#can we call him Roderick

[lab-gr0wn-lambs]

Do we know for a fact that Rick's full name is Richard or can we call him some shit like Frederick or Ricardo?

[knowledgeabletrash]

Small tiny Severance theory about Helena:

Jame Eagan in this episode in particular had me thinking back to another Evil Medical-Corp CEO Deadbeat Dad, Roderick Usher from Flannagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher.

Specifically, the moment Cobel implies that Devon is (maybe) pregnant with Jame’s kid when she calls her “one of Jame’s girls” (or something to that effect) in order to get into the birthing retreat cabins made me think. In his show, Roderick Usher had many illegitimate children who grew up with their mothers until Roderick confirmed their genetics and brought them to live with him. Some of these kids changed their names to Usher (Leo and Perry Usher) and some kept their mother’s names (Victorine Lafourcade and Camille L’Espanaye).

Anyway, my Severance theory is basically what if Helena was originally more like the Usher children? As far as I remember, we don’t hear much about Jame being married/Helena’s mother, nor did we ever really get a concrete in-story explanation as to why Helena is Helly R. and not Helly E. on the Severance floor. Normally, I might overlook this, but that very fact was brought up by Helly in this weeks ep when she was talking with Milchick, which signals to me it’s something the writers have thought about and made an explanation for.

What if Helena was not born an Eagan, but born with the name Riggs (the name we see on her card) and she was a bastard child of sorts? It would make sense to me that Jame selected her from his numerous children as his heir and granted her the name Eagan. It would add a layer to Helena- not only does she desperately want to please her father out of familial responsibility, but also because he knows that she can very easily be replaced by any number of his other children, who can be plucked from obscurity like she was.

I feel like this would explain why she was scoffing and laughing at the Kier story on the ORTBO, beyond trying to pretend to be Helly. Helena strikes me as someone who hasn’t fully “drunk the KoolAid” so to speak on the whole religious side of Lumon, and her being raised (at least for a time) by someone not in that belief system would make that blasé attitude make more sense. She very can spout the Religious Lumon talk, but it has always felt to me like she was playing into that to maintain her role as the Eagan Heir, if that makes sense?

It’s been so interesting seeing more of Helena this season, and how she navigates within the power structure of Lumon. It’s clear that while she is very high up in the company, Helena is still someone just as subject to the whims of Lumon as other employees, with her autonomy and desires second to the needs of the company. Helena knowing she can easily be replaced by some other one of her father’s many children plays into this idea of expendability under the eyes of capitalism really well.

This theory is quite small and not Earth Shattering plot wise, at least not to me, which makes it fun to think about. Even if it’s never confirmed or expanded on, I still think this show has done a bang up job all around and I can’t wait for the finale next week!!

(This was very stream of conscious, apologies for any grammar or spelling mistakes it is very late)

[where-dreams-dwell]

Loving the complexity of Madeline Ushers character: a woman who declares she doesn’t want to be limited by men, who’s life is defined at every turn by the decisions and actions of her brother.

……

Madeline Usher is doomed by her attachment to her brother, and it is the root of all her eventual pain.

When Verna offers them the deal, it’s Roderick who ‘charges forward, straight at it’ and accepts the terms despite the fact that the only ‘next generation’ they current have are his kids. Madeline agrees afterwards but only once Rodrick makes it know he is already in. I don’t think she’d have gone for it if he had objected, she’s always had a very ‘both of us or neither’ kind of attitude.

And then she is as much these kids parent (from what we have seen) as Roderick is. Granted we see next to nothing of the kids biological mothers so we have to assume they weren’t very involved (either by their choice or other circumstance) with their kids after Rodrick got his claws into them.

That first scene when we meet Perry Madeline and Roderick are equally dismissive of him, but she is the one asking questions and prompts: you’ve had a year to come up with an idea, is this it or is there more? How are you going to make this successful? Why will your pitch be different? She even asks Roderick to jump in ‘anytime now’ to help her handle this train wreck. And Rodrick has just received the news he’s dying but I think it’s telling that Perry is looking at both of them for validation, for support. They are equally intimidating but equally supporting him.

With Camille we don’t get 1-2-1 interactions between her and her father (despite her own obsession with winning his approval) but we do get a scene with Madeline. After Perry’s death Camille lobbies to be given the power to lead the family’s PR response, and Madeline takes her seriously and asks what she would do. When Camille lays out her plan it’s Madeline who gives a proud nod of approval and okays her actions.

Leo unfortunately gets no parental interactions from either senior Usher. Victorine only gets it right at the end just before her monstrous actions are revealed. Otherwise all she gets from Roderick is pressure and the interactions of an investor, not a father.

Tammy gets the most parental interaction from Madeline, which is tragic as she’s trying to show her father that she can be the heir to his empire. But her aunt is the one who shows up to her presentation, who gives her the pep talk, consoles Tammy (in her own way) about the failure of her marriage, who believes Tammy when she is terrified by someone in the crowd.

Frederik is always focused on his father so Madeline doesn’t get many moments with him, but again Roderick is more of a CEO or boss than a father: focused on how to protect the company, how to secure the future. Little to no concern or support to his son as he mourns his wife’s injuries, as he deals with his siblings deaths, as he takes on more pressure from the world and the family. Roderick only mourns his son (as opposed to his heir) after Fredrick is dead.

Added to this: the security on all the kids? Madeline arranges it. When more kids die? We see Madeline demand it be doubled. She’s the only one still fighting for them, fighting fate itself.

With Lenore we see more interactions with her and Roderick but her interactions with Madeline are just as sweet and show a close, loving relationship. Lenore even calls her Granny Madeline. And Madeline is the one planning to preserve Lenore via AI: this must have been the main reason she begged Roderick to kill himself. Not to save her to but to spare Lenore. What’s the bet that she started working on the AI project in earnest when Morelle announced she was pregnant?

Madeline tracks down the supernatural entity they made a deal with and tries to negotiate a new deal: again (now we know the original terms) this is likely for Lenore’s benefit, not hers. She faces down a power far beyond herself and tries to save or protect what’s left of her family. Not Roderick.

Madeline took steps to preserve and protect her nieces and nephews, and grand niece while her brother did next to nothing. Once you know the nature of their deal with Verna, Roderick’s attitude to his remaining children after they remember who Verna is is just baffling.

Madeline even makes reference to birth control that she took on the off chance the deal was real. She says to Tammy that she didn’t want children with her first husband and hasn’t since, but she has been a mother to Rodericks kids. This lack of biological motherhood hasn’t spared her for the heartbreak of loosing a child. Or a grandchild.

And it’s even the decision of a man (again her brother) which is going to end her family’s legacy in another way. His marriage to Juno, his treatment of her, his denial of her fight to get clean and his horrible reference to himself as Victor Frankenstein and Juno as his monster - this is what pushes her to sign away the company when she inherits it. Madeline speaks about the board choosing her and moving the company away from pharmaceuticals, into the fields of AI and tech. Sure Madeline then died but a lot of the groundwork was likely there, and it could have been a possible path for the company. If Juno didn’t inherit it all and break it apart. Because of Roderick, and the way he treated her. Once again Madeleine’s legacy is destroyed by her brothers actions.

The irony of 1970’s Madeline declaring she doesn’t want to be limited by men’s choices or by a man, taking steps to protect her self and her heart, focussing her work on things outside of medical drugs in the hope that one day that can be what they become known for… then being doomed to more heartbreak and failure by every one of her brothers careless actions is so sadly tragic.

[tipofthemountain]

actress

tags: biker!Simon “Ghost” Riley x actresses!Afab Reader, Fluff, Established relationship, reader is a famous actress. Mentions of sex and sexual acts but no action is taken. Minors should still take extreme caution reading!

word count: 1.5k

summary: Reader is on set of her newest movie and Simon comes to visit!

a/n: First story I’m posting! I’m a little nervous for what everyone will think but I hope you enjoy it!

ps. biker!Simon is my current hyper fixation so bare with me if there’s like a million more biker au stories :}.

edit: adding this in but my requests are open!

༺𖤓༻༺𖤓༻༺𖤓༻༺𖤓༻༺𖤓༻ ༺𖤓༻

It was a warm Tuesday inside studio lot B. A beautiful facade of a two story house stands in a field of white daisies. You almost couldn’t believe your eyes when you walked onto the set. It looked so real! An exact replica of the real house you’ll be shooting on in a week.

The role you are playing is that of a farm wife with her three children, except your husband is having an affair with the barns keeper and your sleeping with the maid. Neither of you know you’re both cheating of course but the children do. The entire plot of the movie is the children trying to get the parents to find out about the double affairs. It’s a LGBTQ+ romance set in the early 1950s. It’s filled with steamy sex scenes and overly dramatic fights.

It’s the exact kind of movie you love doing. Sappy period pieces. In fact the movie that put you in the spotlight was almost exactly like this except it was the 1860s and you where a young unmarried queen with a “live in maid”.

Your boyfriend of 5 years Simon, or as his biker group likes to call him “Ghost” for the skull bandanna he likes to wear around his face, dropped you off on set on his newly refurbished 1980s Harley Davidson. You swore sometimes you thought he was more in love with that bike than he was with you.

“Make some money baby.” Simon told you after a steamy kiss early this morning.

Simons always been supportive of your career. The two of you met on the set of a Tv show when he was hired as a last minute extra for for some bike scene you can barely remember. For Simon it was love at first sight, but for you it was ‘I’ll wait and see where this goes’. Spoiler: You fell in love and are engaged, set to be married later this year.

“Where is my Anna Marie?” You hear your director yell out as you sit in your makeup chair getting touches done to your character’s signature red lip.

“Over here Clark! I needed my lips retouched. I think Amy got a little excited!” Clark Russel. You’ve worked with him a few times now and he’s always been a joy and a pleasure to work with, not something you find comes easy in this industry.

“Your needed on set in five. We’ve got to have this last shot of you and Blanche in the kitchen. We’ve got one week of shooting left here in the studio before we all go out on location.” Clark quickly spills out with you barely catching any of it.

Blanche is played by your costar Amy Heart. A talented actress 3 young years older than you. You’ve done several movies with her by now. You consider her one to your best friends and even plan to ask her to be a bridesmaid.

“James, Finn and Blanche are all on set. We just need you.” Clark makes direct eye contact with you as your makeup artist finishes the last touches on your makeup. He always insisted on calling people by their character names and you never questioned it.

James is played by Arther Godwin. The man that’s supposed to be your characters husband. You’ve never met him before this project but a quick IMDB search led you down a rabbit hole of bad low budget horror movies that you and Simon later binged watched. Finn is played by Roderick Grant, a fresh face. This would be his breakout role after a stream of hit indie movies.

“All done.” Your makeup artist releases you and you stand up from your seat grabbing the jacket that goes with your costume. You throw the jacket on around your shoulders and loop your arm in Clarks.

“Let’s get this show on the road!” You say in an over dramatic southern accent to which your director roles his eyes at.

༺𖤓༻

After 3 more hours of grueling take after take of Clark just having to get the tear sliding down your cheek just right, to which you where ready to rip his head off. Your just about to pass out on your trailer couch in nothing but a robe and very thin 1950s appropriate lingerie, when you hear 3 gentle knocks on your door. You get up with a puff of air leaving your lips putting your hands in your hair.

“Who is it!” You yell not really wanting to get up to answer the door.

“Open the door and find out!” You hear that oh so familiar thick Manchester voice behind the thinness of your trailers door.

In no time you’re rushing to the door and pulling your bulky fiancé in to your trailer and lacing your red lips with his. Simon closes the door through your sloppily sweet kisses. He smells of expensive leather and gas but you still drink all of him in.

“You miss me tha’ much?” Simons thick accent lets out through a smirk.

“Always.” You smile up at the tall man resting your chin on his chest.

“How was today? Make anyone else cry today?” Simon jokes but you take serious offense.

“That was one time and I didn’t even mean to yell at the poor guy.” You slap his shoulder as you both take a seat next in the oh so comfy couch in your trailer.

“I was only joking love.” Simon laughs and places a gentle kiss to your temple. He has one hand around your shoulder and the other rubbing up and down your thigh softly. You with one of your hands on his much bigger thigh and the other holding the hand that’s around your shoulder.

“Long day. Completely closed set. Only Clark and the main cast where set to shoot today.” Closed sets are usually indicators that you where filming your sex scenes today. You had one with your on screen husband and one with Amy. You almost never liked doing sex scene with men. It was never because Simon didn’t want you to or that you ever hated your male costar. You had this respect for Simon and you felt like the sex scenes could get too real sometimes. Personally, you never wanted for Simon to watch a scene of you sharing a bed(or even sometimes a kitchen counter) with another man. But every time you would ask Simon he would always just say some form of ‘This is all make believe. It isn’t real. I know you love me and some fake sex scene isn’t going to change that.” You still sometimes denied it though.

“When are you off?” Simon ask softly moving his hand further up your thigh.

You knew the game he was playing, he always did this when visiting. He always got you worked up and sweating before you had to go back and shoot a scene.

“30 minutes my love. We have to finalize a few things for today, but nice try honey.” You push Simons hand down slightly and look up towards him. Of course he has the cheekiest smirk on his face.

“I miss you at home.” Simon says kissing down your neck this time and creeping his hand back up your thigh.

“Simon.” You whisper scold him as he makes his way onto your shoulder planting sweet kisses.

“I miss the way you smell…” He grabs your hips and lays your back flat against the couch hovering over you as he plants kisses down over your collar bone. You inhale sharply when he moves his hand under the thin bra provided by the costume department.

“I miss the way you feel…” He moved his other hand to finish untying to robe from around your waist. He slowing starts kissing his way down your stomach stopping at the hem of the very 1950s lingerie.

“And I certainly miss the way you taste.” Simon has a giant smile planted on his face when he plants open mouth kisses down your thigh.

And just when he’s about to touch your center 3 harsh knocks are placed on your door.

“Miss, Mr. Russel said he needs you.” The voice calls out not even waiting for you to respond.

Simon lets out a laugh and you sit up and push him lightly.

“That’s not funny!” You whisper yell at him only to make him laugh even more. You stand up and tie your robe back around your waist and walk to the trailer door.

“It’s a little funny.” Simon says watching you with a panicked look on your face.

“I’ll be back in 20 minutes. I love you.” You place a gentle kiss on Simons lips and him returning the kiss.

“I love you too.” He says back placing one final kiss to your forehead.

Before you leave however you whisper into his ear “I think you owe the costume designer.” and bite the end of his ear playfully.

Simon watches you with his his cheek drawn inside his mouth as you grab the door handle of your trailer and leave him alone with his nothing but his thoughts for the next 20 minutes.

༺𖤓༻༺𖤓༻༺𖤓༻༺𖤓༻༺𖤓༻ ༺𖤓༻

final thoughts: i definitely got carried away while writing. I tend to do that. I get caught up on details that most likely don’t even matter all that much. I feel like somethings definitely could have been left out and more things added in but in the end it’s just a story and if you don’t like the first few sentences, just skip the story and move on.

@gauloiseblue for you friend <3

[himbos-hotline]

【K】INK【T】OBER 2024

Read on ao3 total word count for the series: 77,427 words!

1). (Help me) I broke apart my insides || Painplay || Jack Perry/Darby Allin (2k words)

2). With a taste of your lips, I'm on a ride || Exhibitionism || Jack Perry/Darby Allin (1k words)

3). Don’t you think it's cute [That I died in your arms that night?] | breathplay/choking | Jon Moxley/"Hangman" Adam Page (1k words)

4). Lover, please prepare for my absence || Phone sex || Kenny Omega/Kota Ibushi (2k words)

5). She doesn't love the men, she sees to bed || squirting || Adam Cole/"Hangman" Adam Page (2k words)

6). Heat of her breath in my mouth, I'm alive || Slow sex || Kenny Omega/"Hangman" Adam Page (1k words)

7). Call him "Daddy" while I holler [Man, that boy so damn good looking] || Object Penetration || Kenny Omega/Kota Ibushi (2k words)

8). Guess I rather hurt than feel nothing at all || Trying a new positon || Kenny Omega/"Hangman" Adam Page (3k words)

9). You and me baby ain't nothing but mammals || Bathtub sex || Darby Allin /Hook/Jack Perry (2k words)

10). I would not ask and neither would you [We could just kiss] || Sensory deprevation || Nick Jackson/"Hangman" Adam Page (3k words)

11). You touch me too softly [And I know what that means] || Oral sex || Kenny Omega/"Hangman" Adam Page (4k words)

12). Hot blood in my pulsing veins || Heavy kissing & romantic gestures || Matt Jackson/Kenny Omega

13). til our fingers decompose [keep my hand in yours] || Hand holding during sex || Kyle O'reilly/Adam Cole (4k words)

14). You let me penetrate you || Humiliation || Jack Perry/Darby Allin (1k words)

15). I've lost all control and I need you now || Distracting the other person with sex || Kenny Omega/"Hangman" Adam Page (2k words)

16). Baby, though I've closed my eyes [I know who you pretend I am] || Elevator sex || Jack Perry/Darby Allin (2k words)

17). You're so handsome when im all over your mouth ||Threesomes || dam Cole/Kyle O'Reilly/Roderick Strong (6k words)

18). Crawling back to you II Somnophillia || Kyle O'reilly/Adam Cole (3k words)

19). you know I love to show off || Intense Roleplay || Jack Perry/Darby Allin (2k words)

20). I aint no country boy quitter [I get the job done] || Gags || Matt Jackson/ "Hangman" Adam Page (2k words)

21). You doubt them, [and soon they bark and hound you] || Begging || Darby Allin/Brody King (2k words)

22). God, what have I done? || Visit during work || Eddie Kingston/Jon Moxley (1k words)

23). I’m liquid smooth, come touch me too. || Laughing during sex || Nick Jackson/ "Hangman" Adam Page (1k words)

24). Dirty, sexy, slinky thing [power over all with the love you bring] || Romantic sex || Kyle O'reilly/Adam Cole (6k words)

25). [Isn't it rotten?] There isn't any use my telling you I love you || Aftercare || Darby Allin/Jungle Boy (1k words)

26). The destruction of matter || Dom/sub || Matt Jackson/Jon Moxley (1k words)

27). Boy, the way you blowin' up my phone || Phone sex gone wrong || Jack Perry/Hook (1k words)

28). You stupid bitch, can't you see? || Romantic lighting/decor || Adam Cole/Kenny Omega (1k words)

29). I only want sympathy in the form of you [Crawling into bed with me] || dry humping || Jack Perry/Hook (1k words)

30). but she's touching his chest now (and he takes off her dress now) || Overly romantic gestures || Matt Jackson/Kenny Omega (1k words)

31). Can you really take dick? || Giggly sex || Hook/Danhausen ( 1k words)

[yall-batman-fanfic]

The League and the Endless: A Scratch Story Idea

“I guess Maternity Leave doesn't exist in the League,” Vivian muttered as she was called to the cave where Batman got up from his seat and met her halfway to aid her as she descended the steps.

Waiting with him the entire time were the Leaguers who came asking for help.

“I’m sorry,” said Batman. “If there was another way, I would have done it. But it’s something that’s beyond us. And Constantine. He was the one who said this was your expertise.”

Diana approached Vivian and asked if she could hold the bump.

After getting a yes, Diana caressed Vivian’s pregnant bump and said, “She’s strong. She’ll be a fine warrior.”

Hal raised a brow. “You got that from touching her belly?”

“Have you thought of a name yet?” Diana asked.

“Instead of charades, we have everyone in the manor putting baby name recommendations in the bowl and we read it aloud to test if it fits,” Vivian joked. “No, really, that’s what we’re doing. It was Dick’s idea, even Wally joins us during those nights.”

Flash’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Wally joins your family game nights?”

“Yeah, even Roy and Lian come over, and Conner too.”

Batman pulled out the chair before the Batcomputer where the runes were displayed then said to his team, “They bring extra snacks.”

Vivian looked closely at the runes and said, “Where did you guys get this again?”

“Luthor. His research team uncovered some old book believed to hold power and give magic to people,” Superman explained. “Or give him magic to use.”

Vivian finished her translation then turned to Bruce and said, “These are pages from the Magdalene Grimoire. It’s the spell book used by Roderick Burgess to trap Dream. If Luthor is able to decode this he’ll be able to trap any close-ranged Endless there is. Or any child of an Endless there is.”

“What’s an Endless?” Hal asked. “Even the Ring doesn’t know it and the Ring knows what the Guards know, and they know everything.”

“It’s hard to explain, but in easy terms, they’re like gods but not gods. If you take down one of them, it will destroy the balance of the cosmos. Remember the sleepy sickness?”

“I read about that,” said Superman.

“Lord Dream was captured when it happened. And that,” she pointed to the runes. “Is the book that made the capture possible.” Taking Batman’s hand, she pulled his attention from the monitor and said, “If it would ease your worries, I can contact Lord Morpheus and tell him about this. But it will be too dangerous if he is taken again or worse if Death is taken.”

“It’s like you guys know these Endless on a personal level,” Flash raised a brow.

The couple ignored them.

“I won’t let you get in the middle of this, Vivian,” said Batman.

“I know… then I’ll call a family meeting. Tell them that there is an urgent matter.”

Batman nodded, reluctant. “This is no longer the League’s business,” said Batman.

“What do you mean?” Diana asked.

“This matter is now my business,” Vivian said. “The League can wait at Luthor’s lab, I’ll sort this out.”

“Batman, is there something you’re not telling us?” Superman turned to Bruce with questioning eyes.

“It’s a lot to explain,” Batman muttered as he watched Vivian get up from the seat and walk to the side of the cave that holds many of Batman’s memorabilia but for one. Opening the case, she held the helm that was perched on the stand and whispered the name, “Morpheus.”

There was a shift in wind and from the darkness Dream appeared in his dark robes and a rare smile on his face as he saw his daughter.

“I sense the urgency,” Dream waltzed towards Vivian. “You look well, daughter. And the babe?”

“Healthy,” Vivian welcomed the touch on her belly.

“Daughter? Who is this guy and how the hell did he get in without triggering anything in the cave?” Flash questioned.

“This is Lord Morpheus. King of Dreams. He’s Vivian’s biological father,” Batman explained.

[mistysgardenn]

i was randomly thinking. what would the ushers be like on your birthday (imagine you’re their friend or s/o or something)

perry: sorry you’re getting a designated orgy. he means well and at least he would try to be sweet…! he’d probably end up getting distracted by the party though. i’d like to think he’d make extra time for you on your birthday of all days but it’s a 50/50 chance i fear. he’d definitely apologize and try to make it up to you. if he does remember, he’d invite you over to his apartment for dinner and tv with some friends

camille: this woman is not acknowledging it at all. however, when you go to your desk, there’s a cute little cake and a gift she picked out for you (it was something you’d mentioned wanting in passing; she remembered). when you go to ask her about it and thank her, she threatens to sue you for breaching some random clause on some random nda. as you leave the room you catch a glimpse of her smiling though… she’s a softie deep down and i’m dying on that hill

leo: i can see him being thoughtful and caring when the day comes around. he understands what it’s like to be overlooked so he’d make sure to throw a huge party for you and make you the star of the show. i already know he’s inviting all your friends and family. the only downside to all this is that there would be a ton of drugs, which is on brand for him. he’d probably get hella stoned but hey at least it’ll be a fun party!

victorine: she’s too busy at work to do anything really special. i can see her maybe calling to wish you happy birthday; she’d definitely get you a gift and a cake, though. after she gets off work you two might have a nice dinner but she’d mostly talk about her day and complain about clinical trial guidelines, but you’re used to it by now…

tamerlane: surprisingly, she’d be really sweet about it. yes she’d be intense, but her usual energy would translate perfectly into a passion for making sure you have a great birthday. you’d do a variety of activities together and she’d probably show you off to anyone she could find. still, she’d be extremely sharp-tongued with anyone who gets in the way of your birthday dinner (those poor waiters…)

frederick: there’s a lot to unpack here. we know he cared a lot for his family before everything went downhill, so honestly he’d probably devote a lot of time to your birthday festivities. he’d get you a super fancy cake and decorate his (insanely big) house with a lot of decorations! honestly he’s a really sweet guy who got corrupted by… a lot of things. but he does care as long as you don’t betray his trust

madeline: i think she would be fairly normal. you’d get a call or text wishing you well, and you’d find a cake and gift delivered to your home. she’d invite you out for a nice, private candlelit dinner, but that’s the extent of the festivities. i can’t see her wanting to do anything flashy; she’d like you to herself and to make sure everything around the two of you is under her control

roderick: the bare minimum. the only reason he’d go out of his way to give you a cake or anything is to make himself look good in the public eye… if it’d make a good news story, expect the most expensive cake money can buy. otherwise you’d get a text if you’re lucky. a birthday dinner is stretching it but maybe if he’s in a good mood he’d take you somewhere nice

not technically an usher but i love her too much to exclude her so here’s a bonus

verna: a birthday spent with verna would undoubtedly be the best you’ve ever had. like… she’s been everywhere and done everything. she’d know exactly what you’d like and make sure to tailor it to your preferences. quite literally, the sky is the limit. but, at the end of the day, you’d get to spend some quality time with her doing whatever you enjoy—maybe a cozy dinner or something along those lines

[ghostinthelibrarywrites]

🪄💍🎄 (Pretty much any MSI fic to be honest!)

Thank you for the ask!

🪄 From the Edwin-goes-undercover MSI fic:

“They’re called the Burgess Society,” Niko says. “That sounds familiar.” Edwin wracks his brain, but can’t place the name. Crystal perches on the edge of Niko’s desk. “That’s because they’re named after Roderick Burgess. He was some rich asshole in the 1920s who claimed he’d captured the Angel of Death and was keeping him locked up in his basement. He had a pretty big cult following before he died.” “Having the Angel of Death locked up in his basement didn’t stop him from dying?” Honestly, Edwin has heard some preposterous things in his day, but that takes the cake. “That does seem like poor planning on his part.”

💍 From Wedding Vows and Other Lies:

“It could be fun, mate.” “Dinner with my family will not be fun. It will be an evening of being insulted, second-guessed, and watched like a hawk. I would rather be abducted and held for ransom again.” Even with his phone held away from his ear, he can hear his mother’s voice growing louder the longer he goes without replying. “No matter how much we ‘sell it,’ they’re never going to believe us.” “But what if they do?” Charles has that gleam in his eye that usually spells trouble. “Look, maybe if we convince them that this thing is real, they’ll leave us alone for the next year?” “Highly unlikely.” “Or they have to spend dinner watching us act like we’re mad about each other. They’ll hate that, won’t they? Trust me, I’ll have them convinced by the end of the night.”

🎄 And from the MSI holiday fic that definitely isn't a month late:

Edwin looks into Charles’s face. It’s a nice face, with a wide smile and kind eyes. He likes the way Charles looks at him, like he matters. And he likes how soft and cozy Charles’s green jumper looks. So soft and cozy that Edwin can’t help but lean forward to rub his face against it. It feels as nice as it looks. Charles makes a strange noise. “Mate…” “And this is why I love visiting London,” Thomas says, laughing. “It’s never boring around here.” Edwin snuggles closer, pressing his face into the place where Charles’s neck meets his shoulder. “You smell nice,” he says into the softness of Charles’s sweater. Charles makes that strange noise again. “HR is going to have so much fun with this,” Thomas says. “Will you shut the fuck up?” Charles demands. Edwin gasps, wounded. “Not you, mate.” A hand settles on the top of Edwin’s head, which he takes as permission to keep nuzzling. “This wanker.”

Make Me Write (Again)

[forgotteneilionora]

OOC | Swords of Stafford

ok so our beloved kate just postedd the following

and it made me picture eilia, [ princess leia style, being like 'idk what ur talking abt' ] right to roderick's face when he demands the location of the stafford swords -- even tho they blatantly just had (two of) them during the war ladksjflkjsdfjkdsf -- while she still thinks that both her sisters and one of the swords have slipped away from between roderick's fingers alskjdflkjsdfjk

no, but it ~also reminded me that we never quite finished up talking abt the swords in question (my fault entirely!) but the rest of that's [ here ] and before that [ here ] and we've def talked abt it elsehwere in drips and drabs, such as establishing that they were meteor sowrds etc

anyway, since we also got talking general family stuff there <3 i thought id make a new stafford sword post so we can get down to business w the swords themselves <3

ok so here's what you/kate said last re: the sword of kings:

SWORDS I love the idea that the missing sword isn't really a stafford sword but a founder sword... any house could lay claim to it! (ooo what if each house has their own name for the sword so no one really knows what it was originally called!?) could we retcon the story slightly and perhaps add something in about the sword being claimed by someone who is there to save Astaira in its time of need? or reunite the kingdom? i dunno something along those lines i feel like would help play into the idea of rian/his dad that THEY should find this sword to rule astaira! and if/when roderick hears about it hes like... well i obviously need that to prove to all these HEATHENS that I am the one who is here to save their backwards country! And then there can still be the two stafford swords w/ siobhan running around w/ one which would still be a THING since its a symbol that could unify people and obvi that's bad for our favorite power hungry emperor! ;)

ok so obsessed w this line of thought!!!!

side note: this really ~does actually lend some credence to roderick's hope to gain legitimacy in astairan eyes by claiming the sword, doesn't it? bc...that's what the sword is for basically lakjsdfkljsdf still feel like the sword would betray him in some way or become a corrupt mirror to its usual self or smth in the hands of the wrong person but yeah!! this is just kinda happenstance for him ofc bc he always has this philosophy more bc he sees these ars trophies/symbols of power (plus he's a lil supersticious lbr) etc but this time he lowkey lucked out bc it really ~does lowkey confer some power alsdkjflkjdsf ofc it might kill him or drive him mad or smth who knows but anyway here we are a;ksdfjlksjdf (meanwhile the astairans still laughing at him bc he's going around w morningstar strapped to his side, still thinking its evenstar alksjdflkjsdf heehee)

i do still think the og wielder was def a stafford and it was forged from a falling star via ayla etc like we said but!! we've talked before abt how perhaps malconaire, lorcan, and stafford (and perhaps one or two others) were originally ancient kings in their own right and ultimately united to take down the gods as one etc so i can def see where the first king of a united astairan realm could easily have been a stafford and yeah!!

but yes!!!!!1 anyone being able to claim it feels soooooooo on point re: astairan values etc!!! and i def like to think that's still a thing!!! and yesssss! i love the idea that its for whoever is like willing to put astaira ahead of themselves or whatever, and not just abt bloodline!! and, like, what if its og wielder died thrusting the sword into the lock against the gods basically yknow that ultimate act of putting others before self etc kinda thing?

ok ok so this is WILD!!!!!!! what im abt to suggest laksjdflkjsdfj so no worries if you're like nahh lets not alksdjflkjsdf but like...ok so if a prev king stafford ~did die w the sword like...what if the sword isn't ~just a symbolic sword, what if its legit magical in some way (id guess a conjecting to air/night/sky or some kind and/or maybe souls? which're sometimes compared to aether anyway sdlakjfklsdjf) like...its got powers but its lowkey fueled by the spirit of its wielder/past wielders so like...its light and bright in the hands of a good soul, but turns dark and cold in those of one of ill intent, or whatever, and kinda drinks part of the soul, so you can randomly get some vibes from its prev wielders or whatever???? idk!! lakjsdfkjlsdf ANYWAY!! also @thelongforgottenrealm is this kinda concept even a thing in this world? hahaha

(not that anyone of ill intent truly could dislodge it from its current spot, but if someone of good intent did dislodge it, and it ~later fell into bad hands or whatever idk)

ok so we also left in our og thing some questions re: the name! our two biggest contenders were constellation and celestial. what do we think?

def feel like i came into this w some other thoughts on this topic but uhhhh idr them now so we'll just go w this! a nyway id love to hear all ur thoughts and ideas!!!!!!! <33333

[samsalami66]

Catching Up With The Past

Look at this, another part for the soccer au!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4

“Boys? Could I have a word with you?” 

The two heads of the men present turned towards Gilbert as he stuck his head into the locker rooms, pausing their conversation to listen to him.

“‘Course, what do you need, coach?” The shorter of them answered then, gesturing for him to come in and sit with them. He did so, grateful for the chance to rest his bad knee. Curiosity shone in the men’s eyes as they waited for him to state his business, their expressions open and unafraid. 

“I have received a request for a transfer to our team. And I wish to discuss it with you both first, before I make any kind of decision.”

“Just us? Why not the whole team?” A frown creased the face of the taller man, confusion clear in his gaze. He had always been a perceptive one, and Gilbert couldn’t help but smile at him. 

“Because this matter concerns you two in ways it does not concern the others.” Confusion only seemed to grow between them at his words. “The transfer request comes from Morpheus Ateleios. Given your… history with him, I ought to first ask you for your opinion on this.”

The men blinked at him for a long moment, too stunned to formulate a response. 

The shorter man caught himself first and began to pace the room as he answered, his hands gesturing wildly, as they so often did when he was either nervous or excited. 

“Morpheus Ateleios asked to be transferred to our team? Offence player for the Riggers. The guy I gave a black eye last season.” Gilbert nodded, having had similar thoughts when he had woken up to this particular email. “But why? He hates our guts.”

“I truly don’t know, son. It came as a surprise to me as well, after all there had been no talk about a planned transfer. All I can say is that he wrote to me the very day after Roderick’s sudden death.”

“Sounds to me like he’s running.” The other man finally spoke up, his face one of mixed emotion. Anger, fear, tentative hope, all so easily read from his set jaw and the light brightening in his eyes. 

“Those were my thoughts as well. And you know I am not one inclined to turn away those who are in search of shelter. That being said, my responsibility lies with you boys, first and foremost. So, what do you think?”

The smaller man was the first to speak up, his pacing coming to an end right in the middle of the room. 

“There has to be a reason why he wants to be transferred to our team, of all the teams out there. I say we do it.”

Gilbert nodded, having expected this sort of answer from his player. “You will make sure to keep your affections in check, I assume?”

A blush spread over his face and to the tip of his ears, but he inclined his head in agreement nonetheless. “Yes, of course. You have my word on that.”

“Very well. What about you, son?” 

The other man sighed, but eventually nodded as well. “Fine. But I can’t promise he will be happy to see me.”

“Well, good thing then we will only have to worry about that when you’re back at the end of next season, right?”

- - - 

Hob seemed to be nervous today. 

He was pacing, up and down the living room, gesturing even more animatedly than usual while telling Morpheus about the ending of the movie they had watched the evening before, which he might have missed by matter of falling asleep halfway through. 

For a few minutes, Morpheus simply observed his friend, trying and failing to figure out what the reason for his nervousness could be. But there was nothing unusual about today or even next week, only Drink Night and training and another match at the end of the week. Nothing that would usually cause him to worry. 

“Hob?” he called out, a hint of the confusion he was feeling making its way into his voice. “Will you tell me what’s wrong?”

His friend immediately stopped in his tracks, hands falling uselessly to his sides. 

“I was pacing again, wasn’t I?” he sighed. 

“You were,” Morpheus stepped closer to Hob and let his head fall on his shoulder, knowing that touch was one of the things that brought Hob the most comfort in these moments. Almost instantly his friend started to deflate, one of his hands coming up to run through Morpheus’ hair, and he allowed it for a few minutes without saying a word, hoping that Hob would begin talking of his own accord. When it became clear that he wouldn’t do so, Morpheus turned his head to look at him, the angle giving him a clear view of Hob’s profile. 

“What’s wrong, Kollitós? If you tell me, we can find a way to fix it.” 

He was mirroring Hob’s words from a few months ago, and from the small huff that left his lips it didn’t go unnoticed.

“‘Kollitós’? That’s a new one. What does it mean?” Hob deflected, which was rather unusual for him. Morpheus pretended he didn’t notice and placed a hand on Hob’s chest, right over his heart. 

“Best Friend,” It was a simple answer, a word Morpheus had been thinking about for a long time now. There had never been someone like Hob in his life, someone he trusted so completely and who brought out the best in him. He was, on all accounts, the best friend Morpheus had ever had. But, perhaps, it was not a notion the two of them shared. After all, Hob was a much more sociable person, he had plenty of friends, many of whom he had known for the better part of his life, much longer than he knew Morpheus. “You don’t have to… to feel the same way about me, of course. But I wished for you to know.”

Morpheus did not quite manage to finish his sentence before he was pulled into a crushing hug, Hob’s arms squeezing his ribs so hard he struggled to breathe, but he couldn’t help the chuckle escaping him at his friend’s enthusiasm. 

“What do you mean, I do not have to feel the same? Are you crazy, of course I do!” A kiss was pressed to Morpheus’ cheek, and he felt the spot growing warm under Hob’s gaze. 

“I am glad, then,” He whispered in response, and cuddled up closer to his friend. “I guess you don’t want to talk about what’s stressing you out?”

Hob placed another kiss on his cheek before letting him go, an apologetic smile on his lips. “I’m sorry, lovey. Trust me that it’s nothing bad?”

Another sigh, but Morpheus nodded. “Alright. You know I trust you.” 

- - - 

Two hours and three glasses of wine later, Morpheus sat in the midst of his team, laughing over a story Matthew told, when the door to The New Inn opened behind him. Usually he would have barely noticed, after all guests came and went like clockwork at a place like this, but the way all heads at the table suddenly turned towards the door meant this wasn’t just another guest. But who could possibly cause them all to perch up like this, to smile and cheer and wave like they had never been happier to see someone?

“Olethros?” Morpheus whispered as he turned around, the name of his baby brother feeling so foreign and yet so familiar on his tongue. 

“Hello, Oneiros.”

It had been years since he last heard that nickname, a decade at least. 

The last time Morpheus had heard it was on the day of Delilah's funeral. It had also been the day Olethros ran from their home, after their parents had tried to pretend her death had been of natural causes, an accident, a simple fall down the stairs where she had broken her neck instead of the real tragedy it had been. 

The last time Morpheus had heard that nickname, his brother had been in shambles, looking more like a haunted man than the child he had still been. He had been too skinny, much like Morpheus himself had been, struggling to eat and sleep and live with the knowledge their sister had taken her own life. 

But Olethros had blamed himself for her death, for he had believed that he had been supposed to protect her and that he had failed. 

It had destroyed him. 

Now, there was a smile on his brother’s face, and a child in his arms. A little girl, no older than a year, with a shock of red hair and a smile that rivalled that of her father’s. Because there was no doubt about it, this ray of sunshine could hardly be anyone else’s. And Olethros looked… good. Happy. Settled. All the things he never had back home, especially during those past weeks, and also never had when they had seen each other on the pitch. Or perhaps he had, and Morpheus had simply been so blinded by anger and judgement and fear that he hadn’t seen. 

He couldn’t remember why he had ever ignored his brother on the field, now, why he hadn’t tried to reconcile, to find out how he had fared. 

So much lost time. So many lost chances. 

But what if his brother was angry with him for all those years he had pretended that he did not care for his presence? What if he took offence to Morpheus joining his team, saw it as betrayal for someone of the family he left behind to infiltrate his new life? 

What if he didn’t want to have Morpheus here? Would they make him leave? Would they favour their long-time friend and teammate over him, if Olethros wished for it? 

“I… I thought you left the team. You hadn’t played in- in months, I- I-,” Morpheus knew that he was beginning to breathe too quickly, that his thoughts were spiralling, the tell-tale signs of a meltdown dancing just at the edge of his vision. He had never asked about his brother, not once since joining the team. He was an awful older brother, caring so little for his own family, for the person who had introduced him to the sport which had since taken over his life.

God, he still remembered afternoons spent on the clearing behind the estate, a goal marked by stones and a ball stolen from their neighbours the only equipment they had. They would train for hours, sometimes deep into the night, every minute spent laughing with a carefreeness they had never felt at home. 

But then, Olethros had simply… gone. No goodbye, not even a note or letter. 

The first time he had seen him again was in his first year playing for Fawney Rig, where his brother had parried every single one of his shots on the Fiddlers goal. 

In all the years afterward, in all the games they played against each other, they had not exchanged a single word. 

And now, there was just one thing Morpheus wanted to say to his brother, something he should have said years ago but hadn’t out of stubbornness and unfounded anger. 

“I missed you, little brother.” His words caught on a sob as he stood and threw himself into Olethros’ arms, caring not for his tears, but only that his brother knew. And Olethros hugged him back with his free arm, holding him close in a way that sent Morpheus right back to his childhood, to nights huddled together in a blanket fort when their parents had been fighting. His little brother shouldn’t have had to take care of them all, protect them each time their parents’ fury had turned against them, but he always had, until that fateful day. 

Morpheus understood now that his brother had done the right thing, to leave and protect himself for once in his life and find people who would help him. 

“And I you, Oneiros,” Hearing the words spoken aloud lifted a weight from Morpheus’ shoulders that he hadn’t known he’d been carrying, the relief of it forcing more tears down his cheeks. “And I’m sorry, my brother.”

Morpheus had to blink at the words for a moment, not sure what they were supposed to mean. 

“What for?”

His brother sighed and took a step back from him so they could make eye-contact, his free hand moving from his back to his shoulder, squeezing once. 

“I am sorry for not noticing sooner that you needed help.”

For a moment, everything stood still. 

Olethros knew about Roderick. But he hadn’t been with the team for months, certainly not since Morpheus had joined them, and there were few people even here who he had told all of it. 

Actually, there was just one. 

And suddenly, a lot of things came into perspective. 

“One moment,” he said to his brother before turning around to Hob, who was currently hiding behind Cori and peeking slightly over his shoulder. “That was why you were so nervous today? Because you were… conspiring to reconnect me with my brother?” 

His best friend winced at that, as if the very idea of conspiring against him in any way physically hurt him, and Morpheus was almost inclined to believe that was the case with how much time Hob had spent pacing his living room this evening. At least it had been quite painful to watch. 

“It was rather intended as a risky surprise, I’d say! After all I knew from Olly how close the two of you have been back then and how much he wanted to finally reconcile with you and when I figured out why you have been ignoring him for all those years I couldn’t have simply not told him and I guess I just… I just wanted you two to get along again. I’m sorry, Dream.” Hob deflated a little after his nervous rant, the expression on his face so genuinely troubled Morpheus just wanted to pull him into a hug. 

“You are an idiot, Kollitós.” he answered instead, his voice soft, and Hob immediately perked up upon hearing the nickname, a smile spreading over his lips. 

“Your idiot?”

Morpheus hummed in agreement and turned back around to his brother, who looked amused at their banter, the smile on his lips matching Hob’s. 

“Hobert told me that the two of you have grown close, but I’ll admit that it’s slightly perplexing to witness myself.” 

Morpheus tried and failed to keep from snorting at the ridiculousness of Hobert, somehow an even worse nickname than Hob was on its own, but nothing could have prepared him for Cori’s answering whine behind him. 

“Be glad you missed these past months, Lily, they’re absolutely disgusting together.”

Lily. Morpheus couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him, completely unhindered, at the sheer stupidity of his friends. How in the world they kept coming up with these names was beyond him. 

Though, perhaps, at least Dream made a little more sense if Olethros had continued calling him Oneiros over the years. Lily, on the other hand, was just a ridiculous nickname for his brother. After all, Olethros had never been particularly feminine. 

Not like him. 

And while Morpheus’ thoughts were on femininity, he realised that he had completely forgotten to address the metaphorical elephant in the room. 

“What’s her name?”

Olethros raised an eyebrow in question at the sudden change of topic, and Morpheus couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Surely it was quite obvious who he was talking about.

“My niece, brother. What is her name?”

A hand reached for his from behind him then, warm and familiar, with callouses and scars he could tell by heart. Morpheus was not quite sure why Hob felt the need to do so now, but he would never refuse one of his friend’s offers of comfort. 

“We call her Lily, too,” Olethros began, and his voice wavered slightly. “But her name is Delilah.” Suddenly, Hob’s hand in his made a lot of sense, and Morpheus was immensely thankful for it.  “We wanted to keep her memory alive, even if our parents tried their hardest to achieve the opposite. Del deserves to be remembered.”

Morpheus nodded as tears gathered in his eyes, the emotions of having a piece of his baby sister again after all those years, even if it was just an old name on a new person, threatening to overwhelm him. But there was Hob’s hand in his, grounding him,  and there were years of grief and months of therapy behind him, reminding him that those emotions did not have to overtake him. 

And so he took a deep breath, allowed the waves of grief tearing at his heart to lap at him for a moment, but then let them go again, just like the sea let go of the beach after a moments’ embrace. 

Then he smiled up at his brother, letting go of Hob’s hand, and held out his arm towards little Lily. 

“Come on, let me hold my niece. And sit down, I’m sure we can squeeze you in next to John…”

[djwiththejd]

The Fall of the House of Usher (2023) Episode 1

A foreword, of sorts: If someone had told me in high school or even college that I would willingly sit down to watch a horror tv show, I would have laughed in their face. Who knew it would take my college professor Emma's teachings of Pym and my first foray into Critical Theory that I brought with me to law school to get to this point. I haven't even finished watching School Spirits yet so the depression has really taken me for a ride, but my boyfriend says I need a hobby, and I spent two and a half hours and 7 and a half pages of notes on just the first episode of this show, so I'm going to write about it because I miss writing.

If you're here from twitter, may the gods have mercy on your soul.

Now, let's move on to business. My recap of Episode 1 of The Fall of The House of Usher. There will be spoilers for the Poe stories as well as detailed commentary of the events within the episode, so obviously I'm going to put a SPOILER WARNING for whatever you read below. Also, since the first episode introduces the story and the characters, it will probably be long as heck and full of background that no one but me cares about because I'm a huge nerd. I don't care if you skim. Read at your own peril; stay tuned for danger.

Firstly, let's talk about the original short story and see if Wikipedia can help me write a good, short summary of the premise/plot of that story. From within the first two minutes of the show, I can tell that we are going to deviate wildly from the plot.

In the original short story, published in 1839, the tale is told by an unnamed narrator who has been called to the House of Usher at the behest of his childhood friend Roderick Usher who is ill and needs help. Roderick and his twin Madeline are the only living members of the Usher family left alive in their family mansion. One thing that high school teachers everywhere probably tried to teach their students is to pay attention to the narrator's notice of a thin crack that extends from the roof, down the house, and into the nearby lake. This may be important later, but for me right now, I view it as a double entendre. Spoiler alert, at the end of the original short story, both Roderick and Madeline die, leading to the "fall" of the House of Usher, in that the last two living descendants die and therefore end the family name, and also the literal "fall" of the house, the family mansion that they lived in.

I have to admit I watched the first two minutes, tweeted about it, then got so engrossed about halfway through the episode that I grabbed a legal pad and started the episode from the beginning.

Firstly, the opening starts with a countdown to New Year's 1980 before we see a quick image of a cawing raven and a creepy vision of Carla Gugino's smiling face. The episode is titled "A Midnight Dreary," a line from Poe's "The Raven," so at this point I'm confused because obviously this is a completely different short story, but I roll with it. Unfortunately, I didn't have the foresight last night to look ahead and see what the other episode titles were, because then I would have probably understood the plot a little better.

We cut now to a stained glass window in a church (hello Jesus symbolism, can't wait to ponder you later) and then the pastor seems to be giving a eulogy about three dead people. We cut to an older gentleman with a teen girl sitting behind him who seems to be remembering 6 different visions. Side note: I googled the eulogy, and it cobbles together various lines from Poe's poems as well as quotes that are ascribed to Poe. At this point I guess that the older man and older women in sunglasses are the twins, and wonder who the teen girls are behind each of them before seeing MARK MOTHERFUCKING HAMILL on the screen. Even in my notes I just write him down as Mark Hamill, or MH, which is a real shame because his character's name is Arthur Pym, which is the main character from the only "book" Poe ever wrote, and there's a lot of controversy around whether it was finished or not, but I spent several classes in undergrad analyzing that book in particular, so it has a very soft spot in my heart.

Roderick(?) turns back and sees a figure with a blacked out face in the rafters, but then the girl turns around, nobody is there. When she turns to him, she calls him Grampus, so I can assume this girl is his granddaughter and not his daughter. Then Roderick (?) says, "She's here." Not quite to his granddaughter, but mostly to himself. How cryptic. I'm sure we won't think about that until it jumps right into our faces. At this point, in hindsight I had assumed that the "very pale girl" behind Madeline was her granddaughter, but oh how wrong I was.

Outside the church, we see press all over, but the church itself was noticeably empty. Then, then, we cut to a cork board. This confirms Roderick and Madeline are who I thought I was, and also gives Mark Hamill the name of Arthur Pym. Then, I painstakingly went in and paused at nearly every second of the next scene to read the details on the children, their dates of death, and any bits of information I could get from the articles about cause of death (aka COD.) The death dates are clustered very closely together. I don't know quite yet if it goes from youngest to eldest, but I'm sure we shall find out.

Then, the big reveal. Well, to me at least. I saw that the Assistant U.S. Attorney was C. Auguste Dupin, and let me tell you I pumped my fist in the air and nearly woke up my sleeping boyfriend next to me. Why? You don't care but I'm going to tell you. Dupin was introduced in The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841), my favorite Poe short story, and also the first ever piece of writing ever coined as "detective fiction." Yes, my absolute favorite genre of writing was created by Edgar Allan Poe, so as problematic as he may have been, I will always be grateful to him for this. Besides, the plot for Rue Morgue was so wild, I saw Dupin's name and had to pause and tweet about it. Specifically, I tweeted about hoping that one of the CODs would be strangulation by an escaped monkey. Mind you, like an idiot, I still haven't looked at the damn names of all of the episodes of the series. Since last night, I have been told to keep an eye out, so that's fun.

I can't believe I typed all of that up from the first like, three minutes of the show. I warned you this was going to be long.

Then, we pan out to the corkboard being a whole ass murder board. We love that. Still no clue who Pym is and why he's alive, but the random guy who walked into the office to talk to Dupin just said something about a Pym Reaper, so I got a chuckle out of that. There's emphasis here about "him" wanting to talk. Obviously, by process of elimination, this him is Roderick.

Dupin takes a taxi (oooh, vintage) to this location, and we see it is a dilapidated house. The "House" of Usher, methinks? I will say it definitely gives rise to the gothic vibe of terror and dread, but thankfully we're not going into Gothic architecture, that would have been a little too on the nose. The clothing I've seen is very modern and the death dates are all in November, so I genuinely thought it was set last year but it wasn't. Everything is apparently set to happen next month. In the future. How foreboding.

Roderick invites Dupin in and Dupin attempts to console Roderick for his losses, but Roderick seems much more focused on the drink in his hand. Henri IV Dudognon Heritage Cognac Grande Champagne. I googled it and apparently it is a real drink. I have to say, Roderick really doesn't seem to curry favor with Dupin when he suggests "a single pour is probably worth double your annual salary" but then he offers a glass to Dupin. This man is clearly going through something. By now, I can surmise it is the death of his family, but is this The House of Usher? Is this dilapidated building the same setting that we see in the original tale? Is Dupin now taking the place of the unnamed narrator of past?

Dupin still tries to apologize, but Roderick just seems...resigned to his fate. Also, Dupin asks where Mr. Pym is and we find out that Mark Hamill is playing a defense attorney. Amazing. Three years of law school and a JD later, and Mark Hamill, one of my favorite actors, is playing an attorney with the name of one of my most intriguing literary characters. All of my worlds have collided.

Roderick waives his right to an attorney and sits Dupin down across from him to talk. Dupin says Roderick got away with it, Roderick says no one really ever gets away with anything, not really. Dupin pushes back and says Madeline would beg to differ. Roderick says you can ask yourself, she's downstairs in the basement. At this point, I am convinced that Madeline is dead and buried, but this episode will not reveal that information to me. Trust me, I'm holding onto that theory because it is close in parallel to the original story, but I am soooo open at this point to being surprised because the actor for Roderick has sucked me in completely. Bruce Greenwood. I have painfully powerful facial recognition, so it delights me that I've never seen him in anything before so I can get sucked into his acting completely. Seriously, I just recently recognized the brother in Get Out from a single episode of Victorious because that one episode is my favorite. It can ruin my immersion sometimes.

Anyhow, back to the story. I'm rambling, but I have ADHD and I miss stream of consciousness writing so this is more for me than it is for you.

Roderick's phone vibrates, he says it is his granddaughter, Lenore. My eyeballs are rolling back into my head. We have a connection to The Raven, finally. She's not dead at present, so we shall see if she follows her namesake into the Great Beyond. Dupin tries to graciously allow Roderick to take that call and cites that "grandkids take priority" but Roderick calls him out!

He says "Don't lecture me about family values. You're just as shit in that department as I am."

At this point I am confused but I can't look away. Roderick says he wants to give his confession. Dupin whips out a recorder. November 20th, 2023. Roderick confirms we are in his childhood home. I am vibrating like a cat because I think my theory is correct, and I realize that based off of the death dates of his children, that much of this series will be told from this setting, in those chairs, and with flashbacks to important moments.

I was not prepared for the beginning of this story. In 1953, the house is warmer, more cheerful. R and M are just children, and Roderick speaks about "the woman who would shape every choice we would ever make." Their mother. Eliza. Aptly given the same name as Poe's mother. Personal secretary to the CEO of Fortunato Pharmaceuticals. The same company the Ushers own in modern times. Already I have questions about the lineage of the twins, but you know how it is.

"Not here. Not ever. We agreed." Very cryptic words, Mr. Longfellow. Madeline always hated him, she "always knew." Knew he was a liar? A terrible person? Or did she know he was their father?

Then we get into the religious phrases the mom uses. "Like Jesus, he loves from afar." "He's complicated, like God." I always find it very interesting but also very sad when the words a woman uses to justify a man's abuse is cloaked in a veil of religion. I won't go into detail on that, though. There just isn't time.

Jump to 1962. Nine years later, the twins look to be teenagers. Their studying is interrupted by a bell, and we cut to Eliza ringing a bell in bed. There is a plethora of crosses now hanging on the wall behind her, so that's...lovely. Both twins rush to her, and Eliza pushes a glass of water away. At first I thought it was rabies, but then Eliza seems to be suffering from pain in her pelvic region based off of how her actress was portraying her pain. Honestly, my theory is that she probably had an untreated STI which may have spread to other organs. Either way, her denial of medication or a doctor horrifies me. The screaming and the vitriol is a complete tone shift to who she was prior. But what I really find interesting is that Madeline, not Roderick, seems to be the brains of the pair. She is the one who coaches Roderick on what to say and how to say it to Longfellow, even though Roderick eventually messes up. There seems to be a double entendre in the way Madeline says "it's the least he can do." Because I have suspicions that Madeline knows he is their father, I keep autofilling this in my head. The shift in Mr. Longfellow's mood from humorous, almost mocking disbelief to anger and contemptuous pushback against the twins when Roderick tells him "she loves you" is enough for me. Even Madeline following up with "It's the least you could do. For her. For us." isn't necessary anymore for me to believe he is the father.

Longfellow's denial only seals the deal.

Cut to Eliza's...corpse. She didn't make it, but in trying to keep with her wishes, they tear apart the shed and build her a coffin and bury her in the backyard. Of course, because *spoiler alert* Madeline was accidentally buried alive, I had a hunch Eliza might climb out of her grave. I was proven right, and Eliza wakes up, tries to attack Roderick, but stops when Eliza calls her "Mommy" and grabs her arm. (Actress for teen Madeline is also fantastic, her look of horror was evocative as fuck. 10/10. No notes.) ELiza then walks out, goes into the gates of Longfellow's house and proceeds to choke him to death (with apparently superhuman strength) before finally collapsing next to his body.

What I *love* about this all is that when we cut back to the present, and Dupin asks about why Roderick is telling him all this, Roderick says it is because she's standing right behind Dupin! And you know what drives me nuts? SHE IS. SHE'S TOTALLY THERE AND HE DOESN'T TURN AROUND! Dupin does not see her and we see eliza walk out of the frame.

It is important to note that Roderick talks about the cleanup of that story to spare "his" family, the Usher family, of any embarrassment. He confirms that Longfellow was his father but doesn't claim him as family because Longfellow never claimed him, but it explains why he acknowledges all six of his children from five different mothers.Roderick wouldn't close the gates. Finally, we have confirmation, verbal confirmation from Roderick about who his father was.

Side note: Dupin has a husband, how progressive. I'm down for it. We love it when the elderly LGBTQ+ community is acknowledged.

Two weeks ago:

Then we switch to a trial against Fortunato Pharmaceuticals and the Usher "crime" family, according to Dupin's opening statement. As someone who did pretty damn well in both evidence and criminal law, I'm side-eyeing this opening statement. Let me tell you, law school ruins your ability to suspend disbelief for so many court things in television and movies. Also Fortunato? After The Cask of Amontillado? That's the short story I had to read in high school, and I enjoyed it enough. It does, however, tie in well if the company is also destroyed, locked away, hidden from society, whatever you want to call it to tie into the ending of Cask.

I will say this, Roderick fathered gorgeous children nonstop. Every one of these actors is stunning. I found it odd that the camera panned to Lenore and her mother(?) for a close up when Dupin talks about corruption ut when panned out Lenore is hidden from the view of the audience. At this point, I had not drawn any conclusions as to why that is. I kept fixating on "The Pale Girl," who we later find out is Juno, Roderick's newest wife. Let me tell you, that revelation was crazy because I thought she was Madeline's sole daughter who idolized Dita Von Teese and Dolores Umbridge in the worst hybridization of ways, but Ruth Codd's facial expressions are stunning. I'm visibly uncomfortable when I look at her, and that's fantastic. She's showing me so much with her body language, I can't stand how good she is. Anyhow, I love her. I will be following more of her.

Then, Dupin drops the bomb. The bomb. The thing that makes Madeline's face go from quiet amusement to concern. The statement that makes every Usher child react. There's an informant in the midst. And it is one of them.

Pym, in my opinion, correctly calls out the failure to disclose the identity of this informant. When counsel approaches the bench, this opening statement about the family witness is struck from the record, but it does what Dupin intends it to do. It rattles the whole family. Pym probably makes so much damn money off of these people.

Roderick calls a family dinner for everyone and their spouses. Then we cut to introductions of each family member. Frederick turns out to be the father of Lenore, and his wife's name is Morrie, I think? I had to check Wikipedia for this, but her name is Morella, she's a former actress and model, and now she makes hyper-realistic cakes. Freddie gives me Dan Levy vibes. He blames Perrie, who I assume is Prospero. Lenore calls out that the informant would "have to be pretty brave, I guess" and asks if the charges are true. At this point, there is a massive, MASSIVe red flag waving in my head. Is Lenore the informant? Or is she the red herring? It gets more juicy when she suggests that "if someone really broke the law, shouldn't they be punished?" The red flag...of justice? Morrie casually warns that breaking away from family rank would get you written out of the will, highlighting the difference in values between Lenore and the rest of the family.

Then we cut to Tamerlane and her husband, Bill T. Wilson. (Very cute reference to a short story Poe wrote called William Wilson.) She also says her money on the informant is "one of the bastards." All this does it solidify her and Freddie as the two children Roderick had "in wedlock." Bill suggests the informant is Freddie, and Tamerlane pushes back. She muses that it might be Perry, Bill suggests Juno, her "new stepmom." Tamerlane bristles at this, but also drops that Juno doesn't "know anything." If she really is so new to the family she doesn't know its secrets, then she's the most innocent one there and is also the only one who took the charges against the family seriously enough to not be able to hide it on her face. Tamerlane mentions Goldbug, a short story I have not read, and Tamerlane drops an important tidbit: She doesn't care about the world, she cares about what her dad thinks." I had to google who tf Blippi is for this conversation. Also, they do threesomes? Also, TEST MONKEYS?

Yep. We're going to have the true Rue Morgue murder. We are now introduced to Victorine. And her surgical partner/life partner. They have a successful surgery of some sort on a test monkey. Post-op the women are seen talking about struggling to get peer review because of nightshade. Whatever this nightshade powder Roderick sent over, it's working, but it is the same stuff that paralyzes South American tourists who get it blown in their face. Spooky. Victorine jokes about keeping away from Perry. That boy does not have anyone on his side for this. He's painted as young, immature, and apparently a date rapist so far. However, Victorine points the finger at Camille!

We jump to Leo, apparently on the phone with his boyfriend Julius. He convinces Julius to not come to the family dinner, but he finds out that Julius is on his way up while he's getting head from a woman. So Leo is a bisexual and he's a cheater. Love that about him. Has a black cat named Pluto.

We shift to Camille, apparently the HBIC of the family's PR. She tosses out orders to her drab little assistants hastily scribbling down notes. Her comment about Victorine is not unnoticed, but Camille puts aside her own feelings about her sister in order to push ahead of the PR disaster of the trial. When asked about Juno, Camille has a lot more frustration there for the massive age gap and lack of, idk, decorum about Juno? I'm intrigued as to what "Scraped her off the emergency room floor" means but I'm sure I will find out. Her main priority is sniffing out the informant, she also points to Perry but also claims she doesn't think he's clever enough to talk to the Feds without it ending up on Tiktok. Ouch. Give Perry a damn break. Or don't. He sounds awful. They all certainly seem awful. Like Tamerlane, Camille seems eager to please her father, emphasizing that she wants to be the one who finds the informant to deliver their head to her father.

Juno speaks! and she's Irish. I love that. Apparently she moderated an NA meeting once, so she's either a drug addict or a drug addict seriously affected her family. Tie-in to the Fortunato company? Possible motive? Possible mole? We shall wait and see. I love the comedy Roderick drops in about how the children have to love Juno because the only thing stronger than love is their fear of getting written out of the will.

Then the family doctor arrives with private news on Roderick should hear...My money is either terminal cancer or a slow poisoning. Either way, we don't know what's up before- Surprise! Prospero, aka Perrie shows up.

We see him pour Glenfiddich '96 and I find out he and I are the same age...He pitches a nightclub to Roderick and Madeline who magically shows up and Juno flicks off to Godzilla-knows-where. Apparently he had a full year to come up with a proposal for his first business venture and his idea for a super exclusive nightclub gets shut down mercilessly because the Ushers are about "changing the fucking world." Perrie walks away with his tail between his legs and Madeline checks in with Roderick before heading off to the dining room. She claims when the paperwork is passed out, she'll be able to tell. Apparently she can always tell when someone is...lying? We shall see.

Briefly, we see Carla Gugino put down a drink and say "For the road" which clearly freaks Roderick out because how did this strange woman show up in his mansion's bar?

Cut to dinner, Morrie presents a textbook and Starbucks and we have an Is It Cake momen to light applause from everyone. I can't quite tell if he's being sarcastic about him marrying Morrie, but Freddie moves on to suck up to Roerick by complimenting Juno.

Madeline passes out a new and improved NDA (thank you Pym for your tireless work, I hope you are paid handsomely for this) including details about forfeiture of inheritance, etc regarding being the informant and the consequences that ensue. Victorine's partner Alessandra tries to not sign it until her own lawyer looks it over but one look from the family makes her change her mind.

The siblings bicker before Madeline shuts it down, explains the importance of Fortunato and threatens the informant with certain death. I know it is meant to be serious but I admit I had a little giggle. Then Roderick says "Fifty million dollars." The twins have placed a bounty on the unknown informant's head, effectively pitting the family against each other.

In the present, Roderick laments that this was the last time he saw all of them together, and the last time he saw some of them alive. He claims responsibility for the deaths of all of his children. Even though Dupin claims that these bizarre deaths are all verified to not be linked, Roderick doubles down, and then finally brings up "a woman." Now things are getting juicy. Carla Gugino appears in a variety of lighting and with different hair, so that suggests we'll see here several times throughout the show.

We cut now to New Year's Eve, 1979 heading into 1980. The twins are dressed as Gatbsy and Daisy, I gag a little at the incestual implications even though I knew they were coming, and sit back and watch how the twins first meet the woman, now known as Verna. Apparently they enter a bar hoping for enough people to be around to provide them with an alibi. Whatever they came from at Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, they need witnesses. We see again that Madeline is the mastermind behind every plan. A conversation about resolutions with Verna ensues.

We pan to the present. Dupin talks about some other event that happens that night. Verna predicts their lives will take a complete change of course on that night. Roderick again tells Dupin that every piece of this story is important. We flash back to the funeral. Roderick sees the faceless woman in the back, but then the next time he looks back, he sees the mangled corpses of his six children. When he exits the church, he sees a creepy court jester, like a malevolent joker from the playing card, briefly waiting for him in the car. He starts, notices his nose is bleeding, and then suddenly falls backward. Madeline and Pym rush to him, but arthur stares ahead to *gasp* a raven, and he says "It's time. It's time. It's time." How mysterious.

The episode ends and I finally look ahead to all the episode names like I should have done before. Each episode is based off of a different Poe story, and probably relates to the cause of death for each character. I haven't read some of them, but I feel like I will before I start each next episode. Or I will let myself be surprised. We shall see. Anyhow, I have spent all morning typing this. If you've read this far, I salute you. I'm tired, but also satisfied.

-------

"The last thing my mother did in this life was kill a powerful man. And we carried that secret with us and we loved her all the more."

[where-dreams-dwell]

Just finished The Fall of the House of Usher and wow I have thoughts.

……….

Verna is fascinating!

My interpretation (I have read literally NO Poe so sorry if this is obvious) if that Verna is a personification/demon/something for Choices and Decisions.

When she first meets the Ushers she offers them a choice: here is a possible outcome of the decisions you’ve already made, which might well happen on its own, but would you like to *ensure* that it happens? What would you choose to give up to get what you want? I don’t think she’s *creating* this outcome (as it’s literally what Madeline said would happen while they bricked the CEO into the wall) but she’s saying she can make sure certain possible outcomes are the only ones that happen.

Death and killing might be part of her powers but at least in the case of the Ushers she’s only killing the children because the deal was none of them survive Roderick.

I think her deal with Madeline and Roderick is a mix of be careful what you wish for as you’ll get it in unexpected ways, and exposing their own hypocritical choices. The Ushers believe they are entitled to the company due to their father, that it is their legacy, that if he had only acknowledged them and planned for them to continue the company in their name they would have everything they deserve. But in order to get that legacy, they have to behave in the exact same manner their father did, and think only of themselves while not plan to leave anything for their children.

Verna even offers choices to the other people we see her interact with.

For Perry she reminds him he could choose to stop recoding people, choose not to peruse his brothers wife, choose to end the party. It’s not too late. Even at that party when she tells Morelle to ‘leave now’ it is still a choice, one Morelle doesn’t take which leads to its own consequences. And in the run up to the party we’re shown so many moments when Perry could have chosen differently and the outcome would have been different: having the party at all, inviting Morelle (he turns away and then back to offer her a ticket), Napoleon saying he’s better than this and doesn’t need to become a drug pusher, the building not having water and so choosing to use the assumed water on the roof… right up to the last moment when he chooses to give the signal for the sprinklers to go on.

And her conversation with Perry Verna almost admits it: the series of decisions which lead to him, some small ones, a big one, and then another smaller on and now here he is. Choices he wasn’t involved in have led to him being there that night. And she loves bad boys because they always make all the wrong choices.

For Camille she refuses entry to the lab multiple times and offers her the choice to turn around and go home: it won’t change her fate as she’ll die either way, but if she goes home she’ll die in her sleep instead of being torn apart. She doesn’t *need* to see everything with her own eyes, she already has the proof. But Camille chooses to revel in her sisters shame, to twist the knife, and so she dies painfully.

And Napoleon is told the cat he wants to buy isn’t for sale and to choose to go back home to his boyfriend (and likely confess his actions) but he pushes through with his money and demands that he should get what he wants. He even has a moment within his confrontation with the cat when he thinks this might be a drugged hallucination, but instead of stopping or calling his boyfriend he continues to destroy their home.

Victorine also gets choices: the file of perfect patient data is handed to her but she doesn’t have to call Verna back about the human trial. Verna asks at multiple points if this procedure is safe, if the surgeon has agreed, even if her patient data is safe in this clinic. And Victorine chooses to lie at every opportunity, chooses to sacrifice this woman’s life in the pursuit of her dream. And so she is haunted by her lies, driving her to a more gruesome death than necessary.

For Tammy Verna shows her how to make better choices from their first meeting: we only saw one other sex worker play out the fantasy scene pretending to be Tammy but their interactions with Bill were surface level. When Verna appears as Candy she plays fake-Tammy as caring about Bill, showing Real-Tammy how she could be a better partner from the get go. Verna compliments his cooking, says she’d been craving his ‘famous chicken Alfredo’, asks about his work earnestly and listens to his replies. Even later, when she is Tammys hallucination double, she keeps showing Tammy how she could choose differently: Bill would probably set your fight aside considering another sibling has died, you could call him? Bill would probably be concerned about your health, you could apologise? And after her breakdown Verna pretends to answer Bills call (which Tammy had thrown across the room) and apologises to him for how he’d been treated. The whole time Verna is telling Tammy ‘it’s not too late, you could choose to be kind, you could choose to make yourself happy’: like Camille it wont stop her inevitable death but it could have been easier. And again she didn’t have to die in this manner, she could have gone in her sleep but her chosen treatment of Bill and her own guilt over her decisions has been keeping her awake.

For Frederick, Verna even admits that she has chosen his manner of death *due* to the choices he made: he would have died in his car from a heart attack but he chose to take his wife home, chose to torture her, ‘chose to pick up the pliers’ and so here are the consequences of his decisions.

For Lenore, the only innocent in the whole family, Verna wants her to know that her *choice* to give a statement, her choice to break with her family and get her mother out, will have lasting consequences. That Lenore’s decision will have changed the world.

That Verna’s power focuses on choices is further emphasised with her knowledge of ‘what people would have been’ as I think that’s an expansion upon what different choices would have led to. Of people had chosen differently then this is what they would have become.

And in Verna’s interactions with Pym all of the moments she references are ones where choices are made: the choice to leave a man in the desert, to abandon a guide in the snow, to assault a woman in the arctic. Moments when a choice or decision was made.

So I think she is a bargainer, or demon of decisions, and while she isn’t inherently evil she has her own morality as seen when she chooses deaths which are painful or peaceful, depending on a persons actions.

And really the message of the whole show is choices and their consequences.

[unpredictable-probabilities]

At a Blade's End || Chapter 4: Intertwined

Summary:

It's the day of the party at Roderick's manor, and Morpheus is displeased with the appearance of Robert and his son.

Meanwhile, Hob finds out a little more about Morpheus, and Robyn talks about his mother to his new friend.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Word Count: 4,262

Square/Prompt: C1 - Healing Touch |  @dreamlingbingo

Ship(s): Dream of the Endless | Morpheus/Hob Gadling

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Human Alternate Universe - Medieval, Assassins & Hitmen, Blood Blood and Injury, First Meetings, Canonical Character Death, Each chapter will have warnings if it contains any graphic violence

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56571808/chapters/149085661

———

Morpheus turned to Alex standing beside him when he heard a sigh.

The party had started a few minutes ago, and guests were milling around greeting each other and the master of the house. Servants walked by holding trays of food and drinks, while Morpheus was at his usual station during public events: standing guard beside Alex. The Magus might care very little for his youngest son, but he would still see it as an embarrassment if Alex were to be harmed in his own premises.

“Randall’s not even here anymore and yet this entire party is for his birthday,” Alex said wistfully. “Father must really love him.”

“Your father did not neglect to give you a gift for your birthday,” Morpheus reminded him gently.

“A wad of money and an order to spend my birthday outside of his house?” Alex raised an eyebrow at him.

“I seem to remember you eating your weight in pastries and buying three new horses that day.”

Alex finally smiled. “Thank you again for accompanying me and Paul. Father would have been suspicious if it had just been the two of us.”

Someone was approaching and Morpheus instinctively turned to see who it was.

“Speak of the devil,” he said playfully.

“A drink, Master Burgess?” Paul smiled and held out a tray with a single wine glass to Alex.

Alex wrinkled his nose and picked up the glass. “I told you never to call me that.”

Morpheus scanned the crowd of nobles and businessmen, as well as the other servants going around serving food.

“Let us go to the gardens,” he said. “Far from prying eyes. Our presence is not needed here and would not be missed.”

“Indeed, Father probably already forgot that I exist,” Alex joked halfheartedly as they made their way out.

“Then that means you're free for the rest of the day,” Paul said lightly, holding the tray down at his side. “Though I’d need to get back to the kitchen soon.”

“They would not notice your absence for a few minutes,” Morpheus reassured him. “The initial preparations are done and other servants would be taking a break now as well.”

“A few minutes would be enough,” Alex said and gently took Paul’s hand, lacing their fingers together. “We can all just breathe here away from the party.”

Quick footsteps rounded the corner, and a familiar boy came running towards them while giggling.

He stopped when he saw Morpheus and smiled brightly. “Mister Morpheus!”

“Robyn! Hold on a moment!” Robert came jogging after the boy, slowing down to a stop and catching his breath.

His gaze landed on their group, and Morpheus saw Alex and Paul immediately let go of each other’s hands. Robert’s eyes followed the movement, and Paul took a step back from Alex.

Morpheus tensed, mentally running through a list of excuses as to why they were here, but he decided it would be wise to let Robert speak first to ascertain what was going on in his mind.

“My lord,” Paul lowered his eyes, his voice wavering and his face a shade paler. “I was just— Master Burgess was—”

“It’s all right,” Robert said gently. “There’s no need to explain anything to me.”

“My father isn’t a scary man!” Robyn nodded vigorously. “He won’t get angry about broken cups or holding hands with your friends!”

Morpheus instinctively looked at Robert, who returned his gaze with a small smile. Was that why they thought he ran out of their house two days ago? Just as well. It was an exceptionally idiotic decision on his part; at the very least they weren’t suspicious.

“My lord,” Alex said politely. “I’m afraid I don’t know your name. I’m not familiar with all of my father’s guests.”

“Robert Gadling,” Robert stepped forward and held out his hand. “I take it you’re Alexander Burgess?”

Alex took the offered handshake. “Yes, Lord Gadling. I welcome you to my father’s home.”

“Just ‘Sir Gadling’ is fine,” Robert smiled.

“And I’m Robyn Gadling!” Robyn puffed out his chest and held out a hand as well. “Pleased to make your acquaintance!” he added in his small high voice.

Alex smiled and shook the boy’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Robyn. You know Morpheus?”

“I do! He visited our house the other day to bring the invitation, but he broke a teacup and got scared and ran away.”

Paul and Alex looked at him questioningly; they wouldn’t believe that he would get scared of such a thing. An explanation would be expected of him later.

“I apologise once more, Sir Gadling,” Morpheus said. “As well as for rudely leaving your home in haste.”

Robert shook his head. “Like I said, it was an accident. Really, it’s all right.”

“See!” Robyn beamed at Morpheus, then looked at Paul. “And my father also won’t be mad at holding hands so you don’t need to be scared! My father has servants too and sometimes they hold my hand while we walk and cross the street.”

Robert chuckled. “Indeed. And you can still hold hands with people even when you’re grown-up,” he addressed his son but smiled pointedly at Paul and Alex. “No matter who they are as long as you both agree to it.”

“Well said, Sir Gadling,” Alex raised his wine glass in a toast, looking happier than he had ever since the party began.

“What’s your name, Mister?” Robyn asked Paul.

“Ah, Paul McGuire, Sir Robyn,” Paul tipped his head, his eyes lowered.

“It’s just ‘Robyn’! I’m not old!” the boy’s face was scrunched up.

Paul smiled and met the boy’s gaze. “Pardon me. Robyn.”

The boy grinned. “A pleasure to meet you, Mister Paul!” he straightened his posture and extended his hand.

Paul seemed taken aback at the offered handshake, and he wordlessly accepted it.

Then the boy turned to Morpheus with his hand still held out. “We didn’t shake hands last time!”

Morpheus shook the boy’s hand. “It is a pleasant surprise to see you again,” he said, even though it was far from pleasant seeing him and his father. “I had the impression that your father was not attending this party.”

Robert cleared his throat. “Robyn wanted to check on your hand after it got cut from the teacup. He’d been running around the place looking for you ever since we arrived.”

“You got injured?” Alex furrowed his eyebrows in concern.

“It is of no consequence,” Morpheus held out his left palm. The cut had mostly closed, though he was still careful not to exert his hand so much.

“Shouldn’t you put a bandage on it?” Robyn asked worriedly.

Morpheus had considered it, but the Magus would inquire upon any injury of his out of worry that it would impede his duties, and Morpheus would rather not speak of it.

“It will heal,” Morpheus simply said. He had had worse injuries before.

“Okay…” Robyn said, though he was frowning. “Oh! You two can hold hands again now!” he said to Alex and Paul. “We don’t mind!”

“Ah, duck,” Robert knelt on one knee to be eye-level with his son. “Remember what I said about how other people can be mean and easily angered? Those people could also get angry when they find out that people hold hands. So it’s important that you don’t tell anyone that you saw them do that, okay?”

Robyn’s eyes widened in surprise. “What?! Why would anyone get angry about that?”

Alex smiled sadly. “Unfortunately, not everyone thinks like us, Robyn.”

Robyn frowned and looked at Robert. “Pardon my language, father. But I think that’s very stupid.”

Alex looked terrified for a moment and looked at Robert. Morpheus understood his fear; he would have received punishment if he spoke to his own father in such a way when he was that age.

But Robert just laughed good-naturedly and ruffled his son’s hair. “It is quite stupid, isn’t it? And while those people haven’t sorted themselves out yet, it’s important to protect these nice people. Do you understand?”

The boy nodded. “I promise not to tell anyone,” he said solemnly.

“Thank you,” Robert smiled at him and stood up again.

“Are you friends with Mister Morpheus?” Robyn turned to Alex.

Alex smiled, relaxed again now after seeing that Robyn faced no consequences at all for his use of language. “I am. He’s a nice person, too.”

Morpheus frowned at him. Alex had known since last year what jobs he did for the Magus, even though he did not know who the targets were. How could Alex still call him nice?

But Alex just met his eyes and grinned. “Even though he would never admit it,” he said pointedly before turning back to Robyn. “For my birthday two months ago he accompanied Paul and I to the city. We had cakes and rode horses for the better part of the afternoon.”

Robyn’s face brightened and he looked at Morpheus. “I knew you were nice!”

Morpheus said nothing; his stomach twisted at how the boy was looking at him with so much trust, oblivious to what Morpheus had almost done to his father moments before he arrived in the dining room two days ago.

“Pardon,” Paul’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “But I’ve been gone too long from the kitchen. I should return to my duties now, Morpheus. Sir Gadling, Robyn,” he nodded politely to them before turning to Alex. “... Alex,” he said with a small smile.

“Paul,” Alex returned the smile, evidently pleased that Paul addressed him by only his name.

With another bow to everyone, Paul made his way back inside.

“As for myself, I shall return to the party,” Alex straightened his waistcoat. “Father would be displeased if guests start asking him where his son is.”

“I shall go with you,” Morpheus said, grateful for any excuse to move away from Robert and the boy. 

“No,” Alex shook his head. “You’ve been guarding me since before the party started. You should take a break like some of the other servants.”

“Alex,” Morpheus frowned. “You know your father tasked me to stand guard at your side.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “And we both know that no one has ever tried to harm me, and no one ever will.” He lowered his voice to be quieter. “Everyone knows I’m not important to my father and they have nothing to gain from me.”

“What?” Robyn furrowed his eyebrows. “I didn’t hear what you said.”

“Duck,” Robert put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “We’re not part of the conversation, it’s rude to ask.” Though from the somber look on his face, he had heard what Alex said.

Alex smiled at the nobleman and his son. “It was a genuine pleasure to meet you both. May we see each other again soon.” He looked at Morpheus and pointed a finger at him. “Don’t follow me. Take a break.”

Had it just been the two of them, Morpheus would have said exactly what he thought of the young man’s audacity. As it were, all he could do was clench his jaw and watch Alex go back to the party.

He startled and turned around when he felt a small hand grab his wrist.

“Are you really okay?” Robyn was looking worriedly at the cut on his hand.

“Yes. Now if you’ll excuse me, I…” he trailed off at the sound of voices.

They were at the part of the garden behind the manor, and if there were people nearby they would be on the other side of the walls separating the garden from the terrace wrapping around this wing.

He recognised Burgess’ voice. More likely than not, he and his guests were just viewing the outdoors from the terrace without putting themselves through the ordeal of actually going outside. But if Burgess decided to go in this direction he would find out that Robert Gadling has a biological heir…

“Excuse you to do what?” Robyn was frowning up at him in confusion, still holding his wrist.

“Robyn,” Robert said. “I think Morpheus might have to be somewhere else now.”

Were the voices getting closer? Or was he just getting too anxious?

“I… was thinking of showing you and your father around the gardens, Sir Robyn,” Morpheus said to the boy.

Robyn gasped in delight and tightened his grip excitedly. “Really?”

“Yes.” Morpheus looked at Robert. “If I may.”

Robert looked surprised but he smiled. “Of course. We’d be happy to walk around.”

Morpheus used his uninjured hand to grip Robyn’s wrist and pull him deeper into the gardens, away from the Magus.

***

Hob watched Robyn pull free from Morpheus’ hold to run ahead of them, slowing to a stop to peer at a butterfly that had landed on a patch of flowers.

Morpheus, despite having initiated the stroll, seemed a bit tense. He walked stiffly beside Hob, his eyes darting from time to time to the direction they came from.

“Is everything all right?” Hob asked. “If you need to get back to your work now, you don’t have to accompany us. I’ll take Robyn back to the party.”

“No,” Morpheus quickly said. “Sir.” He looked over his shoulder again.

“What’s wrong?” Hob frowned in concern. “Are we… hiding from someone?” He recalled the voices he heard shortly before Morpheus declared wanting to show them the gardens.

Morpheus looked at him, then turned his gaze straight ahead as they continued walking. He seemed to be finding the right words. “Lord Burgess… is not fond of children, sir. I heard his voice among that group. I did not want Sir Robyn to be subjected to his sour mood.”

Hob’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. Not about Roderick Burgess being a grumpy old man who disliked children, he would have expected as much. But he didn’t expect Morpheus to consider Robyn’s experience at the party.

“Thank you,” Hob said sincerely. “For making sure Robyn is comfortable. Especially since you should be taking your break now instead of accompanying us.”

“It’s no trouble, sir,” Morpheus said quietly, still staring straight ahead as they continued to follow Robyn who was now running in a zigzag pattern around the flowerbeds.

Hob wondered why Morpheus still seemed tense even as they walked away further from the party. Maybe he was often like that in Lord Burgess’ house? Hob wouldn’t be surprised if all the servants were always on-guard for that nobleman. But then Paul seemed far more relaxed earlier than Morpheus now.

“Paul and Alex are lucky,” Hob tried to lighten the mood. “That they have you to watch over them.”

Morpheus looked at him, as if not expecting him to acknowledge it at all. “They are young, and deserve to be happy,” he said in his quiet voice.

Hob smiled. Morpheus seemed aloof for the most part, but he evidently cared deeply for people. Hob remembered the raven pendant that he saw that night on the balcony, and his gaze lowered to Morpheus’ chest where the necklace had been. There was no trace of it now, save for a glimpse of a thin metal chain near his neck. It looked like Morpheus usually hid the necklace under his shirt.

There was the sound of a snapping branch, a flash of alarm on Morpheus’ face, and a surprised cry from ahead of them.

Before Hob could react to the sight of his son falling off a tree, Morpheus dashed from his side and lunged, catching Robyn just in time.

The momentum made them both fall over, Morpheus landing on his back with a grunt and Robyn on top of him.

Hob quickly rushed over. “Are you two all right?” He held out a hand to help his son stand up.

Robyn scrambled to his feet with Hob’s help, and immediately turned to face Morpheus who had now sat up on the grass. “That was amazing! You’re so fast and strong!” he was practically beaming.

Morpheus looked up at Robyn, and Hob could swear that the hint of a smile was forming on his lips. “You must be cautious, Sir Robyn. You could have been hurt.”

Robyn wrinkles his nose. “Why do you keep calling me that? I’m not old!”

There was almost a fondness now on Morpheus’ face. “You are the son of Sir Gadling.”

“You didn’t call Mister Alex ‘sir’ even when he’s the son of Lord Burgess!” Robyn said stubbornly. “Is it because he’s your friend?”

Morpheus nodded. “He is.”

“Can we be friends? Then you can call me Robyn!” The boy grinned triumphantly as if he had just solved a particularly difficult riddle.

Hob chuckled. “I’m afraid this is a battle you can’t win, Morpheus.” He held out a hand to help him stand up.

Morpheus hesitated a moment before accepting it and pulling himself up. The man had more weight to him than Hob would have expected, and his grip was strong before he let go of Hob’s hand.

“Oh no!” Robyn gasped, looking at Morpheus’ other hand. “I told you to put a bandage on it!”

Morpheus lifted his left hand; the cut had reopened and was beginning to bleed again. “I must have landed on some roots when I fell,” he had a frown that looked more curious than pained.

“Is it my fault?” Robyn’s eyes were filling with tears.

“No,” Morpheus said immediately before Hob could say anything. “Not at all. Robyn.” He smiled, then. A small thing, but real and soft.

Robyn still looked tearful, but he managed to return the smile.

“Let’s sit over there and have a look at that wound,” Hob gestured to a large flower bed forming a low stone wall around some plants.

Morpheus looked like he was about to protest, but Robyn grabbed the wrist of his uninjured hand and tugged him towards the flower bed.

“Come on! We're friends now, right? That means you have to let us help!” Robyn looked up hopefully at Morpheus, who relented and let himself be pulled along.

Robyn didn’t let go of Morpheus even as they sat down on the edge of the flower bed.

“The cut isn’t too deep and fortunately you won’t need stitches,” Hob said, taking a small pouch from his coat pocket. “Why didn’t you bandage it before?” He doubted that Morpheus didn’t have the knowledge or resources for it.

Morpheus furrowed his eyebrows as Hob took out the contents of the pouch. “Do you carry a medicinal pouch with you all the time, Sir Gadling?”

“I’ve had to since I realised my son has a penchant for running around outdoors,” Hob chuckled.

“Mister Morpheus, my father asked you a question,” Robyn gently tapped Morpheus’ arm. “It’s okay if you didn’t hear it! Would you like me to repeat it?”

Morpheus looked at Robyn with a curious gaze, and Hob was about to tell his son that it was alright if people didn’t want to answer questions sometimes. Morpheus seemed like a man who valued his privacy even with the littlest of things.

Then Morpheus looked down at the cut on his hand and spoke quietly. “Lord Burgess would have questioned the injury if he had seen a bandage. I felt… embarrassed. To admit the cause of it. As it is a failure on my part. And Lord Burgess would not like to know that his trusted servant carelessly broke a cup.”

Robyn looked heartbroken and angry, and Hob spoke before the boy could say some choice words about Lord Burgess. “You’re not needed by his side for the entire party, right? Perhaps we can bandage it for now and you can just remove it later when you have to go see him.” Hob knew that that was the best compromise they could achieve.

Morpheus was quiet for a moment and nodded wordlessly, holding his injured palm out.

Hob began disinfecting the wound with the liquid from the small clear bottle, hoping to himself that Morpheus wouldn’t remove the bandage as soon as he and Robyn were out of sight.

“I’m sorry…” Silent tears were rolling down Robyn’s cheeks. “I shouldn’t have climbed the tree.”

“It’s not your fault.” Morpheus gently freed his wrist from Robyn’s hold so he could wipe away the boy’s tears with his hand. “I was much like you when I was your age, you know?” he smiled softly.

Hob normally attended to Robyn whenever he cried, but right now he felt like he should keep silent as his son finally seemed to be achieving his goal of befriending the “shy, scared man”, as Robyn had referred to Morpheus that morning at breakfast.

“Really?” Robyn sniffled.

Morpheus nodded, seeming not to feel any sting at all as Hob finished disinfecting the cut on his hand and began wrapping it with a bandage. “I liked running and climbing trees, too. I even had my fair share of falling off them.”

“Did you have someone to make you feel better after, too?”

Morpheus’ smile faltered for a moment, and Hob remembered the raven pendant again. The friend Morpheus lost. “I did. So you mustn't blame yourself. I caught you because I did not want you hurt. That is all.”

Robyn nodded, wiping away the last of his tears. “Do you still climb trees now?” he asked curiously. 

“Not as much. I’ve had to stop since…” Morpheus trailed off, looking as if he hadn’t meant to say that.

“Since…?” Robyn pressed, eyes wide with encouragement.

Morpheus took a moment before answering. “Lord Burgess does not like seeing us climb trees.”

“He doesn’t like so many things!” Robyn complained. “You’re big now! You’re not small like me! You should be allowed to climb trees whenever you want!”

Hob suddenly remembered that Morpheus was taken as a servant when he was a child. And what Morpheus said just a few minutes earlier…

“Lord Burgess… is not fond of children, sir.”

The pieces seemed to click into place in Hob’s mind. Morpheus said himself that he was as playful as Robyn when he was a child, but had to be less so because Lord Burgess didn’t like it.

Was Morpheus just as friendly and outgoing as Robyn back then? What could have happened to make him how he was now? How did Burgess treat him as a child for him to be concerned enough to lead Robyn away from the old man as fast as possible?

No good answers came to Hob’s mind and he willed himself to remain calm. Bursts of anger were understandable from someone of Robyn’s age, less so from a grown man.

“You’re allowed to climb trees, are you not?” Morpheus told Robyn as Hob finished wrapping the bandage. “With enough practice, you will master it and not have to worry about falling any longer.”

“I wish you can practise more too,” Robyn pouted. “Why is Lord Burgess so mean!”

“He lost a son, shortly before I came into this house,” Morpheus said quietly. “Randall. It’s his birthday today, that is why we have this party now. He died young, and Lord Burgess must have loved him so. Losing a loved one can make people angry and bitter.”

There was a quiet weight to those words, and Hob couldn’t help but wonder just how long ago Morpheus’ friend had died.

“No!” Robyn looked even more exasperated now. “My mother died of sickness when I was four summers old. My father and I loved her very much, but we didn’t turn mean!”

Morpheus glanced at Hob at the sudden reveal of information, and Hob gave him a reassuring smile that it was alright for him to know. It was four years ago, and while it still hurt, he no longer felt like a broken man.

“Father said we grieve because we love her. And love shouldn’t make you hurt other people!” Robyn had grown so impassioned in his speech that he had now tightly laced his fingers through Morpheus’, his small tan hand a contrast to the larger and paler one.

Morpheus gave a small smile, though Hob could see sadness in his eyes. “You are very wise, Robyn. And… so is your father.” He glanced at Hob, his smile becoming more polite. “Thank you for this, Sir Gadling,” he held up his bandaged hand.

“It’s the least I could do for you reacting much faster than I did when my son fell,” Hob smiled back.

“When I grow up, I wanna be as fast and strong as you, Mister Morpheus!” Robyn grinned, holding up their intertwined fingers and moving them back and forth excitedly.

“Why are you calling me that?” Morpheus asked Robyn, his head slightly tilted to the side. “We are friends now, are we not? Call me Morpheus,” he smiled.

Robyn gasped and dropped Morpheus’ hand.

Then he threw his arms around Morpheus’ shoulders, holding him in a tight embrace.

Morpheus made a surprised grunt and nearly fell backwards into the flower bed before regaining his balance. He looked at Hob with wide eyes, his hands awkwardly held up to the sides.

Hob laughed, feeling a warmth in his chest at how happy his son was, and how Morpheus had grown much more comfortable around them. “It’s only polite to hug your friends back, Morpheus,” he said to answer the man’s uncertainty.

Morpheus relaxed and tentatively put his uninjured hand on Robyn’s back. Then he met Hob’s eyes, his smile more sincere now than polite. “I am glad you came to this party. Sir Gadling.”

My friends call me Hob, Hob wanted to say. But he held himself back and just smiled and nodded.

———

<- (Chapter 3)

(Chapter 5) ->

(Dreamling Bingo Masterpost)

(Masterlist)

[orionsangel86]

Who do you think is better suited for dating Morpheus: Johanna or Hob?

Lol controversial ask! Jokes. I am guessing this came off the back of my response to the Calliope post the other week where I mentioned that I am loosely a Dreamling shipper but lean more towards Morphanna currently. I guess I need to specify that it very much depends on my mood because I am a Sandman multishipper at heart but feel different ships serve different purposes regarding Dream. I struggle to stretch them beyond the purposes I have set aside for them. Also it's Dreamling week and so one look at my blog would definitely give the assumption that I am a huge Dreamling shipper but that isn't actually the case. What I am is a Morpheus stan and everything else is peripheral to my focus on him and his story.

But sure lets dig into this. Honest answer? Neither because Morpheus is terrible and his track record alone is enough proof that he should never date anyone ever.

(jokes)

If we want to be sticklers for comic canon here, neither is suited because there are particular blockers in place for both ships.

For Morphanna the blocker is the rule that states that an Endless can not love a mortal. We have the Nada situation to show us what happens when they do. (Sun gets big mad and throws fireballs at the Earth)

For Dreamling the blocker is less carved into stone but its still gonna be a biggy for certain readers/audiences, being that Morpheus is not gay/bi/pan/queer whatever you wanna call him. For all intents and purposes in comic canon he's as straight as a ruler. However whilst we only ever see Morpheus's lovers as powerful, confident, beautiful female presenting immortal beings, we can throw in the tried and true argument we can apply to all of Neil Gaiman's non human beings which is that since he is not a human cis male, he technically can't be straight and since he has multiple forms and is as old as the universe itself, attraction is probably a very different thing to Morpheus than it is to any of us. It's entirely plausible that he could fall in love with a man shaped being (I actually have a meta in progress about Morpheus' potential queerness - sure it may ruffle some feathers but since I do this for fun and not to please anyone but myself I don't give a damn and will post it one day).

Anyway, that said the show could easily do away with both these blockers. We haven't had Nada's tale yet so whats to say the Endless are forbidden from loving mortals in the show universe? Nothing. The show could also easily confirm Dream has had past male presenting lovers (my money would be on Oberon in a threeway situation with Titania - or Pharamond if he shows up.)

So putting those elements aside, who is better suited to Morpheus?

In Johanna's corner we have the following;

She generally fits the archetype of past lovers and therefore could be considered Morpheus's "type" - beautiful, confident, argumentative, not phased by his status, not submissive to him, puts him in his place (listen we all know Morpheus has a submissive kink its practically carved into comic text lol).

Well versed with his "world" and supernatural creatures and can hold her own against them - being a Constantine has its benefits.

She cares - underneath her tough exterior its clear she has a good heart. She was able to bring him down to Earth, to give a human perspective that he needed at that point.

Flawed characters - Johanna considers herself a bad person and compares herself to Roderick Burgess. But Dream is quick to dismiss this. The truth is that Johanna may be messy and a bit of a disaster, but she is very selfless and good at her core. This could be a good thing as it could help Dream to see the good in humanity that he has been missing. Its clear she already helped with this in the show, but going forward, a relationship between them could help even further accelerate his change and make him a better being.

She encouraged the development of his relationship with Matthew. Something else he needed which she saw before he did. Basically she's smart enough to figure out what he needs, and when to press the issue or not. (she dropped the topic of his imprisonment as soon as he deflected to her photo).

She understands heartbreak and messy relationships - I think Johanna would be well suited to Morpheus because she is just as broken as he is, with almost as messy a relationship history. They have common ground there.

"It never ends well does it?" "What? Love?" She's realistic about relationships, which Morpheus - being Dream - needs. She can ground him, at least for a little while.

Johanna is also a powerful ally to have on side, it makes for excellent storytelling to bring her into the narrative regarding Lucifer and the stories revolving around Hell. She's competent, highly skilled, and I think he finds her impressive.

For Hob consider the following:

Friends first - for someone with such a terrible track record of past lovers, finding love in a friend is something Morpheus doesn't appear to have tried before, and this could be exactly what he needs. Dream and Hob have a shared history over 6 centuries, and those are strong foundations to build a relationship on, especially since they've already basically been through the big break up fight and heartbreak and are already in the rekindling phase.

Stories for the storyteller - the beauty of Hob's role is that he is Dream's respite from his world. The visits with Hob are the one time the Prince of Stories gets to sit and listen to stories himself. There must be peace in that, and we all know Dream desperately seeks peace.

Blind Devotion - Hob is patient, and he will wait for Dream. One thing that I think a lot of Morpheus's past lovers had in common is that they struggled to stick out the periods of time when he would throw himself into his work and basically forget about them. The relationships fizzled out after the honeymoon phase because Dream couldn't sustain that, even though once you have his love you have it forever. With Hob that wouldn't be an issue. He is the man who waited. Who never gave up hope that Dream would return even after he was stood up, and when he did return, Hob smiled and joked. It was all okay. Morpheus needs a relationship with that level of chill.

Flawed characters - Unlike Johanna, I think its safe to say that Hob is a very flawed character. He is selfish, greedy, self centered and ignorant to a lot of what takes place around him. Whilst he does grow and improve over time, his flaws are still a huge part of his character. Morpheus is also very far from perfect and it is this that makes them so well suited. There is almost an equal footing there. Hob could potentially see Morpheus's POV when it comes to the grander schemes, but at the same time, it is clear from their journey together in the show that they have a tendency to make each other better.

Grieving fathers - now this is an important one and its something I feel the comic failed to see the potential of. A huge part of the Sandman story is Morpheus struggling to come to terms with his grief over his son. Grief is a central theme. Of all the characters in the comic who Morpheus comes to meet, Hob is one of maybe two that share that experience - being a father whose son died too soon. I think the other character in comic who suffers this same grief is Shakespeare, which is an interesting parallel and one worth exploring. The show adds Roderick Burgess into the equation - making a fathers grief for his dead son the trigger for Dream's own imprisonment. The show emphasises the theme of grief far beyond the comic, which is definitely worth further exploration in a separate meta. The point is that Hob sits in this very small circle of characters who have shared Dream's experience. Hob is therefore in a prime position to help Dream where they can grow and learn to heal together.

Whilst he doesn't fit the archetype for Dream's past lovers, the differences Hob provides could prove to be just what Dream needs. He is still a handsome man (and God knows Dream gave him bedroom eyes in 1789) and he still ticks certain boxes regarding dominance, confidence, and an ability to hold his own in a fight. "You need not have come to my defence" suuuuure Dream but you did enjoy it nevertheless! Therefore attraction isn't an issue.

Conclusion?

Both Johanna and Hob tick certain boxes to meet the requirements for "love interest" and could easily be positioned that way for Dream. When I really dig down into it I think it depends on what fans are looking for in a Dream ship as to which character is best suited.

I love Morphanna for how messy it is. Yes, Johanna cares and has a good moral centre, but placing her into a certain role within the bounds of the canon story could actually be bad for Dream going forward. I see it as a dramatic relationship. It would be passionate, fiery, dramatic, chaotic, and will end in heartbreak.

I say this because ultimately Johanna doesn't do commitment. This is a clearly defined character trait in the show. Commitment is something she struggles with. Whereas Morpheus is all about commitment. He doesn't appear to do anything BUT commit to people and comes on extremely strong. I love exploring this dynamic between them. I think it would work brilliantly as a canon ship and I am still resolutely behind the idea that Johanna should replace Thessaly in canon and be the trigger for the rainsoaked Dreaming and the Brief Lives disaster trip.

So whilst I 100% ship Morphanna, I think I only ship it on a temporary basis. I struggle to imagine a future where they can have a happy ending and be together long term. Instead I see an ending where after all is said and done, Johanna stands and tells her story at the Wake, and mourns the creature she loved, and has to go on struggling to understand her role in his downfall. If we are seeking an alternative ending where Morpheus lives, I still struggle to see him settling down with Johanna as she is a mortal and I cannot imagine her ever choosing immortality or giving up her job as someone who saves people from the supernatural. She will never be Morpheus's queen. It just doesn't suit her character.

When it comes to Hob, as much as it sometimes irks me to admit it, he is very well suited for Morpheus even in an endgame/alternative happy ending way. Foundations based in centuries of growing friendship, his patience and ability to wait for Morpheus to get his head out of his ass, his being unphased at practically all the weirdness and oddities that Dream's world brings with it. The fact is, Hob is Dream's best friend. This is something that Dream needs so much more than a lover. Not only that but he is a friend who has shared history, shared grief, shared pain, blind devotion, and he is immortal. Hob will stay by Dream's side forever if he has the chance. So long as he still gets to live. Whether you see it as purely platonic, queer platonic, non sexual romantic, or fully romantic and sexual, they are in it for the long term.

Whereas Morphanna for me is a quick burning fiery passionate love affair that ends in tears and A LOT of rain, Dreamling is a very slow burn. I struggle with canon based fics that have them falling into bed shortly after the 2022 reunion because it feels out of character to me. If Dreamling were to happen, it would need to take practically the entire comic run story to get to that point. Hob's devotion to Dream is clear, but his awareness of its romantic potential is not yet there. I always return to Hob's dream in Sunday Mourning when I think of Dreamling, because for me, that is where a relationship between them would actually start, rather than end. Because I think it would take a huge event like Morpheus's actual death for them to pull their heads out of their asses and get together. Because you see even with all the arguments and debates and highly emotional opinions thrown around, I still feel deep down like Sunday Mourning is telling us that Morpheus escaped. He got out the narrative and is free from his cage, and now he's set for his own adventure off in the stars. The only person I can realistically imagine him taking with him is Hob Gadling.

At the end of the day these are my opinions. I want canon Morphanna, I just want it to end with a horrible messy break up because I want that drama. I am unsure if I want Dreamling in canon, but I do hope that if the show ends similarly to the comic, that we will get those scenes in Sunday Mourning and have them be extremely emotionally charged - if ever there is a Dreamling love confession, that is where it belongs. I can only really analyse my opinions on these ships based on canon but I am aware that fandom is a big sandbox and people can do what they want always with these characters. Please don't ever let my opinions deter you from shipping them to your hearts content in any way you feel like.

So I guess the TL:DR is that they are both suited in different ways. Morphanna is a mid story passionate love affair that I adore and want to end in disaster. Dreamling is an endgame slow burn friends to lovers that has the potential to go long term.

I love them both for their specific purposes, believe they both are suited for those purposes, but never the other way around. I hope this satisfies your question! :)

[eirinstiva]

C'est la vie~

What ho! Jeeves and Wooster are back from France!

Amazing how one’s always running across fellows in foreign cities⁠—birds, I mean, whom you haven’t seen for ages and would have betted weren’t anywhere in the neighbourhood.

Bertie and his friends go to the same cities. A good idea would be to visit the countryside.

Did Jeeves sense something in Old Biffy that he didn't like it? Does Jeeves own a problem detection system? Maybe, because Charles Edward Biffen is... just like many of Bertie's friends:

“What do you mean, lost?” “I came out for a walk and suddenly discovered after a mile or two that I didn’t know where on earth I was. I’ve been wandering round in circles for hours.” “Why didn’t you ask the way?” “I can’t speak a word of French.” “Well, why didn’t you call a taxi?” “I suddenly discovered I’d left all my money at my hotel.” “You could have taken a cab and paid it when you got to the hotel.” “Yes, but suddenly I discovered, dash it, that I’d forgotten its name.”

The fact that compared to him Bertie is a lot smarter Biffy is says a lot about him.

“What on earth are you doing in Paris?” I asked. “Bertie, old man,” said Biffy, solemnly, “I came here to try and forget.” “Well, you’ve certainly succeeded.”

Another case of broken heart? And I thought we will free of love affairs after Bingo's wedding. I think I'll need a coffee too to deal with this case.

How can somebody forget too many things in one day? How can Biffy forget the surname of his love? How can...? Whatever, Bertie needs somebody at his side and it's not Biffy.

Which, after I had listened to his story, struck me as pretty low-down. However, the longer you live, the more you realize that the good old sporting spirit of give-and-take has practically died out in our midst. So I boosted him into a cab and went off to lunch.

Wait a minute.

Biffy got engaged to Honoria Glossop? THE Honoria Glossop? The smart and athletic Bertie's ex-fiancée? No way!!! I understand how Wooster feels relief and pity at the same time, he got free from Honoria but now Biffy is engaged to her. Maybe you don't like Honoria but she seems to be an interesting woman.

“And it sort of happened with me. You know how it is when your heart’s broken. A kind of lethargy comes over you. You get absentminded and cease to exercise proper precautions, and the first thing you know you’re for it. I don’t know how it happened, old man, but there it is. And what I want you to tell me is, what’s the procedure?”

Biffy is still heartbroken and in the claws of Honoria, but as always, Bertie helps a friend in distress. He's the one who has Jeeves as a valet. "(...) when there is a chance of helping a pal we Woosters have no thought of self."

I don't know why Jeeves doesn't want to help Biffy, but at least Bertie has experience dealing with Sir Roderick. Will his plan work? Wait until the next letter. Pip pip!

[neopoliitan]

TEAM RAIN: ARC 4 CH5 - INTO THE FRAY

A WRITE UP FOR THE REST OF TEAM RAIN: CHAPTER 5

At Zenith, we cut to Roderick Lincoln’s seemingly lifeless body on the floor of the cell - following his beatdown at the mechanical hands of Sterling Braith. Fellow Lincoln Clan prisoner, Primrose, takes his pulse while the young bear faunus Fennel, stands next to her. He asks if Roderick is dead, and Primrose looks down.

Oak Holm remarks that two Lord Lincolns are dead in a matter of months, that it’s hopeless. Loden Lincoln asks if they should call a Braith to deal with the body, which Crete berates him for - their hopes lie with Artemis now, if she pulls through.

Primrose quickly exclaims, and we cut back to Roderick. His body is now covered in ruddy red aura, which quickly turns to a bright light that fills the room as the Lincolns shield their eyes. Once the light fades, they look back at Roderick, who lies still for a second - then stirs and wakes up.

As Roderick looks at his hands in shock, Primrose tells him they thought he was dead. He replies “I think I was - looks like I got better.”

Fennel feels his cheek, where he was bruised by one of the Braiths at some point, and notes that Roderick didn’t just heal himself - he healed them all. Loden is incredulous; not only did Roderick heal himself from death, but everyone else in the room is healthy again too.

A voice calls to Roderick from offscreen, and we see Artemis sitting up - finally awake. She asks what she missed.

Note: This scene introduces Roderick’s semblance, following his aura being awakened in Arc 3 Chapter 5. His semblance is named “Revival” - his aura is only active at the exact moment of death and revives him in a burst of light, healing anyone caught in its area of effect at the time.

–

Team RAIN prepares to leave for Zenith with Raleigh Radcliff. There’s a fairly ceremonious farewell scene.

Akane and Nanako end a call from Makkuro Sekinetsu, the huntress who trained them. Makkuro ensures their siblings are safe at a lodge. 

Jin is leaving with RAIN - Isambard and Petra assure her they’ll be fine. Peach says her team will look after Jin’s, but is sad they’re parting ways when they just met after so many years. Jin affirms that she’ll be back.

Irving hugs his mother, and his father repeats that he’s proud of him - and if he dies in Zenith, he’ll sue the pants off the Braiths.

Robin tells Maylis that Marron’s family and Irving’s brother are going to look after her. Maylis asks if Robin is actually going to come back. Robin is unable to lie and confirm, knowing how dangerous the Braiths are, so instead she tells her she’ll do her best - and if she does, she’ll come back with the “best present ever” (This refers to Roderick, Maylis’ father).

Lilli asks Robin how she can help from Mistral, and Robin tells her that as the oldest Lincoln left, she needs to take charge as representative of the Clan. Lilli sarcastically retorts that they’ve been doing a great job so far, so Robin relents and tells her to ace her entry exam for Combat School. Lilli grins “Kick some ass? Now that’s something I can do.”

Akane and Nanako head to the ship, but Nanako lingers for a moment. Akane calls to her, and Nanako sighs - she’s not coming. She tells Akane that she wants to, but she looks at the people staying behind and knows that’s where she needs to be - not just because she’s the leader of Team NPIR, but because she can feel it in her heart. Something in her wants to prove she can protect her friends and family more than it wants to hunt down the Braiths.

Akane clutches her sister’s arm and tells her it’s fine - she’d be happier if Nanako stayed. She almost lost her once (Arc 3 Chapter 8-9), she’d prefer not to inflict the danger of Zenith on her again. Nanako removes her scarf and gives it to Akane, telling her to keep warm, then unties her hair and instructs her sister to give the hair-tie to Marina. Akane assures her they’ll only be gone a few days and she doesn’t need to give away her belongings, but Nanako tells her it’s a gesture so that Akane knows she’ll always have her back.

Nanako smiles, and tells Akane she’ll make her proud. Akane, never the hugging sort, embraces her sister and tells her she already has.

–

We see Raleigh’s ship flying through the air. Snow in the sky tells us that they’ve made it to Solitas. 

An establishing shot of a small, industrial settlement built around a giant electric dust crystal is underlined with the title “FARADAY.”

Raleigh looks over his shoulder from the cockpit and tells them they’ve arrived at the nearest settlement to Zenith (he got a rough location from Mason of the Crazy Bunch), but there are readings of Grimm activity all over the place. He tells them to hop out of the ship and make a start on the Grimm - he’ll catch up, but “parking is a nightmare.”

Team RAIN and the newly formed “Team PALM” (Jin-Shi Pan, Marron Armona, Wil Lincoln, Marina Lincoln), leap out of the ship and employ their landing strategies.

There would be a page or two of both teams showing off their skills by killing Grimm - Wil would swing wide, then pull his sword in close for Jin to vault over his back and kick a Grimm. Marina and Marron would fire back to back, then we’d run backwards through the members of RAIN, starting with Nyssa and ending on Robin, each doing something cool.

Irving finishes a Grimm off, then rounds a street corner - where he’s met with the sight of Tahlia Braith commanding drones to kill Grimm around her, barely moving from where she stands. The two lock eyes, then realisation sets in and Tahlia mumbles “oh sugar,” censoring her own swear.

–

We see Raleigh’s ship fly overhead, his emblem clearly emblazoned on its sides as a silhouetted figure watches on. We quickly learn this figure is Otso Umber, kitted out with two fresh prosthetic eyes. Enraged by the sight of his teammate-turned-mortal-enemy, he roars and begins to charge after it.

That is, until someone tackles him from the side and both sail through the front window of a butcher’s shop.

When Otso comes too after a few moments, he’s pinned to the ground face-down. Gardner Braith has a foot on his back and is restraining him. Gardner’s cleaver now has a cable hanging from the base which ends with a meat hook. He uses the cable to try to strangle Otso and commands him to give up, but Otso pushes the man off of him and flees in the direction of a meat locker, firing his shotgun to prevent Gardner giving chase.

Shrugging off the gunfire, Gardner stands up, heads for the meat locker and remarks that “they always have to take the difficult option.”

–

Otso stumbles through the meat locker as Gardner again appeals to him to give up and die quickly, lest he suffer more if he drags this out. Otso retorts he won’t make Gardner’s life easy.

Gardner tells him that if Otso resists, Kamala will likely go after his family - but Otso is unconvinced; Kamala will kill them anyway… Gardner best hope Otso doesn’t get to the Braiths first as he could “snap little Tahlia’s neck like a dry twig.”

Gardner charges, angered, but Otso dodges and finds his back up against the exit door. Charging it open, he turns and uses his newfound sight to inflict his semblance (the ability to cause pain through eye contact) on Gardner, causing the man to fall to one knee as he suffers.

When Gardner recovers, Otso is gone, leaving him in an empty street.

–

Raleigh, now having parked his ship, begins to cut through Grimm with his dual hatchets. Before he can take a breath, a shot hits his ship and startles him. His name is yelled from offscreen, and Otso makes himself known. 

Raleigh: “Well, look what the cat dragged in. About time you showed up. We’re well overdue for a few rounds in the ring, aren’t we? ”

The duo begin to pace around one another, slinging insults and incidents from their shared past at one another.

Raleigh: “You’re looking rough, old friend. Is it the eyes, or the fact you’ve been bulking on Grimm?”

Otso: “Don’t act like you’re any better than me. Walking out on your wife the second you laid eyes on a younger model. Maybe I’ll seek out young Cordovan when we’re done here. See how reacts once I’ve killed his father.”

Raleigh: “You leave my boy outta this.”

Otso: “That’s rich coming from the man who keeps tabs on my granddaughter. You roped family into this before I did.”

Raleigh prepares a charge.

Raleigh: “I think we’ve had enough chatter -- just follow my voice if your eyes aren’t up to it. Let’s get this over with.”

Otso prepares a charge.

Otso: “My goddamn pleasure.”

The duo leap at each other.