mando’s would so do that. Like 75% discount on catalogues and portraits.

Every 100 years or so Mando’s would clear out all the portraits and put them in catalogues. He would sell them to humans since it would seem new to them. Therefore, Mando’s saves money on making new material.

A quote from Mandos:

A Maiar: Is this even allowed?

Mandos: Don't care. I got a business to run.

[maxwell-grant]

Cass wouldn’t even begrudingly tolerate [the Black Bat], because she’s even less lenient than Bruce on killing and far more willing to throw down.' - THANK YOU for remembering that.

Cass is my favorite Batfam member, the only one really that I have an active interest in reading about. I'd be incredibly ignorant to not bring bring up such a crucial aspect of her characterization. And even if I didn't personally care for her, well, last thing I'd want is to be another source of frustration for Cass fans. Lord knows there's enough of those to go around.

mousebrass also asked: On that note, how do you imagine a meeting between Cass and the Shadow going?

Fair warning: This one took me 6 hours to write, and it became a hell of a lot longer than I imagined. I liked Cass a lot, but I never quite realized I had this many feelings regarding her until I was tasked with writing this, and a lot of things clicked for me regarding my plans for The Shadow thanks to this ask. @mousebrass, thank you. I mean it. I think I may have found something here I've spent years looking for. Hope you enjoy the post.

I'm thankful that this scenario is only really taking place in a hypothetical fanon where both characters can get a fair shot, because I wouldn't trust DC with this premise. I don't trust DC with either of them as is.

There's a lot of ways that this crossover could go on about taking place naturally, initially because Cass is already connected to some of Batman's pulpier elements, due to her connections to Lady Shiva and the League of Assassins, and one could connect Cass to Myra Reldon (who really should just be race swapped if ever brought back so she can stand out as the cool character she is, without the yellowface gimmick holding her back). There's two things I think are crucial to making the most of this idea, and the first of which has to do with the subject of killing. I usually don't like to come up with hypothetical team-ups for The Shadow that focus too much on the fact that he kills, because it's far from the most significant aspect of his character to focus on, much of it is written from a wrong understanding of the character, and it never amounts to anything other than perfunctory. But here, not only is it completely unavoidable to discuss, here there is actually a very, very substantial grounding as to why this has to be such a big part of the story.

The first and foremost thing that's gotta be established to everyone reading that doesn't know already is this: Cassandra Cain, more so than Batman, more so than any other DCU hero, has a tolerance towards murder lower than zero, and this is completely non-negotiable. She will throw herself on the path of an assault rifle to stop men trying to kill her from accidentally killing each other. The defining moment of her incredibly grim backstory is that she was trained from birth to be the world's greatest murderer, and her first kill traumatized her so badly that she has pivoted as far away from that as possible. I stress a lot that the Shadow should not be written as the trigger-happy maniac comics made him into and that the pulp version killed mostly to defend himself and others, generally left criminals to the police if possible, offered plenty of second-chances, had stories dedicated to the rehabilitation of criminals and so on, but none of this would matter to Cass.

Cass has literally chosen suicide over the prospect of living with murder on her hands time and time again, and The Shadow kills. When he kills, he does so without remorse, with unshakeable certainty. He hates death, he doesn't want lives to be at risk in the first place. But people will die if he doesn't do anything, and what he can do, what he exists to do, is turn the tools of evil against evil, and murder is the oldest tool of evil there is. He doesn't kill because a war scarred him, he doesn't kill because he's got a demon in his soul, he doesn't kill because he's mentally off balance, he doesn't kill because he's evil or sadistic or arrogant or anything of the sort. He kills because the men he fights chose death when they sought to harm innocents and fire guns at him. He kills because he is Death itself.

Regardless of how compassionate he is or can be, regardless of the fact that he's motivated by a desire to protect people, regardless of how justified he is, he is still dropping corpses and laughing maniacally doing so. Cass's real arch-enemy isn't Shiva or David Cain, it's Death, it's the thing that she's fundamentally most opposed to. And guess what The Shadow gets compared to often enough? Literally the very first line of the very first book where we get to see him, this is how we are introduced to him:

So the premise here is that we are taking a character who is defined by her fundamental opposition to death with every fiber of her being, who understands death on a level no other human being does, who is traumatized and hard-wired to detest death at all costs and to choose suicide over it, and asking her to team up with The Grim Reaper.

Even if he received the most abject lesson conceivable on the sheer wrongness of murder, even if he does put down the guns around Cass out of respect for her, he cannot protect his agents and others if he cannot shoot or kill those who try to harm them, and the protection of the agents is absolutely non-negotiable and not at all something he's willing to fuck around with by trying out gadget kung fu superhero alternatives. The Shadow has chosen to throw his life away for their sake time and time again, and no matter how appaling or disgusting Cass finds his deeds, even if he concedes that she's right and should be right on all accounts and that he is fundamentally a monster who has no right to judge others, he would not concede on his mission and he would make it very clear she would have to put him down violently to stop him from protecting others this way, and death has not stopped him before.

And to be upfront in case there's anyone who doubts it, Cass would kick The Shadow's ass, if they had to fight. She is the strongest fighter in the DCU, she lives and breathes fighting and combat in a way no one else does. And The Shadow's not one of those characters who is supposed to be invincible and the best at everything all the time always, he can and does lose fights and scrapes to people far less adept at it than Cass. He's a great fighter, obviously, he hauls bigger men than him through doors and was disabling people with Vulcan neck pinches decades before Spock, and he would definitely have an edge in other areas, but he's out of his league here. Frankly, I don't see The Shadow raising a finger against Cass unless she's been brainwashed into killing people by bad writing. Not because she's a woman, that doesn't really stop him from dealing with evil. But because, for one, she's practically a child compared to him age-wise. Two, he'd obviously know beforehand of her capabilities and how futile it would be to fight or even provoke her. And three, the Shadow's whole thing is knowing. The Shadow Knows and all that. Knowing comes with understanding.

He'd understand very quickly that there is no way someone this young could grow so quickly into the world's greatest fighter without horrific treatment that no one should ever be subjected to. He'd see the movements too practiced and quick, the self-control, the strength and speed far beyond even the trained warriors he's seen, the places where she's been scarred and is good at covering it up. Assuming he doesn't already know about her life story, any meeting between the two would lead to him very quickly figuring out that there's something much deeper about her opposition to killing than just moral reservations, something deeper than Bruce's own gun trauma.

Denny O'Neil's 2nd Batman and Shadow story was about The Shadow secretly helping Bruce overcome gun trauma, and Bruce rejecting The Shadow's intentions to hand him a gun. And to make it clear, people tend to assume that The Shadow only helps people for utilitarian reasons, which is not true as I've tried to demonstrate many times now. I don't want to convey that he would want to help Cass overcome her trauma just so she could be more efficient or something, absolutely no, he'd help her because he helps people in any way he can. I think a story with The Shadow and Cass might involve a similar premise, The Shadow understanding that she has been traumatized very deeply by death and refuses to accept it on any terms, trying to help her overcome it, only to learn that she does not want to "learn" anything she doesn't already know, that she has weaponized her trauma into a source of strength, and wishes nothing more than to help others with it.

And here's where we get to the part that allows the two to be on less antagonistic terms, because one thing that also very strongly defines Cass, at least the Cass I like reading most, is her stubborn, almost desperate need to believe in the best of people, that people can and will change for the better. Like The Shadow, her strength too is knowing, it's perception, the things that she knows about people that words cannot convey. Just as there are many things The Shadow would grow to understand about her that others would not, there would be many things that The Shadow would not be able to conceal from her. Things that no one but her would figure out. Things that, despite her age and lack of experience compared to him, he would have to defer to her knowledge on, which reverses the usual dynamic The Shadow has with people. And perhaps one aspect of that reversal, it's that maybe it's she who winds up secretly manipulating The Shadow into overcoming a deeper issue.

Cass's perspective on killing is shaped not just through trauma, but from a painfully intimate understanding of not just what happens to someone at the time of death, but the cost of murder upon the human soul, the ways it warps people into things they never should have been. Killing is a deeply, deeply serious matter, much more so than fiction seems ever willing to go into. Of course we suspend disbelief for fiction, there's nothing wrong with that, but if a story starts asking questions, starts poking holes into fantasies, they should not be disregarded.

And so it begs a question: How has it affected The Shadow? Is he really as remorseless as he appears to be? Is the fact that he's only killing evil people really of that much use? What's the cost of living as someone who has to know so much about so much evil in so many hearts? Knowledge never comes without price, and knowing evil is his tagline. When he enlists Harry Vincent, he makes it very clear that he has lost lives as he has saved them. From when is that regret coming from? What lives did he lose then? Is he saving people by damning his soul or merely prolonging the inevitable by piling corpses on another end of the scale?

If there's a character that could meaningfully start bringing these questions forth, who could ever truly get The Shadow to stop and reveal things to the audience he never would otherwise, maybe Cass could be that character. A girl who was raised to be a monster, who is treated as a monster and an aberration in-universe (and even outside of it), and turned that into a strength she uses to help others, who cares about everyone and refuses to let others be dehumanized as she was. Who better to know what lurks in the Shadow's heart?

Sometimes when I get an ask, I bullshit my way through infodump walls of text until I can structure it into something vaguely resembling a point. And sometimes, and I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes I get a very, very clear word on my mind related to it before I start writing, that almost seems to be a beacon pointing where I need to get to, and I work my way into getting there. Once you sent me an ask about crossing over The Shadow with Cassandra Cain, the word that came to mind the very second was Language.

It's an interesting relation the two have with language. Language is of course a very substantial part of Cass's character, who does not process language and linguistic development the way most people do, and instead reads body language to the point of superpower. Many stories revolve around Cass's relation to the concept of language, the help she may require from others in getting around things beyond her upbringing, and ways in which she has mastered beyond anyone's scope. Though she is mute, language is her power, what makes her what she is, and she is someone that Batman freely admits could kick his ass if she ever felt like it.

For The Shadow, language is also his power. He speaks all languages and connects allies all over the world, he is an expert ventriloquist, he is able to project his voice beyond what's physically possible, he can imitate voices perfectly to the point of being able to conduct group conversations single-handedly well enough to fool even the people whose voices he's imitating, much of his presence and terror and manipulation are done through his voice, arguably the very reason he exists in the first place is entirely because a radio actor's voice performance was so good and captivating that it tricked people into thinking the character was a real star and not just a glorified narrator. The man you cannot see, but only hear, the perfect hero for radio. And then of course the laugh, which I have a whole separate post on and which, in many ways, acts as a substitute for language in the novels. He uses the laugh so often as a substitute for statements or words, even to himself, that it's pretty much his own personal language. And language is at the core of how he deals with people, as he knows the right language to use to manipulate and move and help them. He knows what to promise, what to reveal, what to omit. He knows what to say, how to say it, when to say it. Language is the strings by which he puppeteers the world around him (and he can talk to animals, at least of one kind).

The Shadow and Cassandra Cain have mastered two different types of Language as throughly as anyone can possibly master them. The Shadow can talk a group of hardened criminals into killing themselves, Cassandra can punch a heart into stopping without killing it. The Shadow echoes his voice "through everywhere and nowhere at once" to whip crowds of thugs into frenzies, Cassandra outraces missiles and was tanking bullets as a child. The Shadow can lie and usurp lives so masterfully to fool even the families of those he's passing off as, Cassandra is a living lie detector who gleams inner conversations from miniscule reactions. The Shadow can speak every language known, Cassandra is the greatest master of the world's most universal language other than music. The two are supposedly human, but every now and then, something comes along to call that into question because of the things they can achieve. They cannot hide secrets from each other the way they do to everyone else. They are driven by a deep desire to help others, to make something out of the circumstances of their lives. To weaponize that which dictates they should be evil and monstrous into a relentless force of good.

Language is the root of understanding. And if nothing else, as impossible as a conciliation of their approaches to crimefighting may be, I think there could be an unique understanding between the two. Perhaps, and this is a bit crazier a concept but one that seems to be where I might have been heading towards all along, even Cassandra Cain finding a calling away from the frayed dynamics of the Batfamily, away from the Bat's looming presence, to become The Shadow's successor, swearing to uphold a mission of justice through non-lethal tactics while he stays on the backseat guiding her. If The Shadow could trust the safety of his agents and the protection of the innocent at the hands of someone as capable and selfless and good-natured as Cassandra, I think he'd be all too happy to be able to trust someone in such a manner, to no longer be the Master of Darkness, but instead to serve the next generation that's weaponized darkness without submerging in it. To achieve, and perhaps return, to his strongest, highest self: A disembodied voice heard, but not seen. Once again the narrator, not the star.

It's a concept I've thought about very extensively for the years I've been a Shadow fan, but now it occurs to me that, if I had to appoint a successor of The Shadow, someone who could take up the mission but shine on their own right, even improve it with the right guidance and circumstances, it would be Cassandra Cain. The Orphan, The Shadow of the Batgirl. Daughter of the greatest assassins, meant to be the world's most lethal murderer, instead pivoted to being one of it's greatest heroes, but never allowed to shine as she should. But in the darker, less restrictive and wilder world of pulp heroes, in The Shadow's world, a beacon would shine all the harder. Perfect strengths attached to perfect opposites, joined together for a greater good, unstoppable after together having weaponized that which most take for granted: the power of language to move worlds.