#OH NOT TO MENTION THE GODDAMN BABY THEY ADOPT BASICALLY

[capfalcon]

i literally cannot get over how gay in love nasty fucking whatever goes on in private between you two is like so intense and yet i want no part of it in love john reese and harold finch are like straight off the bat

[iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid]

What's Loki's relationship like with each of the other Guardians? Feel free to rant, I can't get enough of them anyway 😆

oh holy shit they finally added a readmore button on mobile 🙌

okay so. going one at a time:

loki and peter's bromance has gotten the most screentime so i don't need to delve super deep into it here, but like, in my head, peter is basically the guardians' tendency to adopt strays all condensed into one person. he's the entire reason they're like this. i've said this before but i never intended for ohtmb to become a full length story, let alone a series, until peter grabbed loki by the arm, looked me in the eye, and said "this is my friend now. no take backs" and he just??? made him a guardian of the galaxy???? meanwhile loki is completely stunned that anyone other than his brother might genuinely want him around. hell, he barely believes that thor does! and peter keeps proving, over and over again, that he likes loki and he wants him to be a part of the team. (it's worth mentioning that between being a thousand years old and the magic powers, peter just thinks loki is so goddamn cool. loki does not know this.) that initial invite -- "i'm not a part of your team" "yeah, but you could be" -- that was the first time anyone other than thor asked him to stick around, it was the first itsy bitsy crack in loki's armor, and that kind of thing sticks with loki for a while. also, as evidenced by the frost giant reveal, peter is the guardian that loki is most likely to turn to first, mostly because he has the excuse of, like, y'know, he's the captain. of course i'd go to him first no it's not because he's my best friend shut up

for gamora, in my universe loki didn't know she was the daughter of thanos until later - she was already taking every excuse she could find to be away from thanos by the time loki fell into his hands, so ohtmb is genuinely the first time he ever sees her. he was a little miffed that she hid that from him, but like, who is he to judge people for keeping secrets? gamora was the second person to invite him to join the guardians, which was the first time he actually started to believe they might mean it, and she was the first person to offer him genuine advice on how to move forward after thanos. loki deeply, deeply respects her. she's definitely the guardian whose opinion he values the most.

i've said this before, but i love to think of nebula and loki's relationship as basically ron swanson's "i once worked with a man for three years and never learned his name. one of the best friends i ever had." they do not talk about their feelings they do not talk about their traumas they barely even TALK except to ocassionally ask if the other one wants to spar, and yet. and yet. they get each other so well. loki's almost on a level with gamora in terms of understanding nebula, and in some ways he even relates to her *more* than gamora does. he will never ever ever say this out loud because he likes keeping his insides on the inside. either way, nebula is the easiest one for him to quietly share space with. they're both bringing that "i can just be in the same room and that counts as hanging out" antisocial cat energy to the table

now, mantis! loki is, like every single other guardian, extremely protective over mantis. she has that sort of childlike innocence that none of the others (except for groot, the actual child) have, despite her having a whole heaping pile of traumas to rival everyone else's. and all of them, loki included, knew her for just a few days before they were like "i guess i have a baby sister now" and they never questioned it. the empathy throws another curveball in there: loki is so unbelievably guarded all the time, and being anywhere near mantis is deeply unsettling at first. no one is allowed to know what he's really feeling! and obviously he learns to trust her eventually, enough that touching her is done with barely a thought anymore, but a part of him also recognizes that it's.... kind of a relief? he's spent so long hiding and lying and keeping his feelings under wraps that it's become a very difficult habit to break, even when he wants to. mantis helps him get around that without actually having to do anything. (she can sense that and is very pleased by it. she likes helping her friends, and it's always a relief for her when her abilities can be used for something good.)

drax is a fantastic exercise in loki shedding some of that high-and-mighty attitude because he's been forced to recognize that someone lacking intelligence (or at least the kind of intelligence he's used to) can still hold a lot of value anyway. drax gently getting information out of that little kid while loki's in the background like ????? was so important to me. he's smart in a way that loki could very easily dismiss, and not too long ago he probably would have, but he doesn't. also, drax was loki's first encounter with genuinely wanting to help someone when it had no benefit for himself, just wanting to save them, and then not being able to. he still feels some kinda way about drax losing his leg. anyway, he and drax get along shockingly easily on a day-to-day basis, mostly because even when loki does bring out the barbs and say something nasty, 99% of the time it goes over drax's head and loki doesn't even have to bother feeling bad about it.

oh, groot. groot groot groot. loki absolutely loves being the fun uncle who's constantly helping this kid break rules. if someone tells groot he's eating too much candy and he's gonna make himself sick, loki will magic some into his room because come on, fuck the system, and besides, if he gets sick, he gets sick! then he'll eat less candy anyway. (he firmly believes he is the only one who does things like this for groot. he is incorrect.) there is also a part of him, a part that he doesn't let himself dwell on, that recognizes that groot is the only one among them all with a lifespan even approaching loki's. again, he doesn't let himself think about that very much, but the thought's... there. he'll address it eventually, maybe.

okay so you know that trope of, like, constantly bickering friends who you swear must hate each other but then the minute shit goes down and they need to work together it's like OH. oh i see. they're exactly the same brand of insane, that's why they're friends. that's loki and rocket. they're always either furious with each other and at each other's throats, or they're in cahoots and everyone else needs to start running. (side note: if loki was around for the gotg3 plot he would have gone the classic survivalist route a la hela, being like "no we CAN'T fight the high evolutionary he's too powerful and we will all die, we'll find some other way to help rocket" right up until he sees what the high evolutionary actually did and then he's just like. hm. okay. i am going to turn all of his internal organs into snakes or die trying. how fast can we get there)

last but certainly not least: loki didn't know what to make of kraglin at first, since they barely interacted outside of loki knocking him out that one time, but he knows that for some reason he's sort of unexpectedly... comfortable? around kraglin? like it's just easy to be around the guy. he doesn't know why, they've barely even spoken to each other. but then one day they got very, very, very drunk together by accident on a foreign planet when they were between missions, and kraglin awkwardly held his hair up while he puked into a trashcan and then he started filling the silence with some dumb stories from when peter was a little kid, and loki had this drunken moment of clarity like "ohhh. he's a big brother. that's why it's easy to be around him" and he absolutely 100% never revisits that thought while sober.

anyway, that's everyone! i love this dumb giant space family! thanks for the ask, this was a fun one to answer, and as you can see i took the "feel free to rant" very literally ;D

[alexshakestheworld]

Fics Rec

Below are some of my favorite fanfics of all times. Most of them would probably be from AO3 (Archive of Our Own ) but sometimes I scout for fics outside of AO3 as well, if I find something worth reading I would put it here too.

I do read fanfics from multiple fandoms but I would make sure to include a tag so that you can know if there is any fic about your OTP in my list.

❤️Spirk (Star Trek: Spock x Jim Kirk): my favorite pairing of all times, though I prefer the AOS version to the TOS. I have read these fanfics so long ago that I can’t remember the content (so I apologize for the lack of my own comment/review) but if I bookmarked them they must have been good enough lol

Once Upon a Time (A Fairy-Tale Love Story) (by littlebirdtold): 47,461 words/6 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: In a universe with no Federation, where First COntact never happened, Jim Kirk is your average popular guy. On Christmas Eve, thanks to a series of strange events, Jim finds himself in a parallel universe where the Milky Way is under the control of an alien race and ends up as a servant in the residence of the Royal House of Vulcan. As he starts adapting to his new life, Jim’s curiosity fucks everything up - but hey, Vulcans shouldn’t have told him that he isn’t allowed to enter this wing of the palace; Jim has never been good at following rules. Or, this is the story of how Jim Kirk became a Princess (“Prince Consort, Bones!”) of the United Planets of Vulcan Kingdom.

Honestly, go read every single one of littlebirdtold’s fanfics. He/she/they are incredible and I’m still waiting for his/her/their comeback.

In the Shadows (by scifishipper): 25,202 words/4 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Mature

Summary: Accused of treason and stranded on Vulcan, Cadet Jim Kirk is offered a solution to his problems: bond with Ambassador Sarek’s son, someone he has never met. When he finally meets his betrothed at the ceremony, the Vulcan’s face is disfigured by cruel scars. Now, penniless and trapped, Jim finds himself committed to a reclusive stranger with a dark past. Has he sealed his fate forever or is there hope for the two of them to find love?

A sequence that you never learned (by annataylor): 64,624 words/14 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: When Jim gets it in his head to adopt an eight year old Vulcan, Spock presents a logical solution to the issue of Jim’s humanity: marriage to a Vulcan citizen

Logical Erotics (by EntreNous): 63,458 words/12 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Just returned from a difficult space mission and about to begin teaching at Starfleet Academy, Spock chooses a logical way to relieve stress: a sexual encounter with someone he’ll never meet again. But when Spock discovers his partner of one night is Jim Kirk, a promising new cadet at Starfleet he’s torn between his rational decision to avoid intimate relationships and his increasing fascination with Jim. As Spcok’s normally orderly life starts to spin out of control, will his obsession with Jim prove his salvation or his undoing?

The Vulcan Heart (by obsidienne): 110,110 words/15 chapter  

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Where two halves make a whole...eventually. (Post-STID

I remembered that my friend recommended this fic to me and I was a bit hesitant at that time because I have never read anything this long. But it turned out to be such a great fic that I appreciated his recommendation every day.

Unexpected (by foreverandeveralone): 10,339 words/8 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Mature

Summary: Cadet Jim Kirk doesn’t understand why everyone who is not nice to him always has bad consequences. Basically, Jim doesn’t know he is dating the Vulcan version of Sylar, who never forgives anyone who does bad things to his human.

Interesting fic if you love both Star Trek and Heroes.

The Door (by Pouxin): 77,118 words/6 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Spock and Jim both have their doors. Jim wants his to be open. Spock wants his to be closed. An alternative STID things. With more literature. And esoteric faffing. And sex.

Kicked From Inside (by Stella_Notecor): 32,246 words/18 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Drugged by aliens with an aphrodisiac that impregnates males is NOT how Jim Kirk imagined falling into bed with his first mate. That’s exactly how it happens though, and dealing with the consequences - including an angry girlfriend, a pointy-eared baby, and a chief-medical-officer who’s against the whole thing - will force Jim and Spock together, whether they like it or not.

My Golden Sun/Kin-Kur Las’hark T’nash-Veh (by giddytf2): 123,262 words/30 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Warning: Mpreg

Summary: When Jim feels thet first gush of slick soaking down the inner seam of his pants, he shuts his eyes and turns his face away from Spock towards the mottled-stone wall of their solitary cell. Spock is staring at him. Spock has no idea what’s just happened, what’s just begun. Spock has no idea that their situation is about to get so much worse. Fuck, Jim thinks, curling up into a ball of bruises and ragged gold, his arms quivering and clutching his bent legs. Fuck my life for being a goddamn Omega.

(Or, a Star Trek: AOS story post-Into Darkness in a universe where both Alpha/Beta/Omega gender dynamics and pon farr exist, with Jim being an Omega going into heat and Spock experiencing his first pon farr while trapped in a cell with Jim. Oh my.

Time of Need (by sunshine (sunshinepiveh)): 33, 669 words/25 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Spock’s pon farr comes early due to the destruction of Vulcan. Nyota is unable to cope with the stark brutality she finds as reality hits home. The captain will have to take necessary actions.  

Weekend Lover (by ValiantBarnes (Cimila)): 30,017 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: The one night stand Jim Kirk has with the Vulcan passing through Riverside is a welcome break from the monotony. It’s good, very good, but so fucking weird Jim’s sure he’s never gonna forget it. He’s not quite expecting to run into Spock again in san Francisco. A second one night stand turns into a weekend, turns into a lot of weekends, turns into Bones joking that he’s living half his week at Spock’s apartment. But! But, and this is very important: they’re not dating. What also turns out to be important is Spock’s job, which Jim never bothered getting the details of. Starfleet Academy Instructor and cadet?... Less fine.

❤️HotchReid (Criminal Minds: Aaron Hotchner x Spencer Reid): unpopular pairing but they are definitely in my top 5 pairings for sure

Don’t Ever Look Back (by kadeeleigh): 15,848 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: While on a case in California, Hotch and Reid’s secret angers Morgan

This fic features a nice amount of case investigation content, an extremely protective and slightly irrational Morgan, and a remarkably sexy and confident Dr. Spencer Reid.

Arranged Marriage (by VincentMeoblinn): 18,196 words/6 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Mature

Summary: When Reid decides to leave the BAU due to his painful crush on Hotchner, the man proposes an extreme way to avoid him leaving or them breaking the fraternization rules - by proposing

A marriage-before-romance fic. Slightly unconventional plot and relationship development (but it is fiction after all so no big deal) but generally cute.

Convergence (by Chestnut_NOLA): 33,232 words/10 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Dr. Spencer Reid, newest addition to the BAU has been dreaming of art and murder. In denial that his telepathy has returned, Spencer must work with his team and his boss Sentinel Aaron Hotchner to find the Unsub. Will love help Spencer control his gift or will the darkness in his mind destroy not only himself, but Aaron as well?

It is the second and my favorite fic in the Transference series. If you are into the fantasy genre, Sentinel/Guide bond to be specific, I highly recommend this one.  

Healing Touch (by Rivermoon 1970): 21,981 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Warning: Sexual Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Mpreg

Summary: Spencer has been watching his Alpha for a while and knows something is wrong. When Aaron collapses during a case the whole team worries. What they find out about his marriage to Haley will shock all of them and when Spencer is asked to help Aaron with his recovery how will their friendship change?

The abuse part is rather brief mentioned than thoroughly described, so do not worry too much (I can’t stand extreme angst). Nice relationship development. If you like Omegaverse, give this fic a try.

Take Me Home, Country Road (by wednesdays___child): 8,698 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Aaron gets a call that his mother is not well. She wants her eldest son to bring home the pretty young doctor he’s been dating. The problem is that Aaron has failed to tell his family that the pretty young doctor is a colleague...and male

A fluff fic at its core. Cute happy ending. My to-go fic when I want to read something short and light before bed.

Lightning Only Strikes Once...Maybe Twice (by Dazeventura6): 16,433 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: While on a custodial interview Aaron and Spencer are stuck in a time loop. Can they break it? Or will they be stuck forever?

Set after the Hardwick incident. The content is something that I wish it happened in the series. A much needed fix-it fic.

Mine (by non_andare): 6,115 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Hotch has never noticed Reid before; he’s an inconspicuous Omega who naturally submits and Hotch likes his Omegas to have fire. Then Spencer starts dating another Alpha and all Hotch can think is one word. Mine.

Reid/OC is briefly mentioned but the fic is mainly about Hotch/Reid. Fluff with a bit of angst but eventually happy ending. Jealous Hotch and shy Reid is a nice combo tbh.

Criminal Bonds (by VincentMeoblinn): 26,107 words/13 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Warning: Implied/Referenced Character Death, Child Death

Summary: Reid was framed for embezzlement a year ago. Hotchner pleaded guilty to several murders. They meet in prison where reid is regularly abused by the stronger inmates until Hotch takes him under his wing

Alternate Universe where Reid is not a part of the BAU. Prison romance. Slight twist at the end but ultimately a happy ending (in my opinion)

Wolf Moon (by Ahmose_Inarus): 117,736 words/34 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Alpha Werewolf Aaron Hotchner is far from pleased when Spencer Reid joins the team...The presence of the young werewolf is not welcome...but when Hotch learns that Spencer Reid was raised by a human mother after being abandoned by his werewolf father, he takes him under his wing. And perhaps he has found more than a friend in the younger wolf...But there’s an Alpha Female in the territory who is far from please...she’s had her eyes on Aaron Hotchner for a long time, and won’t let anyone stand in her way

An Omegaverse story. A bit long but worth every minute. The relationship between Hotch and Reid is so cute that it can take my frustration (and anger) against the antagonist away.

The Librarian and the Dad (by DarkJediQueen): 9,039 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating; Explicit

Summary: It started out as a little crush. Then it became so much more.

Cute. Cute. Super cute. Part 12 of the A Universe of Meetings series, which include multiple Alternate Universe stories. Check out the whole series if you are into Alternate Universe.

Solace (by Lady Angel (dameange)): 4,701 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: A Hotchner/Reid rewrite of The Angel Maker episode

Again, a fix-it fic I would like to actually happen.

Dr. Reid and Agent Hotchner (by E_Ng714): 21,013 words/14 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Mature

Summary: The BAU has hit a rocky patch, and appears to be falling apart. There is something going on with Hotch, but no one can figure it out. Cruz orders all of them to undergo psychiatric evaluation. Dr. Reid’s presence isn’t welcome by Aaron, at least not at first.

Alternate Universe story. They are both slightly out-of-character but not too annoying. Hate to love. A bit of angst but eventually happy ending.

Forgive Me For All I Could Not Become (by DegrassiFanatic): 105,975 words/20 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences (there’s sex scenes though lol)

Summary: In which Reid has always been good at hiding things. He hid his father’s departure and his mother’s illness from social services. He hid his addiction from his team. He hid his sexuality from the world. He hid his inappropriate feelings from his boss. That is until he’s bleeding out in Hotch’s arms, in an abandoned church, in Oklahoma. From there on out, Hotch and Reid learn to make a complete mess out of each other.

Definitely in my top 10 HotchReid fanfics. I didn’t expect much when I started because I usually don’t read over-100k-word-Teen and Up Audiences-fics but this one turned out to be perfect and it literally saved me from a rough week.

A Different Kind of Solitude (by kyrdwyn): 15 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: NC-17/FRAO (For Adults Only)

Summary: When Aaron and Spencer are trapped together by an unsub, things change between them while the team searches for their lost friends.

It is said “trapped by an unsub” but honestly the situation is not that bad. I tend to think in a positive way that this is a chance for HotchReid to get together. Pretty cute and domestic fic actually.

Home you know (by jetplane): 14,030 words/11 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Summary: When Reid is diagnosed with cancer, he finds himself relying on Hotch for care and support. But spending so much time together forces each man to confront the feelings he has for the other, and it’s only a matter of time before their friendship evolves into something more.  

Go Home, Omega (by goobzoop)

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Warning: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, mean Hotch

Summary: Pretty much Hotch is bigoted about Omegas and Reid is let on the team cause he’s a genius, which Hotch hates, but then Reid learns to stand up for himself cause he’s super kickass and sweet and deserves the world

Oneiroi and Hephaestus (by Lady Angel (dameange)): 31,231 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: What if Reid was one of the Yellow-eyed demon’s special children?

If you like both Supernatural and Criminal Minds, this crossover fic is one to go for.

Come Undone (by EloquentDossier): 77,180 words/22 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: When Spencer Reid forgot to take his suppressants two mornings in a row, it really shouldn’t have been a big deal. He had them in his bag at the hotel, and as long as he took one that evening, he’d be fine. What he couldn;t have prepared for, however, was the lab the latest victim worked at going into an at least twenty-four-hour-lockdown while he was in it. When Aaron Hotchner was asked to aid his subordinate through what would otherwise be an agonizing heat, he’d had several reservations, one of which had been the consent issue: Omegas couldn’t legally consent to sex during heat unless it was twenty-four hours in advance. With every concern rebutted logically (because of course the Bureau had an Agent Consent form in case of emergencies), he finally agreed. Of all the possible repercussions, however, neither man expected the one they received.

Or that time no one expected the Alpha to accidentally bond to the Omega while the Omega remained unaffected.

Cursed (by Black_Lotus): 60,254 words/20 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Centuries ago Vasile Stolojan, the bastard son of Vlad the impaler, was cursed to be a Vampire. Many years later he has a new name, Aaron Hotchner, and a curator job at a prestigious museum in America but the pain he feels for his lost love remains, until he meets the new Docent, Spencer Reid, who looks exactly like his lover. Is it possible that after six hundred years the man he loves has been reincarnated?

I LOVE this fic.

Yours (by NimueOfTheNorth): 17,232 words/6 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Spencer knew what he wanted in a relationship, and after years it looked like he found everything he dreamed of in Aaron. Now; if only Aaron’s past experiences and guilt complex wouldn’t get in the way.

❤️Niam (One Direction: Liam Payne x Niall Horan): while everybody is going crazy for Stylinson and Ziam, here I am rooting for Niam lol

Break my fall (by niamcuddles): 147,428 words/15 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Mature

Summary: Being a police officer was never an easy job, Liam wouldn’t have imagined that it’d bring someone like Niall into his life and that they could ever grow so close under these circumstances. If they only would’ve known who the guy was that giving them so many sleepless nights.

With Your Love (by brainstorm): 57,448 words/8 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Summary: Liam’s life was nothing like a normal twenty-two year old guy. Raising a kid on his own was probably the hardest thing he’s ever had to face but he wouldn't change his little boy for the world. He never thought he’d find someone that was good for both him and his son, but that changed fast the day he met his son’s new teacher.

Closer (by niamcuddles): 209,765 words/20 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Niall’s pretty sure he doesn’t actually have a real crush on the rick and arrogant guy he’s been attempting to teach how to golf, but there’s something about him that just won’t allow Niall to say no. Not even when he gets made a very unexpected offer.

From the day that I met you (by niamcuddles): 272,394 words/25 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Partying and having a good time are probably two of Niall’s favorite things, he just wouldn’t have thought that a night out would end with him getting to know Liam, or that their paths would cross a lot more often than just this once. But somehow they happen to be more helpful to one another than expected.

Like the angel you are (by niamcuddles): 164,367 words/13 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Summary: To be honest, Niall has already given up on his life ever getting any better, he’s used to being on his own and not being looked after, so maybe not even a way too caring stranger can help change that.

Too Much Too Soon (by brainstorm): 47,353 words/3 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Mature

Summary: Niall stands up for himself for the first time ever but things don’t turn out the way he wanted them to and he finds himself struggling between the way he’s always been or the way he wants to be. It’s a matter of time to know who’ll win, his mind or his heart. (sequel to “For You, My Love”)

Like the air I’m breathing (by niamcuddles): 81,307 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Summary: Niall is four years younger than Liam and he is sick of being the little brother, that is until Liam suddenly finds a girlfriend and cuts Niall out of his life completely.

Now we are (by niamcuddles): 143,082 words/15 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Mature

Summary: Liam’s kind of keeping a busy schedule right now, his whole life seems to basically only consist of work and studying, so what he really can’t need at this time are friends who constantly want to hang out, but above that, 19 year ole uni students who can’t take no as an answer.

For what it’s worth (by niamcuddles): 120,800 words/10 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Mature

Summary: Liam has trouble figuring out his life and what he really can’t stand are loud, talkative and clingy people, but he would’ve never thought that getting rid of Niall could be this hard.

Something I need (by niamcuddles): 87,735 words/5 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Summary: 16 years is a very long time, but Niall still remembers all the things he and Liam have gone through together

❤️Gramander (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Original Percival Graves x Newt Scamander): I honestly don’t remember how I stumbled into this couple fandom but they do have several great fics. For some reason I only bookmark this one though.

Here We Are (by Miss_Lv): 22,177 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Warning: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Mpreg

Summary: Percival had long given up on the idea that he would find an omega mate, he ver seemed to fit what they were seeking in a husband, always too rough, not gentle enough. But then he meets Newt Scamander and the omega is utterly perfect to him, with his shy smiles and tendency to run headlong into danger. Catching vipers in his hands and keeping nifflers for company, Newt is nothing like the typical demure omega and Percival is lost before he can even think to resist.

❤️Jack O’Neill x Daniel Jackson (Stargate SG-1): Like I don’t even know their ship name for real…

I Walk Alone...No More (by Joy): 17,955 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Daniel finds love in another universe. Quantum Mirror Story.

Even though it was not original Daniel and original Jack ending up together, but in the end it was still Jack and Daniel, and I was happy with the ending.

Pulling Threads (by Joy): 13,241 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Daniel’s place in the world seems to be going nowhere. After what happened with The Others, sending him back, he’s got some thinking to do about what happens next. Does he go to Atlantis, forget about Earth? Or stay at the SGC in a role he’s not entirely sure is his. Then Jack invites him to dinner and his future is changed forever.

Civilians (by LadyRa): 46,557 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: AU ending to Point of View. What if the AU Samantha hadn’t been willing to let go of Jack?

Instinct (by AuroraNova): 27,783 words/10 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Daniel Jackson is an unconventional, career-focused omega. It’s going to take one special alpha to win him over. Jack O’Neill is determined to be that alpha.

Strange Interlude (by ELG): 228,960 words/4 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Daniel discovers that in other universes not only the uniforms are different… Jack and Daniel’s friendship has been under strain for some time but when Daniel is kidnapped by an AU Teal’c very different from our own, it’s up to Jack to save him. An AU Jack, however, complicates the situation considerably. 

❤️Chris Evans x Sebastian Stan (I ship Stucky so as a matter of fact, I ship the actors as well)

Sugar Daddy (by orphan_account): 91,139 words/17 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Sebastian is a broke and abandoned college kid trying to scrape up enough money to pay for rent and tuition. When he meets Chris, an accomplished architect who takes him under his wing, he doesn’t understand what his friends keep calling him until he looks it up for himself.

❤️Harringrove (Stranger Things: Billy Hargrove x Steve Harrington)

Bite Your Tongue And Choke Yourself To Sleep (by trashcangimmick): 21,173 words/5 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Steve is going to grad school in Chicago. Life is comfortable. Life is stable. Steve is doing great and he really wishes everyone would stop asking.

Set the Record Straight (by MischiefManaged97): 35,054 words/14 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Steve was a little nervous about making things right with Billy after their fight. Steve just wants to apologize and relax, but Billy may have other ideas.

You’re the best I’ve ever had; you’re the worst I’ve ever had (and thet keeps fuckin’ with my head) (by determinedlove): 52,697 words/14 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Warning: Mpreg, Intersex

Summary: Steve Harrington loved his status in the world and his life. He had great friends and babysat two amazing kids (but don’t tell them he said that). So what if he couldn’t sleep in his room sometimes because the house was just too damn big and the quiet didn’t help keep the nightmares at bay. So what if the new guy at school was everything he had been warned away from? He could play the game just as well as he could. But then Will goes missing. And the new guy proves to be everything people warned him about and so much more when no one else is around.

❤️Namjin (BTS: Kim Namjoon (RM) x Kim Seokjin (Jin)): These two are just so adorable together.

Pack Mentality (by resonae): 9,452 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Namjoon is possessive.

The Professor’s Wife (by EquinoxSolstice): 12,163 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Summary: Everybody knew Professor Kim was already married. It was actually the first thing they asked the man during the first day of classes, with one brave student asking the question out loud for everyone to hear. The older man responded with deep dimples and a raised left hand, letting everyone see the plain, silver band glittering on his ring finger. But, as one Jeon Kungkook found out, they were all completely, terribly wrong. What? The Professor didn’t say he had a wife.

Why Three is Better Than Two (by lulublue1234): 35,298 words/23 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Mature

Summary: Seokjin is a bit of a stalker. Smitten with a Father-son duo. Where Yoongi is the most adorable child ever created.  

The Shaman and the Exorcist (by metastacia): 145,258 words/20 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Mature

Summary: Seokjin doesn’t believe in ghosts. Which would cause a huge uproar if everyone knew since he’s kind of a big deal at his university; he’s a shaman who protects people from evil spirits. He doesn’t remember where he got the idea to do this from, all he knows is that superstitious people pay good money. Namjoon does believe in ghosts. Better yet, he can see them and he can expel them. But there’s a certain honey shaman at his university who’s stealing all his clients in his exorcism business, and he’s not happy about it because haunted people pay good money. So, what do they do? Figure out whose closet is holding all the skeletons, of course.

Fate Led Me To You (Now Let me Love You) (by MinMinnieMin): 58,382 words/15 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Mature

Summary: Seokjin did not believe he’d ever have a happy ending. How many happy endings did you ever hear an unmated Omega with a child have? But fate is a funny thing. What’s meant to be will always find its way. And Kim Namjoon tries his best to get Seokjin to see that. Because of fate, they found each other.

❤️Broyo (Prodigal Son: Gil Arroyo x Malcolm Bright): I seem to have a soft spot for couples with noticeable age difference

To be Normal (by holyfudgemonkeys (erraticallyinspired)): 70,399 words/26 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Warning: Mpreg

Summary: Malcolm has a terrible encounter while out trying to be ‘normal’ and get roofied. He doesn’t report it and tries to move on but winds up pregnant. He turns to Gil for support who is there with open arms. As they work through the choices Malcolm has to make and Gil is just there more and more their relationship evolves into something more intimate and romantic than either of them could ever have planned for.

❤️Hannor (Detroit: Become Human: Hank Anderson x Connor): Again, another couple with considerable age difference

Arrival (by coffee666): 83,075 words/7 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Hank just wanted help around the house for Cole. He never expected such a goofy thing that laughed and hummed and protected Cole with all of his being. Connor is not like other androids - but neither of them truly know how deep those differences go.

The Opposite Life (by Speckeh): 38,612 words so far

Status: Incompleted (9/10 chapters)

Rating: Explicit

Summary: 17 years and 9 months ago, Connor decided to start his own family, alone. He falls in love with the voice sample of Donor 55719, as the mysterious man talks about a mundane life. It’s everything he wished for. After 17 years of loving the two minute voice sample that fathered his children, what will Connor do when that voice suddenly appears in his life?

By Default//By Design (by Make_It_Worse): 9,211 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Connor, an overworked clothing designer, who is also a huge brat. Hank, an HK800 android model, who isn’t having any of it.

❤️Hannigram (Hannibal: Hannibal Lecter x Will Graham)

With a Crown of Stars (by thehoyden): 33,536 words/7 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: When the call connects, Will says, “I know what kind of crazy I am, but I’m not this kind of crazy.”

“Will?” Dr. Lecter says.

“Yes, hi, sorry,” Will says. “It’s me. There’s a baby on my porch.”

Taken for Rubies (by emungere): 76,842 words/20 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Warning: Crossdressing, Feminization

Summary: Will invites Hannibal over for dinner. Hannibal brings him wine and flowers. A dissection of their pasts and the slow convergence of their domestic lives.

❤️Rinch (Person of Interest: John Reese x Harold Finch)

Pallas’s Rosefinch (by elbowsinsidethedoor): 55,536 words/25 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Warning: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics

Summary: Harold needs John. John needs Harold. And that’s the way I like it!

Difficult To Name aka Titles Are Difficult (by elbowsinsidethedoor): 51,710 words/17 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: John is a retired pro who comes back for a special client. For those who fear a BDSM themed story, please note that this is a tender love story.

Milk and Cream (by hallulawy): 33,388 words/6 chapters

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Warning: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Out-of-character

Summary: Story between John (Alpha, 35, general practitioner) and Harold (Omega, 27-ish, entrepreneur, five-month-pregnant). They are not married (yet).

❤️Noah Reid x Dan Levy (They play Patrick and David in Schitt’s Creek if you don’t know)

Fries Before Guys (by wildxwired): 29,065 words/1 chapter

Status: Completed

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Six weeks ago, Home (on a) Plate showed up in front of the MTV building in West Hollywood and started providing the locals with quite possibly the most amazing and inventive variations of grilled cheese sandwiches and cheese fries every Monday and Thursday, between the hours of 12 and 2. It wasn’t just the melt -in-the-mouth gooey goodness that had people clambering around the truck, or the insanely fair prices that were usually nowhere to be found on the rest of the street food in LA, but the fact that this was all served up by some hazel eyed specimen with the forearms of a god probably didn’t hurt either.

[feralnumberfive]

The Rewatch Academy: Episode 1 of Season 1

"We Only See Each Other At Weddings and Funerals”

I am in no way a good analyst so my little analysis and speculations probably sound a bit goofy or pretty wild and probably mean nothing at all. Everything I put into this post about each episode is purely what I noticed or thought, whether it's funny or serious. I will be making jokes, so please just leave it at that (in no way am I trying to make fun of an actor and or character!) I am also in no way saying I noticed this stuff first. This is just what I noticed while rewatching these episodes

☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂

1x01 | 1x02 | 1x03 | 1x04 |

☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂

☂️ In the Pilot script, it has a woman giving birth to a baby boy in Poland in 1984 (potentially Five or maybe even Luther??) 

☂️ “Picture Book” is an absolute bop and no one can tell me otherwise

☂️ What if someone saw this parade of carriages and noticed that there were seven? Later Reginald announces that he adopted 6 kids, so I wonder if anyone saw the carriages earlier and heard Reginald's announcement and became confused

☂️ The concert hall in the Pilot script is in New York, which I assume is safe to assume in NYC. The script also mentions later that Diego drops the monocle in the Hudson River

☂️ The Pilot script originally had Allison in LA, and Klaus in Amsterdam (which he was supposed to be levitating in that scene)

☂️ Diego was originally supposed to be pretty brutal and violent

☂️ I am a huge POTO fan so having a medley of the songs from the musical is so awesome to hear. The first time I watched this episode and heard the violin starting to play, I was like “Huh, this really sounds like POTO” and then I realized it was! It gave me chills and still does to this day overtime I watch this scene

☂️ The dark and mysterious tones of POTO really matches the vibes of TUA well. It’s just so good, especially as a way to introduce Vanya. The first song Vanya plays is “Phantom of the Opera” which is a nice symbolism when introducing the Hargreeves Siblings. The song itself is Christine discovering who her true Angel of Music is, a strange masked man that everyone knows well but they truly don’t know who he really is, like with the Umbrellas and their separate personalities and struggles as actual human beings and not just as the superheroes the public knows them as. It also plays while showing Diego, who is a mysterious masked figure at that point. 

☂️ “Angel of Music” is basically Christine asking her angel to guide her, which is ironic that it plays while Klaus is getting out of a place that guides him down the right path, knowing that he’s immediately going to go do drugs again and to go down the “wrong” path

☂️ I wonder if the voice in Luther’s spacesuit as he receives his message is an automated voice or his robot named “Ben” like in the comics. I doubt it’s the latter, but who knows

☂️ Okay, here’s another POTO thing. Diego picks up his knife and wipes the blood off of it and tells the family “Your family is safe now” right as the start of “Think of Me” plays. The first lyrics of the song are “Think of me, think of me fondly” which can be seen as Diego wants the family to truly view him as a hero that saved them

☂️ Aaaand here’s another! Again, while “Think of Me” is playing, one of the parts in the song where Raoul sings “Long ago, it seems so long ago, how young and innocent we were” plays while the paparazzi begins questioning Allison about her father and siblings

☂️ Okay okay, last POTO thing. I especially love that "Music of the Night" plays when Klaus wakes up in the ambulance at night. It's so awesome! Especially since the song is basically about giving into your darkest desires, which Klaus clearly did

 ☂️ Goddamn is the music in the show amazing, and I’m not just talking about all of the fun lyrical songs! Jeff Russo you get a thumbs up from me

☂️ Ta-da! Here’s some portraits that are shown of the siblings with Reginald when they were young that are shown in the show

☂️ Even the first person Vanya sees when she arrives home doesn’t greet her/welcome her back 

☂️ Emmy and Elliot really played that awkward hug and greeting between Allison and Vanya well. You can feel the awkward tension (hey sisters)

☂️ According to the pilot script, Diego wears his mask practically all the time like in the comics

☂️ Luther was literally supposed to have a gorilla body in the pilot script

☂️ “Oh, YoU gOt BiG, lUtHeR”

☂️ Godddd the song playing while Vanya looks at the books on the shelf in including her own is 👌

☂️ Ah, there’s a book called “Lunar Living”

☂️ It might just be me, but it seems like the light shining onto Five’s portrait is ever so slightly askew

☂️ Vanya leaving the lights on and sandwiches for Five reminds me of someone leaving food outside for a stray cat

☂️ Five was originally supposed to be gone for over 22 years in the pilot script

☂️ I wonder at what point in each of the siblings’ lives did they realize, or at least they thought, their brother wouldn’t be coming home 

☂️ Babies 

☂️ There’s so many ape and monkey pictures and diagrams around Reginald’s office. Foreshadowing for Luther?

☂️ I love Klaus’s theme. It’s heard in almost every episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJa9H8SY4wQ&list=OLAK5uy_k2NJivpu0PIwxrOmPVrqN4umBZaahOGWI&index=6

☂️ Why does Reginald have two pictures of himself featuring aircraft? In one of them he’s outside a private jet and the other is him inside a cockpit

☂️ I must say that the dialogue in the pilot script definitely closely mirrors the dialogue of the comics 

☂️ “Told me I should be careful who to trust” 👀

☂️ Something behind Elliot is moving

☂️ I was hoping for this to be a gazelle of some sort above Five’s portrait, but It’s an Gemsbok. However, the Gemsbok is an antelope and all gazelles are antelopes

☂️ “The Walker” playing during the bank robbery scene is 👌👌

☂️ Luther is ready to throw hands

☂️ These robbers really decided to rob a bank at 10:05 am?

☂️ I just love Five popping out of nowhere criss-cross applesauce 

☂️ Something that hasn’t been explained/fully shown is Five’s ability to teleport objects. He teleported the gun out of the guy’s hand and replaced it with a stapler

☂️ Five’s teleportation noise reminds me of something going really fast, like an aircraft breaking the sound barrier. It’s almost like a mini sonic boom, but not as loud

☂️ Okay so I’ve noticed this in most of the episodes, but I don’t think when Five teleports he makes an actual noise. I’ll point this out more as we continue through the episodes. At the bank scene when Five is on the counter, it appears that the first time he teleports the bank robber whips around when Five speaks. The second time the robber turns to Five simply because he doesn’t know where he went and he’s searching for the threat

☂️ “That’s one badass stApler”

☂️ When Ben asks if he has to go into the Vault, he looks at Klaus for reassurance even though Luther is the one speaking to him

☂️ Five was still pretty cocky back in his youth. They, or more like Ben, have more bad guys to take care of and he’s just chilling with his hands in his pockets and leaning back/slouching like he’s bored. His tone with the robber also proves that and the way he just happily bounds out of the bank

☂️ Sir, why are you looking at the camera

☂️ Luther’s little wave to the reporters when the Umbrellas come out of the bank is cute

☂️ The pilot script didn’t include a flashback of a bank robbery, but instead to the Umbrellas training when they were younger. There’s too much to screenshot to I’ll summarize it.

-Luther bench-presses over 500 lbs

-Diego has been holding his breath for about six hours and he flips Reginald off

-Klaus levitates stuff

-Allison is slacking off and when Reginald tells her to continue her training she simply rumors him that she doesn’t have to

-Ben is fighting guards and Reginald calls him “Number Six” to which Vanya, who isn’t supposed to be down there, corrects him that his name is Ben and reminds Reginald that they have names

- Five very quickly and quite brutally rips off the heads and limbs of training dummies, snaps their necks, and stabs them. He is referred to as “A ruthless little war machine.” Reginald calls him “Perfect”

☂️ The pilot script implies that Reginald had alien life mounted on the walls of his office

☂️ There wasn’t a dance scene in the pilot script

☂️ Not to get super into detail about this, but Luther’s room is filled with a lots of models and paintings of aircraft, mainly from WWII. Almost all of them are of Allied aircraft, and more specifially Commonwealth aircraft, like the RCAF. So this could be more of a clue to the Umbrellas living in Canada

☂️ Diego giving that Wildebeest head the stink eye aways makes me laugh

☂️ Klaus is dancing with Reggie’s urn in a Waltz fashion, so maybe he’s just doing that or it’s the ballroom dancing lessons they received as children peeing through

☂️ I love Diego’s dancing skills

☂️ Fuck you Five for ruining their dance party

☂️ Honestly Five’s portal is pretty powerful. Here’s a description of it from the pilot script

☂️ I like that when Luther tells everyone to get behind him and Diego copies him with “Yeah, get behind us” Luther lets his brother use himself as a shield instead be pulling the “I’m the leader, I’m the strongest” card

☂️ When Luther and Diego are shielding their siblings, Diego has his arm stretched out to guard Vanya

☂️ In the pilot script Five’s body is smoking when he comes out of the portal

☂️ What if when Five fell out of the portal he got knocked out so he just laid face down on the ground unconscious aksdhfjsafhd

☂️ “So are we gonna talk about what just happened?” No bitch, let him make his sammie first

☂️ Diego and Klaus had some sort of bet on Five’s time traveling in the pilot script

☂️ Here’s another example of Five’s teleportation possibly not making noise. When he teleports around while his siblings are questioning him, it looks like they only look at him when he appears and not when they hear a noise

☂️ Five in the pilot script is actually 62

☂️ “What part of the future do you not understand?”

☂️ I like that Five styled his hair to the exact style it was when he was actually young, but eventually gets looser throughout the season

☂️ Five is so oddly calm when talking to Vanya in front of his portrait

☂️ “Well, there are worse things that can happen.” “You mean like what happened to Ben?” Yeah there’s also an apocalypse on the way lol

☂️ Five actually got a hug in the pilot script! 

☂️ An ironic moment from the pilot script considering that Five is an assassin and has killed tons of people but this siblings don’t know that

☂️ When Diego is talking about their names and numbers in the courtyard, Five sighs, which I’m sure he’s just bored/has better places to be and is annoyed, but I’d like to view it as “Shit, I don’t even have a name”

☂️ Funny tidbit from the pilot script during the funeral scene “Whatever the hell you are”

☂️ Diego talks about how he assumed Reginald sent Luther to the moon because he couldn’t stand the sight of him, so he must be talking about Luther being like a “failed” leader or something? Like he couldn’t keep the team/his siblings together? Diego doesn’t know about his ape-like body so he’s not thinking about that.....

☂️ I love that Klaus reaches his arm out to guard Five, and that Five simply glares at him and bats his arm away

☂️ When Luther broke Ben’s statue, I can just imagine Ben yelling at Klaus “Seriously? Klaus, why didn’t you stop them?”

☂️ So I’m sure this is just a continuation error, but you can’t see Five walking away in the shot of Ben’s statue hitting the ground. Considering that he had just left, he should still be visible in the background. Again, probably a continuation error or maybe he even teleported inside

☂️ A detail I love about Luther is that his fingernails are dark due to the gorilla DNA

☂️ The bank robbery scene in the pilot script is after the funeral. Not much was changed for the actual first episode, just a few different scenes. Also the Umbrellas were described as gods

☂️ Vanya drawing the tattoo on her wrist hurts my heart

☂️ “Together, you will stand against the reign of evil” gives me chills 

☂️ “This is your home and always will be” is great foreshadowing to S3, and hurts my heart when I think about how it is in fact no longer their home

☂️ When I first watched this episode and saw Pogo watching Vanya I knew something was pretty sus

☂️ Just some gold dialogue from the pilot script during the scene of Five, Allison, and Klaus in the kid area and Five is complaining about coffee (but in the pilot script everyone but Vanya is there)

☂️ “An entire square block. Forty-two bedrooms, 19 bathrooms” goddamn the Academy is HUGE. Also 42 is just one away from being 43 👀

☂️ “I know how to do everything.” Yeah, like survive an apocalypse and professionally kill people :]

☂️ I’ve pointed this out before, but the license plate on the car that Five takes to Griddy’s says HERMES, which is the license plate of his car in the comics

☂️ The exit sign in the background is only half lit up to where it says EX and if my memory serves me correctly that’s the door Vanya and Leonard enter the Academy through in episode 6

☂️ Diego telling Klaus to lean back is like “Ugh I don’t want him with me, but safety first”

☂️ I love that they added his feral chimpanzee smile from the pilot script into he show

☂️ “You won’t be going home.” Cocky smartass strikes again. Not to mention he smiles when he says that. He also says this to the men before he kills them in the pilot script

☂️ Before I even knew about TUA, I had heard of the “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” scene and looked it up. I remember thinking “Wow, that kid is scary.” Now I think “Wow, that old man is scary.”

☂️ I love the little salute he does before he blinks away, and the way his basically just plays with these men like a cat playing with its prey. He knows he’s going to kill them, but he wants to have fun doing so

☂️ Five had some fancy moves in the pilot script

☂️ Five teleporting his tie around the man’s neck is another example of him teleporting an object. Can we see more of this actually happen in S3 please?? I also love the fact that he takes it off the man’s body and puts it back on

☂️ The way he calmly, or tiredly, snaps the man’s neck is chilling to see from a child’s body. This was also included in the pilot script *chanting* Feral Five, Feral Five, Feral Fi-

☂️ It’s honestly such a cool and iconic scene on the show. It truly shows that Five is fully capable of handling himself, and is/was great at his job

☂️ Having the city at night in the background of Diego dropping the monocle is really pretty

☂️ I really like the way they revealed Ben. Having watched both season and now watching this scene again is a bit awkward when Ben doesn’t talk. He’s probably just tired of Klaus 

☂️ “The world ends in eight days, and I have no idea how to stop it.” This line combined with the music and the previous scene of Five in the apocalypse is powerful and chilling and I love it

☂️ I love that they have The Umbrella Academy theme playing during the credits in both seasons

-------

Feel free to comment or reblog with things you have noticed too!

[blake-belladonna-defence-force]

The Owl House, Ep 18

As always, scroll right the fuck past if you haven’t seen episode 18 because I just watched it and I have many emotions and I must scream!

Lilly... Lilly, please. What the actual fuck are you planning? We’re not even two minutes into the goddamn episode and you have me WORRIED!

... Hooty terrifies me on a primal level... but y’know what? He does his goddamn job well. Keep protecting our babies, Hooty. Keep protecting our babies.

“I’m worth salt?” This is why we’ve all basically adopted Luz. She’s a precious baby cinnamon roll that must be protected at all costs.

Eda... do we need to talk about Murphy’s law? BECAUSE YOU DONT. FUCKING. TEMPT. FATE LIKE THAT!

The mysterious figure is there again. I wonder who it is? I’ve seen some theories about it being Camilla, which could explain her aversion to all things weird. It could have been Lilly. And then there was that mysterious girl in Eda’s school photo. So many options, all while Eda’s curse gets worse.

“King demands huggies too!” Aw. I love this lil found family! And Eda is going full Mum mode and seems to be planning to knit something for Luz, which is adorable.

Great. Luz is going to the EC castle at the same time as Lilly... THIS IS GOING TO GO WELL!!

*groans* Luz... this is not the time to give into the “be gay, do crimes” instinct! Lilly is on the warpath and you are a child! Bad idea, girl! Bad idea.

Aww... poor Amity. I do like how they didn’t just gloss over her injury, though. That’s very nice to see

Hm. So... the emperor is extremely elitist and has a “My way or no way” attitude. I don’t like that much

This assistant sure gets a kick out of embarrassing Lilly, don’t they? “Good luck with puberty.” You taunt, Lilly, but puberty is a hell of a fucking trip 😂

JESUS FUCK. That’s a fucking heart... and it beats faster? The fuck, dude?? And great, no we know that this guy’s got plans to kill anyone without a coven because he’s a dictator and demands conformity and obedience. Lilly, please, your sister’s life cannot and should not be put into the hands of this madman.

A cape? That’s pretty perfect for Luz! And dear Christ, Eda! Your maternal fondness is showing 😂 have I mentioned that I love this found family? Because I adore this found family 😭

This heist will go perfectly. Nothing bad will happen. Eeevvveeerrrr!

LILLY! DONT YOU LAY ONE HAND ON THE BABY! NO! BAD LILLY! STOP YOURSELF!

“LUZ!” Her whole face just lit up 🥺 she’s so fucking cute! But Eda, as adorable as you are... YOUR SISTER HAS KIDNAPPED YOUR KID!

Oh fuck. Eda is PISSED. Have we ever seen her this angry before? She looks ready to rip Lilly’s head clean off of her shoulders.

Holy shit. Eda’s a bamf. Look at how powerful she is! But I worry that all of this is just draining her magic. I’m just waiting for the curse to act up 😭

“Then why was it so easy to curse you?!” Ha. Excuse me? Ex-fucking-cuse me? And then you’re gonna try to kill Luz? Nah. Piss off with that shit.

“... thank you for being a part of my life.” THEY CAME INTO MY HOME AND RIPPED OUT MY HEART!

“Her real family.” I’m about to smack a bitch. “Real family?” Lilly? Really? Real family loves and accepts without conditions. Real family supports. Real family is there for each other... which is exactly what Luz has done for Eda!

TO BE CONTINUED?? YOU MEAN I HAVE TO WAIT A WHOLE FUCKING WEEK?? AHHHHHH!!!

[hopelikethemoon]

Family You Choose (Javier x Reader) {MTMF}

Title: Family You Choose Rating: PG-13 Length: 3800 Warnings:  Period Typical Sexism and Homophobia (including the use of a slur). But with Family Fluff.  Notes: You can find the Maybe Today, Maybe Forever Timeline here. Set November 1997. Summary: Thanksgiving in Laredo. 

Taglist:  @grapemama​​  @seawhisperer​​​ @huliabitch​​​ @pedropascalito​​​ @rogrsnbarnes​​​ @thewallpapergoesorido​​​ @twomoonstwosuns​​​ @gooddaykate​​​ @livasaurasrex​​​ @ham4arrow​​​ @hiscyarika​​​ @plexflexico​​​ @readsalot73​​​ @hdlynn​​​ @lokiaddicted​​​ @randomness501​​​ @fioccodineveautunnale​​​  @roxypeanut​​​ @just-add-butter​​​ @snivellusim​​​ @amarvelousmandalorian​​​ @lukesrighthand​​​ @historynerd04​​​ @mrsparknuts​​​ @synystersilenceinblacknwhite​​​ @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead​​​ @exrebelshocktrooper​​​ @awesomefandomsunited​​ @ah-callie​​​ @swhiskeys​​​ @lady-tano​​​ @beskar-droids​​​ @space-floozy @cable-kenobi​​​​ @longitud-de-onda​​​ @cool-ultra-nerd​​​ @himbopoes​​​ @findhimfives​​​ @pedrosdoll​​​ @seeking-a-great--perhaps​​​ @frietiemeloen​​​ @arrowswithwifi​​​ @random066​​​ @uncomicalhumour​​​ @heather-lynn​​​ @domino-oh-damn​​​ @cyarikaaa​​ (if I forget to tag you, I’m sorry)

You brought your beer bottle to your lips as you watched Javier across the party hall. He had spent the last couple of hours showing Sofía to his aunts and uncles, while Josie made a valiant vy for attention by wowing her relatives with her ability to sing the alphabet in both English and Spanish. 

Javier seemed so at ease with them. You still remembered the first time he brought you to Laredo. Everything you owned had been shipped from Colombia to a storage facility in San Antonio, then packed into the back of the minivan you’d rented at the airport. It was surreal to think about how Laredo had been the first leg of your journey to Miami. A place that truly felt like home now. 

“When you mentioned his extended family, I think I pictured a couple aunts and uncles, maybe a handful of cousins.” Monica said as she leaned towards you, “This looks like the entire town is here.” 

You glanced around the party hall with a shrug, “This is relatively small.”  You admitted as you looked towards her then. “We came here for Christmas last year. A bunch of his mother’s family came up from Mexico and it was packed.” You gestured towards the back of the hall, where a line of glass double doors covered the wall. “We had all of those open and the back area was filled with tables. Luckily it was in the upper sixties.” 

“From all the stories told about his childhood, you would never think that Javier has this huge extended family.” Monica grabbed her own bottle of beer, taking a swig as she looked around the room. “Okay, so is she here?”

“Yeah.” You snorted, nodding your head. “Don’t make it obvious.” You told her with a conspiratorial whisper. “Three tables behind me. Teased blonde hair and festive jumper.” 

Monica covered her mouth to keep from laughing as she looked back at you. “I’m sorry, but I can’t picture Javier with her.” She made a face. “She’s even got her husband in a matching sweater!” 

“Shhh.” You warned her, leaning back against your chair as you laughed. “I know exactly where she picked those up too. I taunted Javier with the set at JCPenneys last week.” 

“And how did that go over?”

“He threatened to shave off the mustache.” 

Her brows shot upwards, “No!” 

“He spoils all my fun.” You tsked, shaking your head as you curled your fingers around the beer bottle. “He’d look terrible without the ‘stache.” Your eyes wandered back towards where he was, smirking as you met his gaze. Sofía had been passed off to an older woman who you were fairly certain was one of his second cousins and Josie was sitting in his lap talking up a storm about God only knew. Javier grinned at you, brushing his fingers over the top of Josie’s curly head. 

“Hey,” You turned towards Monica. “Do you think you can hold down the table without me?” 

Monica arched a brow, “I could be convinced.” 

“I’ll bring you back another cupcake.” You offered as you finished off your beer and got up from your seat. 

“Fine. Fine.” She urged, waving you off. 

You headed towards the circular table that Javi was seated out, grabbing a chair from the table beside it as you settled down next to him. “Having fun?” You questioned, draping your arm over his shoulders as you leaned towards him. 

“More or less.” He chuckled, gesturing towards Josie. “This one is going to be the life of the party when she gets older.” 

“I have no doubt.” You glanced down at her with a barely concealed grin. “She clearly gets that from me.” You teased, “Sofía’s got that grumpy Peña face.” 

Javier rolled his eyes. 

“Am I wrong?”

“No.” He conceded with a shrug. “And she’s got Pops wrapped around her finger, same as Josie.” 

You rested your cheek against his shoulder, “What can I say? My girls like their Peñas.” 

“Mommy!” Josie clapped her hands together as she turned towards you, now that her Great Tía had left the table she needed to entertain someone who would listen to her.

“What’s up, kiddo?” You questioned as you looked down at her. 

“Can I go play with the other kids?” 

You noticed the way Javier tensed at her question. You arched a brow as you exchanged a look with him, “Did daddy already say ‘no’?” 

Javier pressed his tongue to the inside of his cheek, “Loraine’s kids were over there playing and…” He shrugged. “I didn’t want to get into it.”

“It’s fine.” You brushed your fingers over the back of his neck. “Josie, you can go play. Just be nice and remember to share.” 

“Okay mommy!” She said as she slid off Javier’s lap. You watched her as she weaved her way through the crowd towards where the kids were playing together. 

You turned back towards Javier with a bemused look, “We just saw her last year. It’s not that weird.” 

“Yeah. I know” He shrugged a shoulder, rocking his jaw slowly as he reached for his bottle of beer. “With everything that’s happened, I just didn’t want there to be any stress for you, baby.” He told you, resting his hand on your knee and giving it a squeeze. 

You draped your hand over his, interlacing your fingers. “Loraine is probably the last person to stress me out.” You shook your head, glancing back towards the table you’d left. Chucho had returned with Sofía and was laughing with Monica about something. 

“Ah, there’s a face I haven’t seen for a long time!” You glanced up as a man around Javier’s age approached the table. 

“Felix!” Javier answered with a tight smile, releasing his hold on your knee as he moved to stand up. He hugged the man, “It’s good to see you.” 

“Last time I saw that ugly mug of yours we were taking your pop’s truck for a joyride down that dirt road off 59.” 

“A long damn time ago,” Javier agreed as he clapped Felix on the back and turned back towards you. “Baby, this is Felix. My cousin.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” You said as you shook his hand. “I don’t remember you at Christmas last year.”

“I didn’t come.” Felix gave Javier a look, “But you did?” He clicked his tongue against his teeth, before he let out a low whistle of disappointment. “You know Javi, I’d heard the rumors but I hadn’t believed a single one of them.”

Oh Jesus. You knew exactly where this was going. Nowhere good. 

“When Javier and I were young bucks,” Felix attempted to regale you. “We had a hell of time in this town.” He looked between a very unamused Javier and you, before holding his hand out towards you. “Let me see it.”

“See what?” You blinked.

“The ring.”

“What ring?” Javier questioned. 

Felix looked confused. “The ring.”

You snorted. “We’re not married.”

“Well, I’ll be damned.” Felix pursed his lips as he stared at Javier. “But you have a ring.”

“Yeah, inscribed with our anniversary and our daughters’ birthdays.”

“But it’s not a wedding band?”

“No.” You both answered him. 

His hands went to his hip as he shook his head, “I guess that explains a whole hell of a lot.”

Javier squared off with his cousin, “What the hell does that even mean, Felix?”

Felix dropped his voice, though not low enough that you couldn’t hear him plainly. “You show up here with her and that pretty young thing. I’m impressed, Javier. Never saw you as a bigami—“

“I wouldn’t finish that if I were you.” Javier warned.

“Monica is basically our daughter.” You explained, crossing your arms across your chest as you stared at Felix. “Just because Javier and I aren’t married to each other doesn’t mean there’s anyone else involved in our relationship.” 

“Then why is she here?”

Javier gritted his teeth, “Because her own parents don’t deserve her.”

“So you, what? Adopted a full grown adult?” Felix laughed condescendingly. “The hell happened to you in Colombia, my man?”

You reached for Javier’s partially drunk beer and took a sip. Which was a better option than picking it up and—

“She’s a smart kid who was in a rough situation. Her parents kicked her out and she was gonna lose everything. What was I gonna do, let it happen?” Javier shot back, his jaw clenched so tightly you could see the strain in his neck.

“Why’d they kick her out? Sneaking boys into the house?” He wiggled his brows suggestively at you and you sneered back at him in response. “Weed? Underage drinking?”

Javier glared at him. 

“Wait,” Felix dropped his voice to a whisper, pointing at Javier. “Is she a fag?”

Before you even had a chance to blink, Javier’s fist made contact with Felix’s jaw, sending him reeling several feet backwards as he stumbled. 

“What the fuck, Javier?” Felix grabbed at his face where he’d struck him. “I guess that was the answer then, huh? So your pretend daughter’s a fag?”

Javier made to lunge at him, but you grabbed him by the bicep and held him back. He’d already drawn everyone’s attention to the three of you. “If you say another goddamn word about one of my daughters, you’re gonna regret it.”

Felix held his hands up in mock defeat. “I thought it was bad enough when you were getting hitched to Loraine. You were no fun anymore, man. At least you came to your senses But this—“ He pointed to you. “The Javier I used to know wouldn’t be playing house with some woman you picked up in Colombia.”

“Some woman I picked up in Colombia.” Javier repeated, laughing harshly as he pressed his tongue to the inside of his cheek. “This goddamn woman took down Carlos Lehder on her second day with the DEA. She was there when Pablo Escobar’s reign of bullshit ended. That’s just scraping the surface. What’ve you done Felix? That’s right. Nothing.”

“We don’t need to make a scene about me.” You told Javier, tightening your grip on his arm. 

“No.” He shook his head, his gaze darting towards you. “Because I used to be in his shoes. I get it.” Javier took a step forward, glaring at Felix. “Being alone is great, isn’t it? Going home to an empty apartment, drinking to forget that it’s empty. Hell, maybe it’s not. Maybe you’ve got company with someone whose name you won’t even remember next month.” He pulled his arm from your grip, closing the distance between the two men. “I used to be you. Thinking I was happy, when I was just angry at the world. Get help, Felix.” 

“Fuck you, Javier.” Felix swore, before he turned his back and headed for the exit across the party hall as murmurs grew. 

“Hey,” Chucho started as he approached you with Josie at his side. His brows were furrowed together, clearly worried about the situation he just witnessed. “I don’t know where Monica went. She was trying to settle Sofía the last I saw.”

You scanned the crowd of faces that were all staring at you and Javier, but you failed to spot her among them. “I’ll find her.” You assured him, before turning back to Javier. “Well, that was unexpected.”

“He’s a son of a bitch.” Javier flexed his hand, looking down at it. “Fuck.”

“I’ve seen you punch two men in the past three months,” You remarked, reaching out for his hand to check it over. He hissed when you brushed your thumb over his knuckles. “I can’t tell if I should be terrified or turned on.” 

Javier gave you a scandalized look, “Seriously?”

“Do not judge me, babe.” You shot back. “Put ice on this, it’s going to swell. I’m going to find Monica.” But first, you were going to grab a cupcake from the dessert table because she deserved one. 

Monica was not easily found. 

She wasn’t outside. You searched for her in the women’s bathroom, the family bathroom, and the weird room that was clearly designed for bridal parties without any luck. And she wasn’t hiding in the van. 

You were about to admit defeat, before the familiar sound of a baby fussing drew you towards the coat closet. You pulled open the door, relieved to find Monica sitting against the back wall with Sofía. 

“I hope you see the irony in this.” You remarked as you stepped inside and closed the closet door behind you. 

Monica sniffled as she looked up at you with tear-stained cheeks. “Trust me, it wasn’t lost on me.” She had Sofía resting against her bent knees, letting her bounce on her lap. “She’s tired.”

“Me too.” You admitted as you sank down on the floor beside her, stretching your legs out in front of you. “Here.” You said, holding your arms out for her to pass the baby to you. Sofía squirmed, resistant at first, but you managed to get her to settle down against your chest. 

“This is for you.” 

“Thank you.” Monica grinned as she took the cupcake from you. “Chocolate cures everything.” She mused as she peeled the paper off. 

You glanced down at Sofía, watching her face as she kept waking herself back up every time her eyes closed. “Just sleep, sunshine.” You murmured, kissing the top of her head. 

Monica sniffed quietly, wiping tears off with the sleeve of her sweater. 

“So, how much did you hear?” You questioned.

“I was bringing Sofía over to you,” She explained with a sigh. “I caught the tail end of the conversation when he called me a…” Fresh tears sprang to her eyes and she drew her knees to her chest. “And then Javier called me his daughter and I just ran.”

You reached over and rubbed your hand across her back. “I don’t know what Felix’s story is, but neither of us are going to put up with that shit, Monica. What he said was wrong.”

“I know.” She popped a piece of cupcake into her mouth. “And the way Javier punched him.”

“It was glorious.” You grinned. “I might have a problem.”

“I’d probably swoon if a pretty girl punched someone for me.” She admitted with a quiet laugh as she wiped at her eyes again. “It’s just so stupid. I’ve heard every iteration of that word thrown at me, but… things have just been so good. With you and Javier, Nadia, and then Murphys, and everyone in my circle — I forgot what it felt like.”

“The world sucks.” You glanced downwards at Sofía, relieved to see that she wasn’t fighting the pull to sleep anymore. Her little eyelashes fluttered, as a content sigh escaped from her. “For every couple like Javier and I, there’s some asshole like Felix. Honestly, there’s always going to be that jerk.”

“We have one of those in class.” Monica rolled her eyes. 

“George?”

“Bingo.”

“I figured.” You laughed. “We used to work with this guy named Chris, right after Steve left. A truly insufferable human being. They’re people who don’t have any joy in their lives and when they see happy people and they just want to snuff it out.” You gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’m not a good motivational speaker.”

“You’re good.” She offered as she sank back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. “Do you think we could go back to the ranch? I don’t know if I want to go back out there.” 

You nodded, “Of course.” 

“I feel bad to make you guys leave early.”

“Don’t feel bad. We’ve seen everyone that needs to be seen.” You assured her, “Do you want to stay in here while I go get Javi?”

Monica nodded. 

You held Sofía securely to your chest as you got up. “I’ll be back.” You told Monica, before you slipped out the door and headed back into the party hall to find Javier. 

“Did you find her?”

“Yeah, she’s hiding in the coat closet.” You answered as Javier passed the baby carrier to you across the table. “I think it’s time to go home.” 

“Home home?” Javier questioned.

“The ranch.” You clarified as you strapped Sofía into the carrier. “Did I miss any more fights?”

Javier rolled his eyes, “The asshole left.” 

“Daddy,” Josie urged softly. “You said a bad word.” 

“Yeah, daddy did say a bad word.” Javier admitted with a sigh. “I’ll put a nickel in the swear jar, princesa.” 

“To be young and oblivious.” You remarked with a laugh, shaking your head. “Chucho, I’m so sorry.” 

“What are you apologizing for, chica?” Chucho’s brows furrowed together. “The one who should be apologizing has already left.” He gestured vaguely towards the doorway Felix had exited through. “That boy was always trouble.” 

“He was.” Javier agreed with a nod, dragging his fingers through his hair. “Let’s get out of here.” He took Sofía’s carrier from you, meeting your gaze. “What a fucking nightmare.” 

You reached down and curled your fingers around his where he held Sofía’s carrier. “You did the right thing, Javi.” You assured him. “And I think it really meant something to Monica that you didn’t even waver on calling her our kid.”

Javier rocked his jaw slowly, giving a stiff nod. “Well she is. Blood doesn’t mean shit.”

 ——

 “Hot chocolate.” You announced as you held the mug out in front of Monica. “Chucho’s special recipe.”

“Should I be afraid?” Monica laughed, curling her legs beneath her as she took the mug from you. 

Javier stretched out on the sofa, tucking an arm beneath his head as he glanced towards the two of you, “He went easy on the chili pepper.”

Monica took a small sip, “That’s different. It’s really creamy.”

“There’s so much heavy cream in it.” You laughed, moving towards the sofa where your own mug was sitting on the coffee table. “Move.” You told Javi, giving his leg a swat as he kept them stretched out. “I will sit on you.”

“Am I supposed to hate that offer?” He shot back, before begrudgingly sitting upright. 

You settled onto the sofa beside him, slipping your arm between his back and the sofa cushion as you sank against him. “I’m sorry about how things went down today.” You chewed on your bottom lip as you looked towards Monica. “I know you didn’t really want to go to the shindig.”

“I had fun,” Monica insisted. “Everyone was so nice and welcoming. Danny and his wife were wonderful. Their baby is adorable.” She took another sip of the hot chocolate. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“I get that,” Javier nodded his head. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t feel like shit about it. Felix hasn’t come to a family gathering since… hell, probably before I went to Colombia. Bit of a black sheep. I shouldn’t have engaged at all.”

You glanced down at Javier’s hand. Despite the ice, his first two knuckles were already turning a dark shade of purple from making contact with Felix’s jaw bone. A small price to pay. 

He sighed heavily, rubbing at the back of his neck, “All that is to say, you’re part of our family, Monica. And I don’t take kindly to people talking shit about my family.” You rested your cheek against Javier’s shoulder, your fingers trailing over his back slowly. 

“I don’t have words for how much that means to me, Javier.” Monica said as she curled her hands around the mug. “After everything that happened… you’ve both been so good to me. I still don’t know how to thank you.”

“We don’t need gratitude,” You stressed. “We just want the best for you. Same as we want for Josie or Sofía. It’s on your parents for not recognizing that they had a good kid on their hands. Sometimes, parents prove to be the biggest disappointments in our lives.” 

Monica nodded slowly, “You’re not wrong there.” 

“I wish you hadn’t heard his bullshit,” Javier scraped his teeth over his bottom lip. “And Josie saw me punch the fucker.” He huffed, flexing his hand against his leg. “That made for a fun bedtime story.” 

You slid your arm out from behind his back, reaching up to play your fingers over the hair at the nape of his neck. “I think you explained it well.” You leaned forward and grabbed your mug of hot chocolate, taking a sip. “And we promise holidays in Laredo are not generally this exciting.” 

“Honestly, I was hoping for a little excitement.” Monica teased. “Why is your ex-fiance invited to family things?”

Javier grumbled, “Because she’s still close to my family.” He shrugged a shoulder, “It’s a small town and… you get a lot of sympathy when someone leaves you at the altar. Even if it was — shit, nearly thirty years ago.” 

“I have so many questions about young Javier Peña.” You teased him, nudging your elbow into his ribs. 

“Me too.” Monica leaned forward, sipping at her hot chocolate. “What were you like?”

He clicked his tongue against his teeth, shaking his head slowly. “That’s ancient history.” Javier gave you a pointed look. “I’m certain you’ve heard plenty of stories from Pops.” 

“So many.” You agreed, ruffling your fingers through his hair. “But it doesn’t really matter who any of us were before. It’s about who we are now.” You smiled softly. “Even if I really want to hear about what kind of hell raiser you were as a teenager.” 

“I wouldn’t call it hell-raising.” Javier snorted, shaking his head. “You can’t get away with too much when you live in a small town.” 

“Especially when your family makes up half of the town,” Monica quipped as she finished off her hot chocolate and stood up. “I think I’m gonna head to bed. Do you think Josie will mind if I steal Stevie for the night?”

“Nah, but that does mean you’ll have to take her out in the middle of the night.” Javier told her, scratching at his jawline. 

“I don’t mind.” She shrugged. “Good night guys.” 

“Sleep well, Monica.” You offered. “Don’t forget — bright and early to make pecan pie.” 

She snapped her fingers at you as she walked backwards. “Trust me, I haven’t forgotten pie’o’clock.” 

You laughed, taking another sip of hot chocolate. “Well, today was certainly a day.” You mused, tilting your head to look at Javier. “Quit beating yourself up, Javi.” 

“I’m not—”

“You are.” You tapped his chin, urging him to look at you. “I love you.” 

Javier sighed heavily, “I love you too. I just hate that Josie saw me deck a guy.” 

“Actions have consequences. He said a whole lot of awful shit and…” You gestured to his hand. “He got punched for it.” You pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “It was a good lesson for Josie. Just because Felix is family, doesn’t mean we have to associate with him. Family is the people you choose to keep in your life.” 

[max-is-tired]

You Got Me Hypnotized (So Mesmerized)

Pairing: Remile

Characters: Remy Sanders, Emile Picani, Patton Sanders, Virgil Sanders

Words: 4.458

Warnings: homophobic parents, misgendering, teen pregnancy, getting kicked out, medical drugs, labor mentions plus its aftermath, swearing, freaking out, mentions of death (just Remy being their dramatic self), alcohol mention (two characters get tipsy), past & internalized aphobia -this is mostly fluff I promise

Notes: First of all, an enormous thank you to @adultmorelikeadolt for commissioning this big boi, I fell in love with the prompt almost immediately and I’m super proud of how it turned out. Genderqueer Remy and asexual Emile? How could I refuse?

Writing this was so fun, there are points in this fic where I legit had to stop typing because I was too busy laughing to make any sense. I hope you guys like it at least as much as I enjoyed working on it!!

Commission me!!   Buy me a coffee!!

Join my Discord server!! 

Of all the things Remy thought they would end up as they'd never considered becoming a single parent at 18.

Their parents had not been happy about it, obviously -when had they ever been when it came to them? They had been furious, shouting and screaming as they’d never done before.

"How could you ever do this to us?" their father had roared, "we already put up with all that genderqueer crap of yours, even when heavens only knows we didn't need to do that. But this? This is outrageous!"

"Get out," had seethed their mother, "no daughter of mine will be such a disappointment -so get out of my sight, and don't you dare come back."

Remy had simply gotten up, biting the inside of their cheek until the taste of iron filled their mouth.

"I was never your daughter," they had said as they threw the door open.

"Glad we agree on something, then," their mother had answered before shutting the door behind them.

After that, with their parents and the kid's father out of the equation, Remy had had quite a hard time figuring out what to do.

Thankfully, they were not as alone as they had previously thought. As soon as Virgil heard of what had gone down, he and his mothers basically adopted them on the spot, giving them a home and all the support they had needed.

Fast forward eight and a half months later, they found themselves hunched on a hospital bed, screaming profanities at the top of their lungs as they pushed and pushed and pushed and tried with all of themselves to not punch the nurse if she said "breathe, you're almost there!" one more goddamn time-

Remy doesn’t remember much of the actual labor, aside from the pain of the contractions and the doctor and nurses telling them what to do. They remember the cry of a child suddenly filling the air, piercing and full of life as they slumped tiredly on the bed, exhaustion hitting them full force.

They remember a solid, warm weight being gently laid in their arms, the doctor's voice barely making its way through the metaphorical cotton that seemed to have filled their ears as they looked at the little human squirming in their arms -their child, the distantly thought, something warm and fuzzy taking residence in their heart.

"Congratulations," the doctor was saying, Remy's brain barely registering his words, "he's a very healthy boy."

Now, normally it would have been pretty clear the doctor was talking about the baby and not the parent. However, Remy was exhausted, 10 hours of labor weighing on their shoulders as they fought valiantly to keep their eyes open just a little bit longer.

So yeah, sue them if they slightly misinterpreted the doctor's words.

“Actually-” they slurred, attracting on themselves the gazes of everyone present as they pointed and accusing finger towards said doctor- “actually doc, you could not be more wrong. Because you see, I may be very healthy but I’m sure as hell not a boy, and if you call me one one more time I will take that folder in your arms and slap you with it. We clear?”

Remy nodded to themselves and closed their eyes, cuddling their child close to their chest with a contented sigh.

“Well, that’s very nice to know,” the doctor said after a moment of silence, making Remy open their eyes once again to glare -why was he smiling like that? And why was Virgil laughing his ass off on the chair?

“However, I’m afraid there has been a misunderstanding,” the doctor continued, barely containing a chuckle himself as he watched Remy’s expression become more confused by the second, “because, you see, with that statement I was, in fact, referring to your son.”

Remy blinked, the gears turning sluggishly in his head as the last minute or so replayed in their head. “Oh.”

Virgil -who until that moment had more or less managed to get his laughter under control- broke down again, falling from his chair as he merrily cackled his lungs out on the hospital room’s floor.

“Oh, heck off,” Remy grumbled.

“I’m sor- I’m sorry-” Virgil wheezed between fits of laughter, not looking apologetic at all- “oh my god Rems I’m never letting you live this down-”

Remy rolled their eyes, opting to ignore their best friend as their gaze moved on their son's little face. Bright blue eyes stared back at them, wide and curious, and Remy felt the warmth in their heart grow and grow until they felt like there wasn’t a place for anything else.

“So… he’s okay? No complications?” they asked, unable to tear their gaze away from the little bundle in their arms.

“Everything went as smoothly as it could’ve,” the doctor assured them, “your child is the epitome of healthy and I’m sure you’ll be able to-”

“Patton,” Remy piped up, wiggling his finger in front of his son’s face and smiling as he let out a happy gurgle, “his name is Patton.”

The doctor hummed, nodding. “Very well,” he said with a smile of his own, “as I was saying, I’m sure you’ll be cleared to bring Patton home very soon.”

“Mhm, sounds perfect,” Remy answered, clearly distracted.

The doctor chuckled, scribbling something in the folder in his arms before turning towards the door. “I’ll leave you two to get to know each other,” he said before heading out, “congratulations on the successful birth, Mx. Astoreth. Now get some rest -you both deserve it.”

A comfortable silence fell into the room, broken only by Virgil’s wheezing breath and Patton’s occasional happy gurgle.

“So-” Virgil said when he’d finally managed to calm down enough to formulate a coherent sentence- “Patton, uh?”

“I think it fits him, don’t you agree?” Remy hums, a tired grin stretching on their face as Patton let out a particularly loud squeal.

“Hello, Patton,” they said, kissing their son’s head, “welcome to the world.”

+++

Remy yawned, sliding the last batch of freshly-baked pancakes on a plate as they idly hummed along with whatever song was now playing on the radio. They padded out of the kitchen and finished setting the table, before moving towards the stairs and cupping their hands around their mouth.

“Patton!” They called out, hoping their son hadn’t fallen asleep while washing his face again, “breakfast is ready!”

Almost immediately they heard a muffled thump coming from the upstairs bathroom, followed by all-too-familiar quick steps sprinting down the corridor.

“Breakfast!!” Patton cried happily as soon as he reached the top of the stairs, throwing himself down into his ren’s arms.

Remy -who had since gotten used to their son’s antics- simply smiled and easily caught the little boy, swinging him around a little as Patton giggled his little heart out.

“Here is my little Pattycake!” they exclaimed, giving him a big kiss on his cheek, “what incredible adventures did my favorite son in the world have tonight?”

“Ren!” Patton squealed, barely keeping his giggles at bay, “I’m your only son!”

“More of a reason to love you!” Remy grinned, relishing in their son’s delighted laugh as they set him down at the kitchen table “now sit down and eat your pancakes, you don’t wanna be late for school.”

“Can uncle Virgil come to pick me up today?” Patton said between mouthfuls of pancakes.

“Wow, you choose him over your own parent?” Remy asked, putting a hand on their chest in mock-offense, “I’m hurt, Pattycake, really.”

“He promised me ice cream!”

“Oh okay then,” Remy snickered in their coffee, “nothing can beat ice cream.”

“Exactly!” Patton agreed, dutifully nodding with his mouth full of food. He almost looked like a hamster, Remy mused while trying with all of their might to not squeal out loud and reach for their phone to take a photo.

“Well, sorry to disappoint-” they finally said, grabbing the dirty dishes from the table and putting them in the sink for later- “but today you’ll have to make do with little old me.”

“Aww, but I wanted ice cream,” Patton pouted, crossing his arms as he glared at the floor.

“I know, honey,” Remy said, carding their hand between Patton’s wild curls and crouching down in front of him, “but there’s a parent-teacher conference today, and I’ve gotta be there for that."

Patton still didn't look up, gaze stubbornly fixed downward. Remy sighed, tapping their chin in thought.

"How about this?" They finally said, nodding to themselves, "I come to pick you up, and after I've talked with your teacher we call uncle Virgil and we all go to that ice cream parlor you like so much."

Patton gave them a furtive glance, and Remy could see their son's pout already start to melt away.

"The one near the dog park?" Patton asked tentatively.

"The one and only," Remy nodded, grinning.

"Can I go play with some puppies too?"

"After you've eaten your ice cream, and if it's not too late, then I don't see why not."

"Yes!!" Patton exclaimed, his previous pouting session completely forgotten as he happily jumped into his ren's arms, "I love puppies!!"

"I know you do, bud," Remy laughed, spinning their son around for a few seconds before gently putting him down, "now go get ready, you don't wanna be late for school!"

"Okay!" Patton said with a big smile, before sprinting up the stairs towards his room.

Remy sighed, shaking their head with an amused smile on their face.

Patton sure was a handful, but god if they didn't love that little ball of sunshine.

+++

After dropping Patton off, Remy got back home and officially started their own day.

They turned on the speakers and connected their phone, their favorite playlist immediately filling the house. Whistling happily along with the music, Remy set to cleaning around a little, washing the dishes and collecting some clutter from the floor with a pep in their step -they may not have been that much of a morning person and have the habit to curse their alarm to hell and back almost every single morning, but there was something calming in their routine that they wouldn’t trade for anything else in the whole world.

After their little spring cleaning was done, they grabbed their sketchpad, laptop, and tablet and half-sprawled themselves on the couch, letting the music wash over them as they set to work on their most recent commission.

When they got up again, it was way past noon and their stomach was very much protesting the lack of lunch. Groaning, Remy put aside their work and stood up, stretching their arms into the air and sighing when some very satisfying popping sounds came from their back. Humming, they moved to the kitchen, enjoying a quick lunch as they idly scrolled down their phone -and sent a quick message to Virgil, telling him to keep his afternoon free for an ice cream trip.

Panic!AtTheEmo: will do, can’t wait to see my favorite person in the whole world

Panic!AtTheEmo: oh and you too ig

Remy let out a snort, typing out a response as they moved to fill their third cup of coffee for the day -they were trying to cut their caffeine intake, but it was a work in progress.

SassyBitch: how very much dare you

Then, they put down their phone and got back to work, setting an alarm to alert them after another two hours -it would do no good to have promised their son ice cream only to completely miss the parent-teacher conference, after all.

+++

Emile sighed, slouching back on his chair as another mother filed out of the classroom with her child in tow. He loved his job, he really did -interacting with the children, even the rowdiest ones, almost always brought a smile to his face and fondness in his eyes- but dealing with the parents was always more tiring that he would like it to be.

Set on enjoying the few minutes of peace before the next parent came in, Emile stood up and stretched his arms upwards, letting out a satisfied hum when some popping sounds reached his ears.

Then, he heard the door open again.

“Mr. Picani!” someone squealed, Patton’s very familiar voice his only warning before a blue blur tackled his leg with an excited squeal.

“Patton!” Emile laughed, before registering someone else’s calling the kid’s name at the same time -one of Patton’s parents, he presumed.

“Patton, you can’t tackle people like that, we’ve talked about this!”

“Oh, it’s okay,” Emile said, kneeling down to give Patton’s nose a little boop - he couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face when Patton let out a delighted giggle. The kid was just too adorable not to. “I could never refuse one of Patton’s pattoned hugs.”

“Fair enough,” came a chuckle from over them, making Emile finally look up to greet the newcomer -only to feel himself freeze on the spot, eyes widening slightly as he felt his heart make a little jump in his chest.

“Oh fuck they’re hot,” was the only coherent thought inside Emile’s head as he took in the black leather jacket, black hair framing a very, very handsome face and a pair of gorgeous, deep brown eyes staring back at him from behind a pair of sunglasses.

Yes. Sunglasses. Inside. Emile was too busy having a mini gay crisis to care too much right now.

“Uh-” he said, very eloquently, before scrambling to stand and try to get back some of his composure as he worked very hard on fighting down the blush currently threatening to take over his face -if because of embarrassment or a gayness overload, he was still too busy panicking to figure it out.

“Hello!” Emile said, voice jumping an octave higher as he threw a hand forward to shake, “I’m Emile Picani, Patton’s teacher -How do you do?”

“Nice to meet you,” the other grinned, “Remy Astoreth, I’m-”

“They’re my ren!!” Patton interjected, eyes sparkling as his grin seemed to widen even more.

“That I am,” his ren -Remy- chuckled, briefly kneeling down to scoop Patton in their arms, “so, I hope Patton has been behaving in class?”

“Oh, he’s a literal angel,” Emile sighs, a smile stretching automatically on his face, “he’s always so kind and sweet, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen him helping his classmates. Your son is a joy to work with, Mx. Astoreth, there’s nothing bad I could say about him if I tried.”

“That’s very good to hear,” Remy said, grinning as their son giggled at the praise, “and please, none of that “Mx. Astoreth” thing -it makes me feel old. A cutie like you can absolutely call me Remy.”

Emile squeaked, cheeks burning as he froze like a deer caught in the headlights -not that Remy was much better, the confident expression they had been wearing until that moment melting away in barely-concealed panic as what had just come out of their mouth started to set in.

“Shoot, sorry!” they exclaimed, trying not to jolt the kid in their arms too much in their panic, “I’m so sorry if I made you uncomfortable, oh my gosh, that was totally uncalled for, I usually have a much better filter-”

“No, no!” Emile interrupted their rant, clearing his throat as he gave the other a tentative smile, “it’s okay, really. I, um, didn’t mind, Mx. Ast- Remy.”

“oh- oh!” Remy grinned, before looking away, cheeks aflame, “great, that’s, uh, great.”

Too caught up in their own embarrassment, none of them noticed the little stars quite literally dancing in Patton’s eyes, hands pressed on his mouth to stop a squeal from coming out.

+++

Remy managed to keep their composure up until their scheduled meet-up with Virgil. They managed to keep themselves together -even if only barely, if Virgil concerned glances were anything to go by - all throughout their usual greetings, the quick ice-cream trip and letting Patton roam around to pet dogs, with the promise to not stray too far off.

Then -when their son was finally out of earshot- they finally lost it.

“Holy shit I’m so fucking gay-” they shouted-whispered as they hid their reddening face in their hands. Beside them, Virgil startled, sending his ice cream flying and splattering on the ground.

“A warning next time would be nice, thanks,” he grumbled, throwing a mourning look to his now inedible ice cream.

“Sorry,” Remy said, not looking very apologetic as they peeked at him from between their fingers, “I’ll buy you another one when I’m done having a crisis.”

“You’re an absolute disaster of a person,” Virgil sighed, slouching back on the bench they were sitting on as he ignored the withering glare Remy sent his way, “anyway, care to elaborate? All I know is that you got out of that parent-teacher thing looking like you had just seen a fucking ghost or something.”

“Seen an angel, more like,” Remy muttered.

“... Remy, did you get the hots for your son’s teacher?” Virgil asked in disbelief, barely fighting down a snicker as Remy whipped their head out of their hands to glare at him full force -which would have maybe been intimidating, had it not been for the raging blush covering their cheeks and ears.

“Oh my god, you do!” Virgil grinned, obviously delighted by the sudden turn of events. “Spill. Now.”

“V, I don’t even know where to fucking start,” Remy said “he was just so sweet and polite -Patton introduced me as his ren and he didn’t even blink? Like, immediately used the right pronouns, nothing of that misgendering bullshit.”

“I already like him.”

“I know, right?!” Remy grinned, pushing on with their story -they were not gushing, no ma’am, Remy Asthoreth does not gush, what are you on about. “And he’s so cute?? Like, pastel hair and sweater cute, and he had freckles!! Freckles, V, and also apparently he adores the shit out of Patton which is even worse because I’m way too gay for this! I’m gonna die of gay overload and I’m not even angry about that.”

Virgil raised his eyebrows, blinking. “Oh wow, you really are smitten.”

“Shut your fuck,” Remy grumbled.

“You wish,” Virgil snickered, “so got any plans on how to woo this sweet angel of yours? What’s his name, by the way?”

“Emile,” Remy answered, slumping, “and I don’t know if I even want to pursue this, honestly -he’s my son’s teacher, for crying out loud!”

Virgil hummed. “Well, at least you already know Patton likes him. That’s one less thing to worry about, don’t you think?”

“I guess, but still-”

“You could invite him for dinner at our house!” Patton’s voice piped up from behind the bench, startling the both of them and sending Remy almost with their ass on the ground.

“Patton!” Remy squeaked, blush returning full force as they looked at their son’s innocent grin, “honey, what are you talking about?”

“You should invite Mr. Picani over for dinner!” the boy repeated, grin widening even more, “and then you can kiss and be in love and get married and then he’ll become my papa!”

Silence fell on the little group.

Then, Virgil rolled out of the bench onto the ground, wheezing in laughter as Remy let out a strangled noise, cheeks flushing with a blush so vibrant it could probably be spotted even in pitch darkness.

Patton tilted his head to the side, clearly confused, before shrugging bouncing back towards a little group of dogs to pet them. “Adults are weird.”

+++

Remy knew their son had inherited some of their stubbornness. They’d just never realized just how much, until the kid decided that his only goal for the school year would be to set his ren and his favorite teacher together.

It was almost cute, really, to see him continuously drop some not-so-subtle hints about them going to lunch together -that is, if the simple thought of a lunch date actually happening didn’t reduce Emile to a stuttering mess and Remy to the best imitation of a red tomato the world had ever seen.

(Virgil found the entire thing hilarious, of course. Watching his best friend struggle with their hopeless crush on the cute teacher was quickly becoming one of his favorite pastimes -getting systematically pushed down from the couch by said best friend was a price he was more than willing to pay if it meant he could keep his front seat for the whole she-bang.)

This all went on for literal months, with Patton trying to “subtly” push two of his favorite adults together while said two adults seemed to lose any apparent braincell in their possession as soon as they were in proximity of each other.

Then, tired of playing nice, Patton got out the big guns.

“Ren?” he said one day, not looking up from his coloring book, “if you don’t stop being silly and go to lunch with Mr. Picani, I’ll tell him about the Doctor Incident.”

From the kitchen, Remy let out a startled sputter, fumbling with the pan in their hands as a now-familiar heat started spreading on their cheeks.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Would I?” Patton asked, blinking his big blue eyes at his ren.

Remy groaned, pinching the bridge of their nose. “You’re spending too much time with uncle Virgil.”

Patton simply gave them a dazzling grin, going back to coloring.

+++

Remy -who wanted to keep some of their dignity, thank you very much- did end up asking Emile to lunch the following day, much to Patton’s delight. And you know what? It went even better than they could’ve ever imagined. They talked, they laughed, enjoying the meal and each other’s company with smiles on their faces and warmth in their hearts.

That afternoon, Remy bought their son an ice cream to celebrate -and to silently thank him, since they knew that, without Patton’s constant meddling, they would’ve never gathered the courage to actually ask Emile out.

Fast forward one month -and many other cute dates- later, the two were still going strong, and Emile had grown to become a beloved constant in the Astoreth household.

Like right now, for example.

Remy and Emile were sprawled on the couch, a bottle of wine and two empty plates sitting on the coffee table in front of them. They were enjoying a quiet night in, with Patton spending the night at his uncle Virgil’s place.

Emile let out a contented hum, his head resting on Remy’s legs as his partner gently cradled a hand through his hair. He could feel the four or five glasses of wine buzzing in his blood, leaving him feeling tipsy in the best way. He felt relaxed, at ease, and for the first time, Emile couldn’t feel an ounce of anxiety about being alone at home with someone he was undergoing a romantic relationship with.

For the first time since he could remember, there was no pressure, no expectations, no voices in the back of his head sounding so much like his parents telling him to just stop being such a prude, that he was just leading Remy on and that if he didn’t get over it already then they would leave him for sure, just like everyone else did.

Just like Aaron did.

Emile couldn’t help the little pang of hurt in his chest even after all these years, a tiny, dejected sigh leaving his lips without him even noticing. In some ways, Remy reminded him a lot of Aaron, with their witty humor and flirty, sweet advances -he probably had somewhat of a type, Emile mused as a tiny smile tugged at his lips.

He just hoped Remy wouldn’t walk away too when they finally learned the truth about him.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Remy suddenly piped up, startling the man in their lap.

“Uh?” Emile answered, much eloquently.

Remy snickered, and Emile felt a dopey smile form on his lips at the sound. “You were looking pretty deep in thought, babe. Wanna share with the class?”

“I was just, uh, thinking about some things,”  Emile said, looking to the side.

“Good things or bad things?”

“... yes?”

Remy snorted, shaking their head with a fond smile. “Fair enough. But please remember that if you need to talk I’m here, okay?”

Emile nodded, not quite trusting himself to speak -he felt as if there was a lump in his throat, his feelings and thoughts running wild in his head and making him feel dizzy as his heart beat wildly in his chest.

Emile was not stupid, he knew very well he had fallen hard and fast for Remy. And how could he have not? They were always so sweet and considerate, showering him with compliments and affection and never raising a single eyebrow at Emile’s quirkier habits and enthusiastic personality.

Emile didn’t regret it, not one bit. He loved Remy, and that was not something he could -or was willing to- change.

Which made the prospect of sharing his secret much more terrifying.

Unfortunately for him though, tipsy-Emile seemed to have even less of a filter than sober-Emile, and his mouth opened before his brain could properly register what he was about to say.

“I’m ace,” Emile blurted out, slapping a hand on his mouth immediately after.

Oh my gosh what the heck did I just say?!, he mentally yelled, bracing himself for whatever Remy would say.

He did not expect the soft laugh that reached his ears, the hand carding his hair not stopping its ministration as Remy didn’t even look up from their phone.

“Nice,” they said, leaving their boyfriend completely dumbfounded.

Emile stared, feeling his already-sluggish brain metaphorically break in his head as he tried to make sense to Remy’s nonchalant attitude. “What?”

Remy glanced down at him, a teasing smile dancing on their lips. “Hun, do you know what happened last time I slept with someone?”

Emil cocked his head to the side, clearly confused. “No?”

“Patton happened.”

Emile blinked. And blinked some more. And then-

“Wait, do you mean-” he suddenly said, eyes widening in realization as he shot up from Remy’s lap, “you gave birth to Patton?!”

“...Yes?”

“Oh,” Emile said, flopping back down, “alright, a lot of things make more sense now, okay.”

Remy snorted, shaking their head as their shoulders shook in time with their laugh. “You’re really something else, Mr. Picani.”

Emile hummed, feeling as if he’d gotten a huge weight off of his shoulders as he cuddled closer to his partner.

A comfortable silence fell over the two, interrupted only by the occasional car driving through the neighborhood as they simply enjoyed each other’s presence.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

[shirtlesssammy]

15x12 Bullet Point Rambles

The promo has Kaia yaaaas. (Listen, my brief perusal of Tumblr before the episode started showed me this wasn’t a spoiler but GUYS THIS WEEK I SWEAR TO GOD)

“Earth 2” is the name of this alternate reality in the promo. Wish I remembered that show a little better so I could watch for references. Chuck flaps in which is just…dangerous

Chuck monologues to a poor tech employee about how much he loves the Winchesters WHILE Cas is in the shot. (Boris: Cas, Cas is there too.) “Sir, this is a Radio Shed.” LOL excellent use of a Twitter meme

WHOA Chuck decides to end the other worlds because he’s only thrilled by Sam ’n’ Dean original flavor. REALLY inappropriate GODDAMN timing Chuck

Jody investigates a creepy barn alone, which can only end badly

Sam’s freaking out about still-soulless Jack. Cas backs up Jack, and Dean thinks Billie has potentially a better plan than them. I sure love Sam checking in with Jack despite his worries

Meanwhile, Jack sees Mary’s carved signature and appears regretful? thoughtful? He calls for Death. A reaper, Merle, flaps in to talk with him. Merle insists 100% in Billie’s near omniscience

Cas and Dean share DRINKS OF LOVE. Cas sorts through his feelings about Jack. He’s bright eyed once more with Jack’s potential to save them all

Dean and Sam check out Jody’s creepy barn and find Jodio all trussed up in the back. JODES!

Alt!Kaia kicks the ever loving shit out of the Winchesters and I give her ALL MY FEALTY

She demands to go home. Her world is dying. SHE HAS TO SAVE HER MONSTER BFF! Kaia reveals that she sees visions of OUR Kaia. SAVE HER BABEEEEZ. (Thank you, Bobo, for coming through on your entreaty to fans to be patient with the narrative.)

Other Kaia looks out on the other world and basically The Nothing is devouring her world and she’s the Childlike Empress I don’t make the rules. SAVE HER, BASTIAN!

Cas gets trounced in Connect Four by a very pleased Jack. Noice

Cas and Jody meet in person! ALL THE HEARTS!!

Alt!Kaia is royally pissed at not getting to use Jack’s powers immediately. Jack helps with research instead. He finds a spell that requires a monster John Winchester killed the last of (mentioned in his journal - nice callback)

Cas asks if Jody’s updated Claire - who is off on a quest to seek revenge on Alt!Kaia. CLAIRE BEAR. These two Claire parent surrogates fret over this… (We pinch their cheeks at this mutual bonding activity)

Alt!Kaia confronts Jack about all that went down and pleads for his help. He uses his powers. OH DAMN

Jack insists on saving Kaia - it’s the “right thing to do.” Merle, the reaper, is UNIMPRESSED

“That’s not just dumb - that’s Winchester dumb.” LOL, Dean’s reaction! How dare?

Jack bargains with / blackmails Merle, and she’s reluctantly down with the plan. Merle spits upon their shitty warding. “I’m gonna need to borrow your angel” to repair the warding

Warding flashes all over the bunker as the shielding settles into place. NOICE

Cas asks Jody to stay so Claire doesn’t lose her too. HELP my heart has grown two sizes

Cas lends his mojo to the warding and I fan myself desperately. It’s RIFT TIME baby

The alt world is seriously unraveling, but they find Kaia! There’s a hug! Alt!Kaia insists on staying with her dying world. KAIA PLZ. The Nothing takes her. o u c h

They zap back into the bunker. Yahoo! Mostly! Jack gives Kaia some of his shapeless sweats. Bless

Jody adopts another lost girl! “Will Claire be there?” Kaia asks. HELP I have tears

Merle continues to be an amazing limp gray blanket UNTIL HOLY SHIT Billie scythes her ass. “Hello boys.”

Billie stalks around with her scythe and if looks could kill… She insists that she can see the big picture and tells them that all the other worlds are dying

“When I was a reaper, I believed in the rules. But then you killed me.” In Death’s Library, everyone has a book, even God. And only Death gets to read them. We flash back to old Death talking about reaping God! 

After Chuck made the world, he built himself into the framework of the world. She’s seen the Winchesters in Chuck’s book. “You are the messengers of god’s destruction.”

In Earth 2, Chuck continues to torture minimum wage employees. He chills out in the Radio Shed and watches worlds die on big screen TVs. As he departs, a meteor tears through the Radio Shed. CHUCK what a drama llama (Boris: Always the asshole)

We can smell the endgame in the air and have SO MANY MIXED FEELINGS. SO MANY FEELINGS

While we wait for posh Dean and Sam from next week’s promo…stay safe and healthy out there, everyone!

[lynndoublelegacy]

just a cool dnd meme i saw

Yook so it’s less a meme and more like. a big ol questionare but hey, might as well do it. originally saw it on @/probablyottrpgideas, go check them out

1. Game Master, Player, or both? Why?

Ok so technically I’ve DMed twice but I really don’t find it fun? and don’t ever want to do it again. so. Player. I like building characters and their connections with fellow PCs more than building worlds

2. When did you start roleplaying? How old were you?

oh god, if we’re talking about roleplaying in general? I’ve been doing it basically as long as I can remember. As a kid I would play House, and then once I got older in like 5th grade I actually started making characters and playing out their stories with friends. Google+ is what made me realize this was actually like, a THING, though, and I got into some roleplaying groups there, then on DevaintArt. Dungeons and Dragons is a newer development? I got into it in late 2018 when my sister’s friend invited us to a one-shot, and... well, yea, I got hooked lol

3. What was the first roleplaying book you ever owned?

dude, bold of you to assume I really own any. I don’t have that kind of money and literally only own the Guide to Wildemount, and that was a gift

4. Describe the first game you ever ran or played in.

I mean... it’s not a game but ima describe the one shot, bc my first campaign was a hot mess without a true storyline and I used the same character for it anyway. I played a tiefling bard called Aisling Kai (I didn’t know this was a cliche combo at this point, and I honestly played her like a rogue with a music motif but Whatever) and we were a little group tasked to figure out why the hell anyone who goes into this cave never comes out. So we go in, make our way through the dungeon, fight some frog people (I made one of their ears bleed just by getting a nat 20 on a performance check to play a high f# on flute, that was fun, FWEET), and turns out yep, theres a hill giant down here. We kicked his ass and collapsed the cave on top of us (dw I think we were fine but my memory is a little screwy)

5. What system did you grow up with? / 6. Which system do you play now?

i learned on and currently play dnd 5e. I don’t really know anything else, but I’m debating checking out Vampire of the Masquerade.

7. Longest campaign you’ve run or played in?

That would be my Tal’Dorei campaign group, aka The Fatefallen! Started in the Fall of 2019 and still going to this day, just played our 45th session last week. I play Ilia Liadon, the drow grave cleric, and the only member of our party who has been there for every single session since the beginning.

8. Where did you meet your current gaming group?

...well first I feel the need to mention that I have 3 different groups (2 of them are on hiatus now for pandemic related reasons but! we’re still groups). My first group (with Aisling) was formed slowly over time as friends adopted friends into the group, I think it started as a school club? but that didn’t last long. The other two started from a different school club as well, though one has since branched out into other people as well. 

9. Strategic combat or dramatic plotlines?

I am a roleplayer first and a gamer second. Give me all of the backstories and dramatic plotlines. Don’t get me wrong, I still like combat, but story takes precedent for me.

10. Favorite RPG genre?

I don’t tend to define myself by genre? But I tend to fall into more of a fantasy, at most arcanapunk style. Give me all of the magic, and magic powered tech.

11. Your first character.

I got into her a little bit earlier, but my first character was Aisling, aka Calypso Kai. She was a homebrew subclass bard with a criminal background, who honestly? should’ve been a rogue. I’ve since rebuilt her into an Assassin Rogue/College of Eloguence Bard multiclasser, but this iteration was like. Baby her, baby me new to dnd, I did not know what I was doing. She tried to be edgy, but my mom energy came through HARD and she just. Never really had a set characterization. She deserves better and I plan on playing her better sometime in the future.

12. Your favorite character.

You are making me choose between my children. BUT, if I had to pick, either Ilia Liadon, or! Ashe Wednesday, a protector aasimar drunken master monk and my profile picture. Ashe also deserved a lot better from their campaign, so I have a massive soft spot for them, they were made during a really tough time in my life (as was Ilia) and was going through an equally rough time in-game, since I made them for a Curse of Strahd campaign without understanding what I was getting into. They’re my little rebellious asshole and I love them dearly, someone get this kid therapy. Ilia, on the other hand, is just... she’s a comfort character for me at this point. mostly soft edges, such a mom- while Ashe was me yelling “come at me” at the world while crying, Ilia was just... embracing it. Making it better. basically, if they actually existed, I would die for both of them.

13. Your most ridiculous character.

I don’t usually play super ridiculous characters, but! I would say Keothi “Bookfinder” Vaimeil counts. She was basically me looking all of the goliath barbarian stereotypes in the eye, and going “nah. she’s a nerd.” She’s literally a massive puppy dog, just the sweetest big old thing, sitting in her house and reading all the books she can get her hands on in order to make up for her amnesia. Oh, and did I mention that she’s a zombie? ...yea. She’s wacky, but I love her.

14. The best in-character line you’ve ever had.

“I need sleep. I don’t even sleep and I need sleep.”

~Ilia, after a particularly tough fight and an emotionally draining day

15. Your most epic death.

Ok so... none of my characters in game have ever actually died during the storyline? Keothi obviously has in her backstory, and Ilia might have in hers as well, it was never explicitly stated, but during the game? Nope. Ashe got stupid close, but nope. Since Keothi is my only death period, and her death was pretty epic, I’m just gonna describe that. Her parents and siblings in her Goliath tribe had all fallen ill, so she decided to go searching for a possible cure, and ended up getting conned into helping this cult, since they said they would cure her family. Turns out, yea, they were lying, they just needed a goliath willing to sacrifice themselves with a cursed sword. They made the mistake of revealing this before Keothi was actually dead, so as she was dying, she brought the entire goddamn cultist temple down to the bottom of the sea and took the cultists with her. The sword was why she was undead, in the Shadowfell, and couldn’t remember anything.

16. Your most disappointing death. 

As mentioned, I’ve never died in campaign, but I feel like I have to mention this one that happened to our party in Curse of Strahd. We were in the death house, all 5 of us, still level 1, and our barbarian falls into a pit trap with spikes. None of us realize she’s actually dead, so we send out paladin down to get her... with the monk, the bard, and the warlock holding the rope. ....yea both of them died.

17. Something that shouldn’t have worked, but it did.

I’m stuck between two options for this one. First one was the time our water genasi paladin/rogue bloodbended our gnome cleric into a bridge to keep her from falling all the way down a ravine. The second time was when our party managed to defend a small seaside town from a pirate raid with just an NPC with Control Water, a ballista, ourselves, and some explosives. Neither should’ve worked, but both did. Having a triton in your party can really come in clutch in a seaside campaign.

18. Something that went hilariously awry.

I have one that’s hilarious and one that’s horrifying. Hilarious one: in my first ever campaign, someone from Aisling’s backstory popped up and our sorcerer went “that’s shady” (to be fair, he was) and then went to investigate BY HIMSELF. He obviously got kidnapped by the mafia, and then we went all stealth mission to break him out. Stealth was immediately abandoned after our other bard used a SCREAMING SWORD to break open the locks, then we proceeded to go out the way we came, setting everything on fire on the way out, and with our bard lying their way out the front door (with the rest of us in tow as “prisoners”) by pretending to be a fellow mafia member. It was great. Horrifying one: Ilia tries to Send to a member of the party who left in order to let him know that a fellow party member had died. Forgot that he left bc his mind was invaded by a previously dead, very evil old god, and ends up trapped there with him for a while. Ended up with all of our main spellcasters trapped in their own heads while the barbarian paced around worriedly and the rogue decided he was going to get smashed instead of worrying himself silly.

19. Your most memorable in-character moment.

There are a LOT in Ilia’s campaign, but! If I had to pick one, it would actually be a pretty recent one involving Ilia and our party’s wizard, Liara. They’re basically the embodiment of head vs heart? Anyway, Liara is currently suffering from something called magic corruption, though idk if suffering is the right word. Anyway! It basically resulted in her getting... possessed? by her own magic during the night during Ilia’s watch, and they had a really, really interesting conversation regarding guilt, death, and grief, and yea basically I love them. Honorable mention to our druid’s death (he’s back and better now, but that was my first long-time death in a game, we didn’t know he was coming back) and also the moment that Ilia realized that her childhood bff/crush had been revived in a new body and that this NPC was her best friend. That was a trip.

20. The coolest item you ever got and how you came to possess it.

I got this item in the revamp of my first ever campaign and nothing has topped it since which is Sad but hey. Anyway! I got this really cool, possibly cursed dagger after I threw a knife at an absolutely eldritch being and it got stuck in him as he transformed. It looked really badass, and allowed me to cast Inflict Wounds on occasion when I stabbed someone with it. So yea, we love that. Honorable mention to my paladin/bloodhunter’s Helm of the Aberrant Gladiator which allows you to basically do a bunch of fear based affects and psychic stuff.

Numbers 21 through 30 don’t apply to me but. yea. enjoy this summary of my dnd history I guess

[kintatsujo]

currently working on LOP pages and like 

(under cut for biglong rant abt my writing philosophy, in particular writing children into stories)

the thing is that the Babeocracy storyline

and quite a lot behind what you’ll see in the future

is that I was very aware of a lot of stories when I was a certain set of ages where, for example, a character would be having a child and either the person carrying that child wouldn’t show up during the pregnancy, or they wouldn’t show during the pregnancy, or there was a LOT of body negativity surrounding the whole situation (for example I’ll never forget walking in on an episode of Desperate Housewives to one of the characters calling her surrogate a “fat whale”)

And then you move on to the actual child and reading writers say “nobody wants to talk about babies, babies are a lot of intensive boring stuff and crying and shitting and so forth” and they either never show the kid, or they age the kid up magically for some goddamn reason, or they kill the kid off so they don’t have to deal with it 

And I’m gonna remind you guys that my younger brother was born when I was just about to turn fifteen, so this huge part of my teen-to-young-adulthood was filled up with this smart as a whip, hilarious and full of personality little kid

And furthermore you kind of don’t really THINK about the diaper changing and the basic care when you’re actually doing it once you have an ounce of a handle on it; babies spend more than half their time sleeping when you get down to it so you can literally have the baby in shot as a prop most of the time and almost never go into the unpleasant parts if you’re really determined not to

and so what I had to conclude was that a lot of writers are afraid of children??  And that a lot of writers are either afraid of pregnancy or look down on it for whatever reason, usually pretty sexist ones?  And often even sexist ones masquerading as “feminist” reasons.

My point is this: when I include children and all that that implies in my writing, it’s actually intensely political.  

Every time Baby Lilly shows up getting randomly touted around, every saccharine line from Zeva’s mouth and even every time Lynnah randomly mentions the alien baby she’s sort of adopted, that’s a fuck you weirdos moment on my part.  

I do love children, obviously I do.  But I’m making active statements when I write about children and pregnancy and that’s part of why people being weird or pushy about the pregnancy part bothers me so damn much.  

Cuz like-- I totally get why people find the pregnancy part sexy actually, but the fact that I’m writing it into things has nothing to do with that!

And when you see me writing children into things it’s based as much or more on my experience with an actual child and the fact that I viewed that child as a human being (He’s nineteen now, not quite a child anymore).  I’m not going “Oh look at the cute baby” I’m going “This is a person!! And they deserve to exist in this space!  I have made space for them here!”

Anyway idk I obviously get kind of passionate about this

[arabellaflynn]

For anyone who didn't catch it on other social media, I have finally moved out of the "temporary" apartment I was stuck in for 7 months, thanks to a lot of emotional and logistical support from friends, and a generous amount of financial support from the folks who gave to my GoFundMe. I am endlessly grateful to all of you, and if I weren't so goddamn tired right now I'd be more eloquent in saying so.

I've spent the past few weeks of unpacking and working out the bus routes around my new place trying to figure out how to explain what was so terrible about the last one. Most attempts devolved into page upon page of rage, which is not really what I want to be doing here. On the other hand, I also don't want to downplay how bad it was. 

Spoiler: The temp apartment was Very Very Bad.

The tl;dr is that I was offered someone's spare room on the condition that I help out a little extra with household chores and caring for their rats, because the pet owning roommate had recently had back surgery and was still mobility-impaired. What actually happened is that as soon as they realized I had any basic life skills whatsofuckingever, I was cornered into becoming the 24/7 on-call House Adult. I would have gone on strike, but the other two people in the apartment were so terrible at coping with absolutely any aspect of being alive that if I had, one or both of them would probably be dead now.

That is not hyperbole. I sat back at one point and realized that I had talked to 911 dispatch five times in the preceding four months. None of those calls were for me. To be clear, I ain't mad about other people having medical problems. All five of those calls were appropriate and necessary uses of emergency services. I just resent the hell out of being the default option for handling all of it, even though none of the medical emergency problems were mine, and there were other people in the house. Literally, Short Roommate had a catastrophic asthma attack one night, and when she was wheezing too hard to talk she passed the phone to Tall Roommate -- who immediately ran to the other end of the apartment, banged on my door, and handed the phone to me. It got to the point where I just told the operator what was up, went downstairs to unlock the door for EMS, stood in the corner answering the occasional question until they hauled someone off to the hospital, and then went right back to bed, because none of this was my problem. And that's just the 911 calls, not even counting the number of times I had to talk her down out of a dissociative episode, or any of the other shit I was not warned about and did not volunteer to do. They wore me down until my only response to "a fellow human can't breathe" is "fuck's sake, why am I even involved here".

They both needed a lot more, and a lot more professional, help than they could possibly have gotten out of a random civilian roommate. They both fought tooth and nail against actually getting any of it. Every time Short Roommate was dragged to the hospital, her discharge papers included a big fat packet full of social services, resources, and business cards for actual physical people to phone. I know this because whenever I cleaned the apartment, I found them on the fucking floor, whereupon I placed them on her fucking keyboard, and told her point-blank to call these people. As far as I know, she never did.

I am neither qualified nor equipped to be a live-in caregiver for anybody. There is a fucking reason I have never wanted children. I keep critters because if you give them food, water, toys, and boxes to sleep in, you can leave them to entertain themselves for hours while you work or sleep, and no one will arrest you.

There was a bunch of other stuff. Tall Roommate rarely if ever cleaned anything, including herself, unless directly ordered to do so and given a detailed list of instructions of what you meant by "clean". I only ever got her to wash her own damn dishes once, and I did it by messaging her from the other room 'I just found a mouse in the sink eating snacks off your dirty plates GO DO YOUR DISHES'. She had a laundry list of problems, but the relevant one here is that she was high-support-needs autistic with no support and zero inclination to find any. 

[Did I mention the mice? We had mice. All over. The rats murdered two of them when they got into the cages, looking for the free-feed bowl.]

Short Roommate clearly loved her rats but didn't actually do any of the rat care beyond petting and playing. One of them was tremendously sick at one point and needed meds q6h. She was supposed to be helping with that and didn't, which meant that I went several weeks on a maximum of six hours of uninterrupted sleep a night. I tore the fuck into her for that one, pointing out in exactly so many words that some of these meds were painkillers and if the rat didn't get them on time HE SUFFERS. Not doing any of the grunt work, Short Roommate evidently thought rats were so easy she should just keep getting more of them! She rescued two, one of whom was preggo, kept several of the babies, and started talking about waiting for one of the girls to grow up so she could breed him with one of her younger boys. 

Gentle Reader, I promise you the only reason I did not strangle her in her sleep that very night was that I knew, deep in my heart, that I could not move the body down two flights of stairs by myself, and if I left it up to Tall Roommate, the corpse would still be in the apartment today.

If I were inclined to any sympathy, it would have died when Short Roommate moved out to shack up with New Boyfriend and New Boyfriend's Mother. She initially took all the rats with her, which made them officially not my problem anymore, but I woke up one morning to a message that said something like "[New Boyfriend's Mother] says that if I show up to our new place with the rats she's not going to let me in, [Tall Roommate] is coming back with all the rats and everything they own". I found out later that this was because their new place was in section 8 housing, where you are not allowed to have pets that aren't service or support animals. Which Short Roommate had known the entire time, and just... made no plans for. At all. Unless "ignore everything until bitchslapped by reality, then panic and make unreasonable demands of other people" counts, I guess.

Eight rats. She dumped eight rats on me. Eight. I wound up taking care of them all without help; Tall Roommate was incapable of keeping anything in her habitat clean, including herself, and I wasn't willing to let her neglect animals. I was actually down to one rat of my own, having lost my two venerable old men, and was looking for a new friend or two for Tseng. Which I had to stop doing, because nine fucking rats is a lot of rats, and I couldn't in good conscience bring Rats nos. 10 & 11 into this shitshow. Naturally, none of the rats got along; two pairs of boys had to be kept apart, and both of them tried to pick fights with poor Tseng, and four of them were girls that had to be kept away from all of the boys for obvious reasons. It was exhausting and a catastrophe.

Once I had the rats she apparently made no further effort to re-home them, although she did keep telling Tall Roommate to come knock on my door and take pictures of them. (I put a stop to this. Tall Roommate did it because Short Roommate had broken up with her to shack up with New Boyfriend, and Tall Roommate had literally no way to cope with this other than try desperately to get her back.) I bugged her to do something about this until, predictably, I had to contact the local rat rescue people to find fosters less than a week before my moving crew was scheduled. When I told her, she replied "oh, I was just about to submit that". Sure you were. And while you're here, I have this nice bridge to sell you.

[The four girls and two youngest boys went to Mainely Rat Rescue. It looks like the boys have already found a home, but the girls are up for adoption. I kept the two old men, who both have special care needs; Garion has breathing problems that involve his own asthma inhaler and a steady diet of NSAIDs, and Errand has attitude problems that involve picking fights with any rat who isn't Garion. They're both just shy of three(!) and unlikely to find homes through a foster program, plus I'm already their third caretaker, so I couldn't send them off with a stranger. They are currently sulking because I wouldn't supplement their dinner with all of my dinner -- which is to say, they're fine.]

The point is, my brain just about died off. The only time in that apartment that I didn't spend cleaning up after three grown adults, two of whom weren't even me, were the weeks after Short Roommate moved out to shack up with New Boyfriend, which she had broken up with Tall Roommate to do, and Tall Roommate took it so badly she ended up inpatient before she ate a bottle of Tylenol. (I called 911 when I overheard her plans. It was about 50% "a fellow human is in need of help" and 50% "argh jesus fuck THIS IS NOT MY JOB please go talk to someone who is actually paid to deal with this".) I am slowly clawing my way back to the surface, so if you'll just bear with me, I'll be back on Twitch this Sunday 3-7 Eastern, and type out more things that have been on hold while I tried to retain at least some of my marbles.

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[vohalika]

hello, this is random but.. could u please tell me some of your fav things about vex? i don't often see people who Really Like Vex and we need more of that

Well, well, well, anon.

I have literally no idea how long it has been since you asked this of me, but rest assured I have not forgotten! Well, okay, I had for a while, then I saw it again and was like “oh, right, huh… And would you look at that, I’m about 100 posts away from 100,000… Wouldn’t that be a good one…”

So. Here we are! An unstructured rambling of all the reasons I really, really love Vex, somewhere between superficial and embarrasingly personal, to celebrate this arbitrary number of things I have spread around on this hell site.

Okay, first of all, the only thing Laura had to say to Kit Buss for the official art was “make her hot”. That is a Statement. And boy did Kit and also everyone deliver on that.

Like seriously. I didn’t use to be a fan of feathers in hair or white armor, but good god does she make it work.

Hey, I said this was going to be extremely superficial

Another thing I really didn’t use to like, twins. Overdone and usually poorly executed. But our girl made a Point out of being as different from her twin as she could be while at the same time being completely believable siblings.

I swear to god I’ll do my absolute best to mention Vax as little as possible. This is not about him.

Third thing I really couldn’t stand! The one, usually female, team member with a pet! Closely related to the one with the nature powers! I don’t know, these just always rubbed me the wrong way in media before, probably because I also never really cared for shows or movies about animals. Fight me.

And yet here she is, and she is not the “won’t somebody think of the children animals!” type of gal and Trinket is amazing and it still ties into her personality on a larger scale without being preachy.

I have a fourth thing. I also really don’t care for elves, ever. Everybody hates them. And then she turns around and makes me cry about the elf thing. Good god.

Yes, watching the first episode way back when was an uphill battle. There’s a reason I started with episode 69 and then watched the rest.

Nice.

Vex has the best worst sense of humor. No, really. I’m not even talking about that time she made a comment about the boy with the shot off fingers not having much of a future as a musician. But I’m also talking about that. And that time Scanlan tried having a meaningful monologue about having a daughter now. “I’ve defined most of my life by the people I slept with, and now…” - “Well, technically, this is still kinda defined by that.”

(Shoutout to Percy “I was just thinking that”)

Also, “We don’t do anything with dignity”, “I only serve gods with big dicks”, “You might live forever, but you will still be fucking ugly”? Girl is iconic, even if her sense if humor is usually pretty inappropriate for the given situation, she just can’t help it. I relate.

On a related note, it is so easy to play a similar archetype and have her just be this always dignified and above the humor kind of stuck-up. It’s basically how most people would have written her (and a certain someone did). But not our girl, oh no.

Also, I recently made a post about this, but we really, really don’t talk enough about how she’s just the leader of the party. She is. No, really, lower your bitch sticks, y’all. She’s the one to talk to the most NPCs, she’s the one to usually say go, and everyone just naturally adheres to her. It’s never forced, it’s never an “I, as the leader” moment, and she doesn’t try to wrestle her way into the role. It’s just what happens naturally.

Which also means she’s good at stepping back and letting other people shine for a bit. But still, Vex is the reason they didn’t just flounder around like a chicken without its head after Scanlan left. Laura was late to two sessions in campaign one; the first one was already in an extended battle scene, and the other was literally spent in a bedroom in hell waitinig for Vex to tell them what to do.

This is why scholars are generally of the opinion that Vex is the only Top in VM. And also what intellectuals refer to as Big Dick Energy.

Let’s talk about what the assholes call Greed. Yes, Vex is, out of all of them, the most pre-occupied with gold and loot. But she NEVER hoards anything for herself, never spends any of her own gold on herself even until the timeskip, leave alone the party funds.

She looks out for the interests of the group, makes sure they get the best possible deals and are paid what they are owed. And she’s the only one to ever worry about money, too, whereas everyone else never bothers to think about it. Hence why her and Vax split the cost of paying their staff after the party spent all the funds early on.

Look, I find her worries very indicative of growing up in poverty with her mom, than surrounded by rich and important people but locked out of the loop, and then poor and on the road again with Vax. I find it very relatable, and everyone who claims that looking out for the financial well-being of the party is “greedy” is lucky enough to never have had to worry about eating next month while also making rent.

There’s Safety In A Fist Full Of Diamonds, okay?

No really I need y’all to read that and send it to the annoying bitches who complain.

Vex is literally never stingy when it comes to helping people with the money she made sure they have. Remember how she didn’t even flinch at spending a five digit number to free angel boy slaves?

WHICH LEADS ME TO ANOTHER POINT. Vex. Vex has a serious hoarding problem. But not when it comes to money of earthly possessions. No. When it comes to PICKING UP STRAYS.

It’s how she got Trinket.

It’s how she got the angel babies.

It’s what she tries to do with the grey render baby.

It’s what she suggested they do with the dragon eggs in the Raishan fight

(LET! VEX! HAVE! PET! DRAGONS!)

IT HOW SHE GOT HER OWN GODDAMN HUSBAND OKAY.

I have no idea how she hasn’t adopted her own zoo by the time VM forms. Though I can totally see her opening orphanages in Whitestone, both for people and animals and creatures of all kinds, really.

Remember when she was the only one to protest the punching of a spectral ghost cow?

The hardships of her youth made her, yes, very afraid of being out of money, but also made her compassionate as fuck. She’s always down with helping people even if there’s little to no coin in it, okay? Stop overlooking that, assholes.

SPEAKING OF COMPASSION. Remember what her original beef with the Vasselheim potion seller was? That he took advantage of Grog being intellectually challenged. Which is what he did! Blatantly so! And he wasn’t the least bit sorry about it!

I mean, I bet he is by now, but, you know. Karma.

When Laura says Vex just wanted justice and then everyone else escalated that scene she is goddamn right, rewatch your own footage Matthew.

Oh god do I have to talk about broomgate now. I don’t want to talk about broomgate.

OKAY

Broomgate is literally the only time in the entire series that Vex ever takes something for herself. Was it the morally right thing to do? Maybe not. Though to keep in mind that a) Hardwick is a piece of shit, b) they literally met Gern when he had the skeletons of Kiki’s dead civilization dancing for him; Vax shanked Nothics for less, c) and this was hot off the heels of fighting a necromancer in the last big arc, too, d) they were on a mission to kill dragons. That fly. With no method of flying for the majority of the party. Vex always intended to use the broom for that purpose, so you could make the legal argument of commandeering it instead of stealing, and, finally, e) SHE HAD JUST FUCKING DIED

Why do we never talk about that

Other characters get cut all the slack for what they do after just dying

Other characters get cut all the slack when they steal from other guests

Other characters get cut all the slack when they withhold loot for the party

Other characters DIDN’T GET AN ALIGNMENT DROP FOR DOING WORSE SHIT THAN THIS

WHY ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT BROOMGATE

WHY WAS BROOMGATE EVER EVEN A THING

okay

okay

MOVING ON

Hey, while we’re at dying. Remember how Vex spent the day after she, literally, died, trying to make sure the person who was to blame for her death was okay? She did that. And Percy was uncomfortable with it, visibly so, but also too guilty to call her out here.

And no one. NO ONE. EVER. Bothered to check in on how she felt after dying.

Vax made it all about the sacrifice he made, Percy felt too guilty, NO ONE ELSE CARED.

And what does she do? Soldier on. Try and cheer Vax up and support him in any way she can.

Honestly, learning the Raven Queen book by heart and then telling him that being the champion of a god is really fucking cool? Relatable. Relatable as fuck. You go girl.

And TO THIS DAY. ACROSS TWO CAMPAIGNS. Vex has been the only one. THE ONLY ONE. To EVER check up on someone after they died. Jester might eventually be the second one, but, you know. I am a big advocate for post-death and just post-big-battle-in-general aftercare cuddle piles or whatever. Someone tell the cast to implement that immediately.

And while we’re at death, let’s talk about THE DARKNESS

There are dark facets to her character. Vex never makes her own issues everyone else’s problem and they go largely unadressed, but they’re there.

Saundor brought up the story about how she got Trinket and had to kill for the first time while doing so.

(Sidenote: Saundor doing more research into her character than an actual writer is extremely telling.)

That was definitely traumatic for a young girl and I don’t mean to dismiss that, but that’s also the part I can understand Vax dismissing when they talk about it later on. They do kill a lot of people after that and this was self-defense, so hey, okay. Fine.

HOWEVER

That short story was indicative of many other things that torment Vex. Mostly her low sense of self-worth.

Like, her entire inner monologue is centered around how stupid she was for getting into this situation in the first place (= for being taken advantage of by criminals at the tender age of probably like 15), and how this would never have happened to Vax, who was away in the city to take care of them.

And we see that low sense of self-worth bleeding into Vex’s character throughout the campaign. That’s part of the reason why she spends the day after her first death making sure everyone else is okay. That’s also part of the reason she blames herself for Scanlan leaving and acts like she’s completely fine when he returns just so he’ll stay.

Honestly that short story is so insightful and explains so much about her, I don’t know how anyone could claim to have any grasp on her character without reading it.

(Also, Laura should write more, she’s talented)

Now a significant part of her self-worth issues obviously also ties back into her time at Syngorn. I can just hear people getting out their tiny violins, oh, waaah, she wasn’t one of the rich, cool kids in elf school, poor her.

But that’s not entirely it?

Like, just that is already plenty to fuck a person up. I’ve been there, too.

But let’s just say the fact that her dad was also cold towards them and acted like they were unworthy is a BIG part of what fucked her up. Call it daddy issues if you feel like being dismissive about a genuinely traumatizing upbringing, but that’s how it is.

And don’t get me wrong, if this were the traumatic childhood olympics, it’s not exactly up there and relatively tame for the background of a character in a fantasy story, but it is very true to life and extremely relatable, and Laura just executes it so well. So, so well.

That’s part of what makes the entire stretch of Feywild episodes so great. From what we see of Vax’s reaction later on, Percy is the only person she ever talked to about this - or at least the only one who ever listened - and he immediately got it. And instead of yelling at her about how amazing she is, he did something to make her feel better about herself. Without making it about himself, by the way.

I enjoy a fake married plotline as much as the next gal, but Percy giving her a title she’d have to earn by her own merits is soooo much more meaningful than just putting a fake ring on her, okay?

Yes, at the end of the day, this is basically a Cinderella fantasy. So what? No, really. One of the best things about Vex and her arc is that it validates feeling upset about not measuring up in superficial, material ways. And it validates getting your come-uppance. These are, as mentioned above, experiences that can really mess with a person, but we’re usually supposed to be above it all because money and titles don’t make you happy.

Also something only people who never struggled financially can say/believe unironically and without specifying.

Hell, that’s about 70% of the reason I’m considering getting a Ph.D. if I happen to get the grades.

I’m also not a big fan of the term daddy issues, but I can’t deny that this is a thing here

not the thing they went into the Feywild for, buuuut

ahem

So. Remember when Laura said during the campaign wrap up that Vex thought of Scanlan as a father figure and everyone was like whaaaaat? And I was like ahahahaha, I knew it.

This is so tragic, really. Because she tried so hard so many times to help Scanlan and be nice to him and he just brushed her off. And then she’s the one who volunteers to spend the night all by herself in some dirty pub far, far away after opening up to his daughter about her own issues to bring him back alive, and then gets yelled at, and never apologized to.

And then he comes back and tries to erase her memory and not only is that never even brought up, she also just doesn’t even think she might be owed an apology because a) she still blames herself for him leaving because, you know, they never really talked out what happened there and b) she’s just too happy for at least that father figure returning to them to make much of a fuss about it, and Percy, bless his heart, TRIES, but it’ll take a few more years of marriage to talk through all of her issues

And like. I am not wild about anything that happens after episode 99. If I’m known for anything in this fandom on this platform it’s probably for that time I was really into the Ioun discourse, which I still stand by, btw. And I personally would have preferred for Vex to maybe get someone like Sehanine as her patron, as fitting as giving her yet another unworthy and disapproving father figure in her life might be

But there is also something somewhat gratifying about everyone talking about how great she is. And she had been sort of working for Pelor before that. Also, the headcanons about her having sun spots or starting to glow when she gets emotional after this are amazing.

So I made my peace with that. She deserves better, but hey, she always does.

She is so smart. So extremely smart. People roll their eyes at her battle plans and say it’s all Travis feeding Laura information, but Travis fed her nothing that time she schmoozed up to the Briarwoods while also making herself appear extremely superficial and unthreatening. Honestly. That dinner scene? Prime Vex. Amazing Vex.

Her battle plans are also so good. Pokeball-ing Grog out of the kill box? Using the Goristro against Vorugal to save the party a trip into the abyss? The only plan of Vox Machina that ever worked out basically perfectly? Amazing. And even IF Travis told Laura these ideas, that means literally nothing in relation to how smart Vex is.

And btw I don’t believe that for a second. People just aren’t good with acknowledging that sometimes, D&D playing women might actually have good ideas.

And she just is so street smart. With her skills, her battle plans, and just her way of handling people. There’s a reason she is the natural leader when it’s not someone’s turn in the spotlight at the time.

Like, the two things holding her back were that her class was extremely underwhelming, so much so that it got completely revamped in the Unearthed Arcana to make up for how bad it was in the PHB, and the fact that she just. Has, what. 1.5 episodes of her own storyline? Even Pike got 2. It’s amazing that I can even say this much about her with how little narrative focus she got throughout the series. And most of what she did was literally due to Percy using his plot clout and putting a foot in the door to force her into the spotlight.

Speaking of which. Percy’s best quality, next to being self-aware of how fucked up he is and actively trying to do better and be kept in check, is how he realizes Vex is the coolest, smartest, most amazing person around and treats her accordingly. The way she deserves to be treated.

Oh hey I mentioned to get this far without even mentioning the romance arc. And oh my god THE ROMANCE ARC. The pining. The slow burn. And the fact that we actually saw them together and later married for like 35 episodes. They were so good for each other.

And yes, PERCY WAS GOOD FOR HER. And Vex was not his therapist and manic pixie dream girl. None of that bullshit here. Percy was already firmly on the path to being better before he even considered that crush he has had on her for forever to turn into something more.

And by he was good for her I mean that he actually UNDERSTOOD her and where she was coming from. Refer again to the titling issue, where Vax is just confused and kind of pissed, Percy got it. And that’s important.

Something I have not made a post about so far, by the way, is also something people have called problematic and co-dependant is how Percy shares his darker impulses with Vex in hopes she’ll talk him out of it. Which she does, and it’s never hard, but that also means so much to her? Because he involves her and tells her exactly what is going on with him and values her opinion? And that is just exactly what she needs? And they’re so good? THEY’RE SO GOOD.

WHEN DOES YOUR OTP EVER

HE COULDN’T HAVE ASKED FOR A BETTER DREAM

This is more on Laura, admittedly, but also, it was just so great to see her unapologetically pursuing this romance? There’s a place at the table for a 72 episode slow burn, and she’s gonna go for it, and there’s nothing any of the dudebros who are just here for the fighting can do about it.

And also Vex is just so unapologetically sexual at the same time. From episode 1 onwards, really, and in general and just limited to Percy. And no one ever treats that as weird or bad or anything. It’s just who she is and that’s great.

And she fought. So hard. For that happy ending of hers. Kicking and screaming, against the world and against Taliesin’s determination that Percy is irredeemable and not capable of getting a happy ending. Defy that auctorial intent, my girl. You deserve it.

Seriously. Seeing her get that happy ending against all odds was unfathomably gratifying and validating and I’ve never connected to any single character or narrative at large for that matter this much and this intimately, and considering how I came across this story at one of the darkest times in my life, I probably never will feel so strongly connected to anything ever again.

Which is probably for the best, but hey. 

Aaaand there you go. An almost unstructured, epically long list of reasons I love Vex. Dammit, I talked about other characters way more than I intended, buuuut hey. That’s how it goes when you’ve got an ensemble piece, they’re all kinda interwoven.

Thank you this wonderful ask, anon, and reason to celebrate my 100,000th post on this site in style.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 234: Tomura Flashbacks and Giganto ex Machia

Previously on BnHA: Re-Destro lost his temper and hulked the fuck out and started breaking off Tomura’s fingers like a goddamn Kit-Kat bar. Elsewhere, (1) Twice cloned Toga in order to give her a blood transfusion, unaware that Skeptic was heading their way; (2) Spinner’s quirk of being a Gecko Man was revealed and he attempted to wall-crawl his way over to Hanabata only to be assailed by a bunch of redshirts fired up by Hanabata’s Trumpet quirk; (3) Dabi continued to battle Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine offscreen (I assume); (4) Compress was also probably doing something but who can be sure; (5) Giran was running off to safety with one of the clone Twices, and finally, (6) Gigantomachia Goron-rolled his way towards the action while Slidin’ Go stood there nervously, probably sensing that his number is coming up on the great cosmic roulette wheel. All of this happened two whole weeks ago because the manga was on break last week! But it’s finally back now, so leeeEET’S geeet ready to rrrruuuuUUUUUUUUMMMMMBLE.

Today on BnHA: RD continues to get handsy with Tomura until Tomura starts to disintegrate one of RD’s own fingers to see how he likes it. He does not, in fact, like it, so he flings Tomura away and starts thinking all of these shocked antagonist thoughts about how Tomura is stronger than he expected and his powers are ~awakening~ and blah blah blah. Meanwhile Tomura hops back onto the Flashback Train to Feels City and recalls how AFO gave him his family’s severed hands to make sure he stayed good and pissed!! And he also remembers more about his sister and how much she loved him! And his mom and grandparents who were also super nice and are now fucking dead and it’s a lot! Horikoshi is pretty fucking ruthless! Anyway so RD decides he’d better go all out and wrap this up, but before he can deliver a killing blow, Gigantomachia finally makes his entrance. At the same moment, Tomura finally remembers “everything” (?? ???!?!?), which, holy fucking shit you guys.

(All comments are my unspoiled reactions from my initial readthrough of the chapter. I did a quick edit for grammar and clarity immediately afterward, and added one or two ETAs in the process, but aside from that there are no changes.)

okay so let’s see what gruesome things are in store for our intrepid villains this week

“destroyed memories” oh? come again? you don’t say?? fancy that?? goodness me???

so is this referring to Tomura? or Dabi? if it’s referring to Re-Destro or one of his gang, I swear to god...! nobody cares about your memories RD. you’re a jerk and you suck

lol what the

aww. is this a “real” in-universe children’s book, is that what this is. did all the lil U.A. dumplings read this when they were small. and was there also a similar book called “don’t judge people by their lack of quirks” and if so why did no one read it to lil baby Kacchan hmm

anyway now we’re cutting right back to this unpleasant image! and not only that, but in the two weeks we’ve been gone things have even escalated!

we’re up to two hands being grabbed now! um. he’s really going to need at least one of those? probably?? please don’t Overhaul my deranged villain son fffff

reminder that Tomura needs to touch something with all five fingers in order for his quirk to activate (or he did before at least), so even though he still has... two...? fingers remaining on his left hand, that hand is still effectively useless as far as quirking goes. so if he suffers even the smallest amount of damage to his right hand as well, it’s basically all over for him. unless he actually was using his quirk with his feet in the previous chapter. I’m assuming not because he presumably would have decayed his way all the way down to the center of the earth if that was the case. I think @khorale mentioned this in a comment on my last recap, but yeah, seeing as the ground’s not disintegrating underneath him, it’s safe to say it’s Hands Only here

anyway I got so caught up in being calmly horrified over the current situation that I didn’t even read the dialogue. so RD’s saying that superpowers are linked to personality, and so that “don’t judge people by their quirks” stuff is in fact bullshit

um, source? are you a psychologist? in general I try to take things with a grain of salt when they’re said by pieces of shit, so yeah

fffffffff noooooo Tomura’s face sob Horikoshi you bastard

he looks so freaking young here. okay, shit. I’m starting to think I need to make plans to unwind after I finish reading this chapter. maybe get an Enya playlist in the works. diffuse some essential oils. find some cute baby animal videos

but on the plus side, it’s looking ever more likely that his are indeed the Destroyed Memories in question omg. so I will continue to get hype while also feeling very guilty and stressed

you guys I’m actually really glad RD is feeling like he has the upper hand now, because he’s starting to waste some valuable time monologuing, and with every second he babbles on, Machia is getting closer and closer to whooping some ass

so he’s asking Tomura what he’s trying to create

and well, actually, he’s not really that far off

I mean. does it count as nothing if he wants to destroy the whole world? one could argue that would be “creating” a new world in which everyone is fucking dead. idk. I might have to give RD this one; his whole point of “quirks are linked to personality and you have a quirk that destroys everything you touch so you probably just want to destroy shit” is holding up surprisingly well to scrutiny thus far

yeah so now he’s yelling “YOU ONLY LUST FOR DESTRUCTION! AM I WRONG?!” and nope. but even a broken clock, twice a day, etc.

oh shit OH FUCKING --

um, okay, (1) NO IT’S NOT, SHE WAS A LITTLE GIRL, NONE OF YOUR HANDS BELONGED TO A CHILD YOU GULLIBLE RUBE

and (2) MY FUCKING FEELS. why am I even surprised. what the fuck. I knew more angst was coming and yet it still...

just, god. okay fine Horikoshi I’m a glutton for punishment, please continue then

HAHA SOB IT’S A WHOLE FUCKING FLASHBACK OKAY SURE LAY IT ON ME!!

this really is the wildest shit though you guys. I still can’t get over it. “hello little boy I’m sorry your family is dead but don’t worry I’m adopting you and here are all of their severed hands. with little plugs on the end too or some shit. just, you know. souvenir”

I can’t fucking believe AFO played this so straight. maybe that’s why it worked. it was just so fucking out there that Tenko wound up buying it hook line and sinker. “hmm, seems a bit shady, but then again why else would a strange man I met only yesterday just randomly up and give me a dozen severed hands”

I don’t know if any of this shit is important, but it’s probably good practice to just post every mysterious thing that AFO says

yes you really did a great job healing this guy’s wounded fucking heart, Dr. Phil

oh wow, never fucking mind, even

I see, so that wasn’t meant to be a reassuring “in time you’ll get over it” speech; it was meant to be a cautionary “you’d better surround yourself with reminders of your terrible pain at all times or else you might actually stop feeling fucking miserable and WE CAN’T FUCKING HAVE THAT” speech. holy shit

I’m seriously having trouble wrapping my mind around just how terrible this is. like, it’s nearly impossible to fathom that level of cruelty. this is a four(?)-year-old child. he tracked him down, gave him a quirk that would kill his family*, sat back and watched it happen, and then let him stew in the horror of it all alone until he finally swooped in and claimed him and then raised him with the express purpose of keeping him sad and scared and angry and depressed at all times, all so he would eventually grow up and, with any luck, murder the man that his grandmother thought of as a son!

(*this is just conjecture right now, admittedly, but until I’m proven wrong I’m basically operating under the assumption that it’s true)

just. “fucked up” doesn’t even begin to describe it. god

anyways, let’s continue to read more about young Tenko’s extreme emotional abuse at the hands of the final villain I guess

OMG HANA

okay so I can’t remember where we left off on this last time, but a bunch of people said they suspected that the young Tenko wanted to be a hero when he was a little boy, and that’s why he was always clashing with his dad, because his dad’s own experience with heroes was pretty sour on account of the whole his-mom-gave-him-up-when-he-was-little-and-then-later-died-horribly thing

so yeah, I assume that’s what Hana is referring to here with the whole “I just tell Dad...” bit. so they both wanted to be heroes! how perfectly fucking tragic! great!

Tomuraaaaaa

KEEP IT UP TOMURA YOU CAN DO IT!! YOU CAN REMEMBER! YOU’RE DOING GREAT. aside from the whole “this really big man is killing you slowly” thing

yeah, this whole deal

but aside from that. doing great

!!

OOOOOOOOOH SHIT, THIS MUMMIFIED LITTLE PUNK’S STILL GOT SOME FIGHT LEFT IN HIM YOU GUYS

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

he got him to fling him away! YESSSS TAKE THAT YOU ASSHOLE. FOOL HIM ONCE, FUCKING OUCH, BUT FOOL HIM TWICE, AND LET’S SEE HOW YOU FUCKING LIKE IT YOU BIG WAD

so now Re-Destro is belatedly realizing that Tomura is going through a very weird leveling-up process and taking advantage of the fact that he’s temporarily become the main character of the series and thus possesses all of the narrative powers that come with that venerable distinction

...that he’s the main character? yes

anyways lol there’s some real good crazyface action going on here guys

did Horikoshi take the extra time just so he could devote a little longer to nailing down panels like this because if yes, A+++

SDSKJSODIFHOIESJ

it’s mom!! wow!!

DSLKFAJSLDK ARE WE GETTING BACKSTORY ON THE FUCKING SCARS OMFG I CAN’T THIS IS TOO MUCH

SOB YOU GUYS I’M CAUGHT UP IN THIS WEIRD CROSS BETWEEN BEING HYPED AF AND ALSO CRACKING THE FUCK UP NOW THOUGH, BECAUSE:

ALL OF THIS WAS SO FUCKING BADASS, AND THEN THAT LAST FUCKING PANEL, THOUGH. LMAO WELL HE’S ON THE BRINK OF SOMETHING, BUT WHO CAN EVEN FUCKING SAY WHAT

ANYWAY HE’S ZOOMING TOWARDS RD AND RD’S THINKING “HE’S FAST!” AND YEAH, BITCH, YOU SCARED??

WHAT ARE YOU THE PRESIDENT OF HIS FANCLUB NOW OR WHAT

you guys this is the most I’ve ever liked Re-Destro. there’s something about evil nemesis characters being begrudgingly impressed by their enemies that just pleases me, idk

LJSDFIJWEOF

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO HIS FACE HE LOOKS LIKE ONE OF THE SCARY TREES FROM SNOW WHITE

OH SHIT YOU GUYS WE’RE BREAKING OUT THE TROPES

so do we get 100% when he goes up against Machia, then? smdh, fucking power levels. well I guess Deku technically uses them too. but still, it’s not something we see in this series too often aside from that

holy shit you guys

honestly, I guess this should be really intimidating or whatever, but all I can think is that it’s about time this guy finally started taking this “pitiable gang of thugs” seriously. even if that does mean Tomura is probably about to fucking die, barring some Giganto ex Machia. that guy really needs to get a move on

oh hey

[RAISES EYEBROW AT GIGANTOMACHIA AND JABS FINGER TOWARDS WRISTWATCH] cut it a little closer next time why don’t you??

(ETA: also I didn’t notice all of Tomura’s other hands being flung away from him by the impact, but whoa. so now he’s just got the Papa Hand left in his pocket, along with whichever hand is grabbing the back of his head. and that’s it. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that his dad is the only remaining family member whose face we still haven’t seen yet. some big reveal coming up with that soon, I bet.)

oh and also guys here’s some more flashbacks. this time with loving grandparents. because Horikoshi just really wants to make sure our emotions are good and churned about

okay guys, Tenko’s very dead flashback!grandma and grandpa telling him not to cry and giving him yummy food so he won’t be sad is pretty much close to the limits of what I can take, angst-wise. I don’t know why this is hitting me so hard! this is hardly my first anime flashback! I should be a pro at this by this point, the fuck is wrong with me

but on the other hand, I think a big part of it is that I’m not just sad about Tomura’s past, but also angry. because none of this is just coincidence; all of it is actually stuff that was done to him very deliberately, and the worst part is he doesn’t even realize it. and so in addition to the usual rush of protective feelings, there’s also this sense of outrage about it all too. and I think that’s the harder part to deal with. here I am, a grown adult, getting really mad over the staggering cruelty of what was done to this fictional character when he was a child. it’s possible there’s some real-life anger and frustration over certain real-life horrific cruelties and injustices that may be bleeding over into this, idk. just, the world is a fucked up place, and my emotional support manga is currently being less than supportive and it’s a struggle sob

anyways sorry about that. meanwhile while I was having a mini breakdown, possibly the most pivotal character development in Tomura’s history was happening and HOLY SHIT THOUGH WAIT UP GUYS

sdfkdsfjwoilkkj BOY!!!!!!!

SOB HOW ARE THERE ONLY TWO PAGES LEFT I’M GONNA CRY THIS CHAPTER WENT BY SO FAST

-- HORIKOSHI WHY ARE YOU CUTTING AWAY FROM THE FLASHBACK OH MY GOD I’M GONNA!!!

FUCK ME, THIS IS WHAT I WAS WAITING FOR SO IMPATIENTLY, SO OF COURSE HORIKOSHI JUST HAD TO FINALLY MAKE IT HAPPEN RIGHT WHEN I WOULD HAVE GIVEN ANYTHING TO NOT CUT AWAY FROM THAT SCENE WE WERE JUST ON. THIS SADISTIC SON OF A...

...hee. but it’s hard to stay mad, though

... :)

:D :D :D

lol what. recall, if you may, that you guys are the ones who basically forced them to come down to your mountain city and kick your asses you dickasaurs

HAHAHAHAHAAA

SDLFKJLSDKFJ AND ALSO OH NOOOOOOOO

OH MY FUCKING GOD. AND THAT’S IT. THAT’S THE FUCKING CHAPTER. WHYYYYY

EAT IT YOU PRICKS, I HOPE GIGANTOMACHIA FLATTENS YOU ALL INTO NEXT WEEK

Tomura looks so freaking sad, you guys. he’s just standing there completely still and he looks like he’s just completely destroyed emotionally

and he said he remembered everything!?! so what the shit am I supposed to do, Horikoshi?? my boy is just standing there with seven fucking fingers and one shoe and so caught up in his sad reverie that he’s seemingly oblivious to the fact that the long-awaited cavalry has finally arrived. kid is maybe 2-3 chapters away from finally triumphing over this bald Disney tree man who talks too much. and not only that, but he’s more than likely going to finally win Gigantomachia’s loyalty in the process. which in turn means he’ll have access to Ujiko and all of his resources

so in short, this boy is minutes away from becoming one of the deadliest and most powerful forces on earth... and I’m pretty sure that right now, at this moment, none of that matters to him one iota

you guys. so what does this mean for future developments?? I’m really going to need him to define “everything” ASAP, for starters. that’s a very vague statement, and its implications could mean the difference between us just having a sadder-than-usual Tomura from this point out, or a Tomura that’s sad but also realizing for the first time that there’s a lot about his past that doesn’t quite add up, or hell, even a Tomura that’s actually out for fucking vengeance against AFO. that last one seems like too big of a jump to happen right away, but dare I at least hope for the second option though? god that would just be the icing on the cake for this fucking perfect arc

now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to go do some yoga or chant some mantras or something holy shit. this fucking manga

[m00nslippers]

Some Jason Todd/Red Hood-centric Fanfic Recs.

Figured I’d throw up some fanfic recs up in here. I read fanfic like it’s crack so I’ve got a few in my pocket here. Probably a lot of people have had these on lists before but what can I say, quality is quality.

Let’s do this in parts. I’ll do Gen Fics here and shipping ones in another post.

Part 1: Gen fics/Low Romance fics. (If there’s a pairing it’s subtle and not explicit at all).

Jason Todd: The Not-So-Outlaw by GoAwayOlivia: One of the best Jason-centric fics ever in my opinion. Is mostly a New 52 version of Jason in which he and the OG Outlaws save the world and in doing so Jason accidentally has his lifetime of traumatic memories shared with Superman and ends up getting a pardon for all his crimes as Red Hood and is convinced to go back to Gotham and take his life back. Queue inevitable meddling from Tim.

Batman: Arkham Compendium by LananiA3O: The definitive Jason Arkham Knight-verse series. There’s a fic for the before, the after, it’s comprehensive and oh so amazing, chronicling Jason’s time as Robin, his captivity with the Joker, his preparations for invading Gotham, his return to the family and his recovery from trauma. The way it handle’s Jason’s relationship with Dick, Tim and Barbara and his mental health and recovery is especially amazing. It’s basically worth watching an Arkham Knight let’s play just to read this fic.

All the Roofs of Uncertainty by Kieron_ODuibhir: Another great Jason reconciliation fic based on the Pre-Crisis Jason. In this one, Dick is critically injured during a world-wide invasion, and the one who finds him happens to be Red Hood. While getting him help from the JLU’s field hospital, he ends up interacting with the batfam and a bit of soul-searching ensues.

Cigarette Smoke and Snark by ScaryScarecrows: Set in the Arkham verse but also fuses a lot of comics Jason. His personality is especially closer to Rebirth Jason. Just a series of one shots, and a few connected arcs, most of them with dark humor and a bit of angst. The real gold in this fic that makes it different and a must read though is the Militia fics, which detail Jason interacting with his Militia in heartfelt and hilarious situations.

Misadventures of the Baby BatBros by PrettyMissKitty: An AU fic where Jason and Dick befriended Tim as a kid before Jason died. This one is ongoing, but it has amazing versions of both Tim and Jason. What I especially love about this fic is that it really takes the time and effort to point out and highlight Jason’s strengths and what made him a great Robin, and also has the most adorable version of baby Tim ever. Jason calls him a ‘a goddamn baby seal’ like come on. There’s also some fics that pick up after Jason comes back including a reconciliation fic and a very interesting body-swapping fic. Has hints of JayTim but it’s very light and wholesome.

show me yesterday, for i can’t find today by redtruthed: Robin Jay and Red Hood Jay time travel and switch places when Jason comes up against screw-up villain the Time-Twizler. Angst, post-reconciliation and a bit of timeline-fixing ensues as the Batfam is confronted with the younger Jason, and the younger Batman helps reaffirm that older Jason is still loved. Really great depiction of past Batman and both Jasons in particular, it’s got the feels.

Jason Todd - Collector of Strays  by whatomen: Also ongoing, this one is a mix of New 52, Rebirth and some hints of Arkham Knight Jason. Basically details Jason coming back to Gotham (pre any reconciliation, the bats still see him as an enemy and he still hates them) and then systematically failing to mind his own business, working his way up from adopting a dog, to a cat, to some kids and then it all starts to crumble around him as Oliver Queen and the bats start to get involved. What makes this fic special, to me, is actually his close relationship with New 52-version Roy and the perfect Oliver Queen, not to mention showing off how put together Jason can actually be while barely holding himself together.

Dark Angels and Demon Brats by RandomReader13: An ongoing AU wherein Jason is still with the League of Assassins and he develops a close relationship to Damian and his cousin Mara as a teacher/bodyguard/champion/brother. What’s particularly great about it is the way it depicts Jason with Damian, Mara and Talia in a way that feels really heartfelt as well as interesting and makes a point of using Arab words and phrases between them all.

Nests and Cages by LanternWisp, A freaking amazing AU that is heavily pre-crisis Jason, that features his fall as Red Hood, his private and public reconciliation with Bruce and the batfam, insight that he is actually Shiva and a certain martial artists’s son and Cass’s half brother, and his reintroduction to Gotham as Red Bat. Aside from the freaking awesome revelation of his parentage in this story, what make sit amazing is the way Jason reconciles with and accepts both Bruce and Talia as his soul-parents, you might say, as well as makes peace with his biological heritage. Not to mention it gives Jason a slick new power and has a hilarious interlude from the perspective of a Gothamite who is so done with the Wayne lovechild cover-up drama.

Piece By Broken Piece by M00n_Slippers: Shameless plug for my own ongoing fic, which is mostly Rebirth-based with references to New 52 and pre-crisis events. It features Dick inviting Jason to the Run-Offs ex-villain support group, and pretty much focuses on Jason’s traumas and psychology. What I think sets this fic apart is the relationship between Dick and Jason and the misconceptions both of them have about each other.

[collective-laugh]

The Parent Trap - Request

Warnings: Swearing, tomfoolery

Rating: SFW

Word Count: 2100 and some change

So I wrote this with the intent of leaving the child(ren)’s origin ambiguous (whether they were birthed or adopted, etc.) and I didn’t give any of them names, but I did assign them genders and personalities. You either get adorable little children or asshole teenagers. No in between.

Also, the MC is gender ambiguous and referred to as ‘Baba’ by all of the children.

I really, really loved this prompt and it was a lot of fun to write!

Asra

Asra is basically this kid’s parent anyway.

He lets her “help out” around the shop and she likes giving back far too much change to customers she think are nice

MC and their kid, this little girl with the brightest eyes he’s ever seen and two little braids adorning her head like a crown, and it couldn’t be more obvious when she tries to set Asra and the Apprentice up

She’s too young to remember when they were together the first go round, and the Apprentice still doesn’t remember any of that, but that doesn’t deter the little girl at all

While she’s playing outside with the other kids, she walks over to the Bread Man’s shop and asks him for his “finest loaf o’ pumpkin bread”

Obviously, it’s bread daddy, and he gives her best piece of pumpkin bread goddammit

She manages to hide it in the little satchel Asra gave her, and she only eats a little off it, she swears, and joins her friends in their game of tag

She has this whole date planned out in that little head of hers. She wanted to light candles but her Baba is smart enough to keep the candles out of her reach, so she settles on putting two mismatched plates on the dining table and the slightly lumpy pumpkin bread in the center

Baba and Asra are downstairs in the shop, chatting together, and she clears her throat as loudly as her little vocal cords will allow her

“Dinner is served!” She announces, and Asra grins and Baba smiles and shakes their head

“Will you be joining us, milady?” Baba asks, still leaning on the counter

She scoffs, “No. It’s a date.”

Baba lets their head fall in their hands, and they laugh, before looking back at her, “A date, hm? Is it for Asra and the nice Bread Man?”

She just stands there, fuming at how horribly her plan was proceeding, and she scoffs again, “No! It’s for you and Asra.”

They both laugh this time, and Asra says, to Baba, “Well, shall we?”

Baba pauses a second, like they’re considering, but they smile, “We shall.”

She wouldn’t admit to peeping in on them eating their bread, but it was definitely worth it when she saw Baba lean across the table to kiss Asra.

Nadia

Nadia doesn’t know the Apprentice has a child at first - much less two little ones

They have a four year old and a twelve year old

She learns when the Apprentice comes to the palace for the first time, one child on their hand, and the other skipping ahead of them

The twelve year old boy asks far too many questions and the four year old boy is far too attracted to shiny things, but Nadia can’t help but fall in love with both of them. While the Apprentice is doing much of their searching, she volunteers to watch the both of them

And, obviously, the children fall right back in love with her, and devise their plan

The elder of the two decides to work on Nadia, and commands the younger to work on their Baba, because, hey, who can resist their baby?

They go searching for Nadia and Baba, respectively, but end up meeting at the fountain

4 asks, “Did you get them here?”

12 just shrugs and says that he found them at the fountain

The two of them get closer to listen in on the conversation

Baba says, “I don’t even remember either of them being born, Nadia...I don’t really know if they’re of my body.” They sigh, and the boys look at one another, “I love them, more than anything, don’t get me wrong...I just…”

Nadia puts a hand under Baba’s chin, and tells them, “You are the best parent I’ve ever met, regardless.”

And Baba’s little boys squeal with Nadi leans in to kiss them.

Julian

Julian was understandably nervous when he found out that the Apprentice was the parent of a lovely little boy...and even more nervous when he found out that lovely little boy was thirteen years old and nearing the puberty years

Julian knew that more than others, and the kid most certainly did not like him whatsoever when their ‘Baba’ tried to introduce them

But, the Apprentice does their best to make him feel better, and truly, he believes them, and he wants to be their for this kid

So, basically, Julian and MC were already together when MC’s kid met Julian

It isn’t until the boy sneaks out in the middle of the night, after the whole “you’re not my dad!” spiel, and Julian manages to find him before he’s gotten into too much trouble, if you discount the fact he was currently being held up by a pair of ruffians

Julian pulls a switcherooney and manages to get him away from them, running like the goddamn wind

That’s the kind of switch that lets the kid know that maybe this guy wasn’t so bad

The first time Baba kicks Julian out is after a really bad fight, and the kid only catches part of it, something about commitment and sacrifice

Julian leaves, slamming the door behind him, and Baba just breaks down in the kitchen, crying

The kid obviously checks on Baba first, making sure they’re alright, but after they try to tell him to just go back to bed, he sneaks out of his window to try and follow Julian

He finds him, sitting by the docks near Auntie Mazelinka’s house, pushing the eyepatch off his head and ugly crying

Julian basically tells him to go back home, that it was dangerous, and acts like he wasn’t just sobbing by the water in the pale moonlight

The kid has had it up to here with the damn theatrics, and he’s probably the most blunt in telling him to go back, that they belong together, and he looks the most unimpressed, but he’s also probably the most genuine

He sees how happy Julian makes his parent, and...he’s not as opposed to calling him ‘Papa’ as he puts on

Muriel

So Muriel

He doesn’t like the Apprentice, regardless of how much they show up and have supper with him and bring him groceries and talk to him

Fuck no

Okay, so he does like them, and values their company, but their kids give him a headache

They’ve got identical twins, and they’re these teenage boys who think they own the world and compete only with the formerly late count in arrogance, and Inanna fucking loves them, for some reason

The Apprentice - their “Baba” - just smiles when they crack jokes or chastises them when they take a joke too far, and is a fair parent, if a little lax

Muriel honestly does the “Office” camera look (you know the one) whenever they do some stupid shit

Once, whenever Muriel tried to talk to one of them, calling him by name, the other would respond but Muriel knows they’re fucking with him, and then it happens again, until it happens a grand total of fourteen times in the span of their two day visit

Muriel’s just done with these little shits, but MC keeps apologizing for their behavior and giving them That Look™, which has them withering under their stare

They see how much Muriel likes Baba and how much Baba likes Muriel, and figure that they might as well use their “super awesome twin power to hook two of their favorite people up” and the other sneers and says, “call it ‘hook up’ again and I’ll put leeches in your bed”

So, much like Nadia’s, one of the twins heads out to get Muriel and the other works on Baba

He has a note written in Baba’s hand (because obviously they have their handwriting down pat) and gives it to Muriel, and immediately he’s burning like a thousand suns as the implication that the Apprentice wanted to meet him in the market for...a date?

Muriel kind of sets into overdrive, and something very, very similar is happening at home (The Other One is convincing Baba that there’s a sale in the market, so, not too similar but hey)

The twin leads Muriel into town, and, like the bosses they are, slip off in the market when Baba sees Muriel

Before they can get an earful from Baba, they’re already gone

Muriel mentions the note, and Baba is confused as shit until they realize their sons were up to it again, but they end up shopping together, spending the afternoon together in a nice, amicable manner

Also they kiss for the first time but

Portia

So the Apprentice has the most adorable baby son, and Portia melts everytime she sees the little toddler just toddling along

Portia is ecstatic when they bring the little three year old into the palace when Countess Nadia hires them, and Portia is more than excited to watch him when she’s not helping with the investigation

She loves children, but wasn’t too fussed about the whole baby-making, considering the stories she’s heard

So, she loves this ready-made kid, but is kind of worried about when the mystery is solved

She genuinely likes the Apprentice and wants a relationship, but she doesn’t exactly know how to tell them that without making it all about the kid

Now, the boy loves Portia as much as Portia loves him, and has an infinite amount of love for Pepi

The Apprentice is chilling with Portia just outside her cottage, having a picnic, the kid playing with Pepi, who’s careful not to use her claws, and licks him until he squeals

The Apprentice laughs, and they and Portia sit around them, drinking lemonade, and it’s quiet, and nice, and Portia is soaking up the sun, despite the fact that she would burn like a lobster if she was out too long

Then, the Apprentice is ecstatic when the kid manages to pull himself up without a table or anything and toddle over to the both of them, babbling Baba’s name, and then…

“Baba?” He plops down on Portia’s lap and she just

M E L T S

But then it’s a little awkward because oh my gods, this kid thinks I’m his parent, and his actual parent is sitting right here

But the Apprentice just leans over and pecks her on the lips, and she realizes it’s not that bad after all

Lucio

Lucio is definitely used to being the sassiest, most arrogant, person in the room

And then he meets the Apprentice, and he’s like, head over heels, but he can’t really, like...make a move, considering he’s dead

But, when he comes back to life, after stealing their body (he gave it back) he’s pulling out all the stops

And this person will. Not. love him.

He thinks it might be him at first, might be that he’s too extra, so he tries to rectify it by sending a carriage of roses straight to their shop

It isn’t until he comes down to the shop for himself that he realizes that they have a teenage kid - at first he thought it was the Apprentice’s apprentice - who looks at him like he’s an annoying scab

They’re a smartass, and make glib comments, and the only reason they don’t have their head up their ass is because their nose is so high in the air

But they love their parent and try to close the door on Lucio because ‘leave them alone, goddammit’

And almost immediately, the Apprentice tells them, “Swear! Who’s at the door?” They come to the door, and mutter, “Fuck.”

Their kid just has this smug look on this face, and the Apprentice invites him in,

So now Lucio’s the smug one, while the kid’s the one who has this fish out of water look

“Baba, is that really the best -”

“Hush now, and go put the kettle on. We’ve got company.���

So, this is basically the parent trap but...with Meredith and the dad instead of the mom and dad

The Apprentice’s kid can’t stand Lucio, just because they’re so similar in personality, and has heard of all the shitty things he’s done, so they’ll stop at nothing to make sure the Apprentice doesn’t fall for him

They fall for him

Lucio makes increasing visits to the shop, and their Baba visits the palace a ridiculous amount of times, and they just don’t understand it

Eventually, they come to terms with the fact that their Baba’s “playing the field” and whatnot, and they and Lucio get in some of the worst arguments or funniest conversations, and the Apprentice is glad to see their two favorite people getting along

[vaguely-concerned]

I’m back! Temeraire Let’s Read:Tongues of Serpents

- Tharkay literally shows up at the beginning of the second sentence; STRONG start, I highly approve, great improvement on every level

fsdafhsadkjlfh cooly tossing tables and throwing people’s drinks in their faces in the bar brawl fkjsdhfksdalfhasdj this ain’t his first rodeo huh

- these dumbasses having to clean up from the bar brawl before going home so their dragons don’t go out there and demand to have a word with the dudes who bullied their lil boys... oh my  g o d 

- “it was true, if one wished to be very particular about such things, that laurence was a convicted felon”  t e m e r a i r e... ~*technicality schmechnicality*~ it was barely treason at all really  

also temeraire being in super protective mother hen/older brother mode over the eggs is perfect  

- Jane Rolands bluff, jovial letter writing is Everything

- “Have Temeraire throw him overboard,” Tharkay had suggested laconically, when Laurence had escaped to his quarters for a little relief and some piquet . . . “He can fish him out again later,” he added, as an afterthought.

A VISIONARY. An unmitigated joy. “Have Temeraire throw him overboard”. He says what we’re all thinking. 

- AAAAAAAAH MUTUAL FIRST NAME BASIS!!!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL WTF HAVE THEY BEEN DOING ON THIS TRIP TELL ME IN DETAIL WHEN THE SWITCH HAPPENED PLEASE (also I really like that the first instance we see is “But Tenzing, I cannot trust myself” b/c that was literally the whole point of that scene in VoE. laurence... yes you can. tfw your crush is the goodiest of twoshoes and can barely move for it and doesn’t even knoooow)

- y’know if Laurence could get over this thought that asking a direct question to a friend is just ~*intolerably rude*~ he could get so much shit done 

(I guess tharkay, clearly a follower of the rosa diaz school of ‘no one is ever going to know shit about me’, is like fuck yeah I’ve struck gold with this one)

- “So spake the pot” oh I do love Actually Pretty Chill Dad William Laurence finally letting the snark out more frequently, it suits him very much (I guess his main claims to fame in a lot of circles is a) treason and b) spoiling his dragon rotten)

- rankin’s name is mentioned and everyone’s like HIIISSSSSSSS and RIGHTLY SO FUCK THAT GUY JUSTICE FOR LEVITAS

- temeraire is talking to the egg about consent and saying he’ll make sure it won’t have to do anything it doesn’t want to fjklsadhfkaslhfsd my heart

- lol lol lol weeeell in hindsight who could’ve guessed captain and second in command of the dragon pirates would have a materialistic superficial kid huh

- . . . Granby said, with a look half affection and half exasperation oh granby baby still carrying that torch huh

- lol lol lol just the implication of sara maden and laurence silently tops up his drink and he’s like ‘cheers’ and they’re both quiet for a moment flskdfs 

if you think about it that must’ve been such a wild day in his life tho -- like first  Laurence furiously fires him for being gone at a crucial moment and then immediately unfires him when it turns out he’s been chasing a lead and being the only goddamn person really working on solving all their problems (as is his wont), then he finds out his ex is getting married and steadfastly pretends it doesn’t even bother him, lol what are feelings I heard only losers have them (extremely relatable -- I guess he must have known it was in the cards though, because he specifically tells Laurence at the beginning he didn’t intend to go back to Istanbul, so it’s been over for a while?) then they go on a life and death chase through the sewers, and THEN, before he knows it, after half a book of being kind of a mistrustful dick to him, Laurence does a 180° and is there offering eternal friendship with big soulful eyes after seeing him get upset one time and y’know I guess I see why that got to him lol 

- aw man I know it’s never going to happen but I am getting sort of wistful and teary-eyed over this pirate (cough cough I mean legally sanctioned privateer of course) AU that’s going entirely to waste

here are some tags I left on this superb piece of fanart: #I just got to the part where tharkay makes the suggestion and like... I know it's not happening #but what a shimmering tender mother of pearl dream to carry in one's heart lol #just a lil pirate family out there wrecking shit #temeraire would get wind of what the east india company actually does and they'd inevitably turn against them and fuck 'em up... *sigh* #fix it fic: the boys kiss and the east india company is stopped from committing further atrocities! all is well

so that’s basically my position on that

- “I’m sure there’s nothing too dangerous out there, in the fucking untamed Australian wilderness,” Temeraire said, tempting fate to a frankly anxiety-inducing extent 

- hell yeah demane is the only one with presence of mind to actually find some food; you go buddy <3

- my boy tharkay slinking off in the middle of the night without telling anyone and solving everyone’s problems... *dabs at eyes* just like old times

- oh wow rankin really is just a piece of shit in every way huh

- fhasdklhfsadfsad temeraire being like ‘I know tharkay is a strong independent human who is perfectly capable of making his own decisions and don’t need no dragon... but also he’s clearly one of my humans tho why is he riding on another dragon :(’ THE CUTEST SHIT

- temeraire silently dissing his dad over refusing to believe in ghosts ~*except*~ for the holy spirit adslfhaskjdlhfs

- demane taking in the strange little hatchling... im crey... he truly hits me straight in the heart every time

also laurence steadfastly Doing The Right Thing and following his convictions is so deeply healing after all that bullshit he went through in the last book... makes me feel all safe and calm inside haha

- actually when you think about it it’s so fucked up that they apparently just straight up murder dragons with birth defects in england as a matter of course b/c like. dragons come out of the egg fully sentient and capable of understanding what’s being said around them. kulingile literally understood every word they were saying as they discussed whether or not they should be KILLING HIM.  j e s u s  thank god for demane and laurence’s stubborn insistence on being good

- temeraire going straight from mother hen to extremely impatient and jealous older brother the moment an egg hatches never gets old. all these dumb little babies just complaining and stealing his crew ugh (HOW FUCKING CUTE is him deciding kulingile could be a scholar or something tho #dragon rights)

- “I wish,” Temeraire said to Laurence, “I do wish that other dragons were not always thinking me peculiar . . . it makes one doubtful.” BABY BOY NOOOO he’s just so sweet and he’s so secretly scared that laurence might resent him a little after the whole treason business and OW right in the parental heart that fucks me up

- Temeraire’s indignant “Oh!”s always soothe my soul it’s so adorable

- little emily roland yelling “damn you all for cowards!” after a bunch of grown men fleeing while she reloads her gun and takes aim again is incredible poetic cinema (and also demane joining her... I love the bond they’ve got going on in the background here)

- aw poor sipho :( at least he still has temeraire to nerd out with and stuff but that’s some difficult shit to process for a kid

kulingile bobbing around tethered to temeraire like a small balloon at a fair is such an image, what a blessing, temeraire’s exasperated brand of babysitting is so funny

- laurence being a Dad to the kids in his crew... mana from heaven

- YESSS they crossed the endless miles of DEADLY AUSTRALIAN WILDERNESS so laurence could be MORTIFIED as the emperor’s adopted son at a party this is the content I am here for

- hell yeah let’s play a round of pimp my captain!!!!!!!!!!

“And,” Laurence said. “And you are certain that this should be appropriate for the occasion; not, perhaps, excessive?” I can’t  b r e a t h e  he can’t even say shit because his dragon boi is so happy fsaldfjsldhfasjlh and then granby making fond fun of him what a beautiful cherry on top of this sweet sweet laurence being embarrassed sundae 

- william ‘I’m here to kick ass and describe menswear in fastidious detail and I’ve already kicked my own ass twice today’ laurence strikes again

- this description of the dragons sitting around squabbling as they watch shiny sparkly things is the most endearing few pages in modern literature do not @ me

- it’s kind of fucked up that the emperor of china is giving laurence more of the sort of warmth and validation a father should than his actual dad ever did lol. u did good curing the dragon plague, weird european adopted son I am proud of you

- every time temeraire is really upset about something my soul suffers a small wound

thank god he doesn’t actually know what opium is really used for most of the time yet (also I am obligated to divulge that I am entirely charmed by tharkay’s sardonic yet clear eyed cynicism on the issue, I cannot be anything but what I am and he hasn’t had enough proper page time in this half of the book so I will take what I can get)  

- ...I kind of just realized that I imagine the sea serpents basically as long-ass gyaradoses... OH NO

I will say I respect the ‘give no fucks’ vibe they give off -- it’s a real ‘we’re here to eat fish & party and if you try to get in our way we’re gonna have you as a snack’ mood and I cannot fault them for it

- iskierka is such a fuckboi it’s glorious 

- nOOOOOO tharkay is leaving again fuck ;_______; is his life just an endless procession of semi-unwillingly having to go back to istanbul again these days 

Temeraire did not see why Tharkay should have to go so far, only to deliver news; and particularly when he did not seem as though he wished to go, very much. DDDDDDDD: THIS SUCKS you know that when a) he’s letting it show and b) temeraire notices it that he is dragging his heels big time over this lol

‘there can be very little to call you back to this part of the world any time soon’ LAURENCE YOU 24 KARAT IDIOT YOU ARE HERE HE CAME TO AUSTRALIA FOR YOU ALREADY WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS

all that said whenever I see a ‘Tenzing’ on the page my heart does a happy little dance. ah well now let’s settle in and wait for what horrible catastrophe will happen now that tharkay is gone... come back soon buddy

- ooooooooooooh that is so good, using the last chapter + epilogue to show how the... idk moral wound I guess laurence received victory of eagles has finally healed, that’s so reassuring. he just wants to do good things for good causes and can’t be badgered, cajoled, threatened or convinced to do anything less anymore and it’s all so sweet and well earned. that’s some good development through this book too, from ‘tenzing I cannot trust myself’ to this. excellent stuff

- while I did quite enjoy this book for the character moments it is incredibly weirdly structured? like the beginning drags a bit with the quite uninteresting colony politics and stuff but then they’re finally travelling and then... nothing really happens plot wise before the sea serpents freak the fuck out at the end there lol. I’m mostly a character-oriented reader tho so I’m pretty fine with it.

ETA: actually now that I think about it I’d say that my biggest gripe with this book is that it doesn’t engage at all with the perspective of the native australian people? even though one of the dragons settles down with one group? god knows it’s not like there was no time to dive into it, considering all that time spent in the fucking wilderness lol

we’re going to the inca empire next tho apparently fuck YEAH!!! that’s such an underexplored and extremely interesting part of history, my body is Ready