#the only thing that morality meme was missing

[cantuscorvi]

( patting Raum's head ) This bad boy can fit so many traffic violations in it.

[musical-chick-13]

A really irritating thing is I do have some criticisms of season 8, because I have criticisms of ALL pieces of TV. (For example, I’ve definitely talked briefly before about how they bungled the ending of Mel’s arc and my conflicting feelings on Theon dying.) There are some other things I’d wished they explored. But I can’t say any of these things, because when I try to talk with ANYONE about the show out in the world, every ounce of energy and every second of time has to be spent explaining why I didn’t hate season 8 as a whole and don’t think the show itself has retroactively been turned into trash because of it.

[starcurtain]

I wish everyone collectively understood aventurine’s character like you…things would be so much easier! I genuinely don’t understand how people keep getting his motivations wrong??? Could it be because some of the most popular Aven fanfics were written prior to his release? That could have contributed to some of the takes we tend to see about him…thoughts?

I struggled all day to come up with a concise way to answer this and couldn't think of one, so here, have a long-winded ramble:

I don't think early fic writers have much impact in the situation with Aventurine's character now, since most people can look at when a story was posted and go "Oh, this was before we had ____ information."

I think that Aventurine's problem is being a male character in a gacha game. Gacha game characters are designed to sell. Hoyo can sell female characters very, very easily. Give her huge tits and a visible underwear strap and you're good to go. I love all my guy friends, but I'm not gonna sugarcoat it: straight men are not the hardest audience to please. Hit a particular fetish (feet, spandex, dommy mommy), and you're gucci.

Nah, we all know why Jade's trailer is Like That.™

Male characters in gacha are harder to sell because women as consumers are a little harder to predict. Does every woman want a tall, ripped hunk? Shit, no, small cute boyish models like Aventurine are selling better now? Why?! Would a bad boy be more popular than a nice guy??? It's harder to account for women's tastes, especially because they are often (a little) less visually-oriented.

Hoyo is good at what they do though, and they've figured out that male characters sell very well when they possess at least one of two specific traits:

Endearing vulnerability/helplessness

Gay ship tease

Give a character both, like Aventurine? They might as well be printing money.

That sound you hear is Hoyo's stock prices rising.

So, from the very beginning, Hoyo is incentivized to create a character that appeals to people, a character people will want to crack their wallets open for. And they achieved this, first and foremost, by giving Aventurine traits that female players (in particular, but men too), find especially appealing: emotional and physical vulnerability.

We see Aventurine's pain. We sympathize with his grief. We identify with his struggle to make meaning of his difficult life. He's our woobie, blorbo, babygirl, whatever the hell they're calling it now.

He can't hide his suffering anymore. He's on the very edge. He's a dude in distress. He's surrounded by enemies! He misses his mama! He's been betrayed! No one understands him like you do, dear player!

The ultimate feeling evoked is: He needs to be saved.

When people talk about male power fantasies, I think they forget that women can experience them too, and "Emotionally vulnerable man that only I (or my favorite character) can fix" is actually a female power fantasy.

And from there it's really easy, right: the people who shell out cash to buy warps for their harmed-husbando feel like they've saved him; the people who are into mlm ships look for the nearest hot dude to be the savior Ratio was waiting for his time lol.

Morally and intellectually, this type of deep-down-golden-hearted, emotionally-wounded male character is very easy to digest. There is nothing to dislike about this type of character or role in the story: this character is a good guy who has just gone through so many terrible situations, whose victim status makes him endearing, and whose lack of agency means that any of the questionable or downright bad things he does are always the result of someone else forcing his hand, and never something he would have chosen himself.

His motivations are always clear and consistent: get free, heal, and live happily ever after.

Insert the Wreck-It Ralph meme: "Do people assume all your problems got solved when a big strong man showed up?" But to be fair, a big strong man did kind of solve Aventurine's problem, so--

Anyway, it's simple. It's straightforward. Morally, it's pretty cut and dry, black and white: Aventurine is our hero, which means everyone dictating the course of his miserable life is evil.

Hoyo is not remotely discouraging people from literally buying into this emotional appeal.

And trust me, I get it. I'll be the first to admit that hurt-comfort is its own entire genre in fandom because it is so appealing. People eat up Aventurine's tragic backstory like candy! The idea of watching a character go through hell at the hands of bad guys just to finally find a happy end is like the definition of everyone's favorite story.

In fact... people love Aventurine's suffering so much, they have invented whole new ways for him to suffer that aren't even in the game.

This is where we get all the headcanons that Aventurine was a sex slave, every single person he meets hates him because of his race, the Stonehearts are executioners holding knives to his throat, Jade enslaved him to the IPC with a lifelong contract, his material possessions belong to the company, the IPC is forcing him to take only the most dangerous missions where he is being required by his evil jailers to continually put his life on the line... You name it and I promise you, I can find a fanfic where Aventurine suffers from it. 😂

Bro can't even sleep in on his day off; life is so hard for this man.

Being serious: if the game is telling us that Aventurine is a victim... Why not make him the perfect victim?

Why not envision an Aventurine with no freedom, who bears no responsibility for any of the horrible situations he is in or any of the dubious things he does?

It's so natural to like that version of Aventurine, so appealing to see a totally powerless underdog use his own wits and charms to claw his way up to freedom. Or, if you're the kind who really relishes angst: It's even appealing to see Aventurine lose more. To delight in fics where he loses his wealth, where the IPC punishes him for past crimes while he's powerless to stop them... (I assure you, this is many people's cup of tea and the fanfics prove it!)

Ultimately, there's nothing wrong with liking characters who are exactly this straightforward! It's completely fine to embrace characters that are intentionally written to be morally above-board, whose primary role in the story is to generate angst by being a good person who suffers, or those characters who never show unlikable traits, bad decisions, or contradictory actions.

The problem is that that's just not who the game is telling us Aventurine is.

Hoyo may be capitalizing off people who love to envision poor Aventurine still living his life as a slave... But the game also needs to tell a complicated enough story overall to appeal to people who don't care about this specific husbando--Aventurine's role in the actual game's plot has to be interesting enough for almost everyone to appreciate it, not just Aventurine's simp squad. (Don't get mad, I'm in the simp squad with you.)

So his character doesn't stop at just being a pure-hearted victim who is still waiting to be saved.

Aventurine is not that easy to label, and I think the biggest struggle in this character's fandom right now is between people who prefer the even-more-angsty, still-a-slave Aventurine versus people who want a morally grey, self-destructive character instead.

To me personally, while I greatly understand the appeal of fanon!Aventurine and the joy of a really juicy angst fic where characters lose it all, I think that missing out on the depth that canon is suggesting would be a real loss on the fandom's part.

The character motivations that Aventurine shows in the game are complicated. They cancel each other out. They're basically self-harm! He makes almost every situation he's in worse for himself--on purpose.

He is a good person, but also a person who has done unspeakable things. He does have morals, but he's not above allowing those who don't have them to use him to their advantage.

He's both the victim and the victor. He's his own worst enemy. He's a lost little boy who's been making terrible decisions for himself since he was like eight years old, and a grown ass man who is barely managing to fake his way through an existence that destiny is not letting him quit.

This kind of character is a lot harder to embrace. He's done things that most people would find appalling--like willingly joining up with the organization that let his entire race be massacred. He's invented a whole new peacock persona to frivolously flaunt riches he doesn't even care about (Poison Dart Frog Self-Defense 101). He actively plays into racist stereotypes about his people to manipulate others through their preconceived expectations. He's made a mockery of his mother's and sister's hopes and dreams by endlessly trying to throw his own life away.

He has flaws! He bet everything he had on a ploy without doing his homework to find out if the people he was risking his life for were even still around. (Maybe he already knew, and couldn't bear to admit it, even to himself.) He's intentionally off-putting and obnoxious to everyone he meets (Poison Dart Frog Self-Defense 102). He terrifies everyone who gets close to him by (seemingly) carelessly throwing himself into the jaws of death without the slightest provocation.

He knowingly allows the IPC to exploit his power and talents for profit. Did everyone forget that his role in the Strategic Investment Department is asset liquidation?! Like, his actual day-to-day job is ruining people's lives. Canonically, Aventurine kills people when his deals go bad.

His motivations change off-screen in two lines of story text. We're told in one line that his biggest reason for joining the IPC was to make money to save the Avgin, then in the next line we find out that's impossible. And... then what? What motivations does he even have now? The whole point of his character arc from 2.0-2.1 is that he was on the edge of giving in to utter despair and nihilism because he couldn't even perceive a single reason to stay alive. He has no purpose in life before Penacony, and that didn't start with the Stonehearts at all??

People keep saying Aventurine was held in the IPC by golden handcuffs, but how do you tie down someone for whom profit is meaningless? What can you offer to a man whose only desire is to bring back something already lost forever? How do you imprison someone whose only definition of freedom is, canonically, death?

Working for the Stonehearts is obviously not healthy. But that's why Aventurine was doing it--because taking dangerous missions allowed him to put himself at risk. The job that he originally pursued hoping to save his people became a direct means to self-harm, and the IPC's only real role in that was just happily profiting off the results.

The journal entries for Aventurine's quests are there deliberately to tell the player what is on his mind, and none of it has to do with escaping from his job:

Like... Work is the least of this man's problems.

At really the risk of rambling on too long now, he's also just a massive walking contradiction:

Aventurine is among the most explicitly religious characters in the game, yet he's one of the only people in the entire game that we have ever seen actively question his people's aeon.

You might be tempted to think Aventurine's risky gambles with his life as an adult are a result of giving up after finding out about the Avgin massacre... Butttt no, Hoyo makes sure to tell us that even at knee-high in the Sigonian desert, Kakavasha was already willing to risk himself in a fight to the death against monsters because even back then he found his own life to have less value than a single memento.

He's the "chosen one" who will lead his people to prosperity... except they're all dead.

He's explicitly suicidal... andddd also a pathstrider of Preservation.

He wants to die... He doesn't want to die. He wants to make it end, yet goes to staggering lengths to continually survive. (Every plan risks his life on purpose--but every plan's win condition is also to live.) He life is the chip tossed down, but his hand is trembling beneath the table. When faced with an otherwise unsurvivable situation, Aventurine literally became a winner of the Hunger Games. He beat other innocent people to death with his own chain-bound hands just to come out alive.

He knows the IPC failed the Avgin and left them to die... and he still willingly sought out a position of power in their organization. Maybe he really is after revenge... but maybe not.

He starts his journey in the IPC with a truly noble goal in mind: to help his people using his newfound wealth and power. He's a good guy who did genuinely want to save the Avgin and repay all those who helped him. But once it became clear he was too late, once it was obvious he would have no use at all for that monetary wealth and power he risked his life to get... What did he do with it? Unlike Jade, we don't see him over here donating to orphanages. (I'm not that heartless; I'm sure he does actually do a lot of good things with his money on the side, but the point is that the game does not show us that--it shows us, over and over again, Aventurine putting on a wasteful, over-indulgent persona toward wealth. We've supposed to feel how meaningless money is to him, how meaningless everything is becoming to him.)

He outright refuses to use underhanded tactics or to cheat at gambles, which is meant to show us that's he's more morally upright than his coworkers. There's an entire exchange where he says that he'll never stoop to using manipulation the way Opal does. But... he doesn't have any issue fulfilling Opal's exact agenda. He was never remotely morally conflicted about denying the Penaconians their freedom by dragging Penacony back under IPC control.

He's willing to risk his own life, which is one thing--but he's also willing to risk other people's well-being. Topaz accuses him of constantly egging their clients on into dangerous situations; we've actively seen him shove a gun into Ratio's hands and pull the trigger with no care for how Ratio would feel about that on their very first meeting... Dragging the Astral Express crew into the entire Penacony plan in the first place was exceedingly dangerous...

To me, I just think it's vital to understand his character through the lens of these contradictions because they demonstrate the extreme polarity of Aventurine's life: from rags to riches, from powerless to empowered by multiple aeons, from willing to kill to survive to killing himself... He has quite literally lived a life of "all or nothing," and while he is the victim of many terrible situations out of his control, his arc as a character involves facing the truth of himself and the future his own actions are hurtling him toward.

Frankly, the Aventurine that canon is suggesting is a little annoying. You want to grab him by the shoulders, shake him, and say "Why are you like this?!" And he won't even have an answer for you, because he doesn't even know why he's still alive.

In the end, to me, this is so, so much more interesting. I can read an endless supply of hurt-comfort fics where Aventurine escapes the evil IPC and Ratio is there to fill the void in his life with the power of love and catcakes and be a perfectly happy clam online, but I want canon to continue to serve us this incredible mess of a man who constantly takes one step forward and two steps back.

Who is fully aware of his role as a cog in the grotesque profit-wheel of cosmic capitalism and still manages to say he never changed from the rags-wearing desert rat of the Sigonian wastes.

Who over and over again flirts with nihility but, ultimately, even if he has to wrest it from the grip of the gods themselves with bloody, chain-bound hands, chooses life.

[polaroidpascal]

morning brew || joel & frankie

AO3 || MASTERLIST

pairing : frankie morales x f!reader x joel miller

summary : when you and Frankie wake up, you find that joel is missing from bed.

tags : fluff but allusions to smut, no use of y/n, frankie being sweet, joel being a goofy menace, all love and silly jokes with these three, fic cover is for vibes only, reader is you babe!!

WC : 619

a/n : this might be the stupidest little thing i've ever spat out, and i wrote it in all of like 15 minutes, maybe, simply bc i saw one of those "passed out a couple times but your dessert is ready!" memes. also bc i haven't been able to stop thinking about frankie or being in a throuple with him and joel 🫠 so enjoy this stupid nonsense ig 💀

Joel’s not in bed when you wake up.

Frankie has his arms wrapped around you, the two men having sandwiched you in the bed late last night as the three of you drifted to sleep. His hot breath fans across your skin, slow and sleepy as he dreams.

You turn in his hold to face him and he tries to nuzzle his face into your neck. You pepper kisses onto his forehead, his cheek, and wake him up with a kiss.

“Good morning, hermosa,” he says, voice hoarse with slumber as it rumbles through your ribcage.

“Good morning,” you say, planting another deep, slow kiss to his plush lips. His hands roam sweetly and gently against your soft, warm skin. And you let him, the sweet boy, caress every inch of your body he can find just because he loves you so much.

You pull away from the kiss and he meets you with a small protesting whine. “Joel’s not here…”

“Hm?” he mutters, eyes barely open. “Where’d he go?”

“I don’t know, I think we should go find him,” you say with a smile, a small one. One he meets as his eyes fully open and he throws the covers off of you.

The smell of coffee meets you before the image of him does. You walk down the hallway with Frankie trailing close behind you, his hand locked in yours. You round the corner and see Joel standing at his coffee pot donning nothing but a robe and his slippers, three mugs sitting on the counter before him.

He hears the floor shift beneath you and looks up, a smile blossoming on his face. “G’mornin’, sleepyheads. Made y’all some coffee.”

You and Frankie sit at the island together and cradle the mugs in your hands. You both sip and hum at the bitter bite of the coffee and the sweetness that lingers after.

“Mmm… so good, Joel. Thank you,” Frankie says with a sparkle in his eye and Joel winks at him. He smirks at that, then asks, “This tastes different... but good different. Did you use a different milk or something? Like, a new creamer?”

“Sure did,” he says with a nod. “Passed out, like, six times though.”

You both choke mid-sip and Joel stifles back a laugh.

“Y— you what?” you ask, nearly setting the mug down.

“Yeah, got up early ‘n everything to make it perfect for my two angels.” A positively shit-eating grin explodes across his face as he takes another slow, audible sip of his coffee.

You and Frankie turn to each other wide-eyed, then back to Joel before he erupts with laughter.

“Darlin’, relax. I’m just teasin’,” Joel manages between giggles. “Yes, I bought a new creamer.” He holds a hand over his stomach while he laughs some more.

The two of you let go of the breath you didn't realize you were holding, shoulders slumping and looking down into the cups in your hands. Frankie starts to chuckle first, looking at Joel and shaking his head before laughing harder.

It’s not long before the three of you are in a laughing fit in the kitchen, coffee abandoned as laughter and giggles fill the kitchen.

“Well, today is off to an interesting start,” you say, catching your breath.

“That’s one way to put it,” Frankie chimes in before nudging your arm.

“Yeah, sure is,” Joel agrees, pressing a hand to his stomach while he exhales deep. “Man, almighty. ‘M not gonna have enough energy left.”

You breathe a laugh out of your nose. “Yeah? Energy for what?”

He looks up again, unable to hide his goofy smile like he did before. “For the dessert I was gonna fix for y’all later.”

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

02/05/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Cast & Crew; Rhys Cameos; Samba BTS; Samba & Rhys Goofyness; Wee John Wednesday + surprise Leslie; UK Launch; Watch Party Reminders; What We Do In The Shadows; New Watch parties: Love Birds; Articles; Fundraisers; Schadenfreude; Trends; Morale/LoveNotes/MORE RHYS CAMEOS; Daily Darby/Tonight's Taika;

Jeez Louise fam today was a seriously jam packed day! Once again Im worried I'm gonna miss something because there was just so much so please feel free to let me know!

== Cast & Crew ==

The Crew section is a hefty one today, so buckle up buttercup it's gonna be a chaotic and heartwarming ride.

Okay so, yesterday we had that lovely message that was edited from our beloved captain. But then our dear friend @meowzawowaza_ over on twitter released yet another part of the video that specifically went over Rhys' frustrations with the cancellation. Now it's less positive, but as she says, it adds another layer that is helping rally the troops to keep fighting. Here's the thread with the videos. Apologies if you don't have twitter... I don't have a link outside of there at the moment. If I find one, I'll update it here.

THEN because she's awesome, our lovely @lucyrosebutler decided to share the cameo she had gotten previously. Which he ended with, "Yeah, you be you, keep rock'n, and yeah, you be you, and do it loudly."

Before continuing with the cast & crew...

== Kudosboard! ==

Wanna send our lovely captain, Rhys, some kudos and love after all he's given us, especially the last two days? You can do so over on kudoboard.com! Thank you @madzilla84 for making this happen! Get on over there and send our sunshine man some love!

Alright! On to more Cast & Crew.

= Samba =

Samba, our favorite BTS buddy posted a new BTS picture + was making sure to shout out the new S2 out on BBCIplayer today!

= Samba & Rhys =

Then because our entire cast and crew is a pile of goofballs, Rhys and Samba shared this little exchange on twitter:

= Wee John Wednesday Monday! =

And well, then there was Wee John Wednesdays Monday! Where we not only got to see the expected three cast members: Kristian Nairn, Vico Ortiz, and Madeleine Sami, but a SURPRISE guest, Leslie Jones who crashed the Instagram live party.

You can watch the whole thing on Kristian Nairn's IG Here. WHICH I highly recommend because it was an absolute blast and got so many of us pumped and ready for more. Some highlights that absolutely cannot describe the pure and wonderful chaos were:

Rocket Jousting

Leslie fucking every alien in space

Leslie wants to come to a convention

Horny pickle ball

Jenkins is on board for s3 if it happens

They see how hard we're working on SaveOFMD and they said "they deserve it" (s3) and "so do we!"

Mads just randomly runs into Taika on the beach

Gypsy made a chest binder for all Vico's outfits @edscuntyeyeshadow ty for the screenshots here on tumblr

Oh and David Fane popped in because he's a gem of a human being. Thanks @madzilla84 for catching that!

= Leslie Jones + Convention =

PSSSST: Wanna help get Leslie to a con? Go request her on the Galaxy Con Websites! Thanks @insane_foliage on twitter for the suggestions!

= Vico Ortiz =

Upcoming cast events! Sunday Feb 11, 4PM PST, Vico will be interviewing with the lovely Samantha Rei on Instagram Live

= Erroll Shand =

I just, can't get over how amazing Erroll's IG Stories are, and how much he interacts with the goofy fan memes. I love this guy.

== Uk Launch ==

So many people logged in for the UK Launch of S2!!! Thank you everyone! The data teams over at @saveofmdcrewmates are still crunching numbers to show how things went the first day, but we can definitely see #OurFlagBBC trending for a bit!

Also Pink News was tweeting about the launch, and Wee John Wednesday!

Great job everyone-- please keep it up if you have the spoons! Wanna watch OFMD again? You can help support the UK Launch by watching it on BBCIplayer! Once again, if you are outside the US you can get instructions on how to here on @reallygoodplants page, or from this article.

== Watch Party Reminders! ==

= What We Do In The Shadows Watch Party! =

Tuesday February 6th, 9PM GMT, 1 PM PST, 4PM EST

Watch Party Hashtags:

#VamPirates

#SaveOFMD

#AdoptOurCrew

== New Watch Parties! ==

FINALLYYYYY we have a Love Birds Watch Party! Feb 9th - 9 pm GMT, 4 pm EST, 1pm PST.

Watch Party Hashtags:

#AdoptOurLoveBirds

#AdoptOurCrew

#SaveOFMD

==Articles==

So many articles today with the UK launch, including the Guardian again!

What’s On TV This Week: 5th February – 11th February

TV Tonight: It's the Final Series of Curb Your Enthusiasm

Our Flags Means Death fans get TV licence just to watch pirate show

The Best Romantic TV Series to Get into the Valentine’s Day Spirit

8 TV Shows Were Canceled in January 2024, Including 4 From HBO

Why won’t there be a Our Flag Means Death season 3?

= Fundraiser Status =

eSIMs and Sanitary Products for Gaza by Our Flag Makes A Difference is currently at 27% of their goal. If you're looking for a good cause to donate to, these folks have been incredibly transparent about all funds.

@One of the crew, @mcstuffiesphd is selling Jeff stickers as well as other SaveOFMD merch and donating 50% to the Our Flag Makes A Difference group for the above fundraiser.

== SchadenFreude / Trends Time ==

Thank you @btweenhisteeth on twitter for capturing this metric! Looks like WB Discovery is still having a bit of trouble with their stocks. Wonder why that could be?

Other fun trends that popped up today: Thank you @merryfinches catching a shot of the pile of royalty below.

== Morale / Love Notes ==

So normally I just want to say all the things about how lovely you all are, but Rhys posted YET ANOTHER video on cameo tonight, and I feel like his voice is the sunshine we all need. The longer one up, is dedicated to LGBTQIA+ folks with some anecdotes from Rhys' childhood, and another specific to the crew for this show (it's about 3 mins 10 seconds long). Please take a few minutes to go watch them, you don't need a log in or anything for them. It's just worth it to hear our lovely captain say nice things.

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

And to end the night, just some silly gifs that maybe sort of but don't quite go together for tonight. Goodnight lovelies, it was a LOOONG day today, please go get some rest. Love you.

[punkeropercyjackson]

Black Gwen Stacy headcanons because duh ofc she is,just watch the movies

Half white afrolatina with George being her white parent and Helen(a)was her black parent

George is a huge racist who was antiblack towards his own daughter and Helena died when Gwen was so little that Gwen knew almost nothing about blackness or latino heritage and it gave her trauma that the other black Spiderpeople helped her heal from

Pretty obviously looks black/white mixed-As in,black features but light.She has black 4c hair,brown eyes,light brown skin and a nose and lips that're bigger than any full white person's but she's not as darkfeatured/strongfeatured as a monoracial black person either

Dominican specifically(she's literally from New York)

Miles instantly recognized her as afrolatina thanks to being afrolatino himself and that leads to extra bonding in Into as Miles teaches her bits from their culture.The basics obvs but also our memes,our shows and our fashion norms and that all gets hint dropped at in the Atsv with Gwen's outfits and jokes having black/latina twists to them(Example:Instead of a stripped shirt,she wore a hot pink tank top with a bedazzeld white heart on it)

This leads to Gwen finally truly feeling black and that's how she ended up forming The Mary Janes by befriending other black kids for the first,second time.It made her quitting the band all that harder and there's callbacks to them as she expresses missing them and she ends up coming back while staying Spiderwoman-She can do both

Into Gwen had straight hair,Across Gwen has locs(Implied hair journey)

Pastel Punk is her way of creating her black girlhood and she's also kidcore because she's audhd too

Margo and her were instant besties.Because Gwen immediately jumped to befriend the nearest black teen girl the second she saw her and Margo accepted her friendliness but also because as they hung out,Gwen realized Margo's got a bad home life too and comforted her about it so now they're ride 'i'm not letting you die' best friends and Gwen and Hobie were like 👀👀👀👀👀 at the lil flirting between her and Miles as background comedy and she used her webs to drag her along with them which Margo reacted to only with an eyeroll and saying she just had to ask(Margo also got her own intro thingy)

Gwen the second she met an older black woman:MOM🥺?!

No but 'Adopt me' is so sweet with black Gwen-In canon it's funny and cute but this adds layers to it.Jessica mentors her in being Spiderwoman AND in being a black girl and Gwen does her best to pay her back by trying to make her feel like more than just her caretaker and teacher but as a hero in her own right and someone she considers a friend.She frequently diy's her gifts and excitedly shows them to her and Jessica thanks her with smiles and physical affection and keeps all of them and eventually gifts her silver hoop earrings with pink pendants

Her behavior at the Morales household was because she's afrolatina but not raised in the culture and that's the joke with Jefferson and Rio being baffled at a black girl not knowing she was being rude with those things despite being great otherwise(Rio makes a lighthearted jab at her for being mixed.She has biracial girl slay AND biracial girl cringe /hj)

'Half of who i am' is a TRIPLE entendre-It's about her being Spiderwoman,a trans girl AND black biracial.She also cuts George out of her life as a lesson to mixed kids about how they don't have to love their racist white parents JUST BECAUSE they're their parents and she pretends to accept him again just to get him close enough to beat his ass and says 'You're not a good dad because good cops don't exist.You're just my canon event-So die instead of me' and leaves him heartbroken to go back to Jessica since she's accepted her as her daughter

She listens to Meet me @ the Altar,Selena,Teezo Touchdown,Flowerovlove and Megan Thee Stallion and does covers,has glossy lips as her daily makeup look,owns a name necklace,her favorite foods are galletas con suspiro and pechurina and flan and strawberry Nesquick,she dosen't use too much aave just yet cause she's still learning but as she grows she makes it her regular speech pattern,sadly has significant amount of hair damage from her childhood(thanks for nothing George /s),gets gender euphoria from black pastel and/or punk girl aesthetics,black mermaids and black women in horror

Because of the last part,her chosen middle name is Marina since it's sea themed

More Margo expansion:Her parents are a toxic couple who don't hate her,just eachother but they let that overpower their love for her by extensively exposing her to it due to intergenerational trauma.Margo didn't have an irl friends before the Spiderband and she was different from a lot of black kids too so she didn't have refuge in them either and that's why her and Gwen(+ Miles and Hobie)love eachother so much and she got Gwen into video games like how Gwen got her into legos and Gwen guided her into coping mechanisms for a bad home life and promised her she'd get out one day but in a safer way than she did.They also got matching grills at one point and are a matched set in general who have eachother twin on everything,do NOT seperate them /lh

Black Love Ghostpunk aka the only valid romantic Ghostpunk aka MY canon Ghostpunk.They met Bubbline style at one of Hobie's show's where Gwen thought he was super hot and made a weird ass dork of herself but Hobie's autistic ass found THAT super hot so he brought her up on stage to sing with him as a ref to that one concept art and she recognized him the next day at Spider Society,realizing he was Spiderpunk i.e that kid Jessica mentored too that she'd yet to meet cause he was always busy.She ran after him and introduced herself as the girl from last night.Hobie was surprised and she reached out to unmask him subcounciously so he did the same,smirking as he said 'Eager to see your pretty face again too,Gwendita' and she linked arms with him once they got a good look at eachother again as they chatted and kept walking together

So from that day on,they became best friends with crushes on eachother they never thought to hide and Hobie taught more her about punk culture,specifically afropunk and convinced her to dye her hair,which is how they had their first kiss.His hands had pink dye on them and he was leaning over her to organize things so she couldn't resist and kissed him,it being prompted by the morning of that day when Hobie said he'd never actually kissed anyone on the lips as he gave Gwen a good morning peck on the cheek and Gwen wanting to be his first.He was shocked as she let out a quick and short apology and hid her face behind her hair but he told her to do it again and she gladly did as it turned into him taking the lead

They say sappy and cutesy and just random shit to and about eachother with no shame,do haircare together,he helped her make her own battle jacket and added a Gwen-themed patch to his own,she calls him 'Hubbie' as a play on 'Hobie'(and 'Gwendita' is spanish for 'Gwendy' but cheesier)and taught him to skateboard and make dominican food,she stands up for him and has his back against his enemies and even Miguel when he gets a lil too bold despite being scared shitless of him,he takes care of her a lot like a good boyfriend does and she returns the favor and actually started this part of their relathionship which is what prompted him to treat her the way he does now,she wears Hobie's shirts as night gowns and diy'd him a blue durag with punk designs and he does pastel transfemme things with her i.e Playing pirated video games,drinking energy drinks,wearing cunty girly outfits,etc.Gwen's also a lot more brutal in her Spiderwoman tactics and started going to protests and donating to charity with her saved up money by Hobie-induced radicalization

Also genuinely not intentional but i'm convinced Hobie loves the sea a lot and Gwen's got major mermaid vibes so i mean-

Flowerbyte's wingwoman who tries to get them together by dropping hints and giving advice disguised as regular friend convos.She's basically Miles' big sister who teases her little brother about finally getting a girlfriend and he teases her about Hobie back but not nearly as effectively because at least they're officially together instead of going on totally not dates

"She's just lightskinned" < Running joke one of my black Atsv moot's who's Gwen's age keeps making

Visualization of SheTM by @kitkatperce

[dopscratch]

mugshot meme with the trio :) i love fishlegs which reminds me....

INCOMING BOOKS-MOVIES RAMBLE- even if you only know the movies please stick around, i cant make you but maybe you'll find the rest of this interesting

SO, so so so. i love the movies (well the first two...) but i will never forget their transgressions on the original plot

they took away hiccups Heroic Hair why would you do that he's nothing without his Heroic Hair

they swapped hiccup and fishlegs's personalities why would you do that why would you take away my nerd protagonist my nerd self is weeping

hiccup and fishlegs are no longer best friends why why would you do that to me i live for their loser friendship its just like me

they took away camacazi and made a mid love interest i dont care what you say astrid is mid tier never liked her much apologies i also dont like love interests so take my opinons with a grain of salt

in the movies toothless is actually Super Cool and hiccup also becomes Super Cool and earns massive respect and is not a laughingstock ever since the very first movie which hurt his appeal to me in the movies since, believe it or not, i am a Loser and hiccup also being a Loser and Becoming A Hero The Hard Way was very compelling to me

hiccup is the Absolute Main Character in the movies and the supporting characters don't get much spotlight while in the books it's a pretty well balanced group which i like

snotlout is no longer hiccups cousin and is just comic relief which is a HUGE missed opportunity for drama and depth that i loved in the books

villains in general are sort of mid tier throughout (except viggo viggo was cool. also i love dagur he's the best)

WHERE'S ALVIN

dragons are no longer complex. i loved their society of sorts and their unique morals (generally selfish, cruel creatures who have full knowledge of their actions and just don't care- though have the capacity for kindness) and their whole language and the fact hiccup knew that language because he is a Nerd

HICCUP'S LANGUAGES!! GUYS WHO ONLY WATCHED THE MOVIES, DID YOU KNOW HICCUP IS FLUENT IN AT LEAST 4 LANGUAGES?? HE KNOWS NORSE, DRAGONESE, FRENCH, AND LATIN!! WELL YOU DO NOW

HOOOOLY CRAP the story is SO much darker i'll avoid huge spoilers but let's just say. war. slavery. torture. death. surprisingly generous amounts of blood.

more main-line content- technically yes the shows and other companion materials count for the movie-verse but some things are questionably canon and all that. meanwhile you have 12 whole books that are irrefutably canon and are incredibly well-connected especially through the end.

thats everything that my brain feels like spitting out now. there's obviously more (ESPECIALLY in regards to my uh... opinions about the third movie) but im too lazy to do anything about it at the moment

overall all two movies and the shows are still good and i cherish them so my smack talking is pretty lighthearted. still love the books more though

[thepersonperson]

I think JJK going on break after the last chapter is a bit cruel. This is nerve-wracking. We still have 3 chapters left and so many things can happen there. 268 feels too good to be true and the title is weird.

I'm not sure what is the right translation and I don't have access to raws. Right now, it's 268 title is "Finale" or "Conclusion" but I heard from someone that it can be also be read as "Curtains".

If it can be read as "Curtains", then it could be a reference to "final curtains". The problem is JJK has its own version of "Curtains", right? Idk what to think.

Gosh I wish it was “Curtains”. The chapter title is 決着 (Kecchaku) which means settlement/conclusion/end.

For example, at the end of an extremely brutal fight in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Jolyne screams “Kechakuuuuuuu!” (決着ゥゥーーーッ!!) (It's actually a small Jojo meme in the JP fandom.) This got translated as "Game set!"

I love the localization they used for this since that entire battle was like struggling in arcade mode for a fighting game.

Anyways, in the context of JJK, especially since this has been a literal Sukuna Gauntlet and the previous chapter had the “Ringing the bell on a long fight.” editor’s comment, I don’t think there’s an ambiguous way to read Kecchaku. The Curtain/Veil kanji in JJK is 帳 (Tobari). (Though if there’s some fancy wordplay I’m missing please let me know.)

However…I would kneel before Gege if this was an elaborate trick by Sukuna—him giving Yuji delusions of a happy ending only to yank it away last second. It’s very hard to make characters feel familiar but slightly off on purpose for misdirection. That kind of tonal control is something I praise Umineko for. (Dungeon Meshi does it excellently for the shapeshifter scene.)

But that is pure copium I think. Sometimes otherwise good media just fumbles the endings. (Not an example of good media, but I was around for the Secret BBC Sherlock Season 4 Ending meltdown so I’m not too hopeful about a turnaround.) I personally blame the JP work culture/crunch since a lot of modern mangas have rushed endings due to burnout/unfair contracts.

I think the most heartbreaking examples of this phenomenon for me are The Owl House and Moral Orel. Those shows still stick the landing imo, but the creators are very open about how studio interference forced them to condense everything. You can feel that suffocation in the final episodes. Everything is just slightly off and you know it would be better if the creators were allowed their breathing room.

[highlordofkrypton]

Sometime I think about that one bright person in the ✨event which will not be named✨ in the ACOTAR fandom who said that people needed to commission art to prove that their ship was valid.

I know that this was specifically targeted to the ship everyone was memeing, but it boggles my mind how someone can miss the point and think they ate with their take.

Apparently, even if you are an artist whether visual or writer, your ship doesn’t count unless money has exchanged hands and the only reason someone would ship something so vile is because they were… paid to?

This is when I knew that we are dealing with a whole different species of person in the ACOTAR fandom. Not only are they taking the moral high ground, using purity culture against people in the fandom, but there’s people who are also trying to make this about money???????

Like that is the last thing fandom is about what the fuck.

[hatredmadeofgold]

Revenge with a vengeance — The tragedy of Sam and Raiden’s canon relationship dynamic

Alternate title: SamuRaiden is THAT deep, actually.

Side note by author: This essay will get an update eventually since I wrote it before playing the Japanese version of the game.

Although MGR does not have as complex or well researched character lore as the main series, Samuraiden as a relationship is a lot more complex than common fandom tropes and interpretations of their relationship suggest. I don’t mind it when people make funny/meme content about these two, since MGS/R does come with its own flair of humour, it’s very exhausting for me as well as a few others I know who enjoy this ship for it to be reduced to just that — a joke. MGR being perceived as ‘goofy’ is mainly due to how poorly some of the character lines translate from Japanese to English, as well as it being more or less evident that either budget, time or both ran out over the course of development, hence the second half of the game feels rushed and underdeveloped. In fact, the great majority of MGR fans do not understand how serious, dark, hopeless and dystopian its message really is and that is saddening.

The world isn’t black and white, neither is it in MGS/R. Sam isn’t the just the villain (never has been, by the way), Raiden isn’t the just the hero (never has been either, by the way), I’d say it’s rather “depends on who you ask”. They are on opposite sides due to the circumstances of how they meet and not because they wouldn’t get along. Quite the opposite is true, in fact, if they would have met before 2016, they might have become friends based on the fact of how much they can actually relate to each other in many different aspects of their personalities, interests and experiences.

Before we get to fight Armstrong as well as during the Sam DLC (also through very subtle hints during their first fight on the train) we learn that Sam is just like Raiden and that Desperado forced him to become a shadow of who he once was, going against his own morals and values and only Raiden reminding him of who he truly was before Armstrong defeated him 2 years prior, ultimately crushing his spirit — he had no other choice, either die there as a failure or continue to live and become Desperado’s/Armstrong’s puppet [until someone would eventually defeat Armstrong and free Sam from his never ending nightmare — Did I already mention that Sam is a really fucking tragic character?]. Sam joining Armstrong’s laughter at the end of DLC is a reaction of fear, not agreement with him or enjoyment. And if there’s one thing that both MGS and MGR are really good at, it’s the accurate and very realistic portrayal of the human psyche under stressful and traumatic situations.

On the other side we can tell from Raiden’s reaction when holding Murasama after killing Sam that he, for once in the entire damn series, questions if that was the right choice he made. We know that Raiden enjoys inflicting pain and suffering onto others, he enjoys murder — but he did not feel that way when he killed Sam. It’s quite the opposite. It’s very subtle and if you’re not very observant like me, easy to miss. But the way his voice turns a bit softer, how his eyes look listless, almost sad; he regrets it. When Blade Wolf asks Raiden if that outcome was really necessary, he does not answer him, because he knows that Wolf is right, it wasn’t. And Raiden pretty much hates himself for it. To his team he confidently says that Sam isn’t a problem anymore since he killed him, but that’s not the same Raiden that he’s that moment in the badlands (which is another implication to me that Raiden doesn’t fully trust his teammates, although they are friends; he has major trust issues and the only emotions he shares with them is either anger or amusement but nothing outside of that). The way he sheathes Murasama is a way to honour him, and as far as I remember this is a ritual to honour a samurai’s defeat or death.

I believe that there has been a silent understanding between the two swordsmen that they respect each other from the very beginning, but they do not say it out loud. This is a case of “show, don’t tell” but also something I suspect has something to do with the game being written by Japanese authors, and Japanese is a high context language, meaning, very little words are needed to get the meaning across, and I think this may also translate into the words these two exchange with each other compared to how they truly feel about the other. Besides, they probably couldn’t truly speak honestly with each other in the first place because of the unfortunate conditions of how they met and were (more or less) forced to fight each other until one of them would eventually succumb to the other’s blade. Codecs and conversations were most likely recorded by their respective employers, and I highly suspect that in Sam’s case, he was even monitored 24/7 by Desperado since he never was an official member of the Winds of Destruction in the first place, and they didn’t fully trust him either.

At the very end of the game during the fight with Armstrong, Sam’s message plays, and we can hear how Sam also speaks with a different voice to Blade Wolf compared to everyone else (and technically, indirectly to Raiden but I cannot confirm or deny that Sam was aware that Raiden would ever hear this playback), it’s a note softer; Raiden learns the truth, which confirms to him that he was right about Sam after all, that they are alike, that they respect each other, and that there was more to Sam’s story than him being a part of Desperado, he doesn’t know what exactly, but he knows now for sure that Sam was not the person he originally believed he was (and lets his team still believe he thinks that way).

Would Raiden truly say Sam’s catchphrase “Let’s dance” before fighting and ultimately killing Armstrong, if he wouldn’t have been going through a gradual process between originally hating Sam to respecting and liking him but unable to ever express that to him or anyone else?

Would he ever admit to anyone what kind of emotional impact Sam had on him, besides the anger and hatred he openly expressed towards him?

Doubt so. Highly fucking doubt so.

Because sharing his true feelings is a liability to him, and Raiden learnt as a very young child that vulnerable feelings such as sadness or guilt would be used against him, so his psyche is conditioned to discard them immediately. But Sam made him feel those things in their full extent and Raiden is fully aware of that, but he would never share with anybody that he ever felt that way about Sam.

He may or may not take those feelings to his grave.

From Sam’s side, we can only guess how he truly felt about Raiden, but we can only guess by the way he hesitated to finish him off on the train during the prologue, the way he smiled at Blade Wolf before his death (which might be likely another case of a silent understanding between Sam and Wolf that the latter would share with Raiden what he knows about Sam or the playback of their conversation itself, if not both) as well as everything he says with giving Murasama to Raiden. Of course, Sam couldn’t even say out loud to Blade Wolf or Raiden that he planned to give Raiden his sword to take down Armstrong, and he had to be as vague as possible with the information that he shared with the robot dog. Not by choice, no. Most likely because he was being watched 24/7, he knew that Desperado nor Armstrong didn’t fully trust him and if they knew about his plans, they’d make sure to finish him off before Raiden had the chance to do so. Sam knew he would die, and that it would be the only way he would ever be free from Armstrong’s grasp. So he chose suicide through Raiden’s blade, and gave him his sword to finish what he could not back then.

The game’s title is REVENGEANCE — Revenge with a vengeance.

They both translate to the same thing in my native language German, but there’s a subtle yet important difference between these two nouns.

“Revenge means when you get back at your enemy who is responsible for hurting you and vengeance is the punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong.”

But it was never Armstrong who hurt or wronged Raiden in the first place, and we know he’s an essentially selfish person who does not really care all that much about politics, religion or anything like that and he only fights for himself (I wrote in my essay about Raiden’s ASPD that his motivation to save these children from becoming cyborg child soldiers is a trauma response first and his rather lose and grey morality second) and the few people he cares about, so Armstrong being the one one who ordered to get N’mani killed is not the reason Raiden went after him or was that passionate about getting revenge or retribution on him either.

It was Sam who hurt him — wounded both his body and soul during the prologue — but when Raiden got his revenge, he realised that revenge is empty, that he didn’t feel better, and that he regrets killing him, then we get to the vengeance part. From the moment Raiden held Sam’s Murasama in the badlands, he felt no more hatred towards him and the emotional impact his death had on him made Sam transition from a person he hated to one of the few people Raiden truly cares about.

Armstrong may be the villain of the story, but the person who wanted revenge on him never had been Raiden. It was Sam. Always had been Sam, because it was Sam who got hurt by Armstrong, it was Sam who wanted to get revenge on Armstrong for defeating him and crushing his spirit, it was Sam who wanted to punish Armstrong for making him into a shadow of who he once was, making Sam speak about ideals he didn’t truly believe in (like, who the FUCK even thinks that Sam truly believed a single fucking word of that, because I for sure as hell can tell he never did, he either gaslit himself into believing that for 2 years until he met Raiden or only parroted whatever the fuck Armstrong wanted him to say so he would not get killed on the spot).

Revenge and vengeance are very deep feelings and actions of hatred, feelings that are too deep and complex to be associated with morality, hence why I highly doubt that the title of the game is directed at Armstrong from Raiden’s side at all. That between Raiden and Armstrong is not nearly as personal as it has been between Sam and Armstrong. Raiden eradicating Desperado and Armstrong had been about justice [for the kids being killed and their organs sold], not revenge.

"I said my sword was a tool of justice. Not used in anger. Not used for vengeance. But now… Now I'm not so sure. And besides, this isn't my sword."

But when he says this, followed by “Let’s dance”, it became deeply personal for Raiden as well. Because he could confirm that his feelings about Sam had been right, and that Sam wanted to get revenge on Armstrong.

Raiden decides to avenge him, because Sam couldn’t get revenge himself.

Although Sam never told him directly, Raiden understood him from his actions alone, those subtle hints, reading between the lines what the other truly felt and wanted the whole time, eventually passing the “torch” — his sword — to Raiden, to finish what he could not. So while Raiden’s own reasons to finish off Armstrong were (mostly) justice for the innocent lives he destroyed and planned to continue to destroy, they also became feelings of hatred and anger — Sam’s feelings towards Armstrong.

In the end — revenge with a vengeance — is what Sam could get on Armstrong only through Raiden, after Raiden enacted his onto Sam.

Now the question is — if Raiden would’ve never killed Sam, by the chance of him recognising earlier than in canon that revenge is empty and that he won’t feel better after killing him, would Sam go by his example and abandon his revenge plans on Armstrong as well? Or would they fight Armstrong together and get justice?

We unfortunately can only speculate (or write stories about it).

What we can tell from canon though, is that Raiden’s (= Sam’s) passionate feelings of hatred towards Armstrong quickly vanish the moment he finished him off, and he looks into the camera with an empty expression, covered in blood and a crushed cybernetic heart in his hand.

And I think that is exactly what he feels — empty.

Because again, he got revenge and avenged Sam, led by what Sam felt, Sam’s feelings became Raiden’s feelings during that fight with Armstrong. But once that was gone, there’s nothing left. In the case of killing Armstrong, he doesn’t feel remorse or guilt. There’s nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Because revenge is empty.

Raiden defeated his enemies — but at what cost?

By killing Sam, he realised what he had actually lost — a potential friend (or more), someone who understood him in a way that no one else did. Perhaps he thought or felt that, if he avenges Sam, making Sam’s feelings towards Armstrong into his own, he might be able to deal with that loss better, but to no avail.

Because, and I can speak from experience as a person with the same mental health issues as Raiden, that emptiness is worse than regret.

MGR’s ending also implies that Raiden abandons his family and friends to fight his own war; essentially taking the same path that Sam once took in his past, ending up in a personal war and revenge act that knows no end, making one bad choice after the next. If Raiden hasn’t already become the villain of his own story by the end of MGR, then it’s just a matter of time until he becomes that.

And the cycle of violence continues, until the story repeats itself, over and over and over and over and over.

Did I mention already that there is a myth around Murasama being a cursed sword, that will drive its user either slowly insane or make them commit suicide if it doesn’t get a regular ‘blood sacrifice’?

—

“I really enjoy murder, but that one, that I will regret for the rest of my life.”

[whatacaitastrophe]

Everything Has Changed - Chapter 13

Previous Chapter

Chapter Song Inspiration: "Morally Grey" - April Jai ft. Nation Haven

Chapter Warnings: PiV sex, Oral sex, Hand jobs, blood drinking, threesome F/M/M, masturbation, voyeurism, edgeplay, teasing, female ejaculation

Spotify Playlist: Here

Author Notes: thank you all so much for reading, reblogging, liking, and commenting on this fic (and the first one)! if you are interested in supporting me in other ways, I have a Ko-Fi link <3

i also have a discord server! it was created to coincide with my twitch channel but you do NOT need to follow/subscribe/watch my twitch streams to come hang out with us <3 we talk a lot about bg3 and share memes and fics.

Chapter 13: Your Body I'll Worship

The door to the bedroom swung open magically with a small wave of Gale’s hand, and a wave of pride washed through Fallon. Gale had been working so hard to completely re-learn magic in this new way, and it didn’t surprise her that the simple spells were coming back to him as easily as breathing. Though Fallon only got the briefest moment to think about Gale’s progress before she became distracted by the sight laid out before her. 

There were even more black dahlia petals scattered throughout the room, candles on every surface that could safely hold a candle, and there was soft music coming from a phonograph in the far corner. Then there was the bed. The big, beautiful, four-poster bed that would most certainly hold all three of them comfortably, even to sleep. “Did you buy the bed just for this?” Fallon teased Gale. 

“Would you believe me if I said no?” Gale chuckled. “Despite her size, Tara somehow manages to take up a very large spot on the bed when we sleep, so I purchased this particular piece of furniture well before I ever suspected I’d be sharing it with two other people.”

Fallon turned her attention to Astarion. “So what does this next phase of atonement entail, exactly?” She asked, a coy smile blooming on her face. 

Astarion and Gale stopped moving once they reached the foot of the bed, and Astarion let go of her hand in favor of resting his hands on her hips and pulling Fallon closer to him, and she instinctively wrapped her arms around Astarion’s neck. “The first thing it involves, darling, is the removal of this absolutely delicious dress. Since I ruined the last one in my desperation to have you, I thought I’d let someone with slightly more patience do the honors.”

Astarion brushed Falllon’s hair from her shoulder and he leaned down to kiss the exposed skin, slowly working his way to her neck carefully so as not to bite her. Another pair of hands found her back and began to undo the fastenings, and it almost startled her, until she remembered it was Gale. “Though it really is a shame that Astarion ruined your Winter Solstice dress, I have to say, I’m quite fond of this one,” Gale made quick work of the fastenings on the back of her dress. Cool air hit Fallon’s back as it became more exposed as Gale unfastened each clasp; until finally, the only thing keeping the dress on Fallon’s body were the off the shoulder sleeves, and even they were losing a battle with gravity under the weight of the fabric. 

Astarion removed his mouth from her neck and took a step back so he could look at her, reaching behind his neck to grab her hands and place them at her sides. “Turn around, darling. I think the sorcerer deserves a front row seat to what he’s been missing, don’t you?” Astarion kissed her slowly before taking hold of her hips once more and helping Fallon turn around to face Gale. Fallon did not break eye contact with Gale as she felt Astarion’s deft fingers sliding up from her hips to the bodice of her dress. With a firm tug, the black fabric floated to the floor, and for the first time in over two years, Fallon was naked in front of Gale. 

“You cheeky thing, no undergarments at all?” Astarion teased as he wrapped his arms around Fallon from behind, his fingers tracing idle circles on her sides and he kissed her neck again. “Seems we’re not the only ones who planned ahead just in case .” 

“The dress didn’t exactly allow for them.” Fallon defended herself, though a mischievous look shone in her eyes. It’s not like she couldn’t have picked another dress, after all. For once, Gale seemed to be too stunned to speak. Gale flexed his hands at his sides, like he wanted to reach out and touch Fallon, but he kept stopping himself. Fallon extended a hand to Gale, inviting him to come closer. To touch her. “I promise to let you know if you do something I’m not comfortable with.” 

Gale forced himself to look away from Fallon’s body to study her face. He hesitated for less than two seconds before taking Fallon’s hand in his and closing the space between them. Gale’s hands settled on Fallon’s hips and he looked past Fallon and over her shoulder, presumably to look at Astarion. Whatever look or silent communication the vampire offered the sorcerer, it was enough to embolden Gale to take another step towards Fallon. 

“May I kiss you, Fallon?” Gale asked softly, and her stomach did a backflip at the anticipation as she nodded. Gale reached up and tucked his index finger under her chin, using it to tilt her head upwards as he leaned in. When their mouths connected, a jolt of electricity shot through Fallon’s body as emotions she’d buried deep within her catapulted themselves to the surface once again as Gale flooded her senses. If kissing Astarion made her feel like she could conquer the world, kissing Gale was the reminder to survive and come home afterwards. Both feelings were equally important, and equally capable of reminding Fallon how loved she was, and to be loved by both Astarion and Gale? It might just be all Fallon has ever needed. 

At the exact moment that Fallon deepened the kiss, parting her lips for Gale to explore her mouth with his tongue and carding her fingers through his chestnut hair, Fallon felt Astarion’s mouth back on her neck again as his cool hands slid over her skin. Where one hand moved up her body to cup her breast, kneading it with fingers and rolling his thumb over her pebbled nipple, the other moved down, the pads of his fingers dancing over her torso and her hip bone before sliding into place between her legs. Fallon moaned softly into Gale’s mouth as she felt Astarion’s fingers dip between her folds just enough to tease, and she felt her vampire smirking in amusement against her neck. Fallon knew she was already drenched with arousal– she had been since the moment she walked into the dining room and saw them standing there, dressed in their finest. “My, my, you have been thinking about this,” Astarion hummed, nipping gently at her shoulder with his teeth. 

The hand that occupied her breast moved away, and Fallon almost made a noise in protest until she realized what Astarion was doing: He’d taken Gale’s hand from under her chin and guided it south to join Astarion’s other hand at the apex of her thighs. “Feel how ready she is for us and we’ve hardly done anything.” Astarion praised, replacing his hand with Gale’s. Gale pulled away from their kiss just far enough to look at Fallon, brushing their noses together as he silently asked for her permission before going further, and Fallon gave him the slightest nod of her head in return before kissing him again.  

Fallon shuddered, moaning at the contact as Gale teased her further than Astarion had, pressing two fingers inside of her experimentally and brushed his thumb over her swollen clit. Gale smiled against Fallon’s lips. “I’ve missed that sound,” He admitted, shallowly thrusting his fingers inside of Fallon before pulling them out and stepping back from her entirely. Gale raised his fingers to his mouth, covered in the evidence of her arousal, and licked them obscenely. “I missed that, too.”  Gale added, and Fallon realized Gale was not making eye contact with her as he did this, but with Astarion. Oh how she wished Astarion was not standing behind her, because she would have loved to see his reaction.

While she might not have seen the look on Astarion’s face as Gale taunted them both, Fallon felt Astarion’s cock begin hardening against her back and when Astarion turned Fallon back to face him, she saw the way his red eyes flared with need before he pressed his lips to hers in a heated kiss. The vampire’s hands roamed over her back and over her ass, giving it a firm squeeze before ending their descent at the back of her thighs so he could hoist Fallon into the air. Fallon instinctively did a little jump and wrapped her legs around Astarion’s middle, though she did not stay there for long. Astarion only carried her far enough to climb onto the bed and drop her in the middle of it. Fallon reached forward and started unbuttoning the buttons on Astarion’s shirt, desperate for skin on skin contact that he currently could not provide. “You have too many clothes on. The both of you.” Fallon complained, and Astarion tutted as he sat back on his knees between her legs. 

“Patience, darling. I love your enthusiasm, tonight is about you. We’re going to take care of you, and if you want to take care of us , then you’ll need to be a good girl and wait.” Astarion instructed firmly, and Fallon whined.

“At least take your damn shirts off, I’m completely naked!” Fallon pouted.

“Your sandals are still on.” Gale pointed out with a smirk, nodding to the gold shoes and the laces that ran up her calves, and Fallon glared at him playfully. “Though I supposed we could oblige– both in removing your sandals and some of our own clothing, if that is what the lady wishes.”

Fallon nodded her head furiously and Gale chuckled as he began unbuttoning his shirt. The offending clothing hung loosely on his body as he joined Astarion and Fallon on bed, taking a seat about halfway up Fallon’s body. The scar from The Netherese orb remained on his chest, and Fallon reached forward to trace it with her fingers. Gale took her hand in his and kissed her fingertips tenderly and held her hand over his heart for a moment, the soft look in his eyes conveying everything he felt. Astarion had removed his shirt as well and instead of tossing it to the side, he passed it to Gale with a devious look on his face. She looked back and forth between Astarion and Gale, trying to figure out what sinful trap she’d just fallen into. 

The soft look on Gale’s face had been replaced with one of desire as he reached for Fallon’s other hand. “Scoot back, and put your arms above your head, sweetheart, since we all know you can’t be trusted to keep your hands to yourself and just enjoy this.” Gale teased, and Fallon’s mouth dropped open as she realized what was happening. Fallon did as she was told, and watched with wide eyes as Gale tied one of the sleeves of Astarion’s shirt to her left wrist, and tied the other sleeve to the nearest post on the bed. Now Fallon understood why he told her to scoot back– it was to close some of the space between where she lay and the edges of the bed. Still, on such a large bed, the fabric of Astarion’s shirt was pulled fairly tight without much give. 

“Is that uncomfortable, darling?” Astarion asked lovingly, and Fallon gave an experimental tug. The fabric was soft and Gale had done a good job of not tying the knot around her wrist too tightly, so she shook her head. Once Gale and Astarion were satisfied that Fallon was not uncomfortable, Gale walked around to the other side of the bed, removing his own shirt, and using it to restrain Fallon’s right side, repeating the motions of tying one sleeve around Fallon’s wrist and tying the other to the bedpost, while Astarion unlaced her sandals and removed them from her feet. Once Fallon was secure, Gale returned to his spot on the bed at Fallon’s torso and he propped himself up on his elbow to lay on his side beside her. 

“No mage hand?” Fallon teased, sticking her tongue out at Gale, and the sorcerer chuckled. It was one of his favorite spells to use in the bedroom, if her memory served her correctly. 

“Not tonight, sweetheart. I would much prefer to use all my concentration on making you forget everything but our names.” Gale had the audacity to wink at her as he teased, and Fallon's eyes blew wide with lust. 

Gale reached forward to brush a stray hair from Fallon’s face, dragging his fingers down to her neck and lightly wrapping his hand around it. The pressure was so light that it was barely there, but just the feeling of Gale’s hand there was enough to make Fallon whimper with pleasure and Gale grinned. “You look so beautiful laid out like this, Fallon,” Astarion praised her as he ran his hands over her thighs, spreading her legs apart further as he leaned shifted his position to settle between them on his stomach, and he kissed her inner thighs slowly, avoiding where Fallon desired him to be most. “I’ve been imagining this moment for days.” His nose ghosted over her clit and Fallon let out a noise of protest as he moved away from the sensitive spot. 

“Use your words, sweetheart, tell us what you want.” Gale instructed, his thumb stroking the column of her neck gently, applying light pressure to his grasp as he did so. 

“For the love of Ao, if one of you doesn’t touch me soon I’m going to go insane.” Fallon demanded, invoking the name of the holy creator in vain desperation.

“That’s more like it.” Astarion cooed. Pleasure shot through Fallon’s body as Astarion’s tongue found her center, lavishing her with languid strokes of his tongue. Fallon arched her back at his touch, tugging on her restraints. She opened her mouth to let out a cry of pleasure, but the sound was muffled by Gale’s mouth on hers again, kissing her fiercely as his hand played with her breasts. Every touch, every kiss, it was all heightened by the fact that there were two people showering her body with attention. Every time her body was finished reacting to something Astarion did between her legs, Gale would roll his thumb over one of her nipples and leave love-bites on her neck and she’d be moaning all over again. Though Fallon had no concept of time in that moment, she was certain that this would be the fastest orgasm she’s ever achieved in her life. “That’s it, darling, let go.” Astarion lifted his head to look at her as he slid two fingers inside of her and kissed her inner thigh, nipping at it softly. When Fallon moaned at the sensation of Astarions teeth scraping her inner thigh, his fingers suddenly slowed significantly inside of her.

“ Astarion ,” Fallon whined impatiently, and Gale looked up from her neck to see what was going on. “ Please .” 

“Sorry, love, I was just thinking.” Astarion apologized with a smirk. 

“Can you think later? ” Fallon huffed. 

Astarion laughed and leaned down to press another kiss to her inner thigh. “Darling, can I bite you?” He kissed her thigh again. “Right here?”

Fallon’s heart rate doubled. “You can do whatever you want as long as you don’t stop .” She demanded, lifting her hips towards Astarion’s face in encouragement. 

To her dismay, Astarion laughed again, but at least he kept his fingers moving inside of her as he looked at Gale. “Gale, darling, I’ve got an idea, but I’ll need your assistance.” Fallon looked up at Gale and saw the look of realization dawning on the sorcerer’s face as whatever idea Astarion had clicked in Gale’s mind, and the sorcerer offered the vampire a wicked grin in response. 

“You’re a bloody menace, Astarion. A beautiful, bloody menace.” Gale praised with a laugh. So far, the only drawback of this arrangement was that it gave Gale and Astarion this opportunity to work together to torture her in this way. Soon, Gale was moving away from Fallon and she made another noise of protest, tugging at her restraints to try and get him to come back. 

Then she realized where Gale was going. He joined Astarion at the foot of the bed. “May I?” He asked Fallon, and she nodded, grateful for Gale’s continued initiative in obtaining her consent after their earlier conversation. She was also grateful for Astarion, who she knew would immediately pivot if Fallon told Gale “no” at any point. Fallon nodded her head, and for a moment, she had two of Astarion’s and two of Gale’s fingers inside of her and Fallon moaned appreciatively at the way they filled her. “Well that’s something we’ll have to explore later.” Astarion mused as he removed his fingers from her sex. Fallon watched with curiosity as Astarion got out of Gale’s way, allowing the sorcerer to take his place between Fallon’s legs. There wasn’t quite enough room for them both to fit comfortably, so how– oh. 

Oh . 

Fallon watched in stunned silence as Astarion repositioned himself so he was straddling Gale’s back, hovering over the sorcerer with his cock visibly stiff in his pants, and Fallon’s imagination immediately drifted to what this scene would look like if Gale and Astarion were also naked. The idea of Astarion leaning over Gale’s body to kiss her while he fucked Gale, while Gale feasted on her cunt, the three of them all moaning together…Fallon only snapped out of her thoughts when Astarion leaned forward and brushed some of Gale’s hair from his face, tying it back into a half up-half down bun with a rubber band Gale handed him. Astarion then leaned forward and kissed Gale’s cheek. “Go on, love,” Astarion encouraged in a low voice against the sorcerer's ear before gently biting Gale’s earlobe. “You were just saying how you’ve missed the way she tastes. Now’s your chance.” Gale looked at Fallon once more, giving her a beat to change her mind. Little did he know that with how close cumming she currently was, there was absolutely no way she was changing her mind. Not as her mind took the opportunity to remind her that one of Gale’s favorite camp pastimes used to be burying his face between her legs while she tried not to moan so loud she woke up the rest of their companions (her attempts were not successful very often). 

When Fallon didn’t protest, Gale moaned slightly as he lowered his mouth to her swollen clit, rolling his tongue over the bud thoroughly for the first time in over two years. Carnal lust took over, and Gale immediately became a feral animal who’d just been offered a proper supper for the first time after only having had scraps from the trash bin: he couldn’t bring himself to savor it after starving for so long. Gale moaned and it vibrated against Fallon’s body, and she wished that she could reach out and grip his head to bring his face as close to her as possible, if only for something to hold on to. Gale certainly didn’t need any encouragement to keep going– for this was not the slow, methodical, draw-out-her-orgasm-so-slow-she-might-burst-into-tears version of Gale that she’d often laid with on a bedroll that was absolutely not big enough for two. This Gale lapped at her clit with his tongue and fucked her with his fingers so thoroughly, curving them inside of her with each thrust inward. 

Fallon’s head fell back on the bed as she cried out in pleasure at the attention being returned to her body. When she opened her eyes, she saw Astarion watching the scene before him carefully, his eyes darkened with carnal lust as he watched the way Gale devoured Fallon’s cunt, and the way she reacted to it. Fallon saw Astarion’s hand twitch at his side, like he was considering stuffing it in his pants to touch himself, but he held back. Likely because he knew there would be something better if he could wait a little longer. Astarion reached for Fallon’s leg, and brought it over Gale’s shoulder, the new angle allowing Gale’s fingers to go deliciously deeper inside of her. Fallon moaned again and her legs quaked as the orgasm Astarion previously robbed her of came careening back down the tracks at breakneck speed.

“Astarion, if you’re waiting for–” Fallon started to tease Astarion for taking his time, but the fact that she could still speak only spurned Gale forward and he doubled down on his efforts, eager to leave her breathless. Despite her warning, Astarion still took his time. He held Fallon’s leg up and brought his lips to the inside of her ankle, leaving a tender kiss. He moved next to her calf, then the inside of her knee, slowly working his way to her thigh. He knew Fallon too well– the second he bit her, she was probably going to cum, and Fallon scowled at him when he looked up at her while his lips grazed her skin.

Astarion found the spot on her inner thigh he was looking for, and he bit down. Within seconds of the sharp pain of Astarion’s fangs breaking her skin, Fallon moaned so loudly it echoed off the walls of the tower. Fallon felt her orgasm coat Gale’s fingers, mouth, beard, and the sheets beneath them as she climaxed, strength of it causing her to writhe with pleasure so strongly that Astarion and Gale had to actively use their free arms to hold her in place. Neither of them pulled away until they were certain her high had come to an end, and as Fallon struggled against her restraints try and prop herself up on her elbows (and failing) she looked at Astarion and Gale with a wild look in her eyes, and she was certain she’d never seen either of them look as pleased with themselves as they did in that moment. 

Astarion swiped the blood slowly trickling down her leg with his finger, licking it clean as he climbed off of Gale so the other man could sit up. “Did you know you could do that?” Astarion asked curiously with a grin, observing the absolute mess Fallon made on the sheets. It was certainly messier than any orgasm Fallon had had before, with either of the men sitting between her spread legs, and she shook her head. “It’s amazing what happens when the two of you work together. Who knew?” She teased, winking at them.

“I don’t think we’ve properly satisfied her, Astarion. She can still form coherent sentences.” Gale looked at Astarion with a devious grin, his face still coated with her slick, as he reached between Fallon’s legs and brushed his thumb across her over-stimulated clit. Fallon whimpered, her body shaking slightly in response and she tugged fruitlessly at her restraints again. 

“So it seems. We should do something about that.” Astarion agreed. 

“I want you to fuck me,” Fallon blurted out and their heads snapped back to her, nudging Astarion with her foot so they who she was referring to. Then she looked at Gale. “I want him to fuck me, and I want you to watch.”

“Would you like that, darling?” Astarion asked as he stared at Fallon, his voice almost giddy with anticipation at the idea.

Fallon nodded her head. “I’ve been thinking about it ever since Gale told me he overheard us at the inn in Daggerford.” 

Astarion looked at Gale in surprise. “Did you, now?”

Gale swallowed, nodding his head as he reached down to adjust his cock inside of his pants, clearly straining uncomfortably against the fabric. “Truth be told, I’ve also been thinking about it since I overheard you.” He admitted with a breathy laugh.

“Take off your pants, and come sit by me, Gale. Untie me while you’re at it,” Fallon requested, her tone was a little more desperate than she would have liked, but part of her was still remembering how to breathe after the explosive orgasm she’d just had, so all decorum had gone out the window.

Gale did as he was told, untying her first before fidgeting with the laces on his pants and pushing them down to his ankles, kicking them off as he went. His thick cock sprung free and Fallon’s mouth watered . She’d forgotten how nice Gale’s dick was, and she immediately wanted to throw her own plan away and put his dick in her mouth. That was for another day, though. Astarion removed his own pants and climbed up the bed towards Fallon. As soon as Astarion’s dick was within reach, Fallon wrapped her hand around his shaft and began pumping her hand along it dutifully with a satisfied grin on her face at being able to use her hands again. Astarion’s head dropped down onto her shoulder as he shuddered and moaned, at her touch. His mouth temporarily found her neck before reaching her mouth and kissing her passionately.

“On your knees, darling.” Astarion muttered assertively against Fallon’s lips and she moaned softly, fully understanding what her vampire intended to do. Fallon kissed Astarion once more before releasing his cock from her grasp and rolling over onto her stomach. Fallon made direct eye contact with Gale as she positioned herself on her hands and knees, spreading her legs so Astarion could insert himself between them. Gale’s hand was already loosely wrapped around his stiff cock, stroking it idly as he watched the scene before him unfold with wide eyes. Fallon could feel the mattress shifting beneath her as Astarion settled behind her, and soon she felt two fingers slide inside of her, eliciting a moan from both Fallon and Gale. 

“Astarion, I need you.” Fallon whined, and she heard the vampire laugh lightly from behind her as he fingered her slowly. Deeply. It felt good, but it wasn’t enough. She needed Astarion to fill her more than she needed air in her lungs.  

“I was just making sure you’re prepared, my love.” He teased, and Fallon shook her head. 

“I’m always prepared, now please , just fuck me .” Fallon pressed her hips back towards Astarion encouragingly.

Astarion laughed again, but did as he was told and removed his fingers from within her. “She’s a needy little thing, isn’t she? So eager to have a cock deep inside of her.” He mused, addressing Gale, and the sorcerer nodded.

“Yes, I do recall that about her,” Gale agreed, a smug smirk on his face and Fallon pouted. “Give her what she wants, Astarion. She did ask rather nicely.”

Fallon huffed in response and she felt Astarion positioning his cock at her entrance, his head just barely brushing it teasingly. “Show us exactly how you touched yourself when you were eavesdropping, and I’ll show you exactly how I fucked her.”

Gale’s grip on his cock tightened as he began to stroke himself, and all three of them moaned as Astarion finally slid home, pushing himself deep inside of Fallon until he was buried to the hilt. Thankfully, Astarion’s patience had run out, and he didn’t make Fallon wait before beginning to thrust into her with a steady rhythm. Though his broad hands rested on her hips as an anchor, his grip was not so tight that Fallon could not move, and soon she was rocking her hips back and forth, meeting Astarion thrust for thrust so he fucked her even deeper than before. The moans leaving her mouth were endless as Astarion moved inside of her, and though Fallon wanted to close her eyes and just enjoy the pleasure, she forced herself to keep them open so she could watch Gale. 

The sorcerer’s eyelids were heavy as he watched the two of them, and Fallon noticed that he was stroking his thick cock in time with Astarions thrusts as the vampire fucked her. Gale’s body  had relaxed a bit more as well, his free arm resting lightly on his stomach as he leaned back against the many pillows, his legs spread a little further apart. Just far enough apart that if Astarion and Fallon were a foot closer to Gale, she could easily lean forward and wrap her mouth around Gale’s cock and suck him off while Astarion fucked her. It was certainly an idea, one she had every intention of exploring at a later time, but right now? This was exactly what she wanted. 

“Like what you see, sorcerer?” Astarion goaded as he reached forward to wrap his fingers through Fallon’s unbound dark hair and pull her upwards by it to kiss her neck. The delicious new angle had Fallon moaning loudly, and she reached between her legs to caress her aching clit now that her hands were free. Fallon turned her head as far as she could and nudged the side of Astarion’s face with her nose encouraging him to kiss her. Astarion obliged, kissing her fiercely as he began to fuck her harder.

“Gods, you’re beautiful .” Gale moaned as he began pumping his cock faster, and Fallon honestly was not sure if he was referring to her, Astarion, or the both of them together. Either way, Gale’s voice was absolutely wrecked, and when Fallon pulled out of her kiss with Astarion to look at Gale, she could see the pre-cum dribbling down the head of his cock. It was obvious Gale was close, Fallon knew she was close, and if the frantic way his hips were moving was any indication, Astarion was close, too. 

Astarion’s hand covered Fallon’s at the apex of her thighs and he pushed her hand away, his deft fingers taking over atop Fallon’s clit where she’d left off, and her body shook as she reached back behind her to card her fingers through Astarion’s curls. He planted a kiss on her shoulder. “That’s it, darling, show Gale how pretty you are when you cum for me.”

Fallon locked eyes with Gale. The sorcerer was biting down on his lip, hard, and the way he whimpered when Fallon looked at him with desperation could only mean one thing: Gale was trying to wait for Fallon to orgasm first, before allowing himself to climax, and his restraint was greatly waning. “ Please .” He managed to choke out, and that was all it took to send Fallon careening over the edge as she came with both Astarion and Gale’s names on her tongue as her body shuddered. Within seconds of the start of Fallon’s peak, Fallon and Astarion were treated to the sight of Gale cumming in his hand so violently that the long ribbons of semen burst from his cock with enough force to land on Gale’s chest, and a few drops even made their way to Gale’s beard. That was enough for Astarion, and the vampire found his own completion with the shout of an expletive, almost as though the intensity of his orgasm took him by surprise. 

When they were all spent and panting, it was only then that Fallon eased herself off of Astarion’s cock and crawled up the bed towards Gale. Though she had every intention of licking the spunk right off of his body to clean Gale off, the sorcerer was one step ahead of her and with a wave of his hand, the mess disappeared. Fallon smirked as she settled onto the bed beside Gale, resting her head on the pillow next to him. “Neat trick.” She teased. Gale only chuckled in response before leaning forward to press a kiss to the crown of Fallon’s head and turn on his side to wrap an arm around her. 

Astarion followed behind Fallon and took the spot on the other side of her, and a giddy smile spread on her face as the vampire wrapped his arm around her as he kissed her shoulder. “I think it’s safe to say you’ve properly atoned.” Fallon teased them both as she grabbed both of their arms and pulled them closer to her. Gale and Astarion happily obliged, moving inward until there was very little space separating the three of them at all.

“Thank you both for this whole day,” She turned her head towards Astarion and kissed him deeply. “I’m a very lucky woman to be so loved by two wonderful people.” She turned her head to Gale next and kissed him with an equal amount of emotion. 

“Please, we’re the lucky ones.” Astarion scoffed. 

“I have to agree–not many people would offer us the level of grace and forgiveness you’ve provided us with, despite everything. Though I don’t think I can call you a saint, unless you feel like devoting yourself to Sune, because she might be the only deity that would call what just occurred in this bedroom holy –”

“Hey, I’m not the only person in this bed to blame for that!” Fallon laughed, pouting playfully. 

“But if I were ever asked to nominate someone for a holy title, you would be the first person to come to mind. May we never give you a reason to need to extend such grace and forgiveness a second time.” Gale smiled at her sincerely, and Fallon felt a wave of emotion rush through her. 

For the first time in two years, laying between her vampire and her sorcerer, she felt completely whole.

Chapter List

[navree]

Jonah Magnus

ugh number one guy, enough of sam trying to find out about martin blackwood and helen richardson and more research of the magnus institute involving research of jonah fucking magnus, also he just needs to return to me at once, i miss him dearly

How I feel about this character: I really like him. A fair amount of that comes from the fact that I've always had a natural affinity for villains and also that Ben Meredith's performance was just really good and I appreciated that. But I just enjoy him, I've always enjoyed villainous characters who are unapologetic in their villainy and aren't in a constant moral quandary about their bad deeds, and Jonah really just has no problem with any of the objectionable acts he does. I like his villainous traits, that he's duplicitous and manipulative and a bit sadistic (he didn't need to go that hard against Martin or Melanie, he did that because he wanted to), I like that he has his own agenda that he works at no matter what and no matter who it hurts, and I like that there are layers to him. 102 is one of my all time favorite episodes because we get to see things like Jonah having some kind of consideration (mild though it is) for other people, his curiosity, his enjoyment at things when he feels it unbridled, his sense of humor, and beyond that, Jonah is clearly not just a determined and driven individual, but there is some interiority in themes of choice, creation, and transformation intrinsic to the very nature of how Jonah extended his life the way he did. I dig him, he's real neat, he's legit my second favorite character in the show. Plus, when he snaps, he snaps, that's always so much fun (one hit would have killed Leitner and Martin and Melanie would have both been cowed with far less, but when Jonah gets mad he gets vicious and violent and that's why he pulverizes Leitner's head and goes way farther with torturing people who've irritated him and it's really fun that he has that side that just kinda loses it when pushed, I love it).

All the people I ship romantically with this character: I do actually ship Jonelias, it's an interesting dynamic and i wish it had been explored more post season 3. I also enjoy all of Jonah's romances that he definitely had with, like, every member of his original squad back when he still was Jonah Magnus. But number one OTP is always gonna be Lonelyeyes, andnot even in a meme way. Like I genuinely enjoy them as a couple, I have a LOT of thoughts on how that went on and what they meant to each other in the grand schemes, and I wholeheartedly believe there was emotional investment from Jonah's part (there kinda has to be, because Peter by nature isn't gonna be actively pursuing anything except potential victims, certainly not romantic partners). I have a post about this somewhere, but Peter is also the only person who has died in Jonah Magnus's ten million lifetimes that can be laid squarely at his feet. Anyone else who dies was likely gonna die around the same time in similar circumstances even without his involvement, but Peter, assuming he and og!Elias were the same age (which I do) is the only one who dies because of Jonah's actions and nothing else, if only because he's in his, like, mid-forties, and I can't pass up the thematic richness of someone who was so afraid of death he found a way to legit not have to deal with having a lover who dies well before his time as a sole result of your involvement in his life. I'm heavily invested in them as a couple, I could talk about it for days, not just because Jonahlias is my second favorite character and Peter Lukas is legit my fave.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: I know it's not canon but given my issues with season 5 I can elect to ignore it, I like imagining him and Rosie as buds and her as someone who doesn't take his shit and them just vibing (was always big into Web!Rosie or even just Eye!Rosie as long as she was specifically into just observing). To me, they just spent season 2 staring at the Archives and being judgy while sharing a coffee.

My unpopular opinion about this character: Again, I like villains, I don't mind Jonah as an out and out villain, but I think I preferred what we were getting out of him in season 3 than the turn to big bad. Like, season 3 Jonah seems to operate honestly similarly to Gertrude on a wider scale. He wants to stop Rituals, by whatever means necessary. And he wants to keep control over the Institute, his center of power, and is willing to do whatever necessary to keep it as well, and has no problems being cruel or awful in the process. And he has different motives for ending Rituals than Gertrude does, clearly, because he's not a very good person, but I just prefer that kind of grey/neutral affinity, regardless of him personally being bad or evil, and that role that he was playing. It was more fun for me, and I think it had more creative potential for Jonah as a character while still keeping him in a sort of villainous personality, which as I've said, I love. Also I think that all non-Elias enjoyers need the word "capitalism" taken away from them and they can only have it back when they prove they understand wtf they're talking about because a lot of the critiques are not only weird but straight up inaccurate to the character and don't make sense. Not gonna elaborate much on it too because I have a post about it already on my blog in some detail, but another major unpopular opinion of mine is that Jonah, specifically Jonah, was not seen as a bad boss or hated by wider employees at all, canonically, it's only Tim that starts turning on him in season 2 because of his issues and everyone else only hops on board after he legit reveals that he killed someone in cold blood and framed their coworker for it, they liked him as a boss and thought he was good this is literally canon even if it's an unpopular opinion.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: That he shows tf up in TMAGP. Like, where is he? I'm pretty sure he's involved in the computers, because "jmj errors" are not actually a thing and very specifically for this show, and it makes sense that the three people in the Panopticon in 200 were the ones transported to the computers, but that's TMA!Jonah. There was a Jonah from this show's universe too, one that created the Magnus Institute and very obviously had plans, even if they diverged from what we know. And I don't think the fire at the Institute, stopped him, so where is he? Can he show up? God I hope he does, and if he doesn't I still have a draft of something that I might write down eventually.

[quohotos]

Okay so there are some things I really miss about reddit...

You don't really miss it until it's gone, but (at least using a third party app) it was really easy and immediate to control exactly what you saw. The process of blocking a tag on tumblr is a little bit clunky. I have to go into a sub menu in the settings and then type out the tag I can't just right click and filter it out.

It's really difficult to modulate how much horny content you want to engage with here. I don't think reddit users were any more or less horny than tumblr users, I just think it was easier to keep the separated. Obviously everyone's experience is different, but it was really easy to feel out the tone of a community and sort them into categories of horny and not horny. When something was a little risque or inappropriate it was very easy for the poster or moderator to mark it as such. I felt safe browsing reddit on my laptop in class because I knew that as long as I didn't click on anything marked as such I wasn't gonna get any weird looks from the person behind me. I'm not trying to be puritanical about the morality of horny content or anything like that, I just liked being able to very clearly chose how much of it I wanted to engage with. If I wanted to seek it out, it was easy to find, but it wouldn't come to me when I wasn't asking for it. Maybe with time and experience I'll figure out how to do that here, but it's still something I miss.

The third party app that I used didn't render profile pictures. I thought it was pretty neat to not have much of an identity. Idk, I'm a shy jealous person and seeing all these pretty talented people is very intimidating. I didn't mind being a nobody when it felt like everyone else was a nobody.

I do not know where to find the good memes here. I'm sure they exist, but I don't know where they are. There were just some amazing injoke shitpost subs that I really vibed with and I haven't found out an equivalent here.

I thought of some more things so I've edited them in

I miss having an easy distinction between NSFW blur and spoiler blur. It made discussing media so much safer, I felt like I could participate in am evolving discussion without risking ruining the surprises. You could also use it creatively for memes, like making osha violations be tagged as NSFW and blurred so you'd click on it expecting to see some ass but instead it's like dude standing on a swivel chair.

Putting tags (well, they were called flairs, and you could only have one) up front on a post was so nice. When talking about a show I could immediately see what seasons were being discussed before even reading the title. It could also serve as a hint about what was actually behind a spoiler/NSFW blur. The tags on tumblr are so much fun, and are very versetile but I feel like they're an addendum to the actual post content, whereas reddit flairs were a heads up.

On the whole though, people have been nice and helpful here, and I'm really grateful for that. Hopefully I'll learn to adapt and feel as at home here as I was there... but man I just keep staring at my dash and thinking "you're not my real dad".

[poswiecenia]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER. REPOST, DO NOT REBLOG !!

NAME: da name is miles. sometimes called kilometers as a joke , ive had the alias satan before ( stemming from the hetalia rpc from all things , we don't talk about that era ) and uh. yeah ? milays. a single mile. 

PRONOUNS: he / they baybee. 

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION: usually discord but if i would rather keep distance until i can figure if we can get some dynamics going it'll likely be through the tags of posts or tumblr im's. 

NAME OF MUSE(s): man. looks at my roster. c'mon now LOL. go here to find out but my main braincell has lumine in it thank u

BEST EXPERIENCE: thinking emoji. probably running into jamey and those currently in my affiliates and developing various oc's and interconnecting plots and stuff that have found their way to the dash itself. its been super uber fun thank u.

RP PET PEEVES / DEALBREAKERS:

honesty when it comes to communication if something isn't a vibe to write anymore. it doesn't save fact not to say anything , it just makes situations even more dire or worse since it begins to pent up and then explode into something really bad. just be honest with what you do wanna write vs what you don't wanna write anymore. while yeah it might upset some people .. lack of communication isn't a price to pay for losing friendships or wild shit going down.

singleshipping. i can't due to trauma. and those who give the vibes that my muse interpretation is theirs and only there's but in a way that makes it uncomfortable ? miss me with that, thanks.

MUSE PREFERENCES: those that have gone through shit but are still able to be kind in some capacity even though it would've been understandable to see them crack and be cruel. characters with morally gray morals and don't see the world as a black and white slate. muses that are also full of sunshine and are innocent and haven't gone through the world to ruin that for them. characters that have a position of power or have immense power themselves and will do anything in their power to keep others safe. sad dads. old men who are tired.

PLOTS OR MEMES:  to begin things i'm usually partial to memes to get things going just due to my own braincell being unsure just yet but once things get going and im like waow this is super cool and will work . . plots fr. both are good and fun but something tickles when i can plot af.

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES: both. sometimes i wanna just do itty bitty meme responses and sometimes im totes down to clown with long form replies that are 1k words long or smth.

BEST TIME TO WRITE: honestly whenever. late in the afternoon into the evening sometimes flies more but its very ??? just dependent on my mood ig. sometimes i'll write 4 things then take a nap for 6 hours and then write 4 more LOL. 

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S):  some of my muses i kinda place bits of my brain into but uh ??? probably my oc's im most like bc i put pieces of my hopes into them. but beyond that idk i don't think any single muse i write is like. super like me 100%.

tagged by: @glacialswordsman + @aguilareye ( thank u guyyyyys :3 ) tagging: @draconicfool, @dawnbrst, @fckurselfie + anyone else who wanna.

[libroseitm]

I'm feeling kinda down lately, I'm sure I'm not the only one.

SO. Battle jackets on! I'm going to drum up some positivity for myself and pop it on here in case it helps anybody else too.

First I'm going to look at the last week of ofmd daily recaps from the wonderful and sensational @gentlebeardsbarngrill. I'd recommend looking back at these too, Abby does such an amazing job and they're great for a moral boost!

From these, I've seen in the last week alone:

.The trending tags we've caught: Rhys x3, Stede, Ed and Stede, #MerStedeMonday, #OurflagBBC, OurFlagMeansDeath x2, BOYFRIENDS.

.OFMD was mentioned or written about in 17 articles.

That's utterly insane and ya'll should be PROUD that we're still being so loud, and that we're still still being talked about. Articles don't get written for the lols, they get written for views. So clearly people think OFMD is still news worthy and that's hyping me the fuck up right now.

Next I'm looking at the simple things that I've done, and that I've seen other people do. These are things that help boost our numbers and moral, so if you've done any of these this week, give yourself a big ol' horse pat on the back:

.Watched OFMD

.Used the hashtags

.Talked to a friend

.Been silly in the Tumblr tags

.Made something (meme, fanart, crochet, fanfiction, a joke etc)

.Commenting on or kudosing a fanfiction

I've mostly been on twitter for campaign reasons. Here's some of the wonderful fanart I've seen that has been made in the last week alone:

Roach if he had stayed on the revenge in Kraken era

Mer!Ed finding a message in a bottle from Stede

Ed wearing the bird robe, lovingly smoochin' Stede

Ed cradling Stede's face inspired by the BTS underwater scene

Captain Frenchie updating Seagull!Buttons on the latest gos

As a last lil' boost, here are the gentlebeard fanfics I've recently read that I can highly recommend:

let me wash your worries away by anathxmadevice (checkmate)

.1,985 words .Mature

Stede is very overstimulated after a long weekend and unusre about what he wants. Ed helps him through in an intimate shower scene. The fic focusses on self-care and not fucking, for once in Ed and Stede's life. I'm obssessed with it.

Tooth Hurty by nomandsland

.2,538 words .Mature

Ed goes to the dentist with a cracked tooth. He's uncomfortable at the dentist's but get's horny about it this time around because his dentist is hot. I laughed all the way through this one :'D

but if I'm all dressed up (they might as well be looking at us) by mediocrepirate

.5,159 words .Explicit

This fic is delicious- plain and simple. Ed and Stede are at an awards event for Ed's music (yeah, he's a rockstar keep up). They're more than a little riled up and shenangans ensue. Mediocrepirate's writing is just exquisite and you are missing out if you haven't read at least one of their fics.

When life gives you lemons by anathxmadevice (checkmate)

.6,627 words .Explicit

Ed is enjoying, or at least trying to enjoy, retired life in the quiet town of Revenge. Life gets way more interesting when he discovers a lemonade stand, or rather, dicovers that lemonade stand kid has a hot dad. It's delightful, endearing and funny!

sunflowers in the kitchen by daydreamcrash

.7,2777 words .Explicit

Ed and Stede have a marriage kink. No seriously. Very funny, very hot, and gloriously domestic.

and the songbirds are singing like they know the score by mediocrepirate

.3,789 words .Teen and up

Stede takes care of Ed, focussing on non sexual intimacy. Did I mention that Mediocrepirates writing is wonderful already? Well I'm saying it again. This fic is so beautiful it HURTS.

[alexjcrowley]

Hey I just want to know something: am I the stupidest person on the planet or the f1 fandom is built differently?

Everytime I go on a social media to look up f1 content I see cute/horny (let's be honest) edits and everybody calling the drivers pookie or making memes. And that's alright, I guess.

I most definitely know that a bunch of (mostly white) men in a very competitive male-dominated sport rooted more than many others in capitalism are probably going to have scandals around them. I am not that dumb. I also know that because probably none of them is scandal-free and people who get crushes/hyperfixation on them just learn to live with them, but I didn't think they just...ignored them? Swept them under the rug? Let me explain.

When I so much as stumble on a TikTok with a song by The 1975 or McCafferty- or hell even Lovejoy recently- I see comments flooding with "bUt DoN't YoU kNoW tHeY'rE pRoBlEmAtIC?". Same happened with content about cinema or books. And on Tumblr happens less but still happens. As soon as you mention something that has ties with sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. people will soon point it out to you. Maybe because they're some of those people with the obsession of only consuming "morally pure" content, maybe they genuinely want to inform you, maybe they fucking hate that song/book/movie and want to give YOU a reason to dislike it.

But can someone tell me if I'm fucking dumb and I managed to stumble in the wrong part of instagram/tumblr/TikTok or NOBODY fucking talks about the shit some drivers have done? Because I am stumbling on a LOT of shit done by drivers I really liked lately even though I have been interested in F1 for a while now. Not too long, but enough that I think I would have heard some stuff.

Like, if I spent like 6 months on the hashtag of Guy Who Drives, why am I now finding out that they said something really discriminatory? I am just confused, I simply thought it would have popped out sooner, but apparently it was buried under 500+ posts about their abs? Like what?

I get that anyway it's not like you can cancel a driver, no matter what shit they say they'll probably still going to be racing the next weekend, but why people don't talk about it? Was my socials' fault for showing me horny posts everytime I simply looked up the name of a guy or do people don't talk about this stuff in the f1 community because "what are you gonna do anyway"?

I am leaning towards the second option because there are a few things that happened while I was already watching f1 (not in order: Lando's comments about, Trump, Hornergate, most drivers saying Hornergate was just noise) and at first people were talking about it but then they just...stopped? Like, I don't know, personally the words of disenterest many drivers expressed about Hornergate made me change my opinion about them at least a little and people seemed so outraged at first but now...it's like it never happened. Everybody back thirsting on main for Ricciardo, Norris, etc.

Genuine question, is the general response of the f1 community to these behaviours "forgive and forget in time of the next gp"? Am I missing something? I don't think they should be crucified but why I have not seen more people talking about this stuff? The "serious sport bunch" seems to be uninterested in "gossip" or whatever happens outsid the tracks, the good old fashioned fandom is writing fanfiction/making edits/funny posts, who keeps tracks of this stuff?

I have never been interested in a sport before. In the artistic world (cinema, literature, etc.) some scandals can get you out of a job and a long lasting hatred from the community. In motorsports, because the success of a driver does not depend from his fans' engagement but can be "objectively proved" by results and victories, do people just...make peace with the fact that some athletes are pieces of shit?

I want to specify it one more time, I am NOT saying LET'S CANCEL ALL THE DRIVERS AND BOO THEM BECAUSE THEY HAVE DONE SOMETHING QRONG AT SOME POINT, I am asking:

how do you deal when an athlete you cheer for does something really fucked up, and you know other athletes in the same field are no saints?