#so all that has been weaved into the story

[lemotmo]

I don't often do this, because I try to avoid discourse in fandom and sometimes you just don't vibe with a character. It happens.

But I keep seeing these horrible and, quite frankly, very wrong and disrespectful takes on Eddie Diaz' character. And I can't just sit here and ignore them anymore.

I cannot and will never understand why people don't like Eddie.

I've read some posts and comments earlier about people disliking Eddie and... really? Eddie is boring? He doesn't get interesting storylines? He's just a prop for Buck and his storylines?

Are we watching the same show here?

Eddie is, by far, one of the most interesting characters on 911. The man has had one trauma after the other piled up on him, but still he keeps going. Why? Because of the one thing that matters more to him than life itself: Christopher.

As a single mother myself, I can relate. The struggle to want to give your child everything, to do everything for them, even if it comes at the cost of your own mental and emotional well-being? It is very real. I cannot tell you how many times I end up crying to myself at night, blaming myself because I wasn't able to stop the outside world from hurting my son. And you have to do it all by yourself as well. There is no one there to share the burden with, to share the heartache with. It's tough and it's real.

Eddie's storylines are intricate and nuanced and based in reality. They aren't necessarily the biggest and loudest storylines, but they still matter to people who can relate to him. People like me.

Now, 911 is guilty of showing a lot of important Eddie moments from someone else's point of view. That is true. Especially Buck's POV. The shooting comes to mind, even a part of his breakdown and more recently Eddie's friendship with Tommy. He made a bro-friend and seemed so happy and carefree, but since we saw it from Buck's POV, we can't fully trust this image.

So, I think that is why some people see him as just a prop in Buck's story. But it's much more complex than that. Buck stepped inside Eddie's world without complaint. He helped him out from day one by introducing Eddie to Carla. For the first time, Eddie is no longer alone in life. There is someone there who understands him and his love for Chris. He can safely rest and trust that Buck will be there to step in if necessary. He actually went ahead and put it in his will. Eddie loves the way that Buck loves his son. And the show is still using that bond to date. We saw Buck and Eddie in conversation about Chris, Buck talking to Chris, Buck being jealous of Chris thinking Tommy was cool...

I don't know what the future will bring for Eddie, but I desperately want and need him to be happy. And yes, I do think the narrative will eventually lead him to Buck. His happiness has always been intricatelly linked to Christopher. The way they keep weaving in Christopher in Buck's storyline? The way Eddie keeps being inserted in Buck's bisexuality storyline? These are some of the many reasons that give me absolute certainty that Buddie is in the works.

In conclusion? Just stop hating on Eddie Diaz folks. It's not a good look on you.

#eddie diaz #buddie #christopher diaz #evan buckley #eddie is no one's storyline prop #he is his own person #and I'm very proud to say that he is my favourite 911 character

[lakemojave]

So for those who might not know I've been streaming this co op run of Baldur's Gate 3 with my friends--there's 4 of us, which means no room for NPCs in the overland party, but lots of space for our own silly RP. We've been coming up with a great story for these 4 so far, but we try and weave in the NPCs here and there (one of us is romancing Lae'zel, and our Dark Urge had a big interaction with Wyll). However the most insane thing thus far has been with the character we've addressed the least: Gale.

Early in the playthrough, our paladin said he had no new magic items for Gale to consume. Due to a bug, this made Gale so upset that he left the party permanently. No big deal, right? Well, soon enough that same paladin gets the ability to summon Shovel the Quasit, whom he promptly named New Gale.

Good times so far. In our 8th episode we actually took New Gale with us to the underdark quests with the Duergar and the mines and such, and despite having poor attack options and seven hit points, he rolled very well and survived nearly every combat. The same cannot be said for the rest of us that session--we had numerous speech check errors and TPKs that meant we had to reload several save states. A convenient, in universe explanation? Well, a wizard did it. THE wizard did it. New Gale can send us back in time, I guess.

So we had fun and kept the bit going until, about 2 hours in, we face off with a bunch of magma mephits in the underforge. No big deal, except they explode when they die and two of them are surrounding New Gale. Our monk, not realizing that New Gale would take lethal fall damage if thrown like 30 feet away, threw New Gale like 30 feet away, killing him instantly. Such an amazing streak ended by friendly fire.

New Gale was too good a bit to let die so easily though. The very next session, we used a hireling mechanic to summon a gnome wizard to hang around our camp, who we decided was New Gale's reincarnation. We haven't taken him into battle onscreen, but we've kept the bit up so much that his time loop powers are actually canon to our party's made up story (check out episode 12 for that, I won't spoil it here). However, recently we realized that we can put this hireling gnome in the mirror that changes your appearance and/or name. We call him whatever we want in game. So now we have this fucking guy hanging around our camp all the time and I have to stop myself from howling with laughter every single time.

#bg3 #the direct actors #new gale

[monstersdownthepath]

Shadowbound Heart

Minor Artifact

Aura: Strong Conjuration, Strong Necromancy

CL: 22nd

Weight: ---

Slot: —

The first of these wicked artifacts is said to have been made when a tyrant wished for a means of immortality that would sustain his youth and health forever. He had, at first, thought to contact Asmodeus, but knew the Dark Prince's price would inevitably include his soul, and his demise would be arranged for him in the background. Similarly, beseeching a demon for immortality was an excellent way to not see the end of a decade, and a daemon even less. So the story goes, he took to another option: Zon-Kuthon.

The God of Pain heard the tyrant's plea and offered him a mechanical heart, crafted of the Netherworld's steel and by Zon-Kuthon's madness. All he asked for in return was that the tyrant rejoice in the "gift of pain" he would receive, and to seek to give it to others. He would keep his life, he would keep his soul, he would keep his youth and health, all for the price of pain, inflicted upon himself and others. Figuring that even the worst of worldly agonies would pale in comparison to Hell and figuring that, with his new eternity stretching before him, he would grow used to any pain his new heart would cause him (worst comes to worst, he has a mechanical body crafted), he accepted.

As these tales go, it is hubris to ever believe yourself beyond a price set by a god. Every mortal believes themselves the ones that will finally outwit their patron, but not one has succeeded. As the tyrant found out, the agony his new heart caused him was at a level there was no getting used to, and rather grimly, he found that the death he feared so terribly was now wholly beyond his ability to reach, no matter how much he strained for it.

Whether this foolish tyrant truly existed (and what his eventual fate was) or is merely a cautionary tale about making bargains with the Midnight Lord, the device featured in the story is quite real. Several of them exist, crafted both by Zon-Kuthon and the lesser Demagogues, some sitting in the ribcages of dried skeletons who found a way out of their bargain, most of them still embedded within the chest of a mortal seeking immortality, a new experience, or performing a mission for their patron. The fact that there's not one inside every high priest of pain suggests they're either difficult to create, even for a demigod, or only a limited number of them can exist at a time, or perhaps both.

Shadowbound Hearts resemble twisted, clockwork hearts bearing a smooth plate of silvery metal emblazoned with the unholy symbol of the god or fiend which created it. They're deceptively easy to install: A willing, living, corporeal mortal must hold the device to their chest for one full round, at which point spiked tendrils emerge from gaps within the device and rips its way into the mortal's torso. The artifact destroys the victim's heart and settles into its place, weaving its tendrils throughout their torso and settling in as its magic goes to work. At this point, the creature is considered infused. The ragged, shredded hole heals over swiftly except for the metallic plate, which now sits directly over the new heart and marks them as a bearer of one of these cursed artifacts.

A creature infused with a Shadowbound Heart enjoys several benefits: it gains Regeneration equal to its Hit Dice, and only Electricity damage causes the heart's Regeneration to stutter for a round. The user reverts to a young adult appearance and remain young so long as the Heart remains in place, taking none of the penalties of aging but reaping the benefits. They do not need to eat, drink, or breathe (but still feel the pain of starvation, thirst, and asphyxiation if they do not), become immune to disease and poison, and have 25% Fortification. They recover from damage to their physical ability scores at a rate of 1 per round, and drain to their physical ability scores at a rate of 1 per day.

An infused creature slain through any means, such as by a death effect or HP damage while their Regeneration is deactivated, returns to life at -9 HP one hour later and resumes regenerating HP as normal. If the heart is removed from their body at any point, their body dissolves into gore (killing them if they were, somehow, still alive). One hour later, they begin regenerating from around the heart, their tissues pouring from the gaps in the clockwork and slowly reforming their body over the course of 1 minute, at which point they're restored to life at -9 HP and resume regenerating HP as normal. Only continuous Electricity damage to stall the heart prevents it from restoring its infused creature.

This immortality is not without its costs. The infused creature gains vulnerability to pain effects which cannot be removed or suppressed, taking a -5 penalty to saving throws against pain effects. Every hour, there is a cumulative 1% chance that the heart suddenly surges with activity, its tendrils probing the creature's nerves and organs in indescribably painful ways, visibly slithering to new locales beneath their skin to find new clusters of nerves to torment. The creature is utterly paralyzed by the pain, falling prone and helpless, unable to do anything but experience the agony for 1d4 minutes. Once the pain triggers, the chance to activate resets to 1%. Every time the infused creature suffers at least 1 point of damage per HD they have from any source, the heart senses their pain and becomes envious; it gains a 5% chance to activate and an immediate check to see if it activates must be made.

Once infused into a creature, that creature has few ways to escape their pain. The heart's creator can will it to cease functioning at any point, withdrawing its tendrils and slipping from the hole in the victim's chest (this takes 1 minute and paralyzes the creature with agony), at which point the victim must receive the benefits of the Regeneration spell or die, as they no longer have a heart. A Limited Wish spell can remove the heart from a willing creature, restore their original heart, and ends the infusion if the caster succeeds a DC 32 caster level check. A Wish or Miracle used on a willing creature removes the heart, restores their original heart, and ends the infusion without a check needed. Whenever a heart is deactivated in this way, the creator often sends some of their agents to investigate what has happened (or perhaps even investigates themselves) and to recover the heart through any means possible and punish the formerly-infused creature for rejecting their gift.

--------

Destruction: Zon-Kuthon can destroy any Shadowbound Heart in existence by simply willing it. Otherwise, they must be destroyed by forging an adamantine hammer and chisel in the Positive Energy Plane, and using the hammer to drive the chisel straight into the heart through the metal plate, making sure to destroy the unholy symbol in the process. This causes the heart and the tools used to obliterate one another. Destroying a Shadowbound Heart while it's still inside a creature instantly kills that creature, and destroys their body utterly in a flare of positive and negative energy.

#original concepts #sort of #this whole thing came to me in a single shotgun blast in the shower

[littlelostmabari]

Some Galemancing fluff for @sorceresssundries and @miradelletarot and @gale-force-storm who fill my dash so reliably with the delicious wizard.

Gale x f!Reader, post-epilogue. (Reader unnamed, referred to as she/her/wife) Word Count: 2.2k

The evening sun threatens to kiss the horizon across the bay of Waterdeep as you weave your fingers through the feathery fur of your favorite four-legged companion.

Well, the closest four-legged companion, you laugh to yourself as you hear a familiar roar from a floor above where Karlach and the owlbear were no doubt tussling in the arcane arena your darling wizard had installed in the upper levels of his newly conjured tower. She arrived from Avernus a few hours ago with some rage to burn, and Nugget was always willing to practice new ways to defend his nest. His home.

“Your hand is on the page, pet,” Tara purrs. Your thoughts are quickly brought back to the balcony and the sunset, your hand naturally moving back to the delicate fur on the top of Tara’s head. You run her fingers down the tressym’s neck and back, finally scratching the base of Tara’s tail — just as you know she likes it — before resting back on the bench. You’ve purposefully avoided Tara’s reading material this time. The apprentice Aribella rests on her stomach on the ground nearby, her legs kicking up into the air as she hems and haws over the bud that won’t quite open into bloom from her palm. The violent magic of nature's wrath had been easy for her to draw on after her experience with the druid totem, but under Gale’s tutelage she was slowly learning the calmer patterns of the Weave. She focuses intently on her latest homework to druidcraft a flower crown for her constant canine companion.

Speaking of, Scratch had been noticeably absent from Aribella’s side. You feel a frown cross your face, and find your eyes drawn deeper into the dim light of the tower. The study had slowly gotten messier the longer you had lived there, an awesome wreck after only a few months (although Gale often commented that since there was a wide pathway through the mess, technically it wasn’t hoarding). Aribella devoured books the same way Tav imagined Gale did at her age. There were tomes lying on every surface: open, closed, dog-eared, bookmarked, stacked to the ceiling. No one but Gale and Aribella knew which projects were active and which had been discussed, debated, discarded.

The piano in the corner played a new tune, a soft baudy jingle that you had accidentally brought home from your most recent night out with Alfira and the other tiefling refugees from the Grove. No, not refugees, not anymore. They had found their homes in Baldur’s Gate, and you visited the Elfsong Tavern as often as you could — you knew all Alfira’s songs at this point but loved absorbing the joy from the room as she played... But the piano had a terrible habit of catching any tune hummed in its presence, a constant bittersweet reminder of the distance to your friends.

Not seeing a white furry tail wagging from this distance, you murmur an apology to Tara, who fluffs her feathers indignantly. She digs claws just the other side of painfully into your lap as if to dare you to get up. Knowing she will be just fine without you, you take in one hand your empty wine glass, then close your eyes and gently tug on your connection to the Weave. A misty step cruelly leaves Tara with only a conjured pillow for comfort. Tara would call it cruel, anyway, regardless of Gale’s gentle warming spell that forever permeated the pillow slip. The tressym narrows her eyes without leaving her most recent tome — her only other reaction reaching out with a back leg to scratch a spot behind her ear.

With a chuckle, you absentmindedly bring the glass to your lips, remembering at once that it was empty. To the kitchen then.

The noise is the first thing to reach you. It is uncommonly loud for your little tower (ignoring the more recent arcane stories), even considering its normal inhabitants. You had grown used to raucous laughter from your many adventures, but it had been too long since it echoed within these walls. You pause with one hand just barely touching the door into the parlor, smiling contently as a soft memory of bedrolls and looted wine and butter buns crosses the forefront of your memory.

“And then… and then…” you hear Wyll’s tenor deep into another story, laughing so hard he can’t find the words. “The kid asks me if I’ve ever bested an owlbear!” Another ringing laugh joins in, then, and you find yourself pushing the door open. Your eyes land first on your dearest, closest friend, currently desperately trying to pat down a growing wine spill on the ruffles of her white shirt. Shadowheart brushes hair and tears out of her eyes. “I’m sure you then told the poor lad that you fought back-to-back with an armored Nugget? Just to see the soul leave his eyes?”.

Wyll nods. “I did, I did! And the kid just stood there staring at me… and then he turned on his heel and left the tavern! Fool trying to out-match the Blade of Avernus!” The two dissolve into another fit of giggles, uninterrupted by your entrance into the parlor. The door swings shut behind you with a soft reverberation, and Shadowheart’s eyes brighten to meet yours. She points at her shirt and winks; you gently pluck at the Weave and the wine stain is gone, prestidigitated to wherever those lost memories go. You reach out for Shadowheart… before ducking the hug and stealing her wine glass. A hearty laugh follows you to the other side of the parlor as Shadowheart rises from her stool and chases after you with a sudden hug from behind. You feel the soft echo of magic between the two of you, knowledge of each other harmonizing. Wyll swings around the table to refill both glasses, a lingering kiss on your cheek on the way.

“I’m so glad you both made it,” you smile to two of your dearest friends. “I heard Karlach come in earlier, she’s still upstairs.”

Wyll nods. “We missed Mizora by this much,” he sighs, bringing his pointer finger and thumb to a centimeter apart before looking up and out to the entrance to the upper floors. “She’ll be alright come dinnertime.”

“And who exactly are we having for dinner tonight?” a smirking voice sings from the end of the room as the door to the bustling outside world closes with a sharp click. His arrival had been expected… arrived last night in fact, with business in Waterdeep important enough to go out cloaked rather than waiting for the sun to set.

“Depends, Astarion, would you prefer the red wine or the white? I’m sure Gale could make some recommendations,” Shadowheart snorts. Laughter meets the wrinkle of Astarion’s nose as he removes his deep purple enchanted cloak to hang at the side. There are still too few outer layers missing from the coat closet --- friends yet to arrive for the celebration.

As if summoned by the hungry rumble of your belly — and knowing your husband, it probably was — a platter of cheese, cured meats, and pickled bits and bobs appeared within arms reach. Shadowheart and Wyll lunge in competition for first taste, and you decide you'd prefer your first bite directly from the source. 

The kitchen is only across the hall, a single sip of wine away. Laughter fades gently into the clink of dishware and the soft hum of another song you had brought home from the Gate. This one was a moving tune in three-four time, and the soft pat of house shoes suggested the kitchen's occupant was floating about his dinner prep with perfect rhythm. 

You push the door open gently, mindful of its creak so as to not disrupt one of your favorite sights in this tower. His hands are in his hair, again, pulling another traitorous lock back from where it had escaped from the bun he sports when he is at his most focused. You had left him to his work this afternoon, as he had requested, which meant no one had been around to tell him which spots of gray were his natural coloring and which were simply dashes of flour. The chorus of the waltz rises, his hands back at his hips as he surveys another recipe written carefully by his mother into a book that was so lovingly used you'd insisted on rebinding last year for his nameday. He balances on the balls of his feet, prepared to move the moment he knows what comes next. 

Time slows around you as you watch him slide between dishes, one stirred with mage hand, another whipped by an unseen servant. He tastes each, seasons one, and spins through a crescendo in the source-less music, intent on the oven. It is in this turn that he spies you leaning against the wall with the door closed softly behind you. 

If the kitchen had been completely frozen over, his smile would have melted it all away in an instant. 

“My love!”

You can feel the effort it takes for him to drag his eyes away from you, but a short ring from the oven indicates something desperately needs his attention more than you.

He pulls a kitchen towel from the ether and wrestles the roast from the oven under his own power. His mother insists that this particular recipe out of all of those tucked away in her book must be done with mortal, mundane hands. When it is safely secured on the trivet (quickly set in place by an unseen servant), he brushes the day's mess from his palms and rushes to your side. 

“As always you have the most impeccable timing, my darling.” 

Gale has many different kisses, you have come to learn. Some, like those he left on your forehead and nose and lips this morning as he crawled from bed, ignoring your pleas to sleep in, were soft and kind and loving. Those kisses were reserved for sleepy minds and moments in between moments. Others, like those you anticipated would follow the last of your friends succumbing to slumber this evening, were deep and pressing. Those kisses begged for the barriers between two souls alight with desire to be sundered so that the two could become a single being of light and love. 

And then there were the kisses like the one he pressed into you now. These were promises of tonight and tomorrow and the next day and next year and forever. These were the kisses that made you hope, that drove your soul to the gentle smile of one who loves and is loved in return. It was the kind of kiss that he had pulled you into when Shadowheart had called out to the temple “man and wife”. 

One hand reaches down to your waist, pulling you away from the wall and into the warmth of his body. The other passes up to your jawline where his fingers press gently into the back of your neck. When he finally relents, a crooked grin alights across his face. He has evidently left something of dinner behind on your jaw, which he wipes away with a quick rub of his thumb, and with a soft breath he brings to your lips. The taste is sour and sweet, the tang of lemon and honey glaze — 

“I believe that particular flavor is meant for the roast, my dear,” you murmur, pressing your tongue against the flat of his thumb.

“Ah, you would be correct. The time is long past that I attempt to improve upon a lover's perfection.” He leans in and presses more than casually into your core, his next murmurs meant for your ears only with how he nibbles gently on your neck. “Besides, I have other flavors in mind when it comes to complementing your particular essence…

“But!” He pushes away suddenly, and you have to catch yourself from falling into the space he leaves. “That discussion must be put on pause for the time that our long-awaited guests have found their lodgings and I am able to devote my full attention away from this feast.” His smile and the crinkles around his eyes betray his teasing — you both know you must leave him to work if your guests are to be fed anywhere near on time. He leans in only once more to press a kiss of the first kind onto the tip of your nose, and then rapidly shoves a basket of garlic and spring onion rolls into your unoccupied hand. “I am certain my beloved has many a song or story that can distract from her husband's deplorable time management.”

A sizzle of an over-boiled pot pulls his attention away. You linger just long enough to see that errant lock fall back into his face once more, before you turn toward the door and hallway that will allow your return to the gentle bubble of companionship. 

You should enjoy the evening with your dearest friends, for Gale will be here tomorrow when they have left — some for Avernus, others for the Gate, and others back to lives hidden and quiet. 

When they are gone, Gale will remain, and perhaps you will learn what his newest kisses taste like. 

#bg3 #bg3 gale #bg3 fic #bg3 fanfiction #gale x female reader #gale fanfiction #gale fluff #gale dekarios #baldur's gate 3 #unnamed tav #I am too nervous to write smut but I have IDEAS #I just need to work up to it #I definitely didn't load BG3 just to get the screenshot no sir

[buddieisgoingcanon2024]

Some of y’all who are mad about Tommy or any other love interest being introduced fail to grasp the concept of a plot device. Screenwriting is all about storytelling, and even Tim’s recent post about people being mad the karaoke scene was cut mentions that. He’s telling a story spanning (currently) not just one but two seasons, since they’re renewed for season 8.

Eddie has been intentionally weaved into every single part of Buck and Tommy’s relationship. 911 knows how to tell love stories: Henren, Bathena, MADNEY. Y’all think they’re all of a sudden dropping the ball here? Compare the way BuckTommy has been portrayed to any one of those and tell me Tommy isn’t a plot device. Like, calm down and let them tell the story. He’s here for a purpose; let him serve that purpose. The show runners, actors, and everyone behind 911 fought so hard to have queer stories be represented and represented well. They could have given up on bi Buck a LONG time ago and created a real love interest for him and Eddie instead of letting them stagnate with Taylor/Ana/Marisol/Natalia/etc. They’re finally getting to tell the stories they fought for, and some of all need to be ducking normal and let them do it.

Right on anon. You tell em.

#buddie

[natlacentral]

Avatar Netflix Season 2 Will 'Condense' Original Storyline (Exclusive)

Season 2 of Avatar: The Last Airbender will follow in the footsteps of the first season's storytelling "condensing." 

Each season of the animated Avatar series had twenty episodes, most of which followed their own adventures. When it came to the live-action show, the first season only had eight hour-long installments.

This led to many elements of the original storyline getting condensed, such as the combination and relocation of a handful of plot threads to the team’s stay in Omashu—meeting the Mechanist, Jet, Bumi, and venturing into the Secret Tunnel.

As one might imagine, these types of changes did not always land well with audiences.

Season 2 Will Condense Original Avatar Storyline

Speaking with The Direct at Paleyfest 2024, Avatar: The Last Airbender Seasons 2 and 3 executive producer Jabbar Raisani confirmed that they will need to condense some of the original story as the Netflix show moves forward.

Raisani pointed out how their handling of Seasons 2 and 3  which will conclude the live-action series - will be "a lot like Season 1," which also means "some condensing" has "to take place:"

"I think it's a lot like season 1. There's a lot of content in the animated series. And we will be looking at all that content. But we don't have the number of episodes that we have in the animated series. So, certainly, there will be some condensing that has to take place."

While speaking to The Direct about the possibility of more original moments in Season 2 for his character, Uncle Iroh actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee shared that he "[does not] know how they’re going to remix the stories" going forward:

"I wish I could; I have no idea what they have planned for us... I know we're getting an opportunity to finish telling the story. Obviously, the animated series is going to be the template for us. But other than that, I don't know how they're going to remix the stories. Nobody tells me nothing. So I'm just gonna show up. And yeah, hopefully, we get a better, clearer sense of where we're going with that in the future. But right now, I have no idea what's going to happen."

While the original animated series has been finished for nearly two decades, the story of those characters will continue in a new animated film called Aang: The Last Airbender.

Currently, not many details are known about the project, but fans do know it will follow team Avatar as they are older following the events Avatar.

As for whether its story will have any influence on future episodes of Netflix’s The Last Airbender, Raisani admitted it will not, at least "not at this point:"

"No, not at this point. We are really looking at the animated series at what came before and less of sort of what they're currently doing on the new movies."

As for whether or not he would be interested in potentially adapting Legend of Korra for live-action, he firmly responded:

"Certainly, I'd be interested in anything that is in this universe."

[ Avatar 2025 Movie: Last Airbender Release, Cast & Everything We Know About Adult Aang Film ]

Remixing Season 2 Episodes Was Inevitable

When it comes to adapting the source material, condensing is unavoidable. Avatar: The Last Airbender fans shouldn't be surprised the same will be happening for Seasons 2 and 3.

Simply put, 20-minute bite-size adventures do not work well for the more extended episode structures of the Netflix show. If the original episode is a self-contained, isolated story, odds are it may not make the cut—or be weaved in with other plot threads.

Hopefully, at the very least, fan-favorite episodes such as the desert spirit library and how Appa got stolen can see the light of day in live action.

One thing that will make it notably more difficult to stick to the original episodes, though, is how behind on Aang’s bending lessons he is. Book 2 is all about him learning earthbending from Toph—however, in the live-action Last Airbender series, he hasn't even started lessons for waterbending.

The show is ahead of the game when it comes to Azula’s storyline, however, as she doesn’t originally appear until Season 2. That alone could save some episodes from the chopping block.

#natla #atla #avatar the last airbender #netflix avatar #netflix atla #avatar netflix #atla netflix #dallas liu #jabbar raisani #paul sun hyung lee #the direct #article #paleyfest

[topnotchquark]

Uhhhh you guys want some Bezz x Cele fluff? Because I wrote 1800+ words of Bezz x Cele fluff. Yes it's Boarding School au man wtf we live in a society of course I wrote the Boarding school au.

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

Bezz pokes at the scab just above his knee. It's freshly formed, he had absorbed impact from Pecco running into him on the field during practice yesterday. His kneepads had mostly protected him but caused the skin to rub off at that particular spot.

Bezz had always had the habit of picking at his wounds, more out of boredom than anything else. When Cele was around, he would simply ask him to stop torturing his own body like a little moth in the hands of a rambunctious toddler, but Cele had been away for three days from school for a family thing. The wedding of some distant cousin combined with some medical check that Cele needed in the city. His dad had come to pick him up and Bezz had walked with him to drop him off and to say hello to Cele's dad.

3 days shouldn't feel like a lot and Bezz had a thousand different things to do, what with the upcoming national level games season and schoolwork dictating his every minute, but he still thought about Cele. He missed sitting next to him for all meals, he missed Cele coming upstairs to see him after lights out, he missed how he would agree without much resistance when Bezz wanted to sneak out at night, he missed Cele foraging for fruits in the woods and bringing them back for everyone to eat, he missed running into him in the corridors during classes, and of course he missed him on the field because Jaume was too young to be a good practice session replacement for the team. 

Bezz is about to wreck carnage absent mindedly on his wound when Luca comes out of the phone room and pats Bezz on the shoulder.

The boys get to call home twice a week from a room divided into little booths, the attendant in the room sat there to note your name down and tell you to put the phone down when your time was up.

Bezz makes his way to the booth in the far left corner that Luca just left, he nods to Pecco in the other corner who is on call and dials his dad's number that he knows by heart. They talk about his preparation for the upcoming season and his dad tells him about things in the garage, next he calls his mum and she asks him about school and classes and practice and his little sister screams a quick hello to him and when he keeps the phone down with quick exchanges of "work hard" and "miss you" and "I love you" his heart feels a bit wonky. It's been years away from home but he still hasn't fully learnt how to squash that feeling.

Before keeping the phone down he makes a split second decision and calls Cele's mom, another number he knows by heart for some reason.

"Oi Bezzechi, you've been hogging that phone forever, put it down!!" The attendant shouts at him, his brows furrowed.

"Yes sorry please please please just one moment" Bezz quickly pleads as he waits for the line to connect. The attendant tells him to make it quick as Cele's mom answers. She sweetly asks Bezz how he's been doing as she calls Cele over to hand him the phone.

"Marco, is everything okay?" Cele's newly matured voice implores. 

"Uhh yes why wouldn't it be?"

"You're calling from school."

"Ah. Yes yes. Just wanted to tell you to, uhhh, yeah come back soon cele practice isn't great"

"Is Jaume not good"

"No no he's fine. Just. You know......"

"Hmmm. I get it. Listen Bezz, I need you to help me okay I have some stuff with me when I get back okay"

"Yeah sure. Listen I gotta go okay this man will cancel all my calls for the next month okay. I miss you, bye."

"I, uhh, I miss you too Marco, bye"

Bezz doesn't spend too much time thinking about Cele's request. He's probably sneaking some food into the dormitory which isn't allowed and the weird luggage checking procedure makes it so that you just have to be extra careful with the contraband.

The next day when Bezz comes down to dinner after practice and evening study he finds Cele already in the dining hall. He hurries over to him and immediately wraps him into a hug, slapping his back and ruffling his curls.

"I thought you wouldn't be here till tomorrow! Who dropped you off?"

"My cousin, he was on his way back to University so I came back early. Listen, Marco......"

Whatever it is that Cele wanted to tell Bezz is cut off by Pecco, Luca, and Franco gathering around him and asking him how was home and he better be up to speed for the morning practice tomorrow and what did the doctor say and if he found any cute girls at the wedding.

All throughout dinner Bezz notices Cele fidgeting nervously, pushing his food around as Luca talks about the rival regional teams they will be facing and the specific characteristics of every player he can recall.

Post dinner, the boys walk back to their house building in a group, Cele quickly dipping into the dormitory on the first floor as the rest make their way up to the rooms.

Before Bezz can go back downstairs to ask Cele what's up, Pecco reminds him to finish his trig homework lest he be skinned alive by the teacher and Bezz enlists the help of both Luca and Pecco to get through the exercises.

It's an hour past lights out when Bezz is finally done and before he has a moment to lie down Cele comes into the room. His eyes look a bit crazy and the pockets of his jacket are puffed up weirdly but before Bezz can ask any questions Cele starts yanking at his arm to get up.

"hurry up Marco!!!" Cele hisses, straining to keep his voice low

"Okay okay damn let me put on my shoes"

"Take the torch please" cele whines.

Bezz raises his brows but doesn't protest much. Torches are reserved for the big expedition sneak outs, the ones you have to plan for, the ones away from their usual haunts, torches are a liability, they draw the attention of the school guards. Bezz still takes his and hides it in his pocket.

They silently get out through the windows on the ground floor, holding their breath and watching their step so as not to alert the guards. Bezz has been sneaking out since pretty much his first year in school, so much so that he can navigate most paths in pitch black darkness. When Cele and Bezz became friends he started bringing him along, gently teaching him to be mindful of his arms and head and stepping around in a way that makes less noise. Cele wasn't the most graceful when it came to slinking around, but Bezz was okay with that as long as they were together.

The moon was shining above their heads, almost fluorescent in its brightness.  Bezz glances over at Cele's determined face, his lashes casting spider leg shadows on his cheeks. Cele's pale skin and dark hair seem almost ghostly and Bezz's heart feels so funny. He swallows to keep his wits intact and focus on the path.

"Wait Cele are we walking towards the lake?" Bezz realises that he's been straining a bit to keep up with Cele.

"Mhmmm"

"Wait wait wait no you have to tell me what's up you've been acting too weird."

"No Marco we can't talk here we will get caught please we have to go" Cele pleads with him and suddenly takes Bezz's hand in his to rush him along. Bezz feels too shocked at Cele's sudden gesture and simply can't find the words to protest. They walk for a few minutes where all Bezz can think about is the warmth of Cele's soft hand in his. Bezz thinks self consciously about the calluses on his palm and whether they feel weird for Cele to touch. Cele's plam, soft and smooth and warm and alive and real to the touch and somehow Bezz feels that whatever is real in him is emanating from that part of his body that is holding on to Cele.

"Here. Come." Cele lets go of Bezz's hand Bezz feels a little deflated. Cele walks near a tree and picks up a cardboard box and brings it to Bezz.

"I have rabbits."

"......you...what" Bezz thinks he hasn't heard him right. 

"There were rabbits at the wedding venue but I don't think they were being treated right so I picked them up"

"Cele what even.... how did you even steal them and oh my god is this area even safe"

"I didn't steal them Marco!!!!! They are young, kind of, I think they are almost babies, it was just three of them"

"Diobono three is a lot! Have they eaten?"

"I had left some lettuce, and I have more, I need your help feeding them"

"Okay okay fine, let's find a place to sit"

Bezz finds that inside the cardboard box there is a little pet carrier covered with a blanket. Cele pushes in some food through the metal gate grills but the bunnies seem to be asleep for now. 

"What's the plan cele?"

"There archery lawns have a place for rabbits. I will leave them there. I trust the school gardener, we used to have rabbits in my first year at school, he's good with them."

"You think nobody will notice three rabbits appearing out of nowhere."

"They will but they won't know it's us"

Bezz can't help smiling at the response. Cele trusts it will all be good so intently that Bezz can't help be infected by the same disposition.

"Do you want to hold them?" Cele offers.

"Uhh yeah okay yeah."

"Just be relaxed, okay"

Cele opens the metal grate a little and ushers Bezz to put his hand inside.

A warm delight runs through Bezz when he touches the soft fur. He feels them moving with their breath and gently gently strokes the fur. A smile breaks out on his face, wide and luminous under the moonlight.

"It's nice, no" Cele says as he watches Bezz's face.

"Yes, I didn't expect them to be this soft"

They sit a bit longer, trying to feed the bunnies, talking, trying to come up with stories about these rabbits that will convince people to keep them. 

Bezz asks Cele to hold on to the box and make no noise as he navigates a path to the Archery Lawns. Cele takes a minute to leave them in the enclosure, worrying about them. Bezz's reassurance a little ineffective as he says his goodbyes, leaving more lettuce and some broccoli in the carrier.

When they finally start walking back towards the Dorms, Bezz takes Cele's hand in his, his confident decisive gesture in sharp contrast with the nerves he feels inside. Cele offers no protest and holds on. Bezz feels breathless thinking about how similar Cele's beautiful hand feels to the soft rabbits he just held a while ago. 

#my interaction with bunnies has always been supervised so please if some of you are bunny girls please forgive me #or tell me about some bunny peculiarities hehe I would love to listen #this bunnt story is real life inspired btw #also I fully anti chekov-gunned the torch #I actually was going to weave it into the story with the batteries going out and these two being stuck in a the dark and you know how it is #but I have been sick so I stopped #when I was young I read the rabbit and moon mythological tale #cele's name means heavenly #moon is a heavenly body #the rabbit and moon are correlated in my culture #plus I am insane #so all that has been weaved into the story #writing Bezz POV was so fun my adhd king I need to do this again #I am bad at writing but by god I have ideas #anyway please read love you #if you enjoy reading it please remember I am telepathically sending you a forehead kiss #and ask box open of course for thoughts and ideas and criticism and questions #marco bezzechi #celestino vietti #bezz x cele #cele/bezz #bezz/cele #bezzietti #bezzietti? is that a ship name tag for these two? #please tag with any other names you have for their ship #man I just want to write about these two kissing but for the life of me I want to faff around for 1500 words before I can even get to it #if you have specific prompts for making these two kiss pls direct them to the ask box and I will do my best #motogp #motogp rpf #bezz

[starflungwaddledee]

What Starstruck Dee theory have people made that is your favourite?

there have been quite a lot, and i genuinely love them all!

early on i think the most popular theory was that she was possessed or had been possessed at some point, most likely by dark matter. she actually debunked this theory personally, but i think people just assumed she was lying! 😂

my favourite part is not any one theory, but watching a shift in thoughts over time as more things are revealed, and seeing people share theories/work together in comments and reblogs. i like the "OOHHH WWWWHAT...!?!" moments a lot; whether they are a reaction to my storytelling or to other folks' detective work!

early theories revolved around how she was weird for a waddle dee, or at least a native of popstar. despite my never explicitly confirming anything to the contrary, theories have now broadly shifted to assuming she is not from popstar at all, and most people do now generally agree she's not really a waddle dee.

i don't recall exactly who first came up with each theory (though some big players are @the-void-is-a-disappointment who did a huge amount of early deetective work and encouraged me to build it as a story for solving, @shibuya-toasted-with-extra-cream, @graycoin and @jojo-schmo) and i'm not sure which of these theories are still held by anyone

but here a few of my favourites, roughly in order that they started appearing...

♻️ she's a total mimic species like kirby or void, copying things around her either by intent or by accident 🗑️ similar to above, but she's an incorrect copy or a "beta" mock-up type of a waddle dee 🧚 that she was just born different, like a fae changeling, and might have been hidden away when young as a result 🕰️ she is something totally inorganic and/or mechanical, created by or like the clockwork stars or stardream, perhaps wish contingent 🥇 sometimes attached to the above, she was created to serve some sort of Greater Purpose. she might have failed at it or been flawed, and was subsequently discarded on popstar 🌠 a dozen and one wildly different things connected to the "falling star that hit her". alien life form on the meteor transferred into her on impact. infection by intergalactic bacteria/dark matter. simply massive concussive trauma that fucked up her signature (back when we thought that was the only thing wrong with her). the star was magic and fused with her. she hatched from it and is literally a star herself. probably missing some here. 🪐 waddle dee from a different place/planet. this one is quite a sensible theory, given that we do see many quite different dees! 🤍 she is a fragmented piece of void/void termina. this one in particular i know is @shibuya-toasted-with-extra-cream 's ongoing theory and she's put in a lot of really cool work towards it! ⚔️ she's somehow connected to the heroes of yore. this theory i think has only started popping up since galacta knight has become a reoccurring visitor in her storyline and we've started asking questions about her familiar looking magic spears, but you can certainly 1hko @moonverc3x with this one 🧿 she's connected to the matters. sometimes soul, because it's sometimes star themed and lacks a token representative. where as a connection to dream might link her to fecto forgo/fecto elfilis in some way (a creature also well known for a catastrophic meteor attack). i've also seen folks confident that she's connected to heart matter as well, probably again due to everyone's favourite grumpy swan showing up

this is all i can think of or locate right now, but there's been a pretty wide range of things. i feel there has been a rather interesting transition over time from "she's a messed up waddle dee" to "she's probably connected to a universal superpower of some kind" which i am genuinely really really thrilled about?! 😂 what a glow up for a pathetic little wawa!!!

i'm also personally really fond of seeing how people's existing biases influence what they can find and draw connections in. for instance: i know @jojo-schmo loves the forgotten land and elfilis, and digs into those connections and draws out some really cool stuff because her knowledge is already so specialised! i think this is the true highlight of working on this story for me, people theorising and engaging in the lore, and laser pin-pointing things that tie into our personal faves-- the way we tend to do with kirby lore as a whole-- is such uninhibited delight

i sincerely hope people will enjoy where starstruck's story does go, in the end!!

#starstruck dee #asks #🎀🔍 #i will say that more than one of these theories holds water! some of them more than others. #some of them are indeed dredging the ocean. #i will actually say one thing regarding one of the meteor theories...... “she hatched from it and is literally a star” #<- this WAS actually her Very First original concept when she was “Just A Sona”. she was a literal unalive star who watched everybody-- #having fun on popstar and wished to be alive to join them and feel joy & love. this is a very personal narrative to me and appears lots in- #my sonas and works. it's a fairly simple and basic backstory that would have required no further development or held no real mystery! #once i realised she was developing beyond sona-exclusive status and i was purposefully building a ~mystery~ it changed. #so it's no longer her backstory or relevant in any way; and it hasn't been since before most deetective work has been happening. #just thought y'all might enjoy it as a little bit of Deep Hidden Lore! #sorry also for pinging many folks in this wall of text; if i knew i was referencing a theory of yours i wanted to credit you is all #please just lmk if you'd like me to remove your url at any time!! as always i'm so grateful to everyone who likes starstruck or weighs in! #this kind of engagement is so new and exciting to me and it means more than i can say. i hope i can weave a fun story for you!!

[ronkeyroo]

TW; Themes of depression , Self loathing & Implication/mentions of self harm

It wasn’t her lycanthropy that made her feel like a monster, it was but her own damaged heart and inner demons.

And So she ran away - believing her very presence was a burden too heavy to carry, if only to protect her loved ones from her own demise - No matter how deeply she wanted to run back and crash into his embrace, no matter how deeply her heart yearned to accept his love.

#tw; depression #tw; self harm themes #Heavy themes #Ventart #Vilkas #werewolf oc #Werewolves #werewolf dovahkin #Dovahkin oc #I've been processing alot of heavy things yesterday...ones i felt most fitting to express through Ravens story #it wasnt easy...but im glad i did it #finding comfort through storytelling has been a healthy way to both express and reflect on it all #theres so much i have to say about this encounter and its backstory...But so much of it relates to my own personal struggles #lycanthropy and themes of self control/self hatred...its been weaved through Raven ever since her creation #its as though it goes hand by hand. mirroring one another #I chose vilkas for this scene because of how much she can relate to his own experiences #Ive always headcanond vilkas' lycanthropy taking a great toll on his mental health #enough to leave him with very similar conflicts of wanting to tear away at everything #its such a painful hc but i imagine he always wears bandages around his arms to hide away self harm caused by when he tries to #fight against his lycanthropy and the call of the blood #both Raven and Vilkas have such a complex background and I really wnat to see how they can work through it with their relationship #i believe there will be a part two leading for a more hopeful ending... ;; #these two have so much to godamn deal with and i just want them to find happiness together #im so sorry for dropping such hurt/angst on your feed...Ill make up for it when i can #theres still alot to this scene that has been left untold and i want to share on the hopeful/loving resolution that follows. #they love each other alot. and theyll get through this. they always do #skyrim art shenanigans #skyrim #tes #werewolf angst

[monty-glasses-roxy]

The Ruined pizzaplex is steeped in death and disrepair, it’s almost to the point that when the others are finally Meteor-ed, they don’t even know if they’ll survive escaping the damn place. None of them know, it’s a death trap. I don’t even think some of them expected to live for long after they escaped

But then they do, and they’re in a completely unfamiliar world that’s saturated with life and it’s unlike anything they’ve ever been exposed to before. Fazent always carried that touch of death, yknow? They never knew any different.

But then they claw their way into the light and someone is wrapping a blanket around their shoulders and giving them a bottle of water and asking if they’re ok because they must’ve just been Changed, they look so disoriented, and they don’t know what to do.

But they have each other, they’re *alive* again. The scars will never go away, but they have each other, and they desperately hope that’s enough.

YOU COME INTO MY HOUSE-

Fsdfsdf nah though you're on the right lines with this... may I offer...

The Plex is dead. It's stagnant, forever unchanging and is left to rot like all the other bodies under the floorboards. Those that remain are rotting and hurt, discarded like broken and unwanted toys and abandoned in the ruins of what is the only world, the only home they've ever known.

... But it's not dead.

How can it be? They're still there. They're still alive.

And like a phoenix rising from the ashes, they'll realise that for themselves and start laying the kindle for their fire.

#GFDSDFS #didn't know whether to leave it at a funny joke or try and like. give you something here #what I'm saying here is that my brain is making complicated metaphors for a story it hasn't actually finished cooking yet lmao #i dunno the concept of life and death is probably gonna be pretty crucial here #it's just different to them and it always has been so what makes something dead or alive is... #well I can already think of like. at least four examples off the top of my head where this would be relevant #nah the intricacies and the layers of what I want are all here for the most part so I just gotta like. weave the rest of the story together #with it's characters and their choices and the lives they are leading #I'm spinning in circles on meanings and shit cause my brain is buzzing like a hive of bees over the fucking #LAYERS of a HUGE plot thing that will be part of the major resolution at the end #it's like a god damn wedding cake or I dunno #onions?? #maybe onions given if I do it right it WILL cause some tears lmao #nah though we'll see how this plays out #I'm most likely overcomplicating and at some point I'll just grab the threads and pull the stupid brain knots out for this lmao #but nah what I'm going for IS complicated cause I've never tried an approach like this before so like #it's keeping my brain chugging for realsies #meteors au #pop rox answers

[naivesilver]

And, finally, a free pass for any character + any ask game that you so desire! 💕💗💕 Have fun~

Last, but not least- something to make our dear Jojo happy too 💝(or mad. Honestly, both options are available dahajlfhsljahdf)

Comforting Sentence Starters

"I understand that what you’re going through must be painful."

To say that Archie is surprised to open the door to his office and find Eliana standing there would be an euphemism.

The girl hasn't willingly sought him out in- well, in a long while, all things considered. Since the wardrobe, like as not. She hasn't taken the events leading up to the curse very well, and understandably so, if Archie were to be honest with himself. It's an unexpected turn of events, that she would change her mind so abruptly.

Eliana must catch on his line of thought almost immediately, though, for her neutral expression turns into a scowl before his very eyes, and she starts rummaging through her bag, finally fishing out a thin hard-cover book. "August left this at my house," she says, flatly, all but slamming it in the doctor's hands. "He says he borrowed it from you. Don't worry, I know he's done it on purpose. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

Well, Archie thinks, repressing a sigh. There are two people who are getting along just as fine as they've ever done, at least. "It's...It's alright, Eliana. Thank you. Did you want to come in?"

"Depends. Is Pongo there?"

"Unless he has left on his own in the last two minutes, I dare say yes."

She nods brusquely and steps inside, brushing past him in her beeline for Archie's dog. Archie himself, for his part, watches her go as a something clenches at his chest and squeezes, threatening to cut his breath off entirely.

Pongo, bless him, doesn't seem to be aware of the tension that has flooded the room all of a sudden, and wags his tail fiercely as he raises from his cushion, padding closer to nose at Eliana's face and neck. She breaks into a soft smile, a rare enough occurrence for her, and that's perhaps why Archie ends up closing the door behind himself, instead of leaving it open and waiting for her to leave, and attempts to speak up again, after a long stretch of silence. "How's your father?"

Eliana stops mid-fur stroke, but she doesn't look up just yet. "I wouldn't know. How's yours?"

It's a venomous jab, tailored to hurt and fester in his skin, but the doctor refuses to let it linger more than half a second before waving it away, and makes an effort to keep his voice mild. "I understand that what you went through must have been painful, Eliana, but I really think that you should talk to him. This situation isn't doing any good to either of you."

"I very much doubt it."

"He hasn't changed as much as you think, even with the curse-"

"That's not what I meant." This time she does look up, and her eyes flash dangerously as she does so, her words coming out through gritted teeth. "What I meant is, I very much doubt you understand. At all."

The problem, Archie has occasionally caught himself thinking despite his best intentions, is that while each line on August's face is a reminder of how much they've all failed him, it also makes it easier to forget who he is, from time to time. He looks so different from the boy he was that if Archie focuses hard enough, he can almost pretend it's just a common patient he's talking to, just a man from town like any other.

Eliana, though, is all Marco from top to foot, even where her features betray who her mother is. The way she speaks, the way she juts her chin out defiantly - Archie can see her father in every detail, and what's worse, he can see her during easier times, too, sixteen and dancing a mad jig with Ruby during a country fair, six and coming home in a daze after being led away by the Dark One. It's like he's still arguing with that little girl who used to trust him implicitly, or with another child, decades and decades earlier, sad and mourning and raging.

It makes it all the harder for him to begrudge her even a smidge of her anger, even when she's acting like this, radiating fury from every pore.

"You're right," he says, picking his words carefully. "I don't understand everything. And you're allowed to resent us for what happened- I will never deny it, you know that. "

"I don't need your fucking permission to be mad," Eliana spits out, raising to her feet with the deliberate slowness of predator ready to strike. "I don't need your fucking permission to do anything, Jiminy. You're not my conscience anymore- if you ever were, that is. Have never been your top priority, now, have I?"

"That's not fair and you know it, but- I'll take it. I'd rather take all that anger instead of watching you pour it on your father. He was only trying to do what he thought was best."

"Best for who?" She snorts, shaking her head. "And I've got plenty of anger for all of you, don't trouble yourself with that. For you, for him, for my mother- Any of you could have stopped this. Emma could have had at least one parent. My baby brother could have been here! Safe! With me!"

"I know." Archie can't negate her words, much as it pains him. How could he? She's right. She's always had the right of it. "I regret it as much as you do. More, even. I couldn't stop your father, but I hoped you would, until the last minute."

"Believe me, if I'd been there, I would have."

"Why? Where were you?"

"Where do you think?" Eliana lets out a sharp laugh, bitter and resentful even from afar. "I was the closest thing they had to a damn midwife. Without me, our dear Savior would have been pulled out by dwarves alone. Can you imagine? They've never seen a gap that's not bearded."

"I...I didn't know." He's not lying. Not that he was before, but - this is genuine news to him, in a way her recriminations or her exaggerated crassness, made to offend and infuriate, could never be.

"It's not like they're going around advertising that. I made sure that Snow White wouldn't be having a breech birth, and now that cunt looks down at me like I'm a bad influence on her daughter, and goes asking for Rumpelstiltskin's help. Rumpelstiltskin! There's a laugh."

"I don't think that-"

"Meanwhile, I haven't heard a single apology from my father in thirty years, my mother is now a religious leader, my brother's in shambles, and you're saying you were expecting me to fix everything? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Eliana-"

"But of course, that's what's expected of me, right? Stay out of the story, Lia, help with the birth, Lia, hold back and sweep the floors while your Papa's out on a suicide mission, and don't even think about complaining, gods be good, because you're not the one that matters here-"

"Eliana, enough." Finally, Archie manages to wedge himself in her monologue, and grabs her tentatively by the shoulders, steadying her. "You're right. You and August have been wronged so many times I don't know where to begin fixing it. But you're only hurting yourself now. Breathe."

He half expects her to pull away, but to her great surprise, she doesn't. She merely looks up at him, hair wild and dishevelled, her chest heaving raggedly - he always forgets how small she seems, now that she can't swat him away with a single hand any longer, and rage has brought colour to her cheeks, making her appear oh-so-young, younger even than the age printed on her paperwork here in Storybrooke, which has never been accurate and likely never will be.

It strikes Archie that while August might have tricked her into coming to the office today, she could have left at any time, with his approval or not. She was never one to let herself be stopped by a mere locked door, Eliana. The doctor remembers more than one night spent pacing and fuming after she'd climbed out her bedroom window, torn between warning Geppetto and ensuring she didn't run into any trouble - coercing her into staying wouldn't have gone anywhere, then as well as now. There must be a part of her that needed these words to tumble out of her mouth, that wanted him to listen to them, no matter how small or how deeply hidden inside Eliana.

It's not nearly as comforting as one would be led to think, that realization. He thinks that if he could, he'd willingly trade this moment for any of those terrible days from her teenage years, when her rage would make the milk curdle all around the village and Archie would despair of her ever getting better.

"I needed you," she says simply, hollowly. Her voice has evened out now, calm and controlled, but he can tell it's a thin veneer, a lid being pressed onto a boiling pot. "August needed you both, but I did, too. I thought you could make Father see sense, and then the curse broke and we were right where we started. We thought you were dead, Jiminy. I had to stand at the back of the crowd and watch him give you an eulogy and my brother was still missing and it wasn't fair. You hear me? It wasn't. For any of us."

"I know. I'm sorry. I know apologizing will never be enough, but I am sorry, Eliana. Even for the things I couldn't control."

"I don't want apologies." To his great surprise, the shadow of a grin flashes on her face, fleeting but there all the same. "I want the Dark One's head on a spike, and my mother to piss off the face of Earth, and to smack August on the head for this stupid little game he played. Can you speed up any of those, Dr. Hopper?"

An entirely different brand of tiredness falls onto Archie's shoulders, a familiar one, sure, but heavy nonetheless. If there's one thing Eliana has in common with her brother, it's the fact that they have always had a knack for giving him white hair, even before he had any hair to speak of. "You know I can't approve of your plans. As a therapist, and as your friend."

"Yes, well, it would be better if you were actually my friend." Eliana releases a long, tremulous exhale, closing her eyes for a moment before glancing up at him again, as though steadying herself. "Tragically, you're family. It'd be easier to be angry at you and Father, if you weren't."

"What about your mother and brother?"

This time the smile lingers a bit longer on her lips, something approaching her customary fire in it. "That woman's no family of mine. She should have bitten the bullet and kept me around, if she'd wanted to be. They say wet nurses love fairy babies, but I think Nova would have done well, and she'd have been happy. And August..." She hesitates, pressing her lips together, then clears her throat, shaking her head stiffly. "I don't care what he's done in this world. That's for Emma to forgive, and she did. He's not to blame for any of the bad things that happened to us since he was born."

She fixes that burning purple gaze of hers on him, her fingers fidgeting with the strap of her bag. "Can you say the same for yourself, Jiminy? Or for my father?"

For all his experience, Archie has no answer for that question. Eliana must know it as well as him, because after a long moment she nods to herself, then ducks her head and leaves, leaving the door ajar and Pongo whining with his tail tucked between his legs, calling after his playmate.

#bewilderedmoth #ask meme #fanfic #oc: eliana #au: appalachian wine #ouat #archie hopper #this is SO LONG SAJFAHJDSGHJKHJ #it's 2k words...how did I get here #she really needed to let it all out poor bean I love her #thank you again for all the asks I'm <3<3<3<3<3 #your support has been delightful AND unwavering I would take up arms in your defense #also I've been reading a lot of funky stuff about children of fairies and I want to weave as much as I can into eliana's story #there is a tendency for them to find human midwives and nurses apparently #which...blue definitely wouldn't do obviously #might do another headcanon batch when I'm done with the snippets I have in mind #to sort some stuff out #the snow midwife thing is your fault btw. just so that you don't forget

[immamapletreekid]

once again impressed at just how quickly a new piece of media can take over my waking hours

#so the ppl were right...hannibal really is brain chemistry altering. in fact its scary how powerful it is #ive read through..;;;all the wikipedia pages for all 36 episodes in an evening instead of doing anything productive #before i realized it. the whole afternoon was gone. fuck #no regrets (will have many regrets come tomorrow morning) #ok but back to the topic at hand. all wikipedia articles. several other character wiki pages #SEVERAL SEVERAL VERY VERY VERY WELL WRITTEN TUMBLR ANALYSES ON THE SHOW #a good few made me have to put my phone down punch my bed a few times then walk several circles around my room flailing my arms about #bc of the shivers they gave me #god some of u ppl out there are so cool so incredibly skilled with an eye for these things #also went down deep dives on youtube for interviews.. the actors breaking down their characters. fan made compilations #again im particularly a big fan of the video compiling nearly every single cannibal pun made in the show #i feel like a new person again. a persona 3 obsession followed right after by this?!?!?!!!! ive never felt as alive as #when theres a piece of media that consumes all my thoughts. every minute im awake. nothing except the world and the story and the characters #and just how fucking incredible these pieces of media are at weaving the theme so deeply into every fibre of the series #actuslly if i try very hard. ims ure i csn find similarities between persona and hannibal that appealed to me #lately persona 3 has still got an iron grip on me. but that grip has been strengthened furthermore by persona 4 and 5....;;; truly this #this may be the end for me I JUST WANNA SPEND MT DAYS CURLED UP IN MY ROOM OBSESSING OVER THESE THINGS #no stress coming from school or job searching or money or social obligations or just. idk being a person is hard sometimes #passion is so important. like actuslly im going to start crying its so good to be passionate about something #ppl who are passionate about their stuff their thing their knowledge are so cool #im tired now and am going to sleep maybe. after rbing a few more things i keep seeing that cause thst little jolt of #excitement happiness goosebumps and shivers and i need to save tjem for times when it feels i have no passion left to absorb from the world #rambling about stuff

[drchucktingle]

my masks

hey there buckaroos. due to all of the attention the TEXAS LIBRARY ASSOCIATION situation has gotten i am going to take a minute to talk about my personal way as an autistic buckaroo. im going to tell you about my masks.

im doing this for a few reasons, some are good FUN reasons full of love and some are not so great. 

lets start with the GOOD STUFF. first of all, i am talking about this because speaking on my way can help other buckaroo feel more comfortable speaking on there own way, ESPECIALLY if they are good at ‘passing’ for neurotypical like chuck is. 

unfortunately the NOT SO GREAT reasons im talking about all this dang stuff are two fold. reason one: i have been put into a position of having to explain and justify my needs and boundaries by the TXLA. this is not something that i WANT to be taking up all of my time, but when large organizations do not make space for those who they have pledged to support, it puts us smaller buckaroos into position where were have to defend our existence. it is not plesent but it is necessary.

the second NOT SO GREAT reason is that ‘passing’ bisexual and autistic people like myself are ALWAYS just seconds from being gatekept from folks both outside and inside these communities. there will probably be a day on chucks deathbed where i take off my mask and say hello to this timeline (mostly so you can all see how handsome i am under here but I DIGRESS). i KNOW with absolute certainty (the same way other bi and autistic buckaroos are probably nodding along right now) that when that day comes i will STILL be accused of ‘not being real’ and ‘faking’ because i ‘dont look autistic’ and i have a beautiful ladybuck partner in sweet barbara.

ALL THAT IS TO SAY, i am taking a moment today to talk FOR THE RECORD about my neurodigence and my particular needs. hopefully i will not have to keep diving this deep every time an organization takes a discrimantory action against me, but i will also say this: at least it is a good fight on an important battlefield

anyway buds, here is the story of my way on the spectrum

when i was a young buckaroo i knew that my thought process was different. i could socialize easily, which is unique in contrast to many autistic buds (it is a spectrum after all), but my social ease was for an interesting reason. I ALWAYS KNEW WHAT OTHERS WERE ABOUT TO SAY. it was like a strange ‘human game’ where someone would say one thing and i would think ‘well you actually mean something else’ in a sort of logical way (this is why i later related to DATA from star trek so dang much). at first i remember thinking ‘well i am just NOT going to play along with this human game’. i quickly learned neurotypical buckaroos do not like this, that there is a BOB AND WEAVE to social interactions that must be learned. 

later i realized ‘actually if i WANT to make friends and prove love is real then i can do this like an expert because i can SEE the game where most cant’. this got chuck many buds and took me on many adventures. please understand, i am not saying these connections are not important to me, they are just different. they are full of love, but i express this in my own unique way.

HOWEVER, while growing up i felt disconnected from this timeline in other ways, like an alien or a reverse twin trotting along in a world that is not quite my own. i did not feel emotions the same way my buds did. they would get upset over the ‘human game’ interactions and i would not be moved at all, HOWEVER i could see the way sunlight hit a window and start crying my dang eyes out over the beauty. so my emotion was still there and VERY STRONG, i just felt it in more existential ways (like hearing the call of the lonesome train). these days that feeling has progressed to where i am pretty much in a constant blissed out state of cosmic emotional connection (make of that last sentence what you will, but it is the truth). when i make existential posts online i am not just FIRING OFF SOME CONTENT, i really mean every word. this is really my trot.

anyway as a young buckaroo these feelings made me worry sometimes. i thought about various mental health dianosises and marked the parts and pieces that matched with myself. am i this? am i that? sometimes, instead of just being’ different’ i worried i might actually be ‘wrong’. 

when i saw david byrne on letterman in my younger days i immediately recognized something connected to myself. i thought ‘wow this is the mystery being solved before my very eyes.’ i could hear it in the music of talking heads too. i started doing research and realized that i might be on autism spectrum, something that was later confirmed by a therapist (back then the diagnosis was called asperger's). it was a glorious and fulfilling moment. i was SO EXCITED TO BE AUTISTIC LIKE MY HERO. i felt very cool because of it, and i still feel very cool because of it.

one of the big reasons i talk so much about being autistic these days is because i want to make sure OTHER buckaroos can have that same moment that i did. they can see chuck and think ‘wow i really like this autistic artist, maybe being autistic is cool’

so what does an average day WITHOUT wearing the pink bag look like for me?

my thought process is exactly like ROSE from CAMP DAMASCUS, which is part of why i wrote the book. we have the same stim (complex order of finger taps), we prepare for social interactions the same way, we analyze things in the same logical trot that neurotypical people might think feels ‘detached’ but for me feels natural (certain reviews of camp damascus are very funny to me in this way. you can tell when a reader is just very confused by existing in an autistic brain for 250 pages.)

from the outside you would not be able to tell that i am on the spectrum. in fact you would probably find me very socially adept. 

the problem is, all of that masking can take its toll. i spent years trotting in and out the emergency room, talking to confused doctors who could not figure out the chronic phantom tension and pain that radiated through my body. i eventually accepted the fact that i would either live a life constantly on heavy painkillers or just stop living altogether.

eventually, however, i started noticing a correlation between the way that i felt, and the space that i allowed for chuck and the pink mask. i was exercising that tension, allowing my mental mask of neurotypical existence to take a rest. i started practicing physical therapy and this time THE RESULTS STUCK because i was approaching from two sides, MIND AND BODY. after a while, i got my pain down to about 5 percent of what it once was. i still have flare ups in times of stress, but the healing has been very real and life changing.

lets get VERY specific now. if i attended the TXLA confrence without a mask and gave my talk i can tell you this: i would do a dang good job. i can work the heck out of a crowd and (not to reveal too much about my secret way) I HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO DO THIS ON OCCASION VERY WELL. however, going home from this event i would very likely be in pain. i would likely need to do physical therapy. i would likely need to stim for a while. i would NOT be emotionally fullfilled in the same way. in other words, without my pink mask i can charm the heck out of buckaroos, but THE SPACE OF CHUCK TINGLE IS NOT THE SPACE FOR THAT. the pink bag is a place for me to not have to put up with that tension. it is a place for me to unmask mentally by masking physically.

this pink bag space SAVED MY LIFE and i am not going to risk blurring these lines. if and when that ever happens it will be MY decision, not someone elses. that is my boundary. the part of me that neurotypically masks could handle a library conference in a purely technical sense, but the part of me that chuck represents absolutely cannot and should not be asked to do that without the pink bag. unfortunately, the complexity of this point makes it even MORE difficult for me to think about and takes up even more of my time, because it forces me to START QUESTIONING MYSELF and my own needs. to be honest, that is the most insidious part of other people questioning your identify and refusing to accept your accommodation needs without ‘proof’.

the thing is, while all of this discussion of disability and accessibility is important, i have a much larger point to make by writing these words.

a conference should not uninvite someone with an unusual physical presentation or a strange way of speaking REGARDLESS of it being classified as a disability. it does not matter WHY i look the way that i look and wear what i wear. i should not have to spend all day writing this post instead of writing my next book, just because my sensibilities are unique and my presentation is unusual. 

fortunately the solution is very simple: let other people be themselves. its not hurting you to simply accept and nod at the buckaroos you think look strange. let us exist

#actually autistic #chuck tingle #tingleverse #buckaroo lifestyle

[homunculus-argument]

Random character dynamic: A ruler of a massive, mighty empire, and his pet wizard who foretells the future for him. The emperor has absolute, unwavering trust in the wizard's abilities, and never makes a desicion before consulting the wizard first. The emperor's wizard is of no noble birth nor formally educated, and the way they'll casually break courtly etiquette and speak like a peasant instead of a scholar is used to highlight their power - this is a true wizard, with powers natural born, not someone raised and trained to act like one.

Everyone knows the story of how the emperor encountered his wizard. The emperor's party was on a hunting trip in a distant region, and while going out to pursue some unusual game, they encountered a shepherd who warned them to not go this way, a storm will rise and kill the whole party. The emperor and his party ignored this warning and went after the beast they were hunting. A horrible storm came down on them and killed the whole party, save for the emperor.

As the sole survivor of this calamity that appeared out of nowhere, that nobody could have seen coming, the emperor suddenly remembered the shepherd, and realised that hold on, that strange hermit had foreseen this. Had we heeded their warning and not pursued the game, there would have been no storm. So he goes back to the village, finds the shepherd and goes holy shit are you a fucking wizard. And since only a true wizard would deny being a wizard, the emperor takes them with him.

Most of the things the emperor consults the wizard for are matters of common sense, that the wizard learns to weave into flattery - saying that the emperor's utterly idiotic idea would be a masterful move in any other time and place, but there is wisdom in knowing when to bide his time. Other members of the court and clergy start slipping the wizard requests of things that they should herd the emperor into doing, or not doing.

When the wizard admits to the other advisors that they don't actually have any kind of power of divination, they're told that the court already knows. This is how it has always been. The line of the emperors knows that the rulers who heed the warnings of their royal wizards tend to prosper, and the ones who ignore their sages or neglect to have one at all will fail.

This has been the case ever since the one emperor whose wizard had warned him to not let his wife drink so much while pregnant, or his heir's reign would be fated to be disastrous. The emperor ignored the warning and 30 years later, the aforementioned heir struggled to rule before being assasinated by his cousin, who took over the throne and whose line has ruled ever since, adamantly drilling it into every new generation to not ignore their wizards.

One might not be able to convince an emperor about things like "local peasants know how to predict the weather patterns of where they live" or "fetal alcohol syndrome is bad for your child", but they sure can believe in fate, and those with the power of divination.

[kirain]

Wall of the faithless isn't canon in bg3. They changed alot of things actually. So no Gale isn't "scared" he's just an obsessed asshole who doesn't learn from his mistakes.

Oof...

There's really nothing I can say except: you're wrong. The City of Judgement and the Wall of the Faithless are canon to BG3. If you don't like Gale, that's fine, but you don't have to make things up or completely disregard the lore to do it. Larian Studios literally hired people from Wizards of the Coast—the company responsible for all the canon lore, characters, and campaigns in D&D—to help them with the story. It took them five years, I believe, to fully study and understand the lore. They constantly conferred with the team to double, triple, and quadruple check every slice of content they added to the game, and parts of the game are now considered canon to D&D 5E.

As for Gale "not learning" from his mistakes ... when you first meet him, he literally admits he made a mistake with Mystra. Though personally I don't see it as the "power-hungry" move people seem to think it is. Gale simply wanted to be considered an equal to his partner (really his groomer), which is a perfectly healthy and normal desire for anyone in a relationship. Your partner should treat you like an equal, but Mystra very clearly saw Gale as a pet. A trophy. A worshipper. Subservient. Beneath her. A silly mortal with delusions of grandeur (which she cultivated), which is really rich when you learn she was once mortal herself. Mystra is a hypocrite.

Gale tried to prove himself worthy of equality by trying to bring Mystra what he thought was a piece of her missing Weave. For anyone who doesn't know, the current Mystra was torn to pieces by Cyric and Shar, then put back together by her Chosen. Though back to full power by the events of BG3, she's still technically missing pieces of herself, and Gale mistook the Karsite Weave for one of those pieces. Instead of simply telling Gale it was corrupted Weave, she let him go on believing it was hers. Personally I think that's because she was tired of him (maybe he got too old for her 😒) and was hoping he would do something that, in her mind, would justify abandoning him—but I admit that's full conjecture on my part. What is true is that she knew the orb wasn't hers, but for some reason she let Gale think it was. Even after she abandoned him and left him to die, she never told him. Not until she realised she could use him.

In Act 3, while the argument can certainty be made that he's thirsty for power, Gale ultimately becomes fed up with the gods because, as he knows better than anyone, they treat people like commodities. While I have no intention of ever ascending him myself, it looks like he actually makes good on his word. He doesn't threaten or toy with his followers, he inspires people to walk their own path, he only asks for prayers as payment (as without some form of devotion, gods in D&D cease to be), and if you romance him ... he ascends you into godhood as his equal. Mystra could have done this for him, she just didn't want to. And if you don't want him to ascend, it's genuinely so easy. I don't understand what people are complaining about. It takes one conversation with zero checks to convince him to completely abandon his ambitions. One. If he was truly "power hungry", it wouldn't be that easy.

Again, I would argue that Gale's true goal isn't really power, it's freedom, and divinity gives him that freedom. He has many conversations where he makes it clear he doesn't want to live under the gods' thumbs anymore; which, in a world like Faerûn, is extremely understandable. As I said in my Wall of the Faithless post, he's scared. Eternal torment for a simple mistake, one of which could've been avoided if Mystra told him the truth or treated him like an equal? When your partner is a goddess, how can you not feel inadequate? And if you convince him to give up the crown, he's perfectly content with Mystra's forgiveness. Even in the Early Access, that's all he really wanted.

Gale's far from perfect. He's arrogant and overconfident and insecure and he can be prone to emotional outbursts (most of which he apologises for, however), but he's nowhere near the heartless, power-hungry monster the haters seem to think he is. He is, in fact, one of the most compassionate companions in the entire camp, to the point that he accepts everyone, including Minthara. He votes for Astarion to stay when you find out he's a vampire. He gets mad at you if you surrender him to the Gur. He's one of the only companions who will openly marry/stay with you if you become a mindflayer. He's willing to sacrifice himself to save the world, and willing to damn himself to be with you. He loves every act of kindness, while hating every act of cruelty. I understand that the bugs from launch ruined a lot of people's perception of him ... and unfortunately some of those glitches are still present even now, but he is a good man.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #karlach #karlach cliffgate #wall of the faithless #city of Judgement #wizards of the coast #dnd #d&d #dungeons and dragons #astarion #minthara

[its-your-mind]

ALWAYS rotating TAZ: Balance around in my brain like microwave but ESPECIALLY with the announcement of The Suffering Game graphic novel

The dope thing they can do (and are doing) with the graphic novel series is sprinkle in moments of foreshadowing and hints to the reader about what REALLY might be going on here, which is so cool and I’m a huge fan of it, especially when you’re telling a story in this form.

But what is REALLY FUCKING TASTY about Balance as a story is that none of the motherfuckers telling it had any clue what they were doing when they started

Gerblins is dick jokes and not knowing how dice work and making fun of each other for voices. LICHRALLY the scene where Taako grabs the Umbrastaff is immediately proceeded by Clint trying different voices for Merle while Justin begs him to stop, as Taako. Merle gets launched across the room cuz he failed his save, and now Taako has an umbrella. The scene moves on.

Griffin brought them up to the BOB, introduced them to the Director, and gave them memories of a war fought over nameless, lost, powerful but mysterious artifacts. The memory that Taako takes from it is the idea of soured cream (ya know, for his taco quest).

And then they’re off, on different adventures, making friends, saving lives, making more dick jokes, and Griffin is in the background, slowly building in the meta-plot, as all DMs do.

But this meta-plot was HUGE. It was ALL-CONSUMING. It completely changes everything we know about this world and these characters. It takes the moments of dick jokes, and arguments about character voices, and flirting with death, and adds a layer of tragedy and complexity that just wasn’t present the first time they told that story.

AND THAT’S WHY THIS STORY KICKS ASS. The vibe of the story changed as Tres Horny Boys grew closer and closer to remembering the lives they had lost, as Griffin upped the stakes, as people started dying. They still don’t know shit for most of The Suffering Game, but you absolutely could not have predicted the tone of that arc after just listening to Gerblins. It sounds like a completely different story. And so when the other shoe drops, when shit breaks bad, when it’s the end of the world… again, and they have to reclaim their Stolen Century…

It makes sense. The tone has shifted enough to accommodate that kind of change. The characters have grown (back) into themselves enough to make this work.

Because TAZ: Balance is a tragedy. But the tragedy happened before the podcast even started, and had been erased. So of course it started off with goofs and dildo jokes. Of course the three of them started being standoff-ish with each other and making light of every situation that should have had a lot more weight. They didn’t know what they had lost, and we, the audience, didn’t either. So it was easy to laugh and joke… until slowly, it wasn’t so much anymore.

Plenty of people have praised Griffin’s storytelling abilities, but I think the thing that was most impressive to me was how he took the disparate threads laid out behind the Boys on their adventures, and followed them backwards, into the story they had lost, and forwards, into the ending they earned. I fucking love that he settled on Istus as the deity to interact with them, because I don’t think there’s a better representation of the story Griffin was weaving behind the scenes of the arcs.

Story and Song wasn’t really an arc driven by dice rolls and role playing - but it wasn’t railroading either. Griffin took every story they had told, every happy ending they had fought for, and twined them around and through each other. The world was saved not because of a lucky nat 20 roll, but because every person they had helped through the story came out in force to fight beside them to save their world.

And so in the end, the Stolen Century was a tragedy. But The Adventure Zone: Balance was a story of hope, of family, of the power that just a few loveable doofuses can have when they move through the world, making friends and saving lives. So when the world was ending and they needed help, there were dozens of people waiting to hear the Story and the Song that would give them the push they needed to fight, and the hope they needed to win.

#taz #taz balance #taz balance spoilers #taako adventurezone #merle highchurch #magnus burnsides #McElroys #griffin mcelroy #the adventure zone