#10 Cores – 12 Threads

[padoskawruh]

LAPTOP HP PAVILION X360 14 TOUCH I5 1235 8GB 512SSD W11 14.0FHD - LAPTOP, PLUS PAKET

#HP PAVILION X360 #TOUCH #FHD #12th Generation #Intel Core #i5-1235u #Turbo Boost #DDR4 #Intel Iris Xe #multitouch #edge glass #Backlit #RTL8821CE-M #True Vision #Windows 11 #Realtek #10 Cores – 12 Threads

[vyph2001]

「If I could be born again, I hope it's not Kim Dokja at least.」

— [ORV side story] C.615 - Ep.12. □□ (6)

singNsong wrote a chapter from 49%'s perspective during the rescue of the "Real Kim Dokja." The chapter sheds light on Kim Dokja's hidden thoughts and feelings that were never revealed in the 551 chapters of ORV.

This is a thread about 49% Kim Dokja and has side story's spoilers. Read at your own risk.

======

A kid-ified Kim Dokja.

Kim Dokja, who was also losing his memory. But the moment he saw that Kim Dokja, he realized: that Kim Dokja was the 'real Kim Dokja'.

「Ah... Ah, I'm...」

Like a satellite attracted by the gravitation of a star, his body moved toward Kim Dokja. The memories he had were breaking into small pieces and being sucked into Kim Dokja. Feeling the disappearing flesh, he thought.

Who was I, then?

「Dokja-ssi!」

He was Kim Dokja.

「Kim Dokja!」

However, he wasn't the Kim Dokja this world wanted.

「Kim Dok...!」

The last moment before his consciousness disappeared, he thought.

「If I could be born again!」

As the party said, a delusion of the 'Real Kim Dokja'.

「I hope it's not Kim Dokja at least.」

He imagined a very distant universe that could never be reached by this world, an unknown being born in that universe.

A creature that no one in <Kim Dokja's Company> recognized and has nothing to do with Kim Dokja.

「I want to have my story, too.」

There was the sound of something exploding, and the next moment his consciousness was broken into small pieces and scattered in space.

But the biggest part of the consciousness that formed his core did not completely disperse and became a meteor.

— [ORV side story] C.615 - Ep.12. □□ (6)

======

Q: Why is Lee Hakhyun the reincarnation of 49%, but not 49% itself?

The meteor that carried 49%'s soul broke into many tiny pieces that flew to a planet far away from Kim Dokja's worldline.

The largerst piece entered the body of a newborn child named Lee Hakhyun.

Many other smaller pieces also entered the bodies of dozens of different people, including Killer King and Yerin (siblings), Dansu and Jiyoon (father and daughter) and even some who have crushes on each other.

As a result, there are over 10 characters who are reincarnations of 49%.

All of these reincarnated fragments of 49% have taken on new lives of their own. So if you consider Lee Hakhyun to be 49%, then you should also consider the others as 49% as well!

======

Q: Why are there 2 portals to different endings, one where Kim Dokja wakes up and one where he doesn't wake up?

In my opinion, it's because 49% Kim Dokja is the one who doesn't want to come back to his companions the most.

Why do you insist Kim Dokja wants to return to his companions and have a happy ending?

We only get to see the inner thoughts of 51% who longs for his companions day and night. But 49% wanted nothing to do with returning to his companions and we only learned his true feelings in the side story. After reading his story and learning his wish was fulfilled, do you still want a 100% Kim Dokja like KIMCOM would?

#TY Snail for ur help <3 #orv spoilers #orv side story #orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #kim dokja #lee hakhyun

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Pride! Can I get some trans content<3

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45

He can’t be pregnant.

The curse mark on his arm tells him that he is living in this body on limited time. Eventually, he will die, the string keeping him inside Mo Xuanyu’s body snapping like a string and sending him back to wherever she summoned him from.

He’d let himself forget, a little. The body he inhabits is so different than the one he woke up in. He’s made her stronger, grown her golden core into a fearsome thing, worked and worked muscles until they swelled and hardened.

It had begun to feel like it belonged to him, liked he’d carved his body from Mo Xuanyu’s. The differences from his old body hadn’t felt important, and still don’t, it’s about how this is the body he worked for and made from the one given to him.

But Mo Xuanyu is dead and her body isn’t his to keep.

If he wants to have this baby, then he must betray Mo Xuanyu and her sacrifice. If he wants to bring Lan Zhan’s baby into the world, he cannot kill Jin Guangshan.

Completing the mission she retrieved him for will sever the connection and he will die again and so will the life he’s growing.

His only hope is that maybe, maybe the thread binding him here will hold long enough for him to both deliver this child and kill Jin Guangshan.

He looks from Jiang Yanli to Jiang Cheng, their fierceness and determination the closest he’s felt to home in a long time. He shouldn’t be letting them do this, shouldn’t be sinking into the comfort of their protectiveness when they think he’s someone he’s not, but he can’t help it. It makes him feel even sadder for Xuanyu, to think that they would have done this for her, if only she’d let them. Hadn’t Jiang Yanli reached out to him that very first day while he was a confused and terrified mess? And here she is now, offering to shield him from his husband, offering to help Mo Xuanyu choose her own path and either continue the pregnancy or have it end here.

He takes a deep breath, trying to stem the flow of his tears. Jiang Cheng’s hands on his shoulders feel like the only thing keeping him in place, like he’s pressing Wei Wuxian’s spirit into place in Xuanyu’s body.

He presses a hand against his stomach, thinking of the life shifting in his womb as the first lotuses that had sprouted from muddy mountainside. If he could grow flowers in the burial mounds, he can grow a child in a borrowed body.

But does he want to?

This isn’t what he’s here for. The best case scenario is that he leaves Lan Zhan behind to raise a child alone, the husband and child of the woman who murdered a clan leader. The worst case is he leaves Lan Zhan behind to mourn a wife and child and he dies without avenging the wrongs done against Mo Xuanyu. Or he can end this here, remove the potential child from the equation and kill Jin Guangshan as subtly as possible, something he has the time to arrange when he isn’t pushing his connection to this world to the brink. Then Lan Zhan will only be the widower rather than the husband of a murderer.

There are no good choices.

But he’s used to that.

He breathes in, holding it at the top of his lungs and letting out slowly.

A-Yuan had been the brightest light in the burial mounds. Anytime he wavered, aching for the life and the people he left behind, it wasn’t Wen Qing or Wen Ning of Granny who hardened his resolve once more, but A-Yuan.

He’d loved being a parent. He’d wished he really could grow siblings for A-Yuan like he’d grown turnips.

Wei Wuxian’s legacy is one of failure, of loss, of destruction. All those he tried to protect fell. All those he had protected turned against him. The last thing he will do on this earth is kill again, even if it is a man who has earned it.

He does not want to leave behind a legacy of only terrible things.  

It could all end horribly. But he’s always been foolish enough to hope for better than he has.

He finally meets Jiang Cheng’s steady gaze.

“I’ll talk to Wangji.”

#prompt answers #prompts are closed #asks #anon #untamed

[btc-official]

mutual 1: (that one mediocre twitter screenshot youve already seen five times today. you know the one)

mutual 2: yeah i microwaved your boyfriend sorry put him in there for a minute thirty mhm yep hes all crispy now sorry

mutual 3: if you dont want to fuck a fat hairy old man do you even really have the spark of consciousness

mutual 4: heyyy queen❤️ credit card tonight? credit card please? credit card information tonight bestie?

mutual 5: slenderman if he was WIZARD CORE be like find my mages

mutual 6: no guys. hear me out. mcu spiderman is actually a really interesting character because (6000 word dashboard nuke)

mutual 7: ok i’m not answering anything else from “Racist Anon” i try to engage with people in good faith but it’s been really bad for my mental health

mutual 8: wish a hot tgirl would cut me open and replace all my organs with old vhs player parts but in like a sexual way

mutual 9: at this point i forget she/her shadow the hedgehog isnt canon sometimes

mutual 10: who up wungling they hog

mutual 11: who up wungling they hog

mutual 12: THIRTY FIVE DEGREES SIX MINUTES SEVEN SECONDS NORTH. ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN DEGREES EIGHT MINUTES AND FOURTEEN SECONDS WEST. DECEMBER SIXTEENTH. YOU WILL KNOW WHAT TO DO

mutual 13: who up wungling they hog

mutual 14: i wish someone would wungle my hog… (uncensored selfie)

mutual 15: if you dont ship the rugrats you’re against free speech (i don’t remember why i followed this guy)

mutual 16: (twenty minute heritage blog rp thread)

mutual 17: unfollow if you watch the simpsons that shit is racist as hell

mutual 18: does anyone else think (mutual 17) is guilt tripping people

mutual 19: (reblog of my own zero effort post that i regret making) dave woukd say this

[rocketturtle4]

Last Twilight, Growth, Change, Hope and most of all, Trust 

because I adored this show, without reservation.

(I wrote this before realising quite how many people were unhappy with the ending but my thoughts stand)

My friend, @plantsarepeopletoo wrote in their post about ep 12 that

The story is saying hope is something worth chasing after.

This is something I emphatically agree with, and I want to add one more core premise that the show felt like it built on throughout

No matter how big change is, growth comes from the little moments when we trust.

This was a show *full* of big, the accident, the lost dreams of national competition, a year in jail, a sister’s death, a parent’s death, a parent’s divorce, an unplanned pregnancy and of course, blindness.

And yet,

This was a show full of tiny moments of growth, hard earned and barely celebrated, of what it was like to see clearly for just 10 seconds of a day. Of how to eat a plate of food without sight, of what it feels like to hold out your hand and trust someone to take it. What forgiveness feels like, voiced in small certain words.

We climbed mountains, and bought slippers, We ran away from home and we learnt to eat cake.

Big Moments

Small Moments

But most of all

Trust

And that was what we lost in episode 11 and that is what episode 12 had to rebuild.

Day thought that Mhok was the one person who trusted him to be okay by himself, even if just for a little while, Day saw him as an equal, a faen. That’s what he chose when he stepped over the marathon finish line. But Mhok wasn’t there with him, not completely. He wanted to carry all of Day’s needs as well as his own.

He didn’t share the nightmare

He didn’t share the job offer

He didn’t share his fear over the car accident

He didn’t trust Day.

And so Day ended things, firmly and with false certainty because he never wanted to be anyone’s burden. He wanted to be Mhok’s equal, and as things stood, Mhok couldn’t give him that.

Episode 12 (again as @plantsarepeopletoo points out) shows that even though the two have grown so much over the past 3 years, they still lack the trust because they’ve done the work separately and not together.

You see it in the way Mhok doesn’t speak until Day is already in the car.

Doesn’t speak until Day recognises his scent.

But once Day recognises him by scent alone, Mhok gives in and trusts enough to lean in and flirt, to show up and cook him food, to take him for suit fittings and cake tastings, to ask him to dance and then finally, to ask for a second chance.

Day’s trust is a more fragile thing. How can he know Mhok sees him as a whole person, trusts him, when Mhok picks up right where they left off, when he continues to pull out his chair and catch his arm to walk him, when he helps him with his jacket, and his food.

What if nothing has changed?

How can he know?

And he needs a push here, more than Mhok does, because of how his trust was broken, but Mum tells Day.

To be uncertain in love is the most normal thing of all, to step forward we must take a risk

To love, is to trust, and so, Day chooses to trust.

And for me, this was the most beautiful moment of all, and the most fulfilling ending I could have gotten.

For me this show held up, from start to finish.

It’s a show about learning to trust your family, your friends and most importantly yourself, no matter what life throws your way.

For those of you who feel that this doesn’t address what you perceive as the biggest flaws in the show, maybe it was Day’s Mum, or Day getting his Vision back, or the show choosing not to explicitly address Mhok’s trauma and abandonment issues, I am not saying you are wrong at all. For me, an explicit unpacking of those things wasn’t needed. They weren’t the threads I was holding onto.

Day’s mum learnt to see him as a whole person.

Mhok learnt to live independently, without someone relying on him.

Day’s vision was returned, an afterthought of the show, after he was already a whole, happy person.

None of these things were less for me.

Because every moment of this show was filled with so much more.

#last twilight #last twilight the series #I had a lot of feelings so here you go #rturts is wondering

[a-s-levynn]

A Series of Small Offerings

or a Sleep Token prompt list based on lyrics

A 4 part art challenge that can be an extensive several weeks long endeavour or you can pick and choose the part(s) that interest you the most.

Big or small, wonky or beyond artistic, just a scribble or a masterpiece; drawing, sculpture, drabble, full on fanfic or even a piece of music? Everything has a place here so long you enjoy creating it. No offering is too small to be a worthy one. 🫶🏻

Pick one (or even both) of the lines from the given song. Take it as literal or abstract as an inspiration as you feel fitting and let the creativity flow.

Worship. 🙏🏻

(edited version with Shelter added, a line switched for TMBTE, corrected Blood Sport lyrics)

PART I - ONE, TWO and the singles

Thread the Needle

You turn the lights down / Come on and find out or Just look at where we're lying / An invisible space

2. Fields of Elation

The daylight recedes in unison, this room / Buries the hours like death, in motion or And nobody else can pull me out / And the fields of elation, quiet and loamy

3. When the Bough Breaks

We could stay suspended / Even when the bough breaks or You don't really love, you just hate to be alone

4. Calcutta

I sweat and I ache for / Your eyes and the way you breathe or Melting skywards more than silence broken / I'm whole again for just a moment

5. Nazareth

Building you a kingdom / Dripping from the open mouth, [I'll show you] or Manifest pain at the core of pleasure / I'll see you when the wrath comes around

6. Jerico

Tread, ancient water salt / Like I sink, down like precious stones or My hands are not worthy

7. Jaws

The whites of your eyes burn / From across the room or Caged and always provoked / By prey left unattended

8. The Way That You Were

To tear that knife from what once / Would have been dead fingers or And you will no longer / Stand between collapsing walls

PART II - Sundowning

The Night Does Not Belong To God

The whites of your eyes / Turn black in the lowlight in turning divine or And the night comes down like heaven

2. The Offering

And you are a garden, entwined with all / You are the silence on sacred shores or So take a bite, I want to know

3. Levitate

And we imitate a story of perfect days / A ballad we fabricate or Will you levitate / Up where my love doesn't matter?

4. Dark Signs

And where we met, there must have been dark signs / Omens in your skies or And I hate who I have become (I might break and bend to my basic need to be loved and close to somebody)

5. Higher

And we are exhausted by all this pretending / We just can't resist the violence or When you're alone / I am granting you more than / The debt that I owe

6. Take Aim

And it sends me shivers / How you love like weapons kill or Call, won't you call out my name? / Like a curse on this world?

7. Give

I'll tear the fibre from the filament / I'll be the limit of your light again or Want to give you all that I can give / All my darkest impulses

8. Gods

No more teeth to bite with / No more smiling faces i am alone again or Like fire from the heavens / Tearing me asunder beside you

9. Sugar

We still know how to feed / We still know how to bleed or Let me wrap the chains / Addicted to the pain, oh

10. Say That You Will

Is that a glint in your eye? / Is that a blade in your palm? or In this light you are mine

11. Drag Me Under

And I know the gods will abandon the heavens just to find us or Hold me beneath the surface (And I know the angels tonight are as lost for words)

12. Blood Sport

Even if the sky cracks in mourning / And the heavens just won't open up for me or Tangled with what I never said / You say it doesn't matter

13. Shelter

When it rains, you don't take shelter / You don't take signs from God or And as you become part of my waking rituals, I can tell / You gather up all of my demons

PART III - This Place Will Become Your Tomb

Atlantic

Crumble like a temple built from future daughters / To wasteland when the oceans recede or So flood me like Atlantic, weather me to nothing / Wash away the blood on my hands

2. Hypnosis

Lift, oh, lift me out / Of my own skin or Split my skin, no / Just make me bleed

3. Mine

We balance fire in the earth we walk / Will never stop me reaching forth or With colors over all the wasted years / Eternity will bring you near

4. Like That

New weapons to snap those final strings / Just to watch me fall back or Push down into membranes and layers / Creating a slow dissection

5. The Love You Want

Too many swallowed keys / Will make you bleed internally someday, oh or Now keep the freakshow talk / To a careful minimum

6. Fall For Me

In a city of ice there are burning cathedrals / Turning the skies into glass or And I feel like I'm losing touch with what I am again / And slowly I remember why I cannot pretend

7. Alkaline

It's too late for me now, I am altered / There is something beneath or I see in a different light / The objects of my desire

8. Distraction

'Cause I am broken into fractions / Oh, and I am driven to distraction or Something much more than I could ask for

9. Descending

Create, release or My love withers and chokes in perfect awe

10. Telomeres

And we go beyond the farthest reaches / Where the light bends and wraps beneath us or Through death / My arms are open

11. High Water

When the mouth of infinity / Buries its teeth in me or Wash me clean again before I pull myself beneath the waves

12. Missing Limbs

The blessings rain on battles in the heaven's arms or 'Cause it still makes my blood run cold / To remember what I did before

PART IV - Take Me Back To Eden

Chokehold

A sacred guardian or Even if I can't sleep / Oh, and though we act out of our holy duty to be constantly awake

2. The Summoning

A taste of the divine or Take me past the edge / I want to see the other side

3. Granite

Between the second hand smoke and the glass on the street or Never mind the death threats / Parting at the door

4. Aqua Regia

Following a bloodtrail, frothing at the maw or Between the pain and the way you look / I'm stuck in a time where the mountains shook

5. Vore

You have become the voice in my head or Will we remain stuck in the throat of gods? / Will the pain stop if we go deeper?

6. Ascensionism

Your reflection, your bitter deception / Setting you free or With one eye on the door, other eye on a rail / Other, other eye following a scarlet trail

7. Are You Really Okay?

I was trying to hold back the darkness or But I, I don't believe you when you tell me you are fine

8. The Apparition

I wake up to a suicide frenzy / Loaded dreams still leave me empty or Just let me go or take me with you

9. DYWTYLM

Do you pull at the chains? / Or do you push into constant aching? or Do you ever believe / That we can turn into different people?

10. Rain

Refracted in light, reflected in sound or And I know, I know, I am what I am / The mouth of the wolf, the eyes of the lamb

11. Take Me Back To Eden

We dive through crystal waters, perfect oceans / But no one told me not to breathe or I'm a waking hell and the gods grow tired / Reset my patient violence along both lines of a pathway higher

12. Euclid

The night belongs to you / This bough has broken through or The whites of your eyes / Turn black in the low light

Thank you so much if you took any part of this on or just read through it.

Never forget, that the most important thing is that no matter what,

Worship 🙏🏻

#a series of small offerings #sleep token art challenge #sleep token #sleep token fanart #levynn tries to draw

[withoutyouimsaskia]

Remember Me, Special Dreams

Part XXIII.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25

GIF: Originally posted by @simply---words

Summary: Self-insert. You're having trouble with recurring night terrors and Morpheus pays you a visit. (Title from the lyrics of Placebo’s Special Needs)

Warnings: language, angst, mentions of night terrors. 18+ Minors DNI. Smut, hand play, penetrative sex (AFAB+AMAB).

Word Count: 2.1k

A/N: Hello there! Smut part 2 is here! I apologise for the delay with this chapter. It took a long time to pull all the threads together and get the dialogue right. Hope you are safe and well. All my love, Saskia ❤️

Sandman Masterlist

-----------------    

“Right now I need to be inside you.”

Morpheus’ desperate words see another spark burst forth into flame within your core.

There is no point in arguing with him. You can tell from the obstinate set of his shoulders as he gazes up at you from his still-kneeling position.

You push yourself back so your entire length rests on the pale blue sheets.

“Lie with me.” You pat the space next to you and roll onto your side.

Once Morpheus is situated beside you, you watch each other, kissing every so often. After a period, the aftershocks of your recent orgasm burn out and you feel prepared to take things further.

You inhale a deep breath, knowing that what you want to say next is important but uncertain of how to phrase it.

“I'm not exactly sure of how reproduction works among Endless beings... however I wanted you to know that I’m taking a contraceptive pill,” you clarify while fruitlessly attempting to smooth a crease out of the sheet.

He kisses you sweetly. “Thank you for your openness.”

You lay on your back and Morpheus carefully straddles you.

He’s so delightfully accessible to you now. The angles of his collarbones are demanding to be touched so you do it. You start there, with both hands in the centre, spreading out across his chest, over his upper arms, round to his back and up into his hair. His muscles contract as you trace the path. 

You change instrument, swapping from hands to lips, and press kisses to his exposed neck. It sends him into a feverous delirium; his pupils are dilated so far that they almost eclipse the blue.

He guides your hand to his erection. He is already hard yet he stiffens even further when you begin to pleasure him.

His eyes roll back with a low groan. You gush at the sound.

Dark lashes cast pretty shadows onto his cheekbones in the light of the lamp. With your free hand, you cup his face then slide your fingers through the shorter hair above his nape.

You stroke his shaft evenly for a while before tightening the hold you have on him by a fraction. He tenses, speaking your name in a forewarning and you release him before you get too carried away.

The liquid lust in his eyes when he looks back to you is overwhelming. You open your legs.

“You are ready?” He asks.

“Yes,” you whisper, heartbeat picking up. “Are you?”

“I am.”

He adjusts your position ever so slightly. His weight sinks down and you feel his tip at your entrance. You become rigid, nerves returning full force.

“I will be gentle with you, Y/N, I promise,” he pledges.

You nod. "I trust you."

He strokes your face with his fingertips. “As I trust you.”

The mutual exchange of those candidly spoken words gives you proof that the connection you are cultivating together is pure and honest and authentic. Exactly as you want it to be.

Morpheus waits until you are completely relaxed before resuming. His eyes are trained on your face, looking for any sign of discomfort but also to see your reaction. 

You are doing the same. Despite your suppression and denial of your attraction and feelings, both of you genuinely had wanted this for some time now.

And because of that, you need to remember every second.

You secure your hands on his shoulders.

He eases into you slowly, stretching you further than you had been in the past, inspiring a long moan that harmonises with his own.

“Morpheus,” you call as he continues to push in.

You are panting. The sensation of being opened up has your eyelids fluttering.

“Keep looking at me,” he whispers.

You do as he says and re-focus on his familiar, perfect face.

He bottoms out with a breathy gasp.

As your walls flutter, he holds still to give you time to adjust.

He feels so very large and so very right.

The expression on his face is one of unadulterated astonishment. “You feel…” He groans, “You are…”

For the first time since knowing him, he is unable to finish his sentence. You have rendered the King of Dreams almost speechless.

You reach up to stroke his jaw line. “Please.”

He understands and moves ever so slightly. You overload from pleasure, burying your face in his neck and inhaling deeply to compose yourself with his scent.

You feel his large hand on the back of your head.

“I’ve got you,” he repeats a few times. His voice calms you quickly and keeps your arousal throbbing.

With your heart rate stabilised, you look back at Morpheus and smile.

“I’m okay now. Keep going.”

He smiles back, and lowers onto his forearms. You are more prepared for the movement this time; the pleasure is still visceral but you soak every bit of it in. 

You instantly want more.

His first thrust is shallow, as is the second, and after the third, he begins to deepen in increments. When you begin to move with him, bliss lights his countenance. 

He is taking his time to satisfy you and it is so unlike any of the sexual encounters you have had before. He is savouring the moment, savouring you. It makes you feel undeniably special. He wants to share his very being with you as you do with him.

It adds another tie of emotional attachment to him. You trace his cheekbones with adoration.

Morpheus stops suddenly. He draws almost all the way out.

Your mouth drops open. You want to complain, to tilt your hips up and maintain the friction but you don’t. There’s a look on his face that stops you. A look that has you combusting.

You watch him with baited breath. The urge to squirm and whine is immense.

He slams back into you.

The grunt he makes as he does so is salacious. You cry out and grab his shoulders.

He repeats the action.

You hold tighter still.

His lips claim your own in a searing kiss.

He then sets a rhythm that you know will send you over the edge if he maintains it. And he does. He takes you hard and deep until everything you know is him. Him alone.

The roll of his hips casts a hypnotic spell over you.

You wrap your legs around him. He hums in approval at the deeper angle you have offered.

"Morpheus," you moan loudly as he takes you into a realm of pleasure that you had not been permitted to enter before.

The devotion in his eyes intensifies with every pump.

You feel your channel contracting as he pushes you closer and closer to the edge.

“Let go for me,” he urges in a dangerously seductive tone.

His hand finds yours and he laces his fingers between your own. Such care is shown in that simple act; in his ocean blue eyes. You focus on them as the tension in your core threatens to snap.

“Let go, Y/N.”

You arch up, walls clamping around him. 

You are silent as the orgasm bursts forth and then all you can say is his name as the euphoria blinds you.

As soon as you speak, he spills himself inside you.

Pleasurable agony is drawn on his beautiful features. He continues to move until he runs dry. Your trembling legs sink down onto the mattress.

Then Morpheus withdraws and descends the last few centimetres to be flush against your glowing skin.

The only movement either of you make are the rises and falls of your chests and involuntary twitches created by your orgasms.

You remain contentedly pressed together until your spent bodies recover, consumed by joy and serenity.

***

You and Morpheus take it in turns to clean up in your bathroom. He lets you go first; your body feels painfully cold without him and you have to take refuge under the duvet upon re-entering the room.

Pink warmth blushes your cheeks when he comes back and you don’t try to hide it. What a difference it makes to feel able to show your desires now.

Morpheus pauses, eyes flickering to the vacant side of the bed. You pull a corner back and beckon for him to join you.

“You are sure?” He asks, respecting your personal space.

“Hold me, please.”

He slips between the sheets. His dark locks fall into a halo on the pillow. He draws you against his side and tucks your head under his chin. You nuzzle into his strong chest and sigh.

"You were right when you said you were experienced," You murmur after a few minutes.

He huffs out a little laugh. "Does that mean that you enjoyed yourself?"

"Of course I did. It was -"

Life changing. Mind altering. Soul defining.

They were all viable ways to end your sentence.

"It was the best I've ever had," you eventually say.

His fingers trace precise patterns on your upper back.

"I have longed to be with you like that for some time. Since the day that you kissed me on top of that hill.”

“That long?”

“Yes,” he replies solemnly.

“I hope I lived up to your expectations.”

“You exceeded them.”

You blink. “Really?”

“Your touch is something to be coveted, and you react so perfectly to me. You are considerate of my boundaries. You understand the emotional weight of sexual contact. I could not wish for more.”

He shifts to be able to look into your eyes.

"I apologise for the way I reacted when I got undressed. I did not mean to cause you any concern. I am grateful for how you sought to console me.”

“You don't have to say sorry for anything, Morpheus.”

“Perhaps not but I feel I should elucidate.”

He sits up and you follow.

“Something happened to me. I was certain that I had overcome it yet I couldn’t stop myself from drawing a parallel to what had transpired.”

His gaze fixes on the light source.

“There was a human. An occultist named Roderick Burgess. Burgess was dangerous and obsessive and after the death of his son, he attempted a spell to imprison my sister, Death, hoping that she would bring him back from the Sunless lands. But instead he got me. What he wanted was not mine to give but Burgess never backed down. I had no means of escape; the binding circle drained my power, and he took my tools. The effect on humanity’s subconscious was devastating without me to curate and manage it. Certain dreams and nightmares went rogue, some preying on the waking world.”

His pauses and his voice cracks when he speaks again. “My raven, Jessamy, tried to help me. Burgess’ other son murdered her right before my eyes. I stayed in that basement for 106 years, completely naked, locked in a glass cage as I grieved the loss of my friend and my reason for existing.”

You feel a tear escape and streak down your cheek. Naked. It made sense in the most heartbreaking way. He had been right back in there in his memories remembering his agony and isolation. You know without a doubt that the trauma Matthew had mentioned when he had come to visit you in the cottage was the same. Morpheus had watched a loved one die. How could it be anything else?

You suppress a sob. “What happened when you got out?” 

“I took my revenge on Alex Burgess. For Jessamy. For not letting me go when his father had died, and then I went back to the Dreaming. When I returned, I found it had wasted away, as I had done in that cage, decayed beyond recognition.”

“But you re-built it?”

“Yes. With the help of my tools once I had reclaimed them. It took time, and self-reflection and allowing myself to trust others but eventually everything was set right.”

Morpheus goes quiet. You take his hand. 

“I’m so sorry, Morpheus. I’m sorry about Jessamy. I’m sorry that you suffered for so long. I’m sorry for the cruelty of humans. I will always be here if you need to talk about it, about anything.”  You are crying as you speak.

He buries his face against your neck. “Not all humans are cruel, Y/N. You are one such example. The offer you just made is proof, and I give the same to you. You will always have a shelter with me.”

-----------------

"We don't need to know. All we have is now, so just let go. When your number's called and it's time to disappear. Have no fear cause you got me and I got you. Right here."

Taglist: @pinkcyclewitch @layla2-49 @shoidy-cat @silverhart93 @boofy1998 @dotieeee @ponysboy-sunsets @fangirlmary @littledollll @fatimakinney @jamiethenerdymonster @rosaren2498 @mr-sandman-bring-me-a-dream​ @madiebear​ @sandman-33​ @sallysal9​ @asiludida164​ @elf-punk​ @grungeisntmything​ @sapphireonline​ @seninjakitey​

#the sandman #sandman #the sandman 2022 #the sandman netflix #The Sandman Fanfic #The Sandman fic #the sandman imagine #sandman x reader #the sandman x reader #morpheus #morpheus x reader #morpheus/dream #morpheus/dream x reader #dream #dream x reader #dream of the endless #dream of the endless x reader #the endless #sandman smut #dream smut #dream of the endless smut #lord morpheus #lord morpheus smut #tom sturridge #slow burn #angst #smut #romance #fanfiction series #saskia writes sandman

[moralanxietystudio]

Roadwarden - In Search of Urgency Through Limitations

(This is a repost of my Twitter thread that got quite a dose of love yesterday, so I figured you may be interested in it as well.

1/ Hi! I was invited to post a thread for #MAMG23 on a unique feature of my fantasy game, Roadwarden. I’d like to tell you about its most controversial design choice - the time limit. The expectation that you’ll finish the game without seeing some parts of what it has to offer.

2/ In RW, you play as a single character patrolling the roads of a distant peninsula, aiding or harming its tribes. This land has grown detached from any strong, governmental body, and you start the game as an outsider, an agent, a spy sent here by the city.

3/ You’re encouraged to travel, make friends, learn more, but instead of being The Chosen One, you’re just a rider, a traveling sheriff. And you’re meant to get back to the city soon - usually, in 40 days, after which you are held accountable for your actions and their outcomes.

4/ You start with a personal goal you can select from a short list, and a few other quests to guide you, but none of them are obligatory. You may shape the fate of various people, or even whole settlements, but that’s just a small dent in the grand scheme of things.

5/ I think the reason why it works is that RW tries to make you feel attached to its NPCs and villages. Most people are guarded at first, but open up as you prove your worth to them - or manipulate them. You get options to spend time with them, to share meals and ale.

6/ You see NPCs’ perspectives as you exchange news and rumors. You get familiar with the way people get by, with their routines, and their plans for the future. My NPCs may not have the most depth, but in many ways, you get to learn about their vulnerabilities.

7/ At the start of the game, you’re also vulnerable system-wise, and you won’t increase your stats much. Instead, you rely on others to help you get out of the loop of hindrances. You grow closer with people - by quests, trading, hanging out - and open access to convenient tools.

8/ You unlock new shelters, free supplies, free care, free advice, lower prices, even direct help during tasks. You collect favors. It’s no wonder you may grow attached to NPCs and their problems, and actually care about what’s going to happen to them.

9/ (It’s a very different approach to many older video game plots, where your character would get dropped into mid-apocalypse, saving the world they know nothing about, or trying to save their sibling/village after a brief introduction, relying on our real-life contexts.)

10/ Your character is weak, and travels between the “points of light” (villages, inns) and the threatening wilderness, seeking ways to optimize your journeys, avoiding threats until prepared to face them, sticking to the main roads at first, then exploring the more obscure paths.

11/ But the game needed tension to make this work, to let you game the systems while pushing you into taking an occasional leap of faith. Balancing between risk and preparations is where the challenge comes from. Hence - the time limit.

12/ In the core game mode, the character has 40 in-game days to explore the peninsula. They can complete the game before that, but once the time runs out, they are forced to return to the city - very often begrudgingly. Not many people get to finish all of the quests. 

13/ Without save-scumming (reloading the game in hopes to get better results) or looking up a guide / seeking advice online, the player will struggle. I didn’t intend for them to see everything during their first playthrough. They’re meant to taste failure.

14/ RW is most rewarding when the player accepts their character’s shortcomings. When they decide that they need to leave a village to itself since they lack the time to help it. That they can’t rescue a traveler, or a place, because they’ve got to move on.

15/ Judging by RW’s reception, it’s an unintuitive, and not exactly welcome, design. Most people, myself included, expect to have the option to 100% the game from the get go. Despite my best efforts, it seems like I didn’t succeed at setting the game’s promises correctly.

16/ The tutorial section of the game tries to set the expectations straight. It promises that the peninsula is overgrowing, wild, filled with monsters, that the locals are *pagans*, that the time limit is pressing. But many players don’t treat these threats seriously.

17/ Oftentimes, they see these promises as the set up for a story of success, something to overcome with enough grind and wit. It seems like the game failed at making it clear that it tries to embrace human limitations, that it’s a part of the core experience.

18/ The game didn’t make it clear that by deciding what matters to you the most, whom you want to help, whom you leave behind, which mysteries you unravel, which conflicts you solve, and when you put your needs above others - you get to make meaningful choices.

19/ My ideas did resonate with some, and I saw people playing the game once on the “standard” mode, then again, on the “casual” mode - with no time limit - to experience the rest of the story threads. I think it’s even better to take a longer break between playthroughs.

20/ This way, you focus on your character, and encounter the realm beyond your grasp. You get to embrace your mistakes and choices. If you return to the game after a year or two, it will feel different, as you are also not going to be the same being.

21/ It may not be a reasonable expectation on my part. But to justify myself, I’d like to make it clear that the time limit is not just a gimmick, but rather a system I play with in many ways. You can’t travel during nighttime. You need to restore stats every day.

22/ Some quests disappear or show up on specific days. Some actions are available only at specific hours. Days get shorter. You can care for the roads to ride faster. In many ways, time is a resource, and various tasks can be solved by spending it.

23/ Take the wooden lantern, as an example. You can buy it from a merchant, or hang out with a friendly carpenter to make your own, chatting with his neighbors. What do you need more right now? Money? Coins? Friendship? Without the time limit, you’d get limitless resources.

24/ The world of Roadwarden is rotting, collapsing, fading away, reaching a new form. With no time limit, it’s a playground, a place to be tamed according to your will. And the time limit was meant to turn it into a mystery, an interactive adventure. #MAMG23

#indiedev #pixelart #gamedev #screenshotsaturday #fantasy #rpg #pixel art #indie game #gaming #roadwarden

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: the thread may stretch or tangle but it will never break, ch. 24

Relationships: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī & Wēn Qíng, Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín & Jiāng Yànlí & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Lán Huàn | Lán Xīchén & Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī

Characters: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī, Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Wēn Qíng, Wēn Níng | Wēn Qiónglín, Granny Wēn, Lán Yuàn | Lán Sīzhuī, Wēn Remnants, , Fourth Uncle, Lán Huàn | Lán Xīchén, Jiang Yanli, Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin, Original Characters, Niè Míngjué, Niè Huáisāng, Niè Zōnghuī, Jīn Zǐxuān

Additional Tags: Pre-Slash, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Secrets, Crying, Masks, Soulmates, Truth, Self-Esteem Issues, Regret, It was supposed to be a one-shot, Fix-It, Eventual Relationships, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, wwx needs a hug, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Filial Piety, Handfasting, Phobias, Sleeping Together, Fear, Panic Attacks, Love Confessions, Getting Together, First Kiss, Kissing, Boys Kissing, Family, and they were married, Bathing/Washing, Hair Braiding, Hair Brushing, Feels, Sex Education, Implied Sexual Content, First Time, Aftercare, Morning After, Afterglow, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Torture, Scars, Eventual Happy Ending, Hand Jobs, Chronic Pain, Biting, Conversations, Self-Sacrifice, POV Third Person, POV Lan WangJi, Bugs & Insects, Adoption, Ancestors, Ancestor Veneration, Golden Core Reveal, Top Lan Wangji | Lan Zhan/Bottom Wei Wuxian | Wei Ying, First Time Blow Jobs, Multiple Orgasms, Switching, sex-related injury, Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī Stays at the Burial Mounds, Lán Yuàn | Lán Sīzhuī is a Wèi, Good Sibling Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín, Dissociation, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Disability, Scheming Niè Huáisāng, Disabled Character

Summary: Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan arrive, with unexpected results.

Notes: See end

AO3 link

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23

———————

Once the meal is complete, the rest of the Wei family trickling out, including Popo and a reluctant A-Yuan, Lan Wangji presses the talisman book into Wei Ying’s hands so he can present it to Xiongzhang. His husband smiles in gratitude.

“Lan Zhan helped with this because his calligraphy is a lot better than mine,” Wei Ying says. “These are talismans I developed to help deal with different forms of resentful energy, in terms of how to remove it safely.”

Xiongzhang is already flipping through the book, Nie Mingjue beside him and also reading over his shoulder. Jiang Wanyin stands for a better look.

“Different forms?” Nie Huaisang asks. “Isn’t it all just resentful energy?”

Wei Ying shakes his head, adopting something of the air of a scholar, but he’s clearly a little restrained, perhaps still reluctant to discuss his cultivation, fearing judgment.

“It’s dependent on a variety of factors, including the emotion powering the resentment and what ‘vessel’ the resentment inhabits, if any—like you have to handle yao, mo, gui, and guai differently, but it’s even more complex than that basic categorization because of the different factors.”

He’s referring to the differences between resentful creatures, and it reminds Lan Wangji of the disastrous conversion between his husband and his uncle during the lectures at the Cloud Recesses. Wei Ying has been exploring the different ways such creatures should be classified, and has started to identify factors that complicate that classification.

The research is groundbreaking, as few have ever studied resentment for reasons other than gaining power, Wei Ying trying to make the best of his situation by improving cultivation knowledge. Lan Wangji has had the opportunity to read his notes as he transcribed them, and he is endlessly amazed by his brilliance.

“You can pull resentment from objects?” Nie Mingjue asks, his expression inscrutable.

The attention makes Wei Ying shrink a little in his seat, and Lan Wangji takes his hand, squeezing it to reassure him. His hesitance to discuss his cultivation is palpable, and partly his fault for having judged him without listening, even if it was out of concern.

“Often each case requires a slightly different solution, but I can generally figure it out, given time. Some objects can be intrinsically connected to the resentment, while others are simply inhabited by it at random.”

Nie Mingjue considers that and nods, keeping whatever thoughts he has to himself and going back to perusing the book as the next page is turned.

“Truly, Wuxian, these are revolutionary, almost too much for a dowry,” Xiongzhang says finally.

“It’s dowry for Lan Zhan, so if anything it’s far too little,” Wei Ying replies with a laugh.

Lan Wangji’s ears heat at his husband’s regard for him, but he also worries Wei Ying is too self-effacing and doesn’t credit his own brilliance enough—Xiongzhang’s assessment of them isn’t overblown; these talismans are truly priceless in their genius and usefulness.

“Wei Ying’s worth cannot be quantified,” he tells him seriously.

He is gratified when Wei Ying blushes deeply and hides his face, overly dramatic as he tends to be when complimented sincerely, something that he never finds boring.

“Hanguang-Jun, spare your poor husband. Your sincerity is too much,” he murmurs.

“Since when have you been shy at compliments?” Jiang Wanyin asks, amused.

Wei Ying only responds by sticking out his tongue, and his brother rolls his eyes good-naturedly.

“I have made a separate copy of the book for Wei Ying to keep, which may eventually be placed in the library at Lotus Pier,” Lan Wangji tells Jiang Wanyin, ignoring their antics.

He receives a nod of thanks, the Jiang sect leader’s attention already caught when Xiongzhang turns another page, the talismans drawing attention.

“Wei-xiong, we finished the rest of the yuefu,” Nie Huaisang comments, not as riveted by the book of talismans as the others. “Your baihua is better than mine and Wei Ning’s, so you should go over it to make sure it’s right.”

Wei Ning ducks his head at the acknowledgment of his help, shy, and Wei Qing nods her thanks to Nie Huaisang for including her brother. There was concern that he would not be accepted by their visitors, which would cause issues with any swearing of siblinghood, but it’s clear by how Nie Huaisang treats him, giving him back some dignity through not only including him, but also cleaning up his appearance so he once again looks like a young master, that their worries were needless.

Nie Huaisang pulls out the sheaf of parchment containing the poem and sets it in front of Wei Ying with a flourish, clearly proud of his work, and Wei Ying shifts through them until he finds the spot he read last. Wei Ning helpfully brings out an inkstone and brush for him to use if he needs to make changes.

While the respective sect leaders pore over the book of talismans, the rest of them peruse the draft, Wei Ying correcting the baihua as he goes, and once rewriting an entire line in a way that makes it fit the yuefu more organically.

“Nie-xiong, I can’t adopt all the street kids in Yiling,” he says emphatically, though his tone betrays him. “I mean, we can feed them now, at least, but what about when it comes time to move to Lotus Pier?”

“The sect needs people,” Jiang Wanyin cuts in before Nie Huaisang can speak, barely looking up from the book. “You don’t have to adopt them as your kids, just as Wei if they want your name. The ones who have the aptitude can become cultivators, and the others we’ll find a place for. There’s room here now for them, and you and Lan Wangji can start their education.”

Wei Ying stares at him, clearly flummoxed, but Lan Wangji knows this is something his husband would love to do—to give children like himself a home so they won’t have to live in the streets and fight dogs for food.

Nie Huaisang clears his throat pointedly.

“Wei-xiong, it will help with your image. No one will believe the Jin rumors, especially with a gaggle of kids hanging off you.”

“Unless they say we eat them or that I use them in some sort of dark rituals,” Wei Ying mutters darkly. “I’ve heard worse said about the Yiling Patriarch.”

Lan Wangji hates that those rumors exist. They are such an anathema to everything that is Wei Ying, beyond insulting almost to the point of blasphemy against his soul.

“You well know no one will notice the disappearance of street children, so there will be time. By the time it’s noticed enough, I’ll be able to take care of any rumors,” Nie Huaisang says, a determined twist to his lips. “A war without fighting is something I can handle, particularly if it subdues our enemies with less turmoil.”

Nie Mingjue drags his attention from the book to study his younger brother, clearly reassessing him, something Nie Huaisang doesn’t even notice, instead leaning over the table, absorbed in reading the changes Wei Ying has made to the yuefu so far.

“Now that we have enough supplies, I can start a clinic,” Wei Qing adds. “That should sow more goodwill, and we can bring meals for the street children.”

“That’ll work better than anything else—they’ll be wary, so it’ll take time,” Wei Ying says distantly, his gaze unfocused.

Lan Wangji can only assume he is thinking about his own childhood, surviving alone for years, and he remembers the scars from dog bites on Wei Ying’s legs. He offers what comfort he can, placing a comforting hand on his back, and is pleased when his husband relaxes at his touch.

Eventually Xiongzhang and Nie Mingjue wander off with Wei Qing to visit some of the warded areas and discuss future night hunts in the Burial Mounds, and Jiang Wanyin tags along—likely he will also send juniors to night hunt, but he’s really accompanying Wei Qing.

Nie Zonghui stays with Nie Huaisang, but generally stays out of the yuefu discussion except when it involves cultivation; at one point he and Wei Ying have a theoretical conversation about yin energy that ultimately adds nothing to the manuscript. Lan Wangji readily admits it is beyond his understanding, and Nie Huaisang spends the entire conversation looking as lost as Lan Wangji feels, though he is pleased the Nie first disciple isn’t balking at such a discussion or treating Wei Ying with the disdain he’s seen far too many of the gentry levy toward him.

The review and discussion of the yuefu comes to an end less than a ke before the others rejoin them, at which point Nie Huaisang dramatically announces the more interesting changes, largely to gloat over the debates he won.

Xiongzhang at least feigns interest, while Nie Mingjue shakes his head at his didi’s antics, but it’s rather a relief when Wei Ying and Wei Ning both jolt slightly. Not only does he prefer not to have the last few hours rehashed, but he is anxious for the swearing ceremony, if only for the sense that, with that complete, they will be that much closer to bringing Wei Ying home.

Jiang Wanyin seems to understand a moment later, asking “Jie?”

Wei Ying smiles, almost too bright, as though he too is feeling the weight of it all, and Lan Wangji takes his arm to urge him to his feet, letting the gesture remind his husband that he faces nothing alone now.

The Nies and Xiongzhang decide against accompanying them to the base of the Burial Mounds, allowing Wei Ying time to collect himself while accompanied by those he has learned to trust to help him.

Jin Zixuan, surprisingly, is not dressed in gold, but a robe of soft purple with embroidered pink peonies on the hems of the collar and sleeves, a nod to his Jin heritage in the peonies and their color, but also to the Jiang in the color of the robe. Jiang Yanli is wearing a pink robe in the Jin hue embroidered with purple lotuses, an interesting counterbalance to her husband. It is perhaps a nod to visiting the bride’s home and the joining of family, but also one that allows them to stand out a bit less, perhaps looking like late-leaving Jiang wedding guests. They are accompanied by a contingent of Jiang cultivators, as well as a carriage drawn by a duo of nervous-looking horses, which will need to be hidden near the base of the Burial Mounds from any prying eyes.

As soon as they come into view, Jiang Yanli rushes through the ward to her siblings, fussing over Wei Ying’s health, though he has to disentangle himself to key Jin Zixuan through the wards. The latter bows in greeting, and he returns the gesture a bit awkwardly. Some of the Jiang disciples also need to be keyed in.

Once inside, Jin Zixuan only takes notice of Wei Qing and Wei Ning when Wei Ying introduces them, all eyes for his wife, and he bows to them to greet them as well as Lan Wangji and Jiang Wanyin.

Jiang Wanyin passes orders to his men, and Wei Ying tells them where the horses can be tethered.

“It’s where we kept the horses from the labor camp before we sold them,” he says, glancing at Jin Zixuan to gauge his reaction as the Jiang disciples handle unhitching the animals and unloading a number of qiankun pouches from the carriage.

Jin Zixuan simply nods, clearly unconcerned with the matter. Likely the fate of the horses was an afterthought, given the situation.

While they make the trek up to the settlement, Jin Zixuan thanks the siblings for rescuing and protecting Jiang Yanli and her brothers, outright acknowledging the debt, and even apologizing for his sect’s role in Wei Ning’s death.

“There is quite a bit I have been kept in the dark about,” Jin Zixuan says. “A-Li has asked me to discard my preconceptions and see the truth for myself. The rumors about Wei Wuxian have seemed a stretch at best, anyway.”

Wei Ying glances at him, clearly nonplussed since his main interactions with Jin Zixuan have involved physical violence.

“You’ve hit me, but I deserved it both times, and what any of us did during the Sunshot Campaign shouldn’t count against us,” Jin Zixuan explains when he sees the expression. “Except the noble acts of We— er, Wei Qing and Wei Qionglin, of course, but the things we had to do in wartime, to defeat Wen Ruohan…”

He breaks off with a shake of his head.

“We all did what we had to do,” Jiang Wanyin says, taking over. “And we’ll be discussing more about the why at the settlement.”

Lan Wangji catches Wei Ying’s shoulder when he stumbles over a root, keeping him from falling, and Wei Qing elbows Jiang Wanyin none too gently.

“You lot can handle that—Wei Wuxian needs his treatment, and we can reconvene at dinner.”

Blessedly, while Jin Zixuan looks curious, he seems to know better than to pry, and the rest of the trek is spent in an awkward silence.

As soon as they are within view of the settlement, A-Yuan breaks away from Popo and runs to greet his guma, but when he catches sight of their new visitor he skids to a halt so quickly he falls down, wailing and calling “Diedie, Baba!”

While the others freeze, clearly taken aback by A-Yuan’s reaction, Lan Wangji springs forward with Wei Ying to pick up their son before his husband can hurt himself. The child clings to them, sobbing and babbling about the “bad forehead man,” and he realizes he must be referring to the zhushazhi that identifies Jin Zixuan as a member of the Jin clan.

When Jin Zixuan tries to move closer and speak, clearly hoping to calm A-Yuan, the wails turn to terrified shrieks, so full of deep-seated terror that it hurts Lan Wangji to witness. He can see Wei Ying is similarly affected.

Wei Qing joins them while they try to calm him, Wei Ying trying to remind him that this is the good Jin that Jiang Yanli married, her lips pursed as she assesses the situation. A-Yuan is too beyond comfort for the words to reach him, in near-hysterics, and seeing him so distressed makes it clear how badly he was traumatized by what the survivors experienced in the labor camp.

Ultimately, she turns to Jiang Yanli and mimes wiping the vermillion mark away, and blessedly she does so after consulting with Jin Zixuan, her horrified-looking husband completely cooperative. Unfortunately, it does nothing to calm A-Yuan, and Jiang Wanyin quickly organizes the Jiang contingent to block Jin Zixuan from view.

By this time, Xiongzhang and the Nies have arrived, drawn by A-Yuan, along with Popo. Several of the refugees also gather, their expressions sad but devoid of surprise.

“Jiang Wanyin, can you handle updating Jin-gongzi while we handle this?” Wei Qing asks over A-Yuan’s crying, her exhaustion bleeding through into her tone. “Popo and our other guests will be able to help you, particularly Nie Huaisang with the yuefu. I doubt Wei Wuxian wants to be present for most of it, anyway.”

Fortunately, this is readily agreed to by all parties, aside from A-Yuan, who has broken into a coughing fit. By the time the others have left, he’s lost part of his lunch in the dirt and is a whimpering limpet in Lan Wangji’s arms.

“Diedie and Baba won’t let anything bad happen,” Wei Ying tells the boy, even though he’s beyond hearing, having cried himself most of the way to sleep, “and Qing-gugu and Ning-shushu won’t either. You’re safe, baobei.”

Wei Ying starts to use a sleeve to wipe A-Yuan’s face, paying no mind to the high quality of the clothing, but Wei Qing stops him, handing him a clean cloth from a pocket to use instead. He speaks gently and soothingly, just repeating that he’s safe, until the child’s eyes close, his breath hitching occasionally as though he’s still crying even asleep.

Wei Qing gestures toward the cave and Lan Wangji leads Wei Ying, rearranging A-Yuan in his arms so he can guide him by a sleeve, recognizing that this has shaken his husband. They didn’t know how deeply A-Yuan had been scarred in his time at the Jin labor camp, but this has made it very clear in a horrifying and unexpected way to all present. Though they spoke to the boy beforehand to make him aware of Jin Zixuan’s visit, all the warning in the world could do nothing to prevent his terror at just the sight of the zhushazhi, so deeply had he been traumatized.

“None of us could have known,” Wei Qing says as they enter the cave, “so don’t blame yourselves—I can practically hear you doing that, both of you.”

Lan Wangji knows full well that won’t prevent Wei Ying from doing so, and it will be a struggle not to blame himself, especially as he saw the wreckage of the labor camp. They both know what the rescued people here went through, but neither of them considered A-Yuan, with the boy so bubbly and bright.

They remove A-Yuan’s soiled and dirty outer robes, and Wei Ying helps him arrange A-Yuan on the bed, nestled in blankets, his touches gentle as though the boy is made of glass, and then arranges himself nearby after stripping to his zhong yi trousers, making sure he can hold one of A-Yuan’s hands as though to remind him he’s not alone even in his sleep.

Wei Qing’s treatment focuses on his hips, and by the end of it Wei Ying is asleep, as per usual, needing only for the blankets to be drawn up around him, something Lan Wangji does as soon as the last acupuncture needle has been removed. He shifts A-Yuan to be closer to Wei Ying, who instinctively puts an arm around the boy in his sleep.

“I’ll go handle our guests, and come collect you for supper—I expect we’ll do the swearing ceremony afterward,” Wei Qing says brusquely, running a gentle hand through A-Yuan’s hair in a way that belies her tone. “I’ll bring fresh robes for A-Yuan.”

She isn’t the type to offer potentially empty reassurances, and so Lan Wangji isn’t surprised when she simply gathers her supplies and slides the curtain shut behind her without another word.

Lan Wangji is left to the quiet of Wei Ying and A-Yuan’s soft breathing. He can’t help but feel off-balance, A-Yuan’s heartbreaking reaction unsettling. The worry is unavoidable, with one goal so close to being met and yet the relief tempered now with the revelation of the scars on their son’s psyche.

As difficult as it is, he must trust in the others, and so he sets up an inkwell so he can transcribe more of Wei Ying’s notes to put the next half-shichen or so to good use, as his place is beside his husband and son.

—————

So all the Auspicious Eight are at the Burial Mounds ready to swear siblinghood. And yet a wrench in the works: A-Yuan’s trauma triggered by seeing Jin Zixuan’s zhushazhi, the vermillion dot. I did research to figure out how it would be referred to—meta on Tumblr is amazing.

This was a necessary stopping point for this chapter, as it would’ve gone on another 3000 words and taken much longer to get out otherwise. I promise this fic isn’t abandoned, just slow to update as a result of having multiple in-progress multichapter fics and my health issues.

Unsurprisingly, comorbidities popped up in the health area. As expected, treating the primary ones revealed more that need to be treated. It’s a frustrating journey, but I have a wonderful team of doctors that I’ve put together and we’re slowly getting on track to recovery. Good news: I don’t have any markers in tests of other autoimmune diseases. Just the one.

baba - dad

baihua - commoner writing

baobei - baby

diedie - dad

jie - older sister

shichen - two hour period

xiong - brother

xiongzhang - older brother

yao, mo, gui, and guai - types of resentful beings, see Lan Qiren’s quiz of Wei Wuxian during the lectures

yuefu - type of poetry, see previous chapter

zhong yi - undergarments consisting of trousers and a shirt that tends to tie closed in front

zhushazhi - zhusha is cinnabar, and with zhi it becomes cinnabar mole

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #my fanfiction #wei wuxian #lan zhan #lan wangji #wei ying #a yuan #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #jiang wanyin #wen ning #wen qionglin #wen qing #lan xichen #nie mingjue #nie huaisang #jin zixuan #cql #chen qing ling #cql fic #cql fanfic #cql fanfiction #mdzs fanfiction #mdzs fic #mdzs fanfic #untamed fanfic #untamed fanfiction #untamed fic

[veloxiraptors]

Vic's Midpollo/The Authority Rec List

Core Content:

- Stormwatch Vol 2. (issues #4-6) contains Midnighter & Apollo's origin story. It's written by Warren Ellis, and anything written by him is guaranteed to be good. The team they’re part of is blatantly a satirical take on the Justice League and it’s hilarious. While these are the only issues that include Midnighter & Apollo, I definitely recommend Ellis’ entire Stormwatch run (Vol.1 #37-50 & Vol.2 #1-11)–it made me fall in love with Shen & Jenny Sparks more than I already was. 

- The Authority Vol.1 (issues #1-12) was also written by Warren Ellis; this is truly one of my favourite comic books of all time. The character interactions, plot, and art are all fantastic. I started reading this run for Midnighter & Apollo, and by the end I had fallen in love with the entire team; they’re rough-edged and violent without being gratuitous, witty without being corny, and it was fun as hell to read through them slaughtering both interdimensional colonialists and also god. There is unfortunately a villain who is an Evil Chinese Stereotype in the first arc though.

- The Authority Vol.1 (issues #13 & #29) the first & last issue of The Authority written by Mark Millar. It sucks ass but these two issues explain Midnighter & Apollo's adopted daughter (#13) and show them getting married (#29) which is the only reason I'm reccing them in the first place. It’s gratuitously violent without reason, and hurls slurs, homophobia, racism, sexism, and addiction at its readers for no reason other than shock value. 

- The Authority Vol.2 (issues #0-9, #11-13) Issues 0-9 are an absolute blast, both the art style & tone were more in line with Ellis' run than Milars, and we get a call-back to the first arc of The Authority Vol.1 which I thought was pretty cool. Issues 10-13 take place after a 4-issue mini-series (Coup d'État) that culminates in The Authority ousting the president of the US, which I didn't read bc I had no desire to. Issue 10 is a direct follow-up to that arc, but it's rarely mentioned throughout issues 11-13 which is why I kept them. There were definitely parts of Vol.2 that I wasn't fond of, but the good far outweighs the bad in my opinion.

- The Authority: Revolution (issues #1-12) starts with The Authority dealing with the consequences of taking over the USA in Coup d'État, and it still made sense despite the fact I never read that arc. I was slow to get into it, but by the end I was flipping pages as fast as I could read them. The first few issues set up some interesting ideas and it follows through in knocking them down in a satisfying way. Their fight against the Big Bad felt a little too clean-cut in my opinion, but issue #11 has some amazingly angsty midpollo content.

- The Authority Vol.4 (issues #1-17) takes place after a crossover event spanning 3 mini-series between the biggest Wildstorm properties, but all you need to know is this: it's the apocalypse. While Midnighter and Apollo are separated by circumstance, it makes the issues where they appear together all the more impactful in my opinion. The original Authority run by Ellis will always be my favourite, but this run is definitely second place. The series wraps up nicely on a beautiful and hopeful note, and while there were still a few loose threads, this is definitely one of the better comic series ends I've read.

One-Shots & Miniseries:

- Planetary/The Authority: Ruling the World is a one-shot crossover event. It’s a pretty fun read, minus the fact that H.P. Lovecraft makes an appearance.

- Wildstorm Winter Special 2005: Two Dangerous Ideas is a funny little one-shot where Midnighter and Apollo meet their alternate-reality counterparts: Daylighter and Pluto. Hilarity ensues. 

- The Authority: Human on the Inside (miniseries) the plot makes no damn sense but Midnighter & Apollo have some really cute interactions in this and the art is soooo pretty.

- Lobo/The Authority: Jingle Hell the art is an... interesting choice and the writing is a rude, crude riot. I found this in my local comic shop's dollar bin and while it definitely belongs there, I do not regret buying it.

For the love of all that is good and gay please do not read Stormwatch Vol.3 it was part of the New 52 relaunch and reading it caused me psychic damage. 

And feel free to drop me a message if you have any questions!

#midpollo #midnighter #the authority #lucas trent #andrew pulaski #midnighter and apollo #this post was brought to you by: me wanting someone to talk to about the goddamn authority #vicshit

[dark-elf-writes]

I knew you’d like Mukuro. And everyone else tbh.

Though, thoughts on Takeshi? I find he’s a really polarizing character, similar with Ryhoei.

Takeshi (and other characters but he’s the most obvious example) makes me wonder how much of the obliviousness is legit and how much he is pretending that it is so he can be underestimated. Like it’s incredibly easy to clock Gokudera as a thread because of his whole him-ness but Takeshi is the surprise because he’s so seemingly “head empty”.

Ryhoei I would probably like less if it wasn’t clear how much he cares about his sister. If it wasn’t clear he did care about being a good brother his high school athlete grindset personality would be so much ore annoying.

Lambo is annoying and he should be. Wish there was someone other than children raising this child tbh. They very much leaned I toy he whole “he’s five” thing and he is honestly a pretty good depiction of a child of you ignore the whole time travel bazooka thing.

Haru deserves so much more than being the “token obsessed girl”. Like she was fully willing to beat the shit out of Tsuna on their like second meeting and where is that energy going forward? Give the girl a bat and a target and let her go full feral.

Kyoko is unfortunately just kind of… there. Like it’s fine it have a cute oblivious character but she is really just a cardboard standee of a person who deserves more.

I-Pin is probably the best written female character I’ve seen so far and that’s kid of sad? Like don’t get me wrong I love her and her whole child assassin who gets it wrong because she’s five vibe and her crush on Hibari is cute and actually goes miles to make him more of a palatable character (to people that don’t immediately adopt the first hyper violent Garchomp ass character they see) in just a few small moments but she’s still not written great? And the other girls are written far below her. Also someone needs to parent her too where are all these kids parents?

Reborn was unsurprisingly an immediate love for me. I lvoe me a fucked up little guy of a teacher and his commitment to every bit no matter how ridiculous is amazing. And tbh whil e other teacher character is would dislike for his methods his… make sense? Like man is in the mafia his methods are going to be a bit fucked up.

But outside of the core gang? Dino. I fucking love Dino. I love his badass air immediately crumbling when his men are gone and I love that his men care about him just as much as he cares about them.

Best characters by far however are Enzio and Leon. 12/10 no notes.

#the elf talks #khr #reborn

[incorrect-mtg]

Flavor Text Highlights

So, one thing that I did two years ago (and have kept updated since) on twitter was my flavor text thread, where I went through each set in Magic history and picked the top 4 (or, for some exceptional cases, 8) best pieces of flavor text in my opinion.

Since then, I have regreted some choices and very much dislike the fact I can't edit the original tweets to reflect changes on the rules I followed for card selection... So I might as well use Tumblr as the place to correct all that.

Every day from now on, I will re-post a set from the list until I catch up to it, then eventually update it as new magic sets come out. The rules for selection can be seen after the linebreak below (as well as a full list of sets I've already gone through, with links). The first one can be found here.

1- Categorization

I will always try to select a diverse list of cards so as to fill the following 4 categories of flavor text types:

Cool - Boasts and descriptions that serve to make the subject matter of the card seem powerful and/or interesting.

Funny - Dialogue, descriptions or epigrams meant to get a laugh out of you

Worldbuilding - Flavor text whose biggest strength comes not from what it says on its own, but how it helps build upon either the world the set takes place in or the story of the set in question

Emotional - This one could conceivably be separated in two whole categories, but it encompasses cards that would fill the same niche as the "Cool" category but with a specific focus on either sadness or horror.

However, there will be situations where there might be a number of good flavor texts within a certain category while another is found lacking of any truly great options. In such scenarios, I will simply remove one (and in rare cases more) of the categories and repeat one of the remaining options. For an extreme example, the first Un-sets barely had any non-Funny options, so when picking cards from those sets most/all of the picks will be from the Funny category.

2- Card Selection

Cards will be reviewed only if they have new flavor text (using scryfall's "new:flavor" filter) and only if it's original flavor text (aka no real world references or quotes from literature) while sets will either be reviewed alone or grouped up depending on the amount of eligible cards in the set. Although I don't have a hard cut-off point for how many new flavor texts a set needs to be reviewed alone, the general range is around 150.

For sets that don't reach that number, they will either be bundled with an associated set (i.e. reviewing Commander precons with their associated Standard set) or bundled with a lot of other smaller products until a suitable number is reached (i.e. bundling all early Masters sets and Duel Decks together, since the amount of new flavor texts in those products is very low).

2.1 - Cycles

For some sets, a collection of cards (usually a cycle) will have flavor texts that work together, expand on each other or combine into a single theme. If said interaction is particularly good or if there isn't already a good flavor text that can stand up on its own, a cycle might be picked for a specific entry. Below, I will try to set up a list of every post for this, in order:

1. Alpha/Beta/Unlimited

2. Antiquities

3. Legends

4. The Dark

5. Fallen Empires

6. Ice Age

7. Homelands

8. Alliances

9. Mirage

10. Visions

11. Portal

11. Weatherlight

12. Tempest

13. Stronghold

14. Exodus

15. Portal Second Age

16. Unhinged + Unglued

17. Urza's Saga

18. Urza's Legacy

19. Urza's Destiny

20. Mercadian Masques

21. Nemesis

22. Prophecy

23. Invasion

24. Planeshift

25. Apocalypse

26. Odyssey

27. Torment

28. Judgment

29. Onslaught

30. Legions

31. Scourge

32. Mirrodin

33. Darksteel

34. Fifth Dawn

35. Champions of Kamigawa

36. Betrayers of Kamigawa

37. Saviors of Kamigawa

38. Core Sets (4th Edition - 10th Edition)

39. Ravnica: City of Guilds

40. Guildpact

41. Dissension

42. Coldsnap

43. Time Spiral

44. Planar Chaos

45. Future Sight

46. Lorwyn

47. Morningtide

48. Shadowmoor

49. Eventide

50. Duel Decks

51. Shards of Alara

52. Conflux

53. Alara Reborn

54. Magic 2010

55. Zendikar

56. Worldwake

57. Rise of the Eldrazi

58. Magic 2011

59. Scars of Mirrodin

60. Mirrodin Besieged

61. New Phyrexia

62. Commander Precons (Commander 2011 - Commander 2019)

63. Magic 2012

64. Innistrad

65. Dark Ascension

66. Avacyn Restored

67. Magic 2013

68. Return to Ravnica

69. Gatecrash

70. Dragon's Maze

71. Masters Sets

72. Magic 2014

73. Theros

74. Born of the Gods

75. Journey into Nyx

76. Conspiracy + Conspiracy: Take the Crown

77. Magic 2015

78. Khans of Tarkir

79. Fate Reforged

80. Dragons of Tarkir

#magic the gathering #flavor text highlights

[megafaunatic]

fic writer meme

ty claire @microcomets for the tag!!!!

How many works do you have on Ao3?

seventy three !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! jesus christ lol

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

five hundred twelve thousand three hundred AND THREE human words. PLUS some comics

3. What fandoms do you write for?

whateber catches my fancy... mostly danmei these days but 🤫 perhaps a new world in the works soon

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

oh jeez lol

you asleep and dreaming

atlas

linger in the sun

take me by the waist to the water (<- this one's having a renaissance these days bc of the donghua, by far the most kudos per day)

this tornado loves you

the people love wangxian!

5. Do you respond to comments?

VERY RARELY... i try to respond asap to anyone who asks about translating (i LOVE TRANSLATIONS) but other than that i feel very shy about replying to comments LOL 😵‍💫😵‍💫 even though i love when authors respond to MY comments...

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

for a while i wrote a lot of "missing scene" wangxians where it's just like a moment or a handful of moments in the middle of the action, and i think all of them have implicit angsty endings: because they're just a missing scene, and there's no continuation, you understand that "having that conversation"/"kissing or almost kissing then" changes nothing in the greater arc... wei wuxian still gives jiang cheng his golden core, is still reviled and then killed... etc... but definitely the angstiest fic i've written remains flightless bird which cair read and then immediately blocked out of their mind forever

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

MOST Of my fics that aren't the above missing scene fics are happy endings. some faves include no other waters and to be a good companion, both post-tyk happy endings; at least in this lifetime, my most recent take on mdzs happy ending; a lot's gonna change, a wedding fic which was written in honor of most beloved friends mary + aubrey's actual real life wedding (and actual real life happy ending)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

not really lol probably once a year i'll get a rude comment that i immediately delete and go "? lol" about. i was NOT victimized by shino which >:/ okay... excluding me...

9. Do you write smut?

teehee

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you have written?

ive really only written one crossover (atlas: wangxian + hualian) which got it all out of my system. crossovers are hard to do well especially when all the things i'm into are in world structures that can't easily overlap

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

no fics "stolen" as in reposted wholesale (TO MY KNOWLEDGE?) but definitely i used to notice some plagiarism here and there when wangxian was really popping! mostly specific turns of phrase/passages but sometimes whole concepts. also one time i tweeted a funny hualian thread about hua cheng purring and then a couple days later i decided i want to whip it up into a fic and then like 3 hours after i posted the fic i went and checked the tag (these were the days that you could check the tag more than once a day) and someone had posted their own fic that was just beat-for-beat my original thread. uncredited obviously. lol

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

YES AND I ACTUALLY KEEP A CHERISHED SPREADSHEET OF ALL THE TRANSLATIONS!!!! like claire, mostly spanish/russian/chinese. most exciting tls for me personally are the persian and turkish ones

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

NO!!!!!!! I'M TOO UNRELIABLE AND OVERPROTECTIVE!!!!!!! every time zoë and miriam or fey and fer talk about how much they love co-writing i'm like omg. wish i were constitutionally capable of doing such an activity. but i'm not

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

THE SCHOONER WINDFALL OF OCRACOKE ISLAND!!!!!!!!! ROLL THE CLIP!!!!!!!!!!!!

no uhh idk passions come and go! once i get Particularly Into a ship i'll come back and read fics for it years later... every ship fills a different niche in my heart...

15. What is a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

(HUGE BOLD LETTERS) pacific rim wangxian au i miss you so bad

also inception au wenzhou fic but that feels more likely to be finished... maybe one day...

16. What are your writing strengths?

precision + beauty of language; i am really funny; i'm good at choreography

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

PLOT :( PACING :(

18. Thoughts of writing dialogue in another language in fics?

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!! i like it the most when i personally can understand it LMFAO but like really well-written bilingual writing where you DON'T have to speak the second language in order to get the gist of what's being said - either bc of elegant/subtle translation in the narration or bc of context - is sooo good and so hard to do well

OR i love lianzi's approach to translation in her shl chinese restaurant au (ONE OF THE FUNNIEST FICS OF ALL TIME) where some of the text is written in chinese and you hover over it for the english translation

19. First fandom you wrote for?

technically les mis but that doesn't count. jojo's bizarre adventure

20. Favorite fic you have written?

ummmmm mmmm hmmmmm hmmmmm. at any given time i mostly like my most recent fics the best but i do think our eyes on the road is particularly enduring - i love a lot of the landscape writing i did in that one, i think i captured the vibe of "late winter in new england" particularly well!

I TAG... @cairoscene @vinelark @houtaroo @fruitdaze AND @uhuraisgay

#ask meme

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Valentines, Shana! More Female!Mo Xuanyu!Wei Wuxian please? The drama and identity porn and hijinx are Too Good!

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Through several death defying feats and lots of bruises, Wei Wuxian has finally strengthened Mo Xuanyu’s core enough to track the threads of the curse mark. This should be a moment of triumph, what he’s been building towards, finally able to see who it is that drove Mo Xuanyu to such foolish, desperate lengths.

Mostly he’s just frustrated.

“Jin Guangshan?” he demands once he pulls himself out of his meditation. “Of all the – he’s not even that good of a cultivator! If she had the power to summon me, surely she had the power to murder him herself!”

Probably not enough power to get away with it, to keep herself from getting caught and tried and executed, but that shouldn’t matter. She died anyway.

Great. Just great. Even if he were willing to kill him, he’s nowhere near Jin Guangshan. Mo Xuanyu should have really left him a note or something. Then he could have dealt with this before being dragged to Cloud Recesses.

Wei Wuxian pauses, considering. Is he willing to kill Jin Guangshan? He’s never liked the man. From his lecherous behavior to his actions after the war and especially with how he’d treated the Wen, he’s never gained an ounce of respect from him. Not to mention forcing Mo Xuanyu into this marriage and legitimatizing her only to prevent his son from being with the man who loves him.

Is that worthy of death? He’s killed for less, but Jin Guangshan is also his sister’s father in law and his nephew’s grandfather.

He wishes Shijie was here. She or even Jiang Cheng would know what he should do.

The thought sends a pang through his chest that he does his best to ignore. He misses his siblings. Being able to see Lan Zhan again, especially when he started being sort of nice to him, is wonderful. But the days he’d been able to spend with Shijie and Jiang Cheng had been too short, and too little, when he couldn’t tell them who he was and had no reason to want to be around them so desperately.

He’d only managed to get glimpses of his nephew, who had his sister’s sweet face and Jin Zixuan’s unfortunate scowl. He’d wanted to go over and pinch his cheeks, but even as his aunt that hadn’t felt like something that he was allowed.

Wei Wuxian breathes in then out, forcing the phantom pain out on his exhale with years of practice.

He can’t ask his siblings. But he can ask Mo Xuanyu’s.

If anyone knows the true moral character of Jin Guangshan, it’s Jin Guangyao.

Wei Wuxian had been avoiding him, both because he wasn’t sure how well Jin Guangyao had known his half sister and he didn’t want to arise suspicion, and also because he hadn’t known him that well the first time around. He’d known him first as an overly polite Nie general, then their spy during the war, and finally as Jin Guangshan’s dutiful son.

None of those roles had ever seemed to fit him quite right. Seeing him interact with Lan Xichen is the closest Wei Wuxian has seen him to relaxed.

He guesses it’s time for the two of them to get to know each other properly.

#prompt answers #prompts are closed #asks #math is magic #untamed

[girlactionfigure]

THREAD: Israel recently released documents revealing responses to Dec 2000 Clinton Parameters. They corroborate Clinton & leading US, Israeli negotiators & Saudi Prince Bandar: Israel accepted parameters, Palestinians & Arafat did not rejecting 2 states. Here is an analysis:

Palestinian negotiating team document is included with Israeli doc release. It's concluding sentence: "We cannot, however, accept a proposal that secures neither the establishment of a viable Palestinian state nor the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes." 2/ 

As recounted in detail by Prince Bandar in this interview corroborated by Clinton & others (eg Dennis Ross) Arafat did not show up to meeting with Clinton to deliver a response & lied to Bandar about it. Here is what Bandar said about Pal rejection: 3/ https://t.co/VJMM7Hk2Yd

Pals will not compromise on "right" of return despite some claims that Pals don't mean it literally. They always have, they did here & still do. Literally. While Pal document says we're "prepared to think flexibly & creatively about mechanism for implementing right of return" 4/

It still makes 100% clear: "The US proposal reflects a wholesale adoption of the Israeli position that the implementation of ROR be subject entirely to Israel's discretion. It is important to recall that Resolution 194, long regarded as the basis for a just settlement..." 5/

"of the refugee problem, calls for the return of Palestinian refugees to 'their homes,' wherever located - not to their 'homeland' or to 'historic Palestine." -- Thus clearly in opposition to CORE position of Clinton Parameters which is shown below: 6/ 

Clinton understood that 2-state solution not possible if millions of Palestinians could, against the will of Israel, literally move inside Israel. The Palestinian response made clear that anything less would not be acceptable, thus rejecting Clinton Parameters & statehood. 7/

There is more to the Palestinian position (they claim territory would not make viable state despite 94-96% of WB + swaps of up to 3% + safe passage to Gaza) but the refugee issue is absolute & clear rejection of Clinton Parameters. What about Israel? 8/

The Clinton Parameters were meant to set up a framework for further discussions based on key items to be accepted in advance – like ROR & Temple Mount sovereignty. Everyone knew more details had to be discussed & agreed. But Israel AGREED to these key "parameters" by Clinton. 9/

The Israeli document noted elements outlined by the President that differ from the Israeli positions" and lists them, but DOES NOT therefore reject parameters. This is how the Israeli response put it: 10/ 

The Israeli response then outlined more detail that Israel believed would need to be discussed in next round of negotiations. But importantly: "the attached points DO NOT CALL INTO QUESTION the internal logic of the President's ideas" -- meaning WITHIN Clinton Parameters. 11/ 

On the issue of Temple Mount, Israel clearly accepted split sovereignty as proposed by Clinton. Recent news articles focused on this as a big revelation, but it's old news as we know Israel accepted Clinton Parameters. Here is the language on this topic in Israeli response: 12/ 

On refugees Israeli accepted Parameters which of course Palestinians rejected. Pals made clear they won't agree to peace unless Israel agrees, against its sovereign rights, that millions of Pals can "return." What can thus be called the "two Palestinian state solution" 13/ 

Revisionists absolve Arafat, cannot accept Israel agreed to 2 states & lie that "both sides" had reservations contradicting Parameters; e.g. Israel-hater Mehdi Hassan argued with Martin Indyk in 2016 that "both sides" had reservations (see 31:30) 14/

Link

Here is the discussion below. The obnoxious Hassan lectures Indyk, the American negotiator who was literally in the room at the time, that he doesn’t actually know what happened! Hassan knows better! Indyk corroborates that Israelis accepted Clinton Parameters. 15/ 

But of course the "Great Omission" will continue erasing Barak & Olmert's statehood offers to push fabricated narrative of "permanent occupation" "intent to dominate" & "apartheid" -- as statehood offers & Pal rejections demolish this demonizing narrative of Israeli evil. END

Aizenberg

@Aizenberg55

#Israel #Palestine #2 States #Youtube

[waitingforsecretsouls]

Encouraging people to check out reddit user Genghis/Kazoo’s asoiaf meta. Even if you end up not agreeing with some stuff, it offers interesting new perspectives (compared to popular/accepted fandom opinion on the issues in question) and certainly revitalized my interest in the asoiaf lore, so you might find it thought-provoking or just plain fun nonetheless! Some of my favourites include:

1. Mance Rayder woke the Others on purpose, to gain personal power and further the interests of an Asshai'i conspiracy . What it says on the tin, an alternate perspective on Mance and the Others both that fits GRRM’s stated goals for the series as well as its themes far more than the popular ‘everyone vs the (maybe not completely evil) Others’.

2. The Stallion's Revenge: How Mirri Maz Durr Ruined Everything. If you have strong Mirri opinions the title might sound a bit inflammatory, but basically the meta deals with the true nature of Azor Ahai and the way Mirris well-intentioned but ultimately utilitarian prevention of his incarnation in Rhaego led to a far worse alternative, because prophecy in asoiaf cannot ever be useful except in hindsight (and no, it does not involve Dany as Azor Ahai or the ‘Great Darkness’).

3. The Grey King = the Pearl Emperor = the first Hightower: Decrypting the mythology of the Grey King, GEOTD, Oldtown, and the Seven . Connecting some dots in the Dawn Age lore between the Great Empire of the Dawn, the Ironborn, and the Hightowers/Oldtown, all highly relevant for the series plot-thread regarding...the Ironborn, Azor Ahai Reborn and Oldtown.

4. Invasion from the Deeps, Part 2: Beyond the Eldritch Apocalypse. Similar in flavour to the above in that it examines the Dawn Age history of the Ironborn and why the connection to some sort of fishy precursor race or a sort of ‘Deep Ones’ is misguided, particularly regarding the series endgame.

5. The Jade Compendium and why Lightbringer is a genuine goddamned superweapon . What exactly is the deal with Lightbringer and why is it so dangerous? Hint: It’s because it’s not three adolescent dragons. You’ll wish it was as tame as that.

6. Brightroar, the Black Bazaars, and a Big Boom: A New Theory on Who Sold the Lannisters Their Sword and Blew Up Valyria. An investigation into one of the most consequential events in asoiaf history, with a side dish of explanation as to the above-mentioned ‘Asshai’i conspiray’.

6.5 Lightbringer "went critical" and caused the Doom of Valyria. With an    addendum of Lightbringers potential involvement.

7. How Sam the Slayer is being forged by the narrative into the ultimate weapon against Euron. Predictions regarding Sam and the Reach and Euron. Or: Why the Reach is doomed to become part of Sams tragic backstory (...2!) and fuel for his at the least significant contribution to Euron’s defeat in the series climax.

8. Ten reasons nobody should trust the Azor Ahai prophecy. Arguably a bit ‘basic’ after all that, but a valuable little summary nonetheless, since it’s far from  the universally agreed upon perspective (despite the fact that GRRM is not subtle about it).

9. The Bloodstone Emperor and Azor Ahai both sound eerily similar to Ineluki the Storm King from Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. More Azor Ahai ‘lore’. If you’ve read some or all of the previous theories you’ll probably already have seen it come up, but here’s a salient collection of their parallels.

10. Euron is definitely Azor Ahai reborn. I had to put it on the list, despite the fact that it will have appeared in multiple of the theories listed above. I just love the core-concept of it. So. much. ’Euron’ endgame material for real.

11. No, the Five Forts aren't the Wall of Essos. Another deconstruction of a widespread fanon and it’s implication for the series endgame.

12. Qarth is the Gnostic false Eden, and Highgarden an imitation thereof. The First Men originated in Qarth. Moving away from my beloved Ironborn, an interesting theory about the origin of the First Men!

#asoiaf #valyrianscrolls #meta #ironborn #azor ahai #mance rayder #blasted through all of them and then some in an afternoon andlegit felt like my third eye had opened #not bc its a reach but bc (to me at least) it makes so much more sense than many of the fanon favourites