#trying to have a sense of humor about this tragic situation

[luna-azzurra]

Writing a Morally gray character

Think about their backstory, what shaped them into who they are? What do they believe in? And, most importantly, what pushes them to get out of bed every morning and keep going? These characters aren’t simple good or bad. They’re caught in the middle, in that murky, complicated space between black and white. That’s where they get interesting because they’re constantly wrestling with themselves, trying to figure out the right choice, or if the “right” choice even exists for them.

You need to show this internal battle. Imagine your character being torn between what they believe is morally right and what they actually want. This is where the real drama comes in, it’s like watching them juggle their principles with their desires in real-time. They’ll mess up, and they’ll make decisions that are sometimes questionable, but that’s what makes them human and relatable. One way to really highlight their complexity is by putting them in situations where there’s no clear answer. You know, those moments in life where everything’s kind of a mess, and you’re stuck trying to figure out what the hell you’re supposed to do? Your character should face situations like that. These gray areas create tension because readers won’t know which direction the character will go, and honestly, your character might not know either.

And don’t forget, growth is a huge part of writing a morally gray character. People aren’t static, they change based on what happens to them, and your character should too. Maybe they start off with a strong sense of morality but, over time, that starts to shift. Or maybe they start with shaky ethics and slowly become a better person as they learn from their mistakes. Growth can also go the other way, they could spiral downward, giving in to darker impulses. Either way, they need to evolve, just like people do in real life. That’s what keeps the story fresh and unpredictable. The last thing you want is a character that stays the same the whole way through.

Also, please, no stereotypes. A morally gray character doesn’t have to be a brooding anti-hero with a tragic past (unless that’s your vibe, but even then, switch it up). Give them quirks that make them unique. Maybe they have unexpected motivations, like they’re doing something shady for a cause they genuinely believe in, or they’ve got a weird sense of humor that throws people off. Whatever it is, make sure they feel like an individual, not just a copy-paste character we’ve all seen a million times.

Even when your character makes decisions that aren’t exactly clean-cut or heroic, the reader still needs to understand why. Show their vulnerabilities, why they doubt themselves, why they hesitate, and why they ultimately make the choices they do. It’s all about making them relatable, even when they’re walking that fine line between right and wrong. People might not always agree with them, but they should at least be able to see where they’re coming from.

And remember, every choice your character makes should have consequences. They don’t exist in a bubble. Their decisions should ripple out and affect not only them but the people around them. Maybe they make a selfish decision, and it ends up hurting someone they care about, or they try to do the right thing, and it blows up in their face. One last thing, just because your character lives in that gray area doesn’t mean they don’t have any sense of right or wrong. They might have their own personal code they follow, even if it doesn’t line up with society’s morals. Maybe they justify their actions in a way that makes sense to them, even if other people wouldn’t agree. It’s all about exploring that space where they’re not totally good, but not totally bad either. That’s where things get really interesting.

Think about where your character is going. Is their journey going to push them to become a better version of themselves? Will they fall back into old patterns and never really change? Or will they stay stuck in that moral gray zone, constantly torn between doing what’s right and doing what feels right for them?

[idontcaboose]

Haunted Car Au part 13

Previous. Masterpost

“You done figuring out the sound files yet?” Duke asked while tapping on the hood of the Batmobile.

He was excited to hear a campy “Yes, Sir!” Come out of the open windows of the car.

“Neat, first off, any files that have your name in it?” He was a little disappointed, but still snorted to hear the tragic ‘Noooooo’ from Darth Vader.

“I think Red Robin has some pronoun type files in there, what are yours?” A mix of sir’s, dude's, and bro's were played until Duke had to stop the guy.

“Ok, what about age?” He wasn't expecting to get a straight answer, but when the car played a Scooby-Doo cut of ‘those meddling kids’, he was confused.

“So a kid?” Duke questioned. He got a weird mix of 'Ehhh', 'Kinda', and 'close enough' type files.

“We can worry about that later, any ideas how you got stuck?” A short ‘Nope’ with a pop on the P played.

Talking to the car guy was strange. Getting answers could be easy or turn into 20 questions trying to clarify an answer. So far, Duke knew the person:

is male or male presenting

a meta

has no clue how he possessed the car

has a good understanding of current memes

was possibly in their teens (probably a bit younger than Duke, but older than Daimian)

was a street kid? (When asked where he lived the car played “Why should I worry” from an older Disney movie about homeless animals in New York or something. He had to look it up.)

has a good sense of humor

and is taking their situation in stride.

Duke really had to wonder what their life has been where this is not a vast problem to fix…. And whether or not he should argue his ‘notification tone’ being a choir singing.

He really does not get paid enough for this, but it is better than the other stuff Gotham throws at the Bats.

“Mind if I get you up on the lift and check the engine? Might give us some clues.” After an affirmative from the car guy, Duke got to work.

Next

@kizzer55555 @sebas-nights @candeartist422 @trappednyourheart @fandom-life-corrupted-me @tkiesai @2lbballpeenhammer @admiralwidow @rewrittenwrongs @whotfevenknowsanymore @symmetricalastigmatism @thespacedragons @atinygracie @okami-love @lesbian-spider-drone @1n0sss @forgetmenot-bluepurple

[vclvetfleur]

Obedient Chapter 2

roman roy x fem! reader

Summary: After a week of getting the job you seemed to finally get a hold of Roman and his weird humor. You were finally proving yourself to him.

Warnings: Implied drug abuse, dark jokes, degradation

Word Count: 3.8k

Notes: Okay Chapter 2! I do want to warn that (not in this chapter) but later on there will be a reveal of a tragic backstory. Not that y/n is like Roman, but traumatized as well. Theres also going to be some kind of fluff in this one. I am trying to make this a slow burn, but it's so hard. ANYWAYS Soooooo I hope you enjooooy.

Chapter 2: Costa Azzurra Eau de Parfum

You left the office completely stunned. I guess that’s how everyone felt after first meeting Roman. Meeting him was definitely something no one could prep you for. But hey, I guess you finally have a job now. Before you could collect your thoughts, you saw Jess heading your way. “So? What happened? Oh my god, what’d he say?” She spoke quickly, expecting the worst from Roman. Every time she’s been around him wasn’t the best. He was arrogant, disgusting, selfish, rude, well Roman.

“I got the job.” You tried to collect your thoughts. You spent so much time prepping and getting ready for this. You thought at the very least this would be a bit more professional. You didn’t think you’d get berated for 3 minutes. You were at least expecting to even get asked your credentials. If you even made sense for the job. But I guess the Roy’s had enough money to keep everyone quiet and inline. They didn’t need to be too careful.

“You did?” She blinked quickly, looking at Roman then you. Roman spotted her stares and snickered and wiggled his fingers in a way to say hi.

All you could do is nod. “I did.” You finally broke out of your thoughts and started to laugh. You finally were going to see what it was like on the other side. No more struggling or worrying. You could finally pay off your student debt and other debt you’ve unfortunately had to be left with. “Uhh Roman said I needed to speak to you about getting all my stuff organized and all that.” Jess nodded before walking you through what the next steps were.

Before she could even start, Kendall needed her. “uh-Jess, I need you to help me out with a situation right now, Uh- “He started before looking down at you. “What happened? Aren’t you- wait did he just waste our time or-?” He began to question. He seemed stressed. Like he was in a panic for something. Gosh, what a wreck. He was practically sweating an entire fountain. He looked pale. You recognized what it was. Roman hinted at it. Rehab. But it didn’t seem like he quit a while ago. It looked like he really needed his fix. And soon.

“I’m just getting y/n organized, Roman said- “She started to explain before getting cut off by Kendall. I guess they just did that sort of thing. God, how pretentious.

“You don’t work for Roman, do you? No. Now uh-y/n just tell Roman to get someone else to do it. Uh- yea, anyways, I need you…” He quickly snapped before walking away with Jess. You barely made out what he was saying as he left you behind. You were on your own now. You decided to take a breather before having to endure what was Roman Roy once again. Once you composed yourself you turned around, fixed your suit before walking back to his office where he was slouching at his desk, staring at the screen. His head shot quickly up to you as soon as he heard the door, but relaxed once he saw it was you and ignored you for his screen again. “Did you lose your little buddy or something” he teased.

“Uh- no. Kendall told me to get you to help me out instead. Cause, and I quote, ‘she doesn’t work for Roman’” You tried to catch him up. Roman let out an amused sigh as he shook his head. “Wow my brother really does have a way with words. The PC king strikes back again with his stupid fucking union bullshit or whatever. Uh yeah okay, well I don’t know how to do that shit.” His eyes finally leaving his screen to look at you. But not really at you. He really made such intense eye contact. I guess you had to when your dad is the CEO and you might, which I really doubt Roman ever would, become CEO one day.

“Okay, so do I just- “You question pointing your thumbs to the door to go look for someone to do what Roman should be doing for you. “No no, uh just sit down, let me annoy Gerri. Fuck what’s the point of assistant it’s like having a hamster or something” He huffed in annoyance before spamming Gerri with messages to come to his office. He made every attempt to finally get her attention.

You watched an older blonde woman storm into his office, clearly not in a mood to be dealing with him and his issues, which she seems to have been doing for a bit. “What do you want now Roman?” She sighed.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind if you striped naked and y’know call me whatever name you have in your head right now” He implied before seeing her give up with him and nearly leaving. “wait-wait- okay sorry. Uh Kendall got me a new toy and I need her to fill some shit out. You know legal bullshit.”

You just couldn’t believe he could talk to her like that. Nonetheless she seemed like she wasn’t completely livid. She didn’t even tell him off. You looked up at her before standing up and putting your hand out. “Hi, y/n” You smiled. Gerri gave you a smile that gave you the feeling of a disappointed parent, you’ve seen that look before.  “Hi, just follow me and I’ll get you set up. Romans to incompetent to even find where half of his emails are.” She tried to rationalize with you before leading you out of his office. You just followed and sat down in a small conference room with her. “So, what do you do?” You asked before sitting down. She had her back turned to you as she was gathering all the paperwork from the filing cabinets. They had people coming in and out, so they had them ready. But Gerri was right, Roman was incompetent. “I’m the companies General Counsel, uh I basically just make sure they don’t ruin the company with legal stuff” She tried to explain. You nodded silently before taking the papers from her. You decided to read some of it over. You couldn’t believe what was in some of it. For starters I had to be on the clock and at Roman’s disposal 24/7. I had to basically play as this grown man’s mother. The NDA was worse. Nothing that happened or was said could ever leave my mouth or fingers if I were to type it out. I couldn’t tell anything to anyone. Maybe that’s why Jess was so quiet on how Kendall was and what was actually going on. But regardless, you signed. Once you saw what your salary would be, you signed immediately. It was basically making a deal with the devil himself. You practically sold your soul. But who wouldn’t for that kind of money. Once you finished giving off your information, Gerri picked them up and left a hand on your shoulder. “Good luck dear, just one rule I have for you, just don’t pay any of them any mind.” She warned before leaving.

You watched as she walked off, her heels clacking out of the room and leaving you alone. You stood up before finally exiting the room yourself.

You got up before going back to Roman for the day before seeing him grabbing his things on his way to leave. “Where are you going?” You asked. You hadn’t even been here an hour and he was leaving. “An orgy.” He joked before leaving the office. “Give me your phone quickly.” You tried to protest before he snatched it out of your pocket from your suit jacket. “What’s the passcode?” You reached back before he moved it away from you. “Nuh-uh. I need to give you my number if you’re gonna get paid. I do it with all my paid hookers.”

“I’m not a hooker. Or a pet. So, stop comparing me to that.” You stood your ground finally. You weren’t use to keeping your mouth shut. You never really even kept quiet this long. “Yea sure you’re not. That’s what the last Guinee pig hooker I hired said.” He said before using your face to finally unlock your phone. You reached out again before having him smack your hand out of the way. “Ow!” You cried out, holding your wrist.

“Boo fucking hoo, cry me a river, snowflake.” He seemed to try to correct you. You watched him intensely as he seemed to be on your phone forever now. “Oh what, you scared I’m gonna find some sex tape on this? You know it isn’t really smart to keep that on here. With the cloud and whatever the fuck those perverts do. Me, on the other hand, don’t care. You can watch all you want.” He shot you a wink. You reeled back. He wasn’t a good flirt. If this is what he called flirting. It was disgusting. He was basically a walking PR nightmare packaged in a small insecure man’s body. He tossed your phone up in the air before you could even process what happened. You frantically jolted and tried to grab it, thankfully grabbing it before it had fallen on the floor. “Done, I texted myself. I’ll text you what I need after my crazy insane BDSM orgy.” He laughed before hitting the L button. The elevators shut and he was finally gone. I guess it was time to go home too. You decided today was enough. This had been completely overly stimulating for you. It was definitely an intense day. You went home and laid down on your bed. Before you could even cut your eyes, your phone began to buzz. You opened it to see a few texts from Roman. He put his name in your phone to ‘sexy new boss’. What a prick? You’ve never met someone who was so into himself. 

‘helloooooooo’

‘it’s me, your new fuckable boss’.

‘you cant use that against me in court by the way.’

‘hellooooooo I said its me’

‘i’ll send a bomb to your house if you don’t respond to me’

‘okay fine. done. just sent one. now I need a new assistant’

‘ok ok im joking’

You read them as they came one after the other. Wow what a deranged little man. You swiped the messages open and finally replied to him.

‘What do you need?’ you sent.

‘ooo wow so profess. just checking to see if you quit’

‘im kidding again. just checking in on you’

You shook your head before replying to him again with a simple thank you and shutting your phone off again.

This is how it was for nearly a week. You would get ready for work as early as 7:30 am, just to be sent home early because Roman refused to even be there. And when he was, he was basically just making disgusting and deranged comments towards you or whoever the fuck was in the room. But that you can handle. Just an annoyance at this point. He did text you constantly. He seemed lonely. Like he didn’t even have anyone to really talk to. He spent most of his day or even night trying to get you to reply to him. He would send you text after text after text. He assumed because Kendall always texted Jess that was the reason, they were close enough for him to trust her. But he couldn’t break that barrier with you. He didn’t know what he could do to get you to even give him any kind of attention.  You barely flinched at his jokes, at least you didn’t show it and you were social with everyone else. He didn’t understand his need for his attention from you. But he got some kind from everyone so easily. He wanted whatever he couldn’t have. The only kind of reaction you would give him was quiet. You barely even made fun of him back.

You headed to the office later than usual, realizing that you were mostly wasting your time just showing up at 9 am. You were gonna be waiting on Roman for at least 2 hours for him to even get here. He probably had been sleeping in til 12 pm sometimes. You don’t know how Logan hadn’t fired him already. Even if he was his own son. You walked into the building at 11, knowing this was the earliest Roman would even get here. You stepped out of the elevator to see Roman in his office. You walked in before knocking on the door to let him know you were here.

“You’re late.” He sang as he pulled away from his computer. He laughed to himself, looking up at you.

“Sorry, I didn’t expect you to be at the office yet.” You explained before setting down your latte that you got before work. You sat down and pulled out your tablet to review what was next for Roman to slack off on.

“Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be here. Aren’t you a little slacker? Do I have to look back at your references and experience on that resume of yours?” He sat up, laying his hands on the desk. He was always so amused to annoy you.

“You never looked at my resume, remember? You thought it was a waste of our time.” You remined.

“Yea yea but what do I know? I’m just an attractive billionaire about to be crowned COO.” He shrugged. You didn’t know if he was insulting you and your education or if he was being genuine.

“Crowned? Do you think you’re getting a coronation or something?” You finally fired back at him. “That’s not how that works.” “Yeah I don’t know what the shit is, but regardless, now that you said it, I want it.” He raised his chin up like a little schoolboy. He seemed so proud of his stupid joke. He always did. He really did think he was extremely hilarious. Even if no one laughed at his own jokes, he did. It was the only thing he ever really liked about himself. I mean, he partly hated it because it made people not like him that much, but he knew he didn’t have much to ever offer people. Laughing was the only thing he could do to keep people around him happy enough with him. Or else he’d be just another substance abuser like Kendall or a prick like Shiv or even worse, boring like Connor.

“Yea, let me get my measuring tape out for the dick measuring contest then.” You finally learned to play along. You didn’t want to argue and fight with yourself to keep quiet. You thought it only made your day more stressful.  You expected something bad from Roman for talking like that, but you looked up to only see him actually laughing at your throw back. You hid a smile as you looked back down at your tablet. Even though you didn’t like to admit it too, your humor was also the only thing you liked about yourself. You didn’t like to be alone either. It was too much to be alone with all your own thoughts too. You also didn’t like the silence. You craved hearing people talking about other than your own issues or weird ticks. It was good to get the attention not on you all the time, unless you wanted it. 

“It’s a good 9 inches, alright? I should know I put my dick up against almost every guy I’ve met.” He lied so easily. It was only cause he knew no one would actually believe him.

“Even your dads?” You tried to hit a nerve. This was starting to seem like some kind of fun to you. It was so easy to make fun of him back because he really didn’t care what people even said to him.

“Ew no you pervert. You wish though.” That was probably the first time he said it to someone else rather than being called that. Unless it was Moe or Karl. One of those weird fucks from the board. His dad was tied in with a lot of sketchy guys in all honesty. “Besides, I could whip it out if you’d like to see that badly.”

You shook your head, outing your hand up in protest. “Nope, I’m good. Don’t worry. Anyways you have to do your work.” You said before getting up to go over to him to show him what was due today. He wasn’t gonna do them, but you felt safe enough that Roman wouldn’t grope you. You leaned down to his level, him sitting up to reach up to you, showing him the tablet of the upcoming projects.

Your bodies were barely an inch away from each other that you could even smell the weird pervy cologne he had on. It was a weird kind of nice. You kind of liked it, but you couldn’t pinpoint what you liked about it. Maybe like when you can’t stop tasting or smelling something that smells kind of off just because of curiosity. Regardless, it smelt like Roman just went to a perfume shop and picked the most expensive and ridiculous looking bottle he could even find.

You felt his eyes on you as you spoke, but it wasn’t as uncomfortable as you imagined. “Pay attention.” You redirected him, but he didn’t stray his longing looks away. He tried to get a read on you. You were so unwilling to let him see you crack or even show any kind of frustration. Not that he wanted to, but everyone did at this point. Or at least people expressed so after meeting him for a bit. You continued on and on before stopping to look his way, finding your face almost against his. Your faces were so close to one another you bumped your nose against his. You pulled back a bit as you tried to readjust how you were standing by him. You finally realized Roman was a lot softer than you initially thought. He was an asshole, sure. But he was kind of endearing to you. Something made you drawn to him. Maybe it was the way he tried to get a laugh all the time or that you finally realized his eyes were brown. Or maybe that he wasn’t as harsh looking as you thought. He looked grosser when you first glanced at him, but up close you were finally taking in all of his features. His weird little quirks that made him look so strange actually made sense on his face. You even noticed he was kind of smiling at you. You turned back to the tablet and pushed his chin to face it as well. “Come on now. Do I need to play Bluey or Coco Melon for you?”

“I don’t know what the fuck that is, but if they’re names of porn stars, then yes.” He laid his arm on the desk, putting his hand up to his head to hold it, positioning to look right back at you.

“Doesn’t your brother have kids? Don’t they watch kid shows? Or are you not allowed within a 200 feet radius of children?” You were trying not to get frustrated with him on his tasks of the day. You spent everyday making these notes for him to never even do them. “You really think Kendall takes care of them? Fuck no. He’s too busy doing blow in some undergrown New York club to watch them. My dad really led by example.” Roman confessed something he shouldn’t have, but he was hoping you’d find it all a joke like all of his weird comments. You blinked to understand all the trauma that was dumped in front of you. “Wow. Okay.” Was the only words that could attempt to even leave your mouth. You tried to shake that brand new information off. “Ah yeah, Kendall is a fake snowflake wannabe. He acts like he’s read Karl Marx and that he even gives a fuck.” Roman really tried to keep this impression of hating Kendall. Not that you understood what their relationship even was, but it was confusing to way the very least. They constantly seemed to be annoyed with one another, but you’ve seen other articles and pictures of them where they looked like your average billionaire happy family. You hated to say, but you really enjoyed the insider details of whatever fucked up dynamic this was. “Alright start your speech again, I wasn’t listening.” He seemed actually serious this time. You nodded and just went back to the top of your notes. Roman just wanted to move this topic as quick. He shared too much. He shouldn’t have, but who else could he talk shit about his brother with? Everyone he knew adored Ken except Shiv, but right now she was annoyed at him for whatever reason she came up with now. All because he insinuated that Shiv was with Tom only for comfort and not cause she actually loved him. But whatever, she was being a bitch.

He seemed to actually listen to you, was he actually going to do any of that? Fuck no, but it was an excuse to move the conversation. And just to hear you talk again. You really were smart. You actually did know what the fuck you were talking about and not just playing some kind of role. Maybe with the outfit and hair, but still, you seemed smart enough to know what you even said.

You spent the entire day with Roman before he started to get ready to leave early again. Which was your cue to also get ready to leave. “Oh uh- by the way, there’s a party tonight, I need you on the clock for that. I’ll send over some actually clothes to your place. Not anything from a fucking sweat shop. My driver will get you.” He said as quickly he could before walking off. You never had any time to react to Roman. He was way too fast for you to even fully comprehend anything that left his mouth. It was always so much.

But wow okay. A rich person party. This was new. Not an exciting new. More of an anxious new. Like going to a new school for the first time kind of new. If you looked any kind of wrong, you knew you’d be shunned or even made fun of in there. It didn’t take long for these people to start to laugh or mock people in this office, you could only imagine what it could be like at a party with billionaires like the Roy’s.

Notes: Next chapter is up!

Chapter 3

[purplehanfu]

Rating the Husbandos: The Story of Kunning Palace

notes: Spoilers! You really have your pick of men in this drama- but are any of them husband material?

Thoughtfully considered ratings behind the cut:

Xie Wei

A mysterious, tragic past is not a personality.

pros: Sexy as he looms over you in his fur collared capes. Exhibits very progressive thinking on women's issues. Which is strange considering all of his cons (see below).

cons: Explosive temper; violent; acts like he owns you; keeps trying to choke you (and not in a sexy consensual way); expects you to be grateful when he doesn't kill you in service to his grand revenge plan. Tough guy demeanor which he can only back up with the judicious application of his lackeys. Backstory so complicated you kind of lose interest. Looks like he has conjunctivitis a lot of the time.

hobbies: Making qins and tracking the wood shavings all over the house. Being afraid of snow except when the plot requires him not to be.

sexxin: Endless stamina and exquisite anatomy. Too bad he has no idea what he's doing. Cries after sex and gets mad when you laugh about it (why would you do that you monster).

Grade: C-

Zhang Zhe

Sometimes being hot is enough.

pros: HANDSOME

cons: His devotion to truth and justice will probably get him killed in the course of some courtly intrigues but the real tragedy is that he will never lie to spare your feelings. He will, however, compare your cooking unfavorably to his mother's.

hobbies: Restoring antiques; doing his own laundry

sexxin: Pathetic but you have to pretend it's great or he will become obsessed with improvement. At least the view is nice.

Grade: C

Yan Lin

A cheerful sweet ray of murderous sunshine.

pros: Smart, handsome, thoughtful, loyal, excellent martial arts, terrifying military skillset. You're his one and only, his ride-or-die, his day one.

cons: Related to Xie Wei

hobbies: Swordplay (see below)

sexxin: Complete freak in the sheets. Hope you have a strong bed and a soundproof bedroom, you're going to need both.

Grade: A+

Yan Lin's Dad

Reporting for duty.

pros: Has his own army but doesn't make a big thing about it (the Emperor and Xue family do, however).

cons: Frequently has the intensity dialed up to 11 when the situation clearly calls for a 6.

hobbies: Carving figurines for his 3-D map sandbox thing

sexxin: As expected of a military man he is good at taking orders and completing missions. His courage tongue should be awarded for its service to the nation you

grade: B+

Emperor

Heaven must have a sense of humor because it mandated this guy.

pros: Easily seduced by you.

cons: Easily seduced by people other than you. Married. Paranoid. Sickly but that might just be poison (if so add "unable to poison him" to the con list).

hobbies: Marveling at how good he is at seducing people.

sexxin: His game is as weak as his constitution.

grade: a solid F unless you want to murder your way to Empress, then he's a D

Fake Xie Wei

Ain't nothing like the real thing.

pros: social butterfly at parties, everyone knows him, can give you a wild night out on the town even if it's Tuesday and you're in some backwater village.

cons: is an actual con artist

hobbies: Collecting STDs

sexxin: so good you might be tempted to forgive him for his wandering eye. Don't. Just enjoy him if you must and move on.

Grade: D-

Gu Chun Fang

Hear me out.

You've been married more than 40 years. When your parents first arranged your marriage he snuck into your rooms that night to make sure you were ok with it. You fell in love at first sight. You never had children despite years of trying but he has never so much as looked at another woman. You come from a huge family and he has many young subordinates so your mansion is always very lively. Your New Year's parties are the stuff of legend.

pros: In all his years as an official he has never once made you get up early to help him get ready for court sessions.

cons: Would have no clothes if you did not buy them for him, would never eat if you did not arrange his meals, would fall asleep at his desk if you did not force him to come to bed.

hobbies: Collecting weird ugly giant rocks which he deposits in the various courtyard gardens of your mansion. Pretending to fish but really just taking a nap.

sexxin: After all these years you can still make him blush with a whispered invitation. Adorable.

Grade: A+ but he's not available and never will be

Dao Qin

It's always the quiet ones.

pros: Loyal; physique that was created as though by the gods themselves; surprisingly high EQ

cons: Kinda sad life made this guy an NPC when he has such strong main character energy.

hobbies: designing and crafting hidden weapons and/or cat toys

sexxin: You have seen the top of the mountain, and it is good.

Grade: B+

Master list of all show recaps etc.

[knickknacksandallthat]

if you don't mind me asking, what got you into kevin's character?

for me it was actually your fic, but since its so normalized in the fandom to dismiss his trauma and call him a coward and annoying for doing things that other characters are loved for, i didn't really care about him when i first read the books

now hes my favorite

Oh, anon, I love this!! What an honor, I’m so glad to have helped you join the Kev lovefest 😊 (Welcome to the dark side lol!) It makes me so happy that the A Fallen Star series has awakened this in you! 💖

And wow, what a good question. I don't mind at all! I actually had to think about this for a while to try and remember…how the heck did I get here???

So here is my ridiculously uncalled-for POV on Kevin’s character and slow descent into madness below:

(Disclaimer that these are just my thoughts and anyone in the aftg fandom can hc or think whatever they like about Mr. Day 😊)

Like you, anon, I was easily swayed by Neil’s perspective of Kev on first read. It makes sense and is a credit to Nora how we so fully buy into Neil’s opinion of Kevin that many of us just run with it. And to be fair to the fandom, it’s canon – Andrew, Neil, and all the Foxes tell us he’s a coward and annoying and so we assume it must be true.

So, I created many fics that played into this image and focused on andreil. (Because who isn’t enamored with andreil??? Legit, deranged obsession and couple goals lmao). Using that lens, it was easy to make Kevin the punching bag because he is the quintessential “straight man” in comedy (and yes, I do hear the irony in that) – the foil to other characters to make them seem better, braver, funnier, smarter, etc. It’s an age-old trick/trope in fiction that works very well. And it was an easier transition for Nora to make, I think, once she made the decision to remove Kevin from the main narrative of her story.

This character setup works well enough when you’re doing a fic from Neil or Andrew’s POV, providing an easy source of humor to fall back on. So, for me, I think my thinking shifted once I started working on Flavors of Fall and delved into Andrew and Kevin’s storyline there. That fic forced me to think from Kevin’s perspective, and I found at the time I had a shallow understanding of what made Kevin tick. It totally threw me once I really started considering sequels for that fic and the 12 Day Program for Courtship, both of which have Kevin cast as a main character. I had to dive deep into his makeup, seriously considering his motivations, his likes/dislikes, his personality traits, his relationships, and how he would react in any given situation.

Because I was interested in his character development, I started delving into fics like orionauriga’s just pretend , @likearecordbb's Long Walk in the Woods, @thetrojeans daylights, sunsets, and @dayurno's the age of no regret series. They are all brilliant, fascinating character studies of Kevin Day and his relationships that are extremely well done. There’s many more, of course, but I was searching for fics that specifically delved into Kevin’s thought process and choices and stayed there a while.

That’s what led me to feeling like I needed to tell his story with Dead of Night. Of course, it turned into a larger series with my flavoring of Kerejean added because I’ve never been a huge Kevin/Thea relationship fan. (But that's a discussion for another day which you can start here and here for that adventure.)

Now all that I’ve described above gives you the mechanics of the descent – the when, the where, the how. But it crucially misses the why. What is it about Kevin that got me in the end?

Ironically enough, it was his potential.

I think when Nora stripped away any kind of romantic narrative (RIP Kandreil OR Riko/Kevin/Jean) or a chance for a tragic storyline (Kevin dying in the end) it resulted in removing a lot of Kevin’s emotional vulnerability. We don’t get to hear what he’s feeling or thinking unless it’s related to Riko, the Moriyamas, or Exy. This means his storyline is consumed by the stereotypical sports underdog story, with us following his rise to champion (which is still a powerful enough narrative on its own that shines even in the midst of Neil’s crazy plotline. Switching that racquet to his left hand in the championship game? Iconic.) 

However, it leaves us very much with a shell of a person. Kevin’s character outside of Exy is reduced to a handful of facts – there’s a passing comment on his like of history, and the stark evidence of an alcohol addiction as a coping mechanism. We’re told he used to dance. That he learned French because Jean Moreau taught him. That he has no qualms about taking (mild?) drugs (cracker dust). Despite how much we’ve run with it as a fandom, the only allusion I’ve found in the books to him being strict with diet is this section from The King’s Men:

“No one needs to eat this before a game,” Kevin said. “Eat some granola or protein if you’re that hungry.” “Hello, there’s protein in the peanut butter,” Nicky said. “Let go of me before I tell Andrew you’re outlawing chocolate. I said let go. You’re not the boss of me. Ouch! Did you seriously just hit me?” … “Kevin, just let him go,” Neil said. “It’s not worth fighting over.” “When our defense is sluggish, we all suffer,” Kevin said.

From what I can find in the books, Kevin never once denies Andrew eating ice cream. (Which I’m 100% able to admit I might have missed something so feel free to quote me where that scene is because I was totally searching for it). In fact, every time they go to Sweetie’s, it’s implied Kevin orders ice cream with them. In the infamous kissing scene in The King’s Men, we actually have proof that Kevin got ice cream:

Kevin still hadn’t messaged Nicky by the time they reached the ice cream aisle, so Nicky gave in and called him. Neil half-expected Kevin to ignore Nicky’s call, but Kevin wasn’t so sour with them that he’d turn down a free snack…Nicky grabbed spoons from the kitchen and distributed pints to their hungry owners. Neil checked his expression when Nicky came back from dropping Kevin’s off….

Now I do think it’s in line with his character and his upbringing to have issues with food, so I’m all for buying into that specific hc. But we have very little evidence of it in the text.

His personality is reduced mainly to anger, arrogance, or cowardice (all traits that don’t make us sympathize with him). The only facts we have about his Tragic Past™️ are two things: his mother’s death, and his hand injury. Everything else we assume is based on Neil’s knowledge of the mafia, Wymack’s hearsay, Andrew’s deductions, and Kevin’s reactions to Riko and Tetsuji. We have literally no idea what happened to Kevin in the Nest. His trauma and his time spent there is a complete mystery. The closest we get is Riko’s comment to Neil in The Raven King:

“I am going to love hurting you,” Riko said, “like I loved hurting Kevin.”

This, I think, is one of the main reasons many of the fandom “dismisses” Kevin’s trauma in comparison to Neil’s because we can’t see it. We don’t know what happened and we don’t get to experience it, so this lack of explanation or motivation leaves us only with very cold personality traits. We’re unable to root for him as a character because we can’t sympathize. We can empathize because we know Very Bad Things™️ must have happened in the Nest, but we don’t see them happen the same way we do Neil or Andrew. Even Kevin’s hand injury is old and “healed” when we’re first introduced to the character.

The only true canon moment where Kevin appears “human” is in The Raven King with Kevin’s “then run” and “you should be court” conversation with Neil. His admittance that Neil’s life is more important than Exy is instantaneous – he doesn’t even pause to throw his Exy dreams down the drain if it means Neil can survive.  In a weirdly parallel way, we see Kevin’s thought process implicit in his conversation: “at least you’d have a chance.” It is strikingly similar to Neil’s internal conversation of: one of us should make it. (And there’s another whole separate discourse I could get into on how Kevin and Neil are two halves of the same coin, but we’ll save that for another day.) But even the revelation of Wymack as his father has more shock value than true emotional weight – we never see what that conversation looked like or how either party actually reacted. (In some ways, I feel like Dan being pissed at Kevin is given more “screentime” than Kevin’s response to telling his father and how Wymack reacted.)

So with Kevin’s emotions and past firmly locked down, we’re left to brush off Kevin’s reactions (or lack thereof) as part of his indifferent personality. It is what it says on the tin. (And that’s not to say Kevin is a perfect character by any means. He has flaws just like every other character.)

Now some people very accurately depict and buy into those limitations as simply being Kevin’s character/personality – I’ve read some awesome fics where Kevin is Ace/Aro and/or on the spectrum. These are completely valid, extremely well done, and I could totally see why others see and write him this way. Canon practically sets them up for it.

For me, though, it circles back to our skewed view of Kevin given to us by some deeply loved but also deeply flawed characters (cough, Andreil). Those same characters that we’re told time and again not to judge them by their cover but to try and understand how they’re affected by (and make choices because of) their trauma.

While Andrew and Neil end up giving each other this grace through a hard-fought battle of truths and exchanges, they do not extend this same courtesy to Kevin, and neither are we given the chance to do so. We literally can’t because, again, we don’t know what the full extent of Kevin’s trauma is.

Kevin doesn’t talk about his time in the Nest to any character, meaning we know nothing about it. Ergo we don’t know what choices Kevin makes because of it. In The Foxhole Court, Wymack specifically tells us Kevin was Riko’s pet. In fact, there is so much specific language that Kevin himself uses around the concept of ownership, and that Nora uses when referring to him that it jarringly sticks out in the text.  He has no sense of personal space or proper boundaries, viewing people only as assets to be used for the good of the team, which at the very least is a sign of mental abuse. But the fact remains that we just don’t know. We don’t know how far this mental abuse was taken, how often or severely he was injured, if he injured or was forced to injure others – we don’t know.

But it’s obvious whatever happened to him started as a child and built from there. Which means he has years of abuse and power dynamics embedded into him. He has every right to be afraid. In fact, we are demonstrably told and shown often in canon that Kevin is afraid…but fear does not equate to cowardice. In fact, we know that bravery often means being scared and doing something anyway. And in many cases, that’s just what Kevin did (with a crutch named Andrew). But even before he entered his deal with Andrew, it's important to remember that even though he was brainwashed and beaten from a young age to understand that he would die if he betrayed the Moriyama family in some way, he left them.

This is always so significant to me because so many abuse victims stay in their situation thinking/hoping/praying it will get better – either because of an idea that their abuser will change (“they’re just having a hard time at work rn”) or that the victim will fix whatever flaw the abuser finds lacking. Or alternatively, they recognize the situation is bad, but they can’t leave because they feel like they have nowhere to go, no one who will help them, trapped by their lack of skills/contacts/money. In Kevin’s case, both situations rang true. And yet he left. He left, and in only a year and a half’s time he recovered from his injury and led his team to the championship.

But he is only at the start of his recovery. I think he’ll need years of therapy to recover from all that happened in the Nest. I think many of his emotional and social shortcomings are a direct consequence of that timeframe and he did not have the freedom to address them until the threat of the Moriyamas was removed. I do not think they are permanent parts of his personality – I think in time, he will be allowed to grow and recover and contribute much more to his relationships than he’s capable of doing at the end of The King’s Men.

Though the series finished, I think Kevin’s story is just beginning.

That’s why I think he’s fascinating to explore as a character. That’s why I love writing him right now because in many ways, his possibilities are endless. There’s so many opportunities to explore different facets of his story that we never get a chance to in canon. Kevin’s character and narrative is a tantalizing tease which many of us have fell hook, line, and sinker for. (Including yours truly.) We want to rabidly sink our teeth into it and shake it, like a dog with a bone.

So we do. 😉

Phew. Okay, that’s enough. None of what I’ve written above is new I’m sure to those of the fandom who have been here since the beginning or have become diehard Kevin fans. But thank you for letting me ramble in this ask, anon. Writing about Kevin has been a very fun and therapeutic adventure for me. So I’m so glad that there are others out there who are enjoying it too 😊

[lancermylove]

Pre-Teen MC 35: Sally Face MC (HC)

Fandom: Obey Me

Pairing: No pairing, featuring demon brothers

Warning: None

Requested by: Anon

Prompt: Could you write headcanons for a GN pre-teen MC who's like Sal for Sally Face?

A/N: Anon, sorry for taking a million years to finish this HC! I had to go back and relearn everything about Sally Face. It's been so long since I played the game.

Series: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]

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At first, he is intrigued but slightly suspicious. Why would someone hide their face behind a mask all the time?

He figures that MC was hiding their past behind the mask and didn't feel the need to pry.

After learning about MC's past, Lucifer is impressed by their determination and ability to overcome adversities.

Over time, MC gains the first brother's respect when Lucifer sees how they handle the situations around them, especially MC's willingness to go against the norm despite the judgment and condemnation thrown at them.

Instantly curious about what MC is hiding behind their mask and is almost tempted to pull it off their face as a prank, but something told Mammon he shouldn't do it.

Nevertheless, the second brother is captivated and drawn to MC's dark and mysterious appearance.

Mammon appreciates MC's sense of independence and ability to be self-sufficient but wishes they would depend on him occasionally.

At the same time, he gets easily frustrated with MC because he has a hard time bribing and manipulating them.

When Mammon learns about MC's past, he tears up and develops a newfound respect for them. He is proud of MC and proud to call them his friend.

Doesn't know whether to think of the mask as cool or funny. Who wears a mask all the time? Unless they have something to hide underneath.

A chill runs down his spine at the thought of what could possibly be under MC's mask.

Levi sometimes pokes fun at MC's mask, but it's nothing too serious.

But once he learns of MC's past, Levi would be more respectful and understanding. He himself has a tragic past, so he can somewhat relate to them.

Satan is immediately cautious of MC. At the same time, he is curious and intrigued by the mask but doesn't want to ask MC or be disrespectful.

This doesn't mean Satan will not try to discover the whats and whys of the mask.

However, his perception of MC changes when he learns about MC's personality and struggles.

Satan admires MC for being sharp, intellectual, courageous, and determined.

But what Satan admires the most is MC's ability to control their emotions despite having a dark and traumatic past. He struggles with controlling his emotions, so to meet someone so young and in control is admirable.

When Asmo first sees MC, he is freaked out by the mask and squeals. However, when MC says they are used to it, Asmo feels guilty.

He is very tempted to put makeup on MC's mask and do their hair.

Asmo often wonders what MC is thinking due to their quiet, reserved nature. But once he knows them better, the fifth brother is taken aback by MC's dark sense of humor.

He often tries to persuade MC to open up about their past, especially about their mask.

But when Asmo learns the truth, he regrets asking about their past. His feelings toward MC change into pity and compassion, but at the same time, Asmo respects MC for being composed despite everything they have been through.

Curious about the mask for a second but doesn't really pay attention to it afterward. He thinks MC doesn't want to show their face or just loves Halloween.

When Beel learns about MC's past, he sympathizes with them, especially with the loss of a family member part. Beel admires how MC is still kindhearted and strong despite their struggles.

He often tries to cheer MC up by bringing them food or asking them to join him for a food outing.

Beel becomes very protective of MC, and if anyone dares to bully MC or comment on their appearance, the sixth brother will not take it kindly.

He is the only brother who will ask MC straight out, "Why are you wearing a mask?"

When Belphie learns that MC lost their mother in a tragic accident and, as a result, had their face scared, he feels bad for bringing up painful memories. In turn, his memories of losing Lilith resurface, making him sadder.

He can relate to MC's inner turmoil and appreciates their attempt to overcome their past.

Seeing MC becoming more confident and capable despite all the struggles inspires Belphie even if he doesn't say it out loud.

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[thedo0zyslider]

Sacrifice - 3k Words

Donnie was quick to notice his brothers quirks, all of them, but Leo's manner of self-deprecating behavior ends up getting filed away, because everything always turns out okay in the end. Until the Kraang show up.

A03 Link

Over the years, Donnie ended up noting a lot of things about his dearest brothers. A natural byproduct of his analytical brain, of course. All four of them had their little quirks, some weirder than others, but quirks nonetheless. There was Raph’s rather obvious one of speaking in the third person, which had annoyed his younger self to no end. There was Mikey’s silly litter personas, who were always persistent but strangely helpful. Donatello himself even had his own quicks, ones his brothers would always be quick to point out.

And then there was one of Leo's quirks, one of his more concerning ones. He liked to joke about self sacrifice when the going got rough. Jokes of that manor, that self-hating humor were very common to hear from his twin, so much so that it was normal most of the time.

It was a more….concerning mannerism of Leo's, and Donnie always wondered if he should look into it. Try that feelings stuff Mikey is so big on. But the chance never came up, and the issue went slightly forgotten about for a while.

It was probably fine, and also entirely possibly one of their other siblings would mention it. He didn't know if Raph or Mikey noticed it, but surely they had! Surely they'd tried to talk to Leo about it! Donnie could already count three instances of said self-hating moments happening, ones where Leonardo basically told a villain to kill him instead of his brothers. Because that was perfectly normal behavior.

The first time was in the maze with that living minotaur statue. When Leo said he should take all the punishment because he cheated. Well, it probably wasn’t the first time, just the first time Donnie noticed. He had to wonder how many other times it had happened without any of them noticing. Though Donnie was sure to take note of it nearly every time after, now that he knew the jokes were even occurring.

Leo always acted as if these things were jokes when he made them, not meant to be taken seriously. If there was an sincerity behind it, the sentiment had probably been lost on Donatello and his..…lacking social and emotional conversation skills.

He cracked a joke similar to one of Leo’s own, the day they had gotten stuck in the sewers searching for Raph. They were just jokes, so it was surely okay for him to make a similar comment, surely. It didn’t seem like it was too impactful, so he’d made it and just moved on with his day.

Donnie had been trying to stay calm all day, the sudden change of plans having greatly upset him. So to avoid his whole mood being thrown off, he had acted as if nothing was wrong. It made him seem a little uncaring, and probably annoyed Leo to a certain degree; but it was better than one brother missing and another having a small breakdown at the same time.

Maybe that was what prompted him to make the joke, even if it was a little tasteless with hindsight. But still Leo had done nothing, other than give him an annoyed glance and move on with his day. Mikey, trying to regain his own sense of normalcy, similar to how Donnie was, had said nothing, and went ahead with the mission without any comment on it.

Leo makes the jokes two more times around all of them, in particularly dangerous situations too. And though he would like to, Donnie has only no real record of any other time the jokes were made, even when it was just the two of them. Maybe they were only made when the going got bad, he didn’t know. But boy did he want too.

The third time was on their beloved, yet tragically interrupted, little snow day. Leo had told that dastardly bear to take him, but a plan had been made instead. Like it always was. The fourth, and final time to Donnie’s knowledge, was when their weird fish-sister had worked with Splinter to teach them a lesson. But Leo was never in any real danger that time, so it didn’t register as a red flag. Or anything to be worried about ever, but hey, hindsight is twenty twenty. So the issue went slightly unforgotten once again, like it was always going to, because everything had turned out okay in the end. It always did.

Until the fight with the Kraang.

And here they were, both Donnie and Mikey being flung back in the air by a rather strong hit from the leader Kraang. With one snap, two of the four of them had been set hurtling away from the Technodrome, and their best shot at saving the whole world. Dammit. Though the alien's ship was heading back through the portal, they still needed to shove the leading Kraang and the rest of the army back though as well, a plan that was now thwarted by that stupidly cool suit the alien leader adorned.

Donnie turned in the air best he could, trying and failing to turn on his battle shell’s jetpacks. With how fast they were falling, he wasn't able to get a hold of the activation button. Or any of his shell’s activation buttons for the record, not just the one for the jetpack.

He cursed to himself, and decided to somehow turn his attention to Mikey while they fell. The fight had been pretty high in the air, leaving them with maybe a minute or less before they hit the ground. If his calculations were correct, that is, and hopefully they were. Not a lot of time to work with, but he'd worked with less before. This was fine, it was gonna be fine .

Donatello reached for his younger brother, both of them catching on falling debris in the air next to them. He let out a yelp of pain, arms still reaching for Mikey as god knows what hit and scraped him in the air. Not enough time, they were gonna fall and splat in the ground and both die to the Kraang, shit, shit, shit -

“Don't worry Donnie! This is not a hug, it's a rescue!” Raph’s voice suddenly filled the air, and before he knew it the oldest turtle had caught both of them in his mystic form. Donnie muffled a noise of surprise, not even caring how Raph’s arms wrapped around him. He appreciated the sentiment, but he would really rather a hug than falling to his untimely demise. So the rescue-hug gets a pass, especially because it was a very good barricade when the three of them finally did hit the ground below, and stopped him from going splat.

Raph’s mystic form vanished a few seconds after landing, leaving all three of them safely deposited in a large pile of rubble. Donnie lets out a groan, head and limbs still pounding with pain despite his rescue. Remind him to never fight aliens again. He sat up with a barely stifled grunt, looking around for his siblings. Mikey was beginning to stir himself, shaking a few loose debris away from his limbs. Raph sat in between them, a hand resting on his forehead in pain, and one of his eyes permanently shut. A nasty reminder of the day's previous events, one Donnie had to look away from after a few seconds.

“Where are we? Staten Island?” Raph asked, right as all three of them were taking in their surroundings. And it surely seemed like Staten Island to Donnie, judging by the shoreline's shape and the overall distance from edge to edge, that he could see anyways. Which, woohoo, Staten Island! Best piece of land to ever almost splat on! Not . A few feet away, Mikey made a face, and Donatello was glad to see that their condition didn’t affect any of the brothers' opinion of the island. That it was horrible.

“Oh gross.” He said, slowly but shakily getting to his feet. He needed to collect data fast, it would calm him down. And being panicked in the apocalypse isn’t a great idea per say. “So how would everyone rate that rescue experience? Unsatisfied? Very unsatisfied? Wish Donnie would have done it?” Though his brothers didn’t respond, Raph’s face one of stern unamusement and Mikey looking up at the sky in true horror, at the still receding ship. It seems they had noticed something Donnie hadn’t in his panic.

Unfortunately he couldn’t stay on his feet for long, and felt himself fall back to the ground before he realized what was happening. Either from the pain or what he was told next, Donatello didn’t know, and didn’t want to find out.

“Donnie,” Raph said, his voice more scared and broken than any of them had ever heard it; the sound breaking both his younger brothers in turn. “Leo's still up there.”

Donatello felt his stomach sink, and he quickly tore his gaze back up to the sky. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck . Leo was still up there with that….with that thing . His twin was still up there, all by himself, fighting that thing all by himself and probably getting destroyed. His brother was still up there, fighting to save the world, and Donnie had just left him alone to do it. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He tried to stand again, despite the pain, and a whole whirlwind of thoughts racing through his head. He was the smart one, the analytics guy, and he hadn’t noticed one of his brothers was missing!? Until it was pointed out to him, too!? He was the observant one, that was his whole job! What kind of brother , what kind of teammate , was he if he failed that!?

Before either of them could speak into their communicators, like they all so desperately wanted too, Leo’s voice came through first. The very first emotion was palpable relief, that he was alive and well enough to speak into the device. The second was fear, once the words finally processed in Donnie’s head.

“ Casey? Casey come in. ” Leo's voice was a little static-y over the communicator, but he sounded mostly okay. Maybe a little winded, but okay. For now anyways.

“Sensei, I'm here. And I've got eyes on the key. Just tell me when you're home free, and I'll pull the plug.” Cassy responded, also covered by a similar layer of static. Donnie would really need to fix up these things when they got home, that was for sure.

Leo’s voice came through again, calm and determined. “Casey, listen to me. When I get to the other side, you close that door”

Donnie felt his breath hitch and the words, his mix of guilt and whatever else had formed dissipating quickly. Instead it was replaced by a ball of fear, fear that spread across his whole body and felt strong enough to leave him paralyzed. He could hardly believe it, that Leo was seriously about to sacrifice himself. But unfortunately there was no time to process the words before they were already happening. Casey was also shocked, his next response coming out in a gasp. Beside Donnie, Raph said nothing, just stared down at his wrist in horror. Mikey simply made a muffled sound of what had to be terror.. “What? Sensei, no!”

“Casey, it's the only way. He's too strong. He's not gonna stay on the other side unless I keep him there.” Leo huffed, sounding like he had just taken another hit. Oh god, he was still up there fighting, while trying to save them all too.

“There has to be another way!” Casey’s voice was full of desperation, unwilling to lose his mentor a second time. And everything in Donnie’s soul was mirroring that feeling. He was not willing to lose his brother, if only he had stayed up there, or gotten Leo out with them…

“We tried everything, Case. This is the only way.” Donnie stared down at his wrist band hopelessly, trying to think of any way to stop this, to change Leo’s plans. There just had to be another way, there just had to be. There was never usually one possible outcome to a situation, not in his world. Donatello ran through all the options in his head faster than he thinks he ever has, desperate to find one thing they didn't try. Maybe the Kraang had a weakness they didn’t know, or had forgotten about. Maybe they could-

Raph’s voice cut into his panicked thoughts, now pleading into the communicator like he never pleaded before. “Leo! Please don’t do this! Leo!”

Leo chuckled, dry and humorless as his final response to his brothers. “You're one to talk, big bro. Hero moves are totally your style.” The communicator fell silent, just as the Kraang leader began to say something, and presumably to attack Donnie’s brother again. The bastard.

Donatello had continued to run through options in his head, barely paying that exchange any mind. And, for once, Leo was right. They had no other options. Leo was right instead of Donnie. And if his brother's life wasn’t in danger, Donnie would be frustrated that he was right in the end. Leo would love that Donnie had been wrong for once, and for the second time today too. His brother would’ve gloated about it and been smug for the next week, reminding Donnie of those two times he’d been wrong whenever he got something right, which was ninety-nine percent of the time.

Donnie was pulled out of his thoughts by Casey’s voice, and turned his attention back to his communicator once again. “Leo, please! I can't lose you again.”

Again. The words hit Donnie like a train. He was losing his brother, Raph and Mikey and April were losing a brother, Splinter was losing a son., and Casey was losing his mentor and father figure for the second time. “ Hey, future me would be real proud of you. I'm proud of you” Donnie wanted to say something, anything as he listened to the exchange, but couldn’t force his mouth to move. Even if it wasn’t really his moment, he wanted to say some last words to his twin. But his tongue tragically remained locked in place.

“Weak words, weak actions. I have forever known what you fail to understand. Strength always prevails.” Donnie’s heart sank in fear all over again as the voice of the leading Kraang could be heard. The creature that tried to kill him, tried to kill his brothers, and it was still up there with one of them. The alien that was trying to kill Leo right then and now, and Donnie wanted to do nothing but tear it limb from limb just at the mere thought of it.

“What you fail to understand is I missed on purpose” Leo remarked, sounding so cocky and sure of himself like he always did. He was the face man, after all. His voice was then directed back at the communicator, urgent. “Casey, close the portal now!”

“ What!?” The Kraang leader snarled, rage barely contained in his voice.The fight was still going on, but the communicator’s sound had gotten more broken up. Meaning the two of them had probably entered the prison dimension already, and it was too late to save Leonardo.

“No! Let go of me!” The Kraang snapped. Donnie had to wonder if the beast had realized what was happening, and was now being held back. Not like he would ever know, but still, a turtle could wonder in his newfound grief.

“Casey, please!” Leo begged, sounding more desperate than he ever had before. Almost like he was pleading, like he wanted this . And the rest of them could only guess that Casey listened, because there was no further response from either side..

That was the last thing Donnie heard before the communicator cut off, and his twin went into the portal forever. He looked up at the sky, and despite it being the logical outcome, watched in dismay as the technodrome went through into the Prison Dimension, and the portal closed, taking his brother with it. He looked at the sky and wished for his twin back so badly, regretting all those stupid little jokes he made before about just this. Even if they seemed so small back then, and now compared to the pain.

Donnie felt everything go numb, like the world had stopped moving just for them. He looked at Raph, part of him hoping to find some sort of comfort from the eldest like he so often did, like he always did when things had gone wrong before today. But Raph already had tears in his eyes, and was crouched on the ground with his fists balled tightly. Mikey was standing to Donnie’s right, seemingly despondent.

Donnie just stared at where the portal had been, not really seeing anything. He felt part of his soul, his very being, was taken through that portal with his brother. Leonardo was gone. He was too late, he couldn't protect his family and keep them safe with his tech and genius mind and Leo was gone. His twin, his other half, was taken away just like that. And he’d gone in willingly, too. Like he had wanted to die.

Donnie blinked a few times, feeling something warm and wet sliding down his cheek. He brought a hand to his face, and stared down numbly at the liquid on his fingers when he pulled it away. Oh . He was crying.

He hadn't cried in years.

And next thing, before he knew it, Mikey was making a damn mystic portal. He was crying his little eyes out, but he was making a portal. He was trying to save Leo, even though their brother should be dead. Mikey shouted something about not giving up on Leo, or any of his family, and strained his powers further. His hands and arms were cracking with dealy, golden light, yet he still made that portal.

Donnie grabbed onto one of Mikey’s shoulders without even thinking, while Raph held onto the other. They both said something, something that was in lost in the moment, and lended their brother the aid he needed.

And by golly it worked .

Leo came through the portal, landing in a heap on top of Mikey, and the portal was closed right in Kraang Primes's stupid ugly face . All four of them flew back a bit from the force of the closing portal, Leo right in the middle of them. He was beaten up pretty bad, but breathing. And that was all that mattered. He probably needed an ungodly amount of medical attention very quickly, but he didn’t die. He was still alive. And that was all that mattered.

Upon seeing his brother was alive, a lot of things lifted off Donnie’s shoulders. Some he didn't even know he'd been carrying. Grief, guilt, anger, and a whole bunch of other things in between. The confusing ball of feelings unknotted themselves, and Donatello thought he would have to hold back more tears.

Leo groaned, lifting his head up. Already, not even five minutes after being saved, there was a stupid grin on his face. “Ew, are we on Staten Island?” He said, head falling back against the ground nearly as fast as he had raised it. None of them could help the giggle that escaped them, and Raph couldn’t resist pulling all three of his brothers into a spine crushing hug.

Donnie huffed, feeling Leo’s presence next to him as they were squashed together in Raph’s arms. He was badly hurt and probably bleeding all over them, but he was alive. And nearly losing him had been the worst feeling ever, Donnie never wanted to feel like that again.

So yeah, no more self sacrifice jokes ever, ever again. Not from either of them.

[chasing-ghosts-silhalei]

Background Face: "The Goddess Artemis" by Linda Lhermite Double Exposure Photography

Chasing Ghosts - AO3

This fic is a dark, gritty, tragic mystery with LOADS of fluff and humor to make it all better.

There are many layers to everything. When you think you know, you really don't. I love a long game.

[ Only viewable by registered users due to AI theft and hate bots ] [ If you'd like an AO3 membership code, please ask - I got you ]

🖤🤍💜🖤🤍💜

A life of freedom with her closest friends and the denizens of the wild on her side. What more could a girl want?

Not a damn thing, except to be left alone.

When Mithra pledged to go to the Conclave, she thought it would be a quick job and she could get on with her life. Unfortunately, this tattooed, beat-up, foul-mouthed, prickly Ranger finds herself trapped in a...challenging situation.

She'd be gone immediately if not for that hole in the sky. Until it's sealed, she must adapt and keep her secrets close. Of course, fate's twisted sense of humor would reveal them despite her best efforts.

Then there's those fucking fade rifts.

And why is love trying to sneak up on her? She doesn't have time for that shit... But-

[ This tale is a backstory & healing journey ]

[ Smut is separated into its own chapters + clearly indicated ]

[ Disturbing Content / Trigger Warnings are in the Chapter Summaries ]

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My Ranger concept is based on the DA:O Specialization. I've turned it into a magic-based power because "summoning." The existence of Mabari war hounds, Avexis, and that conversation with Morrigan about understanding animals for shapeshifting have inspired the finer details.

SO! Dalish Rogue 'Apostate' Inky x Solas and/or Cullen

[ Jealousy and pining ] [ Complicated Love triangle ] [ Enemies to Friends to Lovers ] [ Long Fic - Slow Burn / Romance ]

And there may or may not be a dog in the story.

Other pairings: Sera x Dagna Dorian x Bull

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Here's a Six-Song Soundtrack to give you the vibe.

Also a very bad drawing of Mithra

And a hilarious scene with Sera

Rated Explicit for violence, occasional gore, eventual sexual themes (separated from the meat of the story), and strong language.

Trigger Warnings, Notes, and [ the first three ] Chapter Summaries are below the cut.

This fic contains guts and mental illness Fair warning.

There's a second link at the bottom of this post.

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I love twists, making people laugh, and crushing souls.

There's tons of drama, fluff, heartache, broiling angst, fun, comfort, healing, pranks, cuddling, and heart-rending romance.

I honestly crack myself up and make myself bawl writing this.

Chapter 2 kills me, but 3 is one of my favorites. Shit gets really twisted in Chapter 10.

Mithra might be a little crazy. In a sadistic, stabby sort of way.

Okay, so she's a dumpster fire, but she has a heart of gold and would die for those she loves without hesitation.

More info can be viewed optionally in the fic's opening notes on AO3.

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Fic Trigger Warnings Include:

Past rape attempts, past rape threats, death threats ( past and present ), self-harm attempts, character death ( past and present ), past torture, past family loss.

Extremely graphic violence, graphic animal attacks ( C'mon - Ranger ), descriptions of injury, descriptions of gore, broken bones.

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Chapter Summaries (just 1-3):

Chapter 1 - The Lone Survivor

Dressed in a Valo-Kas uniform, Mithra assaults the Breach She's badly injured. People scramble to save her. A few things about her are discovered and discussed.

Chapter 2 - Awake

There's a lot on Cullen's mind Mithra wakes up Cullen fetches Cassandra [ Poor everyone ]

Chapter 3 - The Herald

Leliana escorts Mithra into the dungeons. She's so amused. Petty pouting ensues. Mithra meets someone while in time-out.

There's much more, but I don't want to list every chapter or spoil things.

Fic Link: Let's fuckin' GOOOOOOOOOO!!

[shifuaang]

Conglomerate thoughts about Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 under the cut. Please do not read if you don't want to be spoiled! TLDR: I loved it.

I suppose I should preface this by saying Guardians Vol. 2 is my favorite MCU movie and that I hold no real affinity towards installments outside of the Guardians in the Marvel Universe. I used to be a pretty active and engaged fan, but Endgame swiftly put a stopper on that. I was very worried about how this film was charged with the task of picking up the pieces of a fractured and, frankly, careless and poorly written conclusion to Phase 3.

Long story short, I should have never doubted Gunn.

Gunn did an expert job at navigating the perimeters that Endgame thrust on him, ensuring that the plot didn't linger on what happened without neglecting the catastrophic weight of Thanos's actions. Bringing alternate universe Gamora into the fold seemed like a monstrous and difficult task. I have expressed before how much I hated the idea of Quill chasing down someone who isn’t even ‘his’ Gamora and trying to win her back, but Gunn handled this with absolute grace, assuring that everyone stayed in-character in their reactions and interactions. There was no backpedaling or continuity with how the Guardians were written in Infinity War and Endgame as I feared there would be. Gunn picked up from where we left off in Vol. 2 while still allowing us space to mourn Gamora's loss. Rocket's trauma and character development was taken seriously again. Every member of the Guardians had a well crafted arc and was given the appropriate amount of time to explore said arc.

The animal and child abuse was hard to watch. It felt way more violent than anything we've ever seen in the MCU, but I'm almost glad that it was. I feel that loss and violence is almost glossed over in the superhero genre. We don't quite get the full scope of devastation and impact that villains have caused in their quest for domination, colonization, and perfection. We've been desensitized to death and torture to a degree. Even the snap™, which most would site as the most evidentiary form of brutality in the the MCU, did not hold nearly as much weight as the actions of the High Evolutionary. Thankfully the plot never seemed like a hit over the head with a message of EUGENICS BAD! It was more a tragic exploration in what eugenics can do to an individual, how it desecrates the environment, and how the quest for perfection is gratuitous and futile.

In spite of the heavy subject matter and darkness of the film, Gunn still maintained the thread of humor that we love from the Guardians. I laughed out loud more than a handful of times, and every laugh came at a point in the film where it was necessary. There were no quips or jabs there to deflect from the seriousness of what was occurring, just enough to give the audience time to breathe. I am so glad that Guardians Vol. 3 was the first MCU movie to get the green light in the 'fuck' department. I can think of no franchise more deserving, and the way it was used was perhaps the funniest joke in the whole film.

I could write an entire essay on Mantis's arc and her development and how much she means to me as a character, but maybe (probably) I will save that for another day. To keep things short, I appreciated her continued empathy and sense of humor in such a bleak situation and after such a hard life. I see so much of myself in her, and it's incredibly moving to have someone represent aspects of yourself that you thought would never be portrayed in the superhero genre because they are more difficult to express emotionally and cerebrally. She's so important and so brilliantly acted by Pom, and I adore how much agency and confidence she was allowed.

As for people who say they didn't like the ending because it 'destroyed' the found family aspect of the Guardians, I never got the impression that these characters weren't going to meet up again and that they stopped being family. There was no discussion on how they were 'bad' for each other or that they'd be better off individually, which is normally the consensus when groups split in media. Quill should spend the remaining time his grandfather has with him. Mantis should go explore herself and her independence after years of captivity and compliance. Drax and Nebula should rebuild, and create, and love on the new occupants of Knowhere, as they've been forced to spend most of their lives being destroyed and being destructive. Rocket and Groot should carry on the legacy of the Guardians, protectors of the universe. And Gamora has clearly established a loving family of her own with the Ravagers, which is what she deserves. Everyone's ending felt pertinent and cathartic, and we were left with a sense of hope and a twinkle of potential for what could come in the future.

Thank you, Gunn and the cast and crew of this film, for making me cry the hardest I have in a theater since Toy Story 3, and for ending my favorite MCU series so beautifully. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better conclusion.

We'll all fly away together, one last time, into the forever and beautiful sky. 🚀

[another-whump-sideblog]

Your ethical lab whumper did me damage of the good kind!!! But what if the inevitable happens and whumpee gets attached to whumper because that's their only social contact and they can tell he's trying to be as good as he can, giving them painkillers and everything even though he wouldn't have to at all? And whumper gets attached to whumpee because it's like you're taking care of a pet except it's human, and you're acting like their friend, and your brain doesn't know the difference. You're getting to know their preferences, their fears and dreams, what they like and dislike, their sense of humor, what they're like when they're scared and when they're lonely and when they're sleepy and happy, you're caring for their every need and becoming the person they look to for safety and social contact - it can be intoxicating to be needed like that... I mean, even workers doing experiments on lab animals report getting attached to them if they just give them names. I can't imagine this whumper wouldn't get attached to their subject if they got along well. In another life, perhaps they would have been friends, or even something more. But as it is, their situation is deeply tragic and fucked up, and the outcome could go many different ways depending on how much whumper/whumpee respectively become corrupted by this situation... come on it's so good right?? :D

Yeah!! I think Whumper knows about the risk of getting attached and has thoroughly prepared themself going in. Just as they remind themself not to disconnect, they also remind themself that the experiment is more important than their feelings, and that any affection Whumpee shows for them is not a result of genuine friendship- you cannot have genuine friendship with this kind of power dynamic.

Whumpee was not prepared. At first they hated Whumper, obviously. Whumper kidnapped them! They spend the first few weeks of their captivity (I imagine the experiment would be about a year long) alternating between cursing Whumper out and begging to be let free. Once they realize they're not going to be let out until the experiment is done, they start to notice that... Whumper's funny. And nice. And willing to give them just about anything if it would make their captivity easier. Whumper cares more about their health than they do, and though Whumpee knows it's because Whumper can't jeopardize the experiment, it feels really nice to have someone care so much about what they're eating and how much sunlight they're getting and the quality of their sleep. Someone who tries to get them everything they ask for, even if it's patently ridiculous.

Whumpee starts to feel guilty about wanting to escape. Whumper says this research will benefit the whole world. Whumper says their family and friends just think they're on vacation, so Whumpee being here isn't driving anyone sick with worry... Why do they still want to escape?

Whumper gives them melatonin gummies when they can't sleep. Whumper drugged them and took them away from their home in the middle of the night (gently, though, if you can call a kidnapping gentle). Whumper explains every detail of what they're going to do before they do it, so Whumpee isn't as scared. When Whumpee is scared, Whumper restrains them and does what they wanted to do anyway, with an offer for them to be sedated. Whumper lets them ask for a break sometimes during experiments if it gets to be too much. Whumper cuffs their ankles together any time they're out of their cell. Whumper got them a plant to take care of so they have a sense of purpose.

When Whumpee is released, they fight hard against Whumper going to jail. They outright lie about what happened, figuring that if they're the only witness, Whumper will only go to jail if Whumpee testifies against them. Unfortunately (in Whumpee's mind, at least), Whumper kept video of basically everything that happened.

Whumpee visits Whumper in jail. Whumper knows that it's not healthy for them to be so attached to their kidnapper, but what are they going to do, refuse to see them? After everything they did, Whumpee should be allowed to come talk to them about whatever they want, and have whatever feelings they have without judgement. Whumper gently encourages Whumpee to get therapy, but doesn't push when Whumpee says they don't need it. It's a long time before Whumpee is able to be angry about what happened to them, instead of guilty that Whumper 'had' to kidnap them.

[isadomna]

Robert Redford and Natalie Wood

“I had a wonderful time working with Natalie, not only because of her innate talent, but she also loved to laugh and joke around on the set, and we would tease each other a lot,” - Robert Redford

Natalie Wood met Robert Redford at Van Nuys High School in Southern California when she was a sophomore and he was a senior. Their initial encounter was not a friendly one. Robert was on duty as school assembly guard when Natalie came running to his door, late for the assembly, begging him to let her in. Redford, wanting to be ‘cool’ said she wasn’t allowed to go through his door and she would have to go around to the door that accommodated her last name. Natalie then called him an ‘asshole’ and gracefully went around to her proper door. The two wouldn’t cross paths again for ten years, when Natalie and her Splendor in the Grass co-star Warren Beatty stopped backstage to meet Redford, after catching his performance in the Broadway play Sunday in New York. Natalie claimed she didn’t remember the high school rebuff.

Natalie Wood reportedly recommended Redford to Warner Bros for the 1965 drama Inside Daisy Clover. Robert has always credited Natalie for his being brought into the project in a role that essentially kick started his film career. Natalie later recalled how he eased her nerves during a precarious situation filming in a small boat at the Santa Monica Pier, made even scarier by her fear of water. A gust of wind caused a rogue wave to cast the boat to sea, away from the crew and technicians. “There was no way we could get Natalie and Bob off the boat, and the lines to keep them in place were breaking right and left,” director Robert Mulligan recalled. Despite the danger, Redford maintained a sense of humor that kept Wood relatively calm, earning her trust and beginning an enduring friendship. Rumors of a love affair between them started to circulate. Redford admits that he was very attracted to her, but claims he never touched her, because he “worried about the liabilities of intimacy with the women you act with.”

After a string of relationships with various actors, Natalie Wood met producer Richard Gregson through their mutual friend, Robert Redford; Gregson was Redford’s agent at the time and Redford was best man at their wedding. Natalie y Robert would team up once again in 1966’s This Property Is Condemned. She also appeared in the 1972 political drama, The Candidate, when her old friend asked her to do a cameo. Wood and Redford lost touch shortly after that. Their last encounter was in 1980 when Redford was trying to cast his directorial debut, the gut-wrenching drama Ordinary People, about a family torn apart by a young son’s passing. Natalie, whose career had cooled by this time, coveted the role of the cold, distant mother, but Robert Redford ultimately cast Mary Tyler Moore. Natalie was so upset she never spoke to Redford again feeling it was a betrayal. That was the last communication he had with her before she drowned. This still pains him to this day.

Tragically, in 1981, Natalie Wood lost her life in circumstances that remain mysterious to this day. Robert Redford was understandably left devastated by the loss of his friend, and despite his reputation as a private man, has often spoken about their connection. He narrated a glowing tribute to his former co-star for the Turner Classic Movies network and also agreed to be interviewed for the 2020 HBO documentary about Wood's legacy, What Remains Behind.

[electronickingdomfox]

"Enterprise: The First Adventure" review

Novel from 1986, by Vonda N. McIntyre. A bit unusual, in the sense that it deals with Kirk's first mission aboard the Enterprise, so most of the characters are strangers to each other, and their familiar relationships haven't yet been established.

The first half of the novel consists on several scenes (almost in a "slice of life" style) following the different characters, and it's in my opinion the best part of the novel. There's plenty of humor, and Kirk in particular is hilarious, not because he wants to be, but because of the ridiculous situations he gets involved in. The expectations about the heroic Captain, that we're used to from the series, are constantly subverted. First, he takes command of the Enterprise in a partially inhebriated state, after an alien friend insists on trying every single drink of a menu. Then his first glorious assignment turns out to be... transporting a bunch of vadeuville artists, to perform in some backwater station. His new crew isn't impressed by him, specially Spock and Scotty, who still miss Pike. His chosen doctor (McCoy) and his only old friend around, arrives late and in a state of complete dishevelment after a rafting holiday. And when he finally manages to approach the guest lady, in the proper romantic setting, she confesses her feelings... for an altogether different man (imagine Kirk's dumbstruck face). So yeah, this is top comedic Kirk, as the one from "The Trouble with Tribbles": the only sane man in a sea of silliness.

The other characters are well developed too, and few writers give them such a rich inner life as McIntyre. Sulu gets his hopes of serving with Captain Hunter (from The Entropy Effect) crushed, when he's assigned to the Enterprise instead. And spends a good deal of time trying, unsuccessfully, to present his resignation to Kirk. Rand is given a really tragic past. And even though I don't feel her portrait here fits very well with her personality in the series, it's remarkable that the book makes an effort to explore these secondary characters, beyond their few traits in canon. Spock is still in a stage of being "totally Vulcan", and totally unsufferable about it, since his contact with Kirk and McCoy hasn't yet mellowed him. Though he already shows signs of recklessness when needed, and his misunderstandings about human culture provide good comedic potential (as when he thinks that the custom of smoking a cigar to celebrate a new birth is very logical: one adult must die poisoned, to compensate for the newborn). McCoy is more like his usual self, though I'm starting to feel confused about his backstory, since each novel shows a different version. In Crisis on Centaurus, for example, a young Ensign Kirk already met him as a divorced man, while here he seems to have divorced recently (but that's what happens when canon doesn't establish anything, really). Some choices are weird, though, like having Chekov already as a regular crewmember, while the series suggest he was the last to arrive.

Among the circus characters, the most relevant are Amelinda Lukarian, the manager, and her pet pegasus (sorry, I mean "equiraptor"); a winged horse created through genetical tampering, that is frustrated by its inability to fly. And there's also Stephen, a very unusual Vulcan who has embraced hedonism and the intensity of emotions, and an old acquantaince of Spock (so you can be assured that drama unfolds).

After this first, more whimsical part, the second half of the novel changes the tone and develops a semblance of plot. There's a first contact with a new alien race (winged cats), that live inside some sort of organic worldship and use a complex, musical language. There's a Klingon renegade complicating everything. There's Spock mind-melding with an alien and going amok afterwards... No new stuff, and I won't go into details.

Overall, this novel has fun moments, though I found McIntyre's other original work (The Entropy Effect) far superior. I would also have liked to see a greater development in the Kirk-Spock-McCoy relationship, the beginnings of their unbreakable bond. As the latter part spent more time dealing with the aliens, it left aside the character exploration. And by the end of the book, it didn't seem that Kirk was much closer to his new crew.

Spirk Meter: 0/10*. They're strangers forced to work together, and they don't like that fact very much. Kirk would have preferred to have Gary Mitchell as his First Officer, and is only stuck with Spock because of Starfleet's orders (as well as Gary being in the hospital). Though as the novel progresses, they start respecting each other more, play a chess game, and Kirk ends up rescuing Spock (but more out of duty than anything). Still, not much to talk about.

McCoy, on the other hand, is immediately interested in his new Vulcan patient. Already in his first physical, he gets all "let's talk about your heart" with Spock, and hopes to mend things after offending him accidentally. They're soon arguing, but sadly, the relationship doesn't develop much further.

The closeness, however, is diverted to other characters. Kirk is feeling all angsty about Gary, still unconscious after a last tragic mission, makes frequent visits to the hospital to talk to him in his coma, and has recurrent nightmares about the incident. When Gary recovers, Kirk is overcome with joy (we must assume that Gary eventually joins the Enterprise crew, given his appearance in the pilot episode, though the novel doesn't cover that). Spock and Stephen also have some tension going on, which at times makes them look like disgruntled exes. Spock resents Stephen for his illogical lifestyle, while deep down Stephen envies Spock's human half and his greater ability to feel emotions (even if Spock represses them). Stephen's attempts to get closer to Spock, while rejecting Ariadna's romantic advances, also reinforce this impression. And finally, it's Stephen who cures Spock of his madness through an intimate mind-meld.

[sir-subpar]

I’m not trying to get to deep into politics but…

what do you say to all the people who are making fun of the assassination attempt on Trump and people on social media not caring about the man that died trying to protect his family

i know you don’t like Trump but I know your decent and not crazy

Kind of hard not to talk about that situation without it being political, but I'll share my thoughts on it. At least a summarized version of them.

I wouldn't mind the jokes if Trump was the only one who got hurt, but since bystanders were killed, we shouldn't disregaurd that. I don't condone assassination attempts.

While I admit wouldn't miss Trump if he died, that doesn't mean I have to encourage people to commit violence. And we all know for a fact that he's going to play this up like he's some Brave Soldier coming back from no man's land.

Look, getting shot, or nearly shot, can certainly be a traumatizing event. Even so, Trump is not the one who's gained by sympathies.

I don't like Trump. I do not respect him. He has a long history of bigotry, he's annoying, full of himself, and the things he says and acts upon give other bigoted people the green light to do hateful things.

But people who had little to do with him were killed. And not only do I think that is tragic, I fear that he will weaponize that as well. To paint people who disagree with him as violent monsters.

All in all, it's just a crazy situation that has me worried about many things. I'm going to at least try to vote this year. I don't adore Biden, but I prefer him over Trump any day.

I'm a bit of a fan of dark humor myself, so I wouldn't necessarily say I'm anti all the jokes. Feel free to make fun of Trump all day.

I admit, even I have joked a bit about the situation with my friends. But we agree that the bystanders should have been left out of it.

Also, if anyone was windering, I did see the helluva boss memes about moxxie having shit aim being the reason Trump survived, and... I feel like that is... it's hard for me to describe it, but it doesn't sit right with me.

I've seen some memes that have made me laugh, like the people making memes seeing the news and going "Oh no, he lives." And I admit that gave me a bit of a chuckle.

At the end of the day, I don't mind people making fun of Trump, I do cross the line though at making fun of the bystanders dying.

(Which thankfully I haven't seen much of, aside from that weird Moxxie thing.)

I hope my weird rant made sense, not entirely sure if I phrased it the way I want to, so feel free to ask for clarification.

Anyway, anyone else have thoughts they want to share on this... Whole thing?

[robin-writes-and-such]

A silly man! Pony OC!!!

So this guy was made for a oneshot rp im doing with my friends, in which our party are the new replacements for the elements of harmony and the one rule is “interpret the element totally differently from the mane 6”

Lore below 👇

AMANITE AND DOUGHBOY DONT READ THIS!!!

Persiflage

MLP ONESHOT CHARACTER

Alias: Void

Former aliases: Percy, Scourge, Curse, Jinx, Hex, Karma

He/him

Aroacespec

The ultimate edgy pony

26hy

Void is a unicorn with an almost entirely black mane and pelt, (minus a few gray and white flecks here and there) and astonishingly pale blue eyes. The colour of his magic is a yellowish orange, which is a stark and jarring contrast to his depressing gothic colour scheme. He is silent and stoic, frankly quite intimidating, and seemingly judgemental. His cutie mark is a clock with a smiley face on it, which feels incredibly ominous and threatening. While unicorns are by nature somewhat tall, at least in comparison to their winged counterparts, Void towers over most ponies, being the size of a larger earth pony (earth ponies are typically the size of draft horses). He rarely speaks apart from the odd snarky or sarcastic comment.

Special talent

Of course after reading this description you probably have many questions, but one big one. Why the hell is this guy the element of laughter??? Well, first of all, with him being so stoic and serious, anything he does that isn’t serious is inherently funny because it’s unexpected. But that alone shouldn’t be enough to qualify him, right? You’re correct. You see, like every other pony, he has a special talent. And his special talent happens to be comedic timing. He has a magical sense that allows him to sense when there’s an opportunity for something funny or ironic to happen, and through magic and fate he makes it happen. He doesn’t even have to intentionally try, any time there is an opportunity for something funny around him he somehow inadvertently causes a butterfly effect that makes it happen.

Namesake

The word Persiflage can refer to a type of tongue in cheek humour that is easily misinterpreted as mean spirited when it is only meant to be humorous- similar to how Void himself is misinterpreted as mean and intimidating, when in reality his sole purpose is comedy. This poor man is just a misunderstood comedic chaos magnet.

Tragic backstory

Of course our man’s gotta have a backstory!!

Persiflage (nicknamed Percy) grew up in a very small community, a rowdy and excitable young colt. Despite his affinity for attracting chaos, He had a loving family, friends, and a comfortable life. He wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. One day, a travelling comedy act came to town- featuring famous comedian John Mullmaney! Percy became obsessed with comedy, wanting nothing more than to make others laugh. Unfortunately, he bombed over and over. Every one of his jokes fell flat. Until one day, after telling a horrendous joke… “why did the banana call in sick? Because he wasn’t PEELING well!!!” To which nobody laughed, he began to sadly walk away when he slipped on a discarded banana peel, flying into the air. Everyone laughed at the irony and comedic timing of this situation, and in that moment Percy discovered his special talent- comedic timing! Maybe he wasn’t bringing disaster everywhere he went, but comedy! For a while he delighted in making ponies laugh, but like most comedians, he took a joke too far. Only in the MLP universe you don’t get cancelled, you get exiled and/or ostracized. A small filly ended up losing a leg in an incredibly comedic incident. The thing is, Percy can’t control his own power and inclination towards comedy. He just inadvertently makes it happen. Even if it means catching a young pony in a rockslide by accident. He became synonymous with disaster, a jinx, and ostracized. He decided it would be best if he moved away from home, to where he couldn’t hurt the people he cared about. He knew the only way he could exist on peace was to live near ponies that had the legendary plot armour, and couldn’t be harmed by flawless comedic timing. Luckily protagonists aren’t difficult to find, especially when princess celestia and the elements of harmony spend a suspicious and unnecessary amount of time in one place, and so he moved to ponyville.

[marshmallowprotection]

Hi if you were in mystic messenger for real what route and ending do you think you'd land on by just being yourself? Tbh it's hard to imagine getting anything else than the prologue ending where you call the cops for me but maybe other people are more interesting

Well, I'd have to think about that and who I am as a person. When I first played the game in August 2016, I got the Prologue Bad Ending on purpose on my first try. I was curious about what Unknown was in need of so badly that he'd manipulate me to go to a secondary place where God knows what could happen. I live for danger when it's in a video game like this so I can click those options and know that there is no risk factor for me.

But, in real life, I'd never answer an unknown number and I'd never go to a secondary location. I don't think most people would end up as a member of the RFA in the first place because most people have just enough common sense to not fall for an obvious ploy. That's not the fun answer, though! So, knowing myself, I, unfortunately, wouldn't be able to get with Ray because I'm too much of an anxious person to be able to trust someone like that.

So, that'd remove the chance of ever getting into Another Story. It means V and Ray aren't on the future list of possible suitors, which sucks, but I won't get into a van like that. Now, if I decided to try to humor Unknown because I do like to help people, I might consider helping him with the phone plan but I'd hesitate before entering the apartment complex. It doesn't matter how fancy a building looks, I know that evil can hide anywhere.

Say I did humor him, though. If you present the original characters in front of me meaning that I can only work with Yoosung, Jaehee, Zen, Jumin, and Saeyoung? Given my amount of social anxiety and fear of clowning myself in front of others... I feel like the only way I could go in this situation would be Jumin. He's levelheaded, doesn't judge if he senses no animosity, and he's all-around a good person who a lot of people don't understand. I relate to that.

I can see myself having no trouble talking to him because he makes conversation so simple and straightforward. There's no room to make a mistake. I get caught up in my head a lot when I think I said or did a wrong thing to another person... and knowing Jumin, he'd be quick to correct that.

Don't get me wrong, Saeyoung could also come close because he makes me laugh but I know if I didn't know him like I do outside of this fourth wall... I'd be daunted to get close to him. He and I would get stuck in a tragic trope of miscommunication and it wouldn't go anywhere if I could make a brave face and talk to him smoothly. So, that leaves me to only assume I'd lean toward someone who would make me feel comfortable when I'd be petrified of setting off a bomb.

Zen would overwhelm me. He's pretty and charming, but I have such bad self-esteem that I'd never even take a chance on him. Yoosung is sweet and compassionate but he's not my type. I would know he may be a good friend after talking to him for a while. I love Jaehee but she and I would only be able to connect over our love of musicals for the most part. Boy, I love women but I'd also be daunted by how pretty she is and I'd never get further than stuttering about how neat I think she is.

It's funny in a way because I didn't like Jumin when I started the game but he's grown on me and I feel like he'd get me and I'd get him in this situation... of course, I would end up having choice words for his father that I can't take back, but hey, it's high time someone tells off Chairman Han.

[fenrhi]

I did it. I finally reached the point where I feel like the Dan Heng Plot Twist that’s gonna happen in 1.2 has been properly set up. It took this long because MHY decided to prank the players by making the first half of 1.1 filler fluff (that’s not an insult, I genuinely liked the museum event and the Silver Wolf mini-quest, but they were not relevant to the Xianzhou plotline)

1) Dan Heng’s crimes and his relationship with Blade

Meet Dan Heng. He’s really cute but rather mysterious. He doesn’t want to talk about his life before joining the Astral Express. You do know he ran away from his homeland because he committed some “crimes”. You’re left wondering “what did he do, exactly?”

Enter Blade, a dangerous man haunting Dan Heng’s dreams and really determined to kill him, to the point he destroyed every single ship Dan Heng stepped foot on. You’re left wondering “what did Dan Heng do to this guy, exactly?”

Look at the Wandering Doctor relics set. These clothes look like the ones Blade is wearing right now. The “nameless man” must be Blade. He was friends with a man wielding a spear. The spear wielder was very close to Blade, but at some point he “committed a grave sin, turned the beloved into a monstrosity and plunged everyone into an abyss of despair”. Is it Jing Yuan? No, because Blade said “Three people must pay a price, but you are not one them”. So it’s gotta be Dan Heng. You’re left wondering “that’s really cool and all, but what am supposed to do with this information?”

Go to the Luofu of Xianzhou. You learn that the pursuit of immortality is one of the ten gravest sins in the Alliance (and to be honest, it’s the only “grave sin” you hear about at all, so you’re supposed to pay attention to that).

On a splash art posted on Tweethell, Blade is revealed to be an immortal warrior seeking the sweet embrace of death

If you try to put together the pieces of this puzzle, you would get something like this: DH and Blade are friends > Blade gets mortally wounded in unknown circumstances > DH curses him with immortality, even though he knows it’s a crime, because he loves him too much to let him die > Blade reacts to this really badly and loses his mind > he wants revenge on DH > ????? > DH joins the Astral Express Crew

2) The elephant in the room: Dan Heng’s memories

After connecting these dots, you’re left wondering “hey, the math ain’t mathing. How could DH forget what he did to Blade?”. This situation doesn’t sense... if you consider DH to be a normal human being.

Meet Bailu. She’s part of a race of dragons (the Vidyadhara) that can be reborn when they reach their end of their life. But they don’t remember what they did in their past lives.

That could explain why Dan Heng has amnesia...but why doesn’t he look like a dragon then? You currently have no answer for this question.

3) How the 3 newest Companion Quests foreshadow 1.2 (based on leaks I saw)

Luocha’s Quest is here. You finished it rather quickly and were surprised by its humorous/unserious tone. You feel like you didn’t accomplish anything important. It might seem like a waste of time.... but only if you look at it in isolation. It’s meant to be a small piece of a set. What did we learn from this quest? Don’t judge people on their appearances. Don’t let the past constrain you. Don’t force your expectations on others. This is going to be relevant to the Jingheng Situation (”the one I wanted to chase after....exists only in my memory”)

Bailu’s Quest is the second piece of the set. It focuses on the tragic love story of a woman from a long-lived species and a man from a short-lived species. Banxia wanted to give her lover an elixir of immortality, so they could live together forever. But she got mara-stuck before she could do this. Worse, the man she loved revealed himself to be a total scum, manipulating her to get what he wanted. This parallels the Renheng situation.

Yanqing’s Quest is the last piece of the set. While looking for Blade, he meets Jingliu, who defies him in a fighting competition. She kicks his ass and tells him that he would absolutely not survive an encounter with Blade the way he is. But Yanqing is not the one who’s going to get stabbed by Blade... Dan Heng is...