#bex go to prison

[milo-sky-404]

Can I have a strand of your hair for completely innocent non-voodoo related reasons?

uhhhhhh i'm going to decline i'm not really in the business of getting magically stabbed-

[kyonkyon69]

DRAMIONE FANFICS

[AO3/FANFICTION.NET/TUMBLR]

[BIG 3]

[1]Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love

[2]His Little Bird Series by TheWanderersWanderingDaughter

[3]MANACLED by Senlinyu

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

>TheWanderersWanderingDaughter AO3 fics

>Senlinyu AO3 fics

>On the Nature of Daylight by ikorous

>& Obey, Till Death Do Us Part by LongtimeLurker1111

>A Good Prisoner by greenflowerpot

>Edge by phantonym

>Dramione fics [GOOGLE DRIVE]

>Dramione fics [GOOGLE DRIVE] Part.2

>The Disappearances of Draco Malfoy Series by speechwriter

> Rights and Wrongs Series by LovesBitca8

>The Gloriana Set by ThebeMoon

>Clean Series by olivieblake

>The Fallout by everythursday

>Isolation by Bex-chan

>The Commoner's Guide to Bedding a Royal Series by olivieblake

>Silencio Series by AkashaTheKitty

>Draco Malfoy, the Amazing Bouncing... Rat? by Maya Mistful

>Confessions Series by SaintDionysus

>Enemies with Benefits by DrusillaMaxima

>Wait and Hope Series by mightbewriting

>Aurelian by BittyBlueEyes

>We Learned the Sea by floorcoaster

>How to Win Friends and Influence People by olivieblake

>Chronos Historia by In Dreams

>The Oblivious Ones by diamonddaydream

>Love in the Time of Death Eaters by gnrkrystle

>Presque Toujours Pur by ShayaLonnie

>The Brightest Black by: Enigmaticrose4

>What the Room Requires by Alydia Rackham

>The Boy in the Hammock by galfoy

>Heavy Lies the Crown by: floorcoaster

>It's All Uncharted by: redhead414

>A Second Look Series by RiverWriter

>Simply Irresistible Series by Bookworm1993

>The Dragon's Bride by rizzlewrites

>What the Room Requires by Alydia Rackham

>The Green Girl by Colubrina

>Architecture of Life Series by EscapingArtist

>Breath Mints / Battle Scars by Onyx_and_Elm

>Remain Nameless by HeyJude19

>Love and Other Historical Accidents by PacificRimbaud

>Apple Pies and Other Amends Universe by ToEatAPeach

>A Gentleman's Guide to Incandescence by olivieblake

>Lionheart by greenTeacup

>Scarlett Dragon by cleotheo

>Phoenix Potion Universe by FedonCiadale

>How Fair the Vine by thebrightcity

>Amateur Cartography by worksofstone

>Every Day, a Little Death by LovesBitca8

>Tea with Mrs. Granger by Guardian_Kysra

>Finding Granger Series by aCanadianMuggle

>The Politician's Wife by pir8fancier

>The Alkahest by shadukiam

>Love In A Time Of The Zombie Apocalypse Universe Series by rizzlewrites

>Crumple Series by MissiAmphetamine (Kaleidoscope)

>Osculum Annuum by MyDelphi

>These Selfish Vows by HeavenlyDew

>Some Bright and Last Thing by bionically

>Late Night Wandering by Snowblind12

>Never Odd or Even Series by ambpersand

>The Temptation of Miss Potter by Rumaan

>Tear The Moon by Maria81

>Sex and Occlumency by Graendoll

>Somewhere in Time Series by madrose_writing

>Wedding Bells by cleotheo

>The Phoenix Potion by FedonCiadale

>Green Light by SereneMusafir

>The Risk'verse Series by MissiAmphetamine (Kaleidoscope)

>Secrets and Masks by Emerald_Slytherin

>Bring Him to His Knees Series by Musyc

>Soft As It Began by rubber_soul02

>The Watergaw by ectoheart, smokybaltic

>The Token by mezy

>Truly Madly Deeply Fest [sequel--->

Truly Madly Deeply Spooky Flash Fest 2023]

>A Game of High Stakes by In_Dreams

>Hunted by Bex-chan

>The World of Wait and Hope Series by mightbewriting

>The Bracelet by AkashaTheKitty

>Lena Phoria FF fics

>Once Upon A Thyme by zensho

>Cruel And Beautiful World by Lena Phoria

>The Fires of Beltane by Arionrhod

>Don't Look Back by Onyx_and_Elm

>Here We Go Round The Prickly Pear Series by Hystaracal

>Measure Of A Man by inadaze22

ONESHOTS

>Draco Malfoy Runs a Marathon by PurpleSugarQuills

[geekcavepodcast]

DC Comics Announces Publication Date for "The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley and "Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story"

DC Comic's young adult original graphic novels The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley and Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story will publish in 2024.

The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley from author Melissa Marr, artist Jenn St-Onge, colorist Jeremy Lawson, and letterer Lucas Gattoni will go in sale on September 3, 2024.

Harleen and her girlfriend Pamelia sign up to participate in a clinical research trial. For Harleen it sounds like a good way to make some extra cash and maybe help control her anxiety. Instead, Harleen end s up with "increasingly larger gaps in her memory and stolen mementos from some guy named Jack. Soon Harleen discovers she’s sharing her life with Harley—a take-no-prisoners, who-cares-about-attendance, maybe-we-oughta-save-the-bunnies kind of girl. She is the opposite of Harleen in every way. And although she’s throwing Harleen’s life completely off track, maybe she ain’t so bad either…" (DC Comics)

Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story from author Nicole Maines, artist Rye Hickman, colorist Bex Glendining, and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, goes on sale on April 2, 2024.

"Nia’s spent her whole life taking a back seat to her older sister, Maeve, who was expected to inherit their mother’s Seer powers: the ability to see the future through dreams, passed down to one woman in each generation. But when Nia, a trans girl, starts having visions of the future, she must suppress her powers to protect her relationship with her sister.

Soon Nia’s dreams become impossible to ignore, and she has no choice but to distance herself as she navigates her new reality. Taking off for Metropolis, Nia is quickly swept up in the bustling city and, guided by her dreams, connects with a group of queer girls who feel more like sisters than her own. As Nia starts to discover her powers may be more than just a burden, she’s given a choice: accept her new responsibility as a Seer or give it all up for a chance at normalcy." (DC Comics)

(Images via DC Comics - Jenn St-Onge's Cover of The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley and Rye Hickman and Bex Glendining's Cover of Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story)

[renamusing]

just watched today's hour long ep and im leaving my thoughts below:

putting aside the fact that the current writers can be complete nonsensical idiots most of the time, there is something pretty suspicious about this whole rebecca plot twist.

first, why kill her if ross says they had split up for a while before she died? if this twist was only to serve ross's comeback story, then they had no need to kill rebecca at all. ross said today that after they split, rebecca had already moved to bristol with seb to stay with her aunt so that would have been that. ross would still have been stupid enough to get into illegal fighting and other criminal activities on his own without the added grief of her death.

second, people are panicking because robert apparently signed the papers so seb could stay with this supposed aunt of rebecca. im sorry, but what else did you expect robert to do? since the moment he went to prison, robert made it a priority to sever himself from aaron. he handed himself in so aaron could have a life of his own, and seb a dad he could one day be proud of, instead of a father on the run for the rest of his life. so i don't believe robert would EVER put seb on aaron if he could avoid it. can you imagine, robert thinking aaron has settled somewhere with a guy living a life of his own just how robert wished, only for robert to saddle him with his kid? yes, for us fans, that wouldn't be selfish because we know aaron would be great with seb, however, the prospect brings up so many questions to me personally, like does robert even know liv died? does he know aaron went to live in italy for a time? does he know aaron came back? we can't even trust victoria to have told robert anything because according to ross victoria hasn't been in contact with robert recently! she hasn't even been in contact with bex and seb, for years! even aaron said they didn't get in touch because they thought rebecca, ross and seb were "happy". which brings me to my third point.

according to today's episode, rebecca died around 3 months ago. who also showed up just around that time? john sugden. im not trying to build a conspiracy theory here—could john's army medic past allow him to perform surgeries in liverpool?? lmao im kidding—what i mean is (and correct me if im wrong), this seems like the time the "new stories" overseen by iain macleod started kicking in. which means they had to cover plot holes from past stories in the least limiting way possible, especially considering the show wouldn't want to spoil robert's return (if ryan does come back) or the fact he isn't coming back at all.

so we don't know if rebecca died before or after victoria called robert to tell him about john like she said she would. we don't know if it was robert who decided not to mention bex's death to vic, or if vic even spoke to robert at all after meeting john.

what im more and more certain of, though, is that seb will play a big part in the story going forward. his predicament as an orphan could:

give vic a plot - because why didn't her brother trust her with his son? could it be because robert thought she already had her hands full with her own kid? or did he think seb would be happier and more comfortable with people he already knew and was familiar with? now that vic's dismal plot with jacob is done, i can see her trying to get some offscreen visiting rights with the bristol auntie, or, in the best case scenario, onscreen seb visits.

give aaron a plot - unfortunately another one that involves john, because being a father is something that aaron always wanted and, depending on who writes this sl, it could have him opening up to john about his and robert's surrogacy attempts. i don't mind it at all, because if robert comes back it will be much juicier if aaron and john are as settled as possible (good luck with that nonexistent chemistry lol), yet i refuse to watch those two bring up seb. period.

an emergency exit to ross - michael parr's interviews have been vague at best. he has talked about doing a short stint and not knowing what the future holds for his character, so if seb doesn't return in the foreseeable, he could well be the reason ross goes away again.

speed up robert's release - yes, robert signed the papers for seb to stay with his aunt in bristol, but i don't doubt he has thought about attempting a new appeal so he could be with his son. legal matters take time and with the lee/luke plot loophole from a few years back, it would only be a case of waiting for ryan to be available.

this seems to be the gist of it to me so far. but i have to mention the one thing that stood out to me today and which i really enjoyed was how calm aaron was through everything except the one moment ross threw the 'slept with his brother' comment in his face. i need 10 more of those, ross. keep them coming!

[thefirstcourtesan]

Terror Fest Theory (VIP Spoilers)

It has been ages since I have written a theory post, but I can’t get this theory out of my head and I want to write it down. This post contains spoilers up to chapter 8, so wide release players stay away (for now).

I have been trying to think of who the killer is and I had some feelings from the beginning but this chapter and hte coding switch, slotting the LIs into spots 1-4, helped me firm up my theory.

First, I don’t think there is one killer. I think there are two. But I think there were originally three. I think Destiny was part of the plot but got cold feet and her accomplices turned on her. I think Bex is one of the killers, for sure. I think she and Destiny were involved and they hatched the plan to launch both of their careers, Bex by covering the story and Destiny by surviving the attacks. And I think they recruited one more person.

Bex is definitely not dead. No body. A nose that could belong to anyone. MC is kinda dumb for just believing the text messages. But Bex is also not working alone. And I do think Destiny is really dead (although at first, I didn’t). I think Destiny was killed because she had second thoughts about the plan and I think that was either because the plan either involved pinning it on MC (although that is iffy because the first murders took place when they were in Cordonia) or because they planned for MC to be the final victim. But I think MC was lured home for a reason and I think we will eventually find out why. There was a plot point to MC taking Destiny’s phone, that phone is going to come in handy in the last act, I just know it.

So who is the accomplice? I think it is any of the four LIs. I think they each have motive and opportunity and it will be coded to whichever one ends up in the specific murderer spot. We know LI #4 is now dead. So that leaves 3 and shows that the second half of the story is coded to be adaptable and all the LIs can be switched out. And I think that goes for the killer. Meaning this book has four potential endings, which is kinda exciting.

Most likely it will be the LI in the #2 or #3 spot who is the killer. Someone we trust but not our main LI. However, I could make an argument for the LI. First there is film precedent (Scream, anyone?) and there have been some similarities to Scream, such as the focus on the MC’s virginity and them the losing it half way through the book that mad me wonder, and the LI romance confession in Chapter 8 has the achievement title “not that kind of book” which I thought was interesting, also you can get serious really quickly. A commitment by chapter 8 is pretty intense (although there has been precedent for that before, you have to lock into your LI early in TRM, for example) and I think there is a plot specific reason for it happening so early in this book.

So yeah, I could make a compelling argument to our LI being the killer, but do I actually think PB would have the guts to make the LI the killer? No. No, I don’t. I also don’t think they will kill off the LI. I mean, it would be awesome, and I would be here for it. But I don’t think that is what is actually happening. No, I think the killer is going to be either LI #2 or #3 and I think that whichever one isn’t the killer will either die or almost die (possibly being saved by our choices).

So, to sum it up: I think Bex is alive and is the main killer and that she and Destiny were an item and Destiny was part of the plot but got cold feet and I think one of the LIs is also involved, but which one will depend on your relationship with them.

Oh and bonus theory, I think the detective is a descendent of the prison guard and that is why he is so hostile towards us and I think that he is going to have a last act heroic moment where he overcomes his prejudice and stands up to the mayor and comes to our aid.

[dramioneasks]

Hi I was wondering if y’all know any fics where H doesn’t go hocruxes hunting and stays with D and preferably with a hae

Promises and Our Complications - deliriousanddramione - M, WIP - Left behind to work within the cracked castle she used to call home Hermione Granger sinks under the weight of every task she’s given, hollow and strung out the Order marches on and drags her along with them. No time to think about how she was left behind by her best friends, given a unstable pureblood to watch over and forced to confront everything his presence brings. All the corruption that lingers between goodness and death eaters, in a war that is too much and too slow all at once. Falling in love while brewing a potion to kill someone they’re not allowed to know just became impossibly more complicated.

Isolation by Bex-Chan - M, 48 chapters - He can’t leave the room. Her room. And it’s all the Order’s fault. Confined to a small space with only the Mudblood for company, something’s going to give. Maybe his sanity. Maybe not. “There,” she spat. “Now your Blood’s filthy too!” DM/HG. PostHBP

Hermione and The Imprisonment of the Death Eater By: xxKLxx - M, 17 chapters - Injured in the early weeks of the war months, Hermione is left behind on missions. Harry & Ron bring back a silenced Death Eater prisoner & Hermione is tasked with their care. When he eventually speaks to her, he forces her to recall their past, their hatred but also their passion, love & her heartbreak over his lies. Dramione, War Months, Brief Romione, Non-Canon, 7th Year.

Till Death Do Us Part by D.M. Lover 21 - T, 25 chapters - When the Ministry introduces a marriage law and Harry and Ron leave to find Voldemort’s Horcruxes, Hermione is left to face her final year at Hogwarts alone. With Draco Malfoy as her appointed match, it will be a miracle if they don’t kill each other, unless Voldemort kills them first, that is.

Not Enough by Ariel Riddle - M, 5 Chapters -  Seventh Year is a horrifying nightmare. Why did Harry and Ron have to go horcrux hunting without her in the first place? Especially when Death Eaters ran the school! One Death Eater in particular- Hermione’s partner - of all the titles he could have - the Head Boy seemed to turn up wherever she went. She can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

-Lisa

[shewolfofvilnius]

Last Night at Last Light (Gale's Version)

Relationships: *none acted upon, but builds to a Gale x Lia fic set postgame* Tags: Pining, flirting, mild tension, tiefling tail language, missed connections, Rolan's minor Act 2 drinking problem, 'ALL my homies hate Wulbren Bongle' Words: ~2700 Setting: Act 2, last long rest before Gauntlet of Shar.

A steady quiet permeated the walls of Last Light Inn, at the northern edge of a land once marked on the maps as "Reithwin Town" but that had come to be marked on most modern maps simply as "Shadow Cursed Lands". Tomorrow, a group of adventurers led by a bard named Tav would search for the secret to ending the rule of the monstrous Ketheric Thorm once and for all.

Tonight, she and her friend Gale (of Waterdeep), sat at a bar. The night prior Gale had watched as Tav had convinced her now-friend Lakrissa to begin tending the bar, both agreeing that it was better that she do it than continue to have the children being the one pouring drinks. Tav had sighed with disappointment when she recounted the night involving a drunken Rolan scaring Ide.

Gale concurred. The counter of a bar was unsuitable for children. His own attentions at present, however, were consumed not by who was tending bar but who was sitting at it. Much as Tav had grown so concerned about Rolan, a tiefling refugee from Elturel who was due for an apprenticeship with Lorroakan of Baldur’s Gate, Gale had become more worried most about one of Rolan's siblings.

The forces of the Cult of the Absolute had taken Lia, her brother Cal, the aforementioned Lakrissa, and a fourth tiefling named Danis prisoner - and left most of their friends for dead. He and Tav and their friends had rescued the four of them - and an ungrateful arsehole named Wulbren Bongle - and returned to the inn.  Rolan had been most joyful to be reunited with his brother and sister; Danis ‘wife, Bex, had even baked them some wonderful cookies in gratitude.

Since she returned, though, Lia had seemed on edge. Constant fights with Rolan, even more than at the grove. Contrasted with Rolan, Lia had seemed to consciously avoid drinking, actively pouring a drink out in front of him when he had encouraged her to drink a little too forcefully.

As Gale watched in concerned silence, another argument spiked between the two siblings, with their brother Cal once again drafted as mediator. Suddenly, Lia got up from her seat and stormed out of the inn.  Rolan attempted to follow her out only to be actively blocked by Cal.  “Rolan, you’ve smothered the both of us since we got back.  Let her go, brother.”

The grumpy wizard noticed Gale and Tav looking at the argument. “You sacrifice everything to keep your family together, and this is what you get back.  Damnation.” Tav muttered – ostensibly to herself but deliberately just within earshot of Gale – a request. Ok, that’s it, I’m getting Rolan off the bottle for good. I’ll slip him the mildest healing potion I have.  Can you go check up on Lia, please? Keep your distance unless she asks, just make sure she doesn’t wander off, okay?”

Tav got up and walked around to the other side of the bar. Gale got up and gave Cal a nod, then took off in the direction that Lia had left towards.  He quickly lost her trail, however that strange ox in Dammon’s barn appeared to be trying to get his attention. Letting out some slightly suspicious sounds, the animal that so unnerved Tav led Gale around the corner and towards a bridge.  Gale hesitated, and the strange ox gave Gale a slight headbutt onto his backside to push him forwards.

“Alright, alright, point taken. Thank you.”  Gale took off down the path, along the route avoiding several mines that had been planted. Had this path at one point been subject to the curse? Was there a concern that the tainted could enter this way? 

Gale’s questioning of the mines was interrupted however when he spotted a figure in the distance.  Lia, perched against a tree, crying.

“Excuse me, apologies, just wondering how I might be of service to you this evening?”

Lia looked up at Gale. For a moment she seemed ready to angrily dismiss him.  Then she remembered having watched him immolate the guard who almost caught their with a well-placed fireball seconds before they could sound an alarm.  She felt indebted to the handsome wizard for her life. Everything she’d seen from him suggested he deserved kindness, at least until he proved otherwise. Gods’ knew she’d had a few lustful thoughts about him him back at the grove and that one evening at Tav’s camp, perhaps he’d make for useful company.

“Hi, Gale. Long time no see. Don't know if I thanked you for saving us. Thank you, again. For saving us.” 

“You needn’t ever mention it again. I am merely gratified we could get the four of you out of there.”

“What about the gnomes, it was their plan?”  Lia asked Gale.

“As I said, I’m gratified we could get the four of you out of there.” Tav, her friends, and even Lia and her brothers had already had more than their fill of the so-called Ironhand Gnomes, especially after having been trapped first in a prison cell near them, then later on a boat with them.

Lia laughed, heartily.  When had been the last time she’d truly, properly laughed? Certainly not since their stopover at the druids’ grove weeks earlier.

“So, what brings you out here? I’m just out here thinking, and trying to escape Rolan, what about you? Psychic detector that automatically attracts you to any wayward tiefling stray you find?”

Gale found his heart catching in his chest. Gods yes he found her attractive. The way her dark hair radiated a silvery glow in the moonlight. The way her eyes radiated such determined passioned. The conversations he’d glimpsed into with Tav or her brothers where she was so steadfast into getting people to see the right thing before them and to then just do it.

“Nothing of the sort, milady.”  Lia blushed slightly at Gale offering her such an old-fashioned honorific. “The simple truth is that Tav and I overheard you and your brother having another disagreement. Tav has grown quite frustrated with your brother’s behaviour, I must admit, and planned to have a long sit-down with him, and she asked me to make sure you were okay.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Tav alright. Look, I’m alright. I just needed some time alone, to think. To reflect.” 

“Lia, I said I came out here because Tav sent me. I’m still here because I myself hold a significant measure of concern. It is not exactly common for one to spend their free time hanging about in what appears to be a century-old cemetery, standing mere meters from an ancient Sharran curse.”

“Yeah, but you can bet my brother wouldn’t come here, and that’s all that matters right now.”

“Why exactly is he so worked up anyway? He seemed beyond grateful when we all returned to Last Light.”  Gale was curious, and investing himself in the siblings’ issue left his own quandary thankfully unaddressed.

“He knows what you guys are planning to do tomorrow. He knows that after that, you’re going to take the fight to Ketheric Thorm. It terrifies him he’s about to lose Tav again, and when he thinks he’s about to lose someone he cares about, he gets possessive of everyone he cares about.” Lia’s frustration seemed to grow with every word.

“He cares about her that deeply?”  Gale’s instincts suggested he was missing some piece of context or history; he’d known Rolan and Tav were lovers, that they’d even been intimate (sound had carried regrettably far in his direction), but the way Lia spoke about her brother’s feelings made it seem like a decade-long relationship, not one that had only been active for a couple of tendays.

“It’s great that your brother cares so passionately for Tav, but between the nature of this parasite they’ve seen fit to place into our heads as well as simply her own nature as a person, it has become Tav – and the rest of our – responsibility to see this through. Who knows what the final confrontation will bring. I hope, dearly, that no one that I or that we care about will see themselves harmed.”

“That’s always the goal, though. I guess I just keep thinking too about all our friends who didn’t make it. Did you know that before Elturel cast us all out, that Xeph wanted to be an alchemist?  Remember Yul, my brother’s ex – in more ways that one?  Worked with grain. Damays and Nymessa, only tieflings I’ve ever met who couldn’t see in the dark. These were people with lives and goals and fun facts and now they’re just a body count. 

I just, Gale, I hope it’s all FOR something. I want you and Tav and Lae’zel and Wyll and all of you to punch Ketheric Thorm back into a hundred years ago. Not just for me and what they did to us in the prison, but for all our friends who aren’t here anymore.  So that Rolan can finally get to the city and stop talking about that apprenticeship.  So that Cal and I can finally live again and maybe just be something other than the strays that everyone sees us as, or even better, more than just ‘Rolan’s siblings’; as people. Proper people, Gale. With goals and habits and hobbies and friends all our own. Love my brother but half the time it seems like the only thing ANY of you besides Tav know about me OR Cal is that we’re Rolan’s siblings.”  

Gale thought for a moment. “Your brother Cal, if I recall, is the only person I’ve ever met that likes sunmelon as much as Tav does.”

“Congrats, you remembered something about one of us other than our brother. Name three things about me, then, none of them about either of my brothers.”

Gale thought for a moment. “Point of clarification, may I mention other people in reference if the fact is still about you?”

Lia glared for a moment, albeit thoughtfully, then grinned. “I’ll allow it.”

“One, the night that Cal and yourself stayed at our camp in the ruined village; the night the goblins came. When we all sought rest in Zevlor’s office in the grove after s most harrowing battle that, might I add, you survived while it was far more in jeopardy for the rest of us. You sang in your sleep. The entire camp could hear it. You were muttering the words but the tune sounded distinctly like a lullaby I myself learned in my youth.”  Lia turned beet red as Gale begin humming a familiar childhood tune. Both started laughing.

“Two, you’re exceptional with children. You’re one of the only ‘grown-ups’ besides Tav herself I’ve seen show any of the orphan children show genuine respect – even including myself, I must regrettably admit. As I understand it you’re the primary reason that your other brother and Alfira left with the kids to retreat here in the first place. Ide herself mentioned to me how excited she was that you were back, and Mattis seemed positively joyful that you’re the only other adult besides Tav that caught on to his little ‘magic trick’ with the ring and the coin.”

“It’s so straightforward, he just tosses the coin straight up and catches it when it comes down; calls it based on where he started it.” Lia laughed at the prankster. “True, though, it’s a good hustle.” Gale noted in response that “most adults are too focused on the ring, and Tav herself was a former professional thief.  You just paid attention, is my guess.”

“Okay, fine, that’s two, wizard, what’s the third?”

Gale moved closer, now looking into her eyes intently. A grin crept across his face matching the one beginning to form on Lia’s face. She moved slightly closer still to him. A mutual thread of attraction was clearly beginning to form between the pair. They moved closer still, Gale refusing to answer yet. Suddenly, he felt a tickle against the back of his thigh.

Lia’s tail. It had begun creeping against the back of his legs, brushing up against a sensitive spot just behind his knee. The wizard began laughing uproariously. Laughs became difficulty breathing. His face rapidly threatened to take on a similar purple tone as his robes.  Lia blushed, mortified. “Sorry, sorry, it has a mind of it’s own!  Are you, are you okay?  

Gale managed to regain some composure. “My apologies, Lia. That was a most interesting experience.”

Lia grinned back. “I see. I’ll note that one for another day. Now, you’re not escaping that easily wizard. What’s the third thing?” 

Gale grinned back. “That you helped me discover I’m ticklish.”

Lia slugged Gale on the arm. The wizard wasted no time. “Ouch! Number 4 is that you hit WAY harder than I expected?”  She gave him a glare. “What, for a girl?”

Gale displayed a moment’s annoyance at the idea that women were weak. “No, my dear, the notion that an archer is that strong. Oof, I am most certainly going to feel that one in the morning. Wizards have been described as quite ‘squishy’ you know.”

The two gazed at each other once more, a warm tightening feeling gradually building within each. The air grew still.  “Squishy, you say?”

The moment however was suddenly interrupted.

“THERE YOU ARE, GALE OF WATERDEEP. I HAVE BEEN SEARCHING THE ENTIRE CAMP FOR YOU.”

What the hells did Wulbren Bongle what?

“Wulbren, pleased to make your company again.” Gale lied. “How may I be of assistance?”

“Your compatriot Tav has been leading the tavern in song for the past twenty minutes. Even that angry one I think she’s related to or something has been participating – reluctantly. My associates and I are attempting to plan our next steps once we reach the city, and we demand quiet. I demand you get your compatriots to stop their racket at once, or else you’ll regret running afoul of the Ironhand Gnomes, I assure you.”

Lia rolled her eyes. “Prick.”

“Excuse me?” Wulbren was indignant. “Say that again.”

Gale interrupted, though internally laughing that Wulbren was so incapable of recognizing love she thought that Rolan and Tav were related. “I do believe we can come to an agreement without causing further antagonisation. Tell you what, the idea of half the people in that room singing is worthy of at least a glimpse, and I’m certain it’s a visual Lia would appreciate of her brother. We’ll return, let Tav and her friends finish the song and perhaps one additional to close, and then I’ll gently guide the revelry into a quieterform.”

Wulbren seemed to accept the compromise. “Fifteen minutes, not one more.”  The gnome stormed off, as Gale turned back to Lia. “Where were we?”

Lia laughed. “I was about to go avail myself of seeing my brother sing for the first time since Elturel, and you wizard, are going to remember what might have been. Shitey little gnome. Goodnight.”

She walked away before Gale could begin to reply, having been left momentarily speechless. Fantastic work, Dekarios. When I see that prick Wulbren Bongle in the city, he will most definitely be made to regret this. Mystra knows I certainly already do.

---

Two days later, shortly after releasing The Nightsong from the Shadowfell, Tav and Gale rushed back to Last Light wanting to catch up with the siblings before they left. Lae’zel also seemed intent to catch up for unknown reasons, although Shadowheart – who had just betrayed Shar herself – seemed to want to be anyplace else. 

Reaching Last Light, they noticed that the refuge had been emptied of nearly all persons, save for a small number of Harpers and Isobel Thorm herself, the cleric who had protected them and, as they’d discovered, Ketheric’s own daughter.

Tav adamantly asked, “Where did Rolan go? Have you seen his sister Lia and brother Cal?”

Isobel informed them, with a minor amount of remorse, that Jaheira had ordered the tiefling refugees to make tracks for the city moments after the Nightsong’s light had streaked across the sky. They were already en route towards Baldur’s Gate, and meanwhile, her father still needed to be dealt with.

Gale, for a moment, looked despondent as he looked down at the mark upon his chest left by the Orb of Karsus. Tav looked nearly ready to cry for the first time in the entire time he’d known her. Gale let out a breath, then reassured her. “Guess we will simply just have to catch up to them in Baldur’s Gate, then.” He grabbed Tav’s good shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze, reminding Tav of a gesture her older brother used to do. 

Tav’s face brightened for a moment, before suddenly asking herself what had so forcefully changed Gale’s mind about considering using the Orb in the fight to come.

[blogger360ncislarules]

You’re missing out if you haven’t watched NBC’s new show, The Hunting Party. It features high-stakes drama, intense character dynamics, and an overall mystery.

The talented cast helps to pivot these story arcs forward as Bex Henderson and her team hunt for prison escapees who broke out of the Pit, a secret prison that no one knows about.

In a recent virtual press day, TV Fanatic chatted with Wechsler about his new character, Oliver and Bex’s complicated relationship, and the season premiere cliffhanger.

Check out the interview below.

Hello, Nick. It’s great to see you. I’ve been a massive fan of yours since Revenge.

 What attracted you to the role of Oliver Odell?

The honest answer is most of us can’t afford to be picky, and we all need work. However, the script appealed to me when I read it.

First, I watch every serial killer documentary and listen to every serial killer podcast. I like all of them.

I might not listen to repeats if one podcast covers the same person, and I’ve already listened to one that was thorough, but I consume all that stuff.

 So, the idea of a show that delves into serial killer psychology and where we go get him was right up my alley. Then, they added another layer to it.

I love crime procedurals, so this was very intriguing to me. And when I watched the premiere, I was like, wow, there are so many twists around every corner.  

Yeah, it’s so cool.

So, Oliver and Bex have a history. Does he regret burning down that cabin on that fateful night?

[Laughs] That’s a nice way of putting it. He burned down a man. I’m pretty sure we didn’t have a scene about this, but my take is no.

It seems complicated because she wouldn’t have her daughter if he hadn’t.

I know, but in some ways, he sees the life she has with her. Like you said, it wouldn’t have happened, and Bex wouldn’t have Sam. But it’s almost like that is the life he could have had. It’s a vicious cycle because she wouldn’t have ended up with her if I hadn’t done this.

However, he has this fantasy in his head about Bex being her mom and Oliver playing her dad.  We could have been this family.

Knowing that, how will Oliver and Bex’s dynamics be now that they’re forced to work together again?

 She doesn’t trust him now. In the show, it’s almost like I betrayed her. I feel like it’s not quite that.

She thought he had lost his mind when he did that, and she wondered if she could stay with someone who had done that.

 It’s tough for them both to be with each other because they have a brief but dramatic history where they almost had significant love, but it didn’t launch because he did this thing. They are for each other, this person from their respective pasts.

It’s like they both meant a great deal to each other years ago, and there is still a lot of baggage to get past. I think he’s more capable of getting past it because he’s weirdly okay with what he did. I mean, it cost him a lot. He’s not okay with the cost, but she struggles with it.

Well, I can’t wait to see that. And what can you tease about Oliver’s knowledge of the Pit? Because we left off on a major cliffhanger at the end of that premiere. How does he come across the information that he tells Bex?

 I’ll think of a way to tease it without giving anything away. Later in the season, we learn how he came to work there.

Some of the backstory is that he was Bex’s mentor. However, Bex surpasses him in terms of ability. She’s gifted. They worked together at the FBI before the events of the show.

So, after he burned down the cabin, Bex stopped talking to him. Oliver’s employers also stopped talking to him. He became pretty isolated and became the warden.

Well, we can’t wait to find out and see what happens. Having you back as a series regular on an NBC show is lovely.

Thank you so much. I got lucky in these because everybody behind the scenes is so wonderful. It’s been so cool to work with loving, supportive people. Honestly, I don’t have an experience where anyone was horrible in my past, either.

But at every new job, there’s always a chance that somebody will be a jerk, and nobody is. Everybody is terrific, and I feel so lucky.

It’s a long moment, and it’s not over. Everything’s changed. No one can get work and stuff. It’s another way I can’t believe I was chosen. So, I feel fortunate.

[rottenbrainstuff]

BG3 playthrough - ending act 2

Ugh. I’m at the end of Act 2 now…. This game has kept me so wonderfully occupied for months, I’m kind of sad to be nearing the end, but also excited to see what else will happen. Of all the things I have already spoiled for myself, I’m mostly totally unfamiliar with the dark urge content for act 3, so I’m excited to see what new horrors I get to wring my tav through!

I thought I’d quickly wrap up after defeating Ketheric and move on, but dang there’s a lot of things to clean up here… everyone suddenly needs to talk to me all at once, even fricking Withers showed up. There’s books to grab now that no one is watching, corpses to loot. Aylin and Isobel are fucking hilarious, I love them, they’re adorable.

I’m really sad there’s so many ways to shit-talk Zevlor with Cerys. (oddly there’s also dialogue options to talk about him as if he’s dead when he definitely is not. The dialogue in act 2 definitely needs some polish, I’ve found a lot of little errors like this) Man I dunno. I mean he definitely failed. His own personal responsibility in regards to that failure is debatable. The tieflings are certainly in their right to be angry. But like. He fully accepts his culpability without excuse. He seems like he’s completely thrown himself away because of one moment of weakness against a foe whose entire MO is to manipulate people into obedience. In the end he wasn’t even suitable to be a true soul anyways, he says he was rejected, possibly because he was fighting, he can’t remember. I totally get the anger but I also feel bummed I don’t have more dialogue options to try to argue harder on his behalf, even if Cerys will never forgive him. Sigh. Does Alfira have anything to say? In a normal playthrough is she with the group at the tower? I’m just too protective of my sad old man hellrider I guess.

Before I left the shadow curse map, I stopped back at Last Light just to see if there was anything left. …there was. There were a handful of tieflings still there, and still giving me the “I saw a light in the sky!” dialogue. I hope nothing is permanently bugged for them and they’ll travel over to act 3 properly? Lakrissa was still there, Cal and Lia were still there, and Danis was there by himself in the yard (amusingly, after I brought him back from the Moonrise prison, sometimes he was walking around with Bex, and other times they somehow got separated and would just stay stuck in their separate spots, waiting for the other one to join them).

I’ve heard some people say that the scene with Raphael and Mol playing lanceboard has been removed, and replaced with a bit of an odd dialogue instead. I reloaded one of my own saves of me walking up to Last Light for the first time, and it was still the lanceboard scene for me, but maybe I just wasn’t loading back far enough? Some people speculate that the scene has been changed to get rid of an uncomfortable comment Raphael makes about Mol being “a blushing apple waiting to be plucked.” Other people are saying this is actually a glitch, and I am hoping that is the case. I accidentally got a strange dialogue path once when I was talking to Jaheira, and it seems this dialogue is from an alternate plot if you didn’t end up saving the grove. I’m hoping this alternate Raphael scene has to do with that.

Raphael’s line is definitely extremely uncomfortable but like. In my opinion… that’s… the point. Y’all really, really, desperately really need to learn that it’s ok to feel uncomfortable, there are going to be lots of things in life that make you feel uncomfortable, and you are actually going to have to find a way to process that feeling rather than demand that everything that makes you feel uncomfortable be removed. It’s an uncomfortable line. I don’t think Raphael has specific sexual intent in mind when he makes the statement, but I think it is very unfortunately worded, and it’s like that on purpose, and it’s supposed to make you go oh wow that is not cool. Raphael is a devil, he is literally evil, and I’m sorry if this comes as a surprise, but it makes sense that he would say things that are Not Good.

Anyways, I do really think it’s a glitch rather than a change, because if you wanted to get rid of that line, it would be much much easier to just edit that single line out of the conversation and salvage the rest of the scene, rather than completely rewriting a totally new conversation, a new conversation which now also doesn’t start the discussion about Mol’s contract with Raphael. That’s what I’m putting my money on, anyways, and I hope it’s true, because the lanceboard scene is nice and that would be a stupid reason to just cut the entire thing out.

In all the gifs I’ve seen of Gortash, I never understood his appeal, he always just gave me the overwhelming impression that he smells like a pile of damp towels that sat in a corner instead of being properly dried. Now that I’ve seen him, I am doubling down on that. I’m glad for the girlies who are crazy for him, and I definitely like him as an amusing antagonist, but I still imagine him as a stinky mildewed goblin man.

I am STILL crying about the little note from baby Isobel that Ketheric kept with him. I think my tav is going to start carrying that around as well. Fuck, man.

My tav has really been through the shit with all the creepy dark urge flavour in the colony, and all he wants is a fucking rest to process some of this, but he can’t because now we’ve got the Big Giant Emperor reveal coming up.

[blackjackkent]

OK so. Rakha's primary objectives now:

find Balthazar, use Balthazar to find the Nightsong, disable Ketheric's immortality, exact revenge on Ketheric for tadpole

follow up with Halsin about Art Cullagh and the shadow curse

actually get the tadpole removed somehow

follow up on the whole Gortash situation since he's apparently also involved in this mess

Unfortunately, of these objectives, the only one she actually has a lead on is the business with Halsin. (I do have a quest marker for the Thorm Mausoleum, but I am choosing to believe Rakha doesn't actually know where it is, since it gives good reason for her to wander around and find all the other sidequests on this map.)

So that means going back to Last Light. Rakha is not happy about this. The last time she was there she spent the whole time struggling against the beast in an attempt not to kill Isobel, and she doesn't really another visit will go any better.

HOWEVER... she hates the Shadow Curse even more than she fears the beast (although not by much). And Halsin is working on a way to end it.

She hasn't told Wyll or any of the others about Sceleritas, or about the urge to kill Isobel in particular. The whole business is uncomfortable and frightening, in a strange way she wouldn't have pictured of herself at the beginning of this journey. She does, however, deliberately keep to the lower floor, hoping to avoid exposing herself to more temptation.

There are plenty of people to talk to there besides Halsin, too - the prisoners from Moonrise made it to the inn, and Jaheira is still there as well, looking grimmer and more tired than ever.

-----

Quick cycle through the available conversations. Still very weird hanging out in Last Light without the tiefling kids or Alfira or Rolan, but Lakrissa is here! Although she doesn't have much to say.

"Things in Moonrise were... bad. Real bad. Thank you - for getting me out of there."

On a lighter note, Danis also made it back, so we can go see him and Bex have their sweet reu wait fuck, paragraph canceled, I forgot Bex is dead too. :( Fuck.

"She's dead. Bex. How can she be dead? After everything - Elturel, the druids, this place... it makes no sense at all..."

:( This fucking sucks. And the more so for Rakha because she knows there was no purpose in these deaths, and yet the beast exults in the back of her head at the news of each one.

-----

Jaheira, tell me some good news.

"The shadows haven't consumed you. Good."

I mean, I guess that counts.

"I saw Ketheric. He regenerated before my eyes."

"Gruesome, isn't it? I'm glad you survived the encounter, at least. Did you learn anything more?"

"Not yet. Parts of the Tower aren't open to me yet."

Jaheira smiles faintly. "The great General is paranoid. Good. That means he's protecting something. I'll wager it's the source of his invulnerability. He'd protect that at any cost."

"Ketheric is calling himself a 'Chosen of the Absolute' now."

(A/N: I actually kind of forgot that Ketheric name-dropped the word "Chosen" during his little "mad dog" spiel to Rakha. Makes me think Rakha, quick as she is, has probably made the leap that Gortash is one of the other Chosen (since she knows from the original Absolute encounter that there are three total).)

"Chosen." Jaheira looks tremendously unimpressed. "That's three masters Ketheric has served. Our paladin isn't very picky. He's aligned himself with mind flayers, but I cannot see what he gains. Perhaps we can force it out of him once we have him up against a wall."

Deep down, Rakha suspects that when she finally has Ketheric at her mercy, even her hunger for knowledge won't be enough to slow her blade down. But she doesn't say this out loud.

[bhaalsdeepbat]

I was discussing some narrative beats I had on my struggle to resist Durge, Ashe and here are some of my favorite highlights

Ashe saved the tieflings in act 1, only to doom them when she killed Isobel at last light inn. the sheer number of lives lost weighs on them heavily.

Ashe had broken out the prisoners at Moonrise, but told them to stay on the water. Wulbren, his two pals, Cal, Lia, and Danis all survived. Unfortunately, Rolan and Bex did not.

Shadowheart was there when Last Light Inn fell. She later chose to spare Nightsong. I think the faces of the shadow-cursed tieflings that she had once saved haunted her when they were finishing up Shar's trials.

Ashe didn't use Slayer form until the Kressa fight. The anger at finding out she was a pet to experiment on made her unable to hold back. Everyone had to go into the Myrkul battle knowing that their beloved Durge was hiding something from them. what else were they hiding???

ashe fucking went down at the myrkul fight, and so did Shady and Minthara. Astarion was the one who finished it up, which made ashe more willing to belive he's right that they need him to ascend bc any power under their belt is useful when facing the gods themselves

[beloved-daydreams]

Folktober2023 Freeform day Prompt: "Library date" 📚💝

An attempt by

Hosted by @jurdannetrevels and @jurdannet

📘 1 400+ words

😎 Characters: Wren/Suren, Oak Greenbriar

✒️ Tags: intimate, hand-touching, soft flirting

📢 Summary: Wren and Oak successfully sneaked into a library in the human world. However, some light flirting ensues making Wren hot under the collar.

✏️✏️✏️

I press my hand down on the pages of the book, flattening it on the table. It’s been a while since I’ve been at a library. I did think about going many times, however, each time I was worried about failing my glamor and scaring the librarians away. This time though, Oak offered his help, making me look utterly gorgeous, still with a "thorny" edge. Much more than I needed for a simple library visit, honestly.

I sit down and skim over the comic book, I’m trying to follow the story to no avail. My mind is all over Oak who’s standing behind me, probably still looking over the shelves, searching for something yet nothing at the same time. My eyes are always drawn to him, even now I want to look back to see what he’s up to. I wouldn’t necessarily describe myself as curious, but when it comes to him I can’t help it. My thoughts and body follow him almost naturally. I try to hold back though, not wanting to make myself too obvious.

I feel kind of bad, I’m the one who asked him for this favor yet I had no particular plans nor a specific book in mind to look for here. Really, I simply wanted this old feeling of being surrounded by silence and this soothing smell. While I can read, the truth is I’ve never read long "complicated" novels. I would prioritize textbooks anytime I sneaked into Bex's room since I wanted to try to educate myself a little more instead of reading fantasy books like I used to. And as always, I couldn’t bring myself to steal or borrow.

Unable to hold myself any longer, I try to subtly turn my head to sneak a glance at Oak. A poor attempt since he’s actually not looking at the shelves anymore but at me, he’s made sure to stay far enough for his shadow to not fall on me, but he’s obviously trying to understand what I’m reading. Subtlety is out of the window: he caught me trying to stare at him while he’s already staring at me. And so, laughing a bit to himself, he approaches me. Then he leans over and whispers next to my ear, not quite as close as he could but close enough for me to shudder.

"Found something interesting?" Oak stares down at the comic book.

"Uh. Not sure, I’m not familiar with it." I mumble.

The comic book is an "Enola Holmes" retelling with riddles to solve and such, for ages 8 to 12 I suppose. I blush, I wonder if Oak thinks I’m kiddish or stupid. Or immature. Though I’d like to stay rational and not assume the worst, I always do. Of course Oak wouldn’t, but my thoughts always go in the self-deprecating direction.

Oak reaches out his hand towards the book, I instinctively move my hand away to let him space but he gently grabs it and puts it back next to the book. I get that he’s probably doing that as a message, telling me that he wants me to feel comfortable, but his gesture makes me even more nervous than before. He flips over the pages quickly, as if he’s only looking at the art then he stops at a riddle.

"Hmm. Must be too easy for you. I’ll find you something better!" Oak says

"What?" I try to sound flat but my voice comes out small and quivery.

He steps away, I relax. Then he almost immediately comes prancing back cheerfully, he stands behind me again but instead of leaning over, this time his chest is pressed against the back of my head. I tense up again. Putting a new book over the last one, it’s a thick novel, probably about 400 or more pages. Way too long for my untrained and dismal reading capabilities.

"You rapidly and skillfully freed 3 prisoners by solving riddles, wouldn’t you appreciate a greater challenge?" He sounds almost excited for me. Does he think I chose that earlier book for the mystery aspect? I smile a bit. It’s not untrue but I love how he focused on that and not on the fact that it’s a book for children.

Regardless, this one seems like a mystery book as well, except it’s targeted to adults. And I suspect that I wouldn’t be able to read fast enough to even reach the first riddle. I shake my head.

"I- I won’t be able to. Frankly, I read pretty slowly, not to mention I can’t borrow the book without a card." I tell him, still looking straight down to the book, not daring to turn my head up towards him.

"Mmh."

He leaves, talks to an older woman who seems to be utterly charmed by him already, god he’s annoying. He easily manages to make her show him the library card, then he politely smiles and waves goodbye to the woman. Back to standing behind me, he shoves his hand into his pocket and pulls a leaf out, he glamors it into a card for me.

"I could teach you to do that." He says plainly, as if it’s the easiest thing ever. I look around us.

"Right here?" My voice is a bit pressed, reason being that I’m not so sure that this is a good idea. Teaching another faerie glamoring right in the middle of a library full of humans? Well, okay. Right now there’s not that many people here but still.

"We’ll be quiet." He whispers against my ear, closer than he did earlier. I shudder, and this time I’m sure he has noticed. Dammit. I’m looking away yet I bet he has a lovely smirk on his lips.

"Hurry then. In teaching me." I force out.

As if we’re in a small budget romance movie, he pulls another leaf out of his pocket and places it in my hands, then presses my hands against each other with his.

"Imagine your hands are a printer."

"... Seriously?"

"Seriously." Feeling my disbelief, he clarifies. "I mean, usually that’s not how the fae children are taught but I reckon you’ll have an easier time with a concrete, less magical example."

He’s not wrong. I let him continue. The card he has glamored out of the first leaf is lying on the table next to our hands that are pressed together in a sort of hydraulic press. He asks me to look closely at the card, each and every detail. I do so.

"Done. And now?" I poorly try to not make it obvious that his warm hands on mine are activating a small craving for violence in me. I wanna bite you I wanna bite you I wanna bite-

"Close your eyes and reimagine all those details on the palms of your hands, feel how they stick to the leaf like ink on a sheet of paper." He whispers. Again. Keeping himself pressed to my back.

"Aren’t you just using this as an excuse to touch me? I don’t believe physical contact is necessary at all." I snarl at him as quietly as I can, unable to hold some of my viciousness back anymore. Yet his is always greater than mine.

"You don’t like it?" The smile in his voice is obvious.

"I-" I love it. Thankfully, I manage to hold that thought in, making it go unsaid, I sigh instead. "Whatever. I’m almost finished anyway."

I close my eyes and feel the magic leaving my palms onto the leaf. It’s working. But I let my mind wander a bit, with a brain as scrambled as mine, it’s difficult to stay focused on a single thing at a time, even for a short period of time. I suck it in anyway and continue. When I believe it’s over, I slowly open my hands, wishing for his touch to linger a bit longer. And as I do, it’s right there. A library card, identical to his.

"See? Now tell me what an amazing teacher I am." He asks, shamelessly.

"You’re acceptable."

He puffs at me almost as if I’m a girl who’s hard to get while I believe that I’m quite literally the easiest if you lure me in correctly. In any case, I take the book and as I’m about to get to the register to borrow it, I freeze as I notice the other side of the card. It looks like a picture of Oak, except it came out of my imagination. Oh god. That’s because I was spacing out, isn’t it?

Thank god he didn’t notice or I would’ve made a fool of myself more than I already usually do.

✏️✏️✏️

Aaaaaa I know I’m late but I did a pretty good job following so far, didn’t I? 🥹

Not sure if I’ll write for the other days I missed BUT no matter what, graveyard meet-cute is coming tomorrow! 😤

PLEASE leave comments/tags, it means a loooot 💖

[leoniem]

Places like Shooters always led to her worst decisions — Shooters had yet to see any of those, nothing born from the fruition of her boredom mixed with Ciroc (or, reminiscent of the days when she was couch surfing, the McCormick's in a plastic bottle). A rough day was the very thing to put her ass in one of the barstools, and by all accounts, today chalked up to that very description.

Granted, it wasn't the 'rough days' of the past. These days, a rough day looked like a few hours in physical therapy where she ground away part of her molars to keep from crying in pain after an early morning of arguing with her niece over today's preschool outfit of the day. The fact that these weren't the rough days she ever prescribed for herself make it all the more reason to lose herself in the cyclone of melting ice in her class.

"Pumpkin spice tequila? Is he sick?" Leonie's face twisted up in something mirroring disgust at Bex's recap of the night thus far. Her wrist idly swirled her drink — a half step above McCormick's mixed in her Diet Coke — as she tried to wrack her brain. Half a sigh pushed past her lips as she planted her elbow on the bar top, resting her chin in the cradle of her palm. "Bitch, I got nothin'. Just go ahead and take the baseball bat to my other knee. You'd do me and the doc a favor; apparently, I am a Grade A pain in the ass. But I'm sure you're shocked by that." A wry smile curled at the edges of her lips. "If you want, I can tell 'ya about the time I nearly got thrown in a Brazilian prison."

open starter!! (@windsorbaystarters) || location: shooters!!

Nights at shooters had teeth. The kind that sank in slow — right around your third drink, when the jukebox hit something you swore you’d never admit to liking and the haze from the old overhead lights made everything feel just a little softer around the edges. Outside, the place still looked like it had been forgotten by time and forgiven by no one, but inside? Inside was her kingdom. Bex leaned against the bar, one boot propped up on the foot rail, fingers drumming against a chipped bottle opener like she was waiting on fate or trouble — whichever showed up first. Her hair was a little messy, like she’d run her hands through it too many times, and her black tank top had survived at least two beer spills and one idiot who thought calling her sweetheart was a good idea. “Alright,” she said, voice rough around the edges but still loud enough to cut through the low murmur of bad decisions and cheap whiskey. “I've had three couples make out in the corner, two people try to break up at table six, and one guy ask if we have pumpkin spice tequila. so unless one of you plans on catching fire or confessing a murder, it’s officially the most boring shift I've had all month.” She poured herself a shot — no lime, no chaser — and let it burn down like it owed her something. Then, with a smirk curling at the corner of her mouth, she leaned in. “So, who’s got a story worth the spill? Bad hookup, good revenge, something you swore you’d take to the grave but won’t shut up about after two drinks?” Beat. “And don’t lie. I've got a nose for bullshit and a baseball bat in the back if you make me regret asking.”

[slightlyrebelliouswriter23]

What are your thoughts on Suren?

thoughts on Suren.... thoughts. on Suren.... okay.

not everyone is going to like this and probably even less will agree, so keep in mind that this is just my opinion because you asked for it and i'm willing to give it. please take whatever measures you need to protect yourself and not start discourse about my opinion on my post.

i actually didn't like Suren for a good majority of the book. and not in a "i don't like you as a person" sort of way.

it was more that i didn't quite believe that i was meant to believe she was real. she seemed disorganised in a slapdash sort of way. captivating from far away, and yet nearly unremarkable once you got up close. what i mean by this is that the concept for her character was gorgeously unique, but the execution of her character didn't seem all that unique from Holly's other wild feral forest fae girls with an angry streak.

every book is an essay. it's the author's job to convince the audience. and i was not convinced of Suren's character—her skills, her magic, her fear, her anger.

some of her skills seemed too conveniently and hurriedly shoved into the narrative.

like her sudden uncanny ability to solve riddles with complex language when we had not been told prior to this that she had any previous interest in riddles. she had been living a mostly solitary life for years before this. when Oak and Tiernan first speak to her, they literally can't understand her because she hasn't spoken in so long and everything comes out garbled and scratchy and unintelligible.

how am i to believe she goes from that to solving complicated riddles to break people out of prison in a matter of days?

or her knowledge of the exact right passageway in the Court of Teeth. two years isn't a long time and she was a prisoner in the Citadel for most of it. prisoners don't run about the halls finding hidden corridors and trap doors. and if she did, why was it so casually mentioned right before the hidden passage was introduced?

why not make all of these things a bigger part of her backstory, her personality?

i.e. She liked figuring her way out of things just to see if she could. And also because it pissed off Lady Nore and Lord Jarel. She liked solving mazes and puzzles. She'd often make up riddles in her head when she was feeling lonely or bored or scared. A distraction in a life that wanted to swallow her whole. Her lifeline to sanity.

Best of all, Suren liked ruining things. She wasn't sure what it was, but something inside her revelled in chaos, in pulling at the threads. In watching a great and terrible unravelling.

If her unsister, Bex, built a tower of blocks she would find the best and swiftest way to knock it down. It had always been this way. It's why she sucked at Jenga. She just never got the point. Why would anyone want to build such a teetering thing on such uneven foundation? Suren would always find the brick most likely to topple the tower, just to delight in its fall. To feel the sweet relief of watching something fraught and all-consuming turn to nothing, right before her eyes.

When she got to the Citadel, she was a scourge upon the palace. If they tied her up she would be out of her stays in mere hours. If they locked her in a room she would worm her way out, hiding in the spaces between walls, the small crawl space of a turret, or the castle's many hidden passageways.

Whatever that thing was, the thing inside her that craved to break things, to watch things fall, Suren knew it couldn't be good.

this would give Suren a quirk that fits with her character, is useful to the plot, and distinguishes her as different in tone and experience from Jude/Charlie/Hazel/Kaye. "breaking her way out of things" would also act as a satisfying mirror to Oak's "charming his way out of things". and "that thing inside her chest that liked to break things" would be a nice bit of foreshadowing.

or! why not lean the other way?

i.e. Suren had a secret. Which was that she hadn't discovered the palace secrets while being held captive at the Citadel. She hardly left her rooms apart from when Lord Jarel and Lady Nore paraded her around like an animal. She was terrified. And sometimes, when all the world feels overly terrifying, the great maw of it open wide and yawning over your head, you become frozen. Trapped in a brittle, trembling version of yourself. Waiting to be tipped over the edge. Waiting for everything you once were to shatter on the floor like glass.

So Suren became more animal than girl. That's what happens when you are told over and over again what you are. When you are treated again and again like that very thing. You become it. Suren gnashed her teeth and growled at those who came too close. And yet, when Lady Nore was sent away from Elfhame with her promise of obedience to Suren, and Suren was sent back with Lady Nore, as if Lady Nore hadn't spent the past two years manipulating and abusing her child, Suren shattered anyway.

Picking up the broken shards of herself, she ran. Into the woods where she hoped no one would find her. Where she hoped, if they did find her, she could turn those shattered pieces outward, become something sharp to draw blood with. Where she hoped to hear the birds sing, and maybe find the occasional patch of sunlight.

She knew nothing of the Citadel. It had never been her home. She was not useful in the ways that Oak or Tiernan desired she would be. She only let them believe she was. But she'd be damned if she let the opportunity to bring her bitch of a mother down slip through her fingers.

this could be an "inverse of Jude" moment. a "let them overestimate me and despair in what i become" moment. a "sorry mummy did i come back wrong?" moment.

i also would've liked to have seen more of Suren learning to use the tools at her disposal.

for instance, if she's good at riddles, tell us she has always been fascinated by them! show us why she is fascinated by them! is it because she likes them or is it because she learned it was a way in which she could survive her abusive parents? show us that solving riddles/puzzles/knots is a part of her every day life before you have her jail-breaking everyone in a pivotal moment of the plot.

if she likes breaking spells and curses, show us more of her learning to use her magic apart from the prologue. tell us that she has a fascination with knots, with undoing them. that magic, to her, feels like a bramble of knots, and she can't help but pull the strings until they are undone.

but the focus seemed to be largely on Suren's "monster girl" persona, which would be fine if she actually acted like a monster. instead, she does pretty much the Morally Sound thing for the majority of the plot, is pretty decent at socialising, and goes along with the others a little too easily for someone who has been betrayed by most of the significant figures in her life.

the only way we are to know that she is a "monster girl" is that she tells us this over and over. tells us that she is ashamed of her physical appearance, that she's Made of sticks and snow, that that's why she's a monster. all of which does naught to convince me that she might actually be one.

TLDR: for most of the book, Wren seemed like she was extremely lucky, all bark, and no bite (which is ironic considering those teeth).

until the VERY end, when Madoc (bless him) encouraged her to sink her teeth into something. and when she did, only then did she finally become delicious.

and then the book ended.

so i can't really say what i think about her. i went from being intrigued to being bored to being unconvinced to being intrigued again to being positively tickled for about one chapter. i can only say that my attachment to her does not run deep at this point.

–Em 🖤🗡

more theories and analysis

[killerlookz]

omg congrats on 1.5k darling!!! that’s amazing!!

i think you know what i’m here for lol, you know what they do to guys like us in prison + eddie munson

ah well, first of all, bex- thank you so much <33 !! second of all, can't blame you for wanting some eddie smut hehehe... anyways.... here it is ;)

this request is part of my 1.5k celebration? want to join? look here!

EDDIE MUNSON | NSFW HEADCANONS

pairing: eddie munson x f! reader warnings: pure smut! (obv) 18+ onlyyy

so, starting of I know a loooot of people are into eddie's rings- but actually when the two of you first started having sex he was really good about always taking his rings off before touching you too heavily. he honestly believed they would just prohibit him from using his hands correctly and he thought they'd totally bother you- that was until one time when he'd forgotten to take them off and the cool metal brushed against your clit as his finger was making its way to your hole- he will never forget the way your body shivered and the pleasure filled sigh you let out- just from the simple touch.... ever since then he always keeps his rings on during sex.

HUUUUGE into praise- giving and receiving- he's just a super sweet guy outside of the bedroom, so it's only natural that that aspect is taken into the bedroom too, the whole time you're fucking he's constantly praising you.

"Oh, my pretty baby always doing such a good job for me"

"-'m so lucky to have such a perfect angel who takes my cock so well"

AND IF YOU PRAISE HIM? oh my god, one "pretty boy" or "you always treat me so well baby" and he's cumming, literally right there.

maybe this is kind of, fucked up sounding... but i feel like eddie is the sort of guy who gets horny during horror movies... i can't quite explain it- it's not the death and murder that turns him on... just the thrill of it, the anticipation, they get his blood going... and that blood just goes straight to his cock.

likes listening to music during sex, he thinks it "sets the mood", also, it helps with his nerves- but don't worry he's not going to be playing any Slayer or Death in the moment (unless you're into that) he'll probably set the mood with something more mellow, like doom metal... or if he's feeling real sensual he'll show a different side of him and play some Depeche Mode or early 80s Cure

Really into spit... spitting on his fingers/cock before he slides them inside you, spitting on your cunt to get him ready for you, watching you drool all over his cock when it's shoved down your throat. its gross and he loves it.

loves when you're a little mean to him, you making smart remarks or just being a little snappy at him even in just an everyday setting will immediately have him popping a boner.

he's got a box full of dirty polaroids of you- in all different sorts of positions and various states of undress- and he looooves looking at them. if he was living alone he'd definitely have them taped up to his wall.

has a HUGE thing for innocence and corruption- he knows deep down he's not the bad guy everyone makes him out to be, and you know that too- but it's so sexy when he plays into the role.

"My sweet little angel loves getting ruined by the town freak, doesn't she?"

"God, I've just turned you into a big fucking whore- how would everyone at school react if they found out sweet, perfect y/n lets Eddie 'the freak' Munson do whatever he wants to her?"

Steals your panties... yeah sorry... he's a little bit a HUGE perv. you'll be out of your room for a moment and he'll snoop around, poking through your drawers until he finds a pair of skimpy lace panties and he's practically drooling, picturing you in them while desperately trying to shove the bunched-up material into his tight pockets.

LOVES fucking you while you wear his Hellfire Club shirt. you throw it on after you take a shower at his place one day and he's immediately fucking breathless watching you tote around in his clothes- he's kissing on you just about the second he lays his eyes on you, and you're moving to take the shirt off to give him better access to your chest but he's immediately pushing your hands down, "no, this stays on"

LOVES BEING MARKED, whether its hickies on his neck, or lipstick stains on his clothes, or scratches down his back, oh he fucking loves it. he loooves when you get possessive of him, he's yours, and he fucking loves being yours.

into pain (for himself) not like... a huge masochist, but... but light sprinkles of pain here and there really get him going. you pulling at his hair, or nipping at his skin, scratching him up, maybe even giving him a light slap across the face- he could cum right there.

[you-have-been-frizzled]

heyy- I'm curious abt which headcanons do you have abt what would happen if Juline got hurt very badly / died and how would the rest of characters react. (sorry if it sounds dark D:)

*deep inhale* oh anon i don’t think you realized what you just signed up for. also NOTHING is too dark for me when it comes to fic ideas

i have spent years thinking about what would happen if Juline was taken prisoner by the Neverseen, and when i remembered that the collective had that mind wipe poison i just made it angster.

Kesler would shut down when she was captured going completely on autopilot because that way he didn’t have to think to feel to process what had happened

that the person who was apart of his life since he was teen, his best friend was gone he would have a planting for her because that’s what he was told to do, he just told himself that she was dead because if he didn’t all he would think about is the ways they where torturing her.

that didn’t change the fact that he kept expecting to wake up and find Juline laying beside him, and he could hold her and know that she was safe but she was never there,

Dex would stay up day after day refusing to believe that she was gone, insisting that he could find her. he would stay so long that he would start to hallucinate.

because if he stopped working for even a moment his mind would run wild, thinking of every possible way the Neverseen was hurting her. and he couldn’t take it,

Lovise would have to force him to go bed and even Tinker would send him home when they where searching for her and he was falling asleep at his desk. Tinker eventually just made him a spot in the corner of her workspace so she could put him there to sleep when he would black out.

he wouldn’t be focusing at school or at team valiant meetings, he would be angry and sassing everyone if they tried to speak to him. he blamed himself for what happened to his mom weather he was there or not

and more importantly that was his mom, and weather they where fighting or not, and he didn’t know how to live without her

and the triplets Lex wouldn’t fully understand she was gone, he would be checking at the widows, mistaking Edaline for Juline everytime she comes over before becoming crushed and looking out the window for Juline again,

Dex came back why wouldn’t she?

Bex doesn’t speak she barely makes a noise and just follows Dex around like a shadow, “helping” him with his search for their mom,

Rex wouldn’t leave his dad side because what if he goes missing too, what if he losing another parent,

they had already lost their brother once and got him back and now they lost their mom, and they don’t know if she’s going to come back

Edaline would lock herself away at first crying so hard she couldn’t breathe, or completely catatonic, she wouldn’t want to speak to anyone other than Grady because her little sister is gone,

she’s lost her daughter, almost lost her second daughter and now lost her sister,

one of the days Dex comes over with Sophie rambling in techospeak, about how he’s going to find Juline, Edaline comes downstairs to watch them work not wanting to be in bed any longer

Dex when he sees her and freezes for a moment, almost like he thinks that Edaline is his mom just for a moment,

she runs over and hugs him and they are both crying and Edaline decides right then and there that they she’s going to go over to Rimeshire and be with her sister’s kids

because that’s what Juline would have wanted, Edaline helps run slurps and burps as often as she can, so Kesler doesn’t have to deal with the cruel whispers 

Grady would be angry, at everything, not understanding why his family can’t catch a break? why must they lose everything? why are they not allowed to be happy?

he goes over to Rimeshire to be with Kesler, not wanting him to suffer alone, he lets Dex yell about the Neverseen and how they can’t leave their family alone, he makes sure the triplets are ok while their father is on autopilot.

he would be the one to go with Sophie to check on the councils search and the black swans, because he’s been through it before twice, and he’s going to be the strong one and he’s not going to cry