#I'll get back to something resembling plot eventually

[bubblesxo]

i dont know if you will see this but i am a big fan of your g!bruce meets the batfam!!!! I literally have tumblr just for this series (and now that I’ve tried it im beginning to love it ngl) . Annyywaayy ive just read the new chapter and it’s so good!?? Like i am really excited for the next chapter!!!

Oh and I haven’t watched gotham ( im planning too ) but i sometimes mix the twins????? Like your explanations are good dont get me wrong but yk when your reading and you need to check which ones which? Yeah … and like i want to fix that idk how .do i just like memorize the twins personalitys??

also in this au is theres 2 jokers??????? I saw you once mention Jerome(?) being revived or something

ps .im that great at English sorry .

oh wow wow wow thank you so so much!! i'm really glad that you're enjoying my story so much! it really means a lot to me. <33 i think your english is good! but if you need/want me to clarify anything i say here, just let me know and i'll try to rephrase it for you!

okay, so in the Gotham tv show (this has spoilers for all 5 seasons, so read on if you're okay with that) the way that they approached writing the joker was actually really up in the air in the beginning. this is because they didn't have the rights to use the name "joker," and so fox (the company that made the show) planned on making a bunch of smaller characters in the show as a kind of easter egg as people who could be the joker or who resemble him in some way.

this changed when cameron monaghan (the actor for both jerome and jeremiah) guest starred in s1e16 "the blind fortune teller." in it, the character of jerome is introduced as a 17/18 year old boy who travels with the circus with his mother, who is a snake dancer. he is meant to be one of the aforementioned joker-like characters in the show and wasn't actually supposed to be included again after that episode, if i am not mistaken.

however, the viewers LOVED his performance and jerome came back in season two as a member of the maniax, a group of arkham inmates who were broken out of the asylum. i won't go too into detail about the actual plot, but in seasons two, three, and four, jerome shows up in at least a few different episodes with very memorable storylines each time.

it isn't until season four of the show that jeremiah is even revealed at all! jeremiah and jerome are identical twin brothers, however, jeremiah has been in hiding for years under the fake name "xander wilde" in an attempt to escape jerome, who wants to get revenge on him for lying to their mother about what he (jerome) did when they were children. basically, jeremiah lied to their mother (lila, who jerome is revealed to have killed in 1x16) that jerome tried to kill him, causing jeremiah to be sent away and be adopted by rich people and get to go to a well-funded private school where he could live out his best life as a child prodigy (which was jeremiah's end goal to this), whereas jerome was left behind in the circus that they lived at (haly's circus, the same one that dick grayson later was raised in before being adopted by bruce). during this time, jerome was horrifically abused by his mother, his uncle, and his mother's many romantic partners. this eventually caused him to crack, which creates the character we see in the show.

here's an easy way to remember the difference in their personalities:

in the standard american deck of cards, there are two jokers: one that is black and white and one that is in color. in this analogy, jeremiah is the black and white joker and jerome is the one in color.

this is jerome:

he's got a *very* boisterous personality. he's outgoing and charismatic and, of course, severely messed up in the head. he *enjoys* the pain he causes people and does it with little to no reservations. he thinks things through less thoroughly than jeremiah but jerome always has a plan and is actually quite smart. i couldn't do him the disservice of calling him the dumb twin, despite some points about jeremiah that i'll get back to later.

anyway, jerome has a grand plan for all of gotham: he believes that, fundamentally, everyone in the world is like him and is also at least a bit crazy inside. he wants everyone to tap into their inner selves and let themselves run free / go crazy. he successfully ensnares huge hoards of gothamites with his persuasive way of speaking and interesting flare to his words. he amasses a large cult following, all of whom are very similar to him in the sense that they all demonstrate similar signs of instability.

here's some more gifs of him.

jerome kind of invented the iconic "HAHAHA" signature joker laugh in the gotham universe, even though he isn't the one who goes on to become "mr. j" (gotham's version of the joker) in the end (that's jeremiah, though i have a lot to say about that).

jerome's always smiling, a genuinely creepy smile that throws people off at first but can be really scary once you know what you're looking at. he single handedly turns gotham into a madhouse on multiple occasions and is the one who basically spread the "crazy" to the general population (for short: genpop).

he's a classic cult leader in the sense that he can mesmerize a whole room with his magnetic presence but also will ruthlessly cut down any of his followers if they so much as upset him (or even if they're just being annoying or could have a greater purpose, like when he stabbed a follower in the gut to take their blood to draw a frowney-face on bruce).

that reminds me, another important thing to know about jerome is that he has an iconic stapled-on face! this is because he died once (in season two, though he came back to life for season three onwards) and one of his followers tried to revive him using some insider medical knowledge from doctor hugo strange (who is just... a whole thing. ew.). he thinks that he failed at doing this and steals jerome's face so that he can wear it on television in an attempt to control jerome's followers (spoiler: this doesn't work).

however, it turns out that jerome *was* revived from this, and he's pretty upset that some dude stole his face! so he uses a staple gun to re-attach it after he gets it back (and kills the guy who did it). his face is later punched off by jim gordon but reattached more properly during his time at arkham afterward (the carnival scene happened in season 3 and jerome came back with a kind-of healed face in season 4).

here's some gifs with jerome's messed up face!

jerome is the colorful joker because he's very much expressive. he lets out every single emotion he feels---unless he's trying to deceive someone, at which point he is a phenomenal liar. (in season 1 when we are first introduced to him, he almost successfully gets away with the murder of his own mother.)

jerome is funny and laughs a lot and is *loud.* he's also absolutely insane and incredibly cruel, as well as impulsive, but he's able to curb his instincts if he feels like he can pull off a big plan.

jerome is a showman by nature. he's a product of the circus and it *shows.* everything he does is like an act, something that is acknowledged by many people in the show.

he's a funky lil dude. totally crazy, but kind of adorable at times.

he's also SEVERELY traumatized from his horrible past and has huge trust issues.

so, yeah. jerome is colors! remember that.

unfortunately, pookie died in season 4 and doesn't seem to have been revived this time </3

now, onto his twin brother jeremiah!

jeremiah is, at least at first, presented to be the complete opposite of jerome. he's calm, collected, and seemingly sane---at least at first. bruce trusts him at first and he even befriends him for a period of time before jeremiah betrays him.

jeremiah is a genius engineer, and, when looking into his past, we can assume that he was a child prodigy. he worked with thomas wayne before he died and designed the wayne plaza building under the aforementioned alias "xander wilde." he also locked himself in an underground maze for ~6 years (i believe?) and never went outside, instead sending his proxy (ecco) out to act in his place during business transactions.

as seen here, jeremiah seems to be the complete opposite of showboat jerome:

when we first meet jeremiah, we are told that he is totally sane, but we can later see that this is not the complete truth.

i'll use jeremiah's project as a metaphor for this. jeremiah was building a set of generators which could make energy harvesting and usage much less expensive and much more bio-friendly (if i remember correctly). bruce promised to fund his project and jeremiah accepts his offer quickly.

after jerome dies in season 4 after kidnapping bruce and jeremiah, he left behind a concoction of chemicals that seemingly make jeremiah go insane. this is a play on joker toxin / joker venom from the greater dc universe.

however, after jeremiah reveals his new self

he says that the spray did not actually change who he actually is, but just gave him an altered appearance. there are a lot of fan theories about this, but the general consensus is that the spray likely lowered his inhibitions, which gave him the kick needed to reveal his true self.

even his complexion resembles the joker he corresponds with: black and white. he is the black and white joker because he isn't as expressive, is way more calculated, and is more cruel and less happy. even his skin is paper white.

here's some gifs of what he looks like after those "slight cosmetic changes" :

that looks a lot more like the joker we know and love today, right? bleach-pale skin, red painted lips, green hair. he's instantly recognizable as the stereotypical joker now.

remember when i mentioned the generators? let's go back to them. the entire time that the generators have been around, they've also been perfectly functional as powerful bombs. their ability to be used as bombs does not undermine the fact that they can also be used as generators, and both of these things were true at the same time *for the entire time they have existed.*

it is in this way that jeremiah's paradoxical nature has always existed. jeremiah is crafty, cunning, and absolutely vicious. he has no care or concern for human life in general and will sacrifice most people in his life if it means that he will get what he wants in the end.

this is shown both before and after the joker toxin in how he lied about jerome when they were children (which caused jerome to be heavily abused) and in how jeremiah willingly killed one of his most devoted and beloved followers, who was being ransomed, just because someone put him on hold and it was personally easier for him to just kill him than sit on hold on the phone for a while. (he also has a vicious streak, though, because he immediately moved the demolition of the bombs up to immediately once he was out of the blast zone because those people inconvenienced him.)

something that's important to realize about jeremiah is that he has an issue with being called crazy. jerome does, too, but he eventually comes to accept the term, almost like he's reclaiming it, but jeremiah is *violently* against it. that's one of the things that set him off in the previously mentioned interaction.

both jeremiah and jerome are obsessed with bruce, though in different ways. jeremiah sees bruce first as his best friend and later as the "brother [he] could never have, that jerome could never be." jerome just sees bruce as a particularly entertaining and interesting kid who he enjoyed tormenting who he would eventually kill.

anyway, despite jeremiah being crazy (or, depending on who you ask, just less inhibited) he is still crazy smart and calculating. he thinks through everything before he does it and his master plans seem like they go on forever with 10000 parts to them and backups and contingencies galore.

the only time that jeremiah ever really seems to break out of this is when he's fighting with bruce. while he still does have a greater point to make or something he's trying to accomplish, he thinks through things less with him and shows his impulsive and rash side a bit more, which is interesting because jerome showed his thoughtful and contemplative side when faced with the obstacle that is bruce thomas wayne. i love parallels and contrasts, especially in these two characters! i just love writing about twins, they're always so interesting.

some important things about their relationship to one another:

even though jerome kidnapped jeremiah and seemingly strapped a bomb to his neck (after breaking into his house and telling him that he would kill him), jerome doesn't seem to actually want jeremiah to die. instead, as we later find out, he wants jeremiah to unleash his true self and carry on his legacy of chaos and cruelty in gotham for him after his death. this is why he left behind the laughing gas for him.

(the fact that jerome thought to do all of that shows that he really was a smart character and that he truly did understand the world around him well. he knew exactly what would happen in the event of his death, i.e. bruce offering to fund jeremiah's work and jeremiah accepting, as is shown when jerome has the joker venom in a present box which claims to be sent from wayne enterprises.)

jeremiah *hates* to be compared to jerome in any way, as he thinks of himself as "the face of true sanity." he actually has an entire notebook full of jerome's ideas, which he says he will outdo and perfect, thus defeating his brother in the end, which i don't know if i agree with, but whatever.

i think that it's because of the reputation that jerome got at the circus. jeremiah wanted people to think of him as better than jerome and as the perfect child, which he succeeded at. to him, jerome is synonymous with crazy, which i've already mentioned that he hates to be called.

okay, just one more part to talk about. the infamous, much anticipated Mr. J!!!

in the series finale, it is revealed that jeremiah, after falling into a vat of acid, is horribly disfigured and pretends to be in a vegetative state for the whole ten years that bruce is on his quest to improve himself before becoming batman. he does this as a way of waiting for bruce to come back to gotham so he can continue to be obsessed with him.

however, though this is jeremiah, it seems that he has actually gone through immense mental trauma sometime during this time (perhaps during his fall into a vat of chemicals), which has caused him to sort of lose his sense of self. he once says that there was "another me" [another him] once, which is, of course, referring to jerome. this implies that jeremiah sees jerome as an extension of himself, almost, and almost makes it seem as if mr. j is a whole different entity of his own.

hopefully this clears everything up a bit for you!! let me know if you have any questions or want to know anything specific about the characters and i will be glad to oblige!

thank you once again for being so kind as to leave this ask!! it really made my day. thank you for enjoying my fic, i hope it continues to live up to expectations. i have a lot of fun things planned (and i am very happy that you decided to look into these characters more, because they are actually extremely important to the plot as we get more into the actual story!). <33

[oceansssblue]

I love Mermay! May I request a mer!reader x Sailor/Pirate!Fives? The reader is a siren and is technically supposed to be luring Fives and his friends to their deaths, but ends up not doing so after getting into a convo with him. When someone (Palpatine, Fox, random guy, whoever you want) does try to kill Fives, the reader is able to save him. Happy ending please!

Hi there! Yay! As I have said before, I will be writing all my requests, but MERMAY! requests have priority over others even though they have been requested on a later note!

Dear anon, ty for the request! We're def going for a "cruel" badass siren that will be to her surprise captivated with our charming pirate Fives. Palpatine is obviously the bad guy.

I don't know much about sailing and i'm trying to do a past era alternative universe thing, so ignore any incongruences and that.

I hope you like it!

Xx,

Sky.

"A CHANGE OF CURRENT"

FIVES/MER!FREADER 📩💔💖

WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF DEATH, BLOOD, WOUNDS, CRUELTY, SIRENS KILLING/EATING HUMANS, BITES, SCARS. REFERENCES TO ECHO'S TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE. DON'T GET SCARED. THIS IS MOSTLY FANTASY&MISTERY&FLUFF.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Being friends with the Captain doesn't allow you to lounge around, Fives" a voice almost identical to his teases him at his back.

The man in question turns around and grins. Echo has a half-fond, half-exasperated tiny little smile on his face. He's dressed in a similar way to him; thin linnen shirt with a deep opened v-neck and rolled up-pants, just in different tones of blue.

"Actually, it allows me to do exactly that" Fives retorts cheekily. Before Echo has a chance to put him into place, always the responsible of the two twins, he adds. "And I'll let you know lounging is a very important task on the "79's".

Echo arches an eyebrow. He crosses his arms in front of his chest; his hook just grazing the still pale skin of his left peck. Too much time spent trapped away from the sun.

"Is that so?" His brother humours him. The sun is hovering right upon them, bringing darker shades on Echo's already angular face. He's slowly filling out a bit, though, and for that Fives is glad. "How does that work, exactly?"

Fives tilts his head to the side. Echo always thought one of his twin's radiant smiles could iluminate any ship at the darkest of nights. That's the way he could eventually find the way back home, back to the 79's; Fives.

"Keeping a good mood is crutial to a ship's crew" his twin continues, going on one of his tangents. "It makes everyone work better, faster. Reduces fatigue and dangerous thoughts like plotting a mutiny".

Sometimes Echo wonders if Fives has all of this little stupid dialogues planned in his head just because, waiting for their chance to come up. The silliness of his twin's mind never ceases to surprise him; even after so many years of living together travelling through the seven seas.

"Like any of us would ever plot something of the sorts against Rex" Echo rolls his eyes, amused.

Fives shrugs, big smile still in his tanned face. They used to look so similar, Fives and him, before the accident. Now there are just... resemblances. Similarities. Probably the thing he hates the most about what happened –besides loosing his limbs–; how they had visually differentiated him so much of his twin, of his other half. For all Fives could be tiring and obnoxious, Echo knows he couldn't live without him. Even though getting used to his new body has been incredibly hard, he's glad for this second chance with him.

"I dunno' " Fives voice quickly brings him back to present time. He mimicks something dropping onto his head with his hands. "I think I'd look great with Captain Rex's hat".

Fives imitates the Captain's fierce expression and seriousness, still holding onto his imaginary pirate hat; and Echo can't keep the chuckles inside.

"You're a jokester, Fives".

His twin grins again.

"Don't make me repeat why that's important, now".

Echo smiles. Softly, this time.

Around them, at this time of the early afternoon, right after lunch, the crew of the 79' is surprisingly quiet and calm. The sea is peaceful today as well; nothing like the day before or the previous night. They're delving into dangerous waters, now. Places that don't quite appear on the map.

"What were you doing here anyways, all alone?" Echo asks.

Fives hums distractedly and glances in front of him again, at the sea; one leg staying inside the ship and the other dangling over board. The two of them have always been a little reckless like that; specially Fives.

"Thought I heard something" he whispers, then turns back to his twin again. His eyes suddenly look innocently young again, and his twin is suddenly reminded of past memories, of the two of them enlisting in the 79' when they were barely kids. "Do you think sirens really exist, brother?"

Echo sighs. They have all heard stories; but no one on board has ever personally seen one. He doesn't really know what to believe; could they be truly real, or are they just stories invented by lonely men that live by the sea?

"I don't know, Fives" he answers, going for honesty.

Fives hums, scanning the waters again; looking for something it's not quite there.

"If they do, do you think they're truly evil, like the stories tell?"

Echo stays quiet for some minutes. Then, he glances down at his hook; at the wood that replaces his legs. The skin that stays in contact with them feels sore and pained; he really should get some rest. He sighs, tired.

"I don't think so. If they do exist, and they do have something against us, I guess they'd just want to kill us directly, eliminate what they consider a danger and threat for their waters" he pauses and breathes in deeply. "I don't think they'd slowly torture us like humans do. We're the cruelest beings on land or not".

Fives golden eyes silently travel back to Echo's. He reads between the lines. He understands his point.

"You're probably right" he quietly answers, the moment unexpectedly delicate now. He shakes his head and smiles. Softer, gentle, now. "Come on. Let's go shut some eye".

Fives stands up with renewed energy, abandoning heavy feelings behind; and pats Echo's back affectionately. His twin nods knowingly, and follows him through the ship. Even though it doesn't mean he doesn't feel just as deeply –Maker knows he does–, Fives has never been one to hold up emotional conversations for too much time. They weigh heavy in his heart.

Echo takes his space on the thin cot –if you could call a bunch of old shredded clothes and blankets pushed together that– beside him and closes his eyes. Both of them, that night, dream of sirens and mermaids and all those stories the sailors spread around. They aren't aware how close they are to see some of those stories become alive.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

You've been following them for two days now. Your job is to patrol the very limits of your world with the human's sea; and you were instantly alerted of their presence when they arrived, that enourmous ship of them difficult to miss.

It's not the biggest one you've seen. You had a fight with another one once, years ago; it's wood almost a dark black and it's sails a vibrant red. You still remember its name; Death Star. An aproppiate name for such an evil captain, such an evil ship. That fight was the main reason you had been assigned to keep all humans out of this waters; they just take and take, leaving nothing but destruction behind. You're not about to lose anyone else; not to the unforgiving, beautiful, yet terrifying sea, and definitively not to one of them.

This humans don't really seem to be looking for anything in particular. You had waited patiently, trying to find out their needs and wants; but reached no logical conclusion. They just seem to be... Wandering. Exploring. Ah, perhaps they're the curious ones. Many humans seem to be, just in the way young sirens are in their first years; wanting to swim through every single corner of the sea. See the world with their own eyes, and not through what elders tell them. You had been like that as well, in the past.

Mm. No matter. You're not putting the lifes of your people at risk just because these ones are looking fairly innocent. You know how quickly the tide can change directions, how surprising and dangerous the currents can be; and you're not going to let yourself be dragged by it. You'll do what you have to do; observe, wait patiently, and at night, lure them in. Your tongue wraps delicately around your sharp canines, excitement running through your veins.

You swim deeper into the sea below the ship. You almost feel impatient to play with them.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

You curse under your breath, quickly hiding underwater when he almost catches sight of you while scanning the sea. You've seen this particular human before; often staring at the water or the horizon, a contemplative look on his face. He's a dreamer, this one; sometimes looking younger than you suppose he really is, others quickly snapping back to reality and jumping to his work with surprising skill. He's handsome as humans go; bronze skin looking smooth under the unforgiving sun and trained muscles peaking under his semi-transparent shirt. He has a strong jaw and nose, expressive eyebrows and golden eyes; a trait that somehow seems common with his fellow soldiers, maybe sharing the same origin, perhaps even some of them being family.

Watching him carefully under the distortion of the dark blue water, you're developed hearing catch a second voice entering the scene; and the human turns around in his precarious position on the border of the ship. This one is named "79's". It must be a reference to something you can't quite place; or perhaps a year of relevance to them.

Human tongue is quite easy to learn, contrary to your native Mando'a; so you have no trouble following the conversation even underwater. Both men hold affection clear in their voice; indicating a closer kind of relationship than two normal sailors on the same ship would have. The second voice sounds more mature to you; perhaps simply because this first human –Fives, you learn, what a curious name for a person– doesn't seem to take life very seriously. But then his voice drops, quietly asking something that makes your heart beat faster inside your chest; if your people are real.

It's a common thing to ponder between sailors. Humans like the tingling excitement of being a bit afraid; of imagining situations that may never end up happening in their heads. But no, this one doesn't sound at all afraid; just curious, cautious. When he asks his brother –you confirm– if he thinks stories about sirens are real, of what they do to humans, anger spreads like a fire inside of you. Oh, yes, because they don't do anything of the sorts to other creatures on this earth. The second voice –Echo's– answers in a quiet, delicate way; and you have to swim closer to surface just to take a look at him. You suddenly put things together; something horribly traumatic must have happened to his human, for him to look like that. You can't imagine living without your tail. It saddens you, inevitably; he's still handsome even like this, he would have been even prettier without his injuries. He would look like... Fives.

You blink, a bit confused at the direction of your own thoughts. Fives own voice tinges with understanding and fondness. He pats his brother affectionately, and then forgets about the sea; both of them quietly retiring for now, their steps echoing against the wood as they wook away.

You're left with a weird feeling inside of you. This two seemed... Kind. It isn't a word you usually associate with humans; but here you are.

You shake your head, mumbling to yourself. You won't let them fool you. Humans still carry all that darkness inside of them; that evil. You want none of that in your home, your sea.

Tomorrow, you say to yourself.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Fives smiles fondly at the sight of little 'Soka staring at the full moon in front of them. It's as big as they've ever seen it; very close to the sea, iluminating a silvery path towards the 79's in the otherwise dark night.

Ashoka is pure energy. The girl is hiperactive even at hours like this, were most of the crew has already gone to sleep; too excited to lay still in bed in the cabin she shares with Rex. The Captain of the 79's had adopted her many years ago, accepted her in his ship with a blink of an eye after finding out Ashoka had been abandoned in land by Captain Windu no less –an ex-friend and current enemy of Rex–; the small girl quickly falling under his wing like his own daughter. Fives can't understand how anyone could leave behind a kid like that; Ashoka is the only girl aboard, but she is like their own personal ray of sunlight. Hope. She's a special kid; has a perfect eye on when to pursue their enemies and when to abandon or change routes, an innate pirate even as young as she is. Fives can only try to imagine what things she would be able to do with more age and experience.

For now, though, 'Soka's just a kid. And kids do silly things; like playfully sticking out her tongue and precariously balancing her steps in the baupress of the 79's. Fives rolles his eyes good-naturatedly. He isn't too hard on the kid; he had been fearless and oblivious to danger once too. Hell, he still is, sometimes. It's just his way of being; free. He doesn't want to die by Rex hands if something happened to her, though, so he motions down with a flick of his hand.

"Get your feet down here, m' lady" he jokes, then extends his hand to hers in a courteous offer.

'Soka laughs, a sound that echoes softly in the silence of the night.

"Mm. I don't know if I shall accept such proposition, good sir" she answers, standing up in the thin baupress as if it is nothing.

Her dark black hair, looking almost blue, flies freely with the wind even with her white bandana wrapped around it. Her skin is as tanned as his, freckles tracing the outlines of the white scars that mark her otherwise perfect face. Like Fives and Echo, she has basically grown up on a moving ship.

"I'd like to keep my head, my lady, if you'd be so kind to help me" Fives insists, eyes turning to a gentle warning.

Ashoka rolls her big blue eyes.

"Okay..." she grumbles, then, abandoning the theatricality.

She turns her direction with flowless agility and starts her careful way back to him.

The ship rocks dangerously in the water –the sea not completely peaceful today–, and Ashoka stops in surprise and fear, holding her balance as best as she can. Fives also holds his breath. The 79's stops moving and they both sigh in relief, staring at each other well aware of the risks.

The girl chuckles nervously.

"Welp, that was a close one." She guiltily admits, restarting her way towards him. "I keep forgetting this waters are dangerous and not exactly what we're used to, huh?"

Fives doesn't tear his eyes from her.

"Yeah" he agrees. "Maybe you should leave your acrobatics for when we're back on the GAR sea..."

Big, angry waves splashes against the botton of the ship again; a sudden move that disestabilises Ashoka for a second time. It all happens too fast; the girl's right feet steps just on the edge of the baupress, losing balance, and her weight leans too much over one side with a terrified gasp. By the time Fives has rushed forward in a desperate attempt to catch her hand, Ashoka has already been devoured by the dark see with a dooming splash.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

You smirk darkly when the sound of a body hitting the surface of the water is transmitted under the waves. You almost want to laugh at the way the small human desperately moves his legs to try to stay afloat; the sea isn't looking good for creatures without fins tonight, and it is obvious that this female doesn't even know how to properly swim even in calm circumstances. Maybe it's just because she's small, you're not sure.

You strike at her –harshly tugging her leg down and sinking her under the surface– right when another body drops into the sea. You snarl, irritated by the interuption, and turn around, scanning the water around you. Just five or six meters away, there he is; the human named Fives, the dreamer, the one who almost discovered you ahead of time.

This one does now how to swim. Even though his eyes are clearly pannicked, searching for her fellow human companion among the darkness of the black waves, his legs calmly move just enough to keep him afloat; conserving very much needed energy. His clothes are stuck to his body; both humans look so utterly small in the openness of the water...

The small female human screams, terrified, still not grasping her new reality; and the man shouts her name in a hoarse voice, squinting and desperately trying to find her. The girl goes to shout again; and your clawed hand quickly reaches up to close around her throat –not to really cut her breathing of, but as a warning–. You're not known for your patience, and you really can't stand creatures screeching.

Fives golden eyes, still having a shine to them with the moonlight, finally turns to your direction; and his whole face morphs into wonder, fear and shock, quickly taking in your claws and sharp teeth, the gills on the side of your neck and the dangerous swoosh of the powerful tail behind you. The small girl trembles in your strong arms; you glance down at her, bored but curious at the same time. She really is the smallest human you have crossed pass with. Are those marks that shine white on her face scars?

"Please" Fives voice barely picks up with the sounds of the waves and the wind. "You don't want to hurt her".

His words and his firm stare stuns you for a second. Then, you laugh out loud, the sound being carried away by the howling wind.

You haven't used the human tongue for so long... Since that fight. You'd be kind to humour this human for now. Perhaps getting to know them for a bit before eliminating them would help you understand them better and kill them easier in the future. For as small as humans are, they do make interesting big weapons.

"Don't I?" You smirk, tongue wrapping teasingly around your rigth canine. You caress the girl's hair with the hand that is not carefully holding her against her throat. You push your nose up to her neck and smell; then tilt your face back to the male. "Mm. Perhaps not hurt her. Just quickly kill her, no pain".

Fives trembles in the cold of the sea. The girl too. You grin.

"Why?" Is his pained answer. He's trying to remain calm, you can see that, even if his insides live in complete turmoil. "To eat her?"

You make a face.

"No. Human is not my favorite kind of dish" you inmediately answer, then shrug desinterested. "You kill us, I kill you first. It's the sea's law, sailor".

Fives frowns.

"We kill you? I didn't even know you truly existed until now" he points out.

Ah, humans are such natural spokesperson. Always finding an argument no matter their cause.

"You're people" you correct, drawing a claw down the girls face, not enough to draw blood from it, just a distracted caress.

Fives face... Pouts.

"That's pretty unfair, if I may say so. You can't blame a whole species in the name of a few".

You let your gaze find his eyes again. He's so determined it's entertaining to watch.

"You claim you're different?" You ask, observing him.

He nods.

You can see the fatigue starting to creep onto him. You're holding the freezing girl with your own strength, but he's on his own. You wonder how much longer would he be able to stay afloat. Maybe you should just wait and watch him sink.

"See those scars on Ashoka's face?" His words pull your attention back at her white marks. She tries to stay still while you study her. "They were made by bad people. Cruel humans. My brother Echo suffered by others as well. And yet here we are. I love Ashoka as if she were my own sister. I love my twin. I'd do everything to protect them. I don't want to cause pain to them".

You huf.

"That's easy. No one wants to hurt people that are dear to them. What about other's that aren't? Would you care?"

Fives is stubborn. You'll give him that.

"I wouldn't purposedly hurt others for the sake of doing so. Or if there's any other way. Look, there... Must be some bad sirens too. People who just enjoy killing and hunting indefense creatures just because they feel joy watching them suffer; not a matter of protecting their home or territory. And there must be good ones" he breathes raggedly. "It's the same with humans. There is evil and kindness in every living being. If you'd only gave us a chance, you'd be able to see it".

You hum. He makes a point. The excitement melts down. Your curiosity doesn't. Are all humans this interesting?

"What is your Captain looking for in this waters, Fives?"

His mouth opens in surprise.

"You..."

"Know you?" You chuckle, moving your tail slowly. "Mm. I've been studying you for days, I know some things. The answer, sailor?"

Fives forces himself to push through his shock and confussion to answer you.

"We've been paid handsomely to explore this part of the Unkown Seas. We have a cartographer aboard, he's been working nonstop since we crossed the GAR frontier."

You hum, recalling those maps the humans use to sail the seas without getting too lost of their way.

"So there's nothing you want from us?" You insist.

To your shock, Fives smiles; a small, almost cheeky tug of lips.

"Well, I do have a lot of questions about sirens now that I've seen you, but no, not really. Like I said, we didn't even know you truly existed. We just want to make our trip and return to land safely".

You observe him in silence. You feel the girls energy draining too; blinking heavily.

"Mm" you hum, pushing her against his arms in a second. Fives stares at you, wide eyed, not expecting you to move that fast. "You can call for your human friends to help, sailor. I've decided I will just keep an eye on your ship for now".

Then, before Fives has the chance to answer, you tear your hands away from the girl and dissapear under the sea.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Fives receives the reprimand of his life at Rex's personal delivery. He's task with leaving the ship shiny up and down; Ashoka also punished along him. If there's something the Captain of the 79's doesn't show, it's mercy. Oh, he's polite and gentle enough, if the situation calls for it; but he doesn't let things slip by. He's always aware, always scanning his crew with his amber eyes; and even though both 'Soka and Fives had tried to make the incident sound less of a danger, just an unimportant accident, there's really no way going around the fact that they had had a very close, dangerous encounter with a Siren.

Rex doesn't believe them at first. But then he sees the light marks on Ashoka's neck; there's nothing deep or worrying, but they're definitely shaped like some kind of claws, and he know's his fair number of fish and sharks to know they can't have done anything of the sort. Fives is guilty, yes, but he seems honest when he retells the experience. Ashoka too, a pleading look of forgiveness in her big blue eyes. Rex has no other option than to accept the story as truth.

Everyone on board of the 79's has the chance to see said siren with their own eyes a pair of days later. It's at night, so no one really sees her for quite some time; til Ashoka suddenly gasps and points out towards the see with wonder –and a sliver of fear– in her eyes. Rex quickly squints and stares in surprise. Well, that's a siren all right. The Captain and his men only have time to observe her for a minute before she smirks and plunges down into the water, her tail a silent goodbye.

Fives grins and elbows Echo.

"See? What a stalker. I think she likes me" he jokes, and Echo rolls his eyes pushing him with an exasperated smile.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Morning, dear siren" Fives greets you, carefully using the ropes to lower himself with his feet against the outside of the ship's structure, still on his shining the 79's duty. "How has sleep being under there?"

You splash him with your tail in irritation. There's no peace with the sailor around; and he has developed the annoying habit of periodically coming to talk to you.

Fives gasps with the cold water drenching his clothes; but his face quickly morphs from surprise to cheerful amusement.

"Why, thank you. I did notice I had started to smell too" he then smirks and studies your body up and down in a way that makes you as mad as nervous. "Darling, if you just wanted to see me wet, though... There's better ways we can enjoy together."

Even though there's a blush fighting it's way through your face, you keep your expresion neutral and narrow your eyes at him.

"You're the most annoying human I've ever met".

Five grins; as if your words were a personal compliment for him.

"You're magnificent company as well, dear siren" he retorts, unbothered.

You tilt your head, glancing up at him. It's both funny and irritating the way this human talks to you. He should fear you; you could jump up right now and kill him in a blink, and yet he's always like this around you. Curious, awed, and cautious while being impossibly and purposedly irritating as well. You wonder if it's his weird human way of making friends.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Fives reintroduces a wary Ashoka to you. It's only sensitive for her to be cautious; after all, you did have your claws around her neck not so long ago. After Fives' reassurance and a few patient words on your part, though, she quickly leaves the past behind; and watches Fives' careless and friendly interaction with you with bright eyes.

You grow fond of her as the days pass. It surprises you the way the girl seems atuned to other creatures of the sea; smaller ones like rain-fishes and seahorses always curiously coming up to meet her. You've heard of people like her before; humans with a special conection to the sea, with an instinctual understanding of it. Your people believe humans too came from the sea; and some just happen to conserve traits of their real origins more than others. If so, Ashoka is definitively one of them; and perhaps any of these sailors that seem for some reason persistent on spending more time at sea than in true land.

One late afternoon you ask Fives of this; of his will of travelling through the seas. You ask him wether he misses land, other human civilizations and things; but Fives shruggs with a smile. He tells you he likes it here, aboard on the 79's with his brothers, his family; and opens up about his own past as well. You listen to him mesmerised; feeling again like a kid whose being told interesting stories of lands far away.

After Fives finishes his and Echo's story –their misfortune making a strong feeling of protectiveness soar inside of you–, he glances at you with a tilt of his head, suddenly quiet and pensive.

"Plus" he continues, voice barely a whisper. "There's a certain peace you can't find anywhere else but the sea".

Even though his words are carefully soft and his demeanour almost shy –very uncharasteristal of him–, his bright eyes are full of heavy emotions; almost wanting to tell you a story different than what his words tell you. Almost whispering to you there's something more to his words than what they say.

You sink under the surface of the sea so only your eyes are peaking above the waves; needing the comfort of the water to hold his stare, this sudden shift on the atmosphere.

Fives hums, and you take a last look at him before dissapearing under the sea, running away from the human who's starting to make you feel things you haven't –and shouldn't– felt before.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Rutine makes you complacent. You get so relaxed at the knowledge that the 79's is no risk to you or your species you forget to stay vigilant; forget that they're not the only possible danger at the sea.

It happens at night; when your senses are dulled by sleep, your body curled in a tight space between the rocks at the bottom of the sea. Your return to consciousnes is a slow and lazy process. You open your mouth wide before momentarily clenching your teeth; the rest of your body muscles tensing and relaxing as well with your tiny stretch. Your eyes open and you focus on your surroundings; it doesn't feel like you've slept more than a pair of hours, and you usually don't have a problem to shut the eye throughout the whole night. Something must have awaken you subsconciously. You've long learned to trust your instintcs, so you decide to explore the sea around your little safe spot for the night before trying to get some more sleep. Maybe there's a predator around here.

It's when you swim away from the rocks you've hid in when you inmediately notice what's wrong; your too far away from the surface for the water to feel agitated here, but when you glance up, you see the usually dark ocean lit up in orange and red. The inmediate thought of the humans –of Ashoka and Fives– being in danger crosses your mind; and you're swimming up, up, up, before you're able to realise it yourself.

Your head peaks through the surface of the water and you can't help but gasp, eyes widenned in fear. The 79's wrecked. Besides it... So is the Death Star. Both ships have been fighting for who knows how long and you were peacefully asleep. It fills you with a dangerous wave of guilt; and unstopable anger. This is the ship that cost you the live of some of your best friends. This is the reason your people is no longer friendly towards humans; the pain of the past reflected on scars and lost ones. Some part of you is afraid –terrified– of facing said captain and crew again; the other part of you feels ravenous. This is your chance of revenge.

You sink under the water and sing. It's a song every siren child is taught by their elders; a call for help no one ever ignores. Sirens will stop at nothing for their people, their pods. Your voice carries easily through the water; and you hear a distant echo answering you. You know it's only a matter of time your people arrive. You'll help however you can in the mean time.

Your trained eyes and senses zoom in the fight aboard of the 79's. The men of the Death Star are dressed in black, like a bad omen; the colourful splashes belonging to Captain Rex' men. Both ships aren't the only battlefield; some are even fighting in the water, perhaps after pushing each other over board, some swinging their blades on top of smaller life-boats and lost planks of woods. The repair for what's left of both ships would be slow and costly.

You sink under the waves and move fast; jumping and dragging the 79's enemies with you underwater, drowning them or sinking your claws in their vulnerable throats, their screams futile under the water.

You can't see Fives or Ashoka yet; but just as the first of your fellow sirens arrive, you see Palpatine and Rex. They're fighting on the Death Star; blades swinging at each other while they expertly balance on the edge of the ship. You stop right below them and stare intently upwards; trying to catch the Captain's attention.

You do. Rex' eyes flicker downwards; making contact with yours. He quickly goes back to fighting against Captain Palpatine –how such an old man can move that fast you'll never know– and you wait patiently, licking your lips. You know Rex has catched on your idea and you only need to give him some time to bring him to you.

It's not a difficult move. With the knowledge that you'll be there to push him again back to safety and simultaneously kill his enemy, Rex throws his own body weight against Palpatine with all his strength and they both fall into the sea.

You almost see it happening in slow motion, such is your desire to claw your way through him. You're closing your hand around his throat in a blink, as soon as his body crashes against the waves; eyes shining and jaw opening to show your teeth while you push your face close to his. You want him to have a good look at you before you kill him.

"This is for Qui, Plo and Aayla" you tell him, eyes burning in hatred and vengance, his pathetic tugs at your hands only fueling your resolve. "And for those you'll never be able to hurt again".

You don't let him speak his last words. He doesn't deserve it; and he's not going to rat his way out of this. You snarl and sink your sharp teeth in his neck, closing your jaw before vicously pulling back and tearing his throat open mercilessly.

The carcass of his body floats away in the sea.

You turn to Captain Rex, scarlet blood dripping down your chin. He's not scared; but almost proud and relieved as he nods at you. You nod back and quickly help him get to the 79's again, reuniting with your people and organizising the counter-attack.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Once Palpatine is out of the way, the rest of his forces crumbles easily. In a matter of an hour, the few survivors of the Death Star scramble away in the remaning of their ship. You chuckle darkly. You know it's all for the enjoyment of your people; they'll do a slow hunt over the next couple of days, kill them one by one. Take their own personal revenge.

There's a conmotion up on the 79's. Rex is there, and so is Echo and Ashoka, the last two leaning down on the floor next to... Fives.

"What's wrong?" You quickly voice up from your place on the sea. "Is he okay?"

Captain Rex glances down at you worriedly.

"Blade sunk into his liver. He's loosing a lot of blood very quickly" he turns to look back to Echo and Ashoka. His expression saddens. "I... Don't think he has much time left".

Your heart starts beating out of your chest.

Fives, even gravely injured, lets out a wet laugh and jokes about it.

"I always thought you were a tad dramatic, sir".

Echo snaps at him, still squeezing his hand. You understand the sentiment. Now is not the time.

"Shut the fuck up, Fives".

You know he's scared. Everyone is scared. Echo, Ashoka, Fives, Rex... Even yourself. You've never felt this scared.

"B-bring him down" you whisper, then clear your voice and repeat yourself. "Maybe I can do something to help him".

"What can you do to help him?" Echo laughs, the kind of maniac sounding laugh that comes from a place of pure panic and terror from losing a loved one. "You're what, going to sing a song and magically cure him?"

It would be surprising to know that yes, that's...

"Something like that, yeah" you whisper, lost in your own feelings and thoughts.

You feel some of the other sirens splashing and moving their tails underwater hesitantly, wary. Nervously.

"Sister..." the voice of your friend Kid calls you from somewhere at your back.

You glance back at him. You know what he's going to tell you. You take a deep breath.

"I want to do it" you answer him, and everyone else.

They stay in silence, acepting your decission. It's a sacred thing for your species; for all sirens. The air feels heavy with understanding and expectations.

"Bring him down" you ask again, in the quietness of the night, and Rex gently squeezes Echo's shoulder before putting his faith on you and carefully laying Fives down in the last life-boat.

His brothers slowly lower it down til it softly contacts with the surface of the water and the small boat floats peacefully with the small waves. Two sirens quickly move to take a carefull hold of it so it doesn't drift away.

Fives turns his head to the side to look at you; hovering besides the boat with your claws lightly grassping the wood at the sides of it, head peaking over the water just enough to be able to look at him.

"Hey there, gorgeous" he smiles, and such brightness sends another painful dart to your heart. "Here to give me a goodbye kiss?"

Your own smile is wet with tears. It makes you let out a wet chuckle too. You haven't cried in... So many years.

"You should have thought of this strategy before" you decide to indulge him in his joke.

You know he's scared even if he doesn't want it to show. It males your decision easier; to know he's such a good person he doesn't want to make this more difficult for the people that woud be forced to watch him go.

Even though you feel almost eager for it, the need crawling up your throat, you're still afraid yourself. You've only got one chance for this. What if... It doesn't work?

You feel Kid's hand gently dropping on your shoulder, giving you the strength you need for this. You nod to yourself. The rest of the sirens form a circle around you; as tradition tells. They'll make sure nothing interrupts this sacred moment between you and Fives. Your hands tremble as you carefully place them on top of Fives' stomach wound. He makes a whimpered sound of pain and trembles, scared confused eyes quickly searching yours.

You look at him, soft.

"Trust me" you whisper. "And don't stop looking at me".

Fives doesn't understand what's happening, what's going to happen, but relaxes and nods. He can feel the exhaustion creeping in on him, the tempting feeling to close his eyes and surrender to the darkness. He focuses on you with the last of his strength.

You stop holding yourself back and let your voice sing your Song. You have never practiced it before; it's something that simply can't be, as it's not written before the moment arrives without announcement. It's instinctual, as simple and easy as breathing, and yet sounds so magical to all of those who hear it.

The first notes echoes in the silence of the night. It starts very quiet, almost a hum between your pressed lips, that slowly and unhurriesly turns into a whisper full of longing and melancholy. Fives is a human and you're a siren. It's not going to be easy. You have a feeling he won't care.

The Song fills with some softer, happier notes; lively and changing, more rythmical than the soft melody from before. A tiny smile makes it over to your face.

Fives is still looking at you. He wouldn't have been able to tear his eyes from you even if he tried. You're raw magic; raw beauty. And the sounds leaving your lips... He had never listened to anything so breathtaking in his life. He's hooked up in you.

Your gaze turns soft. You see his wound closing and healing by its self with just the corner of your eyes; and a warming relief spreads through your body, along with something sweet and gentle, painfully raw, longing and understanding. It's love.

The Song reflects those feelings; growing quieter as you keep staring into Fives' soul. You feel the notes slowing, your mind and heart finally wrapping around your feelings, accepting them, making them part of your own; and a last hum leaves your lips before the night is silent again, only interrupted by Fives' heavy breathing. Even if the Song is finished, he keeps looking at you like there's nothing else.

"That was beautiful" he whispers, dizziness still numbing his body and mind even if he's completely healed, now. He'll take some time to adjust. "Thank you".

You smile softly.

This is not your ending, Fives. But you need to...

The sailor squeezes his eyes shut. A painful headache stars at the side of his temple. He can barely concentrate in his surroundings now.

"Rest, Fives" you tell him, and he finally falls into unconsciousness almost instantly.

You glance up, noticing the wowed stares of the crew of the 79'.

"What was that?" Ashoka whispers in wonder.

You make Captain Rex a sign to let him now they can pull the small boat back up. You smile at the girl.

"My Song" you answer, misteriously. You glance at Echo, anxiously curved forward as if in a try to reach Fives quicker. You try to soothe his worries before dipping under the waves. "He'll be okay, just needs some hours of rest. I'll come back tomorrow".

With that, you nod to your pod and you slowly swim away. Your soul tries to tug you back towards him, but you comfort yourself thinking you'll be back to talk with him after some very much needed rest.

Patience.

You feel like a baby Siren again.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Care to explain to me what kind of voodo magic you did to me to turn me from a corpse to my handsome self again?" is what Fives first chirps at you upon seing you arrive the next morning, him waiting patiently for you in the small boat again, this time a bit further away from the 79's.

You smirk and place your folded arms over the border of the boat, resting your right cheek on top of them.

"I already told Ashoka" you answer playfully. "It's my Song".

Fives snorts and carefully pushes himself closer to you. You track the movement, distracted.

"Yeah, your song" he repeats, squinting and tilting his head in questioning. "Echo told me the other Sirens acted as if we were getting married or something".

You laugh freely, Fives smiling unconsciously.

"Well, singing your song to another holds pretty much the same meaning for my people. Your circumstances pushed me to do it way earlier than I would have prefered but... It's okay. You're okay".

Fives eyes turn soft.

"I know you love being all sexy and misterious. But tell me what has really happened, please?" His voice is also gentle and full of warmth.

He should know.

"All Sirens have a special personal Song. It's something instinctual that can't be repeated or prepared; born of raw feelings, desires and needs. It's different to other songs we sing. We don't use our normal vocal cords for this; it comes from somewhere within, deep in your soul. Sirens believe our kind are made of magic and music combined into one, and protected by a physical body shape; that of a predator so it can defend the pureness it holds. This Song... Can only be sung once, to just one other being, and it will create a special bond no-one but the two of them would be able to break. From that day on, this two beings will always be linked to each other, perhaps even able to feel or hear the other; and the Siren won't be able to sing in this kind of way to anyone else, ever again".

You grow quiet; waiting, patient. Expectant. Fives barely blinks.

You're not afraid to him not corresponding your feelings now. If it were that way, your Song wouldn't have worked the night before. A Song can't be an impossed thing; it must be accepted by the other's soul. Fives has subsconciously done that already; if his present mind needs more time to process it, nevertheless, you're willing to give him that.

Fives finally takes a deep breath in, noding in quiet understanding, before showing you his own signature smirk and closing the distances between your faces so that your nose is barely grazing his.

"Well. I think I'm definitively finally winning a kiss" he tempts you, eyes shining with mirth.

Your small laugh is pure unadulterated happiness. With your soul almost vibrating inside your chest, you cup his strong jaw and close the insignificant distance between you.

You kiss him –passionately, then gently– and Fives smiles against your lips.

THE END.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I'm sorry this took me ages to write! I got a bit blocked on how I was going to put Fives in danger and I also started with my finals.

I'm aware there are some errors in this but I prioriticed publishing it as soon as possible over having a second read to correct them. Sorry!

I hope you've liked it, dear. Second Mermay fic done, go check Tech's first one on my profile! (It's on: sw masterlist> 2 part of requests > Blue dreams).

Got requests closed cause finals and already a few of them in the line. I'll prob reopen in a month. If you want to you can still send them, just notice I'm not gonna be able to write it anytime soon.

Lots of things to come, stay tunned!

Xx,

Sky.

Back to masterlist here:

[melanieph321]

Ruben Dias x Reader - City Girls Part 5/8

The plot is twisting is all I can say about this chaotic chapter. 😮‍💨

Reader plays for the Man City girls academy. She struggles a bit but gets Ruben to mentor her. The the two don't hit off despite having many things in common. It all gets worse when Reader eventually catches feelings for Ruben.

Enjoy!

"You did what, with who?"

"Sshhh! Can you be any louder?"

You peered down the long line of girls before passing Ester the ball. She passed it on to the next person since coach had the team playing tiki taka for today's morning session.

"But Y/N, isn't Ruben...?"

"It doesn't matter what he is." You whispered. "He freak out on me right after and told me to leave his apartment."

"Well, can you blame him? This could end his career."

"Don't be so dramatic. Yes I'm in the academy but I'm not a minor."

"Does it matter? It's inappropriate. People might think he's been taking advantage of you since you met through the private lessons he's been giving you. Ruben could be suspendend from his team and so could you Y/N."

"I dunno." You muttered. "It seemed like something else was bothering him. Maybe I did something wrong?"

"Did he enjoy it? You know...until he kicked you out?"

"I think so."

"And did you...enjoy it?"

You thought back to that night. Ruben had seemed hesitant at first. And the ointment...so awkward.

"Y/N?"

"But then it wasn't...awkward. It was nice, just the two of you, kissing and humping.

"Y/N?"

Ruben seemed so eager to please you, not giving you a chance to return the favor.

"Y/N?"

"Yes!" You blurred out. "I enjoyed it."

Taken aback, Coach looked to Ester then back to you. "Well I'm glad you enjoy my training session Y/N, but that's not what I asked you?"

"I'm sorry coach."

You hadn't notice him blow the whistle. All the girls except for you and Ester had scattered from the line, leaving the field. Training was over.

"What was it you asked me, again?"

He sighed. "I said, it's best you head to the cafeteria and get yourself a snack before the first team start their session."

"I'm training with the first team?" You gasped joyfully.

"Yes, now go on. I've been putting in a good word for ya'. They won't like it if you're late."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you coach.

I won't disappoint you."

He laughed. "I am as hopeful as you are. Good luck."

"Can I come too?" Ester asked.

"I'm sorry Hofman, not this time?"

You looked at her remorsfully. "I promise to bring you som eggs on toast from the cafeteria."

Her smile was crooked. "Thanks Y/N and good luck. I'll see you back home."

You went your separate ways. By the time you got to the main building your stomach was aching for something to eat. To your luck the cafeteria resembled any five star hotel with a continental breakfast. You rushed to grab a plate since you didn't have much time. You piled on all your favorite foods and extra portions of protein. Ruben told you that it was possible for coach to let you play football the way you wanted to, you just had to get bigger and stronger. That starts with upping your calory intake.

"Slow down Rio or you'll choke on a sausage."

The mountain of food on your plate turned alot of heads as you made your way through the cafeteria. Not to mention the banter it caused when you joined some of the girls on the first team at their table.

"Are they starving you at home?" A girl joked.

"Chloe, be nice."

"The food here is just so good." You said, which was half the truth. Somthing told you to keep you intentions of gaining weight to yourself.

"Are you jokin'? No one fancies british cuisine. What do they serve in Brazil, cockroaches?"

The girls laughed.

"Chloe." The captain groaned. She was nice. Stephanie was her name. She always made sure that you felt included the times you played with the first team. She had been the one to wave you over to join the girls for breakfast. However, at the moment, you regretted not having ate before you left the house this morning. Now you had to hurry, doing so by stuffing your face with food before heading back out. But as you went to dump your tray, you bumped into something solid on your way out of the cafeteria.

"Sorry." You blushed, but quickly stiffened seeing who you had bumped into. "Oh, Ruben. Hi."

"Hey."

"H...how's it going?"

He was accompanied by a friend, perhaps his teammate. Either way, Ruben didn't find it necessary to introduce the two of you. Fortunately his friend was raised well enough to greet a stranger.

"Bernardo." He shook your hand. "But you can call me Ruben Dias personal wingmam."

You smiled. He was funny. At least he had more humor than Ruben, who looked to want to be anywhere else but there, with you."

"We should...." He muttered, pointing somewhere towards the foodline in the cafeteria.

You were disappointed. And you wanted to ask Ruben if you were still training later this afternoon, or had what happened between you change things?

"I'll see you." He said, which practically answered your question. The two of you went your separate ways. You had a lump in your throat stepping back onto the football field.

"Pass the ball Rio!"

There was a clear differences in quality when it came to playing with the women's first team. They trained with a higher tempo than the academy and included more drills during their training sessions. It was a slight adjustments for you, but not too difficult.

"Come on Y/N, at least keep up the pace!" Their coach shouted.

"Uh-oh." You stopped running. A twinge in your stomach had you place a hand to your belly as you stood in the middle of the football field.

"Come on Y/N, keep it moving!"

You tried to move, but every attempt to take another step seemed to trigger something from deep within. Somthing on the verge of erupting. The pain was sharp and intense, and it all seemed to be spreading throughout your entire body.

"Y/N, you okay?" Their coach blew the whistle, pausing the game.

You tried to shake off the pain, but it was no use. You doubled over, clutching your stomach, letting out a bubbly groan. The players gathered around you. "Um, I think she's gonna...."

Hurl.

Throw up.

Vomit.

Whatever word best described what came out of you. It was warm, blending easly with the grass on the pitch. The other players ran away, screaming in terror. Their coach was the one to help you back to he main building, to the infirmary where you now sat in shame, waiting for Ester to come and pick you up. Your head banged against the wall as you sat on the sickbed, almost tuning out the sound of a light knock on the door.

"Ester?"

"It's me?"

Your back left the wall, seeing Ruben appear in the door. He stepped into the small room, shutting the door behind him.

"I heard what happened. Bernardo and I were just on our way out when..."

"Great." You sighed. How would you ever live this down?

"What happened, were you sick?"

He was truly concerned. Strange, you thought, since Ruben had given you the coldest of shoulders for days, not responding to any of your calls or text messages.

"Can I get you anything, water, ice...?"

"How about a toothbrush and a mint?"

He frowned.

"And a rocket. Yes." You smiled. "Something to take me off this planet immediately."

"Come on, Y/N." He approached where you sat on the bed. You hated yourself for making him room to sit down next to you. Nevertheless, that's what he did, sympathetically bringing his hand to your back, rubbing it. "Anyone can get sick." He said.

You squinted your eyes in pain, his sympathy along with the embarrassment, was all too much. "The first team are never gonna let me play with them again."

"Come on Y/N, don't say that."

"But it's true Ruben and it's all your fault."

"My fault." Ruben sat back, eyebrows furrowed. "What did I do?"

"You told me to get bigger so that I could dribble." You hissed.

"And what exactly did you do to achieve that?" He asked curiously.

"I stuffed my face, of course."

Ruben threw his head back, laughing.

"It's not funny." You groaned. Although the crinkle that appeared in the corner of his eyes when he smiled was simply a sight for sore eyes. He wiped a tear. "Y/N, I never told you to stuff your face. Do you know how dangerous and damaging that could be for your body. There are far more healthier ways to gain weight."

"Well, how was I supposed to know that? You're the expert and wouldn't even return my texts."

"Y/N." Ruben's hand got off your back, leaving a missing feeling. He stood. "I never meant for any of this to happen."

"What exactly? You giving me the greatest orgasm in my life, just to show me the door right after?"

"Y/N."

"What Ruben? If you don't have anything else to say to me I suggest you leave." You lowered your head. "Maybe then you'll know what it feels like."

"I'm sorry." A set of warm hands went to tilt your face. Ruben's brown eyes were staring back at you with the deepest sincerity. "Like I said, I never meant for any of this to happen. I was never meant to fall for you Y/N."

"What?" You must have been mistaken.

Ruben smiled. And for a moment he looked hesitant but then his lips grasped yours in a soft yet exciting kiss. You grinned once his face pulled away from yours.

"What?" He asked.

"Do it again." You whispered.

He chuckled, but leaned in to peck your lips once more, planting an additional kiss on top of your nose.

"So...does this mean we're still on for this afternoon?"

Ruben sigh was heavy. "Like I said Y/N, I'll gladly help you become a better football player, but whatever you and I have ends here. I have a girlfriend and she can't find about what happened between us."

You felt cold, drained from all the warmth in your body, including the blood that paled your face. "Y...you have a what?" His hands still held your face, but with a swift tugg you had him remove them.

"A girlfriend Y/N. I'm sorry to have to tell you like this but like I said, what happened between us was never supposed to be. Besides, I could get in alot if trouble with the club, not to mention the media if they ever found out."

"I can't believe this." You sighed. Ester was right. You were such a fool.

"But don't worry. If we keep things professional between us I can still...."

"Get out."

"What?"

You spoke too low. Ruben didn't hear you. And so you took a deep breath. "I said, get the fuck out of here. Out of this room and out of my life."

"Y/N?"

"Now, Ruben, I mean it. Get the fuck out!"

"Y/N, let's not....we can still be together just not...."

You hopped off the bed. Furious that Ruben would get to see you cry. "OUT!" You shouted, escorting him towards the door. Unlucky for you he didn't get far. In the doorway as the door came ajar, stood Ester, her head turned to the side, flashing you an eavesdropping ear.

"Ester?" You frowned. "What are you..."

She perked up. "I'll tell coach."

"Ester?" You said, with a graver tone.

"Don't try and make excuses, I already know that the two of you are sleeping together." Her voice was unsteady. Ruben looked to you, rightfully confused. "And who are you?" He asked bluntly.

"Your worst nightmare." Ester said, with a glare you had never seen on her before. It was eveil, desperate and deceiving.

"Ester please, you don't know..."

"Schluss mit der Scheiße, Y/N." (Cut the shit Y/N.) "I already know that the two of you are fucking, you told me so yourself."

"Why are you doing this?" You asked,  desperate to know how Ester, your friend,  could dare threaten everything your family has worked so hard for you to achieve.

"I deserve to play with the first team." She said. The words sounding childish and timid coming out of her mouth.

"But..." You stuttered. "If that's all it is..." Why hadn't she spoken to coach or simply work harder, you thought.

"Don't you see." She laughed. "With you on the team, the brazilian football protégé from the streets of Rio, I'll never get a chance." To your suprise Ester was crying. "I am already overseen by coach simply because I got stuck with you as my roommate. Now I've got to hear about you going on and on about some guy who clearly is only interested in fucking you."

"Okay, that's it. I've heard enough." Ruben had thought to do the right thing to let Ester explain herself. But the more he did, the  more he let her talk, the more he saw how much it hurt you, and so he put an end to it. "Let's go." He said, grabbing your hand, leading you out of the infirmary. Ester was left behind, along with her half hearted threats.

"Ruben whatta....Where are you taking me?" You felt like vomiting again and you had a throbbing headache.

"Minha casa. Você vem para ficar comigo." (My place. You're coming to stay with me.)

"What?"

"I'm not letting you stay with that girl, whoever she was. She was clearly out of her mind."

"But Ruben I can't." You tried to tugg your arm free, however Ruben was way too strong. He barley budged.

"Y/N, please don't fight me on this one. You can stay with me, I have a spare bedroom."

"What about your girlfriend?"

He froze. In the midst of pulling you out of the main building, Ruben froze. The grip he had around your arm loosen a little. He ran his free hand down his face, tired, perhaps of arguing. "Like I said Y/N, I'm partly responsible for this mess. Just trust that I'll take care of it. I want to take care of it. But for now let me take care of you."

[divinadeath]

wait till you hear about this next nominee: byun junho, born on the 15th of february, 1997 and bears a striking resemblance to cha eunwoo. they’re a first year bachelor of law student and started a charitable foundation focused on providing educational resources for underprivileged kids — impressed yet? rumor has it they’re hoping to be the ceo of his family's motel chain, but personally, i think they should aim a little higher — something like the king’s club, for one. now, that suits them a little more, don’t you think? guess we’ll just have to see if they’ve got the talent for it in our upcoming recruitment round. 

hello, guys! i'm tina (23, she/her) and i'm really looking forward to writing with you all! my mind is a little… feverish right now since i'm kinda sick, but i'll try to make sense here. if you want to plot something for our muses, hmu or like this, and i'll be in your dms. more about my angsty boy junho can be found under the read more.

UNTIL 2016

coming from a new money family, junho never took anything he had for granted. as a kid, he was always seen as kind and loved by all his family's employees for being so down to earth.

he always had this dream of helping people with his family's money since the whole lavish lifestyle never really suited him (even though his parents protested). you'd often see him giving away his toys and clothes to random kids he met.

even though he was passionate about it, his parents never took it seriously. to them, it was just a silly kid's dream, and they figured he'd eventually forget about it and start hanging out with more influential people.

that actually happened when they enrolled him in a prestigious school, and junho quickly realized he could be much more helpful if he was on the good side of these kids' families.

he started to dress and talk more like them, but deep down, he knew that even with his best efforts, he could never be like them since his family and their scandalous empire were never taken seriously.

sometime around high school, he decided to focus on other things instead, like becoming an exemplary student and giving another shot at trying to help people with a charity he planned himself and that was enough to him to ended up in snu.

being recruited for the club wasn't something he expected; it caught him by surprise. but all that determination and hunger for acceptance came rushing back, and he started giving his best to get in—even though he knew beating hyungseo would be almost impossible.

then the impossible happened—hyungseo died. he was actually happy that the competition was gone, and he could finally enjoy being part of something important.

UNTIL 2024

during his time in uni, he made good use of his connections, using them to distance himself from his family's brand and build a career of his own in law.

by the time he graduated, he had the best opportunities laid out for him and started working at one of the biggest law firms in the country, using the silent power of the club to reach even higher.

he was almost certain he could just take the money from the family, build a respectable legacy, and live among the other wealthy without being looked down.

but then, of course, his dad had to ruin everything and died… leaving junho very mad about it and with a legacy he wasn’t looking for.

now he was trapped again by his family name and the chain he hated so much, this time with no escape route since all the money came from it.

he doesn’t really know how to run a business and is struggling a lot with it, which adds insult to injury. but again, he’s determined to make good use of it and maybe a rebrand in the future so people forget about his father legacy.

PERSONALITY

junho is incredibly driven, always pushing himself to prove he’s more than just his family’s reputation. he genuinely cares about others and wants to make a difference, even though this is kinda forgotten in him. he feels a lot of pressure to fit into the elite world.

he often struggles with self-doubt and frustration, especially when balancing his values with what’s expected of him.

despite the challenges—like managing his family’s business and climbing the social ladder—he stays resilient and adaptable. junho is smart and strategic, using his connections and opportunities to his advantage.

although he’s constantly seeking approval and dealing with insecurities, his charm and natural charisma help him build influential relationships.

ambitious as ever, junho is determined to surpass his family’s success and leave his own mark.

glimpses of his conflicted self are hard for others to see, but they're there. somewhere inside, he’s still that kid who just wanted to be a good guy, but it’s hard now when he’s trying not to be a joke.

CONNECTIONS

i don't have anything in particular and would love to brainstorm something unique for our muses, or maybe fit in some connection you already have in mind!

[gobs-o-cs]

"We have to get back... We have to warn them! We can't be too late! ...Please. Please tell us that this was not how it ends!"

Malachite

(He/Him)

Warforged Warlock, Great Old One Patron, Pact of the Talisman

Neutral

Courtier Background (Emissary)

Prior to the Backstory Event that Led to Making a Warlock Pact:

Cuprite

"On behalf of the esteemed City-State of Hells'-Haven, I thank you for your hospitality in receiving this envoy and express our most sincere wishes that we can together forge an enthusiastic, efficacious, and enduring partnership."

Dice Set #74 - Oxi-Copper

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

What can I say? Inspiration is a fickle thing. I'll take it when I can get it, but I've definitely been slacking on making characters or minis. Definitely fell deep into a jigsaw puzzle vortex.

But, anyway, a post on bluesky inspired me to go back and remake a character's mini into a nice, proper one with all of the new features at my disposal.

Malachite's a character who in some form or another has been rattling around in my head for, like, something like 15 years now. I originally made the Warforged Warlock for 4th Edition - He was actually a counterpart of sorts to Morana.

For my 4th Edition characters, I was putting together the vague idea of them all being on the same team of mercenaries - If I were to ever DM a campaign, they'd be available for the PCs' party to hire/bring along for missions to shore up any weaknesses they had, to act as quest-givers (especially side-quest-type stuff), and in-general to give them NPC friends to care about (the plot hook I had in-mind would begin with the party being recruited into this merc group).

Actually, if I ever do run a campaign instead of just writing a story, I think I might still approach things with that whole setup in-mind.

Anyway, a trope I'd noticed in many media is that groups/teams/parties only ever seemed to have one member of each type/class - Maybe a beefy-type-fighter and agile-type-fighter, but that was the most overlap that seemed to exist, and usually that'd be more like a fighter and a ranger, or a fighter and a barbarian.

So what I wanted to do was have two Warlocks both as part of the core crew - Because the mercenary group liked each other and wanted to work with their friends, rather than shrewdly looking at their roster and rejecting someone because "they already had one of those".

While HeroForge still doesn't have the very niche ideas I have in-mind for the ultimate vision I have for Mal, the new options are certainly a step up from my first attempt at making a mini for him back in 2020.

In my vision, he doesn't have normal-looking horns, per se - He's got two metal slats attached to his faceplate, in place of horns - The Tieflings that made him did make him to resemble them, but still more stylized. Also, the green "hair" on his head is meant to be an accumulation of Old Man's Beard lichen, which started growing on his immobilized body while he was stuck in involuntary stasis, caught halfway in a time-bubble (hence the patina on his right side)

The reason for his making a pact, and the reason for his persona change is that he spent over 20 years stuck with his body and mind half-in-half-out of magical fallout, basically. And the source of the eldritch magic eventually reached out to his literally-fractured mind, and that aspect of his personality - An embodiment of his utter desperation and outrage, was the one to form the pact.

Finally freeing himself from the stasis effect stabilized his mind for the most part, but in terms of which facets of himself that are driving the actions now, there was a shift from his normal self to the part of him that made the pact. It's not a clear distinct-personas Dissociative Identity Disorder thing - There's no different-alters-taking-control-at-different-times switching - Malachite and Cuprite are the same person, just two of many voices that would debate ideas back and forth in his head, same as pretty much anyone else does. Malachite ultimately isn't any less reasonable than Cuprite - More guarded and paranoid, more affected by trauma, certainly. But still essentially Cuprite.

Nevertheless, learning that he was framed for causing the explosion of the strange magic that trapped him and destroyed a fortress, and that this incident was used by the other nation as a justification to invade and destroy his home City-State will definitely not sit well with him. His people - Both in the sense of the other residents of Hells'-Haven in-general, and his Warforged kin - Those who survived the invasion have once again been scattered to the winds. Hells'-Haven was a center of invention and research, and they had found ancient Warforged in tombs and revived them from their dormant states, which led to the development of techniques for creating new ones. So, the Warforged had their new home amongst the exiled Tieflings (and others) of the Haven.

He wishes to return to his service as an emissary of his people, which means finding whatever surviving leadership he can, if there's indeed anyone left to find. All the while his new "friend" whispers promises of vengeance justice in his mind.

[alenxa]

between the pants and the plan

I used to think I was a pantser because I got The Boreds every time I planned things. Like, I already know exactly what's going to happen in this scene, so why do I want to bother writing it? Kind of like the way school taught report-writing where you were supposed to graaaaaaadually flesh out your sentences and I always wondered why TF they were making the quicker ones of us hate the process by having us copy things over and over on different worksheets. I had a whole sequence of stories planned out, very basically, and I only finished one of them by the time I thought I would. I thought this was because I knew too much about the others. So I decided to start the one I knew the least about, with a concept and a handful of characters I didn't know very well, set up something for them to do regarding the concept, and see what came out. This is how I got the first version of APK, and for the age I was and the life I'd had, that was okay at the time. I couldn't say it was a book, but hey, novella's not bad.

The other thing that happened while I was discovering what this story was, was discovering other stories. Not that I didn't have other stories already, looking at me like incredulous girlfriends. But I just knew that character A was going to fall in with B, and C with D, and that all the stories of how that went were just as necessary as all the history I'd already set up. I finished one draft, which sucked, and gave up on the other I was working on when I couldn't deal with how much the first one sucked.

But I didn't stop building. New information about the world and its history kept coming to me, and I kept noting it down. I finished the leftover story, liked it pretty well, but realized that I needed more concrete knowledge of what came before it. So I was going to have to overhaul APK. And that was what started to change my mind about pants.

Because I had a lot of material that I'd already written, and that I liked as it was, interspersed with a lot of stuff that you could pop straight off the cob. I had some plot that worked, some dialogue, and some characters; and they were all over the map. And more importantly, I had the beginnings of an idea about the overall endgame of the world, and a need to shape all the stories to be able to get there. I was constrained by the events I'd written, the history I'd explored, and the future I wanted: the absolute opposite of pantsing. I griped and groaned about it, toiled over new ideas I'd never workshopped, and eventually got it done.

And just like before, I jumped straight into the next story, informed by everything I'd done and the shit draft I'd produced. And I PLOWED through it, at twice the speed of the first even with all the crap life was dumping on me. I would settle on the basic plot points and themes for each scene, poke the characters into talking about them, and then analyze whether the next scene I knew about was actually going to be next, or a few down the chapter. I knew where I was going, how much story time I had to get there, and how I wanted everything to look on the way. It resembled the way I often cook: with a Chopped basket of ingredients and a desired style of dish, and figure out the details along the way. There's plenty of room for inspiration within that framework, in both cases, and apparently that's enough for my sense of pants.

So now that I've figured out I'm a frameworker, or a charcoaler, or whatever others in this clade call it, the inevitable happens. I'm facing down an undrafted story that can't be done this way unless I make drastic changes to my structural conceits. Everything I learned in book 2 is not helping. But...it can. If I can remember that inspiration in dialogue can be enough, that I have set basically no constraints for myself through old draft, that I can leave out details that are there for decoration and come back for them later. Then maybe I'll be able to block out every scene the way I need to, themes and all, and not feel like a teacher is making me copy things from note cards.

[sstardustt3]

GUESS WHO MADE THE VEN DIAGRAM

if you can't really read what I put down here's the list (I'll probably think of more as I write the ones I already have down) and then I'll expand on them

Similarties:

Both live in New York

both have horrible parental figures who were most likely neglectful

homophobic

misogynistic

constant need to be in control

can NOT take criticism

teenagers

not very well-liked by the people around them

entitled

Marvin:

very gay

has a girlfriend??? somehow???

girlfriend is his only friend

jewish

actually developed as a person

Bill Dickey:

a little gay

bitchless

tall

has an actual friend group

Okay before yall get mad, let me explain.

Starting off, Bill isn't canonically gay from what I can tell anyway. But in my opinion any man who hates women as much as bill and andrew tate does has to be a little gay. It's not canon though I know that. However, Evan Dorkin did say on Twitter when asked what he thinks about Bill x Jerry that it could have happened if the Eltingville club continued. So take that as you will.

Marvin (at least in 'In Trousers') and Bill both view women more as like archetypes and as a monolift less than actual people. This is evident for Bill if you've read eltingville club then I feel this should be pretty obvious. First chapter he has dream where he's basically just captain kirk and he's surrounded by women, in the pilot he tries to rescue Princess Tiffany because she's "busty". Bill's thing is that he think's of women as something to concur and posses.

In Trousers takes place nearly entirely in the view of Marvin and his account of everything and everyone and gets misconstrued by him

(When he begins to shriek like a virgin/ and his eyes turn an ordinary fizz/ nothing's exactly as I say it is)

So all throughout In Trousers it's just him and how he views the world and women. The most prominent example of how he thinks of them is in high school ladies at 5 'o'clock. Which, this is largely my opinion and my personal analysis which I might fully post in the future. But, in high school ladies at 5 o'clock the ladies kind of show up as these just persistent, frivolous forces that are just obsessed with him in the same sort of way Bill views women.

Rounding back to what I said earlier about bill and his need to concur with women and possess them, he also just has a thing for being in control in general. He reminds me of those people who get into an argument on the road and then will start driving fast and swerving as a way to basically say shut the fuck up and try to scare you. Like he has to always be the one to start and end EVERYTHING. Most of the time in the comic's when the eltingville club temporarily split's and (spoiler alert) eventually split for good it is usually if not always his fault or under his request. Which is part of the reason he's such an unlikeable dickhead.

Marvin has a similar issue where he needs to have control and he needs to have everything his way. That is like the entire plot of March of the Falsettos, Marvin can't accept the fact he's lost the life he had and safety that it came with and forces himself to be a present figure weather wanted or not. Also, most of the relationships broken in Falsettos are his fault. He can't handle Whizzer not being completely committed and invested in him and his every little need that he blows up at him and leaves him. He ruins his relationship with Jason, mendel, and any resemblance of peace he had with trina because he couldn't believe she was moving on from him.

I already spoke about Bill's horrible parental figures ( that's what my original post that inspired this one was about) Marvin is alluded to having a neglectful parents. In Marvin's Giddy Seizures the ladies question if Marvin's outbursts are due to the lack of attention his mother gave him growing up

lately i've been thinking marvin needs attention/ of a private sort/ maybe this whole seizure thing Is something he invented/ or is it medicinal?/should his mother be blamed?

and in 'I swear I won't ever again' marvin speaks about Jason and talks about how a father's purpose is to make good money and nothing more.

mommy says you're funny/show me how you're funny/ daddy makes good money/ that's what daddy's for

This leads me to believe that he's following his father's example and what his father did. As we know Marvin wasn't exactly poor as he had maids growing up and most parents do look to how they were raised as guides on how to raise their own kids.

Anyways, long story short these bitches are two peas in a pod, only one actually grew up and the other remained a stagnant little piss baby cough cough..bill...

I think Bill turned out the way he did because both his parents didn't really pay attention to him ever and would just absentmindedly praise him hoping he'll just stop bothering them. Also for the sake of getting him to leave them alone they didn't tell him no. Like ever. And if they did I don't think they really disciplined him properly. Atleast not his mom. Which is why he's so comfortable stealing money from her. Going onto his dad I think bill was definitely subjected to rants of his dad saying just the worst shit about his mom throughout his entire childhood. In a very moral Orel camping episode-type way (ifykyk) and I think he probably internalized it or something. Now that I finish writing this I'm starting to see a resemblance in my favorite character and I might just have to whip out a ven diagram atp.

[quicksilversquared]

How to Fake a Marriage Ch. 6

(AO3) (FF.net)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The next day, Paul was sitting at his desk grinning when Adrien plodded in, coffee from a little shop en route to the bus station (laced with sugar and cream, of course) in hand. Adrien paused, slightly unnerved, before continuing his trek to his favorite desk.

"Why good morning," Paul said before Adrien could ask him why he was grinning like that (seriously, it was creepy). "And how are you on this sunny day?"

"I'm...good?"

"Fantastic, fantastic." Paul grinned some more. "So, I learned something interesting yesterday."

"Oh? Let me guess, it was the principle we learned yesterday during lab? Hate to break it to you, but I was there for that."

"No, no. Not that at all." Paul bent over to dig something out of his bag. "My older sister is getting married, and so like the good brother I am, I was helping her looking through wedding magazines, when I found this." With a flourish, Paul pulled out a magazine where, in full color on a two-page spread, Adrien and Marinette were getting 'married'.

Oh.

Whoops.

"Of course, I was more than a little surprised to find one of my friends in a wedding ad," Paul said smugly as Adrien scrambled to find words. "And with the 'friend' that eats dinner with him every night, no less! So I was wondering..."

"Marinette's my friend from Paris," Adrien said quickly before that line of questioning could go any farther. "She works as a design intern at Rosalie's Boutique, and they were doing a photoshoot for their wedding line. I got roped in."

"They don't have their own models for the photoshoots?"

Adrien shrugged as casually as he could. "I think they wanted to have a more approachable photo. If all they ever showed were tall, skinny models, how are people supposed to know if the dress would look good on them as well?"

"So they had one tall, skinny supermodel and one slightly shorter, also pretty skinny intern star in the photoshoot?" Paul asked dryly, setting the magazine down on his desk. "Yay variety."

Adrien shrugged again, hiding his wince. That was just the way it happened. He and Marinette just so happened to both be on the fairly athletic side.

"My younger sister almost screamed her head off when she realized that I was friends with a supermodel," Paul said, putting the magazine away in his bag before anyone else in the class could see it. "And then she wanted to know if you were available."

Adrien blinked, somewhat taken aback. "...like, dating available?"

Paul made a face. "Exactly. I told her no, that I thought you were dating someone. I know you've never said anything about it," he added when Adrien gave him a puzzled look. "But, like- okay, I know you're a good person and you'd probably be a fairly decent boyfriend, but I also know you're older than me and she's younger than I am."

That meant there was at least a four-year gap. Adrien wasn't particularly interested in dating someone that much younger, especially at this point in his life. Technically, it wasn't a huge difference- his parents had been born nearly seven years apart- but the difference was that they had been in their late twenties/early thirties when they met, not one person already graduated from one university program (and in another) while the other person hadn't yet graduated lycée, or whatever the British called it. People matured a lot in university, Adrien had discovered- it sometimes made having classes with younger peers frustrating- and besides, he didn't date fans.

(He didn't date at all, technically, but he especially didn't date fans.)

"Also, I don't like the idea of her dating anyone," Paul added as he straightened his calculator on his desk. "She's too young."

Adrien's lips twitched in amusement at his tone. He wouldn't have called it before, but Paul was apparently the overprotective brother type. Granted, if his younger sister was the sort who asked her older brother if his even older friend was single, maybe Paul had reasons to not want her to date.

"I noticed you didn't dispute the supermodel thing," Paul added with a grin. "You can't even argue there, can you?"

Adrien let out a groan. He had been so focused on the wedding photos that he had completely missed the fact that Paul had apparently found out that he had been- well, technically still was- a model. "I don't know about the super part. I'm just a regular model. And I'm not really modelling right now." His father wasn't happy about that- he had wanted Adrien to return to Paris to do a couple quick photoshoots for a couple weekends, but Adrien hadn't wanted to take away from his studying time at all. It would just throw him out of his groove and he had no real desire to sit posing under hot lights for hours on end. Regular, non-rushed photoshoots were bad enough- hours of back-to-back fittings and photoshoots crammed together all weekend in an attempt to get everything done would be a nightmare. His father could find a couple other male models to fill in. It wasn't as though models were in short supply in Paris or anything. "And I'm planning on quitting for good once I get this degree."

"Aww, really? But you're so pretty!" Paul grinned when Adrien made a face at him. "I suppose you'll be glad to get out of the spotlight. Do you ever have to deal with tabloids reporting on you?"

"Making up stuff about me, you mean? Occasionally." For the most part he was left alone since he was a model, not an actor or musician or anything. Most models didn't have to deal with the same sort of attention that he did, though of course most of them hadn't been modelling since their preteens and didn't have a parent famous in the fashion industry. The models that did get as much attention as he (unfortunately) did were supermodels, and they were far more serious about their modelling than Adrien was. They had worked for it, instead of basically being handed a modelling contract like Adrien had.

"That sucks."

"I've learned to ignore it. They can say what they want, and as long as people I care about don't believe them then it doesn't affect me." Of course, so far there hadn't been any particularly outrageous articles about him and he hadn't had to search for jobs with employers that might have seen falsified articles about him, so maybe he would change his tune in the future.

Hopefully not. He wouldn't really want to work for an employer who would make hiring decisions based on stories in tabloid magazines anyway.

Paul looked a little dubious but dropped the subject anyway. "If you say so. Hey, so have you started looking stuff over for the tests? I'm thinking a study group this weekend would be good, just to get things started."

Adrien didn't even have to think about it. "Yeah! I'll be free. I started studying yesterday, and I've already marked a few things that I might need a bit more work on. Have you started on your Electronics project yet?"

"I've glanced at it. Took some notes." Paul shrugged. "Haven't put anything together yet, though. You?"

"I've gotten a couple pages put together. I want to get it done by next Monday, and then I can give it some time to rest before I review it." It was a strategy Adrien had picked up during his business program and italmost always resulted in much better papers. If he put things off until last minute, he couldn't get the necessary distance from his paper to actually look at it with a critical eye. "And then I want to clean up my magnets lab."

"And study," Paul added.

"And study." Adrien couldn't help but let out a sigh at that. There were still two full weeks until exams started, and he already couldn't wait until they were done with the tests and he could enjoy a relaxing week off before the second half of the semester started. Once he got his projects wrapped up and his labs organized and turned in things might get more relaxed, but he didn't want to count on that. He had once during his second year in business and let things slide, and he had ended up pulling more than one all-nighter to try to get his studying completed.

Never again. He'd rather get things done ridiculously early than have to deal with too much stuff at the last minute. It was stressful and led to bad grades, which was hugely frustrating when he knew he could do better.

"I get the feeling that I'll be really glad that I'm still living at home," Paul said as their professor came into the room and started setting things up in front. Adrien raised an eyebrow at that; previously, Paul had complained about living at home. He came from London originally and his family lived close enough to the university that there was no point in him renting an apartment of his own. He had been fine with that arrangement at first, but apparently he had made several other friends in his other classes who either had their own apartment or who were sharing with one or two (or three, Adrien wasn't quite sure) other students and they had some fabulous stories about the things they could get up to without their parents there. Adrien personally thought that Paul's other friends sounded a bit immature, but he really couldn't judge that much considering that he hadn't actually met any of them for more than a minute or two at a time.

"Why do you say that?"

Paul shrugged. "Timothy and Eric were talking the other day about how much work it is to clean their own place and cook all of their own meals and it was just something I've never thought of before. It seems like that could eat up a lot of study time."

Adrien shrugged. It hadn't been something he considered to be too much of a bother, but then again he was used to slotting study time in around photoshoots, fittings, and other assorted industry events. Now that he didn't have those to deal with anymore, simple tasks like cleaning and cooking didn't seem like such a big issue. "It can. I tend to clean during study breaks, and then it helps that both Mari and I are fairly clean people to start with. If we make a mess while cooking, we clean it up right away. It's more work if we just put it off."

Paul snorted. "Y'know, sometimes with the way you talk about Marinette, it really sounds like the two of you are living together. You cook together, you clean together..."

"We take turns cooking and we each clean our own apartments. It's just that we have similar ways of approaching it." Adrien had to admit that if he had to have a roommate, Marinette would be pretty much perfect. They were both mature and got along fabulously. On top of that, their near-identical approach to keeping the apartment clean would probably eliminate almost all of the cleaning-related nightmare problems Adrien had heard about from other uni students.

"Hey, I'm just saying."

"I know." Adrien paused for a moment, thinking. "What you were saying earlier, that you were glad you were still living at home..."

"Oh! Because my parents take care of the cooking and cleaning for me. I help out sometimes," Paul added hastily. "But when I have a lab report to complete and, like, the bathroom needs cleaning, I don't need to worry about it. Or if I don't have time to cook, I don't have to worry about that either. And maybe I'm just assuming, but I'm guessing that that might be a problem you have to deal with? Having to put studying aside to clean?"

Adrien shrugged. "Like I said before, I try to keep it clean as I go. I'll probably do a full cleaning as a study break before cramming time starts, and then it should be fine until after midterms are done. Besides, I can't study all the time."

"And I suppose Marinette will be cooking for you so you don't have to cook and cram at the same time?"

Adrien shook his head at that and then thought about it again and shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. She has Fashion Week to prepare for and it might fall at about the same time. We talked about how that might be a problem earlier in the semester, but we haven't actually compared our schedules at all recently. She'll probably be working late leading up to the runway, so she wouldn't have time to cook either."

Paul looked surprised. "Really? I thought that, y'know, when she gets home then she's done until she goes back to work the next day so she could take care of the cooking and everything."

Adrien shook his head. "Not really. I mean, kind of? She's not required to be working once she leaves for the day, but there's a bunch of extra last-minute stuff left to do once it gets close to runway week so she has to stay longer to get that done."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She just worked late yesterday, actually. We had to dip into our frozen leftovers supply because I lost track of time and forgot to start cooking." Adrien wanted to kick himself for that little blunder- cooking would have been a fantastic study break, and then they wouldn't have had to eat leftovers that they had been saving for when they were both busy. He also wanted to kick himself for not finding out when Fashion Week would be, because that was fairly important.

Best-case scenario, it would be before his midterms and so Marinette would be able to cook for both of them while he did his exams. Worst-case scenario, both would fall at the same time and they would end up being a huge pile of stress.

He could only hope for the best.

  As it turned out, Fashion Week and Adrien's midterms didn't line up, but the run-up to Runway Week did fall right during Adrien's midterms and that was even more of problem than Fashion Week itself would have been. They went through their entire stockpile of frozen food plus several frozen pizzas during the frantic two weeks full of studying and sewing.

"I'll be glad when this is over," Marinette grumbled as she staggered into Adrien's apartment after a long day at work. A huge number of models had come in for fittings, and she had spent the entire day marking up little changes that had to be done. The following day would be spent joining the seamstresses to help with the alterations so that everything would be finished by the time the models came in for their final fitting. There had also been discussions on accessories, an argument about hair styling, and a frantic frenzy as they organized the shipment of shoes that had only just come in.

It had been a long day in an already long week, and it was still only Wednesday.

"Hey, Marinette!" Adrien called from the kitchen. The smell of baking pizza filled the apartment, making Marinette's stomach grumble despite how sick she was of pizza. They had it for dinner, they had it as leftovers for lunch, and she had even had a piece for a snack a few days prior. She and Adrien tried to mix the flavors up, but there was really only so much they could do.

"Did your exam today go well?" Marinette asked as she entered the dining room area. She couldn't remember which class the test had been for (something math-y, no doubt), but Adrien hadn't been particularly looking forward to it. Now that that test was over, he only had one test left before he got his weeklong break prior to the start of the second half of the semester. Mr. Agreste had called him up several times hoping that Adrien would come back to Paris for the break, but Adrien hadn't quite decided yet if he wanted to or not.

Or maybe he had decided and just hadn't bothered to tell anyone yet for one reason or another. She wasn't going to press too much.

"The test went all right. I don't think I could have handled studying for it for any longer." Adrien flashed an exhausted grin at Marinette. "At least my last test is for a class I actually like. I've been reviewing my notes, but I shouldn't have any problems."

"That's good." At least once one of them was done with their cram time they wouldn't both be on edge. It was hard to unwind when both of them were worried about something and neither had the time to cook.

"At least your finals don't line up with anything," Marinette said, leaning over the short dividing wall that separated the dining area from the kitchen. "I should be able to cook then."

Adrien laughed. "Is that a not-so-subtle way of asking if I can cook next week?"

"You caught me." Of course, it was possible that she would be staying at the Fashion Week buildings late enough that she would have to order out or snitch leftovers from Adrien...or, if he decided to go back to Paris, she would have to fend for herself. She foresaw lots of pasta in her future. "Have you decided what you're going to do during your break week? I can manage to feed myself if you're going to go back to Paris. After all, I'm only actually working on Monday, since that's when Madam Rosalie's show is. I'll just be watching other shows the rest of the week."

Adrien shrugged, looking sheepish. "I don't actually know. My father wants me to come back and visit him, but I kind of want to explore the city more while I'm here." He flashed her a smile, making Marinette's heart skip a beat. She might be more or less over Adrien- or at least that was what she tried to tell herself- but there were times when he was just too gorgeous for his own good. "Plus, I want to be here to see your first runway."

And then he said things like that, and Marinette wondered if she ever had a chance at getting over him. All signs pointed towards no.

"It might be hard getting in the building, but it would be nice to have you there," Marinette admitted. Her parents couldn't get away from the bakery, and both Nino and Alya were busy with their own jobs. She would have her colleagues, of course, but that wasn't the same. They had all seen the outfits a hundred times at this point, so they wouldn't have the same reactions to seeing the pieces as a fresh pair of eyes would have.

Adrien laughed at that. "Actually, Madam Rosalie already got me tickets. She said she normally gets some for my father, but he never uses them. She said it was as thanks for participating in the wedding photoshoot." He rolled his eyes and returned to assembling a salad. "I honestly can't figure out who owes who at this point. It's too confusing. But at least it's the 'no I owe you' mindset instead of both of us insisting the other owes us something," Adrien added. "This is much nicer."

"Fair enough." Marinette leaned over the divider, trying to catch a glimpse of the kitchen timer. Her stomach was growling, but there really wasn't a polite way of asking how soon they could eat. "Is there anything I can be helping with?" Now that she had (finally) left work, she was technically free. Adrien, on the other hand, still had studying to do, even if he was trying to avoid it.

"Oh, sure! I was hoping to have a fruit salad with the pizza. We can at least pretend that we're eating healthy." Adrien pointed to the mango sitting on the counter. He had been planning on cutting that up next, but if Marinette was offering, all the better. "You could get that ready, maybe. We should probably use it up before it gets too over-ripe and we have to throw it away."

"Will do."

A brief silence fell over the room as they worked. Adrien busied himself with chopping pineapple while Marinette peeled and cut up the mango. They got everything done and on the table before the timer went off for the pizza.

"When are you done tomorrow?" Marinette asked as Adrien pulled the pizza out of the oven and started cutting it. "Your test is midday, right?"

"Yeah, it starts at twelve-thirty. Thank goodness it's not on Friday, I don't know if I could actually keep studying much longer." Adrien passed Marinette a slice of pizza before serving up a piece for himself. "I'm looking forward to having a week to relax and get my head back on straight before diving back into classes."

"Is it a lot different than business school?"

Adrien thought about it as he took his first bite of pizza. "Yes and no? I mean, obviously it's different topics, and this time I'm at least actually interested in them. We have more labs now, too. But otherwise? The setup is kind of similar, and it's definitely helpful to have that prior experience of when I need to start studying so that I have plenty of time."

"Do a lot of other people struggle with that?"

"Some. I've heard several people talking about all-nighters they pulled to get a paper in on time." Even Paul, who Adrien had thought was smarter than that, had pulled an all-nighter already to get a paper done. Adrien hadn't been able to resist teasing his friend; after all, it wasn't often that he was more awake than Paul. Paul hadn't particularly appreciated the teasing, but he couldn't deny that he had deserved it. "How are the Fashion Week preparations going?"

Adrien couldn't deny that he was stalling, just a bit. He didn't particularly want to go back to studying, since that was all he had been doing all afternoon. A nap sounded far better, or a run over the rooftops, but he had to be responsible. Once he and Marinette finished up with dinner, he would have to go back to reviewing his notes and doing a few more practice problems from his book. Maybe he could persuade Marinette to let him help with the dishes, just to get a little bit more of a break.

Marinette shrugged. "So far, so good. I mean, we're working overtime to get fittings and photoshoots done, but almost everything is ready. I always got the impression that things were crazier because of, y'know, those TV shows..."

Adrien nodded.

"And I'm sure that the backstage area will be insane once Fashion Week starts, but we're hardly making stuff last minute," Marinette added hastily. "Pieces are finished, we're just polishing them up and getting everything in order. I wouldn't be surprised if we all finish early tonight just because we've been rushing to finish all week. I think there's some hand beading that maybe needs to be finished, and then getting things in boxes and carted over." Marinette shrugged, looking pleased. She polished off her pizza and got up to grab another piece.

Soon enough, dinner was over and cleaned up. Marinette excused herself so that Adrien could study in peace, much to his disappointment. Adrien had rather been hoping for a distraction.

"We're all out of Camembert!"

...a distraction that was not in the form of his kwami, that was.

"Don't we have other kinds of cheese?" Adrien asked tiredly as he flipped through a couple flashcards.

"Yes, but I want Camembert!"

Adrien sighed again. "I'll get you some tomorrow after my test. I'm not going to interrupt my studying again, Plagg. I just found something that I need to review more."

"Really? No more interruptions?" Plagg suddenly sounded decidedly impish. "Not even red-and-black interruptions?"

Adrien's head came up at that. "What?"

Plagg pointed to the window instead of answering. Adrien got up and rushed over, peering out into the darkness. Movement on the rooftops caught his eye and he squinted, trying to see more clearly. A moment later, the figure went past a streetlight and Adrien caught sight of a red suit dotted with black spots.

"Ladybug's out," Adrien breathed, twisting so he could watch his partner as she ran over the rooftops. His hand twitched towards Plagg, tempted to summon the kwami, transform, and run after Ladybug. He'd been studying for forever, surely he deserved a break-

A snicker from Plagg made Adrien snap out of his Ladybug-induced trance. He suddenly realized that that was exactly the response Plagg was hoping he would have. If Adrien showed any willingness to go join Ladybug, then Plagg would call him out on his excuse for not getting cheese because he was too busy studying. And of course Plagg would say that he would need his Camembert before Adrien could transform, so Adrien would have to go to the store first, buy the cheese, come back, and then transform, by which time Ladybug could very well already be done with her outing.

"Maybe tomorrow," Adrien said with the most dramatic sigh he could muster.

Plagg's mouth dropped open. "You aren't going out? B-but I thought-"

"I'm too busy. I have a test tomorrow, remember?" Adrien watched as Ladybug disappeared from view and then turned back to his books. As much as he wanted to join his partner, he couldn't. Besides, it wasn't as though he would be missing anything particularly important. He and Ladybug always did the same thing when they ran into each other on the rooftops of London. "I can't wait for it to be over. I think I spent too much time messing around with the study group. We didn't get much done." Adrien wasn't looking forward to telling Paul that if the other boy tried to put a group together for finals, but the others in the group just hadn't been focused enough and they had wasted hours chatting instead of studying. It might have been fun if it hadn't been so frustrating.

"Have you decided what you're doing next week?" Plagg asked, floating along behind Adrien. "You need to tell your father soon, you know. Same-day train tickets are expensive. So are same-day plane tickets."

"I'm not going back to Paris." Adrien had considered it, sure- he missed Nino and Alya, after all, and it would be nice to see his father and Nathalie and the Gorilla again- but Marinette would be tired from Fashion Week and it would be a shame to miss her first show. She would want to have a friendly face there, and she had already said that her parents wouldn't be able to make it. And then, once Madam Rosalie's part of the show wrapped up and Marinette had seen all of the other shows that she wanted to peek into, they could go explore more of London or maybe make plans to venture a little further on a long weekend excursion. He'd known his plans for a while now, actually, but he just didn't want to tell his father that. Adrien knew full well that if he told his father that his mind was made up and he was staying in London over the break, his father would flood his phone with messages about why it would be beneficial for Adrien to spend the week in Paris. The procrastinating on an answer wasn't preventing that entirely- Adrien was getting a dozen texts and a call per day- but he was waiting for his final test to be over before announcing his decision.

Plagg raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't tell your wife that...why?"

"She might tell Nino or Alya and then my father would interrogate them?" Adrien offered a bit weakly as he paged through his notebook. He didn't really have an answer for that, other than the fact that he had just gotten so used to not telling his father that it had just seemed natural to not tell his friend, either. It was stupid, reasoning, but so automatic at this point. "And she's not actually my wife, Plagg. We've been over this a million times or so."

"You keep saying that, and then you keep having dinner dates with her, and visiting her at lunch, and texting her all day," Plagg said, smirking. He settled on top of Adrien's computer and peered down at his Chosen. "And you're ditching visiting your father and your other friends to watch your wife's runway show."

"It's Madam Rosalie's runway show," Adrien corrected. "And she is certainly not my wife." He glanced down at his notebook and frowned suddenly. "And I really do need to study, Plagg. Just eat the cheddar or something. Seriously."

"Aww...."

[fairyringsandwings]

I remember you mentioning after you finish Queen of the drowned, you were thinking of writing a fic where Shuri has memory loss and ends up in Talokan. Could you elaborate on this more? It sounds super interesting!

Hello Dear Anon, sure thing ^_^

Not gonna lie though, I have put veeeery little thought into this. All of my time has been getting put into Queen of The Drowned. These are my messy, messy musings, but this how all my stories start xD

I have 2 ideas for a memory loss story.

Story 1:

Takes place after Black Panther 2. Something happens to Shuri - an accident during a mission as The Black Panther - which results in her losing her memories. Namor is the one who finds her, injured and without her memory and takes advantage of this. He spins a lie that she has always lived in Talokan and that he and her were betrothed/engaged/married (not sure which one).

Exploration Points:

Namor will try and make Shuri fall in love with him while also trying to convince her of her place among his people. This won't be easy as Shuri is different from the Talokanil and Namor. She can't breathe underwater or survive the extreme conditions without a suit, she doesn't turn blue on the surface, and doesn't know their language or culture.

Attuma may be a point of conflict as I might have a Okoye x Attuma side pairing where they are secretly in contact. As his feelings for Okoye grow and as he becomes closer friends with Shuri, he begins to be unable to bare hiding the truth from both women.

Shuri eventually does fall in love with Namor and marries him. She becomes pregnant/has a child.

There would be lots of Namor/Shuri bonding with the bairn as it grows up. I think I'd have Namor being able to turn into a giant serpent like in Queen of The Drowned and would have a scene where their child grabs onto his tail and he playfully tries to shake her off. Yeah, wean would would be a lassie for sure!

The main bulk of the story would be Shuri falling in love, all the while fighting this sense of dread that Namor is lying. Then lots of nashuri baby cuteness!

Then Nakia finds Shuri... and all hell breaks loose.

Or

Story 2

Plot: Canon Divergence. Takes place before Black Panther 1. When Shuri is a little girl she is lost at sea and found by the Talokanil. She has lost her memory and doesn't know who she is or where she came from. As Shuri now knows of the Talokanil + Talokan, Namor forbids her from going back to The Surface. It'll be either Attuma or Namora who decides to raise her. I think Talokanil age differently, so age wise it should work out.

Exploration Points:

Shuri might meet Namor as a child, but it wouldn't be until she was older - 17/18 - that she starts to develop a crush on him. I might do something similar to what I wrote in another fanfic for a different pairing (Art of War - Darklina fic), where she takes a dislike to him and pulls a variety of pranks on him. She just tries to make his life a living hell without getting caught. Funny, light-hearted stuff.

Talokan might suffer from a problem that Shuri will later solve, earning her Namor's respect and gratitude (fixing a pollution issue or brightening the sun plot from the original script). Namor will start seeking her out more from that point, wanting to spend time with her.

I think the dynamic I'll be aiming for is simp Namor and a playing hard-to-get/in denial Shuri. She'll think a relationship is impossible as there are to many roadblocks; he's a God/King/Immortal, and she's not even sure what she is as she was raised to believe she was an unusual Talokanil.

Somehow Wakanda finds out about Shuri still being alive and demands her back. Maybe Shuri sneaks off to the surface and someone from Wakanda spots her and notices her close resemblance to the royal family or she has a Wakandan necklace/bracelet/object that gives her away as the missing Princess.

Shuri does go back to prevent a war. As she tries to learn about her old life and adapt, Namor secretly visits her at night and tries to romance her. During the day light hours, he plays diplomat with the Wakandans.

Shuri then learns that her brother is going to reveal Wakanda to the world. She decides to challenge him for the throne to prevent that.

That's all I got xD

[sashannarcy]

I haven't not watch amphobia but good lord pls give me an essay of why marcy is messed up

right okay. so if you haven't watched then you don't know abt Marcy's arc, so let me fill you in [bc idk how much u know]. u wanted an essay I gave u an essay <3

so. the three girls got to Amphibia in the first place by means of this really weird music box [called the Calamity Box] that Anne shoplifted on her birthday. both Sasha and Marcy pushed her to shoplift it; Marcy was the one who had discovered the box's existence in the first place [this knowledge is brushed aside for all of s1 and the majority of s2]. when they opened the box, they all got teleported into Amphibia, each of them sent to a different location, etc etc.

so! Marcy ended up teleporting into the heart of Amphibia, in a city called Newtopia, where the king of the whole place lives: King Andrias. Marcy grows close with him and becomes his advisor; it's implied that at some point they vented to him pretty hard about their issues. what issues, you ask? great question, I'll get to that in a sec. Marcy of course tells him about the box and how they got here in the first place, and Andrias of course takes great interest in this. at some point, he proposes an idea to them: charge the gemstones on the box, and he'll show the three kids how to use it and how to travel to other worlds. so eventually all three kids meet up, they successfully charge the box by means of three temples scattered throughout Amphibia, and then they travel back to Newtopia to see Andrias.

it is at this point that we're shown that Andrias is fucking EVIL!!!! his ancestors were colonizers and used the music box to travel to other dimensions and conquer their worlds. now that the box is found again, he wants to continue their legacy. Marcy notably does not object to anything he's saying during this whole spiel of his. tensions rise until it looks like the kids [Anne and Sasha] and Andrias are about to fight, but then Marcy FINALLY steps between them and objects, telling Andrias that they thought no one would get hurt. to which Anne and Sasha are like. what. and Andrias is like yeah, Marcy, tell them the truth!

this is the plot twist that made go batshit insane when I first saw it: Marcy sent them all to Amphibia on purpose. they knew exactly what the box would do when they pushed Anne to shoplift it. they had read about it on Earth a while ago and what its powers consisted of. then, their parents told them that they were going to move to another state; they didn't wanna leave their friends, they ran out of their house crying, they stumbled on an antique shop that had the box sitting on a shelf, and, hey—what if they could just run away? what if they could just take their friends with them and never have to come back again? and that is exactly what they did, without telling their friends what they were orchestrating. FURTHERMORE, they're completely on board with Andrias's idea of having adventures in other worlds while he colonizes them, as long as they can keep their friends by their side for forever [fucked up, if you ask me!]. the scene in which this is revealed is brilliantly done and I highly recommend you watch it here—one of the best scenes in the entire goddamn show, imo. the line delivery, the framing, the way Marcy cries... it is very good. [please watch it I rewatched it just now and it never fails to drive me up a wall]

the episode in which this scene happens ends with Marcy getting stabbed through the chest with Andrias's flaming sword after an inevitable fight breaks out. their last words before they slip and crash to the floor are "I'm sorry... for everything." they're alive, barely, and Andrias ends up preserving their body in something resembling a pickle jar. and now, as the current plot stands, they are possessed by an entity containing the minds of Amphibia's ancestors, because Andrias is an asshole and forced Marcy to be the host.

SO LIKE ANYWAY. I THINK THIS IS ALREADY A LOT OF INFO FOR YOU AS FAR AS HOW FUCKED UP THEY ARE, BUT LET ME GIVE A BIT OF MY THOUGHTS BEFORE I WRAP UP THIS LONG-ASS ASK:

Marcy Wu is selfish. they are naive. they are amoral and have very little understanding of the thoughts and feelings of those around them [low empathy, imo. to be clear this is not me saying that people w low empathy are inherently bad—I myself lack empathy, but I like to think I’m not that bad]. and most of all, I see them as a performer.

look, they are obviously to SOME degree separated from reality—they fully convinced themself that they’d be able to essentially kidnap their two best friends from their homes and live with them forever and ever in other dimensions and that said friends wouldn’t be upset with them for this. that’s not NORMAL. their literal very first instinct when Anne gives them some resistance is to try to convince her that they are solely responsible for her happiness and growth while Anne’s been in Amphibia—that is fucked up. “I gave you everything”??? that is a RAW line to be coming from a sobbing and desperate middle schooler.

what I mean by them being a performer is this: they set up their stage. they set the scene. they write their plot, they play their part, they live entirely in this fantasy they’ve created for themself. and all their characters are playing their parts, too—everything’s going good, everyone’s saying their lines—there were a few fuck-ups but you know, that’s fine, the show goes on, right? they’re ready to reveal their hand with a flourish, to swoop in and say hey, isn’t this great? what if we did this til the end of time? aren’t you happier here?

and then their stage starts to catch fire, there aren’t enough buckets of water to go around—their hand is revealed, but not in the way they planned on it—everything’s slipping, the audience is getting agitated and they don’t understand, because they’re the protagonist—right? right? and then there’s flames at their feet and flames through their chest and they’re choking out an apology they don’t fully understand, and there’s strings around their wrists and ankles, and the stage is no longer their own. and the strings drag them up and puppet them until they’ve become the antagonist—but maybe that wasn’t so much of a transformation as it was a realization. and hey, why not? the show goes on.

anyway :D watch Amphibia it’s worth it

[gaydiation-poisoning]

Okay SO

Time to break down what's wrong with this family of fucked up Octos into a somewhat simplified list

This time I'll try to keep it all in something resembling a chronological timeline

°In his youth Octavio was an extremely spirited, passionate, caring man who adored his people and stood as an absolute prodigy to his family. Strong and skilled in combat, and one of the finest engineers of his age. The future looked bright for him.

(Young Octavio sketched by @for-a-new-life)

°Haha. No.

°Immediately after the final battle that lost them the Great Turf War, the Octarians retreated into the domes, Octavio was on the brink of death due to severe injuries and had to be treated immediately with limited power and supplies. This involved several rushed surgeries and the amputation of his left arm in the hopes that it would regrow healed. Unfortunately it never fully recovered and the damage is visible for the rest of his life.

°His amputated arm is put on ice and stored away, eventually being forgotten about.

°As time goes on and the Octarians struggle Octavio goes through an emotional shutdown and essentially withdraws from any and all personal relationships. Caring too much for too long eventually took a toll that he could not afford, and thus he put his walls up in order to feel in control.

°Many decades later Octavio has aged greatly and yet still has no heir to his name, nor has he shown much interest in figuring one out.

°Around this time a scientist finds and pulls Octavio's old arm out of storage, hoping to get himself in his leaders good graces, takes it upon himself to use the arm for a personal project

°From this tentacle he grows a fine young female Octoling specimen, the only flaw being the green scarring visible across her back that he couldn't make go away

°This clone is eventually presented to Octavio, and he responds in rage and disgust

°However, it's too late to throw out the near fully gestated clone so she finishes her incubation and is released

°Octavio reluctantly takes her in, gives her the name Uni, and from the moment she can hold a weapon is set to training

°He rarely speaks to her, and for the most part she is forbidden from bothering him.

°She is never allowed to call him 'Dad' or 'Father' or anything like that. Only ever 'Sir'

°She trains and studies constantly hoping to become good enough to earn his approval

°Octavio is exceedingly hard on her, expecting her to be the best of the best and anything below that is unacceptable

°The truly horrible dark truth of it all is that he does love Uni, he loves her to death, but that terrifies him.

°He loved her from the moment he looked at her and that made him feel like he was losing control, and thus he resents her for it and takes it out on her with harsh words and manipulation. To him she is a walking weakness literally resurrected from one of his worst memories. So yeah that's fun.

°Eventually the events of Splatoon 1 happen and Uni hears the Inkantation, it opens her eyes and makes her long for something more than this miserable pit she was born in

°She makes her escape while Octavio is distracted with his whole Kidnapping Callie plot

°She's on the run for a while before being accosted by Agent 3 (Arashi) and Cap'n Cuttlefish, kicking off the events of the Octo Expansion where she gets the title Agent 8

°Those proceed mostly as normal, although she is shaken by Craig's kindness towards her as that's not something she's used to

°Stuff happens and she helps blow up TarTar, earning her right to the surface and her place with the Squidbeaks

°Craig and 3 take her to meet the others, where they meet Callie, Marie, and 4 post thwarting Octavio's plans

°Uni finds her father in the Snowglobe and tries to talk to him, hoping that maybe saving the world would be enough to earn some level of approval

°It doesn't go well. Octavio flies off the handle at her about her being a traitor and a deserter.

°At this point Uni finally snaps, she finally becomes disillusioned with her father and basically tells him to eat shit and storms off.

°Octavio is actually decently shocked by this. He didn't expect her to actually walk away from him, He didn't think she'd actually have the guts for it.

°Uni eventually accepts the Squidbeak Splatoon as her new family and changes her name to Ashta.

°A little while later Ashta ends up having her daughter Amp, and picks up a somewhat shitty job working for Grizzco to support her kid

°She quickly rises through the ranks and becomes very good at her job

°Several years in she's about as high ranking as she could get, and she gets curious about where all the eggs are going

°Ashta gets incredibly close to finding out the truth, but Grizz stages a work accident in an attempted murder to get rid of Ashta

°Ashta is stranded away from her family with no way to get back, presumed dead

°Grizz then tries to arrange for her kid to be disposed of to tie up loose ends, but Amp escapes

°Unfortunately she is unable to find the Squidbeaks, and is thus on her own for the next long long while

°Skip until just after the end of Splatoon 3's main campaign, Amp has been fending for herself for so long and dreaming of a family, that she's thrilled to discover she has a biological grandfather at all, not really caring that he's a horrible old war criminal.

°The fact that he's basically The DJ Ever also excites her to no end

°Amp sees both Octavio and the Squidbeaks as her family now, with seemingly very little awareness as to how everyone else feels about that

°Octavio isn't really sure what to make of the kid at first, she's loud and tiny and annoying, like a particularly bothersome fly that's buzzing around him constantly, the only reason he accepted her was cus Craig had the gall to imply he just wasn't cut out for being a grandpa.

°But as much as he wants her to shut up and leave him alone, the idea of pushing her away makes him...uncomfortable

°Maybe it's something about someone of his own flesh and blood not being able to speak her own language, or maybe that he'd be proving Craig right by doing so. (Or maybe it's that he drove his own daughter away like the old prick he is)

°So he tolerates her, never calls her by her name though. Usually some form of 'Kid', 'Pipsqueak', 'Shortstack', or whatever else. Including 'Angelfish' once he warms up to her a bit.

°Their shared love of DJing definitely helps with that.

°Them getting along takes for fucking ever frankly cus Octavio is an emotionally constipated old fuck on a good day

°He does care though, there is one point when he nearly gets torn apart by Salmonids while trying to save her

°But he's also an old cunt who knows she's desperate for approval and afraid of being abandoned and will absolutely use that to get away with being a bit of a dick.

°He has massive expectations of her, stuff she doesn't even really understand. Like what does it mean to be an 'heir'...?

°Basically he's awful and horrible but he loves her and she loves him but he sucks at loving people without it being a gigantic fucking disaster

Hopefully I can go into more detail with all of this at some point but I've been writing for a while and I think I'm gonna pass out, thanks so much for reading all this stupid to my weird in progress setup to story about a kid and her fucked up relationship with her fucked up grandpa.

There's a lot of details left out here, this is mostly just a summary, and hopefully I'll be able to post more in future.

(au where Amp was born in the domes, drawn by @for-a-new-life)

Thanks for reading

HORRIBLE MESSY IN-NO-PARTICULAR-ORDER AMP BULLETPOINT POST BEFORE SIDE ORDER COMES OUT LETS FUCKING GOOOO

THIS IS AMP ^ (art by @for-a-new-life)

SHE IS MY NEO AGENT 3

Age: 14

Height: 4'8

Full name: Amphitrite Takowasa

°She was born a little less than a year after the events of Splatoon 2 (we have a slightly altered timeline)

°She will BITE you if you call her Amphitrite

°Amp's mother Ashta disappeared when she was about 7 years old, ever since she's been growing up on the streets of Inkopolis alongside her best friend/little brother Sammy.

(pictured here, by @redginaldusrooiakker)

°She does not know her own full name

°She has faint memories of Off The Hook playing on the television when she was little, this inspired her dream of becoming a big time DJ. (cus there's not enough of these Octo DJ bastards running about)

°She made her way to Splatsville at age 13 looking to make it big, although having no money and no home took to crashing on the couch in the Lobby.

°Despite practically living in the Lobby, Amp does not play much Turf War or any other sport. She tends to find them limiting and aggravating, as she's not much of a team player and tends to prefer an aggressive solo charge over working with others. As a result she turns to working at Grizzco for cash.

°She is very reckless on the job, with a tendency to charge in headfirst with a seeming lack of self preservation, most coworkers dislike her for her behavior and think she's a liability. She is, however, effective, and thus Grizz keeps her on and assigns her 'mentors' to keep her focused. (At least until they burn out and she's passed to someone else)

°Mains Octobrush

°After about four months of working for Grizzco, she had a falling out with her favourite mentor and wound up meeting Craig Cuttlefish and joining the Squidbeak Splatoon

°She just wants to feel useful

°Amp has a very casual way of speaking, very rarely using honorifics. Some find this rude, but it's typically a sign that she likes someone a great deal and feels comfortable. She doesn't typically gel well with Authority figures for this reason. (Albeit this is not intentional on her end.)

°She takes to calling Cuttlefish 'Uncle' not long after meeting him.

°Also has very little in the way of a filter with profanity, and tends to cuss a lot when the urge strikes her.

°Very fidgety, tends to chew on wasabi sprouts or tug on her tentacles to keep her mind occupied. Hates sitting still.

°Has very little sense of aim, her method with a splattershot essentially comes down to 'Can't hurt me if you're atomized'

°Almost shoots Octavio after he fell out of the Octobot, Craig had to knock the gun upwards to deflect the shot.

°Prefers baggy clothes

°Will eat anything. Not picky at all.

°Has a love for spicy food, the hotter the better.

°Sometimes eats things with her hands that really should not be eaten with one's hands

°VERY loud for someone her size

°Has no concept of an 'inside voice'

°If you do so much as give her a sandwich she'd probably be willing to die for you.

°Runs very warm

°Very heavy sleeper, can sleep in almost any position.

°The notch in her ear is from a Grizzco Charger by her mentor turned nemesis turned best friend Mono

----

°The scar on her forehead comes from accidentally bashing her forehead against the Octobot's control console during the fight with Grizz

(on that note)

°If you have talked to me about her or simply read her name, you'd probably have figured out that Amp is the granddaughter of DJ Octavio

(This charming fella. Art once again provided by @for-a-new-life)

°Neither of them are aware of this connection until post Splatoon 3's story (although there are a couple AUs where that's not the case)

°Her mother is named Ashta, she is Agent 8 and a Clone of Octavio (if you're wondering why she came out female well the answer is 🏳️‍⚧️)

°Amp's lack of knowledge of or contact with her grandfather comes from her mother's distaste for her father (to put it lightly)

°She looks up to her grandpa a lot, she definitely sees him through rose tinted glasses in her younger years. (Honestly the Takowasa family drama will probably get a reblog dedicated to breaking it down)

°She wouldn't have even been accepted by him if Craig hadn't basically reverse psychology-ed Octavio into actually being a grandpa to her

°Amp is close with Octavio but the relationship is...complicated to say the least

°Despite this she is very determined to upkeep a relationship with him

°When she eventually starts her DJing career, she does so under the stage name of DJ ANG3LFISH, a mix of her title as Agent 3, and of Octavio's occasional nickname for her, Angelfish.

°She keeps up this stage performance until one particularly traumatic performance scares her into silence for a time

°She later comes back onto the music scene in a somewhat fishing themed band called The Reel Deal, with her once again as the DJ, and her friends Mono and now much more grownup Sammy as vocalists.

°Amp would not start singing in their songs until some of their later albums.

°She has a lot of vocal fry which can be very good for their harsher tracks

And finally (for now)

°Amp is a Virgo

(doodle by @redginaldusrooiakker)

(Second part breaking down the Takowasa Family Issues will be out soon!)

[master-sass-blast]

Hey, Hey, Hey; Sass! The another question wasn’t me. “Hey “it’s a very common thing, so… maybe if you feel like it you can call me “Pistachio”? Let’s go the the big bunch of questions!

1. Do you think Piotr’s personality would change before baby?

2. Aprox, what’s (Y/N) Height in your mind?

3. What do you think about the song “Rasputin - Boney M.”?

4. What’s your favorite thing to write? (Fluff, Angst, etc).

5. Do you have any funny headcannons you would like to share but never find the opportunity?

6. What kind of drunk you think Piotr is if it’s possible for him get drunk?

7. Why do you started writing the CHC? (I love it).

8. Which was your favorite chapter to write in all the series?

9. Are you waiting to write something in specific and try to write as much as you can to get in that part? If yes, which part it is?

10. Imagine this: Piotr whit general anestesia after a surgery, (Y/N) near him. What is he saying or doing? Surprise me. “Omg, Piotr!?”.

— PISTACHIO

Oh shit, I got bamboozled! Henceforth, I dub thee Pistachio Anon to avoid further confusion!

Gonna through this under a cut bc we've got a lot to go through here!

So, I don't want to say too much, because I do have a fic or two that deals with this premise, but I think Piotr's overall personality isn't going to change. He is who he is, at the end of the day, and that's not liable to change, even with as big a life event as expecting a baby. His ability to manage his stress, however, is going to change, and that's what we'll see pop up in the fics I alluded to.

Oh sheesh. Uh, I see her as hitting somewhere between Piotr's chest and shoulder? And Piotr's listed as 6'6" and 6'8" in his human form, so I think that puts her around average height-ish.

Fabulous song. 10 out of 10.

Certain individuals may portend that angst is my favorite to write (Mady, if you see this, suck an egg), but I'm really not picky. I'm usually p content to write anything and everything.

Mmmm probably not? I've never been good at just listing headcanons. The content either comes out in fic form or not at all for me.

First, I canNOT imagine just how much liquor it would take to get Piotr sauced. That's an extreme amount of muscle mass to overcome -and, if we're being specific to the CHC, there's aspects of Alex's DNA that gives him extra intoxication resistance. But, if we're going off the Anesthesia Fic, he's pretty giggly and spacey when he's inebriated, so I'll go with that.

I started writing the CHC partially because I had a(n eventual) friend who was writing Piotr/Reader fics and I wanted to get in on the fun, and partially because I had a dream that vaguely resembled the premise for the first CHC fic and I decided that I wanted to write it!

Ooooh, that's a tough one. There's quite a few fics I'm proud of. I think for the sake of ones that mean the most to me in terms of hitting milestones in the series, Questions and Answers, You Can Always Go Back Home, and The Long Awaited Arrival. Myshka also gets its own special spot as being the starting point of Piotr and the Reader's relationship, and because I think some of the writing and the premise holds up well for how old it is.

If you're asking if I have specific goals or plot points envisioned for the future of the series, absolutely! I'm looking forward to getting into the Reader and Piotr having their baby and starting their family, along with some new plot ideas for the next arc of the CHC!

He's probably just doped up to the gills and mooning over how pretty his partner/spouse is lol. He's a simple man with simple pleasures.

[eagles-translated]

Analyzing the writing of Eagles

Here's a post I've been wanting to make for a while! I've expressed my thoughts on some of the storylines in previous posts, but I've never done a complete post on the writing of the whole show. I've divided this post into separate parts, focusing on each season and its plot points. Keep reading to see my analysis of the writing in Eagles! 👇 Word Count: 18k

If you've stumbled upon this post from the Young Royals or the Beartown tag (tagged them since I've drawn some parallels from those shows), here's a brief summary of what Eagles is, which you can watch with English subtitles here. This post contains Eagles spoilers from 1x01 - 3x10.

Eagles is a Swedish TV show that revolves around a few teenagers living in the Swedish ice hockey town Oskarshamn while experiencing friendship, love, and rivalry on the ice.

To start this off I would like to say that I have no experience with professional screenwriting and if anything, this is just a way for me to procrastinate on actually writing my own projects.

I love experiencing new stories and when I discover one I really like it's just natural for me to branch off with "what ifs" and to start wondering how the story would've turned out if some things were changed. Sometimes it's with a storyline improvement in mind, and other times it's just out of plain curiosity.

You might feel like this post is leaning towards the critical side, and I can definitely understand why since there are a lot of small details that I've picked apart from all seasons. I added a section for each season with things that I thought were really well done so this post wouldn't be too negative.

I actually did enjoy all seasons and I feel like the quality of not just the writing but every single thing has steadily increased each year.

Season 1: Tropes and clichés

Eagles premiered its first season in 2019 and was, despite many negative reviews, a big success among its target audience. Every episode on SVT Play amassed around 700 000–800 000 views and there didn't seem to be any doubt that the show would get renewed.

What the critics had issues with were that "Eagles rarely takes the unexpected path, and feels like a slightly soulless product of studied target group thinking a little too often," (Karolina Fjellborg in Aftonbladet) and "In Eagles, the characters seem to be locked in the role of a "teenager" but the humanity is missing. They've simplified the construction of the character," (Django Lorentzson in MovieZine).

Eagles was unfortunate enough to constantly be compared to SKAM in its infancy, and that's a tough comparison to live up to. SVT sort of shot themselves in the foot as they were the ones who contributed to it. While the show was still in the casting process, SVT wrote an article hyping the show up as a Swedish SKAM (which has since been edited, but led many to falsely believe that it would involve all the familiar SKAM characters with some hockey elements sprinkled in).

So, why exactly did critics think the first three episodes of the show were predictable and soulless? Well, it's pretty simple. They'd seen it all before. The setting, the characters, the storylines—just in different TV shows and movies.

Season 1 for me is nostalgic and very enjoyable despite its clichéd nature. I also felt like I'd seen the show before due to its generic storylines, but there is a reason why tropes are tropes and why clichés are clichés. It's because they're tried and true, and actually somewhat good writing tools as long as you expand on them. The keyword here is to expand—a story doesn't magically become good simply because you mimic something another writer has done. Tropes are fine to use but you can't just apply them and stop there. Everything in a story needs to be developed in order to be good.

It's safe to say that it's pretty much impossible to write a story without any tropes that have been used before. Striving to avoid clichés at all costs in hopes of making your story as original as possible is harder than it sounds, and almost impossible to boot. Here's a great piece of advice for aspiring writers written by a user on Carvezine:

[...] if you look down at your story and are worried it’s already been told before – don’t spend another second thinking about it. It has. A million times. The only difference is that it hasn’t been told by you. Accept that regurgitation is part of writing, and just do your best not to regurgitate the same way as the guy next to you. We’d all do well to acknowledge there is at least a portion of our stories that are really someone else’s. [...] Beyond that, write with the motivation that if you don’t get around to telling your story, eventually somebody else will.

Even the greatest books have storylines with some clichés. And that's not really a bad thing, either. Think about it. How many times have you decided to binge a TV show solely because it reminded you of another series? Or picked up a book simply because you love a good enemies to lovers romance, a battle between good and evil fantasy, or whatever it might be?

I found this article from Masterclass that perfectly describes what tropes are and why they're used. It's written from the perspective of novel writing but it is still applicable.

A trope in literary terms is a plot device or character attribute that is used so commonly in the genre that it’s seen as commonplace or conventional. For example, a trope in superhero stories is a villain who wants to take over the world. Tropes are popular for a reason—if something has been written about over and over again, there’s a good chance that it’s something readers enjoy reading! Tropes can be helpful, but a novel made up only of tropes will quickly start to feel stale and predictable to readers. That’s why you need to read up on tropes—and then innovate. Deliberately taking a favorite trope and turning it on its head is a great way to put your own unique spin on the genre and keep your readers interested.

Eagles, in its first season, didn't really do a lot of expanding upon the tropes they used and it's understandable that they were still trying to find their footing. I can also imagine it's difficult to do so when you only have eight 20 minute episodes in the season.

However... There definitely should've been more work put into these characters to make them their own. It's tricky, yes, but still achievable if you don't abandon them in their cookie-cutter form and try to actually decorate them with something unique and fresh.

So, how did they write their characters?

Felicia's character and backstory

To start off, Felicia is a famous influencer known for starring in a reality show next to her former NHL professional father. There's already a clear disconnect because it's hard to relate to a character with such a public past and large following. But it is 100% possible if you let the viewer know the character has humane qualities just like the person watching the show.

Look at Wilhelm from Netflix's Young Royals, another Swedish TV show. Wilhelm is the prince of Sweden, set to attend a prestigious elite boarding school, and is the heir to the throne. That doesn't exactly sound like a relatable scenario, does it? And yet the writers make it work because when we're introduced to Wilhelm we realize he's just like everybody else. He wants a normal life, he latches on to his older brother for support, he has anxiety, and he struggles between following his heart versus doing what his family is expecting him to do. A lot of these factors are relatable among the audience.

So, let's look at Felicia Kroon. She is in many ways portrayed as the main character of the show. Eagles starts off with her family having moved to Oskarshamn and the following episodes focus on her developing relationship with Ludde as well as her traumatic past. There's almost too much focus on Felicia here, and I'll get back to that.

Comparing Felicia to Wilhelm from Young Royals, they're both well-known teenagers with famous parents. Of course they have different circumstances considering Felicia is Instagram popular and Wilhelm is a blood royal, but in the grand scheme of things they're similar. Felicia is even referred to as a "Kroon princess" because of her last name Kroon bearing a resemblance to the Swedish word kronprinsessa, meaning crown princess.

The students of their respective schools treat their attendance as a big deal when they first arrive and then Wilhelm and Felicia start spending time with the "popular" crowd despite not really fitting in there.

I personally found it easy to relate to Wilhelm but difficult to relate to Felicia. Some people may feel differently, but her character is basically a popular party girl who attracts the attention of one of the school's star players and is "welcomed" by the popular crowd on her first day of school. I put welcome in quotation marks because Klara, the leader of the girl group, isn't exactly the most welcoming person but she does welcome Felicia to the school. My point is, Felicia doesn't have a lot of relatable traits in the first episodes.

Felicia then goes on a date with the guy she's met, Ludde. Okay, so there haven't been that many layers to her character yet. We're at the third episode and so far she's been kind of flat.

Near the end of the third episode, we get some depth to the character and we hear her back story.

Felicia: [...] We don’t have a good relationship, my dad and I. And that’s probably why we moved from the beginning, because he’s an idiot. We’ve never been close, but… Elias and he have been since they’ve had hockey. [...] And mom has been really involved, so… And I… They’ve never really cared about me. And… And I haven’t really been a problem either. I’ve had good grades, good friends, and… I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I don’t talk about it to people. [...] I just felt so fucking lonely and invisible. I was worried all the time, couldn’t sleep, panicked because I couldn’t sleep… So I started going out more. It went overboard. It started affecting school, my grades slipped… I started taking things to be able to concentrate. Everybody does stuff like that. And then I still couldn’t sleep, so… I started mixing with sleeping pills. And there’s always wine and booze at our place. I don’t want this to come out, that’s really important. Ludde: Of course, I’d never tell. Felicia: One night, something happened that made me… Act out of control more than usual. I woke up the next morning in the hospital. So they sent me to rehab. It was really rough for mom and dad that I was suddenly in focus. When I woke up, dad wasn’t even there. Ludde: What made you take too much that night? Felicia: I’d forgotten my phone at home, so I ran up and got it while my friends were waiting in an Uber. Then I came into the hall and I heard noises. You know, like, when somebody is doing it. Ludde: Okay. Felicia: And I thought it was really weird because mom wasn’t home. So I went into the living room… Dad was fucking my mom’s best friend. On the rug below the couch.

This gives Felicia more layers and does separate her from every other "popular pretty party girl" trope that you see on TV. But this is a huge info dump, and that's a problem. I would've liked to see this happen on-screen instead of only being told what went down. The golden rule of Show don't tell, as people like to say.

Show, don’t tell is a writing technique in which story and characters are related through sensory details and actions rather than exposition. It fosters a style of writing that’s more immersive for the reader, allowing them to “be in the room” with the characters. In his most commonly repeated quote, Chekhov said, “Don’t tell me the moon is shining. Show me the glint of light on broken glass."

This back story could've been more impactful that way if, perhaps, the show began with Felicia in a hospital bed with a strong headache and hazy flashbacks of that night where she saw her dad sleeping with another woman. Then we're introduced to her mother and brother sitting next to the hospital bed tired and worried, and Felicia notices her dad isn't present. They tell her Felicia is being sent to rehab and then there's a time-jump before we see the Kroon family having moved to Oskarshamn.

That's just an idea I threw together at the top of my head, but you get my point. It would've been more interesting if we knew from the beginning that Felicia had a traumatic past like this, leading the viewer to want to know more about what actually happened.

We did get a brief flashback at the very beginning of the show—we see Felicia partying with her friends and taking some pill before lying unconscious on the ground. There's also a glimpse of Ludde's car accident with Andreas yelling at him to get out of there.

That segment only lasts for around 45 seconds and it's easily forgettable upon your first viewing of the show. It's also hard to even recognize Felicia in the dark nightclub setting with the flashing lights. Some dialogue in that short scene could've made it more memorable, because I found that when I first watched season 1 I remembered Andreas yelling at Ludde despite that being drowned out by the music.

Ludde's backstory was way more well-done, in my opinion. We see him having crashed the car and bleeding from his head. He looks terrified and almost frozen by fear, needing to be pulled out of the car by a panicked Andreas yelling at him to bring Ludde back to the reality of the situation. We see Andreas yelling and pointing, telling Ludde he needs to run now. It's more powerful when we get to see it.

And in episode 8, when we learn the truth of what happened, it's not a long and dragged-out monologue. It fits into what's going on in the story. Felicia and Ludde have known each other for a few months now and are much closer than they were on their first date. They've had disagreements and fights, but at this moment they're in a good place.

And it feels like the right moment for Ludde to come clean about what happened to him.

Ludde: Hey… There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you. Felicia: What? Ludde: About… My brother. It’s not really as everybody thinks. Felicia: What do you mean? Ludde: That night when he crashed… It wasn’t Andreas who drove the car. We were on our way home from one of his buddies. We’d had some fun drinking. And then… I’d just started learning how to drive. So I nagged and nagged at him. Felicia: So you were the one driving? But he’s an adult- Ludde: He was drunk as hell. He was going to leave the car, but I thought it was so cold and it was only three blocks away so I thought that I could drive. Felicia: And what happened? Ludde: It was slippery and really dark… And a car came. I hit the brakes in time, but it… Yeah. Right after he pushed me out of the car and yelled that I should run home straight away. He really didn’t want me to get into trouble. So, yeah… It was fucking bad luck. I want to just gather everybody and scream that it was me. Felicia: Hey… I love you. Ludde: I love you too. I love you so fucking much.

As Ludde is telling Felicia what happened as the other car came, we see a silent flashback of it along with Ludde's voice narrating. We see Andreas pulling him out of the car and yelling. Cutting to this scene that we've already seen in the beginning but might've forgotten about is a smart choice and makes the story Ludde is telling more real. We see it unfolding as Ludde is telling this to Felicia. It's a powerful scene.

We then see Felicia hugging Ludde from behind, a sign of support with no words needed. She tells him she loves him and Ludde says it back. It's an honest and sweet moment that comes at a perfect time in the story. It's not too early like Felicia's backstory was.

I sort of understand why Felicia's backstory was info-dumped because it was right before the drama of Mats accidentally spilling the beans to Klara's family. They wanted the audience to know what happened to her early, so they could move on to the plot point of Felicia thinking Ludde was the one who told everybody.

But we don't need every single detail of Felicia's story. Let it come organically. The only thing that was really needed was for Ludde to know that Felicia had struggled with drug use and was sent to rehab for this storyline to work. The reason why could've been saved for later, and it would've made for a more interesting reveal. Maybe just have Felicia allude to seeing something that night, but don't tell the viewers right away what it was.

In 1x06, Felicia is incredibly upset when she hears that her dad was the one who told Klara's family what happened to Felicia in the US. And rightly so.

Felicia: Don’t you get it? You ruined everything! Mats: What? Felicia: You told the whole damn town about me! About the US! Mats: I really didn’t mean to disclose you- Or disclose us. Sorry. Hey, sorry. Flisan, please. Hey. Felicia: Did you tell them you fucked mom’s best friend too? Yes, I saw you.

If this had been the moment where we first find out what Felicia saw, it would've been more surprising. Our reaction would've mirrored Mats's, and it would've been more heart-wrenching to know that Felicia was traumatized by an affair her dad had only to be cheated on herself in the very same episode.

Ludde's problematic nature

One of the scriptwriters of Eagles, Fanny Ekstrand, was interviewed in the behind-the-scenes documentary Edvins Skådisdrömmar. In this interview, she states:

Ludvig, he's the one who's been the easiest to retain the personality of. Because he's so... He's calm and friendly, but he makes dumb decisions. Ludvig isn't a typical hockey guy. He has a bunch of other qualities—music being one of them.

I found myself slightly disagreeing with this take, despite knowing Ekstrand is literally a part of the writing team and most likely helped shaped Ludde's personality. I just interpreted Ludde's character (at least in season 1) differently.

I also didn't find him that much different from any other typical hockey guy just because he happens to have another interest. That's a bit like saying Archie Andrews from The CW's Riverdale isn't a stereotypical jock because he also plays the guitar.

In season 1, we see Ludde break into the rink because he wanted to test out the ice. He just loves hockey that much. He also uses it as a way to express frustration and anger, which we saw in 1x05. He flirts with the new girl in school and in the beginning he even uses it as a tactic to gain a position on the main hockey team. This was confirmed by the creator Stefan H. Lindén in his Q&A, where he said:

My idea has always been that Ludde was blown away by Felicia and that he really likes her but that they both initially interacted and met to go swimming because Felicia knew it would piss her dad off and Ludde knew that it might throw Elias off since they were competing for the same position in the team.

I would say that the characteristics of a typical hockey guy would be someone like Adam—obsessed with the sport, flirting with girls, going to parties, and just spending a lot of time in the rink. Ludde checks off all of these points. However, I will give this the benefit of the doubt since season 2 Ludde seems to change a lot and it's easier to interpret him as the calm and friendly guy he was supposed to be in season 1.

So to me, Ludde wasn't calm and friendly at all. In season 2, yes, but when we're first introduced to him?

Ludde shows anger issues and violent tendencies in 1x05 when he head-butts Elias and breaks his nose. It's violent and messy. He then yells at Felicia to leave when she's trying to communicate with him and belittles her drug problems solely because she's rich. To me, Ludde wasn't a nice person in 1x04 either when he let his friends make suggestive comments about Felicia and what she was like in bed.

Omar: I can tell you one thing - you’re not borrowing my towel today cause I don’t know where that dick has been. Adam: It’s nice when she sucks, right? Omar: Can’t you tell us some more, does she bite you or is it just really, really nice? [...] Adam: Is that what you sound like when you’re coming? What does she sound like?

This was described as "locker room talk" and the writers probably wanted to show an authentic view of what being a hockey player is like. I understand that. But it's a little problematic when it's later swept under the rug and treated like something that we're just supposed to accept.

Elias: [...] it’s not very fun to sit in a hockey locker room where people are talking about how nice it is to fuck my sister. Felicia: Ludde would never say anything like that, you know that. Elias: He wouldn’t? It’s a locker room, Felicia. That’s the only thing they talk about.

It did not sit right with me how Felicia seemed to be the one Elias blamed in this scene, and Ludde and his friends never faced any real consequences for what they said. Elias did lash out at Ludde, but there was no severe consequence for Omar and Adam's comments.

Compare this scenario to another Swedish show, Beartown on HBO. Beartown is similar to Eagles and focuses on a hockey team in a small town with one of the star players hooking up with a girl who's recently moved to their small town.

This girl is raped by the hockey player. And because of his status as the star of the team, he has almost the whole school behind him. The girl however is labeled as a lying slut. It's unfair and frustrating to see it happen, but it's authentic and done in a way that doesn't glamorize the ugly side of hockey culture.

Eagles is not as dark as Beartown so this comparison might be a little unfair. Beartown's whole storyline did revolve around this incident while in Eagles the hockey culture is treated more as a side thought. It's like they decided to throw in a taste of what goes on in a locker room just to create drama without really addressing it further.

Beartown did a much better job of portraying the problematic and toxic elements of hockey culture without making it seem like it's just something normal that we should accept. It was honest and raw. If you haven't seen the show, this short video does a great job of depicting how much thought was put into the toxic hockey culture, winning mentality, and subsequently hockey players thinking they're entitled to do whatever they want.

So, to respond to Ekstrand's quote from Edvins Skådisdrömmar—I did not experience Ludde as a "good guy" who only makes dumb decisions at all. In season 1, he's a bad person for letting his friends sexualize a girl he likes and letting her brother hear their disgusting comments. He's a bad person for fighting with her brother and later yelling at her, saying her drug issues are insignificant despite acting supportive of her only two episodes earlier.

I don't mind conflicts like these because they drive the story forward. I didn't particularly like Ludde in season 1 because of the reasons I just stated, but they're necessary to create drama and make the show interesting.

It's just weird to me how one of the writers is saying that Ludde is a calm person and a good guy when that is not at all how I interpreted his character.

Eagles is a show targeted towards a young audience, among them probably a lot of easily influenced pre-teens. What kind of message does this send to them when the guy letting his friends sexualize a girl he's slept with and on top of that laughing at their inappropriate comments is referred to as the good guy?

Klara is mean... What else?

From the moment we're introduced to Klara, it seems obvious that she'll play a living and breathing version of the infamous Alpha Bitch trope. She's also a prime example of the basic Popular is Evil trope and has her own Girl Posse consisting of Sara and Amie.

Klara feels threatened by the arrival of a potential new popular girl, Felicia, and does everything in her power to bully Felicia to show dominance. She barely shows any good sides of herself.

The only instance I can think of where we sort of see season 1 Klara in a positive light is when she talks to Amie in 1x05 about their friendship and then accompanies Amie to her audition for the school band.

Klara: Ever since Felicia started at school… It’s felt like you only hang out with her and that you’ve forgotten about me. She like took you from me. Amie: But I haven’t forgotten you. Klara: No, but do you get what I mean? Amie: I get it, but I haven’t forgotten you. Klara: No, I know. Amie: I know, but it just turned out that way when school started. Klara: Okay. Amie: But I’m sorry. Klara: It’s fine. Amie: Are you sure? Klara: Yeah. You can make it up to me when you go on your world tour.

Klara is really supportive of Amie's musical endeavors, but she also uses her support as a way to alienate Felicia from the girl group. It's very on the nose and kind of feels suffocating in the way it's written.

Klara: Amie, did you remove the clips? Amie: Yeah, she said they weren’t good. Klara: She’s just jealous. It’s so obvious. I mean, I’m jealous. You sing absolutely amazing. I don’t know, I just think it was really rude of her to sit in the cafeteria and criticize you like that Amie: Yeah, maybe. But she apologized. Klara: But still. That clip of you in the bathroom… Like… Sorry, but I’d be so mad if someone had posted something like that of me. I mean, you were standing there without makeup, completely non-fixed up. And the whole thing with her filming you without you knowing. That’s really weird. You don’t do that. Don’t you think so?

I'm sure there are plenty of people who act like this in real life. And maybe that's part of the problem, because Klara in season 1 really isn't an interesting character. We've met this person before and we know exactly what she's like. There's nothing new to discover. So season 1 is essentially just Klara being petty and rude every chance she gets, and to me it felt like a large part of her character was written just to stir up drama.

In 1x06, we see Klara backstab Amie by filming her making out with Ludde at her Halloween party. But I thought it was established in 1x05 that Klara feels like Amie was taken from her? And if Klara actually cared about Amie and didn't want to lose her as a friend, she wouldn't just stand by and watch with her phone recording the whole thing. It doesn't make a lot of sense.

Klara even made that whole point about how it was really weird of Felicia to film Amie without her knowing. So why would Klara do it, when she expressed that's weird and not something a normal person does? Is that supposed to be foreshadowing? Because if so, that's a clear contradiction and not how foreshadowing works.

When Sara happens to see the video on Klara's phone she immediately says that Klara should delete it.

Sara: What is that? Did they know you were filming? Klara: No, of course they didn’t know. Sara: Oh my god, Klara. You should probably delete it. Klara: I’m going to! But it’s crazy, right? Sara: Yeah, god. But seriously, delete it. Klara: I’m going to.

So Klara says she's going to delete the video. But it's still unclear why it was filmed in the first place if Klara insists that she's going to delete it. It's not like she filmed it just to show it to Sara either, since Sara wasn't meant to see it and only saw it by chance while swiping through Klara's photos on her phone.

It doesn't make sense for Klara to film a video like that of her best friend that she's supposed to care about. It doesn't make sense for Klara to film a video of anybody without their knowledge when she previously made a big deal about how you shouldn't do that.

What Klara's character is, is a bad attempt at the classical mean girl. She's clichéd, boring, and full of tropes.

Even her eventual character development is riddled with tropes like the Heel Realization where a character realizes they're actually one of the bad guys. This realization seems to come in 1x08, where Felicia calls Klara out on her behavior.

Felicia: You know what, Klara. I’m so fucking tired of your fucking comments. You didn’t get to be Lucia this year. Poor you! Was dad unable to fix that? Cry then, Klara. Cry. You’re so fucking mean. Everybody here is tired- Everybody here is scared of you. Even those who liked you once, they can’t take it anymore. Klara: That’s not true. It’s not true. Felicia: Yes, everybody is scared of you. You know what? Look around. Show people some fucking respect. Klara: Well say something, Amie! Amie: What is there to say? She’s right.

Klara needed a wake-up call like this. It's just unfortunate that she goes back to her mean girl behavior and posts the video after Amie insinuated that Klara wasn't a real friend. Klara already knew that Amie felt that way since she said Felicia was right in her assessment of everybody being scared and tired of Klara. So wouldn't it have made more sense for Klara to post the video right after that moment instead of during Amie's performance?

Or rather, why not pull a Subverted Trope and not have Klara post the video at all after she realized how horrible she'd been acting? That would've made me respect her so much more and be a great introduction to her character development in season 2.

The Halloween Incident

To me, the whole Halloween episode was questionable. First off, we never got actual confirmation of what happened in that room between Amie and Ludde. Some viewers insist that they only made out and others believe they went all the way. Here's what the creator of the show, Stefan H. Lindén, had to say about this in a Q&A post he did:

I think if you went into the writers room of Eagles and asked all of us what really happened in that room [between Ludde and Amie at Klara's Halloween party] we would all have different answers.  I know what happened, but I’m not sure we will ever truly know for sure, unless Ludvig or Amie eventually are open enough to admit to anyone what really happened.

This is kind of a vague answer, but that's fair considering that when Stefan did this Q&A the latest episode that had been released was 2x05 and he probably didn't want to spoil anything. However, looking back at this answer knowing how the season turned out I still feel like it's unclear what happened. It's also strange that Stefan seems to be saying that they never actually decided what happened between them since the writers "would all have different answers".

1x06 was just an odd episode for me overall. Lots of things felt rushed and underdeveloped. Let's not forget that this episode also contained, in my opinion, some of the weirdest lines in the whole show (along with Elias's strange monologue about plague vampires).

Ludde: Hey, I only have like 3%. Do you have any power? Adam: Are you wondering if I have a power bank in my shorts? It’s coming-

Ludde: I like shellfish. (said to Amie, wearing a lobster costume)

Up until this episode, Ludde has shown zero interest and attraction towards Amie. We are basically told that Ludde only hooked up with Amie because he was so drunk that he practically had no idea what he was doing.

In 1x02, we see a drunk Amie try to kiss Tobbe and upon getting rejected she moves on to make out with Adam. She gets overly friendly when she's drunk so the fact that she makes out with Ludde later is... Weird, but not entirely out of the realms of possibility.

Ludde on the other hand is moping about Felicia all night. He regrets how he yelled at her at the end of 1x05 and it shows. He's trying to drown all his problems in alcohol and it seems to be working, because when it enters his system he seems to be on top of the world.

What I found kind of ambiguous in this incident was if Ludde even remembered what happened that night. He was drinking so much compared to Amie, who doesn't really need as much alcohol before she reaches her "overly friendly" state. I thought for sure that Ludde was oblivious to the situation when he woke up in his bed the next day and immediately messaged Felicia.

There are just so many questions to unpack here that were never answered. What prompted Amie and Ludde to go into that empty room? Why did Ludde come with her? Why didn't Adam seem to care about this, when he'd been sitting next to Ludde and taking care of him most of the night? And as I wrote before, why would Klara film this video of her best friend when she previously expressed that was a weird thing to do?

There's just too much in 1x06 left unanswered. The Amie/Ludde hook-up was a badly executed plot twist because there wasn't anything hinting that this would happen. It just came out of nowhere.

Unbalanced screentime and Elias's wasted potential

A large portion of season 1 was dedicated to Felicia. This was kind of a let-down for me since I thought more focus would be placed on Eagles as a hockey team (after all, that's what the show is named after). I also thought more attention would be on Elias since he's the talented star player who's supposed to live up to his father's legacy.

The show starts with a couple radio hosts hyping up how Elias Kroon, son of the legendary Mats Kroon, is going to join the Eagles hockey team.

Host #1: [...] It’s finally official. New center in the junior team - Elias Kroon, son to the legendary NHL-pro Mats Kroon, who has now chosen to move home from the US to his hometown where Elias will play in his father’s old club Oskarshamn Eagles. Host #2: This is so freaking cool. Who doesn’t want a Kroon on their team? Host #1: We hope that he’ll take a spot on the A-team.

But we don't learn a lot about who Elias actually is in the first episode. The attention is on Felicia and her interest in Ludde.

Elias is so discarded that he barely has anything to say in the first couple of scenes we see him in. Here are all his eight lines in 1x01, and I'm not even joking.

Elias: Yes. Elias: Shut up. Elias: Ow. Elias: It's fine. Elias: Really? Elias: Fucking hell. Elias: I'll stay here. Elias: No, it's fine.

In 1x02 he has even fewer lines. Three, to be exact, and all he says is that his injury is a sprain and that it's fine. Essentially just an echo of two of the lines he had in the previous episode. It's nothing new.

There's a way to have a character stand out when they don't have many lines, but Elias just fades into the background with every other extra. There's too much time spent on having other characters talk about Elias than us actually getting to know him. So when we do meet him, it's pretty underwhelming.

Compare Elias to his sister who gets so much more attention from the writers. I don't really understand why either, since I thought Elias was a much more interesting character than his influencer sister. Felicia's character only seems to revolve around a guy. I wonder how many times we've seen that before?

In 1x02 we see the Eagles hockey team play their first game, but Elias is unable to play and has to sit in the stands for what was supposed to be his debut match. Why? Because during a hockey practice session in 1x01, Adam rams his stick into Elias to purposely injure him. I mean, fair enough. Adam is trying to get Ludde on the main team since he and Elias are competing for the same position. The shot of Adam smiling after Elias sprains his wrist is a bit too on the nose, but whatever.

What this does is minimize Elias' presence in season 1 by a lot. We don't see the son of the legendary NHL professional play an actual game until 1x05, which is more than halfway into the season. It's kind of disappointing but I understand the injury is done to dramatize his situation.

Elias barely gets his own storylines in the first few episodes. He just has things done to him instead of acting on his own. When we do see him on screen he gets injured by Adam, reprimanded by his father, and later told he can't play in his debut game.

His sweet side (or any side of him, really) isn't shown until 1x03 when Amie wakes up at the Kroon house and Elias reassures her that they didn't do anything together and that she can borrow Felicia's clothes.

Elias doesn't really do much for the plot until he hears Ludde's friends objectify Felicia and he starts a fight with Ludde and confronts Felicia about it. That's when it feels like Elias is actually a part of this show instead of just being an extra shoved into the background. His actions are finally affecting the plot.

Elias's potential in season 1 was hugely wasted. The only episode where we actually got to see him shine was 1x07, when he travels to Karlskrona with Amie. We find out he doesn't want the hockey arrangement his dad has planned for him and that he's actually a pretty goofy guy who likes making jokes (and eating green candy).

If less time was spent with Felicia and the distribution of every episode's 20 minutes was more balanced, season 1 could've been massively improved. It got much better in season 2, but season 1 suffered and made many people think that Felicia was a basic and unentertaining character.

The side characters and their comic relief

So one thing that I found really disappointing with Felicia's amount of screentime is that we barely got enough time for the other main characters, let alone the side characters.

What I mean here is that the only people we really know on the Eagles hockey team are Ludde and Elias. Ludde's friends, Adam and Omar, just feel like comic relief sidekicks. We don't really know what they're like, besides the fact that they like to make jokes and mess around.

This issue is largely created by the short running time the episodes have along with season 1 only having eight episodes in total. That's definitely understandable. It did get better in season 3 where we see Ludde having a deeper conversation with Adam and Omar and they finally don't just feel like the comic relief characters, but actual people with layers.

Ludde: I’m going to quit hockey. Adam: Are you serious? Omar: What the hell are you saying? Ludde: It’s not the same anymore. I’m not passionate about it. I… Yes, it sucks, but… I’ve thought about it for a while now. Omar: We make jokes about it and all, but… Yeah. It wouldn’t be the same without you. Kingelikingen. Adam: I get that it’s a tough choice. But yeah… You’ll work things out. You and Felicia. You always do. Ludde: You guys are pretty awesome sometimes, actually.

This scene was really sweet, and I wish we could've had moments like this between the guys in season 1. Just one scene to show that they're not just the "typical hockey guys". It feels like Ludde was the only person on the team in season 1 who wasn't just a background character. Even Elias, who you would assume should be at the forefront, isn't properly developed until 1x05 where we see him defending his sister and starting a fight with Ludde. Otherwise, it very much felt like Elias was kept in the background.

There are also guys on the team called Herman, Simon, Näslund, Ekbäck, Hoffmann, Berglund (even Montell, which was a fun nod to the show's director)... But who are they, actually? Do you even remember their names? To be honest with you, I don't. Because they're just names—not actual characters.

None of the other guys on the team get any depth. They're just sort of there as extras and to give the audience a sense of comedy with their "hockey team shenanigans". This was illustrated in 1x08, where Adam and Omar make their teammate Liam do a "sexy dance" on a table because he lost his virginity. Or a more extreme example—Jönsson, who only exists to be the comic relief and the unlucky guy who just can't catch a break.

In 2x04, Jönsson is told by Jack to do extra time in the gym and gets told off when he only spends a few minutes on the exercise bike. Later, Jack also makes a joke about how he should get Jönsson a defibrillator. In 2x09 Jönsson invites Ludde, Adam, and Omar to come to his mom's place to hang out. After he's left, Adam makes a comment about how there's no way he's going to "rot" in Jönsson's apartment that doesn't even have a balcony.

Don't get me wrong, these scenes aren't bad and I don't mean they should've been scrapped. Comedy can absolutely have its place in a show like this. Let's take the scene where Ludde flashes a couple of unfortunate old ladies on his first date with Felicia as an example. It feels like something a teenage boy would do to try to make a girl he likes laugh. It's a brief scene and it's nice to see Ludde being able to goof off only moments after talking about Andreas. We know that's a touchy subject for him.

However, it feels slightly overdone sometimes with how almost everybody on the hockey team is only there for comedic purposes and to fill space. It's more refreshing when they're shown to be multi-dimensional. I wish this is something that the writers would've considered when the show is literally titled after the hockey team, yet most of the hockey players are hardly in the story.

To add to this, it felt like Sara and Tobbe completely disappeared from the story in season 2. With Sara we understand that she probably didn't want to hang out with Klara anymore after knowing she filmed the Halloween video and posted it on Instagram, so that's fair. But it would've been nice to see Tobbe stick around in season 2, and I'll get back to why I think that.

The potential of season 1

When I look back on season 1 I feel really nostalgic. No matter how many small details that irked me, I can't deny that the setting of the show is beautiful and I really appreciate the depiction of it. Instead of showing Oskarshamn as a boring small town, we're shown the beauty of it which is incorporated into the storylines.

Some examples would be Ludde and Felicia's first date at Gunnarsö and walk through Havslätt, the gorgeous view of the Oskarshamn harbor from Klara's house Villa Högklint, and Badholmen where the school band performs and we later see Elias and Amie walking by in season 3. All these places are listed on the Eagles Oskarshamn site and I feel like they did a great job tying the storylines in with the locations.

Another aspect of season 1 and its writing that I really enjoyed was Elias and Amie's budding relationship. They just have a natural chemistry together and the dialogue between them also felt authentic and sweet.

Season 1 is just a very polished teen drama overall compared to some of SVT's previous series.

Back in 2007-2010, SVT used to air a soap opera-style show focusing on a few teenagers living in Gothenburg that was called Andra Avenyn (translation: Second Avenue). I was only seven at the time but I watched this show religiously as it aired three times a week. Just mentioning the show brings a lot of nostalgia.

Andra Avenyn amassed around 500 000 viewers per episode and was, just like Eagles, nominated for a Kristallen television award. But how good was it, really? If I take off my rose-colored glasses for a second and actually consider the show's highly dramatized storylines and unlikely scenarios, it had a tendency to drag on (which usually happens with soap operas). It didn't offer a realistic view of teenage life and on IMDb it currently sits at a rating score of 5.6 stars out of 10.

Comparing this old teen series to SVT's newer one, Eagles season 1 was a huge improvement and continues to be the most popular teen series that SVT has aired so far.

This idea and all the characters have lived in Stefan H. Lindéns mind since 2008, while Andra Avenyn was still on the air. It's actually amazing how high the quality of most TV shows has risen since then. Eagles has a rating score of 7.4 out of 10 stars on IMDb and has become internationally known in a way that Andra Avenyn never was.

Eagles season 1 laid the groundwork for SVT's most successful teen series of all time, and that's a huge achievement.

Season 2: "Subverting expectations"

When Eagles came back for season 2, the script made it kind of obvious that the writers had listened to the critique of season 1 being predictable.

I did find season 2 a huge step up from season 1—the directing was so much better and when it came to the script we got a deeper look into all the characters that they hadn't really scratched the surface of in the first season. My main disappointment however was that it felt like they threw in a bunch of weird plot twists just for the sake of "subverting expectations".

The core idea of subverting expectations can be great if done correctly. You lead the audience to believe they know what's going to happen, but then you surprise them with an unexpected and clever twist.

A post in Cinematography written by Mason Leaver defines the phrase of "subverting expectations" as:

[...] a method of surprising the audience with some element of a story, be it the plot, themes, characters, etc. This goes beyond a “twist” in a film. Expectation subversion actively works within the genre of a story, and attempts to reinterpret or subvert the conventions of that genre, breaking patterns in surprising and interesting ways. However, this method of surprising the audience is not always well received- it can sometimes be the source of heavy criticism from fans of the tropes which have been subverted.

This included "unexpected" relationships such as Elias/Klara and Amie/Ludde. The former actually worked, but the latter? Not so much.

Amie's crush on Ludde—make it make sense!

Amie and Ludde were my biggest issue with season 2, and it felt so out of character of Amie to be head over heels for Ludde. They work great as friends but romantically they're a huge mismatch.

But they have music in common, I hear you say. Yes, they do. But having a shared interest doesn't mean people are automatically a good match. You have to consider their chemistry and overall compatibility.

Before actors are cast in a show or movie where their characters will be romantically involved with each other, it's common to do what's called a chemistry read. Here's a neat description from an article in Backstage written by Caroline Liem:

Chemistry is the complex emotional or psychological interaction between two people. If this were a romantic article, it would be about love. Instead, we are discussing the astonishing rapport between two actors, and how that connection is achieved in order to book [...] the role. A chemistry read is an opportunity to read with actors being considered for a role opposite yours, usually lead roles. The main purpose is to see how you instinctively connect and work with the other actor.

This obviously wasn't done for the actors playing Amie and Ludde, since there didn't seem to be any intention of having their characters be involved in a romantic relationship.

That was even confirmed by Stefan H. Lindén in his Q&A of season 2, where he said that a love triangle between Ludde/Felicia/Amie was planned but later scrapped.

I can confirm that from the beginning of development of the series and the first version of the storyline a triangle drama was at some point intended for season 1 but later removed  – however when creating the characters, Ludvigs skill in music and arts was always there from the beginning so by knowing that, we always knew that interactions would appear between them. When looking back at Season 1, in the first scene by the lockers when Amie tells Felicia who Ludvig is, she does know exactly who he is and she is well aware of that his friend Tobias is a music guy that Amie wants to get to know. Also when looking at it, when I was the same age as Ludvig and Amie I, and I am sure a lot of people can relate to it, fact is that we never really knew if it was love or friendship in the beginning.

Knowing that the triangle drama was scrapped for season 1, it makes sense why it seems so arbitrary. There was no groundwork laid down for this pairing before it was hastily thrown together in 1x06 for a cheap plot twist. This continues in season 2, where Amie and Ludde start spending more time together. Yet it's hard to see Ludde as a potential love interest for Amie in the way the writers want us to. They still come off as friends despite having hooked up at a party.

I mentioned that Tobbe should've stuck around for season 2 and here's why. Tobbe was written to be the leader of the school band that Amie later joins, and he was friends with Ludde before the video was posted. He would've been a perfect fit for the Amie/Ludde music storyline but he's completely absent. He had the potential to be the person who could've helped them with the song a little and then later picked up on whatever there was going on between them.

I think the Amie/Ludde storyline could've hugely benefitted from a scene between Amie and Tobbe, where Tobbe asks if she actually has feelings for Ludde and we get to hear exactly what Amie is feeling. Maybe she's torn, not wanting to get together with Ludde because of how much they hurt Felicia, but at the same time finds it hard to suppress her feelings. A scene like that would've allowed us to get into Amie's head and make the Amie/Ludde storyline much clearer.

To add, this storyline was in desperate need of more interest from Ludde's side. There needed to be some indication from him that would make Amie believe he liked him back, even if that wasn't the case. All we get is Ludde complimenting Amie's song and then a hug in 2x05 when Amie says the record label in Stockholm wanted a meeting. And apparently, that was enough for Amie to think Ludde was interested in her despite him blowing off the Stockholm meeting and Amie hearing Ludde say that the Halloween incident was a mistake.

Ludde and Amie don't really mesh as well as Elias/Amie do or even as well as Ludde/Felicia do. Elias and Amie had sparks flying from the very first scene they shared. That pairing is one of the main reasons why the show became popular internationally, and why is that? Because of the actors' chemistry.

Amie and Ludde are a clumsy attempt at throwing together two people who don't really work together with the intention of "subverting expectations". And I suppose that's what the writers wanted to depict—an awkward crush that doesn't really make sense, which I'm sure many people have experienced as a teenager. That part is fine. But what I didn't like about this storyline is that Amie had no good reason to believe Ludde would be interested in anything with her beyond a platonic friendship.

While season 2 was airing, I was convinced that Amie wasn't actually in love with Ludde. She was just lonely after the aftermath of the Halloween video and mistook her feelings for Ludde as love when she just appreciated his company. Here's what I wrote:

So as we know, Amie kissed Ludde in episode 6 when he was in the hospital after having been injured during the hockey game against Karlskrona. She immediately seemed to regret having done that and ran out without an explanation, leaving Ludde alone and confused. I honestly don’t think Amie has any romantic feelings towards Ludde. I think she might mistake her feelings for a crush or something, when in reality she’s just lonely and appreciates Ludde always being there for her and giving her compliments on her musical ability. Ludde was complimenting Amie at the hospital, saying she was amazing, and I think Amie was just really touched by that and maybe wanted to thank him somehow, and ended up kissing him. And then she freaked out and left because oh my god did she really just kiss Ludde. It was an uncomfortable and awkward situation and that’s probably why she ran out. However, I really believe that if she had just stayed to explain and apologize, Ludde would understand and they could’ve just laughed it off. But this is a drama show so of course that wouldn’t happen! Do I think the writers are making them into a couple? No, definitely not. They know that season 1 was sort of predictable and cliché, so they’re making season 2 as different as possible by including these unexpected pairings such as Klara & Elias and Amie & Ludde. But Amie and Ludde won’t ever be a couple, because Ludde is still very much hung up on Felicia. I don’t see them as a couple either - yes, they have music in common, but they work way better as friends than in a relationship.

In Edvins Skådisdrömmar, which is a behind-the-scenes documentary of Eagles season 2, writers Fanny Ekstrand and Michaela Hamilton discuss the writing of the show in the documentary's third episode. The third episode is mostly focused on the lead-up to the scene where Amie kisses Ludde at the hospital. Adrian Öjvindsson, who plays Ludde, says:

Filming the kissing scene was [...] awkward and weird, actually. And that's how it ended up. Yandeh and I haven't really had any intimate scenes. In this case you could take in that it was weird, because that's also what the scene wanted to depict.

When Edvin reads the script, he describes the scene as a "nightmare" scenario. I agree. And the lazy build-up to this Awkward Kiss trope doesn't make it any better, because just like the Halloween incident this doesn't make a lot of sense.

It's supposed to be awkward and weird, just like Adrian said. But he also mentioned one of the most important details: Yandeh and I haven't really had any intimate scenes.

Before this kiss scene, there was nothing that indicated any chemistry between them. No accidental hand-touching, no longing stares, no nothing. Just a friendly hug. A proper build-up to the kiss scene would've made it feel less out of place.

The love confession from Amie to Ludde in 2x10 really threw me off as well. The confession to me made no sense and honestly felt like a prank call. There was no feeling behind it and zero reason for Amie to believe that there was a chance Ludde liked her back.

At the end of 2x08, Felicia goes to Ludde's house after he's confessed the truth to the police about the Andreas situation. Amie happens to overhear the conversation and she hears Ludde very clearly say that he's not interested in Amie.

Ludde: Felicia, there’s nothing between us. Between me and Amie. It was really the biggest mistake of my life. Felicia: Goodbye, Ludde. Ludde: Felicia, please!

Amie, now having her heart broken, crosses Ludde's name off the contract while crying. She knows he doesn't feel the same. So why would Amie even bother to call Ludde up to tell him she's "in love with him"?

Amie: [...] Hey, Ludde… Ludde: Yeah? Amie: It feels really weird to hear our song now. Because I know who the lyrics are about. And… And I… I really like you. Or, well… I’m in love with you. I just need to know how you feel. Or if you feel anything. Just tell me. Ludde: I’ll always want to be your friend, Amie, but… It’s Felicia I’m in love with.

This moment is on par with the awkwardness from the hospital kiss between them in 2x06. The second-hand embarrassment with this one was really rough, and what I don't understand is why this was even added to the script when Amie had already gotten the confirmation that Ludde didn't think of her in a romantic way. This storyline could've ended in 2x08 after Amie overheard the conversation between Ludde and Felicia.

It really didn't need to drag on for the whole season, essentially making Amie's whole storyline in season 2 about a guy. Her moment of finally getting signed to the record label was ruined when it could've been regarded as a fresh start if the storyline had just ended where it should have.

What this storyline did instead was ruining my favorite friendship of season 1, which was Amie/Felicia. This mess made it so hard for them to reconcile and they didn't end up properly addressing it until 3x09, spending almost two whole seasons mad at each other. It sucks that the writers decided to drag out their fighting and disagreements for this long when they could've instead shown two girls in solidarity who don't let a guy get between them and their friendship.

Amie apologized in 3x03 for how she hurt Felicia, but Felicia made it clear in 3x06 that she still harbored ill will towards Amie for what happened at Halloween (which in the timeline of this show was more than a year ago).

Felicia (to Amie): Are you going to start slobbering with [Elias] now too? Just give me back that sweater first, I don’t want slobber on that. Thanks.

I talked about how much I disliked the Amie/Ludde storyline in this post, with my main reason being that it really messed up the character dynamics that were established in season 1.

This storyline [of Ludde and Amie hooking up]—along with Amie falling in love with Ludde—is by far my least favorite one because it messed up the whole character dynamic. I feel like Amie and Felicia won’t ever go back to the kind of friendship they had in season 1 before the Halloween incident because the trust was so broken, and Amie really should’ve tried harder to apologize to Felicia like Ludde did instead of going after her best friend’s ex in season 2.

If there's just one thing I could change about this show, I would 100% get rid of the Amie/Ludde storylines. There is nothing that annoyed me as much as those storylines did.

Amie's musical ambitions

I've talked about this a bit before in another post because this was something that really bugged me about Amie's character in season 2. Here's what I wrote:

I honestly still feel like Amie’s whole storyline with sending in a rather basic demo written by two teenagers with little to no experience and then getting praised on it [by the Stockholm music producers] with comments such as “it’s going to be a real summer hit” felt so unrealistic to me. Maybe they only said that so Amie would accept their offer or something, but that’s still very strange because she would have still said yes without a doubt. I can understand that they thought Amie was marketable as a person and there was this bonus with her having gone viral before on Felicia’s Instagram, but that demo did not seem good enough for me to be immediately released as a single and then have them decide on the spot that Amie would be given a contract. I mean, come on. It never felt earned because we never really saw Amie struggling with her songwriting journey to achieve this dream. Sending in one demo to one record label and having them immediately want to make a whole album with you just doesn’t happen in real life unless the song is extremely good or you have a very unique voice. Amie is really talented but there are hundreds of people just like her, if not thousands. I was never convinced by her getting signed so quickly in season 2. I understand that they wanted to establish her as a successful artist [at the beginning of season 3], but that felt so rushed. I was so sure that the record label would screw her over and steal the song rights to record it with another artist who was already established, and that we’d have to see Amie work even harder to achieve her dreams. But we didn’t get that at all. Where was the struggle? [...] Of course I wanted to see Amie achieve success (and I was happy when she did), but the journey there was so bizarrely easy. She didn’t start to seriously work on making her music career become a reality until season 2. Amie had dabbled in music prior to that, like when she auditioned for the school band and did that performance of Follow, but she didn’t truly start to work towards it until season 2 when she decided to have her work sent to professionals in the business. And then, just five episodes later, she gets contacted by the record label in Stockholm. To put this into context—season 2 took place somewhere around March, and episode 5 around three weeks into April. So when Ludde first started helping Amie it took less than two months for her to get signed. You could argue that the song was just that good or that Amie is just that talented, but it never felt like a realistic storyline to me.

It's tricky to write a storyline like this when you only have ten 20 minute episodes in the season and a limited amount of screentime for every character. All that is understandable. But it's strange that they didn't opt for a time jump to really sell this storyline and make it believable.

Eagles uses time jumps a lot, but somehow this particular plot point was omitted from that and kind of glossed over. I don't really understand how they expected us to buy this storyline. The viewers aren't stupid, and more effort should've been put into this storyline.

In the post where I wrote this, @gajana18 also had an interesting thing to add:

[...] it's equally unrealistic that this huge record company would be hounding Amie, a teenage onehit wonder essentially to come back to the label- don’t they have other bigger artists?

This is a very strong point. Considering how Amie kept expressing that she wanted to finish school and then proceeded to ignore their calls, it's weird that they didn't just decide to discard her contract when Amie clearly wasn't taking her singing career as seriously as they wanted her to.

So, back to season 2. Maybe they could've gone with the record label stealing the rights to Amie's first song and screwing her over. This fuels her to try again and after a time jump of a few months we see Amie having worked really hard on a new and better song. Maybe even a whole album. And this time, she's learned from her past mistakes and improved her songwriting. This time, she's successful in her endeavor and it feels so much more earned after knowing the struggles she's been through to get there.

I also feel like a storyline like that would've made people sympathize with Amie more in season 2. It was really hard to root for her when she had nearly screwed Ludde over by not giving credit to his songwriting and saying "fuck him" when he didn't return Amie's feelings.

Klara's character development

When we're introduced to Klara in season 1, she's a stereotypical mean girl with wealthy parents who is the popular girl at school and has her own followers.

In season 2, the writers decided to develop the character. We find out Klara has issues at home and her mom is barely there. When she is, her parents will start fighting. Klara is feeling really lonely and doesn't really hang out with her friend Sara as much as she used to.

I appreciated the added depth, but it seemed like a drastic shift. The changed perspective could attribute to that but when you step back and really look at s1 Klara and s2 Klara, they're like two completely different people.

Maybe Klara's reputation suffered after she posted the Halloween video? Maybe she had a change of heart after Felicia finally confronted her during Lucia? I mean, I guess.

But what most fans (including me) didn't like about Klara in season 2 was that there were no clear consequences for her after she posted the Halloween video. Klara still hangs out with what seems to be the popular crowd and she has people to go out with. In a post I wrote last year about my thoughts on season 2, I wrote this:

I actually wish that Klara would’ve become more ostracized from her school friends to emphasize how alone she is, but she seems to still be pretty popular so that was kind of disappointing. I thought the fall-out of her posting the video would be worse, but I guess not. Anyway, I like that they’re taking a disliked character and making her into a better person. Feels like it’s been done a few times before, but I still appreciate them doing it. I hated s1 Klara for being so one-dimensional, but s2 Klara is well on her way to being a pretty good and nuanced character.

Her character development sort of comes a little out of nowhere, though. Her reputation wasn't ruined by posting that video and she didn't really lose any friends besides Sara (she had already lost Amie prior to posting that video considering what Amie said to her after Lucia in 1x08).

So what prompted Klara to become this whole new person who actually considers other people's feelings in a relatively short amount of time? Here's a conversation between Felicia and Klara in 2x07.

Felicia: Was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about? I understand that we’re not best friends just because you and Elias are together. We’re not here without a reason, right? Klara: No, I get that this feels weird for you. And if you don’t trust me after everything that’s happened - or that I’ve done. Felicia: Klara… Klara: I know that I haven’t acted like the world’s best person. And I regret that. Sorry.

But why does Klara regret her past behavior? What made her realize she hadn't acted like the "world's best person" if the ramifications from posting the Halloween video were so minimal?

Was it the relationship with Elias that made Klara change? No, I don't think so. When they first start talking at the bar in 2x03, Elias tells Klara that he doesn't always agree with Felicia and that he has his own viewpoints. In 2x07, he says Klara wasn't the one who messed up, but rather Amie and Ludde. And in 2x09, the script tells us that the Elias/Klara relationship seemed to bring more change to Elias rather than Klara.

Felicia: What did you do to him? Klara: What? Felicia: He’s smiling. Elias is like a whole new person since he met you. Klara: Stop. Felicia: I mean it!

So what made Klara change? In 1x08 she's mocking Felicia's drug problems and posts a video that will for sure ruin Amie's reputation. But at the start of season 2, she's suddenly become more withdrawn and considerate of people's feelings.

I can only name one factor that actually makes sense, and that's the fighting between her parents. Klara seems to turn into this quiet child when she has to listen to her mom and dad yelling at each other. This is something that didn't really begin until season 2, when Ola's company GECED started going under. This storyline was very well done.

But the other things, like Klara's reputation and friend group which you would assume would be affected, remain as they were in season 1.

Jack's sudden character change

Jack came into season 2 as a charming and charismatic character, seemingly fooling everybody into thinking he was a good guy. He knew the Kroon family from before and both Felicia and Elias were none the wiser when it came to the eventual reveal of his true colors.

Here's what Stefan H. Lindén had to say about the Jack character in his season 2 Q&A:

Bringing Jack in was actually originally not my idea, it came from my writer colleagues after that they revised my storyline notes for Season 2, while I was still down in Oskarshamn shooting Season 1. We had always intended for a character to come in and raise the stakes but I never imagined it to be Jack. When we started to develop the character, we all started liking him so he was kept in the story. Like with any new character we never really know who they are and what [the] point of them for coming in is [...]

Personally, I feel like the point of Jack's character is pretty obvious. When he first comes to Oskarshamn he is very much the embodiment of the new love interest coming in to date the girl who has broken up with her previous lover, while the previous lover still loves her and does anything he can to get her back although she's dating someone new. Jack is the Romantic False Lead trope who later becomes an alpha-dog Jerkass.

What I found interesting about Jack compared to Klara (in season 1) is that Jack isn't just a bad guy. He's very clever with his manipulation tactics and can easily charm people with his good looks and charisma.

When Felicia accuses Jack of cheating in 2x07, he manages to spin the whole thing around and make Felicia apologize to him and say it was stupid of her to believe he would cheat on her. I talked about this in a post while the season still aired, before Jack's true colors were revealed. Here's what I wrote:

I still don’t know if Jack really is cheating on Felicia with Olivia (the girl that texted him) but I would say he is. Jack is incredibly confident and charming, which makes him able to easily lie and manipulate people. We know he’s not an entirely good person since he’s already lied to Elias about not knowing that Mats would bring him back to Eagles. I wouldn’t be surprised if he really did hook up with Olivia and ended up being a really good liar. The fact is that not only did he deny it but he then shamed Felicia for blaming him and causing a scene, ultimately shifting the focus in the argument to her and making Felicia feel bad that she even confronted him in the first place. Jack says that maybe they shouldn’t even be together, which causes Felicia to backtrack and apologize. It’s actually pretty impressive how Jack was able to spin that around to blame Felicia and make her apologize.

Jack is able to take a small detail and use it as ammunition to get what he wants. In this situation, he brings up the girl in the Stockholm club that Felicia partied with and also kissed.

Jack: You shouldn’t accuse me, either. Felicia: What? Jack: I saw on Instagram, you and some girl in Stockholm. Have I whined about that? Coming here and blaming me for things, it feels really immature. Felicia: Fuck. Sorry, Jack.

Jack wasn't bothered by that at all. It happened before Felicia and Jack were even an official couple, and all they had done was hooking up at a party while Felicia was high. Jack, having cheated on Felicia, couldn't care less about the random girl Felicia kissed. That was just something he used to manipulate her.

When we discover that Jack is actually cheating on Felicia, he immediately reverts to a one-dimensional "evil" character. He's become the 2.0 version of Klara in season 1—written in just to stir up drama.

This "master manipulator" version of him just goes down the drain and Jack turns into a manchild who starts petty fights, files a police report because Ludde pushed him, and says to Felicia "I'm gonna tell on you!". Alright, maybe those weren't his exact words, but you know what I mean. It's a sudden shift and you start wondering how Jack was able to hide this version of himself so well before.

In 3x05, Jack sees Ludde and Andreas after a hockey game and fumbles trying to find any insult he can to hurl at Ludde. Everything he says from that point on is just line after line to really solidify that Jack is the bad guy. You didn't forget that, right? Here, let's have Jack call Felicia a druggie so you know just how shitty he is. And have him call Andreas a junkie later for good measure—there, that should be enough for people to understand that Jack is the villain here.

Jack: Johansson! Ludde: What the hell are you doing here? Jack: What does it look like? Ludde: I guess it’s you I should thank for the victory. Nice work. Jack: What is Felicia doing these days, then? Does she miss me? Ludde: Hey, you’re shutting up now, do you get it?! Jack: Jesus Christ. Do you think you can save her? What do you think she even sees in you? You two play in different leagues, Ludde. Ludde: You have no idea what we’re like. Jack: Come on! You should leave her. While you can. She’ll just pull you down into the dirt with her. You’re no hero, Ludde. Isn’t she still doing drugs? Once a druggie, always a druggie, right?

Jack is a horrible person, but at least he was able to pretend to be a good guy in season 2. And that was actually really fascinating. I wish we could've seen more of Jack's manipulative side that he showed in season 2 instead of making everything coming out of his mouth be a half-assed attempt at insulting the other person. That's a pretty boring villain, in my opinion.

Jack's backstory of his father being an alcoholic and him starting to resent the whole Kroon family because they had everything growing up while he didn't is interesting. It would've also made more sense if his anger was only directed towards the Kroon family since they're the ones he grew up with. They're the ones he was after the whole time.

His anger towards them feels cheapened when Jack also starts insulting Andreas (who he's probably never met before) for no good reason. It's like Jack's human qualities are just gone and all that's left is this empty shell made to start fights. His backstory didn't really make anybody sympathize with him, either.

The improvements of season 2

What I liked about the writing in season 2 was that they explored new ideas and had some solid storylines (besides the mess that was Amie and Ludde). Elias and Klara actually worked pretty well as a couple, even if they were pretty much the 2.0 version of Felicia/Ludde as the "wealthy, popular pretty girl starts dating the star player on the sports team".

Felicia finally gets some more depth. The scene at the end of 2x02, where Felicia and Leila park their car near the harbor and just start crying, is so powerful.

2x05 is also one of my favorite episodes of the show, as well as the ending montage of the 2x10 season finale. In Gameday, we had a very touching scene between Felicia and Mats where they finally communicate. It's not the most understanding conversation but it's a start. It's an interesting contrast between their talk in 1x06 where Felicia revealed she saw Mats cheating on Leila versus the talk they're having now.

Another one of my favorite scenes is when Felicia and Ludde meet up at their bench in 2x10 after Ludde has called her up asking Felicia to come if there's any chance of them getting back together.

The dialogue is simple and to the point. There's no long-winded love confession for the sake of drama. It's a moment that the whole season has been building up for, and when we finally get there we realize that this is how love should be.

Easy and simple.

Ludde: You came back. Felicia: Yeah, I did. Ludde: Do you remember our first date here? Felicia: No. I’ve forgotten. Ludde: I was so freaking nervous. Felicia: Everything you said… Did you mean it? Because you hurt me, Ludvig. And I… I’ve really tried to hurt you back, but… It’s not possible. I can’t… Not love you. Do you think… Do you think it can be us again? Ludde: What do you think? Felicia: I don’t want anything else.

Ludde admitting how nervous he was on their first date is sweet and shows us how much they've been through. Felicia is struggling to find the words to say and she's acknowledging how hurt she was, but still can't seem to find it in her heart to hate Ludde. It's honest.

Another plotline that I think was a little underrated in season 2 is the GECED company going bankrupt and Ola, Klara's dad, is under investigation for financial crime. This isn't a storyline you would usually see in a teen series. It's much more serious. It also gave us a really touching and poignant scene in 2x08 between Ola and Klara sitting on the floor of his office, where Klara has to comfort her father who starts crying.

Ola: When you were little you used to sit like this. On the floor, while I was working. You had your own room, but you wanted to sit with me. “Help daddy work”. Mom’s doing the right thing by leaving for a while, don’t blame her for that. Klara: What, you can’t just leave because things get a little tough. Ola: Maybe you should get away for a while too. You know, I never wanted you two to… That you… Everything’s gone. Klara: It will be fine. It will be fine. Ola: Sorry. I’m sorry.

In 2x09, Klara is at a party when she notices a bunch of missed calls from her dad. She immediately senses something is wrong and rushes home to find her dad having attempted suicide. It's executed very well and I really liked the more serious tone they went for in season 2.

It set up season 3 perfectly, which continued with the darker themes but balanced them very well with the more light-hearted moments.

Season 3: Finding one's footing

Season 3 was a highly anticipated season. I thought the season 2 finale was masterfully done and it left me wanting more. When season 1 finished on its cliffhanger of the video leaking, the focus only seemed to be on that.

But with season 2 there's Felicia/Ludde getting back together and Ludde having been sued by Jack, Jack threatening that he would leak all of the Kroon's family secrets, Klara's dad passing away, Elias deciding to get on the train and go to the draft combine anyway, Amie having finally become a recording artist but being isolated and heartbroken... There's so much to unpack, and it's a lot more interesting than the ending of season 1.

Where's Jack?

Jack is supposed to be the main villain but he's gone for most of the season, failing to show up until 3x05. In the season 2 finale Jack makes a huge deal about how he's going to destroy Felicia's life. He's threatening her in a very violent and abusive way.

Jack: [...] I know a lot about you, Felicia. And your nice family. It’s enough for me to leak to one news site. I can destroy you. Do you get it? I’ll tell them everything. The drugs, the cheating, your abortion! Felicia: Shut up! Jack: Hey. Huh? Did you seriously think I wanted to be with you? The little Kroon princess, who has gotten everything for free her whole fucking life! You and Elias! Like spoiled brats! You don’t understand what it means to fight for something!

In 2x10, Jack decides to report Ludde for assault but he doesn't follow through on destroying this family that he hates. If there's anything Jack seems to despise above all, it should be the Kroon family, right? So why did he fight back with Ludde but not the Kroon family?

I expected Jack to leak all the Kroon secrets at the beginning of season 3, but Felicia seems strangely calm at the funeral which I'm assuming only takes place two weeks or so after Ola's passing in the season 2 finale.

Then, a whole year passes with no indication that Jack is ever going to leak anything. As season 3 was airing, I commented on how strange this felt in an ask I received:

One of my main questions about the time jump is the whole thing with Jack saying he was going to ruin Felicia’s and the Kroon family’s reputation in the press. It seemed like nothing really came of that? I’m pretty sure that detail hasn’t been abandoned entirely and that Jack will come back (we’ve already seen a glimpse of him in the third episode), but it feels strange that Jack threatened to leak all her secrets and then just never did. I got the impression that Jack was a person who, when having his pride wounded, would do pretty much anything to get back at the person who insulted him. And yet there’s no mention of where Jack has been during that time or what he’s been doing. I feel like I would be pretty paranoid about this if I was Felicia, but we don’t see this haunting her until episode 3 when she sees a flash of Jack before realizing it was just some random guy. It seems strange that Felicia was relatively at ease during the funeral (which I assume took place not long after Jack first threatened her) and after the time jump. We don’t really know what’s been going on during that year, but Felicia seems to be fine and like she hasn’t had any thoughts of Jack at all. Maybe she assumed that his threats were empty and that he wouldn’t actually leak anything to the press, which is reasonable but at the same time I don’t understand why Jack has yet to do anything after a year. He was really pissed off in the season 2 finale, after all.

Going to repeat one of the things I wrote here because it deserves to be mentioned twice, and this point is one of my biggest issues.

I got the impression that Jack was a person who, when having his pride wounded, would do pretty much anything to get back at the person who insulted him.

I feel like this was kind of a plot hole that wasn't explained. Jack is ruthless and doesn't hold back at all when his true colors come out. He has no problem talking about the sexual relationship he had with Felicia in front of her father. Jack is just that horrible.

So what prevented him from ruining the Kroon family's lives earlier, when it seems to be the thing he's wanted for years?

Michael's predictable predicament

Michael first appears at the end of 3x04, where he calls Amie up to tell her he's her father.

Man: Hey! Sorry for calling so late. Is it Amie? Amie Condé? Amie: Yeah. Man: I saw you on TV the other day. I’m Michael Condé. I’m your father.

In the next episode, we get a voice-over of the continued conversation between him and Amie.

Michael: [...] I understand if it’s shocking. I’m in Oskarshamn for work for a few weeks and— Could we meet up someday?

So, it's clear what the writers are going for here. It's the estranged father who returns into the child's life when they've become successful. We're made to believe it's a Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You trope when Michael meets up with Amie and tells her why he left.

Michael: So Petra, she— Has she said anything about me? Amie: Well… That you moved from Sweden before I was born… That you’re working as a lawyer. That you didn’t want to see me. Michael: I was… I was young when we met. Your mom and I. And everything went really fast. I was in love, but she had feelings for somebody else. And when she found out that she— That she was expecting you, then… She didn’t want me there. She said I wasn’t father material. To some degree she might’ve been right, but… I wasn’t much older than you are now. I had just gotten into a law school in Berlin. When I finally came back to Sweden, then… She didn’t let me see you. I had already lost you by then, but I want you to know that I— I’ve thought of you. And about a week ago, I… I’m seeing you. On TV. There you are. With my last name. I’m so proud.

However, it's pretty easy to identify the holes in Michael's story. To be honest this whole storyline was predictable from the very start. Before Michael even came into the story, I made this post which pretty much summed up Michael's whole character when we didn't even know he existed yet (this was when 3x03 was the latest episode that had aired).

I don’t think we’ve heard any mention of Amie’s dad in the whole series except for 3x02 when Amie was being interviewed and was asked about the Condé name where she said that while Samuelsson was from her mother’s side, and Condé was from “the other side”. I found her word choice a little interesting. I don’t think Amie’s dad has passed—but rather that he’s alive and just chosen to not be a part of her life, which is why Petra seemed to be a little offended when asking Amie why she didn’t want her last name anymore. This might also be why Amie said “the other side” rather than “my dad’s side” because they have an estranged relationship. [...] I’m not really sure if they’ll do anything with Amie’s dad (maybe they’ll go for that trope where the parent who previously abandoned their child returns after the child has accomplished something big/something major happened and the parent wants something from them for personal gain?).

When we actually get to meet Michael and hear his explanation of why he left, I wrote this post pointing out some of the holes in this storyline.

Michael meeting Amie only after she’s become famous is a little suspicious, but it’s understandable if he previously thought she didn’t want to meet him and then sees her with his last name on national television. Obviously he would contact her after that. I feel like there were some question marks with Michael’s whole story though, and the fact that his work just conveniently happened to send him to Oskarshamn after he’d just seen Amie on TV. Maybe I’m missing something here, but how did he know Amie had gone back to Oskarshamn if he saw her living as a pop star in Stockholm? Was this information about Amie quitting the tour and going back to her hometown even online? If Elias (who actually witnessed Amie saying she was done and quitting) seemed taken aback when he saw Amie in Oskarshamn, then how did Michael know?

I do think Michael will return for season 4 though, so hopefully this storyline will be straightened out a little. We don't really know what Michael has been up for the past few years and if he has a family of his own. Maybe he'll contact Amie again to tell her she has some younger half-siblings?

They ended on sour terms, but if Michael does have his own family it's something Amie deserves to know and she can decide whatever she wants to do. I'd also like to see a Michael/Petra reunion, but I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

This storyline wasn't bad, and I do appreciate we got to find out what the situation with Amie's dad was. I also liked how I was able to sympathize with Michael. He's not entirely awful, even if he did put a lot of blame on Petra. It's one of those situations where you don't really know what it's like to be in Michael's position unless you've experienced it, and it's very realistic.

Plot holes

Some of the plot holes of season 3 that I've already mentioned are how Jack waited a whole year before leaking the Kroon family's secrets and how Michael conveniently knew Amie was in Oskarshamn when nobody seemed to know she was coming except her mom.

I actually don't mind that it was never explained how Michael got Amie's phone number either, because that's usually pretty easy to find with a Google search. Things like addresses, economic status, and even your criminal history are easily accessible in Sweden when googling someone's name. So finding someone's phone number is probably fairly easy as well.

On the other hand, one of the most glaring plot holes appeared in 3x08. In this episode entitled Lost, the Kroon family is frantically searching for Felicia who has gone missing. Leila and Elias knock on Petra's door to see if Amie is there and might know something about Felicia's whereabouts. Petra tells them Amie isn't there and they leave.

Someone left me an anonymous ask which I answered in this post, pointing out how it was strange that Elias didn't just call Amie to ask her when she wasn't at home. We know Elias has her number because they've been talking on the phone and texting each other several times before in the season.

In 3x08, when Elias and his mom go to Amie's house and ask Petra if Amie has seen or spoken to Felicia or whether she's home, I couldn't help but wonder, uh Elias why not just call Amie and ask her if she has seen or spoken to Felicia? [...] if Elias had called her and she heard how frightened him and his family were and police being involved she would have told him and then there would be no point in the 3x09 episode really.

This is a very strong point. You could argue that maybe Elias just didn't think of that but if they went out of their way to visit Amie's house only to not find her there, it would seem like calling her instead would just be a logical next step in the situation? Here's what I wrote in response to this ask.

This is an issue I had with 3x08 and 3x09 as well. I had a hard time actually enjoying the moment between Felicia, Klara, and Amie knowing that her family was getting increasingly worried for her and even thought for a short moment that Felicia was lying dead at the bottom of the ocean. All that could’ve been avoided. To add, it didn’t make a lot of sense to me that when Klara finally decided to call someone she called Amie instead of Elias. An ex-friend of Felicia’s instead of her brother who could’ve helped a lot more. What was Amie supposed to do when she showed up at the hotel, exactly? I know there was the thing with Klara only knowing Amie’s number off the top of her head, but there is no reason why she couldn’t have gone down to the reception while Felicia was sleeping and asked to use a computer just to get a quick message to Elias. Like, “hey, Felicia attempted something bad but she’s safe with me, we’re at this hotel in this room but she didn’t want me to call anybody, I don’t know what to do”. That would’ve been so much better than keeping quiet about the situation for nearly 24 hours. I know that Klara probably has trauma from leaving her dad at the hospital after his suicide attempt and that she probably didn’t want to go against Felicia’s wishes. I understand the first part 100%. But Felicia was in a very bad place emotionally and was thinking that her whole family hated her when that wasn’t the case. I feel like in a situation like that you kind of have to be the bad guy just to ensure the family that Felicia was safe. Even if everything turned out alright in the end, it could’ve gone so much worse if Felicia had wanted to be kept hidden for longer. [...] Elias calling Amie would’ve been an easy solution to this whole debacle but we would’ve lost the drama. It’s still somewhat of a plot hole though, like you said.

I understand it was done this way for dramatic effect, but that doesn't really patch up the plot hole.

I also found it strange how many people turned on Felicia after Jack ruined her reputation in the press. I talked about this in an ask I received.

I don’t understand why the public turned on Felicia so harshly. And Leila too, for that matter. The way Jack told the story about how these two women had things done to them should indicate that they’re not the ones to be blamed. If I read this article and found out an 18-year-old girl got pregnant by a “violent criminal” who forced her to abort and then abused her I would not be angry with the girl. I would be angry that she was physically abused and also outed on her sexuality for being bi. If I read this article and found out Leila had been cheated on by her husband repeatedly with her best friends, I wouldn’t be angry at her. I would not agree with the decision to turn to alcohol (same as Felicia turning to drugs), but I wouldn’t blame them. And I feel like a lot of people should’ve been on Leila’s side after finding out the reason why they divorced. I don’t understand why people are saying they’re disappointed in Felicia and calling her fake when she’s been through so much trauma in her life. I feel like if this actually happened in real life, all the blame would be shifted to the men because they’re the ones who—in this story—are painted as the bad guys (with the exception of Jack, considering he was anonymous).

I got another anonymous ask sent in after this, pointing out how the anger directed towards Felicia was considerably more about her drug use rather than the abuse she endured. Here was my response to that:

[...] the drug use should’ve been understandable considering the stuff Felicia had been through was also written in that article. I don’t know. I can understand people unfollowing her if they didn’t want their young children to be exposed to all the controversy, but it’s still strange that everything Felicia received was hate messages. Did everybody just skip over the part where the anonymous source stated that Felicia was violently forced to have an abortion by an ex-criminal and probably did so out of fear for her life? Yes, we know this is fake, but why didn’t anybody seem to mention this? [...] they seem to have written this storyline with the idea in mind that the public was against the whole Kroon family. Felicia got comments such as “So fucking disappointed in you and your family”, “What a nasty fucking family”, “You and your family are so fucking disgusting”. So I think Leila received plenty of hate for drinking instead of divorcing her husband sooner and basically turning a blind eye to all the problems her family went through. That’s what Jack told the press, at least. The anger seemed to be directed towards every member of the Kroon family and that didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Again, this is something the writers did to dramatize the situation and they kind of forgot to consider that what Jack actually told the journalist wasn't as incriminating for Felicia and Leila as it were for Mats and Elias.

The magic of season 3

What season 3 really excelled in, to me, was delving into some more serious topics as well as showing the gradual development of Amie and Elias' relationship. Amie and Elias are the prime example of how a slow burn is so much better than having a couple get together too fast, like Felicia and Ludde did back in season 1.

While season 3 was still airing, I wrote a post dedicated to questions I had received about Elias and Amie. Here's one of the things I said about them:

I think Elias’ interest in her really started to grow after he saw how caring Amie was to Felicia, and later on connecting with her on how they both ended up back in Oskarshamn after following their dreams which didn’t exactly turn out the way they expected. Yes, Elias has always sort of been watching and admiring Amie from afar, but that interest didn’t start growing until he actually got to know her. The experiences they had in the US and Stockholm, respectively, probably changed their mindsets and in my opinion it makes so much more sense for them to get together now than it would’ve in season 1 or season 2.

I still believe that Elias and Amie are the best-written couple of the whole show (at least so far), because they just make sense. We'll see what season 4 has in store for them because we have yet to actually see them in a romantic relationship, but I feel like their personalities and characters just fit together really well.

Another thing I really appreciated was the depiction of Felicia and Ludde's declining relationship. Things like that happen so easily, and I liked how we see Felicia do this huge gesture of planning a picnic for Ludde in 3x04 but there were still underlying problems between them. It's like that in real life too—no matter how big of a romantic gesture you make, communication will always be the number one priority in any relationship and that's where Felicia and Ludde fall short.

The obvious disconnect between them when it comes to money is also important. It's been like this from the beginning, but season 3 gave us an actual conversation about it.

Felicia: Please, I can’t talk about this. Seriously. It was stupid of me to bring this up from the beginning. Fuck, I get such anxiety talking about the future— Ludde: You get anxiety? I’m the one walking around with no money in my account. Mom and dad had to get a loan to pay off mine and Andreas’ fines. I’m playing on a shitty old synth, and living off you like some leech. That’s anxiety. Felicia: Everything isn’t about money. Ludde: Says the one who has money. Felicia: Move out then, if it’s so fucking hard to feel like a leech.

This felt very realistic. Of course a person like Felicia wouldn't think money is everything when she's never experienced financial issues. She's able to move out into her own one-bedroom apartment as soon as she's turned 18, it seems, and doesn't worry at all about the cost of furnishing and decorating it. She didn't even pay for it herself, because Mats mentions he's the one on the mortgage loan. It seems like Felicia has never had an actual job either, and that's starting to worry her because she has no idea what she should be doing.

Felicia: [...] I don’t know what I’ll be or what I’ll do in the future. I don’t know that. Ludde: You’re still an influencer— Felicia: Don’t say I’m an influencer, please. Do you think I want to be that my whole life? It’s not even a career. I'm— I’m graduating next year, and I… My grades suck, and— I have no plan. I only have you. Not like that—I have you. That’s what I have. I want to be here, in Oskarshamn. I don’t want to go to the US and chase some dream and be a hockey wife. That’s not a life. Sometimes I wish neither of us had a plan, just us together here.

Felicia's character finally offers something interesting here, which I've waited for since season 1. She's not just a party girl anymore who has issues with drugs. She's a privileged teenager who is co-dependent on the guys she meets and who has anxiety about the future, to the point where she wishes she could stay in Oskarshamn in her little apartment forever stuck in limbo.

She has to face a harsh reality when Ludde decides to break up with her, and later on when her name is slandered in the press and people all over the country are sending her hate messages. Her own family is furious with her and Felicia has nobody. She's pushed away a lot of people and her mental state is just crumbling in front of our eyes.

It's a strong storyline and actually very well executed. Almost everything gets taken away from her, and at the end of 3x07 you can almost feel what Felicia is feeling. We've been with her through this whole journey, almost, and we understand why she feels like suicide is the only answer.

It's tough to watch that final scene of 3x07. It's greatly amplified by Alva Bratt's superb acting, but the writing of the journey there is also amazing. It's very difficult to write a sensitive storyline like this.

Overall, I don't have a lot of critique towards season 3. I loved most of the episodes. I elaborated on this further in a separate post:

[Episodes 3x04 and 3x05] showcased what Eagles should be all about so well, which is relationships plus the struggles you go through as a teenager in a small town, and then of course hockey. The hockey game episodes are really good, even if I don’t think 3x05 topped 2x05 (the game where Ludde got tackled and knocked out). I loved the contrast in Date night of the budding relationship between Elias and Amie and then that fight between Felicia and Ludde on the cliff. [...] It was interesting to see how this sweet gesture from Felicia turned into a fight between the two of them. I thought that was very realistic, because no matter how big of a gesture Felicia made to apologize there were still underlying problems that they needed to talk about. I also loved the “non-date” between Elias and Amie in this episode. It was cute to see them goofing off before the movie started and then talking about it on the way home. I liked how Elias could connect to her on how they had both returned to Oskarshamn. The recent episodes that dropped last week (3x08 and 3x09) were very strong and discussed some important subject matters [...] They were dark, but not necessarily bad because they needed to happen. However, I have to say that I prefer Eagles when it’s about hockey and teenage relationships. 3x04 and 3x05 made me kind of nostalgic for season 1 and I liked the vibe they both had.

Eagles season 3 is in my opinion the best season of the show so far, and we haven't seen any signs suggesting that there is any reason for season 4 to not be even better.

Season 4: Hopes and wishes

Considering how each season has been increasing in quality bit by bit, I have pretty high hopes for the writing in season 4. I'm excited to see how the transition from teenager to young adult will be portrayed in the main characters, and what their future will hold for them after they've graduated.

My main questions are if Felicia and Ludde will find their way back to each other or if they'll remain broken up (that would be realistic as well), if Klara will reconcile with her mom, what's in store for Elias's hockey career, and if Amie will leave her label and maybe opt for something more independent.

I also want to see how Felicia deals with the new home she's checked in to, and if Ludde will in fact go to the school now that it seems Andreas will be getting into trouble again.

Amie and Klara are kind of wild cards here, because it somewhat feels like they've already reached their happy endings. Amie is famous and successful in her pop music career, and Klara has found her place as a businesswoman following in her father's footsteps. Maybe these developments should've come in season 4 instead of rushing them.

Nonetheless, I have faith in the writers. The writing suffered a little in seasons 1 and 2 but it has gotten better. Most of the things I pointed out about season 3 were just small details in an otherwise stellar season.

In conclusion...

This post was critical, but I tend to be critical of every show I watch. Eagles is still a very special show for me and having grown up in a Swedish small town myself I'm very fond of the show and its characters.

So huge thanks to the creator, Stefan H. Lindén, for making this show a reality and also to the director Carl-Petter Montell for contributing to the writing in season 3. And of course the writers of the show which include Michaela Hamilton, Fanny Ekstrand, and Anton Nyberg (plus Amanda Adolfsson who helped write 1x02 and 1x05 and Simon Ekbäck Nordström who is credited for helping with the hockey scenes in 3x05).

I hope you guys enjoyed this long, long post and major kudos to you if you read this far!

[melanieph321]

Gabriel Medina x Reader - Untamable Part 7/8

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Reader spends the summer with her first love, Gabriel Medina, for him to get a chance to know their three year old son. However, both Reader and Gabriel struggle to keep their feelings at bay.

Enjoy 💞

For some reason, this summer felt warmer than the previous, more peaceful than the previous and ultimately happier than the previous. Even when it rained, the heat lingered in the air as a solemn comfort that your family was whole again.

"Gammy, gammy, look at me!"

"I'm looking baby, I'm looking."

Because you didn't stay with her anymore, Vovó frequently made the effort to come to Maresias and watch Nemo surf the whitewash. She was his biggest cheerleader just like she had been yours.

"He's getting better." She said, tilting her body until nudging yours. The two of you sat on a blanket on the beach, your toes digging deep into the warm sand.

"It's getting impossible to keep him away."

Nemo was definitely finding his attachment to the water, his strongest resemblance to his dad. That and his untamable hair, now growing way past the nape of his neck.

"Are you worried?"

"No." You smiled. The sight of your son failing to find the balance on his surfboard, tumbling head first into the shallow water, would have left you livid not too long ago. Now it amused you. "He's in safe hands."

Nemo got back up on his board with the help of Gabriel and his sister Sophia. They helped him align himself with the next wave, pushing him into it, cheering for him as he successfully got back up on his feet.

Vovó turned to you. Another question in her restful expression. There was a tug of your heart as you took her in, her age, revealed through the numerous creases and wrinkles on her forhead and around her eyes. She will be leaving you soon. Everyone eventually leaves you.

"I have no doubt that Gabriel have your best interests at heart...."

Your eyes fell to where Vovó had gone to rest her hand over yours. "But not everyone from his side of the family does."

"I know." You nodded. But Gabriel would never let his mother come between us again. He even said so himself."

Vovó made a sound, a murmur deep down in her throat, that you could only be interpreted as skepticism.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing." She shirped, her lips pouting.

"Vovó. If you have something to say, say it."

Her chest rose when she sighed. "I sense a storm coming."

"A storm? Really Vovó?"

"Yes, a storm. In the name of that old hag."

You rolled your eyes.

"I mean it, querida. I worry for my grandchild and my little fish." Her smile made the seriousness of her words fade as your attention drew back to the water where Nemo and Sophia continued playing.

Perhaps Vovó was right. Maybe Gabriel's mother would come for you again. However, what was the worry, when this time Gabriel would be on your side?

********************************************

"You gold digging bitch!"

As predicted, Gabriel's mother rentered your life in dramatic fashion. "If you don't get your gold digging self out of my son's house, I'll make sure to get rid of you myself...... "

"Mamãe!" Gabriel and Sophia hissed in unison. "Please, stop it."

While Gabriel took you and Nemo aside Sophia, step forward, a magnitude of guilt displayed on her face. Her mother's discovery of the rekindle of your relationship with Gabriel's happened through the mouths of Sophia's friends. Up until that, Sophia had snuck to visit her brother without telling her parents that you had moved in with him.

Nevertheless all good things came to an end.

"Listen to me Gaby. She is using you! She and her shamless family have been plotting against you for years!"

Sophia held her back. "Mamãe, you're embarrassing yourself."

"For years!"

She was blocked out of your view by Gabriel, who placed his hands on your shoulders, his eyebrows furrowed, expressing his worry for you. "I'll get rid of her. I promise."

"Okay." You squealed. Nemo clung to your neck, sensing your distress. You had no clue on how to explain that the crazy woman yelling at you was his grandmother.

"Mamãe, please." Sophia pleaded, struggling to get her mother to leave the house with her. She wouldn't budge, at least not until she had spoken to Gabriel.

"Have you no shame?" He said, fuming as he approached his mother. "You barge into my home, causing a scene by threatening my wife."

"Please Gabriel, you don't know about her. She's only using you for child support. Look, I have proof."

"I said quit it, mom." He watched as she fumbled for something in her purse, a copy of a document. "Once and for all, won't you just give it a rest. Y/N is the mother of my child. Of course, I'm gonna pay her child support."

"But you don't have to. At least not for the past six months."

"What?"

She held up the document as if it was a holy scripture meant to cast out the demon in their life. "She has a fiance, and it says so right here."

Gabriel fell silent, casting a swift glance at the document before slowly turning to you. "Y/N, is this true?"

"Don't bother asking her for the truth querido. Everything that comes out of that bitch mouth is a lie."

"Mom."

"Oh shut up Sophia."

Your heart pounded in your chest, caught between a fairytale and a nightmare all the same. However, the only thing that mattered was the truth. You could see it in Gabriel's eyes, demanding answers from you.

"The private investigator I hired tells me that Y/N here is soon to be married to one Dr. Victor Nuñes, ain't that right?"

"I..." It doesn't matter. Nothing you said mattered because the look on Gabriel's face, the pure tournament, told you who's word he believed.

And just like that, summer came to an end, and so did your fairytale.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

[the-butch-of-blaviken]

Thanks for the tag! I love that game I'll get to it as soon as I have time and brain power to spare! In the meantime, tell us something about A Cat's Nine Lives? 💜

Thanks for the ask dear! No worries, there's no rush, take care of yourself ❤

A Cat's Nine Lives is the Aiden/Lambert/Keira fic i want to write the most. Basically Lambert has (mostly) grieved Aiden and tried to move on with Keira (who i'm convinced is great for Lambert post-Aiden's death because she's bossy enough not to let him wallow in his grief and has a big enough personality not to take any shit from him when he lashes out)

They've been travelling together for a few months when Aiden, who had faked his death for his own safety, comes back into Lambert's life: he'd secretly been following them for weeks, not sure if his former lover wanted him back now but not strong enough to leave him for good; at times he'd gotten too close and Lambert thought he'd seen Aiden's face in the crowd and that'd messed him up pretty bad. Eventually Aiden's choice is made for him: he carelessly betrays himself and they spot him. Lambert is both relieved beyond words and mad at him for making him go through all this. At first he doesn't even want to talk to him and Aiden, whose bright and confident personality was sobered by everything he went through during the last year, almost leaves again for fear of not being wanted, and it's up Keira to mediate their conversations and sort out their communication issues.

Eventually they find a new balance, all three of them. Lambert loves them both in different ways but can't bear the thought of parting with either of them; Aiden and Keira aren't exactly in love with each other and still have their own insecurities, but they bond over caring for Lambert and eventually reach a companionship that resembles a queer-platonic relationship. I don't have a plot for this fic yet, i mainly want to explore the dynamics of their relationship with a bit of angst and hurt/comfort 😌

[hippyexd]

Collection of my stories: Explained

Here is the post that nobody cares about but I'll share it because I just want the world to know.

1. Demon Academy.

I've posted some things about it already, it's a comic I started in 2014 originally in hungarian. I'm not quite happy with the way I started it, but I've built an interesting world, and I adore the characters, it's one of my best work that I'm very proud of. I drew 260 pages in total (book 1 and book 2) and I intend to pick up the story again sometime soon, when I get over exam season.

2. Runner

A medieval-themed fantasy story that I eventually want to make into a cartoon series. It's a bit cliché, but the characters are fun, and it has a lot of potential for epic music. I basically came up with the entire plot while listening to fantasy music mixes. Fun times. I've only got some character drawigs, and I just recently managed to finally have eneryone's finalized version. I also have a side story/shared universe thing planned for it.

3. Xyber-no

A post-apocalyptic cyberpunk futuristic action horror cartoon series idea. I've got the characters done already, and plans for like 2 seasons worth of content, I'm just lazy to edit the 1st ep's script. It's not even 20 minutes long. Honestly I'm just anxious to touch it. Got most of my ideas while listening to Neffex songs.

4. Racer

I watched Initial-D, and way back I had a roleplay about a car racer dude, and these two motivated me to write this story. It's not really a novel, it resembles more to a script but it's not actually a script. It was mainly dialogue practice, to make the characters feel more fun. I just finished the rewrite like a week ago, I think it turned out pretty great. Planning on adding a part 2 or a season 2 or something like that, but again, too lazy to actually touch it. It's fun to re-read though.

5. Singer

I'm currently working on this story, because when I'm bored, I write. And when is the best time to be bored? Exam season. Hell yeah. Anyway, it's about a suicidal dude falling in love with a singer (also dude, I love my gay kids okay) and then they figure out their shit. Good story to fit in as much angst as possible, with a few lovely fluff parts.

6. ZR series

Most of my followers came from the ZR community, so y'all know what this one is. But in case not, it's a comic series portraying my reactions to various moments that happen in Zombies, Run!, a really fun and creative workout app. The comic is on hold right now because I've already got too much shit to do til christmas. (Such as the Fellow Five drawing I promised. It's not forgotten, I just don't have time!! XD)

7. Demon and Vampire

Basically an over the top gay fluff love story with a little angst. It's pretty cool, sometimes it's boring, it's full of clichés and stuff, but I read it like 6 times and usually I hate my own writing, but there are parts that I just genuinely love in it. Fun stuff.

8. Psychoville

I've written the first 10 pages in like 30 different versions, because I'm unable to nail it. The main character is the daughter of Satan, who's name is ironically Angel, and she lives in a small town called Psychoville in the desert in Nevada, next to Searchlight, Nevada. As the name implies, she lives with 9 (or 8, I forgot) psychopaths, killers, mass murderers, insane mentally ill people who love each other to bits (and sometimes cut each other to bits) until she gets the task to investigate something for her father away from her home. Got a lot of inspiration from Welcome to Night Vale, and that lawless town in Kansas, I think? The yes theory made a video on it on yt, it's pretty dope.

9. Hollywood Undead Hungarian Fanfiction

It's just what it is. A fanfic of the boiz going on tour, getting in trouble, drinking and so on. No romance (bc that's gross and I couldn't find any fanfic that was not in some shape or form a ship fanfic). Da Kurlzz was still in the band when I wrote it. I was like 12. I just wanted to have fun. The chapters are 2 pages long in total. But the hungarian fans liked it, was trending a bunch of times on wattpad and it has a lot of reads. Despite being horribly shitty, I'm proud of it, and it has a lot of really fun parts and jokes.

10. Wrong Number

I almost forgot about this gem, but this was my first finished english story. It's almost entirely written in sms text format, it's progressig a bit too quickly, but at the time I was having a lot of fun with it, and that's all that matters. It has some really funny lines I came up with, I like re-reading it just for that. But also, it was a fun way to get around having to write long paragraphs lol. I just wanted to have fun with it. Heavily inspired by the Call me Beep me klance fanfic.

11. Milky Boiz

Context: my friend and I, at 2am, were thinking about what our ship name would be, but I kept typing "mmmmmilky" in the chat, that turned into milky boiz, and she said, that if we were guys, that would be our ship name. This gave us an idea for a webcomic, which we didn't actually progress with yet, but we do have an insta page where we already posted some of our boiz, you can find it under the name of @ink.stars , go pay a visit, it's my art and my friend's, and she is a wonderful artist and a lovely person and I love her to bits.

12. Night Vale Steampunk AU

It's pretty much dead, but while I was really actively part of the Night Vale fandom, I started a Steampunk AU. It was fun, it got like 4 chapters or something and big plans, but the characters were not in character, and it lost the Night Vale vibe, so I just let it go.

13. Cop Comic

Also a dead project of mine, but I still like it. It was inspired by a moment on one of our high school class trips. The characters were based on me and my friends, but the resemblence stops at hair color, that's all. Mabye not even that. Anyway it's what it is: cops dealing with crime and their personal problems. I wish I had known Brooklyn Nine Nine back then, would have been a great help.

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So, there you have it, all my favourite finished and unfinished works/ideas, just so you know if in the future I reference one (planning to post more Runner, DA and Xyber-no content along with the ZR comic)