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winterrrnight · 5 months

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Hey! I love your work, Could you possibly write a Zach Maclaren x reader, where the reader searches for a roommate and she meets Zach and they start being roomies and like cute stuff happens and they end up together🫶🏻

thank you so so much for this gorgeous request! I can't even tell you how much I've always thought about it, I have so so many ideas for it, I am just struggling to put them all together in a good order, so it took me so so long to put it out, but, nevertheless, I hope you enjoy reading it!!

roomies (part I)

PAIRING: zach maclaren x gn!reader

SUMMARY: as your bills pile up and it starts to get lonely living in your apartment, you start your search for a roommate. little did you know, you will come across someone so much more than a roommate.

WARNINGS: none!

EDITH SPEAKS: this is finally out! probably one of my favorite requests I've ever had. this took me so long to write, and honestly, I'm still stuck at a certain part of it, so I decided to split it into parts. who knows, it may become a very amazing series <3

please please reblog if you enjoyed reading this! feedback is always so loved and appreciated <3

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You sigh as you put up one of your last flyers on a pole. It's been weeks since you started looking for a roommate who can move in with you in your apartment, but you've turned up with no luck. Whoever calls you up to be your roommate always has this one problem which is something you just can't handle.

One of the guys who called you up was a drummer, and as much as you love music, all the drumming throughout the day will not help you when you're trying to get some work done at home.

Another one is a complete party animal, and your will power isn't strong enough to wake up almost everyday to a mess of empty alcohol bottles around your house.

So you've made a tough but much needed decision: you will accept whichever person calls next to be your roommate.

Are you desperate? Extremely.

Will it affect you if the person has some qualities or hobbies which do not align with your own life? Of course.

But will it help you pay all your bills? Yes.

No more questions needed.

You come back to your apartment and find an envelope waiting for you in your mail. You open it up to see it's the updated electricity bill for the month. You've seen enough bills with an insane amount of zeroes at their bottom, and this one makes you realise if you don't get a roommate soon, you're going to be kicked out of this apartment.

You sit at your kitchen island, your forearms resting in front of you and your head slumped in your hands as you turn over the details of the current situation you're in over and over in your head. You don't exactly have the most high paying job which can allow you pay all your bills independently, leaving you with enough money for your university tuition and to feed yourself.

Your phone dings with a notification, and you look at it to see it's an unknown number. With hope heavy in your heart you open the text, and you're very glad to see it's someone asking about the apartment.

unknown number: please tell me you are still open to take roommates because I've been looking for an apartment for weeks and have had no luck. I promise I'm not weird.

You let out a small chuckle as you read the text.

you: yes it's still available. and it's okay I don't think you're weird I feel your desperation because same, I've been looking for a roommate for weeks.

You text this person a bit more, and you find out his name is Zach Maclaren and he's in the same university as yours, but you two have very different courses so you never saw each other on campus.

You both have set up to meet at a local coffee shop to get to know each other better, and you have been feeling a bit more excited than you should be. You saw his pictures and you definitely found him attractive. And if he helps you by being a perfect roommate, you might as well gain something more out of this whole situation.

You reach the coffee shop and just as you sit, Zach arrives. He comes up to you with a big smile on his face and even gives you a hug, encasing you completely in his warmth.

You definitely have trouble parting from him, seeing how perfectly your body fits within his, but you do and you both sit on the opposite seats of the table you chose.

"Are you coming from one of your soccer practices?" You ask, as you take a proper look at his outfit to find he's wearing a t shirt with shorts and some sports shoes.

"Yeah, I was worried the practice time might clash with our time to meet up, but thank god it didn't," he lets out a light laugh as you smile at him.

You decide to order all your food first, and then resume your conversations as you wait for it.

"You're telling me you love to cook?" You gasp and he laughs at your reaction.

"Yes," he says with a big grin on his face.

"That's actually so perfect, I mean, if you do move in with me, we can make a proper system of how one is mostly responsible for the cooking and the other for cleaning. It's actually going to relieve so much load off the both of us," you say, as you are served all your food.

Zach takes his coffee and takes in a big sip before speaking. "That is going to be great," he adds. "And we can do all the other stuff together, like grocery shopping or shopping for anything for around the house,"

You smile wide and nod at him, and you both start to eat the scones and croissants you got. A silence falls around you both for just a few minutes as you both eat, but it doesn't feel awkward, if anything, it feels so right. As if you're both meant to be sitting opposite to each other every single day while having your dinner.

You have clicked very quickly with him, and you're so grateful for that, because this might as well be the end of your long, tiring search of finding a roommate. All that is left is to get a approval from him, but you have a feeling he won't say no, because he seems very enthusiastic about it, just the way you are.

"So, what's the verdict? Would you love to move in with me?" You ask, your heart slightly beating faster.

"Of course I would love to! I have spent way too long trying to find a roommate and I don't think I want to continue to do that, but also you seem very nice and I think we would work perfectly together," he smiles at you. You immediately relax and let out a scream of happiness. You get up from your chair to give him another hug as you walk behind him, wrap your arms around his shoulders and gently squeeze them with happiness.

"Thank you Zach, thank you so much," you say as he laughs and gently holds onto your arms. You let go of him and sit back on your seat.

"There's one thing you need to help me with though," you say, and he looks at you expectantly, "so you see, about this month's rent..."

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

You finally get the last box from Zach's car and bring it up to your apartment. You keep it on the floor right next to the others and let out a sigh of relief as you sit on your couch to rest.

Just a few minutes Zach comes up too after getting some other things from his car. Just a few days ago, you brought him to your place to allow him to look around and explore. There isn't much to explore, but you were glad when he was happy with his bedroom. But he there is one thing he isn't satisfied with: your kitchen.

"No, you just don't have all the stuff you'll need in here," he says as he walks to your kitchen with a box in his hand labelled as 'kitchen equipment' as you follow him, concerned about what he means when you don't have all the 'stuff'.

He sets the box on the kitchen island and opens it, and you peek over his shoulder to find equipment you only see in those fancy cooking videos on the internet; something you never even considered of buying.

"Whoa," you whisper, as you see him pull out atleast 10 different types of baking moulds. You pick one up and see it is in shape of a skull.

"And this comes in handy when. . ." you trail off, looking at him expectantly, but he's just ushering around your kitchen to keep all his stuff and also rearranging some of your own utilities.

"Halloween, duh," he adds, turning to you and taking the mould from your hands. He keeps it alongside his other moulds in one of your cabinets.

"Your spice drawer needs a lot of work, by the way," he comments, leaving the kitchen and getting started on organising his bedroom.

You huff at his unrequired comment and follow him to his bedroom to help him set up everything in there.

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

You wake up to the sunlight entering through your curtains, lighting everything around you in a golden tint. Unlike the usual silence you hear each morning when you wake up, today you hear the sounds of pots and pans from the kitchen, something sizzling away on the stove and the string of the melody being sung by the one and only, Zach.

You go into the kitchen to see him with his bare back towards you as he flips a pancake (and your eyes wander over his back muscles flexing, but that isn't what's necessary right now) and places it in a plate of already piling pancakes next to him. They are perfectly round and golden, something you can never be so perfect at even if you tried too hard.

"Oh hey good morning," Zach says with a smile as he notices you have appeared by his side.

"Hey," you say with a yawn, your eyes still threatening to close. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did, actually, for some reason I thought it may take me some time to adjust to a whole different room and bed but I was very relaxed," he tells you. He piles the last pancake on top of the others and now fully turns around to face you.

"I don't think I've ever had such a lavish breakfast on my own before," you say as you take two plates and knives and forks and follow Zach to your kitchen island.

"Well, now I'm living with you, so it's lavish breakfasts, lunches, and dinners from now on," he grins. You break into a smile as he serves you some pancakes. You thank him and just as you take the first bite, you feel like you've been transported to heaven.

"Wow," you say, your eyes wide and your voice muffled. You never knew homemade pancakes could be this delectable. Zach smiles at your reaction and eats his own pancakes, both of you completely contented as you kick start your Sunday.

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

You reach Zach's room with your vacuum cleaner; as per your system, you are responsible for all sorts of cleaning around that house and Zach for the cooking. You knock at his door and here a 'come in' and pull on the latch.

He's going through one of his drawers to get a t shirt while he stands with just a towel wrapped around his waist, his hair wet as drops drip down his neck. He swallow the huge lump in your throat as you close the door behind you.

"I'm just going to vacuum in here real quick," you clear your throat as you peel your eyes off his toned chest and focus on cleaning. The humming of your vacuum cleaner fills the air around you, and Zach goes back into his washroom to wear his clothes.

"Oh would you like to hit the grocery store with me? I noticed you're out of some vegetables and other stuff," he asks as he comes out of the washroom.

You nod at his words and quickly finish up the vacuuming of his room. Soon you both leave for the grocery store.

You take a cart and push it around the store as Zach brings items to put in the cart. You spot some items you have never even thought of adding to your food before. Zach is quick to pile up the cart.

"You know you're hundred percent responsible for all the food bills of our house," you say, half joking.

"Oh yes don't worry about that," he says seriously, as he bends down to a lower shelf to get some sort of special sauce.

When the cart is pretty much filled to the brim, you both reach the self check out station. You stand at the side and Zach starts to bill in all he has bought, and just as he said, every single penny for the groceries came out so his pocket.

When Zach has put all the bought items in the bags, you go ahead to pick one but he stops you.

"Don't worry about it, I'll handle it," he says, picking both of the clearly heavy bags with ease. You try to say something, but you realise quick that there actually isn't a point to say anything; what he wants his way, is going to happen his way.

You follow him out to his car.

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

It's been just over a week since Zach moved in with you, and you've got to say, you've adjusted way too quickly than you thought you would. Every plan you make, every task you set, seems to always align perfectly with his own, which allows you both to do your own things in your own perfect harmony. He even helped you with your loading bills of the month, even though it was initially decided he would start taking his financial duties from the first of the upcoming month.

Every morning you wake up to the most perfect breakfast you can dream of, and Zach gets to come back from university to a spotless home. You both usually carpool and save a lot on gas money, which has started to make an effective change to your savings.

Zach's home cooked meals are out of this planet, and you don't remember what's the last time you ordered take-out. Everytime you crave something, Zach will make it at home, and you'll be left completely surprised with how it tastes even better than the take-out.

Zach loves to try new things almost each week, and you're now his personal taste tester (as he likes to call it), or his personal guinea pig (as you like to call it, because you think he's experimenting on you).

"You can so easily sneak poison into any of your dishes and bam, no one will ever know," you joke from your position in your living room, as Zach is in the kitchen whipping up something.

You hear him laugh from the kitchen, and you shake your head with a smile as you focus back on the book you're reading.

Suddenly he comes running out of the kitchen to you, with a ladle in his hand. Before you can question him about anything, he basically shoves it in your mouth.

"How is it? Too spicy? Too salty? I think it needs just a dash of cumin but I'm not sure if it needs cumin or maybe some, I don't know, paprika? Fenugreek seeds? I just, I cannot think-"

"It's perfect," you whisper, as you feel the earthy broth go down your throat, spreading the most beautiful symphony of flavors in your mouth.

Zach stops his rant and looks at you with his eyes wide. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes I am!" You say excitedly, as you get up and push him towards the kitchen. "This is absolutely perfect," you look at the pot full of the broth kept on a low simmer. You take the ladle from him and scoop some more broth from the pot and move it closer to him.

He gently sips onto it and closes his eyes for a moment. "It is perfect," he whispers, taking the ladle from you. You nod with a big grin on your face as you watch him add some coriander on top to garnish and close the lid.

↶ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊˎ-

TAGLIST: @runningfrom2am @saccharinesammie @maybankslover @totalswag @madelynie @chenslucy @ietss @elle-mp3 @viawritesstuff @wallsdreams @tahliac11 @sadfury @newsies-pape-girl @jamesbuckybarneswify @xxxlaura @thatsthewaythechrissycrumbles

(let me know if you'd like to be tagged in the future parts!)

#zach maclaren #zach maclaren imagine #zach maclaren x reader #zach maclaren fluff #zach maclaren fic #zach maclaren x gender neutral reader #zach maclaren x you #zach maclaren x yn #zach maclaren fanfic #zach maclaren x y/n #zach maclaren oneshot #zach maclaren fanfiction #the other zoey #written by edith! 🪄#edith answers! 🪄#drew starkey

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jamisonwritestf2trash · 7 months

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What sort of jobs do you think the mercs would have if they weren't, y'know, mercs?

What Would The TF2 Mercs Jobs Be If They Weren't Mercenaries?

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Ough, I love this. It's a very cool suggestion, Anon. Thank you for asking! I've thought about this a couple of times, and I'm glad to get a chance to rant >:)

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Demo would get into pyrotechnics for a while, (shocker I know, but bare with me) he'd find himself setting up fireworks shows, making fireworks, teaching safety courses and all that fun stuff, but I don't think he'd be fulfilled in the same way being a merc would. He'd find himself being bored with the monotony of it all, only doing it for the money. After a while of this he'd finally just say fuck it, and try and look for other work opportunities, found an animal shelter in desperate need of new hires, submitted his application, and with in two weeks had become absolutely enthralled with his new job. He finds out he loves working with animals! He makes friends with every animal in the shelter right away, and gets a good chunk of them adopted each year or so.

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Engie would have most likely gone on to become a very successful engineer. Shocker, I know. He would have probably specialized in biomedical engineering. I think he'd go in with no particular job in mind, but then would be introduced into the idea of building prosthetics and become a prosthetist. He likes being able to help people with his creations. (MINI HEACANON / STORY) The first time he ever made a prosthetic was for a little kid who lost his leg due to a car crash. He was super traumatized from the accident and refused to let anyone near him, Engie spent about a year working with the kid to, one be able to measure and fit him for his prosthetic, and two, to just make the kid smile and make him less scared. When the job was done the kid was so happy, grinning ear to ear, he hugged Engie and was literally crying out of joy, that's when Engie knew he loved his job 😭

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Heavy has a doctorate in Russian literature, so I'd assume he'd go into the teaching field with that as his specialty. He'd find a university in need of a professor and work with students to help them better themselves. He just likes being able to share his experiences and perspective with those who want to learn. Very much a "Tuesday's With Morrie" type of teacher. Will literally do anything for his students by the way. He love each year he spends teaching, also loves hearing from his students after they graduate. Really just wants to make an impact on peoples lives anyway he can. He'd probably end up being a writer if he couldn't go into teaching for some reason. He'd write fiction mainly, maybe some life experiences too, for the same reasons above.

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Medic would have found a way to get his medical license back, legally or illegally (most likely the latter). And went on to continue practicing medicine, most likely in a country with more lax laws on human experimentation. If that failed, the local morgue is always hiring graveyard shifts, and when no one really cares too much about what happens to the corpses, Medic would find ways to keep himself very entertained. I also think he could be content working as a librarian! I don't know, like the gap between librarian and doctor is huge but I can just imagine him and Archimedes running a little library together, (Kind of like uh Blue and Linda from Rio, I'm really pulling out random media this prompt, 😭) I just feel like even though he's batshit insane nine times out of ten he can still enjoy a quiet, peaceful life if he wanted too. Probably still does a bit medical stuff on the side though, you just can't stop him.

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Scout is another case of me being unsurprising. He'd be a baseball star. It's really a toss-up on whether he gets super famous or just enjoys quiet success. If he's super famous you bet he's signing contracts for advertisements and other things you'd expect multimillionaires to be doing (He'd also be so thrilled to be a multimillionaire he'd be giving his mom her dream life) and just generally enjoying the fame. If he didn't make it into the big leagues, he'd still be successful in minor leagues. I'll even go as far as to say that even if he didn't make it big or even semi big, he'd become a coach little league/ high school /college and love it. Honestly, he would cry if one of the kids he coached went pro one day. (Maybe a Twitch streamer would also fit, but that's silly, right?)

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Sniper has always been into wildlife photography. He absolutely loves animals. He's naturally good at photography. I think him having good aim and a steady hand are a mix of a natural talent and years of training. His years of training would have just gone into photography instead of, you know. He gets very good very quickly, takes pictures you'd see hung up as decoration pieces, and definitely had a fair share of curious animals wandering up to him to check out his work. For a guy who loves animals, he's living the dream. Haz had a few less than steller run-ins during his time, but generally appreciates being able to enjoy nature and animals as part of his job.

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Spy being an actor would come naturally for him. He's great at switching his style, mood, character, etc. So he'd naturally be interested in a job where that skill would be valuable, then he finds out about how much money he can make off of acting and just goes straight in. I think he would end up being a really popular actor, people liking him in almost any role he plays, and would generally have little to no hater or bad press. He loves going over every new script and building up his character in his mind, then giving them a place off the page. He also loves going to fancy parties, so... Also, the first time he got a bad/negative review or comment on his acting, he cried lmao.

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Soldier would so be a historian. Like, hands down, only job I think he could have outside of being a merc. He can rant for hours about American history and knows so much about other countries too due to their involvement with America and a general curiosity, that he'd be a perfect to teach about history in museums, classrooms, or even just uploading videos online. Just put someone who needs to learn about history of any kind in front of him, and they'll learn more in the time with him than they ever have. Also! I'm not sure what these people are called, and I'm way too tired to look it up, but I think that Soldier would help new immigrants with leaning English and with getting their citizenship. Solider would also help refugees. Also also, he'd hold support groups for veterans.

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Pyro is normally headcanoned as a fire fighter or ex-fire fighter I'm pretty sure, but I think it's easy to forget that while Pyro likes fire, they like making firsvl, you know what else they like? Making art! So naturally, being a glassblower would be a great fit for Pyro. They love the job! The molten glass is mesmerizing to them. The artistic freedom is liberating. It's all just so great to them. They make a lot of flame themed pieces that and animal themed pieces. They mainly do pieces and sell them at markets instead of taking commissions for them. They're super happy with this life and have multiple pieces of their work displayed in their home. They sometimes get this feeling of missing something, like a vague memory, but they just continue to make new art to fix that, but oddly enough, they end up reminding them more of those distant memories. I wonder what that's about.

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I swore I'd get this out today, and I held myself to that, even though I almost passed out. (Not me posting this 5 minutes to midnight lmao) I only had three paragraphs left, and I was not giving up on them. I swear I'm trying to get better at consistency 😭

Anyways enough of that, I hope you enjoyed this! I had fun writing it. Trying to come up with different jobs for them is both really fun and oddly difficult. Anyways! The schedule for new posts will hopefully go as follows:

Mercs favorite books

Medic and Creepypasta

How the Mercs would react to a close teammates death

(Then any asks that come in would follow!)

So yeah! Busy weekend, but I'm not complaining:D

#tf2 #team fortress 2 #tf2 headcanons #team fortress headcanons #tf2 hcs #tf2 demoman #tf2 engineer #tf2 heavy #tf2 medic #tf2 scout #tf2 sniper #tf2 spy #tf2 soldier #tf2 pyro

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unluckyknight-21 · 3 months

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i've decided that the Good Place is real.

I finally know the answer to the question that has been asked since the dawn of man or at least since Greek philosophers have been making people think about stuff. ("Plato", f**king nerd).

The question in question is: "What happens when we die?".

The answer is: It's on Netflix in the form of a series called: "The Good Place".

For those who don't know, 'The Good Place' is a hit American comedy-fantasy series created by Michael Schur, It aired between 2018 to 2020 on NBC.

(⚠️SPOILER WARING⚠️: For those who haven't watched 'The Good Place')

The show revolves around 4 humans who've died and went onto the "Good Place" or so they think, they soon find out that they're actually in the "Bad Place" and they've actually been partnered together by a demon in a perfectly designed experimental 'hell' so that they can torture and make each other miserable for eternity.

But to the surprise of everyone in the Bad Place, the 4 humans actually helped each other be better than they ever were on earth, the demon in charge of them would try to wipe their memories and restart the experiment but the 4 humans would always find each other, become better by helping each other and outsmart the demons.

It became such an inconvenience that the main demon eventually gives up and teams up with the humans to try and get them into the real Good Place but then we find out that there is something wrong with the system of how people are judged when they die.

THAT'S where my religious girlfriend (God bless her or whoever is up there) got kind of sketchy about the show because her religious worldview couldn't accept that "Heaven" was flawed.

And I can understand that because most religious people, no matter what religion, would find it hard to believe that there is something wrong with the afterlife, the very thing that they've been told their entire lives they will go to after they die.

First of, the afterlife is the most mysterious thing that humans believe in because no one knows where or what it is, even Shakespeare made a whole speech thing about it because being a white guy during the 1500's he had the privilege of thinking about death while others were too busy being either poor or slaves and I have a feeling that they didn't enjoy it.

And secondly, Being humans, we couldn't handle not understanding something, so we created different versions of the afterlife using religions, but every religion had the same rules: Follow a certain way of life and be good so that when you die, you will be granted eternal happiness.

And that was the flaw in 'The Good Place', the protagonists in the show discovered that the rules to get into heaven were too broad, life on earth became too complicated because when you try to do good, you are setting off a chain of events that causes misery for others without even knowing it and that makes it impossible to earn enough "afterlife good points".

And so what do our protagonists do? They fix the afterlife, they make it so that no matter how you live your life on earth, when you die, you will get into a specifically designed hell that will test you until you become the best version of you and, only then, will you get into the 'Good Place'.

And it doesn't stop there, after you've had your eternity of fun, pleasurable bliss and you finally feel at peace, you actually have the choice to leave paradise and become one with the universe.

That to me is the definition of a perfect afterlife and is the reason why I've decided that the Good Place's version of the afterlife is what will actually happen when I die.

Now you might be thinking: "Wow, that is denial on a whole new level, I can't believe this guy is not just handsome but is he is also so scared of not knowing what happens when we die that he chooses to believe that the made up heaven of some tv show is the real heaven AND he's also handsome".

Well, I say to you, thank you, I am handsome but also, just like what my college professor told the dean why he has liking all the bikini pictures of my female classmate on Instagram: "Let me explain".

You have to remember one thing: All versions of heaven are made up.

That's the point I've been trying to make since the start, humans couldn't handle not knowing what happens when we die so we created religions, created rules into getting to heaven.

AND to a horrible extent, some of us created cults so that people will give them money to tell them that they're getting into heaven and that is simply despicable.

I'm not pointing fingers at any religion, although, when I mentioned money-grabbing cults what was the first one you thought of? And why was it 'Scientology'?

And if you're filipino, just like me, you know which one I am thinking of.

That is my problem with religion, they instill fear and guilt to their followers to keep them subservient and they wage war to anyone who thinks otherwise, but enough about christianity.

Meanwhile, in the "rules" of the Good Place, you simply need to do one thing to get into heaven: Be Good.

Be good to yourself, be good to others and put out good into the world. No subscription or body count needed.

I'm not saying that other religions scriptures/bibles/teachings tell their followers otherwise, I truly believe that they are no bad religions, just bad people. True good people, use their religion to impart good onto others and I believe that even without they're religion they will still be good. Good people are just that.

And then comes along this little comedy show, tells me that I need only to be good to get into heaven? Umm...yes please!

But if you think: "Then that means you're just being good because you want to get into heaven!", then what do you think religious people are doing? They're told to be good to get into heaven and if they don't? Eternal damnation. I don't know about you but that will definitely motivate me to be good.

But keep in mind that I don't really believe that the heaven in 'The Good Place' is real. Of course it isn't! it's just some comedy show that a white guy made, another Shakespeare situation if I ever saw one.

But I CHOOSE to believe it, just like any other religious person chose to believe their religion, because we're all scared of not knowing what will happen when we die so we cling to a belief that makes us feel safe.

Religion can be beautiful, I love seeing people become passionate about being good, I love when they dance and sing in choirs about how you should love others and spread happiness. God knows, I want to join in with Whoopi Goldberg and the other nuns in Sister Act when they were singing their hearts out, THAT is what heaven is all about.

But religion is flawed due to human error, divinity was defined by a humans a few thousand years ago and we've been suffering from it ever since. You want to tell me that God is perfect? Homer wrote in the Odyssey that Zeus turns into a swan to have sex with women. That's not perfect, that's means Homer had a furry kink.

The Good Place, isn't perfect either, especially in season 4 when some episodes definitely felt like they were just trying to run out the clock but it's message is, to not focus on what happens when we die.

My personal view on the afterlife is to not think about it too much. We spend so much of our lives trying to mold our life and our choices to align with the views of our designated religion or belief so that we get to be rewarded in the next life, when what we need to do is focus on the here and now.

To live your life on earth, the way you want it BUT also remember not to hurt others and even to put out some good out there in the world. Sounds unfair? It is.

But no matter how evil the world is, it's up to us to make it a little bit better for others and hope, just HOPE, that others will do the same thing.

And you might be saying: "Well, that's not how the world works" and the sad thing is you're right (Wow, bummer much?).

People will be bad, they will be selfish and they will choose to feel pleasure rather than suffer so that others would be happy, some greater than others, but yes, everyone will do that.

...I genuinely don't know what to write next.

I can't tell you things will be better when you do good because all of human history is against me, we try to do good, we wage wars, people die, the one's in charge learn a lesson, impose that others should be good, everyone forgets and then the cycle repeats.

"But what about technology, no more slaves and Captain Marvel movies?"

No, there's still slavery, human trafficking, sexual harassment, global warming and bad marvel movies. There will always be evil.

But there will also be good.

The cycle repeats not because people are always bad people but because there are always good people. And what 'The Good Place' also teaches us is that YOU can always be one of the good ones, as long as you try.

So why don't you get your phone (that was made by a child in some Chinese sweatshop), subscribe to Netflix (a streaming service owned by a billionaire) and watch the Good Place (a pretty forking good show) now.

#the good place #religion #the bad place #chidi anagonye #eleanor shellstrop #jason mendoza #tahani al jamil #religious beliefs #heaven and hell #theology #the meaning of life #michael schur #afterlife #the afterlife

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not-poignant · 4 months

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I remember reading some asks that when you were in Guardians fandom, people were always correcting some stuff too, that they though is wrong or smth. And I feel like especially after so long writing your own universes, those very "smart" anons are really annoying. I just hope that they won't suck any wind from benith your wings and you don't spend much energy on answers to their asks and that you know always know - your writing is your own and we are fucking blessed for reading it <3

Maybe I just have forgotten so that I can mostly remember the good things (haha) but aside from people always having a bone to pick with me calling Pitch's daughter Seraphina, Rise of the Guardians was generally pretty chill!

I think back then there were a lot more 'why are you depicting Bunnymund this way?' or 'Why are you making this choice?' which as open-ended questions I really don't mind answering!! Even when it's obvious that the person who's asking the question doesn't agree with my depiction, then I can explain myself, vs. someone just anonymously coming in to go 'hi you are wrong' when... I'm not O.o

Different fandoms have different feels to them, kind of like visiting different countries! DnD / FR as a fandom seems to have a pocket of vocal people who want to prove they know more than me about DnD / FR to which I'll just say - you all know more than me, you win, here's your trophy, now let me write my fic the way I want thanks and learn how to read tags/author's notes :D That being said, the folks who don't care about that shit and just want to enjoy Astarion being railed / living his best-worst life have been the BEST and I really enjoy how thoughtful they are and how cool their comments are. There's some super engaged folks in this fandom who have really great takes on things, and I enjoy that side of it a lot.

Rise of the Guardians was incredibly creative. Like, to this day, I know one fanartist who went to work at Dreamworks, one who does official art for Hearthstone and works for Blizzard (her dream - and I still have her fanart of Gwyn in my house!), plenty more who went on to become professional artists, comic writers, writers, animators etc. I think the visual art and style of that show attracted so many people who love art, which was fun. We also had antis, but whatever, I feel like every fandom has those if you're active in the fandom.

Stardew Valley is mostly very mild, because it's intermittently very quiet and there's so many different pairings, and I've always written rarepairs. Generally people who enjoy that game are pretty low-key, and they're some of the nicest folks I've met in like anon asks and in comments! Love SDV peeps and it's been a pleasure to come back to the fandom.

Dragon Age: Inquisition was... lol. Lol. Well, look, I made some amazing friends through that fandom who I still know today. It attracted actually a surprising amount of older fandom folks who brought a lot of knowledge about how to write fic, so the fandom is drenched in really good fic, really good art. There was a ton of fucking drama, and some of the most acephobic rhetoric I've ever seen came out of this fandom, including asexual block-lists where people hunted each other down on Tumblr with things like 'have you blocked this person yet they're asexual' in anon. So like... DAI was a RIDE. The people I met in that fandom as friends I'll treasure. The actual fandom itself was a trash-fire depending on where you were. There were definitely a couple of BNFs in this fandom who made it their job to just hate other people, especially if they were ace and liked writing an ace Dorian Pavus. That was the first time I learned that blocking is good for the soul.

The Beast that Chose Its Own Bridle is a tiny fandom made of people who all love Felix and Mildmay very much :D

Detroit Become Human was a weird experience and it felt like a weird fandom. It was I think Korean or Japanese fanart that actually inspired Eversion, since that's where the first reverse!AU fanart (at least that I saw) began. But the comments could be weird, the anons were sometimes weird (not always, but sometimes! Especially in the beginning - and I just think first impressions really count lol), and I remember joining a Connor/Hank Discord where the most active folks were very quick to tell me how I should write my story, which was like - I like that they liked the story, but I've never had people try to show how much they like something by trying to change it into something they like more in quite that way before? I didn't really feel like staying in the fandom, tbh, it's extremely cliquey, especially all the folks that have like 400 names for the different versions of Connor, and it feels like it has a steep learning curve if you want to join the 'club.'

It was also the story where I had to do the most heavy lifting on BDSM education. Like, this fandom felt very BDSM naive *overall* - there's obviously exceptions, but I had to literally change how I was writing the story to explain more things than I normally would have done in a fic like that, because I was just getting so many 'why would Connor want to be humiliated during sex' anons and comments which was like okay, okay, let's actually do some 101 brochure stuff with this (the chapter where Connor calls Luuk and they talk about Connor liking being humiliated was not meant to be a whole chapter dslkfjas).

In fandoms like Thorki I could assume that the majority of readers would sort of get that even if it was a kink they didn't like - it was still just a kink that people can like and/or help others out with explanations. So it's possible D:BH skewed young and/or just not BDSM experienced! Which is fine! It's just I've noticed it here the most of all the fandoms I've been in. There were folks who knew kink really well who didn't need any explanations there at all, because I tend to over-explain a character's reasoning at the best of times, but yeah.

These are all like... deeply personal experiences influenced by the pairings I'm writing and how deeply I'm going into each fandom! I was tag-tracking in RotG / D:BH / DA:I, so I saw a lot more stuff, I think.

There's other fandoms I've been a part of but not really written for much or at all, like Thorki (love it there) and Sebaciel re: Black Butler (love it there too, but we lose a lot of writers because of antis), and also Murderbot (really weirdly cliquey in a 'oh... I see' kind of way, which might explain why a small pocket of people are writing most of the fics - because they're the only ones allowed in their Discord lol). Murderbot fandom is why I didn't end up writing Murderbot fanfiction sdalkfjdsa

Anyway, fandoms are weird, personal spaces that should be heavily curated! But I can't stop anons coming into my inbox with certain 'flavours' of question per fandom unless I turn off anon and honestly where would be the fun of that :D :D :D

#asks and answers #personal #pia on fandom #DA:I was vicious because i remember realising i was ace at the time #so it was a pretty damaging fandom to be in #some of my favourite fanartists and writers got blacklisted #because they were ace + had written ace-spec Dorian Pavus #and my god the amount of cis gays who were like 'that's homophobia' while simultaneously #spouting the most acephobic shit you can imagine #was wild

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hlficlibrary · 2 years

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✤ ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP ✤

A series of posts with the top five fics of each category by kudos plus five more hidden gems from that category! Remember to leave kudos and a comment on the fics you enjoyed to show your appreciation! You can find our other recs here.

- Top 5 Established Relationship H/L Fics -

1️⃣ Hands Clasped Tight by @afirethatcannotdie [E, 44k]

“What am I looking at here?” Harry asks.

“This, my friends, is a ‘proof’ Instagram account, run by your students,” Liam announces.

“It’s got all this stuff about how the two of you are together,” Niall adds.

“I heard about that,” says one of the math teachers. “Confiscated a kid’s phone today when they were looking at it. I have to say, the evidence that you’re dating is pretty damning.”

“Really,” Louis says dryly. “Do you think being married for three years might have something to do with it?”

Or the one where Harry and Louis are high school teachers and their students have been playing matchmaker for over a year. Little do they know, Harry and Louis are already married.

2️⃣ If You Asked Me If I Love Him (I'd Lie) by allyasavedtheday [M, 26k]

So Harry and Louis might have fucked up.

The day of their wedding was the single most perfect moment of Louis’ life and every single day since where he’s been able to call Harry his husband has been nothing short of bliss. There’s just one teeny, tiny problem…

Their families don’t know they’re married.

Or the one where Harry and Louis eloped but neglected to mention it to anyone. Meanwhile Lottie is getting married and the only way for them to not steal her thunder is by pretending they're just friends for the weekend. Featuring Harry and Louis as terrible liars who don't know the meaning of the word platonic and some Tomlinsons and Styles's who definitely don't believe them.

3️⃣ Forever, Uninterrupted by sparkk [E, 8k]

Harry finds a mysterious picture in Louis' bag one night and drives himself crazy over it. It's definitely not what he thinks.

An excuse to write Harry in rut, because there's already so many heat fics out there.

4️⃣ til you get what you want by @eleadore [E, 5k]

Sometimes Harry is still too big for Louis to take. He wants him anyway.

5️⃣ love to make him moan by say_thanks [E, 8k]

they fuck like they're sex starved, when they're really, really not.

- Hidden Gems -

💎 Swallow My Words by YesIsAWorld / @louandhazaf [T, 32k]

Senior year is stressful. On top of balancing school work, family, and friends, Harry's lacrosse team is vying to win the state championship, he's not sure where he's going to college yet, and he has a secret boyfriend that no one can know about.

💎 You Were Mine by @brightlyharry [E, 20k]

Harry and Louis hardly speak to each other unless they're fighting. Harry has ran out of ways to try to repair their broken marriage and Louis can't be bothered to even try. When the loneliness becomes too much, he joins a new social media app. It doesn't take him long to make a new friend on there that helps pull him out of his solitary hell. The more they talk, the more Harry finds comfort in his anonymous friend. He is smiling and laughing again for the first time in months.

He soon discovers that Louis is smiling again too, and it's not because of him.

💎 Dance Me (to the End of Love) by phdmama / @phd-mama [E, 19k]

You would think that it's a simple process - you meet, you fall in love, you get married. But when you add one lawyer and one overly-competitive high school teacher to that equation, it's no longer a straight line from beginning to end. Or the story of how a simple proposal becomes a competition where no one loses in the end.

💎 You're A Universe by Jiksa / @jiksax [E, 15k]

Harry doesn’t ever mean to hurt him; Louis doesn’t know how to tell him that it’s the only thing he ever does anymore. Or, Louis’s a stay-at-home dad in London and Harry’s a business expat in Qatar. Louis doesn’t know how much longer their marriage can survive the distance.

💎 Gonna Dress You Up In My Love by @fallinglikethis [T, 3k]

Harry decides to take up knitting. He's horrible at it. Louis wears everything anyway.

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cyborb · 4 months

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there have been some asks sitting unanswered in my inbox for an embarrassingly long time so I'm just going to go through and answer a bunch of them at once haha.

Sada and Turo / Paldea

now that the dlc is out I can play around with my own version of paldea's story and the professors (that I may or may not actually talk about), but they won't be in the rainbow rocket stuff with supersymmetry. "officially" at least. maybe I'll draw something for fun, but I don't intend them to actually be in rr like the rest. they're more interesting to me within the story of paldea, especially with the ai aspects and ... other things going on there.

but to the anons who sent me these: those ideas are cool and honestly you should pursue them yourself!

Lusamine

absolutely yes. in the base universe, her "unification" with nihilego kills her pretty quickly. iota lusamine is luckier since her nihilego seems to prefer keeping her around for longer. slow-acting vs fast-acting poisons, I suppose. by the time lusamine is picked up by rr, it's been about 6 months since she became jellyfish. who knows how much time she has left but her mental (and physical) state will continue to deteriorate along the way. an unsurprising consequence of willingly jumping into the mouth of a parasite

possibly? I haven't given that much thought tbh. considering lillie and guzma's proximity to lusamine when she goes motherbeast, they'd both be lucky to make it out alive hahaha. but I could see all three of them trying to help people and pokemon in the UB-overrun world too

honestly, no clue. I don't even think she knows, and she definitely doesn't care. who needs regular pokemon when she's got ultra beasts now! if lillie is still around she might have taken in a few of them herself though.

Other AU stuff

I've actually made a post about team galactic here!

one fun fact about each of them:

maria/mars is giovanni and ariana's first child, and she ran from her home in kanto when she was 16 to become a pokemon trainer and get away from her parents. sorry silver (she hasn't contacted him in a while).

juno/jupiter makes traditional (hisuian) style pokeballs as a hobby despite the fact that they absolutely are not practical to actually use anymore. but they look nice

sterling/saturn helps run the in-universe equivalent of pokemon showdown because he's a nerd. he enjoys simulated battles more than the real thing most of the time

great news: the rainbow rocket invasion all his fault!

by that I mean the choice of the base universe for invasion wasn't entirely arbitrary; rainbow rocket didn't just Show Up and hope this universe had what they wanted. beforehand, someone from rainbow rocket (either giovanni or archer, maybe even colress) scouted things out, and approached faba for information about the general state of the world and necrozma in particular. faba essentially sells out the universe (and aether's work with necrozma) in exchange for the promise of power and whatever tantalizing rewards the rr emissary offers haha. it's possible some of this involves planting a device to let rr come back to the right universe when ready too. what faba is up to when everything is going down in rr is not something that I've thought about, but he definitely gets found out for his actions leading up to it. oops!

unfortunately probably not. the rr stuff is happening on the other side of the planet and I can't think of a situation which might result in them getting to meet up. I'm not enough of an expert on the two of them to say how such a meeting would play out either, but it would definitely be... interesting considering their own universe's version of the other person has been dead for several years.

rose would probably be the least upset about it but cyrus wins the award for most upset (he has control issues). lysandre absolutely would have the most violent response to it though

Compliments

while I'm not going to share the collection of complimentary messages I've gotten over time, I want everyone to know that I really appreciate hearing that you enjoy my ideas and art! it's encouraging and I'm glad people like my pokemon playground hahaha. and that applies to tags too! it's always great to see... I don't always get around to actually answering the stuff in my inbox (whether it's actual questions or otherwise) but rest assured I do see it!

#not art #asks #rr supersymmetry

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glassautomaton · 8 months

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Hello Glass! For my question, I've been thinking about Iris and Lily lately. You've talked about them sharing a body in your sandbox, and I was just wondering how that would work? Is it sort've like Lily is looking over Iris's shoulder, and Iris can hear her? Does Lily have some control over what Iris does? I really enjoy symbiote's and stuff (so characters like Venom and Eddie, Crona and Ragnarok) so this caught my interest!

This is going to be a spoiler and I'm probably not going to explain it as well here as I could in a tale setting all this up, but I'll give you a rundown. Also includes a bit of a related lore dump just for context.

There are three types/tiers of shared consciousnesses, which fall on a scale of how much of a sense of individuality remains in them.

Hive Minds - Members of a hive mind 'share' a certain aspect of their consciousnesses while still each maintaining an individual ego. You can think of this as always being able to read each other's minds or something like that. Individual cases are all a bit different, but that's the gist.

Egregores - Egregores are comprised of several consciousnesses that have ceased to be individuals. There's no line where one person ends and another begins, they all bleed into each other. As such, their existence tends to be rather horrific and agonizing and they're generally unpredictable, although, again, there are exceptions.

Gestalts - These are singular egos borne of several consciousnesses. In some cases, the circumstances of their creation make them anomalous, but in others, Gestalts are largely indistinguishable from normal humans.

As you might have guessed, these can bleed into one another. Hive minds can become egregores if the individuals making it up don't have strong perceived boundaries, like, for instance, if there are more consciousnesses than bodies. Egregores will then usually stabilize into gestalts.

All this is to say that the Lily/Iris situation is a hive mind, not an egregore. Lily is smart enough to know all of what I explained, and therefore doesn't exert any level of control over Iris' body as that's a good way to have your consciousnesses lose their boundaries. The two share memories and qualia, which includes Lily's absurd information processing capabilities.

In The Department of Humanoid Risk Assessment I wrote that "Infovores often exhibit the capabilities of reality benders and warpers, and this form of informational processing can occasionally augment those abilities." This was largely there to set up the Lily/Iris situation. I headcanon that aside from psychological blocks, the reason Iris needs photos to do what she does is because photographs hold visual information. Since Lily, who's a special case among the special cases of infovores, can work in tandem with Iris for information processing and exchange, that'll interact with Iris' anomaly in a fun way.

As for even more spoilers, because why stop now, Lily more or less has total control over her home universe/timeline/whatever, which includes SCP-2000, and all its cloning devices. Which means making another body is trivial to her.

#scp #asks #devils advocate scp #scp 105 #scp 3002 #Woohoo finally got to post about the hive mind distinctions

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zyrafowe-sny · 9 months

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oh I have some questions if you're taking!

11: Link your three favorite fics right now

45: Do you want to break your readers‘ heart or make them laugh?

70: When asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

Thanks so much for the ask! Asks come from this post.

11: Link your three favorite fics right now

This is so hard. There are so many good fanfics out there.

I will always love @sercezgazety's/theprincessofdenial's A Potter's Field. It was written before For the Future aired, and is a darker look at how post-Belos life and political restructuring/lustration could look like, particularly for the former Golden Guard. I appreciate how the story is also told/supplemented through other media (like archaeological field notes), and the whole fic matches my academic interests pretty closely (studied anthro, politics, Eastern Europe, democratization, etc. once upon a time). Full disclosure: I did beta read it and was generally a chapter or two ahead of other readers, so that made the comment section even more fun. In general, I highly recommend the comment section of all theprincessofdenial's fics in addition to the fics themselves.

After a long stretch of being most interested in genfic (especially in the TOH fandom), Nimona has gotten me into shippy stuff again. I'm enjoying @peachblossom-odyssey's/LiterallyThePresident's how familiar the danger series because it's an interesting concept for an AU (Ballister doesn't become a knight), the universe is dark/gritty, and all the Ballister/Ambrosius interactions are fire.

I also really like @thegrimshapeofyoursmile's Strange Infatuations series since I am a sucker for worldbuilding, especially worldbuilding based on research.

45: Do you want to break your readers‘ heart or make them laugh?

Both? One of my favorite books - Under the Whispering Door - made me cry actual tears and laugh out loud, so that kind of emotional rollercoaster is something I aspire to.

A good chunk of my writing falls into bittersweet, but even my "funny" fics like World's Best Turkey Carver and LuluRoe include nods at grief. My most angsty fics tend to be short and follow canon closely - I haven't invented much new angst for the blorbos.

I'm a little proud that I get this kind of range of comments across my fics (yes, I re-read comments as a pick-me-up and cherish each and every one):

"I don't know if i should laugh or cry ahdjshjd"

"Thank you for making me look like an idiot in front of my roommate! I laughed way too hard at that part."

"Aaaaahhh this hurt. This hurt me. Akkskssmzndkdk"

"This gave me such a quiet, sweet little heartache."

"I want to cry but I'm in a public place"

"I love this so much! Though you will be paying my therapy bills"

"It took me over an hour to finish reading this fic because I kept laughing so hard kdnfjskdkfmdkdkfjdk Oh my god, I had like twenty different giggling fits."

70: When asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

It wasn't until after I posted my third TOH fic that I confessed to my long-term partner that I was writing again and shared my AO3 username. There's just something about writing that exposes a bit of your soul, and having my writing connected to me as a person can feel mortifying.

I have mentioned to a few people that I write fanfic without linking to my work, and that's been easier (sometimes to friends/acquaintances who are also in fandom spaces, sometimes to my real life professional writer friends/acquaintances in a "I am but a humble amateur but still can relate somewhat to your writing vent post/your messed up Google algorithm" sort of way).

Basically, I don't consider amateur writing (fanfic or otherwise) embarrassing, but am more personally shy about sharing what I write with people who know me in real life.

#thanks for the ask!#ask game #fanfic #sometimes I write

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little-bunny-with-purple-stinger · 14 days

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I just watched Kung Fu Panda 4, and I feel that it was so close to being a really good movie with a satisfying end to the series, but there were just too many little things holding it back, as well as some inconsistencies during the movie that made no sense for why some characters should've been where they were at certain times and it just felt slightly rushed and a touch too compressed, especially near the end of it all. I'm fine with the idea of passing on the title of Dragon Warrior and stuff, but I feel that it could've been handled better. But you best bet I am agreeing with anyone who says that Li and Mr. Ping are a couple and have gone on at least one date where they kept fumbling around, but that's not why I'm here. The Chameleon. Great design. Great power. Brilliant visuals. But not being able to get into any Kung Fu schools because she's too small? Then what's this little green stick bug here for then?! And this fangless snake that everyone kept making fun of? Or the bird built like a twig?! Literally Tigress is the only one who was really strong from the get go and fit the description The Chameleon was saying could be the only ones who could learn Kung Fu. And where was Oogway? Where was he when spirits kept getting yoinked? And shouldn't Kai be, like, not there? Like, I'm pretty sure he got turned into universe dust by Po, unless I remembered something wrong. Tai Lung was cool though, though I feel like his battle scene was a bit underwhelming for who he is. Made into disappointment when I realized that the lizards were still alive at the end of it. Like, Tai Lung doesn't show mercy. He's more than capable and has killed any who stood in the way of his goal. Of course, I am okay where at the end of the movie he accepted Po as being the right choice in the end. AND WHY ARE THE CRIME LORDS THERE?! THIS IMPLIES THAT THEY DIED AT SOME POINT, BUT WHY WOULD THE CHAMELEON BRING THEM BACK FOR THIS?! WHAT MANNER OF KUNG FU WOULD MAKE THAT WORTH IT?! And also, the thieves guild, what are they doing. They don't act like thieves except when showing that they are, in fact, supposed to be thieves. They're just a bunch of psychopaths that live in the sewers with how much they talk about and show how much they enjoy violence. I would've loved to see more interactions and reconciliations between Zhen(I only learned that was her name from the credits) and the pangolin dude(forgot his name). Like, that would've been so nice to see rather than "Hey there, we're going to kill you now" "Oh no, don't do that. Why kill now when you can do that later" "Oh, darn, you make a good point there. I shall leave you alone now and help you even though I want to kill you." Like, come on! The soundtrack was also kinda crazy at times, the last song felt really out of place with what was happening and the montage felt a touch unnecessary, which left a slightly bad taste in my mouth to wrap the movie up with. But for as much as I am complaining about it, it had a really solid concept and idea that was perfect for wrapping the series up. Po passing on the torch to someone else while becoming the new leader for his people, Zhen learning to trust and rely on another person was a beautiful thing to see that I feel was done pretty good. I loved the pangolin's design, and The Chameleon's transformation animations were so fluid and disturbing each time until the ultimate form one that felt kinda weird when you saw it moving and like just a dragon, but the Po form and execution was so scary and well done. And Mr. Ping and Li were a joy to watch bond and talk and bicker like a married couple(which they definitely are). Overall, it was so close to being a great movie with just too many small things bogging it down.

When I tried to talk to my brother about this we spent two hours complaining about the Project Monarch universe and how a lot of stuff that happens in it is dumb and how so many ideas and things are thrown out of the window. And where's Mothra? Where's my girl Mothera? Godzilla in that universe is nature's wrath, and apparently Mothera is supposed to be the nice part of nature or something like that it's been a while since I watched the movies okay, but like, where is she? I know she died or something, but a big part of what makes Mothera Mothera is that she is constantly being reborn, so where the freak is she?! My brother had a lot of other complaints that I forgot already, but I have to agree with him. The Monarch universe, while interesting concepts and other things that it started out with were good, has thrown far too many things out of the second story window and rewritten so many facets of itself and only ever implied, never saying or showing many things, implied so much that you would need a bulletin board to explain everything. And I only just learned tonight that there is an official Monarch series that has so much freaking stuff in it that explains so much that they never really advertised. And who is this angry red monkey playing with bones? I haven't yet seen the new Godzilla vs Kong movie, and I don't plan to, but who is he and why is he there?

AND WHERE IS MOTHERA?!

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Please let me know your thoughts and feelings in the comments and tags and whatever else I may not know of since I am still new to this land of Tumblair, and have a lovely rest of your day.

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beantothemax · 4 months

Note

Did not proofread! Enjoy the horrid au that has haunted my since spring of 2021. It genuinely helped me with my mental health but it's also horrible and weird and I don't know what came over my friend and I when we came up with it <3 it was also conceived over a 4 week period, we just kept piling stuff onto it. The Caellach x Valter part of this au is just the tip of the ice berg and there's so much more bs with the other Grado generals, some antagonists from fe6, 7, 13, 14 and also Silque from fesov. She's not an antagonist even in the slightest, I just was obsessed with her for a long time. I have not played fesov.

Vital information:

The mobile spinoff (fe heroes) takes place in a country called Askr. The idea is that each fe game is a seperate world but the FEH protag, Kiran, can summon them to Askr and use them in their army. It's just the in universe explanation for how it's a gacha game.

Also I am. so very sorry. for how ooc this is.

So it starts with Caellach finding out Valter and Linus (don't look him up, you'll get spoilers) had a fling a while ago. Caellach is homophobic so he goes around telling everyone else that Valter and Linus are gross and gay. The rest of the friend group (Grado generals and some other gba villains you don't know) are all queer though so they're just like "and? Idc".

Groups starts bullying Caellach for being a homophobe and it evolves into a joke that Caellach is just jealous of Linus cause he wanted to be with Valter.

Narcian (don't google him) gets the genius idea of offering Valter large amounts of money to date Caellach. Valter explains the situation to Caellach and they agree to fake date and split the money 50/50.

As all fake dating stories go, they end up falling love and just start real dating. Caellach also really really cares about Valter so he starts actively working to improve himself as a person cause he wants to be a good bf. Remember this for later.

Skip to 5 years later. I don't remember if it was 5 or 3. Valter and Caellach are happily married with some adopted kids and a cat called Minty. You don't need to know all of them, the important one is Marianne.

Joshua gets summoned to Askr. Caellach has had time to improve and become a better person, but for Joshua, Ismaire's death was only like a week ago.

Obviously Joshua he's pissed. He knows Caellach has become better but still absolutely despises him so he starts harassing him and basically just digging up a lot of old stuff.

This goes on for a while and stuff escalates until Caellach commits suicide. Valter does not deal with this well at all and ends up neglecting his kids and becoming an alcoholic.

As the oldest, Marianne ends up having to take care of the others, which creates a big rift between her and Valter.

Sothis, who has been here the whole time sorry I didn't mention her before, gets tired of seeing Valter like this and helps him fix his life. He tries repairing his relationship with his kids but it doesn't go very well.

Anyway more time passes and Valter makes a deal with Sothis. If she makes him immortal, he'll open an orphanage.

Reason for doing this: him and Caellach both had abusive parents (not in canon, this is a hc) so they had a dream of opening an orphanage to help kids who'd been hurt.

Valter has that orphanage for 10 000 years somehow. I don't know where the number 10 000 came from. At this point, he doesn't remember Caellach at all or why he opened the orphanage, but he's found someone else he trusts to take over it when he dies (Ninian) so he asks Sothis to kill him.

She does. He wakes up in the afterlife and remembers Caellach. They reunite :3 the end :3

Other stuff:

The cat Minty. Oh my GOSH Minty. The thing about her is that she can see ghosts and Valter can talk to animals (I can't for the life of me remember where that came from) so Valter would say something then Minty would say what Caellach's ghost responded with. Absolutely horrible method of communication. Minty also hates Valter a bit so she'd sometimes lie and say Caellach said something horrible.

Full list of kids adopted by Caellach and Valter: Marianne, Hector, Reginn, Rebecca, Raigh, Lugh and Chad. Do not look up the last four, you'll get spoilers for stuff. Anyway after a while, my friend and I kinda forgot about Hector, Reginn and Rebecca so they don't even really count anymore.

I think this fic is what was lying within from the far reaches of hell that made whoever read it go mad. ive observed truly forbidden information and now must live with it

gotta say imagining a fake dating plotline with valter and caellach is extremely funny to me. imagining any kind of ship trope with these two is funny to me actually because they’re just. they’re just them. I don’t have a better way to explain this sorry

#asks #pie-knight

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vincent-sinclair-deserved-better · 11 months

Note

HI CY! I have come with headcanon asks for thee

☆ - happy headcanon

♦ - quirks/hobbies headcanon

☮ - friendship headcanon

☼ - appearance headcanon

I'm interested in any/all the OCs you wanna answer this for!

it's been about three hundred years since you sent this but well

here we go this only includes the first two because. things may have escalated a little.

☆ - happy headcanon

Cylas loves singing and does so a lot while doing chores. Catch her doing the dishes while singing and dancing around. Or don't, because they are a little insecure - about their "dancing", at least. Also makes bomb-ass apple pie. And Slutty Brownies - and no, I did not come up with that name.

While Selena isn't big on socialising herself because it exhausts her, she does enjoy watching the rest of the family interact. The positive - albeit chaotic - energy makes her happy, even if she is only passively existing. Also doesn't mind being talked to/at, having her hair braided, or Baby putting make-up on her.

Candy loves spending time with her friends or the neighbourhood children. Or both. One thing most people who see her probably wouldn't expect is that she doesn't hesitate to get dirty (though she prefers to be prepared and wear appropriate clothes). No matter if it's going to the playground or down to the river - she's probably up for it. Would risk her life to keep the people she cares about safe.

When not at work or occupied with uni stuff, Taylor likes to spend time in the public library. It's an older building, fairly cool even in summer, and most other students go to the university library. On of their favourite activities, however, takes place on the weekend. Every Saturday is "board game day" - the library always has and rents out games, but Saturdays are the days most people have time, and with the help of some local businesses and volunteers it has become possible to provide snacks and drinks for visitors.

Esther is happiest when working in the gardens. She likes the children and work in the community center, but... being away from people can be nice at times. When she's home, she works on a quilt - not one to donate, but a special one, for herself. And her future husband. No matter what life throws at her, she is convinced that she will get her happy ending.

Alicia basically lives and breathes music. It was hard to get used to being out and around people, but she has realised that being in a club or a party and taking control of the music is her happy place. Another thing is that her friends basically have to expect mixtapes (or, for the more "modern" ones, CDs, memory sticks, or simply Spotify playlists).

Even though she usually does try to hide it, Cathryn is a softie. This side might not come out around strangers or people she dislikes, but especially around her family and Alicia she can be very physically affectionate. She also tries to avoid fights and is better at controlling her temper. One of her and her sister's first sewing projects ended up being fabric dolls, rather simple, and the seams were not the cleanest, but the dolls were finished. Cathryn and her sister exchanged the dolls, gifting them to the other so they'd always be together (symbolically), and both dolls still live with their assigned owner.

Rón actually quite enjoys friendships. Regular, platonic friendships. With most people being instinctively drawn to him it can be difficult to find people who really care about his personality and don't just want him sexually or romantically. Loves sleepovers. Pillow fights, popcorn, face masks, painting each other's nails - the whole thing. Some might argue that he's "too old" for that kind of stuff, but he doesn't care. Meanies don't get access to the pillow fort.

♦ - quirks/hobbies headcanon

Considering that they get lost in thoughts and daydreams easily, things such as chores or even just brushing their teeth can take Cylas longer than the average person. If a volume slider has numbers, it always must be on an even number. She loves making friendship bracelets and gifts in general, and also bakes a lot for people. Or maybe they bake because they want to and people just profit from the fact that she can’t eat everything on her own. Not every time at least.

Selena is quite nocturnal and tends to even read or sew in just moonlight – which usually earns her (gentle) criticism from Mama, saying that she’ll ruin her eyes that way. She also isn’t always the best with colours, or the “proper” combination of them. Baby helps her get dressed (or at least checks her choice of clothing), and some past artwork has made Otis cringe. But she is learning. Also, very sensitive to spicy food, or spices in general. At the convent they didn’t get any complex meals, maybe there’d be some herbs and salt, but everything else is new to her.

Candy has issues painting her fingernails. Usually, keeping her hands still isn’t a problem, regardless of whether it’s make-up, cooking, or art. She can even paint other people’s nails without any trouble. But when she does it for her own nails, a lot of nail polish ends up on her fingers as well. Usually, her mum, Charlie, or even Chester help her.

Even though Taylor’s notebooks look quite chaotic with loose sheets sticking out and random notes scribbled everywhere, their working spaces at home are neat and tidy (for the most part). If they get really into researching a specific topic or exams are coming up, there might be some books stacked up in unusual spaces, but they usually prefer some degree of order. They also have one specific mug they swear their tea tastes best out of. Sometimes when they travel or know they’ll be out for longer, they take the mug along. People always wonder how they manage to keep it from breaking.

Every year, Esther makes Easter bread and rolls, despite living alone, and uses her mum’s recipe. She left a whole book with handwritten recipes, collected and sometimes edited over decades. There even are some that were added, annotated, or slightly varied by the twins (mostly Rahab, though). She hasn’t had much to add herself so far, usually sticking with what she knows, but she is looking forward to learning new things from her future partner and family. She hates doing the dishes.

Initially, it was Jenny who’d always get hair dye, bleach, and dye Alicia’s hair. Eventually, she was able to buy the dye and bleach on her own, though she usually let someone help her with the whole process. But even then, she insisted on getting the same brand Jenny had used and still does. If the store doesn’t have the brand and it can’t be ordered, she’ll wait. Though at this point, she and Cathryn are always keeping some as a reserve.

Cathryn loves garlic bread. Yes, welcome to this universe where vampires can not only eat and enjoy normal food, but also aren’t bothered by garlic. And I think I mentioned this before, but this girl does not believe/realise how not-straight she sometimes looks. She could be wearing a rainbow suit, have “lesbian” written on her forehead, and be out with Alicia, but still deny looking particularly gay. Hates jogging or running because she gets bored easily.

Rón is very particular about his sea glass art, which pieces and colours he picks, what shape, etc. He knows that to people buying his things it probably wouldn’t matter, and they most likely wouldn’t even notice the tiny details he picks up on, but he needs to be satisfied with his creations. However, this can mean that a project will be left as a work-in-progress for weeks or even months while he is searching for the perfect piece. He also seems to have a strange relationship with or understanding of sea gulls. They never try to steal his food, and has never been shat on. Even if the very things happen to everyone around him.

@myers-meadow @bluecoolr @solmints-messyocdiary @ace-of-hearts-and-spades @visceravalentines @probably-a-plant-thing @rottent33th @the-pinstriped-hood @cyanide-latte @goldrose-star @devil-doll13 @shonkgobonk @darklylucid @slaasherslut @the-pinstriped-hood @house-of-slayterr @sketchbook-of-shadows

#cylas replies #rottent33th #friendo t33thy #about my ocs #ask game #oc asks #oc ref #cylas keir #selena firefly #candy walker #taylor green #esther burr #alicia #cathryn #rón robbe

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t3tr0m1n0 · 10 months

Text

the merlin-mars meetup. set somewhere within the broader hhvcd canon/multiverse/whatever we want to call it, and in a library. features very little foreboding content. keyword: mundane.

will be available to read on ao3 once they get their pussy-ass servers back, and just below the cut once you click on it. enjoy.

Merlin hopes they aren't taking up too much space in the isle as they pop the book open to read its inside cover. The other guy in the stacks is there, and that's about all xe can think to observe about him.

"…Fourth wall breaking…" shy almost unconsciously comments aloud, once finished reading the blurb. Their instincts will take them next to maybe flip it open to a random page or just put it back on the shelf, neither of these possibilities capable of rhyming or reasoning with the other, conflicting in time-static limbo until the stranger intercepts the present.

"Hey, um, I've read that book before. I liked it a lot. Do you want me to recommend it to you?" He might be speaking nervously, it's not like ze's ever been able to tell.

Merlin's mind tries working fast. "Sure." There you go. "Uh, I guess, start with the philosophy stuff?" Working the book back to being cover-open takes 2nd priority as ey speak. "Like what is there to this? This is nonfiction, so I guess it's a bunch of exposition, or…?" They leave that openness to their dialogue in the hopes that their meaning gets across.

He's quick to pick up the conversation, at least. "Oh, yeah, it's kind of a primer on the schools—the history of western philosophy."

"Not the eastern and the whatnot."

"Ha, yeah, more the stuff that started in ancient Greece."

"Yeah, I," hy takes a second to really get the words ready for execution, "I'm not familiar with philosophy much at all, but that doesn't mean I haven't had a debate in a forum before, at least."

Fingers crossed, he can breeze through the non sequitur and keep with the topic of conversation— it's what Merlin always hopes for, even though it feels like it has little reason to expect it from people.

"Yeah, well," he continues, "there's more to it, also. Because the book has sort of a main character, who interacts with a lot of the exposition-ing—"

"Expositing?" He ignores them.

"There's kind of a philosophical debate that happens about all the philosophical debate."

"Ah, well, nonfiction with a- a narrative character, I know that can happen. I've seen it before." It's really something of a nothing response, and also, again, one ze hopes he doesn't inquire towards.

"Yeah, because the main character has, I guess, her own opinions and her own life and things, that's where the 4th wall-messing with reality stuff comes in. It gets really weird."

Merlin thinks such a description seems a little incongruous with the picture of nonfiction text that exists in their head, and that's a good thing. "'Kay then. I think that was what was gonna get me to try out this book, if anything."

This may be the moment when xey become the dominator of this conversation. What an odd thing to reflect on; they continue, "So are you, like, a librarian, anyway? Do you work here, I mean." He laughs a bit. "I don't mean that in a bad way," ve follows up, just to be polite.

"No, but like— I am a librarian, I just don't work here." He comes off like he could live his entire life between these shelves.

"Oh."

"I work at one of the Universities of Maryland," he speaks on with a tone that's fully shaping up to be earnest.

"Out of state. I, uh, 'm also not from here— I'm from California."

He stays receptive. "Ah, well, if it were the case that we were both locals, then we could see each other again; you could tell me how you liked the book."

"Normal librarian and patron stuff." It meant for that to come out as a question. "Um, however, we could," Merlin shifts the book around in their hands, closing it, then pulls their drawstring back to the front, "well, okay, give me a sec— don't mind me."

Ze pushes on, backing out of the stacks and planting the bag & book firmly on the nearest table. Their modus operandi is to waste as little time as is necessary; as soon as a notebook is lifted from, they're flipping it open, grasping for a pencil from their pockets and talking again.

"This paper has stuff on it, but, eh, I don't mind. You have email, right?" Truly, xe pauses for a response, sparing a couple looks at him as xe rips out the leaf of paper.

"Ah, damn," ey mutter carelessly with it tearing unevenly.

"Yeah, okay. This has my email address on it. So you can get ahold of me."

He takes it with one hand and then trades it for the other's cane. "Oh, sounds good." Reading it before getting straight into the file compression & storage shows him the patient stranger is merlinenilrem @ inself.net.

If he were to keep up reading while he folds it, he'd get even more incomprehensible, self-justified things, but instead he chooses dialogue. "Sorry about making you take out a page from your notebook."

"Eh, no. I've got plenty. Notebooks, I mean."

"I'm Mars, by the way."

"Oh. And I'm Merlin. Good to know, uh, your name."

Mars nods, a soft affirmation. "So, I think I'm going to go back to looking for a book," he says in all good faith.

"Right," replies Merlin, "then I guess I'll get to reading this one."

A beat, so it's clear Mars & Merlin can't stop the other from going off on their own lives. "Thanks, by the way."

"No problem." Merlin doesn't see him exit and he's not exactly gone.

#prose for pun and profit #<- best writing tag #that i could come up with #hhvcd #i wanted to get some writing out before i left so enjoy folks #rbs encouraged & all at this point #merlin auernheimer #mars rodriguez

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spelled-like-pajamas · 4 months

Text

As a little New Years thing that I teased, here’s the books I read through out 2023, and some stuff about them. Hope you enjoy!

My Reviews of My 2023 Books:

The First to Die at the End:

A really good book! This probably isn't going to be as passionate as some other books as I'm writing this a good while after I finished it, but I genuinely loved it. Orion and Valnetino felt real, and their love more real. I loved all the other characters, and their side stories, especially Mateo’s & Rufus’s short cameo, and they fact that they almost became friends so much earlier in life. And sure, short cameo, but worth it. Only part that was a little weird is, well, I won't say what happened, but just say that once they reach home, it isn't as wholesome as it is when Mateo & Rufus get to his place.

Rating: 9/10

Favorite Quotes:

“Nope, it’s not” I say. “Valentino, if you want some motherfucking linguini, I’ll find you some motherfucking linguini”.

“Here's the truth no one ever wants to admit when death is on the horizon, or when you're deep in that grief—as long as you keep existing, you'll keep breathing, and if you're breathing, one day you'll start living again.”

“And I'll maybe even fall in love again, and I'll make sure I say it before it's too late.”

(okay, I liked it, sue me)

Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe:

I loved it. The story was something that wasn't too hard to follow, but always was able to keep my heart pacing. The narritve, the dialogue, the characters, it all was as perfect as the sun rise.

Score: 9/10

Favorite Quote: “Senior year. And then life. Maybe that's the way it worked. High

school was just a prologue to the real novel. Everybody got to write you--but when you graduated, you got to write yourselt. At graduation, you got to collect your teacher's pens and your parents pens and you got your own pen. And you could do all the writing. Yeah.

Wouldn't that be sweet?”

The Cartographers:

This was a book I picked for my birthday with no clue what it was about or anything, and overall, good book. A really nice story with good characters, creative writing, lots of twists, some you expect, others you don’t. Good book.

Score: 7/10

Favorite Quote(s):

“Maps are love letters written to times and places their makers had explored.”

“I hope the maps are good where you are.”

John Muir; Wilderness Essays:

So, this was a book that picked up at a bird reserve and caught my eye because I did a massive report on him in middle school, but never was able to read all of his works. But overall, good book. Definitely one either made for one who can go on with scientific books or pages that feel more like an advertisement or has a quiet room to read in. Definitely good book for any nature lover.

Score: 5/10

Favorite Quote(s):

“Scarce one note is for us; nevertheless, God be thanked for this blessed instrument hid beneath the feathers of a lark.”

“The earth has indeed become a sky; and the two cloudless skies, raying toward each other flower-beams and sunbeams, are fused & Congolese into one glowing heaven.”

“As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but Nature’s sources never fail. Like a generous host, she offers here brimming cups in endless variety, served in a grand hall, the sky its ceiling, the mountains its walls, decorated with glorious paintings and enveloped with bands of music ever playing. The petty discomforts that beset the awkward guest, the unskilled camper, are quickly forgotten, while all that is precious remains. Fears vanish as soon as one is fairly free in the wilderness.”

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: This book, unlike quite a few so far, was one not by random choice, but instead one I picked up as one of the best books according to Tumblr when I first joined, and I decided to give a try, and is by far the best mystery novel I have ever read and always kept me on my toes and kept me guessing every step of the way.

Score: 9/10

Quotes:

“You don't like the man you were. Very well. Be somebody else. There's nothing stopping you, not anymore. As I said, I envy you. The rest of us are stuck with out mistakes.”

“The butler was my father’s batman during the war. Seems Father's taken the insult rather personally.”

“Tomorrow can be whatever I want it to be, which means for the first time in decades, I can look forward to it. Instead of being something it can be a promise I make myself. A chance to be braver or kinder, to make what was wrong right. To be better than I am today. Every day after this one is a gift. I just have to keep walking until get there.”

The Knife of Never Letting Go:

Overall, an okay book. For a starter, since this book kinda just throws this at you and expects you to know, the book focuses around the idea that there is this town full of only men, and they can all hear each other’s thoughts, except this gets flipped on its head when the main character finds out that is different pretty much everywhere else, more or less. Again, not too many spoilers, this is meant to encourage you to read these. Anyways, good, kinda left it on a cliffhanger that felt poorly written, but okay.

Score: 6/10

Quotes:

“But if I had to imagine being on the sea, this is what I’d imagine. The herd surrounds us & takes up everything, leaving just the sky and us. It cuts around us like a current, sometimes noticing us but more idus ally noticing only itself and the song of “HERE”, which in the midst of it is so loud it’s like it’s taken over the running of yer body for a while, providing the energy to make yer heart beat and your lungs breathe.”

The Sun and the Star; A Nico di Angelo Adventure:

Much good book!! I honestly thought that Riordian had gotten cancelled and wasn’t writing any books, but a trip up to the bookstore proved me wrong. Anyways, bestest book. No spoilers, but it brought back just about everyone it could in a way that was perfect. Also, Will & Nico? MMMMMMM. (Is there a ship name? Sun & Star, maybe, or like Wico?). Anyways again, amazing book, best so far and probably ever, if you read any Percy Jackson at any point, finish all the rest and then get here.

Score: 10/10

Quotes:

“Will drew a shaky breath. His eyes were swimming with exhaustion. He worried that he’d finally done something that would make Nico realize they were simply, irreconcilably too different. “Yes?”

Nico didn’t seem to be able to talk at first. Then: “You are a legitimate demigod Care Bear.” Will’s top lip trembled. He fell to his knees. Then he bent over in loud raucous laughter until tears poured from his eyes. “You’re so weird.” Nico crawled over, pulled Will to him, and silenced his laughter with a tender kiss. “Please keep being my own personal Care Bear, though.” “Always,” said Will. And then he promptly passed out.

“Okay, okay, enough of your bisexual chaos for the moment.”

“Pain helps us learn,” said Gorgyra. “It is unfortunate, but we rarely forget the lessons taught to us in moments of pain.”

“He wanted to understand Nico, even the parts that seemed difficult or sad. All Nico needed was to be seen & heard by someone he cared for, and Will was making the effort. Will glowed next to the fire like one of the torches on Erebos. And it was hard even for Tartarus to stamp out that kind of hope.”

“Will had heard love described in so many dramatic, bizarre ways over the years, but no one had described it like this:

It’s like drifting down a river of pain and knowing you are safe. It’s like holding a person in your arms and realizing they are an interlocking piece of a puzzle you hadn’t known how to assemble. It’s like staring into a dark and treacherous expanse, unsure of what awaits you but finding comfort in the fact that you won’t have to face it alone. It was a son of Apollo falling for a son of Hades. It was this.”

The Mountain in the Sea:

An alright book. For a basic summary that spils not a whole lot, the story follows a scientist named Dr. Ha Nguyen, who gets called up by a company that says they may have found a species of octopus that is intelligent as us, and is accompanied by a grizzled war veteran and the worlds first true android. The reason it's lackluster is that very little interesting happens with them for most of the time, as well as two other side stories that seem to be not related for most of the book. However, it does all meet up together in the end, so not too bad.

Score: 6/10

Quotes:

“We see a level of tool use in the octopus that surpasses that of any birds or mammals other than humans. Consider the compound tool use of the Indonesian octopuses, who carry two discarded

coconut halves with them across the seafloor, stilt-walking with them underneath their bodies, then reassembling the halves to use as armor against predators. The coconuts, discarded by humans, are collected by the octopuses for this specific purpose.

While we see other animals use found objects for shelters and assemble compound objects (such as

nests), nowhere else do we see this level of sophisticated tool use in the animal kingdom. This cannot be dismissed as instinct. It is a learned behavior. When we try to reassemble the train of thought that must have gone into this, what else can

we do but admit we are looking at an animal whose curiosity, adventurousness, and sophistication areunparalleled in most of the animal world?”

“The world still contains miracles, despite everything that has been done to it.”

“Are we trapped, then, in the world our language makes for us, unable to see beyond the boundaries of it? I say we are not. Anyone who has watched their dog

dance its happiness in the sand and felt that joy themselves; anyone who has looked into a neighboring car and seen a driver there, lost in thought, and smiled and saw the image of themselves in that person, knows the way out of the

maze: Empathy. Identity with perspectives outside our own. The liberating, sympathetic vibrations of fellow feeling.

Only those incapable of empathy are truly caged.”

Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel:

HELLLL YESSSS! A book that I thought was lost to bookstores by time and only discoverable by Amazon, and was at my fingertips the whole time! Anyways, best book ever! For anyone who knows the podcast, it goes deeper into anything you want to know about the town, and for anyone who’s never heard of it (first off, shame on you but in a light way), it’s a great way to introduce it, as it works for both groups. Read it regardless, you interlopers, and ALL HAIL THE GLOW CLOUD.

Score: 10/10

Quotes:

“The search for truth takes us to dangerous places,” said Old Woman Josie. “Often it takes us to that most dangerous place: the library. You know who said that? No? George Washington did. Minutes before librarians are him.”

“The world is terrifying. It always is. But Cecil reminded her that it was okay to relax in a terrifying world.”

10.

Abraham Lincoln ; Vampire Hunter: An overall good book! I was promted to read it after seeing the trailer for the movie, and thought I should read the book before I see the movie. But regardless, the book contains good action, comedy and, of course, vampires. Anyone who likes goofy stories, history or horror should read this book.

Score: 9/10

Quotes:

“Judge us not equally, Abraham. We may all deserve hell, but some of us deserve it sooner than others.”

“I fear that a life of death has made me numb to both.”

11.

The Girl Who Could Move Shit With Her Mind:

I picked this book up simply because it’s not every day you walk into your local Barnes and Noble and see a book that just outright swears right to you (at least where I live, I've realized after writing this that it's probably pretty common). So of course I bought it, why not? It’s a good book with plenty of comedy, which gets balanced out by the murders and and stuff, with a great double twist at the end. The only issue I have with it, and maybe this was just my version, but I noticed a few times where it seemed like the proof reader skipped over something, but probably just me.

Score: 8/10

Quotes:

“Yeah, it’s been hard sometimes. Working under Moira Tanner sucks. And yeah, I’ll probably never own a restaurant. But I am never gonna stop trying because things can always get better. People are stupid, things go wrong, plans fall apart. Shit doesn’t work like your want it to. But there’s always a way out.”

“Oh, thank God. Someone to distract me from these two lovebirds.” “Please,” Annie says. “You’ve been playing Clash of Clans for the past ten minutes. You don’t even know we here.”

12.

Six of Crows: Hell yes! A book I had simply seen mentioned as a great book with no prior knowledge, and one that delivered it 110%! It’s the perfect mix of heist, fantasy, romance and real world bits that make it perfect! Hopefully back to the bookstore for the next! (Oh yeah, probably should have mentioned it’s a cliff hanger, but in the best of ways, but still brings it down just one point. Also, may this serve as a stamp in time before Wylan and Jesper become a thing, if that doesn’t happen, I’m going to scream.)

Score: 9/10

Quotes:

“Shame holds more value than coin ever can.”

“Kaz leaned back. “What’s the easiest way to steal a man’s wallet?”

“Knife to the throat?” asked Inej.

“Gun to the back?” said Jesper.

“Poison in his cup?” suggested Nina.

“You’re all horrible,” said Matthias.”

“Rollins held up his watch chain. A turnip was hanging from the fob where his diamond-studded timepiece should have been. “That little bastard—“ Then a thought came to him. He reached for his wallet. It was gone. So was his tie pin, the Kaelish coin pendant he wore for luck, and the gold buckles in his shoes. Rollins wondered if he should check the fillings in his teeth.”

13.

Crooked Kingdom: Hella good book! A sequel to “Six of Crows” for anyone who didn't know, it still delivers just as good the original, probably even better, tying every single story up perfectly, ending it just the way it needed to, with the same characters that made the first perfect and a few newer ones that help to make it even better. And yes, Wylan and Jesper (Wesper, beautiful) are a thing, that's the one thing I will spoil, because it is perfect, and even thought it was probably very easy to see, I called it! If youve read the first, read it, it does not disappoint, and if you haven't read the first, what are you doing?!?

Score: 10/10

Quotes:

“Where do you think the money went?” he repeated.

“Guns?” asked Jesper.

“Ships?” queried Inej.

“Bombs?” suggested Wylan.

“Political bribes?” offered Nina. They all looked at Matthias. “This is where you tell us how awful we are,” she whispered.

“You’re not weak because you can't read. You're weak because you're afraid of people seeing your weakness. You're letting shame decide who you are.”

“They don’t know who we are. Not really. They don’t know what we’ve done, what we’ve managed together.” Kaz rapped his cane on the ground. “So let’s go show them they picked the wrong damn fight.”

“Nina had grieved for her loss of power, for the connection she’d felt to the living world. She’s resented this shadow gift. It had seemed like a sham, a punishment. But surely as life connected everything, so did death. It was that endless, fast-running river. She’d dipped her fibers into its current, held the eddy of its power in her hand. She was the Queen of Mourning, and in its depths, she would never drown.”

“Jesper hugged his father tight. Remember this feeling, he told himself. Remember all you have to lose.”

14:

The Hexologists: A fantastic book! Basically covered all the bases for a great book, mysteries and detectives, dragons and wizards, romance and a sweet old gay couple, and one of the best twists ever, so a good book for everyone, as long you’re good with really lovey scenes.

Score: 8/10

Quotes:

“Seems the prince had quite a devoted batman,” she remarked to Warren, who stopped over an open binder at the desk’s elbow.”

“Do not neglect to live your life. No cause, no matter how noble, will ever love you.”

“I miss clouds! I miss lonesome clouds, wispy clouds, and all those fleets of white frigates with pregnant sails that would go coursing across the endless blue—warring, burning, sinking at sunset. I miss the clouds that looked like a freshly rolled field and the great placid mountains that presided over a morning—before turning volcanic in the afternoon. There nothing like that now. There’s just a ceiling. A terribly low ceiling and closed-in walls. It’s like we’re living inside a collapsed house.”

“That quality was part of what made him such a wonderful partner. Still, a large heart is not light. Even the most cherished burdens must sometimes be laid down.”

“War, I loved you right through that rug, past the floorboards, into the basement, under the foundation, straight down to the center of the earth. And I hope to see all of those things wear away as we grow old & our love stays young.”

“One nosy woman to another, is it satisfying—knowing all the secrets of the world? Is it enough? Are you content, or does the ever-swelling bubble of reality make fulfillment impossible? After all, every soul on the planet is out there right now, studiously making a mystery of their life. They’re lying, faking, pretending…Is it better to admit your limitations, to not only allow for, but to insist upon the necessity of the unknown? Is ignorance the basis of sanity? Do we need mysteries to survive?”

15.

Aristotle & Dante Discover Dive Into the Waters of the World:

A book that I didn’t do enough justice for with its prequel! (probably because I was still getting back into reading more). The book is beautiful, and has been one of the few things in a while that’s made me cry, both out of sadness, and out of love. Aristotle and Dante will forever hold a place in my heart, not just for the wonderful book it is, but how I use it now as a personal marker for what’s changed about me since I promised I was going to read 15 books, and hopefully 20 or more next year!

Score: 10/10 (Winner!)

Quotes:

“Oh, hell no,” said Dante. I loved that he brought so much laughter into what was once the pathetic-melancholy-boy thing I used to do all the time. And I wanted to kiss him.”

“But me, I’m a sin, right?”

“No, you’re not a sin. You’re a young man. You’re a human being.” And then she smiled at me. “And you’re my son.”

“I sometimes felt like I'd been asleep for a long time—and when I met Dante, I began to wake up, and I began seeing not only him but the mean and terrible and awesome world I lived in. The world was a scary place to live in, and it would always be scary—but you could learn not to be afraid. I guess I had to decide what was more real, the scary things or—or Dante. Dante, he was the most real thing in the world.”

"Has it ever occurred to you how painful all of this must be for Lina? Have you any idea or have you even considered what she must be going through right now? She's a good and decent woman. She's generous and she's kind. In a word, she possesses all the virtues that you lack. I have no idea why you think our faith is centered around condemning people."

“My mom and Mrs. Alvidrez—their connection mattered. And they respected that connection. It was true, adults were teachers. They taught you things by how they behaved. And just now, my mom and Mrs. Alvidrez taught me a word Cassandra had begun to teach me: “forgiveness”. It was a word that needed to live inside me. I had a feeling that if that word didn't live inside me, the word “happiness” would never live inside me either.”

“That's the thing about friends. Each one of them is different. And each friend knows something about you that your other friends don't know. I guess a part of being friends is that you share a secret with each one of them. The secret doesn't have to be a big secret. It could just be a little one. But sharing that secret is one of the things that makes you friends. I thought that was pretty amazing.”

“Don’t ever let anyone tell you that war is something beautiful or heroic. When people say war is hell, war is hell. Cowards start wars, and the brave fight them.”

“Sometimes I loved them so much. There was something about girls that guys didn't have—and would never have. They were amazing. Maybe one day, instead of always having to prove they were real men, guys would study women’s behavior and start acting a little more like them. Now, that would be awesome.”

“For the longest time, I have wanted to be an actress. Then I realized I’ve been an actress all my life. But the question ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ is not just about what professions we chose. The real question is, what kind of person do you want to be? Do you want to love? Or do you want to continue the hate? Hate is a decision. Hate is an emotional pandemic we have never found a cure for. Choose to love.”

“We had to make it to shore for Sophocles and all the newly arrived citizens of the world. We had learned that we were all connected, and we were stronger than any storm, and we would make it back to the shores of America—and when we arrived, we would throw out the old maps that took us to violent places filled with hate, and the new roads we mapped would take all of us places and cities we’d never dreamed of. We were the cartographers of the new America. We would map out a new nation.

Yes, we were stronger than the storm.”

Prologue (or something, idk):

So, the TLDR of it all was that I promised myself I would read 15 books by the end of the year all the way back then, and this is that list of books, my thoughts of them, and hopefully, a spoiler free incentive to read these too. And if you want favorites, Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World takes 1st, The Sun and the Star takes 2nd, and Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel takes 3rd. Thank you so much to all you book people on Tumblr for getting me back into reading and bringing my “To Read List” from 5-10 to nearly 100 as of writing! Hope to be back with a list like this next year with 20 books, and here’s to another year on this hellsite I’ve fallen for!

#books and reading #books #reading #book recommendations #happy new year #end of the year #new years eve #happy new year 2024 #goodbye 2023 #bookblr #currently reading #books read in 2023 #books in 2023

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willgrahambf · 2 years

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Would you not say that Will was a victim of grooming by Hannibal (in regards to Will choosing Hannibal over other healthier people in his life)?

I'd also say the blame is partly to Jack as well (in regards to his corruption), as Will actively didn't want to do profiling for the FBI as he knew how it affected him and otherwise destabilized him, and yet Jack manipulated him into it by forcing rank as well as guilt tripping him (that being said I understand Jack's choice too as he justified involving Will in order to save lives which is a noble thing in a way, to put the lives of the many over one person).

Hannibal puts through Will through psychological torture and isolates Will so he feels there is no one else he can turn to or talk about. People often argue that Hannibal was justified in bringing the worst out of Will by saying since Will always had those capabilities inside him, but Will in season 1 had made the choice to avoid anything that would bring that out in order to try to be good. I think the idea that just because someone has the potential to be bad, doesn't mean they are, especially if they're aware of their tendencies and try to avoid them. Like, by the time Hannibal was done with Will, he'd made Will feel isolated, no one understood him but Hannibal, and that he was a monster, and for Will, he didn't ever recover from the psychological damage Hannibal inflicted - which yeah, abuse can really fuck you up for years of your life, even if you're away from the abuser.

What's your counter to these points? I think the topic of Will's downfall and how much blame is owed to his own choices versus being a victim of abuse is such an interesting topic that I'm glad you're open to discuss because I think there are so many angles on it.

Btw I love your acc and have been really enjoying your big deep dives into Will's characterisation :). At the end of the day I think Hannibal is a gothic romance as well as deep dive into the psyche of people. Are people born a certain way and is who they become an inescapable extension of that? Or do they have a choice? How much does influence of others change a person. Pretty standard dark ship stuff.

hello, i'm happy to hear you're enjoying my thoughts :) analyzing this show is so fun for me because it is so rich and asks questions that are so thought provoking. if there were easy answers to those questions, it wouldn't be nearly as interesting. when it comes will's corruption arc, i think reaching for either extreme of "will was just an innocent victim of hannibal" or "will was absolutely evil and hannibal only released him from his inhibitions" is a mistake. first of all, either of these extremes are in direct contradiction to the hannibal universe's take on "good" and "bad" people (they don’t exist), and they also ignore the shows theme of "change," and how they both change each other. let me start off by saying that i absolutely believe that hannibal's abuse of will damaged/changed him. that was hannibal's intention. hannibal's view of doing harm and enacting "necessary suffering" on people is really important. i've talked about this before, but hannibal believes that suffering can "good" for people in the sense that they have a choice of what they do with what has happened to them like how he chose to process mischa being killed by making killing and cannibalism things that are under his control and his own moral discretion. in a way, hannibal accepts that mischa being killed was "necessary suffering" for him. this is why he believes that what he did to will was what was best for him. he saw that will was not in control of his own life and that he was suffocating under the weight of social expectations and morals. later in s2 when will threatens hannibal, hannibal says "i think you are more in control than you have ever been" because he sees will processing the trauma of what happened to him into action. so, yes, i don't think what hannibal did to will can be understated in terms of effect, however, when it comes to will's nature, i don't think he was working with nothing. early in s1, hannibal's meddling is curious more than anything. i don't really think that hannibal genuinely started drugging will and purposefully psychically driving him until he noticed the encephalitis which is in episode 5: coquilles because the point of the drugging was to induce seizures and blackouts related to the encephalitis. so before coquilles, hannibal's meddling consists of placing the call to gjh, killing cassie boyle, and also setting up abigail to kill nick boyle. he's also working on the father figure angle with will and abigail, but in terms of murder and will, he hasn't done anything but present will with opportunities and an understanding ear. will admits in episode 2 that he enjoyed killing gjh, that doing bad things to bad people makes him feel good. when he shot eldon stammets, he admits that he might've been aiming to kill. i don't really think there's enough evidence to say that this was all hannibal or the illness which he was just barely beginning to show symptoms of. from the beginning, will is wary about people looking inside his head because as jack says, someone like will knows exactly what is up there and he doesn't want anyone to see it -- and this is a feeling that will has had for many years before hannibal and the encephalitis. we can conjecture all day over whether will would've ever fully enjoyed killing without hannibal, but i think it's safe to say that there's a good chance he would've killed in the line of duty if he had to even without hannibal and likely would've had the same moral conundrum. but the fact of the matter, is that hannibal did come into his life and he did what he did to him, and i think what’s more interesting to understand will’s character is through how he reacts. it’s like what hannibal tells jack at the mural crime scene: “we are built from a dna blueprint and born into a world of scenario and circumstance that we don’t control.” what you are born with does control some things, but what happens to us has just as much power to shape who we become. as i said, for hannibal it’s about what you do with bad things that happen to you. to an extent, i don’t think he’s entirely wrong. of course, he’s wrong that choosing to become a murderer in response to trauma is a good way to take back your life, BUT how you respond to things that happen to you does reflect something about you. will chose to retaliate to what happened in s1 by trying to kill hannibal in a very calculating manner. that’s not what everyone would have done. when he got out of prison, he walks right back into hannibal’s world. yes, to catch him, but he willingly eats human flesh to do it, and he beats randall tier to death and enjoys it. he even tells himself in his head during the recreation of the scene, “you forced me to kill you” to which his vision of randall says, “i didn’t force you to enjoy it.” i think these lines are about hannibal too. he forced will into the fight with randall by sending randall after him, but he didn’t make will enjoy it. you just can’t convince me that no matter how sympathetic or encouraging hannibal was of will’s feelings that he is responsible for will enjoying killing someone. murder is serious business! what would it take for you to enjoy killing someone? hannibal may’ve led will to believe that his murderous desires were the only part of him that mattered, but he did not create them. for comparison, miriam lass endured quite the same extent of abuse as will, if not more, and while she took a shot at chilton whom she believed to be the ripper, there’s a striking delineation between miriam’s revenge and will’s. i think there has to be something different about will to even make the story compelling, don’t you? if will just responded to being abused by staying with in the confines of the law or breaking down mentally or striking out irrationally or any other thing that would be expected or reasonable, where would the story be? hannibal has manipulated plenty of people. he’s played games with dozens of patients. will’s character is so compelling because he’s torn between these dark desires and what is socially acceptable. i wouldn’t call any of this “justification” for what hannibal did. there’s no justification for what hannibal did outside of his own reasoning because he’s a manipulative serial killer. also, i don’t agree with trying to assign a moral compass to fictional characters or storylines so i’m not going to stand here and say that hannibal had a right to do what he did because will was destined to become a killer. neither of those things are true. but i’m not going to say will is just some poor innocent little baby that is helpless and needs to be saved from big bad hannibal. as for it being hannibal’s fault that will eventually chooses him, i don’t think that’s entirely true. by s3b when he chooses hannibal, he’s lived without him for 3 years. he walked away from hannibal so we know he has the willpower to do it. he said “i don’t want to think about you anymore.” he went on with his life. he tells hannibal that he enjoyed his life there, and i believe him. he had the option that whole time to embrace people who cared about him and the parts of himself that we would call “good.” but at the end of the day, hannibal does understand him and he understands hannibal. that’s not just because hannibal drugged him and framed him. it’s because of everything i just said above. also, in another ask about will and twotl, i said that will’s choice is both selfless and selfish. if hannibal had been calling the shots, they would’ve ridden off together into the sunset instead of will pulling them off the cliff. when it comes to jack, i agree that he has his flaws, one of them being relentlessly pursuing justice above everything else, however, whenever we talk about any “role” he may’ve had in will’s corruption arc, we have to remember that hannibal was also manipulating jack from day one. he manipulated will to not trust him. jack put will’s mental health in hannibal’s hands and trusted hannibal to tell him if anything was wrong. i genuinely don’t think that jack would’ve kept will in the field if he’d known about will’s blackouts and encephalitis, do you? he’s angry when he learns that hannibal didn’t tell him about these things earlier. hannibal’s ability to implicate everyone around him while remaining above suspicion is one of his most insidious talents and it isn’t something that’s just contained within the show. there’s been great meta written about hannibal gaining the audience’s complicity in what he does as well, and so many people fall for it by placing such great blame on jack when he was also a victim of hannibal’s manipulation. i’m not saying jack is perfect. everyone on the show has their flaws. any good character does. but i do believe that undue blame is put on jack by many people. well, i hope this answers your question. hopefully i didn’t go overboard though knowing me i probably did <3

#literally spent all day working on this off and on lmao #now its so long that people will not want to read it </3 #oh well i hope you enjoy it anon #ask #hannibal meta

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