#the ending is a bit sour and there's a whole discussion to be made

[svankmajerbaby]

she's her own means of production!!! she's the mother and the child! she's the woman and the infant! shes the teacher and the student! she's innocence and experience all in one! shes a monster and is also infinitely human!!!!!!

#bella baxter #poor things 2023 #its my favorite movie now #it was just as amazing as i thought it would be #the ending is a bit sour and there's a whole discussion to be made #on how it treats deformities in godwins case and neurodivergence with bella and felicity #and also something about race probably.... how toinette and harry are in the end means in bellas journey #(just like the two older woman are) #and theres also a whole class and gender analysis to be done of course..... #but this movie has so many layers. its challenging and at the same time candid and striaghtforward #it has no ill intent only a desire to push everything and see what tips over and falls #i loved it i loved it i loved it i loved it

[malarign]

jay as your boyfriend!

(soft moments with him)

contains: bf!Jay x gn!reader (implied that reader wears a dress but no pronouns were used) | genre: fluff | tw! mention of food, kissing, crowds | wc: 1,4k

reblogs, likes and comments are highly appreaciated!!!

other members’ versions: LHS - SJY - PSH - KSW - YJW - NRK

➶ wiping food off your face *ೃ༄

Jay and you were truly a match made in heaven. Both of you shared many hobbies, one of them being cooking and trying out new recipes from around the world. What you both enjoyed after cleaning up the kitchen from your activities was eating the meal you prepared. Sharing what you liked and disliked about the dish and discussing what to do next time to perfect the recipe you often got a bit of sauce or some scrumbles in the corner of your lips. They wouldn’t be there for long though, Jay was always quick to wipe it off your face.

“I really like the texture but I think it needs a little bit of lemon juice, don’t you think?” you asked taking another bite of the meal.

You looked at your boyfriend, Jay who sat in front of you. He looked down at his plate, brows furrowing as he munched on his bite.

“You think so? I would say more soy sauce would do,” he suggested looking at you.

“Actually I read somewhere that if something tastes bland it might need some sourness.” You took another bite.

As you were eating you noticed how a smile grew on his face. You were confused at first, but when he reached to your lips and wiped a sauce off them with his thumb you also put a smile on your face.

“Should we try it out now, then?”

➶ zipping up your dress *ೃ༄

Him doing that was a highlight of you getting ready for dates or when you just decided to wear a dress. The way he gently put your hair out of his way, his fingers delicately touching your skin while doing so. Usually, you would stand in front of a mirror while he helped you so he could see how you blushed when his eyes were plastered on yours for this whole time.

Jay turned you around so that he could face you after he was done zipping up your dress. Too mesmerized by the way your eyes held stars within themselves he just leaned in and plastered a passionate kiss, hands wandering on your sides, as you placed yours at the back of his neck, deepening the intimacy.

When you finally pulled out of each other’s arms you looked at him, a serious look suddenly appearing on your face.

“Jay Park, maybe you could tell me how I look? After all, you bought this dress,” you spoke and your confidence made you look even more attractive in his eyes.

He smiled and eyed you up and down, making you regret your question, feeling the blood rushing to your cheeks.

“Oh my dear Y/n, you look gorgeous,” he said and bent down to kiss your palm making you giggle to yourself at his chivalrous action. “You are gorgeous,” he said, this time putting your hair behind your ear and placing his warm hand on your cheek.

➶ smiling while you’re talking about something you’re passionate about *ೃ༄

Jay is a man of many hobbies. His passions like guitar, dance, singing, music in general, and his never ending curiosity of the world made him much more attractive in your eyes. What you didn’t know was that he had the same feelings when it came to you. He often found himself so immersed in how you’re telling him about what you found out about your fields of interest. Unconsciously he would smile slightly at the way your tone changed, how your gestures became bigger and your eyes shined with passion.

Jay listened carefully to your monologue about your recent obsession which was an ancient history of Rome. At first, he tried to join you in the talk since he also grew an interest in this period during his high school years, but then the pure urge to just listen to you talking avidly about it made him want to listen to your voice and watch how you couldn’t sit at one place from the emotions it brought to you.

The dreamy look on his face made you think for a second if he was truly listening to you.

“Jay? Are you listening to me?” you asked, worried he was bored by your rant.

“Of course, love,” he reassured you. “I love it when you’re talking about things that you’re curious about,” he confessed, helping you realize his true feelings about you.

➶ pulling you closer in his sleep *ೃ༄

For you and Jay nights together looked pretty similar. At first a little bit of talking about your plans for the next day, some soft loving touches, and then laying down to finish the day. You never had any problems with sleeping at night, but still, you couldn’t top how quick Jay was to doze off. And you couldn’t blame him - the amount of work he had during the day often drained him, yet he still tried to not let you know how sleepy he was at the moment. That’s why you were the one to fall asleep much later than him. Whenever you took a little longer to doze off, you felt his arms unconsciously wrap around your waist, bringing you closer to his body.

His hot breath fell on the back of your neck sending waves of shivers down your spine. Knowing he wouldn’t wake up from your movement you turned around to face him, his arms still messily wrapped around your body. Seeing his features in a faint moonlight that poured through your bedroom curtains made you smile to yourself. He looked so peaceful, the pout that formed on his lips made him even cuter than usual.

You raised your hand and gently brushed his short, black hair to the back, leaving a few scratches at the back of his head.

“I love you, my love,” you whispered and soon you also fell into a deep slumber.

➶ kissing your hands and tips of fingers *ೃ༄

When you first started dating Jay you didn’t expect how soft his heart truly was. Full of surprises he never failed to make you melt at his actions that expressed nothing but pure love and affection. What made your heart flutter the most was probably the way he kissed you dearly, especially your hands. Whenever you were getting ready to go to sleep he would take your hand in his and plant soft kisses on its back and tips of your fingers.

“Your hands are so soft,” Jay spoke in a baby voice making you giggle at his cute side.

Soon he started leaving tickling pecks all over your hands, firmly holding you as you tried to seize it from him, but it was all in vain.

“Jay it tickles!” Your laugh and the sensitivity of your fingers just made him want to tease you more. He only stopped when you pulled him into a sweet kiss, finally leaving your hand alone, now busy with your lips.

➶ taking your hand firmly in his when in a crowded place *ೃ༄

Knowing how uncomfortable you got in places where lots of people gathered, Jay took taking care of your comfort as his duty. And he was great at that, either by asking you questions if you wanted to go somewhere else or you were feeling good enough to stay. But in places where those solutions wouldn’t be possible he would simply take your hand firmly in his and forced your way through people that surrounded you. His grip and occasional thumb rubs made you feel a lot better.

You looked at the now pretty much-crowded place you were having your mini-date with Jay. The number of people there doubled or even trebled, making you feel how your heartbeat started to increase. Before it started to race you heard Jay’s soft voice in a room full of noise.

“Love, I think we should go as quickly as it’s possible. Let’s not wait, okay?” Jay suggested, a worried look making you feel at ease.

In response you simply nodded your head and grabbed his hand interlocking your fingers with his. He started guiding you through the crowd and worked your way to the exit. Your gaze was fixated either on your feet or his head, which turned around from time to time to check on you.

In a minute you were out, fresh and cool air hitting your skin helping you relax. In contrast to the inside the night seemed peaceful, just like you almost didn’t have to go through a huge amount of people.

“Are you okay, love?” you heard Jay question and smiled at him.

You climbed on your toes to plant a sweet kiss on his jaw.

“Yes, thank you, Jay.”

thank you for reading! back to the masterlist

permanent taglist: (send an ask to be added) @nicholasluvbot, @en-chantedtomeetyou, @kpopstanmeg, @skzenhalove, @nfrgirl, @edensgardenn (in bold can’t be tagged)

#kflixnet #enhanet #enhypen #enhypen fluff #enhypen fic #enhypen imagine #enhypen headcanons #enhypen x reader #enhypen jay #enhypen jongseong #jay fluff #jongseong fluff #jay fic #jongseong fic #jay imagine #jongseong imagine #jay headcanons #jongseong headcanons #jay x reader #jongseong x reader #jay x y/n #jongseong x y/n #jay x you #jongseong x you #park jay #jay park #park jongseong #park jongseong x reader

[poppyseed1031]

Point Proven

Neteyam x Fem Reader!, Both 23-24!, Jealousy, possessiveness, Public smuttiness, smut

"Oh Tanto, thank you!" I squeaked in surprise when the male Navi reached around, holding a bundle of Yovo fruit in his hands. I turned, eyes widening in surprise when seeing how close he was standing, we were almost chest to chest. I took a step back as I took the bundle of delicious fruit and nodded my thanks again. "No worries, Y/N, would you like to sit and share one with me?" He asked, leaning towards me a bit with a smile. I shifted on my feet uncomfortably, "No than-" "No, She doesn't." A deep voice boomed behind the man, cutting me off. My ears perked at the familiar voice, and I was unable to stop the smile that spread over my face as I looked over Tantos shoulder and saw Neteyam walking towards us. "Neteyam, nice to see you." Tanto had straightened up, trying and failing to stand taller than Neteyam. "Why don't you let the beautiful lady answer me, hm? You are not the only one who has presented a courting offer to her." My ears flattened in shock at the statement, everyone in the clan knew Neteyam and I were together, and just weeks away from completely Tsaheylu, So this was just complete and utter disrespect. Neteyam growled but turned to me, motioning with his arms for me to respond with a small smirk on his face as he looked at me. I cleared my throat and stepped into Neteyam's side while fixing Taanto with my most aggressive stare. "I love NETEYAM. I am with NETEYAM. I will never consider another offer, nor have I ever thought about it, or wanted to; and everyone in the clan knows that, has known it for years. So you to stand here and disrespect my mate is disgusting and shameful." I hissed. I know in the back of my mind I sounded prissy and rude and I could have handled it more gracefully, but looking at the smug look on Neteyams face and the taken aback one on Tanto's, I couldn't find it in me to care. "But Y/N you've never even gave anyone else a chanc-" "That's where I'm gonna stop you. Leave her alone, or I'll be forced to physically deal with you. End of discussion." Neteyam interrupted him, putting his arm around my shoulder and steering me away from the whole conversation. We walked in silence for awhile, making our way through the village and then weaving through the trees of the forest. I snuck a peek at his face a few times, he was scrunching it up, like he just ate an extremely sour fruit and was wearing a scowl. Eventually we made it to a small clearing I recognized as one a few of the older, already trained warriors would use for practice. Neteyam pulled me behind a large group of trees that blocked us from view of the open space and pushed on my shoulders lightly until I sat down. "Are you mad at me?" I asked quietly as he sunk down in the grass right next to me, "Of course not! It's not your fault you're so fucking gorgeous, and sweet, and kind, and funny.." He trailed on with a big, fang filled smile. I felt my cheeks heat up and a blush spread across them at his words. I wondered why he let Tanto off so easily and wasn't upset, but I didn't want to push it so I nudged him lightly with a small giggle before leaning into a kiss. 

A few hours had passed and after spending them wrapped in each others arms we were still hidden behind the trees surrounding the clearing, and eclipse was starting to close in so I rose to my feet and held out my hand to Neteyam, "Oh yawne, we aren't leaving, the reason we came just got here." He whispered with a smirk. I quirked my eyebrow in question and he gently grabbed my chin and turned my head, pointing between the trees to a few feet away from us, where Tanto was standing and setting up a target for bow practice. "What?" I asked, still confused. Neteyam clicked his tongue and put his hands on my hips. With a light squeeze he pushed me gently against the trunk of one of the trees, pressing his body flush with mine. "I'm going to show him just who you belong to." He whispered while lightly dragging his lips down the skin of my neck. I shuddered involuntarily at the touch and tangled my hands into his hair as he moved his mouth down to the swell of my breasts, licking and nipping while pushing my covering out of the way and immediately rolling one of my nipples between his fingers, earning a gasp from me, "Be as loud as you want, paskalin. I want him to hear you." He said against my skin. I pressed my lips together and tossed my head back against the tree as his hand trailed down my body and to the heat between my legs. "Are you gonna be a good girl? Hmm? Gonna show him who you belong to?" Neteyam questioned quietly before lazily flicking his tongue over my nipple and then nipping the flesh. "Yes, Eywa yes." I whimpered, rutting my hips so his hand pressed harder against me. My slick was starting to soak my loincloth, and the heat pooling in my lower belly was becoming unbearable. "Good." He growled, dropping to his knees in front off me before hooking his fangs into the band of my loincloth and dragging is down my legs, all while looking up at me through predatory eyes. He just kneeled in front of me for a moment, taking in deep breathes and staring. I squirmed in discomfort and rubbed my thighs together, "Neteyam please." I whined. "I'm sorry baby, you just smell and look so. fucking. good." He grinned before diving in. He buried his nose in my folds and licked a long, wide stripe up before starting to lick small, presice circles with the tip of his tongue around my clit. "Oh!" I moaned out, tangled my hands in his hair and trying to push his face farther in. I resisted the urge to throw my head back, I wanted to watch as he stared up from between my legs. 

"My name. Say my name." He growled, the vibrations stimulating my clit in the perfect way. He continued licking and lapping, sucking and flicking my clit with his tongue until i was writhing and barely standing up right. He must have noticed because he grunted and gripped my hips tightly before lifting me up and positioning my legs over his shoulders so I was leaned against the tree, and my pussy was shoved right in his face as I dangled over him. He ate me liked a starved man, making me chant his name like it was the only word I've ever known and grind against his face. I wondered how Tanto hadn't heard and walked over to us yet for a minute, but then Neteyam pulled away, and the sight of him with my slick dripping from his chin and shining on his lips made all the thoughts in my head vanish. "Louder." He hissed, going back in before I could answer. I felt something prod at my entrance and then 2 of his fingers thrusted inside of me. "Oh Eywa, Neteyam!" I screamed as he pistoned into me, so roughly my body lurched against the bark of the tree, but the sting felt so good. He sucked on my clit harshly while drilling his fingers and then curling them and hitting that spongy sweet spot. My hips bucked into his mouth and my legs started to shake. My grip on his hair tightened as I arched my back, right on the edge of orgasm. "Cum baby, cum for me. I can feel you squeezing my fingers, I know your close." He said, then lightly grazed his fangs across my clit, pushing me into an eye rolling, toe curling orgasm. I came with a loud scream of his name and my body went completely rigid, legs locking around his head and toes digging into his back, his free hand dug into my waist to keep my steady as I rode out the waves of it on his fingers that were still thrusting inside me gently. When I came down from it, He pulled them out of me and wrapped both arms around my waist, allowing me to sink into the comfort of him on shaky legs. "That's my girl." He murmured, pulling me into a heated kiss. He licked my bottom lip, and I opened my mouth to let him in, tasting myself on his tongue as it moved with mine. I moaned into the kiss and trailed my hand down his chiseled abdomen to the rock hard bulge    in his loincloth. "No no." He said as he pulled away, bending down to grab my loincloth and tie it around my waist. He chuckled when he saw my pout and hooked an arm around me, leading me out of the trees. "I'll fuck you all night as soon as we get to our hut, this was to prove a point." He whispered in my ear as we walked into the openness of the clearing. I looked away from him confused and was met with the site of Tanto.

He looked pale, his ears lowered completely to his skull, tail tucked, and eyes wide as he took us in. My tail and ears twitched in embarrassment, I would have thought he'd have left as soon as he heard us. 

"Hey man, out so late?" Neteyam asked with a condescending grin and a slap to the other mans shoulder as he lead me away towards the direction of the village. 

#neteyam smut #neteyam x reader #neteyam fanfiction #neteyam x y/n #neteyam #atwow #avatar 2 #avatar the way of water #avatar #avatar fluff #neteyam sully #neteyam suli x reader #neteyam scenario

[ladysirenity23]

Cult!Genshin x reader

Sagau pt.1 Khaenri'ah

Warnings: cult behavior, obsessive thoughts, religion, spoilers,

Lumine

One of your very first followers. though the land of Khaenri'ah need not praise any God for they are the ones who nourished the land without such divine, however to her you were different

The Creator, you were the one who placed Lumine in Teyvat to lead Khaenri'ah, she was supposed to stay forever in this world

No, She wasn't mad that you never had shown your divine presence during the Cataclysm, in fact she thinks it was all supposed to happen eventually!now.. she has a reason to take down Celestia and bring you to their side

Til then, her faith in you will not waver, even in her most darkest moments in the abyss she will be awaiting for your presence to shine bright as the false sun of Enkanomiya

Albedo

He was the one tasked to create you a separate vessel(on when you ever decide to roam Teyvat with all by your lonesome)

Though at first, he never did grasp the reason why beings on the lands all over the globe of Teyvat seemed to worship you endlessly

Rhinedottir-his master always would continuously teach him what you were to Teyvat.But she would always end up gushing and forgetting what she was supposed to be teaching him

Questions will be left unanswered and as expected, would make Albedo more curious.He would ask everyone again and again til he would get the perfect answer

Yet no perfect answer was heard, he'd sigh and instead stay here with his master leaving the questions behind his mind for a while as he found himself with some sort of a fondness by the slight feeling of your presence peering over the clouds

He found art that was supposed to depict on what your appearance would be like, he found them amusing tho he himself also can't help but imagine how divinely you would look and feel.Even so, those statues, paintings, and stories don't do you any justice compared to what you have given to the world of Teyvat

With that he needed to show his devotion by making this now sacred vessel, perfect

more so than him--no than any Celestial being the Archons might have made

He shouldn't compare such things below you,and when the time comes

Albedo prays quietly that a deity such as yourself would grace this vessel that he made by possessing it as your own

Kaeya

He heard of you through his time spent in Khaenri'ah, and now in his time he was in Mondstadt

He believes in you, but is more than a tad bit sour that you never appeared and stopped the fall of his former homeland--his faith in you stopped for a while, but he remembered something!He would have never met Diluc and the others if it never happened

Kaeya was now at least less spiteful towards you after the thoughts of the positive things that happened to him after all it was meant to happen and to add to that!

you were literally the only subject that he could discuss with Diluc without either of them starting some sort of fight so with that, he should feel thankful to be at last being able to talk with his adoptive brother in the first time in years

when he felt a familiar divinely presence inside the traveler he felt envious that he wasn't your first choice of a vessel

But the feeling of jealousy soon dispersed when you finally used him to fight everything that you desired to kill

Now however you were having a walk with him, no bloodshed you just lead him to a peaceful morning over the cliff overlooking Mondstadt at its whole

He would have laughed,assuming you always have killing the first thing that comes into your mind every time you decide to use any of your acolytes early in the morning

But he was proved wrong, for this morning.. you were simply walking with him, not a single drop of blood was shed by in his hands, for you just lead him to a peaceful morning breeze on top of a cliff, overlooking Mondstadt at its whole

The city of freedom never looked this beautiful before, and now he selfishly wishes that instead of you being inside him--He wanted you and him,witnessing the region's sight hand-in-hand

Wouldn't it be a more beautiful experience if you were actually present in his side

Aether

When Aether first entered into Teyvat.He wasn't aware there would be a being that was far more greater than Celestia themselves, til his body had been moving by its own

He thought he was going crazy, but Paimon also seemed to have felt your presence since she also talks to you as if you were a separate entity when inside his or another person's body.So he calmed down happy to know he wasn't going insane.

It was uncomfortable at first, but soon found it reassuring after knowing that you were leading him towards his sister to whom he'd lost

the times where you left his body made him a a bit relaxed for a while, but missed you once it took too long for you to come back

After finding out you had a body specifically made for you from Albedo , he felt a bit sad

but at the same time happy that he'd get to finally experience things with you as another being that could finally respond  to his short stupid ramblings and comfort him with the warmth of your own arms

Dainsleif

The man who always kept to himself not bothering with anyone unless it's to track information about the infamous abyss order

But he was also the man who protected your perfect vessel safe from the cruel beings out there(he won't admit it, but he holds so much pride on the job given to him)

Even though he held some sort of past grudge towards you, he soon found out that it would solve nothing

So instead to just making you an exception, he silently fell in love with the thought of you showing him first hand what divinities you held

And once his mission is done, he would also like it to be able to finally achieve peace and enjoy the rest of his life with you

But.. he doesn't deserve to be even near your presence Dainslief would say to himself shaking his head of the any of the remaining selfish daydreams

But he can't help but wonder, you know?Not when he finally feels your presence for the first time in forever through the traveler

He was reluctant at first to give your physical body to the traveler, but he did as told when he thought of the things he could do with you

With the thoughts plaguing his mind he instantly gave it, Dainslief's eyes could be seen flashing at you with happiness once he could see the slight twitch of your fingers before waking up

Like the first time a singular perfect Inteyvat bloomed, you finally woke up

---

"'New quest!' Enter the creator's physical body as Dainslief instructed you to!"

You didn't really hadn't thought of anything when looking at the sudden popup ,you shrug thinking it was just an extra part of the Archon quest.

After pressing the 'interact' button you felt as if  your world was suddenly spinning,

you collapse towards the floor as your phone dropping could be the last thing you heard afterwards

You awake feeling nauseated before your eyes widen open at the sight of the characters of a game you were playing just a moment ago the ivory haired male gave you his hands for you to grab on, his turquoise eyes softening at the hesitation in your own orbs that reflected his

You didn't know if it was shock or fear that immobilised your body, but all you knew at this very moment is that..

"At last.. you have finally arrived oh who is most divine!" almost instantly Dainslief loudly praised at you, while securely grabbing you by your forearm

You weren't in the comfort of your home anymore

Pierro

Even from the cold winter mornings of Snezhnaya,news of the ' o!almighty Creator descending our world'started to spread all over Teyvat like wildfire

Pierro couldn't feel more than delighted to hear the news of your arrival with your own vessel

he knew very well he didn't make your physical body--it was still a product from his fallen homeland

So with pride he held on to his Khaenri'ahan heritage, the only thing he could silently show off to the youngest of the harbingers

Though the Cataclysm gave him a bit of a strain in his faith in you, he came to a conclusion that sacrifices were made and you were here now in the present roaming around the world of Teyvat

Now he just has to await his turn on being a candidate to be your acolyte and when that happens he wouldn't mind killing off anyone that came in front of your way or (if ever) sacrifice himself for your own divinely goals

Small edit:26/September/11:33 am

Small edit:27/September/10:58 am

#sagau #genshin x reader #sagau x reader #god reader #pierro #fatui x reader #kaeyagenshinimpact #kaeya x reader #khaenri'ah #Khaenri'ah x reader #dainslief #dainsleif x reader #aether #Aether x Reader #Albedo #albedo #albedo x reader #Twins x Reader #Lumine #lumine #lumine x reader

[patcaps]

you can read my other thoughts on the finale here so i’m not gonna just say all the same things again but

the ending was always gonna be divisive with people loving it or hating it, liking it but wishing some things were a bit different. it’s the ending of a beloved show and nobody is ever gonna agree on what the right ending would be. it sucks to have folks outright rejecting it but it also sucks to see people like “you are wrong for having any criticisms whatsoever” like, i’m all for being able to discuss aspects of media and what we liked and didn’t like. it’s not always a bad faith interpretation, or cynicism, or being poor at understanding the writing and intention. and i love meta and analysis that doesn’t completely pick apart something and refuse it any grace or leniency. i think sometimes we’re way too hard on stuff that is ultimately heartfelt and from a place of love and joy, and unraveling them dampens the magic.

anyway. that aside. i love this show so much. there are things i’d have done differently, pacing choices that made it fall flat in places, but it’s not my show and these guys know their characters and love them as much as we do. and the ghosts and mike and alison never stopped being family - which is, ultimately, the biggest thing that matters. not the house, not where they are, but how they’ve helped each other for the better. alison and mike spent their entire lives making sure the ghosts were never forgotten, always went back to catch up. they got to enjoy all the fun and love of visiting family without the stress of living under each other’s feet 24/7 - and relationships with family often improve tenfold with that breathing space.

the show ended where it started with the plans to turn it into a hotel, but this time instead of the ghosts panicking and being like “drive her out, kill her” they loved alison enough to take all of that change on, safe in the knowledge that alison would never ever just abandon them. that’s such a neat way of showing how they’ve all helped each other. like, robin’s seen that house and the houses and land before it change so much but he felt so good about this change, literally said he felt christmassy finally, because they could do this. for her. for their friend, their family member, their alison.

they existed before alison and they’ll exist after her, but in the meantime they get to enjoy being her family and also know they’ve given them a more stable, secure, less stressful living arrangement that works for them all. they aren’t fully dependent on alison anymore and alison was no longer fearful of leaving and losing them because she knew they’d still be her family no matter what. i’ve seen some people interpret this as “they’re saying having a baby meant her found family weren’t important anymore, they have to go be a traditional family alone” and that was my kneejerk response too, but then i sat with it. and actually, alison goes from being a (presumed) orphan with no family besides mike and his side, to having all of that plus the ghosts, people who love her and always welcome her back to visit whenever she wants. how lovely for her to have her very own family she can go and see, who did such a kind thing for her, however bittersweet a decision it was initially.

and yeah, it’s true that the ghosts have less of alison there to take care of things like personalised entertainment, but that’s the whole point of them leaving - alison wasn’t in a position where she could worry about entertaining them all the time whilst also being with her husband and raising a newborn. it wasn’t fair to keep asking her to run around after a houseful of ghosts when looking after yourself and a small child is hard enough. she could have stayed and ended up resenting them, getting frustrated and angry the way they did with mike’s mum, potentially souring that relationship with the ghosts. instead she moved out and gets to go back and see them and love and enjoy them fully without that responsibility 24/7. i’m sure she took them new things, gifts, let them watch tv and read books, i bet they had requests for whenever she visited which she was more than happy to supply. and i bet they always had new anecdotes and things to catch her up on.

the more time i have, the more i warm to it all. it’s easy to say “they should have stayed together at the house” but this show is about being human, about life and death, how existence is both cruel and kind and beautiful and unexpected and it changes you and you change it. they did stay together, just not under the same roof. home is more than just button house, more than just a dream because dreams change as we go, and belonging is about more than just a destination. alison found home and belonging in the ghosts, and they found it in her too. the rest is just bricks and mortar.

#bbc ghosts spoilers #bbc ghosts #quill to paper #ghosts meta

[the-badger-mole]

If you could fix aang as a character and make him a better well rounded character and hero of the story how would you do it? I love aang, but I perfectly understand why you don't like him. And the writing that was done for him in the show is so messed up. I wish he was written way better. Because for me Aang does have moments. But over all he has a lot of moments where he is toxic and it just drives me crazy.

I'd allow people to be angry at him. That moment in Bato of the Water Tribe, where he makes snide asides about the SWT culture and artifacts? Yeah, Katara and Sokka heard him. The village that had an anti-Avatar Day? That doesn't get resolved even after Kyoshi's grand appearance, because centuries of ill will doesn't just go away like that. Same with the two tribes in The Great Divide. Their interaction with Aang leaves a sour taste in their mouths, and Aang doesn't just get to lie his way out of conflict resolution.

I'm not saying this to be mean, but Aang's whole schtick is that everyone either loves him or is a villain, but if he's going to be an effective Avatar, he's got to learn to live with not being universally adored. He's got to learn that other cultures have value, even if their customs come in direct conflict with his own, because how is an Avatar who is a supremacist for their own native culture going to be an effective bridge for the different countries of the world? How does he illustrate the show theme of "the illusion of separation" if he can't even appreciate other peoples' points of view? How is he going to be effective at conflict resolution when he hasn't even experienced resolving his own conflicts?

Aang should also be forced to consider the war head on. I'm not talking about fighting lil' skirmishes and being chased by people. I'm talking about being forced to confront the war happening around him, and how it has affected the people he loves, and his role in it. I made a post here about how I wish it had been handled, but the tl;dr version is Aang should have been considering how to end the war and defeat Ozai WELL before the second to last episode.

Obviously, I Aang shouldn't have gotten with Katara, but I'm fine with his crush. Unrequited crushes are a part of growing up, and learning how to handle that disappointment is important. It think it would have been such a powerful moment for Katara and Aang to discuss their relationship and end with them still being friends even though Katara doesn't feel the same way about Aang.

If you're interested, scroll through my blog a bit. I've touched on how I'd improve Aang a few times. I would link more, but Tumblr is a garbage barge of a site, and their archiving feature reflects that. `

#atla #improving aang #anti-aang #anti kataang

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Tanuki

CR 4

Chaotic Neutral Medium Monstrous Humanoid

Bestiary 3, pg. 259

These mischievous, fun-loving, shapeshifting raccoons are far less violent or angry than the one displayed by the actual art, preferring trickery and music to brawls and battle. Fittingly enough, it's often believed that a Tanuki is born from the proto-soul that comes to inhabit any well-loved and well-used tool or appliance that manages to last a whole 100 years while still being used (an origin story that may be accurate or may yet be refuted when new canon material comes out later this year), so it's very likely that most Tanuki are generally decent folk, depending on which tool they were born from.

small annoyance before we continue: I'm a bit miffed that Paizo didn't give the Tanuki their ability to transform into inanimate objects (though they allude to it in their lore block), but it's an easy enough fix for a DM that wants to let them have one of their more famous features. We will uh. we will not be discussing their most famous feature anywhere on this blog. paizo wisely decided to leave that out.

Anyway, these amusing little raccoons live for the moment, spending their days merry and their nights curled up in the comfiest beds they can find, working to fill their lives and the lives of everyone around them with fun and food. While they can freely shapeshift into the form of a mundane raccoon, they're more likely using their 1/day Veil to masquerade as a humanoid, slipping into civilization to partake in whatever fun and festivities they can find. If they cannot find any, though, by god will they make some, utilizing their 3/day Major Creation to conjure whatever gems and gold they need to pay for it and their 1/day Create Food and Water to whip up some meager but filling fare. That this conjured money disappears an hour or so later is of no consequence to the trickster, who expects to either be long gone or too drunk to care by then. They frequent bars and eateries, exchanging songs and stories for food and drink as they look through the crowds for potential marks.

Not to steal from, mind, but to mess with. Tanuki enjoy humbling braggarts, humiliating bullies, pranking those they've judged as evil, and joking about with the dour and brooding for the entertainment of not only themselves, but whatever friends they've made for the night. Their goal is good times, after all, and anyone who sours the mood can find themselves at the tail end of whatever ridiculous scheme the Tanuki has hatched to maximize the day's joy. Though the book mentions their ability to turn weapons and tools into harmless items like teapots and cutlery, they do not possess this power in the game proper, but what they DO have is Shrink Item 1/day to collapse the first sword brought against them into a toothpick or, even more pettily, transforming the chair or table some stuck-up schmuck is sitting at into a washcloth and watching them tumble to the ground.

Shrink Item obviously has utility beyond this for the Tanuki with its days-long duration, but using it to mess with people is their go-to. Its other primary use is allowing the little raccoon men to hide weapons in unexpected places, typically having their primary weapon--a quarterstaff--masquerading as a straw stuck in their mouth, woven into their hair, or used as one half of a set of chopsticks. It's rarely brought out with the intent to kill, the Tanuki more likely to fight defensively or battle for only a few rounds as an opponent makes a fool of themselves and the little spirit can dance about and drink as it avoids their blows, but they can be startlingly vicious in combat when it comes to it.

Tanuki can wallop someone twice with each end of their staff for 1d6+2 and 1d6+1 damage a round, then quickly spin around and give them an extra slap with their sturdy tails or shoulder-check them for an additional 1d6+1 damage... but it's rarely going to stay at base numbers. Remember what I said about them drinking during battle? They have a reason to. Tanuki carry around special gourds at their side that always seem to be full of delicious sake while in their hands, and as a swift action they can drink from these gourds to gain any one of the following spell effects at will: Haste (for more AC and extra attacks), Rage (for additional damage at the cost of AC), False Life (for a chunk of long-lasting temporary HP; typically they've already done this hours ago), or Divine Favor (for +2 to attack and damage rolls). The book notes that Tanuki with more HD or class levels can gain different or more powerful spells from their sake bottles, essentially handing the DM a blank check to give them literally whatever advantage they want in case Haste + Divine Favor isn't enough to turn the tides.

This isn't without cost, as one may expect. Sake is strong stuff, and though a Tanuki's Sake Affinity blesses them with powerful magic, it also lowers their AC and their Reflex saves by 1 for one minute per drink they take, and these penalties stack with themselves. They trade their defenses for offensive power, and with only 17 AC and +5/+7/+6 as their defenses (no resistances or immunities!), they have to be sure that their offense is as powerful as possible to dissuade their targets from going further. Often, one just needs to reduce a Tanuki to about half or so HP before it cuts its losses and flees, very few willing to fight to the death for any cause, but be wary of turning your back to it once it starts running, because it's got Magic Stone 3/day and a sling to huck the enchanted pebbles to get in a few painful (and dangerous) parting shots once your defenses are down.

Some side notes before we close out: Tanuki have a constant Detect Poison on themselves, which at first seems to be there to combo with their at-will Purify Food and Drink, but PFaD is actually there to keep their travel rations created from Create Food and Water shelf-stable for as long as they need. The TRUE purpose of Detect Poison is to give the Tanuki a beer radar, because all alcohol is classified as a poison in Pathfinder. They're basically bloodhounds for booze!

You can read more about them here.

#Monster Spotlight #CR 1 to 5 #Pathfinder #dungeons and dragons #tw alcohol

[loneswaggingranger]

So... my thoughts on the latest season of Sex Education is a little... jumbled, but overall I give it, like, a 7/10. Here's just some of the parts that I liked and disliked (rmb that this is just my interpretation of watching it and is no way conclusive against other interpretations)

Spoilers below!

Likes

I like that Cavendish is kind of a turn-tables situation where queer/left-wing-progressive ppl are at the top of the social food chain. It realistically shows how even in a space where discrimination of any kind is prohibited, there will still be complex issues that need to be discussed, e.g., toxic positivity, accessibity issues etc.

I also like Eric's whole storyline of finding himself with God. I'm not religious or anything, but I feel his storyline are going to empower a lot of religious queer people.

Adam is always a favourite. His actor just brings so much to the table and his performance is always outstanding. His closure scene with Eric was 💖💖

I love that the show confronts Otis' standing of privilige and how he's sidelined his friendship with Eric. I also like how the main relationship that got repaired was his and Eric's. It's nice to see platonic friendships take the center stage over romantic ones.

I love that Maeve and Otis show how an amicable breakup, still full of love, can be. It shows that if you love someone, you'll love them enough not to hold them back.

Maeve's funeral speech, and her scene conversing with Jean at the dining table made me weepppppp.

I also loved the different ways of grieving the show shows with Maeve and Sean. Sean was clearly in pain, and as the older one, he'd probably seen a bit more shit than Maeve. And he was valid for not wanting to do the funeral because of the pain his mother caused him. But also, Maeve's wish to honour her mother one last time was commendable as well. She remembers the good AND the bad of her mother, and that's just really big of her.

I loved the scene with her telling her professor that a teacher's word holds a lot of power.

I love Maeve's arc entirely basically.

Dislikes

O's entire character was... problematic. Like she did quite a number of problematic things that weren't addressed in the storyline at all. Like she presses her way into other's vulnerabilities without them giving her explicit consent. She looks at things that by all terms, should have been left strictly confidential (Jean's paper about Otis, for example) and then brings it up as if it were a completely okay thing to do. I really wanted to like her, like I see where she was coming from and she has really cool style and she's the only East Asian rep for the show. Just, as an East Asian person watching this (though I'm not from the UK), it just felt very othering that the ONLY East Asian rep in the show had to be played against the main character. I didn’t like her because she was the story's antagonist to the main character. If there were other East Asians in the series, I might have felt better about it but like, O being the only one, and also being a problematic character just leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

I really think Adam's storyline could have been integrated more into the Cavendish storyline. Coz right now his just feels like it's hanging on the side with no real connection to the main plot. I love his horses tho.

The show should really have stuck with its existing characters rather than broadening the scope to... Jo, for example. Anwar and Olivia could have been explored. Idk what went on behind the scenes but like, for a final season, shifting the main focus to the main cast and just a couple new ones should have been enough. I love that it's working to be diverse and inclusive, but jam-packing so many different experiences into one last season just felt... jarring for the season's ending.

#sex education #sex education s4 #sex education spoilers #sex education season 4 #review #series review #thoughts #sex ed netflix #sex ed spoilers

[secret-cyborg]

One Step Forward

Often, the utter lack of a coherent timeline in the 2001 series makes me sob on the inside. This time, however, it allows me to play fast and loose with what did and didn’t happen between the initial destruction of Black Ghost’s base and the Greek gods appearing. You know, in amongst the psychic dogs and the dinosaurs :’)

Specifically: I’m playing around with the team living together and living separate from each other/returning to their home countries and suggesting that it was less of a “we stayed together for a while, went our separate ways and then the next threat to the world brought us together” and more of a back and forth drifting as each tried to find their feet, and we viewers just weren’t shown all the times the whole team or a large number of the team were together in the house. (A fact my found family self will forever be sour about. :P)

At the risk of the author’s note becoming longer than the actual fic, I’ll end this by saying only: happy holidays, @lasquadra. I hope that this brings you a little bit of joy and feels for your faves, whom I tried my best to do justice to!

Warnings: Mild language and moderate discussions of war and child soldiers. Also one brief mention about death.

————————–

It was a mark of his growing maturity, 002 thought, that he made it a whole fifteen minutes before he spun right on his heel to glare back at 008. The other man was further back than 002 had expected; the ground was cracking with the cold and had made 008’s footsteps louder than 002 was used to.

The tiny revelation changed nothing. 002 still scowled heavily as he demanded, “Are you following me?”

In response, 008 only gave him that smile that was a little bit gentle, a little bit fond, and a whole lot amused, if one knew how to find the smirk that was camouflaged in plain sight. 002 knew how to find it.

“I’m also heading in this direction,” he responded, calm to 002’s irritated.

“You’re heading in this exact direction.” 002 let the scepticism bleed into his tone. He wasn’t, after all, headed anywhere in particular, which made 008 following him even more of an unlikely coincidence. “At the exact same time as me. When you didn’t show any signs of wanting to move all morning.”

The smile on 008’s face became more obviously a smirk as he continued to make his way down the path, a rather hefty bundle wrapped in a blanket tucked under his left arm. But his tone was still (deceptively) mild when he paused a foot from 002 to ask, “Are you rejecting my company?”

It was such an unexpected question that 002 felt himself drawing back a little as though from a blow, eyes widening slightly as his stomach constricted. Despite the teasing, 008 was being sincere; that much was obvious, and that was what had really caused the blow to land the way that it did. Instinct bubbled up, telling him to be dismissive and cruel. Telling him to wound 008 with words so that, when 002 walked away, 008 wouldn’t be able to follow.

But that instinct was a worn one. It belonged to a teenager who no longer existed; who had lived in a time that had been snugly put to bed by the rest of the world. He was no longer the guy who ruthlessly cut away vulnerability and genuine care, seeing them as switchblades hidden up a sleeve, ready to be plunged into soft, vital flesh at any given opportunity. And he was, he realised, not even the weapon Black Ghost had tried to force him to be.

The little huff of dark amusement that escaped him was more for the sudden realisation that he’d started referring to his people by their numbers in his head again. And that he’d done the same for himself. They’d been trying, conscientiously, as of late. He’d been trying. And 008 — Pyunma. Pyunma was so very obviously also trying, in that sneak-attack, open-hearted way of his.

“No,” Jet answered, clipped and terse and then regretting his tone a moment later. The regret made him ask, slightly less gruffly, “Where are you headed?” as the two began to walk side-by-side.

“I’m doing a favour for a friend.”

“Because zero— because Joe isn’t around to do it?” Jet scoffed.

“Something like that,” Pyunma said, but Jet knew him well enough by then in all the ways necessary for combat to hear the hesitancy. The sudden thrum of caution-tension in his voice. He was wary, now.

What Jet didn’t know was why he was wary. Was it digging into his personal affairs? Was it the — admittedly, a little mean-spirited — dig at how everybody had made Joe their delivery person? Was it simply Jet’s attitude? The uncertainty made his gut sour. The desire to make Pyunma happy to be in his presence made him recoil with inner disgust at having such a desire. And the irritation that had driven him to the cold for a walk to clear his head rose to tidal wave proportions, washing his rational thought with anger. Because anger was a good emotion to cover other emotions; thick and strong and protective.

“This is why we shouldn’t live together,” he bit out, ignoring the part of him that was throwing up his hands in exasperation at himself. “We should all just cut ties until we need to be a team. Hell! We barely work as a team. We cobbled together fighting together but… we don’t get along. It’s ridiculous.”

He shoved his hands into his pockets, fuming, and noticed only a few beats later that he’d picked up speed, and that Pyunma was keeping pace with him. Jet hunched his shoulders and scowled even deeper and hated feeling the way he was feeling. He didn’t necessarily want to be this spitting wet cat of a person, especially not after the recent trip to America really had felt like it had… not miraculously healed something inside of him. But it had shaken something loose. Or, perhaps, it was more accurate to say that it had shaken something into place so that it no longer rattled along the confusing mix of metal and bones that he consisted of.

“I— Hm.” Pyunma cut himself off.

After they’d walked for nearly a full minute in silence, Jet sighed. “What? What were you going to say?”

“I think,” Pyunma said, slowly, as though testing out where he was putting each word in case it landed on a hidden mine, “That we have a bit of a skewed view of what family should be like, you and I.” Jet couldn’t help the little noise of surprise that left him. It was the second time in under ten minutes that Pyunma had utterly blindsided him. Pyunma glanced at him with a reassuring smile. “We used to listen to radio shows. American ones. Maybe not any you know, in particular, but I’m sure the general idea of them hasn’t changed at all.” Pyunma turned a distant sort of smile to the sky as they walked, eyes locked in memory. “We used to all crowd around the one wireless that was available and listen so closely people were slapped if they breathed too loudly. They were all about… you know. Funny, bumbling mom and dad. Witty kids. Always getting into such silly situations. And we’d laugh about it afterwards. Silly Americans. Dumb Americans, worrying about such stupid things and getting themselves into such stupid messes. But… I wanted it. We all did, I think. Not just for the lifestyle, and because the problems seemed so easy, but because of the possibility of family that was offered to us. Normal families, we were taught, never fought. Not about anything… let alone for their lives in wars.”

Jet, honestly, didn’t know what to say to that. Normal families don’t fight had turned, near-instantly, into a piece of shrapnel that was worming its way through all the vital organs in his chest, and searing like molten larva through his veins.

“I’ve never… put it into those words before,” he said, voice quiet and distant as he struggled. But Pyunma was right. Without him realising it, Jet had always subconsciously had a rosy image of what family was supposed to be. And it had been the utterly sanitised, brutally plastic opposite of all he’d experienced. “Well, what the hell does that have to do with anything?” he said, trying to snap. But there was no venom in his voice.

“We’re learning conflict,” Pyunma said, simply. “Us as a… team.” He meant family. But Jet was glad he hadn’t used the word, because it felt far too heavy and sharp to handle, just yet. “Just because we’re finding our feet and negotiating and unlearning some lies… many lies…” Another smile in Jet’s direction. This one was a little forced, but it was forced with courage and determination and hope. “It doesn’t mean we won’t work. Give us time.”

“I—” Jet grabbed hold of the sentence he didn’t actually want to say, and pulverised it between his grinding teeth. “Everything is just… really pissing me off,” he admitted, tightly.

“Because caring hurts,” Pyunma said, more gentle than he’d been so far. “That… or it’s jet lag.”

It took only a second for the play on words to hit, and then Jet cursed at him and flipped him the middle finger, and Pyunma laughed. The laughter made some of the sharp ache in Jet’s throat lessen; enough for him to find himself smirking, faintly, as they continued on their journey. He realised, a moment later, that he was now technically following Pyunma, who did appear to have an actual destination. Jet didn’t mind following.

“I… really did miss you guys when I was away,” he admitted, softly. Because Pyunma deserved some vulnerability and honesty after his help.

“Do you think that was something bad?” It was both a tease and a serious question.

Jet countered with a question of his own: “Do I think Black Ghost… put something in us to make us care about each other?” He snorted as Pyunma let out a noise of disbelief. “I somehow really doubt it.”

“So then it’s just plain old humanity keeping its hold on us.”

“That’s what worries me,” Jet admitted, still quiet. Pyunma slowed and turned almost fully to watch him, surprise and curiosity clear in his expression. Jet heaved a sigh and flung his head back to look at the sky. It was obscured, partially, by trees, either rich with their possession of gold-brown leaves or plaintively reaching bare branches skywards, ever straining. “Back when I was… Before. Before Black Ghost, when I was fully human… the gang I was in… I would have died for any of those people. Actually, dying for them would have been the nicest thing I would have done. I haven’t bought the Black Ghost insanity that humans are just destructive monsters but… but. I’ve learned to… be cautious. About humanity.”

“I understand,” Pyunma said, and Jet had known he would. The certainty had been what had driven him to say anything in the first place. “I really get it.” Growing up in a war zone and making your family out of child soldiers and whomever was still alive would give a person that kind of perspective.

“Not everybody does. Everybody else on the team, I mean.” Jet sent a stone thudding across their path, viciously satisfied at the clang that sounded when something metal in his leg hit the rock.

“No,” Pyunma agreed. “We have some people on our team who… almost literally died lonely and alone.” Jet thought about Chang and GB… and then stopped, because the burn was simultaneously ice cold and boiling hot. “And it… well. Not only it; a lot of things make us all see things differently. And deal with ourselves differently. And get angry differently.” Pyunma raised a pointed eyebrow, making sure Jet noticed it before adding, “Like Albert.”

Jet stopped walking. “What do you mean?” he demanded, instantly bristling and defensive.

Pyunma raised his free hand. “You don’t need to be Fran to hear you two,” he said, blunt but still strangely gentle.

“So you were following me?” he demanded, hotly.

“I did have an errand to run, but there was no time set to it. After you left… I thought you might want to talk.” Jet scoffed. “It’s okay if you don’t. We have time, Jet.” Pyunma slowly, with clear intention of his movements, placed his free hand on Jet’s shoulder and squeezed. “You and Albert are trying. We know that. And that’s why the rest of us don’t get involved. Time.” Pyunma gave him a tiny little shake. “You and me and Joe and Albert… we had families of war before. We just had different types of war. And that’s what makes this so uniquely hard for us. The others… don’t get that. But they’re willing to learn. Willing to give time.”

“Do you all just sit there and talk about us behind our backs?” he snarled, shrugging off Pyunma’s hand. And then he felt foolish for his reaction, because Pyunma just gave him the most deadpan look known to man. Jet sighed in a low growl and ran his hands through his hair. “Yeah. Yeah. Fine. Sorry. Just… he drives me mad.” Jet swallowed. Pyunma let him think; let the silence and the stillness swirl around them. It struck him, belatedly, that Pyunma had used the word family, this time. Not directly but… the implication was an ember inside Jet’s blood.

“Come on,” Pyunma said, eventually, and started walking again. He didn’t push Jet for anything else, and Jet used the continuing silence to try and make some sense of his swirling thoughts.

“You said Joe,” he realised out loud. Pyunma let out a questioning noise. “You said Joe also grew up in a family of war.”

“An orphanage is a kind of war, too,” Pyunma said, quietly. “Maybe not recognisable at first but… The same uncertainty, the same strive for survival and a desperate future you barely dare to hope for but cannot let go of…” Hesitation trailed the sentence to nothing. “I don’t know what he’s told you, and I don’t want to betray confidence.”

“Yeah.” Jet cleared his throat. “Enough. He’s told me…” Understanding dawned as the first reach of the steeple loomed before them. “The errand’s for Joe.” Because everybody else used Joe as the errand boy.

“They’ve rebuilt the church, and the orphanage is, apparently, back to functioning again. With some of the same staff. So he can’t… it isn’t wise for him to show his face there again. I offered to deliver what he wanted to give.” Pyunma sighed. “We cover each other’s weaknesses, Jet,” he murmured, finally sounding less-than-light. “We’re gonna be together… for a long time, it seems. We didn’t get to choose much, but we get to choose what we make of what we’ve got. How much of ourselves we’re willing to lay down for one another. It’s not… giving up on who we are or were. It’s development of self.”

“You sound like G-Junior,” Jet said, because smiling and teasing about it was the easier option. Or, no: the easiest would still have been anger. This was… this was the one he wanted to make easiest.

Pyunma laughed at him, some of the ease returning. “He has been a huge help for a lot of things,” he said, warmly. And then, teasing and also not, he added, “Don’t give up on us. Not just yet. Okay?”

Jet locked his arms behind his head. “I’m not going into that church with you,” he warned, and Pyunma snorted. “But… also… yeah. Somebody has to keep GB and Chang from murdering each other, and if it has to be Fran all the time… she’ll be the one murdering. And… hell. Joe is a walking…” He shook his head. “If I’d met him back when I was in a gang, he’d have been an easy mark,” he admitted. “Kid has zero street smarts.” Another reminder, painful-fond, that if one stacked up all the years people had been frozen for, Joe was the youngest of them all.

“And Albert?” Pyunma asked, slyly. Back to being an undercover little mischief sower.

“Albert needs a kick in the ass,” Jet growled.

“Good thing we have many feet between all the rest of us,” Pyunma said, mock-sagely.

“Ha. Send up a prayer, or whatever.” Jet stopped in his tracks, letting Pyunma, who was sniggering slightly, continue. “I’ll… be here. When you’re done.”

“I know,” Pyunma called over his shoulder, and there was an identifiable something in his tone that let Jet lean casually against a street light pole and watch the world without hurry, insides no longer raging.

#secretcyborg2023 #fanfction #cyborg 009 #anon gift submission

[thewitchwannabe]

Egg Sandwiches for Dinner

Leona and Donny were in Master Splinter’s room, discussing various things with their father. Raph and Mikey stood next to the closed shoji style door, trying to listen in on their conversation. They were talking about the foot and Karai and the Shredder. The other night Leo came home talking about seeing Karai, and about some deal the foot made with the purple dragons. 

“I’ll probably have to go patrolling more often,” Leona said. Raph could hear her pacing across the room. “I think you mean ‘we’, as in the four of us” Donny said in his usual calm manner. Raph and Mikey exchanged looks, they both knew how Leo felt about them going on patrol. “Didn’t you hear what i said?” Leona said, her big sister voice coming out, “things are about to get dangerous!” “Which is exactly why you’ll need the help!” Donny said. And so the oldest siblings started arguing back and forth, their voices elevating gradually.

A loud thud made by Splinter’s cane was heard, making Raph and Mikey step a bit away from the door in fear of being discovered. Both Leona and Donny stopped their argument immediately, “I believe it’s still too early to start taking much action,” Splinter said “we are going to stay alert and respond when necessary”. 

Raph heard the sound of Donny opening his laptop and typing some stuff, as well as the light sips of tea his sister took. “I did some research on this new guy Karai mentioned,” Donny began explaining “his name is actually Baxter Stockman, real kid genius. Got his major in robotics at 16, and got his master’s degree in bioengineering at 18, currently 26, and already has several robotics awards. Publicly started working for Oroku Industries about 6 months ago”. Raph thought this ‘Baxter’ guy sounded like a nerd, but his siblings seemed to be worried about him. He pressed further against the door to listen. “Any idea why the foot would work with him? Shredder doesn’t usually work with people he doesn’t control” Leona asked. More tapping, of Donnie trying to find out whatever he could on the guy. “Wouldn’t be surprised if this guy made weapons in his spare time, the genius type always seems to be into the whole ‘rule the world’ thing”, Donny’s sarcastic voice said. 

Mikey seemed to sense the conversation was about to end, and so he stood up and signaled to Raph to do the same. The two of them ran back into the living room and sat to look relaxed, but ended up looking very forced. Surely enough Donny and Leo came out of Splinter's room about 2 minutes later. “Dad is resting in his room”, they both had their gear on, “me and Donny are going on patrol, we’ll be back in a few hours”, Leona said. Donny crossed his arms but said nothing. “We wanna go with you!” Raph said, already getting up to come with. 

The red banded turtle reached his siblings, Leo let out a sight and placed her hand softly on her little brother's head. “Not tonight, okay?” She said with a sweet smile, Raph had mixed feelings about that smile. On one hand it was the smile she gave him when she told him she loved the drawing he gave her, or when she’d calm him down from a nightmare. But it was also the same smile she would use to tell him to stay home, or that he wasn’t ready to go topside on his own. “You'll be staying here with Mikey”, she still held that same smile. Raph's face turned sour, and he slapped his sister’s hand off his head. “NO!” He yelled, making all his siblings freeze, “I WON'T LET YOU LEAVE ME BEHIND!”. The tension could be felt in the room, Raph wasn’t new to tantrums but he almost never raised his voice at Leona. 

Mikey moved closer towards Raph, to try and calm down his little brother, “He bro it’s cool, how about we play some Marco Party?”. Mikey tried to place a hand on his brother’s shoulder but before he could the youngest turned around. “I DON'T WANNA PLAY THAT STUPID GAME!” he screamed at his brother. “Raph, don’t talk to Mikey like that!” Leona said using her big sister voice. Raph felt tears sting his eyes, “you want me to stay? FINE!”, he said as he walked to his room and slammed the door shut. 

Leona watched as Raph shut himself in his room, she hated leaving with him angry, but she had to. Mikey made a move to go talk to Raph, but Leo stopped him “give him some time to cool off, Mikey”. Donny gave Mikey a nod agreeing with Leona, and the two left the lair. Mikey looked back at his brother’s door, before heading towards his own. 

In his room, Raph tossed himself onto his bed, he reached under it and fetched for Sanzi his favorite plushie. His dad had brought it home with him after going out for supplies and gifted it to him about 7 years ago. He clutched Sanzi close to him as he felt bitter tears roll from his eyes. He knew that Leona was only trying to keep them safe, but he didn’t like the idea of staying behind while his siblings were risking themselves. He knows he screwed up two years ago, during the showdown, if it wasn’t because he froze up and Mikey had to defend him, he wouldn’t have gotten injured and they would have probably been able to escape the fight. But he’s gotten a lot better since then, even Leona thought so, so he didn’t understand why she just won't let him prove it in a real fight, not some training run where they all take turns.

About an hour passed by before Mikey knocked on Raph’s door, “Hey squirt, i'm starting up dinner, you wanna help?”. Raph didn’t say anything, he simply crawled further into his bed, hugging Sanzi ever harder. After a minute or two Mikey got the message, “alright, if you need anything, i'll be in the kitchen”. Raph stood up a bit when he heard Mikey’s footsteps leaving his door. His eyes felt irritated from the crying, he blinked a few times trying to adjust to the low lights in his room. He looked around, his bed was all disheveled, his art supplies scattered across the floor, drawings and murals plastered all over his walls. His eyes landed on his sais lying on the floor. His mind suddenly got an idea, his brother was in the kitchen, that gave him about a 45 minute window where he won't check on him. His master wouldn’t come out of his room until dinner was done either. So logically Raph could sneak away, while Mikey is his cooking trance. 

Raph takes about half a minute to decide, he jumps out of bed and picks up his sais. He heads for his door, before remembering to leave his phones on his bed, otherwise Donny would be able to track him. Using every ounce of ninja training he’s ever had, Raph slipped over the entrance of the lair. Taking a peek at the kitchen, he saw his older brother focused intently on the food he was preparing. Once he reached the sewers he walked over to the nearest ladder and climbed up onto the streets. 

He came out in an alleyway he was familiar with, this was the manhole they would normally use to go topside. Now Raph didn’t really know where to go next, so he simply decided to climb onto the roof of the nearest building, and follow his gut. 

His gut told him to do the usual run he did with his sibling, this time tho nobody was around to see him do cool flips. So when he managed the big jump that always gave him trouble and turned around expecting to hear Mikey’s voice cheering him on, he was slightly disappointed when he was met with complete silence. Still he continued on his way, at one point he reached ‘Oroku Industries’ aka: the foot headquarters, he even caught sight of his siblings on a nearby rooftop. Not wanting to be discovered he ran the complete opposite direction. 

That ended up being a bad idea, because Raph ended up completely lost, all the streets and buildings mixing together. A whole hour passed and Raph couldn’t find any building he recognized, he ended up curled up on the floor of an alley next to a diner hugging his knees behind a beat up trash can. How was he going to get home? His siblings probably already noticed he was gone, but they had no way to track him. Images of himself slapping his sister’s hand and yelling at his brother came to his head. They must be super angry at him. A small tear started forming in his eye, when suddenly a door leading to the diner opened abruptly. 

Out came a guy with wavy black hair, and dark blue hoodie, he was carrying two trash bags seemingly distracted while singing to himself. “Tengo la camisa negra, porque negra tengo el alma” the guy reached the trash can and opened the lid. Raph grabbed his sais and prepared himself to escape. “nanananana hasta mi cama!” The guy placed both bags inside the trash can and closed the lid, but as he did he turned his head and caught sight of Raph. The guy just stood there and blinked, before moving a hand to reach him, but Raph flinched, getting into an attack position. The guy raised his hand to show he wasn’t a threat, “hey bud, are you lost? it's ok i won't hurt ya”, he said with an awkward smile. The guy walked a little closer to him, “come on out, i can’t really see ya when you're sitting in the shadow like that”. Something about this guy made Raph feel like he could trust him, like he was safe, so he slowly lowered his weapons. 

He kept a close eye on the guy as he stepped into the light, the guy’s eyes opened wide, he probably had assumed he was a normal kid. Instead, the human was met with a turtle creature wearing a red bandana over his eyes and holding a weapon in each hand. A few seconds of intense staring were cut short when the guy opened his mouth “wow man, did you know you’re a turtle?”. Raph’s face contorted to one of a mix of annoyance and disappointment. The guy let out an awkward laugh, “I’ll take that as a yes, I'm Casey, do you have a name?”. The turtle didn’t say anything, but his face seemed to relax a little. “Not much of a talker, okay” The two of them stood in silence, when Raph’s stomach let out a growl, reminding Raph that he had in fact left before Mikey finished preparing dinner. This seemed to break the tension between the two though, making the guy, Casey, laugh. “So you’re hungry, huh?, he looked back at the door he had come out from, “wait here, i’ll be right back”. He walked back inside, leaving Raph confused, a few minutes later Casey came back out holding a takeout container. “¡Bye ma te veo en la casa!” Casey said to someone inside before closing the door turning back to Raph. “Come on, we can eat on the roof”

The two of them climbed up the building and sat at the edge of the roof, “my family runs the diner, so i can get the good stuff after my shift” Casey said as he started to unpack the takeout container. Raph watched intently as Casey handed him something, he unwrapped it sort of recklessly, “An egg sandwich?”. Casey let out a big laugh that made him lean back, “so you can talk!” his laughter died out, “I know it’s unusual to have one at night, but i'm a firm believer that it’s always time for a good egg sandwich”. Raph gave Casey a unsure look before biting down on his sandwich. His face quickly became one of surprise and he quickly went for another bite, then another, and before he knew it the sandwich was gone. Casey let out a chuckle, “It’s good huh, my mom makes the best ones”, he said finishing up his own sandwich.

“So now that you’ve eaten, are you gonna tell me your name?” he asked with a playful smirk. “Raph”. Casey slimed, happy to have gained at least a little of the turtle’s trust. “Mind telling me why you were hiding in the alley, Raph?” he asked. Raph looked down for a moment, before turning back to look at Casey, “had a fight with my siblings so I snuck out, and I got lost”. Casey looked at him expecting a more detailed explanation, but he quickly realized Raph was done. “You’re the baby of the family, right?” Casey asked. This question made Raph open his eyes wide, was it THAT obvious? The new confused expression on the turtle’s face gave Casey all the confirmation he needed, “Yeah it just sounds exactly like something my little sister would do”. 

Casey looked back up at the night sky, like remembering something his sister did. Raph looked at him, he had a smile on his face, so he probably gets along with his sister. “How old is your sister?” he asked. Casey looked at Raph for a second, and thought about it for a second. Did he not know? “Uuuuuugh, deste, well im 16 and she’s 4 years younger so she’s 12”, he took a second to check his math before nodding. “She’s the same age as me,” Raph said quietly, catching Casey’s attention. “Really? How old are your siblings?”. Raph then went over the name and ages of his siblings, from Mikey, then Donny and lastly Leona. “I was really mean to them tonight” Raph said with a guilty look on his face, bringing his knees up to his chin and hugging them . 

Casey looked at him with an understanding face, “you said you had a fight with them, mind telling me what it was about?”. Raph didn’t turn to look back at Casey; he simply kept his gaze to the street below them. “There’s people out there who want to hurt me and my family, they were gone for a while but now they’re back”. Casey’s eyes went wide, ‘Hurt them?! ¿Qué pedo?’ he thought, but said nothing and let Raph continue. “my older siblings went out tonight to see what these guys were up to, and i wanted to go with them, but my sister said no, and I-” Raph choked up, remembering how he treated his siblings, Casey noticed Raph shaking, his big brother instincts took over and he placed an arm around the turtle. “hey it’s okay take your time”, for a split second Casey reminded Raph of his sister, the same smile. Raph nodded and took a deep breath, “I snapped at Leo, I slapped her hand away, I yelled at Mikey, and I locked myself in my room”. Tears started forming on Raph’s eye, he tried to blink them away, but they didn’t stop, “they’re probably so angry at me”. 

Casey was familiar with the feeling of going over the line, he had some serious anger issues growing up, sometimes he’d snap at his mom or sister, and would feel awful afterwards. He’d still struggle to control his anger nowadays but he’s found healthier outlets. “I think they are mostly worried about you bud”, Casey gave Raph a little squeeze “I know i’d be if I was in their place, you just gotta go back and apologize”. Raph looked back at Casey, he sniffed away his tears, “I don’t know how to get back home”, he said, his voice almost a whisper. Casey slowly let go of Raph and got to his feet, looking down at the turtle, he offered his hand, “I help you”, he said with the same smile Leona had. 

Raph told Casey the closest building he could remember the name of to the manhole cover he came out of. Casey assured him that it wasn’t too far off, once there the two of them wandered for a bit before finding the entrance to the sewers. Without hesitation, Casey followed Raph into the sewers, where the turtle quickly made his way to his home. As they approached the lair, the voices of his family started to get clearer, all of them worried for the youngest turtle. Raph broke into a running spree leaving Casey a few feet behind. “I’ll go looking for him again,” a feminine voice said. But the owner of the voice wasn’t able to take two steps before a red banned turtle called her name. 

At the sight of her little brother running towards her, Leona ran to meet him halfway. She wrapped her arms around his body, sobbing and calling his name over and over. “Raph, I'm so glad you’re okay, where were you?”. Raph squeezed his sister tightly but was unable to answer as the sound of footsteps caught up to him. Leo quickly ended the sweet reunion, pushing Raph behind her and pointing her sword towards the intruder. The intruder in question, Casey, freezed instantly, hands in the air, eyes fixated on the piercing red eyes of the turtle aiming a sword at him. To say Raph’s sister, Leona, was captivating was an overstatement, she stood a few inches shorter than Casey, but her threatening look was one to be afraid of. As the rest of his family entered the scene, Raph made his way to stand in front of Casey, “Leo! He’s a friend!”. He looked his sister in the eye, “He’s the one who helped me get home”, Leona hesitated for a second before lowering, her face relaxing making Casey feel like he could breathe again. “Man bud, i knew your sis was overprotecting but i didn’t think she’d point a sword to my face”, Casey said with an awkward smile, making Raph snort. 

“Young man, what is your name?” Master Splinter walked closer to them using his cane for support. Casey looked at the old rat, on their way here Raph mentioned his dad had part of his life force stolen, whatever that meant, leaving him weak. He cleared his throat, before speaking “Casey Jones”. The old rat lowered his head and thanked Casey for bringing his son back. Casey felt a bit awkward, he just helped a lost kid, it was what any decent person would have done. Splinter explained, he and his family were usually met with fear and aggression, so they were all really worried for Raph’s safety. 

Before he left, Casey felt a hand tugging at his hoodie, “will i see you again?”, Raph asked. Casey smiled his best big brother smile, “of course bud”, an idea popped into his head and he pulled out his phone “actually why don’t i give you my number, then you can call me anytime”. 

After Casey left, Raph was brought to the little infirmary they had in Donny’s lab where his sibling fussed over him and checked to see if he was injured. Raph seized the opportunity to apologize to Mikey while Leo and Donny helped Master Splinter get to bed. The orange banded turtle simply smiled one of his genuine smiles “don’t sweat it squirt, i'm just glad you’re okay”.

Later on as all of them entered their rooms ready to call it a night, Raph knocked softly on Leo’s door before entering. His sister was sitting in her bed, a book in her hand, she looked at him with a calm expression, no trace of anger. He asked if he could sleep with her that night, and she just nodded, placed her book on her little nightstand and scooched over to make room for him in her bed. As they laid together, Raph felt Leo pull the covers over him, remembering Casey’s words, he took a deep breath. “Leo?”, a soft ‘mmmh’ left his sister's lips, “I’m sorry for snapping at you”. He looked up to meet his sister’s gaze, the same sweet smile. A hand was placed softly on his cheek, “And I'm sorry about leaving you behind, I know you just want to help”. Raph pressed himself closer to his sister, who pulled him into an embrace, she softly sang the melody their father sang to them as kids, “from now on, we do things together, all of us”, she said before resuming her singing. Raph closed his eyes letting the familiar melody calm him down, “promise?”

“I promise”

Part 1

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#witchie art #tmnt #tmnt au #tmnt new destiny #new destiny au #tmnt raph #tmnt casey jones #tmnt leona #tmnt donnie #tmnt mikey

[meechatuck]

Something There

A little blurb I wrote about Adira catching onto the feelings between Hector and Amelia. Just a cute thought I’ve had for a long time and finally wrote it out. Still deciding if I want to try and fit it into my current fic. I just think this is super sweet.

Also for anyone that is curious, my DK Rising fic is coming. I just recently had an epiphany about a new bad guy/conflict and I am going to change to this new idea. It’s not too much of a change, but I’m hoping to have the fic coming out by the fall. (at the latest would be the end of the year)

Something There

Rated: All Audiences

Word Count: 849

Adira sat alone at the large table in the dining hall. With Hector gone hunting and Quirin’s aid to the farmers starting at dawn, she was left alone for most of the breakfast meals. Amelia didn’t wake up early unless it was absolutely necessary.

She snickered remembering how one courier had woken her much earlier than needed. Amelia hadn’t physically lashed out at the mistake, but her grumpy demeanor and side-eyed glares could be just as bad as a slap across the face.

A familiar grumbling voice entered the dining hall and Adira looked up to see Amelia striding to the table. She plopped herself next to Adira with quite the sour expression.

“What? Did someone wake you up early again?” Adira teased.

“Bah no. I would be completely bitter if that was the case,” Amelia chuckled. “Just the kitchen staff now thinks I’m delusional.”

“Why is that?”

Amelia popped a strawberry into her mouth and savored it for a moment before replying with a gesture to the bowl in front of her. “It’s the fruit!”

Adira cocked a brow at the bowl, vaguely remembering something from a few weeks ago, “What about it?”

“Gods you think I’m crazy too,” she whined.

“You’re only a few cracks short of it, yeah.”

The memory surfaced a little more. It had something to do with Hector.

“Ha ha very funny Adira,” Amelia pouted.

“Okay tell me what it is that’s wrong. I promise I’ll keep my comments quiet until after.”

Despite wanting to completely remember the inkling she had, she hoped that Amelia’s story would fill in the pieces. 

Amelia huffed and straightened her posture. “When I first got here, I talked to the kitchen staff about the fruit shipments. They weren’t the best and I offered to help find some better options for getting better produce here. I’ll admit I was a bit whiny about it sometimes, but I just love fruit! It’s the one thing that really makes my day, besides the goods from the bakery. I even offered to help pitch in some funds if it was more expensive. Also I wanted fruit offered with breakfast.”

“So that’s why that got started up?” Adira nodded her head, but internally wondered what this was really about. Amelia was a long-winded person.

“Yes. I love to start my day with a nice assortment of fruit. The first week or two it was just a measly portion of fruit. The bowl was only half way full!” Adira fondly rolled her eyes. That was one of the first things they learned about her when she came to the Dark Kingdom. She loved fruit and if you got in the way of it, you saw her true wrath.

“I made a true diplomatic discussion with them about more fruit and it seemed like I was out of luck,” Amelia explained. Then her eyes brightened, “But I must have curried the favor of someone there as my bowl of fruit that next day was completely full! And it’s been that way for the last three weeks.”

Adira recalled this whole series of events, remembering Amelia’s persistent nature, but one memory poked through. Hector had complained of so much fruit being given. His time at the Great Tree had been quite the detriment to his taste buds. Anything with a strong taste or flavor was difficult for him to eat, even after almost a year of slowly easing him back into a normal and healthy diet. By this point, he could eat fruit but only in very small quantities.

Adira turned to face Amelia now, her body leaning into the table. “So what’s the problem then? Sounds like that’s a good thing.”

“Well, the last three days my bowl has only been half way full again. I went to ask them about this and why it changed, but they told me they have never given me a full bowl of fruit!” Amelia exclaimed, wildly gesturing her hands. “I had tried to ask them if someone had possibly been sneaking it to me in secret, but they said whenever anyone’s food has left the kitchen it’s always been the same portions. I insisted that I’ve had a full bowl of fruit for weeks now and they just looked at me like I had vines growing out of my ears. I just don’t know what to think!” She forced her bottom lip to stick out in a great show of her unhappiness. “At least I have some fruit for comfort.”

As Amelia devoured her comfort food, Adira remained silent, but a knowing smirk was growing on her face.

Hector had left for his hunting trip three days ago.

Turning back to face her almost finished breakfast, she was reminded of how Hector had complained of the amount of fruit. How he didn’t want it to go to waste and that he knew it wouldn’t be good for the animals. Then, he had heard Amelia complaining about not getting extra fruit. Hector had been extremely quiet after that.

Adira’s smirk had turned into a full on grin.

“Interesting…”

#tangled the series #tts adira #tts hector #tts oc #Amelia OC #Amelia Renya #Hectelia #tts fanfic #Dark Kingdom Rising fic #love that I'm getting into writing again

[platypusmonstah]

C3E77

I don't ever participate in discourse or discuss anything plot-wise to any shows, movies, or any other entertainment media, because, well I just don't wanna. I try to keep my opinions to myself and just enjoy (or hate) things on my own.

Before I go into this I will admit, I am not a fan of Ashton, don't hate the characters, I am just indifferent to them. I don't care about the pity party we have been watching for the past 2 years, them being left behind, the savior complex, and whatnot. I admit, that I am not so versed in the punk scene and what it's about (I am pretty sure it's not about feeling sorry for oneself, but I could be wrong) so perhaps this is where my indifference comes from? I don't know, they are not my cup of tea that I would enjoy. I do admit that the character has changed since we first saw them, for the better.

That being said, Taliesin plays them VERY well. So much so that sometimes it is hard to see where one starts and one ends. You can't tell if a fuck up is from Ashton doing Ashton or Tal misunderstanding what's going on. I don't know.

Personally, I am a bit miffed (just a tiny bit, it actually kinda passed because, well, this show is not created for me, the whole thing is Matt building this for them so who the fuck am I to judge what they do, I'm just here for the wild ride), because yes, the 3rd campaign is 2 years in, but in-game its only been 80 days. They had that shard for 1 day. Just 1 day. They were about to go on a scouting mission on the fricking moon. This mission is not gonna be a big bad boss fight. So using the shard was not the number 1 priority. And even if in the end Fearne refused it, there are other party members, or even other characters that could have absorbed it. I digress.

I do think Matt went too easy on Ashton and Tal. Yes, he presented the red button, but that button was glowing and had multiple warnings pointed toward it. Whether he went easy because he was not prepared for this, or he went easy on it because he didn't want to fuck up the party and campaign, we will probably never know. It would have halted the campaign, had Ashton died. People are praising Taleisin for doing this, and how it was so brave, but I wonder if they would have thought the same if it backfired and Ashton died. Who knows.

The second half C3E77 was stressful af. There were a lot of instances in all 3 campaigns that were stressful and made me almost pull a Marisha and perch. Characters doing stuff that made you wanna throw something at them. And in the end was worth it. It helped the party, it pushed the story forward. This will also. What soured it this time for me, was the gloating at the end. Taliesin gloated, not Ashton. Ashton would have been dead dead had it not been for Fearne, FCG, and that ring. Tal gloating was jarring, and for that, I hope they gave him shit after the episode.

But ultimately I am happy it worked out in the end. Because if it didn't, I'd feel horrible for Ashley. She was the only one who knew what was gonna happen. She already had to choose once who lived and who died, and she felt like shit for weeks afterward. I don't even wanna entertain the idea of how she would have felt if Ashton died.

#critical role #cr #just my two cents

[terrence-silver]

Could you write something about John and Terry convincing their shared partner to get a tattoo that matched theirs somewhere on his/her body?

-"Now we match! Perfect!"-

Terry's in high spirits, practically jumping when the needle and the ink are taken away, the artwork clean, covered in protective band aid at the nape of your neck, right below your hairline. Discreetly visible. Tasteful, as it were. The discussion of where you could actually place the tattoo was long and arduous and the suggestions ranged anywhere from the inside of your thigh, your ass cheek and on your tailbone, but John personally talked Terry out of convincing you to accept any of those, in a sour mood, sounding displeased. Sounds like one of those tramp stamps, he said, bluntly. C'mon, Johnny, holy shit, it’s the 70's! Be modern! John wasn't having it, of course. Yeah, it'll stay there forever. I don't so, Twig. He'd retort, utilizing a nickname. That's the whole point, Johnny! Terry would whine. But, soon enough, tattooing your derrière or lower back was out of the question. Ever so blunt still, John snorts, arms crossed at the finalized work, joking, bright eyed. -"You look like a sailor. Popeye."- He smiles, lips lop-sided and pleased, appearing proud of the end result. -"Oh, man, Johnny, c'mon!"- Terry appears scandalized at the remark, taking offense instead of you, crouching beside the tattoo bed, rubbing your forearm soothingly, his other hand on your back. Even when practically squatting, Terry was still tall enough to tower over you and by the looks of him, he was still growing. He was 6'3 in 1972 and by 1973 and 1974 he might easily be 6'5. He could easily be a professional athlete if he wasn't making plans of running the family business.

-"I can't see. Does it look good?"-

You ask, tapping the bandage on your neck. Terry says something about you always looking good. Flatterer. Charmer. You'd never guess Terry was such a sweet-talker, shy and a bit fidgety as he was. Turns out, he had an immense way with words, to the point he'd often make you stammer and leave you without able to form a sentence, as was the case now, while you were adjusting in your seat. -"It's inflamed. Don't touch it."- John tsks, shaking his head, reaching forward to remove your fingers from the newly minted, freshly dried ink on your skin, reprimanding slightly. They've gotten their own ink a couple of months back, at this same parlour. Their own were far bigger then yours. Almost gaudy. Showy. Very dramatic and impossible to miss. They didn't seem to mind. Quite the contrary. They appeared particularly proud. Flaunting the art wherever they went. Flaunting Cobra Kai. -"Yeah, I’m afraid you're gonna get infected and you'll die..."- John jabs sarcastically, overreacting on purpose to tease you, holding his arms up in fake theatrics as he scoots down and sits down beside you to clasp your hand. Twig interjects, whispering, his eyes shimmering with a fierce thought. Their sense of comedy was occasionally odd, but you've gotten used to it. -"And then we'll have to set the tattoo parlour on fire."- He adds with a toothy, wolfish grin and your mouth is agape, hushing him, so the owner wouldn't hear the exchange. Sometimes, though --- sometimes you couldn't tell if they were joking or not.

-"You guys are something!"-

You groan, feeling sore, eyes darting once Terry holds up a mirror.

Positioned strategically next to looking glass on the wall behind you.

You spot the reddening patch of a small, inky cobra on your skin.

-"You look so cute, muffinpie!"- Terry exclaims happily, his cheeks practically puff up and pink as he diligently and dutifully props up the mirror so you can take a good look at the piece of handiwork. John's face beams up at Terry's endearment, down casting his glance, brows furrowed and busy with a thought. He was the more serious one, for sure. He was the reason why you didn't land with a snake tattoo on your bathing suit area. The idea made you laugh. You had to laugh that this is something they genuinely argued over. -"You'll always have something to remember us by now."- He speaks up in the midst of Terry's enthusiasm and admiration of the baby viper on your neck, grimly, John's mouth pressed into a hard line, his arms like a protective shield around his own torso as he maintains them crossed as per habit. They once told you were the first actual friend they've made after coming back from Vietnam. They only had each other for the longest time, grieving over everyone they mutually lost, both overseas and at home. Forming connections was difficult. Often disastrous. More hassle than it was truly worth. It is as if the world inadvertently changed while they were away, transforming past the point of all recognition, and the people along with it. But you? You were someone they wanted to stay close with, they explained. Stay attached to. You keep me grounded and you keep Twig sane. You squeeze his hand back re-assuringly, all while holding Terry's. -"As if I needed a tattoo to remember you two by, John."-

#terry silver #john kreese #terry silver twig #kk3 #cobra kai #polyam #implied polyam #friendship yandere #terry silver x reader #terry silver x beloved #john kreese x reader #john kreese x beloved #terry silver x reader x john kreese #terry silver x beloved x john kreese #yandere #flashbacks

[meirimerens]

For the questions for fic writers, What do you wish someone would ask you about ATA? Answer it now!

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about [ATA]? Answer it now!

ough this one does make you rake the brain... i'd say i'd love to be asked about what didn't make it into this 95k+ words of a monster... because even with how big it is i still ended up with spill-over.

& i'd show you bits of what didn't make it in but that i could salvage... behold!

Burakh held his steps back, tense from the knee up, wincing when the stairs creaked. He weaved his way through the threshold of the attic, past the folding screen. He stopped.  The Bachelor’s bed was unmade, the deep dark red woven coverlet laid crumpled like an open wound, like a mouth. Dankovsky’s nights were restless and agitated. Burakh was even more concerned by the fact that he seemed to have left in a hurry.

^ this was supposed to happen somewhere in chapter 6, as Dankovsky g*** s***. it ended up getting scrapped because burakh needed to be somewhere else at the time... a whole scene of him combing through dankovsky's belongings was to follow, gauging the amount of supplies he had, finding notes about his experiences, and some of the letters from PtB. then burakh would follow his trail into the steppe, increasingly worried

“... The tower?” “Yes.” He reached a hand out through the open window. The cold night air bit swiftly at his arm—Burakh saw how the hair on his skin rose.  ... A rose on her stem. I feel like I could pick her out.

^ I wonted more discussion of the Polyhedron between those twos, as it only made sense. this would have happened on day 3 or 4, but ended up being scrapped for more Polyhedron Vibes when burakh's alone, and the very last paragraph of chapter 5...

“And, Oynon?” “Yes?” “The Commander wants to see you.” Dankovsky deeply, loudly, exhaustingly sighed like he wished his breath could sweep Burakh’s word off the table. “I’ll come and meet him. Has he met you?” “He… hasn’t.” “Does he want to?” “From what I’ve been told, he rather wants to pop a cap in one of my knees,” Burakh nervously laughed. “Pray tell,” Dankovsky ducked his head to the side, “what did you do?” “I know damn well what I’ve done,” Burakh swiftly defended himself, “I know even better what I haven’t done, but my… reputation precedes me.” Dankovsky nodded. “I’ll talk to him.” Then, after a pause: “I’ll attempt to talk to him.” “Thank you, oynon.” “Keep yourself safe in the meantime. Don’t try anything weird.” “Oh, I can’t promise that.” They shared a nervous bout of laughter, one that scraped Dankovsky’s too-sore throat a bit raw. When silence settled back in, the Bachelor’s eyes grew severe again, solemn. He reiterated his thank-you like he hadn’t moved on from it. Burakh, instinctively, offered a theatrical selfless bow.

^ this one was drafted before i decided on the chapter 11 In The Hole You Go and the following scenes with Block.

The twin coins of the Architect’s eyes bittered and bowed, heavy with a sour, steeped sorrow Burakh found uncharacteristic for him. Peter: not afraid of this, Burakh. not afraid like this. The Architect looked at him — at his disheveled hair, at the feverish sweat that glued his undershirt to his chest. Burakh understood. Burakh believed he understood. There was an unspeakable weight in the Architect’s eyes and Burakh felt like it would crush him.

^ freak of the earth once more.

“You’re no Charon and this is no Styx” … and this river is not the Acheron. Here you are still, on the waters of sleep, Pulling threads to you, passing them on, Holding on to the obols you’re trusted to keep.

You have the hands of a link, of tethers, (you are the anchor / the missing piece) You carry like Atlas these heavy night skies; Like those before you, you thread the deep waters Where the half-everything come to bleed sorrowful sighs.

^ this was supposed to be part of the summary, but i decided to go anotha route... i wanted to reuse this somewhere but didn't get to. OH WELL!

throw me one

#ask games #ring ring (answers) #anonymous

[ftmtftm]

It does kinda seem that you put a whole possible group of people on blast for one kid's dumbass "joke". This is going to have repercussions that are a bit too harsh for the crime of being young and unfunny, as people are already making posts talking about sending them rape threats, suicide baiting them, and doxing them. Calling attention to this on your big blog probably wasn't the best move, even if you felt the need to distance yourself in a "its not me, its them officer" type move. This doesn't need anymore attention. It should've been handled privately with the user who originally made the joke, but I guess that's tumblr for you. Everything needs to be a circus.

I hope you're deleting any replies that are listing urls in your notes bc if you let that happen on your post, on your blog, and it goes too far, you'll have some perverbial blood on your hands too.

Hey, so first and foremost to address the very end of your ask: I have not seen anyone listing URLs in my replies or reblogs and if anyone has been doing that I would appreciate it being brought to my attention so I can delete it! I've scrubbed through the notes and my activity and cannot find anything, so if something has slipped through the cracks please tell me!

Secondly, and also related to the end of your ask, I really don't appreciate the guilt trippy nature of this ask at all! If you want to have a discussion about platforms and the way people use them, by all means we can have that conversation, but I'd prefer if it was had without the typical Tumblr accusatory guilt trip tonality. I'm addressing this upfront because addressing someone in the way you've addressed me really isn't how a productive conversation is had, but I wanna take the opportunity to try to have one. Let's just talk without trying to make each other feel bad to try to prove a point, okay?

I do agree that I should have put more thought into my post and also I should not have made it while I was on my lunch break at work. I had less control over the response to it than I would've liked and also left people in my DMs waiting on a reply in a way I'm sure was stressful. I'm not used to my posts gaining that much attention that quickly and that is on me for not having thought about that possibly.

I do think that I made it abundantly clear that I don't support the harassment of anyone, ever and that harassment and targeting individuals wasn't the goal of the post once I was able to. I do apologize that it wasn't something I was necessarily thinking about it the moment and that my comments were not soon enough to beat some of Tumblr's worst to the punch.

This is where I'm sure some people will disagree with me, but do I pretty firmly believe in openly, publicly talking about the failures of and issues within my own communities. I don't think there is anything to be gained from trying to shy away from it or trying to be quiet about it, especially when shying away or burying it just tends to lead to entire community collapse in the long run in my experience. That is why I made a post publicly about it in the first place.

I'm going to go more in depth into my reasoning for making a public post here, but if that doesn't interest you that's okay! The previous paragraph sums up my feelings pretty concisely, this next section is just expanding on it.

This is a new~ish blog, but I've been active on and off in Tumblr discourse spaces since I was about 16 so I'm looking at this informed by about a decade of experiences. The thing I've seen that happens most often is once people who aren't used to a giant influx of attention get that attention, especially if it is negative, things tend to get extremely sour extremely quickly. Usually this results in taunting, feeling like you need to get the last word in with a quippy remark, slippery slope-ing, and a lot of assumptions and poor taste comments that come from very real upset and distress. Those responses then get used as more fuel for the fire and it just continues and continues and continues really until someone deletes or abandons their blog. That's absolutely not to discredit the very real distress that is happening, but instead to call attention to this cycle that happens all the time.

I personally partially attribute the nature of this cycle to the fact that no one on the internet (especially on Tumblr) really knows how to healthily disengage because the internet is a culture all about engagement (especially negative engagement), but that's a topic for another post. The reason why I bring up the cycle is because in all of that individuals tend to get mean, defensive, and deflective and say things they might not actually mean or reflect extremely poorly out of context.

That's what has been happening with multiple people I follow the last few days, not just with one or two individuals. When a culture like that begins to take shape I think it's important to openly address the ways in which it is manifesting, especially when it includes a public joke about the oppression of another marginalized group. Like I said earlier, I do think I should have gone about it better in the ways I've already described but what's done is done in that regard. I also would like to address the fact that I explicitly, intentionally did not name individuals because there was already a harassment campaign happening and I did not want to directly contribute to that. Again, I see the failures within that especially given my own personal timing, I just want to give context for anyone reading this ask.

Again, you're more than allowed to disagree with my feelings or my responses/lack of response due to other constraints and you can extrapolate as much ill will and negativity from it all as you'd like. I can't control the thoughts and actions of other people. I do, however, know myself and I know how I feel and while I do believe I should have been more thoughful about my timing and wording I don't have any issue with openly addressing actions I disagree with in communities I'm in. Especially ones like that. That's not really going to change because of an anon slippery slope-ing about proverbial blood on my hands in my askbox.

I also want to add on the end here that I don't particularly like the accusation that I'm a "big blog" when before I made that post I had under 200 followers. Sure, I'm vocal, I've got a decently put together mobile layout, and I speak like I know what I'm talking about, but I'm that doesn't make me a "big blog" - I've just been on Tumblr for a decade and know my way around most of the time (though, as I think this shows, I'm also still human and have my own blind spots like everyone else).

#asks #anon

[asherlockstudy]

Have you listened to this week's EB yet? Rhett was actually sick Streamys weekend. Sounds like everything is normal between randl. Link says GME was the best one yet (ehh..) and he wasn't upset or whatever

We knew he was sick. They said it on GME. In the Streamys photos I did make the joke "did Rhett die from his cold or Link's coming out?"

Of course Link confirmed Rhett was sick, did anyone expect any different? Like, even if it wasn't the case exactly, did anybody actually believe that Link would say "yeah today at the round table of dim lighting we have fought after I tried to come out and Rhett's gone for the foreseeable future"? Of course he would never say that, regardless if Rhett had vanished due to his illness alone or there was something else as well.

I am not denying that Rhett's been sick one bit. But I am interested in how he will describe his illness once he comes back, because there's something shady about it. Link just won't explain what is wrong with Rhett (apart from Rhett telling him he had a fever on the phone). It must be something heavier than a regular cold or virus though (unless it's COVID?). Rhett's not the guy to just naturally skip on the Streamys or leave Link hanging. And I also found it weird how they did not wait for the EB with the GME afterthoughts until Rhett was back. Are they keeping the rest of September fixed for Sextember episodes? Perhaps Rhett will say anything about GME there.

I did expect a short stream, if not in the Streamys, then at least in the EB, or maybe a tweet or something, just to give a thumbs up that he's alive, you know lol. His silence is so long that either his illness is rather shitty or it's not just illness. Hopefully, he's okay now.

As for Link, he pointedly did not mention Rhett at all in his GME afterthoughts. He discussed his own feelings and the crew's and stressed how they were all very pleased with the result.

Another thing that was interesting was how Link showed an entire lack of empathy about Rhett's sickness, which made him miss out on so important events. And he did make the "you're dead to me" joke, which he delivered with a straight face, to which I gasped because I had written about it in a previous answer!

He ended the podcast on a humorous yet still sour note, as he said Jenna maybe was a better co-host and then he repeats the whole "missing, dying Rhett” thing.

Like, they are surely making a huge deal out of this illness without actually caring at all about his illness somehow... it is a little off. Is this a running joke about Rhett being sick, vanished and dead or is there a hint of truth? We will be able to tell more if Rhett talks about it when he's back.

PS. Once more, Link was a little different and so much more serious, once Rhett was away.

#rhett and link #randl #r&l #ear biscuits #eb 392 #anon #mail