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moongothic · 2 months

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This is gonna turn into some Crocodad Propaganda eventually but putting the man aside for a little bit

Let's be real for a moment. Regardless of who Luffy's other biological parent is, regardless of if they're relevant to the story or not, no matter what has become of that person, if they're dead or somewhere out there alive, etc-- I believe Oda "knows the truth".

Although it took One Piece until post-Enies Lobby to reveal some of Luffy's blood relatives to us, Oda had technically introduced both Garp and Dragon to us all the way back in the East Blue saga. And Ace was introduced not too long after in the Baroque Works saga, along with his tattoo which held that secret tribute to Sabo all along. (Also he was introduced as "Portgaz D. Ace" meaning Oda must've intended to make the two non-blood brothers from the get-go.) All this means that Luffy's family, both adopted and blood relatives, have been in Oda's mind from the very begining of the story. And so if Oda had figured out Luffy's grandfather, father and at least one brother (if not both) from the begining, then why would he not have decided what became of the person who gave birth to the idiot as well? Like considdering how detail-oriented and meticulous Oda can be, would it not be unusual for him to essentially forget about a character that important (in the sense that Luffy literally would not exist without them) and just handwave them away without much thought? Would that not be out of character for Oda? As such, I don't think it is not unreasonable for us to believe that Oda would know what happened to Luffy's other bio-parent. Mind you, it really could be just something like "Luffy's mother died of The Disease when Luffy was a baby", or "the mom fell down the stairs" or "was eaten by a bear in the woods" or something, anything, whatever. Even if it truly does not matter to the story one bit, I'm sure Oda knows the truth of what happened and why that character wasn't a part of Luffy's life.

But at the same time, if the identity and the fate of Luffy's birthing parent truly did not matter to the story at all, then why wouldn't Oda just tell us who that was and what happened to them? In an SBS or an interview? It's not like people haven't been asking about it, because fans and staff alike have been asking about it for years. If the information really would not change anything, be it the direction the story will take or how we view the characters, if it really is just worthless trivia, then why keep it away from us?

Now of course, I'm sure you'd want to point out that one time Oda told Mayumi Tanaka that "A young boy's adventure begins after he leaves his mother's arms. I want to tell this young boy's adventure story, so his mom is not part of it." And Oda isn't known for lying, we do kind of want to take what he told Mayumi Tanaka at face value. At the same time though. If Luffy's other parent did become a plot relevant character in like the final 200 chapters of the story, after a 1100 chapters, they and their potential connection to Luffy would not have mattered to the story for 90% of its run. For an overwhealming majority of Luffy's adventure, that person would not have been a part of it. So if that character did become relevant, and Oda was lying, then it'd be a white lie at worst. But also, if Oda did intend to reveal that other parent eventually, when the time was right, then surely he wouldn't want to get people hyped up about it way ahead of time. If it did turn out to be a big plot twist or an otherwise important plot point, Oda would want to keep it under the wraps and a secret until the right time, you don't want to spoil something like that. Not to mention it could end up working like a distraction and make people not focus on the more important things happening in the story currently. So really, I think we'd all forgive him for a white lie there. Not to mention, technically speaking, if Luffy doesn't even have a mom but two dads, then Oda wouldn't really be lying either.

But that does bring up an important thing to considder.

If Crocodile does turn out to be Luffy's other dad, when did Oda get that idea, and when would he have committed to it?

Because, keep in mind, One Piece began back in 1997. Twenty seven whole years ago. Which means there's two things to considder; the evolution of queer rights over the past near three decades, as well as the fact that One Piece has more than surpassed Oda's original plans for the series. We must not forget how for a manga to remain serialized in Weekly Shounen JUMP, you need to perform well in the popularity polls consistently; if your manga starts dropping in popularity, JUMP can cancel it and force you end it prematurely. Of course, Oda arguably does not have to worry about those polls anymore after all these decades, there's no way in hell JUMP would ever cancel fucking One Piece in this day and age. But that might not have been the case 15 years ago, that was not the case 20 years ago, and that was absolutely not the fucking case 25 years ago. Like we all famously know that Oda originally planned One Piece to maybe run for like a year, then five years, then ten etc etc. That really is because at the begining of his career he had no quarantee he'd be able to tell the full story he was slow cooking at the back of his mind. Back in the early days, One Piece could've been canceled and ended prematurely, so Oda smartly chose to write it focusing very specifically on what mattered to the story at that moment, in the short term. Yes, he did start laying out the groundwork for things to come, but he did it so subtly that had OP been forced to end early, the series wouldn't have been left with too many massive, gaping plotholes or unresolved sidestories. Another thing to keep in mind is how comic artists for JUMP do have editors etc who can have a say in what goes into the manga (famously, Sasuke only existed because Matashi Kishimoto's editor suggested it). So again, while Oda might be able to do whatever the hell he pleases in One Piece at this point, that wouldn't have been the case 20+ years ago. He would have been more or less at the whims of his editors back in the day.

So would Oda have thought about giving Luffy, the main character of the series, a transgender father back in the year 2000? Could that really have been the secret plan from the start? And would Oda's editor(s) at JUMP have allowed that? Or, did Oda maybe come up with the idea later?

Now just so we're clear, I am NOT suggesting Crocodad was Oda's original intent and that his editors didn't let him do it or anything like that, my tinfoil hat isn't on that fucking tight. What I do want to suggest, is that it is plausible Crocodile being Luffy's other dad was an idea Oda was playing around with at the back of his mind from the begining, but wasn't sure he'd ever get to, mainly due to the uncertainty of series' future and partially because he could've been unsure if his editors would even allow him to write that story. And IF this was the case, Oda may not have even started committing to to the idea until around the CP9 saga. Or, it's possible Oda only got the idea sometime after the completion of the Alabasta arc/during Skypiea saga, and started laying down the groundwork for during Summit War so that, if he ever got around to it, he'd be able to commit and tell that story.

Regardless, let's be real.

It is interesting and kind of suspicious how Crocodile does just happen to be introduced around the same time the rest of Luffy's family was first shown to us, even if we didn't know Garp and Dragon were Luffy's family yet (this was also the same time the first canon queer character was introduced; Oda was playing around with queer characters during Crocodile's introduction, possibly testing the waters to see what he could get away with?) During the CP9 Saga we got the Miss Goldenweek cover story, where we see what's become of Crocodile after the fall of Baroque Works. This is of course adding to the world building of the CP9 Saga (where we're told the criminals who go through Enies Lobby are either sent to Impel Down or to Marineford; so us finding out Crocodile's gone to ID is playing off of what we knew would become of Robin and Franky and the Strawhats not come to rescue them. AND it's foreshadowing for the Summit War Saga), but also, soon after we were reminded of Crocodile and told where he's been sent off to, we were finally formally introduced to Garp and Dragon (Garp having already been mentioned by Aokiji at the begining of the Saga). And we close off the Saga watching Ace and Blackbeard have their fateful match. So again, Crocodile was on Oda's mind around the same time the rest of Luffy's family was. And indeed, after Thriller Bark we then move onto Summit War proper, where Oda does all The Things we would considder The Groundwork for Crocodad, most important being the introduction of Ivankov and their Devil Fruit. But again, just like before, Crocodile just happens to be there at the same time as this saga, which really heavily focuses on Luffy's family, plays out. While we learn about Dragon's secretive nature and connection to Iva-chan, Garp's feelings for the boys, Ace's struggle with his heritage and Luffy's love for him, Sabo and Garp... Yeah, Crocodile's just... Also there.

Whenever Oda starts dwelling into Luffy's family, Crocodile is always there. It's a bizarre coincidence if nothing else.

(And oh won't you look at that, Crocodile has once again become a plot relevant character, just in time for The Final Saga where Dragon has also started becoming actually plot relevant as well)

All of this to say, again.

The fact that Oda has refused to tell us anything about Luffy's other parent is sus, and to me indicates that either although unusual for him Oda genuinely just doesn't give a damn about Luffy's other parent, or he's been trying to play it safe for years so that if he ever got the opportunity, he could give Luffy two dads. (Or maybe there's some other twist that has nothing to do with Crocodile, that is possible too, I just feel like if that was the case then why hide it for 27 years?)

Whatever the case, I'm sure Oda knows the truth.

And I'm sure we will find out the truth eventually, be it on the pages of the comic or in the SBS.

#Moon posting #OP Meta #Crocodad #This got so fucking long. Under the Read More you go #Hey Anon. Funny you should send that ask about those interviews from Oda when I was literally in the middle of writing this #What're the fucking odds lmao #Anyway Anon I hope you see this because I'm not going to answer to your ask *separately* since this post goes over the same stuff #Like it's not exactly what this post is REALLY about but since I go over it. Yeah discussing it once should be enough lol #The funny thing is that this post really was supposed to be more about how Croc's appearances in the story match the rest of Luffy's family #But I had too many things to say and I figured I might as well put all this shit into one post (for better or for worse)

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lenievi · 7 months

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(DC Comics February 1995, issue 68)

#spones #'unique bond' lol #spock's like doctor stonn asked me if i ever got over t'pring #mccoy: idk if i'm more surprised that he asked you or that you're telling me #spock: we have a unique bond doctor (who else would i talk about this with?)#and i'm troubled because i've never tried to quantify those feelings #mccoy: well a few years ago you'd never say a word. this is an improvement #spock: what caused this improvement?#mccoy: you said we shared consciousness #spock: you said don't remind me lol #tos nonsense #always love to see people acknowledging a unique bond between spock and mccoy <3 #i'm gonna miss these 1990s comics. i'm slowly running out :(#since i also only read one author and skip the rest since i don't trust them

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liquidstar · 2 months

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sleepovers save money on hotel rooms while on missions 👍

#finn's ocs #finn's art #sorry i was super offline the past few days but i had some time to draw between stuff so. them :)#besides i might as well draw all them hanging out like this after drawing PJ designs. but unlike in those i gave polaris and saiph pants #let them at least be decent while hanging out LOL #i want to draw lots more misc oc stuff now that i have all the refs done #but somehow i have too many ideas and yet none at all at the same time! if you have suggestions lmk 😅#anyway polaris is annoyed at saiph here because he wont stop moving his head even though the braiding was his idea lol #bella passed the fuck out shes one of those ppl who have a very set sleep schedule #wakes up at 6am falls asleep immediately at 9pm #lets all pray she doesnt wake up with something stupid drawn on her face tomorrow #mira is just having fun tho shes reading to everyone every cute :) saiph interrupts with commentary (causing further annoyance from polaris #al is mostly observing like hes just happy to be hanging out. also having al be the most in the shadows because of course #but he likes watching his friends interact. but also hey man his eyes are up there #anyway i tried my best w the colors here so hopefully it looks okay. i wanted something warm but also kinda dark to give off late night vib #i hope tumblr doesnt kill the quality tho! it looks kinda blurry rn but it might be ok when i hit post #if it fits well i might make it my new blog header too? maybee #^_^

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skunkes · 2 months

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#prefacing this with I Know Spanish. i cant not know spanish‚ my parents don't speak english #but im the only one of my siblings that didnt get to go to school over there 🇲🇽 (just pre school)#adn the thing is like. my siblings wld talk to me in eng of course #(if they talked to me at all! what do u say to a baby when you're 9 12 and 15 yrs older.)#and my parents wld similarly jst not talk to me? i did not have conversations with them from birth to now lol.#thjere is something about how like. my sisters kids are also learning the languages at the same time #but when they mess up in spanish theyre corrected‚ by my sister (their mom)‚ my other sister‚ my parents #why not Me. why wasnt that extended to Me as a child...#the same reason I have the least amount of baby pictures while my siblings all have one full book each i bet #the same reason why my and my eldest sister are 15 yrs apart LOL #igts so crazy to me. i hate mentioning this bc people assume #im one of those ppl who isnt fluent bc their parents speak english and spanish and never taught them #my parents dont speak english❗❗❗❗#my nephew thats older than me who is my fave family member and also only speaks spanish #is coming up on sunday idk that i can fully carry convo with him!#pure spanglish bc i didnt grow up having convos in it writing it reading it #thats why im so desperate to read books in spanish now. im so deeply ashamed #igts so crazy. i hate it.#saw a comment on smthng the other day thats like ''idk how u can have parents that only speak spanish and not know it lol''#well can you take a guess. can u take a guess as to how that would happen via interactions. lack thereof.#idk why but its even more embarrassing this way. genuinely how cld u not know...?#its like i was born to feel isolated from my family in every single way...youngest by so many years #the language thing. the Hates Eating thing. the trans thing. most severe failure to launch #im so embarrassed to be alive....!#and i dont belong anywhere. and i am Alone wherever I am.#abandoned by direct and distant relatives. ancestors.

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can-of-slorgs · 11 days

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The other researchers are also here! (magical edition!)

#neopets #neotag #neoart #eyrie #gelert #THE BOYS ARE HEREEE #vin doods #my beautiful magical boyssss #had some time to kill this weekend so might as well finish rendering some stuff i have lying around lmao #its ironic cause my oc stuff is the stuff that gets less views or reacts overall but is the ones im more interested in for the most part #its been a while since i've actually really loved an bunch of ocs and this 4 (technically 5) are going to be the death of me lol #just to be consistent with the other post #eyrie's name is Ozzi or Oz #and gelert's name i'm still unsure of but for now I'm going with Faeran #i'm so emotionally invested in these characters you have no idea LMFAOO #also I did base Faeran's looks in a lot of “long dogs” like borzois and the ears just came naturally to me lol #I'm still working on a doc with all the info for those interested tho buuut if any are reading by this point feel free to ask about them!!#I'll just never shut up lol #the neopia i did put them in is a tad bit more.... “dark”?? i guess??#its less abstractly magical and i did have to find out how to build a magic system for everything to work lol #and my dnd knowledge did filter a l o t into it so sorry bout that oops:;;#anyway this is too long and hardly anyone really reads this much but hey! finally my babies have faces so i don't feel so bad!!!#it doesnt help that i post this stuff at buttfuck hours LMFAOO

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communistkenobi · 3 months

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i don’t know if you have seen the TOS movies so i will try to be as vague about this as possible so to not spoil them for you. i think a large portion (or at least a portion) of the issues presented in TOS are because starfleet sucks, to put it in the best words. this is not including the issues and harm it has done on real people, im talking about the in-universe starfleet and how it presents itself and its rules (example: colonization (encouraging its captains to colonize, encouraging its captains to make other planets and civilizations join their “american” federation)). a larger and more prominent explanation is how its, as described in VI, a “homosapiens-only club”. the klingon who says this also goes on to say that the federation is racist. and this is shown after both kirk and spock say they believe that the federation is peaceful. and obviously they think that because that’s what it presents itself as to it’s employees. another example is in TSFS when a higher authority from the federation tells kirk that he doesn’t believe in vulcan rituals, therefore, if kirk does this ritual, he will be fired. i know this is shown in the show as well but the more obvious examples are from the movies; to me it feels like they’re outright saying it in the films

i know this is not how it was intended to be perceived but this is what the show presents it as. i could be missing something or misunderstanding but this is how i see it, and from what i’ve heard, this is talked about in ds9

also starfleet coincidentally decides that the dark skinned aliens are enemies (this is more of a writing choice and the writers (and character designers) are at fault for this but it presents itself as an obvious issue, in universe, in V & VI)

I’ve seen the first four movies! My recall on canon and the intricacies of starfleet etc are not so precise, so I appreciate the context and some of that sounds familiar. I’m assuming you’re responding to my bitching about the politics of tos and how disconnected it is (in my view) with the fandom’s perception of tos as a progressive cultural text.

I think those examples are good highlights of a lot of the in-universe problems with Starfleet. To go a step further, I think even absent Starfleet’s racist or discriminatory history in-universe, the show itself (at least tos, I haven’t seen the others) operates on a colonial imaginary, by which I mean, its basic narrative premises and assumptions are colonial (and therefore racist) in character.

Like okay, the premise of tos is that the Enterprise, as an ambassador of Starfleet/the Federation, is seeking out new alien life to study. The Prime Directive prohibits the Enterprise crew from interfering with the development of any alien culture or people while they do this, so the research they collect needs to be done in an unobtrusive way. I think this is the first point at which people balk at the charge that tos is colonial - the Enterprise’s mission is premised on non-interference, and I think when people hear ‘colonial’ as a descriptor they (understandably, obviously) assume it is describing active conquest, genocide, and dispossession. Even setting aside all the times where Kirk does directly interfere with the “development” of a people or culture (usually because they’ve “stagnated” culturally, because a culture without conflict cannot evolve or “develop” beyond its current presumed capacity - he is pretty explicitly imposing his own values onto another culture in order to force them to change in a particular way), or the times when the Enterprise is actually looking to extract resources from a given planet or people, I’m not exactly making this claim, or rather, that’s not the only thing I’m describing when calling tos colonial.

Its presentation of scientific discovery and inquiry is anthropological - the “object” of analysis is alien/foreign culture, meaning that when the Enterprise crew comes into contact with a new being or person, this person is always read first and foremost through the level of (the Enterprise’s understanding of) culture. Their behaviour, beliefs, dress, way of speaking, appearance, and so on are always reflective of (and represent a microcosm of) their culture as a whole, and more importantly, that their racial or phenotypic characteristics define the boundaries of their culture, ie, culture is interpreted, navigated, and bound racially. Because of this, Kirk and Co are never really interacting with individuals, they are interacting with components of a (foreign, exotic, fundamentally different) culture. And when they interact with these cultures, they very frequently measure them using a universalized scale of development - they have an evolutionary view of culture, ie, that all cultures go from savage to rational, primitive to advanced, economically marginal to economically dominant (ie, to capitalism). And the metrics they are judging these cultures by are fundamentally Western ones, always emphasising to the audience that the final destination of all cultures (that are worthy of advancing beyond their current limited/“primitive” stages) is a culture identical to the Federation, a culture that can itself engage in this anthropological mission to catalogue all life as fitting within a universal set of practices and racial similarities they call “culture.”

This is a western, colonial understanding of culture - racially and spatially homogenous people comprise the organs of a social totality, ie, a society, which can then be analysed as an “object,” as a “phenomenon,” by the scientists in order to extract information from them to produce and advance state (ie Federation) knowledge. The Enterprise crew are allowed to be individuals, are allowed to be subjects with a capacity for reason, contradiction, emotion, compassion, and even moments of savagery or violence, without those things being assigned to their “race” or “culture” as a whole, but the people they interact with are only components of a whole which are “discovered” by the Enterprise as opportunities to expand and refine the Federation’s body of knowledge.

And on the flip side you have the Klingons, which you brought up - a “race” that is uniformly savage, backward, violent, and dangerous. In the episode Day of the Dove, where Klingons board the Enterprise along with an alien cloud that makes everyone very aggressive and racist (this show is insane lol), the Enterprise crew begins acting violent and racist, but the Klingons don’t change. They aren’t more violent than before (because they already were fundamentally violent and racist), and they don’t become less violent when the cloud eventually leaves (because they are never able to emerge from their violence and savagery as a social condition or external imposition - they simply are that way). Klingons are racially, behaviourally, psychologically, and culturally homogenous, universally violent and immune to reason, and their racial characteristics are both physical manifestations of this universal violence as well as the origin of it. The writers and creators of tos are consciously invoking the orientalist idea of the “Mongolian horde,” representing both the American fear of Soviet global takeover as well as blatantly racist fears about “asiatics” (a word used in the show, particularly in The Omega Glory where a fear of racialised communist takeover is made explicit) dominating the world.

This is colonial thinking! Like, fundamentally, at its core, this is colonial white supremacist thinking. Now this is not the fault of tos as an individual show, this is a problem with western science in general, and I am not expecting a television show to navigate its way outside of this current colonial paradigm of scientific knowledge. I’m also not expecting an average person watching this to pick out all the intricacies of this and link it to the colonial history of Europe or the colonial history of western science. But this base premise of Star Trek is why the show is fundamentally colonial - even if the crew never intervened in any alien conflict, never extracted any material resources from other people, and even if the Federation did not have all these explicitly racist practices that you outlined, this would still be colonial logic and colonial thinking. The show has a fundamentally colonial imagination when it comes to exploration, discovery, and culture.

And so my problem, which is maybe where I need to adjust expectations for tumblr fandom, is when people call this show socialist or durably progressive in any way. This is not because socialist societies can’t be colonial or can’t be racist, obviously they can be those things, but because people are bundling “post-racist, post-bigotry, post-discrimination” in their labelling of tos as “socialist media.” When I hear someone call a piece of media socialist I am also bringing my own assumptions into those things, ie, I am expecting this claim to be actually reflective of the politics within the show to some degree. There can of course be debates about the exact nature and quality of those socialistic politics (see conversations about the politics of Disco Elysium, a contemporary canonical example of actual “socialist art”), but I’m at least expecting there to by a whiff of them in there! And I don’t think tos stands up to basic scrutiny in this regard. I genuinely do not even buy that it’s progressive, for reasons I’ve outlined above. Again that’s a genre problem, I think all sci-fi has to contend with this, but tos is certainly not a progressive exception to the political norms of sci-fi as a genre.

And THIS IS OBVIOUSLY not me saying you can’t like tos or that you’re racist for doing so, I deeply enjoy the show on its own terms, and its politics (good and bad) are part of that enjoyment. I’m also someone who is in university & complicit in all of these colonial scientific assumptions and practices, I’m not positioning myself as morally superior in this discussion. But when people package their enjoyment of the show with their analysis of it as socialist, as progressive, I think that is pretty fucking stupid and leads to a lot of handwaving of its fundamentally racist narrative premises. Hence my bitching

#pulling from Edward Said’s Orientalism + Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth + Aníbal Quijano’s Coloniality of Power for these points btw #sorry I know I’m citing academic texts in a tumblr post about tv show but those are largely the sources of my opinions #oh as well as Césaire’s Discourse on Colonialism. everyone needs to read that #tos.txt #anyway if this wasn’t what you were responding to then sorry lol

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simgerale · 1 month

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me after attempting to get back into sims and realizing i had a lot more to do than play the game

#hi everyone #I’m going around hugging you all #okay now that we are gathered here today #i will simply acknowledge that i have been gone for a very long time and then also acknowledge that maybe it was for the best #i relied on sims to be my only creative activity even if i tried to write a book at the same time #and also. i prioritized sims over real life responsibilities. that’s just a deadly combination lol #but I recently noticed I just replaced sims with Netflix. with YouTube. with anything that gave me quick dopamine #literally became addicted in a sense. still am but I’ve been cut cold turkey from most everything #I get off work and go. okay I’ve done the dishes and the laundry……..I could read or write or bake….#I try to write and sometimes i get a good hour #then I read for a few hours and then get tired of it #and I made cookies Tuesday so I’m waiting for those to be gone before baking again #I’m just so pitiful that I feel BORED and don’t know what to do #so I said….. okay what if I do sims for an hour.#I downloaded some new cc Tuesday and tried to play yesterday #y’all ……………….. I can’t find the energy anymore to set up elaborate scenes and pose my sims and plan posts #I said wow… this is boring without my intervention and fake story #I said wow…….. all this for what? for tumblr? yes I created cool things and provided joy. but is that inherintly important compared to my #own joy? my own everyday activities I should be doing?#y’all I do not leave the house unless we got out to eat or shop or travel to our parents #.. I have little desire to. I’m trying to find that desire #but my husband is busy with grad school and work and I don’t want to do anything by myself #I’ve found myself in one heck of a slump #I didn’t want to be human for awhile. just had no desires no interests no ambitions #I was slacking off SO HARD at work. I just had no drive to do well #I’m still working on it. I’m still trying to get caught up. I’m still trying to force myself to move every day.#but I am struggling y’all. and I can tell you that sims… sims isn’t helping rn but I want it to so bad. I want to get back into it #I didn’t mean to disappear on everyone. I got married and then life got busy and then I fell into this hole of nothing #I didn’t even WANT to crawl my way out. but my husband has helped a lot. I feel like such a child!!!!#I reached max tags. 🙃 bye love you all. till next time

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faehrnem · 7 months

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In a different timeline, where Faehrnem never comes to be as the Bold Tree follows in his older sister's footsteps by setting aside his own wants and dreams to instead begrudgingly take on his role as an avatar.

#my art #gw2 #commander faehrnem #pale tree #SURPRISE i'm finally talking about my characters lol #faehrnem would have been avatar for the second blighting tree (malyck's) but was brought over to the pale tree's side of the dream #while his mind was still forming so she could ensure he would defect as well and not embrace his true purpose as mordys champ #pale tree was to be mordys voice. lol #but uhh other stuff happened and the bold tree didn't want the same life as his sister and in a disagreement the siblings had #the bold tree is nearly wiped from the dream itself when pale tree accidentally uses magic that horrifically dmged him #so! in her grief the pale tree removes the avatar magic from her brother's. mind? soul? both maybe? idk the dream is weird #and later on after years of recovering and with no memory of what happened #faehrnem reawakens in the dream as a (to everyone's knowledge) regular sylvari so hecan live out his dreams of roaming the world #along side his friends and family (and then some) and just living a fulfilling life full of adventure and excitement #and brother. does faehrnem get it LOL this is what you signed up for buddy. now go kill those pesky dragons #anyways if you read all of these tags congrats! here's a gold star #this was a very shortened version of his backstory and there's. a lot of details i'm leaving out but maybe for another time #for now i hope you can enjoy these disaster siblings. lmao

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cosmic-kaden · 1 month

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Well this is new.

Ship: Ronnie x Kaden

Words: 2,084(OHMYGOD WHAT!? No pressure to read holy shitttttt)

cw: Ronnie's pov, oops Ronnie doesn't know how emotions work! D: Mindy and Cliff being goofs lol (No real CWs)

summary: Bobby's sibling is new in town- Place your bets! :3

Quiet, it was always quiet. Maybe that's why they say this is a nice place to be. No excitement of the good or bad variety. Not much to do either, wasn't a bustling city with malls and movie theatres, no concert halls or nightclubs, just a quaint little town.

Ronnie sat, arms crossed over his chest at his desk, staring at the clock as it ticked by, every so often checking his cell phone, reading news from other more exciting places in the world. It's not that he hated it here, he liked that it was quiet, fewer people, fewer crimes but sometimes he wished for something to change. Anything really.

"Hey, did you hear?" Mindy broke the silence in the station as she pulled up a seat at her desk. She pushed up her glasses and sat back in her chair.

"Hear what?" Ronnie asked flatly, his brow raising slightly.

"Bobby's got family living here now." Mindy smiled.

That was the one thing about such a small town, nothing was ever kept private and if it was it didn't stay like that for long. Everyone knew everyone and gossip was a pretty common thing.

"Is that so…" Ronnie glanced up from his phone to look at Mindy and Mindy smiled.

"Yeah- some of us are taking bets."

"Taking bets? On what?" Ronnie asked, once again drawing his attention back to his phone.

"On if whoever has moved here ya know…" Mindy gestures vaguely and Ronnie looks at her with furrowed eyebrows. "Looks….like him"

"That's sort of rude don't you think?" Ronnie is looking at her a little more seriously now, he was never one for gossip and not to mention the subject right now had him wildly uncomfortable.

"I guess it kinda is but hey, what else we got going on. Want in?" Mindy grinned.

"No."

"Do yoooou at least want to go with Cliff and me to introduce ourselves?"

"You mean go and see who won the bet?" Ronnie raised a brow and Mindy sighed.

"….yes"

"Fine." Ronnie simply said, standing to his feet and grabbing his jacket.

The drive to Bobby's shop wasn't far. He owned a little gas station comic shop hybrid, all the local kids went there for junk food and to get their sci-fi kick. Already something was different, there was music loudly blasting from the shop.

"Someone likes it loud," Mindy mumbled as they pulled into the shop.

Cliff, Mindy, and Ronnie got out of the car and trailed inside the tight little store, a quaint, slightly run-down storefront, full of of nostalgia and a holdout against the creeping decay. The shop's sign, "Centerville Comics," flickers with a vintage neon glow, inviting those seeking escape into worlds beyond the unsettling quiet of their own. Inside, the shop is a labyrinth of towering shelves, each one groaning under the weight of comic book history, from dog-eared classics to the latest issues. The lighting is dim, with sporadic beams of sunlight filtering through dust-speckled windows, illuminating the colourful covers

The music was usually some twangy country but today was more instrumental progressive rock… that was new. Ronnie bobbed his head a little as Mindy and Cliff glanced around the store before someone came out from the back of the shop and everyone's eyes landed on them.

Mindy grinned, subtly holding her hand out towards Cliff who Cliff, reluctantly handed her $20. The person emerged to the counter, they had black-blue hair about shoulder length, and long bangs that swept across their eyes, when they brushed the hair from their face their eyes were green.. light green with a darker green ring around it. They adorned an eyebrow piercing in their left eyebrow with purple studs that matched the same ones that were in their lower lip.

Ronnie's mouth went agape for a moment as he sucked in a breath of air. Why did it feel like he had suddenly run a marathon? His heart was beating wildly in his chest? The regular musk of ink and paper scent of the shop was replaced by something else…Flowery? Fruity? Mocha? it was a combination of the three that filled his nostrils, no doubt it was whatever this person was wearing. It was alluring. Ronnie had to swallow thickly and try to compose himself despite looking calm on the outside, his stomach was doing backflips and it only intensified when he saw them flash a toothy smile.

The smile on their face changed to one of concern, however. "Oh shit! Am I too loud!?" They reached for the remote to the sound system and turned it down a bit.

"No, no you're good. We just wanted to stop in and say hello, we heard Bobby had some family visiting and--"

"and ya'll had to rush over to see if I was a skinny-haired nerd too?" They interjected, grinning widely and Ronnie cracked a little smirk that didn't go unnoticed by Cliff.

"I-- we---" Mindy stammered in shock and Cliff looked rather embarrassed.

"It's alright, Bobby told me that it might happen. So who won?"

"Mindy." Cliff thumbed towards her and she shyly smiled.

"So Mindy.." they turned their attention to the older gentlemen.

"Cliff."

"Cliff…" They echoed as they turned towards Ronnie and their eyes flicked up to him.

"Oh, R-Ronnie-" He stammered, a small hitch in his voice as he reached over the case to shake their hand. Why was he so nervous? Again the stammer didn't go unnoticed this time by Mindy and Cliff.

"Kaden, nice to meet you Ronnie~" They smiled sweetly at Ronnie and he felt like his heart was going to explode in his chest yet on the outside he remained his calm and cool self or at least he thought he was.

"Well, it was a pleasure to meet you. Tell Bobby we said hi" Cliff smiled and turned on his heel.

"Coming Ronnie?" Mindy raised a brow, taking note of how his gaze seemed to be lingering on Kaden.

"Huh?" Ronnie broke his gaze and looked at Mindy.

"Are you coming?"

"Oh- uh-"

"Actually…" Kaden pressed their palms against the glass case as they leaned on it. "Can I borrow him for a bit? He has something I need."

"He does?" Mindy looked at Kaden curiously.

"I do?" Ronnie also looked to Kaden and why was he suddenly feeling nervous?

"Yeah. His height. Can you help me out with those.." Kaden pointed to a stack of boxes "Up there?" They pointed to the shelf that was closest to the ceiling. "Bobby wants to put up some of the new arrival comics but he clearly doesn't believe in owning a step ladder or at least one that I can find in this cluttered mess back here. I know it's an odd request but it seems like not much goes on here so can you spare your deputy for a moment?"

"I dunno, Ronnie? Can you be spared?" Mindy's lips pulled into a half smirk and Ronnie felt his heart sink into his stomach.

"Y-Yeah, no I can absolutely help out if you need it." Ronnie stammered again and Mindy shot him a knowing look.

"Great!" Kaden smiled.

Mindy and Cliff left and as they were outside Mindy offered Cliff another little bet..

"He's smitten."

"I see that."

"I give it a month tops before he crack."

"you're on."

Back inside Kaden motioned Ronnie to come around the counter. "Thanks for the help~" Kaden hummed softly.

"Oh, it's no problem." He replied softly. the look on his face was stoic and he offered a small smile to Kaden and noticed the way they soon followed suit, giving a small smile themselves and there were those butterflies again, slowly fluttering in Ronnie's stomach. He swallowed thickly again.

"Here you are sir~" Kaden chuckled as they went into the box and grathered a pile of comics in their hands. Although they didn't have the greatest grip on them within moments they were scattered across the floor. "Shit!"

Ronnie moved on instinct, squatting down to help with the mess as well as Kaden and within moments their heads collided with one another. Kaden hissed and held their head as did Ronnie.

"Ow!" Kaden exclaimed a small laugh coming from them as they glanced up at Ronnie who was also holding his head.

"Sorry..are you alright?" Ronnie asked as he looked over to see Kaden already staring at him. He took relief in the fact that Kaden was laughing and the sound sent a spark of warmth through his chest that he had never felt before.

"I'm okay..heh are you okay?" Kaden chuckled softly as they stood to their feet, handing Ronnie a bunch of books from up off the floor.

"I'm okay." He spoke softly, just above a whisper.

As Ronnie and Kaden finally straighten up, each holding a portion of the spilt sci-fi comics, the last few books find their way back onto the shelf. The slight bump on his head from their accidental collision is nothing compared to the rapid thumping in his chest. Ronnie can't help but replay the moment over and over in his mind, the soft surprise in Kaden's eyes, the brief touch of their hands. It's ridiculous, he thinks, how a simple accident feels like it's rewired his entire day—

"Thanks for the help," Kaden says, their voice pulling him back from his daze, a smile playing on their lips. It's casual, the way they say it, but to Ronnie, it feels like a scene straight out of one of these comics—unexpected allies meeting in a twist of fate.

"No problem," Ronnie manages to say, hoping his voice sounds steadier than he feels. "Guess we made quite the team, huh?"

"Yeah, we did," Kaden agrees, their smile broadening, oblivious to the feelings that they've flamed inside Ronnie.

As they stand there, amidst the quiet hum of the shop and Kaden's music that was playing in the background, surrounded by tales of intergalactic adventures and time-travel mishaps, Ronnie finds himself wishing they were characters in one of those stories. It would be easier, maybe, to express how he feels if he could blame it on some cosmic anomaly or a twist of fate written into the stars. They just met after all and it would be weird to just blurt out that he found them attractive, plus that wasn't Ronnie. He was calm and collected at all times…..right?

He takes a moment, watching Kaden's enthusiasm for the comics, the way their eyes light up at certain titles, and he wonders if maybe, just maybe, there's a universe out there where he's brave enough to say, "Hey, I know we just met, and we might be nothing more than two strangers who bonked heads over a pile of comics, but I feel like there's something here. Do you feel it too?"

But he doesn't say any of that. Instead, he tucks those words and feelings away, a secret storyline that no one else gets to read. For now, he's content to bask in the aftermath to hold onto the spark of something new and thrillingly unknown.

"See you around?" he ventures, a tentative offer to extend this moment into something more a chance to see them again hopefully, less head-bonking encounters though.

"I'd like that," Kaden responds softly, the smile on their face ever-present. If Ronnie was paying more attention to Kaden than to his own inner thoughts and feelings he may have noticed the faint tint of pink that spread across Kaden's cheeks.

"Okay, well…see you later then."

"Bye, It was nice to meet you, Ronnie."

"Y-You too.." Ronnie stammered and was mentally kicking himself, he wasn't like this. He wasn't someone who allowed strong emotions get the better of him and yet here he was, heart racing and words faltering. He turned on his heel and headed out of the shop and allowed himself for the briefest moment to feel what he was feeling. He smiled fully to himself, something new and exciting was finally happening in this quiet little town.

Tag list: @ama-ships || @heatobrienswife || @kylars-princess || @roboraindrop || @lysandreslittlechatot || @dragonsmooch

Absolutely NO PRESSURE to read this. I didn't think I could make a 2000 word fic but hi? hello????? If you read it fucking thank you!? you're literally a rockstar and I'd die for you??? <3

#ACTUALLY HAVE TO PUT THIS UNDER A READ MORE WHAT THE HELLLLLLLL!?!??!?! HELLLOOOOO WHATS HAPPENING TO MEEEEE #Did I make a fic about nothing? possibly.. well ig not nothing.. its ronnies pov but I feel like shit so idk how this is going to come out #dlfkjsdlfkjds #but whatever its here and I'm sorry if you fell asleep lol #HE'S SO FRIGGIN CUTE! [shakes him]#LOOKIT THAT SUBTLE LITTLE SMIRK ON HIS FACE! LOOK AT IT! FUCKING CUTE LITTLE SHIT /affectionate #those who slay together stay together #my writing #ronnie 💞

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