#and the names can both be linked to something mentioned in those stories also

[herearedragons]

incomplete list of Fallen London things that remind me (hauntingly) of The King In Yellow

the recurring theme of doomed/sickly/obsessive/undead/undying love

the blurring of lines between life and death

a city that has gone "dim" (Carcosa is called dim, London was taken underground)

the sun haunts the narrative and features prominently in situations where people are going insane

artists. artist models. artists and artist models.

generally, the idea of a bohemian lifestyle

symbols and words that burn themselves into your mind (the Yellow Sign/the King In Yellow play if you read the second act, the Correspondence)

I can draw a line between the Masters' robes and the Yellow King's "tatters"

dreams. dream lovers.

yellow honey that takes you into dreams about dream lovers

dreams being a physical place you are transported into (kind of happens in Demoiselle D'Ys and in that one story about the guy in a church. what was it called. In The Dragon's Court? at the VERY least there's a blurring of lines between the dream realm and the physical realm, I say that counts)

a woman featured in a plot about tragic romance turns into stone

cats being linked to appalling secrets (The Repairer of Reputations. that one story about the guy who takes a neglected cat in and follows it to its dead owner.)

misfortune largely having a mundane character and being highlighted by the eldritch rather than brought on by it

there's probably something in the poems section of the book but I don't remember them that well so I'll just go "haha! poetry!" for now.

[copperbadge]

So, I got tagged in a post, and I wrote a bit of a novel in a reblog in drafts, and then I realized that probably it wasn't for the best to post up All That Nonsense when the OP was just making a funny post about Wikipedia's fundraising. And it is a funny post! So I'll link here to the post and where I was tagged but I decided to put my thoughts here. Please take this as a hint to be respectful of OP and the person who tagged me both :)

I will say my initial reaction to seeing Wikipedia selling merch AND asking to be in your will was "Well, they're trying something." It's just such a weird topic to bring up, it's hard to be graceful about it, so I think what they were doing was probably the best you can do.

And the response did make a lot of the points I'd make about making a will and such. In fact, FreeWill is what I made my will with and we recommend them to our donors.

There was a study that came out a decade ago or more, so my numbers probably aren't accurate, but the statistic that knocked me back was that most donors who leave surprise large bequests (gifts to charity in their will) give an average of $17 a year during their lives. So there's likely a reason that Wikipedia is targeting users and not huge donors.

It's an ongoing issue that most people also don't document their bequests. By all means, leave money to charity in your will, they will be happy to have it, but they will be even happier to know ahead of time.

Perfect example, THIS WEEK we got a check for six figures from a woman's estate. It was an eyebrow-raising amount of money for us. My boss, who handles both "eyebrow raising money" and "gifts from dead people", immediately went to look her up in our database.

Which she is not in. We had no idea this woman existed. Never gave to us before.

Had we known she was leaving us this money, my boss would have made sure she understood how grateful we were and like, bought her lunch a couple of times a year, and when she did pass we would have known who to reach out to in order to offer our support.

Instead, he came to me and said, "I have a name and an address," and I set to work to find out why she gave and who we could thank. I found her obit, but she didn't die of anything related to our work. Using information from the obit, I confirmed none of her family were in our database either. I looked up her second husband, mentioned in the obit, and his obit said he died of lung disease, which told me that this gift is because she lost her husband.

This helps because I knew from her obit that they had a blended family; they didn't have any kids together but they each had kids when they married, all of whom are now like, my age. So we want to thank her kids but we want to make sure her stepkids, who lost their dad, get a specific kind of outreach as well. I told my boss their names and he said one of the husband's kids was listed as the executor of the will, but there was nothing (surname-wise) to indicate they were related. I found contact information for that person, and my boss was able to reach out to her. She didn't realize we didn't know about the bequest, and now she and her siblings are talking to us about their dad and their own health while her stepsiblings, whose mother left us this very generous gift, are getting condolences and thanks and getting to say how she will be thanked in our documentation.

And I mean, that's why my job exists, to fill in those blanks. We just...would really like to have told her thank-you while she was alive.

SO! The moral of the story is: please consider leaving money to charity in your will if you can, use FreeWill to make your will (they will also help you document your gift) and let the charity know you're leaving them an estate gift. Not only will you maybe get cool swag but especially if it's a concern close to your heart, you'll get to build your relationship with the charity.

[miorirenkova]

“dream about me” CHAPTER 01

park sunghoon x fem!reader

“park that car, drop that phone

sleep on the floor, dream about me.”

CHAPTER 01 , CHAPTER 02 , CHAPTER 03, CHAPTER 04, CHAPTER 05, CHAPTER 06

synopsis: you weren’t a good person—everyone knew that. cruel, sharp-tongued, and ruthless in high school. but you weren’t a killer. at least, that’s what you told yourself.

just as you were trying to change, news breaks: your high school enemy, park hana, has taken her own life before university.

and her brother?

he’s convinced it’s your fault. determined to make you pay. but the deeper he digs, the more you both realize—hana’s death isn’t as simple as it seems.

warnings: heavy mentions of suicide and bullying, violence, abuse, terrible parenting, heavy topics like death (mentions of a character’s death), gaslighting, manipulation, corruption, blackmail, guilt, trauma, revenge, LOTS of angst, fixation, smut (smut warnings will be given in the smut chapter!!), forgive me if i miss any/more might be added

note: i am so damn sorry for such a late release as i said itd be released in a week but i took a lott more. i was having a hard time sorting the plot out and i also had to go out of city but to compensate i will try to release the next chapter faster!! pls forgive me </3 also this first chapter might be a little boring as its just getting into it and the first chapters might be more story driven rather than romance, but bare with me it gets better!

song for this chapter: anthems for a seventeen year old girl

whole paragraphs in italic are flashbacks of past events and color text without quotations are lyrics ! if they have quotations too, they are lyrics + dialogue in story.

playlist link: click here !

mdni . hate comments will be deleted.

!!.under cut.!!

————————————————————————

the rain comes down in a slow, steady drizzle, soaking into the fresh dirt covering the coffin. black umbrellas dot the cemetery, shielding faces already cast in shadows. the air is thick with something unspoken—grief, guilt, or maybe just the weight of the truth no one wants to acknowledge.

you stand at the very back, far from the neat rows of mourners.

you shouldn’t really be here. but you couldn’t get yourself to believe the news until you saw it yourself.

and here you are, standing at her funeral.

hana’s funeral.

park hana, the same girl you used to bully.

her funeral.

the whispers haven’t stopped since the news broke, and they only grow louder now. hana’s friends glare at you through their tears, some shaking their heads like you have no right to be here.

maybe you don’t.

you couldn’t think of a proper answer to the dilemma in your head. the whispers and glares felt loud. screaming at you.

and his silence?

it was the loudest.

sunghoon hasn’t looked at you once. he stands by her parents, his jaw clenched so tight it looks like it might crack. his fingers twitch at his sides like he’s barely holding himself together.

the priest’s voice drones on, but you can’t hear the words. all you can hear is the way hana’s voice used to curl around lies so easily, the way she’d smile just a second too late, the way she’d say your name like it was something filthy. and yet, she’s the one in the casket. she’s the one everyone cries for.

the way she would easily get everyone to see you as the bad one. her as the helpless, kind, smart girl. they didn’t know the way they would spit her words, laced with venom, at you. the way she would mock you.

to others, it was her just trying to fight back. but you could tell those words weren’t a try. she knew it affected you.

your fingers curl into your sleeves. you don’t cry. not because you don’t want to, but because you don’t know if you should.

you don’t know whether your sad, angry or confused. you don’t even know who your sad, angry or confused with.

slowly, the people who had gathered pay their respects and start pouring out.

but sunghoon doesn’t move. he stays there, staring down at the grave like if he just looks hard enough, she’ll come back. slowly, as if he knows you’re still here, his head turns, his dark eyes locking onto yours.

the rage in them is ice-cold. calculating.

you swallow hard. you should leave.

you don’t know what to feel anymore.

————————————————————————

you groan as you slam your phone down on your table, the sound of the news in the background blaring in your ears, despite being muffled due to its source being the living room.

“park hana, high school graduate committed suicide in summer break before college reopens. the second suicide of a student from this high school. is this a cause for concern?” you hear the reporter on the news channel say, the words sounding like an annoying ring to you.

you can’t wrap your head around why it’s bothering you so much. maybe it’s the fact that she was the very person you used to bully. and the fact that there are people who believe its you, whose responsible for her suicide.

maybe you are.

but deep down, something’s screaming at you, telling you not to feel guilty, that there’s so much more to it.

she even got the scholarship she lost and was so fucking happy, her happiness was almost contagious. too bad she held venom when it came to you.

you had no right to comment but it felt so unnatural. almost like she did it for a purpose other than escaping.

but it’s not like anyone would hear out the person who bullied the victim, right?

————————————————————————

the campus is too bright. too loud.

it was the first day of college for everyone. but for you, it was anything but the fantasies of perfection you had.

it couldn’t be, when the events of last week hovered above you like a sword waiting to fall.

the campus was too full of people who don’t know who you are—who you were.

maybe it was good they didn’t know who you are. they wouldn’t start pointing their fingers at you. start looking at you the way your old schoolmates would. bring up your rotten but recent past.

but he was there. of course he was.

you really should have changed colleges. but it was too late when you found out.

when hana got the scholarship for this college, turns out sunghoon applied too and got in. great, both the park siblings would be there to make your life worse than it already is.

except, one of them is gone.

and the other? he looked at you like he wanted your blood, then and there.

thankfully, you hadn’t run into him yet. and you were planning to keep it that way. you would stay away from him as much as you could. and plus, it’s not like he would want to run into you either. he probably wants you out of his sight too. its a surprise he didn’t change colleges himself.

you grip the strap of your bag tighter and keep walking.

it’s not like you didn’t expect this. hana’s death wasn’t just a tragedy—it was a spectacle, a story passed around like a curse. and you, as always, were at the center of it.

a murder suspect who walked free. a bully who got what she deserved.

you find your lecture hall and slip inside, choosing a seat near the back. you groaned, you really didn’t want to take this class early morning.

you even missed the opening assembly because you slept in so you don’t even know what material is being covered. great! as if your day wasn’t bad already!

you looked to your left to examine the person sitting next to you. they.. looked sweet? maybe they could help you out. you could atleast try? it doesn’t hurt.

“hey,” you say, keeping your voice low. “sorry, i kind of zoned out earlier,” lie. you blatantly slept in but now we can’t go saying that and ruining our reputation, can we? “do you know what chapters we’re covering?”

the student—some girl with dark-rimmed glasses and a lazy slouch—glances up, blinking like she’s just now realizing someone is talking to her. “uh… yeah. professor said we’re going through chapters one to three this week.”

“oh, thanks.” you nod, relief trickling in. at least someone is willing to speak to you like a normal person.

she pauses, then adds, “you new here?” now focusing all his attention on you instead.

“..isn’t everyone new? i mean it’s the first day.” you ask, confusion settling inside you. isn’t it everyone’s first day?

“not really, some people took extra classes here to get a head start in the summer vacations. including me.” the girl replied, partially dividing her attention now to take down what the professor was saying. honestly, you were kind of blurring out the professor’s words. you definitely need to catch up later.

you nod before focusing back on the lecture, making small conversation with her as class went on, getting to know her name, emi, as well.

after class finishes, you drop by the vending machines and grab a snack. damn that professor’s lecture made you thirsty and you didn’t even talk that much. it also made you hungry, somehow.

you grabbed a drink and some chips, shoving the chips into your bag before opening the drink, letting the refreshing liquid cool your throat.

you take out your phone and scroll mindlessly through your phone, waiting for your next class when—

a shoulder slams into yours, hard. your breath stumbles out of you, balance shifting as your bag slips from your fingers. you barely register the thud before the realization sinks in, before the air around you turns razor-sharp.

you look up to see who you bumped into when your heart drops.

sunghoon stands in front of you, the overhead lights making his features look even colder, sharper. he doesn’t say anything. he just stares.

but his silence is worse than words. worse than the whispers from the funeral.

you swallow down the bitterness rising in your throat and force yourself to move, bending down to grab his bag that fell. yours barely hung off your shoulder but thankfully did not fall. his on the other hand, did fall.

the moment your fingers brush the strap, another hand gets there first.

“don’t bother.” his voice is quiet, but it cuts through everything. sunghoon snatches the bag from your hand, throwing it in his shoulder where it originally sat.

what the hell, man!?

you straighten up, meeting his gaze fully for the first time in months. his eyes are dark, unreadable, but there’s something behind them. something furious. something unforgiving.

“uh- sorry.. didn’t mean to bump into you.” you bow down awkwardly, apologising. please, please, just leave me alone..

“of course you’re fucking here,” he mutters.

and even before you can hear and process his words, he’s gone. disappearing into the crowd like he was never there. but his words stay. they wrap around you like chains, heavier than the whispers, heavier than the guilt.

you thought time would dull it. that after everything, after summer, after her, maybe he’d let it go.

but now, standing there in the middle of the hallway with everyone still watching, you realize—

sunghoon isn’t ready to let you forget. and maybe, neither are you.

————————————————————————

you felt your heart drop as you heard the announcer take your name. your name for the scholarship.

how?

how could this happen? you never meant to win. all you wanted to do was to make sure she would never win. you didn't even want this.

and yet, here you are.

you knew the look on hana's face without even having to look at her. hell, you couldn't look at her. you felt too guilty, even though you would never admit it.

you ran to the nearest bathroom, desperately wanting to avoid those disgusting stares that they were all giving you.

no, not all of them were bad stares. there were people congratulating you too.

but her stare, and the others who saw this differently? it was enough to drive you insane.

..what the fuck had just happened?!

you were snapped out of your thoughts when you heard your cat claw against your sheets, the unpleasant but comforting sound snapping you out of your thoughts.

the memories of that day. you felt so confused and lost. you didn’t know whether you should feel happy or guilty. even if you caused it.

even if you were the reason hana lost that scholarship.

but you weren’t trying to get it yourself either.

were you truly, deep down, indirectly responsible for her death?

you wanted her out of your goddamn brain.

but you couldn’t.

even when you went on a long drive, desperate to think about anything but that.

anything but her. anything but them.

your hands roughly gripped the steering wheel, the parking lot feeling ever so silent.

park that car, drop that phone.

you get out of the car, leaning on it as you slowly slid down it onto the cold floor of the parking lot, tears stinging your eyes.

sleep on the floor, dream about me.

flashbacks enter your mind once again, torturing you.

you wince as the floor of the lot scratches your knee, making you adjust your legs.

reaching for your phone in your packet, you take it out and unlock it.

your fingers tremble as you scroll through your old messages, ones you swore you’d never look at again. but something—something—pushes you to keep going.

then you see it.

a chat from hana.

you hadn’t seen it as you had muted her messages a long time ago due to not wanting to see her messages in a group chat you shared with her.

the timestamp makes your stomach drop.

sent the night before she died.

“i’ll make sure you start wishing it was you instead.”

————————————————————————

end note: kind of short and boring but forgive me it gets better trust </3 also interaction and feedback is appreciated! ty!!

[74thcookie]

PureMilk/ShadowVanilla AU List.

I still have no free time from school so once I do I’ll put a link or just make separate blogs for each AUs I made (mostly by accident). This post is just a reminder to not only others but also myself on what I made so far.

I was inspired to constantly post my ideas after many months ago I watch a video of GinjaninjaOwO/June where she mentions that she doesn’t want to die with her ideas. I also don’t want to die with my ideas and I’m a small guy. I just want my weird ideas to be seen even if it’s hated or liked.

Note: In all this AUs I tried my best to mix both the in game PVSM and the fandom one (the ones that are commonly used) so it would be a bit fun but also grounded. I want to also say I have played crk since 2022, I stop at the start of golden cheese arc and came back to shadow milk. So I have a lot of catching up, this is the first time I interacted with the fandom. I need to mention that since I don’t want others to tell me again that I ruin these characters.

CondensedMilkAU/EvaporatedExtractAU

An AU where it focuses mostly on the Sage of Truth and how he balance his life between his usual work and his new life of being a Mother of two demon children while trying to live a normal cookie.

It takes place many many years after his first meeting with the Truthless Recluse.

It was made by accident after the concept of a burnt out Sage was made and it was later developed into its own thing.

The CondensedMilkAU is the original name of the AU based on the concept/doodle comics that uses the characters of the Burntout Sage/Mama Berry with his children the Demon/Devil Siblings.

The first comics and other comics that are doodle drawn under the CondensedMilkAU tag are the concept ideas where we explore possible stories for these characters. Think of it like those early cartoon logic where continuity ain’t really taken seriously but some mentioned events pop out from time to time or info may not make sense as it’s being made.

The EvaporatedExtract is more of a story where I try to make an actual storyline /Game concept based on whats mentioned in the CondensedMilkAU.

It has a lot changed from the CondensedMilkAU but the main concept of the Sage getting burnt out and living a double life to feel alive as Mama Berry remain.

The only change I know that will remain that differentiate it from the CondensedMilkAU:

The Siblings (BlackSapphiCookie and CandyAppleCookie) are adults now but still under the guardianship of the Sage.

Truthless Recluse being a focus of the tutorial guide for the Sage. In this story, TR has done the double life premise before Sage.

The story may have the original Fluff of the CondensedMilkAU but it will explore the dark and degenerate part that can be possible. For example being CandyAppleCookie’s obsession, in the CondensedMilkAU it’s more of an admiration for the Sage but in the EvaporatedExtractAU her admiration is obsession and if not in checked, her actions towards the Sage/Mama Berry would be dangerous and degenerate. Making even the siblings a threat to the Sage.

The Sage was hinted to have done evil stuff before as he weaponizing the truth, it’s just now we get to see him trying to repent for his sins. (I’m not sure if the evil was done by the Sage unintentionally or intentionally).

I had a dream before about a ShadowVanilla AU where it involves making consequence decision matters. We call it the Umbrella..something dream since it has PV breaking and entering another school to get WhiteLilys Umbrella back at night. It has him and Shadow milk exploring the curse school at night and the events made them open to each (I took the concept of it being a game with consequences and apply it to the EvaporatedExtractAU)

There’s a lot that is in this AU but that’s the Summary since not all is set in stone.

This AU was made during late March 2025 or early April 2025. After the release of the SoT and TR skins.

DosedofNightShadeAU/ Sanrio ShadowVanilla/OldManFount/3PM_AU

This concept was originally made an as excuse to draw Pure Vanilla and Shadow Milk in the modern AU still as cookies but the settings are like the April fools. It is an excuse as well to draw them in cute dresses and outfits.

I accidentally made a fanfic of these two loving Kuromi(PV) and MyMelody(SM) after my brain try to debate itself as to why they’d wear the theme Sanrio clothes.

It was based on the concept of “opposites attract” and how similar Kuromi and My Melody are to PVSM in where Kuromi does like to be My Melodys friend but is pissed then her jester clothing, her gang, her parallels to My Melody. Then for My Melody it’s her caring nature and openness to others but a bit aloof. Making PV attracted to Kuromi themes and SM to My Melody is like making them unconsciously into each other or the personality and style that reminded them of the other cookie.

Days after I made the Fanfic I did a doodle of what if The Fount of Knowledge, The Sage of Truth and Shadow Milk are siblings in a modern “human” AU. The headcanons given by the people that comment that initial post inspire me to make a PV version.

Fount was only made after the poll of making him look more motherly type than cutesy

It was supposed to be just two PVs since I always see Classic PV and Awaken PV as one being and TR being his own thing but others are sad that the Fount has no PV of his own. One suggested the Fortune Teller and all hell breaks loose in my green pea sized brain.

The story as of right now compare to the previous AU since it’s made in Mid/Late April of 2025 as a brainrot.

The only concept is ShadowVanilla(Sanrio)in where they are the most healthiest and the kinkest, FountFortune are the middle ground, in where they are the horrors but also hurt comfort. Then SageRecluse, the weirdest and creepiest one, probably dead dove do not eat and any content with those two STAYS IN THE PRIVATE ACCOUNTS.

One concept though I want to keep is that all three SMilks are not innocent. Shamil committed bullying and harassment before, Sage made students go insane due to academics and his ego, Fount committed war crimes that even the police are afraid of him.

I saw floatinglittlestars tag for the AU being 3smpvau which is easy to remember which I love but I know there’s a lot of AUs from other artist that has 3 SM and PV in it.. so gonna call it 3PM_AU like 3:00 pm in the morning where they do something funky. (Especially Fount and Fortune). Though I really like the 3smpvau a lot. It’s very easy to remember

Those two are the ones I can say are AUs. There’s a Fable one but that’s not completely develop since I’ll only finish one of that once the poll is done and my hell is over.

[cripplecharacters]

The "curse as disability" trope is nothing new, and to the extent of my knowledge Eda Clawthorn from Owl House is one of the best examples (A youtuber named Oakwyrm did a great video explaining this)

But thats a curse that involves being transformed into something, I'm curious about a difrent type of curse.

There's a story (I forget if it was a book or movie) where a prince had a "charming curse" and that curse would make him say "charming things" against his will.

If I remeber correctly he could still talk like any other person, but now and again he'd throw out some kind of complaint or other "charming" thing, completly against his will, and despight of how he's actually feeling.

Immediately I saw similarities to the verbal side of tourette syndrome, granted: I know that actual tourettes is about unwanted repetitive movements/sounds and in some cases if you tell someone with tourettes not to say something, they'll say it as a tick (I watched an interview with people who had tourettes and one of them explained a situation where that happend to them)

I'd just like to know, if seeing similarities between this charming curse & tourettes is ableist or not

And if I were to write my own charming curse story would reaserch into tourettes syndrome & it's psychological effects on those who have it be a good idea

Hello!

We also have a post discussing the "curse as disability" trope (and how it relates to Eda in particular) that you can read here [Link]. You may find it helpful.

Without more information about the charming curse you're referring, it's hard to make a judgement on it. I've done some searching for what you may be referring to but haven't been able to find anything about it.

From the sound of it, however, I'm not seeing any real similarities to Tourettes -- at least in my experience. If you hadn't mentioned it, I don't think I would have made the association at all. Again, it's hard to say for sure without knowing what portrayal you're referring to but I don't think it's something you have to worry about.

Verbal tics are about more than just saying something without wanting to. There's a physical component to them too (at least in my experience), kind of like a tightening almost. It's difficult to explain to somebody that doesn't experience it but the closest I can get is the pressure before a sneeze or that desire to scratch an itch.

It's not as "easy" (for lack of a better term) as just saying a phrase or word that you don't want to say.

Tourettes in particular also has several other aspects to it. While other tic disorders can be just verbal or motor tics, the diagnostic criteria for Tourettes specifies both verbal AND motor tics.

There's also the fact that with verbal tics, it's usually the same/similar phrase or words being repeated.

For example, I had a tic a while ago that was quoting an outtake from the Magnus Archives ("Happy little doorbells- doorbells?! Who's here at 12? Fifty minutes early!!"). Quoting the whole thing was pretty rare for me but I would often quote parts of it ("Doorbells?!" and "Fifty minutes early!!" being two of the more common ones). While people can also have multiple different verbal tics, if it's a completely different phrase or word every time it wouldn't really be a tic.

Basically what I'm saying here is that it's different enough that I wouldn't worry about the possible associations and I'd also advise against linking the two in your own work.

Also just to address something real quick:

in some cases if you tell someone with tourettes not to say something, they'll say it as a tick (I watched an interview with people who had tourettes and one of them explained a situation where that happend to them)

This is something that I see a LOT around discussions of Tourettes but honestly, I've never experienced this personally and neither has anyone else I know with Tourettes.

In my experience, verbal tics usually start as something that I say or do that just ends up getting 'stuck' (for lack of a better term). For instance, I have one longterm tic that's kind of clearing my throat. When it started, I was hanging out with a guy that liked to talk a LOT and it was a "yeah, mhm" type sound that I had been making when he spoke so that I was able to respond. I did it so often that it became a habit and then ended up as a tic that I still have now. Likewise, the tic I mentioned earlier started as me jokingly quoting this one video. It became a habit, then a tic. For me, the pipeline from just saying something to it becoming a habit to then becoming a tic is pretty clear to see.

Of course, this won't be the same for everybody.

I'm sure the situation you mentioned (telling somebody with Tourettes not to say something and it becoming a tic) does happen -- it's just not as common as people seem to think and there are other ways that things become tics.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with ironic process theory (IPT, also called the "white bear phenomenon". It basically says that telling somebody not to think of a specific thing makes them more likely to think of it).

(I know you mentioned that it happens in some cases, this is really more of an aside^)

But yeah. In summary, it's hard to tell without more information on the charming curse but in general, I wouldn't link it to Tourettes.

Cheers,

~ Mod Icarus

[yes-no-maybe-soo]

Y'all, Freefall Gambit is so good 😩❤️‍🔥 Loved the return of Onychinus Sylus! He was aura farming so hard in this card, I had to restrain myself from audibly fangirling ijbol. I do feel like this card is sort of preparing us for the upcoming branch, where we'll most likely see alot more of this type of stuff and of this particular dynamic of SylusMC. Of being on opposing sides. Lots of angst and potential for drama, as well as self reflection and growth on especially MC's part.

My sole complaint is that Sylus isn't wearing the suit from the illustration ＿|￣|● I love his Onychinus fit as much as the next person but man... that suit... I will cry if they intend on forever gatekeeping it.

Because I want to avoid spoiling anyone that doesn't have the card yet, I've decided to write down some of my immediate thoughts below the cut.

Let's get the angsty predictions out of the way first – these lines set my alarm bells off. I feel like they are foreshadowing that something of Sylus' will indeed get taken or lost. Or rather someone. That someone ofc being MC, his most precious treasure.

I'll admit that these would not have alarmed me had it not been for certain lines in Sylus' birthday event and in Greedy Heart. I go into why exactly those lines make me uneasy in the linked post, and I just feel like the above ones further reinforces my theory. Call me paranoid or angst obsessed, but I predict pain for both SylusMC and for us in the main story, perhaps even in the coming branch.

On a similar note, just as how Sylus' vulnerability and fear (MC, and MC getting hurt or worse respectively) has been brought up more than once recently, so has MC's. Namely, that Sylus will get caught and put away, or become weak. We see these fears in Valleydream Bloom and in this card, as well as in Where Hearts Live. So things might be building up exactly to that.

I thought it was interesting how MC specifically mentions that the Association have Evol suppressing equipment. Which leads me to believe that said equipment could potentially be used against Sylus at some point to subdue him (provided of course that Sylus' powers are indeed Evol and not demonic/draconic based, but that is an eventual topic for another day). Idk but something tells me that Sylus will get captured whether willingly (most likely) or unwillingly. After all, we do see Sylus behind bars in the music video to Visions Opposées.

Could it be foreshadowing or just a neat visual? Only time will tell.

Me personally though, I am leaning towards the former, and I can see both MC's and Sylus' fears coming to fruition. Maybe even in a connected way (MC gets kidnapped and/or hurt and Sylus jumps in to save her but gets weakened or subdued in doing so, or Sylus gets captured by the Association, MC gets gravely injured trying to save him and maybe in the process triggers Sylus' dragon form and with it MC's memories? Boom. Several birds one stone. Helluva plotline imo)

What I still don't believe will come to pass however is either of them perma dying. This is an otome gacha. The main character nor LI can't die, especially not in a game as young and fresh as Love and Deepspace. So on that front I am not at all worried. Doesn't mean the angst we do get won't hurt a lot, though. But that being said, SylusMC will persevere in the end. Trust. Neither will let the other get torn away from them. Either will move heaven and earth to bring their lover back come what may.

Moving on...

I thought this was a nice callback to Sylus' anecdote

Here Sylus is revealed to actually be a sort of deepspace Robin Hood. We stan.

And the crowd cheered!!!

Also this is actually why Sylus jumped out of the plane. Man needed some cool and fresh air after this comment made all his blood flow south...

This makes me cackle 😭 bro is so unserious. And actually kind of insane, but again, we stan.

MC is living the dream. Do you know what I'd sacrifice to wrap my arms around that waist?? Happy for my girl though 💞 ( and for Sylus, you know that man is on cloud 9 here).

I adore that the card ends on a sweet and nostalgic note, with them gazing at the moon... like they used to in a distant past 💗

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

This just come to me when i play the en tapis rouge event.

In one of the scene when we meet eric in the event, Vil said he never get bullied when his main memory after his ob is him getting bullied.

Is it just him, didn't see it as a bullying issues cause he can fight back/because he thought it childish, in denial or he just doesn't want to be seen as someone weak in front of his junior? Cause i have heard that in some country/school, if they found out you were bullied it means you're weak and knowing NRC students prone to violence and bullying each other, being bullied may also be seen as label of weak students(may also associate with Ighnihyde since not many can fight back the bully like savanaclaw).

Or maybe this is so his father didn't worry? He did mention he and eric aren't always being together that much and when they did they do health and beauty related. So maybe Vil himself lied to Eric about his school life's and if he ever asked to bring friend maybe he said that his genuine friend(the other is just school friends or acquaintance) is only jack which make the lie more believable. So Eric may or may not know about it and Vil never tell him about it cause he didn't want to make him worried(this actually also make me think because of Eric being genuine happy seeing Vil's "school friends")

So far in the story and vignettes, we never heard bad memories of Vil and Jack together regarding the bullying pass the line of "they think you're a genuine bad person and want to beat you up". Like we never heard if it only physical bullying or also done another kind of bullying we see in drama and anime.

So i was wonder if it only just because Vil can fight back & he genuine didn't see it, he is in denial, he doesn't want to be as weak or he doesn't want to make Eric worry.

I wouldn’t say that the scene of Vil being bullied is the “main” memory after his OB 🤔 It’s more like… something that contributes to the overall pressure to perform/to be a certain way and feeds Vil’s need for public validation. After all, we also see film staff commenting on Vil’s professionalism (which isn’t necessarily bullying), as well as positive comments and encouragement from Eric. (I have an analysis on Vil’s motivations in book 5 if you’re interested in the topic!) We don’t know how truly common this bullying from Vil’s peers was outside of this one instance. Maybe it actually wasn’t common at all, since I don’t recall any other examples being mentioned.

I don’t see a reason why it can’t be a combination of all of those things instead of just one of them? The only one I would perhaps exclude is Vil being in denial. He doesn’t seem to be rejecting any of the bullying or critique he receives. Rather, even as a child, Vil is fixating on them far too much and equating his self-worth to the opinion of others. If he denied that he was bullied at all, then he wouldn’t place as much value as he does on what they say, he wouldn’t be pushing himself to work as hard has he does to “prove them wrong”.

As I mentioned in the analysis linked above, Vil had to mature extremely fast due to being a child star and seeking to make a name for himself without the publicity boost from his already famous father. You have to be tough to deal with the barrage of criticism coming at you from both the entertainment industry and the public, as well as know how to properly conduct yourself in work settings + with fans. He cannot show weakness, and doesn’t become comfortable being more childish and vulnerable (via giggling or laughing naturally) until late book 6.

Vil is capable of fighting if things escalate. Maybe he feels more secure in stating he isn’t bullied because (as Grim points out), Vil is perfectly capable of defending himself or exacting revenge on those who challenge or offend him. Again, this is a means of showing his own strength and independence—a continued and learned pattern.

The mindset of “I have to be strong” is further enabled by Night Raven College. The (unofficial) tradition/rule at the school is “the weak obey the strong […] losers don’t get to have a say.” Vil projects an air of superiority not only because he is in a position of power, but because he could easily take students in combat, and the social culture of NRC promotes this way of thinking and resolving disputes. Only the victors get what they want—as well as the respect and the obedience of the losers. We’ve seen Vil successfully pull this off in many other instances: book 5 with Ace/Deuce/Epel, Beans Day with Savanaclaw mob students, book 6 with Idia, and more. He was already steadfast before enrolling, but at NRC, the behavior is perpetuated and this serves Vil well.

Side note (since the ask seems to have implied Ignihyde is often the victim of bullying whereas Savanaclaw, who are physically strong, dominate)!! I think you’re thinking of physical acts of bullying and strength—which, don’t get me wrong, are valid—but I think shows of power and bully aren’t limited to just that. Octavinelle and Scarabia, for example, can be extremely catty and snide. Furthermore, there’s magical strength and skills to account for, as well as other forms of bullying: financial, verbal, emotional/psychological, cyber (which I’m sure Ignihyde mobs excel at, if Idia’s Dorm Uniform vignettes are of any indication).

Vil had always been strong, but that strength has essentially become diamond armor after years and years in entertainment and studying at NRC, a place which enables his attitude. The fact that Vil denies being bullied in front of his father may just be a consequence of all that previous experience with his armor on. He’s so used to it, it’s insignificant to him now.

I also get the sense that Vil wants to be seem as mature and grown-up to his dad. For example, Vil speaks somewhat formally to Eric, referring to him as “Producer” and gently scolding him for taking the time off of work to eat with him. (Him wanting to find success in entertainment without his father’s name getting involved also plays into this.) Vil also agrees to take a picture with his classmates if it is a part of work, but his peers remark that Eric is only using work as a pretense to get a picture of Vil being happy with his school friends. The other half of it seems to be that Eric himself expresses worry about his son’s social life. He mentions that he often had to pull Vil out of school for various gigs, meaning that Vil was not able to be around kids his age too much. This is why he’s so happy to finally have the chance to meet some of Vil’s NRC chums. If Vil intends to reassure him show that he is capable of standing on his own, then naturally that would come with reassuring his father that no one is being nasty to him. (Besides, even if they are, he is perfectly equipped to handle them.)

Last thing I want to comment on is Vil’s friendship with Jack. I have to wonder how significant this actually is…? Because Jack was mentioned in Vil’s post-OB flashback—but this friendship is rarely ever mentioned outside of like a few throwaway voice lines where the two mention working out together??? Like, Vil and Jack don’t seem very close. I believe part of this is because Vil was usually away for work obligations + to travel with Eric and one of them (honestly forgot which one) moved away at some point. Did they reconnect at NRC, or were they just always in touch anyway…?

It doesn’t seem like Vil even talks to his dad about Jack; Jack was not brought up in their conversations. This is strange because this clearly was not the case for other hometown events; Marja seemed to have heard of us before we arrived in Harveston, and Dylla was VERY familiar with Yuu, Ace, and Deuce via phone calls with her son. Yet Eric shows ho similar familiarity with Jack…? Weird, maybe he and Vil aren’t that close after all?

But yeah!! 😅 Overall, I definitely think it’s a combination of factors that just continue to feed into one another. This has convinced Vil that he has to perpetually have this image of being strong, mature, and cool—even to his own family.

[honeyhaeya]

✧.*⑅˖♡On My Command MASTERLIST♡⁠˖⑅*⁠.⁠✧

LAZY EDIT

heya, heya, heya! aeya here!: I jus' want to let yk that requests are now open! Feel free to suggest and I will be writing it, hehehe. —bummer, no one wanna though.

My first ever story & series posted here on Tumblr! Yey! Promoting my Wattpad >w< @muuimihanmal_writes - The link is from Wattpad also posted by me ^^ but dw, if you dont have a Wattpad acc, just check the chapter down below!

On My Command

SEVENTEEN FANFICTION (Series)

AFAB!READER x SEVENTEEN - MNDI GENRE: Mafia, Businesses, Dark Romance, Smut, Gangs, RomCom, Action, Fem!Reader x Mafia!Seventeen, Baddie!Reader x Businessmen!Seventeen Status: ONGOING (stopped until someone convinces me to continue) ⚠️ WARNINGS ⚠️: Smut, Kissing, Oral Sex, Unprotected Sex (though some have), Mention of Birth Controls, Gunshots, Blood, Fingering, Squirting, Language, Manipulation, Fighting, Action, Pet Names, Size kinks. ♡-Mention of other groups like TXT, EXO, ENHA, G-IDLE, LE SSERA, NCT DREAM, RIIZE (THIS IS A SERIES SO IG I WILL BE ADDING MORE TO THAN THESE WARNINGS) - MDNI OR I WILL BLOCK THOSE WITHOUT AGE INDICATOR ON BIO READER IS NAMED LI MEI QIANG!!! >>>> IMAGES ARE FROM PINTEREST so yeah, ctto. Also, there will be a 1st person POV 'cause I like starting from Y/N's POV at every story I make. Lmao. Enjoy babies. ♡

PREVIEW: YN POV: I had always thought I would live out the rest of my days aging quietly and dying a mundane death. My life seemed devoid of surprises until I turned 23. Suddenly, I found myself entangled with businesses, gangs, and even dangerous mafias. Who could have imagined my life would take such an exhilarating turn? At last, I had something new to experience in my previously dull existence. Now, I could finally put my unique ability to good use-an ability to manipulate, honed by my deep understanding of psychology, in situations that were both serious and thrilling. Would I able to handle this serious turn of events? You're damn right I can.

> CHAPTER 1

tags: gunshots, blood, language, manipulation, fighting, action

> CHAPTER 2

tags: language, kissing, making out (w/joshujii), persistence

> CHAPTER 3

tags: kidnapping, nonconsent, making out, needles, blood, language, manipulation

> CHAPTER 4

tags: gunshots, blood, language, manipulation

a/n: sorry guys, i only recently uploaded this story on tumblr so yeah, still working on other chapters (hehe)

do check this story out on wattpad since ive already uploaded a bunch of chapters there (though still unfinished) but yeah, busy with college and stuffs (my damn job) as well so i dont think i can update frequently. PLEASE ENJOY THOUGH

[edgeray]

mygod that siren Arlecchino fic you did is *chef's kiss* IMMACULATE!!! might i request a continuation, mayhaps? Arle mentioned that she'd follow the reader as they sail, so maybe she misses them and either tries to climb onto the boat or the pier where they're docked to see them again? either hurt/comfort or fluff, the rest is up to you!!! love your work and thank you for fueling my Arlecchino obsession :] also i might pop back in here once in a while, may i be moth anon?

The Sea's Calling Pt. 2

(Arlecchino x Fem! Reader)

A/N - Part 1 link here. Yes, you definitely can be a moth anon! Hi :D. I already added you to the anon list. To other anons that have requested and I haven't gotten to, I do see your requests and if you gave yourself an emoji/name I already added you ^^. Anyways, back to moth anon. <333 I'm so glad you enjoyed my siren Arlecchino fic! As my first request I was kind of nervous about it but I'm glad that you enjoy! I'm also really glad that you sent this request! I did always want to write a part 2 but didn't have the opportunity until now. Thanks moth anon, for the reuqest and for enjoying my works!!  If you couldn't tell, I love the idea of found family pirates. One Piece did this to me. The ending turned out to be self-indulgent, forgive me moth anon ;) Even though it's short, this ended up being one of my favorites. Hope you like this one! Content warnings / info - monster x human, arle is ooc bc she's a siren, fem! reader bc pt.1 has fem! reader, suggestive at the end, 1.2k words

You used to think that the most beautiful thing out there was the sky and its stars–to you, nothing was more mesmerizing than them. They are so alluring despite holding this mystique, and they've guided humans on their naval journeys and inspired all kinds of stories of their origins. The stars were all that kept you company, even on the lonliest and coldest nights.

Now, however, the stars aren't your only company. 

“Guys, I'm going to go back to the ship. Don't wait up on me too much,” you to your fellow pirates as you stand up from the stool. You drop off some extra coins on the baa counter, in order to compensate for the plate that you will be ‘borrowing.’ You pick up the plate of your half-eaten slice of meat pie and sandwich and head towards the exit before one of your crew mates stops you, placing a gentle hand on your shoulder.

“Turning in already? C'mon, stay a little bit. We've got enough money for a few more rounds of beer,” he says with a boisterous laugh. You chuckle lightly but shake your head. 

“No can do, sorry. Got something to do.”

“Uh huh, like your little siren girlfriend?” Another crew member states, her teasing smile widening as you flush. 

“One more? Jackie hasn't finished his story!”

“Let the darned woman go see her darn girlfriend, Goldie,” another gruffed with a shake of his head. 

“Fine, fine, go on ahead. Tch, when will I get my own smoking hot siren girl?” Goldie huffs, and you snort. Likely never, but you don't tell him that.  

“Thanks, I'll be back,” is all you say before rushing out of the door, nearly tipping over the plate before you balance it again. You wave them off and you make your way back to the docks. The walk is both short and long, and each step you take is filled with the excitement that buzzes through you. 

Even after these months, being able to spend time with her feels like bliss, like you have just found treasure. Sometimes, you forget she's a siren, she's ever so endearing and follows you around like a puppy. Oftentimes, when you're on the boat, you talk to her as she lingers by. The night after you first met the siren your crew had banned you from jumping into the waters because you had developed a cold which infected a good chunk of the crew; the cold wasn't severe for anyone but still. Since you can't be in the water, you often just talk to her from the railings and she answers. 

It's only when you're docked when you can finally touch her, but those times come rare. It can take days, sometimes weeks to reach an island to dock at, but when you do, you always take the time to sit by the shore. 

Finally, you arrive at the pier. “Arle?” You call out, and you see a ripple in the water. Grinning, you walk to the ends of one of the docks, setting down the plate a bit away from you. You remove your shoes and set them far away. Perching on the dock, your feet dip into the cold waters and you shiver.

You see something gleam in the corner of your eyes, the familiar shine of her scales. You then remember the food, and you start. “Wait, Arle don't splash–”

Too late. Something erupts from the waters and launches into you, a cold, heavy weight thrusting into your body making you tumble on your back on the dock. Pressed between the wooden planks and the creature that straddles you, you can't help but laugh and raise your hand up to her face, the now drenched food forgotten entirely. 

“Hey gorgeous,” you say as you stroke her cheek gently. She's the most beautiful treasure that you found among the seas. Arlecchino gazes down on you, her red pupils glistering as her arms wrap around your torso. She purrs, little fangs apparent as the tip of her tongue peeks out with her open-mouth smile. 

“Missed you,” is the first thing she says, before she leans her body against you, nuzzling her face into your neck. Your clothes get soaked from her, but you pay no mind. You stroke her wet hair, carding your fingers through her strands before kissing the top of her head. 

“I missed you too. Did you eat recently?” 

Sometimes she'd disappear for a few nights to search for another wandering ship for her meals but she never fails to find your ship again. You haven't seen her for a couple days before you docked her. 

Arlecchino nods. “Human food?” She questions. Her tail flicks, thumping against the wood out of eagerness. Although she enjoys the taste of cooked meats, beef especially, you don't believe it's as nutrition dense as… well, the main source of her diet, and it's hard to serve her cooked meat while on sea due to the issue of storing meat on ships. So, cooked meat has always been a treat for her. 

You nod. “You want to try?” 

She lets out an affirmative purr, and you help her sit upright in your lap. It's always a bit difficult considering she has a tail instead of legs, but she maneuvers her tail to encircle your waist, and you support her back with one of your arms. You silently mourn for your now soggy sandwich as you reach for the plate, using her tail as a flat surface. 

“What is it?” 

“Meat pie and a sandwich.” You take the fork and dig out the meat from the meat pie. Balancing the tender piece of beef on your utensil, you carefully guide it to her mouth. 

“Careful, it's hot. And don't bite the fork this time,” you gently warn her as she eats it. She squirms a bit in your lap, an indicator that she's pleased with the taste. 

“More?” You chuckle, adoring the cute plea in her eyes. 

You scrape out more of the meat until she's eaten all of the pie filling, leaving you to eat the pie crust. You're still peckish, so you start eating your sandwich, but not before fishing out the thick slice of ham from it, and giving it to her. If it meant you could watch the way her expression lights up again forever, then you would endlessly eat ham-less sandwiches and savor every cheese and vegetables sandwiched in between wet bread. 

“Did you like it?” You ask in between chews as she leans her head against your shoulder. She nods, and leans up again to place featherlight kisses on your neck. With the cold droplets of water and her frigid lips, it tickles you and you giggle. So adorable. 

You freeze up when you feel her fangs prick your skin and she looks up to you for permission. Another mating bite? You nod, wordlessly giving her permission, and you suck in a harsh breath as you feel her teeth sink in. Purrs vibrate coarse through her mouth as she pulls away, lapping at the mark and the texture of her tongue invokes a throaty groan from you, your body trembling with pleasure. 

Arlecchino leans away, but in her eyes, hunger burns in them. Her hands take purchase on your hips and she pushes your back against the planks. Her tail unwinds around your torso and instead coils around your ankles, securing them together.  

“H-here?” You question, flushing. Her hands wander lower, the sharp nails trailing lower to your thighs, where faint scratches scatter. 

The night that you first met her, she sang so beautifully for you. Tonight, you repay her back, singing out her name so tastefully. 

[raayllum]

Transcript of Aaron Ehasz Interview (Sept 2024)

Podcast link here. Transcript down below with bulk under a read more.

R: Alright so welcome back to the Wordswithdragons podcast, and today I’m joined by a very special guest, the co-creator of The Dragon Prince, Aaron Ehasz. 

A: Hello, thank you for having me today. Glad to be here.

R: Thank you so much for being here. Um, yeah, so, as we semi touched on, it is the 6 year anniversary of The Dragon Prince this September 14th.

A: Yeah.

R: Do you have any thoughts, reflections, feelings about the show having gone on for this long and being such a big part of people’s lives?

A: I mean for starters, it’s really hard to believe it’s been on for six years. Like that seems insane to me. Cause it seemed like we had — Justin and I had been working on it for so long before it finally came out because we had worked on the story and then gotten feedback, and help in improving that pitch and bringing it out and we had it set up at Netflix, and we had to — we wrote the pilot obviously, and we didn’t know where we were gonna produce it, and found Bardel. So there was so much time between even just starting to think about it and when it came out.

R: Yeah, cause that was like 2015, right?

A: Yeah, I guess we started the journey in 2015 and we got with Bardel by the end of 2016, and it got released evidently in 2018, so... Yeah, yeah, cause I remember even we were writing kind of the end of season 3 when we had that panel with Marco and named the character after Marco.

R: Oh yeah.

A: The character [chuckles] from the first episode, we only had an opportunity for him to say his name out loud in that last episode because we were writing the ending while we were showing the episodes for first time, so. Anyway, that’s my reflection, it’s great it’s been six years.

R: Yeah. I know The Dragon Prince has been a really like — both life changing and I think, like, life affirming experience for a lot of people, myself included. So we just really appreciate everybody’s hard work on the show and are very excited for season 7 and hopefully beyond as well. As well for any future projects that Wonderstorm comes out with, like Bonders sounds amazing.

A: I feel — well first of all, thank you for saying that it’s life affirming, that’s such a nice thing to hear about something you’ve worked on, but I also agree that Justin and I feel a ton of gratitude for the whole team and the work and heart that everyone put into making this. I think people wanted it to be meaningful and special and that takes a certain kind of energy and vulnerability to build something like that, that you share, and our whole team really did give that in building the show.

R: Yeah. I think for sure. I think that’s like, um, I was even — I was rewatching some of the show earlier for — for a parallel, and it was the scene between Avizandum and Zubeia when she goes to him in like her kind of corruption dream semi-nightmare, and obviously that’s such a heartfelt, touching scene, and it’s always so strange. Because on the one hand, you should hate Avizandum, he killed Sarai and Rex Igneous has rightful criticism of him, but then you watch that scene of him and he really did love his family, so I think the show being able to draw out those strong, conflicting emotions for so many of the characters is one of the reasons why it connects with people to the degree that it does.

A: And that’s one of the themes you probably see in the show — just gonna make a quick —

R: Yeah, yeah for sure. 

A: Avizandum, which is that being a good dad can make up for awful lot of [R laughs] monstrosities, as long as you’re doing it in the name of being a good dad. I’m joking, uh. Of course, yeah, Avizandum was always meant to be a complicated figure like many of our characters. 

R: You mentioned that you guys have been working on — I think season three during this panel with Marco, or Marcos, and I remember, I think you’ve said before that the seasons get worked on concurrently, that there’s a decent amount of overlap.

A: Yeah.

R: I’ve always wondered, because we know — obviously, I’m a big Rayllum fan — but I’ve always wondered, cause I know they weren’t originally planned, and then you guys were boarding season two when you were like, “Hey, maybe this should be a thing,” and then probably like shifted and tweaked things or changed things to write more towards that in the future... Um, I’ve always wondered, if there was time, like at that time, to go back and change anything in season one for them, or the season one that we see was just like that?

A: I don’t recall there was time to change season 1 — that does happen because we are working on things in parallel because we are working on something in the script and then some time later we are working on the later stage of production, like an animatic, and we’ll be able to kind of give notes or even make changes with the knowledge of what’s coming, so that has happened. But in the case of Rayllum, I don’t think so. I mean, I think — again, I remember...

R: It was a while ago, yeah.

A: We were rekindling, or when we were realizing that something was being kindled between them, it was watching an animatic so that shouldn’t have informed our writing of season one, but our later stage stuff. But we weren’t trying to force anything so it got in there naturally and I don’t think we went back and changed anything.

R: Yeah, that’s what I’ve always — they had those kind of vibes to me from like episode two and three, obviously season two brought a lot more people on board, but I was always curious. Cause in season one, like, I think, it feels so natural, it feels so organic, and like I’ve shown — one of the things I love about Dragon Prince is it’s a great way to connect with friends and family and you kind of catch up with each other like through the show, of “oh have you seen the new season yet?” and that sort of stuff. And so when I’ve shown the show to like my brother-in-law, who is not plugged in at all, he also kind of picked up on it in season one, so I’ve always been curious. 

A: You know, what else, I’ll even say, I think we initially, intentionally planned they weren’t going to be a couple. We were like “Oh yeah, no, they’re—”

R: Friends, yeah.

A: Friends, with different views of the world and they journey together, and we don’t want them to be a couple. We’re not — we’re definitely not targeting it. I think we were intentionally not targeting it, and then it was “too bad creators! [R laughs] We’re going to fall in love despite everything you’re planning.”

R: Well, that very much I think even fits what they represent to each other, of like you don’t have to do this path that you think you have to do...

A: Yeah.

R: You can be something new. I always kind of felt like Ezran and Zym were — felt very kind of like designed as foils, as like a pair, of like through Zym, Ezran learns more so like how to grow up, and they’re both like the princes who will be king, and then Callum and Rayla also kind of felt sort of like developed as a pair, in terms of like — he needs to gain more confidence, she’s pretty confident on the surface.

A: Yeah.

R: She needs to learn how to open up, he’s really good at being open especially in the beginning.

A: Right. 

R: So I was always like...

A: He needs to be murdered, she needs to learn how to murder someone.

R: Yeah! They complete each other, yeah. Uh... Some other questions that I had [rapid typing]. So I guess, maybe, I have some questions that are more season specific, in respect to time, but I also had like more general questions. 

A: Okay.

R: So, one of the things I’ve always love in general and really love about The Dragon Prince is its like use of philosophy and like its deeply interested in ethical and moral questions, and presenting some answers for some of them, but like are those the right answers? We don’t know. 

A: Right.

R: So I know King Harrow’s choosing of Lady Justice’s blindfold is a pretty apt comparison to John Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance—

A: Yes.

R: Of, you know, you strip away everything that you could have, like advantages, disadvantages, and think, would the system work for me? Which has been useful when I’ve like, had to tutor students in philosophy actually, but I was curious, were there any like philosophical concepts or ideas that people really, or you really, wanted to work into the series? ‘Cause we have a lot of trolley problems.

A: Right. Um, probably. I mean like, I should say, I was a philosophy concentrator in college so I absorbed a lot. Things like  Rawls, I had a class with John Rawls, and thought that was a really interesting concept and I liked including it, and I thought we can include it in a fun way, the idea of justice. So other philosophy probably makes its way in, it can makes its way in accidentally or subconsciously, so nothing specific right now comes to mind. I will say, as with kind of Avatar before this, I don’t like to have — I’m not trying to have a right answer, ever. I’m trying to have the characters have a deeper understanding of what they’re struggling with, and y’know, move in a direction of deeper understanding, so if anything, it’s more interesting to me to see conflicts between maybe philosophical approaches that are different and see how — Oh well, this has these kinds of results, and positives and negatives, and this has... so that the audience can have a chance to say, “Oh well okay, I have some thoughts on that,” or “here’s what I feel,” and that’s why sometimes I think we see the fandom actually kind of go back and forth—

R: Yeah.

A: On — around characters and people’s choices, and things like dark magic or Viren, which are controversial, are things where like, I do not have a strong point of view on... the kind of binary right or wrong of... Viren in the long term. He’s made a lot of wrong choices and he’s made a lot of choices for good. 

R: Yeah.

A: He is an arrogant and power hungry person and he’s also a caring and loving father and someone who wants to have a positive impact on the world, right, like?

R: Yeah.

A: So those conflicts play out in him. But similarly, I think with maybe most of the philosophical ideas I can think of, I’d rather get to like a place where everyone just has a chance to entertain those thoughts and ideas and struggle with them, or hold them in an authentic way, and then can come to their own conclusions and feelings. I mean, I have some deep feelings about like, the world, and how can people be optimistic or not pessimistic or—y’know, what it means to hold onto hope or what it means to try to move past conflict, and I have beliefs that there are conflicts that get so you know, kind of sewn in, that they feel they are impossible to untangle, and especially if the game you’re playing is who started it, or who did the worst thing, where you can’t just ever untangle it. You can’t ever find a right or wrong, so how do you get past that? That’s one of the questions I was hoping Rayla, Callum, and Ezran would try to—

R: Figure it out.

A: Struggle with. Anyway, I’m giving a very long winded answer—

R: No, no.

A: That’s the philosophy that comes to mind. If something comes to mind for you, you can bring it up and I can go, “Oh yeah, that was probably influenced by so-and-so.” [R laughs] Or maybe not.

R: Well, one of the things I loved about season six was kind of — you see, even... One of the things I thought was really interesting was we see, not quite like that return to trolley problems, but we see Aaravos at the end of season 5 is telling Viren you have to make the sacrifice so that you can live, and then we see Rayla tell Callum, “Hey, if the choice ever happens, you also have to sacrifice me,” for — so Callum can live, but also for like the greater good and that sort of stuff. And then you have Kpp’Ar, who — I love Kpp’Ar, I think he’s terrible and interesting and I love him.

A: Awesome. He is — we’ll learn a little more about him in the future, but yes.

R: And obviously when Viren’s like, “A child will die,” and this is a kid that Kpp’Ar would’ve known, and we see in The Puzzle House that he loved these kids, and whatever is up with the Staff is bad enough that Kpp’Ar’s like, “Okay. I’ll make that sacrifice.” Which feels very much in a way like he’s given up on dark magic, and to a certain degree he’s both given up on the mindset of dark magic, and maybe also hasn’t given it up in the same way. Like I love that — Claudia, you know, obviously, puts Viren above all else, is she always right to do so? Maybe not, but we get why she’s doing it, that’s a hard thing to say. And then we have Callum, who also seems inclined to put Rayla above all else, and because we like Rayla more, we’re like “Yeah, he can do that, it’s okay for him to do dark magic for her, that’s fine,” even if there’s also like, consequences. Cause most characters in the show, like you said, everybody kind of wants the same thing, they wanna have a positive impact on the world, they want to protect their loved ones, but what constitutes that world, what they think is a positive impact, or who they want — how they protect those people, that’s all very malleable and can fluctuate. Viren says “Claudia, you’re on the wrong path,” and we’re like yeah, he’s right, and Karim says the same thing about Janai, like the exact same thing, and we’re like, well he’s wrong.

A: Yeah. I mean a lot of things come to mind when you’re talking through that, but one is there’s often a conflict between rigidity and rules and some kind of compassion, or emotional decision, and those decisions are hard, right? Like I dunno, maybe Kpp’Ar should’ve said, “Okay just this once, it’s Soren,” or not, I don’t know. I mean obviously Kpp’Ar had taken himself to some deep horrible place and he really had, actually. And was like, “Okay, dark magic is just corruption when you start and keep going down this path, but this Viren’s kid so I don’t know.” One of the things here, I think there’s a relationship between — you know, sacrifice plays a role here. Sacrifice and thinking about generations and generational conflict and thinking you know maybe in a way I think is interesting. I think about the beginning of season 6 when Claudia has done all of this and sacrificed another life but also sacrifices some of her soul or whatever to save her dad and he’s like “No no! This is not the way! A parent is supposed to do this for a child but never the other way around,” right? And there’s something to that I find interesting which is — it’s almost the inverse of children having the opportunity to start anew and break cycles, parents potentially have the opportunity to make sacrifices that don’t pass by burdens onto their kids, but sort of like that’s the mirror I see a little bit, in terms of how do you have generational change and evolution? It’s somewhere in younger generations being able to not get stuck on conflicts and burdens, but also the older generations recognizing that they may have to be the one to take the — and this is I think a natural... I dunno, it’s something I think about a little bit and came to mind when you were talking. So we’ll see more about what is the meaning of sacrifice and when — when do you... trade? Yeah.

R: Yeah.

A: Side note on sacrifice. You’re familiar with Game of Thrones? You’ve watched all of Game of Thrones?

R: I’m decently familiar, yeah.

A: Okay.

R: And if not, I can have Kuno explain it to me later, so.

A: One of the things I love about the sacrifice Ned made, that we didn’t realize he’d made until I think the very end of the series, we realize — a sacrifice to his kind of reputation, right? And I’m talking about him representing Jon Snow as his bastard to protect him, right? Think about that, that’s a sacrifice, he had to go through the anger — he didn’t tell his wife the truth, he didn’t tell anyone, because it was the only way to protect the child, and as a result he lived with — even though the truth is that he was a really honest, good, or evidently he didn’t go cheat on his wife, he sacrificed that part of his reputation to protect Jon, at least how I see it. I think things like that are kind of interesting. I dunno.

R: Yeah. Yeah, I think it speaks to that idea of — one of the things I love about Dragon Prince is it’s so much about choices.

A: Yeah.

R: Like one of the things I really really liked about season 6 was that, you know, Callum is like, “Okay, I’m going to get myself purified, healed of dark magic,” and Rayla was his light, which was very validating, cause I had noticed in season two there was like some framing so I was like well “Maybe, maybe” you know? And then slowburn buildup but it was — I think that was a great moment that really paid off. And he’s told “if you ever do this again, it’ll corrupt you completely.” And whether he will or won’t — I personally think that he will, but spoilers, you know — but whether he will or won’t, I think it’s really nice because now whatever choice he makes, he’s making with the full context, of what this would do to him.

A: Yeah.

R: Whereas in season two, yes he was making his choice to do dark magic then, and I don’t necessarily think he would make a fundamentally different one if he had known what it would lead to, but there’s a different kind of awareness. Like I always of it would’ve been so easy to have Harrow not know that Viren was going to kill Zym, cause that’s such an easy way to kind of let Harrow off the hook of well Viren went off and did this on his own, and Harrow had no idea, and blah blah blah, right? Cause we like Harrow, he’s a — again, he’s a good dad, we’ll forgive a lot. And instead, it’s not his idea but he’s fully aware, he signs off on it. And I think constantly pushing characters to make hard choices — kind of like what Ezran says, “these aren’t dreams, these are choices.”

A: Yeah.

R: You can choose love, you can choose to make... It’s something that makes all the characters feel so fully developed and interesting, so I always appreciate that you guys push them to make the hard choice. 

A: Yeah. Cool. Thank you.

R: One question I did have is, uh, Karim is one of my favourite characters.

A: Okay. Unusual person. A lot of people hate — or love to hate...? I love him too. 

R: I also love Kasef, so I think I just kind of love everyone, because I’m like well, they’re really interesting. I feel like [Karim’s] arc was one of the things I loved most about season 4 because you can see him really wrestling with his choices and I love watching him fail, cause that’s kind of all he does, so that’s always fun. But I am really curious obviously now he’s been betrayed by Sol Regem, Katolis is in ashes and maybe they’ll blame Karim for that cause Sol Regem is like — dead, and now, presumably his only hope is going to be that his sister doesn’t execute him on the spot? 

A: Yeah.

R: So is there anything you can tease about Karim’s arc in season 7?

A: Yeah, so — so it’s not just Karim, there’s an army of people who betrayed Janai, and — and...

R: What do we do?

A: Yeah, what do we do? That will be something we’ll have to see them grapple with pretty much right away in the season. Especially cause [Karim’s army] showed up for this battle where they were never even — they were just planning to sweep up the ashes afterwards, so when they didn’t get the dragon support they needed, I suspect they lost really quickly. 

R: Yes, yeah.

A: So uh... Yeah, but basically as of the start of season 7 — all of them are prisoners of Queen Janai and the question is — what do you do with that? What do you do when you have an entire army and your own brother who betrayed you? And so that’s — we’ll find out.

R: Yeah. [Laughs] 

A: But yeah.

R: Yeah. Another question I had going forward was Terry and Claudia obviously I thought had a really beautiful relationship arc, particularly in season 6, and we saw in season 4 the lengths he’s willing to go to for her, and how Terry, I think, is a great example of how there’s a lot of character traits where we think “oh, if you’re a selfless, helpful, accepting person, you’re a good person,” and I feel like Dragon Prince does a really good job of how, Rayla’s selflessness can be great but it can also be kinda bad, or, um, Terry can be super accepting, maybe a little too—

A: Yeah.

R: —accepting sometimes, right? So I feel like at the end of season 6, it will presumably be him, Claudia, and Aaravos for a little bit now that he’s out of the prison. And it feels like maybe Terry might hit a breaking point?

A: Here’s what I will say — Terry is a really special character and if you watched him, he’s so good, and what we’ll find out is, he is — there is an episode called TRUE HEART and he is someone who has a true heart.

R: Oh that’s so sweet.

A: It’s very impossibly rare and special — but also we all understand what a true heart is in some way and we’ll learn a little more about that. But yeah, the question of what will Terry do, what can he do, is difficult because he has a very strong sense of right and wrong, but he has a very deep capacity for love and he loves Claudia with all of his heart. Where does that present an impossible conflict, it may... we’ll see a challenge.

R: Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

A: I’ll also throw in like I sometimes see some parallels between Terry and Uncle Iroh—

R: Yes.

A: Though Uncle Iroh I think has a very different journey. Iroh is kind of a recovered problematic person who now has some wisdom and enlightenment, so in terms of the difference between the purity of a true heart versus where Iroh is more of a later stage enlightenment, the love that they have for the kind of complicated person that they are with is similar to me. And the way that they both sometimes have to, or don’t have to but...

R: Choose to?

A: You have to give that person the space — you can’t force them to choose right or wrong, you can be there with them, you can try to guide them, you can — but ultimately you have to give them the space to fail, and eventually, you may have to turn your back on them. 

R: Yeah.

A: At some point. I don’t know. But um yeah — I still see them as connected characters in my mind. 

R: I think I can even see some of that with even the way Callum is with Rayla, like season five onwards, of like “I’ve hit my turning point, I’m not mad at you anymore, and you can steal my key, you can lie to me, and I’m not going to have you open up to me out of guilt or obligation, I want you to tell me what’s going on when you want to tell me what’s going on, and I’m going to give you the space for that.” So I think it speaks to that unconditional love that I think—

A: Yeah.

R: —a lot of the characters are blessed to have. But I do see the Terry Iroh connection. So another thing that I thought was really interesting was — obviously next season is dark magic, and I’m very hopeful that maybe we’ll learn more about the origins of dark magic or Elarion, even. 

A: Great.

R: Because I know when I was watching Sol Regem burn down Katolis, it made me think of what might’ve either happened or almost happened to Elarion in the past, you know? 

A: Yeah.

R: Even down to Ziard and Viren both die, kind of deflecting and trying to save people, with the same staff, you know, and how the cycle continues to just always repeat itself over and over again. And if there was like — yeah, cause burning down Katolis was a massive shakeup, you know?

A: Yup.

R: And what maybe the process was there, with the — Aaravos seems like he’s trying to repeat the cycle of like “Oh I’m going to take down the dragon monarchy or I’m gonna use that vacancy to my advantage, and mess with the Sunfire elves.”

A: He has a specific vendetta against Sol Regem, obviously, but it’s one where he has played it out in... What’s certainly meant to be implied, even though we’ll find out more later, is that one of the great mysteries of Sol Regem’s life is that his mate disappeared and he never found her. He’s the freaking Dragon King, and she disappeared. And though we don’t know how or what happened, while she was buried alive. He killed her. He didn’t even realize it, somehow. Somehow, Aaravos manipulated him into killing her, and he doesn’t — I dunno, I assume Sol Regem does understand when it must have happened, but that moment, it’s like an impossible — it’s meant to be just...

R: Awful.

A: He’s tortured him for 1000 years or whatever, without him knowing he was being tortured by Aaravos, and now he’s given him the mercy/cruelty of knowing the resolution to the mystery was that he killed her. And one of the things that worked well with that was that, we had sort of said Sol Regem can smell the truth from a lie, so he has the horrible curse of being able to know this is the deep dark truth. So I dunno, I think um, are we going to find out more about that? So, if we can eventually get the Book Three novel out [R laughs], we will find out more about that.

R: I did wonder, I was like “Maybe this is something that was gonna be in the book three novelization.”

A: Yes, we will find out more in the book three novel, it may be a year or so before unfortunately. And then I don’t think we’re gonna get too deep into that in season seven, that’s part of — it is involved in what we’re thinking about as the third arc, understanding and resolving the third arc, is gonna go a little deeper into...

R: Some of the history, yeah.

A: Some of the stuff that happened with Sol Regem. But yeah, no, I — it’s enjoyable to have these figures like Aaravos and Sol Regem who are ancient and operate over the course of centuries and are incredibly powerful, yet they can’t — or at least Aaravos,  they can’t conflict directly as easily, and so Aaravos has played this really complicated game. Anyway, but yes Sol Regem is part of that, but there’s — there’s more, there’s more people who — beings that took from him. He feels that Leola was unfairly punished and that that was — you know, he sees a future and he has something... All this time, a burning — it’s the twisted form of his love, in which he’s full of hate right now to the beings who brought this about. Obviously, Sol Regem played a role because he’s a rules dragon.

R: Yeah, yeah.

A: He is the one who betrayed her to the Cosmic Council ultimately — but how do you punish the Cosmic Council? That’s a bit more complicated.

R: Yeah. No, I remember finishing season six and just being so impressed with the story. Like, taking that direction, and almost doing a lot of recontextualization, because it’s one thing to have like your worldbuilding where “magic in the story works like this” and it’s just very kind of like hand of God, you know? Like oh — cause the magic system has always been unfair, that’s why we have Callum, you know? It’s another thing to say we’re going to have characters in the story who are responsible for it being unfair. And now we’re just going to have that in terms of conflict and themes of destiny. We have about seven, ten-ish minutes left I think.

A: Probably seven, if that’s okay?

R: Yeah. Of course. 

A: I’ll throw one other thing in there, which is that — cause characters experience things that change them: has Aaravos experienced — I’ll phrase it as a question, even though probably the answer is here, has Aaravos experienced much that has changed him in the last — since the death of Leola? I mean certainly some things, and is what’s happening now changing him in any way? Is it satisfaction, is it the relationship with Claudia, and what does that mean to someone? That’s a question that I think we’ll have to watch play out a little bit.

R: [Intrigued] Okay. Yeah. One thing that I really liked about Leola’s character was I felt like she had pieces of each of the main trio in her? Of this very helpful innocent well meaning child, kind of like Ezran — and I have also always seen Ezran as autistic as well cause I know that Leola canonically is — and then you also kind of have the whole oh she gave  / helped humans have primal magic, which obviously Callum has. And even just being this young elven girl punished for her compassion and mercy, that felt a lot like Rayla. And when making the choice for Leola to be Leola, was that something intentional or like the choice for it to be a child rather than another loved one?

A: It was very intentional that it was a child... And we talked through other versions of Leola that could’ve been, in other ages, genders, relationships with Aaravos that an important person was lost. Some of the things I liked about the way, Leola both as a child, children are the cycle breakers.

R: Yes, yeah. I think it was the strongest choice.

A: And in particular also, the idea of coding her autistic was a little bit like not as cued to kind of accept the social order and the order of things, but actually more open in a way to in what some people see as like — something that’s broken which is not taking those cues, something else about that — not being bound by it that allowed her to have compassion that crossed the line in terms of the perceptions of what the Cosmic Order needed to be in it — but it made her more, both as a child and an autistic person, to make that choice and do what she did that changed everything.

R: Makes a lot of sense.

A: [Her being a child] also frames it with some innocence obviously right? It’s not calculated, it’s kind. 

R: Yeah.

A: So I dunno.

R: Yeah. Yeah, I’ve been curious about how Ezran might be challenged now that Runaan is back in the picture.

A: That’s a great question. That’s a great question. I mean, it’s so weird, it’s like no one even asks that, it’s like “Cool,” Rayla’s like “I’m gonna go get him. Awesome! Runaan’s back.”

R: Yeah I’m like either — either Callum is like “Ezran will be totally fine with it,” and Ezran  is probably not going to be fine with it, or maybe Callum knew that maybe it wouldn’t be great, and kept it under wraps. Yeah, I’m so excited for that like trio, potential broyals conflict, so...

A: Well, I mean, Ezran is a very special kid and he’s very positive and kind and forgiving and all of this. But we’re talking about, Runaan is back.

R: Castle’s destroyed.

A: Katolis is rubble. Where does that leave him?

R: Yeah.

A: You know? I mean — so I’m excited about that part of Ezran.

R: I know the fandom is really, really excited for Ezran to get to be — not that he hasn’t always been complex, but to get to be like messier, of letting his emotions maybe get the better of him and that sort of thing. So people are definitely hype for that, for — cause I feel like season six really brought home a lot of things for Soren, and it seems like season seven is going to do a similar thing for Ezran, so that’s — that’s really exciting. Um, with our final couple minutes, I wanted to see — do you have any questions that you want fans to ponder or to be thinking about?

A: Um... Gosh. I don’t think I have anything specific that we haven’t talked about, but you know. On some level, like, you know how do you take the tragedies and conflicts that we all inevitably face repetitively and relentlessly and kind of learn to move forward in hope and optimism? I think that’s more of a question of like how do you personally learn to process — all the kind of bullshit in the world, and process it, and still move forward as a kind, connected—

R: Measured person.

A: —hopeful person? That’s a challenge we all face in our lives, so that’s like...

R: Yeah. Well, I think the show does a good — really good job at asking and challenging that — that question. Uh, yeah, I think — I think that’s our time for today, uh. Thank you so much, this was... 

A: It was my pleasure. 

R: This was a lot of fun.

A: It’s always my pleasure reading your theories and your—

R: [Gasps] Oh my gosh.

A: Honestly, I came on today and to tell the truth [R laughs] a little bit intimidated.

R: Oh my God. 

A: You’re so—

R: I also felt intimidated [laughing] so don’t worry.

A: You’re so insightful and articulate, that I almost am like [R laughs] what if they catch me that there’s something not as smart in the show as I thought it was?

R: Oh my gosh, no, you’re fine.

A: [Overlapping] So anyway, I really enjoy what you write—

R: [Overlapping] I’m also a writer so I know what it’s like to be like “I did this subconsciously,” it’s — yeah.

A: I love what you instigate in the fandom and the kind of conversations you support and engage in. I’m a huge fan of yours, so.

R: Oh! Thank you so much, that’s so sweet. Um. And I am a huge fan of yours.

A: Yay. That’s a great way to end a podcast.

R: That is a great way. Okay. Alright, well thank you so much, hope you have a great day, great week, uh, and — yeah. Okay.

A: Alright, and I’ll see you soon, we’ll do this again sometime, I hope. 

R: Yes! Yeah. Okay.

A: Alright. Thanks again. Alright, bye.

[miss-musings]

My fic "Crosshair Accepts a (Helping) Hand" just hit 3K views on AO3!!

So in celebration, I'm going to share some of my favorite tidbits and BTS facts about the fic (in chronological order):

If you haven't read the fic already, here's the link.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Several things throughout the fic are based on my real-life experiences, namely:

Although we see what Alderaan and Aldera look like briefly in "Revenge of the Sith" and "Obi-Wan Kenobi," I did include some real-life details from mountainous places I've visited.

Crosshair's procedure includes some aspects from my then-recent dental procedure and other experiences donating blood and whatnot

Crosshair testing out his new hand is based on how my mom (a physical therapist) helps her patients recover their mobility, etc.; and

Omega's fear for Crosshair & Echo going to Alderaan and her tearful reunion with them is based on my experience with my dad traveling by plane shortly after 9/11.

In Chapter 2, Crosshair decides against taking Omega with them to Alderaan because it'll be a danger and a distraction; but his brothers fully expect him to change his mind once Omega finds out and complains. They know he's a total pushover when it comes to Omega. (He actually stands his ground for once, but it's still funny that that's what they expect.)

The red bandana Omega wears in the TBB epilogue is something Hunter gave her shortly after settling on Pabu in 3.15. But, she lends it to Crosshair to help him through the procedure on Alderaan. It's mentioned in almost every chapter from when she gives it to him in Chapter 2 to the end of the fic, even in the epilogue.

Throughout the fic, there are a few snippets of description that echo lines from "Pride & Prejudice." The bit in Chapter 4 about Aldera being "perfectly situated" is similar to language used to describe Elizabeth seeing Pemberley for the first time.

Dr. J'ones being based on James Earl Jones will never fail to make me tear up.

In Chapters 6-14, the dynamic between Dr. J'ones, Echo and Crosshair is so powerful: All three have lost limbs and have had their lives/livelihoods drastically changed as a result.

The end of Chapter 9 and the beginning of Chapter 10 were purposely written and organized to act as the fic's pivot point. Because Chapter 20 is the epilogue and isn't part of the "main story," that means the fic's midpoint (chapter-wise) is between Chapter 9 and Chapter 10. Thus, these chapters are titled differently from the others to reflect their importance in the story. It's almost like you can see the story shift on its axis between the end of Chapter 9 and the beginning of Chapter 10 -- or at least that was the intent.

Everything between Crosshair and Leia in Chapter 12!!! I die every time I reread it, especially the bit where she doesn't want to go with her father and hangs onto Crosshair instead. 😂

When Crosshair first meets Arzee in Chapter 6, he's initially dismissive of her, even making fun of how long her name is. But by Chapter 14, he compliments her for a job well-done. Crosshair doesn't have the best dynamic with droids in either TCW or TBB, but he can bond with them when given the opportunity. He even refers to Arzee as "a friend" when he's talking to Omega in Chapter 18.

The jewelry box vendor at the Royal Market thinks Crosshair is attractive, and Echo picks up on it while Crosshair is completely oblivious. LOL

Crosshair is the one who bought Omega the flight jacket she wears in the epilogue!! ❤️

Also, assuming the salesman wasn't lying about the jacket, Omega now has souvenirs from both Leia and Han's home planets. The jewelry box is from Alderaan and the jacket is (supposedly) from Corellia. Now she just needs something from Tatooine...

Just everything about those final moments on Aldera and then over Alderaan in Chapter 15 is just ... 😭

Chapter 16 being titled "The Retreat" has multiple meanings (as do many of the chapter titles). It means the physical retreat from Alderaan, as Echo and Crosshair return to Pabu. It also means their collective retreat from the physical world, because they're alone on the ship in hyperspace and finally have the time to mentally regroup. But it also refers to Crosshair's retreat from Echo, because he once again secludes himself, although this time, it's for good reason.

Echo picks up on the resemblances between Leia and Anakin. ❤️

In Chapter 3, on the flight to Alderaan, Echo finally sees just how bad of shape Crosshair is in: thin, sleep-deprived and stressed. Then, in Chapter 16, on the flight from Alderaan, Crosshair finally sees how bad of shape Echo is in: gaunt, pale and exhausted. It's a nice parallel/bookend to their journey.

At various points in the fic, Crosshair, Echo and Hunter all say "I'm fine" when they're really not. They're all majorly stressed/exhausted/sleep-deprived, etc.

Not Crosshair thinking about how well Tech and Dr. J'ones would've gotten along... 😭😭

In Chapter 17, we hear how Omega couldn't sleep because she was so worried about Crosshair and Echo, that she went to the living room and slept in Crosshair's chair. She wanted to be right by the front door so she wouldn't miss when he and Echo returned.

In Chapter 18, when Crosshair and Echo start talking about the Royal Market, Hunter quickly realizes they got Omega a souvenir.

Crosshair gives Wrecker the "ugly" necklace just because he complained Crosshair didn't get him a souvenir too. Wrecker and Crosshair had a really fun bond through TCW and TBB, and that's on display again here.

Throughout the fic, three of Crosshair's siblings convince him to do something by using the excuse that it would be good practice for his new hand. They are:

Echo encouraging Crosshair to learn hair-braiding as a distraction during the procedure in Chapter 10

Hunter joking with Crosshair that he test out his new skills on Hunter's hair in Chapter 18

Omega convincing Crosshair to carry her to bed because she's too tired to get up herself in Chapter 19

Both Echo and Omega even use the exact same wording: "It'd be a good way to test out your new hand."

In Chapter 20/this fic's epilogue, we get this line: After all, wasn’t it every kid’s job to leave the nest once they’d grown up? And Omega’s wings were strong. She had been ready to fly for a long time now. "She had been ready to fly" has a double meaning: She's leaving the proverbial nest by literally flying away, and she's going to be a pilot for the Rebellion.

In the TBB epilogue, we see Omega asking Hunter to "keep an eye on Wrecker and Crosshair while I'm gone," and then Chapter 20, she asks Crosshair to keep an eye on the others. She basically charged each of her brothers with looking after the other two, because she knows how they think and operate. They need "a mission" -- something to do while she's away. Each of them would probably struggle to take care of themselves, but they would definitely take care of each other, and she knows that.

Some of Omega's dialogue in the recording she leaves for Crosshair echoes lines they said to each other earlier in the fic -- namely when Omega initially told Crosshair "Now you have to come back" when she gave him her bandana and then Crosshair telling his family "See you all soon, I promise" before leaving for Alderaan.

Note: I might add a few more things if anything comes to me. The fic is so long, it's hard to remember everything I put in there. LOL

Thanks for reading this! If you haven't I recommend checking out the fic:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/61267762/chapters/156584668

[hugsandchaos]

Proper Introductions

Summary: Proper introductions to the group leads to Danny getting a new wardrobe and a sword.

Credit for the armor design goes to @nerdypear4!! Thank you so, so much for allowing me to use your design in the story!!

Word count: 3,258

First<<<

“So what’s your name?” Wind asked. He and Wolfie walked on both sides of the new member. The early afternoon sun shone through the branches and made the stranger’s dark hair and Wolfie’s dark fur look a little funny when they passed under those spots. The stranger looked at him with eyes a shade of light blue that reminded Wind of ice. He couldn’t be much younger than some of the others, but he was definitely a little bit older than Wind.

The three heroes, four if you count Wolfie, were heading back towards the rest of the group with their newest temporary member in tow. The stranger seemed to snap out of some sort of trance and glanced at him.”My name’s Daniel, but pretty much everyone just calls me Danny. What about you?” He asked. His odd bag on his back made a slightly funny noise as he walked, probably just the contents inside, like that weird red bag from earlier. He’d tightened the straps earlier to prevent it from moving around, so it was practically hugging him. Wind had seen big bags before, but that one was odd.

Wind almost said “Link”, but managed to stop and correct himself.“Well, we all have the same name, so we go by nicknames based off our adventures. I’m Wind, and I have a lot of questions.” He said.

“Me too. You go first.” Danny said. For a split second, the corners of his mouth moved upwards in a smile.

“First, why are your ears round?” Wind asked. Up ahead, Sky and Hyrule both froze and were going to turn around to silently scold Wind. They didn’t know why, either, but for all they know, it could’ve been something he’s had since birth and didn’t like talking about. Yet Danny only looked surprised for a split second before answering.

“Uh, I think the only explanation I can give is the fact that I’m a human.” He replied. Human. The three of them remembered that word. Sky was constantly mistook for one on his adventure, and Twilight mentioned that he grew up in a village full of them. It was also him to explain that probably the only physical difference between them was the fact that humans had round ears while hylians had pointed ears. Not everyone paid attention to that detail, so it wasn’t a surprise that Sky was mistook for one.

The two older heroes continued ahead, with Sky leading them. Wind briefly eyed that part of Danny, not really paying attention to the path ahead.“So you’re not a hylian? Huh.” He said, taking on a more suspicious tone than he meant to. He fixed his expression and smiled.”Your turn.” He said, turning back to look ahead.

“Cool. Where are we?” Danny asked. They all took a step over a fallen log, and both Danny and Wind paused to make sure Wolfie hopped over okay.

“Faron Woods, my world.” Sky replied.

“Never heard of that place, but okay.” Danny said, turning to Wind.”What’s your next question?” He asked.

The young hero had lots of questions, and it was a little hard to pick the next one. He ultimately decided on one Hyrule would probably ask him soon as well.“You were stitching up your wound earlier. Are you a doctor?” He asked.

Danny shook his head.“No, I’m far from the real thing. It’s just that... It’s just something I picked up, I guess?” He said with a shrug.”One of my friends is a doctor, and I was curious about a few things, so I asked a couple questions. Next thing I know, he’s teaching me how to treat my own wounds incase he’s not around.” He explained.

“There you guys are!”

Wind and Danny looked up towards the front of the group. Legend was walking towards them looking a little relieved and annoyed at the same time. When he noticed Danny, however, his expression hardened into a glare.”Who is that?” He asked. Danny stopped mid-step for a second, but then continued as if he never stopped. It lasted barely long enough for Wind to notice. Danny opened his mouth to respond, but Sky spoke first.

“Let’s meet up with the rest of the group first. This is important.” He said. Legend gave Danny another glare, but didn’t argue and turned around to walk with them the rest of the way. After ending up in Sky’s world, but on the ground instead of the sky, he led them to some ruins that would provide some cover if they decided to camp there since some of them were nervous about making repeated journeys up and down.

After getting back to the rest of the group, Sky immediately went to explaining why the kid they brought back with them was now a member of the group. Danny glanced nervously between all of them and tensed up a little with the several pairs of eyes on him as Sky spoke.”The sword said that he’s from another world,” was how he started the conversation. No one even got a chance to ask who Danny was or what he was doing following them.

“What?” Time asked, taking on a more serious tone than normal. He glanced over at Danny, who briefly froze before shrugging his shoulders.

“I hardly know what happened myself. I was just walking through the woods and it opened up from underneath me! Then it just spat me back out somewhere over there.” He explained, pointing back the way they came with his thumb. Either he was acting less upset than he was or talking calmed him down somehow, because he grew less tense when he told his brief story. Wolfie stood next to him, occasionally glancing at his side. Probably eyeing the bandages underneath his shirt.

It was confusing how the boy had gotten comfortable with Wolfie so quickly seeing as he wasn’t freaking out over him being so close, but they weren’t going to ask that. Not yet, at least.

After a moment of silence and shared glances, Four approached him.”I’m Four. Do you remember anything besides the portal? A black lizalfos, maybe?” He asked.

“Danny, and no. I don’t even know what a lizalfos is, but I think I hit something on my way down, before I hit the ground in front of whatever that red, ugly thing was.” Danny said, briefly introducing himself before getting to the point. That response was... worrying.

The fact that he didn’t know what a lizalfos was, and apparently hadn’t seen a bokoblin before a few minutes ago, didn’t sound good if he was going to be traveling with them. Unless his world just didn’t have those, but still had monsters. That thought brought a bit of relief to the group. While it would be a neat thing to have a world with no monsters at all, as surprising as that sounds, that could mean that Danny had no experience fighting them. That would be pretty bad.

He didn’t appear to have any weapons or shields on him, unless they were in his backpack. He didn’t seem to have any armor on, either. Unless he knew a thing or two about using weapons, but just didn’t have them. Sky opened his mouth to speak his thoughts of lending him a sword and teach him if need be, but Danny interrupted.”Thanks again for the save, by the way.” He said, glancing at the group’s furry companion. Wolfie huffed and nodded, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards slightly.

“Wolfie helped you?” Four asked. Sky’s face fell a little. He would wait until Danny explained, but he hoped it’d be quick. Danny looked back up at Four.

“Yeah. Not gonna lie, I thought he was a husky because of his fur color.” He replied. Before anyone asked anything else, Sky took the chance to get their attention again and cleared his throat. Four and Danny both turned to him, along with everyone else.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I think we have a more important issue here. Daniel, have you ever faced a monster before?” Sky asked. Danny hesitated before answering, looking thoughtful before shaking his head.

“No, not really. I don’t think I’ve even seen one until now.” He said. The atmosphere changed drastically, and the silence that followed his answer was a little heavier with the realization that he was basically defenseless. No armor, no weapons, and no knowledge of monsters?! The decision seemed obvious, especially as they glanced between each other. Danny seemed to come to a similar realization as his expression shifted to worry.”How many are there?” He asked.

“A lot.” Legend said, reaching into his bag. He rummaged around before pulling out a tunic and undershirt. He walked over to Danny and handed them to him.”Here, these will give you better protection than that shirt and coat.“ He said. Danny seemed a little surprised and very quickly glanced up at his face, then back at the clothes, before reaching out and accepting the not-so-negotiable offer.”Do you have any knowledge or experience with bows, swords, or other weapons?” Legend asked.

“Thank you. And as much as I don’t want to admit this because of how you’ve all reacted so far, no. In fact, swords and bows are hardly used in my world. Not a lot of people to learn from.” Danny said. Everyone else pretty much guessed the first part would be the answer, but the bit about swords and bows not being used much in his world was a surprise. As much as it caught them off guard, the logic behind why he didn’t know how to use those weapons made sense.

“What about your bag?” Warriors asked.

“I don’t really recall packing a weapon, but I’ve forgotten when I have or haven’t packed something, so maybe I did.” Danny replied. He held the tunic and undershirt close to himself while he slid one of his arms out of the straps, then allowed it to slip down his other arm and caught it with his hand before it would fall off completely. Danny knelt down and placed the bag on the ground, supported by his leg.

He grabbed the dangling piece of metal and pulled it up the side, then over it. The bag opened up and he looked inside. After rummaging around, Danny looked at Warriors.”Yeah, no. I don’t have any weapons.” He said, closing his bag back up and standing up with one of his hand lifting it up by one of the straps.

Wild reached into his own bag and walked over to Danny as he searched the seemingly infinite space. He soon pulled out some chainmail and a piece of armor. He wordlessly placed it of top of the tunic and undershirt given to Danny by Legend.“Oh, thank you. Are you really sure this is necessary, though? Is it that bad that I shouldn’t walk around in my normal clothes?” Danny asked. Wild nodded and pulled out a sword from his bag. It was probably one of the swords he’s taken from dead monsters and gave to Four to fix up.

Danny was careful when he took the sword from his hand.“Okay. Again, thanks.” He said. He turned his head towards Time when he noticed him coming towards him.

“We’ll teach you how to use a sword. Here, these will give you better protection against rough terrain than those.” He said, handing him a pair of boots and pants he forgot to drop off at the ranch.

“Uh- Thanks. I appreciate it.“ Danny said.

If his world was really as harmless as it sounds, then he had done a fairly good job staying calm, but he was starting to freak out. Wolfie nudged his hand seeing his uneasiness starting to creep onto his face and Time backed away.

“Teaching you should be easy! There’s nine of us.” Wind said, hoping it would help. Danny opened his mouth, probably to thank them again, but then he paused with an odd look on his face.

“Wait...” Danny looked from one member to the other. Time realized Wind’s mistake as the human’s eyes finally fell on Wolfie. There were currently eight hylians, not nine. He was worried about Twilight’s secret being blown for a second.”A wolf using sword? I shouldn’t find that funny, but it kind of is.” Danny said. Some of the other members looked at Wolfie.

Sky was the one to change the subject again.”You can go into the ruins to change, but the rest of us should probably introduce ourselves first.” He said.

“Oh, right. I guess I’ll go first.” Legend said.

~~~~~(Small Time Skip + POV Switch)~~~~~

After everyone introduced themselves, Danny was brought into the ruins and left in a small room with no windows. After he had gotten changed, he folded his clothes and put them into his bag, then took a moment to just sit down and think for a moment. One minute, he’s walking through a forest hanging out with some Shades that approached him, the next, a dark portal with purple rims opened from underneath him and he fell through without enough time to react.

Then, he lands next to a weird red monster, gets cut by it, saved by a husky who’s apparently a wolf named Wolfie — and Danny himself isn’t good at naming, but seriously? Wolfie?? —, and now he’s apparently going with a group of people who have the same name so they use nicknames like Legend and Four because they’ve gone through a dark and purple portal before and they think they can get him home?

And they’re giving him armor and sword lessons?! It’s amazing how much can happen in just a few hours.

‘This is bad.’

Danny dug into his backpack for his phone. He had to contact someone back home quickly if he couldn’t get there himself. Who’s going to protect the town? What if his parents called the cops? What will he say when he returns? He went to his contact list and immediately tried calling both Tucker and Sam without thinking. It didn’t even ring. The young halfa noticed the service bars. They were gone. He internally scolded himself for not coming to that conclusion sooner. If he was in another world, he should’ve guessed that he wouldn’t be able to call anyone.

Danny took a deep breath and checked his text notifications. He hadn’t received any. Again, it was probably the clear lack of cellphone reception. He put it back into his backpack, but quickly pulled his hand out when he felt something cool and squishy brush up against his fingers. He grabbed onto both sides of his backpack and held them open so he could see inside.

Two black eyes blinked at him from their spot nestled between his notebooks and clothes. Danny’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something, probably shout, but he was luckily cut off by a knock.

”Hey, are you okay in there? You’ve worn armor before, right?” Wind called out.

“Yeah, just a second!” Danny shouted back. He glanced between the door and the little shade in his backpack, then the door again.”No, I haven’t worn armor before!” He corrected himself. He looked down at the shade, who tilted half of its body in a way akin to a confused head tilt. Its core vibrated and sent a message to his own.

Confusion. Fear. “What’s happening?”

Danny wasn’t in ghost form, but he could still understand them. He lowered his voice to a whisper.“I’m still figuring it out. Look, you have to stay in here, okay? We don’t know if they like ghosts or not.” He said. The shade tilted back to its normal position and sent him another message.

Understanding. Worry. Patience. “Okay. I will wait.”

Danny smiled a little and zipped his backpack up with the shade inside. He went to put it on his back, but it felt a little funny with the armor on. The armor was a little snug and didn’t screw up with his binder, nor was it exactly itchy. It was breathable and surprisingly okay to move around in. It was new, but not bad. He picked up the sword Wild lent to him on his way out of the room and back to the main room of the ruins. Why they thought ruins were a good place to change, Danny will never really know. Sure, they provided walls, but still.

He immediately took notice of someone standing next to Time and Sky. Danny was pretty sure he wasn’t there before. He was probably the second or third tallest out of them and looked like he was wearing a dark pelt or something. Wind was right next to the door and raised a hand, which got the guy’s attention.”Twilight, come meet Danny.” He called. The one Danny hadn’t properly met glanced between Time and Sky before walking over to them. He seemed friendly, but appearances can be deceiving. That was a card Danny also had to play until he had a full grasp of the situation.

As he came closer, Danny took notice of something. Two somethings, actually. One of them was that the guy had the same marking on his forehead as the wolf, except in black instead of white. The second thing was that the pendant in his necklace looked almost the same as the rock Danny had noticed when he was petting the wolf’s head.

Was he... No, he was probably just looking too deep in a shallow lake. He just got here, he shouldn’t jump to those kinds of conclusions. Where was the wolf, anyways?

“Oh, hey, you and the wolf have the same markings. Are you two friends or something?” Danny asked. He wasn’t sure why he went with that instead of introducing himself, but that’s what happened. Twilight, the name Wind had called him, nodded and kept his smile.

What was that brief look for, though?

“Yeah, he helped me out on my adventure. Saved me from a fate worse than death. The mark just appeared after a while. Speaking of the wolf, I heard about how you were calm when he approached you and was a little surprised. Most people would attack a wolf approaching.” Twilight said. Danny felt the need to explain himself and shrugged.

“I don’t know if this part was mentioned to you yet, but I thought he was a dog. Besides, he was nice and helped me find my bag after taking down a red, ugly thing that was going to kill me, so I figured it was safe to trust him after I was told he was actually a wolf.” He said. Wind moved next to both of them and caught both of their attention.

“Twilight’s probably the nicest in the group, but he’s a great fighter, so he’s going to be sparring you.” Wind said. Danny’s eyes widened and he almost took a step back. He glanced back at Twilight, who was obviously a bit bigger than him.

He must’ve looked as anxious as he suddenly felt because Twilight spoke up.”Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be fine. We’re going to switch between defense, offense, and then we do both at the same time. It’ll just be to see how strong and fast you already are, and we’re going to wait until your injury’s much better.” He explained. Danny nodded. He noticed Wild practically appear next to him and offer him a wooden shield. As much as he didn’t want to, Danny accepted the shield with a “thank you”.

(I worry that it might be rushed or not very good, so if you have anything you think needs pointing out or constructive criticism, or any kind of feedback really, that would be really, really appreciated!)

[pikawings]

Thank you all for the 100k hits everybody 😘💜💜 80% of it quite genuinly might be APAF but every single one of you who took the time to read the mess I make genuinly means the world to me, now more than ever. 💜

As an extra bit of a thank you, a writing progress update yap

APAF and BW are currently still on hiatus. Brain has not brained and due to outside influences any time i think about it, all motivation vanishes. Not even attempted chapter planning had any success so it's a real struggle at the moment. (Shoutout to that one ass on wattpad earlier this week that was leaving hate comments and tried to claim it as "innocent frustration towards the characters actions and thoughts" and not my writing. I hope the universe gives u the life u deserve) I'm too stubborn to abandon them so even if it takes 10 years. They will stay on hiatus until i have enough pre-written to start posting again. Current goal is 5 arcs (there are 15 arcs in total still remaining) for APAF and BW fully finished (3 chapters) but with 0 combined words written....it may take a while and for that im genuinly sorry to the people who are waiting on an update for those

In better news:

For the first time in 3 months I finally managed to write a whopping 800 words for a new one shot Careful What You Wish For. Shout out to that trash Lilo And Stitch remake for the glorious angst it spawned in my brain. I wont make any promises on when ill post again (as any posting is connected to APAF and BW progress) but once im actually done with it ill color it orange in my wip masterlist. Once its actually posted ill color it in with its corresponding fic length color with a link too, as will all other stories i made on the side

I also have a new wip for DPxMonsterHigh (VISP: Very Important Scaritage Project) in a way I've never seen before (aka my favorite type of wip to make). Let me just say I am beyond proud of the lore i made for this au and i genuinly cant wait to share it. Im still working on making my final pre-writing notes but im also planning a mini comic that spoils a main plot point at the same time so do please look forward to that. I'll be able to share the final panel of the mini comic before the story released but the precursors will need to wait until the posted chapters are at that point (shout out to xen for coping with the severe levels of yap this thing has caused and with the combined effort of karra as well for helping with the hell that is this mini comic)

I mentioned some months ago in a comment on here that i would have Astray done by summer. I have that fic now fully planned out to start writing as well as an accompanying mini comic but i have yet to have any spoons for the actual tippy tappying or arting for it. Its not much of a progress update but know that i am just trying to fix the severe spoon shortage before writing can start

I have tried to work on Let The Wind Carry Your Call as well as The Game Of Family (check out the art i did make in case anybody is interested) but both of those are currently stuck at the part that covers Jason's death and ya gorl does not have the emotional stability to handle that atm. Overall very little progress but still progress nonetheless

The Curse Of Afterlife has been mentally fully plotted but my notes are still incomplete. The ability to cross off a plotpoint/scene is what had been helping as of late so im trying to stick to that structure

Not only did i finish fully plotting and chaptering Phantom Guardian, it now has a yet to be named sequel that is halfway planned out. I want to wait with calling PG1 ready to start writing in case details in PG2 will require retconning the current plot but it is nearing completion and awaiting available spoons

I hope this counts for something so rest assured, when I return to posting, there will be loads of new stuff for you all to enjoy. Again a big thank you to everybody who stuck by me so far and an even bigger thank you to everybody who chooses to come along for the ride during this hiatus of mine 💜💜😘

[barren-heart]

The Hidden Love Story of What We Do in the Shadows: How The Internet Fell in Love with Harvey Guillen’s Guillermo de la Cruz

I think it’s fair to call this show what it is: a comedy.

The actors have said it’s themselves: the show is 50% improv, 50% script. A lot of what we see is a brilliant collaboration of talent, writing, and the actors saying the funniest thing they can say about something in that moment.

According to Harvey Guillen, some scenes would last 30 minutes each if they didn’t cut it down. That improv is what makes the show what is it: the funniest show on television.

What’s interesting about this little Shit and Fart show (affectionate), is the heart of it all: Guillermo.

Originally the show was looking for an older man to play Nandor’s familiar. The character had worked for his master for 20 years, not 10 as we see in the pilot episode.

Harvey got an audition randomly. At a wine and cheese night of a friend’s, he was invited to audition for the part. It was random, but also, it was fate.

Let me explain.

Harvey Guillen auditioning for the role of Guillermo

(I actually have the full audition tape of Harvey’s if anyone’s interested.) Link below!

Harvey didn’t “fit the part” (Harvey’s words) whatsoever of this character and decided to dress himself to look older, putting on what he calls his Harry Potter glasses and parted his hair down the middle.

The Guillermo we see in the pilot was all Harvey’s idea of what that character should be and the costuming department just ran with it. It’s also fun to point out that to those who don’t know, Harvey created Guillermo’s last name even before he knew he’d play the show’s Vampire Slayer.

I mention this because I don’t think they (showrunner, producers,etc) expected Guillermo to become such a fan favorite. Which kinda explains why his character is the punching bag of season one and why it somewhat changes as seasons go by.

I mean, we don’t even see Guillermo in this season one poster (we don’t see Colin Robinson, either. But I feel like I could write an entirely other post about that character and why I think he’s genuinely the best and most consistently written character on the show. But I won’t right now).

I think they expected Guillermo to be a one-note side kick, which is fine. Many of Harvey’s previous roles were nearly background characters (think Benedict Pickwick in The Magicians).

But, Harvey’s take on the character coupled with his talent at being both comedic and dramatic really shined through. And I think that’s where you start to see that maybe they could do more with him than just being the funny guy in the background.

I also think that’s why you start to see some threading of a more serious plot when it comes to Guillermo’s storyline because of Harvey’s range.

Who would’ve known a funny bit like being a Van Helsing descent in a house full of vampires would get you compelling scenes like the familiar fight The Night Market, Nouveau Théâtre des Vampires, and the Nandor and Guillermo fight in The Portrait?

Harvey mentioned having to train for these and wanted to do his own stunts! And he does them well!

Did they imagine Guillermo being such a badass in the pilot? Probably not. But he is and people took to it. The serious fight scenes (even with bits of comedy filtered in) really stand out in their own as excellent action scenes.

Along with badass scenes, Harvey delivered compelling emotional scenes like Guillermo’s coming out (which Harvey actually cried in as well as other cast and crew, and they had to edit it to not make it too serious), the scene he left Nandor for Celeste, and many scenes in S5’s Exit Interview.

I also think they didn’t anticipate his chemistry with Kayvan Novak. It’s brought up a lot in interviews with them and everyone can tell that they genuinely are really good friends in real life, which makes acting together on screen that much better.

(Funny enough, he was supposed to do a chemistry read with Kayvan before shooting and wasn’t able to meet him until they were on set for the pilot. )

I think in some ways, even though the show wanted it to be a funny Gaston and Lefou type relationship, Kayvan and Harvey had undeniable chemistry you couldn’t deny.

And I think that began to grow with their character’s evolving relationship. From master and servant to friends to sometimes the show and network alluding to them being in a romance (Guillermo’s drunk love confession, Marwa liking what Nandor likes, the Network making videos about shipping Nandermo).

And even Paul Simms (the one who is being grilled for That’s His Boss quote), also said “Guillermo and Nandor is the greatest love story in modern television.”

So yeah, I think originally they started the show with the intention that it was supposed to be similar to the movie that shares its name. The Nandor/Guillermo drama of Shadows the TV show would be so out of place in the movie. The whole Guillermo vampire arc, if it was movie inspired, would not be as dramatic as they have made it in the show.

Looking back to the pilot, I can see that they really tried to make it as close to the source material as possible. But I think it took off in a direction that even the creators didn’t imagine it would go. Just a silly little comedy show about silly little vampires. And don’t get me wrong, it still definitely is.

But the show has evolved. And for better or worse, Nandor and Guillermo’s relationship will be one of the most compelling things about the show and I’m curious where they are going to take it now.

I guess this turned into a bit of an Harvey Guillen appreciation post and honestly, why not? Look at that adorable face.

[legacygirlingreen]

"Princess" || Commander Wolffe x OFC Perdita || Clone x Clone OC Week 2025

Pairing: Commander Wolffe x OFC Perdita Halle (Bio HERE)

Word Count: 6.8k+

Rating: SFW but Teen+

Warnings: heavy flirtation, mentions of order 66, grief

Author's Note: Day 3 of @clonexocweek! Shifting gears to one of my other OC's Perdita. You can find her Bio linked ahead! This is also the next installment of her story with Commander Wolffe! So thankful to this writing challenge to really push me to keep my stories going! As always, this story exists within @leenathegreengirl 's AU and she is responsible for helping bring Perdita to life!

Previous Work || Masterlist

Wolffe stormed through the swamp, fury in every step. How he had ended up here was something he still couldn't fully accept as his own doing. The decision to fire on his own troopers the moment he set foot on the landing platform with the Jedi in custody had set everything in motion—forcing them both into a frantic scramble for a shuttle to escape. While their initial flight had been successful, it became clear that no matter how many ships they commandeered, they were always being tracked. The Empire was waiting for them the moment they made it off-world. And so, their latest crash landing on Nal Hutta, the ship's descent still echoing in his mind…

✩₊˚.⋆☾𓃦☽⋆⁺₊✧

“I’d brace yourself for a rough landing, Princess,” he muttered grumpily, his eyes scanning the damaged shuttle’s computer system. The trajectory was set, but that didn’t ease the gnawing sense of dread. The hyperspace jump hadn’t been the problem—no, it was the damage they’d sustained during the last firefight. When they entered the atmosphere, the shuttle had been torn apart even more, each burst of fire and each jolting impact chipping away at what was left of the ship. 

“I told you to stop calling me that,” she snapped back, her voice edged with irritation.

He wasn’t sure why the nickname had stuck. Maybe it was the undeniable truth that, despite everything, she did look every bit like royalty—her elegance even in chaos a sharp contrast to the grim reality of their situation. Or maybe it was just his way of dealing with everything—his passive-aggressive shield, the thin veil of sarcasm and annoyance that kept the world at bay. He wasn’t sure, but he knew one thing: the name fit her, and it kept slipping off his tongue without a hint of regret.

The shuttle’s hull groaned in protest as it plunged further into the atmosphere, metal screeching under the strain. Wolffe’s fingers flew over the controls, trying to stabilize the craft, but it was like trying to tame a wild animal. Sparks flew from the dashboard, and alarms screamed in their ears as the ship's systems malfunctioned one by one.

“We’re not gonna make it,” he muttered under his breath, more to himself than to her. His hands tightened on the controls, his mind racing with calculations, but there was no escaping the inevitable.

Perdita’s voice cut through the chaos. “Wolffe, do something!”

He barely heard her over the sound of the wind whipping through the shuttle’s breaches, but he could feel her eyes on him. He knew she was scared. Hell, he was scared. His mind raced, thinking of a hundred ways to try and save them, but his heart kept coming back to one thing: her.

She was a fighter, he’d seen that time and again, but there was something about the way she sat there—straight-backed, almost too calm for someone about to crash into a swamp—something that gnawed at him. It wasn’t the same composure he saw in seasoned soldiers. It was something more fragile, hidden behind those defiant eyes of hers.

His breath hitched as he looked over at her, the storm of emotions he’d kept locked up inside surging to the surface. “Don’t worry, I’m not letting you die,” he growled, more to himself than her, his voice rough with the weight of the words. There was no time to explain, no time to reconcile his feelings, but that fact rang clear in his mind.

She raised an eyebrow at him, clearly about to retort, but the shuttle bucked violently, throwing both of them against their seats. The world outside spun, a blur of treetops and sky, before the ground suddenly rose up to meet them with a bone-rattling jolt.

The crash itself felt like an eternity—a gut-wrenching mix of twisting metal and bone-shaking impacts. For a moment, Wolffe was sure they were done for. His grip on the controls tightened as the shuttle careened towards the swamp, its fuselage skidding through the muck before coming to an abrupt, jarring halt. The sound of groaning metal filled the air, followed by an eerie silence.

He was breathing hard, disoriented, and his ears rang. For a moment, he just sat there, fighting to clear the fog in his mind. Then, he turned to her. Perdita was still in her seat, eyes wide but alert, a few cuts and bruises on her face from the impact and her hitting the glass viewport, but—thank the stars—still breathing.

“Princess,” he breathed, his tone softer now, betraying the storm of emotions he’d tried to mask. “You okay?”

She didn’t respond immediately, her hand pressed against the side of her head as she checked herself for injuries. It was then that Wolffe realized how deeply he’d been holding his breath. The relief flooding through him was overwhelming, and for a brief, fleeting moment, he let himself be vulnerable, his concern for her slipping through the cracks of his tough exterior.

Perdita finally looked over at him, her lips curling into a small smirk, despite the blood trickling from a gash on her temple. “I told you to stop calling me that.”

Wolffe’s lips twitched, but his gaze softened. "Maybe later," he muttered, then quickly turned his attention to the wreckage around them. "We need to get out of here. Now."

✩₊˚.⋆☾𓃦☽⋆⁺₊✧

That was how he had ended up slogging through waist-deep, murky water, making his way toward what he could only loosely call civilization. If you could even label it that in Hutt-controlled territory. Still, it was precisely the area's reputation for being lawless and corrupt that had sparked the decision to come here in the first place. Nal Hutta, despite the Empire’s claims of dominance, remained firmly beyond their grasp. But in the chaos and uncertainty of this place, there was opportunity—a chance for both of them to regroup, to blend in with the shadows and find something they desperately needed: new clothes, supplies, and a ship the Empire wasn’t tracking.

The only problem now, however, was the eerie sound of water sloshing quietly beneath their boots, a constant reminder of how far from safety they truly were. There was no conversation, no words exchanged between them as they waded through the murky waters. Silence had become their constant companion. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, either. Their interactions had devolved into either tense, frustrated silence or harsh words. Gone were the days of lighthearted banter that had once filled their conversations during the war.

It hadn't taken long for Wolffe to realize that the fall of the Jedi Order had profoundly changed Perdita. The peaceful presence she had once projected, that calming aura she used to exude, had been dulled. In its place, there was a rawness to her emotions—a sharpness in her gaze and a palpable edge to her every move. Wolffe had seen glimpses of this before, flashes of intense emotion that cut through her usually serene exterior, but now, those moments were no longer rare. They were becoming the norm. And it was in this silence, as the water lapped at their feet, that he found himself unsure of where they stood now—or where they were heading.

He’d read her file shortly after the fall of the Jedi Order, desperate to find any shred of information that might explain which of the Jedi he had known were still alive—and, more hauntingly, which ones had perished, and how. Perdita’s name had appeared on the list of the missing, along with that of her padawan. At the time, that brief mention had sparked a small flicker of hope in him, something to hold onto as he navigated the confusion and loss of those early days. His ears had remained attuned, waiting for any news, any whisper that might tell him more.

But, despite all the time that had passed since their reunion, he still hadn’t found the courage to ask her about the whereabouts of her padawan. The silence surrounding that question had remained a heavy weight between them, one Wolffe wasn’t willing to lift. He could feel it in the air between them—an unspoken truth that the padawan had likely met the same grim fate as so many others. The odds were too high, the likelihood of survival too slim. He had seen too much in the aftermath of Order 66 to believe otherwise. He had learned, painfully, that the Empire’s reach was long and merciless.

"He’s fine—" Perdita's voice cut through the silence, her words tight with tension as they waded through the water. The sentence hung in the air, heavy with the unsaid. Wolffe hated it when she did that. He hated how she seemed to know exactly what he was thinking, even without a single word exchanged between them. It wasn't that he could fault her for it; after all, she had never once intruded on his thoughts since they had found each other again. Perdita respected his boundaries, never reaching into his mind the way others might have. But she couldn’t help when his emotions grew too loud, too raw, for her to ignore.

She always seemed to sense it—when his heart clenched, when his thoughts wandered into the darker corners of his past. She could feel the weight of his unresolved questions, his guilt, his fears. But there was something else, too—something deeper in her tone that he couldn’t quite place. It was as if, in that one brief sentence, she was trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince him.

Wolffe didn’t respond immediately, but the silence that followed was thick with the tension of unspoken truths. Perdita’s assurances weren’t enough to silence the nagging doubt in his mind, but he knew better than to press her on it. He assumed she wasn’t ready to share, and that was something he could respect, even if it ate away at him.

"You are free to ask what happened if you like," Perdita spoke softly, her voice devoid of the sharp edge that had marked most of their exchanges since they’d been reunited. Gone was the venom, the anger that had become familiar whenever she addressed him. Instead, there was a quiet resignation in her tone, something fragile that caught Wolffe off guard. She seemed different now—less guarded, but in a way that spoke of deep, hidden sorrow. That sadness, creeping into her voice, halted his movements. He paused mid-step, his boots sinking slightly deeper into the murky water as he turned to face her fully.

The air between them felt thick with something unspoken, an invitation to tread where they had never dared before. Her eyes were distant, almost lost in a memory, as though she had seen something he couldn’t, something far beyond the shadows of Nal Hutta. He searched her face for some sign of her usual composure, but it was no longer there. The flicker of vulnerability in her eyes made his heart tighten in a way he hadn’t expected. He swallowed, unsure of what to say.

"It is not my business—" he began, but she interrupted him, her voice firmer now, tinged with something that bordered on resolve.

"Nonsense," she said sharply, though the bite in her words was softened by the underlying emotion. "You threw away so much to help me. You are at the very least owed an explanation if you desire it."

Her words lingered between them, carrying the weight of a history neither of them had fully confronted. Wolffe felt a strange stirring in his chest. Perdita had always been one to keep her secrets, and to offer even a hint of explanation was something rare, something she clearly didn’t give lightly. He could see the effort it took for her to even offer this. She wasn’t asking for his pity, but perhaps, for understanding—a moment of honesty in the aftermath of all they had lost.

He took a step closer, his voice low, steady, as though each word carried weight he didn’t want to acknowledge. "I didn’t do it for an explanation, Princess. I did it because I know you are a good person, someone who didn’t deserve to suffer. I didn’t want to be complicit in causing you pain," he admitted, the truth falling from his lips without hesitation.

There was a long pause between them, the weight of his words sinking into the murky water surrounding them. For a moment, Wolffe wondered if she would respond with bitterness or if she would retreat into the walls she’d built so carefully around herself. But instead, she simply nodded, as though the admission was both expected and understood. It was a moment of quiet connection between them, a rare honesty amidst all the lies and deceit they had both endured.

Perdita inhaled deeply, her shoulders tightening, as if bracing herself for the weight of the memories she was about to relive. She spoke softly, almost to herself. "We were on an assignment off-world. Onderon. We were assisting Gerrera’s forces—fighting the Separatists trying to reclaim the system.” Her eyes unfocused, drifting back to the distant horizon as if the memory was replaying in her mind. "When it happened... when everything fell apart, his men helped Zatt and I escape."

Wolffe’s chest tightened at the mention of Zatt. The padawan. His thoughts flickered briefly to the child, imagining the fear in his eyes as his world crumbled. He said nothing, allowing Perdita to continue, knowing she needed to speak.

"Kenobi sent out a message from the temple, warning survivors not to return, so we did that—we ran. Hiding where we could, wherever we thought we were safe. But as the Empire began taking over system after system, it became harder for someone like me to stay hidden, especially with a child. A child who doesn’t look anything like me." She shook her head, the sorrow clear in her voice. "It draws attention, and we couldn’t keep pretending that he was my flesh and blood. The Empire’s reach was too long, and the risks... they became too high."

Her voice faltered for a moment, a brief crack in her otherwise composed demeanor. Wolffe’s heart ached at the thought of how much she had carried alone during that time. She had been a beacon of strength in the war, but even the strongest of people break when they carry too much.

"So, I got him back to his people." Perdita’s voice hardened slightly as she continued, as if her decision was one she had replayed in her mind a thousand times. "They promised me that they would protect him. And... I trust that he is alright. I trust in the Force. He’s—" She paused, her words catching in her throat for a moment, as though the weight of them was almost too much to bear. "He’s a good kid. He deserves the chance to be a kid."

Wolffe felt a lump form in his throat as he listened to her words. The image of a child, a bright and hopeful young soul, caught in the crossfire of a war he couldn’t fully understand, hit him harder than he expected. Perdita had risked everything to ensure the boy’s safety, even if it meant letting go of him. He could see the love and the pain in her eyes, the impossible decision she had made out of love for a child who wasn’t hers by blood, but had become her responsibility all the same.

"You did what you had to do," Wolffe said quietly, stepping closer still. "You did what was right."

Perdita looked at him then, her eyes searching his, almost as if looking for confirmation that she wasn’t alone in her choices. "I hope I did," she murmured, more to herself than to him, her voice breaking slightly. "I hope he’s safe. That he’s somewhere far from this war... that he can live a life outside of the Empire's reach."

The silence that followed was filled with the weight of everything they had both lost, everything they had both endured. And yet, despite the darkness surrounding them, Wolffe could feel a quiet strength growing between them. Perdita’s pain was raw, but she wasn’t letting it consume her. She had made sacrifices, had fought for a future that didn’t belong just to her, but to someone else—a child who deserved a chance to grow up, untouched by the horrors of the galaxy.

"You’ll find him again," Wolffe said, his voice firm with the certainty of his words. Perdita’s gaze softened slightly, the tiniest hint of hope flickering in her eyes. "I hope you’re right, Wolffe," she replied quietly. "I really do."

Wolffe watched as a small tear escaped the corner of her eye, a fragile drop of emotion she couldn’t quite hold back. For a moment, it hung there, suspended in time, before she quickly brushed it away, as though to erase the vulnerability that had slipped through her defenses. "We should keep moving," she said, her voice steady, but there was a faint tremor beneath the surface—one that Wolffe could feel, even if she tried to hide it.

"Hey—" Wolffe’s voice was hesitant, laced with concern. He took a step closer, unsure if she would push him away.

"Nightfall is approaching," she replied quickly, her tone resolute, though the effort to mask her emotions was clear. Wolffe knew the routine, the constant push forward, the need to keep moving. It had been their mantra ever since they’d been thrust into this war-torn galaxy together, but something about the cold finality in her voice made him hesitate.

He couldn’t just leave her like this—not when he saw the raw pain etched so deeply into her face.

Without thinking, he placed a hand gently on her shoulder, his grip light but firm. He turned her body slowly to face him, not allowing her to keep walking. Her eyes met his, wide with surprise, and in that brief moment, Wolffe saw a fresh wave of tears gathering at the corner of her eyes—tears that threatened to spill over, despite her best efforts to hold them in.

"Perdita," he whispered her name, his voice softer than he intended, but full of meaning. It was the first time he’d said her name, the first time since their reunion, and the sound of it seemed to cut through the thick, heavy air between them.

She sucked in a sharp breath at the sound of it, as if hearing it aloud was a jolt to her system. Wolffe noticed the subtle shift in her expression—the way her eyes softened, the way her breath hitched, as though his voice had pierced a wall she had so carefully constructed around herself.

For a brief moment, she looked like the woman he had once known, back when they were fighting side by side in the war. But then, the mask cracked just enough for him to see the depth of the grief she had buried inside. "I... I don’t remember you ever saying my name," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. It was almost as though saying it aloud brought the reality of everything they’d been through into sharper focus, forcing her to confront the distance that had grown between them.

Wolffe’s heart tightened at her words. He hadn’t meant to bring back those old wounds, but somehow, he had. He realized then that, for all the battles they had fought together, all the missions they had survived, they had never truly stopped long enough to talk, to heal. Back then, it had always been "General" or "General Halle" in the field. A title, a role. There had been no room for anything else. Since their reunion, he’d stuck to calling her by the nickname she had loathed, a habit formed from years of familiarity, but it had never been her. He had never truly seen her until now, in this fragile moment of shared silence.

“Sorry, Jedi aren’t supposed to be weak,” she muttered, her voice laced with self-derision. She reached up to brush the tears from her face, as though to erase the vulnerability she had just allowed herself to show. But before her hand could make contact, Wolffe stopped her, gently intercepting her movement.

“Perdita,” he spoke her name softly, his voice quiet but steady, “you aren’t weak.”

His hand found hers, but instead of simply holding it, he gently guided it away from her face. His thumb traced the delicate line of her cheek, his touch light, almost reverent, as though he was afraid of breaking something even more fragile than the tears she had shed. He had never been one to shy away from battle, from hard decisions, but this felt different. In that simple act, in that moment, he was offering something she had probably not had in far too long: tenderness.

The gesture wasn’t necessary, not in any practical sense. He knew she could wipe the tears away herself. But there was something inside him, something deep and unspoken, that made him want to help ease the burden she carried. And so, with each gentle sweep of his thumb, he felt a warmth spread inside him—an unexpected pride. This was not just about shielding her from the storm outside. It was about giving her the chance to fight the battles within herself, the ones she had been fighting alone for so long.

She had always been alone in this—carrying the weight of the galaxy on her shoulders, trying to make sense of everything that had been ripped away. But for the first time in what felt like forever, she didn’t have to do it alone. He was here, and he wanted to be here.

Her breath caught in her throat as he traced the scar that ran along her cheek. It was an old one, from long ago when she was a padawan, yet it was still part of her. It was a reminder of what she had survived. And as his fingers lingered there, a quiet admission slipped from his lips, barely above a whisper, but filled with meaning. “And you always were better than most of them in that Temple,” he said quietly, the words rolling out with the ease of someone who had seen the truth from the start, but had never said it aloud. “You were always different. You are different.”

The words hung between them, heavy with sincerity, and for a brief moment, it seemed as though time stood still. Perdita blinked, taken aback, her chest tightening as his words settled in. No one had ever said that to her—not like this, not with this kind of raw honesty. There was no judgment, no expectation. Only the simple truth, spoken with care.

She didn’t know how to respond. There had been so many voices over the years, so many opinions of who she was, what she should have been, who she had failed to become. But Wolffe wasn’t like the others. His words weren’t meant to fix her. They weren’t some hollow comfort, a fleeting reassurance to make her feel better. They were a quiet acknowledgment of everything she had been through, everything she still carried. It wasn’t just about the battles she’d fought or the scars she wore, inside and out. It was about who she was—the woman standing before him, still fighting, still surviving, despite it all. And for the first time in a long time, she felt as though she didn’t have to hide from it. 

Wolffe, who had seen her at her best and her worst, who had fought alongside her before and now when the galaxy was falling apart,  stood before her not as a soldier, not as a comrade, but as someone who saw her. Really saw her.

Her breath shuddered, but this time, the tears that welled up were different. They were not born of sorrow or loss, but of something more profound—a release. A moment of pure honesty, of being seen, of being understood.

For a long moment, she couldn’t speak, the words stuck in her throat, but she didn’t need to. Instead, she simply met his gaze, her hand reaching up to rest on his wrist, the quiet connection between them saying everything that needed to be said.

Wolffe, in turn, held her gaze with a quiet determination. He wasn’t going to push her. He wasn’t going to demand anything from her. He simply stayed there, his presence solid and unwavering, offering her the one thing she had always needed more than anything else: understanding.

“Thank you, Wolffe,” she whispered, her voice low and filled with gratitude. It wasn’t just for saving her, not just for the battles he had fought for her, but for something deeper—something she hadn’t realized she needed until now. Thankful for the way he had listened, how he had seen her when no one else had, and for the care he was offering so freely, without asking for anything in return.

How the Jedi had seen attachments like this as a danger showed Perdita just how misguided the order was. 

For a moment, everything else faded away. There was no war, no Empire hunting them down, no scarred past between them. It was just the two of them, standing in this fragile space where words didn’t need to be spoken aloud to be understood.

A smirk tugged at the corner of Wolffe’s lips—one she hadn’t seen in what felt like ages, not since that last day at the Jedi Temple, before everything fell apart. A quiet, familiar expression, filled with that old, comforting confidence. It was a smirk that reminded her of the man she once fought alongside, and yet, there was something different about it now—something softer, something more.

Without warning, Wolffe leaned in, and the smirk, like a subtle, unspoken promise, grazed her skin as he pressed the lightest of kisses to her temple. It was brief, but it lingered in a way that left her breathless, like a gentle caress against both her skin and a part of her soul she’d not quite acknowledged before. She could feel the warmth of his lips, the softness, the tenderness in the gesture—a contrast to the rugged soldier she had always known him to be.

Her heart skipped a beat, and for the briefest of moments, it felt as though the world had slowed down, leaving only the quiet intimacy of the moment between them. She didn’t pull away, didn’t move, instead she closed her eyes, savoring the feeling of him there, so close, yet so carefully distant.

When he pulled back, his face softened, but the smirk was still there, like a secret they shared.

“Anytime, Princess,” he said, his voice low, but his tone teasing—though there was something more in it now. Something that hadn’t been there before. He called her “Princess” but now instead of in the heat of an argument, the word now carried a weight she hadn’t expected. It wasn’t a jest anymore. 

Her breath caught for a moment, and she found herself searching his eyes, as if trying to make sense of the moment, of the unexpected depth in his words, his touch. There was no pretense between them now—no shields, no walls. Just the raw honesty that had grown between them in the shared emotions of their joint situation.

She could see it now. The way he looked at her was different. Not with the same respect he had shown in the heat of battle, but with something warmer, softer—something that made her heart race a little faster. It wasn’t just the soldier standing before her anymore. It was Wolffe—the man who had always respected her and was grateful for saving his life. Now, as if trying to prove he was worthy of her by tossing away all he’d known to keep her safe.

“Wolffe…” Her voice trailed off, and she didn’t quite know what to say. There was too much between them now, too many emotions swirling in the space they shared, to fit into just a few words. She didn’t need to say it all out loud. He already knew.

His hand, still resting lightly on her shoulder, tightened ever so slightly, not possessive, but protective—gentle, yet firm. Her eyes, searching his face, spoke volumes—questions, uncertainties, and perhaps even a hint of something she wasn’t yet ready to name. He saw it all, the raw vulnerability behind her gaze, and yet, there was no fear in it. Just honesty. 

Wolffe knew she wasn’t the kind of woman to let herself need anyone, especially not someone like him. He had seen the way she fought alone, the way she carried the weight of the galaxy on her shoulders with the stoic grace of a Jedi. But now, in this quiet space between them, he could sense the shift. She didn’t need to say everything. He already knew.

Gently, as though allowing her the space to pull away if she needed, he moved his hand to tenderly cup her cheek, his thumb brushing against the smoothness of her skin. He wasn’t trying to push, only to offer her the quiet reassurance that he was there, unwavering. His fingers lingered at the side of her head, where the soft, shorn hair met her scalp. He hadn’t yet asked whether that style had been a choice, or a necessity born of their circumstances. They hadn’t been running long, but already, he’d grown unkempt—his face dotted with the beginnings of a beard, his hair far past regulation. Yet, there was something captivating about the contrast between her long hair and the one side she’d kept so short. It highlighted the delicate curve of her neck, leading down to her nape. As his fingertips brushed over it, he found himself mesmerized by the beauty in the unexpected—a striking blend of sharpness and softness that left him almost breathless. 

Her breath caught, just a whisper of a sound, as his touch lingered against her skin. Her eyes fluttered closed for a brief moment, as though afraid that if she opened them, the softness of the sensation would slip away, leaving nothing but the cold reality of their world.

"I like this," he confessed, his voice low, tinged with a quiet warmth. His fingers brushed over the short hair again, the gesture casual, yet it carried a weight he hadn’t expected.

Wolffe couldn’t quite understand it—the way his stomach fluttered at something so simple, so seemingly trivial. To touch her hair, to feel the warmth of her skin beneath his fingertips—it was enough to make his heart race, to stir a feeling deep inside him that he couldn't place. It was a strange blend of yearning, of wanting more, and yet, at the same time, a quiet anticipation that left him breathless, as though this moment was something more than he could put into words.

Perdita let out a soft scoff, the sound tinged with an edge of frustration. "I didn’t really have much choice in the matter," she said, her voice quiet but resolute. The puzzled furrow of his brows seemed to silently demand more, urging her to explain. With a reluctant sigh, she did. "Hair got caught trying to escape not too long ago. It was easier to just cut myself free and deal with the consequences later," she confessed, the words coming out heavier than she intended. There was a fleeting vulnerability in her tone, one she quickly buried beneath the weight of practicality.

Inside, she knew it sounded ridiculous. The Jedi had always taught her that vanity was a frivolous concern, something beneath the greater mission. It was one of the reasons she had always kept herself veiled. She had listened to the council’s recommendation to cover herself in fear of leading her peers to stumble with their own vows, as many women at the temple did.

But standing here now, with Wolffe's gaze lingering on her, she felt a sudden self-consciousness she hadn’t expected. There was something raw in the way his eyes held her—something that seemed almost hungry. And in that moment, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of uncertainty about the simplest of things: the unexpected and frankly unwanted cut made her worry about his opinion. It seemed so trivial, yet she couldn’t help but wonder how he would view it. 

Wolffe’s hand remained at her cheek, his thumb brushing over her skin with a slow, deliberate rhythm. He watched her carefully, the softness in her eyes, the faint tension in her posture as she spoke. There was something about the way she seemed so conflicted over something as trivial as an unwanted haircut that made him smile. But it wasn’t just any smile—it was a smile filled with admiration, warmth, and, surprisingly, a bit of boldness.

He took a deep breath, his gaze locking onto hers with a playful intensity, as though testing the waters before plunging in. "I’m about to say something that would’ve definitely landed me in hot water when you were my superior..." His voice was low, steady, and there was a subtle weight to his words that hinted at something more. "But the truth is, you’re an incredibly attractive woman. I always noticed things—like how the faint shape of your body would show through those robes, or how your eyes, no matter how stoic, could still be so captivating."

He paused, meeting her gaze. There was no sense in pretending anymore. They had too little to lose, and he knew she'd likely sensed his thoughts already. This confession, he decided, needed to come from his lips, not his mind.

He leaned in slightly, the intensity of the moment drawing them even closer. “But right now? In this filthy swamp, covered in blood, sweat, and tears?” He let out a quiet chuckle, one that mixed affection with something deeper, more genuine. "Even with your... unique hairstyle," he teased with a warm smile, "you’re damn enticing, if you ask me."

The words hung in the air between them, charged with honesty and something far more intimate than he'd expected to reveal.

She blinked at him, the comment catching her off guard, and for a second, Wolffe thought she might blush. Instead, she quirked an eyebrow at him, her lips pulling into a teasing smirk.

“Well, aren’t you the smooth talker,” she replied with a sarcastic, yet amused tone, trying to cover the way her heart fluttered at his words. She tilted her head, studying him for a moment before responding with a slight chuckle of her own. “If I’m being honest, I’ve kind of gotten used to the scruffy look,” she teased, her eyes lighting up with playful mischief. “I think it suits you. We’ve both seen better days, after all. It kind of fits this whole... runaway, no-one’s-gonna-catch-us vibe we’ve got going on.”

Wolffe let out a low laugh at that, the sound rich and genuine, and his thumb brushed across her cheek one more time before he dropped his hand. “Scruffy, huh?” he mused, his lips curving into a sly grin. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Perdita shrugged, her expression shifting into something softer, more genuine beneath the teasing facade. “I’m just saying,” she added, her voice quieter now, “there’s something... enticing about someone who’s lost the need to keep up appearances.” She repeated his choice of words back to him.

He studied her for a moment, taking in the lightness in her words and the warmth in her eyes. He could see the change in her—the way she let down the walls just a little bit more, the way she let herself be a little more real with him.

“You’d better get used to the scruff. No guarantees we’ll be able to find razors anytime soon, so it’s going to be this for the foreseeable future,” he warned, referring to his own appearance. 

Perdita’s lips curved into a playful smile, her eyes glinting with amusement as she regarded him. “Oh, trust me, I think I can handle it. It's not like I’m exactly looking pristine myself,” she teased, gesturing toward her own disheveled state. “Besides, if I’m going to keep surviving this runaway life, I’ll have to learn to appreciate the little things. Like scruffy Wolffe,” she added with a wink, the teasing tone in her voice softer now, the playful banter offering a shield, but beneath it was something more sincere.

Wolffe chuckled, the sound warm and genuine, and his gaze lingered on her a little longer than before, not just taking in her teasing words but the subtle way her posture had shifted, the quiet vulnerability that had seeped into her demeanor. She leaned into his hold, and at some point he hadn’t noticed that she’d settled her hands on his waist. There was something refreshing about the way they could still find humor in all of this, despite the chaos surrounding them.

“I’m not exactly worried about my looks right now,” he admitted, his voice quieting just a touch, something more serious weaving through. “But if you think I look good this way, then maybe I should hold onto it a little longer.” He raised an eyebrow, the playfulness still there, but now it was paired with a flicker of something deeper, something that hadn’t been there before.

Perdita tilted her head, studying him closely. Her expression softened, and the teasing edge from earlier seemed to fade, replaced by something more sincere. “I’ll admit... there’s something more real about it. It's like the soldier is finally disappearing, and what's left is just... Well, Wolffe.”

“Well, good to know Princess…” he said. Perdita raised an eyebrow, her expression a mixture of amusement and exasperation. “Princess again?” she asked, a small smirk tugging at her lips. “You really can’t let that go, can you?”

Wolffe grinned, his eyes glinting with mischievous humor. “What can I say? It suits you. You’ve got that royal vibe, even when you’re covered in dirt and mud.”

She rolled her eyes, but the corner of her mouth twitched upward. “Royal vibe? Please, I’m far from royalty.” She gave him a nudge with her shoulder, her voice light but laced with curiosity. “Why do you keep calling me that?”

He let out a chuckle, the sound warm and genuine. “I don’t know... I guess it’s just suited to you at the moment. If I didn’t know who you were, I’d assume someone as pretty as you would be royalty.”

Perdita blinked, her expression softening. “Well, I don’t know if that’s true,” 

Wolffe’s grin deepened. “Don’t sell yourself short, Princess. You’ve got a lot more going on than you give yourself credit for.”

She shook her head with a smile, the playfulness in her eyes still dancing. “Alright, alright. But I’m not letting you off the hook for that nickname anytime soon.”

He shrugged with an exaggerated nonchalance, though there was a glint of warmth in his eyes. “Sorry but you’ll just have to deal with it.”

Perdita’s gaze softened, and for a moment, the teasing faded, leaving something more honest, more vulnerable behind. “You know,” she said quietly, “even though it’s been... insane, I don’t mind these moments. The ones where we can laugh, forget the world for a little while. And hey, we’re not screaming at each other for once.”

Wolffe met her gaze, his smile slipping into something more genuine, a flicker of warmth in his eyes. “I get what you mean,” he said softly. “But just so you know, I’m still going to argue with you. Count on it.”

Perdita raised an eyebrow, a smile playing at her lips. “Oh yeah? You’re not done with that?”

“Of course not. You’re easily the most vexing woman I’ve ever met,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Vexing?” she repeated, a mischievous glint in her eyes before she shoved him playfully. The sudden motion caught him off guard, and he stumbled backward, sinking deeper into the murky water than he’d planned.

“Oh, you are not getting away with that one, Princess.” Wolffe scoffed, reaching for her, but his hand froze mid-air, caught in some unseen force. He blinked, startled, as Perdita flashed a sly grin and wiggled her brows at him.

“Sorry, what was that?” she teased, her voice light as she turned to walk away. “Can’t hear you over being this vexing.”

Wolffe stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, before finally feeling the hold around his hand loosen. As she started walking, he could still feel the playful tug of her teasing energy. She glanced back over her shoulder, tossing him a look that spoke volumes—like maybe, just maybe, things could be okay if they kept going down this path.

With a quiet chuckle, he followed her, the promise of more moments like this could make his decision worthwhile. It wouldn’t be easy. They’d still clash. Danger was always there, lurking in the background. But if life on the run could be this... chaotic, but somehow enjoyable, he was more than willing to take on a little more conflict.

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[youryurigoddess]

Aziraphale’s secret investigation and overlooked Clues

Remember this frame from Good Omens S02E06? Apparently Aziraphale had been using the empty carton box brought by Jim to store things in. It became a new home to at least two out of three “Lost Quartos” — the supposedly lost Shakespeare plays briefly but hilariously mentioned in the Good Omens book — as well as a very mysterious legal document.

Thought probably half of the Good Omens analysts here, including the ever so wonderful @fuckyeahgoodomens, who managed to find some information about the deceased John Gibson from New Cumnock (1855 - 1905).

Unfortunately the most interesting thing about this early 20th century provincial postmaster was his youngest child James (1894 - 1973), a quite famous stage (West End!) and film actor immortalized on screen in The Master of Ballantrae (1962), Witch Wood (1964) and Kidnapped (1963).

After that particular discovery the fandom-wide search seemingly led nowhere and the topic died a premature death.

And I almost figured it out seven months ago.

“But Yuri, you’re so clever. How can somebody as clever as you be so stupid?”, you probably want to shout across a busy London street at this point. Well, let me tell you. Much like Aziraphale, I'm blindingly intelligent for about thirty seconds a day. I do not get to choose which seconds and they are not consecutive.

Only tonight the stars have aligned in an ineffable way.

For those of you who don’t follow this account, some time ago I’ve realized that John Gibson isn’t the only testator whose estate was being investigated by Aziraphale right before The Whickber Street Traders and Shopkeepers Association monthly meeting.

If you watch S2 finale closely enough, you should notice that Crowley not only stress cleans Aziraphale’s bookshop — he also goes through the books and papers on his desk between the last three angels leaving the bookshop and Maggie and Nina’s intervention. A seemingly permanent arrangement of the props post-shooting, visible in detail both on Radio Times tour and SFX magazine photo shoot, sheds even more light on this detail.

The close-ups published after S2 release are legible enough to refer us to a much more prominent historical figure, Josiah Wedgwood (1730 – 1795) — an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the industrialisation of the manufacture of European pottery.

Long story short, I transcribed the handwritten pages abandoned on Aziraphale’s desk, found out the source and the full text of what could be identified as Wedgwood’s last will and testament, took a walk to visit his Soho workshop, and proceeded to write a lengthy meta analysis about it.

I was today’s years old when I realized that there’s something else connecting those two dead British men.

The Scottish Post Office Directory of 1903 recorded John Gibson from New Cumnock as a “stationer and china dealer” (above) operating from the shop located in the town’s post office building.

Indeed, a close look at his post office shop window in the Henderson Building (below, bottom left) reveals an artful display of fine china and pottery next to postcards printed by Gibson.

There are multiple ways to connect this surprising link with possible S3 plot points, obviously, but it’s getting late, so let’s just name the two most important ones.

You’ve probably heard of the Holy Grail, maybe from Monty Python or Good Omens S01E03 1941 flashback. Depending on the version of the story, if can be a cup, a chalice, a bowl, or a saucer — but almost always a dish or a vessel connected personally, physically and metaphysically to Jesus (unless you’re partial to Wolfram von Eschenbach’s idea that the Grail was a stone, the sanctuary of the neutral angels who took neither side during Lucifer's rebellion).

A slightly more obscure dish related to the Son of God appears in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation as a vital part of His Second Coming. The Seven Bowls (or cups, or vials) of God’s Wrath are supposed to be poured out on the wicked and the followers of the Antichrist by seven angels:

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.” So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea.

The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!”

The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.

The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.  (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.