#please know the first paragraph is a JOKE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

[lowkeyrobin]

hello! can i please request hcs with quackity about being in a long distance relationship with him?

yes omg!! thanks for the request! ; I tried, I tried not that great

QUACKITY ; long distance relationship

summary ; you and quackity are online daters /j

warnings ; language

genre ; fluff

word count ; 686

y/s/n = your ship name

masterlist

you met at Twitch Rivals

you're both content creators which is obviously how you met

you guys bonded over shared interactions and the games you'd both lost

you got along so great that you exchanged information and decided you should stream together sometime

a couple weeks later you were invited to a jackbox stream with him, fundy, tommy, tubbo, bbh, and niki

shit went crazy

"Y/u/n, is there anything you'd like me to call you before we start? Like nickname or just y/u/n?" Niki asks

You graciously answer her, letting her know your name and proffered pronouns. Tommy makes a little, very lighthearted joke before pointing out someone in chat already making you and Niki and you and Alex ship names.

"Oh God, they've got us" You chuckle. "They're both mine, chat"

"AYO? SINCE WHEN?" Alex shouts

Niki giggles, covering her mouth.

"Since now" You shrug

you decided to try dating during the second north carolina meetup

you both had some fuzzy feelings about each other and mutually agreed on 'well hey, we like each other, why not try it out?'

being near the beach and with all your friends made it like a dream

but after two weeks, you had to go home

but you left your relationship untitled for now

Streaming together continued as per usual. So did long talks and phone calls, and hours spent playing video games (mostly Minecraft) together.

the next trip was to LA to visit Alex this time

you guys had your first kiss on his balcony overlooking the city

the way he giggled after omg

during that trip, you established your relationship and started to go on every day dates and stuff

but then you had to go home again

Honestly, both of you didn't really think about what to do with your relationship once you went home. You were taking it all in while you had it and weren't thinking about the very true reality of it all.

you thought talking was constant? it is now

sometimes both of you will just stay up late and rant about what you like about each other and corny shit

youre the one to softlaunch the relationship to fans

you probably guessed the password to his twitter/instagram and changed his bio to "y/u/n's bf 💯💯"

he didnt even know until people were flooding his dms and people on tik tok were talking about it

hed already said he was okay with telling people as long as you were tho

sends you pictures of flower bouquets once a week with some thought out, very loving paragraph or poem

he constantly complains about not being able to kiss or cuddle you

"y/n/n why are you so far away!?"

"i told you id be able to pay for you to live with me"

"UGHHHHHHHHH"

sends you good morning/goodnight texts and talks about what you'd be doing that day if you were together

cheesy little man

always spamming you w pics of Tiger

will religiously send you memes and blow up your phone if you're busy or ignoring him

yk the relationship is srs when even your qsmp characters are in love

the lore.

half of its heartbreaking angst and the other half is literally your bucket lists/daydreams of the future of your relationship

hes so down bad for you

will do anything to make you smile or make you flustered

will make the most suggestive jokes in front of friends, stay silent for a second or two and yell "im joking, im joking!"

orders you doordash/uber eats when you're doing subathons or generally long streams

will always join through vc/greenscreen when youre doing cooking streams

you'll do greenscreen dates (like the fiances stream) once a month and gossip over takeout LMAO

genuinely asks his fanartists to make ship art of you two because he loves seeing all the ideas and cute shit

they always draw you with one of his beanies or hats on, the occasional necklace

you reblog tumblr y/s/n fanart 24/7/365

karaoke streams are a must

you guys rank those "songs that all white people love" videos and rate the songs

dare or hot wing streams when youre literally anywhere but near each other>>

also playing just dance using vc and stream green screen>>>

#lowkeyrobin #mcyt x reader #mcyt preferences #mcyt oneshot #quackity x reader #alex quackity x reader #quackity oneshot #quackityhq x reader #qsmp x reader #gn reader #gender neutral reader #they/them reader

[simpforfandoms]

Here with me

a/n: I got my wisdom teeth out and I’m high on pain killers rn so I don’t know what this is also it's been like a year since I've last uploaded I've just haven't had the motivation whoops. Also requests are open so please request I'm running out of ideas.

pairing: dick grayson x fem!reader (probably could be read as gender neutral)

summary: reader got broken up with by a text of all things

genre: angst, hurt with comfort, tooth-rotting fluff at the end

word count: 2665

warnings: language, not proofread

masterlist

“you’re nice and all but I don’t think this is going to work out.”

You’re heart drops. You read the text over and over again. Guess he lives up to his name. What kind of person ends it over text? You don’t know how to respond. A million thoughts at once fill your head. Do you respond with a whole ass paragraph begging him not to leave you? Do you call him? Do you run over to his work? What the fuck do you do? Your finger hovers over the call button. If you call him would he even answer? What could you do to salvage this relationship? It wouldn’t be the same if you could fix the relationship. Doubt would fill your brain. More doubt than you already had. In retrospect, you should’ve seen this coming. Dick Grayson is a beautiful human sent from the heavens above. And you? Well, you’re just you. It was stupid of you to think that a guy like him could ever love a gal like you. You check the time.

5:48

You know Dick can see that you read the text for almost six minutes now. You freak out and reply with the first thing you could think of.

“Okay”

He reads it almost instantly.

And just like that, it’s over. Almost a three-year-long relationship. Down the fucking drain. It’s funny it seemed like only 2 hours ago he was telling you how much he loved you and missed you. Where did you go wrong? You’ve done nothing but been there for him. You’ve been a good girlfriend. Maybe not the best. Definitely not Barbara. Barbara. Her name brings a funny taste to your tongue. A pit in your stomach forms. She’s everything you’re not and more. He probably reconnected with her and realized that he’s better off with her. Oh my fucking god why can’t you be better. Be better. Be fucking better. So many words that you want to say to him. Please being the most frequent one. You want to cry. Scream. Anything. But you can’t. It’s like you’re paralyzed. You’re hands are shaking as you find the caller ID and quickly push it.

“hey what’s up?”

“me and dick broke up?” You say it almost like a question.

“What oh my god! What happened?!?! I’ll kill him”

“Babs I need you to be completely honest.” You say gulping, “did you have anything to do with it?”

“No of course not,” she says

Of course she didn’t. She might be Dick’s ex but she wouldn’t betray you. A part of you hates yourself for ever thinking that.

“I’m coming over right now” you hear a muffled voice in the background but before you could ask she hangs up.

Weird but you didn’t have time to focus on that. You just got dumped. You can’t say you didn’t see it coming. You don’t know what hurts worse, being broken up with or believing that for once you were worthy of love. People say that “you accept the love you think you deserve.” If that’s true than why the hell were you and dick together. Dick is the most perfect boyfriend. Maybe it was all a mask. Maybe he didn’t actually love you. A small part of you hope that its not true, but the logical more realistic part know that it was all just a fantasy. A beautiful fantasy, but a fantasy nevertheless. You wish you could cry. You feel like everyone else in this situation would cry. Maybe it’s because you’re still in denial. You’re still hoping for Dick to say this is some sick joke.

•

1 hour earlier

“You don’t understand I love her!” Dick retorts.

“Dick you don’t understand. Y/n’s a civilian. Telling her, hell even dating her puts her at risk. I am ordering you, not asking you, to break up with her.” Bruce says.

Dick takes a long exaggerated sigh. Leave it to Bruce to turn innocently declaring that he was going to propose into a full-blown argument. His brothers sit and watch patiently. As if they’re waiting for a lion to attack. Barbara, on the other hand, is waiting for a chance to speak. After all, you are her best friend, she has to do everything she can to prevent you from getting hurt. By that, she means mentally. She has no doubt in her mind that Dick can protect you. Honestly, she found it heartwarming that Dick had come to her for the approval of the engagement ring. She only regrets suggesting that he tells Bruce.

“Bruce I’m not a kid anymore you can’t boss me around.”

“Think about all the people we have lost because they knew our identity. If you truly loved this girl you would set her free.”

Dick mutters something under his breathe. Barley auditable. Something along the lines of “I don’t want to”

•

knock

knock

You don’t bother to answer the door you know it’s Barbara. You know she has a key.

“Oh honey I’m so sorry!” She says as she runs over to hug you.

“It’s okay it’s not like your the reason he broke up with me.”

You notice a falter in Barbara’s face. She showed a tinge of guilt but as quickly as it appeared it went away.

“I know but I’m still sorry” she says.

“Y’know it’s funny Babs I thought I was gonna marry him. For a moment there I thought he felt the same. It was stupid of me. I turned a blind eye to him coming home late all the time. It shouldn’t have been such a big shock. I guess in the back of my mind i always knew there was someone else. I guess I should pack up my shit and get the fuck out of here. I don’t think I can handle looking into eyes without crumbling.” Tears begin to fall.

Barbara does nothing more than squeeze you tighter. A reassuring comfort that it’s not your fault. You know she knows something you don’t know and only wish she could tell you, but you also know that maybe she won’t tell you to keep you safe. You think about, if she knows that dick broke up with you because of someone else, maybe she’s just saving all the pain that comes with feeling you’re not enough. But she also has to know that you already feel your not enough. You pull away from the hug to look her in her eyes. Searching for answers. You grab her hands in yours.

“Babs if you know something I don’t please tell me, I know you want to protect me but please I assure you that I already have self doubt and if you tell me that there was for sure someone else all that could bring is closure. So please for the love of god tell me.”

She suddenly pulls away breaking eye contact.

“No! It’s not that- it’s uh. It’s all my fault Y/n. I’m so sorry.” She says in a hush voice covering her face in guilt.

As if your heart couldn’t possibly break it more, it feels betrayal.

“Babs were you the other woman?” You say not understanding.

“Oh my god of course not.” She turns her head to look at you. “I would never ever do that to you”

“Then how is it your fault?” You question confusion mixed with sadness on your face.

She turns away again.

“It’s just- oh god. I promised dick I wouldn’t tell you.” She closes her eyes and gulps. “A week ago Dick came to me asking to help pick out an engagement ring for you. He was going to propose.” She then looks at you searching for any reaction.

“He was? I don’t get it then why would he break up with me?”

“I convinced him that he should tell Bruce and all, thinking that Bruce would want to know. It ended up turning into a big argument. In the end Bruce convinced him to break up with you.” She sighs once again looking at your confusion ridden face.

“I still don’t get it. Bruce loves me. Why wouldn’t he want Dick to marry me?” You question.

“What Dick does for a living is dangerous.”

“I’m fine with him being a cop, he knows that.”

“No, it’s not just that. What we all do for a living is dangerous. Bruce likes you, he does. At first, he didn’t think you and Dick would last so he never thought that your relationship would get to the point where Dick would have to tell you the truth, but Dick had other plans. So when Dick told him he wanted to marry you, well-“ She stops taking a deep breath, “Bruce knew that marrying you would mean Dick would have to tell you the truth. So he told Dick that the only way to keep you safe was to break it off and if he truly loved you he would set you free.”

“How is any of that your fault?” You ask.

“Well after Dick stormed away I followed him to convince him not to break up with you. But he wouldn’t budge. He believed it would be selfish to continue your relationship while putting you jeopardy. He sacrificed his own happiness for your safety. He said he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if something ever happened to you. I knew he wouldn’t budge so I at least tried to get him to break up with you in person but he knew if he saw you he would never be able to do it. You called me after it happened Dick begged me not to tell me anything but here we are” She finishes with tears in her eyes.

“None of that is your fault, Babs.” You say as you pull her into a hug.

She chuckles dryly, “I’m the one who should be comforting you.”

You both laugh through the tears.

“I still have one question though. What does he do for a living?”

Barbara stops laughing and contemplates telling you. She eventually stares you in the eyes and says barley above a whisper “he’s nightwing”

Though you barley heard it, you’re eyes widened. Suddenly everything made sense. The late nights. The excessive bruises. The leaving dates early. It was like the final piece of the puzzle.

“Where is he?” You say though you already know the answer.

You get up from the couch, grab your keys and are almost out the door til you hear babs say “Y/n please don’t tell him I told you”

You stop for a moment and say, “Thank you Babs” and rush out the door.

•

“Dude I can’t believe you actually listened to the old man” Jason says.

“I don’t need your shit Jason.” Dick mumbles on the Wayne manor sofa.

“I’m just saying, you’re in love with her. Everyone can see that.”

“That’s why I had to!” Dick yells, standing up.

Jason stands back, seemly pushing Damian in front of him as if it’s his turn to talk some sense into Dick.

“What Todd is trying to say is, it’s absurd that you of all people would take Father’s advice about love seeing how miserable he is.” Damian states.

“Ya, Bruce doesn’t know shit about relationships, even I can see that” Duke chimes in from across the room, not even looking up from his book.

"You wanna know why he can't seem to keep a relationship? Because he lets his fear consume him." Tim says bluntly.

"Yeah take Tim for example isn't he dating a civilian? Benard? Nothing has happened to him" Jasons says.

"Well, I wouldn't say nothing" Tim replies.

"Shut up, I'm trying to make a point." Jason sighs, "He's not dead is he?"

"Yeah, Tim and Benard seem to be going strong," someone chimes in from the doorway.

That voice. Dick could recognize that voice anywhere. They all turn to look at you. Jason is the first one that turns back towards Dick.

"See y/n gets it." He shrugs

"Yeah, I do."

There is a moment of silence. The silence is so loud. The tension so thick. The boys seem to notice this and walk away. Jason gives Dick a look that reads, "Don't fuck this up, lover boy"

When the boys all leave the room, leaving you and Dick alone, you walk towards him. Dick's piercing blue eyes stare into yours. Almost questioning you, as to say "what are you doing here".

"You didn't really think I'd let you break up with me over text, did you?" You smile.

Dick can't help it, he smiles back. Even though it's silent, you both are saying a million words to each other. He can look into your eyes for eternity. He can't believe he broke up with you without getting to see those gorgeous eyes again. But as much as he wants to keep looking, he can't, he knows if he does, he'll come running back to you. He knows if he does that, he'll never see those pretty eyes again. The reality of the matter hits him. He breaks eye contact, turning away and crossing his arms, as a way to say "please leave". You however have other plans. You come closer to him barely an inch away from him. You take his face into your hands and turn his head towards you. He tightly closes his eyes.

"Dick, please look at me." You say.

"I can't," he whispers.

"Why?"

He sighs closing his eyes even tighter. "You know why."

You silently remove your hands from his face, sliding them down to his chest. You sigh, about to remove your hands completely until he untucks his arms and lightly grabs your wrists. He looks down, finally looking into your eyes.

"Please don't go yet," He says.

"Dick I need you to tell me the truth"

You search his eyes for a sign, anything at all. What you find is remorse.

"Y'know I love you" You say

"I know."

"Dick you can tell me anything"

He sighs, "You already know the truth"

"But I need to hear it from you"

He sighs again, this time deeper. He stares into your eyes almost pleading with you so he won't have to say it because if he does it makes all of this a reality. The harsh reality that he'll either have to love you from afar, or put you in jeopardy because of him. He'd rather stay here with you in complete bliss. As long as he's with you he's complete. He can't imagine you gone. Alive but gone or dead and gone. He wishes things were simpler. In another time or maybe another universe, he thinks.

"I'm Nightwing"

You burst you laughing. Making Dick confused, but he couldn't help but start chuckling with you.

"My fiance's Nightwing" You start singing.

When you eventually catch your breath, Dick seems to have an even more confused face.

"What?" You question.

"Fiance?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Well yeah but only if you want to be" You smile sheepishly.

Instead of replying Dick swoops you up and kisses you. Not like any other kiss you've had with him, it was one filled with passion. All of the love left unsaid was poured into the kiss. Any doubt that either of you had was solved. When you finally break apart, you two are panting resting your forehead on each other. Dick casually slips an engagement ring on your finger. To which you pull away to look at.

"Oh, Dick it's beautiful!" You gush.

"You have Babs to thank for that," He says pulling you in for another kiss.

You're the love of his life, and he's yours. You know what you're getting yourself into but ultimately you'd rather die having him by your side than not at all. As long as you're with him you've got a smile on your face.

#dick grayson x you #dick grayson x reader #dick grayson #bruce wayne #x reader #angst #dick grayson angst #hurt/comfort #dick grayson hurt/comfort #dick grayson fluff #duke thomas #jason todd #barbara gordon #tim drake #dick grayson imagine #dick grayson one shot

[melodicbreeze]

What's your favorite Venti lore/references?

For me it's him guiding souls after death and being connected to istaroth. Also the whole prodigal son thing, What do you think it means for him? (Hope you don't mind getting asks like this, i couldn't help but be curious)

CRACKS MY KNUCKLES. ALRIGHT FOLKS, BUCKLE UP.

DEATH

First off, I absolutely love his ties to death! Usually in media, when gods deal in the realm of death, they're all dark and dreary and either sad or evil. Venti, on the other hand, embodies more of the aspects of comfort. A final rest after a life well lived. Barbatos is said to guide the souls of the deceased to the afterlife on a wind, yes, but he also lets them live on through song! There is a belief that someone isn't truly dead until their name has been spoken for the last time, and Venti places importance of using names in his songs, as seen in the manga when he asks Venessa if he can use her name in a song.

There's also how heavily anemo ties into the concept of loss (gestures at the dead friend gives you an anemo vision joke), and the anemoi wind spirits from myths were also once a guide of souls to the afterlife.

There's also the post I made last night- "Not death, but his brother, sleep" (shout out to The Ra.ven Cycle book series). In Greek mythologies, which Venti does have a few ties to, Death and Sleep are brothers- and we all know of Venti's ties to sleep. Aside from his times of sleep, he was also seen singing the guards to sleep when going to free Venessa.

ANYWAY all this to say I think along with the wind, freedom, and hope, death is one domain that Venti falls into. (Which just makes him and Hu Tao even better buddies).

ISTAROTH

This is where I can more theory crafting rather than reflective. We've learned the the Thousand Winds were the Thousand Winds of Time. Now, I do not think that Venti is a son in the traditional sense- rather, I think that the Thousand Winds of Time form one being- Istaroth.

Venti also called himself a single breeze/wind, so I believe he was one of the thousand that made up Istaroth, only to rise up above the others in terms of power during the rebellion against Decarabian, and then becoming a god in his own right.

Do I have much evidence for this? Not at all! It's just my thoughts.

(Also, apparently prodigal means wastefully extravagant, which while I admit my first thought is his indulgences in drink and revelry, also make me wonder if it is perhaps that he has made Mondstadt into a home where people can act as such if they please- free to do so.)

OTHER THOUGHTS

One of my favourite bits of lore comes from the Wings of Shimmering Galaxy lore. It's spoken from the perspective of Venti post Archon War! It goes to say,

"For he knew that someone must heal the hurts of the world, and thus someone needed to find a way to communicate with them."

From Zhongli's character stories, we know that Venti went to visit, bringing a gift of wine- and that that led to the 7 all meeting together regularly. He is a bard, and the god of the wind- music and poetry flow like the wind, after all. Of course he would facilitate communication! HOWEVER, this didn't work for a long, long time. In fact, the glider lore continues,

"But the poet knew this would happen. (...) Still, the poet did not give up, though not because he believed or anything. This was just the way he was."

Despite being called the god of Hope by Neuvilette, Venti didn't have any hope. He just... didn't know what else to do.

Anyway, I should end it here, before I ramble on for many more paragraphs about all the things I love about Venti.

#headcanon;; #about;; #anonymous #lost post #MAN I RAMBLED

[kandisheek]

FIC REC WEEK 5 - FLUFF

Pinky Promise by Tahlruil

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: M Words: 38,264 Tags: Domestic Fluff, Growing Old Together, Slice of Life

Summary: Steve wasn't looking for a relationship not really - dating was fun and he was busy learning how to adult properly. A chance encounter with Tony, who's even worse at grocery shopping than he is, has the potential to change all that. The meeting feels significant, even if he could never imagine where it would end up taking him. Tony, meanwhile, was pretty happy with his string of one night stands and no feelings involved relationships. Despite being pushed of of the nest - he suspects Jarvis of giving his mother ideas - he's really not interested in becoming a real adult. Steve makes him want more for the first time ever, and even if it terrifies him, he's willing to see where it goes.

Reasons why I love it: Oh my god, they're so IN LOVE in this one, I can't. Cuteness overload. If you're looking for disgustingly domestic, tear-your-hair-out-it's-so-sweet goodness, then you've come to the right place. I don't think I've ever read a Stony fic that felt this goddamn real. And it just keeps getting better and better with every paragraph. I would've read a million more words in this universe. Please do yourself a favor and check this one out, it's amazing!

Toasted Buns by copperbadge, scifigrl47

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: E Words: 47,044 Tags: Public Nudity, Tropical Island, Humor

Summary: After seeing Tony naked and tanned -- all over -- in a decontamination shower, Steve realizes he may be in trouble. Tony, meanwhile, is definitely in trouble over those tabloid pictures of him sunbathing nude. The solution is clearly a tropical island getaway.

Reasons why I love it: Steve and Tony alone on a tropical island after Steve has newly developed a fascination with Tony's lack of tanning lines. What could possibly go wrong? Well, as it turns out, everything goes right instead. There are so many moments in this fic that make me smile, no matter how often I read it, and as always, copperbadge and scifigrl47 knock it out of the park with the humor. This fic is fantastic, so if you haven't read it yet, I hope you go and check it out!

This Simple Feeling by inukagome15

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 17,381 Tags: Friends to Lovers, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Aliens

Summary: When are two good friends not good friends? Sounds like the setup for a brilliant joke, right? Except when the joke mirrors real life. Tony and Steve are just very good friends. So why is it everyone thinks they're dating?

Reasons why I love it: You gotta love how everyone knows Steve and Tony better than they know themselves. They're super cute even when they're 'not' dating, and as soon as they figure their shit out, the fic only gets sweeter. I love this one a lot, so please go and check it out!

#marvel #stony #fanfic rec #fluff #fic rec #fanfic #a year in fanfic recs

[goodbye-aliens]

The Untold Origin's Angel Play analysis and why Natsume is Fyodor's Judas (or something like that)

I don't know how much sense this will make, but the play always made me curious and I've been wondering if it might have a connection to future and past events, so here are some ideas. Also, please ignore my wonderful screenshots's quality.

Credit to my friend @keygalley because it was from her that I got the theory that Natsume is "that man".

The play opens with twelve fallen angels (one of them already dead) speculating that they are about to be killed by true angels from heaven. They also speculate that the killer might not be an angel, but one of them.

The middle chair is covered in blood. You could say that a murder has already occurred and it's the one that started this whole discussion of the angels from heaven coming after them in the first place.

The fallen angel who is their leader believes that the punishment is because they fell for adoring humanity, and so they must be purged.

The leader refers to the angels from heven as "gifted," another way of referring to ability users. Fukuzawa himself later calls Rampo this way.

The fallen angels are now mere humans. They dream, they love, they seek fulfillment because their existence is limited. Here I feel this could relate to Fyodor, not because he shares these characteristics, but because he lacks them because here he would represent an angel. For him nothing exists but his mission, that is why he is capable of the greatest atrocities.

Also, in this speech it is said "And we do not regret that decision. To choose one's own way of being is the truest form of the soul". Several theories have already been seen about characters being nothing more than that: characters in a work of fiction struggling against a predetermined destiny. Later it will be seen that there is a similar view on this subject.

Rampo saying "Why doesn't anyone get upset at being forced to sit through a show with such an obvious ending" could have double meaning as the author questioning why we, his audience, are watching BSD in the first place. Basically metafiction, something that is a constant in this play.

If Ranpo points to a random fallen angel as the murderer it is because it is true; that man was the one who committed the first murder that triggers the whole conversation. It is later revealed that the murders were committed among the fallen angels themselves.

“Angels cannot have the fulfillment which is the realm of humanity, and humans are incapable of the supremacy of angels. Those who control humans from the outside and those who enjoy fulfillment on the inside are like an author and their character: never shall they intertwine”. Funny thing to say, because angels and humans do end up intertwining. There are humans who possess angels' powers, in other words, the abilities as we will see later with the phrase: "There are those who, despite being human, have some fragment of angels’ forbidden supremacy". So, if such a comparison is given later in the next paragraph… don't the author and the characters end up intertwining as well? Metafiction, again.

Remember that scene where Nikolai gives his speech about freedom and there is someone writing down his words (maybe in The Book)?

To go against the destiny written by the author, who is your God, is not to be conscious of it and therefore to have these two separate realities intermingle? Is it not, in its very essence, a rebellion against God like that of the fallen angels? Which reminds me of Fyodor's quote about Nikolai:

That the angels then say "And yet... And yet?" seems like a joke.

“Why is everyone watching this play without complaining?” again, metafiction (I'm tired of saying this).

Now, the Leader asks a specific angel to appear before the humans. The Leader knows what this angel wants, so it seems that the angel might have something specific against him.

It could be interpreted that of the 12 initial angels, only one remains: the leader, who was condemned to see how his friends eliminate each other thanks to their new quality of being human.

What does the leader wish to expose about the angel? What sins did this angel commit? Before he could say more, the leader dies.

After all this interpretation, what do Natsume and Fyodor have to do with all this? Their roles in BSD could be represented in the play:

The angel is Fyodor. The murders that occur are between the same fallen angels who betray each other (hello? arc of cannibalism?). This could be one of Fyodor's many strategies to accomplish his goal: to purge the fallen angels who betrayed God. But he tortures the leader in a special way and forces him to watch his friends kill each other, as if he has some special resentment towards the leader, that is, towards Natsume.

The leader is Natsume, for whom this whole work was written. And he might know Fyodor's secrets that could be considered his sins.

Fyodor has talked about only "that man" being able to hurt him, besides now Dazai, and Natsume is referred to as "that man" to my knowledge for two times: in this image and multiple times by Oda in Dark Era.

Rampo says that angels do exist. That angels exist and it is the audience could again be metafiction. In anime it is metafiction, but it could go further as the audience is on a higher plane to the characters, but below God, the author.

This is a reversal story is something that confuses me because it could apply to both the play and the murder. In the murder the roles are reversed because Murakami is not the victim, he is the murderer, and Natsume is not the murderer, he is the victim. Is it just because of this that it is a reversal play or is there more to it? My possible theories about other inversions that the play could represent:

In the past Fyodor lost to Natsume. In the play the angel, Fyodor, kills the only fallen angel left to punish, Natsume.

At the end of the play, the roles are reversed: the angel ceases to be Fyodor to be Natsume and the leader ceases to be Natsume to be Fyodor. In the play, the leader dies, but fakes his own death as Fyodor might do in the future (copium). Also at the end, the leader is referred to as a fallen one, could Fyodor be nothing more than a fallen angel trying to redeem himself by hunting down other traitors to punish them? Something like "crime and punishment are two sides of the same coin".

Now, what Murakami says at the end, could it be Fyodor's realization about his mistakes in a future? As if all his killing really wasn't justified, wasn't for ridding the world of sin, but for selfish motives. And if in the end he looks at everything he has done and looks at the audience, at us, he will discover that in the story his role was not one of a savior, but one of a villain.

And my most bizarre opinion: the characters are an angel who is mentioned and twelve fallen angels. The angel seems to have something against one of the angels in specific: the leader. The angel is Fyodor and the leader is Natsume. Fyodor has been compared to Jesus, the twelve fallen angels are his apostles and the last fallen angel is the man with whom he has a special grudge: Natsume, his Judas.

Now there's only one thing left… what's up with the crucified man at the beginning? Something to note is that while everyone is speculating about the murders, the leader who represents Natsume is observing the crucified man which doesn't necessarily mean that Fyodor was once crucified... but could mean that Natsume is the one to blame for Fyodor's "crucifixion" and that's why Fyodor is resentful with Natsume. Could this be related to exposing the alleged sins of the angel?

Natsume betraying Fyodor in some way could explain why he doesn't trust anyone.

Cat and mouse

I could imagine this whole play as a message from Fyodor to Natsume.

Edit because I added more things to think about:

We don't know why "V" wanted to kidnap Natsume, but we do know they used this play to do so. If we assume that Fyodor belongs to this organization (or used them), then it could mean that he wanted to kidnap Natsume. Also, Murakami said: "The gentleman in the suit rarely appears in public. Apparently, capturing him was one of the objectives." Why did Natsume risk himself to watch this play? Was there something in the plot that caught his attention? Perhaps the plot in this play was known to both Fyodor and him because it was their story.

I never mentioned the play's title because I don't know what to say about it. The name is "The Day is a Dream, the Night is Real". It's the play's name therefore it has to be important but... why? Yes, like in the play, a crime that was only fiction became a reality, but... that's all?

#does this make sense? #at some point i hit tumblr's images limit *cries* #i confess i was trying to write a natsume x fyodor fic and i ended up doing an analysis of them lol #bsd #bsd analysis #bungou stray dogs #fyodor #bsd fyodor #fyodor dostoevsky #bsd natsume #natsume soseki #soseki natsume #nikolai #bsd nikolai #nikolai gogol #rampo #bsd rampo #rampo edogawa #murakami

[the-roo-too]

candy -> choi yunjin ver

aka the fluff alphabet

admiration (what does she absolutely adore about you)- how you stuck with her through it all :(( training, nmixx, leaving nmixx, the scandal, new company. please remind her often you love her :(

body (what’s her favourite body part of yours)- your nose, jinni adores eskimo kisses. she can and will hit you with a pillow if she doesn’t get her cute lil eskimo kisses at least once a day

cuddling (how she likes to cuddle)- hogs you like a bear, if you’re alone. if there’s someone with you, like the rest of nmixx girlies or whatever, she’s a bit shyer to be so affectionate

dates (what’s her ideal date)- did i mention disney move nights? yes please! you two totally have matching lion king pyjamas that are like the special mandatory move night outfit

emotions (how does she express her emotions around you)- she’s a tease if that counts? when she’s happy you can easily tell, because she’ll do something goofy, like stick out her tongue at you and hold your phone out of your reach, if you’re shorter than her. if you’re taller, she’ll probably again, steal your phone, but now run away giggling

family (does she want one)- again, a cat lover. oh, you’ll have the cute scottish fold one :(( a cuddles partner for sure

holding hands (does she like to hold hands)- not really holding hands, but she likes to walk when you hold onto her arm. i feel like you joke about it, walk dressed up all fancy at least once a week 😭

injuries (what would she do if you got hurt)- yunjin would panic but like, full on panic mode. do you need soup? do you need cuddles? oh god why is your arm bleeding? i feel like lily is her emergency contact and anytime something happens, she just calls the older girl because you both need help ㅠㅠ

jokes (does she like to joke around)- you two have a couple inside jokes, but she also likes to share with you occasional pick-up lines she heard around

kisses (how does she like to kiss you)- ya remember eskimo kisses i mentioned? that!!!! of course other kisses on cheek and whatnot too, but eskimo kisses <333

love (what’s her love language)- reminding you she loves you! it’s a little thing she likes to do always before you go out in the morning. as you’re putting on your shoes, she suddenly crouches next to you, gives you a kiss on the cheek and says ‘hope you have a wonderful day, love! remember i love you so much.’ <33

memory (what’s her favourite memory together)- jinni invited you to open entwurf albums with her members after the comeback. her fave memory is when you opened your album, told sullyoon on your left that she’s really pretty, and snatched yoona’s photocard, as she got jinni. in exchange, you gave the older girl a pc of herself 🫶

nighttime (how does sleeping with her look like)- she’s either hogging you up to her chest and sleeping calmly, or cheating on you with her mufasa plushie. there’s no other option. the one time you tried to take her plush lion and hug him as a revenge? you slept on the couch for two nights (rip)

oddity (what’s a quirky thing about her)- it’s yet to be said in the next paragraph, but she has a very goofy name for you. my girl is a disney lover, please buy her all of the lion king’s merch

pet names (what does she like to call you)- DEFINITELY CALLS YOU NALA?!,!,’;!;£;&:);) she’s your simba :(( that’s the coolest one, the rest include the casual baby, love etc

quality time (how does she like to spend time with you)- yunjin definitely loves watching films with you, especially disney movies! you have your own karaoke party every time something like frozen or the lion king is on. you both know the scripts by heart now, but it’s still as fun as it was the first time you did a movie night together

rush (does she rush into things)- absolutely not. she needs to plan things out at least a little bit in advance. she likes to have things under control, just for the sake of it

secrets (how open is she with you)- overall jinni is open, but i feel like with the leaving nmixx thingy? you don’t know. she doesn’t want to burned you with her work stuff. definitely spoils you her new comeback tho, support her!!!!!

time (how long did it take for her to confess)- yunjin deadass accidentally blurred it out. she saw you, thought you’re pretty, had her jaw dropped basically. you asked her what was wrong and she all but yelled ‘please go out with me’. the teasing she got from the maknae line…

upset (what’s her reaction when you’re upset)- she would pout playfully, but when she notices you’re really upset, she just kinda hugs you close and starts whispering cute comforting things. OH SHE TOTALLY PLAYS WITH YOUR HAIR :((

visibility (is she afraid of the public opinion)- you remember december? my girl is terrified of public opinion. if you came out before all that, i think everything would be fine, but now? pls protect the baby :((

warrior (how often do you fight)- i wouldn’t call it fighting, but you bicker quite often. it’s about harmless things, like how you said to make pasta and she cooked rice. most of those get resolved with ‘yah! get here you little-!’ and a tickle fight <3

x-ray (is she able to read you)- most situations? yeah, pretty well at that. jinni sometimes just kinda acknowledges what you said, but forgets about it and does something differently

yes (how would she propose to you)- to be honest, i feel like yunjin wouldn’t propose. it’s not that she expects you to do so, she just doesn’t see the need to. you’re both in love and aware of that, why would you need some paper to prove that? would deffo get you promise rings tho!

zen (what makes her feel calm)- the eskimo kisses i mentioned earlier. something about them feels so homey and nice <33

part of [the fluff series]

#haewon #nmixx imagines #nmixx x reader #bae #jiwoo #lily morrow #jinni #kyujin #sullyoon #jinni x reader #choi yunjin #choi yunjin x reader #nmixx #jini #jini x reader

[screampied]

vegas, i leave for couple days, you post ANOTHER toji fic. its like you wanted me to come back bc its literally four paragraphs in and im SCREAMINGGGG

the “oh yeah” when he walks in i moaned. LOLZZZZZZZ I GIGGLED SAUR HARD LIKE UGH i havent even finished reading this 😭

“uh, ill talk to you guys later” “nah, keep that shit on” i bit my fist. theres currently bite marks on my fist ARGH HES SO DADDY

the insults.. LMFOAOAOOAOAOAPAP “he looks like he doesnt shower” I CABT DEAL

oh my.. “i was gonna for three days and you forgot how to act” TEACH ME HOW TO SCT IM OBEDIENT 😻😻😻😻😻😻😻 sorry that was uncalled for.

honestly when she said she faked everything i said LIARRRRR out loud bc i wouldve came from the kiss.. coughs.. OH MY GOD “eyes up here, not them. theyre not the ones who are gonna fuckin eat you out are they” BUSSANUTTTTT

im sorry these comments are actually making me cry “even my domain has better quality than this” “clean up aisle my pants > . <” LFMAO I CANT DO THIS 😭😭

the detail. i might as well be the viewer watchin that stream cuz LAWDDDDDDDSS 😻 “mhm, pull on it” i came :P “..harder” AHAT??? HELLO??? i squirted. “that’s what im talking about” yeah im two more sexy lines away from touching myself . THAT SOUNDS SO WILD IM SOREY 😭😭

oh my GAWDWDWDS “feels good when you do that” “yeah cause i know what the fuck im doing” pla have mercy. HAVE MERTHY. im sorry he fingered me under a dinner table with my PADRE talking to me?? WHYUUULLLDDDD (wild) but we luv it 😻

“told you to keep those fuckin on me” coughs i js screamed. “yeah.” MFGGGFFFFGHHHH IM CLAWIN THE WALLLSS.

“baby hold it” YAWWWLLLLLLLLLLLLL IVE LOST MY BREATH WHYS THAT SOOOO then rhe comments. PLEASE 😭

“petition to have toji oiled and cheeked up” signed! 😛 “dad?” “lol no.” LFMAOOAOAOAO 😭😭

OHH???? “i cabt wait” “yes you fucking can, if i tell my girl to wait, she’s gonna wait.” ORDERS ARE BEING FOLLOWED ILL WAIT BB 🤤🤤🤤 THE FICS NOT EVEN OVER IT JS KEEPS CUMMING. btw, i love how they be like arch it for me/ass up like YOHHH 😻😻😻

“sorryyyy” shes so real for that. “but sweetheart, you’re not sorry.” “huh?” “huh?” ive got a mocking kink now bc of you 🙁 now whenever i get mocked or teased i giggle 🙁🙁 i act like a whore 24/7 😒 TALK TO ME NICE AAYFGGHHHH I LOVE THAT LINE IM GONNA DIE

“girl hello? i wasnt talking to you” HES SO SASSY 😭😭 but the fact he talkin to my pussy like SHE LOVES YOU TEW 🤤 THESE COMMENTS GET OUT GOJO ASKING FOR THE ONLY FANS N GETO ASKING FOR IR ☠️ “please toji im a single mom” IM DEAD 😭

we’re getting caught on stream.. im leaving.

IM HERE NO ALL MIGHT GASPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP?????? “shit i think im in love with you” OUUUUUUUU HELLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ARE YOU JOKING HELLO KNOCK KNOCK NO PUNCHLINE ARE WE SRS YOHHHHH??

i LOVED this, sorry for waffling but WEOOOWWW you ate this one UP veve > 0 <

— pearl anon <3

YOHHHH IM GEEEEEKEDDDDD 😭😭🥹🥹

first of all welcome back pearly 🙋‍♀️🙆‍♀️ i hope you've been well this saturday <3

and LMAOOOOOOOO

IMCRYIKMGGGH the chat was the best part to make omg 💔 like i’d pay so much to see toji double cheeked n oiled up im just saying 🤷‍♀️

TALK TO ME NICEEEEEE 😫😫😫 omg ikr i love the line real bad n it just fits toji so well like ??? IMSO GLADDDDYOU LIKE ITTTTTT i was so close to scrapping it but we pulled through 🙇‍♀️

two more lines away from touching yourself HELPPPPPDPDGGG

omg thank you pookie this lowkey brightened my day i appreciate it commentary forever n always ☹️☹️☹️💟💟💟💟💟

#anons 💌 #pearl anon #🧁 #dbf!toji #MWAAAAA #IM HERE NO ALL MIGHT BYEEEE I SCREAMED

[paint-lady]

🖊 + Maru!

Send me a “🖊+an OC“ and I will talk about that OC! It can be a headcanon, a fun fact, a small paragraph of backstory- anything! Alternatively, send in just a “🖊“ and I will talk about any one of my OCs at random!

Oh, Maru my beloved.

Maru "Maru-Maru" Maru is my character in Secret World Legends and my NPC (and eventual PC) for the Secret World ttrpg. They are the current OC im constantly rotating in my brain like a rotisserie chicken.

I had attempted to write a longer form comic for them and even finished a first chapter. Unfortunately, life got busy and started taking more spoons to other tasks and I am not able to dedicate the time and energy I want to the comic. And thats okay. In the year I have been cold, I have expanded upon the Maru-verse even further, and discovered even more interesting loops and details to incorporate. And I cannot wait to illustrate them one day.

So without further ado, please enjoy this extensive lore breakdown on Maru-Maru:

For your convenience this post has a keep reading <3

Name Significance: Of course Maru is not their given name. Its partially a joke, partially an echo of a long-lost memory, partially a misheard role to fulfill, and their first grasp on their identity.

The name Maru firstly comes from my Exalted Zenith character. My partner and I wanted to name our bees after them, as a way to honor the fun we had with such a short campaign. Little did we know how smoothly Exalted and SWL can blend together- the transition from one age to the next, apocalypses rising, and powerful beings beyond comprehension changing Creation. The tone is certainly different though: an Exalted chronicle is uplifting and with epic heroes to save the world, whereas SWL is riddled with uncertainty about how long the collective will of reality can hold.

The SWL version of Maru can barely remember their previous incarnation, it's more like a weird dream than anything else. If they look to closely, the memory vanishes; like the people of the Third Age trying to grasp their memory of the Second, and their predecessors before them. The golden light within them feels different, yet can still vanquish monsters with their touch, and aid people plagued by nightmares seeping through cracks in reality.

A more recent discovery has played nicely into my friends headcanons and names of their characters. SWL Maru was discovered by experienced agents of names Inanna and Ninshubur in Kingsmouth. While the name Maru is not a Sumerian/Assyrian deity, Mamu is. There is not a lot written about Mamu. They are most notable for being a god of dreams and having both male and female depictions. We love a lil gender fuckery in the pantheon. There was temple built in Imgur-Enlil (modern Balawat) to them. Dreams were not seen as depictions of the subconscious (thanks Freud) but rather true portents of the future. This is all over the epic of Gilgamesh as a literary device to keep that long ass story going. Regardless, the Assyrian King who had dreams of Inanna vanquishing his enemies felt the portents were significant enough to build that temple to the messenger: Mamu. Additionally, there are oodles of accounts of death-dreams and glimpses into other worlds (namely the Underworld) across several sites, whether its recorded dreams from priests and priestesses- or more Enki myths.

And this is what Maru does- even by accident. They catch glimpses into the other worlds, talk to other versions of themselves to relay messages and warnings, and make sure Inanna and Ninshubur are aware of whatever weird shit is out there. In the SWL ttrpg, I intend to have Maru explore this role to fulfill more, as a messenger and a dreamer. Funnily enough, the surname I gave Maru is 夢宮: Yumemiya, which can translate to Yume: dream, and Miya: a shrine, or place for gods. Don't you love it when the narrative falls into place like that? (But in truth, I borrowed the surname from Kanae Yumemiya, an actress who portrayed Usagi in a Sailor Moon Live production...)

Lastly on name significance, we have the japanese translation that Maru means ◯, and is literally a circle. Depending on the characters used to spell Maru, it can also mean truth, and expanded to mean a complete unending cycle. Putting two ◯◯ together is like censoring a name or word, similarly to how $#%&#! is used in English. In a way, Maru-Maru is saying their name is Redacted, or blankety blank or So-and-so. This was incredibly hilarious in the SWL game when QBL labels the player a terrorist after climbing Orochi Tower. Ah yes, you've definitely found the ringleader who set off the Tokyo bomb: It was ◯◯! Excellent journalism, QBL, no notes.

But in truth, its a clever and funny way to hide themself. Searching Maru on google is gonna get you a stardew valley villager and a cute, chubby cat youtube sensation. And they like it that way.

So whether it's Maru, Mamu, Redacted, ◯◯, or some other weird fifth thing, they'll always be that one odd baby bee who reaches across dimensions to keep reality running just a little longer. They won't have to face the end alone, in fact, its statistically improbable.

And if you survive. If you are still you. Think on the questions. Remember when you were a bright little thing, so full of questions?

THE LIFE CYCLE:

Time is a funny thing when dealing with several versions of the same individual. The smallest changes completely alter a course of events. Many Marus recall gaining their bee not long after the Tokyo Filth bomb around 2012, and being swept up by whichever agency got to them first. Many recall their parents working tirelessly at their jobs at the Orochi Group. They learned how to cook for themself at a young age because Mom and Dad wouldn't be home til late. Many recall the first time they heard the buzzing static was as young as 6, following the sweet whispers through a soon-to-be park and a newly planted flowering tree. There are a few that never receive a bee, or receive their power through other means. These timelines are the strangest ones.

A riddle to kill a sphinx: What's one, then three, and then one again? Wait- that's not how it goes...

The Lumie, Templar, and Dragon Maru all share the same origin. Depending on where an outsider glances, the three realities are so close, they are nearly one. Nearly. They grew up in Kaidan with their parents. They did attend the Orochi-sponsored schools and attended several programs, but flew right under the radar for "gifted abilities" that Orochi was seeking. Little Maru was aware of whispers in tv static, rattles in old pipes, the shrieks of summer cicadas Evangelion style. As a young child, they marched to the beat of their own drum, ignoring or indulging the whispered warnings as they saw fit. The dreams were harder to ignore, but when they told their parents about the big scary monsters that couldn't get out- it was written off as their overly active imagination. After all, they had failed an aptitude test to get into the nearby elementary school near their work. Its uncertain whether or not Maru's parents knew what that test was truly analyzing- and whether or not they were relieved to see they failed. Decent Orochi employees have excellent poker faces.

Sometimes one is born special. Sometimes specialness is genetically modified into one. Not every child is equal.

As they grew older, the supernatural continued to burrow into their eardrums. Maru was an average student, but occasionally received top marks on answers whispered to them. They earned a reputation for being a little bit of a tech whiz, and had an observant eye for finding errors in codes. Not really a "super power" but troubleshooting tech is an immensely useful skill. Maru was exceptional at the ol' percussive maintenance with old printers, punchcards, and fax machines. When things went to digital interfaces, Maru found the tried and true "have you tried turning it off and back on again," to be a real winner.

When they didn't want to hear the whispers, they'd make use of bulky, noise-cancelling headphones. Maru would often be seen wearing them outside of class and in their home, enjoying the peace and quiet. Maybe the headphones were a placebo. It only worked because they believed it worked. However, at night, their mind would be plagued with vivid dreams and even louder whispers and messages. Headphones can't keep hide the noise if its already in their head. Frustratingly, they'd always wake up and immediately forget what they dreamt. This was their normal. Caffeine to keep themself up during the day, wear headphones to keep out the messages, and TV to drown out the static at night.

And there wasn't really anyone to talk about it with. Last time some Orochi kid fessed up to their weird dreams and whispers, he'd definitely vanished. Teachers said the student moved away, but Maru knew his parents still worked in Faust upper management. Another girl said she could hear thoughts before you could finish thinking them. Maru thought that one was bullshit- but she disappeared too. Lesson learned. Keep the static to yourself.

Don't fear It. Fear Nothing. Fear the Foundation. It's no wonder; they say once you hit four, it's all downhill from here.

When it came time to apply for highschool, a few of their peers found this "Clubhouse" and despite its messaging, were blabbermouths about it. Maru always felt uneasy about the place. If there were whispers saying they had nothing to fear, they didn't trust it. They couldn't believe the claims that were coming from this place. Free drinks? Can play games as long as you want? You can be yourself without any fear? Maru especially didn't trust the last one. None of their classmates knew how they felt wearing the girls uniform. None of them knew how exhausting it was to shut out the whispers, keep the eyes on them sated with just the right expectations, and then complete their coursework on top of it all. Maru absolutely did not want to "perform" there either.

Upon finishing highschool, Maru was presented with an opportunity. They'd complete a university comp-sci degree and then immediately dive into a job at the company. Orochi is not devoid of nepotism. At first, this seemed ideal. They'd attend university in New York, and take their summer internships with the American branch of Orochi. Should everything go well, which... it was going to go well that was the expectation... they'd be looking at a substantial salary and generous benefits while working in the Tower.

America was loud. America is loud. But the sheer volume of everything drowned out the buzzing whispers. They still needed the headphones to drown out the rest of the noise though. They could focus a lot more on themself outside of the Orochi bubble, even if their presence was just a few streets away.

Maru figured out a lot about themself in the four years at Uni, especially the gender thing. They enjoyed building weird robots and programming them to do silly things- in addition to their assigned tasks. They enjoyed the few college parties they attended. They even had a steady, long term relationship with a classmate named Caesura (nods back to Exalted). As graduation loomed, they dreaded going back home. They realized how much time they spent alone and really did not want to go back to that solitude at Orochi. So they avoided it. They delayed their graduation by a year and a half by swapping majors, making absurd connections and promises with subdivisions of Faust and Anansi, and prolonging which classes they needed to graduate.

What was the cause of all this, sweetling? Where is the zero point?

Everything changed sometime in 2012. Maru couldn't get anyone on the phone back home when the bomb went off. Even the work lines in Faust were gunked up. They have zero clue if a letter they wrote made it through security and into Orochi's headquarters. Caesura had also vanished. (Unbeknownst at the time, the man was abducted by the Dragon. In most timelines, he does analog calculations for the faction, figuring out where pieces need to move rather than doing field work himself). And then they get their bee, freak out and wreck their apartment, get nabbed by one of the big three, and then get sent out to Kingsmouth.

Things start to break and differ sometime after this for our Red, Blue, and Green iterations of Maru. They all admit to being unaware of their prowess for chaos magic before meeting two other big bees: Ninshubur and Inanna. It was Ninshubur who gifted the confused baby bee a chaos focus, and Inanna gifted a them an empowering gadget. Receiving these items are one of the more prominent cracks on the flickering timelines on the Reality Engine.

Though the most prominent tears in their time are when the Dreamers made themselves known to Maru. The first, a gift. The second, worship. The third, freedom.

Templar!Maru, believes they were tricked by the gift. They swear they would have never have listened to the bubbling voices, but deep down they know that they fell for their sweet words. Whenever the Dreamers approached them, they were certain to make sure they'd never be fooled twice. Their choices are marked with unbound Blue wings.

Dragon!Maru had already begun developing their philosophy on the cyclic end of the world: however messy and destructive it was going to be, whatever was going to rise out of the ashes was going to be just as magnificent. Decay is a form of life. They morbidly want to see what the world will look like at the end, but have to be strong enough to make it there. Accepting the gift, begrudgingly worshipping, and freeing the Dreaming Ones is all part of their dream. Their wings drip with filth. Unease sits in their stomach, they do not know if they'll get their wish.

Lastly, Lumie!Maru was keen on not listening to more voices in their heads. They are the only iteration to refuse the gift. Their wings gleam gold. What is done cannot be undone, and they loathe that their defiance to one set of voices is obedience to another.

Go ahead, glance back. Don't sweat it, sweetling. You won't turn to salt and you can't make yourself impossible. History will conserve itself. The continuities will hold.

Again, time is funny when dealing with several iterations of the same individual. The slightest changes make immense impacts on their lives. There are Maru's who graduated on time. There are Maru's who never left Kaidan. These individuals work with Orochi, whether they want to or not. There are Maru's who's last memory is the filth exploding from within that guy's jacket. There are Maru's still sleeping. There are Maru's who joined the Council of Venice, there are Maru's who hacked the Swarm's game back, and fled their factions. There are Maru's who want nothing to do with the secret world and just want a peaceful goddamn life with their wife and accounting job. There's a Maru who is just really into boats...

But they are all connected, tethered to one another. Like a rat king on reality, fated to meet and tangle.

FUN and STRANGE DETAILS:

BLOODY VALENTINES: Uta, the rabbit killer in Kaidan, is three separate individuals who used to inhabit the same body. Lilith is responsible for splitting her like a worm and separating the sibling souls into new bodies. Maru is an anomaly: they are physical duplicates of the same individual existing simultaneously. Both Maru and Uta fight with unprecedented coordination, switching aggro and balancing their buffs between the three of them. The showdown at the top of Orochi tower was certainly a spectacle... And a vocabulary lesson for swears in several languages. Some agents have noticed the similarities between Maru and Uta, but Maru is quick to squash any speculations. This is not because the two actually know each other, but more Maru does not want anyone to know their Orochi background if they can help it.

The buzzing on Uta reveals some interesting clues about Maru and their existence. Uta was not plagued with insanity but rather hypersanity for the new age- and with new software there are bound to be bugs. While Maru didn't absorb their twin in the womb or was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia; Maru was also sensitive to whispers just outside reality. And so were other children born around the same time. Maybe Maru and that generation of kids got the patched version.

A LUCID DREAM: The Black Signal, or John, tells the Chuck's who will listen that he's no longer singular, he is plural- but remembers what it was like being a sole individual. To Maru, this is so old news. In fact, Maru loves to snark back at him saying that he is not special and they're plural too. There are many Maru's. The Black Signal doesn't really tend to listen to this. Maru may be many, but Maru is still meat. If they would hatch, then they'd have a new conversation. Again, Maru disregards this, and says they've spent enough time being an egg.

They don't want to think too hard about what it means to have "hatched." They know John's not talking about them being nonbinary. Maru is an adept and experienced enough chaos user at this point to recognize when a timeline is too different for them to safely pull on. There's a phantom pain in their outreached hands and fingers when they try to go too far. They are aware that there are some selves they used to be able to call upon and cannot anymore. Something about them has changed. They are aware they can become "out of sync" with their doppelgangers or even be "out of phase," and get stuck somewhere overlapping two or more timelines. But to not be able to call themself at all is terrifying. If only they had the ability to glance at all it all from the outside ... oh.

At least, Maru can't do this consciously. Some versions of Maru have swapped places with their doppelgangers in their sleep or had rude awakenings of being pried from bed to be used as a meat-shield for another. While dreaming, they can go anywhere- so long as they don't forget how to wake up. These ones don't know how close they get to bleeding out of reality.

MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES:

In my SWL playthrough, I of course ran into a whole bunch of bugs and glitches. And I love them. But, there were times that it made the game do absolutely weird things- which provides some very fun stories to weave into the glitch. The most notable was at the Second Choice in the City of the Sun God. At this point, my partner had played ahead and was almost through Translylvania when I had finally defeated Aten. He knew there was an Ultimate Move behind the choices and spoiled a little (with my permission). I didn't know what "Blue Wings" meant but I understood to get them I would need to, against my better judgement, listen to the Dreamer's at least once. So after defeating Aten and being greeted by the Filth bird saying "hey you should do the worship emote" I then obliged and typed /worship.

And the game crashed. No worries- this happened all the time for me. My laptop would get obscenely hot running this game and would shut itself down so it wouldn't fry itself. Upon reloading, I had to do the Aten fight again but found myself having trouble with some of the UI interface. Reloadui did not solve the issue, and I found myself in front of the Filth bird again. I typed /worship and Maru did nothing. I opened the emote tab, and clicked, and Maru would do nothing. In fact, all of my emotes were not functioning- except the dances.

I laughed as I watched Maru dance and devour tacos in front of the Dreamer, not knowing how frustrating it must have been for the cosmic entity to watch some small, nascent angelic thought just proceed to do anything but what it requested. How much longer? Out of frustration, I eventually attacked the creature, triggering the next cutscene. The Dreamer's were angry, and I laughed and laughed.

Now the strangest thing is in game play, Maru sometimes has golden wings. I have had friends say they see blue wings and I will see gold on my screen. I've also had the opposite. In all cutscenes, they are blue. Considering the overlapping timelines, it seems like Lumie!Maru's almost choice bleeds through onto their timeline sometimes.

INITIATE THE D20 SYSTEM:

I have been very fortunate to be the storyteller for some very avid fans of the Secret World and have presented an alternative timeline to the world they know and love. Maru of course, is no exception to this. Everyone is operating with different times and circumstances. Eventually, I will get the chance to play Maru in the game. But for now, Maru has only made one appearance: to Olivia, the newest bee of the group. Of course, Olivia has zero idea what implications she has encountered by merely interacting with this version of Maru, untethered to their doppelgangers. The TTRPG timeline is indeed one of the strangest.

Thank you for reading this absurdly long OC lore post, I have spent easily 3 week writing and editing and rewriting and adding. I hope you enjoyed and it sparks some fun thoughts about SWL and maybe a lil Exalted. As a treat.

#steph answers questions #thanks for the ask! #swl #storyteller vibes #maru energy

[thegeminisage]

i just read broken road and i enjoyed it immensely. i just see it differently (not exactly negatively) now knowing you once(?) shipped sam and dean. does that have any influence into it🤔 just simply wondering not interrogating u. i’m interested in that essay even

(prev ask)

ok, my essay is under the cut. it's very, very long. everybody please consider this your warning for inc*st ships if you'd rather not get into it

first point: actually, broken road was not in any way secretly influenced by any previous love of sam/dean, if that helps you any. i wrote it in post november 5th mode and you better believe i was not remotely capable of thinking about anything else. thank you for enjoying it! it's very very special to me and the time i spent working on it and posting it are genuinely some of my fondest memories. cringe <3

second point: to just honestly answer your question, since you're not interrogating me and not being an asshole (thank you and i'm not saying that sarcastically, i have gotten sooo many rude asks about this), my answer is, "eh." my favorite was sam/dean/cas (once he started being on the show) because i'm a cas girl first and foremost. and if i come across a fic where the premise looks good i might check it out, but i basically never actively seek it out bc my preference rn is strongly for destiel.

(that said i do like sam and dean's relationship a lot as brothers or as...whatever else, i'm mostly neutral as long as we don't leave cas out of things, AND i'm perpetually bitter about sam getting left out in the cold, so if i wanna read good sam fic, sometimes people who ship him with the other main characters will do a better job than making him the perpetual longsuffering butt of the slash joke. same goes for early seasons spn fic: sometimes the sam/dean writers just do a better job. i very rarely get the hankering though because i like late seasons, such as season 13, who is my best friend. i think sam got pushed to the side SO STRONGLY that sometimes people sometimes subconsciously associate him being written well or mattering at all to dean beyond functioning as dean's accessory and/or proof/the catalyst of dean's traumatic upbringing with w*ncest. because otherwise they see him as a minor character (?!?!), and why are you bringing this minor character up so much if you're not secretly shipping him with dean, The Main Character? god, does anybody remember when SAM was the main character?? sorry there is truly not enough punctuation in this paragraph.)

now for the actual essay: i do get a little irritated/confused with how much pearl-clutching people do about sam/dean. like, this is EASILY the most harmless of the "problematic" ships. they're consenting adults, barring some tropes and genres i would not like to read nor discuss. and before cas came into the scene (and sometimes even after) we got baited just as hard for the two of them. it was weird and unsettling because the nature of inc*st is that it's often weird and unsettling. their dynamic is unhealthy and codependent and that's part of their appeal in whatever form. people who get the heebie jeebies because it's "problematic" are missing the point. there are also weird and unsettling vibes between dean and john, because that was part of the abuse. that actually played into broken road way more than any sam/dean stuff. he was a bad father and he made dean his backup wife and there was probably some emotional inc*st happening CANONICALLY. we all watched that in the show right?? but for some reason talking about that is fine and talking about whatever sam and dean have going on gets you put on block lists. because sometimes sam/dean fics are just for fun and whenever we talk about john we have people in fics punching him out or killing him. like we have to point our fingers at john and go "THAT'S BAD" loudly enough to ensure everyone else that we're above moral criticism. it's like. weirdly thought police-y. (and tbh, that's part of what inspired broken road - i was looking for nuance re: john and couldn't fucking find any because of this weird black-and-white mentality fandom has developed.)

and it's so hypocritical sometimes! i remember deancas stuff used to have "w*ncest fans dni" banners all over it, in the guise of protecting and standing with survivors, but when actual survivors would say things like "actually those banners just remind me of everything all over again" they would mostly get ignored?? it was so performative, like this kneejerk reaction of promising everybody YOU know what's bad so you won't get ostracized. my tastes don't usually run very dark so most of the sam/dean i wrote or read was way less unhealthy than, say, whatever lestat and louis have going on in iwtv. but nobody's making blocklists of iwtv enjoyers because that would be insane? there's just a little bit of cognitive dissonance happening i think.

like, obviously, yes, in real life inc*st pretty much always speaks to something having gone extremely wrong in someone's life and a dynamic being extremely unhealthy at best, but in fiction it is possible for it to be consensual, even if it is a little fucked up or the people involved are a little damaged.

(warning for discussion of rape fic from here down) i'm not actually totally anti-censorship though. i do firmly believe there are some types of fiction people shouldn't write! i wouldn't read parent/child anything, or any kind of rape fic unless it's tastefully engaging with the aftermath of something like that. sam/dean just seems so, so tame to me in comparison to some of the other stuff fandom has come up with. in 2014-2016 people used to write a thing called hydra trash party, which was just porn of bucky barnes being gang-raped by hydra agents. ie nazis. and half the time he was headcanoned as jewish. like??? can you even GET more tasteless than that??? i hated that shit (and i still do, deeply). i talked about how much i hated it all the time and people would come after me like "well who are YOU to censor other people? what if the authors are survivors working through their own trauma? you can't ask authors to disclose that kinda stuff if they want a license to write graphic nazi rape porn!" i got literal hate mail about it. equal but opposite energy of those dni banners - both people claiming it was "about survivors" to justify doing, uh, whatever they wanted. it's just fucking wild to me that in less than a decade my stance of "i don't care what people write if everybody is a CONSENTING ADULT," while not changing at all whatsoever, moved from being too prudish to being too problematic.

another side tangent (sorry, you did ask) is that i was a slash writer on FFN in the video game and anime fandoms during the late 00s (ironically, quite a lot of straight men there) and holy mother of god...the kind of shit comments i would get for putting two dudes kissing in the same fic, even though it was PLASTERED with disclaimers. i felt like the mob was after me sometimes lol. and that's sort of the way i felt once those w*ncest asks started. i remember back in the peak of post nov 5 stuff if i like, reblogged art or gifs from certain blogs people would write in to tell me that person was a sam/dean shipper so i'd take down my (gen, non sam/dean) post. i felt paranoid (and still feel paranoid) reblogging GEN sam & dean content because i'm worried people will take it the wrong way. i actually deleted one from my drafts earlier today - i'd been thinking about it but then i got your ask and decided against it, lol. what a way to live! especially in fandom, which is (and i hate to politicize it this way but it's true) a queer-adjacent space that's supposed to be free of the kind of judgment you'd get for not being a normie irl.

on FFN, one of the many pairings i wrote for actually involved an underaged teenager and and an adult. but as i was the same age as that teenager at the time, and had a crush on that adult character and toootally wanted to marry him, i couldn't see what was wrong with pairing them together. like i quite literally did not know better. it's a pairing that actually disgusts me now, lol. if people now could send me asks about what i did back then to try and "gotcha" me (they can't because it's all been deleted) i'd be really pissed about it, because you can't continue to punish people after they've learned and grown. everyone's been so terribly kind about broken road, and there's this real fear of losing or tainting something so special and wonderful just because people have a problem with the fics you read or wrote a decade ago. it sucks. i do think there's a line (like, maybe don't write nazi rape porn, also whatever was going on with that j2 haiti fic), but i also think we've got to try at least a little not to reinvent puritanism on fandom websites of all places. that's wack.

and man, i know i said it already, but i just keep coming back to w*ncest being SO TAME? like it doesn't compute that someone would get icked out over CONSENSUAL sam/dean and meanwhile ship for example rowena/ketch like he didn't torture her or sam/lucifer because they like mark pellegrino like lucifer isn't sam's fucking rapist. and not even get "in trouble" for it. it boggles the mind.

and like, idk. i initially got my hackles up at your ask because it's 1 of a million, and i could dodge the questions by taking down the one sam/dean/cas fic on my profile ig, but that fic is how i met a good friend of mine and she'd be sad if i were to take it down, so i don't want to have to, and i shouldn't have to. you know??

my final thought: i've been writing fanfic for 20 years. 20 years ago when i started writing fic sam/dean would have been unacceptable because it's two men. 10 years ago it was fine because they were the ONLY two men, and every woman in supernatural got bullied off of the show, and people writing het got hatemail. now it's unacceptable again because of the inc*st. 10 years from now, who knows what will happen? so i try to base my morals on what i feel i can live with as a person rather than what a bunch of people on the internet (i'm not including you in that) tell me what i can or can't do, or should or shouldn't do.

i really hope this answer doesn't like, ruin broken road for you, or anyone else. i don't think of myself As A W*ncest Shipper at all, but neither do i deny that i used to be, and i certainly don't have any problem with (again) keyword CONSENTING keyword ADULTS in fanfic now, even if they do happen to be siblings ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i just hope that like someday we find a middle ground where we can live and let live but also have enough sense not to write nazi erotica. if that's problematic of me, so be it 😔✊

#liz answers asks #anonymous #really really really long. sorry. this has been bothering me for literal years #absolutely no way i could have expressed these thoughts directly post nov 5th during the spn revival #without people hunting me for sport lol #so if nothing else at least i got to get it off my chest

[nayruwu]

I feel same way about ons as you :') I got into it because of gureshin it's been long since I already lost interest alas. I was wondering what do you think of characters like guren shinoa mika & krul? I really liked them back then but now I'm really disappointed with how author wrote them since past few years & weirdly fandom still tries to act as if nothing wrong with them but "people didn't read correctly"

hello!! :D

i'm sorry that so many others seem to be suffering the same way i am, but it's also a little reassuring. at least we're not alone in our misery.

and i think answering your question will be quite fun!

well guren, obviously i love guren. he's so sad and pathetic and tired and broken he's like a wet cat. the way he loves, the way he does terrible things and hates himself for it but does it anyway because he knows he has no other choice, it's so intriguing and painful. i love it. there's aspects that bother me when reading the novels, like when i cannot for the life of me grasp why he is doing what he's doing, or when he's being an arrogant asshole. but then i read the paragraphs my friends have written about him and love him with my whole heart again. i think they called it blorbo-in-law, that fits it quite well.

but i feel like i need to mention, i totally get why people got so mad with him recently. the way it was handled with the kids just immediately forgiving him again after one word was just... not good. i wasn't kidding when i said i wanted him to be more evil. it was a lot more exciting when him and mahiru first started that "let's betray everyone" stizzle and we weren't sure if he was actually going to harm anyone. it was serious, oh the suspense! now he's just our friend guren again. let him go batshit insane. please. he's not a saint, and he doesn't need to be.

at this point the only one i can trust to truly judge and be mad at him for more than half a panel is shinya. and that's a little odd. also he's currently in eeby deeby.

ohh shinoa! i used to like her a lot. it's only natural, i guess, since she is so similar to shinya. i always thought her to be a less extreme version of him - shinoa was also trained to be numb and hide herself behind jokes and smiles, but she seems to retain more of her emotions than he does. she's scared of dying, she's not much of a killing machine, and she is very much capable of developing actual romantic feelings for someone. wow, shinoa!

now, the problem is the toxic view of love that mahiru drilled into her head, and how the story will adress that, if at all. i don't mind her crush on yuu, it's her proof of not being dead inside or worthless or meant to be alone. but the way she acts on it is quite selfish. she's taking after her sister a little too much for my liking lately. "i will get yuu back, even if i have to kill mikaela to do it", alright miss mini mahiru. chill.

i would very much like someone to drill some sense into her head.

as for mika, he was my favourite for quite some time. i'm afraid i can't speak on him anymore, though, since he's kinda wiggled himself out of my field of interest. younger me would be going insane over his angel self... but now, i actually don't have anything to say about him. he exists. he's a massive scapegoat. i wish we could have seen him bond with shinoa squad.

krul is great solely because she's somehow the only female character who doesn't have a crush on some guy. hooray for vampirism! i don't have that many thoughts on her either, but i do adore her. she treated mika fairly well, she acted against vampire laws, she was more trustworthy than others. and god, that chapter where she was turned into a vampire was so awful, i loved it. more of an ashera-perspective probably, but still! as i've mentioned, i'm not a fan of her and all the black demons having been angels before, so i can't bring myself to look forward to their reunion as much as i used to. but i'd still like to see it.

#luna posting things too early part 73 probably #this was fun to think about! even though i couldn't really come up with much for mika and krul #i hope it's not too little TwT #owari no seraph #seraph of the end #guren ichinose #shinoa hiiragi #krul tepes #hehe i love asks. thank you everyone you are contributing enrichment to my enclosure

[eerna]

Can you elaborate on what you don't like in the pjo books?

Ok here is a list of random things I want to change for the adaptation. It's not full bc it's been a long time since I really really thought about these books, but it's long enough.

1) American Values Propaganda. USA is just as evil and filled with hate and propaganda as their enemies are, and these books really love to ignore that. I understand that it's weird to ask an American author not to be so American, but I am still allowed to be annoyed. Thankfully, the books are already critical of the the system and demand change, so it's not just pure brainwashing and can be easily fixed in the show just by removing certain sentences and paragraphs. This is one of the aspects where HOO did better than PJO, since they were much more divorced from ideals of Western civilization, so I'm hoping they bring that energy over into the adaptation.

2) How demigods influenced WWII. YOU KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT. We can just say that demigods supported both sides and the gods figured their kids were uncontrollable and thus made the Big Three Pact. I like smaller jokes about famous demigods like Houdini or whatever, but let's not turn the most well known men of history into magical campers pls.

3) 2000s era misogyny. This is a weird one because these books are pretty progressive on that front while also following the trends of the era??? Like, one of the main ideas of TTC is that men are raised on a system that encourages and rewards them for using women and how women shouldn't be blamed for making extreme choices to avoid it, but we STILL get a girlhating love triangle a book later. So yes, more of the first and less of the second please.

4) LUKE AND ANNABETH. What the FUCK was that. If I am forced to go through that again I will burn Disney down to the ground. So yeah make his love for her a purely brotherly one and her crush unrequited and we are chill and I'll def cry over them.

5) Writing shortcuts that are chill for a kids' book, but will be very annoying onscreen. I'm talking about how no one ever explains anything to Percy, how conversations sometimes feel written around a subject just so it can get explained at a later date, basically anything that is used to build suspense but also makes character seem very dumb and mean and unnatural.

6) To this day I do not understand what the relationship between Annabeth and her dad is supposed to make me feel. I like the concept of a character with a less-than-ideal home life who is still trying to make the best of it, but I just don't understand how bad it is supposed to be? I don't like the idea that she is only making it all up in her head, and the books sometimes agree, so what's the truth? Asking as a big fan of the "MC with a complicated relationship with their father" trope.

7) This is a minor one and makes me laugh more than anything, but maybe explain the incest thing BEFORE your main character has clearly fallen in love and started kissing the girl who appears to be his niece. Looking back it's hilarious how I didn't question it at all as a kid, but nowadays I'm p sure parents will get heart attacks if this isn't cleared up before s5.

#eernask #eernanon #eernask talk riordanverse

[airenyah]

Hi, fellow ace enjoyer of JoongDunk here! I'm also nearer to the sex-repulsed end of the spectrum yet wanting to see JD in something saucier! Kiss scenes generally gross me out, but for some reason, I can watch Joong and Dunk kiss just fine. They're like the ship equivalent of a cheat day — a Cheat(?) Ship.

omg hiiiii, high five ✋ glad i'm not the only one hahaha

personally, kiss scenes in media generally don't bother me or gross me out, in fact, often i like them even! but if it's like a (heavy) make-out scene, those often kinda just bore me, especially if they go on for a long time. i might just end up sitting there like "aight i got it, they're slobbering all over each other. now can we move on with the plot, please?"

that being said, i have watched and rewatched the end of hidden agenda ep8 multiple time already! there's something about it that i really like but i can't put my finger on what exactly it is. part of the reason why i've rewatched it a couple of times was to figure out what exactly about it it is that i like so much, but i just don't have an answer. idk, maybe it's just the vibes 🙌

though i feel like sometimes the reason why kiss scenes bore me might also just be a problem of the acting. and that actually includes some of the hidden agenda kisses...

for example the first kiss scene from ep4? i really like that scene up until the moment they start kissing. like, they're just kissing for a while and absolutely nothing changes?? the tension and the emotions, the urgency, all of it just stays the same for the entire time. i can't even pinpoint what the characters are thinking or feeling in that moment, which is quite a shame considering this is their very first kiss, aka a very significant kiss. we've got zo who is in the middle of trying to figure out his feelings (i wanna know: how does he feel about the kiss? is he into it? is he nervous? is he having a realization? does he start to regret it while still in the middle of kissing? all of the above? WHAT is going on in his head, show me!!) and joke who is being kissed by the person he's been crushing on for a while now (again, i wanna know: how does he feel about the kiss? is he excited that what he's been dreaming about is finally happening? is he nervous? is he maybe not entirely happy with it since zo's feelings are unclear? all of the above? again, WHAT is going on in his head, show me!!). and i'm just not getting much out of it apart from the fact that "yay they're having their first kiss". now compare that with the ep8 [4/4] kiss scene that starts out slow and soft and tentative almost and then goes up in tension to then slow down again and keeps being broken up by dialogue. idk i just think it's neat. or also the ep7 yank kiss yeet scene!! there's so much urgency behind that kiss, it feels like it really matters. i love it!!!!

actually i have a similar problem with bad buddy. idk if you've seen it (if not, feel free to skip this paragraph), but the ep11 kiss at the beach is just so boring. they do get a little faster when they go back to kissing after they separated for a moment but there's aboslutely no urgency behind it and that just results in the opposite effect of making me feel like the characters want to be doing this, that it matters to them. it just doesn't feel like that at all. meanwhile the rooftop kiss... god, the rooftop kiss. that one is SO important and they let you feel it. the longer it goes on the more the tension rises and the more urgent it becomes and you as a viewer are just left breathless. the rooftop scene is a thing of beauty for so many reasons and this is one of them

oops i went off on a nerdy tangent.... sorry about that 😅

aaaaanyway, as i've mentioned before, kiss scenes are usually ok for me. it's the sex scenes that i'm a bit wary of, especially the more explicit they get. the more clothes come off and/or the more the kisses get further and further away from the head, the more likely i am to feel uncomfortable watching the scene. and if moaning is involved, that's usually the point where i'm like "ok i'm out". (and before i get an angry anon in my ask box telling me i'm being homophobic bc "yay gay sex" – i do not give a single fuck (quite literally) about the genders of the people involved in the sex scene. i find watching straight sex just as icky kjdfjkdg. ideologically i'm all for normalizing gay sex, put practically i'm just simply not the right target group fjfjhd)

though i have to say, it's gotten a little better now, the older i get. i guess i'm just getting used to those scenes. it's a slow process, but still, i find myself getting less uncomfortable now at age 26 compared to when i was, say, around 20

like, only friends has mostly been ok for me to my big surprise?? well, that bostontop scene in the car was a bit too much for me (and a definite skip on rewatches) and so was the sandray scene in the camper from last episode, like, i didn't really need that to watch that, while other scenes i'm having an easier time with (i haven't yet been able to figure out how a sex scene needs to be shot in order for me to enjoy it)

but even if i don't get uncomfortable as quickly anymore, i still don't really actively seek out media with overly sexual content/plots. UNLESS. i have a reason to do so like, uh, first kanaphan. (ngl if it wasn't for first, i probably wouldn't be watching only friends at all. i would have watched the trailer and been like "ok this show is too horny for me, i'll let the others have fun and maaaybe follow the show via gifs on my dash at most")

or, you know, joongdunk 😂😂 although i have to say that in reality i actually want a saucy/sexy series (like an only friends-style series) more for them rather than myself! i feel like they'd have fun with it. there's just something about them doing dum dum for lol fanfest and that choreography ending in some neck biting action and them having the idea to switch up who bites who for day 2 in order to surprise everyone. there's just something about how they kept talking about how hidden agenda is more mature than star in my mind and how there were some scenes that they'd never done before (here is some of that interview with eng subs, but unfortunately it's heavily edited rip). there's something about the way the two of them actually sat down together and did a whole ass instagram live in which they watched, reacted and provided commentary to the entirety of hidden agenda ep8 (as far as i'm aware of they didn't go live on instagram for any other episode. and i'm 1000000% sure they chose ep8 specifically for the love scene and the love scene alone fkfjjfjf). not to mention how joong immediately went "episode 8" when asked for his favorite episode and grinned and looked at dunk and when dunk was like "i'm thinking either 7 or 8" joong repeated "eight" and when dunk still didn't get it joong nudged him and firmly went "eight!!" and then dunk went "oh yeah, ep 8"

so yeah. i want a sexy joongdunk series for them, for their sake. i think they'd have a blast with it djkfgjkdkjd

#SexyJoongDunkVampireSeriesWhen #JusticeForJoongDunk @ gmmtv

#why r u was also reeeally overwhelming for me withsome of those scenes dfkjkdfgd #the sauna scene oh god i just Can't #or also everything from the finale where they do that thing with the necklace #that just has me go ''???? i don't understand help'' #aaaaanyway sorry!! this got long!! and pretty nerdy in between sdkjfskd #i keep saying that i don't want to talk about acting publicly and then i can't keep my mouth shut after all lmao rip #asks #airenyah plappert #adrm #sexy joongdunk vampire bl #considering my tangent in the middle i think this should probably also be filed under #airenyah talks acting #also i love how it's like #me: ''i haven't watched bbs in june and i've mostly consumed JD content lately so i think i'm finally over bbs and am in my JD era now'' #also me: *compulsorily finds a way of making a joongdunk ask about bad buddy anway* #goddammit #who was it again who said ''this isn't about bad buddy but when is anything not about bad buddy anymore'' #bc it still holds up two years later rip #no matter how much i think i may be finally getting over bbs.... yeah no i think i'm gonna be staying a bbs blog for a while still

[inquisitorius-sin-bin]

Okay so I could go on forever about the two stories but I shall keep it as concise as possible

I loved both of them, honestly some of the best Quizzy content I’ve ever seen out there. I think “Studied and Praised” would probably be my favourite if I had to pick, I loved the way the tragedy unfolded in “Whiskey and Teeth” (not that this one wasn’t tragic too) but the sheer detail you put into character backstories is stellar, and I think the length of “Studied and Praised” helped draw that out a bit more. Loved the Sith legends, too, I’m always down for lore like that. They were both so wonderful oh my god

Aaaand I have to know, how many siblings does HRH have? And (if you’ve thought of it) what happened on the journey to Exegol? Because I bet that was NOT a fun conversation oof

Eeeeeee thankyousomuch!!! I am glad you enjoy them both! I did a lot of research for Studied and Praised, almost every bit of Sith lore I included was canon. The only bits I embellished were like, giving dates for the design inspiration of Fortress Inquisitorius, and some of the details in the paragraph where HRH is inferring where Exegol should be. All their jokes and everything were based on real tidbits I found about sacred Jedi and Sith text, which I thought Inky would get a real kick out of.

My only real regrets were, because of the length, there were some things I kind of had to cut or shorten. Originally HRH and Inky were supposed to have a longer conversation about HRH's family, but it felt a little out of place. HRH has four siblings that they know of, an older brother and three sisters, HRH is somewhere in the middle of them. The nibling is not Rey, as that timeline doesn't work out quite right, it's too early. But I'm sure if the Emperor had one secret grandkid, they could have had many.

Also, I really wanted to continue to show the full interactions with HRH's guards afterwards, but it didn't feel quite right, and so I didn't feel like I got to wrap that up very cleanly. But Renson, based on his age and HRH's age, would have joined Sheev's guard when he was still a Senator. Sure, he's loyal to the Emperor, but I think this shapes the story a lot. I don't think he signed up for everything that came after. I think he's pleased he's assigned to the one child that isn't force sensitive and gets ignored more. He gets to shape them, and have more of an impact on their life.

The sadness and pity when he looks upon HRH after they reveal what they were planning, I think he's upset that they cannot deny that part of them that is a Palpatine, that is so ruthlessly ambitious it consumes them. He's like, why can't you just play it safe, be an archaeologist, not a murderer/politician/warlord? Why isn't this good enough for you? And he is very explicitly worried about the correct problem, which is: HRH doesn't have the Force, therefore isn't a threat. If they are known to interact with the Inquisitor, or WORSE, form a personal relationship that could undermine the master/acolyte relationship between the Emperor and the Inquisitor, they are gaining access to the force AND becoming a huge threat.

For Vanyiel, the relationship is much newer, but I think she is starting to warm up to HRH for giving her her identity back. But she also has seen the Inquisitorius and the dark deeds that they do up close. Of course HRH is familiar with the Sith and what the Inquisitors and Emperor get up to, but they were raised in that, I don't think it bothers them. They also haven't necessarily seen it first-hand, only discussed it, been familiarized with it casually. Vanyiel has not seen that side of the Emperor, because he doesn't show it much, but she has a reason to fear the Inquisitors.

So all this being said, the aftermath would really damage HRH's relationships with both of her closests "friends"/advisors. However, they also legitimately care about what their guards think of them. I think up until this point, HRH has been a really calculated, rational person, so to see them slip up this badly and come completely unhinged would be a total shock. Even to HRH. I do think Vanyiel would stick with them, and not tell the Emperor what they had done. But HRH would have to work hard to rebuild her trust. Renson probably gives them a really stern lecture, but I think HRH would be a little broken too. Once separated from the moment, I think they would totally fold from their mistake. They really, really botched their future plans. Maybe they would finally realize that they will NEVER get approval from their father, and instead should seek to better their relationship with the real guiding figures in their life that actually care about them, Renson and Vanyiel.

Personally, I like to think about a afab HRH having a little bit different fate ultimately, should this encounter leave them a little more "burdened" than they came in. That they might, after delivering Exegol to the Emperor, beg to be given exile as a reward. So that they might live out a quiet life as an archeologist, assigning Vanyiel to be their child's Head Guardian, and just learn to live in peace with what they have, under Renson's guidance. So ultimately, a happy ending for them, I think. Just a rocky middle. But I don't necessarily think that fate is set in stone, just one I like to think about for them.

#q&a

[fritextramole]

Oh my God Jenny kissing Dan during the season 4 masquerade would have been soooo fucked up given that she and Juliette would knowingly and voluntarily have chosen which of the boys they were kissing that night lmao. At least if it happened in season one it’d just be a Ross & Monica-esque gross but honest misunderstanding, but the season 4 kiss would have to have been A Choice on Jenny’s end. (To be fair, these are the same showrunners who included an oral sex scene between siblings on the actual HBO Gossip Girl reboot so… 🤢)

I mean, I could see a universe where Juliet either forced Jenny's hand/tricked her into kissing Dan (why exactly she would do that is beyond me but I'm sure the showrunners could come up with something) (I could also see a universe where it's a case of mistaken identity on Dan's end as they flee similar to in season 1)

but given your later point about the oc and dynasty who's to say the showrunners didn't love incest and hate Jenny enough to have her make that choice 🤢🤢. they already had her do along with William giving Lily fake cancer and try to get Nate drunk so she could sleep with him last season who knows what she'll do

Also on a related note a part of me genuinely wondered if the showrunners weren’t toying with the idea of having Eric be Rufus’s secret love child, rather than Scott. Obviously the timeline would have to be different, but then they played pretty fast and loose with the Rufly timeline to begin with so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ There were just enough jokes/throwaway lines throughout the first couple of seasons that it felt like kind of a “haha just kidding…. unless?” type of thing to me.

Anon, your mind!!! I'm obsessed with this idea I wanna hear more about it!!!! I remember Jenny's line at Thanksgiving about how Eric's roots are "pretty Rufus-like" but do you have any other examples I wanna read a multi paragraph breakdown of this theory!!!!!!

when do you think they would've found out? in the season 2 brunch episode where GG sent out the blast that Dan and Serena share a sibling? at the beginning of season 3 when Scott was around in the show? at the end of season 3 when William showed up???

I'm sure there would've been a little hand wringing about the affair but the show had stopped caring about Alison at this point so they would've moved on. Eric and Jenny probably would settled on being happy about it but it's hard to say for Dan and Serena given how they never moved on from each other (do you think they still would've gotten married in the finale or would rufly be allowed to stay together?)

I could see a universe where Lily didn't know (or at least wasn't sure) that Eric was Rufus's son but I think narratively it's more dramatic if she did. how would Rufus have reacted to the fact that she's been keeping their son from him? (she didn't even tell him after she and William got divorced! is that why she and William got divorced? Serena would hate that it could be interesting)

anon I want you to know I'm going to be turning this over in my head for the next like week please tell me more

(I've said before that I think early on they were planting foreshadowing for Jenny and Eric to date and I am going to combine these 2 possibilities into one au if only to torture these fictional characters in my head)

Also, there WAS actually a similar near incest plot in The OC (which the GG showrunners Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage made before Gossip Girl), and the CW Dynasty reboot they did after had a major romantic pairing that turned out to be cousins, in addition to a bunch of other pseudo-incestuous pairings. I have no idea WHY they keep inserting different variations of this same plot-line into their shows (at least Dynasty has the excuse of being a reboot of a soap opera that had some of the same relationships in it), but it’s kind of a recurring theme.

I mean... I think it's because incest is the universal taboo so it's guaranteed to scandalize no matter what. like rewatching the early gossip girl episodes it's like. "Blair had sex with Chuck and Nate in the same week! what a whore!" which feels like small potatoes knowing about the Princess-Diana-esque-Royal-Wedding-Unplanned-Pregnancy-Car-Crash-Deal-With-God plot she's got in a few seasons but the near incest still feels gross. (but I mean. given how the show dresses and looks at its female characters I would bet there's also some level of poorly disguised fetish at play)

#gg #gossip girl #ggrw #jenny humphrey #eric van der woodsen

[scratchybeardsweetmouth]

Thanks for tagging me @lodessa in the WIP Folder Meme and for @youcancallme-ray for the Last Line - WIP Meme! I barely write so I unfortunately have nothing for this but just going to share some notes or initial plans or ideas I had that well, were initially WIPs, and now are just rotting in my folder (or brain) left un-giffed.

Goran Visnjic in every episode of Red Widow - I stopped at episode s01e04

Jorah Mormont in every episode - I stopped at s05e08 and have yet to compile for s05e09

Iain Glen as John Manly in Black Beauty - the last scene where he lets the horse roam

Iain Glen as Sonny McElhone in his undies helping a friend out of his heart stopping 

Tedbecca... (Ted Lasso and Rebecca Welton scenes) (see below the cut)

I kinda wanna tag writers that might actually enjoy the WIP Folder Meme and Last Line - WIP Meme but this reply of mine might be confusing lol! For any writer that does wanna check out that tag game, please see the links in the first paragraph.

########################## tedbecca side by side in one scene 1x01 - welcome to england 1x01 - drinking water after press 1x02 - keeley arrives with lion or panda (extra 1x02, standing in front of press) 1x02 - that's y you're the boss / toy soldier 1x02 - cake from sam's bday 1x04 - ted lasso, my god! 1x05 - ted in rebecca's office with head injury 1x06 - just the man i wanted to see 1x06 - ey boss glad u could join us 1x06 - oh spirits 1x07 - rebecca comforts ted/panic atk 1x08 - meeting milk sisters 1x09 - biscuit boost eggplant suit 1x09 - apology 1x10 - toast 'win whole fucking thing'

########################## tedbecca because you loved me by celine dion

for all those times you stood by me 1x08 - don't want to give him the satisfaction

for all the truth that you made me see 1x04 - who sees who he really is? you're not.

for all the joy you brought to my life 2x04 - walking together outside ted's place 2x01 - that laugh cheering from the box

for all the wrong that you made right 1x09 - rebecca apologizes, 'i forgive you'

for every dream you made come true 2x12 - you too ted! champagne to celebrate?

for all the love i found in you 1x02 - toy soldier

ill be forever thankful baby ---

you're the one who held me up, never let me fall 2x10 funeral, ted continues the song

you're the one who saw me through, through it all 1x04 hug or the start of convo --------------------------------------

you were my strength when i was weak 1x04 hug outside the gala

you were my voice when i couldn't speak 1x08 dart scene

you were my eyes when i couldn't see 1x09 i forgive you

you saw the best there was in me 1x09 eggplant suit

lifted me up when i couldn't reach 2x10 funeral, ted continues the song

you gave me faith 'cause you believed 1x09 apology hug

i'm everything i am

because you loved me

########################## struck by fuckin' lightning

1x01 how you holdin up 1x02 fuck me (biscuits) 1x04 *thank you* (end of gala, reacts to ted) 1x08 dart scene 2x12 you too, ted (congratulations)

########################## if you're with the right person, even the hard times are easy

1x04 gala hug 1x07 panic attack 1x08 you wanna leave? 1x09 rebecca's apology 1x10 carrying something besides biscuits 2x04 "hi ted" 2x10 never gonna say goodbye

########################## himbo moments, rebecca's reactions

1x01 ghosts need to believe in themselves 1x03 branding joke 1x03 owner of the sun 1x03 obama arm wrestle 2x12 "still" water

########################## s01e04 gala comfort s01e07 panic attack comfort s01e05 oklahoma s03e04 oklahoma s01e08 hi boss s02e04 hi ted s02e10 traumas

########################### Gifset of them with these lyrics:

God sent those eyes to get me through the night And all the shadows of the past fade into white When all the memories in my head subside You remain here, you remain dear inside, ooh

We try to understand the way the current flows We find the love and plan that only faith can know And underneath the veil of my wild eyes Is a heart unafraid to let love inside,

--  Godsent by Ben&Ben

#tag games

[dreamcatcher-ranger]

Queued

This is a fictional story, I apologize because I didn't realize how the first paragraphs sounded without context. I am perfectly fine. Please reblog this version and enjoy!

Let me preface this by clarifying a thing. If you're reading this, I'm already dead. I'll queue this for tomorrow morning, and if nothing happens I'll take this down. If you're seeing this on your dash, it means I'm gone. If I can return... Idk, maybe I'll write a more detailed post with the answers to all of this, maybe y'all could just carry on like nothing happened. Maybe this post will not exist anymore and there is no need to tell you what I would do.

That being said, if I will have to say goodbye, the least I could do is doing it with style. 

My name is Norman. All of you will already know me by my url, or maybe the pfp. "Look, it's trans Charizard again. What will he have to say this time". Mostly shitpost, alright? I didn't log in expecting to become a great artist. Sometimes, however, I liked to cut out a little scrap from my life and show it to you.

I started when my new life started. When I finally managed to get away from the horrible claws of my family and I settled in this little apartment. It was a small place, tucked away between the trees, where birds were more loud than traffic. 

All things considered, it has been nice to get it without having to pluck out my eye to pay rent. It was crammed, yes, but at the time I didn't even have a bed. It was enough.

So, as my loyal followers may already know, life here was... peculiar. 

It wasn't anything outright weird, more like little unsettling details, details on which the eye glided until they got caught, and once the eye caught them it couldn't let them go.

Typing them on here, in hindsight, makes me feel dumb, like if I was some horror movie dipshit that wouldn't move out of a clearly haunted house, trapped in his certainty that "GhOsTs ArEn'T rEaL" despite the furniture floating past him.

In my defense, my furniture didn't float. At least, I never saw it doing so. 

There have been misplaced objects, though. A glass that got knocked over, a book I was sure I had put a bookmark in, my Waddles (yes, the Gravity Falls pig. Sue me) plushie popping up from the strangest places, like when I found it in the pantry, behind the pasta. 

It was the least tbh.

Misplaced objects... they could be attributed to my ADHD. I came to terms with the fact that my things never seemed to stay where I put them when I was, like, six. After a while it sort of became a bit, in our family. So it wasn't exactly news. Even if Waddles in the pantry was a bit too much even for me. But hey, everyone lost track of their stuff sometimes, if they weren’t paying attention.

And, as I said before, it was the least. I mean, you saw my posts. At first I joked a bit about these teleportations, along the lines of "haha, look, my plushie loves pasta sooo much!". But, like, everyone who owns a cat knows that teleport is not impossible. "Yeah yeah, things that change places when they shouldn't, we've all seen it". Issues started coming after a few weeks.

At first, it was the golden leaves. I already said that my house was in the middle of the woods, right?

Well, it was around last April when they started making their appearance. I challenge everybody, everybody, to see a threat in a shiny, little golden leaf placed on the window sill.

They were really cool, by the way. Not even a little bit scary. Annoying, for sure. But not scary.

They made me curse every ancient god that watched over this Earth, though. I wouldn't get surprised if Cthulhu came knocking at my door asking why I was calling for them. For it was enough to leave the door a tiny tiny bit ajar for a freaking MOUNTAIN of leaves to make their entrance.

They defied physics. How the hell a metric fuck you of leaves could have come inside through an opening of an inch (measured) in less than half a minute is beyond me. But at least, broom and patience, and I swatted them away.

Now, I admit that maybe it was my fault, because if a normal person gets ATTACKED by leaves their first reaction is to find the tree those leaves come from.

It never crossed my mind, I swear. Not even when they started exploding.

Okay, maybe exploding is a bit of an overstatement. It's not like they went KABOOM and set things on fire.

It was just that as soon as I grazed them, even by blowing on them, puf! They turned into a little cloud of golden dust. And that mother-effing dust stuck! It didn't go away! Soon all my belongings were golden-leaf-dust-coated. I had a glittering house.

And if your first reaction is "Norman, normal leaves don't act that way" well, whoever you are, you may be an amateur botanist, but I know jack shit about trees. I wasn't gonna bother my landlord for a couple of leaves. It was my very first place of my own, I wasn't gonna act like a whiny baby. I think it would have solved a lot of problems, though.

Because then, around the middle of this January, it was the stains' turn. The streaks, the markings.

They started appearing in little spots, like little droplets of something. I didn't thought much of them, it was an old house in the middle of the woods, of course there would have been dirt here and there.

I found the first concerning one on the couch. It was a big, rough brown stain vaguely resembling a heart. Not a "❤" sort of heart, an anatomically correct heart with atriums and all. It had even the veins on it. It was a bit disturbing, I admit it. Maybe, a flying chair would have been a less noticeable warning.

However, it probably was just a Rorschach-like effect. Y'know, the test with the stains. It was just a puddle, but I thought it looked a bit like a heart and therefore was an anatomically-correct-heart-shaped puddle.

It was not the only rough brown stain I found. They didn't really bothered me, because, unlike that goddamned dust, they went away on their own. I had to clean off only the most visible ones. They just. Appeared. On the windows, the ceiling, at the bottom of the walls and on the floor, in the kitchen, on the mirrors, on my blankets, my clothes, even on the back of my binder. I felt a bit sorry when those disappeared, because they resembled two little bat wings.

If you followed me at the time, I'm sure you remember those pictures. How could you not? Some of them went viral, my notifications never recovered. I think that the rose on my bedsheets got reblogged by a heritage posts blog, like the "is this dress blue and black or white and gold?" meme.

By this point you are probably thinking "But Norman, at this point you must have noticed that something was wrong. Dirt doesn't appear and disappear, and it doesn't come in elaborate shapes." And you're right. I noticed that it was not right. I may be a skeptic, but until a certain point. But I'm not a moron. Except I was. Because it was just dirt. Dirt that came in beautiful patterns and went away on its own and it didn't bother me. So I pretended that everything was fine, it was normal, nothing was going on.

I am really, really a moron.

Because what happened next made me realize it was not dirt.

It was blood.

I... don't think I've ever posted the handprints on here. The heart, the rose, those little spots that looked like a constellation were all meant to get a laugh out of who saw them. Somebody even accused me of creating them myself, which, dear rando, thank you. It wasn't me. I can’t draw shit.

Handprints smeared on my kitchen were NOT, I repeat, NOT my doing. Why the fuck should I do such a thing? They were creepy as fuck, and I immediately got a hold of soap and sponge. The point is, they reappeared every time. I cleaned the glass panel, and the next morning I found two, if not more, different handprints.

Once there was one that had nothing better to do than flipping me off.

Very funny.

At a certain point I just gave up. The patterns always went away by themselves, I could suck it up and endure a "fuck you" by a stain on my window for a while.

Wrong. The second evening after my last attempt, at the start of September, they chose to up their game. Under my eyes, the substance they were made of slowly became dark crimson and wet and started dripping. I yelled and fell backwards, crashing over the table.

Quivering, I slowly crawled away from the window. I felt something wet on my fingertips, I must have hit my elbow in the fall. Instead of any kind of pain, it was disgust that clawed at my stomach. As I watched the trickle of blood on my forearm the memory of all the shapes came to mind and realization hit.

I've slept between those blankets, dammit!

I reached the sink and said goodbye to my breakfast. When my head stopped spinning, I grabbed soap and a rag and, in record time, cleaned off that nightmare from my glass.

Too bad that the nightmare just started.

This was the only place I had. I couldn't pack and just go. I should've done it, but I couldn't.

However, it was now time to bother my landlord. The sweet old lady that I talked to over the phone assured me she would come as soon as she could.

As soon as she could was a week later. That week was a nightmare. I tried to stay away from the house as long as I could. But I always had to sleep somewhere. And those nights... I don't want to talk about those nights. I was curled under my blankets, trembling and sobbing. Apparently, the 'dirt' stains now always came in liquid form. And I always woke up covered in golden glitter and red trickles, despite having a sheet all over me. Use your imagination.

When I finally greeted the sweet granny, I was in tatters. And glittering. As I said, the dried blood went away, the dust stuck.

For her, a single glance around was enough. She pursed her lips, and nodded solemnly. And told me that to solve this I had to leave something sweet as an offering, in the woods. Something like a cake, bread, cream, sugar, milk and honey.

Milk. And honey.

Are you FUCKING kidding me.

Apparently not, she was not kidding me. She looked extremely serious. And so I though, why not give it a shot? And after she left me I took a bowl, I filled it with milk and honey, and walked until I could find a good spot between the trees, where I left it.

The next morning I woke up unscathered. And when I went checking, the bowl was just shiny clean. Not even a drop.

So, a bowl of milk and honey in exchange for a night of peaceful sleep. And a clean house.

Poor fool that I was, I thought it could work.

This was three weeks ago. And, of those three weeks, just the first few days the milk worked. Because then, They wanted more.

Milk and honey, but with a spoonful of sugar. Slices of white, soft bread with butter and sugar. Mugs of coffee creamer and honey. Little cakes, like tarties and plumcakes. Sweets. Peppermints and toffee. And so forth.

Always more, always more.

And if the quota wasn't met, the blood returned. And the dust. And the misplaced stuff. And, between the trunks and branches, I could see lights dancing and hear soft laughter and singing, asking for more. More, more. More.

They just don't want to leave me alone. I can’t keep on living like this. I made my decision. I typed on here all of this story. So, now you all know. I have a kitchen knife shining next to me. Must sound more gutsy that it really is, but tonight I'm gonna march in the woods and make Them leave me alone.

It sounds so brave. But I'm not. I'm crying and shaking. My fingers can't stay still. There are tears on my laptop. I'm gonna die.

But anger is stronger. I-I will try to make Them stop. To make Them let me live my life. If it won't work, at the top of this story I left all you need to know. If things work out... I dunno. An update, maybe? A whole different story, maybe.

But now the story queued is this.

So, thank you, to all of my mutuals, for the time spent on this blue hell. I love all of you.

Goodbye

Norman

#if you saw the unfinished thing i posted by accident and left it there cuz i didn't notice haha no you didn't #i've spent a lot of time writing this; so i truly hope it will be good #and i hope there won't be any typos; i triple checked #there will be; i just know #but this story... i am kinda proud of how it turned out; ya know? #and; just as an experiment; i want to try to get out of my shell and tag it properly. just to see what happens. #my writing #please tell me what you think; because i had this in the making for a very long time #if you read until here; thank you; so much #bye :) #my little scrapbook collection #fey