#(but they were of love for the things he enjoyed and incidentally for the people he loved)

[fictionadventurer]

It's a little-known fact that the actual reason Tolkien objected to the presence of Father Christmas in Narnia was that his children had been receiving letters from the real Father Christmas for years, and he was nothing like that.

#lol #anyway it's almost time to reread #letters from father christmas #(tolkien's true labor of love) #(lotr and the silmarillion both were labors of love of course) #(but they were of love for the things he enjoyed and incidentally for the people he loved) #(while this was mostly for love of his children and incidentally about the things he loved) #(but really what could be a better fit for tolkien than father christmas?) #(a figure of northern mythology who works with elves and turns his powers toward the glorification of the christ child) #(that is tolkien's entire oevre contained in one person) #the chronicles of narnia #tolkien #c.s. lewis

[mangoshorthand]

ugh, ok listen. its stupid and cheesy and overplayed but i love the caught under the mistletoe trope. its stupidly corny and as annoying as christmas is, my dumb ass falls for it everytime. you’re my favourite writer for five, and if you could write something for this (or hit me with a bat to improve my taste) that’d be rlly cool. if not, dw and happy holidays.

Stupid, cheesy and overplayed? You just described my entire body of work! I've struggled writing for a while so I hope people enjoy this. Merry Christmas, weirdos x

Twelve Feet Away From the Mistletoe | Five Hargreeves / F Reader 2.8k words

Viktor was a friend of a friend who gradually became your own. 

He was supportive when you lost your job in September, and was even more practical help when you lost your apartment around Halloween. 

“There are like forty spare bedrooms. Technically I can do what I like with six of those since I own a seventh of the house. Plus you wouldn’t get in anyone’s way. There’s like…so much room. 

“Viktor, that’s kind but I’ll be fine. My parents say -”

“Don’t your parents live outside the city?” he interrupted, “I think it would be easier to find work if you’re here.”

“Yeah, it would, but I can’t pay any rent.”

“I don’t want rent. Stay a few months. Be my guest. I could use someone to help me deal with my crazy family anyway. It’s weird being back in that house.”

And so, you’d accepted. It was hard to refuse Viktor anything. 

‘Crazy’ was one word to describe his family. ‘Volatile’, ‘noisy’ and ‘infuriating’ were some others. 

And none were more infuriating than Number Five. 

You met him the first night you stayed, while Viktor was thrashing you at pool as the pair of you got gradually drunker on Moscow Mules. You weren’t really enjoying the game, but you were enjoying hanging out with him, and you’d just mis-cued spectacularly as Five entered the room.

The first thing you noticed was his scowl. The second, third, fourth and fifth thing you noticed was his looks. 

Dark. Pale. Jaw a razor lined angle, nose long and imperious. He moved with quick, confident grace as he crossed the room. It was as if every thread of carpet his shoes touched had been waiting until that moment, just to pave his way, and now all other treads to come would be incidental to the floor’s true purpose. Hands thrust self-assuredly in his pockets, he seemed to look down on you as if from a great height, although he was barely an inch taller. 

Cold green eyes looked you up and down.  

He cut a fine figure, but an arrogant one. Despite his looks, your overriding impression was only of rudeness, so you met the challenge of his gaze unflinchingly. 

After a moment surveying you, he turned to Viktor.

“Luther’s looking for you.”

“Why?” Viktor asked.

“No idea. I’m not your secretary.”

As Five’s gaze shifted back to you, Viktor took the hint and introduced you.

“She’s a friend of mine,” he said, by way of explanation, “she’s lost her apartment so she’ll be staying for a while.”

Five sighed at this, shaking his head at you with a dark chuckle.

“Is there a problem?” you asked, politely. 

“No. No problem,” he said, though his tone making it clear that there was, “It’s only that I’ve seen this play out a dozen times: my brother has a habit of picking up waifs and strays.”

“Don’t be dickhead,” Viktor murmured.

Five shrugged, smirking.

“Letting me stay for a few weeks because we’re friends is hardly ‘picking me up’, you said, bristling, “I’m sure Viktor will ask for your opinion when he wants it.”

Five smiled that infuriating, sarcastic smile of his. Even then, when you were angry with him, looking into his eyes was an experience you noticed for the way it made your heart beat.

“I guess I’m just a little protective,” Five said, delicately, “I know how susceptible he is to a sob story."

He looked at you insolently for a beat longer before addressing his next words to Viktor.

"Don’t let her take advantage of you.”

“Come on, Five,” said Viktor, almost wearily, “I can decide who’s taking advantage for myself.”

Five scoffed, at this, expressing doubt as clearly as if he'd spoken it.

Stinging with the injustice of Five’s snap judgment and his infantilization of his brother, you ground your teeth. You knew Viktor had a tough time as ‘Number Seven’ (always being told he wasn’t good enough), and for a moment you thought you could see that in Five’s treatment of him.

“Your brother’s a grown man. So why don’t you fuck off and go back to torturing small mammals, planning your next school shooting or whatever your We Need to Talk About Kevin - looking ass likes to do?”

Five looked back at you, in slight surprise, studying your angry face. After a short moment, he gave a tiny shrug and made a small noise of assent.

Then, looking back at Viktor:

“Do you want Thai food later?”

When he was gone, Viktor assured you that you’d just made as good an impression as it was possible to make. 

You doubted this, however. Five rarely spoke to you beyond a good morning and a good night. He was polite, but nevertheless guarded. 

It was strange, on the few occasions he had deigned to strike up a conversation with you, he took two routes: he'd either draw you out for no reason other than to challenge you on your opinions, or else ask odd combinations of questions. There was nothing odd in themselves, but in aggregate they felt...strategic. He asked what you liked to do, whether you lived with a roommate or partner in your last place, how you and Viktor met, how well you knew each other…the list went on. 

Perhaps he was still scrutinizing you, ensuring that you weren’t trying to use his brother in any way. 

It stung to feel that he still suspected you when you’d done nothing but accept a friend’s offer of help, but you were soon able to put it from your mind in the wake of the enjoyment you got from staying there and hanging out with the rest of Viktor’s family. Over the few weeks you were there, you indulged Luther, chatted animatedly with Diego, and laughed with Klaus and Lila. 

But still, and despite his polite superciliousness, only the oldest brother drew your eye as soon as he entered any room.

He unnerved as well as attracted you. Sometimes, you thought you caught him watching you, peering over whatever book he was reading with a steady look of contemplation. As soon as you noticed it, however, you concluded it was probably just absent-mindedness: you found him staring into space or at one of siblings just as often. 

You found a new job by mid-November, but Viktor persuaded you to wait for your first month’s paycheck to come in before you put down a deposit on a new place, so when it came to your last night staying with them there were half-assed string lights and tinsel hung haphazardly around Hargreeves manor. 

Those on the tree and the fire crackling in the grate were the living room’s only light. In the flickering, warm glow, even Luther’s piss-poor attempt at decoration looked passable.

With Christmas music playing softly in the background, the booze had been flowing. Ill-advised mulled wine followed ill-advised eggnog followed ill-advised mimosas, leading Luther and Sloane to already stagger off to bed.

Sprawled on one of the couches, Viktor leaned towards you, lowering his voice so as not to be heard over the noise of Klaus and Diego arguing over who had most right to the final gingerbread man. 

“I'll miss you, but at least when you're gone Five's crush might calm down."

“What?” you asked, too quickly to pass off as true ignorance.

“Come on, he’s been staring at you for the past three weeks.” Viktor smiled, teasing in his tipsiness, I’ve never seen him like this,” he added, fondly.

“Yeah, whatever.” you said, brushing this off with a roll of your eyes, “If he’s been staring at me, it’s probably only because I piss him off more than anyone else in the room.”

“We all piss him off.” Viktor said, reasonably, “Everyone he likes pisses him off.”

You looked at him doubtfully.

“Pretty weird way to be.”

Viktor shrugged.

“Well, he's definitely interested. The other day he asked if there was anything between you and me. Why else would he ask me that?"

You looked at Five covertly from the corner of your eye.

“Probably just checking I’m not some gold-digger moving in on that sweet sweet Hargreeves dough.”

“I don’t think he cares about the Hargreeves dough,” Viktor replied. 

“Yeah, well,” you murmured, hoping that this would be the end of the conversation. 

But Viktor didn’t oblige you in this. The drink was making him uncharacteristically tenacious.

“He’s into you. I’m sure of it. So you don’t like him?”

You sighed deeply, your own mild intoxication making it harder to bullshit him.

“I’m not saying he isn’t hot,” (Viktor visibly cringed at this remark), “but why would I be into someone who looks at me like I’m a problem?”

“I think that’s just his face,” Viktor said, more uncertain now, “but I hear you.”

The conversation moved on, and you chatted with the family lazily as, one by one they all filtered off to bed. Soon, it was just you, Five and Viktor who, when you turned to look at him after Klaus’s departure, had fallen asleep on the couch. 

Five caught sight of this and let out a small laughing breath. At the sound, you caught his eye and smiled, sharing the moment of humor.

At this reception, he got slowly up from his armchair and moved over to your couch. His usually confident movements were smaller than usual. If you didn’t know better, you might have thought he was uncertain in this approach. 

“Too much eggnog,” you said, as he sat down, nodding at his snoring brother.

“Mhm.” Five agreed, “There’s not much of him and he’s no drinker.”

You fell back into silence. He was only a few inches from you now, and it was awkward; strangely awkward. you were just thinking how best to excuse yourself and whether you should wake Viktor, when Five spoke again. 

“So, you’re moving into your new place tomorrow?”

You cleared your throat. There should be nothing uncomfortable about this. This was just small-talk with your friend’s brother.

...Your friend's brother who apparently hated your guts yet had also appeared in your dreams virtually every night since you met him in varying states of undress.

Pulling yourself together, you turned to face him with a passable impression of ease. 

“Yeah. I’m all packed. The moving van will be here around 11.”

“Hm,” Five said.

It was a single syllable, yet its ambiguity in tone made you look at him more closely.

He noticed.

“Will you decorate the new place for christmas?” he asked, quickly.

“Probably not,” you said, trying to keep your tone conversational, “my parents are away this year so I’ll be doing Christmas alone. There’s no point in unpacking it all just to put it away again in a few days.”

Giving himself thinking time, Five shifted, letting out a little sigh as he repositioned himself. Holding his glass of whisky on his knee, he leaned back, resting his head against the couch cushions and watching you from beneath the dark hair now falling over his eyes. 

“That seems a shame,” he said, finally.

You shrugged, mirroring him unconsciously, leaning back against the cushions so that your faces were just over a foot apart

“There’s always next year.”

“You’d be welcome here.” he said, seriously, “It was nice having you for Thanksgiving.”

“I’d never assume Viktor would invite me.”

“But I’m inviting you.”

You looked at him with a confused expression, which he interpreted correctly:

“What? Is it too much to imagine I want you to be there?”

'Yes', you wanted to say.

“You called me a deluded hippy at Thanksgiving.”

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing. You’re a progressive…an idealistic progressive.” 

He smiled, and your eyes flicked uncontrollably down to his lips. 

“And I only said that because you called me a fascist,” he continued, unaware of your unruly gaze flicking guiltily away from his mouth, “I know you weren’t being serious, but I don’t take that sort of accusation lightly.”

He responded to the question posed by your expression:

“I spent a lot of time in 1930s Munich. Not nice.”

You stole another glance at him and caught his grim face; handsome features clouded by too many dark memories.  

“I’m sorry,” you said, more softly than you’d ever spoken to him before. 

“Don’t worry about it,” he replied, “I guess I’ve not given you the best impression.”

“No,” you said, disclaiming the idea unconvincingly, “it’s not exactly that…”

He raised an eyebrow skeptically, and you chuckled slightly.

“Well, I got the impression you wouldn’t like me to come to another family celebration, anyway.”

“And now I want to correct that impression.” he said, seriously, “I’d like to spend christmas with you. With all of us, I mean.”

You’d been looking into his eyes for too long now, fine lashes framing them, his pupils blown in the low light. Somehow, those eyes always gave you the impression you were being assessed.

…And for the first time, it occurred to you that perhaps you were being assessed: just not in the way you’d assumed.

You blinked and looked down, though you didn’t move your head from beside his.

“Thanks Five,” you replied, after a silence of seconds that felt like minutes. “I’d like that.” 

He smiled again, the corners of his mouth just twitching. It was as if he was trying to conceal just how much you accepting his invitation meant, but the lines around his eyes betrayed him. As you smiled in return, he couldn’t contain it further, and those gorgeous lips broke into a genuine, unrestrained smile.

And somehow, over the course of the conversation, your heads had shifted to a distance of no more than six inches apart.

You could feel his exhales on your cheeks. 

“I heard you and Viktor talking tonight.” he said, voice low, “He’s right about me.”

You felt the heat rising in your cheeks as he continued.

“I don’t think you’re a problem. Far from it, actually.”

“Oh,” you said. It was all you could say as he inched ever closer to you. 

You could have counted each of his eyelashes.

“And I also know that you think I’m hot,” he said, emphasizing the word with the ghost of his usual shit-eating grin back in his eyes, “so why not take the opportunity of being under the mistletoe and kiss me?”

You looked up to where he’d indicated. Across the room, above the fireplace, there was indeed a bunch of felt mistletoe, tied with a red, velvet bow: exactly the sort of decoration Luther would buy. 

“But we’re not under the mistletoe,” you said, hoping to give your racing mind and beating heart some time to take stock of this, “it’s twelve feet away.”

Five’s eyebrows twitched, and he looked quickly from you to the mistletoe and back again.

“Let me fix that,” he said, and suddenly your upper arms were caught in his grip.

Air crushed in on you as you both disappeared in a flash of blue, and then rushed away as you rematerialized beside the fireplace, mistletoe hanging overheard. You swayed from the surprise of unexpected teleportation, holding onto Five’s lapels for dear life as you tried to stay upright.

But his arms were around you, strong and solid. And his mouth was on yours, soft and yielding. You breathed his breath; tasted the sweet burn of scotch on his lips and felt yourself kissing him back, responding to a careful passion that you could sense might go further but for his self-restraint. 

His hands left your arms and came to cup your jaw, rising gooseflesh following the path of his fingers at the nape of your neck. You shivered at the sensation and deepened the kiss, your fingers automatically starting to gently tug into his soft, eucalyptus-smelling hair.

He made a low, appreciative sound against your lips but then, perhaps conscious of his brother sleeping on the couch, broke the kiss and stepped away.

You could do nothing but stand there: surprised, dazed, yet anxious to recapture his lips. The kiss had felt like one, shining, crystalline moment as it happened, but now it had already retreated too far over the horizon for you to stay satisfied.

You opened your mouth to say…you didn’t know what, but, grinning his infuriating grin, he held up a single finger to silence you.

“I'll see you on Christmas Eve. Stay a couple of nights.”

You nodded, mutely.

“It’s forecast to be cold though, so if you get cold in one of the spare bedrooms you could always-”

Now it was your turn to hold up a finger and silence him:

“Don’t ruin this with a crappy pickup line.”

He nodded sagely.

“Noted.” 

And with a small wink, he vanished in another of those blue flashes. 

Read part 2 >>

Request masterlist >> HERE

Tag list: (please comment to be added or removed): @thebearmage, @nevbrooke-555, @fiannee

NOTE: I take Five requests, I'm fairly versatile in what I write (fluff, smut, angst, psychological character study- I'll try it all) but I will consider them on a case by case basis. See masterlist for request status and more.

#the umbrella academy #the umbrella academy imagine #umbrella academy x reader #the umbrella academy five #umbrella academy number five #umbrella academy five x reader #umbrella academy five x you #five hargreaves x you #five hargreaves x reader #number five imagine #five hargreeves imagine #number 5 imagine #number 5 x reader #number five x you

[gilverrwrites]

Castiel NSFW Headcanons

Pairing: Castiel / GN!Reader

Rating: M/18+

Please remember: to give yourself time to rest.

Warning: Very brief mention of non/dub-con. Cas is kinda pervy and I love that for him.

Wants to and will deliver the most excellent and diligent aftercare, but you have to be vocal and specific about it. Communication is good, tell him what you need, and he will do it, everytime.

Actually prefers receiving oral over giving. Don’t get it twisted, he thoroughly enjoys the effect it has on you, and will do it over and over for you, but it’s a sensory thing. There’s just so many particles, and molecules on his tongue, it can be overwhelming.

Incidentally like A++ when it comes to dirty talk. He doesn’t really have a filter so he will have no problem telling you what he likes, how he’s feeling. Will check on you aften.

Does that feel good? Do you enjoy when I touch you like this? You look so beautiful when you cum for me. I love the way you feel around me.

However, until/unless you teach him the slang terms and how to use them, he will refer to most body parts by their anatomical names.

Is a top, but is very open to experimentation. Is happy to and enjoys bottoming/being pegged.

A switch, with predominately dom tendances.

Taking charge comes easily to him, and he can be very impatient/intolerant of having his orders disobeyed. Bratty behavior can be fun for him, if you’re into that sort of thing, but prefers service subs who will do as told and do it well. But does not like to be the boss all the time. He likes it when you top him, especially for slow, sensual sex.  If you’re more experienced than him and can show him new positions or foreplay.

On the subject of positions, top 3: Face-off, cowgirl, and seashell.

Art by Emily Schiff-Slater

Will ask/scold you to keep your eyes open and look at him frequently. Really enjoys watching your expressions/reactions, particularly your eyes.

Doesn’t like to restrain you with ropes and the likes, but does like using his body and/or his grace to pin you down and have his way with you.

Let him hold you down, get nice and deep inside, then look up at him with glazed eyes and let out a whimper; he may just cum on the spot.

Can and will go for hours if you let him, stamina is not an issue for him.

Especially for cock-warming. On the rare occasion he has downtime, he will happily spend all day with you on his lap, cock inside you just idly chatting, examining and teasing you as you gradually get more wound up and needy for him.

His wings and the space around their base (in between the shoulder blades) are highly sensitive. Just the brush of your finger is enough to get him riled up.

You have to inform him that it’s found upon to discuss your sex life unprompted with other people. Unless that doesn’t bother you.

Dean: Where the hell were you man?!? We’ve been prayin’! Cas: I heard you. I was busy engaging in coitus with [name]. ____ Sam: Cas I’m trying to explain something here, what is so important on your phone? Cas: [name] has sent me a photograph of their [redacted], I am uncertain of the best way to respond.

Does not particularly like sexting, as he finds it hard to concisely convey his thoughts through text. BUT he does get a thrill out of seeing and having your nudes be so easily accessible and for his eyes only.

Seldom masturbates but does watch a lot of porn. It’s for “research” in “understanding humans”. Totally not for inspiration.

If you suggest making your own DIY porn, he will jump on it. There may be some technical teething issues, but he is determined not to let that stop you. Would film it from the nightstand of something, not POV as he still wants to get lost in the moment and not have to worry about filming you from just the right angle.

Secretly a voyeur. Prior to any sexual/romantic relationship he may have ‘accidentally’ popped up and caught a glimpse (or more) of you, or his other human acquaintances getting their rocks of (be they alone, or with other people). During any relationship he likes watching you touch yourself, sometimes he’ll ask you to let loose and do it however you like, sometimes he prefers a more guided approach. So, telling you, where to touch, how much pressure, if and when you can reach your climax.

And of course, frottage/thigh riding. Watching you grind on him, per instruction, until you cum makes him giddy.

Very much enjoys a good cream pie. Typically, he’s not really into (his own) cum, it’s sticky and messy. But he cannot deny the rush of pride he feels when he see’s his own cum seeping out of you.  

Is often commando, it just feels more freeing, and allows for easer access. Yes he could just use his angel mojo, but there’s something more fun and a little sordid about doing it himself, or better yet, having undress him.

Same goes for you. He prefers stripping you by hand. It allows him more time to touch you, to feel your soft skin under his, to tease all the points of you that he knows makes you squirm.

#supernatural imagine #supernatural reader insert #supernatural headcanons #spn headcanon #castiel #castiel x reader #castiel smut #gilverrwrites

[heartsteellerr]

How they comfort you during a scandal

Request; Hi! I see that you’re requests are open! Can I get a reaction of Heartsteel member’s s/o feeling insecure about dating a celebrity, seeing false dating rumors about the members they are dating and just generally worried about idol scandal stuff because of them? how would the member comfort them about it? A/N ✎: Hi nonnie!! Sorry this request was taking FOREVER for me to do but 🙏 I got some of it done! I decided to split the request into parts for (partly) MY SAKE cos lately i've been busy and I didn't exactly want to prolong it, and also because I didn't want the post to be that long?? So hopefully you're fine with that! Enjoy! Content; Hurt/Comfort, leaning more towards hurt Warnings; GN reader, reader isn't an idol Characters; Ezreal and Kayn

It's honestly on him for not being discreet about your relationship, or 'the' relationship that no one knew about (aside from the other Heartsteel members) until a photo leaked of him with someone. He didn't seem to mind it though, brushing it off as something that'll soon blow over eventually with the media news. But you on the other hand, did in fact mind it ⎯ more than him actually. As you weren't a famous, sensational popstar like he was or had any social status within the media, you were just... Someone standing beside him, and that sort of mindset grew onto you the more you looked into the false dating rumors circulating around him. Seeing the pictures of numerous celebrities that people speculated were in the photo with him and then comparing yourself to them, or the way some fans were picking apart the 'mysterious partner' as someone not worthy of being with their bias, or⎯ but then your phone gets snatched right out of your hand. Taken and tossed aside as he held you in his arms.

Ezreal

He'd be pissed at himself for being so careless and even more pissed at seeing you degrade yourself when he loves you so. No words can properly explain how he feels in that moment, or how he wants to convey that he was a big giant idiot for not taking your feelings into account ⎯ but with the way he held onto you, unmoving and refusing to let go so you wouldn't be able to see his face, it's clear how much he regrets putting you in this position.

In a way, it's almost laughable to him how you'd think of yourself as unworthy of him when that's how he feels when he's with you. Idol or not, you can easily express yourself without a care of the media attacking or slandering you for your comments, or the way you dress comfortably for yourself and no one else, even the littlest details about you were so... loveable to him, that he does find himself to be a bit envious of you sometimes.

How he chooses to handle the scandal will depend on what you also want him to do; ideally he'd want to make it public that he's taken but won't (ever) be revealing his partner's identity for personal reasons (obviously) and would make a serious comment that the public and his fans shouldn't dictate who he dates ⎯ it's for him to decide, and the person he chose is you.

Kayn

He's an idiot. He'll say it out loud and not-so proud for the whole world and even the media to hear because truly, thats who he is. He really didn't see that this whole thing would blow up in his face, especially when he was so in the moment of loving you to even notice the backlash he'll be getting ⎯ which, incidentally, was totally and completely on his part. But could you really fault him for it? Somewhat. BUT in his defence it genuinely felt that way, like being with you for hours when it only felt like minutes for him.

He'd say something like how you made him feel like a normal human being instead of a freak, or an idol put on a pedestal by his fan ⎯ and even though it was good at first, it limits so much things he wants to do. An easy example: Loving you.

Again (like Ezreal) when he makes his statement to the public it also includes what you want him to do with your relationship; he can come out public with it or keep it under wraps, saying everything was false, all while making sure his anger was very present ⎯ because for one, how dare they butt into his business and two, for making you think so lowly of yourself.

#heartsteel x reader #ezreal x reader #kayn x reader

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Mlekragg

Unsurprisingly, multiple people read the entry and immediately clocked what this was. (Thank you for not actually making a guess in text, so that people who don't recognize it are able to work without that preconception.) I didn't want to leave it out, because the mythological ones are fun, but unlike some of the others, the modern conception of this beast is pretty much exactly what the bestiary says.

Anyway, as always, if you don't know what I'm talking about, you can find an explanation for this whole thing at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. If you want to join in, the new entry for each week is tagged with "maniculum bestiaryposting" so it should be findable. This week's entry can be reviewed here:

Below the cut you will find the drawings responding to it, in roughly chronological order:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) decided to branch out in an unusual direction with this one, in order to avoid drawing the creature they'd identified from the entry and also have some fun with it. I just think this is some quality creature design. Love the mask-thing, love the springy tail, and that's a really good rendering of a cuttlefish face IMHO. There's a really interesting explanation for all of these features, what inspired them and how it all works together, in the linked post, which you should go read.

@moonygryffin (link to post here) took a more direct approach, with the twist that the creature here is modeled on American fauna rather than ones the medieval Europeans would have been aware of. The body is a mountain lion, and the man-like head is a golden-headed lion tamarin, which of course comes with its own mane. I enjoy the choice to not use a lion lion, but rather two animals with "lion" in their name; also I've always thought lion tamarins were very cool-looking. For more details -- and an example of an attempt by MoonyGryffin to draw the same creature several years ago -- see the linked post. (Also thank you for providing alt text.)

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) has made an attempt to take the entry literally without drawing the creature she has recognized, which is a challenge considering how specific the description is. I think the decision to give it flea legs to help with that exceptional jumping is clever. SweetlyFez describes the result as an "awful creature" and... honestly I can't argue, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near one of these. In fact I think I'm going to wrap up this commentary and scroll down so I don't keep making eye contact with it.

@pomrania has also decided to go the route of "let's get weird with it", and avoided the literal interpretation by re-analyzing the word "has". This is similar to that style of joke one hears now and then -- you know, "he has the heart of a poet... he keeps it in a jar at home." (Incidentally, props to Mary Shelley for being perhaps the only person who could make that claim and not be kidding.) So this creature has the face of a man and the body of a lion, not in the sense that it was born with them, but in the sense that it keeps them as possessions. Very clever, and the underlying creature design is also fantastically creepy in my opinion.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) mentions that she didn't recognize the description, and has given us this really cool-looking, rather menacing creature in their excellent medieval style. (This is why I insist on not naming the beasts even when it seems clear what it is -- this amazing piece of art might have looked entirely different if someone posted a spoiler.) I'm really struck by how it simultaneously looks like a patchwork sort of creature (different front & back legs, etc.) but all flows together into a cohesive whole. Just really well done, I think. (Also, thank you for including alt text.)

@cheapsweets (link to post here) has drawn the creature mid-leap, showing off its jumping prowess by shooting straight up into the air. I think this drawing does a very good job at combining human and lion anatomy to make something unsettling -- and the inclusion of the skull diagram up in the top left points to the amount of thought that went into this. As always, please check out the linked post for a detailed discussion of the design. (Also, thank you for including alt text.)

@strixcattus (link to post here) has drawn one that's oddly cute, and looks a bit worried. However, according to the description they've written in the linked post, this reaction on my part is probably going to get me killed, because apparently they're still quite vicious. I like it, though -- and, as always, I urge you to go read the linked post for this one.

On to the Aberdeen Bestiary... oh, we can't, actually. This is another missing page. So here's the illustration from the Ashmole Bestiary instead:

So, first of all, this is indeed the manticore, and I'm sure most if not all of the people who said they had guessed it got that correct.

Second, we can also note that all the artists who said something along the lines of "well we know about the issues of drawing medieval scorpions, so the scorpion-tail description doesn't need to be literal" were also correct there. Apparently this time a scorpion tail is just spiky all over, which I have to admit does look kinda cool.

Now let's address the elephant in the room. WHAT is that thing on its HEAD? My best guess is that it's meant to be a crown -- medieval art often sticks hats on nonhuman creatures with human faces, almost as if the artist wants to make sure you know it looks like a human head on purpose. I don't see crowns that often, though; usually it's just a cloth hat. (The one in Bodley MS 764, where I got the text for this entry, is clearly wearing a Phrygian cap.) I find myself unable to see it as anything but a daring hairstyle that is absolutely not working for it, though.

Anyway. The manticore is an odd one in its continuity here -- a lot of the mythical creatures in the bestiary have been changed, reinterpreted, or forgotten in the intervening centuries. I think maybe the manticore happens to have hit that sweet spot where it's popular enough that people remember it, but not so popular that it gets excessively telephoned through widespread transmission. I think a couple people noted that the Standard Fantasy manticore is more or less spot on to this description, and indeed, I can only think of one change:

(Art from the Magic: the Gathering card "Crimson Manticore", artist Daniel Gelon)

At some point, those bastards got wings. It's not universal at this time, but if you do an image search for "manticore", the majority of the modern ones are winged. I'm not really sure where that came from.

(Side note: I tested this by doing a Google image search, and one of the top results was a particularly odd-looking image, so I clicked on it out of curiosity. It was at the top of an... article? on a webpage I'd never heard of, and the opening of said article included the sentence, "In medieval bestiaries and art, the manticore was depicted with unique features such as paws, teeth, and fur." You don't say there, bud.)

Interestingly, the D&D manticore is slightly different from the description in an additional way.

Instead of a scorpion tail, it has a tail covered in spines. This has apparently been part of the D&D manticore since the beginning -- the above image is from 2e, but the 1e version had the same tail. (I just didn't use it because it's not as clear in the picture.)

Now, scroll back up to that Ashmole Bestiary image. The one where the tail doesn't really look anything like a scorpion's. Looks... similar to this in broad concept.

I doubt that Gygax or Arneson or whoever designed that aspect of their manticore after one bestiary image, so I popped over to bestiary.ca to see what else was out there. Out of the 38 medieval manticore images collected on that website, there are only two with a tail covered in spikes: the Ashmole manticore and one other that's clearly just a less-skilled artist working from the same image (it also has the same hat). Looking at the text sources, though:

"...it has a tail like a land scorpion, in which there is a sting; it darts forth the spines with which it is covered instead of hair..." -- Aristotle, De animalibus

"To the end of its tail is attached the sting of a scorpion, and this might be over a cubit in length; and the tail has stings at intervals on either side." -- Aelianus, On the Characteristics of Animals

Okay, that's the D&D version, mystery solved. New question: is it a coincidence that the Ashmole illustration fits Aelianus's description? Remember, the page is missing from the Aberdeen bestiary and the Ashmole bestiary isn't translated. The text comes from Bodley MS 764, which does not have a spiky-tailed manticore. My Latin is terrible and I'm untrained in palaeography, so I can't tell whether the entry there preserves the spiky description.

If any palaeographers out there want to solve this one for me, it's Bodleian MS Ashmole 1511, f.22v-23r, available digitally here. (I'll put some screenshots below, but I expect it's easier to zoom properly on the library's digitized manuscript.)

Okay, that's all I've got. Enjoy your week everyone.

#maniculum bestiaryposting #mlekragg

[devils-dares]

hi bee, congrats again! can i get #13 from rivals to lovers with matty? make it angsty >:)

#13 - "No, stop saying that! I DON'T care about you or anything you do!"

wordcount: 2711 (the way this was supposed to be a 500 word drabble)

-----

You weren’t sure where you stood with Matt as far as friendships and rivalries went. You knew that the two of you were on opposing sides as far as your jobs went, but things seemed to be smoothing themselves over after years of burning each other at the stake. You’d even grabbed a drink with him at a gala the both of you were attending.

Things seemed to be going great, he ran into you at a cafe and you two shared a pastry while talking and laughing about your occupations. It was only when the two of you were on different sides of a case and Karen had leaned over to whisper something in his ear while gazing at you that he grew distant from you all of a sudden. It was like all of the progress the two of you had made was undone with something Karen had said and it was like interacting with a stranger.

Finally, after months of the cold shoulder, you’d managed to corner him at Josie’s alone. It’s almost like he knew you were approaching, because he tried to turn away from you, showing you his back.

“I’ve been trying to find you.” You say as you slide into the barstool next to him, drink in hand.

“I’m elusive when I want to be.”

“And why would you want to be?” He laughs and takes a swig of his beer.

“We’re on opposing sides, be smart here.”

“That case ended months ago, Murdock. You didn’t have a problem being friends through it until Karen said something to you.”

“Friends? You thought we were friends? I was alone, and you were easy company. We weren’t friends, you were convenient.”

“You are a fucking asshole, Matthew.” He shrugs and smiles.

“What did you expect? I don’t think about you in the same way you think about me. You’re just another person in my life, and you let my presence become something way more than what it was.” You fall silent, and Matt takes another nonchalant swig. Your throat burns with humiliation, and you slap a twenty on the bartop before walking away. You hear Josie chastise Matt, evidently overhearing your conversation, but you can only suppress the tears long enough to get out of the humid bar.

-----

It takes another three weeks for your next run-in with him, this time purely incidental. You two were at court for two different cases, and you’d almost successfully hidden from the three of them until Foggy decided to open his mouth.

“Hey!” he shouts, “over here!” You have no choice but to join their group, too close to them to play it off like you didn’t hear.

“Hey, Fog.” The two of you were friends, nothing more and nothing less.

“How’ve you been? I haven’t seen you in a while.” You glance over at the other two, and Karen shoots you a pleasant smile while Matt remains stoic, jaw tense as if he was in genuine pain while in your presence.

“Just busy with caseloads, you know how it is sometimes.” Matt sighs loudly.

“We really have to get going, we have more work at the office.” He says timidly, and Karen looks unamused by his evasion tactics.

“We just won a tough case, Matt, and by the sounds of it they have too,” she turns her attention to you, “would you like to join us for drinks tonight?”

“Oh I wouldn’t-”

“I’m sure they’d love to, we’ll be at Josie’s at nine.” Foggy cuts your dismissal off.

“Great! See you there.” Karen shoots another grin your way before walking off. Matt lingers for a few seconds.

“They’re inviting you out of pity,” he starts, ”they don’t actually want you there.”

“Maybe you’re the one who doesn’t want me. According to people who aren’t you, I’m actually a nice person.” He huffs out a laugh at your words.

“Sure,” he says leaning in, and the depth of his voice sends a shiver down your spine, “let yourself think that.”

-----

You do in fact show up later that night at Josie’s, not only to irk Matt but to also actually enjoy yourself for once. Karen and Foggy are already beckoning you over while Matt sulks more and more in his chair before getting up to most likely talk a woman home tonight.

“What’s his problem?” You gesture at Matt, the group having had a few drinks already.

“He’s deflecting.” Foggy yells over the loud music.

“Deflecting what?”

“How he feels about you!” Karen yells excitedly.”

“What?”

“That day in court when you thought I was giving you the stink eye,” she says, “I was actually telling Matt to make a move! He’s been obsessed with you.” Karen and Foggy giggle drunkenly while you’re trying your best to hold down your lunch from earlier.

“You okay?” Karen places a hand on your shoulder and you know the action is kind but it makes your body flush red.

“I think- I gotta go actually,” you scour your brain for any and every excuse to get you out of here, “feed my cat.”

“You don’t have a cat!” Foggy yells over the music, but you’ve already left.

At home, you throw your keys into the bowl on the table as soon as you enter, and immediately walk to the bathroom to hurl whatever remains of your lunch. Matt hating you for being attracted to you made so much sense that it was stupid, almost childish. It was laughable if it didn’t hurt your feelings so badly. You were sitting next to the toilet sobbing, wondering what could be so wrong with someone like you for someone like Matt to think it’d be easier to push you away than give in.

After fighting with yourself for a while, you decide to take a rinse, now having sobered up a little. The throbbing in your temples leads you to believe you’ll have a hell of a hangover tomorrow but you don’t take anything for it, too exhausted physically and emotionally to even think. You end up crawling into bed in tears, sobbing to sleep.

-----

The next day flashes by in a blur, you’re practically tasked with front desk duty with the way the phone is ringing off its holder. It’s headache-inducing, from dealing with the police to more and more cases popping up; Hell’s Kitchen was a nightmare for the law.

You were driving yourself insane with what Foggy and Karen said to you last night. You’d been snapped out of daydreams between meetings and phone calls and finally you’d had enough, resigning yourself to confronting Matt at his apartment tonight. You know it’s insane, and logically it’ll just make him hate you even more, but nothing about him shutting you out was thought through, so you have a shot of getting through his brain.

And finally, when you find yourself standing outside of his door bracing to knock, you realize how fucking stupid this looks. Asking a man why he doesn’t pay any attention to you anymore. You sigh and shrug, you’re already here and he already doesn’t talk to you, what would you be losing?

You knock, he answers. He answers quickly, almost like he knew you were standing there and he was standing in wait. He looks soft, freshly washed hair dried into a poof, and sweatpants tucked into warm, fuzzy socks. A ghosting of a bruise lines his jaw, but he keeps that side turned away so you don’t ask.

“Are you gonna stand there or come in?” He asks. He blocks the entryway with his chest, one hand on the door and the other hand on the frame, but when you take a step forward he steps away, allowing you to enter.

You quickly realize that this is the first time you’ve ever stepped foot in Matt’s apartment, but somehow it’s everything you imagined. Bachelor pad layout, not too many decorations around, not that you’d imagined he had any, the ad screen outside his windows let a pool of dancing blues and purples in, but the apartment had a cleanliness to it only rivaled by the normal grime of Hell’s Kitchen.

“Why are you here?” Phrased like a question, said like a statement, he’s uncomfortable.

“We’re talking.”

“About?”

“Us, this. I’m tired of you acting like this wasn’t important to you.”

“It wasn’t, sweetheart,” he edges closer, like predator to prey, “we were barely friends.”

“Bullshit and you know it, Karen and Foggy have a different story.”

“That they told you last night right? While all of you were drunk?”

“I think they had a pretty good grasp on how you feel.”

“Felt. How I felt. Past tense.”

“If you really don’t feel like that anymore, then why continue to ignore me?”

“I don’t like fraternizing with the enemy.”

“Hasn’t stopped you before, and the arguably smartest two of your group feel quite differently than you.”

“Why are you trying to make yourself believe that I feel anything for you?”

“I don’t I-” you rub your forehead, “I just-”

“What? Do you miss me? Do you know how pathetic that makes you sound?”

“Matthew, don’t-” You cringe as he cuts you off again.

“You live a sad life if I’m what you’re concerned about. How long was our friendship, if you could even call it that? Two months? Three? You don’t matter to me, get that through your head. If you had, I would’ve reached out.”

“For us to be fighting, Karen’s words must have really gotten through your thick skull, huh?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about-”

“Is it really that bad to be attracted to me? Like what about that statement could make you go from attraction to animosity?”

“It wasn’t attraction.”

“Then what was it? I’m dying to know.”

“It’s not necessary to.”

“It affects me directly.”

“Don’t let it and move on.”

“Will you listen to yourself?”

“Will you stop being a bitch?” That sentence causes a few extra beats of silence to fall upon the two of you, and Matt can tell you’re on the edge of exploding at him. As much as he wanted to apologize immediately for what he said, he also wanted to stand his ground. Karen would say it was the testosterone that gave him the audacity, but he needed you out of here.

“You? Calling me a bitch?” Matt immediately cringed, he’d set you off and there was nothing he could do about it.

“I didn’t mean it like that-”

“You stood there and called me a bitch, Matthew. You know what? This whole fucking thing is so childish. You couldn’t handle a goddamn crush like a fucking eight-year-old so you decided to shut me out.”

“I don’t-”

“This is such a stupid fucking talk to be having! All because you couldn’t man up and confess. What was it, fear of rejection? You care about me, and judging by the way you still fucking shut me out, you feel it still.”

“No, stop saying that! I don’t care about you or anything you do!" But he does, god, he does. You’re the one fucking good thing in this life that doesn’t know who he is, what he is. Karen’s been kidnapped and Foggy’s been targeted numerous times, he didn’t need you added to the ever growing list of variables.

You’re floored, however. And you start to worry that you’ve gotten this all wrong. You shrivel up, hands wrapped around your stomach. Matt looks pissed, he wants you out of here and you know you need to escape. The sensation of humiliation burning at the back of your throat, something you’ve grown familiar with feeling around Matt creeps back to you.

“I should go- I’m sorry for ruining your evening.” He says your name as you rush past him, and manages to grab your hand before you can reach the door.

“You haven’t, just-” He runs a hand through his hair, auburn strands getting more noticeable from the brightness of the ad screen, “take a seat. We can talk. Let me get you a glass of wine.”

“I’m humiliating myself here, Murdock,” you shrug, trying to keep the tears at bay, “why are you keeping me here?”

“Don’t cry, just let me explain.” As promised, he got you a glass of red, one whiff and you knew it was top shelf stuff. You didn’t care if you were meant to sip and enjoy, you needed this shame gone. You drank about half of it in one go and then gestured for Matt to speak, feeling dumb immediately afterwards for moving your hands instead of speaking. He continued anyway.

“I had feelings for you. Deep rooted ones, even before we were friends when we used to argue over nothing but each other’s existence.”

“Then why wouldn’t you…”

“Sweet angel,” he kneels in front of your seat on the couch, gathering your hands in his as he places your wine on the coffee table, “this is much more complicated than you think.”

“Don’t call me that,” you snatch your hands away from his, and he drops his head, “either explain yourself or let me leave.”

“I can’t.” He says after a few seconds of contemplation. You stare at him wordlessly before getting up to leave, and hear him cuss under his breath.

“Wait!”

“Matthew, if you keep me here one more time without giving me a viable reason for literally anything I promise you I will never speak to you again.”

“I’m-”

“You’re?”

“I’m Daredevil?” He winces at the end, and you stay silent for a few seconds before laughing.

“You,” your hand presses hard against your stomach, “you, the blind man, are Daredevil?” He nods slowly.

“I think you’ve had too much wine.” You say, turning around and walking back to the door.

“I can show you the suit. It’s under the stairs in a chest.”

“And why would you tell me this?”

“I don’t know. To show you that I do care, and I want you, but I can’t. It’s too dangerous.”

“If you think,” you slink towards him, pressing your hands against his shirt when you reach him, “that some lowlife criminals are going to keep me from you, you are mistaken. I still don’t believe you though.” He smiles at your words and reaches out, silently asking for your hand. You accept, and he pulls you to the closet.

“You’re free to open it.” He offers, and you don’t hesitate, opening the door and kneeling to the chest’s height. Flipping open the chest, you find a boxing robe and some silky red gloves.

“Under that panel.” You grab the panel, pulling it up and away to expose the suit. The devil suit. You glance up at him before grabbing the helmet, dragging your fingers over the horns and the red eyepieces. You eye the billy clubs, tracing your fingers over the rough metal before standing back up.

“I have so many questions.”

“I have answers.”

“Why were you being an asshole?”

“Oh,” he looks startled, like that wasn’t the question he was expecting, “I thought I couldn’t have you, and it’d only keep aching and aching if I was that close to you.”

“That’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Yeah,” he huffs out a laugh, “it is.”

“Can you see me?” You ask, and he shakes his head.

“I know things about you. You used mouthwash before you got here, and you stopped by at the park, probably to watch the lights.”

“That’s embarrassing.”

“I think it’s endearing. Is it okay if I-”

“Can you kiss me already?” He pulls you in quickly from the waist, your head spinning from the wine and the smell of him so close. Your noses brush, and you tilt your head enough to feel his lips ghost over yours until he pecks you lightly. He tries to pull away until you pull him back in, teeth and tongue meeting in a passionate kiss.

He pulls away only after you do, foreheads resting together as you two find your breath together.

“You’re taking me out on dates, making up for your asshole era.” You pant out.

“Fair,” he says as his fingers squeeze against the skin on your waist, “that’s fair.”

#matt murdock #matt murdock fluff #matt murdock drabble #matt murdock fanfic #matt murdock x reader #matt murdock x you #matt murdock x gn!reader #matt murdock x female reader #matt murdock x fem!reader #matt murdock x male!reader #matt murdock x male reader #800 follower celebration #birthday celebration #dev writes

[theggning]

One thing I think the game and fandom gloss over a bit is the fact that Godot has a very understandable reason for his grudge against Phoenix. By and large, both canon and fandom focus on Godot's anger at Phoenix as a projection of his own guilt and grief at Mia's death (and fandom likes to willfully misconstrue this as sexism, a take I'm sick to death of.) But it is also pointed out that Phoenix was very much an accessory to Diego's poisoning.

I mean, not willingly, of course. Phoenix is another unwitting victim of Dahlia's manipulations, and he clearly has no idea he's being used to hide the necklace that would implicate her in a crime. He would never be found legally culpable of Diego's attempted murder. But I feel like it is completely natural and understandable for Godot to be angry about it, learning after the fact that his blatantly obvious "murder" was an unsolvable mystery for nearly a year because some dingus walked off with the evidence. How could anyone have fallen for Dahlia's act like that? How could he have been so stupid and gullible? And now that idiot has "inherited" Mia's legacy? Of course Godot's pissed off about it. I would ALSO be pissed off if someone I perceived as culpable in an awful, life-ruining crime against me were enjoying what I perceived as unearned success tangentially on the back of my suffering!

There are also, no doubt, plenty of desperate "what ifs" in his mind, what could have happened if the necklace didn't go missing. What if having a sample of the poison could have helped the doctors save him? What if there was a way to reverse it, or mitigate the damage to his body? What if he could have woken up sooner than he did? What if he could have been there and saved her?

Is Diego's poisoning in any way Phoenix's fault? Of course not. Would having the evidence in hand have saved Diego, or changed any of the horrible toll the poison took on his body? Who knows? Is any of this rational? No, but human feelings rarely are, and Diego falls into a particularly awful place mentally and emotionally when he awakens. With his life ruined, his body a wreck, and his love gone forever, he feels nothing but hatred for the oblivious idiot who fell for Dahlia Hawthorne's act. The man who let his guard down and let her manipulate him. The man arrogant enough to call himself a "defense lawyer" who wasn't there when Mia Fey was brutally murdered. And what if he could have saved her, if only he was?

And also he's mad at Phoenix. But only incidentally for the more concrete fact that he unintentionally "helped" Dahlia poison Diego. I think this is partially why so many people accuse Godot of holding a grudge "for no reason." The narrative gives much greater weight to the self-hatred/projection aspect of Godot's anger, and that's a lot more nebulous and hard to nail down than a straightforward "I hate you because you did X."

Phoenix didn't really "do" anything. Neither Diego's poisoning nor Mia's death were in any way his fault. But crucially, that's one other thing glossed over too easily: it wasn't Diego's fault either. Though T&T leaves off with Diego once again heaping the blame on his own shoulders, I desperately hope that in the aftermath, Phoenix or Mia or a licensed therapist get to sit him down and help him realize this.

Diego doesn't need to forgive Phoenix. He needs to forgive himself.

#ace attorney #trials and tribulations spoilers #aa3 spoilers #ace attorney meta #godot #diego armando #well this started as a rant on one idea and turned into another #but hey i haven't pepe silvia'd about sad funny coffee man in a while so here u go #i think it's extremely notable that neither maya nor phoenix nor mia are angry at godot #maya especially #the compassion of this cast is one of my favorite things about it #and i believe the narrative's position on said compassion is very clear and obvious

[bokettochild]

what are your favourite headcanons for all the boys? (also hi mama lava we havent spoken in a while oopsie hah,,hope ur doing well <3)

I'm doing quite well, m'dear! Mnetally at least LOL

The body hates fall and the changes in the air, but the rain makes me happy and the leaves are going CRONCH so I can still smile! Also, it is now cider and cocoa wheather! (I really need to finish that darn Ravio scarf now LOL)

Okay! Headcannons!

Time: He has no clue what's happening ever. Time is hard for me to relate to or even work with, so I don't tend to mess around as much with headcannons for him, but I love the idea that he is masquerading as an adult all the time and genuinely is confused by almost everything. As someone who was left in charge of see stinkers with no clue on how to handle them, it makes him relatable and easier to write that way :)

Warriors: His dark form is a dragon. Even prior to TotK I liked the idea that certain people could/would become dragons, and considering there are some who ship him and his Zelda and they come before Flora, that would mean it runs in the family LOL. It also really suits him for REASONS and I like playing with it

Sky: His eyes flash silver when he's angry, and lightning will crash even on a sunny day when you piss him off. He killed a god, let this man be an unhinged BAMF eldrich hero!

Hyrule: Navi is his mother. I like the idea of him growing up hearing stories of the Hero of Time. i like the idea of him setting out on his adventure not just because Impa asked him too, but because that pig sounds a lot like the sucker who killed his big brother and their family doesn't go down unavenged! He totally had a few words for Ganon in that last fight, and even if it was the last thing the king of evil thought, he knew he was killed on behalf of a hero, not just by one.

Twilight: He's a white girl. It's really a personal gag for me, but he likes horses and stupid romance stories and ridiculously sweet drinks and he can't hold his whiskey for the life of him. Okay, like, he can, but why would he drink whiskey when he can have something strawberry flavoured? He just... he's a big rancher and scary wolf, but he will willingly wear pink and be a barbie is what I'm saying. And yes he'd enjoy it! (although he'd prefer pants please, he's still a man Barbie, okay? Not a Ken, a man Barbie)

(I have others for Twi, but this one makes me happy to ridiculous levels and gives the seratonin <3)

Wind: He's Warriors' grandfather. I know it;s less about him and more about Warriors, but the idea of him shaping and guiding the next hero, preserving that hero's childhood and protecting it as long as he can, makes me happy. there were totally calls to adventure long before Cia, but Wind said "heck no, he's underage, ain't happening" and either stopped that shit or dealt with it himself. He made sure to teach Warriors everything he wishes he'd known, or heard the others say they wished they'd known when starting: starting a fire, wayfaring, tracking, hunting, fishing, map making, how to make gear and supplies last, where to find valuable things, all that sort of stuff. he didn't know what sort of trouble the hero after him would face, so he made sure to provide help and leave supplies in every way he could think of (some of which, incidentally, lasted all the way to wild's time to help him).

Wild: He's Other. He's not quite right and he's more than just slightly screwed up, but not in the pretty, Fae like way it's often pictured. Wild is Other like a twisted and mangled tree that scrapes across your window in the night, keeping you awake but keeping the monsters cowering under your bed in fear. He's other like a too wide smile, like a sigh of relief when he feels Death's touch lingering on Legend. He's Not Quite Right in a way you have to know him to see, but you can't ever stop seeing after. (It's okay. Flora is too and she feels safer being with someone who's the same)

Legend: Personal hc I never get to share! Legend is the personification of Balance! He straddles light and dark both as a rabbit and in his fifth adventure. He's kind of died twice (OoS manga & a personal theory about Koholint) yet he's still alive. He kills in order to preserve life and lives in order to kill that which threatens it. He represents the balance in Hyrule and preserves it, hence why he tends to fill any needed role (watching the backs of the heroes throughout LU, taking the lead in Sunset, acting as a middleground/middle sibling in Sunrise) in order to prevent things tipping out of balance. legend is the middle ground between extremes, and a walking contradiction.

Four: I will do the colours as well, but I adore them being remembered, even though Four thinks he won't be. he comments in the comic that he's glad to at least have done well enough that no one needs to worry about his enemies, hence why they don't talk about him anymore, but I like the idea that Malon taught Time to read by reading him parts or stories about Four, but he got to impatient to wait to find out the ending, so he forced himself to figure it out as fast as possible to get there even if she wans't there to tell him. I like Legend hearing stories of him and growing up admiring him, of spending his first few adventures trying to be like him because that's what heroes who win are like. I love Four being remembered and adored. He deserves it! (And if he maybe got sealed away long enough to come back and meet some future heroes, well, I love that too!)

Red: Is actually the most dangerous of the colours when he's mad. He will wreck your shit, he will burn you alive. Do not try him.

Blue: He's fond of patterns and artwork, and knitting helps keep him calm. He's the crafter of the colors, and the only one if you disregard smithing. Also, he's the mom friend.

Green: He likes drawing. I don't know why, he just does. Also, outdoorsy boy. He hates shoes, hates floors, and will sit in the grass drawing trees and chatting with minish for hours if nothing stops him.

Vio: Loves cats. Despite Four as a whole having a fear of cats, and the other colors also sharing that fear, Vio's sense of self preservation sort of flew out the window with the trust the others had in him when he joined Shadow. Vio can look at any animal that should reasonably be able to kill them and actually will try and determine if he can just... touch it. he doesn't want to even be friends, he just wants to see if, since a dragon will let him, will this giant wildcat also? He adores Wolfie more than even Red. The others think there is something wrong with him that he likes terrifying creatures so much.

#asks and answers #linked universe #linkeduniverse #lu legend #lu warriors #lu twilight #lu wild #lu four #lu time #lu sky #lu hyrule #lu wind

[lunariamv]

take 2

yandere x reader (but hes a gamer internet guy :OOOO); obsessive + possessive behavior, manipulation, stalking, threat of self game-ending

❈The guy is a shut in, so either you met him online or you were childhood friends before he became a full on neet-

❈ Either way, he's liked you ever since the two of you met (whether he admits it or not) and his crush only grew the longer you've been friends. And soon enough turned very unhealthy.

❈ He stalks all of your socials. Including the ones you haven't told him about. He's an internet sleuth, so he found every single one of them rather quickly. With sporadic eagerness, he looks at all of your posts to learn everything about you (that he doesn't already know).

❈ His urgency is that of a starving man, from how erratic he checks your pages and carefully sifts through them to gather as much information as he can. If you have any pictures of yourself on there, chances are he's been staring at them for hours on end.

❈ and saves them on the hard drive for later

❈ SIMP

❈ SIIIIIMMMMMPPPP

❈ Will get you anything you want. He likes to please you with gifts, so he'll buy anything your heart desires, even if you had plans to buy it yourself. This irks you to no end, because you feel inclined to pay him back, but he insists otherwise, which in turn makes you feel guilty. It's gotten so bad that you have to watch what you say around him. Even the slightest hint of you mentioning something you need, it'll already be on it's way from a delivery service. ((He has money from his remote job;; so he has plenty to spend on you))

❈ One of his favorite things is studying you, and picking up on all your mannerisms. Once he picks up on certain quirks, he can't help but notice them and get excited. At this point, he fanboys over nearly everything you do. If you're wearing a cute outfit, he's internally screaming about how 'moe' it is, or if your sneeze is adorable, or your laugh… all of your cute behaviors drive him mad.

❈ If the two of you hang out, it's usually at his place. Surprisingly, it's not too messy, but oftentimes you find yourself helping him pick up opened delivery boxes or sorting through a game or manga collection. He loves this because he likes to imagine you're his wife or his personal maid.

❈ On that note, he fantasizes way too much. Every romance or sensual anime cliché ever, he's probably already thought about your involvement in one. Maybe you made him a personal lunch, or you had plans to confess to him with a love letter. Or worse where you're his maid or catgirl-

❈ Stalks you online a lot. Most likely, he's probably waiting for you to get on. If he sees you're online, he'll instantly ask to call, or text, or beg you to play games with him. He practices almost everyday so that he can get the satisfaction of carrying you in a game.

❈ Incidentally, he thinks e-couples are cringe, but there's an obvious double-standard when you're the one playing as his pocket support. If it's the two of you, he doesn't hesitate to pretend that you're a couple around other players.

❈ Even though he might be a stuttering, introverted mess when the two of you go out and hang, he's entirely different over the computer. It's like a switch. When playing games together and calling, he's extremely level-headed and surprisingly suave. It's pretty fun to him to catch you off guard with his prowess in games, especially competitive ones. He enjoys impressing you. Watch him 1v5 and kill the entire enemy team, just because the two of you made a bet that you'd go on a date with him if he won.

❈ But in the real world, he's the loser :(

❈ When the two of you go out to hang, he's usually extremely clingy, and keeps very close to you. He doesn't really talk to other people unless he has to, like a waitress or a cashier. He's too busy internally yelling in his head whenever someone mistakes the two of you as a couple. Whether you're shy, or more forward, he loves you a lot, and wants to be with you.

❈ "…(Y/N), can we go now? Please??" He whispers with a grimace. As much as he loves spending time with you, there's too many people in here for his liking. Unfortunately, you're currently invested with this really cute stationary at this store. They have a keroppi pen set! "No." You retort, and he groans under his breath. But he has to admit, you look really adorable admiring all the stuffed animals and cute stationary.

❈ bro playing an irl dating sim fr

❈ If you two are dating, it's very wholesome stuff. The mere thought of you being together is surreal, like a dream he's yet to wake up from. He's shy when it comes to affection at first, but then later on he'll constantly ask for things, like for hugs or to hold your hand. Then even later on when he's comfortable, he's super clingy and gets jealous very easily.

❈ "Uh… can I… have your hand?" He asks quietly. Some guy was staring at you, and he wanted to set the record straight that you were already taken.

❈ You notice his apprehension, but you decide to humor him. "I don't know, can you?" You reply with a hint of playful sarcasm.

❈ He frowns with a half-lidded gaze. "Please…?" Normally, he'd be amused, but right now he's getting desperate. If it weren't for his strong sense of self restraint, he would've grabbed your hand already.

❈ His sincerity, plus the seemingly puppy dog eyes make you surrender, and you hold out your hand to him, and he hastily takes it. Once your palms touch, his grip turns tight, like you'll vanish if he lets go for even a second. Though it might not translate well externally, he's practically exploding with dopamine on the inside.

❈ unlike the last guy who calls you waifu ironically, this guy will do it 100% unironically. None of his fictional crushes can hold a candle to you.

❈ If he's good at hacking, he'll bug all of your things. There might be a tracker on your phone, or he's on cams looking at you 24/7. He might hack into your computer for files or go through phone and do subtle things, like mess with your schedules, texts, or even make you unfollow other men or friends who challenge your relationship.

❈ absolutely no murder. This man is a cowardly pacifist. Though to compensate, he's very manipulative. In the sense that he will guilt trip you whenever you don't pay enough attention to him, or make him jealous. If you don't feed his clinginess, he's going to get sad. You don't want to make him depressed and kill himself, do you?

❈ When it comes down to it, he's extremely a very insecure and paranoid man. Though he doesn't look like it at first, he's a handful, and you have to be prepared to deal with him, whether you accept him or not. After all, you're the only thing he has, and even though he lacks confidence, he's very stubborn and devoted to the things he treasures dearly.

sus like amongus

i love this type sm ;-;-;-;-;-;

follow me for similar stuff;;

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#yandere #yandere x reader #yandere x you #yandere x y/n #yandere oc x reader #yandere oc #yandere male #fem reader #x reader #x female reader #yandere x female reader #yandere headcanons #yandere imagines #yandere scenarios #yandere writing #writing #one-off writing #tw dark content #tw dark themes

[familyabolisher]

do you have any favorite quotes or passages from the locked tomb series?

mmm i don’t really think about prose in terms of “quotes” (not trying to sound like a snob i just find it difficult to make value judgments about a piece of writing when it’s isolated from its broader context!) but i think some of my fav bits of prose in the series are:

like, the whole of john 1:20, but especially the creation of alecto—’from my blood and bone and vomit i conjured up a beautiful labyrinth to house you in, i was terrified you’d find some way to escape before i was done,’ ‘adam and eve, galatea, barbie, frankenstein’s monster with long yellow hair,’ ‘i hid you in me i hid me in you’ etc. just a really really good sequence lmao.

the couple of parts of the john chapters where tm drops the monologuing conceit to have john & harrowlecto do some like rapid-fire dialogue (‘“[...] i couldn’t do a damned thing” / “so what did you do” / “a damned thing, didn’t i” / “i still love you” / “you always say that, harrowhark”’; ‘“do you remember what you said to me once i had done it? when we stood here together? / “yes” / “you said, i picked you to change and this is how you repay me?” / “what else did i say?” / “you said, what have you done to me? i am a hideousness” / “what else did i say?” / “where did you put the people? where did they go?” / “i still love you” / “you said that too”’) are really good.

the final few pages of nona before the epilogue where alecto’s memories start bleeding through into the present-day action (and the splicing of kiriona killing crux with the entry into the tomb + alecto’s memories of entombment … Screaming and throwing up) have some good turns of phrase—’the scrap of black-eyed meat had asked for it—the chain of a kiss: the ice that burnt the flesh of the mouth that had stuck to the mouth that was frozen. the teardrop on the hand. the hand that john had fashioned.’; ‘most human voices sounded alike, after all. they were not beautiful. the waters parted for her and it became possible to walk, crunching through the bones at the bottom. the bones at the bottom; what did they make her think of?’ ‘the terrible face with the terrible arms and legs and the terrible middle part, the terrible hair, and the terrible ears: the nose too short, the ears too brief. [...] her own edge had been pushed out, her swinging edge, her toy.’ walking a VERY fine line between lyrical and overwritten and actually landing it. 

really fond of varun the eater and nonalecto’s exchanges—’green thing, green-and-breathing thing, big ghost, the drinker, transformed, what will you eat now? where will your body go? what did he do to you to make you this way? [...] they are coming out of their tower, salt thing. i will pull their teeth. i will make it blank for you.’ REALLY goes. ‘what did he do to you to make you this way’ immediately after asking nona if she ‘loves’ and nona saying ‘ i don’t know what it means, did i ever know what it meant?’ and ‘john loves alecto, john needs alecto’ as the thing that forces alecto’s ‘return’ of sorts … every day i get emails

‘the shimmering white figure of the dead kiriona gaia’ is a very satisfying turn of phrase. i am fond of it

nona epigraph poem (‘you told me sleep, i’ll wake you in the morning / i asked what is morning and you said / when everyone who fucked with me is dead’ etc)

some of the language used in gideon to describe canaan house sets off my little fictional house sensibilities so bad. ‘castle that had been killed,’ ‘the look of a picked-at body [...] a beautiful corpse,’ ‘abandoned and breathlessly waited to be used by someone other than time.’ horrid horrid house i love her so much.

arm scene, obviously. incidentally—and this is present throughout harrow but i think i notice it more in scenes like the arm scene—i really enjoy how much harrow moreso than the other two is written in a voice similar to that of lolita, wherein you have a protagonist with an incredibly affected pretension which the narration pokes fun at them for but which also enables a kind of indulgence in pretension even whilst painting it as such. anyway—'an exquisite conglomeration of bone beneath skin and meat, pocketed in the middle with soft treasures of parenchyma and muscle [...] you were able to see her skeleton as though she had shyly undressed herself for you, as though in the orange hues of the daytime light she’d sloughed capillaries and glands off the budding rose of her scapula’; ‘prayed for a woman you loved to assist you in disrobing a woman you did not’ (insane line sorry); ‘the lovely cup of the radius, the forked embrace of the ulna.’ cowards will call it overwritten but not ME i love sex scenes

& finally, the descriptions of alecto in harrow (which, incidentally—something to be said for the text of harrow referring to alecto predominantly as the Body and the text of nona referring to kiriona pretty heavily as the corpse prince—anyway) but especially the ‘that night the body consented to embrace you’ bit spliced in with john bringing up annabel fucking lee for the first time. deranged.

#ask #tlt #nona the ninth spoilers #it's so funny how many of these are nona considering if you'd asked me which has the best prose i would have said harrow i think

[sneezemonster15]

🥴 in the fic naruto says sakura and ino were the prettiest girls in their class and somehow sasuke has the balls to ignore them following him around like puppies. he says hinata is really pretty lol. itachi is apparently the second prettiest after sasuke and he thinks it might be a tie between him and kakashi. gaara, neji, tsunade, tenten, kiba and lee are all apparently pretty to him too. there's this scene where he gets drunk and kisses ino, kiba, sai and lee, no internalised homophobia in sight. sasuke goes on and on about sakura and how he has a deep love for her, longs for her and feels affection for her, though he admits it's not in the way she wants. he even thinks she sees through him lol. but the really weird thing is how sasuke doesn't understand how he feels about naruto in the fic. he can admit he loves sakura in the start of the fic (and he can tell that it's not romantic on his end), but he has to have this big epiphany about loving naruto only at the end lol. and sakura obviously becomes so much more understanding lol. I think they're talented and i did enjoy reading the story, but they said they were writing everyone in character so this stuff bothered me 😞

What has always bothered me about fanfics is how they simply do not get how closetedness functions in a homophobic and heteronormative society. I don't know if the writer is American or from some other western country. But as long as you are claiming to be canon compliant, maybe actually research how homosexuality or coming out of the closet would look in societies where it is not acceptable. Konoha/shinobi world is not only heteronormative, but downright homophobic. I mean, Sakura thinks they are brothers because she doesn't know what else to call it, she is homophobic herself, and she knows Sasuke and Naruto are just way too close for being just friends, she could have told Sai they were very good friends, but one of the problems in this world is also a lack of terminology, resulting from a lack of familiarity and comfort with the topic of homosexuality but which is essentially required in order to assign names to certain feelings and relationships and dynamics that are seen as unconventional or different from the norm. Developing a certain terminology is important in order to understand interpersonal issues that are deeply embedded in the socio political fabric. You need a certain level of comfort with the idea of it to introduce and develop this terminology. I have a few gay friends in my circles and one of them has been in a long term partnership with a much younger man. The younger man is closeted and they live together, but he hasn't come out to his family or close friends. Although his family does stay over and they think their son lives with his Teacher. And they are fine with it. They are deeply conservative people and staunchly heteronormative, which is why he hasn't come out and I am pretty sure they have an idea about his sexuality, even if it is unsaid and full of obfuscation. But they don't wanna take action because being with the Teacher has been good for his career and he is able to send money to them to contribute to their household. There isn't just one reason of course, but invariably, whenever his friends or family come over, they never acknowledge their relationship even though it is so obvious. They call it a teacher student relationship who incidentally also cohabit. There's a lot of denial going in there, but it's understandable in their circumstances.

I get the feeling that they aren't totally comfortable with the idea but they are also under certain obligations themselves and they are grateful to the Teacher. But you see, the terminology is missing. There's also a major class difference.

Often in homophobic societies, and I live in one, there is so much taboo, prejudice, obfuscation and lack of information/comfort/familiarity around the idea of same sex relationships, that it's difficult to carry on a dialectic with the proper assignment of terms. Gay or homosexual is not a word anyone will use here. They will use a slang word, which denotes something derogatory. Or if they wanna deny it altogether, they will use some other word for it. Like brother or sister. Or best friend, or room mate, or Teacher. It's such a common phenomenon to reduce, invisibilise and trivialize homosexuality by giving it names that are incongruent with the actual nature of the relationship. It's almost criminal how much this invisibilisation is normalised.

I remember when I was very young, like 12 years old, I was in the car with my mother and her friend. And her friend was crying because her sister was not agreeing to marry. Marrying here invariably means heterosexual, heh, it's just a social reality. Because she had shacked up with her 'best friend', another girl, her college friend. They lived together and she would keep rejecting offers that the parents suggested to her. She was of the perfect age to marry and they were worried her golden age would pass her by and she would become a spinster, of course they blamed her best friend for it. Lol.

Now the thing is, there was a strange tonal quality to the term 'best friend' in her voice. She was weeping and I just couldn't understand why it would be a problem if her sister wanted to stay with her best friend. Lol. I thought it would be so much fun. Hahaha. I was very young. I remember asking my mother about it later and she shushed me telling me it was none of my business and not to talk to anyone about it. And it puzzled me even more.

Make no mistake, language is an inherently important and indispensable part of postulating and hence comprehending socio-politico-cultural issues and concepts, and as a result, navigating interpersonal dynamics and understanding. It's not a coincidence that this manga stresses so much on the importance of 'communication', and Naruto's character is point blank shown to stress on it, it's one of the most important lessons he learns in the course of the manga. You can't understand emotions without verbalising them in your head. Linguistics is an inseparable part of comprehension, whether it's about computing internal or external data, or both in conjunction. And when it comes to storytelling, it becomes one of the most important building blocks of expression and getting the story across to the readers or viewers. Naruto is shown to stress on communication in Boruto as well. And we see throughout the course of the Naruto and Shippuden manga, how Naruto comes to learn about and understand different characters' and especially anti heroes' feelings and resentments directed towards their dystopian world. In the kage arc, he says to Sasuke on the bridge - Sasuke, we will never be able to understand each other by words alone, we can only communicate properly by using our fists. Maybe if we can understand each other, I can change all that hate, like Iruka sensei did for me.

And yet, in the climax of Shippuden, at Sasuke's insistence, it was Naruto's words that finally resulted in Sasuke's resolution, which finally broke through to Sasuke. Because those words showed his understanding. His feelings. His love. For Sasuke.

Kishi is a well read, well informed author. It shows in his work, even the different sources he takes inspiration from, such as Monzaemon Chikamatsu and acclaimed seinen mangas. Stories and characters don't come out of oblivion.

Homosexuality having the status of taboo itself means that there will be a dearth of conversations around it, there will be a lack of normalisation around it. It will carry a weight of malignance around it, something unnatural, something dirty, shameful. There is a lot of shame attached to this topic, which explains the lack of terminology around it, or appropriate wordage around it. Calling them boyfriend or girlfriend is not so acceptable in conservative societies. Or lovers, same sex partners. 'Partners' is something that I have noticed to be more prevalent in current times around me. But it's also evident that it is vague. Purposely so. It's to minimise judgment.

And this is something I see consistently in this manga. There is so much going on throughout, as to what term to assign to this relationship between Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura calls them brothers but she knows they aren't. She is suspicious of Naruto when he says Sasuke is much better looking than Sai and then backpedaling about it. She fake smiles. Also, if she thought they were brotherly, she wouldn't have felt so threatened by Naruto. She tries to create distance between them, all to no avail sure, but she is obviously insecure about her own position in their equation. She doesn't stand anywhere in it, but she does think Naruto comes between her and Sasuke, and their special relationship threatens her intentions towards Sasuke. Similarly, Kakashi thinks it's because they are 'rivals' and tells the same thing to Jiraiya, who compares Naruto and Sasuke with himself and Oro, when Naruto and Sasuke's relationship is not really like theirs in essence. We also know that Kakashi is not the most reliable person when it comes to understanding emotional and interpersonal nuances. Just like Sai isn't, who thinks Naruto loves Sakura. Similarly, Minato tells Naruto that his 'best friend' is about to arrive on the battlefield. People in Konoha give so many names to their relationship and yet, Sasuke insists Naruto define it for him in chapter 698, because he wants to hear it from Naruto.

Naruto himself struggles so much in this regard. It always bothered me why Sasuke was not affected positively when Naruto wondered if Sasuke was like his brother. Sasuke had a brother and then, he almost as good as lost him in a way. He was certainly very fond of Naruto, if he thought of Naruto as brotherly, he should have been pleased, no? Narratively, even if he tried to deny feelings that might potentially weaken him, he is pensive or annoyed or even displeased when Naruto says they are friends or brothers. Never pleased, not even a smile. And he is capable of smiling when it comes to Naruto.

But he never does. He keeps asking Naruto to define the relationship, he isn't happy even when Naruto says they are friends. Which is why Sasuke is PUSHED, albeit with reticence, to ask - You have said that before but what does it exactly mean to you?

This is so nuanced and so understandable. He wants Naruto to assign a term to it. It's significant, it's important. A term that explains their feelings accurately so they both know. They live in a world that doesn't have the terminology to support same sex relationships, they have no frame of reference as to how to talk about it. They struggle with talking about their feelings in the first place. Their communication game is lacking. Their world only taught them how to exchange blows, not words. So a perceptive Sasuke demands a term that rightly defines it. Because 'brotherhood' or 'friendship' is not cutting it. Obviously. Naruto had been calling him a friend all this time.

Even here, the dissonance. The words Naruto uses feel incommensurate with the term 'friend' no? Like seriously what other friends in this manga act or talk like this for the other? Sasuke is his 'friend' and a bond like that can Never be broken. But we as readers, know from context that bonds of friendship were broken in this manga, what with Oro and Jiraiya or Sakura and Ino (for very frivolous reasons too), and later, with Kakashi and Obito. If there were no nuances to their relationship, I would have gladly ignored it. But then Naruto goes on to say what he would do to Oro (shivers, lol) to protect Sasuke. Like just the lengths he is ready to go to. And it fits with the idea that Naruto's feelings for Sasuke are way more intense than just friends, consistent with how they seem with each other in part one, especially vote one. Naruto dilly dallies between so many terms for Sasuke. A friend. A rival. A comrade. A brother. On the one hand, Sasuke consistently uses very emphatic terms for his feelings for Naruto when he says Naruto is his closest friend or his one and only friend, Naruto's terms for Sasuke are always a lot incommensurate with his actions towards Sasuke. And it invariably creates a dissonance in the reader's mind. Kishi manipulates the reader very successfully. Also, we all know that Kishi uses his kanji for these two characters very carefully, as he has said in his interviews as well. Apart from visuals, this is also written media, language and wordage is indispensable to storytelling.

But AT THE END, Sasuke gets mad, and asks him point blank, as to what exactly it means to him and right on cue, given this is a conclusive chapter and Naruto can't say the same shit he has been saying before this (which DID NOT satisfy Sasuke), that even if Sasuke were ask him to explain it, he doesn't know either.

He doesn't know. He has been going through the motions for such a long time. We have seen him getting insecure about his sexuality many times. Like Kishi made so many of his scenes layered, just to point it out to the reader. That he is a closeted homosexual, he suffers from comphet and internalised homophobia as a result. This panel, which is towards the very end, explains so much.

Kishi is not a fool. He is a very clever author. This depicts Naruto's struggle about his sexuality so much. He obviously wants to make sure that his LAST conversation with his father is meaningful and that everything his parents wanted Naruto to be and achieve, Naruto will satisfy. Naruto wants to assure Minato, and he doesn't wanna lie. But he also cannot make himself say it. This boy who always wanted family, finally met them through a stroke of luck (or fate) but his was still a special case. He goes into such detail about everything, everything Kushina asked him to do, all the ninja taboos, but he broke down at that moment, about women. That it should be a woman he must marry is pretty much implied no? More than implied, it's a heteronormative society after all. Kishi is NOT stupid, this was a very smart way of layering his internal turmoil, his struggle with his sexuality because he loves a BOY. Not a woman.

And thing is, all this is very realistic. Very. It has been a persistent element/trope in most coming of age films that I have seen about homosexuality. Except for films like Love, Simon (very surface level and simplistic) or 'Call me by your name' because Elio has very forward thinking parents and he lives in a very affluent and liberal society. He doesn't have the same kind of hangups about his sexuality. But films like Esteros (Brazil), Eternal Summer (China), Beach Rats (America), Giant little ones (Canada), Posledice (Polish), And then we danced (Georgia), The Blonde one (Argentina), Brokeback Mountain (America), Free Fall (German) and more, all of these films are about sexual coming of age drama or sexual awakening and have the same tropes. Comphet. Denial. Internalised homophobia. Emotional turmoil. Dilemma. Burden of societal expectations. Pain. Misery. Confusion. Even rage.

And these are really good films too. Very thoughtfully made.

There are so many complex facets to homosexuality and coming to terms with or even acknowledging it is such a complex and difficult process for young, naturally insecure, and dilemma ridden (moral dilemma included) individuals in a conservative society. Naruto always wanted to be acknowledged and not shunned from society, he didn't want to be ostracized, not after everything he went through, and certainly not to disappoint his parents. In fact, kage arc was very definitive for Naruto. But throughout Shippuden, he has been going through the motions. When Sai seems like he has defected to Oro, Team Kakashi, Yamato specifically, confronts him, and Naruto is like - Who cares what he has to say, Sai is a traitor.

He has strong feelings about Konoha.

But when he hears about Sasuke joining Akatsuki, he is worried. Puzzled, in a quandary. So many people, people he likes and respects, tell him to make the right decision, it being to capture or kill Sasuke. But he cannot do it. He goes through a very terrible time, he is wracked with worry and conflicting emotions and internal struggle. He takes his time to come to terms with all his emotions. And then finally, when he hears that Sakura is out to kill Sasuke (lolol, sorry couldn't help it), something snaps in place inside him and he makes his decision. No matter what, no matter what, Sasuke will not be hurt. Naruto will take care of it. The idea of Sasuke being hurt imminently makes the decision for him and it just clicks to him where his priority lies. He will not kill Sasuke. And if it comes to that, that it's between killing him and protecting Konoha, he will protect Konoha but also, die with him. He is not your typical hero in that sense. He takes the middle path. A hero would typically let go of his personal wishes for the greater good. But Naruto's personal wishes are for Sasuke to live and be happy, no matter what happens. He told Itachi that when the time comes, and if Sasuke attacks Konoha, he will make the right decision. This is his decision. The point is, he will simply not live in a world without Sasuke. He refuses. He will remain a fool and die but not live without Sasuke. He doesn't care about any fucking thing if Sasuke isn't in his life.

Kage arc made him realize that his feelings for Sasuke were bigger than being hokage and Konoha. And so he chose a path where he didn't compromise with the safety of Konoha's people and yet, didn't let Sasuke down. Sasuke must live or he will die.

So by now, Naruto certainly knows that his feelings for Sasuke are not 'normal', even if he didn't say it, but that's the feeling the reader gets. And because we know the context of shinjuu, we know it's supposed to be romantic. The idea of double suicide carries a lot of heft in South East and East Asian literature, classic and popular, whether it be Chikamatsu, the greatest Japanese dramatist who wrote almost exclusively on the subject, and South East Asian stories such as Heer Ranjha, Mirza Sahiba, Sohni Mahiwal, Sassi Punnun, etc. And these stories are part of the popular romance lore, they are extremely popular.

So when Sasuke asks him angrily and insistently (the kanji that Kishi uses here depicts Sasuke to be emphatically triggered), Naruto knows what Sasuke is referring to and he knows he cannot lie about it. But he also cannot say it. He has a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders. But he also cannot lie to Sasuke. Of course, this being shounen, Kishi also had to navigate carefully. But the BIG difference is that Naruto stops lying. Lying probably is not the right term. Misstating. He owes it to Sasuke to tell him the truth. And he tells him, that he doesn't know what to call it, but he knows how it feels. So what he essentially does is that he explains the underlying sentiment to Sasuke by telling him that he hurts when Sasuke does, but that he won't name (explain it) it because he doesn't know it himself. It's such a feeling that Naruto cannot name it. Now, we as readers ALREADY know that he has already used terms like brother, rival and friend. But he deliberately moves away from all of those. Let's not forget that Naruto's most important strength was his talk no jutsu, his ability to connect and put it in words that finally affected the antagonist or anti hero archetypical characters in such a way, that would lead to their resolution. Naruto is different from others in this very sense, to be able to communicate in the right way. But Sasuke was his greatest test in this manga. And he couldn't convince him, he kept misstating the nature of their relationship, but towards the climax of the story, it was important for him to say the right words to Sasuke, especially after Sasuke asked so insistently, so passionately. Because he owes it to Sasuke to tell him the truth. He cannot deny it anymore. Not after all that has happened. So we know from context that it isn't any of those terms or feelings that he used before. But it's something else altogether. What else could it be? Sasuke obviously suspected it. Or else he wouldn't have gotten triggered like this. And with exactly these heavily heartfelt words of Naruto's, when he tells Sasuke that he hurts when he sees Sasuke carry his burden, so much that he just can't leave it alone, and that he would keep fighting for Sasuke, no matter what it takes, Sasuke is finally, finally also led to his resolution, no? He says with such a peaceful expression on his visage - I have lost.

He finally accepts Naruto's love, he finally lets the love in.

Dialogue is very intricately linked to narrative and visual language, but it's so evident, it doesn't need to be said.

We also cannot ignore the way they speak to each other. Kinda like, in codewords.

When two world class shinobis trade blows, they can read each other's thoughts. So tell me, did you see what's in my heart Sasuke? How I really feel? We are not the same kids who fought here once, you know my heart, and I yours, right Naruto? If you know, then why are you doing it? That's exactly why i am doing it. Don't make me repeat it Sasuke, you already know, don't you? Now that I think about it, you were always stupid. Those feelings, those things you once talked about, now I understand what you meant by them, Naruto.

The point is, by the end of chapter 698, Sasuke knows Naruto loves him. Naruto also knows Sasuke loves him, he had known to a large extent since vote one, but his feelings got solidified as he went along his life journey. This is the resolution of this story, this is also a story about their coming of age. It wouldn't make sense for both of them to be oblivious of each other's feelings at the end of it, it will be a failure of both their painfully developed character arcs and the narrative itself. And 698 highlights how they both come to know about their feelings for each other, after so much that they both went through. Properly this time. Explained in more words that they were ever able to use before. This isn't a topic that they can talk about so freely. They don't have a terminology for it, but they somehow managed. This is what all this narrative development led to. This is how storytelling works.

Chapter 699 gives the reader a hint of what's to come after this resolution. The nightmare. Everything that went wrong. Everything that left the resolution of their character arcs awry. Not meaningless but certainly disparate. Naruto and Sasuke talk to each other like they have talked more about what transpired with them in 698. And both have come to a position where they are going to capitulate to the circumstances.

Because at the end of the day, they are shinobis. The motto of a shinobi is to endure. Shinobi is a well established phenomenon, it's not just meant for shounen or otaku. They are real. Not like Naruto world ninjas, but Naruto obviously takes its inspiration from this phenomenon. The implications of being a shinobi is very well established in the story itself. Kishi made Naruto to deviate from its conventional meaning from the start so he was written as very unlike a ninja, loud, visible and non conformist, at least initially and for the most part, except towards the end. Shinobis/ninjas are supposed to endure. Following are screenshots from an acclaimed Japanese ninja series of films called Shinobi no mono.

Happiness and pride are not for the ninja. He doesn't live for himself. He lives for others. A collective is more important than the individual. He is born in darkness and he will die in darkness. He is literally a tool. That's what a shinobi is, from a modern ethical understanding, which is valid.

But Kishi couldn't have shown a happy ending for the boys, not with the sequel that essentially required their capitulation to this world to be able to make the new gen happen. The ending has shades of existentialist themes, which are pretty much present throughout what with the cycle of hate and revenge and infinite tsukuyomi, but that the manga ended it on the same note doesn't come as surprising does it?

Kakashi, a loyal, unawakened and complacent slave of the system climbs the rungs of power and becomes the hokage. Suck up to the right people and you will get places. Top administrative power. And he never really changed, he tells Sasuke at the end that it was because of his and Naruto's efforts that he didnt end up in jail and then proceeds to tell him to be good and careful not to regress, but still never acknowledged his mistreatment and insensitivity to Sasuke's feelings and motivations and very valid reasons. Sakura expected Sasuke to apologise and repent when it was she who was clearly in the wrong, who never understood him. She keeps pulling the same shit she always does, neither her nor Kakashi are made to pay consequences for their actions, instead, they get rewarded. Itachi is venerated, his truth is still hidden and Uchiha clan never got justice or even vindication, given they never summoned the kyuubi, its secret still being kept under the shadows.

( *Note - Nobody start with me as to how it was the right thing to do, you do NOT want to get me started there because you don't know what you are talking about. )

And how will any vindication happen when the world they live in doesn't really celebrate individuality? In fact, supresses it. It was funny to me when Bee reprimanded his brother telling him he was not his tool, that he was an individual who couldn't be suppressed but then Darui tried to convince himself that he was Raikage's left hand (or right) and that he wasn't a tool. Heh. Sarutobi is still revered as the ideal leader, when he himself admitted his complicity in Uchiha massacre, Tobirama was glad Uchihas were shown their place, and Oro, the outlier, the one who is objective because his reasons are revolutionary in his own desensitized way, a result of this heartless corrupt system that gives birth to undesirables like him, who collects other undesirables, the wretched, outliers and rejects, and makes his own village, is shown to be under surveillance, but he supported the war effort crucially, deviating from his objectives (even if only because of his interest in Sasuke and not because of the village), so he gets his redemption. So does Kabuto. Neji dies as a slave, something he was determined to fight against, and Hinata got her win, she got rewarded when she didn't work for it even a little bit. But she is rich, from a major clan, an heiress. A princess. The daimyos were shown as entirely privileged, uncaring and blasé about the war, carefree, playing cards or whatever, while the shinobis that were guarding them grumbled but then just accepted their fate, to the way of this world. Because that's what happens, doesn't it? It's very realistic.

Kishi didn't write his world as an ideal world. He essentially wrote it as a dystopian world. And his influences are pretty much based on dystopian ideas themselves, featuring major existentialist themes. Ghost in the shell, Jin-Roh, The Matrix, Berserk. Including introspective films about xenophobia and socio political inequality such as District 9 and Elysium. Same director. The part where seeing Itachi's predicament that greatly affected his own and his entire clan's, Sasuke is moved to think of fundamental questions such as - What is village, what is shinobi, what is the purpose of it all? underlines his existentialist despair. His answer to it did not come out of the blue. Like many fans think. But he was written to give up his goals entirely.

And Naruto. Well Naruto said goodbye to Sasuke. He gave Sasuke his hiatiate back. And this boy, who moved the sky and earth to bring Sasuke back, bid him goodbye with a certain meditative, contemplative stance. But not unhappy. Not his usual chirpy self. Not his usual spirited, chatty and loose tongued self. But introspective, pensive. Like they had reached a decision together. Later on, he married someone like Hinata and took a job that killed his spirit. Don't even think he isn't paying for his loyalty for Konoha, where he had to kill all his individuality and murder his zest for life and adventure, and become another cog of this unforgiving, relentlessly cruel world. Lifeless and eternally tired. A colourless husk of his older self. He couldn't even bother to attend his own hokage ceremony.

Kishi is not an ultra leftist, even though I can see he understands left ideologies, appreciates it quite well, and no wonder, Sasuke was partially inspired by Sanpei Shirato's Sasuke. He wrote Sasuke's character with such nuance and veritable shades, the claim that he is some ultra nationalist is empty. He is also not a fascist. Because if he were, the end of it all would have been shown as a reward. A prosperous haven. The best outcome of all possibilities. Your reward for loyalty. That is always the conclusion of the right wing narrative. Kishi is a realist. He appreciates existentialist themes, Japan can be credited with coming up with a whole library full of existentialist literature, as a result of the aftermath of war and the generational trauma can be seen and felt viscerally in the themes of their stories. Stories about meditation on war and the nature of war, the after effects of war, the human ethos behind them. Existentialism as a theory and way of life itself became quite a thing post war even if the theory itself was introduced before it, because it reflected what the war did to people, how it affected them, what it did to their psyches and thought processes. How certain things/ideas/thoughts/beliefs that carried social and moral value for them were rendered immaterial.

Anyway. Sasuke says - I didn't think you would come to see me off.

Naruto says nothing. This hyperactive goofball of ready words and catchphrases and nicknames just haltingly handed him back his slashed hitaiate.

The ending is - Perhaps this is what makes us ninjas.

Yes it does. Ceaselessly enduring pain and grief while giving up personal and individual wishes and desires and need for justice and their individuality does make them ninjas.

Continuing the status quo does make them ninjas. Nothing really changed, nothing really mattered. There's a certain melancholic quality to this scene. Which feels different in terms of tone and pacing, doesn't it?

Regardless, it's tragic.

Naruto is different in this scene in chapter 699. I think they have already discussed it by this point. And I think they have already come to some conclusions. What exactly did they talk about, we will never know. And I would give Kishi a lot of my money and a big part of my prized possessions, including my time, to know.

But well.

Now to come to what this ask was about, lol, I have yet to come across a fanfic that does justice to them, their story and narrative. Of course, it would be unrealistic to expect that everyone would get it, but is it unrealistic that at least someone should get it?? If I can see it and others can too, can't writers do something with this? This is such rich material, with so freaking much potential. There are so many possibilities, writers can use these themes creatively. And these are mostly my condensed thoughts, I will probably go in more detail some other day. And honestly, it takes some research, sure. But don't writers put some research in it anyway?

But they go for the easy route. It's okay, that they write what they like, but at least don't call it canon compliant. Most fans don't even understand canon. Give yourself some more credit, there's so much to discover.

At the end of the day, whenever I read some fic, unless it is supposed to be light hearted, it mostly just ends up disappointing me. Especially the ones that are based in canon universe.

This fic shows Naruto as an oblivious idiot when he is more perceptive than most fans think. He understands a lot of things, he is not a doofus, he is much more experienced at the end of the manga, he is aware of some realities and he is only going to learn more. And more. He understands his own emotions. Towards Sasuke as well. Sasuke is also shown as someone who doesn't even understand that he is attracted to Naruto when he has almost always known he was. Why else would he give up his life the way he did in land of waves? Gaara, btw, is perhaps one of the very few people who understand loneliness and being ostracized. Just him, Sasuke and Naruto, more prominently in this manga. He didn't attack Sasuke in kage arc, he could have. He is also perceptive enough to know that Naruto loves Sasuke, he also understands it better than Lee, who is a simplistic character, who thinks bad people's deeds are bad. Gaara understands that loneliness and hatred can drive people to do things they otherwise wouldn't. He resonated with Sasuke. He understood his predicament. and Naruto's. Which is why he said what he said to Naruto in kage arc. I love his character and I wish more people understood him. I swear if I could have broken the screen and picked small Gaara up when his salve got rejected by that child, I would have and I would have run....far.

Ino is portrayed as carefree and confident, sure. But I dont think she would be so fine with Sasuke being gay. She, till the end, was a Sasuke fangirl. There's absolutely no indication that she would have been fine with homosexuality. Nor would have others. Konoha presents a very bleak prospect for Sasuke and Naruto's relationship to be accepted.

I know this is a lot to take. And I know not everyone cares so much. But calling it canon compliant or 'in character' when it certainly is NOT, is taking it too far. Let's try a bit more. No?

Oh and I also didn't care about their intimate scenes. Because Naruto and Sasuke, once they get going, I think it would be like a bloody dam breaking off. It would start slowly, tentatively but then, it would burst out. And it would be unstoppable. I am talking years of repression here. Emotional and sexual. And more importantly, they trust each other all the way. I don't think tsunami would be able to stop them. It would be instinctive and natural, like everything else with them is. They might fumble and break stuff but more than anything else, it would be a desperate need to join together, to meld together, to finally be with each other as they were meant to be. They, who couldn't even touch without the pretext of a spar or a battle, if they finally allowed themselves to touch each other, it will be like a torrential force of emotions that would leave them scorched and they won't be satiated until their need to touch and reassure themselves, that it was finally happening, that they can finally touch each other, that they can HOLD each other, without feeling guilty or tabooed, that they can fuse their bodies with each other, to find not just emotional but physical reassurance, would come alive and transformed. They would run ragged. It would be passionate and tender and emotionally overwhelming, it would break barriers and boundaries, it would be a Godly experience for both. Like finally feeling at home. To be finally able to find that refuge in each other that only they could provide each other, in a world where no one else could even understand. It would be magnificent and insane and gentle and teasing and loving and sweet and painful and violent. All the damn shades. They aren't like you or me. They are different, because they are them. And no one can compare. But I can imagine.

#okay this went on as well #yall make me write too much lol #sns #ask #anon #sasunaru #narusasu #sasuke #naruto #uchiha sasuke #uzumaki naruto

[lenoresimpact]

Scaramouche's relationship with singing (headcanons)

Hello!  As I announced few days ago, I decided to write some headcanons about Scaramouche’s singing abilities. I found his boss fight theme really inspiring and even though his Chinese VA is not the one singing in the track, the main voice surely resembles our beloved motherless gremlin. Have fun and feel free to leave a request if you want more headconons from me!

Contains: Spoilers of Scaramouche’s past. Fluff/angst. + BONUS reader insert! It’s pretty SFW but if you find some parts triggering, please inform me about it!

❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉⊱•═•⊰❉

❤ Scaramouche's nickname The Balladeer wasn't incidental. Though no one ever teached him the art of music, he has a natural capability of controlling his voice in a flawless way. The thing is that he wasn’t aware of his gift when he was born. 

❤ It’s hard to tell if he owed his talent to his mother’s good will. Ei never really talked to him and she simply thought of him as an experiment named Kunikuzushi. His main purpose was to store her Electro Gnosis if he could bear it, but due to his delicate nature Kunikuzushi wasn’t suitable for this role. His other predispositions were useless in her eyes, so she wasn't interested in observing them. She gave him a freedom without any clues about his strong points. He knew only about his weaknesses. Ei simply rejected him, believing she was doing him a favor.

❤ On the other hand Kunikuzushi was indeed a beautiful, divine creation. His outward beauty reflected his pure nature. He wasn't in posession of a high self-awareness, but he had a great emotional sensitivity. He seemed eccentric to ordinary people, but he was very eager to live among them and learn to coexist peacefully.

❤ At first, how could he even know what singing was? One day, however, he heard a song coming out of one of the Inazuman houses. He was interested in how people modulated sound and why they did it. Sometimes they sounded happy but sometimes the sounds seemed terribly sad. There was probably some greater meaning in it, unknown to the wandering puppet.

❤ One summer day, when his friend Katsuragi went to fetch some water, Kunikuzushi started playing with his voice while working in the field. These were his first attempts to imitate human action of singing. He surprisingly enjoyed the results of his efforts and got so into it that he couldn't notice when Katsuragi returned. Initially, yoriki himself wasn't eager to interrupt the puppet's secret performance. He hid in a nearby bush and listened to natural, spontaneous tones of extremely pure timbre. They were filled with melancholy from another world.

❤ When Kunikuzushi fell silent, Katsuragi came out of the bush. Seeing his purple haired friend's embarrassment, he apologized for the sneaky behavior and immediately praised his skills. Kunikuzushi found the answer to his questions in this event. For now he knew what singing was and why people sang sometimes. It was simply admirable! Maybe such a skill could pull him closer to them? Since humans loved him for singing, maybe it was possible that his mother would also appreciate it as well? What if she heard his voice just once? Who knows, maybe she would be more willing to take him under her wing again... At least humans loved when their young ones were singing, right? It mostly meant they were happy. 

❤ From then on, Kunikuzushi hummed sweet songs more often to make his friend's work more pleasant. Sometimes he also received praise from other villagers when they suggested that he could earn great amounts of Mora thanks to his voice. However, he perceived it as too materialistic approach to his abilities. 

❤ The Puppet's songs were nostalgic and sad. The lyrics often featured Ei's misty silhouette more or less directly between the verses. Kunikuzushi lived with the naive hope that perhaps one day the wind would take his words to his mother, but it was surely not going to happen, especially since she isolated herself from the outside world.

❤ After Katsuragi's "betrayal", Kunikuzushi stopped singing for a while. He had no one to sing to. Only later he sang to himself in the intention to lessen his feeling of loneliness on the roads of Inazuma. After all, this way he attracted one of the local orphan's attention. The child seemed similiar to Kunikuzushi, since they shared poverty and loneliness, as well as the ability to see the world through the heart lenses.

❤ The little friend often asked Kunikuzushi to sing, but they also wanted to listen happier songs. The doll quickly learned cheerful children's chants. Very soon Kunikuzushi was able to make up his own songs and dance to them with kids during the day. It was a happy time which allowed him to believe that he could have a real value in someone's eyes once more.

❤ At night Kunikuzushi would bring back his sad songs with which he lulled the child to sleep. His velvety, warm voice comforted the kid in the darkness of the night and soothed the suffering that accompanied the progress of terminal illness. Although Kunikuzushi saw sickness and slow death for the first time from such a close perspetive, he believed that just being there was enough to keep a little human by his side. Unfortunately, it turned out again that this wasn't enough.

❤ After the death of his little friend, Kunikuzushi decided to get rid of his sensitive identity. He stopped singing not because he never saw beauty in it. He just discovered it's uselessness. A trivial singing couldn't give him a permanent place beside someone.

❤ Singing was bringing his feelings to the daylight. He had a void in his chest that he wanted to fill with pure anger and strength. He wanted to destroy the weak Kunikuzushi persona in him. 

❤ As Scaramouche, the puppet stopped singing because the human worms around him were not worthy of it. They would't return the honor of listening to him, and since he couldn't gain anything permanent with this pitiful talent, it was just useless for the fearsome Sixth Harbringer. His singing abilities were just one of the legends in the Fatui, since no one ever heard him singing there.

❤ The exception to this resolution was Scaramouche's song during the duel with Traveller and Lesser Lord Kusanali. The Balladeer ran away from Fatui and now he was the one to estabilish his power over the people. As the new god, he intended to obtain honors and glory by force. His last song was supposed to be a Psalm of the Victory, but it was actually an old cry hidden deep inside his hollow chest.

❤ It was a powerful swan's song before it's next death.

BONUS! (reader insert)

❤ Scaramouche's beliefs that grew around his own memories made him lock himself from trusting anyone. He wouldn’t be eager to sing for your entertainment, but if you questioned him about the sources of his nickname, he probably would mumble something about trivial activities in his younger days.

❤ Scara would be annoyed if you asked if he would ever sing for you. You shouldn't push him to give any performances, even in private.

❤ However, it is possible that when you get close to each other, you will sometimes catch him involuntarily humming for a few seconds when you’re alone together. It's best to appreciate his voice silently, without any comments which would interrupt him or make him focus directly on what he’s doing. He wouldn’t want to act cute willingly. Your silence at this moment would maintain a safe atmosphere between both of you. At the end the most important thing is that you can simply be yourself together.

#genshin impact #genshin headcanons #genshin oneshots #genshin impact fanfics #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact headcanons #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact x y/n #reader insert #scaramouche #the balladeer #kunikuzushi #kusanali #nahida #traveller #raiden shogun #raiden ei #genshin impact scaramouche #scaramouche x reader #genshin x reader #scaramouche angst #scaramouche x y/n #scaramouche headcanons #scaramouche fanfiction #writers on tumblr #scaramouche fluff #genshin impact angst #scaranation #genshin wanderer #mihoyo

[svartalfhild]

A Case for Jezri

Listen, I know how the DS9 fandom feels about Jezri, but I just wanted to take a moment to explain why I like it. I'm not asking people to agree; I just want to give it some love because there are things to enjoy and to explore in that ship that haven't gotten any discussion.

(Also why is 99.9% of the Jezri tag just people tagging their hate? Who raised y'all? Please be respectful towards your fellow fans who may not feel the same as you.)

I'm no stranger to finding my gold nuggets in the trash heap when it comes to Star Trek ships. I'm the type to find the things to love about something that was executed poorly by the writers. Datasha is my TNG OTP. Need I say more.

So don't think I don't understand some of the main objections people have to Jezri. I get it. I do. So with that out of the way, let's get into the good stuff.

Julian's personal story, particularly in the later parts of the show, has a strong motif of loneliness, which comes from two or three different aspects of his life. The first one is of course the fact that he's an augment. He's socially isolated by his mental and physical superiority. No one can keep up with him, and he has to diminish himself to fit in, especially before the truth comes out. The second is the evolving lives of the people closest to him. There reaches a point where nearly all of his closest friends are either married or in committed relationships, and he's the free floater who has to hope he can still fit into their lives somewhere. The third aspect is his own shit luck with relationships. No one sticks with him for very long for whatever reason. And there was the everything with Jadzia on top of it all. Poor man couldn't catch a break.

And then along comes Ezri. Quark is quick to treat her as same old Dax with a new coat of paint, for whose affections he immediately tries to generate competition with Julian, because he is a sexist little toad. Julian, to his great credit, is like "what the fuck, Quark" and makes it clear that he sees Ezri as a different person, not Jadzia 2.0 who he now has a chance with. Ezri is his new friend, and he's not going to be pulled into Quark's bullshit.

The writing is unfortunately rather uneven when it comes to showing us the establishment and development of that friendship, so we have to piece together the vibes from several disparate moments, some big and meaningful and others more incidental, but that's not too difficult for me. Fandom has done more with less.

Anyway! Through all of that, we kind of get to see that Ezri sees Julian differently than Jadzia did in a way that allows them to click very quickly. Jadzia sort of saw Julian as an adorable puppy excitedly wagging his tail at her (and by the time he matured into someone who was more her type, he'd stopped pursuing her and then she was with Worf). Ezri sees him as the charming guy who knows how to have a good time. It seems natural to me that Julian would quickly latch onto someone who thought his holosuite adventures were demonstrative of a healthy sense of fun and not a sign of immaturity. Ezri is literally the bad bitch he pulled by being autistic.

And they are such adorable awkward nerds with each other! The big eyes! The soft touches! The fumbling! The trying to keep things platonic because they just like each other so much that they're afraid of messing things up! The breaking down and making out anyway because they can't escape the vibes! *chef's kiss*

The thing that completely sold me on Jezri, though, was their moment together at the end of the last episode where Julian is mourning Miles' departure and feeling lonely and then Ezri rolls up like "Hey~!" and expresses the desire to have dinner and do holosuite adventures with him. That was so beautiful to me. Everything is changing and so many of his friends have left and it's the ultimate pit of loneliness for him, but then there's Ezri. He has her now and he's not alone and the war is over and there's hope and the start of something new and soft. I cried, y'all. Like maybe it's because I'm at a place in my life where I feel left behind while I watch all my friends move on with their lives, but man, the way Ezri represents the light at the end of a dark tunnel for Julian just got me so good.

Here are some of the headcanons I have to supplement the sparse canon material and give further depth and enjoyment to my shipping experience:

They're both bisexual.

Since they're both healthcare professionals, they have a lot to talk about where their fields intersect. They make a great team when they're working, but this also results in them developing a shorthand with each other that is somewhat infuriating for others.

Ezri's closeness with Julian allows her to better develop her friendship with Garak, and there are several times when all three of them get up to shenanigans together.

They sometimes get each other new tea blends to try as a fun little surprise.

Ezri tries to teach Julian some of the gymnastics stuff she remembers at least once with mixed results.

Julian particularly loves hugging Ezri, and she particularly loves holding his hand.

Julian persuades Ezri to read Lord of the Rings, and she gets really into it, so they end up doing a holosuite adaptation as Legolas and Gimli. Ezri plays with her beard a lot.

Quark fucking hates how cute they are and Kira makes a point to tell him about every sweet moment she sees between them just to fuck with him.

Ezri very much gets in on the Fuck With Section 31 train and helps Julian do spy shit. The criminal psychology knowledge comes in handy.

Anyway, these are my feels. Please don't air your grievances here. I just want to sail on my dinghy and hope someone out there is sailing with me.

#Star Trek #DS9 #Julian Bashir #Ezri Dax #Jezri #if you're gonna comment just please don't be an asshole I'm so tired

[margridarnauds]

At @sunites request -- My Firbolg BG3 character

So, for background, for people who know me through other things or are relatively new: I'm a medievalist with a focus on medieval Irish literature. And one of my most enduring loves is a group of people from medieval Irish lit called the Fir Bolg, who are a pseudohistorical group of people who settled Ireland and are the inspiration for the DnD Firbolg (a process that a friend of mine discusses here, for the curious).

...so. Naturally. I'm all over DnD Firbolg and downloaded the mod to recreate one of my favorite characters from medieval Irish lit, the great and much maligned hero, Sreng mac Sengainn, the man who made the gods bleed.

And he is. Tall. So tall.

I actually can't get over how tall he is. I love this mod so much.

He's a fighter, in keeping with his status in his main text as a champion for his tribe.

In his main text, Sreng is an incredibly dedicated and shrewd warrior -- he doesn't crave bloodshed or violence, he enjoys the company of the ambassador for the invaders (...potentially a little too much) and advises against war even though the nobility shut him down, but when the actual battle begins, he is able to hold the battlefield, on his own, against an army of supernaturally powerful opponents for THREE DAYS and even hacks off the arm of their leader.

I don't know how well this really translates into the more peaceful, reclusive Firbolg of DnD, but I'm definitely going to be playing him as a Lawful Good fighter (potentially with a Paladin of Vengeance multiclass, simply because Sreng's people, including his father, were enslaved by the Greeks and I think that would be a great nod to that tradition, having him be inclined to protect the weak.)

(His Dream Guardian is, incidentally, the ambassador for the other side that he was...close to in his main text.)

[sanvitheartificer]

So I recently watched Hamilton for the first time on screen. The first time I saw it was actually in person, and tbh I don't recommend it, because I couldn't parse all the lyrics in the moment and couldn't see the choreography and expressions. It's actually an extremely good musical and story?? The music itself is very good and the character arcs are really, really well-plotted and anyway I get the hype more now. I've spent the last few weeks reading a fuckton of old fic, it's been fun and I've enjoyed it.

And I have SO many thoughts about Hamilton and about history and fandom and stuff >:3

Here's my mini-outline for this post:

>my understanding of historical realities

>how that relates to the choices made to frame Hamilton the way it's framed

>how that relates to the modern fandom

>sidetrack into fic that's about reincarnation and some technical problems with that

>fic idea that I'll never ever write

1. My understanding of Hamilton, the actual historical figure, is that he, like the rest of the founding fathers, was not incidentally or casually supporting slavery and other kinds of injustice. That was the POINT of the Revolution. I am so, so so very far from an expert, but I did take this really interesting class that talked about how there were essentially three parties in the American Revolutionary War: there were rich British people, there were rich American people, and there were poor American people. And the rich American people won.

My understanding of the reason for the infamous debt plan is BECAUSE it basically allowed rich people to be the creditors and collect interest, maintaining a social order in which rich people stayed rich and poor people stayed poor. Like, look at it this way: rich people lend money to the American government, poor people are taxed and therefore pay the interest on those loans, keeping them poor; rich people become invested in the success of the government, staying in power in the government, making money off poor people. It's very clever! It's also not something that I personally find admirable. 2.

I think that it is FASCINATING to look at how successful Hamilton has been. To be clear: I really enjoy the story, I find it incredibly well written and just fun. And I think part of the reason I find it easy to love is because it is in many ways about white people, telling familiar stories.

It's a story featuring actors of color, and it SAYS things about and to the experiences of people of color. But it's in large part a story about historical rich white people. I have done no research, but the only line I can think of offhand that's even directly to a historical person of color is Jefferson going “Sally be a dear put my bag down” once. She doesn't get a line, if I'm remembering correctly, just nods.

In some ways, Hamilton kind of feels like it says, “Look, people of color can have the same kind of stories that rich white people can have!” (which, to be clear, I would LIKE to be more of a thing.) To be even more ungenerous, it feels in some ways like that age-old tradition of rich people escaping the stigma of being rich by pretending they're poor, or white people in blackface. Like, sure, we'll have characters of color, but only if they're telling white stories. Only if whiteness is still centered.

And, of course, it's very much a story about social advancement and a person who starts out poor becoming rich, which is another beloved archetype that is increasingly impossible in the real world. You get to see the same capitalist story of “poor person pulling himself up by his bootstraps” but with trappings of liberal progressiveness.

Which is an excellent recipe for success, because it removes some of the stigma of enjoying that kind of story, and also genuinely allows people of color to relate in real ways to a story that historically DOES NOT make room for them in that way. Hits a lot of audiences.

I do not think Hamilton would have been commercially successful if it was about Sally Heming's story. And I don't think most audiences would enjoy it as much, because the story of “this person was personally impacted by injustice for their entire life and was not able to escape it in a big dramatic scene” is not really as easy to watch? Like stories of resilience can be so, so impactful, but. I do not think they're as fun or compelling as “this person pulled themself up and changed everything!” for me personally, most of the time. 3.

The fandom absolutely echoes all that nonsense, because fandom also centers whiteness, like, almost exclusively – at least the fandoms I've been in, and I admit that's probably in part because my tendency is 100% to center white rich voices and to enjoy those familiar stories. But it's also like... not hard to find those stories, even if it weren't my tendency. I trip over them; I don't have to try. It's way harder to find stories that don't center whiteness.

And I wonder for myself, like, what do I do about that? There's books and stories out there about Sally Hemings, I'm sure, but I haven't read them, and I don't really want to. I like the fantasy world of fandom where Alexander Hamilton is a 20-something extremely liberal trans guy from the Caribbean.

I don't think the solution is “be ashamed of what you like” but I don't think it's really enough to be like “be aware that what you like is primarily centering white capitalist rich propaganda”, either. I mean, awareness is great, but it doesn't FEEL like it's enough.

Maybe it's “cultivate an appreciation for stories that don't center whiteness and richness”?? And not in a homework kind of way or “go track down 20 documentaries about slavery” but in a way where it's like, recognize that the kinds of stories that you like and find fun to watch/read/listen to can absolutely be written without centering whiteness/richness. It would be HARD to hit some of the same narrative beats of inspiration that Hamilton hits in a Sally Hemings musical, but hell, I don't think it would be impossible to do that. (Obviously the story would not be the same, and it shouldn't be, but I'm just saying that stories of people oppressed by unjust systems can still be inspirational and fun! they don't always have to be tragedies!) It may even be out there and I just don't know it.

I think right now, Sally Hemings: The Musical would not be commercially successful, even if it DID hit the same narrative beats as Hamilton. Because it's too threatening to tell that story, in a lot of ways. But that's what I would like to do. Work towards a world where A. racism and poverty don't fucking exist and B. fandom and mass media are less racist and classist and etc.

….I'll go into fic ideas in a new post, since this feels like a complete thought for now.

#class #race #hamilton #hamilton musical #fandom #critical essay? dunno what to tag that

[my-deer-friend]

Did you like John Laurens/AmRev history before the musical Hamilton? If so, how did you find an interest in it before? (And if not, what made you decide that Laurens was going to be your historical Blorbo based on the show?)

Sorry, anon – this one got lost in my inbox! But what a great question.

My first introduction to amrev history was actually in 2019 when I incidentally started watching Turn: Washington's Spies.

I didn't know the first thing about American history back then, but I enjoyed the drama and the setting of Turn, so I went digging around for other amrev media, and inevitably found my way to Hamilton the musical, and then to the online Hamilton fandom/community, and then to the historical amrev community from there.

I was genuinely surprised when I started digging into it to discover that figures like Washington, Franklin, Jefferson and all the rest were actually all involved in the same revolution. (Yeah. I can't emphasise enough how much I did not know about all this, but then again I grew up in a faraway part of the world, so it was hardly a focus.)

I didn't actually care much for Laurens in the show at first – he's a fairly secondary character – but I got sucked in when I learned more about his historical self from the passionate and well-informed bloggers here (folks like @revolutionary-pirate, @john-laurens and @revolutionary-demosthenes are the first ones that come to mind, but there are many more).

The musical and historical versions are two completely separate people in my head, but I'm deeply fond of both of them. I love the fun I have doing fandomy, indulgent, creative things with musical Laurens, and the much more academic approach I can take to historical Laurens and his extended circle. Best of both!

#hamilton musical #john laurens #historical john laurens #amrev #this was such a fun question to answer #thanks anon!!