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igotanidea · 10 months

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No strings attached (2) : neighbor!JT x reader

masterlist

part. 1

***

„What happened?”

When Jason came into the staircase the first thing he noticed was Y/N, who was crouching next to her door with a sad face, cleaning something that seemed awfully like….

“Is that blood?!” he yelled, falling to his knees right next to her.

“What?” she scoffed “Of course not, are you crazy? It’s just paint.”

“sorry….” He mumbled. Jason had way to much experience with blood to not think about that particular thing when he saw Y/N’s door swimming in color red. “Who did this?”

“I have some ideas.” She retorted pointing at one half-scratched word, that at the moment were proudly announcing to the world that she was a bitch. “Guess your lady friend really doesn’t like me.”

“I’m sorry.” Jason said again, a bit of remorse showing on his face “let me help you with this. It’s only fair given the fact it’s all my fault.”

“I can handle it.”

“Please, Y/n.” he whispered and only then she turned around to fully look at him. Well he was fine. Tall and well-build with a mop of black hair with a single white strand right above the forehead and pretty green eyes that were currently showing all of his remorse for the situation.

“What happened to your hair?” she asked just to deflect the tension she felt and that question took them both by surprise.

“It’s…. kinda long story.”

“Really? So it has nothing to do with acting like a bad boy and trying to keep your cool?”

“What?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head and smiled lightly “it’s fine if you don’t want to talk. After all we don’t really know each other.”

“But…..” he tried to chime in but she didn’t let him.

“given the circumstances I think it’s better if you just stay away from me, Jason. I mean look what happened after the first time we talked. Next time some other of your ex-girlfriend see me with you, I’ll probably end up with a knife in my chest or an acid on my face. Not exactly a nice perspective, am I right?”

“She’s not my girlfriend.” Jason hissed trying to reach for the sponge Y/N was using to clean.

“Yeah, sure. Does she know that?”

“I told her!”

“Sorry sunshine, but take it from a girl with experience. She won’t let go easily. I know I wouldn’t.” She babbled and put her hand inside the bucket with water, accidentally touching Jason’s hand. Only then her eyes grew wide at the sudden realization of what she said dawning on her.

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Jason smirked and raised an eyebrow, even if that sudden touch was … nice, to say the least. Gentle, delicate, like nothing he was used to. Definitely not while patrolling and fighting at night. And even when he had female friends it was always physical. Rough animal fuck just to satisfy the basic needs. And it was fine. Convenient for both parties.

Jason was only familiar with pain, anger and a flood of sudden contradictory feelings in both Red Hood and Jason Todd version. And to his own surprise he enjoyed something different coming from Y/N even if she almost immediately retrieved her hand, not giving him w chance to dwell on that feeling.

“No.” she simply said. Nothing more. No explanation, no blushing, no excuses. Just one simple no.

“Shame. I think you are hot too.”

“Sure” she laughed so hard she actually started crying “I’m hot. That’s a hell of a good joke Todd. I look nothing like the hot girls. I mean, look at me.”

“I am…..”

“I’m not skinny, I hate wearing short and dresses because of my curves and I definitely don’t skip on meals just to lose weight and it shows. To quote a classic: I ain’t no size two. I’m fine with the way I look, but I am definitely not hot.”

“And yet, Madison clearly treats you like a threat.” He pointed out

“a threat?” the girl raised an eyebrow “nah, not at all. I’m nothing more than a stain on her fancy clothes. A stain you need to eradicate and that is precisely what she’s doing.”

“I don’t ….”

“I meant what I said, Todd. You better stay away from me. I really don’t need any more trouble than I already have.”

“Am I trouble to you?”

“You scream trouble. In more ways than one.” She rolled her eyes “I don’t know about you, but I’m fine with silently passing each other on the stairs. I’m not known for being too open with people.”

“Guess we have that in common.” He scratched his neck in an awkward way, wondering what he could possibly say to make her change her mind. The fact was, the more she was trying to push him away, the more he wanted to pull her in. He might have not been the one to form a true relationship, but the way she was acting and pointing at her body barely seconds before, got his mind spinning. He wondered how it would be like to have her. To have an innocent, maybe a bit shy girl and not a vamp, he was so used to, just to get himself off. How it would be like to feel her underneath him, get those soft hands on his body, to kiss all those places where she was insecure, whisper sweet nothings into her ear while making her feel good. Cause sure as hell he would. How it would be like to map her whole body, find the spots that would make her melt into him and elicit sweet whines and moans out of her, all of that while pressing her into the mattress or wall, seeing her face twisting in pleasure, maybe making her scream his name when she came …... Shit! What was happening to him!? He barely met her and she was his neighbor for fuck’s sake. Maybe all of those one-night stands finally messed up his brain. That was what he was doing. One and done? Sure, even if some girls were becoming clingy after one night (Madison being the best example). But fucking a neighbor he would pass by on a daily basis was surely not a good idea. At all.

“Great. I suppose we just made ourselves a deal.” suddenly she stood up bringing him back to reality “wanna shake on it?”

For a moment Jason hesitated. On one hand he wanted to feel her touch again, craved it even. On the other was fully aware that given his not-so-innocent fantasy-filled brain he wouldn’t be able to settle only on that. So he shook his head as an answer, refusing to fuel the fire inside him any further.

“Too bad.” She pouted “Anyway, it’s late and this stupid stain is not coming off. Guess that’s me saying goodbye to my deposit money” Y/N laughed bitterly “I’m just going to head to bed and I suggest you do the same.” She opened the door to her apartment, turning to face him before disappearing inside. ‘Good night, Jason.” she smiled lightly.

“Good night, Y/N” he whispered back, barely holding himself from grabbing her waist, pushing her into the wall and forcing his way in with her.

***

It was not a good night.

Well, definitely not for Jason.

It was irrational and crazy on so many levels, but he simply wanted the girl next door. And once he felt that desire there was no chances for him to let this go.

And the fact that she was giving him mixed signals was not helping at all. Did she tell him to stay away? Yes. But did she said goodbye with that pretty smile and sparkling eyes? Also yes. And fuck if Jason didn’t want to take some action with her.

But then again. He wasn’t doing relationship and hooking up with the neighbor, especially someone who seemed as kind and nice as Y/N would only cause trouble.

“Fuck!” he hissed to himself, barely capable of focusing on patrolling, beating the shit out of the criminals in more violent way than ever, getting needy and horny just by thinking about her. What was she doing at the moment? Was she thinking about him too? In the way he was thinking about her? No, that was nonsense, she had every reason to hate him. But maybe that hate would turn into some tension relieving and getting herself off? Alone? Was she lying in her own bed, touching herself, trying to get that sweet high? Fuck, he would be more than happy to help her with that. To introduce her to new levels of pleasure and ecstasy, which he was perfectly capable of providing.

If he were to knock on her door right that moment would she even bother opening? Dressed only in her pajamas or even better, wrapped up only in a towel, straight after shower making it so much easier for him to get what he wanted and needed?

Shit.

He could imagine her curvy body, still a bit damp from the water, her sweet smell, the softness of her hair. Her innocent, surprised gaze – the same she made when he first asked her to play his girlfriend in front of Madison. Holy shit, was she a virgin? Oh, he would be more than happy to be her first. The first to touch her body in a way she never knew before, to make her a woman.

“Fuck, just stop you idiot!” his mind was definitely falling into straight-from-porn fantasies. “Just stop it!”

But it was easier said than done and getting progressively more painful with every passing minute. And if he wasn’t careful some of the bats patrolling nearby would notice the tent in his jeans and tease him about it. So gathering all his strength, both mental and physical he started beating all those crime lords to a bloody pulp. The sign and smell of blood making him calm down a bit, drawing back the memories of the time when he was the one being beaten with a fucking crowbar and finally – killed.

Yeah, it definitely did wonders to his excitement, but nothing for his mental state and it quickly became more visible than the tent in the jeans.

‘Jace?” of course his caring older brother had to ask “are you doing all right? You got that gaze….”

“Just fuck off, Grayson!” Jason yelled not able to hold himself anymore. “Just fuck off!”

“What is wrong with him today?” Tim’s voice echoed through the comms, but before anyone could give him an answer Jason took off running leaving the surprised bats behind.

God, he just needed to be alone for a few minutes to help himself.

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nxrdamp · 1 year

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I’m having a huge Arven moment so I decided to ask for something cute and a little funny ☺️

Maybe Arven’s mabosstiff dislikes the reader’s dachsbun for awhile, until they just turn into inseparable best friends 😭 I love dogs and these two canine dog Pokémon stole my heart!!

Masterlist

Arven x Gn! Reader - Puppy Love

A warm sunny day in Paldea, something that was no rare occurrence. Nevertheless still enjoyed. Especially enjoyed by one little Dachsbun. (Y/n)’s Dachsbun was currently frolicking in the fields surrounding their picnic, playing with the (orange/purple) ball.

“Wow little buddy” Arven said while finely chopping basil for the sandwich,”Your Dachsbun there sure loves the outdoors. Cant say the same for ol’ Mabosstiff here.”

Mabosstiff, who was currently curled up underneath the fold out table, ruffed in annoyance.

“Awww” (Y/n) said, crouching to be eye to eye with Mabosstiff,”You don’t like the sun, do ya bud?”

He shook his head in response, but only to be interrupted by the other dog-like pokémon running over towards the table to eat the scraps of ham that fell from the sandwich, much to Arven’s complaints.

Mabosstiff growled defensively, making poor Dachsbun quiver and run behind (Y/n)‘s legs.

“Yeah don’t eat that- Hey, Mabosstiff” Arven said, placing his hands on his hips in a very motherly fashion,”Don’t be rude to their pokémon!…well maybe except (Koraidon/Miraidon)”

“Hey!” (Y/n) protested,”(Koraidon/Miraidon) is important too!”

Arven only looked over to them and gave them a “really?” look as the legendary was currently trying to steal Dachsbun’s sandwich.

(Y/n) only sighed, walking over to Dachsbun’s abandoned sandwich, and grabbing it to give it to the scared pokémon.

“Now Dachsbun, eat this and leave poor Mabosstiff alone. He doesn’t wanna play right now.”

The puppy pokémon looked up, her sad puppy dog eyes threatening to spill tears, and slowly took the sandwich and trotted away to a secluded place by the rocks.

Arven sadly sighed, seeing the pitiful sight before him,”Maybe I can do some convincing to Mabosstiff, to, ya know, be friends with Dachsbun. Poor girl is eating all alone.”

“Yeah.” (Y/n) replied, crossing their arms over their chest,”So much for a picnic. It seems to be more of a drama fest than anything.”

“I agree” Arven said,”This definitely is no where near the Lady and the Tramp. No spaghetti scene for these two, it appears.”

(Y/n) snorted in response, causing Arven’s heart to swell. No one laughs at his corny jokes, especially that not quote “bothersome student council girl”.

“It seems like we’re gonna have to be together a lot more to make them be friends. It’s a win-win” (Y/n) said, causing Arven to blush and hide his face in his hair.

“U-Um okay. Cool. Cool. I’ll uhh I’ll see you tomorrow! Make sure to bring Dachsbun and NOT (Koraidon/Miraidon).

(Y/n) kept the promise they’d heard, and brought Dachsbun and (Koraidon/Miraidon).

———

Over the span of the next week, every day they tried to get Mabosstiff and Dachsbun closer together.

And every day they failed.

“Damn it.” Arven said, looking at Mabosstiff who was currently kicking Dachsbun off of (Y/n)’s couch,”Why don’t they get along?”

“Maybe they just don’t share experiences with each other” (Y/n) suggested,”Like we battled through hell at Area Zero, and they kinda didn’t together. That’s probably why we’re so close and they’re not.”

“Not close enough…” Arven muttered under his breath, low enough where (Y/n) couldn’t hear

“Maybe we should go on a trip!!” (Y/n) said,”Why not to Kalos? It’s right on the edge of Paldea!”

“Hmmm. Thats a good idea, actually, thanks little buddy!” Arven said, attempting to give a “friendly” shoulder pat.

“Why do you call me little buddy? I feel like we’re more than ‘buddies’.”

Arven coughed, trying to fight a loosing battle against the blush creeping onto his face,”W-What?!?”

“Yeah! We’re the best buddies ever! Best friends!” (Y/n) said, giving Arven a hug.

‘I don’t even care I was just friend-zoned, I love this’ He thought to himself

“All right then, (Y/n), let’s-“

“(Y/n)?” They asked,”Just plain old (Y/n)? Do I mean that little to you?”

“N-NO!” Arven said, grabbing their shoulders and looking down to meet their sad eyes,”YOU’RE AMAZING! YOU’RE MY BEST BUD EVER AND I WISH YOU WERE MORE- I MEAN I APPRECIATE YOU BEING THERE FOR ME….haha….ha…..man I screwed up didn’t I?”

(Y/n) looked into his saddened blue eyes, tears threatening to spill,”No! You didn’t Arven, I-“

“You don’t have to say it! I know you hate me now!” Arven said, storming off.

“-feel the same way….” They finished before being blasted by a rush of air across their legs.

Dachsbun ran after Arven, seeking to comfort the crying boy on the doorstep of (Y/n)’s residence.

Mabosstiff perked up, seeing how the normally hyper pokémon was slowly and gently crawling into the lap of Mabosstiff’s trainer, giving him doggy kisses.

Arven starting to laugh through the sniffles of his crying, giving Dachsbun a good belly rub as she flopped down dramatically in his lap.

Mabosstiff then got off of the couch, and went over to (Y/n), who was letting the tears fall on their own face now.

“Hey Mabosstiff…you okay?” They asked, rubbing his head.

He barked in response, nudging their legs in the direction of his trainer.

“You think he’d listen?”

“Woof!”

“I take your word for it.”

They patted Mabosstiff on the head one last time before stepping out of the threshold of their home, and sitting beside the boy who was wiping his tears.

“You never let me finish, Arven, I like you back. Have since you told me about Mabosstiff and the Herba Mystica. I really have feelings for you. I’m not ‘just saying that’, I mean it Arven.”

“Ohhhh (Y/n)” He said, bawling his eyes out,”You mean so much to me! I love to hear you say that! Please, hold onto me and never let go”

“Trust me” (Y/n) said, looking into his glassy blue eyes,”I won’t. They apparently won’t either”

Both of their eyes adverted to Mabosstiff and Dachsbun, who were cuddled up beside each other watching the scene between their trainers unfold.

“THEY LIKE EACH OTHER!!” Arven said, crying even more out of joy,”THEY’RE FRIENDS!!!”

(Y/n) laid their head on his chest,”Yeah they are, but we sure aren’t, at least not anymore.”

“What…? I thought you said-“

(Y/n) looked up into Arven’s eyes,”Yeah, we’re more than friends”

Arven, who is now blushing instead of crying, turns his face to hide it in his hair,”Okay. Cool. Cooool. That’s cool.”

“You can be happy Arven, no need to cover it up with your ‘cool guy persona’”

Arven just laughed, resting his chin atop of (Y/n)‘a head,”You’re crazy little buddy”

“Yeah so are you Arvy”

“I like that” He replied,”My (Mom/Dad) never gave me a nickname, so I’m glad it was you”

“It’s my pleasure Arvy”

The two of them sat on (Y/n)‘a doorstep, watching the sun set as the two dogs who once hated each other, played with Dachbun’s toys together.

——

Word Count: 1177

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sykestarot · 5 months

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what's holding you back? how should you move forward?

1-2-3 (left to right)

I do not own any of these images

Hi guys I felt this was the message that needed be heard this week and some of it got very specific. Lmk what you think! Thanks for stopping by ily!!

Pile 1

“it consumes my mind, it consumes my soul, it wants my life, it wants complete control” (8 of cups (rx); 8 of wands (rx; The Emperor; The Hermit; king of wands; The Star) This pile might struggle with mental health issues, such as depression or anxiety. When channeling your energy pile one I had a heavy chest and a hard time breathing. You could be pushing yourself too hard and not taking a break. Or avoiding taking a break because then you’ll see how much pain you’re in. Either way I feel very heavy energies with you. I see you feel stagnant in your life, but this is because you refuse to make changes because you feel comfortable in the routine or cycle you’re in. I’m also seeing for some of you, that you went through something hard recently and you’re keeping yourself hidden due to fears of it happening again. This situation led you to forget how much power you hold and how truly beautiful you are. I think you might expect life to happen for you, even though you’re not really leaving your house. Sometimes we have to make things happen for ourselves, although I do understand not wanting to because of the fear of the unknown. The advice that the cards give you is to remember how you sparkle. I feel like your current energy is the song I channeled but the energy you need to embody is bejeweled by Taylor Swift lol. Two very different energies. Spirit is telling you to lean on them and let go of the past, because holding onto that is only going to make your journey to the top slower. I’m also not sure if this situation involved a betrayal but spirit is also letting you know that two people’s perspectives that may differ on the same situation can both be true at the same time. I also see in this advice that this is a journey you have to go on alone. I understand how daunting this may feel but I promise you have the strength and the resilience to get through this. I keep hearing “I wish you could see the way you shine”. Signs: August; the number 8; 8 mile; Eminem?; blue sapphire; stardust the movie; Aquarius; girl in red?; insomnia; overthinking; stripped socks; dark room lit up by tv; “remember who you are” - lion king

Pile 2

"Je te laisserai des mots" (2 of swords (rx); 3 of swords; The High Priestess; The Empress (rx); Justice (rx); 8 of wands (rx)) Hi Pile 2! I feel like for you guys you recently went through a breakup, possibly with your first love, or someone you thought was your forever. Maybe you guys were on and off for a while and you really believe this person will come back. I see that in terms of what’s holding you back is that you don’t believe that you can live without this person and that’s not true. I see that you would’ve given this person the world. I hear that quote where one person says “you were a wonderful experience” and then the other person says, “you, you were everything.” And I feel like you’re the one saying that the other person was everything. Perhaps you're an artist and this person was your muse and without them you feel like you can’t make your art anymore. I genuinely feel empty channeling your energy. I see that what’s holding you back is the idea that this person was the only reason you were successful, which couldn’t be further from the truth pile 2. You are worth so much more than what you create. I also feel that you only value yourself by how much you create or do and that you punish yourself for not meeting a certain quota. But because of the loss you’re going through right now you’re not meeting quotas because you’re hurt not because you are an unproductive being. If you leave this reading with one thing I hope that it is that you are worth so much more than just what you create. As far as advice goes for you I see that you need to place trust in the mysteries of life. Most times you don’t know what life has in store for you even if you think you do. Place trust in your heart and your gut feelings. Rest when you feel you need to and create when you feel the need to. I also see that your inner monologue could be hurting you, the pessimism in your mind could be keeping you in a cycle of self hatred and unproductivity and they're working hand in hand to keep you stagnant. Try to think more positively and be gentler with yourself and you’ll see progress almost immediately. I’m also seeing that when you step back and see the bigger picture you’ll find that everything happens for a reason, and almost every ending leads to a new beginning. I believe in you pile 2 you can do it!! Signs: 222’; piano; marble; fine arts; french?; museums; pine scent; guitar; the color blue; long distance; wishing on stars; turn back time; Romeo and Juliet; “it’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all” ; paintings; indie

Pile 3

“keeping me from who I need to be, distracting me from what I need to do” Pile 3 I feel like for you what’s holding you back is your inability to admit that you are wrong about something. For you I see you continuing to try to do something that isn’t working and probably hasn’t worked for you either ever or for a long time. I see that for you your destiny holds much more than what you are doing. I see that you are going down a path that is filled with obstacles and you believe that it’s because it’ll give you a better success story when these obstacles are not even obstacles there more like road blocks. I see this pile is more of a career pile. I also feel like I can hear you while reading this immediately going, “pfft this isn’t for me”. If you thought this at all then this pile is exactly for you. I don’t know if someone told you that you wouldn’t make it in the line of work you’re in but I do see that you took that and made it the fire that lit you up. For most of you though this is a job that you can make it in but it won’t fulfill you in the way you think it will because at the end of the day I believe you don’t actually enjoy this job. SO if you feel like your life is stagnant or staying in the same place it’s because this career isn’t meant for you. I feel like you also know what career is meant for you and you’re being super stubborn. I also feel like when you talk to people you’re close to about your job issues they immediately bring up your other option of what you could be doing. Like if you’re a lawyer and it’s draining you and you tell your friend and they immediately go “oh what about the art you used to make you know you were great at that!” I also feel that this irritates you lol. I feel like you know and are aware of it at the very least. The universe has been sending you signs about this for what I believe could be years. But you do what you feel is right for you. As far as advice goes for you pile three I see it’s time to heal. Perhaps the reason you're staying in this job is because you feel the need to get recognition to stick it to the person who told you you couldn’t. That’s not necessarily the healthiest behavior for ourselves. I also see that you need to start thinking of laying something solid down for the rest of your life, so maybe this job is also not letting you provide for yourself or others and on top of all of that you don’t enjoy it? I think spirit wants you to think in long term goals and does this job or cycle let you pursue those? Spirit would also like you to know that you aren’t alone. I really heavily feel that given the opportunity your friends would love to support you in any endeavor and are probably rooting for you to leave this situation. So go ahead and reach out when you’re ready to leave!! Many people love you and only want the best for you, remember that. :) Signs: October 6th; October; June; pumpkins; hammers; carpentry; wood?; post malone; trinkets; working with hands; toxic positivity; hard helmets; hammers; beer; heinekens

#pick a card reading #reading tarot #tarot reading #spiritual #tarot #spotify #pick a card #pac #spirituality #channeling #pick an image #pap #channeled message #channeled song #divination #law of attraction #Spotify

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nobibiname · 1 month

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Ever wondered why the Elucien arguments pulling out Sarah’s 2016 interview and Facebook comment (yeah that one after ACOMAF came out) are SO annoying? 🙄

Ok so I ended up in a TikTok comment section today (yes I know that was my first mistake) and it occurred to me, we are once again not on the same page about some fundamental ideas on writing. The OP argued Sarah hasn’t changed her mind on the next books &elucien and that she said so in an interview after ACOSF.

Ok, but there’s a huge GLARING problem with that.

Basically, a writer makes promises in the text. I’m paraphrasing Sanderson here (I watch his lectures for fun, even tho I don’t write cuz I’m a dork) so he was talking about the first chapter and prologue of a book, or movie… but if you’re writing a multi-book epic, then you’re probably going to make promises about plots and characters of your future books, right?

So what are these promises? Basically what kind of book it is, plot&trope hints, the tone, goals, journeys and obstacles.

Ok back to SJM: why is the argument that “she said Elucien and hasn’t changed her mind infuriating? Because she made different promises in the books. And that is what Elriels mean when we say “set up”.

I mean just from the amount of interactions, Elriel have more than Elucien.. not to mention the warmth, positivity and thoughtfulness she put into their interactions over seriously 4 books. The promises are crystal clear: there is a romance that started as friendship==plot, but she has a bond w/someone else==obstacle, and Rhys forbade it in a moment resulting in her thinking he rejected her, but he didn’t == twist.

These promises need to be addressed, resolved, fulfilled. Is there something even CLOSE to this kind of story promise existing for Elucien?

I have seriously seen people claim that Elucien are both “friends to lovers” AND “enemies to lovers”…. These cannot both be true, like come on… you’re not even sure what kind of story they promise to be? You’re not sure what kinds of promises Sarah made about Elucien?

Why are you not sure? Because it’s not in the text. My personal view is that Elucien is neither… if they happen it’s kind of worse than either trope, they’re certainly not friends, they are at best indifferent to each other and at worst resentful. Mmmm … delicious “indifferent to lovers” 🫠

On a serious note, I don’t “hate” Elucien, but SJM hasn’t made a single promise in the text that I can quote in here that would make me excited about them. He gave her gifts that she didn’t throw away…. ?? Really?… she made a half step toward him… once… no, just no! And that’s how I feel, regardless if “Lulu deserves love”… sure he does, then write a love interest that brings out flirty firey fox boy from book1 and I’m on board 🫡 ….and don’t try to convince me after 4 books of a tepid nothing that all along it was Elain. Because. I. Don’t. Buy. It.

And my last point (I swear!) why did I get my panties all up in a twist… basically this: a writer makes promises IN THE TEXT, and if what you are saying in interviews directly CONTRADICTS your actual text, then you kinda have a problem. … at that point either you’re a bad writer, or you can’t blindly trust an interview from 7 years ago, it’s outdated!

The great GRRM himself said how often his “gardening style” of writing led to character arcs and romantic pairings changing… so why don’t we start treating Sarah as an adult author, and trust the text, and not an old interview?

It also comes down to trust. You don’t wanna be left feeling like “hmmm this doesn’t feel real, I don’t buy it” it takes you out of the text, and it happens when an author messes up promise-delivery . When an author foreshadows well, and sets up the story with their promises, still manages to surprise us while keeping the promises… well I trust THAT PERSON to tell me the most satisfying story.

#rant post #elriel #bad arguments that make me mad #why I can’t love Elucien even if it isn’t horrible

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yourlocalghoulette · 2 months

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Part 3 ~ Second Chances

A/N; part threee! I don't have much to say except *insert evil laughter* these two boutta be the cutest couple. Lmk if you want to be on the taglist!

W/C: 3k

Main Masterlist Series Masterlist

Warnings~ Eventual smut so 18+ MDNI! fluff! slow burn, relationship building, flirting, language, teasing, single dad!Joel, reader has trauma, no use of Y/N, reader has hair long enough to be seen under a helmet

Two weeks pass by in a blur, and you’ve fallen into a smooth schedule of working at the barn and the coffee shop on alternating days. Each day around the horses brings more confidence. You’re starting to come to terms with the fact that Joel won’t hurt you like your last trainers did. Not that he’s a trainer, really, or even an employer. It’s more like a partnership, maybe even a friendship. Or at least you hope it’s a friendship. You both share the chores at the barn, always working side by side, learning about each other or just enjoying the silence.

Silence used to scare you. You hated being to deep in your thoughts, in your memories. But with Joel, it’s different. It feels comfortable, feels natural, just enjoying each other’s presence. Something about Joel just makes you feel relaxed. Something that usually doesn’t come easy.

You’ve learned a lot about Joel in the past few weeks. You learned he has a younger brother named Tommy, and that he’s a coffee addict. Just like you.

“You think this one will look good on her?”

Joel holds up a dark turquoise nylon halter. He’d stopped at the tack shop on the way to the barn to get a new halter for Dottie.

Sarah looks up from where she’s admiring an indricately designed barrel saddle. She shrugs. “I like the purple better.”

Joel rolls his eyes, a knowing grin etched on his face. “Because it’s your favorite color. You’re biased,” he chuckles.

Sarah shoulders him playfully. “Maybe. But it does look good on Dottie.” She grins slyly up at him. “Why don’t you ask your little ‘friend’?” She teases, holding up air quotes.

Heat instantly creeps up Joel’s cheeks as he instantly recognizes she’s talking about you. “Good idea, kiddo,” he mutters.

“Da-ad, you’re blushing!” Sarah squeals, poking his cheek playfully.

“‘M not. I don’t ‘blush’,” Joel waves her away. “Whatever. Fine. I’ll ask her.”

Sarah nods approvingly as Joel pulls his phone from his faded leather jacket pocket and takes a picture of the halter.

You nearly drop your phone as Joel’s notification buzzes at the top of your phone. “Jesus Christ, I’m acting like a goddamn teenager,” you mutter to yourself, opening the message.

Joel- Hey, I’m trying to pick out a halter for Dottie. You think this one would look good on her?

Attached - One image.

You smile at the image of Joel’s fingers awkwardly trying to hold the halter so you could see it properly. The dark purple color is sure to look good on her, you think to yourself. Sitting up criss cross applesauce in bed, you text him back.

You- totally! it kind of looks like her last halter though lol.

Joel- Thanks, cowgirl. Sarah was giving me shit about texting you.

You grin at that message, knowing that Sarah was teasing him about him turning to you for advice.

You- Why’s that, cowboy?

No answer. Were you being to forward with that answer? You’ll find out when you get to the barn, probably.

You pull yourself out of bed and run through your meloncholy everyday morning routine. You skip your usual shower, knowing you’re gonna get dirty at the barn. You change into a pair of tighter-fitting black Wrangler jeans and a faded black Dune t-shirt.

You’re about to walk out the door when you’re stopped in your tracks by a message from Joel.

Joel- She likes to play matchmaker.

It’s around 10 AM when you get to the barn. Inside, the barn is alive with activity, the sound of horses nickering and the scent of hay filling the air. You spot Joel hauling a trail saddle off of Amadeus, his easy confidence evident as he moves around the horse with practiced ease.

"Morning, cowboy," you greet him with a smile, walking over to join him.

Joel looks up, a grin spreading across his face at the sight of you. "Morning, cowgirl," he replies, his voice warm and welcoming. "Sleep well?"

You nod, grateful for the casualness of the conversation. "Yeah, not bad. How about you?"

Joel shrugs, his gaze lingering on you for a moment longer than necessary before tossing the saddle onto it’s rack. "Could've been better," he admits with a sheepish grin. "Sarah woke me up early this morning, insisting we go riding before it gets too hot."

You laugh, imagining Sarah dragging Joel out of bed with all the enthusiasm of a kid on Christmas morning. "Sounds like fun."

Joel chuckles, a sparkle in his eyes as he looks at you. "Yeah, she's definitely got a way of getting what she wants."

Sarah bounds into the barn with Dottie’s new halter in hand. “Hey, kids,” she giggles infectiously, giving you a side hug.

Joel rolls his eyes, unclipping Whiskey from the crossties. “Hey, kiddo. Would’ya mind filling up the water troughs outside f’me?”

“Sure, dad,” she says in her usual bubbly voice, discarding the halter into the tack room and walking outside.

Joel shakes his head in disbelief. “Kid’s an angel,” he says proudly.

“Sure is,” you smile softly, admiring the obvious love that Joel has for his daughter. You grab a mucking fork from the rack next to the tack room and get to work tackling the stalls. Joel follows suit and starts cleaning the stall next to yours.

“Say, cowgirl,” he breaks the silence after a few moments. “I know you’re a bit wary about ridin’ and stuff, but would you want to go on a trail ride sometime? Jus’ you and me.”

You smile to yourself, the infectious thoughts about spending time like that with Joel clouding your fears of riding. “I’d love that. As long as we can do an easy ride. You good with that, cowboy?”

He grins at you as he dumps a load of manure into the wheelbarrow, his soft brown eyes crinkling at the corners. “F’course, cowgirl.” He hesitates for a second before asking, “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened that made you so….”

“Scared?” You finish his sentence for him softly. He nods. “I don’t mind at all.” You grunt as you struggle to push the mucking fork under a pile on manure. You jump as you feel him behind you, arms reaching around you and grabbing the handle to help you lift it. “Thanks,” you mutter, heat creeping up your cheeks. “Um- anyway, I-” you chuckle nervously, unable to wrap your head around what Joel just did.

“The- uh- your story,” Joel grins sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh-right,” you laugh, and Joel swears your smile can light up the darkest of places. “I kind of told you already at the coffee shop, but two of the trainers I had in high school were very mentally and sometimes physically abusive towards me. High school was…it was a rough time.”

Joel nods in understanding, his eyes softening as he looks at you.

You take a deep breath, grateful for Joel's understanding gaze. It's not easy to open up about the painful memories of your past, but with Joel, it feels different—safer.

"I used to love riding, you know?" you continue, your voice soft as you sift through the memories. "It was my escape, my sanctuary. But then...things changed. The trainers I had, they were ruthless. They pushed me too hard, ignored my boundaries. And when I couldn't meet their expectations, they...they punished me."

The words hang heavy in the air, a palpable reminder of the pain you've carried for so long. But as you speak, you feel a weight lifting off your shoulders, replaced by a sense of relief at finally sharing your story with someone who listens without judgment.

Joel's expression is a mixture of sympathy and understanding as he listens to your words, his gaze unwavering. "I'm sorry you had to go through that," he says softly, his voice filled with genuine empathy. "No one deserves to be treated like that, especially not when they're just trying to follow their passion."

You nod in agreement, grateful for Joel's comforting presence. "Yeah, it was...it was tough," you admit, your voice barely above a whisper. "But I'm trying to move past it, to reclaim what I lost. And being here, with you, it feels like a step in the right direction."

A gentle smile tugs at Joel's lips, a silent reassurance that you're not alone in your journey. "You're strong, cowgirl," he says, his voice soft but filled with conviction. "Stronger than you realize. And if you ever need someone to lean on, I'm here."

The sincerity in Joel's words washes over you like a wave, warming your heart and filling you with a newfound sense of hope. In his presence, you feel understood, accepted for who you are, scars and all.

"Thank you, Joel," you say, your voice choked with emotion. "For everything."

Joel's smile widens, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he reaches out to squeeze your shoulder gently. "Anytime, cowgirl. Anytime."

You sniffle slightly, wiping a few tears off of your cheek with a chukle. “Sorry,” you mumble. “I look like a goddamn baby right now. You’re just…one of the only people I’ve ever told.”

“Well, I’m honored,” Joel smiles. “Can I…can I hug you?” he asks softly.

You nod, and he takes you gently in his arms, his embrace warm and soft and comforting. You jump and pull away when Sarah walks in. She holds her hands up, an incredulous look on her face.

“Did I interrupt something?” she giggles.

“No, of course not, kiddo,” Joel ruffles her hair.

She glances at you, eyes slightly red with tears. “Are you okay?”

You nod, touched by the sincere concern in the 14-year-olds voice. “I’m fine, trust me. Just…telling your dad about some old memories.”

Sarah's expression softens, and she steps closer, wrapping you in a gentle hug. "I'm sorry you had to go through that," she says sincerely, her voice filled with empathy beyond her years. "But I'm glad you're here now, with us."

You smile through your lingering tears, touched by Sarah's kindness. "Thanks, Sarah. You're a good kid."

She grins, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "I try," she says playfully, before turning to Joel. "So, when's that trail ride happening, Dad?"

Joel chuckles, his arm still draped around your shoulders. "Soon, kiddo. Real soon."

‘Soon’ ends up being that evening. Tommy had picked up Sarah for dance class, leaving you and Joel alone together at the barn. “You’re gonna be riding little miss Dottie here,” Joel grins, tossing you her brand new purple halter.

You catch it smoothly. “Cool. She’s…y’know, calm?”

“Of course. About as calm and quiet as they get. I could throw ya on Arizona. You’d be in for a ride,” Joel sticks his tongue out at you. “I’m not that mean though.”

“Gasp. Joel Miller is kind enough to put me on a tame horse? Unbelievable,” you grin in mock astonishment. He elbows you playfully and you both giggle like a couple of damn teenagers.

“Maybe not. Don’t test my patience, cowgirl,” he chuckles, feigning an evil smile.

Once you both bring in Dottie and Whiskey and secure them in the cross ties, Joel tosses you a curry comb and a soft body brush. “Groom away, cowgirl. I wanna see my reflection in this horse’s coat,” he orders playfully.

“If I do that you might scare yourself, old man,” you tease. You take the brushes from him and run your fingers over the bristles of the body brush, poofing a cloud of dust and horsehair into Joel’s face. You grin triumphantly as you turn to Dottie and start rubbing circles into her coat with the currycomb.

“37 years old ya little shit,” he shakes his head, trying to hide his wide grin.

It doesn’t take long for the horses to get tacked up and ready, Dottie suited up in a black cushioned trail saddle and Whiskey in an intricately detailed barrel saddle and hackamore.

“We gotta fit you for a helmet, cowgirl. Safety first,” Joel reminds you as the horses stomp and snort impatiently.

Normally you would roll your eyes at the thought of a helmet on a trail ride. But now, after surviving the fall so many years ago, you’d never refuse one. “Sounds good, cowboy.”

You follow Joel over to the rack of helmets sitting in the tack room, and he picks out a dark blue one. “This color’ll look good on ya,” he says quietly, gently fitting the helmet over your head and buckling it, his calloused fingers grazing your chin. Your shared gaze lingers for a second before you blink and look away, taking your bottom lip between your teeth.

“This one fits good, Joel, thanks.”

“Perfect, cowgirl. Let’s get mounted up, shall we?”

You giggle, following him out to the barn where you unclip the horses from their spots at the crossties and lead them outside. You make sure Dottie’s cinch is tight enough before sticking your left foot in the stirrup and swinging up with ease. You cock an eyebrow at Joel, who’s dragging a mounting block over to Whiskey’s left side.

“Old joints can’t handle mounting from the ground?” You tease, gently easing Dottie over to where Whiskey is standing. You take a mental note that she neck reins.

“Shuddup,” Joel mutters as he swings easily onto the saddle with help of the mounting block. Right away, Joel notices your natural seat. The reins at perfect tension, your straight posture and your position in the saddle all seemed to come natural to you, even though it has been so long since you’ve ridden. He also notices how beautiful you are. The sun kissing your skin just right in the early evening light, the way your eyes crinkle when you smile at him. No matter how hard he tries to keep you at arms length in fear he’ll get hurt by another woman, he can’t help but be drawn into you.

“Take a picture, cowboy, it’ll last longer,” you smirk, gently tapping Dottie’s side with your heels to get her to start walking alongside Whiskey.

He tries to hide the shade of red creeping up his cheeks. “Follow me, cowgirl,” he gestures, guiding Whiskey into a shaded trail entrance leading out of the pasture.

As the horses amble along the trail, Joel can't help but steal glances at you whenever he thinks you're not looking. The way you handle Dottie with such ease and confidence, the sunlight catching in your hair, the subtle curve of your smile—it's all too captivating for him to ignore.

"You know, cowgirl," Joel finally speaks up, breaking the comfortable silence between you, "you look like you were born in that saddle."

You chuckle softly, heat creeping onto your cheeks at his compliment. "Thanks, cowboy. Guess it's like they say, old habits die hard."

Joel smiles, a warmth spreading through his chest at the sound of your laughter. "Well, you sure make it look easy."

You ride in companionable silence for a while, the only sounds being the rhythmic clip-clop of the horses' hooves and the soft rustle of leaves in the gentle breeze. The trail winds through the countryside, offering breathtaking views of rolling hills and lush greenery.

As the sun begins to dip lower in the sky, casting a golden hue over the landscape, Joel can't shake the feeling of contentment that washes over him. Here, surrounded by nature and in the company of someone he cares about, everything feels right in the world.

"You know," Joel speaks up again, his voice soft and contemplative, "I never used to believe in second chances. But being here with you, it's made me realize that sometimes life gives you unexpected opportunities to start over."

You turn to him, meeting his gaze with a gentle smile. "I know what you mean," you reply, your voice barely above a whisper. "Being here, with you, it feels like I'm finally getting a second chance at something I thought I'd lost forever."

Joel's heart skips a beat at your words, the depth of emotion in your eyes leaving him speechless. In that moment, he knows that he never wants to let you go, that he'll do whatever it takes to keep you by his side.

"Me too, cowgirl," Joel finally says, his voice filled with sincerity. "Me too."

#joel miller x reader #pedro pascal #joel miller #the last of us #mrs ohara writes shit

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melishade · 4 months

Text

Attack on Prime Incorrect Quotes Part Whenever

Main Story

Levi and Megatron at each other’s throats

More Incorrect Quotes

When Armin is more comfortable around Megatron:

Megatron: We need to counterattack.

Armin: That’s a bad idea and I’m not helping.

Megatron: Then you’re a bad friend.

Armin, baffled: Wait, we’re friends?

Megatron: We are if you help me.

Armin: Aw….pass.

Megatron: FRAGGING!

Armin waving goodbye: Friends don’t need to be accomplices to be friends!

It's improvement but he's not happy about it.

War Timeline

Knockout: By the Allspark. You gotta be kidding me.

Dreadwing: You must be kidding me.

Hanji wiping the energon from their mouth as they stood atop of vehicon corpses. Sees them and smiles: You gotta be kidding me?! squeals in delight

Megatron: You gotta be fragging kidding me! Why in the Pits of Kaon are they still alive?!

Optimus in the Peaceful Timeline if people found out he's the 'Savior from Heaven'

Optimus: Every time I try to talk to someone it’s: ‘Sorry this’ and ‘Forgive me that’ and ‘I’m not worthy’-! WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?!

Helos: I’m averting my eyes, oh Savior!

Optimus: Well don’t!

===

Megatron smirking devilishly after he ripped out Reiner's titan heart: Do you wish to see what else I can do?

Hanji screaming: YES!!!!! All eyes shift to them I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW!!!! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Megatron deadpans at the sight.

======

Optimus goes to save Megatron and gets injured in the process

Eren: For Megatron?...Really?

Hanji: Yeah, Really?!

Levi: FUCKING REALLY?!

===

Levi: I blame Eren for this... And Buckethead

Megatron: The fuck did I do??

Levi, staring at him: I'm sure you did something

Megatron:

Megatron: N-No-

====

Peaceful Timeline with Optimus and Megatron screwing around during those 2,000 years

At a zoo

Megatron: What are they in for?

Optimus: Megatron, this isn't prison.

Megatron: So they can leave?

Optimus: No, but-

Megatron, pointing at a meerkat: I bet that one murdered someone.

=====

Hanji: I don’t think we can mansplain, manipulate, or malewife our way out of it this time.

Megatron, cracks his knuckles: Manslaughter it is.

====

Hanji calls Optimus: Hey, are you busy right now?

Optimus: A little bit. Why?

Hanji: Oh, no worries. Nothing important.

*5 hours later*

Optimus: You and the Survey Corps in jail?! Why did you not say anything?!

Hanji: You were busy!

Peaceful Timeline 2,000 Years Later

Eren: Can we stay with you tonight?

Optimus: All three of you? What happened?

Armin glaring at Mikasa: Someone was playing with an ouija board and cursed the whole apartment complex.

Mikasa: Armin wasn’t any help. He doesn’t know how to banish spirits, so he’s just throwing salt at them yelling “does this look like a hotel to you!?”

Armin: Spirits aren't real!

Mikasa: I have a video that says otherwise! I thought you were the smart one!

=====

They got Optimus drunk one time

Hanji, gesturing to Optimus: Wheeljack, look what you did! You made Optimus upset!

Eren: Optimus, please don’t cry, we’re sorry!

Wheeljack, feeling a little guilty: My bad, Chief.

Optimus, drunk out of his mind and crying pointing to the 104th: I DON’T REMEMBER GIVING BIRTH TO ANY OF YOU!

===

Peaceful Timeline

Megatron: No one can hurt me if I’m cold and detached and not emotionally invested in anyone.

Maria: Hi Papa!

Megatron: *sweating* Shit.

Megatron: Come on, how many times do I have to apologize to them?

Levi: Once.

Megatron: ...

Megatron: No.

===

Levi: This is like the longest I've slept. Wow, I feel so dizzy.

Optimus: How long have you slept?

Levi: Five minutes.

Megatron: roses are red.

Megatron: violets are blue.

Megatron: gods gave me all the height.

Megatron, snorting while pointing at Levi: and left nothing to you.

Sasha: The ocean is a soup.

Survey Corps and Autobots stare

Arcee: Do elaborate.

Sasha: What is needed for something to be a soup?

Armin: Uh... water, salt, some form of vegetation, and I personally prefer some meat in mine.

Arcee having a mid-life crisis

Wheeljack: The ocean is a soup-!

Sasha: The ocean is a soup!

=====

Peaceful Timeline

Rose: Optimus, what if there are monsters?

Optimus: Don't worry Aurora, humans are known to be at the top of the food chain.

Much later...

Rose, lying awake at night: I am the monster.

Teenage Maria: Go to bed, Rose!

===

Optimus: We have to plan, have to figure something out.

Hanji: Prime, when have any of our plans actually worked? We plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose.

Armin: Are we in trouble?

Optimus: Take a guess.

Sasha: No?

Levi: Take another guess.

Megatron as Matthew, in prison: Well, I've been in better jails in my life.

Reiner outside his cell: That's nothing to brag about, Matthew.

Peaceful Timeline

Megatron: looks at Maria

Megatron: Baby girl. Baby.

Megatron: looks at Rose

Megatron: Evil.

Megatron has beef with Rose. She's a little shit to him.

Megatron gesturing to titan form Eren: I think we have to kill this guy, Optimus.

Optimus: Damn...

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qqueenofhades · 1 year

Note

oh, absolutely! and that’s why i’m honestly so fed up with these online leftists. they act like they were the first people to sound the alarm on bunch of horrible shit and go all defeatist, completely disrespecting the work of activists and organizers who have been trying to fix these issues since before they were even a thought. there’s this widespread idea that the systems won’t ever work in a way that’s fair because they weren’t designed to, and while yes, the systems were designed to be unfair and awful to marginalized groups, gutting them won’t solve the problem if there’s nothing to replace them with. mutual aid is a wonderful thing and i’m happy to see people talking about it but i don’t think a lot of them realize it can’t replace a system. it can help but it can’t be this thing you throw everything into because you’re disillusioned with the systems. the only way to make those systems better is to vote in candidates who will but these people are so sick of being told to vote they just refuse to even entertain why people may be telling them to do that.

See, this is where far-right libertarians and far-left "burn the whole system down!!!" ideologies once more collide. Far-right libertarians don't want to participate in society and don't want to be responsible for the welfare of others and don't want any rules and definitely no regulations and so on and so forth. Far-left "revolutionaries" claim to want the same thing in terms of destroying the existing system, but they do so out of some misguided idea that either some new and completely perfect system will magically spring from the ashes (spoiler alert: no), or that informal neighborhood-level networks of mutual aid (however they define that, when they're often willing to totally exclude people who disagree with them about the smallest things, so why would they help people they disagree with on everything else?) can replace, as you say, the entire system.

The thing is, if you're reduced to informally scraping along with your local neighbors and have absolutely no other recourse or formal system of governance and/or distribution, you're living in a failed state, and nobody who has ACTUALLY been through that experience thinks, as the Online Leftists do, that it would be a great idea. This is another thing about their total failure to learn from history, or listen to anyone who isn't American, despite the tankies' insistence that America causes all evil in the world forever. My friends who grew up in the former USSR sure don't think their system was great, even if it was called "socialism" or "communism" or whatever terms the left wants to use with no appreciation of their difficulties. And so on.

Basically, it reminds me of when the Brexit loons were insisting that it made no difference to food supply if Britain left the EU, because, and I quote, "Britain is a nation of farmers, we can grow food in our back gardens!" As if the entire point of human civilization has been to bring us back to personal subsistence farming, which has generally been acknowledged throughout history to totally suck and also be the least reliable way of providing for yourself, and also... the idea that personally growing food in your nice back garden in Kent can replace the entire structure and system of the EU single market and customs union is completely absurd. To say the fucking least, and to anyone whose brain isn't poisoned with Brexit Brexit Brexit! And yes, hey presto, Britain is now experiencing food difficulties and frantically blaming it on anything except Brexit. Meanwhile, Sunak finally negotiated a new Northern Ireland protocol with the EU, but it's anyone's guess if it'll pass the Commons, since the Tory backbenchers just reflexively nuke anything that suggests any cooperation with the EU or any acceptance of EU law. Because they want to pretend the EU never existed! (Even though it was Margaret Thatcher's idea/initiative, shh.) Yeah. That'll work.

So yeah. If you live in your own world where facts don't exist, or exist only to support your preferred ideology, and your insistence that destroying the system with nothing to replace it is the best idea... it is, uh, dumb. Which is the nicest way I can possibly put it. It's never worked out before, it won't work out now, and honestly, "I'm tired of being told to vote after I didn't vote and then things went wrong!" is an argument I have NO sympathy for whatsoever. I know things are bad. You know things are bad. If there's a simple, easy way to start fixing it -- and systems CAN be fixed, even if it takes time and is not the instant dopamine gratification of moral posturing on social media -- where you have to participate once every two years, and you don't do it, then yeah. I don't think that person is serious about fixing anything, and I have no obligation or desire to listen to them at all.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts #uk politics

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meenatranslates · 5 months

Text

[SSR] Citron | Affection and Respect

Everyone from the shopping district is a truly wonderful friend of mine! One must eat the taiyaki that you get as you bump into someone!♪ If I ever missed Juliano from my homeland, I’ll hug this cushion rea~lly tightly♪ quote taken from yaycupcake

__________________________

Citron's Channel~ (Tentative) - Part 1

__________________________

*Director's default name as Izumi

―Courtyard (Night)―

Tsuzuru: Excuse me-.

Citron: State the password!

Tsuzuru: Huh!?

Citron: “Man”...?

Tsuzuru: ...”kai”?

Citron: Wrong, try again!

Tsuzuru: Wha- You’re the one who called me over!

Citron: I thought for sure you’d know the answer. Ueehh, I’m so disappointed...

Tsuzuru: Ngh... Fine, let me redo this one more time.

Citron: “Man”?

Tsuzuru: “Zai”!

Citron: Okay, you can come in~!

―Room 101―

Sakuya: Welcome, Tsuzuru-kun!

Tsuzuru: Can’t believe I had to go through that to enter here...

Izumi: Citron-kun must’ve really liked passwords, huh.

Itaru: That reminds me, he made us say them when we had a strategy meeting before.

Masumi: I couldn’t get in the room right away that it was a hassle at that time...

Chikage: In a way, you could say it’s the strongest security.

Sakuya: Anyway, what are we gathered here for tonight, Citron-san?

Itaru: Eh, even you don’t know?

Sakuya: Yes, he said that he’ll tell us only when everyone is here...

Masumi: What's the big deal.

Chikage: Maybe it’s about a classified information or something.

Citron: Exactly! It’s a serious matter that could shake the whole nation...!

Sakuya: EH!?

Tsuzuru: W-what do you mean by that?

Izumi: Uh, you see...

*flashback*

―Hallway (Night)―

Izumi: (Huh, there’s someone talking in the practice room... I wonder if he’s having self-training?)

Citron: Oh, Director!

Izumi: Citron-kun! Oh, you were in the middle of video call. Sorry about that!

Citron: It’s ok, it’s just Tangerine~.

Tangerine: “Good evening! Long time no see, Director-san.”

Izumi: Good evening, Tangerine-kun. Seems like your Japanese has improved again.

Citron: Director, you’re such a “light fowl” for staying up this late at night~.

Izumi: “Light fowl”? You mean “night owl”, right?

Citron: Yes, that!

Izumi: Well, why did you bother to take the video call here? You could’ve done it in your room or the lounge.

Citron: As for that... It’s because this transmission is a consultation of a crucial classified information...

Izumi: Classified information!?

Tangerine: “We were talking about ‘Citron’s Channel~ (Tentative)!’”

Izumi: ...It sounds so laid-back that it’s not like classified at all.

Citron: Geez, you have no sense of comedy, Tangerine.

Tangerine: “?”

Izumi: Um... Sorry if it’s really a classified information, but what’s “Citron’s Channel~ (Tentative)”?

Citron: It seems that the number of Zahran citizens who are interested in Japan has been increasing ever since that Kabuki performance.

Tangerine: “Many of them, especially the young ones have great interest in it, so we were discussing about opening a video channel.”

“If Onii-sama introduces the culture and lifestyle of Japan using the channel, all the Zahrans will love Japan even more!”

Izumi: Wow, it’s definitely a great idea!

Citron: There's a problem though. We’ve agreed to make one video as a trial, but still can’t decide on the main content...

Izumi: In that case, why not try asking everyone else about it? They might have some good input.

Citron: I see, they do say “thousand heads are better than one”, after all!

Izumi: Haha, that’s a bit too much. You’re supposed to say “two heads” there.

Citron: Alright, I will call everyone in Spring troupe along with Director and have 7 of us brainstorm ideas together!

Tangerine: “I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of video you’ll make with your friends, Onii-sama~!”

__________________________

Citron's Channel (Tentative) - Part 2

__________________________

Citron: ...And that’s about it!

Tsuzuru: Geez, don’t surprise us like that. That wasn’t even a classified information at all.

Itaru: Well, he’s not wrong about it being a national project.

Masumi: “Citron’s Channel~ (Tentative)” sounds too laid-back as the name for the official channel.

Sakuya: It’s memorable and very Citron-like, so I think it’s good though!

Chikage: For starters, I guess we should do our best to make some content for the video.

Citron: Me and Tangerine have tried to think of several ideas. Here’s one of them.

Sakuya: “Grand Plan: The One who Lies is the Golf”...? ( 1 )

Tsuzuru: You’re supposed to write “the Wolf” instead of “the Golf”...

Citron: Oh~, that’s our Tsuzuru! Never miss a beat to retort!

Masumi: To begin with, that plan itself doesn’t make any sense.

Chikage: Like I thought, for stuff like this, isn’t Chigasaki the expert?

Itaru: Hmm, let’s see. First off-.

―Kitchen (Day)―

Izumi: Okay, the camera’s ready~.

Citron: Today, I will introduce you to okonomiyaki! A fun and delicious Japanese dish that the whole family can make and eat together~.

Itaru: Well, we can try going for the classic, which is a cooking video.

Sakuya: The attraction to delicious food is universal after all!

Citron: The main ingredient is the cabbage! We will now chop it into bite-sized slices...

Masumi: He said that, but he’s cutting them big though?

Itaru: Bite-sized has lost its meaning.

Citron: Next, we add the flour and the eggs! Bam! Into the frying pan they go!

Tsuzuru: He’s putting everything in one motion...!

Chikage: You can’t really call that an okonomiyaki.

Izumi: At this rate, false information about Japan will spread around the world...!

Itaru: Hmm, so cooking’s a no-go. In that case-.

―Dining Room―

Citron: Now then, let’s eat Citron’s handmade okonomiyaki! Itadakimasu~!

Itaru: We’ll try doing an eating video. It’s another popular genre.

Citron: Oh-! This is...!

The crunchy cabbage and the mushy batter create a completely new texture!

Masumi: So you’re saying it’s undercooked.

Tsuzuru: Of course it is! From the way you cooked just a while ago...

Chikage: If this makes people think that Japanese food is not delicious, our image will get damaged for sure.

Izumi: Hngg, I guess this video is a flop, even though we recorded all that...

Omi: I’m home. ...What an amazing sight I’m seeing here.

Sakuya: Ah, Omi-san! Welcome home!

Tsuzuru: My bad for making a mess here. We were shooting a cooking video just now...

Izumi: Sorry, we’ll clean it up soon.

Omi: No, I don’t mind that you used the kitchen. Just that, what were you making?

Citron: Okonomiyaki!

Omi: Okonomiyaki, you say... Did you use up all the cabbages?

Citron: Not all, there are still some of them here.

Omi: Ah... They’ve all been cut already. What to do...

Izumi: What’s wrong?

Omi: I was thinking of making stuffed cabbage rolls for tonight’s dinner.

Izumi: EHH-!

Chikage: That’d be impossible to make with all these shredded cabbages.

Citron: Sorry, Omi~.

Omi: It’s alright. I’ll think of a different menu using the ingredients that we have now-.

Itaru: No, my mind and tongue are dying to eat cabbage rolls already.

Tsuzuru: Your rolls are really good after all.

Omi: But we’re out of cabbages...

Citron: I just remembered! The greengrocer old man said he got some good cabbages yesterday!

Sakuya: Then we might be able to make very tasty rolls if we use those!

Citron: Alright, let’s go to the grocery store and buy those cabbages~!

=====NOTES=====

[1] I ransacked my brain to do this one. I really like the original joke here but alas, it’s hard to keep it. Hopefully you can understand what I’m trying to explain here.

Citron originally wrote “ダジャレを言うのはダジャレ大作戦” or “dajare wo iu no wa dajare dai sakusen”, which translates to “Grand plan: Pun’s the one saying a pun”. What it should’ve been written is “ダジャレを言うのは誰じゃ大作戦” or “dajare wo iu no wa dare ja dai sakusen” which translates to “Grand plan: Who’s the one saying a pun?”.

__________________________

Citron's Channel (Tentative) - Part 3

__________________________

―Shopping District―

Itaru: ...It’s not like we need EVERYONE to go, do we?

Chikage: Walking around the shopping district should help you get some exercise.

Masumi: I’ll be the one to carry all your luggage.

Izumi: A lot of cabbages will be too heavy for one person to carry.

Elementary school kid A: Hey, it’s Citron!

Citron: Oh~, are you all back from school? Welcome back~!

Elementary school kid B: We’re back~!

Elementary school kid C: Let’s play games, Citron!

Citron: Sorry, we’ll do it next time because I’m going to the grocery store right now~.

Japanese sweets shop granny: Oh my, Citron-chan!

Citron: Hello~.

Japanese sweets shop granny: Good thing you came, I have some freshly made dangos here. Please take them with you.

Citron: Thank you!

Izumi: As always, you’re very popular.

🌸CHOICE 1: What’s the secret?

Izumi: You must have some kind of secret to being popular. Citron: I don’t have that! I just chat with everyone like normal. Madam A: Citron-chan always compliments me so I feel happy whenever we talked~. Citron: I’m just being honest~. Madam B: Of course we’ll be happy if a gentleman like you compliments us~. Citron: If I’m a gentleman, then both madams here are gentlewomen! Oh, was that the right word? Madams: Ahaha, you’re the best~! Izumi: (I think I saw a glimpse of the secret behind how he naturally attracts people...)

🌸CHOICE 2: You like everyone

Izumi: You really like everyone here, don’t you? Citron: I do! Everyone is very kind, so every day is fun~. Izumi: That’s great! It’s nice to have many people you like. Citron: Yeah! I like the madams, and the people from the neighbourhood association-. And especially everyone in the MANKAI Company. Izumi: Fufu, I see. Citron: ...And of course, I like you very much as well. Izumi: Thanks, I really like you too.

Fishmonger madam: Citron-chan, why don’t you come by our place today? I saved the best sweet shrimp for you.

Citron: As always, you’re so good at inviting people, madam~!

Itaru: He’s constantly being greeted by a lot of people as soon as we entered this place.

Sakuya: As expected from the prince of the shopping district!

Izumi: ...That’s it!

Sakuya: Eh?

Izumi: We should just take a video of him interacting with the people in town!

Chikage: I see. It’s a familiar sight to us, but it might look fresh to the people of Zahra.

Tsuzuru: A Japanese shopping district itself are rare, but it’s also rarer to see the sight of their prince blending in with the common people.

Sakuya: On top of that, they might be very happy to see him being loved even in another country as well!

Taiyaki shop owner: How about some taiyaki, Citron-kun?

Citron: I was craving something sweet earlier! Nice timing~!

Granny: I made a cushion of a pet that I saw from your photos before, Citron-chan. Do you like it?

Citron: Oh, Juliano...! It’s a spitting image!

Granny: I’m glad to hear that! I’ll give this one for you then!

Citron: Thank you~!

Izumi: (We finally arrived at the grocery store...!)

(But seems like we got enough footage to be used for the video.)

Citron: Old man~! I’ve come here to buy some cabbages!

Greengrocer old man: Welcome, Citron! Ya remembered that I got a lot of good ones, didn’t ya?

Citron: Of course!

Greengrocer old man: That makes me happy. A’ight, I’ll give ya the best one for free!

Citron: Thank you! As thanks, I’ll do a belly dance for you!

Izumi: W-wait a second, Citron-kun! I’m still recording, you know?!

Citron: I don’t mind! I want everyone in Zahra to see my belly dance too~!

Sakuya: Ah, Citron-san! Your shirt...!

Masumi: Is that good as thanks?

Greengrocer old man: Yer such a funny guy, Citron. Ah-ha-ha!

Itaru: ...He really likes it.

Chikage: Even so, a half-naked prince doing the belly dance would be an international issue.

Izumi: You’re right... We’ll cut this part out.

Citron: Oisa, oisa~!

Story Clear!

#a3!#a3! translation #meenatranslates #citron a3

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time-shardz · 2 years

Text

Ennead x AMAB GN Reader

The Servant of the start

PT:1

Ok I know I wrote GN reader but I don't see enough male reader shit in the community so yeah.

I don't see enough Ennead(Manhwa) x reader stuff I mean it basically doesn't exist so I decided to take the liberty to write something for it this is part one

I would put this on any other fanfiction website/app if it wasn't the fact I wanted to get a few chapters out before I wrote a entire fic for this

So enjoy

This idea isn't mine and is completely inspired by a Quotev fic I started to read so here's the link

Book Of Promos

Why did the world pick me to do this?

Why am I even here?

“I am Ra the God of The Sun

And who are you~?”

I didn’t ask for this…….

Ok that’s a lie I did say I wanted to change the plot of Ennead.

But this isn’t what I had in mind

“You who stood on this very hill on the power of chaos with me who are you?”

“Almighty Ra God of the Sun,I am but simply a lowly being with the honor of being in thy presence”

I bow down lowly to pay my respects as even though this wasn’t my home dimension I knew it would be a bad idea to anger a god.

Ra seemed amuse as I tried very hard to not make eye contact with her bright eyes.

Why must I be the one chosen to be sent to another world?

“How about I give you a purpose and a name?”

What?

“Rule beside me and you and I will make the start the creation of this world~”

Oh no oh nonononono

And get more involved with the plot?

That in itself is a death sentence and I will end up with just as high of a chance to get raped by God.

I simply wish to be a quiet NPC and watch from the sidelines

“Ra God Of The Sun it would be a honor to rule beside a great God as yourself,But I must decline as I am not equipped for such an important task to assist the creation of this world”

Ra’s eyes widen and she walks down closer to me her fingers clasp my chin and force me to look up at her

…..

Wtf is this so hot!?-

“Are you sure~?”

“Yes thine is sure Almighty Ra”

Ra smiles

Why is she smiling

What is she gonna do to me!?

Ra pat’s my head

“Very well From this day on thy name shall be (Y/N) thee shall be the first and forever loyal servant and will serve me and my future children”

How did this happen?

“Kekeke”

I look at the white haired individual in front of me in shock.

Where was I?

I was just returning home from the manga shop after I finally got the entire physical collection of the Ennead Manhwa.

Despite the fact I had long finished reading Ennead having the physical copies definitely felt different to only reading it online.

And now I was in this vast empty space

“Hey hey heyyyyyy~ are you even listening to us?”

I snapped out of my thoughts

I flinched as I saw the black mask with one eye stare into me

I gulped

“W-Who are you?”

The entity seemed surprised to hear me speak

“Finally your listening to us again”

Us?

“Thine name does not matter but what matters is thy is dead”

I’m dead?

Well finally,I actually made it further in life then I believed I would

“You don’t seemed worried”

I stare the being dead in the eyes….eye?

“Man have you seen Gen Z? Like at this point we could go through WW3 and not give a flying fuck”

The being stops for a second and seems to be thinking until it floats back a bit further from me

“Kekeke oh humans are still so amusing after so long,though aren’t you curious on how you died”

…..I didn’t think about that

“How did I die?”

The smile on the entity’s mask seems to grow wider showing some sharp canines

Are those real?

“I believe you humans call this trope truck-kun”

….

I really died to a fucking truck

Am I about to be isekaied rn

“Yes”

I was startled back

“I how- when?”

The entity smiles in amusement

“Of course I’m capable of reading minds I just decided if I want to or not”

Ok that is so embarrassing if he heard what I said earlier

“But yes thee shall be quote on quote isekaied”

“Where am I going?”

Suddenly the mask’s eye closes and it’s grin seems to sharpen.

I nervously redirect my attention to the entity’s tail which swishes around in a strange way.

It looked like how a cat’s tail would swish when it decide to play with its prey

I felt a cold shiver go up my spine

“That is for you to find out darling~”

Suddenly the entity seems to groan in pain and sigh

“Looks like our time is over dear,but I will try talk to you more along your journey,good luck”

Secrets of the Archive

•Originally these were gonna be called secrets under the Sun and secrets under the Moon for some of them

•Y/N wished to be a NPC but already knows their chances of being one is the same chances of Cale getting his slacker life

•Y/N will have some hidden powers cause I mean of course the unknown Entity doesn’t want their play thing to be destroyed so fast

•The unknown Entity says us for a reason

•Thine means I,Thy means your and Thee means you in ancient times

#Time-Shardz Stories #Ennead #ennead manhwa #ennead #x gn reader #x male reader #ocs #gn reader #male reader

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rollercoasterwords · 1 month

Note

i was so so so excited to read this, for a lot of reasons but mostly because i was So curious to read how you would write the spell, how it changes someone, the extension throughout the brain… he doesn’t have the memory but he still has the felling. how much memories and feelings depend in one another?!!??. is like when you don’t remember what you read, you can’t quote it, but you can remember how it felt. or like when you try to remember a song and for however reason you just CANT but its there, and your mind feels like its hollow, and it creeps on you, to feel like that for the memory of two whole years… it must be so deeply sickening. is a little like murder.

also i’m glad dorcas is with him, so they can share the grief, and just for understanding, even though they’re both so miserable they cant be a good company even for each other. and anddd sirius destroying the wall he used to hide for be able to torture, i don’t know if he meant to destroy it or if that was just a side effect of being truly happy and in love and free but anyway im glad he cant do the things his pre-obliviated self wouldn’t like to. great ch as always rae, if you like, please share a spoiler, snippet, anything.

thank u!! yeah i really wanted 2 explore the idea of memory, again, as not just something stored in like ur brain/consciousness whatever…or i suppose more accurately stored across different parts of ur brain? basically exploring the idea that ur brain is ur body & so the whole mind/body platonic dualism doesn’t really hold true etc…so like. how do we conceptualize memory loss when we think of ourselves not as mind-within-body but body-minds, what forms of memory persist even in ways we don’t usually consider ‘memory,’ etc—like the example u gave of still knowing how something made u feel without really being conscious of why, or physical habits & muscle memory, or triggers that invoke physical reactions without full understanding of why ur body is kicking in w that response, etc.

& yeah also did want 2 explore the idea that it’s a bit like murder!! like our experiences shape who we are, & removing those makes us different people in some ways…he hasn’t and can’t go back to being the person he was before, but he’s also never going to be the person he was/would have been w those memories—he’s someone different now, someone who is being shaped by the very experience of memory loss.

& also i like having dorcas back as well she’s fun 2 write <3 anyway glad ur enjoying the fic & sure i will share a spoiler abt the next ch lol:

the next ch is mostly sex. so! i am actually currently debating whether i’ll bump the rating from M to E 🤧

#ask #wfrau #have fun w that spoiler im not really sure what kind of reactions ch 23 is gonna get lol #having fun writing it tho 🤭

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lustbile · 2 years

Note

johnny as fwb based on his birth chart is like. well basically this man LOVES romance but hates talking abt his feelings so i think it rly depends on the kind of situation you have w him. if its something where you’re already friends/know each other and he catches feelings he might entertain the idea of it as a means to be close to u without actually ~talking abt his feelings~. if it’s a one night stand turned fwb and he catches feelings while getting to know you i think itll be p much the same as before, except he will be posessive and jealous easy. this man is a leo mars, and for it to be in his 5th house (which rules family, relationships and sex) rly sends him for a loop. johnny doesn’t actually actively seek out dating in all seriousness,, he actually kind of has a hard time starting romantic relationships. but he does fantasize abt sex alot, due to his 5th house being ruled by capricorn/aquarius (i wasnt sure on the direct placement here, so im rolling w it!!) his 8th house is ruled by aries, which i def think could lead to him being a constant hornball. hes very sensual and all around INTENSE when it comes to his lover/partner, and hes more likely to be into rough, passionate sex. i definitely think johnny would initiate and/or agree to a fwb relationship, but i do think he catches feelings very easily (this could be bc of his capricorn neptune, or having a 5th house stellium!!) and is really into the idea of a family. but this placement can also lead to him getting into unattainable and unavailable relationships. getting into what hes like during sex, (take this with a grain of SALT yall this is for entertainment purposes only!!) his leo mars means hes dominant, a very much dominant and authoritative energy (daddy and sir kink bitches, im looking at YOU!!! 🫵🏻). i dont think he would ever be submissive, unless it was the playful “i’ll sit back and let you think youre in charge when we both know u arent” kind of energy. lets you play with him and boss him around, but it doesnt last long. i definitely think he’s more lax on controlling in bed, basically instead of demanding and forcing your submission he finds more pleasure in earning it. a DOG for praise, and loves to receive it too. i 100% think that hes into your basic kinks; choking, praise, dom/sub, roleplay, things like this. he will probably be into dacryphylia but more of the overstimulation side of things bc again, he wants to earn your submission. speaking of submission, johnny is an excellent caretaker if you were to ever fall into subspace w him. he loves giving praise and telling you how sweet and pretty you are, and knowing that you trust him enough to fall into that headspace with him has him reeling. not to mention the stroke to his ego it would be to have you fawning and thinking only of him and his dick. i think these COULD BE his hard limits based on his placements but dont quote me: anything public. johnny’s placements (basically every planet in his 5th house + their signs) show me that hes generally a really private person when it comes to, well, everything. which atests to what we see of him outside of nct activities!! johnny definitely is into rough sex, but he doesnt want to hurt you. while he has his limits i do think hes very experimental and is down to try almost everything w you once. (as much as i lowkey love the idea and wish) i dont think he would be into anything dubcon or con-noncon, somnophilia included. he likes knowing that he’s making you feel good and doesn’t like the idea of “forcing” you to let him play with you. johnny’s chart is literally such a dream, this man is quite literally right out of a teenage girl’s (and mine!!!) dream man magazine. like i always mean it when i say that johnny’s chart is my favorite. (his and hoshi from svt but hoshi’s just makes me scream bc of his gemini stellium 👁️👁️) —🪐

this. this. all this. like everything. I think that’s why I’m so obsessed with him because everything about his chart kind of makes him the dream boy honestly lmao. like he’s so emotionally stunted but once you pull him out of his silly little aquarius stunt he is pure husband material. and idk maybe im projecting but I think with the need to please would a strong thing leading him into being more rough. I can see where the lack of interest in dub con kind of stuff comes in, but I think if it’s something his partner was interested, like you said he’s very open and I think if he tried it and saw how much you enjoyed it that would really get him going. but sometimes he does just come off as cut and dry super h0rny but just generally rough and easily excitable guy

#thank you for your thoughts!!!#nct smut #Johnny smut #ask #🪐 anon

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jessicalprice · 1 year

Text

there’s nothing wrong with newness

(reposted, with additions, from Twitter)

I think a lot of neo-paganism would be a lot healthier (and a lot less vulnerable to white supremacist influences) if everyone got more comfortable with the "neo" part of it. There's nothing wrong with creating new traditions, and even being inspired by past ones.

Before I get into what I’m talking about, I want to quote some of a brilliant thread by Dr. Sarah Taber:

looking back through europe's pre/history is really interesting, it's just population replacement after population replacement. there's a REASON we have no idea what the Lascaux cave art is about, for example. The cultures who made that p much disappeared 3+ invasions ago.

some places have very old oral histories: Aboriginal Australians have place-names that clearly refer to different sea levels, Haudenosaunee accounts tell of receding glaciers, etc. Most of Europe doesn't have that! Indo-European traditions are really, really recent.

The oldest oral tradition we got is fairy tales. The oldest one (the smith & the devil) goes back ~4K years. Sounds super old! Until you contrast it to Haudenosaunee receding-glacier histories (10-15K yrs) or Aboriginal Australian place names (up to 20-40K years old).

We're still learning a lot about what Indo-European society was all about & it's really hard to do w/out running face-first into a lot of Race Science but it's the base layer for the vast majority of Europe's "traditional cultures." 1 single invasion, relatively recent.

It's why Europe has way less linguistic diversity than p much anywhere else in the world! Very recent cultural resurfacing on most of the continent! And the folks who did it were militarized, hierarchical, & focused on male-owned property. That's what we're working with lol...

Europe's past has cool stuff like Stonehenge, Cucuteni-Trypillia longhouse culture, cave art, etc! And it's very important to remember they have basically nothing to do w the people who live there now. : / We have just some of their genes & ~none of their stories.

We can't "reclaim" those cultures bc they aren't our ancestors in any sense of a continuing tradition. Could we try? Sure! But at that point we're just making shit up & appropriating someone else's culture. And they're not even there to correct you when you get it wrong.

There’s a reason that there’s so much overlap between people interested in “reclaiming” pre-Christian European traditions and white supremacists/neo-Nazis.

anyway this has been a super long text wall but tl;dr there's a REASON fascination with pre-medieval Europe is associated with militant dudes who wanna wipe out other people. that's what our ancestors were up to going WAY back.

Once you start "reconnecting" that's the first thing you learn. : / It ain't all maypoles & herbs & shit. so like, associating pre-christian Europe with cultures of invasion & genocide is an accurate understanding of the situation. I shan't make fun of ppl for seeing it lol

I’ll reiterate again: there’s nothing wrong with your neopaganism leaning into the neo part.

A note about appropriation

It’s really trendy right now to claim that European Christians “appropriated” pre-Christian European traditions, and wow, no.

It really trivializes actual appropriation by colonizing cultures from the cultures that they occupy, oppress, and even genocide to equate the two.

The stuff that usually gets cited as “appropriation” of European pagan ritual is stuff like Christmas trees, Saturnalia -> Christmas, etc.

The thing is, it was not appropriation for European peoples to continue to practice their own traditions after converting to Christianity. A pagan Roman continuing to engage in Roman Saturnalia rituals after becoming a Christian is not appropriating anything. A Germanic pagan continuing to engage in winter traditions around decorating trees after becoming a Germanic Christian (which, incidentally, is first really documented in the 16th century, long after Europe was thoroughly Christianized, but for the sake of argument...) is not appropriating anything. You can’t appropriate from yourself.

(And no, most non-European Christians also aren’t “appropriating” European traditions by practicing them as Christian traditions--when you’ve been colonized, you are not “appropriating” anything by assimilating into the colonizing culture. Power relations matter.)

That is very much not the same as white people of European Christian descent practicing elements of Native, Indigenous, Aboriginal, Hindu, Jewish, etc. traditions when the people from those cultures A) have not invited them to do so, B) are often penalized for practicing their own traditions, and C) practice those traditions within the context of an entire culture, unlike the outsiders picking and choosing elements like they’re digging through a toybox.

Moreover, as Dr. Taber notes, there’s no direct link to those cultures to use to “reclaim” their traditions...

...except, for “newer” (as in pre-medieval) traditions that are preserved through Christianity. Where elements of those pre-Christian European traditions were preserved, they were almost always preserved by Christian Europeans. I’m no fan of Christianity, but European Christians actually have as much--if not more--of a claim to legitimacy in practicing those traditions than neo-pagans.

And not facing up to this leads a lot of neo-pagans (and even non-neo-pagan atheists from Christian backgrounds who like complaining about how Christians appropriated all kinds of European pagan traditions) very close to some white supremacist/Nazi narratives.

Because it usually turns on a characterization of Christianity as a foreign religion forced on innocent European pagans. (Never mind that the Christianization of Europe wasn’t anywhere near universally violent or coercive--Christians tended to save their swordpoint conversions for other continents. That, however, is a whole different post.)

So at that point, you have to ask “foreign to where?” Christianity as we know it developed into an actual religion in Roman-controlled areas. So it wasn’t exactly “foreign” to Europe. It was home-grown.

And the idea of Christianity as a religion “foreign” to Europe, forced upon Europeans by... whom? Other Europeans, actually, but that doesn’t fit the foreigner narrative.

Well, the very easy place to go is that it’s a corrupt, foreign Middle Eastern religion that was forced upon Europeans. And from there, it’s another easy step to This Is The Jews’ Fault. There’s a reason there’s a lot of antisemitic heathenry out there.

(We, for the record, are a non-evangelizing culture with closed practices. We aren’t trying to get you to convert to Judaism. In fact, we traditionally make it hard to convert to Judaism, because we believe y’all can have your own relationship to the Absolute.)

Some ugly history we should talk about

So back to the beginning of this post:

There's nothing wrong with creating new traditions, and even being inspired by past ones.

Like, I think that for the most part, the impetus behind most attempts to create neopagan practices, traditions, communities, etc. are really positive, especially when they're earth-focused. We're killing the planet, and if more people worshiping it helps turn that around, A+.

But like many people with a lot more expertise than me have pointed out (especially Indigenous people), a lot of neopaganism is suuuuuuper appropriative, and a lot of times the appropriation gets hand-waved away or justified by either claiming it's done respectfully or claiming that it's not harmful because, as opposed to Christianity, neopaganism is small and well-intentioned and all that.

Gd hippies, again

Generally, we're not talking about how much of this stuff was started by hippies--whom most contemporary Americans tend to think of as perhaps a bit silly, but not harmful--and the hippies were like POSTER CHILDREN for "the cool things in other cultures should belong to us." Like, they wrapped it up in a lot of Love And Universal Brotherhood language, and I guess since Christianity does the same with its colonialism, everyone was largely like "yup, that must be their motivation, love and peace, yo."

But if you have ever seen a hippie get called on appropriating Native stuff, for example, most of the time the Love And Universal Brotherhood shit goes right out the window and you end up with the Kareniest Karen you ever did see because there's a LOT of colonialism in there.

And also, fuck the Victorians

And what we also don't generally talk about is how much Victorian occultism got filtered through hippie New Age stuff into many forms of modern neopaganism. Like Gardner was inspired by the Rosicrucians and influenced by Crowley. (This might get boring, but I spent a lot of time flirting with neopaganism in college, especially Dianic and Celtic Wicca, and as is my wont with almost everything I get passionately interested in, I rabbitholed HARD on "how did this come to be the way it is?")

Any time I start following a thread through the labyrinth of history and I end up in Victorian occultism, I start to get really, really nervous. Most of the underlying assumptions there are ugly as hell, and the number of things in contemporary society it influenced are myriad and that influence is, often, unacknowledged.

So the Victorians got Very Into Archaeology, and were fascinated by ancient civilizations like those in Egypt (modern writers refer to Victorian "Egyptomania"), the Near East, China, and India. And on one hand, they loved the aesthetics and the sheer ancientness and believed that these cultures had a treasure trove of good things waiting to be "discovered" by white people. On the other hand, they got really insecure, because none of these sophisticated ancient societies were in Europe. (I go into a lot more detail about this in a series of posts about bad archaeology and the Minoans.)

So they became obsessed with discovering some sort of ancient European society, first to rival these civilizations and then to have taught/inspired/built them, and you get things like basically making up a sophisticated Minoan society that "predates" Near Eastern ones. You also get things like Atlantis as the progenitor civilization of every major world civilization, and a lot of similar theories. The descendants of these theories are things like Ancient Aliens conspiracy theories.

They all boil down to "there's no way brown people could have come up with all this tech/civilization/literature/etc. before white people so the explanation is either Ancient White Superpeople or aliens." And at the root of this is trying to prove that if other cultures have stuff white people like, it must rightfully belong to white people now because it must have originally belonged to white people.

And one of the ways that this interacted with Victorian Christianity--that it was made acceptable in a strongly Christian society--was to posit that all ancient civilizations were actually monotheistic. They just worshiped different "faces" of God. So you could be into occultism and invoke Isis and all that shit and still go to your Christian gentlemen’s club.

Fuck the Romantics, too

And I'm not going to go into it here because I already did in the Minoan posts, but parallel to the interaction with Christianity and the assumption of monotheism was interaction with the Romanticism of the time, which resulted in positing some sort of ur-Goddess worship.

None of this, incidentally, was based on actual evidence. The idea that all of Europe once followed one universal, matriarchal goddess religion was a theory that a random judge was like, "hey, this feels like it makes sense to me" and everyone was like "yup, let's run with it." And so they "reconstructed" a lot of pre-Christian religion based mostly on Romanticism and insecurity about advances in European civilization coming from the Near East.

And I could do a whole thread about how this stuff prepped a lot of Victorian Europeans and Americans to listen to the Nazis.

If you're grappling with your feelings of inferiority about how what you consider Civilization mostly came out of the Near East, not Europe, at some point you have to grapple with the role of Christianity in all that.

And the thing is, Christianity is actually NOT a Near Eastern religion (as noted above). It may have gotten started by Jewish followers of a Jewish teacher, but as soon as it actually started becoming a separate religion, it was centered in Rome (both the city and the empire). But if you're attempting to reconstruct European paganism to which you have no direct links (other than, perhaps, some traditions filtered through Christianity) because it was wiped out by Christianity, and you want to feel superior to Middle Easterners, well, the obvious move is to Blame The Jews. So Christianity becomes a Jewish religion forced on Europeans and I guess we'll just be vague about who was doing the forcing so we don't have to treat it as Europeans continuing to beat each other up. From there, it’s a direct line to the Nazis’ “Positive Christianity.”

The “neo-” part is great, actually

To get back to the original point, most neo-pagans are lovely people and I consider them more likely to be fellow travelers than I do most Christians. HOWEVER, insistence that they're continuing ancient European traditions is A) not true, and B) based in some bad shit.

And downplaying the "neo" part of neo-paganism can help create a hospitable environment for white supremacist attitudes and ideas. Again: there's nothing wrong, inferior, or illegitimate about creating new traditions, and being *inspired* by whatever you can learn of older ones.

But even among neo-pagans who don't get seduced by (organized) white supremacist thinking, I do see a lot of attitudes that are kind of similar to those of New Atheists in regard to "organized religion," and Judaism and Islam (generally under the heading of "Abrahamic religion").

(I've done whole threads about how the term "Judeo-Christian" exists almost solely to let Christians erase/co-opt Judaism and be Islamophobic, and I should do one about how "Abrahamic religions" often serves as a cover for displacing anger at Christianity onto Judaism and Islam.)

And here's the thing: adherents of pretty much every belief system in America that is mostly made up of white people have a LOT of deconstruction to do.

Christians need to deconstruct the ways Christianity has animated and benefited from colonialism, white supremacy, antisemitism.

People who've left Christianity need to deconstruct how they still benefit from Christian hegemony and those things.

White Jews need to deconstruct how Jewish whiteness was built on anti-Blackness, and how we often use the conditional nature of Jewish whiteness as a shield against having to grapple with our own internalized white supremacy or acknowledge our white privilege.

I want to return to that "people who leave Christianity" and the deconstruction that needs to happen there, because I think it explains a lot of the parallel attitudes (and vulnerability to white supremacy) in neopagan and New Atheist circles.

Just ceasing to believe in the tenets of Christianity doesn't automatically deconstruct the attitudes, beliefs, assumptions, worldview, etc. instilled by growing up in Christian hegemony.

People who convert to religions like Islam or Judaism or even who marry a Hindu or otherwise join communities of people who are actively engaged with non-Christian traditions that have existed for a long time can get a big boost, I think, in that deconstruction because they're interacting with people who have never been Christian, whose parents were never Christian, whose grandparents were never Christian, and whose practices may have been *influenced* by Christianity but weren't instituted by Christians (or ex-Christians).

If you're leaving Christianity--or at least, a culturally Christian upbringing--and you're not becoming part of an established counter-tradition, I think, it's a lot harder to notice those assumptions and deconstruct them because you aren't getting that in-your-face contrast.

So you get a lot of ex-Christians who very much want to not be Christian anymore but are having to figure out what that means without living in a community that provides established counterexamples, and a lot of times have a lot of anger at Christianity and end up keeping a lot of the supremacist assumptions of Western Christianity and end up displacing some of that anger onto other traditions, advocating for a secularism that hasn't disentangled itself from white Christian norms, etc.

A lot of neopagan communities with which I've interacted are in this weird middle space, where most of the members are ex-Christian and are attempting to construct a counter-tradition, but they're doing it without the framework of an established counter-tradition.

And that's really fucking hard work because you don't have the benefit of a community with hundreds or thousands of years of its own non-Christian thought to counteract normative Christian-based attitudes and assumptions. The danger, I think, is in not recognizing that "reconstructed" traditions that are actually still based on stuff coming out of a Christian, white supremacist society don't actually provide the counter to Christian normativity that you might hope.

Again: Actually building a non-Christian tradition more or less from scratch, deconstructing white supremacist Christian assumptions so you're building on foundation that doesn't contain a lot of timbers that are just Christianity with the serial numbers filed off is really fucking hard work, and mad respect to the people actually doing it. It's much easier to just use what's already been packaged up for you.

I think the good news there is that if you do that deconstruction, and the communities you found and the traditions you start do that work, it's not going to take hundreds or thousands of years to have communities that provide strong, genuine alternatives to Christian hegemony. I know some kids raised in neopagan families that very intentionally do that work (although to be fair, both of those families have one parent who was raised in a non-Christian religion, so maybe they have a head start) who seem to have really internalized it.

But they are really clear on the whole "we're creating something new here" element of it. And I think that's incredibly, incredibly key to their authenticity, their sense of purpose, and their ethics.

And in general, I look at Christians and cultural Christians who aren't practicing, as a Jew, and think "man, you have it easy." But looking at neo-pagans who are actually Doing The Work to build something that's authentic and resistant to fascism, I think "man, I have it easy." (Incidentally, as much as Unitarianism often gets a bad rap for being bland, they've created some beautiful and moving rituals as well and are down with new ritual and I love them for it.)

Anyway, to wrap this up:

Creating new rituals and religious traditions is good, actually

You don't need some sort of unbroken religious history to be legitimate or authentic

It's cool to be inspired by ancient cultures without claiming to be them

Oh, and also:

For members of older non-Christian traditions: it's really really easy to fall into the default of rolling our eyes at the new and I do it a lot intentionally at Christians, because being reminded that there was plenty of Civilization in the world before Jesus is good for them, I think.

But it behooves us to make sure we're careful about when we deploy that.

Like, ESPECIALLY if you have the background of being raised in an old, non-Christian tradition with a strong community, I think being a sounding board to friends who are trying to deconstruct their own internalized Christian hegemony is a way to be an ally. Obviously, it doesn't automatically make anyone an expert on this stuff, but just the sniff-test of "that assumption seems weird to me" can, I think, be helpful.

Make new ritual.

It’s awesome.

(Image credit: Cottonbro Studio)

#neo-paganism #tradition #ritual #deconstructing Christian hegemony #paganism

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laf-outloud · 7 months

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https://www.tumblr.com/laf-outloud/729317893590990848/you-would-see-for-yourself-i-think-if-you-ever

Sorry, I don’t know the whole context of this, so forgive me if I’m missing the point a bit. I’m doing some inferring on what the OG quoted post might have been, but it made me think of something.

I think there is some truth to actually being at a con to understand the atmosphere there, like CE cons (or Comic Cons, to be fair). Different cities gave different atmospheres for sure and some are worse than others, but for the most part, people treat the actirs fine in ops and things.

It’s definitely true that Jared gets some shitty people wearing insulting shirts or giving him the cold shoulder on their ops. Utterly unacceptable, and this kind of thing should be squashed, but that requires having workers who pour over social media because some insults are more obscure (while others are obvious). But then we also see that Jensen gets insulting morons, too, only many of them are too dumb to realize they are insulting him, or no one taught them not to be creepy weirdos. Anyway, my point with this is that both a Jared and a Jensen get some shitty interactions, and both seem to get them from Jensen fans. But, despite these examples, most people are nice at cons, the dicks are the exception. Things often look miles worse on Twitter or wherever than they were in person, so I agree with the idea that someone has to be at a con (like CE) to fully get what it’s really like. Again, not excusing bad behavior.

On the other hand, those people who deliberately cut Jared out of answers at panels, while dicks, I guess unless they actually insult him, there isn’t a rule that you have to ask both actors a question, it’s just common courtesy. However, for the attention whores who use their time to gush over Jensen ("I worship the ground you walk on" 👀), or who monopolize the actor’s time by trying to have mini convos (people asking Food questions or ask them for food recommendations at local places tend to do this a lot) or who tell whole ass stories about themselves (or stand on chairs to literally show of their stalker-level tattoos) need to be stopped by CE Staff or volunteers. If this is too uncomfortable for " the volunteer" con workers who aren’t really permanent fixtures at each con, then they need to hire people running the mics who are permanent abd who aren’t afraid to shut people down on the spot.

I’m glad your con experience seems to have been very good, and that they made the rules for questions explicitly clear from the start. And people respected them.

I think one problem with CE is the fact that they just have the band play between panels when a staff member should actually introduce the guests and remind the audience of what is not allowed. CE seems to rely too heavily on the actors, or band, to do the heavy lifting like transitioning between panels, and that can put them in awkward positions if they are supposed to lay down rules for the audience.

Anyway, sorry fir the ramble. I guess in short, I just wanted to chime in that most CE con-goers are either nice, or at least mind their own business, but I agree something needs to be done about the shifty ones. And CE really needs to get more serious about informing their own rules.

Oh yeah, I agree! I don't think I ever mentioned that there were a ton of people doing crappy things at CE cons, just the minority who do exactly what you talked about. If it wasn't clear, I just think that having only Jared at a multi-fandom convention weeds out the few who do make it a point to be rude towards him because they are there to see the other guy. (I don't know what Jensen's going to do when he's on his own. Hopefully, there are enough GA fans to drown out the AAs.)

"CE seems to rely too heavily on the actors, or band, to do the heavy lifting like transitioning between panels" I would say this is a cost-cutting measure on Creation's part, but I suppose if the contract with the band includes managing panels, then there's not much that can be done. And it wouldn't really be that hard for Rob or Rich, or any other band member to address the audience at the beginning with the rules, but apparently no one likes to be seen as the disciplinarian.

As for Creation, I would love to know if they've actually enforced any of their rules in recent years, particularly the ones listed below.

#ask box #anti aas #anti toxic fans #yes - who are the minority #anti jared hate #anti jensen obsession #anti creation entertainment #laughing at the line “declined at (the actor's) discretion”#the actor doesn't want to be the asshole who said no #Creation needs to learn to say no #before the actor even knows what's going on #long post

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