#I know it's like canonically supposed to be set in any random summer/every summer

[queenofthursday6599-blog]

Do you think Dan Povenmire realized that by giving Ferb leap-day as his birthday, he canonized the boys' ages?

Like leap-days only show up every 4 years, so by making Ferb's canonical date of birth a leap day, he basically restricted Ferb's birth year to one realistic option.

Leap year of 1996 to be specific, making Ferb canonically 11 in the original 4 seasons of Phineas and Ferb (if you consider the summer to be set in 2007).

With Phineas being 10, up until he's birthday episode, which is tragically a clip show instead of an actual episode. After which, he's also 11.

Along with the rest of their little friends being 10–11 years old.

While it could technically also possibly be the leap day of 2000, but that would put Ferb at only 7, and Phineas at 6 until his birthday episode.

That would put them at barely older than Suzy Johnson. Who they very much view as a much younger kid than themselves.

Not to mention, the boys (and their age mates) being 10–11 years old makes more sense when paired with Candace being 14–15 years old, vs them being 6-7 paired with Candace being 14–15 years old.

Because when we see the flashback of Ferb (and Lawrence) moving in, Candace seems to be the age the boys are in the original 4 seasons, while the boys are around Suzy's age.

So a 5-ish age gap between the boys and Suzy, and then another not quite 5 year age gap between the boys and Candace, makes sense to me.

Also, I know the boys being 10-11 to Candace's 14-15 makes it a 4-year age gap, but it still makes more sense than the boys and their friends all being 6-7 year olds.

I mean, they're twice the height of every 5-year-old character that is introduced in the show.

So it'd be crazy if the whole friendship was twice as tall as them even if they're only a year or two older than them, vs, them just literally being double the 5-year-olds' ages.

[curioskitty]

THE・Rarest Bakugou

Given Bakugou-kun's description as a "juvenile delinquent" (Horikoshi sensei uses the term 不良少年, or furyou shounen, meaning juvenile delinquent boy), it's expected that he wouldn't conform to standard. So obviously, it's not possible to find Bakugou-kun wearing a tie properly................

What is up with this perfectly tied nonsense right here?!

Bakugou-kun, I thought I knew you!!! THE LIES! THE BETRAYAL!!!

But, it's probably just a fluke. You didn't mean it, right Horikoshi-sensei?

WTF?! WHY?!!! Horikoshi-sensei?!

Yep. Contrary to expectations, Bakugou-kun wearing a tie correctly only ranks at Ultra Rare status: difficult to find, but not impossible.

So, what's rarer than a tie-wearing Bakugou-kun? Go Beyond, Plus Ultra Rare Bakugou!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In fact, it's even harder to find Bakugou-kun wearing a tie improperly. Given proto-Bakugou's loose tie design, I would have expected that to be the likelier delinquent-esque tie option. But I've only seen Horikoshi-sensei draw him like this once:

(Horikoshi-sensei's one year celebration illustration. This is still fairly early in the publication.)

On top of that, Bakugou-kun consistently wears his uniform tie-less and with at least one button undone on his shirt collar. His pants are always slung low on his hips and legs bunching up at his feet (except when he had to wear jeans for Best Jeanist). You can even see panels where Horikoshi-sensei drew in the rips at the hems near the heel where they drag on the ground.

So why the inconsistency, Horikoshi-sensei? I see you over there, stop pretending you didn't notice. I know you're paying attention.

Horikoshi-sensei gave proto-Bakugou a loosened tie, so what is the reasoning for taking Bakugou-kun's tie away?

Some No-Tie Theories

Fan Theory #1: HE DOESN'T KNOW HOW

//Like Midoriya-kun, Bakugou-kun came from a middle school with gakuran uniforms. They never learned how to tie them. Midoriya-kun messes up his tie, while Bakugou-kun doesn't even bother to try.//

I actually think this is the least likely reason. Bakugou-kun was designed to be a naturally talented genius. I think this applies to anything he wants to do. If he does something, it's always perfectly done.

Bakugou-kun can (and does if you look above) tie it perfectly when necessary.

CONCLUSION: If Bakugou-kun doesn't do something, it's completely out of personal preference or because he doesn't see a reason to.

Fan Theory #2: REBELLIOUS NATURE

//Bakugou-kun is a delinquent and maintains that image because he thinks it looks cool. Or maybe he is rebelling against fashion designer parents. Either way, because of his family background he knows how to tie a tie, but wants to be a rebel.//

I'd give partial points for this one. I'm pretty sure he wears his pants loose at least partially because he thinks it looks cool. However, Bakugou-kun's parents were noted to be designers and not specifically fashion designers.

Despite appearances, this is the kid that sleeps at 8:30pm, doesn't break school rules, and yells at his friends for smoking.

He zips up the collar on his gym track suit all the way. Both the summer and winter versions get the same treatment. He doesn't feel the need to "make a statement" by wearing his track uniform incorrectly. Outside of class, he can and does sometimes wear his track jacket unzipped, but during class he always wears it properly.

So then why does Bakugou-kun refuse to wear the band T-shirt and Christmas party Santa outfit? Because he isn't cooperative. In Ultra Analysis, his Cooperativeness Stat was the lowest rank: E.

CONCLUSION: Bakugou-kun may be non-conformist and uncooperative, but he isn't a rebel.

Fan Theory #3: TRAUMA/PTSD

//This is one of the more popular theories. Between Dabi grabbing his neck, the Sludge Villain and being restrained at the School Festival, our boy has been through the wringer. As a result, he just doesn't like stuff around his neck because it gives him anxiety.//

The Western Fandom is definitely concerned about the mental health of the kids. But I don't actually think this is the reason. Not that I don't think they all need some therapy and self care, especially right now, but there just isn't evidence for this specific trauma in Bakugou-kun.

He wears scarves and even turtle necks without a problem.

On top of that, Bakugou-kun ALSO unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and gakuran in middle school; even from before the Sludge Villain incident. There isn't any evidence Bakugou-kun changed his dressing habits due to trauma. He wore a scarf to the entrance exam for UA, too.

CONCLUSION: Bakugou-kun has ALWAYS worn his shirts with the top button unbuttoned.

These 3 theories are inadequate, too. Even if they did explain the reasons Bakugou-kun doesn't wear a uniform tie, they don't factor in the reasoning for why he DOES wear his other ties properly sometimes.

HC#1: Bakugou-kun's preference

Bakugou-kun doesn't seem to care about his image and how "extras" see him. Even during the press interviews after his hero debut, he wore the same style of open collar look. He's not shy about being nude or taking his shirt off.

But what he hates is being uncomfortable.

He is "explosively brawny". Just look at how thick Bakugou-kun's neck is when compared to Midoriya-kun's. It isn't just that Midoriya-kun is supposed to be scrawny, but also that Bakugou-kun has a thicker than average neck.

Bakugou-kun doesn't like to button up his shirts all the way because it's uncomfortable. It's reasonable that he zips his track suit and everything else up because those are looser at the neck or made of stretchier materials.

As for why he doesn't wear the uniform tie at all... Don't forget Bakugou-kun is a perfectionist and a bit of a neat freak.

He always tucks his shirt in. For the band performance he wore a collared black dress shirt. From what we saw of his room, it's minimalist and clean. I don't see him wanting to look like a slob.

A sloppy loose tie would probably irritate him more than just not wearing it (which is even funnier when you think about Midoriya-kun's chonk tie. It probably makes him want to strangle Midoriya-kun, or maybe just tie it himself...)

Bakugou-kun has difficulties compromising when it comes to his high standards. So if he has to wear it, it's going to be either 0% or 100%.

HC#2: Explosiveness

Why draw Bakugou-kun with either 0% tie or 100% tie? If Horikoshi-sensei is going for a delinquent image, wouldn't the 50% tie option make more sense?

Taking a look again at Bakugou-kun's profile page, Horikoshi-sensei describes him to be explosive in every way. That includes his whole body being "explosively brawny", but also adds a note that he looks slender in clothes.

Horikoshi-sensei put an effort to make every element of Bakugou-kun's character in some state of either fully compressed or explosive.

His slimming clothes, general appearance and even his speech patterns are highly compressed (blunt/terse) and loud. The extremes of his attitude are compressed too; if Bakugou-kun is not loudly raging, then he's quietly observing.

This contrast is key to his character. You can't explode if you aren't compressed first. It's supposed to be shocking to see how brawny he actually is under his slenderizing clothes. And I always feel shocked whenever I see this kid compressed into a tie.

HC#3: Deku & Kacchan

These two are set apart from the class by design and very much on purpose. Horikoshi-sensei designed them to be at opposite ends of the same spectrum.

If Bakugou-kun has muscular arms, then Midoriya-kun needs muscular legs. If Midoriya-kun buttons up his shirt all the way to the collar, then Bakugou-kun's collar has to be loose. Their designs reflect their connection.

So if Midoriya-kun has a poorly tied tie, the opposite of that is either non-existant or perfectly tied. If it's perfectly tied, he'd just blend in with the class.

The no-tie option just makes more sense.

Plus Ultra Rare Bakugou

Horikoshi-sensei only ever draws Bakugou-kun with a tie in specific scenarios. Costume events that require the neck tie as part of the costume or "fancy" events where everyone is in formal wear. And even in those, Bakugou-kun manages to not wear his tie 90% of the time.

So, I just imagine that when Horikoshi-sensei makes Bakugou-kun wear his tie, he's super grumpy! Just look at his face in every illustration he's wearing a tie in. He's probably hot, uncomfortable, and really not enjoying himself at all.

Ultimately, the "Plus Ultra Rare Bakugou" is a Bakugou-kun who wears the tie and SMILES while doing it.

(Yes, I know that's NOT actually a tie. Shut up Bakugou-kun. You're only smirking in this one because you won the Popularity Poll for the 5th time in a row...)

(Well that's random, you say? Welcome to my blog. Considering the stuff going down on canon, I figured I should give fans, and myself, a break from angst to talk about something silly.

Please note that this applies only to the manga. I've found that the anime isn't quite so strict about how Bakugou-kun looks.

Regarding the headcanons, I just want to clarify that everyone is free to think whatever they like. I enjoy all headcanons and support your right to have them.

I wrote this a while ago and then debated posting it because it's such a huge meta about... Bakugou-kun's tie. I had regrets. But now it's become my new years post. Regrets were for 2020, it's already 2021!

Demons out, fortune in!!! I know it's not setsubun for another month, but 2020 was such a demon.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!)

[all-that-jazz-93]

American Dragon Timeline

I’ve been trying for a while now to figure out the timeline of this show, because it makes no sense in the order that Disney Channel originally aired the episodes. It also makes no sense in the episode list on Jeff Goode’s website, which he claims to be the proper chronology of events.

I had to come up with a few convoluted headcanons to make this work, but I think I’ve finally pieced together a coherent timeline (note that for a lot of the filler episodes, it doesn’t actually matter that much when they take place, I was just trying to stick as close to Jeff Goode’s chronology as possible.)

September 2004

Old School Training

It’s implied in this episode that Jake got his dragon powers very recently. They don’t say how recently, but given how new the whole thing is to him, I’d say it’s probably only been about a week or two.

Here’s where we come up against our first issue with canon. In The Legend of Dragon Tooth, Jake says he got his dragon powers when he turned 13, and in Shapeshifter, he says he’s a Pisces, which means his birthday would be in late February, or March. There’s no way the timeline makes sense if that’s the case, so my headcanon is that Jake is just like…really bad at astrology, and he somehow confused Pisces with another star sign.

We also have the issue of how far behind he seems to be in school (he’s 14 in early season 2, but still in 7th grade). So, two more headcanons to explain that. Number one, Jake’s birthday is actually sometime in early September, so he missed the cutoff to go to kindergarten when he was 5, and had to wait until he was 6, placing him a year behind (some places don’t allow kids to start kindergarten if they turn 5 after September 1st. I knew a boy in my old youth group who was almost a year older than everyone else in our grade, because he had an October birthday). Number two, at some point in elementary school, Jake was held back a grade. So the first episode takes place shortly after Jake’s 13th birthday, at the beginning of his sixth grade year.

Since Trixie and Spud are supposed to be the same age as him, that would mean they must’ve both been held back at some point as well (that especially makes sense for Spud—anyone who’s purposely failed as many tests as he has would almost definitely have to repeat a grade).

This would also make Rose younger than them. She’s very bright, and she seems like a good student, so it’s unlikely she was ever held back. But we don’t want her to be too much younger than them, so I’ll headcanon that she also has a birthday in early September, making her a year younger than Jake. If that’s the case, she’d be 12 in season one, and 13/14 in season 2.

Adventures in Trollsitting/Fu Dog Takes a Walk

The dogcatcher says that it’s September.

 September/October 2004

Shapeshifter Dragon Breath The Legend of Dragon Tooth The Talented Mr. Long Professor Rotwood’s Thesis Act 4, Scene 15 The Long Weekend Body Guard Duty Dragon Summit

This episode has to take place after Shapeshifter, Dragon Breath, and Professor Rotwood’s Thesis, since the Dragon Council makes references back to Jake’s actions in all of those episodes. It also has to take place before The Halloween Bash, which places it sometime in September or October.

 October 2004

The Halloween Bash

Jeff Goode’s website lists this episode as taking place between Ski Trip and The Hunted, but there’s no way that’s possible, because Ski Trip takes place close to Valentine’s Day, and The Hunted takes place during the Equinox (they don’t specify which Equinox, but it would have to be the one in September; it’s the only way the timeline makes any sense, even with the generous liberties I’m taking with these headcanons). So The Halloween Bash has to take place before Ski Trip. No one in this episode makes any reference to knowing Rose’s identity, so it works out just fine.

 February 2005

The Ski Trip

Valentine’s Day was actually on a Monday in 2005, so presumably this episode takes place the weekend of February 11-13.

 March 2005

The Egg/The Heist

Easter was on March 27 in 2005. This is how I know The Hunted takes place during the Autumnal Equinox; Rose was still in the city during Easter weekend, a week after the Vernal Equinox.

Eye of the Beholder Ring Around the Dragon Jake Takes the Cake

 May 2005

Fu and Tell/Flight of the Unicorn

Flight of the Unicorn takes place on Memorial Day, which was May 30th that year

 May/June (or September) 2005

Keeping Shop

Hong Kong Nights

I know Jeff Goode’s website says this is the last episode of season one, but I absolutely cannot accept any episode besides The Hunted as the season finale, so I’m just gonna recognize that the council has made a decision, but elect to ignore it.

 September 2005

The Hunted

The Autumnal Equinox in 2005 was on September 22

 Late November/Early December 2005

Half Baked

Jake says it’s been three months since Rose left. It couldn’t be exactly three months, because that would place this episode in late December, and school would be out for the holidays. So presumably it’s late November or early December, and Jake is rounding up when he says three months.

The Academy

This one would pretty much have to take place very soon after Half Baked, like within a week or two.

 Late December 2005

Breakout

This episode establishes that 88 and 89 are in the city working as apprentices to the Huntsman, so it has to take place before the Christmas episode, which they also appear in.

Hairy Christmas

January/February 2006

(Most of these don’t actually have to take place in January or February, aside from Dreamscape and Fool’s Gold. The rest could be pretty much any time during Jake’s 7th grade year. I’m just trying to stick to Jeff Goode’s chronology, and keep at least some of the episodes in the order he listed.)

Hero of the Hourglass Bring It On Family Business Something Fishy This Way Comes The Doppelganger Gang Dreamscape Fool's Gold

 February 2006

The Love Cruise

They never explicitly say it’s Valentine’s Day, but the whole concept of the Love Cruise seems like something a school would do for Valentine’s Day. Also adds an extra layer of heartbreak, because it means Jake and Rose’s breakup happened on the one-year anniversary of Jake finding out Rose was Huntsgirl. Ouch. February has not been kind to Jake.

On the other hand, I’d prefer to headcanon that Jake and Rose got to spend the whole summer together before their breakup, going on dream dates every night and not having to set their alarms for school in the morning (can we just let them be happy for a little while? PLEASE?!?!?!?), so maybe the Love Cruise wasn’t on Valentine’s Day, and instead was just some random school event at the beginning of their 8th grade year.

 May 2006

Feeding Frenzy

They spend three days visiting Jake’s family, so it’s either Memorial Day weekend, spring break, or summertime. Most likely Memorial Day or spring break, since Jake says in this episode that he’s been the American Dragon for a year and a half.

 May/June 2006

A Befuddled Mind The Rotwood Files Haley Gone Wild Switcheroo

This one takes place after The Love Cruise, because Jake and Rose’s recent breakup is a minor plot point, so it only takes place at this point if we headcanon Love Cruise taking place in February.

Young At Heart

I know this is supposed to be a later episode, but going by this timeline, Jake would be 15 for most of his 8th grade year, and in this episode Jake, Trixie, and Spud talk about being 14, so it has to take place during 7th grade

 Summer between 7th and 8th grade

A Ghost Story

 Late September/Early October 2006

Homecoming

I never went to public school (I was unfortunately homeschooled), but it’s my understanding that middle schools don’t do Homecoming. So my headcanon is that it was actually just a junior high prom or something, but a few students on the planning committee approached Sun Park and begged her to let them model it after the Homecoming dances at their older siblings’ high schools. Sun was delighted by their enthusiasm, so of course she agreed.

 Any time during their 8th grade year

Supernatural Tuesday Siren Says Shaggy Frog Nobody's Fu Game On Bite Father, Bite Son Magic Enemy #1

 February 2007

Year of the Jake

Chinese New Year was on February 18th in 2007

 March 2007

Furious Jealousy

Trixie and Spud put together a Daylight Savings themed school event, so this episode takes place either in October of 06 or March of 07. We’ll go with March because it’s closer to the end of the series.

 June 2007

Being Human

Haley and Gramps both say in this episode that Jake is 14, but he would actually be 15 by this point (even if my whole timeline is wrong and he actually is a Pisces, he still would’ve had his 15th birthday already). Presumably the writers just weren’t paying close enough attention to their established timeline, but the in-universe explanation is…sometimes family members forget your age; my best friend keeps saying her youngest sister is 15, when in fact her sister is turning 17 this year. Sometimes you lose track.

 Summer after 8th grade

The Hong Kong Longs

Presumably this episode takes place around July or August, which means Jake and his friends would be almost 16 by this point (and Rose would be almost 15, assuming my headcanon about her being a year younger than them is accurate).

[sourweasley]

painting with luna || hc

an: i literally love her so much ANYWAYS

summary: painting with luna <33

pairing: luna lovegood x gn!reader

warning(s): fluff, mentions of food

if you didn’t know it’s canon in the books that luna paints and that she’s really good at it

so i’d imagine as her significant other that you’d know about this hobby and that she’d probably paint you or ask for your opinion/help

which leads to now, a cute little painting date

it’s outdoors in a secluded area on the grounds that she stumbled upon on her own

and you also had a picnic beforehand on one of those classic red and white checkered blankets with a big basket full of delicious foods she got from the kitchen

you two talk about anything and everything, enjoying the others company and the peace of the environment around you

she points out any animal or creature that comes your way and gives you a million facts about it and you listen happily bc you love her

and after that you start painting

you have your two easels set up with the mountains behind you and that’s supposed to be your reference

but you just take one look at her focused face with her tongue slightly poking out as she mixes the colors and know that she’s what you want to paint

even if it’s horrendous, you want it to be her

so you start, giggling occasionally because she doesn’t know what you’re painting and because the easels are back to back she can’t see it either which just makes her more confused

“what’s so funny about the mountains, darling?”

“nothing is, luna. just keep painting, gorgeous.”

she’s not buying it and is curious what’s on your canvas

so she decides to reach over and swipe some blue paint onto your leg to distract you (just imagine it’s summer/warm out so you’re wearing shorts)

you retaliate and swipe some red onto her arm

she gets green on your cheek

you get purple on her nose

the paint fight has begun

you’ve forgotten about keeping your painting hidden as you attempt to cover every inch of her exposed skin in as many colors as you can

she finally gets a peek at your canvas and her jaw just drops

“you painted me?”

you giggle and dip your thumb in some yellow before swiping it on her jaw saying “of course i did, mountains are overrated.”

she’s just astonished

over the moon

cant believe you took the time to paint her

like yeah she paints you all the time but that’s because she thinks you’re stunning and for some reason didn’t register that you may think the same about her

she presses a quick peck to your lips and just “i love it so much.”

once the date’s over, you both head back up to the castle, ignoring all the stares you’re getting for being covered in paint

she keeps your painting hung up in her dorm and once the year ends she takes it home and hangs it in her room where it becomes her favorite decoration

she shows it to her dad too of course because she’s just so proud of you and loves it so much

always asking you to paint random things now no matter how good or bad you are because she just loves your style and the way you portray things

in short she loves you

more than anything

and is glad you can share an interest with her <3

[thatfilthyanimal]

Maybe you can help me a bit. I have a hard time placing parts of the timeline of the movie. I know there is a calendar that says June for the Tighten battle, and when Megamind becomes Defender there is a newspaper that says something about a winter storm. But do you have any idea when Metroman Day is supposed to be, when Hal gets powers or when Minion finds Bernard? (1/2)

“ The part for the powers is maybe around Christmas, because Hal makes a commend about it, but that could also be him just talking nonsense. But Christmas is also Metroman’s birth/adoption day, so maybe Roxanne’s focus on him for that report wasn’t just random. I have no real idea for the other two parts of the movie. I just don’t believe that Bernard was dehydrated for months. Minion should wash Megamind’s clothes more than once every few months. (At least I hope so.) (2/2) “

-

Well, this made me look back at the Prequel comic to double-check, and sadly no, there’s no indication of when Metro Man Day is, but I doubt it’s in winter anywhere near Christmas, given then the citizens of Metro City aren’t wearing winter clothes. Michigan in late December would be way too chilly for warmer clothing, and there’s no way a city like that wouldn’t be decked out in garland and lights for the holidays. At best, it’s in Spring or early Summer? I assume Metro Man day was created more in response to whenever his first “big win” would have been with Megamind, but that’s speculation. While he’s likely older than Megamind (given how he looks as a baby) I doubt he’s months older or anything-- Metro Man seems to visibly age much faster. (On this note, Minion is potentially also older than Megamind, but who knows by how much, again. Megamind’s birthday would be Dec. 17th or earlier, depending on how long the space travel takes them. Roxanne is likely close to Megamind’s age.)

Given the available info of the dates we see Megamind and Roxanne having, the timespan here could be only a few weeks, or could be a couple months. It doesn’t seem like a horribly long amount of time. Megamind quickly gets bored of messing around in the city before depression and regret sets in, and his known casual dates with Roxanne are few, but enough for them to be close enough for Megamind to open up, and for Roxanne to be trusting enough to kiss him. Everyone seems to vary on how much time they feel has passed here, but I’d guess maybe a month and a half since Metro Man was defeated to the point Megamind fights Tighten in June. Meaning Bernard would miss about a month and a half of time, minimum.

Between the Tighten battle in June and the paper at the end of the movie, it can’t be much later than Oct or Nov. Any later than that, and Metro City would be too cold for people to dress that warm, again. That said, winter storms don’t tend to hit until later, like late November or December? I think? (I speak as a Floridian who’s lived in the midwest for a few years, now, so maybe not?) So a winter storm would have to be pretty large to be predictable so early. Or some kind of freak weather event.

A couple of other timeline notes:

Button of Doom seems to happen somewhere between where Tighten is defeated and the movie’s end, as Metro Tower is still not fixed, but Metro Tower isn’t even fixed by the movie’s end sooo We don’t know when Bernard gets rehydrated in this. For my fic I put it literally the day after Tighten is defeated (because the whole thing annoys me omg) but it again, could be wherever you feel comfortable putting it. Who knows where Megamind was keeping the cube before it ended up in the wash :x

In the prequel comic, Megamind mentions being aware that Roxanne has used the same perfume since high school (implying he’s known her at least that long). I don’t really count the other comics as canon beyond that one so if he’s known her longer in those (I deadass don’t remember) you could count that. But I really don’t want to suffer through those again to check right now lol. I’m sorry :x

The prequel comic also shows one of Megamind’s past evil plans being plan 654. If we assume, as a random nonspecific example, that Megamind is maybe 35, and has been at these battles since possibly his teens (lets say 15) that means he’s been having these battles for 20 years (maybe) and that that would mean he averages at least 32 evil plans a year. Meaning 2 or 3 evil plans a month. At minimum.

Okay that last one is me reaching but I just really love this movie okay

[aminiatureworld]

Storms

Ship: RFA + Minor Trio and GN!Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 5,431 words total; about 700 per person

Premise: A rewrite of an old request I wrote back in 2017 (link here).

Author’s Note: These are less headcanons and more fics outlines lmao but hope you like this rewrite. I do considering I can barely stand reading the original, my writing has thankfully improved, and I hope it will continue to do so. I haven’t written in 2nd person in literal years (3rd person ftw) so I hope it doesn’t come off too strange. 

Two notes. Firstly I’ve done my best to make the reader gender neutral. If you catch any gendered terms feel free to tell me so I can fix it. Secondly, I haven’t played Another Story yet, rip my broke ass, so if V and Saeran are a bit out of character, that’s definitely why. I’m working on it haha. In regards to V I simply know almost nothing about his route, and in regards to Saeran I’ve decided to ignore what I know about his route, mostly because this was hitting 4,000 words at that point and an in depth HC involving canonical thing would probably be about that length. Sorry this is so long and thus the final HCs a bit rushed. Thanks for putting up with me! Hope you enjoy!

Ao3 link in reblog

Zen

Having a fear of thunderstorms was one of the most obnoxious fears on the planet sometimes. Especially when one is surround by 60 mph gusts of wind and the house one lives in feels like 80% glass.

This was the predicament you were left in when a series of storms passed through the first week you and Zen were officially dating. Oh joy.

Despite how in love you were with Zen, revealing one’s fears, especially when they seem vaguely irrational, is a difficult thing to do, so you teetered towards Option B

That being: Don’t tell anyone, keep calm, if you need to take a break go to the bathroom or say you forgot something in the bedroom. Okay? Okay.

However this flawless plan of attack lasted only about five minutes, and the first clap of thunder had you ready to bolt under the bed.

Zen, bless him, was utterly oblivious, listening to the backtrack of a song he was working on and occasionally making such benign comments as “that’s a lot of rain” or “wow that was loud”

Yeah. That was loud. Help me.

Eventually it got a bit… much, and you had to make your excuses about getting a book from the television/living room. Since it was in the “basement” part of the complex you’d figured that it’d be easier to hide out there. Just turn off all the lights, try to find earplugs, then count down the time until the storms were over.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t adhering to this plan very well, how typical of it, as the storms were supposed to last until the early hours of the morning. And it wouldn’t exactly be unobtrusive to not eat.

So after ten minutes in the dark you went out to help Zen prepare dinner. At least no one needed to go to the grocery store. And today’s menu included Japchae, so always a treat! It was going to be okay, nothing was going to happen. It’s fine.

At least that’s what you told yourself until a particular bright flash of lightning streaked the sky and you promptly jumped and dropped the sweet potato noodles on the ground.

At this point Zen switched from oblivious to overly concerned. Say what you will about him but he was truly a sweetheart when he noticed something was wrong. As he helped you pick up the spilled noodles, assuring you that there was enough still in the package to use, he asked what was wrong

You explained that when you were little your grandparents had a house in a village in the countryside and one summer day lightning struck a powerline, causing it as well as two houses close to yours to burn down.

Zen responded with such concern. “Oh MC I’m so sorry to hear that! Was anyone hurt? No wonder you’re uncomfortable around storms now.”

“It was such a long time ago, and it’s so unlikely to happen again my lifetime… I don’t know why I’m still so afraid, it’s so stupid.”

“It’s not stupid to be afraid of something. You don’t have to hide your fears around me sweetheart. There’s no shame in it.”

Unfortunately words usually cannot make fears go away, but safe to say you were touched. Picking up the rest of the noodles and disposing them you and Zen shared a sweet series of hugs, and maybe you wouldn’t continued down that route if the water hadn’t begun to boil and dinner was once more brought back into stark focus.

Afterwards you guys ate in front of the tv, turning on a random crappy show and making fun of the announcer.

You could still hear the thunder every once in a while, but Zen made sure you felt safe and happy, cuddling you, doing something to draw your attention to him at the beginning of each clap of thunder, and keeping up a steady stream of conversation, even about the most mundane of things.

Your fear still wasn’t gone, and you still weren’t excited for the rest of the week, but at least you had someone with you who truly cared and was actively trying to make you feel better. You knew Zen would always be there for you, and that knowledge would carry you through the most anxious of times, to the other side.

You truly loved him so much.

Yoosung

Sometimes you wished that you could disappear into something as easily as Yoosung did, both with his games and with his studying.

Yoosung was in his first year of veterinarian medical school and, having just passed the first series of exams, had invited you over to the apartment he was leasing, for an evening of games, television, and overall hanging out. It would’ve been more of a date, but the weather was impressively stormy and, much to your relief, it was decided that staying inside was the better option.

Yoosung was loading up a game on the tv and you were checking to see what remained in the fridge, when a bolt of lightning raced across the sky; suddenly you became aware of just how very high up apartment buildings tended to be, and, much like usual, the logical part of your brain repeating Googled information about lightning rods was replaced by a static of anxiety floating around in your brain.

Returning to the TV room you nervously picked up the controller, hoping that Yoosung wouldn’t notice. Not that you didn’t trust him to understand, indeed you’d hardly met anyone as understanding as Yoosung, but it was more that years of being told “it’s just rain” had kinda gotten to your system.

The first half an hour or so was alright, the quiet mental notes you were taking told you that the storm was still far enough away, although there was no doubt it was getting closer; something reinforced by your, hopefully, discreet checking of the weather app.

When the storm arrived, oh boy did it arrive.

The winds felt unbearable, screaming terribly, rattling the windowpanes with fast, stinging rain, so much so the outside looked less like the outside and more like the middle of a whirlpool. A whirlpool that occasionally set itself on fire, the lightning dispersed by the odd shadows of the rain.

At this point all pretense fell out the window.

“MC?” Yoosung looked over as you’d dropped the remote and drawn your legs up to your chest, burying your face in your knees, all thoughts blocked out. “MC.” Yoosung said a little louder, putting his own remote down on the coffee table and scooting over to where you were sitting on the couch. “Hey.” He wrapped his arms around your shoulders, something vaguely uncomfortable considering the position you both were sitting in, but still a welcome presence, a bit of comfort making its way past your wall of fear.

“Not a huge fan of thunderstorms I see.” He said when the storm had calmed down a bit. You let out a shaky sort of laugh. Understatement of the century, wouldn’t you think?

“I have an idea!” Yoosung ran out of the room, leaving you to curl yourself up again, until he came back, a pair of headphones in hand.

“These are the best noise cancelling headphones I own, and they cost a fortune so they’d better work.” He placed them over your ears, and immediately you noticed how muffled the sound became. Evidently it must’ve shown on your face, because Yoosung smiled even wider, nodding gently before picking up his remote again.

As the storm continued so did the gaming. At some point you guys ended up thrown about the couch, cuddling each other, and occasionally knocking elbows when the gaming got intense. When things were finally over you two lay there a little longer, although you’d taken the headphones off.

“Thank you.” You whispered, content.

“For what?” Yoosung smiled. “That’s what boyfriends are for.”

“Not all boyfriends.” You countered “You’re special. The best boyfriend one could ask for.”

And you meant it.

Jaehee

I imagine both you and Jaehee not being huge fans of thunderstorms. They frightened you, and to Jaehee the volume gave her a headache, not to mention the fact you were both living in a cheap apartment on the ground floor while the coffee shop’s purchase was still new; and the whole structure had this obnoxious habit of vibrating with both the lightning and thunder, leaving everything a bit discombobulated and very unpleasant.

The coffee shop wasn’t much better really, open as it was, the whole front being 85% glass and only 15% brick.

So when you both checked your phones and saw that storms were on their way it was all about planning.

Since you couldn’t afford to close the shop for the week you instead put a large display in the windows, putting up cardboard trees, birds, and whatever else would block most of the view.

You went through the store, making sure everything unnecessary was unplugged.

Really it was probably a bit overkill, or at least Jumin and Seven certainly thought it was, but hey better safe than sorry.

The apartment was given the same treatment, blinds and shutters were closed, toasters and charging cords were unplugged, and Aspirin and earplugs were stocked up.

The week of the storms was really incredibly unpleasant, with you two sneaking in hugs and kisses whenever the line of customers was small, squeezing each other’s hands when a particularly bright streak of lightning flashed, or when the thunder seemed to become unbearable.

No dawdling home this week, much to the chagrin of both of you, who’d taking to park exploring and other such mundane things that both you and Jaehee had missed out on, her due to work and you due to being shut up in Rika’s apartment for eleven days.

Nevertheless neither of you were particularly keen to venture out in the middle of a storm, so instead you two headed home, a night’s worth of musicals and cuddling ahead of you.

Dinner was spent in front of the tv, although usually you two usually made a point to eat at the dining table it was in the most windowed room in the house and thus not meant to be.

Zen’s beautiful tenor might not have been enough to completely drown out the storms, but it was certainly a help, not to mention the large doses of cuddles you were giving one another.

But really the best part about it was just being able to talk freely about your fears, you both having the reference that those who don’t suffer with what’s widely considered an irrational fear in modern times don’t understand.

And that was really what kept it together for you two. You’ll always be there for one another, you’ll always understand one another.

Eventually the clock struck the hour and you both realized that not only would there be work tomorrow, but musicals can’t much be enjoyed when you’re only paying half attention.

You got ready for bed, both making a final sweep for plugged in appliances that might burn out if there should be an energy surge.

Right before you two drifted off to sleep you gave Jaehee a small kiss. “What was that for?” She whispered. Everything was so beautifully comfortable, so cozy and intimate, and your happiness in that moment overpowered all fear.

“I just love you, I love you so much.” You replied. Jaehee blushed, but returned the kiss.

“I love you too. Forever.”

Jumin

It’s not that you hid it from him because you were embarrassed, well at least that wasn’t the main reason. It was more Jumin’s habit of blowing everything out of proportion, to the point of hindrance. That was really what you were afraid of, you just needed calm, need comfort, not yoga or whatever was to be the cure. And not that Jumin couldn’t or wouldn’t give you comfort, but the likelihood of him giving you calm was maybe a bit more debatable.

So you tried to keep it hidden, mentioned nothing of it on your way out the door in the morning, avoiding the topic in the messenger, even when Seven started to go on and on about windspeed – did the bastard know something?

Things seemed to be going… okay? I mean they weren’t great, you were constantly pushing down the urge to hide in a closet or something, but hey Jumin wasn’t aware yet. Success?

The trip home was certainly unpleasant, and the text that your husband was working late again certainly didn’t seem promising, but hey there’d be Elizabeth, and the bedroom had amazing blackout curtains. So, yeah, it’d be fineeee.

At least it would be if the damn penthouse didn’t have windows for walls. Something that certainly wasn’t normal or part of the regular plan.

Nor was it really possible to take a nap with the thunder so loud and your thoughts running high, really it’d probably be better on the lower floors if you weren’t so sure of people being there.

At this point the plan became less of “don’t let Jumin know, play it cool” to “survive whatever the cost”, which yes perhaps was also an overreaction on your part, but you knew damn well that all rationality had long fled, and you weren’t about to go chasing after it, that wasn’t what you needed right now. Rationality was also what had you go into a google wormhole about terrifying lightning related accident. Need one say more?

So you picked up a perhaps a bit disgruntled Elizabeth the 3rd, and buried yourself under the covers, stroking her fur at regulated intervals, trying desperately to pay attention to the video you’d loaded on your phone, to less than perfect success.

You wouldn’t say that you were dozing when Jumin came home, it was more like you were so deep in your fears that you really didn’t have room to pay attention to anything else.

“MC?” Jumin was instantly alert when you didn’t run to greet him at the door, something that had really become tradition between the two of you. Him being also a bit of a worrier – and a bit being perhaps a gracious way of saying it, lovely though it can be – his first thoughts were that you’d hit your head and passed out somewhere, but the fact that Elizabeth had also not come to greet him clued him in that you two were most likely holed up somewhere, perhaps napping, as had happened a few times before.

His surprise then when you turned out to be in bed, distinctly not unconscious or asleep, holding onto Elizabeth like a vice, was really immense.

“Darling, is something wrong?” You knew he meant something rather more akin to “Something is definitely wrong and I’m very worried and hope you tell me, if not I might become a horrendous paranoiac and never stop bugging you but I also want to be polite about it.”

You folded quite quickly, deciding that it really wasn’t worth it, you were in such a state, and the anxiety was still in complete control of your brain, excuses weren’t about to be made.

In a moment Jumin had enveloped you in a hug, which you were glad to accept, discreetly kicking his phone away hoping that he’d not notice it and get it in his head to send for a meditative trainer or some such thing, since that wasn’t what you were looking for, at least not at the moment.

Thankfully though he seemed more focused on your wellbeing, asking you to talk through your anxiety, gently drawing circles on your back in an attempt to get rid of excess tension. It felt good to be able to release your stream of consciousness, even if it was a bit embarrassing. Every time you started feeling a bit overwhelming you’d insert an apology here and there but Jumin would simply shake his head and assure you it was fine

“After all, you were so patient and understanding when I went through a crisis of consciousness, when all my emotions were suddenly flooding my mind. You listened to me then, the least I can do is listen to you now.”

After you’d exhausted your thoughts and you two had laid there a bit, cuddled together, basking in each other’s presence, you two went to the kitchen, where Jumin insisted he’d make dinner himself.

You weren’t happy to be in the windowed room again, but one flick of a discreet switch and they were suddenly shuttered closed.

“You can do that?!”

“Of course?”

“Ugh, the idle rich.” You shook your head and Jumin feigned horror. This act went on throughout dinnertime, another thing to help soothe your nerves, as well as Elizabeth, who was being awfully nice, curled up in your lap.

Every clap of thunder and Jumin would hold your hand or give you a kiss or hug, again trying to distract you.

Afterwards it was watching trashy soap operas – really you couldn’t understand why Jumin adored these shows so much, he really did secretly have a flare for the dramatics – and more cuddling.

As the night got later and you got sleepier you realized that, though the anxiety wasn’t completely gone, you really were quite content.

“Ah, I wouldn’t mind this every time it stormed.”

Jumin chuckled at that. “Why not? Anything to make you comfortable and happy.”

“You’re going to spoil me terribly you know.”

“Again, why not? Comfort isn’t spoiling someone, and if it was I’d spoil you rotten. You deserve the universe, I’m just giving what I can.”

And really the comfort he gave you was worth five universes at that moment, but wasn’t he always worth that much?

Saeyoung

Saeyoung’s reaction to your fear would probably initially be teasing.

Not because he thought it was funny, more his brain still found sincerity a hard thing to grapple with, and he found his knee jerking reaction be to try and make fun, enough fun for you to forget about everything.

You knew this of course, had long ago learned his patterns, his mannerisms and habits, and initially you tried to play along with it, after all the only reason he knew you were afraid of thunderstorms was because he’d caught you running into the closet on the CCTV in Rika’s apartment. If it weren’t for that you would’ve been perfectly happy with him never finding out. Surely you could humor him a bit.

Well anxiety has a funny way of sharpening one’s nerves, and by the sixth joke you were ready to pull your hair out, both from Saeyoung and from the storm.

“Hey Saeyoung? I really do appreciate what you’re doing, don’t get me wrong, but I… I don’t think this is going to be the way to sort it out.”

“Oh… I see.” Saeyoung faltered. Saeran, who was also not a fan and was thus gaming, probably with the volume at unhealthy rates, still managed to snort out a “I could’ve told you that.” Saeyoung shook his head apologetically.

“I’m sorry MC… I, uhm. Yeah…” For a moment you both sat on his horrifically battered couch, the tension rising. Saeyoung screwed his face up in thought, before launching himself towards you, wrapping you up in a huge hug.

“I.. Saeyoung-?”

“Cuddles are a miracle cure.” He said, kissing you on the forehead. “They’ll chase away the storms, just you wait, and in the meantime, how about you teach me how to make something other than sandwiches.”

“I know you know how to cook.” You pointed out, at least happier with this approach, but Saeyoung shook his head.

“I forgot. I can now only make ham sandwiches, and that is truly a sad fate. Won’t you help me? Oh cook in shining armor.”

You rolled your eyes at that “Isn’t being the hero more of your route?” But agreed to make something with him.

Saeyoung really put everything into the “I forgot act”, and you soon found yourself distracted by his antics, peeling onions with a vegetable peeler, “accidentally” getting flour in your hair, tackling you with hugs and kisses the minute thunder or lightning even attempted an interruption. You found yourself either laughing or breathless from his attention, and when your anxiety was too difficult to ignore you allowed Seven to wrap you in a hug as you buried your head in his shoulder, his arms acting as a barrier for the sound.

Dinner took a horrendously long time to cook, something Saeran was sure to point out, but it really did help. As you two were cleaning up dishes Saeyoung paused for a moment.

“Being a hero really isn’t my thing you know.”

“Huh?” You’d sorta forgotten the earlier conversation amidst all the antics.

“You saved me MC, from myself, my own destruction. The least I could is chase away a few thunderstorms. I’d do anything to make you happy. So, I hope that you can be happy.

“What a silly thing to say.” You said, giving him a peck on the cheek. “I’m already so very happy, so incredibly glad to have you in my life. Indeed, if this isn’t happiness then there is no such thing.”

He really was your hero, your knight in peculiar armor. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.

V/Jihyun Kim

V hated thunderstorms. Although he’d agreed to get his vision fixed, the date of the surgery was still some months off, and in the meantime every storm sent him in disarray, the sudden loudness of the thunder a disconcerting reminder of his own vulnerability, the fact that if even one thing in his life shifted he was likely to run right into it.

Being someone who had such a visceral hate, he was quick to become aware of your anxiety as well. It was something he just picked up on, before you had the chance to even think about hiding it from him.

“I see I’m not the only one who hates when it storms.”

You weren’t really surprised by his fear, he’d made it quite clear how he disliked to be reminded of the vulnerability that came from being blind, his eyes were already an ever present reminder of his past, a reminder of the feelings that had rotted inside him, which were so difficult to reconcile with.

So during the storms he ended up focusing most of his nervous energy on you, preferring that to morbid thoughts about the path his life had taken.

Coincidentally you tended to have the same reaction, and thus stormy days, though far from pleasant, became a semi-pleasant ritual, full of affection and comfort.

You pointed out the lightning and counted the miles out loud for him, something that helped him ground himself in the world, feel a little more in control of the situation, and in return he kept up a steady stream of conversation, telling you how your fears weren’t silly, how much it mattered to him that you were happy, and all the things you’d do together when the storms passed.

Sometimes you two turned on a podcast, or a video whose audio V had heard multiple times before, another exercise in familiarity that helped comfort you two. He also didn’t mind whether you kept the lights on or turned them off, only wishing to keep at least one window open, to keep track of the storm’s progress.

He also was in the habit of singing or humming at random intervals, his voice kept you in the moment, rather than in an endless loop of “what ifs”.

By the end of the storm you two were often exhausted, which is why they so often ended with you two tangled together, already half asleep.

One such time you were about to sleep, only barely awake to nod when V said the storm had passed.

“Jihyun,” you mumbled, hearing a hum in return. “I love you.”

V smiled, hearing that from you always felt like a moment of rejuvenation, of sudden clarity.

Kissing your forehead he hugged you a little tighter.

“I love you too.”

Saeran

Saeran loved storms. Loved the sheer, raw, uninhibited power they exuded, the proof of how natural ruled above all.

You knew that. You also knew that storms were, in fact, the bane of your existence, and that you’re rather die than sit up and watch them with him.

But you also didn’t want to disappoint him, didn’t want to be a source of unhappiness in his life, so when Saeran eagerly looked out the window and called out “MC! It’s thundering!” You reluctantly dragged yourself over to watch with him.

At first it was alright if you focused on him more than on the outside, the awe and glee he took in watching the rain was endearing, the happiness marked so clearly and without inhibition. It was something that almost took your breath away in how beautiful it was, the joy of somehow who’d had so little of it.

Then the first clap of thunder arrived and you’d nearly sprained your wrist, slipping on the counter and banging your arm.

Saeran’s attention was immediately turned away from the thunderstorm and he looked at you curiously.

“Are you alright MC?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just, I’m fine.” You didn’t want him to know. It made him so happy, how could you ever take away from that, holding you bruised elbow you excused yourself to the bathroom for a moment, saying you needed make sure nothing was serious.

Of course that excuses could only last for so long, but the bathroom seemed such a comfort compared to the windowed rooms, and you lost track of all sense of time or space, curled up in a ball, leaning against the cold wall, the linoleum tiling keeping you grounded.

Eventually however it came to an end, and there was a short knock before Saeran turned the doorknob and opened the door.

“Something wrong?” He asked, immediately realizing the answer to that question after looking at your position. Kneeling down to face you he cupped your cheek. “Thunderstorms?”

You nodded, despite yourself. You really didn’t want to take this from him. But he didn’t seem to have felt like anything was taken, instead kissing you on the forehead and opening his arms for you to envelope yourself in them, something you did gratefully.

He held you, rocking you slightly, whispering random bits of words, random pieces of song, anything to keep your anxiety lower. Nudging the door shut once more you two stayed there for a while, and you finally felt yourself calm down.

“I’m sorry.” You mumbled.

“For what?” His tone was that of genuine confusion.

“For taking away watching thunderstorms from you. I don’t want to take anything away from you of course, I really don’t. I’m so sorry.”

“Oh MC…” Saeran peppered your face with kisses. “You haven’t taken anything away from me. I can still watch the thunderstorms, can still love them. Your fear isn’t something to be ashamed of, we all fear things in our lives, all have things we’d rather throw aside. I’m always here for you, always. It’s something I chose, and would choose over and over again. And that choice doesn’t mean I cannot chose to love thunderstorms, or watch them. It just means I have to make sure you’re comfortable as well. Besides, I wouldn’t want to do something that made you uncomfortable, not if I could do something about it. So don’t talk like that anymore, okay?”

You nodded, feeling reassured and slightly sheepish. He really was too good for words.

You two stayed in the bathroom until it became too uncomfortable, when you moved to the bed. It was a lovely evening, the storms having mellowed into a gentle rain.

Wrapped in Saeran’s arms you suddenly felt such a rush of emotions overcome you, contentment, bashfulness, love. Especially love.

You loved Saeran so much. And you always would.

Vanderwood

You’d really rather not tell Vanderwood.

You two were the cynics of the group, sarcastic, unfazed, or rather you hid your general emotions to the larger group in a swath of wit and humor. You really didn’t want to tell him that you were afraid of what was essentially a fear that had outlived its purpose.

It wasn’t that you didn’t trust Vanderwood with your true feelings, indeed sometimes you felt as if Vanderwood was the only person you could trust with your true feelings, a sentiment they had reciprocated multiple times.

It was moreso you already knew how much people saw your fear as overreacting. Didn’t need your partner to join the bandwagon of slight bafflement and bemusement, even if they couldn’t help themselves.

So there you were, sitting on the couch, storm on full display, trying not to dig your head into the side of the lazyboy as Vanderwood sat typing away on their computer.

Unfortunately the storm grew more and more violent, and you quickly grew more and more uncomfortable, your plans of nonchalance having really taken a critical hit.

Before you could think of a proper excuse to go into the bedroom closet and have a bit of a scream a huge clap of thunder shook the complex and the book you’d held in your hands plummeted to the ground.

Vanderwood immediately got up and shut the blinds. “I forgot you don’t like storms.” They said, closing the last of the blinds before turning around to your startled face.

“You know I don’t like thunderstorms?!”

“Was I not supposed to?” They looked vaguely confused, and not a bit amused.

“No.” You buried your hands in your palms.

“No I was or no I wasn’t?”

“You weren’t.” You groaned. “It’s embaraassing.”

“Why should it be embarrassing? Look, MC.” They walked over to you, taking your hands in theirs. “There are a lot of embarrassing things people are in life. Of which I’m at least half of them. I cannot say a lot of things with great confidence, but I can say this. You aren’t the least bit embarrassing for having an incredibly common and practical fear.”

“A fear that should’ve died out with the invention of bricks.” You muttered.

“Perhaps. But we both know that’s not how it works.” They replied. “So don’t feel the need to hide something like that. Okay?”

You nodded and Vanderwood smiled, before giving you a hug, something which you gladly reciprocated.

It was a quiet evening, one of easy cooking and laughing at miscellaneous videos, of making fun of spy shows and swapping stories.

In the end you probably shouldn’t’ve been so surprised.

Vanderwood was an amazing partner, caring, funny, observant, loving.

Perhaps it was okay to have such a fear around them. And if it was okay with Vanderwood than everyone else would have to suck it up, because really two people’s opinions mattered to you on the fact, yours and theirs. And in this instance you’d found yourselves completely in accord.

[livlepretre]

So we’ve established that Klaroline was set up horribly and never made much sense—plus it totally wrecked Tyler’s storyline, but were there any other ships you thought were ooc or done very poorly? Or any ships you wanted to see or thought had good potential? I still wish the show was willing to admit what was really happening with Klefan in the 20s...

Well, first off, I agree with you about Klefan with the power of a thousand burning suns. It’s so very very very clear that Klaus and Stefan were ALSO involved, and that they were involved in a messy ménage à trois with Rebekah. That detail makes Klaus insisting on Stefan going with him that summer so much more potent-- like, of course Klaus wants Stefan there, of course it’s this bizarre messed up power dynamic where they were definitely sleeping together that summer but Stefan has no idea that he and Klaus have a history, he’s just high and angry and depressed and this force of nature has entered his life and knows just exactly how to get him off?? And the angst that would cause with his reunion with Elena-- the idea that they had true love, but probably less than a month after he leaves with Klaus, he’s sleeping with him? Devastating. The fact that Klaus is so jealous over Stefan, the way that Stefan goes after him like an angry ex in season 3? Fantastic. I love this ship. I approach TVD as though this is canon because honestly it has to be?? The subtext is basically vibrating so hard it reads as just plain text. 

This also brings up the thing about Klaus calling Stefan “brother”-- Klaus has a weird incest thing to him. I’m not sure I would call this “a ship with potential” but I do think there is a really strong implication that Klaus is sexually obsessed with his sister and I understand that TVD was never going to go there as it was a CW show, but considering they are vampires and just how WEIRD their chemistry is on the show and the whole thing where they were definitely both dating Stefan, I tend to headcanon this as well. It’s part of why things are so fucked up between them. 

I suppose on to the final hinge of this triangle, this is the ship I most regret not really getting in TVD: Stefan x Rebekah. I remember after 1x03 aired, I was convinced that we were about to launch into a sickeningly angsty (read: I lived for this) situation where Stefan would be in love with both Rebekah and Elena, through no fault of his own, and be unable to put one before the other (at least, not without a really long and epic emotional arc). I really enjoyed this idea in particular because Rebekah so embodies the parts of Stefan that Stefan most loathes about himself, the parts of him that he works so hard to suppress, but which are also very deep and intrinsic elements of his character. Elena represents a different side of himself: the person he tries to be, that he tries to change himself into, with lesser and greater success. It would have been a really fascinating ship that would have given some real tension to Stefan in season 3 and also lent Stelena its first real obstacle. 

Obviously I wish there had been some actual Elijah x Elena and some actual Klaus x Elena, because everything pointed that way and it would have been FUN, but the show seemed to think that Elena could only have so many love interests, which, shame. 

In some of my more lucid moments when I can tamp down my die hard Delena feelings, I can admit that Damon x Bonnie would have been a great ship. I don’t personally like the idea of it because I really really am all in for both Delena and Stelena, but it probably would have been utterly magnificent. 

As for what I think was handled poorly:  

Salt under the cut. 

obviously klaus x caroline 

I was never very happy with Steroline... a little surprising to me that I disliked it when I actually received it, because I shipped it pretty attentively in season 2, at the height of my interest in the show. My main issue with it was that by the time it happened, the show had pretty much convinced me that anyone other than Elena would always be #2 in Stefan’s eyes-- from what I’ve seen of the finale, it seems like the show went out of their way to reinforce Stelena again at the end, even though Stefan had married Caroline by that time. I suppose I just think what we actually got really sucked for Caroline, and it makes me sad for her. 

Elijah x Katherine-- Loved the idea that they would find a way to be together-- and even that Elijah would overlook how cruel Katherine had become (not that he should be throwing stones, or, in Elijah’s case, pebbles). HATED how quickly he left her to pursue the plot of the Originals-- I was NEVER given a satisfactory excuse for that-- the idea that they would still burn for each other 500 years later, that they would finally have a chance to be together, and what? Elijah discovers Katherine is in fact Katherine, the monster he and his brother made, so he ditches out? LAME. ALSO the fact that he didn’t come to her bedside AS SHE LAY DYING in 500 Years of Solitude?????? UNACCEPTABLE. This was WASTED. (But also. Because of this ship. I had to hear with my own ears “the sweet peasant girl you fell in love with way back when is dead”. UMM. EXCUSE ME. Nothing about the flashbacks imply Katerina was a peasant? Girl obviously had the connections to go to England? I’m so embarrassed for Elena’s wild lack of understanding of any basic history, I curl up and die every time I hear this Godforsaken line.)  

Elijah x Hayley-- OOC! I pretty much hate this ship. Mostly because if Elijah was going to pull what he did with Katherine, he ought to have been wrecked by it, not forgetting about Queen Kat and falling for random mean teenager Hayley. Maybe if it had been introduced later in The Originals, but it was like whiplash for me as a viewer and it set me against it right away 

Bonnie x Enzo-- look, I understand that people are into this ship and say it’s really well done, and I can admit that I haven’t really seen enough of the later seasons to judge fairly, but my gut feeling to encountering this has always been wtf? I just have a lot of trouble grappling with the idea of Bonnie with a vampire. The thing about Bonnie is that she’s consistently just about the only one with their head on straight. She knows vampires are THE WORST. and also, does no one remember that time that Enzo murdered Stefan? I DO. I SURE DO. I can just about buy the idea that over time Damon would get under her skin enough that I could see Damon x Bonnie, but this thing with Enzo strikes me as bizarrely out of character for her. Girl is too smart for this!! 

Anything pertaining to Silas/Amara/Quetsiyah-- kill it with fire 

OH and anything pertaining to Caroline x Alaric please smother it with a pillow-- I know a lot of people are into teacher x student as a kink and that Caroline had grown up by then, but teacher x student has and at this point probably always will squick me to no end and I hate the way that this ship brings Alaric’s character down, because Alaric is just so wonderful and has gone through so much grief, he should just get to not have this storyline tainting him 

[lunasilvermorny]

Luna Silver - Year 6 - Part 1.

If I had to give this mini story a Harry Potter-esque title, it would be:

Luna Silver and the Totally Original Plot that No One Ever Used in Anything, Ever. Because It’s So Unique. Seriously.

Now jokes aside, as I mentioned before, from this point on I completely separated the headcanon from the game canon, so anything that happened in the game after year 5 is not a part of this universe. I guess it technically makes this whole thing an AU then.

Hope you enjoy it! I definitely enjoyed writing it... And yeah, let’s dive right in.

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Part 1 – Waking up.

It was a ray of light in the early morning that passed through narrow gaps between the treetops and landed right on her face that finally managed to wake her up. She let out a faint sigh in pain, while her eyelids rapidly opened and closed as her eyes rolled in their sockets. Her breaths were steady but uneven and she barely felt anything but a splitting headache and a severe neck pain.

It took her a few minutes to be able to perceive her environment. She was lying on the ground; the wind brushed lightly on her skin and carried the sound of the buzzing insects and chirping birds. It was too lively – it must be summer. But where?

Her abdomen felt too heavy for any movement, but she was able to move her limbs, especially her arms. She pressed her hand to her right temple and felt a warm, moisty texture that was too dense to be regular sweat, and when she brought her hand into her field of vision and saw that her fingertips were covered in red, she realized it was blood.

She sent her hands to scout the ground around her head and when she felt large roots that protruded from the ground, she put all her strength in pulling herself into a sitting position, slowly leaning on the big trunk of the tree behind her.

She groaned as she started to examine everything around her. She was in a forest, but it wasn’t familiar to her. Nothing was familiar to her, she realized as she tried to think of the place she came from or was heading to.

She felt the blood slowly dripping down her face, obstructing her vision in her right eye. ‘That’s a lot of blood’ was her first thought followed by ‘I have to stop it.’ But how?

It hurt when she tried to recall anything, but instinctively she knew that the wand on the ground next to her is the solution. Barely knowing what she’s doing, she raised it closer to her forehead, pointing it at her right temple. She has to say something for it to work, right? But what?

Her head began to spin and she tried to force herself to stay in place until the right spell would come to mind, but it was empty.  She felt dizzy, like she’s about faint again at any moment. She tried to focus on deep breaths, but her hands were shaking and her stomach muscles twitched, enhancing the sensation of nausea.

“Epis…Episky.” She whispered, as her breaths got heavier and managed to activate her wand, but it didn’t seem to affect the wound. “Episky.” She said again, barely aware of her slow descend back to the ground, as her environment slowly faded into black.

Her mind was almost gone, but her lips were still moving, saying an incantation she wasn’t able to hear anymore, but it echoed in her head like an alarm that refused to be turned off – “Vulnera Sanentur.” It repeated again and again until she completely lost consciousness.

--

An unfamiliar voice was the first thing she was able to perceive this time, as she slowly regained consciousness. Her eyes were still closed shut, but she was able to feel the wind on her skin again. Only when she heard another unfamiliar voice, it became clear that the first one came from an owl and the second from a human.

Someone moved her around; she could feel the orientation of her body changes. Something was pressed against her injury, but there was no relief sensation to the pain. They probably didn’t know how to heal it.

A word was repeated over and over again, spoken both by the human and the owl. It was bizarre and lacked a meaning in the context of the default language her mind was set to. Was it a name?

She managed to let out a sigh of discomfort that caused the two remain quiet for a brief moment, before they returned to spewing more words at her, shaking her even more urgently than before. Why can’t she understand it? It was a bit muffled, sure, but she was able to distinct each word.

Maybe it’s not the she can’t understand it, but the unbearable headache that sneaked up on her just completely neutralized her ability to do so without fainting again.

“Shh…” it came out of her throat almost as an instinct. The two voices went silence immediately. She’s still bleeding. Whatever they did, it didn’t work. She has to stop the bleeding, but her wand wasn’t in her hand anymore. “Vulnera Sanentur.” She whispered, but nothing happened. The headache was getting worst, her head began to spin and she felt the fogginess taking over again. She doesn’t have much time. “Vulnera Sanentur, Vulnera Sanentur.” She desperately repeated the incantation, but it was too late. Her entire body became heavy and numb as her mind drifted into nothingness.

-

This time she woke up with a loud gasp for air, her eyes popping open and her arms pushing her into a sitting position – as if she was waking up from a nightmare. It was hard to breathe. Why was it so hard to breathe? It’s almost as if her lungs were near shutting down completely before she woke up.

She looked around. She was still in the forest, but she wasn’t alone. A Tawny owl rested on her knees and an unfamiliar person was sitting next to her – both alerted by her sudden waking up.

Without comprehending everything that happened yet, her lips moved almost independently, as she said- “Wand.”

The person handed her wand and almost every action that followed it was automatic, since she was still trying to figure out where she was and what happened. She pressed the wand to her golden wristwatch and whispered an incantation that moved its lid vertically to expose a pitch-black opening to a storage space that contained most of her belonging.

“Accio healing-potions briefcase.” She said in a more stable tone and a large briefcase emerged out of the small opening. With a quick search, she pulled one of the vials out that was labelled- “bleeding.” and with a quick gulp drank its entire content. Next, she grabbed a vial under the label “head trauma” and drank its content as well.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as the potion took effect. With her blood volume restored to its normal range and her head injury healed partially, she was able to jump to her feet, feeling like she just woke up from a refreshing power nap. The owl flapped its wings as he was thrown off of her and let out an angry screech while it turned to the branch above her head as its new resting place. The person rushed to his feet as well and shot her a worried look.

“Careful.” He said. His voice was calmer than his expressions.

“I got it.” She said and rejected his gesture of help. She stretched her arms above her head and arched her back, letting out a small yawn before she realized she still didn’t know where she was. “Do you know what happened to me?” she asked him.

He shook his head. “We were supposed to meet yesterday in Diagon Alley, but when you didn’t show up, I came to look for you. You mentioned you’d be in this area and when I saw Charlie flying around, I realized something bad must have happened.”

“Charlie?” she said distractedly as she was trying to recall any of the things he just said. Does this mean she knows this person?

“Charlie Brown.” He said and pointed his finger at the owl.

“Right.” She said, unable to recognize the owl, but for some reason she was able to remember that it’s named after a character in an TV show she used to watch as a child. “And does it know what happened to me?”

“It?” he repeated as the owl let out an offended hoot. “Are you sure you’re feeling alright?”

“I wouldn’t know now, would I?” she said and impatiently looked at Charlie. “Did you see what happened or not?”

The owl let out a few short hoots that she was able to interoperate as- ‘you were already unconscious when we found you.’ It seemed that the person next to her wasn’t able to literally understand what the owl was saying.

“Was I meeting someone here? Why was I in this forest in the first place?”

The owl kept letting out annoyed hoots, saying that she never told him where she was heading to and if she wants more information, she should ask Talbott.

“Talbott? What’s a Talbott?” she frowned.

“It’s me.” The person said in concern “Don’t you recognize me?”

“No.” she said honestly, but her casual tone was in complete contrast to his reaction. He was affected by her words a lot more than she was, that’s for sure. “Wait, is that your name or a weird title-?”

“Name.” he didn’t wait for her to finish the sentence. “What’s your name?”

“You got all worked up about me not recognizing you, and you don’t even know my name-?”

“I know your name.” he wasn’t upset, but he rolled his eyes impatiently. “Do you know it?”

“Of course I do.” She snored in contempt, but as she opened her mouth to say it, she realized her mind was blank again. “Uh…” she fixed her gaze at a random tree branch as she was trying her best to remember, but after a few seconds gave up and said with a shrug- “No idea, actually.”

His face became pale as he gave her a serious look and said- “We have to take you to a hospital.”

“I am well, as you can see.” She gestured her hands at her body.

“You don’t remember your own name.” he became stiff. It looks like he’s not a fan of confrontations.

“Fair point.” She folded her arms. “But how do I know you’re not the one who attacked me and now you’re just trying to lead me into a trap?” and when she saw how crossed he looked by this remark, she added- “Kidding, kidding. It’s obviously not you, otherwise why would you try to treat my wounds. Just trying to lighten the mood, mate.”

He wasn’t amused. He looked away as the color came back to his face with an additional pink hue that spread around his cheeks. “We should go.” He said after he cleared his throat, still avoiding a direct eye contact.

“Someone probably used a memory charm on me, we just need to reverse it-“

“Or it was caused by the head trauma you suffered from.” He interrupted her.

“Fine, we’ll go a hospital.” She said and started looking around. “Yeah, do you have a map or something? Because it looks like we’re in the middle of nowhere and I can’t, for the life of me, remember how to get out of here.”

“We’re not far from Hogwarts.” He said. “But I know where the nearest wizarding hospital is, although there’s a muggle one even closer.”

“But muggles wouldn’t be able to identify if it was caused by a memory charm.” She insisted.

He looked torn for a second, but then nodded and said- “Okay, we’ll fly to the wizarding hospital, then.”

“Fly?” she narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think we can just fly around in our brooms without any muggle noticing us. It’s not the 40’s, they actually have technology that can record us-“

“We’re both animagi.” He interrupted her again.

He’s right. She can turn into an owl. Since when can she do that? Why wasn’t she aware of it until he mentioned it?

“Right, I knew that.” She said, yet couldn’t shake the irritating feeling that started to creep on her that she was actually in a much worst condition than it seemed. It’s almost like she’s not able to control her own brain anymore.  

Talbott noticed that and took a few steps toward her, landing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You can do it, you’ve done it a hundred times before.”

“It’s not that.” She shrugged, yet his concerned expression must have been contagious, because she can’t seem to shake it off her face now. “Let’s just go.”

With a swift movement of her arms she turned into an owl and the three flew over the tree tops to their destination.

-------------------------------------------------

Yep.

I went with the amnesia plot and I have zero regrets about it.

Hope you liked it! ^^ I’ll post the next part once I actually finish writing it.

[theplanetm4rz]

Holographic Sand is a Kickass Band Name

pairing: peter maximoff/OC(graciella decuerpo) (high school AU/not canon)

summary: peter learns that a fuckton can change in the course of a week

warnings: none? bad language and peter is simp but thats it

notes **please read**: Heyyyyy how are you doing? good? that’s great. so ik this fic is a peter/oc fic, but honesty i only use her name a few times and a few defining features but like. thats it. so you can totally just imagine urself in her position. also this fic is 5,550 words exactly. that’s the most ive ever written and I am SUPER fucking proud. I think i might become one of those blogs where i write super huge monster fics that im proud of instead of just writing to fill requests.if u dont want that then just lmk and i will not do that. i dont know. maybe. also this fic is peter centric because uh it is. anyways enjoy <3

taglist: @creator-appreciator, @simonsbluee

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Monday

           Peter sat across the room, his arms crossed neatly on top of his knees as he rested his chin on his forearm. He wasn’t paying attention to the lesson being taught in front of him, in fact, he wasn’t paying attention to anything at all. No, Peter was lost in his head again. Peter’s mind was a chaotic minefield of music and cheesy one-liners and random facts that he seems to just know. But this time, he wasn’t envisioning himself beating up a police officer or playing with Pink Floyd. This time, he was picturing a perfect world where nothing ever happened yet nothing was ever boring. Peter had built a utopia in his mind-- a kingdom created to his exact preferences. A blissful tower of joy and happiness and energy and satisfaction. A paradise where he stood on top of the world with Graciella DeCuerpo, the pretty girl from algebra  class, standing right next to him.

          Now, Peter was well aware that the pretty girl from algebra  class had no idea who Peter was. The pair had never exchanged more than a few words, but somewhere within those few words, Peter managed to decide that she was his soulmate. He’d created an image of her in his head that would make God weep tears of envy, the perfect personality for the perfect person.  Peter willfully ignored the fact that he was setting himself up for heartbreak as he imagined how nice it would feel to have her fingers intertwined with his. 

           All of Peter’s friends thought he was ridiculous, ‘you can’t love someone you don’t know,’ they’d say. Peter would only scoff and shake away their words. He absolutely can love someone he doesn’t know, it’s getting the other person to reciprocate those feelings that’s nearly impossible. However, that doesn’t stop him from fantasizing at night. That doesn’t stop him from imagining the various ways he’d confess his love to the pretty girl who doesn’t love him. Or maybe she does. Peter doesn’t know, he could never know; unless, of course, he worked up the courage to talk to her. 

          Scott constantly teased Peter about his one-sided infatuation, but Peter paid no mind to him. He was 100% content with his perpetual pining for someone who probably didn’t know his name. He was totally okay with the unending ache in his chest that would appear any time she walked by or met his gaze. Peter was alright with his ceaseless yearning and the eternal feeling of disappointment that overtook him every time he snapped out of one of his fantasies. He was a-okay with all of that.

          So, there he was, spacing out during biology class as Professor Hargreeves struggles to teach the silver teen about photosynthesis. The Professor looked at Peter with desperate eyes, soon deciding that having his usually energetic student be quiet and still was the silver lining of the situation-- no pun intended. Professor Hargreeves droned on as Peter glanced at the clock, counting down the minutes until 7th period. Counting the seconds until he got to see the pretty girl in algebra  class once again.

Tuesday

          6th period was always the worst part of Peter’s day-- the dreaded english class. There were many contributing factors to Peter’s hatred for this class; the professor was a bore, the material itself was uninteresting, and Peter could never seem to sit still or retain any of the words he read in english class. Worst of all, english class seemed to go on forever, leaving Peter to impatiently wait for the bell to ring and release him to 7th period. At the end of the period every day, he was practically vibrating in his seat. 

          “Can anyone tell me what Juliet’s suicide is supposed to symbolize?” the Professor asked expectantly. Peter couldn’t care less about the symbolism of some chick’s suicide-- he’d much rather be studying the features of his algebra  class infatuation. 

          She sat next to him yesterday. There were at least 5 other open seats and she sat next to him. Yes, Peter read too much into it and yes, Peter spent the entire class period trying to make himself seem naturally cool, but he didn’t care. Peter would act like the most desperate, pathetic, lovestruck loser in the world if it meant that she would like him. They didn’t talk, they didn’t exchange a single word, nevertheless, Peter was in a state of euphoria for the entire class period. 

          Sometimes Peter feels like a stalker. He watches her whenever he can-- he doesn’t follow her around or anything, but if she’s around, he’ll stare at her. He has her features memorized, the curve of her nose, the dark brown irises surrounding her pupils, the way that she always seems to have chipped black nail polish on. He sees the small things. He sees the way she bites her nails when he gets bored and he sees the way her leg never seems to stop bouncing. She hums the basslines to songs as opposed to the melody. 

          English class came to an abrupt end as the bell cut off the Professor’s teachings as well as Peter’s distant daydreaming. Peter was out of his seat within seconds, his notes and books quickly being swept up in his arms as he walked out of the room. The hallways are crowded and chaotic and busy, each individual student attempting to get to their locker then to their class on time. Peter watches as kids swing their lockers open, fatigue and weariness apparent on their faces as they disappear into their classrooms. Peter reaches his locker hastily, the few small posters of classic rocks bands adorning the inside of his locker door. A playful giddiness overcame his body as he made his way to algebra  class, a small smile left on his face.

          Graciella shows up across the hallway, her bright red hair catching his eye in a sea of brown and blonde and blue. His stomach flutters as they get closer and closer to each other, finally meeting outside of the classroom. Her eyes rise to meet Peter’s, and instead of pulling away, Peter keeps looking. She smiles at him before disappearing inside the classroom, and Peter felt his knees get weak. With a deep breath and a triumphant smile, he walked into the classroom.

Wednesday

          Lunchtime; possibly one of the most enjoyable parts of Peter’s school day. Peter is free to kick back and stuff his face full of whatever junk the school board deems nutritious enough for highschoolers. Usually, he ate lunch under the bleachers with his friends, but in some sick twist of fate most of them were absent. So, Peter was left to eat alone in his usual spot.

          The quiet was comfortable, refreshing. The gentle summer breeze would blow every few minutes and Peter would listen to the rustle of the leaves. There’s a certain tranquility to being alone; Peter can lay back and relax and just… think. No stress, no panicking, no--

          “Hey, uh, Peter, right?” Peter’s eyes snap up so fast he’s afraid they would detach from his head and fall out. His breath faltered and his hands began to shake a bit-- why was he so freaked out? She was just a girl; sure, she was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen, and yeah, he was madly in love with her, but that’s besides the point. 

          “Uh-- uh, yeah, P-Peter. That’s, uh, that’s me,” He chuckled awkwardly, desperately trying to stay cool. Peter was an awkward person, but he’d rather die than fuck up his chances with Grace.

          “You dropped this on your way out of class yesterday, I, uhm, didn’t get to return it to you until now,” She holds out a small key chain with three small keys hanging off of it-- Peter’s house keys, along with the key to his mother’s car. He quickly takes the key chain from the red-haired girl in front of him.

          “Holy shit, uh, thanks! I couldn’t get into my house yesterday so I guess you saved me from another broken window,” Peter held up his hand and showcased the scattered pattern of small cuts on his palm. Grace laughed lightly before gently running her fingers over the cuts on Peter’s palm.

          “Oh fuck, dude, these look pretty bad. Maybe keep a spare key hidden under your welcome mat or something,” Peter doesn’t fully process Grace’s words; he’s too preoccupied with trying not to collapse at the feeling of her fingertips on his palm.

          “Hey, you okay? You look… pale,” Grace pressed the back of her hand on Peter’s forehead in an attempt to check for illness, but that just made Peter’s skin erupt in goosebumps. 

          “I, um, I’m fine. I’m just st-stressed about the algebra  t-test on Friday, I th-think,” To be fair, Peter was stressed about the algebra  test. Peter may or may not have spent the entire class staring at Grace instead of, you know, learning the material.

          “Oh! Well, if you want, I can help you study. I’m also kinda worried about it, and I study better with other people,” Peter silently thanked god for what was happening to him.

          “That would be fuckin’ fantastic,” Grace smiled a smile that made Peter shiver.

          “Cool! Uh, I’ll give you my phone number and we’ll meet up tomorrow. One day isn’t much time to study, but it’s better than nothing.” She pulls a pen out of her backpack and rips a small piece of paper out of one of her notebooks. Peter watches as she scribbles down her phone number and hands the paper to him.

          “Thanks. For everything, the keys, the studying-- everything.” Grace smiled.

          “It’s no problem, Peter, really. I’ll call you later,” And just like that, she walked away. Peter was left alone under the bleachers, a wide smile plastered on his face as he read the piece of paper in his hands over and over and over again.

Thursday

          30 minutes. 30 minutes until Grace Reaper DeCuerpo, the prettiest, nicest, funniest girl Peter had ever met would show up on his doorstep. She would be inside his house for god knows how long. She would sit next to Peter-- either on the coffee table in the basement or on the floor of his bedroom. Needless to say, Peter was freaking the fuck out.

          The plan was simple: Grace shows up, they study, they get comfortable, and she goes home. Yet, in those four simple steps, so much could go wrong. Wanda could interrupt, his mother could lose her temper, Lorena could start crying-- worst of all, Peter could embarrass himself and drive her away. 

           Peter was in the middle of reorganizing his record collection for a third time when he heard a knock at the door. His blood went cold and an electric excitement ran through his veins. Peter checked his hair in the mirror one last time before running to the door. He stood silently, staring at the chrome handle hesitantly. This was his one chance. His only chance to make his perfect kingdom real-- Peter really, really, really didn't want to fuck it up. With a deep breath, he slowly opened the door.

          "Hey, Peter!" Her voice was smooth and melodic and it made Peter's heart light up. He’s about to respond with something smooth and witty when a squeaky voice chirps behind him.

         “Hi!! Are you the pretty girl Peter talks about?” Peter can physically feel his face turn bright red as he turns to see his six-year-old sister, Lorena, standing behind him. She’s wearing a purple princess dress that has a syrup stain on the sleeve. Grace laughs before stepping through the doorway. 

          “Lorena!” Peter groans in annoyance, a pleading look on his face. The young girl just giggles before scurrying away, her dress flowing behind her.

          “‘The pretty girl Peter talks about’, huh?” Grace grins at Peter cheekily. Peter runs his hand through his hair before motioning to the staircase.

          “God, Lorna is quite the kid. Well, uh, we can work in my room,” He sighs. “And Grace? Uh, m-maybe don’t let Lorena change your opinion of me,” She just smirks before walking past Peter.

          “Too late,” She called before disappearing down the stairs. Peter could hear the faintest trace of a smile in her voice. His heart skipped a beat as he quickly followed after her. 

          She was wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt and holding a backpack with various pins on it-- her left ear was pierced in three places and her right in five. The earrings she was wearing were black, or maybe grey; her bright red hair blocked Peter’s view of them. She was wearing rings, some odd words engraved in the metal. Peter couldn’t read them from where he was standing. She was wearing a skirt with fishnets, her hand buried in the pockets that seem to have been sewn in herself. She has callouses on both her hands, but Peter knew that already. Her appearance would put Aphrodite to shame-- suddenly, Peter was much less confident in himself than he was before. He ran his hand through his hair again before reaching the basement.

          He held his breath as Grace looked around his room, her gaze lingering on the plethora of stolen signs and band posters covering the walls. She placed her backpack on the floor and walked over to Peter’s record collection, her fingers carefully flitting through the different albums. She seemed… impressed. It was then that Peter realized it had been silent for much too long.

          “Y’know I can, uh, p-play some music if you want me to. You can just pick a record and, uh, I’ll... play it,” Peter winced at his words, cursing himself for being so awkward in front of the girl he’d been pining after since the beginning of the year. He felt like everything had spiraled out of control, and he watched idly as it happened. Then, Grace shot him a smile and pulled out a record.

          “You have a good taste in music, Silver,” No one had ever called Peter ‘silver’ before. He liked it a bit more than he should. “Although, that’s not really a surprise. I had a feeling you were cool.” 

          “You think I’m cool?” Peter asked, shocked. He wasn’t sure he heard her correctly.

          “Oh, totally. I see you in the hallways sometimes and you always seem so… carefree. Genuine. I don’t know, I guess it’s just… you, ya know? You’re naturally cool.” Every syllable that rolled off her tongue shot euphoria through Peter’s veins. Grace DeCuerpo, the girl Peter Maximoff had dreamed of for almost a full year, was telling him that she thought he was cool. Naturally cool. 

          “I know a lot of people who would disagree with you on that one,” Peter joked. There was truth behind his humor, but of course, he didn’t want to get into his insecurities now. “They think I’m a total loser, which isn’t totally wrong I guess.”

          “Well those people are stupid,” She stated matter-of-factly with a smile. “Speaking of stupid, we should probably get to work.” Peter nodded before sitting beside her on the floor. 

          For three hours they poured over their algebra  books. They quizzed each other and checked each other’s work; Peter’s proficiency in simplifying radicals aiding them both. Every now and then their hands would brush against each other, or the conversation would stray away from school and into their personal lives. Peter learned that Grace had two brothers, one of which passed away when she was younger. Peter talked about Lorena and Wanda and his miraculous abilities in the same way that she talked about her hometown and her own abilities. The conversation was smooth and natural-- Peter didn’t feel like he was being too annoying or too chatty and there was seldom an awkward pause. The pair were content in their time together, not a single moment went by where one wished the other would leave. 

          Eventually, Grace had to go home. Peter wished that she could stay forever, but of course, that would be considered kidnapping. He walked her to the door, although Peter didn’t feel like he was walking. He felt like he was floating.

          “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, Silver,” Grace said softly as she turned to face Peter. She looked him in the eye and he could feel his stomach flutter. 

          “Yeah, I guess so,” She opened the door, but before she left, she froze. She turned to look at Peter once again. 

          “Peter?” she said. “You’re not a loser.”

Friday

          Peter could tell the second he walked through the front door of his high school that something had changed. The energy that radiated in the halls shifted from a dull buzz of boredom to a rush of anticipation. The students in the hallway looked the same as always; tired and anxious and wishing for the day to go by quickly. However, Peter wasn’t wishing for the end of the day, and he certainly wasn’t tired. He was determined and energized and absolutely terrified, because that morning Peter Maximoff made the most important decision a seventeen-year-old could. He decided that he was going to ask Grace out on a date. 

          Peter made the choice to keep this from his friends-- it’s not that he didn’t trust them, it’s just that Peter knew he would be teased for his infatuation. It’s happened before and it will happen again. He walked down the hallways with a brave face on, his eyes forward and his heart racing. Truthfully, the silver teenager was terrified of… well, everything. The looming image of a harsh rejection forced itself into his mind; the idea that she would laugh in his face made his heart break a tiny bit, even though it wasn’t real. Peter simply shook those images away and walked on. 

          The day flew by much faster than Peter was comfortable with, and for the first time ever, he was dreading algebra  class. He was terrified that he would walk through the door and have everything be exactly the same-- he feared that Grace would go back to not knowing who he was, just like before. Peter was alright with never being her boyfriend, but he didn’t want to be a stranger. He didn’t think he could take being a stranger anymore. 

            So, there he stood, staring at the door to his algebra classroom from across the hall. He felt confident and prepared himself for the task at hand. In four long strides, he entered the classroom. Grace was sitting next to an empty desk, her eyes stuck on the small notebook full of doodles on her desk. Peter watched as her eyes raised to meet his, a wide smile forming on her face as she motioned him over. 

          “Hey, silver! I saved a seat for ya,” she called, and Peter felt his knees get weak. He then decided that he would wait until after class to ask her out. 

          “You did?”

          “Of course,” She grinned. “I like you, dude, you’re my friend,” Peter’s heart fluttered as he sat down beside her. Grace shot an odd look his way before reaching out and placing a hand on his arm. “Hey, you look stressed. Don’t sweat it, silver, you’ll do fine. We studied for, like, 3 hours yesterday. You’re gonna ace it,”

          To be frank, Peter had forgotten all about the test. The real reason he looked so stressed was because he happened to be sitting next to the love of his life, and the love of his life happened to be touching his arm. 

          “O-oh! Uh, yeah, thanks. I was just nervous because of… the test,” The bell rang and class began, the professor strictly laying down the rules that were to be followed while the test was in session. Peter could feel the lingering touch of her hand on his skin. It made his head feel fuzzy.

          Peter soon came to learn that sitting next to Grace during a test was a huge mistake. He couldn’t focus on anything other than her-- it didn’t help that she kept shooting him glances from where she sat. The numbers and letters on the paper in front of him seemed to rearrange before his eyes, instead spelling out various taunts. He feels a little pathetic for how easily Grace can unravel him, but hey, he’s a teenager. 

          The silver-haired boy’s eyes were struggling to decipher the words on his page when a small folded square landed on his desk. It came from Grace’s direction, and a small smirk had formed on her lips as she solved equations. Hesitantly, he unfolded the paper and read the neatly written message.

          Hey silver :)

          Peter smiled softly. He quickly pulled a pad of post-it notes out of his backpack and scribbled down a quick reply.

          I have no idea what I’m doing. I think Professor Stedman decided to write our tests in hieroglyphics this time.

          He flicked the note onto her desk and quickly turned his face downward. Class would be over soon, and Peter knew he couldn’t turn in a blank test. He uses his enhanced speed to do his assessment in seconds. Sure, he was almost certain he’d barely reach a passing grade, but hey, he had bigger matters to focus on. By the time he finished, another note landed on his desk.

          That bad, huh? Looks like we better study longer next time. 

          Peter’s heart swelled a bit. He really thought the study sessions were a one-time thing. He’s overjoyed to know he’ll get to see Grace semi-regularly, even if he never manages to ask her out.

          I think I’d rather hang out with you without the looming threat of schoolwork. 

          That’s the closest Peter could get to asking her out. He put deep thought into every word, he examined the phrasing and checked the spelling of every word. His english teacher would be proud.

          That can be arranged ;) 

          Peter had no idea that four words could make him feel so much. He had no idea that 17 letters could make him want to scream in the middle of a silent testing period. His hand was shaking and his careful planning was abandoned as he scribbled back a reply.

          Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?

          Patiently, he waited. He waited for Grace to finish writing her response and he waited for her to toss the note back over. He didn’t wait for more than a few minutes, but it felt like hours. He was panicking, and he was sure she could tell. She was probably joking, right? She was probably writing an awkward clarification-- she was probably explaining that she would actually rather die than be around him for non-academic reasons. He braced himself as the yellow post-it landed on the center of his desk.

          My aunt owns a drive-in a few miles from here and she gave me keys to the projector room and the gate. She managed to snag a copy of The Exorcist-- I thought you’d like to join me during my midnight escapade tomorrow night.

          Peter’s heart stopped. For a moment, he thought his eyes were fooling him. Maybe this was all some sick joke. Maybe he was being set up. Maybe he’ll get in her car tomorrow and she’ll drive him into the woods and murder him. To be completely honest, Peter wouldn’t mind if she murdered him. Peter wrote his reply.

          Really? You want me there? I might be a drag. You could probably find at least 20 other people who would probably be more interesting than me.

          Grace frowned at his response, and suddenly Peter decided he never wanted to see her frown again. She wrote confidently, her words solid and sure.

          You? A drag? Impossible. I don’t want to be alone, and I don’t want to be with anyone other than you, Maximoff. 

          This note was his undoing. He couldn’t help himself, he read it over and over and over again-- he almost forgot to respond. He wanted to hold onto it forever, he wanted it to be framed and hung on his wall. Hell, he wanted it tattooed on his arm. Peter had never been so happy while taking a test, that’s for sure. He wasn’t sure exactly what to say; he went from heartfelt responses to witty retorts. Finally, he decided to be totally and completely honest.

          I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Saturday 

          There was seldom a time in his life where Peter Maximoff felt wholly content. Even in the most peaceful moments, there was always something bothering him, there was always something to pull him back to reality. However, sitting in the back of Grace’s dad’s convertible with the seats down and the roof pulled back, his head resting on her shoulder as they watched a cheesy horror movie, Peter was as close to nirvana as he’d ever been. 

          Life had always been so hard for Peter. He’s always had to fight for his seat at the table, to claw his way into a state of mind that wasn’t a hellhole. It seemed as if the world was plotted against him; he was ostracized from society and taught that he, along with his closest family and friends, were monsters. He never met his father and his mother spent so long fighting her own battles that she forgot to love her kids. Peter had to steal to stay fed, and he had to do his best to raise his little sisters to be good people. But right there, right then? That wasn’t hard. Peter didn’t have to be anyone or do anything-- he just had to exist next to someone who wanted him. That was the easiest thing Peter had ever done.

          Peter wasn’t exactly sure how he got there. Of course, he knew that they had driven to the drive-in, but he wasn’t sure how he was the person next to Grace. They had spoken for one day, maybe two, and somehow he landed himself in the most perfect spot in the entire universe. Less than a week ago, she didn’t even know his name. Or, maybe she did. Maybe she was just like Peter-- maybe she had spent the past year pining for him, and finally she worked up the nerve to just talk to him. Maybe. Peter isn’t complaining either way.

          “Can I ask you a kind of cheesy question?” Peter is startled by the sound of his own voice. Grace sits up and glances at him.

          “Shoot,”

          “Do you-- well, uh, don’t read too much into this, but, do you believe in love at first sight?” God, he sounded awkward. 

          “Nope,” She said bluntly. Peter wasn’t expecting that answer, but he wasn’t exactly disappointed by it. “I mean, it’s kind of a stupid idea, ya know? Like, isn’t there a million poems and sonnets and books written about how love is this weird complicated monster of a feeling? I don’t think you can really love someone just by looking at them. You can love the idea of a person, sure, or maybe the look of a person, but you can’t love that person. Because a person is so much more than ‘first sight’,” she sighs. “I don’t know, maybe I’m being a killjoy. It just seems dumb to me-- dumb and, I don’t know, exclusive,”

          Peter stops to think for a moment. He steps out of his lovesick chaotic hellbrain and looks at his feelings from an outside perspective. He thinks back to the kingdom he created in his brain-- a kingdom built on a foundation of sand. Or, less than sand. Holographic sand, because the sand he built his kingdom on wasn’t real. He made a mental note that ‘Holographic Sand’ is a kickass band name, then resumed his impromptu soul-searching. She was right-- he could see  that now. Scott was right, too. You really can’t love someone you don’t know, because if you don’t know them, you fill in the gaps. You fill in the gaps with what you think fits, and then the other person stops being them and starts being parts of you. Peter suddenly felt weird.

          “I’m sorry if I said something wrong,” Grace interjects after a while. Peter hadn’t realized he’d been silent for so long.

          “You didn’t say anything wrong. On the contrary, you, uh, you made things a little bit more… right, in my brain. You somehow managed to take a little chunk of chaos and tame it, which is scarily impressive,” he joked. “Remind me to ask you your opinion on the meaning of life and the root of true happiness,” They’re joined in a chorus of laughter and Peter realizes that his little brain kingdom didn’t hold a candle to the red convertible he was sitting in. She slings an arm around his shoulders.

          “Y’know, I might not know the meaning of life, but I am pretty close to true happiness right now,” She says, softer than before. “Maybe the root of true happiness is you, Maximoff,” She chuckles. Peter smiles. He doesn’t want the ruin the moment-- god, he is desperately trying to keep himself from fucking it up, but he feels obligated to tell her about his year of pining.

          “Hey, uh, can I tell you something kinda pathetic?” He cringes at the way his voice trembled on the last word. 

          “Go ahead, Peter,” She used his name this time. Peter thinks she knows he’s about to say something mildly serious.

          “I’ve liked you since, like, the beginning of the year. You seemed so… cool. So nice. I saw you in the hallways and my stomach would get all twisted up and my head would hurt a little bit. It was like I was allergic to you, but I enjoyed it. That sounds weird. I’m sorry,” He stopped for a moment, attempting to take the buzzing mass of words in his brain and string them into a sentence. “I was too afraid to talk to you, so I, uh, asked around. I got other people’s opinions of you and then built a little version of you in my brain. I realize now that, uhm, the little brain version of you is like, way way worse than actual you,”

          When you talked to me the first time, you threw me off. I wasn’t really nervous about the test-- I mean, yeah I was nervous but that’s not why I looked so pale. I just wasn’t expecting for you to talk to me, like, willingly. So I lied because I was embarrassed. And I lied again in class yesterday. Because I was embarrassed,” He stopped talking. Peter felt like he was digging himself into a hole-- he felt like he killed the sweet sugary mood. 

          “Why are you telling me this?” Grace asked. She didn’t sound angry. She sounded a little confused, and she sounded like she was trying to help Peter decipher his brain. 

          “I don’t know, I guess I just feel bad. I feel bad for, uh, for not being honest I guess. I feel bad for being a coward,” Yep, definitely killed the mood.

          “Peter, you shouldn’t feel bad for being afraid, you know,” She assures. “I would’ve done the exact same thing in your position. Hell, I did do the exact same thing in your position,” That caught Peter’s attention.

          “What?”

          “You didn’t drop your keys in algebra. You dropped them somewhere in bio and my friend found them. She was gonna take them to the office, but I wanted an excuse to talk to you, so I said I’d return them,” Peter couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was being pranked, he had to be. “Being awkward and weird is like a requirement in high school. Don’t sweat it, Maximoff, really. We’re all the same in that way, I think,”

          Peter felt a wave of relief wash over him. He was feeling too much at that moment, he was letting the bad drown out the good. He didn’t want to remember the day in a sad light.

          “I like you. A lot. Even if you are awkward and weird,” He smiles softly. Slowly, ever so slowly, he intertwined his fingers with those of the girl beside him. It was a simple display of affection, but it made Peter feel like he was floating.

          “I like you too, dork,” Peter smiled widely before placing his head back on Grace’s shoulder. Peter wasn’t paying attention to the movie, in fact, he wasn’t paying attention to anything at all. No, Peter was lost in his head again-- but this time, he wasn’t standing on a false kingdom with a false version of the girl he liked. No, this time, he was thinking about the very real girl beside him. He was thinking about the perfect world they had created in the small car they were in; a perfect world where he felt so much emotion and so, so safe. They had built a utopia in the back seat- a blissful tower of awkwardness and comfort and clumsy confessions. A paradise where he sat in the back seat of a Ford Galaxie with Graciella DeCuerpo, the pretty girl from algebra class, sitting right next to him. 

[starrypawz]

So I’ve been reading through the PJO series lately, I’m currently on The Last Olympian and like I generally do like PJO but to me I have a gripe that tbh I think is a gripe I have with a lot of like ‘actiony kids/teen aimed works’

I never read PJO the first time around, my only exposure to it prior to now was watching the Lighting Thief film at one point and I basically don’t remember it much so I don’t have any nostalgia googles for it. ATM I’m like nearly half way through The Last Olympian.

I mean there’s a chunk of this that could be me overthinking a series aimed at kids but

It’s implied very strongly that being a half-blood is dangerous. This I understand and is a concept I can roll with but it’s also like there’s apparently enough kids around for there to be a camp that’s been there for years with a noticeable amount of kids around that come and go every year.

Like it’s implied at points quite a few of the campers seem to just turn up for the summer and go back home like any other camp. Which to me kinda conflicts with the IT’S MEGA DANGEROUS thing. Even if I think there’s some in canon handwaving about how some kids maybe only need a year or two at camp and will be totes fine. But then there’s other stuff implying a lot of half bloods don’t make it until their 18th birthday I think so like... uh that’s a bit contradictory?

(I’m also a bit eh on the implication in the PJO universe that various historical people are apparently half bloods but that’s a whole nother kettle of fhish)

PJO is like really vague about how many campers ARE at CHB, I think there’s meant to be 100 at the start of the series? And that apparently dwindles as time goes on. Compare that to H/P where I think there always at least a bit of a sense of scale about how many kids were at H/ogwarts at any given time/

There’s no concrete numbers on who is in which cabin other than the fact Hermes has tonnes in it and Percy and Tyson are the only inhabitants of their cabin for example.

And this bugs me since yeah as the stakes mount, characters die, leave or defect it’s like... what are we dealing with here? How many kids? How old are they? You apparently have kids from around 11 to 18 at the camp that’s gonna change things up etc.

And this is sort of more an issue with writing from a first person viewpoint I think. But like a lot of stuff comes over sorta shallow. Like other than Percy’s friends + allies we don’t really get much else. Also like did we really get much focus on the Aphrodite children beyond like ‘wow they’re all into makeup and stuff lol’

Like I found this like especially in relation to like parts where campers got harmed or died.

Like I feel a lot of the deaths in PJO don’t really carry enough emotional/narrative weight to them? Like I’m aware Henry’s death is like used for carrying the plot but it’s sort of a bit like ‘Oh Henry died... the camp was kinda sad’

Like the death of an Apollo camper is mentioned and it’s really sort of just like ‘Uh wow this dude died who I didn’t rly kno that sux?’

Like just random names are chucked up here and there but a lot of the time the characters have no real weight to them idk. Like I said I think that’s more a limitation of the narrative style of PJO since everything is only from Percy’s POV.

There’s also just also the whole like ‘Bunch of preteens and teens ending up in like traumatic and deadly situations’ angle. Like this isn’t exclusive to PJO but like whilst a chunk of characters have implications/outright confirmation they had a shitty homelife prior to CHB I’m a bit like ‘Ok but surely quite a few of the kids especially the ones that were return campers must’ve had like fairly normal homelives, you can’t just like throw a bunch of teens into this sort of setting especially if you write it in a contemporary world and like not really have it have any impacts you know?

Like idk it never sits right with me to do that. This is also why lbr in a lot of kids/YA fiction we tend to have orphans or ‘otherwise badly parented’ characters as the leads since otherwise you do need to account for ‘how family and friends react to PEOPLE FUCKING DYING’ and not to mention the kids who like decided to join up with Luke?

That’s also the sort of ‘lol casual child endangerment with like supposed caregivers who don’t really give a crap’ angle that’s yet again not exclusive to pjo but wtf dude. Like we have Chiron at least? I guess? 

Also there’s also the mental health side of things but ofc as we know media is often shit on acknowledging mental health. But then apparently we have a handwavy ‘uh being a demigod makes you more resistant to that’ which tbh I doon’t totally vibe with.  But I guess expecting like acknowledgement of trauma in like kids/teen lit is maybe asking a touch too much?

[stilwaterskeeter]

Lin Headcanons

Hello...I’m back again...still on my Lin bullshit....

This is fairly long...I am not sorry...it’s like 50% lesbian Lin stuff and 50% Johnny & Lin being bros because we were robbed of their apparently very close friendship. When Lin dies Julius comments that Johnny’s gonna take her death pretty hard and he’s gonna be calling for blood. And Johnny is the only one Lin lets give her shit, instead of picking a fight with him she just shoots back with just as much snark....

So anyways here’s my essay about how gay Lin is and how good of a friend Johnny is-

She’s never really tried hiding the fact that she likes girls, but she’s also never said it out loud

There’s some deep set anxiety about it and there’s still some plausible deniability if she never says it outright that she’s gay

She doesn’t keep it a secret like I said, but she’s also naturally a private person so regardless of how little she tries to hide it, not many people know

For the most part the only people who know she’s a lesbian is Johnny, Aisha, Dex, and Julius

Johnny,and Dex found out in high school, around the ages like 15-16

Johnny found out because one of his many girlfriends ultimately left him for Lin and he walked in on them making out like not even half a week after the girl left him

Dex found out because Johnny can’t keep his big mouth shut and also wasn’t aware he wasn’t supposed to go around telling people after he found out. He was just more focused on the fact that his girlfriend left him for Lin and that she didn’t even wait a week before going to Lin

He and Lin definitely got into a real solid fist fight over that

Johnny gets it, he let her get in her first few solid hits because he understands that she needs it and he probably deserved it

He wasn’t expecting that they would actually be a mostly equal match and him “letting her” quickly turned into her having the upperhand in a real fight

Ultimately, some teachers are what ended the fight. Johnny ended up with a black eye and a missing tooth, Lin ended up with her nose busted and a fractured knuckle

They still joke about it all the time, they just think it’s so funny that they beat the shit out of each other when they were 16

Julius finds out because that asshole fuckin knows Everything

He probably saw her at a club leaving with some random girl once and then brought it up to her the next day

”It’s dangerous getting attached to people when you’re representin’ yknow.”

”I don’t know what the fuck you’re talkin’ about, Julius.”

”Oh, I think you do. I’m talkin’ about that girl at the club last night.”

”....I don’t even remember her name, I’m not dragging a one night stand into my life.”

”Just makin’ sure, Lin.”

Aisha finds out because again Johnny can’t keep his mouth shut and apparently learned nothing from last time. Only this time Lin was in the room when it happened

They didn’t full on fight again but Lin did kick the shit out of his leg and knock him down

He just laughed and conceded that he again “probably deserved it”

Lin met Dex and Johnny in the 8th grade

Dex ever the stickler for rules, didn’t really get along with her all too well but she and Johnny got along like two peas in a pod and Dex was Johnny’s friend and she knows how important loyalties are so she doesn’t complain when he drags Dex into their schemes

Lin absolutely gives Dex hell though, she says it’s just teasing and that it’s all in good fun but if you asked Dex he’d tell you upfront that Lin was a fucking bully and made school rough some days

She doesn’t hate Dex, okay? She just thinks he needs to learn to live a little and lighten up

Johnny always stepped in if she was crossing a line though

She ranaway from home pretty early on at 14

Don’t get her wrong, she’s lived in Stilwater her whole life. But fuck her parents and older brother

It’s not like they chased after her when she left

She ended up living with Johnny’s family until she could get her own place. They’re exactly what you expect from the people who raised Johnny Gat

Troublesome, Anti-Authoritative, but they were Painfully Loyal and would probably take a bullet for any of each other and their friends

They didn’t really question Lin running away, they asked when she showed up what happened and if she wanted them to do something about her familt but she shrugged it off

”They aren’t gonna do shit, the past is in the past. I definitely can’t go back ever again now though.”

That was enough for them, Lin was part of the Gat family now

She bunked with Johnny, they’d have ridiculous and often dangerous competitions for who got the bed and who had to sleep on the floor every night

When she moved out on her, Johnny moved with her and they are the absolute worst living on their own and together

Who does the dishes? If you’re lucky Johnn did them like a week ago and there’s still one clean glass left, if you’re unlucky then they’ve broken half of their dishes already so have fun doing your shot out of a small bowl

How do they handle when the other brings home a one night stand? They lock the other out of the entire apartment and whoever gets locked out fuckin breaks in because “Fuck you it’s my apartment too! I do what I want!”

Lin dropped out of high school halfway through her senior year, a year after Johnny

The only reason she made it so far was because she wanted to one-up Johnny and was going to sit it out through graduation but got sick of it and decided she made it far enough to be able to hold it over Johnny that she lasted longer

Lin built her voxel almost completely on her own

She and Johnny would hang out in the scrapyard a lot and set up targets to shoot or chase each other around with airsoft guns. Once they started taking their drivers’ tests, Lin started working on a trashed car in the scrapyard while Johnny shot targets or gave her a hard time by shooting at her or shooting at the car and the parts

She also briefly worked at Rim Jobs over the summer as an apprentice under the mechanic

She hated it and she hated the mechanic and she hated how he treated her and all in all just hated everything about it

She tried toughening it out but gave up like 2 weeks in and called Johnny to come pick her up halfway into the day and left with all the money she could steal from the register and a new toolbox + some tools to replace the crappy ones she was using to work on the car before

She pretty much learned nothing new in those 2 weeks since the mechanic didn’t listen and believe that she already knew the basics, so as a result Lin is pretty much completely self taught

Julius wasn’t the one to recruit Lin into the Saints, unsurprisingly it was Johnny

He had joined in a heartbeat when Julius approached him and he immediately dragged Lin into it and telling Julius how much the Saints could benefit with her

Julius of course let her join, regardless of Johnny’s praise, he wanted as many people as possible joining

Needless to say he was impressed with Lin’s canonization

Lin thought it was fucking hilarious when she found fuckin Dexter Jackson rolling with the Saints

”Really? This guy? The teacher’s pet? The nark? The guy we had do our homework for us and cheated off of for tests?”

Dex hated it when Lin showed up, he had respect in the Saints and he knows damn well that Lin won’t care

He stands up for himself a lot more now though and Lin respects that

She stepped off some since clearly Dex knew what he was doing here and he wasn’t the pushover nerdy guy who hated fun anymore

Dex continued to hold his grudge against her though and refused to work with her as much as he could

Lin was no stranger to getting into fights with her own people

She wasn’t about to let people just go around and be casually sexist and racist and just all around douchebags to her, she got enough of that in high school and yeah she got into fights then too, but now she wasn’t gonna let anyone let shit slide

For a while a lot of the older Saints would send over the newer Saints under the impression that they could get an easy lay out of Lin just as their own sort of hazing

Eventually Lin and a few of the new guys caught on and Lin would instead pick a fight with the guys who sent the newbie over or the newbies would just refuse

[nadziejastar]

In a lot of your posts, they have a lot of the texts from the novels and manga. If you were to go off of ONLY the games, would Subject X still be hinted? I think yes, but I'm a casual fan.

Well, I developed my opinion on Subject X based ONLY on the games. I played all the games as soon as they came out. So, that would be many years ago at this point. I didn’t read the novels or the manga until after I beat KH3, which was relatively recently. My opinions on the story/characters were quite solidified by then. I actually read them because I thought KH3′s story was so inconsistent with the previous games.The novels/manga simply reinforced the opinions I already had formed after playing the games. I felt validated by them, but they had nothing to do with my opinion on Subject X. 

Now, are you are asking me if I think Subject X—the way it was written in canon—was hinted at in the games? A mysterious time-travelling girl that Lea and Isa were looking for the whole time they were in Organization XIII? LOL. Hell no. Absolutely not. She was never hinted at even once, not even vaguely. And the way Axel and Saïx were written was never consistent with that motivation at all. If you mean Subject X as a concept? Xehanort’s lab rat? Yes, definitely. That was pretty much EXACTLY what I always expected Isa’s backstory to be, based ONLY on the games. I thought Lea and Isa were set up perfectly to be test subjects. When I play the older games, I’m still unable to see them as anything but test subjects. That’s how much support there was for that idea and how little there was for anything else. 

I was VERY confused when KH3 did feature a character who was Xehanort’s lab rat. But instead of being Isa, it was a random girl he never mentioned before (but apparently was obsessed with). Them being apprentices was something so farfetched, it never even once crossed my mind. I didn’t understand how anyone could give that girl the backstory that seemed 1,000 times more suitable for Lea and Isa. How could the person writing the story not see that? How do they expect the fans to not see it, either? How dumb and/or incompetent do you have to be to write the story that way? How did that even get approved by a whole team of people? Those were my thoughts when I played KH3, based ONLY on the previous games.

That is NOT how someone will feel if a story is well-written. Some people act like Nomura made the story up as it went along, with each individual game. But that wasn’t the case for the games building up to KH3. Re:CoM and KH2FM+ were released together. And BBS, Days, and Coded were being developed simultaneously. These were all part of one big master plan. The way Saïx was written in Days was connected to how Isa was written in BBS, etc. Isa was planned to be a good guy MANY years in advance. IMO, him being the real Subject X was hinted at MANY years in advance. If you think anyone else was foreshadowed to be Subject X, let’s look at the games one by one. 

Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix+

In all the games building up to KH3, the only person from Axel’s past that had any relevance was Isa/Saïx. They could have hinted at Subject X any time they wanted to in ALL these games, but they never did. In KH2FM+, all the new scenes with Saïx involved his relationship with Axel. Saïx seemed to be conflicted about Axel’s elimination. Xemnas made a comment to Saïx about Axel chasing the illusion of friendship. This scene hinted that Axel wasn’t really obsessed with Roxas like people thought. He was really just trying to recover his lost friendship with Isa. I had always suspected that Axel’s “obsession” with Roxas was due to his troubled past, so it didn’t surprise me at all. And Nomura loves twists like that.

They were setting up Isa’s relationship with Lea to have significance, not his relationship with anyone else. It’s absurd for me to think that they were trying to track down a girl they didn’t even know existed. They had real problems to worry about. KH2FM+ also introduced the Chamber of Repose and the Cavern of Remembrance. This all suggested that the experiments on the darkness of the heart would be very important and explored in much more depth. Xigbar seemed to have heavy involvement in these experiments, since he didn’t want to go down into the castle basement. And he’s the one who taunted Saïx about not being able to see Xion and not having a heart.

Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories

Castle Oblivion is all about recovering forgotten memories. The other most important recurring theme in Re:CoM was reuniting with people you miss. Pretty much every Disney world incorporated this theme. This was the perfect opportunity to hint at Subject X, but they didn’t do that. Instead, they chose to keep the focus on Axel’s relationship with Saïx.

Days made a big point of showing that Axel changed a LOT after coming back from Castle Oblivion. Saïx said this to him on Day 193, called “Memories”. He also asked Axel if the past meant nothing to him. Axel said he missed what was gone between him and Saïx. He didn’t mention missing anyone else. There was also a new scene where Axel acted extremely cold to Naminé because she was making two childhood friends fight. Isa was the only childhood friend we ever saw, and he later became an enemy. In every game building up to KH3, Isa was set up to be the most important character to Lea. Subject X? Crickets.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

Axel said in his report that he forgot what friendship felt like after becoming a Nobody. That was the whole point of him befriending Roxas and Xion. He was not focused on friendship until he met Roxas. And Saïx was always cold and indifferent towards everyone, even Axel, who was his best friend that he was inseparable from. They’ve been together for 10 years in the organization. I’m expected to believe that Saïx was able to care about some imaginary girl, but not his best friend? To be honest, I thought that the writers had to be drunk if they thought that was believable or realistic. Or that it made Saïx more sympathetic.

Even in Days, I could tell that Axel had a lot of baggage from his past. He always treated his memories of the past like they were sacred. Day 150 is about having something you can’t bear to lose. He said that for Nobodies, it was their past, because that’s all you have to remember the pain of losing something. Perfect time to mention Subject X. After all, her disappearance was Axel’s motivation, right? But the story made it perfectly clear: Axel was heartbroken over the loss of his best friend. Nothing else was ever mentioned. Axel was good friends with Roxas, but I got the sense that he was much, MUCH closer with Isa. 

Personally, I thought Axel was a former test subject ever since the original KH2. It fit him perfectly. He was a sad, lonely, dysfunctional person. When Days hinted that Axel had a tragic past and dark secrets that he didn’t like to talk about, I was not at all surprised. He suffered from something way more traumatic than someone he barely knew disappearing. And it never seemed like he chose to be in the organization. That’s why he was always yearning for his childhood with things like ice cream and summer vacation. My personal belief is that Axel was always written with the backstory of a former test subject in mind. They came up with Saïx‘s backstory later, though I suspected he might have been a test subject too, due to his scar and his berserk state, which made him seem kinda freakish. We always knew that Xigbar and Saïx were unique due to them having gold eyes and pointy ears.

Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep

When I played BBS, I knew that something horrible must have happened to Isa to turn him into someone like Saïx. The difference between Saïx and Isa was like night and day. None of the other Nobodies were THAT different from their human counterparts. BBS also confirmed my opinion on Axel/Roxas/Xion. Lea was WAY closer to Isa than he was with them. Isa seemed like a shy kid. But he was very comfortable with Lea. And Lea acted much more naturally with Isa compared to Roxas and Xion.

After BBS, it was obvious that Isa was not a villain, and that he was going to be on the good side at the end of KH3. This was the game that was supposed to show you who the organization members were as humans. They showed that Braig was always evil. Lea and Isa were only in one single scene, other than the epilogue. So, why would they choose to show him as an innocent kid who was Lea’s best friend? Obviously, all of this was to show that he was the polar opposite of Braig. How is that consistent with his canon characterization? He sold his soul to Xehanort, did icky jobs for Xemnas at a pace Axel couldn’t keep up with, and tried to murder Axel. Why would anyone in their right mind choose to write Lea’s best friend that way, if he was not possessed? Especially if they wanted him to appear in future titles?

In the epilogue, they showed Lea and Isa eating ice cream together. Sea-salt ice cream was VERY important to Axel’s character. Axel defined friendship as people who eat ice cream together. I knew that Isa was very special to Axel if he was the origin of his addiction to ice cream. They also showed Lea and Isa trying to sneak into the castle. This was BEFORE the experiments took place. So, Subject X had nothing to do with why Lea and Isa were originally trying to sneak in. They wanted to sneak in because it sounded like fun. Not because they thought people were being tortured in there. There’s no evidence the mystery girl even existed back when BBS was written. The apprentices were not recruiting kids to be apprentices, they were kidnapping kids. What reason would Ansem have to let them be apprentices anyways? It makes no sense.

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance

In KH3D, Lea was recompleted. Xehanort was gone. He could have used that opportunity to look for information on Subject X. But he didn’t even mention her. He immediately set off to look for Isa. That was his main priority upon being recompleted, not finding Subject X or Roxas, who had gone back to Sora. Lea wasn’t even concerned that Saïx was trying to hunt him down in KH2. He was happy to look for him, even when he was putting himself at risk using the dark corridors. He used the same lines he did for Xion, which had huge narrative significance. It was clear that he was dead set on bringing Isa home. If Subject X was important, Lea didn’t act like it. KH3D sent the message to me that Lea was VERY devoted to Isa. Why even write him this way if he wasn’t supposed to rescue him eventually? Why make it seem like Isa was kidnapped if he was supposed to be looking for Subject X?

Lea and Isa were also the only two who were wearing the black coats when they were recompleted, which gave me the impression that they were test subjects. The apprentices never wore the black cloaks. And of course, the big revelation in KH3D was that Isa was a vessel. Unlike Xigbar, he seemed like he was being controlled, like a puppet. Lea awakened his Keyblade, the Flame Liberator, immediately afterwards. Xemnas also mentioned mind control experiments in this game. Why bring this up if Subject X was only experimented on for her memories. NONE of the games gave me the impression that Lea and Isa were apprentices, that Isa willingly joined the bad side, or that there was some mystery girl that he was looking for. They gave me the impression that Isa was one of the many characters who needed their hurting mended. That was supposed to be the main theme of KH3, after all.

Birth By Sleep Final Mix+

Xemnas may have called Aqua’s armor “friend”, but that was only because he had access to Terra’s memories. He tried to manipulate Aqua by impersonating Terra in KH0.2. And I got the impression that a similar idea was behind the relationship between Axel and Saïx. In the secret ending of BBSFM+, the camera zoomed in on Master Xehanort’s eyes when he said he had many other roads open besides Terra. Then they zoomed in on the amnesiac Terranort’s eyes, showing that they were brown. They zoomed in on Ansem the Wise’s eyes afterwards, showing that the were orange. And finally they zoomed in on his eyes again when he was in the Realm of Darkness. The implication was that Master Xehanort had so many options because of these experiments. His goal was to create vessels, not learn about the age of fairy tales.

Ansem put his research results in Sora to atone for all the lives he ruined. It can be reasonably discerned that Ansem Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas had orange eyes because of Ansem the Wise probing the depths of Xehanort’s heart, to restore his memory. He gained all of Terra’s memories in the process. And in the games building up to KH3, they specifically changed Saïx’s eyes from gold to orange. This implies that the same thing was done to him as well. We know Subject X was also an amnesiac and that Ansem the Wise hid them away when he released the other subjects. It makes sense that Isa was the same as Terra.

Kingdom Hearts 0.2

When Riku told Kairi that she was going to be training with Lea, she was shocked. She later admitted in KH3 that she was afraid of him, because he kidnapped her. But she said that she found it hard not to like him because all he ever wanted was to help his friend. That’s exactly what I expected to happen. My impression after playing KH0.2 was that Axel’s relationship with Roxas and Xion was meant to provide him with character development. This would allow Lea to fulfill his TRUE purpose in the story: becoming a Guardian of Light and rescuing his real best friend from Xehanort. Axel’s friendship with Roxas was supposed to carry over to Ventus because they both had a friend who was a vessel.

Axel’s friendship with Xion was meant to carry over to Kairi specifically because they were going to be training together in KH3. Kairi awakened her Keyblade because she wanted to bring Riku and Sora home. Lea and Kairi were planned as friends because he also wanted to bring his friend home. Axel’s friendship with Roxas and Xion played an important role in Lea’s development. But my impression was that getting Isa back was the ultimate goal of Lea’s character arc, not Roxas or Xion. And especially not Subject X, who is irrelevant to the Xehanort Saga.

Saïx could not see Xion for some reason that was never explained. He has a large Recusant’s Sigil scar on his face which was never explained. Axel said Saïx’s personality changed drastically, while he stayed more or less the same. This was never explained. Saïx had orange eyes like Xemnas, but this was never explained. Subject X does not explain ANY of these things. But Isa being experimented on as the REAL Subject X just happens to explain ALL of them.   

Kingdom Hearts 3

When Lea said he’d always be there to bring his friends back, Xehanort got a really nasty smirk on his face and sent Isa to attack him. It was just to punish him for ruining their plans. Xehanort knew exactly why Lea was there, and how to hurt him. Then during the final battle, it was a repeat of what happened in KH3D. Lea was ruining their plans yet again and Xemnas wanted to punish him. He was so confident that he had Isa under his full control, he thought he could murder Lea right in front of him and he wouldn’t do anything. He turned his back on Isa, literally and figuratively. Isa was positioned to be directly behind Xemnas’s right hand. He was his right-hand man, after all. Everything was all set up perfectly for Isa to finally betray Xemnas. That’s what being a recusant means in the first place.

Lea’s reunion with Roxas and Xion didn’t even feel like an organic or natural development in the story. It felt like shameless pandering. Subject X felt even more unnatural than Roxas and Xion did, which says a lot. Then there was Saïx’s transition into a “good guy”. If they wanted a character like Saïx to be redeemed, they would need to give him an actual redemption arc. Axel was always sympathetic and likable, and even he needed a redemption arc spanning multiple games. Saïx was WAY nastier than Axel. It would take a LONG time to redeem him. But…he was never humanized. The games went out of their way to depict Saïx as inhumanly cold as possible.

It was a deliberate CHOICE not to humanize him in ALL of these games. Yet there he was in the ending, chilling and eating ice cream, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Now, this would make perfect sense if his backstory was a nice kid who was kidnapped, experimented on, then got possessed. He wouldn’t have needed a redemption arc in that case. So it makes perfect sense why one was never planned for him. In every game, the emphasis was NEVER on Saïx being redeemed, but on Lea saving Isa. The power of waking was the main goal of the story. Isa was introduced in the game called “Birth by Sleep,” which IS the power of waking. 

Lea and Isa being test subjects would have made the story far more interesting for 99.9% of players, I guarantee it. But it’s not even just that. Every game since KH2FM+ was written to give the impression that they were test subjects. There’s no way the writers weren’t aware of that. They knew exactly what message they were sending to people. And it makes waaay more sense than them being apprentices. I could not understand why anyone in their right mind would waste all of that foreshadowing and change their backstory to something FAR less interesting and also not very believable. If something doesn’t make sense it’s usually not true. I’m no detective or anything, but the only thing that makes sense is that Isa was planned to be Subject X for well over a decade. Then at the very last minute it was changed to this new girl. 

There’s three reasons I could think for someone to believe that Subject X made sense the way it was written in canon. They are either:

A. Not looking at the story very closely. Probably a casual fan.

B. A blind Kingdom Hearts fanboy/fangirl who will defend anything in the story.

C. Not very intelligent or perceptive. 

[phenomenalcosmicpowers]

ENDING OF THE END + THE LAST PROBLEM + SERIES END THOUGHTS

Well here we are, the final episodes of the entire series before MLP heads off into uncharted waters of an entirely new 5th generation. The future of MLP is uncertain, there’s absolutely no guarantee and I’d even say it’s inevitable that G5 even if does turn out good. Does not quite hit the same lightning in a bottle G4 did. It’ll be a hard act to follow. Especially given how well the ending was executed. For I truly believe that the two-parter is the best one since Twilight’s Kingdom and the series finale itself is the best single episode since Perfect Pear in Season 7.

Let’s get started with the two-parter first though.

THE ENDING OF THE END

I think the real genius about this two-parter is how it ties just about everything from the past 9 seasons together. Just in the first scene you get Chrysalis placing distrust between types of ponies akin to the Hearth’s Warming tale as she did in the previous Summer Sun celebration episode from this season. It takes having seen most episodes to get everything and know all the cameos. Finales are of course supposed to have some sort of payoff for a lot of things. Throughout this thoughts I may take note of many instances.

The villain team-up while it was first established in the opener can be applied to having big mentions to the finales of Season 2 (Chrysalis), Season 4 (Tirek), and Season 8 (Cozy). The few remaining villains not to be reformed or in the case of Sombra… dead.

The first big twist showing up with Grogar being Discord all this time. It’s certainly strange to have them sort of hype up Grogar only for him to turn out to be an established character and in fact on the Heroes side all along. Though I believe the logic was Discord trying to reform the three by having them experience friendship together like they almost did at the end of Frenemies. And if it failed well it’s another of his “tests” for Twilight and the others to topple over that he’s been doing on occasion since Season 4, though he probably wasn’t expecting to lose his magic amidst all that. On Grogar though, it was a bit weird that we really weren’t getting a lot much about him and even if he was actually a threat they’d have to put some sort of focus on why he’s a bigger threat then the villain team-up (And it’d either playout that the Mane 6 work with the villains once they realize that Grogar’s worse for Equestria then the villains. Though nothing indicated what Grogar plans for Equestira were that destructive, since it was simply instructing the villain trio to use teamwork to defeat the Mane 6. When in reality he was Discord trying to make that teamwork reform them in all likelihood. Like Discord said later he had good intentions, but once again his actions almost resulted in the end of Equestria as we know it just like in Twilight’s Kingdom. Albeit to be fair in Twilight’s Kingdom there was enough reason to believe that Tirek gave him something the ponies still weren’t at that time.)

Finally getting back to our ponies proper, Twilight’s first action this episode is to give Spike the role of royal adviser. You know me regarding Twilight and Spike by now, you just know I love this for all sorts of reasons. ^^

The crazy, superpowered Chaos Cozy moment was pretty funny. It’s also a great setup for something later in the two-parter that’s just as if not better.

But not long before the battle begins.Cozy heading straight for Twilight and the others with Alicorn magic. Tirek easily beating the founders of Equestria, and while she puts up the best fight out of them. Starlight still falls to Chrysalis (Though not without some pretty nice one-liners)

Result is that the rest of the Mane 6, Discord, and a magicless Celestia and Luna hold up a barricade just long enough for Twilight to teleport out as the first half of the two-parter ends.

It’s quite nice that Tirek’s first concern is with Twilight still out there. He probably remembers after the events of Twilight’s Kingdom that there’s a danger of Twilight having some sort of secret trinket or something else that will save Equestria.

Even though the situation they’re in is kind of Discord’s fault. He at least seems to still have quite a bit of cleverness that we remember from his Season 2 debut by tricking Tirek to fire off a blast he can reflect to maybe help free a pony and just so happens to free a pretty powerful one in Starlight.

The Mane 6 get to escape and get to Twilight but amidst some angst about the situation things start looking even worse as the Windigoes sense the distrust that the villain trio has placed in Equestria. It takes some convincing, but Twilight heads the charge against some pretty big odds. And a pretty clever Pinky and the Brain reference (Almost wish Chancellor Neighsay was there for that, given he was Brain’s voice actor)

I like the different ideas Chrysalis and Tirek had about the windigoes which gives an insight on what kind of villains they are. Chrysalis wants to them to stick around to break ponies of Equestria spirits where once they’re defeated by Chrysalis the ponies will have no choice but to bow to her or else she may let the Windigoes come back or something else. While Tirek doesn’t underestimate how hard they might be to control and wants to take them out right away cause they may very well be an obstacle for even an all-powerful villain. A frozen wasteland may not be as ideal to rule over as a normal defeated Equestria after all. But before they can even think of challenging the windigoes the Mane 6 have arrived to challenge the trio for the final battle.

The battle itself is well-done and funnily enough has some resemblance to a part I did in Return to Saddle Arabia where most of the Mane 6 and Spike are about to be blasted to oblivion before some kind of magic shield protects them. Granted it’s not exactly the most original idea to go with a scene where the heroes bravely face potential death before some miracle came in. But I like that a few things I’ve done in Genie Twi had something like it happen in canon.

But anyway yes, the unicorns of Equestria have came together to provide a shield. You have Neighsay, Trixie, Moondance, Tempest, Twilight’s parents, Sunburst’s Mom, and Twilight’s old Canterlot friends (Heck even Flim and Flam are helping which may be a little surprising since you’d expect them to just try to profit. Though arguably maybe they’re just going to try to use the publicity of having helped save Equestria to boost their buisness). And back behind them. Are Yaks, Changelings, Dragons and Pegasi. It’s also very clever for the Changelings to become the Main 6 to help confuse the villain trio as to where the real ones are.

And the reason they’re all here to back up? It’s all thanks to the school of friendship from Season 8 along with the Student 6 there to keep everyone together despite the attempts to divide everyone. The ultimate lesson in education helping prevent people/ponies of different kinds of places and entire species in the case of Equestria to come together. While Season 8 wasn’t the most solid season of the show, the role it plays in this finale really gives it a solid purpose that is better way of saving Equestria then the majority of the two-parters where a miracle mcguffin is used to do it. I still love Twilight’s Kingdom a lot but while I’m still deciding whether I like this two-parter more or less then that one. Ending of the End for sure has the better ending, as Twilight’s Kingdom still kind of uses a mcguffin-esque ending with the Rainbow Power which never shows up again outside of a dream sequence. The thing that saves the day is set up over like two seasons, while the Rainbow Power was generally just keys throughout random parts of Season 4. Which is still great. But the school helping is the end after having been established a while ago is a much better setup.

This was the setup from the superpowered Cozy. Pinkie getting it briefly xD Hilariously burying the depowered villain trio with a giant cupcake. While most see the comic where Pinkie was a chaos princess, I also kind of see something similar when I was introducing Genie Pinkie for Ain’t Never Had Friends Like Us.

But yeah, instead of being reformed. Tirek, Cozy, and Chrysalis will remain in stone for probably a long time. Will they get another chance someday like Discord did who was in a similar situation? Who knows, that’s likely up to fanfic authors to decide that now. There is somewhat of a controversy about this. Though given people have had enough of villains being reformed. Wish granted I guess? Though I think most of it surrounds Cozy since she is just a little filly. Unless the “Season 10” MLP comics get around to it, we won’t know Cozy’s history though so we don’t exactly know how Cozy got this way. And perhaps it’s just easier to assume she’s a born psychopath, though the sad look on her face before she’s petrified probably doesn’t help said controversy. All we can really say is, hey they weren’t reformed after all. You happy now? :V If you want a show that literally reforms every villain, I guess there’s always Steven Universe. And arguably some of those villains did much worse then any Friendship is Magic villain ever. Not to be mean to Steven Universe since I do like that show, but you do kind of have to realize they’re even more lenient on the reformations then Friendship is Magic.

With the battle over, Twilight delays the coronation for some time until Canterlot’s castle is rebuilt. And decide to take a good long break at Donut Joe’s shop. The same place they went to after the first gala the Mane 6 went to. Which is certainly a nice touch.

Overall, just a really awesome two-parter of which we haven’t seen since Season 4. Most of the ending with a bang came from this. But coming just right after, is the closing single episode. 22 minutes entirely focused on closing out the series on a happy epilogue.

THE LAST PROBLEM

Whenever there was discussion about what a series finale for the show looked like. I don’t know if there were many diverse ideas. But there were always two ideas on my mind: A timeskip that shows what the world of Equestria is like years in the future especially after we know Twilight’s a princess where she’d be at the very least Cadence sized. Or a sort of final farewell, where all 6 have their own stuff to pursuit. Which the latter became slightly muddled on somehow they’re still able to teach when some of them already have full careers. But nonetheless the Finale did kind of hit both in a way. Where yes much of the episode is about a time skip but we also get a flashback where the Mane 6 are worried about Twilight having to be in Canterlot now. With less time to spend with her friends.

I must say first of all Twilight looks pretty great Celestia-sized. It would be nice to know just how an “Alicorn puberty” works but maybe that’s a job for the “Season 10��� comics. Spike’s design on the other hand seems to received mixed responses for the most part. Nonetheless, he’s a muscly dragon friendship ambassador that says he’s been trying to bring peace between a dog species (Diamond Dogs) and a cat species (Abyssinians).

Gallus is now in the Royal Guard. A showing that Equestria has truly diversified.

But anyway, we meet Luster Dawn. Someone Twilight calls her top student who sort of repeats some of Twilight’s own thoughts on friendship during the pilot. It’s a sort of history repeats cycle here going on here.

Anyway, while I still love this episode. I do have to admit there’s something I don’t quite get about the moving part. The tree of harmony gave Twilight a whole castle that’s even themed on her. If she was just going to sit at Canterlot. Why was the castle made in the first place and what will Twilight’s ponyville castle be used for? Just for when she happens to be visiting there occasionally?  Do her friends use the castle? Just a little strange to leave a castle that’s perfectly fine and even still in Ponyville for just about everything to work out. Perhaps it’s just a little much to move the capital and a way to kind of keep Ponyville to it’s roots as a generally more outdoor town with less of the royal hubbub. (Then again, because of how the Mane 6 there. So much happens because of it). I guess it’s kind of similar to why have Twilight’s castle when they could of just refurbished the old Castle that was in the Everfree. These ponies sure know how to waste perfectly good castles don’t they heh.

Anyway, we’re getting to real bittersweet part of the flashback. Twilight’s going to be the new ruler of Equestria but being in Canterlot means it’s not going to be a simple walk to see her friends any more. She hopes to see them worried about it just like her. But they seem to be handling things just fine. Unbeknownst to Twilight, they’re just hoping to make Twilight feel better despite the fact that it’s their worries that would make Twilight feel better. The 6 have a good group cry together before they realize the talk has nearly made them late for the train. They even spin past poor Starlight who had a present for Twilight which would have to be opened later. The rush however will have consequences as all the things the rest set up are getting messed up now that they’re aren’t there to head things up. The coronation has lots of things go wrong, but I wonder if at this point the population is generally used to things going wrong with the canterlot events with these 6 like with the Gala. They screw up the formal event but when it comes to saving and leading, Twilight’s done good enough for Equestria.

And now we get to seeing where the rest of Twilight’s friends are in the timeskip!

To the surprise of many, the only one 100% confirmed to be married is Pinkie. Who went with Cheese Sandwich and even had a child (There seems to be a controversy regarding the gender given Big Jim said the script says Lil’ Cheese is male despite having a filly snout and eyelashes while Josh Haber has said no gender was specified. Perhaps we should just say Lil’ Cheese is trans.. if it weren’t for the fact that always gets even worse responses from transphobics). But yeah, while I was never one to heavily ship Pinkie with a character. If I had to see her with anyone. Cheese Sandwich was one that came to mind as a great choice. (Even if we would of thought if any of the 6 were happily married it would be Rarity.) Apparently between Pinkie and Maud, the Pie sisters want someone similar to them. We know anyone that’s just as grumpy as Limestone? Or just as shy as Marble? (That isn’t Big Mac for already married reasons)

Which speaking of which Rarity comes by with some grey streaks in her mane and Tail. Looks like all that stress making dresses late at night has caught up to her heh.

Then Rainbow Dash and Applejack come in at the same time. Some are saying they are a confirmed couple buuuuut it feels like the episode plays it a little too vaguely to say that for sure. They argue like an old married couple yeah, but in all fairness. They’ve done that all series long pretty much. I hope none of you fans of Appledash get mad at me by saying it’s not exactly confirmed here but you’re as free as I am in expressing the opinion on what’s going on here. I may have seen somewhere that Appledash was originally going to be more explicitly shown, but as is we can only take what we see from the final version of the episode. You’re free to suggest they are a couple, but I think I needed more then few dialogue and looks to say that. It’s shipping fuel at the very least, but not concrete like Pinkie and Cheese. But anyway, Rainbow Dash seems to be the new captain of the Wonderbolts after assuringly Spitfire retired and AJ’s still on the farm as always.

Same with regards to the Fluttershy and Discord ship too. Though it might have a slight bigger leg to stand on then the AppleDash thing given the hint from the Angel episode a while ago and the lunchbag with cute drawn faces is there. But otherwise hard to confirm or deny either way. If you think they’re together then they are, if you think they aren’t. That’s all fair.

Anyway, the present that Starlight had was a book of memories that seems to have like enchanted photos of moments throughout the series. Which is pretty cool. Though of course Twilight doesn’t want to leave it off on just the photo album.

Before we get to the very ending, it’s probably something to cover up another slight controversy about this ep: The implication that Twilight will probably outlive her friends. Since Twilight is indeed Celestia sized now and the rest are obviously older with grey hair in the case of Rarity and bags under their eyes. It’s true that this can be saddening to think about, but it’s kind of only bad if they had like shown Twilight see their gravestones after they’ve passed to leave us all sad before the end. Where as it ends here it’s just that they’re older. I know it doesn’t exactly help to know such a future will eventually happen to Twilight. But we must remember that Faust has mentioned that Twilight taking over Celestia’s role was the way she wanted to end the series. And the staff made sure they follow a lot of what Faust wanted. There’s only 3 ways they could of adhered to “Twilight won’t outlive her friends” as said in the Meghan McCarthy tweet. Where either Twilight sacrifices herself to save Equestria from the final threat, the rest of the 6 also become Alicorns, or Twilight somehow vouches to give up her Alicornhood to become a Unicorn again. All of which have their own problems.

Twilight sacrificing herself wouldn’t be unprecedented since it’d be similar to if DBZ had ended with the Cell Saga when Goku’s sacrifice nearly defeated Cell. While Goku’s sacrifice wasn’t what defeated Cell for good, it’d still playout that the main character of the show we’ve seen grow died in a noble sacrifice. Which offers a touching ending but may be a bit of a very sour note to end on for the little girls who look up to Twilight. They’d at least have to make sure Twilight has some sort of Force Ghost type thing, but nonetheless kind of hard to really go for.

If the rest became Alicorns it sort of cheapens Twilight’s own ascension moment. Not to mention it sort of goes to “Every girl wants to be a princess!” which isn’t exactly the case. Maybe arguably things like Flurry Heart being born already kind of cheapened it. But I don’t know it’d just be weird to have like Rainbow be big while still on the wonder bolts. Or a princess Applejack doing the stuff on the farm.

And as for Twilight demoting herself, that sort of makes everything from the Magical Mystery Cure to near the end of Season 9 entirely pointless. Which for people still salty about Twilight becoming an Alicorn might enjoy, it wouldn’t for those who were just fine with Twilight being a princess. There are many areas of the show that some believe the show jumped the shark. Even I’d say the way they executed Starlight’s rise to a recurring character kind of boggled down the show for a good while. But for those who hung on after MMC, there was still plenty of fun we got from the series.

I guess besides these three options maybe you could bring up if Twilight had never become a Princess. Though before she became a Princess we never really knew for sure what Twilight was being groomed for by Celestia. Before Season 3 happened all we could see is maybe she becomes some sort of Grand Wizard ala Starswirl the Bearded after having helped Celestia bring her sister back. But advertisements for Season 3 mentioned a “true destiny” for Twilight And that’s what this was. Some of the stuff people were worried about back when MMC happened have come into fruition here. But even with the fact that there will be a flood of sadfics about when the time comes when all of Twi’s friends pass. It feels like it’s something that was coming anyway. I might be a bit biased on this front though given my own blog has Twilight become a genie before she even became an Alicorn where she had to choose between staying a genie and eventually seeing her friends pass or staying a genie for Spike as well as the massive reserves of magic she’ll have over the years. I can understand everyone’s concern about the implication of Twilight outliving her friends. But whole those still bitter about MMC will shake their fist, we must remember again we see no gravestones. We simply see aging friends at the end of the series. Even with the fact Twilight will outlive them. Twilight still has plenty of time left with them before it all happens. The whole thing gives it a whole bittersweet feeling admittedly, but I wouldn’t say the ending’s ruined by this implication.

Now it’s time though for the final song of the series. And what a note to end on. It’s absolutely one of the most beautiful songs of the series. The chorus always seems to somewhat well up tears in my eyes even beyond just knowing this was the final scene of the episode. The song’s just emotionally powerful in that way. In the midst of the song we also see many older versions of the characters. An older version of the kids from the CMC to Diamond Tiara, and Twist. Pound and Pumpkin Cake older. the older Student six along withe said CMC who seem to be the new teachers at the school. Big Mac and Sugar Belle have their own child (On a sad note you can see Granny Smith’s neck accessory around Applejack as well as Goldie Delicious who’s around Apple Bloom. Both seem to have passed away from old age by this time)

Now what’s really cool is the screen where the 6 come across the screen where the ponies their associated with throughout the series are shown. All the characters that were particularly touched in one way or another by the 6 ponies we’ve come to know over these long 9 years of the show. We see pinkie’s family along with Cheese Sandwich, Gilda, and Cranky. In Fluttershy’s we see Discord, Tree Hugger, the Parasprites, and Iron Will. In Rainbow’s we see the Wonderbolts, Daring Do, Quibble Pants and his family, Derpy, and Tank. In Applejack’s we even see her deceased parents, Autumn Blaze, and Coloratura. In Rarity’s we see Fancy Pants, Saffron, Capper, Ember, and Coco. And of course for Twilight we see the princesses, Moondancer, and heck for the first and only time in the series we see Sunset Shimmer (Albeit it’s kind of sad that this is the only main show appearance for her. I thought I heard somewhere that at some point they were going to show her too and reveal she’s the new principal of Canterlot High. In which I feel could of been a funny dialogue thing where she could say “When I was young, I was sure one day I would succeed Celestia. I just didn’t think it’d be like this!”.

And as Luster Dawn goes to her friends, the sun sets on the day as the Mane 6 all look on. And the book from the very first episode closes. And thus, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was over.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This was just a great ending of the series. As I’ve said before iI’m glad it got to end on this sort of note rather then being cancelled out of nowhere with an ending not quite as satisfying as this. Magical Mystery Cure could of been our series finale had the fans not supported the show so much. Some of the stuff we got would of been implicated of happening anyway if indeed the series ended with *BOOM!* Twilight’s a princess but I think it really helped to see quite a bit of aftermath of Twilight struggling with the promotion until she’s finally ready to step into Celestia’s shoes as the new ruler. We should remind ourselves time and again that’s how Faust wanted the series to end and while this show isn’t perfect and there are times in the shows where stuff dropped and episodes that missed the mark. There are usually amazing episodes throughout that has made following the series worthwhile.

And while G4 as a show is over there is still some comics to look forward to. We’ll also hopefullly see how G5 turns out. Though even if it fails, perhaps one day Hasbro will throw us a bone and do a nostalgic special with the G4 cast again. They’ve sometimes done it for Transformers. Hasbro should have the message sent on what made G4 so successful and they’ll try to somewhat replicate it’s success. Though they’ll certainly have an uphill battle with an all new staff and a hard act to follow.

I’m really glad I found this show all the way back in early 2011. It’s been so much fun following the characters as well as meeting new friends online who shared love for the show and even going to conventions related to all this. There’s still some fandom stuff to be done on my part even extending to next year as I’m not quite done with Genie Twilight yet. It is heavy thanks to this show being great for me that I’m gladly working on a little hobby blog for about 7 years or so. Thank you DHX, Hasbro, and everyone else involved with the show’s run for a fantastic show. We’ll never forget as the magic of friendship grows within all of us.

[demicorpse]

From a Senpai to a Kouhai (OC/Canon - Student/Mentor BNHA One Shot)

Pairing: OC/Ochako Uraraka (NON-ROMANTIC)

Summary: Yuu Ayakur, a fresh first year enrolled in the Hero Course of U.A., has set his eyes on being a Hero trained under the eye of his idol: Ochako Uraraka. Ever since seeing her performance at the Sports Festival, he had admired her determination and a will to fight despite the odds being against her. Today he’s ready to ask her if she can train him, but is Ochako herself up to the task of becoming a teacher?

Word count: 6,085

—

"Oh. This is it."

The wide door of classroom 3-A slid open with a loud thunk, silencing any kind of talk that may have been going on previously. Everyone scrambled to take their seats as fast as they could, expecting the appearance of their homeroom teacher, Mr. Aizawa. Much to their surprise, however, they weren't met with that similar dark, tired aura of Eraserhead. It was someone different altogether, for the person who had just interrupted the class's excited talks of catching up after summer break...

...was a white-haired underclassman.

The boy floated into the classroom, literally, since his legs weren't touching the floor, and yet he kept moving. Bored eyes scanned the room as he went up to the teacher's podium and gently touched down. He could hear their whispers and small giggles, jokes about how U.A. is hiring kids now. They didn't bother him in the slightest. He came here for one thing and one thing only.

"I guess this is 3-A, huh..." Yuu scratched the side of his face lazily. "So...My name is Yuu Ayakur, and I'm one of the new first years in the Hero course here at U.A...I'm really only here to ask one of you something, so don't get too excited..."

The tone in the room shifted ever so slightly. Was this kid supposed to be important?, they thought. He certainly caught everybody's attention, except for Bakugou, who was just trying his hardest to stay calm and not explode on some random child who just strolled into their classroom like he owns it.

"I'm here to ask Ochako Uraraka to train me...I want to work under her and improve myself as a Hero...or something like that..."

And in an instant, all eyes seemed to shift onto her. In the left corner of the classroom, sitting right behind Iida, Ochako looked like a deer in the headlights. Wide eyed, she blinked, unable to really produce any kind of noise other than 'Eh? Huh?'. Someone wants to be trained...by her? Why so suddenly? What's with this kid?! Why--

"Oi."

All heads whipped around to the direction of the door, whose doorframe Mr. Aizawa was now standing in. Like a demon straight out of Hell, his eyes lit up with a red glow and his hair started flowing up in the air, hands pulling at his capture aparatus.

"If you don't have classes here, then leave." He said in a deep, assertive voice. Goosebumps ran all over the bodies of 3-A's Heroes, despite not being the targets of his wrath.

Yuu, though, looked as calm as he did when he first entered. He started to float right past Aizawa and out of the classroom with so much as a glance in the class's direction, except for when he was almost out of the doorway. With a single look to the right, he saw that Ochako Uraraka was looking in his direction, and she looked...confused.

—

"I'm telling ya', you should take him up on it!"

Lunch. The school cafeteria was bustling with energetic and hungry kids. Bits and pieces of ludicrous conversation floated in and out from one ear to the other, and the smell of delicious cooking prepared by the one and only Cooking Hero, Lunch Rush, permeated throughout the tables.

Ochako sat with the girls of 3-A this time, rather than with Izuku and Iida. It wasn't that she started to dislike their company, but with her feelings getting more and more flustered by each day...it was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, so from time to time, she had to take a breather.

"Oh, oh, look, she's thinking about it! She's not even listening to us!" Hagakure chimed in. This partially brought Ochako down from her mind palace as she put on a small smile.

"C--come on you guys, he had to have been joking! O--or maybe it was some sort of rite of passage for first years, you know?! I mean, there's so many other people he could have asked for..."

"I don't think he's playing a prank, Ochako. He looked pretty serious about it to me, kero." Tsu added her piece before devoting her attention to the small bowl of strawberry jelly.

Jiro twirled her finger around her elongated earlobe, a small quirk she's seen doing every now and then. Without so much as looking up from her phone, she pretty much agreed with everyone else. "I mean, he looked and acted pretty weird, all straight-forward like that, but it takes balls to just come into Mr. Aizawa's class without at least notifying him, don't you think?"

"I guess..." Ochako slumped in her seat, puffing up her cheeks. Momo gently pat the top of her head as she chewed on some rice.

"He admires you for one reason or another. That's a good thing, is it not? I think you should give him the time of day. In his eyes, you're someone worthy of looking up to and deriving inspiration from. It could be soul crushing for him if you decline his offer."

Ochako slid down her seat even further, her knees practically touching the floor.

"Heeeey, you can't just slip out like that!" Mina hustled her by he shoulders and brought her back up, a nervous look on her face. "This kid really wants to be trained by you, y'know?! And like Momo said, it might really hurt him if you say no..." She tilted her head to carefully gauge Ochako's reaction.

"I...well, I..." Running a hand through her hair, Ochako groaned as she seemed to deflate. "Fiiiine...I'll talk to him about it..."

The table erupted into small cheers.

"That's my Chako-Chako!" Hagakure drilled a finger into Ochako's ear, earning her a giggle.

"You guys are taking this way too seriously! I don't even know why he picked me in the first place!"

Tsu put a finger up to her mouth. "Maybe he has a crush on you. Kero. It's kind of cute."

A crimson red blush overcame Ochako's face, with Mina, Hagakure and Jiro giggling all together at how serious Asui seemed to sound about that. Even Momo had to turn away to properly swallow her food first and not let it all spill onto their table.

"D--don't say stuff like that, Tsu! I'm like a grandma to him!"

"We're just teasing our sis' so she doesn't let her sudden fame get into her head!" Mina gently punched Ochako's shoulder, and before she knew it, the topic changed to something else. She herself didn't participate much in the conversation after that, as only one thing weighed in her mind.

Why her?

—

The doors of U.A. High swung open, and out poured hundreds of young Heroes and students alike, tired and ready to take a long nap after a hard day of bettering themselves under the wings of their teachers. Ochako, Iida and Izuku were locked in an idle chitchat pertaining to one of the classes they had today with Ectoplasm.

"It's really easy as long as you keep in mind the formulas!" Iida fiercely posed his hands this way and that, Ochako and Izuku on both of his sides having to dodge not getting hit. It felt natural to them by now.

"You're probably right, Iida. It just seems like there's so much more to write for such a simple answer..." Mused Izuku as he held onto the yellow backpack strapped onto his back.

Ochako was about to give her piece on the difficulty of their lesson when she happened to glance forward, and she saw a familiar head of white hair floating a few inches above one of the benches near the entrance.

"U--um, guys! You can go head over to the dorm now, I--I'll catch up! I think I left something behind in the classroom!" She made up an excuse for seemingly no reason...it was possible she didn't want neither of them to tease her about this whole thing, just like the girls did.

Iida and Izuku threw one another some looks, but they chose not to question her nervous behavior. "You can go up to Mr. Aizawa and ask for the homeroom key, I'm sure he'll help you out!" Iida advised.

"Y--yep! Definitely!"

They waved each other goodbye and separated. Ochako, however, only took shelter inside the school and waited for them both to disappear. It was only then that she peeked out from the entrance doors to the school and looked down the main path to confirm whether or not Yuu was still there.

Sure enough, he was. Floating gently above the ground and throwing a red, plastic ball in the air and catching it perfectly with his hand before releasing it again. Passing the time in his own way.

Ochako sighed. 'You can't run away from this!' She thought. 'Why are you being so nervous! It's just a little kid! He's...kind of weird, but you're his senpai, right?! Act like it!'

For good measure, Ochako slapped her cheeks for a confidence boost. All that did though is make her cheeks burn.

"Um..."

Yuu's head turned to look at Ochako as the ball returned to his hand. "Ah, you've arrived." Despite not even looking at her, Yuu continues to throw the ball up and down, grasping it between his fingers without any effort. It was kind of hard to focus on him that way, but Ochako shook her head as her gaze returned to the young boy.

"Y--you're the first year that introduced himself this morning, right?" Of course he was, but she was just making sure. She'd hate to embarrass herself.

"Yeah, that's me...I guess I wanted to skip the awkward intro..." His half-lidded eyes looked her up and down, as if examining her in a way. Ochako Uraraka, the peron he had admired the most ever since seeing her fight so hard at the Sports Festival, standing right in front of him, nervous.

His face and his voice...they both looked and sounded so bored! Ochako was feeling less and less confident about this whole thing with each passing second. Maybe this was a mistake? Maybe Yuu had wanted to train under somebody else. It had to have been that, right? There's no way...

"Um, l--listen, I'm really flattered that you want to train under me, but this has to be a misunderstanding. There's so many other people here at U.A. that are more experienced than me, and I'm not very--"

"No." He cut her off with a final catch of his ball, pocketing it afterwards. Ochako gulped. Was she really this anxious about a first year?

"I kind of admired you ever since I saw you as a first year at the Sports Festival..."

Ochako quickly flashes back to all of that. That insane, insane year, and most importantly, the Sports Festival. The challlenges, teaming up with Izuku, fighting Bakugo and losing despite her best efforts, her call with dad...

"...Your determination...the way you tried so much to beat that brutish guy that was against you...I honestly don't really care that you lost to him. I saw...I saw the kind of fire that can burn inside of someone if they just try. And then, way later at the internship that you had. I mean, what you did with everybody else was just so amazing..."

Yuu's eyes looked to the floor now, a little shy to look directly in Ochako's eyes. She herself, however, found herself to be unable to speak right now. A gentle wind passed through them both, carrying bright green leaves with it and a lukewarm breeze reminding them that summer is ending.

She stood still, listening to him talk.

"...To someone who's not very good at recognizing it, your Quirk might not be very useful in combat, but you...you made it useful. You did everything you could to utilize it in the situations that you faced, and you came out victorious...kind of. I mean, you lost that fight against the rude guy, but...but you get what I mean."

Ochako thinks he didn't have to rub it in.

"But you get my point, right? No one ever really brought those kinds of emotions in me, not even the Number One...but when I saw you, I was kind of...lifted. It's why I chose U.A. as my school. Because I knew you'd still be here."

Just them now. Alone. Nobody else in the vicinity. Yuu looked up from the ground and right into Ochako's big, brown eyes.

"Please, Ochako Uraraka. I want to be as good of a Hero as you are. Will you..will you take me under your wing?"

There it was again. His request. He was that serious about it, then...to him, she was an inspiration that brought him here in the first place. Did he think about her when he was passing his exams? About how she would've done it? She never thought she'd be in this kind of position, really, and now here it was, right on front of her.

"I..." She sees something in his eyes then. A desire...a will to be better, to learn, to grow and to inspire others after him. Through the mask of a tired, lazy looking boy is something Ochako was possibly the first one to catch. In all of her years at U.A. nobody had ever approached her so directly about personal training of all things. Sure, there's times when she passes the halls and she can hear the whispers of first, seconds years talk about how 'that's Uravity! the one who was involved with the Yakuza mission, right?!'. And she would smile to herself and keep on walking, enjoying the tiny bit of reputation she had built for herself.

Seeing his desire...In a way, he felt similar to...

"If you need some time to process, I can--"

"I'll do it!"

Ochako clenched both of her fists forward, putting on a grin. Just like *he* does. Just like *him*, she smiles through her anxiousness, and focuses on the prospect of wanting to help out a fresh underclassman when he's asked her to.

"I'm sorry! I just...I got a little overwhelmed when you just showed up all of a sudden, and at first I thought it might've been some kind of prank, maybe your friends dared you to do it, but looking at you now...I--I can definitely see that you're serious about this! And, even though I think I might not be the right fit for this, I wouldn't want to disappoint my...my fan." Fan. It feels so silly to say, but she feels warm when she does.

Yuu stares at her, face only slightly changing. The emotional impact leaves him unable to focus on keeping up his Quirk, and so he gently touches down to the ground, looking up at Ochako with big, bright eyes, now shining with a newfound determination, a want to improve himself and become better under the bubbly eye of his mentor.

"T--Thank you." He makes an attempt to sound less noncommittal than he usually does, which Ochako can already appreciate. He's already trying to change himself for the better.

"Ah, but, you know, I don't have a strict training routine or anything, so you're gonna have to give me some times to come up with ideas! And, uhm, I'm gonna need to know about your Quirk, and if you ever really had any experience with combat--"

"I see..." Yuu looked up at the sky thoughtfully when Ochako started shuffling through her bright, pink backpack, pulling out a small notebook and a pen, clicking it open.

"Right, just so I don't forget, I'm gonna go ahead and write down everything I can about your Quirk! Go on!" She lowered her pen near the page, ready to write whenever he spoke. Yuu blinked several times as he realized he was being spoken to.

"Ah. It's...it's called Piezo..."

—

"Alright, I'm full of openings! Come at me!"

It had been a few months ever since that faithful encounter between Ochako and Yuu. Ochako herself felt guilty that she hasn't been able to train with Yuu as much as she actually wanted to, as her studies and homework simply kept piling up on top of one another, despite it being barely the beginning of the year. She reassured him constantly about how she's not wasting her free time on him, rather it's better to do this than sit around and watch some dumb melodrama on TV. At the very least, no one could tell her that she's wasting her free time anymore.

Time passed, and as the underclassman grew to see Ochako more as a friend rather than his 'teacher', he started to feel more...relaxed whenever he was alone in her presence. He didn't seem so unsure or bored when he was with her, it was quite the opposite. Yuu always looked like he was ready to give it his all when both of them trained, and she was all for that! There was one glaring issues, however, that Ochako learned pretty quickly...

Yuu can't really fight to save his own life.

"This seems suspicious..." Yuu squinted his eyes. The pair had set up their schedule so that they can meet every three days in front of class 3-A's dorms, slightly away from the view of her classmates.

Ochako, hands confidently set upon her hips, stood some feet away from Yuu with her legs wide apart, a stance that showed she wasn't nervous in the bit. The underclassman was set up in a fighting stance he'd learned from watching other Heroes, but of course, that wasn't enough. He needed practice.

"You gotta learn somehow, right?! Come on, just run straight at me and try to throw a punch!" She insisted.

"What the hell...Here I come." With that declaration, Yuu set off at his running speed. When he was withing range, he swung his arm back and tried with all of his might and strength to bring it down upon Ochako. Next thing he knew, though, he was flying through the air only to have a rough meeting with the dirt and grass below him.

With a grunt through gritted teeth, Yuu had to take a second to collect himself and realize what exactly just happened. It was when Ochako calmly walked up to him, hands behind her back and a smile on her face, that he realized he was laying upside-down on the grass.

"Did ya' really think I'd let you get a free hit in?" She tilted her head, long, brown hair swinging as she did so. "Come on, you're gonna get worms up in that uniform if just keep laying there!"

With Ochako's help, Yuu gets up, brushing himself off from all the grass that was now in his pockets.

"What did--what did you even do? I know that wasn't your Quirk...I didn't see a pink glow..." She seemed impressed that he'd notice such a small detail. He really was that devoted to her...

"I call that the 'Gunhead Martial Arts'! During my time at the Hero Office Internship, I was under the care of the Pro Hero Gunhead...He taught me and his other students several ways to defend ourselves without the use of our Quirks. His technique relies on using the strength of your opponent against themselves, so that you can easily dispatch them if they're threatening your life!"

"Gunhead...Isn't that guy really scary..."

"H--hey, he's actually really cute!"

Yuu smirked. He wouldn't admit it, but seeing Ochako getting flustered like that about certain things was kind of funny. "You're supposed to do those Internships right after the Sports Festival, right...even if you don't get any recommendations?..."

Ochako nodded. "That's right! Deku didn't get any, but he was still required to look for one himself...Ooooh! Oh, oh!" She slapped her hands, suddenly excited about something. "Aaah, you know, if you wanted to, I could call up Gunhead after the Festival and maybe drop in a good word about you! I bet he'd teach you a lot better than I do, and maybe you could learn a new thing or two that he hasn't taught even me!"

His eyes shined at the prospect of interning at the same Hero Office that Ochako did two years prior. A good word about him...learning how to master the skills of Gunhead Martial Arts to improve his combat experience...it all really sounded so unreal to him right then and there, and his head actually hurt a little as he thought about it all.

"S--sorry, I wouldn't want to force you to go to the same place where I went! Y--you're totally free to go wherever you want, it's just a thought--"

"No, I'll go to Gunhead. If he trained you to be this good, then he's definitely reliable enough..."

Ochako learned it's best not to discourage Yuu from something once he sets his eyes on it. He knows him. If it's a 'probably', there's a chance of changing his mind. 'Definitely'? You'd have more luck trying to sew something with oiled boxing gloves on.

"Ah, but..."

Ochako perks up. "Yes? You wanna keep going?"

"Yeah, but, the thing is...I want to learn how to fight with my Quirk, too...Throwing people around could be fun when I learn how to do it, but if I don't apply my Quirk to it, then it's basically if I was just a Quirkless kid..."

He was right. Up until this point, she had seen Yuu use Piezo for moving himself and making things float, crumple, etc. Not once did she ever see him use it for offensive means.

"Hmm...well, let's start with something simple, then! Do you know how you wanna make your Quirk all flashy, flashy?" She waved her hands around enthusiastically. Yuu looked at her for a moment before looking up, thinking hard. He tilted his head this way and that before speaking up again.

"Well, I can kind of put pressure on my body using Piezo, so I was thinking of a way to use it when I'm punching or kicking...But so far I don't really know how to do that..."

Ochako looked at him, putting a finger up to her chin. It felt like every day she spent with Yuu she was turning more and more into a mini version of Deku...But that wasn't important right now. Or maybe...it could help?

'What would Deku do?' She thought to herself. If Izuku had Yuu's Quirk, something that might not appear to be that offensively effective or useful for the user at first glance, how do you turn that around and make it into a weapon that could be used against the likes of really flashy and simple Quirks?

"So, just to recap, when you touch something, the more you clench your first the more pressure you put on something?"

"Yeah..."

"Hmm...maybe you could...maybe you can try..." Ochako straightened her arms out, looking between her two hands. And then, like a train going at 500 miles per hour, the idea hit her.

"Have you tried pinpointing a single area of your body?!" She blurted it out without really thinking about it.

Yuu stared at her and tilted his head. "Eh?"

"U--uhm, like, see, just--" Deku keeps mentioning how he focuses his power in his legs, which causes them to be more effective, while his arms suffer less damage. That's the answer! Maybe if Yuu can do the same...

"Try using your Quirk on your right hand only, and...keep that pressure in there. It might be difficult since it's your first time, b--but just try for now, okay? Slow and steady! And--and make sure you don't overdo it. Clench your first slowly, alright?" The last thing Ochako wants is to watch the start of another kid who's willing to break his body over and over again to be the best.

Yuu slowly brought up both of his arms, unsure but curious about her idea. He had tried to use his Quirk on himself before, and of course, he succeeded in the way that he's able to float himself a few inches above the ground, but that was more of a passive move than something like this. Focusing his power on his fist and keeping it that way for long enough without getting serious vertigo. This had potential. He knew that.

Without another, Yuu brought three fingers onto his right hand and activated his Quirk, a purple glow emitting for a few seconds before it disappeared. His left hand was an open palm, letting his right stay in a sort of 'neutral' state as he gets used to the strange feeling centered in his right. He could faintly feel a tingling sensation all over his body, sure, but it was all centered in his right fist.

"Okay, good! You're feeling something, right?"

"Y--yeah...What should I do now?"

Ochako looked unsure. She saw the way soda cans could crumple into practically nothing when Yuu used his Quirk to it's fullest extent. It's alright, though. They just needed to be careful, right?

"Uhm...try closing your left fist, but veeeery slowly, okay? Stop immediately if--if you feel pain of any kind."

Yuu looked at her, then nodded, and began to do as told. His left started to close as slowly as he could manage, and something began to pulse in his right fist. Not pain, not yet at the very least, but Yuu started to sweat a little bit as the pressure kept advancing. Ochako started to look less and less confident about her idea. She couldn't bare to keep teaching him if she'd gotten the answer wrong. If he gets seriously hurt and she has to say that it was her fault. If she fails him as someone he looks up to...

"M--Maybe you should release now?"

Yuu ignored her. His left, now almost forcefully, kept closing in, and Ochako could see that his right was beginning to redden and look somewhat smaller, like all air was being sucked out of it, like it was being pushed inside, because technically, it was.

"Yuu, come on, I told you that overexerting yourself isn't good! J--just--"

"It's fine!" He yelled. Jolts of pain kept coming up and down his body now, all pulsating from his right hand, matching his heartbeat which was now picking up in speed. Just a little more, he told himself. If I can push it this far, I can go even farther. To use my Quirk like Ochako did, using it to fight and to protect, to become a Hero like she will!

It hurt. He felt like his hand bones were simply like twigs for a fire, ready to be snapped and burned down into ash any second now. He was balancing on the edge of an endless pit, and he could always quit, and he could release at any time, but he had to know how far he could push it. How much could he handle before--

"Yuu!"

He whipped around and a tree came into his field of vision. Disregarding whatever safety protocols Yuuei had in place, Yuu released his pressured fist right into the middle of the tree's thick bark, and a resounding sound came into place, like a whip snapping something in half, more than likely alerting any teachers that might be out on night watch for those who might want to sneak away into town.

And as soon as he did that, Yuu opened his left and released his Quirk. All the pressure on his right was gone in an instant, leaving him breathing and sweating for air as he clutched the fist that was on the brink of being broken into God knows how many pieces.

Ochako, concerned, ran up to him and put her hands on his back, careful of her pinkies so as not to float the boy away. "A--are you okay?! Aaaah, I told you to stop, I swear, you're just like him!..." That last part came out on its own, but she wasn't wrong. Except, unlike Deku, Yuu managed to keep his hand intact.

"I...did I..." His tired eyes looked up into hers. He wasn't concerned in the least about his health, about how Ochako was now scolding him for stepping out of line when she told him to stop and take it easy. In Yuu's eyes was a burning, raging fire of discovering a new use for his Quirk.

"Did I do it?"

Ochako's concerns were still there, but again, she knew him. Yuu wanted results. He can worry about consequences later, if he even thinks that such things exist. In any case, her eyes traveled from him to the tree, and what she saw made her heart skip a beat.

In the thick bark of the tree, imprinted clearly as day, was the shape of a fist, set in about halfway.

Yuu looked up for himself, and from the look on his face, it was clear even he himself had no idea he was capable of doing something like this.

Finally, after a minute or so, Ochako broke the silence between them.

"L--Let's end it here for now. We can practice using...that...when we meet up next, o--okay?" Yuu simply nodded. He was feeling tired all of a sudden, perhaps the exhaustion of the day at school caught up to him, or perhaps the sudden birth of a new technique, or maybe it was a mix of both. Whatever the case, Yuu had finally found a potential way to offensively utilize his Quirk.

And the Sports Festival was merely a month away now.

—

"Honestly, I think you did amazing overall! 4th place is something to be proud of!"

It was the day right after the Sports Festival. Ochako, being the person that she is, decided to spend some time with Yuu after celebrating their own victories with 3-A. Right afterwards she met up with him and took him to a nice café down in the restaurant district, not too far away from U.A. High. She had an odd feeling that Yuu might not be too satisfied with how things went, however, placing just one place below 3rd, not even good enough to be given a medal. And, of course, that odd feeling turned out to be correct. Yuu looked like he was about ready to pressurize himself into a black hole and stop existing.

"And really, I--I'm proud of you for coming in that close! 4th place is just behind 3rd, so when all the others are looking at the list of winners, everybody else will think 'wow, he must've worked so hard, he came in so close'!" Ochako pumped a fist into the air, throwing in her best efforts at cheering the young boy up. Despite her optimistic nature, her efforts seemed to be going right through Yuu as if he had become a sunken, gloomy ghost. He was starting to look like one, too.

"Hey, Yuu..."

"I'm sorry I let you waste your time on me." His first words finally come out, and they were hurting Ochako like daggers. How could he say that? After everything that's happened, after all their training, their hardships through figuring out how to put Yuu's Quirk to use, he feels like all that time was wasted?

"Don't say that. I really did enjoy the time we spent together..." She said, brows furrowed.

"Not even 3rd...that's what hurts the most...I wasn't even third..." His slow manner of speaking was dropped, like the mask Yuu had put on for Ochako was crumbling away, showing off a side he was almost ashamed to attribute being his. His eyes, once full of a roaring flame of determination, were now filled with sorrow, a deep regret for not being just a little bit better, not being good enough. He could feel that damn lump in his throat, his eyes watering slightly as he tried to fight that God awful feeling back. Not in front of her. You can't cry in front of her, you're not that weak, weak people don't...

"...Do you remember my fight with Bakugo?" She spoke in an uncharacteristically serious tone. Yuu looked at her with glassy eyes, ready to burst.

"I mean, hah, that's a stupid question, of course you do..." A sad smile. "That fight, I didn't let everything about Bakugo intimidate me. I just saw him as another opponent that I had to beat before moving forward, so when I saw him as just that, I wasn't feeling that scared...I had a plan. I knew how to use my Quirk against him. All I had to do was make sure everything went right, and it did! Up until the moment when he blew it all away, I...I was fighting with everything I had."

What was she getting at?

"What I'm trying to say is...sometimes, both in life and as a Hero, you can do your best, you can do everything perfectly up to a 100%, and you can still fail...It sucks! It sucks so much when you put your blood and sweat and tears into something only to see it burn away like you didn't just put so much effort into it!" She laughs a little, but it's mostly out of pity for herself.

She didn't even notice when Yuu's tears started splashing down onto the bright pink tablecloth. When she did look at him, noticing how he started to tremble, how snot was coming out of his nose and how small he looked...God, he was just a kid, wasn't he?

"H--hey, don't--don't start crying now or I'll cry too!" As she said that, tears ran down her cheeks as well, but they were smaller, more...happy. Why was she so happy? Certainly not about his loss, nor was she happy to see Yuu so vulnerable. She was happy that, after all this time, he was finally showing her a side he hasn't shown to anybody else in his life.

"S-s--so it's..." He sniffed, trying his best to dry off his nose and his tears on the sleeve of his uniform. "I--It's okay that I--that you--I mean, y--you spent so much time with me, even though--even though you were so busy! And that I couldn't--I couldn't even get into top--top three?" Yuu put his palms up to his eyes, rubbing furiously as the tears just kept coming. Why won't it stop? Why is he crying so much? Ochako said it's okay, she's not angry, she's proud, so why can't he stop crying?

   From across the table Ochako reached out to Yuu and held their heads together in a messy, but otherwise comforting hug. The boy kept whispering apologies between ragged breaths, and Ochako retaliated with louder confirmations that it's okay.

"I'm proud of you for coming that far, you know! So don't you dare go on saying that what we did was wasted, okay?! You had the courage to come up to me of all people when you had so many different options, and you kept up your training even when it seemed so difficult and impossible, and you still came so close! Don't you say all of that was wasted on nothing, got it?!" She smiled, crying still. With his head so close she didn't need to see that Yuu simply nodded to her request.

"I--I'm going to be training even harder now! I promise, Ochako! I'm going to become someone who--who tries his hardest and places more than a little behind the top! I'm not going to disappoint you anymore, I--I promise! I promise..."

"What'd I just say about saying you disappointed me you dummy?! You gotta stop that first if you wanna keep being my little fan!" Ochako laughed, and Yuu laughed, and they broke the hug as the tears started to dry out now. They kept giggling to themselves as they wiped the messes on their faces with the provided napkins.

Ochako snorted into one of the last napkins. "Ahh, I should call up Mr. Gunhead soon. I gotta make sure you get in with him!" She smiled, looking back at Yuu.

"Ah, actually, there's something I wanted to tell you..." He scratched his cheek sheepishly. Ochako perked up, leaning forward. "W-what is it? Did you get an offer already?! How many?!"

Yuu straightened out. And as the morning sun poured it's little rays of light through the window of the café, he grinned as wide as he could, an effect of hanging around Ochako for months now. She really was rubbing off on him in a good way.

"Just one. From Gunhead's Hero Office."

[thenightling]

When fandom becomes... Just dumb...

A few months ago I said that the fandom for Neil Gaiman’s Sandman was probably the nicest, warmest, most inviting fandom I had ever become a part of.  And this is still true now.

I was also in the Lucifer TV series fandom.  The show is what made me finally decide to give Sandman a chance last June. (Better late than never!) 

Ever since the cancellation however I have seen the Lucifer fandom kind of deteriorating...

Before Lucifer was canceled, the dumbed thing I had seen in the Tumblr fandom was bearing the occasional “headcanon” that Lucifer and Chloe would one day rule Hell together as King and Queen and they would live happily ever after in this way.  I have tried to rebuff this, explaining why I don’t believe Lucifer would want to go back to ruling Hell and why someone like Chloe could never rule Hell, also using quotes from the shows star that it’s “the ultimate redemption story.”  this all indicated to me that there was no chance Lucifer would go back to Hell. But explaining this perspective earned responses of “They have a right to their opinion!”  Yes, and I have a right to disagree with that opinion and to counter it with my own.  Having a right to your opinion does not mean it cannot be disagreed with. “Right to my opinion!” is not a magical shield that protects you from the opinions of others.  I hate when people use that to shoot down or dismiss discourse.

Yes, you can have your own “headcanon” but I’m just explaining why I don’t think it really works with the canon as we know it.  And I have a right to feel that way as surely as you have a right to feel contrary.   

No one can tell you what you can or can’t imagine.  That is always your choice but I have a right to explain why I don’t share your vision.  I have a right to disagree with it and imagine things my own way.  That’s what right to opinion actually means, it doesn’t mean “I get to make anyone who doesn’t agree with me shut up forever.”  I get to disagree with you, you get to disagree with me. That’s freedom.

Ah, but that was the worst of it for a while.   Nothing too serious really.  But then... Then the show got canceled.  And I made the mistake of joining several “Save Lucifer” facebook groups. And... things got dumb quickly.

First there were / are people who literally reply to everything with #SaveLucifer and #PickupLucifer.  And they even write it on meme pictures... Because Somehow Twitter can read a picture you posted on Facebook now?   

Besides the general lack of understanding of how hashtags work there were a few people out-right discouraging mentioning the source material.  “I ignore any post that mentions the comic strip.”  If you try to explain the difference between a comic book and comic strip you’re told you’re “Butt hurt.”  One woman with utter authority decided to say “Show fans are not comic book fans and fans of the show would never read a comic book.”  Umm... Excuse me?

A few “Most people don’t know it’s a comic.  I only know because my kids told me.”  It’s in the opening credits of every, single episode.  Do you cover your eyes when the text is on the screen?  

Then there were the constant sharing of express(dot)co(dot)uk articles, no matter how many times you tell them they’re a clickbait tabloid.  Stories that distort simple things like Tom Ellis doing an interview with BBC News and twisting it into “Is BBC Entertainment buying Lucifer?”  The trusting of Express is still on-going.

One posted about how in the Lucifer comics he doesn’t even quit Hell.  I tried to break it to this person that they were reading the wrong comics and he most certainly does quit Hell.  They have to read Sandman first and then Lucifer’s solo comics by Mike Carey.  He quits Hell in Sandman.  Later They posted something similar (about how Lucifer doesn’t even quit Hell in the comics) a few days later.   When I, again, tried to tell them that they were reading the wrong comics, they replied with “Are you done trying to spoil the whole story?  I’m not reading replies because I don’t want spoilers.”  

What part of…

YOU ARE READING THE WRONG COMICS

Do they not accept?  If someone knows this person please break this to them.

One recent incident I had was trying very hard to explain to an “expert” that the two Lucifer bonus episodes are NOT leftovers from Season 2.  That the season 2 episodes held over for season 3 had aired much earlier in the season.  Though I had linked a Q and A with Dan’s actor (director of one of the episodes) and a recent question response I saw on Neil Gaiman’s Tumblr, also confirming that the filming had been relatively recent- this person insisted they had done their “Research” and was refusing to accept that they were confusing old, several-month-old stories about the season 2 hold over episodes, and the two bonus episodes actually filmed for season four. 

People like that had been confusing and misleading fans and even commenting on articles about the bonus episodes because they couldn’t grasp that episodes filmed in season 2 and used for season 3 are NOT the same episodes shown AFTER the season 3 finale. They were shown after the finale because they weren’t actually intended for season 3. 

Here’s the common sense thing:  Season 2 Lucifer was filmed in Canada.  You can spot the Hold-over season 2 episodes easily because they are still using the Canadian sets and passing Vancouver off as LA. Those bonus episodes are using the authentic LA sets.  It’s not that complicated.   

   It would be one thing if this was just one person but several people were making this mistake and or repeating the misinformation.  Claiming, with absolute certainty, that those bonus episodes were filmed back in season 2.  Despite the fact that those two bonus episodes were still being sound mixed only days before they aired and were always intended as “stand alone” episodes for season four.  That’s also why the show had ended on a cliff hanger. They had thought they were definitely getting a season four. 

This particular one argued fiercely, this on particular “researched” person, and tried to explain away why she wouldn’t click the links I’d provided and wouldn’t read my ‘essay long” replies “because (she) has a life”.  Yeah, it became “That” kind of an argument.  

And there was at least one comment of “I wish Morgan Freeman had voiced God and not some random British guy.”  (That had earned sixteen likes...)

Then there were those who insisted Fox was going to buy Roseanne, that they had proof Fox was buying Roseanne (Satire articles and random Twitter posts from strangers) and that Roseanne would replace Lucifer.   After that came the conspiracy theorists that “One Million Moms got it canceled.”  One Million Moms was protesting Lucifer before it even aired.  If they were successful it would not have had three seasons...

Then came those that posted screen grabs of the show now airing on Mondays at eight.  Saying “This is what they replaced Lucifer with!”   Umm... I shouldn’t have to explain this to grown ups.  The season was over.  That means even if Lucifer had gotten a fourth season, that show currently in the timeslot, would be there.  That’s called a “Summer replacement” or “Summer filler.”  But again, it wasn’t just one or two people. It was lots and lots of people all saying things like “This is why I’ll never watch Fox again!”  “I can’t believe they think THIS will do better than Lucifer.”

One poor girl suggested that she would have liked it if Azrael dressed like a Goth girl like Death of The Endless only to get horrible responses of “lol I think Angels predate Goth.”  Yeah, and?  Angels predate Nightclubs, Armani suits, and Piano too.   And “No, I like her nice and sweet.” and “No, I like her nerdy.”  What exactly do they think Goth means?  Due to so much anti-Goth commenting the girl eventually deleted her post.  

Some of the weirder ones (that feel like they never watched the show) are people talking about how they’d happily go to Hell to be with Tom Ellis as The Devil.

And a few posts saying “I’d sell him my soul” with several agreements.  But in the comics and TV show he repeatedly says he does not buy souls.   You were told this IN the show.  He doesn’t like this sort of thing.  He’s all about free will, remember?

 In the two weeks I’ve been in these groups I’ve seen more obnoxious fanwank than nearly any other fandom I have ever been a part of.   I had never seen fandom so bad in such a concentrated way.     

But the last two days I’ve seen the worst of it...

First I witnessed one of the head writers ask William Shatner if he’d be willing to play God if the show comes back. (This happened on Twitter and then spread everywhere.)  This bothered me a little bit since I had just heard Neil Gaiman would be happy to return to voicing God.  Apparently Neil had even said “Just try and stop me.”  

 Now if it was another “Dad is possessing someone” story, sure. I could have accepted it but it still didn’t sit right for me.   And it was the comments that followed that really got under my skin.  “Yay!  I didn’t like Neil Gaiman as God anyway!” and “Good. Neil Gaiman sucked as God.”   Wow...  Such nice fans. so polite about the guy who created the thing they love. 

Neil Gaiman has stood behind SaveLucifer along with William Shatner.  And suppose this was a temporary “possession” thing (as I was starting to suspect it would have been) and Neil Gaiman was set to come back after that?  You think posting that he was awful is a good idea?  This should be common sense but  bashing the voice of the man who created the character is rude.   

I know she (the writer) was trying to rile up the fans at the exciting idea of William Shatner making a guest appearance but immediately after Neil Gaiman said he’d happily come back, and not giving context to how “Dad” would be Shatner caused problems in the fandom, not unity and cheering.  And weird, senseless, sudden insulting of the man who created the character.  I really don’t like that.

The writers have made some really horrible decisions in trying to manipulate fan reactions. That drawn out “Will Chloe ever learn the truth’ and then last minute cliffhanger come to mind.  Along with the whole “Will Chloe choose Pierce(Cain)?”  NO!   Of course she won’t pick Cain!  Tom Welling told everyone who interviewed him that the role was temporary.  Everyone knew it wouldn’t last. 

My experiences today though top the cake.

An anonymously created fan art is circulating of a fake season 4 poster.  “One Man.  Two faces.”  And it even says #SaveLucifer ON the poster but there are fans mistaking it as real.  It’s a fan art photoshop job not even of the tone of the first three season posters!  It literally says “#Savelucifer” on the poster!  It looks almost like a poster for a low budget horror movie.  But they are mistaking it as real.

And finally, there is mild- very slight- not taken too seriously, rumor that Neil Gaiman’s Sandman might finally be adapted.  I know what triggered this rumor.  It’s because Matthew Cable is going to be in the new Swamp Thing series for DC’s streaming service.  And today Matthew is more well known for his role in Sandman than Swamp Thing.       

And for the first time in my entire experience in the Lucifer fandom I saw true anti-Sandman comments.  Not anti comics (I was starting to get used to those even if they felt like 1950s level ignorance), but actual anti-Sandman. 

 “If they do Sandman but not Lucifer their streaming service is gonna fail!” and “Boycott Sandman!”  “It’s our Lucifer or no Lucifer!”  You don’t even know what’s IN Sandman!  You might even like it!  It’s not a competition.  The Sandman didn’t make Lucifer get canceled.    

They don’t even realize some of their favorite lines IN the Lucifer TV show are direct quotes from the Sandman comics that they are now bashing!

When the fans start bashing the character’s creator, and the source material I tend to lose interest.  It’s like when I saw that the director of Victor Frankenstein had said the Mary Shelley novel was “as dull as dishwater.”  Yeah, how’s that working out for you, pal? 

  At this point if Lucifer is saved I’m not sure I’m going to watch it.  

The facebook portion of the fandom is really rubbing me the wrong way.  And most are thirty-somethings acting like children or newbies to the Internet. 

 In closed (private) Facebook groups replying to posts with a nausea inducing chorus of #Savelucifer and #Pickuplucifer (and jpeg pictures of the hashtags as if that somehow works!) is not going to DO anything.  And many are literally replying to everything with those tags or adding it to every post and when people try to explain that is not how the hashtags work in a private group on Facebook they get angry and accuse the person of not actually wanting to save the show.  It’s demented.

I admit I was already a little bitter the third season of the show focussed on the “ships” too much and ridiculously stretched out the “Will Chloe ever find out the truth?” only to leave it on a cliffhanger, and the writing in season 3 felt inconsistent to me. - (Cain wants to be mortal and then after a very short conversation decides he wants to be immortal.  As if he never considered the pratfalls of being mortal in his thousands of years of life?  He “loves” Chloe but opens fire on her?  And don’t get me started on what they did to Mazikeen, or Trixie accidentally giving pot brownies to her elderly teacher until she couldn’t feel her legs.  And Maze “hilariously” - and treated like it’s no big deal- throwing male strippers into traffic...) -  but I was willing to fight to try to get the show a fourth season, in the hope that a fourth season could go back to the quality of the first two seasons.  However after all the stupidity, rudeness, and assholary I’ve witnessed in the last two weeks I don’t think it’s worth it.   I know none of them will read this as they seem allergic to “long” comments.  

I’m getting seriously burnt out on the behavior of too many Lucifer fans...

[multsicorn]

a very very long list of maybe wip’s

Since I'm working on setting up a binder of WIPs for myself - here are all fifty-nine of them.  All are Check Please: mostly Jack/Parse, most of the rest Parse-centric, most of the rest Jack-centric, but a few random other fics too.  Quite a few of these are only ideas, but most (~75-80%, at least) have anywhere between a few hundred and a few thousand words written, and some have considerably more.

Votes or encouragement as to which particular fics I should work on are very much welcome!  And in fact a large part of the point of posting this.  Pleaseee tell meeee what you want to seeeee.

JACK/PARSE IN THE Q

golden haze -  Kent was Jack's first real friend, ever.

crash into me - Jack likes crashing into things.  Kent likes being crashed into.  Checking practice, kind of, Jack/Parse style.

one warm line - Parse wakes Jack up one night in the middle of their Q years, throwing pebbles at his window.  They're going for a ride.

i'm so high - Jack and Kent hook up for the first time at a party when they're smoking weed, when the smallest touches feel like so much.

the beat of the tambourine - Parse picks up a girl for Zimms.  For a threesome.  Before they're together, back in the Q.

closing the guest room door - Alicia walks in on Kent blowing Jack.  It's the first time it's happened, too.  The Zimmermanns hadn't known anything about any of this, but now they do.

beneath the waves - There are two attractions in Rimouski: the Juniors ice hockey team, and a maritime museum.  Jack kind of wants to live on a submarine.

edge of glory - Kent kisses Jack high on adrenaline and the win, feeling unstoppable.  They only have thirty-four days together, but they start out pretty great.

ace kent fucks jack - Kent doesn't care that much about fucking, but he cares too much about Jack.

don't make promises - Kent visits the Zimmermanns after Jack's out of rehab, and Jack scares him even more.

JACK/PARSE CANON DIVERGENCE

find your lips in the streetlights - Kent and Jack run away from the mounting and dangerous pressure of the Q.  And Jack almost dies from benzo withdrawal; nice move?

what's the multiplier for i love you - Parse has a career-ending injury at seventeen.  He ends up going to Samwell, and starts managing the hockey team there before Jack even shows up.

one skate in front of the other - In which Jack wakes up from his overdose to find out he's still been drafted in absentia.  To the Las Vegas Aces, third round.

different verse same as the first - Jack manages to get through Draft Day successfully.  He ODs about a year later, at his first NHL awards; Parse still finds him in the bathroom.

JACK/PARSE POST CANON ISH

jackparse goat fic - Kent is outed during Jack's last semester at Samwell.  It's a spark that makes Jack talk to him again: and again, and again, with starts and stops along the way.

bitty's bad bakery - Turning a profit doing something you love is really freaking hard.  Just cause Bitty's good at baking doesn't mean he'll be good at running a bakery; and Jack can only finance it for so long, no longer.  Cue Kent the accountant showing up to help.

max assholes au - In which Jack marries Bitty with Kent's spunk still in his mouth.

we're pining friends - In which Jack and Parse become friends again, and Jack's so not thrilled with Parse's boyfriend.

jackparse valentines - Jack and Parse on Valentine's Day, at eighteen and again at twenty-eight.  Sweet but not too sweet.  Just right.

developing - Jack likes taking pictures of Kent.  Kent is curious about why.

may the bridges i have burned light my way back home - Jack's nearing thirty.  His performance is flagging, his boyfriend broke up with him, and now he's at Kent Parson's thirtieth birthday party, wondering how else his life could've gone.

JACK/PARSE AFFAIR REVEAL VERSE

conference room fuck - You can't put Parson and Zimmerman in a room together.  But if you do, you can't keep them from fucking.

you wouldn't cheat at cards (i would if i could) - Jack continues to cheat on Bitty with Parse throughout the summer after Jack and Bitty come out to the whole wide world.  At the NHL awards, at Parse's summer place in New York, at Jack's birthday.

under the rainbows - After coming out to the whole wide world on live TV in June, Parse comes back to the Aces in September.

tinfoil crowns - A look at the meltdowns of Hockey RPF fandom, as Jack Zimmerman comes out, followed by Kent Parson, followed by Parse and Zimms getting back together, after all!?  How crazy it must be when the tinhatters are right.

letting them see your hands - In which Shitty works through his feelings about Jack cheating on Bitty, and Shitty and Lardo discuss their relationship, too.

waking up to shape the land - When Jack comes to Vegas to play the Aces - and, by the way, see his boyfriend - he's woken up by Kent's nightmare.

functional exes - After Jack cheated on Bitty with Kent, and it all blew up spectacularly; after some damanged friendships were restored.  Jack and Bitty are both there for Shitty's wedding.  Bitty's a pro at keeping things civil; Jack… wants to apologize?

JACK/PARSE IN TOTAL AU'S

the hockey prince - Jack is a Prince; Kent was his best friend, and his right hand man.  Till Jack disappeared in mysterious circumstances, and Kent may or may not be to blame.

ai romance - Jack is an AI that was always meant to drive a robot.  Parse is, well, a parser.  The part of a computer program that takes in and processes input, before it passes it on to the real heart of the program.  A part which, it turns out, can't work right without its parser after all.

cult au - SMH is a cult house!  That's why everyone there has to always be happy.  Pies make people like you; flip cup is a good fill-in for a hippie ritual; and no wonder Jack cut off everyone he used to know when he joined.

cut the legs off the whales - Jack and Parse were soulmates.  Jack died for three seconds, and now they're both stuck with half a broken bond, with all the luck at hockey - or at life.

JACK/PARSE NON-ENDGAME

you're still my patron saint - Jack's OD is fatal.  Kent's got the biggest chip in the world on his shoulder.  Hockey killed his boyfriend, and he wins the Stanley Cup, and then he comes out, furious.

progress report (i am missing you to death) - AKA 'five times Kent tells Jack "I miss you," and one time he doesn't.'

P(B)J

can you say menange a trois - Zimbits porn featuring dirty talk about the absent Kent Parson, because Bitty's 'Kent parson. Wow.' face reads easily as 'dead from too much hot.'

married in vegas - Jack and Parse get accidentally married after a Falcs/Aces game, cause you've just gotta have the trope when in Vegas.  Starts with Jack still in love with Bitty, not sure where it was supposed to end up.

scalene - Jack and Parse aren't fighting over Bitty.  They're fucking over Bitty.  I mean.

awful threesome - Parse guilts Jack into letting him visit Providence after Jack and Bitty come out, and Parse gets hit with redoubled specuation.  Then he hits on Jack and Bitty, cause why not, and they, surprisingly, take him up on it.  This isn't a good idea for anyone.

PARSE CENTRIC GEN

butterflies fly away - Kent moves into Vegas.  His sister flies out for a few days to help.

the one that saves me - When he first comes to Vegas, Kent's shit at taking care of himself.  Maybe he can take care of a cat instead.

PARSWOOPS 2K18

parswoops in providence - Swoops is standing between Parse and the door to the worst life choices.

two aces in the hole - Parswoops in which Parse and Swoops are both ace (and get together, romantically), cause thinking about a dumb pun accidentally gave me feelings.

parswoops post year three - How can Swoops tell his best friend he likes guys, when said best friend is the only reason he figured it out?  Also, still isn't over his last best friend yet.

PARSE/RANDOM DUDE IS THE AO3 TAG FOR PARSE/HAPPINESS

parse slash scraps - There's something nice, Parse thinks, about having a friend like Scraps, a friend who thinks you're the smartest, coolest, handsomest guy in every room.

by the scruff - Kent really wants to pick a fight.  Alexei Mashkov won't give it to him.  But… that kind of is a fight, right?

makes no difference who you are - Parse wishes on a star: to talk to Jack again.  Chowder wishes on a start, that same night: to know what it's like to be on an NHL team.  They wake up in each others' bodies, and have to find a way to get back.

a pretty good genie - Shitty is the best genie, okay.  How'd Parse get one of those anyway.

players gonna play - In which Kent Parson bonds with Gus Kenworthy over adorable pet pictues at the Olympics, and then they hook up.

the aces' flyboy - In which Kent tweets a request for a date to the NHL awards, and picks up a local dude who responds.

MORE JACK CENTRIC FIC

quiet kid - Who the fuck prescribes benzos to a thirteen-year-old kid, anyway.

what if i ruined your life - Visiting Uncle Mario, in the late 00s, Jack hates Sidney Crosby.  (I can't resist the fourth wall.)

jacklardo - Lardo hooks up with some dork named Jack at her very first college party.  They're better off as friends; he was hot, though.

jackshit - Jack and Shitty hooked up as freshmen.  What else do you want me to say.

tie down the jesses - The newest Falconer needs to learn a lesson.  Needs to learn his place.

dirty boys - You're not supposed to look in the locker room.  Don't bring it onto the team.  Oh, and stay faithful to your boyfriend.  But Jack's always wanted what he can't have.

ZIMBITS

i like when boys stop by  - A rough fill-in of the conversation that decides Bitty's staying with Jack for the summer that surely must've happened.

how do you make it for real - the zimbits coffeeshop au for fandomtrumpshate that i've been struggling with for over a year now.

HOLSOM & RANSKOV

and go seek - When Ransom's crush on Alexei Mashkov turns out not to be unrequited, Ransom and Holster are pushed to reevaluate their relationship, too.

BITTY???

bitty in the echl - Being captain of a pretty decent NCAA team gets Bitty a surprise job offer post-graduation from the Worcester Railers.  His relationship with Jack bends and breaks under the stresses of their dual hockey careers, but there's a familiar face in Bitty's new life.  He never thought that he'd see John Johnson again.