#when I grew up I was SO MAD LOL bc she was basing that on playing FE7/8

[dmclemblems]

ajsdhgjkh yeah sorry shinon! he's good but i don't remember him ever being top for me, though i've probably done por 4 times and rd twice. i started using oscar because the nintendo power strategy guide said to plug the one bottleneck in the map on the chapter shinon and gatrie leave, because he's a brick wall. and they were right. he would never let me down etc etc. i think i gave him a custom forged lance called the BadGuyKiller. Kieran got the OscarBane, which was hot pink.

YEAHHHH SHISHI!!!

For some reason no matter how much I love other FE games, I always keep replaying the Tellius ones. I guess maybe in part it's because growing up I took to PoR a lot more? I started with FE7, but 7 and 8 weren't as strong for me and didn't keep me as interested. Also, I was kind of the shy nice girl growing up who stayed out of trouble, so I kind of grew up really admiring Ike. Even if I don't play either game for a year or two straight, I always come back to them and end up playing at least one of them once or twice through before taking a break again. Even though 4 is my favorite FE game, I guess between Tellius' gameplay, the characters and how I felt about those games growing up ends up pulling me back to them all the time.

NINTENDO POWER LITERALLY SAID USE OSCAR? Damn, I didn't give them enough credit. My sister subscribed to that magazine and I never read it. They're RIGHT though, I love plugging bottlenecks with him and Shinon. Chapter six is a pain in the ass but I rely on the two of them to cover the front, and in chapter eight I similarly have Oscar handle the front. Oscar dodges enough and he takes very low damage if he gets hit. My strategy was to keep a javelin equipped for most of chapter eight since a lot of the enemies used them as well, so he was always able to hit back and he took out the enemies in the front all by himself (which is pretty impressive at that point in the game considering how many enemies he'd be fighting by himself).

It's actually funny to me because he has no trouble at the front, but meanwhile Titania and Boyd are handling the right side of the map and kinda having trouble. Soren and Ike handle the left side (and eventually Ilyana if she even makes it down there in time to do much of anything lol), and I have Rhys run around healing as much as he can with Mia using her turns to shove him out of harm's way if he's in range of an enemy's distant attack when he's behind someone. Mia's too weak at that point for me to use her for anything else, so she's kinda just Rhys' support to keep him safe while he heals.

Agreed, Oscar never lets me down. IN FACT, IT'S ALMOST ALWAYS BOYD WHO LETS ME DOWN LMAO. Last run I did with a friend watching was fun because we were picking on Boyd lovingly. He was actually pretty damn for me in that run but whenever he screwed up we'd poke fun at him.

THAT'S SO FUNNY LOL. I love giving Oscar forged weapons. Actually, since they're so expensive if you want them to be really unique and not super close to an existing weapon that I don't make forged weapons that often at all. Generally Oscar is one of the few if not the only one in a playthrough who gets one. I always make it insanely OP, like, as OP as you literally make it lol. I make it green for him and give him all sorts of names for his weapons.

KIERAN GOT THE OSCARBANE AND IT WAS HOT PINK JUST LIEK HIS PERSONALITY. Kieran no you're supposed to fight the enemies, not your allies. SIR.

My friend in the playthrough I played with them watching tried to convince me not to use Oscar in chapter 28 and I firmly refused LOL. He basically handles the whole left side of the map by himself or has like, one other person with him helping out a little bit while Ike, Soren and Ranulf take the center and everyone else takes the right side.

Also this has nothing to do with Oscar but LISTEN. Have you ever put Vantage AND Adept on Ranulf? They behave differently in RD so it won't work the same, but in PoR Vantage always activates so your unit will always attack first if they're attacked by an enemy. Combine that with Adept and it's literally so broken because the sheer number of times I had Ranulf attack first and use Adept, attacking first twice and killing the enemy just for initiating combat was so bonkers it was like easy mode lmao.

It's kinda like when I discovered that putting Gamble on Shinon was stupid broken because he'd keep getting a 100 percent crit rate with a killer bow.

Oscar and Shinon are already broken and I somehow always seem to find ways to make them more broken. Then I got to add PoR Ranulf to that list... and honestly, once RD Ranulf gets Rend, he's basically as much of a monster as those two (especially if you're playing the endgame parts and you give him a Laguz Gem to be transformed for the entire battle LEL).

#nintendo power is a CHAMP for suggesting to use oscar The Correct Way (tm) #when I was younger and I first started playing PoR my sister convinced me that pre-promoted were ''bad'' #when I grew up I was SO MAD LOL bc she was basing that on playing FE7/8 #where generally pre-promoted units barring game soloer King Seth the Great weren't that great #(though I did use Saleh quite a bit... and to my recollection he wasn't bad) #and I literally SUFFERED trying to train Rolf bc of that. now I just train him enough to withstand that Blizzard #in chapter 18 in case he gets hit by it when I'm going down the corridor to reach Shinon #and basically once I get him back Rolf is benched for the rest of or most of the rest of the game hfkjsagjsg #BUT KNOWING THE SHINON I KNOW NOW I'M SO MAD SHE CONVINCED ME NOT TO USE HIM FKJSHJHFG #I can't remember what playthrough I finally started using him or why at this point #but I wouldn't be surprised if it had to do with me wanting to try out using a unit for a character I enjoyed #bc it always sucks when you can't/don't use characters you like #KINDA LIKE WHY I USUALLY BRING TORMOD TO THE TOWER OF GUIDANCE? #BC I'M RLY FUCKIN' MAD THAT HE'S HARDLY IN THE GAME AT ALL AND I NEED TO MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME??? #I angrily get Tormod to tier 3 level 20 at all cost bc RD did him so dirty with screentime #OH AND ALSO Geoffrey was another pre-promote I didn't use because of my sister LOL #nowadays I tend not to use him and Haar bc they join so late into the game and by then #most of my roster is pretty figured out while still making room for Ranulf prior to him and Haar joining #I use Geoffrey as much as I can in RD though because I love Geoffrey #also like ofc Shinon is gonna be behind everyone else for a bit when you get him back bc he's the same level he left at #it's like playing Tales of Phantasia and benching Chester permanently just bc he rejoins you at the same level you left him at fjksghjgsg #now I just like to meme about Shinon killing everything and how the AI actually works when it comes to Provoke #DCE Ask

[vamphrrr]

Hi!! i loved your tough love fanfic of clarisse! so i decided to ask if you can make a clarisse la rue , (aphrodite child) reader, but she’s not some normal teenager… she’s a princess if you get what im saying??? lets say that aphrodite dated a princess and had a child with him before she left, and so that’s where reader grew up, no one knew that the reader was a princess u til she told clarisse, she was really worried clarisse was gonna hate her but clarisse is like “Woah me mad at you? no way” and clarisse supports her! (Including some kissing, flirting, it would be super nice if the reader was shorter the clarisse probably up to her chest like in the tough love fanfic!)

notes ; omgggg this is so cute!! i’m so glad u liked my last fic i was nervous about posting 😭. also i’ll be making clarisse call reader princess too now knowing SHE IS ONE! they’re already dating in this. i used the same banner bc i’m too lazy to create new ones based on plot LMAO. i wrote this so soon but sometimes if anyone requests it might take me a couple of days bc of school and stuff! think i went a little overboard with this one. i should probably start counting how much i write lol.

%% are you mad?

in which your super attractive girlfriend finds out the secret you’ve been hiding from her for so long. also, she accidentally meets your dad.

— clarisse la rue x f!aphrodite!reader

warnings ; reader has doubts, tall & buff clarisse / short reader (again), flirty!clarisse flirty!clarisse, a little angst?, kissing, two swear words, flustered reader (oh how the turned tables), ooc clarisse? (i’m never sure if i write her right), one suggestive thought in the first paragraph (nothing happened tho!). a little too much background i think… too much father, did my daddy issues come out? made reader’s dad a king bc plot reasons, maybe more emotional than requested srry😭

You couldn’t believe you were doing this. Sneaking off from your girlfriend’s warm bed in the middle of the night. For a minute, you wondered how’d that look to anyone watching. A girl hastily running from a cabin that she very obviously did not belong in, a long shirt —it was Clarisse’s— accompanied by small shorts, (which were not visible might you add). Oh and how could you forget, you were barefoot. Who’s bright idea was that? Oh, yeah, yours. Why?

Gods were you cold. Should’ve brought a jacket, you thought.

The bottom of your feet hurt, stepping on rocks and sticks and who knows what else would do that to you. Next time, you would definitely bring hiking boots or something. And a jacket. In the forest, you were far away from anybody that might disturb you. Pulling Clarisse’s shirt up until your shorts were visible, you dug your hand inside the pocket, meeting with a drachma. You approached the round well, splashing water mist being met with sunlight from below, creating a rainbow.

How? It was the middle of the night. Why was the sun inside? You decided not to think about it.

This well was old, dirty from not being used much. See, not many people knew about it. Apparently, it was for those that needed to talk to somebody reallyyyy privately, that’s why it was hidden in the forest, only appearing at night. You weren’t sure how that worked, but you stumbled upon it a couple of years back when you were being chased by wood nymphs for being out at night. They found you, obviously. Punishment was not escapable and you ended up having to clean the stables the day after you got your nails done. Yuck.

Now here you were again, this being the only place where you could speak to your father without anyone finding you. It’s not that you were embarrassed of him per say, it was that you really didn’t want anyone to know that you were a royal. I mean, how ironic was that? A daughter of Aphrodite, a Princess? Forget it. You’d get made fun of for the rest of your life. You especially didn’t want Clarisse to know. She was your girlfriend yes, and this was something very important that you needed to tell her about, but you weren’t sure how’d she react. You knew she wouldn’t make fun of you like others would, but you didn’t know if dating a literal Princess was too much of a deal breaker for her.

Being with a royal was too stressful, there was so much that they’d get criticized for and so little people that they’d be accepted by. Your dad was a King with many past lovers, Aphrodite included. The people loved her, I mean, who wouldn’t? But then she was gone, disappearing the same night she gave birth to you. Your dad knew of her, of this. He knew she’d be gone by the time the sun rose. Yet, he did nothing. Who was he, than just a mortal man? He could not stop a goddess from leaving.

He got with others after that, your dad had a lot of love to give. Maybe that was something that attracted your mother to him. Public lovers were not taken well, the people respected the King, sure, they just didn’t respect his partners. Constant judging, constant eyes following their every move, constant hatred being thrown, constant stress on their shoulders. In the end, they could never take it. Running away or completely disappearing seemed to be something they all had in common. Your father had to give up on love, small secret romances blossomed for a while, but never enough for it to go public.

That is why you were so scared to tell Clarisse of your status. She was smart, she’d realize being with you would not be worth the hassle. She’d leave you just like everyone else left your father. Clarisse was the love of your life, you don’t think you’d be able to handle it if she left.

You threw the drachma in, calling for the rainbow goddess to let you see your father.

“Dad,” you said, once the back of his head was visible.

He jumped, turning around. “Oh! My dearest daughter, you scared me.” He laughed a bit, looking at you with such soft eyes it almost made you cry. “Why are you Iris messaging me at this hour? Isn’t it time for you to be resting?”

You swallowed, a sudden knot appearing in your throat. “I just needed someone to talk to.” Playing with the ring around your finger that Clarisse gave you for your one year anniversary, you choked out. “I have this amazing girlfriend, she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me here at camp and—” You stopped talking, taking a small breath, not noticing the familiar figure of Clarisse standing a couple of feet behind you. “—and I’m scared to tell her that I’m not who she thinks I am. That I’m not this girl that just so happens to be a daughter of Aphrodite. I love her so much and I want to tell her about you. I want to bring her to you in person because I want the two people I love the most to meet. But how do I do that when I haven’t even told her I’m a Princess and that the only way you two could meet is if I took her to our royal palace?”

Your father widened his eyes, not expecting his little girl to burst out her feelings just like that. He sighed, glancing behind your shoulder. “If this girl you love so much really loves you like you do her, she wouldn’t care about your status.” Staring at who he assumed was your girlfriend behind you, he continued. “She wouldn’t care that you hid this from her. Instead, she’d try to see it from your point of view.” Moving his eyes away from Clarisse, he looked at you, eyes squinting in light mischief. “You should tell her, she’ll understand. I love you.” Is all he said, before he was gone.

You’re left staring at a rainbow, your dad nowhere in sight. Suddenly, a branch broke from behind you. Turning around quickly, heart beating rapidly, you’re met with the eyes of your girlfriend. You immediately let out a gasp, not knowing she was there.

Clarisse speaks up. “You’re a Princess?”

You felt your mouth dry up. With wide eyes, you respond. “Please don’t hate me! I didn’t know how to tell you!” Walking closer to her, you reached your hands out, grabbing one of her own with both of yours. “Please, you have to understand. I didn’t want this to ruin us.”

She stayed silent.

Silence was haunting, especially coming from Clarisse, someone who was always provoking people and boasting loudly everywhere. You gulped, with lips shaking you asked, “A-are you mad?”

She lets out a huff. Was something funny? Was she annoyed? Angry? Did she not care at all? Those were the questions running through your mind. You’d find out the answers soon enough.

“Woah,” she shook her head, letting you see the slight amused smile on her face. “Me? Mad at you? No fucking way.” She reached her free hand towards your face, moving away the strand of hair that fell slightly over your eye. “It just… surprised me s’ all.”

You let out a breath, relaxing and putting your head against her chest. “Thank the gods, I thought you were going to break up with me or something.”

Reaching out again, she placed her forefinger below your chin, raising your head to meet her eyes. “How could I ever break up with someone so beautiful?” She leaned down, your lips grazing against each other’s. “Why would I leave when I can now be your knight in shining armor?” Closing the distance, your eyes fluttered shut. Butterflies were in your stomach just like the first time you two ever kissed. Without your lips separating, she put one arm around your waist, the other grabbing below your thighs, hoisting you up.

“Ah!” you screamed, separating your lips, not expecting it.

Clarisse smirked, seeing you get flustered. “You don’t have any shoes on.” You pouted, putting your arms around her neck so you wouldn’t fall while she walked back (not that she would let you fall off in the first place). “Didn’t think I’d notice, did you, princess?” Teasingly, she used the pet name, now knowing how much truth was behind it.

You whined, pressing your face against her neck. “You’re so unfair. I’m supposed to be the one flustering you.”

“Awe, the princess is mad,” she cooed, letting her lips touch the tip of your ear. “You want me to get on one knee and apologize?”

Clarisse laughed when you let out a loud groan, hitting her lightly on the chest. Smiling, she knew the only way she’d ever leave you was if she was six feet under. And even then, she’d find a way to get back to the land of the living just to be by your side.

The only things heard in the dead of night were the grasshoppers, chirping their little melodies into the darkness. That was until you muttered sleepily, letting out a yawn. “I love you.”

Clarisse repeated after you. “I love you.” Feeling your eyes fluttered close, she followed it with an almost silent “goodnight.”

Now that you were asleep, she felt panic slowly rise, steps quickening to reach the Ares cabin faster. She could only think about two things now.

Holy shit, she’s a Princess. Oh my gods, I met her dad.

#vamphrrr ask #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #pjo tv show #clarisse la rue #clarisse la rue x reader #pjo oneshot #x reader #clarisse x y/n #clarisse la rue x you #clarisse x female reader #clarisse la rue x female reader #clarisse la rue x y/n #clarisse x you #clarisse x reader #clarisse pjo #pjo series #pjo #pjo x you #pjo x reader #pjoverse

[vacantgodling]

💚🍀 for the OC Ask Game!

thank you for the ask! i'll keep talking about nondisclosure :3 maybe i'll do the main ones + leo lol.

💚 - What is your OC’s gender identity and sexuality?

nyseah: butch trans woman & she calls herself straight but queer and its just because transitioning made her relationship to her sexuality very complicated. she tends to be attracted to men or masculine people but because she's trans she doesn't think that any relationship that she's in will ever be "straight". and for her, its really more about who she jives with versus their gender identity-she wouldn't turn down a good connection basically. she doesn't try to label it but if she Had to that's what she'd say.

donte: cis man & mspec gay but far to tired to care about pursuing anything with anyone pff

alona: cis woman & bi

leonine: masculine nonbinary (they/he) & pansexual

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC?

so technically nyseah and alona came from the same OLD story that i used to have when i was like 12 and technically they haven't "changed much" in terms of the Very Very basic gist of their characters (nyseah is still a psychic nurse and alona is still a secretary of a corporation). i don't really know WHY i thought of these two but a lot of that old story that nondisclosure directly grew from was a clusterfuck and probably inspired by my desire to be quirky and love of anime.

donte is an interesting one, because i had an idea several years ago to make a d&d campaign that was kind of like a noir instead of a fantasy based thing (so like dnd rules but it was a noir). and instead of just me being a dm my idea would be to have a character in the story that the players all get information from and so i made his initials D.M (donte macbride). but bc i don't really have friends to do that kind of thing with and i don't know shit about dm-ing i decided to just kinda keep him on the backburner as an oc, and then ended up using him in a roleplay with one of my friends, wherein i developed his backstory (tldr don's mom was killed by a serial killer when he was 14 and while the police couldn't figure it out, he solved the case and killed the murderer in essentially one day and instead of going to jail, the head of the force at the time was like hey kid you got a talent for solving crime, ya wanna be a detective? and then he's been doing this shit for like 30-ish years pff. its slightly tweaked now to fit with the lore of this wip but the gist is the same), and i really fleshed don out as a character. and then my friend kinda lost interest in the roleplay, so then when i decided that i wanted to revamp alona and nyseah cuz i'm mad attached to them, i thought maybe i could toss him into the mix with the two of them to make a rotating 3-way pov narrative :D

leonine was a character in that roleplay i did with my friend and his backstory of being a celebrity who's friend was murdered and then he goes to don for help is also still the same. tbh they weren't supposed to be a character i got attached to but i liked his energy lol

#s: nad

[myersobsession]

Human! Michael myers hcs (based on my au)

so i think human! michael prob ends up attracting a lot of girls, as seen in one of the movies a girl on the radio's actually attracted to him lol (it's cuz he's so "mysterious" so i'd think he'd have the same charm here)

i also think human michael had average grades in hs, like c's n all

alot of people think he's attractive, but are too intimidated to talk to him, and thinks it sucks he has no personality

if u think he talks here ur WRONGGG!!! i like to think he's selectively mute. but the chances he speaks to anyone is 0 to 0. (i'm sorry but it irks me when people make him speak)

tbh, i feel like michael doesn't rlly gaf abt his other family members or anyone at all in general hes kind of js in his little headspace

with laurie/cynthia he might disapprove of her having a bf, or he'll js not gaf.

he's aroace, he just doesn't know it. i like to think michael doesn't see gender and just sees people for what they are- meat and flesh but he doesn't terrorize him like his counterpart.

michael was probably compared to the other kids his age when he was younger, but didn't care

when he was younger, people thought he was a sociopath because of his lack of empathy and care for others. (he is)

he had therapy once, and that's how he met Dr. loomis. it didn't go well since he remained unresponsive. michael isn't all into the thought of telling a stranger ur problems lol

michael had no friends growing up, bc of how intimidating he came off, some kids also thought he was strange

people always thinks he's upset or mad at someone or something because of his facial expression 24/7 (it's his normal face)

he's autistic,,, he does fixate on people (otherwise known as his obsessions) that eventually transfers, his lack of empathy, the non verbalism

michael's very smart and strategic, generally speaking. he just doesn't present it around people as much so people think he's harmless or just dumb

when he was younger, he did hurt animals but it never reached to the extent of hurting people. he eventually grew out of it when he became a teenager

the only way he ever expressed himself as a child was because of his drawings as a kid. he used to draw disturbing things time to time though, because of his thoughts troubling him. it kind of served as an outlet or a physical manifestation of the things he thought

he does have dark thoughts/intrusive thoughts but doesn't act them out.

alike his counterpart, he probably did get thoughts about killing judith but like i said, didn't act them out!!

alot of people think michael's a cat person but personally i don't. generally speaking i think he doesn't like house pets at all, he thinks they're excess (too loud and too much work to take care of) however he wouldn't mind cats as much as dogs since they aren't as loud and occasionally clean themselves.

as a kid, he was left in a daycare, or occasionally judith had to watch after him, but she never did. he was left at a daycare sometimes because his parents would work so late.

he still doesn't like judith. even as adults they don't get along. he thinks she's annoying lol

i like to think his parents got him alot of clown themed toys, such as a jack in the box and etc bc they thought he liked clowns

michael used to use judith's and their mothers makeup for his drawings, or would go to judith's room to steal any crayons or coloring supplies she'd probably have.

michael's a stay at home guy, going out is too draining tbh :(

he doesn't like family dinners either. he's not very fond of his family (even as a kid)

when michael's older he becomes a mechanic.. i like to think it would js stay true to his counterpart with the coveralls n all, + i can't imagine him being a bigshot doctor or something. he js does something basic

he's very careless when it comes to his job, though. which is why his eye is still scarred lol

he has a huge pain tolerance though. he probably got hurt alot as a kid and can just brush it off. most he'll do in reaction to being wounded is getting irked because his actions are limited to an extent

michael's a very messy eater. even though he may be more civilized here, he won't hesitate to eat his food, hands on. (he knows how to use utensils, he just thinks it's tedious.)

that's it guys, lolsies!!! i have alot more to rant about him but this is all for now lolll

#halloween 1978 #1978 michael myers #michael myers #slasher #horror #rant post #my writing

[menalez]

Just read that one anon about me being "subtly racist" because I called you and your mutual desisapphic out for being misogynistic (or in your case defending it) towards bi women and defending/promoting prejudice.

So anon I AM A BROWN LESBIAN MYSELF. Forgive me for making the sin of not stating my race where I thought it would be unnecessary to. I am a brown woman who still lives in her native country and has never even set foot in any Western country.

And that's the exact reason why I was "obsessed with 2 brown lesbians" because I mainly follow people on radblr who are woc. Preferably woc who are SSA. And I came across that bs from those accounts.

This is also where I would like to add in that all the shit lesbians mostly get mad over bi women is based on the batshit assumption that it happens everywhere. Ik because I have interacted within the few lgb circles I could find in my locality after shit load of research searching for them. In my country it doesn't mean matter if you're bi or homo. Everybody here is shamed for their ssa. Heteronormativity is so much more normalized here that only people within the lgb community know what bisexual means. When bi people learn about their sexuality they don't have to make efforts to deal with their osa but with how society looks at their ssa. Very few bi people fake their ssa or take it for granted from my experience with bisexuals in my area. Discovering you're attracted to the opposite sex in such an extremely homophobic environment isn't easy for anyone. Thank the fucking gods lgb people in my country understand this so there's less to no intracommunity issues the way other countries (specifically Western countries) do.

This is why I get so angry when people speak about bisexuals in a condescending way without giving 2 minutes to think about how this would be affecting a person who lives in that kind of environment. There are bi people who grew up in such environments and it would be nice to not throw misogynistic or victim-blaming comments at bi women or defend prejudice against them as "not a major issue" or have them generalized (I mean everybody here does understand generalizing lesbians is wrong so why is it different for bi women?).

"Subtle racism" my ass. I have got the right to discuss intracommunity issues within my own community. At least be sure of whether the person is white or not before throwing accusations.

we aren’t mutuals, she doesn’t even follow me lol but also skimmed the rest bc fr u should stop ranting at me for once and go rant at the ppl u take issue with. but the argument that bi women are only like this in the west 💀💀💀💀 i have met lesbians in bahrain and lemme tell u! i didn’t mention bi women once but the two very normie very bahraini not at all westernised lesbians i met (one hardly even speaks english) told me what they experienced. one of them’s gf left her to marry a man. when she got upset, her gf said “you’re only mad because you wouldn’t be able to get a man with how you look!”. the lesbian in question is butch & a bodybuilder btw. that resulted in the lesbian marrying a man who, lucky for her, died soon after they got married but not before going to her family and complaining that she won’t have sex with him. another lesbian told me about how her girlfriend, a bi woman, told her she’ll leave her for a man and marry a man when she’s ready to. so much for a western phenomena and bi women & lesbians having 0 difference in the east. the idea that the lesbians complaining about bi women being homophobic and prioritising relationships with men are complaining about a purely western phenomena is insane to me. because bi women totally wouldn’t do or say that & have even more motivation in more homophobic environments??? also the idea tht it’s harder to figure out ur OSA when in a homophobic environment is also wild. leave me alone, unfollow me preferably bc i don’t take how you’ve been ranting at me, over things ive literally not said, so kindly

#and u know what for an apparent brown lesbian u show the entitlement of a white person #my inbox isn’t ur fucking community either. ur ranting at ME and demanding i act against things YOU take issue with. u didn’t just discuss #intracommunity issues and u know it

[worminstuff]

hello!! could you write a fic (in game or irl) about dream and the reader being friends. then he gets jealous of one of the boys and then accidentally blurts out that he likes the reader? just something really fluffy lol. i hope you have a great day!! i just got caught up on all your fics (bc i’m a simp) and i just wanted to say they make me go SO soft:) -anon xo

your brain...it must be so big...

Dream x reader

no warnings, maybe a bit of angst but mostly fluff!!!!

in this fic its set in game, so theyre not playing the games at computers an all theyre in it, not usually how my fics go but were trying it:) (dont try to wrap your head around logistics im not making this a lore)

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Dream, George, y/n and Sapnap were all say on the docks tubbo had built. George was stood fishing, while Dream, y/n and Sapnap were sat at the edge of the dock dangling their legs over.

“Sap did you ever get all those buckets for more fish for the pond around the community house?” y/n turned to him.

Dream felt a twinge of jealousy at the way shed called him sap, she never made nicknames for him..

“i have the buckets, just no fish. why?” they were both looking at each other when y/n sprung to her feet excitedly.

“well were here so why not get some fish!” y/n was already taking off her shoes and socks before he could reply. Sapnap laughed and stood, joining her in taking off his shoes. Dream watched as both rolled up their pant leg's and ran down the dock to the shore line.

“Not gonna go with?” George looked away from his fishing line to pear down at Dream.

“No. Ill let them do it, its their project not mine.” he looked down at his feet as they swung above the water.

George didn't question him but his brows furrowed. Dream was usually glued to y/n whenever they were together. George had an inking about his small infatuation, it was pretty obvious, ironically to everyone except y/n.

George and Dream sat in a comfortable silence until they heard huge splash and a laughing scream from y/n. Though Dream knew immediately that wasn't a scream of fear, he still lept up quickly turning to where Sapnap and y/n were. Upon seeing them, his shoulders shrank.

Sapnap had tackled y/n into the water and was now holding her up, threatening to throw her into the water.

 Dreams heart felt heavy. 

Suddenly Sapnap caught Dreams eyes, both of them staring at each other now. Y/n craned her neck to look back at Sapnap curious why he’d suddenly stopped laughing with her. She followed his line of sight to see Dream, and George now too, staring at the both of them.

Y/n was about to say something when Sapnap suddenly tossed her into the waters, a yelp leaving  her mouth as she collided with the cold water.

George and Sapnap busted out laughing, y/n rose to the surface and quickly started making her way to Sapnap, he laughed and quickly started getting out of the water, baiting her by walking slowly.

Y/n was still confused as to why Dream looked so...upset. She and Sapnap were only messing around. She shrugged it off in her mind though, she had to get Sapnap back.

“Before you two get any more. Whatever that was.. Y/n needs dry clothes now Sapnap, im not gonna deal with a sick y/n.” George said pointedly, as he looked towards Sapnap. Sapnap rolled his eyes and walked ahead as they made their way back to the base.

George decided to catch up to Sapnap, leaving y/n and Dream behind a bit.

Dream looked to y/n, “Are you cold?” 

“A bit, but im okay.” she gave him a small smile and his heart clenched a bit.

Slowly, he unclipped his mask from behind his head as they grew closer to the base. The other three were no stranger to Dreams face, so he kept it on only where he might bump into others like tommy or tubbo.

Y/n had seen his face before, many times actually, but every time he took off the mask, she couldn't help but stare for even a little while. 

Dream looked to her, seeing her already looking up at him. He grinned, “What?”

“Nothin. I just like you with no mask.” She matched his grin. Dreams face grew slightly red at her comment.

They made their way into the base, Y/n quickly heading to her room to get dry cloths.

The boys sat and waited for a bit until they heard y/n from upstairs, “Can I get a shirt really quick! All of mine are dirty..” She sounded slightly embarrassed but the boys were unfazed.

Sapnap got up before Dream could, “I threw her in, so ill give her one of mine.” He made his way up the stairs to his room.

Dream pouted slightly. Now shed be in his clothes? George glanced at him quickly, noticing his expression.

“why are you making that face?” He questioned.

Dream only shook his head. 

“Its not nothing, you were gloomy at the docks too. Are you mad at Sapnap?” He tilted his head a bit.

“No..well maybe a bit. But I shouldn't be.” Dream looked to George finally, and he was about to continue but he was cut off.

“Hey Alexa!” y/n yelled.

“Hey Alexa!” Sapnap yelled back.

“How many bitches can we fit in a tesla!” They both yelled together, laughing the rest of the way down the stairs.

“What?” Dream was nearing his last bit of patience.

Sapnap giggled, “Its just a thing we do, don't worry about it Dream.”

The way he had said that made Dreams blood boil, making it all the worse, he glanced at y/n. She was wearing baggy jeans, black ones, like Sapnap, and one of his shirts with the flame on it. They were matching.

Y/n briefly caught his eye before Dream turned and walked out of the house quickly. She stepped forward to follow, calling out his name softly.

Sapnap was about to follow when George held his arm, “Let her talk to him.” Sapnap nodded back.

Y/n followed Dream as she watched him walk off the beaten bath near their home.

“Dream! Slow down please.” She was trying to catch up when he swiftly turned around. His eyes were angry, his mouth a flat line. Y/n flinched back at how angry he looked. When he saw her flinch his features softened.

“I'm sorry, I just..” He huffed, not really knowing what to tell her. 

“What's been up with you? You've been all grumpy..” Y/n stepped closer to him.

Dream stared into her eyes, looking between both of them. “M’ not grumpy..im just..well..” he closed his eyes, his face already getting a red tint.

“You're what Dream?..” Y/n asked softly.

“I'm jealous! I was jealous..” He blurted out, looking everywhere but her.

“Jealous? Why? Of what?” Y/n was thoroughly confused.

Dream let out another huff, “You and Sapnap..” He was ringing his own hands, y/n had never seen him so nervous before. He was usually so confident.

She tilted her head, “Me and sap?” He clenched at the nickname.

“Yeah!” she had struck a nerve. His eyes were now trained on hers, “Of Sap, throwing you around in the water, giving you his clothes, having inside jokes with him and all! Why don't I have a nickname? Why don't we have inside jokes?” He blurted out all of his thoughts. Once he realized what he had said, he stared down at your shocked face. 

“Y/n..I-I’m sorry, I didn't mean to get mad like that. I just..I really like you y/n. A lot. And seeing you both all buddy buddy just got to me.. I'm sorry.” his glance was soft, and hopeful.

Y/n let out a small laugh, Dreams brows furrowed. “Really? You? Jealous? Cause of me?” She couldn't believe it!

Dream laughed with her, “Yes! I'm not lying y/n.” He stepped a little closer, taking her hand. “I'm a bit selfish.” His smirk was causing a blush to rise on y/n’s face.

“I like you a lot too.” Dream could've cried after hearing those words from her mouth. His face broke into the biggest grin you'd seen on him,

“Yes!” He grabbed your hand dragging you back to the house quickly.

pushing you into the house with him, he ran to where George and Sapnap were sat waiting. He pushed you in front of him pointing at you with a glare,

“Mine.” he was looking at sapnap.

The group all burst into a laughing fit at the expression sapnap had.

“Priceless” George murmured. Looking at Y/n and Dream happily.

^^^^^^^^^^^

:)))

#dream team fanfic #dream x reader #dreamteam #dreamwastaken #badboyhalo #dream fanfic #dreamsmp #george x reader #sapnap #sapnap x reader #dreamsmp fluff #dreamsmp x reader #dreamsmp fanfic #dreamwastaken fluff #dreamwastaken fanfic

[wingsofhcpe]

SNOWPIERCER S3E6 THOUGHTS: IMPEACH LAYTON

No I don't even care actually I hate him.

Not just because he's killed Pike but because he's so goddamn self righteous about it. If any of you guys have watched AoT, and know of Erwin Smith's character arc (best morally grey leader ever), you'll understand what I mean.

Ruth thinking it was all a misunderstanding and she could "clear Pike's name"... I'm in pain.

Also since I mentioned aot, if this was an anime Zarah would have jumped in to save Layton or Ruth would have jumped in to save Pike. In any case, they would have ended up getting stabbed instead. Now that I think about it, that's a good fic idea... (Don't ask me why I constantly think in Anime Terms. It's just who I am).

And ofc she's gonna blame herself. Of fucking course. Kudos to Pike for not saying he's doing it for her even when directly confronted... but even the implication, the knowledge of it, is enough to drive someone like Ruth insane. She's SO gonna blame herself.

This episode basically confirmed that they really did love each other, that they were just...afraid. Especially Ruth. And now they're never going to get their chance at happiness because Pike was STUPID. Let's be real here, the core of the problem is with Layton, but Pike acted with the clear intent to end up dead. He truly believed the best part of him was dead, there was nothing for him to hold on to, and he wanted to go out at least trying to set things right, to prove that Layton is not fit to be the leader any longer.

Also the fact that he said he would never hurt the baby. Also Zarah idgaf about your ugly cgi doll, fuck you.

(yeah no ok I know she was scared and that's completely fair, I just don't like Zarah in general lol).

This week is mostly gonna be me screaming about Ruth and Pike but also I loved the little details about the Tail traditions. Good to see they remember Old Ivan even after all of this. Also hey Astrid's alive, good to know.

ALSO MILES. HE GREW SO TALL. HIS VOICE GOT DEEPER. MY BABY SON GREW UP.... I MISSED YOU MY CHILD!!!!! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!!! I'm so glad you didn't also die of influenza.

Carly's and Alex's interactions were adorable actually, also kinda gay, I ship it. (Though I will remain an Alex/LJ stan forever)

I feel real bad about Wilford and also I'm very angry re: Audrey, but after everything that happened this episode she can honestly go fuck herself (or Till ig).

Speaking of, the little interactions with Till and LJ. Big Sis Till is back and I'm loving it. No Os tho :((

I hope Roche survives at least. Glad to see him trying for Carly.

I love Lights so much and I wish she ended up with Till bc they're great together.

Asha is a mood, I too would like to hide in a dark hole with my comfort object in order to avoid people. She doesn't have as big of a role as I imagined though. At least not yet.

I can't even bring myself to explain why I'm so mad at Andre. Like the fact he literally only agreed to fight Pike because Pike threatened to expose his lies and destabilise his influence/leadership based on said lies... I think that's what really made me go against Layton. He didn't care about solving any of this, he just wanted to buy Pike off as usual, and when he realised he couldn't, and that Pike knew he was bullshitting the entire train, he decided to fight to the death. This is the biggest issue with his leadership and why he's no longer fit to lead.

Winnie putting her lil doll with Pike's dead body.... AND RUTH IS PUTTING THE BOMB IN THAT DOLL IN THE PROMO FOR EP7??? FUCK ME.

Also I've said that already but goddammit Ruth is just not allowed to be happy huh.

Closing this rant off with the fact that the drinking scene between Ruth, Roche and Till was gold. Just a few seconds, but honestly, vibes. I want a scene of them getting piss-drunk together in the next season. I'm talking WASTED.

Also I hope my prediction won't come true but I feel Ruth will start acting like Roche now. Just...more contained. She has a good poker face, unlike him.

Anyway. Till (haha) next week. Also if the show writers even CONSIDER killing Ruth off, I would like to formally announce that I will find you and I... I... I will steal all your snacks! So you better leave my wife alone!! >:(

#snowpiercer spoilers #snowpiercer #snowpiercer s3 spoilers #snowpiercer season 3 #andre layton #ruth wardell #joseph wilford #miss audrey #alexandra cavill #pike #melanie you need to come back asap this is getting SO out of control

[silverbastardgoldenfool]

Realm of the Quarantine Reread End-of-Book Questionnaire: Ship of Magic

Warning: this is an extremely long post lol! Maybe save it and come back to it when you’ve got half an hour or so for a cuppa and a leisurely read :)

Any differences between your first/previous reading experience and this one?

This is definitely one of the more obvious differences since I read RotE so wildly out of order the first time. Not only was this the first non-Fitz book I read, but I had stopped between Fool’s Quest and Assassin’s Fate of all places to go back to it. It was torture to leave Fitz and the Fool right before the final book and go all the way back to Ship of Magic knowing I had seven books to get through before I would get back to them. It definitely wasn’t overly long before I started to get invested in the story and characters of Liveship, but it was still a struggle for a while there to stop feeling like I was just trying to race through as quickly as possible to get back to my babies. Of course I did know (thanks to my mum) that the Fool was in this trilogy but you get all of five or so Amber scenes in this whole book so that was probably a bit more frustrating than anything lol.

So with that said, basically I just got to enjoy it from beginning to end this time haha. Even though the plot takes quite a while to kick off properly and the multiple POV means it takes longer to get to know each individual character etc., the sheer amount of foreshadowing, worldbuilding details, character set-up and more just makes this one of the most rewarding rereads ever. My brain was in serial-killer-corkboard mode trying to connect all the dots.

Another notable difference is how I feel about certain characters. Most are probably about the same; I still love all the characters I loved the first time as far as I remember. After like three years of seeing/hearing other people’s opinions on certain characters I was really preparing myself to dislike some of my faves. But SIKE!! I still adore Althea, still can’t help but love Brashen even though he is feral raccoon man, still stan Ronica, still relate way too much to Paragon and of course would fully throw myself overboard for Amber. However there are probably three characters I experience very differently based on later events, and that’s Etta, Kennit and Malta.

Malta is the most unexpected tbh, like I know I grew to like her later on but that was because of how she grew. On my first read, I could barely contain my fury while reading her sections and honestly expected I would feel pretty much the same this time until her development kicked in, but for some reason I’m just not getting mad?? Like if anything I’m finding her kind of hilarious bc her thoughts and behaviour are just SO reprehensible that it borders on cartoonish and it’s just hard to take it seriously I guess? I don’t mean to say that she’s not realistic or that I don’t take her seriously as a character. It’s more like, knowing that rather than her being the ruin of her family and becoming a next gen Kyle she actually does grow and mature and in a lot of ways saves her family, I don’t have that knee-jerk emotional reaction and am able to actually analyse her character more critically. Under that lens she serves as a fascinating manifestation of her culture and family dynamics that I’ve loved digging into. And yes, since I know she grows out of it and never manages to cause TOO much harm, I just can’t help but laugh at the sheer extremity of her shittiness.

As for Etta, I don’t exactly remember how I felt about her at this point on first read, but I do know that my knowledge of how she reacts to Althea’s rape is a huge factor in how I’m viewing her character this time. So it’s bound to be at least a bit different. I don’t even know how I feel about her. I’m deeply conflicted because she herself is a victim/survivor and when she’s rabidly murdering her brutalisers every inch of me is desperate to stan. Also her outfits are cool as fuck and make my bisexual brain very biased!! But… she is so very complicit in Althea’s trauma later. Ugh. But this is why I love her *as a character* even if I can’t love her as a person; she is way too complex to just feel one way about.

And then Kennit, who is also now defined for me, of course, by not only Althea’s rape but everything we find out about him later. I definitely never *liked* him on my first read, but I was always fascinated by him. In that sense, nothing has changed; if anything he is more fascinating than ever once you’re able to observe him through a fully-informed lens. But it also just makes things very uncomfortable and I feel this sense of dread knowing where everything is headed.

So yes, very different reading experience!!

Something you can’t believe you forgot

Literally so much like basically everything lol but one of the things that stood out is that Etta straight up saves Kennit’s life twice in this book alone?? Also Althea tripping on liveship dreams for two weeks while confined to her room on the Vivacia. Oh and also that the Khuprus crest is a rooster wearing a crown! Heaps more forgotten facts will pop up in the notes section tho.

Favourite character introduction moments/scenes

Amberrrrrrrrr!!!!!!! No you don’t understand I was literally thinking about her introduction for days, it was so perfect and reminded me so much of the way Fitz always describes the Fool. “[the windows] were clear as water, and set in elaborately carved and gilded frames. They made the woman in the window look like a framed piece of art.” “She looks as if she’s all carved of wood. Golden maple.” Ugh the vibes!!

Favourite character arcs

Althea: hers is probably the most obvious, I guess? It’s a fairly classic arc; somewhat entitled girl loses everything and has to work hard to earn her place on her own merit. But it’s a classic for a reason! It’s satisfying to watch her prove to herself that she really does have what it takes to be good at the thing she loves doing. We get to see that she is capable of growth and change while still remaining true to the core of who she is. She’s strong as fuck and I admire the hell out of her.

Wintrow: poor Wintrow also loses everything, but he has much less to show for it because he was given no room for self-determination in this new life of his. Just to be clear, I don’t really have strong feelings about Wintrow in terms of liking or disliking him?? But he is a really interesting character and I do sympathise with him cos jesus he has it rough. Again, though, Robin’s masterful character development comes through to take us on this journey with Wintrow where his sense of self becomes so distorted that he feels he barely recognises himself, and yet through all the changes he is still always completely recognisable to the reader as the same person.

Brashen: It’s not a crazy arc, but what I like about it is that it’s believable. It’s a very logical trajectory for an addict and certified former wild child to follow when he loses his mentor, his job and all the security that came along with it. It’s like he reverts pretty much back to the person he was before Ephron took him under his wing; he’s just a scared, aimless kid again, with little more ambition than to just find ways to scrape by and survive. He goes from a merchant ship, to a messy-but-legitimate slaughter ship, to having one foot in the pirate game again by the end of the book. It’s also extra interesting because of the way Althea and Brashen’s arcs overlap; she is able to keep herself on track because she has a goal, while Brashen doesn’t believe he deserves anything and so doesn’t think ahead enough to keep himself out of trouble. Brashen has very strong Fitz energy let’s be real lol

Favourite relationships

AMBER AND PARAGON. I swear to god I lose my shit the second I realise it’s a “them” section because I just love every second of their interactions. I love how much of their individual characters are revealed through their relationship and just how much they care for each other so quickly (even if Paragon loves to convince himself he doesn’t).

I also loved the development of Althea and Brashen’s relationship in this book. They start off from such an interesting place, both feeling like they do and don’t owe the other anything because they have this shared history and shared love of Ephron and Vivacia and the lives they’ve lost, but they were never really friends. It’s such a tenuous connection at first that it’s only sheer chance that keeps them in each other’s orbit. I like how they refuse to bullshit each other, and I think the reasons why they’re drawn to and away from each other are really compelling and well-written. It’s obvious to the reader how they feel, but even though I like them together I’m not exactly frustrated by the fact they don’t get together yet because there are legitimate reasons for them not to (Althea needs to stay focused on her goal, and they both have growing to do). It’s honestly also nice to see for once that the guy in the situation is the one who is expecting them to be together after one night, while the woman is the one who doesn’t have time for a relationship. I was honestly surprised by how much I still love them together. I was always excited for their interactions because I knew something interesting would happen.

Those are the relationships I’m soft for, but in terms of development and complexity every single relationship in this book is simply immaculate.

Favourite setting

Others’ Island is dope as hell. I couldn’t believe the level of detail and the imagination involved, like all the debris that washes up on the beach is so random and yet so elaborately detailed. It kind of sets the stage for this trilogy being a step above Farseer in terms of how prominent the fantastical elements are going to be. Her prose in that chapter especially was exquisite and really brought the whole island to life as well as setting the tone for the trilogy.

Favourite chapter

It’s not just one chapter but the last few chapters; the entire ending of this book goes hard as fuck.

Most loved character

I would die for Althea right here right now. I would call it a tie with Amber but that would be my future book bias since she’s barely in this one lol (but it’s still a tie with Amber).

Most hated character

Do I even need to say it? I want to put Kyle Haven through a paper shredder

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been personally victimised by Robin Hobb (most heartbreaking and/or visceral moments)

Ephron’s death scene is actually really intense and sad. It’s really well-written but it just hits different when you already know the characters and when you know that the shit is about to hit the fan HARD

Althea and Vivacia being separated, especially when you’ve just seen them bonding so intensely and you know they’ll never really be reunited.

Not heartbreaking but most definitely visceral: Wintrow getting his finger amputated. Bitch disgusting

The captain of the Reaper refusing to give Althea her ship’s ticket when he discovered she was a woman was genuinely upsetting.

As was her ensuing hopelessness and loneliness, especially when she was watching a group of friends enjoying each other’s company in the tavern and thinking how she had never had any friends and wondering if she ever would

Only to push away Brashen - her only friend - at the first opportunity

Amber giving Paragon the necklace she carved for him

“My curiosity has always been greater than my wisdom. But largest of all is my own loneliness.” hearing Amber just straight up admit how lonely she is…………. I have stopped breathing

Amber telling Paragon that if she was free to live her life as she wished she would live aboard him, plant a ‘bird and butterfly’ garden, live peacefully. “I would say to the world, do what you will, for I am done with you. Destroy yourself or prosper, it is all one to me, as long as you leave us alone.” The Fool has an artist’s soul; they were made for peace and beauty but is bound by fate to bear constant witness (and be victim) to the worst of humanity so that they can correct those flaws and set the world on a better path. I suppose in a way history itself is the Fool’s greatest masterpiece; they dedicate their entire life to chipping away at the imperfections until the vision is realised. But that is their duty, not necessarily their desire. They - like Fitz, really - want nothing more than a quiet life filled with warm companionship and simple pleasures. And it absolutely rips my heart apart to know - and know that they know - they will never be allowed that.

It’s hard to pinpoint any more individual moments simply because like 90% of this book is depressing and disturbing lol. Althea’s grief and her exhausting vigilance in her efforts to be able to achieve anything as a woman, Brashen’s self-loathing aimlessness, Ronica’s weary determination, Wintrow’s constant degradation and self-policing of his natural human emotions, everything Kyle does, Vivacia’s abandonment, Paragon’s endless torment, Kennit’s inability to stop himself becoming that which he most fears and despises, and his constant cycling between the lowest depths of self-hatred and heady delusions of grandeur. Fun times!

Favourite quotes

“Good luck works best when it is not surprised.” - Kennit POV

“No matter how he seared the faults from himself, another always arose to take its place.” - Kennit POV

“Like many casually cruel men, he had never truly considered why he behaved as he did. It was sufficient for him that he could.” - Wintrow POV

“Althea had never known that misery could achieve perfection.” - Althea POV (obviously lol)

“He was frightening, true, but the most frightening part about him was what others had done to him.” - Althea POV

“Because I can see that you go through life athwart it. You see the flow of events, you are able to tell how you could most easily fit yourself into it. But you dare to oppose it. And why? Simply because you look at it and say, “this fate does not suit me. I will not allow it to befall me.” [...] “Many, of course, will rant and rave against the garment fate has woven for them, but they pick it up and don it all the same, and most wear it to the end of their days. You… you would rather go naked into the storm.” - Amber (to Althea)

“If all were familiar, then we would be swimming back into yesterday.” - serpents lol

“Her hands and feet were like cleverly-trained animals now that contrived to keep her alive despite her own ambivalence.” - Althea POV

“It was an evening to be satisfied, sailing south from winter cold back into warmth, and so her unhappiness pierced her all the more keenly.” - Vivacia POV

“I have always been more curious than wise. Yet any wisdom I have ever gained has come to me from my curiosity. So I have never learned to turn away from it.” - Amber (to Paragon)

“Perhaps men are a trick Sa played on this world. ‘All other things I shall make vast and beautiful and true to themselves,’ perhaps he said. ‘Men alone shall be capable of being petty and vicious and self-destructive. And for my cruellest trick of all, I shall put among them men who are capable of seeing these things in themselves.’” - Vivacia (to Wintrow)

“You and I, we are like buds grafted onto a tree. We can grow true to ourselves, but only so much as our roots will allow us.” - Wintrow (to Vivacia)

“A woman of many talents. And intelligent, too. He’d probably have to kill her soon.” - Kennit POV

“Love, she thought dejectedly, was after all, based on things. Family love, the love in her marriage, even her daughter’s love for her. All based on things and the power to control the things. If you gave up power to people, then they loved you. Funny. Since she had discovered that, she little cared if anyone loved her or not anymore.” - Keffria POV

Details, observations, spoilery notes made with the benefit of the full picture

Okay, so just setting it out here that one of the main things I am tracking on this reread is the theme of… let’s call it patriarchy. So misogyny, gendered oppression, gender roles, sexual politics, rape culture, sexual/gendered violence etc. I feel confident saying that patriarchy - as the umbrella term for all of these things - is one of the foremost themes of this trilogy. The text is densely packed with so much to say on all these issues and even with my actively tracking it I will not be able to even remotely cover everything but just know it will come up A LOT

This will be less prominent but I’ve also been looking at these characters through the lens of the “4 Types of Power.” Power over, power to, power with and power within. So for example Kennit would be power over while Wintrow is power within (inner strength). As usual for Robin Hobb trauma is a huge theme in this trilogy but since it’s within a framework of systemic oppression - from gender inequality to colonial rule to slavery - I think power naturally becomes a theme in itself. Most of the characters have or will experience complete powerlessness at some point, from Paragon being stranded, immobile but sentient on the beach, to Wintrow losing more and more autonomy until he is legally a slave. And they all scramble for ways to retain or regain power. I’m interested in looking at what kind of powerlessness they experience, what kind of power they seek/utilise and what kind of methods they use to access that power. I’m not entirely sure how much this will come up in my general notes - it may be something I mostly hold onto til the end and may even end up as its own post - but I just thought I’d mention it here in case it does come up :)

Alright then, let’s start at the beginning!

Others’ Island has a skill road!

Kennit has "pale blue eyes", "gleaming black" hair, high brow, straight nose, firm jaw, finely-drawn lips, "fashionably pointed" beard and "meticulously waxed" moustache.

The blue eyes are interesting since he is from Bingtown and everyone else there seems to have dark hair and eyes - I’m thinking kind of Mediterranean colouring? - so maybe they come from his mother. If I remember correctly his father took a second wife at sea and that’s Kennit’s mother so I suppose she could be from anywhere. Maybe Chalced?

Am I forgetting some deep reason why the Others are terrified of cats lol or is it just a lil quirk?

Very telling (and very quickly) that Kennit demands adoration but is disgusted by the people who adore him. He wants to be loved but deep down still sees himself as unlovable, and therefore anyone who does love him must either be an idiot or have ulterior motives.

The Others use the Skill road to get in people’s heads and lure them off the path

Brashen is 24 and was 14 when he served on his first ship

Brashen was sexually assaulted by another crew member on his first voyage. I find it significant that not only does sexual violence come up so early but it is an incident of male-on-male pedophilic abuse. A perfect example of how expertly Robin Hobb crafts her stories and characters as this not only establishes that Brashen as a character has had a rough life from a young age but also establishes an important thematic element that won’t pay off for two more books.

Kyle has blonde hair and blue eyes

Typical Kyle has the captain quarters in a mess cos god forbid he clean up after himself if there’s no woman to do it for him

Althea is 19

Grandma Vestrit was the blueprint

The Vestrits lost 3 sons to the blood plague

Brashen has brown eyes

Althea has dark, coarse hair and describes her skin as ‘tanned’. Keffria later describes her own skin as ‘olive’.

Bingtown society almost reminds me of The Handmaid’s Tale; it’s this scary concept of a society where women’s roles/rights backslide instead of progressing towards equality over the years, but it’s laid out in a way that’s totally believable. Since Bingtown was founded by exiles and life was so hard that there was no getting around needing all hands on deck, it makes sense that it would become a status symbol to flaunt that your family is comfortable enough that your women don’t need to work. After long enough it just becomes the norm, especially considering their main trade is with Jamaillia who is more and more under Chalcedean influence.

Ronica is such an ~employer~ lol, expecting Rache to be grateful for her shitty life and ‘opportunities’ just because it could be even worse.

Ronica describes Ephron’s skin as ‘almost the colour of the linen he lay on’ after months away from the sun and sea, so yeah, I definitely don’t think Bingtown folk are naturally pale but not as dark as Buck folk, either.

Ephron wanted to make Brashen captain

Honestly super shitty of Ephron to encourage Althea’s independence and adventurous spirit if he still expected her to ‘settle down’ eventually and be a wife and mother while her husband sailed the Vivacia. Why dangle something in front of her only to tell her she can’t have it?

This is thinking way ahead but like. Characters like Althea make me so conflicted because it’s like, cool, we get a woman who is gender nonconforming... but don’t worry, she’s not queer!! and she’ll still end up hetero married with children!! I wanna make it clear that this is not a criticism of Althea’s character or Hobb’s writing but rather an observation of a larger trend. And I use the word “conflicted” rather than “disappointed” because it is more accurate. I find myself weighing up what we COULD have gotten out of an explicitly queer version of this character, vs. what the author is saying through the story and character as they ARE and how much I love and value that. It’s more a result of the epidemic of queer invisibility in media at large - particularly when it comes to gnc women - as opposed to a failure of any one work. Especially when, like I said, you can see that the character is VERY INTENTIONALLY written to be the way they are because the author has something to say. And I LIKE what she has to say! Upon reread I’m really seeing how Althea provides a very specific purpose of challenging the idea that a woman must have either love and family OR freedom/a non-traditional lifestyle. Not by pushing the ~women can have it all~ narrative but by having her find fulfilment outside the prescribed ideals. She can live the life that feels most natural to her, and she doesn’t have to be lonely in order to do so (insert Jo March ~women~ monologue). I appreciate that, and I like her and Brashen together, so I’m genuinely not complaining about Althea’s story, or her sexuality. Even Jek, who seems like the most obvious candidate for “just let her be queer!!!!” but is instead aggressively hetero can’t really bother me bc her specific brand of heterosexuality is a foil in itself to Althea’s severe repression. It all works; I can’t really even say I want it any other way. It just gets me thinking in the broader context about how rarely we get a gnc woman who doesn’t have to ‘subvert’ that archetype by being straight. Because as valid as it is to use a character like this to challenge traditional gender roles and family dynamics, it would also be perfectly valid if she was in fact queer, if she liked other women or didn’t like anyone at all. But it’s almost like when you have a character whose gender presentation is pushing boundaries, there’s an impulse to use an acceptable sexuality to “normalise” and validate their gender. What better way to show that this woman, who rejects so much of prescribed womanhood, is a real woman than to affirm her desire for men? Again, not even a criticism of Robin Hobb - a lot of the time when Althea is airing out her grievances about being a woman she is talking to Amber/the Fool, a character Hobb uses to challenge gender and sexuality with ever-increasing complexity as the series goes on, as well as eventually giving us queer characters. So although my thoughts on gender and womanhood unsurprisingly do not always align with that of the almost-70-year-old author, I am mostly happy with the way these topics are explored in this series and I’m not going to accuse her of having an overly simplistic take on gender and sexuality. Yes she still could have included queer characters in this trilogy if she’d wanted to, and I’m sad there are no explicitly queer women in the series as a whole, but it’s a bit late for that now lol. We all know I can’t help myself when it comes to queering texts but for the most part I think it is a better use of my energy to analyse the copious good stuff that’s actually there rather than focus on what *I* may perceive to be lacking.

It’s sooooo interesting (and sad, and baseless) that Althea’s family view her as selfish and don’t seem to trust that if she had the Vivacia she would use her to look after the family. Pretty much just the fact that she doesn’t show interest in being a wife and mother (at the ripe old age of 19) causes people to think that she doesn’t care for anyone but herself, which is such a false correlation. As a woman who is unattached and child-free by choice, I’ve experienced very similar reactions to my choices and it’s always so strange the value judgements people make based on these factors that have nothing to do with a person’s character.

"He had taken it into his head that one could not traffic in magic, even peripherally, without paying a price." Robin Hobb LOVES this concept and good for her honestly, just wish I could figure out what it signifies lol. Perhaps simply a healthy scepticism of power.

“Ronica thought it was something most slaves brought on themselves.” Ronica plEASE I’m trying to stan u

It’s no wonder that Kennit sets himself such ‘unattainable’ goals. I think a part of him doesn’t actually want to achieve them because then all he will be left with is the reality of himself, unchanged. As evidenced by the fact that when he became captain of the Marietta and completed a first triumphant voyage he didn’t celebrate but instead fell into a months-long depression.

Really interesting that when he broke said depression with a bout of killing it was the first time he had actually enjoyed killing.

Everything about the first Kennit/Etta scene is… Deeply disturbing.

Kennit is a pirate who doesn't want to be a pirate (James Flint vibes). What he seeks is power, respect and legitimacy and piracy is merely his means of gaining it. His plan is the antithesis of what piracy is about. But he doesn't want to be an outsider, living on the fringes, he wants to be a ruler. He wants to be celebrated and adored.

“Hopelessly, he tried to discover who was at fault for his situation. It did not please him to decide that the fault, as always, was his own.” Kennit has so much more self-hatred than I remember. It kind of shows how like, forging may numb the pain but it doesn’t break the patterns created by the trauma that you’re blocking out. Instead you actually get stuck inside those patterns because you’ve lost the ability to process the pain and move forward. So Kennit’s brain remembers the impulse for self-hatred, but now it simply appears to come from a different place, eg: failing to live up to his unattainable vision of who he ‘should’ be. “Pain and perfection. It was the only path to redemption he knew.”

Kennit gives Etta the ruby earring that he found in one of the dead cat’s ears on Others’ Island.

I like that from early on we see that Brashen looks out for Althea, but it’s not in like a pushy or condescending way, he’s just genuinely concerned when he sees the state she’s in after vibing with Vivacia for two weeks instead of eating or washing.

It’s such a weak excuse to say that you had to give the ship to Keffria/Kyle because she has children to provide for… Bro Althea would have made sure her family were taken care of, not to mention what is stopping Kyle from getting any other job and then they could have had multiple incomes??

Selden is 7, Malta is 12 and Wintrow is 13

I love how much Althea and Ronica’s internal monologues mirror each other - yet they would claim they couldn’t be more different.

Malta is taller than Wintrow.

“Our grandfather is dying.” “He’s being doing it all summer.” MALTA ksjdfnkjn

lol Brashen thinking about how althea is so selfish because she's only thinking about herself and not how her father's death affects the crew. Bro shut up her dad is dying. It's okay for her to be selfish rn

Luckily he redeems himself once he sees Ephron and the reality of his death hits him, and when he stands up for Althea, saying she should be the one to quicken the Vivacia. Rights reinstated.

Althea literally likens the quickening of the Vivacia to the birth of one’s child……… Robin how dare you separate them

Althea misses her father’s burial :(

Wintrow really ain’t wrong about Liveships being “not of Sa” lol, the whole thing is most definitely unnatural and fills me with dread

Althea was actually willing to work under Kyle if it meant not being parted from Vivacia

The way Robin Hobb writes young characters is so so on point and fascinating to me. The story seems to come up again and again of a young kid being thrust into a very adult or harsh or inappropriate situation but she always shows that kids still think like kids no matter how "mature" they seem or how many responsibilities they have. She never idealises the trials of childhood or adolescence, doesn't make out that going through traumatic shit as a young person makes you grow or toughen up. She shows how those things can actually destroy a person and shows that sometimes shitty things just happen and we don't always come out the other side better for it. Not to say none of these characters are able to recover and prosper later on in life, but she still lets their experiences affect them in a way that is true to their age.

Althea yeeting her high heels into the street is truly iconic behaviour.

“Now that my father’s dead, no one will ever be proud of me again.” Althea don’t fuckin do this to me beech

When the book starts, Amber has been in town for two years.

“It’s as much the wood she chooses as the SKILL with which she does it.” I see you beech (no idea if this was actually intentional lol but I have decided it is)

Brashen teaching Paragon to weave is cute. They are friend

It’s absolutely heartbreaking how grateful Paragon is for just the very presence of another person, even though Brashen is basically just using him for a place to sleep.

pissing myself that Kennit is like "wow who knew Sorcor would be so passionate about slavery" Kennit he was a slave???

Sorcor is so much smarter than he seems. He's the one to suggest (insist on) chasing down slavers and freeing slaves. He says this will help win pirates over to their cause and he's 100% right. This, more than the capture of a liveship, is what works most in favour of Kennit's reputation. Again, Kennit’s ‘luck’ that the idea he disdains is the one that actually gets him what he wants.

A boy’s labour ‘belonging’ to his father by law til the age of 15 in Bingtown is one of the more fucked up ideas I ever done did hear

Under 15’s Labour Union NOW

Kyle's gaslighting "oh how am I the bad guy here" bullshit is so akskdjsjakks

Makes me insane that Ronica is like “well I would have changed my mind and let you have the Vivacia if you hadn’t just proven that you’re actually not ready for the responsibility!” because Althea went out drinking???? The night after her father died???? What does that even have to do with anything?? Come on ronnie

Okay does Althea not have a lil crush on Amber??? I don’t want them together for obvious reasons but aint nothing wrong with a lil bisexual awakening for my friend Althea

It is literally the Fool’s job to be everybody’s gay awakening. I don’t make the rules.

Amber has one serpent earring and one dragon earring??? Bad bitch said I am going to wear my foreshadowing

What I appreciate about Ronica is that she fucks up but when she does she owns up to it real quick and gets to work on trying to salvage what she can

Love how a normal convo between Brashen and Paragon ends with Paragon just casually telling Brashen to kill himself. I love friendship.

Amber is described as honey-coloured

Amber was literally at the docks to find her nine-fingered slave boy but came face to face with Althea instead.

“Some are supposed to fight fate and win.” FELLAS WE GOT A FITZ REFERENCE

I wonder how much forethought there was from Robin in giving the Fool his wood-related Skill in AQ considering this entire trilogy is about wood lol. Did she contrive that to happen because she knew what the next trilogy was about and that the Fool would be in it? Did the Fool’s powers give her the idea for Liveship? Or did it all just kind of fall together? Either way, it works perfectly.

I love that Amber just straight up tells Althea she wants to be her friend. Could not be me but by Sa I respect it

Jamaillia also used to have more gender equality.

Kyle’s mother was from Chalced and his parents took on more traditional Chalcedean roles

Ronica goes to see Vivacia when Althea asks her to. Good boy.

Vivacia’s story of Althea pushing Torg off the dock when he tried to lay hands on her. We have no choice but to stan.

Is there any significance to Kennit’s raven flag? Why a raven?

“Luck such as yours has no patience with fear." What kind of luck is Kennit's exactly? Is it fate pulling him back towards Paragon like a magnet, where the rest of his soul lies? And why would that require him to be fearless? Because to fear would be to think/feel too deeply? Because he must endure loss of limb and ultimately death to get there? Everything with Kennit’s luck and his wizardwood charm makes my head spin.

Askew, the island founded by runaway slaves, is run by a woman.

The fact that Kyle actually has the power to stop Keffria seeing her own son before they set sail is ridiculous.

"Kyle was his father. Surely he would let no harm come to him.” Sure sweaty

I really do feel sorry for Keffria. She just wanted security and stability and ended up with an abusive cunt instead. Not hard to make that mistake when gender roles in your society are already inherently toxic and power imbalanced.

"If [Malta’s] a little girl, she's a well-fleshed one." Kyle you HAVE to die. I am going to kill you.

Why doesn’t it surprise me that Kyle pulls the old “why would I let my slaves get hurt/die when that’s damaging my cargo? It’s in my best interest to keep them in good condition.” Yuck!!!

Wintrow sputtering like C3PO every time someone has a remotely less than pure thought is so funny. Mild is not actually going to murder torg, bro, just chill out.

Makes sense tho cos ya know, he’s literally been sheltered from real life and raised by fricken monks lol

the sailor who pretended to throw away his Vivacia earring when Kyle fired him, then gave it back to Vivacia :')

Althea asking Wintrow if he will be a witness to Kyle's oath is their only real interaction before they meet again at the end. Wild.

Caolwn was born in Bingtown

Keffria realising that what she thought was a slow, sweet courtship was just Kyle wearing down her defences is so sad and gross.

EVEN WORSE is that he’s using their courtship as an example of what he DOESN’T want Malta to be like. Sir are u fucking okay???

Althea calls Amber her friendddddd

Amber tells Althea she was an actor who played both genders… But did she lie tho??

Genuinely tho how does Amber have such specific knowledge about how a woman disguises herself as a man……… much 2 think about

The description of Brashen realising that Athel was Althea is genuinely hilarious and delightful.

The differences in how Althea thinks she’s faring on the reaper vs. how Brashen thinks she’s doing are so smart and so telling. Althea thinks she’s finally seeing what a crap sailor she really is while Brashen is admiring how well she’s proving herself.

Wintrow’s robot vibes continue as he has to literally spell out for himself the logic behind a joke

And then immediately feels guilty for laughing at it

So clever the couple of times Robin flows smoothly between POV’s with no section break. Once between Wintrow and Vivacia to show how connected they are and once between Althea and Brashen during their sex scene.

When Kennit sees that Etta has been raped and beaten in their usual room and his only thought is that the room has been ruined for him now. That’s gonna be a yikes from me, dude.

Followed by Etta saving the bastard’s life.

omfggggg Kyle going out of his way to undermine Keffria by leaving money and permission for Malta's dress. He has done and will do so much worse but aahahahhshsiskdk

Like of course she has no respect for her mother and feels entitled to do whatever she wants. Why would she believe anyone has any authority over her in her father’s absence when he has made himself the sole authority in the family.

I love how when Malta interacts with strangers and is trying to be all grown up and authoritative they just laugh at her.

Malta is so perfectly written in her deep fascination and draw to men/sex while having zero concept of the reality of these matters and feeling repelled the second things get too real.

What Malta really wants is not sex or love or men or marriage; she wants what those things represent which is life, an acceptable avenue for experience and socialisation. She literally cites the fact that women are chained down with husband and babies before long as her motivation to live as much as she can in the meantime.

Love how Malta doesn't even consider for a moment how inappropriate people will think it is for her to show up to the ball ALONE presenting as a courtable woman while the rest of her family are home GRIEVING.

Davad is a shitcunt but he 100% did her a solid getting her the hell out of there.

Malta is 13 (by the ball)

Easy to forget how much Vivacia yearns for Althea as well in this book since she becomes Bolt later, but she misses her so much :(

Wintrow perfectly sets the stage for her later becoming Bolt bc he forces her to question her very existence in a way she never would have if bonded to Althea. "He made her think of things no other Vestrit had considered while on her decks." No wonder her identity is so easily fractured.

Kinda girlboss of Wintrow to challenge his father to be the one to cut off his finger; to dare him to look directly at what he has inflicted on his son and accept responsibility for it.

Which of course Kyle refuses.

And can’t even watch the whole thing.

Kinda girlboss of Wintrow to offer his father his severed finger.

Wintrow loses the index finger of his right hand.

Vivacia eating Wintrow’s finger serving some Hannibal realness

Ahhh it’s so the little things with Amber, like her asking permission to come closer to Paragon. She has the biggest heart. I perish.

“I have always been more curious than wise.” Please DO NOT. I did not ask for an “I have never been wise” through-line, okay? I can’t handle it

Brashen hasn’t had cindin in years. Makes sense that he returns to it when he is grieving and lost.

I’m personally offended that Ephron said the Six Duchies are more barbaric than Chalced

Call me problematic but I think Brashen and Althea’s first time is complicated but sweet. They were both drugged up, Althea initiated it, Brashen gave her plenty of opportunities to stop, and both of those touch-starved bastards enjoyed themselves.

Unfortunately relatable how Althea lets go for a few minutes and finds some relief and companionship only to immediately spoil the moment for herself by spilling out all her sexual trauma. Can’t just let herself just feel good for a moment.

Brashen gets points for vowing to kill Althea’s rapist

Ronica be like yes I will treat Rache with kindness but by god I will resent every minute of it

Keffria has been married 15 years

Cerwin is around 18/19

Keffria fully holds Cerwin over the fire when he comes for his little ‘visit’ and it’s beautiful to behold

I feel like Kyle interfering with Keffria’s girl-child - the one area she would have felt belonged to her - was probably one of the only things that could have awoken Keffria (though it still happens slowly) to Kyle’s true nature and her own power to contend with it

Robin Hobb reallllllly loves exploring indefinable bonds. The wit, the skill, Liveship bonds, dragon bonds. There are a lot of parallels between Wintrow/Vivacia and Fitz/Fool and even Fitz/Nighteyes. Most of them involuntary, most of them as painful as they are comforting. Idk what it all means but I’m here for it.

Tfw your dad gives you a hard time cos you didn’t fight a bear.

There's a channel called Wrong Again Channel. Iconic

I literally can’t process the fact that it’s called the Rain River and not the Rain Wild River

What is the nature of Kennit’s charm exactly? Is it prescient? Since Others and Liveships are both creatures that “should” have been dragons, do liveships share the Others’ gift of premonition? Vivacia has a “bad feeling” about Wintrow going ashore to Jamaillia which she calls a premonition. So does quickened wizardwood have the ability to see the future in some sense? And if so, what future does the charm see? Which part of that future is he trying to bring into reality? Is it that he knows Kennit’s role in returning dragons to the world? If he doesn’t capture Vivacia, Wintrow would never meet She Who Remembers, Vivacia would never become Bolt etc. Is it simply invested in bringing dragons back, stopping the cycle that brought him into being in the first place? He certainly seems to dislike Kennit on a personal level and makes no effort (that I remember) to keep him alive once he’s served his purpose. And when it comes to Etta, does he really have feelings for her or is he again just making sure that she remains loyal to Kennit so that she can continue to save his life and play her role in making things happen?

Etta serving looks every damn DAY

Etta chops Kennit’s leg off to save him from the serpent

“Malta was sick of them both being so crabby. It seemed to her that all they focused on was the sad side of life, the worrying parts.” This is such a kid thing to think. But also hope Malta never meets someone with depression lol.

“We could go north...” we… Brashen is so soft for Althea ugh

“It was embarrassing that she had enjoyed what they had done, and all the more so because he knew she had enjoyed it.” if this ain’t a sexually repressed woman mood

It’s obviously not cool how Brashen insults Althea when she rejects him, but I can’t help but think how he has spent the last ten years of his life in the same place she is currently in; desperately trying to prove he could make it on his own and in the process denying that he needed anybody else, fortifying himself as a one man operation. So it makes sense why he lashes out like that, like he’s trying to undo all that vulnerability and build those walls back up, make it seem like he never cared in the first place.

Rache is paid a wage

Althea’s sentiment that it’s humiliating to be seen to enjoy sex is echoed in the dream Malta shares with Reyn, where we see that her romantic fantasy is one of abduction and powerlessness. This subject of repressed female sexuality and how it manifests and intersects with rape culture is one that - as far as Mad Ship - continues to be explored.

Wintrow refusing to have someone send word to Kyle to get him out of captivity because he believes he can think his way out of this situation is telling not only of Wintrow’s character but the general attitude that slavery is something that people bring on themselves. Since Wintrow sees himself as ‘above’ slavery he is convinced that he will find a way out of it.

Wintrow dreams of dragons and serpents during his captivity

Wintrow is now 14

Kennit and Paragon share the same paranoia

Kennit’s Charm speaks to Etta in front of Kennit (I only remembered it doing so while he was sleeping).

I love how Wintrow’s whole slavery arc serves as a foil to so many of the characters’ belief that even if slavery is wrong, the people who end up as slaves are still somehow lesser or deserving of their fates. But wintrow doesn’t “earn” his slavery, he is pushed into it by a string of bad luck and the horrific injustice of the practice itself. As long as there are slave-owners, slaves will continue to be created; the conditions that create slaves will continue to be perpetuated.

Brashen “you don’t know if you want to hire me but want me to be fully available at the drop of a hat if you decide you do?” communist king, start a union babe

very Fitz-like of Brashen to think “she knows me so well she wants nothing to do with me” like bruh he hates himself so bad

“by the luck in my name” kennit ludLUCK!!!!!!!!! Yes this is me realising the connection between Kennit’s luck and Kennit’s name for the first time lol don’t look at me

“They ignored her just as they ignored the pleas of the slaves.” Yeah, another good reason not to turn a liveship into a slaver: it won’t take long for them to realise they are no more than a slave themself.

Wintrow shares Vivacia’s awareness of the slaves’ suffering

Reyn is 19

Kyle regrets giving Wintrow the slave tattoo GEE I WONDER WHY. What a wonderful time you’d have had explaining that one to your wife.

"they'd already had to put three deaders over the side" rot in hell kyle

Vivacia misses Brashen :(

Literally cannot believe the audacity of Wintrow telling Vivacia that she wouldn’t understand what it’s like to have no control over where you go and what you do… WINTROW. What is wrong with you

“You need to start being yourself and discover your own ambitions and desires and thoughts.” I’m sorry?? bro she’s a SHIP. She can have all the ambitions she likes but she has zero autonomy to achieve them. WINTROW. What is wrong with you

I love that the liveships have their own little community amongst themselves, and that they made a pact to never let what happened to Paragon happen to another liveship.

It stings bad that Althea could have gone to the liveships for help with Vivacia. Ah. How differently things could have gone.

Ophelia is a girlboss

I can’t feel too bad about Gantry’s death. No one forced him to stay aboard when he knew it was going to be a slaver. He knew it was wrong and he did it anyway.

Honestly warmed my heart what the Teniras do for Althea. Letting her serve under her own name/identity is one thing, but making her mate?? They did not have to go that hard but they did. Tomie Tenira the man the moment the legend

When Kennit meets Wintrow, the Charm says the same thing Igrot said when he met Kennit: “A likely urchin, maybe something could be made of him.” Let the unholy discomfort begin.

Even Wintrow feels the deja vu of the moment.

Wintrow really made his own bed with his constant insistence that he didn’t WANT to be bonded to Vivacia. No shit she goes nuts for Kennit when he makes it clear just how much he WANTS her.

The last like 100 pages fuckin SLAP

#rote #realm of the elderlings #realm of the quarantine #liveship traders #ship of magic #... sorry lol

[kasjophe]

okay here we go durmstrang!harry and beauxbatons!draco

so I saw some gorgeous art of this au and obviously I love it- and my brain came up with whole storyline - it's a bit long post, I believe it's interesting so I hope you enjoy

After murder of James and Lily Potter & defeat of Voldemort - while whole Wizarding World were celebrating - baby Harry and Draco were send off abroad.

Dumbledore arranged Harry's departure himself, pulled few strings, contacted old acquaintances in Norway. Far away enough from England but close enough for Albus to just pop up if needed. It's the Chosen One we're talking about (I could elaborate and explain Dumbledore actions basing on the fact that he knew, bc of course he bloody knew, that Sirius didn't betray Potters and traitor was out there, pretty much capable of laying his hands on infant between muggles) And so young Potter found himself in small wizard village, raised by pretty tough-love kinda people (but still not fkn abused like with the Dursleys) /everyone can imagine it differently but I can see him growing up with some woman and her brother? (a bit anne of green gables kinda thing)/ Kids in the village didn't know about the boy who lived, but it's been explained to Harry what happened to his parents. He was taught magic since he was little, trained to be a soldier and just enough affection kept him obedient. /I can see the woman raising him feeling conflicted - she needed to protect this oblivious boy and that meant either toughening him up so he could think for himself and survive or raising him the way albus pleased/

Malfoys knew they couldn't stay in England after fall of the Dark Lord, their image was damaged, wrong moves could ruin them completely, so they moved away to France, where some distant relatives once lived anyway. Draco grew up pretty much the same, just influenced more by the place where he lived. /of course with that come changes in Lucius career path, relationships in the family, social status and Malfoy's fortune/ Draco was a spitting image of Beauxbatons, brilliant and beautiful.

And you could think that alongside with Harry came Voldemort - but how? First, Voldy was after philosopher's stone, which was in hogwarts, far away from where harry was, and let's not pretend, Albus could easily protect the stone himself. Chamber of Secrets? How would it be opened if Malfoys had the diary? 3rd year; Sirius has absolutely no idea where his godson is so his goal instead is to prove to Remus his innocence - and he manages that of course. Lupin demands to know where is Harry from Dumbledore (and he either tells them or refuses to "for Potter's safety") but then comes 4th year - and since there was no incident with werewolf Lupin is still DADA teacher - so there's no Mad Eye and even if, this time Crouch wouldn't take his place - because no-one in England knows where Harry even is (Karkaroff knows but if I remember right only when the tournament started he realised Voldemort might be back so who would he tell lol?), so why set up a trap on Triwizard Tournament?

Of course both Harry and Draco arrive at Hogwarts that year - that's where their history starts. I'm sure Dumbledore and Malfoys were reluctant of letting boys go there but hey- Durmstrang students eventually learned about famous Potter and Harry insisted he wants to see his homeland cause what could go wrong? And Malfoys, well, Draco is spoiled and stubborn of course he's going.

Wormtail obviously run away in 3rd year and he might have found Voldemort so some action could be taking place in goblet of fire after all, so maybe Crouch took over MadEye last minute and put in Harry's name. But honestly that seems very unlikely in my opinion so if there are any creative writers - something else could've happened sure.

Also another quite obvious thing - even if everyone go crazy over Krum and don't notice Harry at first, he is a brilliant seeker after all and I'm sure he's under Victor's wing on the quidditch team. So Hogwarts students quickly add 2 plus 2 and realise that bloody hell it's Harry Potter. Which means Sirius and Remus can meet him. (Somehow)

There's also that particular white haired boy in lightblue cape that seems to be staring at Potter all the time and oh merlin is he coming his way? no way- oh my he's here, oh he's British too but lives abroad? so they have something in common- wow he's so talkative and OH MERLIN HE'S SO TOUCHY- is that a French thing?? oh playing quidditch? that must be why he's even talking to him..

Do with this what you want cause I suck at writing but need more drarry and this au.

#drarry #harry potter #draco malfoy #hogwarts #durmstrang #beauxbatons #hp and the goblet of fire #au #malfoy #albus dumbledore #fanfiction #prompt

[vortexbeyondthestars]

so a while back before i had tumblr i had a BIG zelda phase and with it came all sorts of fun things.

like making a crackhead zelda theory. and since i have no one else to share it with you all get it <3 how lucky

demise’s counterpart (+ history of lorule i guess)

yall i just came up with a crackhead zelda theory bc that’s how i do.

ANYWAY, what if majora is actually the lorule version of demise??? all we know abt majora is that it was created by some ancient tribe that used it for hexing rituals.

so what if that ancient tribe was in the original version of lorule, inhabited by the original people of lorule (as in, not the loruleans in albw), and the ancient tribe created majora’s mask, based on a god they worshipped, the god of chaos?

they used it for their hexing rituals, and powerful people such as the leaders of the tribe would get to wear it. however, when they wore the mask, they would become possessed by their god’s spirit, so the others could worship it. the mask gave its wearers great and strange powers that made them the most feared and respected person while they wore it.

however, after taking the mask off, the leaders would noticeably be crazier and less morally sane than before. the tribe still continued to use it, despite its effects, and the god grew more and more comfortable with the tribe and started to ask them for things like sacrifices and whatever else.

the tribe listened. it went fine for a long, long time, but then there was a breaking point when someone who wore had worn the mask had gone mad and slaughtered half of the tribe before they were stopped.

the tribe realized their mistake, and so they tried to hide away the mask.

the mask caused so many problems that “they locked it away,” according to the happy mask salesman. what if the golden goddesses and hylia noticed what was going on in lorule, so they created a twin for hylia to watch over lorule, who would be much like her but not exactly the same?

that twin would be loria, whom would eventually become hilda. loria chose her hero much like hylia, except loria’s was a man name ravio. ravio and loria sealed away majora for the ancient tribe. the goddess then breathed new life into the world, the loruleans were created, and the ancient tribe was allowed to stay in lorule as well for their part in helping seal majora away. (the ancient tribe eventually faded away and derailed into what we see as the monster cult, but that’s for later.)

but the seal was not perfect. loria knew this would happen, that majora would break free, so like hylia, she sent out herself as an incarnation.

like in skyward sword, the first hilda is taken to purify herself, while her counterpart ravio is trained to defeat majora. he has the counterpart of the master sword and the spirit, mi.

so ravio defeats majora, and it’s sealed away again inside the mask and not the sword like demise is, proving the be the first mistake the loruleans made. the only thing keeping majora inside the mask was the power of the master sword, which in turn was powered by the triforce and the golden goddesses.

however, majora gave one last final hurrah and spat a curse on ravio and hilda: they would be plagued for the rest of their incarnations of its chaos and hatred. this curse causes, you guessed it, yuga!

the mask was watched over for ages, while various incarnations were born, until eventually, one of the hildas destroyed the triforce. when the triforce was destroyed, so was the sword, and thus the seal on majora’s mask. so majora broke free and took control of its own prison, with nothing to contain it. this happens around the same area in the timeline as right before the child timeline in hyrule.

there were still yugas, though majora had broken free, its curse still reigned strong. this majora was not the same as the god anyway, it was a twisted version of it, driven mad in the time it was stuck in the mask.

majora became even more chaotic and demented than it was before its imprisonment. it no longer wanted to conquer- it wanted to destroy, and it wanted to destroy anything it could set its sights on.

however, majora realized that without most of its powers, it would be practically useless to try and destroy lorule, even without the triforce. so it wanders.

unfortunately for everyone, the first person who finds the mask is someone who isn’t exactly sane. this person put on the mask, and though they managed to take it off, they were driven mad. they stumbled around, wandering wherever their crazy mind told them to, the mask still trying to leech its mind. though majora had broken free, its powers were nearly gone, and so all it could do was try and nudge the person sometimes.

the person eventually runs into the happy mask salesman, who is traveling from hyrule in his attempt to find majora’s mask. luckily for him, the unfortunate person stumbles upon him. the happy mask salesman offers to take the mask from them, and so he finally succeeds in his goal.

the happy mask salesman was actually one of the last members of the ancient tribe. his ancestors managed to travel from lorule to termina to hyrule, and so the happy mask salesman grew up with the knowledge. he also grew up with the tales of majora’s mask and wanted to have the mask of his ancestors back in his hands, and he wanted to have its powers, too.

and majora recognized his aura from even far away, so he influenced its poor host to move towards where he was. majora knew that the happy mask salesman was a descendent of one of its creators, and so it wanted to find him.

and the happy mask salesman wanted to find the mask, too. he managed to get majora some of its magic back with his ancient magic.

side note: this is why all of the moon children appear like the happy mask salesman. majora remembered its original creators, but only barely. it modeled the moon children after the happy mask salesman because that was the only member of the ancient tribe it remembered.

anyway, many of majora’s powers are restored, except for the invulnerability to everything except for the lorulean master sword. since the sword is gone, so is its hold on majora, and in turn, so is majora’s hold on it. majora can be damaged by anything now, which is how link manages to defeat it.

skull kid steals the mask from the happy mask salesman, yada yada yada. then majora’s mask (the game) happens. the reason majora is so vindictive against link is not only because link “interrupted its game,” but also because link reminded him of the man who had sealed had it inside the mask in the first place… which makes sense considering that link is hyrule’s ravio!

anyway, majora is killed, and instead of being sealed in the mask like last time, it is released into the world, spreading like dust in the wind, since link was unaware of its true nature. it manages to return to its lorule, where it bides its time until it can strike again…

ok so there’s my background for majora n stuff, but now i wanna explain why i think this is a cool theory.

demise’s personality is quite the opposite of majora’s. demise seems to be calculating, having whole plans and grand schemes. majora is a psychopath. “lorule versions are just like their hylian counterparts in this version, though,” you must be wondering. i actually have an explanation for that!

when the triforce and master sword were destroyed, so was the hero’s courage, the princess’ wisdom, the incarnations’ incredible power and coldness. and the god’s sanity and calculating plans. ravio became cowardly. hilda became unwise. yuga became weak and reliant on ganon for power. majora become demented and psychotic.

essentially, it became the opposite of demise, just like ravio is the opposite of link, hilda is the opposite of zelda, and yuga is the opposite of ganondorf.

plus not only is majora’s mask in link’s home in albw, but there’s the mask cult in lorule. like i mentioned above, the ancient tribe eventually degraded into that masked monster cult, as all of their old customs got flanderized into what we see in the game. the only thing that remained the same was the heavy reliance on masks. they didn’t even remember their god, majora, but they would later…

yeah this became a LOT longer than i wanted it to be lol. i might add more later.

#loz #legend of zelda #lorule #linked between worlds #majora #majora's mask #zelda headcanon #zelda theory #this is also rlly important to my linked through time au so theres that lmao #albw #mm #my post #my writing

[hwrdak]

ok so u guys know season 5 ep 2 right. yea that episode fucking sucks ass. it’s the worst ep in the show. here’s why as written by a woc autistic bisexual

I want to talk a bit about the thought process behind entrapta. she is autistic and bisexual as confirmed by noelle, who has also said that she was based off of an autistic crew member. very funny how noelle doesn’t go into the specifics of the crew member considering the fact that they’re not even a crew member technically. they’re a story boarder that left during season 2 or 3 I believe. they had like,,, no impact on the actual writing, as none of the writers are autistic. no idea why noelle had to bring it up. or why they didn’t just confirm her autism beforehand. brownie points probably.

here’s the very big problem with the aftermath of this episode. entrapta has done awful things for the horde, and the princesses are right to be mad at that. the way they talk to her is degrading but they feel justified for doing it. however, how come it’s ONLY entrapta that this happens to? scorpia is great but other than being a prisoner, we never see her get scolded for her time in the horde. not even CATRA gets scolded for her war crimes. the princesses act as if entrapta just doesn’t care and throughout the episode, there’s a clear fact that they don’t want to bother actually talking to her or putting themselves in her pov. they pretty much left her to die, it’s not surprising that she got into the horde. but it’s very obvious that she wants to further their communication by helping them via tech and her special interest. however, mermista and the others do not use their brains and just go “yea she’ll probably go join prime lol” purely bc of her hyperfixation bc homophobia doesn’t exist but ableism sure as hell does. if ur neurotypical, let me be clear: we do not choose hyperfixations. our brain is wired to constantly think about them. the others do not consider this which is why it’s ableism. in all, there is a clear miscommunication issue with entrapta and the other princesses and it’s not entraptas fault. but the show sure as fuck tries to make it seem like it is indeed her fault and maybe she should’ve been more in touch with social cues and “””normal””” talk.

let’s focus more on entrapta for a second. it’s easy for US THE VIEWERS to say that she’s actually not the villain the princesses are making it out to be bc we’ve seen her journeys and her interactions. she grew up building robots to befriend. shes there for scorpia when she wants to talk and never turns her down. shes there for hordak when he’s questioning the dilemma of worth being wrongly tied to how perfect your actions are. entrapta doesn’t HAVE to do any of those things. but she really wants friends and wants to be a good one. I think what’s really special about the “imperfection is beautiful” scene is that she’s saying it’s okay to not be perfect and it’s okay to not exactly love or apply any kind of passed down ideology of what qualifies as perfect as a moral and ethical equivalent to the varying labels of life and what and what doesn’t make life itself worth living if no impact is being made that doesn’t satisfy the imaginary line of worthiness built on the digression of self love. hordak wants to hear that he’s perfect and that’s not what he gets. entrapta doesn’t tell him what he wants to hear, she tells him what he NEEDS to hear. bc entrapta deserves to know what it’s like to experience romance and the essence of chance meetings determined by the concept of fate. she knows what she needs and she never lets go. she doesn’t give up on anything, even after she thought she trusted catra. she forgave her and she never stopped believing in hordak. scorpia defected from the horde to be a good friend, as did hordak. she didn’t tell scorpia to go after her. she didn’t tell hordak to ditch prime. entraptas impact doesn’t need to be heavily interpreted with some kind of moral and ethics book. it’s good that people understand where she’s coming from in terms of her moral compass but maybe we don’t have to. it’s great that the crystal she gave hordak says luvd bc thats everything abt entrapta. the only thing that ever needed to be understood about entrapta is that she loves the things she holds to her so much and wants them to love her back. love varies upon all our meanings but I think entrapta does represent a very pure and meaningful direction of love, and that depends on how long your imaginary line of worth is. entrapta threw it away with love. different circumstances make u stay and hold on to things.

anyways episode 2 took whatever I just said and fuckin axe body sprayed it. the overlaying message of that dumpster fire is that entrapta just learned that her actions are bad and she should feel bad bc she was just incapable of not understanding the importance of friendship and doing what’s right until she got put on a leash and got her hair pulled like a billion times. she doesn’t even get an apology. bc apparently everything wrong that’s happened in that ep is all her fault and we’re all supposed to relate to the neurotypical abeist thought process of the princesses.

let me be very clear. ENTRAPTA NEVER NEEDED TO LEARN HOW TO DO GOOD AND BE BETTER. the very fact that the show insinuates that she actually needed to learn a lesson in actually helping people, which is something she’s been doing throughout the ENTIRE show, is bullshit. she’s a grown ass fucking woman. she knew what she was doing. and with the rebellion she wants to do better bc she’s aware she’s been wrong. she’s ALWAYS known that she’s different and can’t properly help with others outside of her expertise but apparently some of u will self combust at the thought of an autistic woman not being a child and not having to learn lessons through literal ableism. this isn’t the only time this has happened. autistic characters in shows often get surrounded by a negative stigma of ableism in order for their character to progress in any way. if u honestly think that it was good that entrapta had to risk her life to save glimmer to prove a point that she does care, ok. but don’t tell me it’s well written bc it’s all riddled with ableism. she’s been handling friendship well throughout the show and the s5 narrative completely ignores it. hell the episode is so triggering I can barely watch it without feeling nauseous.

tl;dr entrapta is the best character in the show who is very aware of friendship/doing the right thing and the episode didn’t know how to properly handle an autistic character without pandering to neurotypicals and this is the result.

#if u actually read that 4th paragraph good bc i spent a lot of brain power on it #spop #entrapdak #entrapta #long post #ableism tw #tw ableism #if an allistic gives me a stupid ass comment i wont read it

[the-cookie-of-doom]

Good morning! Whats your favorite show/movie? Who are your favorite characters? Why do you like them so much? Also!! Did you have a good sleep?

Okay so I was a film major for a while, and I have opinions. 

Penny Dreadful 

I love this show. Like, so much. I adore it. I can not get enough of that show. Just all of the imagery, and the fantastic writing and acting. The episode intro alone is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Eva Green is a goddess and I love everything she’s been in. The take on classic horror stories is So Good, and it actually became the inspiration for my Gay Frankenstein story! (Started as a stitch AU, and then went completely OC after I had Ideas) but the show itself is so intimate? I think it’s largely that the period they’re in, everything was so repressed and restricted. So when the characters break out of those moments, it’s more meaningful. And the love-hate relationship between Ms. Ives and Malcolm in season one? Exquisite.  I could literally write essay’s about this show, but I’ll restrain myself and just say: it’s the best ensemble show I’ve ever seen. The characters come together, but they also each have their own distinct lives that sometimes intersect, but in s2 especially, are quite separate. They are constant with one another like ensemble shows usually portray. Also gothic horror and romance? My absolute favorite. 

Anything by Guillermo del Toro

This man Owns My Entire Soul. I’m not even joking, everything he writes and directs is perfection. Crimson Peak is probably my favorite (I have a stitch AU for this too ;) ) because again, Gothic horror and romance. I’m a slut for that shit. Also Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain? Delightful casting. I think it’s obvious by now that I love tragic relationships, so their dynamic is *chef’s kiss* amazing. they’re so damaged. And this quote right here is one of the BEST things I’ve ever read: 

“But the horror... The horror was for love. The things we do for love like this are ugly, mad, full of sweat and regret. This love burns you and maims you and twists you inside out. It is a monstrous love and it makes monsters of us all.”

Engrave that on my headstone, please?? I’ve got a sort-of Dorian Gray AU (it’s delightful) that’s basically built on this entire premise. Mitch makes the mistake of falling in love with Stiles, and does many terrible things because of it. Mostly to himself, at least. 

I think my love of Crimson Peak is very closely tied with The Shape of Water. another beautiful movie, I could wax poetic about this forever. it was beautifully written, and such an artistic movie. I love the way it was filmed, and the set design, and all of the subtle imagery. Such as Elisa’s apartment being cast in cooler tones, it always felt very damp and had evidence of water damage, compared to Giles’, a mirror image of her own, in more warm tones. This is another one I could (and have) write essays about. There is so much packed into this movie, from the themes on toxic masculinity and entitlement, to the conversation on queerness and race and disability, and how all the various relationships are portrayed. Like. there is so much to pick apart in this movie. 

Aside from that, ofc Hell Boy deserves an honorable mention because i grew up on those movies. I’m pretty sure the Golden Army especially is responsible for who I am today, given all the lore on the fae in that universe. Wow, that explains so much about me... Also one of my first WoW characters was an elf named Nuala xD I still have her, too, and it’s been like 12 years lol

Near-Future Sci-Fi

Sci-fi is one of my favorite genres, I am a huge nerd for theoretical and astrophysics. But my favorite kind of sci-fi is the stuff that still takes place on Earth, rather than epic battles in space. Ex Machina and Annihilation are at the top of that list. Alex Garland is another writer/director that I love. He has the same kind of approach as del Toro, where he puts a lot of fine details into his work. And I love that it’s very cerebral; there are so many layers to Ex Machina. My English 101 prof actually refused to analyze it in class when I suggested it to him, because he didn’t think my class could. Basically handle? Dissecting that movie? Because a lot of it comes across as very surface level, but in some cases when you look deeper, it’s actually suggesting the opposite of what you might think at first glance. (And he was right, my fellow students were awful. I miss that class though, it was one of my favorites T_T Mr. Ryder was an awesome dude and super chill.) 

Morgan is another good example. As you can see, I fucking love androids lol. Which brings me to another of my all time favorite movies: Cloud Atlas. I could literally watch this movie endlessly, I love it so much. The acting, the writing, the filming, all of it is top notch. And one thing they did in the movie that didn’t come across in the book, was reusing the same actors through the different eras in the book. That was just so neat, because it really encapsulates how connected these souls are, as we follow the threads of their story throughout time. If you haven’t seen the movie, I can’t recommend it enough.  

Another one I always think of alongside Cloud Atlas, even though they aren’t related at all, is Predestination. It’s a great movie that explores the idea of fate and free will in a really clever way, utilizes time travel in a very organized way that I think was neat (think Umbrella Academy. They even use briefcases! As you can see, I love sci-fi bureaucracy, it’s fun. In fact The Bureau is another movie I enjoyed) and the main character is actually, explicitly trans, which was cool. You basically get to see the entire story of their life, and I don’t want to spoil anything, but it’s just. So good. Mindfuckery galore. 

Shoot, and I almost forgot! Arrival! That is one of the best movies, and another one I could watch nonstop. It focuses on mathematics and linguistics and I swear to god, I almost altered my entire college course because of this movie. Amy Addams is brilliant, Jeremy Renner is so soft and nerdy, and again, it has an amazing take on time travel. I am very particular about how time is handled in Sci-fi, and this portrayal was one of my favorite. (Most of my physics studies have been dedicated to the theory of time, so like. Strong Opinions.) 

Fantasy

Stardust! It wasn’t until Good Omens can out that I realized Neil Gaiman is responsible for most of the stories I loved as a kid lol, and I had no idea he wrote stardust! But that is such a beautiful movie (I have a Stardust AU lol) and it’s definitely one of my comfort movies. Captain Shakespeare is one of the best characters ever, bless Robert de Niro. I would die for him. Fun fact, i had no idea Ipswitch was a real place until like. 2019. I 100% thought it was made up for the movie 😂

Alongside Stardust, I’ve always loved The Golden Compass. It’s fantasy, but also with that old-timey steampunk science feel, which is so fun and surprisingly difficult to find! 

Mortal Engines also has the same kind of feel, and it was such an epic movie in every sense of the word. I’m a little sad that after all the work that went into it, it didn’t get a dedicated following or fan base, because I feel there’s so much potential in it. But at the same time, fandom tends to gather around media that has plenty of flaws for us to repair with gold, and there wasn’t much room for that in Mortal Engines. 

I’m going to put Jupiter Ascending here even though it technically fits with the sci-fi, because that section is long as fuck and also this movie has such a fantastic feel. Mila Kunis? beautiful. The CGI? beautiful. Eddy Redmayne? One of the best villain portrayals i’ve ever seen. The whole oedipal vibe he had was immaculate, as was their portrayal of reincarnation, and just. The world building. GOD. I get so weak for through world building. Also the fkn intergalactic bureaucracy when they’re basically at the space DMV? One of my all time favorite scenes in movie history. 

Horror

I have very little room in my life for horror. As I said, I have strong movie opinions, especially when it comes to horror movies. I don’t like how most of them rely on cheap jump scares and overused gore and gratuitous rape scenes, instead of, y'know, actual good writing. 

Which is EXACTLY why I adore It: Chapter 1 & 2. It has none of those things, but still manages to be so terrifying. They are my favorite horror movies, and I’m saying this as someone who has genuine childhood trauma bc of the novel. Like. I couldn’t shower/take baths alone until I was almost 10 T_T When I was 6-7 and saw kids play by storm drains, I would run over screaming about how Pennywise was going to get them. Like, I had issues man. I was terrified to see the first one, and wouldn’t go until I could go with my best friend after she had already seen it, so she could warn me when something scary was about to happen 😂

And, one of my favorite aspects of the movie, and the thing that gave me Mad Respect for Any Muschietti? The way he filmed Bev and her father. They have a character who is literally being molested, but they never once have to show it. And yet their interactions are still so viscerally upsetting to watch. Sexploitation puts me off of most horror, and the fact that Muschietti doesn’t use it here, even when it would be actually somewhat justified? *chef’s kiss*. I love him. 

I love horror as a concept, I’m just really picky about it because I expect the writing to be good. I don’t like short cuts. But in a lot of cases, even if I don’t enjoy the movie itself, I love to watch analysis videos on youtube! I love to see the philosophy and symbolism in different horror movies, even if i don’t like to watch the movies themselves. It’s a fun hobby. 

Misc. 

Then in general, some other stuff I love in no particular order:

The Internship (Bless Dylan, Stuart is such a bitch and I love him) 

American Assassin (ofc. The writing itself is eh, but Mitch is my man) 

Dylan’s episode of Weird City. (I actually have a lot of feelings about this one. Jordan Peele is another amazing writer/director, I really need to catch up on his works.) 

Dorian Gray (*chef’s kiss*)

Rogue One (Makes me cry every time) 

WARCRAFT (Obviously this is a fav. It made me so happy, words cannot express.) 

Coraline and most other stop motion animation. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for that. 

Literally anything associated with Tim Burton. Fun fact, when I was 12 and in middle school, I planned to decorate my future house inspired by tim burton. Like, i had Plans. 

Most adaptations of Alice in Wonderland!

So! this got long as fuck! But you said you like that kind of thing lol 😂 I had kinda Eh sleep since I was up so late lmao, and I kept waking up (as usual, rip). And I’m so mad I go up for nothing! The dude I was supposed to show my listing to never showed, and is refusing to answer my calls >_> It’s been 2 hours now, and I still haven’t heard from him. But whatever, I already have a full price cash offer on the house so who cares. And that means I can play WoW all day, now! 

[ikeservant]

Hello hope you are doing well!!! Can I ask for hc for Kenshin, Ieyasu, and Hideyoshi (or anyone else you want) discovering that MC is a hardcore otaku who thirsts over anime/otome boys😂😂? Maybe Sasuke gotta help explain to the warlords what even anime/otome is XD Thank you all the time I love your stuff!!!

Ahh thank you so much!I love this prompt lol! I’m dummy weak thinking about a bunch of 1500s warlords finding out in the future that people write headcanons/fanfics/fanart of them dream about fictional dudes. I’m people 😂. Also put what genre/type of anime they’d be into if they were able to be introduced to anime and manga.

Kenshin: Probably thought that Sasuke and MC were siblings because of her using similar weird words and fangirling during the weirdest times. Sasuke would explain to him how from their time that stories and tales were widespread and had vivid illustrations that people would gather around and develop a fanbase. Would be very confused to see keychains and anime merch from MC’s bag from the future. When he asked why there were decorations of 2D men, MC excitedly explained how they were all “best boys” and tell their stories and tales, meanwhile Kenshin was glaring daggers at these fictional men that pose a threat. “Kenshin your yandere side is showing. You are the bestest boy and you’re the only one I want to wifey up.” He’ll have to ask Sasuke what half of that sentence meant, but he was pleased that he was the 3D man that she chose. If MC could bring back some manga/anime for Kenshin, he’d be in love with any war/gore and action based ones. Not necessarily for characters but how cool the action and fight scenes are and wants to try them out with Sasuke (run Sasuke).

Ieyasu: Was very confused when they first met and MC was very eager and pushy to get to know him better. “Why are you following me, you weakling?” “I know you’re a tsundere. You’re hard on the outside but gooey on the inside. I’ve played so many routes with tsunderes that I shall uncover you in no time. Just like the simulations!” *cue Ieyasu thinking MC is absolutely insane and going the complete opposite direction*. Eventually MC grew on him and he did end up softening up and falling in love (JUST LIKE THE SIMULATIONS! SCORE FOR MC). Would find a lot of the terminology MC uses weird but still made him want to learn what it meant.  Did not know what “I ship it” meant when MC chuckled that when he started complaining about Mitsunari, but rest assured will gag when he finds out. Startles MC when they’re laying in bed and he says “I.. ship us.” awkwardly trying to use her weeb terminology, earning a kiss for this cute tsundere 😉. If MC could bring back some manga/anime, he’d be very intrigued with complex characters and plots that have both dark and light elements and have an overall empowering message. Relates to characters that have a tragic backstory but endure and grow stronger and roots for them in the end. (Might imagine MC as the love interest but don’t tell MC that)

Hideyoshi: Now the first thing coming out of MC’s mouth when he decided to trust her and smile at MC while offering to be friends and help carry the vase she was carrying was “A-am I witnessing gap moe in real life?” with a look of utter awe. This confused the heck out of him, “M-my name’s Hideyoshi. Who’s Gap-Moe?” Eventually would get used to the random terminology, although very confused. When he saw the anime themed keychains and wallet in MC’s purse and asked about it, he should’ve prepared tea because that was a looong lecture that he understood nothing of but found it adorable how excited MC was talking about it. “Wait so what are fangirls?” “You know those girls in town that rush to you and gush over you? Those are fangirls. My fangirl group just goes after fictional guys.”, making him confused even more while also lowkey wishing MC was his fangirl and wondering if he is a fanboy for MC (spoiler alert: he IS. And he’s a fanboy for Nobunga). Made him realize how much MC made his kokoro go doki doki (this is the most otaku trash phrase I’ve ever said). If MC could bring manga/anime, he’d love anime where good trumps evil and heroes defeat villains because he loves imagining defeating injustice and having a happy ending for Japan while defeating the cruel enemies and rivals around Nobunga. Also loves emotional/heart wrenching love story manga and anime that make you cry and get hit hard in the feels with the characters b/c he’s such a romantic with a big heart. Would hug the hell out of MC after finishing of any of those types of series while saying that he will always love her‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚

Bonuses b/c I thought they’d be fun:

Shingen: Literally finds anything about MC fascinating, and the fact that they’re passionate about fictional stories and are so emotionally touched by them made him love that MC had a big heart, even for fictional characters. Gets a lil jealous when MC starts fawning over specific fictional dudes. When MC and Shingen are a couple and she starts talking about one of her fictional baes he’d probably literally sweep her off her feet and say something cheesy like “But can he do this” and swoop in for dat kiss. Would probably find his own meaning in the terminology and use it. “This is my waifu, my goddess, I am her biggest fanboy.” is how he’d probably introduce MC as (swoon). If MC could bring manga/anime, he’d be a hardcore sucker for romance anime and would reenact many of the romantic scenes, even the confession scenes. “Shingen we’re married. This is the 45th time you’ve confessed to me.” “But not like from this anime (´•ω•̥`). Would also like detective/mystery series bc he likes unraveling mysteries and plays behind the scenes.

Yukimura: “Not another Sasuke-speaker.” Would be hanging out with MC and Sasuke and listening to the weird terminologies. Would also probably make fun of MC at first for her fantasizing about fictional men and having merch of them saying “Is that cuz you can’t get a real life man?” (cue the heated arguing). Would eventually be intrigued by some of the story plots MC tells him and would eventually fall for her nerdiness and everything. Would ask Sasuke for help on coming up how to confess to MC like in the anime and otome games she talks about (A for effort, my boy). Would be a blushy puddle but puff his chest out if MC fangirled over him. If MC could bring anime and manga, he’d freaking LOVE superhero anime bc he just wants to save everyone and do whats right and he just looks like the type of dude that loves superheroes and superpowers and gets pumped when the hero defeats the bad guy.

Mitsuhide: Would be curious about these strange, foreign words MC says, even though its just fangirl lingo from 500 years in the future. Would probably tease MC if they had any keychains or small merch of anime characters. “Why have a pocket-sized man to love if there’s a full sized one right here.” 😉. Would find it very creative that there’s so many diverse stories and characters. Loves when MC gets excited talking about story plots, gets a lil jealous and tries steering the topic away from thirsting over the dudes. Would probably confess his feelings by saying “Is there a real life story about a kitsune falling for a foolish mouse and they become lovers for eternity?” “Not that I know of.” “Want to make that story happen?”. Would love speaking modern slang and otaku terms with MC because its like their own little love language and it also pisses Hideyoshi off since he doesn’t understand wtf they’re saying. If MC brought manga/anime, would love psychological based horror, seeing how characters react to scary situations and what’s the mental breaking point to madness, or plots with mind games and outwitting opponents bc he’s all about that big brain and likes seeing characters creatively outsmart enemies. Likes characters that are morally gray/antihero that do good but do so in unorthodox ways bc he relates to them (and is secretly smug if MC says they need more love bc it feels like she’s saying that about him too). Likes stories w/ bittersweet endings because he likes seeing the beauty in things while acknowledging the harshness and cruelty of life as well.

#ikemen sengoku #ikesen #ikesen headcanon #ikesen hc

[staliasjeronica]

Riverdale S5 Ep9 Thoughts

It’s been awhile since I’ve watched Riverdale, I’m getting bored with them going back to Varchie out of literal nowhere and I’m assuming BH will soon follow because they don’t know how to write anything else even though that’s all the show needs to be good. Look how great the show was when they were finally starting to give us Barchie…. anyways thoughts under the cut so this post doesn’t clog up the tag. Also: MANIFESTING JERONICA AND BARCHIE BYE

- Honestly a lot of people are weirded out/annoyed by the alien plot but I love aliens so I’m lowkey okay with it.

- Alice this is Riverdale you really think some bad coincidence couldn’t have happened right after Polly left the phone booth?

- Veronica stop using money for no reason PLEASE. And god more VA scenes I’m so tired of it… though somehow it fits better than them being together as teens. But we’re not forgetting how he cheated on her with Betty, still loves Betty, and is mostly just going back to Veronica because it’s “comfortable”

- TABITHA AND VERONICA SCENE!! They look so good standing near one another ugh

- … if I heard the football coach say that over the intercom I’d literally think he’s a whiny piece of shit and never go to the games in spite. What the fuck was that???

- Jughead acting like he probably wouldn’t have written a story like that kid when he was in school lol okay...

- Reggie pointing at each bulldog and calling them a loser on his way out…. what the actual fuck asdfgjkl;

- Give Veronica literally anything than plots surrounding Archie and Hiram we’re so fucking TIRED

- Veronica needs Archie to talk to Reggie about this boring football bs but will make a wager with her dad that will go against everything Archie would like… please nothing about them as a couple has changed!!! IT’S SO BAD AND BORING!!!! WE DON’T WANT THEM!!!

- We really could have had teachers!Barchie and Jeronica but noooo they’d rather cater to toxic bh and va who don’t deserve to have their boring ships that ruin their characters. Why did Riverdale get stuck with the people who can’t write to save their lives?

- Cheryl and Betty finally having an actually good conversation wow-

- VA once again in bed sigh. The only thing getting me through is that Archie seems much happier with Betty muah

- Veronica stop being cute I’m trying to hate you and Archie getting back together out of nowhere

- Betty please for once in your life stop lying… I know you’re trying to protect her but if Polly really is dead it’s gonna hurt even worse now that you gave her hope

- LERMAN LOGAN AAFJDSHKHFJDFASHJKN THAT’S HIS FUCKING NAME? BRUH-

- “The story could have alluded to stuff happening at home.” “Then you should have come to us!” yes because parents who were abusing their child totally wouldn’t say anything to throw off the teacher who’s just trying to make sure their student is okay…….. why would he go to the parents first?

- #Kangs Cheryl shh we already don’t like them together please stop… anyways Swangs and Keggie when???

- Fangs really dated Kevin for 7 years, weirded out with his bf going into the woods to hook up with strangers and only now is talking about it… and they thought they’d be able to marry and have a baby together??? damn anyways SWANGS AND KEGGIE WHEN????

- But also Fangs is so right that’s why Kevin’s angry

- Adult friends BH is literally so much better than teenage co dependent toxic wannabe detectives but also if this makes them get together, also out of nowhere, I will rip out my hair

- what kind of nick name is T-Dub………… but anyways this scene was so cute

- See adult BH and VA could have been so good if they kept romance out of it since they already milked the shit out of it for four seasons (at least three too long), because them as adults, as FRIENDS feels so good to watch.

- HIRAM BENCHES REGGIE BC HE DOESN’T WANT TO LITERALLY BREAK A CHILD’S LEGS?!?!??!? This is how we get Reggie back to the “good side” and not Beggie sighhhhhhh imagine if we had good writers

- Betty’s like “…… the mothmen……. god I literally grew up to be a real detective what is this bullshit?"

- Also instead of mothmen why not just make it all about aliens by themselves

- This proves that BH is STILL not compatible after five seasons muah I guess I can deal with boring VA as long as the worst of the worst, BH, is gonna stay dead. At least VA is hot

- That edited picture of Betty and Polly I— afsdfhfasf

- Polly deserved so much better… anyways go read my Sweet Pea x Polly drabble!!! based after the time jump :)

- Kevin please if you’re gonna painfully flirt please learn a few actually good pick up lines

- Ummmm okay first of all why did that guy not say anything about Kevin calling him hot if he was straight and not into him hitting on him? Second of all, why does Kevin always get these awful plots, and lastly, what the fuck anyways can’t wait for Fangs to find out and sick the serpents on that Shane guy bc while him and Kevin aren’t together anymore, he definitely still cares about him

- Betty once again resorting to assault……. okay…… what a gross misuse of power

- Kevin feeling ashamed of him being gay because his mom once talked about him wearing husky clothes…? God everyone on this show deserves much better plots what the fuck

- Can’t wait for Betty to be suspended for this bullshit

- I don’t think the Logan’s would like Jughead of all people helping find their son but okay

- Betty is so unstable please how did she become a detective… ahhh right the writers eat from her ass lmao

- Love that Reggie gets no shit for just suddenly switching sides

- also sigh pairing up bh and va for the millionth time. It’s interesting that everyone enjoys the show much better when literally anyone else interact

- more singing…………Cheryl you’re not in high school anymore BUT it is lowkey a bop somehow though

- I know the answer is no but V never told Archie of her dumbass wager huh

- 0 to 52………………. so how is Hiram not gonna win this. We find out he cheated in some way and is disqualified or something?

- VERONICA, REGGIE, AND TABITHA HUGGING AHHH NEW OT3 FUCKKK

- Why is Hiram so mad his team has 52 points I—

- That kiss was so boring please give us Barchie and Jeronica and stop having V go back too Archie

- THEY LEFT RIVERDALE THAT QUICKLY? damn okay

- Betty feeling bad just because her mom found out she lied… like okay I know we’re supposed to want Betty on the case but she really shouldn’t be. She’s such an awful detective. She had potential in the beginning but :/

- anyways thank fucking god it’s over that felt like a million years long of boring bullshit where is Barchie and Beggie and Jeronica and Keggie and Karchie and Swangs ugh make Riverdale interesting again PLEASE I’ve never stopped watching like this, ever…

#Riverdale #Thoughts

[alrightbookreviews]

Shadow and Bone

by Leigh Bardugo

book: 7/10

show: 9/10

Alright so i’m assuming most of y’all have heard of this book after the Netflix series came out like a week ago and are like “damn i shoulda read the book” or maybe not. but if not then idk why ur even on my blog but whatever. i read this book like a month or two ago before i even knew about the show so it was a strange coincidence for me but i was excited for the show bc the book was pretty decent. so i sat down to watch the show w pretty low expectations bc the movies are never better than the books (duh) but i ended up liking the show WAY more than the book and here’s why.

So basically, the plot of the book is this chick named alina who draws maps i guess has this friend named mal (who she grew up at an orphanage with) and she has been high key in love w him basically her whole life and he is so fucking clueless so he doesn’t pick up on it at all. but they get sent on a boat across this big black cloud thing called the “shadow fold” w spooky monsters in it. so you’re probably thinking “oh okay since they took a boat, the shadow fold must be over water” wrong. it’s over some crusty ass sand and instead of getting something with wheels they drag this big ass boat across dry land which makes 0 sense to me but okay. also i should probably mention that there are people w like magic powers or some shit but i’ll get to that later. anyways, so alina and her bestie end up on this boat goin across the big spooky cloud with some other rando people. another design flaw of the boat that really bothers me is the fact that there are EVIL FLYING MOSTERS up in this dark ass cloud and instead of like putting everyone below deck or whatever, they jus have everyone vibing out in the open for the monsters to snatch. so of course, the monsters start snatching bitches. and mal gets snatched and alina is like omg no and then she passes the fuck out. very wild stuff. so they make it out of the shadow fold somehow and alina wakes up and these guard dudes are draggin her to the fancy magic people tent. i think now is a good time to explain the magic people so ima do that. so basically there are all these people with magic powers called “grisha” which is kinda confusing bc it sounds a lot like geisha but whatever. there’s like a bunch of different powers and they all have wacky names that i can never remember so i just call them the wind people, the water people, the fire people, the heart people, the healing people, and the builder people. the names are pretty self explanatory. but then there’s this one guy called “the darkling” which is the dumbest name to ever exist omfg i laughed over it for a WHILE. so y’all can probably guess what his power is based off of his stupid name. he makes the shadows move oooo spooky. and he can also use the shadows to chop people in half. i guess. so back to the story, they drag alina to the darklings tent and he’s like “bitch u got powers” and she’s like “nah fam” and he’s like “yeah watch” and he cuts her w a knife and she lights up. like she turns into a human lightbulb. and she’s like “damn okay so like that’s what happened on the boat when i passed the fuck out” so they take her to the palace bc i guess she’s the first person to ever have that power and it’s important bc it can get rid of the shadow fold or whateva. and basically the rest of the book is her trying to figure out her powers and the darkling trying to find this deer whose antlers will amplify her power and alina complaining about living in a castle blah blah blah.

so here’s why the show is better than the book:

her friend/guy she’s in love with is so fucking toxic in the book. he’s such a bitch to her and she’s just like lol okay ily and i’m like wtf? why do u like this piece of shit? he’s just rude man. and in the show i actually liked him. he tried his hardest to get to the palace and find her after they took her away unlike in the book when he didn’t do shit and when she finally saw him again he was mad at her for some reason idk i was like bro u gotta chill. so i’m glad he was chill in the show.

the darkling’s name in the show is “general kirigan” which is also pretty lame but SO much better than the darkling. no debate.

leigh bardugo has 7 books total taking place in this little universe (the shadow and bone trilogy, six of crows duology, and the king of scars duology) and they threw some of the characters from six of crows into the show for some reason. i was a little skeptical of how that was gonna go before the show came out bc shadow and bone and six of crows take place at different times and also i haven’t read six of crows yet but omg. i loved them. it’s this little squad of this ninja bitch, some guy w a cane who is hot af and (my favorite) this gay dude who mostly just talks about a goat. they were baddies and i was so happy they made a lil plot for them and put them in the show.

and those are really the only reasons. idk. i’d recommend both the book and the show but definitely the show a lil bit more.

now it’s time to talk some shit about everyone. (SPOILERS!!)

jesper: okay something important i need to say that my mom mentioned as we were watching the show: wouldn’t it have stank like shit when jesper fucked that one guy in the stables??? like dude no. literally do it ANYWHERE but there pls and thank u.

kaz: jesus fuck make a move you goddamn pussy holy shit

inej: okay first of all the actress who played her was GORGEOUS and she’s such a badass. kaz and jesper can’t do SHIT compared to her.

alina: she lowkey annoyed me a lil bit in the show. she ended up being the one who was a dick to mal instead of the other way around and it kinda made me sad but whatever. also the antlers in her skin omfg i gagged every time i saw it it was fucking disgusting.

mal: dear book mal, go fuck yourself. dear netflix mal, ily boo <3

the darkling/general kirigan: they chose an old ass dude to play him in the show. like in the book even though he’s like hundreds of years old, he’s only supposed to look like 20 and the homeboy who played him in the show is 39. mmm no. poor little 25 year old jessie who had to make out with this grandpa motherfucker.

genya: wtf was that tall ass collar she was wearing?? made the bitch look like she had no neck.

david: 🧍‍♂️. also you traitor motherfucker.

baghra: we needed more of her. i love that crusty bitch. kinda upset that she attacked mal in the show but whatever he was fine i guess? idk i liked her a lot more in the book lol.

nina: idk who tf this bitch was bc she aint in the book. her lil plot was boring tbh.

milo: queen milo i live for you.

and that’s it. thank u for reading.

#book #book review #books #review #shadow and bone #shadow & bone #netflix #leigh bardugo #the grisha series #the grishaverse #grishaverse #alina starkov #mal oretsev #six of crows

[ofsvnlightt]

Was that [AMANDA ARCURI]? Oh no no, that was just [JESTER LAVORRE], a [CANON CHARACTER] from [CRITICAL ROLE]. They are [UNKNOWN/ LOOKS TWENTY FOUR] years old and [ARE] aware that they are not actually from Washington DC. Too bad they can’t stray from this city for long. 

** this is an updated intro bc the one i did when i first brought her in was....bad. i didn’t know her very well yet,  i had pretty much just started watching campaign 2 and brought her in with memories only up through episode 49 or something. now she’s fully aware!

because of the amount of content, this is going to be a looong intro. (i’m actually sorry for how long this is..i think it’s longer than vex’s)

all hidden washington info will be towards the bottom if you don’t want to read everything.

background: • jester is from a d&d stream called critical role (thursdays 7pm pst on twitch and youtube!) • she’s played by laura bailey (like vex!) • she has a (i think?) slavic accent just search jester critical role and you can find a clip of laura/jester talking (or here’s on of my favorite videos) • she is a blue tiefling! though with the magic of the city, the only things that stayed are her fangs and blue hair. - • she grew up in nicodranas in the lavish chateau, a very fancy inn where her mother is a performer known as the ruby of the sea, and works as a courtesan. • she stayed in her room most of her childhood, thus growing up pretty sheltered due to her mother’s job • she worships a deity called the traveler. he's not actually a god or deity..but that's a long story. (see: ep 108) also [c1 spoiler] his name is artagan and he’s fey. he was able to leave the fey realm and come to the material plane because vox machina created a gateway for him. he met them in either ep 58 or 59 of c1 but i think made the deal later in the campaign. • after a prank gone wrong, jester had to flee nicodranas. she met a half orc (fjord) from port demali, which is also along the menagerie coast, and later human monk (beau) on the amber crossroads and ventured to trostenwald together where they met a few more strangers who together they eventually became the mighty nein • the m9 consists of 7 people her, a cleric -- abilities beauregard, a human monk fjord, a half orc warlock-paladin  caleb, a human wizard nott veth, a goblin halfling rogue mollymauk, a tiefling blood hunter yasha, an asimar barbarian  and caduceus, a firbolg cleric - this is straying from her backstory a little, but here are a few important points that will explain all the strikethroughs above SPOILERS FOR CAMPAIGN 2 (eps 91-93, 26, 28, 111) • when the nein first met, veth was a goblin who went by nott the brave. during a goblin attack in her (halfling) village, she killed some important goblin’s spouse and a hag came in and drowned and cursed her, changing her into a goblin. after attempting a transmogrification spell and it not working, nott shares some of her backstory and beau realizes the hag is the same one that her father talked to. going back to her home of kamaordah to get more information, the nein find out where the hag lives and pay her a visit. after an insane play by jester, the curse is broken and caleb tries the spell again later in nicodranas. this time it works and nott becomes her true sellf, veth brenatto, a halfling. • molly was an original member of the mighty nein. after jester, fjord and yasha were taken one night, the remaining members tracked down who took them, a group called the iron shepherds. cutting them off on their way back to their base, molly, beau, caleb, nott, and a temporary ally keg, battle with them. though aware of his low hp, molly activates his scimitars, getting a hit or two in before going unconscious. the leader of the iron shepherds, lorenzo, gets the final blow on molly, stabbing him through the chest, thus killing him.  • a day or two later, heading through the forest, the small group come upon the blooming grove. there, they meet caduceus clay, who joins them in saving jester, fjord, and yasha from the iron shepherds. • much later, the nein find out about something called the “eyes of nine”/somnovem/nonagon, and travel along the glory run road once again, they make a stop at molly’s grave, planning to speak with dead and see if he knew anything about it because he had nine eye tattoos on his body. when they arrive, his grave has been messed with and his body gone. jester scries on him, seeing him in furs and a snowy environment. they later find out this is lucien, molly’s “original” self. he is nothing like molly at all and is more focused on trying to release the somnovem - a portion of aeor, an ancient city - gone mad and floating in the astral sea. at this point in the campaign (ep 130), lucien is still a threat and the nein are still pursuing him, trying to stop him from bringing the city to the material plane. - -  i literally have no idea how to condense 130 episodes of content (~4hrs per ep) to give you a good overarching tldr of jester’s time with the nein..and so to not make this post a mile long, i’m actually going to put it in a second post (which really defeats the whole point of doing this new intro post but whatevs) in washington:

how long has your character been here? 5-6 months now!

what is your character's job? unemployed/freelance artist

where has your character been pulled from in their fandom? the most recent episode, 130!! (instead of 126)

has any magic affected your character? Nope!

any other information: here’s a synopsis of what happened in episode 130 and where i’m taking jester from as of right now (instead of making an ‘updated memories’ post lol): spoilers, obviously escaping the fire plane, jester plane shifts everyone back to the material plane, to zadash. there, she leads them to the evening nip, where below the gentleman (her father) heads his operations, hoping he can watch over her mother and veth’s husband and son, giving them a safe house while the nein head back to aeor to hopefully defeat the floating city/somnovem and the tomb takers. some parent trap-y shenanigans ensue and after a couple hours, the nein head to the blooming grove. while the savilirwood as a whole is still corrupted by an unknown source, the corruption in and around the grove is gone. (seemingly healed by the crystals referenced in ep 96) while this is great, it doesn’t line up with the dream that caduceus got just 2.5 days ago. whatever these dreams or premonitions are, his family members are also getting them. this is concerning to them of course, but mostly calliope, his older sister. cad storms out, she follows.  before bedding down for the night, everyone kind of goes their separate ways for a little bit within the grove. the mood overall is grim, most all of them thinking this fight in aeor isn’t going to end well. putting on a brave face, jester promised her mama she’d come back, but she doesn’t think she will. she has a small conversation with fjord and asks if he’d like her to send a message to vandran or scry on him. he says no because he’s going to see him, being that rock and voice of determination and positivity jester needs in her time of uncertainty. 

#hw: intro #🍭 little sapphire :: jester #death tw #stabbing tw #cr spoilers #long post tw