the family notices immediately that their aeon has their benevolent eye on you. how could they not? their aeon’s gaze is a weight they’ve known like the back of their hand since childhood, and it’s always noticeable when xipe… lingers on someone. especially an outsider.

one by one, members of the family approach you. asking if you need any help, if you’re enjoying your stay, do you need help getting back to your room. oh, don’t worry about it, it's no trouble, here, let us carry your bags.

sunday personally shows you around the forbidden zones, a gloved finger held to his lips to quiet your excited giggles. at first, he wondered just what drew xipe to you, but after spending night after night at your side… the picture becomes clear, with you are the main subject.

the family must be doing something right, because sunday shares with them the dream he had. xipe visited him and shared how pleased they were that the family has treated you so kindly. but they want all of them to do more. do anything that would tie you to penacony permanently.

xipe is saddened that they can’t claim you, another aeon having laid their filthy claws on you prior to your visit to penacony. no matter. things like this can break. it just takes a little time. thankfully, the dreamscape is a wonderful place where reality and time are things of the past.

(second part in another post.)

By Kazuhiko Tsuzuki, Aqua

a remake of "you've got mail" called "you've got kudos" about two fic writers who make flirty comments on each other's fics, only to realize that they already know each other because they used to be on opposite sides of a fandom war when they were teenagers under different usernames

kh2 except Sora & Riku stay on the islands and go to a school post-game and also this happens bc I think it's funny

I wonder if it's a design choice or the devs themselves can't make up their mind, but why did Solomon's eye colour "change" in NB? The chibi sprites in the OG show his eyes are shades of grey to brown/almost gold-bronze.

The NB chibi sprite shows his eyes to be dark blue and brownish-gold.

Don't even get me started with the cards and merch that can't make up his effing eye colour

To my Solobesties (I'm calling Solomon stans this now. I think we formed a strange kinship after lesson 17 even if we never interact lmao), especially artist solobesties, hats off to you and your service to the community.

My personal HC is kinda a spoiler for uhhhh something I'm writing, but here it is:

"It's just…your eyes are like you: I can't figure them out." "MC, I-" "No! No! Solomon, I'm sorry! No…it's not like that, I promise! Look at me, won't you? Please look at me." So he did. His eyes trembled as he met with yours. How could he have hidden this part of himself for this long? How could you not notice? How could you forget? How could Father be so cruel to him and you for simply existing? You traced the corner of his lips with your thumb as you held him by the cheek. He was leaning onto your right hand, unable to maintain his gaze. He was surprisingly bashful. Adorably shy without his facades. But he looked like he would crumble even with a gentle word so you did not say anything. He looked at you expectantly, then looked away as your gaze burned onto him for too long and muttered, "You can't figure me out?"in almost a whisper, after a long-drawn out silence, weighing in his words, watching your expressions and body language. Afraid, so deathly afraid. You smiled. "It's like I'm looking at a mirror. Sometimes it's silver, sometimes it's midnight. When you look at the world around you and then look back at me, I feel like you've captured the sky and the oceans in your eyes. It's beautiful." His face was red all over, even to the tips of his ears. It was such a shame. You haven't even said everything you wanted to say to him yet. That he was the moon and the stars to your daytime; gold and silver gazes, looking after you from afar in the many branches of realities he couldn't be as honest with you as he was now. Ah. What will you do without him now? How can you give this up after remembering everything? You knew it was selfish, but you love him. Both of him. Every part of him just as much as he loved you and every part of you that existed. But now, you had to say goodbye. Again. How truly unfair.

Paradox Edition AU comic in which Bud is adopted by a group of incorrigible miscreants, much to Dusknoir’s chagrin:

worst place to meet with ur ex again is probs in her old locked down lab or smth

I am SO curious about West Facing!!!!! Tell me all about it!!!

THANK YOU AHH I’m gonna reuse this doodle bc its still relevant lol

So since I’ve been thinking non-stop about royalty and stuff (in case you didn’t know) I ended up going back to my old ocs and pulling some out of the freezer and putting crowns on them lol. I don’t have a ton down for a story yet but SO FAR. It is Quinton Bell, prince/highness of a powerful kingdom looking to annex another kingdom that had gotten sovereignty however many (many many) years back; and Bo Church, a prince from said almost-annexed kingdom.

Basically at the moment its a weird kind of “arranged marriage to avoid war” where Bo’s family basically gives him to Quinton’s family as a sort of peace offering, and it’s not specifically to marry him off but there’s a reason he was the one they handed off as the loudest and angriest black sheep of the children. He’ll be whatever the opposing royal family decides him to be. Meanwhile Quinton’s father has some plans or something about adding exactly such a foreign prince to his family line, and Quinton should get married soon anyway. So the peace offering works, technically, and the threat of invasion goes dormant for at least a little while.

Neither Q nor Bo are totally thrilled with this whole marriage thing.

8 nov 2023 ww game

//OC road work ahead

i’m very sorry, but you guys have got to properly label your ao3 fics because “bad parents jack and maddie fenton” is starting to really get on my nerves.

and if, in the middle of the fic, you decide to add a tag like that: PLEASE communicate that you’ve done so in the chapter notes. because i don’t recheck the tags after i’ve bookmarked something.

please. i don’t think it’s that big of an ask.

the last unicorn post from earlier has me thinking about the master. that yana is still in there, you know? is still someone he was, if even for a brief flash across the life of a time lord. there’s no way to unlive that life. there are ways to twist it later, sure, to make utopia into hell on earth. but the life was lived. in much the same way that the doctor can remember, can feel, the love he held onto as john smith even as that life is ripped out of his hands. the doctor choose denial and then grief and then to shutter it all away. and so john smith died, and so professor yana died, and the doctor and the master live on. the doctor has done this before, and he lives in orbit around humanity, trying to keep the best parts of them and hold them deep enough to take root (which he can pretend he gets to choose, as a time lord. as a human, it all floods in and can’t be dug back out.) but what about the master, right?

to borrow a turn of phrase: i think there are two time lords left in the universe, and they both learned how to regret.

okay but wait @bumblepony u GENIUS. you gave me an idea:

mariatommy step up au

in which pro-dancer maria miller is in desperate need of a waltz partner for the american dance championships. to her rescue comes tommy miller, the younger and more troublesome and secretly phenomenal swinging-dancing brother of famous ex swing-dancer, joel miller

guess what i did 😋 i made it long

so we start with pro-dancer maria miller as she wins as many dance titles as she possibly can, trying to prove to her mother that quitting law school for dance was worth it. she’s already been taking home a fuck ton of titles as a ballet and lyrical soloist, but lately she’s been interested in smooth forms of ballroom, like the waltz and tango

a good friend of hers, frank, has been her partner for three months, and they’ve been unbeatable so far. literally every competition she they shows up at, other dancers will groan and rolls their eyes like “aw come on bro this is unFAIR” because they already know who first place is going to: maria motherfucking miller. every goddamn time

then, four titles in and two months away from their biggest competition, frank tragically breaks an ankle doing some stupid gardening shit with bill. and it is exactly that: a tragedy. he’s maria miller’s partner, and now he can no longer be that. he might as well be a dead man

frank makes bill tell maria, both because it was his idea to have sex do work in the garden and because he’s too scared to. when he does, she cusses him out so bad that, for once in his life, he has no grumpy smartass response. maria is fucking pissed—because that entire competition, that title, that trophy is supposed to be fucking hers. they already have the perfect choreography, the perfect costumes, the perfect music, the perfect everything. she’s already made space on her awards wall for the crown, the sash, and three-their trophy. this is a batrayal, frank. how could he do this to her????? how could he?????

but maria miller does not dwell on problems: she fixes them. she has replace bill or withdraw from the competition—which she has never done in her entire life. withdrawing, like losing, is not an option. she needs another partner, and she needs one fast

of course homegirl tess would come through—her best friend, retired fellow dancer, and one of the most reputable talent managers in the region. maria calls tess hoping to get in touch with her ex-partner, joel miller, because she wants only the best. he’s known and respected in the dance world as an amazing swing dancer and phenomenal lead in partner-work—much to her chargrin, unfortunately, he’s not dancing anymore. he’s apparently too busy with a new baby, which—great, beautiful, kids are great—does not help her. maria needs someone available, someone good, and someone now

enter tommy miller 🤠 who maria is at first not even willing to consider, because he’s never danced competitively in his entire fucking life (“are you fucking with me, tess? are you trying to fuck with me? i thought we were past the point of fucking with eachother. i though we were friends.” she says, when tess tells her. she gets an eye-roll in response)

to his credit, tess tells her, he’s been dancing alongside his joel all his life. he’s watched him and learned from him and is apparently just as good—he’s even danced with tess, and he impressed her. this impressed maria. when she asks tess why he hasn’t done anything officially to actually prove himself, tess says he’s “not the competitive type,” which is a major turn-off. maria is more than the competitive type—she’s the competition entirely.

still, tess convinces her to give him a chance. they basically meets blind-date style because tess is just like “dude just trust me trust me TRUST ME. meet him at our studio on saturday and freestyle with him. one song. then tell me what you think”

so maria goes, and she waits. she’s dutifully ten minutes early, as she is to every rehearsal. what would be five minutes before their meet time, she hears the studio doors open behind her and lets herself be only a little pleased that he is early. then she turns around to him—and boy, is she very much so pleased

tommy is broad-shouldered and well-dressed and tall, but not too tall, and well-groomed for a man—especially with one with so much hair. my god, just this man have a beautiful head of hair. as admires him, she also appreciates that (aside from his audaciously hot suede fur-lined jacket and cowboy boots, lord help her), he look’s ready to dance: black loose muscle tank, black breathable joggers, and black sneakers held in his left hand. in his right hand, to her suprise, is a single red rose.

is he fucking with me? she immediately thinks. a rose. a fucking rose?

“what’s that for?”

“uh, the rose? it’s—,” he hesitates, clearly thrown off guard. somehow, with only three measly words, maria notices that his voice is nice and low and gravely and— “it’s for you, ma’am. you’re maria, right?” —southern and sexy and distracting. his voice is far too distracting. it will present problems for her.

“right. i’m maria,” she repeats, mostly to remind herself who she fucking is—maria fucking miller. maria miller, who does not get distracted by tall sexy cowboys at dance rehearsals. “you’re tommy?”

“yes, ma’am.” he has to stop. he has to stop with the ma’am thing. it’s another distractor.

no distractions. she’s at a rehearsal, albiet an unofficial trial one. it is still a rehearsal—one for a competition that she will win.

maria straightens her shoulders, gets her head on straight, and steels her voice to say coldly: “well, tommy, i don’t like flowers. i like trophies. you think you can get me one of those?”

at that, tommy smiles as bright as the sun, white and pearly and perfect. distraction number three. she’s fucked. “i reckon i can,” he says, amused and sure.

“then prove it,” she responds, voice still steely. “let’s dance.”

and they do

for @bumblepony for your amazing writing as always and @marceltheshellwithflipflopson for your loveliness and inspiration and @clickergossip wifey and @ameerawrites miss u baby and @liveandletcry23 MISS U CAT and @hypnotisedfireflies because the work youve been doing with IO????? INCREDIBLE????? its been making me want to get back to writing so bad

all my mariatommy truthers love u guys kiss kiss kiss

i cant wait til non kills them all :))))))))))

in top gun meta hell rn. what the fuck am i doing in top gun meta hell. i don't think i'm supposed to be thinking so hard about this movie. it's not designed for this.

Was thinking about this in regards to Ibis and Claudia - because as he says, he’s one of the most powerful Sky mages in history and given that he’s Zubeia’s chosen mage for the Sky Nexus, I’m inclined to believe him - but can also apply to “Viren and the Dragonguard” stuff I guess, which is to say:

Elves get bodied by dark mages because they have no practice fighting them.

This is something I remember reading meta about years ago in ATLA, but there’s an in-universe reason Aang wins just about every fight he picks, ultimately. Not only is he a very young and naturally talented (and hardworking) master airbender, but no one’s studied his bending form in a hundred years. Not a single firebender he comes up against has fought an airbender until then. Now, he doesn’t always win because of throwing blows (he loves to evade / avoid / dodge and does so very effectively, most  notably with Zhao) but he does escape most fights unscathed or victorious. That’s why losing at Ba Sing Se is such a big deal. 

So you have elves, right, who

Outside of assassins, have little to no reason to venture into the human kingdoms.

Who largely refuse to use, never mind study, how dark magic works

We don’t know enough about either primal or dark magic to say so definitively, but it seems like dark magic can do things primal magic decidedly can’t (and vice versa on some level). We also know from both Viren and Claudia that, with access to it, that it’s common for dark mages to study all branches of magic, primal included, if they can. 

The very first present day dark magic spell is also something we see that can hurt people but that which cannot be hurt back by blades (rendering Lain and Tiadrin’s and similar weapons automatically moot).

It also speaks to Tiadrin’s exclamation when she sees Viren perform dark magic on Lain: “What are you doing to him?” Not stop what you’re doing to him, but what, like she’s never seen it before. And given that Claudia specifies “I have a dark magic thing-y that can literally steal your breath” in her bag in S4, it seems to be a dark magic specific spell, too.

Then there’s the fact there’s only eight Dragonguard in the first place. Presumably supposed to be two from each of the well known elven races, as Tidebound are recluse and Startouch too rare, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more Moonshadow or Earthblood guards compared to say, Sunfire (as they have loyalty to their own royal family first and foremost).

So discounting Lain and Tiadrin, that leaves six. I could picture one fleeing upon immediately seeing what was largely regarded as the most powerful creature in the entire world being turned to stone, especially when S4 also has Rex Igneous confirm Avizandum regularly took on and levelled human armies for fun. So we’re down to five. That means 2-3 died, with the remaining 3-2 respectively fleeing. I’m tempted to say two died, as Hendryr (skywing elf) says “All the others have already fled,” which indicates a majority of those remaining, even if it’s not all the dragonguard like those implied.

There being actual bodies at the Spire also helps explain why, beyond just good ol’ Moonshadow / Xadian “one strike and you’re out” system, they assumed Lain and Tiadrin had died. If they had stayed and fought, why wouldn’t their be bodies be there as well, after all?

It’s also worth noting that most mages, particularly dark mages, do better in long range formats. Viren only starts winning his fight with Lain and Tiadrin once he has some space from them. Most of Claudia’s most powerful spells (2x03 tentacle arm, 2x07 ballista shot, 3x09 bomb, bat wings spell) are used to work with distance and aim true, like a deadly archer. It’s not surprising to me that she, likewise, starts losing her fight with Ibis once it gets close range. We see this be more true of Callum in 3x09, where the height of the mountain and the high ground gives him useful range that he struggles to maintain when Kasef lunges at him. In season four we don’t get to see him really in combat, so maybe that’ll change in s5 onwards.

Basically; I have very little problem picturing Viren taking down 2-3 elven guards when they have no familiarity with fighting dark magic to begin with. If anything, it makes me wonder why the Dragonguard wasn’t a mostly mage force, or whether they thought they needed more security against fellow elves in general (mage or warrior) after all the Xadian focused unrest in the fallout of Queen Aditti’s life in general, than thinking humans would strike at the heart of Xadia in the first place