#I have tons of info and plot for them but you managed to find one thing I don’t have figured out so props to that!

[decoloraa]

Ask th OCs - Cas/Val, okay, but how ~HOW~ did the proposal happen??? You mentioned being engaged in another answer so??? Who asked??? Where???

Sadly Casther and Val aren’t engaged 😔 unless?

And that’s the last question for the oc q&a! Thanks so much for everyone who sent something, I had so much fun 🤲🏻💕 and I’ll probably do it again some day

[whatsyourcolor]

I hate to info dump but here we go:

1.Kougami picked Akane up ALL ON HIS OWN..Not because someone ordered him to.Remember Garcia told him how he can’t imagine Kougami being responsible for another person?Coming to pick her up was Kougami’s way of mending things.Apologising to the only person he thinks deserves his apology and taking responsibility for his past behaviour by saying sorry.It’s a massive step for him.This is why Akane brushed off his apology.They caught up on the car as well.

2.The reason Akane wasn’t expecting him is most certainly because he works for foreign affairs.Akane was still an MWPSB employee so she probably thought it’d be Mika or the new inspectors.Also that should tell you something that despite being from a competing ministry he’s able to pick her up.He had to have pulled a lot of strings,request and beg tons of people.

3.Kougami made MULTIPLE requests to visit Akane.They were denied except that one time when he managed to get an approval.He didn’t back out of visiting her because it would be a waste of time.Again that’s a big deal because only Mika who’s the chief inspector had online access to Akane.

4.During the visit he put his back on the door because stooping down to her level would be awkward which makes sense?She’s 5’4” and he’s 6” so it would be uncomfortable to stare through a small window in that height for him so idk what’s wrong with that.He said Frederica/Ginoza thought it would be better for him not to visit her also he didn’t bring any souvenirs because he didn’t know what she liked.There wasn’t a lot of time I am sure.Solitary confinement is solitary for a reason.

5.I am not sure if Frederica is keeping in contact with Tenzing.I should hope so.She better make Kougami call her as well.I am not sure why Kougami would be thinking about Akane while he’s fighting MWPSB enforcers either.

Here’s the thing I think a few people are disappointed that their headcanon doesn’t match the Kougami in canon anymore (which I am sure is sad).But spreading misinformation to make people see Kougami the negative way is turning other people off.My advise is take everything people say with a grain of salt.Some people are helbent on spreading negativity because things didn’t go the way they wanted.

if you are up for it buy the books and run them through a translation or pay a translator to translate.Make up your own mind.

Hi,

Since I haven't read the novels about S3 because I don't speak Japanese, I can't answer to any of those points. Not since @cleverwolfpoetry used to translate the novels, do I know anything of the novels. The only think I know is that the writers said shinkane is platonic and what I got from Providence and Sinners of the System. Other people have read the novels and give their opinion about them. Maybe they're spreading misinformation; I have no idea. But you're right, a grain of salt doesn't hurt.

I don't know if there's a current hate campaign against Kogami (there's always been, though. I remember people crapping on him when he told Akane to kill Makishima), but people are going to hate who they're going to hate. One thing I'll never do is ship Homura and Akane. Or Kogami and Frederica. For me it'll always be Akane and Kogami and I don't care what the writers say. Cleverwolf's translations gave me enough material to deduce that this attempt to bring down shinkane (or to take it out of its ambiguity) is part of the "remodeling" of Psycho-Pass from a philosophical and psychological anime to a more action and plot driven franchise for a different target audience.

Heck, it's all in Makishima's last monologue: "Everyone is alone. Everyone is empty. People no longer have need of others. You can always find a spare for any replacement. Any relationship can be replaced."

Psycho-Pass is about the most human of things: relationships. (And yes, human nature, violence, free will, rationality vs animality, etc). So the writers can say whatever the hell they want, but Akane is not replaceable for Kogami and neither is Kogami for her (remember the All Star novel where holos of all the dead people are tormenting Akane and telling her Ko is dead and she's like "No, that person can't be dead"? I love how Sibyl, Kamui and Togane know Akane is deeply in love with Kogami and they try to use that against her all the time.

At the end of the day, despite the castes the system creates, the human bond will break those chains. The purest-hued young woman falling for a heartbroken criminal is just too delicious a dynamic to ignore.

Also, where the heck are all of you reading the novels? Is anyone sharing the translations somewhere?

[true-blue-sonic]

Good morning/ afternoon/ evening Blue!

For the ask game

2, 3, 5, 6, 7 + Silver and Espio

Good afternoon! ^-^

Silver

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

I think Meteor Smash's existence; that is generally one of the first things that pops in my mind when I think about the skills Silver possesses. To me, it's an amazing showcase of just how terrifyingly powerful Silver is: that ball of debris weighs tons for sure, and yet he manages to keep the hundreds of items it's made out of together and in movement while trying to simultaneously crush Sonic with another canister and keeping himself flying in front of it at the speed of Sonic's dashing. And then when Sonic hits him and he ends right underneath it, all it does is knock him out, after a battle wherein he ate the road like five times prior. Physically and psychokinetically, Silver is STRONG-strong: I guess the canon thing I like about him thus is how extremely powerful he's always portrayed as in the games. You can bet I'll be playing the heck out of Silver's boss battle when SXSG releases on the Switch!

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

I'd pick '06 as a whole, except I feel like a strong case can be made that everyone in that game was just foolish and the plot generally full with unexplained details and holes. However, this is Silver's debut game, and the perception he gave off there (even when later games have completely disproven those misconceptions) still permeate the ideas people have about him, I think. For a more concrete example, I really dislike the scene in TSR wherein Sonic is bothering him and Silver just timidly misunderstands what Sonic is talking about. Silv, you know what smack-talking is, my pal! You've done nothing but in every single other game you appeared before! You smack-talk in Team Sonic Racing!!! So yeah. XD

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

One Way Dream by Jat Cosmic and DESERT STAR; it's my go-to Espilver song :>

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

I also adore lovely sceneries and blue skies, and seeing people happy makes me happy as well!

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I always appreciate it when people, even when they indicate that Silver is not a favourite character of them by far, acknowledge how strong he is and pay attention to the traits around him that I like (such as his desire for justice, his helpful attitude, and so on). And I've seen quite a few nice posts about his characterisation lately, especially some with info from Japanese sources that I have no knowledge about; those have been intriguing to read!

Espio:

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

I really like his role as the stoic and collected ninja contrasting Vector and Charmy's zaniness, while Espio in truth is just as goofy as they are. Plus the fact that he is a ninja in general, because I think ninjas are cool :>

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Nothing I can think of from the top of my head! The Chaotix to me have always been solidly characterised in the games, and though I do wish we'd see them more often, I think that is an argument that can be made for more cast members. Hmm, I guess the long tongue from Fighters, then: it's debatable how canon that still is due to the Chaotix apparently getting reimagined for Heroes, but it is out there XD I just find it creepy, haha!

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

One Way Dream still, though also Cherry Blossoms from Hyper Potions, due to it having a Japanese-ish vibe to me.

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

LIKING SILVER

Not a lot, I fear. Espio's far more collected and skilled than I am XD Rip, I guess the part in Colours DS where Vector (after extensive bickering) is like "AND WHERE THE HECK IS ESPIO" before finding out Espio had just been standing there the whole time in silence might fit, haha. I do sometimes keep to myself a lot!

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Also nothing at the top of my head here, I fear; between Silver and Espio, I get the feeling Silver gets a lot more fandom attention. So I guess I like all the Espilver fanfics and artwork that people put out there, because I love seeing them together! ^-^

[spaceyderg]

*climbs onto the driftwood with you* that hugging doodle is so cute???? My heart

Venom's hug looks so comfy??? He's so cute??? The hearts??? I really like the two-colour lines (did not realize the venom design was your own but holy that made it even more impressive???)

Miguel is such a loveable grumpy cat, and its so refreshing to see him be the smaller one in a ship.

Admittedly I mainly watch the movies and only a few comics, but Venom has a ranking system??? Eddie is the only one to get full stars???? Thats. Thats true love right there. Also whats this about Eddie being in charge of a whole venom-society?? Did not know about that (also hard to imagine) but feel free to talk about it. Imagine Miguel and Eddie bonding over being the de facto leader (leading the spiders must be a lot harder than leading the symbiote hivemind)

My Venom design is mostly inspired by the '94 Spiderman the animated series Venom, Ivan Fiorelli, Rian Gonzales, Gurihiru and overall orcas in general.

If I were to describe my design rules for Venom he'd have a big bulky body with stylized proportions, an orca styled face with a bigger lower jaw to fit more then 1 row of teeth, and his color is a solid black with bright colorful pencil textured highlights.

I have this headcanon Miguel might have discomfort in his current height, according to the wiki he's 5'10 but in ATSV he's 6'9 so I wonder if he ever misses being his old height. Like there's not that many ppl that exists that can fully envelop him a hug and make him feel comforted. Plus I can imagine how often he needs to remember to duck under a doorway or else he'll bonk his forehead, or when he's at a hotel and the showerhead is like at his chin level.

Oh that makes me happy to hear, my first intro to Venom was the infamous '07 Spiderman 3 movie, so I'm glad to hear new fans get this fun intro to this character via the 2018 Venom movie. While I've been a lowkey fan of Venom I didn't do a full deep dive into his comics until 2021 with the comic Venom Verse as the first one. I've read a ton but I haven't read any of the early issues since those comics are v outdated by now and some of the info might have been retconned/rewritten. I'd recommend finding a reading list if you'd like to read more self contained stories or a full saga line of connected stories. Feel free to pick/choose what comics you consider as canon or not, cause not all comics are great and sometimes one doesn't like a specific writer for a run 🤷‍♀️

The ranking system is a compatibility rank it's seen in Venom: The End (A warning there is body horror/ imagery of Eddie withering away which made me uncomfy so I'm letting you know) I didn't much care for the plot of that comic but I do enjoy this ranking system as it shows Venom's preference when it comes to hosts. He sees most hosts as pretty good but Eddie is the perfect host according to him u wu 💕

As for Eddie being the head of the symbiote hivemind it's seen in the aftermath of the MASSIVE King in Black saga. After defeating the old head/creator of symbiotes Knull ,Eddie takes his role as the head. It's moreso a hivemind where he can control of any symbiote with consent and can communicate across all of them no matter where they are. However this does strain his physical body and he ages quickly and he dies via explosion. Venom is currently with his son Dylan atm while Eddie is in some sort of space/time limbo. I did fall off a bit on my reading towards the newer comics so here's where my knowledge on this run ends. I'd find pics but I'm feeling lazy rn

Miguel def has a tough job as he has to manage all these different versions of Spiderman and maintain the multiverse on top of making sure none glitch out of existence if those bands get messed up. He can't just up and leave he feels personally responsible due to his past actions. Eddie at this point is like in charge of running the universe but he's stuck in that position he can't quit or else the cosmos ends and he'll be replaced by another King in Black. They explain no matter what Eddie will always end up here someway or another.

Miguel is bound by his sense of duty, his responsibility to ensure the another universe will not end in the same way like his daughter's did. Eddie is bound by The Eventuality, he will always end up as the next King in Black even though he knows he can not handle it. To me it sounds like a lonely and stressful existence to be such a position of power yet they don't have the power to just go home and live a peaceful life with their loved ones like everyone else.

[anincompletelist]

Hi Sarah! 15, 17, 33, and 37 for the ask meme if you're feeling up to it. Hope you're doing well 💜

HI FRIEND! :D I am definitely feeling a little worn out but having fun answering some of these before bed :) I hope you've had a lovely day today!

+

15: Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?

oh absolutely. most of my reading is non-fiction psych books and/or poetry, so there are all sorts of feelings that must be written down expeditiously usually, and if I write in a notebook instead then the two get separated inevitably so I've found it much easier to write right there on the page. I love making a book my own and making it feel 'lived in'. looking back one day and being like hey! this made me feel things!! so much so that I had to write it down or highlight it or circle it or earmark the page to come back to again and again! I LOVE. (I do not, however, read in the bathtub because I have anxiety and am far too afraid I will drop it in the water on accident ksjhdk)

17: Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

as we all know, I have an unholy amount of wips in the docs currently but I feel like my 'main' wip is bridesmaids, which is concluding at the end of this month! it definitely has more lore than most of my other fics do thanks to a bunch of the characters being originals! when I outlined for this fic I had pages of background info for each of the characters and how it affects their behaviors and ties into the major plot points, but a lot of those details got cut as the fic crossed 100k and I didn't want to include a bunch of lore that wasn't directly relevant to our main characters/pairing. but the little found family in this fic is so special to me and if anyone's ever interested (or maybe if I do another fic set in this verse one day?) I'd love to delve into the original characters a bit more! they have tons of quirks and little details that are so much fun hehehehe

33: Do you practice any other art besides writing? Does that art ever tie into your writing, or is it entirely separate?

I will do literally anything creative even if I am not good at it ksjhkdh I love to create! I've tried a bit of everything here and there, but I regularly enjoy photography, painting, and occasionally drawing! if poetry counts, I have written poems for fics, both in posted works and some upcoming ones, but other than that I've yet to have any of these crossover!

37: If you were to be remembered only by the words you’ve put on the page, what would future historians think of you?

ooooh what a good question!

ideally, I think I'd like some of the main takeaways to be that I felt deeply, did not shy away from hard or emotionally nuanced topics but always managed to find a bright spot within them, that ultimately leaves people walking away from my work feeling seen, validated, and/or inspired.

realistically, they might stick me in a textbook under the category 'words that should have been said to a therapist that have instead been immortalized on ao3 [tags include: emotional hurt/comfort, shameless smut]' SKJDHSKJDHSJH we out here!

+

[send me a weird question for writers or reblog to play along yourself!]

[cindersnows]

Is there more info 'bout the jsab au?

It's so good I want to know more

I CANNOT BELIEVE I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO REPLY TO THIS (JAN 2)

okay since i doubt i'm ever going to make the comic i might as well drop all the plot i remember

just a note i'm not sure how much you know about ava/m because i have gotten my fair share of reblogs from people only in the jsab fandom; but i'm going to assume you know the characters at least the story was going to be: red, green, yellow and blue are the "players" (which in this story are just regular guys). they live on this super sci-fi moon world with androids and stuff. the Giant Life Tree, called yggdrasil (inspo from an old friend) is like yk. the thing that gives all shapes life. shapes would still be born without it, and they could live without it, it's just sort of the "electricity" that keeps the entire moon running and alive. without yggdrasil, all the plant matter n stuff would die. of course the shapes are advanced enough that they've developed ways for everyone to live even without any plant matter, but it's still a bit awkward. their society has no actual 'Rulers' persay, but used to have a royal family. the second coming and the chosen one are brothers who are descended from that royal family.

the actual story's plot; the prologue of Ad Lumen would start off with rgyb exploring and stuff because they like to spend time just fuckin around and looking for cool things. they go into this cave, and hear second calling for help. they free second, who has lost all his memory, and promise to help him regain it. suddenly the dark lord bursts into the cave and starts attacking rgyb, and the four run away with second. (he was actually here to find and save second, and attacked rgyb because he thought they were hurting second) chapter 1 would have a year or so timeskip. and then something about dark and chosen taking yggdrasil because they believe chosen has like, the rightful heritage to the throne and that society needs to be united under one rulership again or something. idk rgyb and second get split up (and from here it gets super vague bc i didnt plan out a ton); rgyb have to go and find second because he was taken into the castle by dark. they follow chosen into the volcano (chosen is there to find one of the pieces of yggdrasil because it broke apart). rgyb fights chosen and mentions second. chosen is like oh shit wait second is there??? and just zooms off to go to the castle rgyb turn around and go to the castle too, albeit through a different entrance. they find out dark is doing smth smth with yggdrasil idk --- which turns shapes pink/red and kind of aggressive but also stronger. (dark did this to himself too) second is being forced into the line of people that are going to be turned pink because dark doesn't yet realise second is in the castle --- if he knew that, then he'd get second out. rgyb find second, who's about to be pinkified or wtv, and red jumps in the way. now he's Actually red (and not just orange). brief fight because red's body cannot handle the process and she goes a little bit beserk but green, yellow, blue and second manage to calm them down. then the five go up to stop dark once and for all (peacefully). but once they get up there they see chosen and dark arguing which turns into a fight that catches color gang in the crossfire. dark uses a piece of yggdrasil, and stabs it into herself to gain more power to stop chosen. this goes horribly wrong, annihilate happens, dark goes insane and just destroys everything in vir path: aka red, green, yellow and blue die second gets really angry, and chosen and dark panic and stop fighting. but second has superpowers (re: descended from the royal family) and just goes absolutely apeshit and beats the shit out of dark. he also gets his memories back. he manages to revive rgyb before passing out and then the gang make up with chosen and dark once second explains what he's remembered. all of shape society comes together to agree that actually they do kind of need some sort of rulership (because prior to this everything was anarchy and it Wasn't Working) but we don't see that because the comic ends

i was also thinking about making a second part of the comic, Ad Astra, smth about king/mango tango and purple and victim. i didnt get super far with the idea tho: ik that king would be elected the new ruler, and purple his vice president (??) and they would be doing something bad with yggdrasil. color gang would be trying to convince everyone that king is doing something weird but no one except chosen and dark would believe them. purple would be an android (modeled by pink/orchid after the actual purple, who died as a kid fighting with navy). mango would be a shape. victim would be an android that mango found within the castle's old computer room, who hasn't been turned on in years and gives mango advice on stuff.

sadly i dont have any of the wip panels since theyre all on my old laptop, which broke :((

sorry for the super late response!!!! but here ya go. giant compilation of The Horrors, avjsab flavor

[booogy-man]

I have zero clue if I’ve posted this already but anyways, here he is!!

He’s part of a big project/series me and a bunch of other of my friends made! If you want more info on it I’ll make a post. The series is called the ‘Void Bar’ we are unsure if we are going to make it into a comic series or a book. I’ll make a separate account for content on it.

Btw Lolzy is his pet dogcatthingy she’s like 1 foot tall and likes to bite lamp posts. Do with that what you will.

Summery! (Spoilers for the series!!)

This series revolves around a ton of object head OC’s, Pops is one of the main characters! The plot mostly takes place in ‘The Void Bar’ the Manager/Boss Penny owns it.

There’s a lot of sub-plots and drama but the short story is that there’s this place called the Void and once you get in you can’t get out. There are humans who used to live in the void in peace with the other people who already lived there, but a group of humans betrayed them and poached ‘The Kraken’ (aka a VARY important person) this lead to years of war between the humans and other people that lasted hundreds of years! People who now live in The Void don’t take kindly when they find a human, (it’s usually met with a huge fight and maybe unalive-ment) One of the main characters mother was the Kraken her name is Cura (She is the definition of trauma, drama, disaster!)

I can’t say much else without spoiling my plans so y’all will have to wait until I got the entire thing figured out. Please let me know what you think! :]

@lovelymoonmagic @yes---but---no @thewordofm @sharpmarble76 @justfangirlstuffs @randishm

[gleefullypolin]

You could (and probably should!) write fic for them, I'm sure it would be lovely if that little snippet is anything to go by.

I truly adore Eloise and can't wait to see what her place is in all of this. I know there are people waiting for some sort of revenge plot from her or hoping she outs Penelope based on the end of last season but then again, there is a distinct lack of media literacy the last few years that's truly sort of exhausting at this point.

I feel like the fight between them had to happen. Penelope being isolated from the people who know her best is now motivation for her narrative. Anthony felt isolated and under pressure and it was a large part of his motivation in his season. Colin will now be isolated from his usual friendship with Penelope and that will be part of his motivation, etc. Our Freytag's Pyramid essentially started with the end of s2 for our dear Penelope and Colin but also feel like they've always given the main characters a bit of the Hero's Journey without the supernatural element to contend with as well.

(Well now I'm just going to call him Lord Obi Wan Kenebling)

I am curious to see how they handle Colin knowing, in the book he was worried for her more than anything and I think I'd like to see that played out with the contrast to Eloise's anger. Having both Colin and Eloise get viscerally angry at her and saying the worst sort of things isn't going to do anything to move a story forward imo and will just feel redundant. Colin being in love with her by then very well may soften it and having them work together, especially since they keep saying how much it's friends to lovers, how they're going to be able to tell each other things they wouldn't tell anyone else, would be a good departure from the avoidant behaviors of earlier seasons.

Oh yes, I don't think she's going to hold anything against him. What he said was not something she didn't expect, it was the hurt of him saying out loud to everyone like that. I do think he will be the architect of his own suffering and I have to admit that I find that much more enjoyable than some perceived punishment that someone who loves him would dole out.

I did just stumble into the info that they were going for Marlboro Man for him vs sexy pirate and either way, they're very clear on him being a man now, ha. I think at this stage, she is used to him looking at her, even so much as staring at her at times, but she's never managed to read him right when it pertains to her and I think it will be fun if they play with that insecurity of hers, she won't quite get it until she *gets* it and it will be very satisfying indeed when he finally says it to her out loud.

I really don't think you can ever go wrong with using longing looks and yearning as foreplay tbh.

I have been writing the final chapter of my last Captain Swan fic for 2 years now. I keep telling them all it’s almost done as I write one sentence and delete it over and over again. I swore I was done writing. I dare not try my hand at things anymore for the sake of sucking me in. Hahahaha!

Back to the point at hand, I will be so annoyed if Eloise does out her to Cressida. I just don’t feel like she would do that even out of revenge. She’s angry and acting childish but they have been friends for so long, I can’t see her of all people just being cruel for cruelty’s sake. I just saw the snippet of her and Cressida on Netflix and you can see in those few seconds that their friendship is not because she WANTS to be with her, its not because suddenly she’s a girls girl who wants to hang and gossip. She’s hurt and feeling a way and who is the one person who would hurt Pen more than Cressida? Women can be cruel creatures when reacting with each other. But that does not mean she wants to cause her permanent damage by outing her to the Ton. She knows what that would mean and if she had wanted to truly hurt Pen, she would have done that already.

I can never not unsee Lord Obi Wan Kenebling and so I shall forever address him as so! Thank you!

I agree with you whole heartedly, if Eloise is angry and seeking out the one person that would anger Pen as revenge, I do not want to see Colin treat her with the same anger. I want to see Colin show after of course his initial confusion and anger, because of course he was affected by Whistledown himself and then trying to understand why she would do such a thing and take such a risk and especially, not tell him of all people. But I also want him to be the one person that understands her in the end.

I want him to be her refuge, her safe space, and the place where she finds her acceptance. Colin has always been some sort of home to her. Whether it was the one person who sheltered her in the sea of people at the ball, or the person who was interested in her thoughts while he was traveling and heard her desires via her written word, Colin has been the home to her heart, and I want that to be where Whistledown comes to find peace too.

She’s going to be scared when she realizes there is a price on her head, and she is alone in this only to have someone to offer her security and acceptance and THAT is going to glorious because it has always been Colin. But now, he will recognize that too. He’s been a bit slow on the uptake! I’ll have to really control myself not to fast forward out of impatience to get there. I love angst but I also hold it in great disgust for what it does to my heart!

I have a feeling that all the sultry stares and dare I say lustful, breathy ways these two will say Colin or Penelope will surely make up for it.

[emmym1]

My thoughts on... Black Widow 2020 (#11-15) "Die By The Blade"

So I've already arrived at the end of this amazing run! I was pretty sad to see it end so soon considering it has been absolutely phenominal. I will say, it manages to give a relatively solid ending for a comic run that ended so soon. It was really interesting to seem them continue to dive into Nat's grief for her lost family and how it's affecting her. Her trying to find them not only because she wanted to see them but also because if she or her people could find them, so would anyone of her enemies. Also the continuous flashbacks of her past lives and her slowly accepting that she could never have that life back was pretty gutwrenching. Because in the end of this run, she doesn't really overcome her grief, she just accepts that it's going to be a part of her. And that's super tragic. I really liked the bond Anya and Lucy built with each other. It was fun seeing them banter together and have fun together while both being mentored by the Black & White Widow. The addition of Hawkeye and Winter Soldier to the team was quite interesting and really changed up the dynamic a bit. Because you have these youngsters with Anya and Lucy who are still fresh to everything and Nat has to adjust to that. But with Hawkeye and Winter Soldier she has some more experienced heroes in her arsenal that she can rely on in different ways. It was really cool to see how both young and old brought their advantages to the team that made up for an amazing squad! Issue #13 really stood out to me. Seeing the backstory behind Nat and the Living Blade was so interesting and the way it was visualized with such an unique artstyle was really good. It was great to see a villain that genuinely terrifies Nat. Up until now it always seemed like she had the upper hand against her enemies in the end. But with the Living Blade it genuinely felt like this wasn't the case. Especially with how terrified Nat was. This was the first time I saw her going into a fight where she already expected to lose and die. It was quite the surprise to see her have someone who genuinely terrifies her like that. I do wish we would've gotten a bit more on the Living Blade. I get his entire character is supposed to be mysterious but it was quite annoying to see it never gets revealed why he's after Nat, why he stopped the first time and why he wanted to buy someone with regeneration powers. I feel those questions should've at least gotten answered considering how important they were to the plot. The Apogee storyline was tied up pretty nicely I feel within what they could do in such little issues. I also would've loved if we had to chance to know just a little bit more about Lucy. As of now she's pretty much a blank page besides some surface level info. So I hope they explore it somewhere in the future. Nat's and Yelena's dynamic continues to be a highlight. It's so interesting to see them together and how they both operate. They both have such different habits and mindsets when it comes to certain stuff. I really wondered how their dynamic would've evolved if this run was longer. Because I definitely feel there would've been a boiling point where their frustrations with each would cause them to split temporarily or something. Although I will say they're pretty great at making compromises with each other!

The art was once again just mindblowingly awesome! From the unique art of issue #13 to all the amazing fight sequences and the amazing gala costumes everyone was wearing. The art is defintely one of the absolute highlights of this run. It's just so incredibly good. It was really sad to see this run come to an end so soon. I would've defintely loved to read a ton more issues of this run. The writing and art was just top notch. The entire vibe of this run was so unique really and just stands out so much. They really nailed the tone they wanted to go for so hard. I will say they did a great job tying up everything within such little issues although I do am a bit unsatisfied with how the Living Blade storyline ended. Felt like there was a lot more to that than we got to see and read. Hopefully it gets fully explored one day. There is so much left to explore from this run that I genuinely hope they're able to revisit this run and continue it somehow. I had an absolute blast with it so it was quite sad to see it end. But I absolutely loved every second reading it!

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 316: We've Had One, Yes, But What About Second Explosion

Previously on BnHA: Deku was all “[powers up like whoa because it’s time to end the fight]”, and he saved Overhaul from getting not-shot, and then smashed up Nagant’s arm with the power of his new rechargeable super knees. Nagant was all “yoooo this kid is crazy strong whaaaat, it’s like he’s some kind of protagonist or something.” Deku was all “I AM A PROTAGONIST, ACTUALLY, DO YOU WANT TO JOIN FORCES AND FIGHT BAD GUYS WITH ME?” Nagant was all “ah shit why the hell no -- ” and then AFO was all “SURPRISE” and everyone was all “?!?!?!” and AFO was all “TIME TO EXPLODE NOW” and made Nagant explode because he’s an absolute fucking dick. And then Hawks showed up, because Horikoshi just wanted to stuff as many plot points as humanly possible into a single chapter I guess.

Today on BnHA: Hawks is all “good job giving motivational shounen redemption speeches Deku but I’ll take it from here” and screams very earnestly right in Nagant’s face until she finally wakes up. Nagant is all “oh hey it’s my successor, you seem surprisingly unfucked-up from your own HPSC tenure, how did you manage that?” Hawks is all “fandom is going to love hearing this one, but basically it’s because I’m very upbeat and also I had the world’s best role model Endeavor to look up to,” and I swear this man stirs the pot on purpose, but damn it I still love him so damn much. Overhaul is all “HELLO AGAIN, JUST A REMINDER THAT, THE BOSS!!” and Deku is all “MAYBE TAKE TWO SECONDS TO REFLECT ON HOW YOU TORTURED A LITTLE GIRL,” which, thank you, lol. Nagant is all “btw AFO’s hiding in a house in the woods”, and so Deku and the gang go to the house in the woods. Video recording!AFO is all “hi I’m AFO welcome to Jackass” and blows up the house. Sometimes I wonder if this manga is just a weird dream.

I am once again reading the Bean version because I think it was actually the best out of all three translations last week. and that is surprisingly including Viz’s. “faux” is not nearly as entertaining as “knockoff”, and also I have literally no idea why Caleb thought Deku was saying the Third’s lines lol

oh hey, Endeavor’s here too! not that you’d ever be able to tell from this first panel lmao

glad you received All Might’s call, mysterious unidentified glowing smudge

oh snap he says he’s weaker in the rain. is that why AFO told Nagant to attack then?? except that as we discussed the other day, I believe that AFO fully intended for Nagant to lose the fight, so him giving her info that would give her an advantage doesn’t really fit in with that. maybe he wanted Deku to be separated from Endeavor and the rest for maximum angst, though

btw Deku’s eyes are unsurprisingly back to the new normal here

alas, the angst continues. I say, pretending like I’m not totally eating it up each and every week and writing essay after essay about it lol

anyway so apparently Hawks can’t actually fly lmao. he was just yeeting himself with style

for some reason this is the funniest fucking thing I’ve ever seen omfg. wave to Hawks, kids! say “bye, Hawks!”

j/k of course Deku is catching them. -- except???

wow so he was just running on fumes there at the end. well, good to know there is actually a limit to his shenanigans, particularly regarding this new “knockoff” 100% OFA. it will definitely not alleviate any of the discourse, but it’s good for my own peace of mind because it’s solid confirmation that he still needs his pals in order to win this thing

anyway, but on to the rest of this conversation, which is basically Deku deducing what we all deduced last week -- AFO implanted some sort of trap into Nagant when he gave her Air Walk. though I’d still like to get the actual details from AFO and/or Horikoshi, because this was particularly wild even by quirk standards lol

omgggggg

she still has a face after all!! so it’s confirmed, Horikoshi has no idea what “blowing up” actually means. we might have guessed, based on what happened to Toga in the MVA arc, and also based on everything Katsuki does ever, but shhh

so now Hawks is all “NAGANT PLEASE WAKE UP, IF I SHOUT MY NAME AT YOU WILL THAT DO THE TRICK”

this is actually kind of touching though because even though we all know (or most of us acknowledge at any rate) that Hawks is a pretty caring person, it’s rare to see him actually panic over someone’s welfare like this

oh shit Horikoshi is really doubling down on it

I wonder how much Hawks knew about what really happened between Nagant and the HPSC. regardless, he probably sees her as a kindred spirit of sorts, and I’m more than happy for Deku to pass the redemption torch onto him now that he’s on the scene. like no offense Deku but they actually know each other and stuff lol

DAMMIT NAGANT CAN’T YOU SEE HOW LOUD HE IS YELLING

apparently being freed from his HPSC shackles has finally given Hawks the space to embrace his own inner shounen protagonist. is there anything more shounen than trying to motivationally scream someone awake when they’re lying in your arms inches from death?? 100% guaranteed to work

!!! IS THIS NAGANT’S POV OMG

SO SHE IS ALIVE. THANK GOD. Horikoshi doesn’t want to meet with my emotional distress lawyer today after all

love how she’s all “just gonna stir up the weekly Hawks Discourse pot here by implying that he probably committed a lot of Atrocities just like I did, so now people can get all hopped up about that, even though there’s no evidence he’s ever killed anyone aside from that one horrible ‘damned-if-you-do...’ situation with Twice.” no one asked for your provocative speculation young lady!! trust me Nagant, our rabbles don’t need the rousing lol

but nice save there with the “so how are your eyes so untainted” well you see it’s because even when he was following the HPSC’s orders he always went to great lengths never to go against his own moral compass. which just to be clear was incredibly difficult, and led to a ton of pain and suffering on his part, because the life of a spy is basically just one impossible situation after another. but in spite of that he never stopped trying to do his best to help people. I don’t really know where this tangent came from or is leading to, lol, but anyway p.s.a. I love Hawks a lot and he’s a good kid dammit

oh shit??!?

how is the League always able to swing all these fancy forest mansions. where do they find them. how many do they have

so Deku’s dropping them -- very roughly, not sure if he was reacting to finally getting AFO’s location, or if his energy really is giving out -- and now Nagant’s saying that AFO hired other villains as well. well of course he did. gotta keep chipping away at OFA’s ninth successor little by little

now Nagant is asking Hawks how he’s able to keep making “that” face. I assume she’s again talking about the fact that he somehow didn’t let the HPSC wear down his spirit

oh my god???

thanks for stuffing this chapter to the brim with good nutritional Hawks Feels, Horikoshi. what a good. he just keeps on trudging forward undeterred no matter what bullshit comes his way. what a steadfast little guy. I WILL PROTECT YOU FROM DISCOURSE MY SWEET SUNSHINE

lmaoooo

“SPOTTED THIS DUDE JUST CHILLING OUT THERE ON THE ROOF WITH NO ARMS, SEEMED PRETTY SUS” good job Endeavor

anyway so you don’t really need me to tell you that Overhaul is immediately starting in with the “BUT THE BOSS WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE ME TO THE BOSS YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD TAKE ME TO THE BOSS” stuff again. but I will go ahead and tell you anyway. so yeah. he’s doing that

OMG YOU GUYS LOOK AT DEKU’S “of all the fucking assholes to just randomly drop in on my life once again why did it have to be you” FACE THOUGH, OMG

fun fact, if you go back to chapters 124 through 160, there was an entire story arc where Overhaul imprisoned and tortured a little girl. yeah, I know!! suuuuuuuuper evil. anyways just an interesting little anecdote for you all that’s somewhat relevant to the current situation

OMG, YES. FUCK YES, DEKU

THEN WHAT ABOUT SPARING ONE FOR HER!!! YES!!! EXACTLY!!! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, SOMEONE GETS IT

HERE’S THE PANEL OF DEKU SAYING THE EXACT SAME THING I’M SAYING LOL

(ETA: so apparently there’s some discourse about this because some people are interpreting this as Deku saying “you should apologize to Eri”, which would obviously be a terrible idea even if Overhaul actually wanted to do that, because Eri shouldn’t ever have to see him again. however I just want to point out that there is a HUGE difference between saying “it would be nice if you could direct that feeling of regret/being sorry towards Eri as well”, vs saying “you should also apologize to her.” all Deku is doing is rightfully pointing out that Overhaul has hurt way more people than just his boss, and if he really is remorseful, then he should extend those feelings of remorse to Eri and the rest as well. it’s not a directive to take any specific action, and I’m 1000% sure no one at U.A. would let Overhaul within 100 miles of Eri ever again.

tl;dr “try feeling remorse sometime” =/= “do you want me to fly you over to U.A. right now to surprise the little girl you traumatized”, lol.)

[slings an arm around Deku’s shoulders] you’re a good kid. I like you. I don’t know if I tell you that enough, but it’s true

meanwhile here is Overhaul’s “spare... a thought... for Eri...???????” face sigh

the struggle is real y’all

(ETA: and that’s... the last we ever saw of Overhaul, I guess? well all right then. I assume Deku will make good on his promise, so we know he’ll get that little bit of closure before going back to jail or whatever, and I confess I’m more than fine with leaving the rest of it open-ended, especially given his character’s history. I think this was pretty generous all things considered.)

lmao holy shit

All Might what did you do to those tiki torch guys?? did you thrash them. did you give ‘em those hands. did you deliver their own asses to them complete with a sticker reminding them Amazon Prime Day is on June 21. we missed out goddammit

so Endeavor, who wasn’t the one he was asking, is telling him that they captured (well let’s be real, Deku captured, give the credit where it’s due) Nagant and Overhaul. and so I guess they’re going to take Nagant to the ER now

fire is no one’s weakness

-- oh my GOD I scrolled down and audibly gasped

[is politely but firmly approached and asked to remove my arm from Deku’s shoulder by the physical manifestation of all this Dekuangst] “we’re sorry, he’s not allowed to have visitors right now” oh shit, my bad. [goes to stand behind a police barricade]

lmao what. did you run out of room on the previous page

what an exaggerated fade to black lmao

-- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I actually can’t see what he’s reacting to so maybe I’m just seriously jumping the gun here lol, but THE HELL WITH IT. the next panel appears to be a cut to Haibori Forest, so I’m just gonna go ahead and declare that Deku ran off on his own all wounded to go have more Dekuangst, just like I manifested. now go call Katsuki goddammit

[scrolls three more inches down] oh

yeah so like I said, Deku is walking very slowly a few feet in front of Endeavor, who’s telling him to wait up. yep. we’ve all gotta be so careful to not just jump to conclusions. I know we’re excited but still

anyway, so! welcome back to Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods (ARE YOU GUYS DATING) and Edgeshot! have fun walking into this obvious trap lol

dammit Deku why are you so determined to tempt fate

[monkey puppet meme faces]

OH MY GOD THIS IS PURE GRADE-A CHEESY COMIC BOOK VILLAIN 101 SHIT AND I’M HERE FOR IT

that’s such a weird way of clapping who claps like that

unlike certain other people who shan’t be named, AFO doesn’t feel the need to inexplicably take his shirt off when recording sinister villain monologues. I think we’re all pretty grateful for that

high fives to everyone who called it!! yep yep

anyway so this whole scene has major booby-trap vibes, which I’m enjoying immensely even though I don’t think anything is really going to come of it lol. probably just another long-winded AFO Speech. but wouldn’t it be funny if like the ceiling started lowering down to try and squish Deku afterwards lol

(ETA: well the explosion was still pretty funny too ngl.)

ffff

[“Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies]

anyway so yeah. he’s just hitting up all of his usual villain talking points. we get it, you’re so smart and you see right through the thin veneers of society and people who don’t conform are left to fend for themselves and labeled as villains and history is written by the victors, and blah blah blah dude are you just jumping randomly from one soundbyte to another lol. literally what are you talking about. what does this have to do with you blowing up Nagant

-- holy shit??

[”Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies MORE?????]

LOL WHAT

BRO. WHAT IS WITH YOU. DON’T YOU KNOW HOW TO LAY ANY OTHER KIND OF FUCKING TRAP GOOD LORD

“YOU’RE NEXT” THE CALLBACK?? THE PARALLELS?? THOUGH WHEN ALL MIGHT POINTED HE MADE IT LOOK WAY COOLER. AFO’S POINTING JUST LOOKS LIKE SMOKEY THE BEAR

HAS ANYONE CHECKED IN ON KAMUI WOODS I HEAR HE IS WEAK TO FIRE?? THE ONLY ONE WHO IS, APPARENTLY

r.i.p. to this particular forest mansion. don’t worry they have a ton of backups

remember last week when I said maybe AFO thinks explosions are gauche. well never mind. he fucking loves explosions

anyway so that’s the end of BnHA, everyone. hope you enjoyed. it was a good ride while it lasted. see you all, good luck in your travels

[escape-from-arcadia]

0: THE FOOL

Meet Cayden Tran (they/them). Cayden is an ordinary human who seems to be cursed with bad luck (spoiler alert: they kind of sort of actually are). They're a self-proclaimed cryptid hunter and conspiracy theorist, and they accidentally stumble into the mysteries of Arcadia.

First full piece I've done for one of my TOA OCs, and the first formal introduction to them. I'm going to try and make more cards from the Major Arcana for my OCs.

More info about Cayden under the cut:

Ever since they were little, Cayden has been surrounded by bad luck and near-death experiences, always managing to barely escape from danger. They explored the woods behind their house all of the time, and always came home covered in dirt and scratches. They’ve seen strange creatures and took up trying to photograph them, getting a few successful shots (various trolls and goblins). Their father, despite being a busy researcher, would always carve time out to camp with Cayden on the weekends and take care of them. Cayden and their dad moved to Arcadia when they were 10 from Washington state after their father picked up a job at the museum.

Cayden didn’t like Arcadia much at first, but when they heard about the strange creatures, it piqued their interest. Now they run a moderately successful blog all about the mysterious sightings. Every night (or as often as a high-schooler can) they go out and explore the forest or streets, looking for the strange and unusual. In their bag, they keep a composition notebook (for notes), a digital camera (for evidence), and a tape recorder (for interviews). They have the passion and researching capabilities of their father and use their skills to find out what’s really going on in Arcadia Oaks.

Cayden is also kind of the ultimate secret keeper, which is ironic given how much they love talking about what they find on Tumblr. Even though they love uncovering mysteries and sharing what they learn, if they find something personal about others or the creatures they meet (yeah, they've tried interviewing gnomes, and goblins before), they won't share it.

This is how they happen to learn that their classmates Aja and Krel are Akiridions, the waiter at one of their favorite cafés in town Hisirdoux Casperan is actually a centuries years old wizard, and James Lake Jr. in the grade below them is the Trollhunter. (It all happens in this order.) Cayden serves as the unofficial guardian of secrets in Arcadia, learning about the lives of the magical and extraterrestrial beings in it, and trying to keep their secrets from coming out.

With their bad luck though, things rarely go well for Cayden. Notebooks go missing and never return. Their camera breaks al of the time. Cayden also always seems to find their way into the ER. They become good friends with Dr. Barbara Lake, who grows increasingly concerned about Cayden as a mom. (I like the idea that part of the reason she gets worried for Jim is because of Cayden - she sees that Cayden clearly gets themself into trouble all of the time, but they always brushes it off as fine. She's seen their medical history. They're not doing great.)

-

Design-wise, I wanted Cayden to feel a bit patched together. Their jeans, which you can't see here) are ripped (not a fashion choice). Their zip-up hoodie has a ton of patches sewn onto it and pins. Cayden has very dark brown-black hair and dark grey eyes. They have a few piercings and wear a (plot-relevant!) piece of obsidian around their neck, something apparently from their mother. They usually like dark reds, blacks, and grays. They are average height at around 5' 5" (165 cm).

Personality: Cayden is stubborn and quiet, but also intuitive and resilient. Cayden isn’t the most out-going person you’ll ever meet. They don’t talk much with many of the other kids in Arcadia. They don’t like having people joining them on adventures in the forest and around Arcadia. Once they get to know people, they actually don't mind having them around; they actually like teaching people about cryptids so long as they keep an open mind. They don't like having people around them because they're scared of bad things happening to them. Even so, Cayden does have a few moments where they think they’re invincible and can dive headfirst recklessly into dangerous situations just because “bad things have happened to me before and I always make it out, why can’t I do it now?” This does begin to spiral out of control.

-

Other bits and bobs:

Cayden is Vietnamese-American and non-binary. They are panromantic asexual.

They bought their own binder before they came out to their dad. He was actually incredibly supportive of them though and is incredibly protective of them.

Cayden speaks Vietnamese conversationally.

Cayden is horrible at math, but is too stubborn to ask for help.

They're in junior year.

Their birthday is November 14. They're 17 years old in Trollhunters Season 2/3Below Season 1.

Cayden has many scars on their body from various accidents. They're incredibly self-conscious about them, which is why you won't catch them dead without at least a long-sleeved shirt and jeans.

Their dysphoria and scars are the reason Cayden doesn't like pool parties.

They've had surgery four times before seventeen for a number of different reasons.

They're highly agile from doing track. They would do field, but Coach Lawrence won't let them anywhere near projectiles in class for the safety of themself and others.

[tumblingclockwork]

HI LEAF IVE BEEN HYPERFIXATING ON MC STORY MODE AND ON STAMPYCAT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT STAMPYCAT BEING THE WHITE PUMPKIN IT SOUNDS SO COOL

HELLO HI YES I AM MORE THAN WILLING TO EXPLAIN

Before I start I wanna give a huge shout out to @mephones-declining-mental-health who was actually the first to point a lot of this out. We spent a lot of time putting this all together and she deserves a ton of credit for it. So go check them out.

ok so mcsm is an old game so quick refresher on episode 6: Jesse and his gang end up in another world and are put into a murder-mystery type situation. They’re trapped in the mansion due to zombies and have to survive until the day while the person who invited them all to the mansion (who goes by “The White Pumpkin”) kills them off one-by-one in order to obtain the Enchanted Flint And Steel. Which Jesse is also trying to get. Minus the main cast, everyone in this murder mystery is based off and voiced by famous minecraft YouTubers from the time. This was a pretty genius move on TellTale’s part because it meant the players were already going in with a certain level of attachment to these characters, allowing the game to kill them off in a way that would be emotionally impactful without effecting the plot of the overall story that much.

The people you meet in the mansion are the following youtubers: CaptainSparklez, TorqueDawg, StampyCat, TheDiamondMinecart, LDShadowLady, StacyPlays, and CassieRose

Multiple of these YouTubers are killed off (though some can be either saved or killed depending on your choices) and [spoiler warning] Cassie Rose is revealed to be the white pumpkin at the end. Her motivation being that she’s stuck away from her home world for and desperate to get back.

Now here’s the thing: that doesn’t make Any sense.

Cassie doesn’t have a single line or any piece of evidence that would necessarily point to her being the white pumpkin. The only real evidence that points to her feels so last minute and forced. And just completely disregards any other scene in which you were collecting evidence.

This would be less frustrating if there weren’t multiple other people that had far more evidence against them. But the one who has the most undeniable evidence against them? StampyCat.

Now I don’t know if they changed the story halfway through development or if the writers at TellTale are just bad at their jobs (equally likely but there is some evidence to suggest Cassie was not always the intended White Pumpkin) but Stampy has the most evidence, best motive, and would have just been a very interesting villain entirely.

Let’s go over everything.

So for starters. The first murder.

Spoiler alert! But the first murder is TorqueDawg. He stands under a dispenser that shoots him with a poison tipped arrow and he dies.

Now, tipped arrows were a relatively new thing at the time, and the game makes a point out of this. A lot of the characters in the mansion Don’t Know what a tipped arrow is. But a few do.

After the second murder (which we’ll address in a moment) you have the ability to interrogate three of the characters. LDShadowLady, TheDiamondMinecart, and StampyCat

Lizzie (LDShadowLady) is fully aware of the tipped arrows. Both Dan (TheDiamondMinecart) and Stampy point this out. When you ask her about it, she says she does know how to make them and taught others about it.

One of the people she talked about the tip arrows to is Cassie, aka the white pumpkin. So story-wise it does make sense. But Lizzie also states that Stampy had asked her about the tipped arrows, and specifically how to make them. So we know he has full knowledge of them.

But what does Stampy say when you ask him about the tipped arrows?

“I’ve never seen anything like it before”

This is Never addressed. Not once. Stampy blatantly lies about knowledge of a murder weapon when he seemingly has no reason to do so and he gets away with it.

So Stampy 1. Has the ability to create the weapon used for the murder and 2. Felt the need to hide this ability.

So that’s pretty suspicious right off the bat.

Now these interviews are caused by the second murder. So let’s talk about that.

Second murder: CaptainSparklez is pushed into a sand pit and suffocated by a very elaborate redstone trap. The trap is activated by one of the buttons on the table that they’re all sitting at.

Each of the buttons activates the trap, but only one of them was actually pressed. The connection we’re supposed to make here is that the White Pumpkin set up multiple buttons to keep suspicion off of themself.

The people sitting at the buttons were StampyCat, TheDiamondMinecart, LDShadowLady and Jesse’s friend Lucas.

Now you’ll notice that CassieRose, the actual White Pumpkin, is not on this list.

TheDiamondMinecart (Dan) is the one who presses the button. Dan is supposed to be a Red Herring here as he didn’t know what the button would do and pressed it anyway (though he’s a bad red herring. And we’ll discuss that in a moment). Even with the knowledge that it wasn’t the white pumpkin who pressed it, it doesn’t make any sense for her to have not been sitting at a seat with a button. And this is never really addressed either. Making this scene a complete waste of time, unless of course the original white pumpkin was intended to be one of those 4 people.

The interviews give us a lot of knowledge about the interpersonal relationships of the characters and what their skill levels are. Such as what I discussed earlier about the tipped arrows. But one thing that stays consistent is Jesse’s insistence that whoever the white pumpkin is, they must be good at redstone.

And he’s right. Every trap set by the white pumpkin at this point was redstone activated. Whoever made it must have been very skilled with it. And out of all the suspects there’s only one who has that level of ability. Stampy.

Both Dan and Lizzie make a point of saying that Stampy is a master of redstone and his skill is unmatched. But when Stampy is asked about this, his first instinct is to lie about it. When you catch him in this lie, he immediately back-tracks.

So Stampy

Has knowledge on how to build the first murder weapon (which wasn’t knowledge everyone had at the time)

Completely lies about this knowledge and is never called out for it

Was sitting at one of the buttons that caused the second murder

Is the only one with the redstone knowledge capable of creating the white pumpkins traps.

Lies about his redstone ability

So there you go! That’s a ton of evidence against him! And pretty much no evidence against Cassie other than the fact that she also knew about tipped arrows at the time.

In fact the dinner scene confirms Cassie can’t be a suspect unless we’re supposed to believe she just hoped someone else would do the job for her. Which considering she’s later characterized to be super paranoid and unwilling to leave things to chance, I doubt it.

While looking through secret tunnels you manage to find a secret conversation between Dan and Lizzie where Dan admits that he was the one who pushed the button on accident and that he feels super guilty about it. Jessie spots the white pumpkin looking through a painting at this moment. And considering he’s also seeing Dan and Lizzie, and he knows where Lucas is, out of all the people sitting near buttons, Stampy is the only one left. If the White Pumpkin was someone who was sitting at one of the buttons (which it should have been) it would have had to be Stampy

Now I do think having Dan push the button is realistic and fine. It’s a button. Everyone likes pushing buttons. But the fact that the white pumpkin would Bet On That Happening and not sit near a button at all feels like it couldn’t possibly be right, especially because everything else is so thought through and calculated. It feels out of character for Cassie to do. Cassie being the white pumpkin also means those interview scenes were an entire waste of time. They gave us no real information that could be used in the case and crossed off the real murderer as a possible suspect.

If *Stampy* was the murderer however, this would have made a lot more sense. As the interviews would have given us a lot of info about him and against him. Plus his relationship to the others. Even if Dan turned out to be the one who pressed the button, we still would have gotten that important info on Stampy. Not to mention that Dan just so happening to press the button before the White Pumpkin got a chance is a lot more believable than the White Pumpkin betting on that.

Now the way the story actually goes is that Stampy is revealed to have the enchanted flint and steel (even though before he claimed to not even want it) and as I’ve said, Cassie is revealed to be the white pumpkin.

We learn she’s the white pumpkin because she’s the only one who didn’t have a portrait of herself with a red X over it, which is a sign someone had died. Meaning she was never intended to die at all.

Now because the writing team didn’t put any actual evidence of her being guilty before this, they slip in a Not At All Subtle clue that she’s the white pumpkin.

The white pumpkin’s hide out is Filled with calico cats. The same cats as Winslow (the cat that Cassie had kept with her). And while this is obviously supposed to tell us it’s her, it doesn’t really make much sense as a clue. Considering Winslow is just one cat. A bunch of cats that look like him is sort of out-of-nowhere. She’s had no real evidence against her other than the final connection, meanwhile all signs seem to point to Stampy.

This doesn’t necessarily mean anything but I do think it’s worth mentioning that there is one character who Does have a ton of animals like the ones we see in the white pumpkin’s room. And that’s Stampy. He has a ton of dogs that could have easily taken the place of the cats. But anyway.

This last second Right At The End clue seems to almost indicate that there was some change in writing half way through the process. Before Stampy is revealed to have the flint and steel (which is something that any character could have confessed to and the story would be pretty much the same), the story makes a lot more sense with the idea that Stampy was originally intended to be the white pumpkin. We can also gather that it seems they intended the white pumpkin to be a man, as the protagonists refer to the white pumpkin by he/him pronouns and that assumption is never addressed when they learn the white pumpkin is a girl.

Either that or the writers are just. bad. Which is also very likely.

That’s all the evidence I have. So let’s talk about how story-wise it would have been so much more interesting to make Stampy the white pumpkin.

Cassie is great. But she didn’t get a lot of actual screen time in game until her villain reveal because she really never had any evidence against her. Stampy however got a lot of screen time and was generally the fan favorite when it came to the youtubers that were in episode 6. He was one of the most beloved youtubers at the time and the writers took that into account.

Whenever Stampy was accused of something, he’d play the innocent card. He’d say things like “it’s me! Stampy! I’m everyone’s friend!” In an attempt to get sympathy. Instead of defending himself, he played at the emotions of the people around him. He was played as the sweet innocent character who wouldn’t do anything wrong. I think this would have made him a Great twist villain. It would have made a lot more sense for the end scene as well, as the other youtubers defend Cassie, saying she would “never do something like that”. Which never really made sense considering they all knew one of them must have done it, and none of them had any real connection to her. Defending Stampy or being shocked would have made a lot more sense regarding the relationships of the characters.

His villain reveal would have been so much more surprising as well, as Cassie’s tone quickly shifts to much more malicious once she admits to being the White Pumpkin. And while I do believe shes a very good actor, I do believe the scene would have had an extra punch if the lines were delivered by someone who was previously set up to be the trustworthy friend who wouldn’t hurt a fly

But it’s Cassie’s motive specifically that I think would have fit So Well if Stampy had taken her place.

Cassie wants the flint and steel so that she can return to her home dimension. She’a been stuck here for a very long time and is willing to do anything to get back home. Specifically saying that she needs to get out of this “stupid world”.

Now this will only really make sense for those who are familiar with StampyCat outside of mcsm. But I’ll do my best to explain.

Stampy, as a YouTuber, was known for his “lovely world”. The minecraft world that he loved and cared about a lot. If the plot line was that Stampy specifically was separated from his lovely world, it would have been a great motive that he was desperate to get back it it.

So uh. Yeah! I think that’s all I got. I’m sure me and Worm aren’t the only people who have come to this conclusion but I’m just here to put it all into writing. I’m not sure if this was all a last minute change or sloppy writing but either way I think it’s interesting!

[handlewithkara]

Redoing my titles + writers spec

So, with the new information, I’m trying to update my spoiler speculations accordingly. 

13 - The Gauntlet: Dana Horgan (story) & Jay Faerber & Brooke Pohl I had this down as a Lena/Andrea and maybe the point where Lex re-enters the picture. Lena/Andrea is still a possibility but so far it doesn’t look like Lex is back yet unless they are hiding him really well. 

This is also contains the test of course. If it really totem = a person, and courage = Alex that could fit with my take that Faerber was involved in writing Welcome Back Kara. 

14 - Magical Thinking: Derek Simon & Karen Maser Well, it at least confirms a very small thing about my theory that writers like to bring back stuff they introduced, with Karen Maser being the one who introduced Esme and who now brings her back for this episode. 

Derek Simon has written a bunch of strong Lena action girl episodes ( most notably Trinity ) or strong Lena contributes episodes (like Man of Steel) so I kind of assumed that his influence would be dominant. (note that both Derek Simon and Karen Maser are co-executive producers though I think Maser has been one for longer). 

I guess there is a chance that this is another Kelly centric episode where Kelly = humanity? Or it is more Lena centric with Lena = destiny? Or it’s destiny, but destiny is one of the few totems Nyxly manages to get? 

15 - Hope for Tomorrow:  Robert L. Rovner (story) &  Emilio Ortega Aldrich & Nicki Holcomb Now that we know about the totems we know that this is likely about the totem of Hope and naturally Hope = Kara. I guess it makes sense that this warrants attention from the big guy Rovner.  Other than that I had this tentatively scribbled down for maybe Brainy or Nia stuff based on the writers, but we really know very little about the episode. 

16 - Nightmares In National City: Rob Wright & Jess Kardos

Based on the title I would assume that this is about the Dream totem and hence would expect this to be Nia focused. Which would fit with the writers, they also wrote the prom episodes which were rather Nia heavy in addition to Kara and Alex heavy. 

Okay, originally there was a rumor that 17 would be called Truth and Consequences and 18 would be Believe In A Thing Called Love. 

Later the writers guild of america site was updated to have 17 as I Believe In A Thing Called Love with Dana Horgan &  Nicki Holcomb as writers. It should be noted that the WGA has wrong information on it, it has two episodes called Lost Souls rather than having the correct info on Prom Again. 

Personally, I still think that: 

Truth and Consequences is a perfect Lena/Andrea/William title. And either of them would be a really interesting choice for the truth totem. Also Dana Horgan to me strikes me as a though not exclusively so but still fairly Lena centric writer. So to me the perfect combination would be 17 + Truth and Consequences + Dana Horgan and Nicki Holcomb as writers + it’s about the truth totem. 

With 18 being about the totem of love, maybe containing a Dansen engagement, which means that Kelly or Dansen (or even little Esme!) would be love and somebody else could be/would be humanity (maybe Lena as humanity in 14? though that seems a bit weird to me if they just made her a witch, wouldn’t declared normal person Kelly be a better representative for humanity?). Though I guess it’s possible that it could be Brainy’s love for Nia? Or J’onn’s love for Kara and Alex? Or if you are true Karamel believer you could hope that that’s where Mon-El returns. 

But I have to at least entertain that my “OMG, Truth and Consequences is a perfect title for a potential Lena or Lena&Andrea episode” issues are not indulged. and really 17 is Love and 18 is Truth. One thing that could come of it would be what if they shot stuff heavily out of order near the end and the “love” is a Dansen wedding or engagement and the “consequences” is the death and funeral of William, explaining why Alex is wearing a ring at the funeral? (I still think that episode 20 is way too stuffed to contain a big battle AND a funeral AND a wedding AND various wrap up scenes AND a big speech AND potentially the reintroduction of guest characters, so shooting stuff out of order with the special guest stars like James makes a ton of sense to me, like have a wedding or engagement party in 18 and James is present for it) 

But yes, I can also entertain that 17 = Love = Lena centric beacuse of Dana Horgan. 

That would leave William or Andrea as the most likely candidates for truth in episode 18. (I still really like the concept of William passes the test of Truth, dies a hero’s death and passes the totem on to Andrea who feels so humbled by his sacrifice that she becomes a better person) But with us not knowing who wrote it there isn’t really much to go on except a potential title and the concept that there has to be a truth token and me thinking that truth fits those characters the best (Wlilam tries to find the truth, Lena of course was very hurt by truth being kept from her, Andrea is William’s boss and just recently had some lines about truths and secrets) 

There are also rumors that episode 19 is called Last Gauntlet. So this would presumably be where they retrieve the last totem. Based on the episode title game, it would have to be either destiny and humanity. My main instinct was that humanity would be considered most important and would be last. But I guess it could also be destiny if Kelly = humanity = episdode 14. 

What this leaves out is the return of Lex. We know he is back in 19. 

I originally had him penned down for him showing his presence again in episode 13 because of 

1.) the writers involved  2.) It would make a lot of sense to bring Lena and Wiliam in contact for 14 3.) Melissa mentioned that the return of Lex would play a role in Kara and Lena letting bygones be bygones and we know they work together in 14. 

But unless they are hiding him intentionally from the spoilers for surprise reasons, it doesn’t seem likely to me anymore. Since we now know that Lena’s ritual in 2 has something to do with Nyxly not Lex. I guess it’s possible that Lena and Kara have a different disagreement later in the season that then is put aside due to the return of Lex? Death of William? Misuse of power? Lena withholding information on Acrata? 

Anyway, if it is not 13 where Lex start working from the shadows, my second guess would be 17 because of Horgan. Or 15 because of Rovner (since his presence implies important episode). Which would make some sense if like teaming up with Lex causes Nyxly to become more powerful, allowing her to unleash a NIghtmare On National City.  I don’t really buy that they can add him back that late into the plot as just 19. I feel like at the very least you would have to feel his presence whether Lex himself is present (like in the garbage island episode) for it to feel satisfying that he is the one in the big last battle. But with how they gave Nyxly a different sidekick I guess there is less need for him, since she already has a sidekick who acts as her guide to this world and who she can explain her plans to. 

@peggystormborn there is a rumor that the title of the last episode could be “Kara”, made me think of you and your neither Kara Danvers nor Kara Zor-El nor Supergirl, just Kara theories. 

[commenter2]

Helluva Boss season 1 episode predictions

Vivziepop does it again ! For those that haven’t heard, Vivziepop posted a trailer for season 1 of Helluva Boss on her YouTube channel containing a lot of news scenes of what will happen during the season, and it makes me excited to see what kind of mischief our favorite imps will get into in 2021.

Since we don’t know when episode 3 will come out (my guess is February) I thought I’d make some theories on what kind of episodes we will get based on what we know so far and what was seen in the trailer. SPOILERS !

Though not shown much in the trailer, I think we can all agree that episode 3 will be about the gang dealing with the Cherubs for the first time (I’m actually working on a theory post for the episode’s plot) and I still think episode 4 will be about Blitzo and Stolas dealing with Stella appearing at Stolas’s party in the ring of wrath, something I talked about in an older Helluva Boss post.

One episode I think we will get in season 1 will be a Moxxie and Millie only episode where they go on a date or celebrate there anniversary that keeps getting interrupted by various things as shown by scenes of something coming out of the water and wrapping Moxxie in a tentacle on a beach followed by Millie throwing a Molotov cocktail (with a picture of SANTA CLAUS on it) at something. I also think that episode will have the two going to the theater Moxxie use to perform at, if the theory about him being a musician is true, where they take down the same enemy that attacked them on the beach. Maybe that scene will also tell us how they met each other there, which as a big Moxxie X Millie fan I support 100%.

Another episode seems to have Blitzo and Loona having to deal with what looks like Loona’s boyfriend/ex boyfriend which will most likely have Blitzo freaking out about it since he treats Loona like a kid, but also likely have some father/daughter moments between the two while still being funny as there seems to be a car chase in that episode. He could also be Loona’s biological father which I bet would make Blitzo nervous about losing Loona somehow.

One episode seems to be about I.M.P being tasked with killing a pop star who I bet jut like in episode 1 will be much tougher then she looks as she seems to capture Blitzo and Moxxie for some reason. I also think she will try and use Moxxie to try and make her songs more amazing as there is that scene of Blitzo nervously hugging a recording room window that is next to a door with an M on it, maybe she sprayed her and Moxxie's initials on there cause she’s really crazy.

While I’m talking about that human character, does any else think she looks like that Overlord that was seen in the pilot with the big hands that moved the curtains after the extermination ? They do have some similarities in appearance in my opinion, plus the popstar has X laces shown on her stage which the Overlord lady seems to (somewhat) have on her black jeans. What if they are siblings and that Overlord payed I.M.P to kill her still living sister on Earth for some reason ? That would be cool story and even lore wise.

It also looks like the season finale will have the gang hang out at some place in a desert/prairie area as everyone is in country clothes and there are tons of cacti in those scenes. Maybe they are there to lay low from someone or after they did something really bad as it looks like Blitzo is being attacked at his apartment which was confirmed to appear in the season finale. There is a scene of someone attacking Moxxie and he is wearing his country suit so someone or something big will attack them while they are there, maybe a creature.

Though a bit weak, I think that scene of Stolas eating cereal alone will take place in a flashback episode about how he met Blitzo and what his life was like before meeting him. This could also take place during the season finale as if Blitzo and the others are in hiding, Stolas might not be able to find them and thus is really lonely and again could lead to how he met Blitzo. Admittedly there is a lot coming from that one scene of sad Stolas but Ill get to that in a bit.

However I think the biggest thing we got from the trailer is that we will get an episode where Moxxie will not only perform in the ring of lust but also Blitzo and Stolas will watch him perform while on a date there, and I think I know what will happen in that episode.

Thanks to Stolas pulling some strings, Moxxie is going to perform at some kind of club in the ring of Lust called Ozzie’s, which he is excited for but Blitzo has to go on a date with Stolas there as payment for making this happen which he does only so Moxxie can perform. While there I bet some comical stuff will happen like Moxxie starts getting nervous about performing and Stolas will flirt with Blitzo, but Blitzo does something that gets him kicked out of the building and he has to try to get back inside but deals with some lady in the process, maybe the manager or bouncer ?

Eventually Robo Fizz appears and tries to ruin Moxxie’s performance as maybe he was going to perform there but got replaced by him and wants revenge, getting aided by another robot. This causes a big fight and eventually Blitzo gets involved which scares Stolas as shown in the trailer. Stolas helps save everyone but maybe in the process Blitzo yells at him out of anger, which breaks Stolas’s heart and thus cause him to get depressed as shown in that cereal scene.

There is a lot that can happen in season 1 and I can’t wait to see it, but I just quickly want to state that the one thing I DON’T want to happen in season 1 is having the secret affair between Stolas and Blitzo being revealed to all of Hell as I’m kinda getting that vibe from that scene of sad Stolas. Maybe he is like that because his family left him after the secret got out and Blitzo is either in hiding and/or not talking to him as he and his business is a laughing stock now. I think we can all agree that that plot point should be saved for the last season of the series but I might touch on that once we get more info on the Helluva Boss universe.

What do you hope to see happen in season 1 of Helluva Boss ?

[rigelmejo]

fyi if anyone besides me IS trying out the Listening Reading Method - I have some tips you can read if you want (or feel free to ignore):

you should see significant progress within 30 hours. If you started as an absolute beginner, did what the guide suggests beforehand (learned some common words like a few hundred, looked at a pronunciation guide, looked at a basic grammar summary), then you should see SOME progress. If after 30 hours you don’t see any - you might be doing it wrong (or its not a method that works for you in which case don’t feel u need to waste ur time on it when other stuff might help you more). (http://users.bestweb.net/~siom/martian_mountain/!%20L-R%20the%20most%20important%20passages.htm)

Someone did L R Method as an absolute beginner in Italian (they already knew french, english). They took tests - were A1 when they started L R Method. They did about 30 hours of L R Method. They took a test again and scored B1. So 30 hours should see SIGNIFICANT progress for a language reasonably close to yours, and SOME clear progress I’d imagine even if it’s a less common language (even some gains from absolute beginner to A1-A2 would be solid and noticeable). (https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1721&p=99415#p99415)

Someone tried to L R Method mandarin as a proof of concept. So they only did several hours, and used The Little Prince (which is much simpler writing/language than the L R Method article recommends using). This is their results: “I tried Mandarin LR as a proof of concept a while ago. I used "The Little Prince", and did a few hours. The first couple of hours were exhausting and I was usually lost; by the end, I was associating quite a few characters with their sounds, occasionally understanding sentences in real time as I read along (knowing what parts corresponded) of up to 7 characters or so, etc. Again, this was a small handful of hours, as an effectively zero-beginner; I know some Kanji, but my active Mandarin vocabulary was probably in the single digits... I think this was after I'd studied tones/Mandarin phonology relatively intensively, but I don't recall for certain.” So - within a handful of hours, someone saw language improvement in Mandarin as a total beginner (http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=38593)

I personally have been trying L R Method as a beginner-intermediate ish learner. What I noticed: without a parallel text (so just using english text for step 3) I improved listening comprehension of words I already partly knew (through reading) FIRST. I also picked up some new words, but listening comprehension of words I knew improved most noticeably the first 10ish hours I did L R Method. Using Pleco’s dictation tool for step 3 (so instead of english text, I use chinese text where the english definition auto-pops up as the audio reads each word), or using a parallel text (so chinese and english visible at same time), both VASTLY improved how many new words I pick up per session. For me at least, seeing the chinese text to keep my place in the audio, and seeing easier what audio matches to what english definition, lets me learn new words faster. Since I waste much less effort trying to just keep the text/audio matched up. 

So if the effort of matching up text is draining to you (like it is to me), I recommend: getting an audiobook and chinese text that match as closely as possible. And getting either a parallel text, or using Pleco’s dictation tool in the Reader, or something similar (Pleco’s dictation tool is a lot like using a word by word chinese/english translated text). 

Step 2 seems very useful for: giving you context prior to step 3, practicing reading comprehension and reading speed, listening practice with the chinese(target language) spelling visible, and reinforcing what’s learned in prior step 3′s. 

Step 3 does seem useful the more you repeat it (I’m just lazy).

Test yourself by trying to LISTEN ONLY every once in a while. You should be noticing some improvements in your listening comprehension - the audiobook chapters you should follow more parts, a show without subtitles you might recognize more dialogue, etc. If your listening comprehension itself is not improving to some noticeable degree after 10+ hours of L R Method you may either be doing L R Method wrong, or its just not useful for you.

To see considerable progress in language abilities, it may take 50-100 hours. Or even 100-300. The article linked above, the person who does L R Method (aYa) would usually do at least 30 hours, then 50-100 for a language - eventually also doing step 4 shadowing, step 5 translating back and forth. For less-closely related languages, people mention having done it for a few hundred hours. So do NOT expect total beginner to Fluent in 30 hours. I simply mean, you should expect noticeable progress after some X milestones. After a dozen or so hours you should be able to start recognizing word boundaries with ease, some short phrases. If you’re not a total-beginner, but beginner-intermediate like me, then you should start notice much BETTER listening comprehension of words you already half-knew from reading within a few dozen hours. Then after 30-50, maybe some dialogue understanding, some common words regularly understood, etc. Again - test yourself with Listening-Only every once in a while to see if you’re actually making any progress. Also to see if you wanna ‘alter’ the L R Method to suit your needs better. Maybe you’ll find a way to do it that works better for you.

For ABSOLUTE beginners, especially in languages very different from their own, at the beginning stages simply using sentences with audio may be easier. To perhaps learn a few hundred to thousand common words first - and/or using translations that are word BY word translation right under the target language word. To help with getting used to the grammar, all the new common words, the sounds etc. So materials like Assimil probably do this - Spoonfed Chinese anki deck with its audio/text does this, Nukemarine’s LLJ audio/text deck does this, Japanese Core 2k with its audio/text does this, etc. Clozemaster app might even be a nice beginner transition tool...

For the L R Method steps - really READ them and understand what they mean. Step 3 is NOT watching a target language audio movie with english subs. It is trying to comprehend all of the audio, glancing at the translation JUST to fill in the gaps for parts you can’t manage to comprehend (so for looking up words here and there). While you’re supposed to ‘follow along’ with the translation text, you do NOT tune out the audio. The audio should be your main focus, keeping in line with the translation text is so you can REFERENCE it when you hear a word/phrase/sentence you don’t fully comprehend. And I am guessing step 3 is suggested to be done multiple times so that each time you need the translation less.

 L R Method works best with very vocabulary rich, long texts. If you use a simple text, or a short one (3 hours of audio for example), there’s only so much you’ll be able to learn from it. For example The Little Prince only has a vocabulary of 2000-3000 unique words, 1200ish hanzi in it - so even if you learned it entirely, repeating it over and over, that’s not a lot of info. Particularly if you don’t plan to repeat things, it’s probably going to serve your time better to pick rich vocabulary long texts (so you can pick up tons of words just through one pass through the book, and if you choose to repeat the book, pick up tons more words, before you start running into the rarely used words which will be harder to pick up). 

I am mentioning all this, because I saw someone who did L R method for mandarin for hundreds of hours, and does not have natural listening yet - so cannot follow a new audiobook listening-only, cannot follow a show listening-only. Considering that people have demonstrated they made some progress in 5-10 hours for Mandarin, and 30 hours for Italian, then 300 hours in Mandarin might be able to make more progress. I’ve done maybe 20-30 hours of L R Method so far, and already find I can now listen to at Least the audiobook of the book I’m L R Method-ing now without the text, and follow the main scenes fine. With simpler audio, if I have a visual cue (like acting scenes, or pictures) I find I can follow the main idea much easier than I could before. So I just think... if you are seeing very little noticeable progress after 30-50 hours, the method may not be giving you benefits as quickly as you might want a study method to show improvements. I think if something isn’t giving you some improvement after X effort, you don’t need to stick with it if something else helps you more.

Other factors that may affect this: 

I had some reading basis before I started L R Method. This might have helped me as far as how fast a rate L R Method is helping my progress. For an example: when I simply do step 2 ON ITS OWN I see improvements - because it helps me read through a chapter as fast as the audio, matches audio to the spelling I might already know, and I already can understand enough when reading at that speed to follow the general plot (so step 2 gives me context and increased plot understanding). Therefore, when I do step 3, I can really primarily put my attention on learning to recognize the SOUND of what I already understood - and on learning a few new keywords I already JUST saw and realized I didn’t know. Basically I can use L R Method to quickly pinpoint areas I’m weaker in, while practicing what I can already do. A total beginner won’t have the ‘practice what they already know’ benefit. (Genuinely though step 2 is helping my reading SO much and I know that’s in part due to my current reading comprehension level).

Also I have seen an example of someone who did L R Method while already B2 in Italian - he was aiming for C1. He noticed less drastic improvement after 40 hours - he did still notice some, like easier listening comprehension for shows and conversations. But he did not reach C1 listening/reading skills. So from this we see: L R Method might help you improve faster if you start off with more you still need to learn (which makes sense, since as the words you need to learn get rarer you will run into them less frequently in L R Method). Also, the gap from B2-C1 may be bigger than the gap from A1-B1? Also what I took from his example, is repeating step 3 multiple times becomes MORE important as you’re more intermediate-advanced. I would guess because you probably have less frequently occurring words/grammar to learn, so repeating content WITH those things in it is a way to get more exposure (whereas just going over it once then moving on is Not going to expose you to it much). Also step 3, if you really look away from the transcript for most of it, allows you to really practice listening comprehension. Also shadowing/translating, steps 4 and 5, may be of more benefit to an intermediate-advanced learner. Since shadowing may be doable for them now, and translation may be doable (and hone in on skills more). So... I would guess either the gap you have to bridge as an intermediate-advanced learner is bigger, and/or you just need to do more challenging aspects of L R Method to get similar frequency of benefits you would’ve saw at the beginning stages. 

[searchingwardrobes]

The Early Leaf’s a Flower: 11/11

I can't believe we are at the end of this fic! I am immensely proud of it, and I am so thankful for those who were willing to go on the journey with me to re-imagine Someone to Watch Over Me. I feel like the original was just a germ of an idea, and this event gave me the courage to build an entire world around it. A world similar to canon, yet unique. World building has never been my strength, and this re-write stretched me and helped me grow. In that way, I am so thankful to the ladies in the csrt discord chat, especially @optomisticgirl​ who stepped in as one of my last minute betas. B, you are the queen of world-building, and you have no idea how many times you helped me in chats to work out my own world in this story! Character development was also a big challenge in this fic, and for that I thank @shippingtheswann​, my other beta. Emma and Killian's relationship wouldn't be as rich if not for you! And thank you to @distant-rose​ for helping me with the Lost Boys, the pirate crew, and the Neverland mythos. (If you ever need any info on pirates and ships, she's your girl!) I was nervous to take the story into some dark places, but you cheered me on and helped me trust my instincts. And of course, tons of thanks to the mods of this event at @captainswanbigbang​. I was contemplating abandoning this fic until I saw you were organizing this, so massive kudos for putting this on!

One final thing, and I'll shut up and get to the actual chapter. My original vision for this fic was to take it where people had been begging me to - with Emma reuniting with her parents and the fall out from that - yet with my own version of the Enchanted Forest and the curse. However, as I worked on the story, I realized I had bitten off way too much. Therefore, I decided to split up the story. Sooo, this isn't the end! There will be a part two, which I am already working on. I will not be posting it until it is complete. It is shorter than this story, however, so hopefully the wait won't be too long!

Summary: She saw eyes that were the blue of the forget me not peering at her through the cracked door of the wardrobe. He saw hair as gold as the buttercups. Why does the wardrobe keep bringing them back to one another, if fate keeps tearing them apart? Or maybe fate has her reasons …

Rating: M for sexy times, violence, canonical character death, and attempted rape (all in previous chapters - this last chapter is mostly fluff)

Words: 6k and some change in this chapter

** Complete and updated every Monday** Also on Ao3

Emma and Killian: Age 24

When Emma was a little girl, she had found a book of fairy tale stories at the school library. Inside was a picture of a little cottage by the sea made of a hodgepodge of stones and a thatched roof, and rolling all around it were hills of soft grass. She can no longer remember what story the illustration accompanied, but she does remember how often she would stare at that picture, thinking how cozy the family must have been who lived in that house. She checked the book out every chance she got, and when she was moved yet again to a new foster family and a new school, she had committed a grievous sin: she had ripped the picture out of the library book.

Well, it had felt like a grievous sin to her seven year old self. Especially when the sweet librarian, Miss Stacy, had reminded them gently on numerous occasions of the proper way to treat the books. Ripping pages was definitely not the proper way.

Somewhere along the line, she had lost that ripped page. Yet here, below her now, nestled in the dip of the hills and facing the sea along the shores of Avalon, is that dream house of her childhood.

“Killian,” is all she can manage to say.

“Do you like it?” he asks, dipping his chin and scratching behind his ear. How can he be nervous giving her such a gift? Henry yells in delight and races down the hill towards the cottage.

Finally, she finds her voice again. “Like it? I dreamed of a house like this. When I was a kid.”

“Truly?” he asks incredulously, eyes bright with hope.

“Yes!” she exults, throwing her arms around his neck and peppering his face with kisses. She shakes her head as she pulls back, cupping his face with her hands. “But we can’t live here. Won’t you miss the sea?”

“A pirate ship is no place to raise our son, and besides . . . “ he pulls her closer to the quaint home. Once they crest the hill, the land levels out, and the view is breathtaking. “ . . . there’s the sea right at our back door,” he finishes with a wide grin.

“Mama,” Henry cries as he comes flying out the front door, “can I pick out my room? There are three. Cause I want the one upstairs. Can I have the one upstairs?”

Emma laughs at her son’s barrage of questions. Killian reaches down and scoops up the wriggling child.

“Sorry, my boy, but you’re mum gets first choice.” He successfully cuts off the lad’s whines by tickling him. Then he sets Henry down upon his feet and ruffles his hair. “In the meantime, why don’t you pick some flowers for your mother? The field over there is carpeted with them.”

Killian points west away from the sea, and Henry eagerly scampers off. Emma calls after him to be careful.

“Don’t go too far! Make sure you can still see the house!”

“He’ll be fine, Swan,” Killian assures her, pulling her inside the house. “He never fell overboard on the Jolly despite your worrying, now did he?”

Emma rolls her eyes. “Haha, that really puts my mind at ease.”

Killian winks at her, then gives her a tour of the first floor, which is bigger than she would have expected. There’s a small foyer, then a formal sitting room to the right and a formal dining room to the left. At the end of the hall is a kitchen that opens up into a family room with a stone fireplace identical to the one in the parlor. Next to the stove in the kitchen is a door that opens out onto a patio with an even better view of the rocky sea below. Between the hallway and the kitchen is another door that leads into the master bedroom. The bed is tucked right beneath the window, and Emma can imagine falling asleep to the soothing sounds of the crashing waves.

“There’s no indoor plumbing like in your realm,” Killian explains as Emma circles the room, her hand skimming over the furnishings, “but there is a stream practically in our backyard, and the kitchen is large enough to put a tub in one corner.”

Emma pauses in her explorations and arches a brow at him. “You think I’m going to complain about a lack of plumbing after six months on the Jolly Roger?”

Killian manages another nervous laugh. “So you like it?”

She steps close to him, resting both of her palms on his chest. “I’m more worried if you’ll like it. You won’t miss the adventures at sea?”

“As I’ve said many times, piracy is ten percent adventure, ninety percent sheer boredom.” He lifts one of her hands and kisses it. “I’m ready for a life with you and Henry. I’m ready for the family I haven’t had since my mother passed.”

Tears well in Emma’s eyes. It’s still hard to believe sometimes that anyone would choose her, put her first. Yet this man isn’t just anyone, is he?

“Besides,” Killian says, thumbing her chin, “the Jolly still belongs to us.”

“But are you really satisfied turning her into a merchant ship? Is your crew?”

He draws her close, tucking her head beneath his chin. “Mason has always wanted to go to the naval academy, and with a year or two on a respectable merchant ship, he can. Hawkins wants to go to university, and Curly is looking at a plot of land to purchase and farm. Starkey has a sweetheart in Camelot, though he’s tried to hide it. As captain of my vessel, he can now ask for her hand. They’ve all grown up, Swan, and they have dreams and plans of their own.”

“And they’re loyal to their first captain,” Emma amends with a smile.

“I don’t know why.”

“I do,” she tells him, brushing a kiss to his cheek. “Are you sure you won’t get bored doing ledgers, placing orders, or whatever else merchants do?”

Killian shakes his head and bops her nose. “Quit doubting me, love! Besides,” he leans closer and stage whispers in her ear, “don’t tell anyone this, but I rather enjoy keeping the ledgers.”

Emma finds the nerd beneath his swashbuckling swagger incredibly sexy for some reason. “Well then,” she teases, stepping away from him to saunter over to the large bed. She grasps one of the bedposts and drapes herself around it in what she hopes is a sexy maneuver. “In that case, Mister Jones, maybe we should christen this bed.”

Killian growls and pounces, yanking her close and claiming her lips hungrily. Emma’s just dropped to the bed with a giggle when Henry comes pounding inside.

“Watcha doin?”

Emma almost falls to the floor in her haste to push Killian off her and jump to her feet. “Um, Papa’s just . . . tickling me.”

Killian chokes as he tries to hold back a laugh, but Henry is oblivious. Their son sticks out his hand, and clenched in his fist are a bunch of small yellow flowers.

“Oh, well, I did what Papa said and got you some flowers, Mama!”

“Buttercups!” Emma can’t help the tears that spill down her cheeks. “Thank you Henry!”

She picks up her son as Killian steps closer. He embraces both of them, brushing kisses to the tops of their heads.

“Welcome home, my loves,” he tells them.

******************************

After removing his boots by the door, Killian tiptoes through the cottage, the light of the full moon helping him avoid the furniture, Henry’s toys, and Emma’s shoes which she always leaves wherever she happens to kick them off. When he gets to the kitchen, he’s able to light a lamp so he can find the supper that Emma promised to leave on the stove. The Jolly was late coming into port, and going through the inventory took much longer than he had anticipated. Luckily, Emma is used by now to that most unpredictable of mistresses: the sea.

“Killian?”

The sound of his name is weak, yet he can still make it out on the other side of their bedroom door. He crosses to the bedroom, opening the door as quietly as possible. Emma’s curled up on the bed, her hair lit gold by the moon, and she’s so still he thinks maybe he didn’t hear her after all. He wants to reach out and touch her, yet he doesn’t want to wake her.

“Killian? Killian?”

She stirs slightly, but it’s clear she is still half asleep as she mumbles his name.

“Aye love, it’s me.”

“Killian?”

“Yes?” He touches her lightly through the blankets.

She says his name a few more times, like a question, and he can’t help smiling at how disoriented she is. He’s learned over the past year that she does in fact talk in her sleep. She finally seems satisfied that he’s here, and that he’s Killian. Her body relaxes and she mumbles good on a sigh. He pats her gently again and turns to go, but before he can, she reaches out and manages to find his hook in the dark.

“But you’re not leaving?” she asks, still in that sleepy voice.

The question makes his heart swell. “No love, I’m not leaving.”

“Henry’s not leaving?”

He lifts his hook and brushes his lips across her hand, which clings to the metal tightly. “No, Swan.”

She lets out a little shudder and releases his hook. He bends, brushes a kiss to her brow, then turns back to the kitchen.

“Killian, have we done this before?”

The question has him frozen with his hand on the doorknob. He isn’t sure what she means by the question.

“I only just got home, Emma,” he tells her gently.

“Oh,” she murmurs, sleep finally beginning to claim her fully and slurring her words. “I guess I dreamed it, then.”

Killian tiptoes out and slowly closes the door behind him. He chuckles to himself as he sits down at the table with the food Emma had left on the stove. Yet as he takes a bite of the roast on his plate, he sobers. He hates the fears that sometimes plague Emma. He wonders how long it will take for the love in their little home to ease them.

******************************

Killian awakes the next morning to the banging of pots and pans, sometimes punctuated by curses in their small kitchen. He may have had second thoughts about the location of the master bedroom if he had been aware of the fact that Emma was completely incapable of moving about quietly.

“Can I have more strawberries, Mama?” Henry calls out, far louder than necessary, and Killian groans as he shoves the pillow over his head.

“Shhh,” Emma admonishes, in the exact same volume as their son, “you’ll wake up Papa.”

“Why’s he not up? He said he’d bring home more paper for me.”

“You know the ship doesn’t always arrive on time. Now eat.”

Killian flings aside the pillow with a sigh, knowing that getting any more shut eye is impossible. Yet as he buckles his brace and slips into his shirt, he only feels joy well inside his chest. He did get Henry more paper for his scribbles, and he can’t wait to hear what tall tales the lad will weave next. He can’t, at only six, truly write yet, but he feels with fatherly pride that it’s merely a prelude of what is to come.

Once he’s dressed, he grabs the parcels wrapped in brown paper and string that he’d hidden in the nightstand before he went to bed. He tucks them under his hooked arm, then bursts through the bedroom door. “Making an entrance,” as Emma would say.

“Papa!” Henry cries out, tossing aside his fork and jumping up from the kitchen table.

“Killian!” Emma admonishes, turning from the stove with a spatula in her hand. “I was trying to let you sleep.”

“A pointless endeavor, love,” he quips with a wink. Emma rolls her eyes and turns back to the stove. Henry leaps onto his back, trying to grab the parcels.

“Whaddya get me, Papa?”

“Well, get off me, you little monkey, and I’ll show you.” Henry slides to the floor, and Killian hands him the largest parcel. “Paper, as requested.”

“Yay! But what’s the other one?”

Killian hands him the small, compact, rectangular package and grins as Henry rips into it. The paper falls away to reveal a leather bound book with beautiful gilt-edged pages and hand painted illustrations in deep hues.

“That, my boy, is a book of tales from Agrabah where the air smells like spices and the sultanese keeps a tiger for a pet!”

“Wow! Will you read it to me right now?”

Killian glances over his shoulder at his wife. “Not until after you eat your breakfast.”

He ruffles Henry’s hair, and the boy obeys. Killian turns to the stove where Emma is purposefully keeping her back to him, though he can’t fathom why. He saunters up behind her and leans over her shoulder, breathing in the vanilla scent of her hair.

“Mmm, something smells delicious.”

“It’s just pancakes,” she retorts, but she is unable to hide her smile.

“I wasn’t talking about breakfast,” he growls lower against her skin. He feels her shiver beneath him, but when he tries to grab her around the waist, she dodges him. She grabs the plate of pancakes and carries them to the table.

“Eat them before they get cold,” she says with forced cheerfulness, and he frowns. She sits next to Henry, sliding a pancake onto the boy’s plate, and Killian sits as well.

“I got you something too,” he tells her, sliding a small parcel across the table with his hook.

Emma still refuses to meet his gaze, fiddling with the string around the square package that could fit in the palm of her hand. “You know I never need anything but you.”

“Yet a man likes to spoil his bride. Go ahead, open it.”

She glances up at him from beneath her lashes, then tears into the paper with a tentative smile. It falls away to reveal a small velvet box, and Emma gasps before she’s even lifted the lid. When she does finally open it with trembling fingers, she breathes out his name. Killian slides off his chair and falls to his knees next to her. He pulls the gold ring with its simple jade stone reverently from the velvet and slides it onto the ring finger of her left hand.

“I promised you I would get you a ring the day we wed, remember?”

Emma nods, staring at the gem and turning it in the light.

“I know diamonds are the usual choice, but this immediately made me think of your eyes. Then the gold like your hair . . . “ he trails off worriedly. “Emma?”

She looks up at him finally - and promptly bursts into tears. Killian glances at Henry worriedly.

“Take your breakfast outside on the patio, okay?”

Henry nods and scurries off without argument, his brown eyes wide as he glances at his mother. Killian rubs his wife’s back and whispers soothing words, most of them nonsense. He hands Emma his handkerchief, and she wipes it across her eyes, then blows her nose loudly. She cocks her head at him, and the words out of her mouth are the last ones he expected.

“Did we have a conversation when you came home last night?”

“Um . . . yes, love. You said my name about a hundred times then asked if I was staying.”

Emma nods, twisting his handkerchief in her hands. “I thought so. Did I ask if we’d done this before?”

Killian laughs and rubs her back again. “Yes, you did. I wasn’t sure if you meant last night, our entire marriage, or since we were ten.”

Emma nods, but says nothing. He’s entirely confused. It isn’t like Emma to cry out of nowhere. Or refuse to look at him. Or dodge his touch. He’s beginning to become concerned, truth be told.

“If you don’t like the ring -”

“Of course I like it! It’s perfect!”

“What then?”

“Oh God,” Emma pants, hugging her middle and looking up at the ceiling. “Last night, I dreamed about this conversation. In my dream - my nightmare - you got angry and left.”

Killian’s brow furrows. “I can assure you, Swan, nothing you can tell me would ever make me leave.”

She levels him with a steady gaze. “You used to. Through the wardrobe.” He starts to open his mouth, but she lifts her hand to stop him. “I know it wasn’t intentional, and I’m not blaming you, I just . . . I just . . .”

He grasps her hand firmly in his. “Breathe, love, it’s okay. You just get scared sometimes. It’s okay. So do I.”

“You do?” her voice sounds so small and fragile that it breaks his heart.

“Aye, of course. It has nothing to do with love or trust. The wounds of childhood tend to linger.”

“But I do trust you!” she exclaims.

He draws nearer and cups her cheek. “I know that. That’s my point entirely. The fears are irrational, for both of us. Now, what is it you have to tell -”

He stills when Emma takes his hand and places it on her abdomen. It’s different somehow, and he freezes. He had noticed the last time they made love, but couldn’t quite put his finger on the change. Now he gazes into Emma’s blushing face - how had he not noticed the sudden roundness in her cheeks? The pieces begin to fall into place - her fatigue lately, that illness that seemed to linger far too long . . .

“Emma, are you . . . “

She nods, her eyes welling up with tears again. Her tears - of course! He swallows thickly.

“Emma you’re . . . “

She grins wider, cocking her head saucily. “I’m rather proud that I’ve rendered you speechless. I think the word you’re looking for is pregnant.”

A grin fills his face, a goofy, joyous grin. “Well, I was going to say with child, actually.”

She rolls her eyes. “Of course you were, my old fashioned sailor who -”

He cuts her off with a passionate kiss, and when it ends, he scoops her up and spins her around with joy.

“Careful there, buddy. The morning sickness is mostly gone, but I make no promises that I won’t puke on you.”

“Wait,” he says, shaking his head, “how long have you known about this?”

“Well,” she hedges, “this realm doesn’t exactly have a stick you can pee on.”

“Sorry?”

She laughs, “Never mind. Let’s just say it took me awhile to figure it out, and then it took me a bit longer to get up the nerve to tell you. I’d say I’m at least twelve weeks along, probably more.”

Killian cups her face with his hand and locks his eyes intently on hers. “Do you honestly believe I would leave you over this?”

She bites her lower lip and shakes her head.

“Can’t you see now how happy this makes me?”

“Well,” she says with a shrug, “you spinning me around the kitchen sort of convinced me, I guess.”

He throws his head back and laughs before kissing her soundly again. But he doesn't do any more spinning.

No sense testing fate.

***************************

“I’m sorry, Captain Jones, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

The midwife has the audacity to grab Kilian by the arm and try to forcibly remove him from his own bedroom. On the bed, Emma is crying out as her next contraction hits.

“I’m not leaving,” Killian says firmly.

“It isn’t proper for a man to be present,” the midwife argues, though her words are almost drowned out by Emma’s cries.

“Bullshit,” Emma interrupts the argument, her breaths coming raggedly as her

birthing pains abate for the moment.

“Mrs. Jones, it just isn’t done,” the midwife snaps back, aghast.

“Well it is in the realm I come from,” Emma tells her, “not to mention the whole

impropriety thing is ridiculous. He’s obviously intimately familiar with my vagina.”

The midwife’s eyes grow impossibly large, and Killian can’t stop the chuckle that escapes him.

“Mrs Jones! It isn’t ladylike to -”

“Yeah, well ladylike has never described me anyway.”

The midwife presses her lips together in a disapproving way as she draws closer to the bed. She lowers her voice, but the woman is seventy-three and hard of hearing, so Killian can hear every word.

“I’m aware that your husband isn’t the biological father of your son, so I’m going to assume this is a bit new to you. If your husband sees you in this state, well . . . it may . . . turn him away from you, if you catch my meaning.”

Emma’s face turns a deeper shade of red that has nothing to do with her labor, and her eyes blaze in a way Killian knows well. He grins wider, knowing that his wife is about to render this woman speechless.

“My husband wasn’t complaining about my pussy when he was between my thighs last night, so I think I’m safe.”

Yep, speechless. Killian can’t help winking at the midwife as he saunters past her. The woman looks like she might faint. Killian kneels beside the bed and brushes a kiss to Emma’s forehead. Her face crumples as she clutches desperately at his hand.

“She was trying to make you leave!”

“Nothing could tear me away, love.”

“Oh God!” Emma yells, drawing her knees up as another contraction rolls through her. Emma releases Killian’s hand and grabs onto his hook instead as she groans in pain. This one is stronger than the last, and just as Killian is about to lose his mind because he can’t help her, she collapses against the mattress.

“I didn’t want to break your one good hand,” she tells him with a wane smile.

“I appreciate that,” he quips back with a lopsided grin.

The midwife has pushed the sheets back and is examining Emma. “Well, Mrs. Jones, your contractions are longer and closer together, but the baby isn’t crowning yet. We’ve got a while still.”

Emma whimpers and shakes her head. “It didn’t take this long when Henry came.”

Killian puts his arm around her and whispers that he loves her. She drops her head wearily to his chest, and he kisses her sweaty brow. Another hour goes by the same way, and it feels like time has stopped altogether. Killian feels her labor is unceasing, so he can’t imagine what it must be like for her. Though she’s clearly exhausted, he’s amazed at her strength.

“I see the head!” the midwife finally says excitedly, and it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever heard. “Can you push for me when the next contraction hits, Emma?”

The look on his wife’s face is full of determination as she draws her knees up. He sees her tense when the pain comes again, but she bears down with a scream. She has to do the same thing again, and again, and yet again before the midwife laughs out that the baby’s head is out. The midwife shocks him when she pushes back the sheets further and asks if he wants to see. Killian does, and he blinks back tears when he sees their baby.

“It’s almost over, Emma,” he encourages her.

Emma pushes a few more times, and finally, cries fill the air. Emma laughs even as she collapses in exhaustion. Killian kisses her and murmurs over and over how bloody brilliant she is.

“It’s a girl!” the midwife announces as she rubs the baby down with salt to fend off infection.

“A girl,” Kilian breathes and kisses his wife again.

The midwife then washes the baby off with the water Killian had boiled for her hours ago. The little thing is red, screaming, and oh so tiny, but the midwife is all business as she cleans her up and wraps her in a blanket. The woman only softens when she gently places the baby girl in Emma’s arms.

“Oh Killian, she’s so beautiful,” Emma whispers as she brushes her fingers over the baby’s cheeks.

Killian lays down sideways on the bed next to his wife and gazes in wonder down at the tiny baby. She has a tuft of dark hair on her head, and her skin is damp and feather soft beneath his fingers. She’s ceased her crying, her eyes wide as she gazes up at Emma, as if she recognizes her mother instantly.

“She has your eyes,” Emma whispers with a smile.

“And your chin and nose,” Killian adds.

“And your ears,” Emma says, her thumb tracing over them.

“Poor thing.”

“Hey,” Emma admonishes, tearing her gaze away from the baby, “I love your ears.”

They just gaze down at her for several moments, Killian grinning broadly when the baby’s tiny fingers wrap around his pinkie. A tear slips down his face, and Emma reaches up to wipe it away.

“Do you want to hold her, Papa?”

He can only nod, his emotions overwhelming him. He gathers the bundle into his arms, holding her close to his chest and out of the way of his hook.

“What shall we name her, Swan?”

“I’ve been thinking about that a lot, actually. I sort of had a feeling she was a girl, and well . . . there’s only one name that seems fitting. A name that I will always associate with love and home.”

“I know exactly what you’re referring to, my love, and I think it’s absolutely perfect.”

There’s a soft knock at the door, and they both turn their heads to see Starkey in the doorway with Henry in tow. Kilian grins.

“Henry, would you like to come meet your baby sister Martha?”

Henry’s eyes are wide as he draws closer to the bed. Emma reaches out and encourages her son to climb up and join them. He settles in next to his mother and leans over to look at the baby.

“She’s pink,” he observes, and they laugh.

“She won’t be forever,” Killian explains, “all babies are that way at first.”

“Even me?”

“Yes,” Emma teases, kissing his cheek, “even you.”

Henry gets bored of the baby fairly quickly and asks if he can go back down to the beach with Starkey. After he leaves, Emma and Killian cuddle together to love on Martha, until she starts to fuss.

“Okay,” the midwife says briskly, “Papa needs to leave so Mama can nurse.”

She let’s Killian stay the minute she sees Emma’s scowl.

Emma and Killian: Age 28

“Papa, again, again!”

Killian laughs as his three-year-old daughter makes futile attempts to move the rocking horse back and forth. “Okay, okay, anything for my cygnet.” He presses his hook down on the horse’s tail, setting it in motion again as his little girl squeals with delight.

Emma laughs too from her chair by the fireplace. “That’s the truth. You know the kids don’t need you to bring gifts every time you’re away.”

“It’s part of the inventory I own, love, I can do what I please with it.”

“You spoil us.”

“Happily.”

He winks at his wife as she settles back into her chair and sips contentedly on her mug of hot chocolate - another gift from his latest shipment. Business is booming with the addition of a second ship. Starkey is still the captain of the Jolly while Nibs has taken the helm of the Jewel II. The Jolly is what sets Killian’s business apart, however. With the pegasus sail, it’s able to bring exotic goods from far away realms that no other merchants can acquire. Though Hawkins, Mason, and Curly all left to pursue their respective dreams, Killian had no trouble replacing them nor acquiring a crew for Captain Nibs. Jones Shipping has developed a reputation for treating their sailors well, and Killian has been able to hire the very best at sea.

The Jones family enjoys frequent trips on the Jolly as well, with renovated accommodations that Killian made specifically to make his family more comfortable. Henry and Martha are just as content at sea as they are on land, though this little cottage of theirs is always a joy to come home to.

Killian continues to rock Martha on her new toy as his gaze lands on Henry, now nine years old. As usual, he wanted more paper and pencils, which he goes through at an alarming pace. His writing is incredibly engaging and complex for a boy his age, and Killian couldn’t be more proud. Henry’s no slouch behind the wheel of the Jolly, either, and can read the stars as well as any of Killian’s crew. No father has ever been more blessed than he.

Their domestic evening scene is disrupted by a knock at the door. Emma frowns as she rises to her feet, setting her mug down on the coffee table.

“Who could that be?”

When Emma opens the door, she lets out a pleasantly surprised gasp to find Tinkerbell and Tiger Lily standing there. Despite Martha’s protests, Killian joins Emma at the door with his little girl balanced on his hip. There’s the typical round of greetings, hugs, and exclamations over how much the children have grown, but Emma and Killian both get the feeling this isn’t just a social visit. Not at this time of day, and not by the looks of those nervous expressions on the fairies’ faces.

“I just brought home cocoa and tea from Agrabah,” Killian tells his old friends. “Would you like some?”

“Yes, that would be nice,” Tiger Lily says, “tea for me, please.”

“I’ll take some cocoa,” Tink adds, “remember how Wendy used to love it?”

“Yes, she sure did,” Killan says, his mind going back in time to a frightened little girl with leaves in her hair. He hopes wherever she is, that Wendy is happy.

“Um, Henry,” Emma says slowly, “why don’t you take Martha upstairs with her new rocking horse?”

Killian holds his breath for the lad to protest. His baby sister in his room isn’t his favorite thing in the world, but the boy must pick up on the tension radiating off the fairies because he immediately agrees.

“Come on, Martha,” Henry tells her as he hoists up the rocking horse, “I bet I can rock you even faster than Papa.”

Martha squeals in delight and eagerly follows the big brother she idolizes up the stairs. Emma settles in at the kitchen table with the fairies while Killian goes to the stove.

“What’s this all about?”

That’s his wife, direct as always. Tiger Lily sighs and cuts a quick glance over to Tink.

“Emma . . . “ she says slowly.

“We found your parents!” Tink interrupts, practically vibrating with excitement. Tiger Lily rolls her eyes.

“What?” Emm breathes, and Killian abandons the tea pot to rush to her side and take her hand. “Are you sure?”

“Well, lost princesses are more common than you might think,” Tiger Lily says dryly, “but in the case of the lost princess of Misthaven, it all adds up.”

“Adds up to you, Emma,” Tink put in. “The birthmark, the princess’s birthdate, the wardrobe - all of it!”

“Wait,’ Killian interjects, “did you just say wardrobe?”

He’s cut off by the whistling of the teapot, and he goes quickly to retrieve it from the stove.

“I think we need to start from the beginning, Tink,” Tiger Lily says as Killian sets out the tea and cocoa on the table. When he joins the women, he draws his chair as close as he can to his wife so he can put his arm around her and take her hand.

“You may have heard the tales about Snow White, her Prince Charming, and their battles with the Evil Queen,” Tiger Lily begins.

“Snow White and Prince Charming?” Emma asks. “You mean they’re real?”

“Says the woman married to Captain Hook and having tea with Tinkerbell and Tiger Lily,” Killian quips, earning him an eye roll from his wife. She’s told him the version of Neverland in her former realm - a ridiculous version, in his opinion.

“Yes, they’re real, silly,” Tink says with a shake of her blond curls.

“I’ve heard of them,” Killian says, “go on.”

“Well,” Tiger Lily continues, “you may have heard that though they banished the Evil Queen after taking back the kingdom, she returned when Snow was with child. She cursed the baby with an evil spell.”

“Yes,” Killian says with a shake of his head, “and it came to pass. The child came too soon and died.”

“No, she did come too soon, but the child did not die. Secretly, the Blue Fairy helped the court woodworker fashion an enchanted wardrobe -”

Emma gasps and clutches her husband’s hand tighter. “Killian! A wardrobe!”

“I know, love,” he whispers.

“The wardrobe was supposed to send Snow safely to a land without magic where the curse couldn’t touch the unborn child,” Tiger Lily says.

“It could only carry one,” Tink clarifies.

“But the baby came too soon, so they had no choice but to send the child through alone. The Evil Queen and her minions were mounting an attack on the castle, so they had no more time.”

Killian nods. “I’ve heard of that battle. It’s a favorite tale in every realm, though not one with a happy ending. The Evil Queen was slain, and everyone was led to believe that in the chaos, Queen Snow lost the child.”

“And you believe this baby was me?” Emma asks softly.

Tiger Lily reaches across the table and gently turns over Emma’s left wrist. “The Blue Fairy cast a spell over you in the womb so that when you were born, this mark would be upon you. So your parents would know you when you found them.”

Emma’s eyes well up with tears. “How did they know I would ever find them?”

“They had faith and hope. Even with the Evil Queen dead, her curse still remained until your 21st birthday.”

Tink jumps in, bouncing on her seat. “The best part, Tiger Lily, tell them the best part!”

Tiger Lily smiles indulgently at the blonde. “I think you’d like to tell them, so go ahead.”

“The Rose Fairy imparted a gift to you, Emma - that the wardrobe would bring you your true love, and that when the time was right, he would lead you home.”

Emma turns to Killian, her eyes bright with tears as she cups his face. “Our wardrobe, Killian, that’s why it appeared to us.”

He shakes his head in wonder. “Emma, I know how you feel about me, but true love? That’s the strongest magic of all. Surely someone more worthy . . . “

Emma’s face softens as tears slip free and roll down her cheeks. “Don’t you see? The wardrobe brought us together right when we needed one another the most. Right before I lost Martha, right before you lost your brother and Milah. Then it brought us together for good when you found Henry.”

Killian lets out a breath of wonder as Emma’s thumb traces the scar on his cheek. “We always find one another, don’t we?”

Tiger Lily and Tink both beam as they speak again.

“It’s funny you should say that -”

“Because it’s kind of your family motto.”

To Be Continued . . . . 😉

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