#(adding that bc Mal's here too)

[lymtw]

hello Mal!!! i have a nsfw req for toji x shy reader cuz they’re my fav and i literally think about it 24/7.

shy reader who’s not as vocal during sex with toji bc she gets nervous :( so he edges her til she squirts for the first time but only if she uses her voice!!!

A/N: Hello, hello! Thank you for reading and for sending this request in ☺️💙

Toji and His Shy Girl

"What are you doing down there?" Toji asks, finally giving in to the distraction of you sitting at his feet, rather than sitting next to him.

"I'm watching the movie," you respond, with an innocent amount of truthfulness. You don't turn around to look at him, so you're met with a poke to your shoulder. That instinctively makes you turn your head in the direction of the contact.

"The couch is too big. Even for me, doll. Come sit." He pats the spot next to him and shifts where he sits, as if making even more room for you.

Your eyes flit between him and the cushion for a couple seconds before you respond. "I'm okay staying here. I don't wanna make you uncomfortable." You smile, kindly, and turn back to face the screen again.

Toji's brows furrow in misunderstanding. He taps your shoulder again, receiving the same look when you turn, again. You tilt your head in question.

"You wouldn't be making me uncomfortable. Far from it, with the enormous gap of space that would be between us. What if I wanted you to sit between my legs, instead?" He catches the way your eyes widen for a split second, your inhibition cleared for the short span of time. "Come sit, baby," he repeats, this time patting the unoccupied space of the cushion he's sitting on.

You don't want to make him wait any longer. The movie is still playing, you'll both lose track of the plot if you take any longer. You stand from your place on the ground and move to sit next to him. As soon as you bend down to sit, his hands go to your hips and he pulls you so that you fall into the place he wanted you in.

"There you go. Now pay attention to the movie."

–

You try for him. You're trying so hard to ignore the pressure of his forearms around your waist, and the warmth of his wrists against the sliver of skin revealed by your slightly lifted shirt. You can occasionally hear him sigh through his nose, only further adding on to the tension you feel upon sitting between his legs. You don't even know how he's watching the movie. You feel like you're obstructing his vision.

The movie ends and you're left staring at the title screen.

"Okay, movie's over. You probably want me off-"

"No." His arms fasten even more around you. "I'm comfortable. Are you not?"

"N-No, I am. It's just... I wasn't sure if you wanted to keep me here for a whole other movie."

"I could keep you here longer than that, doll." He straightens his posture and readjusts your position, so that he's not slouching and you're not leaning back uncomfortably. He can feel the tension surface on your body as you go rigid in his hold. He can't help but let out a small laugh at how this detail never ceases with you. "Relax, baby. What's got you so nervous?" He rests his chin on your shoulder and turns to get a better look at your face. "Hm?" He plants a chaste kiss to your temple.

"Nothing, I guess. We're just watching movies," you say, more as a reminder for yourself.

"Mhm. Watching movies... on the verge of cuddling..." he mumbles, into your neck. "Nothing to be nervous about."

His hands splay over your lower abdomen and you think he might be caressing your skin so sensually to mess with you after having said all those things to comfort you, but he's not relenting on the joke. He's kissing your shoulder, aiming to relieve you of some of your anxiety so that your body can melt into comfort. It has some effect on you, your nerves being mixed with something hot, now.

"We can do more than cuddling, if you want," he hums, grinning at the way you shudder. "You know, i've been dying to hear that pretty voice of yours."

"What?" you say, laughing nervously, like you misheard him.

"You've got a really nice voice, baby. I swear, I could listen to you talk, endlessly. Wish you would use it when I take you to bed. You don't make a peep, doll."

You go silent. Not because you're upset with him, or because what he said isn't true, but because you can't think of how to respond to that. You didn't think he was monitoring the sounds you make. He never said anything about it before. You figured maybe he preferred the silence.

"It's embarrassing..." you finally mumble, quickly turning around to right what may have come out wrong. "F-For me! Just me. You're fine to make all the sound you want. It's... it's just me." You turn back around to hide the flush of embarrassment on your cheeks.

"Why is it embarrassing? Am I not making you feel good enough?"

You can't let him feel that way.

"No, Toji- That's not- No, no, no. That's not the case, at all." You unwind his arms from your torso and turn to face him. You fully sit on his lap, and though the eye contact that comes after you wrap your legs around him was like having three cups of coffee on an empty stomach for your heart, you summed up the courage because it's not fair to let him think that way when it's the exact opposite. "I just..." you let out a small sigh. "I don't wanna be loud. I don't want you to hear me. God... I can barely even look at you when we... you know." You look down at where your hands absentmindedly rested on his stomach. "Sorry."

He's just smiling at you because he finds your entire existence beside him to be endearing. His hands go to yours. "I get to stare at your pretty face the entire time." He grins, watching the way your cheeks burn and how you try to distract yourself from his gaze by fidgeting with his hands. "You always look so good, ma. Bet you sound just as pretty."

There was so much tension in the silence that followed. He started playing with your hands. He would interlock his fingers with yours before slowly detangling your hands and repeating the process, flipping your hands this time. He got to feel the smoothness of your unpainted nails on the pads of his fingers, and he traced the lines etched into your palms.

Things got out of hand. One minute you were holding hands and laughing to yourselves with thoughts of how silly yet necessary the moment was, the next you were both undressing, and kissing like you missed each other terribly. He has his hands on your hips, guiding you up and down his cock while you hide your face in the crook of his neck. He's groaning and panting at the feeling of your velvety walls hugging him so tightly, and you just release little breaths into his neck, occasionally gasping when he hits a sensitive spot, as per usual.

"Baby," he pants, "let me hear you. Give me those pretty sounds."

"G-Gonna cum," you whisper, your breath becoming heavier with every upwards thrust of his hips.

"Not if you don't let me hear you."

He can feel you clenching around him more frequently. It's a telltale sign of your orgasm rolling in, so he immediately stops. Both of you are unsatisfied, but Toji can handle it for as long as it takes you to make a sound that isn't just your breathing. He can tell you want to, too, with the occasional squeaks that leave you.

"I-I was gonna-"

"And I meant what I said." He's just as edged and frustrated as you are. Despite not getting the sounds he wants from you so easily, you're still make him feel really good. Your touch, the skin-to-skin of you clinging onto him—it's enough to bring him towards the edge as well, and it takes every ounce of restraint for him to stop. He squeezes your waist when he sees the look of helpless desperation on your face. "You know I have all the patience when it comes to you, doll. We can do this all night. I just wanna know—audibly—that I'm making you feel as good as you say I am. Alright?"

You sigh, but nod in understanding.

"Good. Let's try that again."

Despite your gesture of comprehension, you're doing the same thing all over again. You're feeling good, you're comfortable and Toji sounds immensely hot as he continues to drive you up and down his length. Your arms are wrapped around his neck, your face once again buried into the crook of it. All that can be heard from you is your breathing, the warm air fanning over his already heated skin.

"Doll," he calls, feeling the way you mouth at his shoulder and neck.

"Please, just a little longer. Please," you murmur, feeling that spike in pleasure return again.

"Doll, you're not..." he groans. He knows he has to stop or you'll get what you want, and what he wants will be pushed aside. "You're not letting me hear your pretty voice."

"Please, please, please, Toji. I-I'm right there..."

"Uh-uh." With heavy hands weighing down your hips like cinder blocks, you're once again denied of that weakening force of pleasure.

"T-Toji," you utter, weakly. You drag your face down to his chest, and allow all the heavy breaths of the forceful stop to come out. Your cunt is throbbing, viciously. You're aching for more of him.

The man who usually caved to your every want and put your needs before everything, was suddenly being incredibly selfish with your pleasure, stopping every time you say you're close. You think you can find a way around it by just not warning him, but he knows your body like the back of his hand. He knows every one of the signs that come with your orgasms, making it pointless for you to try to evade his torture. He's done it to the point where you feel like mush, sluggishly lying against him.

"Look at me, doll. Lift your head."

"Mm-mm." You shake your head against his shoulder.

"Be good." He chuckles at your stubbornness and allows a hand to rest on your lower back. "I'm trying to give you what you want, so would you just look at me."

You sigh, before you start peeling yourself, little by little, off of him.

He immediately notices the involuntary lift of your lips. "Ooh, look at that pout. Could've just told me you wanted a kiss, doll." He smirks, watching as you turn your head slightly to hide the scorch on your cheeks. It's not the main thing you wanted, but you weren't mad when he did pull you in for a kiss, because he started moving his hips again, the pace slow as your lips remained locked. That slow pace was how every one of these torturous cycles started out, but this time it was different. It was now harder to get what you wanted.

"Eyes on me, baby, or I stop."

"I can't- Please, Toji." You want to bury your face in the crook of his neck, again. You want to hide yourself from those eyes of his that never fail to make you feel vulnerable.

"Eyes on me... or I stop," he repeats, calmly, as if enduring all of these stops is such a simple task for both of you. You look at him, and immediately feel like you're being swallowed whole. You feel like he's eating you alive with just his gaze. The sweat beading on his forehead, the tint of color on his cheeks, the lust that simmers in his eyes… it's an insane visual. It's overwhelming.

He sees it, though. The way you try to still your bottom lip as it quivers, the way your chest spasms from holding it all in, your pleading eyes. It's all so... you. So fragile, so timid, so small. So beautiful.

"Good girl. Yeah... just look at me," he instructs, and you whimper. Your gaze falls to his chest as embarrassment floods you at light speed. Your hands reach out for him like they do when you're ready to wrap your arms around him again, but he intercepts them. The brief noise homed into Toji's ears, and rushed straight down to his dick. He can't afford to be deprived of your facial expressions when he now knows what your pretty voice sounds like when it's laced with need. "Fuck... again. Do it again, princess. I heard that loud and clear."

"P-Please. Please, let me go back." You test the strength of his grip, twisting your wrists in his hold. He responds by pushing your arms behind you, the edge of his palms grazing your lower back with every bounce of you on his cock.

"What did I say, baby? Huh? Lift your head and look at me." When you refuse to listen and keep staring at his chest, he decides to give you a countdown for when he's going to stop. "Three..."

"No! Okay, okay," you say, complying with lifting your gaze. Your pleasure skyrockets when you make eye contact with him. He gives you a little smirk, like he's proud of you for showing him that you'll always be good for him, even if you're stubborn about it.

"Shit, mama. You feel so fucking good. Might just cum before you, if you keep this up."

You moan at the threat and bite the inside of your cheek to keep yourself from looking away again. Every sound you let slip makes Toji pick up the pace of his thrusts. They're always precise, so with the speed rising, you think you might catch up to his pleasure. "Please, Toji. Please." The second plead comes out as a whine. "Please, i'm... um..." you hum, shutting your eyes briefly at the sensation of him prodding your sensitive spot again and again. "I'm..." Another whimper slips out.

"Yeah?" He murmurs, watching you struggle to finish your thought, through lidded eyes. "Get it out. All of it."

You're cracking. Your little moans are becoming more and more audible. "I'm trying." You gasp, the breath coming out shaky.

Toji is devouring all of it. His focus is unbreakable, and his thoughts of you are greedy. He wants more than what you're giving him. He wants you to be louder, he wants you to scream his name, he wants to make you cum so hard that you let go of all that embarrassment and moan freely for him.

He removes one of his hands from your wrists, keeping them restrained with his other hand, so that he can toy with your clit. The rush of pleasure makes you twitch above him, a sweet moan instantly released by you. You feel so flustered, you can't hold the sounds back as well as before. It's the unfaltering look he throws at you. He has no trouble holding eye contact with you.

He's obsessed with this show you're putting on for him. The way you're crumbling for him, slowly giving in and losing your tentativeness towards making sound. You remain overwhelmed by all of it. The heavy breathing, his groans, the rapid movement of his thrusts, his rough thumb stroking your clit, the way you're so lost in the pleasure of it all that you've become just as greedy as him, chasing even more stimulation by grinding your hips against him. It's a loud scene.

"T-Toji, Toji!" You gasp. "I'm- Oh!"

"Oh fuck. Cum," he growls. "Cum, pretty girl. Cum for-"

Your entire body is trembling on top of him. Loud cries fill the room as your orgasm washes over you, in the most unbelievably messy way. Toji is stunned, entirely speechless as he fucks you through this intense orgasm. Your back is arched in so much you think your spine might snap, and you can't for the life of you stop crying out his name. This is one of the most powerful orgasms he has pulled from you, if not the most powerful. Toji's lap is drenched, your ass and the backs of your thighs are wet. It's never happened this way before. Your mind is so clouded, you can't even think of what just happened.

Not even a minute later, Toji mirrors you in experiencing that feeling of pure ecstasy, heavy pants and groans released, carelessly, by him. His warm load is shot into you, adding on to the mess when it begins to drool out of you and down his length.

You're both breathless, left frozen in your positions for a good amount of time, while you think about what just happened. You come down from your blissful state first and can't even think to look at him. You pull your hands out of his weakened grip and rest them on your thighs and just stare at them until he says something. You don't know what to say, so you'll let him do the talking.

It was a heat of the moment type thing. Completely unexpected and he's shocked to say the least. It takes Toji a couple minutes himself to think of what to say, but ultimately, he thinks this is the best way to break the ice...

"You just squirted... all over me."

You don't even look up at him when he says that. You just might cry from the continuously skyrocketing level of embarrassment you're feeling.

"Do you have anything to say about it?" He asks, to which you just shake your head. He lets a couple seconds go by, just to add an unnecessary dramatic effect to the situation, before picking up the conversation again. "Well, good thing I have some things to say about it, pretty." He grins and wraps you up in his arms, allowing you to return to your safe space. "You know how much I love you, right?" He says, turning his head to look down at your face. You hum in response and nod against his shoulder. "And that I only pushed you so that you wouldn't hide your voice from me anymore?" You nod again. "Well, I was right." He smirks, thinking of how he got exactly what he wanted. "I'll leave it at that so you don't overheat on me."

He sighs, contentedly, at the feeling of you being so relaxed in his arms now, compared to before. "You did so well for me, mama," he says, before pressing multiple kisses to your head.

There's a beat of silence. Toji can't stop thinking of that spontaneous moment. It's stuck on loop in his head. It's not convenient in this moment, since you're cockwarming him, but before you know it, he's half hard inside you again.

"You think I can make you do it on purpose, this time?"

[emotionally-wired-pyrobot]

It seems that they're not too happy about people trying to show creepy bugs

"MRRR!"

I HAV-VE ACCIDENTALLY DEL-LETED AN ASK, BUT SOMEBODY WAN-NTED TO SHOW ME THEIR MILLE…MI-MILLEPEDE MOZART!!! I DO NOT WISH TO S-SEE!!! PLEASE!!!

[fbfh]

Curiosity is a Wonderful thing ch. 11

wc: 13.2k

genre: slow burn, little angst, childhood best friends to lovers

pairing: slow burn bff!ben x fem daughter of alice!reader, mal x ben (allegedly), platonic reader + mom!alice

warnings: severe mommy issues, brief touch on food scarcity and trauma, COMPHET, reader scratches her arm and bleeds a little, one use of the word purge in a non food related sense, ben has a gnarly panic attack, very mild dubcon bc mal used mind control on ben without him knowing (she didn't do anything physical with him it was just ethically questionable at the very best and the important thing is ben feels gross about it), ben very briefly contemplates involuntary manslaughter, one use of the phrase "being [someone's] bitch", comfort from reader's mom

summary: Ben and Mal go on a date. You follow a rabbit. All three of you begin to realize things of critical importance.

song recs: dream girl evil - florance and the machine, girls against god - florance and the machine, tell me I'm okay patrick - rachel bloom/crazy ex girlfriend cast, hovering - miley cyrus ft trace cyrus, when you wish upon a star ethereal remix - a.krishna, nothing is every anyone's fault - crazy ex girlfriend cast, when you wish upon a star (music box) - the by8nd, silly lullaby - natasha richardson

a/n: your outfit, your mom's outfit, optional face/voiceclaim for adult alice (it's natasha richardson)

THANK YOU GUYS SO MOTHERFUCKING MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT??????? LIKE WHAT THE FUCK. also as per ush (how do we phonetically spell the first part of usual????) fangz 2 cici 4 betaing lulz mcr rox. btwTHERE IS WONDERLAND TERMINOLOGY USED IN THIS CHAPTER!!!!!!! HERE IS THE GLOSSARY!!!!!!!!!! the tldr from memory is as follows:

brillig = late afternoon around when you would start cooking dinner

nunz = don't go (with a sense of urgancy/immediate importance)

gyre = to spin around and around like a gyroscope

mimsy = flimsy/miserable hybrid word (think sad wet pathetic little mewmew)

gallymoggers = cuckoo bananas crazy

so yeah!!! I think I got everyone from my asks and replies (LOVE YOU ALL SO FUCKING MUCH EVEN YOU SILENT READERS YES I LOVE YOU TOO LURKERS AND LIKERS AND SILENT REBLOGGERS <333 YOU SPECIFICALLY READING THIS RIGHT NOW) so if you wanna be added or I missed you just hoot and holler in the notes!! (or if you wanna be more anon you can message me too I don't mind in the slightest uwu)

tags @yesv01@magcon7280 @hopefullhearts @thatawkwardlittlefangirl @sunshineangel-reads @dustyinkpages @inejsknifes @tulipmagnoliaisme @ev3ningrain @yokolesbianism @ma1dita @casey1-2007 @roseidol @eaterof-concrete @enhacatalog @inejghafawifesblog @jjmaybankisawesome @leovergurl @formulas-bitch @starsdotalk @tulipmagnoliaisme @inejsknifes @ficslutt @bwormie @urmomlikeslinotoo @jazhandzzz

Mal has a lot of reasons to hate herself. She’s weak, sensitive, and incompetent at best on a good day, as her mother likes to say. She has no grit, no spite. She knows this, because she grew up hearing it. One of the last things her mother told her before shipping her off that god forsaken rock was don’t blow it. Mal knew from her words, from the frightening pleasantness in her voice and tension in her eyes what she really meant. The way she clamped her sharp nails down painfully into Mal’s shoulder - from a distance, a maternal and supportive gesture - the weight that this opportunity held. 

If you asked Maleficent for a list of all the things wrong with her daughter, she could easily fill a book. Probably several, but Mal doesn’t think she actually cares enough about her daughter to pay close enough attention to do so. If she found out her mother put that much effort into listing her flaws, she thinks that would be the most mother daughter bonding she’s ever received. She might try becoming worse somehow, just to disappoint her mother further and give her more to work with. 

Many of the things her mother thought of her, she had started to believe over time. But now, Mal finds herself in an unusual, almost funny position of being able to add a new failure, a new flaw to that eternally winding, growing list. 

Mal is getting attention from a boy. And worse, she likes it. 

So really, it’s two for one. 

Being around Ben felt weird at first. He kept trying to kiss her, which was… gross. Mal justified it as being above all that, being too wicked and rotten for mushy gushy matters of the heart. Maybe it’s really because it’s just… too much. It’s all so much, happening so fast. A week or two ago she couldn’t be alone with anyone without trying to figure out who was going to shank who first. 

She knows that’s not how Auradon works, she knows the crime rate here is basically zero, and she wonders if she’ll ever be able to shake that feeling. Like being safe is somehow worse than being in danger. At least danger is familiar. That’s probably why she’s able to strut playfully across the rickety old rope bridge the way she is. Behind her, Ben chuckles nervously, holding tight onto the sides.

It was annoying at first, all the attention. She laughed about it with Evie. Or she tried to, at least. But the more time they spend in this frilly princess infested hellhole, the more Mal notices Evie seeming… different. Their banter and mean spirited jokes that flowed so easily seem to have evaporated overnight. 

She can tell Evie’s not as into it anymore. No one else could, but Mal can. She wonders if this means Evie isn’t as into her anymore. Mal wouldn’t call them friends. She wouldn’t call any of her friends friends. But no one would ever deny the bond, the loyalty between the four of them. The thought of Evie drifting away, pulling back from her like this hurts. It would be so much better if she just full on betrayed Mal, stabbing her in the back and sabotaging her. At least that way, they’d still be speaking the same language.

She thought if anyone would be excited about getting some idiotic prince in her clutches, a figurehead to manipulate and make dance like a puppet, it would be Evie. But now, for the first time in her life, Mal feels like she cares more about boys, about bagging a prince than Evie does. It’s strange. It’s unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and she doesn’t know how to fix it. How to make things normal again. 

It’s not like she could even call Evie out on it, either. She’s being normal enough. Mal could see her beaming ear to ear with that dazzling, blinding smile before she even got the question out of her mouth - will you help me get ready for my… date? She gagged a little when she said that, but Evie was too busy hugging her and talking about what to do with her hair to even notice. When they talked about dresses and blush undertones - something she’s still not sure she fully understands - things were great. They were better than normal, she felt like she and Evie were more in sync than they have been in years. It felt good.

 It’s when she brought up Ben that she noticed Evie’s light dim a little. Her heart just wasn’t in it. So Mal did what she does best. She deflected. She started talking about split ends, and kibbe types, and other stuff Evie has encyclopedic knowledge about that Mal has never even heard of, and just like that - boom. The sparkle was back in Evie’s eyes, the sincerity back in her smile. So Mal swore to herself that she just wouldn’t bring him up. Unfortunately, that’s proving to be easier said than done. 

Ben isn’t making things any easier for her, either. He’s been so nice, so disgustingly kind and considerate that it makes Mal sick. The worst part, the thing that really fills her with dread and sickening disgust is that he’s been like this the whole time. Before this stupid spell and the stupid cookie, before the stupid tourney game. He’s been thoughtful and considerate and kind, and good since the moment they stepped foot out of the limo. If limos don’t normally come filled with candy, that means he was good and kind even before they got to Auradon.

She feels giddy around him. Sick, and giddy. Despite everything, despite a lifetime of training for this, she can’t stop leaning into it, indulging herself. It’s so fucking stupid, she barates herself even as she turns and smiles at Ben, lets him guide her through the forest. 

“Tell me something about yourself you’ve never told anyone,” Ben requests gently, so gently it makes her flinch. For a moment, she’s pulled out of her spiraling maelstrom of self loathing.

“Um…” She hums out loud, silently letting herself revel in this feeling of captivating someone. Not scaring them, not grabbing them by the jaw and locking eyes while hers flare green, imposing her will, but actually having someone want to listen to her. Voluntarily, and not under threat of bodily harm. 

“My middle name is Bertha.” 

Ben chuckles behind her, and she turns back around away from him quickly so she doesn’t have to look at him. She’s not even sure if that’s true, and for the first time, she feels a dull pang of guilt for lying. It sounds stupid, the kind of thing no one would lie about, but Mal doesn’t even know if she has a middle name. She doesn’t know if she has a last name, other than Young Mistress of Evil, but having an embarrassing middle name sounds like something that other normal people her age would experience. 

So she goes with Bertha. 

She makes some little comment about her mom, and it gets a laugh out of Ben, one she tries to laugh along with.

“Mine’s Florian.” Ben says in understanding. “Ben Florian Lemaitre-Alarie Leroy de le Lumme-Mont.” 

Mal turns her head away, but she can still feel his eyes on her. 

“Wow. How princely.” She quips. 

“Yeah,” he chuckles, trying to look at her. She starts walking again. “It’s- it’s a mouthful…” 

He follows her closely, and soon they reach the end of the bridge. 

“Okay, close your eyes.” He instructs, placing his hand on her shoulder to stop her. 

Her stomach drops. Her brow furrows, and she shifts away from him on instinct. 

“Why…?” She asks skeptically. 

He pauses for a moment, then laughs sweetly at her reaction. 

“It’s okay, it’s just a surprise.” He says, his voice so earnest she can almost bring herself to believe him. “You’ll be okay. I promise.” 

Sixteen years of muscle memory force her to dig in her heels, to throw his allegedly good word out the window. But against her better judgment, her mind clouded with that squishy sappy dizzy feeling, that contact high she’s been getting from being around him too much, she reluctantly agrees. She knows that Ben won’t harm her because he can’t - not as long as she’s in his head.

She thinks back to the relief that flooded her when she finally pieced the plan together. She had two obvious choices; a love spell, or some sort of mind control. Mind control would have been ideal, she thought. It’s more predictable, plus it will score her some major points with her mother. 

She thought about  how great it would be, following in her footsteps and hypnotizing Ben with incorporeal hypnosis, just like her mother had hypnotized Audrey’s to touch the spinning wheel. 

She tried her hardest, she really had. But it turns out that hypnosis with eye contact or an artifact is already hard enough to begin with. Incorporeal hypnosis is about a thousand times harder. Worse off, Mal had never been able to practice magic a day in her life. All she knew until recently was theoretical second hand knowledge, gleaned from her mother’s drunken recollections of the good old days after a few too many absinth martinis. 

Mal never knew how her mom could drink that stuff. She once tried a pinky dip of the poison ivy infused gin her mother made to use in her drinks, and quickly realized it was a terrible mistake. It tasted like bitter greens and itchy, fiery spice. Her mouth was burned for a week, but her mother could easily down two or three over dinner, insisting the poison ivy gives it just the kick it needs. She asked her mother about it once, and shocked Mal when she actually answered her question instead of glaring or going off on another delusional tangent. 

“Oh, it’s a dragon thing.” She sighed. “Once you’ve had fire in your mouth, nothing tastes strong enough.”

For a moment, Mal could pretend this was what things were always like. They were always a normal mother and normal daughter. She always got advice and anecdotes from her mom. She’d get scolded if she came home scraped up or too late because her mother always cared enough to notice. Then Maleficent grabbed her shoulder, bringing Mal to look out the window at Auradon with her. 

“Someday you’ll know what I mean. After your first time transforming, you’ll understand.” She had chuckled. For a moment, just one moment, Mal dared to see the faintest glimmer of hope on the horizon. Maybe things will get better, her mother will care about her, be proud of her already. 

“Because one day, Mal, we’re going to get out of this dump… and onto the throne. Right where we belong…”

That was the day she’d been forced to let go of that hope. Her mother doesn’t care about her, just that she can have an extra pair of hands, a faster set of reflexes and a sharper pair of eyes. But she never quite let go of making her mother proud. That still seemed like something she could try for. 

That’s how she came up with the whole cookie angle. She found a simple amplification and extension spell, and managed to bake it into a cookie. Once Ben ate it, the spell would be absorbed into his system longer, making it easier to control him. After days and days of research, she came to two conclusions - one shocking, the other terrifying. Shocking was that love spells don’t actually exist. The only ones she could find word of were gimmicky ads in gossip magazines, and even those were few and far between. That’s when the second realization hit. She has to figure out how to make hypnosis work. That’s her only hope, her only chance.

Ben’s hands are strong on her waist, strong enough to make her jump and pull her from the memory that seemed to envelop her out of nowhere, hiding her from the world. She lets him guide her through the unfamiliar terrain. She tries to shake the memories, tries to get rid of that sinking, disorienting, cold feeling. Right now, she has a part to play. She has to be a good girlfriend, she has to get the wand and make her mother proud. 

It’s all part of the plan. It’s part of the evil scheme, that’s why she’s acting so coy and flirtatious, that’s why she’s letting Ben keep his hands on her waist and guide her gently through the forest, his voice soothing in her ear as he instructs her on where to turn and where any rocks and branches might block her path. She keeps telling herself, reminding herself of this because maybe if she tells herself enough, she’ll be able to ignore the fact that she’s enjoying it, leaning into the attention and safe presence of Ben’s big hands and strong chest behind her. 

“Oh, watch your foot… there you go.” He coaxes, guiding her past an overgrown shrub, careful to make sure she doesn’t get scratched up. “You good?”

He asks so gently, so sincerely, that Mal feels herself almost shrinking back a little. 

“Yeah,” she says lightly, with a forced chuckle.

“Good,” he breathes, and she can hear the smile in his voice. He moves her so easily, positioning her so she stands just in front of him, his chest to her back. She doesn’t like how small and… dainty, and pretty, and fragile she feels around him. It’s intoxicating and terrifying.

“Okay,” he says, gentle voice spiking with anticipation. He rubs his hands up and down her arms softly, struggling to stifle his excitement. 

“Ready? Open.” She hesitates, then complies. She sucks in a breath, eyes widening at the most breathtaking thing she’s ever seen. 

Covered in ivy, and vines blooming with morning glory and lilac, an open air greek pavilion sits in the middle of an enticing, crystal clear lake. Even though only half of the pillars and colonnades remain, the circular stone base is solid. Buttery golden sunlight dapples peacefully through the lush flora and plant life all around them, hiding it from sight. 

The lake itself - calm and so blue it’s almost green - is surrounded by rocky, grassy bluffs, just high enough to dive off of. To Mal’s shock, nothing around her looks… menacing. The cliffs aren’t jagged and ominous, the water isn’t murky and threatening. The rocks are smooth. Inviting, even. The crumbling pavilion itself seems like it’s been worn away from time, not from neglect or destruction. There’s no litter or trash, there’s no graffiti, no broken beer bottles or cigarette butts. 

It all seems so… welcoming. Safe, and friendly. Peaceful. After a moment of basking in the haven of tranquility before her, she notices a blanket spread out on the middle of the stone floor. It’s a bright, vibrant blue, and is free of any stains or patches or holes. Laid out on top of the blanket like something from a magazine is a spread of the freshest, juiciest, most wonderful looking food she’s ever seen. 

She gasps softly, turning to look at him, and sees he’s been looking at her the whole time. She studies his face for a moment, trying to figure out if this really is all for her. His smile tells her everything she needs to know. She lets out another breathy gasp as she turns back to the pavilion, feeling like it’s the sort of thing you’re supposed to do in this situation. 

She knows it’s all pretend, playing the part of the pretty damsel like this. The type of girl who’s wanted, who strong, influential people like Ben always protect. Somehow, knowing that it’s pretend doesn’t get rid of the way it feels - the good feelings, or the sickening ones. 

When the rocks have magically moved themselves to form a footpath onto the pavilion, Mal lets Ben guide her some more, and sit her down for their thing. Even thinking the word date still feels strange and uncomfortable. She’s quickly distracted from the uncomfortable knowledge that she’s on a date by how good the food is. 

Good doesn’t even begin to cut it, it’s delicious. Better than that, but she can’t think of anything better than delicious. It’s the kind of food she used to dream about, the kind that would show up in lavish spreads and banquets. She would always stuff her face as much as she possibly could, wanting to get enough before she woke up. Before it could disappear. 

“Is this your first time?” Ben asks softly, a knowing smile on his face. She startles slightly, forgetting he was there for a moment. 

“Um…” She starts, licking the powdery sugar off her fingers. “We don’t really date on the Isle. It’s more like gang activity.”

Ben chuckles, but it’s really not an exaggeration. 

“I meant your first time trying a jelly donut.” He clarifies sweetly. She pauses. She’s rudely awakened by that contextualizing feeling of abnormality. No, everyone doesn’t grow up not knowing their fruits and vegetables. No, everyone isn’t used to living off scraps and whatever can be scrounged together. It’s not a common, shared experience to have soggy boxes stacked up with nutraloaf bars shipped in on rat infested barges as an after school snack. 

She blinks, trying to pull herself back to the present. 

“Is it bad?” She asks cutely. Ben doesn’t chuckle like she expects. It doesn’t seem to land as endearing with him, but as a genuine question. 

“Not-”

Her eyes flare green before he can finish. Once they do, Ben chuckles. He leans closer to her, smiling softly.

Wipe the sugar off her cheek. Caress her. Act like you mean it.

No sooner does she transmute the orders into his mind that he complies. He leans in as he does, more invested in the sticky powdered sugar dusting her lips, and has her mirror his gestures. 

“Go like this…?” He says, licking the sides of his own lips where sugar sits on hers. She does, and he giggles again before reaching over to brush the rest off. Mal smiles, looking away coyly. 

“Can’t take me anywhere, I guess…” She looks away and bats her eyes like she’s seen Evie do before. Even though it’s familiar, it feels staged and contrived. It doesn’t feel natural, but like something that anyone in her position should do, so she does it. She glances down at her hands to look for any remaining sugar, and for the first time she can ever recall, she finds herself bothered by the jagged edges of her bitten nails, the chips in her worn down purple polish. 

Across from her, Ben is looking at the ground near a big old elm tree. Mal adjusts in her seat, but he doesn’t notice. She stares at him more intently, but he’s still looking off into the distance, transfixed by the place where the gnarled roots and lumpy trunk meet the grass. The illusion around Mal begins to crack. The immersion of playing princess to his doting prince starts to slip as she realizes that for the first time since casting the spell, she doesn’t have his full attention. Her expression grows stony with a cold, sick feeling as she watches his distant, almost melancholic gaze fixed on the tree.

“A tumtum what?” He had asked you one day with a chuckle.

“A tumtum tree!” You’d exclaimed back with a smile, as though you were having to explain to him something as common as clouds or air or tea. You had sighed playfully, gesturing with your hands as you explained.

“Tumtum trees have only ever been found in Wonderland. They’re quite large, even their seeds are around the size of your fist. They look like…”

You trail off, trying to think of a suitable comparison. Ben waits. He’s used to this, these pauses in your descriptions of Wonderland. The problem that you’ve found when trying to tell him about your home down there is that not everything is always like something else. It can be quite hard to describe something out of nothing, or nothing out of something. No sooner had the perfect thing popped into your mind.

“An elm tree.” You exclaim with a resolute snap of your fingers. You nod in satisfaction as you clarify, “Like a wych elm tree. A bit, at least.”

“Like which elm tree?” Ben asks, unsure if he had heard you correctly. 

“Exactly.” You nod confidently, drawing a confused, familiar smile from him. Ben watches you in fascination as you continue to describe the trees in question.

“Tumtum trees are usually quite friendly. Good at watching over one when one should find oneself in need of a cat nap.” You state, nodding surely. “Good conversationalists, too.”

Ben lets out a laugh, free and organic from his chest. 

“I forgot trees can talk down there,” he says.

“Some of them,” you say, then nod solemnly. “Some prefer other methods of communication, like pelting those they dislike with acorns, or pollen.”

He laughs again, contagiously, and it begins to spread to you as you continue.

“The most notable thing about tumtum trees is their roots and their bases. They’re usually quite big and tangled, curling in and out in lumpy little nests and sprawling through themselves-”

Ask about her.

It grabs him by the neck, roughly yanking him from his thoughts. He’s pulled from the pleasant memory of you, the voice destructively ripping through his train of thought. 

Look at her. Look at her. You have to know everything about her right now. You’re dying to know everything about her. 

The orders repeat over and over in his mind, his eyes glassy and green for the shortest moment as he’s locked into Mal’s toxic glower. The words begin to ring true. He finds himself burning with an almost painful need to know every possible detail about her. He leans closer to her.

“Tell me everything about yourself.” He asks, only hearing the question for the first time as it leaves his lips.

Mal smiles, acting surprised and flattered by the question she made him ask.

“Well,” she starts with a soft sigh, as if trying to find where to begin, “I’m sixteen. I’m an only child, and… I’ve only ever lived in one place.”

The poisonous light glows from her eyes for a moment, casting strange shadows around them. Ben responds quickly, as if he were waiting for a cue. 

“So am I! We have so much in common already,” he laughs, leaning closer. Mal laughs too, leaning away. 

“No, not as much as you might think.” She glances away, then back up at him. “Anyway, you’re going to be king soon, huh?”

Ben’s laughter grows stale, and he begins to get that distant look again, the same one he had when looking at the elm tree.

“A crown doesn’t make you a king.” He says softly, more to himself than to Mal. 

“Well… it kind of does, yeah.” Mal says dryly. She waits for another laugh, but no laughter comes.

“Your mother is the mistress of evil, my parents are the poster for goodness, but-” he hesitates, searching for the right words. “That doesn’t mean we’re automatically like them.” 

He finishes quietly, eyes falling down to his signet ring. Even with his mind a blank slate, weaved around Mal’s fingers like an obedient snake, he can still feel all the pressure, all that he has to live up to. Everything he wants to be is still right on the horizon. 

“We choose who we’re going to be.” He finishes softly.

Across from him, Mal’s heart pounds. She didn’t make him say any of that. She didn’t tell him to, he did it himself. He said that she’s not like her mom. He said that. Her heart pounds, and she wants so badly for him to say it again. His words ring in her mind like a bell, over and over. We choose who we’re going to be. No one had ever said that, or anything remotely like that to her before. No one had ever made her believe it. 

Those strange shadows dance across Ben’s face again, and Mal squeezes her trembling hands, trying to calm herself. 

Say it again, Ben. Tell her. Say she’s not evil. Say it. Tell her right now. Tell her she’s not evil. You don’t think she’s evil.

He leans in even closer. He moves his hand onto her cheek. He locks eyes with her, oblivious to the shared glowing green light between them. 

“I can look into your eyes and… tell you’re not evil.” He says with certainty. “I can see it.”

He moves closer, letting his eyes drift shut softly, tilting his head to the side-

Mal jerks away, letting go of the active control with a sudden drop. She lets out an uncomfortable laugh, scooting away from him. The pressure on his chest eases, and it almost feels like he can think again. Having a modicum of control over his thoughts and actions again, he stands up. He nods his head, gesturing for Mal to join him. 

“Come on. Let’s go for a swim.”

“Uh-” Mal falters, eyes darting between Ben and the water. “Um, no. I think I’m okay.”

“It’ll be fun,” Ben coaxes with a smile. 

“I- I think I’m gonna stay behind and try a strawberry. I’ve literally never had a strawberry before.”

She grabs a nice juicy berry and bites in, humming performatively for Ben. It takes a moment for the flavors to explode in her mouth. She can’t believe something so delicious could come from a plant. It’s so sweet, and a little bit tangy, but in a good way. It’s a different sort of sweet than sugar, though. She can’t put her finger on exactly what it is, but there’s a light twist, a depth and complexity to the taste that she never could have imagined. It somehow tastes like a bright clear morning and a darkening rich sunset all at the same time.

“Mmmh…” She hums, for real this time, taking another bite. She eats the whole berry - stem and leaves included - and Ben chuckles softly. He says something she doesn’t catch, then goes off to swim. The moment he leaves, Mal has only two things on her mind. 

Strawberries are fucking delicious, and Evie is going to love this. All of this. Picnics, strawberries, pagodas or pavilions or whatever the hell they’re called. She can see it clear as day; taking Evie out here with Carlos and Jay, the two of them can sit and talk while the boys are off splashing in the water. Evie will be so excited that she makes her and Mal matching sundresses in their colors - blue and gold, and purple and green. 

They can eat strawberries and laugh when the juice gets everywhere. They can throw shells and tourney balls into the lake for Carlos and Jay to get to keep them busy while she and Evie talk. Mal will scoff and laugh and roll her eyes when Evie reminds them all to wear sunscreen. She and Carlos will agree, but Jay will insist he doesn’t need any, and they’ll spend the following week treating his sunburn. Evie will insist on braiding Jay’s hair or twisting it up into some kind of bun or ponytail so it doesn’t get tangled. 

She’ll make Mal hold all the bobby pins and hair ties, and she’s sure Evie will have some sort of goop to put in Carlos’s hair so the water doesn’t turn it green. What’s that called again? Evie had been going on and on to Mal before they left for Auradon about how some water can turn blonde hair green. Cholera? Fluorine? Chlor… chlorine maybe? Yeah, that sounds right. There’s no chlorine in the water in the Isle, but since it can affect your hair, Mal’s not surprised that Evie knows everything about it. She doesn’t know if lake water has chlorine, but she’s sure if hair is on the line that Evie will be cautious. 

She’s only pulled from her hazy strawberry high when the berries have run out. She catches a remaining drop of strawberry juice on her finger from the edge of the bowl, and brings it to her lips. She looks around and sees Ben on top of one of the taller grassy bluffs. He waves at her, and after a moment she waves back hesitantly. She looks at his swim trunks, then yells across the lake.

“Are those little crowns on your shorts?”

Ben smiles a little, remembering when you had helped him pick them out. 

“Maybe,” he calls back. 

He lets out a loud, animalistic roar, then jumps.

She looks away before he hits the water. Her eyes fall down to the empty bowl of strawberries, the ones Evie would love. The ones Ben provided her with. She starts to relax a little now that he’s not watching her. Her facade, her perfect princessy persona starts to slip. She relaxes - her shoulders, her jaw, her posture, the grip she keeps on Ben. 

She takes a few deep breaths, trying to reorient herself, to figure out how she feels. She’s so confused, unused to acting sweet - at all, but especially around other people. She has to keep it together. She needs to use these few minutes of Ben swimming to make sure she has her head on straight and her eyes on the prize. She has to stay focused, stay grounded. 

She clenches her fists so tightly that her nails, bitten short and chipped with a deep plum polish, dig into her palms. 

She hopes the slight sting will get her head back where she needs it. The pain is good. A reminder of where she came from, what she’s here to do. She tries, but this time, it’s not enough. Not anymore. She shakes her head a little, hoping it will clear her mind, make her feel like herself again. Her hair is fried under all the purple dye, and she can tell it’s growing frizzy from the humidity and movement. She lets out an annoyed huff, and reaches up, trying to fuss with it until it looks like Evie made it look before. 

Are you kidding? The thought shows up suddenly as she catches herself worrying about her hair of all things. Realization sets in that not even that is enough to snap her back to herself. A sense of shame washes over her as she realizes how deep in all this she’s getting. In the moments after that realization, her mind begins to wander. It goes further and further from anything she had ever let herself think before. 

Maybe she could… make this work. Maybe there’s a shot at pulling it off. If she could keep Ben under her spell a little longer than necessary, she could make him fall in love with her for real. She can implant so many thoughts and repeating orders until it scrambles his brain and… makes it real somehow. Then he’ll want to look after Mal on purpose, not on principle. He can get her and her friends into witness protection or something, get some guard gargoyles and knights to watch over them.

She can talk Ben into giving her a little cottage deep in the woods - it will be safest for them there anyway. And that’s what he wants, for them to be safe. He wants that because Mal wants that, and when a prince like Ben loves someone, he makes sure they have whatever they want most. And what Mal wants most is a safe, secure, roomy cottage in the woods for her and Evie, Jay and Carlos. They’ll have a little lake just like this one, and maybe like, some ducks or something. Cats, or snakes, or whatever makes a good pet. 

Jay can chop the firewood, and Carlos can fix the computers whenever they get weird. Mal still barely understands how to use smartphones and dropbox, but Carlos has taken to all that stuff like… well, like his mom takes to furs. She’ll make sure there’s a nice big room for Evie to sew, and she won’t complain as much when Evie uses her as a dress form. They’ll have more delicious, fresh food than they can eat, and they won’t need to worry about any of this anymore.

She’ll reluctantly let Evie teach her how to use blush, and style hair. 

They’ll sit in the nice sunshine in the fresh clean air all day. She’ll make Evie crowns from all the pretty flowers that grow here so she can have as many crowns and tiaras as she wants, and Jay and Carlos can play tourney and climb trees and do whatever else they’re always doing. She can see it clear as day; Evie’s head resting in Mal’s lap while Mal uses her spellbook to weave together flowers, enchanting them to make them sparkle while Jay and Carlos laugh and roughhouse nearby. 

They’ll still share bedrooms. That’s the one thing Mal has actually kind of liked since moving to Auradon, sleeping in the same room as Evie. Getting to be close to her. She’s sure Jay and Carlos sleep better knowing they’re not by themselves, too. Maybe if the cottage is kind of small she and Evie can share a bed. She’d be fine with that. They’ll bake non magic cookies and eat strawberries, Evie will have all the ingredients she needs to make every kind of face mask and hair mask and lotion she could dream of. 

Ben will come and check in on them sometimes. Not very often, just once in a while. He’ll stop by and make sure they’re safe and protected and left alone all the time, because that’s what princes do when they’re in love with someone. They’ll never leave unless they want to, and they’ll have VIP tickets to all the balls and galas and sporting events in Auradon. Mal will go with them, because she knows things wouldn’t be the same if she stayed behind. Even though parties are boring and sports are dumb. But as long as Evie’s having a good time, she’s sure she can handle it. 

If only… if only she could figure out that it’s a sure thing. Then she’d be all the way in. 

You can’t recall a time your heart pounded in your chest like a jackrabbit as it does now, as you tread through roots and bushes and grassy forest terrain to the enchanted lake. You’ve been following the white rabbit who had alerted you to Ben’s whereabouts until you arrived at the lake. You find a little hidey-hole in the brush and gnarled roots of an old elm tree within eyeshot of the pavilion, and crouch down. You can almost make out what he’s saying, but not quite.

You fumble for your teapot bag, digging around for something you’re sure must still be in there. 

“Come on, come on…” you murmur frantically. You let out a gasp as your fingers close around the monocle, and you pull it out quickly. You’d pawned it off a ring of ring-a-ding worms in Wonderland several months ago. You weren’t sure how trustworthy they were - which usually means not very trustworthy at all if you’re doubting it in the first place - but you simply couldn’t help yourself. The monocle was a very old sort of subtitling spectacle, a kind of eyewear that lets you see what people are saying. They’re not always right, nor are they always perfect, but right now you’re desperate.

“Please please work,” you ask the glass silently before holding it up to your left eye. You squint at Ben and Mal, and between the fragments of conversation reaching your ears and the monocle, you’re able to understand things a bit better. 

“...You’re not evil. I can see it.” Ben says to Mal, as you watch and listen to his words intently. The sun is closer to setting and brillig draws nearer, basking everything in that not quite sunset glow. You try to crawl closer to see and hear better, not even noticing when you nearly lose one of your shoes in your efforts. You rub your eyes in disbelief, waiting to see what they say next. An elm leaf falls, tangling itself in your hair, and you find yourself unable to believe what you’re seeing. If you were using two monocles, you would surely dismiss it as the subtitle spectacles breaking. Unfortunately, there’s no disguising the truth you see before you. 

Ben leans in to kiss Mal, and you recoil backwards, suddenly and in shock. Your stomach twists in that terrible way, and you’re sure you’re going to be sick. You grip the grass tightly, hoping it will stop your head from spinning. This doesn’t make sense. None of this makes any sense, or nonsense at all. The world around you makes positively nothing. You can deal with chaos, with spontaneity, but this? This is just cruel. The world is… mean for making you live through this. 

You summon a rabbit hole back down to Wonderland faster than you can blink. You tumble down, dirt sprinkling down on you as you fall. Right before you’re swallowed by the earth, you scratch your arm on a rough patch of bark and roots. You catch a glimpse of your blood and tears falling in beads before you’re shrouded in darkness, blurry and delicate. They dance together like pained flurries of your heart and mind’s shared turmoil. You let yourself fall carelessly, the stuffy air disturbed by your stifled sobs slipping out where you don’t want them to. 

You don’t plan on staying long at all. You just need a few moments to collect yourself, to gather your thoughts. You take in a few deep, heavy breaths, your brow furrowing with determination. You must overcome this. You must stay focused. You have to if you’re going to have any chance at helping Ben. You let out a sharp breath with a sharp little noise attached to it, and you can feel your head coming back in place. There will be time to deal with all of this, there will be time to cry, but that time is not now.

The second Mal turns away and pulls her face from his gentle embrace, Ben takes in a deep, panting breath, feeling like his chest is suddenly less tight than it had been. He hadn’t noticed it before, but he feels the absence of his contracting muscles and shallow breaths now that they’re gone. He immediately looks back over to that elm tree, the one he was looking at before. For a moment, just a moment, he could swear he saw your fingertips, the ends of your hair, the dark glint of your silky blackberry bow falling into the earth. But he blinks, and whatever might have been there or not is gone too quickly to tell.

He shakes his head a little, hoping to reorient himself, but a breeze blows by and he could swear on anything there’s a trace of your scent carried in the air. The faintest hint of something so quintessentially you - your perfume, your smell, your blood. His chest squeezes again, this time with longing. 

He’s about to realize how long it’s been since he saw you, about to realize this is the longest he’s gone without even speaking a word to you, but something drags him back, keeping his thoughts here and now. He turns back to Mal, with that dull, throbbing headache he hasn’t been able to shake since the tourney game. 

“Let’s go swimming.” 

The enchanted lake is one of Auradon’s hidden gems. It was a gift to the newly united front of Auradon as a whole from the gods of Olympus; a thank you, an offering of goodwill for assisting in the containment of Hades. Hercules and Megara had gone through many lengthy strategy sessions and battle plans with Adam and Belle, trying to figure out how to prevent Hades from another attempt to overthrow Olympus. Adam and Belle knew that Hades was dangerous - he is a god after all - but they had no idea the extent and reach of his power. 

The First Villain Uprising was a dark time that spread over many years. Most people know the events of VU1; the poison apples, the sleeping curses and dark magic. They’re familiar enough with the coups and the curses, the unregulated dark magic running rampant through the land, wielded by power hungry loonatics. Villains. Brave leaders and heroes in countries from down near the Southern Isles to way up north in Winter’s Keep refused to cower in the face of evil. They did everything they could to stop it, and for many years the villains were presumed dead. 

The problem came from all the different countries not having a united front, not communicating with each other. There was no teamwork, no global council, so no one knew that the moment Maleficent was pierced through the heart by the sword of truth was the same moment Hades had managed to claw his way out of the river styx. The first thing he did once he got his bearings was drag Maleficent down to the underworld. She wasn’t dead, not quite yet, and they both saw the opportunity before them. A combination of Maleficent’s dark fairy magic and Hades’ rule over the souls of the dead meant they could drag the worst villains back from the depths. 

That was the start of the Second Villain Uprising. 

When the rulers figured out what was happening, they knew they had to band together, be stronger as a whole. That’s when Adam gathered up as many kings and queens as he could to start planning the first crusades. Fairy Godmother sent word out to the most powerful wizards and fairies and sorcerers she could, pleading for them to join the fight against evil. 

It didn’t take long to start rounding up villains, but they needed somewhere to put them. Eventually, Fairy Godmother devised a plan. With the help of Merlin of Camelot, Yensid of Schwartzvald, the Great Genie of Agrabah, and the Three Good Fairies of the Moors, they were able to create a magic barrier around an abandoned isle off the southern coast of Belle and Adam’s kingdom. This became known as the Isle of the Lost, the only secure place where villains and all the evil they bring with them can’t escape. 

As a thank you to the mortals down below, the gods gifted them with the enchanted lake, right in the heart of Auradon. Each god added a blessing or a gift of some kind, which is how it got such steadfast healing properties and good magic. The lake itself is magical, which is something that Belle and Adam decided not to advertise during the aftermath of the expulsion of evil. 

There was so much terror and fear in the land, people afraid of something going wrong, of some new villain popping up right when they let their guard down. Adam and Belle decided to keep the lake’s properties under wraps for the most part, preemptively stopping any attempts to stockpile or weaponize magic purely to get the upper hand in a magic cold war that has long since ended. 

The cleansing and healing properties of the enchanted lake are simplistic, but effective. Ben remembers a time when he was young, there was a brief few weeks when Adam seemed to lose control over shifting his form from man to beast. His condition was ultimately traced back to stress, a comorbid symptom of some nasty migraines, and high cholesterol. 

Rumors of his condition began to circulate, and Adam found himself splashed across the covers of gossip rags on newsstands and store checkouts. Fairy Godmother was able to fix him right up, and instructed him to fully submerge himself in the enchanted lake once a week for about a month or so. He followed her instructions to the letter, and was soon back to rights.  

As he stands on the small cliffside overlooking the serene, enticing water, Ben’s not sure what jogged that memory, or why it’s at the front of his mind right now. He shakes his head a little, but it keeps coming back, tugging at him like a child vying for their fathers attention. 

“Are those little crowns on your shorts?”

Ben glances over at the pavilion where Mal sits. He looks down, then chuckles.

“Maybe,” he calls back. Their eyes lock as Mal gathers her thoughts. Ben can feel it, the tightness coming back in his chest. Before it reaches all the way up to his head, his instincts kick in. He lets out a loud roar, then he jumps.

The water hits his skin. Instead of cool and refreshing, just the way he remembers it, it feels like a freezing cold burn. The world goes quiet as he sinks deeper and deeper into the lake, eyes widening in shock at the unpleasant, almost painful feeling. His skin burns, and he scratches at his arms and legs and chest. His hands move, frantic and sluggish in the water as he itches his neck, then his cheeks, then his head…

He freezes, muscles relaxing, limbs falling still as the water soothes him and purges the last of the fizzing magic out of him. He had no clue what was happening until it was over, and now, hovering underwater, it’s over. He knows he can’t have been down there for too long, but it’s when his instincts scream at him to hyperventilate that he realizes he’s still underwater. His eyes widen, and he fumbles, swimming to a rock hidden from the shore. 

He drags himself out of the water, chest heaving, body shaking. The surface of the rock is smooth, but he struggles to maintain his balance. He manages to flip over and lean back on the rock, praying for some stability. His free will, his mind, his cognizance is all coming back to him at once. He feels like a computer flashing a blue screen from too many programs running and downloading at the same time. 

He clutches his chest, unable to control his breathing. The disorientation starts to fade and his eyes widen with horror as the reality of the situation starts to set in, cutting through the painful panic gripping him. Mal… drugged him. Or worse, cursed him. His stomach drops, twisting sickeningly, his hands trembling out of control. He’s not normally like this. He never lets himself get like this. He heard stories about extremely powerful villains being able to use mind control or hypnosis on rare occasions, but he never expected it to feel so… violating. 

His gaze drifts downward to the rippling water. No one can know about this. This can never get out. If even a whisper of this gets out, the consequences and aftermath would suffocate him. She just jeopardized the entire future of the United Republic of Auradon. She could very well have just pounded nail after nail into the coffin containing the lives and futures of all those poor kids stuck on the Isle, the ones she claimed to care so much about. She may have destroyed lives, futures, an entire nation, for… what? 

He tries to figure out why. Why would she do this? She has to have some sort of motivation for reaching into his brain and jerking him around like a puppet, making a fool of himself in front of the public. Oh god- he thinks, remembering the tourney game. He never acts like that. He never acts erratic or impulsive. What must his parents think of him? What must you be thinking of him right now? Or the entire country? 

His throat tightens up as he starts to panic again, mind already clouded by the doom of plummeting in the polls. He’s unopposed for king, but after a disaster like this, who would want him? Someone else will run and win, because no one in their right mind would trust someone who voluntarily lets themself become a villain’s personal sock puppet to run a goddamn country! He breathes harder, flexing his fists open and closed until his knuckles go white. Why would she do something like this? What does she want from him, a second date?

He pauses. That must be it. A new wave of rage overcomes him as he realizes - unless he’s given a miraculously better explanation for this - that Mal pressed a self-destruct button for the entirety of Auradon because she has a crush on him. A stupid, goddamn teenage crush. And now his political career will be over before it could ever start because of it. He’s going to be the first king to be impeached before he’s crowned. He can’t stop spiraling, can’t stop the racing thoughts drowning him above the water. 

A loud, animalistic roar tears from his chest. It’s much more primal, more beast-like than he ever allows himself to be, but he supposes that it’s understandable for something like that to slip out given the circumstances he finds himself in. 

“Breath,” he tells himself, swallowing thickly. “Breathe.”

If he can’t get his head right, if he can’t be smart about this, it… well, that’s not even an option. He has to collect himself. He has to live up to the person his parents think he is, his country thinks he is, that you think he is. He has to be that person. He only has a few moments of this realization to reorient himself before he hears Mal’s voice. 

Instead of enticing and distracting like it had been before, now it feels like the lure of an angler fish’s light in the murky depths, it feels jarring. He shudders, recoiling like she just threw glass at him. She calls out for him again. This time, he can hear the spike of fear carried along in her voice as it echoes across the lake. Is she hurt? In trouble? He starts to go check on her, then for a moment, he hesitates.

All the thoughts racing through his mind like the piston cup find their way to the forefront of his head again. His chest aches as he relentlessly beats himself up over this. How could he let this happen? This is exactly what his parents warned him about, what he promised them - gave them his word - that he would not let come to fruition. And yet, here he is, sitting on a rock with the livelihoods of innocent people at risk because of him and his naive, stupid optimism. 

This, the wellbeing of all innocent people of Auradon, is what he’s devoted all of his time and power and care and focus and everything else he’s got within him into. All that work, all that potential for good, and now he lays paralyzed below the sword of Damocles. He can only stand there, watching the ropes fray one after another. 

“I can’t…” he pants, chest squeezing in terror again. “I can’t let this happen.”

He swallows hard, muttering to himself.

“Can’t let them win.”

He can’t let Mal achieve whatever the hell her endgame is here. He has to stop this before it gets worse. And above all, this cannot become known to the public. He can see the faces of disappointment and fear on the members of the council, on the senate. He was never ready to be king, they’d say in hushed, justified tones, the boy is a fool! How could we let him bring evil into our homes on purpose?! 

The voices in his head go on and on, painting the worst outcome possible in vibrant colors. The nation will lose any trust or faith they might have had in him. More painfully, he realizes how deeply disappointed his parents will be in him. The kind so irreparable that they can never even speak of it. His father will go silent, his mother will try to smile at him, but her tears will give her away. Disappointing his parents, disappointing you…

Oh god, you. Where are you? Where have you been during all of this? You and Ben are usually joint at the hip, but he hasn’t seen you in days. The realization makes him feel sick, like he’s just come to the realization that he hasn’t had air to breathe. What have you been doing without him? Have you been in Wonderland, or at the Wonderland Embassy with your mother? Why haven’t you texted him? Or at least called? Worse fears attack him relentlessly from the inside out, worse than ruining innocent lives or his political career because these fears are about you. 

A scream, followed by a large splash, then another more fearful scream pierce his senses, pulling his attention out of the momentary panic over you and your wellbeing. It must be Mal, he thinks, it has to be. She’s the only other person out here. She must have gotten into the water to look for him, but why does she sound like she’s struggling? He listens intently for a moment. She definitely sounds like she’s struggling. He stands up to jump into the water and find her, but before he can, something unusual happens. 

He hesitates.

After everything she’s done to him, and to the people of Auradon, after she stabbed him in the back and violated his free will for days, should he even bother trying to help her? What if this is part of some elaborate ruse, luring him into a trap by pretending to drown. Maybe she’s going to turn him into a bug and trap him in a jar, letting him suffocate slowly while she shakes it and laughs. 

What if she just… had an accident? Anyone could drown in a lake if they weren’t being careful, and he’s sure children of villains aren’t raised to be super cautious. Maybe it would be better that way. It would certainly give Ben one less problem to worry about, one less moving part to constantly keep track of. 

He dives back into the lake, swimming towards her. He bites his cheek, dismissing the fleeting, impulsive thought as quickly as it could intrude into his stream of mind. He’s not even going to waste time considering it or letting it argue his case. He knows who he is, and he knows who he chooses to be. He is never going to choose to be the kind of person who lets someone else get hurt when they can do something about it. 

If he can help anyone - regardless of who they are or what they’ve done to him - he’s going to. Even if it’s from a distance, he can’t knowingly be complicit in tragedy befalling anyone. That’s why he’s bringing over the kids from the Isle in the first place. He can’t sleep at night knowing that there are people struggling and suffering while he has the power to do something about it. 

He has to give his parents credit for raising him to have such strong moral character. That’s why, against his better judgment, he swims as fast as he can back to the pavilion. It only takes a moment for him to see her, kicking and flailing mere feet from the pavilion.

He dives as deep down as he can. He hopes that the longer he’s under the water, the more submerged he is, the less likely any more magic she tries on him will succeed. Or at the very least, she’ll have less time to try and pull something on him. His hand skims the bottom of the lake, brushing against something uncharacteristically sharp. He sees a cluster of glowy crystal like geodes - a wishing stone, he realizes. He grabs it, and shoves the rock into the pocket of his swim trunks. 

It’s not much, it’s barely anything really. But he’s sure any mildly sharp object is infinitely better than nothing when facing off against an unpredictable dark fairy. Trying to use a wishing geode to defend himself from dark fairy magic - either as a magic shield or a physical weapon - is like trying to use an umbrella in a hurricane. He’s really going into this blind, but at least he’s aware of the disadvantage he’s working against. In spite of all the massive errors and failures he seems to have accumulated out of nowhere, he can at least say he’s not stupid enough to be entirely unarmed at a time like this.

He can see Mal, splashing and thrashing about, slipping below the surface as she loses her footing. He rushes closer and grabs her, scooping her up and confidently walking them both out of the lake. He catches his breath, focusing everything he’s got on one thing - he cannot let Mal know that he knows. He has to keep his face neutral, act sweet and normal, not say or do anything that could possibly tip her off. He’s in the lion’s den, and one wrong move could ruin everything beyond repair. 

He silently thanks his parents for years and years of diplomatic training, for teaching him how to maintain his composure no matter how overwhelming his emotions are, no matter how much pressure and scrutiny he finds himself under. He reaches the pavilion in just a few steps, and sets Mal down gently. She doesn’t seem to notice anything about his behavior is different, so he keeps doing what he’s been doing. It seems to be working so far, which provides him with the briefest sense of relief. 

“Ugh!” She shrieks. He shakes the water out of his hair, trying to clear his head, and she swats at his chest, “You scared me!”

Ben falters for a moment, nearly letting a grimace loose at the nauseating feeling of disgust permeating him from this, from having to be so close and sweet to her after she violated his mind, his free will. And she did it on purpose. 

“Uh,” he starts, trying with everything he’s got to sound so light and casual, like she made him sound before. “You… you can’t swim?” 

It’s really not that important to either of them right now, but it’s the first thing he can think of that doesn’t start with why the hell or how the hell or jail. 

“No!” She yells indignantly, like it should be obvious. 

“But you live on an island.” He notes. He never would have been able to challenge her under the curse she cast on him, not even something as small as asking why she can’t swim. He watches her expression closely, wondering if she’ll notice.

“Yeah, with a magic barrier around it, remember?” She demands incredulously. There’s a shrill tone to her voice with a venomous sting, like Ben was the one who cast her out and put up the barrier himself. He flinches at the sound of her voice.

She can’t swim. She nearly drowned looking for him, and he let himself consider allowing it to happen. A stab of unwelcome but justified guilt catches him off guard for a moment, causing him to falter. 

“And… you still tried to save me.” He murmurs solemnly, mostly to himself. 

He hates this. He hates that she did something so horrible and so kind to him right after each other. It’s tempting to dismiss her searching for him in the lake, to let himself focus only on the pain and damage she’s caused in such a short time, and he tries desperately to cling to his moral values. Values that he’s always sworn to himself he will never abandon, no matter how hard or complicated things get.

Now here he stands, looking hard and complicated square in the purple framed face. 

People are nuanced, he tells himself, trying to remember it. Nobody is all good or all bad. People… people are complicated. It’s a hard philosophy to hold onto, and an even harder one when you’re the one that’s been made a fool of, made to dance around in public and cater to her every whim. It’s hard to remember that people are nuanced, not all bad when you’ve been made into someone’s bitch. 

“Yeah, and do you thank me?” Mal demands rhetorically, “No!”

He struggles to follow her. Her voice makes him flinch, buzzing around his head like an angry hornets nest. It makes his ears ring. He feels that strange, painful headache stirring up again - the one that got worse and worse every time she forced her voice into his mind. 

“All I get is soaking wet!” 

She looks at him expectantly, then huffs. It sounds exactly like the noise Audrey would make when she wanted something that wasn’t handed to her instantly. A new wave of indignant rage begins to bubble and boil up inside him as he realizes what she wants. She wants him to grovel. She wants him to apologize, and kiss her hands, and beg for everything to be smoothed right over. He swallows hard, managing to contain it. Just barely.

In a split second, he realizes he has to do something. The more time they spend together, the sooner Mal will realize she doesn’t have control over him again. If she finds out, that will open up more trouble than Ben would care to count. He has to pacify her, just enough to get them both home as fast as possible. Before she can do anything else to him. 

He reaches into his pocket, handing her the geode. 

“And this, uh… this fancy rock.” 

His stomach twists, spiking with anxiety as he offers it to her. Wishing stones - also called wish geodes - are a natural and common byproduct of fairy magic. They can vary in strength and appearance based on what fairy they came from, and since they usually form underground or by bodies of water, they can be hard to find. They’ve become even harder to source in recent years as less and less people use magic - fairies included. 

The ones near Auradon are from Fairy Godmother’s magic. The ones way up north in Schwartzvald are from the mainland forest fairies deep in the Fantasia Woods, the ones out west are from the Blue Fairy, and any wish geode you find on the northeastern coast will always be from Flora, Fauna, or Merriweather. Since wish geodes are essentially nature’s way of recycling magic leftovers, they’re usually not too strong. Unless they were charged up with something, like a blessing, or a falling star, or enchanted spring water from Olympus. 

Ben, however, is painfully unaware of this. He hasn’t studied magic and magic theory as extensively as you have. He suspects sometimes that you may know more about magic than the good fairy herself. He does know some introductory magic theory, and a few little facts from you that he’s remembered over the years. 

What he does know is that wishes and hypnosis or mind control or whatever the hell Mal did to him are two completely different kinds of magic. He knows that if he gives Mal the stone, even if she did wish for something, it couldn’t possibly do more damage than she’s already done. At this point, it’s the lesser of two evils. Really, it’s the only viable option he’s got. The geode shimmers and glitters, glowing softly against her skin in a luminous pearly hue. She glares up at him, and he plasters on a smile. Hopefully, a convincing one. He gestures back behind him. 

“Make a wish, and throw it back in the lake.”

Unless her goal of hypnotizing him was to somehow end up with a good grade on the next test, or a really good hair day, this rock will do nothing for her. It’s just not strong enough on its own, which makes it the perfect placebo. Mal scowles up at him, and winds up to throw the rock bitterly into the lake. 

In that moment, her heart’s unsung desires cry out desperately, begging for something that not even her mind can grasp. I wish what he said was true, her heart cries, that he doesn’t think I’m evil. I wish Ben would keep being nice to me, even after I break the spell. I wish Ben would defend me from all the people who act like they’re afraid of me, I wish he would make me feel like I belong here!

The rock sinks into the water, bubbling and glowing as her desires are realized. A soft whispered voice floats into the air, seeming to speak only to her.

“Malorie Valda Faery, Princess of the Moors and Young mistress of Evil… your wish has been heard, and your wish has been granted. So long as you do not act on the evil inside your heart, and stay trustworthy, honest, and kind, he shall see no evil inside you.” 

It’s so faint, so hard to hear that she thinks she must have imagined it. She falters, thrown off guard for a moment, then stands up and shakes off some of the water still clinging to her. The glowing water swirls and pools around Ben. An almost ticklish, tingling feeling floats down onto him. It’s so light and so soft, it’s gone so quickly that he struggles to remember if it really happened.

He takes in a breath, his brow softening as he realizes the panic is retreating. A breeze blows by, carrying the scent of magnolia and the impending night air that quickly makes its way closer to them as the sun sinks. Little goosebumps prickle down Ben’s arms and back as his defenses begin to relax back to normal. He picks up his varsity jacket to wrap around Mal, and grabs a towel for himself. The last thing either of them need right now is to catch a cold. 

He takes a few more breaths as she sits down, mildly puzzled at why it’s so easy to breathe now, but so difficult just a few moments before. He searches every crease and crevice of his mind for what was bothering him before. He doesn’t usually struggle to remember what he was thinking about, but this particular thing just seems to evade him, like a child playing hide and seek. He knows it was important, really important, but he just… can’t remember. He looks down at Mal in hopes of jogging his memory, but seeing her sit there, all sad and wet and swallowed up by his jacket, all he feels is a pang of sympathy. 

He feels himself relaxing, his reflexes softening from a state of panic to their usual level of low, constant background anxiety. Look at her, he thinks, does she really look like she wants to overthrow an entire country? The question is rhetorical, and the answer clear. No. She just wants a home, somewhere to fit in. She looks so small, so vulnerable and powerless like this. He chastises himself for letting himself lose sight of why he brought her and her friends to Auradon in the first place.

She’s here to grow, to heal - they all are. Of course she’s going to make some silly mistakes like spray painting her locker, or cutting class, or using magic to get Ben to go out with her. Besides, with coronation coming up so fast, it makes sense that she would feel like she couldn’t find an opportunity to ask Ben out without a little extra help. That’s all this is, a silly mistake. It’s nothing to be blown out of proportion, really. He sighs, sitting across from her, feeling a dull nudge of something that could grow into fondness with time.

He reaches over to fix her hair, and she looks up at him. She searches his eyes, desperately looking for any signs of hate or change in how he views her. That’s what this is, he confirms to himself. She just has a crush on him is all. He would never say that to anyone, he wouldn’t run the risk of embarrassing someone dealing with such delicate feelings, but it does make sense. She said herself just a while ago, dating on the Isle is more like gang activity than picnics and drive in movies. Of course she wouldn’t know how to talk to someone she likes, how to find ways to spend more time with them. 

Ben almost chuckles at the thought, the idea of her trying to figure out how to enchant her crush into liking her back. It’s sweet, really. Nothing malicious at all. Besides, everybody knows that love magic doesn’t exist, there is no such thing as a love spell. So if she still doesn’t know that yet, could her knowledge of magic really be that dangerous? It can’t possibly be. She just used a harmless little spell to speed things up a little. No one would ever act out like that if it wasn’t for some matter of the heart or other. It’s almost flattering in a strange way.

He decides to test his theory, letting his fingertips linger in her damp, sugar plum hair, twirling it lightly.

“Mal?” He starts, getting her attention. 

“I, uh… I told you that I loved you. At the tourney game.” He says, jogging her memory. He looks at her, studying her face. “What about you?”

This is perfect, he thinks, this is the most opportune way to offer her a way to tell him how she feels, get it all off her chest. 

“Do you love me?” He prompts.

Normally, he would never be this direct with someone. But he feels it’s warranted, given the circumstances. It’s taken many years for him to learn to trust his gut with things like this, and he’s not going to doubt himself now. Yes, what she did was bad - unforgivable, even - but at the end of the day, she’s just a hormonal teenage girl with a crush. She can’t possibly be faulted for that, for having feelings. 

“I…” Mal starts, swallowing thickly and looking away from him again. She clutches the sides of his jacket, pulling it tighter around her. It smells soapy, like it’s too clean. She knows she should probably be feeling something, but she has no goddamn clue what it is - much less how to recognize and articulate it. She feels… queasy. Kind of shaky and sweaty. Are you supposed to feel like that when a boy says I love you? That has to be the feeling that people are always talking about, getting butterflies in your stomach. Mal supposes butterflies just don’t agree with her. 

“I don’t think I know what love feels like.” She replies simply, in a rare and impulsive moment of vulnerability. If she’s ever going to be vulnerable, it will be when she can control how the other person reacts to it. She looks down. Instead of looking at Ben, she traces her eyes over the skirt of the dress Evie put her in. It’s calming, relaxing. There’s the faintest trace of Evie’s perfume, and it makes Mal feel a sense of warmth and longing that she desperately needs right now. 

Ben’s heart squeezes sympathetically. He feels so bad for her. That tragic compassion reassures him that bringing her to Auradon was the right decision, and this whole thing was just a silly miscommunication. A mistake. 

“Maybe I could teach you.” He says softly. He puts his hand on her arm, helping her stand up.

“Come on. Let’s get you home.”

When you show up to the Wonderland Embassy, the home away from home you share with your mother, you look positively and uncharacteristically ragged. It’s merely a pebble’s throw from campus, so it couldn’t have been a particularly tiring walk - unless you walked your way from Camelot, which is highly improbable. Your blackberry bow is loose and slipping off towards your ear, your skirt is all rumpled, and you haven’t even noticed the run in your favorite pair of knee socks. 

Worst of all, worse than your slouching or lethargy or the tear tracks down your cheeks, are your eyes. The vibrancy, the hope and curiosity is all but gone. Your dear mother, Alice - better known as Alice Liddel, Ambassador of Wonderland - notices all of this right away. You answer her usual question, are you ready to embark on your weekly mother daughter dinner, before she can even ask it. 

“I’m afraid I can’t make dinner, mother,” you say, babbling around the tea biscuit you grab from the counter and hold in your mouth, keeping your hands free to drop off the useless information you’ve gathered throughout the day and search for a few books in your mother’s collection. 

“But I promise I’ll get something more than tea and cakes from the school kitchens tonight.” You assure her half heartedly, more worried about her peace of mind than your dietary habits. The moment the words leave your lips, she knows that something is wrong. Not wrong in the sort of way that a leaf floats down a brook, but deeply wrong, like a subaquatic shrub. 

Shrubs are not subaquatic by nature, and if one is found it’s recommended to bring it to the nearest tree surgeon as quickly as possible. She looks at you, her darling daughter, her wonderful little dear, and sees a subaquatic rose garden. You never skip dinners with your mother, not for the tiffletoo flu, or final exams, or anything else regardless of urgency or importance. The only time you’ve skipped dinner in the past was one time, one terrible night where Ben was rushed off the tourney field with a broken wrist and a nasty concussion. 

The standard for skipping dinner and tea with your mother is one that’s very rare and quite  extreme, so you’re not too terribly surprised when she stops you from leaving the Wonderland Embassy with a gentle hand on your shoulder. 

“Nunz yet, my love,” She says softly, soothingly. She fixes your hair in that comforting motherly way of hers, then moves on to fix your bow how you like it. 

“I can’t watch you gyre like an overwrought sulphide marble for a moment longer.” She looks at you softly. “What’s got your mind so snaggled, sweets?”

Your mother, your dear dear mother is your most favorite person in both worlds, right alongside Ben. You’ve always found your inability to lie to her or hide your feelings as a relief, a blessing. Now, however, you find yourself wishing for the first time that you were able to lie to her as easily as Audrey and Lonnie lie to their mothers. Your stomach twists uncomfortably. You don’t like this feeling. You wish it would just go away, but you know you can’t tell your mother everything that’s going on. Not yet, at least. 

She’s so close with Ben’s parents - in both business and personal regards - that if you were to make the wrong move, it could mean a world of nasty repercussions and consequences for Ben. The exact ones you’ve been maddening yourself trying to shield him from. You trust your mother implicitly, but you also know she has a duty - not just as a politician, but as a parent - to inform Ben’s parents imminently of any perils regarding Ben that she is made aware of. 

You sit down, fussing with the pleats of your dress, tugging at your stockings to buy yourself some time, give yourself a moment to carefully choose the most right, non incriminating words you can muster up.

“Ben has been behaving strangely.” You state. Your voice is soft, but not fragile. This worries your mother. If your voice were fragile, you see, it would mean this was all very new and fresh. But the reluctant acceptance in your tone of voice tells her the severity of the situation in which you’ve found both yourself and Ben. Your voice is quiet, your words simple, and a soft hum of understanding leaves your mother’s lips. She nods empathically, silent in the moment that follows so you can continue. 

“And, I… can’t quite seem to figure out the reason why.” You continue, even more quietly - almost shamefully so.

Your mother hums again, this time with a deeper, more resolute understanding of how you’re feeling and why exactly you must be feeling the way that you are. You and Ben have been so terribly close for so awfully long, that if either of you had felt at any point during your numerous years of friendship that you were mildly confused by the behavior or the other - much less left clueless and in the dark, as you currently are - that that in and of itself would be nothing short of anomalous. 

So naturally, when something this catastrophically unusual occurs, it should come as no shock at all how deeply distressing it would be to you. The very worst part, you realize, is that your mother has already come to this conclusion with barely a fraction of the information you have. You shudder to think about how distraught she’d be on your behalf if she knew everything you do about your trouble with Ben’s unusualness as of late.

“Lovey…” Your mother says warmly. She reaches over to you, handing you a warm porcelain teacup and saucer of her ever perfect chamomile tea. It’s sweetened with just the right amount of honey, but not so much as to overpower it - a mistake that you’ve seen many people make quite often - and topped off with just a little bit of shaken cream and rose pollen.

You’re never sure how she manages to make it so perfectly with so little effort every single time, but it must be a mother’s touch, you suppose. A gentle hug and a warm cup of her specialty tea always gets you to open right up to your mother, no matter how mimsy and gallymoggers you may be feeling. 

Your expression drops, and your mother recognizes it instantly as the look of finally allowing yourself to let in the very best of ideas. Your posture straightens imperceptibly, and your mother disguises her proud smile with a sip from her own teacup. She loves seeing you like this, lighting up as your mind is flooded in a flash brainstorm. 

“That’s it…” you mutter again, aloud this time. You stand up, careful not to spill your beverage, and you take a great big sip before setting it down hastily. 

“Thank you,” you sigh gratefully to your mother, giving her a squeeze around the middle, and a honey chamomile kiss to the cheek before you depart. 

“I really must go now,” you say regrettably, but she’s already waving you off with affection. 

“Be safe, dear.” She smiles, then gives you a subtle and humorous look. “And don’t lose your head.”

You let out a laugh from your nose. 

“I think you’ve come close enough for the both of us.”

You exit the Embassy in a rush, determination and your mother’s laughter following in your footsteps. For the first time in days, you know what to do next.

[alacants]

idk if you’ve already been asked this but,, what do you think of the 2004 rg final between coria and gaudio?

as far as the actual tennis is concerned, i'll be honest, i've never watched more than the highlights! it's Before My Time and i haven't had a pressing reason to look up a full replay. however i know about it because uh. well. you know why it's famous. and as for the storyline… 

goddammit i was just going to link some fun articles to read but i guess i will recap this. i feel like a runaway dog falling for a treat trap. op you likely know all this already, and if you know about this then i am not adding anything particularly new or insightful here. BUT if you don't and you like reading about stefaniil version 1.0 old tennis beef:

gaston gaudio and guillermo coria were childhood frenemies from argentina

they were both part of the golden generation of argentine players called la legión, the equivalent of late 00s spain or present-day italy (how and why this happened)

prior to this era argentina had not had a grand slam champion in 25 years, since guillermo vilas in 1979

guillermo coria is named after guillermo vilas

because he is from a Tennis Family. dad was a coach, started playing at the age of 3. his first birthday cake was racket shaped and he can't remember his first tournament bc he was too young. most importantly, he was financially backed by the argentinean tennis fed from a young age. 

won his first title a month after his 18th birthday, by beating… gaston gaudio. three months later he was hit with a 7 month suspension for doping violations, which he ascribed to contaminated vitamin supplements

suspension did not stop his rise. he became the original king of clay, making 6 clay masters finals in 2 years. his last final, rome 05 vs rafa, is a classic. the question was not if he would play for a roland garros title but when.

he was also kind of an asshole.

took shots at his rivals in the press. went through coaches like water. famously beefed with argentina's davis cup captain, who had also been his very first pro coach, until the guy quit.

MEANWHILE gaston gaudio was a much more mercurial talent who had a tortured relationship with tennis. tons of talent (ohbh aficionados check it out), not… tons… of mental stability

you may know him from (clears throat) QUE MAL QUE LA ESTOY PASANDOOO

picked up tennis because his brother played too, liked it fine, but only decided to go pro bc some family setbacks meant they needed the $$

the nyt characterized it as: "gaudio is the self-made miracle, while coria is his country's chosen pet project."

gaudio ground through challengers for a while; in 2002, when he was 24 and still hadn't won an atp title, guga kuerten took him aside like, kid when are you going to get serious. 

easy for guga to say! famous gaudio quote: "my problem is not that i don't want to play, it's that i don't want to live." outside assessment: "memorable for various chokes, fade-outs and displays of mental fragility." he was particularly well-known at home for losing argentina's davis cup semifinal in 2003, coming into the semifinal tie 4-0 in dc play and promptly losing to none other than juan carlos ferrero 4-6 0-6 0-6.

(i, of course, know him from the 2005 roland garros match where up 4-0 in the fifth set he told his opponent david ferrer's coach, don't worry i'm going to lose. :) and did.)

however he did eventually start winning, locking down his first title at barcelona 2002 and his second the week after. he also eventually started working with a sports psychologist, before such things were a given, and stabilized somewhat… but still no more titles.

so they are two great players in a golden generation who have been playing each other their entire lives

and they hate each other.

as mentioned coria's first title was a win over gaudio in chile. coria supported river plate in the football and gaudio supported independiente, and because this is argentina that led to aggressive post-match trolling. which was returned with interest one week later when gaudio beat coria in the buenos aires qfs, after the two of them spent the whole match insulting each other. (gaudio allegedly smacked coria in the face with the independiente flag which is very funny to me.)

then there's the hamburg 03 sf, where 1. coria allegedly faked cramps 2. then mocked gaudio for not having enough heart 3. gaudio shouted that if coria looked at him wrong he'd beat the shit of him 4. and slammed coria against the wall in the locker room 5. then coria got in a fistfight with gaudio's brother

(some of this is alleged but the fact that it was believably alleged at all…)

during the rg pre-match presser one of the reporters was like, haha, how are you and coria different! and gaudio responded "well that question would need a VERY LONG answer but i think we should talk about tennis here so let's not get into that"

going into the final their h2h was 3-1 in coria's favor, all on clay. coria was the runaway favorite; no one had expected gaudio—ranked 44th and unseeded—to make it this far. (and yet to get there he'd beaten hewitt and nalbandian…) you can skim this mtf pre-match thread to get an idea of just how much of a favorite gaudio was not.

sure enough coria bagels gaudio in the first set and takes the second 3-6

then he starts cramping

OR DOES HE, a large contingent of tennis fans think he's faking it just like he (allegedly) did in hamburg

however in his post-match presser, he says that because of the doping ban he's too afraid to take vitamins or supplements. so he keeps cramping. i leave it to you, the viewer, to decide.

anyway. coria loses the third set 6-4. and then gets breadsticked

as mentioned i have not actually watched the complete match, i just know the lore. so maybe i'm being unfair to coria. but it is Famous famous as like. the choke of all time. 

though it's possibly more accurate to say that they both crumbled but coria crumbled more. the opposite of the sincaraz final, if you will.

gaudio wins 0-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 8-6

they hug at net and then coria immediately turns around and smashes his racket

after this match coria got the yips and entered a career-ending death spiral

but not before the 05 world team cup! where coria pulled out of a spicy tie vs chile, gaudio said "let's be honest, this isn't a team because there's someone who only chooses the best for himself," and coria responded with "everyone knows we're not friends but i say things face to face instead of going to the press"

gaudio also never really played the same again. (he had a streak of smaller clay titles in 2005 and then nothing to speak of until retiring in 2011.) i actually have no idea whHAHA OH MY GOD so in 2018 he was appointed argentina's davis cup captain. they did… all right, they didn't get relegated but they didn't make the finals before he was sacked in 2021.

whereupon he was replaced by. guillermo coria.

who continues to beef with everyone he has ever met and will continue to do so until the heat death of the universe

how do you say i love mess in argentinian spanish

argentinian tennis experts if you have any especially juicy additions Please Share. meanwhile i guess i'm off to watch this replay!

[kirus-grotto]

Je t’aime

Malleus and Yuu sneak off from the Ball for a moment alone.

Just another fluffy self indulgent fic bc the current event was fun

Groups of people danced along to the music while Yuu made her way to a refreshment table. Dancing with Grim and the others for so long had left her parched. She could feel a figure suddenly beside her as she’d finished her drink; only to be a mix of surprise and discomfort as she turned to find it had been Rollo.

The gray haired mage had his arms crossed watching everyone. He turned his eyes to meet hers once he noticed her stare. “Would you… care to dance?” he asked a tad awkwardly. “Though I’m sure you’d rather not.”

Yuu felt an eyebrow twitch in annoyance. “...Sure. Why not.” she said flatly. She had wanted to talk to him anyway, and allowed him to lead her out to the dance floor after a moment of surprise.

The pair kept at arm's length as they twirled around. “You need not glare at me so. I plan to tell everyone the truth after you leave tomorrow.” Rollo said. “You could have just told me no.”

The Ramshackle prefect narrowed her eyes more. “Just because the rest forgave you doesn’t mean I will. I can’t say I’m surprised though, they’re better than me,” she’d snapped. Taking a deep breath to calm herself she added, “Besides. I needed to tell you something anyway.”

“...And that would be?” Rollo felt himself swallow hard at the ice in her voice.

Yuu’s eyes drifted over his shoulder, a sweet smile came upon her face before she leaned in to whisper into his ear, “If you ever try to hurt my friends again, I’ll make what you did tonight look like an innocent childrens movie.”

A shiver went down his spine just before a hand brushed against his shoulder. His dark green eyes turned to meet the brighter green of Malleus.

“May I cut in, Flamme?” The dragon fae had asked, a soft smile upon his face.

Rollo fought at the urge to shove Yuu at him. Instead he merely stepped away, bringing his cloth to his face and walked off. 

Malleus blinked in confusion before turning his attention back to Yuu, who continued her sweet, innocent expression. He smiled back at her as he bowed; his hand extended out for her to take. Yuu felt as if she were floating as she now danced with her Tsunotarou. No words were spoken between the two as they danced to the rest of the current song and most of the next. 

“I’m glad you were able to save your new gargoyle friends too.” Yuu muttered, resting her head against the taller man’s chest.

He closed his eyes as he smiled. “Yes, I hope to say goodbye to them before we leave.”

Yuu turned her face up to meet his again. “What if we sneak off when no one's paying us any attention? I’d love to have a chance to properly meet them before we go. I’m sure Silver could keep Sebek distracted long enough for us to at least get out of the room.”

Malleus couldn’t help the chuckle that came out of him. “It would be nice to have a moment alone with you, child of man.”

The prefect hid the blush creeping onto her cheeks into his chest again. “After this dance then?”

“After this dance,” he repeated.

Once the song ended the pair casually split off, Yuu to tell Deuce, Grim, and Epel not to wait up; Malleus to tell Silver and Sebek that he’d be getting fresh air. Also encouraging Sebek to continue enjoying himself and to not to worry. The two made eye contact across the room and nodded, now making their way outside to meet up.

The long trek had Yuu almost giving up, and the stairs certainly weren’t helping. Malleus, without missing a beat, scooped her up bridal style to carry her the rest of the way. 

“Mal! You brought another friend during the ball?”

“Did Az and Id join? Are they somewhere behind you?”

The third gargoyle nudged Malleus while Yuu and the other two greeted and talked. “Bringing your lady friend up here mid ball eh?”

 “No, it’s just us.” Malleus smiled warmly.

“I’m Yuu, it’s so nice to get to officially meet you all!”

“My… lady friend?” The fae blinked in surprise.

“Is she not?” the gargoyle blinked back at him. “With how you carried and looked at her I assumed you were going to be romantic.”

Malleus looked from the gargoyle over to Yuu, a smile subconsciously appearing on his lips. “Hmm.. I suppose I can see what you mean..”

“Tsunotarou, look!” Yuu called to him. “You can see the sunrise from up here already!”

“We’ll leave you have your moment,” said the gargoyle, motioning for the other two to follow him down a level as Malleus stepped forward to be beside Yuu.

The soft orange of the sky shone in the distance as the sun just began to peak out of the horizon. Yuu snuggled close to her friend as she began to shiver; he in turn wrapped his arm tightly around her shoulders. 

“They’ll probably be wondering what’s taking us so long now..” Yuu whispered.

“Perhaps.” Malleus replied. Though neither of them had made to move just yet. “I had hoped we would have a moment with just us.” He moved his arm from her shoulders down her back to her waist. His other hand he placed on her face, softly moving his thumb along her cheek. “Within my research I learned how to say this in Fleur City’s native language.” He leaned down to place a gentle kiss onto her forehead. “Je t’aime, Yuu.”

A blush instantly made its way onto her face. “Tsun– M-Malleus?”

“Though this trip didn’t quite go as I had expected, I’m glad I got to spend some of this time with you. Je t’aime.” He said again, this time placing another gentle kiss on her lips.

In a heartbeat her hands moved to cup his face to kiss him back. “I.. I love you too.” She breathed. “So much..”

They held each other close as the sun continued to rise. Soon it would be time to head back to NRC, but until then, the new couple had a few more hours to dance atop the Bell Tower, just the two of them until it was time to officially leave Fleur City.

[bradshawed]

the holiday — pick the setting/location && the person and i’ll write you a blurb!

okok what about a work christmas party that sirius asks you to be his date to!! even though you thought he had absolutely no interest in you because ur polar opposites. little do u know he’s been fawning over u forever and everyone but u knew it x

When Sirius meets Angel

warnings — fem!reader, use of "angel", fluff, bad graphics, sap!jamie, slight self-depreciation, mild swearing, hidden holiday hints, slight cliff-hanger

note — siri's so sweet in this one, you might get a toothache! hehe might have to write for him more bc i can't get enough of him now. added in a little jamie & rem bc why not and it wouldn't be a work party without them to knock some sense into him. went a little overboard and tried some new graphics which i might include more often! love u mal and thank you sm for the inspiring requests, i had loads of fun writing them!

drew's christmas celly x

...

Shit. Sirius nervously fidgeted with his phone, his eyes flickering down to see if you'd replied. He hadn't meant to freak you out. He just wanted to ask you to be his date to the bloody office Christmas party but clearly, he couldn't even seem to get that right.

James barged into Sirius' bedroom with Remus softly trailing behind. "What's this about you asking Angel to be your date to the office party by text?" Sirius groaned throwing his arms dramatically to the side, somewhat resembling a starfish. "I didn't fucking mean to, I was asking if she was coming and it just slipped out. Trust me, I'd ask her in person but I chickened out and then she was ill and-" He let out another groan, turning over onto his stomach and burring his face in his silk covered pillow.

"I can hear you self-depreciating from here Sirius, you know that's my job." Remus dodged James' pillow, taking a seat on the edge of the bed, "she left you on read because she doesn't believe you'd like someone like her."

"W-what d'you mean someone like 'er? She's perfect, smart, beautiful, so fuckin' beautiful." Sirius rolled over so his voice wasn't muffled by the pillow, "Why wouldn't I like her?" (I should mention here that James let out a sniffle, he really was a sap).

"You and Angel are like Lily and I, we're opposites. You remember how long it took for Lily to believe that I wasn't fucking around and that I loved her?" Sirius' eyes widen in realisation, "you've shown her, everyone in the bloody building knows how much you love her, now you just need to tell her how you feel Padfoot!"

Sirius leaps to his feet kissing them both sloppily on their cheeks, "we love you too mate, now go!"

...

Your eyebrows furrowed at the sound of someone running up the stairs, muttering to themselves as they paced outside your apartment door. Grabbing a frying pan, you slowly opened the door to see- "Siri? W-what are you doing here?" The wild haired boy looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"Can I come in?"

You offered him a glass of water which he nervously gulped down before jumping up from your sofa to return to burning a hole in your carpet. Moments passed by before you'd had enough, standing up and taking his hands in yours to stop him from twisting his rings around his pretty fingers. He stilled, grounding himself instantly in your touch.

"You're warm." He noted, feeling your hands delicately holding his cold ones. You hummed in reply, softly running your fingers over his veins.

"You don't believe that I love you." Your hands stilled. "I don't understand how you could, I- we're opposites."

"Opposites attract don't they?" You rolled your eyes affectionately, "Siri-"

"Do you know why I call you Angel?"

Silence.

"It's because you are. You stay late to help Remus with his workload, sometimes taking it on yourself when he's ill. You always ask James about Lily and Harry, bringing him presents on his birthday that are always a hit! You're the reason I'm not dehydrated or living off black coffee all the time." Your nose scrunched up at the mention of his coffee order. "And it's the little things too like you bring an extra umbrella in case someone forgets theirs, you have a mini first aid kit in your bag in case anyone hurts themselves, you always smile and ask people how their day's going even if you want to leave and go home and curl up on your sofa watching Harry Potter. Then there's that little nose scrunch when I mention my coffee order, the little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts, it's fucking adorable. I love that after I spend a day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes, and I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's Christmas. I came here tonight because when you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody-"

"You want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. You watched it.." You trailed off, your doe eyes widening in awe as it all clicked into place, every moment, every coffee order remembered, every bouquet, every smile, every conversation..

"For you, I'd do anything."

"Be my date to the Christmas party?"

"Isn't that my line?" He smiled down at you cheekily as you leaned into his touch, slowly closing the gap between you.

[chevvy-ryder]

WIP Wednesday Whenever

Got tagged by @elvenbeard! ich danke mal wieder! <3

—

GENERAL:

Thought a lot this week and I set myself a goal for 2024: to be more structured with content for CP77 so I do not loose my passion for it. First I made a decision to only boot my laptop when:

I have an actual idea in mind I desperately want to vp. This used to be the case at the start of the year but along the way it seems I've lost it and instead only piled up my ideas …

in order of finishing a chapter for the 2078 story as some vp is to be added to support the written text (my friend and I share the vp work here too).

if I get asked directly by a modder to take shots for mods.

I just want to play the game ffs (which is rare in itself).

Don't want to force myself anymore to boot up the game each weekend, so that I have some content to post and keep up with this fast living fandom, as it produces vp and mods it feels like close to mass production.

I want to share quality in my content and not end up in just doing quantity. Which means I have to learn to stay more focused on what I want to create in the first place and one after another. This includes get less distracted which includs less browsing my dash and also be less on discord (servers).

So if you really want me to see your content:

a. tag me directly in your post (I do not mind being tagged!) b. send me a link via dm/discord c. use the tag: #chevvy-yates as I will follow this tag from now on.

Hope you understand my own problem and respect my decision, but I have to change something. The least I want is having you think I do not like your content anymore or I do ignore you. If you feel like I do, feel free to tell me about it! Sometimes I do not notice it myself.

Enough of that — now back to a bit content:

— VP/GRAPHICS:

I'll post this boy again tomorrow 🤍

and once I am able to push the button he will be back with lightning:

I reworked these two spotify covers for my two hc radio stations:

they look like this now:

Decided to place Ry's face into them bc they are made for him anyways. At first my intention was to stay more casual but didn't like the simplicity of pic + station icon/logo. Even tho I liked the concept with the chain boots a lot I've felt it doesn't have a reference to 'hell' and 'tech' as soon as I went to make the cover for my chrome chamber Rave playlist. Which lets me come to the next thing I sat down for a few days. I made a cover and moodboards for Hell Bunker/Chrome Chamber Rave:

SNIPPET:

a part of the Ryder oneshot I'm also still on:

His thumb keeps browsing his phone like it has its own life and a long moment later Ry catches himself now browsing his contact list. He didn’t want to call anyone specifically, also not around this time. He just keeps randomly scrolling the alphabet until he arrives at ‘T’. A smile steals onto his lips as he reads the same name, he spoke aloud prior, on his screen and pictures rush through his slightly tipsy mind. Long gone memories of his first clubbing experiences in Berlin. Back then he always had to be home around midnight. Both his legs still have some post-response to the last song he was raving to in the underground, making it impossible for him to sit quiet at all so he jumps up into a standing position and yells “I rave as fucking long as I want to—” There’s a long pause until he continues low “—like you always wished for me, Tommy …” Saying his first love’s name aloud for a second time now makes his smile on his dark contoured lips fade quickly. It’s the moment where Ryder senses that, after nearly 10 years, he still misses him. His thumb has already pressed the contact number and his hand moves up to hold the phone onto his ear. Ryder doesn’t think about his movements at all, his mind just froze in the moment as he moves mechanically. Only when hears the ‘Connection unavailable,’ it pulls him back from wherever he has been to. His right arm falls back into a hanging position, leaving him just standing there in the street. Deine Nummer ist seit jeher noch gleich, doch unter dieser scheiß Nummer werd’ ich dich nie wieder erreichen, wanders through Ry’s mind. Denn da wo du bist, geht keiner ran. Da ist kein Empfang. Ry’s phone is not the phone he used to have back then but he never cared about deleting any numbers at all and so they moved to the next phone and the next one after that and so on.

I tag all that recently reblogged me and those who come to my mind rn: @wraithsoutlaws, @therealnightcity, @dreamskug, @caer-oswin, @ @alphanight-vp, @kdval, @kittenchrissy, @gloryride, @rosapexa, @wanderingaldecaldo, @aggravateddurian, @streetkid-named-desire @imaginarycyberpunk2023, @pinkyjulien, @medtech-mara, @heywoodvirgin, @genocidalfetus, @ouroboros-hideout, @aggravateddurian, @ne0n-rust, @a-pirate, @breezypunk @peaches-n-screem, @jaymber, @lokiina, @shivsghost, @miss--river, @t0tentanz, @cyberpunkaddict, @cinnamon-mey, @spicyraeman, @fereldanwench @86maylin and @morganlefaye79 – also everyone who likes to do a WIP Wesdnesday/Whenever and as always and no pressure! I tagged more this time just to make sure u got notice of my decision in 'general' and that I intend to use my name as a tag now

[virginmiri99]

Looking for new content? Here's a list of CCs I like while I procrastinate cleaning my room

I will go from most popular to least and maybe you'll find something you are interested in. Kinda long so I added read more.

DougDoug - needs no introduction as he is very popular, I recently started watching his videos because a student vouched for him and while I can see why kids will like his challenge videos, I also find his content very entertaining. Especially while you eat dinner. Big fan of his zelda content. Parkzer is an interesting side character.

Squeex - PLEASE. If you want to get into Squeex start with his beating every mario kart game video. It's a good introduction and you can go from there. Please.

Linkus7 - My favorite Zelda runner as of late, I consider him a part of a triangle consisting of PointCrow, Smallant, and him. Though, he is lesser known within the greater sphere of twitch. His randomizers are the most fun in my opinion. I try to save his recent vods when I can, as he doesnt save them anymore.

Sambucha - STOP he makes like lowkey mindless kids content videos but I'm like obsessed with him for some reason. One of my students forced me to watch his "beating the easiest world records" video and I was immediately enthralled. He makes content thats easy to listen to while you draw. But I'm sure you can do other things with it on in the background.

Sturniolo Triplets - Content that is popular with teen girls, but I'm still obsessed for some reason. I just love people who have a good relationship just hang out together. Podcast vibes. Nick is the funniest. CONS: Chris is a queerbaiter at heart, though he is in a youtube group with his brothers. Hmm. Cant be doing that here.

Stephanie Soo - Mukbang true crime girl. I loved her video in high school and I would always put on her videos while I was in painting II - III or drawing. Too bad I cant watch her anymore because too much true crime makes me too paranoid. If you like true crime shes an easy watch, keeps thing friendly and accessible. I love her and her husbands relationship.

Trin Lovell - Reviews movies and by far my favorite movie watcher on youtube. Her editing is really funny and quippy. She got popular from watching best and worse riverdale and glee episodes (shes a big glee fan). my favorite videos from her are where hands touch and skinamarink. I have gained many new phrases from her.

StephenPlays - Smaller youtuber whos been in the game for like fifteen years. He is very chill and does letsplays with his friends and wife. I recommend his twilight princess and mario kart play throughs (featuring his wife Mal).

Any Austin - one of my fav youtubers ever and I've been a fan of him for 11 years now. He basically shaped my humor as a kid and I recommend his eggbusters series to get started. He had a letsplay channel called Two People Playing Games with his friend Aysha that sadly disbanded as they became too busy in their lives to keep up with it. Austin has done a lot of content over the years and recently is getting big for is "calculating the unemployment level of ___" keep this on the DL but if you ever want any privated videos I know a guy.

The Fisher - MAGNET FISHING

People you may have heard of, but made never checked out! My vouch:

Drew Gooden - Obviously. Funniest commentary youtuber. If you haven't watched him what are you doing?

Jenny Nicholson - I got into beef with her in 2019 (i think) when everyone was making fun of her for being a Reylo and she blocked me. I still like her commentary videos. Especially for background noise. My acc she blocked me on was suspended.

Johnny's Communication Center -

Sinjin Drowning - theyre snakes and lowkey the azealia banks of I guess roblox content bc thats all they do anymore but I'll be damned if I'm not CACKLING at them. They have a trail of destroyed friendships as long as the empire state building behind them.

[nettlesprouts]

EPISODE 2!!!

vanessa just said “xander is more like my roommate” HELLO??? oh my god what…

mal is literally so cool, great takes, great vibes, my fav so far

lexi and mal power couple LEXI DO NOT PICK VANESSA I STG

tiff is so real, i also have to have everyone OUT of the kitchen when im in there YESSS

also from what she’s saying, mildred is also making me a little nervous…

sam seems quite goated tbh

the music is taking me OUT lmao

mildred describing falling in love as “feeling like you can’t breathe without them” is… idk how i feel about that

vanessa’s top options being lexi AND rae is CRAZYYYYY what!!!

she also pretends she knows people and it’s so weird “i love that when you’re nervous you start shaking your foot” like what???

omg xander saying vanessa felt like “vanessa would have her own kids and i would have my own kids” that’s so weird THATS SO WEIRD AHHH

oh my god vanessa is so corny lmao

“you’re such an adult it’s disgusting” as lexi talks about investing is SUCH a red flag, like at least PRETEND to be responsible

ok at least vanessa is being honest that she doesn’t want to get married

“do you think there’s a chance xander could find someone else?” “no, i’m beautiful, right?” :0 WHAT!!! oh my god and she’s spilling PERSONAL shit about xander’s sexual struggles AHHHH STOP!

YES LEXI GET HER ASS! thank GOD!! i also feel vanessa is fake too! real real real!

“tequila will never not remind me of lexi” vanessa you are so dramatic oh my lord

lexi getting upset with rae for being attracted to other people is totally fair bc she’s human but also that IS the point of the show so idk, i lowk just feel bad for rae

sam is so cute i love her omg

bro mildred coming after tiff INSTANTLY it’s adding to my nervousness towards her

i have my issues with yoly but her hating vanessa from the beginning, YES!

vanessa being mad at xander for being into yoly is so weird like have you not just been hitting on everyone here??? “i just feel like a fucking idiot” vanessa is SO manipulative WHATTTT

i cant tell if vanessa is super insecure or just like,,, weird? idk this is so odd

vanessa interrupting xander to be rude about someone they talked to for like one second is so weird? the host literally had to change the subject bc it was so uncomfortable like what?? girl ur WEIRD!!!

like watch how respectful mal is being while xander and yoly choose each other? THAT is how you do it (yes mal is my goat currently)

lexi talking about vanessa and then vanessa going on to talk about mal?? like you guys talked ONCE?? she is SO weird what???

OMG LEXI IS CALLING OUT VANESSA FOR COMING AFTER XANDER YESSSSS!!! thank you lexi YES! and she did it respectfully without being interrupted

OMG MILDRED WIN? apparently vanessa has being telling xander to fuck off all night? thank you mildred for calling that one out erm what???

final thoughts:

YES i know this is heavily edited so please take everything i say with a grain of salt (not that anyone is reading this). with that being said, i don’t like vanessa…

[nerice]

in this tech climate i think websites should be banned from making april fool's joke changes bc TWICE today i almost charged my beam attack first at the fucking chatbot popping up on MAL offering anime recs (the joke is that it's always one piece) but my instinct reaction was literally just OH NO not here too. and then fucking discord's 'the last meadow' smth smth touching grass game or whatever i just skimmed the reddit post bc I Do Not Care and genuinely just believed they had rolled out the ads in desktop early. god

[tamsiblings]

so, not gonna lie! i think simon comes off fairly sympathetically in this particular blunder.

like, when you think about it; they JUST woke up, and have to be hungover as hell, and mal is standing over them. simon knows , based on their general relationship (pilot anyone?), how protective mal is over kaylee, and while i don’t think mal Actually cares whether simon and kaylee slept together, it’s really not that unreasonable for simon to assume he might. (another element of this is that they were both drunk, and i think simon was sort of trying to say he wouldn’t take advantage of her? which i do actually think mal would care about, it was just unnecessary to say bc i don’t think it ever crossed mal’s mind in the first place.)

anyway, i understand why kaylee’s upset, because SHE feels like they had a good night together and then simon, while sober, is acting embarrassed by the idea of being with her because she wouldn’t be an ‘appropriate’ person to be with. i understand why that would hurt.

but that's also very clearly not what simon actually means. it’s much more of a miscommunication than in safe, whereas he legitimately insulted kaylee (or at least the things she cares about/values and her way of life) without even realizing it. he says later in this ep: he’s trying to be respectful towards her, BECAUSE he likes her. they just have different ideas about what that looks like because they come from different cultural backgrounds and have to reconcile that. and again, he was very flustered so what he was Trying to say came out poorly, lmao.

i also do think that... hm how do i want to phrase this.

to be clear: i love kaylee and like that she has flaws! characters are boring without flaws! and i do think one of hers that she takes things very personally and acts a little petty in response to that sometimes. i think in some instances, that can be fair and understandable. here, i think it leans a little more to the unfair side. being mad or not wanting to talk to simon would be one thing; deliberately leaving him behind in an episode emphasizing that they all know he's out of depth in a town like this and is just unfamiliar to him in general comes across as a little mean-spirited and petty, lmao. in fairness: simon is an adult, and it's not like they have reason to believe he will be in any significant danger. they may well have assumed he would have just gone back to the ship right away. it's possible my fore-knowledge of the fact that he will get beat up pretty badly is coloring this lmao. it's just one of those instances where, while i understand being upset, i don't think the punishment quite fits the crime when the crime was 'wording something kind of badly in an awkward situation.'

also tbf kaylee's probably hungover too, which could be adding to the irritability lmao

[nami-moittli]

Okay, since [3] people liked my post, here’s the charts for my

Though, I will admit, I feel like the shojou influence may lessen after the first group, but oh well. It’s the drama filled romance twst AU.

So, the freshman gang is the main one, along with the only one I bothered to add text in the image itself.

These guys are also the only ones who have any real semblance of a plot going on, and I imagine if this was an actual shojou romance anime, there’d be two seasons, so dynamics get changed and two more characters (Grim and Yuu!) get added into the mix. But I haven’t made that chart yet, so I won’t talk about it unless someone asks

Anyway, Ortho would be the main character here, as she was the reason why I decided to make this AU at all lol. (Btw, she’s 16 just like everyone else here, so don’t worry about it) Epel and her are best friends and as such I decided to give him his own side plot as well!

Since I wanted Ortho and Epel to already be established as best friends, I decided to mash their hometowns closer together, and I also wanted to make them know Vil for awhile too, so Idia, Ortho, Epel, Vil & Jack have all known each other since elementary. The others they only met in HS. Why? It’s probably a really prestigious one like in canon or smth, idk

Bc of this, Epel’s been crushing on Jack since, idk, elementary? Middle school? Awhile now, that’s for sure. Ortho’s been making fun of him for not being able to confess for years now, and he finally decided to ask him out in HS, but by the planned time comes, Oops! He likes Sebek now too! Ortho is understanding, but loves to make references to cringy manga and anime that have love triangles/harems in it. That is, until she falls for both Ace and Deuce, and suddenly Epel can have payback.

There’s definitely more to this, but that’s all I feel like writing about rn for them.

Onto the next ones!

Now this description will have less in it cause I definitely think of these guys the least, but I will say that one love square ends in two couples, and the other in polyamory, so,that’s fun!

Also, to balance out the gender ratio, Jade and Floyd are Jade and Floyd, Riddle, Kalim, Azul, Jamil & Ruggie are all girls. Silver can be the token guy. Or I could change my mind and make her a girl. Idk.

I do have a bit more to say about the juniors tho!

First off, I didn’t know where to fit in Cater & Trey, so they’re kinda just in the background. Maybe Trey & Vil had smth but now Trey and Cater are dating? Idk, but they’re here!

Anyway, back to the exes, yk how I said that Vil, Jack, Idia, Ortho & Epel all knew each other? Yeah, back in middle school, Idia and Vil dated for, around a (school) year (plus summer) I wanna say? Maybe a bit less than that. But in their freshman year they broke up, leaving them not really speaking, then about two weeks later Vil and Leona started dating, so that just kinda rubbed salt in the wound for Idia and he went back to staying in his room 24/7 again. Though he does show up at school more often than his canon counterpart does, I feel. Simply bc this is supposed to be a no magic AU, so flying tablets are a bit harder to get from class to class with lmao

Anyway, after who knows how long, maybe for like 6 months or so? Vil and Leona break up. Not sure how long after that, maybe a month, little more than that? Anyway, then Leona and Malleus date for like, a week? Idk, Leo & Mal remind me of two middle school boys who hate each other, so do with that as you will lol

Second year maybe you could fit in the Trey thing but idk. Anyway, Vil & Rook have been going strong since then, and Idia’s recently gained a crush on Malleus. Shenanigans ensue

The only other thing I’ll note is that Lilia doesn’t attend school with his kids, maybe he’s a teacher? Part-time substitute? Idk, but just like in canon he’s Mal & Silver’s dad (and Sebek’s too lol) and online friends with Idia. So that’s fun!

Anyway, that’s all for now, if anyone wants to know more, feel free to ask!

[runofthemil]

intro

hello, i am miltiadis and i will be guiding you to some of my activities/hobbies/interests!

so, let's start off by saying that this is my third time on this app and i am trying it again because of the destructive behaviour of twitter's owner, our beloved elon musk.

despite having used this platform before i still don't really know how to "optimise" my experience here, so if anything seems off or ugly be kind lol.

now for the interests part

i am an anime watcher as my pfp and banner suggest. here is my anilist, which i update regularly and is a more accurate depiction of my scores. here is my mal account, which i'm not a fan of anymore.

here are my favourite anime of 2023: buddy daddies (well, duh) skip to loafer oshi no ko

i also play genshin impact and star rail! my fav characters from genshin are tartaglia and al haitham

my fav characters from star rail are danheng, kafka and blade!

at the moment i am still studying for my uni semester finals. i am in my second year of uni and i study political science and international relations!

i am greek and i am fluent in english. i also know german and i am adding french to my linguistic portfolio.

i once used to read many books in a year but that's a thing of the past. i still love literature though.

i am a swiftie but i don't consider myself a diehard fan of any singer. my favourite taylor swift albums are folklore, reputation and midnights!

i like watching tv series too, especially series on netflix bc that's the only streaming network i can afford lol.

i used to be deep into the studyblr community. some famous accounts here probably raised me lol. all three of my favourite accounts are now inactive and i think two of them have graduated this year! time flies fast ig

i guess that's all i can recall about myself right now but if you ever see this post and want to learn more about me hit me up!

[wine-cult]

This is actually something we naturally pay a lot of attention to! We are hyperautoanalytical, for reasons related to Autism, OCD, BPD and also trauma-related hypervigilance. Plus we have a collective special interest in etymology. And we go through life with Such intention that most folks can't even see.

Collectively, there are things we all do:

We are required to all use UK spellings, even if the individual is specifically American [which they're not happy about but this is enforced by the brain via much discomforts if they try to use US spellings]. Anything else here, the brain allows to be optional.

We prefer [square brackets] instead of (parentheses) because we find things easier to read that way.

We also do tone tags as [./tag] instead of just /tag for the same reason.

We usually italicise any titles, and, unlike our usual text acronym behaviour [ex: omg], capitalise titles that are in their own font, acronym or not, such as BMC [Be More Chill] and EPIC: The Musical.

We also capitalise and use apostrophes on certain specific acronyms like DM's, MAP's, TERF's, PDA, MOGAI and LIOM, AD and BCE, etc.

But specifically do not capitalise certain other acronyms like omg, wtf, lol, lmao, idk, idc, iirc, ab, smth bc, and "etc." itself. We're also very particular about including the period after "etc."

More to the last point, we will specifically avoid using these at the beginnings of sentences if we want the sentence to be capitalised.

We also refuse to capitalise keyboard smashes, and try to avoid any solitary instances of hh, hhhh, kkk or xxx [h, x and k are all letters we sometimes use alone for onomatopoeia]

We collectively use o.0 and <3 a lot.

We use an apostrophe for 'cause, because... we do.

Ellipses are generally only 3, and if they're 2 or 4 or more, it is intentional and means something.

On the mismatch of AD and BCE, we've only known BC to mean "before Christ", and while we don't have a problem with Jesus [we don't worship him but he's cool], we just. no. He's just one guy, deity or not. If it was defined by the birth of Lord Hypnos, who we do worship, we still would prefer Before Common Era. "After Death" though makes no sense and also is made up, it's ad domini, and we believe the creators of the calendar deserve the respect of AD continuing to be used, because they did a good job so the Latin can stay. Plus we don't like "common era", especially in comparison to BCE, nor do we like BC alone due to "bc" being short for "because".

Other than all that, even though there are of course many similarities, we definitely do type differently. Although there are too many of us to be able to really identify us in this way, the differences still are there.

Rosalie prefers to be able to properly use the Oxford comma.

Riley uses every abbreviation and shortcut available and ends every phrase with ellipses.

My zizi Andromeda uses Emphasis Capitalisation a Lot for Everything, All of the time.

My sibling Ivy uses a lotttttttttt of exclamation points.

Jester makes sures to use all the proper spelling and punctuation and also it comes through that it's emotionless.

Odysseus, when he was solely Máxime Le Mal [mixtive] felt self conscious saying "ze" instead of "the" but avoided using any contractions. He stopped avoiding it after absorbing the source of Odysseus though.

Terry and Avery, who are fictives of the same American Southerner, both spell in accordance to their accents. Yer instead of your/you're, cain't instead of can't [not "cain" though, even though they pronounce it that way, since that one could easily be misunderstood] replacing a lot letters with apostrophes, such as bein', liter'ly, 'cept etc. Although the apostrophe isn't always used, particularly for -ing words, since there are so many, so they'll just drop the g without replacing it [Avery especially but Terry too].

Fin capitalised names [but not all proper nouns] and "I" but avoided sentence capitalisation. It also critically under-uses commas.

Raine avoids any and all capitalisation, including for "I", proper nouns including names, and anything else. Even xyr display name on PluralKit is lowercase. Xe also avoids apostrophes iirc.

Hale and Troy² I can quote on things they noticed about their own typing...

And there's certainly more! There are hundreds of headmates and also not everything is easily explainable dnakwndjfns. Plus ofc there are typing quirks too.

It's also important to note that we tend to mask a lot more on a platform like Tumblr in this way. On Discord, we can much easier express our own individual typing styles comfortably and freely. On Tumblr, as a platform that functions very differently than a chatform, we feel the need to express more proper grammar and spelling, as well as find a balance between 'overly excited' and 'emotionless therefore comes across as mad', both of which are how we general tend to be. I don't think this is plurality masking though, it's very much Autism masking.

-- Eowyn (zhe/it/they/ask)

question 69: would you say any of you have different typing styles and/or make different choices about whicj words to use and how to phrase things? or is it mostly the same?

[ultramagicalternate]

ULTRAMagic Interlude (BC) Chapter 36

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Master Post - Patreon

“Hey, here comes Blood and Mal,” Drusa pointed out.

“Well then, figured they would have spent more time exploring” Tiberius remarked.

Vexation got up from the picnic table, followed by Drusa. “Knowing Blood, he probably wants to show Mal something.”

“So he does act like a child then?”

“Indeed, Tiberius. I’m not sure if that’s a benefit or a hindrance though.”

Tiberius sighed, thinking about the issue. “I don’t know if having what essentially amounts to a baby lead us is such a good idea…”

“A baby with a three-story house, but I get where you’re coming from, Tiberius,” Drusa replied.

“And he lives by himself?”

“Not quite,” Vexation pointed out. “Me and Drusa are there, and his parents are right across the street.”

“Here’s hoping he asks me or one of us to take charge of the guild…” Tiberius remarked.

Blood-Wraith touched down, shaking the ground a little. Once Mal was safely off his back, he returned to normal. “That was fun. I had no idea the moon was so beautiful.”

Mal started to move towards the tents set up for the workers. “Uncle Tiberius? I’m moving back into the tower.”

“Already? Fine with me then. Do you still want a room in the guild hall or do you think you can manage a commute between here and the tower?”

There was a brief pause as Mal stopped to think. “You know what? I think I can manage.” She then went into one of the tents.

Barry tilted his head a little. “Was there a reason she couldn’t go back in the first place?”

“I’d imagine it was anxiety and mixed emotions from the Epoch,” Tiberius answered. “Eustorgio’s betrayal was a troubling time.”

Cronus nodded. “Such feelings can cause us to do things we normally wouldn’t.” He averted his gaze when he noticed Drusa crossing her arms with an unapproving look on her face.

“Oh hey, Tiberius?” Blood-Wraith said. “You can take as much time as you need with the guild.”

“And why is that, Sir Blood-Wraith?”

“Mom and Drago suggested I go to school for a semester for the fun of it.”

Tiberius nodded in steady approval. “Alright then, sounds good to me. There are some things I wanted to add to the guild hall that’ll need time. Plus some of the members we’ve recruited are taking their time getting here…”

“Oh, and the Shadowland stuff too,” Barry added.

“Good point, Barry,” Cronus agreed. “It would be obnoxious to have Milosh meddling in our affairs. I’m not truly worried, but still.”

A thought occurred to Drusa in relation to Shadowland. “Hey, why don’t you guys go over and help? I mean, things are getting pretty crazy over there.”

“A fair question,” Tiberius replied. “May I ask why you haven’t?”

“Well obviously I was over there and honestly it looks like Barna and Dunja have things under control…”

“Precisely. Plus I’d rather not broadcast our actions to the enemy.”

Vexation chuckled. “And the less time spent near that slime Milosh, the better.”

“Guys, you’re making me want to go visit Aureolus…” Blood-Wraith pointed out.

Tiberius laughed in sympathy. “My apologies, Blood.”

Mal had finally returned with a case full of her belongings. “Alright, ready to go.” She seemed nervous, but also fairly eager to return home.

“Alright then” Vexation said as he cast a spell on the ground that opened up his portal once more. “Keep your hands and arms inside the corridor at all times.”

“See you guys later” Blood-Wraith called out. “And don’t be strangers.”

“Likewise, Sir Blood-Wraith,” Tiberius said as they waved goodbye and the portal closed.

The walk through the corridor was a quick one… the only issue was that they were not where they were supposed to be. “Hey, Vex? Why are we outside my house?” Blood-Wraith asked.

He was confused. “Um, give me a moment… Shoot, well, all I can say is that my method of getting around ain’t an exact method…”

Drusa snickered. “Science ain’t an exact science” she said in a raspy voice.

“Pardon?”

“Oh, sorry, Rich. Just a movie I saw recently that had a line I thought was relevant.”

Someone then cleared their throat. “Sir Blood-Wraith, ten-hut!”

“Yes sir!” Blood-Wraith went to Radovan’s side, who was accompanied by a royal guard. “What are your orders, sir-dad-father-your grace-sir, ARGH!”

Radovan and the guard laughed. “At ease, Sir Blood-Wraith.”

Vexation looked a bit concerned. “Um, what’s the matter, your grace?”

“I figured this would happen,” Drusa admitted. “I sort of came here without telling anyone.”

“No worries, ma’am. His majesty merely wishes to speak with you about your presence here…”

“Permission to speak… dad,” Blood-Wraith requested.

“Granted.”

“Drusa is a Spiritus Magni, an Atlantean goddess from universe-23.”

“Really now? My apologies, your divinity.”

Drusa rubbed the back of her head and chuckled. “No worries, your grace. Let’s go talk to Englehart.”

Radovan was about to lead everyone to the tower when he finally noticed the tall entity behind Drusa. He felt a surge of adrenaline in his blood given the odd appearance of them. “Blood, who is that?”

“Oh, that’s The Malformed of Old, but you can call her Mal. Leif found and adopted her back during the Epoch. She was staying at the guild construction site with Tiberius.”

Mal held out her hand. “It’s an honor to meet you, your grace.”

Radovan shook her hand, despite the unease. Her echoing voice and height was messing with him. “Well, I’m sure the king would also like to meet you too.”

As they began to walk, Blood-Wraith tapped his father’s arm. “What’s the matter, dad?” he whispered.

“I always thought she was just a myth… Just a little surprise is all. It’ll wear off,” he quietly replied.

The group definitely caught some eyes as they made their way through the tower. Mal was somewhere between fascinating and unnerving to everyone. This was nothing new for Mal. Man during the Epoch were scared of her, so the reactions she was getting now were actually fairly comforting. It was going to take some time to get used to all of the new faces, but she was just happy to be home again. Since Radovan had things to tend to, he handed duties off to Blood-Wraith once they were outside of Englehart’s office. Blood-Wraith took a breath, knocked, and was invited in.

Englehart was at his desk, writing some documents. “Blood-Wraith, good to see you again. Take a seat, everyone.”

“Any news from Shadowland, your majesty?” Blood-Wraith inquired.

“No, things seem to be quiet at the moment, which is rarely a good sign on the battlefield. Regardless, I have been sensing some strange things coming from that direction. Speaking of one of them…” He indicated for Drusa to speak.

“Right. Pleasure to meet you, King Englehart. I’m Spiritus Magni Drusa.”

“It is an honor to have you grace our fine city, venerable goddess.”

“You’re familiar with the Spiritus Magni, your majesty?” Vexation asked.

“Aye, I am. During my early days as king, I met one named Maxima…”

Drusa clapped. “That would be one of my students!” she said with pride.

Englehart smiled. “So Drusa, what brings you to The Iron City on this excellent day?”

“Primarily I was looking for my husband and I found him.” Drusa put her arm around Vexation’s shoulders.

“How wonderful. I imagine that was quite the occasion for you, Vexation.”

He nodded. “Absolutely. Englehart, can she live in the city with us? She’s looking for a place to stay…”

“Of course she can. Make yourself right at home, Drusa.”

“Thank you, Englehart,” Drusa replied with a bow. “There is another reason why I’m here, however. You see, I’m looking for one of my fellow Spiritus Magni. Her name is Julia and she’s been missing for some time. She was even missing during the fall of Atlantis.”

“And how can we help with this search?”

“Simple: Rich and all of the knowledge collected in this tower. I firmly believe Julia is in the Dream Realm and I need to be 6th dimensional to go there properly.”

Vexation took a breath. “Ohh boy, that’s quite the tall order, dear.”

Englehart nodded in agreement. “Aye, but if anyone can help her, it’d be you, Vexation. I have to ask, Drusa; How advanced would Julia have to be to be in such a position?”

“She went missing when she became 7th dimensional.”

“Then suppose she most likely knows that Atlantis fell due to the knowledge she has access to.”

Drusa sighed. “I know, but I want peace of mind.”

“Fair enough.”

“6th dimensional, my goodness…” Blood-Wraith commented. “I can’t even begin to imagine that. Oh, your majesty, this here is The Malformed of Old, but you can call her Mal.”

“Hello, your majesty,” she said.

“A pleasure to meet you, Mal.” Englehart got up and gave her a hug. “I’ve heard a great deal about you. Welcome home, my dear.”

“Leif told me about the whole schism incident. Is my room still intact?”

Englehart laughed. “Well considering how locked down Tiberius has those rooms, I doubt Dunja was able to get into them back then.”

“Oh right, duh. Of course Uncle Tiberius thought ahead. He was always good at that stuff.”

“Now Mal, will you be okay with our presence in the tower? I can make it so that your wing is less frequented if you feel that we’ll cause you any anxiety.”

Mal took a second to contemplate that. “It’s alright, your majesty. I’d rather have people get to know me then avoid me. All I really need is some privacy and personal space.”

“Fine with me. Still, would you like to have a couple of stewards assist you in getting your room in line? I’d imagine it needs it given how long you’ve been away.”

“Um… sure. Would you like to come along too, your majesty?” Mal wondered.

“It would be an honor, Mal. In fact, right now would be great. Those documents are killing my hands.” The two laughed. “Drusa, you’re free to go. And don’t be afraid to attend tonight’s dinner. You too, Vex and Blood.”

“Thank you, Englehart,” said Vexation. “We’ll be sure to do that” 

“See you guys later,” Blood-Wraith replied. “Oh, Mal, I’ll send Drago here as soon as I see her.”

“Ooh, thank you, Blood.”

With everything all squared away, Blood-Wraith, Vexation, and Drusa made their way home. “Well that went well,” Blood-Wraith remarked.

“Drusa, honey, please check in with the king next time,” Vexation requested.

“Will do, Rich. Will do.”

Just as Blood-Wraith was about to open his door, he noticed his sister off in the distance. “Oh, Drago… Hey, sister!” He called out as he ran over, with Vexation and Drusa following.

“Hey, Blood,” Dragoslava said as she finished jotting something down in her notepad. “What have you been up to?”

“Firstly, this here is Drusa, Vex’s wife…”

She held out her hand. “Hello, Dragoslava.”

“Hello, Drusa. Nice to meet you.”

“Secondly, there’s a fan of yours in the tower,” Blood-Wraith continued.

Dragoslava looked at him weirdly. “Wait, like, an actual fan?” He nodded. “Well hot dog! Desislav, come on!” She said as she reached over and grabbed his arm.

“Whoa, easy, Drago. What about the plants?”

“No time, we got to go see my fan! Blood, take them to the mansion, please!” she trailed off.

Drusa waved as they left. “Good to see you again, Desislav.”

Vexation raised his eyebrows inquisitively. “You know him?”

She nodded. “Yup. I’ll end up being a guardian angel of sorts for him a few times in the future.”

Blood-Wraith tried to process that and quickly became confused. “But Rome… and the 1900s?”

This caused Drusa to cackle a little. “What they don’t tell you is that Rome and the middle ages never actually happened…” She could sense Blood-Wraith’s mind melting, so she laughed and stopped. “I’m just messing with you, Kiddo. But in all seriousness, I know this stuff is going to happen ahead of time due to being 5th dimensional. Now let’s move these plants.”

After a quick trip to the mansion and saying hello to Rose, the three could finally return to Blood-Wraith’s house. “Drusa, keep the time-talk to a minimum” he said as he sat on the couch.

“Sure thing, Blood,” she replied with a giggle.

Vexation took a seat in his usual recliner. “Well so much for getting anything done today.”

Drusa thought about something for a second, a thought she wanted to present to Blood. “Hey, Blood? I have an idea I’d like you to try tomorrow in regards to learning curse magic.”

This caught his attention. “Really?”

She nodded. “Yup. And if it works, I’m going to try it too…”

Now Vexation’s attention was caught. “Wait, you want to learn it too, Drusa?”

“Yup, and you can’t stop me, dear.”

Vexation laughed. “You know what, Drusa? It’s probably about time you learned it. Just run any further students by me first, okay?”

“Of course. I know how much curse magic means to you after all. I honestly think this is my ticket to becoming 6th dimensional.”

“Well, here’s hoping,” Blood-Wraith said as he turned on the television.

Next: Chapter 37

ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)

[jeanmoreaux]

now here’s my rant:

first off everything you said is sooo real and even though i think i’m more forgiving with the season as a whole than you are, the finale threw it all off and in hindsight ruined a lot of the season for me - it was soooo poorly paced and even felt like it wasn’t cohesive with the rest of the season regardless of how bad the writing has been for all those episodes. it was just bad tv!! normally i am very easy to please when it comes to adaptations bc i think as long as the characters act in line with the book i don’t mind a few plot holes and weird detours and while i think the writing was shitttt in s2 i overall just enjoyed seeing the crows on screen! and nikolai oof! but they were the best parts of a show that should be focused on alina and that’s soooo stupid! i think the actors did great with what they had but it would’ve been amazing to see them with good writing. they completely destroyed alina and mal’s characters and as someone who is a huge fan of how r&r ending it annoys me that they’e go against that…especially bc mal and alina literally just want to vibe on their own away from the government or the grisha. the lAST thing alina would do is run off to fix the government without mal!!! and it’s insanity to me that after all mal went through now he’s just like…..cool with alina hanging out as nikolai’s (consort???? i guess????) when that man has only ever been there to love and protect alina! also we were robbed of white haired alina and i don’t think she should’ve kept her powers and!!!!! I DID NOT WAIT TWO WHOLE SEASONS JUST FOR THEM TO COMPLETELY IGNORE GENYA’S BIGGEST ONE LINER AND TURN IT INTO A THROW AWAY SLUR🤬🤬🤬 really mad they killed david off so early too jesus christ it’s like a tapestry that unravels if you pull one thread

i could just leave this rant standing as it is without adding anything because a resounding yes to all of it. i also don't think i am impossible to please when it comes to adaptations. as long as they stay true to the characters and what the story is about at its core i am pretty much okay. but what sabs2 did goes against so much of what tgt is about, and that's a big part of why this season didn't work for me. i am also really like the r&r ending, so i understand your frustration all too well. what sabs2 did goes against everything the r&r ending is about. it also does such a disservice to mal and alina as individual characters since the resolutions to their individual arcs relies heavily on each other... and yeah especially the way we leave alina is so in conflict with who she is, it's just weird. but even if you remove the tgt context and look at the show as a separate thing, you're left with a story that has godawful pacing and a lack of substantial character work which, like you mentioned, just makes for bad tv in general. so it was just a flop all around—as a show and an adaptation. also, we weren't just robbed of white-haired alina but also ginger, roguish-looking nikolai as sturmhond!!!! such a crime!! and omg about the genya thing. you. are. so. right. THE DISRESPECT! and gosh the david thing is soooo stuipd as well because it means the triumvirate won't work either now because there is literally no one to represent the materialki..... unless they're gonna introduce another character to fill that david-shaped void which would be so dumb i don't even wanna consider it. ALSO something that just registered with me today: they completely glossed over and ignored tamar and nadia's relationship. they did not need to treat their lesbians like THAT. it really is like a tapestry that unravels if you pull one thread.