#And stubbornly REFUSING to do magic with everything he has

[lundenloves]

OMG OMG OMG HEAR ME OUT PLEASE! What if Simon/Ghost comes back home from deployment and is really stressed, annoyed and angry from a mission. He’s left alone with his oldest daughter in the house and has this horrible fight with his oldest daughter and I mean like screaming because the oldest daughter can’t find her shirt and he refuses to help until finally she blurts “I hate you” to him out of the heat of the fight…CAN THIS SOMEHOW END WITH MAJOR FLUFF BETWEEN THE TWO?! If it’s too much just ignore me❤️❤️ Thank you, I love your work🤭🤭

{✧} hello beautiful anon, you have seemingly given me life? banged this out in around an hour. if it seems like it only took an hour, please ignore that or i’ll drown myself in a loch. hope i’ve done your ask justice? thank you for asking for angst, that’s probably why it got done so fast 💀

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↳ no warnings | 1.2k | dad!simon

It was quiet in the house. Just quiet enough for Simon to process what had just happened in the last 48 hours — yet not quiet enough for his ears to ring from constant gunfire. It was a happy medium, alone bar his oldest who jogged up and downstairs at record paces. Flipping the living room upside down, and the pile of clean washing on the bottom stair was tossed to the floor in a desperate attempt to find her shirt. 

He was sitting on the sofa, head leant back, eyes shut only to hear her scuffling around. “Where’s my shirt?” She penetrated his happy silence, stood in front of him with arms dropped to her sides in a teenage palava. “Where did you put it?” 

Simon gave her a noise between a sigh and a hum, craning his neck to look up at her. “What?” He unintentionally spat, his normal tone of voice as sharp as ever. “I ‘aven’t touched your shirt.” Eyes locked to the pile of recently ironed clothes tossed to the floor by the stairs. “They’ll be in that fucking pile you’ve chucked around and walked past ten times.” 

“Well, they’re obviously not.” She groaned. 

Simon shrugged, standing up to stack this morning’s breakfast dishes. “What do you want me to do?” He shook his head at her, taking the plates to the kitchen with her trailing behind him. “I can’t magic it, can I? It’ll be wherever you’ve left it.” 

“It’s not. That’s the point. You’ve moved it.” She had genetically taken his frown, sporting it straight back to him when he had turned around to take something from the table. 

“Oh, have I?” He mumbled nonchalantly, loading the dishes into the sink with loud clatters. “Get those mugs from your room.” 

“No, I'm looking for the shirt.” Her tone matched his, stubbornly kicking her foot against the chair leg to get his attention. “Can you check mum's stuff?” 

“You can.” He turned around, a dish towel balled between his hands with a nod toward the stairs. 

Simon's moods were hard to distinguish. The primary reason being: he always seemed to be in some sort of disparity. So even when he’d come back from a particularly challenging mission, one that had asked too much from him or went horrifically wrong, he would almost always be the same as he usually was. Blunt, sarcastic and seemingly uncaring. 

You had learned to tell the difference but your daughters knew none the wiser. Leading to unknowingly provoking yet valid questions like, “What is wrong with you.” 

“Nothing. Get the mugs.” 

“You never help with shit.” She scoffed, turning on her heel to stomp upstairs and Simon’s jaw ticked. Head tilted to the side, palms leaning either side of the sink with a step back to hang his head between his shoulders. 

Having a teenage girl was the route of many headaches for Simon. Not particularly because of her, but for the natural way where everything revolves around them for an extended amount of years. Everything is embarrassing, if not first regarded as useless. And as far as Simon was concerned he fell somewhere between the two in her radar. 

“Don’t start with that.” He’d said once she had slammed the mugs down on the table behind him, his back was still toward her. 

“Well it’s fucking—“

“I mean it.” 

“It’s true you’re never here!” She shrilled. “You never do anything, you’re always angry and never help.” A beat. “You don’t even talk to us, dad.” She paused, undoubtedly eyeing him for any sort of reaction. “It’s fucked, you’re fucked.”

He turned to take the mugs, eyes avoiding hers although his jaw was tense. “And you can’t even have a conversation.” She laughed though it held no comedy. “You’ll just snap like you always do.” 

“I snap because it’s hard to switch between work and home— here.” He turned around, his daughter shying from his broad frame and low voice. Refraining from asking about Simon’s work was the one thing you had instructed all three of your kids not to do. Although, naturally it became a target point for arguments with him. A real low blow, the best and most critical hit you could land on him was his absence from home due to work. 

Bonus points if you added all he had missed, the first steps, the first words. It was a lot. But it was not there to be thrown back in his face, not as often as it was anyway. “You don’t even want to be here.” 

He shifted in his position, placing hands behind his head at her confrontation. “All of this because of that shirt.” His words directly combated hers, hitting them backward and stopping them from landing anywhere near him. Effectively avoiding her statement. 

“When’s the last time you hugged me, dad?” She said calmly yet loudly, metaphorically shattering glass over his head. 

It had been weeks, months at worst. 

His silence was telling, hands dropped down to his sides in defeat. As usual, he couldn’t find the words so she had jumped for her turn and jab one more time.

“I hate you. I hate you for that, so bad.” It came as a whisper and by that point, the kitchen had fallen quiet too. Occasional sniffs and the rubbing of the odd tear turned her face red, Simon cleared his throat. 

It only highlighted her point in that he stood still. Though, it wasn’t fair to point a finger and say it was his own fault he was that way, emotional warmth and touch just weren’t in his niche range of abilities. His thumb drew imperfect circles on the kitchen counter, staring at her with any and all outward apology he could muster. 

“I didn’t mean that.” She mumbled first, embarrassingly shifting her weight to the other foot while looking up to the ceiling, eyes darting left to right as if to hold back any more upset. She was a lot like Simon that way, although not at all. 

“I know.” He replied softly, taking a closing step toward her and placing his hand on the back of her head to pull her to his chest. “I don’t mean to be like this, you know that.” The silence made him look down to gain a nod in response, her gaze zoning out to the kitchen window as he smoothed out her hair. 

Simon was never good with words, so he always took to actions that felt even more foreign but they at least allowed for the substitution of his appeasements. “Sorry for swearing at you.” She mumbled, melting into his broad chest. 

“Someone has to put me in my place.” The vibration of the words rippled in his chest and she pulled back only to look down at the floor. “You’re a lot like me, you know.” He poked at her ribs, provoking an unwilling laugh that then turned into a smile. “A lot.” 

She shrugged, pushing his hands away after they had wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Yeah, alright.” Her frown was feigned.

“I promise you.” He turned to continue the dishes, looking back to her over his shoulder. “And your shirt is on the line.” He nodded out the window, watching as she gasped and ran outside like he had found gold. 

simon ‘ghost’ riley taglist: @vamppxncess @crowbird @misshoneypaper @tallrock35 @fluffmonster @islanderr @blueoorchid @lea3773 @coldflapjack @rayhawk05 @han11dh @liishook @melovetitties @fallonx @rvjaa @fuckmelifesucks @bhayatsara @takeomisbitch @local-spidey @konigsblog @penutjuice @babychoi03 @sheluvzeren @sparklingtragedy @maviee @wiserebelpartypie @daddylorianisastateofmind @bhayatsara @mistydeyes @writingmysanity @johfaam0 @idkjoequinn @gressseyy @fwibblefwobble @shibble @maladaptivedaydreamingbum @airghostlyfox @hotgirlsshareaccounts @simpxinnie @dilfdotgov

as always comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated! i’ll sit in a hole if no one pays me on the head every now and then.

this is unedited.

#simon ghost riley #cod mwii #cod mw2 #cod mw fanfiction #ghost mw2 #simon riley #simon ghost riley headcanons #ghost headcanons #ghost call of duty #cod mw ghost #dad!simon

[anjelicawrites]

Aemond would make such a perfect Maleficent, the last one of his people, the dragon warlocks and witches, bitter after seeing his family slaughtered, having his sapphire stolen and his power diminished, after he's trusted the future King of the land.

He's waited so long to have his revenge, until the King has a daughter. On the day of her christening, Aemond shows up and curses the child: she will die at sixteen, after pinching her finger on the spindler of a spinning wheel. You are one of the assembled magic folk from all over the Kingdom, invited to bless the princess. You are much less powerful than Aemond is, you can't revoke the curse, you can modify it, though: the child will not die, but sleep for a thousand year

"Or until true love's kiss wakes her" Aemond says, before disappearing.

You are tasked with raising the child somewhere safe, while the King tries to destroy all the spinning wheels of the Reign. Following your instincts, you hide in an abandoned forest, not knowing that it used to be Aemond's beloved sister Helaena's dwelling. The place had sealed up after her death, but opens to you without you having to use your magic, to Aemond's surprise. The place seems like it's talking to you and you are growing more powerful, while your protégé grows ad well.

Against all he believe could possibly happen, Aemond is becoming fond of the child, many time saving her, with the help of Vhagar, who once was the biggest, most powerful of all the dragons bound to his family, now reduced to a dragon as big as a raven or the human form of an elderly lady.

You are another problem. He's supposed to antagonize you, yet you intrigue him and start plaguing his dreams from the moment he stumbles upon you one night, bathing naked in the lake. He should flee, yet his feet feel like lead, his only eye stubbornly refusing to look somewhere else, until you turn around and laugh, well aware that he's oogling you.

"Are you going to tell me why Aurora calls you her Fairy Godfather, or has your dragon eaten your tongue?".

From that moment he can't help but grow fonder and closer to you, looking out for your safety as well, even though the forest has chosen you as its own and it is doing a great job at that. Until Aurora turns sixteen.

She stumbles upon the prince of a neighbouring Reign, who has gotten lost and promptly falls for him. Unknowingly, he tells her about the curse and Aurora understands that's her story. Angry at you both, she goes back to her father's castle and the curse falls upon her. During all these years Aemond had tried to revoke it, without success, the hatred he has infused in his words is far more powerful than his magic is.

You are both at Aurora's bedside, distraught, your hopes destroyed by Aemond's words

"Why do you think I chosen 'the one true love's kiss?' because it doesn't exist. She'll never wake up".

He says in his grief, breaking your heart. Hurt as you are, you flee the chamber and are captured by the King's guards. Aemond gently kisses Aurora's forehead goodbye, leaving before the teen can open her eyes, awake again.

Aemond as well gets captured by the King, who now wants to execute you both, even though Aurora is awake and well. The King knows that, as long as Aemond is alive, he'll be a potential danger.

Aurora doesn't know how to help you, it's Vhagar that tells her to grab the sapphire from the treasure vault. With her help and the young prince's, Aurora steals the sapphire and Vhagar manages to give it to Aemond, who can now restore himself, and his dragon, to their full power, thus saving you as well. The King, mad with rage, tries to kill him and almost kills Aurora and is eaten by Vhagar.

Despite the shock of the horrors she had to see, Aurora manages to get her happily ever after with her prince, unifying the two Reigns. You and Aemond as well, after you have him work for his forgiveness, have your happiness together and become Aurora's bloodline fairy godparents.

Everything taglist: @ilikeitbetterangsty

Aemond's taglist: @phantoms-main-blog

#aemond targaryen #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen x y/n

[tempvstas]

Hello! I’m new to your blog and I really love your work.

May I request Trey, Jamil and Leona with a reader who is stubborn and always claims that everything is fine..

*insert a huge fire happening behind them*

yep. this is fine.

And also, when they get upset of something or if they get severely injured, they’ll tend to hide it until the truth’s out.

- ♊️ anon

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Content Warning(s): none

Character(s): GN!Reader(no pronouns mentioned), Trey Clover, Jamil Viper, Leona Kingscholar 

Authors Notes: Hi ♊️ Anon! Omg I just realized your my first anon lets goooo. Apologies for the long wait, here you go!

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Trey Clover

There are times when Trey is also stubborn as hell and he cares a lot about you so there's you who's stubbornly trying to refuse any help whatsoever and there's him who's stubbornly refusing to let you do whatever you're stubbornly refusing help for on your own.

So it just turns into a whole back and forth thing until eventually you or him caves and lets the other do what they need to. Usually you're the one that caves first cause Trey is just that adamant

He scolds you lightly about not getting in over your head and tells you to tell him if you need help, even if you don't want to

He cares a lot about you okay? Don't push yourself too hard :(

If you still refuse to listen to him, he'll grab your hands and pull them into his own, and then he'll tug you away from what you're doing into his embrace

No you can't leave, this man has a vice-like grip on you.

Jamil Viper

Well the both of you are in pretty much the same position, Jamil’s used to masking his emotions in favor of looking after Kalim

But he also cares a lot about you because you’re one of the first people who’s genuinely expressed concern for him without having an ulterior motive.

Jamil can easily pick up if you’re acting off or if you’re mood is somewhat different from how you usually act. He’s not going to pry into what happened if he can sense that it’s something that’s really, really upset you. But he’ll press you until you admit that something’s wrong.

There was this one time you had an accident in alchemy class and you burned your wrist. Instead of asking for help, you opted to keep quiet despite the pain in your arm.

Jamil quickly noticed the way you would shift things away from your injured arm and how you would opt to use your other hand. Pulling you aside, he asks to see your arm, concern in his gaze. 

While you refuse at first, Jamil persists and upon seeing your wrist, he magically pulls bandages out of thin air, wrapping it up. 

So in short, you can’t hide anything from this man, he’s gonna end up finding out anyways LMAO

Leona Kingscholar

Stubborn, stubborn stinky lion

If he senses that you’re self-sabatoging; ie, you don’t say anything despite the fact that something is clearly bothering you, he’ll smush you underneath him and will refuse to let you go because even if he won’t openly admit it, he doesn’t want anything to happen to you just because you won’t say anything

So you can protest all you want saying that you’re fine when you’re clearly not, but you’re not escaping his grasp anytime soon, good luck

He won’t let you leave, until you admit that whatever happened to you was indeed not fine, and if you want he’ll sit there and listen to you rant about it. It’s good to get those emotions out. 

He never says anything out loud, but he does worry for you, and he’ll be damned if you get hurt on his watch. 

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#ashers writing #ashers requests #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland headcanons #twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland imagines #heartslabyul #heartslabyul x reader #trey clover #trey clover x reader #scarabia #scarabia x reader #jamil viper #jamil viper x reader #savanaclaw #savanaclaw x reader #leona kingscholar #leona kingscholar x reader #IM ALIVE I SWEAR

[sepublic]

            Actually, there’s kind of a theme of Death in Thanks to Them, as I look at it?

         The narrative is haunted by the dead; The impact of Manny’s death and how Luz and Camila cope with it. Caleb and Evelyn, whose actions shadow the narrative. The climax in the graveyard. Luz and Hunter’s suicide-themed arcs; Luz undergoing a living death of sorts because of depression, the passion in her snuffed out. The magic as well, too! Hunter almost dying in his battle with Belos. Flapjack actually, legitimately dying, to bring him back and finding a new life within Hunter, even as Luz’s spirit is brought back by the love of her family. Belos himself, thought dead, reveals his survival and ‘comes back to life’ in the same graveyard.

         There’s just… so much it has to do with grief, and with the morbid tones of a Halloween-themed special. And the hopeful drive to keep going, to keep living, and the dark parallel this has in Belos, who refuses to die, is well past his lifespan, and stubbornly insists on his plans when everything has seemingly failed. Luz’s last video message bearing disturbing similarities to a suicide note.

          The atmosphere of the witch hunters and their many dead victims, paid tribute as some form of justice in the historical reenactment. There’s an OLD Gravesfield, and the only part of it we see is a graveyard; It’s dead too, even the setting has experienced death and rebirth. The corpses of animals, Belos lives on through the dead, and eventually the living. You could even argue that Masha lost their friendship with ‘Luz’, only for it to be ‘reborn’ with Vee!

         And then there’s the snake imagery. The ‘dead’ skin that Luz finds, is actually shed aside for the spiritual rebirth of a new, larger snake. Her returned association to snakes, the show reminding you of them, even as we discuss the palisman… The power of the dead skin as a memory, just as Manny’s memory is powerful. Snakes and Ouroborous, as a symbol of reincarnation, transformation, life and death?

         Camila also had her passion killed like her daughter, and it was brought back in the climax, wasn’t it? Drowning in her dream, Hunter drowning literally. Drowning was historically used by puritans to kill witches, so who knows how many bodies were once at the bottom of that lake, long-ago decomposed to nothing? Even Belos drowned, as a witch hunter himself, how karmic! But he also drowned Hunter, who had just embraced being a witch as his future.

        It’s just. Man. There’s this recurring theme of the dead, still having a life of their own to influence the world. And the living being ‘dead’ inside. And the dead coming back to life. Death being the start of a new life. Continuing to live, against all odds, coming back from death.

#the owl house #meta #luz noceda #the owl house hunter #camila noceda #emperor belos #philip wittebane #caleb wittebane #manny noceda #evelyn clawthorne #symbolism

[friendlyneighborhoodcapricorn]

next next next, "oh stop pouting, i'm coming" with a sleepy sleepy julian, and maybe "sad...i have a blanket with all this extra room and no one to share it with" too? it fits together

I literally forgot about this for, like, a week lmao

“Are you almost done?” Julian asked.

You glanced back at him and couldn’t suppress a smile. He’d moved his pillow to the end of the bed so he could rest on his stomach while still looking at you. Although, with the way his hair was falling in his eyes, you doubted he could actually see anything.

You’d have loved nothing more than to join him, but there was a still a pile of books on your desk that you had yet to begin in.

“No,” you sighed. “I have to get this done, my love.”

“Nadia won’t mind if you take a break, you know,” he pointed out. “In fact, she’d probably be upset if she knew how hard you’re pushing yourself.”

“I know, Julian. But this is serious. People are getting sick and we need to find out everything we can about it. If it’s contagious, if it has a magical origin, how to cure it-“

Julian’s soft chuckle interrupted you. “I’m a doctor, (Y/N). I know this is important. But my point is that you won’t be any use to anyone if you keel over in the middle of dinner.”

You knew he had a point, but you were determined to keep going as long as you could. Determined to avoid a second Red Plague.

“Sorry, my love. You’ll have to sleep without me.”

Julian sighed dramatically, rolling over onto his back and letting his head hang over the edge of the bed. “Shame. I have a blanket with all this extra room and no one to share it with…”

“I know what you’re doing, Ilya,” you said, bringing out his old name to show that you were serious.

Julian flashed you a smirk, somehow looking even more striking upside-down. “Is it working?”

“No,” you said stubbornly.

His smirk faded and now he was pouting at you. “(Y/N), please. We’ve barely seen each other all week. I miss you.”

You turned away, staring at the scroll in front of you, but the words refused to register. Behind you, Julian sighed again.

You knew a losing battle when you saw one.

“Oh, stop pouting,” you groaned, pushing the chair back and getting up. “I’m coming.”

Julian smiled. “I knew that would work.”

“Keep going and I’m going to smother you with a pillow, my love.”

#drabble #oneshot #the arcana a mystic romance #the arcana #the arcana drabble #the arcana oneshot #the arcana julian #the arcana ilya #julian devorak #ilya devorak #julian devorak x reader #ilya devorak x reader #the arcana julian x reader #reader insert

[fantastic-nonsense]

Why do you think Kaz falls for Inej of all people, especially considering she is the one with the strongest morals and he seems to be the one with the least?

I think you mean "why does Inej fall for Kaz of all people" OP because Kaz is self-admittedly an emotionally repressed asshole with Terminally Seventeen Disease and honestly, who wouldn't fall for Inej Ghafa??? That being said, canon gives us several things to work with and so does extrapolation of things implied by canon.

Kaz likes that Inej challenges him. He likes that she has such stubbornly strong morals. He likes that she's able to remain somewhat true to herself and her Saints even after all she's been through. It's something he genuinely admires about her. He may seem irritated by her "constant attempts to wring decency out of him" at the beginning of Six of Crows, but in literally the same chapter he also flat-out admits he loves to wind her up too:

���Greed is your god, Kaz.” He almost laughed at that. “No, Inej. Greed bows to me. It is my servant and my lever.” “And what god do you serve, then?” “Whichever will grant me good fortune.” “I don’t think gods work that way.” “I don’t think I care.” She blew out an exasperated breath. Despite everything she’d been through, Inej still believed her Suli Saints were watching over her. Kaz knew it, and for some reason he loved to rile her. He wished he could read her expression now. There was always something so satisfying about the little furrow between her black brows. -Chapter 3, Six of Crows

You know the dumb "pulling pigtails" adage? This is the verbal equivalent of that. There's a fundamental difference between Kaz Being An Asshole™ and the banter that defines Kaz and Inej's friendship, and this is a decent example of the latter. He loves that Inej has a strong enough personality and set of morals to talk with him like this, that she refuses to bend over backward just to please him. She's her own person who knows herself and refuses to let the Menagerie, Dregs life, Per Haskell, or Kaz himself roll over that, and Kaz really loves that about her.

He loves that she has her morals and her dreams and her goal of ending the slave trade. He loves that she refuses to sacrifice her own self-healing and chance at fulfilling her dreams just to be with him. And he loves that she's self-assured and outspoken enough to tell him all of these things outright. She's the only person in his life who treats him as a friend before she treats him as Kaz Brekker. Even Jesper sees him as Boss First, Friend Second before the Ice Court Heist happens. And I think that's something Kaz treasures dearly.

Because he doesn't just love her; he admires and respects her as a person. She's his friend before she's his crush, and it shows by how obsessed he is with ensuring that she's safe, healthy, and happy even if that happiness comes at great personal cost to himself or means they won't be together. Kaz loves Inej for who she is, and she wouldn't be Inej without her morals and her Saints and her determination to be free.

There's another reason he loves her, too: because she reminds him of the boy he could have been, the boy who had yet to be fundamentally broken by his experiences in the Barrel. Deep down Kaz is still that starry-eyed nine-year-old boy who obsessed over coin tricks and wind-up dogs, and she makes him believe there's still good things in the world that's treated kids like them so cruelly:

“You shouldn’t make friends with crows,” he’d told her. “Why not?” she asked. He’d looked up from his desk to answer, but whatever he’d been about to say had vanished on his tongue. The sun was out for once, and Inej had turned her face to it. Her eyes were shut, her oil-black lashes fanned over her cheeks. The harbour wind had lifted her dark hair, and for a moment Kaz was a boy again, sure that there was magic in this world. -Ch. 38, Six of Crows

She gives him something to strive for, and even though he has "the least" morals of the Crows he's pretty open about what he's willing to do to in order to meet Inej's expectations:

The ache in his lungs was unbearable. He needed to tell her...what? That she was lovely and brave and better than anything he deserved. That he was twisted, crooked, wrong, but not so broken that he couldn’t pull himself together into some semblance of a man for her. -Ch. 38, SoC

She asked for him to take off his armor on the Ferolind, and he delivered. Because Inej represents everything good to him, everything his life could have been and still could be, and even in the era where he's desperately trying to hold onto that brokenness for the sake of revenge that's a very attractive dream for someone like Kaz. She's not his moral compass, but she's definitely someone who forces Kaz to think about the fact that he does in fact have one on a more frequent basis than he'd like ("my Wraith would counsel mercy" and all). Which is delightful, actually, because Kaz actually does have pretty solid morals when you take some time to think about it (there's not much he wouldn't do to someone, but he's pretty firm about who he's willing to do those things to).

Anyway this is all to say that there's actually a ton of reasons why Kaz fell for Inej that run the gamut from "she challenges him in every aspect of his life" to "her devotion is partially why he loves her" to "she's an inspiration" to "she's his best friend." Which is why they ultimately work so well as a couple: Kaz loves Inej as a friend before he loves her as a potential love interest, and how could you dislike something that is so fundamental to your friend they would be a completely different person without it?

#in which I wax poetic about kanej AGAIN #one day I'll talk about wesper like this just you all wait #kanej #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #six of crows #crooked kingdom #soc meta #long post #queue #otp: on the seas and in the city

[princess-of-the-corner]

I'm curious and can't remember if you've talked about/been asked about this before, sorry if I'm asking you to repeat yourself, but what are your thoughts on the entire 'Catwalker' situation that happened in Kuro Neko? And how would you handle that plot yourself?

So I did go into Catwalker a little bit here, and that was mostly on the subject of Adrien's feelings and the fact that it's understandable that he'd do that. He didn't put anyone in danger because he returned the Miraculous, but it was what he thought was better for his mental health which is a good choice!

As for my criticisms and how I'd change it......

I think I'd just delete the 'Catwalker' part of the episode entirely. Like, hear me out for a second.

Adrien was tired and fed up with how Ladybug kept leaving him out and treating him like a replaceable tool.

Coming back as a new identity would put him in exactly the same position. Like /maybe/ he would assume that the problem was 'Chat' and not that LB is just.... very much not down for sharing. But what does 'Catwalker' do for helping Adrien get past this issue?

So just skip that.

Instead:

Another Akuma happens, and Marinette is forced to give the Black Cat to someone else because she can't figure out a permanent solution or how to get Chat back(since she can't talk this out.)

Maybe we get Alya as Alley Chat. Maybe we get Zoé as Kitty Noire. Maybe we get the Nino as Black Magic to counterpart Alya's Scarabella like we fucking deserve!!

Anyway! Who she picks really doesn't matter. But she has to get someone, because she needs a Black Cat. The fight goes off completely fine! It's great! No disasters! A little bumpy because the new Cat is inexperienced and LB's used to Chat, but perfectly fine and it could work even better with time!

And at first, this hurts Adrien. It proves his fears and insecurities right. He is replaceable. Anyone could use the Black Cat and save the day.

But something happens to cause.... basically the Ladrien version of Glaciator 2's Marichat. Maybe an Akuma is targeting Adrien so Ladybug and Alley/Kitty/Magic are playing bodyguard while waiting for the Akuma to show up.

During this, Ladybug opens up to Adrien. She doesn't spill /everything/ because 'he's a random civilian'. But she admits that she fucked up. That she was so scared of what would happen if she shared everything with Chat. That the idea that she has to keep everything secret and take on every burden is just so ingrained in her, especially after some incidents, that it fucked up everything. She loved Chat(platonically ofc) and she trusted him, but she didn't trust herself.

Adrien is, of course, shocked by this news. And to see her so distruaght. He asks about Alley/Kitty/Magic. Aren't they a suitable replcement?

Yes, they 'work'. But Ladybug doesn't care. She wants Chat back.

Adrien gives his honest advice on the situation: figure out a way to talk to Chat Noir. Tell him all those things she wanted to tell him. Resolve to work on those issues instead of shutting them down, but work on them together.

The rest of the Akuma stuff happens. Adrien gets to be helpful as himself yadda yadda.

Later, Marinette tells Plagg to go back to whoever Chat Noir is. Ask him to show up for just one last conversation with her. If he still wants to call it quits after that, at least let her say goodbye properly.

Ofc Chat does show up. And he's not sure what to expect on if LB took the advice or not. But she does. She explains as much as she can in one go. How scared she was. How she's the type to just deal with things all on her own and stubbornly refuse to ask for help or even let people help. She even tells him about Chat Blanc, how she doesn't know exactly what lead to that so even when she /did/ break and ask for help, she was too scared to choose him to tell because 'what if this leads to that'?

And despite all of this, she would rather risk that. Because she can't imagine a world without him by her side.

Chat's a bit thrown by the info dump, especially the Chat Blanc thing. But he's glad she told him. He's glad to hear how much he genuinely means to her(yes even as just a friend).

They resolve to work on this, and work on it together.

[mysaldate]

Why Leona and Vil get treated differently – and why not everything is always about race

Yeah yeah, it’s been a long time since this discourse happened... not. Because apparently we’re beating this horse even after it’s deader than Cater’s clones. Somehow this stupid conversation keeps getting rekindled over and over and over and over again, and I’m just so tired so I’m just gonna put my thoughts down so that the next time I get caught up in it, I’ll have this post at the ready. Read at your own risk, this may trigger some people, especially those who claim the only reason anyone would ever dislike Leona is his skin color and not, you know, everything he does.

Leona’s murder attempt was pre-meditated. Unlike Vil, Leona spent quite a long time planning out everything he did in episode 2. He made sure the injuries happened in a way that couldn’t be linked back to him and that nobody could see Ruggie while he was using his unique magic. When it came to the actual murder, he even made a deal with Azul to ensure the event venue was set up in a certain way and that Ruggie got a potion to boost his magic before the whole thing started. Vil, on the other hand, snapped under momentary pressure, and didn’t spend weeks planning how to murder a rival over a competition.

Leona was ready to go through with it. I see a lot of people conveniently ignoring this but someone actually did die during Leona’s murder attempt – Cater’s clones did. Now, whether or not clone lives count as actual lives is irrelevant at the moment because all that matters is that Leona didn’t stop until there were bodies on the ground. Remember he watched the whole thing. He knew what was going on and when to stop. On the other hand, Vil immediately stopped the second a new element was introduced that snapped him out of whatever he was going on. Which brings me to my next point.

Leona acted with full clarity. Unlike Vil, Leona was fully in control the whole time. Vil was in a haze of reliving his past trauma, a haze that he snapped out of the second someone other than his target spoke to him. Leona, while motivated by past trauma, was fully in control of his actions.

Leona never showed any growth. This may be a controversial point for some people. And I understand that Leona is older than most of the other characters, however that does not make him stubbornly refusing to admit he did anything wrong any less jarring. Everyone showed tangible visible growth after their overblot, except Leona.

We are clear on what Leona wanted. With Vil, we never got a clear-cut confirmation that he was out for blood. We know something unsavory would’ve happened to Neige if he drank the apple juice, but truth is, it was never explicitly stated that he would die (if it was in EN, then just chuck that on the pile of things EN ruined). People just jumped to assuming murder because that’s what we’ve seen before and because Vil is associated with poinsons.

And when it comes to how their attempts were handled in-universe, let’s take a look at that.

Leona got called out by Lilia. It was vicious and rude, yes. Was it racist of Lilia to tear into Leona? No. No part of Lilia’s insults had to do with Leona’s race. He compared Leona with Malleus and evaluated which one of them has a personality more suited for a leader – the answer should be clear if you consider which one of them committed murder over a sports contest. This was also after Leona attempted to murder Lilia’s son, his son’s best friend, and a person he’s been taking care of for decades, or possibly even longer. Leona is lucky Lilia is no longer in his general days otherwise he’d likely be made into a throwrug, how handsome is up to your personal tastes. However, Leona’s call-out ended there with no further consequences other than being disqualified from the contest.

Vil got called out by nearly the entirety of the VDC group. Granted, it wasn’t that vicious or rude, but that’s because it didn’t get personal with anyone. Had he killed Neige, it wouldn’t personally affect any of the VDC group members. While Rook is a huge fan of Neige’s, that’s as far as it goes. However, Vil had lasting consequences from this lapse of judgement. You can find my full analysis of that mess here. That alone makes fans less eager to harp on him, since it at least feels like he got what he deserved – or possibly even more – while Leona gets to walk free with one verbal scolding.

Lastly, if you’re here to tell me to kms or harass me, do us both a favor and just click block and hide. I’ve got enough of that to the point where I just roll my eyes and block you back without it really affecting me. You’re just wasting your time as well as mine. You can think Lilia calling out Leona for murder was racist but at that point, you’re just willing to use skin color as a free get out of consequences card, and I have no desire to talk to people like that.

If you agree, feel free to share, if you’d like to respectfully debate, I’m 100% down for that too, just know that I tend to be pretty stubborn😅

Edit: If you are here to talk about wider fandom treatment of dark-skinned characters, that isn't what this post is about so please just make your own. This post is about a specific situation. Of course, there will always be bad people who judge people and characters based on skin color, but let's not act like everyone who dislikes Leona does so for those reasons. There's plenty of differences between his and Vil's situation that can make people like one and dislike the other without being racially charged. THAT is the point of this post.

#twst #twisted wonderland #twst en #disney twst #disney twisted wonderland #twst leona #leona kingscholar #twst vil #vil schoenheit #twst discourse #fandom discourse #tw murder #tw attempted murder

[raayllum]

I wanna analyze Viren and Callum’s one actual scene together so let’s go

Callum shows up in the tower determined as hell with no time for Soren’s bullshit (in particular), but Viren steps out of Harrow’s chambers: “You should not be here” (the same assessment Rayla will give of Callum being in the tower once she reunites with Ez a couple scenes later). Then we see Callum clearly reappraise Viren with what he knows now. Just an episode ago he was running to the high mage’s study for help from Lord Viren and Claudia, and while we see Callum’s good faith towards Claudia last significantly longer past this point, it’s dead on arrival for Viren. 

Then one of the more interesting things to me in the scene is how much Callum quotes Rayla (as usually, in show, it’s the other way around) and here when he is 1) understandably accordingly angry and 2) being deeply confrontational. 

So this scene is what establishes his ability to turn on people, very quickly and brutally, if they give him a reason to (and why he lets Claudia go so quickly post-2x03, because once the bridge is burned, it’s burned). Additionally,  given that Callum’s main thematic tie is freedom, it makes perfect sense that the first thing he does after this reappraisal and defiant statements is threaten Viren’s freedom: “The king will have you in shackles when he finds out about this!” because, this, of course, is part of what brought the assassination mission down on Harrow (which Callum knows, but he also knows that it) put Ezran in danger as well.

Then Viren grabs him, tries to interrogate him, but Callum refuses. Then we get the second parallel to the possession scene (the first being that tether to freedom) in terms of Callum literally having his voice stolen (even if it isn’t replaced with Viren’s). It also shows how full of crap Viren is in a lot of ways. He grabbed Callum to interrogate him, but the second the kid threatens to scream, rather than order him to be taken elsewhere, Viren chooses to assert control in another way (even if it’s counterproductive to the goal he said he had earlier), before everything goes to hell in a hand basket.

I also think it’s interesting that this is the one scene we’ve gotten between them directly, and why it hits so hard. I don’t think it would be as effective if we had a scene between theme earlier - before Callum had his primal mage realization and before Viren had turned against Harrow - but here, we already see the way they’re personally, magically, and thematically in opposition to each other. Yet this episode and the proceeding ones stubbornly tether them together

V: Any of these men and women would gladly trade their life to save yours. H: Would you, Viren? V: I...

C: Well then, you found me. I am Prince Ezran.

with Viren even outlined as one of Callum’s paths forward along this very hallway, precisely when Callum is voiceless.

And as said in another meta of mine on this scene: 

Viren, of course, isn’t doing anything. Moments ago he was on his knees in front of King Harrow and is still deeply embittered. Despite having his staff and some capabilities for dark magic on his person (like what let him take Callum’s voice) he doesn’t do anything. This has always been one of the biggest signs to be that Harrow is already dead (or displaced) by the time Viren leaves Harrow’s chambers and before the tower is attacked.

Then on the other end you have Callum, who can’t do anything, at lest not yet. He gets his voice back, calls Harrow dad for the first time, and then has his attention drawn elsewhere, to his brother in the courtyard with the egg and the elf who will soon come to define both their destinies.

One mage, who’s already given up on his king due to pride and years of resentment; one mage, who knows that he has to for the greater good of their remaining family. It’s such a perfect full circle of their juxtaposition from 1x02 with Viren offering to lay others’ lives down and hesitating to offer his own when the situation demands it, with Callum offering to lay his life down even when the situation decidedly doesn’t demand it. Viren was selfish enough to stay and do nothing, and Callum was selfless enough to leave at the hope of doing something.

We also see Viren and Callum highlighted a few times when they’re given the chance to be as something other than foils:

even if S4 makes it clear that in Callum’s mind, Viren and Rayla are connected.

And all of this is a very long winded way of saying I love the precious few pieces of screen time they actually share and their deep foils relationship very much, and I cannot wait to see where it goes in S5 (even if I have some speculation for it, too)!

#it was just red #tdp viren #the dragon prince #tdp callum #tdp #s1 #1x03 #arc 1 #god i want them to have a scene again in s5 #WE CAME SO CLOSE IN 4x09 but rayla had to martyr herself again lmao #mini meta #analysis #analysis series #arc 2 #s4

[onceandfuturewarlqck]

merlin magic reveal analysis

"I am a sorcerer, I have magic… and I use it for you Arthur, only for you."

I was thinking about this (as i often find myself doing of lately) and something i have already mentioned somewhere but never deeply explored is the deeper meaning behind Merlin's words.

in the episode, Balinor appears to Merlin when everything seems lost, and he tells him the truth about him: he is not only a magic haver, he is magic itself.

Merlin, you are more than a son of you father. You are son of the earth, the sea, the sky, magic is the fabric of this world, and you were born of that magic. You are magic itself. You cannot lose what you are.

without dwelling right now about how inspiring and beautiful the message itself is (maybe ill write an in-depth analysis on that later on), it is known that Merlin IS magic. he doesn't simply have magic, he isnt only born with magic, he is magic. Merlin is a part of the essence that magic is, a being of nature, in a way just like a mystical creature. he is both human (he has human parents, he is made of flesh and bones and blood, he was born like a normal child) and magical.

magic, the same magic that is the fabric of the world, gave birth to itself under the form of a boy - Merlin.

so. Merlin is magic. and magic is Merlin.

and, when he confesses to Arthur that he is a warlock, that he has been using magic for years, he knows this. he knows that Merlin and magic are synonym.

and thats why his confession of magic is also something deeper. when Merlin tells Arthur that he has magic, and that he uses it only for him, he is not just admitting of his powers.

he is giving himself to Arthur.

by saying that Merlin's magic is only Arthur's, he is saying that Merlin himself is Arthur's. Merlin whole existence belongs to him, is his. I have my reasons to believe that, if the circumstances were different and Arthur had discovered about Merlin's magic in a different way, Merlin would rather die than leave Arthur's side. even if Arthur exiled him, Merlin would either stubbornly refuse to go, or find another way to stay.

because Merlin's magic, without Arthur, has no reason to exist - and so Merlin himself.

Merlin, in this scene, is baring himself to Arthur, he is saying "I am yours. everything i am, my very soul, my very essence, has always been yours, and always will be. i use magic only for you, and magic is me, we are the same."

and what does Arthur replies to his admission? he orders Merlin to leave him.

he rejects him. even if Arthur has every right, at this point, of feeling confused and not knowing how to act (and I think that Arthur sends him away also because he doesnt want to hurt him, or do and say anything he might regret later, but he needs time, to process everything that happened), he rejects Merlin.

and Merlin's face is the most heartbreaking thing ever.

he is confused. Merlin. he is confused because Arthur told him to leave him. he is hurt because Merlin just told him that everything he is belongs to Arthur, that he is Arthur's, and, even if he knew that it would have not been taken easily, he is still hurt and upset and confused.

that's what breaks my heart the most. because by rejecting his magic (first by saying that Merlin cannot have magic, he would know, and then by telling him to leave), Arthur is rejecting him. he is not simply rejecting a part of Merlin, he is rejecting everything Merlin is.

if Merlin is magic, and Arthur rejects magic, then Arthur is rejecting Merlin as well.

not that Arthur knows the extent of what Merlin says, and this is the real tragedy, because we know, and Merlin knows, but Arthur doesnt. Arthur doesnt know everything Merlin did for him, he doesn't know what Merlin's confession truly is (one could say that it's a love confession, whether you call it romantical or not, it's a confession of love and loyalty, as Merlin is giving all of himself to Arthur).

Arthur spent ten years without knowing just how much Merlin gave him and, when Merlin tells him, Arthur doesn't completely get it, he doesn't know.

"I thought I knew you."

"I'm still the same person.

this part is important as well, because Arthur tells Merlin that he thought he knew him - he thought he knew what he was. and Merlin answers by saying that he is still the same person. because he is.

just as Merlin is magic, magic is also Merlin. it's not another part of him. it's him, and even if Arthur didnt know that Merlin is the most powerful sorcerer alive and Emrys and all that, even if Arthur didnt know what Merlin did, Arthur still knew (and knows) Merlin.

but the depth of it all is lost in translation. Arthur is dying, and won't ever know about everything. Merlin is trying to save him, but he knows that he can't make it. they dont have the time to understand each other, not anymore.

#merlin #merlin bbc #merthur #arthur pendragon #merlin emrys #merthur scenes #merlin and arthur #merlin analysis #merlin character analysis #they deserved so much better #im going to cry #analysis #merlin bbc 5x13 #the diamond of the day

[winterpinetrees]

The Gap Years - June 11th

The road trip kids wake up on the first real day of their adventure. Plans are considered, elf society is rightfully mocked, but mostly I just infodump. :)

i am beating back the cringe emotions with a stick. this is the cringe website. let me post about my homegrown blorbos, brain.

June 11th 2019

Lakeport, California

The realization of where he is and what is going on hits Brian in waves.

He’s a good sleeper (he travels enough that he has to be), but this doesn’t seem to be his room. Brian lifts his head and his chest hurts, and it’s not a falling off of a dirt bike/surfboard into a tree/sandbar at a frighteningly fast velocity type of hurt either. He winces, and his arm hits something else.

Ah. The second realization. He’s sharing a bed. Contrary to popular belief, he does not do this very often. Light is already pouring in through the curtains, so it doesn’t take Brian long to realize that the other person is Clay. He still looks asleep. That makes sense. Brian has always been an early riser. He sits up in bed and looks around. Cheap curtains, beige walls, a blurry photo of a lake? They must be in a motel. Yes. He’s just graduated high school and now he’s going on a road trip with his friends. Brian swings his feet onto the ground and stands. He walks to the bathroom, but sees something else on the ground between the two twin beds. A pile of clothes? He approaches. It’s a person under a blanket. That’s when he remembers the magic, the sword slash, and the blood that might still be under his fingernails because he refused to spend half an hour washing it off like Lady Macbeth. The person on the floor is a prince. Brian is responsible for his safety and by extension the fate of the world. How the hell did he get here? (He enthusiastically volunteered, that’s how.)

Over the next few minutes, Brian cautiously wakes up both of his friends. They have some things to discuss that they don’t want Marin to overhear. They move to the other side of the small room and gather in an awkward huddle.

“We are harboring an alien prince,” Clay types out onto his cell phone. He guessed that elves had very good hearing, and convinced everyone else to do the same. “We need some plan for if he turns on us. He can control our minds”.

They’d asked Marin last night if there was any visible sign that someone had been charmed. He said yes, but only if the charmed person was aware of it, which never happened unless the attacker was overconfident or rushing. Not very reassuring.

“Like what? There’s very little we can do about that”. Sierra replies. She is typing on that infamous computer, and doing it very quickly.

“Maybe we agree to talk to each other and call out weird stuff? S, we've already been doing that“. The girl nods. Clay was taking forever to type anyway.

Brian understands. He's the only one who's trusted Marin at all. “So the plan is to be skeptical of everything”.

“That way we'll be aware of anything that is changed”. Clay wears glasses that are a little too big and stubbornly refuses to do anything with his long brown hair. He looks perfectly ordinary, a bit disheveled, and it’s entirely on purpose. He puts the phone down and starts speaking. Apparently, this bit isn’t classified. “What do we know so far?”

Among other things, they know that Prince Marin Sondaica is 86 years old, stuck in between physical adulthood at 81 and full social adulthood at 108. (Just like how they’re all old enough to vote and drive but not drink or be considered separate from their parents). The elf world is parallel to theirs, with the capital existing in the same place as San Francisco. It’s a single global dictatorship with two associations of noble families fighting for control. Marin's family was reasonable enough, but Gens Mercuralis did a coup and is trying to take over the world. They should have a year or two until elves become common knowledge and the status quo collapses.

Then Sierra adds what she knows from years of university lab internships and overheard conversations. If you see a flash of color, especially green, prepare to run or fight or die. Magic is enough like radiation that a modified geiger counter can tell you if danger is near. Elves seem to avoid fighting underground. They’re very careful to not get caught on camera.

Brian turns his head and sees a cat’s eye glow in the dark. Their new friend is awake. Sierra and Clay seem to think there isn’t anything special about Marin, but he knows better. Brian is very familiar with how people move, and Marin is just a bit too quick. More than that, he moves very quietly. It reminds him of how he’s heard friends talk about parkour (land quietly, work with your body, reduce the impact on your joints), and he wonders again just how fragile elves are.

The prince approaches the group and they talk. They need a plan to stay alive, and they’re kind of a mess. Marin explains that they shouldn’t be attacked unless they are either alone, or somewhere elves can plan an ambush and keep things secret. It’s counterintuitive, but they need a human shield. Marin also has some ideas about elven settlements in the human world that might be sympathetic to them. Elves who love wild humanity will probably oppose the new government’s plan. Unfortunately, that means that Ishtar has probably sent soldiers to subdue them. Every visit will be a gamble. They might find allies, but they could also very easily get killed. Maybe it would be better if they traveled on their own for a bit.

...

So they get in the car and drive again. They eat breakfast at the most crowded place they can find and drive towards a hardware store where Sierra can buy a geiger counter. They come up with a system. Brian drives, Clay rides shotgun with the concussion rifle under his seat, Sierra googles things and tinkers with the geiger counter, and Marin tries his best to cast a more permanent illusion over the car. They listen to music from whatever radio stations they’re driving by, pester Marin with questions about his past, and plot a jagged course up California.

“Who else was in the human world when the coup happened? If you can switch between worlds so easily, there must have been some other people who got away”. Brian is a student of history. He knows a bit about how coups go, but mostly he's just curious about the magical society next door.

Marin stares out the window at miles and miles of farmland. “I can’t be sure. Genus Sondaica had over twenty people in it before the coup, and four of them were about my age. Those are the ones that were most likely to escape. We’re old enough to defend ourselves, but not influential enough to be primary targets”. His voice is very level. “But our genus also has allies. Each of those has even more people, but there’s no way of knowing who’s… left.”

A few seconds pass before Sierra speaks. “Yeah, but who was here before the coup? You didn’t know anything had happened, remember? You just brainwashed us for fun. Who else would do that?”

“The only one I'm certain of is Zerada Adust, my betrothed”.

Woah. Hold on a second. Brian knows that the elves have a hereditary noble class, but his betrothed? “You're betrothed to someone?”

“Ah. That’s not a Western concept anymore, is it? Most of the high nobility are betrothed to someone. It is important for keeping the nobility strong”.

Brian blinks. “Arranging marriages to try and keep an elite class 'strong' has caused some pretty big problems on earth”. Like, the fall of several dynasties.

Sierra rolls her eyes. "Marin, if you're using how messed up your society is to avoid talking about your girlfriend, it's working".

He looks around at the car. “Magical power is mostly genetic,” he adds as if that makes the statement more acceptable instead of less.

“And that's eugenics. That is also not good. Clay, are you still in favor of the elves taking over the world?” Brian adds. He does not know what to do with this information.

She laughs. “And they’re a monarchy too, remember that?”

“I was under a lot of stress!” Clay replies. "Between that and proposing a quest, I think what I said was a lot more normal".

Brian laughs to clear the air, but it sounds fake. Despite his family history, He doesn't believe in taking the easy way out. There's nothing wrong with choosing to stay and fight. They can't afford to be fighting now though, so he lets the conversation continue and keeps his eyes on the road.

#by me #my oc stuff #the gap years #writing that *is* #the road trip

[pridepages]

Escapism: I Am Not Your Chosen One

I just finished I Am Not Your Chosen One by Evelyn Benvie. I have thoughts…

Here there be spoilers!

Feat. the @rainbowcrate edition of March 2023!

Growing up, there was nothing I wanted more than to stumble on the door to a magical world. I felt a fundamental feeling of disconnect between myself and other people--like I was a puzzle piece that couldn't make myself fit in the space where I was supposed to belong. I dreamed of finding a place where fitting felt effortless...as though someone could take my little puzzle piece, turn it a different way, move it across the picture and...click.

I knew I wasn't the only closeted queer kid who felt this way. But it's one thing to know...and a totally different thing to see.

Meet Kell Ho Sinh Porter, the reluctant hero of Evelyn Benvie's I Am Not Your Chosen One. He did everything he was supposed to do. But his degree didn't get him anywhere. He's stuck in minimum-wage hell. He has no way out of his dead-end town or away from the stifling confines of his childhood home...

Boy, I've been there.

What Kell wants more than anything else is to escape a world that feels like a cage--just to get somewhere else...because anywhere must be better than here.

Except it doesn't work that way.

With the help of a presumptuous, incompetent goddess, Kell finds himself yanked across the realms to the land of Allune. On the surface, Allune is the blissful paradise so many of us dream of where homophobia and transphobia simply don't exist. It is natural to respect preferred pronouns (to use gendered pronouns at all with elves is disrespectful). And instead of words like 'husband' or 'wife,' Kell's new friend Fre introduces readers to the term 'bidelight' (which is one I want to adopt for my own use). And yet: Kell still feels dissatisfied and out of place.

Why?

Here's the painful truth: there is no magical fix. There's no place that anyone can go and feel totally, truly at home. The only way to truly find belonging is to make yourself at home in your own skin.

The source of Kell's discomfort is that he's queer, but his queerness isn't one that's easy to understand or explain even in his own mind. As a biromantic person on the asexual spectrum, Kell has trouble understanding and articulating his experiences of attraction. "Everyone was his type until he got to know them. Then no one was. That was the trouble with being biromantic but not bisexual," Kell opines.

This struggle to make sense of what he doesn't grasp is frustrating and painful for everyone involved. "The confusion and hurt on Ansel's face was clear to see. Kell hated himself for putting it there, for not having the right words, for not being able to package himself up in a nice little bow and give to people he liked. For being too scared half the time to try."

So Kell's solution becomes to stop trying. To give up. To run away and hope that the next escape, the next quest, will have the easy answers.

Sorry, Kell, but it doesn't work that way. We can't escape the struggle, the endless work of communicating our needs and desires to others in hopes that we will be seen. "There are parts of me I cannot change for you. Only you can decide if you're okay with that...I don't want sex or intimacy for the most part. But this is perfect. I want to be close, but not too close? I want to be able to kiss you without having to worry about what comes next." Kell's self-defeating brain expects another rejection. But Ansel steps up. "If I was...okay with that. What would that make us?"

To which, the answer is: "Together."

We may not be able to make anyone understand us perfectly. But the right people will always be worth trying for. That's what Kell, who stubbornly refuses to return to his hometown, decides. "Miserable was being at home, too broken to leave and too scared to stay."

Kell finds what he's looking for not by running...but when he actively decides to stay and stand his ground. To do the hard work to be seen and understood. To see and understand. "Finally something was happening in his life that he had control over...he could mess this up. Mess it up big, bigger than he had messed up anything before. Or he could do something grand. And wasn't that a thought?"

Living as a queer person in a terrifying conservative hell, I understand Kell's impulse to run. If I could find a way out of here--if I could escape to a place where my existence wasn't questioned let alone threatened--I'd probably take it. But whenever I'm tempted to imagine that moving would automatically fix my loneliness and bring me love and companionship, I remember Kell's journey. Fleeing is nothing but an escapist fantasy.

It's not enough to run away.

You've got to run towards.

#i am not your chosen one #ianyco #evelyn benvie #lgbtqia #asexual #nblm #biromantic #lgbt reads #queer lit #greysexual

[3vocatio]

may i interest you in some bittersweet fluffs? *opens little lid like maitre-d revealing my ask* time not being kind to the human body is a given, and as much as others would like to pretend otherwise (sometimes stubbornly so, like it would release its grasp if they just refused its existence long enough) solomon is human. whether he was always this dreadfully, "5-layers worth of clothes in hell" cold, if horrific muscle aches and his nerves being on the fritz every now and then were always effects of magic use, even before The Accident, or if time has ravaged him... he actually doesn't remember. no, not for sure, anyway. and he certainly doesn't like showing it, to the point where he can almost perfectly hide it. almost.

if raphael was more of an open book, he might have commended his friend on such a smooth, near-flawless mask. such an ironclad resolve truly was befitting of one once called king. but.... they really are friends. and he knows better than to trust that disarming smile. just like solomon knows raphie's jaw doesn't wire shut around fireworks and screaming for no reason. that he prefers quiet places for the same reason he snarls if anyone raises their hand too quickly.

but raphael isn't an open book. he's a locked one, actually. closed tight like the set of his shoulders. and "please be gentle with yourself" is not part of a soldier's vocabulary. so instead raphael's one to quietly stand there (like well, a guardian angel, though a better one to his friend than michael was, he likes to hope). raphael doesn't have the words to say "hey. you're not any lesser for this. let me help you. let me care for you like you do for everyone else," so instead he performs little tasks that say "it's okay" for him, like refolding anything solomon fumbles without a word. because a hitman knows better than most how impossible vulnerability is for people like them, and sometimes the best form of acknowledgment really is no acknowledgment at all. it's simply being there, and they both have nothing but time

anyway that's that. bye now! ≡≡ﾍ( >ヮ◕)ﾉ♥

ah, what a blessing you are! i've been thinking about the topic of an immortal (human) living their life as 'normal' in which they'd feel their body aging, deteriorating, but physical-wise everything is still intact. the phantom feeling and mortal mindset of growing and dying with other humans proving to be true once you feel yourself reset once every cycle of a generation reaches its end. it reminds me of 'the end' soundtrack from minecraft and 'everywhere at the end of time' by the caretaker.

i think that 'the end' is self-explanatory—a twinge of nostalgia curls around your heart, caresses it like a mother would as her newborn child breathes softly against her chest, and transforms into a departure of a candle's light against the eigengrau of your eyelids.

the presence of 'everywhere at the end of time' mirrors 'the end' in a bittersweet way, albeit more violent once you peek between the blinds. you revel in the glory that is your peak, at bliss in your adrift, until you find your daydreams interrupted by moments of bewilderment upon realizing that life is growing too chaotic to live through.

as much as you wish to begrudge yourself of any mortal habits that will make the separation harder, can you really escape it when you witness so many internal deaths? wouldn't living for so long leads to bouts of self-reflection and a heightened sense of self-awareness once reality tightens its grip every time you dare look down?

but... you don't look. not yet. reality seems in not in its true form, but something idealized into but an alternate reality you're not a part of.

the disconnect that arises is a horror like no other, and as an immortal i'm sure it's like staring into the ocean depths wondering what would happen if you took a step in and felt yourself being caressed once more. the disconnect seeps into your bones in the form of confusion, and the confusion into snippets of dreams that you aren't sure are dreams or memories.

and memories are a strange thing, aren't they? history repeats itself, and your internal deaths don't wait for you to catch up and process anything. the unfamiliar sounds familiar; the familiar sounds so far away.

you know very intimately of this theory of mine if you've done a decent amount of snooping, but i think that when solomon was given the chance to freely roam his dreamscape, the reason why he didn't leave for centuries on end was for the simple human need to process.

being in a place where there was no rule for chaos being present may as well allow you to revisit your long yearned bliss. when it's only your altered state of consiousness, memories potentially being played before you or living in those eternal moments again, being able to see the people you've touched and allowing yourself to touch them once more instead of rejecting it like you've taught yourself to do as time went on,

you finally give yourself the room and patience to grow beautifully, even through your old petals that have long wilted with time.

i don't think that raphael quite understands what it exactly means for a human like solomon to have lived through so many deaths, even his own death, even when his eyes flicker like the embers of a candle wick or the staticky film of kinetograph when he ponders on the parts of himself that he's lost, for better or for worse. raphael has certainly lost, he hadn't given himself the chance to connect with people as he wished he did and he struggles with allowing himself to just feel, but at least he still has a chance. he still has the chance to reset and love his fallen comrades freely, even if he chooses to not state it aloud.

but solomon doesn't. solomon doesn't have the chance to reconnect or start all over because living in a mortal realm means that you feel the effects of utter chaos deteriorate your body over and over. raphael lives in an immortal realm—mortality isn't something he often runs into.

as raphael observes solomon, he truly has nothing to say. there isn't anything he can say, even if he wanted to. with his brothers, fallen or not, there is always something that seems to want to escape his tongue, but he holds it in temperance until he can let it out in the form of song. there isn't even any guilt of not being able to say anything because the disconnect of mortality is so strong that it is a completely foreign concept to him, even if he is a 'hitman'.

and i think it's because there is nothing he could give that would benefit him either, there is no guilt. only sorrow. an odd sorrow that an angel should rarely feel, unless the effects of humanity begin to taint their divinity.

“I can never regret. I can feel sorrow, but it's not the same thing.”��—the last unicorn, peter s. beagle

#obey me #omswd #obey me shall we date #obey me solomon #obey me raphael #obey me analysis #﹒❝ birdsong #dearest anon ♡ #i've arisen from my uni exhaustion! it will inevitably drag me back down soon #but i've mustered up enough inspiration to respond to this~ rightfully so! #i enjoyed this very much so it was only natural that i give you my thoughts in a similar manner too

[bretongirlwrites]

tagged by @sheirukitriesfandom... will do this for julienne :)

favourite tavern

going to have to go out of skyrim for this one and say the jerall view in bruma, which by this point in the fourth era is owned by julienne’s grandfather. so she doesn’t really get to pick any other favourites... anyway no other tavern will ever feel quite as much like home as the one you have spent most of your life living in. but it has a skyrim sort of feel to it - in its fare and its frequenters and its unpolished camaraderie - and oh have you seen the view!

favourite drink

even after travelling the length and breadth of skyrim, julienne stubbornly says that any prepared and served by her grandfather is the best; but secretly comes to crave the honningbrew stuff which is brought up to dragonsreach and apparently transformed there into the nectar of the gods

travelling companion

indomitably marcurio throughout, her love, her life, her partner in complaining about everything that happens. the merry complaining band is on occasion complemented by lydia, who also has bones to pick with the world in general, not to mention the fact that she’s been tasked with making sure the dragonborn - who has a tendency to indiscriminate magical explosions; and who refuses to wear a single piece of armour - doesn’t die

wealthy or not

julienne and marcurio make about enough money in their mercenarying to eat, sleep and survive: which is all you need really, when you have treasures beyond gold. julienne also collects a lot of offers of houses, thaneships and arbitrary titles, which to some looks like wealth, but in truth won’t buy any bottles of honningbrew mead

worships the aedra or the daedra

set out really thinking she was devoted to kynareth. her great-aunt is too, and she's always had a naïve sort of admiration for the wonders and wildness of nature. after her visit to solstheim however she started wondering if she'd really been worshipping the all-maker this entire time...

biggest fear

speaking in public. more specifically, making a mess of speaking in public. affects her so badly she just... doesn’t, really. at a dinner in dragonsreach she was called upon to say a few words. she said ‘thank you for the food, bal jarlgruff' and sat down again immediately. it’s this, rather than visions of dragons or memories of magically exploded bandits, that keeps her up at night

pet peeves

nords thinking that alchemy and brewing are the same thing. no she cannot brew you an ale. she can make something with broadly similar effects but it might taste like a liquefied hedgerow

do they like being dragonborn?

not in the slightest. doesn’t even like shouting. had never shouted, magically or otherwise, before any of this. since it all kicked off it’s been one thing after another and then there was the solstheim business and oh she just wants to be left alone

favourite faction

if she must name one, it will have to be the college of winterhold. she has some commerce with them after visiting, mainly with mirabelle, whom she decided was yet another honorary mother. it’s a half-decent institution and she has nothing against them but it’s not like the old mages’ guild for which, being related to the travens, she is so nostalgic

an object of sentimental value

a decorated case carved out of bone for her knitting-needles. it belonged to her mother and she carries it everywhere. along with said needles. it is also useful for storing random plants she’s picked, stem and all, until she can get them to the alchemy-lab

hobbies

knitting things. she knits too many things. has given marcurio about six scarves by the end of the main quest. has a hat for every set of robes. at once point she presented the jarl with an egg cosy and he had to pretend to be delighted

favourite city

it’s a toss-up between whiterun and falkreath. whiterun is the obvious one, it’s bright and cheerful and the city she comes to know best. but it’s a little loud and busy... falkreath may seem like an odd choice. but it’s quiet and surprisingly cosy and the city outside which she ultimately settles, when the jarl, who is desperate for some semblance of credibility, invites her to take up the title of thane, and a beautiful parcel of lakeside land

tagging those who want to do this... i don’t know who’s already been tagged or who wants to do it. but you are very welcome to consider yourself tagged :)

#oc:julienne #ask game

[snekverse]

OC time!!

i have recently recycled these babies so they’re not like,, fully fleshed out lol but I wanna talk abt em anyways!! A lot of this is going to be chalk full of spoilers for my rewrite if I ever get around to actually writing it, so be warned!! they’re mostly small details tho so it’s not too huge but still

@the-tismification-of-aaron-lycan​

Della:

phys desciption: human, avg height, curvy and muscular hourglass build, moroccan, curly blonde hair (always covered by a hijab, her favorite of which is golden rod yellow), brown eyes, late teens/early 20s, her “signature color” is rust orange

Juror during Zane’s tenure, one of the only jurors not handpicked by Zane, although he did obviously have a say in her getting the position. She doesn’t have a confirmed jury title yet, but her temp title is Crystal Vision

Magics user with the ability to see into the future. due to her age + other factors her ability to control said magics is somewhat limited; she has very little control over how far forward she sees and visions tend to come to her at random rather than her intentionally making them happen (not to say that she can’t induce visions). she also tends to accidentally induce visions when she becomes stressed or overwhelmed

the magics came mostly naturally, more of a gift, and now that she’s reached a point in her practice where she actually needs to work at it she’s at a loss. on the path to magical gifted kid burnout

she has very little family and no friends from childhood, growing up with only her mother. They lived in a smaller, very religious town not far from Okhasis, and as such she grew up deeply religious

By nature she is very kind and compassionate albeit timid. However the rarity of her magic garnered a lot of negative attention, and a lot of people tried to find ways to use her for it, often through cruel means. As such, she has become anxious and paranoid

in terms of trying to use her the Jury/Okhasis is no different, something she didn’t realize until it was too late. She hates being in the Jury, but is too afraid of what might happen to her and/or her mother if she tries to leave

her story ends during the 15yr timeskip, when she is tried and executed for treason on account of not being able to predict/prevent Zane’s disappearance. 

Elliott: 

phys description: werewolf, tall, somewhat lean but sturdy inverted triangle build, central european, messy dark brown hair, black eyes, mid 30s, his “signature color” is eggplant purple

Corinne’s husband and Lia’s father

Juror during Zane’s tenure, recruited thanks to the interference of his wife Corinne. He has no particularly strong feelings about Zane, the Jury, or any of their questionable morals; for him it’s really just a job. His Jury Title is Wolf’s Bane

He doesn’t use any weapons, in human form or wolf, but Corinne does provide various potions and elixirs to boost his attacks, which he often takes advantage of in the form of poison-tipped claws

He’s been essentially disowned by his family after he was turned, and he has learned to “accept it” (*cough* repress it *cough*). Even if they refuse to associate with him, he has a mother, father, and three younger brothers. He originally hails from a very small farming-central village in the south of Ru’an, went on the run for years after being turned before meeting Corinne in Okhasis, where he settled.

He’s very cocky and self-assured by nature, definitely kind of an asshole. All the trauma of being turned and disowned left him bitter and angry, traits he has to this day. He doesn’t have a whole bunch of positive qualities lol

He does love his wife wholeheartedly though, as well as his daughter. Everything he does he does with his family in mind. He wants to be better to them than his family was for him, and often that ends up with him stubbornly believing everything he does is right (bc he’s doing it for them and if they argue then they’re ungrateful etc yall know how this goes)

his story ends during the 15yr timeskip; he gets killed in the line of battle during the war with Tu’la, loyal to his nation and family til the very end

Corinne:

phys description: witch, avg height, curvy pear-shaped build, vietnamese, straight dark orange hair, brown eyes, early 30s, her “signature color” is wine red

Elliott’s wife and Lia’s mother

Not a juror, but very closely connected to Zane, the Jury, and other Okhasian nobility through her husband’s juror status, something she enjoys taking advantage of

she is native to Okhasis, coming from a semi-noble family, not super high in the politics chain but well above the average citizen

Her dream was to be one of the “top dogs” in Okhasis, if not the entirety of Ru’an. She got this from her mother who had a similar goal.

Marrying Elliott was something more akin to an investment for her; she saw that he had potential and pushed him to reach for something greater (the jury), ultimately raising her own status drastically

She is incredibly selfish and vain, caring for no one but herself. She gets away with it by being manipulatively charming

During the timeskip very little changed in terms of her goals. at some point she figured Tu’la was likely going to take over, she abandoned everything and swapped sides, working her way up in Tu’lan society. She is currently remarried to a well respected Tu’an general

Cordelia/Lia:

phys description: werewolf, tall but not as tall as her father, lean rectangular build, mixed (european/vietnamese), curly dark orange hair, brown/black eyes, 7(s1), 22 post timeskip, her “signature color” is rose pink as a child and dusty rose as an adult

Daughter of Elliott and Corinne

Her parents were deeply involved in the Jury and Okhasis politics and struggled to give her the attention she needed; as a result, she was never very close to them (plus a million other mental health issue lmao)

Feels responsible for her parent’s wrongdoings despite not having a hand in any of it. As an adult she chooses to travel the world and right her parent’s wrongs wherever she can

Her father dies and her mother abandoned her shortly after the war started. She learned to fight and survive, barely escaping Okhasis in hner early teens alongside many other orphaned and abandoned children that she helped along her way

She’s about the same age as Abby; they weren’t close as children due to their parents not getting along, but their paths cross again in adulthood and they briefly become travel companions. They’re still not close, but they’re not enemies, so she counts it as a win

She actually has an awful crush on Abby in adulthood, but it isn’t reciprocated (yet?)

After parting ways with Abby she finds Mikai, and begins working with him and helping Tu’la refugees

Violetta:

phys description: human/mage, fairly short, chubby build, chilean, curly black hair, violet eyes, mid 20s, her “signature color” is violet (go figure lol)

something of a bounty hunter, willing to do increasingly awful things if given enough money

One of her earliest assignments was to murder Zane. She ended up failing, and was given a new assignment by him in exchange for her life (to remove a certain juror from the equation). She now is offering unofficial aid to Tu’la, who are using her to continue picking off uncooperative Ru’an nobility.

she specializes in magic that can bend light, creating optical illusions and more impressively turning things (and herself) invisible, a trick she utilizes for her job

she has a very laidback personality, very intelligent and sly but always keeping a very relaxed and often very charming demeanor

though she would never state it, she originally comes from falcon claw, her family relocating the the eastern edge of Ru’an shortly before falcon claw is decimated

Her family is nothing to write home about, both parents and her little brother are alive and well in eastern Ru’an. She’s on good terms with all three of them, but rarely visits and refuses to tell them what she does for work (she’s afraid of them reacting poorly)

she wholeheartedly believes the story about Aaron being responsible for the falcon claw massacre, and her desire for closure/revenge is partially why she become involved in bounty hunting. despite essentially dedicating her life to finding him, he has always managed to elude her, so much so she’s not even sure he’s alive

By the time of the timeskip she’s become more focused on her work + her own survival more than anything else, and no longer has that drive for vengeance

#this took me way too long lol but!! #it's oc time!!! #these are just kinda general concepts for the charas i think smth to help me get my shit together yknow?? #n e ways while may be my ocs i am more than happy to share if given to proper credit #i love sharing <3 #if you have any qs abt these guys lemme hear em!! :D #also would like to point out that the race/ethnicity things i added for each chara are obviously the real world equivalent? #i don't believe any of our countries exist in mcd #hope thats not too confusing <3

[reyofluke-ocs]

Tell! Me! All about Sigrid!! I am utterly curious!!

Hope you're doing well!!

Hello! I am doing pretty well; I hope you are also doing alright!

SIGRID!!! I love her so much and really want to do more with her, but I know my OCs vary from well-known fandoms to obscure fandoms to purely self-indulgent rewrites of canon so honestly I don't blame people for running away from my blog at the first chance they get, haha. She is a MCU/Moon Knight OC and the daughter of Loki and Sigyn, if her last name (Lokidottir) wasn't enough indicator. She is also in a poly ship with Marc, Steve, and Layla, and possibly maybe Jake later on I'm not 100% sure. She survives the attack on the ship and witnesses Loki's death, which causes her to eventually flee New Asgard to explore Midgard like she'd always wanted to but never got a chance to. Total daddy's girl, especially because I'm imagining Sigyn died quite awhile before the events of Thor 1 (since to my memory she has never shown up or even been mentioned in any MCU film to date though in mythology she was married to Loki), and as a result Loki became very.... protective of her. Others may see Loki as evil and nothing more than a trickster, but she knows there's good in her father.

She ends up taking a position at the British Museum of History as an expert in Norse Mythology where she befriends Steven, as they both don't fit in and really have no other friends. She basically involves herself in the whole Harrow-Amit thing by staying after dark to follow Steven around because she can tell Harrow is more than he seems and has an interest in her friend. Which is how she meets Marc and learns about Moon Knight, Khonshu, etc.

Her and Khonshu do NOT get along for like 95% of the show arc - he doesn't trust her because she's a 'godling', specifically of Loki, and therefore a trickster like her father. They reluctantly start to get along after he realizes she stubbornly refuses to leave Marc, Steven, and Layla.

Layla initially wasn't sure what to make of this Asgardian that is best friends with her husband's alter but can't help but befriend Sigrid because of how curious she is. It also doesn't help that Sigrid is capable of holding her own in a fight, despite how naive she first appears with her fascination with everything Midgard.

She does use magic, which is appears green like her fathers, and also uses twin daggers like her father. Those are her main weapons, but she also inherited Loki's ability to shape-shift. Rather than being able to shape-shift into anyone or anything, Sigrid is primarily only able to shape-shift into a raven and, I'm thinking, a snake and maybe a wolf. She prefers her raven form out of those three though.

Her flat is kind of terrifying at first glance, because she has little religious shrines - one to her Uncle Thor, one to her father, and one to her mother - and while only really Thor's is received, having one for her parents is one of the ways she honors them.

Also I chose Daisy Ridley for her FC because I love her and adored the chemistry between Daisy and Oscar in the sequels-I-pretend-doesn't-exist and love Marc x Layla x Steven as an OT3 from the show (my social work background is telling me my preference for OT3+ is probably something i should examine further but uh that's not happening anytime soon if I can help it) and wanted to connect Moon Knight to the larger MCU so Sigrid was born.

I'll probably reblog this post at a later date with other facts (or might just make a separate post info-dumping on her)

ALSO I'M SO MAD AT MYSELF I DIDN'T SAVE THE SECOND GIF IN A BASE BEFORE ADDING THE COLORING SO I HAVE A GIF I LOVE WITH A COLORING I DESPISE NOW AHHHHH AND I REALLY DON'T WANT TO GO THROUGH THE HOURS TO REMAKE A SHITTY REMAKE OF IT KILL MEEE.

#answered #oc: sigrid lokidottir #fic: gods & monsters #ship: sigrid x steven x marc x layla #raven tag