#until she dies. which some people are skeptical will happen at all

[mantisgodsdomain]

Whenever we mention anything about the Bandits in our particular flavor of worldbuilding it is absolutely necessary to note that our particular variation of Astotheles's Second-In-Command is an elderly damselfly missing the majority of her flesh limbs who limps around with a cane on the majority of days and won't let you take a job of any variety without basic self-defense knowledge.

She is the rock upon which half of the bandits' capacity for organization is founded and no one outside of the bandits knows who she is because she's an seventy-eighty-year-old grandmother with negative public presence in the direct shadow of someone charismatic enough to spearhead an attempt at starting an entire new kingdom on the land of the single queen with the current best public relations.

[staytinyville]

OUTLAW (13)

ATEEZ ot8 x Reader

Cowboy AU / Wild West

Series Masterlist

Warning: None

Beta Read by @mariana-mmtz

It didn’t take long for the town to find the camp the boys were staying in. They weren’t that far from the outskirts, so it was clear the camp would be found on the first day. With the search party going on the following day, Jongho and Yunho were too busy helping out with the hunting. 

You were still too panicked to leave the hotel, but you knew that the morticians were there the morning you woke up with Seonghwa taking the bodies. Yeosang and Seonghwa had tried to keep you inside, worrying you’d go into a worse state. The patch on your neck was explained to your parents that you had gotten bit by a spider. 

After that, your family began to worry and make sure you were okay. They could easily see how shaken up you were, chalking it up to knowing that people died close by. While the town had other crimes happening, it was the first time something like that happened so close by, which worried your family. 

For the next couple of days, they decided it would be best to have everyone go home and have no night shifts. The guests were just going to have to wait until the morning to ask for something. They were right in doing that anyway, seeing as the town decided to put up a curfew for a few weeks. At least until they knew the outlaws were gone or dead. 

Seonghwa and Yeosang tried their best to keep you from getting too worried over the boys. They knew you were getting anxious as each day passed and both Yunho and Jongho didn’t come back to say the city had gotten past the search. You knew it wasn’t going to be easy, you hoped the boys were smart enough to leave a trail of where they might have gone. But you wouldn’t know anytime soon. 

It was the third day of waiting for news from either or when you were anxiously sitting at the front desk. Yeosang was keeping you company, attending to his duties. When you heard people marching up on the patio of the hotel, your eyebrows pulled together as the sheriff waltz into the hotel. 

You had already given your statement and so had Seonghwa. In order to not have you involved, both of you had explained that all you heard were the gunshots and had looked out through the window for fear of getting hit with a bullet. After you deemed it safe, Seonghwa had left to find the bodies and alert the officers staying at the inn. 

That was the story you both came up with and made sure you knew what to say. Just in case you guys even came up with a story of what you did afterward. However, there wasn’t much else you could give. They only needed to know how Seonghwa found the bodies.

“Sheriff.” You greeted, watching as the man came closer to the front desk. 

“(Y/N).” He politely greeted. “We’re going to need you to come down to the station.” He had told you. 

You only looked at him confused, but nodded anyway. “Tell my parents that I had to go to the station.” You spoke to Yeosang. 

“I’ll go with you.” Yeosang spoke up, walking around the desk to follow after you. 

“That won’t be needed, young man.” The sheriff shook his head. “We only need (Y/N).”

“She already gave her statement.” Yeosang frowned. “What else do you need her for?” The man knew that both you and Seonghwa had told the exact same story, having been there for both of the questioning. He was skeptical as to why the sheriff only needed you and not Seonghwa either. 

“What’s going on here?” Your father questioned. Seonghwa suddenly came from the saloon area, eyes going over to Yeosang inquiring. Your mother came down from the stairs, some bedsheets in hand. 

“Nothing. Sheriff Hendrick just needed me to go down to the station.” You spoke up, looking up at Yeosang. “It’s fine really.”

“My daughter was shaken up by the incident. You already questioned her and got the story. What more do you need?” Your father frowned. 

“Please (F/N). This is officer business.” Hendrick told him.

“To hell. This is my daughter. I deserve to know.” Your father glared. 

“Your daughter is of legal age. Therefore, she is not yours to take care of anymore.” You grimaced at the man’s tone against your father. “However, because she is still living under your roof, we are obligated to tell you.”

“(Y/N) (L/N) you are under investigation for suspicion of fraternizing with the outlaw currently on the loose.” Your eyes went wide and your face paled.

“What?” Multiple voices shouted at once, all rushing up to the Sheriff to ask him what it was he was thinking. 

“This is outrageous!” Your father sneered.

“My daughter would never associate herself with those people!” Your mother glared. 

“Who would make those kinds of allegations?” Yeosang asked, his tone deep as he felt angry with someone who would try to frame you like that. 

“Ms. Thwaites was a witness during the whole shootout and confessed that she had seen you with the outlaw.” Hendrick’s told you.

Your frown deepened, trying to think about who had seen you with Mingi at all. Seonghwa was the only one and the other men were dead. You suddenly realized that the only reason Mingi had come to save you was because you ran in first to save someone else. 

You felt tears welling in your eyes, thinking about how you had saved that girl but she made things out to seem like you were involved in the crime. Your jaw clenched as anger seeped into your body. However, you told yourself over and over again you didn’t know the whole truth. People could have twisted the girl’s words.

“I’ll go to the station.” You spoke up, moving everyone out of the way.

“(Y/N).” Seonghwa called, gripping onto your elbow. 

“Everything will be fine.” You told him with a small smile. 

You didn’t know how things were going to go and it scared you. But knowing how you were, you had to come up with something to get you out of that scenario. You were always talented when it came to fabricating stories. 

With a worried goodbye from your parents, the boys explained to you they would meet you there. The sheriff told them it would be allowed; however, they would have to wait outside. And then the sheriff put you in the carriage to take you downtown.

The building was close to city hall, where the court was. You knew that Yunho and Jongho were both there, a bit hopeful you would get the chance to see them. However, when the sheriff led you to the holding cells, that was when you started to panic. 

“It’s protocol, (Y/N).” Hendrick sighed. “No hard feelings.” He was about to turn to leave.

Your hands clenched onto the bars as your breathing began to stagger. Tears fell from your eyes as the feeling of dread washed over your body. “I didn’t do anything.” You cried. “Please, you have to believe me.”

“We have to take all measures.” The sheriff explained. 

“No. Just–Please don’t leave me here.” Your knees began to shake, your arms holding you up against the bars. You began to choke on air as your lungs had trouble filling. You wailed, trying to curl up into a ball.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Hendrick started to panic, catching the attention of everyone else. 

“Open the door, you dumb shit.” Someone sneered, shoving Hendricks from the cage. They quickly placed the key into the lock, punching the door open with such force it caused the bars to rattle. 

“I’m here.” The large person cooed, pulling you into their laps. “You’re okay.” They rocked you back and forth, running a hand down the back of your head. 

You clenched onto their clothing, shaking as you tried to calm down from your panic attack. 

“What happened to talking with us about everything first?” You heard Jongho sneer from somewhere. 

“She was a suspect.” Hendrick glared at the boy. 

“She came willingly and is no way a threat to others. Had you asked her, she would’ve sat down at a desk and waited. She is not a criminal.” Jongho glared at the older man. 

“How do we know that? I was told she was seen fraternizing with the enemy that night. We have reason to believe that she was involved and gave the wrong story.” Hendrick explained. 

“Would she willingly give herself up if that was the case?” Yunho glared, turning his head to look up at the man. “Innocent until proven guilty.”

“How can we be sure she is innocent then if we can’t prove anything?” The sheriff kept prattling off, angry that these boys were undermining him. 

“Because she was with me that night.” Yunho declared. “Before Seonghwa went out to see everything she was with me the whole time. I didn’t leave her side until Seonghwa told me about the bodies.”

“You have multiple witnesses who can back that up?” Hendrick glared. 

“She was with him. I can vouch for him. I’m not going to go into detail about their relationship because it’s none of your business.” Jongho backed up.

By then, you had calmed down from your attack, hiccuping as you tried to stand up. 

“There are protocols we all have to follow. You want answers, (Y/N) will gladly give them to you. There is no need to keep her locked up.” Yunho proclaimed, head tilted up as he stared down at the town sheriff.

You hadn’t gotten the chance to speak with Yunho much other than at the dinner. Compared to Jongho, he was always busy trying to get the town to back off from searching for Mingi. You had thought after this he wouldn’t so much as look at you after making things complicated for them. But after he just defended you, you knew that wasn’t the case. 

There was a lot you all needed to talk about, but right now was not that moment.

Series Masterlist

@thefrog3223 , @iarayara , @0rangemilk , @explorewithd , @detectivedoodle , @bangtanxberm , @a1i33a , @loveforred , @drunken-deitence , @0325tiny , @smilingtokki , @fr34k4c1dr41n , @sousydive , @atinyluv238 , @the-ghostest-with-the-mostest , @atinyreads

[reidslovely]

heyy! can you give us more about frat!peter?

totally!! I'm not sure what you wanna know though specifically so here's some word vomit i sent to my moot stella weeks ago. you guys should totally feel free to talk to me about any frat!peter headcanons and questions you have him and reader/bashful are my world rn and I could answer any question you have about him/her/them. but right here is a run down of only frat!pete and how I perceive him

Frat!Peter has the biggest ego but he's totally not a jerk..at least not once you get to know him. He's an engineering and biochem double major but he's taken journalism/photography electives and that’s where he and his gf met. He's automatically flirting with her and it's like dude come on..really?? Cause everyone knows about Peter Parker. He could have any girl he wants but he's never publicly dated anyone?? Weird. Maybe he's too good. Which makes her skeptical, so it’s like leave me alone totally not interested but he very quickly wins her over. The jerk side a total front and she is quick to discredit that rumor and let everyone know what a big soft teddy bear nerd he really is. (however it is not a front when it comes to his girl though stay twenty five feet away from her)

He definitely rushed with his friend as a joke and didn’t actually think he’s get in but turns out he’s a legacy (his dad and uncle ben both were members) and the guys think he’s a great pick and i mean it doesn’t hurt that the girls like him so come on how could they not let this dude in?? He does let it go to his head a little because it’s basically gonna pay for his college. How could he not get a little cocky and slacky. Besides for once in his life people like him and not just because he’ll get them a good grade on a project. However he does start to come down from this and gets his head out of his ass.

Yes he does still have his powers and is managing spider man, college, and his frat responsibilities. Which is why he had to step down from secretary to social chair sophomore/junior year. He totally showed up in the frat in his costume several times and his brothers chose to never mention it, it’s a secret that dies with them. Besides, their best friend is spider man?? How fucking cool.

His girlfriend does find out four months into the relationship when he shows up to their date dressed in the top of the costume and his button up not covering it at all and it finally explains so so sos os SO much.

Like stated previously he was elected secretary his sophomore year (first to happen) and had to step down to social chair later which he enjoyed much better cause their stuff was pretty much laid out in a rule book for them.

YES he does have a little (a freshman you mentor not the other kind of little) in my mind I aged Miles up a little bit to be his little freshie which ends up being super convenient when Miles ends up getting bit and they split spider man and other duties within the frat. But if not Miles I like to think he takes on carbon copy of himself when he first joined: angry, skeptical, and kind of shy and scared to reach out in fear of rejection and he teaches him that all these emotions are okay and valid but there are alot of good people in this community.

Speed run: he played on the lacrosse team very briefly until spider man got him thrown off- he rejoined later after Miles came into the picture, however he and the other guys are known for playing basketball on their front lawn and all the girls like to stop and watch (which drives his gf crazy and she has to make out with him to reclaim what’s hers and he eats that the fuck up.) As social chair he is obligated to work homecoming, and even though it’s not allowed since his gf is not in greek life he def asks her for help/ideas (his brothers know but they like him and his gf to much to care).

And yes he’s shocked that he's on the honor roll because how can he balance all this stuff and still come out? Maybe he is a genius, and slowly burning out.

That's all I got right now, please ask me more lore about frat!peter and or him and bashful/reader thank you that was my press conference

[akane-kurokawa]

Chapter 144 thoughts!

So they’re cutting ahead again, and I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, we’re still building on Ruby’s character arc regarding her feelings for Gorou, so it makes sense.

But on the other hand, the implication that they’re doing the entire movie chronologically means that Hikaru and Ai’s part of the movie together is over, which is ludicrous to me because Aqua’s “ultimate revenge play” fantasy that he’s been coming up with since childhood has ultimately just been “the Uwuification of Hikaru Kamiki”

I’m not too phased because I still think we’re going to return to it, Frill was confident from script alone that Aqua was trying to kill his father, and there was an emphasis placed on Ai denying Hikaru. I’m not sure why it hasn’t happened from a watsonian perspective (maybe hospital availability pushing those scenes up?) but from a doyalist perspective I could see it being the climax of Ruby’s character arc which she isn’t ready for.

It’s another one of those “I can’t really judge it until I’ve seen the rest of the arc” things so I’ll try to just judge it for what is is right now.

Melt looks so good as Gorou! I didn’t think much about the casting when it was announced but he’s really bringing the role to life.

Ruby chiming in to essentially go “no he wouldn’t fucking say that” is both funny and indicative to the entitled perception and attachment she feels to him. It specifically gives me a lighter version of Nino talking about Ai

I like how Melt talks about understanding Gorou here. He really is an understanding and empathic person and it shines through in his acting style. Him calling the role “cool” is cute to me.

Ruby really gets mean here in a way that almost comes off as out of character. It reads to me like her obsession is growing more toxic, or maybe some lingering cruelty from how she was behaving before, but it is a little jarring.

Melt’s interpretation of Gorou is spot on to me, he understands Gorou’s subtly and respect better than even Ruby does. (Though @aihoshiino pointed out to me that Gorou is implied by the anime and the chapter where his corpse is found to have had his keychain out the whole time in front of Ai. Still, in terms of his professionalism and hiding that he’s a fan Melt gets it)

It makes me wonder what his information is. He doesn’t know Gorou’s name (which makes sense since Gorou can’t legally consent to his name being used) but he knows his history with Sarina enough to guess she gave him the pin.

Also this dude! Glad to see him

The pin’s relevance to her turnaround feels very rooted in sentimentality. I really like the concept of it, but it feels a bit dangerously close to Comedy!Ruby from the Hikaru Ai scenes. I think I like it more here though, as it feels more in character and purposeful.

Crow girl in the tree like a creature is healing me tbh. I know a lot of people are skeptical of her and the supernatural element her presence enforces, but I’ve always found her so interesting and fun and I’m happy to see her again.

Thank you for asking about how she gets around, that’s been one of the goofy questions the server has been mulling over for a while now lol

Interesting that this location seems significant to her, considering her first appearance here, as well as the fact that her two reincarnation targets where here when they died. Her implying there may be more special people is interesting. I wonder if any more will come into the story, though part of me doubts it.

This might imply characters we’ve met have god attachments without even knowing it. Simple guess here would be Ai, there’s precedence for her to be connected to the “God of Entertainment.” Though even if she was, I’m sure what kind of relevancy that would have -if any- considering she is dead and confirmed never coming back, but it’s interesting to think about.

See? She’s such a goofball! Between this and Aqua bullying her into being an actor, she’s been a strong comedic pillar in this arc.

All in all, a pretty decent chapter, kinda annoying in its placement, but much better than having the skip week after last chapter.

[is-on-its-way]

In the name of the Father, the Skeptic and the Son

Episodes: One Son/ Two Fathers

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Epilogue

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Chapter 2: I don't want to dissect everything today

Skinner has some advice for Mulder... which he listens to for once.

·˚ ༘ ༊*·˚·˚ ༘ ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟﾟ･༘ ☾･ﾟ⋆･ﾟ:⋆·˚ ༘ ˚·˚·༊ ༘ ˚·⋆:ﾟ･⋆ﾟ･*☾ ༘⋆:ﾟ･⋆ ☾ ༘ ˚·˚·*༊ ༘ ˚·

(AD KERSH's office. SKINNER, SPENDER, MULDER, and SCULLY are present. AD KERSH is looking at photos of the burned bodies from the Air Force base. He is very upset by them.) AD KERSH: The way these people died... the loss of life here - it is beyond words. I can't imagine how it must be for you - losing your mother. SPENDER: Yes, sir. But that's not why I asked for this meeting. AD KERSH: Why did you ask for it? SPENDER: Because I'm responsible for the deaths of those people at the Air Base hangar in no small way. I certainly didn't prevent them. AD KERSH: I can assume then you can explain how they died? Because I have yet to hear any explanation. SPENDER: Agent Mulder can explain it. I think Agent Scully, to an extent. They might have even prevented what you see in those photos. AD KERSH: Agents Scully and Mulder have been suspended by the FBI. SPENDER: Also my doing... and my mistake. AD KERSH: I would ask... SPENDER: I'd ask, sir - before you tell me that it's not my business - that you do everything you can to get them back on the X-Files. Far worse can happen... and it will. AD KERSH: Where are you going? SPENDER: To pack up my office. AD KERSH: Agent Spender... (SPENDER leaves the office.) AD KERSH: (to MULDER, angrily) You have answers now? Why didn't I hear about those answers before? MULDER: I've had answers for years. AD KERSH: Then why didn't we hear about them? MULDER: No one would ever listen. AD KERSH: Who burned those people? MULDER: They burned themselves. With a choice made long ago by a conspiracy of men who thought they could sleep with the enemy. Only to awaken another enemy. AD KERSH: What the hell does that mean? MULDER: It means the future is here, and all bets are off. AD KERSH: Agent Scully, make some sense. SCULLY: Sir, I wouldn't bet against him.

Kersh pursed his lips and looked up at them. “Well until someone gives me some answers in the form of a typed up report I don’t want to see or hear from either of you. Your suspensions stay in effect until such time I read it and make my decision.”

Scully looked at her lap and Mulder looked at Kersh with a plain expression on his face hardly containing his contempt. 

“Get out of my office.” Kersh said in annoyance and authority.

Mulder rose and followed Skinner. As they walked out of the door Scully walked past them without a word and left them in the secretaries office. She stalked in the direction of the elevators.  

Skinner looked at Mulder who was looking sheepish. “Whatever you did to her, however you upset her. I suggest you make it up to her and mend fences. She’s the reason you’re still employed, however loosely, by the FBI. She has your back like no one else does here, don’t risk that for anything.” 

Mulder cocked his head not looking at him but at the door Scully had left through. 

“Yeah. Thanks for the advice.” He said absentmindedly. He wondered how much Skinner knew or had guessed about their partnership at this rare insight. 

He did have to talk to Scully. The stooges had been a little bit right. He had been a jerk at their place. But not because Scully might have been wrong, because he had so much else on his mind that seemed so dire at the time. Preventing an invasion of colonist aliens for one. That when she’d made it clear she didn’t trust his judgement, it had been the last straw for his patience.  But he’d been dismissive and mean in a way he’d never been with her. He’d hurt her, and he was terrified she would leave him for good. He needed to try to make this right. 

He would tell her he’d listened to her, he’d checked Diana’s. The only thing he’d turned up though was how comfortable the smoking man had been letting himself into her apartment.

She was right though. Without the FBI all they had was each other, and he didn’t want Diana to be the reason he lost her. 

·˚ ༘ ༊*·˚·˚ ༘ ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟﾟ･༘ ☾･ﾟ⋆･ﾟ:⋆·˚ ༘ ˚·˚·༊ ༘ ˚·⋆:ﾟ･⋆ﾟ･*☾ ༘⋆:ﾟ･⋆ ☾ ༘ ˚·˚·*༊ ༘ ˚·

She walked in and shut the door. She tried taking her coat off but her purse was crossed over her shoulder and prevented her from pulling it off. She felt suddenly trapped, claustrophobic and a white hot rage coursed through her veins at this small inconvenience, betraying the feelings she’d been burying since Diana had walked in full of authority while they’d looked like drowned rats.

She let out a cry of rage and frustration at the overwhelming mix of feelings. She kicked off her shoes and pulled the coat off over her head, bag and all, letting it all fall to the floor. Her jacket askew, she thew that off too. She ripped off her pants and kicked them off her legs. She dug under her shirt and unclasped her bra, pulling it off through her sleeve. It landed on the coffee table.

She stood breathing for a second eyes closed. She swayed, feeling lightheaded so she walked to the couch and fell face down. She screamed into a pillow, let her body go limp as she waited for her anger to subside.

The rage had dissipated some and now that she was calmer she recoiled at the hint of thoughts that she couldn’t face at this moment. She got up and opened the cabinet to her stereo. She pulled out ‘Jagged Little Pill’ and put it on at full volume. Not worrying about the neighbours as it was twelve in the afternoon. 

She scream singed lyrics while jumping around her living room. She hadn’t danced like  this since college but it felt freeing and nostalgic at the same time. The first song particularly resonated with her state of mind. Thoughts she didn’t want to think expressed perfectly in someone else’s art. 

… I'm frustrated by your apathy And I am frightened by the corrupted ways of this land If only I could meet the maker And I am fascinated by the spiritual man I am humbled by his humble nature, yeah And what I wouldn't give to find a soul mate? Someone else to catch this drift … 

She turned off her mind and danced wildly, all inhibition lost to anger and sorrow and confusion. At what seemed to be the end of her career, and the possibility that it all didn’t really matter because “aliens” or “men” were planning on releasing a devastating virus to the entire world in the near future; At the thought she should’ve stayed in medicine; At all the trauma she’d endured, had it been worth it? She’d accomplished very little and her rewards had been the loss of her ability to have children and to be most probably fired. 

And the one digging in her belly, the most hurtful of all of it, Mulder;  At the small feeling that had grown to a crescendo of disbelief since Mulder had treated her in a way shed never been treated by him; At the disbelief that she could have felt so happy and comforted by him only weeks ago at Christmas, or all those other times he’d been her guiding light and her rock. 

There was a knock on the door as she was standing on her couch, TV remote in her hand, used as a microphone.

“…You love, you learn You cry, you learn You lose, you learn You bleed, you learn You scream, you learn…”

She froze and stopped signing. Then jumped down and turned the stereo down. Maybe someone was home and they’d come to complain. She picked up her pants and with difficulty pulled them on. She threw open the door saying “Sorry I’ll turn it down…” 

But it wasn’t a neighbour. It was Mulder. He raised his eyebrows at the sight of her. She was sweaty, red faced, her shirt was askew, and she knew her hair had turned into its naturally wild wavy curls as she’d danced. She absolutely looked like she’d had a nervous breakdown. She found she didn’t care in the slightest.

“Mulder. What are you doing here?” She asked in a flat voice, not moving to let him in.

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah I guess” She turned her back on him and threw the door open. 

He closed the door behind him and glanced at the piles of clothing shoes and bra strewn across the living room. When she reached the couch she turned to him and he glanced at her but stayed by the door. 

“I came to make sure you were okay.” He said concern in his voice.

“Im fine Mulder” She lied.

“You look it” Mulder said sarcastically. 

She didn’t answer. She owed him neither the truth nor a playful response. 

Mulder bit his lip considering her.

“Why did you defend me to Kersh? You don’t even fully believe my theory. You could’ve saved yourself.” She raised her eyebrows “I just thought… you said you couldn’t be in this partnership anymore.” His eyes searched her face begging for answer.

She laughed in disbelief, her brows raised. “Is that what you really think of me? Is that the impression I’ve given you over the years of working with you? Because if it is we really have a problem.” She folded her arms across herself, more for protection than anger.

“No. I…”

She cut him off “Im not a liar Mulder and I’m not Agent Fowley. I wouldn’t throw you under the bus to save myself.” 

“Thats not what she…”

“Thats exactly what she did and continues to do.” Anger erupted in her again setting her chest ablaze. “Where is she now Mulder? Where was she in that meeting where she could’ve been defending you? Explaining… anything? 

Mulder considered this, it was true, he hadn’t seen Diana since he’d sent her along ahead of him. They’d ID’d every body and she wasn’t one of them. CGB Spender hadn’t been found among the dead either. But as Scully said correlation isn’t causation. 

She shook her head. “She’s dirty and she’s involved with this conspiracy somehow. Spying on women who went through the same thing I did. And you scoff at that like it doesn’t matter. The lone gunman can see it why cant you?”

He started gently and calmly. “Diana is my friend Scully. She was the first person not to ridicule me about my work on the X files. There has to be some other explanation. But if you show me irrefutable proof Ill believe it. Its just… we’re in each others shoes here. I need more evidence.”

“You don’t trust my judgement. Yet you throw blind trust at her.” She sighed “God Mulder, you’re my best friend. I thought we had…” She stopped herself.

Mulders heart threatened to rip into pieces at this confession. He stepped towards her “You’re my best friend too Scully. Which is why Im hurt you can’t trust me on this. I did listen to you. I went to her place last night, thats why I was with her, I broke in and she found me. I searched for evidence of what you said. I listened to you, I did. But I didn’t find anything…”

“More nothing” She sighed.

“Thats not fair Scully… Look I wanted to come here and apologize for how I treated you when you told me, I was an ass. But I didn’t find anything… just…”

She waited as Mulder pondered as if he might be saying the wrong thing. The song lyrics were plain as day in their silence. 

… Your love is thick and it swallowed me whole You're so much braver than I gave you credit for That's not lip service You've already won me over in spite of me…

She turned and turned the music off. That was too on the nose perhaps. Too embarrassing. She turned back around. “Except what?”

“The the elder Spender showed up and let himself in.” 

Scully looked at him in disbelief 

“He had me questioning everything… I was ready to… I had given up and you convinced me to keep fighting for this mission. To try to stop them.”

“What mission.” Scully said defeated “We’re all but fired… and the syndicate is dead.”

“We don’t need the FBI to keep fighting this. The syndicate might be dead but this invasion isn’t guaranteed to be called off.” He walked up to her now close enough to reach out and touch her.

“What was the smoking man doing at Agent Fowley’s apartment?” She asked unable to ignore her curiosity

“He said he was looking for his son. I admit its a little weird.” Scully pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow in agreement. 

“I’m sorry for how I treated you. I was so preoccupied by everything else, Diana was the last thing on my mind.” He grabbed her hand “and I don’t want this partnership to end like this Scully.” 

She looked up at him “What can we do now, Mulder?” her brows knit as she thought. He’d used Fowley’s first name in the same sentence he’d called her by her last. Impersonal. Deliberate, maybe habit, but hurtful when it was so baldly stated.

She’d always thought it was special, his requesting she call him Mulder, not Fox. But Diana did, now that she thought about it almost everyone called him Fox and he didn’t seem to mind. Except when she did it.

“Or should I call you Fox? Everyone seems to call you Fox. I’m the only one who’s not allowed.”

“Scully, its not like that.” Mulder said stricken

“Then what is it like. Huh, Mulder? Explain it to me like you…” she halted and swallowed. Her face fell defeated. She didn’t want to think about all of this. She dropped her hand out of his.

“I need you to go.” She said suddenly disturbingly calm. 

“Scully please don’t shut me out.”

“I cant do this right now. Please.” she had desperation in her voice. Eyes not meeting his. She was begging him. He didn’t want to hear her like this. 

“Okay, Ill call you later.”

She didn’t respond as she closed the door as he backed out, pushing the door closed in his face.

She walked to the stereo and pressed play, biting her lip and holding back tears. She skipped some songs, picked up the remote and sang.

“You know how us Catholic girls can be We make up for so much time a little too late I never forgot it, confusing as it was No fun with no guilt feelings The sinners, the saviors, the lover-less priests I'll see you next Sunday…”

·˚ ༘ ༊*·˚·˚ ༘ ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟﾟ･༘ ☾･ﾟ⋆･ﾟ:⋆·˚ ༘ ˚·˚·༊ ༘ ˚·⋆:ﾟ･⋆ﾟ･*☾ ༘⋆:ﾟ･⋆ ☾ ༘ ˚·˚·*༊ ༘ ˚·

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Epilogue

@today-in-fic 🙏

[enigmaticdiary]

and so i have been thinking thoughts...

elicited from the new trailer. copy and pasted from my discord cause i do all my thinkin there n_n;;

claudia + louis

when i think back to the book and the movie claudia was obviously an extremely important turning point in louis' life but it never felt like she was... the center of it you know? despite the fact that she was that glue that kept louis tethered to anything human in him.

but the book felt like he was just telling his story to be a. Sad pathetic man thing for the sake of it. cause he had no purpose to exist alone. to exist without claudia or lestat (or armand but their dynamic is. different and dicier) but after claudia is killed something about her presence and the years she spent with louis while alive felt... shrugged off in a way? and its likely because she didn't really have much of an identity outside of him and lestat which is understandable because she was significantly more vulnerable in the book than in the show, so she lacked that autonomy to have that choice to exist outside of them.

and when madeleine was brought into the picture for her to get that autonomy it was unfortunately already too late...

~~[mild separation of thoughts because i left to take a shower]~~

theres a few things i want to mention. just thoughts in my head. claudia dies fighting HARD for her autonomy as a person and a vampire. in comparison to louis who in all honesty has (DEBATABLY) lived without a shred of having his own autonomy. with lestat, lestats love (as claudia very smartly puts it) keeps him in a box. louis is financially dependent on him as a black man in the jim crow era once he loses the azalea, hes cut off from his family, he has NO ONE.

the brief time of just him and claudia is a good moment in time for both of them , trying to discover vampiric history together(tho in the show it looks like before they get to paris its gonna be absolute dogshit in comparison to the book), but in louis' case i feel like its guided by guilt and some form of obligation, because if he didnt go with claudia–who was already set to do this traveling alone before lestat dragged her back–where WOULD he have gone? stayed in new orleans with lestat in the dump just waiting to crawl out? i think he would sooner kill himself if he was left alone like that.

with armand…………… loumand is definitely better than loustat in extremely complex ways that i cant put into words right now but simultaneously even worse because of HOW armand preys on louis. there is absolutely love between them and i wont deny it but armand is so INSANELY dependent on the love of others to give meaning to his existence that he leverages louis' weaknesses and frailities to ensure that they will spend an eternity together. like he was plotting from the second he met louis and claudia. he kills claudia and madeleine, which then makes louis kill all the other vampires of the coven, so that there is no one left, NO ONE for louis to be able to turn to for solace.

i think that him remembering what actually happened to him up until the present is so important to him because he'll finally be able to realize that he hasnt been allowed to properly exist for himself the entire duration of him being a vampire. and maybe he can decide what he wants to do, for himself.

devil's minion... (in the present)

[these thoughts are referring to a tweet that wonders if armand is going to end up alone in the end. note: i am not versed in devil's minion lore. i'm getting there but as of this post i have not reached it]

saw this [the tweet] and audibly exclaimed GOOD

i love armand but the guy is genuinely evil and has wronged every single character hes come across including lestat which i find is hard to do

I know ppl are excited for armandaniel and devils minion but Im not..going to lie ive been REALLY skeptical of it and how it would be explored in the context of the show without severely wronging louis and doing him EXTREMELY dirty.

people are allowed to like it in the bubble of the books but theres a really big shift in dynamic for the show in the fact that ... armand has definitely done... Something to daniel and louis, of what i cant say. but with the way that things are going, an ending in which daniel sides with armand after finding out exactly what armand did to louis and claudia in paris does NOT sit well with me?

and i love loumand but I am so uneasy about the inevitable breakup in regards to whats gonna happen AFTER it. I feel like daniel now is wise enough to not chase after a guy who is diabolically selfish and broken and leave louis behind to live out the vampire fantasy dreams of his youth. and in the trailer too im getting. Loudaniel vibes in terms of reconciling their past with the previous interview. And Heres my theory for Devils minion BUT ITS LOUDANIEL INSTEAD OF ARMANDANIEL (1/689)

[stiltonbasket]

Hope your day gets better, Stilton! Could you tell me how a Nielan LOTR AU with elf Xichen and human king/dwarf Mingjue would play out?

From the day the young elf-prince of Gusu first visited the Unclean Realm, its people noticed that he was fonder of dwarven craft than the rest of his kin.

Humans came to the Nie for armor, and elves—excluding the Jiang, who needed weapons of dwarvish make to do battle with the sea-serpents that ran wild in their territory—would come for jewellery; but since Nie Zhuxi first laid eyes on Lan Xichen fifteen years ago, every last one of his ornaments and weapons had been made by some talented dwarvish smith whose identity no one knew.

"He is older than the oldest of our grandfathers," Nie Zhuxi's mother reminded him, when he asked her why no dwarf knew the name of the smith who had forged Lan Xichen's beautiful greaves. "And our kin outside the Bujingshi are solitary folk. Perhaps he knows some aged master who settled near the elf-palace where he lives."

But Nie Zhuxi did not quite believe her. Lan Xichen visited the Bujingshi at least twice a year at the midsummer and midwinter festivals, and at each visit he came with new daggers at his belt and new bracelets at his wrists, the like of which no smith of men or elves—or even an elderly dwarf, whose work would eventually begin to show the signs of his age—could possibly have made.

However, the dwarves of the Unclean Realm did not see fit to question him. He bought many of their wares at market, and he was a kind and generous customer—for elves knew nothing of bargaining, especially the ones with noble blood—but nobody seemed to notice that the things he purchased within the Bujingshi were never seen again. He did not wear the trinkets, or keep the weapons on his person, which meant that he was probably giving them away to his beloved ones; and by the time Nie Zhuxi came of age, he had concluded that all of Lan Xichen's dwarf-made belongings came from a single hand.

That changed everything, he realized. Lan Xichen had not bought his leaf-shaped arrowheads, or the topaz buttons on his hunting boots. Someone had made them for him, so that every brooch he wore on his breast and each knife-handle at his girdle brought forth the full force of his beauty the way a masterful setting might compliment the radiance of a diamond.

Nie Zhuxi is a handsome dwarf himself, but he would look like a fool if he tried to wear even the plainest of Lan Xichen's jewels: for they were a lover's gifts, showered upon the elf-prince through the years until he was practically swimming in his beloved's tokens of affection.

"You could ask my Bofu," Nie Shiyong says skeptically. "He's Zewu-jun's closest friend, so perhaps he would know who the lover is. If there's a lover at all, which I doubt—"

"What doubt is there?" Nie Zhuxi complains. "He never wears anything he buys here, and even the Jiang don't commission such delicate weaponry, so he can't have bought it through their suppliers in the South. He has to have a dwarf lover, A-Yong—there's no point bothering the king about it."

His cousin pinches his cheeks. "Why? Are you afraid of him?"

"Afraid of Chifeng-zun?" Nie Zhuxi scoffs. "He used to ask Zewu-jun to bring us elf-made sweetmeats from the Cloud Recesses when we were little."

"Even so, he might not take kindly to you prying into his friend's affairs."

"They're not affairs!" Nie Zhuxi jumps out of his chair and stomps around the room. "Elves can't have affairs. They have one partner, for life. Don't you remember what happened to that elf-maid from Baling who took a human lover?"

Nie Shiyong goes pale at the mere mention of it. For some time, about three years ago, Chifeng-zun had feared that the elves of Baling and Yunmeng would go to war against the mortal kingdom near their territory; for one of their daughters had been abandoned by a mortal nobleman after she conceived his child, and the elf-maiden died of grief not long after her baby was born.

"To elves, to lie with someone is to marry them," Nie Zhuxi says grimly. "By elvish law, the child's father was the mother's husband—the maiden was too young and innocent to know that the ways of men were different, or that a human could lay hands on her without loving her more than life. So whoever Zewu-jun's beloved might be, the two of them must be true spouses by now and not only sweethearts."

"It's no wonder that the smith's works have never been seen elsewhere, then," Nie Shiyong muses. "He might be anyone—anyone at all, and any one of us might own a thing of his make. If Zewu-jun were his husband—or her husband—then the smith would surely save their most beautiful creations for him."

She pauses for a moment, deep in thought, and then:

"He must be married to someone living here, in the Unclean Realm," she breathes. "Why else would he keep visiting?"

Nie Zhuxi springs to his feet. "I'm going to make a list of all his friends," he announces. "Most of our seniors from His Majesty's generation are close to him. If we watch closely, we'll be able to find out who it is."

But their efforts come to nothing, even after Lan Xichen arrives for the mid-summer holiday with a wagon full of gifts for the small Nie dwarflings. In keeping with his usual habits, he spends most of his time with Prince Huaisang and Zhuxi's Uncle Zonghui, and the rest with Chifeng-zun in the wing of the palace reserved for the king's immediate family; and the day passes without any opportunity to question him by the time Nie Shiyong and Nie Zhuxi drag themselves down to dinner.

"At this rate, we'll never find out," Nie Zhuxi says disconsolately. "Pass the fish, A-Yong. Uncle Zonghui won't let me have more wine, so I'll have to drown my sorrows in food."

But to his surprise, the fish does not appear; and when Nie Zhuxi looks up, he finds his cousin staring at the king, whose gaze had not moved away from Lan Xichen for the last fifteen minutes.

"Oh," Nie Shiyong gasps, her voice breaking. "Oh, that's how it is."

"How what is?"

"Have you ever seen anything my uncle crafted?" she demands. "Because I never have. He insists that he has no time to visit the forges, and he's too busy to have supper with us, most days—and yet, whenever Zewu-jun visits, Bofu takes him to the library and talks with him for hours on end."

She squints back and forth between the two, biting her lip in concentration. "We were half right," she says at last, before reaching over to steal some of Nie Zhuxi's fish. "Bofu is in love with Zewu-jun, and he has already decided that he will have no other; but he is afraid of confessing his feelings, so..."

"So?" Nie Zhuxi urges. "Why is he afraid?"

"Because of the story of Lan An, the first elf-lord of Gusu," Nie Shiyong whispers. "There is a trace of human blood in Zewu-jun's clan, because Lan An fell in love with a daughter of men and built the Cloud Recesses for her. But he wasted away after his wife died, for he could not bear to live without her; it often happens thus with elves who are bereaved. If Uncle were to marry Lan Xichen, his death might well be the end of them both."

A-Yong and Nie Zhuxi exchange uneasy glances before turning back to look at the high table. Lan Xichen is laughing with A-Yong's Yifu, his arms and throat encrusted with the jewels Chifeng-zun wrought for him over the past eighty-odd years; and Chifeng-zun's wistful eyes, tear-dimmed, are resting on the side of Zewu-jun's smiling face.

"Perhaps we should not meddle," Nie Shiyong says presently. "If Uncle speaks, and they choose to be joined—well, that is one thing. But if he is keeping silent out of fear for his beloved's life, then..."

Nie Zhuxi nods.

"I can't help thinking that Zewu-jun would return the king's love, even if doing so might condemn him to death," he murmurs. "But you're right; the matter is too grave for us to interfere in it. I won't say a word."

[greenerteacups]

hola!! i wanted to ask why you opted for the (huge) plot contributor of lucius dying when draco was five, please correct me if i’m wrong! the single mother! narcissa trope is something i absolutely adore, as someone who comes from a single parent household as well. would love, love, love to hear your thoughts!

and secondly, i wanted to ask if your plans for theo will look a lot like draco’s canon! plot and character arc? he just seems so alike to how draco was in the books that i couldn’t help but ask

lastly, thank u, thank u so much for writing for an ensemble! cast huhu it’s something i eat up absolutely in dramione fics (like measure of a man, the wait and hope books, amor vincit omnia, and more) and i just want to say, you do it so flawlessly, effortlessly, and beautifully :(

please never, ever stop writing about draco & hermione! i’m 22 now but i’d gladly read your fics until i’m settled into a retirement home huhu

Hello! Thank you so much, and it's my pleasure!! From one Narcissa Enjoyer to another. Two questions, two answers:

1. Why Lucius: So, when the fic was in pre-production, I was initially hunting for ways to make the premise plausible — Draco's obviously not a Gryffindor in canon, so something must have happened to make that change. There's a couple of ways I answer that in Book 1, hopefully so that readers with various levels of skepticism can both accept it; the initial explanation is that, given his father's death, being raised alone and without the traditional protection of a Malfoy patriarch, bravery is just a more important trait in Draco's life. He can't go running to daddy every time there's a problem, so he has to develop a little bit of grit right off the mark. He's also more subdued and taciturn than he is in canon, again, as a result of being raised by Narcissa (who is no more or less pretentious or cruel than Lucius, but she's quieter about it, probably due in some way to the gender dynamics of it all). It also relates to Draco's new status as head of house; his personal reputation matters more than it does if Lucius is alive, so he can't really be out here throwing his weight around all the time and risking political capital on teeny-bopper bullshit. (This is the point of the Chapter 2 train scene with Crabbe and Goyle, which takes place pre-sorting, to establish his personality independent of his House/the Golden Quartet.) He also couldn't pick fights even if he wanted to, because Narcissa doesn't have the same sort of heavyweight reputation that Lucius does (again, Chapter 3, "my mother will hear about this," which fazes no one. It's not that she's less powerful than Lucius — she just doesn't use it in the same way). Besides all that, in this world, he was trained in Narcissa's school of politics, not Lucius's. There's a lot less brute force involved in hers, which lets him integrate more easily with the people he needs to meet and befriend in Book 1, in order for them to help him change.

That's all meat-and-potatoes technical stuff. On a more theme-y ideas level, as I was outlining Lionheart, I realized that the story I wanted to tell about Narcissa couldn't work if Lucius was alive, and that his death was a really fruitful ground for a more interesting story featuring her at the center. She's the nexus of the Black and Malfoy lines; this is explored a lot more in Book 5, but if there's anyone who really represents the full weight of Draco's heritage, it's her. (Her pedigree is better than Lucius's!) And Lucius is such a huge presence in Malfoy Manor that I don't think she could have shone in the same way with him there. You can see in canon how much Draco absorbs and adores his father's influence; that's a real pain to write around if you want to take him in a different direction, and it washes out Narcissa by comparison.

*biographical note: Lucius dies in early summer of 1988, when Draco is 8 years old (in Chapter 1 he's identified as "eight years old," + there's "midsummer rain" at his funeral, meaning Draco's early-summer birthday must have already passed). The five-year-old thing might come from another line related to Lucius's backstory: Lucius is in Azkaban for much of Draco's toddler years, from about 1 or 2 to five years old. So Draco gets his father back at five, and then has him for three years, meaning his influence is even less potent. I wouldn't ordinarily nitpick about this, because for all intents and purposes it's the same thing, but there's a bit of backstory related to why Lucius dies that's tied to the fact that he went to Azkaban, so I wanted to lay out the timeline as well as possible. When this stuff becomes relevant to canon (especially when Bellatrix comes back), I might put out an official Timeline for major events 1965-1991, because I'm definitely throwing around a lot of dates and off-camera events early on, and it's a bit much to expect any reader to have it by heart 300,000 words later.

2. Plans for Theo: I've gotta invoke a bit of RAFO with any answer about future plans, but I can talk about what I've written already! Theo is supposed to be a foil to Draco, and he obviously draws a lot from canon!Draco in social placement and privilege, but I don't intend him to have a copy/pasted version of Draco's plotline. Draco's canonical involvement with his father's work/Death Eater movement doesn't really start until Book 6, while Theo is getting involved with the Ministry much earlier; I wanted to have more time to describe the influence of that sort of pressure on a child, and to really interrogate his psychology in a way that Half-Blood Prince (by no fault of its own; it's Harry's story, after all!) couldn't do for canon!Draco. So the timeline of his involvement is accelerated, for one thing.

There's also the fact that Draco in HBP is clearly an unwilling recruit, to say nothing of incompetent. He manages the Vanishing Cabinet, but it's clear he's set up to fail with Dumbledore, and his assignment is a punishment for Lucius, not an actual ask. Meanwhile, Theo is getting roped in because his father actually wants him to be, and he's doing real work with the League and his father's contacts. In consequence, while Half-Blood Prince Draco is a terrified and hostile young boy, Theo is — well, he's also those things, but he's also being groomed and corrupted to take an active role in implementing his father's work. That's a bit different from taking a suicide mission at gunpoint. (For reference, HBP!Draco thinks the Dark Lord will kill him and his family if he fucks this up; it's not at all clear, at least in Book 4, that Theo is acting under an equivalently serious threat). We also see Theo starting to take on this sort of hierophantic I-Know-Best-So-Shut-Up persona, which is... well, we don't see a lot of Sibelius Nott in the fic, but it's perhaps not unfamiliar, based on his scenes from Book 3. In my mind, the most interesting question Theo presents is: at what point does this become his fault? Which complicates the idea of a "your-environment-defines-you" that Draco's arc with Narcissa and Gryffindor comes to represent. Like, yes, his environment defines him — but it's still him. You still have choices. So, reciprocally, we might give Draco a bit more credit than just chalking his evolution up to his friends. Just because it was easier for one of them to redeem themselves doesn't mean it's impossible for the other.

Basically: like most of the arcs, I wanted to take something from canon and give it a slight new spin. Theo's living an arc very similar to canon!Draco's, but I'm developing his character in a bit of a different direction, and hopefully those tiny adjustments early-on will end up having large impacts for his trajectory. A lot of the parallels derive from the fact that he's sort of used as a litmus for how much Draco is changing: he's living what might have been Draco's life, but wasn't.

[xdxenon]

My thoughts on Dragons Rising (Spoilers)

At first I was very skeptical about dragons rising replacing the ninja with a bunch of new characters. It happens in a lot of shows I used to like and it never feels the same. However, I have grown to love them just as much. They're all just younger versions of the ninja, and they're starting to realize that.

First there's Wyldfyre and Kai. Aside from basically having the same power, (I'm still saying heat and fire are almost the same, idc that some cans burned and some melted) wyldfyre is very unpredictable with a more showy style of fighting and huge love for pranks. She also has a very hot temper, and thinks she's in charge. At first they're always at each other's throats fighting and yelling until Kai finally realizes that she's just like he was when he was younger. Did we really think we would ever see Kai, KAI???, of all people teaching meditation? I don't think so. And they're duo is absolutely deadly. We saw that armory explosion. I'm so excited for more WyldKai duo (Not a ship name, just a duo name) Aside from all the fighting, which lets be honest is bound to happen any time Kai is in the room, they are perfect partners and any time you need an explosion, they'll be there.

Sora and Nya fit as well. Tech savvy? Check. Trying to prove they're strong enough without their parents? Check. They both also struggled to find their true potential. Both had different specific problems, but in comparison to the other ninja, it was the hardest for Nya, and that might be true for sora as well as she's still reliant on Ryu for her power. Another big thing for Nya was being the "Girl Ninja", and I think that might come up in conversation with those two if Sora ever feels powerless. They would also make some absolute killer mechs and vehicles working together. With Nya's experience and intelligence, along with Soras intelligence and Powers? So many possibilities for kick ass rides and kick ass Lego sets (unfortunately at a price that kicks my wallets ass.) Nya also having Sora there is definitely helping distract her from Jay's absence. She still absolutely misses him, but having someone like herself around is definitely good for her.

Then, there's Lloyd and Arin. If these too match up just as well as the others, I'm quite scared about what Arin might have coming. The absolute amount of trauma that Lloyd went through throughout this entire thing is absolute absurd. And Arin is just finding out that Lloyd is the grandson of God himself. But I feel that Lloyd having a pupil is very good for him. He never got a childhood, literally having his child body taken from him by the aging potion, and he had to spend what short one he did fighting against the embodiment of evil inside of his father, multiple times. And if Arin is to follow in his footsteps, I don't even want to imagine what he's eventually going to have to go up against. Im hoping we can see some of father Lloyd peak through. Maybe him being the father and mentor he always wanted Garmadon to be but wasn't. And I wholeheartedly believe that Lloyd will be a good teacher. He doesn't have thousands of years of experience, but he's definitely been through the ringer. (And if Arin falls in love with a princess and Lloyd tries to talk him out of it I will lose my shit)

All of the ninja are now realizing just what Master Wu had to go through in order to train them all. They've learned and grown from his teaching tremendously yes, but now they're watching and teaching younger versions of themselves and relearning what they were like back then. I can't wait for the 6 million times Arin, Sora, or Wyldfyre make a mistake and say they don't deserve to be a ninja, and they all get to look at each other and laugh, and tell almost too many stories of all the times they've let the entire city get destroyed, died, been resurrected, destroyed realms, and all the fun quirky little traumatic world ending shit that they went through at their age. I'm glad that Dragons Rising still focusses on the ninja and they truly have just moved on to a different stage in their life by being teachers and mentors to the new generation, instead of just being cast aside as "Legends' and nothing more.

[loki-ioki]

where does oro live over the course of her story?

answering this at 5am like a smart person lol BUT:

When she's first born to when she's about 5-6, she and Volo don't have one besides just Hisui. He's constantly on the move and in hiding from what he did and since he was pregnant before/during/and after the battle at Spear Pillar, (even tho he was majorly in denial about what was happening) he couldn't leave the region like he planned like that and then he had her and really couldn't just hop on a boat without being seen/with a newborn. So they just constantly wandered around the region until he gave her up.

After he gave her up until she was about 17-18 she lived at the Galaxy Hall with Laventon & Cyllene. When she was "old enough" (in Kamado's terms, she was still too young) at like 11-12, she was made to join the survery group to "prove her worth" and that she wasn't like her dad (even tho nobody other than Laventon/Cyllene/ & Ingo really never accepted her. At minimum people were wary/skeptical and at most like Kamado they hated her & figured she'd betray them all and doom them like Volo.) Laventon & even Cyllene tried very hard to always go with her or give her very minor tasks when she first started, attempting to block out whatever dumb or dangerous thing Kamado wanted her to do but as she got older, this got harder to do.

After she opens the rift and gets stuck in time loop/Arceus limbo it's hard to really say because she literally goes thru 999 resets so she really can just be slapped anywhere in any region/time period/timeline/alt universe until she gets back to her own original timeline at 999 (she has returned to her original one quite a few times but never at the right time or place to find Volo EXCEPT:

One of her resets (she is physically in her 20s, her age at this point kinda goes to shit because she spends such random amounts of time in these places, she's tech immortal because of all this but always physically in her 20s) she ends up in the OG timeline during the time of the ancient celesticans and actually ends up in Hisui where they are. and she finds a 10 year old Volo. Her goal in every reset is to find the red chain and try to use it to bust out the loop OR Arceus nukes her into a different reset for fucking up. But since she ends up meeting her dad when he's a little kid, she can't bring herself to try because she never knows what happens when she gets the red chain and everything resets. She can't possibly do it this time in case it harms him. She spends some time around the celesticans to try and learn a bit about him since all she knew before was whatever horseshit Kamado/everyone else told her and how she knew him when she was a very small kid. But since she doesn't want anything to happen to him, she doesn't stay long (Which makes Volo sad because back then it was a lot easier to get close to him so he kinda thought of her as a friend, but he also never knew her name and the only thing he remembered about her in the future was her one star pupil but he doesn't fully connect the dots when she's born)

AT THE 999TH RESET: She's back in the OG timeline, Post Platinum version. She lives at the Galactic Headquarters under the name Mercury. She works beside Charon but kinda replaces Cyrus under the promise that she can find and return him to everyone. This is where she stays until she dies at Spear Pillar in Volo's arms.

After she dies it's up in the air what happens to her (waiting for SV dlc), Volo wants her back every bad. If him & Geeta are successful in their plan to get Terapagos then she'll be reborn and live in Paldea with them.

[romanovsonelastdance]

I always notice you like answering possible marriages for OTMA+A. May I ask which one of them is your favorite and highly possible theory that might have happen if there were no revolution.

I think Alexei and one of Elena Vladimirovna's daughters just makes SO much sense. He knew them better than he knew Ileana; they were close in age; they spent enough time in Russia that they'd be more comfortable there than most foreign princesses. And the Russian people would probably like it, too, because of all the Russian connections. The Tsesarevna being the daughter of a Grand Duchess herself instantly makes her seem more 'Russian' and less foreign, and even as a Greek, she is already Orthodox and they'd like that, too. I don't really care which one, but if I have to pick Elizabeth is probably my first choice because of that cute story when they were toddlers about Alexei trying to tell her that he loved her; then Olga, because he was more friendly with the two older girls; and Marina as third choice.

Second is Maria marrying someone "unimportant" in Russia. Either a minor relative like one of the Konstantinovichi princes or Roman Petrovich, or--perhaps more romantically--a noble or officer from one of the socially elite Petersburg regiments. As I said before, there's a world of difference between someone with a background similar to OA's husband Kulikovsky (who was an officer from a fashionable regiment and from a well off if not technically titled family with two estates) and like, some random soldier or baker or doctor. There are levels of 'commoner' is what I'm saying and I think, given how Nicholas allowed OA and Kulikovsky, Irina and Felix, Tatiana Konstantinovna and her Georgian prince, etc, it's not out of the realm of possibility he would have bent the rules a little for at least one of OTMA, too, and I think M is the most likely. She's the most down to earth and humble, and as one of the younger daughters, I think there would be less pressure on her, especially if Olga and or Tatiana made 'good' matches. But if Nicholas doesn't bend, then Roman Petrovich or one of the Konstantinovich boys. I just have a hard time seeing Maria making some grand match with a foreign prince. She wants her Russian soldier--whether he's a minor prince, noble, or officer.

One of the older two marrying David (Edward VIII) would be super interesting because it would have changed the trajectory of the British royal family. There's some speculation that Edward VIII couldn't have children, so Elizabeth II might have eventually ended up on the throne anyway, but there'd be no abdication crisis (presumably) so she wouldn't have taken the throne until after her uncle died rather than after her father. She'd also have a Russian aunt as a pretty big influence in her life. And if David DID have children with one of the Big Pair, then she would have just stayed Princess Elizabeth of York. . . but I don't know that any of that is super likely. Good for a historical fiction, but I'm skeptical it would have actually happened in real life.

[suttttton]

re: vampire polycule, does Elias let everyone come as they are to the reunions, Jon included, or does everyone have to be Happy To Be There? Do the other symbionts who don't wanna be there get to see how scared Jon is, and reach out to him, or does he have to be Happy so no one can tell which of the others wants out and who'll turn them in for trying to find a way to get away? WHAT is the tone of these reunions, every option is so tragicomic...

(context)

this is going to be long and scattered because i have so many thoughts, but to sum up: the tone of the reunions is so, so deeply weird, and there's no possible way jon is prepared for these people he's about to meet.

the thing is, elias does, on some level, think it's bad and morally wrong to use his powers to overwrite his symbionts' emotions and personalities. but he is willing to make exceptions for extenuating circumstances (like ordering jon to 'make good choices'), special occasions (like making jon's transformation night nice instead of traumatic), or, you know, because he's frustrated or annoyed (he can always change them back! as long as he doesn't forget).

so by the time they get to the reunion, i think elias would have lifted the order for jon to be happy (side note: at some point over the weekend jon got to have a nice cathartic cry about this whole situation, don't worry). jon, having come to the conclusion that the best way to protect himself is to go along with whatever elias wants, is trying to pretend that he's very happy to be here. but jon's a bad liar and is still adjusting to the idea that elias can and will change anything about him at a moment's notice, so everyone can tell that jon is Having a Rough Time. elias isn't very happy about that, but he's hoping meeting the others will help

so they walk in and jon initially thinks, 'oh, all of these people have been ordered to be happy to be here' because they're not crying and screaming or whatever. but then he meets melanie who's just blatantly like, 'i would slaughter you if i could, elias.' and elias??? doesn't do anything??? obviously jon gravitates towards talking to her and she's like yep i hate it here anyway here's the rundown of everyone here and how tolerable they are to interact with.

i think there's a bit of a generational divide between the older symbionts and the younger ones, both because there's a world of difference between being 30 and being 130, but also because elias used to be a lot more transparent in the process of acquiring people. it used to be that the second time elias bit you, he would tell you what was happening and what becoming his symbiont would entail and give you the choice to come or not. (of course, there was quite a bit of coercion involved, especially because vampire venom is addictive from the first time you're exposed to it, but the illusion of choice was there at least.) however, after some... incidents, elias switched to the current model of erasing your memory of him until you literally can't leave :))))

so it's hard for the older ones to empathize with the younger ones, and vice-versa. the only one of the older ones that melanie really deems trustworthy is jonathan, who is skeptical about the morals of this situation and gives jon tips about how to make sure elias isn't slowly eroding his true personality (@this-is-such-a-bad-decision suggested that they could make written notes about elias' orders in order to remember who they actually are)

the #1 person on melanie's Do Not Trust Ever list is martin because this vampire polycule situation has been nothing but Benefits upon Benefits for martin, and he even lives with elias, which is suspicious as hell. (in reality, martin doesn't really want to be here, but elias is paying for his mother's care home, as well as providing him with a very nice place to stay, and good food, and nice clothes, and he doesn't even have to work except letting elias snack on him whenever he wants, and Oh God he's a vampire sugar baby How Did He Get Here????)

the other important dynamic at play that jon finds out the hard way is that elias isn't remotely fair and equal in what he's willing to tolerate in his different symbionts. (he has different relationships with all of them, obviously!) he's fine with melanie outwardly hating him, but if anyone else tried that? absolutely not. so jon is basically guessing at what elias wants from him, and it's very very stressful!!!!

[good-or-bad-luck]

hi um request would you draw a lumberjanes. uh crossed over/ au'd with those genshin impacts you like so much :)

im so glad you asked

diane and molly are from sheneznaya and when molly ran away diane was asked to find her but oops! followed her and became "justy besties" instead. molly met bubbles a little after her escape after he tried to steal her vision (almost let him) and they hung out together trying to go through genshin russia. diane uses her dillousion a Whole Lot but due to some non human blood it doesnt affect her nearly as much as it should. molly got her vision a little before running away from home. diane doesnt remember when she got hers.

jo is a student in sumeru and WAS trying very hard to ignore all the weird shit happening but was rightfully skeptical of the akasha terminals and is maybe on the run from the college government. her dads think she is just living her best life. jo, crucially, is still able to dream. april cannnot. april is her girl bestie who got too upset about how the school does shit so she became a forest watcher and she is the BEST mind you. jp got her vision when she was very little, before april got hers, she doesnt remember the exact circumstances--its just been too long. april's vision used to be her moms but she woke it back up after a while, they are both pyro users.

emily is also a forest ranger/watcher :) she got her vision following a weird robotic creature into the forest alone and into a withering zone and almost DIED but thats okay because she got her vision after she made it out alive :). barney is from liyue but joined the forest rangers after traveling to sumeru because its just more their style. met marigold as a baby tiger and when she grew up everyone was horrified except for barney :)

hes and mackenzie are traveling adventurers from liyue harbor who like to help out people in anyway they can. heard rumors of a fatui harbinger and a rogue cryo user out in the wild and instead found worlds angriest deer and a girl holding a weasel by the armpits. hes got her vision when traveling with kenzie, they got ambushed by treasure hoarders and hes just jumped in to protect kenzie, didnt realize she got a vision until after. kenzie got hers during a turnoment for non vision users, she almost lost but at the last moment got her vision and it helped her win. no one was happy that day </3

mal and wren are gay and like music. both live in mondstadt and got their visions there but wren is from fontaine. there are SO many fuc,ing bards in mondstadt, why not two more. i dont know how these two got their visions, they are gay and like music what more do you want from me.

ripley and jen are knights of favonius! well, jen is. ripley is not TECHNICALLY a knight since she is too young but shes around them all the time. she wants to be an alchemist like jen and keeps bugging her to take her on adventuers but jen keeps saying NO which is CRINGE (ripleys words). jen got her vision pretty anti climatically, it just happened while she was doing work and studying stars. simple but nice. ripley doesnt have hers quite yet but in the future it will be an anemo vision. maybe on one of the first adventuers jen takes her on.

others notes uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh bearwoman has no vision (does not say how she lost it). rosies vision is hidden from all of them but its cryo, she got it after her and abigail had a divorce. abigail has an electro vision that she got after everything that happened between her and rosie. texas girl doesnt have a vision but she can also have a gun

[pantherinaeee]

do you believe in zodiac signs? if yes, than why

question asked in r/infp

Yes, I believe!

I was a Christian in my childhood so I didn't believe in astrology. At 14, when I was no longer religious, a friend kept saying I was "very Sagittarius." I didn't believe it because my mother said I had nothing to do with the sign hahaha, but she insisted that I make a birth chart. Reading the description, I tried to be skeptical and filter out generic characteristics, but I found it quite accurate and started to study it.

Until I was 20, I only learned the basics and was very superficial, practicing astrology in a way I now detest! It was just making descriptions about people that would generate identification.

After a spiritual awakening, I met really competent astrologers. In addition, I started meditating a lot (I spent more than 12 hours in meditation), thus understanding the action of the symbols.

Imagine the matrix as a huge flowchart, where from one word come two subdivisions, in each subdivision more words arise, and so on. There are philosophies that describe the creation of the universe in a similar way, and that was what I saw in meditation.

Imagine that to get to what you understand as personality, MANY, thousands of subdivisions have already happened.

Astrology is like a point in the middle of this flowchart. It's as if, from the combination of sign + planet + house + aspects, several subdivisions arise, which generate subdivisions, which have subdivisions, which in turn generate characteristics that you understand as personality.

That's why I no longer like to use astrology as a way to generate identification hahaha.

Imagine you have a planet, within a sign, within a house, then it makes some aspects that, for predictive astrology, indicate that your mother will die when you are 4 years old and that you will be raised by your aunt.

Then your mother dies, and your aunt has a certain personality. We have several possible impacts that the maternal absence can generate in your personality, as well as several possible consequences in the personality that the upbringing by an aunt with certain characteristics can generate in you.

An inexperienced astrologer comes across your natal chart, sees the positioning and aspects of the planet that represents all these events but cannot read the events, he reads the impacts that this generates in your personality.

Now look, I talked about several possibilities of characteristics that the event can generate in the individual… possibilities.

In fact, even the mother's death is in the realm of possibilities. There are other ways that those symbols can express themselves in the individual's life.

Because of these many possibilities, astrology is not exact, but by using it properly, we can do many things in our own consciousness!

Venus, for example, deals with various matters: romantic relationships, societies, partnerships, contracts, values, money, vanity, marriages, etc.

Once you start working with this symbol that is so far in the "flowchart of consciousness/matrix," you change various aspects of your life since one impacts the other.

You do magic for Venus, then you are filled with love and gratitude. From this, your outlook on life becomes abundant, you see prosperity in everything, and as a consequence, you become more attractive, and synchronicities happen so that you make some money. Now you enjoy a game of flirtation and start taking better care of yourself; you also enjoy your own company more, as your mind is bathed in love. With the unexpected money, you buy some new clothes, and this + self-care contribute to you meeting someone, and suddenly you are in a serious relationship with a person who supports you in opening your own business.

All these facts are within the "Venus package," and when I started seeing this in meditation, consequently using the knowledge to do magic from which I got results, I understood astrology in a very different way from what I was taught.

TLDR: since then, I believe much more in astrology because of experiences.

Nowadays, I consider all descriptions very generic because I know how difficult it can be to understand how a symbol manifests hahaha

[king-of-bottoms]

anyone else with psychosis also have like psychic premonitions or otherwise spiritual experiences?

i have a hard time differentiating between the two until it becomes obvious that my thought was either correct or incorrect.

now if you are some kind of skeptic who thinks all spiritual people are just psychotic, i understand your perspective while disagreeing.

i have had dreams where i was not myself and i killed myself. i took it at the time as a sign not to kill myself. but then i met someone who looked like someone i saw in that very dream. and it turns out her dad killed himself and she saw him die. this dream occurred about a week before i met her, and two weeks before she told me of the way her father died.

there is no explanation for that experience other than a psychic premonition and/or contact with a spirit.

i have also had delusions which were 100% not real. i frequently have a paranoid delusion that i will die in my sleep. admittedly, i do hope that i die in my sleep when i am very old and ready to die. but it happens usually when i am in an emotional upset late at night. so this is distinctly a psychotic or paranoid symptom.

the biggest difference between the two is mood. the dream about me killing myself when i wasnt me did not cause me emotional distress. i found meaning in it.

the fear of me dying if i fall asleep makes me feel unsettled. i find no meaning in it, and am just full of fear.

so clearly, the largest distinction between anything spiritual and anything psychotic is in the feeling. though things like apathy and mania could interfere with this, and make it harder to distinguish during those times. during mania i can be surely convinced something will come true, and it doesnt. because the mania blocks the fear response that normally allows me to tell the difference between psychic truth and paranoid delusion. apathy could also block this, as if i cant feel any emotion, how will i know if my premonition is a real one or not?

if anyone has had similar experiences of true premonitions and false premonitions caused by mental illness, please let me know! i would like to learn how others differentiate between these things.

[stvrlyte]

@wynterlanding : send me AVATAR + end @ Lily

Growing up, Lily was always that kid that was constantly jumping out and scaring people or playing terrifying pranks on others. It always made her more happy than anything ever could. Even more so when she grew on the sets of horror shows and movies. She got to be that scary girl she had always dreamed she would be. She appeared in so many places that some people would swear they saw her in films she hadn't been in. To the point that other movies were adding in little girls who looked like her to be the token scary girl. She was a sensation.

Until she grew up and fell out of the spotlight. She went from being everywhere to all of sudden being nowhere. No one knew why or what happened, all they knew was that Lily Johnson was suddenly gone.

Some time passed before she would pop up again, but the only ones who would remember seeing her would be those who would go to sleep and then never wake up again. Or rather, they'd wake and never be able to move again.

Lily started to appear as an extra in movies, never credited or acknowledged, just in the back of a shot standing there. Until someone did see her. Typically, they would ask her who she was or why she was there or who called her. Some even recognized her, which always made her so happy. Whenever the conversation ended, she would shake their hand with both of hers and smile brightly to them as she said "See you soon." Then she would leave.

The person, confused, would think nothing of it. It's a normal thing to say. Until they go to sleep that night. A deep sleep that always ended abruptly in a horrible feeling that would wake them very sharply. In the dark, they would be unable to move, frozen in a sleep paralysis nightmare. In the room would only be a figure, a girl they recognized. The one they had spoken to. They might realize it was her, but would be unable to ask her anything. All they would be able to do was stare. Watch and wait as she moved closer and closer. Once she stood over them, she would hold a finger to her lips and exhale a small breath.

Then, they would wake up in a cold sweat. The same thing would repeat a few more nights until the final night. Watching as Lily moved close to them, shushing them one final time, before everything went black. The fear rushed through them each time, but in the end, it never mattered. The End always claims its marks.

The story of Lily would circulate stages and sets as an old wives tale. Skeptics would claim that the ones who died always asphyxiated or had some other health condition that took them. Coincidence is all it ever was. But, it never stopped people from watching the screens and stages very closely, swearing they could see that sleep paralysis demon coming for them.