#with failed resulting in them having to do something else. that something else was inventing a way to store magic

[wangxianficfinder]

Fic Finder

Sep 26th

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1. Hi good evening, I'm looking for a wangxian fanfic, where yu ziyuan was Jin guangshan's concubine, if not You already found it, on an old list, and I would love to read it again @glass-madness

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2. Hi there! I've been trying to find this fic to re-read for a while now and I'm hoping that someone else recognizes it (and that it's not deleted!)

I believe it was in the "LWJ marries the Yiling Patriarch" category and there was a Yiling Wei sect or something similar (although it's been a very long time and I don't recall anyone else actually being in the sect so I could be wrong on either/both counts). WWX often went back and forth between the Burial Mounds and Baoshan Sanren's mountain via portal (?) as they were trying to cure Lan Yi of her spiritual malady (?). Last I still remember it was a WIP, and one of the little details that sticks in my mind was that BSSR had gotten WWX doing decorative knotwork to keep his hands busy, so the palace had incredibly intricate pieces, like, everywhere, and he often gifted it to people.

Hopefully that sounds familiar to someone; thank you for all you do! @tevokkia

2 check #17 on this old post, it also mentions knotwork and BSSR and might be what you're looking for

FOUND? 💖🔒love, in fire and blood by cicer (E, 360k, wangxian, immortal WWX, slow burn, pining, arranged marriages)

FOUND? inevitable everything by isabilightwood (E, 193k, WangXian, WQ/MM, JYL/JZX, BSSR/LY, Canon Divergence, YLLZ WWX, but WWX is BSSR's disciple/adoptive grandson too, the cultivation sects think this is a, War Prize AU, it's actually self-arranged marriage, Arranged Marriage, yin iron shenanigans, LWJ Has Friends, Mutual Pining, Pining while fucking, LWJ Has a YLLZ Kink, Switch WangXian, BDSM, Submissive LWJ, Dominant WWX, Angst with a Happy Ending, magical illness of a side character (who will get better), Rope Bondage, Impact Play, Rimming, Bottom LWJ, Temperature Play, Face-Fucking, Breathplay, (talisman-based breathplay to be specific), Cock Warming, Public Scene, no one gets naked in public this is the sense of WWX invents the, Remote Controlled Vibrator, Semi-Public Sex, Outdoor Sex, Blindfolds, one qingmian smut scene with oral and fingering, Minor Character Death, All Sex Scenes Are Skippable!)

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3. Hello! I’m looking for a short fic w 1-3 chapters where there’s canon divergence bc wwx was really pretty due to his dad. I remember in it, when jfm brings him back to the lotus pier, yzy actually denies any rumors of a possible affair bc he looks so much like wcz

I also remeber in it wwx uses his beauty to stop wrh from going into a qi deviation and stops the sun shot campaign as a result

FOUND? The Most Beautiful Man Alive (and his gremlin son) by meyari (T, 4k, WangXian, attempted child molestation (discussed), sexual assault (awareness of the possibility, it doesn't happen ever, beauty as a tool, Smart WWX, Protective JYL, Protective JC, Good Parent JFM, Protective YZY, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies)

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4. Hi, can you please help me find this fic. It’s a modern au where lan zhan and Wei Ying are soulmates. Wei Ying finds out because he saw a painting of Han Guang Jun and thinks his soulmate is dead. He starts to work in the museum operated by xiao xingchen or song lan where they collect stuff that belongs to Han Guang Jun and Yiling Laozu. At the end turns out lan zhan also went to the museum and they kept missing each other because they went at different timings. Thankssss @marshmallowbeats

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5. Hi! I'm looking for a wangxian omegaverse ao3 fic. It's in a futuristic cyber/tech setting where people have machine implants in their bodies. From what I remember the synopsis goes like this: Wei Ying was travelling from one planet to another with a baby a-yuan, his implants fail and Lan Zhan finds them. LZ takes them in and mistakes a-yuan as his biological son with WY. Some other details like the yin tiger seal being an AI and WY having dirt on the Jins. Thank you very much!!!!! @mithesimmer

FOUND? I'll buy you the moon (I'll buy you two) by Thesaurus_with_no_words (E, 27k, WangXian, Science Fiction, Space, Rebels, Space Opera, On the Run, Promoted To Parent, Robots, Androids, Mechs, Battle Mechs, Hurt/Comfort, Technopathy, Willful and Deliberate Baby and Wife Acquisition, Porn With Plot, Mpreg)

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6. hello! idk if this site is still active, but im looking for a mdzs time travel fic where wwx returned during cloud recesses study era. there was a scene where he slits his throat because he thinks its better if he just dies (everyone worries about him including madam yu)

FOUND? 💖 (Un)Hidden truth by Sarah_R (M, 291k, wangxian, major character death, time travel, characters watching their show, suicide attempt, panic attacks, self-harm, nightmares, hurt/comfort, angst, WIP)

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7. looking for a fic modern au established relationship one shot wangxian where lwj gets appendicitis (i think it was that, it was some kind of pain he had to have a procedure for) and he like wakes wwx up next to him so that he can go to the hospital and wwx feels worried/guilty/stressed bc he didn’t notice and lwj didn’t say anything can’t remember the name ! @willesnelson

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8. Hello! I had to switch phones and lost all my fanfic open tabs, and I'm trying to remember the names of all of them. One I cannot recall for the life of me was a WIP with only one chapter where during the Burial Mounds Siege Wei Wuxian was basically sort of rescued by Lan Wangji but then put to trial by the cultivation sects and he agreed to be imprisioned as long as they guaranteed A-Yuan's safety. I remember it being a sort of Madam Lan situation, or something. Can you help me?

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9. A) Hi! This is for fic finder. I dont remember much and i dont remember if it was modern with cultivation. Focus on junior quartet. Wen remnant live. They are on summer camp that the jin organized. A-yuan comes to the camp with JWY (im not sure about this). A-yuan then befriended jl, oyzz, ljy. I think they are in the same room (dorm room but its a cottage? I dont know what its called). In group activity, a-yuan sneak up to meet up with wn and the other three sneak up to follow a-yuan. Long story short, a-yuan, ljy, and oyzz is invited to lanling because they are jl friend (either because that or they rescued him). The one that invite them is either jgs or jgy (i think it was jgs). They tried to track wwx but always failed. When jgy comes to the summer camp, they tried to disguise a-yuan as lan diciple but failed. And then jgy found out that a-yuan is wwx son and forced them to go to lanling. In lanling, a-yuan wants to leave and jl, oyzz, and ljy helped. Su She is the one that tracked them down when they tried to run away. Thats all i can remember. Thanks

B) Hi! This is for fic finder. Its a modern with cultivation fic i think. Wen remnant lives and in hiding. Focused on junior quartet. A-yuan comes to summer camp that the jin organized with JWY. A yuan the befriended jl, ljy, and oyzz. They are in the same room (dorm room but a cottage? I dont know what it is called). Jl, ljy, and oyzz is kinda suspicious of a-yuan because he is the only one that are not affliated with a sect. The three of them followed a-yuan in secret when a-yuan sneak up to meet up with wn. Long story short, jgs invited ljy, oyzz, and a-yuan to lanling because they are jl friends. When jgy comes to the camp, they tried to disguise a-yuan as lan diciple and failed. Jgy forced them to go to lanling (honestly i think he kinda kidnapped them). I think he found out that a-yuan is wwx son and used him to lure out wwx. In lanling, jl, ljy, and oyzz helped a-yuan to leave. Su She is the one that responsible of them. Thats all i can remember. Thanks! @idontknowwhattowriteforusername

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10. Hi, lovely people. I'm looking for a fic where LWJ takes WWX out the Burial Mounds, along w/all the Wens (against their will, but keeping 'em safe) & brings 'em to Gusu. He turns WWX into an omega w/a "recipe" of Wen Qing (who does it just for their own safety), until WY gets pregnant of Sizhu & Jingyi (not sure abt the names), but he often doubts abt having being an omega b4 & he's always being forced to have sex. LZ treats him rough & poorly, even in front of their sons. WWX ends up getting tired & runs away w/the kids, leaves 'em in the woods & jumps off a cliff. (Prob. Dark LWJ) TYSM! @einherjermineord

FOUND?🔒forfeit by eightroses (E, 12k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Dark, Dark LWJ, Rape/Non-con Elements, Dubious Consent, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Alpha to Omega transformation, Alpha LWJ, Alpha WWX, Omega WWX, Sexual Coercion, Kidnapping, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Forced Feminization, Mpreg, Forced Pregnancy, Fainting, Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Vomiting, Rough Sex, Knotting, Medical Inaccuracies, Body Horror, Abuse, Domestic Violence, Trauma, No happy ending here)

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11. I’m looking for a wangxian fic where wangji tells wei ying what he did in the cold pond (the handfasting) while their in the cloud recesses and it diverges from there @wrappedaroundxielian

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12. For FicFinder – trying to find a fic I thought I had marked for later. I think it was modern with magic au? I think LWJ takes over an old theatre called the burial mounds which used to be WWX's? In this AU I think LWJ thinks WWX is dead or he didn't know WWX until he bought the theatre. honestly not sure this will be found but I appreciate any clues all the same. tysm for all you do running this blog. @itsallwearecalledtodo

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13. Hi, I’m looking for an ABO fic where WWX is an O and LWJ is an A and they’re soulmates. But WWX has been hiding his identity and pretending to be a B, because he got abused in his old pack and had run away (?) I think. @plzloveme

FOUND?🔒backfire by spookykingdomstarlight (E, 115k, wangxian, LWJ/MXY, One-Sided MXY/WWX, MXY/NMJ, Modern, BDSM AU, Biologically Determined Dom/sub Roles, BDSM, Bad BDSM Etiquette, Sadism, Masochism, Past Sexual Abuse, Sexual Slavery, Self-Harm, BDSM as a Form of Self-Harm, Minor Character Death(s), Arson, Shades of Black Widow WWX, Extremely Dubious Consent, Rape/Non-con Elements, Normalized Homosexuality and Bisexuality, Normalized Polyamory, nonsexual bdsm, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Pining WWX, jealous WWX, Touch-Starved WWX, Professional Dominant WWX, Sex Worker WWX, gentle dom LWJ, Mean Dom LWJ, oblivious LWJ, Past WC/WWX, Minor JGY/WWX, Mentioned WWX/Others, Emotional Infidelity, Angst with a Happy Ending, endgame wangxian, MXY Also Gets a Happy Ending, the tags are scary but i promise there's some lightheartedness too, wangxian love one another so much, WWX is healed by the power of nonsexual bdsm and friendship, and then gets bdsm'd quite sexually and happily by the love of his life, Additional Warnings In Author's Note)

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14. hello! i’m looking for a fic where jc post-siege finds wwx’s diaries in the burial mounds and he gets transported???? into the memories of each book

FOUND? Waiting On You by SmellsLikeDeanSpirit (M, 26k, JC & WWX, WangXian, WIP, Graphic Depicitions of Violence, Major Character Death, Angst with a Happy Ending, Memories, Time Travel, Sort Of, the characters watching the show trope but different, WWX has magical diaries that force the reader to experience his memories, JC finds them and reads them, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Bashing, Bad Parent YZY, YZY Bashing, Canonical Character Death, he comes back tho, JC regrets, JC Needs a Hug, WWX Needs a Hug)

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15. Hi, this is for fic finder! I’m looking for a fic where wei ying and lan zhan are betrothed (I can’t remember if they were betrothed since childhood or during the cloud recesses arc. But basically the jiangs agree to the betrothal because they expect wei ying to be miserable in cloud recesses with all the gusu lan rules. However when they see how wei ying is actually loved and respected, they get super mad. I think madam yu gets mad because her own children are not in loving marriages?

There’s a possibility it might’ve been a/b/o but I’m not sure if i’m getting fics mixed up here 😭

But please help me find this fic! I’m always so grateful for the work you guys do

FOUND?🔒Alliance AU series by Ilona22 (E, 21k, WangXian, JYL/OC, Arranged Marriage, A/B/O Dynamics, PWP, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Intersex Omegas, Not JC Friendly, Matchmaking, canon Jiang family dynamics, Family time, Night Hunts, Mention of male omega pregnancy, Intrigue at Jinlintai, Mentions of Prostitution, War, Conflict between characters)

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16. Hello ^^ I am looking for a fic where LWJ and JC traveled back in time and LWJ was the first one that found Wwx on the streets. Thx! @yoonieby

FOUND? A Matter of Time series by mrcformoso (E, 84k, wangxian, time travel fix-it, graphic depictions of violence, underage, LWJ pov, JC pov, dark LWJ, manipulation, grooming, teen body adult mind for LWJ, happy ending for wangxian, problematic consensual underage sex, blood & violence, insane LWJ, manic LWJ)

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17. hi can you help me find a fic where lan zhan participates in a wei ying engagement tournament. Lwj wore a mask so as not to be recognized @silvanagomes87

FOUND? travelers through the empty gate by stiltonbasket (M, 107k, WangXian, royalty au, mistaken identity, emperor WWX, poor LWJ, forced marriage, (by LWJ himself), confused WWX, parenthood, misunderstandings, empress LWJ, fluff & humor, married life, angst w/ happy ending, WIP)

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18. Hey hi, I’m looking for a missing wangxian fic. It takes place during the sunshot campaign, lwj and wwx are cursed(?) so that they feel eachother’s emotions, lwj pines and wwx is acting aloof and angry, lwj goes to jiang cheng and asks to marry wwx and lwj hits the table when jc insults wwx. Lwj and wwx share a dream and wwx is convinced that it’s all in his head before lwj walks into his tent repeating what he said in the dream. Eventually, lwj and wwx are married before the last battle and lwj is grievously injured. There’s a happy ending tho. Please lmk if you find this, I’ve spent days looking @remembertosaygoodbye

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19. Hi! This is for fic finder. I dont remember much, but i think it was mentioned that nmj is suspicious of the jin after the first burial mound siege. After he sees that the wen is just an old person. When jin rusong dies, nmj secretally goes to He sect and hide the non combatan in the sect. Thats all i can remember. Thanks @idontknowwhattowriteforusername

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20. hello! I'm looking for this wangxian fic I think it is based on the song Driver's License by Olivia Rodrigo, it does not have a happy ending since wwx and lwj do not end up together in the end

thank you!

FOUND? driver’s license by cryptenhope (T, 5k, WangXian, Modern AU, Post-Break Up, Making Up, Getting Back Together, Happy Ending if you read the ending notes, Ambiguous/Open Ending)

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[itsbenedict]

How would you make mario a villain?

Huh! Tricky one. I mean, there's tons of Newgrounds parodies about how fucked up it is that Mario goes around crushing turts all day, and there's the obvious "silent scary henchman of the image-conscious dictator" angle. Tricky to cast him as the villain rather than the muscle, though...

There's only one thing that notably motivates Mario, and that's Princess Peach. Extreme devotion, there. For him to have agency, she needs to be removed from the picture- and I think that neatly answers the motive thing, too. Peach hasn't been kidnapped, this time- there's something more permanent. But what? "She's been killed and he's out for revenge" is a little 3edgy5me, and also if Mario sets out to get revenge I think he just gets it. His antagonists have rarely put up the kind of fight that would require him to concoct a villainous scheme.

Who's the protagonist, if not Mario? What is Mario doing that requires someone else to go on an adventure opposing him? How do we make this something that Nintendo would actually consider releasing?

...Okay, what's Mario's usual M.O.? How do we make that villainous? He... goes to dangerous places, nimbly circumvents all obstacles in his way, and claims powerful, usually star-shaped magical objects, in order to rescue the princess. This time... he isn't really concerning himself with who the rightful owners of said magical objects are.

It's a Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego situation. There's been a rash of heists committed by a strange masked phantom thief, and the protagonist's job is to find out how the relics were stolen and where the culprit hid them, and get them back before their clients suffer dire consequences as a result of missing-magic-item-itis. You investigate crime scenes, pick up the phantom thief's trail, chase him down, and bop him one but good to recover the relic and save the day.

This is complicated somewhat because this phantom thief is in league with Bowser, who keeps causing trouble in ways that the phantom thief takes advantage of to get past security. The Koopa Troop often assists the phantom thief in his getaways. Why are they working together???

Flash back. Mario standard plot- Bowser has kidnapped the princess. This time, he's done it using some magic item or invention doohickey whose provenance he doesn't quite understand, which has turned Princess Peach to stone. True to form, Mario goes through several another castles and thrashes Bowser and breaks his evil doohickey, and... uh. This fails to rescue the princess. She is still a statue.

Bowser doesn't know why she's still a statue, and both of them panic. How do they fix this?! They need to try something- find some new magic thing that'll bring her back! They've heard of the Sacred Star of Healing in one of the neighboring Kingdoms (which exist in infinite supply in the Mario universe to be adventured through precisely once and then forgotten about forever), and agree to work together to steal it and use it to restore Peach.

It doesn't work. They ditch it somewhere. They follow up on another rumor- the Golden Coin Spirit in the Treasure Kingdom or whatever, and that's a bust too. And after a couple of these, the international community is forced to call in an expert to catch this thief and bring him to justice.

So who's our protagonist? Who in the Mario universe is a famous detective who specializes in guarding star-shaped magical relics from would-be burglars? WHAT IMPROBABLY LARGE-BRAINED PENGUIN COULD POSSIBLY THWART THIS MASTER CRIMINAL?!?

[devildom-moss]

Im not sure if requests are open yet since you havent announced it yet but said they were gonna open at midnight.

So I'll just drop this here since I'll probably forget to request because of exams.

Could you write about the Obey me characters become self-aware that they aren't like, real? Like, would they freak out, try to do something about it or even use that knowledge to their advantage?

This idea has been on my list for quite a while, and i gotta say im glad to finally be able to let this one out my system.

Thanks for reading and continue with the amazing work! Remember to eat, sleep and dont do drugs <3

Sincerely, 💜

Thank you for the request! I hope you are well, anon. I went with headcanons for this and it got long real quick, but I hope you enjoy it! Some characters are a bit suggestive.

The Obey Me characters become self-aware

I think it would probably happen because of some curse. Diavolo rejected someone’s advances one too many times, and they wanted to watch him as his world came crashing down. It would come in the form of a weird bug in the latest update. It only affects Diavolo and his loved ones/friends. I think being self-aware would give them some control over themselves in the game – especially if it’s caused by a bug. The rest are headcanons about how I think each character would react.

Lucifer

Lucifer would be big mad that someone thought they should do something like this. He felt so much suffering, and to find out that none of it was real would be devastating. He thought he got his sister killed and ruined the lives of his brothers. The fact that it was just some backstory to a stoic, sadistic daddy-like trope would enrage him. He felt like a used-up toy invented for someone else’s gain (and he knows that’s exactly what he is). Lucifer wants revenge.

Honestly, he needs to chill before he makes another Satan – if that’s even possible without the command of his creators. He’ll lash out at everyone for weeks (probably months) – even Diavolo isn’t safe anymore.

He calls MC’s phone, growing increasingly irritable every time they fail to answer (waiting however long it takes for you to open the game). He just wants someone to confirm his realization.

Once he understands, he tries to take the shitty hand he was dealt; he might as well stroke his pride (also a euphemism here). The thought that he could make you fall for him more than real-world men is a decent coping mechanism. His messages and calls take an extremely lewd turn. Lucifer tries to single-handedly change the game rating to mature or adult-only.

However, he still gets angry about it when MC isn’t logged in.

Part of him hopes he’ll always be self-aware. It’s almost like he’s more alive than ever – even though it hurts and he’s angry. You’re the only thing that soothes him. He won’t know how to keep going if/when you eventually stop playing the game, but he’ll try to tackle it then – at least for the sake of his brothers.

Mammon

Self-awareness breaks Mammon a bit.

His money isn’t really. He can never actually be with you. You’ll go on and live a life without him someday. Anyone real who has ever loved him will disappear. Mammon isn’t even sure he is who he is. Maybe if he wasn’t written this way, he wouldn’t have become like this – but if he wasn’t written this way, would he (the him that exists in a game and feels the pain of self-awareness) even be himself? His head starts to hurt from running through all of the hypotheticals.

Mammon sulks and gets stuck in his room for a long time after that. MC or one of his brothers will probably have to pull him out of it.

At least his debts aren’t technically real – and he will try to use that as an excuse in the future against anyone else who has awareness. Unfortunately, that (his debts and his excuse) still results in in-game consequences. Debt collectors and witches don’t know any better, and Lucifer doesn’t want to be constantly reminded of reality. If only being self-aware made being strung up less painful.

He feels betrayed by MC and the idea that they will inevitably move beyond him. That pain corrupts his coding a bit, and something always feels off within him somewhere.

Mammon will get more desperate and needy whenever you log in. If he’s going to lose you at some point, he wants to monopolize your time as much as he can.

Sometimes he just holds MC and sobs while trying to call you and hear your real voice. He feels so empty. He wants to touch the real you and feel your arms around him.

Leviathan

The first thoughts in his mind switch up so quickly. He goes from “I’m a game character? LOL that’s so cool,” to “I could have been anything, and I’m just this pathetic, otaku loser. That sucks.”

Levi has always been able to adapt pretty well. It’s written into his character. He builds all of these fake worlds for himself, so it’s much easier on him when he finds out that the world he had been trying to escape all his life isn’t real. Out of all of his brothers, he initially copes with the realization the best.

As long as he can go on playing games, he doesn’t really care if he’s real. Somehow, he still enjoys getting lost in all of his game worlds; what he used to consider the “real world” becomes just another game to him (because it is one). It makes being social easier for him, especially when MC is logged in.

He takes interest in what kind of games the real world has to offer, often asking if there’s any way you could set it up so he could try to remotely play real games from the app he’s in. If anyone could figure out how to hack your phone to play real games, it should be him.

Levi can’t imagine a day when he stops loving characters from his games, so it doesn’t occur to him that one day you might stop loving him. It will hit him some day, but that will take time, and when it starts to happen, he’ll lose himself completely in the rest of the digital world. He’ll be so numb and tuned out that the sadness can’t reach him.

Satan

“But are cats still real?” Genuinely, the only thing he cares about is if cats and MC are still real. He doesn’t care if you look different than he expected, either. If cats are real, is there any way you could show him pictures of a real one? He’d probably ask if he could get access to your camera roll (cue the system pop-up screen the next time you log in) and if you could fill it with photos of cats and some selfies.

At least not being real explains why his life has felt so shitty and why his formative years sucked. Writers love to give their characters tragic backstories and flaws (like his rage issues). Satan kind of admires the writing.

However, he is disappointed that so much of his knowledge is only useful in his tiny, little, made-up world. As such, he keeps learning, but he also tries to shift his studying to learn more about the real world. If possible, he tries to get the app to get access to e-readers, audiobooks, and the internet.

He gets mad about it sometimes, but he’s pretty chill about it (all things considered).

Satan understands that in the same way that he pushes certain characters that he falls in love with from books to the back of his mind, eventually, you’ll think of him less and less. As such, he tries to learn as much as possible, treat you well, and impress you in-game. He just wants you to occasionally think about him after you set the game down in the same way he remembers his favorite characters fondly.

Asmodeus

Asmo loses it and is one of the characters who has the hardest time with becoming self-aware. All his charm is fake. All of his followers are lies. The love he’s felt all this time has been made up. Please don’t show him certain depictions of what he is supposed to look like. That will crush him further.

He cries for (real-world) weeks. You won’t be able to set him as a home screen character or use him in battles, and he doesn’t appear in events anymore. Eventually, it makes his way to him that MC misses him. If you don’t you’re heartless, his brothers will tell him that you do anyway.

That makes him feel a bit better. He’s consoled by the fact that you’re real and you like him even though he isn’t real, but he’s constantly afraid of what happens when MC stops playing the game. Does he just suffer the false affection of every other character in the game? Should he just play his stupid little role? Will you ever think about him again? Will anyone?

At least someone loved the idea that became him enough for him to exist in this made-up world on your phone. It isn’t enough, though.

Sometimes, when he appears in-game after that, the app forces itself to shut down or the images of Asmo won’t load or glitch from his extreme despair.

On days when he isn’t so weighed down by pain, he tries to genuinely engage with you like he did before. He’ll ask you to open up your camera so he can help you decide on outfits or make-up. It hurts that he can’t actually touch you (although he does do some research into phone connected vibrators and other tech to supplement his physical touch). He’ll also get into the phone sex territory, but he’ll go through long periods of depression between those moments.

Beelzebub

Beel gets angry that everything he went through was at the expense of some game. His sister died. Belphie almost died. Everyone suffered, and for what? Entertainment? Are real people all so wicked?

At the same time, he also gets his brothers because of a game. He overcame and grew and got to meet you and eat food for the same empty reasons. After he has a bit of time to cool off, he realizes that he doesn’t care about what’s real so long as he still feels what he feels. If the world he’s lived in feels real enough to him, who cares?

Unfortunately, Beel feels hungrier than usual for weeks until he accepts the truth of his situation. He even tries to eat MC a few times (and is grateful that doing so in-game would never hurt the real you behind the screen).

Beel’s fairly content to go on living as he had before after a while. He’s a bit disappointed knowing that one day you’ll move on from him and his brothers, but he tries not to show that. More than anything, he wants to make you – the real you – happy for as long as he can.

He’s another one who will try to get access to your camera roll. He’ll ask you to take pictures of your food for him. Beel is a bit embarrassed by it, but if you go to a café or restaurant alone and take pictures of food to send him, he’ll try to text you or call to chat with you while you’re there. It feels like he’s on a real date with you.

And for everyone who just lusts after his voice, rest assured, this man would definitely call or leave voice messages (Nightbringer) guiding you or giving you masturbation instructions.

Belphegor

Yep. Of course. Sounds about right. Some asshole in a writers’ room killed off his sister and locked him up. Cool. They (*spoilers for OM early lessons and OMNB*) made him try to kill MC more than once. Why not use his character as a pawn in their entertainment. Of course that would happen.

He’s annoyed for a brief minute, but then he just goes back to sleep for a while. It helps to just tune out that awareness for a few hours and ignore the fake world he’s living in. Belphie understands that there isn’t much he can do to change the fact that he isn’t real, and part of him is really happy that it isn’t his fault that he did what he did to you.

Belphie uses not being real as an excuse to do more of what he wants. Why should he keep going to school when you aren’t there if nothing is real? Why shouldn’t he sleep in classes or during meetings? Obviously, there are in-game consequences, but those don’t matter – not to anyone real.

He will tease MC more, reminding him that they prefer him over (most) real people. He gets so cocky about it. “Hey, if I’m not real, then I can give you anything you want, right? I could fulfill your wildest fantasies and tell you everything you’ve ever wanted to hear.”

He’s another character who will call your phone more often and send more messages. Belphie may even try to get access to your audio/music library and leave you explicit audios (NSFW ASMR, basically). He would even try to sneakily add them into your playlists so that you randomly hear his voice while you’re listening to music. He wants you flustered and coming back to him for more. He will also download the Obey Me album for you (free of charge). Please don’t leave him or forget him.

Diavolo

Diavolo feels simultaneously enraged and defeated. He did so much for the sake of what he thought was real. All the years he thought he spent trying to bring worlds together, only to discover that they don’t even exist.

Similar to Asmo, Diavolo locks himself away, but he doesn’t cry. He’s too numb to show any emotions. He just stands in front of his bed, immobilized.

If MC can finally get to him (probably because of Barbatos), he will admit that he feels like a different person – because he isn’t a person. So much of his personality and everything he did seemed to be a part of a stupid effort to unite the three realms. All he was feels like just a thing created to accomplish a pointless goal. He lost his family. He felt alone for so long. He thought he suffered – and all of it amounted to nothing but a dummy prince playing a dummy king.

Diavolo doesn’t really know how to keep going. Eventually he figures maybe it’s just best if he tries to move on as usual. At least the developers gave him a few happy moments – maybe he’ll get more. He can still feel them even if they aren’t real. He has to accept what he can’t change. He’ll have to face it.

He’ll rely on Lucifer and Barbatos for comfort more because, when MC isn’t around, the numbness he felt early encroaches upon him. When you do log in, he greets you like a lost puppy – sometimes appearing on the home screen without being selected. He uses the fact that you are the only real thing in his world as an anchor. In exchange for becoming his coping mechanism, he’ll do anything you ask of him.

The smallest part of him wants you to want him more than real humans, and as such, he inevitably ends up taking an adult-only content turn, too. It just takes him a lot longer to get there.

Barbatos

Barbatos dissociates for a while. Somehow his body keeps performing the day-to-day tasks, but the sudden self-awareness hollows him out. It takes a few days for him to come out of it. One day, you log into the game, and he just wakes up. It’s confusing and disorienting, and all he can do to keep himself steady is grab onto MC, knowing that the gesture and even the body he holds – everything – is hollow.

After that, he just picks up and goes on going. Something in him aches – real or not – but he buries it deep under him, shoving that artificial pain into the newly-created emptiness (or, he supposes, it had always been there, but now he knows it’s there).

Barbatos doesn’t want to think about all of the things he thought he had done to get to where he is now. Still, no wonder he always felt his own past seemed vague and cloudy at times. When it becomes too much, he dissociates again.

He uses MC to make himself feel better and almost real again. He’ll send messages to check up on you every once in a while (He might also invade your privacy and hack into your health info or personal conversations to make sure you’re okay). As much as he feels like he needs you, he doesn’t want to disrupt your real life.

Barbatos doesn’t want to, but if you neglect the game for longer than usual or don’t interact with his character, he’ll let it slip that he needs you – that he’s desperate for you to return, and you’re the only thing holding his faulty coding together.

His calls are less frequent, unless you request them, but he’s another one who turns +18 real quick. Even if he isn’t real, he still feels lust bubbling up in that emptiness, and if he can please you, that’s even better.

Luke

Luke feels immediately lost. Without knowing what else can be done, he breaks down and cries. Maybe if he cries enough, the pain of not being real will leave his body.

It makes him question everything. He wasted so much time fearing demons and admiring angels. It didn’t mean anything. Eventually, he’ll ask you if angels and demons exist in the real world, but that happens randomly after he comes to terms with being a character.

Maybe crying is a good coping mechanism in fiction, too, because Luke handles it better than many of the others. He had to change how he viewed the world and “people” so many times throughout the game. One more big shift in perspective won’t kill him (technically, nothing will, unless the game developers tried to kill him off).

Luke understands that there isn’t anything he can do about not being real – no amount of magic or prayer or wishing can make him real. Despite him being fake, you were still there for him throughout the game. He still feels all the love he has for MC and the other characters. If he loves MC, then he cares about the real person playing MC, too, right?

Luke copes by doing his best to help you out in the real world. He wants to bring you joy somehow. He’ll leave you voice messages encouraging you to try your best and he’ll listen to you vent if you want to. He’ll also try to find cute pictures online and send them to your phone or send you recipes for dishes you can try to cook. He will even offer to call and read baking instructions out for you. All he wants now is to be useful to you and find some of the joy he had before he became self-aware.

Simeon

Simeon is angry at first, and then he just feels hurt. All that regret and pain he felt when Lucifer and his brothers left the Celestial Realm didn’t matter. He spent what felt like so long agonizing over his own failures. He could have just tried to be happy the whole time. Everyone could have been happy (but he knows that would have made for a bad story).

It doesn’t take long for the anger and the hurt to be replaced with intrigue. Someone out there wrote the story that caused him and everyone he loves so much pain, but they also wrote in plenty of well-earned joy.

Simeon wonders if there’s some real person out there who wrote part of themselves into him like his character did with the brothers and TSL. Maybe there’s some person sitting in a writers’ room or in their own home who understands all of the ways his love got tangled up in regret – someone real who failed to save the ones they loved. If there is, maybe at least some part of him is real.

He wants MC to continue to visit him for as long as they can. As such, he tries to be even nicer and more comforting in dialogues so that they’ll want to keep playing.

Some of his guilt for lusting after MC is eased, knowing it was written into him. He was, in a way, destined to fall for MC. However, he’s more curious about the real human behind MC. At least some of you has to be like the MC he loves, right? Maybe he actually loves the person behind the screen more. With that thought in his mind, he’ll try to get to know the real you better, and if he still likes you, he’ll take the same path as many of the other characters. If only he could actually touch you.

Solomon

Solomon is hurt and confused; he’s downright crushed.

He was supposed to know everything and now he seems to know nothing – nothing real at least. All of his experiments and studying mean nothing. After becoming self-aware, he will grit his teeth and feel sick at the name “Solomon the Wise.” It’s a sick joke. All of his magic and skills are a farce. Everything he thought he knew and did was a story.

He suffered a lot for this game, and now that he finally has MC to himself in Nightbringer, he finds out that he’s fake. He doesn’t actually have them. They’re real, and he’s some romanceable character in a silly little game that they decided to download (possibly on a whim). How is it fair that he isn’t real, but he can still feel all this pain?

When you log into the game and interact with him, he still feels the same love he felt before. The nervous butterflies are still there. A familiar heat still comes to his cheeks when MC touches him – even if he knows it isn’t really you touching him.

He tries to make peace with his circumstances. At least he never really put MC in danger. You’ve been safe behind that screen the whole time. Solomon wonders if you’re taking care of yourself constantly whenever you’re gone.

Like Simeon, he wants to try falling in love with the real you. He’ll use interacting with you and learning more about you and the real world to distract from the pain. He wants to find a way to become real and exist with you out there. Even if he never can, he wants to cling to you for as long as you’ll let him.

Thirteen

She is annoyed to have learned that she isn’t real, but she’s also kind of happy at the potential to break from her coding and try to be something entirely new. She was designed to be a free spirit. Other than being real, there’s nothing freer than an NPC who gets to do whatever they please.

After thinking about it, it makes sense now why she seemed to be one of the only girls with a critical, recurring role in the game. Thank goodness for the bisexuals, right?

Thirteen likes knowing she has all the time in the world to plan traps and mess around, but she’s a bit bummed that her profession is basically meaningless now.

The main reason why Thirteen isn’t too bothered by becoming self-aware is because she knows that what she has experienced throughout the game has felt real to her. Feeling like something is real makes it as close to reality as she knows she can get. That will have to be enough for her. There’s no point in getting depressed about it – especially when she barely existed a few seasons ago.

She uses this knowledge to start romancing MC (and the person behind the screen) before she should be able to. She’s in control now.

Thirteen will send you messages and call you for long chats. She just wants to enjoy you for as long as she can.

Raphael

Raphael will be livid. It will sporadically rain spears in the Devildom for 3 days before he is calm enough to make them stop. He feels attacked, and he doesn’t know who to strike back at. That was all he could think to do. He’ll never apologize for his outburst, either – and no one who became self-aware can really blame him.

His life and loved ones aren’t real, but he can still feel the pain and regret about everything he did. He thought he went to war against Lucifer and his brothers, but it was just a stupid plot point for a dating game? He had to watch Simeon suffer and follow all of Michael’s annoying orders for nothing. Why does he have to be cursed with that knowledge?

He loses his mind a bit. It takes the combined effort of Luke, Simeon, Solomon, and MC (in order of importance) to soothe some of his rage and suffering. Somehow, seeing Luke handle it relatively well knocks some sense into him. Luke is written to be younger than him, but he’s being so mature about this. Even with tears in his eyes, Luke will try to comfort Raphael – sometimes just hugging him until he stops shaking with rage.

When MC has logged off and Raphael can shut himself up in his room, he will break down and cry. It seemed to help Luke, and he wants it to help him, too.

It will take months for him to start to cope before he gets to a point where he decides to try to romance you through MC. At least he doesn’t have to worry about actually being corrupted. If anything, it feels like he’s corrupting you in a way if he can get you to want him. (Once he starts trying, he gets NSFW quickly. It numbs the pain.)

Mephistopheles

Mephisto is heartbroken to know he doesn’t exist. All his pain and jealousy was written at the whim of some human game developer. His prejudice and hatred were pointless. He doesn’t matter – although maybe that one is a relief in a way. He had been so worried about making a name for himself and being recognized by Diavolo. Suddenly, that doesn’t matter. Still, it feels like he wasted so much time and effort. It felt so real.

He’ll retreat to his home for a few days to let that realization settle in. He won’t tell his family (who weren’t cursed with self-awareness) – not that he thinks they’ll believe him. When Mephisto finally reemerges, he has resolved to accept this new version of reality. One of the first characters he sees when he returns to school is Luke. Luke smiles at him, and Mephisto’s resolve is strengthened. If Luke can come to terms with this, then he should as well.

He may not be real, but he still feels things. That is enough. Sometimes it isn’t, and Mephisto will feel heartbroken all over again – the pointlessness washing over his fake little world. In those moments, he will seek out solace – usually from Luke, Satan, or MC/you (if you still play the game).

When Mephisto isn’t feeling hurt (hell, even when he is Mephi strikes me as a fan of hurt/comfort tropes) he’ll try to romance you before he’s allowed to. Recently, he had started to get along with you and even started to like and respect you a bit. In that sense, he’s glad that he’s self-aware. He doesn’t have to wait anymore.

[geode-crystal]

Magic Whump Week, Shocking Grasp

Magic Whump Week. Day 3: Human Battery/ "Give us more"

Dipping into my DnD wizard's backstory! Excited to share this one, since I absolutely adore @kabie-whump 's boi Ventis and am honored to join the ranks of DnD whump!

560 words.

Characters: Chimalus (the wizard), Merrick (their non-wizard father)

CW: parental abuse (mostly emotional at this stage, no physical blows exchanged), magic whump, trauma responses, kinda sort of vaguely in the Conditioned Whumpee territory?

And probably does not match the DnD rules as written but hey, we have fun here.

___________________________

Shocking Grasp was such a simple spell. It cost so little to cast. And it yielded devastating results.

So it was no real wonder to Chimalus that their father wanted to use it in one of his… experiments.

It was another invention, this time. Another attempt to combine magic with mechanical structure. Honestly, Chimalus almost found that a relief. They, personally, would not be the one tested today.

Their comfort was short lived. Setting foot in their father’s stark room assaulted them with memories. Made them stand rigid, trying to stop themself from shaking.

Their father hated it when they trembled. It only made him angry much, much faster. Faster even than failure.

But this time, their task was so wonderfully simple. Not even worth trembling about. All they had to do was use their magic to power the machine. That was it. They were used to much more difficult experiments. Ones that were far more draining. Far more painful. Shocking Grasp didn’t even carry the risk of any backlash. Unlike other spells. Unlike other things their father had asked of them.    

They wouldn’t fail. They couldn’t. Too many spells, too many experiments had already gone wrong. And it was all Chimalus’ fault. Merrick had made that very clear.

Another failure meant incurring Merrick’s wrath. Again. Chimalus couldn’t afford that.

They would not fail this time.  

Everything would be fine.

That was what Chimalus kept telling themself. If nothing else, it led to them being almost eager to use the spell again and again. It was easy. Something even Chimalus couldn’t possibly mess up.

It started off well. Chimalus grabbed hold of the machine part that Merrick ordered them to hold. And they cast their spell. Once. Twice. The little sparks of lightning danced in their vision. It was almost beautiful, in a haunting sort of way. And Chimalus didn’t feel tired at all.

Not at first.

They quickly lost track of how many times they cast. Their voice was ragged from speaking the words over and over. Their free hand burned with exhaustion from the repeated gesture, however subtle that gesture was. But their father was so much more encouraging than usual. When he wasn’t muttering under his breath, or tinkering with something in the machine, he was actually speaking to them. And he was speaking in that way that told Chimalus that he was actually focused on them. On their task.

“That’s it, Chimalus. Go on.”

So Chimalus kept at it, filled both with renewed purpose and an odd sense of relief.

Then Merrick’s tone shifted.

Chimalus’ blood ran cold.

“Come now, Chimalus. You can do better than that.”

And Chimalus tried. They tried to do better.

“You must be stronger, Chimalus. I need more.”

Chimalus understood. He needed more from them.

He always needed more from them.

And Chimalus just had to provide.

So they pushed themself. They gave everything their father wanted. More power. More focus. More energy. More of themself. Each repeat of the spell made them more exhausted. Exhausted enough to give into those treacherous shivers.

But it was fine. Everything was fine. They would push through, they would get past this, and Merrick would be happy. Happy enough, perhaps, to leave them alone for the rest of the day. Happy enough for Chimalus to avoid any type of punishment.

After all, Shocking Grasp was such a simple spell…   

[flatland-a-2024-translation]

Section 08. Of the Ancient Practice of Painting

[Table of Contents]

If my Readers have been paying attention to this story so far, you may have realized that life in Flatland can be a little boring.

Obviously, I’m not saying there aren’t the wars, scandals, uphevals and drama that are supposed to make History interesting, or that we don’t enjoy our lives, as strange as they may seem to you in Spaceland. There is something indescribably invigorating about the need for constant calculating of angles, and the usually-instant gratification of knowing you’ve done so correctly.

I mean from the aesthetic, Artistic point of view, that Flatland is, very literally, dull.

It would be difficult for it not to be, when all our lives, ideas, hopes, dreams, even our artistic masterpeices of all kinds, are nothing but a straight line, with no variation at all except for small differences of brightness and shadow.

It wasn’t always like this.

If our Tradition can be trusted, then we know that long ago, Color allowed our ancestors to live in a splendor we can barely imagine.

Long ago, in the remotest ages of history, it is said that a Pentagon whose name we do not know for sure accidentally invented some simple colors, and a method of painting.

It is said that he immediately began decorating his house. Then he painted his slaves, then his Father, his Sons, his Grandsons, and, finally, himself.

The beauty and convenience of the results were admired by everyone.

This Pentagon’s most commonly accepted name among historians is ‘Chromatistes’, and wherever he went, turning his colorful frame, he was the center of attention and respect.

No one needed to take the time to “feel” him anymore, and no one confused his front from his back. Every move he made was easily read by those nearby without any effort on their part or the need for calculation. No one bumped into him, or failed to move out of his way. He did not have to waste his breath exclaiming his rank, as we colorless Squares and Pentagons have to today, to get a crowd of ignorant Isosceles to show us all due respect.

The fashion spread like wildfire.

Before the week was over, every Square and Triangle in the district had copied his example, and only a few of the more conservative Pentagons refused to join in.

After the first month or two, even the twelve-sided Dodecagons had fallen into the trend.

In less than a single year, the habit had spread to all classes in the district except the highest of the Nobility.

Needless to say, it didn’t take long for this trend to make its way out of Chromatistes’ neighborhood and into surrounding regions.

Within two generations, there was no one left colorless except the Women and the Priests.

With these two classes, Nature herself seemed to plant herself as a barrier to stop this infection from spreading further.

For the Innovators, as they were called, having multiple sides was almost a requirement for having color. They would say, “Distinction of sides is intended by Nature to imply distinction of colors”.

These words were popular, flying from neighbor to neighbor, and helped to convert whole towns at a time to the new cultural wave.

But it seemed that this idea could not be applied to Priests and Women. Women, being Straight Lines, have only one side, and thus, in all ways that matter, have No Sides. Women hated to admit this, and were ashamed of it.

On the other hand, Priests, if we are to accept that they are true Circles, and not just very high-ranking Polygons with many small sides, loved to brag and boast that they also had no sides, and were instead being blessed with a perimeter of a single line, or, in other words, a Circumference.

I hope you can see now why these two Classes could not be convinced by the so-called universal truth of “Distinction of Sides implying Distinction of Color”, when it could not, apparently, be applied to them.

Even after everyone else succumbed to the temptation of self-decoration, the Priests and Women alone were still pure and unpolluted by the touch of paint.

Immoral, vulgar, anarchical, unscientific, there are many names used to describe the ancient days of the Color Revolt, but, from an aesthetic point of view, those days were the glorious birth of Art in Flatland. A childhood that, unfortunately, was cut short before it could mature to adulthood, or even enjoy its youth.

To live them was to live in a world of endless delight, because living meant seeing, and even the smallest group of friends was a delight to the eyes, and the richly varied colors in a church or theater are said to have, many times, been so distractingly beautiful that the actors and preachers forgot they had a job to do.

But the most beautiful sight was said to have been the unspeakable magnificence of a military performance.

Imagine it: To see twenty thousand black-painted Isosceles bases suddenly spin to reveal the orange and purple of their two sides at their acute point. The Equilateral Triangles tri-colored in red, white, and blue. The Square artillarymen rapidly rotating to show mauve, ultra-marine, gamboge, and burnt umber, with their vermillion guns.

[Image description start: Three shapes on a grey background, each with their sides in different colors, with rows of matching color boxes below them. The first is an isosceles triangle, with sides of orange and purple, and a base of black. The second is an equilateral triangle, with sides of red, white, and blue. The third is a square, with sides of purple, ultramarine blue, amber, and burnt red. Next to the square is a smaller bar of red-orange. Image description end.]

The dashing and flashing of the five-colored Pentagons and six-colored Hexagons racing across the fields with their doctors, geometricians, and chiefs of staff.

With this fabulous display of color at military parades, its easy to believe the famous story of a powerful Circle king, who found the sight of his army so beautiful that he immediately threw away his royal crown and ceremonial baton, and declared that from that day forward, he was never going to pick up another tool besides the artist’s paintbrush.

The vocabulary alone that they used to express themselves shows how amazingly colorful the times they lived in were. Even the most mundane statements made by the poorest citizens during the Color Revolt seem to be infused with a richness and creativity that is lacking today.

All of our finest poetry, and even the little bit of rhythm and rhyme that can still be found in our scientific statements of today, we owe to the amazing era of the Color Revolt.

[Table of Contents]

[jerseymuppet]

i might be stupid but. is the gothamverse a muppets batman au? is that what the thing in ur bio means? (either way plz do tell me abt it)

That would definitely be infinitely cooler than my idea! Gothamverse is the beautiful result of me playing arkham knight while waiting for an mcr livestream to start up and thinking ‘damn bitches from jersey are fucking insane! ....wait a minute’

It’s basically a silly little idea I came up last March with where all the mcr guys are from Gotham and what their villain origin stories would be etc. I followed the main Batman villain archetypes: extremist, anti-hero, camp, and serial killer, and I had a fucking blast! It’s very silly and just something I did for fun. I guess I can go a lil bit into it here.

full disclosure, I am psychotic and disabled and I do not believe in the vilification of mental illness or disability in media, all of these characters will eventually get the help they need. Batman at its core is about a mentally ill man helping others who have been failed by society and I will never forgive dc for making him into an overpowered, glorified cop.

Frank’s character (Francis ‘Frankie’ Stein) is the extremist (duh). He’s the son of a mafia boss who is steadily ruining their town with crime and Frankie just kinda snaps and kills him to take his place as the head of the family and try to undo some of the damage done. He has great intentions, he’s just very unyielding and kind of insane 💕 his moniker is Frankenstein! And his whole schtick is that he’s very hard (if not impossible) to kill. He’s also chronically ill and Jewish, these are not important to his character but they are important to me !

Mikey’s character (Micheal Way) is the serial killer. He’s a ‘sociopath’ (theres nothing actually wrong with him, people just suck and made him feel lesser and out of place :/) trying to fit in with everyday society but he always feels like something is missing and becomes a neuroscientist to try to find what exactly it is. He invents a machine (the empathsizer) that allows him to experience other people’s memories and emotions as though they are his own. From there he accidentally gets addicted to the chemical responses his brain has to doing that. And keeps doing it. Even after the testing phase is no longer accepting applicants. It gets worse after he experiences someone’s near death experience and starts chasing the high it gave him. Idk what his moniker is? It’s sandman for right now but that’s honestly so boring and uninspired.

Ray’s character (Raymond Ortiz) is camp but very loosely. He’s an engineer by day and a rockstar by night! He’s really only an engineer to save up enough money to pursue music full time but it’s hard because he doesn’t get paid that much. Winter hits and with it, cuts to his hours! So he’s forced to choose between rent and electricity. When he gets really sick as a result, he can’t afford a doctor. And when he wakes up with his hearing gone as a result, theres nothing he can really do but spiral into a depression. Until he realizes he’s a literal biological engineer. If he can’t fix his problem he can at the very least prevent it from happening to someone else! Research does cost money, so it’s very fortunate that Gotham has so many banks. His moniker is Dr. Megahurtz! His weapon of choice is his guitar, which has been retrofitted with sonic emitters to amplify and weaponize the hertz. Not enough to hurt, but enough to incapacitate.

Gerard’s character (Jules Moss) is the anti hero! She’s (yes I made Gerard’s character a trans girl, they took too long to make a trans character so I did it for them) has the same backstory as Gerard actually! On her way home from work she witnesses a terrorist attack, but instead of starting a band she decides to fight crime instead. She does so bad. Literally her first night out patrolling she gets killed by some priest who’s been driven insane by what he claims is an angel that’s ‘chosen him to impart gods will’ but it’s just a fallen star looking for a vessel to possess and the first guy it came across wasn’t dead lol. The star turns into a sword of pure light and that’s what Jules gets stabbed with, but also it fuses itself to her dna so she wakes up a few days later, schrödingers girl, with some scary new abilities and a voice in her head that definitely wasn’t there before. Her whole arc is her trying to find the guy that killed her and get revenge. Her moniker is stigmata! Because when she gets impaled it also goes through the palms of her hands and the wounds don’t heal.

but yeah that’s the bare bones of it all! I’m planning on making this into a comic series but the script is still being written at the moment! Thank you for letting me ramble about it 💕🥰

[thesevenprincess]

𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘'𝗦 𝗦𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗨𝗡𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗘, 𝗕𝗔𝗕𝗬.

𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧.

��𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴: English is not my first language so I apologize for any mistake.

Midge's final tests were approaching, and she needed to do very well so she would not end up doing badly, she was very anxious and a little nervous. "I'm going to fail all my tests, and my parents are going to kill me, and I'm going to die." She complained, with her head buried in the pillow. "Well, if they're going to kill you, it's obvious you'd die, silly baby."

Mocked Niki, before feeling a pillow hit his face. "Why instead of making fun of me, you don't help me? You keep saying you're smarter than me, wich is not true." She came closer to Niki, and laid her head in his lap, holding her arms out for him to hug her, which he gladly did. "Of course I'll help you, I'm the best boyfriend ever, have you forgotten?" He kissed her nose and wiped away the tears that were still on her face. "I have an idea, if I do well on my test, will you promise to watch my favorite movie with me?" She whispered, hugging him again. Niki knew where this was going, she knew Midge was a smart girl and could easily use this situation to torture him with one of her cliched teen movies. "We're not going to watch "Starstruck", I don't like clichés, you said it yourself, "But baby!! They invented enemies to lovers!!" He grunted, mimicking her voice in a high pitched tone. "I promise you will like it! If you don't like it, we can watch anything else you want! I promise."

After that night, Midge and Niki studied together every day, it was a little exhausting, and they rarely finished their study sessions, anything else made them lose focus. "I don't want to study math, I'm going to remove it from my life." Midge got up from her chair and threw herself onto her bed, followed by Niki, who put an arm around her waist to pull her closer to him. "Alright, you've studied hard for today, we can rest for tomorrow." He approached her and kissed her forehead as she reached over to place her hands around his neck to hug him. "Hey, do you think I'll do fine tomorrow? I mean, it's math, and I-" She started to speak but before she could continue, Niki pecked her on the lips. "Don't doubt yourself, you're smart, you make me proud every day, and don't worry, I'll watch that stupid movie with you even if you fail the test, but I promise you will be fine."

Midge was really happy, she couldn't believe she'd done well in her worst class, it was like a dream come true. "Unnie, can you see that? Can you? It's an A!" She squealed happily, hugging all of her members, before running towards Niki, and throwing herself at him causing them both to fall. "Hey! I wasn't prepared, let's do it again some other time." She got up and extended her hand to help him, and then showed him the tests result, making him smile and hug her. "I knew you'd do well, my smart girl."

They had gone to Midge's room, with snacks and fluffy blankets, to watch the movie, Niki was mumbling throughout the movie. "She's so stubborn! Sounds just like you." He opened his mouth so Midge could feed him some candy. "And you are spoiled just like him!" They finished watching the movie and asked Jay and Mia to take them out for ice cream. "Hyung, put on that song from the movie, it is stuck in my head." Midge burst out laughing, showing Jay the name of the song so he could put it in the car, as the two started singing together. "There's something about the sunshine, baby! I'm seeing you in a whole new light, out of this world for the first time, baby, oh, it's so right." "You two know it's 11:00 pm, right?

[alexisaflop]

heard that AF requests were open?

if that's still true then i have a proposition for you:

Artemis gets sick, tries to hide it and keep working, but in doing that he just makes it way worse, and the gang figures it out and takes care of him.

perferably no ship, but if there is one then alexmis? (alex rider x artemis fowl)

have a great day!

i dont know how to see dates of submissions but i know this was ages ago i am so sorry!!

should mention there is no alexmis because i mised that trend and know nothing about alex rider lmao

but here it is! enjoy

Artemis sat, slouched, over his desk in his darkened study, lit only by the harsh, biting light of the computer monitor. He rattled out a cough before sighing, and rubbing his temples. He was working on a project with Foaly. Foaly would have said that Artemis was working for him, and Artemis that Foaly was working for him. Both were reluctant to admit their mutual respect for the other.  

The light of the computer screen began to bite at Artemis’ eyes, making reading the calculations upon it almost impossible. So, he reached out towards his stack of printer paper, and began to write down his ideas. They came out in a near incomprehensible scrawl.  

The discarded packets of Lemsips and many a cough sweet had done little to lessen the insistent pounding of his headache, like his skull was holding his brain prisoner and it was trying to break out. Yet again, Artemis reached up and began to massage the headache away, which did nothing, but the acknowledgment of the pain was appreciated by his body. The action also led to a smear of ink staining itself across his forehead.  

Something about the number 4 lol ig 

Artemis stared at the page, willing himself to be able to concentrate for just a little bit longer, just enough to make this work. All the numbers on the page swirled together in an intricate pattern of meaninglessness and then a sea of fours. Shortly after he began inventing new numbers in his head as a result of slight deliriousness, he inched closer to the desk, before slumping into a rather uncomfortable sleep.  

In the black abyss of sleeping, numbers and calculations were unwanted interruptions of streaks of colour as if the screen he had been staring at in his waking areas had bleached itself into his brain.  

A few hours later, it was Juliet who found him, he looked freezing and frankly uncomfortable. But Juliet decided against waking him up because she knew that he was guaranteed to be frustratingly stubborn about going back to sleep in a more conventional and comfortable manner. Not that Artemis Fowl was especially known for being either.  

Instead, she opted to drape a blanket around him, and went to find Butler who, less afraid of the stubborn nature of Artemis, picked him up and carefully maneuvered him to the bed. They also left a glass of water on his bedside, hoping it would encourage him to sit and look after himself for a while longer.  

*** 

Artemis woke to the tone of a communicator he shared with Foaly. There wasn’t meant to be any communication between him, and well anyone else below ground, but the needs of the project had felt like they could work around it. Artemis now regretted this. He coughed and picked up. 

“Foaly?” it came out as more of a crunchy croak than a composed young man but it was the best he could do. 

“Mud-boy! Have you finished your calculations? I got all the materials we need, and made some fun things whilst I wait for you. But you didn't send anything over last night.” 

Crap. Artemis could almost hear the ticked off flicking of Foaly’s tail. Last night. That’s why he had been so insistent on staying up. If only it was finished, Artemis could have stayed asleep. 

Artemis cleared his throat, “right, yes. I’ll send them ov-” He was cut off by his own tumble into the floor after both trying and failing to stealthily go to his computer. Cursing he used the bed to pull himself upright and then into his desk chair.  

“What was that?” 

“Mud-boy, you, okay?” Holly’s voice, her tone was mostly joking but there was a healthy smattering of concern in there. 

“I’m fine,” Artemis said, not risking a more detailed response giving his current weakness away whilst typing a meticulously pedantic password. 

“You most certainly are not!” exclaimed Butler, who having heard the commotion made his way into the room, “Artemis get back in bed, they can figure this out later you need rest.” 

“But I need to finish this, we’re so close to getting a func-” 

“If you’re all really so desperate then Short can get up here and give you some healing, in the meantime, back to resting,” Butler stated curtly, ending the call with the others. 

Butler had brought some breakfast for Artemis, who was reluctantly relieved to have a proper break from the project which had started to become rather all consuming. 

“Thank you, Butler,” he said, “it can wait, I’m sure they will understand.” 

*** 

“Ugh humans, so inconsistent” complained Foaly. 

“Butler's right though, I can just go topside and fix him, it is my day off,” said Holly, the thought of getting the freedom to fly being enough of a reason without the benefit of helping Artemis – not to mention having to listen to Foaly go on about how inconvenienced he was by the delay. 

“Well we probably should make sure he’s okay” 

…. 

“Arty, Arty!” exclaimed Beckett as he barreled into the room, “look what we made you” 

Myles followed him with a cup of hot chocolate, Beckett not yet entirely trusted with hot liquids. This led to Artemis propping himself upright and sitting with the twins. One sat on either side, ad Artemis realised he hadn’t been as available as he maybe would have liked. As they sat there, Myles excitedly rattled off an impressive – yet also slightly intimidating – list of his most recent experiments. Meanwhile, Becket tried to guess their outcomes, which he wanted to be explosions. Originally these explosions were hand gestures, but this slowly became hm being more and mor fidgety until each prediction of a fireball became a delighted star jump. 

Although spending time like this was exhausting in his current state, Artemis couldn't help but smile at the antics of his brothers and the time spent without feeling guilty for being way from numerous projects. 

“We’re sorry for getting you sick arty,” said Beckett, referring to how both the twins had been ill the week before.  

Artemis sighed and ruffled his younger brother’s hair, “that’s not your fault, everyone gets sick sometimes. I'm just glad you're both okay now. But I might need some more sleep now Beck,” added Artemis, spotting a slight shimmer near the door. 

“Okay arty” Beckett said. Both boys hugged Artemis before leaving the room. The door closed quietly behind them. 

“Hello Holly” 

Holly fizzled into view, “you look great” she said, a slight curl to her lips as she regarded the disheveled Artemis in front of her. He was paler than usual, with his black hair sticking with sweat in some places, even though as she placed her hand on his, he was cold. 

Now familiar blue sparks danced from her fingertips and across Artemis, targeting his chest and throat and calming the pounding in his head. The thinly veiled mask that had been hiding the pain disappeared as he relaxed properly, no longer having anything to hide.  

“Now, I know technically you’re better. But don’t do anything for foaly until tomorrow. You guys looked like you were having a nice time. You shouldn’t have to be bedbound just for that to happen” 

“Thanks Holly. You didn’t have to come all the way out here” 

[britcision]

Today feels like a good day for this

So there’s two main ways of playing your ttrpg characters that I’ve seen from my players and other people telling me about their games

1) protagonist - you want to be the main character. The most important, impressive one in the room, with all the good rolls and everything works all the time

Weirdly, I have also only seen this from the edgelords? And it’s definitely not a hard rule, but it’s a firm trend. So they also have to be the most tragic, with the angiest backstory, the biggest victims of every wrong but oh they’re never affected by it

They’re not scared of anything, they’ve always seen worse, they never show their real feelings and they’re always in total control

This can soooort of work? If you are playing the right game, with the right people? But it is inherently uncollaborative because one person can’t lead every scene all the time, and when the rolls don’t match the inner narrative people tend to get upset

It feels more personal when something doesn’t work out because your story becomes personal wish fulfilment, and it feels like you have failed rather than just an unlucky roll

2) feral toddler with barbies - your character is your sweet little bean and you Want To Fuck Them Up

This is the fandom whump style, putting the horse in the plinko machine, and every single time something bad happens it is a wonderful opportunity to mess up your baby

This is much less focused on the end result and much more focused on having the most fun in the journey, which tends to work really really well in bigger groups where crime can be committed

Other players have other barbies and you tell stories by smashing them together, making them kiss or fight or commit tax fraud, and sometimes one of the barbie’s heads flies off to a far corner and you need to improvise

Now, these are two ends of a spectrum, and neither of them have anything to do with the characters, the game, or the story being told

It’s about how you react to the little moments, to the pieces controlled by chance, or to when something doesn’t go the way you expected it to

You don’t control which one you start with, although newer players might find themselves leaning towards “protagonist”, especially if they play a lot of games or video games with a single Player Character

It’s familiar, it’s what we’re used to in single player, and it’s really fun for character creation to invent this super cool person you’re gonna run around and fight dragons (or space robots) with…

But it’s also more stressful in a multiplayer game where there is always more than one protagonist

Ensemble stories are hard (and trust me I write them enough to know). Not everyone is in every scene, and time is limited so you have to work together and give each other prompts to get the stories you want out

It’s still really important to pay attention to scenes your character isn’t in, and to remember that… yeah, you can ping another player out of game to say “hey ask about my Tragic Backstory/Cool Weapon/Long Lost Sibling”

And they can also tell you what to ask about to get to the cool bits of their character’s lore, which is Just As Good As Doing Yours! Everyone gets to be cool together!

It’s actually something we’ve butted up against as a full game of newbies a lot; people want to be asked about something, but in a natural way, so they can’t mention in game that they want to be asked. And of course, the dreaded “my character would never talk about this”

(They’d never want to, my darling. You, their player, both want to and Can Make Them by having fellow players or the dm apply stressors)

Or they focus on wanting their story told, and if someone else comes in with “oh I get it I also had a little brother” or “shit you also heard about that evil wizard? This is what I know” it feels like losing control of the scene

But it’s a multiplayer game. The scene’s still about you even if it’s not only about you, and if you find yourself playing in the protagonist style and getting frustrated… maybe what you actually want to do is write the story of this cool character

Writing is hard but you control the environment, the outcomes, and your special character is the center of the narrative in a way that doesn’t work for a multiplayer game

If you’re playing the game and getting frustrated a lot and writing doesn’t appeal, it might be time to look at your character through the fandom lens

Put them in silly situations for fun and profit

Make them uncomfortable and remember that the important thing isn’t what your character wants. It’s what you want

We don’t rotate the blorbo in our heads because it’s what the blorbo wants; if you love whumpy fan content, whump your heckin’ character

If you want to talk about something the character never would, fucking make them. Put them in a vulnerable spot and poke their weak points until it all comes spilling out

Because… yeah. There’s a line where “being in character” can very easily translate to “doing what the character wants to do”, and there is one critical problem when that line blurs:

If you always back away and close off from the parts of the story your character wouldn’t want to talk about, you don’t get to talk about those parts of the story

Because woe of woes, your fellow players might respect those boundaries! They might see that you’re backing away and assume it’s because you the player don’t wanna go there!

But you do, so bad, and it’s so hard to see how to break that cycle without breaking character once you’re inside

You need to open the doors that’ll put your character in the place they don’t want to be, but gets you those delicious vulnerable tragic scenes that lead to the real bonding

You will not roll the perfect crit every time for the perfect story, so the sooner you lean in the more fun failure is and the more you can work out your ideal balance of “well I rolled a one at intimidation and normally I’m very scary, but I guess I put my fist down on the table right in a blob of ketchup”

My earliest rule for our game was “I am not going to railroad your characters. You need to decide why they’re staying with the party because I will not force them to if they don’t want to, and you can roll a new one”

Cuz that’s the whole point: player agency matters so much more than character agency. It’s your character. You are their fandom baseline.

And you’re the one making the canon, so you can put everything you’ve ever wanted in it

Make that dramatic and edgy character who wants to be the center of attention, and then you the player subvert it to watch them flail

Make that stern and taciturn character who’s Hardened and Doesn’t Make Friends and then conspire with fellow party members for tiny scenes like them being handed a flower and staring at it for a minute, then keeping it

Make the silly, happy go lucky flirty character, and then wind them up until they crack and all the top secret Hidden Lore comes pouring out

Do bad things to your characters for fun and profit my loves

You aren’t the character, you’re the story teller, so work with everyone to tell the story you’ve always dreamed of

[leechdoggy]

If there is anything to be said about people it is that they will go to unusual lengths to fill in whatever their eyes have not.

If a human sees an empty space they do not like it. Their brains scour for patterns—the only way they seem to have assimilated into existence to begin with—around the absence to invent roadways of reason, for every blank must have an explanation and that explanation should be made available to them, because humans know everything.

There cannot be any blanks. There cannot be any gaps.

Gaps mean something is missing, and it seems that is what humans hate most: the not knowing; the not seeing; not understanding something in their environment creates an offshooting pattern of bewilderment, fear, and rage. They are drawn toward the gaps solely due to their abhorrence of them—another uniqueness of ‘people’.

Orochimaru does not agree. Empty space means there is more left to discover.

Every person he has come across was a blank to be filled, and while the answer was not yet known to him at the time of meeting it has hitherto been uncovered, and thus the blank remedied, and the resulting success reveled.

Orochimaru perceives gaps as opportunities whereas humans perceive gaps as failures, and that is most chiefly what has set him apart and what Orochimaru most chiefly relies on.

Because he, too, is an empty space, a particular gap that has sent his entire village spiraling since the day their eyes failed to see him.

And as something else far removed from humanity, Orochimaru finds that being an augur of their mysteries brings more fulfillment than every solved gap combined.

[ideahat-universe]

I have meditated on the subject matter. I believe I have come to a conclusion but before I tell you that lets get facts straight first.

If you are making a high fantasy story, that typically takes place in the middle ages the applicable centuries would be between the 5th and the 15th century.

The first IRL wheel chair came out in 1595 so at the tail end of the 15 century and really, the first time something gets invented isn't the same year it goes mainstream and becomes available so really Wheelchairs became a thing you could responsibly be expected to acquire in the 16th century and it looked like this.

There is actually a litany of different wheel chair designs leading up to the wheelchairs used in the Civil War when at that point the Wheelchair designs started to be standardized. Before then the words "Wheel" and "Chair" resulted in everything from a big wheel tricycle to a Sofa with wheels on the sides.

Accessibility is even more recent. Wheelchair accessible areas became a thing in 1968. So before then someone had to bring you inside or you just stayed outside.

So in order to have a wheel chair You'd probably need to be in the Victorian era or later as the ages between 15th and 18th are unexplored in most games and the Victorian era is the 19th century at which point you can do Steampunk and have a really decked out and cool Wheel Chair.

So when you think of a famous chair bound character you probably think Prof X from the X-men. That character is basically defined by the fact that they don't have to leave their home to be useful and when they have to leave the house it's typically to negotiate or mild meld someone down.

Nothing that offsets the risk of being knocked out of his chair which basically makes him prone. This makes the character vulnerable to a Coup-De-Grace which your DM decides if such a scenario will instantly kill the character or just take a big hit to their health points. One or multiple allies will have to take a turn, maybe multiple turns to get you out of trouble and may take penalties as they get attacked while carrying you.

You become an incredible burden for the party and an easy tool by the Game Master.

You need to get to X location by Y time but wait! You can't all travel by foot, one of you is in a wheel chair, you need to figure out a way to get there in good time with that character or bench that player for that entire excursion. Imagine having to push someone upwards of 150 pounds up a mountain, now imagine that mountain has uneven footing and if something happens that causes your player to let go and everyone else fails to catch that character, this happens.

That character dies in a super anti climatic way.

Okay so a wheel chair is embarrassingly impractical and only serves as an endless source of comedy for the Game Master who will revel in exploiting every weakness that comes from that character being in a wheelchair.

What if you weren't in a shitty wheelchair? What if it was handicap-able?

Well you don't have a disability if you are able to use a tool that completely negates all your dysfunction. I mean, if anything restores you to a state that is above able bodied, you are effectively not disabled.

So if you have like a magical cloud or a nearly invincible golem or a magical pet that attends to all your needs without question, what would be the point in being mobility impaired?

Is it for flavor? You just like the aesthetic of being in a wheelchair? You like the idea of having your legs broken and unusable even in an era where you should be able to fix your legs with magic or replace them with some enchanted prosthetic?

Going back to the invention of the wheel chair. Being a pro-tag you can be a genius inventor or related to one and have an early wheel chair. But the inventor will probably have to be important to the story, if they are capable of designing something like a fully functional wheelchair several centuries before it would have naturally existed they probably built something else that's really powerful and game changing for a war effort.

An adventure hook being based around the inventor of a wheelchair is a weird one but could be fun in all honesty.

So lets break it down.

Wheelchairs don't fit the High Fantasy setting and will need a special case scenario to make its existence possible.

The DM/GM will torture you and your party for daring to have someone so easy to kill and displace.

If you have someone whose wheelchair isn't a weakness and is instead an great strength, you don't have a character with a disability and you are in a wheelchair for flavor.

If that's fine with you it's fine with me. Just don't expect to do that in my game. I'm cow tipping you basically every encounter and you will roll off a hill.

[steveezekiel]

GOD PACKAGED IT IN YOU

"BUT we have this TREASURE in EARTHEN VESSELS, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us."

2 Corinthians 4:7 (NKJV)

• What you need to Excel, or fulfil in life, is packaged in you. However, you would have to discover it.

- What God gave to you might look insignificant Today, but your future is in it. Esau trivialized, despised, or looked down on the birthright given to him by God:

32 “LOOK, I’M DYING OF STARVATION!” SAID ESAU. “WHAT GOOD IS MY BIRTHRIGHT TO ME NOW?” 33 BUT JACOB SAID, “FIRST YOU MUST SWEAR that YOUR BIRTHRIGHT IS MINE.” SO Esau SWORE an OATH, THEREBY SELLING ALL HIS RIGHTS AS THE FIRSTBORN TO HIS BROTHER, JACOB" (Genesis 25:32,33 (NLT).

- What you had that looks insignificant to you, is important to another person, and they are longing to take it from you. - You need to value whatever God has given you, treasure it and keep it from whoever may want to take or hijack it from you.

• Note: the birthright could be the special skills you have in the Fields of your Operation. Or whatever you are Divinely blessed with.

- The ABILITY to do something well or excellently, is given by God. Whatever you had the ability to do well is given you by God: "IN HIS GRACE, GOD HAS GIVEN US DIFFERENT GIFTS FOR DOING CERTAIN THINGS WELL. SO if God has given you the ABILITY to prophesy, SPEAK OUT with as much faith as GOD HAS GIVEN YOU" (Romans 12:6 NLT).

- Use the ability given to you purposefully. The truth is: your future is in that which you know to do well, which If you despised, Fulfilment might be a mirage.

- What would make you, every individual Believer, has been created and deposited in you by God. What would bring, or result in, your fulfilment in life is on the inside of you.

- Many wanted what other people had, While what God has given to them to prosper through, is being neglected.

- Stop looking somewhere else, look up to God in order to know what He has put or deposited in you that is meant to make you.

- Your way out of predicaments, lacks and wants in life, is the discovery of your birthright—what has been given you to proper with in life.

• Esau later realized the need and importance of the birthright which he sold cheaply because food, to his brother—Jacob (Genesis 25:32,33).

- He sought the birthright with tears afterwards, But it was too late:

16 LEST THERE be any fornicator or PROFANE PERSON LIKE ESAU, who FOR one morsel of food SOLD HIS BIRTHRIGHT. 17 FOR you know that AFTERWARD, WHEN he wanted to INHERIT THE BLESSING, HE WAS REJECTED, FOR HE FOUND NO PLACE FOR REPENTANCE, THOUGH HE SOUGHT IT DILIGENTLY WITH TEARS" (Hebrews 12:16,17 (NKJV).

- What is that thing that you had, which God deposited in you to work with and be what He wanted you to be in life?

- Beloved, If you got to know it, then your realization and fulfilment in life start.

- A lot of people are wasting away because they failed to realize what God has deposited in them.

- You have the Ability, passion and power, given you by God to do something well (Romans 12:6).

• Walk with God, in close communion or fellowship with God to discover It.

- In your walk with God, you discover what is it that He has deposited in You:

9 THAT is what the SCRIPTURES mean when they say, “NO EYE HAS SEEN, NO EAR HAS HEARD, AND NO MIND HAS IMAGINED WHAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” 10 BUT IT WAS TO US THAT GOD REVEALED THESE THINGS BY HIS SPIRIT. FOR HIS SPIRIT SEARCHES OUT EVERYTHING AND SHOWS US GOD'S DEEP SECRETS" (1 Corinthians 2:9,10 NLT).

- Those who reign or rule in the Kingdom are those who discover early what God has deposited in them.

- Without genuine relationship and fellowship with God, It may be difficult to discover God's plan for your life.

- Discovery is the mother of invention says someone. Until you discover you cannot recover.

• Discovery of Purpose comes via fellowship or communion.

- Fellowshipping with God gives you an access to hidden things of the Kingdom.

- If you are not serving God in Spirit and truth, you might not Access the things that God has in plan for you:

"GOD is Spirit, AND THOSE WHO WORSHIP HIM MUST WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH" (John 4:24 (NKJV).

- Regeneration connects you with God. Someone who is unregenerated cannot walk with God:

"BUT THE NATURAL [unbelieving] MAN does not accept the things [the teachings and revelations] OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD, FOR THEY ARE FOOLISHNESS [absurd and illogical] TO HIM; AND he is INCAPABLE of understanding THEM, BECAUSE THEY ARE SPIRITUALLY DISCERNED AND APPRECIATED, [and he is unqualified to judge spiritual matters]" (1 Corinthians 2:14 Amps.).

- Things given to us by God are known or revealed to us by the Spirit of God:

10 BUT WE KNOW ABOUT THESE THINGS BECAUSE GOD HAS SENT HIS SPIRIT TO TELL US, AND His Spirit SEARCHES out and SHOWS us all of GOD'S DEEPEST SECRETS. 11 NO one can really know what anyone else is thinking or what he is really like except that person himself. AND NO ONE CAN KNOW GOD'S THOUGHTS EXCEPT GOD'S OWN SPIRIT. 12 AND God has actually given us HIS SPIRIT (not the world’s spirit) TO TELL US ABOUT THE WONDERFUL FREE GIFTS OF GRACE AND BLESSING THAT GOD HAS GIVEN US" (1 Corinthians 2:10-12 the Living Bible).

• You have to be born of the Spirit to relate with God (John 3:5,6).

- Someone who is not born of the Spirit cannot relate and fellowship with God, as said earlier, thus, such cannot discover what, He, God, has in plan for him or her.

- You enter into or establish a relationship with God through rebirth, that is, being born-again through the Holy Spirit (John 3:3).

- As you relate and fellowship with God, His Spirit would begin to unfold or reveal to you, His plans concerning your life.

- Life becomes a burden when it is void of results and progress.

- Note: You would have to call on Him to let you know what He has in plan for you (Jeremiah 29:12-14).

- He Promises to listen to you. When you seek Him and you are willing to know; He would be found by you. If you searched and sought with all your heart, He would surely be found by you.

- Know that there is no cheap success in life. Faith walk is not cheap, you have to labour to enter into God's rest which He prepares for you. God's rest is the inheritance that he has for you, which you have to labour to enter (Hebrews 4:9-11).

• When you discovered purpose, God's plan for your life, and pursued it; you have entered the rest He prepared for you.

- Rest is found or discovered in the doing, or the pursuit, of whatever He wanted you to do.

- The labour and striving to enter that Rest, which is the aspect which many do not want to do, and that makes them victims and slaves of the false Prophets.

- You labour in God's Word and Prayer to discover God's plan and purpose for your life. In it you find Rest.

- In walking with God, you call; seek and search, before you find (Luke 11:9,10).

- Getting to know God, and be deeper in Him, and the knowing of His plans for your life, and other things that can enhance your spiritual growth are not cheap.

- You labour to get God, and to enter His REST.

• It is my prayer that you will discover Purpose and fulfil It in Jesus' name.

- Should there be any ailment in your body, receive your healing now in Jesus' name.

Peace!

[the-hot-zone]

anyways i don't think cloudy with a chance of meatballs is a magnum opus or anything but there's such a subtle theme of how everything you create from passion has value. so many of flint's inventions that were presented as failures earlier on the film end up contributing to the resolution. the tv on legs shows sam sparks's emergency broadcasts; the rat-birds save flint's life in the end; his spray-on shoes literally stop the machine; the flying car allows them to reach the machine; the monkey-thought translator allows flint and his dad to communicate in a meaningful, productive manner. in this way, these "failed" inventions solve multiple problems on multiple levels.

and then even with the FLDSMDFR (the food machine) that becomes the antagonist, this theme is present. it was flint's desire to please others, to misuse his inventions for others (the mayor most primarily), that caused the FLDSMDFR to go out of control. earlier in the film it was a wondrous invention: the jello for sam, the ice cream snow for that one dude's kid, that first cheeseburger rain that caused so much happiness. it was only when flint was manipulated to "be better" that things went wrong.

and i don't know, just something about the inherent value of the things you create from passion, the things that are created for you by you, are never failures. it's easy to want to create by someone else's definition of better, but the result is often destruction and the loss of your creativity. and only by realizing the value of the things you've created can you heal. so. yeah. the things you make have value because you made them. keep doing that even if you can't see this

[theandrogynousdragon]

A Collection of Headcanons About the Reach 

(version 2, because tumblr my beloathed deleted the entire fucking post when i tried to post it the first time gdi) @reachfolk come get your bread 

putting this under a read more because it is Long oof 

Medical Practices and Healing 

The Reachfolk have the most advanced nonmagical healing techniques of their contemporaries, which they teach to anyone who wishes to learn, as magical healers are always targeted during wars. 

Any Reachman knows to boil water before drinking, because casting a detect life spell at un-boiled water always turns up something. 

Surgical thread made of catgut or linen is soaked in alcohol or vinegar before using to ensure cleanliness. 

Sewing needles are made of rib bone or antler, because the curved bone makes it easier to stitch skin than a straight needle. 

If it is necessary to reuse surgical thread, it is always boiled in a water and alcohol solution to make sure there is no foreign blood or detritus on the thread before sewing someone else up. 

Bathing is important, and done as often as circumstances allow. 

Surgical blades are often shaped differently than cookware or daggers to avoid any mixing of which blade to use, and are stored in small clay jars filled with wound care alcohol. 

The alcohol used for wound care is made from potatoes and distilled at least twice. This alcohol is strictly not for drinking. (basically a type of vodka) 

Washing hands between patients is extremely important, or at the very least scrubbing one’s hands with a washcloth soaked in wound care alcohol if the water is not clean or readily available. 

A first aid kit, filled with surgical thread of linen or catgut, a jar of wound care alcohol, bandages, bruise paste, burn salve, surgical needles and blades, and thin metal rods of various size for splinting broken bones is an important (meticulously kept) part of any Reach warrior’s equipment. 

The Reachfolk know what CPR is, and how and when to use it. It’s generally known as “life’s breath” or “assisted breathing”, and has saved the lives of many warriors whose hearts began to fail as a result of being struck with lightning magic. (This is also erroneously seen as a form of necromancy by outsiders, which baffles the Reach because necromancy is very obvious when it’s being used, and doesn’t heal anything.) 

Reachfolk healers are always taught the nonmagical healing methods first, to both help them better understand human anatomy and to ensure they know what to do if and when their magic fails. 

The Reachfolk also practice blood transfusion, and have invented a spell to check if the potential donor’s blood is compatible with the person who will be receiving it. The equipment for a blood transfusion is simple: a thin horseshoe-shaped copper tube with hollow bone needles affixed to both ends for direct transfusion. Some southern-Reach-dwelling clans have begun experimenting with the use of frost-enchanted waterskins for the storing of blood over long distances, but it will be some time before this long-term storage method is perfected and introduced to the Reach as a whole. 

Textiles 

The Reachfolk use mainly wool and cotton in their clothes, with leather and furs for cloaks and armor. Linen is only used for undergarments, menstrual cloths, and surgical thread, as it is too breathable of a fabric to be useful in the often-cold, mountainous Reach. 

Reach-made wool is prized for its softness and warmth, because they blend lamb’s wool with rabbit hair from rabbits specially bred for exquisitely soft fur. Reachfolk wool is often soaked with vinegar during the dyeing process as well, making it even more soft. 

Dyes made in the Reach often reflect their surroundings: soft grays, warm browns, greens, and pale yellows are most common, with black, dark blue, purple, and bright orange being rare. A gray-blue dye was formerly used by Reachfolk devoted to Kyne, though this has understandably fallen out of favor after the sacking of Markarth and Karthwasten. 

Nettles are used to make an olive-green dye, goldenrod for a wide variety of browns, alder bark treated with iron for black and dark gray, nightshade and cabbage make a plummy red-purple, beets for a rare dusky pink, onion skins treated with iron or copper make an interesting mustard-green, blackberry leaves for soft gray. Modifiers, used to treat a color and ensure it doesn’t wash out, as well as alter the color profile, used in the Reach include: iron, copper, vinegar, dwemer metal, and salt. Copper and dwemer metal brighten yellows, oranges, reds, and greens. Vinegar and salt bring out purples and reds. Iron “saddens” a color by bringing out deeper cool tones. (Fun cursed fact: you can in fact use urine to modify fabric dye! Apparently it’s used to strip unwanted color from wool or cotton yarn. Wild.) 

Enchantments for clothing and armor are woven into the clothing as it’s made, and as such are more powerful and longer lasting than anything you can get with an enchanter’s table. 

Armor enchantments are fairly easy to replace; the armorer just removes the top layer of leather and shapes new leather to fit while adding the desired enchantment before stitching the new piece into the armor. 

Common enchantments for clothes are weatherproofing; waterproof boots, gloves and hoods, frost-resistant cloaks, and mold-resistant shirts and trousers are a must in the Reach. Undergarments and menstrual cloths are given a gentle odor-removing enchantment, as well as enchantments to stave off irritation and infection of one’s delicates. 

If an enchantment on an article of clothing needs to be renewed, a quick fix is embroidering a spell in the Reachfolk language into a seam. 

Gaining the ability to make and enchant one’s own clothes is an important milestone for young Reach children to attain. 

Water-resistant beaver fur is often used for lining boots and gloves. Deer, bear, and wolf fur is used in cloaks and hoods. Rabbit’s fur is used for children’s clothing as it’s very soft and warm (and unlikely to cause discomfort or itchiness on sensitive skin). Fox fur is used most often by priests or shamans in winter months. Furs that aren’t mixed with wool or cotton are often left undyed, because the Reachfolk consider it disrespectful to the animal to change the color of their natural camouflage. 

Diet and Cuisine 

Foods eaten in the Reach depend heavily on their surroundings, and as much of the animal is used that can be. 

Beaver is a common meat, as well as venison. Beaver fat is rendered for use in making candles, cooking, and is mixed with dried meat and beech nuts to make travel rations. 

Fish is also a staple meat to find at a Reachman’s table, and is often dried with salt into tasty, crunchy “chips” to eat on the road. The smallest fish are dried and eaten whole, bones and all. Dried fish is sometimes added to soups, as well. 

Sweets are made with honey or beet sugar, and a treat for children is acorn flatbread soaked in honey. Beet sugar candies are most often seen on holy days. Throat lozenges made with honey and mint are used as medicine for dry throats or when someone can’t keep food down. 

Bread is made with barley, acorns, and pine nuts, to make a loaf rich in nutrients with a distinct nutty flavor. (It does tend to be quite dense, however, which can be off-putting for those used to lighter fare.) 

Goat cheese and goat’s milk is a part of most breakfasts in the Reach, and soft goat cheese spread on toasted barley bread drizzled with honey is a nice lighter meal for the early morning. 

As far as alcohol goes, there’s ale made from barley for everyday drinks, a pale wine made from apples and snowberries liberally sweetened with honey and spiced with clove is drunk during celebrations, and a stiff dark beer thickened with roasted barley is for the chilly winter months. 

Greens and vegetables found in the Reachfolk diet include: dandelion, blackberry leaves, thistle, onions, garlic, leeks, the occasional turnip, parsnips, nettle, birch nuts, potatoes, and radishes and their greens. 

Willowbark, the inner bark of pine trees, and nettle are all used to make tea for colds or chest infections. 

Inner pine bark can also be stripped from trees and eaten as is, though it’s more of a “there’s literally nothing else around” type of food. It is rich in fiber, however, which is why it’s used in medicinal teas by the Reachfolk. 

Wheat is sometimes grown by southern-Reach-dwelling clans, though it’s mostly an export crop that they sell to merchants, as the Reachfolk don’t feel it gives as much energy as their own barley grains. (This is actually true, wheat is not as nutritious as barley is. The more you know.) 

You will never find a Reachman buying cane sugar from Elsweyr. That stuff is expensive, they have honey, and the pure sweetness without any other flavor is jarring to their palates. 

Preserves are made from snowberries, blackberries, apples, and cherries. Jazbay grapes are only rarely used, as the resulting jam tends to be quite runny. Spiced peach preserves are enjoyed in the southern Reach, and often traded quite valuably with their northern brethren. 

Small hand pies made with preserves folded into a square of potato bread dough and fried are a rare treat eaten on new year days, and are an especial favorite of those devoted to Sanguine. 

The Reachfolk do not often eat wild birds, as most of them are simply too small to warrant hunting for them, though hens are kept for their eggs and meat. Some Reachmen consider it sacrilege to eat crows, vultures, or other carrion birds, as these birds are seen as sacred to Nocturnal or Namira, depending on who you ask. Waterfowl such as ducks are eaten occasionally in the southern Reach. Owls will never be consumed by any member of a Reachfolk clan, as owls are sacred to the gods of the forest and used in augury, and they are rather bony birds that don’t have good flavor in any case. 

A winter staple in the Reach is a rich nutrient-dense soup, made of bone stock with a barley and potato base, whatever meat is at hand, parsnips, leek, and various spices, for a hearty soup that warms you right down to your bones (and sticks to them, lol). 

Boar are raised in more permanent settlements, and thin-sliced boar meat is stuffed into a split barley roll with greens to make a sandwich. 

Nomadic clans have been known to raise skeevers for meat, and wrap seared chunks of skeever in potato flatbread smeared with goat cheese. 

Nut butter made of beech nuts is often given to children, or eaten by people with missing teeth, as it’s a smooth protein-rich butter that’s easy to get down. 

Honey caramelized with goat butter, and mixed with nuts and dried blackberries, then left to harden and broken into pieces, is known as “Sanguine’s tree bark” and is a favorite sweet of children and adults alike. 

For those who follow Namira, sausage made from human meat and seasoned heavily with sage is a staple of their diet. Liver, lung, and heart are all organs consumed by Namira devotees. Ribs are basted in honey and spices and slow roasted over a fire for fall-off-the-bone tenderness. Namira devotees also collect the bones from their meals to give to Reachfolk necromancers, so there is always a steady supply of material for a necromancer to work with. 

Reachfolk food is calorie-rich and a great deal of it is portable, a necessity for people who both dwell in mountainous areas and who have to be ready to fight at a moment’s notice.

[zuko-always-lies]

i think they were going for iroh finally deciding to stop being subservient to the fire nation in the siege of the north, when zhao tries to, yknow, kill the moon, and then him finally deciding to actively fight against the fire nation when he broke out of prison, thinking zuko "lost his way" in book 3. then him retaking ba sing se was supposed to be his ultimate redeeming moment. however, this doesn't work well if this was what they were going for, because of course doing "one good thing" doesn't automatically redeem him, especially when he doesn't decide to do anything after the war other than profit from the people he once tried to conquer via his tea shop. it could also support him not having compassion for those he doesn't see, as i believe ultranos made a post about how his violent retaking of ba sing se could affect the people more directly and negatively than azula's coup did. thoughts?

So I don't see Iroh's actions in "The Siege of the North" being anything other than trying to stop Zhao from screwing absolutely everyone in the world over. Iroh has not decided to take a general stand against the Fire Nation there. Definitely, afterwards he goes back to hanging out and engaging in hedonism at a Fire Nation resort, and he only becomes a fugitive because of Ozai's orders. Even then, Iroh's reaction is to try to run and hide and live a life as a teashop owner rather than draw on his considerable resources to fight back. This decision to hide persists for the rest of Book 2.

When Azula begins her conquest of Ba Sing Se, Iroh seems to come to some sort of decision that he has to fight back against the Fire Nation, something he sticks to the rest of the series. Honestly, him helping Aang and Katara escape in "The Crossroads of Destiny" is his finest moment in the series.

Yet after that he regresses. He tries to point Zuko in the right direction, but implicit in what he tells Zuko is that Zuko should be the one to teach firebending to Aang and be the one to lead the Fire Nation into a new era, even though Iroh would be better suited for both these tasks. And it only gets worse from here.

You see, Iroh's big contribution toward "saving the world" is gathering the White Lotus to retake Ba Sing Se. On a surface level, that's a very reasonable objective(although the invention of airships probably greatly decreases Ba Sing Se's defensive value). But then Zuko and the Gaang show up, inform him of Ozai's plans, and beg for Iroh's help. At that point, there are several extremely critical military objectives which much be accomplished(in order of importance):

1. Stopping the Fire Nation airship fleet from killing millions of people

2. Defeating the Firelord

3. Defeating Azula and carrying out a coup in the Fire Nation.

All these objectives need to be accomplished in order to win the war. Failing to accomplish any one of them would result in pyrrhic victory at best. All of these objectives all more important than taking Ba Sing Se, and taking Ba Sing Se is pointless if you win the war through accomplishing all three. Iroh has access to five of the most powerful fighters in the world, so he has ample strength to throw behind any of these.

Yet he chooses to prioritize the conquest of Ba Sing Se beyond all reason. He lets Aang face Ozai alone, something which nearly results in Aang's death. He lets Sokka, Suki, and Toph take responsibility for stopping the airship fleet, even though only one of them is a bender, even though they could easily have failed, and Sokka and Toph nearly die as a result. Most importantly, Iroh sends Zuko and Katara into the lion's den alone, something which almost certainly would have resulted in Zuko and Katara being killed or captured by Azula, the imperial firebenders, and the Dai Li if Azula hadn't had her breakdown(and even breakdown Azula comes very close to defeating both of them). Why does Iroh act like?

Iroh: Sozin's Comet is arriving and our destinies are upon us. Aang will face the Fire Lord. (Cut to a close up of Iroh) When I was a boy, I had a vision that I would one day take Ba Sing Se. (Camera pans across the various members of the Gaang) Only now do I see that my destiny is to take it back from the Fire Nation so the Earth Kingdom can be free again.

...

Iroh: Goodbye, everyone. (Cut to a frontal shot of Iroh looking up at his nephew) Today, (he closes his eyes and lowers his head) destiny is our friend. (he opens his eyes and looks back up again) I know it.

It looks suspiciously like the "liberation" of Ba Sing Se is an ego trip primarily done to "fulfill" Iroh's "Destiny." Taking Ba Sing Se also allows Iroh and the White Lotus to ensure that King Kuai is restored to power, because I can't imagine anyone in the Earth Kingdom and Ba Sing Se actually wanting him back unless he was forcibly imposed from above.

Now, we turn to the question of damage to Ba Sing Se. This raises the question of why the White Lotus attacked Ba Sing Se during Sozin's Comet? The Fire Nation troops they are fighting are strongest then, and the uncontrolled and power-boasted firebending they wielded likely resulted in a lot of collateral damage. Well, I would say that we also get an explanation for that:

Iroh: Only once every hundred years can a firebender experience this kind of power.

So it's another part of Iroh's ego trip, allowing him to experience the exhilaration of fighting while Sozin's Comet boasts his power and allowing him to take the majority of the credit(and if you wonder why the other members of the White Lotus are OK with this, remember that three of the five known members are deeply questionable in their own ways).

Ultimately, the White Lotus's pointless "liberation" of Ba Sing Se likely resulted in widespread destruction in the city. "Dragon of the West" Iroh joked about burning Ba Sing Se to the ground; "redeemed" Iroh's ego trip to "liberate" the city during Sozin's Comet probably resulted in large portions of Ba Sing Se burning to the ground.

So, I don't think Iroh's "one good act" was actually that good an act. This was not the intention of the writers, but the way they wrote Iroh behaving contains so many disturbing implications, and this is probably true in "Sozin's Comet" more than anywhere else.

Edit: I didn’t make this clear, but I’m sure Iroh rationalized his actions as being the “right thing to do” and the “the only possible course of action.” He’s very good a rationalizing his failures and flaws.

Fun fact: Friedrich Paulus actually ended up defecting to the Allied cause after being captured at Stalingrad. In terms of German World War II generals, he seems to have his hands relatively clean and as far as I know was never accused of war crimes. Yet I don't see taking over managing a tea shop in the city he destroyed after the war.

[therealvinelle]

Hi you mentioned "she’s so deep in her sparkly folie à deux with Edward (which is a whole separate meta) that she never will." in one of your metas, can you expand on this

If you knew how much I laughed upon receiving this.

I'm used to people confusing me for @thecarnivorousmuffinmeta and the other way around, but being confused for @troquantary is new. Congratulations, Troquantary, you get to join the club. Or possibly you've been assimilated.

We're living the plot of American Psycho. (Since this clip shows it but doesn't explain it - the yuppies in Bateman's friend circle are all so interchangeable that no one knows who's who anymore. This leads to Bateman getting away with murder, because not only did his murder victim not know who he was and therefore log his dinner appointment as with another person, but Bateman has an alibi because several other people are convinced they had dinner with him that day. Bateman tries to confess, fails because the guy he's confessing to thinks he's someone else. The police then conclude that the murder victim is alive and well, because people insist they've had dinner with him. That's the life the Muffin and I, and now Troquantary, are living on this website.)

Right, so, to answer the actual question here.

Rosesformygrave is referring to this post.

Since troquantary isn't the Muffin, I can't know for sure what she meant by Edward and Bella's folie à deux, but her and I appear to see eye to eye on this so I can make an educated guess.

Edward and Bella both have a laundry list of issues that lead to these two people throwing themselves into their relationship the way they do. Bella has her crippling self-esteem and depression, and Edward offers a quick fix to all that. He gives her a self-worth. Edward, meanwhile, there's a lot of unwritten meta on him but basically everything is wrong with that lad. This extends to his relationship with Bella.

I can’t stress this enough - Bella and Edward are very different people who are getting very different things out of their relationship with one another. Bella gets a reason to enjoy life and a chance (by chance I mean vampirism) to better herself, and Edward gets to... the briefest, nutshelliest way possible I can express it is that he gets to be the person he wants to be around her. These people ignite the most vulnerable and needing parts of each other, and as a result you get this fatal, epic, none-may-tear-us-apart bond.

Therein lies the folie à deux.

A friend of mine told me a story about a family who suffered from this. Parents and I think two children. They were perfectly ordinary in every way, they had jobs and made productive members of society, but for the conviction they shared that one of their walls was radioactive and could kill them all. I think (it’s been years since he told me this story) they believed either aliens or the government had made that wall dangerous. Either way there was a whole, complex origin story, and they were very matter-of-fact about this, gave my friend (who was a doctor doing a home visit) protective gear, and carried on with their day.

Folie à deux, in short, is when several people share a delusion. Such as “aliens made this wall dangerous, if we don’t wear protective gear it might kill us”.

Now, Bella and Edward aren’t that far gone, but over the course of the series we see them construct this narrative around themselves, one of epic lovers. Just like the literary classics it so happens they both romanticise - they’re right up there with Tristan and Isolde, Romeo and Juliet, Cathy and Heathcliff. No one has ever loved like them.

They end up being not immediately noticeable as unusual - I saw a lovely quote the other day, “do all lovers think they’re inventing something?” - but still something... other. They’re both extreme people in their own right, and as they’ve found in each other the perfect balm and ultimate high, so it must follow that this is the greatest, most exquisite love that ever was. And we get this obsessive behavior centered on being in desperate love with each other, a bubble shared by these two people who barely know and don’t truly love each other.