[hiscalifornia]

I feel this in my SOUL.

[ibelieveinturtles]

The Eternal Question

[chocolategate]

Add in kids and you really have a problem because it’s apparently “irresponsible” to have cereal multiple nights in a row. 

[akficchick]

I hardly ever cook anymore because it's too difficult to think of what to have and to make something the kid will eat at least a little of as well.

[akficchick]

Season 2 Episode 6 of The Orville

I just caught up yesterday. Made me late for church and I had to stop halfway through episode 6, right when it was at the good part (where Issac made himself look human). Ended up starting the episode from the beginning after church just so I could have that build up before the reveal again, lol!

There are a number of reasons why I absolutely loved this episode and then one where I didn’t, but still, this episode was a huge hit with me and I will watch it over and over again squeeing my little heart out every time we get to see the actor who plays Issac. I said last night in a post about it on a nerd group on Facebook that that man with his eyes and his expressions could make me commit murder lofl! So flipping cute! In both ways! Which makes me feel very conflicted. I don’t know whether I want to mother him or...lol yeah other, not very motherly things ;D

Well as for what I liked about this episode: I have always loved the relationship between Claire and Issac. It was...smooth...easy? I don’t know how I’d want to describe it.I just felt like it had this wonderful flow. Two beings both intelligent and less likely to be prone to fits of drama. Claire is probably in my top 2 or 3 favorite characters for this show because of her smarts and wisdom.

I have enjoyed seeing these two characters interact. The help Issac gives Claire and the insight she give him is a wonderful give and take that we often don’t see in real life. Being a single mother myself makes this exchange between the two even more enjoyable for me. I would love nothing more than a good companion who could help me out when I just couldn’t seem to get it myself and then who also could talk with me about anything as well as keeping an eye out for my well-being. Just...a really great friend. I would do the same for them.

Aside from all that, like I mentioned above about seeing the actual actor, I loved that. Looks aside, I have thoroughly enjoyed him as Issac. I am a big fan of Doug Jones and Mark Jackson’s acting reminds me a lot of Jones. I will be going to see if I can find the few other things he has done because he is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors. I need more from him! 

My favorite characters in Star Trek shows have almost always been the artificial lifeforms. Data was my favorite in The Next Generation. The EMH on Voyager was my 2nd favorite (Neelix has my heart for that show). I just really enjoy those characters who learn to be human. I mean, I loved the movie Bicentennial Man. I’m not exactly sure what it is about them I enjoy, though. It might be the basically child-like innocence they all seem to have, yet they’re perfectly capable of understanding adults and you don’t have to worry about treating them as you would a child. I imagine it would allow one to feel more at ease. At least it would me, anyway. 

And this brings me to what I didn’t care for in this episode. While I loved the episode overall and it has become my top episode (along with the episode where they discover a planet that phases in and out of their universe and the planet has advanced 700 years every time it comes back) I was a bit disappointed they ended it with Claire and Issac pursuing a romantic relationship.

I mentioned I was a single mom. Well this is a huge reason why this part bugged me. Even before I had a child I had to deal with men using me, thinking I was easy. I mean, come on, it’s universal knowledge that overweight women are easy! /sarcasm

I’ve been through so many men who didn’t find me attractive, they just stuck around for any length of time because they felt it would be easy to get sex from me. I’m glad I didn’t sleep with all of them, but it was bad enough that even just the thought of sleeping with someone starts a panic attack in me. Or hearing a man in a TV show or movie call a woman beautiful or something will do it, too. I get panicky and it just makes my skin crawl. I’ll never believe a man if he compliments me on my looks. Sex is the absolute last thing I want. I would much rather have a great companion.

That’s what Issac and Claire were to each other for a while. Just great friends. I loved it. The idea of someone who could talk with me and sought out my company or my thoughts and noticed things about me without me having to tell them...that’s like finding a unicorn! I enjoyed seeing a friendship like that. I felt that if that continued then this show would be a reminder that you don’t have to be nice to someone only when you like them. That you don’t have to form a romantic relationship when someone takes notice of you. Why do we feel that that is the only acceptable time to be kind to someone? It’s a big reason why I love the show Supernatural. The show has largely been about friendship and family. I know a lot of people want to see Dean and Castiel together (something I enjoy daydreaming about, but I am totally happy with them not getting together as well) but the deep friendship between them is wonderful to see.

So when Claire continued to want to make it more I was disappointed. I won’t not enjoy their relationship now, but it just would have been nice to see them realize they work better as friends and continue on that way. It wouldn’t have just been about the fact that we hardly ever get to see great friendships in our entertainment, though. It could have also shown us that we don’t have to hate our exes. Two people can split for perfectly good reasons, realizing they just didn’t work well together or that romance wasn’t something that worked for them, but they can remain friends in some capacity. I know we see that with Ed and Kelly, but having it somewhere else in the show would have been nice, too. Maybe the show will take it in that direction someday. If it doesn’t I won’t be surprised or very upset. I’ll just feel like it was a missed opportunity. Also, like I said, I won’t not enjoy their relationship. I love a good love story and I am interested to see what the show does with it.

Seth MacFarlane always amazes me with his wit and insight. I love pretty much everything he does. He’s not been afraid to cross that invisible line. This show is just another example of how amazing he is at what he does. I know he’ll do that aspect of the show justice, no matter which way it goes.  I know some may be thinking that ‘wit’ and Seth MacFarlane’s shows/movie shouldn’t necessarily go together, but you’d be surprised. Yes he throws in the potty humor and can be quite raunchy, but a lot of his jokes are much more than that. Hell, most jokes are more than that. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard of a comedian being an actual idiot. 

Anyway, my long, rambly, horribly thought out semi-review of my now favorite episode is done. 

[akficchick]

Sometimes I wonder what the heck my family did before I moved here.

Why didn't my sister schedule the cable guy to come by her house for a time that was more convenient for her? She had plenty of time yesterday and Monday for that. No. She schedules it for today while she has to work and asks me to let the person in.

Monday was her turn to drop the kids off at school. They get 5 mins up the road before the radiator springs a leak. So she calls me and tels me I will need to take the kids to school so our granddad can look at the van.

Why can't she do it? She can borrow my car and take the kids. Why does she need to be there as our granddad looks at the van?

Oh and how would she have done this if I didn't live here? I mean, she drives MY van because her stupid husband had to have a truck that eats gas like it's going out of style and doesn't keep the tags updated on it.

So now he drives the car he "bought" for her (I say it like that cuz he just went and got this nice car, saying it's for her, didn't consult her and she makes the payments on it cuz at the time he didn't have a job and his job now pays crap) and she had no other option so I loaned her my van.

I only have a 2nd vehicle our dad died in 2017 and the car I use was his. So how would she have done all this mess if I didn't live here?

[akficchick]

I've recently cleaned off my phone, but also have screenshot stuff that describes me lofl.

[thehmn]

In case you don’t know this story, the Norse gods wanted a wall around Asgard to protect themselves and a jotun only known as The Builder offers to make it in exchange for Freya, Sun and Moon. Freya gets rightfully pissed and refuses (no word on Sun or Moon’s feelings about this), so Loki turns into a female horse and lures The Builder’s horse away, causing all work on the wall to stop. Because he can’t finish the wall The Builder has to leave without Freya, Sun and Moon. Loki disappears for 9 nine months and returns with an eight-legged foal (yes, he had sex with the horse and got pregnant. I know you all love that part). The end.

For some reason people often leave out that The Builder wanted Sun and Moon too, and English translations often translate it to “the sun and moon” as if he wanted the heavenly bodies, but no, he wanted the goddess and god responsible for said heavenly bodies. He absolutely intended to have sex with all of them which is why a lot of translations leave out Moon because ew that’s gay.

Freya didn’t want to marry a Jotun, let alone as part of a god damn harem me thinks.

[akficchick]

I love this for so many reasons! But the biggest one is that Moon is male! ^_^ Almost everything I’ve ever seen has Moon as feminine, no matter what culture it’s from. I’ve always thought of the moon as male, so when I was creating my book series world my moon showed itself as a male. He’s one of my favorite characters I’ve created.

[chuuzus]

welcome to the age of female superheroes

[lesbiansassemble]

this video is my sexuality

[616marvel]

holy shit

[chocolategate]

[akficchick]

I wonder how authors choose which scenes in a story they would like illustrated. Or is that left up to the illustrator? If so, how do THEY decide? I am writing up part of my dnd Halfling bard’s backstory dealing with her late boyfriend. I’d love to draw pictures for it, but how do I decide?! lol.

[dct239394cvvd098dffgggp]

‘gay tv is bad for the kids’ bitch every fucking straight ‘comedy’ show stars a lazy sexist husband that drinks beer and hates his wife id rather my kids watch queer eye where grown men are respectful and kind as all men fucking should be. yall homophobic assholes are so scared of your kids “turning gay” that you let them turn into fucking monsters that will eventually plague our society just like youre doing now

[shoyowo]

half of straight culture is hating your SO but gay culture is about loving and cherishing your SO and y’all still say it’s bad for kids? smh

[wordsnstuff]

Planning A Scene In A Story

– A lot of you have asked questions pertaining to a struggle with planning scenes, so I’ve decided to make a little rundown of questions to answer before writing a new scene of your story. Obviously, you probably won’t end up going through this process over and over again until the end of your writing career, as this will become like a second nature to you as you continue to practice it. If you have any further questions, my ask box is always open. Happy writing!

Intention

How is the setting of the scene relevant to the events that take place?

Is this scene easy to follow with the information given to the reader?

What role do past events play into this scene?

How will the events in this scene shift the story toward the resolution?

Does this scene solve any plot holes or create any new ones?

Purpose

What is the overall purpose this scene serves?

How will this scene progress the plot?

How will this scene help to develop your character(s)?

Information

What information is this scene supposed to reveal to the reader?

What information is required to make this scene make sense?

Subtext

Are there any hidden messages you need to plan beforehand?

Is there any foreshadowing taking place during this scene?

What context might alter the implications of this scene?

What consequences might come from the events of this scene?

Starting Point

Does this starting point make sense for the trajectory of the scene?

Does the starting point allow room for some rising action?

Is your scene starting abruptly or with a build up to a large event?

Is there space between the beginning of this scene and the last?

If there is, are there any blanks you need to fill in to continue?

Tone

What is the main way you’ll be conveying tone in the context of the scene’s events?

How do you want the tone to impact the reader’s experience?

Does the tone change drastically in contrast with the last scene?

How Do You Want The Scene To Leave The Reader?

Do you want your reader to end the scene asking a bunch of questions? 

Do you want one of the subplots to be resolved?

Do you want the reader to be shocked?

Do you want the reader to think, “Oh, that makes sense now”?

If you have any to add, feel free to leave them in the comments down below to help each other out!

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[akficchick]

Rose Quartz/Cybele

While looking up ancient Greek style clothing and nature decoration for my new D&D character, I stumbled across this goddess, Cybele.

She was thought to be a goddess of fertility and nature. She was often depicted being accompanied by bees or lions.

This reminded me a lot of Rose Quartz from Steven Universe. It would make a lot of sense if Rose Quartz is based off Cybele. Rose was in earth for 5,000 years. With her height, powers, and affinity for nature she could have easily been thought to be a god.

Also, I was looking up what the trees in Lion's mane were as there's a story of Cybele and a love interest. The man she loved, Attis, cheated on her and she got angry and made him go insane and mutilate himself under a pine tree.

However the tress in Lion's mane are an acacia tree and a narra tree. It's obvious the acacia tree is something associated with Africa, which has lions, but I wasn't familiar with a narra tree. Turns out narra trees are common in the Philippines, which I believe I read that Lars is of Filipino decent. So it would seem that whoever dies and is brought back by those powers gains a hill with a tree on it that reflect their "homeland".

[lichen-soup-scribe]

Writing Traumatic Injuries References

So, pretty frequently writers screw up when they write about injuries. People are clonked over the head, pass out for hours, and wake up with just a headache… Eragon breaks his wrist and it’s just fine within days… Wounds heal with nary a scar, ever…

I’m aiming to fix that.

Here are over 100 links covering just about every facet of traumatic injuries (physical, psychological, long-term), focusing mainly on burns, concussions, fractures, and lacerations. Now you can beat up your characters properly!

General resources

WebMD

Mayo Clinic first aid

Mayo Clinic diseases

First Aid

PubMed: The source for biomedical literature

Diagrams: Veins (towards heart), arteries (away from heart) bones, nervous system, brain

Burns

General overview: Includes degrees

Burn severity: Including how to estimate body area affected

Burn treatment: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degrees

Smoke inhalation

Smoke inhalation treatment

Chemical burns

Hot tar burns

Sunburns

Incisions and Lacerations

Essentials of skin laceration repair (including stitching techniques)

When to stitch (Journal article—Doctors apparently usually go by experience on this)

More about when to stitch (Simple guide for moms)

Basic wound treatment

Incision vs. laceration: Most of the time (including in medical literature) they’re used synonymously, but eh.

Types of lacerations: Page has links to some particularly graphic images—beware!

How to stop bleeding: 1, 2, 3

Puncture wounds: Including a bit about what sort of wounds are most likely to become infected

More about puncture wounds

Wound assessment: A huge amount of information, including what the color of the flesh indicates, different kinds of things that ooze from a wound, and so much more.

Home treatment of gunshot wound, also basics More about gunshot wounds, including medical procedures

Tourniquet use: Controversy around it, latest research

Location pain chart: Originally intended for tattoo pain, but pretty accurate for cuts

General note: Deeper=more serious. Elevate wounded limb so that gravity draws blood towards heart. Scalp wounds also bleed a lot but tend to be superficial. If it’s dirty, risk infection. If it hits the digestive system and you don’t die immediately, infection’ll probably kill you. Don’t forget the possibility of tetanus! If a wound is positioned such that movement would cause the wound to gape open (i.e. horizontally across the knee) it’s harder to keep it closed and may take longer for it to heal.

Broken bones

Types of fractures

Setting a broken bone when no doctor is available

Healing time of common fractures

Broken wrists

Broken ankles/feet

Fractured vertebrae: Neck (1, 2), back

Types of casts

Splints

Fracture complications

Broken noses

Broken digits: Fingers and toes

General notes: If it’s a compound fracture (bone poking through) good luck fixing it on your own. If the bone is in multiple pieces, surgery is necessary to fix it—probably can’t reduce (“set”) it from the outside. Older people heal more slowly. It’s possible for bones to “heal” crooked and cause long-term problems and joint pain. Consider damage to nearby nerves, muscle, and blood vessels.

Concussions

General overview

Types of concussions 1, 2

Concussion complications

Mild Brain Injuries: The next step up from most severe type of concussion, Grade 3

Post-concussion syndrome

Second impact syndrome: When a second blow delivered before recovering from the initial concussion has catastrophic effects. Apparently rare.

Recovering from a concussion

Symptoms: Scroll about halfway down the page for the most severe symptoms

Whiplash

General notes: If you pass out, even for a few seconds, it’s serious. If you have multiple concussions over a lifetime, they will be progressively more serious. Symptoms can linger for a long time.

Character reaction:

Shock (general)

Physical shock: 1, 2

Fight-or-flight response: 1, 2

Long-term emotional trauma: 1 (Includes symptoms), 2

First aid for emotional trauma

Treatment (drugs)

WebMD painkiller guide

Treatment (herbs)

1, 2, 3, 4

Miscellany

Snake bites: No, you don’t suck the venom out or apply tourniquettes

Frostbite

Frostbite treatment

Severe frostbite treatment

When frostbite sets in: A handy chart for how long your characters have outside at various temperatures and wind speeds before they get frostbitten

First aid myths: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Includes the ones about buttering burns and putting snow on frostbite.

Poisons: Why inducing vomiting is a bad idea

Poisonous plants

Dislocations: Symptoms 1, 2; treatment. General notes: Repeated dislocations of same joint may lead to permanent tissue damage and may cause or be symptomatic of weakened ligaments. Docs recommend against trying to reduce (put back) dislocated joint on your own, though information about how to do it is easily found online.

Muscular strains

Joint sprain

Resuscitation after near-drowning: 1, 2

Current CPR practices: We don’t do mouth-to-mouth anymore.

The DSM IV, for all your mental illness needs.

Electrical shock

Human response to electrical shock: Includes handy-dandy voltage chart

Length of contact needed at different voltages to cause injury

Evaluation protocol for electric shock injury

Neurological complications

Electrical and lightning injury

Cardiac complications

Delayed effects and a good general summary

Acquired savant syndrome: Brain injuries (including a lightning strike) triggering development of amazing artistic and other abilities

Please don’t repost! You can find the original document (also created by me) here.

[promptsforyourwhumpfic]

Here’s something I remember seeing ages ago, and it’s proven to be useful to me and I’m glad I’ve found it again to share on here.

(Credit of course goes to who posted this initially.)

[chocolategate]

I don’t write these things often, but you never know when you’ll need it.

[akficchick]

Thought you might like this @chocolategate https://pin.it/tei525zm3jwwjg

[mockwa]

I told you, no more fighting

[lokiwholockfactory]

Thor and Loki

[hkthauer]

All my friendships, tbh.

[akficchick]

Lofl

[akficchick]

Thought you might like this @chocolategate https://pin.it/tei525zm3jwwjg

[thehillywoodshow]

Hellatus is over… #SUPERNATURALPARODY2 IS HERE! 🔥

The Hillywood Show® brings you their biggest production yet, in a Supernatural spectacular, like you’ve never seen before!  

Supernatural’s, Sam and Dean Winchester are back in action, like never before, in The Hillywood Show®’s SUPERNATURAL PARODY 2!  Armed with weaponized Proton Packs and plenty of salt, the Winchester brothers are just a call away. Ghost problems?  Demon problems?  If the answer is yes, don’t wait another minute!  Pick up your phone now! The brothers are on call, 24 hours, to serve all of your supernatural elimination needs!  Who ya gonna call? WINCHESTERS!

Strap in SPN Family and prepare yourself for The Hillywood Show®’s biggest production yet!   Filled with fan favorite moments from CW’s Supernatural and a star studded line up including Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misha Collins and more, this production is a #Supernatural spectacular!

View in 720p, 1080p or full 4K HD for the full #SupernaturalParody2 experience!  Enjoy and God bless.    

[evansrogerskitten]

AHHHHHHHHHH OMG AMAZING! I screamed like 8 times.

Thank you Hilly and Hannah!!!

[chocolategate]

This is magical. Any Supernatural fans need to see it. 

[akficchick]

I can't even count how many times I screamed, but the biggest two were when Julian Richings was on and then Alexander Calvert. And with Richings I started to tear up a bit. I loved his Death soooooop much!!!!!!!

[akficchick]

D&D Tonight (One Shot Edition)

First session of an all female group on Roll20. We started out with 6 players but two had to leave due to technical difficulties. So we start off with a battle from the get go. Quite a few kobolds (which apparently are about the same size as my 3ft5in halfling) come riding in on these giant weasels.  The Orc of the party, being a massive animal lover, was immediately upset to see the weasels being used like this. Didn’t matter that the dang things were getting some good damage shots in. She proceeded to work on killing off the kobolds then frightening off the weasels. Soon, the rest of the party decides they can’t bring themselves to upset this precious soul so they try hard not to hurt the weasels either. A Halfling bard named Delora finally gets to fight back and she’s torn. After a bit of a pause she yells out, “Aw hell!” and proceeds to use her intimidation to scare the weasels off as well. Unfortunately, the ranger Goliath, Calista, was having problems with the weasel in front of her and had no choice but to kill it. Luckily, though, Kilkorra, the Orc did not see this as she was busy scaring off a weasel and had her back to Calista.  When it was all over, Calista had planned to fix it up so they could have it for a meal, but Kilkorra got to it before she could and began burying it. Calista sighed and began to help. Delora sat under a tree and sang her song of rest (We are the Champions) to help heal the party. After the weasel had been buried, the group made their way to the town they were sent to investigate. The streets were empty and most places had boarded up their windows. Kilkorra, not knowing much about the world proceeded to try and find a nice place to sleep in a ditch that was partially filled with garbage. Delora tried to see if there was anything of note about the town, but she failed the roll miserably and just could only see it was a town.

They make their way to the inn and find it far quieter than it should have been. After speaking to the half-orc owner they find that people and animals have gone missing as well as animals being slaughtered left and right.

Calista orders a wine for the group, but Delora turns it down in favor of a strong Dwarven brew. Cas, an elf rogue, downs her wine and orders what Delora is having. Kilkorra is sniffing then taking little licks at her wine. Finding it unappealing she begins pouring some into a nearby potted plant.

Calista walks over to a table with a male dwarf and a male halfling who are arguing like an old married couple about the best time to leave town and the best route to take. She asks to join them and sits down to see what information she can glean from them.

Cas goes over to the table with a couple of unsavory looking people and introduces herself in thieve’s cant and after a short exchange she sits down with them to get information. Kilkorra decides to go over to that table and mimic Cas’s way of turning a chair around and sitting in it backward, a glass of liquor in each hand now. The thieves aren’t sure about her, but take Cas’s word that she’s alright. They lift their cups to her and in an enthusiastic way (as this is the first thing she seems to actually understand in this strange land) she clinks her glasses to their cups.

Delora downs her drink and finds a place out of the way but still visible by all where she sits and begins singing quietly to give a bit of background noise. After a while Cas and Calista rise, having gotten all the info they can and Kilkorra and Delora stand as well as they follow the other two outside. They make their way to a small farm at the outskirts of the town to see where the latest killing took place. 

In a pen just past the barn they find the remains of a goat. Kilkorra rushes in and after looking it over finds that it seemed to have been killed with a knife. With no other information available in the dark of night the group returns to the inn. All but Cas go to their rooms. Cas stays in the room below to try her hand at cards with the other thieves. After losing she decides to go to bed.

The next morning they all gather outside and make their way back to the farm where the last goat was killed. They see that something had made its way into the woods beyond and they follow. Eventually they come to this cave, the mouth of which is about 30ft across.

Cas edges up to it and, using stealth, makes her way about 10ft inside before she sees a group of people dressed in cloaks and masks standing in a circle. She can hear their chanting now. She come back out and relays the what she saw. Delora suggests shooting into the cave with her crossbow, trying to scare/lure the people out. Calista agrees. Calista goes in first and tries to find a good way to do this but see there will come no good of do that as in order for it to work she would most likely be caught before she could make it out. By this time Kilkorra is very worked up. She wants to deal with these animal killers now! She announces that she’s going to just walk in. Delora catches her before she does and offers her a little spell to help her out. 

“Kilkorra, wait!” Delora hisses. “Give me your hand.” Kilkorra does as she is asked and Delora thinks for a moment then slaps Kilkorra’s palm and says, “A little something extra in case you get hit. Go get ‘em, we’re right behind you!” And she, Cas, and Calista use stealth to enter the cave behind Kilkorra.

Two of the people, cultists, see Kilkorra and immediately break from the other three and walk closer. They summon up three, hideous, wolves made of smoke and something more substantial, the group can’t tell what, they just know that these were the ugliest wolves they’d ever laid eyes on. At this point Calista, Cas, and Delora have positioned themselves out of sight behind stone pillar formations. The first cultist attacks with a wolf. Calista lets loose an arrow, instantly killing the creature. Another wolf lunges for Kilkorra who then deals a blow that damages but does not kill the wolf. Cas attacks next, killing the third wolf then melting back into the shadows. A cultist moves closer to Kilkorra and attacks. Delora, seizing her chance, yells out to the other cultist, “Doth mother known you weareth her drapes?”

The cultist hesitates for a moment then turns to the other and says, “You said I looked good,” then dissolves into sobs as he curls into the fetal position on the floor. The other three cultists are chanting much faster now, hurrying to summon their hellish creature. Before long, the four women kill the wolves and the two cultists, but not before the friend of the one she mocked dealt a deadly blow that left her dangerously close to death. One more hit and she would be done for.

Their small victory was short-lived, however, as they realized the other cultists had stopped chanting. As they turn their attention to them, this smoke fills the cavern and begins to solidity into large bones, patches of scales, sharp teeth and claws, and two giant wings. 

The dragon was grotesque. In their hurry to perform the ritual, the cultists had made too many errors. Not only was the dragon incomplete- it’s bones showing through holes in the skin and muscles, scaly skin hanging off the thing like a sheet that’s been pulled only partway off a bed- but the part of the ritual that bound the thing to the cultist was not in place. The dragon turned on its masters and ate them! Then it turned on the group of adventurers. 

They began to attack. Kilkorra with her axes, Calista with her arrows, Cas with her rapier and daggers, Delora with her spells.  Delora broke her spell she had placed on Kilkorra to give her an edge up and instead moved into position and drew her dagger. She flipped it into the air and with a menacing chuckle said, “Oh, I’m about to become the bane of your existence.” As the dagger came down she caught it easily and brought it down swiftly, nicking the skin on her other hand. The drop of blood fell and the dragon felt the spell settle in place as it failed to fight it.  Her companions continued to attack, seeing that the dragon’s attacks didn’t quite have the edge they did before. Now Delora used her last ounce of more powerful magic to heal herself of the damage she’d taken. She hoped her friends still had a few of the healing potions she and Calista had looted from the kobolds the day before.

As they all continued to attack, Delora did what she could, using her crossbow now or taunting the dragon with her vicious mockery, causing it to fumble in its next attack. It was no easy feat to hold her concentration with her first spell she placed on the dragon while attacking, but she continued to fight.

The dragon reared back and bellowed out a 40ft wide line of flames. Calista and Delora barely escaped the worst of it and Delora nearly lost her concentration on her spell. They had to move or risk being burnt to a crisp.  The fight dragged on as they slowly hacked away at the ragged beast. Cas and Kilkorra flanked the dragon while Calista and Delora fought from the fringes. 

This thing didn’t seem like it would die and Delora knew her friends must be getting wearing.

“Alright! Who needs it?” she yelled out from her hiding spot behind a large boulder. From their travels together the women knew Delora had a special knack for giving them the boost they needed with just a few simple words.

“I do!” Kilkorra shouted. 

“For the wolves!” shouted Delora and her words resonated inside Kilkorra’s bones, giving her the resolve she needed. The dragon lunged with its mighty jaws and swiped with its claws, but the adventurers fought on. Then, suddenly, the dragon spread its massive wings and lifted itself into the air. Kilkorra and Cas took the opportunity to attack while it seemed to retreat. Kilkorra’s axe landed a blow but Cas’s rapier missed by mere inches. The dragon, however, was not retreating. No. It was simply getting into a better position. Delora watched as she peeked around her rock as the dragon let loose another mighty blast of flames. They fell over her friends. For a moment she couldn’t see what had become of them, but as the heat dissipated and the flames disappeared, she was elated to see they had dodged with only minimal singeing. 

Delora tried to taunt the dragon again, but it managed to ignore her sounds. Kilkorra rushed over and swung her axe. Cas slunk in and stabbed with her rapier. Calista fired and arrow, using a spell to wrap vines around it. The moment the arrow made contact with a scale it pinged off, but the vines leapt into action. Unfortunately the dragon had power of its own and with it made easy work of the vines. It then took flight again and repositioned itself and blasted the three with another round of fire.  Calista and Kilkorra managed to evade, but Cas took severe damage. Kilkorra dashed to her side to help protect her. 

“Anyone else need it?” Delora bellowed. Calista answered her call. “Kill the f*cking thing already!” Delora hollered with a laugh. Calista moved in and attacked. The dragon swiped at her and Cas. Delora tightened her spell on the dragon and managed to help save Cas from most of the damage. Calista, being a Goliath, was able to take advantage of her race’s stone-like skin. Cas, however, was looking near dead. 

Delora attacked with her crossbow once more, Calista with her two axes, and Kilkorra with her one. Cas, barely able to stand, prepared her rapier and with a heavy blow, struck the creature dead. Of course, this wasn’t enough to Cas, so she continued to work away at the dragon’s corpse until the head was well separated. In the meantime, Delora took a deep breath and ran out to congratulate her friends before rummaging through the cultists’ robes. She came away with five golden medallions encrusted with gems and stamped with the cult’s insignia. 

Cas, having relieved the dragon of its head, turned and found a chest. She made quick work of it with her lock picks and found it to be stuffed full of gold and gems. Calista grabbed the dragon head and they made their way back to town.

The innkeeper, to show her gratitude for ridding the town of the cult, which then prompted people to leave their homes, who then filled her tavern once more, gave the adventurers drink on the house all night. The townspeople cheered and drank and listened to Delora recall the great fight until the wee hours of the morning.

[thy-lovelylionheart]

writer: this is one of my male characters! he cares about his guy friends and loves them deeply.

tumblr: oh! so he’s gay!

writer: uh…no, he’s attracted to women.

tumblr: ….so he’s bi!

writer: uhh…no…….he loves his guy friends but he’s not romantically/sexually attracted to them.

tumblr: ….so you’re homophobic.

writer:

[sandersstudies]

Healthy male friendships are almost as rare in mainstream fiction as gay male relationships, and maybe more rare in fanfiction. Let men be wonderful friends without pushing a romantic relationship, just like men and women should be able to be wonderful friends without the pressure of a romantic relationship.

[fireteam-daybreak]

*AGGRESSIVELY SLAMS REBLOG UNTIL I DIE*

[nine-touched]

This is literally the reason men are so terrified of being open about loving each other platonically, because they don’t want people to assume they’re gay just because they can be supportive of their fucking friends

[csisui]

[chocolategate]

I think this a lot when I watch the shipping wars from afar. There is such a thing as a ridiculously close platonic friend, and we should be encouraging people to build those sort of relationships without fear of being mislabeled. Romantic relationships aren’t the only ones that matter. 

[akficchick]

I love this! Really good, male friendships are wonderful! I do ship Dean/Castiel because it's fun to imagine all that, but I will be perfectly happy if nothing happens. I've always loved their close friendship, it's so refreshing.

I think men will be more comfortable being really close like that when being gay stops being such a bad thing in so many people's minds. And really, if the two men didn't think being gay was a bad thing then they wouldn't have a problem with others thinking they were. Besides, they would know the truth, they're just friends.

I hope more men can get to a point where they have such a good male friend that they're assumed to be gay ^_^