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moongreenlight · 7 months

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What if your brain tells you that nurse!reader from the previous fic was on the field with the boys as an on call medic and gets taken as a POW and ghost is losing his fucking mind?? - like actual feral behavior

Ohhhhhhhhhmygod. Hi? I’m in your walls. So mad I didn’t see this before because I’ve been SLAVING over a Simon fic all week and this apparently is the motivation I needed to put some more batshit insane things on the internet forever.

We all know that Simon is a fucking machine. Prides himself on his ability to essentially turn off his humanity on the field. But for some reason his nurse!reader is the one thing that interrupts that ability. Even seeing you treating a few rowdy privates gets him worked up. Lingers around the medbay in his free time for no apparent reason just to side eye your patients and glare at them to make sure there’s absolutely no possibility of you getting hurt.

There was probably an occasion where you were treating a soldier who didn’t fare well with pain. Moaning and crying and thrashing while you did something simple like tuck their arm into a sling, and they somehow writhed around enough to hook you in the cheek with their elbow. Nothing serious, but it left an angry red mark on your cheek for so long that he caught it on one of your evening walks around base. Usually after dark so you could both avoid being found out.

And then the next day you see Simon dragging that same soldier to a different nurse’s bed under the armpits. Explaining gruffly that he went unconscious because he couldn’t handle training. (He made the poor bastard run the track in full tactical gear on one of the hottest days of the year for nearly an hour straight. No water. No breaks.)

You were the kindest, softest thing he’d ever come in contact with. Something he never thought he’d be able to find in this lifetime after so much hate and anger and pain. He couldn’t risk losing you, which is why he was so strict on his saying no to you joining the task force on the field. The shit they did was dangerous. Immensely so. And this brought up two main points for Simon.

One; he wouldn’t be able to focus on the task at hand knowing you were out. He slept with one eye open when you were nestled close to his chest and snoring softly in the comfort of your own home that he’d all but booby-trapped home alone style. No fucking way he’d allow you out into hostile territory with only a introductory understanding of self-defense. He’d be on pins and needles the entire mission. Probably get the entire squad killed because he’d constantly be looking over his shoulder for you.

Two; it would rip him to shreds if he lost you. You were the only person he truly saw as an equal. The first time the two of you met, he was probably being angsty and rude because he did something to land himself in the medbay, and when he refused to take off his tact vest so you could listen to his heart and lungs, you all but held him at scalpel-point and threatened him within an inch of his life until he finally submitted. After that he was fucking hooked. Obsessed with the way you could get brutes like him to roll over and show you their belly like obedient dogs. And you were kind to him. Immeasurably kind. Dealt with his mood swings and took the time to get to know him. Suffered through the impossibly long process of him letting his guard down.

So if somehow his orders were ignored, it was almost certain that you’d be given strict orders to keep your involvement under wraps. Price would have enough of an idea of the situation to keep the two of you on opposite schedules in the days leading up to deployment. Minimize the possibility of you letting slip that you’d be coming along to preserve not only the integrity of his team but also his quality of life.

It would seem like a regular day to Simon at first. Loading into the helo before dawn, sitting between Johnny and Gaz and trying to tune them out while they snarked at one another across him. And then Price would come on looking guilty as sin. You could practically smell it coming off him. Leaning both his arms on the open door and signaling the driver to start the engine for a quick take off in case Simon decided to abandon ship in his outrage.

He’d give some spiel about teamwork and the importance of focusing on the mission and whatever other bullshit he thought would keep Simon the most level headed. Spewing on and on until Gaz finally cut him off with a pointed yawn. At which point he’d give the group one last look, lingering the longest on the ghost mask, before stepping aside to reveal you.

Dressed up in a uniform that looked about a size too big. Tailored as best it could be in the short notice. Pants chopped and hemmed to make them a manageable length, belt pulled as tight as it could go around your waist. Strapped into a vest that was loaded with medical supplies instead of weapons. Two pistols holstered on your either side.

Simon was beyond livid. Spouting steam like a cartoon bull. Staggering to stand when the chopper took off and stalking over to the cockpit where Price sat and tried to look casual.

Gave him a fucking earful. Screaming over the roar of the engine into the earpiece on a private channel for the entire two hour long flight. Bitching about paperwork and dead weight and how it’s just another person he’ll need to look after and he doesn’t want to. It’s almost impressive. Price doesn’t get a word in sideways. Gets shut down immediately if he even dares to open his mouth.

And he’s a monster when he finds out you’ve been taken POW. Circled by the enemy team like ravenous wolves finding a wounded deer. Soap and Gaz both have to pin him down when Price breaks the news. Seeing fucking red.

A large part of me thinks he internalizes a lot of the torture he went through in the comics. Letting it sit and fester inside him like the worst kind of poison that it took him years to meticulously extract from his very being and carefully contain into a small vial. Laying dormant in the back of his mind for a moment like this. He had no idea what the enemy wanted with you, so he had to assume the worst.

Storms their base by himself. Sniffs you out through a maze of bunkers and underground tunnels and infinitely many heavily secured doors. And the rest of the force just watches his six. Stands back feeling a little nauseous, but letting him blaze down his war path. Any and everyone who gets in his way is guilty unless they can prove their innocence- and they don’t get the chance. Runs through all his ammo gunning down countless grunts and privates stationed outside the base of planted as decoys. Specifically demanding that Price be the one to give up his weapons and ammo so he can continue on. And it’s the one time that the captain allows him to snarl orders like that.

Price knows that Simon is, in his core, a fighting dog. Rescued by the force and given an opportunity to channel his aggression into a more productive outlet. And now it seems all his hard work and training is coming unraveled. Watching Simon once again snap his jaws and bare his teeth, killing without rhyme or reason to get you back, is jarring to say the least. So in some last-ditch effort to preserve some of the trust that they’d built, he surrenders. Shows his belly. Shrugs off his rifle with no objection other than the way his mouth drew into a tight line.

Simon kicks through heavy metal reinforced doors without the need for a battering ram. Pushes himself well past the point of exhaustion. Fueled purely off the instinctual need to recover you. He can’t speak. Can’t eat. Can’t drink. Can’t stop.

He’d mow through the first few ranks of soldiers until they finally found someone that looked like they’d have at least a sliver of useful information and beat them within an inch of their life until they gave up the information that would eventually lead him to you.

In all honesty, you were probably taken with the intent to lure them in. Not anticipating your absence would have such an impact. Kept you bound in a guarded room. Roughed up a bit just from your struggle, but they hadn’t had time to interrogate you before they got word that 141 was coming in wild and sideways.

This would send Simon even further into madness. Body aching, bleeding from his knuckles. His knees and shoulders screaming their protest when he broke down the door, sending it crashing into the room. And the first thing he sees is you huddled in a corner blindfolded and bound with handcuffs that were cutting into your wrists from your trying to escape. He’d be an entirely different person. (I am giggling and kicking my feet.)

He wouldn’t even bother wasting time with the rifle. He’d handle what few guards were left with his bare hands. Possessed by some kind of superhuman strength. Catching a second wind the moment he laid eyes on you. He’d rush over, the rest of the boys standing guard in the hallway, and break you free from your restraints.

And as much as I would want him to be sweet and coddle you and coo over you, he’d probably be riding such a high that he wouldn’t be able to. He’d immediately start in on you, but with significantly less ferocity than he had with Price.

“You got a fuckin’ death wish? Think they’d turn you into a martyr for bein’ a medic on the field? Real original fuckin’ concept, yeah?”

He’d pull you in close to him, giving you an incredibly detailed once over. Inspecting your face and neck and arms legs for any further damage, and once he determined after three checks that all your wounds were purely superficial, he’d allow his hands to shake just slightly when he smoothed your hair back off your forehead.

#cod mw2 #call of duty #cod x reader #141 headcanons #ghost cod #ghost mw2 #simon ghost riley #simon riley #drabble #simon ghost riley x you #simon riley x you #ghost x reader #moongreenlight #moongreenlightwrites

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gay-dorito-dust · 2 months

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First ofi love your Jason fic's, they are really great and they made me think could you write for Damian as well?

What about Damian x reader (gn or male pls) where they are really great friends but the family thinks they are in a relationship? You know the typical teasing girls usually experience as soon as she talks about a boy "oh is that you boyfriend" the same thing happens too Damian, and now he dreads bringing the reader to his house because his family always had something to say (except Alfred he's cool like that) and it also makes the reader uncomfortable. And one day Damian snaps at them for their weird behavior, telling them that they are the reason why the reader won't visit anymore

I hope this makes sense, if you don't like this, just ignore it.

Have a great day

Damian hated when he brought you over to the Manor and it’s not for the reasons many might expect. It was more so to do with how Dick, Tim and Jason seemed to always have something to say whenever you two were in a room together, only ever doing mundane activities but to Dick, Tim and Jason, it was viewed under an annoyingly unnecessary romantic context.

They firmly believed that in due to you being able to withstand Damian’s presence for as long as you have, that there must be romantic undertones integrated in every interaction between the two of you. The classic trope of friends being in love with each other but not knowing how to cross that line without ruining everything that was pre established from your longstanding friendship; Which was factually incorrect for so many reasons.

You and Damian weren’t anything more than friends and you both were content with that conclusion. However that didn’t stop you from feeling uncomfortable whenever Dick, Tim or Jason said anything about your suspected secret relationship that you’ve been poorly keeping from them. Damian hated that you couldn’t come to the manor without wanting to leave within the first five minutes of being there, he didn’t want to either but knew that you needed him for support whenever it does happen; and it was unfortunately an reoccurring theme within the Wayne manor.

The first time this happened you and Damian were in the library, reading. Your head was innocently resting against his shoulder and all because of the lack of sleep you had from binge watching the midnight release of the latest season for your favourite show. Had you been anyone else Damian would’ve laid you out flat but since it was you, Damian didn’t seem to mind but he then choice to chastise you for your lack to keep to a healthy sleep schedule.

‘You’re helpless.’ He stats and you pouted at him. ‘But Damian it was the last season! I had to binge watch it before people start spoiling it all over social media!’ You defended yourself but it was obvious that your friend wasn’t buying it for a second. ‘Tch. So was our test today but due to your habit of binge watching, and yet you just barely managed to somewhat passable score.’ He replied, not once looking up from his book as you leaned more into him. ‘Rude.’

‘I’m merely stating the-‘

‘Spare some room for Jesus there lovebirds.’ Both you and Damian looked over to see that Jason had entered the library when you were unawares and had a wolfish grin spread across his face. You tensed up at the implication, wordlessly removed your head from Damian’s shoulder and shuffled to the far side of the couch that you were both sitting on. All the while avoiding eye contact either him or Jason.

The latter (Jason) believed that this was done out of the fact that you had gotten caught but to the former (Damian) it was because you had grown uncomfortable with the comment made towards the nature of your assumed relationship to him. So all he could do without making the situation worse for you was to glare daggers into Jason, who only took this as Damian being mad that he interrupted his quality time with you.

The second time this mistake happened was when you and Damian were in the kitchen taking a much needed break from constant studying for the upcoming test at school, replenishing your hunger by wolfing down on some snacks. ‘You’ll choke if you keep that up.’ Damian said between bites of his own snack.

‘No I won’t.’ You rebutted, swallowing down the remains before shoving another bit of food into your mouth hastily and allowing for some crumbs to cling onto you in the strangest places, though mainly your cheek. Damian sighs and reaches across the table to rub the crumbs off with a handkerchief, muttering about how much of a messy eater you are. ‘Can’t even eat properly, never less sleep the required amount needed for proper functionality.’ He mutters under his breath.

‘Will you never left me live that down?’ You asked.

‘No.’ Damian replied without hesitation and you wondered if the question was even worth asking when he answered them in such a confident and sure fire way. Before you could get a chance to speak, Dick’s voice from the doorway butted in. ‘Do my eyes deceive me or is Damian being a gentleman for his lovely partner? Has hell truly frozen over?’ Damian was quick to retract his hand but it was too late, Dick saw everything and much like Jason, took it out of complete context.

‘We should get back to studying now.’ You said uncharacteristically stiff as you pushed yourself out of your chair and walked out of the room without so much of a word, shoulders hunched and head down when you passed by Dick, who watched in slight confusion as to what just happened. Damian on the other hand was starting to reach his limit with his brothers constant teasing, for how could they not see that it was clearly making you uncomfortable even if some of the teasing wasn’t aimed at you directly.

You took it personally on his behalf and he hates that in due to this it made your eagerness to spend time at to the Wayne manor dwindle. You were his first true friend and he didn’t want his brothers to be the reason you decided that you didn’t want to be his friend anymore. Damian wouldn’t admit it but deep down he was scared that he’ll loose you because of it, and that the only way to save your friendship would one day be reliant on your interactions during school hours. Damian knew he wasn’t the easiest to get along but he had to applause your persistence in wanting to befriend him, so much so that he didn’t want you ever thinking that he didn’t bother fighting for your friendship, because he would fight for your friendship with everything he had and then some.

For you’ve become a large part of him that he doesn’t think he could ever imagine living without now that you were so deeply integrated into his very being.

The third and last time you visited the manor was what made Damian snap. All you were doing was have a slow day with the added company of Titus, who was resting his head in your lap as you petted him; The poor dog missed you and it showed with how he whined whenever you dared to stop the pets, it would be made even more difficult not to as he would then paw at you persistently on top of all that.

‘I swear one of these days Titus will follow me home.’ You joked as you reminisced about the times when Titus would try and follow after you as pup and always disregarding Damian in favour for you and your cuddles. ‘He almost did once when you had to go home after our sleepover.’ Even Damian smiled softly at the memory of seeing Titus’ little head pop out of your bag after almost tearing apart the manor for the little mischief maker. He reached over to scratch the dog behind the ear -just how he liked to be scratched- and watched as Titus kicked his back leg in response.

‘He obviously still loves me a lot to be using my lap like this despite being too big to doing it anymore.’ You chuckled, looking down at the big dog with so much love and affection. Damian scoffed. ‘Don’t flatter yourself, Titus only likes you because you pamper and baby him.’ You gasped, covering Titus ears. ‘Don’t say that! Titus is still a baby in my heart!’ You exclaimed. The fully grown Great Dane then sneezed in his sleep and you acted as though he said something meaningful before looking back towards Damian ‘see, Titus agrees.’

‘Tch. You’re such a pain.’ Was Damian’s response as he looked away from you, only to see Tim stood a few feet away, watching you both much like how Dick and Jason did and Damian knew what was about to come out of his mouth before he even said it.

And apparently so did you as you managed to stand up, waking Titus up in the process, who was trying to get his bearings back as you said sombrely to Damian. ‘I’ll see you at school tomorrow, yeah.’ Before walking back towards the manor with Titus at your heels.

Before Tim could ask Damian shot him a murderous glare. ‘Batcave. Two days from now. Make yourself useful and bring Todd and Grayson with you.’ Was all he said before storming off towards the manor himself, leaving an taken aback Tim. His limit has officially been reached.

‘Why are we here Damian? Are you going to tell us that you need help with your partner-‘

‘Stop. Just stop with this nonsense you, Drake and Todd seemed to be hung up on because this false narrative you’ve created about myself and y/n is entirely make belief. And we’re suffering from it.’ Damian cuts Dick off but Jason was quick to speak next.

‘Why? Are you lovebirds not together anymore?’

Damian clenched his jaw but couldn’t contain his anger and annoyance towards this entire situation, wanting nothing more than for it to come to an end. ‘WE NEVER WERE TOGETHER TODD!’ Damian exploded. ‘WE WERE ONLY EVER JUST FRIENDS BUT DUE TO YOURS, GRAYSON AND DRAKES’ SHARED STUPIDITY, YOU’RE MAKING THEM UNCOMFORTABLE INTO EVER VISITING ANYMORE!’

‘Why didn’t either of you say anything-‘ Tim tried to talk but was quickly silenced by Damian who still had a lot more to get off of his chest. ‘WE TRIED BUT YOU WE ALL TOO BUSY TEASING US FOR BEING SOMETHING WE NEVER WERE!’ Damian liked to think he wasn’t the type to be quick to anger and how it was such a foolish thing to do. However Dick, Tim and Jason overstepped one too many times for Damian not to speak up about it, making sure it gets into their thick skulls that their weird behaviour almost cost him his friendship with you.

Jason, Dick and Tim felt stupid now and a little ashamed that their teasing could’ve quite possibly drove you away. It wasn’t their intention to do so, but they guessed that they admittedly got slightly ahead of themselves that they didn’t take into consideration of how you felt about all this. Now they felt like right dickheads.

‘I believe they’ve got the message master Damian.’ Alfred said as he looked at Dick, Tim and Jason who looked like a bunch of kicked puppies. ‘How about we invite master Damian’s friend for dinner so that you may tell them you’re sorry for your recent transgressions?’

Dick smiled softly at the butler whom had became another father figure to them. ‘That’s sounds perfect Alfred but only if y/n is comfortable to come.’ He, Jason, Tim and Alfred then all looked towards Damian who had calmed down significantly from his earlier outburst. ‘Tch. I’ll ask but I’m not guaranteeing anything.’ He says to them as he took out his phone to text you, adding a picture of an impatient Titus sitting at the front door waiting for you to come back for added effect, knowing how you couldn’t resist him.

It didn’t take long for you to reply with; ‘fine. I’m willing to bury the hatchet but as long as Titus gets to lay in my lap. That’s my only condition.’

Yep everything was going to be alright.

#damian wayne x reader #damian wayne imagine #damian wayne x y/n #damian wayne x you #Damian Wayne imagines #dc x y/n #dc x you #dc comics x reader #dc x reader #dc imagine #dc fic #dc fanfic #dc fanfiction

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cerastes · 9 months

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I was wondering, are there any characters in Arknights that on the surface are jokesters, but anre actually immensely deep and powerful? I know about characters like Jaye and Nothing, but they aren’t particularly funny and casual. What I’m looking for is someone like Sans, basically.

"Nothing isn't particularly funny" oh we're just fundamentally different people then because I smile like a babe listening to jingling keys every time he's in the scene.

In the exact same regard as Sans, 1:1? Not really. Similar enough in some regards or in essence that they warrant mention? Yeah, I'd say so.

Aak is a good case, I'd say. Aak is a very casual guy, perhaps excessively so, referring to Doctor as "my dude" and in general having a very whimsical whistle to his steps, not to mention his seemingly jovial soul. Then you dig a bit deeper and you realize, well, despite the way he behaves, he takes what he does extremely seriously and is one of the most ruthless characters in the cast as a whole, in addition to being a medical sciences prodigy the likes of which Terra has seldom seen, and being infamous in the criminal underworld as a vigilante and executioner that has no qualms disposing of a mother fucker, if said fornicator of moms is a criminal and adversely affects others. See, the thing with Aak is that he, for the longest time, hated being so good at the medical sciences, because as he saw with his own twisted father, a brutal underworld doctor and criminal, curing illnesses doesn't begin to truly rid the common man of their suffering: There are always oppressors, abusers, those who selfishly make lives difficult for others for their own gain. Aak believes that to be a truly good "doctor", he needs to eliminate the root cause of the people's suffering: Criminals that will hurt them. Since his cooperation with Rhodes Island, his views have shifted a bit for the better (understanding people better, finding a good friend that shares his latent curiosity and love for the medical sciences and research in Warfarin), but it's still evident that Aak remains an unstable vat of fluoroantimonic acid waiting to bubble over, if the right trigger is present. He's not particularly powerful, with all his evaluations being "Normal" and "Standard", but his ruthlessness, his knowledge of the underworld, and his deep knowledge of medical sciences do make him quite dangerous despite "my dude"ing you.

Ceobe is the other one that comes to mind. Ceobe basically replicates the experience of having a big dumb loving dog, not just with Doctor, but with others as well, such as her canonical friends Vulcan and Sesa (Sesa being someone that also qualifies imo), and is in general a fun goober that livens up every scene she's in on virtue of, well, being a big dumb loving dog with all that entails: She WILL break into the kitchen even though she knows it's forbidden for her to do this, she WILL steal food, she WILL whimper and apologize, she WILL grow immensely defensive over her loved ones over things like "a loud vacuum cleaner" and WILL act over any perceived threat with maximum power; the entirety of Integrated Strategies 1, Ceobe's Fungimist, comes about because Ceobe gets high on hallucinogenic mushrooms she found in the jungle, and goes apeshit because she imagines this whole scenario where Villains have kidnapped Doctor and only she and whatever friends she can recruit on the way can save them, resulting in her beating the absolute shit out of numerous warrior tribes Dynasty Warriors style. Let's talk about that last part! She beat the absolute shit out of numerous warrior tribes Dynasty Warriors style while high as fuck on shrooms. She can do that! Because Ceobe is actually fucking shredded. Despite being a Funny Dog, Ceobe is a legitimately Arts genius, having no formal training and yet being able to use Arts with no problem, almost instinctively, as well as simply being able to harness pretty much any weapon she touches and empower them further with her Arts. Part of this is definitely because she's VERY Infected, but not even that explains just the sheer magnitude and expertise with which Ceobe seems to use her Arts. And speaking of? She dragged herself, across much of Terra, while incredibly Infected and with no care at all.

Ceobe, by all rights, should be dead. Not even the Medic Operator that wrote her medical file has a lot of faith, and her Oripathy is explicitly very grave and only getting worse. And even in this state, she dragged herself and the small arsenal strapped to her back across the world.

Her Physiological Endurance rank of Outstanding is no joke. Keep in mind, this is a rank equivalent to the toughest and most resilient characters we know of, such as Specter and Hoshiguma.

This is all stuff you'll only ever realize about Ceobe if you pay attention, because she's almost exclusively used for comedic relief, but the funny dog is actually a natural archmage and weaponmaster that just won't fucking die, if we were to use more fantasy adjacent terms for her.

There's more (like Sesa) but those two are the ones that jumped to mind.

#arknights #sanspapyrus683 #ceobe #aak

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withacapitalp · 1 year

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How to Rehabilitate a Jock Part 6

Part 1 Part 5. Ao3 Link Part 7

It was already the second week of December by the time the Hellfire club finally, finally, defeated the Demon Lord Graz’zt. Normally, Eddie loved when a campaign stretched and stretched. It was a devious kind of joy to get to see his friends get stumped and backtrack and do everything they could to defeat whatever he had put in front of them.

This time, he just wanted them to stab his stupid demon in the chest, light him on fire, and be done with it.

A thousand times he had thought about just letting them win, and just letting them get through the end of the campaign. But his integrity as a dungeon master and a storyteller stopped him from doing it every single time.

That, and Eddie was pretty sure they would be able to tell if he was skimping out on an ending just to get to the next campaign. Especially since they all knew why he would be so anxious to get to the next campaign.

But, last week they had done it. Right at the last second Graz’zt had exploded in a shower of red sparks, the party had gained treasure and XP galore, and Eddie had stayed up every night this week finishing a one shot just for the occasion.

Usually there was a rest week in between campaigns, or one of the others would rotate in as DM and Eddie would get to play for a while, but he wanted to be the one to run Steve’s first game. He didn’t trust any of the others not to sabotage, or try and kill him off early.

Besides, he had the perfect beginner game planned.

Well, he would have the perfect beginner game if their beginner ever decided to show up.

“Seems like being late is a character trait,” Frank said as the rest of Hellfire sat around the table, clearly bored. Jeff was doodling in his book, and Rocky looked like he was asleep on the far side, face smushed up against the wood. School had ended almost a half hour ago, but there was still no sign of Steve.

“This does give us time for a JRP update?�� Janet suggested, sliding her chair back and walking over to the board.

“Well, the update is…wow! Nothing has changed,” Gareth said, faking a look of utter shock before sliding back into his usual grumpy scowl, turning to Eddie, “Do you really want to wait three more months just to have to admit that I am right about him?”

“How could anything have changed so far, Gareth?” Eddie shot back, sick and tired of his best friend’s issues.

He held up a hand and began to count on his fingers right in front of Gareth’s face. Eddie knew that the other boy hated when he did things like that, but he also knew that he really couldn’t give a flying fuck at this point. Steve was trying, really honestly trying, and Gareth was being a jerk for literally no reason.

“We just finished our new campaign, Steve isn’t even aware of the band yet because I’m not allowed to invite him to a show, and your third ridiculous checkpoint still has no defining parameters!” Eddie finished with a flourish.

“Well, technically you can invite Steve to a show,” Kaiden said, grabbing everyone’s attention. He shrugged, pointing to the board, “It doesn’t say that Eddie can never invite him. It just won’t count towards the JRP until Steve goes without an invitation,”

“Kaiden, what the hell?” Gareth said, spinning around and shooting his glare over to him instead of Eddie.

“I don’t mind Steve, Gar.” Kaiden said with a shrug, unphased by his mood. By now they were all getting used to working around Gareth’s griping, “He’s pretty chill, he can be kinda funny, and I can’t think of anything he personally did that was that bad. Maybe he really is trying to be someone different now,”

The rest of the club didn’t speak, which Eddie decided to consider an extremely minute amount of progress. Sure, they weren’t sticking up for Steve, but they weren’t actively fighting against him anymore.

Well, all except for one

“Traitor,” Gareth muttered under his breath.

“Hey,” Eddie immediately snapped. Gareth could be pissy with him all he wanted, but he couldn’t go after another one of Eddie’s sheep just because he was mad.

“I agree with Kaiden, I don’t see why Eddie would be forbidden from ever inviting Steve to a show,” Janet said, tapping her chin.

Either she was unaware of how close the boys were to actually fighting, or she was actively ignoring it in favor of staying logical. Eddie would bet all of his money on the latter. Janet really was too smart for her own good.

“As for setting parameters for the third point, I’m not sure how we go about that,” She continued, tapping her chalk against the board as she wracked her brain for potential ideas.

“We don’t. We’ll know it when we see it,” Gareth stubbornly repeated, crossing his arms, “Though I doubt we will. This is just a waste of time.”

Okay. Enough was enough.

“What is your problem with him?!” Eddie shouted, starting the rest of the group. Rocky’s head popped off the table with a gasp, and Jeff immediately stiffened up. They were used to Eddie shouting, used to him raising his voice or getting angry, but that was all play, a show. This was actual anger, and that was scary.

“Where did your problem with him go?” Gareth said, giving as good as he got, “You used to be the first to say that they aren’t us! They’re the enemy! He is literally the face of that enemy! What happened to the Munson Doctrine?!”

Eddie opened his mouth to tell Gareth exactly where he could stick his Munson Doctrine, but before he could, Jeff stood up.

His shoulders were up by his ears, and he looked completely uncomfortable, but Jeff was standing up anyway. A silent look from their bassist took the wind out of both boys’ sails, and they sat back down, tense and on edge.

“Sorry Jeff,” Eddie sighed, pushing down any potential self hatred that wanted to rise up. The two of them knew Jeff’s story, knew why he wasn’t comfortable with angry yelling close to him, and they had done it anyway. Eddie forced himself to take a deep breath, watching as Gareth did the same.

“Yeah, sorry,” Gareth echoed, looking genuinely remorseful.

“This isn’t productive,” Frank pointed out, rolling his chair backwards until it collided with the chalkboard next to where Janet was standing, “I think that we should settle for a compromise. All of the club members agree that Steve can stay. That would at least be enough to be considered a renouncement of some sort, right?,”

“That’s not the same,” Gareth protested.

“Well, seeing as you don’t have a good argument for your checkpoint,” Frank replied, trailing off and waiting to hear if he had anything else to say. When Gareth remained grumpy and silent the rest nodded.

“Okay so, I’ll just write our initials here, and when we decide we’re okay with Steve-”

“If” Gareth interrupted.

“Fine. If we decide that we’re okay with Steve staying, we can cross out our names,” Janet said, miffed at being talked over, but choosing to move past it in favor of keeping the peace.

She quickly began to jot down everyone’s initials, adding Steve’s right at the top just to keep up appearances. Eddie wasn’t exactly sure how they would explain that one, but hopefully Steve wouldn’t ask. He usually didn’t question things around the room unless they were particularly outlandish.

“I’m fine with Steve,” Eddie said the second she wrote his initials.

“We got that one, Eds,” Jeff replied with a good natured eye roll. Now that things were calming down again, he seemed way more relaxed. Janet clicked her tongue anyway, putting a thick white line through the E.M. she had just written.

“I don’t mind him,” Kaiden tacked on. Janet shot him a quick nod, crossing out Kaiden’s initials, and then, surprisingly, her own.

“Janet?” Frank questioned. She shrugged, pausing for a second to ruffle his hair as she continued to write. She was the only one that didn’t see the way Frank’s face went beet red the moment she touched him.

“He’s interesting,” She said, as if that was the only explanation she needed, “I’m a scientist. I like to experiment,”

She finished with Gareth’s ‘G.L-W.’ turning to face the group.

“Anyone else?”

The rest of the club shook their heads, but Eddie couldn’t care less. He was already a third of the way there! And, there was no doubt in his mind that at least a few of them were going to be impressed with Steve’s gameplay today.

After all Steve had been taught by the best.

“Okay so, slightly modified parameters, but-”

“Sorry I’m late!” Steve said as he burst into the room, cutting Janet off.

If she was annoyed at being interrupted a second time, she didn’t let it slip. Instantly, she and Frank were back in their seats, her chalk abandoned, broken in two on the ground. The entire club did their best to look perfectly innocent, a truly terrible job that left them all seeming extremely, extremely, guilty.

The only reason they got away with it was that Steve was way too caught up in rambling and trying to explain himself.

“I’m so sorry, I was trying to get the kids set up in the library, because they want to come to my house after school for a sleepover. Winter break, right? But then they kept asking me question after question, and wanting to come watch me shoot hoops. They never want to watch me shoot hoops! Why now?! I swear this is what I get for letting them use my house to take pictures for the Snow Ball.” Steve groaned, getting stuck in his scarf as he tried to unwind it from around his head.

Eddie laughed softly, getting up and coming around the table, slowly helping Steve get free of his yarn filled prison.

“Are you going to chaperone this Sunday?” Eddie asked. Instantly his mind was filled with the image of Steve in a handsome black suit, a dark red rose sitting in his lapel and perfectly complimenting his ruby lips.

Okay. File that under ‘Things Eddie was never allowed to think about again except when alone in his bedroom’.

“Definitely not. I’m a babysitter, not a chaperone,” Steve said with a smirk, “I’ll let them get ready at my place and have a little after party there, and that should stop them from being arrogant whiny brats for a little while. Hope I didn’t miss anything though,”

Just the rest of the club talking about using him as a human lab rat.

“Nope,” Eddie lied smoothly, pulling Steve’s chair out for him and making a huge grand gesture for him to come sit.

“Welcome to this side of the table,” Kaiden said from his seat across from Steve. Normally Gareth sat on Eddie’s right side, but since the first meeting that Steve had joined, his best friend had regulated himself to the corner as far from Eddie as he could get.

Whatever. That was better anyway. Eddie didn’t care.

(He cared so much more than he wanted to admit.)

“Glad to be here?” Steve said, pulling out the folder Eddie had given him for all of his character sheets and looking around the group nervously.

He didn’t have anything to worry about. Eddie had helped him to build a totally awesome persona.

“It’s hell,” Frank sighed solemnly, patting Steve’s shoulder.

“Hellfire,” Eddie corrected, the rest of the group groaning at his bad pun. He waved off their lack of appreciation for his fantastic word play, perching on his throne and raising a hand.

“I would like to take a moment to recognize that this is a special occasion. We are here to celebrate the birth of Steve’s very first Dungeons and Dragons character,” Eddie said, pausing so the rest could react appropriately.

Sure enough there was a round of foot stomping and table slapping. Steve startled at the noise, but quickly recovered, blushing, but still staring directly at Eddie with those big beautiful browns.

God damn this brave, lovely, completely adorable boy.

“May I introduce the former Prince of the realm, Level One Human Ranger Stefan of Herringtown. Stefan, Welcome to Hellfire,” Eddie said, pausing to give Steve a secretive wink and loving the way that the blush on the other boy’s cheeks traveled to his ears when he did.

Stefan was, arguably, a pretty cool first time character. Steve lingered just on the edge of being a paladin, but he had enough chaotic energy that Ranger seemed to fit him better. He was a loyal to a fault kind of guy who had a habit for picking up strays, a smooth quick talking charm that tended to get him in and out of trouble, and a chip on his shoulder from being exiled from his kingdom.

In short, he was Steve, but dungeons and dragonsified. Perfect for the first play through.

With that settled, Eddie rolled his shoulders, settling himself into his dungeon master character and taking a long breath in.

“Your party is starting off trekking across the frozen tundra,” He began, feeling the mood shift to excitement as the rest prepared themselves for his opener, “Your feet are freezing, and your fingers have gone numb, but you continue on anyway. You have heard tale of an abandoned factory at the highest point of the world- a place littered with treasures and everything a being could ever ask for. You want to see the place for yourselves, and maybe even loot some of the booty.”

Rocky gave a vicious grin at this, chuckling softly to himself. His tiefling rogue was always looking to horde more treasure, and Rocky loved to get into character as quickly as he could. It was fun, it added something to the game.

“You see a building and hurry closer, eager to get out of the biting frost. It is a dark unnatural place with high smoke stacks and mounds of coal sitting all around the entrance. You enter as one without thinking or stopping to check your surroundings, collapsing on the other side and panting to catch your breath. What is your first move, Goren the Great?” Eddie asked, starting on the far side of the table.

Even if he and Gareth weren’t on the best of terms right now, Eddie still wouldn’t want to start a campaign with any other player. It just wouldn't feel right.

“I do a perception check,” Gareth decided. Eddie nodded towards his d8, and Gareth grabbed it, throwing down a seven.

“As a dwarf, you have spent many years hunting through mines for precious gems, so your ability to see in the dark is unparalleled. You can see strange boot shaped bags all around the room, and boxes that are wrapped with twine bows,” He said, watching as their brains began to spin with possibilities.

This was the best part. Watching his players try to figure out exactly what was going on around them was just so fun.

“Well, I have a feeling we may have stumbled upon the right place. I can see treasure from corner to corner,” Gareth remarked, throwing his voice into a growling rumble, perfect for his hardened grizzled character.

“I can’t see anything,” Jeff complained, getting into it.

"That's because you are a stupid elf, and your stupid elf eyesight only works in the day,” Gareth replied, both of them holding back laughter.

“How dare you?! You, you…tiny little man!”

And then they were off, back and forth insults that were cheesy, yet sometimes creative. The club watched in amusement. Even Steve was snickering, and he normally tried to pretend he didn’t exist when it had anything to do with Gareth. Usually Eddie would try and focus the group back in, but he was happy to let them banter for a little while.

This was the kind of fighting they should be doing. This was the Gareth Eddie knew, and getting to see that that guy was still somewhere in this new person was very comforting.

“I am through with your impertinent conclusions,” Jeff huffed in mock exasperation, keeping his voice high and flighty as he did, “I am ready to take my turn, master of the game.”

“Very well,” Eddie said, inclining his head and waiting to hear.

“I open my bag and get out a torch, but I want to hit Goren with my bag as I do it,” Jeff said, the rest of the group immediately bursting into laughter.

“Roll 2 d8. One for hitting him, and one for how much light the torch is going to give you,” Eddie instructed, biting his lip to hide his smile. Jeff let the dice fly, getting an eight and a two respectively.

“As you pull out your torch, you smack Goren right in the face with your bag. Goren loses one hit point,” Eddie said, making a note on his paper.

“Ow!”

“Oh, I am sooo sorry that was completely unintentional.” Jeff gasped sarcastically, holding a hand against his heart and raising his eyes to the sky.

“Goren does not believe you, but he will hold his anger for later,” Eddie said, sliding in smoothly before another ‘argument’ could take place, “You light your torch, but the draft coming in through the broken windows makes the flame flicker and shrink. You can just see the edge of an image drawn on the wall,”

“I want to examine the drawing,” Kaiden jumped in.

“June Iper it is not your turn,” Eddie replied, referring to Kaiden by his character’s name. If they were doing things their normal way, then it would be Kaiden’s turn, but as it was, it was time for Rocky to go.

Kaiden grumbled to himself, then sat up straight. He and Rocky made eye contact for a brief second before quickly scrambling to switch seats.

“Now it is my turn,” Kaiden said, his head held high in victory. Eddie rolled his eyes but allowed it to slide, just happy that the two freshman boys were having a good time. He let Kaiden roll and then continued on, eager to get to the entrance of the main enemy.

“You snatch the torch out of Boz’s hand, scampering up to the wall and holding it as high as you can, which isn’t very high at all,” Eddie pointed out. Kaiden’s character was a gnome, and Eddie never missed a chance to make a short joke at their expense, “The rest of the party can only see what looks like a chariot being dragged by cloven hoofed beasts.”

“Wait a second,” Janet said, her face lighting up in realization. She turned to Eddie with her eyes narrowed, and he schooled himself into a completely innocent expression.

“Yes Miss Ngyet?” He asked innocently, having a feeling she had already guessed where this one shot was going.

“I take the torch from June so we can see better,”

“Is there normally this much torch stealing?” Steve asked softly as Janet rolled, quirking his head to the side as he gave Eddie a raised brow. Before Eddie could respond, Frank interrupted.

“Hey, you’re on our side now,” Frank said, nudging their arms together, “Ask us your questions,”

“Oh, sorry,” Steve apologized, turning towards Frank.

Behind Steve’s back, Eddie gave Frank a grateful little smile. Sure, he was probably only being nice to Steve right now because Janet had said she was okay with him, but Eddie would take any kind of progress. Frank gave Eddie a short nod, and they settled back into their roles, continuing the game.

“With Miss Ngyet’s extra height you can all see the full mosaic. Gasping in horror you finally recognize the picture you’re looking at. A man dressed in robes that are bathed in blood, a stampede of reindeer pulling his sledge. All at once the lights turn on in the factory, blinding you. There’s an ominous laughter from behind. Ho. Ho. HO.” Eddie roared.

More light bulbs around the room as Jeff and Frank both caught on.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Jeff sighed, putting his face in his hands to muffle his laughter. Eddie grabbed the mini figure sitting in front of him, standing up and beginning the monologue he had practiced in front of the mirror all week. Wayne had nearly forced him to go outside to do it after the first few days of never ending repetition.

“Your foe! A man turned God who knows the name of every child in the world, and watches endlessly. This God, who was once a benevolent overlord, loved to shower gifts upon those he deemed good, giving gentle reminders to those he saw being bad. Now he feasts upon the ‘Naughty’ alongside his favorite meal of milk and cookies,” Eddie ominously lowered his voice, coming to stand between Steve and Frank.

Steve leaned backwards and turned his head. Frank did the same.

“Is this what I think it is?” Steve whispered behind Eddie.

“Yes,” Frank whispered back.

“The demonous, the dastardly, the fat…”

Eddie thrust the minifigure down onto the table, standing back as he hollered at the top of his lungs.

“KRIS KRINGLE!”

Eddie had been absolutely, completely, 100%, right.

This was an epic one shot.

After their initial reactions to finding out they were doing battle against Santa of all people, the rest of the club dove into the campaign with glee. Eddie had taken care to create an awesome story filled to the brim with little easter eggs, and they were eating up every bit of it.

There were hypnotically enslaved elves, blood thirsty reindeer, exploding candy canes, even a section where the party had to sing Christmas songs to escape from a platoon of killer carolers.

Yeah he was biased, but Steve’s giggly rendition of WHAM’s new hit song was the best thing Eddie had ever heard in his life.

Speaking of, the biggest shock of the game had to be how well Steve was doing. Eddie had honestly expected to have to subtly take it a little easy on him, but the jock was turning out to be one of the trickiest players he had ever gone up against.

Sure, the math and the writing portion was a bit of a hiccup, but Steve’s strategic thinking was unexpectedly excellent, and he seemed to have a knack for survival. He had quickly made himself an invaluable player, and the rest had accepted him into the fold, if only for now.

And the best part of it all was how much fun Steve was having. The smile on his face was bright, utterly joyful in a way Eddie had only seen once years ago. He had seen Steve smile plenty since then, but it was always quiet, kind of hidden away, like he was scared to show how much he was enjoying himself.

But this was just…happy. Pure, clear, happy, with nothing standing in its way, and Eddie was drinking in the sight like a man in a desert who had found an oasis.

After a grueling four hours, Hellfire had finally managed to kill off the final reindeer (Vixen had gone down in a blaze of glory) and release all of the elves from their mind manacles.

There was just one foe left.

“As the not-so-jolly man with a bag gently lays his last beast on the ground, he looks up at you all with complete rage in his eyes,” Eddie said in a hushed tone, letting things get as quiet as possible before exploding into sound.

“Naughty! You are All on my naughty list!” Eddie declared, slapping his hand on the table before standing and reaching over his binder to point, “You! And You! And You! And-”

“Steve?”

Eddie paused mid monologue, his finger still hovering in the air directed at Janet. All of them turned around as one, facing their new intruder.

Little Red was in the doorway, staring back at them with big eyes. A mischievous grin quickly overtook her face and she opened the door wide, crossing her arms and smugly jutting her chin out at her babysitter.

“Shooting hoops, huh?”

“Max? Why are you here? Where are the boys?” Steve asked, quickly getting up from the table and coming to her side. The anxiety coloring his tone was unexpected, and Eddie felt himself wilt a little as all of Steve’s walls seemed to have pulled back up in a snap.

“Down the hall. We’re fine,” Max said, quickly reassuring him and dropping her act. Steve relaxed for a second, but then stiffened once more as she peeked her head around his side. She waved, and the rest of the group waved back.

“Shooting hoops,” She repeated, raising a brow, “You know, Steve, I’ve never played basketball, but it looks a lot more like Dungeons and Dragons than I expected it too,”

“How long have you known?” Steve sighed.

“That you were lying?” Max asked for clarification, “The whole time. You’re a bad liar, and Billy just couldn’t shut up about how you were benched from playing, and he was going to be the one leading the team now. I wasn’t expecting you to be doing this though. I thought you were meeting up with a girl.”

“I’ll pay you real money to not tell the others,” Steve said, completely serious.

Max tapped on her chin, a move that was so reminiscent of Janet that Eddie had to stifle a laugh. He didn’t want to call any attention to himself right now, too invested in seeing how this would all play out.

“How much?” She asked, giving him a shrewd eye.

“Five bucks?” Steve offered, sounding slightly desperate.

Max hummed, making faces as she pretended to consider it.

“Not enough,” She finally decided with a cute little shrug, sticking her head into the hallway and shouting for the boys to come.

A stampede of footsteps and hollering began in the distance and Steve groaned, shooting Max a look of utter betrayal before turning to pout at Eddie.

“Lord, help me,” Steve sighed.

“Nay, I shan't. Lord Kringle has deemed you naughty, Stefan, there is no hope for you now,” Eddie replied, shaking his head. Steve did not seem at all amused by this, but the rest of the club was chuckling, exchanging wry little grins.

“Oh, are we about to meet Harrington’s famous children?” Kaiden wondered aloud, already knowing the answer.

“Don’t,” Steve warned with zero heat in his voice, seemingly already resigned to what was about to happen. He was rubbing at his temple, his eyes shut with a look of pure exhaustion on his face.

Max patted him twice on the arm before coming over to look at the board, looking over Steve’s character sheets with glee.

“Hey Little Red,” Eddie said.

“Hi, Steve’s friend,” She replied with a smirk, “You guys are gonna have fun watching this,”

Before anyone could ask what she meant, a veritable horde of boys burst into the room. They were once again all talking over each other, but this seemed to just be the way the boys communicated. Dustin, Lucas, and Mike all stayed crowded around Steve yelling at him, while Will began to look around.

Max quietly whistled, jerking her head and catching Will’s attention. He obediently trotted over, and she showed him what she had found, both of them exchanging quiet whispers that even Eddie couldn't make out over the other kids shouting.

“Why are you not in the library?” Steve griped, managing to raise his voice above theirs.

“We finished our campaign and got bored. You’re taking forever, we’re hungry, and we want to see El,” Mike whined, crossing his arms and glaring at his babysitter.

“What are you doing anyway?” Dustin asked, trying to look around Steve.

“Nothing,” Steve said quickly, pushing Dustin’s head back in front of him, “Get out. I’ll come get you guys in like an hour, or you can walk back to your own houses,”

“Who are they?” Lucas wondered, ignoring Steve’s minor threat. Everyone in the room already knew how hollow it was, “This is definitely not the gym,”

Eddie was sure Steve had some sort of excuse, something he had cooked up to explain why he was here, but he was not eager to hear it. Sure, Eddie understood why Steve might have wanted to have something that was ‘just his’ (or, at least, he respected it), but the rest of the club wouldn’t. They would definitely think Steve was trying to hide the fact that he knew them, and that would reinforce everything Gareth was saying.

No matter what, this was not going to go down well, and would probably erase any progress that had been made.

Luckily for both of them, Will Byers decided that this was the moment to speak up.

“Steve?” Will said, catching everyone’s attention, “Are you…playing DnD?”

Tension thick as a thousand page novel blanketed them all. Dustin gasped in an extremely melodramatic fashion, and Mike blew past Steve, storming over and slamming his hands down on the table, making all of the figures tremble. Steve seemed lost for words, turning back to give Eddie a ‘help me’ look of terror.

So, Eddie did what he did best.

He caused a little chaos.

“Why yes, young small one, he is playing Dungeons and Dragons,” Eddie said with a tricky grin, loving the explosion of mayhem that came right after,

Tag List: @paopaupaus @zerokrox-blog @surferboyzaza @whatever-is-a-good-name @minjintea @addelyin @5ammi90 @hagbaby420 @shinekocreator @bornonthesavage @starxlark @electrick-marionnett @resident-gay-bitch @ash-a-confused-enby @classicdinosaurdeathpose @valon-whomsttf @rotten-lil-goblin @thereindeerlady @love-ya-kash @kerlypride @sparkle-fiend @thefreakandthehair @flowercrowngods @milf-harrington @sadcanadianwinter @gothbat99 @hotcocoaharrington @henderdads @lightwoodbanethings @colorful565 @h0n3y-dw @craterbbox @sourw0lfs @lesliiieeeee @bidisastersworld @tinynebula @ravnlinn @bonescaro @mexmatch @cottagecoredreams @joruni @hellykelly @maegan1116 @farewell-wanderlvst @desertfern @due-to-the-fact-that-im-a-slut @anythingforourmoonyedits @eerielake @fandemonium-takes-its-toll @sidekick-hero

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britcision · 3 months

Text

Alright, it’s time to talk about Lycion and dysmorphia and being a trans allegory

Because… yeah, I think a lot of people can really relate to being scared of mirrors because you hate everything you see in them, and going to extreme lengths to get a body you love

It’s not a complicated allegory

But, and I think this is pretty important and possibly more useful to the trans community than declaring him ours and trans… dysmorphia and dysphoria are not exclusive to trans people

They’re not even particularly related to any part of the body; it can be any part of it

And like 15 years ago when I was learning about trans issues and shit, I went and did a little research, because I eat knowledge. And y’know what fully settled any questions I had?

Found a case about a lady with what is currently being called body integrity/identity disorder, which is basically dysmorphia so severe that people have otherwise healthy limbs amputated to be able to live life in a body they can stand

This lady got both legs fully amputated, got a wheelchair, and became a pillar of her community where before she was almost bed bound

And y’know what, if that’s a thing that can happen and we can all agree that removing her legs was integral to her health, y’know what seems completely trivial by comparison?

Every gender affirming surgery ever

And y’know what is even more trivial?

All the other transition measures that have nothing to do with surgery, like hormones, puberty blockers, and social transitioning

Being trans has become a super political idea for basically no reason whatsoever, but it’s harder to maintain that ideology if you learn about things like dysphoria and dysmorphia as just medical conditions that absolutely anyone can get, and then look at what that means for gender dysphoria

Cuz if peoples’ brains can decide an entire limb has Got To Go then yeah, they’re probably also capable of deciding “that pronoun is Wrong” and we can take that just as seriously; it’s a much easier fix and also free

Basically I’m saying Lycion is our gateway drug cuz if you can understand this elf hates his body so hard he became a werewolf about it, are you really gonna throw a fit over someone getting a packer?

None of this to say you can’t or shouldn’t headcanon him as trans (and unless it comes directly and unambiguously from Ryoko Kui it’s a headcanon, nothing wrong with that it’s what fanon is for)

Just, y’know. Sound folks out on him without mentioning that part right away for your own safety and possibly entertainment 😁👉👉

Oh and super important: he’s not canonically cis either. Pretty sure it was just never specified. Enjoy and apply this knowledge across every character ever whose assigned birth gender isn’t brought up in canon

The thing Lycion definitely is in canon is a goddamn furry and an otherkin allegory, and arrested for awoo crimes. He’s one of only 5 characters in the Adventurer’s Bible with a stated gender (the others being Otta, Kaka, Kiki, and Inutade - everyone else has pronouns but no gendered nouns in English at least)

(Lycion’s “definitely a man” - or “definitely male” in the official translation, which technically excludes him from the gendered committee altogether)

You are, of course, welcome to disregard canon in all things you do - I personally encourage it, it’s much more fun to play in the space and do your own thing, and Dunmeshi has deliciously efficient story telling; there is so much empty space to play in

#delicious in dungeon #dungeon meshi #dungeon meshi spoilers #lycion #lycion dungeon meshi #trans thoughts #body dysmorphia #gender dysphoria #dysphoria #dysmorphia #everyone’s all about trans headcanons but when you mention theirs is just a cis headcanon… 👀#canon is limited and a suggestion at best #headcanons and fanons are free and wild #my personal headcanon is that lycion absolutely will not have sex in elf shape cuz he hates it #you’re not obligated to join me but are welcome nonetheless 😏#yeah this means he does need to text a guard every time but so does fleki when she gets high and familiars #and that’s canon that she does it #so i just think he would #and mithrun’s not gonna say no #but it’s funnier if he texts pattadol and plays his dysmorphia card and just doesn’t say why he wants to change #anyway hi i am super normal and totally a great person to have in your fandom who will not go super deep on wild tangents #definitely not making knotting jokes in the background shhhhh #i personally am devoid of gender but y’all that have one or more seem to like em

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klbwriting · 4 months

Text

Surface Tension

Chapter 6: Silence

Fandom: Aquaman

Pairing: Ormxfemale!Reader

Warnings: Just...sadness

Summary: Everything falls apart

Notes: no song this time, comments/critiques appreciated

Taglist: @hyperagitatedcydonian13 @gabrieleskywalker @philiasoul @duchcess

Y/N thought when everything ended there would be music. Some strings to make it seem sad, but with a soft crooning trumpet, to sound hopeful, like everything would be ok in the end. Instead, her world was ending in silence, a quiet so loud she didn’t hear the beginning of Aria’s tirade. She finally came out of her stupor to see Aria staring between her and Orm, taking in the food, his disheveled clothes, putting everything together in her head.

“How dare you?” Aria demanded, staring at Y/N like she didn’t recognize her. Y/N just shook her head. “When Dean came home and told me who Oren actually was, I thought maybe I was mistaken, maybe he was mistaken, but he’s not. That’s not some surface dweller with a resemblance, that is Orm, the tyrant king we all hated.” Y/N looked at Orm then, seeing him doing the equation, figuring out things now.

It made sense now, why she was so understanding of him, why she didn’t react to his quirks the way other surface dwellers did. She was Atlantian, and apparently so was her friend Aria. Orm looked at Y/N and saw the stricken look on her face, but he just felt, numb.

“He’s not a tyrant…” Y/N was able to get out, looking back to Aria. “He’s different now…” It sounded so lame, so childish, but she didn’t know what else to say. Aria’s eyes flamed.

“He almost killed Dean! If you weren’t there 5 years ago when he sent that flood Dean would be dead!” she yelled. “You should go back to where you came from! Get back in a cell and die there like you should have when you were first crowned!”

“Aria GET OUT!” Y/N yelled, unable to stand her talking to him like that. Aria stopped, staring at Y/N for a moment before nodding.

“I hope that dick is worth your integrity,” she said before storming out the door.

Y/N didn’t want to turn around. Afraid of what she’d find. Orm however, was having an even bigger realization. The voice. Her voice that sang him to sleep in his dreams, that voice was the one from coronation day, from the protestors who had tried to assassinate him.

“It was you,” he said finally, voice so quiet she almost didn’t hear him. “You were there, you tried to kill me.” Y/N shook her head violently, looking at him, reaching out and trying to grab his hands. He stepped back, holding them away from her. “Don’t touch me.” She closed her eyes to keep them from leaking.

“No, Orm, no, it wasn’t supposed to be like that. No one was supposed to shoot you. We just wanted your attention, someone to see us and start talking with us about how to help the people in the lower city. Someone to investigate the sickness that killed my father,” she said, trying to explain so he wouldn’t walk away. “Let me explain please.” Despite wanting to leave right then Orm stopped.

“You can try but I’m not sure I’d believe anything you’d say,” he said. She would take it.

“When Hendrix joined us…”

“Hendrix? The councilman?” Orm asked. He remembered something about another noble saying he had infiltrated a terrorist group, finding out their plans to kill the upcoming king but not being able to stop it in time.

“Yes, Hendrix, he wanted to do the protest, said the parade would be the best place to get your attention. I just had to tell them the route…”

“Why would you have the route?” he asked. She said the sickness in the lower city killed her father, but she had survived, which meant noble blood. “Your mother…"

“My mother is Roux Velix and she was the organizer of the parade. I gave them the route, but we only supposed to be singing and then shooting off a cracker loud enough to get you to look and listen,” she said. “Hendrix brought the cracker, I didn’t realize it was an energy pulsar until he was about to fire, then I pushed it, trying to stop him,” she said. Orm shook his head.

“That’s not what it looks like on the footage Hendrix showed us,” he said. She shook her head.

“No, Orm, please I would never hurt you,” she begged, reaching out again. He backed away more, turning towards the door.

“Well too late for that,” he said, opening the door.

“Please stay, talk to me…”

“I don’t even want to look at you right now, leave me alone,” he said before slamming out the door and slamming the door to his place.

Y/N felt her legs go out on her and she was sitting on the floor, where she finally let go, tears running down her face as the quiet sank in again.

Orm needed to get away. He couldn’t be there knowing she was next door. He needed time to think. He needed to talk to someone. Arthur. His brother could help him, give him perspective, maybe even help him see what happened that day. He had always been told that she had tried to shoot him with the help of some other terrorist, but the footage was grainy, and you couldn’t see it clearly then. Maybe the advanced technology would help clear it up now. He grabbed the communicator that he had been given and called his brother, asking him to meet him at Tom’s lighthouse. It wasn’t far, but it was far enough to get him out of town, away from Y/N.

Y/N found herself on the edge of the rocks, looking at the water. She had been terrified the last time she was there, so scared of someone finding her. But now she hoped to find her father in the surf. He would know how to help her, what to say, just like he knew when she was a little girl. She wished that her story about spirits coming back to their family was true and she would feel his arms around her, holding her and telling her Orm would come back. That he would realize so many things were different now. Neither of them was who they once were and together they were better than apart.

She walked to the water, sitting in the surf, and feeling it for the first time in a decade. The salty air immersed into her lungs, and she felt the old pang of home come back to her. She fell into her thoughts, wondering what she could do next, how she could tell Orm she loved him. O God, she loved him, didn’t she? And he wanted nothing to do with her anymore. It was over.

“Well, this is unexpected, I didn’t realize you would make it this easy,” a voice said from behind her, then arms were tangling with her, and she was hauled into the sea.

#orm marius #king orm #ormmarius #orm marius x reader #king orm x reader #kingorm #ormmariusxreader #kingormxreader #ormseries3

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raisans-art · 2 years

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I debated for a bit on whether or not to post this but like… screw it right I’ll just fuckin do it whatever

So someone had sent an ask after turtle art being like “ttzau but tttau (test tube turtles)” and then I thought about it

And thought

And now I got this

So uuuuuh Lou and Draxum are both Warrior scientists who were hired to test human hybridization. The end goal is to hopefully be able to dna splice different species into the human dna to enhance them. They start tests off on turtles instead of humans because Drax argues that it’s more humane. Lou already thinks the job is a bad idea but mans needs that cash money you know? He hates it more once Raph is created and the kid is stuck in a containment tube. Unfortunately he doesn’t have a lot of say in the rearing of the tests since Drax is the lead in the project, Lou is only there to help.

All the turtles slowly start to get to be a bit more human looking as they’re created as Drax integrates more human dna into the turtles. Even gets to the point where Mikey and Donnie weren’t hatched from eggs but were grown in mason jars to maturity. Raph is the most turtle-ly, being slower moving, slower to pick up speech, and water acclimated, and Mikey is the most human of them, even having hair and 5 fingers and toes.

Lou does get them out but I haven’t drawn that yet I’m just enjoying the babies

Also enjoying Lou’s bedazzled and painted lab coat best thing I’ve ever made

Anyway enjoy

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #lou jitsu #baron draxum #raphael rottmnt #leonardo rottmnt #donatello rottmnt #michelangelo rottmnt #rottmnt au #rottmnt art #splinter rottmnt #lab grown turtles au

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f0point5 · 4 months

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wait speak more on why you think bianca’s content is bad for women in motorsport generally bc i agree but would love to hear your perspective

I’m ready to get cooked for this idc

I mean this in relation to her more “fangirl” content and also the way she interacts with fans over fangirling and shipping culture. And I have to say, I don’t think it’s a good look for women in motorsport, because it feeds into the preconception that a lot of people have about more women driving - that the grid will turn into gossip girl, with people dating and relationship drama etc.

By engaging with that sort of stuff and leaning into basically being a “Y/N” it’s giving credence to the idea that women wouldn’t be able to just race alongside these drivers and maintain a professional attitude and the integrity of the sport. Which let’s face it, she isn’t (liking hate tweets, fangirling over Charles, engaging with ship content of her and Ollie).

It’s absolutely not her responsibility to be the fact of women in motorsport, she didn’t ask for that and I’m not putting that on her. However, if you’re a die hard purist fan and all you come across of female driver content is her (she’s the only female driver whose content I’ve come across, for example), I don’t think you would get a great impression of what women would bring to a grid.

And you can say women shouldn’t have to pander to a sexist audience blah blah but the fact is, when you walk into someone else’s house you don’t immediately ask to repaint their walls. Regardless of what you think about the opinions of existing fans, they/we are the people keeping the circus travelling so those opinions do matter. Content like hers is giving female drivers more to combat because it’s backing up these preconceived notions.

#f1 #formula 1

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starrmarr · 3 months

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Sometimes I spend a fairly long time thinking of Rasputin and then I have to stop because why are we like this? Not that anyone asked but let me break it down.

The work I do, glory be to God, involves psychologically healing autistic children as a therapist. I’ve been doing this for almost 3 years now as I work towards my master’s degree. I’m really good at what I do, I’ve had allegedly nonverbal children count from 1-10 with me. I’ve worked with prodigious children with social issues, “severe” children with sensorial issues, French-speaking and Spanish-speaking homes, you name it! They love Miss Mia and do what she says. Yesterday the super rich/famous parents of my private client called me “Mother Teresa” because I was able to make their son, who rejects water, drink about a liter in the time we spent together, among other things. They also say I’m a gift from God. Didn’t the Tsars of Russia say this to Rasputin for the work he did on their son? Hmm.. Everything I do in this life has a bizarre mystic undertone. I’ve learned to manage currents but I still have so much work to do, it gets hard sometimes. It makes me crazy. And no I’m not a fucking “empath”, stop that shit.

Love-wise, I’m an irresistible force, sometimes I think there’s a certain hypnosis going on. These hoes do what I say, sometimes I feel bad for them. Rasputin saw all the women around him turn into his fiends. Not to mention the practices I do outside of my job, my insanely complex spirituality and how I see God everywhere and integrate everything into my practice, with my starting point being culturally influenced, just like the mad monk. I understand people even if they think I’m weird. It’s fine. When I worked as a medium, no one taught me how and so many people loved me, it’s the same with my herbal work and laying on of hands. I could go even deeper but I’ll probably end up writing an essay. I’ll also sound cocky and I hate that. None of this is me, it’s all God. Seriously. Ra-Ra Rasputin!

#try to poison me I dare you

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alexanderlightweight · 11 months

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Thank you again for answering my ask last week. I absolutely love that you included Nephilim wings in it. I adore your lore around those and seeing the importance of the gifted feather. The most fragile of poisons is a wonderful 'verse and I'm excited to see more of it, so for Writing Wednesday:

Alec keeping Magnus physically close, tucked up in his wings, so he can better see to his needs/dote on him/protect him and Magnus reveling in being given this place of honor and being close to his boy

yes! i loved filling it! so happy to do more

so here we go and i hope you enjoy it!

lumine

Alec shuffles on Magnus’ balcony and dusts the first layers of snow from his wings. He’s making a mess all over Magnus’ home and he scowls, trying to figure out how to clean it up.

“Oh darling, I have magic for that.” Magnus says, something sweet in his voice and before Alec can protest, he snaps his fingers. He doesn’t waver and for all Alec knows, cleaning magic could be effortless. Still, with how the shadowworld is acting lately and with how many dangers keep popping up, he’d rather Magnus save his magic.

“You don’t need to exert yourself.” Alec reminds him, hand going out to cup Magnus’ own hand with his own. “I don’t mind a little cleaning if it means saving your magic for when you need it.”

Magnus makes a soft noise and then Alec is being backed into the door. It rattles against his spine but any thoughts of structural integrity flee when Magnus bites his bottom lip.

It’s instinctive, to open his mouth and let the whining complain he has slip free. It’s awful, how mean Magnus is being because Alec can feel and hear him chuckling against the corner of his mouth. His lips tender and his teeth sharp as they teased at Alec’s jaw.

“Magnus—” Alec gets out, not sure if he’s trying to remind Magnus that they’re still outside and then, because he doesn’t want Magnus getting cold, he wraps his wings around them both.

Magnus will be warm under Alec’s wings and they can keep kissing, both things that Alec is pleased by.

It also means that once again, Alec can relax knowing that Magnus is safe under his reach.

—

Alexander is like a large cat, if cats had feathers of course, Magnus muses.

Alexander is starved for touch and attention and while he tries not to be obvious, it’s clear that he’s desperate to be able to depend on someone. Magnus intends to be that for him, once he figures out how gentle his boy properly of course. Right now, Alexander is too skittish to fully trust him.

Alexander is still too hesitant, too careful of burdening Magnus just yet, but Magnus will get him there in the end.

Right now, he’s amused by Alexander curiously pacing around Magnus’ primary lair. He’d already made sure it could accommodate the width and height of Alexander’s wings and from the pink of Alexander’s neck, he’s noticed.

Magnus pats the small table on the floor and the cushions around it. Alexander sits and looks at the food, curiously wary as he carefully sniffs the air and then looks at Magnus in exasperation.

“Is there a reason there is every kind of edible fowl on this table, Magnus?”

“Indulge me in a spot of cannibalism?” Magnus asks, unable to help himself when Alexander’s scowl turns into a pout and his boy huffs, rolling his eyes as he blatantly ignores Magnus’ glee. “Alright, I’m sorry darling. This was a bit mean of me,” from the twitching of Alexander’s lips, it’s not truly hated. “I will suggest the duck for you, hmm?”

Alexander nods and reaches out, mouth opening to no doubt ask a question and instead Magnus picks up a spoon and feeds him a bite. Alexander blinks at him in surprise before carefully chewing and then, with a very put out sigh, he opens his mouth again.

Magnus is curious just how much he can milk out of Alexander doting on him so much, because it’s quickly becoming his favorite pastime.

“Can I bring you breakfast?” Magnus asks, because Alexander is going to need to leave him soon and Magnus isn’t happy or ready for that just yet.

“Should you be coming to the Institute so much?” Alexander asks and his wings hesitantly press up to Magnus. “Is that safe for you?”

“I’m quite sneaky when I want to be.” Magnus assures him, leaning into the feathers that are ruffling against him sweetly. “You let me worry about getting to you and you just keep your hunters in line, hmm pretty boy?”

Alexander scowls, the way he always does when Magnus teases him about how gorgeous he finds him. Then, his boy gives a soft smile and leans forward to kiss Magnus’ cheek.

It’s so damn endearing that Magnus reminds himself not to ruin this for himself when he just wants to grab Alexander and portal them away.

Once again, Magnus wears a low, open shirt with Alexander’s feather resting against his skin. It makes several shadowhunter swallow with envy and look away, not daring to glare at him.

They don’t know who Magnus is, they only know he has their leaders favor and they loathe him for it with jealousy, not contempt.

It’s a pleasant change and Magnus smirks as he walks past them and to Alexander’s office, pleased to note that the minute he’s seen someone is opening Alexander’s door.

Rain from Berlin still coats Magnus face and Alexander is hurrying across the room, feathers reaching out to flutter over Magnus’ face. It’s incredibly intimate and there are at least two other witnesses but his boy doesn’t pull away.

Magnus summons the food directly to the middle table and then he kneels next to it and pats his thighs, smirking at Alexander.

Magnus is given a dry look but Alexander joins him all the same, kneeling and letting his wings spread out rather than pulling them in. It means that Magnus is resting against powerful, soft feathers while Alexander slowly eats the protein heavy curry that Magnus got him. He seems ravenous and his wings tremble in little exhausted shakes around him.

Magnus understands better now just why nephilim wings are considered so intimate. So much of alexander’s body is betraying him with letting Magnus know what it wants and needs. It’s with careful, firm hands that Magnus starts to shake out the various feathers and when Alexander goes still, cautious over his bowl, Magnus says nothing

Slowly, Alexander offers more and more access to his wings and even lifts them up, baring access to his primary feathers, eating carefully as Magnus twists him this way and that.

#lumine writes #writing wednesday #the most fragile of poisons #shadowhunters #malec #magnus bane #alec lightwood #writing wednesdays

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michaelsfavgirl · 14 days

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boo, you’ve inspired me a lot and I fr want to start writing Michael imagines but I’m scared that I’m not gonna have motivation, no one’s gonna read them, and that I’m just gonna flop completely 😭😭

can you pretty please give me some advice if you can bc babes idk 😭🙏

Omg that’s wonderful!! Don’t be scared, the mj fanfic side of the fandom was literally non existent on here when I first posted my fics and now look there’s more of us <3 We need more mj writers!!

Listen you really have to get the thoughts of “no one’s gonna read them, they’re gonna flop blah blah” out your head, and I know it’s hard but trust me the best way to KILL your motivation is by relying on external validation. Of course I’m not gonna sit here and say that people reblogging and commenting on fics won’t give you more motivation to write but that can’t be the only reason/source. So try to remind yourself that you’re doing this for yourself, for fun, as a hobby etc.

Now when it comes to writing advice, first find out what style of writings you’re most comfortable with and length. Do you think you’ll prefer to write a few thousand words or shorter fanfictions? Do you want to write one-shots, headcanons or drabbles? Try to experiment more or less with all to see what you’re best at.

Then, if a blank page intimidates you (I relate) try to just word vomit all your ideas/things you want to mention in your fic, like a little summary. To make this even less intimidating use the text to speech button and just start yapping. Then you’ll be able to use that as some sort of guideline.

While writing try to include both mikes and readers/ocs perspective, even if you’re writing from the first point of view. (Btw I’d recommend using the second or third pov, but you can do whatever feels more natural) this will make the readers feel more connected to the story and want to continue reading. Also don’t waste time by being too descriptive about things that don’t add much to the story, there’s no need to describe the outfits, or morning routines before your characters meet up yk, unless it’s necessary/integral to the plot.

When it comes to writing dialogue (if you’re gonna go for Mike) try to recall his interviews and the way he speaks, use similar language and even phrases/words to make the conversation feel more natural. Trust me most people hate when the dialogues seem unrealistic and fake, it shouldn’t feel like reading about your own oc who just has mikes appearance and name, if that makes sense.

#I’m not the best at writing #so these are just things that have helped me #if you got more questions feel free to ask away #annie’s calling #advice #writing advice #one shot #fanfiction #fanfic #headcanon #drabble

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henreyettah · 1 year

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bestie i'm so sick and tired of queerbaiting so before I read the locked tomb is there an actual gay romance between that oversized butch blonde and the skeleton lesbian or will i be left yearning? thank u in advance !! <3

Ok so obviuosly there’s gonna be spoilers here. There’s a very short and concise summary about my thoughts on this at the bottom, if you wanna avoid being spoiled (I’ve tried to keep the spoil to a minimum)

So what you need to understand is that yes, there is romance. ISH. The series isn’t about romance, so it isn’t the main focus at all. Big Butch (Gideon) and Skeleton Lesbian (Harrow) have grown up hating eachother; Gideon has hated Harrow because Harrow has both represented and been an integral part of a system that has kept Gideon prisoner in a dying society, and Harrow has hated Gideon because Harrow hasn’t been able to understand Gideon (Gideon should have died a bunch of years ago, but she didn’t, and it freaked Harrow and her parents tf out).

But they come to this realization that they’re each other’s person. They’re in a new environment, in a new dynamic, away from home, and things are collapsing around them, people are dying. And they have a short period of time when they come to understand each other, they’re a unit. And then they collapse too.

Gideon dies. Harrow, in an attempt to survive this loss (and also to stop her soul from absorbing Gideons, due to death magic) has an even MORE skeleton lesbian (Ianthe) perform lobotomy on her so she won’t remember Gideon. But Gideon has already been a bit absorbed, and is living is the back of Harrows brain. She’s stuck there for almost a year, while Harrow is having the worst time dodging Ianthe’s (sorta) unwanted advances and “Ortus”, god’s friend who keeps trying to murder her. While this is happening, Gideon comes to terms with the fact that she is in love with Harrow. She’s watching Harrow go through life being a wet stinky rat of a necromancer, with no memory of Gideon, and Gideon loves her.

The kicker is that Gideon thinks Harrow had her brainjob because she was grossed out by having Gideons soul in her, and wanted to forget about Gideon because of the yuck.

Due to circumstances, Harrow dies too, and Gideon pilots her body while Harrow roams the afterlife. She regains her memories of Gideon, and Gideons death, and decides that she’d rather have Gideon keep living in her body, alive, than live in a world without Gideon.

After that, a bunch of stuff happens, Gideon gets back into her own body, some other lady takes over Harrows for a while, and Harrow takes a well deserved soul-nap before eventually getting back into her body again. The latest book in the series ends with Gideon declaring that she still wants to be by Harrows side, even after Harrow gets kissed by an eldritch horror with the face of Barbie.

Summary:

There’s a lot of layers to this, but yeah they love each other. They’re idiots who can’t communicate for shit, but they both die for each other and then help each other back to life. The series is about love, and what it does to a person. I’m not gonna lie and say there’s romance, because there isn’t (not in the traditional sense), but there is love.

Also, they are lesbians. By default, it cannot be queerbait. They're queer, wether or not they end up together -- which I think they will, just to be clear, but even if they don't it doesn't erase the fact that they're queer. So it actually can't be queerbaiting.

#hope this helps #anon #griddlehark #ask #tlt #this felt messy and is probably more than you were expecting lmao

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romirola · 8 months

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HI ROMI! I just finished reading chapter 8 of Balancing Act and can I just say, Babe and Darlin’s friendship is so heavily underrated and we should definitely talk about it more BECAUSE THEY ARE SO ‼️‼️‼️‼️💞💞💞💞💞 BFFS!!!!! 🤞🤞🤞🤞

Also, I love the technique you used with the “(Name) couldn’t help but feel like out of everyone, they/he had gotten the short end of the Exchange Ritual stick” thing, it really emphasizes how much everyone feels the same with the current situation they’re in 🥺 I hope they’ll be able to figure things out soon, but I’m so glad they all have each other to rely on (pack dynamics make me feel all fuzzy inside)! You did amazing with this chapter Romi and I’ll be eagerly waiting for the next one!!! 💗💗💗

Hi, Anon! Thank you so much for reading and reaching out to let me know you enjoyed the latest chapter of Balancing Act! I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed. Babe and Darling make such a good pair of friends. I love the chance to imagine them just chilling together, sometimes enjoying shared interests/activities, and other times choosing to try something new to spend time with the other because they want to spend time together and accommodate their friend.

You are a careful reader to pick up on that repetitive phrase! Thank you so much for catching it. I enjoy weaving little parallels and callbacks into longer fics like this one. Rest assured, you'll be seeing that pop up throughout future chapters of the fic. I can't wait to share more with you soon! In fact, since you wrote such a kind ask and mentioned that phrase, here's a super-short sneak peek of one place that phrase recurs in the next chapter (which heavily features David and Sweetheart.)

Today, however, even hanging out in one of their favorite poses wasn’t helping. It wasn’t helping at all. Sweetheart didn’t know how much longer they could stand to be like this. Their aura, and their many magical abilities, had been snatched away from them without so much as a warning. In its place was a core that was comparatively untrained and unhelpful. As a member of D.U.M.P.’s Telepathic Oversight Team, Cutie was considered a civilian employee and, thus, wasn’t subject to the Full Certification requirement like Sweetheart was. Cutie was certainly a powerful telepath, which Sweetheart already knew. What they didn’t know was how integral control and restraint were to telepathic powers. It took an active effort from a telepath, especially a master telepath such as Cutie, not to enter others’ minds or to project their own thoughts. Sweetheart was used to magical conjuring as being the act that took willful intention. This was something else entirely.

And Sweetheart hated it. They hated every part of it. They hated having to spend all their time keeping their thoughts to themselves. They hated not being able to reach for the variety of elemental, energetic, and warding powers. They absolutely hated not being able to reach for their ‘stealthitude’, either. They missed their core, and everything that came along with it. Although Sweetheart knew deep in their heart that everyone was struggling with the effects of the Exchange Ritual, their empathizing with their packmates didn’t change the fact that as the most practiced magic-user, Sweetheart felt like they had the most to lose. It wasn’t fair. How could everything they had worked so hard for be gone, just like that, with no guarantee that it would ever return?

Sweetheart couldn’t help but feel like out of everyone, they had gotten the short end of the Exchange Ritual stick.

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #redactedverse #redacted fanfiction #redacted power swap #redacted darling #redacted darlin #redacted babe #redacted sweetheart #thank you!#que be doo be doo #redacted shaw pack #redacted cutie

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cassipedia · 4 months

Text

Review of Migration (2023)

Hey, Cassipedia, what’re you watching?

Over the weekend, I watched the film Migration. It is an original animated film directed by Benjamin Renner and co-directed by Guylo Homsy and produced by Illumination. When I say original, I do mean it, as it is the first movie I’ve seen in a while that is not an adaption nor based on a pre-existing property.

Do you recommend watching it?

Yes, very much so! This was a surprising experience that I would hate for others to miss out on. The commercials had piqued my interest with the beautiful animation of the flying scenes and the jokes seemed harmless enough. Sometimes I am wary of Illumination films as they can be sometimes a bit too noisy or chaotic, but I’m very glad I saw the movie anyways, as it was surprisingly heartwarming, very cute and stunningly gorgeous (and, contrary to my concerns, it actually uses quiet moments better than most animated films I’ve seen recently!)

What's the story like?

This is a story about the Mallard family, ducks that live a peaceful and simple life in their pond, until a flock of migrating ducks stirs an adventurous itch in everyone except the nervous father, Mack. However, he soon comes around to the idea as he realizes how much an adventure would mean to his family and especially his wife Pam. So they start flying to Jamaica for a vacation. The trailers for the movie spoils the fact that the ducks take a wrong turn and end up in New York City, but the story is less focused on ‘duck shenanigans in an unfamiliar place’ and it instead is more of a road trip with a seamlessly integrated villain. This road trip allows the Mallard family to see different locations and meet different birds, all the while the family grows closer, trusting each other and growing braver in their own ways. There are delightful moments of silliness that are reminiscent of Looney Toons, but the movie takes seriously how much the family loves each other, giving them a reason to grow together as strong and beautifully as the trees they fly over.

What does the movie look like?

Think of how beautiful the sky is. Have you ever been on a plane and looked out at the sloping mountains and pillars of white clouds? Or perhaps, as the sun sets, you look up see how the red sun fades into golden orange blanketed by increasingly purple clouds and the approach of blue night? This movie understands how beautiful the sky is and elevates that feeling, as our bird characters soar and fly through vibrant forests, to a claustrophobic but intriguing water-logged shed, to the shiny and colossal skyscrapers of New York. The settings are gorgeous and the characters themselves are animated masterfully, so each character is incredibly expressive, with the beauty and grace of real-life birds mixed with Muppets-style comedic timing and cartoon stretchiness anchored by being able to carry heavy emotions. This all goes hand-in-hand whenever the birds take flight, as the camera seamlessly follows the birds from take-off to being air born, giving the thrill of a flying rollercoaster. There is such a sense of scale and height, and the world is from the birds’ perspective, with little details that brought me back to the creativity of early Pixar, such as having the father duck blow away a lightning bug nightlight like blowing out a candle, or how the birds will seamlessly alternate between their wings or their feet to gesture. With the movie being from the perspective of the birds, that means none of the human characters talk, being more like creatures existing alongside the bird characters, and this results in a very entertaining and interesting villain in the form of a duck chef with a Yakuza, gang member level of intimidation, whom never utters a word beyond grunts and yells paired with very well-made expressions. To give an idea of how good the animation is, even though the chef has no lines, from simply how he moves, sharpens his knives and looks at the ducks, one can see how, he’s a chef that takes his cooking very seriously, demanding high quality, but, when the ducks start interfering with his business, then he’s all too happy to start seeking revenge. And he is technically only a fun obstacle as the core of the story that this beautiful movie conveys is not about them versus a villain, but instead focused on a family.

How are the actors and actresses?

Every voice perfectly fit their characters, and the animations did excellent in having it where I could feel the characters talking, watching how their beaks formed the words with little flashes of their pointed, bird tongues. The father Mack Mallard was voiced by Kumail Nanjiani and did excellent as an anxious father who could get silly and serious, (and whose manner of speaking fittingly reminded me of a more grounded Daffy Duck). Elizabeth Banks voiced Pam Mallard and delivered as a mother with energy and eagerness paired by a snappy quick wit and a genuineness in each word. One of the cores of this movie is seeing and hearing how Mack and Pam fall back in love with each other over the course of the film, and I believe these voice actors delivered. The rest of the family cannot be overlooked, as Caspar Jennings as Dax Mallard provides a great performance as a courageous young boy who is itching for adventure. Dax is full of bravery but lacks the knowhow on how to protect himself along with others, whereas his father Mack is an excellent survivor but needs to be urged out of his comfort zone to truly become brave. The lesson between them is not simply one is right and the other is wrong, but it is a sharing of perspectives, in which the boy’s bravery inspires the father, and the father’s wisdom equips the boy against their obstacles. I was most concerned of the family member Uncle Dan, voiced by Danny DeVito, as to if he would be an unpleasant tagalong as sometimes happens in these movies, but he quickly established himself as someone who, though he makes quips and seems to lean on his self-interest, he never, ever hesitates to dote on and play with his darling niece, the youngest Mallard, Gwen, who is voiced adorably by Tresi Gazal. Notably, the film makes a point to show that the family already loves one another at the start, but their trip lets them appreciate each other and push their boundaries and discover more of themselves. The other voice talent are more than just recognizable celebrity names and each fit their characters, providing a distinct and colorful cast as one would hope from a road trip type movie. The Herons were my favorites in setting the tone of characters not always being what they seemed in an intriguing way, but each played a role in furthering the family’s journey and usually closed their loop on their own personal journey. The only group of these characters that may feel underexplored are the migrating ducks that inspire the Mallards on their journey in the first place, but I think it is due to the other characters simply having more screentime, as I’ve no doubt these characters would have been just as entertaining as the rest of the cast if they had been given more time.

Is the music worth talking about?

This is not a musical, but the score is absolutely a big part in why the scenery and so many of the moments in this movie sticks out in my mind so vividly. If you listen carefully, you will hear how the music changes depending on the setting. While the Mallards are in the forest, there is an emphasis on using a whimsical choir, adding to the lighthearted feeling, and as they enter the city, unsure of what it even is at first, the music takes on an ethereal, almost dream-like quality that one isn’t quite sure what to make of, until the ducks pass through the smog and nearly run into a steel beam and suddenly you got energetic and chaotic brass instruments banging in as the Mallards are caught in a whirlwind of New York City hustle and bustle. My words really can’t do it justice. And it is worth noting, there is only one distinct instance of a pop song being used in the movie and it is incorporated quite well as a band in a scene plays that song, resulting in a surprisingly beautiful display of ducks engaged in a Salsa dance. The movie is very smart with its music, as it furthers the immersion of seeing this colorful world through these cartoon ducks’ eyes. There are also great moments of quiet and silence, as the movie will also let the atmosphere talk for itself, really letting you sink into it (though it is worth noting that, for the opening of the Universal and Illumination logos, these are the complete opposite and are the noisiest parts of the entire film as the Minion characters from Despicable Me introduce the logos with kazoos. And if you are watching the film in theaters, you may find yourself sitting a surprisingly long time watching a short film based in the Despicable Me universe called ‘Mooned’ but rest assured, you did not walk in on the wrong movie and I very much encourage you not to leave your seat as I overheard many others in the theater seats next to me nearly did.)

Who would like this movie most?

If you are someone that likes birds or the sensation of being high up in the air or on a rollercoaster, I very much urge you to check out this movie. It is also a film that I think would be very enjoyed by those whom are interested in animation and illustration, to see an excellent example of how colors and movement can truly be blended to dazzle in a movie format. The story and characters are well-written and compelling for any age, though I think this movie would be well-received by families, especially as this film strives to show how a family grows closer together. There is a clever, timelessness to the jokes that focus more on the situation on hand and when you have animal characters reflecting on human habits, such as when one of the birds refers to a chef as ‘a predator that hunts prey and serves it to much lazier predators.’ During one of my viewings of the film, I had the pleasure of a family of a broad range from the parents, to their parents to young boys all sitting near me, and it caught my ear that each generation consistently laughed throughout the course of the film.

Where can I watch it?

This film is available in theaters for only a little bit longer at the time of writing this, but I heavily recommend seeing it in theaters at least once. Not only so you can really soak in the colors and the scope of the heights as the birds fly, but also so you can better feel the thrusting of wings as the birds take to the sky and the wind rushes through their feathers. It is an incredible experience. Considering it is an animated movie, it is possible it may re-appear in theaters for kids movie special offers as theaters like the Marcus Theaters sometimes provide. Otherwise, if this review reaches you too late, the film is available for streaming on Peacock for the first four months of being released, then will move to Netflix for the next ten, and then will return to Peacock for the remaining four, so I recommend checking between those streaming services of Peacock and Netflix. Otherwise, it doesn’t hurt to keep an eye out for a physical copy.

Final thoughts?

Migration is a beautiful film that I think can very easily fit in as a classic film, one that focuses on bringing a family together through a fun and colorful adventure. At the very least, it was a pleasure to watch in theaters as a visual rollercoaster, especially for the bird lover in me, and I hope, after its theatrical release that it will make its way into homes as it made its way into my heart. If you’re up for an adventure, then I completely encourage taking the dive.

#migration #migration 2023 #illumination #duck movie #animated film #film review #movie review #Kumail Nanjiani #Elizabeth Banks #Caspar Jennings #Danny DeVito #Tresi Gazal #cassipedia

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