#at least when they’re just on their own and not actively following the orders of grown-ass lunatics

[bubbieboy]

i don’t know if this is a hot take or not but the rr/b skew more neutral than evil to me

#at least when they’re just on their own and not actively following the orders of grown-ass lunatics #they could objectively be doing worse #but the way they’re written they’re just really obviously kids with no actual guidance trying to have fun #the most actively evil thing they’ve done is pay lip service to destroying the power/puff girls sometimes #and then just never really. attempt it? #and i’m comparing this to the ppnkg who actually Are evil #arguably Also because of the way they’re raised but still #their actions lean more actively dangerously malicious than an annoying child with powers spiting you because you happened to buy a soda #all of this to say i just don’t buy when people refer to them as irredeemable or naturally immoral or anything #i think they’re naturally *mischevious* but as far as them maturing/the possibility of being rehabilitated #realistically they could truly go either way #this isn’t really a response to any particular takes i’ve seen though i’m just rambling #bubble journal #i know a lot of people don’t like that about them and want them to be more threatening #i personally like it a lot though i mean it’s definitely how I would’ve written characters like them i think #and i think making them shittier would just turn them into full ppnkg clones #and it would also make less sense for the girls to even let them keep living if they were full-on horrible constantly #like . kill them!?!?!!?!?!? are you nuts!!!?!!!!!!?!? #that’s like an av3ngers level threat you’re letting run around town

[ghcstao3]

Obsessing over the last two vampire Soap and humon ghost posts u made so I am humbling asking for any more hcs/ideas u may have for it :> (if u want to ofc)

there’ll probably be one more part after this just to have a conclusion :)

-

(part 2)

It happens… about as dramatically as Price had expected.

Which is to say, hardly at all.

He’d almost feel frustrated if he didn’t pity both Ghost and Soap as much as he does.

Ghost had come to not long after Soap’s rescue, once Med-evac had arrived and he’d been hooked up to an IV. He’s groggy for a while, sure, but Price can tell he remembers what happened—he doesn’t need a hint, when he can see the longing looks Ghost gives Soap, who had to be chained up like a prisoner in order to keep things civil.

It takes Soap two days to snap out of the hunger-induced stupor. And within them, he does nothing but hiss and attempt to bite, nothing at all like the sergeant Price knows.

And when the vampire does return to Soap, an immense guilt etches into his face once informed of what had led them to this moment. Of what led them to keeping Soap bound and under close observation until he could finally be trusted again. It pains Price to see.

But what pains him more is the clear avoidance of both parties in the days following the incident. Ghost just about takes to his namesake, and Soap uses his superhuman senses to make sure there isn’t a chance they’re ever in the same room to begin with. Price has never seen Soap so quiet.

And he’s unfortunately all too aware the two would keep it this way forever if it came down to it.

Thankfully, Price knows better than to let that happen when Soap appears in his office asking to transfer units.

“I’m a danger to the team,” Soap says, head hung. He wrings his fingers tight enough for his knuckles to go white. “I cannae be trusted. I cannae—“

Price clears his throat to see an end to this spiral before it has the chance to begin. Soap’s mouth snaps shut. He squeezes his fingers tighter.

“Tell me, John,” Price says slowly, calmly. He feels only a little better about everything, seeing Soap visibly relax at the use of his name. “Has this ever happened before?���

Soap swallows. He finally looks up at Price, a sort of hollowness sitting beneath his eyes that the captain doesn’t think looks quite right. Price almost misses the minute shake of his head.

“And do you think, given the circumstances, this was your fault?”

The sergeant hesitates, this time. It’s only to be expected he blames himself, Price thinks, as much as evidence points to it not being his own mistake.

Price sighs. “Have you at least talked to Simon?”

Soap’s eyes widen. Price could’ve already guessed the answer to be no.

“I—he hates me,” Soap mutters. “I—“

“Did he tell you that himself?”

Silence rings through the office. Only the distant buzz of activity outside can be heard as the question cuts through Soap.

Soap’s arms fall limply to his sides. “No, he didn’t.”

Price folds his hands over his desk and its mess of paperwork, leaning back in his chair with the sense of a small victory.

“Then go speak to him before trying to jump ship,” Price advises. “I’m sure you know where to find him.”

Soap offers a stilted nod before turning on his heel and moving toward the door. He lingers a moment with his hand frozen on the doorknob like he means to add something, but ultimately decides against it, pushing out into the hall.

Once the door is closed again, Price deflates in his seat.

Sometimes he has to wonder if he’s really working with the best men the SAS has to offer.

(part 4)

#ask #simon ghost riley #john soap mactavish #captain john price #writing #vampire!soap

[tgmsunmontue]

You need to learn how to fall 10/10

Hangster (and IceMav) - Bradley is too tall to be a naval aviator and instead becomes a sky diver, specialising in spin recovery. He is a civilian contractor to the military to teach pilots how to survive parachute spins from ejections. A more in-depth version of this post.

PROLOGUE 2003-2006 2007-2010 2011-2015 2016+ ~2019 ~2019 (contd 1) ~2019 (contd 2) ~2019 (contd 3)

                He can’t get back to sleep. Doesn’t want to be alone despite having declined to join Ice in dropping Mav off, letting them have their time together after Bradley had hugged Mav and told him he loved him, but also refusing to say goodbye. Today is just going to suck all round. He walks around his space aimlessly, not sure what to do, worry already nibbling away at his insides. Fuck. This is awful. He decides to busy his hands, baking the cookies will give him something to do, and Ice will appreciate them if nothing else. He works in Mav and Ice’s kitchen, wants Ice to come back to someone.

                Sure enough he returns not long before five, obviously not wanting to hang around and make a fuss about the COMPACFLT being there to see the entire detachment off. They don’t talk, both unwilling to voice their worst fears, not wanting to give them any credibility despite both of them being very pragmatic. He removes the cookies, places them on cooling racks and then makes breakfast, simple scrambled eggs on toast with sliced tomatoes on the side, seeps the weird peppermint and lemon tea that Ice favors and sets it on the table.

                They eat in silence, and he realizes he’s not going to be able to do any jumps until he knows, either way. Three, maybe four days, where he won’t be able to focus on his own safety and while he could force the issue, he doesn’t need to, wants to be allowed to worry, even if it’s all outside of his control. Ice’s thumb is twitching, one of his very few tells and Bradley says nothing, is sure he has silent tells of his own that Ice is clocking right this second.

                “Fuck this…” Ice says, pushing his chair back from the table so hard it screeches against the hardwood floor and he looks up.

                “What?”

                “He left wearing his wedding ring. He’s never done that before. I’m going to be on the carrier. I can’t… I need to be there.”

                “Oh. Okay…” he says, his stomach plummeting, because he doesn’t want to be left alone, the one having to wait, wondering what’s going on. The next forty-eight hours are going to be hell regardless of where he is, but he’d at least been thinking he’d have Ice there to be with him.

                “You want to come with me?”

                “You can do that?”

                “Watch me,” Ice says with grim determination and he’s reaching for his phone.

                Bradley forgets sometimes just how powerful and stubborn Ice is, but he runs and packs a quick bag, enough for three days. Small and compact with the bare minimum considering he’s probably going to be in a rack if he’s unlucky. Maybe an officer’s quarters if there’s one spare, even if he’s sharing with Ice it’s better than staying here alone. …             …             …

                It’s a flurry of activity then, they’re several hours behind even with the powers that be moving mountains in order to get Ice and him to the carrier. They hop from one carrier to another and he has no idea what time or day of the week it is anymore when he steps off after Ice onto the carrier, following him directly into the control room. He recognizes both Admiral Bates and Simpson, nods tightly and neither man look happy at his presence. Bradley knows Ice doesn’t throw his rank around very often, knows that this is an exceptional case that he’s made so that Bradley can be here. There are not many people who can discipline him at this stage, however Ice does respect the word of those under his command.

                “Admiral Kazansky sir. You brought a civilian on board?”

                “I brought my son, who is a private contractor with the US Navy and knows full well how to be safe onboard a carrier. He grew up around carriers. He is neither a child nor an idiot.”

                “Yes sir.”

                “We are not here to interrupt anything, it looks like they’re already suited up. No need to let them know we’re here. They need to have all their attention on the mission ahead of them.”

                That announcement seems to make both the other Admirals relax, and Bradley agrees with him, but as he watches the jets catapult from the ship and listen to them take attack formation he wonders if he’s made the right choice being here.

                When he hears Warlock number off the miracles he swallows, feels the tension in the room and tries to make himself invisible.

                Mav’s plane goes down.

                He grips Ice’s hand, neither of them saying anything.

                He can hear his teeth squeaking as he clenches his jaw tightly.

                Hondo reaches out and silently grips his forearm and Bradley nods his gratitude, although he can’t bring himself to say anything.

                .

                Then Dagger two, Jake, disobeys the order to return and Bradley sways, closes his eyes against the pitch of his body as it moves against the motion of the carrier.

                .

                “Jake you fucking idiot…” he mutters under his breath, and he leans back into the corner where he’s as out of the way as possible.

                .

                “Dagger two is hit.”

                .

                Ice is there then, expression grim, and he wonders whether it is actually better, knowing immediately or having another day thinking, hoping, that Jake and Mav would both be back safe and sound.

                .

                .

                Time drags slowly.

                .

                .

                .

                The other jets return.

                .

                .

                .

                He’s forced to the ground and realizes he might be going into shock, refuses the food and drink, knows his body will reject anything he tries to eat. Says as much to Ice when someone else tries to insist he eat something.

                .

                .

                .

                Then he hears them say they’re receiving a signal from an ESAT and Hangman is Jake.

                .

                .

                Jake.

                .

                .

                He’s airborne.

                In an F14.

                .

                Maverick and Jake.

                .

                The time that was dragging now speeds up.

                There’s an uptick of sudden activity, Hondo disappears and Bradley forces himself to standing, shoves himself as hard as he can back into the corner, hunches down and tries to stay out of the way. Ice is tense and pale, but hasn’t moved from standing between Warlock and Cyclone. Another jet takes off and he swallows, listens mindlessly to the chatter in the control room but then Ice is grabbing him, steering him out and he lets him, realizes they’re headed toward the control tower and he sucks in lungful’s of stinging cold fresh air. He has hope.

                He doesn’t pay attention to what is happening, simply pays attention to Ice and the feel of the room. There’s still tension, but there’s something else now, layered with the hope he’s been slowly let build. Then there is another jet landing and then he feels the entire tower vibrate and he winces and flinches away from the vibrating windows.

                “What the fuck was that?!”

                “That was Maverick…” Cyclone says, face unimpressed.

                “Buzzing the tower,” Ice adds, and Bradley can tell he’s hiding his amusement.

                “Oh, so he’s still a dick huh?”

                Ice and Cyclone both snort and roll their eyes, but Warlock shoots him a grin and Bradley feels the relief bubble up through him. If Maverick is pulling dumb stunts he’s alive and well. Thank god. Then he hears Mav’s voice come through loud and clear…

                “Maverick is downwind. No front landing gear. No tail hook. Pull the cable and raise the barricade.”

                He hears the call for foul deck and Bradley knows that that means it’s going to be a crash landing. Lots of fancy words for a crash landing. But it also means that they’re landing and you can walk away from a crash, especially one everyone is preparing for.

                “Miracle number three…” Warlock murmurs quietly as they all watch as the F14 slides across the deck before it’s caught by the huge net barricade.

                It is chaos down there, he’s not stupid enough to think he can walk around down there, just soaks up the sheer relief and joy that no one has died today. Miracle three indeed. He doesn’t even think, is automatically following Ice as he steps out onto the balcony on the tower, and he can see the deck crew and Daggers celebrating, Jake’s grin wide and looking so fucking good Bradley feels choked up with the knowledge that he came so close to never seeing it again. Then Mav has seen them, is pushing through the crowd of people and heading right for them.

…             …             …

                “Is that… Admiral Kazansky?”

                “What? Where?” Jake asks, his head feeling slightly wobbly as he tries to turn too quickly, and he’s going to have to be checked over, normal even when everything goes according to plan. Throw in an ejection, crash landing, he’s pretty sure he has a concussion.

                “Up there on the tower… holy shit, is that Bradley with him?” Javy asks, and he’s shifting them closer despite the press of bodies and Jake lets him, squints against the glare, tries to see what Javy is looking at, and his head is starting to swim. He remembers something about wanting to see Javy when he realized who Bradley’s other parent was but he can’t focus on that right now.

                “Bradley? My Bradley?”

                “Yeah, your Bradley. Wait. Mav is kissing Kazansky. What the fuck.”

                “Oh yeah… scary in-laws.”

                “What? Jake?” Javy asks, and his voice sounds more concerned than anything.

                “I want to see Bradley.”

                “Anything you want buddy, come on.”

                There’s more moving, and he’s sure the carrier isn’t pitching as much as his stomach would imply and he’s coming down from the adrenaline rush, concussion kicking in, body and ribs protesting, but then he’s staring up at Bradley, and it’s definitely Bradley. No one else is that fucking tall. He feels Javy pushing him up the ladder and he climbs, grips the railing at the top and just stares.

                “You’re here…”

                “Yeah well, Ice asked if I wanted to come along and it’s not like I could sit around at home twiddling my thumbs.”

                “Well, I’m alive.”

                “Yeah, you are. Thank fuck. Worst hour of my life.”

                “Can’t say I’d want to repeat it, but I’m a fan of the outcome…”

                “So am I Lieutenant,” Admiral Kazansky says and Jake nods.

                “Maverick! Hangman! Medical!” Simpson barks.

                “I’ll take them,” Javy says, and Jake is glad because he’s pretty sure he’s getting close to needing to throw up and he’d rather not do it in front of Bradley. Or Iceman. Or any of the other Admiral’s watching to be honest.

                “Don’t go anywhere. Not until I’m cleared.”

                “I have to go wherever Ice goes, they’re not going to give me free reign.”

                “Okay, I’ll come find you. Love you.”

                He slides down the ladder, only stumbling a little before what he just said registers and he looks back up, almost doesn’t move fast enough before Javy is landing beside him, followed by Mav.

                “I…”

                “Yep. You just said that. Let’s get you to medical.”

…             …             …

                Fortunately Ice wants to follow them to medical, so Bradley takes the high-vis vest and pulls it on and doesn’t even roll his eyes. He’ll do whatever It takes to be near Jake, because he’s pretty sure he’s at least got a concussion, however that’s incredibly low stakes considering that death had been a potential outcome, and he’s still feeling shaky from the relief of that not becoming his reality. He follows Ice closely, having to walk at a crouch the whole fucking time and no wonder the Navy have a fucking height restriction, wherever he looks there’s something else about to knock him out.

                They reach the sick bay and Javy Machado is just coming out, pulls him in for a surprising hug and back slap and Bradley can’t help but return it, knowing now that Javy had been in the plane that went and saved Mav and Jake from being shot down.

                “Thank you…” Bradley says quietly, sincerely, and of course Javy just shrugs it off.

                “Just doing my job. Had a vested interest. He’s my best friend.”

                “I know. Don’t care, just… thank you.”

                “He’s a persistent mother-fucker. Loyal too.”

                “Yeah, yeah he is,” Bradley says, and he’s closer to tears now, the relief and shock finally hitting him and he sucks in a deep breath.

                “Thank you Lieutenant. I am rather fond of my husband too,” Ice says, and Javy’s mouth falls open minutely before snapping shut and Bradley’s glad for the distraction.

                “Of course sir. Any time.”

                “Maybe don’t throw him anywhere while he recovers from today, hmm?”

                “Oh my god… of course not sir.”

                “It’s fine, I’m sure he deserved it. He usually does.”

                Javy looks like a deer in headlights, looks to Bradley and this is more like how he expected Jake to react, instead of the cool calm acceptance he’d exhibited.

                “You’re fine, go celebrate with the others. Ice, stop terrorizing people,” Bradley mutters, slapping Ice on the chest before ducking into the sick bay. Mav is sitting on the edge of a bed, feet swinging and chatting away. He’s bare chested and Bradley can see redness where the harness has pressed, what will later bruise, but he looks fine and Bradley suspects he’s still high on adrenaline.

                “Tom! Bradley!” Mav exclaims, clearly happy to see them again.

                “Admiral Kazansky, uh, can I help you sir?” the Corpsman asks, and Bradley wonders how much more weight Ice is going to throw around.

                “I’m here to see my husband. That one,” Ice says, pointing to Mav. “Bradley here is our son, but is also dating that one…” Ice says, this time pointing to Jake who is being examined by another Corpsman on another bed, but who is now blinking, face scrunched up as a light is flicked in and out of his eyes and Bradley can see the failure to dilate from where he stands. No ones told him to leave, clearly assuming that he might be on Jake’s papers and has permission, and he’s not going to correct them, gives Mav a quick hug before sidling close to Jake, making sure to stay out of the way as the Corpsman moves around.

                “Hi again…”

                “Hi. You’re here…”

                “Yep. Sure am,” Bradley repeats, and he’s not sure if it’s the concussion or whether Jake just can’t get his head around the fact that Bradley’s actually here.

                “I told you I loved you…”

                “Yeah, you did.”

                “I’m not taking it back,” Jake says, defiantly, like Bradley would ever make him. The firm tone of his voice is pretty much ruined by the fact that he’s got his eyes closed, face and neck covered in abrasions and he’s being asked to remove his flight suit, which he starts to do without opening his eyes. Bradley steps forward and murmurs that he’ll help under his breath, feels Jake sag a little.

                “Glad to hear it. Makes it less awkward for me to say it back.”

                “You love me?”

                “Yeah. That okay?”

                “More than okay. My head hurts…”

                “Yeah, pretty sure you’ve got a concussion,” Bradley says, looking to the Corpsman who gives him a sharp nod of confirmation.

                “That tracks. Man I want to sleep.”

                “I need to finish checking you for internal bleeding and any fractures.”

                “Let them do their job. I’ll be right here. Not going anywhere.”

                “Good. Neither am I.”

---THE END---

#Top Gun fanfic #Hangster #you need to learn how to fall #IceMav #Sereshaw

[jeannereames]

Your top 5 Alexander the Great moments?

Top Five Alexander Moments

One issue with answering this is to figure out what events actually happened, especially when it comes to anecdotes! Here are four I find either significant to understanding his charisma and/or which explain how he functioned and why he was successful, plus one I like just because I’m a horse girl.

1) To my mind, the event that best illustrates why his men followed him to the edge of their known world occurred in the Gedrosian Desert. While I’m a bit dubious that this trek was as bad as it’s made out to be (reasons exist for exaggerating), it was still baaaad. One story relates that some of his men found some brackish water in a sad little excuse for a spring, gathered it in a helm, and brought it to him. Given his poor physical condition after the Malian siege wound, he no doubt needed it badly. He thanked them (most sincerely), then carried it out where all (or at least a lot) of his men could see, raised it overhead, and announced that until all of them could drink, he wouldn’t. Then he poured it onto the rocky ground.

That gesture exemplified his charisma. And it absolutely is not something the likes of a Donald tRump could even imagine doing—nor most dictators, tbh. They’d be blaming everybody else and calling for heads while drinking Diet Coke, not suffering alongside their people.

This wasn’t an isolated event of that type. While he almost certainly didn’t have time to engage along with his soldiers in every project, we’re told he would drop in from time-to-time, to inspire them and to offer a little friendly competition.

He also dressed like his men for everyday activities, especially early in the campaign. As time went on, some sources say he inserted more distance—probably necessary as his duties exploded—but he still seems to have found time to “just hang out” with his Macedonians on occasion. The claims that he was too high and mighty to do so appears to have been exaggeration (as such accusations often are) in order to forward a narrative that he was “going Asian.” Troop resentment over court changes was very genuine—I don’t want to underplay it (especially as I’ve written about it in a few chapters in this), but it tended to boil up during certain periods/events, then die back again. Alexander was trying to walk a very fine line of incorporating the conquered while not ticking off his own people.

2) Reportedly, he once threw a man out of line because he hadn’t bothered to secure the chin strap on his helm. I pick this one because it tells me a whole lot about how he saw himself as a commander, and what he expected of his men (and why he tended to consistently win).

On the surface, his reaction seems almost petty. It’s precisely the sort of mistake students whine about when professors ding them for it. It’s just a chin strap! I’d have tightened it before I went into battle! (It’s just a few typos; you knew what I meant! Or, Why does everything in the bibliography have to be exactly matching in style? Who cares? What a stupid thing to obsess about!) These objections are all of a piece. First, they’re lazy, and second, they indicate a disconcern with details. In battle, such disconcern can get a person killed. And on a larger scale, for a general, such disconcern loses battles.

One of the striking aspects of Alexander’s military operations was just how well his logistics worked. Consistently. We hear little about them precisely because they rarely fail. Food and water was there when they needed it, as were arrow replacements, wood to repair the spears, wool and leather for clothes and shoes, canvas for tents, etc., etc. All those little niggling (boring) details. If these are missing, soldiers become upset (and don’t fight well). Starting with Philip, the Macedonian military was a well-oiled machine. That’s WHY Gedrosia was such a shock: the logistics collapsed. Contra some historians, he did not do it to “punish” his men, nor to best Cyrus.* He had a sound reason—to scout a trade route.

Alexander understood that details matter. It starts with a loose chinstrap. (Or an unplanned-for storm and rebellion in his rear.) Everything else can unravel from that.

3) Alexander sends Hephaistion a little dish of small fish (probably smelts). He also helps an officer secure the lady of his dreams. And writes another on assignment (away from the army) that a mutual friend is recovering from an illness. While technically three “moments,” these are all of a piece. Alexander knows his men, and is concerned not only for their physical well-being, but also their mental state: that they’re happy. Granted, these are all elite officers, but it suggests he’s paying attention to people. I’ve always assumed he sent Hephaistion the fish because they were his friend’s favorite, and/or they were a special treat and he wanted to share. That he didn’t punish an officer for going AWOL to chase the mistress he wanted but offered advice, and even assistance, on how to court and secure her suggests the same care.

I don’t want to take away from what appears to be his serious anger management problems(!), but little details like those above strike me as the likeable side of Alexander—why his men were so devoted to him.

4) Then we have the encounter with Timokleia after the siege of Thebes. While probably a bit too precious to have occurred exactly as related, I think it may still hold a kernel of truth.

Alexander had a reputation of chivalry towards his (highborn) female captives. If some of that was likely either propaganda from his own time or philhellenic whitewashing later by Second Sophistic authors such as Plutarch (and Arrian), poor treatment of women is not something we hear attributed to him.

Ergo, while the meeting was probably doctored for a moral tail, he may well have freed Timokleia as an act of clemency to put a better face on a shocking destruction he knew wouldn’t sit well with the rest of Greece—who he both wanted to cow yet earn support from. (A difficult balancing act.) Also, if Timokleia hadn’t been high-born, she’d probably have been hauled off to one of the prisoner cages with little fanfare.

Nonetheless, I find his actions surprising given the casual misogyny of his era. If we can take the bare bones of the story as true, and it’s not all invented, Timokleia was raped as a matter of course during the sacking of Thebes, then managed to trick her rapist and kill him by pushing him down a well and dropping rocks on him. I assume this happened when his men weren’t there, but they found out soon enough and hauled her in front of Alexander to be punished for killing an officer. To the surprise of all, Alexander decided the man had earned it and freed Timokleia. One might be inclined to call this overly sentimental, but….

There’s a similar story that occurred much later in the Levant, when two of Parmenion’s men seduced/(raped?) the mistresses/wives of some mercenaries. Alexander instructed Parmenion to kill the Macedonians if they were found to be guilty.

In both cases, we have an affront against (respectable) women. In the latter case, Alexander was (no doubt) working to avoid conflict between hired soldiers and his own men, who—in typical Greek fashion—would have looked down on mercenaries as a matter of course. Some sort of conflict between Macedonians and Greek mercenaries up in Thrace had almost got Alexander’s father killed. Alexander saved him. No doubt that was on Alexander’s mind here.

Yet what both events illuminate is a willingness on Alexander’s part to punish his own men for affronts to honor/timē that involved women. Yes, this is clearly about discipline. But it also shows an unusual sensitivity to sex crimes in warfare: actions that would normally fall under the excuse of “boys will be boys” (especially when their blood is up).

I doubt he’d have felt the same about slaves or prostitutes; he was still a product of his time. Yet without overlooking his violence—sometimes extreme (the genocide of the Branchidai, for instance)—I find his reaction in these cases to be evidence of an atypical sympathy for women that I’d like to think isn’t wholly an invention of later Roman authors. And just might show the influence of his mother and sisters.

5) Last… the Boukephalas story…because who doesn’t love a good “a boy and his horse” tale? Obviously the Plutarchian version is tweaked to reflect that author’s later concern to contrast the Macedonian “barbarian” Philip with the properly Hellenized Alexander. Ignore the editorializing remarks, especially the “find a kingdom big enough for you” nonsense.

But the bare bones of the story seem likely: unmanageable horse, cocky kid, bet with dad, gotcha moment. You can imagine this was an anecdote Alexander retold a time or three, or twenty.

——

* His attempts to copy Cyrus may be imposition by later writers. In his own day, he may have cared more about the first Darius, for reasons Jenn Finn is going to explain in a forthcoming, very good article on the burning of Thebes and Persepolis.

#asks #Top Five Alexander the Great moments #Alexander the Great #Hephaistion #Hephaestion #Timoclea #Timoklea #Boukephalas #Bucephalas #Gedrosian Desert #ancient military logistics #Macedonian army #Alexander's logistics #Classics #ancient history #campaigns of Alexander the Great #tagamemnon

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 49 – Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Introduction

I forget who initially recommended me this book, but I owe them an incredible debt. Really the only disappointing thing is that I hadn’t heard of it even sooner, as this really is just perfectly tailored to appeal to me specifically. First science fiction/fantasy novel I can remember reading in a long time that I actively wished was longer. As a testament to how much I liked this book – this review is long enough to need subheadings.

So! Some Desperate Glory is a space opera, following Kyr (Valkyr, technically), a 17-year-old cadet and genetically enhanced ‘warbreed’ golden girl of Gaea Station – that being the quasi-fascist statelet of militant dead-enders who fled to a desolate planetoid in a dead system to continue the war after aliens destroyed the earth/most of humanity. After she gets assigned to Nursery (read: breeding the next generation of soldiers) instead of a combat wing and has a crisis of faith, she talks herself into running away to help her brother on the suicide mission terrorist attack he was deployed on. With the help of one of her brother’s friends and a captured alien, she manages it, discovers that her brother had absolutely no intention of actually following orders once he’d made it out, and take it upon herself to do her own, better, terrorism. From there the plot gets weird, and I’m going to spoil it shamelessly talking about it, but if you value surprises when reading at all just stop this review and go read it.

The Heroine

Kyr is, and I say this lovingly, the most insufferable bitch of a 17-year-old military brat I’ve ever spent time in the head of (at least at first). Even compared to the other indoctrinated child soldiers she’s the cop nobody likes. She then spends the first third to half of the book unlearning this indoctrination, by which I mean very arduously and painfully reaching a point of ‘the fascist cult was a corruption and black mark on the good name of the death cult vengeful crusade, I’ll do it better’ and ‘it’s probably okay to not, like, personally hate aliens who were too young to have been alive when the earth was destroyed. Torturing them for no reason is wrong, like abusing animals was, back when there were animals’. She spends the entire book expecting on a bone-deep level to get herself killed for the cause, and at the end of the book is only like 10% of the way better (one of the last beats in the entire story is, standing with one of her only friends and sure they’re both about to run out of life support, offering to snap their neck for them because ‘asphyxiation’s a nasty way to go’). Whenever she is confronted with the idea that some people aren’t constantly aware of the possibility of physical violence or get to live their lives as something other than a bullet in the gun seeking vengeance for a dead planet she wants to scream and smash things at the unfairness of it all. I adore her.

Honestly my only real complaint is how quickly she starts mellowing out in the second and third acts of the story. There’s extenuating circumstances (whole extra life of memories, time loop bullshit, forcibly confronted with what she said she wanted and what it looks like, etc), but past the one real big hump it did rather feel like her character development suddenly became a bit smooth and easy/. This is one of the things I’m talking about when I say I wish the book was longer – everything after the first big climax and the time travel/universe editing felt kind of rushed and abbreviated.

As far as being a #problematic fave goes, Kyr was also very carefully kept from being, like, directly personally culpable for anything really unforgivable. Which I do understand why from a wanting people to sympathize with the racist homophobic fascist child soldier, but like – you’ve already introduced time travel and retroactivity. C’mon, don’t get cold feet now. Let her and Avi really share the ‘killed trillions in a universe that retroactively never happened’ credit.

Also, and entirely tangentially – you know how in a lot of action shows, the hero has incredibly emotionally tense rivalries and/or camaraderie with other guys, and then also an extremely conventionally feminine girlfriend off to the side somewhere who does like two things in the entire story and mostly seems to exist to prove he’s straight? Kyr has that, except she is textually gay (if incredibly repressed about it and like 90% of the way to asexual in terms of libido). Sorry Lis, but you are literally barely a character. Cleo’s right there, and already has a personality that’s more than two bullet points and is actually involved in the plot in ways beyond ‘love interest’.

Gaea Station

The shitty fascist asteroid habitat that Kyr grew up on is (if barely) the primary setting of the story, and as far as portrayals of incredibly unbalanced and fundamentally broken society just full of cultlike and ultranationalist neuross. I kind of love it as a dystopian setting, though I feel like the author kind of over-egged the pudding on it by the end of the book.

Society is organized into what feels like an intentional parody of a lot of YA dystopia setups, where you live in a tightly integrated mess all through adolescence (each with their own heraldic animal to idenity with!) but then at 17 your exams determine the branch of society you will be assigned to for the rest of your life to do your duty for humanity. Of course, unlike most YA dystopias, the System isn’t the result of some leviathan-state ruling the fates of millions or a tradition that’s going back generations upon generations – it’s a ramshackle mess that can barely consistently feed its warrior elites enough protein slop to take advantage of their genetically engineered hormone levels for muscle growth. It’s all so clearly and intentionally artificial and fake that it loops around to feeling extremely realistic.

Also do love how the elder generation all have names like Joel or Ursa or Elena, while the younger generation are all Valkyr and Magnus and Avicenna and Zenobia. The only really surprising thing is that they don’t specifically call out how children are raised in common and without individual families as following Plato’s Republic – it’s exactly the sort of attempt to create a grand unifying mythology for all of Earth’s true and vengeful children.

I really do wish Tesh had trusted the reader a bit more about it, though. Like, we can tell that almost all the names of the younger generation are either historical figures form the Mediterranean/Greco-Roman world or Norse mythology (with a few exceptions like Avicenna who fit the general aesthetic if not those exact conditions), which puts a bit of a lie to the whole ‘pan-human’ bit. It’s a clever bit of characterization through worldbuilding! You don’t need to call it out twice in dialogue between characters and then again in an in-universe scholarly essay excerpt at the start of a chapter. I can’t complain too badly though, she’s really not even close to being the worst for that I’ve read recently.

One thing I did like especially because I don’t think it was ever called out and brought front and centre is just the sort of, like, perfect irony of both Kyr and her brother Magnus – ‘warbreed’ engineered supersoldiers with physical capabilities beyond any baseline human, blonde aryan ubermensch, the golden children and eugenic future of Gaea Station/true humanity – both being queer and totally unsuited to their assigned gender roles. If it was, like, specifically brought up in a big monologue as disproof of the Gaean ideology or something it’d feel much too on the nose, but as just a set of facts underlying the characterization of the protagonists I liked it quite a lot.

Trio Dynamics

They don’t actually have all that much pagecount spent together, now that I think about it, but as far as I’m concerned the absolute heart of the story is the dynamic between Kyr, Avi (Avicenna, genius-level hacker and cynical rat bastard discontented Gaea Station restaurant) and Yiso (young and rebellious Prince of the Wisdom, taken captive by Gaea when they’re personal ship came too close and then liberated/kidnapped by the other two in their escape attempt). It’s peak trauma-bonding in that the first time it involves a) Avi torturing Yiso to force the alien supercomputer to let him access it and b) Kyr shooting Avi in the head after he uses access to the supercomputer to wipe out 90% of galactic civilization as payback for the whole ‘destroyed Earth with an antimatter missile’ thing (she got a case of morals when confronted with what ‘winning’ would mean. Also her brother shooting himself.)

By all rights they should absolutely hate each other and after two temporal recursions and oceans of retroactively unspilled blood on all their hands they’re the only people who even slightly understand each other. At one point Kyr tells Yiso ‘just so you know, I don’t really care about you as a person,’ and then immideately thinks ‘that was a lie. Why did I say that?’ Avi and Kyr both deprogram themselves from the cult that raised them but only the ‘loyalty to the cult’ bits and not the ‘alien race war vengance death cult’ bits. Yiso meets Kyr in an atemporal training simulation and gets retroactive Stockholm syndrone even though the first time they actually meet she breaks their ribs for repressed teenager reasons. They all drive me absolutely insane and I absolutely adore them. Even if Avi’s redemption felt waaaaay too rushed and unjustified in the final recursion, willing to forgive it here.

Time Loops

The big twist of the story is that, having fucked up and enabled Avi taking vengeance for Earth by doing the same thing to every other alien species, Kyr jumps into the alien supercomputer time manipulation buisness wholesale and goes back to prevent the destruction of Earth. Which then fast forwards to her being a newly minted officer in the Terran Expeditionary Fleet that is the imperial power dominating the known galaxy in increasingly high-collateral damage ways as time goes on. Yiso, in this timeline the beating heart and soul of the main alien resistance group, seeks her out and restores her memories and they go back to try and hijack the alien supercomputer before the government office whose hijacked its crippled remnants (as helmed by the alternate-timeline version of Gaea Station’s great leader, now a fleet admiral of the ‘Providence’ division) manage to literally destroy the universe.

It is mostly down to all the fanfic I’ve read, but I really, really adore timeline divergences that ropagate out and leave all the major characters different but similar people in alien yet appropriate situations. I also adore time travel stories about someone turning the timeline into swiss cheese trying to brute force their way to the one and only golden ending. So I adore this whole conceit. Really my only complaint is that there were only two (one and a half, really) recursions. Not that I’m demanding a full groundhog day here. But, like, it’d have been nice. And Kyr/Avi/Yiso continuously bumping into each other in different configurations and usually ending up at gunpoint would have been ann absolutely amazing bit.

Space Orcs

I can’t be sure Tesh actually had any exposure to the whole online meme of ‘humans as space orcs’, but I do and it’s really impossible to read the book as anything but an examination of the idea. Compared to every alien species ever encountered, humans are tall, heavy, muscular, impulsive, and violent. In a one-on-one confrontation they’ll snap any other species’ neck. The very first pages of the book are an excerpt from an in-universe text writing for an aliens about how actually really humans are very intelligent, and then talking about how threat displays and ‘human culture’. In the original timeline they even fit into the usual social niche of orcs in a lot of fantasy these days – the scattered and diminished remnants of a brutal empire that was defeated and mostly-exterminated in their attempts to conquer the universe.

The book’s handling of this doesn’t really have a point, as far as I can tell – the worldbuilding’s sufficiently divorced from anything real that trying to call it a commentary on racism or genocide or conquering empires is a stretch. (It is after all a fundamental point of the book that the obliteration of earth and extermination of the vast majority of humanity really was the only way the Wisdom could prevent the Terran Federation from conquering the known galaxy. Which is I’m extremely sure not something the author intends to be a historical analogy.) I found it a fun bit of worldbuilding and interesting subversion of normal space opera tropes regarding humanity’s relative abilities, anyway.

Theodicy

Is an incredibly pretentious way to title this section, but also in a sense kind of the core of the book’s plot? In an interesting way, and I think it’s really the book’s greatest weakness that it doesn’t explore or grapple with it enough.

Which is to say – the Wisdom is at the heart of galactic civilization. It’s an alien AI with vague but vast (though limited) reality-warping and precognitive powers. It does not rule the civilizations that accept it, but guides them as a benevolent god towards best, happiest outcomes with whatever support they ask for or need. To determine what ‘best’ means, it creates its Princes, vat-grown heirs to the dead species that created it, with a lifespan of millenia spent going through simulations and interacting with the world to provide the data and decision-making it requires to make that sort of strategic decision.

The Terran Federation’s attempt to reverse-engineer or hijack the Wisdom put it in a situation where the only solution its princes could find was to destroy the better part of humanity and even more of their industry and culture. Through the plot of the first acts of the book, Kyr and her genius-level-hacker friend hijack a node of it and Kyr convinces/forces it to accept her decision-making instead of its prince (who they just killed). This results in an explicitly colonialist human empire ruling over aliens as oppressed subjects, and using the half-wrecked and poorly understood Wisdom to eliminate threats before they occur (shunting the reality backlash off to alien worlds they don’t care about). The next acts of the book mostly resolve around fixing or reverting this, and end with Kyr diving back into a node and having another conversation with it.

A conversation which is basically it giving up. It reverts things back to the human-genocide timeline, then shuts down its infrastructure and goes dark, leaving the entire mostly pacifistic and loosely governed galactic civilization it had protected suddenly on its own. Humanity were such assholes we found a loving god and then convinced it to kill itself.

Which, like, could 100% totally work. As far as high concept short story prompts go its incredible. But as far as actually driving the action goes the Wisdom is the one who makes the most important deciisons in the entire book, and determine the entire shape of the plot. For it to land, it really really needed more than two and a half short conversations on screen, at least to me.

TL:DR

Good book, lesbian doing space atrocities, should have been longer.

#book review #sff #some desperate glory #emily tesh #lesbian space atrocities #space opera

[natsmagi]

hello c:

Since you’re like, the only switch based account I actively follow, and I lowkey want to get to know the unit better since they’re slowly growing on me thanks to lantern on eng, do you have any switch stories/translations that could help me get to know them better? Unit events, character side stories etc! I hope this isnt too demanding of a request,,, thank you in advance !!

HII its no problem at all!! ideally u'd wanna read all the stories to get the fullest grasp, but ill let u know which ones i find to be most important aswell as some personal favs!

TO GET IT OUT OF THE WAY FIRST, here is a chronological order of all the switch stories along with their wiki link if u wanna read them in order of events! (note that some do not have wiki TL's (primarily some !! stories), and ull have to find them either on twitter or tumblr)

!-era

Element

Easter Night

Haunted Dollhouse

Sunshower Festa

Pleiades Night

Brilliant Star Air Force

Magical Halloween

Blood Banquet

Fortune Banquet

Wonder Game

!!-era (in order of release)

King of Thieves

Next Door

Magic Lantern

SHINSEKAI

Tri-Lights

Cruise

the stories i think are MOST crucial to read are Element, Pleiades Night and Wonder Game, these stories consist of their more critical story beats, BUT! i do HIGHLY recommend reading at least some other stories aswell before reading wonder game, as i feel the story hits harder when you have a clearer grasp on the characters and their relationships. but the choice is yours!

some personal favs are Sunshower Festa and Blood Banquet. theyre fun silly stories that feature the members relationships with the members of 2wink, undead, and shu! sora is also at center of these! i also really enjoy Haunted Dollhouse, which features valkyrie!

for character side stories, here are some that i enjoy!

Everyone Has Their Secrets (Tsumugi Idol Story featuring Kaoru) (THIS ONE IS SO FUNNY PELASE READ IT ITS JUST ONE CHAPTER)

Meikyoushisui (Natsume Gacha Story, very silly and fun)

Class Live (2A Event Story, very cute. has insane tsumugi cameo too. got tha yaoibait)

Date Plan (i fucking love date plan.)

i havent had alot of time nor energy to read that many stories outside of the main switch ones, so im sure there are more treasures that im just unaware of, so feel free to explore them yourself!

UMM THATS ALL I CAN THINK OF ATM!! again i do highly recommend reading as many stories as possible, but if you cant do that i hope i at least offered a good enough starting ground!! and feel free to read anything that catches your eye!! create your own fun little reading experience!! spread the switch love!!

*I FORGOT NEXT DOOR OOPS. ILL UPDATE THIS IF I REMEMBER OTHER STORIES TOO ALONG THE WAY

#ask #!-era stories work best for if you wanna actually Get To Know the characters though #so i do recommend those more than anything

[siriuslysatorusimping]

Rinko Kurisaki Profile - Part 4

Cursed Technique

Innate Technique: Duplication

Rinko’s innate technique allows her to use her cursed energy to create duplicates of herself and place them in any available space. The space must be big enough to accommodate her entire body easily, and it cannot be somewhere she doesn’t already have access to. For instance, she cannot use it to break into someone’s house. It must also be within a certain radius. When she was a teenager, her limited range was about 250 meters. As she’s gotten older, her max is 2 kilometers to create a duplicate.

A duplicate cannot move once created. It remains static, and she has to destroy it and create another in a different place in order to move them.

She can manifest the duplicates physically, or leave them hidden. She has learned to mask the energy so that they’re essentially impossible to find before she wants them to be seen. This was noted by Gojo in (Please) Prove Me Wrong.

Once a duplicate is created, she can use them for the following: teleport waypoints(swapping), decoys, scouting, communicating, and Last Stand.

Teleport Waypoints/Swapping

Using a duplicate as a waypoint has two primary requirements:

They must be within a certain radius (currently 750 meters)

Rinko must not be incapacitated or bound. If she is trapped or held down, she cannot swap with a duplicate. Just like she cannot use it to enter an area she wouldn’t already be able to enter.

Example: if she is, say, picked up by a Special Grade cursed spirit, if it closed its grasp on her, she would be trapped. Rinko was able to swap away before it closed its hand completely; otherwise, she likely would have been dead.

She cannot escape inescapable situations.

Decoys

Rinko can utilize a duplicate as a physically manifested decoy of her own movements. It can mimic her as she moves or stand in place. It cannot be controlled independently, it can only mimic her, or her double's, movements as she does them.

Decoys can be deployed two ways: a pre-existing duplicate, or at will.

Once a duplicate has been used as a decoy, it cannot be swapped with. And a decoy cannot be changed back to a duplicate.

(Any GAMERS here? You ever played Apex Legends? Think similar to Mirage)

Perfect Double

An almost perfect copy of Rinko made of pure cursed energy. It can be controlled independently from her own body, and she’s described it often as trying to play two video games with different controls when she controls it.

Rinko was unable to utilize this technique until her early twenties, but now, in her late twenties, she’s honed the technique to the point that while she’s fighting, even Gojo has a hard time telling the difference.

The double can communicate for Rinko by either mimicking her movements and speech or doing them independently. Rinko can use it to communicate while she stays silent.

However, while it’s almost impossible to tell while fighting, the double cannot match mannerisms and speech patterns. It will look a bit clunky and awkward when it walks or interacts with people. This is the easiest way to tell if the Rinko in front of you is her, or her double.

The double can use any weapon, just like Rinko can. However, it cannot be used to activate her other techniques.

Rinko’s Perfect Double cannot activate Last Stand.

Shadow Step

Creates echoes of Rinko, or her double’s movement to create a screen for her to hide. The cursed energy output is incredibly low in comparison to Rinko or her double; however, they serve as a distraction or chaff, similar to fly heads (like what Toji used against Gojo).

Simple Domain, Last Stand

A two-meter radius that allows Rinko to withstand attacks by dealing equivalent damage to her duplicates instead. Most effective against curse techniques, however, it can lessen the impact of physical attacks.

Additional duplicates cannot be created while Last Stand is active.

Requires at least one duplicate, or her double, to be active.

If the equivalent damage is more than existing duplicates and/or double can account for, Rinko will sustain the remaining damage. If the remaining equivalent damage is fatal, Rinko will sustain injuries that, if not treated in time, will result in her death. The time limit varies based on the severity of injuries.

Revision: After the incident during the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons on Dec. 24, 2017, when Toshido Touma was killed within the radius of Last Stand, Rinko began working toward using the Simple Domain technique to protect others within it.

As revealed during the Shibuya Incident on October 31st, 2018, Last Stand is able to completely negate incoming damage from physical and cursed technique attacks for anyone within the radius. However, this use expends extreme amounts of Rinko’s cursed energy and should truly be used as a last resort.

Domain Expansion: None Recorded

Revision: Following the events of the Shibuya Incident on October 31st, 2018, Kurisaki Rinko's domain expansion was realized.

Read entry

Cursed Energy Levels

At a base level, Rinko’s cursed energy levels are just above average.

*When aided by Iori Utahime’s cursed technique, her cursed energy levels can match Special Grade output.

Regeneration/Reverse Cursed Technique

As part of her Innate Technique, Rinko is able to use a variant of reverse cursed technique to regenerate her soul when the fragment in her Perfect Double is consumed or destroyed. Rinko was unaware of this ability until her late twenties.

This technique depletes Rinko’s cursed energy, rendering her completely unable to use her innate technique until her soul has fully regenerated.

After the Shibuya Incident, Rinko learned how to properly utilize reverse cursed technique from Tsukumo Yuki.

Cursed Weapons

Special Grade Cursed Stiletto Blades

Rinko began imbuing two stiletto blades with her cursed energy when she was sixteen. She started creating the cursed sheath when she was seventeen, which allowed her to carry them with her at all times conveniently. It’s also directly linked to the blades, meaning that they are meant to return after a certain amount of time.

After the incident at the 2018 Goodwill Event in Tokyo, the blades went missing and have not returned to their sheath.

Revision: The blades were returned by Gojo Satoru on Rinko's birthday later that year after he imbued them with Limitless as a sign of trust. Upon being infused with Limitless, the weapons gained the Special Grade classification.

Rinko's knives were used to kill Zenin Naoya and Ryomen Sukuna.

#rinko kurisaki profile #rinko kurisaki is a lil bean but also a lil shit but we love her so much #rinko kurisaki fanclub #rinko kurisaki aka my favorite oc i've ever written #rinko kurisaki

[malboraslihan]

serendipity. the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

mobile vers.

trigger warnings and disclaimer: the verse will mostly surround the death of a close friend as well as many triggering themes such as depression, illness and such. please beware of that before applying/reading the plot.

𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓 

           july 2016 marks the graduation of claudia madeira and her friends. the group of teenagers was known around the small town of harbor springs for their constant loud celebrations, rebellious ideas and even more, for having dreams that became too big for the city limits. it was a known fact, by their parents and anyone who could hear them daydreaming at the coffee shop, that they would leave town eventually. or at the very least, they would try to. so when the time came, the night after graduation, they followed their own paths and promised to never forget the memories they created in that small magical town from connecticut. 

            seven years later, things haven’t been good, for anyone. those who left, somehow ended up sucked back into town; by a relative who became ill, after losing their perfect job one day, after a break up completely broke them down.. the reasons are endless. and, of course, there are always those who never managed to escape, whose dreams were tucked into under their bed and plans stayed as just that, plans. 

            mrs. dolevan said it best, the town shifted the day the last one of them stepped foot into town. something was in the air, things weren’t working as well as they once did anymore. the town had grown old, there was no big group of teenagers running around and celebrating the life they were about to have. most kids had ended up finishing high school in the neighboring town, which made their parents move down there eventually. harbor springs was now a ghost town. with only the memories and echoes, family they left behind and childhood rooms that still held pictures of people they haven’t seen in years. 

            and claudia, of course. holding the promise she made to never leave harbor springs, and hiding the truth of her autoimmune disease from her best friends as they toasted to the last night together. she held the fort and kept their memory alive. and then, she saw each and every single one of them crawl back into town. 

              the doctors said it was bound to happen any day, the gossipers said she couldn’t handle another day of living with the fact they had all failed.

summary: a skeleton discord group verse based on the life of teenagers that were born in a very small town called harbor springs and grew up close experiencing traumatic things together but promised to get out of town (or at least try) once they graduated high school. seven years later, they’re all back to town for different reasons and one week after the last one of them arrives, claudia madeira, class president and their valedictorian, passes away from unknown reasons, causing them all to sit in a room together for her funeral. check out the pinterest board.

𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒

1. your usual rp etiquette: no god modding, try to interact and plot with everyone. please, no ooc drama and if there’s any issues contact me or leesh privately so we can handle it directly.

2. muns and fcs must be over 21, the age range for muses is 25-27. no problematic fcs, the usual banned: no dead fcs, minors, people who have stated before they don’t want to be used in rps, all that jazz. i also reserve the right to deny any fc that makes me or anyone else uncomfortable.

3. please don’t join if you’re not planning on being active. i understand school, college, work and all that can get in the way and that this is only a hobby but in order for a group to work people must be present at least once or twice in the day or a few hours a week.

4. this won’t be first come first serve, each mun can apply for ONE MUSE. i know there’s no way i can know for sure so this is basically based on trust and a suggestion but i’d love if we could bring new/undeveloped muses to the verse. the plot is heavy on development and in character building to i feel muses that haven’t been completely fleshed yet would benefit more from this setting. 

𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐒

the allegiant.  the black sheep. considered the disgrace of a family or group. the insurgent. rebels, stirs up conflict, goes against the norms. the facade. someone who hides behind a mask. the connard. the fallen angel. someone who fell from a high point in their life. the lothario. / the vixen. the luminary. the leader the icarian. spontaneous and adventurous; a free spirit. the pristine. pure, innocent, unspoiled, uncorrupted.

(you can find inspo posts for each label on the pinterest board.)

𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

if they left town: ( faceclaim, age, gender, pronouns ) can you honestly believe FIRST LAST NAME is back in town? they’re probably around AGE IN LETTERS now and i think they became a OCCUPATION. god, it was only a few years ago they were screaming about how they would PLANS ONCE THEY LEFT TOWN, right? i don’t know what changed but i heard some rumors that REASON THEY CAME BACK. either way, we should all be glad we got our local LABEL back on our streets, who knows what they’ll do next. ( alias, url, tmz, age )

if they stayed in town: ( faceclaim, age, gender, pronouns ) can you honestly believe FIRST LAST NAME never left town? they’re probably around AGE IN LETTERS now and i think they became a OCCUPATION. god, it was only a few years ago they were screaming about how they would PLANS ONCE THEY LEFT TOWN, right? i don’t know what changed but i heard some rumors that REASON WHY THEY DIDN’T LEAVE. either way, we should all be glad we got our local LABEL on our streets, who knows what they’ll do next. ( alias, url, tmz, age )

the app can be sent through my submit and while it’s not mandatory, i’d love if you could attach a pinterest board or a small paragraph about your muse or how they relate to their label. nothing fancy, no need to write a full on bio, just a bit more info if possible! 

𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍

the allegiant: omar apollo (barbie) the black sheep: steph mandich (adri) the insurgent: nico haraga (amanda) the facade: rish shah (jana) the connard: sophie thatcher (ron) the fallen angel: teresa seco (lina) the vixen: jamilla strand (leesh) the luminary: drew starkey (bee) the icarian: ange jose (marie) the pristine: sabrina carpenter (ivy) 

+ camila morrone (kate) and michael cimino (dj)

#tw death #okay friends it's happening <3 #honestly let me known if you have any questions but #my idea is just a very chill group focusing on development and world building #lots of plotting and creating our muse's backstories together.. #okay i'm hyped i'll start rambling #discord rp

[nightsofreylo]

You forgot a little detail of the boar in your analysis, they scream like children!

I’m not good enough to catch everything, and even if I were, I’d need a whole separate analysis just for Rhaenyra’s views on pregnancy and children, which are deeply inconsistent at this point in the story.

In this episode (1x03), Rhaenyra’s father asks her to join him in the hunt, an activity traditionally reserved for men, but in which he tries to include her anyway.

Rhaenyra refuses the invitation, likely because she suspects it is not genuine. She thinks her father has only invited her in order to make peace in his household, not because he intends to uphold her position as his heir. In fact, in this same conversation, Viserys mentioned that he wants Rhaenyra to make him a grandfather, so she is already on guard (not to mention the hunt itself is a celebration of her half-brother who could challenge her position as heir).

So at this point, Rhaenyra fully expects to be married off to someone beneath her and displaced as the heir to her father’s kingdom. She flatly rejects what she considers an insincere offer from her father with a very pointed statement: “Boars squeal like children when they’re being slaughtered. I find it discomforting.”

What is interesting about this statement is that it is partially directed towards her father (I don’t want to be a wife or mother; I want to be a ruler), and partially towards Alicent (You may be Queen, but at least I don’t have to follow my husband’s orders or deal with his crying children).

Rhaenyra’s attitudes towards wifehood and motherhood are very interesting, precisely because they are so murky and conflicted. On the one hand, with her father and his wife in earshot, she openly claims to be “discomforted” by children and rejects matches with men who would strip her of her power and sequester her away to bear their children.

But later, she unflinchingly engages in a violent, bloody killing of a screaming boar without any indication of “discomfort.” (Interestingly, birth has already been compared with violence in previous episodes, and Rhaenyra associates motherhood with blood, violence, and the possibility of death.)

Her active participation in killing the boar (despite her earlier refusal to join the hunt) suggests that if presented with a prospective partner whom she sees as an equal, her reaction to the prospect of children would very different.

Stepping back for a moment, in the previous episode (1x02), when Daemon falsely declares that he is going to be married and have a child, Rhaenyra defies her father’s orders and storms off on Syrax to meet him, skeptically asking, “You’re to have a child?”

It’s unthinkable to Rhaenyra that Daemon would have children with someone else, because even if she can’t admit it yet, internally she has already positioned herself as his equal, his wife, and the mother of his children. She knows that Daemon not only respects her, but also has a great deal of affection for her (so much that he cannot harm her, even though it would be in his own interest to do so). Daemon would support her ascension, instead of diminishing her authority.

In short, I suspect Rhaenyra does want to be a wife and mother, but she wants to do so on her own terms.

#house of the dragon #rhaenyra targaryen #daemon targaryen #daemon x rhaenyra #daemyra

[heliosthegriffin]

Jaune tries streaming

Jaune looked at his set up, curious as to how well this would work out.

He was a thirty-three year old man, and a teacher, in theory this was a way for him to make video’s and lessons for his students that were sick, or had a reason to miss class, or were too busy to come to class.

But, he’d also be lying if he didn’t think the idea sound at least a little fun, and maybe, some of his lessons would help those kids out there who couldn’t afford a huntsman or huntress tutor.

He hit the on switch, hoping for the best.

He looked to his monitor and could see himself, Jaune waved back at himself, and smiled, he wasn’t online yet, but everything was looking fine.

So far this one-man show hadn’t burst into flames just yet.

Time to take it online.

Taking a deep breath, he straighten and smoothed out his appearance. “Hi everyone, if you’re from Signal, you’ll know me, but if you don’t, I’m Jaune Arc, a teacher at said academy. I’m a semi-retired Huntsman, and most of all, just a dude. So, feel free to come and relax, and chill, maybe I’ll drop some wisdom!”

Jaune blushed, mumbling. “Brothers, that sounds stupid.” He looks at his view counter seeing it barely hitting five viewers, but still startling him that he was getting any at all.

He shook his head. “If you can withstand my moments of stupid, that is.”

Looking at the monitor, there was no comments, but that wasn’t surprising. “So, anyway, I’ll try to do some small lessons on stuff I’ve learned over the years, for my students that can’t make class, out sick or something. I’ll try to cover the days lessons, and break it up with some fun activities in between. Sounds fun?”

Nothing in the chat.

“It won’t always be classes, though! Just stuff, I think is fun, don’t worry, I’ll put a disclaimer whether it’s a class stream or not!” Jaune said with a smile at the camera.

“So, I guess, I should go over what kinda of lessons I teach?”

Jaune decided to stop looking at chat, and just focus on doing the stream, he could worry about comments, if any, later.

“I teach fundamentals of team-building, leadership, and co-operation. Though, I do occasionally help with teaching the kids how to fight, so I might drops some pointers here and there, if it comes up.”

He took a deep breath, then a idea came to mind. “Let’s get started with some stretches, I like to start my classes with stretches. Its good for getting rid of excess energy, keeps the mind more active. You wouldn’t believe how much energy these, we’ll you kids, if any of my student are watching,” Jaune shakes his head as he starts to get tongue-tied. “My students have a lot of energy, that’s what I’m trying to say.”

Jaune widens his feet to slighter far than shoulder’s width. “Let’s do some hops?”

Over the next five minutes, Jaune went over some-basic warm-ups, until he was satisfied.

“Alright, you guys and girls, good? Not to exclude those in-between, that is! Anyway, I’m going to go over my lesson today, then we’ll take a break half-way through, cover the rest of the lesson, and finish off with something fun? You guy-, I mean all of you in? I hope so!”

Jaune took a deep breath, then exhaled. “Now, I’m going to lead with what I always tell my students on the first day. When you’re in charge of a team, it does not allow you to control your teammates, you are not they’re king, you are not they’re mayor, and you’re certainly not they’re mom or dad! Or at least, I hope not...

“I’m getting off topic, but being a leader, is about being in a position of mutual trust, you’re trusting your teammates to follow orders, and they’re trusting you to make the right call. You can’t be a good leader micromanaging them, you have to let them make they’re own calls sometimes. In fact I’d go as far to say as, that you can’t be a good leader if you don’t know your people, as the best way to make good calls, is to know your team, and know how they’ll do in a situation, if they’re not good at it, swap them out and put them in situation that they’re great at.

Jaune takes a drink of water. “I know that this sounds easy on paper, and it is, but itself. It’s easy to know a person, but a million different things can complicate a simple plan. Someone’s mood, emotion state, a feud between teammates, the weather, they’re fears and wants, things like that, and still part of the reason you need to know your teammates. So lets say, you have a big strong fighter and you have a slow, but very durable Grimm, well send them in!”

Jaune held up a finger. “But, wait! It’s raining! You’re fighter is afraid of thunder! They’re not fighting as good, they’re losing! Now, you need to come up with a different plan, like how are you going to beat the Grimm, or get your teammate out alive.”

“Now, if you knew those things, then you would have held the big fighter back, and thought of a different plan, like luring the Grimm into a kill zone, or a trap, or maybe you have a fighter with a advantage in this situation that would have helped.”

“Know you’re teammates, and you can deal with 99.9% of situation, if you meet the 00.1% run.”

Jaune continued on with his lesson until it was break time. “Alright, lets call a break. Anyway questions?”

Looking over to the chat, he smiled as he saw he had one message, so read it out without thinking?

“Do I eat ass?” Jaune said out-loud and innocently, his mind not realizing what he had said. “Ask your mom.” Before he responded like he would to Yang or Nora.

Then blushed realizing what he had out-loud. “Alright, ending stream! Goodnight!”

Jaune sighed and got up. He really hoped this wouldn’t come back to bite him, or lose his job at Signal.

#Jaune Arc #Jaune tries streaming

[keepthemclose]

I love all of your Arya/Gendry stories, especially how Gendry is always at least a little bit dom. Do you have any head canons about the two of them and their relationship that you can share?

aww thank you, that's so sweet! (and yes I love a little bit of dom!gendry always.)

some headcanons in no particular order:

i saw a tumblr post (which i can no longer find) that says something along the lines of "when you're such a sub that you'll dom if asked" -> this is my foundation for dom!gendry. i think arya just likes to be taken care of and it's not easy for her to surrender / trust in many aspects of her life, but it's safe with gendry

they aren't a PDA heavy couple but lean into casual acts of quiet intimacy and affection, like holding hands, drawing idle patterns in each others' palms, and resting their head on each other's shoulders

they're both early risers and (chaotically) do not snooze the alarm. gendry always falls asleep before arya

they sleep late because they spend too much time talking to each other in the dark. it's an old habit that dies hard.

arya likes gendry with longer hair, in part because it's *ahem* easier to grip

gendry is more of the cook, but they order take out a lot. hot pie is also around a lot and keeps them fed well

it takes them awhile to learn how to healthily resolve conflict between them. they're both stubborn and i envision arya being more prone to isolating vs. gendry who is prone to emotional outbursts or anger. but what always draws them back together is that they fight for their relationship and ultimately humble themselves for the other.

they banter and tease a lot, but aren't actually the kind of couple that thinks the other is always nagging them. they're childhood friends to lovers after all!!

arya is a social drinker while gendry nurses 2 beers the entire night. for obvious reasons, he is wary of people who drink too much and it also takes a lot to get him drunk.

when he does get drunk, he just tells arya how pretty she is and insists on giving her piggy back rides. it's embarrassing but arya secretly loves it.

they will not get married for a long time. they live together, are committed to each other, etc. i think they ultimately somewhat believe in the institution of marriage but want to enter into it on their own terms.

eventually they propose to each other! also "Marriage is about having good sex and committing unspeakable acts of violence for one another" (x)

they both need a lot of alone time and respect each other's boundaries. i envision them doing their own things in the same room until they get bored and decide to fool around

hand kink!! arya is obsessed with gendry's hands on her, gendry is obsessed with how soft her hands are. they're both fascinated and terrified by what the other's hands can do.

arya is generally more forward and vocal about her feelings, and likes flirty with gendry in public to make him flustered. even after many years of dating, gendry continues to be flustered.

gendry is more of an "acts of service" guy—but is more vocal in the bedroom

in a world with social media, arya is the extremely online gf and gendry is a "3 followers and 5 pictures" (mostly of arya) bf. he's meme-literate but doesn't ever post anything.

modern AU: they're a really active couple: they go to the gym together multiple times a week and take nymeria out for walks

they’re both into tattoos (they have a matching sword/hammer)

#gendrya #arya x gendry #asks

[twistedtummies2]

My Twisted Wonderland OCs (As Of Now)

So, for most people who follow me, this post is gonna be kind of redundant. XD But, sort of as a way of just catching people up to date with stuff, I wanted to give you all a quick rundown of all of my major Twisted Wonderland OCs…at least, the ones that have some form of art to reference so far, which is thankfully most of them.

Not all these characters have shown up in stories YET, but I do have plans for all of them. And if anybody ever wants to commission a story featuring any of them, I’m open to hearing the ideas. Also, keep in mind, I’m only including what I consider “Major” OCs, meaning they’re students of NRC. I won’t be counting any staff OCs I’ve made, any oneshot characters I don’t plan to use again, nor any characters I still don’t have art for. I also won’t be including OCs that don’t actually belong to me, so you won’t be seeing the likes of Tock Crockwork or Harmonia here. I will be including some very, VERY basic information about each character here, including a super, SUPER condensed bio, and an art reference. With all that said…in order of appearance…

NAKODA (Art by @horriblehooter)

Full Name: Nakoda “Nako” Spivak

Source/Inspiration: Kaa, from Disney’s Jungle Book.

Dorm: Savanaclaw.

BIO

Nakoda is a naga who can transform from his true half-serpentine form to a more humanoid look, which is pictured above. His Unique Magic is called “Trust in Me,” and when activated, anyone who looks into his eyes and hears his voice is put under his spell, becoming a brainwashed servant, subservient to his will, adoring him and willing to do anything for him. Nako grew up in a poor neighborhood, and never really felt he had much control over his own life; he turned to crime in an attempt to gain control of his life, and eventually made his way to Night Raven College. Nako is both constantly hungry and constantly thirsty; when he says he wants you inside of him, he can mean it two different ways, sometimes at the same time. He has a very dirty mind and constantly carries himself with a sensual, seductive, domineering air. However, under the lusty bravado, he has many insecurities; he’s prone to throwing tantrums when he’s particularly frustrated, and if he’s threatened, his inner cowardice shows itself quickly.

BILLY (Art by @horriblehooter)

Full Name: Billy Géant.

Source/Inspiration: Willie the Giant, from Fun & Fancy Free.

Dorm: Pomefiore

BIO

Billy is a literal giant; an ogre who hails from the Kingdom Above the Clouds. He is actually a distant descendant/relative of the legendary Giant who terrorized Happy Valley and stole the Singing Harp, although the way HE learned the story was rather different: he is proud of his heritage. His Unique Magic - “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum” - is a throwback to his ancestor, and allows Billy to change into anything he wants. Billy is actually a pretty gentle giant: having not had many attachments growing up, he really just wants to make friends above all else, and tends to be cheerful and affectionate in everything he does. At times he does show a slight ego, or a slightly aggressive, even occasionally mischievous, edge. However, he’s usually very friendly and sweet-natured. While he isn’t very bright…AT ALL…Billy is very loyal to those he considers his friends (which is practically everyone), and will do anything he can to help them. HOWEVER, there is a dark side to Billy Géant: he has a bit of a temper, and when he’s PARTICULARLY enraged, he becomes downright dangerous. Sweethearted as he often may be, he’s still a man-eating giant, and you DO not want to cross him.

ELIAS (Art by Laizy_Boy04 on Twitter)

Full Name: Elias “Eli” Gottfredson Inque.

Source/Inspiration: The Phantom Blot, from the Mickey Mouse Universe.

Dorm: Diasomnia.

BIO

Elias G. Inque is a theatrical soul of the highest sort. He is the consummate “theatre kid,” in love with popular musicals and Shakespeare, especially, and forever craving the spotlight. Elias’ Unique Magic, “Inkwell,” allows him to physically transform into a being made purely of Blot, and allows him to manipulate the inky substance to his own ends. However, staying too long in this “Blot Form” can lead to an absolutely MONSTROUS Overblot situation, so he uses his powers as sparingly as possible. Elias used his UM to take on a dual identity: the mysterious thief called The Phantom Blot - a title that has been passed on over the centuries to different people. As the Phantom, Eli enacted an elaborate scheme to try and gain some form of recognition, which he never felt he had enough of in life; nowadays, he’s more or less reformed…but you should still make sure to mind your valuables around him. Eli is in some ways a very grounded, casual individual, and in other ways a total and complete ham. He’s typically laid-back and easygoing, but he has a decided flair for the melodramatic, unable to resist the chance to deliver over-the-top monologues and sing grand musical numbers. Being a dogboy, he’s also pretty constantly ravenous. Do not trust him when he activates the puppy dog eye maneuver.

RENO (Art by @belliesandburps.)

Full Name: Reno Rovar.

Source/Inspiration: Oogie Boogie, from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Dorm: Ignihyde.

BIO

Reno, much like Nakoda, is a beastly creature in disguise. His true form is a green half-bug creature, but he typically hides this by taking on a more humanoid appearance. Reno is crass, crude, loud, rough, and slightly paranoid. His parents are the owners of a once-prosperous casino and hotel, which - until recently - was in bad danger of closing down due to lack of sufficient support and funds. Reno grew up around gamblers, and he’s become VERY fond of various games: from chess to poker to various dice games and more, Reno is a master player of many things…but he doesn’t always play fair. Hypocritically, he’s quick to call others cheats if he feels he’s losing too easily. Reno’s Unique Magic is “Bug Eyes,” which allows him to control the minds of insects and even see through their eyes. The more insects he controls at once, the more magic he has to output, which means that overuse in large doses can lead to Overblot. Being an insectoid type himself, Reno is very fond of bugs, and actually keeps an ant farm in his room, treating the ants like truly beloved pets. Underneath his surly and slightly unsettling demeanor, Reno does have a soft side…he just doesn’t always like to show it.

JAMES (Art by “The Shy Art Anon”)

Full Name: James Killian.

Source/Inspiration: Captain Hook, from Peter Pan.

Dorm: Heartslabyul.

BIO

James is the son of a teacher and a sailor, and his personality matches both. He’s fond of using nautical phrases, and knows a great deal about the ocean, sailing, and other such things. On the flip side, he’s a bit grandiloquent and scholarly, enjoying classical literature and subjects of history, in particular. He’s also skilled as a swordsman; a gifted and practiced fencer who actually carries a cane sword on him at all times. James is an attention hog of the highest order: he is ALWAYS trying to play himself up as a charismatic and grand figure, in the typical style of a swashbuckling cavalier, and has no small amount of vanity. In reality, much of this showboating hides a deep-rooted sense of insecurity, as James has always felt like nobody appreciates him, due to events that happened in his life before coming to NRC. On that note, James has an arch-rival who attends Royal Sword Academy: Matthew Satyr, a former classmate and fellow fencer who has long been a thorn in James’ side. Whenever Killian and Satyr are anywhere near each other, or when Matthew’s name gets brought up, James becomes OBSESSED and filled with passionate, vengeful anger. It is one of his many great weaknesses. James’ Unique Magic is called “Doubt & Deception”: whenever he touches someone with his left hand, he can then activate this power by snapping the fingers of the same hand. The person he has touched will then suddenly be overcome by a wave of intense, depressing emotions, and the weight of these thoughts will quite literally drag them down, forcing them to move slower, or even outright become paralyzed with despair. The insidious thing about this power is that, once James has touched somebody, he can activate it at any time…but once he uses it one time, he has to touch you again before he can use it a second time.

SMITTY (Concept Sketch by @belliesandburps.)

Full Name: Smitty McCarthy.

Source/Inspiration: Smee, from Peter Pan.

Dorm: Heartslabyul.

BIO

Smitty is James Killian’s best friend and effective partner in crime. The two have known each other for years, long before both came to Night Raven and were each sorted into Heartslabyul. Smitty is extremely loyal to James, genuinely looking up to him and wanting to help him in any way he can. He worries about his friend constantly, always trying to find ways to help James relax when he knows he’s stressed out…and less-than-secretly hoping James will someday put aside the grudge he has on Matthew Satyr. Smitty is small and sweet-tempered, very mild-mannered and occasionally a stutterer, which often causes people to underestimate him…which he really doesn’t mind, as - unlike James - Smitty has never really demanded attention nor the spotlight. He’s perfectly happy just following his friend. However, Smitty’s Unique Magic - called “Blast Them!” - is probably one of the most potently destructive of any ability: it works similarly to Bakugou’s power from MHA, as Smitty is able to create and project fiery, explosive pulses. In smaller doses, they do little more than knock opponents flat onto their backs, but they can become much more dangerous when used in rapid succession. Smitty doesn’t fully have control over his power (he’s not the best aim), which makes it all the more unpredictable when activated.

MAELSTROM (Art by @twisted-brainrot​.)

Full Name: Maelstrom Baleno.

Source/Inspiration: Monstro, from Pinocchio.

Dorm: Octavinelle.

BIO

Maelstrom is a mer-whale in disguise, with a bullying, thuggish personality. He suffers from what might be called “I Am the Hype! Syndrome.” Basically, he grew up believing that he was perfect: the strongest, toughest, most powerful thing in the entire world. Something happened, however, that caused Maelstrom to rethink his own worldview…and, unable to fully cope with the realization of his fundamental weakness, he effectively snapped. Maelstrom now spends his time flaunting his powers and strength, belittling and oppressing rather than seeking to help and serve. He’s a total glutton, too, and this fact isn’t helped by his Unique Magic: “Belly of the Whale.” This ability allows Maelstrom to form a whirlpool-like suction that can drag anything (or anyone) of virtually any size into his stomach, trapping them in a sort of hammerspace type situation. Typically, victims who are swallowed by Maelstrom will not be allowed to escape his stomach unless he allows them to. Beneath this nasty exterior, however, Maelstrom does have his soft sides: he secretly has a deep love of music and art, in particular…but don’t bring that up, or you might end up his dinner.

THEODORE (Concept Sketch by @belliesandburps​.)

Full Name: Theodore “Theo” Hamilton.

Source/Inspiration: Theodora the Wicked Witch of the West, from Oz the Great and Powerful.

Dorm: Diasomnia.

BIO

Theodore is a vindictive, ambitious young man who feels cheated by the world. He actually doesn’t WANT to be a part of Night Raven College, at least at first, and thus behaves in a cruel, vicious, brutal, standoffish sort of way. His temperament is highly mercurial, able to go from relatively calm and collected to cackling like a deranged lunatic almost at the drop of a hat. He’s snappy, snarly, and doesn’t like crowds. He’s also very power hungry…literally. Theodore is constantly seeking ways to increase his power levels as a mage, believing that only by gaining more power can he get what he truly wants. His Unique Magic - “Fly, My Pretties!” - allows him to summon a horde of shadowy creatures that resemble Flying Monkeys, which serve his will. Theodore is a flying ace: he’s INCREDIBLY skilled on a magic broomstick, and it’s a talent he’s extremely proud of. Once again, while he often seems quite unpleasant, Theodore does have his soft sides: for one thing, he has a massive sweet tooth, and eats perhaps too much candy and cookies for his own good…but that’s another story. There are some other OCs I have in mind for TW, but they haven’t been given workable artwork yet. Some of these characters - namely Theo and Maelstrom - haven’t even been featured in writing at all yet. Time will tell when those events occur.

#random post #disney #twisted wonderland #ocs #kink-related #but only peripherally #you all know the kinks #nako #nakoda #nakoda spivak #billy #billy geant #elias #eli #elias inque #reno #reno rovar #james #james killian #smitty #smitty mccarthy #maelstrom #maelstrom baleno #theo #theodore #theodore hamilton

[immoralimmortals]

A Song With Ten Names

Chapter 5: Howl

Chapter 1 ☆ Next Chapter

Summary of chapter: Parting gifts from those with little to give back. The stranger is more precious to the zombies than they realized, and the adverse being true makes her heart hurt. So this is goodbye, at least for now…

Author's Note: Please regard the notes and warnings of chapter 1 if you have not read it already. The song for this chapter is Howl by The Family Crest as breaks between moments, lyrics not entirely complete.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

I know you never mean to say

All of the awful things you say

But, oh, God, the reason is yours

Oh, God, the reason is yours

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

“Home” is a mercurial, fickle thing. The stranger finds it like sand drifting between fingers. One day you’re a failure of society, the next you’re a kidnapping victim, and THEN you’re-- actually, let’s just make a list:

1) You’re a failure of society.

2) You’re a kidnapping victim.

3) You’re in a cult.

4) You’re a one-man band with a manager AND you’re in a cult.

5) ...Well…?

That’s the whole problem, really. What is happening now? There’s a spare few days left with her current entourage, a few more nights with them sleeping on hand-me-down furniture next to a broken window and a symphonic of mice and other such creatures about this old house in the woods. Hidan and Kakuzu are being sent who knows where by the man who introduced himself as their leader, commanded she be under watch. The moment they’re off, someone else is to take their place. The moment she felt stable...poof. It’s all gone: the freedom...the purpose...the company.

She’s already missing them, more gravely than she imagined she could, by the last day.

She’s not even sure if they believe what they’re told-- that the performer is exactly what she pretends to be. Outwardly, Kakuzu is just following orders without judging; he’s the more unknowable one on this front. Hidan, however, actively struggles with the proposal, calling it ridiculous and being so bold as to dispute the one person even Kakuzu dares not raise his voice towards. But Pain was firm, and so is their goal, so Hidan just ended up with a useless argument against a wall. All the two men have left is a couple of hours and her listening ear, absorbing gaze. The wind outside howls, almost like a beast.

“Here.”

A barely-bound book of scrappy paper is thrown into her hands. Upon palming through it, it becomes evident this is hand written-- hand drawn, too. Words and diagrams and symbols, some of which she recognizes thanks to the pendant around Hidan’s neck. Some of it is even written in what she hopes is his own blood! The woman looks up at him and blinks, though he’s refusing to meet her eyes. Instead, the man rubs the back of his neck like any form of kindness is the only kind of pain he can’t stand.

“Study it well, you hear?!” he commands. Is he...blushing? “No fuckin’ idea when I’ll be back around, so it’s up to you till then! Jashin’s watching us.”

The performer’s gaze darts to the masked one’s. After all this time, did...Hidan not notice? Did she not tell him? Did KAKUZU not tell him? And now, more importantly...should they tell him now that she can’t fucking read how they write around here?

Kakuzu gives no such protection in an easy answer, lightly shrugging underneath his cloak. Thus, she decides that omission is not necessarily lying.

“I’ll do my best,” she promises, then allows a smile to push up her cheeks. “Please review with me next we’re together.” Hidan twists his head even further away from looking at her, gritting his teeth even harder. By this point, there’s a vague assurance that this means she’s hitting the right buttons. With precision, the next words are an arrow to the heart. “Take care until then. I’ll miss you.”

Perhaps she’s danced too close to the line, the joy of peeling his layers till his emotions are defenseless, because her pulse jumps once he whips back around, practically growling in the back of his throat. The groans fluctuate up and down as he, for once, is wordless, face bright red and his restless hand not knowing if it should clench into a fist. A wary Kakuzu watches as those fingers twitch into a flat palm, and with as much awkwardness in the air as water is on a humid day, he firmly pats her head. It's the first time anyone has given her affection, and it puts the moon in her sky and stars in her eyes. She's turned dumb with wonder.

“...Don’t die, alright?” Hidan’s touch ponders the softness of her hair before pulling back, lest he linger too long, dare to grin back. There’s nothing to be happy about; why pretend? “Do what I taught, n’ Jashin won’t let you.”

With nothing else left in him to give, the prophet walks away, out the door, and waits to leave. The breeze plays with the edges of his cloak like it’s trying to steal him away.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

You smile

I howl to the moon, to the stars

To the way that we were

Howl to the moon, to the stars

When the weight of the world

Is just too much for you

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Minutes now until night falls and the zombies walk free under the new moon sky. The woman glances out from her smudged window, Hidan still perched on the front porch. He has an impatience reminiscent of a wolf waiting to pounce as he faces down the final tangles of sunlight through branches. Loneliness wraps around her like thorns.

“Ah-!”

In the corner of her eye, she sees the perpetrator of her broken concentration, a set of fingers with a ring settled on her shoulder. A voice does its best to not sound overly rattled. “I- I thought you were…” Not going to bother saying goodbye. “...Getting ready to leave.”

Kakuzu is a man of few words, as always, merely stepping back to give her space to face him. It’s funny; her perception of those eyes of his fluctuates so easily. Are they a soft moss or a gemstone emerald? Do they glimmer brightly in the low light, or are they dull with his years of labor and death? She’s spent nights prior contemplating the strange man’s multitudes- Hidan’s too- and she knows it’s not going to be solved tonight.

Yet she’s distracted long enough that Kakuzu ends up speaking first. The corners of her lips have risen, perhaps unconsciously. Why does she give this to him, he wonders? He can’t make it stay. It isn’t worth her expense.

“Our replacements have been delayed.” Hope so briefly grown is cut down: “But we can’t stay for them. Zetsu will be around until they show up.”

The woman repeats the name under her breath, smile faded. The amalgamation...black, white, unnatural, sinister.

“Listen.”

So she must, straightening to attention despite the weight of worries. His stare is unflinching.

“We are all dangerous. Every single one of us.” The bounty hunter’s brow furrows harder underneath his headband. “No one will ever defeat one of us, unless they’re wearing the cloak, too. And in that case, it’s a tossup which. Don’t test their nerves. You. Will not. Survive.”

This is advice he knows very, very well, the way he’s held back in these weeks. That face, in hallowed horror before his truth-- it’s fragile. Her eyes are too trusting. She’s pitiable. She’s ignorant. But a part of him believes she must not be stupid. And that’s kept her alive around him longer than most anyone else.

“We are each under oath from here on to protect you, but that means nothing. Know this. We’re no heroes. Takara--…”

Her breath hitches, though the name he gave puts its weight in his own mouth. The ringed hand clasps her shoulder again, and its grip is tight.

“Whatever skill you have, making me and Hidan soft like this...keep it up.” His knuckles clench. “It’s all between you and death.”

Too tight, too tight-!

Kakuzu lets go as she squeaks, her own hand flinging where his was to ease the stinging skin.

“I...--” This is a horrible time for Kakuzu to be mistaken about how she may be saved, for his voice to flounder for the first time. By his own hand, he is proving himself wrong. But why should he care...-?

“HEY SHITBAG!” a voice calls, dampened only by its distance down. “TIME TO GO!”

Takara flinches between Hidan’s stance below and the man ahead who hurt her. Something flashes in that green, and even he isn’t sure if it carries rage or fear.

“...I’m sorry.”

Without another word, Kakuzu lingers by, past, down the stairs, out the door, and is gone.

Just as soon as the two came into her life, she’s left alone, fixated in front of the window with a book in one hand and her fingers overtop the set bruised into her skin. Takara watches until the leaves swallow them up, until she can cry ugly and loud, from the bottom of her heart, without being heard.

But as when she first sang, the two Akatsuki hear too well, and they must continue in silence and brace against the wind as their precious belonging weeps in her rusty, rattling cage. Smiling back would have just made it worse. Two immortals know good things don’t last forever.

She might not be there long enough for a next time.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Here you state that a storm is waiting, dear

Turn the lights down low

'Cause one of us is surely gone

I know you never meant to stay

I know, love, we weren't meant to be

I know you never meant to go break my heart of gold

Forever lost together, forever howling at the moon

'Cause it's just too much for you

Forever lost together, forever howling at the moon

When it's just too much for you

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

#akatsuki x reader #aswtn fic #hidan x reader #kakuzu x reader #songfic #naruto fanfiction #i almost picked another song but it had the phrase big boy in it and its too funny to call the zombie combo that

[hunter-davis]

hunter davis - istp - the virtuoso

i- introverted 

hunter doesn’t really enjoy being around other people because it’s just not how he likes to make use of his time. they find that they don’t get along with the majority of people, so as a result they see interacting with strangers as kinda pointless. he will still interact with them, he just doesn’t expect the interaction to go anywhere because from previous experience, it won’t. there have been exceptions to this rule, but they’ve been fairly uncommon, usually with people that are similar to them. hunter’s nature is that he tends to be generally distrustful of people, so that alone makes it difficult for him to connect with new ones. 

they’re able to set this aside when it comes to their job, mostly because they have to in order to actually keep working at the restaurant. it’s easy for him to put on a convincing enough smile when he’s engaging with customers, though he does find this kind of draining. they understand fully well why it’s important to be friendly at their work, but that doesn’t mean they actually like it. at the end of a shift he tends to find his social battery drained by putting up this act.

s- sensing

hunter tends to be very in the moment when it comes to his life, meaning that he doesn’t tend to think about the future very much. all of their decision are based on what makes sense at the time, not what might be better long-term. one of the only exceptions to this is when they were still living at home because they were in a situation where they had to save up and plan efficiently if they ever wanted to move out. it’s not that he’s incapable of planning or making decisions that would be effective in the long-term, it’s just usually not at the forefront of his mind when he’s making a decision.

the choices they do make are usually based in logic, they aren’t just whatever they feel like doing. he takes into account how he feels, but that’s usually not the driving factor because he knows that operating based on emotions isn’t the smartest. so, he utilizes the facts he’s presented with and goes from there, along with consulting at least one other person when it comes to major topics. 

t- thinking 

he’s not very talkative a lot of the time, just because he spends a lot of time in his own head. hunter finds that it’s pretty hard for them to get bored because they’re always thinking about something, whether it’s what they want to do later or something that happened earlier in the day. this is largely how he organizes and orients himself, by taking in information and taking time to process it, along with what it might mean to him. when at home, they sometimes try to read a book or watch something just to get out of their own head for a while. it can be overwhelming for him to constantly be thinking about something, so it’s good for him to find an escape. 

while they’re still taking in information when they are reading or watching something, it’s more of a passive effort on their part. he knows that what the information he’s getting isn’t necessarily important for him to remember, so he finds it less exhausting when engaged in these activities. sometimes in their life it feels like they’re constantly trying to be on the lookout or avoid problems that might come up and it does tire them out at times.

p- perceiving

hunter can be a good person to come to when trying to make a decision because he’s good at taking all of the available information into account. if they were asked to help someone with this, they’d more than likely ask follow-up questions and for the perspective of the other person, if a second person is involved. this helps him to get a better picture of the full scenario and see what the best solution might be from an objective standpoint. their own personal opinions can be set aside because in this all they’re doing is providing an outsider perspective. 

the bad part of this is he doesn’t tend to take anyone’s feelings into account because he’s acting from a logical standpoint, sometimes he can come across as insensitive because of this. it’s not their intent, they just value facts over people’s emotions. he sees this as the most efficient way to make a judgment and doesn’t realize until afterwards how other people might see his choice. they do feel remorse when they finally see this, but they usually find that at that point it’s too late to right any wrongs. 

strengths

diligent, observant, independent, authentic, direct

weaknesses

private, reserved, overly skeptical, insensitive, stubborn

fictional characters with this personality

hunter (the owl house), gwen stacy (spider-man: into the spider-verse), megara (hercules), garnet (steven universe), mizu (blue eye samurai), jim hopper (stranger things)

#fenrirtask001 #it's a happy accident that one of the fictional characters shares his name

[hornystorage]

Choose your own S.A.D. suit

[Originally posted by rubberpupthoughts. Re-posted for archival purposes.]

This post is a short choose-your-own-adventure story. Read the intro and skip ahead to the section you choose. And remember, I’m looking for photos to post with my stories. Send me some photos of YOU if you want to be featured (anonymously, or otherwise).

────────────────────────────────────

Your phone lights up with this message: Ready for Valentine’s Day? Tell your followers about the lucky guy you’ll be spending the day with.

[Yes! I have a date.]

[No. I’m single.]

You select the second option. A new message pops up: We can fix that! Answer this question and we’ll hook you up with your dream date. Describe yourself:

[A total stud. The envy of the locker room.] [A kid at heart. Loves to be a spoiled.] [A puppy dog. Adventurous and loyal.]

────────────────────────────────────

A total stud.

You press the button with a smirk. Of course you’re a stud. Anyone who’s seen your cock knows. Even now it feels tight in your pants. You reach down to adjust your bulge and feel something hard. Hard like plastic. You look down your gym shorts to see you’re wearing a jockstrap you hadn’t put on. How did that get there?

A wave of strong musk wafts up from the cup, even though you know you showered just this morning. You try to run your thumb under the waistband, but the black mesh athletic cup won’t budge. It seems to be fused with your crotch, as solid as any other part of your body.

Your phone buzzes with a new message. Welcome to the Single’s Awareness Day (S.A.D.) program, stud. Your S.A.D. suit has been activated. The jockstrap model will deny you the ability to touch your cock. It also enhances your pheromones to attract dominant men. Once per week, you will be permitted orgasm if you meet the following conditions: You wear nothing but the jockstrap in at least three (3) different gym locker rooms for two (2) hours each. You give blowjobs to at least seven (7) different men. You get fucked by at least seven (7) different men. You smell at least a dozen men’s dirty underwear.

Your enrollment in this program will continue until a man you’ve met in a locker room claims you, at which point the suit’s settings will be controlled by him.

────────────────────────────────────

A kid at heart.

As you press this button, you feel your pants get warm. And wet. You just wet yourself! You curse and wiggle your way out of your pants. How could this happen? As you peel your wet underwear off, the sight of your cock confuses you. You shave from time to time, but now your crotch is perfectly smooth. And your dick looks smaller.

The doorbell rings.

You stumble into a new pair of pants and answer the door. No one is there, but there’s a large package addressed to you. You bring it in and open it up. Inside are several neat square bundles with labels: Little Pawz. Space. BareBum. They’re diapers.

Your phone buzzes with a new message: Welcome to the Single’s Awareness Day (S.A.D.) program, boy. Your S.A.D. suit has been activated. Unlike other models, the diaper boy configuration has no physical presence. Instead, the suit will prevent you from controlling your bladder, or achieving self-pleasure. An order a diapers has been delivered to your address for your convenience. Please open the “starter pack” now.

You look for the pack in the box and see a single wrapped diaper. When you rip open the plastic, it lets out a puff of white powder. You choke on the flowery scent. Baby powder! By the time your vision clears, you notice the diaper in your hands is gone. It’s wrapped around your butt.

Your phone buzzes again: Starter diaper successfully installed. The S.A.D. suit will prevent you from removing your diapers. You will be assigned a new daddy each week to assist you with changes. Additionally, the daddy may give you an orgasm at his discretion. We recommend you obey commands from your daddies, if you want to be rewarded.

Your enrollment in this program will continue until a daddy claims you full-time, at which point the suit setting will be controlled by him.

You stare blankly at the message, unsure what to do. You notice the warm sensation around your groin again. The diaper swells.

────────────────────────────────────

A puppy dog.

You press the button and feel something firm around your neck. You feel a thick leather strap, a cold steel buckled, and a D-ring with dog tags that jingle. A collar! You fidget with the buckle for a couple minutes, but can’t find a way to remove it. You try to curse. But instead you hear “Woof!”

Ruff?

Your phone buzzes with a new message: Welcome to the Single’s Awareness Day (S.A.D.) program, pup. Your S.A.D. suit has been activated. In addition to converting your speech, the pup model will ensure you obey the orders of your owner. A new owner will be assigned to you each week. Before you are presented to your owner, he will send you a package of the gear you will wear for the week.

The doorbell rings, and you bark. Shit. You pull at the collar as you go to the door. You find a package addressed to you. You bring it inside and open it up. The package contains a steel chastity belt. A full rubber suit. Rubber mitts. And a rubber butt plug with a puppy tail.

You think to say “I’m not wearing this!” But you growl instead. When your collar shocks you, you yelp.

Your phone buzzes: You must obey your owner’s commands. After you are geared up, handler will arrive to secure you in a kennel. Then you will be transported to your first owner. Your enrollment in this program will end when an owner claims you full-time.

You whine and reach for the rubber gear.

────────────────────────────────────

Thanks for reading! Message me what scenario you chose, and if you enjoyed your fate.

#chs: written #chs: story #chs: a favourite #CHS: rubberpupthoughts

[jade-parcels]

🌵 Revisiting my cowboy/southern au 🏜 pt.1

🌵 (Essentially this is just a self indulgent old west au thing idk what to tell you. It’s background info on my previous horny cowboy Diluc posts 0-0) 🏜‼️Death mentions, blood mentions, gun mentions, general criminal behavior

•Sheriffs office chain of command: Sheriff, Undersheriff, Chief Deputy, deputy/officer

•Old schoolhouses were not separated by grade, all kids were taught together in the same room

Crepus: he’s dead but I gotta talk about him for a sec lmao so he used to be the sheriff. Very respected guy, loved his family. Lost his wife when Diluc was four, he took Kaeya in 2 years later after a massive fire took out the poor kiddo’s whole family. Crepus raised the boys well, taught them to respect their elders, be kind, noble, strong, polite and crafty. He taught them to build things with their own 2 hands, taught them to ride horses, shoot guns, tame dogs, fix pipes, everything a “Real Man” needs to know. The boys both followed in his footsteps, enlisting to the sheriffs office as errand boys when they were 12, working their way up the chain of command as the heads passed. By the time they were 19, they were officers. Crepus was killed by a robber, shot right through the chest in front of his sons, he sputtered and wheezed and then was gone. He was buried in the far northeast corner of the ranch where his own parents, wife and sister-in-law were buried.

Diluc: took over his pa’s ranch when he passed away, as the oldest all of it was left to him much to Kaeyas frustration. The two had a falling out over the property which led to them beating the everloving shit out of each other. Diluc kicked Kaeya off the ranch and resigned from the sheriffs office. Now he’s his own man who protects his own property. He’s built a shed, a barn and an addition to the house he grew up in. He plans on having a family one day and needed more space to make that dream a reality. He bought out the run down, water damaged tavern that no one could fix up and used his wealth and strength to fix it up himself. It took a full year of renovation and hard labor to get that place looking (and smelling) good enough to re-open. Now it’s the talk of the town and the local hub for all activity. Everyone’s there at least twice a week for some grub, entertainment and a drink. Diluc is well respected because of his father and his own status in general but he doesn’t respect the sheriffs office. He used to but since they never caught the bastard that killed his father, he can’t stand them. At night, he dawns a black mask and all black clothes and goes out on the town to catch criminals while the local deputies are slacking off. He ties them up and dumps them on the front steps of the sheriffs office with letters telling them they’re incompetent or too slow. Now that Diluc is rapidly approaching 30 and all the hard labor he’s done in his life is catching up with him, his vigilante duties are becoming harder for him cause dear god his back hurts x_x (I know 30 isn’t old but it wasn’t uncommon for people to be ‘worn out’ by their early 30s from physical labor in the old west!!)

Kaeya: Kaeya is currently second in command, undersheriff, to Jean. He never really tried to climb the ranks or anything like that, he just did his job and ended up at the top. He’s a trusted fella, real good at training newbies because he’s patient and skilled. Kaeya is loved by all the local old folks, he stops mid-patrol to chit chat with them and tell stories about chases or criminal captures that might be just a little exaggerated for the sake of entertainment ;) he loves going to the saloon to drink and hang out with the ladies. Though he also uses his saloon time to try and talk to Diluc. Admittedly, he misses his brother. If he has to drink himself into a coma in order to spend time with his brother, he’d do it- not that he’ll admit it. He misses how they used to crack jokes and ride their horse side by side and everyone would say ‘look at those Ragnvindr boys, they’re so reliable’. He currently lives in a small house next door to Albedo and Klee while saving up his money to skip town. He dreams of waking up one morning, turning in his badge, and hopping a train to the east coast to live in the city. (Kaeya could never go through with it, he cares too deeply for his brother and his dear friends, he could never leave them all behind… but the silly dream he has keeps him going, keeps him working in a profession he isn’t very passionate about in a town that he feels disconnected from). Kaeya has a lot of little things he enjoys, he likes to sing with Venti at the saloon, he likes to go shoot cans with his coworkers, he likes to bet on bull riders, he likes dancing, and he enjoys blowing smoke rings up into the air while laying in the grass. He likes pestering Ajax too, he’s a funny fella.

Childe: local rapscallion, always causing trouble at the tavern or riding wild bulls to win bets for quick cash. Lives in his family home with his parents and four siblings, two have moved out and have families of their own now. Takes great care of everyone. Walks his younger siblings to school every day and picks them once school lets out. Always sunburnt cause he never wears his damn hat >:( he’s kinda gotten in with a local group of criminals, they all work under the cloak of night, sneaking into elderly peoples homes to steal their valuables while they sleep. They commit various other crimes but this is one they’ve yet to be caught doing so it’s been easy to get away with it. He and his buddies take turns going 2 cities over to sell their loot and bring back the cash to split. He tells his family that he’s a salesman, he sells wooden products. Wooden toys, wooden stools, benches, wheels you name if he does it. It’s an intricately woven lie. Ajax can’t build shit!! Somehow word got to Kaeya that Ajax sells wooden goods so he’s asked for a rocking chair about ten times. Every time he sees the ginger, he’ll yell a little “Hey~ Where’s my rockin chair at? Still haven’t got it yet!” Ajax can’t avoid him much longer… he knows he looks suspicious “You’ll get it when I’m done with it pretty boy! Real art takes time!”

Jean: Jean’s the reliable town sheriff. Any time she’s needed, she’s there, it doesn’t matter what time it is or who needs help. She was there when the school house kids needed help putting up a flagpole, she was there to catch a bandit who was wanted in four towns nearby, she helped coral a herd of sheep when they broke out of old man Laurence’s fence, she was there to comfort the Ragnvindr brothers the night Crepus was shot. She’s always around and for that, she’s well respected. She taught her sister Barbara to read, she tends to her garden and gives away her fruits/veggies to families who need them, she helps local farmers when their cows or horses are sick. She ain’t afraid to her her hands dirty. Jean doesn’t drink though. Her parents did all the time so she refuses to drink while her sister is relying on her. However, she does go to the tavern to unwind with her coworkers and chat with the locals.

Lisa: Lisa is the local teacher for the kiddos :) the local schoolhouse was sponsored by Crepus and his old cop buddies way back when it was first built. Now it’s a bit rundown but it does the trick. Miss Lisa’s class has 17 children ranging from 7-15 years old. They all share a classroom and learn to read, write and do math together. She is very patient and kind, she always listens to the stories the kids tell her. She isn’t afraid to indulge in their imagination, sometimes a school day will just be pretending to be flightless dragons or fairies who turn sheep different colors. Many kids would be absent, only about 6 showing up on any given day since kids have to help out at their families ranch or family owned shop in town. But when they could come to school, it was always enjoyable. Miss Lisa lives next to the schoolhouse, her own home is quiet small but she likes it. She spends a majority of her time outside anyways. She’s always tending to her chickens, rearranging the rocks in her front yard, reading a book in the sun, sweeping her front porch. She loves the sounds of nature and the warm breeze on her face. Her weekends are full of lazing around and visiting the tavern to see her friends. She isn’t a drinker but she enjoys the music and atmosphere. Additionally, she collects books. Their town doesn’t have a library but Miss Lisa’s house is the closest they’ll get. People stop by to ask if she has a certain cook book, storybook or old literature they can borrow. She’s happy to lend her books out but if they’re not returned, she’ll find that persons house and refuse to leave until the book is returned! It isn’t easy getting these books! They’re brought in by merchants from other cities or even countries! She values the stories within those pages so return them!!!

#series: cowboy diluc au #series: southern au #genshin impact #genshin impact writing #genshin impact diluc #genshin impact childe #genshin impact kaeya #genshin impact jean #genshin impact lisa #genshin impact Crepus #genshin impact headcanons