#well she took that shit personally

[hecketernal]

IT'S THE HORNS AU

Descendants of Mar have a remarkable tendency to grow horns.

Every Ex-Havenite old enough to remember the family of Mar knows this. They come in all kinds of colors and shape, and even the horn growth pattern seems completely random. A parent often having entirely different looking horns to their child. Damas wondered if Mars' horns would be so different to his own. They hadn't grown in before he was taken. Most descendants didn't start budding until at least their teens.

Mar, the warrior who built Haven city, bore two thick, tusk-like horns that framed his jaws. Damas' mother had had blackened ram horns, meanwhile his sister had had a bright neon blue pair that grew out of her temples angled out like a second pair of ears. It had always made his older sister look rather intimidating. With the sharp cut of her eyeliner drawn in angular slashes around her eyes, he had watched no small number of men quail under that glare.

So yes, those that were old enough (or just brusque enough as native wastelanders tend to be to ask the king to his face why he had horns coming out of his noggin') knew exactly what having horns meant to their leader.

This is the reason why the arena grows hushed, when the newest recruit transforms into a pale frenzied thing with black little horns standing out clearly from the white hair.

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

now this one was an absolute Blast to do!

outfit is once again from @chocolategothwolfhorse, whose ask is full of bangers

[anothermonikan]

Ponee (It is half 3 in the morning)

[carefulfears]

what do you think mulder thinks of diana fowley after biogenesis through amor fati? i don't think we really see anything on screen/in text (though i think it says a lot that he didn't have much of a reaction when scully came to his apartment & instead focuses on scully & their relationship lol)

yeah there’s basically NOTHING in the text but tbh i think finding out for certain that she was working with CSM really kindaaaa snapped him out of some things…mulder doesn’t give a fuck what people do to him, obviously, but it’s a different thing entirely to find out that your ex is involved in something like that. like there are MILES from “my partner makes me feel like shit and is maybe pretty abusive” and “my partner is like 3rd on the call list of a eugenics group that treats women like test subjects”

like, scully was right, diana was monitoring MUFON women and collecting data on them. she was heading up the tests on cassandra. she probably knew the truth about samantha the whole time. just nasty nasty shit.

she’s the villain in the amor fati dream: the dismissive symbol of abandonment that offers another path.

one of the most interesting scenes of diana’s character to me, is in the sixth extinction, when she comes to see mulder in the hospital. and she knows what the effects of the artifact are, that he can hear what she’s thinking. that, therefore, he knows who she works for and what she’s doing. (imagine your ex-husband/wannabe boyfriend/obsession finds out you’re lying to him because he can read your mind….shit is crazy!)

and she tells him that she knows he knows. but that he also knows that she loves him.

and she does love him. there’s no reason to lie about that then, she knows he would be able to tell.

scully knows it without hearing it, that’s how she gets diana to save mulder’s life, ultimately. she comes to her and begs. tells her to please just think of him, who he is, who he was when she met him, who he is now. in the end, because of scully weaponizing how diana feels, diana can’t go through with it. she gives her life to help him.

diana seems to be one of those influences on mulder that’s only really all that significant when she’s close by. it’s like how all the tension in the beginning builds up to him getting in her car when she tells him to, leaving scully, when diana is there instructing him.

i think being able to know who she truly was and her true intentions and allegiances, prior to her death, really goes a long way in the way he responds to losing her.

don’t get me wrong, i think he’s upset. you can kind of see the shock cross his face when scully tells him. but he stays focused on his goal, which is to express to scully how important she is to him, in the wake of how discarded diana always made her feel.

mulder loved diana and grieves that she was killed, he doesn’t have it in him not to, but mostly he…wanted something from her, right? he wanted that approval and “affection” and to please her. he wanted her to believe him. the first thing that she says to disarm him (in the end) when she can tell he’s uneasy, is, “hey. i’m on your side.”

learning who she really is, it’s easier not to crave her approval so badly.

(this is the crux of amor fati’s “last temptation.” it’s diana saying: you’re childish. you are going to fail. your path is not your own. “you have to let go, fox.” and it’s scully countering: we need you. this is who you are.)

(it’s why he responds in the end by telling scully that it’s her that’s the voice of truth.)

and then in death, diana’s not…there for him to want anything from!! so it’s like, again, yeah he obviously feels the loss, this was someone who meant a lot to him for over a decade. but also it’s likeeeeee freeing in a way? it makes things simpler in a way? (he’s able to communicate all of that to scully instantly after hearing diana is gone, after over a year of the tension hanging around it)

if you asked him about diana now, or even a year later, i think he’d be like…damn that’s crazy! 😭😭 mulder doesn’t have an awful lot of object permanence you guys sjdjsjfj

when scully comes to tell mulder that diana was killed, and he says to her, “you were my friend, and you told me the truth,” the language matters so much. that’s what scully called diana, “i know she was your friend,” and he turns it back onto her. you were my friend. you told me the truth.

in my opinion, it’s not that he doesn’t love and grieve diana, but that there’s a freedom in knowing the truth. knowing who someone is, and their intentions. knowing who has your best interest at heart. knowing where you stand in the world, what you want to do.

that’s really what allows for the openness and lightness of s7, in the wake of diana’s absence. mulder’s always seeking, always learning.

[immortal-elements]

New Ardenn lore dropped!

(Art credit goes to Commanderthalys)

Well, some Ardenn, some Daxos, eventually some of all my warband! Trying to actually be semi lore-accurate and give my characters better motivations and story. (Also, lowkey, while the storyline starts shortly after gw1, I hc a lot of settled charr civilization to be a lot more akin to gw2. Which is to say dedicated buildings for various things, (taverns, libraries, armories, etc) rather than what we see in gw1, which is mostly tents...)(also, anytime that Daxos is talking, it's in a sort of charr sign language, )(I'm also really damn rusty at writing, and I'm editing this exactly none prior to posting it, so...)

Ardenn and her brother, Daxos, were born as twins in 1103AE. While Ardenn was a more frail charr, Daxos was born blind and mute, so the two as cubs stuck together to help eachother. With the death of the Titan's still fresh in charr history, and the mistrust against the Flame Legion and the Shaman caste are ongoing, the majority of flame legion control remains. Due to the fact they disallowed females from joining warbands, the two would eventually be separated as Daxos went to train for joining the legions and Ardenn was relegated to domestic work. She worked as a tailor under the tutelage of Bathea Flamebringer.

One day, as Ardenn was stitching up a soldier's uniform, the unfairness of it all began to hit her. The two had hardly ever been separated, but now he's out training for war while she sits and sews. In her rage she tapped into something primal within herself: fire, and burnt the clothes to cinders. Ardenn tried and failed to hide this from Bathea, who understood all too well. Wanting to protect Ardenn, she forbade Ardenn from using magic, and took her to see Era Breakrazor, who trained her in secret as part of Kalla's army. Ardenn takes the name Flameweave in honor of her mentor, Bathea Flamebringer.

1113AE, Ardenn and Daxos are finally reunited, and Ardenn is exuberant about being able to fight just like her brother. Anytime that they could get away from prying eyes, the two would spar to a standstill. During a particularly rough match, Ardenn managed to land a solid blow on him with her sword, and sliced a solid gash into his side. Panicking, Ardenn taps into fire once again to cauterize the wound, and in doing so revealed that secret to her brother.

When it came time for Daxos to join a legion, he went out with Ardenn to share a drink at the tavern. It was at this tavern that they were approached by a flame legion recruiter, who had his eye on Daxos. Ardenn is unaware of Kalla's true purpose in gathering an army, and in a brash moment she urges her brother to join, this might finally be her chance to learn magic!

After much arguing back and forth, Daxos joined the Burning warband as Daxos Burningeye, having impressed the legionaire, Harkon Burningsoul with his uncanny mastery of a battlefield, willingness to follow orders, and inability to talk back, the perfect soldier. Daxos continuted to help Ardenn learn magic, sneaking her spellbooks and scrolls whenever he could, (though he was only sometimes successful. What? All books are the same when you can't see the cover! Sometimes a cookbook feels just like a spellbook, sometimes the spell you learn is how to make a bitchin jambalaya.)

Fast forward, 1116AE, Kalla Scorchrazor is gearing up for the rebellion against the flame legion, recruiting more and more charr to her cause. Ardenn and Daxos are fated to meet on the battlefield at the Plains of Golghein as foes. Harkon gave the order, and Daxos charged her, knocking Ardenn to the floor and bringing his warhammer down on her, but Ardenn only narrowly dodged out of the way. Knowing Daxos better than anyone, Ardenn stood up as silently as she could, moving about the brute stealthily, and crept up behind him. When she was within striking distance, she called out his name, "Daxos, we shouldn't fight, this isn't right! I'm sorry for what I did to you, for how I took advantage of you, but this isn't how it should turn out!"

Ardenn dropped her sword as Daxos turned to face her, his expression softened under his battle scars. He goes to embrace his sister, but his ears twitch; the subtle sound of metal sliding against leather, rushed footsteps! He grabs Ardenn by the arm and throws her to the ground, raising his hammer to catch her would-be assailant; a flame legion warrior, and threw him to the side. Now a turncoat from the flame legion, he found himself in quite the bind, with only one option saving both himself and his sister, surrender. He grabs Ardenn and runs towards the fight, towards Kalla's rebellion. The two siblings fight their way side by side, Daxos cleaving through Flame Legion while Ardenn protected her brother from the rebels, until they are cornered by Kalla and her Razor warband. The flame legion was on it's last legs, the remaining commanding officers had issued a surrender, which Kalla graciously accepted, but that still left her the problem of these two twins. Ardenn explained the whole ordeal, while Daxos corroborated her story. Kalla pondered this for a while, Ardenn had acted of her own self-interest with little regard for her brother, and Daxos had joined the oppressors at her behest. Daxos was a fiercely loyal soldier, while Ardenn was still a petulant child. She took them prisoner until a decision could be made with them.

After Kalla's assassination, Imperator Ironstrike assumed control of the situation with the two charr. A plan for punishment was made. These two couldn't serve the legions, with their loyalties as twisted as they were, but death or exile was too severe for the crime. A fool's errand, perhaps, would be perfect. Forge Ironstrike had heard of mysterious happenings to the west, and sent the two to investigate, deep into the Maguuma Jungle.

1132AE, their journey had taken them through the Shiverpeaks, through Kryta, until they finally reached the jungle. The path ahead was treacherous, it seemed like the very jungle wanted them dead, but the two persisted. Ardenn became very adept at foraging, learning that fire had more than a few uses in the wild, and learning that she was attuned to more than just fire. All the elements coursed through her, she just needed to tap into them and hone them. The two stumbled across the city of Tarir. Magical golden constructs and wellsprings of magic the likes of which never before seen! They couldn't understand the etchings, or discern the purpose of this place, nor did they want to sully it with their presence.

Continuing south, they found a cave system, as well as an asuran civilization, Rata Novus. The Asura are studying the flow of magic here, as one explains to Ardenn, but the mechanics of how or why go right over her head. They make note of this, but continue on their way. While the jungle above them was vicious, the caves they were traversing were equally dangerous, as they found out when one misstep caused the floor beneath them to crumble, and they found themselves suspended in one of the largest magical leylines they had ever seen. The effects were nauseating and immediate, hallucinations, visions of beyond the material plane, nightmares from the mists, tangled and danced behind their eyes. Ardenn felt like she was being pulled apart, soul ripped from her body before being mashed back together, only wrong. In a moment of lucidity, she grabbed hold of the cave wall, and pulled herself and Daxos to safety.

Wracked with visions and sickness, the two drifted between death and life. So much magic had driven the two of them to the brink of sanity. Out of desperation, and wanting escape, Ardenn plunged a dagger into her eye... but she missed? The dagger had struck true to where her head was a second ago, and she didn't remember moving, but sure enough she had gotten out of the way. After some more experimenting, she wanted to put her theory to the test. She asked Daxos to spar with her, for old times sake, and reluctantly he obliged. He raised his hammer to strike, and brought it down on her, it made contact, and he could hear the telltale sound of flesh and bone being crushed, but then his hammer hit the ground as though it passed right through her! Hearing a twig snap behind him, he spun around and swung, and again made contact, but his hammer went right through her? How was this possible? The thought was cut short as he felt a sword go straight through his gut. Clearly, whatever magic had affected Ardenn had not affected Daxos in the same way, and Ardenn had gone too far.

The next few days were a delirious haze, she patched Daxos up as best as she could. Every ounce of healing magic she learned was unable to help him, his wound could be healed but he was still fading fast. Pulling every ounce of magic she could, from herself and from the leylines, she channeled lightning, (enough to trip Rata Novan energy sensors), everything she could into one paw, further, into one claw. Plunging this claw into Daxos's heart, electrifying it, and after several agonizing moments, restarting it. Daxos would live, barely. Whatever magic had affected Ardenn rendered her unable to die, at least by unnatural means, but it would seem that Daxos was still quite susceptible. The two crazed charr begin their journey back to Ascalon.

Fast forward again, 1320AE, approximately 200 years after that. Separation from the leyline energy had allowed them to regain most of their lucidity, but it's effects still lingered. Ardenn and Daxos return to Ascalon, unaware of how much time has passed, unaware that by all accounts they should be dead now. They ask to see Imperator Ironstrike, to report back in, and are met with only concerned stares. "Imperator Ironstrike has been dead for 2 centuries!"

Ardenn goes and looks up the report on their mission, and what she read shocked her. "We haven't received a report from the expedition in 35 years, Ardenn Flameweave and Daxos Burningeye are presumed dead. End of report."

"Well, how about that! Guess we're supposed to be dead! Yet here I stand! We could make use of this!" said Ardenn. "I know, I'll start my own warband, but first I'd have to get the rank of Legionnaire. Shouldn't be too hard, just have to pick the right fight." Going into a tavern, spilling a drink on just the right charr, and taking the fight outside was all easy enough, but she had to utterly humiliate her mark, and make sure the right people were watching.

Legionnaire Urvan Steelbane was the perfect target. Uncaring of his warband, easily angered, and full of pride. He was at the tavern discussing battle plans with Tribune Rytlock Brimstone. Ardenn slammed a few tankards of ale, then drunkenly stumbled into Urvan, spilling a mug of elonian firewine all over him. Urvan grabbed her by the collar and threw a punch, but Ardenn caught it. He had taken the bait, and step 1 was complete. Rytlock pulled the two outside and told them to settle it there, Urvan readied his hammer while Ardenn drunkenly fumbled with her sword. She could beat Urvan easily while armed, she had over 200 years of experience fighting, but she needed to disgrace him. Urvan made the first move, striking low, Ardenn moved her sword to block, and let herself get disarmed, her sword landing in the dirt 10 meters away. Rotating around the charr, she grabbed his arm and pulled it behind his back, while kicking one of his feet out from under him. Knocking him to the ground, with one foot planted squarely on his head, she reached into her boot and pulled out a dagger and held it to his throat. Rytlock laughed, having never seen a more decisive duel, he dismissed Urvan and appointed Ardenn as a legionaire.

With that, Ardenn reintegrated herself into charr society, and began to form her own warband, the Fire warband. Ardenn slightly changes her name to Fireweave while Daxos changes his to be Blindfire. Ardenn keeps the knowledge of their immortality a secret, revealing it only to her warbandmates. She had the magic to prove it, to back it up, so they believed her, and she promised to make each of them immortal too if they blindly follow her. She brainwashed most of them, ritually blinding all the males in her warband. Immortality had cursed her and her brother, and those that seek it should bear the same curse as well.

And, that's about when the personal story starts. Like, I'm retconning a bit of the first portion of personal story, cuz in the Blood legion story you do kick the shit out of Urvan and take his spot, I just think this fits better. Anyways, here's a little blurb about each of her 7 other warband members.

Musicia Firesong. She's a spacy mesmer bard. She never really seems like she's mentally present, always appearing lost in thought, humming a haunting melody. She makes up half the espionage team, infiltrating by bedeviling and beguiling. Nobody notices her sneaking in when they are all enraptured by her melodies.

Geist Banefire. She's the necromancer of the party. Always willing to break a law on magic, or dig up a corpse if need be, she specializes in interrogation. Dead men may tell no tales, but they can answer questions when asked, and the threat of "Tell me what I need to know, or I'll kill you and find out anyways" usually works wonders.

Bruscia Firefang, the ranger of the group. She's the scout for the group, often times going several days ahead of the group to surveil the area. She specializes in survival. She one time spent a month in Draconis Mons living off the land, (and totally not because A Henge Away from Home is an annoying achievement).

Narsus Ghostfire, the thief. Specializing in subterfuge, he makes up the other half of the espionage team, sneaking in and eliminating anyone he needs. He was a petty burglar, (hehe, a cat burglar), but his signature calling card made him all too easy to track down for Ardenn. A thief with a penchant for flair, but will resort to brute force if needed.

Gwyllion Gearfire, the group's engineer. From shrapnel bombs to flashbangs, Gwyllion knows how to make it all. She excels at demolition, always having the right bomb for the job. She may have lost a leg to one of her own landmines, but that just meant that she got to engineer herself a new and better one, with more knives and guns in it.

Agitus Soulfire, the revenant. Agitus wasn't recruited by Ardenn, per se, but when Kalla's spirit saw Ardenn still walking around Black Citadel, looking not a day older than when she had last saw her, she wouldn't shut up until Agitus joined the Fire warband. He is the group's archaeologist, often times having just the right spirit to ask to get the answers he needs.

Axius Tomefire, the guardian of the group. He's the groups historian. Even while blinded, he's found a way to use his firebrand powers to read books by merely touching them. Whenever he isn't poring over tomes, to become the closest thing to "all-knowing" in his soon-to-be immortal life, he is burning his way across the battlefield in righteous fire. A giant flaming juggernaut in the streets, but a bookworm in the sheets.

[wild-at-mind]

God, what if instead of staying at home and doing my laundry and thinking about this shit I caught the bus to Bournemouth and lay on the beach and put my feet in the sand and listened to the waves and didn't have any of this shit in my head.

[jasontoddssuper]

@ Pjo stans who think Annabeth is autistic but that Percy isn't:Just say you believe in the stereotype that 'nerdy jerk means autistic' and don't understand that we're a spectrum and go

@genderconfusedhellenic

[thethingything]

also though this dentist is genuinely the best dentist we've ever had.

she was really understanding about us having issues with toothpaste and we asked if she had any recommendations for alternatives we could try to see if those help and she gave us some options to look into so that's cool.

she also took our medical trauma into account and kept checking if we were okay throughout the appointment and asking if we needed to take breaks and we've never had a dentist do that before.

she warned us about what each tool would feel like too and actually warned us if something was going to be painful which like, I would in fact rather be warned that "this is going to be uncomfortable in this way" and "yeah this is gonna feel really bad for a few days but that's normal" than have someone try to reassure us that it won't be that bad only for it to get really painful.

our next appointment is to have a tooth removed and she explained the procedure to us and how that normally goes, and then we asked if we can take the tooth home afterwards and I can only assume from the look on her face that she's never been asked that before, but she was like "yeah I don't see why not, it is yours after all" so that's cool

[novococain]

🦴

[bugpoasting]

the ballad of john and yoko is such an evil song (affectionate) i genuinely love it so much

[dutybcrne]

From a very young age, Kaeya held such a fondness for handholding. Whether it was his father clinging tightly to him to make sure he didn’t get lost, Adelinde’s gentle, grounding hand closed over his to comfort him whenever his nerves got the better of him, Crepus’s rough-palmed, firm yet comforting grip as he brought him back home, or, as it was most often of all, Diluc’s warm, yet at times uncomfortably tight hold as he dragged him anywhere, everywhere, determined to always keep Kaeya close and eagerly show him all there was to see, Kaeya treasured the gesture greatly.

Of course, being as shy as he was, initiating it himself was always the harder part. So much so, he would tend to hold pinkies, rather than outright take a person’s hand in his own. Eventually, it would become his most common way to go about the gesture of affection.

[yardsards]

adulthood is just visiting ur friends, saying "damn bitch, you live like this?" (affectionate) and aggressively helping them clean up while they politely tell you that you don't have to do that. and then having friends do that to you when they visit your apartment.

[trans-li-ling]

I think we should give Zora a gun and whatever happens to the Shadow Decree happens

[theygender]

You know... part of the reason I had a hard time coming to terms with being a lesbian growing up was because I didn't want to be like my mom. I had been through a lot of trauma that was directly related to her choice in women, and there's definitely something to be said for the difficulties that that caused me, but that's not what this post is about

My point is, when I was a kid the idea of anyone ever thinking that I was like my mother made me angry, and that combined with the internalized lesbophobia that I developed made me especially sick at the idea of anyone ever thinking that I was a lesbian. Even worse, I felt like the homophobes in our family expected me to become a lesbian because of their bigoted ideas that gay parents "corrupt" children. I didn't want to be a lesbian because I didn't want to prove them right and I didn't want to be compared to my mother, so I fought hard against ever being interpreted that way

But now, as someone who's reconnecting with my mom on my own terms and finding out that she's changed for the better? As someone who's secure in their identity as a lesbian and grateful for the opportunities that I've had to engage with the LGBT community throughout my life? As someone who loves my mother in spite of her flaws and recognizes the struggles she faced growing up in the 1970s as the first out LGBT person in a homophobic southern family? I'm proud to be as openly gay as I am and I will not be apologetic for it

I WILL look as queer as possible at our family reunions. I WILL make you respect my girlfriend's pronouns. I WILL speak openly and honestly about the woman I love. I WILL be who I am with no compromises. And I will not engage with you if you don't accept this

My mom had to spend way too many years trying to conform to heteronormative standards for her family's acceptance. She had to hide who she was throughout her childhood, and she had to go through conversion therapy when she was outed. Even as an adult she wasn't able to present the way she wanted or speak openly about her partners. She was the first out lesbian in a family full of southern conservative christians, and she had to live through the hell that her family created for her all alone

...But I am the second out lesbian in a family that supports me for who I am. And I'm the first out nonbinary person in a family that supports me for who I am. And I openly and proudly love all the trans people in my life, who are also fully supported by my family. And there's nothing any of my conservative relatives can do about that. I'm accepted by the family that matters, and I have to be afforded the same respect as everyone else at family gatherings. The homophobes no longer have the power in this situation. I get to be who I am, and if they don't like it they have to leave. They spent decades making my mom's identity a problem for her, and now I'm going to make my identity everyone else's problem. Get with the program or die fucking mad

[soulphiav]

i dreamt of her again

[cereusblue]

Hey yall, happy reminder that if your doctor/therapist/psychiatrist treats you like shit? Drop em. Like dead fucking weight. There's a difference between them telling you some hard to swallow information and them being a straight up asshole. Take care of yourself. I know it can be hard to distinguish between hard to swallow information and them being rude, and if you're having a hard time with it then maybe attempt to reach out to them and see how they respond. If they double down and do not take your feelings into consideration, dump em. If they seem apologetic and want to understand and help you feel more comfortable about the information you were given? Then hang on, you may have misconstrued some words. There ARE doctors who care and want to help you. The medical field isn't wholly evil, I promise. I work in it too, I know there's some rules we can't bend and some things we have to do but.. All in all, it's all about giving patients the care they need to live a better life. Please, please take care of yourselves out there. When it comes to your mental health, the only one who can truly take the best care of you is yourself. In the sense that you have to make the decisions to make changes, take leaps, and ask for help. Be good to yourself 💙