#as far as like end-times preparedness lol

[jess-abides]

Today we went to the potato festival in a neighboring town and they gave away free potatoes!! Like whole bags of them, and today was the last day of the festival so they said take as much as you want…so we took like 6 bags lol I’m not gonna pass up free pantry staples in this economy.

#also thinking that we are in a pretty good spot for this economy #LOTS of farms and farm stands and independent grocery stores #a very agricultural community #surrounded by fresh water #and an area that hasn’t had big money or big business in quite some time #I feel a lot safer here than I ever did in California #as far as like end-times preparedness lol

[noyoucannotpushthevoid]

What DnD Class would the Members of the Scooby Gang fall Into

A follow up to my last post This ended up being so much longer than I initially anticipated lol

Fred Jones: Artificer An extremely underrated class in my opinion. Also, not the one that I think most people think of for a leader. But also, all of his traps. All of his ingenuity working with only the things he has around him to catch the bad guy. I don't really know anything about any of the artificer subclasses besides Battle Smith, which looking at a brief overview of the other options is probably the one I'd give him. He's always more likely to build a trap then just confront and fight the bad guy. Leading into how though Battle Smith is good in a fight, it also can be played as a heavily defensive character. Armorer is just a tad too defensive for Fred as far as I'm concerned. He needs to also have that little confrontational, not totally support edge. Being able to play into both defense and offense is also great for a leader. Plus, he fucking loves his car, like one might love their steel defender that can look like anything the artificer chooses (to be blunt, the mystery machine is a built-in steel defender, right there)

Daphne Blake: Multiclass in Monk and Rogue* For monk, it's canon that Daphne knows martial arts and is decent in a physical confrontation. Not to mention I swear she's used an improvised weapon before, which just screams monk. If my memory serves, she's level-headed and always prepared (even if that preparedness fails a lot of the time. That being said, being prepared and actually on top of using those things are very different. Take it from someone who learned that the moderately hard way (no one died, only one person got kidnapped, everything could've gone a lot worse. So, I count the years of learning as a net positive :))). I will die on the hill that she somehow stole Mary Poppins' bag, a Bag of Holding no doubt. Speaking of stealing, she evidentially multiclassed as a rogue. Again, just her general preparedness. In addition to her being well connected. She sure as shit has the noble background. And what are rich nobles? Corrupt as fuck! It might all just be white collar crimes that they can bribe their way out of, but it's still crime <3**. What else is crime? Anything a rogue is involved in. She's not the most conventional rogue, but she is charming and can be quite good at a makeover or a little deceit***. She could be a bard in this sense, but she lacks the camp to truly fit, in my opinion. She's just not hamming it up enough. Also, not the most musical. I'm sure she's been shown to play, but she gives me 'only learned an instrument because her parents/school told her to'. Therefore, rogue. Apparently, I have a lot more thoughts about Daphne than Fred lol. Funny when you consider the types of characters I like to/end up playing...i.e. himbos. Or himbo adjacent. Regardless, this isn't about that, this is about what subclasses Daphne would take. For Monk, Way of the Open Hand. It's classic and simple, but it feels fitting as the others seem too flashy or too secretive. Daphne, for a rogue multiclass, feels very straightforward. She's not going to dance around you and use a lot of deception in a fight. If you go head on with her it'll be face to face. On the rogue side, the assassin subclass. Again, it's not so flashy like the swashbuckler or so secretive like the phantom, it's a very straightforward and no-nonsense subclass. It gets the job done. And Daphne doesn't really fuck around if I remember right. Her head may be a bit in the clouds, but once she puts so focus in... (I'm second guessing all of this. But that might just be the caffeine)

Velma Dinkley: Wizard If you thought I was going to say anything else, no. I love her, don't get me wrong. But she's a squishy little nerd, better suited for the research and behind the scenes kind of stuff. This feels just so self-explanatory that I don't know what else to say. As for her subclass, the School of Divination seems to fit perfectly with how she sums up each episode and each mystery with a play-by-play of everything. Her reasoning is always spot on. Again, it's very simple, but the role seems to have been made perfectly for her.

Norville "Shaggy" Rogers****: Barbarian Hear me out, he's mostly a coward who runs away. But he has his moments of bravery that remind me of the temporary rages that barbarians can go into. He's an odd barbarian, sure, but think of Gorgug from Dimension 20. He too was a very non-barbarian character playing a barbarian. Shaggy could never maintain his bravery and confidence, but he doesn't need to. As long as he becomes that way when it's needed most, he's golden. Whether a bribe was involved or not. Subclass-wise, one might think Path of the Beast or Path of the Totem Warrior because of Scooby, But no. We'll get to Scooby later. Shaggy, to go with his unpredictability when he actually illustrates some presence of a spine, he gives me Path of Wild Magic vibes. One truly doesn't know what will happen or when his courage will fail him.

Scoobert Doobert: Druid It's just there, in front of our faces, a druid who's always in beast form. As well as he has a protective streak. I don't think that's specific to druids, but it doesn't contribute to him playing a class that, at least the way I've played it***** and seen it played, leans away from fighting and towards support. Am I just stereotyping him cause he's a literal talking dog? Yes. His subclass is Circle of the Shepard. It's also a subclass that leans heavily into being support, but not a healer. Scooby has also been seen in some episodes calling upon new friends and allies to fuck up the bad guy. Not to mention but he can rely on fucking Scrappy Doo if he needs to (that little punk is just a straight Fighter and I don't take constructive criticism). His relationship with Scrappy Doo also leans into his protective streak, where while he can rely on Scrappy, he won't out of the urge to protect his nephew. Like a herd dog. This is such loose reasoning, regardless it is what it is.

*I'm up in the air about which one she started as, though honestly leaning towards rogue **This whole tangent makes me feel the same way I did when I read a review of 'Before the Devil Breaks You' by Libba Bray and the reviewer wrote something to the tune of: I didn't expect the series to get so political. The author didn't need to shoehorn in her beliefs. As if it's not a well-researched historical fiction book that dealt with eugenics and abuse and anarchy from the first book...but I also probably shouldn't judge as this reviewer and I were evidentially reading the series with two different perspectives and focuses. Politics doesn't need to be in everything, but it certainly is in, what I'd argue as, the majority of things whether we like it or not ***Honestly, all the girly girl stereotypes in media definitely give at least rogue multiclass. I only partially can decern why ****My beloved *****Please understand I've only ever played it once...in a pathfinder campaign...two sessions of a pathfinder campaign...I am about as far as an expert on the class as one can be while still having played it. So, take everything I say with a grain of salt. Pathfinder druids have a lot of healing and support abilities, that's what I know Oh, and the main villain of a campaign I dm'd was a knock off Circle of Spores Druid (I didn't have access to that content on dndbeyond and was in a time rush or something because I didn't just make him like I do every other character i.e. not on dndbeyond. I just use the site as reference)

#last post of like 3 fucking seconds ago btw. Don't think too hard about it cause I'm certainly not. Thinking that is #Scooby doo #dnd #I think I've found my new favorite thing #thank you new horrendous Velma show that I will never watch for reminding me how much I adore Scooby doo #I'm certain this has been done before. That being said this is my interpretation #Nevermind about the whole 3 second thing; I'm a slow typer lol #Daphne can has a little deceit as a treat :))) #Drag Queens make better bards than your run of the musician. Nothing will change my mind on this

[dat-dio-backpatch]

You play Drums? PT. 1

Summary: Eddie finds out you play the drums during a Hellfire session, only to later ask you to sub in for Gareth during a Corroded Coffin gig.

Warnings: N/A

Word Count: 1.8k

A/N: Hey so uhhh, this is my first fic for Stranger Things, and the first fic I've ever posted lol. Any feedback is rly appreciated as I really want to improve and write stuff others will enjoy. Also this is a part 1, I'm working on the 2nd part rn so feedback on this will help ensure that pt.2 is as good as possible

~~~~~

The small Hellfire room was oddly quiet, only you, Eddie, and Mike were present despite the session starting in only 10 or so minutes. Usually everyone was here at least 20 minutes early, all pumped and debating on different battle strategies for whatever monster Eddie was gonna throw our way in the game. But today Lucas’s basketball practice was apparently running late, Dustin had hurriedly explained as much before darting out of the room to go find out what everyone else's tardy excuse was. So now there were three, it was awkward despite you having known both Mike and Eddie for so long but they were both focused on their own work that the room was left silent. Eddie had his head buried behind the DM’s screen working on last minute adjustments to the campaign and Mike was furiously scribbling away at what you assumed was homework. Remembering your own long forgotten English paper you decided to copy Mike's idea and use this downtime to actually get something done. 

Pulling out a pile of crumpled up papers and a handful of dull pencils from your backpack you set to work, only to find yourself immedietly bored. Shakespeare was usually far from boring but your dull english teacher somehow found a way to ruin even his most fun plays, so you did what you always do to combat boredom and pulled out your walkman. Popping on your headphones you pressed play and the epic sounds of Mercyful Fate's album “Don’t Break the Oath” soon stomped out all your boredom. As the music continued you found yourself less and less focused on the actual paper and more focused on drumming along to the songs with two of your beat up pencils, having played the drums since middle school you were definitely nailing each beat despite having the music so loud you couldn’t hear anything else. 

“Y/N!” A voice broke you out of your music induced daze, you felt a strong hand shake your shoulder lightly “Y/N?”

You sheepishly remove your headphones and look over to see Eddie standing next to you, looking down at you with a confused, yet still mischevious, expression.  

“Sorry, was I too loud?” You apologize, face flushing red. You’d gotten carried away drumming like that before and it was almost always met with annoyance. 

“No, no definitely not” Eddie brushed off your apology, smile widening. “Do you play the drums?”

“Oh yea I do” you said returning his smile “I’ve been playing since middle school actually” 

“Shit how come you’ve never mentioned it before?” Eddie asked excitedly 

“Never came up I guess” You shrugged, starting to shove your English work back into your backpack before pulling out your dice and character sheet instead.

“Now that could come in handy sometime” Eddie mused, though before he could continue that though Dustin came rushing in with the rest of Hellfire in tow. One look at the clock showed they made it with only seconds to spare and a handful of half assed apologies for their piss poor timing. 

The session picked up almost immediately and went shockingly well despite the group's lack of preparedness, you’d all managed to make it out with your characters only slightly roughed up by Eddie's ruthless hordes of enemies. It all ended with the typical celebration, haphazard cleaning and quick goodbyes as you rushed out to your car before you could get further distracted from the still unfinished english paper crammed in your bag  

~~~

by the time the weekend rolled around You’d already forgotten about your breath conversation with Eddie about your drumming skills, it hadn’t really been that important after all. As much as you wanted to play with the guys they already had Gareth, Corroded Coffin was in no need of a new drummer. Or at least that's what you thought as you marched down your stairs, headed off to your drum set in the garage to start your routine Saturday practice. Sheet music and sticks in hand you weren’t at all expecting the sudden loud knock on your front door, you jumped nearly dropping everything you were holding as the knocking continued even more aggressively than before. You approached the door with caution unsure of whether or not you should open it until a familiar voice called from the other side. 

“Y/N!” It was Eddie, pounding on your door and shouting at the top of his lungs. “Y/N I know you’re home!”

You whipped the door open, fear dissipating into annoyance as Eddie greeted you with his signature mischievous grin.

“God Ed’s you’re lucky my parents aren’t home or you’d have gotten me grounded!” You groaned as his smile widened “What’s so important that you show up out of nowhere screaming like a serial killer?”

“I, well, we, need your help” Eddie said toying with one of his rings as he spoke hurriedly “Corroded Coffins playing a gig down at the Hideaway and we’re missing a drummer, told the guys I could get you to sub in”

“Isn’t Gareth your drummer? You asked, confused, “what happened to him?”

“Gareth got mono” Eddie made a fake gagging sound and feigned throwing up. “That gross shithead got sick the day of our big show, well not really a big show but a gigs a gig right?”

“Ed’s I don’t know how to play any of your songs” You said, suddenly racked with anxiety at the thought of fucking up your friends performance “I’m probably not as good as Gareth either” 

“I’m sure you’ll be fantastic sweetheart, plus I got all the sheet music ready and waiting with the guys and we can practice as long as you want” He said, his smile dropping from mischievous into comforting. “Please can you do me this one favor, I’ll owe you big time”

“You strike a hard bargain I’ll admit” You said, scrunching up your face and pretending to consider his offer “I don't know though, I did have some great saturday plans lined up”

“We both know you’d just be sitting on your couch watching the Exorcist” He teased 

“Hey rude!” You mocked offense “Not really winning me over with that attitude”

“Please will you, oh the great Y/N, play drums with us and really do your best friend a solid?” Eddie clasped his hands together and gave you the widest eyed begging look he could manage 

“Oh alright I’ll play with you guys” You said laughing at his antics, watching as his face lit up in the brightest smile you think you’d ever seen. 

“Thank you, thank you thank you!” Eddie shouted, wrapping his arms around your waist and lifting you up into the air in the tightest hug he could manage. “I owe you big time!”

“Big time!” You chuckled as he spun you around, still not letting you go even when you dropped your sticks and sheet music. “Ok, ok Ed’s you’ve shown your gratitude now put me down”

He stopped spinning you but didn’t put you back down, just held you tight as you found your face startlingly close to his, his bright smile never fading as your eyes met. You felt a blush creeping up your cheeks as you both seemed to freeze in the moment, simply staring at each other. 

“So, uh, you can grab whatever you’ll need for practice I’ll wait in the van for you” Eddie said quickly, breaking out of his stunned state with a quick shake of his head. He gently let you back down, pausing as if he were about to say something as you noticed a bright red blush spread across his face. He quickly shook his head again and began fidgeting with his rings. “Yea, I’ll be in the van. I’m really,,, the guys and I are really excited to get to play with you!”

“I’ll be quick, just gotta grab another set of sticks and I’ll be right out” You said, equally as flustered as Eddie. He nodded, offering a small nervous smile before rushing back out to his van, leaving you to retrieve the sticks you dropped along with an extra pair from your room. While in your room you paused, looking out your window down at Eddie's van parked haphazardly in your driveway. You could spot him in the driver's side window, you didn’t mean to be a creep and stare but you couldn’t help yourself. You and Eddie had always been close friends, hugging was nothing new to the two of you so why did that hug feel so,,,, different. Sure he was attractive, you’d had a crush on him since you first met him all the way back in middle school when he still had that stupid buzzcut. But no, you guys were just friends, that's all you;d ever been and you’d long since accepted the fact that's all you’d ever be. So why did that hug feel so different, and why’d it leave both of you blushing like awkward school kids. Not to mention his hasty exit after. It was just, odd, the way it left you feeling like you had butterflies in your stomach and your face still flushed. You quickly pushed all those thoughts aside, it was too much to think about right now and you were on a time crunch.  

As you brushed away all these thoughts and questions you realized you had the sticks in hand, and were still staring down at Eddie. To your surprise, and embarrassment, you realized Eddie was staring back up at you with the same ‘lost in thought’ look and blushing face. You both simultaneously realized you’d each been caught staring and quickly broke eye contact, Eddie turning to raise the volume on whatever metal he’d been playing and you hurrying to get rou shoes on before rushing out to join him. Once you were in the van Eddie took no time pulling out of your driveway, not waiting for you to get your seatbelt on before speeding off down the road. Thankfully the music was so loud conversation was impossible, neither of you really knew what to say anyway. Just an awkward moment between friends, that's all this was. Right? Again you brushed these thoughts away and focused on the road ahead, determined not to let the band down and to enjoy your first professional gig. You could sort out whatever was between you and Eddie when there wasn’t the massive pressure of performing weighing on your shoulders, hopefully you’d have your thoughts and feelings sorted out by then. Hopefully whatever conversation happened wouldn’t be as awkward as this car ride, you glanced over at Eddie as he kept his eyes locked on the road ahead, his face slowly losing the bright red blush you knew for sure you still had. You turned back to the road and tightened your grip on your drum sticks. 

#stranger things #stranger things 4 #st4 #eddie munson #corroded coffin #eddie munson x y/n #y/n #fanfic #stranger things fanfiction #eddie munson fanfic #drummer reader #hellfire stranger things #hellfire club

[rosethornewrites]

1/10-11/24 NR, E, & M reading

Moving after this so may be a gap.

Finished

Not Rated:

Deliver Us, by b00mgh

When Wei Wuxian gives himself up before Wen Ning and Wen Qing get the chance, everyone who loved him steps in to protect the people he gave his life for.

Don't worry, they bring him back B)

rulebreaker, by straelamo

Wei Wuxian returns to Cloud Recesses, and the world is set right.

in this close hand, by twigofwillow (2nd in a series)

Just a very cozy rainy day in the greenhouse

Birthday Cakes and Bunnies, by Hauntcats

A-Yuan wants to do something special for his a-Die's birthday. Who better to help than Bunny-gege.

Explicit:

lightning in a bottle, by bigbabyjeno

“You don’t see me,” the man hisses, creeping down the corridor with his back pressed to the wall, arms spread like he’s some sort of secret agent on a top secret spy mission.

Lan Zhan watches him for a moment, trying to decide if he’s worth any concern. The man is currently crab-walking behind a row of potted ficus, though, so Lan Zhan is reasonably sure he doesn’t need to alert security about this one.

[Or; Lan Zhan is photographing a wedding when he catches someone trying to sneak in. The man claims to be the bride's brother and begs Lan Zhan to make him his assistant for the evening so he can watch his sister get married. Lan Zhan reluctantly agrees and gets a lot more than he bargained for.]

At the End of the Road, by trickybonmot

It is the stupidest, most transparently terrible idea. Wei Ying’s hand is fisted shut on the fabric of his t-shirt, twisting it up far enough to reveal a glimpse of golden-brown skin. This is the worst idea. Lan Wangji is going to say no.

“How do you imagine that would work?” he says instead.

Wei Ying gives a little half-shrug. “I guess I would jack off,” he says. “And you could, like, spot me.”

The Nines of Winter, by ArcadianMaggie

When Wei Ying misses his flight home from college for winter break, Jiang Cheng arranges a ride home—with Lan Zhan, whom Wei Ying hasn't spoken to in over two years. When the weather takes a turn for the worse, they are forced to stop for the night. Luckily, Lan Xichen's house is en route and they are able to wait out the storm. There's weather (frightful) and a fire (delightful), two rabbits and a puppy, plus Lan Zhan's emergency preparedness kit.

Snow-Covered Jingshi, by squishh

He hadn’t even realized he’d moved until he felt soft silks beneath his palm and plush lips against his own. The pull of those eyes had made him sway forward, drawn in like a spell. His hand was on Lan Wangji’s thigh, his weight pressing his hand down as he leaned against firm muscle. The heat of Lan Wangji’s lips made him feel like he was burning.

Nothing could have ever felt this good. It felt safe, and it felt dangerous. He was in danger of never wanting to do anything else but kiss this man.

______

What I imagine should have roughly happened when LWJ and WWX were in the Jingshi in episode 43 if the censorship laws weren't whack and WWX weren't so oblivious to his own emotions lol

Mature:

Get it right (this time), by AmiraAlzilu (30 chapters)

Death would be a fate too kind for Wei Wuxian. He should pay for every sin he committed.

At least that’s the only explanation he has for this impossible situation. After falling from the cliff he woke up in his 15 year old body, just before his months of study at Cloud Recesses.

So, thinking it was for the best, he decides to disappear when he was supposed to be searching for their lost invitation.

Little does he know someone else came back in time with him.

Reset, by SuperiorJello (11 chapters)

What if things went horribly wrong at the end of episode 50, and Wei Wuxian sent himself and Lan Wangji back in time to Cloud Recesses to save them?

Follows mostly CQL/The Untamed canon, but I have also read translations of the novel and seen some of the donghua, so some of that is in there too.

This fic is part of a series!

Part one only takes place in Gusu, detailing wwx and lwj's arrival in the past and the immediate repercussions thereof. It is now complete.

Part two will continue the story as our characters head to Yunmeng Jiang and forward.

Too Much To Bear, by madwriter223 (10 chapters)

Coming back to life and being immediately thrust into a quest to discover the origins of the demonic arm that had murdered nealy an entire clan overnight was not something Wei Wuxian ever thought he'd have to deal with, but it was fine. He had Lan Wangji and together they were unstoppable.

However he had no clue how to deal with discovering Nie Huaisang was apparently a wreck on the verge of collapse at any given moment. How in the world had this happened?

AKA

this is filed under 'nervous wreck nhs' in my fic folder for a reason

if i had the strength, by agloeian (6 chapters)

Jiang Cheng seethes, gripping the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know how to help you,” he admits, “so I’m sending you to the people that do.”

It nearly slips out then, the truth of the matter. Wei Wuxian opens his mouth to snap back ‘There’s no helping me, not now!’ but the words stick in his throat. Shijie is crying and Jiang Cheng is defiant and Lan Zhan is staring at him so earnestly that Wei Wuxian simply doesn’t know how to tell them all that he’s living on borrowed time.

So he doesn’t.

---

At the behest of his siblings, Wei Wuxian is sent to Gusu to recover from the strain of the Sunshot Campaign.

If only he knew how to do that.

The Yu Temper, by madwriter223 (2 chapters)

How the confrontation between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian in episodes 27/28 could have gone if Jiang Cheng had let loose the temper he'd inherited from his mother?

or

Jiang Cheng goes apeshit on the morons he's surrounded by and fixes (nearly) everything

or

A pissed off Jiang Cheng adopts everybody, because fuck you, Wei Wuxian!

Unfinished

Not Rated:

Rise of the Peacock, by JustAWanderingBabbit

Killed at Qiongqi Pass, Jin Zixuan wakes to find himself in an old and familiar scenario; the day he and Wei Wuxian fought in Gusu Lan. The day his betrothal to Jiang Yanli came to an end.

Unsure whether or not he's dreaming, Jin Zixuan decides to seize the chance and change the future. But for that he'll need help from his bastard brother, Meng Yao.

you can have the best of me, baby, by stiltonbasket

Twelve hours after Jiang Cheng and the others escape from Mount Muxi, Wei Wuxian risks wading into the lake and discovers that the underwater passage to the stream in the maple wood has been blocked behind the tortoise’s body.

“It’s sleeping right beside the opening,” he whispers, when he and Lan Zhan are safe in a tunnel of rock too narrow for the Xuanwu’s neck and head. “Judging by the current in the water, that passage was the only way out.”

Trapped in the Xuanwu's cave with no means of escape, Lan Wangji suggests a surprising course of action to strengthen himself and Wei Wuxian for battle: dual cultivation.

The session proves successful, but despite their best efforts, Wei Wuxian's golden core yields unexpected consequences for them both.

Explicit:

unfated; unscripted, by homeybee

Lan Zhan finds Wei Ying on tinder, the first time. He isn't someone Lan Zhan knows, or he would have swiped left. It is his smile that draws him in initially, causes him to swipe right when ordinarily he would have closed his phone again, put on his pajamas, and tried properly to sleep. It is, after all, past his bedtime.

Half an hour later finds Lan Zhan, undeniably not in his pajamas, driving down the highway to the next tiny town over.

...

A series of 'first' meetings.

Discarded, by teawater

Children in Cloud Recesses are succubming to a dark curse. There's one person who may be able to help.

Time Unwinds in a Kaleidoscope of Red, by vamprav

Wei Wuxian falls through time and hits the ground in the Burial Mounds. After taking stock of his situation he decides that things will be different this time, even if it kills him, starting with that disastrous reunion with his brother and future husband.

Heart of the Beast, by WaitForTheSnitch

“Wei Ying?” Nie Mingjue prompted him gently. “Where are your parents?”

“They went on a night hunt,” Wei Ying said, a bit evasively.

“Your parents are cultivators?” Da-ge asked in surprise. “Did they leave you here while they hunted? When did they go on their night hunt?”

“Four summers ago,” Wei Ying said a bit uncomfortable.

“Four summers ago,” Nie Mingjue repeated. “What are your parents’ names?”

“My mama is Cangse Sanren and my baba is Wei Changze,” Wei Ying told him, and recognition registered in Nie Mingjue’s eyes.

“Wei Ying,” Nie Mingjue said, sounding a bit regretful, “Your parents aren’t coming back.”

Or, Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang run into Wei Ying while in Yiling and decide to bring him home. And it changes everything.

We met again but in a different time, by akumanomiyu

Jiang FengMian never found Wei WuXian after he lost his parents, so he spent his life on the street, alone.

He didn't have a clan to protect him and teach him how to become a true cultivator, but he still managed to grow up a strong and righteous man.

People hated him or feared him for the demonic tricks he had to learn to survive. His life wasn't easy but he lived it as he wanted.

Until one day, a good action made him discover an evil plot against the cultivator world and cross path with the Lan clan...

you'll find my heart on the mountainside, by lulu_kitty

After parting ways with Lan Wangji on the mountain path, Wei Wuxian takes some time to consider what it is that he wants with this new second chance at life.

The answer finds him coming back to Lan Wangji, his zhiji, but after they reunite and set forth to embark on their new life together, an unexpected surprise awaits them on their journey home.

Or, a post-canon CQL/Untamed getting together story: accidental baby acquisition addition.

The Communication Effect, by draechaeli

If only there was more communication, or the right kind then everything would be all right. Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi might be bad when it comes to talking to each other about the important things, but they are still leagues better then the older generation that use communication like swords: concealing, revealing, and striking as they please for their own gain. From apologies, to misunderstandings, to sieges, to rumours and gossip, to cold wars, to lies, to civil wars, Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi navigate the world together once their brothers make sure they’re engaged before the classes at Cloud Recesses are finished.

This fic is finished at 186k in 37 chapters + 3 extras

most barren peak and bleakest winter, by WhatTheOwlHears

He drank. Set the cup down. “I understand Wei Ying would not choose to behave that way ordinarily.”

Well that was certainly true, but it felt like a lie anyway. “Haha, yeah.” Wei Wuxian put his elbow on the table so he could put his face in his hand. “Definitely would not normally make attempts on the virtue of my dear dear friend Hanguang-jun.”

Mature:

can't find a way home, by KouriArashi

After giving away his golden core and being thrown into the Burial Mounds, Wei Wuxian takes his revenge on the Wen sect without crossing paths with the Sunshot Campaign.

With no trace of him found, his loved ones have no choice but to believe he died in the Burial Mounds, and go into mourning.

But then strange things start to happen around Yunmeng ... and in Lanling, Jin Guangshan has only begun to take advantage of the power vacuum left behind by the war.

Second Summer, by Anonymous

“So, this is awkward,” says Wei Ying, with a little laugh. It sounds fake. “But I think you have mistaken me for someone else.”

A year after the mysterious death of the Jin heir, Lan Wangji runs across the secret, long-lost, amnesiac love of his life while on a night-hunt.

Tragedy That Befall Upon Us, by xoxoholic

"Hey! What's this?" Jin Ling yelled, pointing at the glowing, black and red orb. Jiang Wanyin marched over to Jin Ling, but the young Jin sect leader had already touched the orb.

"Jin Ling!" Jiang Wanyin yelled in anger. If his golden core was not sealed, then Zidian would be cackling furiously.

"..Oops?" Jin Ling sheepishly smiled as he hid behind his friends. Lan Jingyi laughed at Jin Lings predicament while Lan Sizhui sighed. Ouyang Zizhen laughed with Lan Jingyi in amusement before he was hit in the back of his head by his father.

Hound's Tongue Tied Up, by Stepdavii

“I’ve figured out a way to keep us safe. Forever,” Wei Wuxian replies, still writing out all that he can think of that would possibly help.

“Oh? And whats that?” Wen Qing asks blankly.

“I’m going to make the world forget we exist.”

--

In which Wei Wuxian figures the best way to keep everyone safe and make everyones life better, he should make it so that his and Wen Remnants existence become forgotten. He just doesn't realize how much an impact doing so would be.

Dreams of Paradise, by Hauntcats

This on begins during the siege of the Burial Mound. Wei Ying is trying to destroy or nullify the tiger seal before anyone else can get it. The results don’t work out quite how he thought they would. His essence is trapped in between time where he witnesses different scenes of the lives of those he cares about. (The 13? 16? Years when he was dead.)

Then he wakes up in a place he didn't expect.

Once again, not Jiang friendly. If you don't like that, please, don't read.

Seeking Solace, by DragonHeart (Taer01), Taer01

Months after the Siege of Burial Mounds against the Yiling Patriarch, the cultivation world gets a rude awakening.

We're Alone Now, by Forever_Marie

"Did you hear, did you hear? Hanguang-jun deserted his clan"

Lan Zhan deserts the Lan Clan in favor of protecting Wei Wuxian and warns him of the pending Siege. They all run for the hills and everything is quiet for a decade until one day Xichen wanders upon him in a market in Yiling.

Impossible Remains, by Jengabears

Jiang Cheng wakes slowly to the feeling of spiritual energy swimming through his veins. Not just swimming. Singing. Flooding. He was filled with it. He didn't know if it was because he had been without any for so long or if Baoshan Sanren had chosen to make him stronger, but he had never felt so powerful in his life. It was glorious. It was everything. He felt alive again. Whole. Better than whole. He had to thank her. He had to scream his joy across the mountain. He was so infinitely grateful.

He ripped off his blindfold, turned to look around him, praises and gratitude resting on the tip of his tongue. Yet what his eyes rested on was a face he never expected to see. His joy and gratitude instantly snuffed into ashes in his mouth. His eyes widened in horror at the sight which greeted him. He wished he could take everything back. Every thought which had passed through his mind since he'd woken.

How could this happen?

OR

Wei Wuxian dies in the core transfer.

Summer Snow, by Forever_Marie

Jiang Cheng dies after Lotus Pier falls and the Jiang are no more. This leaves Wei Ying without family and a home, now and for after the war, forever shattered. He joins the Lan clan (at Wangji's insistence) to fight in the Sunshot campaign as Lan Wangji tries to fill in the cracks left behind.

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #cql #chen qing ling #untamed fanfiction

[pricemarshfield]

don’t go

A post-canon/canon divergence Climbing Class fic. Read on AO3 here. Does not name the monsters from UD.

The thing is, Chris never believed in ghosts.

Past tense, because though Ouija boards are definitely still bullshit, flesh-eating nightmares who are his friends from beyond made his internal perspective change, a little. Less focused on Ashley (now happily dating Sam, who'd have thunk), less focused on cleverness, less focused on everything other than survival.

The problem with that is, survival is way, way less of a concern everywhere else.

No matter how much Mike asks, Chris won't go to the gym, won't go running with Sam. Instead, he goes to the gun range and shoots, practices with a dozen different guns until he can hit a target from as far as they'll let him try. Someone asks him if he wants to go hunting, and he says, "No, thanks. I don't have the stomach for it." With a practiced, self-deprecating grin and a little anecdote about getting sick in health class after watching Supersize Me (but hey, he'll still eat fast food!), they just laugh, clap his shoulder, and say, "Well, maybe next time."

Chris knows now how to hunt. He won't go because he doesn't want to go back to the mountain, but if something happens, if Jess ends up going on her expedition to find Emily's remains like she keeps talking about, if any circumstance happens that'll force him back out of his safety, he'll be ready. He has a dozen books on how to skin and prepare wild game, has a YouTube watch history that he probably shares with a future serial killer, is slowly working his way through quizzes on edible plants in the area he can forage.

Two weeks after the mountain, his friends all found it normal. Six months after the mountain, he worries he's the only one still caught up in it.

Sam's still going out in wilderness semi-regularly, albeit with so many protein bars in her bag that she could feed a small army. Mike throws himself into whatever the hell project he's involved with. (Chris and Ashley make a point of not asking about it, just to see his face turn red.) Jess rock climbs now, but however it started, now she just seems to be having fun, and Chris doesn't want to ruin the mood by asking why she's doing it. Ashley writes, poems and prose and articles, jumping on their fifteen minutes of fame to get a foot in the door of publishing.

Josh doesn't do much of anything.

They'd found him next to the bodies of Matt and Emily and Jack Fiddler, emaciated and staring at the bodies with a hunger that had caused all of this. (Chris assumes. He wasn't there, wouldn't have been there even if he'd known he would have found Josh okay. He wasn't brave before, let alone now.)

His parents won't let him keep a handgun in the house, so he moves.

Finding an apartment is hard. Nothing to do with the publicity or lack of options or even money; he just is picky. It needs good WiFi, because he's still Chris Hartley. It needs a room without windows, easily defensible and big enough to be able to stockpile food. It needs walls that aren't painted a sickly green color that he jokes is scarier than the idea of going back.

justgidding: Terrible joke!

justgidding: Even if it wasn't in bad taste, it's just not funny.

sn0wflakequ33n: I thought it was funny Chris

gogogadget: thank you jess

screamking: Oh bro is that that place on Hilda St?

screamking: I looked at that place when I was trying to find a place

screamking: Definitely the worst

ladykiller: why did you move out, rich boy? don't you have like six bedrooms in your old place?

sn0wflakequ33n: don't be a dick, mike

smartcookie: Eh

smartcookie: Not the most dickish thing one of us has done this year

justgidding: Okay guys, let's not bring this up over TEXT!!

sn0wflakequ33n: why do you hate the internet sam

smartcookie: I always forget how much of a Luddite you are, babe

ladykiller: i don't know what that means

gogogadget: i feel like we've gotten farther from the point

gogogadget: which is how ugly these walls are

So, yeah. Apartment hunting. Would it be weird to ask Josh what place he found? He needs to move if he's gonna get a gun, and while he knows logically it's not going to help and that he's not in danger, he's pretty sure just having it around would be great for his peace of mind.

Also in the case of monster attack, but at this point, preparedness for monster attacks and his peace of mind are pretty much one and the same. Not only correlational but causal relationship.

gogogadget: josh dyou mind sending me the address?

screamking: Why, you coming over?

gogogadget: trying to find a place

gogogadget: or are you still looking?

screamking: Nah, here

screamking has sent you their location!

---

Chris is sure that the place Josh's sent him will be too expensive, because Chris is comfortable, but Josh is. Well. His family owned a mountain (past tense). But as it turns out, if he moves in now in February rent is cheaper for as long as he lives here. It's still a lot, but it's at the very upper range of his budget rather than completely out of it.

They don't allow pets, but they do allow (legal) guns, and Chris signs the lease right after seeing the place. The property manager seems thrilled, but Chris doesn't really care why; he's just glad to have a place.

Sam and Ashley are the only two friends available to help him move, though Ashley mostly just picks through his books. Chris doesn't have a ton of stuff, and the only really heavy things are the one box of books and his PC. It takes one trip in just the one car and then he's in his apartment, alone.

Unpacking takes the better part of a couple days, but that's mostly just building furniture and setting up his food stores. The place doesn't quite feel like his, but he's alright with that. It feels safe, and that means a lot more.

His neighbor keeps thudding against the wall, though, and at 2am, when it wakes Chris up, he bangs back in annoyance.

"Sorry," his neighbor calls.

"...Josh?" Chris responds.

"Oh, what?" Josh says, and then Chris' phone lights up.

gogogadget: dude what the fuck

screamking: My bad, dude

screamking: Won't happen again

gogogadget: look as long as it's not ghosts i'm okay lol

screamking: I've got some bad news for you

gogogadget: JOSH WE TALKED ABOUT PRANKS

He can hear Josh laughing from across the wall, and Chris texts back a bunch of middle finger emojis.

screamking: If the ghosts do scare you, consider this an open invitation to come over

gogogadget: there are BETTER WAYS to invite me over dude

gogogadget: game nights

gogogadget: weed

gogogadget: just a straight up booty call

Chris doesn't really realize what he's said until after he's sent it, and then he briefly considers skipping out on his lease so he can go lie down outside and wait to die.

screamking: So if I were to do one of those now

screamking: You'd come over?

gogogadget: if you have someone over and that's what the banging's about i'll literally never talk to you again

gogogadget: just so you know

screamking: Nah it's just a tennis ball

screamking: Helps with anxiety

screamking: Dude?

screamking: If this isn't your thing we can still be friends, man

screamking: That better be you knocking on the door

---

justgidding: Chris, wake up!!!

justgidding: You said you'd go to the farmer's market today

justgidding: I WILL break this door down I don't care about your security deposit.

justgidding: Ashley says you're not answering your phone

justgidding: Josh is, though :)

justgidding: I'm texting the group chat

gogogadget: groupchat is one word

justgidding: Get dressed now we're going to the farmer's market!

gogogadget's phone can no longer recieve messages! This could be due to a loss of WiFi or the phone being turned off.

justgidding: Bitch?

gogogadget's phone can no longer recieve messages! This could be due to a loss of WiFi or the phone being turned off.

#climbing class #until dawn #josh washington #chris hartley #christopher hartley #my fics

[mariaiscrafting]

ahhhh ty ty ty <3

ok, so I think that what makes Dream act this way (iykyk) is how dreamwastaken became so big so quickly. and by quick I mean fucking lightning speed.

he didn't have enough time to learn enough about cc etiquette, especially in these three aspects: influence, boundaries and fanbase/stans/whatever you call it. I'll try to explain it:

• Influence: Does he know the influence he has? Like, when he hears that he is the myct with the largest fanbase, does he really process that? I remember he talked about not being able to control all of his fanbase and there's bad apples everywhere -- which is true, and that only like 1% of his fanbase breaks his boundaries (that include sending hate for him, harassing, doxing, etc. yk, basic twitter culture lol) but, honey, with your big ass fanbase, 1% is still a lot of people. As a content creator you *have* to be aware of that.

let's take the hbomb situation. First off, as a streamer, it's you that set the mood of the stream. Even if he was only messing around with his pals, even if they did say to do not send hate to hbomb, dt dunking on him created a toxic environment, which caused his fans being toxic towards hbomb and you know what happens next. Hell, when this happened, I was watching Tapl and he was watching them and he was crying laughing over them screaming bc they were just. so loud and so aggressive that it was kinda ??? Sirs, this is literally a Minecraft Stream lmaooo

my point is, that was not the road that dreamwastaken, 21M fans, should've taken. he don't condone his fans actions but he knows his fans are diehard and will always be on his side, he should be more careful before stating negative opinions, especially if its towards another person.

• Boundaries and Fanbase: He posted a list of his boundaries a while ago, idk if you know or seen it (btw please george copy your bestie for the love of god <3) but I'm not talking about those boundaries, I'm talking about the basic boundaries between cc and viewer. boundaries that, in my opinion, should exist between cc and viewer. I get that Dream is an open person, an oversharing type of open person if I may add, but I think he should take a step back regardless. When I heard that he was taking a time from twitter, I genuinely got so glad, not because he couldn't start any drama then, but because it would do so so good for his mental health. I'm not even that fond of him, it's just that for me, any cc taking a break or outright leaving twitter is a win for me. I know how RSD is hard to deal and honestly letting shit out it's better but dream you have dt you have bbh so please don't make things worse online 😭 I know how good can be to feel validation from millions of people but. it's not a good idea, especially in the state that his fanbase is on rn (this topic is kinda sensitive to talk abt for me bc people be outright ableist and hide it as criticism like. say that shit's not helping his reputation and whatever without acting like he's fucking. manipulating his fanbase for being affected by his rsd💀 or, on the other hand, don't say that hes just being adhd🤪 when he's just being an asshole like damn that's a Him thing bro lol)

(omg it's so big I'm so sorry and theres a part two I'm so sorry tumblr user messed-up-gal ToT) - morango 1/2

pt. 2:

Dream is the proof that the people who loves you can be your downfall. istg. Have you noticed that every drama that Dream enters, people usually get more mad abt how his fanbase reacts (85% they'll react in a bad way) than Dream himself? it's not always, but its definitely more likely. I'm not saying Dream is saint, he Is petty and his ego does him dirty and made him choke multiple times before,, But! i dont think hes a bad guy. he's literally just a dude. ok, he's a 21yr old white gamer man that has a trumpie past (maybe?? idk. I think hes cured now ig lol) so he's bound to do some shitty things but he still tries to get better and hopefully he'll mature. 21 is old enough but it's still so young, yk? I kind of lost my mind during the end and my eyes are literally begging to be closed so tl;dr: Its gonna be hard for him to become a better cc bc his fans don't let him be criticized (by infantilizing his adhd symptoms or the mob mentality as soon as someone says anything abt him), the honest criticism get lost between lies from antis that don't know shit, he still has a lot of growing up to do and overall he became famous too fast and he needs to learn things even faster bc as soon as there's not a single one dream hater on sight they'll turn their back and attack him instead lmao I hate twitter i definitely have more to say but I'm tired and my memory is shit. just-- hate dream if you want, love dream if you want, nobody is obligated to have an opinion but I wanted to express mine. have a lovely day! -morango 2/2

Aight, there's a lot to unpack here, so Imma try to only go into the points I have something to add to (here's what I talk about in each paragraph, if you want to jump to a specific point):

Speed of Dream's rise to fame

The "bad apples" in the Dream fanbase

Post-MCC HBomb stream

Not condoning versus actually condemning his fans

Manipulation & RSD

Criticism of Dream, his fanbase, and his brand

The “just a dude” argument, flipped

First, I agree that one of the many factors that has resulted in the current image Dream has set up for himself, the way his fanbase functions, the ways people hate on him, and the way the Dream brand functions, is the speed of his rise to fame. It's unique, and there are probably a hundred social/psychological angles that could be used to examine the exact effects of that speed upon all of these facets of the Dream Name; did rapid fame beget the rapid rise of unrighteous hatred, did those waves of hatred then instigate the rise of a surprisingly overdefensive fanbase, did that rapid fame get to his head and/or result in an inability to appropriately handle all the after-effects of rapid fame, etc.? That point you bring up, about how the speed of his rise to fame requires him to learn even more quickly, is so interesting to me. I think that maybe Dream expected to get pretty famous pretty quickly, hence the preparedness in regards to some mechanics of influencer fame- merchandise, business-building, networking, knowing how to manage his fanbase to best benefit him. But I don't think he expected to get this famous this quickly. This is all speculation of course, as are this entire post and your ask, but I think that he just couldn't anticipate having to learn how to handle enmasse controversy, waves of antis, or every Youtuber speculating/knowing about him; and yeah, that results in him having to learn all of these things very quickly, lest he allow his whole brand and fandom to fall apart.

Second, I disagree with the frequent argument that Dream's fanbase is only marginally toxic. Personally, I think that the circumstances of Dream's fame, his personality and management of his fanbase, and his brand of content have resulted in the very specific kind of stan that Dream stans are. I don't think this is simply a case of "all fandoms have a small percentage of assholes who take it too far;" rather, the nature of the community itself breeds the kind of mentality of "an asshole who takes it too far." I only even know this because I was a Dream fan (kinda a stan, I'm ngl). At one time, I watched every single Dreamwastaken & Dream Team video multiple times; I listened to the Manhunts on repeat, as though they were podcasts; I followed mostly smiletwt and dttwt accounts on mcyttwt; I had upwards of 10 tabs for AO3 DNF fics open on my phone at a time; I watched DNF and Dream Team Being A Family-esque compilations on repeat; I watched every George and Sapnap alt stream I possibly could; I went out of my way to defend Dream against Redditors and Twitter antis regarding the cheating scandal. For the latter half of 2020, and a couple months of 2021, I lived and breathed this part of the fandom; so when I say that Dream stans are a whole other breed than any other kind of mcyttwt stan, I say that because I used to be like that, too. I usually use parasocial very loosely or ironically, but Dream stans are genuinely one of the most parasocial fanbases I have ever seen or been a part of. The level of investment Dream stans have in this man's life, the lengths they will go to to defend him, the amount of psychonalysis and digging they do on his life and character, the amount of emotion he can evoke in them- it's taken to another level, man. This isn't just characteristic of a fraction of his fanbase; this is what the fanbase is like as a whole.

Third, I partially disagree with your take on the HBomb thing, but not in the way one might think? I actually empathize with the way they reacted much more than I thought I would, simply because I suspect I have RSD (also suspect I have ADHD, have for several months now) and I can see myself getting insanely frustrated because of something like that. Like yeah, it was "just a MC stream" or "just an MC game," but that's kinda disregarding the fact that something that might seem like "just a [insert inconsequential thing]" to a rational mind might have a major emotional consequence/take a major emotional toll on someone with RSD, or really anyone who gets easily impatient/angry about video games (Sapnap reminds me of many of my friends, in that way). The issues I, personally, had with the way they handled the HBomb situation is that these are simply explanations and reasons for my empathy; they are not excuses. I have no excuse when I get irrationally angry about something inconsequential in my own life, for a couple of reasons. One, because I am an adult and I need to learn how to handle my reactions and manage my own anger. Two, because as someone with many mental problems, it is my responsibility to learn coping mechanisms to ensure my own emotional stability and livelihood; this includes learning whatever I need to handle RSD- whether that be isolating myself from others when I know I will become violently/passionately angry about something, creating and sustaining a support system that can get me through bouts of extreme emotion, finding healthy emotional outlets for my negative emotions that won't harm myself or others, or a combination thereof. I don't think what they said about HBomb post-MCC was an irreversibly horrible thing, or anything. I think there were errors committed by two men who should be fully capable of foreseeing and preventing those errors, but I don't unconditionally hate Dream or Sapnap for the post-MCC stream or comments. I just wish they had made amends quickly, publicly, and sufficiently, because the greatest consequences from the whole thing weren't even from those two criticizing HBomb themselves; they were from the waves of backlash because of their immense influence on the MCYT fandom, which could've been prevented, if they had acted maturedly and responsibly after the stream.

Fourth, you’re right, that he doesn’t seem to condone his fans’ behavior. I detest the frequent anti argument that one of the reasons Dream should be criticized is because he explicitly uses his fanbase to attack others, or something of the sort. Personally, I think he created his fanbase in a very specific way and interacts with them in such a way so as to benefit him as much as possible, yes, but he never actually tells his fanbase to go and yell at or harrass anyone. Still, there is a significant difference between not condoning something and condemning something. It might seem unfair, and it might be annoying of me to say this, but I truly think that someone with this large a fanbase, especially one as overzealous as Dream’s, needs to be condemned every single time it goes on some kind of rampage/harrassment campaign. Either that, or Dream needs to make a definitive, permanent statement against any kind of harrassment of others on his behalf. I know he’ll occassionally make the odd tweet or serious stream addressing something his fanbase did, but one of the many reasons his fanbase keeps doing the same damn thing is because he’s so lukewarm and spotty about this condemnation. A fanbase like his needs to be given explicit guidance and boundaries for the numerous things they do in his defense- harrassing/doxing antis, harrassing people who criticize him who aren’t antis (respectful criticism, other CCs, other MCYT stans, etc.), harrassing the people he critcizes (i.e., HBomb), speculating about his personal life (his relationship with his gf, his mental health/ADHD, his romantic life, his childhood, etc.), and speculating about his relationships with his friends and colleagues.  My personal ideology is that, if you have significant influence over someone or a group of people, you are at least somewhat responsible for the things those people do or don’t do, if it at all relates back to you. I’m so fucking tired of the argument that CCs aren’t responsible for what their fans do. Obviously they aren’t responsible for every single one of their fans, and obviously they can’t fully control their fans at the end of the day. But I think there are certain things that reach such a level of extremity that does make those CCs responsible. This can be measured by either scale or intensity; that is to say, if a CC’s fanbase does things on an extremely large scale, or one person from/a fraction of the fanbase does something really extreme, then the CC is made all the more responsible. Another CC I’ve always had trouble discussing with other people on this subject is Pewdiepie, in particular, about the extremists in his fanbase. Because the things a small handful of his fans have done in reference to him and/or in his name were so fucking extreme, I thought Pewdiepie had to take at least some responsibilty. Along a similar vein, because the things Dream’s general fanbase does are so widespread and on such a massive scale, Dream has to take at least some responsibility.

Fifth, okay. Hmmm. I want to tackle this point you made about the ableism he faces in some criticism of him carefully and with empathy, but not coddling. One, I do think a lot of the criticism he receives for the ways he handles criticism (post-cheating Tweets, reactions to John Swan, post-MCC HBomb stream, etc.), disregard his RSD and can be oftentimes ableist. I’ve actually encountered people irl who criticize this aspect of Dream’s character, and have had to explain to them their disregard for how ADHD/RSD affect neurodivergent people’s reactions to criticism. But - and this is a big, and very controversial but - I think mentally ill/disordered people can 100% leverage their mental illness/disorders for the sake of manipulation. This is actually something I’ve learned from a psychiatrist, regarding the ways people I know and I handle our anxiety and depression. This manipulation can be unwitting or intentional, but it is entirely possible, and the possibility shouldn’t be entirely dismissed as ableist. Living with a mental illness or disorder that others know about/that you are very public about puts you in an interesting position to receive frequent sympathy, empathy, and/or pity. I’m not saying that empathy for Dream having ADHD/RSD is entirely unjustified; on the contrary, I have frequently expressed how I can relate to his ADHD symptoms and have defended him for expressing those symptoms, both on mcytblr and in real life. I am saying that Dream fans tend to use his ADHD as a kind of shield for a lot of criticism levied against him, including the supposition that he could be manipulating his fanbase to defend him because of his public expressions of RSD. So yes, my theory is that Dream knows how to levy every aspect of his life for his personal gain and for the growth of his brand, and that includes his ADHD. I think he has courage for his openess about his ADHD, I think his openness has contributed to the rise in awareness of mental health and empathy for neurodivergent people within Gen Z, and I think at least some of his expressions of RSD publicly/online weren’t intentionally made public. All that being said, I also think he has to know just how much his fanbase cares about defending him for his ADHD, and I think he has to know that some of the things he does related to his neurodivergence endear him to his audience, in a coddling, baby-ing, mildly ableist sorta way.  Maybe this is all incredibly presumptuous of me. Of course, I can never know the real intentions behind any Dream video, Tweet, or stream. Maybe I’m just projecting, because I can see myself doing just this, if I had the maturity I had circa 2018-2019. Idfk know, man.

Sixth, I actually agree with you here, people probably do get more mad at his fanbase than him. Dream puts out content pretty seldomly, considering the frequency of content output for other Youtubers/streamers in his field/at his brand size. And yet, he has received masses of criticism. Considering that the things Dream himself does/says do not entirely correlate with the amount of criticism he receives, I think it’s a logical assumption that a lot of that criticism actually goes back to the size of his presence online, rather than the man himself. That is to say, because of the massive community he’s amassed, the exponential growth of his fanbase, their presence on every single social media site and in virtually every single Internet space/fandom, and the size of his metaphysical presence in his fields, Dream is much bigger than the man himself, so the criticism he receives will, at least in part, be a direct or indirect result of all these other aspects of the Dream brand.  Something I don’t think many Dream fans/stans, or even most MCYT fans in general, understand, is that Dream isn’t just “one guy” in the eyes of the Internet- at least, not anymore. He hasn’t been for nearly a year. Like Pewdiepie, Mr. Beast, and other CCs who have amassed similar levels of fame and wealth via Internet content creation, Dream is a brand now, and most people will treat him as such. He isn’t just some uwu soft boy playing Minecraft anymore. He is on a whole other level from any other MCYT in his friend circle or colleague interaction bubble. His words will never again live in a vaccum or private bubble, his friend circle will never again be under anything less than intense scrutiny, his past actions will never again be simple mistakes or silly errors, his words will never again be casual tweets or streams for laughs among a couple thousand followers. Dream’s name represents something much bigger than just the one man. As such, all aspects of his brand, including his fanbase, will tie back to him and, ultimately, to any general criticism of him.

I’m not saying I like any of this, and I actually think the evolution of influencers from people to a marketable brand with similar mechanisms, responsibilities, and liabilities as a corporation is some kind of late capitalism nightmare fuel; I’m just stating my own observations and theories as to why so much anti-Dream criticism seems to be directed at his fanbase, rather than him.

Seventh, he’s just a guy, you’re right, but I think a lot of the antis on Tumblr understand this more than you know. As I’ve seen it, the sentiment among much of the “DSMP stans DNI” crowd seems to be that of “Dream/other MCYTs are such ‘bad’ people, so why do their fans stick to these mediocre, racist men, when there are so many better people to watch/better content to consume?” We know this argument is flawed for many of the obvious reasons - the conflation of all MCYTs’ actions regardless of individual identity, the equating of a CC’s fanbase’s morality to that of the CC they enjoy watching, the exxageration of any error MCYT CCs have committed as bigotry/racism, the fundamental misunderstanding and misinformation that led antis to believe this exxageration of the facts, etc. But I want to focus on the general, underlying sentiment of, “why not watch someone better, when your creator is problematic?” Sometimes, I ask this of Dream stans. Yes, being mildly ignorant, getting involved in the scandals Dream has, and being a right-leaning/libertarian centrist in the recent past all seem like harmless things, all things considered. One could say Dream isn’t nearly as bad as many antis who are misinformed seem to believe, and that there are much worse CCs Dream stans could be watching and creating fan content for. But I think what Tumblr antis wonder is, aren’t there also much better MCYTs/CCs people could be watching and stanning? Because he’s just some guy, right? Is his content truly so exceptional or is he really so exceptional a person, that people have to stick by him, despite the things that spike up regarding his current or past actions? I think that’s what made me finally decide to stop watching Dream. I realized he was just Some Guy. The Dream Team was a comforting dynamic to indulge in, DNF was a cute ship to read and speculate about, and Manhunts were fun videos to watch; however, once the Reddit posts came out and I read them in-depth, the cost-benefit analysis tipped over to the “not worth it” side for me. I realized Dream’s content, while fun and comforting, was not entirely unique, and wasn’t worth sticking around for, given what I then knew about his past political leanings. If he is just Some Guy, then there are a hundred more like him out there. There a hundred more ships, a hundred more found family dynamics, a hundred more entertaining and skilled Minecraft players. So while I agree with you on the point of people being allowed to love him regardless because he is just a guy, at the end of the day, I think that, if we are to believe that sentiment or use that argument in such a manner, we should also understand the flip side- that, if he is just some guy, why is it worth sticking around? To that I say, maybe because people just enjoy the simple things they enjoy.

Anyways, I wholly agree with your tl;dr. Thanks for that insanely long ask, this was a fun thing to keep me occupied while I’ve been at work, facilitating Zoom sessions this whole morning.

#ive been writing this on and off since 830 am est SHEESH #dreamwastaken #dream critical #eh i think im relatively lenient of him here given my past posts ab him #but still just in case the blacklist tags for yalls convenience: #discourse #/neg #asks #long post #long posts #this a LONG one bois #morango

[mittensmorgul]

Unpopular opinion: Portraying Sam and Dean as worthless, incompetent hunters who learned nothing from their father's training or a lifetime of hunting bc it was all God is disrespecful as hell. Sam and Dean are--well, were, I guess--heroes who stood up to monsters, angels and demons as ordinary people. Tonight destroyed all of that.

I mean, I’d agree with you, if I thought that was actually what the show had done. Sam and Dean currently BELIEVE that, and are making choices based on that assumption, but is it actually true?

I can’t believe it is. I think they’ve made an incorrect assumption, and are going to “pay a price” for having made a bad choice based on that belief...

Because we’ve been shown that’s how Chuck arranges things. That’s how he “tells his stories.”

When in the previous episode, Chuck’s final words to Sam were the statement that Sam had “lost hope,” and the pronouncement that Sam and Dean weren’t the heroes of the story; and when Dean stood up to him and said he and Sam would never “perform” the story Chuck wanted to see them act out (like “all the other Sams and Deans” eventually did in all his other universes), it was like they’d thrown down a gauntlet for him. Dean PUNCHED CHUCK IN THE FACE. That was the gauntlet-slap.

To me, this episode felt like Chuck’s petty (and rather crackpot) attempt to manipulate them into believing that this is what they truly are without his Divine Cosmic Help, and honestly, THAT is what I am calling bullshit on. The show is practically BEGGING us to see that.

I mean, if Dean had had ONE cavity, I could buy it was just bad luck. If Baby had ONE bad spark plug, I could buy it was just a normal sort of problem that normal people face. But the sheer number of failures they experienced went so far beyond “normal” as to be cartoonish. No normal person has EVER had a day like that. But the fact that Sam and Dean were so willing to BELIEVE it, even after Dean had been convinced at the beginning of the episode that they were CURSED... he let Sam (and Garth, and Bess) talk him OUT of that conviction.

Dean: No. No, no, no. This is -- this is more than just a no good very bad day, okay? Chuck must have boned us before He left, you know. Or maybe some of that crap you brought back from Rowena's went sideways. Because this. This is not normal.

But by the end of the episode, Dean was beginning to believe that this was very much their “new normal.” To the point where he’s willing to drive to Alaska and pay whatever price to get back their “lost luck.” And honestly, THAT WAS THE POINT. It’s shaken DEAN’S WILL, his BELIEF IN HIMSELF. Which is pretty much the ONLY weapon he had against Chuck in the first place.

Honestly, to me, the thing that convinced me that they were actively being hindered (i.e. that Chuck was actively working to PREVENT them from succeeding at anything on their own) was the fact that not even their reputation as The Winchesters was worth anything to the monster fighty dude. Not even the vast over-preparedness they went into that warehouse with was enough to give them ANY sort of advantage.

They weren’t “normal,” they were DOOMED TO FAIL, because Chuck was proving a point. A point they willingly bought into, despite the overwhelming evidence that they were being specifically held back from succeeding, at anything.

They’re still struggling to understand exactly how Chuck is capable of interfering with their lives. And while I appreciate Dean admitting that their choices have been their own, and not everything about their lives was down to Chuck, the fact that he let himself be talked out of the conviction that Chuck “boned” them before leaving (lol as if Chuck would leave NOW, when things just began to get interesting for him again, just when he’s untethered himself from Sam and can finally “see” the Winchesters again) means he’s still subject to Chuck’s terrible plot...

So I agree with you. If that had been the point of the episode, it would’ve been a bunch of bullshit. If the episode hadn’t included all the references to all the “we are literally actually cursed” episodes, and all the “we are directly being manipulated by cosmic forces” episodes... I mean...

literally actually cursed:

3.03 Bad Day At Black Rock: The rabbits foot gave them ACTUAL GOOD LUCK. Their good luck was so entirely OTT that Dean joked he was Batman. They easily identified it as ridiculous levels of good luck. Until they lost the foot (because EVERYONE loses the foot, it’s part of the CURSE). Their luck didn’t go back to normal, it went cosmically, horribly BAD. So bad, Bobby told them, “you’re dead within a week.” Because that was how the curse worked. Their entire lives haven’t been “lucky.” And Dean would normally be the first person to admit that. His first instinct in this episode was to wonder if he’d been subjected to a similar curse because of how comically bad his luck had turned.

5.08 Changing Channels: the first clue was all the “Seriously? SERIOUSLY?” stuff at the beginning. I was half expecting Sam to get slapped in the face and called a “brilliant coward.” But we even got a NUTCRACKER! callback, only this time it was Dean that took the shot to the crotch... Not just the comic gags of the episode, though, but the Bigger Plot of how and why they were being put through all those tv shows, being forced to LEARN A LESSON, of Gabriel messing with them and pushing them into PLAYING THEIR ROLES, and ACCEPTING THEIR DESTINY.  Please tell me that’s not EXACTLY the lesson Chuck would want them to learn after 15.09.

3.11 Mystery Spot: or that one where NOTHING Sam did, no matter how many chances he was given to replay that day, could’ve saved Dean. Sam was nerfed. Effectively rendered powerless against the story, and in the “dark half” of the episode was driven on a misguided revenge quest against the Trickster. Sam couldn’t even begin to see the bigger picture, and believed that just because he’d broken free of the “time loop” that he was actually engaging with reality, that Dean was actually perma-dead, and had isolated himself from all his friends and gone off the rails in his single-minded trek to hunt down the monster that had done this to him... all the while he was focused on the wrong thing and was still trapped in the “make-believe scenario” Gabriel had established for him. Because, golly, that sounds like the exact spot they’re in RIGHT NOW, having been convinced that their run of bad luck is the direct result of Chuck NOT interfering in their lives, casting them as the “heroes” of his story. And I don’t believe that’s what has happened, at all. I believe Chuck is more focused on them, directly, than he ever has been before.

Heck, I wrote this post before the episode aired, and I stand by it 100%:

https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/190429024710/episodes-i-expect-1510-to-remind-me-of-based-on

Because Sam and Dean haven’t had “hero status” stripped from them. Chuck is WAY too petty to just “give up the story” and render his main characters inept all of a sudden. Sam and Dean are still “his guys.” They’re still the main characters of an obsessive writer who’s directly fighting against their will. This is like... the inverse of 4.18, where Chuck “wrote himself into the story.” This is his reaction to his characters declared intent to “write themselves OUT of his story,” to DEFY his story. This is Chuck’s idea of petty revenge for using their free will against him.

In that context, the context of the larger arc of s15, this is like... textbook illustration of how Chuck has been grinding down their will, pushing them to make Terrible Choices against their own better judgment, because that’s where he wanted the story to go. I think we need to keep that in mind, that the story ITSELF is the big bad, and Chuck’s just had all his powers restored to him. Assuming he wouldn’t immediately put those powers to their full use at his first available opportunity is just... daffy.

Dabb has been writing Looney Tunes since 8.08. I’ve been writing Looney Tunes meta since at least as far back as s11:

https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/144577425855/chuck-amuck

I will point to the WB cartoon that I believe Dabb has been framing Chuck’s character around all along: Duck Amuck (I’ve embedded other versions on tumblr before, but they always get taken down because copyright... so have a link to where you can watch it... I swear it’s worth the time: https://dai.ly/x5yczh1

And this is what Chuck is trying to convince Sam and Dean is their current situation:

when what they need to recognize, and what Chuck DESPERATELY needs them to keep them from realizing, as long as he can continue pushing them to “we had no other choice” scenarios and distract them from just rejecting his story entirely, is this:

#spn s15 spoilers #spn 15.10 #chuck's process #sometimes i compare this show to einstein and sartre and sometimes it's all just looney tunes #Anonymous

[whetstonefires]

"the top three of its forty floors are filled with brass telescopes of every size, pointing in every possible direction, including several that do not exist within the normal three dimensions of space." thats SUCH a cool image / "If any harvest will come." ooh i wonder whats going on / "The roofs are of red tile, the stucco of the houses painted in shades of blue. It stands empty, but has not had time to fall into disrepair." the little bits of detail getting added to the picture im LOVE (1/?)

I’m gonna do these all as one post but broken up for ease of reference, I think.

Thank you! 🥰 Deciding the theme for the Tower and giving it that visual anchor really helped to pull things together. If you consider the whole setup, it seems unlikely the Tower was originally built as an observatory, since those tend to benefit from height (especially if you’re looking around you rather than up, but for the up ones also) and the builders could easily have put it on top of a mountain or at least some hills, but instead put it by the river. It’s above sea level, and it’s away from light pollution, but there were better locations. Nearby.

So either it wasn’t an observatory, and it’s been refitted as one, or they had so many observatories they didn’t care about locating them optimally, there was some other factor making having the tower there important even if it was suboptimal in terms of observation capacity. Or, potentially, it’s been moved since it was built!

:} Yay thank for being interested by the foreshadowing. I tried to put just enough in without actively overshadowing the actual place-setting-up and making the reader impatient with the description. 

"If you look through an enchanted telescope you may see trees without needles fail halfway up the nearest of the great peaks, and even these fail before the top, though there is a span of nearly barren stone past that line, before the snow begins." you: mentions different plants living in different climates me: :0 / there's so much good description!! its all so pretty!! (2/?)

sflka;l;jlk i mean yeah, that’s pretty straightforward isn’t it. But! It establishes How Much Mountain it is visually rather than by saying ‘it was a big fucking mountain’ or ‘it was tall enough for the thinness of atmosphere near the top to create a small tundra region.’

o(*￣▽￣*)ブ

<3 Thank you! I kinda cut loose lmao.

"blocks veined with every color, pale blues and purples, reds and greens and golden-duns all mottling toward white and grey and black" god i want to live there so badly!! this tower is meeting all my standards!! cool pretty magic tower with rad telescopes!!! / "make a remark no one present understands about a Doctor named Seuss. His guide, the dousing tracker Amnaphi, will assume this person to be a famous astronomer from his homeland." im love!! misunderstandings about references!! (?/?)

💗💖✨ Yay! That’s an important feeling to create in fantasy, imo. The wanting. 

I really enjoyed playing with the standard forms for ‘thing made of marble’ here, because all these marbles really exist, but in spite of the existence of the word ‘marbled’ our narrative uses of it tend to be tied up with Neoclassical aesthetics. So very white and smooth, yeah?

Also idk if it’s obvious to the reader but this Tower is to some degree in dialogue with Orthanc, which made a great impression on my mind as a child as the iconic wizardly tower, and while I don’t disagree with any of Tolkien’s use of symbolism for the purposes he was deploying it, there’s so much potential in Isengard as a setting that LotR had no space to explore, even if Tolkien would have noticed those angles at all.

Like...the parkland around the Tower is shown being despoiled for the orcish war machine and then reconquered by the forest, but of course it wasn’t forest to begin with. What was it for before Saruman lost his shit? Ordered gardens, for peaceful contemplation? Who dedicated the space that way? Who maintained it? 

Did Saruman employ a gardener? Did he design his own gardens, or did they come with the keep, which we’re informed was built not by him but by the Numenoreans? 

(“I liked white better” is still one of the greatest lines in a fantasy novel, Tolkien does not get enough credit for his contextually hilarious one-liners that rely on pointed code-switching, but Saruman’s evil rainbow oil-slick robes also sounded really baller and it’s kind of a shame they were not attempted for the movie lol.)

The fact that this is a world designed around a kid getting portal-fantasied into it and staying for 30 years really gives me some options which are fun to deploy but also like. Risky lmao. Because it encourages the reader to surface from the setting-logic and apply their own perspective, which can really break up the magic.

Being able to zoom out on the Tower after all that detail and be like ‘it’s awesome but also it looks like something Doctor Seuss would draw’ was fun though.

"Within the even hexagon of its outer wall, the Tower encloses a great parkland, enough that if it was all put under cultivation it could easily feed as many people as could live in the Tower itself." the tower has PLANTS i love it so much / "Ten Years’ Winter" god PLEASE tell me this is going to get into the agriculture and society stuff game of thrones didn't about long winters that would be SO cool / "Watchers of the Stars" AND they have a cool name holy shit (?/?)

Plants are important! As is food supply. As everyone who’s been reading this blog for a while already knows I think lol.

I mean, it’s not about that, really? The Ten Years’ Winter is a historical event--the most recent meteor impact severe enough to have global climate fallout. The dust it kicked up took a while to settle, and the famines were pretty severe.

But the cultural consequences of something that happened a hundred and fifty years ago exist, and are important, including the relationship between governance and disaster preparedness, which varies a lot regionally as you may imagine. 

Astronomy has a long history as a wizardly sort of activity in the real world, both because it’s had continual overlap with astrology and just because the process has always been mystical and abstruse. In this setting, with a history of both devastating meteor impacts and being invaded from the Moon, but also actual magic, it’s got more obvious practical importance. Although since neither of these are remotely everyday occurrences, the average person on the street might not agree lol.

So it’s on the one hand a purely descriptive title, and on the other hand a serious boast, suggesting as it does that they are primarily responsible for Watching The Sky For Stuff. While also having broader philosophical implications and just sounding nice lol. 

You gotta have good marketing if you want to persist as a wizardly order, because if talented students aren’t motivated to come to you how will you gain new members? Natural replacement is not an ideal strategy to say the least. That’s how you turn into a cult instead of an intellectual powerhouse.

"The northern third of the Tower’s park contains neatly regimented orchards, apples, pears, plums, and a few rows of carefully tended peaches and apricots, all clipped flat against low brick walls angled south and slightly west." hhh t r e e s / "wizards, while enthusiastic about innovation in the abstract, hate change." me too, wizards. me too / "The Tower grounds are filled with refugees." ooh now we get to why everything was empty earlier (?/?)

Trees! Which are also food!

And technology lol. Greenhouses built against fruit walls with good insulation are so much more sensible than ones heated from inside. Obviously as a passive solar-powered technology these only work when the sun is available and not, for example, cut off by a giant dust cloud. 

These people are fairly acutely aware of their dependence on the sun and it figures prominently in a majority of their religions and their magical theory, even more than in ours.

There seems to be a mild consensus that the wizards are relatable. In truth: we are all wizards. :D

Yup! At long last lol.

"This division corresponds imperfectly to the usual split of the town by the course of the Meroda." because people!! take comfort!! in what normalcy they can find!! / "Makeshift pallets line the spaces between every fruit wall—the injured are being laid out here, now that the Tower is full, to get the benefit at night of the warmth meant to mature fruit." the awesome magic tower people trying to do everything they can for the injured who come to them for help in case i thought i couldn't be (?)

more in love / "Half of them are making ready to turn south along the Meroda." oh nooooo / "but the Moon People are the successors of the ancient magics, and just because they could not break the walls the last time they came, according to legend, does not mean they have not worked out a method now." im so worried for the people oh no (?)

Yeah! It really seemed natural. But of course they also aren’t recreating it obsessively; lots of people are grouping up with relatives who normally live across the river, or with people in the same line of work on the river, because people also adapt to circumstances.

No institution is ever perfect, of course, but I’m glad the Watchers have come across this way so far. They’re broadly well-intentioned and mostly well-organized.

And they were not ready for this.

A significant fraction of the reason for the order of the Watchers to exist at all, particularly in this observatory with its great eye fixed ever on the face of the green moon, is to be able to warn the world if this ever happens again. But the Moon People knew they were being watched, this time, and they kept all the build-up to mobilization that might have given them away on the far side of the moon until the last minute.

What the Magister is doing, as I hope was made clear or at least successfully indicated--I wish your commentary on the ending had come through!--is summoning what turns out to be an actual child from another world to do hero stuff.

Even if he’d gotten an adult that would be kidnapping someone to help with your problems, a routine element of the portal fantasy whose ethics have been addressed in a variety of ways, most famously ‘is Lion Jesus and always right.’ 

The reason they need a hero from another world is that the Moon People build a lot of their wards and their offensive and disabling magical attacks around a targeting system based on what planet people are from, because even though they’re originally from the same stock--they’re the descendants of ancient moon colonists who evacuated ahead of a major meteor impact somewhere approaching four thousand years ago--on a magical level having been born and raised on the planet or the moon makes a pretty huge difference. 

So no one can get into the place their magic space elevator is anchored and fuck it up so they can’t keep bringing troops and supply in and loot out. Their single supply line is their only strategic weakness, and they’ve taken appropriate precautions.

Getting someone in from a third location is the best idea anyone’s been able to come up with in the very limited time available. Since no one can figure out how to turn one of the Moon People against the cause they came here for, on short notice, when they aren’t even stopping to talk to anyone so far. Like, that’s clearly not going to happen.

Heron Yl Fanult isn’t unaware that it’s ethically questionable, but he’s doing it anyway.

So I’m glad the ominous imminent oncoming of the Moon People can really be felt, because that atmosphere is fairly essential context for the decisionmaking going on at the top of the Tower.

"Young wizards sit in their bunks, six each to rooms that were previously individual, and hold lighting cupped dancing in their palms." a quick break from being worried to point out that this is rad as hell / "some with their heads decorously covered..." cultural differences!! especially with regional purposes like the Hedro!! 

Thank you! 😆💖 I thought so too lol. 

It also establishes the parameters of the magic system a little more. Throwing lightning bolts is pretty iconicly high-powered, right? And here it’s what most of the student wizards are practicing in anticipation of a battle, because most of them aren’t specced into combat and this is actually one of the easier lethal spells to master, especially if you have an academic background.

‘Electrocute’ isn’t a very flexible spell and it’s easy to lose control of, but it’s actually easier than, say, ‘set on fire to a significant degree in a non-electrical manner’ because concentrating a lot of heat in a certain location takes a lot more brute force than encouraging ionization. 

You can pull most of the actual destructive force for the palm lightning spell out of the physical air and/or earth if you grasp the principles, which is much easier than channeling a comparable amount of magic directly because it doesn’t have to go through you. 

The limiting factors on magic in this setting are how much power you can tap into and how much of it you can actually use without hurting or killing yourself. It’s not usually a lot, though the amount can be increased by things like choosing your workspace, prepping your workspace, and a whole lot of practice and meditation and things like that.

Magical traditions that get bundled under the heading of wizardry tend to focus on force multiplication, obtaining enough contextual understanding of a subject to make whatever power is applied go further. This means a lot of studying theory and using magic to make observations (such as the existence of microorganisms and their connection to disease) and often results in making clever devices based on what you’ve learned that may not actually wind up being magical at all. 

Which is why the solar greenhouse proposal is considered ‘more wizardly’ than the fruit walls, which are wizardly in the first place even though the technology is pretty widespread at this point--it’s carried the principle of minimizing the energy you have to invest to get the result you want to the logical conclusion, where you don’t have to do any magic at all, you just set up the situation and get out of the way and the sun will do the work for you.

Other schools of magic, particularly religious ones, are more likely to emphasize just getting better at handling energy for yourself, which tends to yield a lot more in the way of immediate practical dividends and in a lot of quarters wizards who don’t do something obviously practical like physic or smithcraft with their theoretical background are considered crackpots or dilettantes 

An impression helped along by the fact that being taken on as a student of wizardry at a basic level tends to focus more on your reading comprehension than your ability to actually do any magic, so in places where religious and wizardly institutions coexist the most talented students have a tendency to gravitate toward the religious life. This is particularly marked in areas religiously dominated by the Compact of the Golden Circle, wherein full ordination is contingent on being able to pull off certain fairly hefty rituals, so if you aren’t physically or mentally up to that kind of magical heavy lifting your religious career will stall out in one of the lay fraternities. In some of the cities on Sutouchel, the landmass to the southeast where the Compact is based, a slang term for wizard is ‘sanctum washout.’

But of course force multiplication is something that can scale up pretty far, and studying theory doesn’t stop you from also putting work into your practical skills, and not having talent isn’t the only reason someone would choose not to seek out a clerical career, if it’s even an option. Religion along the Meroda is pretty localized; communities tend to have local deities who correspond to a natural feature like the nearest mountain or the river or something, and if that deity rates a fulltime shrine the keeper also tends to be the major local medical provider, and since the wizards got settled in at the Tower it’s become pretty popular for shrinekeeping families to send their kids there for a year or two to get some educational polish in addition to what their parent already emphasized.

So depending on where you live and what your personal experience has been you’re going to have very different ideas about what wizards are good for.

Hrm. I’ve gone on a tangent. But that wound up taking so long you came back! :D I love it when being turtle works out in my favor.

Or was this actually the meta I was supposed to be doing in the first place? Aaaaa who knows.

im fairly confident you said eight asks survived so this is number nine? anyways onwards! "The hale survivors of the First Battle of the Second Descent sit waiting in their leathers, jack-chains and helmets laughably inadequate armor against the coming danger, and yet the best hope now just as they were on Carun Tol once the wizard fell" i have a lot of emotions about how their best bet is also a terrible bet but its all they have (9/?)

Yes 8. 

Woo, thank you! ^^ & I love that you described it that way because that also describes the ‘summon alien’ spell Yl Fanult is casting and echoing the same emotional theme throughout the scene was very much the goal here.

"Threads have escaped from the braids pinned across the top of her skull: she has not had the chance to take them down for two days." god just the continuation of how desperate everything is / "He leans forward to peer through the narrow glass that has been turned on its articulated base to face the middle of the room, and relaxes very slightly. At least there has been no catastrophic alteration there, either." what does that one do id assume theres no approching army in the middle of the room -

:D Yeah, the fact that one of the chief medics available is already overworked to the point of neglecting nonessential personal hygiene and the enemy isn’t even here yet I hoped would resonate.

Well, remember how some of the telescopes at the beginning point in directions not included in the normal three dimensions of space? :}

- "trained as it long has been upon the face of the moon" also forgot to mention their enemies being from the moon is Rad As Hell / "He snaps his fingers for a spark that falls into the deep circular groove full of distilled spirits, and steps through that as well. He is not burned." ooooh whats he doing / "At his feet lie a glittering piece of gold ore, a moonstone, and a carefully sanded round of pumice." i see the connection to the moonstone bc moon army but i wonder about the others -

Thank you! It took a fair amount of poking before I decided it was a solid approach; it provides just enough physical alienation that there’s no direct cultural relationship and you can have that ‘everyone in the entire world Disliked That’ vibe, without needing to create any complicated magical and cultural explanation for such a long run of isolationism. They were out of contact because they were On The Moon.

Also I really get a kick out of putting space invaders in a fantasy setting in a way that stops just short of turning into sci-fi.

I’m glad the ritual lead-up is exciting! Even if the foreshadowing wasn’t as obvious as I thought it was lol. That’s fixable. 

Gold is for the sun, moonstone is yeah for the moon lol (although in other circumstances people also use jade, because it’s been a long time since the moon was uniformly silver on account of it having been terraformed a few thousand years ago) and pumice is for the world--it’s a stone full of air that floats on water, so it’s popular as an anchoring device for rituals that call on all three local celestial bodies.

"He cannot take much time. He has only until the ring of fire dies." whats he doingggggg / anyways i love this so much!! the descriptions are gorgeous and im so invested in all of everything!! i hope you write more im so curious about it all!! 

XD Ok I covered this already, I would have saved it for down here or Been Mysterious if tumblr hadn’t eaten the last few asks the first time lol. Thank you so much again! For encouragement! Before and now! I’ll try! To keep it going!

Here’s hoping this successfully posts, tumblr just kicked me onto New Dashboard again and disabled the turn-it-off button, so now my alternate posting strategy is borked up too. 🤞😅😘

#hoc est meum #ask #worldbuilding #a nonny mouse #the tower of sight #people say nice things #long post #<3

[koreanboyswriting]

Yoongi Scenario or Fanfic? Yoongi have a collab with a foreign female producer, and they fall in love with each other during will working together.

Welp, if you meant you wanted them to have sex, that’s what I did. Falling in love just wasn’t working out while I was writing it so I just decided a good old smut would be equal, right? Lol I hope you like it hun!

Yoongi Producer Scenario

Words: 2.4k

Genre: Smut, smut, and oh guess what? More smut.

❌ Warnings: 18+, sexual language ❌

You had been a nervous wreck all week. Today you were meeting Min Yoongi also known as SUGA from the worldwide famous boy group BTS. You were mixing a new song for them with Colombia Records and Yoongi would be meeting you in the studio to help you produce the beat while the other members met with Steve Aoki and worked on other projects. You had no idea how you were supposed to conduct yourself. Should you bow when he walked in? He was older than you and that was customary in Korea, but maybe he wouldn’t expect that from you since you were in the States. You sat in the studio twiddling your thumbs trying to decide what you would do when he came in.

You had obviously gotten there way early to set everything up before he got there but getting there an hour early was probably excessive. You had worked with so many artists by now and had met some really famous people, you even helped produce songs for Dua Lipa and Camila Cabello but something in the air made this feel different. You tried to tell yourself that it was just because you more comfortable working with women, but it might have been that there was a lot riding on this for your company and you didn’t want to mess a single thing up.

You fiddled with your hair and picked at nonexistent lint on your black pants as you waited. You fidgeted with your hair tucking it behind your ear over and over again and turned your coffee cup in circles on the desk waiting anxiously till it was twelve o’clock. As noon came and went the anxiety left your body and now you were slightly annoyed. At twelve thirty Min Yoongi blew into the room and sat down quickly in the chair next to you and dipped his head.

“I am so sorry,” he said breathlessly. “Our driver was late and then we had to drop the other guys off and it was kind of crazy.”

You took a second to adjust. He came in so fast you didn’t even have to worry about whether or not to bow, but you recovered quickly and accepted his apology.

“No worries…” you trailed off. “Should we get started then?”

Yoongi nodded vigorously and opened up his bag and proceeded to take out a laptop, a large pair of Beats, and a flash drive with his BT21 character as a key chain dangling on it.

“So, this was the demo I think you gave me, and I made a small change to the underlying beat and I wanted to know if you liked it.” He said, balancing the laptop on his knees.

“Um, yeah sure, cool.” You had not expected him to come with beats already changed but the preparedness of him was exciting no one had ever come to you with ideas so fully fledged out. You moved your coffee cup out of the way, and he set his laptop down on the empty space between the sound boards and plugged the connecter cable on his laptop into the sound equipment. He moved the knobs slightly on the boards and turned up the sound a tad and then played the beat you had mixed over the speakers.

It sounded the same, but not. The beat you had made was more upbeat and lively but he had changed the guitar beat in the background to a minor chord progression instead of a major giving the whole beat a new haunting melody. You bobbed your head along to the beat feeling out of place in it for a second.

Yoongi was watching you with vivid eyes, analyzing your every expression. After a minute you leaned over and turned the volume knob down a fraction, so it was just background music. You hesitated for a second and then decided that being blunt would most likely be appreciated by Yoongi. You inhaled deeply and then spoke, “I think you lost the integrity of the song in over producing the underbeats.”

Yoongi looked affronted, then he recovered and leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs and smirked, “is that so?” He asked simply.

You smiled, “Yeah, it was meant to be a pop-y love song with acoustic guitar undertones, almost singer-songwriter sounding. And you lose all the great quiet guitar riffs in the grand piano solos.”

“Well we’ve done pop love songs. I came here to do something different.” He said, still smirking.

You licked your lips and laughed breathily, “Well then, that’s been accomplished, the song definitely isn’t pop anymore, but it isn’t good either.”

Yoongi laughed loudly and shook his head, “Alrighty then, what do you suggest?”

You just smiled, rewound the track and listened to it again in its entirety, Yoongi watching you all the while in silence with his chin resting in his hand. You tuned down the loudness of the piano and messed around with the keyboard till you had stripped down the complicated piano verses to their bare bones and the inserted them back in. Then you added the sweet guitar riffs you had originally had in the song to the end and had it fade out. Once you were finished you turned up the volume a little and played the song again. Yoongi nodded along, a small smile on his face and then paused it as soon as it finished.

“Well, I like it.” He said.

“Hmm.” You said smirking.

“But—”

“What do you mean but?” You said indigently.

“But,” He said holding out the sound longer than necessary, “I think that the piano needs to cut off here,” He moved the cursor and started clipping pieces. “So that for the bridge it cuts into just the guitar, then builds back up with the piano and finishes softly again with just the guitar fading out.”

You made a fake thinking face as if really considering the idea and he laughed at you.

“I like it,” you said, nodding vigorously.

Yoongi laughed loudly, and you both spent the next two hours clipping pieces and adding new ones. Messing around with the instruments and adding new clips entirely and then taking them out, then trashing the original ideas you had and then building them back in again, and by the time you were finished, you had a hauntingly sweet love song. You got up from the rolling chairs you were each sitting in and collapsed on the couch that sat against the wall behind all the sound equipment. Yoongi got up and followed you and collapsed on the opposite end of the couch, his arms behind his head as he stretched his legs out across the floor. You rubbed your eyes hard and combed your fingers through your hair. When you opened your eyes again, Yoongi was staring at you.

“That was probably one of the best producing sessions I’ve ever had, thank you.” He said simply.

You blushed and combed your fingers through your hair again, “Wow, um, thank you. Same here I felt like we really connected with the song creatively.”

Yoongi smiled and got up and sat back in the chair again. He got a microphone that was sitting on the side of the sound board and turned it on, he synced it up the computer and hit record as he hit play on the song. He hummed quietly along with the beat and then started rapping softly after the first chorus ended. He was just barely speaking into the microphone his rough timbre gliding over the track like it was meant to be in there in the first place. The Korean words sounded beautiful as the left his lips, and even though you had no idea what he was saying the fit into the track like puzzle pieces. After the second chorus started to pick up again, he ended the recording and turned off the mic and set it down.

You pushed yourself up into a sitting position and looked at him stunned, “That was beautiful, did you just freestyle that.”

Yoongi scratched the back of his neck and nodded.

“That’s amazing, the flow you had and how easily it fit into the beat, I could never do that. That was seriously so good.”

Yoongi blushed a little at your words and sat next to you on the couch again, although this time much closer. “Well, I had a little inspiration.” He said quietly and shrugged, a smile playing on his lips.

He wasn’t too far from you, all you had to do was lean a little bit over and you would be kissing. You looked from his eyes down to his lips and when you looked back into his eyes it was almost like he read them. He cupped the side of your face and pressed his lips into yours. You had no idea what you were doing but you went with it anyway tangling your fingers into his dark black hair. He slid his hands from your face down to your waist and pulled you closer, so your bodies were pressed together. Your entire body warmed and all you wanted to do was kiss him forever. He was nipping at your body lip and slipping his tongue into your mouth so smoothly, and you melted open for him. Caressing his face between your hands feeling his hard chest against yours.

He leaned forward a little, pushing you down onto the couch and settling his body on top of yours. You opened your legs, so he was settled in between them comfortably, as he moved from your lips down your neck. He pressed feather light kisses onto your neck and across your collarbones. He slid his hand up your body and pulled your collar slightly to the side, so the top of your breast was exposed, and he placed a sloppy kiss on it as you sighed. He nipped at the same spot with his teeth and then sucked it into his mouth for a second, leaving a small red circle on the skin when he released it. He did the same to the other side and then trailed tiny wet kisses up your neck again until he reached your lips and the kisses became fervent.

He slid his hands underneath you and pulled you tightly against him, the friction between your bodies sending fire straight down between your legs. You moved your fingers roughly through his hair to his upper back as you dug your fingers into his skin pulling them upward. He groaned into your mouth and started grinding his hips into your own. You gasped at how hard he was and moved your hips to his rhythm until your kisses weren’t kisses anymore, just breathless pecks. He moved down your body pressing the feather light kisses down your neck again.

He hiked up your shirt and started licking and kissing his way down your torso till he got to your pants. He looked up at you, his beautiful eyes looking mischievous under his dark eyelashes. “Can I?” He asked, his voice a rasp. You nodded and licked your lips as he looked down your pants and undid the button slowly. He slid down the sipper ever so slowly and dipped his hand underneath your lace underwear and teased your clit. The slight touch sending a shiver throughout your body causing you to gasp quietly. He smiled up at you again under his lashes as he removed his hand and stuck the finger that touched you into his mouth. All you could do was breath heavily as he cupped your ass and slid your pants and underwear down your legs slowly.

He sat back on his knees as he pulled them all the way off, taking off your heels and setting them on the ground carefully as well. He held your bent left leg in the air and started kissing his way down your ankle towards your thigh. Alternating between light kisses and licking long stripes along your skin, when he got to your inner thigh you were a quivering mess. He pressed light kisses around your heat and finally two soft ones right on your clit, sending your entire body on fire. He laid down on his chest, his head between your legs, grasping your thighs tightly and pushing them up into your chest as he made languid licks along your clit.

He pressed his tongue between your folds and flicked it upward over and over, while you tried to quiet your breathing. When your legs started shaking, he sucked your clit into his mouth and squeezed your thighs roughly as he flicked your clit with his tongue over and over sending spikes of pleasure throughout your body. You bit your lip to keep from gasping out loud as he inserted his tongue inside of you, humming onto your heat, which sent a new wave of shivers through your body, your nipples hardening in response. He moved his tongue in and out of you, applying just the right amount of pressure, and right when you were about to come, he sucked your clit into his mouth again, flicking it mercilessly with his tongue as you covered your mouth to keep from screaming. He didn’t stop though as he placed his right hand on your chest to hold you down and used his left to massage your clit ruthlessly as he moved his tongue inside of you till your body was shaking in his hands and every last orgasm was rang from your body.

He kissed his way up your torso again as your body twitched underneath him and he laid his head your chest, his weight on top of you like a warm blanket. You twirled your fingers in his hair for a while, both of you just breathing quietly. Until you started laughing and couldn’t stop, Yoongi joining in until you were both breathless again and had to stop and breathe.

“Well I guess we should produce songs together more often.” You said in between laughs.

“Well, if you ever find yourself in Korea, you know where to find me.” Yoongi said. He picked his head up off your chest and pressed a kiss to your lips and you started all over again this time your name slipping off Yoongi’s lips like a prayer as you rung every last thing from his body.

#Yoongi scenario #Yoongi smut #Yoongi angst #Yoongi fluff #bts #bts smut #bts angst #bts fluff #bts scenarios #bts fanfiction #bts imagines #bts suga #yoongi imagines #min yoongi #bts yoongi #bts fanfic #bts gifs #bts fandom #bts fanart #koreanboyswriting scenarios #suga smut #suga fluff #suga angst #suga scenarios

[kfawkes]

Drift - [Reylo]

[WELLLLP I couldn’t help myself cause I am TRASH. I hope you enjoy my first Reylo fic!!!!!!! <3 Obviously chalked full of spoilers! And things I wish happened/ I also made some shit up since we don’t exactly know how the Force Bond works….. BUT ANYWAY THANKS FOR READING!!! I think I like it? Idk bros lol. Lmk <3

Pairing: Kylo Ren and Rey

Words: 1.7k

Warnings: spoilers!!!

–Read on Ao3!]

Flashes of that fight were still fresh in Rey’s mind, playing relentlessly on a loop and as far as she could tell they had no intention of stopping. She’d see Ben’s face decorated serenely by the bright light of explosions in the distance– explosions he’d caused. She’d hear his question, and hate the answer she had to return. She saw it all, over and over again and she would never be able to change it.

Did all of this… was it all for nothing?

Rey looked at the reflection before her with pain and disappointment painted across her pale broken skin. Her brows were lowered in defeat with sweat and dirt decorating her forehead and chest delicately like a second skin. By the light creases beneath her eyes it was clear she was exhausted, but her mind was anything but tired. With each breath she drew in her chest rose and fell more hurriedly than the last; filling her with more confusion and rage than before.

This had been her first moment alone, her first few seconds of silence in days and finally she was free to feel it all. With the war, the near constant running and the rebellion being reduced to crumbs only hours before, she didn’t really have the time… and even though she knew what she needed was rest she wouldn’t. With so many unknowns and the only thing substantial to go on being hope, she just couldn’t.

Luke was dead… Snoke was dead… Ben Solo was dead, but the First Order wasn’t. Not with Kylo Ren as its new Supreme Leader. Not with nearly the entire rebellion reduced to ash, and those that weren’t having given up; abandoning their princess when she needed help most.

It really felt like the end of a long chapter, like even the hope they clung to was about to run out. But then she saw that hand again as it reached towards her slowly. She saw that hopeful look in Ben’s eyes and she could hear the way he nearly begged her to just take his hand… to just be with him. It was hard for her to admit even to herself that she almost had.

She released a sigh so heavy it seemed to weigh her down as she slid to the floor. She pulled her dry, calloused fingers to fiddle with the stray pieces of fabric at her side, fixating on one moment in particular and suddenly she was there again… She can almost feel Snoke’s grasp tightening around her entire body— that constricting force she couldn’t even attempt to resist. She could hear his thick syrupy words smothering her again, poisoning Ben’s mind like tar… she could almost feel the pain again too, his pain and hers mixing into one.

But the thing she couldn’t stop fixating on was the moment Snoke ordered him to kill her. The moment her eyes slid to his… and the moment she thought he might actually do it. ‘Ben…’ was all she’d said to him, but somehow she knew it was all he needed to hear and in that moment she also knew that he was hers.

She had someone with her- in her, connected to her on such a level that he was part of her now, and… he was gone. He chose power. He chose darkness over light… He chose darkness over her.

After releasing a deep sigh she pulled her legs up, shoving those thoughts as far away as possible as she wrapped her arms securely around her knees. It wasn’t as good as a hug exactly, but it was better than nothing. But no matter how hard she tried, those thoughts were persistent and wouldn’t allow a moments rest.

“Why…” Rey whispered to her feet, the sharp pang of heartbreak pulsing through her, further and further like venom spreading— each tump bringing more agony than the last. She exhaled slowly with eyes closed as she pressed her forehead to the tops of her battered knees. “why did you choose darkness over me?”

Then suddenly the room was silent as a deep stillness engulfed her, yet somehow that space was more comfortable than anywhere she’d ever been. The muffled voices from outside her room were eclipsed by the promise of what that stillness would bring.

Ben… and in that moment she didn’t know if she should be pleased or frightened, or frightened that she was pleased. Rey swallowed down the lump that formed within her throat, pulling her eyes shut denying the sharp fiery tears the freedom they begged for; ready for the sorrow that was sure to come, but not feeling the satisfaction of preparedness.

“I didn’t.” was all he said as his voice surrounded her with warmth like a blanket and she knew he was there— but she dare not look to his eyes.

“You didn’t?” Rey asked quietly, her voice insinuating as she pulled her head forward; its weight far heavier than she remembered. Once she saw him she felt her composure slipping like sand through her fingers and like all other times they’d met this way, she felt weak in his presence. But this she felt something else as well: sadness. “Is that all you can say to me… after everything we’ve been through?”

There he was standing just a few feet away… his face was burdened with eyes drawn dark in woe. All Rey wanted to do was scream at him, to tell him how much his mistakes cost them all… How much it cost them. But instead of saying any of that she just sat there in that dim inky silence staring up at him. That silence hung around them, and even though it acted as silence typically does the room was anything but still. It screamed with the voice of things unsaid and howled desperately for piety and absolution.

“I know it’s not easy for you to understand, Rey… That or maybe you simply can’t or won’t.” he paused for a moment to wet his lips as he look down at her, yet not on her. “But when Snoke… He was just using us. This– all of this, it’s not real. It’s just a trick.”

Rey’s lips trembled lightly as she pressed them to a fine line; her face hardening like stone. “You can’t really believe that.” she leaned back into the wall still not breaking his gaze once. Her eyes were pleading almost, begging for him to just trust her because she knew it was real, that they were real.

Snoke may have influenced their bond in some ways, but she refused to believe he created it. She could feel their connection coursing through her veins as if it were a part of her being and she knew without a doubt that it was real. They had something strong. Something powerful and raw… It scared her if she was being honest and not because he was the new Supreme Leader, and in all manner of speaking her enemy. That connection scared her because it was one of the only times she felt anything other than emptiness… and if Kylo were here now, surely there must be a piece of Ben left.

Kylo didn’t answer at first though which she half expected, he just stared her down as if he were still deciding for himself… battling with which answer was the correct one, but after a second he nodded just once and lied. “I do.”

“Why are you here then?” Rey nearly yelled, her voice demanding an answer, but she was only given more silence. It was clear by the face he made though that it hurt… cut him deeper than the scar decorating his face. He parted his lip to speak, but once again nothing came out.

Rey slid her legs beneath her, shifting her weight to rest on them as she gaze up. “How are you here if it isn't— how can I feel you all around me?”

He looked at her for a moment longer before releasing a breath of air and dropping to his knees. Even though he wasn’t truly with her she could feel the wave of phantom air spreading across her chest as if he were; chilling her to the core. She only had a second to wonder what that meant before she inched closer to him ending perfectly between the knees he sat atop.

“It’s not too late… we can fix this.” she slid her hand forward slowly towards the scarred side of his face. “You can do this.”

Kylo glanced between those hazel eyes as that deep-seated sense of purpose made its return. It was electric, overwhelming and just like Snoke had said a spark had indeed been ignited. But that spark told him one thing and one thing only: that Rey was it for him. That there were no lengths in the entire galaxy he wasn’t willing to go for her. And he knew that as long as she was by his side he could do anything.

For the first time in so many years he had hope… he had a home.

He held his hand just above hers with eyes lighter than before. He could feel the warmth radiating off her skin, and all he wanted to do was give in to the pull that was constantly pressing them together. But the pull towards the dark side was and always had been stronger… could he ever really be with her with that noose clenched so tightly around his neck? “What if I can’t…”

“You can, Ben. I know you can…” Rey pulled her lip between her teeth almost nervously as she glanced to his lips. “You’re not alone anymore.”

Then just like that Ben placed both hands to either side of her neck, gently sliding the tips of his fingers through the base of her hair… and he could swear he could really feel and smell her as he traced the lines of her face, memorizing every tiny freckle and scar as best he could. “Neither are you.” he leaned down placing his mouth to hers, and somehow even though they were lightyears apart they felt the ardent embrace as if they were in the same room.

When their lips parted that feeling lingered like a perfume only the two of them could smell, filling them both with purpose. They knew now without a doubt where their place in all of this was…

“Together.”

**was asked to tag @sihakrios28 when this was ready!**

#Kylo ren #kylo x rey #Reylo #reylo fanfic #the last Jedi #Star wars #fanfic #my writing #<3 #Rey

[bigtittoessmallass]

im back

okay so I've been eating healthy for about 2 weeks-ish now and I am definitely feeing progress. because I'm so unused to eating so much veg (lol) I am getting bloated but the number on the scale is going down. its still too high, like medically obese high, but its going in the right direction. I have a chart where I have drawn a small circle for every pound I have to lose, with positive encouragement near each one to keep me motivated. I've been too harsh to myself for years, it's time to lose weight Long Term and Healthily.

I've started running,  I had joined the gym but because of new lockdown that's closed, so me and a friend are going for frequent 5k runs.

my basic meal strategy so far that has worked for me so far is as follows.

I know no-one reads these but its for me myself to look back on.

I don't have breakfast, I always feel sick if I eat in the mornings, especially before work (like full on vomit lol) so I just drink some water.

lunch is usually my full giant meal, I have mashed potato, mixed veg/ broccoli etc, and a protein, usually 2 quoin sausages (I'm a veggie). I snack on fruits and veg, carrot sticks, satsumas, bananas, or fibre bars that are like 88 calories each and actually hit the spot usually! because I have a giant portion of lunch I usually don't get too hungry in the evenings, although if I do I would have another plate of veg and a protein.

I need to work on my calcium intake that's for sure, but I'm taking multivitamins.

today I had a decent lunch and actually decent tea too: broccoli, green beans, corn on the cob, sweet potato oven baked chips, leafy salad, cucumber, 2 quorn sausages, then for pud: soya yoghurt blueberries and raspberries.

It really filled me up, and I felt so much less grotty afterwards, compared with my usual takeaway.

when I'm at work I buy lunch, I can never summon the preparedness to make it lol. when I'm doing a long shift I get a vegan quorn pasty from Tesco, a veggie sushi, a naked green smoothie and a nakd bar. I usually take a fibre bar and a couple of pieces of fruit from home if I get peckish before/ after lunch. I eat half the (large!) pasty at lunch along with the meal deal and then I eat the other half of the pasty on my way home, and that is quite enough to keep the cravings for McDonalds at bay until I get home and can either go straight to bed because I'm tired or make a healthy din dins.

ive had one jacket potato with beans so far, I need to have more of those tbh, they are really filling as well.

I know it will take a while to lose the 50lbs I want to lose, but at least I'm thinking about it realistically now.. its all about conscious food intake, not mindless over eating of portions I don't need. OR trying not to eat as long as possible before binging lol.

also when I make the mash I just mash it with salt,, I don't use butter or cheese anymore, although I do use ketchup as a sauce lol,, adds a bit of spice (lmao).

im in a much better headspace than I've been in the past I must say. being mean and cruel to myself obviously hasnt worked for over 5 years, so its about time I treated this weightloss journey seriously so I don't lose my footing like I always do, overeat, then end up larger than I was when I began. myfitnesspal literally shows that I always do just that.

I am using the app to document ALL my calories. its portion control, snacking and, as I said earlier, conscious food choices that I am focussing on now. hopefully this will be my final weightloss journey!! 

exercise is really giving me a better feeling about my body, and helping me appreciate that I need to give it enough energy to do my job properly, and my brain enough HEALTHY nutrients to think quickly and without the fog of ‘food food food’ clouding my decision making.

well, that's it for now. will update when I feel like something has happened. 

be kind to your wonderful bodies. lots of love xxx

#weight loss health journey wish me luck one step at a time

[botanycameos]

What do you think the differences would be between how Khan and Stephen Strange would handle their PTSD? They would definitely have it after all they've been through. Both have enormous responsibilities on their shoulders and both I would say have trust issues (albeit for different reasons and to differing degrees). Both have been willing to endure hell to protect their charges and have a strict code of honour. But they are very different men. I wonder how they would deal with their torment?

Oh noooo, this question… XD *can’t help writing meta*

Wall of text incoming. lol

They would indeed both have PTSD, but imho, in different ways/for very different reasons. And they are indeed both extremely different people who inevitably wouldn’t handle it the same way.

KHAN

I feel like Khan’s fear of failing his people, and of them all dying because he wasn’t “enough”, would likely be worse for him than the PTSD itself (something we don’t really see in Space Seed --where he’s fresh off the ice and super confident still--, and which is at its most visible in STID, where he’s just gone through a year of being kept away from them, struggling against horrible odds to try and rescue them, and failing), although those two things would go hand in hand together, fueling one another.

Also, Khan likely has gotten PTSD since an early age, due to his life in the labs and so on. But he also would be a lot better prepared to deal with it, and his military mindset as well as life experiences (+ his extremely focused willpower and determination) would make him better able to cope with things that would have crushed a normal man. The fact that he can function at all after everything he’s gone through in his life, is proof enough of that...

He’d likely already have some degree of PTSD  at an early age and while that sucks, it also means he would have learned along the way the best ways for him to cope with it, because as we’ve seen, he’s super effective even now, so whatever methods he’s using, they are working for him, so far at least… (He managed to take over such a large part of the world despite all the past trauma, and that requires a multitude of skills that he couldn’t have been using if PTSD was controlling his daily life then. Although it’s quite possible he might have moments where things aren’t as tightly controlled.)

Khan would also likely react to some things in a significantly more proactive and even aggressive manner – imho he would actively fight his trauma, as if it was a physical enemy. (He’s a great chess-player when it comes to handling enemies, but you can’t really play the same games when the enemy is inside you.)

On one hand, it’s not ideal, because there are moments where he clearly uses wrath as a method of coping (stuff can’t hurt as much if you’re focusing on the anger instead, ergo vengeful thoughts are a way of not thinking of the loss etc. –he’s always moving forward, even when he can’t at all, it’s a form of escapism, an unhealthy coping mechanism in a way. As long as he is prepping plans to attack the conference room to avenge his crew, or trying to crash a ship etc., he isn’t having to face the void without them, or figure out how to live after that –if he was even going to consider the possibility of outliving them much longer, that is. Whatever is the what-to-do-after reasoning in his mind, the momentary violence of vengeance is a thing he chooses over the alternative of giving in to mourning and passivity).

I’m sure it’s also how Khan deals with fear. Nothing can hurt you as badly if you’re putting all of your focus on going forward and on the anger rather than the pain. In many ways, he’s like a volcano, but with extreme composure and self-control, preventing that anger erupting at the wrong time & damaging his prospects. So he only “blows up” when it can be of service to his plans (unleashing extremely effective violence like when they were making their way to the Vengeance bridge), or when he’s so lost that there’s nothing else left (like when he thought his crew was dead.)

He’s been made and brought up in a world where violence is the language spoken, and it’s one he’s mastered well, even if it’s not the one he prefers when he has a chance to chose another path. As we’ve seen clearly mentioned in canon, when he has the chance to chose peace, he does. But if he thinks that’s not an option, then he can speak the other language perfectly...

Imho, Khan bottles his problems up, but uses parts of it to fuel his anger and determination to accomplish what he set out to do (save his people, take them to safety, get them a new world) that keeps him going. Although he’s nowhere as indestructible as he appears/as he tries to make others think he is, far from it.

So in conclusion, Khan’s methods are not the healthiest but they work for him, and he’s able to cope with his pain and traumas in a way that while not ideal, helps him remain stronger and keep going.

(Though if he completely broke, he’s not necessarily the kind who can get back up after. This is what happened in TWOK, he lost it completely because of the death of his wife and so many of his crew, and madness consumed him, poor thing. But that was an event horizon of despair crossed there, like when he thought his people were dead at the end of STID. If they remain living, he likely would manage to heal or at least keep going until they’re safe.

Without his loved ones, he likely would remain lost or not survive. But as long as they are alive, he has a reason to go on, and somehow manages to pull through no matter what. He’s the ultimate survivor.) 

STEPHEN STRANGE

Stephen on the other hand, is in a far more vulnerable situation. He has none of the military training, preparedness or life experience (let alone augmented stuff), and he was a complete civilian until recently.

He too has gone through traumatic experiences over the years (the loss of all his family), but that doesn’t necessarily prepare someone for additional trauma, especially of such a vastly different nature; in fact, if you look at his life you can see that the reason why he became such a materialistic and arrogant doctor was precisely because of all the loss that’s happened in his life. That was his escape, his coping mechanism to close himself away from the pain, and it did not work. It only made things worse.

After Kamar Taj, he’s stripped of that too, as well as of his arrogance and the huge ego.

He’s now selfless and wide open, exposed. And while he certainly has learned a lot about finding peace within himself and through meditation etc., and he’s now far more in control of himself and centered, it doesn’t change the fact that he always had such high fear of failing, and now the fate of the whole world is on his shoulders. (At least Khan only has to protect his people, Stephen has to prevent the entire planet being destroyed).

“It’s not about you”, of course, but he’s still the one who has to do his best to prevent the world ending. Hence his willingness to take upon himself hardships that no one else would even think of facing.

If that wasn’t hard enough in itself, Stephen just received more brutal trauma and on a higher amount than any other hero, going through what must have felt like an eternity of agony and suffering.

That he went through that and didn’t break/didn’t give in and undo the timeloop, is truly amazing and awe-inspiring, but it does not negate the extreme damage it must have left him with.

When he came back to Earth he was so shaken still that he seemed both extremely elated that it was over (inevitable, with the horror he just got out of) and somewhat out of things, even acting weird and cracking a joke about Kaecilius’ death (something he would not normally have done, as we saw from his behavior in the NY Sanctum earlier, about the value of life. The end Kaecilius and the two zealots got was worse than death itself, and if Stephen was not totally out of it then, he would never have joked about it. He likely was later horrified by his joke, if he could remember it when he woke up).

Imho, after Mordo left, Stephen likely didn’t last much longer before collapsing, not only from all the mental trauma but also because he was extremely injured still (the stab wound alone likely required either hospitalization or better yet, whatever medical intervention they have in Kamar Taj for those cases, especially after Kaecilius ripped the stitches by kicking him in the chest during the battle. It’s likely that it was through sheer willpower and determination alone (+ the fact that he was timelooping endlessly while facing Dormammu, rather than having more time elapse) that Stephen lasted this long rather than passing out sooner.)

There’s also the fact that the life Stephen has ahead of him now is going to be extremely hard. This selfless sacrifice he’s made was not a one off. He’s been conditioned to do this (by feeling like he has to, as well as by simple lack of others to take his place – the responsibility is there, and he’s the one with the highest potential of them all, now that TAO is gone –there’s really no one else for the job of Sorcerer Supreme), feels obligated to ensure everyone’s well-being, and will put himself through countless horrors in the future also.

It was always so in the comics. He’s no longer the arrogant surgeon, and Stephen never does anything halfway: The Sorcerer’s code demands that he be always ready to die if needed, the poor thing. And then there’s also the extreme loneliness of the position.

In the comics, fairly often, things would be so bleak that Stephen would have to force himself to act cheerful because, as he said, otherwise magic might fail him, if he allows himself to become too disheartened or depressed.

At times in the comics, he was so broken that he could not even focus enough to use magic. (When his personal life fell apart even more with Clea leaving, he couldn’t even travel between dimensions due to being so depressed that he couldn’t function enough to make the magic work.)

So he has to artificially force himself to go through the motions and act cheerful etc. even when he’s not. (Something we’ve seen he has also used as a coping method for when he’s scared –cracking jokes to defuse situations where he feels uneasy, like when Wong threatened him during their first meeting– so that tendency of his will most likely keep on going).

It’s kind of heartbreaking, to imagine him so torn up inside, but still having to force himself to go on forward, to put on a brave face and force himself to smile and try to focus on not letting the depression etc. swallow him, lest he loses the ability to use the necessary magic when he has to save the day. Poor thing.

Also, the PTSD from Dormammu will likely leave him with so much trouble sleeping and so many moments of panic at random things that reminds him of it. He will likely search for so many ways to cope and try to bottle it up so much, put on a brave face etc., but hopefully Wong might be able to see through it and help him.

I wish there were so many more fics exploring this theme about Stephen. Not only the horrors he goes through as the price of having saved everyone, but also what ways he might find to get better and move forward, and the times when that doesn’t always work.

One thing is certain, this isn’t trauma you can heal from on the short run, and even once he eventually gets better, he will still have some of it with him forever. It could be years later and he will still flinch or jump when hearing something making a noise reminiscent of one of Dormammu’s piercing rocks, or have a panic attack due to something that feels too much like when he was trapped in Dormammu’s tentacles (and Stephen is a character who is constantly getting attacked by tentacles in the comics…), and so on.

It’s the most broken up characters, with jagged edges still cutting them inside, who are the most interesting and the most heroic.Especially in how they manage to still get back up and keep going, to keep helping and so on, despite the terrible damage that’s been done to them. ;-;

#doctor strange #Khan Noonien Singh #star trek #doctorstrange #doctor strange meta #khan meta #my meta #my posts #ask #replies #khantoelessar

[thedesperatehousehusband]

Super Three Days Later and A Bowl Short

So the Super Bowl. It’s a classic American event. It’s not to be missed. This year’s game was initially very uninteresting to me because I assumed it would be a blowout in the Patriots favor. And who wants to see that again? And then deal with a smug Gisele? The worst. I always root for the team playing the Patriots to beat the Patriots. In the instance of the Super Bowl, I don’t care which NFC team has the honor. I want them to win. I have no vested interested in the Eagles. But I’m elated they won.

Performance wise….Leslie Odom Jr. did a great job. I love me some Pink. I appreciate that her rendition of the national anthem was not overwrought. Her high notes were scratchy but apparently she wasn’t well. Regardless, she did a good job. Justin Timberlake was fine. But I wanted more. The dancing was on point. The singing was just more yelling “MINNEAPOLIS!” than actually singing the lyrics of the mélange of songs. The Prince hologram was fine. I get it. Prince lived in Minnesota. It was a good show. Not a great show.

Now for the ads. I’m nonplussed across the board less a couple. I stopped taking notes and missed a few but got most of them. Don’t bite my head off if you liked something that I don’t. It’s a free country, bitches. And the State of the Union had higher ratings than the Super Bowl. I’m not sure if he said or Tweeted that but it sounds plausibly possible given the daily nonsense he spins as facts.

Toyota Para Olympics: This was a nice spot. Beyond being an Olympic sponsor, I don’t see what it has to do with Toyota. So from a brand standpoint it could have been anything.

Sprint Robots: Terrible. They spent a shit mess of money making that spot. And it was not money well spent.

Solo: Be there. Memorial Day. I plotzed myself watching this trailer. Donald Glover as Lando? Yes, please.

Turkish Airlines with Dr. Oz: It’s assuming a lot that people know that Dr. Oz is Turkish, isn’t it? But I would fly the shit out of Turkish Airlines. That looked legit.

Rise on NBC: We’ve seen the pilot and are over-the-top excited about this show. Rosie Perez? Yes, please.

Bud Light Dilly Dilly #1: I’m nearing the edge of being over this campaign. It’s humor is fleeting. But I’ve enjoyed it for the most part. I would have preferred to see something entirely different for the Super Bowl but I give them credit for telling a story over multiple spots.

M&Ms with Danny DeVito: I get it. Danny DeVito is as small as an M&M. But the thought of ingesting Danny DeVito is pretty gross. Just ask Rhea Perlman.

Dodge RAM with Vikings: I sort of get it. I sort of don’t. I think the message was if a Viking were to drive a truck as opposed to a boat it would be a Dodge RAM. But what I liked is the secondary call to action around “Watch the Full Story” on YouTube or RAM.com or whatever. Extending content to other platforms is huge. And it was a big trend on the Super Bowl.

Wendy’s Frozen Arches: It’s bold. Calling out your top competitor and iconic market leader. Trying to create a differentiator in the minds of consumers. You can’t just show a Frosty for a buck and expect social chatter.

Castle Rock streaming on Hulu: I’m intrigued. It’s also fascinating that EVERY streaming service ran a spot on the Super Bowl.

Skechers with Howie Long: God, this spot was awful.

Heroes Arena: I don’t get gaming.

Doritos with Peter Dinklage: It was clever but it could have been for anything. What does Peter Dinklage lip syncing to Busta Rhymes/Christ Brown have to do with chips?

Mountain Dew Ice with Morgan Freeman: Same comment as above. Except that my understanding is that this is some sort of campaign? Color me confused. But hearing Missy Elliott is never a bad thing. And the fact that Morgan Freeman agreed to do this seems like a big deal.

Tide No Stains with David Harbour: Now THIS is clever advertising. P&G blew it out with this one by turning their functional benefit on its head and making you think about the product differently because for most of the spot you weren’t thinking Tide. A++++++++++++++

Bud Light Knight: I’m officially over it.

ETrade 85 and I Wanna Go Home: Startling statistics about retirement preparedness presented in an interesting but not scary way. Totally awesome and insight based.

Skyscraper with Dwayne Johnson: This movie looks like summertime fun but what I loved was the tag in the ad about seeing Dwayne Johnson live on The Tonight Show after the game. Extend your content. Drive deeper engagement. Smart, smart, smart.

Mission Impossible Fallout: Fallout is right. I fell out when I saw a 79 year old Tom Cruise trying to do yet another Mission Impossible action movie. Not today, Satan.

Quicken Loans: I very much liked this spot. Good use of humor around a pretty non-humorous but stressful thing. Getting a mortgage.

Avocados from Mexico: I just loved this. Dystopian humor is hilarious. THE CHIPS ARE OUTSIDE THE DOME. But wait…there are a million other ways to use avocados. Nice, nice spot.

Cloverfield Paradox on Netflix: I don’t care.

Diet Coke with the Hipster: I know this one was polarizing. I liked it very much. It was funky without being inaccessible. It was cool and hip without alienating any one group. Coca-Cola is a marketing organization that I very much like.

Jeep The Road Ends: I 100% loved this. Perfect for what Jeep’s brand essence is. In reality, how many people do major off-roading with their Jeep but whatever? A+++++

Tide with Old Spice: SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FUCKING PERFECT.

WeatherTech: Cheap, cheap, cheap. Hated it.

Pringles: Sort of fun. Sort of been there done that.

Febreeze Bleep Don’t Stink: Another favorite. This is a great way to use humor that could be extended into other channels and not wear out. The joke will ultimately get old but there’s so much they can do with this. A++++++++++++

Michelob Ultra with Chris Pratt: Yep, that’s realistic. A PA casting extras wouldn’t know Chris Pratt. Blech.

Squarespace with Keanu Reeves: Nope. You wanna know who’s no longer relevant? Keanu Reeves.

Dodge RAM Built to Serve: Decent use of emotion without getting too far into melodrama.

Australia Travel: I thought this was great and renews my heavy desire to visit Australia.

TurboTax Monster Under the Bed: Meh.

Yellow Tail: Absolutely horrendous.

Amazon Prime: Good not great.

Toyota Priest Rabbi: Toyota needs to figure itself out. Their spots were so disparate during the Super Bowl. Stand for something, dammit. Don’t try to stand for everything. Do you want to tug on my heartstrings about the Para Olympics or do you want to tell jokes? It’s too much.

Pepsi: It felt like they sponsored the halftime show. Or am I mistaken?

Jack Ryan on Amazon Video: No thanks.

The Voice Promo: I want to watch this promo every day until the end of time. It was kind of perfect.

Lexus Black Panther: Here’s what I know. We are going to see the SHIT out of Black Panther. What that has to do with Lexus is unclear.

Tide Clydesdales: OMG LOL ROTFL.

Budweiser Water: I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth. Because Toyota and Budweiser have done something similar. But Budweiser made it work because it’s natural for them to have water because they need it to make beer. So their altruism feels sincere without stretching.

Intuit Turbo Tax: Terrible.

Jeep Jurassic Park: Decent.

Kia with Steven Tyler: Nope.

Blacture: Be Celebrated. Not Tolerated. Powerful words. It’s not clear what Blacture is but I will admit to being intrigued.

Wix: Terrifically terrible.

Michelob Ultra We Get Beer: Do you? Do you really?

Groupon: Not memorable.

Alexa New Voices: I liked it but the joke wasn’t funny by the time the spot was done. That’s not great.

Coke Different for Everyone: I approve.

Hyundai Hope Comes Standard: So heavy handed.

T-Mobile with Kerry Washington: Had this spot been for Pampers, I would have loved it. For a cell phone carrier it don’t make a drop of damn sense.

Stella Clean Water: Apparently ALLLLLLL of our beer manufacturers are bringing water to those in need. I didn’t see that theme coming.

Jeep Manifesto: They missed on this one. I liked the first two. But this just made me roll my eyes.

Tide Pharma: This brought me incredible joy as it pokes fun at my life’s work. Which is hilarious to me.

Tide for the win. David Harbour is a national treasure. Gisele is the WORST. And Nick Foles is going to Disney World.