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butterflydm · 1 year

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WoT reread: pre-Sanderson books

spoilers through knife of dreams

I deliberately took a break in between the Jordan books and the Sanderson ones, mostly so that I won’t be ‘grading on a curve’, basically, and will be able to judge Sanderson’s characterization on its own terms rather than just being relieved that I no longer have to read CoT/KoD Mat & Perrin. I would honestly have preferred Mat standing in a field picking his nose for two books rather than the character assassination that we got in CoT/KoD, so my bar for the male characters was VERY low going into the Sanderson books, back when they first came out.

Anyway, as I enter The Gathering Storm, I just want to note what everyone should be doing next, per their most recent PoVs in the previous main-story book, and also my general feelings on the characters as of where we ended in KoD:

Rand: desperately trying to make a truce with the Seanchan, even if he has to return women to slavery to do it. Other than that, he’s basically been refusing to do anything plot-related for the last two books, mostly just treading water instead (despite there being several plot-related things that he COULD have been doing). I’m frustrated with how Rand’s plotline has ground to a halt so that we can spend way too much time with Perrin and Mat’s pointless sidequests. Theory: Jordan couldn’t figure out how to get Rand to what happens in the ending, so he focused on Mat and Perrin in order to avoid thinking about Rand.

Egwene: she is currently captive in the White Tower and her next plot point was very clearly stated in KoD - she will be serving Elaida at her next dinner that evening. Her current plot is essentially the same as the plot she's had the last six books -- become undisputed Amyrlin Seat of a united White Tower. This is really one of those plotlines that’s good but, wow, really should have taken place over fewer books.

Elayne: she's won over the Houses and now just needs to be officially crowned and then buckle down to the work of getting Andor ready to help during the Last Battle. Proud of her, love her so much. Egwene and Elayne (and the prologues) were basically the only good parts of CoT & KoD for me. Rand & Nynaeve had one or maybe two good scenes each in that entire section.

Mat: in CoT & KoD, he lost almost every good quality that he had EXCEPT for his loyalty to Rand; instead of keeping his promises being about him (secretly) being a man of deep integrity, it has essentially become a weird fey thing where he apparently feels a compulsion to keep his word but puts it off for as long as possible first. He completely threw away all his character growth from the earlier books and considers slavers to be more worthwhile companions than Aes Sedai. Expects that the next time he will see his 'wife' is being faced off against her troops on the battlefield and is somewhat sad about this (because he's talked himself into liking her despite her being a genuinely awful person) but he's prepared to do it anyway. I am DEEPLY disappointed in Mat, for the most part. His characterization basically fell off a cliff in CoT. He does still have enough loyalty to Rand and enough intelligence that he didn't actually betray anything to Tuon during their time together -- he didn't tell her Rand was his friend (Talmanes did, sorta by accident) and he didn't tell her about his medallion (Setalle Anan did, in a very bizarre characterization reversal of her own where she went from vehemently anti-slavery in WH to kissing Tuon’s ass and giving up other people’s secrets to her. I will note that trying to ‘reason’ someone out of bigotry doesn’t require throwing your previous friends under the bus and betraying them! -- post-WH Setalle Anan is kinda Opposite Day to the Setalle Anan that we got to know in ACoS & WH, who thought of Mat as a loveable rapscallion and who hated slavery, as opposed to CoT/KoD Setalle Anan, who automatically sides with Tuon against Mat because they’re both women but is willing to have ~reasonable discussions~ with Tuon about the pros and cons of slavery and is also literally fetching and carrying for a slaver) -- but CoT!Mat is just straight-up an inferior character to pre-CoT!Mat. Jordan just... really trashed Mat in these two books and it feels like most of the reason that he did it was so that Tuon wouldn’t be required to experience any character growth because Mat just rolls over for her instead of challenging her (there is so much rolling over and not challenging Tuon in these two books. And the few people who DO challenge her are all people that she instinctively non-persons anyway, so it has no impact on her) and spends the majority of his page time attempting to appease her. And destroying a main character in order to prop up a minor character is such a poor narrative choice. Just... everything about how Mat was written in CoT & KoD has frustrated me so much. Poor writing choices that turned a favorite character into one of the worst in the series. IMO, the outriggers were the worst idea that Jordan ever had, because it led to him tanking a major plotline and major characters in his main story. Mat transforms from being a “good and great man” (to paraphrase Nestelle from WH) who risks himself to free slaves into being a selfish and weak-willed patsy for his slaver ‘wife’, who looks the other way when she reclaims ownership over all the slaves in her ‘rescue party’. Anyway, his next plan is to go north to Caemlyn to the Tower of Ghenjei to help Thom save Moiraine & then he was going to reunite with Rand, because he has a lot of Last Battle-related help that he can deliver to him (or maybe the other way around).

Nynaeve: has not had a plot of her own in a while; the last time she had a plot that wasn't basically "help this man over here" was TPoD.

Perrin: finished his own soul (& woman) selling story in KoD; has been reunited with Faile (the only thing he cares about), so should FINALLY be heading back to Rand, one way or the other. I am disappointed in Perrin, but that's nothing new. He did sink to a new low in KoD, now officially being a slaver himself, having sold two hundred-ish women into slavery. So... there’s that.

For secondary/tertiary characters who we know about:

Aviendha: traveling with the Aiel in Arad Doman and 'catching up' on her Wise One training.

Galad: leading seven thousand Whitecloaks, having 'deserted' from the Seanchan forces and planning to work with Rand & the Aes Sedai to fight in the Last Battle.

Ituralde: working with the Dragonsworn to try to rid Tarabon of Seanchan and firm up Arad Doman as a bulwark against the Seanchan invasion.

Pevara & Co: in the Black Tower, having just made a deal with Taim to bond with Asha'man.

Tam: recently found out his son is the Dragon Reborn (not from Perrin)

Gawyn: still taking orders from Elaida, does not yet know Egwene is prisoner in the White Tower.

Lan Mandragoran: riding from the furthest west part of the Borderlands over to the furthest east part of the Borderlands, to fight against the Shadow.

Cadsuane: still hasn’t taught Rand ‘laughter and tears’, which is literally her only goal.

Loial: plans to talk to the Great Stump to try to convince the Ogier not to abandon the world right before the Last Battle.

Forsaken: Moridin has declared that no one is to hurt Rand but definitely please try to kill off Perrin and Mat; at least some of the Forsaken are all "lol nah I'm gonna try to kill Rand anyway".

Tuon the slaver overlord: being an asshole High Blood/Empress and in deep denial that, by her own beliefs, she should turn herself over to become a damane; her main goal is probably forcing Rand to kneel in front of her; general villain-type goals of invasion and enslavement of others, etc. It really is a shame that Jordan decided to yeet any potential for her character into the void. She was intriguing in Winter’s Heart. And then never again, lol.

Bashere: there was an assassination attempt on his wife back in the CoT prologue that made him agree to something that he’d been asked by “the man who spoke to me yesterday” and we haven’t really checked in with him since then.

Olver: in LoC, he was a war orphan who was a believable child who seemed like a genuinely interesting addition to Mat’s story. In ACoS, all he cared about were boobs. In WH, he barely even noticed that the Seanchan had invaded, because he still only cared about boobs. In CoT, he briefly acknowledges that the Seanchan are the bad guys hunting them but does not at all react to them similarly to how he reacted to the Aiel in LoC - he shows no signs of anger over Mat having been injured by the Seanchan invasion, despite anger towards the Aiel due to his parents dying in the Aiel invasion being a big thing for him in LoC. In KoD, he’s buddy-buddy with Head Slaver and once again obsessing over boobs (this time, leering at a slave’s boobs, which. you know. charming). The only book where I’ve been able to stand Olver was LoC tbh. He's been just a weird & exaggerated parody of Mat in every book past that.

Minor general spoilers below for some things I vaguely recall about the last three books (no spoilers about the ending):

I’ve read the Origins book & glanced over Sanderson’s retrospective on writing the last three books, and he mentioned some specific bits that were already written by Jordan, so I will probably keep that in mind as I read. I’ve only read the Sanderson WoT books once, so I’ll be finding out now if the experience is different this time around.

I do feel like some of the criticisms that I’ve seen of his writing are already very present in CoT & KoD, though, specifically:

Mat’s character being noticeably more sexist (honestly, all the male characters feel like they’ve gotten more sexist the last few books; Mat is just the most obvious example).

Mat feeling wildly out of character to who he’d previously been. Wildly out of character. To who he’d been in Winter’s Heart. Which took place one week before Crossroads of Twilight picks his story up again, and suddenly Mat doesn’t give a shit about the Aes Sedai that he risked his own escape to help ONE WEEK AGO. He’s completely forgotten that his little sister (among other women he cares about, like Elayne, who he had an entire book about coming to terms with, and like Egwene and Nynaeve) is a channeler who Tuon would happily debase and destroy until she groveled at Tuon’s feet. Mat’s reactions to almost everything Tuon does are just such character assassination that I can’t even acknowledge CoT/KoD!Mat as the same character as EotW-WH!Mat. His reactions just seem... so bizarrely off from anything he would have done previously. It really does feel like Jordan parachuted in a pod!Mat from a parallel world. I LOVED EotW-WH!Mat. You couldn’t pay me to be in a room with CoT/KoD!Mat.

Nynaeve not having a storyline of her own or doing much of anything unrelated to the men in her life.

Sanderson didn’t fix any of those problems (from what I recall) and it would have been nice if he had, but he didn’t create them either.

Some other things that I personally dislike in the series as of KoD and that I am curious to see how Sanderson handles compared to Jordan:

Slavery being an Acceptable Evil, especially with Mat, in particular as of CoT/KoD, only caring about slavery when it threatens him personally and not giving a shit about other people anymore (and he cared a LOT in Winter’s Heart. The contrast between how deeply he cares about saving the Aes Sedai & Windfinders in WH vs treating the Aes Sedai like unwanted pests in CoT is incredibly jarring). But, in general, it feels like Jordan decided that the main PoV male characters aren’t going to care about slavery if the slaves are primarily women which is... such an ugly look. It feels like the Seanchan storyline went off the rails hard in CoT & KoD, and I don’t personally feel like “but the planned outriggers!!” is a valid excuse for destroying a main storyline and main characters so badly. Having ALL THREE of the main male PoV characters coming to the conclusion that other people being enslaved is the ~price they are willing to pay~ for what needs to be done is... it’s very much that Lord Farquaad meme, yes? “Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.” Mat deciding that he needs to defend and protect the slaver overlord hurts other people, not Mat. Perrin selling two hundred women into slavery is hurting them, not Perrin; Rand sending the damane back into slavery... etc. They are not ‘making sacrifices for the greater good’, they are sacrificing other people. They are saying that these specific people (who are all women) are not worthy of being allowed to have free will and lives of their own. And that author putting that storyline in three different plotlines implies things that wouldn’t be implied if only one of the main guys was doing it. “Women’s freedom is negotiable” is basically the message in Rand, Perrin, and Mat’s storylines in CoT & KoD. “When we say we want to save the world, we don’t mean women.” And I did not get the feeling that was the original intention of the damane/Seanchan storyline! Which is why CoT & KoD rank so incredibly low on my ranking order. Because it feels like Jordan broke the narrative promises that he made about this storyline all the way through Winter’s Heart. I think Jordan exploring this idea (of his characters willing to sacrifice women’s freedom for the sake of saving the rest of the world) could have worked in a critique kind of way if it had only been in ONE of the plotlines while the other two plotlines were about things other than allying with the Seanchan. Mat’s character is the one that gets the most distorted by this plotline, so I would have tossed his out entirely. Perrin’s is mostly in character -- his entire plot here was that he would be willing to do anything for Faile, even vile and evil things -- but I think Jordan actively deciding to have him LIKE Tylee even as her people are carting off her new slaves in the background was a character-breaking choice. Rand’s plotline would genuinely be fine (because he’s the most reluctant of the three PoVs on allying with the slavers)... except that Min and Nynaeve should have mentioned the sul’dam secret. It’s wildly frustrating how useless they are in the Seanchan plotline when they literally know THE key secret about the military and economic might of the empire. Jordan had them suffer convenient amnesia so that he could do his ‘allying with the slavers’ plotline.

The domestic violence that is endemic in the majority of the male-female relationships in the series. In particular, I am curious to see if Sanderson ever has the female characters hauling off and straight-up punching their ‘love interests’ in the ribs the way that Jordan so frequently had them do. This is an issue that really started around A Crown of Swords and has gotten steadily worse (in The Shadow Rising, Faile punching Perrin is called out as a bad thing by Perrin and by the end of the book, neither of them are being violent with the other, but in ACoS and beyond, violence is just treated as the norm in romantic relationships).

Related but adjacent, I am also curious to see if beating/spanking remains as large a fixture in the series as Jordan had made it in the last few books.

Women being politically/magically diminished in order to be in a relationship with non-political/non-magical men (ex. Morgase and Tallanvor; Siuan and Gareth; technically Juilin and Amathera but that feels like the most understandable of the examples).

Women being stuffed into Fates Worse Than Death while men just get to be killed off (and the Seanchan becoming a dumping ground for “out of control” women that Jordan didn’t want to kill off).

Min being a liability to Rand but the narrative keeps telling us she’s Best Girl, Just Trust Me.

Tuon being a genuinely cruel and malicious person, but Mat keeps telling us she’s Better Than Most Nobles, Just Trust Me.

Okay, I think that’s everything I wanted to note before I started my The Gathering Storm reread.

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writethelifeyouwant · 1 year

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Crossroads - Member Exclusive Mini Series

Summary: A waitress at the elite strip club Crossroads, Y/N wants to audition for a spot on stage to help make ends meet. Instead, the owner–Sam–offers her a position that would earn her plenty of money without having to strip in public every night. But is she prepared to dance with the Devil himself just to get by?

Pairing: Sam Winchester x Female!Reader Rating: 18+ Warnings: Reader not realising she's mentally ill, anxiety, casual thoughts about suicide, attempted sexual assault Tags: Strip Club AU, StripClubOwner!Sam, Waitress!Reader, Stripper!Benny, Manager!Jo, Stripper!Reader, SugarDaddy!Sam, Creepy!Dean, Bi!Dean, Bi!Benny, mentions of past Denny, Dean's canon love of strippers, infatuation, possessiveness, jealousy, mutual pining, money troubles, antagonistic co-workers, sexual fantasies, masturbation, overly controlling, misguided romantic gestures, very bad choices, attempted sexual assault, coercion, angst, light drug use, lap dances, semi-public sex, making out, dry humping, dirty talk, fingering, p in v sex, d/s overtones/fantasies, multiple orgasms Word Count: 33k

A/N: Commissioned by the lovely @jbbarnesgirl! She came to me with this idea over the summer and I’ve been putting it off because I immediately thought it had potential for so much more than a quick oneshot; I didn’t want to rush it. I hope the final product is worth the wait!

Keep reading for a teaser 😏

“But, puttin’ your women troubles aside, how ‘bout you tell the waitress to come talk to me quick on her next shift. If she’s a trainwreck I’ll be the bad guy, make sure she knows you want to keep her on. Which one is it, by the way?” Benny had begun to turn away but looked back over his shoulder when he thought of his last question.

“It’s Y/N,” Sam said, rubbing at the back of his neck in aggravation. He saw the recognition in Benny’s eyes.

“The one with the–” he held his hands in front of his chest in mimicry of Y/N’s fantastic cleavage, and Sam gave him a hard look that very clearly said ‘knock it off’. “Brotha’, if there was anyone on the wait-staff who probably can strip worth a damn, I’d say it’s her,” Benny grinned, ignoring Sam’s displeasure.

“Just, let her down easy if she doesn’t make the cut,” Sam sighed bitterly.

“You don’t want her to be good enough,” Benny spoke with the cadence of someone coming to a realization and voicing it aloud as the thought presented itself to him. “This ain’t about her quittin’ serving, you don’t want her stripping at all,” his lips spread wide in a shit-eating grin and Sam tried to interrupt him but the dancer barrelled right on: “‘less it’s a private show in your bedroom, amiright?” His thick, bushy brows danced agilely above his smirking eyes, and Sam wanted very much to punch the smug look right off the Cajun’s face, but he couldn’t with so many witnesses around.

Taking a steadying breath, Sam rebuttoned the fastening on his jacket and fixed the strand of hair that had fallen over his face. “She’s working tonight, I’ll tell her to stop by your dressing room.” And then he spun on his heel and made his retreat.

“I look forward to it,” Benny called after him, but Sam made no reply, letting the door to the studio slam heavily behind him.

Sam felt his fists clench and unclench rhythmically in the pockets of his trousers as he walked back to his car, thinking about what Benny had said. “–if there was anyone on the wait-staff who probably can strip worth a damn, I’d say it’s her.” Inwardly, Sam thought Benny was probably right. He’d spent long enough studying the movements of Y/N’s body through the club, always light on her feet and easily balanced. She had never dropped a tray or tripped over dancing club-goers, even in the stilettos she wore to serve. And there was something about the shape of her calves… Sam could imagine all too easily what she would look like dropping to the floor and arching her back, balancing on her toes, the sleek muscles of her legs flexing while the curves of her ass bounced in barely-there lace.

Sliding behind the wheel of his car, Sam slammed his head against the edge of the steering wheel, trying to knock the image out of his brain before he got himself into trouble. He made himself take a deep breath and consider his options. Say Y/N auditioned for Benny and he wanted to hire her, how could Sam convince her that it would be a bad idea to take the job?

He would have to offer her something better; something that could make her just as much money without requiring her to get naked in front of crowds of people every night. If he thought she’d take it, Sam would have simply offered her a raise in her salary, but she’d already told him she didn’t want to be treated specially. Could he make up some new position for her? He didn’t really need an assistant, and Sam knew he was horrible at delegating, but maybe he could learn? If it kept Y/N off the stage it would be worth the anxiety about letting somebody else handle some of his work for him. The problem with that was he knew Jo would get suspicious. If anybody was being promoted to a role handling more of the business operations, it should be Jo, and Sam had no idea if Y/N would even be interested in that kind of job.

Fuck, why do I have no good ideas anymore? Sam berated himself as he drove back to Crossroads. Business is just problem solving. I’m good at problem solving. I should be able to figure this out.

As he pulled into the private parking lot reserved for employees at the club, the idea came to Sam in a rush. It was just business. He didn’t have to show his hand. He could keep himself to himself and still get everything he wanted. He could keep Y/N all to himself and make sure she was being taken care of. Yes, he could take care of everything; and if Y/N didn’t really want to be a stripper to begin with, wouldn’t stripping for just one person be preferable to hundreds? It was perfect.

#sam winchester x reader #sugardaddy!sam winchester #strip club au #sam winchester smut #sam x reader #mini series #crossroads #stripper!reader #dom!sam winchester #sub!reader #female!reader

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callophelia-ailingamnemonic · 4 months

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Persona designs I made for Persona Crossroads some time ago

While I was cooking for my Persona Crossroads story idea, I was also working on some persona designs for the persona users in the story!

These are just drafts however, and I can't say for sure if any of these guys will stay in the final story since I'm reworking their users, but since these guys have been doing nothing but sitting around in my computer, I might as well show them off X))

This one is my design of Ghostbur from the Dream SMP if he was a Persona. I will admit, this one is probably one of my favourites alongside his user, so he's probably staying on the keep list ^-^

According to my notes, he inherits Nuclear skills, reflects Psy, absorbs Curse, resists Nuclear and Wind, and is weak to Water (yes I added Water into this), Ice, Slash (and brought back the three types of physical lol), and Pierce.

I understand that that's not how starter personas work, but...

but yeah. Instead of making Ghostbur's attributes the typical persona way, I wanted to assign them in a way that reflects actual attributes of the character Ghostbur. Inherits Nuclear because boom boom, reflects Psy because of his selective amnesia, absorbs Curse because I don't remember (probably having something to do with Alivebur?), resists Nucleur because of persona laws and Wind because... also can't remember, and is weak to Water and Ice because they melt him, and Slash and Pierce because his (and Alivebur's) deaths were from being stabbed by swords and pierced by arrows!

The design was heavily inspired by catzgam3rz's Limbo designs!

I also made a Revivebur counterpart to Ghostbur :))

For... um... reasons.

According to my notes, he inherits Nuclear and Psy (Because boom boom and child manipulator), reflect Psy (don't remember why lol), absorbs Curse (dk why lol), resists Nuclear and Wind and is weak to Slash and Pierce, so... Ghostbur, but better.

Moving on to a non-Minecraft character, I also drew Aesop Carl from Identity V as a persona (specifically his Rorschach Physician character from the White Tombstone fan game). This particular persona was designed to be a navigation persona which ngl, felt kinda tough to make. I'll admit... he's visually not the favourite child XPP

Back to turning Minecraft characters into personas, here's Scott from Empires SMP season 1! This one... is probably tied as my least favourite alongside the next one XPP The idea of it was nice, but my execution was... not as nice.

According to my notes, Scott inherits Ice and Bless (because of canonical ice powers and being the champion of the good stag god), reflects Ice, absorbs Bless, and is weak to Fire, Curse, and Slash (because stabby stab)

And I also made his brother, Xornoth! Looking at him again, I think it's safe to say that Scott loses the visual competition XPP

Him and persona Scott were meant to be opposites in both design and attributes.

Xornoth inherits Fire and Curse, reflects Fire, absorbs Curse, and is weak to Ice, Bless, Slash, and also Psy (because mans spent 99% of season 1 possessed by an evil stag god)

And also here are some gross unfinished concept art for persona Bayonetta.

Originally I was going to go with the look she has for most of the first game, but I decided to leave that for a third awakening instead and use her old look for the first awakening, but even though I had a vision I was satisfied with, I just... couldn't make it work -_-

If I were still going with Bayonetta as the protag's persona, I probably would have used Ernesto from Tactica as reference XPP

Tho I did really like the idea of her coming out of a coffin... would make a wicked awakening!

According to my notes, her attributes were that she inherits curse and pierce (because witchcraft and gun), resists Curse, Bless (thanks to dear old dad), Pierce, and Wind (because these witches have never been taught the concept of gravity), and is weak to... Water and Earth? I do not know why I chose those weaknesses for her...

#persona series au #Fanmade Personas #ghostbur #revivebur #aesop carl #scott major #xornoth #dream smp #identity v #White Tombstone fangame #empires s1 #empires smp #Turned a few random characters into Personas #drawing #unfinished drafts #I really need a life #Persona Crossroads AU

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bandoffans · 2 years

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Crossroads...

Who remembers this part of crossroads(ep.5)? For Winters, that moment was so sad and difficult at the same time...

(If you want to keep some content leave a like/reblog please)

#hbo #band of brothers #sad thoughts #richard winters #world war two #german soldiers #american soldiers #tv seires #crossroads #gif #my gifs #hbo war #hbo series #bandoffans #ww2 #war #for you #anyway enjoy #hope you enjoy

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mynonblwatchlist-bl-bam-beyond · 5 months

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Wednesday Club (2023, THAILAND)

Episode 8

Max (KAY LERTSITTICHAI) is in a bind, and there is a chance he could lose his future with no help in sight. Top and his father have targeted Max.

Kul (PHUWIN TANGSAKYUEN) isn't a bad person but rather he's in a bad situation. Like Max he lacks money.

Both depending on the hustle of sorts to move themselves forward. Max depended on Mrs. Venus to accomplish his swimming goals, while Kul has used himself. Basically selling the only thing he has...himself. He has sold himself to the manipulative Top because he felt he had no other choice.

However Kul's knowledge of Top puts him in a place to help Max. Now Kul and Max are not exactly friends but will Kul watch as Max loses everything?

@pose4photoml

#MY NON BL WATCHLIST #GMMTV SERIES #WEDNESDAY CLUB #MAX IS DISTRAUGHT #KUL IS AT A CROSSROADS #WHAT DOES KUL STAND TO LOSE IF HE HELPS MAX?#WILL HE HELP MAX?#THIS IS NOT A BL #My GIFS #MYGIFSET #MY-GIF-EDIT #BL-BAM-BEYOND FAMILY OF BLOGS #PRIMARY BLOG: BL-BAM-BEYOND

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pocketramblr · 1 year

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Kotaro as Izuku's dad?

So similar to how I can't think of my own overdad fic because in my head it's all dis/a, the same with Kotaro but it's Crossroads by WinteryFall, which I read back in 2019 and really left it's mark I think

#101 chapters i think i remember that....#oh there's a while series now i don't think i read past it xhcjgjg but i think crossroads is good fun #all about Izuku and Tomura figuring out this whole 'sharing a dead dad thing'#whist I'm p sure afo is also dead in the background lol #anon #pocket talks to people #fic rec

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brontios-helm · 1 year

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Destiny: Blue-Steel Horizons

#destiny 1 #crossroads #crucible map #pvp map #crucible crossroads #pvp #crucible series #bungie #ps4 screenshot #destiny ps4

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screaming--agony · 2 years

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Dear Diary,

Everything changed last night. Everyone could feel it. But no one could speak it.

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hannaswritingblog · 1 year

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meet me at the crossroads [a short story]

Disclaimer: the events depicted in this story are fictional and the places, as well as some mentioned people, are meant to be vague, but the girls who have inspired the main characters are very much real and I guarantee they'd have a lot of fun together.

Tags: original fiction, real person fiction, no reader insert, self insert, friend insert, political au [inside joke]

Word count: 1.6k

Birthday gift for @winterxisxcomingx 🎁 Happy birthday, bestie! I hope you're having a good one. :D This is a much more personal and personalised thing than what I usually do, starting with the use of our proper names instead of Y/N, through not being a regular fanfiction and ending with the idea taken from the private chat, but I believe you deserve it! 💜 And now - for the story! Enjoy it!

You can now read part 2 here and part 3 here. :D

The two girls have always known they’d eventually meet, but if anyone told them it was going to be the way, they would probably laugh.

It all started with mysterious letters they both received. Just a few days ago they were only discussing them on the chat.

“Have you opened it yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“Me neither. Can we open them together?”

“Sure. I’m getting to it now.”

After a few minutes of silence, the chat became active again.

“What does your card say?”

“It says: Meet me at the crossroads in our capital city, by the place I work at. I know you’ll recognise it. Be there at 11 PM on November 23rd. Signed by: Krzysztof.”

“Mine is the same. Do you think it’s our Krzysztof? You know, the politician we talked about?”

“I’m not sure, but who else could it be?”

“Do you think we should meet him then?”

“Well, I feel like we have nothing to lose.”

That’s how their plan to meet was born. The city where they would meet was chosen for them, they only had to pick their trains to get there, book a hotel – just in case they needed some rest, although they expected to stay up all night – and find places where they would spend their free time or eat something when necessary.

And here they are now – seeing each other for the first time at the busy train station in the capital city of their country. It took them a moment to find each other at this train station, arriving at different times and navigating from different platforms. But eventually they succeed, agreeing to meet near the ticket office. That’s where Hanna and Winter fall into each other’s arms, smiling and laughing.

“You look different than what I imagined,” Winter admits when they finally go apart.

“I could say the same,” Hanna responds, “but I’m not disappointed.”

She notices Winter blushing, but rather than comment on it, she ignores it, not to embarrass her friend further. When the excitement from finally seeing each other starts to fade away, the girls decide to check into the hotel they booked and leave their luggage there. After that, they head towards a restaurant they found in the area, so that they can finally eat dinner and peacefully talk about what awaits them.

“I’m having second thoughts, you know,” Winter says.

“Do you want to quit? We still have time.”

“No, I don’t think I want to quit, I just… I’m a little stressed. I don’t know what to expect.”

“Don’t worry, I’m stressed too,” Hanna tries to comfort her. “But I’m trying my best to see this as an adventure we’ll go through together which doesn’t have to end badly. And hey, at least we got to meet in person!”

The smile on her friend’s face makes Hanna sure she said the right thing. Winter surely feels a bit better now, and she knows Hanna’s right – meeting the online friend in person is something she’d been looking forward to for a while and she’s glad it finally became a reality, even if in odd circumstances.

After spending an hour or two at the restaurant the girls go to the hotel to get some rest before the meeting that awaits them. Neither of them is able to take a nap but they take a chance to shower and lay in beds for a little while.

Soon they decide to head towards their destination. They make one stop at the nearby Starbucks to grab some coffee which will give them energy for the night and head towards Krzysztof’s workplace. He’s already waiting for them when they get to the crossroads. Winter instinctively grabs Hanna’s hand as they approach the man.

“You made it,” Krzysztof says as he notices the girls. “I’m glad to see you.”

“Yeah, sure,” Winter responds. “Why did you want to meet us?”

“Straight to the point. That’s good. Well, I wanted to meet you because I have a mission for you. I urgently need to collect a package, but it’s on the other side of the city and I can’t leave work for more than fifteen minutes, so somebody has to do that for me.”

“And it has to be us?” Hanna asks. “Why?”

“Yes. I wanted this to be you two because I’ve been following you. I recognise you from your online work and I know I can trust you.”

The girls exchange looks, frightened and amused at the same time. It’s definitely weird to see their seemingly strangest ideas come true, but they already know it’s something they can simply laugh about (and definitely will in the future), no matter how serious it could eventually become.

Krzysztof gives them the address and a secret code needed to get the package. He gets ready to leave for work, but before he can do that, the girls stop him.

“Hey! What about giving us something in exchange?” Hanna exclaims.

“You want something in exchange?” he asks, a bit surprised.

“Well, yeah,” Winter says. “Isn’t it obvious we need something back? Of course we’re glad to be here and see each other, but we’ll be walking around the city in the middle of the night and getting your package when you’re doing your job in comfort and warmth…”

“Not to mention that we had to skip classes to get here,” Hanna adds, “and we’re behind with the work for our next classes because of that. We could as well be at home reading books or writing essays.”

“Exactly!”

He sighs, considering his options.

“Okay, let’s make a deal then. If you don’t fail to bring me the package, each of you can ask me for help with one of your classes. I’ll write you the final essay or read a book you don’t want to read and tell you all about it. Is it okay with you?”

The girls agree to his terms. After saying he’ll meet them in two hours in the same place, Krzysztof goes back to work while they start a walk to the nearest bus stop where they can catch a night bus.

“Do you really think he’ll do that for us?” Winter asks Hanna as they reach the bus stop. “You know, write us an essay or something.”

Hanna shrugs her shoulders as she checks the timetable.

“We have a bus in five minutes. I don’t know if he’d write an essay for us, but I’m thinking we could ask him to just, like, take care of our grades. Call our tutors and explain the situation or simply ask them to give us a passing mark. Nobody would have to do the work while we’d be sure we’d pass a class we don’t like.”

“And you think any of your tutors would agree?”

“Hm… probably not.”

“Right? Mine wouldn’t even believe I know him.”

They both start laughing, causing the few other people waiting for the bus with them to turn their heads and stare a little. They can’t stop even after they enter the bus. But they don’t really care, as long as they’re having fun.

The pickup place for the package turns out to be a small store right by their final bus stop. A bored cashier takes the code from Winter and gives her a package. No questions asked, no additional confirmations, as if it’s something that happens there every night.

“Well, that was easy,” Hanna sighs once they leave the store. “Now we only have to get back.”

“I hope we can catch a bus…”

Luckily for the girls, the bus arrives right when they reach the bus stop.

The quick journey means they have to wait a bit for Krzysztof to leave his work again and take the package, but they easily find ways to entertain themselves, like listening to music together, telling each other jokes or petting a stray cat that passed them by. They don’t even notice when all the remaining time passes and the man approaches them.

“Thank you for your service, girls,” he says. “You really helped me, I mean it. If I can do something for you…”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. We’ll manage,” Winter responds.

“Yeah, we probably wouldn’t do much today anyway, and at least we had some fun together,” Hanna explains.

“If you say so… But if you ever need anything, just call me,” Krzysztof proposes, giving them his business cards.

“Sure. Thank you.”

They all smile at each other and part their ways.

Even though it’s a long way, the girls decide to take a walk back to their hotel. Deep in the conversation, they don’t even realise when they reached their destination and how tired they became on the way.

One after the other, they quickly take a shower and lay down in their beds. It’s only in that moment that Hanna realises one more thing.

“Winter, I completely forgot!” she exclaims, sitting up. “We were meeting him on your birthday!”

“Really?” Winter responds sleepily. “Oh, right… To be honest, I forgot myself.”

“Happy birthday, bestie!” Hanna says as she leaves her bed and goes to her friend to hug her.

“Thank you so much! It was the best birthday of my life.”

“Oh, I’m sure it could’ve been better. It was so chaotic, you didn’t get any gifts, and you’re far from home…”

“Yeah, maybe, but at least I got to spend this day with you.”

They smile at each other and hug for the last time before actually going to bed. They both are right – the long day that’s just coming to an end was definitely chaotic, but it was good, since it was the first day of many that they could spend together.

#I want to turn this into like a regular series but for now you get this short story haha #let me know if you think I should actually do it 👀#also I scheduled this for 6 AM so I hope you managed to see this before your classes #and if not I still hope it made your day better whenever you saw this!!!#hanna's writing #hannaswritingblog #meet me at the crossroads #original fiction #real person fiction #no reader insert #self insert #friend insert #political au #inside joke #not requested #gift for someone #winterxisxcomingx

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rosadomeadows · 2 years

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#amulet series #island of doom - agnes obel #amulet kazu kibuishi #emily hayes #david hayes #roads - crossroads - false memories #true promises

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wildwoof · 9 months

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#( off the stage ) ooc #i just love koga a normal amount i swear #i love all my boys an equal amount i swear #ugh just.... koga oogami tbh #waiting on undead's climax event to come #tho honestly just looking out for another koga event #or another koga scout banner #anything koga pls.....#when koga's band bb card drop #i won't have another koga scout literally until his fs2 #kinda hoping maybe koga gon be the climax event card #or when crossroad anime comes out. koga gon get some love in an event at that point #guess technically it a mini series than actual anime #PLS HAPPY ELE........ anyways #i do totally love my boys an equal amount. i do swear i do

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connietheo · 1 year

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HELLO? ??

#Michael Mando #the crossroads of history #and of course i cant find the series

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peony-pearl · 2 years

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I really wish I could go back and experience Avatar with fresh eyes. But I’m also glad I was exposed to it when it first aired.

I vaguely remember some advertising for it’s premiere and, at the time, I know I was in deep with my Kingdom Hearts hyperfixation. The first Avatar episode I saw was the day after prom in my Junior year when a girl in the friend group I was in turned on a rerun in April or May 2005. For some reason my mind is convinced the episode was Cave of Two Lovers, but it hadn’t aired yet. I’m not surprised I can’t remember the episode because at the time I was eyeballs deep in heavy OCD symptoms and kind of in the early stages of a huge mental breakdown haha. I’d had visible OCD symptoms for years but had no idea I had it; then barely a month later I was hospitalized and diagnosed because of my intrusive thoughts and ruminations. It kinda sucked lmao.

Over the next couple of years I was exposed to Avatar mostly because of my Uncle. He adored the series. He was an avid cartoon fan who loved art and comics and drawing and had the bones of one of his own comics but became ill and passed away before he could finish it. I appreciated Avatar for what it was, but didn’t really have the heart to get invested. There was a point that I did make an oc and drew some art and wrote a bit but it lasted like maybe 2 weeks tops. 2005-late 2007 was a minefield period of time that was mixed with me trying to reconfigure my whole personality (right around the time I turned 18 so THAT was good timing) and trying to enjoy the things I loved before my breakdown. I was desperate to be who I was before everything happened.

However, I did keep up with the series after moving to another state and the third season began airing. I remember watching Day of Black Sun and then the finale. I just kept up with it out of interest. Then years went by and I finally started moving forward. I found new interests that helped me become creative again, all while making the painful realization that my mental health was a permanent thing after believing I had ‘conquered’ my OCD. I also unknowingly had ADHD, which I was finally diagnosed with this year, which exacerbates my OCD and intrusive thoughts and ruminating.

Years went by, I went through college, I’ve had so many different jobs, I paid off my student loans late 2020 and then in 2021 my mental health got so bad again I finally sought out therapy for the first time in ten years. I started taking medicine for depression and mood swings. Almost all I was doing was working. I lived with my parents, which wasn’t a bad thing; but the strict schedule and my night shift meant I had little chances of doing much, and I gained weight from stress eating for dopamine.

Then almost a year ago I moved out for the first time; hence my DBZ hyperfixation. I wanted some nostalgia, and I’d had a 2 year period where that series was my bread and butter in 2002-2004. However, I moved again earlier this year, and at first it was all about adjustment; but I was beginning to realize I just didn’t do anything. I still have that issue. But in trying to wonder what it was exactly that I wanted or didn’t want, I started to realize if I’m going to live, I may as well start seeking out things to do.

I was tired of just existing, so I finally set up violin lessons, and I’ve been attending them weekly (save missing one here or there) since April. I’ve learned what I have the power to do, even if I often lack the motivation and drive. I’m becoming more and more content, even if there are the off-times when things are iffy.

I was absolutely not expecting my re-introduction to Avatar to be a gifset of Iroh threatening Zhao in the Spirit Oasis; a scene I was unfamiliar with. I think I had watched the series on Netflix some years ago, but again, I’ve lacked the commitment to it. The punch of that scene with a character I had associated with benevolence after being lukewarm towards the series intrigued me, and I fell down the rabbit hole lol

And I’ve realized that, after getting older, the show is actually a lot more meaningful; and after stumbling upon a gifset of Iroh’s quote ‘Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not’; that hit me. That was exactly what I’d started trying to live by over the past couple of months. Zuko’s strive to figure out who he wants to be hits home too, as I often struggle, even at 34, with what I want or who I want to be. (granted, I need to find a new therapist but that’s another story lmao)

After seeing all this merch pop up and be like ‘oh yeah Avatar that’s a good show’ and being disconnected, I now adore it. I know the bones of it but I’m still learning all of the smaller details and worldbuilding and lore. I’m a newbie but at the same time I know what it is and watched the premieres of The Awakening, The Day of Black Sun, and Sozin’s Comet.

I’ve always appreciated the series for it’s creativity and how it avoided talking down to it’s audience (yeah it had kid moments but it was a Nickelodeon show). And even as an adult so many messages ring true. I definitely put it on the same page as Gargoyles (because 1. I’m biased and 2. both are intricately woven stories that treat it’s audience as adults; I wish Gargoyles had gotten the same closure Avatar did, but for what it is it’s still an amazing show and I’ll always adore it and I’m so glad a show like Avatar did get it’s story completed for the most part)

And yet it’s Iroh’s line ‘whatever you do to that spirit, I’ll unleash on you tenfold’ is the one that kind of brings tears to my eyes; because it rings of conviction and fortitude to do the right thing, and is what brought me back to a little piece of fandom that, even if I already know all of the twists and turns and spoilers, was there for me to pick back up on when I needed it and to help me continue to move forward.

#atla #this is sentimental and cheesy but #at times I wish I could go back to truly feel all of those huge moments in the show #and yet #sometimes I know that if I wasn't already familiar with it it would take me FOREVER to watch it #because I'm horrible at getting into new things #so I am grateful for my familiarity with it #back when it premiered #I watched Crossroads of Destiny without seeing the whole series leading up to that moment so yeah #I missed out on that crucial emotional moment #but ah well #it's still very well written and doesn't miss the mark

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