#when i snap out of it it usually gets meta for me and we start arguing about the nature of existence and thought rather than whatever the

[erisolkat]

anyone else imagine conversations with real people. i dont even do it on purpose. ill be sitting there and suddenly i realize ive been imagining an argument with a girl i hated in middle school for the past 15 minutes

[dcxdpdabbles]

Would it be possible to read what happened during Phantom's mating season peak in The Bakery is a Front from Tim's POV? I just think the pure baffled energy that Tim would be radiating from being taken care of so nicely by his hot kidnapper from another dimension would be hilarious. Really the whole kidnapping had to have been a better experience than some of the galas Tim has been forced to attend; at least definitely the best kidnapping he has ever experienced, 10/10 would be kidnapped again.

It happens so fast.

One second he's suffering through Danny's overdose, and the next, the dead body in his arms is leaping over Bruce and trapping Damian in an iron-clad grip.

Jason and Dick react the fastest, but it does nothing to someone who can density shift. Tim can only watch Danny sobs on top of Damian, speaking in a strange dialect. It sounded like cracking ice every time he wailed.

"Unhand me!" Damian grunts snaping a knife into Danny's side. Despite the apparent red spot growing on Danny's shirt, the other man doesn't flatter in his movements in the slightest. He squeezes harder, but it doesn't seem like he's trying to hurt Damian. If anything, it looks like he's...cradling him? Yes, it did in fact, seem like Danny is attempting to cradle Damian like a baby.

What on earth-?

"Shit! Danny put him down!" A new voice shouts. Three women and a man burst into the room. Tim has yet to learn where they come from, but Bruce wastes no time throwing a pair of Batbolas at them. It hits the target on the man and the red hair women, tangling their legs and knocking them off.

The man yelps while the woman grunts, throwing her arms in front of her in an obviously trained reaction. She can't stop herself from falling all the way, but her reflex is nothing to scoff at.

She doesn't seem to care as she shouts at the drug dealer. "Daniel Fenton, you let that boy go right now! Are you listening to me?"

"Danny is not here right now."

Tim jerks his head in his fake boss' direction watching in horror as the man's usual blue starts glowing green, and his dark hair bleeds into white. There is an unnatural glow emanating from under his skin that makes him appear so beautiful Tim loses his train of thought for a moment.

This transformation seems a bit too much to just be a meta-gene activation. Is Danny....not human?

One of the women- who looks like a younger female version of Danny- blasts him with a zap of green from her hand. It reminds him of Starfire, but while his friend's blast is nothing but heat, the green of the girl seems more light than flame.

He drops, unconscious, letting go of Damian. The newcomers relax when the goth-looking one kneels next to him and presses her hands against his neck. Danny appears returns to the human one Tim is used to in another quick blink of an eye. "No pulse!"

"Thank goodness." The red hair, one says, sitting up. It's then that Tim realizes it's Jazz. The one that talked down Jason and the rest of Danny's men not even two weeks ago. So neither left of the siblings left overseas? How had they tricked Babs? "No pulse means he's still in his mating season. Quick we have to get him quarantined again before-"

"You are not going anywhere!" Jason growls, leveling his gun at her. Jazz blinks down the barrel, then raises a brow. It reminds Tim of Alfred when the man found his hidden coffee machine- disgusted, disappointed, but most of all, unimpressed.

His brother sneers. "I want to know what is happening here and I want to know now!"

"Can you not read?" Jazz returns, speaking as if an annoying customer demands a service she can not provide. "I put up signs that clearly said Quarantine do not enter around Danny's house. Why do you think that is? Oh, maybe, it means to leave this area alone."

"You bats are lucky we got here when we did," The man says, trying to twist out his binds. It's not going too well, as a few electric mobiles slip out of his pockets. "The only way to snap the human side of Danny out of his daze is by making him deny his obsession which is something I hate doing."

What?

"I hate hitting him too" The girl with the energy blasts pouts "I makes my stomach turn."

She twists at her waist seconds before Damian's foot swings through the air, where her head was only seconds before. She sidesteps his three other attacks, face twisting into a sneer. "Hey! Back off! We don't share the same obsession!"

"Silence wrench!" Damian sneers, which makes her even angrier.

"Make me, you wannabe pirate!" the girl hisses, and it's then that Tim realizes they may even be the same age. She is doing a masterful job of barely being out of Damian's deadly reach.

"Don't hurt him, Elle!" Jazz shouts, "Things are already complicated enough-"

The goth woman screams as she is suddenly launched into the air, slamming into Bruce and cutting off the redhead. Dick rushes to the now-standing Danny, aiming a barrage of attackers that the man easily slips through. Bruce throws the woman off him, slamming her against the wall and knocking her out in the same action. The man screams as Jason shoots out his kneecaps and Tim-

Tim suddenly finds himself unable to think as large green eyes overtake his vision. Danny's eyes and hair are bleeding in and out of different colors as the man stares at him. "Mate...."

Tim's mouth dries, and his eyes are drinking in the man. He knows he should be doing something, but Tim can't remember what he should be-.

"TIM!" Dick screams, snapping him out of his daze, and....oh, Tim is falling. Danny- or whatever is pretending to be Danny- has pushed him by pressing his hands against his chest and shoving him through a portal.

Danny is watching his drop with a soft smile, that is at odds with Jason appearing at his side with guns blazing.

Tim drops onto a pile of soft snow- or what he thinks is snow. It looks like it, soft like a fresh full pillow, but it's not cold. If anything, it's the perfect temperature to nap in.....he's exhausted. When was the last time Tim slept? He can't remember.

His eyes are getting heavy. His body is going boneless.....he has never been so comfortable in his whole life....is this what it feels like to rest on a cloud...

Tim blinks, around the room trying to fight the urge to give into the darkness, and he notes that he seems to be in a castle made entirely of ice and snow...like Danny's home.....he also appears to be in a tower? The windows are shaped like one.

Tim takes note of the sky being a bright green color which is..odd, but that's all he can think clearly as he finally goes under.

_________________________________________

It feels like he only closes his eyes for a second when Tim is startled awake by a scream of rage. Jerking away, he sits up, trying to gather his bearings. He needs to find out where he is and where his gear is.

Tim pulls on the crotcheted sweater he's been stuffed into, breathing a sigh of relief when he realizes his Red Robin outfit is still on underneath. He climbs out of the bed made entirely of snow, flickering his eyes about.

He's covered head to toe in other crotchety objects- pants, sweater, socks, gloves, a scarf, and a hat- all big enough to fit comfortably against him and his vigilante costume. Raising a hand to his face, he touches the smooth leather of his trusted mask.

Right. Danny let him keep his secret identity intake. That's... something.

He glances around his surroundings again, this time for sure, that his in some type of castle covered in ice. It's beautiful, like something out of a Disney movie with shiny crystal frozen designs everywhere. He carefully makes his way to the window, looking out into a far darker green of a sky.

He squints into the distance seeing acres and acres of a vast castle and land, but on the far right, there seems to be a drop....a cliff? Or the edge of this island. For you see, he could make out flouting doors and islands in the sky.

This differently wasn't his earth.

Danny, not being human, was becoming more and more plausible.

"Release me!" A voice echo. Damian.

Tim slams the door open, sprinting down the hall toward his younger brother's distress calls. It's a castle; even if everywhere he turns, it seems to be a frozen wonderland.

There are ice sculptures of Danny between every large ice pillar. They portray him as Tim usually is used to or as a being with a tail instead of legs mid-flight. There are portraits of various people hanging on the walls- he can make out Jazz and the others that busted into Danny's apartment- but there all encased in ice.

There are no guards, so when Tim sprints down a giant stairway, he is hyper-aware of his footsteps echoing on the cracking ice. He rounds the hallway, then stumbles to a stop at the sight before him.

It was Danny. At least, he thinks so. The being had a strong resemblance to him, but his skin had a slight blueish hue, his ears were pointed, his hair was pure white, he was glowing, and most of all, he didn't have legs.

The sculptures hadn't been a artistic choice Danny in this form had a tail and he was flying around a restrain Damian.

His brother was in a gaint baby doorway jumper, encased in what looked like a snow swaddle.

Damian is also covered head to toe in crochet clothing, but his Robin costume peaks from underneath it. Danny was flying around him, placing piles of snow on the ground around the struggling child, making noises like creaking ice and purring when he came close to pat Damian.

It also looked like Danny....was nesting with Damian in the center of it.

What in the world?

"I'll have your head!" Damian sneers as Danny gently places a bear beanie on his head. " I am not a child!"

"My baby" Danny coos, then starts making more cracking noise. He rubs his head against Damian like a cat which causes the boy to grimace.

Tim needs to get him out of there. He looks around for a weapon, but his gear doesn't seem near him. The only thing he can possibly use is the ice around the walls-

"Crackle, crack, Clank, Click!" Danny suddenly says in his face. He crossed the room at the same speed Bart would have, or maybe faster since he didn't even see a blur. Tim jerks back, but the glowing figure is already reaching out-.

He places a scarf around his neck with an adorable head tilt.

"Drake! Run! He'll swaddle you!"Damian screams, but Tim can't look away. He's so beautiful. Danny's bright green eyes, sparkling with the stars of the universe, and his lips are so full, he bets they would be perfect to kiss- is someone purring? Tim could fall asleep to that sound- it must be a white noise machine-!

He snaps his eyes open, shocked to find himself back in the original room.

Tim is back in the damn nest. Confused, he blinks around the room, noticing the sky is bright again and that he's tucked into the bed with great care. He's never felt more rest, so he knows he just spends hours sleeping.

He doesn't even remember getting moded, damn it.

""Red Robi- can you- where are you- report!" Tim's eyes widened when he realized Bruce's voice. It's his communicator! He scrambles out of the bed, straining his ears. "Re-Rob-in!""

There! His earpiece is in one of the ice crystals hanging from the ceiling. Miraculously it's still working, as he can barely make out Bruce's shouts. After four kicks of the crystal, he breaks it down, shattering it on the ground.

He quickly places it back into his ear. "Batman, I'm here!"

"Thank goodness!" An unknown woman says, making Tim flatter for only a moment. "Listen to me, my name is Sam, and right now, there is only one way to escape Danny's mating season without bloodshed. See, Phantom is in control right now, which means his obsession is at its highest. What does Danny not deem important enough to protect? Himself."

" We have to snap him out of it by having those under his protection stand up to him and....hit him. Anybody attacks will confuse Phantom so much the human side of Danny will be forced to take the front." Another female voice puts it. Jazz. She sounds unhappy, as she admits. "A punch to the head, or slap or something, just one from enough people under his protection will freeze Phantom for a moment."

Tim frowns. "I have no idea what you mean. How will that help get us away?"

"Well, we have a plan for that," A man says wearily. The one with all the electronics. "You may not like it...but we must get you to sacrifice yourself for Robin's freedom."

His siblings start shouting over the communicator but Jazz silence everyone with her explanation.

A very long explanation of ghosts, cores, and obsessions, but the gist is that Phantom and Danny's balance was disruptive, so the only way was to cause his human side to get clarification was by presenting Phantom with a paradox.

Phantom will protect all. Danny will allow anyone to hurt him because of his terrible self-esteem. Hence Phantom will not know if it should defend them when it's Danny in danger but it will pull at his core because something is still under attack in front of him.

However, as ghost king, Danny is crazy strong, so they need to attack with something Phantom would never try to defend himself from. His sister and two best friends suddenly slapping or punching him? Phantom would typically react by beating them away, but that would mean hurting the beings he exists to protect.

That's just the physical aspect of it too. Tim's sacrifice would pull at Danny's human emotions while Phantom would panic about needing to save Tim from the ghost he was sacrificed to. Which would be himself.

It should snap them both by tugging them in two different directions of their instincts.

Tim wonders if it will work-

He wakes up to Phantom purring and messaging his sore muscles. To his left is a feast of all of Tim's favorites. Even though he is the elite of Gotham, he's never been so pampered in his life.

Dang, it better work. Tim is getting far too comfortable in this castle. He may never want to leave.

"Phantom if you let my brother go ill be your mate."

"!" Phantom pauses then let's out a sound that sounds like twinkling bells glowing so bright he could be a star

"Only If you accept me as a sacrifice in exchange for my brother's freedom" Tim holds his break then jumps at the sound of shattering glass that comes from Phantom's mouth.

He blinks a few moments, fighting himself, until Phantom nods determined. "Mate will bring children. I need children."

"Ugh sure pal. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal"

It's a weird Tuesday.

Damian is home ten minutes later, and within the hour, Phantom overloads from the paradox.

Tim opens a portal home that night, and Danny sleeps through the rest of his mating season, going under when Phantom and he fights about Tim's fate.

[dannyphantom-zero]

Doctor Danny Chapter 8

Vlad managed to squeak out of the situation with a cash fine and Lex Luther was supposed to be under surveillance. Despite being "victims", experimenting or holding a citizen, albeit a meta, was still illegal.

Danny however was currently with the justice league. They had brought him to a hospital but there wasn't much they could do for him there after discovering Danny had strange abnormalities with his DNA and heartbeat.

Jason sat by Danny's unconscious body while everyone tried to figure out what to do with the situation.

"Why didn't you tell me your boyfriend was a meta human Jason?!" Bruce demanded.

Jason looked shocked at first which quickly turns to anger.

"Are you kidding me?! First of all, when did we have such a close relationship? Because lately we could only manage a small conversation. Secondly I didn't know myself" Jason bit back the anger billowing inside him.

"He's got unknown powers and now Lex Luther knows about him" Superman said with a serious tone.

"who was that other guy?" The flash asked.

"Vladimir Masters, billionaire former mayor of Amity Park" Bruce said.

Jason didn't look at any of them, his guilty gaze fell on Danny.

"He's, how can we even tell if he's going to be alright?" Jason said.

The room fell into silence.

"Have faith Jason, that's all you can do"

Jason clentched his fist.

"I don't think so, I'm going to find another way" Jason stood up.

He locked eyes with Superman, "dont let him out of your sight. He's a prestigious doctor. He's important-"

Jason walked out, "he's important, to me"

Superman sat in the vacant chair and tried his best to use his own powers to figure out Danny's condition. There wasn't much medical data on Danny to begin with so they weren't sure what we considered normal for him. More than once superman had been sure Danny's heart had stopped, yet he was still alive somehow.

Bruce had conflicted feelings about the good doctor. Jason trusted him, then again Jason was a murdering crime lord out for revenge.

He knew Jason and Doctor Daniel had a special relationship, after all, one doesn't usually cripple people for just a friend.

Joker had yet to recover.

Back in the bat cave Jason was taking full advantage of the access to the oicie records. It was harder than he thought it would be to get information on Danny because he wasn't born in Gotham but he eventually found a lead.

According to the hospital records paired with surveillance cameras outside the city, courtesy of Tim, Jason found that Danny had come from Illinois.

There was also that girl, Sam was it? Did she know his secret? She had to know something right?

Tim glanced over at Jason's screen.

"Oh that's the lead of that startup band Twisted Vines." Tim commented.

Jason's head snapped towards Tim so fast he almost counted it as a jump scare.

"Do you know where they'll be playing next?!"

Tim pulled out his phone.

"They have an app, let's see...seems like their doing a gig at Croscee's Pub tonight"

Jason stood up.

"I'm going to that and your coming with me"

Tim was grinning from ear to ear. So cool!

Later that night Jason and Tim in civilian outfits made their way to the bar. The band had already started playing judging by the muffled music pounding through the wall.

Jason opened the door and maneuvered through the crowd of people before resting in a corner.

Tim on the other hand has made his way to he front and was avidly cheering the band on.

Jason was growing slightly pissed off. Danny was counting on him and the best he could do was watch this stupid concert.

The music eventually ended and the crowd of people tried to swarm the band but security held them at bay.

Jason had other means, he snuck into their bus.

The band members were obviously shocked to see a stranger sitting in their tour bus.

"Jason??" Sam asked. They relaxed, if Sam knew this person than it was probably alright.

"What are you doing here?"

Jason stood up.

"It's Danny, we need your help. Danny's not waking up"

Sam motioned for then to go outside.

"He was attacked by Vlad Masters and Lex Luther"

Sam clentched her teeth, "Vlad"

When she noticed the look on Jason's face she explained, "Vlad wanted to get with Danny's mom and kill his dad. He also cloned Danny several times. One time he was successful."

Jason could feel the pits bubble up in his chest.

"I need to see him. That's the only way I can tell you"

"I brought a car"

Sam nodded, "give me a minute" she said before climbing back onto the bus.

Tim ran up to Jason, "did you talk to her yet? What did she say?" He asked.

"Alright, I'm good to go" she said slinging a couple of her bags over her shoulder.

Tim's mouth went wide open.

"So cool" he whispered.

The car ride there Jason went into more detail.

Bruce was a little surprised that the answers Jason had went to find were in the formation of some rock punk.

Sam was admiring the space when she caught sight of Danny. She dropped her bags and ran over.

"How long has it been?"

"A couple days."

"Do you know what they injected him with? What about the state he was in when you found him?"

"He was injected with a drug that I don't recognize in the system or otherwise" Bruce said handing her the tablet.

Sams expression darkened, "blood blossoms, fucking bastards"

"He was extremely agitated but Jason managed to calm him down just before he fainted"

Sam handed back the tablet.

"Blood Blossoms are extremely harmful to gh- to people like Danny"

"No matter what I need everyone in this room to swear an oath not to say anything about Danny's condition. I know someone who can help him but I need you all to ask as little questions as possible"

"Where do you have to go?"

"Illinois"

"Take the jet" Bruce said. Jason nodded.

"And here, this is the contact of a friend who can give you a log of Danny's normal condition and what to do if he takes a turn for the worst."

It was Tuckers contact. Jason and Sam left and Bruce got on the contact.

Tucker had become a software engineer for AmerTek Industries in Metropolis.

Flash said he would pick him up and left before anyone could object.

Tucker had been finishing up a report on a new robot the company was in the planning stages of creating, next thing Tucker knew he was in the arms of somebody going at incredibly fast speeds to somewhere.

"Oh" is all he said when they filled him in.

"Sams already on it huh" he sisd with a nervous smile.

"She always so on top of things"

"She told us we could find his medical information with you"

Tucker blinked, "oh yeah! We had to create an updated version. After the accident Danny couldn't get checked by normal doctors anymore. Thank ancients his parents were so oblivious-" Tucker stopped talking when he saw their faces.

"Did Sam not tell you about that? Maybe I've said too much. In any case if there's something you don't understand, let me know"

He handed over the digital file on Danny.

Not even two seconds later Bruce was grilling Tucker on what ectoplasm was and what machine caused this to happen.

There was also a detailed report on what devices the Fenton's had made and how they interacted with Danny.

"What's this page?" Tim asked scrolling onto the page filled with a list of all the ghosts Danny had fought and their abilities.

"I,uhm, well I don't think I should-"

Tucker shrank under Batmans judgmental stare.

"Sams going to skin me alive for this but, I suppose I should tell you everything"

The heroes listened, stunned at the words coming out of Tuckers mouth.

Not only had they not known about the mad "ghost hunting" scientists. They also had known about the portal to the infinite realms.

They were even more shocked when he told them Danny had been crowned king.

"He was a teenage superhero and we were his support team"

Tucker smiled, "nows he's still saving lives. Danny really is something else"

Bruce had went to eh next room to brood over his failure to see all of this whole Supes glumly accepted the fact that he couldn't have done anything without knowing.

"You guys don't need to be so down about it. Any transmissions Danny tried to get to you guys was most definitely being blocked by Vlad and his fancy equipment"

Clark shook his head.

"So Vlad and Danny have history" Flash said.

"Yeah, deep history. In fact. Vlad shares Danny's condition. They're both liminals"

Tucker scowled, "he's literally a villain. Danny's been dealing with this guy for years."

"I can't imagine being a fourteen year old hero"

A glum look passed over Tuckers face.

"We, haven't talked in a while. But I should've tried. I knew he was going through something rough. It was hard for him. Didn't help that he was bullied either. Danny too nice for his own good"

"For now, all we can do is monitor his condition. Have faith in your friend"

Tucker nodded. Danny would wake up. He was sure of it.

[kittyit]

I enjoy your writing a lot — whether it’s your essays or your reviews. In a weird bit of coincidence, actually, I independently followed your letterboxd, medium, and tumblr and only realised it was all you today. And now it’s obvious because whatever the platform, I keep being drawn to your writing — it’s matter of fact yet still tender in a way, and your essays are so incredibly thorough and well-researched.

I guess I wanted to ask 1) how long it takes you to put these things out and 2) how do you manage yourself so you’re not burnt out by all the legwork? Maybe it’s my grad school fatigue speaking but the idea of putting my pen where my mouth is feels daunting, so any insight would be welcome.

side note: I found you on letterboxd because I unknowingly had a “transbian” oomfie who was overly-familiar but not particularly off-putting — until he was very, very mad at Envy/Desire which then piqued my interest and yada. Glad someone also found it funny — hilarious on a meta-level especially. Call me a hater but nothing quite so delicious as getting to witness such a flood of AGP self-owns in real time.

and my answer will most likely be incredibly unhelpful to you. i'm actually seeking (in a life quest way but making some moves recently) ways to become someone who can write more regularly and in a more consistent way. i was kind of fascinated by the concept that i would be putting in legwork - it's the other way around, sort of.

i have ideas for several essays right now, and when i write an essay, i usually just sit down for 1-3 hours and write it all in one go. i have the sources i need because they're things i've already seen or know about, it's just referencing the references in my head. i think i wrote the envy/desire review in about 45 minutes and then just published it. sometimes i try to edit for a few days but often i just pull the trigger (NEED TO NOT DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

i have an incredibly fraught and difficult relationship with writing (or making anything) that has caused me a huge amount of emotional torment in my life so it's really nice to get a genuine compliment that seems to assume i am not just an insane person who sits down and writes insanely which is pretty much what happens

KITTY'S CREATIVE CYCLE: i am thinking about this so much → oh man i'm getting pretty pissed off/sad/beside myself/overwhelmed by the joker nature → i am snapping and sitting down and writing insanely → don't do anything for a year because i dislike myself so much → fuck i'm really starting to think about something a lot

but quite often i rev up on the first two parts of the cycle and then just fritter away to nothing for no reason. it sucks! it is not a good way to be a creative. but i am trying :) and that's what we can do as women. despite all of the ways i feel (very negatively about myself and my work), i can still take the action steps (writing whenever i can, taking myself and my thoughts seriously) to add to feminist intellectual legacy and encourage other women to do the same thing

everyone can write an essay (or a review). just go crazy

[jenyifer]

The Trainee ep3 Initial reaction

Bad news I only have screen shots of part 4 but considering how S L O W the show is no big loss.

Let’s chat a little before the photo review. I like that Jane isn’t auto in love with Ryan it’s like they are slowly getting on the same frequency. I don’t think he was a bad boss in any of the previous eps either. Yes. He’s busy. Pressed like a panini. It’s very sweet. Ryan is confused as to why things are going so well but I think it’s because Jane is getting slowly attuned to him. Like they were made to be a pair. It’s a beautiful slow dance. But it is slow. I’m not bored it’s just not a ton to speculate on. We all saw the episode? It’s mostly Meta Content about production which is interesting. I enjoyed Pie’s friendships and her struggles. But as it comes to Ryan and Jane the biggest indicator of affection is the Ryan game they are playing. I adored the saving private ryan refs very cute and unexpected. I really hope romance wise things get going soon anywhere. I really like prop guy but I get hella annoyed with the str8 couple. But I assume I’m supposed to. I’ll keep watching but I’ll am a little cool towards things if that makes sense. It’s fun but… give me something to think about.

Photo review

I watched pt 1-3 on my tv so don’t have any snaps but our girl is 100% correct. Jane is intimidating. He doesn’t have time to make things easy for Ryan and Pie. The difference is Ryan wants to know Why Jane is the way he is and try to assist in making him relaxed. Ryan is happiness when Jane has his peaks of soft. But Pie respects Jane puts him on a pedestal of what she wants to be. She doesn’t see him as a human. More of a goal she wants to be. Also Off Jumpol is 50/10 on the sexy scale.

Okay so my dad likes to tell me when I start a new job, “you aren’t doing it right if you aren’t crying in the bathroom and in the bed after work questioning why you thought you could do the job in the first place” I find this applies to switching teams or any new work situation. No one trusts you and they really shouldn’t you are new and will make mistakes. However if they don’t depend on your or make you feel strong the pressure builds and builds. It’s hard you feel so defeated. You finally get chance to break out of the minmal space of being new or the intern and things turn to flames then find out no one expected you to do good anyways. Eventually you’ll find a team member who will push you into chances then you’ll find your niche. I had to be on a team with a new member to understand what was going on with this. I think… it’s easy when you are new to blame yourself. It’s everyone’s duty to help the new person feel part of the team and train them up. Yes they are going to mess up but I find that’s easier when they think of me as someone who will help them not make mistakes next time.

But on an ADHD human who struggles to get medication I have to go through the Why am I like this? Judging others then fucking up because of my brain and it is horrible but… you work in a team. I hope Pie realizes that.

I love these brother sister in the neurodivergent buddy coded vibes we have going on here in my opinion. I feel like Pie is very ADHD masking medicated but I’m bias. She doesn’t understand humans and can’t care about things beyond her special interests. Ryan is also very much hiding in his head. Pie is jealous of Ryan but I think she likes him in his own newbie ways. He’s hard not to love. Also their shirts.

“Find out who you are doing it for” obvs answer is Jane

“Good, good!

Time, time!” Maybe a reference to completing a task or finding the good times in tasks is getting to know her coworkers.

We have to protect Ryan he’s a clumsy silent bby I’m thinking about kuuderes like Mori from OHSC they just usually aren’t smol like Ryan.

Extremely beautiful that Jane stopped his everything to focus on Ryan. He didn’t have to. Jane wanted to this is where I was finally feeling the more than coworker vibe. Idk maybe it’s just a friendly vibe but it’s something new.

Jane wants to care for Ryan and keep him around. I adore these shoe themes even if the shoes are weirdly matching???? Am I crazy? Didn’t get a good shot but I think black white Nikes. Jane is being slowly boiled in Ryan’s actions to show Jane is a person who can trust Ryan.

He’s impressed Ryan is thinking of him outside of work. I’m triggered cause now I wanna go watch saving private Ryan again. However I think I’ll settle for Ghost Of You by my chemical romance.

I adore Ryan’s relationship with Ink. I love the lighting and the set dressing of the shop crowded but not a home the home for Ryan is the people. What they can offer with their hands and time.

[blindmagdalena]

Hiiii it's me again!

I just wrapped up a full-on binge of your series with Homelander and Layla, and honestly, I've got to get a few things off my chest about these two. I'll try to keep this short, but there's a lot to unpack, and if you're not up for the essay I'm about to write here, feel free to skip it. Starting with Layla's profession — genius. It just clicks, right? With a job like hers, it's totally believable that she'd cross paths with a guy like Homelander. That guy's desperate for any scrap of affection he can get, doesn't really matter if it's genuine or not. And in your story, it feels like we get a dash of both. It's refreshing because usually, OCs just snap their fingers and suddenly, Homelander's all about them, which feels a tad forced.

But Layla? She's different. Their first serious meet-up perfectly demonstrates her patience. And her smarts? She's ten steps ahead, seeing right through Homelander's act — you know the one where he pretends he's too cool for the room. Her ability to play him like a fiddle from the get-go, just by stroking his ego, is just so spot on. It's not just her cunning that stands out, though. Layla knows exactly when to use emotional leverage, she's insightful about Homelander's neediness, hence the booked meeting. She's not your typical 'strong woman' character — thank goodness we're not talking about those overdone, one-dimensional types that come off as watered-down male heroes. Love that she's profoundly intelligent, perceptive, and strategic in her emotional connections. She's an exemplary character not wedged into the role of being “strong” but one who utilizes her understanding and empathy as powerful tools.

I'm sold on her character (if you can't tell.) And I'm really going all out here because as I revisit the first chapters to talk about this, I keep finding new reasons to appreciate her more. I want to dive deeper into my thoughts, but I'm probably just rambling now, so I'll cut myself off. You've single handedly got me working on my personal oc again lmfao. Just a last note, it's cool to see an original character who isn't some superpowered being for a change. It adds layers to the world you've built that I'm just here for. I'm gonna read a few other fics you have linked about your ocs — I came for the x reader fics and stayed for the ocs LOL.

— 💌

you genuinely took my breath away with this! my heart is so full and warm, i could cry. i can't tell you how many times i reread this this morning! i'm very tender-hearted when it comes to my original characters, and i was quite nervous starting an oc fic, but this makes me SO happy that i did!

please don't ever apologize for writing essays like this, i honestly want to print this out and hang it on my wall. thank you SO MUCH for not only reading my fic but taking the time to send me such an incredibly thoughtful message about my girl Layla. it really does mean the world to me!!! and i really can't wait to get back to writing Eat Your Ego.

i'm really happy that she's coming across so well! i knew that i would have to be careful in how i wrote her for the fact that she IS human, and there's a very delicate balance to be had in interacting with Homelander. there's a tension there that yeah, one wrong move and she really and truly has no defense against him aside from her wits, so i needed her empathy and intellect to be sort of a super power of their own.

i was worried she would come across as omniscient or meta, so i tried to lean into the fact that Homelander's ego and power trips really do just have him behaving like the type of men she would regularly encounter in her line of work.

aaahhh, gosh, even responding to this i reread it a whole bunch. thank you so much, darling. i'm going to treasure this message! 🖤

[bougiebutchbitch]

I started rewatching House and have now rekindled that good ol hyperfixation, and I just wanted to stop by and thank you for providing Bottom House content. I am starving for it. It's weird because I'm not normally super picky about what characters are in what sexual positions/roles, but like. [Disclaimer: Everybody should have fun and read/write what makes them happy regardless of my own preferences, fandom is about having fun, I'm not out here trying to police how people enjoy shit blah blah blah]

...But on god I just cannot imagine watching this show and walking away with the interpretation that House is a confident dom top when it feels like every other episode shows him being such a bratty sub bottom. He's his usual brand of sarcastic about it all, but his sexual jokes and his general attraction to authoritative women... How he encourages his fellows to fight back against him and put him in his place if they think he's going off the rails or that they're right and he's wrong... The neediness... Come on! Man is such a bottom. And that's not even getting into Wilson's whole predisposition to just constantly soft dom House, or just how much more interesting I find it to explore House being a needy little sub while he also has to constantly face the ableism of everyone around him-- YES, he needs someone to make him heel and to express that kind of vulnerability around, but also Wilson and Cuddy do have this tendency to assume they know what he needs and approach his vulnerability in a condescending and (Wilson especially) morally superior kind of ableist way where they just "know so much better" than him about himself and his pain and his experiences. It can make for such engaging conflict and interesting exploration of themes in a way that I just don't really see in fics that position House as a cocky asshole dom top and Wilson as a blushing little softboi, and I often turn away from top House fics because House, Wilson, and their whole dynamic just feel ooc to me.

Bottom House is just more fun to me, personally. And more sexy, I'll admit. But there's such a startling lack of it! Babygirl's show has existed for almost a decade now, and he does not get railed nearly enough in fanfic! So I want you to know I appreciate and value your contributions to the cause. You are braver than any US marine.

I can add absolutely nothing to this wonderful essay because it expresses my thoughts exactly. Apparently a majority of the original fandom back in The Old Days of the noughties watched the show and came out under the impression that House is - a dom??? Like?? WTF???? Were we watching the same show???? Were doms just Built Different back then??? That man is as bratty bottom sub as they COME. Like. THEE OG mold of bratty bottom. All other bratty bottoms aspire to be House.

He constantly pushes buttons until people snap? He's forever testing his friends and coworkers, longing for them to bark back at him and visibly getting off on it when they put him in his place?? If they ordered him to do something he would leer at them and growl 'make me'???

I was chatting about this with a mate literally yesterday, about how we both like a little switching with almost all of our ships - but HOUSE IS ALWAYS A BRATTY BOTTOM BITCH FOR US

HE JUST IS

it's right there in the show

we don't even need to write a meta explanation (though I appreciate yours greatly) because we have an 8 season long essay on the subject

(yes, yes, I am echoing your disclaimer that anyone can ship whatever they want in whatever way they want; no hate to anyone, etc. I'm just. Baffled at how popular dommy top House content is because I do not see it. I am blind to it. I cannot understand it skdhfsldfgsdfg)

And blushing softboi Wilson is just ???????? to me. Where is that man? Where???? I didn't see him in the series, that's for sure!

Is it literally just that he's smaller, traditionally prettier, and more feminine - and as we all know, the shorter feminine guy always bottoms???? /s, I know it can't just be that khgkgkjgh

Eh, c'est la vie! But at least there's a little community of us all shaking each other's hands and going 'THAT MAN IS BLATANTLY A BRAT'.

Also, you are 100% right about the main fascination of this show being (for me, a Physically Disabled) the intersection of the ableism and infantilization House faces, and his desire to sub and be vulnerable with others. That's so fucking juicy, and I think a lot of interpretations of his character miss it T^T

[wrencatte]

a longer than normal snippet of bad news this place is magic af chapter 3 because it's 422 in the am and i should really go to bed but im not. (wc: approx 1,151). This is a ROUGH draft

Gotham isn’t alive.

Gotham isn’t not alive.

(It’s complicated.)

But when you have as much as ambient magic that Gotham does – festering, pooling. Nowhere to go. No one use it. It languishes, steeping into the foundations, seeking physical objects to siphon a droplet from a deep, abyssal ocean –

When you have as much ambient magic that Gotham does –

The line between alive and not alive gets a little blurred.

—

Tim lets them laugh, lets Steph’s boundless capacity for banter ease some of them tension. He glances over at Cass and sees it in her expression that she noticed it too – Jason’s shaking hands, the pinch of pain around his eyes, the sheen in them that he keeps blinking away.

It could be blamed on his injuries. Most of it can probably be blamed on his injuries. But he folds his arms over his chest, pressing close in a way that has to hurt the claw marks there, and his nails dig into his sleeves, the fabric of his sweatshirt being the only thing keeping him from drawing blood.

He closes his eyes, exhausted, and cuts in. “It’s still hurting you – the cloaking spell.”

Not a question. A statement of fact.

The banter cuts off, the light teasing dies down. Jason doesn’t look at him, nails burrowing, teeth flashing to bite his lip. His fangs – because that’s what they are no matter how often Bruce calls them elongated canines; he just doesn’t want to admit that Jason has fangs. Some things are too weird for Batman. – split his lip, blood beading up.

“No,” he says.

Steph frowns. “Jason…”

He frowns back, something gleaming beyond the tears in his eyes – and Tim thinks of sunlight through sweet tea and vintage whiskey. “We don’t have time to worry about it,” he snaps with only a quarter of his usual heat. If Tim’s already exhausted, he can’t imagine how Jason feels.

“There’s always time,” Duke says then glances at the ceiling when all Jason does is sneer in response. “Fine – if you wanna be a stubborn asshole about it we’ll let you. For now.” There’s a glow in his eyes to match Jason’s – but golden where Jason’s is copper. The hair on the back of Tim’s neck stands on end and he remembers – he never really forgot – that Duke’s meta-abilities are weird and odd and more and now he’s starting to get an idea of why. “What’s the plan?”

Jason slumps like his strings have been cut. Cass swings her arms over his shoulders, slouching in a way that’s uncharacteristic of her but makes Jason reach up and hold on to keep her from sliding to the ground.

And subsequently makes him stop pressing on his injuries.

“The plan is to figure out where his final circle is going to be and stop him,” Jason says slowly. He presses his lips together. Tim hands him a napkin that he takes without looking, dabbing at the blood almost absently. His eyes flicker across the map, following Duke’s lines from point a to b all the way to m – thirteen points. Twelve like a clock and then one directly in the middle. “That’s smack dab in the middle of the reservoir.”

“The labyrinth,” Tim says. Jason nods. “Great. Just what we needed.”

“I’m sorry, the what?” Duke asks, brows furrowed. The gold in his eyes has faded even if Jason still shimmers copper. “We have a labyrinth?”

“We don’t,” Steph says and she looks absolutely disgusted by the direction this is going. “The Court of Owls, on the other hand, did. Do we really have to?”

Duke pinches the bridge of his nose. “The Court of Owls?” Everyone stares at him. “Hey, don’t look at me like that,” he snaps. “Some of us are new to this whole vigilante business. I’m still in Jason’s era of casefiles!”

Jason groans. “Great,” he mutters.

Tim gives him a sympathetic look that’s ignored. He’s seen the reports from Jason’s time as Robin and they’re not pretty – Rogues like Kite Man and Condiment King weren’t a common place then. It was usually the Families and the darker crimes that really makes Tim wonder who thought it was a good idea to let a teenager on the streets like that. Though, he’s sure Jason had seen worse before he was Robin.

Already files on the Court of Owls are popping up on screen, courtesy of Barbara. Duke leans in, scanning the words, lips moving, his eyes getting wider and wider the further he gets, jaw dropping.

“What?” he whispers. “No, seriously. What?” He gestures frantically at the screen. “Dick? Your, your parents?” he asks Tim.

Tim shrugs. “They were in over their heads,��� he says casually. And it is pretty casual. The Court never wanted Tim. They were more pissed that Janet and Jake managed to snub them so well. Tim’s had two years to come to terms with the mess his parents left him with. “It’s actually one of the reasons they traveled so much. The Court did not like them ducking out like they did. Technically they were never official members anyway, too New Money to get more than a foot in the door.”

Babs pulls the files down. “I can send the rest to your tablet,” she tells him. “Let’s focus. Jason, why is he doing this?”

Jason drags a fingertip over the desk surface. Tim watches the motion – it’s not random. It’s…It means something. He traces it out over and over again. Steph ducks down, frowning, waving her hand in front of Jason’s face – he flinches, hand going flat on the desk.

“Magic,” Jason says.

“We’ve established that,” Tim replies.

He shakes his head, drags a hand down his face, winces when he pulls at the marks on his face. “No. Listen. Magic is pretty much everywhere. There’s, like, maybe two places on this planet where magic is null and only the Sorcerer Supreme knows where they are.”

“And that’s?”

“Currently it’s Zatanna Zatara,” Jason says with a smirk. Steph claps her hands, eyes sparkling. “Yeah, thought you might like that. She’s been Sorcerer Supreme for about…five years now? After Kent stopped being Doctor Fate and Khalid picked up the mantle. Gotham is not null.”

Duke quirks an eyebrow. “But no one here uses magic.”

Jason nods. “And that’s the problem. Magicians don’t come to Gotham – not because Batman asked nicely or anything, but it’s disgusting here.” He swallows thickly, looking like he might be sick. Tim hands him another orange juice and he takes it even though he rolls his eyes. “Magic has to be used. It’s gotta flow. It doesn’t even have to be a person – or the equivalent of one. Those magical objects we’ve dealt with over the years? That’s Gotham’s magic trying to find some outlet before it explodes like a powder keg. That’s the only reason we’re not suffering a weird magical plague.”

[raxistaicho]

Are we not Engaged? Part 10.

I’m thinking it’s back to paralogues until they get too tough again. For sure I wanna do Byleth because Celine can always get stronger.

Spoilers under the cut!

Now we begin the party where the party takes turns beating up Sigurd for Canter! :) Well, at least my non-melee units for sure. Ivy, Celine, Hortensia, Yunaka, and Seadall.

Alear Seadall C: He’s dancing late at night for the stars, he believes people join the stars when they die, and that his teacher is up there. He takes his craft exceedingly seriously. Interesting.

Celine Fogado B: He’s trying to flirt with her again, lol. She at first rebuffs him, but he replies Firene is known for being closed-off due to their self-sufficience thanks to their strong farming. She decides to accept his offer to talk more to prove him wrong - and also so she can glean some of Solm’s secrets in return. I’m not sure who in security let the Three Houses writers sneak in to write this support chain, but I salute them.

Seadall Yunaka C: She can do impressions, lol. Seadall invites her on stage for a play, lol. She’s shy but he convinces her.

Louis Rosado C: Rosado starts off doing his usual “aren’t I cute? :3″ teasing, but Louis openly and honestly agrees he is. They actually hit it off quite well due to their respective aesthetic natures, it’s a very sweet support.

Byleth paralogue time!

Byleth reciting the legend of Saint Seiros is odd, it makes me wonder from what point of 3H Byleth was yanked. His hair isn’t green so he can’t have fused with Sothis yet, and he’d learn eventually the legend was a lie, so he.

Ugh, nine units, just the same as the map itself.

Oh shit, Byleth’s staffers used Warp tactics on me!!! That’s cheating! :(

The first half of the chapter was easy because I just did the same thing I do in this map in 3H, but once I aggroed the dragons Byleth’s priests got cheeky and began warping in units to break the crystals. I lost 1 but according to a friend of mine I got the same reward he did when he saved them all.

That reward being a talisman and an elixir. Alyos!Rhea is a fucking skinflint.

Alear: I’m worried what might happen if I ever make the wrong choice...

Well don’t look to Byleth for guidance then, he’ll just kinda act sad around you as you commit atrocities and hope you snap out of it.

Alear Diamant B: Diamant admits he’s unsure he’s worthy of leading his people. Pretty classic FE Lord concerns, but it’s in response to Alear’s fear of Corrupted, so that’s not bad.

Chloe Seadall B: She gives him some weird folk food and has to kinda cajole him into trying it. This is a pretty cute little support of her sharing the things she likes with someone else :)

Hortensia Fogado C: Fogado tries to invite Hortensia to tea, but she scolds him for being a flirt, saying he has the reputation even in Elusia, lol. She scolds him for idling away his time and not helping Timerra. Fogado has no luck with the royal princesses in his supports, lol.

Louis Rosado B: They get into a discussion about whether sea grapes are cute. Louis thinks they aren’t, and is sad that he doesn’t share Rosado’s enthusiasm for them, since he likes liking the things his friends do. Gotta say, these two are kinda great together!

Alcryst Boucheron B: Alcryst is trying to work out but he’s struggling. Boucheron says they’ll try later.

Corrin paralogue! She talks about her choice to Alear, but doesn’t say which she chose. Pretty typical. Corrin dries out the river partway through, but I saw that coming, lol.

Strangely, Yato has 4 gems but it has the appearance of the base Yato. “Yato was by my side on every step of my journey” Nobody tell the devs that the Corrin meta involves class changing Corrin out of Nohr Prince(ss).

I only just noticed Ivy’s really tall too :3

Alear Yunaka B: Alear wants to get to know Yunaka a little better so she can trust her a little better. Yunaka admits she spent time wandering and is trying to distance herself from her past self. Cute support :)

Celine Hortensia B: Hortensia tries to out-cute Celine, only for Celine to not take the contest remotely seriously and just be friendly. Celine’s friendliness ends up making Hortensia happy, which upsets her. Cute support, lol.

Celine Jean B: Jean's dedication to his studies so he can save lives moves Celine, so she decides not to ask him to TEA.

Celine Alfred B: Celine criticizes Alfred at length for choosing stupid solutions to his problems and points out that it makes him look bad as a prince, but he doesn’t really get the point. Alfred’s such a doofus.

Seadall Yunaka B: They’re practicing for the stage show, heheh. This is a cute support but it REALLY shows off Laura Post’s chops as a voice actress.

Gotta say, Yunaka actually has some impressive depth for an Engage character, I’ve really come to like her.

Rosado Jade C: (People who’ve only read these posts probably have no idea who Jade is lol) Basically she’s just jealous of Rosado’s boundless energy and he convinces her being cuter will give her more energy.

Back to the story!

Sombron’s big mad. Also Veyle’s asleep. Somborn gave Zephia some sort of ridiculous helmet lol. It seems Sombron believes he killed Alear and was imprisoned shortly after. Zephia didn’t get the chance to retrieve Alear’s corpse. Hmm, so it sounds like Lumera probably saved Alear while she was near-death.

Boat map!

Oh, cannon’s interesting.

Engage managed to make a good boat map, which is interesting, lol. Using the cannon you have to manage enemy approaches on both sides so you don’t get overwhelmed, it’s pretty careful stuff.

Also I finally recruited an enemy unit! lol.

Seems the Emblems can do a “miracle” which could be used on Lumera, but Ike, Sigurd, Lucina, and Lyn believe it would be reckless to use it. Honestly, it’s REALLY nice getting a scene of the Emblems interacting.

Interestingly, during her wakeup talk, Ivy mention she’s long wanted to come to the Somniel to pray, but the Elusian royal family never accepted Lumera’s invitations. I guess Hyacinth wouldn’t allow it.

Ivy Diamant A: Aww, Ivy fashioned the gem Diamant gave her into a necklace so she can wear it every day, and as a symbol of the future relationship Brodia and Elusia should hold. They both promise to build a better relationship between their countries. Very very good support!

Ivy Alcryst B: She mentions that Elusian children are taught to fear Brodian armor, which is interesting. Alcryst apologizes on behalf of Brodia, but Ivy teases him, asking him if he means that as an official gesture from Brodia. She dislikes Brodia, but not Alcryst himself.

Ivy Timerra C: Though both are future queens, Ivy feels she and Timerra are as opposite as can be. When Ivy mentions she’s never been camping, Timerra urges her to give it a try lol.

Seadall Alcryst C: Seadall used to travel with traveling merchants, which makes Alcryst a little jealous as he hasn’t traveled around. Seadall offers to tell Alcryst about some of his travels.

Fogado Timerra C: Lol, mostly it’s just them being gushy good siblings. It’s pretty cute. Seems they barely spent much time together before, as they were both rarely at the palace.

Yunaka Citrinne B: Apparently Yunaka was named Larimar at birth. She was abandoned by her parents but found by an assassin who trained her to in the same profession. There’s more to this tale but it just kinda awkwardly cuts off.

Continuing with the story!

Veyle is still asleep. It seems Zephia’s fucking up with Veyle’s mind is detrimental to her health, and Mauvier is concerned that they should knock it off. Zephia seems to think puting the helmet Sombron gave her on Veyle and then casting her spell will make her permanently evil.

Anyways, Marni offers to go fight us. Guess it’s round 4 of knocking her and Mauvier on their asses. Seems Mauvier’s loyal to good Veyle but he doesn’t like...

grab her...

and run away...

Seems Sombron turned the people of the Elusian port to Corrupted.

God dammit Marni you suck. Marni stole stole some Emblem Rings it seems. Thanks for the delivery, dumbass.

This town is filled with Miasma lol. Seems I’m to use the flame canons to burn it out.

Oh no Mauvier has warp. Bad feeling.

Lol, there’s corrupted ambush spawns in the houses. That’s... actually pretty sensible, Ivy and Alear did say everyone was dead.

Yeah he multi-warps thanks to Micaiah having staff AOE lol. But Warp only has so much range in this game so you just need to be mindful of that.

So rather than use his last warp, Mauvier rescued in Marni’s group and charged, but Marni didn’t... actually move. And even if she did, I decided to kite Mauvier back toward the bottom part of the map where I know I have more canon shots open and Marni’s still an armor and she’s still slow as hell on the move.

Marni sucks and she needs to be fired :p

Oh Marni’s finally moving. It was only AFTER Mauvier was half-dead, but she tried. Sorta. Not really.

Alear can one-shot Corrupted Wyrms with Twin Strike. That’s pretty cool.

So to kill Marni I had Alcryst plink at her with a longbow to proc Dreadful Aura and Draconic Hex while Celine with Byleth blasted at her. Holy shit Corrin is GOOD.

And now we have Roy and Micaiah back! \o/

Seems like Sombron’s been nabbing Elusians and turning them into corrupted.

[thegeminisage]

one of many reasons castiel spent the first year of knowing dean trying not to strangle him: dean's weird little winchester-only dialect

i’m fucking obsessed with this right now, so buckle in for a meta. a cool fun (horrible) thing about dean's dialogue is that a good 90% of what comes out of his mouth is:

a pop culture reference ("you're just gonna take some divine bong hit, and shazam, you're roma downey?")

references to real life phenomenon ("i don't wanna wake up missing a kidney in a bathtub full of ice" "try new mexico, i hear he’s on a tortilla")

these also often take the form of nicknames, and dean has a tendency to give people nicknames in general or call them something besides their given name, whether it’s affectionate or rude ("easy there, van damme" "so i’m girl interrupted" furthermore castiel = cas, ezekiel = zeke, etc, see also frequent use of "chucklehead" "asshat" and on the nicer/endearments end "buddy" "pal" "sunshine" etc)

an idiom ("a snowball's chance" "if it smells like a duck...")

slang ("drinking the koolaid" "jonesing for some hooch" not to mention the literal endless amount of words dean uses to refer to killing - gank, waste, juice, ice, etc)

a metaphor ("power up your batteries" "fly me back to my page on the calendar")

a euphemism ("cloud seeding" "i'd have given you an hour alone with her first")

sarcasm (his habit of replying "peachy" or "super" when asked how he is)

wordplay (see: the entire "vampirate" and "werepire" debacles)

completely nonsensical (guessing what happened to a magical artifact: "it was dug up by tomb raiders? it was seized by the king of the dead by warlords?")

said at lightning speed - if you pay attention, dean actually talks a LOT, usually a mile a minute (this makes me feel a way when you recall him being nonverbal for a year at age 4 but that’s another post)

slang IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE (casual usage of “guano,” etc)

a lie, a deflection, a joke, etc

or worse, something dean’s NOT saying, deliberately, because he’s one of the most repressed people on earth

the end result of all this being:

dean winchester is utterly infuckingcomprehensible. 

think about this. there's an ENTIRE SECTION on EVERY SINGLE EPISODE PAGE of the spn wiki devoted to JUST explaining dean's pop culture references, because the average viewer won't have seen everything he's talking about either. they have a whole page for this called “hunter’s lingo,” but honestly, it’s not all hunters, just sam and dean’s fucking batshit communication style. even i don't understand dean half the time. SAM gets it, sam speaks it back to dean a lot in the early seasons, but that's because sam and dean are 1. practically two halves of the same person 2. FREAKS. every time we get an episode that involves outsider POV is devoted to them going "what the fuck is WRONG with them?"

enter castiel. technically speaking, the show implies that angels are omnilingual. castiel should understand every language known to man, but knowing the meaning of words doesn't help him understand the following:

pop culture references

references to real life phenomenon

nicknames

idioms

slang

metaphors

euphemisms

sarcasm

wordplay

you get the idea.

listen to me. look me in the eyes. castiel cannot understand a single fucking word that comes out of dean's mouth. my guy laid a hand on dean winchester in hell and immediately fell in love with him and has no fucking idea what he's talking about ever. because not only is dean winchester's way of speaking CLINICALLY insane, and sometimes incomprehensible even to other human beings who are not sam, castiel is an angel, and someone prone to taking things even more literally than other angels do

go back and watch and watch seasons 4-5 especially. the reason cas does so much squinting and head tilting is because every time dean opens his mouth castiel has to open up his mental "dean winchester dictionary" and translate entire paragraphs on the fly, because again, dean never shuts up!

what makes this extra hilarious to me is this gem:

this line is from 5.13. at this point cas has known dean for AN ENTIRE YEAR AND A HALF. what you see here is my guy SNAPPING. cas made an EFFORT in this scene. he asked who glenn close was. he's telling dean that he can't understand him. he is doing his level best to have a normal conversation with this guy he has a crush on and for the life of him he cannot do it (equal but opposite energy to cas blowing up the gas station and motel room in 4.01, tbh)

yes, cas can understand dean's tone. he can use context clues, and he usually gets the general idea. and when cas DOES understand dean's jokes, he laughs at them. the first time we ever see him smile is during their 4.07 heart-to-heart when dean says "it was a witch, not the tet offensive." since cas has knowledge of human history, he knows what the tet offensive is; he got the joke, and he laughed.

but as far as actual dialogue goes, he consistently struggles to keep up. even after metatron gives castiel the pop culture knowledge in season 9, cas struggles to put it to put it to proper use (dean: "you wanna just walk right into the death star?" cas: "what does a fictional battle station have to do with this?"). whenever he asks dean to clarify it's always when he’s most annoyed, like most of the time he knows it would be futile but he's too annoyed to care. (dean: "i don't know who's on first, what's on second!" cas: "what IS second???") i’m pretty sure he spends seasons 4-6 wanting to shake dean by the shoulders and ask him why he is LIKE THIS. 

it takes cas - who, again, is omnilingual - YEARS to begin to acclimate to dean’s speech and start speaking that language back to him. it's season 8 before we start really hearing him use slang, season 9 before he begins to understand wordplay, season 10 before he starts using pop culture references (to other angels, who immediately fail to understand him, which disappoints him immensely), and season 11 before he really gets into metaphors. i don't remember what season he started using "yeah" instead of "yes" but i do know it took a really damn long time. 

and honestly, i don't think cas truly got the hang of it until at least season 11-12. that's something like 7 or 8 YEARS. it’s more than half the time they’ve known each other at the point of the series finale. 

so what's true romance, fellas? it's falling completely and totally in love with the most inexplicable person you will ever meet in your whole 4.5 billion year life, even though you have yet to understand a single thing he's ever said to you. thank you for coming to my ted talk

[spn masterpost]

[mxacegrey]

The One With Power

Series Masterlist

I still look at you with eyes that want you

Barry paced around the cortex in STAR labs, at normal for a human speed, waiting for any news. Fists clenching and unclenching, he heard older Alexei talking to his younger counterpart, playing a game.

“You own me $200. You landed on my property.”

“Fine! Take my money.” Older Alexei scoffed teasingly before whispering, “I’m losing Monopoly to myself.”

“For god’s sake! Will you stop?!” Barry snapped after hearing the low chuckles and childish giggles coming from their corner. “Why don’t you care?!”

“We do but usually it isn’t this bad. I think a better question is why do you?” Older Alexei glanced at Barry.

When you move, you make my oceans move too

If I hear my name, I will run your way

“Barry!” Caitlin’s voice called out. Barry looked at the doorway in anticipation, both Alexei’s standing up behind him.

“Cait.” Barry said, heart thudding in his chest.

“Snow.” / “Dr Snow.” Young Alexei and future Alexei said respectively.

“She’s awake.” With that, Barry rushed into the Med-Lab, leaving streaks behind him. Young Alexei looked at his older counterpart before the two sprinted after their biological father.

Can we say that we love each other

Can we play like there ain't no other

If I hear my name, I will run your way

“My boys.” Y/N’s hoarse voice called out as she saw her son(s) enter the room after few minutes after Barry. She was laying still on the bed, her E/C eyes sunken. She began coughing into her hand, droplets of blood leaving her mouth completely unknown to the rest.

“Y/N.” Barry whispered, cradling her free hand and moving his other hand to smooth her hair.

“Oi! Hands off.” Older Alexei warned, as he caught sight of Barry next to his mother.

“Mama!” Young Alexei squealed, running up to Y/N and holding his arms up. After glancing around the room, Y/N raised her hand ever so slightly, Young Alexei levitating up and onto the bed.

It's my desire that you feed

You know just what I need

You got power, power

You got power over me

Cisco walked past the med-lab, heading towards the Cortex. He paused and backtracked, seeing Barry grasping Y/N’s hand and both versions of Alexei laying on the bed next to her. The younger of the two was asleep on top of his mother and the other was curled around her, even unconsciously making sure he did not touch his past self.

“Please. Please. I can’t lose anyone else. I need you. I’ll always need you...” Cisco heard Barry mutter, eyes widening in shock. Running as fast as he could, he burst into the cortex, breathing heavily.

“Barry...” He gasped out. “Y/N... Losing?”

“Huh?” The group in the cortex asked, bemused. Cisco bend over, hands on his knees and held a finger up.

“Why does Barry think he’s going to lose Y/N?” Cisco finally got out.

“...When we did tests. Blood test on Y/N... We found something.” Caitlin explained, looking around.

“What?” Cisco prompted.

“Y/N’s blood was full of dark matter.” Caitlin continued.

“So... She’s a meta?” Cisco tilted his head slightly.

“Not just that. With the amount of dark matter in her blood, it started to attack her immune system. When Nora tried to help... The dark matter attacked her more vigorously. But with Alexei, both of them, the dark matter slows down drastically.”

I give my all now, can't you see? Why won't you set me free? You got power, power You got power over me Y/N woke to a finger poking her cheek and a low chuckle from her side.

“Hmm..” She quietly groaned, peeling her eyes open. Directly above her face was the smiling face of three-year old Alexei and as she turned her head, the face of her grown-up Alexei. “Morning.”

“Good Morning, mum.”/ “Morning, Mama.” Her boys chorused.

”So what’s on the agenda today?”

”Nothing Mum. You’re staying here.” Older Alexei stated, looking at Y/N dead in the eye.

”What?”

”Mum. It’s getting worse. Especially with them...” Older Alexei snarled.

”Who?” Y/N asked, bemused.

”Iris and Nora. Every time they come near you... You start seizing and... I can’t lose you. Please.”  Alexei begged, tears building in his eyes. Y/N’s heart clenched at the sound.

I was lost until I found me in you I saw a side of me that I was scared to But now I hear my name and I'm running your way

“Allen.” A voice called out. “Allen!”

“Argh!” Barry jolted awake in his seat, Captain Singh standing before him. “Sir!”

“Back to work.” Captain Singh stated, turning to walk away before pausing at the door. “You okay, Allen?”

“Can I ask you a question, sir?” Barry asked, rubbing a hand over his face.

“You just did but go on.” Captain Singh replied, stepping back inside.

“If your partner didn’t say anything to you about something important... someone important and you found out. Would you be mad?”

“Sure. I’d be angry for a bit but it really depends on what it was.” Captain Singh nodded.

“A kid.” Barry stated simply.

“A kid? Yours?” Captain Singh repeated dumbfounded.

“I have a kid that I didn’t know about because Iris apparently deemed it unimportant.” Barry replied.

“How do you know that?”

“There were letters and I saw her burn them saying they were ’unimportant’.” Barry retorted. “But the thing is I... I think I like someone else.”

“Barry. You’ve been in love with Iris for years. What do you mean you think you like someone else?”

“... I don’t know.”

All I feel as I get closer to you Is the desire to move like you do So now I hear my name and I'm running your way ”Mr Allen.” A feminine voice called out, “Mr Allen?” ”Yes?” Barry snapped back into reality.

”Luckily, all the emails from the sender were backed-up and I can find them but anything too old is most likely gone.”

”That’s fine. I only need 1. The most recent?” Barry explained, the tapping of a keyboard was his reply.

“Ah here. Would you like to read it now or...?” The woman asked, trailing off.

“Could I?” Barry asked, reaching out. The woman nodded and got out of her seat, allowing Barry to sit down.

From: Y/N.Y/L/N@gmail.com

To: BarryAllenCSI@CCPD.org

Subject: News

Hey, Barry. It’s been a while. You never seem to reply to my letters, texts or emails but this is going to be the last.

Alexei is now walking and talking. He is amazing... a lot like you actually. He may look like me but he sure has your personality.

I’ve attached a video of him and some photos so you can at least see them if you don’t want meet or see him.

-Y/N

If you're ready now If you're ready now If you're ready now I am ready now

”Where are you going, Dad?” Jesse asked her dad, watching him pack a bag.

”Earth-1. They need my help, Jesse.” Harry explained, not stopping.

”But we just got back.” Jesse complained. Harry sighed and turned to look at Jesse.

“It’s about Y/N and Alexei.”

“What?” Jesse froze. “What happened?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out.”

You're the one that seduced me Lured me in with your beauty Now I know that you used me I'm ready now, I'm ready now

“Iris. What is this?” Barry asked walking into his shared bedroom, holding an article in his hand.

“Barry. It’s not what it looks like.” Iris’s eyes widened as she stood up hastily.

“Are you... writing an article about my identity? My secret identity? And everyone else’s weaknesses?” Barry accused.

“Barry...” Iris said, walking towards her husband.

“No, Iris. Don’t ‘Barry’ me!” Barry snapped. “Is it or isn’t it?!”

“Fine. It is but no-one was going to see it!” Iris explained, holding her hands up in surrender.

“How could you possibly know that?!” Barry yelled.

“Because I have the only copy! Right here...” Iris explained, before trailing off as she patted herself. “Wait.”

Iris began searching around the room frantically, opening drawers and moving furniture. After 10 minutes of frantic searching and Barry’s accusing eyes on her, Iris slumped to the ground and stuttered.

“It’s... It’s not here.”

All you did was confuse me You're no longer what I need Touch me slow, feel my heart bleed I'm ready now, I'm ready now

“Mama. Where we going?” Young Alexei asked as he watched his mother stand you and pick him up.

“To find your father.” Came the simple reply.

Next

[magicpotatoobsession]

GIVEN | Bassists & whacking people on the head

Apparently giving other people a good whack on the head is a thing that 🎸bassists🎸 do in Given 😂😂😂

LOL it's funny but it's a good way to snap people out of wallowing in their guilt/trauma.

Chapter 9/Ep 8, Mafuyu started to wallow in his guilt for blaming Hiiragi and for running away from his issues,

and Hiiragi snapped Mafuyu out of it.

It’s good that Mafuyu was coming to terms with why he momentarily lost his temper at Hiiragi. But Mafuyu started to stew in the guilt of his actions a little too much, which was unhealthy and unproductive. Hiiragi immediately lightened the situation and asked Mafuyu to call him sometime, in other words, COMMUNICATE MORE with him.

Trust me, I truly believe it was right after this chat that Mafuyu actually finished writing the lyrics for Fuyu no Hanashi but just couldn't quite sing yet. Clues:

1. In the anime, right after Hiiragi leaves, Mafuyu had a flashback of him meeting Yuki for the first time and the whole "My dad hits me when I talk" and "I'm not your dad" memory. This could suggest that Mafuyu was coming to terms with the fact that it's ok for him to attempt to communicate his feelings in the form of a song.

2. In the manga, this flashback between Mafuyu and Yuki occurs at a different point. But after the Hiiragi and Mafuyu convo, we get a montage panel. Within that, we get a small ~Mafuyu may have been writing lyrics in class~(I have my FBI hat on)

This conversation was INCREDIBLY important for Mafuyu's healing and repairment of his bond with Hiiragi.

---

Chapter 27/Given Movie, Akihiko started to dissociate and wallow in his own negative feelings and doubts right before the CAC live,

and Haruki snapped him out of it.

Pay attention to what Akihiko's saying, he was so depressed that he was on the verge of giving up on music completely, and because to Akihiko music is his life passion, he was basically about to give up on himself completely.

But remember to Haruki, music is all about COMMUNICATION.

In that moment, Haruki didn't need to say it out loud but Haruki's essentially evoking to Akihiko, "come on, snap out of it! Communicate with me through this CAC live, through music. You believe that telling me using words won't solve anything? Ok fine. Tell me and express it to me then through music."

Akihiko dissociating was unhealthy and also unproductive as they were just about to start performing but Haruki helped ground him again.

While Mafuyu's song did the ~magic~, Haruki's "whack" helped unleash all the PASSION that was previously fogged up by Akihiko's depression. Akihiko was truly able to immerse himself and enjoy playing the drums in Yoru Ga Akeru thanks to Haruki's "whack".

---

Both Hiiragi and Haruki seek validation by wanting to be the centre of the social system they operate in.

Hiiragi wants all the spotlight and dazzling attention from the members of his childhood squad and gaining fans by being involved in music.

Haruki wants to be the one that everyone relies upon to feel a sense of self worth.

But Hiiragi and Haruki love their respective squads so so so much. As the bassists and as the home “base” of their squad, they stop their loved ones from overthinking and running away. They bring their loved ones back to reality and remind them that

The “bass”is to a solid relationship is COMMUNICATION.

Also

The bass line of a song is usually how we are able to tell the key 🔑 of a song.

And guess what?

COMMUNICATION IS KEY.

*Badum tsssss mic drop*

Masterlist of my Given Metas

If you like what you read, all I post is basically Given analysis content! Give my blog a follow to be notified of future posts! #metapotato

[doomednarrative]

I just saw your tags on the post about Hoffman’s sister and I am so so so curious about more of your meta for him. Is there anything that you haven’t shared that’s driving you up a wall?

Not something thats driving me up a wall per say, but there is something I'm thinking about recently again especially with Jigsquad stuff

@romanromulus brought this up first when we were discussing stuff about his fic "Strahm Dies," and I'll put the comment here so you can see it too:

Something I think about a lot is how in the movies, with the exception of Amanda because of the rivalry John purposefully put between the two of them, Mark is...usually the one to be seen reaching out to people to find connection after Angie's death. He does it with both Rigg and with Peter, and in both cases is met with either failure to be trusted or with violent pushback. And like Adam says up there, after Peter's refusal to meet him with understanding or a middle ground, Mark noticably gets Worse. He gets really sure of himself even though he does horribly under pressure when forced to think on his feet, and he fucks up where he has obvious blind spots. He basically loses what little feelings he might have been able to recover after John's manipulation, and he just gives into the violence and destruction more readily, which is why its so easy for him to snap after Jill puts the bear trap on him. He's got nothing left to lose at that point and it's what lands him in the bathroom in the end of 3D.

In Jigsquad however, it's been really interesting to write a narrative where we kinda subvert what happens there with Mark. Tibby and I often make the comment that Adam is the heart and lynchpin figure of the whole au, because it's his presences in everyones lives while they're working with John that drastically changes the narrative, and that's Especially true with Mark. For once, he's got Someone Else reaching back to him to try and meet him in the middle. It starts with comments about how fucked up it is the way that John treats him/how he talks to him, and just keeps being more consistant there, until it comes to a point where Mark realizes that he's not actually Alone anymore. Somewhere along the line he gained a new family to care about, and it doesnt fix everything, because nothing can really fix losing Angie or killing Seth and what those things did to him. But it does change his path, and he doesnt ever completely lose himself like he does in canon.

Canon Mark is a very good case study in tragedy where he definitely had a hand in his own downfall and it could have been prevented had he never gone after Seth, but in some way, killing Seth had to happen for the kind of person that he is. There's no other way that could have gone. But somewhere along the way, if someone had just took his offered hand back for once, things could have gone so much differently. But they don't, and so he loses himself in the end and orchestrates his own ending. (Even if arguably he still wouldnt have been that bad without John's manipulation, but that's a point for another post.)

Jigsquad Mark gets his chance to have that tragedy subverted by having people directly care Back for him for once and not leaving him to his own devices. He has reasons to hold back, to actually try and be better, and it's just a whole different situation when you give Mark people who actually step into his life and stay by his side and let him care for them and they care for him in return. He gets to be the big brother again, and it Does make a huge difference.

I love both narratives really, I wouldn't be here if I didn't like Saw's actual canon honestly. But it's still fun to explore other avenues to subvert the tragedy of canon too, and this has been one of my favorites to examine really.

[merv606]

Hey my name is Quin. Omg I love your Terry/Daniel fics. Do you think one day you could write a fic where Terry is a jerk to everyone but Daniel and everyone is shocked Daniel and Terry start dating. I was wondering do you have any season 5 meta to post about Terry and Daniel. There s5 storyline reminds of exes who are still hung up on each other in a crazy way its crazy passionate toxic and Terry and Daniel obsess over each other. All of there scenes were. Terry Definitely can't let go of his Danny Boy especially since Danny can't forgive him for what Terry did to him in KK3. It's just amazing all the hot crazy chemistry Thomas and Ralph have great chemistry after all these years. Sorry for rambling.

Hi Quin *waves*

Thank you so much 🥰 I’m glad you like them.

You know, I’ve never had an idea for it but if one came to mind I would 💯 write it / I have no actual process really - just whatever flashes in my brian and then it’s all written down - sometimes all over the place - and then pieced together in somewhat cohesive manner after.

I have thought that an AU - dark comedy style - for that would be funny.

Like everyone sees it but Daniel.

At a dinner one night / Daniel there with Silver as his plus one - he doesn’t think anything of it as he attends all these types of events with Terry (is usually always at the older man’s side for anything really) but he always just thinks he’s there as mentor/student (boy was a bit dense back then / that’s for sure canon 😆).

But he’s in a bad mood tonight and so he’s been grumpy all night, grumbling and pouting - Think him in KK2 in the blue suit / pouting prettily.

But when he finally snaps at Terry, folding his thin arms over an equally narrow chest, everyone holds their breath - afraid they’re about to witness a murder - NO ONE talks to Terry like that.

But Terry just smiles- he loves his boy regardless but esp when he’s being prickly - he does so love to encourage the bad behaviour.

To everyone’s FURTHER astonishment, Terry just soothes him / “a few more minutes and we’ll leave, I promise. Can you do that for me.”

Grumbling out, “fine. I’m getting a another drink though,” stomping off.

And Terry is just the epitome of the little heart eyes emoji as he watches his back depart into the crown - AND everyone can see it.

There was always gossip around them but now it’s in overdrive.

They figured Terry was fucking him - although there is a pool among the people in their circles if it’s even happened yet - but wherever this thing is they have between them, it’s been going on for longer than Terry’s reputation usually allows / he’s never with one person for too long.

But now people are wondering has Terry Silver met his match / is he in love.

Seems to be / he would never take this behaviour from anyone. There is a reason he’s to be respected (and feared).

Enter 80’s style ridiculous plot of someone using this for their advantage - kidnapping Daniel for ransom or to blackmail Terry etc

Terry gets him back of course / personally rescuing him, and of course it’s then that Terry finally admits his feelings and makes Daniel his 😏

I don’t have much meta / I don’t analyze much too deeply - not my strong suit at all, but I will sometimes add things to gif sets (as long as I know the person is a fine with Silverusso) or add on to discussions.

Sometimes I’ll do a post here and there but they usually aren’t too long, or if someone shoots me an ask of a specific thing.

I’ve actually been reblogging and posting for season five more than any other - mainly because it gave us so much. ALTHOUGH season four gave us the glorious mini mart scene and apology scene, which just means so much more now that TIG has made those comments about wanting to be loved and be Daniel’s friend - honourable mention the AVT eye fucking.

They are very very much still hung up on each other.

Like Amanda said when Jessica said Daniel moved on / He really hasn’t though, has he? - just thought he did probably (and we all know Daniel dealing with things is to not really address them - out of sight out of mind - cough cough Miyagi’s room scene ripping my heart out).

That’s why Seeing Terry jars him so (same way seeing the cobra Kai sign did) - it makes him deal with that and the nice neat little box labelled Terry DO NOT TOUCH in the deep part of his brain comes flying open and the ghosts go for the throat.

You can see it on Daniel’s face as soon as he sees Terry / bless Ralph’s acting.

To me, from a ship perspective, them seeing each other to me is the epitome of time melting away / like the last 35 years between them (of separation) never happened. Daniel is back in his sights and that’s all that matters.

Their chemistry is amazing / and a lot of KK3 is because of them.

The script was a hot mess so the actors themselves were just coming up with ways to flesh out the character and relationship - to make it make sense - and fill the scenes - bless.

Plus - the two events we’ve seen them interact at - Thomas always seems genuinely happy to see Ralph / big soft smile, squeezing hand on Ralph’s shoulder (so we know that that move in KK/CK is in there due to Thomas - it’s natural to squeeze the twink), and hugs 😻

And there was Ralph’s little, “hello Thomas,” on a video a while back where like 50 people were part of it.

All these BTS photos coming out / I need some of them so bad and of course a BTS video of them practising and shooting the fight scene.

Thanks for the ask

[damienthepious]

okay so the knight!rilla thing. okay so. the knight!rilla herbalist!damien thing. So. the thing. okay so the THING.

Spit the Blood Back, Baby

[ao3]

Fandom: The Penumbra Podcast

Relationship: Sir Damien/Rilla, (SORTA), Sir Rilla/Damien, Rilla & Marc & Talfryn

Characters: Rilla, Sir Damien, Sir Marc, Talfryn

Additional Tags: Second Citadel, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, First Meetings, Injury, (injury for the sake of Plot let's be real), difficulty accepting help, (lmao), Fainting 

Summary: Sir Rilla the Relentless meets the herbalist, Damien of the Gate of Tranquility. Begrudgingly. Under duress.

Notes:The idea of Knight!Rilla and Herbalist!Damien invaded my brain courtesy of the designs by @thetrainfromnowhere on tumblr (art here and here), and I've got a bit of meta on my own tumblr here and here talking about how I think about their new dynamics, if you want a bit more context! oh, and, usual caveat that i don't actually know anything about medicine/doctoring and all that jazz is simply for plot convenience. love and light. Title from the song Chelsea by Phoebe Bridgers!

~

"I'm fine, Marc, when I get back to the barracks I'll just slap a bandage on it and-"

"You aren't gonna make it to the barracks, don't be stupid, Rilla. Come on, the place isn't that far."

"I can take care of myself! He probably isn't even a real doctor. He's probably just another hack with sugar pills and colored booze he passes off as potions-"

"You know that we listen when you talk, right? I wouldn't be suggesting the guy if he wasn't legit."

"You, uh, you really are bleeding a lot," Talfryn adds, his tone a little strangled, and Rilla grits her teeth hard to stop herself from snapping again that she's fine, she's fine, she just needs to sit down for a second, because-

She's starting to get dizzy. In conjunction with the blood loss Talfryn's describing, it really isn't a great sign. She hisses a breath out through her teeth, readjusts her grip on Talfryn's arm, and rolls her eyes.

"Oh fine, you absolute mother hens. Take me there and I'll just borrow his supplies and take care of it myself if you're so fucking worried."

Marc narrows his eyes, but he doesn't argue the plan. Not yet, at least. Rilla knows that he's more strategic than he likes to let on, and she knows he'll probably kick up a fight when they actually get to the place. In the meantime, though, he helps her balance between Talfryn and Dampierre, trudging slowly through the jungle.

She almost passes out once, but only once. It's just a wobble, really, and when Tal shoots her an alarmed look she just- grits her teeth harder, stands straighter, fights back the creeping dark at the edges of her vision, keeps moving forward. She doesn't need help, she's fine. She'll be fine.

Annoyingly, Marc and Tal aim them mostly towards the Citadel anyway, veering off course only when they pass the Gate of Tranquility. She tries to protest again, the barracks- she can just take care of it there- but Marc's eyes go steely and Talfryn's voice raises an octave and Rilla knows she'll lose this particular two-against-one.

It's only a short walk after that, anyway, even considering the pain.

Marc's doctor has a picturesque little set-up. His little cottage is tucked snug in the bend of a river, close enough to the bank that the structure itself connects to a little dock that hangs out over the flowing water. There's a modest garden in the front, all neat little rows of plants that Rilla vaguely recognizes, dusting off memories that make her grit her teeth without really meaning to.

"Marc, I really don't-"

"Damien!" Marc calls, scooting Dampierre forward and leaving Rilla wincing as she leans more fully into Talfryn's side. "Bit of a situation, Damien, you busy?"

Marc barely finishes his sentence before the doctor bounces around the side of his cottage - he must have been over by the river - carrying a basket full of cut grasses and herbs. Rilla's mind rushes again, with that unhelpful, bittersweet familiarity.

"Saint Damien above grant me Tranquility, Marc, because if you've lost your medicine or gone and gotten yourself hurt again I'll-"

The doctor catches Marc's gesturing, glancing past Marc to see Rilla, and-

He's-

His eyes are a pale sort of brown, a rich enough color to look almost gold in the late afternoon light, and his long, dark, loose curls are pulled back into a low ponytail. A well-trimmed little mustache sits above his absurdly pouting lips. His loose shirt hangs enough to show a hint of shoulder, a shadow of collarbone, and the belt cinching his shirt accentuates his narrow waist, and Rilla is struck by the strangely compelling urge to fit her hands there and just- pick him up, maybe? He holds himself with a careful sort of grace in his posture, an attentive warmth in his expression, and altogether, the effect is-

"Y'didn't tell me he was pretty," Rilla's surprised to hear herself say out loud, and the doctor startles like a deer, his round cheeks flushing darker as he gives a single, musical laugh, and Rilla's head spins-

Oh, fuck. Shouldn't have stopped moving. Something about- something about adrenaline, she shouldn't have stopped, because-

The last thought in Rilla's head is just how surprised Damien looks as she passes out.

~

Her armor.

Her armor someone is trying to pull off her armor and Rilla isn't going to die like an idiot she just isn't so she thrashes and pulls and tries to find her sword and-

Talfryn's voice, panicked and comforting at the same time, and hands- not Tal's, she'd know, but-

Soft. Incredibly careful hands on her face, and a musical murmuring voice soothing her back from the edge of frantic, furious panic, and-

Gone again.

~

Next time is like-

Blink. Awake.

There's no slow swim, no confusion, really, just the orange-pink of sunset out the window and linen sheets underneath her and the doctor- sitting calmly at Rilla's bedside, scrawling something in a notebook in a careful, looping hand.

"Where's Marc and Tal?"

Damien blinks, his quill flicking black splatters across the page as his hand twitches, and then he turns towards Rilla and blooms into a smile.

"Sir Knight," he says brightly, setting his book and his quill on table beside him. "I am glad to see you awake! Ah, don't- don't sit up just yet, please, I wouldn't want you to pull at your stitches. Please, lie back down." He pauses as she scowls up at him, and then he shakes his head. "Marc and Talfryn- right. I asked them to do a favor for me, as I was meant to deliver some medicine into the Citadel tonight and was, obviously, otherwise occupied. They should be back soon, hopefully with some food from the marketplace to serve as our supper."

Rilla frowns, but- well, she knows that Marc is friends or "friends" with half the vendors in the marketplace anyway, and he does tend to pick out the best food carts.

"There's no way it was bad enough for stitches," she says instead, narrowing her eyes. "It was just a scratch."

The smile he gives then is somewhere in the area of bemused. "Forgive me, good Sir Knight, but I must disagree."

"I could have taken care of it myself," she insists, glaring. "I'm a knight. I don't need anyone taking care of me, I don't need Marc and Tal acting like babysitters, and I don't need you."

That last word spit like a curse, and the doctor's face twitches, but after a beat he only looks a little sad.

"That sounds rather lonely, don't you think?"

"Wh-" Rilla pulls her head back. "What?"

"Not needing anyone, not letting anyone help. Pushing away the people who care enough for you to offer, or to insist." He watches her carefully, his tawny eyes on her own until she looks away. "It sounds rather lonely."

Rilla swallows. "I'm not lonely. I just don't need help. I can take care of myself. I could've just- stuck a bandage on it and slept it off, it would have been fine."

The doctor presses his lips together, as if burying a smile. "Hm."

"It would have been fine," she says again, scowling harder.

"Hm," he says, more emphatically, and then his gaze goes thoughtful for a moment before he leans forward. "I think I should show you, then, if you are so certain. May I help you sit up?"

Rilla scowls, then scowls harder when she recognizes his phrasing. "I don't need-"

"Indulge me," he says. "Please."

... he really is cute, is the problem. Rilla sighs, rolls her eyes, and gestures for the doctor to go ahead.

He helps to ease her into a seated position. She expects him to tuck the pillows behind her for support, but instead he turns her to sit on the edge of the cot, supporting one of her shoulders with a hand and then reaching with another to pick up a mirror about the size and shape of her face, angling it behind her back and then gesturing for her to look- towards a larger mirror against the wall, a few feet away.

"Would you lift your undershirt for me?" he asks, and Rilla eyes him critically. The doctor purses his lips, his brow furrowing with a sigh. "Only a little. I wouldn't dare impugn your honor, my good Sir Knight, I swear upon my life and my Saint. I only want to show you the... extent of your injury."

"My name is Rilla," she says flatly, because the way he says Sir Knight is starting to make her- uncomfortable, maybe.

"I know," he says with a smile. "I am sure that Marc already told you, but I am Damien, of the Gate of Tranquility. At least," his expression goes a little distant, thoughtful, "I believe I am still so called."

"Yeah, whatever," Rilla mutters, wincing and tugging the hem of her undershirt up a few inches, and Damien carefully peels the bandages off. He takes a few moments to angle the mirror, tipping his head close to hers (he's got freckles across his round cheeks and the bridge of his nose) to check that she can see properly, and then he leans back enough to allow her the chance to look for herself.

And.

Okay.

So, it's a bit wider of a cut than she thought it was.

She exhales, forcing herself not to grimace and thinking another vicious curse on that stupid ogre and his stupid Serrated Palm blade, slipping between the plates of her armor.

The slash is wide and angry-looking and curved unpleasantly from just to the left of the base of her spine up and out towards her ribs, and- it's sewn shut, now, with very careful, very delicate stitches. The doctor has a steady hand, if nothing else.

"Okay," Rilla says, annoyed by how sullen her voice sounds. "Fine. Fine. You can- you can stitch, at least, but how do I know you actually have any skill as a real doctor and not just another miracle-pill magic-elixer bullshit artist, looking to make some quick buck off desperate sick folk? Living out in the jungle on your own-"

The doctor gives another baffled-bemused look, laughing very lightly as he wraps her in fresh clean bandages again. "Truly you have no fear of giving offense, Sir Knight. A confidence quite beyond me, I must say. Regardless, I can allay some of your concerns, I hope, if I explain that I do not... I do not take payment, for my services, in fact." He smiles more gently when she shoots him a suspicious look. "Those who can afford Citadel doctors may very well go where they choose," he says calmly. "I prefer to offer my assistance to those who might not find help otherwise. Occasionally townsfolk will insist on giving me donations, but I would never ask."

Rilla stares at him hard, for a moment, but he simply holds her gaze with a calm smile, and... she believes him. Enough. "That... that doesn't actually tell me anything about your qualifications," she mutters, and he laughs.

"Very attentive and very scrupulous, my good Sir Knight," he says warmly, and Rilla snorts. "I will admit that I am, for the most part, self-taught. Or, rather," he continues when her eyes narrow, "scroll-taught. I apprenticed briefly in my youth, during my travels from the Western Wastes back to the Citadel, but I have since expanded my knowledge quite substantially through the application of a wide array of texts. Which is, in part, why I align myself more with the title of herbalist than doctor."

"You learned from texts," Rilla echoes, flat.

"Some more traditional," he says, shrugging in one direction, and then the other, "and some that require... decoding, so to speak. I could show you, if you'd like."

Rilla- thinks about that for a sec, weighing her curiosity against the possibility of slapping face-first into the sort of nostalgia that'll hurt if he shows her just the wrong book.

She shakes her head. "Maybe some other time."

Damien looks just a little disappointed, at that, but he smiles anyway. "Another time," he agrees, and then he perks up, glancing towards a door that Rilla assumes leads to the rest of his cottage. "Ah, I think I can hear dear Dampierre approaching. I believe, perhaps, you should be able to come dine with us, with a little assistance. If you would allow me."

Damien lifts an arm towards her, the very picture of a gentleman asking to dance, and Rilla's face heats with a furious fear that he's making fun of her-

But his honey-brown eyes are entirely earnest, and serious, and dutiful.

She hesitates, but-

She sighs, and then she takes Damien's arm and allows the herbalist help pull her to her feet, supporting her with an arm around her back, above the wound.

He's- stronger than he looks. Well... he must need to be, living out here on his own.

His kitchen table is pushed right up against a window, and Rilla watches Marc pull it open from the outside and latch it to a hook on an awning that hangs over the space outside, allowing him to lean on the sill right from Dampierre's saddle. It's a very specific setup, and it reminds Rilla instantly of something similar at their mother's house. When Rilla frowns in consideration and then shoots Damien a glance, the herbalist smiles again.

"Marc helped me make a few modifications when he started to become more of a regular patient," he says with a pointed grin in Marc's direction. "A friend, rather. I'm not quite so skilled with carpentry and the like, myself, so his help was invaluable. This whole cottage was a... a slow sort of project."

"Slower since you don't expect payment, I bet," Rilla hums, scanning her eyes across the room (full of living plants and drying herbs and scrolls and books) and noting the structure, the way that the building appears to have been built in parts, now that he's pointed it out. If she had to guess, she would say that the cottage started as this one single front room, before the rest was added on.

Damien laughs, his body jumping slightly beside her, and Rilla decides to ignore that until he helps to lower her down onto the cushions by the table, close enough to the window that Marc can reach through and pour her a glass of water.

"Get your beauty rest?" Marc says with a raise of the eyebrow, and Rilla only glares half as hard as she could, because she knows him well enough to hear the I'm glad you're awake underneath the taunting.

"Run your errands?" she snipes back, and he doesn't have the chance to answer with more than a pout before Talfryn jogs inside, arms full of wrapped packages of food. He deposits them unceremoniously on the table, though, clearly distracted by Rilla as he drops to the cushions next to her, knocking his forehead against her shoulder briefly before he leans away.

"You're alright? You're alright. You're okay!" he says, his tone high and pleading, and Rilla buries the urge to bristle.

"I'm fine, Tal, I told you-"

"I hate when you scare us like that," Talfryn says in a miserable mutter, and Rilla- tries not to feel the way that twists a guilty little knife in her stomach. "You just fell, it was-"

"I'll heal. You brought me here and now I'm all stitched up and I'll heal," she tries, instead, and when Tal gives her a pleading look, she gives half a smile before she aims her gaze towards Damien instead. "Right?"

Damien smiles. "I rather think you're too stubborn to do anything else, Sir Rilla."

Her actual title in Damien's voice startles a breath of laughter out of her, and she shakes her head, reaching to take one of the wrapped packages and passing another over to Marc.

"Exactly," she says, with the finality of a door closing, and then she nudges Tal's elbow with a hand until he cracks into a worried sort of smile.

"And you'll all stay the night, of course," Damien adds, just before he takes a sip of water. Rilla catches his eye over the cup, glaring hard, but-

She shrugs. "Yeah, sure. Whatever," she says, refusing to meet either of her brother's eyes as she digs in.

Maybe she's a little bit relieved, not to trudge back to the barracks freshly stitched. Maybe it'll be kind of... nice, to spend a night under the same roof as Marc and Tal again.

And maybe- maybe, Rilla might just like the chance to get to know this herbalist a little bit better.

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 26, part two

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff)

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Content note: This episode has a lot of lightning, but this post does not have lightning flashes--I’m using mostly stills for those parts, or I’ve snipped out the unfriendly frames before giffing.

Qing-Jie

Having successfully ruined Jin Guangshan’s party plan to get the Yin Tiger seal, Wei Wuxian dashes off to tell Wen Qing where her brother is. She hops up to hit the road with him, but then sorta-faints because she’s starving. In a rare moment of tenderness between these two, he catches her and gently sits her down again. 

Normally they’re busy out-toughing each other, both before and after this moment, but right now Wen Qing is openly vulnerable. Wei Wuxian responds to that, predictably, with all of his kindness and with his usual slew of unwise, impossible-to-keep promises.

As she eats the bread he’s brought her--a parallel to an important piece of bread in his early life--he says they have to believe in Wen Ning’s survival. Cut to: Wen Ning, not surviving. 

I mean, yes, yes, he’s only mostly dead, but he’s never going to be fully alive again, so.  

24 Hour Party People

Back at the party, Jin Guangyao, deliberately, I think, goes to offer his pops a drink while his pops is still super furious and looking for someone to take it out on. The servant lady is like, better you than me, pal, and helps JGY get his drink ready. Pops, predictably, knocks the drink onto Jin Guangyao.

(more behind the cut)

Lan Xichen is standing by with a hanky and a face full of worry. Lan Xichen is so Lanny that he thinks JGY needs to go change clothes after getting clear alcohol spilled on him, rather than just letting it evaporate and smelling pleasantly of booze for the rest of the evening like a normal party guest. 

JGY launches into a criticism of Wei Wuxian, which Lan Wangji listens to very carefully, frowning. Lan Xichen, Nie Huasang and Jiang Cheng listen as well, and don’t speak up. 

A Clear Conscience

Then Lan Wangji *literally* steps out of his brother’s shadow, and speaks in defense of Wei Wuxian. This right here is Lan Wangji’s turning point, as far as I’m concerned. Xichen is gazing at JGY, totally on board with JGY’s spin of the situation, and his shadow falls away from Lan Wangji’s face as LWJ steps forward.

Lan Wangji says, isn’t what WWX said true? JGY puts on his customer service smile and says that the truth isn’t something you’re supposed to go around saying out loud. 

I’d like to say this is what’s wrong with cultivator society but this is really a universal human thing; every society has rules about upsetting the social order, and they are very frequently at odds with basic compassion and morality. 

Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng stay silent but Lan Xichen goes and throws Wei Wuxian under the bus carriage, saying his character has changed. 

Lan Wangji nods decisively at this, and bows to Lan Xichen, silently asking permission to follow Wei Wuxian. Lan Xichen grants permission, telling Lan Wangji to do his best. Lan Xichen probably thinks he and Lan Wangji are in agreement, in this moment, but that nod of Lan Wangji’s was nothing of the kind.

That nod was Lan Wangji agreeing with himself; he is going to try to bring Wei Wuxian back but he is also going to listen to him.  Meanwhile Lan Xichen is tying himself in knots to appease Jin Guangyao. The divergence between the brothers will just grow, from this point onwards.

Lan Wangji leaves to go follow his boyfriend conscience, while Jiang Cheng continues to silently listen to the commentary of others, and gets so mad he crushes a wine cup.

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night.

Wen Qing and Wei Wuxian arrive at the prison camp, and the first person they encounter is Granny, with a defaced Wen Banner in her hand and Wen Yuan on her back. 

Whenever I read a meta or a fic that talks about how the juniors are so sweet partly because they are “untouched by the war” I want to point to this moment. A-Yuan endures an absolute truckload of war trauma by the time he’s four years old, and while Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji both deserve a lot of credit for saving him at great risk to themselves, Granny and Uncle Four are the first heroes of A-Yuan’s story. His kind, mellow personality has a lot in common with theirs. 

This is followed by an eternity of Wen Qing running around asking if anyone’s seen her brother. Eventually Wei Wuxian gets tired of this and gathers the guards together, threatening them with Chenqing. 

He doesn’t need to play it; just holding it up has every Jin dude instantly kneeling and scared. 

The guards send him and Wen Qing go to a giant field of corpses, where Wen Qing runs around checking to see if any of them is her brother. Wei Wuxian starts off kind of detached and angry, but eventually snaps out of it, tucks away his flute and starts helping her to search. 

Wen Qing finds Wen Ning, mostly-dead with a lure flag speared into his belly. Wei Wuxian grimly takes in the situation from across the field of corpses. 

When he arrives at Wen Qing’s side he sees this talisman in Wen Ning’s hand. 

This is the talisman that Wei Wuxian made for Wen Ning back in Gusu summer school, before the war. It’s the one that Wen Ning was wearing at his waist when they met up after the massacre of Lotus Pier. It’s supposed to literally protect Wen Ning from having his spiritual consciousness snatched, as well as being a symbol of Wei Wuxian’s sense of responsibility for, and affection for, Wen Ning. 

Wei Wuxian, understandably, loses his shit at this point. Less understandably, he is about to decide that the best way to express his sorrow and rage is to re-animate the corpse of his friend, right in front of the corpse’s sister. Like, seriously, dude. Dude. 

Ghost General

This super-questionable decision leads to one of the most badass sequences in the show, which is unfortunately chock full of lightning flashes, so not everyone can watch it. Wei Wuxian and his flute and swirls of resentful energy come marching out of the darkness of the corpse field, back to the guards. 

The guards have decided to slaughter all of the prisoners and then run away, which would be a good plan except they should really have skipped right to the running away part of things. When Wei Wuxian accuses them of killing the prisoner in the corpse field, they claim that the Wens have a habit of falling off of a hill and dying. Wei Wuxian can relate. 

At this point Wei Wuxian summons up Wen Ning 2.0, ultra badass edition, who comes flying through the air with his odd, straight-armed fighting stance and cool solid-black eyes and rock-and-roll hair. 

Soundtrack: *Four Sticks*

Wen Ning proceeds to whale on the guards and scare the shit out of his relatives.

Then Wen Qing shows up and begs Wei Wuxian to stop. She explains that Wen Ning is only mostly dead. Like, if he was fully dead would she be okay with this? 

Wei Wuxian tries to reel Wen Ning in and realizes that he is not actually in control of Wen Ning. Ok, see, right from the first day of Wen Ning 2.0, WWX is aware that his control is iffy. Why does he think he’s going to be able to control him later? 

Anyway, this is where we learn Wen Ning’s grown-up name is Wen Qionglin. Wei Wuxian yells this name, and Wen Ning looks up like a cat hearing the “food noise,” and then proceeds to get control of himself. 

This is such a nice symbolic moment, that will be replayed later in the temple, when Wen Ning saves Jin Ling from Baxia. 

Wen Ning has a remote-code-execution OS vulnerability throughout the story; his soul is at risk of being stolen, and he is magically controlled by Wei Wuxian, Xue Yang, Su She, and Baxia.  Meanwhile Wen Qing, Wei Wuxian, and random kids on the street mostly treat him as a child, despite his clear adult capabilities. Wen Ning’s journey in The Untamed is at least partly about asserting his full adulthood, and his ability to overcome magical control is directly connected to that journey.  

After getting Wen Ning to chill, Wei Wuxian calls the floating resentful energy back into his own body, which looks about as comfortable as swallowing a burp. 

On the plus side, apparently resentful energy keeps your hair dry even when it’s raining.

Wei Wuxian should take a page from the guards’ book and slaughter all the Jin witnesses to this situation, but he decides to be the better person and let them live. They go running off down the road, where they encounter Lan Wangji and give him the 411, saying that Wei Wuxian resurrected dead people.

Meanwhile Wei Wuxian collects Wen Qing--half-fainted, again, in an echo of the start of their journey--and collects the Dafan Mountain Wen group, who are hiding, wisely. When they see Wen Ning, Uncle Four and some others start to freak out, but Wei Wuxian tells them that fierce corpses are cool, and they all grab horses and mount up.

Where Are You Going?

Lan Wangji is waiting for them, nonconfrontationally indulging in some visual poetry while he waits. 

In a show where every prop is exquisitely, carefully designed to enhance our understanding character, his Gusu-toned umbrella reveals surprising red and yellow threads woven in, right above his eye line as he looks at Wei Wuxian. 

Wei Wuxian speaks first, saying “you came to stop me?” Lan Wangji doesn’t answer, but asks him where he’s going. Then Lan Wangji warns him that he’s about to abandon orthodoxy forever, if he follows through. 

Wei Wuxian challenges this idea of orthodoxy, asking if Lan Wangji remembers the promise they made together, back in Gusu. It’s worth noting that they both appear to think of it as a co-promise, even though Lan Wangji didn’t speak aloud at the time. 

The conversation will continue in the next episode, because what’s better than a rainy romantic cliffhanger?

Soundtrack: Four Sticks by Led Zeppelin