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rennybu · 4 months

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hi.... i'm just a poor boy . who does not know the loam lore. would you be willing to share.... a summary.... (so curious i am a loam enjoyer)

oh my gosh hi griff..! oh there is so much to tell... i will h ave no choice but to put this under a readmore. the shortest answer is that he is my character of 3+ years in @jawsandbones homebrew dnd campaign and he is like a son to me. but to start off with baby pictures:

LOAM was born 52 years ago in a city called TILDEN, which is blocked off overland by a CURSED* SWAMP that creeps closer every year.

*Misremembered and only Recently Re-Contextualized Major Historical event

His mom is a shy, worried, and loving woman named Bayla - she's a druid and sells medicinal mushrooms of all sorts. His dad is an unwaveringly positive (but incredibly serious) mason named Uttara who proudly works on all sorts of projects around the city, especially major infrastructure. Yay stoneworkers!

(Because fantasy lifespans are strange and somewhat silly to me I just imagine Firbolgs to be stuck in their mid-20s existential dread until they're like at least 150. The backstory part of this spans literally 51 of his 52 year s of life. he's so young)

He got equal enrichment from time spent in nature with his mom as from time spent in the city with his dad. His nickname in the Tilden Firbolg community To This Day is "Always With Questions" - a kind of affix to differentiate him from any other Loams. He may not know much but he really would like to find out, please!!!! He sees a lot of beauty in the natural world, but his idea of what's natural is skewed somewhat by the uh, Curse. He once fell through some algae into a deep body of water and had a very fun memento mori experience as a kiddo (beautiful golden sunbeam shining onto a silty skull)

He got the name Loam very young from his interest in both his parents' work, which lead to him learning about soil types and uses in gardening and construction aklfhglskg. Loam was important for both jobs so he (in guess-what-I-just-learned little kid fashion) told everyone who would listen about it. The association STUCK and he's Loam now :].

His birth name is actually Rahara! but that's secret knowledge only his bestest friends and Tzip and some scarycool important NPCs know.

He loves beasts and magic and plants so much. And on the flip side he also loves and is fascinated by architecture and engineering. He never got any like, higher academic schooling or whatever, but had many many different apprenticeship type training relationships from his parents, other tradespeople in the city, from the senior rangers etc etc.

Small break to plug @jawsandbones lore packets for the Quarter Cities (including Tilden), Scarabae, and the overall campaign setting!!!! I'm just gonna talk about stuff without adding too much context of my own because AAA WORD COUNT!!!

The hole in Loam's ear was brought about by a shit ass Tilden local trying to tear his earring off him, since he'd bought it from a foreign merchant from a city Tilden/the Quarter has historically warred with. Loam's always been open minded and deeply curious about other cities, due to how isolated the bog is. Any visiting merchants are sources of wonder!!!! Even though he only bought the one hoop earring from the Quietus merchants (Mirjam and Mihail, mother and son!), after the ice was broken he stayed by their stall the rest of the day and talked about all kinds of things, and befriended Mihail!

Loam trained as a ranger as soon as he was old enough to do so!!!! He saw it as the next logical step past what his parents would be able to show him and was incredibly eager to get hands-on experience in the wilds. He met his first ever boyfriend among his peers there!!! Bragi... he has had many lovers and situationships in Tilden since, BUT only recently feels comfortable trying monogamy again after meeting Tzipporah.

Bragi unfortunately died badly to a creature in a traumatic backstory incident that left young Loam super fucking bereft and hyper aware of how easy it is to die. (Big monster attack + group of trainee rangers accompanied by a few more senior rangers + chaos and bloodshed. Loam carried Bragi to safety and tried resuscitating him but he was already gone. The experience made him uncomfortable with the idea of being in a defined, monogamous intimate relationship for the next like. 19 years. He felt like he got ripped in half!)

After the ranger's guild recovers from THE CREATURE ATTACK, Loam meets his close friend, Reece, a fellow ranger and Kenku (she looks like a masked shrike)!!!

He gets his septum pierced by the same visiting merchants from Quietus a few years after Bragi's death. It's a very important moment for him, where it feels like he can finally start to let himself change and grow beyond that event. He also spends more and more time in the city, away from the more rural/overgrown districts, and chases a love for the arts and partying and people, where he meets Kallirhoe (human, not a even a classed bard but like. an indie musician. an eboy if high fantasy had eboys. a tattooed twinkish fellow. you know the type)! They are very good friends who also have sex. Many days spent waxing poetic about THE BIG WIDE WORLD and how they'll never get to see it. (Spoiler: He sees it)

Loam gets into tarot as a hobby, and makes his own deck in a very scribbly freehand style with ink and charcoal!!!! he's slowly replacing them with more Worldly artwork - the deck he left home with was very. Tildencore

Many good years of being a party girl who has to go work a construction job tomorrow and then go be a ranger at 6. A rich and storied life. AND THEN THE GAME TIMELINE STARTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A path Through the bog has recently finished being built by Dagda, the Southern representative to the other Quarter Cities, making more trade possible overland, and making local tensions go even crazier. Also there are strange Awful Huge Scary Monsters appearing WORLDWIDE, so the Directions and the Three Kings of Scarabae and the remote island of Geest (ADRA'S HOME!) and the mysterious magical Widow's Wood are all like "STOP WAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING RN". Trials are held in the Western city of Dina to appoint FOUR TEAMS OF FOUR to help defend against the new threat. Loam is like. Well I've gotta fucking do that. I've got to try. If I'm not chosen, at least I've set foot outside. He has a fight with his mom about this, because she is terrified she will lose him, like she lost her mother in a previous conflict when Scarabae was occupying the Quarter, before Loam was born. He stands firm and his dad has his back, and ultimately he leaves with both their blessings, but his dismissal of his mom's feelings weighs heavy on him the longer he's away from home. (He has a big cry and reconciliation about this when he is next able to come home.)

I'm clapping and cheering and skipping joyfully because now he HAS MET HIS BESTEST, DEAREST, CLOSEST FRIENDS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD: ADRA ILSA AND TALEE!!!!!!! I have to be so careful now because we have no joke hundreds of pages of notes. I cannot read that shit on google docs mobile app. We are approaching session one hundred and fifty of this game. They love each other so fucking much. THEY ARE THE INFORMATION GATHERERS!!! A PARTY OF SLEUTHS!!!

He also has his meet-cute with Tzipporah at the trials, which in hindsight is hilarious, because of the whole, "Tzipporah was sent to the trials as a spy (by the very people responsible for the giant awful monster crisis) and immediately pegged Loam for an easy mark to get information from" thing. And he was 100% correct. But a lot has to happen before that gets revealed. They took a nice night walk and write each other big long letters. And Loam tells him soooooo much <3

At one point while exploring a wizard tower he attunes to a lightly cursed ring and forgets what his parents look like, like their likenesses are Gone from past and recent memory. Which is a big thorn of homesickness that he writes to them about. He has a big cry and stares at them both for a LONG time when he next sees them.

Also they save an orphaned Kenku from some bandits and now Loam has a little shoulder-sniper named Bubby. We have a son. A perfect little crow son who is really good at killing, with arrows. He hides things in Loam's hood regularly

Other major things include ummm umm Loam's TWO deaths, one during a dungeon-rescue type scenario in a room that was Flooding and full of Phantoms and also a charmed Druid (Feyan, good friends now) wildshaped into a big scary water snake. He was hurt bad and (comedically) levitated so he wouldn't DROWN but then got Phantom Speared right through the torso. Second one was because Tzip's evil half brother Vences was like, mad at him for being a good influence on Tzipporah and interfering with the spy duties. Chill touch so no healing + dagger in the ribs! Ow. Also the reveal that Tzip was a spy was happening like, simultaneously here so we were yowling and screaming. (Well. Talee and Co had their long time hunches about this. Loam and I had turned a beautiful blind eye to all suspicious activity)

ANYWAY HIS DEATH SCARS LOOK LIKE A COMET ABOVE HIS BELLY!!!! The spear scar made a patch of his fur turn white (front and back), and the dagger scar is its crude tail!

I am skipping over so many plot revelations i. This is just the Loam Cut. and it's not even all of it.

His buzzcut was for emotional superstitious reasons!!! He cut it after Death 2 and Tzipporah getting taken against his will back into Evil Gang. Loam's mom has a lock of his hair at home now. ALL THIS TO SAY TZIP IS OKAY, NO LONGER SPYING, WE RESCUED HIM AND RIPPED A MASK OFF HIM AND SAVED HIM FROM GETTING HIS MIND EXCAVATED ! SO LOAM IS GROWING HIS HAIR OUT AGAIN!

The deaths of his close friends and their allies have also been. insane for him to process. To return someone to life in this setting u need to like. entreat a Titan. plead on the deceased's behalf and offer something up for the chance to revive them. (NO player spells like revivify. house rule) So interacting with these entities he sees as like Both forces of the natural world AND of huge religious/cultural importance regionally. And to have their requests be HEARD? He loves magic he loves Titans. And the plot is unfolding in such a way that scares me so bad. He loves his titan (The Curious Spear) SOOOO MUCH he has like the foundational belief that it can see through his eyes. Even if not true it motivates him to always seek understanding of strange new things.

Oh my god I didn't even talk about his multiclass into druid. He's a druid also. Circle of the Stars!! As a navigational point. He loves them. He loves space. He loves geography and regional interpretations of constellations. He used to just do freehand observations but truly became dedicated to charting the skies of every place the party travels to, after Tzipporah gifted him a grid-lined journal <3 <3 <3 STARRY FORM!!!!!!

His awe and inspiration and hunger for knowledge is the well he draws magical power from. My Boy is thematically bound up in the soggiest parts of this earth and also the unknowably distant stars above and I'm normal about it (lie) (There is a new and scary Third Thing rising which is the space between. I <3 Void). I know i draw him beige and green but his like, character colour theme is. Dusk to me. Gloaming. When the world is lit like a dream <3

In summary. In conclusion. He and Adra and Ilsa and Talee (and the rest of the Four of Four) are trying to prevent Global Disaster of an existential scale never before seen and are being very brave about it.

Loam wants to understand everything about Everything. Because understanding is love. Unfortunately there are hostile resentful and vengeful forces making this hard to do. Most recently by saving a city we Unmade a magically sustained centuries-old library. And we haven't had time to like fully let that sink in. Because of the horrors of war and being Four of Four means responding to emergencies and protecting cities as best we can against a foe that was forgotten by history until like, 10 months ago. Less, even. I hope this is anything. I hope u are his friend now too because he is yours

good lord how could i forget. His gender is male in such a way that he does not give a shit about it. He's one of the girls. He's genderless. Like a knight. His sense of identity is built on Living Laughing and Loving.

his personal goals are 1. to uncurse the bog in such a way that the wrongs committed by Tilden historically are brought to light and righted, 2. to get super married to Tzipporah and build a house together, and 3. to somehow, eventually, through great teamwork and effort, cure(?) the dreadful lingering soul plague on the island of demeter. HUMBLE! OH and to make a finished star chart covering the entire planet. humble.

thank u for reading here are his current stats

#titan campaign #loam #aart #theres some secret goodies under the readmore btw #IM SOOOOOO SORRY FOR THE CHAOTIC FORMATTING AND HOW MUCH I JUMP AROUND #i will happily answer more questions. and i wont take months to respond i promi #GRIFF... THANK YOU SM

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veliseraptor · 4 months

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So there's a poll that crossed my dash (https://www.tumblr.com/lansplaining/739863989923856384/in-a-time-travel-situation-to-save-himself-jgy if you're curious) about what JGY would do if he traveled back in time. There's lots of incredible but totally dissenting ideas in the notes, and now I really want your perspective. JGY dies in Guanyin Temple and wakes up in the past: what's his game plan?

oh man this is an interesting question! and so much of it is "it depends", particularly on "where in the past does he end up."

I think the first answer is actually to a certain extent "freeze and despair" because the thing is that from Jin Guangyao's perspective, he's never had a whole lot of options. His mistakes - or at least, the things that got him in trouble - look like, if not inevitabilities, a question of "what could I have done that would've been better?", at least at (his own) first impression. I think a lot of the time he makes the choices he makes because he feels cornered into them. He kills Nie Mingjue because otherwise he will die. Whether he was directly responsible for Rusong's death or not (I tend to think not, but I also think the text is deliberately ambiguous), it's a matter of preserving what little reputation he has (and MDZS tells us, repeatedly, that reputation can be the difference between life and death). The incest is thoroughly accidental and, once it's done, fairly inescapable without severely damaging both his own reputation (not an insignificant matter) and that of Qin Su, who he cares for deeply; once he knows he does what he can by ceasing to be intimate with Qin Su.

The only thing that I think is definitely not about feeling cornered is Jin Guangshan's death, which is far more personal; but there is also the consideration that if he doesn't kill Jin Guangshan he is quite probably going to be pushed out, one way or another. I don't remember if it's explicit or not, but Jin Guangshan's bringing in of Mo Xuanyu isn't not a threat that Jin Guangyao is replaceable.

So I think Jin Guangyao, back in time, looks at his options and thinks what am I supposed to do that won't end in disaster, when part of what doomed me was what I am (my mother's son), in and of itself.

He can try to stay in Nie Mingjue's good graces, but that means submitting himself to abuse from Nie subordinates and accepting his "place" with the Nie, which he doesn't want. If he never works as a spymaster for Wen Ruohan, then he never has the means to gain status, and if he works as spymaster for Wen Ruohan then he gains Nie Mingjue's suspicion if not enmity, which is likely to spiral rapidly both because of Nie Mingjue's inevitable deterioration and their drastic differences in perspective in general. If Jin Guangyao ends up with the Jin, he ends up having to do the same things that make Nie Mingjue so angry with him on behalf of his father, because it's not like he can say no. If he kills his father, he might have a chance, but he's also then committed a crime that if anyone discovers it will earn him universal approbation and has to live in fear of that for the rest of his life, intensified by his previous experiences/trauma from the former timeline. If he tries to make sure Nie Mingjue dies in the war, that's risky in itself, because if he is implicated even slightly in it he's also doomed.

Then, if he's only traveled back in time to when he's already joined the Jin after the Sunshot Campaign, it's even worse: he's already in a bad position with Nie Mingjue, who is going to become a (at least potential) threat to his life, but killing Nie Mingjue triggers Nie Huaisang's revenge. Killing Nie Huaisang is maybe an option but he would have to get away with it and that's intensely risky, and not something I know that he necessarily wants to do.

(I think he would kind of like to kill Nie Huaisang. I think he is very angry with Nie Huaisang. Definitely not going to be getting close to him at all, and I think would cut him off from any personal connection as politely as possible. Imagine how Nie Huaisang would feel about this with no understanding as to why, it's fun.)

If he doesn't do anything - leaves Jin Guangshan alive, leaves Nie Mingjue alive, leaves Nie Huaisang alive - he might be able to get through it alive. But from his perspective (at least) I think there's decent odds that Nie Mingjue would kill him, or at least a significant risk of it - if nothing else, because Nie Mingjue is going to lose control eventually and Jin Guangyao is a frequent target of his anger even when he is under control. And even if that doesn't happen, again, there's likelihood that he will have to live under his father's oppressive thumb for a long time, knowing that he's, not even hated, but just worthless to him. Knowing that his mother was worthless to him, and feeling, I think, that by being filial to his father he's betraying her. If Jin Guangshan doesn't just kick him out of the sect with nowhere to go.

I do think that while there's a part of Jin Guangyao that could, maybe, accept a low status as a means to survive (and I don't know that he would have anything but a low status in any other sect but the Jin; even his killing of Wen Ruohan doesn't earn him general respect), I think he would be miserable, and always resent it. I think that would feed into the despair, too: that this is his fate, that all his struggle and striving was for nothing and this is all he can do if he wants to live. That there was never any place for him in the world.

and taken all together this is why time travel fix-its where things are different because "Jin Guangyao just [whatever]" kind of drive me a little nuts, both from a logical and a character perspective. I'm not saying it's impossible. just that it's very difficult, and there's not a lot of pathways to happiness for my boy on his own without help - and where is he going to get help? just like the first time around, he's on his own.

#conversating #flamingwell #jin guangyao #the sad queer cultivators show #i haven't looked at the notes because i'm scared to look at the notes on that post #but this was interesting to think about and i guess something i have a lot of feelings on #mostly about how i do think the 'freeze and despair' response is at least somewhat likely #even if it's only temporary #because jin guangyao is persistent! he does persevere!#but at a certain point a guy has to feel like he can take a hint #that the world doesn't want him

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pocket-goat · 6 months

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i'm not personally a fan of saints campaign from a gameplay perspective. its the only campaign i've only ever played once up until now despite liking the story and lore implications. but it hit me so hard emotionally that i was genuinely stunned and i couldn't figure out what it made me feel, let alone why i was feeling it so strongly, like i had just lost something so important to me rather than a few pixels i could see again if i just started up another campaign.

i think it's because, up until saints campaign (since i did his last of course), i had spent so much of my time trying to help moon. in every campaign save for artificers, where she's inaccessible, but even then i only found out i couldn't access moons structure when i had already trudged through all of waterfront facility with a neuron for her.

i delivered her pearl as spearmaster, revived her as hunter, reactivated her structure as rivulet, and gathered her neurons in every campaign where i had access to both her and pebbles' structure. not to mention my hours of pearl gathering, not just for completing my collection, but also because in my regular runs i enjoyed bringing her new reading material. i knew i couldn't save her, but i did everything in my little slugcat power to ease her pain.

and then i finally reach her as saint, and while i'm not forced to ascend her, thats pretty clearly the intention. and i stalled for such a long time. it felt easy ascending pebbles, it felt like a mercy to him. he wanted that for so long, right? and he was in such a state now that leaving him there to rot indefinitely felt like condemning him to an absolutely hellish existence. at least his ancients had left him functional and with the ability to contact his fellow iterators and possibly find a solution for himself. i would be leaving him with a faded music pearl and a lantern while he sat in his own rotting corpse.

but moon never WANTED to die. she actively fought to LIVE, and she was finally back to as close as she could get to her former state with the rarefraction cell! and it felt a little bit like i was undoing all of the progress of my hunter run by just killing her now. what was the point of the slag reset keys and all the neurons and the rarefraction cell? but then again, what would i be leaving her to? a world frozen over where she is cut off from everyone she has ever known, unable to reach out, her only accessible neighbour being completely unresponsive (and now dead)?

i felt better about it after she had said it was time for the time of her and her ancients to be left behind. the world had already died. her world had already died. and a new one was being born, one she need not be a part of. she seemed comfortable in the fact she would be a part of this new world only as a forgotten legacy, perhaps a mystery for future civilizations to unravel.

i have many thoughts about looks to the moon.

and i think, in my idealistic continuation of rain worlds story, after saint has ascended the sibling iterators and moved on, that their empty puppets are still treated kindly and with a quiet sort of reverence by any scavenger or slugcat who finds them. i'd like to leave them flowers.

#i got sad about moon tonight #i miss her #rain world #rain world downpour #rain world downpour spoilers #rain world saint spoilers #pocket.txt #rambles #looks to the moon #five pebbles

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wangxianficfinder · 8 months

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In the mood for...

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1. For the next ITMF, do you know of any fics with Lan Xichen with more of a spine, being less naive/more astute? His absolute trust in JGY drives me up the wall sometimes, so I'd like fics where he sees through him, for once. @kitsileya

i told you when i came i was a stranger by Caramelized (M, 50k, OFC/LXC, minor WangXian, Isekai, Transmigration, Fix-It, Canon Divergence, Amateur cartography, Butterfly Effect, Sunshot Campaign, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, No Golden Core Transfer, Dimension Travel, Politics, LXC the politician, Self-Insert, Foreknowledge, Angst with a Happy Ending) for #1 the closest I can think of it "i told you when i came i was a stranger" by Caramelized it's isekai, but it's extremely well-done. one of those fics i reread a lot. lxc needs some help to see through the deceit, but he gets there in the end, and learns something from it. idk if it's exactly what the asker is after but no one else seems to have provided anything so I thought I'd at least offer it

A Little Fall of Rain by Just_a_Girl_in_a_Crystal (T, 47k, WIP, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Temporary Character Death, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Grief/Mourning, Angst with a Happy Ending, Jiang siblings, Fix-It, Golden Core Reveal, Protective LXC, Protective LQR) heavy angst

crack in the mirror by the_pretzel (T, 59k, WIP, WangXian, Reincarnation, Royalty, Transmigration, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Murder, Mutual Pining, based on a manhwa, Mystery, court intrigue, Assassination Attempt(s), Assassination Plot(s)) AU - he does keep supporting jgy for a while but believes lwj and then decides for himself

The blame game by apathyinreverie (T, 13k, WangXian, Fix-It, Time Travel, mainly just lxc getting his brother the husband he has wanted since they were teenagers, this time without the years of mourning, also lxc wants his adorable nephew back, LXC time travels, Canon Divergence, Possessive LWJ, Oblivious WWX, Fluff, Siblings, Romance, Golden Core Reveal, kind of, Golden Core Fix-It) here he has the benefit of time travel so idk if this is what OP is going for

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2. itmf fics where wei ying dies in qiongqi dao? thanks! ♡ @darlingjunebug

End Racism in the OTW | The Fire Lapping Up the Creek by notevenyou (E, 66k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Blood, Respiratory Illness, Major Illness, Fever, Grief/Mourning, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Hunger and food scarcity, Surgery, Fix-It of Sorts) Technically WWX doesn't actually die, but he is assumed dead, so you get LWJ going a lil mad with grief & the sects reacting as if he's dead

in this place where we don't have a prayer by Cerusee, Mikkeneko (T, 42k, XuanLi, WangXian, ChengQing)

Looking at You Always, All Ways by Keysmashed (T, 29k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Time Travel Fix-It, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Nostalgia, Subtly Assertive LWJ, very mild angst, Angst with a Happy Ending)

Troublesome Lotus by orphan_account (G, 20k, WangXian, Female WWX, Gender Changes, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Unplanned Pregnancy, Miscarriage, LSZ is LWJ and WWX's Child, Baby LSZ, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Pregnancy, Pregnant WWX, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Childbirth, WWX dies in Qiongqi Path, Implied Sexual Content, Parent WWX, Good Parent WWX, Single Parent WWX, Sad Ending) if you dont mind reading fem!WWX

The world was wide enough for the both of us by Moonlit_dewdrops (T, 5k, JC & WWX, Time Travel, Not A Fix-It, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Hurt No Comfort, Ambush at Qióngqí Path, Blood and Injury, Heavy Angst, Golden Core Reveal, JZX lives but someone else dies instead...)

ius in bello by Lise (T, 2k, Yunmeng Siblings, Canon Divergence, Tearjerker, Sad Ending, Heavy Angst, Grief/Mourning, Not A Fix-It, POV JC, podfic available)

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3. hello! thankyou all for your hard work. for the next ITMF, please suggest fics where: a) modern sick wwx, b) a-yuan is wwx and lwj's son but lwj know it some years after like wwx hid it or smth, it can be modern or not. c) good underrated tags that i can explore later. thankyou!

3A)

A Grand Immortal Made Me Soup by s6115 (G, 5k, JC & WWX, wangxian, canon divergence, Immortal JC, Immortal LWJ, Immortality, Yunmeng Duo Days, Twin Prides of Yúnmèng Feels, JC & WWX Reconciliation, JC used his immortality to grow and mature, WWX finally reincarnates and the immortal JC isn't going to fail this time, JYL's Pork Rib and Lotus Root Soup, Good Sibling JC)

the soft animal of your body by sysrae (T, 15k, WangXian, Modern with Magic, modern cultivation, Golden Core Reveal, Hurt/Comfort, Whump, Animal Transformation, Shapeshifting, Sort Of, Getting Together, Confessions)

Grace and a tender hand by feyburner (T, 4k, wangxian, modern, First Date, Sickfic, Hurt/Comfort, Misunderstandings, Fluff)

3B)

Nothing but your heart by airinshaw (E, 21k, WangXian, Modern AU, A/B/O Dynamics, Implied Mpreg, First Time, Getting Together, Angst and Drama, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anal Sex, Whump, Breeding Kink)

Family Pictures (Or: “Mark Rothko is very, very dead, Wei Ying.”) by belleweather (M, 37k, wangxian, modern, Kid Fic, Post Mpreg, Cindarella Story, Mistaken Identity, Mistaken for Being in a Relationship, LWJ doesn’t know how to express feelings except with his checkbook, WWX is strangely okay with that, art conservator LWJ, idiot WWX (he gets better slowly), shockingly little actual sex omg what happened to me?, fake/mistaken cheating, no actual infidelity, I apologize to Mark Rothko and Julian Baumgartner)

3C)

agree about the personal preference thing! i feel like the novel has big themes of (found) family, so occasionally i like to go through the tag and stuff like yiling sibs, lsz&wwx, jl&wwx etc etc. also i thing the "disabled character/wwx" fics are pretty underrated? because sometimes they're not found in the tag sadly

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4. Hi! I was wondering if any of you knew of fics that portray the confession scene from LWJ's POV? Ideally, I would like for fics to portray both parts (outside and inside the temple). If not, I would prefer it if the fic had its focus on the part inside the temple @blueghost13

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5. Hiii hope y'all are doing well! For today's itmf fics where wwx and lwj are trying to solve crimes. (any type works but thriller and/or horror would be amazing)? They can work together or meet and have to work together to figure it out, anything works really but I'd have a preference for detectives kinda stuff! @rkivees

medium blues by darkterrible (E, 193k, WangXian, Modern AU, Horror, Spooky, Opposites Attract, Fluff and Angst, Gore, Ghosts, Necromancy, Mojo’s post)

once upon a time, 很久很久以前 by gentil-minou (Flyingsuits) (M, 23k, wangxian, LSZ & WWX, LSZ & LWJ, Modern, Canon Divergence, Transmigration, of the townwide variety, Amnesia, of the nearly everyone variety, Mystery, of the shenanigans variety, Not Everyone Dies au, WWX Has Self-Esteem Issues, wwx is sad and down bad, Single Parent LWJ, except a-yuan runs away to find his other dad, Fluff and Angst, Slow Burn, oh no by god this cant be happening to me, WIP) this is my WIP and there's a murder mystery and a curse that wangxian work together to solve, though they're both more like amateur detectives here. That part is still being set up, however.

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6. Hello, do you know any fics where the guanine temple incident goes wrong and somehow people end up hating wwx again, including lwj. I want an angst adventure fic to cry.

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7. Hello!! I hope you're doing well! I am in mood of angst and heart wrecking wangxian fics to feel emotions.... do you have any suggestions: where wangxian break up/divorce, misunderstandings, arguments or/and similar stuffs? Thank you very much... I will appreciate it so much 😭😭

The Right to Care by travelingneuritis (E, 61k, WangXian, Modern AU, Mood Whiplash, musician LWJ, nanny wwx, Developing Relationship, Breakup, Texting, Pining, Eventual Happy Ending, Adoption, Child Abuse, abuse intervention, Miscommunication)

you'll always know me by ana_cp (E, 127k, wangxian, modern, Actor WWX, Teacher LWJ, Getting Back Together, Exes to Lovers, Angst with a Happy Ending, LWJ being cute with children alert, WWX rides a motorcycle, LWJ writes as a hobby, ALL THE GOOD THINGS, Back hugs as a love language, Sharing Food as a Love Language)

🧡 Life as a House by Terri Botta (Isilwath) (T, 55k, WangXian, Modern AU, Post-Divorce, Father-Son Relationship, Reconciliation, Therapy, Angst with a happy ending)

Tempo Rubato by Spodumene (E, 107k, WangXian, Modern AU, Angst with a Happy Ending, Romance, Persuasion au, Separations, Mutual Pining, Depression, Miscommunication, Emotional Roller Coaster, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Reconciliation, Eventual Smut, Jane Austen Fusion, Underage Kissing)

Dirty Little Secret by ilip13 (E, 67k, Wangxian, modern, Angst with a Happy Ending, Unreliable Narrator, Post-Break Up, Friends with benefits / Exes with benefits / Fuck-buddies, Implied Cheating, Also possibly some cheating kink, Self-Worth Issues, WWX is strong with the self-hatred here, trigger warning: suicide and mental illness (background of minor character), Graduate Students, Liberal use of the word 'fuck', Semi-Nonlinear Storytelling)

~*~

8. Hello hello! It's been a while since I asked for fanfics buuuut I came back :D. Anyways, for I'm In The Mood For, can I ask for some "Freak for Freak" wangxian?

Thaaaaank youuuuu~~

~*~

9. hello! thank you very much for your work! i was hoping if you know fics about how LWJ reacted or the scenes surrounding LWJ realizing that MXY is WWX after playing their song?

thank you very much! @cuddlemehun

~*~

10. this has probably been done before, but i want to ask nonetheless. i'm in the mood for a fic where lwj is married to (preferably dark) yllz in exchange for something. dubcon is okay. thank you :)

💖 love, in fire and blood by cicer (E, 360k, wangxian, immortal WWX, slow burn, pining, arranged marriages)

~*~

11. Hello! I don't actually have a specific fic to request for but I'm wondering if you can recommend or know of any fics where WWX is chubby?

All the fics I read describes WWX as desirably slim and I'm kind of thinking, is there any out there where he's meaty and cuddly?

leave all your love and your longing behind by ScarlettStorm (E, 143k, WangXian, Modern AU, no magic, Meet-Ugly, Panic Attacks, autistic lwj, neurodivergent wwx, the neighborhood asshole dog, if you've met one then you know, Hurt/Comfort, Pining, Minor Angst, major shenanigans, Happy Ending, for everyone including the asshole dog, Eventual Smut, switch rights, Sex Toys, horny yearning, Masturbation) This is one of my favourites, WWX has had previous food insecurity but he and LWJ now both appreciate his current level of chub

~*~

12. Hi hello! I saw some people asking for fics where married wangxian fight like a married couple, kinda soft, but I was wondering if there are some where they fight for real? Like not necessarily physical (but could be), but I mean where they disagree with something very important and fundamentally can't agree. The kind of fight from before, but after. With happy ending of course, just lots of angst first hhahaha Could involve Sizhui for extra angsty points. thank you! @alexwilltellyouthings

~*~

13. Hi. For the next ITMF could you recommend any fics where LWJ gets hurt protecting WWX and him feeling guilty (or just getting hurt for whatever reason but with WWX still blaming himself somehow /maybe even others blaming him too)? I've read Traveling in shadows, chasing your light by MusicMe_tc, it was amazing, so I'd love to read sth similar. Also I'd prefer finished works. Thank you @castielle711

~*~

14. ITMF silent/quiet Wei Wuxian

❤️ whipstitch by curiositykilled (M, 131k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Dysfunctional Family, Torture, WWX Lives, but basically no one else, Case Fic, Cultivation Sect Politics, Past Abuse, WWX Whump, YL WWX, JL Needs a Hug, JL Tries, Yunmeng Bro Reconciliation, Past Character Death, Body Horror, Non-Consensual Body Modification, POV Alternating, Flashbacks, Eventual Happy Ending, Heavy Angst, Suicide Attempt, PTSD, Depression, Not A Fix-It, Mouth Sewn Shut) he has his lips stitched shut

can consider looking through the mute wwx tag on ao3

I am sorry for taking your voice by misterfish (G, 9k, WWX/OMC, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Hurt WWX, Remorse LWJ, Mute WWX, not Jiāng Family friendly, Past Child Abuse, WIP) Also, this is technically alr in the tag but I want to specifically rec

🧡 rain falls and soaks into the earth series by RoseThorne (T, 53k, WangXian, WIP, Near Death Experience, Attempt Drowning, Madam Yu Bashing, Recovery, No war AU)

~*~

15. goodday! recently ive been rereading lots of fics and i feel like ive read all of i think the goods one (more like 25% completed, 50% ongoing, 25% ghosted).

i dont know if this is for ficfinder or itmf, i just want a suggestion from u'all, what tags should i explore more? or maybe you can recommend some fic? i already explored/read the compilation list here. ive been looking for underrated tags in ao3 but lots of them are ghosted. i feel like my request is kinda hard but thank you!

it really depends on your preference but I'd say start with your fave fics and follow the tags. Sometimes you can also check out the author's bookmarks for their fave fics as well. I'd also recommend checking out the wangxian fic recs blog! Alsp dont just search by kudos!!! This fandom has so many hidden gems. Id recommend making limited searches like within a certain time or even just going to a random page and checking out what you might like!

it might be helpful to only look for completed fics in ao3 :)

~*~

16. Hi! I am in the mood for fics where Wei Ying is compelled to tell the truth via a spell or talisman, so secrets come out sooner than in canon. I have read sooooo many fics where WY is dragged before a conference and accused of stuff and no one believes what he says and for once I want him to tell the truth and for everyone to know he is telling the truth and then I want the dramatic reaction from everyone around who know that WY cannot lie right now. Ya know? Thanks so much!

After Truth Lies the Honest Path by Vrishchika (M, 10k, WIP, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Truth Serum, Angry WWX, Post-Sunshot Campaign, Mild Angst, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Getting Together)

Silence Like a Cancer Grows by julomaiboulomai (M, 12k, Yunmeng Siblings, LXC & WWX, truth curse, Suicidal Thoughts, Canon Divergence, Whump, Hurt/Comfort, Dissociation, WWX Needs a Hug, Golden Core Reveal, Hopeful Ending) not a conference

~*~

17. i would very much love some recs of wwx being the spouse of a sect leader! like, wangxian is awesome for acting SL/chief cultivator lwj but i'd like specifically ppl HAVING to respect him for his position at least if they're not gonna do it for his genius and kindness. mingxian/ruoxian/xixian or idk other ships also welcome 🌸 if E-rated, please canon wwx dynamics! thank you! ❤️

~*~

If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***

#wangxian #mdzs #wangxian fic recs #i'm in the mood for a fic #the untamed #wangxian fic search #wangxianficfinder #long post

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dnickels · 8 months

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RE: 5x05. I have no idea how much I'm supposed to read into this, but that has never stopped me before:

It's VE Day. Havers is back in England. The post office, telephone system, communication infrastructure etc all still work. So where is Cap's sense of urgency coming from? He knows the full name and regiment of a serving officer, a letter will get where it needs to go, they're very good about that over there. Yes, Cap's been waiting, but its been six years, he can wait a little longer-- hang out in the bushes until he sees Haver's car drive away and bang on the window, if he insists on being an insane person (<3). Figure out where he's billeted. Japan hasn't surrendered yet, so I suppose there's a chance Havers could get shipped to Burma or something and potentially die there, but he's not going to go straight from the cocktail reception to the troop ship, especially if everyone there is about to get "Hitler defeated"-levels of drunk. ("They're all red tabs, surely decency and decorum--" they are going to roll those old soaks out of there in wheelbarrows)

The urgency isn't because Havers might die. I think Cap knew his time was short.

He's a middle aged man in tolerably good shape, all that ration food aside. He make good time on his morning jogs, and his biggest ailment is 'creaky knees'. "Widowmaker heart attack out of nowhere" isn't an unheard of COD for someone who seems otherwise fine, especially someone who has been under a fair amount of stress (six years of wartime, including the fucking Blitz would do a number on my heart) but his sudden relocation makes me pause. It's only been about a year since he got relocated away from Button House, right? What was all that about? It's presumably still requisitioned, given that they're throwing a swanky victory party there and Heather Button is nowhere to be seen, but has the weapons program been disbanded? Or was there some reason to pull the CO out of a high-stress position and send him to the beach to take potshots at seagulls? (I am being glib here-- the coast was NOT a stress-free place when you can see your enemy just across the Channel). I genuinely forget what he said he was doing in season three-- was he even still in the army at all, or did they send his ass to the Home Guard? Even they got a campaign ribbon.

I think Cap made one last push to get to the front, and while its very clear that this dingus should under no circumstances be on the front line (<3) they humored him with a medical-- and found something really troubling. Or maybe he went in of his own accord, the old flutter, or maybe it was just a routine checkup. Either way he got some very serious news, so sorry old boy, just one of those things, could be any day now-- best make sure your affairs are all in order.

Hence the single-minded desire to meet, once last time. Everyone else clearly drove-- did he walk all the way from the train station, down the country lanes? Did he feel a little short of breath scaling all those walls? Did every set-back and stressor make him more determined-- just give me a little more time, just a little more time...

It could also be that he just got yelled at so hard he died of it, which is almost certainly how I will go, but that was my immediate impression and it has not left me, nor have I known peace. I know there's a few holes in my theory but I haven't talked myself out of it yet. For me the kicker is that he experiences at least ten devastating emotions in the last moments of his life, but "surprise at entering cardiac arrest" does not appear to be one of them. It looks more like grim acceptance. Stoic in the face of death-- a soldier to the end.

#bbc ghosts #ghosts spoilers #the captain #I will be so embarrassed if I wasnt watching closely enough #and this is all explicitly text no one thought to comment on because duh #but I didn't see it in the tags and I think I might explode just thinking about it #I have mooooooooore thoughts and you will hear them!#ghosts season 5

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josefavomjaaga · 4 months

Text

Ida meets Ney in Russia

I dimly remember that somebody (Cadmus?) mentioned they wanted to read more from Ida. So here’s a brief snippet of Ida – for once – getting in trouble with her hero, of Ney scolding her and … being jealous of Eugène?

The meeting takes place somewhen in late 1812 or early 1813, as much as it’s possible to tell from Ida’s chronological rollercoaster ride. In any case, after or at the end of the Russian retreat. Because of course Ida had joined the Russian campaign as well.

And not only she. If any tumblerinas here plan on learning how to time travel and want to go back to see the Grande Armée march towards Moscow, they don’t need to worry about incognitos. Most likely they would barely be noticed, as apparently there were wagonloads of groupies following their heroes around.

Okay: four. But that’s only those ladies Ida travelled with. Plus, two of them died on the way back.

Ida was particularly fond of a Polish-Lithuanian girl named Nidia, as madly in love with general Montbrun as Ida was in love with Ney. Not that either of the two got to see their idol much during the march. As a matter of fact, the first thing Nidia learned before entering Moscow was that Montbrun had been killed at the battle of Borodino. Other than that, Ida claims to have had a bad feeling about this city from the start:

As we entered Moscow, occupied at last by our troops, this immense city seemed to us like a vast tomb; its empty streets, deserted buildings and solemnity of destruction were heartbreaking. Despite the pomp of victory, I felt struck by I don't know what new kind of melancholy when I saw it; the flags seemed to me gloomy and almost surrounded by funeral crêpes and black forebodings. We were staying in Rue Saint-Pétersbourg, near the Miomonoff palace, which was soon occupied by Prince Eugène. The sight of this young hero and the cheers of the soldiers, who adored him, gave us back all the illusions of victory.

Okay, so I just added this because it’s so rare to see Eugène receive some praise. (I should also mention that the adored young hero was growing bald at an alarming rate and that his bad teeth were killing him.)

As a matter of fact, Ida claims that Nidia was especially interested in Eugène because he was rumoured to maybe become king of Poland (yes, another candidate). These rumours did really exist, Eugène mentions them in a letter to his wife before the campaign started. (And he also makes it pretty clear that these are just rumours and that he has not the slightest ambition to stay in this country. He may have used different vocabulary than Lannes but he didn’t like the region any better.)

The following night, Ida and Nidia wake up to a burning Moscow and are saved by soldiers of 4th corps. On the retreat, they seem to have followed headquarters as closely as possible, which was their safest bet to stay alive (because where the emperor is, there’s food and firewood and a resemblance of order) but still witness horrible tragedies. After the crossing of the Berezina, they apparently followed the remnants of Eugène’s 4th corps to Marienwerder, before Nidia says goodbye and goes back to defending Poland.

But before, on the way, at Valutina (?), Ida finally sees Ney again

At this point, after the retreat, Ida at least starts to question her decision to follow the Grande Armée around. Or something like that.

I have just recounted my fatigue, my difficulties and my perils in a war beyond human endurance, because of the new aspects it seemed to give to destruction and death. A powerful feeling made me undertake everything and endure everything. Why was I going to face the hazards of a campaign? Why was I going to expose the weakness of a woman to the rigours of a climate of iron? In order to obtain yet another glance from the one whose smile had always paid me for my military errands. This look was always like a world offered to my hopes; the dream alone of this reward had made possible all the impossibilities of time, distance, sex and fortune. My life was thus burnt for a few hours, still uncertain. I was giving up everything for a moment in space. Alas! this time, how I was going to regret this moment that had cost me so much to conquer! I had just gambled my existence for a flash of happiness, and this flash, the quickest of my life, became the cruelest.

I had to spend three fatal hours in a miserable shack on the outskirts of Volutina. My dress was so horrible that it was a real disguise. In a person dressed like that, one could hardly suspect a woman. Ney, however, only had to look my way to recognise me. To have been seen was enough to have been discovered. I was about to rush to the front of this first happiness; I was about to testify to the soul of my life how proud I was of this divination of friendship, of this perspicacity of memory, when words of an energy which was far from that of the feeling of which I was possessed, intimated to me the order of the most positive dismissal: "What are you doing here? What do you want? Go away quickly." With this address and a few short, curt rebukes about my reckless rage and my fury at following him everywhere, I only had the strength to reply: "It is a rage, indeed, but it is not at least the rage of pleasure or vanity," pointing to my coarse clothes and my face burnt by the sun and faded by fatigue. He took no notice of either the harangue or the costume. He was off and running. His displeasure at seeing me there was so great; he let it out so vividly that I thought he was going to push me back to the opposite bank of the Dniéper in his anger. Stunned by the reception, struck by lightning, I remained motionless for more than an hour, staring at him, thinking I saw him; he had disappeared without paying any more attention to me or worrying about me.

From which we can deduct that Ney was not a reader of Jane Austen novels. Otherwise he would have known that whenever you have behaved in a way that made a woman fall in love with you that’s f-ing your fault, monsieur!

In 1813, when I recalled to Marshal Ney this scene of such violent fury, followed by such cruel silence and abandonment, he told me that he had been so mortally frightened by the extravagance which had pushed me into the midst of so many perils and the licentiousness of an army, that he had even been tempted to beat me. Truth requires me to admit that the temptation had been so strong that he had, I believe, yielded to it a little; it was without his knowing it, for the great passions know neither all they want nor all they do. Anger is therefore still love, since it is as blind as fury.

Girl, get help. Seriously.

When we crossed the Dniéper at Serokodia, I could have had another word with him. A new laurel had just hidden his wrongs and healed my wound. I could have, I wanted to say to him: You have just added to your immortal glory here; you alone have just saved Frenchmen lost in deserts of ice; I would have liked to express to him what all parties repeat today, what posterity will proclaim on the ashes of the brave... But I stuck to the joy of hearing the distant cheers. There was then a little fear in my delirium for him, and I almost have the idea that I idolised him even more by fearing him in that way…

Did I mention the thing about getting help?

Yes, even the reproach was appreciated by my heart, and still seemed to me a tender interest. I found I don't know what pleasure in hearing myself scolded later for my association with Nidia, my marches and counter-marches with the Viceroy's troops. No matter how many times I told the Marshal that Eugène's protection had been focused exclusively on the young Lithuanian girl, and that I had slipped unnoticed into this benevolence, he took it into his head to believe nothing of these sincere protestations. To make him reconsider such a strongly conceived idea would have meant exposing myself to a repeat of the Dniéper order and military correction. I had no intention of trying the same pleasure twice. Finally, he saw the evidence of my attachment, and he found the generosity to prove this belated but strong conviction to me [...]

By calling her his brother-in-arms, by the way. And this, I believe, really meant a lot to Ida.

#napoleon's marshals #michel ney #ida saint-elme #memoirs #napoleon's family #eugene de beauharnais #russian retreat #russian campaign #russia 1812 #also #we have a phone call by a certain vice-queen interested in the exact definition of the word “protection” in this particular context

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dragonsfromthemoon · 2 years

Text

Once again thinking about how Jon and Daenerys are meant to be, in every sense of the word.

At their core, they are both characters who desire home — a place where they belong, where they are loved and love back. A place where they can have a family and do not feel lonely anymore.

Their journeys, extensively paralleled on the books, speak of heroism. They try to make their world better. It is interesting, because making the world better requires facing directly the legacy of their forebears. Daenerys starts an anti-slavery campaign with ripples throughout the whole continent of Essos; her dragons mean hope and freedom, while the Valyrians of old used their power to build an empire based on slavery. Jon spends time among the Free Folk and learns a lot with them; he sees them as people that also deserved to be protected against the threat of the Others, while his Stark ancestors have fought the Free Folk for thousands of years and were only to happy to have they beyond the Wall.

A queen belongs to her people; you will take no pleasure in your command. They face the hardships of ruling, and in their storylines, George R. R. Martin is exploring what takes to be a good leader. He is exploring his famous question about Aragorn's tax policy: you are a ruler? Good. What do you do for your people, especially in times of need? When they meet, they will realize they are not alone; that someone finally understands the burden and how lonely and hard it is to rule. They will bond over sharing their experiences and over making plans for the future.

No one in-universe ever expected a girl and a bastard boy to have the destiny of their world upon their shoulders. Yet, here they are. Both of they are linked to propechies and visions about fighting the Others. Jon has since the first book, AGoT, known about the threat and faced it directly: his power as a talented warg, inputs, know-how and command will be essential to defeat the Others. Daenerys has three dragons with her, perhaps the biggest asset the living will have in the War for the Dawn.

In this sense, we can not only their political union makes sense, but their magical one too. They will both be heads of the dragon, the fire against the ice of the Others. They will need each other to win this fight.

For that, their meeting will be one of equals. A queen and a king. Two young, but very mature and experienced people. They have loved, fought, risen to power, been betrayed before... all kinds of things, a whole lifetime on the table, despite of their young ages. As Melisandre [Jon VI, ADwD] says: "The Lord of Light in his wisdom made us male and female, two parts of a greater whole. In our joining there is power. Power to make life. Power to make light. Power to cast shadows."

The last scions of House Targaryen meeting to work together. A kind of irony of the destiny, for in the Dance, it was argued a woman (Rhaenyra) could not rule,“bastards” “soiled” the royal lineage and should not be included in the line to inherit (Rhaenyra's sons). Yet that's all that remains of the Targaryens now: a girl and a boy with a bastard's name. And they will unite to face the threat said to have been foreseen by Aegon in a prophecy.

I dare say their bond and love already exist, even if they are yet to meet. That's why Dany dreams about a shadow lover, sees a blue flower in a wall in her bride of fire prophecy. That's why Dany hears a wolf howl after Jon dies, and feels sad and lonely. For Jon, a dragon or three might warm things up. In his first ADwD chapter, the moon is running with him, whispering to him, accompanying him. The moon kisses him.

Last but not least, Alan Taylor's words:

[Martin] just sort of mentioned in passing, 'Oh well it's all about Dany and Jon Snow,'" Taylor said. "And at the time I thought, 'Really? I thought it was about Sean Bean and Robb Stark?'"

"But [Martin] knew from the very beginning where he was driving and now we're starting to see that come to fruition," Taylor said. "We know that it's circling tighter and tighter on Dany and Jon and their partnership is starting to form, you know, 'fire and ice.'"

What GRRM mentioned to Alan Taylor still rings true for the books, for in ADWD, we can see many characters moving either Dany's or Jon's way. Their meeting will wrap up that and symbolise the beginning of their story together.

#a song of ice and fire #asoiaf #jon snow #daenerys targaryen #book jon snow #book daenerys targaryen #jon x daenerys #jon x dany #snowstorm #jonerys #i love them so much your honor #my OTP #canonjonsnow #canondany

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drwcn · 1 year

Note

In Untamed only, the Wen Qing rescue by Jiang Cheng could parallel the Lan Furen situation. She could be saved by being taken in by the sect leader, but she would be isolated, her family lost to her. Like, its more meta then textual but Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji have no mention of their mothers family. Lan furen presumably agreed while Wen Qing walked away. Lan furen lived a long time with her children taken away to be raised without her, Wen Qing dies right away with Wen Yuan taken to be raised by those same strangers.

Huh.... I never looked at it that way, but yeah you're right! On some level it is similar!

And then my mind promptly poofed up an alternative scenario if JIang Cheng also did what Qingheng-jun had done.

(tw for noncon? but really there's no noncon, people just think there is)

~~~

Jiang Cheng was audacious only once in his entire life.

When Wen Qing turned to leave that day in Qishan's dungeon, the comb she gave back to him abandoned on the stone bench between them, Jiang Cheng crossed his heart and decided that attempt the impossible meant sometimes one had to act now and beg for forgiveness later.

Whether the forgiveness he sought had to come from his deceased parents, the entire Jiang Clan past and present, or Wen Qing herself...well...he had the rest of his life to figure it out.

His hand came down on her without hesitation, blunt force striking her squarely where her neck met her shoulder, and she dropped bonelessly into his arms, her future forever changed.

↠↠↠

When Jiang Cheng was a boy, before Wei Wuxian arrived, he had heard of a story.

He was very young then, and Madam Lan had been a nebulous figure, a subject of whispers and gossip, about which very few knew anything concrete. When she died, the older servants at Lotus Pier, unaware that listening ears were just around the corner, had tsked and sighed at her short wasted life. Locked away in a house. Separated from her children.

Well at least her husband loved her.

He did, though? How would anyone know.

Or wanted her, at least.

Whatever is wrong with the young masters of this generation and their poorly chosen women! Either loved but locked up or free but miserable nonetheless. What is the state of this world?!

Jiang Cheng didn't understand then.

In time, he would.

↠↠↠

After she was discovered in the dungeon, Wen Qing woke up in Jiang Wanyin's bed, wearing not a stitch but a bandage around her nape, and discovered herself in the middle of Sunshot Campaign's battle camp. From the two female disciples that had brought her new periwinkle uniforms to change into with barely concealed sneers, Wen Qing learned the reason behind her wretched state. About two dozen disciples of various sects had seen Jiang Wanyin carry her in the previous night and emerge the next morning adjusting his robes in a way that required very little explanation.

It was not that she didn't try to escape. She did.

Where do you think you're going, pretty thing? A Jin disciple interscepted her. They all said that Wei Wuxian was shameless, but seems like shamelessness runs in the family. Still, gotta hand it to him, Jiang Wanyin has good taste.

The disciple grabbed her around the middle while a couple of his sect brothers laughed at her struggle. Does he share? Do you know? He should, it's a virture after all.

Their malicious laughter had turned to yelps of pain when Zidian whipped them three feet into the air and back by a yard.

"Don't touch what it isn't yours."

Sandu's gleaming tip tapped the Jin disciple lightly on the shoulder thrice, mockingly polite in its gentleness. The man released her, all too aware of the distance between his jugular and the sword's edge.

More people gathered at the sound of commotion, coming together with shared morbid curiosity and judging eyes.

Nie Mingjue was there. Lan Wangji right behind him, looking ready to draw his sword and uphold justice.

"Your little tart was running away." Scoffed the Jin disciple. "I was just teasing her. No foul, no harm."

"Is that so?"

And then in front everyone, Jiang Wanyin grabbed her by the hair and reeled her in to press his lips against hers, his other hand unfriendly and uninhitibted. Just as quickly, he detached his mouth from her, sneering at the onlookers before chasing the exposed skin of her neck yanked to one side, and bit down hard enough to draw blood.

Of course she screamed.

"A-Cheng, that's enough."

The others parted for his sister to come through. Jiang Yanli gazed blandly at her little brother and the girl thrashing in his arms, offered no words of admonishment, but merely said, "Go inside if that's what you want to do."

Jiang Cheng threw Wen Qing over his shoulder like a sack of grains without further prompts.

It's what she deserves, that wretched little bitch, Wen Ruohan's witch doctor, the whispers followed them like shadows, but no one raised a hand to Wen Qing again.

As the old saying goes: one would have to check with the master, even if it were only to beat a dog.

(Except: "You know what the world will think of you. What she will think of you." "I know, but...thank you for helping me, A-jie." "Don't thank me, didi, not when you're asking me to help you hurt yourself.")

↠↠↠

It's not that Wen Qing didn't try to kill him either. She couldn't.

Her cultivation was sealed. Semi-permanently. That was what was under the bandage. At the base of her nape, he had carved a sealing rune into her skin, and the only way to reverse it is to carve the counter sigil on her sternum.

Later, she would learn that this was a secret Lan technique, given to Jiang Wanyin by Old Man Lan himself. She could only guess what he must've said to convince the pedantic old man to hand over his family's protected secret.

(He had said this: "I love her, Grandmaster Lan, please!" "You are a preposterous boy, Jiang-gongzi." "I love her, as your brother loved your sister-in-law!" "You-" "I've heard of the stories, I don't know how much is true. Only...Wen Qing is innocent! Prideful yes, but innocent! Help me. Please. I will do anything in return.")

After her failed escape and that awful display in front of the whole camp, Jiang Wangyin never showed his face to her again. The Jiangs installed her in her own tent with confinement talismens to prevent her from further attempts. Every night, two disciples came to give her (or force feed her if she refused) a concoction of some sort, which rendered her unconscious within minutes and unrousable until dawn.

She could lie to herself and say she hadn't a clue what happened within those hours, but the fact she always awakened in some state of undress and dishevel the next morning, and the fact that it was undisbutedly known amongst the disciples - Jiang or otherwise - that Jiang Wanyin visited her nightly whenever he wasn't out fighting, narrowed the possibilities down to a singular conclusion.

In the maelstrom of her nightmare, it didn't occur her to wonder why he never came to her during the day.

(The truth was this: Lan Xichen was sympathetic, "Your cultivation is derived from water, hers from fire. A seal fused with your cultivation without some kind of...buffer will inevitably harm her in the long run, erode through her golden core until she is permanently damaged. Give this tonic to her everynight. Without fail.")

(But also this: "Why must we continue this farce, A-Cheng, just tell her the truth! Why must you make her believe that you -" "I own her, but do not love her. I am her master, not her lover. She is damaged goods, worthless even as a leverage. That's the only way the others will leave her alone." "A-Cheng, you don't have to do this -" "I do. I do have to....is there any word on Wen Ning? Have we found him?" )

↠↠↠

Then one morning, about a month in, Wen Qing woke to the sound of thunder and rain and realized she wasn't alone. Even with her cultivation sealed she could feel another presence in the tent. Seconds later, Jiang Wanyin emerged from behind the trifold, hair unbound, barefoot and only in his underclothing.

He froze when he realized she was awake, and stared at her agape as if she'd caught him doing something he shouldn't. As if somehow she didn't know he'd been violating her for weeks.

(Unfortunately: the storm had collapsed many tents in the camp in the early morning, including his and his sister's. Jiang Yanli had been invited to stay with Mianmian, and Jiang Cheng, knowing Wen Qing would be dead to the world, had ducked into her tent to quickly change into dry clothes.)

And if there had been some part of her that wanted to deny it all, that wanted to hang on to the delusion - to hope - that maybe nothing happened while she lost consciousness nightly, in that moment, was dashed and divided until all that was left of her was rage and a desire to inflict revenge.

She sat up, not even bothering to cover her half nude body, and said,

"The golden core in your body is Wei Wuxian's."

↠↠↠

Wen Qing had hoped that she could goat Jiang Wanyin into killing her, to end her misery.

He didn't.

Three days later, Wei Wuxian re-appeared.

↠↠↠

(In his letter to Jiang Wanyin a day before the Siege of Nevernight, Nie Huaisang wrote:

Jiang-xiong,

Hope you're keeping well in the front. I must confess you are a man of gossip and waggling-tongue these days, but I trust in your character to pay them no mind. I write to you without my brother's knowledge to confirm the favour you asked of me is done. Wen Ning has been located and transported to Unclean Realm with the atmost discretion. He recovers daily.

Your friend,

Nie Huaisang

PS: You seriously need to tell me everything after we kick Wen Ruohan's ass. You owe me! )

#cql #chengqing #the untamed #jiang cheng #wen qing #the tragic straight ship of the sad gay show #corie fics #cql ficlet

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funandexploring · 3 months

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- Ravina gave a wedding gift to Cassandra. "A Bridle of Frost, that she might command a team of fiery horses"

- Cassandra and Galicaea were traveling together (night and moon) side by side. Elven deities starting out with Cassandra having more Fey. Sol (sun) also traveled with them to the great mountains

- Written like it was a part of a saga. It's included but not the main point. The significance is that they were connected (low-key, Cassandra might not even be the connection. It could be her sister, and it just happened to be Cassandra's wedding)

- Murph thinks Cassandra marrying a giant? Siobhan thinking it was to one of the gods of the giants like Ravina?

- Cassandra, Goddess of Mystery and Doubt, can make other gods weak? Hit on her life because of this? Sister can't help her because of the rule about gods not helping other gods!

- Sidenote: In sophomore year, it was stated that mortals were convinced to no longer say Cassandra's name and took down her monuments and scriptures as if it would grant her more power as the Goddess of Mystery and Doubt. Someone on earth knew how to get rid of her. Mortal plot? Or a god possibly breaking the rules of influence? (If this, were/how were they penalized?)

- Sidenote: Was Cassandra technically a dead god as The Nightmare King? Or transformed into something else entirely? How did Kristen learn her name again? Cassandra introduced herself? Anyway, someone's pissed she's back!

- Obliviati Mori - The Law of Theothanitc Silience - when a god dies, you forget their name (Yes! is dead but everyone remembers Yes!) VERY SIGNIFICANT THAT THE GODS DO NOT FORGET THE DEAD GODS, only that they cannot remind mortals of a dead gods existence

- Sidenote: Lucy (possessed? A god herself?) had a way of knowing a true dead gods name and writing it down without breaking Obliviati Mori (or taking the penalty for it?) Did Lucy even write that document?? Or did someone do so in her name and she came back later like huh?? Change it back. Is this a prank lol Where is she??? Also, how did it not break the rule if someone at school had to read it to process her forms?? WHO was in that office that could possibly have read the name??

- You can break the above rule with penalties or find a way to work around it somehow

- Lydia and crew never even knew the gods name themselves

- Cassandra reacting to the red stars like "I thought you were dead?!"

- Emily thought that the Rat Grinders (or at least Ivy) are in on it because of how they reacted to Fig in disguise as Lucy

- some celestials and archfey are gods that decided to become something less faith-based (was Bakur once a god? Or strictly a creation of the dead god?)

- Shut the fuck up. Cassandra possibly marrying the embodiment of rage which combined with mystery and doubt could be too powerful so someone(s) started a campaign to kill them both!! Galicaea also being a goddess of the moon so in relation werewolves could have once had a connection?

- Riz saying Galicaea is growing at the same time as the dead god is somehow getting their powers back. Galicaea as the moon goddess where the moon is a reflection of the sun (isnt she married to Sol?) But the dead god has a 26 point red star symbol so could they not also have a connection to Galicaea? More worship for her through Tracker's movement means more power by proxy to the dead god? Also WHY is Tracker's girlfriend so keen on showing face on social media? One part because this is probably their first real relationship after the reveal of where we know her from. But also there's so much going on, so why would it not be suspicious that she literally put Tracker on a deadline??

- I don't get Kristen's theory that the dead god is in Lydia's chest because how did they do what they did at the mall without leaving Lydia? Fig's dad was stuck in a gem and he could only do things through influence as a warlock's patron

#d20 #fantasy high junior year #d20 spoilers #spoilers #me

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alicenttully · 11 months

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I hope they keep the "bastard blood, shed at war" line in the show.

I do understand people's bewilderment at Alicent mentioning their illegitimacy (there's a time and a place). I do get that if you happen to sympathise with Rhaenyra, this could easily be seen as audacious behaviour from Alicent. But just as I think people miss the point that Alicent was making about Jacaerys and Lucerys being two dragonriders that Rhaenyra herself let (if reluctantly) join her campaign whereas Jaehaerys was a defenceless seven year old who was killed while going to bed - I think people also miss another important reason as to why Alicent says this.

Even though they're both dead and Alicent is a captive by this point and has nothing to gain from it apart from threats of mutilation, she still refuses to swallow the fiction of their birth- or at least what she sincerely believes to be a lie. Fire and Blood is styled like a history book, and because we don't get first - hand accounts from Rhaenyra, we don't know if the rumors were true. (But let's be real, they were. George wrote it in a way that made it wayyy more likely that Harwin was the father. I think if he wanted to make the Strong boys' parentage ambiguous he could have had them all take after Rhaenyra and Laenor's Valyrian colouring while still keeping the open secret of Laenor's sexuality and Rhaenyra's closeness/attraction to Harwin Strong.)

The show is different in that it had Rhaenyra admit to Daemon that none of her sons are Laenor's. But what I find more interesting is that by episode 1.08, it is heavily implied that Jacaerys and Lucerys know it too. It's never said outright, nor do I think it ever was once during the time jump because doing so even just amongst themselves would have felt too dangerous. But them knowing the truth does add an interesting dimension. Jacaerys and Lucerys die fighting for their mother's incredibly shaky claim (if you're basing the Dance off the Anarchy, then yes it is shaky sorry) but by extension they also die fighting for their own claims - which according to the rules of their society, they have no right to. It is the same rules that they would enforce. There IS a hypocrisy, and as much as I do agree with @lemonhemlock when they say that it's annoying/unfair that only Rhaenyra's children with Daemon got to live, I think it is telling that all three of the sons that she intended to inherit after her all ended up being killed. The son of hers that does end up inheriting the Iron Throne after her death is the trueborn Aegon the Younger, but it's as Aegon II's heir.

So from Alicent's perspective... it is very possible that in her anger, she made the comments because she believed Jacaerys and Lucerys died fighting for something they knew didn't belong to them, and thus their deaths were deserved/be seen as narrative punishment to the reader. Why should she feel sorry for two people who in her eyes, would be usurpers?

#alicent hightower #anti rhaenyra targaryen #anti jacaerys velayron #anti lucerys velaryon #hotd spoilers #fire and blood spoilers #wish queue were here

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shaakyhaands · 5 months

Text

CODVN but (some of) the princes play DND:

How they start playing, idk. Maybe it’s a dare. Maybe it’s a genuine, honest to god attempt from one of the princes to learn more about MC and her habits/hobbies/culture. Imo, Fenn probably did something and of course, the other princes got dragged into it.

Mc: DM

• is the one who introduced the game.

• Teaches the princes how to play

• tortures them when possible.

Toa and Guy:

• Wizards, because MC punked them.

• Convinced them they were the most powerful class at higher levels, neglected to inform them that they start with fuck all health.

• “Here’s this: if you’re so smart, why don’t you play a mundane who has to study magic? Humans play this class all the time, I bet you can’t handle it…”

• “You bet??? YOu BET?? Very well, speak less” *gets hit once, almost dies from 7 points of damage*

• Guy demands the opportunity to change his class, MC responds: “Okay! I’ll let you change your class— and everyone else will get the chance to multi class :)”

Toa: “multi… class?”

MC: “Oh, it’s when you get to reap the benefits of your character occupying two classes at once :)”

Guy grumbles, and falls into a stony silence.

• the two *barely* survive levels 1-3, but somehow they pull through. And suddenly, outside of game, they’ve started acting with a little more respect for those not magically gifted…

Fenn: Paladin.

• Still charisma based, so can still rizz and charm like Fenn is used to.

• But playing as a Paladin also serves as wish fulfillment, because that’s what DND is all about.

• You might be thinking, “A paladin?? But Fenn should be a Bard, it’s so clearly the best fit”. And I get you! But that’s exactly it— Fenn is already a Bard in his real life. Playing as one in game does nothing special for him. There’s no escapism, no fantasy. Here, he can be a knight in shining armor, upstanding and righteous, and all the other things not typically associated with Fenn. All the other things people don’t let him be, that his reputation prevent him from ever really achieving. Here, he can basically role play as Greyson. And honestly, who wouldn’t?

• is the first prince MC introduced the game to

• lowkey gets into it, and eventually does some of his own campaigns :)

Roy: Bard.

• Again, the name of the game is DND Wish Fulfillment. Roy looks up to Guy, who’s attribute is charisma. What class is based on that stat again? BARD. And now, Roy doesn’t have to be morally upstanding and perfect and unsoiled. He gets to be a little shit and enjoy it.

Lynt: I have no idea, NGL, but I’m thinking warlock.

• This is basically a DND joke— if you don’t know, warlocks have like, two spell slots. So if they want to cast more spells, they need to recharge, which is basically some form of rest.

• Don’t let this fool you, warlocks can be fucking BUSTED. Those two/three spell slots, they put them to fucking WORK. But they gotta get their rest in, dawg.

• in this way, they remind me of our sleepy boy. Quietly powerful as hell, but really only fuck around if they HAVE to. Otherwise, they kind of just mind their business.

Rio: Barbarian

• one of the easier classes to start with— and I know they’re ALL just starting, and I love Rio, but he can use the training wheels. Ain’t no shame in that.

• he approaches life in a way that’s very similar to barbarians: in a story, when Toa was telling him he was trying to put too much magic through too small an opening, Rio’s response was “oh, I know what to do! That just means I need to use EVEN MORE magic!” Like, shit, go off king.

• unlike some of the other princes, I don’t think he would be adverse to using melee over magic.

Lance: Rogue/Druid RANGER

• Lance gets to multi class because 1. I’m biased, and 2. I can see arguments for both classes.

• you may be thinking, “but shaaky, he’s the prince of wrath! His kingdom’s main export is mercenaries, ffs. Shouldn’t HE be a barbarian, or at least a fighter?” And again, I hear you! But, you gotta remember the magic words! Say em with me: “DND is wish fulfillment”. Lance fucking HATES how his kingdom is ran. That’s like, 80% of his story. He wouldn’t WANT to play a character built like that. Unless… it was for the people.

• correct me if I’m wrong, but Lance is the only prince who knows what it’s like to be poor. Not just a commoner, like actually destitute. He’s probably the prince with the most street smarts. And lowkey, he’s probably had to steal shit to survive at some point. He 1000% would ace the rogue class, and would probably stun the princes while he did it.

• Lance: “I loot the body”

Toa: “pardon?”

Lance: “I slit the guards throat, he fell over prone. I loot the body, for whatever valuables are on his person.”

MC: “make an investigation check”

Lynt: “…😨”

• Druid is there if he wanted to just fuck around and hang with animals.

• RANGER, oh my GOD ranger is RIGHT THERE, how did I miss that—

• Ranger is basically the flavor you get when you mix rogue and druid together, so it makes sense that it would fit Lance

• the man fucks off to the forest first chance he gets, everytime.

• just give him a bow already— he probably knows how to use it given his Ira background

• it’s the final battle, the other princes are up against the BBEG: Toa and Guy are on the brink of death, Roy and Rio are down, Fenn and Lynt are barely hanging in there— and then out of nowhere, a hissing noise rings out above everybody, followed by a sickening thwa-CHUNK. An arrow has lodged itself smack dab between the BBEG’s eyes, he falls over, dead. From 600 yards away, Lance’s character stands up, says “finally”, and leaves.

Other silly little head canons:

• instead of maps, MC uses magic to generate basically holograms of bosses and character minis.

The holograms move. So when the giant beast bellows, I mean it literally bellows, claws out and spittle flying and everything. More than once have the princes jumped back in their seats, genuinely scared by the images she generated.

Toa, traumatized: “Remember when I said you had no imagination?… I take it back. I take it all back…”

Guy, thinking to himself: if she ever did go evil on us, we’d be fucked…

• MC will call them on it if the princes lapse out of character.

MC will remind them their characters are, in some way very starkly, different from themselves, and for the story, those differences matter.

Guy: “what do you mean, he said he wouldn’t let us past?”

Mc shakes her head, does an accent: “gainst the rules, boy. Can’t be doing that”.

“Against the—?! You will LET ME PAST, you insolent mongrel—”

Mc: “roll to intimidate.”

Guy: “roll?”

Mc: “I’m sure, being a huffy prince of a powerful kingdom and all, demanding stuff usually works for you. But might I remind you, your highness— that you are playing a game. and in this game, your character is a scrawny, bookish sapling of a man who weighs about a third as much as the guard you’re talking to, and is around half his height. Tell me, what’s your charisma modifier?”

Guy frowns, but looks through his character sheet.

Guy: “… negative one?”

MC smiles: “Your character has the charisma of dragon piss filled boot. Which means you need a 16 or higher, otherwise this guard is going to laugh in your face and pat you on the head.”

Guy stares at MC, but says nothing.

Mc: “Now, your wisdom modifier?”

Guy: “what?”

Mc: “your wisdom modifier, what is it?”

He checks his sheet again.

Guy: “… it’s a positive 4.”

Mc: “you’re right, it is. Which is a hell of a lot better than a negative one. So, while it may not be intuitive, you’re going to be much more likely to convince this man to let you through if you utilize a wisdom based approach, as opposed to relying on charisma.”

Toa snorts: “what would you know of wisdom?”

Mc: “might I remind you that being an asshole is not listed as one of your character’s traits? Also, your character is currently otherwised engaged, trying not to die from missing the last step on the staircase. As such, you can’t hear this exchange.”

• Eventually, after getting familiar with the games mechanics, the princes do a campaign where they get isakied to Earth.

MC throws a lot of mundane shit at them, and they absolutely flounder trying to make any sense of it.

Guy: “Peanut butter?? What do you mean he’s allergic to peanut butter, what the devil is that??? Epipen??!”

Lynt, confused: “Almond milk?… how do they…?”

Toa: “I assure the woman that I am not, in fact, “tripping”, as she so claims. The floor is clear and level, and there are no staircases in sight.”

Fenn: “what do you mean he’s 63??? Good Creator, how long are humans lives again? Wasn’t it at least a 1000 years?…”

#court of darkness #codvn #toa qelsum #guy avari #lynt akedia #dnd #dnd5e

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on-a-sunbeam · 2 months

Note

Revenge and Dollhouse for the ask game?

YES HI!!! Uhm I’ll do Dollhouse first!

My rating (1-10): I’d give it a 6, maybe. Which is to say that I enjoyed it A LOT but also I have just like. A Few Critiques. Just one or two.

My favourite character: ADELLE!! There is no contest here at all I loveee her

My least favourite character: Okay, this used to be super easy because I really hated Topher at first, but I have grown to tolerate him so. I mean I hate like almost all the clients and also Sierra’s handler, but you’re supposed to hate them so it’s not really specific to me, I guess. I’ll say Nolan though, for obvious reasons.

The character I think I'd be friends with: I think Ivy because I have friends that Ivy reminds me of heh

The character I think I won't hit off with: Maybe Ballard? He seems very serious I don’t know

My favourite episode/scene: EVERY SCENE WITH ADELLE. I’m kidding but only slightly. Uhh I really liked A Spy in the House of Love, though, and I think Echoes is pretty funny. Belonging has um. A LOT going on in it, but I will say I really liked Adelle in that one, too.

Whose clothing style I like best: Unfortunately, I’m legally obligated to say Topher because I dress exactly like him. It was slightly detrimental to my whole initial hating-him campaign that every time I saw him I went ‘ah I would wear that’

Times I watched it (and if I would again): Once! And I definitely would again; despite its flaws I do really like it and it’s not super long either. Plus Adelle.

Aaand Revenge!!

My rating (1-10): 8.5! I love it a lot

My favourite character: UHHH HARD tie between Emily and Victoria. I do also really like Amanda so I don’t know.

My least favourite character: It’s been a hot second since I’ve watched this, so no one’s really jumping out to me. I will say though that I somehow forget that Jack exists half the time. I really don’t know how I manage that when he’s kind of a Main Guy, but it’s still a little surprise every time he shows up. This doesn’t even happen to Declan, just to him.

The character I think I'd be friends with: I’m not saying Ashley is normal, per se, but I am saying she’s MOSTLY normal. I feel like we could hang out and chat while I was blissfully unaware of any scheming.

The character I think I won't hit off with: I have a weird soft spot in my heart for Tyler but we most certainly would not be friends

My favourite episode/scene: SHOOT. Okay, I liked the party where it all came full circle to the beginning, and I feel like there were some really good twists, but I really like the scene where Amanda dies (which is stupid because I love Amanda but). Also I know this is SUCH a small thing, but for some reason that group shot of the Grayson’s after Victoria kills Helen means everything to me. It’s so silly, but I love it so much.

Whose clothing style I like best: Nolan, maybe? I don’t know, I feel like he had some iconic looks.

Times I watched it (and if I would again): I have a confession to make guys, I actually have not finished it yet 😔. I’m actually still in the middle of season 3 because I’m slow at watching things sometimes. But I have really liked it so far, so odds are pretty good it would be something that I will rewatch!!

Sorry, I just thought of an answer to the least favourite character thing. I HATE AIDEN. I HAVE NO RHYME OR REASON I JUST DISLIKE HIM.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the ask though!!!

#yayayay i love talking about silly lil shows :D #also I SWEAR I WILL ANSWER YOUR MESSAGE #it is taking me a million years i’m sorry :(#revenge #dollhouse

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dyk3medown · 2 years

Text

study buddy

eddie munson x reader

summary: a study session with eddie quickly takes a turn after you decide to reward him for getting the right answers

warnings: fem reader, smut, friends to lovers, unprotected sex, kinda fluffy especially at the end, mentions of Wuthering Heights (yes that deserves its own warning)

a/n: apparently i am unable to write an eddie fic where his hair pulling kink isn’t mentioned at least once. this is gross and fluffy at the end but i couldn't figure out another way to finish it so. also i haven’t read wuthering heights in a few years so please excuse me if my analysis is a bit off lmao.

smut under the cut <3

Contrary to popular belief at Hawkins High, Eddie Munson is not dumb. Sure, he’s in his third year as a senior, but this year he’ll graduate; he just knows it. You think so too and are determined to get him to pass his English class, the one he’s failed multiple years in a row. He’s actually really smart, he just needs a little help channeling his intelligence into academics rather than crafting an elaborate DnD campaign.

You’re sitting in Eddie’s room, trying to help him study, but his mind keeps wandering, and you’re having trouble getting anything substantial done.

“Look,” you sigh, “we’re getting nowhere with this.”

You bite your lip, pondering an idea for a second. “What if I… give you an incentive?”

You don’t mean it to be, but your tone is slightly suggestive. Eddie’s eyes widen, and you watch his adam’s apple bob in his throat as he visibly gulps. “What, uh, what kind of incentive?”

“You can pick, I want it to be effective.”

“Why don’t you take off some of your clothes every time I get an answer right,” Eddie jokes, grinning at you.

“Okay.” Your face remains serious as you feign nonchalance, despite the nerves wracking your body. There’s always been some tension between you and Eddie, and you frequently jokingly flirt with each other, but this is taking it to a whole new level.

“Wait, what?” Eddie’s smile has turned decidedly more nervous.

“I said okay.” You repeat. “I told you to choose an incentive and you did.”

You raise an eyebrow at him. “Unless you want to pick something else?”

“No!” Eddie exclaims loudly out before bringing his voice to a normal volume. “No, that’s fine, we can do the uh, clothes thing.”

You let a small smile through your stone-faced facade. He’s so cute when he’s being a dork.

“First question,” You clear your throat and look up from the paper. “What is one thing symbolized by the ghosts in Wuthering Heights?”

Eddie thinks for a moment before responding. “An absence of, uh, closure? And the lingering presence of the past?”

“Yes, Eddie, that’s really good!” You beam at him.

You reach down and tug off your socks, shooting him a stern look when he makes a sound of protest. “Socks count! Get another question right and you’ll get something better.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Eddie replies cheekily, giving you a mock salute.

You ask him another question, and he gets that one right as well. You shed your jacket, now just in a shirt and shorts. If he keeps this up, you’re going to be very naked very soon.

“Next question.” Your tongue darts out to wet your lips, and Eddie’s gaze flickers to your mouth before snapping back. “What point does Brontë demonstrate about revenge through Heathcliff’s character?”

Eddie’s brow furrows as he tries to think. After a minute, he throws his hands up in defeat. “I don’t know.”

“C’mon Eddie, you got this.” You give him an encouraging smile. “Think about the end of the story, how Heathcliff died and how he felt.”

“The point is, um, revenge won’t give us what we want?” You motion for him to continue. “Heathcliff gets his revenge and is still miserable before he dies. So, uh, focusing on the events of the past only prevents us from achieving happiness in the present?”

Eddie looks unsure, but you nod, clapping your hands together excitedly. “Exactly! You’re doing so well, Eddie, you’re going to destroy this test.”

You both look at each other silently for a second before you realize. “Oh, right.” You pull your shirt up over your head, and you can hear Eddie’s breath hitch as your bra is revealed.

You put it on the ground next to you, feigning nonchalance, but your heart is racing. Goosebumps rise on your skin, but you’re not sure if it’s from the slight chill in the air or the weight of Eddie’s stare on your chest.

“Hey!” You snap your fingers in front of his face, and his eyes shoot up to yours, not even having the decency to look embarrassed. “Let’s keep going, okay?”

You continue to quiz him, and to your pleasant surprise, he gets most of the questions right. After some stalling - taking off my necklace counts, Eddie! - you end up in just your bra and underwear, sending a silent thank you to the universe that you had picked out something cute that morning.

Eddie is clearly affected by your state of undress. His hands grip white-knuckled onto his thighs as if he’s physically restraining himself from touching, you or himself you’re not sure. You’d been politely ignoring the way his pants had tented, but now you’re finding it hard not to look.

With all the blood in his body directed far from his brain, it’s really a miracle he managed to answer so many questions correctly.

You force yourself to look back at your list of questions. “Last question,” you inform Eddie, your voice wavering just slightly.

He gets it right.

Locking eyes with Eddie, you reach behind your back to unclasp your bra, letting the straps fall down your arms until it falls to the floor. His eyes darken as more of your skin is revealed, breaking eye contact to gaze hungrily at your chest. You fight the urge to cover yourself. Part of you is incredibly embarrassed, but another part preens under his attention, loving how his breathing has turned ragged from watching you undress.

“Why don’t you ask me one more question?” Eddie asks you, leaning forward slightly. “But this time I want a new incentive.”

Gone are all the traces of Eddie’s familiar goofy behavior, now replaced by a simmering intensity that threatens to overwhelm you.

“What do you want?” You’re replying to his question, but in reality, you’re asking much more than that.

“If I get it right,” Eddie’s fingers twitch on his thighs, “I get to touch.”

You inhale sharply, pulling your knees up to your chest as you consider. The tension in the room has reached a fever pitch, and if you keep going, if you take that leap, you know there’s no way you’ll be able to stop.

“That okay, princess?” Eddie has moved closer in your moment of contemplation, now close enough to place his hands on your knees and push them down, exposing your chest once again.

“Yeah, that’s okay.” You clear your throat and try to formulate a new question.

“When was Wuthering Heights first published?”

It’s an easy question, one that Eddie should immediately know the answer to, considering it’s been written on the board in his English class for four weeks straight.

Eddie’s lips curl into a smirk as he answers, “1847.”

Before you can even tell him he answered correctly, Eddie’s hands are on you, surging forward to finally do what he has been craving for so long. One hand runs up your thigh while the other goes to your chest, squeezing gently. He runs his thumb over your nipple and you shudder, so on edge that even the slightest touch sends shockwaves through your body. He shifts forward to nip at where your neck meets your shoulder, the scrape of his teeth followed by a swipe of his tongue to soothe the sting.

Eddie continues his path upwards, resting his hand at the base of your throat for a moment before moving it to cup your cheek. His other hand has crept far enough up that he’s only centimeters from the apex of your thighs, dangerously close to where you’re desperate for his touch. His thumb rests gently on your bottom lip as his gaze flickers between your mouth and your eyes.

“Can I kiss you?” Eddie asks softly, and you can only nod, not trusting your voice to work.

Eddie leans in slowly, lips barely brushing against yours before pressing more firmly in a kiss that quickly turns heated. He’s quite talented with his tongue, and you can’t help but imagine where else he could put it to use.

His fingers graze the waistband of your underwear, dipping in slightly.

“What do you want?” Eddie pulls back, echoing your earlier question.

“Just touch me.” You pull him back into a searing kiss, gasping into his mouth as his hand moves down and his fingertips brush your clit.

Eddie dips lower, a low groan escaping him as he feels how wet you are. He brings his fingers back up to your clit and starts to make slow circles, moving easily with how you coated them with your slick.

Your head falls to his shoulder, panting against his neck as he gradually speeds up. You link your arms over his shoulders as you turn your attention to the pale skin of his throat, kissing and sucking until dark marks bloom under your attention. Eddie’s hand starts to falter, and you quickly grow impatient, pushing him back and reaching for his belt.

Eddie takes off his shirt as you fumble with the buckle, replacing your hands with his own and taking it off with ease.

He rids himself of the rest of his clothes as you do the same, greedily taking in every inch of skin that is revealed. You clench around nothing at the sight of his cock when it springs free, long and thick and surprisingly pretty, a word you never thought you would use as a descriptor for something like that, but nothing about Eddie follows the norm.

Eddie pulls you into his lap, and you tangle your fingers into his hair as you bring him in for another kiss. His lips seem to fit perfectly against yours and, god, why hadn’t you done this before? You tug gently at his hair, and he moans into your mouth, prompting you to do it again. He moans even louder as you pull harder, head snapping back and hips jerking up.

“Fuck, baby.” Eddie pants as the head of his cock brushes against your entrance. “Need to be inside you.”

“Yes please, Eddie, want you to fuck me,” you gasp as you shift and the tip nudges against your clit.

He lines himself up, and you sink down slowly, both of you moaning as he fills you up. You pause for a moment when he bottoms out, clenching around him as you adjust to the rather large intrusion. You’re incredibly grateful that his uncle is gone for the night because you don’t think you could hold back the noises you’re making.

Bracing yourself on his shoulders, you lift yourself up halfway before dropping back down, repeating this action until you’ve built up a quick rhythm.

“Fuck, princess.” Eddie grabs onto your hips as you bounce on his cock, gently guiding your movements. “You feel so good around me, so fucking tight.”

He plants his feet on the ground and starts to fuck up into you, thrusting up every time you drop down.

“Eddie!” You cry out as he gets even deeper, angling his hips slightly to hit the spot inside you that makes your eyes roll back.

You reach one hand down to rub your clit, clenching around him at the extra sensation.

“Shit,” Eddie curses, “keep doing that, baby, you look so good playing with that pretty pussy for me.”

You let out a whine at his words, moving your fingers faster. You’re not sure where his sudden affinity for dirty talk came from, but you’re certainly not complaining as he continues to praise you, calling you his good girl in a tone that makes you shiver.

Eddie pulls you in for a surprisingly tender kiss, a clear contrast to his harsh thrusts.

“I’ve wanted this for so long.” He says as you break apart, resting his forehead against yours. “Wanted you, wanted to make you mine.”

“I’m yours.” You can’t help the smile that grows on your face. “It’s always been you, Eddie.”

“Yeah? You ever think about this, baby?” Eddie asks, his sincere tone turning to something much darker. “God I used to jerk off all the time thinking about you, imagining how you’d feel around my cock.”

You whine as he gives a few particularly harsh thrusts, hanging on to his shoulders for dear life. You find yourself rapidly approaching the edge, throwing your head back as you bounce even faster.

Eddie matches your pace, his grip on your hips tightening to the point that you’re sure he’ll leave marks.

“Not gonna last much longer, princess,” Eddie warns, voice audibly strained. “Where do you want me to-”

“Inside,” you cut him off. “I’m on the pill, I want you to cum inside me.”

“Jesus fucking-” Eddie’s voice breaks. “Yeah, I can do that, baby, you want me to fill you up? Want me to fuck you full of my cum?”

“Eddie!” His words are enough to tip you over the edge, chanting his name as you cum.

“Fuck!” Eddie follows you with a punched-out groan, the feeling of your walls spasming around his cock too much to handle.

You collapse against him after you ride out your orgasm, his cock still twitching inside of you. You rest your cheek on his collarbone, and he bends his head down to place a kiss on your forehead, then the tip of your nose, then your lips.

Eddie eventually slips out of you, half carrying you to the bathroom as your legs prove to be more than a bit shaky. He helps you clean up, kissing you every so often with an infectious grin on his face.

He gives you one of his shirts to wear and drags you into bed with him, wrapping himself around you like an oversized koala. Who knew Eddie Munson would be such a cuddler?

As you drift off in his arms, you can’t believe how lucky you’ve gotten, that you get to have him like this.

All in all, it was definitely a successful study session.

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onepointlessgoose · 2 years

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OKAY I have been lurking on the edge of critical role for a while now, watched some clips, seen some fanart and in no particular order here is what I’ve learned:

- Some guy has a possessed gun that smokes mysteriously every once and a while that makes him kill stuff. He is? Unaware that it’s possessed despite the foreboding smoke? He is very cool and suave but from the whole possessed gun that he doesn’t seem to realize is possessed I have also concluded that he is not very smart.

- Blue girl, big ears, big tail, her mom is red and very pretty. I feel like this blue girl is supposed to be some form of purple? Is her dad blue? I don’t know what’s going on with her but she tricked a demon witch into eating a cupcake once and everybody loved that.

- Two elves named vex and vax (twins). At least on is in love with the dumb gun guy (they can do better) and the other one (vex? Vax? The dude) got tragically killed, made everyone cry, and then proceeded to just I guess hang out for another whole year or something before he actually died and made everyone cry all over again.

- Someone turns into a goldfish, which is a big deal and also very bad because they did so halfway off a cliff. Good for them.

- There is a bear. I have not heard if (he? She?) dies at some point but if they do I would be devastated that bear has become the sole Jenga block holding up my hope for the world.

- Robot man?? Tiny guy and tall guy (they are. In love?). I know there are three campaigns but I don’t know where these guys fit in.

- Could not even begin to describe the plot. No clue what’s happening there.

- A tiny gremlin goblin dude who (big reveal!!) can turn into a wolf. This guy is different from another tiny gremlin goblin who can turn into a mom.

- Two wizards, one of them is purple and very fancy, the other one is Haunted, but both have Accents. They are in love and nothing bad ever happens to them (this is a lie, at least one of them is dead). I’m fairly certain there are two different couples that this applies to and I have no idea who any of them are.

- Dragons?? Zombies?? There’s a vampire at some point and I thought she was dead but apparently not?

- baked goods

- sometimes somebody rolls a thing and they all go “OHHHHHH!” and other times somebody rolls a thing and they all go “OHHHHH” but sad this time. I don’t actually know how dnd works.

- a rat named pate (the girl elf’s rat named pate?). Thought this was pronounced pate like pete just spelled with flair but it’s actually pate like “pa-Tay.” I feel deceived.

- There’s at least one tree, maybe more. Need more information to confirm.

#critical role #critrole #text post #dnd #in conclusion I know nothing about critical role and at this point that must be what the fates intend

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dangermousie · 1 year

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A web novel recommendation - Wishing You Eternal Happiness

I am currently about a fifth into a novel that is in the running to replace Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir as my favorite het web novel. It is Peng Lai Ke’s Wishing You Eternal Happiness/ 表妹万福.

This novel couldn’t be more different from Dreamer, with its hard-edged and hard-souled protagonists ruthlessly cleaving their way to the world and, eventually, each other, its smart cynical air. Except in one thing - the world of Wishing is just as bloody and dark. Its two protagonists are gentle, deeply wounded souls who may find salvation in each other but even something as basic as safety almost seems out of reach.

Jiafu, our heroine, is neither a modern-day transmigrator, nor some exotic princess or demoness. She is very much a period woman of her time, from a weathy merchant clan, whose beauty is her curse. You can tell the novel’s tone from that utterly bleak opening chapter where she, a favorite concubine of a capricious dying emperor, is ordered to be buried alive with him and is not even given the “grace” of white silk but slowly suffocates in the coffin, scrabbling at the lid. There is no grand threats of vengeance on her part, not dramatic opera events. Just despair and death. The whole introductory chapter is haunted by emotional ghosts - the empress’ unrequited love for the monster on the imperial bed (turning into desire for Jiafu’s suffering after he dies), the emperor slowly dying in his prime after waging too many wars, and his fear of being haunted by Pei Youan, a brilliant if sickly minister who died of illness long ago on one of imperial campaigns. There is no triumph for anyone, only loss.

Jiafu wakes up in the past after her death but there are no plans for grand revenge or world domination. All she wants is to stay with her family and to avoid the future emperor and also her future husband - in her past life, he gladly gave her away to the emperor once the emperor asks sending her to a life of trauma and horror and eventually awful death. Her schemes to do so are small and driven by desperation. But unfortunately, things never go as she wishes. The marriage may be easily scuttled but the attention of the royal monster not so much.

Jiafu is such a deeply wounded person - some of the deep melancholy of the novel is that she wants so little - a normal life with someone who won’t sell her or bury her alive; she does not need to love him or even be married - and even that seems almost impossible to achieve. She is fighting for her life so desperately.

Her widowed mother and brother are lovely but they cannot be her bulwark. Who can? Pei Youan.

Let’s get this out of the way - I FREAKING LOVE PEI YOUAN!!!! He is a rare cnovel ML who would be considered a good person by any standard. But he is no shining powerful hero. Pei Youan, despite his brains and ability, drifts through life. I don’t mean he’s abandoned “work” - he assists the father of Jiafu’s eventual monster emperor ably etc etc. But emotionally he just exists, having given up on anything in his life, a sort of a living ghost. In modern terms, he clearly has depression. Apparently his background is pretty awful (and it does not take much to guess he’s actually not a Pei but a secret son of the imperial dude/Jiafu’s emperor’s half brother and in past life got killed for that) but all the bad stuff that has happened has not made him weak or self-pitying or dramatic, just a quiet, competent ghost. Jiafu is fighting for her life desperately - not even for happiness but for survival - but she knows happiness is possible, it’s just lower on her Maslow hierarchy of needs. But I don’t think Pei Youan can process happiness for him can exist.

Anyway, Pei Youan (at least in his ostensible identity as a member of the Pei family) and Jiafu are some sort of distant cousins. The reason Jiafu latches on him is because he is the sole man in her past life who showed her kindness and tried to protect her. When the emperor took her for the first time in past life, she begged for his help and despite barely knowing her, he managed to get her out and send her to her husband (only for said husband to gladly gift her back to the emperor.) Jiafu knows he is not interested in her, she knows he dies young, but he is her best bet, all she hopes is to marry him or even be his concubine, anything to stay out of the paws of the future emperor who fixates on her yet again. The scene where she explains it to him after he protected her, her desperation meeting his quiet competence but denial is one of my favorites.

I am spoiled enough to know eventually they do get married and things go all to hell for Pei Youan even more than before (In fact, @mercipourleslivres who knows me too well, sold me on this novel by mentioning that at one point Jiafu gets to be a Decembrist wife) and there is ultimately a hard-won happy ending. But even this early in, when they have not interacted that much, it is lovely to see Jiafu feel reassured around him, her desperation mixing with a tiny bit of reassurance at least and to see frozen Pei Youan feel something around her and not even understanding that this is his coming alive somehow, slowly and tentatively, but unmistakably so.

OK, where to find? The novel is complete in Chinese and can be found all the usual places. There is an abandoned translation of the first 20-odd chapters than can be found on novelupdates.

And I made a word doc of the MTL of the entire novel, here:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/yfoqmeaetx9xe3a/wishing_you.docx/file

Happy reading!

#cnovel #wishing you eternal happiness #peng lai ke

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