In All But Name - Throne Room

“So, what precisely are we doing?”

He glanced around the corner, waiting until the guard patrolling the hallway got to the fourth door.

“Fulfilling a fantasy of mine,” he said. Then he pulled her into the corridor, racing on soft feet past the few doors required before slipping them both into the main hall.

“You fantasise about sneaking through your own castle?” she asked archly as the door closed behind them. “Have you been practicing your rogue skills?”

“Maybe a little,” he conceded. “I wouldn’t have managed to meet you all those times if I hadn’t gotten a little stealthier. But, no, that is not my fantasy.”

“Then what is?”

“So eager,” he drawled. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

The hall itself was rather beautiful in the full moonlight; the high windows sending beams of light into the chamber. One, he noticed with some glee, directly landed on his throne. He’d never noticed that before. Not that he’d been in the hall in the middle of the night before, to be fair, but he had seen it during the day. He ought to know where the light fell.

Though he hadn’t pictured it that way, she’d look even more spectacular in the moonlight…

He could hardly wait.

Quickly, he led them across the hall to the dais, where finally a queen’s throne had now been brought in to sit beside his own. If he’d had his way, he’d have made hers grander. Covered the entire thing in gold and jewels so it more properly reflected the person who sat on it. But, sadly, he had been overruled.

Now, though, he gestured specifically to his throne. “Sit.”

“On your throne?” she asked teasingly, as if she somehow knew that he’d spent a large portion of the time he’d spent sat in it thinking of her.

She wasn’t wrong. His most treasured fantasy had been quite specific. They were going to have to be quiet, of course. Something that they hadn’t proved successful at in the past. But while he’d managed to ensure that no guards would be patrolling inside the hall, he hadn’t been able to negotiate their removal from the corridors outside.

Hence the sneaking.

It wasn’t going to stop him. He’d waited years for her to finally be his wife. Not just so that he could act on this particular impulse, but he couldn’t deny that it had been quite a serious factor in his plans.

“Yes. Sit.”

Read the rest on AO3

Read the full series here

DP x DC: The Most Dangerous Card Game

Ok so Danny has essentially claimed earth as his. And he is fully aware that there are constant threats to the planet. Now he can’t stop a threat that originates on earth (that’s something he’ll leave to the Justice league) but he can do something about outside threats. Doing some research on ancient spells, rituals, and artifacts, he cast a world wide barrier on the planet to protect it from hostile threats so they cannot enter. This will prevent another Pariah Dark incident. However, barriers like this come at a price. You see, there are two ways to make a barrier. Either make one powered up by your own energy and power (which would be constantly draining) or set up a barrier with rules. The way magic works is that nothing can be absolutely indestructible. It must have a weakness. The most powerful barriers weren’t the ones reinforced with layer after layer of protective charms and buffed up with power. Those could eventually be destroyed either by being overpowered, wearing them down, or by cutting off the original power source. No, the most powerful barriers were the ones with a deliberate weakness. A barrier indestructible except for one spot. A cage that can only be opened from the outside. Or that can only be passed with a key or by solving a riddle. So Danny chooses this type of barrier and does the necessary ritual and pours in enough power to make it. And he adds his condition for anyone to enter. 

Now the Justice league? Find out about the barrier when Trigon attempts to attack, they were preparing after he threatened what he would do once he got to earth. How he would destroy them. The Justice league tried to take the fight to him first but were utterly destroyed, so they retreated home to tend to their injuries, and fortify earth for one. Last. Stand. Only when Trigon makes his big entrance…he’s stopped.

The Justice league watch in awe as this thin see-through barrier with beautiful green swirls and speckled white lights like stars apears blocking Trigon and his army’s advance. The barrier looks so thin and fragile yet no matter how hard the warlord hits, none of his attacks can get through and neither can he damage said barrier. That’s when Constantine and Zatanna recognizes what this barrier is. Something only a powerful entity could create. For a moment, the league is filled with hope that Trigon can’t get through yet Constantine also explains that it’s not impenetrable. And clearly Trigon knows this too for he calls out a challenge. 

And that’s when, in a flash of light, a tiny glowing teenager appears. He looked absolutly minuscule compared to Trigon and yet practically glowed with power (this isn’t a King Danny AU though).

And that is when the conditions for passing the barrier are revealed. And the Justice realize that the only thing stopping Trigon and his army from decimating earth. The only way he can get through….is by beating this glowing teenager in a card game. 

Not just any card game though. The most convoluted game Sam, Danny, and Tucker invented themselves. It’s like the infinite realms version of magic the gathering, combined with Pokémon, and chess. And Danny is the master. So sit down Trigon and let’s play.

(The most intense card game of the Justice league’s life).

After Danny wins, this happens a few more times with outer word beings and possibly even demons attempting to invade earth, yet none have been able to beat the mysterious teenager in a card game. Constantine might even take a crack at it and try to figure out how to play. He’s really bad though. Every time this happens, the Justice league worry that this might be the time the teenager looses. Yet every time, he wins (even if only barely). 

Meanwhile, Danny, Sam, and Tucker have gotten addicted to the game and play it almost daily. Some teachers might seem them playing the game are are like ‘awww how cute’ not realizing this game is literally saving the world. Jazz is just happy they aren’t spending as much time on their screens playing Doomed.

fuckit happy pride

Self-indulgent Crowley-is-just-so-beautiful post

“You don’t have to test everything to destruction just to see if you made it right.”

if I asked very nicely would you all be willing to take a one minute anonymous survey for my linguistics class. if the answer is yes, please click here. thanks :)

(sharing for a better response size would also be very appreciated)

Listen. LISTEN, the longer I spend in the academic world, I am more convinced that describing Judaism and Jews as a religion/ethnic grope/ethnoreligion is unhelpful outside of Academic circles.

The best way to explain Judaism is using the tribe model. A lot of times Judaism is a community first and a religion second, i.e., your level of religiousness is rarely a thing that alienate you from the community.

Think of other tribes, like the Sámi, Aboriginal Australians, Māori, Yurok, Inuit ect. Each have their own unique religion, but we do not think of them as a religious group, because the tribal identity is more important, and the religion is considered part of the culture, not the opposite.

IMORTANT SIDENOTE: I am aware that many of those tribes, and other tribes have a big chunk of Christians in them, usually more Christians than those who follow the indigenous religion of the tribe. BUT for the sake of discussion, I am equating Judaism to the section that does follow the indigenous religion of the tribe.

So, despite the fact that the religious structures of Judaism is very integral to Judaism, it is partly because of the community based focus of Judaism. The most basic example is the Minyan, the fact that prayer is preferred to be done in a group. Or the fact that the Sader is meant to be a celebrated in a group. and so on.

SO, ethnoreligion is a great academic term, but for outside that world? A tribe is a much better term to explain Judaism.

translated by GT

Today I learned that the Pope has the right to appoint secret cardinals, and even the cardinals themselves may not realize that they now have a new position. Popes have the right to make the name public at any time, but if the Pope dies before the Cardinal's name is made public, the individual ceases to be a Cardinal.

Yes, Catholicism is weird.

But more importantly, there is only one person in the world who can prove that I am not a cardinal.

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I WENRRT FERAL IN BOOKWORM YAKUMO'S SECOND ROOM

Can we stop using freak as an insult on tumblr? You have to be a certain level of weird to HAVE a tumblr in 2023, let alone express opinions on it.

If we were to go talk to some high school bullies, we'd ALL get called freaks.

actually third base is saying the rosary in your partner's room while they shower

Friendly reminder to witches and pagans who want to incorporate ancestral beliefs into their practice: be mindful that a lot of modern nations and their current dominant culture are relatively new, and even the concept of a national identity is very, very modern. Modern borders may not necessarily reflect the world your ancestors lived in.

For example: immigration documents record my great-great-great grandparents immigrating from Germany in the 1870s. But my ancestors weren't German -- they were Bavarian. They were both born in the country of Bavaria and fled to the USA after the unification of the German Reich (no, not that one). They wouldn't have spoken German as a first language -- they would have spoken Bavarian. And if I wanted to incorporate their culture into my practice, I would need to narrow my search to Bavarian folk practices. Other regional practices from other parts of modern Germany wouldn't have been relevant to my ancestors.

There's a similar situation with another great-great-great grandfather, who immigrated in the 1850s iirc. He was from Lombardy, near Milan, and was fleeing the unification of the Kingdom of Italy. He probably very much did not identify as Italian.

And on the other side of my family we have a Northern English line we've been able to trace back to the 1100s, and those ancestors from the Middle Ages probably identified as Northumbrian rather than as English. My "Scottish" ancestry probably actually comes from that same line, because Northumbria was a border state between England and Scotland.

Modern resources like Ancestry.com and other genealogy sites will use modern country names and borders, which can sometimes give us false understandings of where our ancestors actually came from. This is why it's important to do your own research and fact-check outside the ancestry documents.

bad news for the new year: i've returned to a toxic, manipulative, relationship where i will never be good enough in their eyes. i've returned to duolingo and its accursed owl.

Hiii, i love your stuff and kinda from a distance really look up at you for, in my perception, being able to express yourself without giving a fuck. Thats sick dude, Im so so afraid, of absolutely everything, its nice to think like i might grow into someone less apologetic of my existence. Nice to see people just being yknow

hey, thank you, this is really really nice. the secret that is probably not a secret is that i am also deeply afraid a lot of the time lmao -- but less than i used to be, and in ways that feel less stifling and self-suffocating, if that makes sense.

like, it used to be "i'm scared that if i express myself the way i want to, everyone will find me obnoxious, so let's just sand those edges down to be safe" -- now my fears are more like "now that i'm expressing myself in a way that feels natural and real, i'm afraid that it's all stupid/vapid/not worthwhile or meaningful" (<- specifically abt my art) or "i'm happy that i talk and act the way i want to now, but what if it makes me impossible to befriend," etc etc etc. which still feels bad and puts me in a funk a lot of the time but at least it's a fear that comes After/in reaction to doing stuff, rather than a fear that STOPS me from doing stuff, you know? like, it's evolved into a kind of fear that's less in my way.

anyway. i believe you'll experience something like this, because wanting to grow is the first step of growing. the fact that u hope or wish for something different means you're already on your way. to fewer fucks!! or at least distributing the fucks u give in a way that serves u better

adaine's family relationships are something i can actually be so incredibly normal about too btw

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⚠️ READ: Please do not repost/reupload any of my art here or to any other platform, or I will be forced to do anything to get it annihilated.

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I've mentioned many times that I wasn't satisfied with the ingame rain during photomode session as the raindrops entirely vanished as soon as I used my usual lens blur (can't stand having no blur, neither a focus on something in a picture).

I've tried adding rain already in another set last year via photoshop but even this one didn't satisfy me in the end.

Inspired by the great @dreamskug, I browsed a lot the past few weeks, or is it already months? – Dunno anymore – and found some brushes and texures, tried out this and that, did trial and error and eventually added a more realisitc rain feel and light effect to my vp how I imagine my pics with Ryder to be when it rains.

It was way too much time I've spent on one picture alone (the rest is a more copy paste but placed differently including changing layer masks or redo the brushes anew) but it's the only way to get it to look like actuall falling rain. So yeah I guess I'll have to sit down and take a bit longer for certain vp stuff in the future bc Ryder's world has mostly rainy days.

next approach: actually make him stand in the rain, as I drove to a place where there was a roof above him so neither him nor the car is wet. I've noticed in the rain only Ry's arms are going to get that wet layer tho but not his chest and I think also not his head. I have to look into that as well when I find time.

Kind of funny when fanfic writers have Tim figure out Dick’s identity by seeing Robin do a quadruple flip in person, because DC writers didn’t even think of that back when they were trying to make it a rule that Robin couldn’t be seen on TV so the Batfam could be urban legends. They just still had Tim see Robin do a flip on TV and never tried to explain how Robin could be an urban legend and still have his exploits broadcasted on TV by professional news media.