With Vampiric Underlanders

AU where Mrs Cormaci more-or-less adopts the Bane and he lives in Ares's cave and visits regularly in order to feed him and take care of him and he grows up in a safe and loving environment and he doesn't become a villain and everyone else has a heart attack when they find out.

fuck why do some of these actually sound useful

So we all know Percy is powerful as shit, there's no doubt in that. But I think I may have thought of a few more (theoretical) applications of his abilities. These ones aren't insanely broken (except one I had to give up on cause I couldn't find a way to make it work), but they're still pretty good.

Percy can control liquids with water in them. We learned this in Tartarus when he drowned Akhlys in her own poison. So in theory, he can bloodbend, right? But this is actually incredibly good in a defensive sense. Since he can control blood, including his own, he can use his powers to (theoretically) negate blood loss and keep his blood inside his own body, keeping him in the fight for much longer. Hell, this circumvents internal bleeding when you think about it.

Speaking of bloodbending, in the same Avatar episode that that idea is introduced to us, we learn that water can be taken from plants, as well as animals (although that is harder as far as I know). Okay, so Percy can take water out of plants, cool. But what about the atmosphere? Sure, the amount of water in the atmosphere varies wildly depending on location, season, etc. But the point still stands. In theory, Percy can pull water out of his surroundings and use it to heal himself, further improving his durability, and giving him an overall stat boost, as he just performs better in water in general.

Imagine fighting Percy, thinking you've got him beat, when all of a sudden he pulls out a Dragon Ball-esque transformation and surrounds himself in a thin coat of the water from not just the atmosphere, but his sweat, your blood, hell, YOUR sweat, and any other possible sources of water nearby. Bloody terrifying. Especially when you consider Percy killing -> Percy receiving access to blood -> Percy getting stronger -> Percy killing more, basically creating an infinite cycle of steadily increasing strength (providing his enemy has blood, naturally).

So yeah. Percy, using his abilities correctly, isn't just insanely strong, but pretty damn durable too. I did have another idea about him controlling brain fluids/breathing in oxygen through water to circumvent brain death, but that kinda fell through because brain fluids aren't really related to brain death and you need lungs to, you know, breath, which would circumvent the decapitation scenario I was thinking of, and Percy can't breathe through osmosis (as far as we know). So that idea is a bust.

...Unless Jason could manipulate oxygen into his bloodstream, using his abilities to circumvent brain death instead...

Twirltounge manipulating the Bane into commiting mass genocide:

I'm sorry but if i do make pilot episodes/shorts for my TUC animated series, Gregor's going to know and use the language of kids today. why? it's funny.

and as the questers get closer throughout the series, others start picking it up. Luxa gets to look someone in the eyes as they lose a brutal fight, bleeding out on the floor, and say "Skill issue."

keep it going peeps

Petitions - UK Government and Parliament

Petition: Legally enshrine the right of adults to physically transition using NHS services

Introduce a law to legally protect the right of those aged 18 and over to transition using NHS services. This should specifically cover phys

Uk peeps!! Let’s get this going! 🏳️‍⚧️🇬🇧

I might have seen this said before, on a different post, but I couldn't find it, so I'm just gonna say a few words on this, partially because of that and partially because it's been ages since I've last read the series, despite it being ingrained into my head.

Almost all of the characters in TUC have moments where they are genuine assholes. Gregor has a few points where he says some genuinely disrespectful shit. Luxa, as well as most of the other humans (including Gregor, although arguably to a lesser extent), are deeply prejudiced against the gnawers. Ripred, is, well, Ripred (look, I love him, we all do, but he's a dick).

Even Vikus, arguably one of the nicest characters in the series, admires Sandwich (I think, been a while), a man who literally used poison to commit genocide in the name of stealing land that didn't belong to him.

The only characters I can think of in TUC that don't have flaws are the ones who also have the least lines: Aurora, Dulcet, Miravet. Oh, and all of those characters? Probably also prejudiced against gnawers, just never explicitly stated (to my knowledge), probably due to their obscene lack of lines. Of course there are characters like Lizzie and Hazard, who are literal fucking children so as nice as they are, I think it's safe to say they can't really be counted up here. (Should probably also mention that Gregor and Luxa are also children, just ones that were forced to grow up faster, sadly).

Then again, all of these characters have redeeming qualities. Gregor can be disrespectful at times, but that's mainly because of the stress placed upon him by the various bullshit situations he has to go through, and he usually apologizes after. Luxa and all the humans are deeply prejudiced (actually, I should probably add the fliers might be in that category too), but they are basically raised from birth to hate and kill gnawers, and vice versa. plus, it's shown that despite what is practically being brainwashed from birth, they can grow and change to overcome their own bigotry and accept gnawers as genuine people, as well as friends.

And yes, Ripred, the glorious bastard himself, is a dick. But he's also a war veteran who's lost his family, and most of the respect from his people, meaning he mainly works with humans, who tend to treat him with suspicion, if not outright hostility (until they get to know him). And he makes up for it by letting his guard down at times to be a father to the traumatized pups that dragged him into their pack.

Point is, flawed characters are one of the things that make TUC so great. They're not few and hid away either, they're everywhere, with visible flaws. If you want to make a good character, TUC is a great series to use as an example. Everything casts a shadow, just like every character has a flaw. If they don't, you probably just can't see them from your angle. And if they don't? Like, at all? Give them some, just make sure the shadow they cast matches up with the object itself.

Cutting through the pain? *Begins to cry tears of laughter that turn into tears of sadness*

To anyone in the TUC fandom who has looked at AHS and skipped it because they heard the ending is happy...

... and then assumed that it's just a wish fulfillment "ideal reality" kind of outcome of the TUC story that cuts all of the depth, pain, and realism ... Go back and read it right now.

Because that is not what AHS is. Not even close.

AHS is not "my version" of TUC where I just change whatever I dislike without regard for themes or characters in the original. Far from it. One of the main goals I had was actually to give more of the Underland. More characterization (that aligns with canon, although some characters develop in a different direction because of shifts in circumstances), more worldbuilding (that coincides with canon, adding onto it), ... just more, period.

The best way I can describe what it actually is is honestly saying that AHS is to TUC like Marvel's "What if ...?" is to the MCU. It is quite literally a "What if Henry had survived his fall at the end of "Gregor the Overlander"?" And I kid you not, 95% of the changes in the story, compared to TUC, are simply a result of exactly this change.

But the entire plot of the final book is different, right? Well, I didn't say that the consequences of that one change weren't substantial. They are. Without spoiling too much I can only say that Henry happens to be an optimist, and it also happens that an optimist was exactly what the TUC story needed to achieve a happier outcome.

Anyone who has actually read my version of the CoC plot will tell you that it is far from ideal, perfect, or pain-free. A lot more happens in the actual plot, but most of those new events are there to serve the dark, violent nature of war. There's so much talk about loss, and sacrifice, exploration of (also the dark side of) heroism, and whether "for the greater good" is worth it. There's corruption and death, injustice, and grappling with unkind fates and alienation/rejection.

Now, I will admit that I did put less emphasis on the societal pressure aspect of CoC, but mainly because that theme is a huge part of AHS 2 already, and it did not really fit this part of the story anymore. Instead, "Gregor against society" becomes "Questers against society" (quite literally, since they are — small spoiler — banding together to actually overthrow Solovet and bring about change.)

BUT ... if there is corruption, death, and the violence of war, how is it happier then? How can it have a happy ending?

Very simply because it is not only corruption but also redemption. Not only death and suffering but also growth and gain. Not only violence and breaking of relationships but also companionship, hope, and mending of relationships.

... The main change that happens to be so powerful it can give this series a happy ending without disrespecting or abandoning its original gritty violent core is ... a shift in mindset toward the positive. For Gregor, but also for everyone else. One of the main themes I added is the exploration of the double-edged nature of things: Everything has good and bad consequences. What we take away from it is what we choose to focus on.

Now you might see better what I meant by "All this series needed was an optimist" earlier. If there were someone to remind people of the bright side, to remind Gregor that his rager power does not make him evil and that he is never alone or choiceless, to embody this hopeful outlook and bring it out in everything ... I promise to you that this is all it would have taken.

And this is what I'm giving you.

Have created a new novel-writing approach for myself that I am calling Very Gentle Writing. Very Gentle Writing is an approach for people who live nearly every waking second in self-castigation and actually need peaceful slowness to unleash their creativity. 

Very Gentle Writing does not set staggering word count goals and then feel bad about it. No! Very Gentle Writing for me sets an extremely low word count and then feels magnificently productive when the low bar is exceeded (which is easy…it’s a low bar, I mean really low). 

Very Gentle Writing is about saying hey yo maybe I just want to listen to a chill playlist for a while and feel one sentence spill out. Go me! 

Very Gentle Writing is kind of about realizing I have a really limited amount of time to write in between work, and adulting, and taking care of a thousand life responsibilities, and trying to heal&deal from trauma in 2020. So I want that writing time to be….just…..nice. 

Very Gentle Writing means I have a goal of enjoying every single time I sit down to write. Really. I use all the fun words first. 

Very Gentle Writing came to me as an idea when I started to think about how as someone actively trying to recover from a lot of lifelong trauma, the usual word harder!! Work harder!! mantras in the world of “people doing hard things” didn’t motivate me at all, they only hurt me. I truly need a voice saying work less hard, personally.

Like from a year ago but I never finished so I’m posting it now! Based on that one classical painting where the guy is getting enchanted by the faerie princess. I don’t remember it now, she’s on a horse.

funny skeletons are the peak of internet humor

October can’t come soon enough