#this isn't an obvious answer to the prompt but! I love movies and I love byler so this is how I did that lmfao

[emblazons]

MIKE & WILL x 80s MOVIE REFERENCES

Day Two of @bylerweek2023: 80s Films ⤷ visual references from 80s films + byler emphasis

[umeumeumee]

𝐀𝐓𝐋𝐀 & 𝐋𝐨𝐊 𝐎𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭 , 𝐡𝐜 & 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨 (𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭!)

ᥫ᭡ i was thinking.. since i am doing an event for james cameron avatar movies I & II , why not do the original avatar, as well as LoK? <3

ᥫ᭡ requests are open, characters + (some) prompts are listed below, feel free to request your own prompt/ideas/scenario’s and i will be more than happy to write it!!

(୭౿ fluff / ᡣ𐭩 angst)

♥︎ - romance・★ - platonic・📥 - request・🗓️ - most recent

ᥫ᭡ RULES AND GUIDELINES ೃ༄

rules are simple, please follow<3 love u!

I don't get to answering requests as often as I used to, so if i don't answer your request for a couple months don't worry, i will most likely get to it! If i don't ever answer your request, it probably accidentally got deleted so feel free to request it again!

things like Abuse, manipulation, references to sexual themes and mentions of gore will absolutely not be found on my blog.

They are tiggers for some people so it is an avoidance!

im not super selective with my requests, but I will only do the ones that i find i have motivation for- because i want to give you guys good fics!!

please do not copy, translate, transfer, or claim any of my work! If you would like to, please ask me. If i say yes, please give me credit.

WILLS ; Fem! reader, Fem! Character, male! character troupes; bffs to lovers, enemies to lovers, etc. Fluff, Angst, Hurt/comfort

WONTS ; Incest r/pe p3dophilia, male! reader poly relationships, e/him pronouns for reader, pregnancy

ᥫ᭡ CHARACTERS ೃ༄

ATLA

༊*·˚ princess azula

oneshots

only you - princess azula x fem! earthbender! reader📥 , ♥︎

red lipstick stains - princess azula x fem! maid! reader 📥 , ♥︎ , 🗓️

balance - azula x fem! waterbender! princess! reader 📥 , ♥︎ , (coming soon!)

turtle ducks - princess azula x fem! reader 📥 , ♥︎ , (coming soon!)

show off! - princess azula x fem! reader 📥 , ♥︎ , (coming soon!)

headcannons

༊*·˚ toph beifong

oneshots

whispers in the dark - toph beifong x fem! firebender! reader 📥 , ᡣ𐭩 , 🗓️

seriously? - toph beifong x fem! non!bender! reader 📥 , ♥︎ , (coming soon!)

past, but not future - toph beifong x fem! firebender! reader 📥 , ♥︎ , (coming soon!)

the only one i see - toph beifong x fem! waterbender! reader 📥 , ♥︎ , (coming soon!)

by your side - toph beifong x fem! nonbender! reader 📥 , ♥︎ , (coming soon!)

headcannons

༊*·˚ katara

oneshots

heartless - katara x fem! reader 📥 , ♥︎ , ᡣ𐭩 (coming soon!)

headcannons

༊*·˚ prince / fire lord zuko

oneshots

the unfamiliarity of a gentle flame - prince zuko x fem! airbender! reader 📥 , ♥︎ , (coming soon!)

promise - prince zuko x fem! reader 📥 , ♥︎ , (coming soon!)

headcannons

༊*·˚ suki

oneshots

my kind of woman - suki x fem! reader 📥 , ♥︎ , (coming soon!)

headcannons

༊*·˚ sokka

oneshots

headcannons

༊*·˚ ty lee

oneshots

headcannons

༊*·˚ mai

oneshots

headcannons

TLoK

༊*·˚ avatar korra

oneshots

headcannons

༊*·˚ asami sato

oneshots

headcannons

༊*·˚ bolin

oneshots

headcannons

༊*·˚ mako

oneshots

headcannons

༊*·˚ lin beifong

oneshots

headcannons

༊*·˚ kya

oneshots

headcannons

༊*·˚ kuvira

oneshots

headcannons

ᥫ᭡ SOME (ROMANTIC) PROMPT IDEAS ೃ༄

of course, these are only some prompts. You can request headcannons you want and also scenarios! once again, request are open!!

"i can't pretend anymore."

"you need to know that i have grown to care for you. deeply."

"i've loved you since the moment i first laid my eyes on you."

"you deserve to know."

"it's you. it's always been you."

"are you really so oblivious?"

"there isn't anything that i wouldn't do for you."

"I was made to love you."

“I cannot bare to be apart from you anymore."

"please. please just listen to me."

"don't make me say it. i can't say the words."

"you are all i can think about."

"'I can't fathom the idea of my life without you in it."

"i dream of you. all i do, is dream of you."

"i am so very in love with you."

"is it so obvious how infatuated i am?"

"for years i have yearned for you, in secrecy and silence."

"we have just met and yet it feels like i have known you for a lifetime."

“you are everything. everything."

"it hurts me, just how much i ache for you."

"i don't know if i can't bring myself to speak it."

"I know that this is not what you want to hear..."

"after everything you've done, i still love you. with all i am."

"it's true."

"i cannot stand you, and yet i also cannot stand to be away from you."

[flightfoot]

ML Movie Musing:

I think some folks might have missed how very different the solution to Marinette's problems in the movie are meant to be. It's not a poor take on the same answer, it's a different answer. The movie understates a lot by choice and that is whiplash from the series.

Movie!Marinette is not helped through unconditional support and praise(the general throughline of the show) We see her get this early on from Alya in the 'failure montage'. Alya is always there at every moment supporting her unironically and enthusiastically. It doesn't help.

Marinette improves in the movie by being given support..but with a push. Tikki being the first and obvious one. She's seen what Marinette can do, so after the classic pep talk she pushes her out the door. How does Marinette respond? Her first dose of sarcasm and biting back (what's next, a tea set?)

She meets Cat Noir and he's ostentatious, theatrical, and teasing (she does start the teasing first, so many miss that... Granted he is being a goofball and deserves it a little) but he *is* still supportive in it all. He's not telling her sh's a failure or to go home. It's 'stick with me.' and much like with Fu we see how when things get serious she is able to pull through.

Tikki not letting her throw Ladybug away(but eventually leaving her alone) is so strong. It's 'I won't let you fail yourself' love. When it comes to the second transformation Tikki doesn't give her any of the support from the first time. It's just the naked truth 'You must face your fears' and Marinette is the one who makes that choice.

By the 'third'(highlighted) transformation Marinette, who has been questioning herself after being delt a serious blow, still makes the choice to suit up without prompting. She *has* grown. In the fact of Mega-Moth, she does need a little boost(it's a kids movie a little on the nose repeating is fine)

She faces the very reasonable 'I am a fleshy human' fear to save Cat Noir.

And we get at the end her facing her fears *again* with Adrien(I love how they show her being afraid without actually saying it out loud)

The movie makes a point that this is what this Marinette needed. A partner, not a cheerleader. She needed someone(two someones) who challenged her but did so from a place of caring. It helped her push through and come to terms with fear existing but still doing what needs to be done.

I just really liked the difference/nuance there. It would have been so easy to have the standard 'There's nothing to fear/don't be afraid' message. That it was willing to say 'Yeah, you will be afraid. You can't let fear control you though.' is fun.

(and it loops back to how Marinette is literally avoiding people trying to be nice to her in her opening song. The fear dominates her. (Hence Cat Noir's 'Failure isn't your enemy, your fear is')

Just had to gush, rewatched recently

I didn't like the movie as much as you did, but this is an interesting point. The movie sticks more with pushing Marinette outside of her comfort zone and allowing her to see that she's able to swim, rather than providing more traditional support.

[semperama]

Sorry I didn't get to send this earlier! But thank you for filling my Daniel/Josh prompt yesterday! You don't have to publish this ask if you don't feel like it, but I wanted to let you know that I love daydreaming about Josh's perspective in both "On the fifty yard line" and the drabble you wrote! I love how you can tell through your writing that Josh is grateful for the 3 hit rule when he initially enters the ring with Daniel, because fighting these smaller guys always makes Josh feel scummy! But then his opponent is looking like he is thriving fighting Josh; So maybe Josh, like Daniel, is wishing this fight would last a bit longer.

Thank you so much, anon. <3 I feel bad now, because I ended up deleting the fic, but I just wanted to let you know it's not your fault. I'm just going through a really hard time right now, and today was a particularly rough day, and having that out there and feeling like it was not resonating was making me feel worse. I'm republishing it here under the cut for you in case you didn't have it saved though, because I don't want it to be gone for you. <33 I really appreciate this message. It helped me a lot to read. Thank you so, so much. <33

"You don't actually have to fight if you don't want to," Scotty says in his ear as they walk in, the miasma of salt and copper hitting Daniel like a physical thing. "It's not like the movies."

It's pretty much like the movies though--an abandoned warehouse, men stripped to the waist, glistening skin and rippling muscles. The floor is sticky beneath Daniel's feet. The air is humid from all the overheated bodies, and it makes Daniel want to shed his own shirt, whether he's fighting or not.

"But is the first rule still, 'Don't talk about fight club?'" Daniel asks. Scotty's eye roll is answer enough. The first fight they see ends in a guy stumbling out of the ring to puke in a dirty bucket. By the end of the second, Daniel is bouncing on the balls of his feet, hands flexing at his sides. He never planned on just watching, not since Scotty first told him about this place, but now that he's actually here, his curiosity has become a physical necessity, an itch between his shoulder blades, a tugging in his gut.

"I want next," he tells Scotty. "How do I--?"

The corner of Scotty's mouth lifts, like he knew this would happen, but fuck it, Daniel will have a meltdown about being too obvious later. He lets himself be dragged by the arm over to a swarthy man clutching a dirty sheet of paper and a stub of a pencil, and then his name is on the list.

The "ring" is really just a circle surrounded by men, the boundaries of which seem to be marked by the light thrown by one of the few working light bulbs in this place. Ten minutes and two fights later, Daniel shoves his balled-up t-shirt into Scotty's hand and steps into that circle.

He should feel stupid and small and scared looking at the man who steps out across from him--a man who's a full head taller than him, with broad shoulders and a wingspan for days. Instead, he feels relief. This isn't going to be easy. Good.

The man--Josh, the barker says--steps forward, and his hand engulfs Daniel's, making Daniel's stomach swoop. His smile is strangely kind, and he says, "Sorry," like he's done something wrong. Like Daniel didn't sign up for this. Like he didn't want it. Daniel can only shake his head. His throat is full of rocks. His vision is tunneling already, narrowing down to just Josh, only Josh. Someone puts a hand in Daniel chest, pushing him back, pushing Josh back too, and then--

Daniel dodges the first swing instinctively, ducking low under Josh's first jab. Hit me, he thinks as he bounces backward out of reach. Hit me, as if he can will it to happen. His body won't let him take a dive, the instinctive urge to avoid pain too strong, but it's bound to happen eventually. Josh's reach is longer than his. He seems more experienced too, his fists grazing Daniel's ear, his shoulder.

When it does happen, it's perfect. Just what he needed. Josh gets him right in the ribs, under his right pec, and the air whooshes out of him, the impact rattling his teeth. Pain blooms like relief, seeping outward through his chest.

Twice more. Those are the rules. To keep them all from killing each other, first man to land three hits wins.

It won't be enough, Daniel thinks as he skitters away from Josh again. Three won't be nearly enough.

He's grinning, he realizes. Across from him, fists raised and ready, Josh grins back.

[galactic-pirates]

For the Fanfiction Writing ask: 2, 18, 29, and 48, please! 😁

Yay thank you for the ask!

2) Where do you get your fic ideas? Ask me at the time and I'll know. Ask me now and I'm not sure. Some are obvious. Like if there's a specific prompt and then my brain chewed on it and lightning struck boom and it coalesced and came together into something.

As you are a Sanctuary friend let's take some of those fics:

Happy Ending = the song "this is the way that we love / like it's forever / and then live the rest of our lives / but not together" and I was like, make it fluffy. I don't know. I was just coming off writing Our Darkest Hour.

Choosing Fate / Time Will Tell = the tropes. I was like let's do an arranged marriage AU. Pretty sure I was watching Bridgerton at the time as well. And then I wanted to see if I could make Soulmates a trope I could like.

Life Without Purpose = for a Zombies in July event

Gentlemen of Blood = I was given the title, and had to think of a fic to go with it. That Bond quote by M came into my head of "when they say they have people everywhere, you don't expect one to be in the bloody room" plus the Sherlock Holmes movies.

I don't know, does that answer it a bit? My brain is a mess and it just needs prompting for it to spark basically.

18) Do you enjoy research? Which fic of yours required the most research? Nope I'm too lazy. I get easily frustrated. If I can't find the answer quickly I get annoyed. The internet is wonderful and I want to strangulate it sometimes. It's like I know the information must be there, but can I find it? It's no wonder I am drawn more and more to making my own worlds, because then I can just make everything up and don't have to worry about if I'm right or not. I just have to be consistent within my own story.

The aforementioned Happy Ending actually took a surprising amount of research, which to be honest probably ruined the fic because once I had all the stupid marriage details, I had to include them because I had bothered to look them up dammit. Haha, I know, why self? Also Odyssey: Future's Legacy had a lot of history in it and I had to make all the timelines line up. Let me tell you timezones + international travel = headache. I'm pretty sure Warehouse 13 never paid attention to travel times on the actual show but I made everything plausible.

29) What’s something about your writing that you’re proud of? Already answered here :)

48) Who is your favorite character to write for? Has this changed since you’ve started writing for that fandom? This is very close to question 41 (here).

Ok well let's go with Sanctuary fandom. I'm going to go left field and answer with Nigel. Which isn't exactly true but I will explain. Nigel is like the forgotten member of The Five a lot of the time. He's the one that didn't live until the 21st century and the one that isn't romantically linked with Helen. There's very little known about him and I was surprised and delighted as the more I referenced him, the more cohesive he felt in my mind. He got an actual personality, backstory, goals etc. So while Nigel isn't a favourite character, I do enjoy how I developed him.

Bonus question as you had a repeat!

11) Do you write scenes in order, or do you jump around? I'm a very linear writer. I literally can't write out of order. Sometimes this trips me up because I think if I sense that something I have written isn't right (aka the foundation is rocky) then I grind to a halt and stop making progress. Now with fanfic which I never tended to revise that heavily, that's fair enough - I'm not going to do a complete redraft but with original work? Ehhh.

It is generally speaking better to revise a complete draft, to see the entire picture. I can't recall where I first heard the expression but I have applied it to drafting ever since - "there's little point in polishing a turd" - aka, I don't know what I'm going to have to cut until I can look at the whole thing, so don't waste time polishing a scene that might not make it. But yeah getting frozen because I have to be linear, but something isn't right, but I shouldn't waste time fixing it - frustrated mental scream!

Oh another point! I have a friend that exclusively jumps around, I don't think they could write linearly if they tried. I have always wanted to ask them, but haven't dared in case they think I'm judging them (and I'm definitely not!), whether they find foreshadowing/thematic arcs/character emotional journey's etc. harder to write as it's out of order. For me, I can't imagine getting my head round it backwards but clearly people do it, so that's a me problem. But yeah no I have to be linear.

[lexa-griffins]

Hey ! Two questions :

Will you/Did you ever post the fic in which Clarke is a boxer and Lexa her superior on ao3 ?

Also, kinda weird but, will you ever consider writing a gip Lexa and actress Clarke, both porn stars ?

Thanks a lot 😁

Hey!

So, with my masters and being at the lab and nigjt classes, I have had pretty much no time to write. I manage to give a longer answer to asks here and there but unfortunately I have not been writing anything, neither for my existing fics nor new fics :/ either way my ao3 name is Lexa_Griffins if you want to make sure you don't miss it when i do post it! :) I do plan on sitting down and writing it at least as a two shot at some point ☺️

As for the prompt, I think that would be fun! While I am alright writing g!p Lexa, I do not write her as a top - ever. But im thinking for these two up and coming porn actresses to come together (no pun intended) as a duo when a queer production studio calls them both in. Lexa has been dipping her toe into more partenered movies, where before she used to do mostly solo stuff, just her, a dildo that always looks too big to fit her ass and a bullet on her dick. Clarke on the other hand has been dubbed the bi strap queen, making movies with ghe damn thing always on her hips, fucking both men and women alike.

Clarke is one of Lexa's first on screen partners, filled with confidence while Lexa is filled with excitement, having hear nothing but great things about Clarke has an actress and as a scene partner. And I mean from the get go, not only is it obvious the chemistry they have, fucking like the camera isn't even there but also the way they /love/ to fuck each other. Not fully submissive, Lexa adds a teasing element to the role that Clarke responds to naturally, the script nothibg more than a suggestion for these two and the director lets them do their thing. Soon enough, they have movie after movie together, a fan favorite on all sides. And while Clarke continues with her other movies, Lexa seems happy to have found her little niche in the queer production company, between movies with Clarke and solo ones, even if Clarke will sometimes show up to the shoot of those, sometimes behind the scenes, other times participating as she urges Lexa on to fuck herself for her 🤭

I'm not sure if it would be exactly what you want, but I do think it would be a fun idea to write! 🥰

[dilfdoctordoom]

The prompt you got about justice for Peter perfectly illustrates exactly what's wrong with vol 3. The movie focuses on abuse victims getting healing, closure and set on a new path they deserve except Gamora who it blissfully ignores is one of the biggest victims of all.

She's not given multiple scenes to explore how she feels about a family she was robbed of. She's not given any scenes about what it was like to be 9 years in the future, find out her abuser murdered her and that she would have to build a new life while lots of other people know her as a guardian never got to be. Her own struggles are absent in vol 3 and that echoes through the fandom/audience.

You mentioned some people think this is feminist because she doesn't end up with Peter and that's really sad. Being single doesn't equal automatic feminist win and if people's feminism isn't intersectional or taking context into consideration they're doing it wrong. Gamora being loved, supported and fought for by Peter and the rest of the guardians in the other movies was not anti feminism. Especially with her being played by a woc. It's more obvious when you see people absolutely adoring how all of vol 3 is about Rocket getting loved, supported and saved by everyone.

Being sidelined, kept away from regaining her superhero team, having no arc of her own and miniscule representation on merch is also not feminism. More women, more poc, more diverse heroes, more women included on merch etc are all things fandoms have said they want and vol 3 said bye bye bye to a lot of that with Gamora. It's as if more people are happy she's not with Peter due to troubling concepts of what makes a strong female character than angry she was murdered. That's the exact opposite of feminism.

I'm sorry if this reads as ranty. I don't mean for it to. It's just getting harder to be at peace with this being the end of the road for Gamora. I don't think she was a perfect character but I do believe she was one of the best they had in the mcu before her murder. I am still trying to grasp what it means that they wanted to murder the first woc lead character we had so her abuser could advance and what it means that nothing about vol 3 portrayed this as something heinous we should all be upset about it.

This does read as ranty and this is the perfect place for that as I am consistently ranting about how Gamora was ultimately treated.

Gamora's very presence ruins everything Vol 3 aims for. The message of escaping your abuser and living your own life, becoming your whole self, falls hilariously flat when she's included. You cannot try to have that message alongside fridging a woman to make her abuser more sympathetic.

Add in how this movie even brought up Thanos's abuse-- it's treated as a punchline for the most part. The only time it isn't a joke (like with the eye scene between Nebula, Gamora & Peter) is when Nebula says "it's worse than what Thanos did to me" after finding out what happened to Rocket. That line drives me crazy; abuse isn't something that can be measured, as a basic thing, and if Gunn really wanted to try that... tell me which one of these characters is 70% cybernetics.

Gamora's such a non-entity in this film. Of course she gets to be mad at Quill-- but she doesn't get to speak to the others Guardians, doesn't get her new relationship with Nebula fleshed out, gets a single throwaway line about her alternative self having escaped Thanos. Does she know the details of how she died? Does she know she sacrificed everything for Nebula? Does she know she begged Peter to kill her?

We have no answers. Fuck, it's barely acknowledged that she knows Thanos murdered her.

I get that Gamora is green, but people really don't seem to get that she's played by Zoe Saldana, a woman of color, and how that does impact things. WOC get held up to very different standards and while there is obviously overlap in harmful tropes, it's insane to pretend that there aren't different ones applied to women of color. Acting like Gamora being robbed of a love interest that brought her true joy is feminist isn't a girlboss move; it's fulfilling a trope that women of color don't "need" a love interest.

What happened to Gamora was just sickening and so was the fandom response. There are a million think pieces on why what happened to Natasha was wrong; there isn't even a quarter of that for Gamora, when hers was, objectively, worse. I despise what happened to Natasha but god, at least it wasn't done to uplift her abuser.

I think it's also very telling how these characters have been treated post-mortem; Natasha received a solo movie & was memorialized in Hawkeye. Gamora... gets everything that mattered to her stripped away like it's nothing, her most important relationship (with Nebula) goes stagnant, and her horrific murder is brought up as a silly little joke.

Yeah, Gamora's treatment is rooted in a lot of sexism, but also a lot of racism and it's that second bit that has heavily impacted how the fandom reacted.

There's a lot of overlap between misogyny and racism in regard to the Guardians women, specifically, Gamora and Mantis, and there's also this strange refusal to see it addressed.

Seeing the interview Zoe Saldana gave recently really made it worse, IMO. She spoke about how even she wanted Gamora to return to the Guardians, but that wasn't the story Gunn wanted to tell... so now, just like us, she's left hoping that maybe in the future, Gamora gets to have her family back.

The Gamora aspect honestly killed the Guardians trilogy for me. I think it breaks the established pattern of the past 2 movies in a bad way, is nonsensical a finale to that story, and is overly reliant on downplaying the suffering of women to glorify a fucking raccoon.

[whiskeyswifty]

thank you so much for recommending the nyt popcast. Their Midnights discussion was heeealing to me and i love how the general consensus amongs Midnights dislikers is that Taylor needs to work with actual songwriters as co-writers again. Because it's TRUE. And I am sad she has lost her ability to be succinct a bit. Not a single lyric on the album comes close to some of the gut punches we got on previous works. (Or, for that matter, incredible lines we get from writers like Phoebe who actually mull over every single line for days.) I love that Taylor is efficent i suppose but the quality of her work is suffering – art is not efficiency – and the amount of musical input can be so overwhelming for fans.

yes!!! i'm so glad you loved them as much as i do and i totally agree with everything you said, and it's what often frustrates me as well. and you're absolutely right about efficiency. yes her volume output is threefold what it used to be but..... is any of it as masterful as what it used to be? with art it's always quality over quantity. and quality takes time to refine and hone something good into something great. And anyway, any creative class i've ever taken they've taught us that famous saying that your first idea is your worst idea. that is to say the first idea is not inherently a bad idea on it's own, but it's the first idea you came up with, meaning it's the first place your brain went when answering a prompt making it the most obvious. and obvious = uninteresting or unchallenging or way too derivative of something else. i've always been taught to apply immense pressure to an creative idea like it's a lump of coal. interrogate it, poke holes in it, throw it against the wall. have other people whack it with a hammer, slam it into the ground. all figuratively of course. you can't be precious with it and you can't create it in a vacuum of just yourself or only yes-men. you need to shape it and apply that pressure from all sides if you want to turn that coal into a diamond. and all of that takes time and collaboration with people who aren't too afraid of you to apply that pressure.

There's also a great Ira Glass piece on something that is the driving force behind some of the greatest artists and that's that they not only have talent, but more importantly they have good taste. Taste is what allows a creative person to recognize that that first idea is their worst idea, or at least isn't what they would consider great from someone else. Having good taste means you won't settle for anything that isn't what you see as the best, even your own work, and you'll push yourself further than people with poor taste because they'll make mediocre art and say "that's great!" and then stop there. and sometimes.... i mean i've said this many times before... but SOMEtimes i don't think she has the best taste! and it shows in what she feels confident putting out into the world which is not.... the best, definitely not HER best. and that means it's important that she gets people with good taste in the room, co-writers and the like, who can be the good taste she lacks and push her to make something great.

but also to your last point over-saturation is absolutely deadly to an artist, not just for fans but for the market as a whole, so.... she needs to pump the brakes a little imo over the next few years. the tour/movie will be good for her place in the music market because at least it puts her in another market sector where she actually is in high demand (hasn't made a movie ever before/hasn't toured in like 5 years now? something like that).

[yletylyf]

Borrowing Against the Past

Regulus Black does not go to the cave. As a result, he is alive a decade later when a most infamous prisoner escapes from Azkaban: Sirius Black.

Gen

Characters: Regulus Black, Sirius Black, Harry Potter, assorted Black family members

Rated: Mature (actually probably teen or even general audiences, I have no idea why I thought it needed this rating)

8620 words

Read on ao3!

Written for Regulus Black Fest 2022. Thoughts under the cut – with massive spoilers, which imo materially lesson the enjoyment of reading the fic, but up to you –

I have always wanted to write a fic about Regulus as a Death Eater. Death Eaters tend to be my favorites characters, and I mean, he is one, right? So @ncoincidences ​I fell in love with your prompt at first sight and claimed it about five seconds after claiming opened 😂

Since I like to talk about where I got titles from - this one is not a quote from anything, but it sums up the theme of the fic. Regulus’s pleasant domestic life was all borrowed against his past, and the past has come to collect the debt. Oops.

Anyway, I wrote a little Q & A about questions that occurred me while writing the fic, and a few questions that I got in the comments section:

Q: Will you write a sequel?

A: I don’t know. I have some thoughts on one, but I’m not sure I’ll ever write it. A sequel would have to make plain whether Regulus is a loyal Death Eater or not, whereas I tried to leave it ambiguous in this fic where his loyalties lie. I think the fic works better if that’s left ambiguous! I hope it’s obvious that he sincerely cares for all his family, including Sirius and Sirius’s godson Harry, but it’s not at all obvious what Regulus will do now that Voldemort is back and called his Death Eaters back to service.

Q: Why did Regulus join the Death Eaters?

A: Despite being canon divergent, I meant to incorporate most of Regulus’s background as canon compliant up until the cave, so he would have joined the Death Eaters for the reasons he did in canon. There is a lot of speculation on his exact reasons but I think Sirius and Kreacher were probably both somewhat right - he thought he was a “right little hero” for joining and he was also pleased and proud at the opportunity and the honor. He also fangirled hard for Voldemort, as illustrated by the clippings on his bedroom wall like a poster of a movie star 😂

Q: What happened to prevent Regulus from going to the cave?

A: Pick anything you like; I also tried to leave it ambiguous whether he happened to not go to the cave, because he was sick or out that day or something when Voldemort asked for house-elf volunteers for a mysterious mission; or whether he found out about Horcruxes and everything and chose not to go. Another question a sequel would have to answer, probably.

Q: Why is Orion alive, despite JKR saying Orion passed away in 1979?

A: I like to think that Orion died of grief shortly after Regulus died, because their death dates are so close to each other. In a world where Regulus doesn't die, Orion doesn’t either.

Q: Then why kill off Walburga just as JKR did?

A: She died of a sickness (or maybe a curse!) in my take on canon and in this AU. Regulus surviving didn’t change that.

Q: Why did Sirius know in OotP that Regulus was a Death Eater, yet no one knows in this AU?

A: Regulus didn't tell his family he signed up to be a Death Eater. It wouldn't have been at all prudent to do so. My take on canon is that after hearing the story of Kreacher and the cave, Regulus was distressed enough to confide some things in his mother. That is why she spread the rumor (that Sirius would hear later) that Regulus was in too deep and tried to get out, and that he was probably killed by his own side. None of that would have happened in this AU.

Q: Why isn't Regulus in Azkaban, if he's a Death Eater?

A: Regulus was circumspect. He wouldn't have been seen by anyone in public in Death Eater regalia. And he was very young when Voldemort fell, only 20ish, so realistically he couldn’t have done much for Voldemort in the first war. He also flew under the radar because everyone was focused on Sirius and his mass murder, as Voldemort alludes to at the end of the fic.

Q: Why didn't Regulus know that Sirius was innocent and not a Death Eater?

A: Regulus knows he didn't know the identity of every other Death Eater out there. Like Karkaroff said in GoF, Voldemort operated in the utmost secrecy. Regulus was not a highly placed Death Eater and would never have expected Voldemort to share secrets with Regulus. At most, his feelings might have been hurt that Sirius hadn't come to him and confided in him—but then, maybe he thought Sirius wouldn't have known Regulus was a Death Eater either.

[genork-the-fandork]

Operation is a Go

Operation is a Go

Word Count: 860

Prompt: “Sibling Shenanigans,” Day 1 of Takari Week 2021

Featured Characters: Tai Kamiya & Matt Ishida

A/N: I love love stories. A lot. Rom coms are some of my favorite movies. But I think something I love a little more is when someone else is involved in the story. Not in a love triangle sort of way, in a “let’s get them together!” sort of way. That’s the vibe I hoped to get across here! So, although this features Tia and Matt, this is very much a Takari story. I hope you enjoy!

@takariweek​

If even Tai could see it, then it had to be obvious. Now if only Kari and T.K. could see it, too.

Matt raised an eyebrow as he peered across the table at Tai, who had his thinking face on. It was his intense thinking face, actually, his face all scrunched up as he tried to process something in that brain of his. He waited for Tai to say something, taking a sip of the soda he'd ordered to be polite.

"I think," Tai finally said, "that Kari and T.K. were meant for each other."

"What else is new?" Matt deadpanned, leaning back in his seat. "Been pretty obvious for years."

"No, I mean…" Tai sighed. "I don't think they know."

"T.K. is pretty oblivious when it comes to his own best friend," Matt mused. "Maybe I should ask him."

"Maybe I should ask Kari, too." Tai narrowed his eyes. "Wait. Is this—"

"Tai, no—"

"OPERATION: GET THE SIBLINGS TOGETHER!"

"Oh, Lord."

~ ~ ~

Considering the impulsive nature of Operation: Get the Siblings together, Tai and Matt had come up with a fairly solid plan. Not that asking their siblings how they felt about their best friend was something complicated. Still, they knew they would have to be very particular about their interrogations. Neither of their hellishly observant siblings could know what they were trying to do.

Unfortunately, plans could only work so well.

Tai was anything but subtle. He tried, he really tried, but he was buzzing with the knowledge that Kari could be happy—really, really happy—if she and T.K. just got their act together. And it was his duty as the big brother to ensure his sister's happiness, right?

"How's T.K. doing?" he asked one morning as he made some eggs for his sister. "I haven't heard from him in a while."

"Good. Got a gaggle of girls always flocking around him like geese," she said, munching on a piece of toast. Her hand absentmindedly stroked Gatomon's head while her Digimon curled up on the table. They had long since learned not to shoo her off the table, thanks to those gloves of hers.

"Girls, huh?" Tai murmured, a bolt of panic shooting through him. "How do you feel about that?"

He could feel her eyes burning into his back. His tone hadn't been nearly casual enough. She knew. She knew she knew she knew.

"I'm indifferent," Kari finally said, and Tai looked at her over his shoulder. "I can tell he doesn't really feel the same way about those girls, anyway."

"And how do you feel, Kari?" Tai asked, biting his tongue to keep from saying something even stupider and not according to the plan. He could hear Matt slapping his own face.

Kari met his eyes with a serious look on her face. "Do you have a crush on T.K., Tai?"

"NO—"

"Oh." She didn't look completely convinced, but she shrugged and looked down at her plate, which spoke volumes. "I guess… I dunno. I care about him."

"Mm-hm," Tai hummed, turning back around with a smile. Hook, line, and sinker.

~ ~ ~

"How's Kari doing?" Matt asked, his voice as flat as he could make it as he finished making breakfast for his younger brother.

"Tai hasn't told you? She's pretty much the most popular girl in school." T.K. yawned, hugging Patamon to his chest as he lazily watched Matt putter around the kitchen.

"I don't think Tai knows about that." Matt chuckled, imagining the pride on his best friend's face that would turn into sheer anger the moment anybody tried to bother his precious baby sister.

"Probably for the best," T.K. agreed, probably envisioning the carnage that would ensue as well.

"How do you feel about her being so popular?" Matt's eyes shifted over to T.K., trying to assess his brother's expression, which was, for the most part, blank.

T.K. shrugged. "She hangs out with who she likes, and that's all that matters."

"Hm." Matt couldn't really figure out another way to word his next question, so he went for it, much to his own dismay: "And how do you feel about Kari?"

Instead of answering, T.K. tilted his head and gave his older brother a crooked smile. "Do you like Kari, Matt?"

"NO—" Matt nearly burned his shirt, he spun around so fast. "Just answer the question!"

The smile softened. "She's my favorite person. Besides you, of course."

Matt reached over and ruffled his brother's hair. "You're a funny one."

"I know," T.K. said cheerfully. "Thanks for breakfast."

And thank you, Matt thought.

~ ~ ~

"So they like each other," Tai deduced, sitting in the same spot he had just a few days ago. He crossed his arm and pouted in the way that Matt knew meant he was satisfied with the outcome of this "operation."

"What do we do now? Just telling them isn't going to solve anything," Matt said, sipping yet another ordered-to-be-polite soda.

"I—" Tai frowned. "I didn't think about that."

Matt sighed. "Back to square one, then?"

Tai nodded solemnly. "Operation: Figure Out How to Get T.K. and Kari Together."

"Oh, Lord."

[magpiemorality]

Logan and Remus being touch starved Logan isn't a very cuddly person so no one actually thinks he cares, but he hugs his pillow tightly every night in hope of getting rid of this aching feeling that he doesn't understand. Remus being disgusting and stinky to the point that no one would actually touch him. He even tried to rub his skin with soap hard enough to the point of blood trying to be at least enough for a hug. It took so many years for the sides to notice their suffering.

For the prompts thingy: touch starved Remus? Fluff would be preferred but if you want to rip my heart out of my chest that’s cool too - anon

I didn’t manage to include Logan being touch-starved into this other than a throwaway mention unfortunately, you may have to imagine that part! 

Warnings: touch starvation, isolation, quarantine/coronavirus mention, negative self-image, obsessive behaviours/slight self-harming behaviours.

AO3

***

Remus is the cleanest of all the sides that are holed up in the corners of Thomas’s mind. No one knows, because the smell of rot and damp always clings to him, and dirt and mess just tend to gravitate to him like he’s a giant walking gross-magnet. But he is clean, cleaning all the time, tidying the mess away, washing and washing and washing so one day, maybe, someone will let him closer than three feet before bolting with wrinkled noses and expressions of disgust.

He knows a bar of soap will only ever last him a day at most, especially with how much of it he eats, hoping to clean up on the inside if he can’t fix the outside, but even then, even if he uses the strongest deodorant or scrubs every inch with perfumed soap or boils his clothes in lavender fabric wash… it only ever lasts until he walks out the door of his room. The smells turn to the cloying scent of too much axe bodyspray, or wilted flowers, or wear off completely to unearth that rancid deadly smell that is his.

Perhaps, he thinks, now that they’re all quarantined, stuck together by the fear that encloses Thomas’s mind (mostly Virgil’s fault, despite Logan’s repeated assurances that there was no possible way they, as figments of his actual imagination, could possibly catch anything), perhaps they’ll let him a little closer. They won’t have a choice, in fact.

He starts by trying to cook lunch, but Patton shoos him out of the kitchen with a gasp, checking over all the ingredients he’d got out for signs of spoiling.

Movie night offers a chance to force closeness, and he sits right in the middle of the couch before anyone can stop him but they find ways, they all find ways to sit away from him.

Remus is camping on the couch overnight, a side effect of a poorly timed joke from Roman about how Remus must be loving the prospect of a highly infectious and gross disease, and how he’s probably made one of his own in his room. It closes off his one access to cleanliness and within the first two days he’s almost unable to bear himself, let alone the other sides.

“Can I borrow a towel?” He asks Deceit, and when the other side throws one at him it’s made very clear to him that the towel is not to be returned, under any circumstances. Remus ventures to the upstairs bathroom and sneaks in, washing and washing under the hot water until he feels at least a little better.

There’s nothing to be done for his clothes, and he cringes when he realises he has to pull them on, skin crawling with the feeling. He barely gets a sleeve over his arm before he burns the lot with a thought, slipping out in just a towel to try and steal something to wear that won’t smell like he’s been living on the street for a month.

Roman’s room is most obvious, but Logan’s door is partially open and won’t make any noise, and Logan has always been… more lenient than the rest. It’s worth a shot, and he definitely doesn’t expect to be caught.

Of course, he is.

As he rummages through the closet to try and find a plain top and pants that Logan won’t realise are missing, doing his best not to touch anything he doesn’t need to, there’s a click and the clearing of a throat behind him.

“What exactly are you doing?” Logan snaps, striding over to push the draw Remus had open shut with a sharp thunk. “Why are you in here? Naked?”

“It’s not what you think!” Remus hurries to scramble away, but Logan steps in the way at the wrong moment and they stumble.

They sprawl when Logan falls on Remus, who ends up awkwardly pressed onto the ground. Logan tries to get up and away, as quickly as possible to avoid the inevitable smell, but Remus is just lying there, eyes closed and breathing heavily. Is he hurt? “Remus? Did I hurt you?!” Logan asks quickly, forgetting about the scent that he was supposed to be noticing.

“No,” Remus croaks, hiding his face in his hands. “No, I’m fine.”

They untangle themselves and when Remus moves away, a hand gripping his towel tightly, shoulders hunched over as he makes for the door, Logan realises something. Maybe it only twigs because he recognises it, but that’s by the by. Remus is almost shaking, hugging onto himself, and he didn’t smell at all. His skin is pink from a hot shower and a little raw looking in places, and he-

“Why did you come to my room?” Logan asks quietly. “What could you possibly need here? Be honest, please.”

The smile he gets is a little manic, but he doesn’t let it put him off. “Oh specs, I’m always honest. That’s usually the problem. I just wanted, some clothes. That were, clean,” Remus manages to reply, forcing the words out at the end.

But- “Why, what happened to yours?”

“I burned them.”

“What?”

Remus turns to face him. “I said I burned them. Because they were gross. And I’d just showered. C'mon, aren’t you supposed to be the smart one? Everyone knows it would be ridiculous to put dirty clothes back on after you’ve washed.”

“You washed?” Logan shakes his head. Obviously, what a stupid question. He carries on before Remus can point that out. “I mean, don’t you want to be dirty? I would’ve thought you’d like to put dirty clothes back on, to keep the smell.”

The silence from Remus’s direction is thick with unspoken things. Until Remus voices them. He never could censor himself very well. “You think I want to be disgusting? Filthy? Smell so bad no one will be in the same room as me? You think I don’t want normal things like family dinners or helping to decorate for Christmas or sharing a bowl of popcorn?”

Logan is stunned silent.

“I thought if I cleaned, if I could just stay clean, then maybe one day someone might hug me,” Remus adds, voice breaking around the word. “I’m not the best person for it, I know, because I really do stink and I’m icky and sticky and gross and horrible but I think I could give good hugs?! I don’t really know, but I think I’d be good at it! I’ve practised on each of you, well not you really but imaginary you’s and they seem to like it well enough and it’s not real feedback of course but-“

Logan looks at him with red cheeks, eyes wide. “What do you mean you don’t know?” He interrupts quietly. “Everyone knows how to hug.”

Remus shrugs. “It’s been a while.”

How long is a while? Logan wants to ask, but he doesn’t know that he wants that question answered. Without a word he goes back to the dresser, pulling out clothes and holding them out towards Remus with a softly guilty expression. “Here, these might fit. Fee- feel free to get more, if you need.”

The second half of creativity dips his head in a grateful nod, relief flashing quick and bright over his face. “Thank you,” he croaks, making for the door again.

Logan knows he should stop him, call him back, give him the touch he clearly craves, but his voice is caught in his throat, tight with shame. Have they really got Remus so wrong? It wouldn’t be difficult, perhaps, considering how little time they spend with him…

As the door clicks shut behind the other side Logan is jolted into action. He bolts out of the door and tugs on Remus’s wrist, turning him back in for an awkward, too-loose hug.

It still makes Remus crumble in his arms and cling to him though. (Logan doesn’t fare much better.)

And it’s just the first hug of many to come; they’ll have time to get it just right.

[quillsareswords]

Breathing Room

Damian Wayne

Of course the little dog here is basically my sweet baby girl Rogue with a different name (Baby/Babe because I'm sure all of you at home have dogs you'd like to substitute names for), who sends all her love and puppy kisses to all of you! Ugh this was fun to write. So goddamn fluffy I could call Build-a-Bear a competitor.

Reader is a Titan.

Requested:

Prompt List // Masterlist (in bio)

"If I die, I'm leaving my dog to you."

Damian turns halfway to give you a suspicious glance over his shoulder. Then, he turns back to the fire place, where he's successfully stoking the flames currently living there.

The animal in question is the next victim of his scrutiny, laying perfectly peacefully on the corner of your blanket that's been left unused on the couch next to you. He points, you nod, he rolls his eyes.

"Awe! What? You wouldn't take my poor baby girl in?" You're borderline incredulous. "Did you hear that Baby? He doesn't love you!"

He scoffs, then pushes himself to his feet and joins you on the couch once more. The little dog lifts her head to look at Damian, almost accusingly.

You pet her gently. "Don't mind him, Baby, he's just jealous because I love you more," you soothe, babytalking the eight pound pooch like the spoiled princess she is.

"Firstly, you aren't going to die, it's only a snow storm," he argues, "and secondly, even if something were to happen, of course I'd take in your large rat."

You gasp and lightly slap his chest. "Damian Wayne!" you shrill. He chuckles loudly. "You take that back right now! Apologize!"

He rolls his eyes, knowing that if he doesn't, you'd probably give his spot on the bed to Titus, who's listening to the entire exchange from the giant pillow on the floor. He reaches across you, lays a hand on her little head, and says clearly, "Baby, I am sorry for calling you a rat. You are clearly small not-dog."

You sigh in exasperation and defeat. He laughs, though it's obvious he's trying not to and failing miserably. "What am I going to do with you, you scoundrel?"

His arm lays across your shoulders as you shiver for the second time in the last five minutes. "Well, you can first let me chose what movie we watch since I started the fire for you."

You can't help snuggling closer to him. "Firstly," you mock, "I could have started the fire myself. Secondly, I'll let you pick the movie if you let me pick the genre."

"Deal," he relents.

Two comedies and a horror film later, you hear the front door downstairs unlock, with a roaring chorus of arguing voices behind it.

When Kori and Dick invited you and Damian to a Titans Winter Vacation, you had been a little skeptical. You hadn't been a Titan for very long, and you weren't as familiar as you'd like to be with any of them.

However, you'd known Damian for years, and he insisted it wouldn't be as bad as you thought. He wasn't entirely keen on the idea either, but you'd eventually agreed that it'd be nice.

They'd rented a cabin up in the mountains. It was three stories, with six bedrooms, five bathrooms, two living rooms, a home theater, and a game room. You especially loved the balconies on every level. That provided a truly glorious view of the Smoky Mountains.

Though, when you heard it was six bedrooms, you knew that meant sharing a room. You only really slept alright by yourself or with Damian, so it concerned you that you'd most likely be sharing a bunk bed with Raven, as you and Damian were seventeen. But, because Dick knew you wouldn't be doing anything more than cuddling, he was more than happy to let you and Damian share a queen-size in the loft, directly above Garfield and Jaime's.

To sweeten the deal even further, everyone was in perfect agreement that you should definitely bring your dog. She was very sweet and quiet, and perfectly mannered. You didn't worry about taking her anywhere. It made you feel even better that Damian was taking Titus.

So here you are now, tucked into Damian's side on a plush plaid couch in the loft, Baby curled up next to you and Titus sprawled at your feet, listening to Gar and Raven and Cyborg come shivering in through the front door.

"Holy hell, it's cold as balls!" Gar shouted, kicking off his boots at the door. You were about to call down to ask how town was, but he was already sprinting up the spiral staircase.

Damian sighed, though only loudly enough for you to hear. He thought of the loft in it's entirety as yours, even though the bedroom was an entirely separate room, kept private by a thick door.

Garfield paused by the couch to lean over and pet Babe, which she gladly accepted, before zipping over to the firepalce to warm up.

"How was town?" you ask. Damian grabs the remote and backs out of the movie, which was already rolling credits.

"Eh, it was okay. Grocery store was neat, though. Had a candy section that was lit."

You laugh softly. "Get all the groceries?"

He nods. "Yeah, but their produce section was so confusing."

"Are you sure you aren't just dull?" Damian quips. You roll your eyes and flick his ear as you sit up. "Hey!" he chirps.

"Ha!" Garfield shouts and points boldly, though he looks as though he's about to hurdle the railing behind you. "Damian got in trouble!"

Damian, the tough, mature man he is, flings a pillow toward the green boy with as much force as he can while slouched against the couch back.

"Watch the fire, you dufus," you scold, laughing, as you slide toward the steps with Baby at your heels.

"Ha ha! You got in trouble agaaiinn!" Garfield sings. Then he shrieks, and then there's a green bird diving over the wooden railing and Damian's shouting something that has you scooping up Baby and hustling down the stairs to stay out of his way.

• • •

Your bedroom is dark, and because you both like the curtains pulled away from the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the drop of the mountain your cabin is perched over, it is quite cold.

Too cold for your liking, even pressed against Damian's back and Babe curled into the small of yours.

It's been fifteen minutes of listening to Bob's Burgers play on the television over your shared dresser and the collective body heat still isn't enough. So, in a desperate attempt to chase the chill off, you half unwind your arms from his waist, and slide them under the hem of his tee shirt to press them flat against his side and his back.

While you're sighing in relief, he's jumping and sucking in a breath of absolute shock. He all but gasps, "What are you doing with your ice cold hands up my shirt?"

You almost laugh at the tone of absolute offence he's using. "I'm cold! We can't all keep the same core temperature as the sun, Wayne."

"Well Jesus, you could have at least warned me," he grumbles, rolling in your hold to face you.

You fall asleep pretty quickly now, wrapped up in his arms, legs tangled with yours beneath a heavy quilt.

• • •

You're always the first ones up. Well, not always, but for the past four days that you've been on the trip, you both have. It's usually Damian, and only Damian, but you aren't far behind once your main source of heat leaves you alone in bed with sunlight beaming into the room.

You, Baby, and Titus all follow him down the spiral staircase and through the main common room, dining room, and the intermediate stretch between the two staircases and two bedroom doors.

He turns on the coffee pot for the rest of the team while you start the kettle and set out tea bags and mugs for the two of you. While he's still fiddling with the settlings on the machine, you let the dogs out to the small fenced yard off to the side of the huge cabin.

The machine spurs to life just as you're lifting yourself up onto the countertop of the kitchen island. "Are you gonna make pancakes and eggs?" You keep your voice low, considerate of Raven in the room on the left and Jamie and Garfield in the room on the right, all still sleeping.

"I wasn't planning to," he answers, leaning against the counter by the gas stove, where the steel kettle is still heating up.

"But you promised. . ." You just out your bottom lip and tilt your head just a little, soft eyes oh so slowly grinding away at that steel cover he keeps locked around his heart.

After exactly forty two seconds, he caves in. "Did the Happy Bunch even get the ingredients yesterday?"

Your sweet begging facade switches on a dime, now housing a devious glint in your eyes. "Of course they did, I put it on the list."

He sighs, loudly. He lets the dogs in before he goes around the kitchen, gathering all things necessary for the pancake mix you love so much.

It's twenty minutes later when Kori and Dick are opening the basement door and emerging from the hall downstairs, Kori's hair just as unkept as every morning and Dick's shirt just as wrinkly as the night before.

"Sometimes I think you only love me for my pancakes," Damian chides playfully, having yet to associate the creaking hinges with the basement door.

"I won't deny it," you laugh, grinning down at the bowl you're stirring with more dedication than is probably necessary.

"Damian, I didn't know you cook," Kori states, with enough surprise that you're a little taken aback.

He turns to look at her over his shoulder, still dicing strawberries without looking and making your nerves twitch while he does it. "Only occasionally."

"Hey hey, watch what you're doing, boy," you sound a little too much like someone's grandmother, but you're really a little aghast that he hasn't steeled himself yet.

Damian reserves a certain part of himself around most people. It's a part of him you're allowed to bask in only after years of assurance and affection. You wouldn't be so surprised if it was only shown to Dick, but it was Kori he was speaking to, eyes still a little glittery and smile still lopsided and prominent.

In a moment of adoration and maybe a little pride in him, you hum, "Only for me, of course."

To yours and even Kori's awe, he chuckles. "Only when you force me, you mean."

You recover faster than she does, and cover yourself with a laugh. "I wouldn't call you promising me strawberry-blackberry pancakes forcing you, but if you wanna try and save a little face . . ."

Kori turns to Dick, with a look on her face that is silently asking if he's seen the same thing. His eyes flit between her, you, and his youngest brother, before they settle on you. He seems a little less jarred.

"Gezz, what'd you do, (Y/N)? Drug him in his sleep?"

With Garfield's arrival, Damian's smile fades off and he resumes quickly dicing strawberries on a wooden cutting board.

You mumble into your batter, "I'm starting to wonder."

• • •

At 11:15 in the morning on the sixth day, a war commences.

While you and Damian decide to hide out the still-raging snowstorm in your cozy little loft with your faithful hounds, half the team is out in the snow, hurling handfuls of snow that vaguely resemble spheres at one another from behind artificial snowbanks.

Though eventually, you decide the total war out in the front yard is far more entertaining than anything on his Hulu or Disney+. So, you pop a bowl of popcorn and brew your third batch of tea, and sit backward on the couch to watch out the massive windows that take up most of the front wall of the common room.

Over the porch roof, you can watch all the atrocities of battle play out from the safe warmth of your loft together.

Though, some time around three, Damian reminds you that you have plans to drive into town to explore, and asks if you'd rather stay and finish the battle.

An hour later, you and Damian stand at the front door, dressed to brave the weather, having bid your dogs goodbye as you left them in the warm safety of your bedroom.

Damian's hand is on the doorknob, but he seems hesitant. "Are you ready?"

You flip up your hood and pull your scarf up over your nose. "Yes."

He hauls the door open, and with your hand in his, you quickly cross the porch, jump the steps, and make it halfway around to the driveway, when you hear somebody shout, "Civilians! Open fire on civilians, they're both wicked!"

Damian spins on his heel to threaten the entire group, but you beat him to it when you see Jamie, snowclod wound up, aimed right at you.

Silence falls over the battlefield like the snow still drifting down at an alarming rate.

You point a sharp finger at him. "If you do this, I will never forgive you," you declare lowly. "I swear to every god in existence you'll wake up with your head sewn to the carpet."

He stops. Narrows his eyes. "You're bluffing."

"Am I?"

A moment's debate. You can image the Scarab waving you off with we can take her. But oh, that thing has never seen you with a grudge.

He swivels on his feet and hurls it at Raven, who's been hiding behind the snow that'd been shoveled off the sidewalk that morning.

You take Damian's hand again and make a break for his car.

After the drive to Downtown Gatlinburg and three or four hours spent roaming the streets, you're already talking about living there. In all honesty, he isn't so opposed to the idea of buying a home in the area. You seem so in your element here, and the town and the scenery surrounding you is so breathtaking.

But you know you'd never be able to drag him out of Gotham. Perhaps a vacation home, or maybe retirement.

You decide to stop in to a little cafe in a place called The Village, which is a collection of shops surrounding a lovely courtyard off the main stretch of Downtown.

It's crowed inside, so you decide to stand out by the fountain while you sip your steaming drinks and converse about the little shops you liked best so far. You are particularly fond of a candy shop, and he would very much like to check out a blade shop a block or so down the way.

Your teeth chatter as you talk about wanting a souvenir, something small to keep on a shelf, and finish the rest of your hot chocolate.

"Are you that cold?" his question is simple enough, but his voice is so soft and so drenched in concern it catches you off guard.

You laugh lightly. "I'm okay, just might need another hot chocolate before we set off again," you shrug, jamming your hand into your pocket has he takes the paper cup from you and nods.

"Well, I'm sure that can be arranged." He smiles.

There's something in his eyes, though. It's subtle, in the little wrinkles between his eyebrows, and the redness of his nose and his cheeks. As much as you like the way it looks on his honey crisp complection, it's starting to worry you. Not the blush he gets from the cold's kiss, but the slightly out of character openness he's been exhibiting. You like to think that maybe he's growing out of hiding his louder emotions, for his own sake, but you can't take the risk that it's something else.

He returns to you with an offering of mint hot chocolate. He smiles again when he greets you, and the pair of you set off back toward the sidewalk do a little shopping.

"Hey, Dame?"

"Hm?"

You wind your arm around his elbow with your free hand. "Everything okay with you?"

He turns his full attention on you. "Yes, of course. Why do you ask?"

You take a sip out of your hot chocolate. "I don't know, you've just been acting a little differently the last few days." His eyebrows crease in a worried way, and you get the sense he's disappointed. "In a good way, I mean," you correct yourself quickly, "I just want to be sure it isn't for a bad reason."

He shakes his head and takes a deep breath. You turn out onto the sidewalk, and start making your way farther up the street. "No, there isn't anything wrong," he assures. "I can't exactly explain it, which I'm not entirely okay with, but it's been. . . nice, this trip. The land is beautiful, the air is much cleaner than in Gotham, the people here are nice." He turns to face you again. "And you seem a lot more comfortable with the Titans. I'm glad; I'd feared you wouldn't bond with them at all, truthfully, and they're all far more bearable with you around."

You nod as he speaks, eyes jumping past him to the signs on the building fronts every once in a while. There's something he isn't saying, and you know it.

"And. . ." He sighs. "And you."

You pass him a quizzically quirked brow.

His voice lowers and he lays a hand over yours on his arm. "I love you so much, (Y/N). I can't even find the right words anymore."

Your eyes lock with his and you stop walking. Your lips part because your jaw goes a little slack, and your wide eyes reflect all the neon colors of the signs in the window on your right.

It isn't the first time he says he loves you. And you know it won't be the last, but he hardly ever says it so freely. It always behind closed doors in the softest moments, when you're both vulnerable or so drunk on love for one another neither of you can think straight.

You can't remember the last time he's been so open about in in front of anyone else, and it only ripens your concern.

You pull him closer, eyebrows slanting together. "Damian, I'm serious, are you okay?"

Now he's the one with one eyebrow reaching for answers. "Pardon?"

"I'm sorry," you blurt, "you know I love you from here clear to Alpha Centauri but you're really starting to worry me."

He laughs at that. Then, his eyes are as soft as his smile, and his hands smooth down the sides of your arms before they rest on your forearms. "(Y/N), I promise you there is nothing wrong with me now that hasn't been for the past seven years. Am I not allowed to let once in a little while, and allow myself a little breathing time?"

You hadn't realized you were so tense until you relax under his touch with the assurance. "Of course you are," you reply after a pause. You take one hand off your hot chocolate to rest it on his chest, coincidentally over his heart. "I just worry sometimes. I don't want anything to happen to you, Dame."

"I know," he says. He gingerly takes the paper cup from you and sets it on the bench you hadn't noticed before. He pulls you into his arms, enveloping you in a warmth like sunshine and a scent that's too particular to Damian Wayne to be mistaken. Your arms wind inside his open coat to the hoodie he's wearing underneath.

A long moment passes in relative silence. Your eyes are closed, ears perked to the drifting sounds of uncaring passersby and the rumbling of passing cars.

"I really want to slip my hands under your shirt right now," you mumble into his shoulder. "But if you tell me not to, I won't."

He grunts.

And for a moment, you ponder weather or not that was a denial. You silently make your choice and close your eyes again.

He leaps under your touch. "Damn it, (Y/N)!"

[bronyinabottle]

In a recent post on I Dream of Twilight Sparkle I said that I noticed asks that were not in my inbox the last time I decided to read through my entire ask box. So I did the same for my mod blog. And while there were some also that I didn't see before. Most are questions I feel either I feel like I may have already sufficiently answered enough with my thoughts on an episode and/or it'd be weird at this point to answer something that's obviously years after the fact.

But there is two I found that I feel like I may want to respond to. The person who sent it was someone who used to discuss the show with me almost all the time, though obviously they must no longer be on Tumblr as all their blogs are deactivated. But I still want to answer since it is sort of relevant to recent stuff. Particularly in their 2nd ask.

By the way, I'm always open to questions on the show or even non-pony topics here on my modblog. I still do love talking about G4 ponies and I wouldn't mind some questions if any of you would like to know my opinion on anything. Now that the show has been over for nearly 2 years , I can have a perspective on many topics about Friendship is Magic that I wouldn't mind sharing. Maybe some things have changed here and there, though I think I still generally have a positive attitude towards most things for certain. I stuck with the show until the very end, and was satisfied with how it ended. And I still have interest in doing more in G4's world even as G5 approaches. (Though I'm sure perhaps once that movie has aired that may be the focus of any questions sent here)

((My answer and more after the break))

For the most part, I think I still generally agree with what I said in my initial thoughts about the Season 6 finale. It's a solid episode with some great interactions between Starlight, Trixie, Discord, and Thorax. Though the way the ending is executed is a bit of a headscratcher. Maybe somewhat less so since thinking about it now, like even if Chrysalis did keep some things loyal. What would stop them from eventually seeing what Thorax's changelings did shortly after.

But I suppose I wanted to answer this mostly about Starlight. Since while the Season 6 finale made HomerJ get over some remaining feelings about Starlight. I'll admit it took literally until writing Secrets of the Dragon's Tear (A year after the show was over) to realize the sort of potential that Starlight had. The baggage from the Season 5 finale always felt like a cloud above her for the entire rest of the show's run. And I consider Season 6's largest mistake is not trying harder to endear us to Starlight. That's what that season's entire job was, to try to make us feel a little better of how rather rushed Starlight's redemption was by giving us a more expanded look into Starlight's character. And unfortunately, I feel like it failed at that in my opinion. Thus I basically disagree (Though respect the opinion of) with those who would say the Season 6 finale was when Starlight finally won them over.

Don't get me wrong, I like how Starlight is portrayed in the episode. But it would of been stronger if say the season had explained more about Starlight's past. How did Starlight get her cutie mark, and given her opinion on Cutie Marks how did she feel at the time?

Instead, we mostly just got Starlight reuniting with Sunburst that didn't exactly give any more details to her rather vague reasons for turning to darkness from him moving away other then finding out Sunburst's personality and how his side of the story went. And from there we had Starlight befriend Trixie... in an episode I still don't really like to this day.

Ironically, the character in the Hearth's Warming episode that casts Starlight as the story's version of Scrooge (Snowfall Frost) is given more reason to sympathize with then Starlight herself.

Starlight then just about disappears up until the episode that introduces Thorax. Where she doesn't do much other then be among the crowd that Spike has to convince that Thorax is not evil.

The next time we see her is Every Little Thing She Does. Which is something of a controversial ep from what I hear, though ironically despite my skepticism of Starlight at the time. I actually sort of liked that episode since it was basically Starlight's own Lesson Zero. Though I get why Starlight deciding to hypnotize all the Mane 6 besides Twilight against their will would not be approved of. Though it does feel like at the very least Twilight and the rest give her enough of a piece of their mind at the end.

And that's how things stood before the Season 6 finale happened. Even though I do think Starlight has good moments in said finale, nothing earlier in the season really dispelled many of my feelings about the Season 5 finale's ending. So despite a good showing, I could hardly care for it. I wasn't convinced yet we were given a satisfactory answer about the many questions that Starlight's sudden redemption prompted.

Another part of my thoughts I feel still applies is when I mentioned that Starlight's a "Diet Sunset Shimmer" (Which considering what I did to link the two for SOTDT, is a bit funny in hindsight). It took just one movie (Rainbow Rocks) for the fanbase to turn a 180 on Sunset. While an entire season with Starlight as one of the good guys goes by and she remained just as divisive as before if not more so by the end of Season 6.

Come Season 7, and Starlight appears quite a bit more often though under the assumption that the Season 6 finale was enough to warm you up to her. There were many complaints during the first half of Season 7 that she was appearing more then she should (Even in an Equestria Girls special where she got to meet the character she was so often compared to). Though another thing about Starlight in Season 7 in hindsight is besides from her meeting a few more friends like Maud. Starlight isn't actually given much to actually work towards. They dropped the whole student aspect so it's not like she was doing friendship lessons under Twilight anymore (Though I suppose on the bright side for the detractors, it lessened worries about her becoming an Alicorn). Season 8 and 9 does somewhat fix that by having Starlight employed at the school, first as a counselor and ultimately ending with her as the school's Principal as Twilight herself got promoted to sole ruler. Which I'm still unsure about if fans of her character feel that was a proper ending for her. Though probably the best that could of been done in context of not much having been done with her over time.

Still, at least for me personally it felt there was alot missing about Starlight and as time went on it became obvious I wasn't going to get the satisfactory answers about her that I wanted. So as a result, I only had lukewarm reactions when a new Starlight episode was coming up. It also didn't help that there were two episodes that raised my hopes of at least one interesting aspect that would of been cool to see. The first being the episode "All Bottled Up" which I had hoped would mean it would be an episode that's somewhat genie related. And then there was Road to Friendship where Starlight and Trixie try to travel to Saddle Arabia (which is an important location in I Dream of Twilight Sparkle)... and yet never actually get there. So even on the few times that I was hoping to be excited about a Starlight episode, it dropped the ball. Partly my fault for getting so hyped about something that wasn't promised, but I would of loved to at least SEEN canon Saddle Arabia.

I'd never say that I hated Starlight back during the show's run. But she was a frustrating character for certain back then. I couldn't hate Starlight as much as some others did, but at the same time I couldn't like her as much as others. She was in likability limbo. For every fun and or good moment that included her, it's brought right back by either lingering problems that arised from the Season 5 finale or otherwise dropping the ball in some way.

In some ways, she's still a frustrating character. Though that's just how it'll always be with the canon Starlight. It's up entirely now to fanon to give their approach on Starlight that was never done in Canon. With SOTDT, I obviously did a bit of a "Fine, I'll do it myself" when it comes to making Starlight a more satisfactory character for me. Though I'm sure there are many interpretations that are vastly different from how I approached it that can satisfy others and probably be more popular and better written then mine. (My interpretation might be understandably controversial just for Starlight being put back on a path where she'll likely become an Alicorn eventually. Something Starlight detractors feared the most. Though I think I at least try to explain as best I could that makes sense with the story, her cutie mark moment being similar to Twilight's, and the identity of her mother. And I myself sort of feared Starlight becoming an Alicorn might happen, so for me to actually write it so that it might be inevitable. That's just how much of a 180 I've taken on Starlight because of writing SOTDT)

I think I mentioned this before, but I can pretty much say that in a way that I can actually say I like Starlight now. But sort of in a "FiM's biggest missed opportunity" sort of way that it becomes sort of sad to look at how canon Starlight was done. Rather then me simply shrugging her off back when I didn't care so much about her. I also understand it's a bit cheating to say I like Starlight now after doing my own sort of fanfic that had her in a major role since that might be me tooting my own horn a bit.

Though I will say as much as necessary that I am very aware alot of what happens in SOTDT would have been impossible to do in canon and I don't plan on pushing what I did to expand on Starlight's backstory as gospel. It only applies to what I'm doing on the blog, I will not be making a case that my interpretation is the only correct one. I'd actually welcome seeing some different interpretations on things such as who Starlight's mother is, what they feel her past was like outside of the Sunburst leaving incident, and/or especially how Starlight originally got her cutie mark. (I've even said my personal guess is different then how I did it in SOTDT, as my guess is she got it the first time she discovered the cutie mark removal spell). Cause if nothing else, I've realized Starlight is a very interesting character that I think would be fun to explore all the possibilities with. It certainly could be something for those still on the G4 train to talk with one another about.

[theatresweetheart]

Okay, this isn't exactly a dialogue prompt, but! In your parental royality au, what would happen when Virgil does find out that everyone knows about his tally journal?

When Things Aren’t Okay

Warnings: Shouting, swearing, heavy angst, accusations, running away, fighting, arguing, fear of parental rejection, crying.

Pairings: Brotherly Analogical, Romantic/Parental Royality, Familial LAMP

Characters: Logan, Virgil, Patton, Roman.

Word Count: 1789 words

Continuation/AU: Tally Marks, Untold Notebook Secrets

A/n: This is some heavy angst, so please be warned of that! However, this AU isn’t all heavy sadness, there is comfort coming! 

                                         ——————————

“Logan, do you think I’m a disappointment?”

Logan’s attention flickered up from his homework and turned to face the thirteen-year-old sitting on the window sill, his knees tucked up into his chest.

Virgil wasn’t looking at him. Logan was positive he would continue to not look at him.

Though, before he had the chance to respond, Virgil was speaking.

“Mr. Wood told me I‌ was a disappointment today,”‌ he said, letting his chin rest against his knees, staring out into the fading light of the day. “I‌ mean, I‌ get why he said it, you know?‌ Not like I disagree really.” He puffed his cheeks up with air before letting it out with a soft sound. “Mrs. Wood even agreed, but in that way where she says it like she doesn’t mean it, but it’s telling that she really does believe it.”

Logan’s brows pulled forward, concern etching itself across his face. The fact that Virgil wasn’t even disagreeing with the people that spoke down to him was not sitting well with Logan.

“I‌ just–” Virgil’s voice stuttered and his breathing hitched, but he didn’t turn to face Logan. “I‌ just want to hear it from you. That I’m… that I’m not a disappointment.”

Because then, maybe he’d believe it.

                                        ——————————

A few nights had passed after Roman and Patton had found Virgil’s tally journal. And there was a feeling of constant worry that seemed to hover over their shoulders; an anxiety that Virgil would figure out that they knew and then all hell would break loose.

Patton had upped his usual kindness with Virgil, but it wasn’t that noticeable. Patton had always been loving and doting on the seventeen-year-old, so it was nothing new. He wanted to get him involved in family things, when they had movie nights or played a board game together. (Which usually lasted about an hour before Virgil got bored and Logan went to finish his homework.)

Roman’s change was a bit more obvious, but not to the point where it was like a flashing light. Whenever he looked at Virgil, his eyes were sadder, more subdued– as if thinking about everything the boys had faced before coming into their home. He was still as much an overbearing and overwhelmingly warm presence as before, but there was just something more diminished. Quieter.

If this had been the case with both parents beforehand, Logan would have been inclined to do some digging himself. However, since he knew the cause of this distress, he waited in silent agony for the moment Virgil found out the truth.

It was quiet one night, he and Virgil were finishing up with the dishes from supper.

“Do you think Dad and Pa are acting weird?” Virgil said, taking the final plate from Logan and drying it off with the dish towel.

Logan hummed, expertly hiding his surprise behind a quirked brow. He pulled the drain from the sink. “How so?”

Virgil shrugged his shoulders, opening the cupboard and putting the plate away. He slung the dish towel over his shoulder in an idle and thoughtless motion. “I‌ dunno,”‌ he admitted, his eyes flickering toward the stairs, leading to their bedrooms. In turn, where Roman and Patton had disappeared to only a few moments prior. “They’re just acting…different. Like, Pa is always asking if I want to join him and Dad for movie nights. And Dad is always wanting to know about my day and things I‌ like and stuff, but more then they do usually. Y’know?”

“I‌ have to say I haven’t noticed anything,”‌ Logan told him, turning to face the other boy, mirroring Virgil’s leaned position against the counter. “They seem normal to me.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “You can’t seriously tell me you don’t see them sharing these concerned looks over my head.”

Logan paused, looking briefly surprised. That little slip-up was what caused Virgil to narrow his eyes suspiciously. He stepped forward.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he accused. “Don’t you?”

“Of course I‌ don’t.”

“You’re a really shitty liar, Logan,” Virgil snorted. “Mr. I-See-Everything-and-then-snitch. You know that Dad and Pa have been acting weird, you just don’t want to acknowledge it.”

“Well, so what if they have been?” Logan said defensively. He snatched the dish dowel off of Virgil’s shoulder before using it to dry his hands. He tucked it back onto the oven’s handle before leading out of the kitchen, intending to leave this conversation behind. “It’s none of our business.”

“No, it very much is.” Virgil was quick to follow him out, brushing past him and stepping in front of him. “Because this only started a couple days ago. After Pa told us to put our books into a pile so he could donate them.”

It was almost as if after Virgil had said those words aloud, something in the air shifted. A‌ shadow overcame his baby brother’s face and his eyes darkened slightly, but only in the way that said he was thinking about something.

“…you don’t think–” Virgil’s voice was quiet, contemplative.

Logan tucked his hands into his pockets, a concerned look painting across his features at the soft words. It was obvious Virgil wasn’t talking to him, but to himself. Though, that didn’t stop Logan from pushing slightly further. “Don’t think… what?”

Virgil’s eyes flickered up to meet his own, this time startled. He didn’t say anything as he turned on his heels and zipped up the stairs.

Logan felt a rock sink into his stomach. It was uncomfortable and heavy and it made his chest seize up. He was quick to follow Virgil up the stairs, turning the corner and seeing his younger brother had left his door open and was tearing through his bedroom.

Looking for something that wasn’t there.

Guilt flushed forward when Logan heard the soft panicked noises.

He stepped forward, intending to say something, but Virgil’s eyes turned up to meet his own instead. The words died instantly in Logan’s throat when he registered the glassy look in Virgil’s eyes, how they were swimming with tears. But there was panic behind that gaze, wild and heady. He looked like a scared and cornered animal.

“Do you think they found it?”‌ Virgil asked, his voice growing hoarse.

Logan decided it was better to play as if he didn’t know better. “Found what?‌ Virgil, what are you talking about?”

“My notebook!”‌ Virgil’s voice was sharp, but on the cusp of shattering. “I know you know what I’m talking about!‌ You really think I didn’t know?”

Logan’s mouth went dry, feeling as though he had been caught with his hand in the metaphorical cookie jar. He blinked, feeling as though he was the one cornered when he in fact had the option to leave without another word. “I‌.. I‌ don’t–”

Virgil’s eyes hardened. They were dark and accusatory, but that didn’t take away from the fact that they were wet. “Tell me honestly,‌” he grit through his teeth, hands clenched at his sides. “Do they know?”

Logan didn’t have the chance to answer, the door down the hall opened. It took no time at all before Roman and Patton were standing behind Logan, both looking equally worried. Virgil’s attention flickered between both of his parents before falling back to Logan.

And Logan felt such an overwhelming amount of guilt at that broken look.

“Fuck you.”

The words were poison. Logan had to turn his gaze away.

For once, neither parent jumped to say anything to Virgil about his bad language. Instead, Roman stepped forward, past Logan and into Virgil’s bedroom. Virgil matched that step forward with a step backward, looking like he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

Like he just wanted to run. And keep running.

“I didn’t mean to find it,” Patton told him earnestly, his voice soft as he stepped forward to stand beside Roman. “I didn’t even know what it was. It still doesn’t make a whole lot of sense now.”

“It was a private thing,” Virgil said, as if they didn’t understand that. “You were never meant to find it in the first place. You were never supposed to know what any of that meant and Logan, for some god forsaken reason, thought it’d be okay if he told you what it was!”

“The only reason he told us was because we asked him to.” Roman knew this backlash had been coming, but it was worse then he had expected truthfully.

“But he still told you!”‌ Virgil’s voice cracked—either from anger or un-shed tears, it was hard to see. “That was my thing! If I‌ wanted you to know, I‌ would have told you!”

“And we understand that you’re upset,” Patton told him quickly. “You have every right to be, but just because we know, it doesn’t change anything.”

“But it already has,”‌ Virgil spat back, “you and Roman share these pity looks over my head. You’ve upped your kindness and try to get me involved in more family things, Roman’s making more of an effort than ever before to try and get to know me. You think I don’t notice? You think all of that is just going over my head?”

He’d managed to shock them all into silence.

Virgil nodded his head, lower lip quivering dangerously. He sucked it in and bit down into it, wanting to still it. “That’s what I thought.”

He moved forward and ducked around his parents, dipping his shoulder out of the way when Patton tried to reach out to him. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, hiked up his hoodie further and escaped down the stairs. Their parents followed him down the stairs quickly, talking over each other as if that would stop the teenager from leaving.

Logan stayed glued to his spot on the carpet. Feeling numb and cold.

There was some shouting from downstairs before the front door opened and slammed shut. Logan heard the door open again. He could hear Patton and Roman calling for Virgil to come back, they’re voices were muffled through the floor and walls.

                                        ——————————

“You’re not a disappointment, Virgil,”‌ Logan told him firmly, shutting his textbook before setting it to the side. He was giving his brother all of his attention, even if Virgil wouldn’t look at him.

There was a soft hiccuping breath from in front of him. Virgil’s head tilted just enough to the side to allow Logan to see his face. “Really?”

Logan couldn’t have said it more firmly than that. He needed his baby brother to know that he was the furthest thing from a disappointment. “Really.”

Virgil sucked in another stuttering breath, using the sleeve of his hoodie to wipe at his eyes.

Because if Logan said it, then it must be true.

[galactic-pirates]

For the fandom ask game: 13, 17 James Watson, 20 Sanctuary, 24 John Druitt, please. 😊

Oh yes! Such great questions, thank you so much!!

13) What's a character or ship you haven't written/drawn yet but would like to some day? Oh, many. You should see my ideas list for drawing - it's long. There was a Star Trek prompt event and I got ideas, and the Year of the OTP event and I got ideas. So yes several for Star Trek (B'elanna/Seven, Kira/Dax, Owo/Detmer) and I really can't forget Janeway and Amelia Earhart. I will be bitter forever at the missed opportunity not to have her join the crew. It seemed like such poor characterisation as well. Would Amelia Earhart really have turned down the opportunity to pilot a starship??

17) What's a book, movie, or show you think James Watson would like? I don't think he would like crime/mystery media to be honest as either they don't play fair, or the answer is so obvious and the characters so slow to get it, that it's annoying. I think he'd probably check out the various Sherlock Holmes adaptations out of interest (and also to be guarded against any teasing), but I don't think he'd exactly like them.

To be honest I can't really see him watching much TV outside of documentaries. I think he might like movies a bit better as they are basically like plays. I think he might be interested to see examples of modern films out of interest for how they are made (hasn't technology come so far type thing) but I don't think the plot of most would grab him.

Books would definitely be his media of choice, and call him old-fashioned for that if you like. I don't know why but I wonder if he might enjoy a good old archaeological thriller. You know hunting for lost treasure and definitely on the more ridiculous side. I think he might be more willing to put up with inaccuracies if it obviously isn't taking itself too seriously (kinda like the Uncharted games).

The only actual title that springs to mind that I think he would actually like is The Princess Bride. Not sure why but I think he'd think it was clever and well done.

20) When did you first join Tumblr? How long was it between that and finding Sanctuary? Around April/May 2016 I think? I'd been lurking (aka reading specific blogs but not signed up) for several months before that, sometime mid-2015 I think. Anyway, I finally got FOMO and wanted to join in.

I first started watching Sanctuary... I can tell you, let me scan the blog archives. I think I tried to find it August 2020, and watched a bit via YouTube as I wasn't confident I would like it. I got the DVD in September and I think I was... mid season 3 (mid-October I blogged about having reached the Hollow Earth arc). You can tell my obsession really ramped up in October as clearly I did a deep dive for ALL the gifsets.

Amusingly one of my initial posts said that Tesla made a lousy friend (I'm laughing, boy did my opinion change) - hey! I never remember this stuff when I get asks about opinion changes. I remember my opinion now and rarely what came before.

Anyway I wrote my first novel length multi-chapter (Our Darkest Hour) that November before I finished the show. I actually stopped watching for the month in case the show messed with my outline, which it would have because Normandy jossed my Helen/James headcanon but oh well. It was kinda fun, a bit like capturing a fraction of the experience of if I had been creating when the show was originally live.

24) What's your favourite thing about John Druitt? I feel bad about this but the honest answer is his cursed nature. Without it, he's still a compelling character (as I wrote purely in Choosing Fate) but that agony of what happened to him, and the trauma to those he loved/who loved him just grabbed me. It's TRAGIC, and I like to fix things.

It's the whole Winter Soldier "it wasn't you" "but I still did it" type thing. Blame and judgement and guilt and darkness, and forgiveness, and how people can move on - it's fascinating. I see discussions on it on tumblr sometimes about redemption for characters. How far is too far? Are there some things that are unforgivable? Does it depend on outside factors - like being cursed - to mitigate blame? People have opinions. This can get controversial and I don't do conflict.

I remember Teal'c talking to Tomin on Stargate, saying that life didn't have to end, that he could never be forgiven but he could still do good in the world. I think of Regina who willingly walked down the path, but was pushed and manipulated by others (and a lot of pain). When I have written Regina I've talked about people being more than what they have done, that people have the power to choose, and she chooses to do better.

With John it's not really a choice (at least in my headcanon) while he's a host to the parasite. However, once it's removed - how can he move on? It wasn't him, but it was still his hand on the blade. He remembers it being him. I think it would warp his sense of morals too, after a century even if he wasn't a host anymore. Finding his sense of self, and his own moral code, would be a challenge.

Also his relationship with James. Coming of age in a world where it was punishable by death (or 10 years in prison and societal ruin). That too.

[s-mething-mbti]

Hello.

1. Are there any types you’re torn between? Which ones and why? Look into cognitive functions and really put some thought into this.  

I used to be, but not really anymore. But people who know me well enough tend to think I'm an intuitive dom. I won't tell what type I think I am. For now at least.

2. What do you LOVE to do - to the point where you can go all day without eating or sleeping - and why? Tell me about as many things as come to mind.

Without eating, I don't know, my stomach is too painful if I don't eat. Without sleeping, reading mystery books, researching personality/typology/science/politics/ online, watching good series or movies. Then I also love to take pictures outdoors of nature and animals and walk in nature. I used to lose myself into writing. And I can spend lots of time just thinking about the answers to the questions I ask myself, personal or general/world matters.

3. What’s something that’s obvious to you that most other people just don’t seem to get?

It's not the poor that hoard the riches, it's the rich. It's not by injecting money in the private market that hoards it that the real economy will improve, austerity doesn't work. It's by doing things yourself you set trends, not by telling others what to do and then do whatever you want. Simple principles.

4. What’s something that’s obvious to everyone else that you just don’t seem to get?

Why is it so important to socialize? Boring, annoying, exhausting, when I can do something useful or that I like instead.

5. Pick one or two of these prompts that stand out. How do you feel about: [honesty, leadership, harmony, morals, society, truth, management, emotion, efficiency]

Honesty is the root of all true genuine relationship/connection, especially relationship with one self.

Truth is subjective, even though there is a factual truth, without a clear knowledge of events and time, facts can point to something that isn't true.

6. Pick another one or two prompts. How do you feel about [adrenaline, novelty, tradition, meditation, the future, the past, comfort, brainstorming, excitement]

The future is now, our current thoughts, or actions are determining the future.

Adrenaline is just not for me. It's one of the worst sensation in the world.

7. Anything else you want me to know that you haven’t had the chance to say?

Maybe later.

I’m leaning towards INTJ from what you’ve written -

Ni: focus on the future (“The future is now,” current actions determining future); deep focus on understanding a concept (“I spend lots of time thinking about the answers toquestions I ask myself”); find understanding through perspective shifting (“Truth is subjective…facts can point to something that isn’t true.”)

Te: focus on metrics/results. Your answer to 3 can be boiled down to “Doing X won’t get results; doing Y will.” again in 4 you said “Why socialize when I could do something useful.”