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todorokies · 9 months

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what is a youth - suguru geto

contents: nsfw, nipple play, dry humping, fem!reader, reader cums from nipple simulation, japanese mythology/supernatural, religious themes, suguru is sooo inlove with the reader

a/n: like the nerd i am, i did some research to make this as accurate as possible (and added my own touches), … inspired by the song what is a youth by joanna wang

scorching summers in japan were infamously known for the season of yūrei. eerie unsettling tall-tales get told and passed down to different generations for the mere purpose of inciting fear or a sense of comfort to ease the erratic mind about the afterlife. that their loved ones’ life doesn’t necessarily end once the heart stops pumping blood, that they linger between purgatory and the real world, attempting to tie up loose ends and reassure the mourning family that they will visit again under the divine moonlight at the yearly obon festival.

some yūreis are cursed with misfortune, leading their demise to be tragic which prevents them at a peaceful crossover. allowing their blackened soul to harbour animosity and haunt their unofficial gravesite and those who dare to step a foot near. these types are called onryō.

onryō, funayūrei, zashiki-warashi; suguru believe it’s all a load of bullshit. he prides himself as a practical man, favouring facts over fiction, listening to his head and not his heart when difficult situations arises while still displaying sympathy for others.

he can’t help but wonder why people choose to believe in such things. why subject your own mind to horrors that don’t have a reliable source? it’s not as if those who’ve encountered a spirit are still present in society to tell the tale. nonetheless, suguru isn’t the type of man to argue about beliefs. he’s content with people picking and choosing what to believe in and who to follow as influences, so long nobody gets hurt in the process.

he doesn’t believe in angels, spirits, or someone higher up, however, when you come strolling in the shared living room with a frown so indented on your face he almost stood up faster than his feet could process to kiss your sorrows away. to melt at your feet and oblige to every command that utters from your soft pillowy lips like you’re a transcription of a newfound religion.

you started rambling about how your body is going through a phase where everything is heightened. —ovulation is what you called it, due to it, your boobs are much more tender and plum which is causing you discomfort.

“help me feel better?” sweetness coats your tone. that was that you had to say to make suguru swiftly settle you in his lap with big hands finding residence at the curve of your hips. he’s so infatuated that it’s almost sickening. with the way you shiver under his fox-like gaze desire impetuously bubbles in the pit of his stomach. suguru feels something sinister albeit soothing take over his usual laidback persona . . . you both had an itch that he’s willing to scratch.

“may i?” he gestures to your black laced tank top. even with such impure thoughts coursing throughout him, he stills finds the courtesy to ask permission to please you.

you nod eagerly which results in his hands to tug downwards at your tank top making your perky tits pop out. suguru nearly sobs at the mere sight, unabashedly ogling at your round breasts your nipples are already growing hard from the cool ventilation in the area. you slightly squirm from the unneeded staring.

“don’t hide yourself from me my love, they’re beautiful. you’re beautiful.” he uses his thumbs to create circular motions on your nipples then leans down to attach his hot mouth onto your hardened bud circling around it whilst occupying his free hand to massage your left tit. the fat spilling out of the crevices of his large hand, you can’t help but to throw your head back as a broken moan escapes your mouth. you’re already getting ruined and he has just begun.

his tongue flattens against you hollowing out his cheeks to loudly suck, suckling and wet slurping sounds evade the silent night along with heavy panting. his sharp teeth gently tugs at your nipple. he has completely lost himself within the burning clouds of lust as he watched you crumple against him angelically like withering rose petals.

are worshippers suppose to indulge in such lewd acts to please their gods? what values separate a sinner and a worshipper, how similar are their beliefs and what differentiates them?

a hiss abruptly rings through his ears, “too rough..” you whine weakly. your hips gain momentum as you rock yourself back and forth on his clothed crotch to ease the bone-aching throb between your legs, already feeling slick accumulate in your panties meantime, your hands nested snug against the nape of his neck.

“‘m sorry darling, jus’ got too carried away…” he slurred his words like an unfortunate drunk, pulling away from your swollen nipple with a thin string of saliva following along. using his thumb and forefingers he begins to softly pinch your bubs, twisting and turning them to get a needed reaction.

“does that feel good? too soft or too rough?” suguru doesn’t even pay attention to the words trembling out of his own mouth; too damn hypnotized by your fucked out expression as you now mindlessly grinding on him. your lips are chapped, chest heaving, hair disheveled, and moans exuding out of your throat like rapid-fire. you looked like a dream.

“y-yes it’s perfect! so damn perfect.” suguru swears that through his half lidded eyes he sees a glowing aura cascade around your body as if you were an entity. an elegant glow that lightly illuminates the dim living room.

has your entire existence consumed every corner of his mind to the point of seeing hallucinations? is he able to formulate a single thought without you being present in the back of his mind?

“oh m-my goddd! mmh shit, feels s’good…” your hips stutter while riding out your high desperately grasping to his shoulders for stability with your panties now drenched and sticky. you bow your head down to place your entire face in the cook of your boyfriend’s neck, visibly embarrassed of basically cumming untouched like a virgin.

a breathless chuckle falls flat in the air, “no need to feel embarrassed you did so well for me.” suguru doesn’t believe in angels, spirits, or a god higher up nor has he thought about life after death.

he hadn’t made a will yet, written an epitaph, he’s unsure of what kind of flowers he’d like at his own funeral but he swears to whomever that you were personally made for him. sculptured with such tenderness and precise movements under scrutiny to be perfectly gifted to him with a giant bow.

but what he is sure of, is that he would follow you to the afterlife and beyond without doubt. he could wait a century or three just to reunite with you.

he also swears, in that very moment, he had gotten possessed by the spirit of takahama and that you were his bewitching white butterfly; akiko.

reblogs & feedback is extremely appreciated !! <3 here is the referenced white butterfly folktale

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zahri-melitor · 3 months

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ZAHRI BIG BRAIN COMIC SUPREME. I HOPE YOU ARE DOING WELL

I am curious here--what would you chose Tim Drake's college major to be? And this assumes he finishes college, and doesn't do a 70s Dick and drop out.

There's two significant questions here: what would Tim be interested in studying, and what would he be bored by?

A general list of things I am aware Tim's interested in:-

Mechanical engineering (hello cars)

Forensics (Tim was the lead on the Wayne Corp forensics lab)

Biology (hello cloning lab)

Social work (Neon Knights, also would be handy adjacent to the Foundation)

Computer Science (He's the next most techy Bat after Barbara)

There's also the possibility that Tim would go for a general Business or Arts degree on the basis they tick the boxes to 'have a degree' and nobody would question why one of the Wayne kids got, in terms of working for the family business, and they'd be far more flexible than the mostly science and engineering list above, which has higher, more structured contact hours. If he's simply getting a degree to say he has a degree to tick that box, he could assemble the most random collection of subjects in say Arts for his own entertainment.

However, one particular science/engineering crossover that pops out at me as both relevant to Tim's superhero interests AND excusable cover in his civilian life: biomedical engineering.

It matches nicely with Drake Industries being in 'medical supplies' in terms of a cover story for why he's interested in it, should anyone ask (tribute to my parents etc etc). Wayne Enterprises/Waynecorp does materials research and biomedical work which is partly Thomas Wayne stuff and partly cover for Batman research stuff. Some of his cloning background could tap in here, equally his computing skills. It would also be a job where the amount of materials engineering involved would spill over into Tim's familiarity with alien and magical materials and metals. And if he gets an undergraduate in it, Tim's got plausible deniability for knowing a whole bunch of extra science stuff on this spectrum, but could equally work as a lab tech, or in administration for a medical business, in that he's got the background to understand the products but nobody really expects him to come back with a PhD.

It just hits a whole bunch of his interest areas pretty well, and it's got a solid civilian cover reason to go into it.

#tim drake #there's also fun like 'does Bart still have a knee replacement?'#because current knee prosthetics are probably not up to Speed Force use over time and would wear out faster #and even if Bart got everything reconstituted after going swimming in the Speed Force #Tim would still know it might be necessary again

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spiderdramaqueen · 1 year

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i’ve been thinking about this for some time now, but after watching mumbo’s new episode i just can’t hold this thought in anymore. so. hear me out.

what if ren doesn’t feel any guilt about what he did as a king of the hermitcraft?

[DISCLAIMER: 1) in this essay i talk about rendog’s character/minecraft persona, NOT ABOUT CONTENT CREATOR;

2) i’m not trying to make ren look evil or to make anyone think he has any ill intentions towards other hermits. i just found the thought about ren not feeling guilty interesting and decided to dwell on it for a little bit just for fun.]

back to the topic.

yeah, we can all agree, that it seems kinda out of character, at the first sight. after all, ren is a kind soul, always ready to help his friends out and all that jazz. but i think there’s much more to it.

firstly, let’s go back to rentheking dethronement. episode 20 of ren’s season 9. when hermits find out their diamonds are nowhere to be found, ren just... changes the subject. he doesn’t try to explain everything or fix it, no. he just goes on about how he will banish himself to the cage of shame, and then quickly leaves the scene.

later on, he indeed spends some time in said cage and seems to regret his actions.

hermits forgive him pretty quickly tho. and there probably wouldn’t be a need to doubt ren’s sincerity, unless...

let’s move forward to hermitcraft/empires crossover. episode 21. after going through the rift, ren is awake in the grave, where’s “the kings of old” are supposed to lie. upon hearing about that from pixl, ren says: “i’m not a king anymore, they took it away from me”.

even tho ren didn’t confront pixl directly, it seems pretty obvious that ren is upset and salty about the fact that he was dug out of the grave by pixl. he expresses his annoyance about it many times to viewers and other emperors. he even sells his giblets to emperors just to piss pixl off, because ren knows he would want to collect them all.

“thou he is a gentleman and a scholar, i think doctor pixlriffs needs to pay an annoying price for exhuming us a few weeks back. don’t you guys agree? i mean, seriously, it was so peaceful and quiet in that tomb before he rudely awakened us from the dead”, - rendog in ep 23

“he [pixlriffs] awakaned me from a deathly slumber; i was fast-asleep in a tomb, having a lovely time in the afterlife, he ripped me asunder from my slumber” - ren to shubble in ep 24

why are you upset about being dug out of the king’s grave, ren? is it because when you lie in the grave that is supposed to be the last resting place for the kings of old, at least you’re still considered to be a monarch? do you miss your kingship that much that you would prefer to be a dead king rather than alive peasant?

well, you can say, this proves nothing. yeah, he might be missing his time as a king, what’s about that?

let’s talk about ren’s reaction to other hermits bringing up his past deeds.

when keralis brings up missing diamonds in ep 26 and blames king, ren immediatly denies his responsibility. when keralis presses, he is quick to accept his guilt and turn the whole conversation into a joke. what could cause such reaction? one could say, that maybe he feels so much shame, that it’s hard for him to even listen about what he’s done, but what if he just can’t accept his defeat? what if he thinks he’s in the right?

let’s hear out what ren has to say about his kingship.

“i was just telling sausage, pixl, that a great and wonderous king used to live here, before he was dishonorably removed”, - ren to sausage and pixl in mythicalsausage’s empires s2ep33

and, finally, the dialogue between mumbo and ren in mumbo’s ep 7:

mumbo: i mean, are you happy with what you did as king? it sounds like... you weren’t the best king

ren: i was a great king to start with, i sorted out hermitcraft economy, and then, mumbo, they partied in my private area and that just changed everything.

all things considered, i don’t believe ren feels any kind of remorse about his time as a king. he calls his king self a great king. he blames hermits for his downfall and spiral of madness. he thinks his dethronement was unfair.

he misses his kingship.

...or maybe he’s just being dramatic and i hyperfixate and think too much

#hermitcraft #hermitcraft season 9 #hermitcraft spoilers #rendog #renthedog #rentheking #uhhh do i tag others...#you know what #might as well #hc x empires #pixlriffs #mythicalsausage #shubble #keralis #mumbo jumbo #so. remember i once said i will never be over ren's king arc?#i'm still not over it #i literally dropped everything i was doing to write this #i hadn't even finished mumbo's ep because i got too excited

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lillabeast · 2 years

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Wrong Stop: Chapter Two

A continuation of a Crossover fic between me and @keikoyume ‘s ocs, rot and Zero! (chapter one Here ) In this Chapter, The doctor meets Rot! kind of.

The Hospital was dark, save for some rooms that had bright fluorescent lights that buzzed. The ceiling had dents and was slightly collapsed in some areas. Beeping echoed through the halls.

The Doctor, a hulking man who crawled on the ceilings to go from place to place, was busy working. Crawling from one room to another, he went over his notes for certain patients. One wanted new eyes, another thumbs. One rather picky patient wanted a new heart. He could already feel himself getting annoyed. But, this was the profession he chose. No matter how picky his beloved patients may be. However, his train of thoughts were interrupted by a voice. “-He also helps patients who need their bodies changed!” It was just zero. The doctor started to tune his pesky test subject out when… “Why would someone need their body changed? Wouldn’t that be painful?” A new voice. Quiet and raspy, and definitely a child. He growled a bit, he was not willing to deal with random kids ruining his work. He set his notes down back on the table under him and climbed to the room when they were in. finding the room the two troublemakers were, he started to shout “Zero!! Who did you bring into the lab?!” “Oh! This is Rot! He wanted to come in because of the rain!! Rot, this is Dadcter!!” In response to this, Rot looked confused as he looked around. “I…I don’t see anyone.” The doctor’s eye twitched. “Whaddya mean? He’s right up there!” Zero proclaimed as she pointed toward the ceiling. Rot frowned, “I-I don’t… see anyone. I’m really sorry.”

That was enough for the doctor.

“DO NOT PLAY STUPID WITH ME YOU BRAT!!” He yelled as he snatched the long haired child from the ground.

Except… he didn’t. His hand went right through the child, who was completely unphased.

“Woah! That’s a neat trick you got!” Zero beamed, not realizing the implications of what would have happened to her new found friend, if they didn’t have that odd property.

“Uhm… I’m not sure what I did,” Rot messed with his hair, “But I think I know whats happening. Sometimes…Reality isn’t… the same for me as it is everyone else. I think. That’s my guess at least…”

Zero tapped her chin, pretending like she was a detective. “Huh. So like- someone could have tentacles for hands for you when they’re normal hands for others?”

“Uhm- not quite. More like… sometimes a wall exists for me when it doesn’t for you. I think. The Dadctor should exist for me later though, my reality is prone to change.”

“Huh! Well, hopefully the snack machine exists for you! We should get something to eat! Bye Dadctor!”

Zero cheerfully waved before grabbing Rot’s hand and running off, leaving the still in shock doctor to try and wrap his head around what just happened as she dragged a confused Rot behind her.

He decided that right now, he deserved a coffee and a long, long break.

#ln oc rot #little nightmares oc #Little nightmares #Little Nightmares 2 #little nightmares doctor

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ask-bayfire · 6 months

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Rules and Info

This is an askblog for the character Benilos in (my) @benilos's Time and Time Again series. This is a 18+ blog, as though the series is 16+, Bayfire is gross. Please be mindful of this, as I will very liberally block people if these rules are not followed.

This blog will be largely in-character. Refer to the read more for all info and then the rules for the blog and submissions. Anon list also under cut.

Rules:

This is an in-character blog, however I will also probably treat it like a loredump area, specifically for Benil himself. So be prepared for that, and filters the tags of any content you do not wish to see. I am extremely anal over tagging, but if I happen to miss something or you would like to request something be trigger tagged, you are welcome to do so, and I am welcome to deny or acquiesce just as much. Please be respectful when requesting tags/warnings.

This blog will content NSFW content, including gore/violence, as well as sexual content. It will be tagged, and NSFW content will likely not be put under a read more. I will have all tags listed at the bottom of the post for your filtering pleasure.

The only real rule is be respectful. TATA is a horror series with a very large amount of sensitive themes, including instances of rape, various forms of abuse, supernatural gore and all kinds of dirty gross stuff that lots of people on the internet are scared of. The story is linked at the top of this post, read its tags on AO3. You'll get it. I will not be censoring Benil's answers, nor any other characters.

Things that will not be tolerated however, is bigotry of any kind. Questions ABOUT these subjects are absolutely permitted, as these themes do/will show up in this series, but if an ask IS bigoted in nature, it will be deleted and the user blocked if able. I guess it largely goes along with being respectful.

There will be art! Most of it will be traditional art, unless yall wanna pay for me to be able to own a desk that's big enough to hold my massive gaming laptop and my big ass drawing tablet so I can actually do digital art.

Now for information about Benil, warning for spoilers to TATA!

Benilos, (bay-nee-yoh/beh-neh-lohs), is the current BEN Drowned-adjacent character in Time and Time Again, the Creepypasta AU series written by me, @benilos (on here and AO3). He is also referred to as, Benil (beh-neehl/bay-nee-yuh), Bay, Bayfire, etc.

This BEN is a primordial god in the TCU universe (TATA's whole universe), the eldest of three. His primary motive is to find people known as kolivera, aka singers, which, in the simplest of terms, is a soulmate of his. Oftentimes, these are other iterations of BEN Drowned/Ben Lawman. He is considered a hivemind, though I'd compare him more to Ermac from Mortal Kombat, with the whole, souls of multitudes thing he's got going on. You will learn those souls as this blog fills up.

Benil is open for self-shipping, questions about himself, questions about his world and other Creepypastas. You will see TATA's MC, Twitch, quite a bit in this as well, and characters from @scrollypoly's Soulless Computer Boy fic will also appear, as SCB/TATA do have a canonical crossover, and there is a chance for spoilers of that fic as well (though these will be avoided as much as possible, so some asks may not get answered if it spoils Scrolly's fic.)

The biggest thing to warn you all of is the shipping that occurs here. I ship what me and Scrolly have jokingly named Bencest, which is essentially us shipping our various versions of BEN together. You will see this a lot here. It is the primary ship we have here, you will also see ocxoc, ocxcanon, canonxcanon, etc etc etc here. Self-shipping and OC inserts are encouraged and welcomed, so you can send me stuff about your OCs and ask for interactions as much as you please, just keep things age appropriate. If your character is underage, do not request NSFW content of my characters with them. Point blank period. I am almost 22 years old, I will lose my fucking mind y'all.

I will eventually link all character info posts under this little spot right here once I have them done.

Here are the tags that will be used:

#mytime - NSFW/suggestive content

#consumption - Gore/violent content

#cda5 - BenilxTwitch ship tag

#lullabyshipping - one of the "Bencest" tags, mainly for SCB/TATA Benil and Ben Lawman

#kolivera - Subjects involved other "Soulmates" of Benil's

#bayfire - Benil speaking

#circuits - Twitch speaking

#crawlers - SCB characters

#lunamos - BEN Drowned ARG related/centered content

#skull talk - Admin speaking

#south wing - Art tag

tba

In regards to the talk tag, the first word may change at times. I am a DID system, so I (Kito) may not always be in front. All other headmates will use their names as the first word to avoid confusion.

Anons:

Pookie Anon 🍄

Bitch Anon 🧹

Lolibait Anon 👼

Ms Kitty Anon 🐈‍⬛️

#creepypasta #creepypasta au #time and time again #creepypasta art #ben drowned #benilos #three circuits unending #benil #twitch #twitch circuit #tata #ask blog #rp blog #asks are open

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raxistaicho · 9 months

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The Savior Prince! Edelgard in Thracia, chapter three

This one's mostly an elongated battle. I find battles that are on the one-to-one scale extremely tedious to write and read - I prefer looking broadly at the movement of soldiers and strategies, not on the main characters doing cool shit.

Unfortunately, Reyna is firmly in the second camp. Therefor, I'll summarizing more often. That's not to say there won't be anything to talk about, though, especially once Leif himself arrives.

Spoiler: Reyna's pretty spotty about the kind of person he's supposed to be this early on. Leif, when written in-character doesn't exactly fit her preference for power fantasy protags.

Before we start,

DO NOT FUCKING GO PESTER REYNA IN HER COMMENTS SECTION. I DON'T WANNA SEE PEOPLE COPY-PASTING MY ARGUMENTS HERE IN COMMENTS TO HER EVER AGAIN.

So evidently I've been bullying some widdle iddy-biddy fanfic and that's bad.

Two things:

One, being small or irrelevant doesn't mean you're protected from criticism.

B, The Flame Empress and the Liberation of Thracia might be a small fic, but ReynaAtTheEnd is not a small writer. The Savior King, The Master Tactician and the Queen of Liberation is the number 2 fic on under Three Houses on AO3 for Hits, 7th in kudos, 3rd in comments, and 7th in bookmarks. This is out of around 47,000 fanfics. It has a large tv tropes page, too. Reyna's a 1-percenter as far as Three Houses fanfic writers go and to call her small or random is grossly disingenuous.

The Flame Empress and the Liberation isn't small because Reyna is some fresh plucky-eyed writer, still unknown to the world: it's small because this ain't 2019 anymore, it's still very new, and it's a spin-off crossover involving the blackest black sheep of the Fire Emblem franchise aside from the original Gaiden. And even then, Flame Empress, when compared to its July 2023 contemporary fics, has many times as much recognition as them.

So getting that idiocy out of the way.

Anyways, Lifis's pirates are attacking and Edelgard and Ronan are trying to sound the horn. Funfact, Lifis is a recruitable character, and a rather important one as far as gameplay is concerned, no less. And no, he's not particularly sympathetic and he doesn't really have a sob-story, he's just pragmatic in his douchebaggery and Leif understands he could really use a thief. I wonder what Reyna will do with him.

Edelgard had encountered a few of his grunts some time ago; they'd come into the tree grove where she and a few other girls had been picking apples and made a series of lecherous threats in exchange for leaving without 'causing a ruckus'. Beating the three unconscious with a stepstool had been the only moment to burst through the dull apathy that choked her like a heavy cloak ever since she woke here.

At least Reyna acknowledges Edelgard is a badass, even without her Crest of Flames. We'll see how long that lasts, given Reyna also once had Yuri (yes, that Yuri) subject her to the Standard Female Grab Area. Edelgard notes this raid is unusually big and decides she needs to take Lifis out to end this for good.

Once everyone started pouring into the streets, babbling in confusion and fear

It'd probably be "roads" rather than "streets" even in a good-sized village, which Iz isn't one of. Edelgard tries to reach for Aymr but of course she doesn't have it. Instead she goes for a woodcutter's axe, noting its poor quality and the direness of the situation.

Edelgard turned on her heel and ran toward the tallish spire of Iz's church. Her lack of any kind of armour is a phantom feeling across her entire body; she pushes down her unease harshly, without it I'll be lighter on my feet and get more attacks in. Besides, these are bandits, cowards preying on people who can't fight back. If I needed the armour of an Emperor to beat them, I would be ashamed of myself!

Edelgard is actually quite agile, as you can see even in her Emperor animations. She twirls axes like they're batons. Now obviously it's totally normal to be uneasy about being underequipped, but she can manage just fine. I'm only bringing this up because there's this notion among her detractors that Edelgard wouldn't be anything special without her Crests, Aymr, or special armor, which is just nonsense.

Ronan's mom is upset that Ronan is leaving to fight (this is mostly a modified version of his recruitment quote - he's recruited in the game chapter this fic chapter is portraying). Then we get,

The lack of hope in her voice... it matched the faces of everyone she'd woken up with her warning yells, and it disturbed her how uniform it was. The defeatism. No one had any faith that the world would change or that they could push back the darkness facing them. They only prepared for impact in the hope that being yielding will please their attackers and prevent them from destroying everything, only most things.

Eeeyyy, all right, we've got some of that Edelgard, pursuer of the future and defender of the people going, 'bout time! :D

“Contessa,” she said calmly. “I was an axe knight once.

Just bringing this up to express how weird it is to say it like this. Class names in Fire Emblem only exist for gameplay purposes, the only class that comes close to just being an actual thing in and of itself is the pegasus knight, which is extremely distinct and very specific to Fire Emblem as a series. It'd be much more natural for Edelgard to just assure Contessa she knows how to fight. Reyna does this kinda thing a lot, sadly.

Anyways, Edelgard assures Contessa she'll keep an eye on Ronan, then she urges Ronan to get to high ground and provide covering fire. Oh, Edelgard, if only you knew that mobility is like Ronan's only redeeming quality as a unit. Shitposting aside, good enough tactics for the situation.

Checking the pirates as they charge up, Edelgard notes most have axes but some have bows. It's the latter that concerns her, but we won't actually see Edelgard fight any hunters (bow-wielding rogue-styled units from the Archanea and Jugdral games), so... bwuh? She then boosts and/or tosses Ronan onto a nearby roof, so good to see she's still superhumanly strong.

Edelgard is concerned about lacking the Crest of Flames:

Ah, we don't have a healer. The priest is inside the church, needs to be there to keep a panic from sparking. And I don't have the Crest of Flames anymore...

Just bringing that up to demonstrate how Reyna puts a significant emphasis on the respective powers of the Crests. The self-healing was nice but just nice.

“Okay!” Ronan nodded sharply. “Be careful!” That you care enough to say so...

Reyna, Edelgard knows what kindness is. Or are you acknowledging she was in a terrible place after Byleth got all of her friends to ditch her?

Edelgard gave him a salute in lieu of promising him anything. Then she runs toward the wave of pirates. Already Ronan was taking shots, arrows whisking through the air above her head and raining down around the pirates. His aim is hit and miss, mostly striking shoulders or legs when the arrows didn't wiff.

An arrow shot to the leg or shoulder would be debilitating in this setting. Now obviously in the games proper, Annoying Arrows is in effect most of the time, but Reyna kinda-sorta tries to go for a more gritty, realities of war situation when it suits her and when Claude isn't abusing Talking is a Free Action, so I'm going to hold her to that standard.

It reminded her of Bernadetta, when they'd gone on their first church-sanctioned 'mission'

Reyna don't diss Bernie :/ She's way way better than Ronan. Girl matches Dimitri's damage.

[A random pirate] recognizes her too. “You...! Bitch!” The man snarled, immediately breaking away to attack her. “Is that the best you can come up with?” Edelgard inquired sarcastically.

Edelgard doesn't really trash-talk during a fight. She waits until her enemies are dead, usually.

And yes, that short paragraph did indeed use both past and present-tense. Reyna's inconsistent tense is one of the most distracting things about her writing.

He swung wildly at her; she dodges between both his strikes and swings her axe up at his face. She slashes one of his eyes – good, she thinks as he screams in agony

Okay that man is either dead or rolling on the ground in utter agony. And if he survives the battle he's almost certainly going to die to infection. That is the kind of actual grittiness Reyna misses.

this axe can at least cut the skin – and delivers a Crest-empowered kick to his stomach, sending him staggering backwards. Then she changed her hold and slammed the hilt of the axe into the man's bloody face, causing him to crumple like tin to the ground.

This is a lot of injuries to deal to a single person.

She doesn't get a second to appreciate the ease of that; both of his friends had zeroed in on her too. Ronan caught one of the men in the neck with a well-placed arrow, but the second one falls on her in a seething rage. “I'm going to tear you apart after I'm done with you!” The man raged, grabbing her by the hair.

Why isn't she attacking him? Reyna didn't indicate he just moved too fast for her or that she was busy. What, was she waiting for her ATB gauge to kill?

Edelgard swore at the sudden pain, stumbling over her feet.

Edelgard's endured far worse than having her hair pulled...

She forced herself to relax so he could pull her closer, then delivered a vicious kick to the inside of his shin and slamming the hilt of the woodcutter's axe between his legs.

Damn, Edie XO

The strangled noise he uttered before releasing her hair was very satisfying. “Hah,” Edelgard uttered scornfully as she whipped around and swung her axe at his neck.

First, this is some Marvel shit with the trash talking. Second, wasn't she on the ground? How's she reaching his neck, Edelgard is short.

It promptly got stuck an inch or so in his flesh, forcing her to waste precious seconds wrenching it free to some truly disgusting gurgling sounds.

There, see? Reyna can be gruesome when it's convenient.

The next pirate was after her right away, and the man she'd hit wasn't quite dead yet

What. The dude got hit in the groin from Edelgard's super strength and then almost got decapitated. Even if he's still clinging to life he shouldn't be in any condition to move, let alone fight. Edelgard takes a light injury to the arm, for which she notes:

Arm wound... ugh, largely superficial, but that bleeding will get to me if I let it go on for too long. No time to tear up something for a tourniquet, though. Maybe one of these pirates has a vulnerary on them that I can grab...?

She should be worried about infection.

Her arm throbbed in protest of being ignored as Edelgard slammed her axe into the pirate's chest. She has to do it three times before she hears his death gurgle.

Steal one of their weapons, Edelgard, the one you've got is clearly blunt.

She heard the next attacker running straight at her, and cursed quietly. She grabbed the fallen man's axe off the ground and threw it at her newest attacker; it doesn't land blade in

Now I'm picturing it clonking him on the head with a big "bonk" sound, dammit. Weird time for hand axes in Fire Emblem to have that issue.

They fight for a bit, village man dies, Edelgard uses the Crest of Seiros to decapitate the man who killed him in a single blow - I'm half-surprised he doesn't keep fighting for a bit given the track record - but the force also breaks her own axe. Steal one of the pirates' axes, Edelgard! Thracia is all about nicking enemy weapons!

Instead, Edelgard fights hand-to-hand, until,

...And that's when she saw the paladin. His blue hair made him stand out, even in the middle of a fight; he'd be easily noticeable even without the horse he was astride upon. The man easily closed the distance between himself and her, his lance impaling one of her approaching enemies from behind. It was a brave lance, Edelgard realized with a start; aged slightly, but very well maintained, and an unarmoured ruffian had no chance against it.

Finn has arrived!

He's Leif's sworn knight who's served and protected him since he was an infant. He's also the only unit in Genealogy of the Holy War to appear in both generations of the story (as playable. Shannan, Oifey, and Lewyn appear, but are not playable in both generations), so that coupled with his near-permanent availability in Thracia means Finn's got something of a storied history in the Jugdral games!

Also, he's a Lance Knight, not a Paladin. I'd chalk this up to Edelgard applying her Fodlan-centered lack of knowledge of how things work in Thracia, but I'm pretty confident Reyna's going to get this wrong often.

See, Thracia loosened it a bit, but in Jugdral, the Cavalier and Paladin lines are largely unique to the noble houses of Nordion and Chalphy. They aren't treated as catch-all promoted mounted knights like they are in other games, they're specifically prestigious holy knights.

Finn is a Lance Knight and promotes to a Duke Knight, both of which only use lances, though in Thracia he can use swords (and ONLY swords!) when he dismounts (this is true of all mounted classes aside from bow-wielding mounted ones, which retain bows when dismounted).

Yeah, Kaga was big on lances being mounted-only unless you were a soldier or an armor.

There was someone sitting behind him on his horse, too; as the knight trotted in an arc around her, he hopped off and drew a long, golden blade that glittered with light. It – had slightly similar characteristics to the Levin sword, but it was a completely different shape and the magic didn't smell of the ozone before a storm.

“Are you alright?” The man – no, the boy asked her. He was tallish for his age, spiky brown hair messy and falling around his face framing his dark blue eyes, but looking at his face immediately reminded Edelgard of Lysithea; a matured child who knew from experience that the world is not fair or just by nature.

And this is Leif. Emblem Leif, to be clear.

Now obviously Leif is going to be more hardened than other children, but he's specifically still quite naive at this point in his journey, and he's going to stay that way for a long time to come - if he's written properly, that is.

It's a major point that Leif - despite living in exile - has had a relatively easy life due to his heritage and having nobles and his retainer to look out for him, and thus he doesn't understand the hardships of the truly downtrodden in the Thracian peninsula.

Leif introduces himself and his allies, Fianna Freeblades, and says they've come to save the day.

He raised his sword above his head, and a beam of holy magic bursts from the tip and flies like an arrow to pierce the shoulder of the nearest pirate that the paladin hadn't dealt with.

(snort), don't be fooled: Leif isn't nearly this badass at this point in the game, nor should he in the story. Edelgard says she needs an axe.

Leif nodded in understanding and yelled, “Halvin!” One of the axe men broke away from the fight and hurried over to him; Edelgard's eyebrows shoot up when she sees multiple weapons somewhat awkwardly strapped to his sides, like he was acting as a human mule.

No, Reyna, human mule is Marty's job.

I'm not actually kidding, Marty's combat is just kinda bad and unreliable forever but his monstrous base con is put to use grabbing enemies off of allies to let them go after a capture is finished. He's pretty good for that!

Halvin asks Edelgard for the situation, and then,

“We must defend the church,” Edelgard said, snapping out of her surprise. “The citizens are taking shelter there. I'm not sure who's leading the attack, but I suspect they're in the process of sacking the mayor's house.”

Leif nodded and waved at the paladin. “Finn! Go and guard the church entrance with Dagdar!” The blue-haired man raises his lance in acceptance and wheels around to do so, trampling a pirate foolish enough not to get out of his way. “Halvin, tell Tanya to coordinate with the other archer here-”

“Ronan,” Edelgard put in.

“Ronan,” Leif corrected himself without losing stride. “Tell her to back up Ronin and keep up the pressure. You and Osian, protect the two of them.” His brows furrow tightly, showing both nervousness and determination. Relatively untested, most likely. Nevertheless Halvin nodded sharply and rushed off to his task.

It's not necessarily a problem that Leif is taking command, but he shouldn't be so fluid about this. He's not experienced in combat and, while he's important, he's not technically the commander of this army: Eyvel is. Additionally, unlike Finn and Eyvel, he doesn't have a leadership star (a Thracia game mechanic, for each leadership star present among your deployed units, every allied unit gains 3% hit and avo), nor does he ever have one until one of the advisors are present.

This, combined with the previous bits just kinda express a lack of understanding about what Leif's character arc is. She kinda did the same thing with Claude and Dimitri in Queen of Liberation where she immediately had both on Byleth's level, but you just can't do that with Leif even with heavy artistic license. He's not experienced, he's not wise (he makes a lot of mistakes, in fact), he's not badass, and he's not respected for his accomplishments but for his purpose as a rallying figure. Hoo boy, this'll be a long fanfic.

Then,

“Think... have to think... Eyvel?” “I'm right here, little lord.” The swordswoman – tall, blonde and noticeably older than Leif, experience radiating off even her casual walk – comes up to them as if his thoughts had summoned her. Her face is slightly weathered, prematurely aged but not nearly to the same extent as Contessa, and she smiles when she stops in front of the two of them. Leif visibly straightens up a little. “Do you have orders for me?” Leif briefly looked surprised, then visibly shakes it off. “We're going to the mayor's apartment and doing something about the leader.” He said with confidence. “Without him, the others should either scatter or flee.”

Meet the actual leader of the Fiana Freeblades.

Eyvel's one of the two Jagens I mentioned earlier. Sadly she's not around forever - or even for very long. But still, players brave a hellish gaiden chapter to save her. Truly, doing it for her.

Edelgard insists on tagging along to get the measure of Leif. He agrees after a little hesitation. As she goes, Edelgard notes the efficiency with which the Freeblades dispatch Lifis's crew, and notes the oddness that they don't have a healer with them. Thracia just be like that, Edie.

Standing outside the front door with a bag full of what few valuables the man had and looking furious at the situation was a very large slightly hunched back warrior with a massive axe.

Hunched-back!? Damn, Reyna, why you gotta do Bucks that way :( Going in real hard on the disabled, there. Anyways, Eyvel, Edelgard, and Leif rather easily team up for the Bucks kill, which is too bad, he's actually moved by your mercy and swears to turn over a new leaf if you capture him and then release him in game. Thracia is just like that: most of the bandits are treated as at least pitiable, if nothing else. Edelgard is a bit unnerved by Eyvel having a Flame Sword. Evidently one of the Agarthans had one in Queen of Liberation and it brings up old traumas.

Yes, Reyna, we remember what you the Agarthans did to her. Edelgard says they should behead Bucks and present his head to the pirates to break their spirits, and Leif, in his first moment of being squarely in character, asks if that's really necessary, only for Eyvel to agree with Edelgard. Then Leif goes right back out of character by nearly doing the deed himself before Edelgard points out an axe would work better. Baby steps, folks.

Anyways, as they catch up with the others, Edelgard notes that Ronan is out of arrows but unharmed - for which she is grateful - and Tanya (Dagdar's daughter) points out Edelgard's injured arm.

“It's a scratch,” Edelgard reassured him. Ronan stared blandly at the blood staining her sleeve and gave her an incredulous look. “A scratch that'll cost you your arm if you keep lettin' it bleed like that,” The girl observed, before holding out two vulneraries to her. “Here, these'll fix that up fully.” “My thanks,” Edelgard said, holding in her relief. She quickly takes the two vials and downs them one at a time, sighing when the wound in her arm healed up.

How do Vulneraries even work, I wonder. But yeah, about time it was pointed out Edelgard might legit lose her am if she doesn't take it more seriously. I'm still waiting for infection to be mentioned, but oh well.

As [Edelgard] went, she looked for Leif in the crowd; he was speaking to one of the older axe men and Eyvel, gesturing toward the church. He wore authority like a heavy coat, as someone unused to it and mostly acting on instinct.

You have not conveyed that well at all, Reyna. You're just informing us that he's struggling when everything we've seen so far indicates he's handling things pretty well.

Strong instinct, it seemed, but still... They must be desperate if they're having him take command now, rather than wait until he's an adult to press his claim.

It's worth pointing out that Leif's only gone forth for a rescue mission - the Imperial governor over Munster has his adopted... sister-girlfriend and Eyvel's adopted daughter captive thanks to Lifis telling the Empire where Leif was hidden. Leif is fifteen right now., which even for this series is a bit on the younger side.

What are you thinking? Planning to bolt yourself onto another righteous cause?

Well, unlike upholding the Church of Seiros, kicking the Empire (and the Loptr Church) out of Thracia is legitimately a righteous cause.

A failed conqueror

She wasn't that.

and queen of delusion;

Subtle and classy as a brick to the face, Reyna. Edelgard is an emperor, not an empress and certainly not a queen, and she was not deluded, as the game itself is all too happy to convey. I can tell that Reyna must hate Edelgard's "king of delusion" line to Dimitri to hijack her characterization and make her think of herself in this way, because oh wow did she have to stretch to make it fit.

oh yes, that's exactly what that boy needs.

I mean hell, she's the best unit in Three Houses, imagine how incredible she'd be in Thracia! Her bleak thoughts aside, Edelgard decides to help Leif see this through.

Now for a brief line from the author's notes:

It'll be fun to have Edelgard bouncing off them, because they're rather different from what she's used to.

"Edelgard isn't used to talking to non-nobles."

Her dark thoughts will be a throughline for a while now;

Please, spare us soon.

I promise, it's leading to a point in her character development.

"I was wrong, I was a foolish little girl, Rhea was good, Dimitri was wise, and Claude was amazing," isn't character development, but we'll see.

There's only one interesting thing from the comments section this time:

Edelgard does have a good head for war, it's true, and Leif sorely needs that given some of the goofs he makes in Thracia proper. I hope to take you on a wild ride of fun!

Like, Reyna knows how Leif is supposed to be but I have a feeling we won't really see it until the plot railroads her into doing it. We'll see.

That's all for this time! Like I said, not as much to cover since this was a battle, mostly, but we got some interesting stuff once Leif busted onto the scene.

#fire emblem three houses #edelgard discourse #edelgard von hresvelg #edelgard positive #fanfic #fire emblem thracia 776 #leif #reynaattheend #sporking Reyna's fic

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bitimdrake · 2 years

Note

So what’s with the fanon antagonism from Bruce toward Hal Jordan? It’s not something I see in canon outside of a little bit in GL Rebirth which is kind of justified because Hal, y’know, turned into a megalomaniac. But even in fanon depictions where the timeline is in some sort of pseudo-Bronze Age stasis where the League is the Big Seven plus maybe Ollie and they’re operating from the satellite and also the Batfamily exists somehow, I’ve seen a lot of Bruce hating Hal for no good reason.

Also, the depiction of Billy Batson in fandom, namely the tendency to have him act like a young child as Captain Marvel and get adopted by Bruce, leads me to believe that nobody’s ever read a Shazam comic. Post-crisis Billy is in high school - he’s canonically the same age as Stargirl. In both post-Crisis and New 52, he has his own adoptive families, and even when he didn’t, he worked at WHIZ Radio to rent an apartment on his own. Meanwhile, fanon Billy is homeless until Bruce adopts him.

I’ve also noticed a weird tendency in fandom to… not know who was in the League at any given time, or even attempt to set things in a particular period? Like, the JLA is almost always the Big 7 + maybe Ollie, Dinah, and Zatanna if you’re lucky. Even in the Satellite era, J’onn and Bruce both took long leaves of absence, and there were other people around. And that’s not even taking into account the Detroit League, the JLA/JLE split, the Morrison League, the Obsidian Age team, etc.

(lost this one in my drafts oops. sorry.)

Yeah god so. Two of these things I think are pretty reasonable results of people focusing in on their preferred characters and not knowing much about the rest of the universe.

And that's not hard! Even if you read comics--hell, even if you read a lot of comics--you can remain completely ignorant about one area of the universe. It's a big universe. (Hi! I know almost nothing about Green Lanterns except when they show up in massive crossovers or interact with my Titans blorbos.)

Personally, I'm annoyed when people are very wrong about the actual subject of the fic (e.g. if they're writing a fic about the JLA but getting everything wrong). And I'm really annoyed when they unfairly demonize someone.

But if the fic is about, say, the batfam, and the writer is spot on about them, but not so accurate when the JLA makes a brief appearance? I get it. It's a big universe.

Certain things about the JLA are better known than others, and people who don't actually know specifics about the JLA just kinda...assume all those things are Always True. Thus the perpetual Bronze Age, and perpetual Bruce vs Hal.

For those wondering what is true then: the JLA has a LOT of rotation. The team is constantly swapping out. They've had many different bases. I can't tell you who's on the JLA and where unless you first tell me when.

So the more we comics readers know, the more little annoyances you will get from fic inaccuracies. (For me, it's when people refer to Barry as the Flash in fics set mid post-Crisis and I'm like Barry Allen Has Been Dead For Years.) But I'm honestly very forgiving of those!

The Bruce adopts Billy Batson thing is hot garbage though. Like, c'mon guys. I don't expect you to know everything! It's okay if you don't know much about the Marvel family while writing batfam fics! But for god's sake stop making everything about Batman and the batfam. Other characters can exist without being spagettified by their gravity. Please let them be. And please stop trying to give Bruce new kids; he already doesn't deserve the ones he has.

#*#ask #thatsastepladder #dc #*dc #canon vs fanon

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aziraphales-library · 2 years

Note

Love your blog!! I wonder if you could recommend any Our Flag Means Death crossovers? I know the fandoms pretty new but I'm loving the parallels between Ed/stede and Crowley/aziraphale

Hello there! There has been a similar request in @stedes-incredible-library recently. Specifically listed here.

A few more recs below:

A Most Tender Subject by rowenablade [G]

Did that snake that fell on Blackbeard in Episode 7 look familiar to anyone else?

Double Vision by Vee_is_typing [T]

“Oh piss off,” Crowley said, lowering his sword.

“Crowley!” The angel sounded delighted from where he was kneeling on the ship’s rough wooden deck.

“Hang on, you know this guy?” Ed asked, looking between the two.

“He’s a friend from work,” Crowley slid his sword back into its scabbard with a resigned sigh.

“I thought this was your work,” Stede said, gesturing at the line of pirates slowly making their way onto the Revenge, hands full of loot.

Capturing More than Bargained For by Blackdelphinium [T]

Edward Teach takes Aziraphale hostage.

Crowley teams up with Stede Bonnet to get him back.

our echos roll by neila777 [G]

It takes a moment for Stede’s words to register, but when they do it hits Ed like a punch to the gut. Memories of hope crumbling into despair roll through him as all the pieces fall into place. An angel and a demon, working together to face the world-

“Oh-” He says simply, and reaches out to brush a hand over the book. The book which seems precious, almost sacred, now that he has the knowledge of what it contains.

It’s just a story, yes, but it’s a reflection of their own, holding echoes of their experiences within its leather bound pages.

OR, Stede gets choked up reading a book called "Good Omens" and Ed's trying to figure out why

Tell It To My Heart by BooknerdMiss [M]

“Well, now that you mention it,” Aziraphale began and Crowley turned away as he started to lead the way toward the Bentley. “I was thinking we could try - .”

“Yeah?” Crowley prompted, turning toward the angel when he didn’t finish his sentence and encountering only empty air. “Azira-PHALE!” he yelped as he spun fully around, coming face to face with a vicious snarl mere inches from his nose. He scrambled backward a few steps, unnecessary breaths leaving him in quick pants and his heart thudding frantically as his chest heaved.

The angel statue that Aziraphale had been so enamored with was off the plinth where it had been perched and was currently lunging for the demon, its face twisted in a terrifying expression and fingers curled into claws that were frozen mid-reach. Aziraphale was nowhere in sight, the area around Crowley quiet except for his harsh breaths.

A Weeping Angel sends Aziraphale back to 1717. What's a demon to do except call an old acquaintance for help? Meanwhile, Aziraphale is trying to survive on the pirate ship he's suddenly on, but some of the crew seem less than friendly.

Good Omens x Our Flag Means Death x Doctor Who Crossover.

~Mod N

#ofmd #our flag means death #good omens #ineffable husbands #crowley #aziraphale #crossover #ofmd crossover #mod n

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lestatslestits · 11 months

Note

you’re reading the mayfair books?? are they any good? i’ve been thinking of reading them after i finish the vampire chronicles

They’re definitely interesting! I’m overall glad I’m reading them, but I suspect they’re not for everyone, even Vampire Chronicles fans. A few things to consider when you’re deciding if you want to try then out, based off of my experience so far

They are LONG. They do get progressively shorter, but the first book, The Witching Hour is over 1000 pages long. For reference, it’s only slightly shorter than Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. I chose to engage with it as an audiobook, which to me made it easier to get through, so if you’re intimidated by the size that might be a good option for you.

In particular, if The Talamasca is interesting to you, these books may be a great choicef. With the caveat that I have not finished The Vampire Chronicles yet so this could change, these books seem to involve the Talamasca more directly. They also take place after David’s direct involvement with the Talamasca has ended, so if you’re not a David fan, he’s only been briefly mentioned so far.

They are predominately in third person, and the point of view jumps around a LOT. The closest comparison in the Vampire Chronicles is probably Queen of the Damned. If you found that you didn’t like the shifting perspectives in that book, the Mayfair Witches books might not be for you. Also in typical Anne style some of the chapters are ABSURDLY long, so if you’re not feeling one particular POV you might be stuck there for a bit. I love the pace and feel of the shorter chapters, though. Personally, I typically am not a huge fan of first person narratives (with some notable outliers, such as the Vampire Chronicles), so I kind of enjoy getting the story told mostly in third person.

I really like a lot of the characters. I feel like character development is one area where Anne tended to really shine. So if her characters are what drew you to The Vampire Chronicles, you might like getting to experience more of them!

In my opinion, these books deal with even darker and more taboo subject matter than the Vampire Chronicles do. They handle these topics in a way that, to me, feels more detailed and explicit. I really cannot overemphasize that there is content that may be extremely triggering in these books, including but definitely not limited to content that is sexual in nature. If you want to read them but think they might be triggering to you, I definitely recommend checking out trigger warnings first so you can make the best decision for yourself. The Vampire Chronicles is definitely erotic, but in many (but not all) cases, blood drinking stands in for actual sex. That isn’t the case here. So if you’re not prepared to read some of the most genuinely weird and unhinged porn you can imagine, these may not be for you. Another thing to consider is that these characters are predominately human. If the idea of humans committing atrocities feels worse to you than vampires committing atrocities, this may not be the series for you. On the other hand, if that stuff isn’t a deterrent to you, it might be perfect! Frankly, I’ve grit my teeth through a lot of it, but I do think there’s value for me personally in sometimes engaging with media that gets me out of my comfort zone. Not everyone feels that way which is fine, too.

I paused after The Vampire Armand to read these books before moving onto Merrick, so if you’re looking for info on how necessary the Mayfair Witches books are in order to understand the crossover books, I’m not the person to ask, at least not yet. It’s my understanding that they aren’t necessary for following the storyline, my preferred way of consuming media just happens to be devouring it all.

There are a lot of very heavy, very loaded topics discussed in these books. Do not expect to come out of them with any sort of comprehensible understanding of how Anne, personally, felt about any of them. She was, first and foremost, inscrutable.

Overall, I’m enjoying the books. There are parts that have been difficult for me to get through, either content-wise or because I just haven’t found them that interesting. But ultimately, that’s personal preference. If you’re curious, I would say it’s worth giving them a shot.

Fair warning, though: the phrase “juicy crevice” is used. Yes, it’s in a sex scene. No, it’s not referring to what you think it’s referring to. I promise.

#this may be incoherent #i’m bored at work during third shift

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late-to-the-magnus-archives · 1 year

Text

Snippet from Corruption: TMA x Malevolent crossover

Tim opened a book he shouldn't have, and now has the last remaining god in the universe stuck in his head.

In the process of dealing with that, he was marked by the Desolation - a Fear entity, based on rage.

Elias Bouchard is supposedly helping out, but he has SOME sort of plan going on - and as Tim has manifested the unexpected ability to tell when someone lies, the whole situation has gotten a weeeee bit tense.

(As always, snippet is unedited, tenses are screwy, etc. Still fun!)

-----------

Elias hadn’t lied; it’s a neat little space down there, in the Archives.

Well. It’s a mess. But the living quarters are definitely neat.

Gertrude Lara Croft Robinson is down there already, eyeing them, visibly daring commentary on the stacks of mismatched files, the open cardboard boxes balanced precariously against each other or on chairs, the truly heinous amount of cobwebs in every corner, between every shelf.

“Uh,” says Tim. “Nice haunted house you’re running here.”

“Mm,” says Elias.

Gertrude gives Tim a skewering look.

“No, really,” says Tim, stepping over six sagging boxes and around two piles of unsorted papers. “Get a fog machine down here and you’ll clean up.”

Heh, heh, heh.

“Yes, well, Gertrude insists there is a reason for all of it,” says Elias as if his kingdom is of no concern, and waves a hand to indicate all of it.

Gertrude says nothing.

Tim suddenly wonders if she’s hiding weapons in the paperwork.

The little living area is, happily, free from nonsense. A very tiny kitchenette, a small cot sharing space with boxes and office supplies, and a bathroom with a cramped toilet and sink.

“There is a shower upstairs,” says Elias, “though it is in my office, and you will need to arrange time to use it.”

“Weird,” says Tim.

Elias shrugs. “It is a very old building. James Wright had it installed, so I am to understand, but what he was thinking doing it there… well. I have no idea.”

A lie.

Tim peers at him.

Elias smiles and it is a bright, sharp thing, like light glinting off a blade. “Oh, you are good at that, aren’t you?” he murmurs.

“What - was that a test?”

“It was. Over something I think you can agree, at least, is harmless.”

“Hard not to be insulted,” Tim says.

“Of course - but I had to be sure you knew on your own. I can clearly see Lord Hastur did not clue you in.”

“He wants to be called Yellow.”

It’s fine, Tim, says fucking Lord Hastur.

Tim rolls his eyes so hard they hurt. “Subject fucking change. Anyway. I don’t have my stuff, I just realized. That makes this a little bit rough.”

“Yes, I’m aware. I will send you home - during daylight - with help to gather your things and return here before darkness falls. All right? Just give me some time to make a couple of arrangements.”

Truth. “Okay. I guess. Fuck, this is… Am I really kipping in a haunted basement to hide from maggot gods?”

“I fear before all of this over, you will experience far stranger things than this,” says Elias. “Now - do try to get comfortable. I will fetch you a key, as well as the code for the alarm.”

“Elias!” snaps Gertrude.

“He is officially under our protection.”

And there, right there, is the most real Elias has been this whole damn time, because that hardly sounded like the same man.

Even the smarm is gone, replaced with a frankly terrifying hardness, the kind that makes Tim think he could shoot a guy in the face and walk away without a second thought.

But maybe it’s necessary to corral someone like Gertrude.

She looks positively raucous for a moment, then glances at Tim.

He holds his hands up. “No quarrels with you. I’m just trying to stay alive.”

“I reserve the right to kill him if he tries a ritual inside the Institute - whether or not he knows what it does,” Gertrude snaps.

“Fair,” says Elias.

“Sure?” says Tim.

Yellow sighs.

Oh. Apparently, he had plans. Oh, well!

Gertrude nods as if her head is an axe and marches away.

Elias sighs. “I really do apologize for her.”

Will she honor your command?

Tim snorts. “Nobody talks like that, just so you know,” he mutters.

“For a while, anyway. Her focus is ‘protecting humanity,’ whatever that means, so as long as Tim provides no such active threat, he will fall off her radar.”

“So it sounds like ‘protecting humanity’ is funny?” says Tim. “Which it kind of isn’t, so much? And I don’t know how to take that?”

“In the name of saving the world, she sacrifices people,” Elias says coldly. “It makes one wonder what the value of life is to her - and is also why I will no longer provide her with assistants.”

So that’s a whole host of unspoken stories. “Wow.”

“Indeed. I’ll send help down with a key and all shortly. Rest, Tim. As best we can, we’ll keep you safe.” Elias smiles (and, oddly enough, was telling the truth), and leaves.

Tim flops onto the cot.

It squeaks.

“That’ll make masturbating awkward,” he says without thinking.

Yellow laughs.

#fic snippet #tma #malevolent #tim stoker #king in yellow #elias bouchard #gertrude robinson

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plounce · 1 year

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one thing that im turning over in my head as i play ff14 is how it, as an MMO, is a type of medium that can support the interwoven complexity and cameos and juggled spinning plates as comics can. there’s a lot of stuff going on simultaneously and subjectively nonlinearly (real quick before i continue this conversation with you im gonna go kill 5 giant crabs on the other side of the map) (while i wait for the next issue of this comic im gonna go read a ton of the backlog of an auxiliary comic), but all of these things are fairly easily sorted by era (expansions for mmos, writers/decades for comics) and are thus easier to see as coexisting. you can hop from storyline to storyline, even as the “main” storyline scoots forward. you can focus on reading x-factor or new mutants, even as the main x-book deals with the grand sweeping changes of mutantdom.*

you could stick to the main story and understand it pretty well, sure, but the main story DOES pull characters and threads from sidequests or spinoff comics, and knowing them enriches the entire experience, so wander around the whole thing and get to know what’s going on with the refugees in quarrymill who you help get medicine, or the girl on the teen team who spent years in hell getting her soul siphoned away, because they could eventually get plucked from the dugout or from obscurity and get to be relevant to the main plot. knowing all these random little things increases your emotional investment in the media as a whole. you get to go “hey, that guy!! i remember him!! i think he got framed for a crime but was eventually revealed as innocent??” and both comics and most active MMOs are serial media. so there’s an element of anticipation and open-endedness and speculation to your perception of the story/characters/experience, which keeps you engaged in the media as a whole. and while that is true of like all serial media, with the two im discussing here, the pulls and cameos and sudden significances can be a lot more varied.

a lot of other fictional mediums keep their focus a lot more linear and constrained, which can be good for them (it’s a lot easier to pay attention to what’s important if there isn’t a lot of other stuff going on) and also much more easily achieved by how those mediums work. a tv show only has so much budget for regular cast and special guest stars, and depending on how episodic v serial the show is, promotions to recurrence can vary. and episodic television doesn’t tend to have grand plots that cataclysmically move the world forward.

although ive never read it, i believe discworld also comes close to this experience, because while there is a chronology, a worthy strategy in reading them is to go through the books by subject rather than just straight publishing order, but you could also just wander around and go “holy shit!! vetinari!!”. star trek does this to a certain extent (although the different series kept themselves much more self-contained than my examples here, aside from character crossovers), as well as star wars EU novels (rip) (which are also not really their own independent media). someone could probably try to argue that the MCU is trying to do this, but imo the mcu is way too shallow and bland and derivative, and is just trying to do what comics have always done way better.

*of course one difference is that with MMOs, main story progression is also necessary to unlock new areas, new gear, new materials, etc that are necessary to successfully do all the other quests. the main storyline keeps you leashed that way. comic books, on the other hand, are much more easily pick-and-choose - which can lead to you picking up the next issue of teen titans and going “wait what?? why are we in a destroyed metropolis all of a sudden?? weren’t we in the middle of a mission to antartica with some low stakes teen drama???” because DC decided all the books are gonna participate in a big crossover event storyline. so rather than leashed, you get lassoed to the main storyline of the universe.

#chirps #xmen #ffxiv

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jazzforthecaptain · 11 months

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Building on the post I just reblogged because tags got long. I used to hate it here for fandom. I felt bullied. I don't enjoy the super popular things that make the rounds in my primary fandoms, and because in the old days there were no filtering tools except block, I felt like I couldn't get any peace. The popular stuff kept invading my stuff. It made adding tracked tags to my feed impossible - tumblr would chuck the stuff I didn't want to see right on my dash.

In reality, almost nobody was pushing things at me on purpose. But it was so inescapable, it felt targeted. And here's the interesting thing - I used to like this stuff. But when I had some issues with it in canon, and there was no way to interact with my fandom that didn't force me to interact with the stuff I was struggling with, my hurt turned into absolute fucking hatred. I still loathe it with an irrational heat, and I know it's because I remember how fandom made me feel. But fandom wasn't actually (mostly) doing anything to me. It was just being a big noisy fandom, and in years past in other fandoms I'd taken part in that excited chatter. You know what would have helped a ton? Blacklisting tags and terms. But that didn't exist then.

I came from livejournal fandom. Communities were pretty great - they were 100% dedicated spaces to whatever thing you were looking for. Not perfect, but definitely not the disaster area that the average fandom tag is here. I made the mistake of thinking of tag searches here the way I thought of communities on lj, and they are not that. Tags collect whatever is tagged. My first taste of that over ships pales in comparison to what happened when the entire site decided they'd had enough of my crossover fandoms. My ersatz community spaces were suddenly drowning in horrible crap - horrible, horrible crap. I have about 5 saved drafts of rants about that, because every time I see a chin-stroking post wondering why my fandoms suddenly disappeared I feel the need to scream, "did you see the amount of garbage in the tags?" But it wasn't all targeted to attack people using the tag. Some of it was just tumblr having drive-by opinions on current events, as it does, and using the tags because that was literally what their post was about.

I learned a lot about human behavior, specifically humans in group contexts, and I finally started blocking people - sometimes 10-20 accounts a day - to cut down on the noise. I realized that they didn't know who I was, would never know, and if they were saying this out loud, this site was not going to be a place we could find common ground. I have hundreds of accounts blocked from that point in time, but I want to stress that they weren't all actively trying to bully people - they were just gawkers trying to talk about a unique thing happening on the periphery of their universe. And I don't think there needs to be some sort of threshold on how bad a person someone should be before I push the block button. It's not there for me to pass judgment. That conversation didn't need to have me in it, even as a passive witness. It certainly didn't need my voice or my emotional energy.

I'm so glad we have more tools now to filter our experience here - blacklisting tags and terms has lessened the necessity of blocking and allowed me to keep sharing connections with people who are into the stuff I don't like - which is quite like how it used to be with dedicated community spaces elsewhere. But blocking is still a useful tool to cut down on noise and sort out the occasional actual trouble in a fandom tag. Experience has taught me that someone targeting the tag is doing it for attention, and they don't deserve yours. It's also taught me that a significant number of negative, (totally subjective here) bad take or poor taste posts on your tags aren't there to be irritating. Their creator is just kind of careless, using tags and terms without thinking about who will see it, which may feel personal but really isn't. I block those folks, not out of any negative feelings, but just because it's clear we're here for different reasons and we don't need to connect.

Bottom line: your attention and time is valuable. Don't feel bad about using the controls you have to stop giving your time and attention to the things here that make you uncomfortable or angry. If it costs you your peace, it's too damned expensive.

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melchinafan · 8 months

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WAIT A SECOND I'm going through the Nursery in Secret World Legends again, and (spoilers for end-of-Transylvania story):

~~~

Reading this part of a lore entry (and remembering/rereading the related research) got my brain spiraling off on Yu-Gi-Oh thoughts:

CLICK-CLACK. A doctor types: "Similarly, we've found that inhabiting the child subject with an incorporeal entity allows the hemispheres of their brains to become separate processing units."

One of the experiments they were doing was deliberately possessing the kids with spirits/ghosts, and observing that—due to the plasticity of a child's developing brain—it allowed for the hemispheres to work individually: "...[able] to concentrate on separate subjects, and to solve multiple problems, simultaneously..." (with severe side effects, though the specifics are not listed)

Now, because I've been working on stitching YGO into the setting, this led to the thought...WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR YUGI AND RYOU

Granted, both of their spirits also reside within their respective Items, so that probably takes a HUGE load off the relative necessary "processing power" from their brains. So their side effects would've been mild to moderate, instead of severe. Plus, Yugi was older than the eldest in the Nursery when he solved the Puzzle. (He was ~16, the eldest mentioned was 13, and there's a note that it works for kids "to a much higher degree than inhabited adults.")

But Ryou was younger when he got the Ring (~10, at my estimation), thus within the range they were testing. So, between the two of them, it's more likely that he might have suffered some long-term side effects. Further evidenced by how Ryou was able to physically control his hand and click-clack at his own computer without Bakura noticing, during the Monster World TTRPG. (Granted, this was due to a weakening of Bakura based on his avatar in the game, but still.) With Yugi and Yami (as I recall), they either take turns, or work in tandem on the same thing. They can keep secrets from each other, but they don't go as far as controlling separate parts of their shared body simultaneously.

But then, maybe Yugi was also affected by the unlisted side effects, despite being a bit older. We know for sure he had (has?) two soul rooms—at least symbolically, if not a literal hemisphere split. A shame we never got to see Ryou's room. I imagine it looks much like his rad tabletop setups. Possibly even with a castle (or other foreboding structure) where Bakura nestled, when he wasn't fully in the Ring. Though, he's generally more subtle/sneaky when he's not going full Zorc...OH, MAYBE HE'S THE UNDERSIDE OF THE TABLE, WITH A DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT! AND FLIPS IT WHEN HE TAKES OVER (LIKE WE SAW WITH THE FOREST AREA), SINCE HE CAN FULLY SUPPRESS RYOU, OOOOOOH I LOVE THAT IDEA

(Also swinging back around to the Nursery itself, some crossover AU idea shenanigans...Yugi and Ryou as (two of) the kids they did the ghosty experiments on. Bakura is definitely responsible for the doll room. The rest of the carnage likely involved Penalty Games. And...yanno, the facility itself is nearly a mirror of Yugi's soul rooms, with the play area very similar to Yugi's room, and the horrifying [everything else] sort of being like Yami's, if a bit less labyrinthine. Just a WHOLE BUNCH of horrifying experimentation rooms, instead. But also OH NO THERE ARE ACTUALLY TWO INHABITED CHILDREN IN THAT ROOM IN-GAME, I THOUGHT THERE WAS ONLY ONE? INSTEAD I GOT "HERE'S BOTH THE KIDS, HAVE FUN WITH VALIDATION OF THIS NIGHTMARE SCENARIO")

#swl #secret world legends #ygo #yu-gi-oh #ryou bakura #yami bakura #yugi mutou #yami yugi #crossover theorizing #I know Scriv has referenced Hellsing on purpose in the game #but I don't know if he's familiar enough with YGO for this to be deliberate #though there's some references in Egypt that I swear someone else did on purpose #I've got a whole crossover dissertation I've been working on #it'll be presentable one day #...what if I edit a wee Ryou into a screenshot of the doll room #sharp shadows and everything #I struggled so much to finish this mission because I was just standing around THINKING TOO MUCH ABOUT STUFF

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brawlqueen · 2 years

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Selective, Canon Divergent Mizuki Date formerly, Mizuki Okiura, of AI: The Somnium Files Series.

Exploring subjects of: Grief, Never Having a Childhood, Piecing Broken pieces together, Living with a broken heart, Unflinching courage and desire to be kind even with a mouth full of teeth, Love with nowhere to go but searching all the same, Innocence Lost, Choosing your own family, loss, trauma, abandonment and coping / lack of coping with abuse while discovering who you, yourself are. Friendship and coming into your own self and learning slowly but surely what genuine love really means when it’s given. Not everything is a battle. Not everyone is an enemy who will hurt you, you won’t always be alone. Beating up old perverts and bad guys though?

.....With your overpowered strength you’re definitely alone on that one.

may you grow healthy and happy.

Written by Lily 25+, she/her, minors dni / personals dni, rules WIP! SPOILERS AHEAD!

RULES.

Thanks a ton for reading this now bear with me as I get this out if the way! Please call me Lily, and it’s nice to meet you!

Out of Character p.sd by ariapsds / supersources!

Minors and personals dni please. Reblogs from personals / non roleplay blogs will result in a block.

I will have various routes or verses and am completely open to crossovers! I tend to cherry pick AINI as I have my own gripes with it, but still very much enjoyed its improvements in some areas, and pitfalls in others. So I’ll follow things to a point but also do my own thing, so please be patient with me. I also will adapt my canon about it with other AITSF roleplayers so we can meet a middle ground as we all likely have some divergencies and our own takes!

Communication is really important to me! I primarily use discord, so please feel free to IM me, if we hit it off, because you will 99.9 percent find me there for plotting, chatting and just chilling out. Also I tend to initiate as best I can, but while there’s no due date on ooc replies, I do tend to wait a little bit if there’s no reply for a while, since I figure as we all have lives, I don’t wanna burden the person I’m chatting with! That said, please always feel comfortable to let me know about something you want to talk about in our writing, our messages, or keeping or dropping threads. It really, truly, genuinely won’t hurt my feelings. I’m not weighing your interactions / speed or judging you.

Mizuki may look simply short and sharp-tongued, but her superhuman/supernatural strength is on another level. In both ability, regenerative properties and sheer agility, strength to lift and crush things, jump, leap, survive, endurance etc, is far beyond what a human being could or should, really. This of course is elaborated on down my rules but do not underestimate her as I will not hold her back, she is ridiculously overpowered and it is NOT EASY to take her down as we don’t know her full capacities since she grows stronger each year of her life, but certainly not impossible at all for her to lose we just gotta plot it out! plotting is always always encouraged, naturally! just think of her as some weird unstoppable weapon of a detective, sci-fi series. She is not afraid to fight whatsoever to defend her loved ones and innocent people, and for now, is just focusing on not breaking a mug from sheer grip. I do follow the Horadori Institute Genome Editing, but minus Mizuki being a clone, and it’s elaborated below.

Crossovers are awesome, I said it before that you don’t have to have a muse from the Somnium Files to be welcomed here, OCs and Multimuse blogs are just as important. I can be selective but really I love just about any interactions of all kinds!

I think it’s safe to say since I’ll be having a lot of verses, that I will be making sure Mizuki, without being spoiler heavy, is given the spotlight I felt she deserved far more than she got. I also firmly will have verses where her father figure, imperfect but very loved by her, trauma issues aside, is mentioned as being present in her life because let’s face it both were done extremely dirty after the Mizuki route, which I felt should have been canon at least in the relationship set up, transferred to Resolution Route as the canon end in the OG. It isn’t so much that these two are my favorite family unit, but that they were nerfed so badly back to square one in this game, that it hurt the story quite a bit and Mizuki already has gone through way too much to have that on her shoulders also, and frankly Date, if you know you know, didn’t really deserve that.

Some verses though he will be involved in the Explosion route instead of a mentor figure to her in some verses, and you’ll see how Mizuki takes that. Which is to say not well at all. :’) Something we didn’t see in AINI, which is probably my biggest gripe, the nerfing of relationships / development from the first game of the characters

While I’ve looked at the tags, various places and this is the common consensus on Mizuki being a ‘clone’ it’s just not gonna be a thing here nor is Bibi. That completely nerfs any of her development, takes away the message of ‘found family’ so heavily themed in the original game, AITSF, and pretty much takes away her identity as a solid character in it, and also retcons a lot of what happened with her biological family. I will have ideas and try to figure out her ‘superhuman strength / combat ability’. I’ll follow along with the Horadori Institute experimenting on her as a baby, but not to make a clone.

Something like Shoko, who repeatedly calls Mizuki abnormal etc, to Date, maybe saw an opportunity while she was a baby to see if she could ‘fix’ her, and that’s how Chikara got a hold of her in some verses. Not even for prestige or connections, just desperation and a likely unstable mind wanting to fix a child she frankly never wanted. I don’t know what other Mizuki blogs are doing about this if there are any, so I’ll try to keep brainstorming but for me, unless there is a good reason, the main detractor of Mizuki’s protag status / relevance in the story is Bibi, and trust me, I love Bibi dearly as she really grew on me as a character and I wish she was better utilized -- and I saw Marco!

Some verses like in AISTF, I’ll have Mizuki��s god like OP superhuman abilities never explained. Other times? She’ll never lose her eye and just decide to be a detective to avenge her Dad and Kizuna and everyone who got hurt without having an AI-ball.

Most of the time for continuum, she has lost her left eye, despite Date’s best efforts and the others, and will probably post game share Aiba with Date, as if there is an AI3, I’d like someone made for Mizuki herself, if she appears again. Which I sure hope she does, even though Aiba is her family too, and they do get along well together, as Aiba takes the seat as a more nurturing, protective figure for someone made of seaweed.

Mizuki is not sugary sweet. She is traumatized back to back to back. I will not sugar coat themes of abuse in all its forms, neglect from parents, the negative reactions from trauma that for Mizuki, never seems to end, and the slow journey of accepting a parent that chose you out of love even if he’s imperfect and doesn’t always make the best choices with her, the point is, one person in the world tries, and it’s Date. I borrow a lot from the Mizuki route even if their relationship seemed to go backwards in Res route.

So Mizuki essentially is very much bite and fight. She’s snarky, she can be rude, she’s mature beyond any preteen or teenager should be, she’s fiercely protective of her loved ones, she’s guarded and cagey around affection or compliments, she’s angry, very angry, and also very kind. She’s a broken girl trying to find out where she fits and the pain of her life never seems to end, something continued in Nirvana Initiative. I want to explore all these traits and feelings negative or positive, but be warned, she’s more likely to verbally eviscerate a muse or be her guarded, but actually genuinely kind self, buried beneath layers of trauma just as much.

Note that a lot of themes in this game, as Mizuki is a detective in her teens, more aptly put a Pysncer / Special Agent, that I do not reflect beliefs or opinions of everything my character does, as we are both separate individuals. While I can empathize with Mizuki for personal reasons, that hardly means the premise of the story or base foundations or plots or actions of the characters I necessarily condone.

Honestly a lot of my verses you’ll see more detail and info on what’s going on in each as I want to have lots of ideas with her! I want her to get what I felt she didn’t in AINI despite also seeing some positive things also!

No drama, bullying, homophobia, transphobia, bigotry, racism, drama, godmodding / meta-gaming etc. If I don’t see someone acting like a decent human being or fair it’s a bye from me.

Also all icons coloring psd wise were by sunnypsds, promo, icon border and header done by @ganymakes / @colnerys (DO NOT STEAL PLEASE) and the caps are all done by me. Please do not steal!

I know this is a lot, but thanks a ton if you read even half, I really appreciate it. I hope we can have tons of fun together and don’t be a stranger!

important links: stance on mizuki’s portrayal / storyline changes.

blogroll: @goldspun + ind. selective, fandom friendly oc. highly selective / low activity: @unvergangliche + ind. selective frieren of sousou no frieren.

#𝐏𝐒𝐀 *ೃ༄ do you wanna get your ass kicked?#𝐎𝐎𝐂 *ೃ༄ what looks gone but comes back even stronger.

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