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unadulteratedsoulsweets · 3 months

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A DC X DP IDEA #26

History hates Lovers

Imagine dis…

When Batman got lost in time it was said that he made some signs or even some symbols that send a message in the future. For example, a portrait that looked exactly like him or even a cave painting of a bat that looked too modernized to be from the early cavemen.

But it seems that we have forgotten that every change that he made whether it was just standing in a portrait as a background has a severe consequence in the time stream. The butterfly effect rests on the notion that the world is deeply interconnected, such that one small occurrence can influence a much larger complex system. The effect is named after an allegory for chaos theory; it evokes the idea that a small butterfly flapping its wings could, hypothetically, cause a typhoon.

Small changes could result in another and entirely new timeline, whether the changes were small enough that people don’t notice or large enough that people merely conceived it as normal.

But at the end of the day it still changes, so how did the timeline remain stable as it is?

(I am no expert in time travel so don’t get your hopes up, I do enjoy a good time travel or time travel -fix it fic in A03)

…

Bruce didn’t know where and when he is right now. Still weak and disoriented from the consent way he fell from each timeline. One moment he could be in the middle of a group of cavemen and then he was at the edge of a town in the Middle Ages.

He kept sending messages subtle as they may be, as long as they survived the passage of time and arrived to his future. He just hopes that his teammates can see his messages, especially with the flash in their midst who had both knowledge and experience in time travel.

He tried to fit in every time he tried to send a message as the last thing, he needed was to change the time.

…

But little did Bruce know the little messages he kept making and sending, despite their subtleness still created a butterfly effect. It makes some of the people in the period who were supposed to be in time to some event pause and take a look at the mysterious symbols and signs that Bruce made. Thus, making them late or even have some delay, thus creating a large domino effect that started small. From insignificant people, people who are just literally background characters who just have a very short greeting or meeting with someone in the event made the entire timeline crack.

Clockwork was looking at the time stream due to the fragile situation at hand. CW knew that this event was crucial for the Red Robin’s growth as a detective and vigilante. But the small cracks are turning into something unchangeable, CW knew that this was the only communication that the Dark Knight could send as well it was his way to get back to his own time.

Yet CW can see the cracks getting larger and larger, with each move that the Dark Knight made creating more holes in his known future. Usually, such events as the Dark Knight's faces don’t create any consequences or even affect the time stream of the said dimension as it was meant to be. An event unavertable in the end is more justifiable than the means.

But due to the Flash family going back in time as well the countless time traveler visitors made the time stream in that dimension week and prone to break in any given time. It was just a surprise to CW that it lasted so long.

CW found a solution in the form of his apprentice/ grandson, Phantom. Despite the young ghost being an Ancient of Space as well as the King of Infinite Realms he still needs a mentor to not only guide him to his new duties as an Ancient but also his responsibilities as the future High King.

Space and Time are two sides of the same coin thus CW ended up being the mentor of the young Phantom.

Clockwork sent Danny to not only seal in the cracks in the flow of time but also want some great-grandchildren, if you heard the last part then you heard nothing from me.

…

Danny didn’t know he was getting in when Clockwork sent him out to another errand at another time. He should have gotten used to CW’s vague and cryptic errands through time when he was a teen, but as he was sealing another crack from time, he saw something that shouldn’t be in the period. A man clearly from out of time trying and failing to fit in, though he may have fooled the locals but he had been traveling and fixing time since he was in high school.

At first, he looked perplexed but if CW didn’t mention anything then he won’t do anything.

But slowly Danny realized that whichever period the guy was in, it was where the next set of cracks would be, so Danny decided to follow the guy.

…

Bruce may still be weary and tired from the constant falling through time but even in his tired state can see that there is someone following him.

Every era there that man was, seemingly walking around aimlessly but then he noticed that he kept a good distance away from him.

Eventually, it led to and confrontation between the two males.

…

Danny who explained that despite having the power to travel through time cannot help Bruce as his little messages are creating small cracks in the time stream and are merely there to seal up the cracks, but offers news that he will get back to his own time.

Bruce who is just wishing for human contact that relates to him as well in the verge of going off to the Flash to stop going back in time for another chance to eat a breakfast that tasted better than before.

…

The two began conversing with one another and slowly fell in love.

…

Bruce is the first one to fall hard, Danny whose light-heartedness brought Bruce out of his shell. It had only taken a few conversations with each other to lose his shield around his heart. Danny both accepted both Bruce and Batman within him. Danny’s smile lights up Bruce’s world, at first Bruce tries to hide his feelings to Danny so as not to lose his only companion throughout the ordeal.

…

The two began dancing around their feelings and Bruce in an out of character of him sent a love letter and a poem to Danny when the ghost was needed somewhere else to seal the crack.

As old as I am, I have had the most dreadful experiences in love. I have a very dark past and I'm a damaged soul. My past experiences have groomed me into believing that there's no such thing as true love, but with you, I feel different. You make me fall in love with myself too. You always make me smile, and I'm scared. I'm scared to fall in love and get broken again, I'm scared to give my all, only to be used again, to get shamed and embarrassed. I've seen how careful and caring you are around me, but sometimes you give me a cold shoulder, and it's small things like these that break me. Please bear with me and be fragile. I come from a very painful past where I had to be a woman and have no say. All this love and affection is a little scary to me because I'm not used to it. I'm falling for you and I'm falling hard. I hope our love story has a happy ending. Know that I will always love and cherish you.

(Mmakoma Kamogelo. "My Confession." Family Friend Poems, September 6, 2016. https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/my-confession-2)

Danny who received the letter burned red from reading the poem to the point his freckles were the only thing prominent on his red face, Danny knew that this man was from the future and couldn't help but feel a little bit insecure. That man, the Batman is someone out of his league but sends out a letter and a poem of his own.

Published by Family Friend Poems September 2016 with permission of the Author.

My love for you is uncontrollable.

My feelings for you are unstoppable.

Can't go a day without thinking about you.

Without you, I'm not complete.

With you, my heart finds its beat.

My heart is filled with joy because of your love.

You are my strength, and without you I'm weak.

Before you came into my life, I was

Hopeless, lonely, sad.

When you showed up, I knew that you were sent to me. (Namely CW, Danny just knew that old Ancient did something)

You are always here to support me.

Your smile makes me shy,

And sometimes I wonder where you have been all this while,

But I'm just glad that I managed to get you in my life...

YOU FILL MY HEART WITH JOY!

(Mmakoma Kamogelo. "My Confession." Family Friend Poems, September 6, 2016. https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/my-confession-2)

…

When the two realized both were pinning to one another began sending each other little love notes, in the form of short poems to full-blown letters.

Both males whenever received a letter when one was apart, collected and hid it in a box to reread each stroke of the letter from the other, and whenever they were together, they just spent the entire day basking in each other’s presence.

Their little note exchange didn’t stop whenever Bruce fell to another period, Danny just followed him and started a new exchange mail of letters.

Of course, both used pseudonyms in their letters ranging from initials to fake names using only the letters from their names.

…

When Bruce was saved by Red Robin, he felt relieved as he could now stop falling into another period but another shock as he didn’t get to say goodbye to Danny.

Bruce knew that someday it come, but he was going to offer Danny the future with him. He is going to offer Danny the world, but it seems that it was never meant to be.

Maybe that’s why his past self never met Danny, too disappointed, too dejected to meet him once again.

…

It has been a few months since he came back to his future, it was another family outing organized by Dick.

It was a museum featuring the latest found by archeologists, as Bruce was surveying case to another case, he fell upon a worn-out parchment with his handwriting.

Wide-eyed, Bruce looked closely at the exhibit and found that the description said the letter was about a man named “Brooks” confessing his love in the form of a short poem to a woman named “Daniella” who had the same feelings as him but had other responsibilities to fully go where he is.

Bruce began looking at the other exhibits and there along rows and rows of his letter exchange with Danny from different periods.

Jason and Tim who were a few cases away from him began having a heated discussion with a stranger about the supposed woman in the letters being a man the entire exchange is between a pair of male couple, and the so-called Historians are hiding the fact that it was between men.

Bruce was about to interfere with the upcoming verbal fight when a stranger beside him commented that “Daniella” probably missed “Brooks” as the last letter and poem to the exchange when “Daniella” noticed that “Brooks” is no longer responding is…

(By E.E. Cummings)

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)I am never without it(anywhere

I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing, my darling)

I fear

no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows

higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

(E.E. Cummings. "[i Carry Your Heart With Me(i Carry It In]." Family Friend Poems, https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/i-carry-your-heart-with-me-by-ee-cummings)

Bruce is startled as he doesn’t even notice Danny’s last letter to him when he takes a good look at the stranger…

…

There he is, Danny in his early 30’s looking at him with softness and deep love in his eyes and a gentle smile. As if he hadn’t waited centuries for Bruce to appear once again, and what looked like willing to wait once again for him.

…

PS: If someone out there wanted to continue or make a fic about this you are free to do so, don’t forget to tag me though.

PPS: As you can see, I have never fallen in love and please mind my poor and lack of love life in my life to relate to my work.

PPPS: I decided to post a bit early, I've got something going on to the actual February 14.

#dc x dp #dc x dp prompt #danny phantom #dp #danny fenton #ghost king danny

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olderthannetfic · 2 months

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You know what obnoxious thing I keep seeing in fandom I wish would stop? This absolute need some people seem to have for their ship to be Representation in some way. Shipping is just imagining scenarios between two characters! You don’t need it to be a Special reason or whatever? I have a ship that is popular and people make weird vague comments about how the fandom is racist because both of them are white and there are other ship options that have poc so the white ship being big is a reflection on how racist the fandom is but the thing is…

Look I’m going to be real with y’all the fandom is for the game Detroit: Become Human and let’s just say the two major black characters are basically stereotypes written by a neocon lib boomer in a story that itself is imho…let’s call it tone deaf and corny af rather than overtly racist but yeah. Black folks on twitter regularly mock this game for good reason. It is very much a boomer white man’s idea of the civil rights movement but with robots. The robots sing actual slave hymns. The main character is essentially a light-skinned Martin Luther King Jr (dubbed Markus Luthur King by blktwt lol) and the religious allegories of him as a savior figure are very on the nose. It is bad lol. It’s not that I wouldn’t want to explore the black characters but the fandom is full of young white people singing the praises of this writing while patting themselves on the back about it which is genuinely uncomfortable to be around. Just my 2 cents but the virtue signaling and insane policing around those two characters makes it unbearable to interact with their content it is deeply sanitized and you WILL get death threats if you attempt any nuance or are critical of the (kinda racist imo) way they were written in canon.

The worst part of this is that Markus has a popular ship with a character a lot of people read or interpret as a more soft or femme gay man and you know what zoomers hate? Femme gay men. So obviously this is made to be ‘problematic’ in some way because these people can’t just admit to being femmphobic/homophobic themselves.

Sometimes it’s easier to stick with the boring white characters in the background because they aren’t being closely guarded by stupid reactionary people who are used to flashing their favorite fictional poc characters as tokens of their own goodness and virtue.

The pinnacle of this game is that moment when the black lady lectures her son about why they need to run the robot underground railroad to Canada.

I watched some playthroughs. Unsurprisingly, I liked the buddy cops with the good development, not the cringey activism plot with too many foils and not enough development of any single relationship and not the the Women Care About Babies plot.

But if I were going to do something fannish with Markus, I'd write him having a fucked up relationship with his mentor's son post game—the surrogate son who thought the guy was great and the estranged son who knew he wasn't but who has also done a bunch of shitty stuff himself.

It's especially hilarious when tryhards think the problem is not enough people shipping Markus with North as if the slashers are going to be into 1. het and 2. yet another unnecessary traumatic sex stuff backstory for a lady.

Even worse, half the whining isn't even about that Nines fanon nonsense being more popular than Markus: it's about how Markus/Connor would be better than Hank/Connor because old people are ew.

Sorry, children, a lot of people are here to thirst for Clancy Brown and because they'll turn up for any Caves of Steel ripoff. Other Connor ships were never in the running.

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journeytothewestresearch · 5 months

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Is Six Ears an Aspect of Sun Wukong?

I've seen some people claim that Six Ears is not an aspect of Sun Wukong's mind. They either ignore the references to "one mind" and "two Minds" (and the Buddhist philosophy behind them), or they just say it's allegory and nothing more. Well, there are actually internal story details from chapter 58 that support the close connection between the Monkey King and his doppelganger.

1) The Bodhisattva Guanyin and her “eyes of wisdom” (huiyan, 慧眼) can’t tell them apart:

The various deities and the Bodhisattva stared at the two for a long time, but none could tell them apart (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 106). 眾諸天與菩薩都看良久，莫想能認。 [And later:] Pressing his palms together, our Buddha said, “Guanyin, the Honored One, can you tell which is the true Pilgrim and which is the false one?” “They came to your disciple’s humble region the other day,” replied the Bodhisattva, “but I truly could not distinguish between them …” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 114). 我佛合掌道：「觀音尊者，你看那兩個行者，誰是真假？」菩薩道：「前日在弟子荒境，委不能辨 …

2) The tight-fillet spell works on both Monkeys:

Asking Moksa and Goodly Wealth [a.k.a. Red Boy] to approach her, the Bodhisattva whispered to them this instruction: “Each of you take hold of one of them firmly, and let me start reciting in secret the Tight-Fillet Spell. The one whose head hurts is the real monkey; the one who has no pain is specious.” Indeed, the two disciples took hold of the two Pilgrims as the Bodhisattva recited in silence the magic words. At once the two of them gripped their heads and rolled on the ground, both screaming, “Don’t recite! Don’t recite!” The Bodhisattva stopped her recital … (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 106). 菩薩喚木叉與善財上前，悄悄吩咐：「你一個幫住一個，等我暗念緊箍兒咒，看那個害疼的便是真，不疼的便是假。」他二人果各幫一個。菩薩暗念真言，兩個一齊喊疼，都抱著頭，地下打滾，只叫：「莫念，莫念。」菩薩不念 …

(If someone disagrees with this one, they need to show where it says Six Ears is faking the pain.)

3) Both the Jade Emperor and the imp-reflecting mirror can’t tell them apart:

Issuing a decree at once to summon Devariija Li, the Pagoda-Bearer, the Jade Emperor commanded: “Let us look at those two fellows through the imp-reflecting mirror, so that the false may perish and the true endure.” The devaraja took out the mirror immediately and asked the Jade Emperor to watch with the various celestial deities. What appeared in the mirror were two reflections of Sun Wukong: there was not the slightest difference between their golden fillets, their clothing, and even their hair. Since the Jade Emperor found it impossible to distinguish them, he ordered them chased out of the hall (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, pp. 107-108). 玉帝即傳旨宣托塔李天王，教：「把照妖鏡來照這廝誰真誰假，教他假滅真存。」天王即取鏡照住，請玉帝同眾神觀看。鏡中乃是兩個孫悟空的影子，金箍、衣服，毫髮不差。玉帝亦辨不出，趕出殿外。

4) Only omniscient beings like Investigative Hearing (Ksitigargbha's mount) and the Buddha can tell the two apart:

[T]he Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha said, “Wait a moment! Wait a moment! Let me ask Investigative Hearing to listen for you.” That Investigative Hearing, you see, happens to be a beast that usually lies beneath the desk of Ksitigarbha. When he crouches on the ground, he can in an instant perceive the true and the false, the virtuous and the wicked among all short-haired creatures, scaly creatures, hairy creatures, winged creatures, and crawling creatures, and among all the celestial immortals, the earthly immortals, the divine immortals, the human immortals, and the spirit immortals resident in all the cave Heavens and blessed lands in the various shrines, rivers, and mountains of the Four Great Continents. In obedience, therefore, to the command of Ksitigarbha, the beast prostrated himself in the courtyard of the Hall of Darkness, and in a little while, he raised his head to say to his master, “I have the name of the fiend …” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 112) …地藏王菩薩道：「且住，且住。等我著諦聽與你聽個真假。」原來那諦聽是地藏菩薩經案下伏的一個獸名。他若伏在地下，一霎時，將四大部洲山川社稷，洞天福地之間，蠃蟲、鱗蟲、毛蟲、羽蟲、昆蟲、天仙、地仙、神仙、人仙、鬼仙，可以照鑒善惡，察聽賢愚。那獸奉地藏鈞旨，就於森羅庭院之中，俯伏在地。須臾，擡起頭來，對地藏道：「怪名雖有…」。 [...] Smiling, Tathagata said, “Though all of you [Guanyin] possess vast dharma power and are able to observe the events of the whole universe, you cannot know all the things therein, nor do you have the knowledge of all the species” (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 114). 如來笑道：「汝等法力廣大，只能普閱周天之事，不能遍識周天之物，亦不能廣會周天之種類也。」 […] [After the Buddha explains the ten categories of life and the four types of celestial primates (see the introduction here), he says:] As I see the matter, that specious Wukong must be a six-eared macaque … (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 3, p. 115). 我觀假悟空乃六耳獼猴也 …

In short, the twin monkeys are so hard to tell apart simply because they are representations of the true and illusionary minds (refer back to the article) within the same person.

So what does this say about Shadowpeach? I know LMK is a separate entity from the novel, but applying canon to this ship would make it more self-love, right? I'm sure those with creatively perverted minds know what I'm taking about.

#Sun Wukong #Monkey King #Six Ears #Six-Eared Macaque #Journey to the West #JTTW #Guanyin #Buddha #Jade Emperor #Ksitigharbha #Heavenly King Li Jing #Devaraja Li Jing #Imp-Reflecting Mirror #Lego Monkie Kid #LMK #MK #Buddhism #two minds #shadowpeach

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inawickedlittletown · 24 days

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You Can Always Find Me Where the Skies are Blue (BuckTommy fic) - 1/4

Summary:

Soulmates are rare. So rare that it's actually incredible that Buck has two soulmate couples in his life. Statistics tell him it's very unlikely for him to meet his soulmate. Of course, then he meets Tommy. Too bad it happens at the worst possible moment.

Canon compliant soulmate AU where Buck is still a mess and Tommy is still very understanding.

Words: 4,378

Ao3

Part One

The truth was that Buck never quite got an understanding for how the whole soulmate thing worked. His parents were soulmates which was strange to think about considering his childhood, but then Buck hadn’t known about the older brother he’d been born to save, the one he’d failed to save.

From what he’d learned in school, soulmates had been more common in the past. They said it was something to do with population growth or something about cultural life experience and technology.

There was a lot of research on why soulmates had dwindled, but no one had concrete answers. There was some kind of database where soulmates had to register. So while it wasn’t impossible to find a couple that were actually soulmates, more often than not people settled down with someone that wasn’t their soulmate. A lot of them were happy.

Buck thought that one day, it would seem like some kind of myth. Instead of viewing Aristophanes’ speech in Plato’s symposium as an explanation, it would become legend. It would no longer be an early explanation of soulmates. It would be like Plato’s allegory of the cave, a thing to consider without real life application.

And so, before Buck had even reached the age of eighteen, he was sure that he would never find his soulmate. He wasn’t resigned to it, he just knew enough about statistics and probability. Most people wouldn’t meet their soulmate. It was just how math worked.

When he joined the 118, he couldn’t deny that a part of him had been surprised when he learned that Hen was married to her soulmate. He’d asked so many questions that Hen had eventually banned him from continuing to ask.

It hadn’t stopped Buck from thinking that it was amazing. More surprising was his sister and Chim and how Buck had missed the whole thing even though he was the one to introduce them. That whole thing had made Buck well aware that even among soulmates things could be complicated.

So, when Buck followed behind Chim and Eddie onto the tarmac of LAFD Harbor station air operations, the worry in his gut growing and growing the more he thought about Bobby and Athena being unreachable and Hen being correct about the need to go out and rescue them, he didn’t expect to meet his soulmate.

In the books, it never described what it was like. It only said that you would know it if it happened to you. The book was right.

Buck knew it the moment their eyes met.

It was the world snapping to focus, narrowing down on that person and saying: “this one is for you”. It was a feeling in his gut. Tommy Kinard missed a step and as for Buck, he froze on the spot. What felt like minutes translated to seconds, but it was enough for them to both know.

They were soulmates.

Chim was explaining, expanding on what he’d said to Tommy over the phone as their uber driver drove them to Harbor. Tommy was nodding, but his eyes were on Buck and Buck couldn’t look away from him either.

It was only when Tommy looked away that Buck dropped his eyes from Tommy. He tried to shake it off, remembering why they had faked stomach issues and left in the middle of a call. Yes, he might have found his soulmate, but it wasn’t the time or place. Of course, what they were about to do was verging on stupid and reckless…but if Hen was right — and she most likely was — then they had to and Buck couldn’t complicate matters because their pilot turned out to be his soulmate.

He could tell that Tommy seemed to have decided the same from how quickly he began directing them to a helicopter.

“Thanks again, Tommy,” Chim said. “We’ll for sure owe you one. Collect from any of us.”

“That would require I know who exactly I’m allowing onto my helicopter,” Tommy said.

Eddie stepped forward first, hand out to shake Tommy’s. “Eddie Diaz,” he said.

“I’m Evan Buckley,” Buck said, and he knew his voice was shaky.

None of them noticed because it seemed that Hen had arrived. Tommy’s hand touched Buck’s shoulder. “Get situated. I’ll get Hen.”

His shoulder felt warm, it was in Buck’s head, but still it lingered even as he climbed in first. He took a few breaths to center himself. They would have time to deal with it later. He had to focus on that. By the time they were in the air, that got a little easier. When Tommy mentioned that they might all die, Buck felt the loss of what he’d just found and he wanted to scream. In a way, it also made perfect sense for his life. Of course he would meet his soulmate, get into a life or death situation, and perish.

When they found the capsized cruise ship, he almost felt relieved, followed by the fear of what they would find once they got down there. Bobby and Athena had to be alright, they just had to be.

Focusing on the work kept him from thinking about Tommy and about everything that came with it because there were so many layers to get through. It was a while before Bobby, the kid, and Eddie had climbed into the back of the helicopter, leaving Buck to sit up front.

Tommy glanced at him right as he settled himself in and he smiled a smile that scrunched up his nose and the corners of his eyes. Buck shouldn’t have found it so endearing, then again, this was his soulmate. Buck smiled back and he wanted nothing more than to bring it up, to confirm with Tommy what they both knew to be true. He couldn’t, though. He didn’t want to do it over the open channel. So, instead, he turned away, admiring the clear blue skies and the water below. It was as if the storm they flew into hadn’t been there at all. When he looked back at Tommy again, it was even harder to look away, but he forced himself to when the helicopter touched down on the ship.

His mind couldn’t quite wrap around it. He had a soulmate. He, Evan Buckley had a soulmate and he’d met him. Him. His soulmate was a dude. A man. It was hitting him secondary to the initial thing, that he had a soulmate at all.

Same sex soulmates were a normal thing, Buck knew, it was just that in most instances soulmates were romantic and Buck wasn’t gay. He loved women. He slept with women. He was attracted to women.

Bobby walked ahead of them and Buck heard Hen calling out to Athena. Buck stopped to watch as Bobby and Athena ran into each other’s arms and he was caught up in the moment. He hadn’t gotten a lot of time with Athena when Tommy first landed the helicopter on the capsized ship, but he’d seen her worry for Bobby. That was the devotion and love that Buck wanted…what he’d been searching for and failing to find for years.

Athena and Bobby weren’t even soulmates, though they may as well be. They had always given Buck hope that he could be happy without a soulmate…but now he’d found his soulmate. Tommy.

Eddie was next to him, but Buck was a little more focused on Tommy approaching. It all still felt like the wrong place or time and as Eddie headed towards the other side of the ship, leaving them seemingly alone, Buck had no idea what to do. Slowly, he turned to look at Tommy. Tommy was smiling wide. He looked beautiful. Buck didn’t think he’d ever thought that about a dude before and yet it was true. Their shared look was enough to confirm what Buck already knew.

“You’re—” Buck managed to get out, his throat closing in on the word.

“Yeah…we are,” Tommy said. His eyes were shining.

Buck’s mind went blank, words and thoughts jumbled up in a way that had never happened before. Tommy seemed if not similarly affected, then willing to wait for Buck to be the first to say something. Buck also realized that he didn’t mind just losing himself in staring at Tommy.

He only looked away when Eddie was back, bumping into his shoulder and delivering a bottle of water to him and Tommy each, entirely oblivious to what was going on between them. Buck’s hands shook as he opened the bottle, but he was grateful and drank almost all of it in one go.

Eddie was talking about their ETA back to LA when Chim appeared at Tommy’s side.

“Can’t thank you enough, man,” he said, clapping Tommy on the shoulder.

Tommy laughed. “I’m always a call away, Howie. But, thank you…I really…thank you.”

Chim just shook his head, but Tommy’s eyes were on Buck and Buck inhaled a breath. He’d have to thank Chim too, eventually. It wasn’t lost on him that he had introduced Chin to his soulmate and that Chim had now introduced Buck to his.

Bobby and Athena approached, arms still around each other. They looked exhausted, but happy.

“I was so glad to see you two,” Bobby said, directed at Buck and Eddie. Then, he turned towards Tommy. “And you…thank you, for helping these guys out.”

Bobby reached out a hand and Tommy grasped it and Buck could tell he was shocked by Bobby pulling him into a quick but meaningful hug. Athena for her part just pat Tommy’s shoulder.

It should have bothered Buck that he had yet to have a single moment alone with his soulmate, but he liked having him there among his family. They would talk about it, figure out what it meant later. It gave Buck a bit of time to think, too. He had a soulmate. His soulmate was a man. His soulmate was Tommy, a ridiculously impressive LAFD pilot.

Buck was an ally. He always put a rainbow up on his social media in June. He’d gone to a few pride parades since living in LA. He’d never dated a guy before, though, never even thought that it was a possibility for him. Looking at Tommy, he wondered if Tommy had known that men were an option for him. All that Buck really knew about the guy was that he’d been with the 118 as far back as when Chim had become a firefighter and that he hadn’t stayed too long after Bobby took over as Captain.

Maybe they were meant to be platonic…have some deep understanding about each other that no one else could ever comprehend. A little like he and Eddie, maybe. That wouldn’t be too bad.

He stole glances of Tommy as Bobby and Athena started to tell them exactly what had gone down even before the hurricane. Buck was having a hard time focusing, but the few things he caught did make it seem like it had been far more eventful than any cruise had a right to be.

He couldn’t deny that Tommy was attractive. He was tall and his arms were kind of huge. Tommy’s attention was wholly on Athena and Bobby, eyebrows a bit furrowed as Bobby explained how it had felt when the ship capsized. Buck’s attention was on the way Tommy’s mouth moved as if out of surprise for what Bobby had just said. His attention was drawn to Tommy’s storm colored eyes and on the slight curl of his hair.

“I wish you had been there to see him, Buck,” Athena said.

Buck refocused. Eyes reluctantly going to Athena.

“Well, if Buck had been there, he would have been the one doing that climb,” Bobby said. “I’m going to be sore for days.”

“I don’t think that’s the only reason,” Athena said.

Tommy was called away before Buck could find a reason to explain wanting to talk to him on his own and then the next time he saw him, he was saying a quick goodbye and heading back to the helicopter. Buck watched him as he took off and wished that somehow he’d had a reason to go with him.

“Cool guy,” Eddie said.

“Yeah,” Buck said and he knew he sounded awestruck.

—

Tommy had known from the moment he saw him.

When his phone rang and Howie’s name appeared, Tommy had sort of known that Chim probably wanted something from him. It was why he called at all these days, but Tommy didn’t mind. He wasn’t wrong and as Chim explained something about Hen having a hunch and how she was probably gonna not pull off whatever she was thinking she was doing, Tommy had already mostly agreed to help. After all, Chim did save his life and he had a lot of respect for Hen too.

Then, Chim arrived with two firefighters in tow. They both looked the part, strong and sturdy kind of guys. Attractive, though Tommy tried not to notice that type of thing while at work and most definitely about colleagues. It wasn’t until they had gotten nearer that Tommy got a better look at them, a better look at his soulmate.

Tommy had never known that he would ever replicate the feeling of flying while on solid ground, but if asked to describe it later, that was what it felt like when his eyes landed on his soulmate right before he paused mid-step and almost lost his balance. He didn’t even know his name.

Chim was giving him a more in depth explanation about the cruise ship and storm and Hen’s part in it, but while Tommy could hear him, he couldn’t process the information. He led them to the helicopter, glad it was already out on the tarmac and that it had been refueled just a few hours earlier.

“Thanks again, Tommy,” Chim said. “We’ll for sure owe you one. Collect from any of us.”

“That would require I knew who exactly I was allowing onto my helicopter,” Tommy said, sure that if he didn’t say anything, he wouldn’t get to know his soulmate’s name.

“Eddie Diaz,” the one that wasn’t his soulmate said, reaching his hand out for Tommy to shake.

“I’m Evan Buckley.”

Evan. Tommy repeated it inside his head. Evan.

They didn’t shake hands like he and Eddie had, and Tommy had heard how shaky his voice sounded. He also didn’t miss the slight pink on Evan’s cheeks. It was horrible timing. He could see the shock and awe in Evan’s face, but it was going to have to wait. So Tommy did the thing where he pushed aside the personal to focus on his job. He got Hen to the helicopter where the others were already stashed and then they were in the air.

Tommy had been flying for so long that his focus didn’t need to be on it 100% of the time. It let him linger on the moment from earlier, what it had been like to see Evan Buckley for the very first time. He held onto that moment as they flew, even as he realized that what they were doing verged more on the dangerous and reckless side than anything he’d ever done. He had to get them through it, even when he had to make awful fake static noises at the chief and ignore his orders to get back to Harbor.

In the end, it all worked out.

They found the cruise ship and they were lucky they did, none of them talked about how easy it would have been for them to miss it. It was hours of work after that, not that Tommy minded. Eventually, he made a final trip to pick up Bobby, the kid he’d rescued, and Eddie and Evan.

Evan wound up up front and maybe it was presumptuous to think about how good Evan looked right there at his side. Tommy hoped it would happen again and soon. With the skies having cleared up, the sun shone through and in the moments that Tommy allowed himself to take Evan in, there was no denying how gorgeous this boy was especially when the light hit him just right.

With everything going on, they didn’t get more than a small moment to acknowledge it once they were on the ship and Tommy felt warm because it was real. He had a soulmate.

It wasn’t until he was back at Harbor that he realized he hadn’t exchanged numbers with Evan — not that it was a big deal. He’d just have to call Chim. Yet, as much as there was an urgency, Tommy was still at work and he still had to write up a report about the night and explain to his Captain exactly what had gone down before he could finally end his shift.

He texted Chim as he walked to his car almost an hour later, but got no response. When his phone did start vibrating, it was an unknown number. He picked up at once, heart in his throat because it had to be Evan.

“Hello,” he said and hoped he sounded normal.

“Hey, Tommy, it’s Eddie.”

He tried not to be disappointed, but of course he was. It was nothing against Eddie…it was just that he wanted to hear from Evan.

“Got your number from Chim. I hope it’s okay I’m calling. I was just wondering if you’d want to meet up sometime,” Eddie said.

For one very strange moment, Tommy wondered if Eddie was trying to ask him out. He probably had no idea that he and Evan were soulmates and…but, no, he didn’t think that Eddie had seemed interested in him like that. Tommy did wonder if it would be rude to ask Eddie for Evan’s number. He missed something that Eddie said, but caught:

“....drinks or something. Maybe as a thank you for helping us get to Bobby and Athena.”

“Uh, sure,” Tommy said.

“Cool. Cool. How about later tonight?”

Tommy wasn’t great at saying no to things. He also had no reason to put Eddie off. “Yeah…yeah that sounds good. And if you want to invite anyone else from the 118 that’d be great.”

Eddie chuckled. “I think they’re all pretty beat. It might just be us two, unless you want to bring along a friend or something.”

Tommy wanted to ask about Evan. He wanted nothing more than to beg Eddie to bring Evan along. Knew if he did he would be giving away what they were or even just his interest in Evan. He couldn’t do that.

“I’ll text you when and where,” Eddie said. “Just gotta secure a babysitter.”

“Okay,” Tommy said. “Sounds good.”

Chim still hadn’t answered. Tommy texted Hen next. No response. Maybe it would be Eddie that would give him Evan’s number…Tommy would just have to show up for that hang out and get the number out of Eddie. Or maybe, Evan would call him first. He hadn’t known that this was going to be complicated and actually it kind of wasn’t, it was that he was impatient.

Tommy managed a nap out of sheer exhaustion. He’d learned a long time ago how to sleep almost anywhere, which didn’t change that sometimes he just couldn’t sleep. Yet, despite not having contact with Evan, there was peace in knowing he was out there and knowing that he was his soulmate.

Evan didn’t call. Chim and Hen didn’t respond. Eddie texted him the name of a bar that Tommy knew well. Some of the guys from Harbor liked going there to play pool. They also had Karaoke night every Wednesday night and trivia on Thursdays. Maybe he knew a little bit too much about that bar. So, he texted back a thumbs up and got ready to meet up with Eddie. Eddie was already at the bar when he arrived, a beer in front of him while he made small talk with the bartender. He looked relaxed, in a way that Tommy almost hadn’t expected him to be.

“Hey!” Eddie threw out. “Glad you made it.”

He took the stool next to Eddie, ordering a beer and then turning to him. “How’s it going? I was surprised to get your call.”

Eddie smiled easily. “Well after Buck turned me down for drinks, I thought maybe you were like me and needed this a bit after everything.”

He usually didn’t. Not that it wasn’t welcome. The bartender passed him his beer.

“Evan turned you down?” Tommy asked.

“Uh…yeah, guess he was really tired.”

“Right,” Tommy said. “It was a long night.”

A longer night than Eddie knew. Tommy took a gulp of his beer and tried to figure out a way for him to keep the conversation on Buck…Evan. He was Evan to Tommy especially knowing that everyone else seemed to use the nickname.

“Well Bobby is kind of like a father to Buck, so even though he didn’t show it…he was really worried.”

“Oh,” Tommy said. “It’s actually like a family over there.”

“You could say that,” Eddie said with a smile. “I guess it wasn’t that when you were at the 118?”

“Farthest thing from it,” Tommy said. “I guess I left right before things changed.”

He had never once regretted leaving when he did. Tommy had always meant to get back in the air. It was where he was freest and the thing he missed the most after leaving the army. So, when he had completed the required years as a firefighter, Tommy had started looking for a transfer to any of the air operation stations. His experience as a pilot helped, and he’d found a place where he belonged. He felt freer than he ever had and it had allowed him a brand new start. One in which he could explore parts of himself he hadn’t ever thought he would.

“I should say I’m sorry you missed out, but I’m sure you love what you do.”

“I do,” Tommy said.

If there was one thing, it was Evan. Would he have met him earlier if he stayed? Of course there was no changing the past. There was also who Tommy had been then and Tommy could admit to himself that he hadn’t been ready for a soulmate, much less Evan.

Eddie drew the conversation in another direction. They started exchanging stories then. Stories about their time at the army which led into conversations about what it was like to return to a civilian life. It was hard, Tommy knew, to talk about it with regular people that hadn’t served and hadn’t seen the things they had. It was clear almost right away that Eddie didn’t have anyone to talk to about stuff like that. Tommy did still have a few friends from back then, but they weren’t all that close anymore. He figured it was exactly why Eddie had reached out.

Past that, though, they had other things in common and it wasn’t that Tommy forgot about Evan — he was always there in his mind — it was that Tommy found himself having a good time with Eddie. They got talking basketball when the scores of a game were being reported on the tv, and when an ad for a MMA fight came on Eddie made a comment about how he missed going to see fights live.

“Shift ran late when tickets went on sale,” Eddie said. “Didn’t even get a chance to try and get at them.”

“I have tickets for this one,” Tommy said.

“I hate you right now,” Eddie said, but he said it with a grin.

He hadn’t bought them. A buddy of his had asked if Tommy wanted to go and then because he was a promoter, given him the two tickets. Tommy had meant to ask someone from Harbor if they wanted to go with him, but he’d forgotten.

“Hey, you want to go with me?”

“What? Wait, are you serious, man?”

“Yeah. I mean, it was gonna go to waste, so why not? Fight’s in Vegas. I can probably fly us there.”

Eddie’s grin grew wider. “Hell yeah, that sounds amazing.”

“Yeah?”

Eddie’s hand landed on his shoulder. “You just made my night, man. This is awesome.”

They talked MMA fighting for a while and he could tell that Eddie had probably dabbled in it a bit.

“So,” he said two beers in. “Is this the norm for you and Evan? Going out after a shift?”

“When my kid allows,” Eddie said. “Half the time we’re at my house or his apartment with Chris. Marisol’s gotten used to it.”

“Marisol?”

“My girlfriend,” Eddie said.

“Ah. And uh, what about his…partner?”

Tommy braced himself. He hadn’t thought about the possibility that Evan would be involved with someone. It was one of those things that you heard about, people that were happily in a relationship and suddenly one of them met their soulmate. It wasn’t like most people were out there waiting for their soulmate convinced that it was something that would actually happen.

Eddie laughed. “He broke up with his last girlfriend a little while ago. She was a death doula if you can believe that’s a real thing.”

“I can’t actually,” Tommy said. “But clearly it didn’t work out.”

“Nope,” Eddie said. “He has the worst luck.”

“Maybe that’s changing,” Tommy said.

The conversation shifted again somehow and Tommy couldn’t ask more questions about Evan without giving away that he was looking for information on him. Tommy didn’t want to tell Eddie about Evan being his soulmate, not without first speaking to Evan. He did garner that Eddie and Evan were close, but despite trying several times, didn’t manage to finangle a way to ask for Evan’s phone number.

He felt a little bit pathetic. After all, who met their soulmate — a rarity in itself — and then not insist on taking a moment to talk even in spite of the circumstances? Insist on exchanging numbers?

By the time he made it home, a little buzzed from the beer, he realized that somehow he’d made lots of plans to hang out with Eddie and none with Evan. He was a mess.

Part Two

#911 abc #911 fic #bucktommy #tevan #kinley #bucktommy fic #soulmate au #tommy kinard #evan buckley

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astraltrickster · 1 year

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But if you want my DETAILED reading of Astolfo's gender, well...it's one of those 5D-chess-with-multiverse-time-travel genders.

On the surface layer, Astolfo is just some guy. He's AMAB and he identifies with maleness, he doesn't really think about anything else, he just doesn't care about the standards that dictate the gendering of arbitrary objects.

On the next layer Astolfo is Nonbinary Lemonade Lover. "Why are you, as a man, doing that?" "Fuck it I'm nonbinary now this shit's getting crazy." He has absorbed the way society treats his presentation into his identity, seamlessly integrating it into his internal relationship to himself.

On the next layer Astolfo is Bugs Bunny. They are whatever is convenient, and/or whatever makes the joke work. She's a girl when she doesn't want to be left out of a gathering, or when it helps with a mission, or when it makes a relationship gayer, or just when it's funny; it is not a "disguise" or a "trick" but a real and complete identity shift, except it's not a shift because that facet has been there all along, except when it hasn't.

On the next layer Astolfo has no gender. Their gender is a blank slate, for anyone else to guess at. Their gender is a mirror, a tool of their absurd charisma, that lets those who need comfort see the unappreciated parts of themself in another and feel safe - and takes those who need to be disturbed and gently but firmly shows them the darkest, ugliest sides of themselves and prompts them to reflect upon their actions and behaviors and reconsider their treatment of others. They lost their gender when they gained their outlook on humanity and life. Their gender is distilled essence of ethical hedonism. Their gender is paladin. Their gender is hopepunk. Their gender lies abandoned on the moon, discarded alongside the other unwanted shackle that is their "reason". Their gender is whatever the world needs it to be. Their gender is reckless and irrational love.

And, crucially, he is not consciously aware of the majority of these layers at any given moment in time. He couldn't tell you anything about his gender, because it's just not something he really thinks about. Even when activating girlmode, it's as natural and unquestionable as breathing - so natural, in fact, that you will come off as the weird one for questioning it, if you can even remember enough about Society in the moment to remember that many people think of it as weird in the first place. Astolfo could never write a breakdown like this - he could rarely even give the abridged answer without getting distracted - because that would require thinking about it far more than he ever has, or could, or would even want to; he would see no point to this level of introspection when there are adventures to be had and people to be helped.

So, Astolfo's gender defies labeling; every label will be 100% correct when you first consider it, but the moment the thought solidifies, let alone when you speak it, it will become an imperfect fit, because he does not give enough thought to the matter to truly identify with any label, no matter how well it describes what he experiences at any moment in time. The moment you speak a label for Astolfo your brain is flash-fried with acute awareness of how language is an imperfect tool, how you can never truly perfectly describe what you experience, let alone what someone else does - for many people it recovers just as quickly, but something in there is irrevocably changed, or at least one step closer to being so.

In conclusion, Astolfo's gender is Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

#fate #astolfo #gender

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that-ari-blogger · 7 months

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What's The Point of the Horde? Part 2

Ok, So, why can't Catra just leave the Horde? And why can Adora do it so easily? What's the difference between them? Besides "the show needed a protagonist antagonist dynamic that was interesting"?

Here's another question: How does She-Ra factor into this?

The Sword Part 2 is the second episode of She Ra and the Princesses Of Power, and it provides a fascinating turning point for the series, a moment when the characters split from each other, and I'd like to delve into the thematic significance of that choice.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Adora is an extremely naive person, intentionally so. This isn't just the writers making an interesting character, but the result of Shadow Weaver's specific parenting style. Adora has been raised into a person who is incredibly suggestable, someone who is receptable to ideas, someone who is malleable. She is quick to trust and as such, she falls in with the Horde, the rebellion, Light Hope, etc. This keeps happening.

Catra meanwhile, has been raised into the opposite, a person who is closed off, afraid of connection. She's rebellious to a fault, and almost paradoxically self-aware.

Five By Five Takes on YouTube put it best.

"Onto Adora, [Shadow Weaver] projects her ambition... and onto Catra, she projects her insecurities."

I think that a lot of the difference between the two is their experience. The best way to control someone is to control their perception, and perception is important here. Adora quite accidentally breaks free of Shadow Weaver's control and sees Theymore for what it is, peaceful. The soldiers and Catra see what they are told to.

"These aren't insurgents, they're innocent people." "Yeah sure, innocent people who kidnapped a Horde officer."

Plato, rather famously, proposed the Allegory of the Cave, in which people are chained to a cave for their entire lives and shown shadows on the wall in front of them. They call out what the shadows represent, not because they have ever seen the real thing, but because they have learned that these shadows are the real thing. Long story short, one person breaks free. He (yes it was a "he", this was Plato's self-insert OC) leaves the cave and sees the real things that the shadows could only represent. But when he returns to the cave to share what he has learned, he is called mad, because why would you believe your entire worldview is fake?

Plato was talking about enlightenment and other such nonsense there, the whole "I am a philosopher, and I have seen things no mortal can comprehend" thing. But the reason this allegory has gone on to be famous, is because it works as an understanding of how real-world ideologies clash and real people are so unwilling to change views.

It happens in She-Ra too. Catra can only see what she has been told, so she looks around and sees proof. Adora must have hurt her head.

But here's the fascinating thing, Catra is aware of Shadow Weaver's manipulation. So, this is an opportunity to escape that, why doesn't she take it?

Put simply, being aware of something doesn't free you from its influence. For example, I have been aware of James Corden for years at this point. You can see where I am going here. Catra thinks Shadow Weaver's manipulation is just about strength and overt power, but as demonstrated here, Shadow Weaver's power is emotional. She controls what you see, what you hear, what you feel.

Enter She-Ra.

Adora has been raised on conditional acceptance and love. "You do things for me; I give you basic common kindness." And she doesn't shake that worldview. Her acceptance into the rebellion is based around She-Ra. She has been given an ability that can be of use, and these people can give her acceptance, so she takes it. Morality factors in, of course, but the reason Adora sticks with the rebellion instead of going rogue, is She-Ra.

So, why can't Adora and Catra see eye to eye here? Why can one break free, and the other not?

Well, it's more complicated than that; neither really breaks free. But in terms of switching sides, Adora is susceptible to change, Catra is not. Adora sees the real world, Catra can only see the shadows being weaved in front of her.

Previous - Next

#rants #character analysis #literary analysis #literature analysis #she ra adora #she ra and the princesses of power #she ra spop #she ra catra #adora #catra #spop

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naranjapetrificada · 8 months

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Fic recs based on what bits of s2 promotion made you go 👀

So obviously we only have a couple days left and I shouldn't have put this off for so long, but I've been making connections between fics I've encountered and questions raised by the teaser, trailer, and BTS video and thought I'd share some of them. Light (extremely light, like you've just emerged from an isolated cave light) s2 spoilers possible, although it's still mostly speculation?

Anyway this obviously got very long, so I'm throwing in a break now so I don't slow your scroll.

Maybe time in nature helps Ed do some healing?

Fallow Land & Bigger Sky, which I can't ever seem to shut up about was such a rewarding and healing read for me. Especially recommended for people who are interested in Ed's inner life, healing journey, and coping mechanisms, maladaptive or otherwise. Also folks who are excited for him to have an animal friend like Stede Bunnet, although in this fic it's a sweet little black lamb that he sometimes carries around in his shirt.

It begins with Ed having spent a year since The Dock living incognito on a remote (but not deserted!) island trying to get his head around everything that happened and looking for something like peace, however he can get it. It's written in an evocative, poetic way and includes some incredibly lovely flashbacks, believable character growth, important realizations, and tender emotional moments. The vibes are more pastoral than castaway, but Ed is still given time and space to do the work he needs to do in rugged, isolated surroundings so it still scratches that itch for me.

[There are definitely some triggers to be aware of but it feels like the author did a good job of mentioning them at the beginning of each chapter.]

Maybe they do some healing together?

There's no need to reinvent the wheel so I'm going to borrow heavily from an earlier post I made about healing and fanfic two make the case for these two:

Brace Yourself and Nestle into Me: The premise is that Ed and Stede figure out that they're into each other around episode 7, and they're deliriously happy to know that they feel the same way about each other. But Stede has some (understandable) sexual dysfunction around being queer thanks to the horrible society that he grew up in. Ed is a darling trying to help him through it all, and along the way he realizes he also has some of his own hangups he needs to work through, and that they can both support each other's healing.

I appreciate that this one doesn't treat healing like a straight line because it never is, and emphasizes that trust can't just be implicit, you really have to talk it through as a crew, even if it's just a crew of two broken middle-aged men who are desperately in love with each other. It also gets into some of the stuff I've been talking about on here about grieving your former selves and the selves you never got to be, which was validating as hell. That sounds heavy and there are concepts that are literally part of modern therapy modalities woven into the story, but there are also warm and loving and hilarious moments too, including this gem:

“Also can you just imagine how proud little horny baby gay Stede would be know you would be to know that whatever he went through, today you’ve got your own ship and are getting completely railed by Blackbeard? I mean, just absolutely dicked down by the most famous pirate in history? He would lose his mind.”

Adrift Between the Dreaming Seas: Based on my usual filtering on ao3 I probably never, ever would have come across this fic if it weren't for a recommendation someone posted here. It's got fantasy elements, allegory, metaphors stacked on metaphors, talking animals, and so many other things that would have kept me from ever discovering it on my own. My life would be poorer for it.

Basically Stede is cursed to be a lighthouse keeper on an island that seems to move around the world. Animals show up and the ones who talk to him are members of the crew, and Ed is an actual kraken. It's all this symbolism about monstrosity and trauma and maladaptive coping and the messiness that is Stede's kindness scraping against his self loathing. I shed tears of many kinds along the way, and it made me think hard about community and recovery and the things we do to and for ourselves and others.

It's just a lovely little gem of a story that made me feel so much so deeply while also making me laugh much more than I was anticipating. I'm so glad I gave it a chance.

Maybe there's a massive, life-altering storm?

A World of Tempestuous Things, which is nearly finished and has been such a rewarding, moving journey to follow as it explores another take on their reunion story. There's the expected angst and misunderstandings, but also wit and warmth and longing and rage and these casually devastating historical asides, some of which still haunt me out of the blue because of the staggering and inescapable nature of the passage of time. Speaking of passages and being haunted, dig if you will, this picture:

so little time to dwell amongst strangers as a citizen of the world will never, ever stop reverberating in my head like a cymbal crash and I guess that's just something I live with now. @lostakasha, you've given me the existentially beautiful prose version of tinnitus.

Maybe Stede's slut party era is finally upon us?

If so, good for him, he deserves it so much.

When the Light Shines In is a missing scene/lightly canon-divergent take on s1e06, if you just like the idea of meeting a jolly version of Drunk Stede (vs that "unhand me or bleed" guy, who is hot in his own way or course but can't beat messy earnest bossy Stede in my opinion). It's set immediately after the fight with Izzy. Ed is patching him up and trying not to vibrate out of his own skin, while Stede is affectionate and chatty and besotted whether he knows it or not, and steadily working his way through a bottle of rum for the pain. So not really related to season 2, but it will still scratch that same itch and make you smile real big.

Well, I Ain't Tactful is actually set during season 2, inspired by the moment in the BTS video where Ed sees Stede getting drunk with his new leather buddies. If you asked yourself what might happen if Ed felt compelled to keep an eye on Sloppy Stede and tuck him in with a glass of water, then this one will be fun. Ed is caring and lovely about it all even while still being a bit mad at him for everything, and Stede is a mess but so sweet and still so, so in love.

Maybe we'll get to see young Ed on Hornigold's ship?

There's no evidence of that so far beyond the whole ghost of Hornigold thing, but it certainly would be a treat. But even if it doesn't, if the idea of more young Ed appeals I cannot possibly recommend the pre-canon Never Shall We Die enough.

Now there's no getting around two crucial things that may be dealbreakers for some people: first, it's long. It's very, very long. Second: it's a WIP. Only one of two I've allowed myself to follow in this fandom so I don't get overwhelmed or bogged down. But!

The writing is so impeccable that it stands head and shoulders above almost everything I've ever read on ao3 and honestly above a lot of commercially published original fiction I've encountered in the same span of time since I've started it. The settings are deliciously (and sometimes, due to the realities of life on a pirate ship, disgustingly) immersive, the action scenes are perfectly paced, and the emotional beats, when they hit, hit hard and ring true and stay with you.

Starting at at age 13, young Ed's growth and development over time is equal parts rewarding and harrowing. Threads are pulled together from canon and from earlier parts of the story to coalesce into a portrait of a living, breathing version of our favorite guy trying to find his place in the world, stumbling along the way, and eventually realizing that if he wants a place he'll have to make it himself. The secondary characters leap off the proverbial page too, and the connections he does or doesn't form with them have interesting, believable fallout for everyone involved.

I mentioned action scenes earlier, but I want to circle back around to them again because NSWD takes Izzy's season 1 comment about Blackbeard being the greatest sailor he's ever known and says the same with its whole chest. I know I'm not alone in hoping to see Incredible Sailor Ed in season 2, but in the mean time this is more than scratching that itch for me. We see Ed set foot on his first ship with no skills beyond attracting (mostly) unwelcome attention and observational skills that become the foundation of his later abilities with the sea and with the art of fuckery. From the outside he looks like a savant but on the inside he builds his skills slowly over time, delighting in learning new things and seeing a plan come together. But best of all, he delights in the skills of others, eagerly learns from them when he can, happily teaches what he can to the few people he trusts, and takes pleasure and pride in their own success.

I could literally keep talking about this fic until the next chapter gets posted, but the good news is that happens regularly! I know it can be tough to trust a WIP but I for one am so thankful for the moment of poor impulse control that led to me starting this one. New chapters come roughly every two weeks, and looking at @tresdem's output elsewhere helps me feel secure that we'll actually get to the end.

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hiddency · 5 months

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The way Happy Chaos functions as a playable character in Strive is hilarious to me, because unlike most other characters whose playstyles and abilities are distilled essences of their character, Happy Chaos feels like he's plucked out of a single moment in the story mode. Like, based on the lore Happy Chaos could have any number of insane magical abilities and do shit as crazy as Asuka does, but in gameplay he doesn't do that, he punches and kicks and shoots the specifically non-magical gun he picked up during the story, like there's no reason for him to have the gun and the jacket, those aspects arent core to his character. It looks like the designer looked at some of the things he does in the story mode and decided to build a gameplay style around that without considering the actual lore of the character.

Which I would normally have grips with,

BUT

That actually fits his character as described by Happy Chaos himself to a T. Of course Happy Chaos wouldn't be a distilled image of his character, he doesn't have a character, he's a not-quite-a-being playing a role, he's the shadows in Plato's allegory of the cave. His gameplay feels a shallow reading of his character because he IS shallow. He's there to have a lunch and cause some conflict and nothing more, and what could be funnier then the all powerful magical being using a simple non-magic gun created by ingenuity of humans, and also some punches and kicks

#guilty gear strive #happy chaos

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kalolasfantasyworld · 2 months

Text

Paper Hearts and how it came to be

Hi everyone this a post nobody asked for, but I really wanted to make. I admit that I was inspired to make this after reading the afterword of the Embers of Sun and Flame by @thoughtfullyrainynightmare.

Paper Hearts spoilers - not plot specific, but overall concepts. I wanted to reveal a bit of how it actually happened that I came up with it and I can tell you it was a journey.

3 main points below and then I will expand:

Noelle and Nozel are my favorite characters, while Noelle finds herself and becomes happy. Nozel... we don't really know much about, but we know that he's been not great.

SILVA REDEMPTION - it was supposed to be a redemption story since the beginning. I wanted to give all the Silvas a more "human" outlook. A chance to make mistakes and change for the better. A chance to become a family.

The story did not start with Helena. She was "created" for the Silvas, to help them grow and learn. I couldn't do this with an already existing character without changing canon. Helena sees the whole BC (literally 5-170 episodes, plus a bit of manga until the Spade Raid) story from her perspective, a new perspective and gives an outlook on what the Silvas did then. However she developed as a whole well rounded character with her strengths, quirks and flaws. 💕

Nozel x OC

Nozel was in the dark for a long time. A cave filled with perfectionism, guilt, self loathing and unhealthy ambition. A very cold place. (a tiny reference to Allegory of the Cave by Plato, obviously this is a slightly different case)

I know he would not so easily get out of his cave towards the light

He needed to be "forcefully pulled out of it" and that's where a nosy, cheerful, talkative, very stubborn and at times annoying OC comes in

She helps him see the light in the outside world, by teaching him how to simply have fun, but also notice the good inside himself.

She pulls him out to that "shining light" and that's how her name came to be -> Helena meaning sun ray, torch, shining light

Nozel is by no means weak in this story, on the contrary I want to show him as a strong character who found some ways to cope with his past even though they were certainly not the best ones. However he is able to grow and learn (such as admitting, that he was wrong, or being vulnerable with time).

Silva redemption

We've seen moments, literal snippets of Nebra and Solid acting not like the last pieces of trash (when Nebra checks up on Solid, when he's hurt, Nebra realising that she is an obstacle after she's hurt, or when Solid tells Noelle to go to the shadow palace, little more besides that) and I think that to each other they were never that awful. I wanted to expand on that.

So let's introduce Helena, but hey they will treat her awful if she's below them in social hierarchy -> let's make her a princess with a lot of mana

A princess? which house? She's supposed to have a "fresh view" -> she has to be a foreginer

Foreigner?! Are you kidding?! they will eat her alive (I mean they did xd) -> There has to be some familiarity and how better to achieve that then through Acier, thus Luciana (Helena's mom) and Acier were best friends and Helena is actually half clover half diamond

She has to warm up the atmosphere -> once again the little light. Helena becomes friends with Nebra (Nebra learns how to treat a friend well), and she cares for Solid like a little brother (somebody will bite back and he will learn respect), Nozel... you know the story and with Noelle you will see how it goes.

However there will be more to their growth then just Helena and sometimes she will simply witness the changes

They are assholes to lower class people -> Helena is not, but why? even though she is a princess -> backstory time ;)

Nozel, Nebra and Solid are STILL very much ASSHOLES in Paper Hearts!!! I just give them an additional face and a chance to grow over time, to be more than that.

Character growth

people make mistakes, and these characters will make them in Paper Hearts, but they will learn and grow because of them

This story will be long, because it will not rush through changes. They happen over time and a year and a half is a lot. I want these to be natural.

Helena

her character was explained a bit earlier, she has to counter the cold of the Silvas and be full of life

She comes from a big, warm family so she can show the Silvas how does a healthy family life look like

She has FLAWS, quite a few actually, because people are not perfect and that's what makes them special and beautiful. She's supposed to be relatable.

Helena is not traumatised, depressed or broken. She has her past and it affected her, but she's learnt a lesson instead of letting it control her.

Another reason for why she is a princess -> I've always had a hard time picturing Nozel being long term with someone outside of nobility. Not because of arrogance, but simply responsibilities. Helena knows how to take care of a house, knows Royal customs and will be a good lady of the house, someone Nozel can lean on in his duties, who understands how important it is to carry the name. So they have some similar values and backgrounds helping them understand one another. Especially at the beginning of the story, when he would simply not talk to anyone below his status and that's when Helena was introduced. (also based on the assorted questions brigade that's his type)

Helena's hispanic -> I simply love hispanic characters, spanglish is a fun addition to the story (my friend pointed out to me, that I may have been subconsciously inspired by Lance from Voltron)

Helena's looks -> I wanted her to have that sun kissed, hispanic look

Her eyes are dark brown, almost black -> I wanted a silver haired baby with super dark eyes 😍 (that's Natalia and literally the only reason for Helena's eye color)

She wears red -> the red blue dynamics, although they kind of flipped, because usually the blue are funny and silly, while the red grumpy, but you know what I mean

There's a four years difference between her and Nozel, I wanted her to be a bit younger so that she would have an easier time connecting with the younger Silvas (there's 1 year between her and Nebra) and overall Helena is filled with that "youthful vigor"

her perspective is new and fresh, she's a foreigner and we learn about Clover with her

Paper magic... that's a lot to unpack especially since you don't know (she doesn't either) how her spells develop yet -> let's say I wanted her to be "weak" at the beginning and paper seems pretty timid and the "blank page" metaphor (song unwritten fits her so well). You have to trust me that Paper Magic was very carefully and deliberately thought through.

Helena has not and never will become a magic knight. She's supposed to be different than Nozel and have her own thing, which is healing. This also is relevant towards her not changing canon, but being able to interact with it.

Why Diamond out of all the suit kingdoms? -> You'll see xd (forever in the future though 🥲), but it came with the development of the story. As I said Paper Hearts started with the Silvas then branched out. However I do have some Diamond Kingdom lore.

CANON

this story is written in a way that it could happen in the show

meaning Helena is watching something but not interacting where the "BC camera rolls"

I need to rewatch quite a bit while writing, but I'm not complaining (okay the festival chapters were hard and there were times when I wrote a scene only to be like "No! This character can't be here!" and I had to delete it 😭 "bye bye funny scene")

I wanted for you to see what the Silvas are doing, while BB are on their adventures

So it can be the reader's favorite game -> I wonder what is Helena doing in this part of the series?

assorted questions brigade is my literal guidebook (Nozel is a lightweight, socks on during sex 😁)

Actually writing

I haven't written anything in YEARS

I've never finished a fic

I was self conscious about my stories and how I wrote characters (terrified that people will say "oh they would not act this way at all!")

writing is still one of the most personal things I have (it lies closer to my heart even than my art)

Miraculously I opened up and told my not BC friend the main plot of Paper hearts story -> she said "it's good write it" -> that same evening I had the first chapter drafted

That's why I explain literally everything in Paper Hearts (you're getting specific descriptions of how each character looks like). I want her to be able to read it without her needing to watch the show. So it's written that non BC people will understand it and people who are just watching won't get spoilers, because I give spoiler warnings.

Those who know BC see the foreshadowing, little hints and easter eggs, so it's just as fun.

Humor

I love humor

I laugh so much while writing this story and I do my best to make it really funny

Helena is hilarious

And the sunshine x grumpy relationships are my favorite

so Helena and Nozel deliver me so much content

Besides there are Finral and Vanessa

Finral and Vanessa

I love them

They are an amazing trio with Helena, so funny too

I wanted to let the readers know what's happening in BC and keep them in a loop where we are with the BC storyline, so they tell Helena about their adventures

Obviously there is much more to them than being a source of information

Platonic relationships

This story will have a lot of them, such as relationships between Helena and each one of the younger Silva siblings, or mentioned above Finral and Vanessa

It is a romance, but also much more

There are quite a few chapters in which Nozel is just not present and they're still fun, but focus on different things

Hard topics

there are and will be some tougher, more angsty chapters and sadder ones as well

BC story has its ups and downs in terms of characters well being. It can't be happy all the time.

Once again PEOPLE MAKE MISTAKES

I want them to learn from them

Action

I actually found out writing fight scenes is not awful

so I describe them (wait for the elf reincarnation arc chapters...😁)

Romance

This is obviously a romance, spicy, funny, thoughtful, lovable and at some points relatable, but it also has its downsides

IMPERFECTIONS!!!

Pink tinted glasses

Helena and Nozel don't miraculously fall in love, they learn it and it happens over time, they become "friends before lovers" it's natural.

Yhm sexual tension -> a lot, this story is rated mature for a reason!

Support

building relationships takes time

MISTAKES!!!

misunderstandings

It is soft, touching, but painful at times

There's a song in my first language saying (this is my translation):

Love is no teddy bear, no flowers

It is also not a horned devil

Nor it is love, when one is crying

And other is jumping on them.

Because love is not a film at any cinema.

Neither roses, nor kisses - little, big ones..

But love... is when one is falling down

And the other is pulling them up

that's the Nozelena I'm going for ❤️💙

Song additions (as you can see above😉)

i love music and I love incorporating it in this story

so song guessing like in chapter 21 was so much fun

I even created a full playlist for one of the latter chapters (i listened to it while writing, now it sometimes plays when I drive a car xd)

And there are some songs, which just fit the characters and I will link them

I'm really just goofing around with this, but it makes me so happy

Other ships

i know they're not there yet

but they will be in the right time of BC storyline

Helena is too nosy to not butt into other relationships and not be a matchmaker or something...

I just wanted to give some love to the characters I like and won't really gallop of canon, but they will have some cute scenes (not all the ships I like though, that would be too much, so I chose those fitting the plot, very sadly no Greyche, no MagLuck 😭, maybe mentions of them though)

Canon is the reason why I'm doing mostly "canonic" ships

Other characters that appear

This story ends up being not Helena x Nozel, not Helena x Silvas, but Helena x BC characters overall

it's funny and interesting how they interact

And I want to show some love to other still amazing characters, who just did not find their place in my top of the top, or did not really fit the plot of this fic as mains

Development

writing this story is a process

and I have it plotted out, so everything really does happen for a reason. I'm not changing the plot whatsoever since I came up with it and it was before setting up Ao3 or this tumblr account.

but then there are some little things, which I don't see coming and an additional chapter appears (I'm loosing control over the length of this story)

The "story tells you what it wants" and I follow it, so the chapter details are not set in stone

I also realised I can't write short chapters any more, so it prolongs the story too and sometimes I need to split them in two (for example the festival chapter was supposed to be in 1 mayeeebe 2 -> it's in three, elf reincarnation was supposed to be one -> it's in three)

But I think that what's in there is necessary, interesting and just fun so i won't make this story shorter on purpose, that's not the point

Illustrations

They happened. There's nothing to explain here. I just like to draw. I've read two fics with illustrations and I found them fun. I wasn't planning on illustrating every Paper Hearts chapter, but it may happen.

I'm truly exploring what I can do with my art in those illustrations so they are made in multiple styles, at different points in time and they differ greatly.

The title/s

You will understand why Paper Hearts, when I finally will get to a chapter titled this way

It's obviously connected to Helena's paper magic

Each chapter title matters -> I spend a lot of time on thinking them through and they greatly foreshadow what will happen, a lot of times in metaphorical ways

They are made in a specific style "The ...." -> I just thought it would be fun to stay consistent

Damn, this was a loooong post!

I hope you guys enjoyed this little (not really 😂) explanation and are enjoying my passion project called Paper Hearts.

For those who are reading Paper Hearts I hope you like how it came to be and continue with me on this journey through BC. I'm forever grateful for your support.

For those who haven't read it I strongly recommend it to you. The first few chapters are a bit icky, because I was just learning how to write and setting up the scene, but it's a good story. This statement I've actually never doubted. 💕

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