#He continues to be a slightly different person every time he's mentioned (oops) but I'm just hoping his general vibe is coming off right

[chexie]

UhhhhhhH

I don't really have anything witty for this one. Just. Don't acknowledge out loud that it's almost been a year, I'll sob.

[bookwyrminspiration]

So. Chapter 11. I have many thoughts.

First things first, absolutely amazing, every interaction the characters had felt so natural and fit together so well, and gosh I just...do not have the words to describe how much I adore your writing.

Now time for what I'm here for: you've got me all fired up again! It's been quite a hell of a while since I've done any real theory or predictions, so I might be slightly out of practice, forgive me if I get any details wrong!

And I don’t really know what all of it means yet, but let’s try to get the simple facts laid out first:

Bronte and Oralie send cryptic messages.

Sophie finds a dragon scale in a random desk.

Linh has a connection to the dragons, like Marella.

Dragons are connected with thunderstorms.

So, are we getting dragon!Linh? Because I am so here for dragon!Linh. At the very least, there’s some connection between them. But there’s…something else.

So, the messages from Oralie and Bronte are absurdly cryptic, and that’s so fucking cool and I love it, but I really really want to dig into what they’re saying now. So that’s what I’m gonna do!

Bronte’s message: Secrecy and redundancy compose the toolkit of those trying to hide. It takes a special someone to see the darkness in the world and not participate. Your infectious light is spreading.

Oralie’s message: Secrecy and redundancy compose the toolkit of those trying to hide. Play a melody for me, and tell me what it says. History will have something sweet to say about you.

And you (via Sophie) put a special focus on the words “infectious light” and “history”.

And I will eat my boots if that is not connected to some grand underlying secret underneath the entire story. Now, given that these two are Councillors and have access to confidential files, and Bronte as old as dirt, and the focus on the word history, I’m willing to bet there’s some dark secret within elven history (shocker, I know) that somehow relates to all this monster business. Cause like…it’s hard to make monsters! It’s crazy that the Neverseen and whatever the new group is called have managed to make so many!

(And I haven't figure out the Secrecy and Redundancy part yet, but I will tell you when I think I may have understood it.)

And what’s even weirder is how easy it was for Sophie and the rest of the kids to develop specific monster traits instead of just. Literally dying. And from weird potion mist, too.

Is there something about elves that allows them to turn into monsters? We know the monsters are unnatural, and when I’ve brought up the idea that elves are being turned into monsters you haven’t really denied or confirmed it, just kind of skirted around the topic. And this could also be the reason the humans haven’t been attacked by the monsters- the monsters are made of elves because elves are…somehow compatible with whatever the Neverseen are doing, and they attack other mythical creatures because I’m assuming they share traits similar enough to elves that the monsters have an interest in them.

But it’s also weird how Bronte’s letter (while actually being kind of a compliment, which I find so funny because it absolutely does not read like it, 100/10 characterization points) implies Sophie is spreading something, something infectious, and I’m sure the usage of the word “light” isn’t coincidence either.

Light is really important to elves, like really important, and it doesn’t seem like something Bronte would say, either, what with his…seeming respect for it (from how he acted when at the Point of Purity and journey back). He’d more likely say something like “bravery” or “strength”, given that (iirc) he’s even used those words to describe Sophie before. So there’s something about the word light specifically that was important, and something about the light being infectous.

And now, elves are living underground. And the monsters were said to appear out of nowhere, too, just…out of the blue. Are the Neverseen using the light to create more monsters? What are the monsters for? Can they turn whatever they’re doing off? Are the Council somehow aware of what the Neverseen is doing because they have access to lots of knowledge the main crew don’t, and that’s part of why they fled underground?

And what’s the connection with the dragons?

(I nearly forgot about the dragons.)

From what you’ve posted, you seem to really enjoy the part of dragons that is unknowable and out-of-reach, so much greater than pretty much every other creature in the world. And that also sounds like a way you could describe the void!

And if dragons could access the void, then that would explain how they appear and disappear so fast, and if they control weather that would be how the thunderstorms don’t come in over the horizon, and simply just happen.

But what does it mean? Why did Marella go to them in…what chapter was it again? I can’t remember. Why did Linh react to strongly to the dragon scales?

And Marella may have the wings, but Linh has the scales on her face (although iirc they’re a different color to the one Sophie picked up, so I don’t think it’s hers and I don’t see why she’d attack if it was), so is she a dragon as well? And if they are, are they different kinds of dragons? And since dragons are extremely territorial (from what we’ve seen and can infer so far) is that going to create problems? Linh already reacted terribly to another scale, so if her and Marella’s dragon instincts get worse, I can see how that would go terribly. Or is Linh a different kind of creature?

There’s just…so many thoughts. I barely got into any actual theories here, oops. But that’s…most of my thoughts for now. Hope you enjoyed? I know I personally enjoyed Chapter 11 immensely, thank you for this wonderful AU!

- pyro

woa this is a lot!! pyro!! i am speechless!! I am. I am ahhh!!! I'm glad the interactions felt natural, I was a little worried they'd feel too out of character but sometimes my need to let them mess around with each other takes over

those first four facts you've laid out do seem to be what I'm hinting at--whether you're correct though, I'll let you find out in later chapters. I have more to say about Bronte and Oralie's messages but I'll get to that later. also, I do have more planned for the dragons, which will be fun!!

will be entirely honest i forgot you all don't know what wings Linh has--but!! her connection to the dragons may be related to her wings! everyone has a pair of wings unique to them, so how that translates to her remains to be seen. Marella with the dragon wings and the interests may seem more obvious, but I think Linh is gonna have a lot more mysterious, confusing connection to the way everything works.

Now! onto Bronte and Oralie's messages!! these stumped me for a while because I needed them to be cryptic, but also riddle-like with some kind of meaning that sophie could figure out if she gave it enough thought. of course, as of chapter 11 she hasn't even tried to figure it out, but it's planted that seed in her mind

a cool thing that I just want to point out: there are a few lines throughout the au that i have taken the structure of directly of from the books and altered their wording. One of those was in a previous chapter where I took the "but her mind was stronger than her body" from book one and changed it. I don't remember exactly what i changed it into as it's been a while, but I know that's one of them. and i did it again in this chapter! if you remember the message Bronte had Mr. Forkle give Sophie, "It takes a special someone to see darkness inside of someone and not condemn them," that's the quote I based his unique portion of the message off of. Oralie's also has a meaning tied to an interaction with her, but it's not tied to a specific quote.

for the "infectious light," you are right, that does have a meaning, and it was important it was those exact words. what it turns out to be, however, may not be entirely what you're expecting. and then there's the "history will have something sweet to say about you" which is a little hint to Sophie, whenever she figures that one out. they are trying to send her a message but she needs to figure out what they're trying to say first!! also, the secrecy and redundancy part does have something more to it, but I'll let you continue theorizing about that one.

my apologies if i'm focusing on this part for too long, but I legit spent like half an hour trying to figure out how to word this to set up future scenes and reveals, so I want to share some of that process!

and it is curious how the elven world is the only one affected...

there's a lot of theories for why it was so easy for them to develop those features, maybe their minds adapt to abilities so suddenly that they're predisposed to other changes as well, or they go quicker. maybe it's fragile, guilty minds that enable them to be taken over by horrors like these, whereas humans are exposed to violence and guilt and grief on a daily basis. I might touch on this later in the chapters, so I don't want to spoil anything, but there so many possibilities!!

moving on to the dragons!! you're right, i do think very highly of dragons and like the inachievability of them in this context. they're not just mindless creatures, they're a lot more complex, as we saw with them having abilities like elves. Sophie doesn't know exactly what it was, but she thinks it was tied to the explosive sounds she heard and the change in the weather. and I could tie them to the void! if we going with intelligent creatures having access to the void (like silveny, though her intelligence is very different) then it would make sense to continue that pattern. and it could explain a few of the mysteries left behind after chapter 7 (6? i forget which one)

like i mentioned before, I do have more planned for the dragons, and that does involve both Linh and Marella specifically. so!! I think some of your questions will be answered in the upcoming chapters, but for now I can't exactly answer without spoiling. but! you are asking the right questions!! you are on the right track!!

and it wasn’t exactly scales on linhs face, more they had they same pattern (the iridescent one) but I might've worded it weird so I can see where that came from. as for whether or not she's a dragon, the only thing I can tell you right now is that she doesn't have the exactly same wings as Marella, and i told you in chapter 9 (i think?) that she could easily hide them like Sophie, Wylie, and Biana. The whole mystery with the scale, however, is one of the things that i can't answer without spoiling, so I guess that tells you there's a lot more to that too.

i also have so many thoughts about the au and !! I loved reading all of yours!! I enjoyed it thoroughly!! chapter 11 may seem slower than some of the more action packed chapters, but it sets up a lot of the lore and background we'll need for future endeavors, so i'm glad you liked it!! I think i introduced a lot of questions in this one too...

I might've missed some of your points (there were a lot, which is excellent!!), so if there was something important I glossed over feel free to send another ask so I can go back over it!!

but thank you for reading this au!! talking about it motivates me to write more and make it more complex!! I mean, we're about 84,000 words in and I'm still going, so. there's a lot more to come!!

[prinxlyart]

Beforehand, I'm sorry for not giving you a rest xDU -.-U: So, you mentioned begorr that Emira and Viney considered having children but Emira was reluctant because of her (not-redeemed) parents. I would like know their point of view then AND after the Blight parents redeemed themselves

Ooof this is a toughie. Hmmmmm let’s see

I think the question was first brought up on accident, yknow, by like a complete stranger trying to make nice conversation in all the wrong ways. Like, maybe Amity still, after all these years, loves to read to kids at the library. She’s good at it, the kids love her, and she doesn’t have to worry about anything except making sure those kids have a good time.

And maybe it’s during one of those reading sessions that Emira and Viney also happen to be in the library researching something when they pass by the Kiddie Corner and see Amity reading to those kids and they both hide behind a bookcase and just coo at how adorable the sight is. After a minute they start to get comfortable watching Amity read to the kids and they both have warm goofy smiles on their faces until suddenly someone comes up next to them and whispers “they’re so cute, aren’t they?” And they see what looks like one of the kid’s parents next to them also watching the story telling. Emira and Viney agree, it’s probably the cutest thing in all of the Boiling Isles (certainly the most wholesome). Then this parent whispers again, “which one’s yours? Mine’s the little guy with the horns.” And Viney and Emira just freeze because oops, they’ve been mistaken as parents. They both blush and stammer for a bit and explain they’re actually just related to the story-teller and the parent apologizes and they day continues. But that interaction is on both of their minds for the entire rest of the day.

Viney’s never considered kids seriously before; she has her beasts to take care of and those usually aren’t kid-friendly. But she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about teaching children about how to handle different kinds of creatures. Besides, she’s also a Healing witch, (most) any damage can be patched up with a quick spell. But teaching kids and actually raising one are two totally different things. And the interaction from the library had left her feeling strangely warm all the rest of the day. Would she be okay with actually having kids with Emira? Maybe. That answer by itself is already scary enough - they’ve only been married for less than a year, but that doesn’t stop the misunderstanding from the library from making her feel warm and fuzzy and a little bit giddy.

In the meantime, Emira’s having a silent meltdown within her own head. All alarms are going off like a Shale Hail storm was rampaging through her mind. Her, a mother? She’d spent her entire life trying to get away from her own mother; she couldn’t even begin to imagine herself in that role. Her thoughts were racing the entire day following the library incident and it left a gross feeling in her chest and a queasiness in her stomach. She didn’t even know if she really liked kids let alone liking them enough to want one of her own. And what if she fucks it up just like her parents did??? She and Viney are just getting their Service Creature business off the ground - she is not about to be an absent mother like her own to focus on her work. That thought alone is enough to keep her feeling slightly off-kilter the entire rest of the day.

I think they talk about it that night in great length; their fears, their concerns, their dream-scenarios, Emira’s parents. That’s when the convo gets especially hard as Emira’s stutter starts making it more difficult for her to articulate herself before she just breaks down entirely. Viney reassured her that they don’t have to make any decisions right that instant, it’s just a thought they’d both been plagued by all day. They could have that conversation again when they felt they might be ready for it.

Of course the following year and a half is a whirlwind of helping Amity get hitched to her girls and messy makeups with the Blight parents. And even after that giant wedding is over, Alador and Odalia are still learning how to make amends and it puts Emira in a weird headspace. Not to mention she’s concerned about her twin brother living alone. He hates being alone. He was the one that insisted he move into a single-room apartment but that doesn’t stop Emira from worrying over her twin. She still had a hard time wrapping her head around the whole aromantic thing, especially since she knew Edric thrived off being around other people.

She was especially worried now that they’ve been trying to repair their severely broken relationship with their parents; they’ve both been a little emotionally turbulent. They took Camilia’s suggestion of seeking out a therapist (as a human healer she doesn’t need to worry about the magic side of things and they consider her quite practical as a result. Also, she’s Luz’s mom and is basically the best woman in the world, of course they’d take her advice).

I think it takes several years of the Blights all working hard to fix their family relationship before Viney brings up how one of their clients had asked about a kids class; maybe a single session where they go over the basics of different creatures and how to approach them (if you should even approach them at all) before allowing them to try on one of the more docile creatures they have. I think she tries to bring it up as casually as possible; I think ever since that first conversation they had, Viney’s kinda tiptoed around the concept of kids in general around Emira.

They’d talked about her fears and what caused her to meltdown during that first conversation of course, and they talk about how therapy has been working for Emira and her family. But Viney hasn’t brought up them having their own kids since that first conversation, even though she’s been feeling a hint of longing in the depths of her heart recently as she watches parents interact with their own kids (of course sometimes that’s exactly what also stifles that longing - there are some parents that look dead on their feet with their screaming child throwing a tantrum on the ground).

But they discuss the idea of hosting a weekly or monthly class for kids without issue and Viney just waits....I think until maybe the following night to bring up the idea of being parents themselves again. And I think it still scares Emira absolutely shitless. She doesn’t break down the way she did the first time but she does start going into brief panic spirals before Viney pulls her out of them. Viney reassured her that again, they don’t need to decide anything right then and there, it’s just something she’s been thinking about recently.

I think Emira takes the thought to therapy with her and she and her therapist really work through what’s bothering her about the concept of her being a mother. And it takes a while. Like, several months. But in that time, Emira’s slowly warming herself up to the idea of being a parent. She constantly reminds herself that she isn’t going to behave like her parents had. She’s not going to get too tired of them and wave them away or push expectations onto any child of hers by the time they’re 6. She’s going to love whatever child they might have with her entire heart. She’s still scared.

I think her actual breakthrough is with a conversation with Camila and Eda. They’re both Luz’s moms (kind of? Mostly? In everything but like, legal documents? Like Eda’s 9/10’s of the way there so she’s basically Luz’s mom) and Emira’s witnessed how much they both love Luz over the years that she’s known them. She wants to learn how to love any potential future kids like they love Luz. Hearing this actually shocks Camila and Eda; they’ve watched Emira grow up into an incredibly kind and caring witch - of course she’d be an amazing mother. But then they listen to her fears of falling back on her own parents’ shitty parenting tactics just because that’s what she grew up with and they reassure her that she’s not her parents.

Camila and Eda make their own points from their own perspectives. Camila describes how it felt like the universe was crashing around her when she found out she was pregnant with Luz. How she was frightened beyond anything that had happened in her life up to that point. She was a medical student!!! She didn’t have time to take care of a baby! But then she also couldn’t bring herself to terminate the pregnancy. She didn’t know why, but she was already deeply in love and attached to the little bundle of cells rapidly dividing in her uterus. The thought of being a part of such an impossible thing as creating an entirely new person was overwhelming and exciting. She somehow convinced herself that she could handle it. She’s a hard-working woman with probably too much pride to admit that she bit off more than she could chew, but she felt like she had something to prove.

Camila explains how emotionally tumultuous she’d been in the following....probably 5 years? There were times when she could turn her thoughts off and just focus on what was important: making sure the baby was taken care of and making sure she got all her homework done on time. But then there would be moments of peace and tranquillity where her only concern was making sure Luz didn’t hurt herself while she played where her emotions would take over like a tsunami. Ironically enough, Luz would always notice, even as a baby, and motion for her mom to pick her up so she could snuggle into her mom’s neck in her version of a hug. Camila would try to hold back her tears in those moments, but whenever Luz raised her arms up at her with a frown on her face, her heart would warm up so much it felt like it was nearly on fire and those tears would just start flowing freely. Luz loved her and she loved Luz and that was enough for Camila to know she’d made the right choice for her life and to keep pressing forward.

She worried every single step of the way that she was doing something wrong (whether or not she had a partner/family members/friends helping her) and nothing rocked her world more than being introduced to the Demon Realm after thinking her daughter had been somewhere else entirely for a whole summer.

She had wrestled with that for months afterwards; the guilt that she hadn’t done more to help Luz thrive in her own home the way she did on the Boiling Isles. That somehow it was her fault for not being able to magically make everything work in her daughter’s favor. That she maybe could’ve somehow singlehandedly change the entire system to benefit Luz the way it did the other kids so she wouldn’t have felt so lost and alone that she needed to go to the Demon Realm to feel like she belonged somewhere.

It had taken several talks with Eda (after they stopped hating each other) for her to accept that she had done everything she could with what she had. None of it was solely her fault, but she probably could’ve listened to Luz’s unspoken/misunderstood needs more carefully.

She emphasizes to Emira that the most important thing to take away from all of that is that no matter what happens, she just needs to love and provide for her child as much as she possibly can. And to always listen to them; they won’t always know how to articulate their needs so it’s up to the parent to help them figure it out. Love and patience, which she notes that Emira has plenty of.

Eda’s perspective is vastly different because she didn’t even consider being a mother for the large majority of her life until suddenly there was a teenager camping out in a spare room in her house that she used for miscellaneous storage. And it wasn’t something that happened overnight either; she didn’t just wake up one day and think “today’s the day I’m going to start loving Luz as if she was my own daughter”, like, that thought literally never crossed her mind. It really didn’t hit her just how much Luz meant to her until the first instance with Belos; Luz being kidnapped by Eda’s own sister and nearly dying kinda makes you really think about how important a person is to you. She didn’t realize how much Luz being in her life made her feel like she was part of a family until Luz said so just before she was sent to be petrified. It took Luz saying it point blank to her face with tears in her eyes while Eda was essentially on death row for it to click in her head that she loved Luz like a daughter. That she would do anything to keep her safe and happy.

And as un-versed as she is in being an actual mom, she was relatively well-versed in how to handle Luz as a teenager because she saw so much of herself in her. She didn’t have the previous 14 years of Luz’s life coloring her opinions and expectations of her; all she saw was a young, weird girl that wanted nothing more than to learn magic even though all odds were stacked against her. Eda emphasizes that as kids become teenagers, it’s important to treat them with respect and to let them know their voices are heard.

A parent may want to hide them away so they can be safe from the world, but then they’ll never grow. She idly comments how she just treated Luz how she would’ve wanted to be treated at her age: like an equal. Eda emphasizes to Emira that respecting children is a huge part of being an effective parent, at least in her experience.

Emira takes all of this in stride; thanks to her siblings and their friends, she’s learned a lot over the years about how to be a kind and compassionate witch. She returns to Viney that day feeling infinitely better about the concept. Now it’s just a matter of discussing whether or not they’re ready in every other aspect besides emotionally.

Eventually they get there. It takes some encouragement from Edric and Amity (and by extension, Luz and Willow) as well as Jerbo and Barcus (between them, Edric and Gus? This kid will have the coolest uncle-squad ever), but Emira and Viney do find a point in their lives where they’re excited and ready about having kids.

Again, I’m not one for coming up with fan kids. Far too many possibilities. Last time I made fan kids was maybe ten years ago so I’m super rusty anyway. But I know for a fact that any children they have had essentially a small army of adults ready to love them. How would they get those kids? Again, far too many possibilities. Maybe one or both of them are trans and capable of biological reproduction! Maybe they decide to go the Magic Route! Maybe they adopt! I truly don’t know. All I know is that once they are ready to have kids, they’re so fuckin hyped it’s all they can think or talk about for months until they finally have one. And they will love that child so fiercely, that child will never feel for even a moment that they’re unloved.

(All grandparents involved are over the moon; the Blight grandparents actually cry for like an hour straight the first time they meet their first grand baby and spoil them like nothing else; Viney’s parent(s) don’t cry as much as the Blights, but they do cry a lot and are the kind of grandparent(s) that secretly try to give that kid their first sip of (boiling isles equivalent) soda, candy, etc., just to give Viney and Emira a hard time. Eda and Camila [and Willow’s dads] are honorary grandparents that also love and adore this kid.)

[poguesofthebau]

i was wondering if i could get a ship. my name is bri.i'm 16, 5'5, i love the ocean & beach. i'm mixed, have kinky curly hair. i'm an aries, i'm told i'm hilarious. i love to read & paint. i have bad anxiety in cars & crowds. i'm not easily embarrassed, i like to randomly sing & dance in public. i'm a sociable person but my happy place is alone in my room, bc i can't be around others for long. i wasn't that attracted to blondes until rudy walked in & now i would lay my life down for him & drew.

reading ur description was so wild bc u sound JUST LIKE ME BITCH omg

i ship you with jj!! (honorary mention: kie would be your favorite person to act a fool with. you two would go to the mall and bounce around stores to whatever random music they were playing. you’d have fun sleepovers where you’d go from crying over love to lathering on red lipstick in the ugliest way possible just to have funny selfies to show your kids what a good ass friendship looked like some day. straight out of a movie best friends.)

you were always the person who could handle jj the best. when he started to lash out, you would never think differently of him. somehow, you understood everything he did, and you knew he always had a reason for his actions, even when they seemed completely self-destructive. he always wanted to help his friends, the people he loved, and you admired the fuck out of that. in times when pope, john b, and kie would get super pissed at jj for one of his stupid mistakes, you’d be the one who followed him out of the Chateau when he stormed off. you’d let him rant, and scream at the top of his lungs, and punch shit, not flinching when passersby stared at the blonde boy throwing a tantrum. (often times, you’d give them the finger, or yell “mind your fucking business,” or “do you fucking need something?”) by the end of those fits, jj would usually wind up crying in your lap. the first time it happened, you were honestly shocked. you’d never seen jj cry like that, such self-deprecating, frustrated tears, and you knew none of the other pogues really had, either. maybe a tear here or there, but he never really broke down in front of them-- he wanted them to see his strength, and his willingness to sacrifice anything for them, and his power, and his endurance. with you, though, he somehow knew he could reveal anything, no matter how embarrassing, or dramatic, or weak. you were safety to jj, and the day he admitted that to himself was the day he knew he was in love.

just because he knew what his feelings for you were, didn’t mean he acted on them immediately, though. he’d spend weeks keeping the secret to himself. even when he finally confessed to the other pogues, he’d spend an additional few months hiding it from you. all that time, he was letting you in, letting you get to know the real jj that few people got to see, and he was learning so much more about you. without even realizing it, jj was noticing your ticks, pet peeves, favorite things, tells, everything. finally, one night, jj would expose a big chunk of the knowledge he’d unintentionally gathered on you, thus exposing how he really felt about you. it’d be a summer night at the Boneyard, and there were a lot of people there that night. let’s say it was the fourth of july, so essentially every teenager who was staying in the obx (kooks, pogues, and tourons alike) would be on the beach, getting as drunk as possible to celebrate the selective independence of a corrupt, racist, disgusting country. (oop. moving on.) when you’d woken up in the Chateau that morning, you had been so excited. the day was spent on the hms pogue, the five of you having a typically hilarious and fun-filled time together before heading to the kegger. as soon as you stepped foot on the beach and took note of how many people had shown up, your demeanor shifted. you were still in a good mood, still willing to socialize a bit, but your anxiety had moved from the back of your mind to the forefront of it. and jj noticed. when he saw your face slightly fall before you tried to force a smile again, he knew what was running through your mind. he’d sling an arm around your shoulder unexpectedly, smirking down at you as he spoke. “you’re sticking with me tonight, right?” you’d laugh warmly, nuzzling slightly into him. “i guess i am now, clingy.”

a few hours later, you’d calmed down a bit. you and jj were sitting on one of the fallen trees that scattered the beach, kie chatting up a touron to your left as everyone else laughed at john b and pope ‘fighting’ in the middle of everyone. jj would still have that arm around your shoulder, and at that point, you’d started to take note of all the little things he was doing. all night, jj had been bringing you refills without being asked, and glancing over at you when you hadn’t spoken in a bit to make sure you were still comfortable. at one point, he’d even forced you to stand up and dance with him to a song he knew you loved. it was strange, but you appreciated jj more that night than you ever had before.

as soon as you’d gotten into the rhythm of things, the Boneyard went to shit. you’d be laughing at some sarcastic comment jj had made to just you when someone a few yards behind you started yelling, and when you peeked over to see what was going on, a huge crowd had formed. from your spot on the tree, you could see that a fight between two kooks you didn’t recognize had broken out, and you felt jj’s arm tighten around you as your heart thudded at the sight of the crowd. when you turned back to face him, jj would already have all his attention on you. “you good?” you’d shrug, glancing back at the fight once more before jj gently grabbed you by the chin and swiveled your head back to face him. after looking at you for a few seconds, he seemed to have made up his mind. “c’mon,” he’d say, hopping down from your spot and putting a hand out for you to take. when you looked at him quizzically, he’d smile and shake his hand again. you’d finally put your hand in his, letting him catch you when you made the drop. “let’s go back to the Chateau. the others can catch up later.” for basically the first time in the night, jj removed his arm from your shoulders as you began to stroll away from all the chaos. you’d pass pope (who was jogging toward the fight) as you walked, jj stopping him for a moment to let him know you were leaving. the whole time the two boys talked, your eyes would be on jj, a smug smile playing your lips as you realized what was going on. he cares. a lot more than he used to. the two of you would continue walking in comfortable silence, arms swinging between you as you moved. without thinking it through, you decided to make a move of your own. suddenly you were catching jj’s hand in your own, lacing your fingers together nonchalantly. he’d look at you suspiciously, a mischievous glint in his eye. “you trying to put the moves on me, trouble?” you’d giggled at the nickname, tugging him in closer to you. “maybe. is it working?” jj would scoff, rolling his eyes. “as if you even have to try, bri. you already got me.” and that would be the start of jj and bri.

[clumsyclifford]

hello!! i am back and on desktop this time. the blog is just as pretty. alex + yellow = v v attractive jfc. this is a long one so buckle in.

to begin: i hope you have the most fun on your day road trip and sing your heart out to atl and taylor swift. i love driving long distances and idk just driving in general is fun. have the absolute best time MWAH

my birthday is in november!! november 23 to be specific. i share it with miley cyrus which is something i always found to be very cool when i was growing up and watching hannah montana. it also means i am a sagittarius and funny little fact i realized is that my best friend is a gemini. alex and jack are also a sagittarius and a gemini. from being 13 i know that tyler and josh from twenty one pilots are also a sagittarius and a gemini. something about sagittarius and gemini besties idk.

also yeah!! ao3 year in review!! it's a bit complicated to figure out at first and if you read a lot the finding pages thing can be pretty tedious, but it's def worth it once you figure it out. it gives you a lot of different stats about everything you read and it's pretty cool. now i am going to go look at your fics to remember my favs. you deserve the praise so i am willing to offer it. jeez you write a lot i respect the motivation sm. you write quite a bit of angst and i won't lie i try to stay away from angst so i haven't read your fics that seem super angst-y based on the tags. BUT there are still so many i recall reading and loving nonetheless. on a quick scroll-through: i usually don't read high school AUs but "paint me in trust (i'll be your best friend)" was super adorable and lovely. "thank god i'm yours" is one of my favs iirc. also i love love love "it's not always easy (but i'm here forever)" like yes please romanticize alex gaskarth i love it sm. "i won't be silent (and i won't let go)" and "i fell asleep in a city that doesn't" are both super fluffy and romantic and are favs of mine. in case you haven't picked up on it i adore very fluffy and romantic fics lmao. alright i am continuing to scroll and there are so many more i could list that i love but this section is getting quite long. just know if it's about a kitchen or hotel rooms being for lovers i probably read it and adored it and that pov is so valid.

waterparks!! will not lie i only really started listening to them about 6 months ago having been distantly aware of their existence for several years by being a fan of bands in the same genre. listen as long as you let yourself be vaguely annoyed by awsten is prevents you from being in love with him. follow him on any social media platform for like a day and you'll be sick of him typing in nothing but all caps within hours. simply do not romanticize him and you can keep yourself from falling!! so this is coming from a slightly fake parx fan, but some of my favs by them have been peach (lobotomy), crave, numb, fuzzy, violet!, you'd be paranoid too, and lowkey as hell. that is a very songs-from-their-most-recent-album-heavy rec, but whatever. i did give the disclaimer about being a fake parx fan.

yeah hayley does have 2 solo albums now!! petals for armor and flowers for vases / descansos. pfa is the one i didn't really like upon first listen but has grown on me. i haven't even listened to the second one in its entirety oops but we won't mention it. dead horse is good but simmer (pretty sure that was the other single??) just ain't it for me. the album has some lovely songs but it's just a hit or miss album all the way through. some favs of mine on it include pure love, taken, crystal clear, watch me while i bloom, and why we ever. it's sorta a storyline album about healing if that adds anything to it?? but anyways. i started listening to paramore around the time after laughter dropped and it grew to be one of my fav albums in existence. idle worship is probably one of my fav songs like ever. i def understand being slightly put off by bands with songs that make religious references (me with twenty one pilots' earlier music that makes a lot more religious references considering i'm not religious whatsoever) but i think i am blinded by being in love with hayley williams and just ignore it. idk that she's like super religious?? she's addressed believing in god and stuff a few times but she's def not the "rub it in your face" type and if she's making refs in music more recently then they're subtle enough i'm not noticing them. ik albums like brand new eyes had a lot more because it was shortly after that the band split and the songwriting process was essentially her and ex-bandmate co-songwriter arguing about their religious beliefs (turns out he ended up being super homophobic and transphobic all based on his religion so do with that what u will and thank the clown for leaving). i feel u on the "i meant to start listening to them" because that's essentially how i started listening to them. i told myself i was going to and then finally forced myself to do it. fuck falling for awsten knight what's more risky is falling in love with hayley </3

also yeah!! you've articulated my feelings towards tde. every song is so vastly different that it's hard to like it all. #1 fan is pretty decent though, and that's not just my bias about finding both ross and his gf hot and a cute couple and getting to see them together and ross half naked in a mirror in the video nope not at all. he's my fav himbo!! he has no personality!! no thoughts head empty!! i still love him and his strawberry-growing saga on twitter tho <3 the hazard of being in love with ross lynch since i was 12. girlfriend better be a fucking banger and there's quite a few already released singles in the tracklist so i have hope. i believe my show is in chicago on november 19 which is a thursday. kinda sucks since i intentionally bought the chicago tix nearly two years ago (the show was originally supposed to be april 25 2020. lol.) because the show was on a saturday and i have to drive 3 hours to get there. obviously i can't speak for them as tde but r5 shows always fucking slapped and i can vouch for them (realized i haven't seem them live since 2016?? 5 YEARS?? wtf) so if u genuinely like them. would recommend going to see them.

anyways. i have not listened to luke's solo album yet. i plan on it. this has gotten so long but i tried to respond in all areas and even organized it in different paragraphs this time (thanks being on desktop!!). hope you are well. hope you have a lovely day. hmm what's a little "going on in my life" fact. i got new glasses a few days ago and my eyes essentially said fuck off because adjusting to the new prescription has left me with eyes that hurt and occasionally slightly nauseous. here is to hoping my eyes get their shit together. mwah LOVE YOU TOO - the other bella/cubs anon/idk

okay hi hello. i have put this off because holy hell it's long but let's do it. i am putting a cut because this whole thing is long even without my answer

first: the road trip was super fun thank you!!! i am intrigued by this information regarding sags and geminis, we should do some scientific inquiry. enquiry. i don't know if there's a difference between those words.

aha! well i tried the ao3 year in review thing and i would say it had about 55% accuracy but still i agree it's fun to look back at that kind of stuff. and i feel you on the angst thing i go through phases of writing angst-heavy stuff and then writing very fluffy stuff and it is entirely based on my mental state buuuut i have lots of fluff and i'm glad you found it all and that you liked it yay <333 KITCHENS ARE FOR LOVERS i will die on that fuckin hill. hotel rooms as well but primarily kitchens.

dfgjhgdlfkhgdfmj honestly i dont use twitter enough that i would see his tweets enough that that would bother me also the fact that he tweets in all caps means that i just picture him yelling everything he tweets which i find absolutely hysterical so i don't think that would help. i have added these parx songs to my listen asap playlist and will get to them when i get a chance thank you i am excited also i already know lowkey as hell and it slaps super hard so im very much lookin forward to the rest of these. merci merci

YEAH simmer was the one i didnt vibe with. and honestly i feel zero compulsion to get into hayley williams as a solo artist. i just don't vibe enough to want to do that so i doubt i'll be listening to her anytime soon but maybe if i hear the songs in passing or get super bored one night, idk who can really say. but yeah christianity typically puts me off of music (speaking as a very jewish bitch) although there are notable exceptions in the cases of thomas rhett and the driver era. i'm just not attached to hayley enough to be like ehhh this doesnt matter. does that make sense

FAVORITE HIMBO PLEASE HGSDFGDFGKLFGJ i dont follow him on twitter but i have seen some interviews of ross and rocky and tbh they're great i love the way ross speaks like i like his speech mannerisms and i like his FACE and HAIR and. yeah. i think hes pretty. and i think he and 5sos SHOULD collab i think that would be sexy as hell. can you imagine that. oh my god can you imagine a ross lynch/luke hemmings collab. i'm not even really talking to you anymore bella because i know you haven't listened to luke yet and don't have a stake in it but if anyone else is reading this long ass answer. ross & luke collab. okay im going to move on and not think about that now. but i probably won't see tde unless i get a job this semester because i'm trying to stop spending so much money on big indulgent things like concerts likeee i was in a really good habit of not spending that much and then suddenly i got paid for one summer and i was just goin Crazy and i need to dial it back. plus i wanna see ajr and noah kahan equally bad so like. i have to make some calls about priorities here. it's Much to think about

good luck to your eyes i'm sure your new glasses are hella cute tho!!! LOVE YOUUUUUUU