#also i think i liked his hair better in the episode from last year whoops

[jula483]

February 14th 2023 vs February 13th 2024

[twistedapple]

On Pomefiore

[Note: Tumblr being Tumblr, I’ll put the links and due credits in a reblog; also, partially under the cut because it’s a bit long]

This post is something that has been brewing for a while now – my more observant followers will know when it started based on a certain tag. To preface this write up, I’d like to precise that I have been motivated in working on it because of the way Pomefiore was being received when I joined the fandom. Since then it has been followed by certain beliefs that – while being qualified as headcanons, which is perfectly fair and fine in itself – tend to be treated as actual gospel. It’s not a thing specific to the Twst fandom mind you, it happens in most fandoms – heck I still keep an eye on the KHR fandom and there are still people regularly making posts about mischaracterisation, and that fandom has been around for at least ten years. So I’m not here to preach, but to clarify a few things regarding what Pomefiore represents as a dorm, as well as provide a comprehensive commentary on its associated characters.

First belief: Pomefiore is the shallow dorm of pretty people.

But is it? The very first thing we learn about Pomefiore is that it’s the dorm of Hard Workers and other Overachievers, right in the prologue. This dorm is presented as built on the hard work of the Fair Queen, and she’s regularly taken as an example of how one should conduct oneself – especially by Vil, who expresses a lot of admiration and respect in his lesson chats, and clearly treats her as a model to follow in order to reach perfection.

Now you may think “but Crow, the very first thing we learn about the students is that they look impeccable and polish their appearance”. And you would be right; it is indeed how the students of that dorm are presented. However, let me expand a bit on this thought by making something clear: there’s what the dorm is defined as, and then there’s the path each dorm leader decides to follow. To give a few examples, we see Riddle follow the rules of the Queen of Heart to the letter, and dole out punishment whenever these rules are broken – to the point it impedes the students, who can’t use their magic in an environment where it is required. We see Leona applying the Might is Right type of thinking, which leads to Savanaclaw students being often depicted as bullies (and let’s not talk about the Magift tournament...). Azul, under the pretence of benevolence, is actually ruthless in the way he binds people to his contracts – it’s also shown that the Leech brothers act as his enforcers, either by forcing people into deals (during exam periods, as shown at the start of Episode 3) or by reclaiming the due payment of the contract in more or less pleasant ways (Jade being the local master manipulator, while Floyd canonically states that he finds the breaking of bones a more efficient method). Are you seeing where this is going? As a dorm leader, Vil applies his own views on his fellow Pomefiore students; his views happen to include appearances because he aims to be perfect in every way and has a professional background that justifies it. Is it fair to go as far as he is going when it comes to pressuring other students? Of course it isn’t, it’s the whole point of showing him slapping Epel for what he deems an inappropriate behaviour (see Epel’s Ceremonial Card). It sets the conflict of the dorm – and I personally dig how this major narrative bit is hidden in a story... Which brings us to the other point, the meta aspect of Pomefiore. It’s based on Snow White, a story that relies heavily... On appearances. Now let me ask you: is it really surprising to have a dorm based on such story have a focus on appearances as well? And we even get to see different aspects of it: Vil focuses on the tiniest details to be as polished as possible, Rook has a deep love for change and fleeting moments, Epel can turn something nobody wants into something highly desirable (carving damaged apples to sell them better). Pomefiore is the dorm of transformations – both literal and metaphorical -, a fascinating concept in my opinion and a brilliant idea for a solid narrative arc.

Second belief: Vil is a horrible, narcissistic person, but he will also play dress-up/makeup

Let’s sit for a second there, because there are many things to unpack. Now, what do we know about the fairest of all dorm leaders? Well, quite a lot, for someone who has yet to properly appear in the main story! The very first thing we learn about him is that he has a whooping 5 million followers on Magicam – which is massive and not a number you reach while sitting on your hands and waiting for something to happen. This is such an impressive number that we even get to see various reactions to it, from being very impressed to trying to use that fame for personal purposes. Through reading the stories in which he appears, we get to learn some interesting things about Vil: generally speaking, he fits perfectly the image of the consummate professional. In Jade’s SSR story, we get a solid peek into his life and the man has a busy schedule. He juggles daily with his duties as a student, a dorm leader, an influencer and a professional model – these things take time and he manages to go from one duty to the other with both the ease of someone who’s used to it and the precise organisation of someone with a solid head on his shoulders as well as an incredibly strong work ethic and drive. Speaking from personal experience with the modelling part and an informed opinion on the influencer part, these two fields alone aren’t easy to handle at all. Being an influencer can be very cutthroat (as a certain beauty community has been demonstrating since last year...), and being a professional model requires a lot of drive and dedication, as well as major self-care in regard to both your body and your mental health, because those are the tools of your trade as a model. In consequence, Vil as a dorm leader focuses on appearances as a result of heavy intellectual work to honour the Fair Queen he so highly respects (he says so in his voicelines: “True beauty is determined by strong intellect. You can always doctor your looks, but your true colors will still shine through right away.”), but Vil as a person is also extremely focused on his appearance because he’s doing his job. It’s not narcissism, it’s professionalism. And with his Ceremonial Robes story, we even get to learn that he was ostracised in his hometown for being a performer, yet he kept going and working to reach his goals. For someone who’s only 18 years old, this is an exceptional display of drive, discipline and maturity.

Vil has the highest standards for himself, but because he comes from pretty damn far, he also expects other people to be capable of showing the same degree of determination to achieve their goals. He expresses that in various ways, from being openly displeased with Leona’s general negligence (with Ruggie doing all the work in the background – see Leona’s school uniform story and Ruggie’s lab coat story), to being unimpressed by the new Pomefiore students and getting ready to whip them in a shape he’ll deem desirable as soon as he lays his eyes on them. He’s also highly critical of people going for the easy way out: in his school uniform story, he not only criticises Cater for trying to use him for his own five seconds of fame by buttering him up, but he also emphasises the fact that his services aren’t free. Emphasis on that: Vil isn’t a charity. He isn’t the sort of person with whom you’ll mutually brush your hair while sharing smoothie recipes. Rook is more likely to be the one up to that sort of thing, because Rook is nice and a good senior (see: Rook’s ceremonial robes story). Vil, on the other hand, encourages a lot to try and learn on your own, to use your own head in order to create your own brand (see his lab coat voicelines). He’ll be more enclined to help only after you started doing a part of the job independently and showed you can think and act for yourself. And even then, he’ll likely kick your ass to push you to keep up, because behind all the sparkles and lustre Vil is very much depicted as an overbearing Drill Sergeant. Like I pointed out earlier, it’s heavily hinted that he didn’t get where he is by waiting for good fortune to come by. He works for his success daily and expects other people to do the same. Does it seem like a rather unfair treatment? Sure, but at the same time it provides a great learning opportunity for those willing to put up with it, and Vil offers it in a surprisingly selfless manner: there is an open concern about the way people present themselves, and how they can do it to be their best self at all time.

Interestingly, it creates a peculiar dynamic with his vice dorm leader, Rook. There’s a constant sway between them, with Vil bluntly telling him he can be easily replaced if he fails in his duties, while still relying on him more than Rook relies on him in return – in fact, Rook pretty much follows his own path, and Vil happens to be a very nice view along that path so Rook decided to stop and hang out for a bit, but he still checks his surroundings for other nice views. So while Rook puts up with Vil’s tight requirements (see Rook’s ceremonial robes story, where Floyd cleverly observes that he doesn’t seem that fond of the perfume Vil created for him and forces him to wear during ceremonies), he’s also the one taking actual charge of the new students (see when he checks on Epel in his ceremonial robes story, or when he offers his support during the Ghost Marriage event) and trying to smooth things out when Vil is being too rough (see Vil’s ceremonial robes story). Interestingly, it leads to a communication issue between these two, fueled by what looks very much like a unilateral dependant relationship on Vil’s part, no matter how much he denies it. He rejects Rook through threats of replacing him, yet fully trusts his eyes and sincerity, yet this very sincerity is the reason why Vil doesn’t fully open up to Rook (see Vil’s lab coat story, he goes to Trey to vent about Rook’s lack of consideration) and uses a Harsh Commanding Queen attitude to hide his own insecurities from the eyes of the person who can see them best. It’s likely not helped by the fact that Vil is aware that he needs Rook more than Rook needs him – it’s obvious when reading the latter’s profile: Rook likes his privacy, and while he keeps putting his nose in other people’s business (not out of malice, but genuine curiosity), he’s notoriously deemed annoying by characters like Leona and Malleus because of his overly curious yet inconsiderate nature. There’s a selfishness in Rook which protects him from getting fully controlled by Vil, I’ll repeat myself here but I’d rather insist on that: Rook willingly decided to follow Vil, it means he has the power to refuse him as well (which is very much like... Oh, the Huntsman in Snow White – though in his case specifically, there’s also variations in which his family is held hostage and all, while Rook makes his own decisions).

This entire situation is heavily fueled by Vil’s need for control. As aforementioned, he focuses on the tiniest details and holds complete control over everything that makes his life what it is: from the type of makeup he picks to every single component used in the meals he prepares himself, Vil has a clear need for full control, and it’s reflected in the way he interacts with other students, as well as in the way he handles even his club activities. Vil isn’t just a model, influencer and even actor, in the film study club he works as a director and in one of his stories (lab coat), he’s even shown to create the special effects himself, because only he can provide for his own desires in the most exact fashion. This is where his little “I can replace you easily” becomes funny, because it translates his need for control without really holding since Rook is the one with the most agency in the relationship. In comparison, in Silver’s PE uniform story, Silver is treated like a pawn and Vil even berates Malleus in front of him because Silver dares deny him (how dare he have his own agency instead of being a nice prop who should feel honoured to be selected). Interestingly, Silver also compares Vil’s way of doing things to something martial. AhemDrillSergeantVilahem. In this story, the interesting point is that things finally start working well when Vil stops considering his own vision and decides to look beyond it a bit: taking Silver’s actual abilities into consideration, he finally has a scene that works. It works because he loosened the control a bit – while Silver went along with it but remained vocal the whole time about where his own skills lie.

While the relationship between Vil and Rook, as well as Vil and the rest of the Pomefiore dorm, have been holding through a quietly tense status quo, there is one pebble - dare I say, one potato - who is more than willing to challenge the whole situation through open defiance and a strong will: Epel. He has been set by the narration to be the catalyst to an incoming breaking point, because he wants to live his life to the beat of his own drum, yet remains a teen still in need of a journey of self-discovery. It’s illustrated in how he misunderstands the point of Pomefiore by only looking at the surface - something Vil reproaches, which is why he even talks about his need for more self-awareness in the lesson chats. Of course, Vil uses his own language (beauty) to get his point across, but the underlying point is that Epel has yet to reach a certain degree of self-realisation - such as the fact he is free to try and work hard to become beefier (Vil wouldn’t object as long as he puts in the necessary efforts), or that he is a good fit in Pomefiore because he has the drive to reach his goals and gives himself the means to do so (high awareness, anyone?). Basically, he’s the example of Vil’s communication issues: Vil’s martial nature tends to drown the actual meaning of his motivational speeches. Paradoxically, when dealing with someone like Epel, it actually fuels the teen through spite, which is both comical and quite impressive given Epel’s results (reminder of his own lab coat story, in which he manages to impress Crewel, a man made from the same fabric as Vil, with his formidable results through hard work). However, this form of motivation isn’t healthy, and just like with Rook, a good, long talk is needed to create a better understanding - instead of forcing his Tyranny of Beauty on others.

Bonus point, because I really want to address it

For some time now, I’ve been vocal about my personal feelings regarding the reception of Pomefiore and its characters. While it became more positive since June, it still tends to miss the point for a reason I’d like to address: the Not Like The Other Girls mentality and how it specifically affects the way Vil and his own femininity are perceived.

While I am not invalidating this thinking as part of a larger growth process, I think it has been unfairly used against Pomefiore. In a way, it’s very much the way Epel reacts: it’s just a Pretty People Dorm led by an Annoying Pretty Boy, and Savanaclaw is cooler. However, this is not only superficial, it puts a judgement of value that means that one has to be put down for the other to shine. In other words, Vil as a character is undervalued because his way of life - which matches traditionally feminine occupations, hell he’s even using a feminine pronoun - has been associated with vanity, narcissism, and superficiality by the fandom. To get my point across, let me provide you with quotes from some of our most brilliant minds:

“Woman wants to be independent […] this is one of the worst developments in the general uglification of Europe. Woman has so much reason for shame; in woman there is concealed so much superficiality, petty presumption and petty immodesty – one needs only to study her behaviour with children!” - Nietzsche

“What is truth to a woman? From the very first nothing has been more alien, repugnant, inimical to woman than truth - her great art is the lie, her supreme concern is appearance and beauty” - Nietzsche (again)

“A man’s face is his autobiography. A woman’s face is her work of fiction.” - Oscar Wilde 

“All the pursuits of men are the pursuits of women also, but in all of them a woman is inferior to a man.” - Plato

“As regards the sexes, the male is by nature superior and the female inferior, the male ruler and the female subject” - Aristotle

Do you see where I’m going with that? Because he has an occupation focused on appearance, something historically associated with women, Vil should be… Less? Should be negative? Even though he is quite vocal about it being a mere result of a much deeper work on himself, throughout his voicelines, lesson chats and personal stories? It’s not vanity, it’s not narcissism. It’s Vil expressing himself through the age old art forms of fashion, skincare and makeup. How, and why it being focused on something external should be less? It’s especially obvious when you stop and consider Vil’s own testimony: he has been ostracized by his own community for being a performer. His appearance is as much a mask as it is a proof of everything that preceded it – him saving himself with his own means and work. It’s both a protection and a result that he proudly brandishes – and he absolutely can afford the arrogance to do so, considering his achievements at such a young age (reminder, again, that he’s 18 years old, despite being very disillusioned with life already). Why should it be less that? Vil’s inclination towards appearances is both his truth and his fiction, that’s what the narrative tells us - and there’s nothing bad about that.

I guess I’m especially tired of this point because I’ve had to deal with that thinking pattern myself irl, for evolving in similar fields/similar hobbies, and it’s frustrating to see that sort of close mindedness. It’s infuriating. So, that’s a more personal aspect of my rant... But here we are.

[meggtheegg]

🎥💕💎!

!!! 🎥 do you have any favorite scenes from your hyperfixation? I love any scene that lets the characters really emote, if that makes sense? Marvel is generally better than most guy-dominated genre movies when it comes to letting their characters be emotional, but it's still rare that you see moments like the opening of TFATWS Episode 4, where they actually let Bucky cry, which lord knows he deserves after all he's been through. So those moments are definitely great. Also, the entirety of the boat-fixing montage and the cookout scene? Chefs kiss. And, this is more of a throwback, but the whole scene in the First Avenger where Steve breaks Bucky out of the Hydra facility is just really good and doesn't get enough recognition. That is honestly my biggest comfort movie and it needs more love, in general. I'm now realizing every single one of my answers involves Bucky, but if I'm really honest with myself, he's the only reason the MCU has crossed from 'thing i enjoy' to full-on hyperfixation, so that makes sense

💕 tell us about one of your favorite characters and why you like them! Whoops, I just fully foreshadowed this in the last answer, but I have so much love for Bucky Barnes. And it's weird, because it feels like I'm attached to him for a different reason than a lot of the fandom? Like yes he's attractive and edgy and brooding, but like...he's also kind. He's been to hell and back, has gone through at least three villain origin stories and said no to them every single time. He chooses to be gentle and good and to keep on fighting for what's right, even when he has every reason to give up the fight (even when Steve chose to, despite supposedly being the "better" of the two whoops) because he is a deeply good person. He proved Zemo wrong about supersoldiers just by being himself. He's grumpy and awkward and an absolute drama queen, and that's the full extent of how 70 years of torture and brainwashing affected his personality. And maybe it's the fact that he was made to fill a traditionally feminine role in the story and is written as such, but I've just always found him so much more relatable than most Marvel superheroes. Bc most of the guys fall into this dumb male gaze power fantasy, at least at certain points in their stories, and most of the girls are written by men who think that "strong woman" means "guy with boobs"...and then there's Bucky, off to the side playing the damsel in distress and caring so deeply about everything and everyone, dealing with immeasurable trauma and using it not as an excuse to become cold or violent or selfish, but as a reason to keep going, to try to grow and heal and persevere against all odds. That's something you don't see a lot of, and it's exactly what I want to see in the media I consume.

💎 are there any fun facts or trivia that you would like to share? Oh man, there are many, but I'll just give a couple of them. -Chris Evans' hair in almost all of the movies was a wig -Similarly, Seb used his real hair in Civil War, but supposedly it hadn't grown out quite enough by the beginning so they used extensions that they then removed later on in the filming process, so the scenes where his hair maybe looks a little shorter than it does in others? were probably shot later in the filming process. -Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan realized they were about to be pitched a project together when they ran into each other in a hotel lobby -The entire reason that Bucky's alive and we have the Winter Soldier arc at all is that he was Ed Brubaker's favorite character as a kid and he came up with an idea to bring him back (i believe while playing at recess?) and then worked his way into writing Marvel comics as an adult and that is dedication -Also the reason we have Avengers Campus in most of the Disney parks but not in Florida, where it would arguably make the most sense to have it, is that Universal has the theme park rights to most Marvel characters on the east coast. That's why we can have a Guardians of the Galaxy ride in EPCOT, but Spider-Man, Cap, Hulk, and so on are in Universal Studios. And Bob Chapek sucks worse than Michael Eisner ever did, so I don't see any deal to change that fact coming any time soon :/

[bisexualbumblebee-writes]

2015/2021- Joel Fry x OC

Joel Fry x Isabel Abbott

Description: The six year difference between Joel and Isabel beginning their relationship to being happily married.

Word Count: 2k

“Welcome back to Candid everyone! My name is Erin Miller,” the interviewer greeted the camera with a bright smile at the camera for her podcast/video. “Today is a very special episode because I am going to discuss the latest season of Game of Thrones. Not only that but today I’m joined here by the cast of Game of Thrones: Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, Emelia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, Iain Glen as Jorah Mormont, Joel Fry as Hizdahr zo Loraq, and Isabel Abbott as Kiyara Tallhart!” The crewmembers applauded as the cast waved when their names were called. 

“Thank you guys so much for being here, all my fans and I are huge fans of the show,” she continued, finally looking at her guests. 

“Happy to be here,” Emelia responded, the others agreeing afterwards. 

“So much happened in this season,” Erin said before exhaling deeply, which made them laugh. “Lots of stories and even more heartbreaking deaths. Specifically the last two episodes. Oh man, I cried,” she emphasized. 

“You should have seen the cast when we were filming,” Peter spoke, leaning closer to the microphone as he did so. Emelia nodded knowingly. 

“Well today I wanted to talk to you about one specific episode. Episode nine, ‘Dance of Dragons.’ The attack of the Sons of Harpy on the fighting pit.” 

“Oh boy,” Isabel muttered, which caused Erin to chuckle. 

“Oh boy indeed. Can I just say, it literally happened so quickly. I mean, I blinked and people started getting murdered. Then Loraq is killed!” She ranted. “He was such a semi-good character and I was so sad to see him go.” 

“So was Isabel,” Emilia teased. Isabel jokingly glared at the girl then pushed her shoulder, a blush dusting her face. 

“Shut up Em,” she grumbled shyly. 

“Oh, care to explain?” Erin asked with the same smile Emilia had. 

“Yeah, Isa,” Iaian added. Isabel looked around, realizing that everyone was not staring at her expectantly. 

“Oh my god I did not come here to be attacked like this!” She exclaimed with a giggle, attempting to hide her embarrassment. 

“You were sad about Loraq’s death?” Joel questioned with a teasing smile, though there was a sincere look in his eyes. 

“Okay listen,” she started deadpanned, which made the others burst out laughing. “Here’s the thing. During their time on the show, Hizdahr-”

“They’re on a first name basis now?” Peter questioned. Isabel took a second to flip him off before looking at Erin once more, this time with wide eyes. 

“Wait, do children watch this show?”

“Yeah sometimes kids watch my show,” Erin responded amusedly. Isabel gasped and covered her mouth. 

“I’m so sorry!” She looked at the camera with the most worried expression anyone had ever seen from her. “I’m sorry parents and children that just saw that.” 

“No no no it’s okay!” Erin exclaimed, trying not to laugh. “If parents let their kids watch Game of Thrones I’m sure they’re immune to you flipping the bird.” Isabel nodded, though her shoulders slumped in defeat and she mumbled another apology. 

“Aww Isa,” Joel  cooed, patting her back soothingly. “Continue.” Isabel straightened and pushed her hair behind her shoulders. 

“Anyways, Hizdahr and Kiyara got pretty close. Like she brought him food while he was imprisoned and they bonded over their fathers and they talked a lot in their free time. That meant that Joel and I got to talk quite a bit and I’d say we got pretty close,” she trailed off, looking at Joel for confirmation. 

“Yeah,” he responded with an affirming nod, hand dropping from her back. 

“Yeah,” she repeated, also nodding. “So we got close. No matter what, death always makes me sad, I mourn people I don’t even know. So seeing Hizdahr die up close was very emotionally stressing, and I was crying once the cameras cut. I did the same with Kit after John Snow died because we got close during season four.” 

“This season was just a huge blow to Isabel’s emotional state,” Emelia spoke. 

“You guys are laughing but that is absolutely true,” Isabel added matter-of-factly. 

“While we’re on the subject, am I the only one who noticed all those looks Loraq gave Kiyara?” Erin inquired, looking around. 

“Wait what?” Isabel laughed, but her question went unnoticed. 

“No! Oh my god I’m so glad you brought that up,” Iaian exclaimed. “Literally, I cannot tell you how many times we had to do retakes because Joel wouldn’t stop looking at Isabel on and off camera.” 

“Wait wait wait, are you serious?” Isabel questioned with an almost stupidly wide smile. 

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Peter confirmed. 

“That’s the entire reason people thought that Loraq and Kiyara were going to get together,” Erin explained. “People were shipping you guys on Twitter. Then Joel, you tweeted that picture of Isabel bringing you lunch. People started shipping you in real life.” 

“Aww Joel, do you like me?” Isabel joked, but her smile faltered when she realized that the man genuinely looked flustered. “Are you okay?” She asked worriedly, leaning away from the microphones beforehand. Joel’s already red face reddened even more. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you worried about me?” He started off seriously but became goofy during his question, which made her giggle and shake her head. 

“Jesus guys,” Peter groaned dramatically. “Just skip the formalities and date already!” Isabel blushed deeply and looked at Joel, who was already looking at her. 

“How about this Friday at 8:00?” He inquired with a goofy smile. Isabel’s jaw dropped as the other whooped and hollered at his question. Then Emelia hushed them to let Isabel answer, everyone watching them eagerly. 

“Sounds good. I’ll text you my address,” she responded coolly despite the fact that she was screaming on the inside. 

“I can’t believe that just happened on my show,” Erin muttered, looking absolutely blown away. 

“Neither can I,” Isabel breathed out with a small giggle. “You should have seen it the first time he actually asked me out.” That sent the others into chaos, everyone talking over each other while Isabel and Joel watched. 

“When did you guys start dating!?” Emelia yelled, which caused Isabel to flinch then laugh at the girl. 

“He asked me out after ‘Mockingbird’ wrapped,” she laughed out in the same excited tone. Emelia mouthed the episode name then looked at her with wide eyes. 

“Are you serious? The second episode he was in? And you didn’t tell me?” One would think that all that yelling would calm down laughter, but on the contrary, Isabel was nearly out of breath. 

“I’m sorry!” She exclaimed. Erin was still laughing when she decided to step in. 

“Wait, so do you mind walking us through what happened?” She asked, and Isabel admired his sincerity. She glanced at Joel, silently asking permission. When he gave her a nod of confirmation, she looked around at the others. 

“So, obviously we originally met during season four, when Hizdahr zo Loraq was first introduced. We talked a couple times between scenes, but then he isn’t really heard from so Joel wasn’t really there. Then season five came around and we got to know more about each other and he finally asked me out after the fourth episode. And that’s it,” she explained with a shrug. Iain just stared at them appalled. 

“I am just in shock that you guys managed to keep it so exclusive,” he spoke, shaking his head as he did so. Joel shrugged from beside her. 

“Well, we wanted to wait until the right time. Just to see if we could work, you know?” Isabel’s already wide smile widened when Joel’s arm slithered around her shoulders, only to pull away a second later. She looked at him confusedly then let out a small scream when he pulled her chair closer by the seat so he could comfortably rest his arm around her shoulders. She blushed shyly then hid her face as the others cooed rather loudly at them. Joel also cooed in her ear then pressed an affectionate kiss to the crown of her head. This was probably the best thing that ever happened to the both of them. 

2021

“Hello once again everyone! My name is Erin Miller and I welcome you back to Candid,” Erin greeted happily with a wave that gave both Joel and Isabel a sense of deja vu. “Today I am once again joined by Joel Fry and Isabel Abbott who are here to talk about their new movie Cruella, which premiered in theaters and on Disney+ on May 28,” she paused to face the couple. “Hello you two, long time no see.” Joel and Isabel waved at the camera in unison then faced Erin with bright smiles. 

“Yeah, at least since 2015,” Isabel answered. 

“Yeah, you guys look good,” Erin complimented honestly. “And I hear that you guys are married now,” she cooed. 

“Yeah,” Joel trailed off coyly. Erin giggled and clapped her hands. 

“Can I see the rings?” She asked eagerly. Joel and Isabel nodded at each other then took off their rings to show both Erin and the cameras. 

“Now, what is this engraved on the inside of it?” Erin questioned, leaning forward to get a better look. 

“Mine says ‘you are my moon and stars that paint the sky,’” Isabel answered. 

“And mine says ‘you are the sun to my moon, light of my life,’” Joel continued. 

“They’re references to quotes we said during the show,” Isabel explained further. “So, during season four not long after we’re introduced to Hizdahr and they were talking about their fathers, she said the line, ‘Everytime a good man dies, they are added to the night sky to paint stars as pretty as the moon. That’s where I believe your father is.’ It was probably my favorite line of the show.” 

“Oh yeah,” Erin reminisced. “I remember that. That was a good episode. Joel, what about yours?” 

“This was actually during season five when Kiyara visited Hizdahr while he was imprisoned. She had brought him food and he asked her to stay for conversation. I don’t… remember what they were talking about…” 

“What love meant to them,” Isabel interrupted before looking around. “Right?” 

“Yeah,” Joel answered as the scene came back to him. “Yeah, so it was right after Daenerys said that she would marry him to hold a strong bond. They were preparing a room for him and Hizdahr was not very happy about the forced engagement. Kiyara came down to visit him and they talked about what love meant to them. Hizdahr said that when his father talked about his mother, he’d say that she was the sun to his moon and that she was the light of his life. Those words had stuck with him and he always thought that when he married, he’d feel the same about his wife.”

“Oh so these are based on quotes you actually said to each other?” Erin asked. Isabel blushed and nodded. 

“Now, can I ask, why did you decide on Game of Thrones inspired rings and quotes?”

“Because that’s how we met,” Joel answered kindly as he and his wife put their rings back on. “If I hadn’t been cast as Hizdahr zo Loraq, then I don’t think we ever would have met because we had both been shooting different things before and after we were killed off on the show. Like, I was cast in You, Me, and the Apocalypse then Ordinary Lives. She was cast in Doctor Who for a while then Me Before You. Before that I was in Plebs and she was in Once Upon a Time. We didn’t have a lot of time between our schedules, but we made it possible, and look at us now. I owe the Game of Thrones cast and crew everything, because of them I met and later married the love of my life.” Both Erin and Isabel awed at him and the latter hugged him tightly. 

“Aw babe! That was so sweet,” she exclaimed. 

“You’re going to make me sad that I’m single,” Erin joked. 

“Maybe you should get cast in an HBO show,” Joel joked back, making the girls giggle. 

“Anyways, moving onto Cruella,” Erin said after a minute. “Yet again we are met with romantic tension with your characters Jasper and Angela.” Isabel shrugged, a bashful smile gracing her face. This would be a long day.

[peterstanslizzie]

Reacting To: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Season 3 Episode 10)

This is it people! The series finale of Kipo; Let’s get to it.

Episode Title: Age of Wonderbeasts

Spoiler Warning: Kindly proceed if you’ve already seen the episode or are able to handle spoilers

Hopefully she’s getting dressed for her funeral lol

1. Continuing on from last episode, the fireworks rigged with the cure goes off and a bunch of embers start falling from the sky. One of the Humming Bombers got into contact with one of them while attempting to flee and immediately de-mutes. I thought the cure needed to go into their bloodstream? Unless, the ember actually burned through their skin. It that’s the case, wow that’s dark....

It’s awesome that Earl and Lily are helping Molly since Molly saved their children awhile back. 

2. With her quick thinking, Kipo asks everyone to find shelter underneath her as she transforms into her Mega Jaguar form. However, that’s still not enough to protect everyone but luckily, the good humans step up to shield them with table cloths, which was heartwarming to see. 

The mutes are thanking the humans for their act of kindness

OMG. Lio and Song hugging Scarlemagne? I’m here for it.

3. Thankfully, the fireworks ended and Kipo then pleads with Emilia one last time to stop what she’s doing. Emilia, hard-headed as ever isn’t one to back down at all and makes a drastic decision to inject herself with the mutagen she sourced from the Mega Walrus, transforming herself into one ugly Mega Mute. 

Imagine seeing this in real life...shudders

4. I thought she was going to use the Mega Walrus’s DNA to make another cure that would affect Kipo. I didn’t think she would do this to herself. Kipo transforms back to her Mega form to take on Emilia before she could potentially hurt anyone. 

How many Troyson kisses do we want? Yes...hehe

5. Troy and Benson are directing everyone back to find safety inside the old burrow while Wolf joins Kipo to assist her in battling Emilia. Kipo has the upper hand at first because Emilia isn’t used to being a Mega Mute. However, as the fight progresses, Emilia is starting to get better and is landing some solid hits on Kipo. But I feel like Kipo shouldn’t be losing to Emilia since she has much more experience fighting as a Mega. I guess they want us to feel like the stakes are high.

Man, this fight is actually pretty brutal. Emilia is whooping major jaguar ass here.

6. During the battle, Wolf notices Greta nearby and thinks that she has the cure to turn back Emilia into a human. So, hopefully they can steal the cure from Greta and use it as leverage to get Emilia to stop. They split up with Wolf going after Greta and Kipo continuing to fight off Emilia. 

7. After taking a couple more punches, we see three of the Mega Dogs, the Mega Pigeon and the Mega Beaver heading their way towards the fight, with Jamack, Molly, Hoag, Amy, Zane, Label, Lio, Song, Scarlemagne, Dave, Benson and Mandu riding on them. I stan such supportive friends!

8. They each take turns kicking Emilia’s butt to buy Kipo some time to recover. Side note: It’s so cool that Jamack tells Emilia to do some “soul searching”! That’s literally the same line Kipo used on Jamack in Season 1 when he was an antagonist back then. During all of this, we see Emilia beginning to have some inner turmoil; It looks like she’s starting to lose herself in her current form.

9. We get to round 2 of Wolf vs Greta and it looks like the tables might turn in favor of Wolf but Greta is just too beefy for her to take on. While being held down in a pin, Wolf tries to butter her up with words by telling her that she’s not an idiot and she can think for herself, without the influence of Emilia. She also bribes her with all the pancakes she can eat if she hands over the cure to her and just like that, she agrees to hand it over. It’s so ironic that Greta is one of Emilia’s last followers but she’s so easily influenced to switch sides. 

Again, I don’t get why Kipo is losing to Emilia so badly

10. Kipo is down for the count and Emilia turns her attention to her friends/family. As she’s about to crush Lio and Song, Kipo charges in last minute to take the devastating blow for them; She then falls unconscious. However, Emilia’s not done yet.

Scarlemagne’s death in 3...2...1

11. Oh no...here we go. Scarlemagne decides to play hero by making his attempt at saving Kipo. He basically gives his swan song to Lio and Song. I have a bad feeling he’s going to die and I’m not at all prepared to watch. He takes off on his favorite Flamingo vehicle from Season 1 and 2 and flies towards Emilia to distract her.

We haven’t heard this laugh in ages. Also, did anyone get chills when he tells Emilia to “leave her sister alone”?

12. He crashes his vehicle into Emilia causing her to lose focus and it sets off her ‘losing herself to the mega mute’ phase. This in turn, causes Scarlemagne to crash land somewhere in Skyscraper Ridge. Was it necessary for him to crash like that? If that’s the way he goes out, I’m gonna be honest here and say I would be very disappointed with that. 

13. Emilia, who clearly is out of it runs off somewhere and Kipo, Wolf, Dave, Benson and Mandu all go after her with Lio and Song heading towards where Hugo/Scarlemagne crash landed. We then see the artistic representation of Emilia losing her mind to the mute, where her human form is quickly sinking deeper and deeper into the ocean. 

14. They catch up to Emilia and they could see her being distraught. We also know the reason why she’s this way and it’s because she doesn’t have an anchor. I love it how whatever explanation we’re being told by the characters is something that the audience should know based on past episodes. Now that’s good storytelling. 

15. Anyways, Kipo makes the decision to cure her because she thinks she doesn’t deserve to be punished this way. Really now? After all that she’s done? Maybe what Kipo means is that she deserves get whopped in her human form lol. After curing her, Kipo makes ANOTHER ATTEMPT (for the 3rd time) to convince her to make a change but of course this bitch isn’t going to change; She takes a shard of glass and tries to stab Kipo:

16. But our girl, Mandu quickly reacts and bites Emilia’s arm. She then loses her balance and falls stories high in the exact burrow her lab was located because we then see Fun Gus capturing her and taking her in as her “playdate”. Emilia is basically history. 

17. Yesss! And this punishment is fitting since she will probably be Fun Gus’s plaything till she goes insane and dies. Not to mention she despises mutes. So, it’s a great way for her to go out. Bye!!! That’s what you get for killing your brother, you heartless monster. Can I also point out that once again, Mandu is the one to take out Emilia. She did beat her in season 2 when Wolf, Dave and Benson couldn’t and now in season 3, she’s the one to finish the job. Don’t mess with Mandu lol. 

18. They head back to find where Scarlemagne, Lio and Song are but it’s almost too late because Hugo is dying. Kipo is in tears and I’m in tears too. Again, was it really necessary to kill him off? I felt like he’s more or less already redeemed as a character before this. He didn’t have to commit such a heroic act, which had cost his life. Ugh....And just like that, Hugo dies.....UGHHHHHH. I really don’t think he needed to die. If Catra (who committed just as many heinous acts, if not more than Hugo) got to live in She-Ra & The Princesses of Power, Hugo deserves to live too. I’m sorry...

19. Now it’s time for the epilogue set 5 years later, as told by an older Kipo. Let’s break it down:

Wolf’s Mega Corgi gave birth to a litter of puppies. Awww cuteness...

Wolf let her hair grow out and she looks AMAZING!!! Dayummmm

Benson and Troy own a successful restaurant together and they’re living the dream. Such domestic goals!

I got chills seeing Wolf and Benson walking side by side like that. They’ve grown up so much. It looks like they’re own their way to a picnic

Label and Zane is also running a gym together. Sweet!

Jamack is conductor for Las Vistas’s new transport system. 

Dave is now a guest lecturer at what is seems to be Lio and Song’s new research lab, where he talks about some of his research findings and theories. Well, mostly theories.

I love Kipo’s new do’

20. We find out that Kipo is updating Hugo (spiritually) what has everybody been up to on his birthday. 

Hugo gets a statue made in his honor, which is very fitting and Mandu...WOW MANDU has grown into an ADULT boar, with tusks and everything just like Bornak and Webber. 

21. Kipo meets up with her besties and her family and they have their wonderful picnic in commemoration of Hugo’s birthday. 

22. The scene cuts off to all of them having the time of their life riding on their Mega mutes. And that’s the official ending to the series. TEARS...

23. This has been an amazing show to watch, react and review. I can’t believe it only had 30 episodes but the story was so cohesive and felt complete on the most part. So you could say that this show wrapped up nicely. There are some loose ends that weren’t addressed/resolved at the end like the vaccine that Song and Lio were working on but I guess that could be something that’s explored further in future films hopefully. 

24. I will also be making a couple of video essays that will be posted to my YouTube channel, PeterSaidWhat; The first one will be my full spoiler review of the final season and the second video will be Troyson-focused. I can’t wait for all of you to watch them. And finally, I want to thank you all for reading my episodic reviews and going on this incredible journey with me. It’s been a pleasure to have Kipo be a part of my life and I’m sure yours as well. 

Much love,

Peter

[timelessbian]

feels like we’re going home

i started watching the owl house last week and the tl;dr is that i do not control the hyperfixation, so this happened. this takes place immediately following 1x13, so spoilers for that episode if you haven’t seen it yet.

also on ao3

It was strange, Eda thought as she flew towards Hexside. Luz had only been around for a few short weeks, but she had already become such a fixture in Eda’s life that Eda had spent most of the day pacing the house trying not to think about how Luz was doing at school while also trying to remember how exactly she had spent her time before all of this. Neither of those pursuits had been very successful, and she breathed a sigh of relief when it was finally time to pick up Luz.

Owlbert seemed to pick up on the change in her mood instantly, and he hooted as they neared the school.

“Shut it, you,” Eda snapped. “I’m not going soft, you’re going soft.” Owlbert didn’t respond, but Eda knew her palisman well enough to know that he wasn’t convinced.

She touched down at the edge of the courtyard, a good distance away from the gaggle of parents and witchlings. No matter what Bump had promised about keeping the eyes of the Emperor’s Coven off of her, she still wasn’t exactly eager to draw any attention to herself; especially not while Luz was so new.

It only took a few minutes before Eda spotted Luz chatting with the little Blight girl. When she saw Eda, though, her face lit up and she waved as she jogged over.

“So did you have a good…woah.” Eda trailed off as she took in the bright colors on Luz’s uniform that she was pretty sure hadn’t been there this morning. “Sweet mother of isles, what the heck did you get yourself into, kid?”

“Eda, you’re not going to believe the day I had!” Luz cried. “Principal Bump put me in the potions track, but I sort of accidentally did some oracle magic and I got put in detention, but then the inspector from the Emperor’s Coven turned out to be this giant snake monster and it was eating everyone’s magic, but we saved everyone and then Principal Bump decided the track rules were outdated, so I get to study in all the tracks now!”

Her entire speech was animated in classic Luz fashion, and Eda’s head was practically spinning trying to follow everything. “Okay, you’re going to have to walk me through that again just a little bit slower, I caught, like, none of that. Who’s eating magic monsters now?”

“Not important,” Luz said. “I mean, it was, and I’ll tell you about it all tonight, but hold on, I think Jerbo and Barcus already left, but I have another friend that I think would really love to meet you. I’ll be right back.” She dashed off across the courtyard before Eda had a chance to process her words.

“More friends?!”

As if on cue, King popped out of a nearby garbage can with a soft “Weh!” There were crumbs on his paws and something purple that looked like abomination goop saturating the end of the long red tie he almost certainly hadn’t been wearing that morning. “I know, right?” he said. “That kid could make friends in an empty box.”

Eda’s hands fell to her hips as she glared at the demon. “And just what have you been doing all day? I was looking for you at the house all afternoon. Or did you just forget that you’re supposed to be working for me?”

“Listen, sister, some of us have greater vocations in life than being a witch’s errand-demon. Mine is shaping the next generation of young minds, and I think that we teachers deserve a little more respect.”

“Forget I asked,” Eda said as she rolled her eyes. She caught sight of Luz coming back towards them, leading a pale girl with thorns around her brown ponytail and…was that a fish hook for an earring? Okay, maybe Eda was a little impressed.

Luz skidded to a stop, but the girl behind her had her eyes so firmly fixed on Eda that she nearly fell into Luz. She, too, was wearing a multicolored uniform, and there was an almost reverential look in her eyes that almost made Eda a little self-conscious. Almost.

“Eda, this is my new friend, Viney. Viney, meet Eda the Owl Lady,” Luz said proudly. “But you might know her better as—”

“Lord Calamity,” Viney breathed.

“Excuse me?” Eda glanced at Luz. “What’s going on here?”

“You created the Secret Room of Shortcuts!” Viney exclaimed. “Oh man, Jerbo’s never gonna believe this.”

“The room with all the doors?” Bits of memories started to appear in the back of Eda’s mind of slipping into secret passages to get out of trouble, eavesdropping on classes and conversations, meeting Lilith in between classes sometimes just to check in.  It was her grandest achievement by far, but one of the first to be forgotten almost as soon as she had dropped out. But this was hardly the time to unpack that, so she just smirked as she said, “We used to use that for all kinds of pranks back in the day. Bump still hasn’t found it yet?”

She noticed the glint in Luz’s eyes at the word ‘we.’ There were going to be a lot of questions later tonight, but after a day of silence broken only by Hooty, she’d take it.

Viney shook her head. “Nope. A couple of older kids showed us how to access the entrance in the detention room and we’ve been using it to study all kinds of magic all year. You’re basically our hero.”

“Happy to be of service,” Eda said. “I mean, it’s not exactly setting ghosts loose in a changing room or stealing teeth, but I’m glad it’s still getting put to good use.”

“Oh, there’s plenty of pranks too,” Viney said. “Your hexed graffiti is the coolest I’ve ever seen.”

“Ha! Use it well, kid,” Eda said. “And listen, I’m glad Bump is loosening up in his old age, but if you ever want to ditch this place, the Bad Girl Coven is always accepting applications.”

“Really?” Viney’s eyes grew wide and she looked from Eda to Luz and back again, but before she could reply, someone called her name from across the courtyard and Viney sighed. “That’s my mom. I have to go.” She turned to Eda and bowed her head. “It’s an honor to meet you, Lord Calamity. See you tomorrow, Luz!” She turned and waved as she ran off again.

“So…,” Eda said after a long moment. “I take it school wasn’t as horrible as you thought?”

“No, it was great! I mean, aside from the basilisk almost stealing everyone’s magic and destroying the school, but as long as that’s not a regular thing, I think I’ll like it at here.”

“How in the heck did you take down a bas—” Eda stopped herself. “You know what? Maybe that’s a conversation we can have later. I’m just glad you had a good time. Which reminds me…” She paused to dig around in her hair until she found what she was looking for. It was the same round badge she had offered Luz that morning, except it had been altered to read Not a Quitter Badge. “It’s not much, but…I’m proud of you, kid.”

Luz gasped as she took the badge. “¡Es asombrosa! I love it!” She threw her arms around Eda, and even though it caught Eda more than a little off guard, she found herself hugging Luz back. After a moment that was somehow both too long and too short for Eda’s liking, Luz stepped back and pinned the badge to the front of her uniform and puffed out her chest proudly. “What do you think?”

Eda could feel her heart swell at the sight and she really hoped that Luz couldn’t tell how choked up she was as she said, “It looks great. And it’s almost certainly against the dress code, so that’s a bonus.”

The next thing Eda knew, Luz's arms were around her waist and hugging her tightly. The more surprising part, though, was that Eda had been ready for it.“Thank you, Eda,” Luz said.

Eda waved her hand nonchalantly as they broke apart. “Don’t mention it,” she said. “Just promise me you’ll beat some of my sister’s illusion records and that’ll be thanks enough.”

Luz’s face turned stony serious in an instant and she gave Eda a mock salute. “I’ll do my best,” she said.

“That’s good enough for me,” Eda said with a smile. She ruffled Luz’s hair and then dipped her staff so that they could both get on. “Now hop on,” she said. “I’ve got dinner cooking back at the house and I left Hooty watching it, so we should probably go.” She paused and frowned as she scanned the courtyard. “King!”

King scampered away from some kid’s bag lunch that had been abandoned on the cobblestones, but not without swiping a stack of cookies and leaving a trail of crumbs behind him. He hopped into the hood of Luz’s cowl and made himself comfortable. “Ugh. Teaching is rewarding and all, but I could use a vacation.”

Luz giggled and Eda rolled her eyes as Owlbert spread his wings and they lifted into the late afternoon sky.

“So,” Eda said. “In just one day you managed to get branded as a delinquent, save the school from a demon, become the first student in Hexside history to study all nine tracks, and on top of it all, you managed to break Bump’s will which is the one thing I never accomplished in my time there. How are you going to top all of that tomorrow?”

“I’m sure I’ll figure something out,” Luz replied. She was quiet for a moment, but just as the Owl House came into view between the trees, she asked, “So who’s ‘we’?”

Eda tipped the staff downward before pulling up hard just short of the grass. “Whoops, turbulence, I can’t hear you!”

Luz yelped and then laughed as they sped towards the house, and Eda couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corners of her lips as they touched down in front of a house that had only recently started to feel like a home with a kid who had quickly become a far bigger part of her life than Eda had ever imagined. Maybe she really was going soft after all. And maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.

[artificialqueens]

Come Home to My Heart, Chapter 3 (Lemyanka) - Plastiquedoll

read on ao3 ✨| chapter 1 2

A/N: hi! I hope you like this new chapter as it goes deeper on the feels™️ I really wanted to give the characters more background (and a little bit of angst whoops) and finally, there are new names dropping yay! Again, there’s a time skip of two years this time. Enjoy & thanks for reading <3

-3-

When Priyanka turned fifteen, she discovered new things she loved. She loved dying the tips of her hair with bright colors every two weeks and a half, she loved skateboarding, she loved being the center of attention and a little bit of a class-clown at school, she loved hanging out with her group of friends, she loved the phone calls with Lemon to catch up and talk shit about everyone…

“Okay, can you hear me now?”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s better.”

Priyanka peeped through the hallway hoping no one would decide to interrupt them. She nervously removed the shiny red nail polish with her teeth as they tried to re-connect, if her mother saw her she would’ve scolded her on the spot. The landline phone was solid red plastic with buttons and wires, it was age-worn but at least it wasn’t like her grandparent’s phone with the rotary dial system or it would take hours to get all those area code numbers correct and get Lemon on the other side.

“Thank God. I’m literally inside the closet just like in The Parent Trap. I told my mom I was calling my grandma because last time our phone bill had several zeroes.”

Priyanka chortled and entangled the curly wire with his fingertips. “Sorry about that… so, you were saying… about the audition?”

“Oh, right! I’m trying to get into this dance academy that’s supposed to be the best of the best and the audition waiting list is a nightmare… but they called me the other day and said I’ll have shot in two weeks.”

“Oh. My. God. Lemon that’s awesome!”

“I know! I feel it, Pri. I know I can do it but… I don’t want to assume anything until I get there. I’m confident in my skills but what if they perceive that confidence as cockiness or something like that. I was talking to Jan the other day and she said-”

“Wait, who’s Jan?” Priyanka frowned before the unfamiliar name.

“Jan. Jan! My friend Jan? We have Biology and Math together, remember?”

“I don’t think I’ve heard her name before.”

“I’m sure I have mentioned her… anyway. Jan is madly talented –like, she can sing- and she auditioned for music school like a year ago and told me that…”

Jan. She hadn’t mentioned a Jan before… it was weird for Priyanka that knew all Lemon’s New Yorker friends’ names and she was pretty sure Lemon remembered all her friends’ names as well.

“… anyway, I’ll keep my head high and hope for the best. I’m training extra hard these days to make it. My muscles are sore and I can’t feel my legs right now but hey, no pain no gain.”

“I’m sure you’ll do great.”

“Thank you.” She paused as if she wanted to say something else, Priyanka could hear her breathing, but then she continued chattering. “Also, my mom got promoted again and now she bought a computer I can e-mail you the day of the audition. But tell me, how are things over there? Did the girls work their differences yet?”

“You know Scarlett, she won’t shut up and-”

“Priyanka, it’s dinner time.” Her mother announced from the kitchen.

She sighed. “Shit. I have to go or my mom is going to cut the phone wires. She says this time is for real.”

“Oh, okay… I’ll call you soon then.”

“Yes, please call me right after the audition or before if you wanna talk… you know. Break a leg or whatever… make sure is figuratively speaking, please.”

She heard Lemon’s giggle on the other line and something inside her went softer.

“I will… and I will be there for Christmas this year, I made my mom promise it.”

“Fingers crossed.” She said before hanging up.

When she looked at herself in the mirror she had a silly grin on her face that couldn’t be erased.

Lemon hadn’t been back in a long year and a half. After spending the first holidays after her parents’ divorce with her dad in Canada, she had to spend the next one with her mom in the Big Apple. Plus, her father got to travel to New York quite often those days and got to see her a lot. She sometimes sent things for Priyanka with him, a nice hoodie, a makeup bag, one of those stupid tourist t-shirts with the Statue of Liberty printed on it, sometimes a pair of dangling earrings or a simple letter and a picture of her. She treasured each of those little trinkets.

Priyanka was saving money from her allowance and was hoping to get a job soon so she could buy a car someday and visit her friend in the big city, they might even go on a road trip over the summer, it was a nice thought to hold onto until they could hang out again.

On the day of Lemon’s audition, Priyanka was restless. She got kicked out of one of her classes because she kept fidgeting, twitching, moving around, and chewing gum. It drove her teachers insane. Scarlett and Kiara mocked her from the window of the classroom and then got a warning as well.

Later that day she cleaned all her room to avoid thinking. She found several pictures of her and Lemon over the years –including that one time they tried Lemon’s mom makeup for the first time, Lemon was missing her two front teeth-, there were some photos from their first days of school and even Lemon at Priyanka’s plays. She was so pissed when she got that old lady role instead of the main character but she had managed to steal the scene anyway.

As the sun was setting, she didn’t know what else to do. She did the dishes without offering resistance and then got into an argument with her little sister who wanted to watch Hannah Montana while Priyanka just wanted to watch the new episode of America’s Next Top Model. She had to admit it though, the intro of Hannah Montana was kind of catchy (something she would never admit to her sister).

It was almost quarter to nine and she still didn’t have any news. There was a two-hour time difference with New York but still… it was gnawing her from the inside.

Right when Tyra was about to reveal which model got to stay for another week, the phone rang in the hallway and she couldn’t jump out of the couch fast enough.

«You have a phone call from-» Press one to accept, yeah, yeah, she knew that.

“Lemon?” She didn’t even wait for a «hello».

“Pri? Is it you?”

The sound of her voice brought her back to life, she could hear the sound of her heart beating again.

“Yes, it’s me! How did it go?”

“Oh my God, Pri… I’m calling you from a payphone in the middle of Times Square, this is insane. The girls lend me some cash to call you.” Priyanka could hear the sound of the traffic and even some giggles coming from outside of the phone.

“And? You’re killing me here, Lemz.” She had her fingers crossed even when she couldn’t see that gesture through the call and was holding the phone against her ear with her shoulder.

“It was so difficult I thought I was never going to learn the steps I’m literally so exhausted right now but…”

But.

“I got it, I got the spot!”

Priyanka started screaming.

“Priyanka!” Her mother shouted.

“Sorry…sorry!” She covered her mouth with her hand.

Lemon was cackling.

“Lemz, I might get in so much trouble for this but… Congratulations, I’m so happy for you!”

“Thank you.” She sounded truly happy, Priyanka wished she could see her right at that moment. “Jan, can you give me another quarter? Thanks, doll.”

That girl Jan again.

“So what are you girls are up to?”

“We’re going to get some pizza to celebrate. Jan is here as you heard, so are Goona, Rosé, Jackie… They say hi.”

“Tell them I said hi too.”

“She says hi… No, I’m not telling that, shut up…”

“What is it?”

“They are being assholes as usual… Listen, I have to go, I’m running out of coins and I still have to call my mom.”

“Okay, we’ll talk soon… I’m so happy for you… Love you.”

“Love you too! See you in a few weeks.”

“Yeah. I can’t wait.”

“Bye, Pri.”

She hung up but stood next to the phone for a moment, staring at it.

Just a few more weeks.

Priyanka kept begging her older brother to teach her how to drive. It took a few weeks of insistence until he gave up and the lessons started. They only stopped when the snow got too thick and the roads too slippery to practice. Still, by that time Priyanka was almost an expert. She needed to perfect her parking skills before turning sixteen and that would be it.

She also needed a car but that was the least important part.

“So when’s your girlfriend coming to town?” Scarlett asked.

Priyanka choked on her hot chocolate and coughed a couple of times. “Lemon’s not my girlfriend.”

Kiara rolled her eyes.

“Ah, yes, I can’t wait to finally meet her!” Juice –the latest addition to their group- said.

They were at the coffee shop, outside was freezing cold and the smell of fresh-baked pastries had dragged them inside the warm environment. Scarlett was having a black coffee while Priyanka and Kiara had their respective hot chocolate with marshmallows and Juice ordered a cappuccino with whipped cream and sprinkles on top.

“So?” Scarlett arched a brow.

“Her flight is booked for next week if the snowstorms allow them to fly.”

“I remember you two from primary school; they were joined by the hip, even before you shared diapers or something.” Kiara mocked.

“Oh, that’s right. You were in her classroom in kindergarten back when Ilona prevented everyone from playing with her.”

“That’s because Lemon spilled some paint over Ilona’s drawing… it was kids’ things. We all forgot when some random kid wet his pants or whatever.”

“And when did the crush began?”

Priyanka shot daggers at Scarlett with her eyes.

“I don’t have a crush on her. She’s literally my best friend, you guys are delusional.”

“Sure…” Kiara stirred her chocolate. “But it’s been what? Almost two years since she graced us with her presence?”

“Yeah, her parents didn’t want her to travel alone last time so her father flew to New York.”

“All jokes aside,” Scarlett changed her irksome ‘let’s pick on Priyanka’ tone for a minute. “Are you going to tell her about…?”

At the age of fifteen, Priyanka discovered she didn’t like kissing boys.

It had been at a lame party in a basement, her classmates had invited her and one of them suggested they should play seven minutes in heaven. Priyanka was about to skip it and refill her paper cup with cheap vodka and orange juice when she got dragged by the wrist and pushed into the closet with a guy from the hockey team. She suspected he had a crush on her for the longest time and this was instigated by his friends but the moment the door was locked, she panicked.

Her friends tried to get her out of there but there were a few underdeveloped brains and much muscle blocking the door. So she guessed she was doing it. The guy wasn’t that bad –she liked to believe- he told her they didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to and he was what most girls of the classroom referred to as «handsome». Priyanka shouted she was okay to calm down her friends and figured the best she could do was getting over it once and for all.

It was her first kiss.

The guy had rough lips and a slippery tongue and it was in the middle of all that smooching when his hand went under her lower back that she knew, she wasn’t enjoying it at all. She pushed the guy aside and used the back of her hand to clean her lips, she’d need some mouthwash as well. He asked if everything was okay but she was too condescending and told him that she was feeling dizzy.

The door was unlocked when he asked his friends to do it. Priyanka walked back –ashamed-to her group of friends as Kiara told them they were all disgusting and how stupid the game was. Priyanka called her brother from a phone upstairs and left soon after. For the first time, she was quiet on the way back home.

Later that night when she was laying on her bed in the darkness, she couldn’t stop thinking about it, thinking about how she was supposed to feel kissing that guy -any guy- or thinking about the fact that she wasn’t even remotely attracted to boys but mostly, thinking how she so wished that guy was someone else, how she wished that guy was a girl.

The following week at school the not-so-nice-guy had told everyone that Priyanka was basically a slut and if it wasn’t because she was so wasted, they could’ve gone to third base in that closet that very night. Priyanka wasn’t ashamed anymore, she was angry. Very angry. During lunch, she walked directly towards him and exposed him in front of everyone, not only denying the absurdity of those rumors but also stating that she would never even consider touching his small dick.

After that, Priyanka was done with guys, boys, and men in general.

She had a heart-to-heart conversation with her friends afterward but –to no one’s surprise- she ended up with the least heterosexual and most supportive group of friends in the world.

Still… she hadn’t been able to tell Lemon yet. She had tried but there was something about phone calls that didn’t help at all, she wanted to tell her in person, she wanted to see her face and know that everything was okay. And she planned to do it during her visit.

“I’ll try.” Priyanka stated, hoping the universe cooperated with her.

“Good. So you can make out under the mistletoe next.” There she was again.

“Okay, you two,” She pointed at Scarlett and Kiara. “you have to stop it or I’m going to do you guys dirty and you know I can.”

They started laughing, clearly taking Priyanka’s threaten lightly.

“That’s it! You,” She directed toward Kiara. “I have seen you drooling over Kyne the entire semester.”

Kiara went pale.

“And you two…” She turned back to Scarlett and Juice that were cackling sitting on the couch. “Yes, I’m talking to you, do you really believe I haven’t seen the way you look at each other, those stolen glances, the subtle touches? Please, is this a Jane Austen novel or what? You ain’t that smooth.”

“Hey! I didn’t say anything!” Juice protested.

Scarlett’s mouth turned into a thin line and her ears were suddenly pink colored. She murmured something Priyanka couldn’t catch but rhymed with «witch».

“Sorry girl, I warned you heads would roll and I’m not leaving any survivors if that’s what it takes.”

Scarlett put her hands up as a sign of surrender. “I respect it, you’re a bitch but I respect it.”

So that was the word she used.

Lemon would arrive at any minute now.

Her father was picking her up from the airport, they would have lunch at some fancy restaurant in the city center and then he’d drop Lemon at Priyanka’s house until sunset –that was when she had to leave again to have dinner with her relatives.

Priyanka kept moving her right leg, restless while sitting on the couch, eyes nailed on the window.

“Priyanka, take the trash out, it’s your turn.” Her mother told her casually as she directed upstairs.

“Mom!” She complained. “I’m doing important things.”

“You’re sitting on the couch.”

“My point exactly.”

Her mom gave her the glare. “Trash. Out. Now.”

She grumbled but did as asked.

Priyanka put on an extra thick coat over her jeans and knitted orange sweater, adjusted her wool socks and boots, and adventured to the exterior world of the Canadian winter wonderland. She only had to walk a few steps but she could feel her body freezing with the icy breeze. The snow was blinding white and she could hear the whistle of the wind blowing and the sound of her own teeth chattering.

She didn’t even hear the sound of the car stopping right at the entrance of her house nor the door closing or the steps.

She barely had time to turn around when an identified running person hit her like an asteroid. Lemon was small but she still got the strength to tackle Priyanka down with a hug. She didn’t even notice whether the snow was cold or not.

“Hey!” She was still down on the ground and needed to turn around once Lemon moved. “You’re here…”

The vision was dazzling. Lemon’s face, her eyes, her smile from ear to ear with full teeth showing, her blonde hair falling like a cascade over her rosy cheeks. It was as if she had been taken from an Andersen fairytale or a Tchaikovsky composition, ice queens and fairies fluttered around Priyanka’s head.

“I’m here! Can you believe it?”

She was still pretty much straddled on Priyanka, making the brunette blush and hoping she could blame it on the weather. Finally, Lemon got to stand up and helped her friend to get on her feet again.

Lemon was irretrievably tiny but there was something different about her since the last time they had seen each other. She looked less like the little girl Priyanka remembered and more like a teen pop star of the magazines they used to read with her slightly curled lighter hair, pink glossy lips, longer lashes… She was wearing a yellow sweater and a white puffy jacket with matching fake fur around the neck, corduroy pants, and cream boots. Even her glasses were stylish now.

“Wait, are you taller?” She observed.

“No, you just shrunk in the washing machine.”

Lemon elbowed her and then turned to wave at her dad that was still in the car.

“He told me he saw you in the supermarket the other day and asked what does your mom feed you with so I could get some too.”

Priyanka laughed at loud. “He got you there.”

“Ha. Ha.”

“But enough with my height, let’s go inside, I think I got snow on my socks and I don’t want to catch a cold or wait until another short person attacks me.”

“Hey, you said enough with the height.”

“No, no. I clearly said mine, not yours.”

Lemon rolled her eyes and there it was the old Lemon she knew so well, the exact dose just a little less sugary and a bit sour.

They went to Priyanka’s room, she shared it with her middle sister but she was currently busy practicing at music school with her cello for her end of the year concert, there were a few trophies, certificates, and distinctions on her side of the room meanwhile Priyanka’s was a collage of pictures with the girls, an album cover Avril Lavigne, one large poster she got from the local cinema when Spice World was brought back for a special feature and she forced her friends to watch it for the millionth time, some random doodles she did in class and of course, photos and postcards Lemon had sent to her.

The blonde smiled when she spotted a picture of them from their first day of primary school, their backpacks were bigger than them.

They removed the heavy coats, Priyanka changed her wet socks for new ones and a pair of slippers. Lemon was prying into the mess that was her desk, her fingers roaming through her school books, comic books, magazines, and scattered papers as if she tried to figure out if she still knew the owner of that space in the way she used to.

They sat on Priyanka’s bed on the nothing-like-Priyanka flowery blanket one of her aunts got her for a birthday. Priyanka’s mom dropped by to say hi and left a tray with two smoky cups of tea.

“I love your mom, she read my mind.” Lemon said, wrapping her hands around the warm porcelain.

“She’s being nice only because you’re around.” Priyanka took a sip of her tea. “I wonder if it’s a good time to tell her that I broke one of her flowerpots when I was practicing with the skateboard.”

“You’re the worst.” Lemon giggled.

“Certified. Three years in a row.”

The blonde shook her head. “Does she still make that incredible curry with potatoes?”

“Yeah, once in a while.”

“Oh my God… I tell you I’ve dreamt about it. You know I love Christina to dead but she can’t cook at all.”

Lemon, at some point after the divorce, had stopped addressing her mother as “mom” and now she called her by her first name.

“Do you remember she always made dinner with dry spaghetti and can sauce?”

“You laugh all you want but that’s my comfort food till this day.” Priyanka defended her.

“She doesn’t even cook it anymore, now we buy it all pre-cooked or already cooked. She might even forget how to boil water. Anyway, we’ve tried a thousand restaurants but I swear to you, Pri, no one can cook like your mom.”

“Well, I’m glad you’ve missed one of us.”

Lemon threw a pillow at her face.

“Of course I’ve missed you, dumbass.”

They did each other’s nails, Priyanka ended up with a light blue shade Lemon had brought for her and it was allegedly the same color as Tiffany’s, and the blonde insisted she had to draw a white ribbon to make it look like the jewel’s teeny tiny boxes.

From there, Priyanka could see everything. Lemon frowning, concentrated on her task, the way she batted her lashes, her pretty eyes, the little freckles she had over her nose, the shape of her cupid bow turned into an unintentional pout… her lips.

Priyanka gulped and then Lemon caught her staring.

“What is it?” She looked for some hint in Priyanka’s face. “Do I have something on my face?”

“No… I’m just making sure you don’t fuck up the design.”

Lemon rolled her eyes. “Don’t be silly. I’m almost done.”

While Priyanka’s nails got dried, they talked about school, classes they liked and disliked, teachers that they loathed or loved, then about their plans after turning sixteen, Priyanka told her about the driving lessons and Lemon told her she wanted to dress up as Cher Horowitz –of course- for her birthday and by the time Priyanka started with Lemon’s nails, she was reviving her dance audition.

“I tell you, Pri, there was a moment I doubt I’d got in. It was a flash but I felt it in my stomach I thought I was going to puke and mess everything up.”

“Hey, but you didn’t. I’m sure you nailed it.”

The blonde sighed. “Still, New York is like… everything’s so fast and everyone’s competitive to the point where you can’t get distracted or someone else will go after what you have. It’s nice to be here for a change, this is the only place I can really relax. It sucks that I can only stay for a week and five of those seven days I have to visit my dad’s relatives out of town.” She met Priyanka’s eyes. “I wish I could get to spend more time with you, you know?”

Priyanka’s heart skipped a beat. At that moment what she suspected but didn’t dare to say at loud became a reality, all those corny songs from the 90’s suddenly made sense, all the movies Hollywood had sold labeled as «romance» acquired a new meaning and she finally understood what «to have butterflies in one’s stomach» really felt like.

She liked Lemon. She liked her best friend…. And she liked her a lot.

That was the reason she hadn’t been able to tell her about what happened earlier that year at the party because it wasn’t just that she wanted to kiss a girl instead of a guy, she wanted to kiss one particular girl and she was right in front of her at that very moment.

They never warned her about it, they never told her that she would live normally until the day she’d realize she could harbor such feeling inside, that one day she’d just… know.

She almost dropped the nail polish bottle over the blanket.

“Oh, careful.” Lemon grabbed it just in time. She looked at her friend with concern in her eyes. “Pri, are you okay? You look… pale.”

“What? Ah, yeah… it’s nothing. I’m recovering from a cold I caught, that’s it…” She shook her head and took a breath of air. “I’m sorry, you were saying…”

“About the dance academy,” Lemon resumed her story. “the girls think I can make it through the next three years, and then I can major in dancing, I might even get a scholarship if I do outstandingly well.”

There was something, a little detail there that wasn’t… right.

“I hope you can visit me soon, you gotta meet the girls; you’re going to love them. Rosé and Jan are also Geminis, I guess that’s why I get along with them so well. Luckily, Jan would be my roommate if she gets her scholarship as well and…”

“Roommate?” Priyanka asked.

“Yeah… for college? We’re thinking about moving in together because rents are expensive even for the smallest studio apartment advertised. It’s a nightmare.”

“But wait… what happened with the plan? Our plan?”

Lemon opened her mouth to reply and then shut it.

“You forgot about it…”

“No! You know I didn’t… but… my options are wider now, I have to think forward and… did you seriously think-?”

“Yes. I did.” Priyanka didn’t even let her finish speaking.

Her soul had been just crushed.

“Pri, that’s not what I mean. We made that promise when we were ten, things have… changed since then.”

“Maybe they have changed for you but I’m still stuck here, I’m still counting on our plans… our promises. I’m still counting on you. The only thing that has changed is you and your pompous New Yorker glamorous lifestyle.”

“Oh, so it was so easy for me, right? It’s not like I had to attend a school where I didn’t know anyone, being the new girl and sitting alone during lunchtime for months while going through my parents’ divorce… I hated it the first months, Priyanka, I really did and I swear that talking to you on the phone and dancing were the only things that kept me alive…” Her voice cracked. “It wasn’t until I met my friends that I felt like I could do it… that it wasn’t completely waste of time and that I wasn’t a totally useless person.”

“Lemon… you never said-”

There was a single sparkly tear falling down her cheek.

“Well, I hope you’re happy now. There you have it, my life isn’t a glamorous as you thought, is it?”

“It’s because that’s what you’ve told me! Maybe if you didn’t sugarcoat things I could’ve helped you…”

“And do what? And then what? You’d get tired of me with all those problems and we’d eventually drift apart. I’d become a burden for you.”

“What? Where did you get that from? Let me be your friend, that’s what friends do… they help each other during the rough times too, they tell each other things.”

“Oh, and you surely have told me everything that’s being going on here.”

Priyanka remained silent.

“I still talk with some people from school here and there… why didn’t you tell me about what happened at that party?”

“Lemon, that’s completely different…”

“Is it? Because from my perspective, it looks like we’re hiding things from each other now.”

“And breaking promises as well for what it seems.”

Lemon looked at her, she seemed hurt and it broke Priyanka’s heart to see her like that.

She wanted to reach her and hold her hand, hug her and tell her that everything was alright but at the same time, she was angry. She couldn’t have it both ways. It wasn’t fair.

Priyanka’s mother called them from downstairs; Lemon’s father was there to pick her up.

“I better go.” She grabbed her coat. “I’ll be back in five days if you want… whatever.”

She was gone before Priyanka could say something and frankly, she felt that if she opened her mouth it was going to get worse. It wasn’t until the girl left the house and she heard the car getting lost in the distance that she collapsed on her bed and started crying on the closest pillow she had.

Five days after, it was a New Year already but little had changed since they last met.

Lemon visited Priyanka’s house only to discover she wasn’t there.

“Could you please tell her I came to say goodbye?” She bit her inner cheek to contain a sob.

She had a flight to take back to New York.

Priyanka had taken the family’s car without permission and she had driven for a few hours, making sure there was no chance of their paths crossing. It was petty; she knew she was being childish avoiding her rather than talk things through and she was going to regret it and hate herself later, damn, she was going to get grounded for months but who cared? At that moment, the only thing that was on her mind was that she couldn’t see Lemon.

Not like that.

She did her wrong but she was partly right. Priyanka wasn’t being honest with her and she couldn’t tell her all the truth to restore their friendship.

She couldn’t tell her that she was gay and that she was in love with her because it would change it all.

It would destroy their friendship entirely.

Lemon would never reciprocate those stupid feelings of her.

Maybe if she put enough distance between them, those feelings would simply fade, go away, and right now, New York sounded distant enough.

If it was on her to do the hardest part for the sake of all the years they’ve been together, then she was going to do whatever it’d take.

Tears scorched her eyes.

At the age of fifteen, Priyanka loved her best friend Lemon but she also hated her.

[maximum118]

Sitcom

Me- I decided to post in school

Heisu- WOMAN WHY.

Me- Heisu. Hush

Zen- leans in* Sooo I found a locked door...

Me- snaps head to her* did you open it?

Zen- Maybe...*Glances to the destruction behind her* 

Me- YOU DID!? WHY?!

Zen- It said “Do open!”

Me- IT SAID “DO /N O T/ OPEN!!!” 

Zen- Oh...heheh...whoops...

Me- GET HER BACK IN THE ROOM DAMMIT!!

Zen- But she-

Me- ZEN!!!

Zen- OK DAMN!! 

Episode 2- New Beginnings pt. 2

Episode 1 / Episode 2 (You here) / Chapter 4

           2 hours had passed when Kouten left the nest of the emochickens. He was just jumping on the rooftops trying to find minor heroes to rid of in the new area. If his younger set of twin siblings don't get in the way, that is. 

           Kouten looks behind him where Zen, also known as Retribution, was following him. He sighs. "Retribution. Why are you here?" he asks. Retribution pouts. "Can't a sister who is worried for elder brother follow him around?" she asks. 

           "No, she cannot because she might kill someone who isn't a hero and then land both of them in jail." He says lightly, pushing her away. 

           Archangel lands next to Retribution. "Then maybe the elder brother should not be a villain." He says—retribution snickers. Kouten pulls out a water bottle and aims it at Retribution. "Don't make me use this." He says. 

           Retribution hisses and hides behind Archangel. Kouten facepalms and smells a faint odor of a dead body. 

           "What the…" mumbles Kouten as he peeks over the building. He notices a dead body, "Uh. Archangel, You're a vigilante, right…?".

           Archangel arches his eyebrow and checks, almost retching, "OH, THAT'S DISGUSTING." He shouts. Retribution leans over. "Ooo, dead body. Let's burn it!" says Retribution taking some fire from her wings. 

           "Retribution, Kou no." 

           "Retribution, Kou yes." 

           "No."

           "Yes."

           "No. Can we not do this, you two?" asks Archangel as he looks at his twin and elder brother. 

           "But cremation…." Says Retribution as she puts her wings out. 

           "Actually, I'm in with cremation. I gotta satisfy my bloodlust." Says Kouten, Archangel facepalms. Peaking through the gaps in his fingers, Archangel recognized something in the dark. A light, moving towards the body. 

           The trio quietly looks from above. A black hooded person with a lantern tail stood over the body. 

           "Are they a hero?" whispers Zen to her brothers. Kouten looks at Archangel.

           "Not all heroes know vigilantes Kouten." Whispers Archangel. 

           Kouten shifts his gaze over to the person. The person kneels and opens the lantern top. Allowing something to light up the inside of the lantern. After the person closed the top, Kouten jumps down to the person. 

           The person turns to Kouten, briefly showing ginger hair and a mask. Kouten walks up to them. "Listen, Hero. I'll give you 5 seconds to run before scorch ya." He says. 

           The person tilts their head, gazing at Kouten. "Hero…? I am not a hero…" he says softly. 

           "Wait…you aren't a hero? Then are you a villain? If that's the case, Scat!" 

           "I am neither a villain. I am my own thing. I will not leave just so another can kill more."

           Kouten stares dumbfounded at the person. "So you are a hero?" he asks. 

           "…I am a person with morals and a person who senses you've been through something…years ago…" 

           "What..?? No, I haven't!" 

           The person walks closer to him, pointing to the scar on Kouten's cheek. 

           "that wound isn't from birth. Something truly happened to you."

           Kouten doesn't say anything as he looks down. From what he can see, the person was up to Kouten's chest. Kouten also noticed ginger hair with dyed black ends.

           "I also sense…you did have a heart of a hero once…" 

           Kouten stumbles back. "What are you…" he says, looking at them.

           "I am a human with a lantern tail and some skills." The person answers. 

           "…You don't sound human… you're reading my past like… it's nothing…" 

           The person giggles as they did some parkour-up metal balconies. Landing on the opposite building of where Retribution and Archangel were. The person stares down at Kouten. "Oh, I suggest leaving before the police come, villain." They say as they run on the rooftops away. 

           Kouten hears sirens and quickly gets up to his siblings. He looks to Archangel. "Better act that you came here." He says as he and Retribution leave the scene.

           Retribution looks at Kouten "what were you and the person talking about?" She asks. 

           "…they were able to read my past. Also, know I was a hero once." He answers, looking away.

           "Are we going to run into them more often?" 

           "For all of us? Rarely. For just me? Probably…" 

           "What do you mean?"

           "They seemed interested in me when they warned me to leave quickly before the police get there." 

           "So they might be following you after tonight?" 

           "Possibly. No one else told any villains before to leave the scene. They did. Either they're interested in me, they don't have a side, or they have a villainous family." 

           "Speaking of sides…did you find out if they're an ally? Or an enemy?"

           "They answered that they're a person of morals."

           Retribution stops flying and lands. "So…hero?" she asks.

           Kouten stops running and shakes his head. "Some villains have morals too. I think they're…neutral…" he answers. 

           "I'll trust your choice. For now, I found some minor heroes." Says Retribution smirking, Kouten smirks with her 

"about. Fuckin. Time."

           ~Next morning ~

           Kouten, Zen, and Hato came home at 3 am and passed the fuck out. That is until...

           Haruki bursts into Kouten's room at 6:30 am. "WAKKKKEEE UPPPP BREAKFAST TIME BROTHA!" he shouts, jumping on Kouten. 

           "OWWWW!!!!" Shouts kouten, looking at his adorable brother. 

           "Haruki! Go wake up, Sai!" says Kouten. Haruki Innocently smiles. 

           "but Sai told me to wake up you, Z, and Hato!" 

           ". . .SAIIII! SCREW YOU!" 

           Sai walks past Kouten's room door. "Told you not to stay up too late." He says, entering Hato's room. 

           "hato. Wake up. Hei can't wake Zen up." He says, shaking Hato. 

           Hato groans and grabs his phone, and plays an American song called "Worth it" by Fifth harmony. 

           Sai raises an eyebrow in confusion and then hears shouting from Zen's room-

           "GIVE IT TO MEH I'M WORTH IT. BABY, I'M WORTH IT! UH-HUH, I'M WORTH IT. GIMMIE, GIMMIE I'M WORTH IT!" 

           Sai blinks at the shouting then looks to Hato, who is currently half asleep. 

           "How in the world-"

           "Don't question it." Says Hato going into his mini-fridge. Pulling out two pinkie mice and placing them in his snake's tank. 

           "You just have frozen mice in your mini-fridge?" 

           "The snake gotta eat something, or it's eating Z. Toasted chicken." 

           Zen leans in "wait. You would feed me to your snake?" she asks.

           "If I run out of mice, yes. Either you, Kou or Satori. Peace and quiet then." 

           Zen gasps, "DAMN YOU! YOU TRAITOR!" She shouts. Hato gives her a look. 

           "you said yourself when you had scorpions, if you didn't have any food, you'll poison one of us. Guess who then squashed them..his name starts with a D." 

           Zen looks down "hey, Kouten, and you shouldn't have snitched!" She says. Sai looks at Zen. 

           "YOU HAD PET SCORPIONS!?" he shouts. Zen looks at him.

           "Currently, I have two female long-tailed chinchillas, both babies. One's name is Lechuza. She is more mischievous. The other, Adelita, is quieter and shyer." 

           Hato gets an idea and smirks. "Chinchillas?" he asks. Zen panics and runs to her room screaming, "DON'T TOUCH MY BABIES!!"

           Back with Kouten, who grabbing food for Haruki and gets ready for his day. Brushing his untamed hair, he looks out the bathroom where Sai is dragging Hato and somehow Zen to the kitchen. 

           "Hey, did the moving truck bring my bike here yet?" Asks Kouten. Sai looks over to Kouten. "Should be in the garage. You got to get going?" asks Sai. 

           Kouten shows a message from his modeling agency "Yup. A new designer wants me to model. I won't be in the office today anyways." Explains Kouten. Sai nods, gently pushing the 23 yr old twin set in the kitchen.

           "Alright, be safe. No killing either. Remember L is lobby! G is garage!" Says Sai as he gives Kouten a look. Going to Riku's and Satori's room to wake them up.

           Kouten rolls his eyes and grabs his keys and helmet. "See ya, Kou!" says Haruki as Kouten smiles leaving the penthouse to the elevator, pressing G to head to the garage. After stopping a few floors where people enter the elevator recognizing him from his TV appearances and modeling. Some asking for autographs, others pictures, and some with questions like "Are you with someone?", "How is your life with the former number 2 hero, Hawks?" or something else entirely strange. 

           Kouten looks around. When his eyes land on a red and black bike. 

           "Ah, hello, baby. Good to see you have no scratches." He says, wiping it down. "No dust either…" he mumbles. Getting on the bike placing his helmet on, he gets moving.

           ~Later at a cafe~ 

           Kouten removes his helmet and begins fixing his hair. "Ugh…stupid dad genes." Mumbles Kouten.

           He enters the cozy café in front of him. He was in the center of the city, a lively place where many shops were around. Upon entering, he got a text from his manager saying he's running late. Kouten sighs and thinks about getting a coffee.

           Looking at the menu, he waits in line. Once it was his turn, he ordered a coffee and waited at the end of the counter. After waiting a few minutes, the barista seeming bored and pushed two drinks, not even saying the names. 

           Kouten rolls his eyes fine bitch, so I won't fight you mainly for plot convince thinks Kouten and goes to grab one when he touched another's. Startled, he quickly retracted his hand and looks at the person next to him.

           "I am sorry-"Kouten cuts himself off. Staring at what he believes is male. The man had semi-tanned skin and lavender eyes. Along with that, he had a yellow crescent moon shape with two navy stars shapes near the moon on his left cheek. What Kouten noticed was the ginger hair with black dyed ends. Then the lantern tail, Remembering from the person last night.

           Kouten was breathless. He looks away, grabbing the other drink. A faint blush on his cheeks. "Sorry…I didn't know you also ordered coffee." Says Kouten. 

           "I didn't…I ordered hot tea…" says the male. Kouten looks at the cup he's currently holding and noticing the characters "Ei" (Crystal) and "ta" (gentle can be mean big/blessed. I prefer Gentle/blessed) and the characters spelling out Inoue. Kouten becomes embarrassed "here. This is yours then." He says, handing the cup to the male, Inoue Eita.

           Eita blushes and takes the cup. He then pushes the 1st  cup to Kouten. Quickly leaving to meet a black-haired purple-eyed male. Kouten watches as the two walk-offs from the café. After the duo wasn't in view, Kouten sits down and thinks I should've invited him to chat with me. He thinks. 

           Meanwhile, with Eita, the male next to Eita, smiling, looks to him. "So you met a celebrity?" he asks.

           "He was a celebrity?" Asks Eita glancing at the man.

           The male sweatdrops, "You, sir, are going to get killed one day." He says.

           "I'm surprised you haven't tried to kill me, Hotaru..." 

           The male, Hotaru, smiles more "It's Hiroshi in the daytime. Plus, you're useful to me. I got to have a proper fortune to see if I can get away with murder."  

           Eita looks down and looks to his tail, glowing faintly …Did he not see who I am? Or did he notice and not say? A chuckle escapes his throat Todoroki Kouten…you…interest me…He thinks. He looks to Hotaru as he chats up random people. Potential victims to kill, more lives needlessly killed.

           Eita thinks about 3 months ahead of now, a circus with some old friends is coming to the city. Eita looks at the sky. It'll be nice to see them again…Thinks Eita with a smile.

           Back with Kouten, he continues to wait for his manager. As another bright day is full of unexpected things begins in this world of new beginnings. 

           The barista, leaving for the day with her friend. The friend looks at her. "You are literally planning soft angst?" They say.

           The barista snickers, "I might. Truthfully the readers get a slow burn romance/slice of life for this." 

           "So maybe. You are evil." 

           "Am not. I just wanna play around with a crack head family and hopefully play with people's emotions expecting two of the main characters to kiss."

           "Fucker." 

           "oh, hush. The main couple wouldn't have met if I didn't help." 

           "Damn. Your right. Also, fuck you. Go update RTS and SFU." 

           "I WILL. Damn! When I feel like it."

"MAXI!" 

"OH, FINE I 

WILL DAMMIT."

Saisho/Sai belongs to  @ulti-mal

Kouten belongs to @hairuko

Hato belongs to @juniperarts

Satori belongs to @fioresacros

Haruki belongs to @/_falyy on twitter

Riku & Hotaru to @diizaren

[anchoredtether]

2020 Writing Roundup

Stolen from Rue! This was fun to reflect on!

Everyone is welcome to use this same format if they’d like to do the same!

~~~~~~~

S T A T S

Words written:

A whooping 232,867 - which is more than half of all the words I’ve written on Ao3 in the past seven years LOL. I guess I wrote to keep myself sane this crazy year.

O N G O I N G: S T A R T E D / U P D A T E D

AN UNORTHODOX APPROACH  (21,586 words)

First new fic of the year, this is my Shrek AU! I really adore this fantasy AU and it’s fun to explore such a crack concept and treat it seriously. It’s also a Pikelavar AU of sorts. 

DEFENDERS OF AURITA  (62,538 words)

Only updated my fantasy AU epic with one chapter this year, and I’m actually kind of sad I didn’t work on it more. It’s been hard to find muse for it when it hasn’t gotten nearly as much traction as other projects. 

PARADISE LOST  (13,013 words)

Another new fic started in June, this is a Zootopia AU! Heavily inspired from Zootopia, Beastars, and The Last of Us, it’s an apocalyptic future involving hybrids, people who have animal traits in order to combat a deadly strain of cancer. Plus I just love fox!Lance and rabbit!Pidge. 

SCALING BACK  (6,041 words)

New fic started in March, this is one I’ve had stewing on the backburner for quite awhile actually, and decided to start. It’s basically canon but Lance is actually a merman and hiding it from the team. It surprisingly fixes a ton of plot holes and fits with canon narrative. 

SHATTER AND TESSELLATE  (19,661 words)

This new project kind of took over my life if you couldn’t tell from all the art I’ve cranked out this past year for it. Oddly enough the idea just kind of hit me one day in March. I think Rue’s “worst timelines” got me thinking along those lines and I came up with the idea of Honerva seeing into the future and kidnapping the future paladins and turning them galra to prevent Voltron from defeating the Empire. So it’s a Galra AU but in the worst way possible. 

SIX IMPOSSIBLE THINGS (7,243 words)

Another new fic started in August, this Wonderland AU I’ve had notes and ideas for since 2018 or something. And it’s hilarious because I thought of Lance being the Cheshire cat long before Pike existed. Thanks to lots of brainstorming on Discord I’ve figured out a lot more worldbuilding for this AU and I can’t wait to expound on it. 

SLIDING LEFT MAKES MR. RIGHT (2,788 words)

Crack Tinder AU which says I posted in 2020 but I think I wrote it in November/December of 2019. This is a oneshot and it’s taking me forever to finish because it’s hard for me to write short things lol.

THE VACANT ETHER (31,121 words)

This is from the Stories in the Dark bang back in October 2019 and I’m still working to finish it. Post s8, horror, cosmic Reaper AU. This is a favorite AU of mine because of how nicely it fixes and explains all the plot holes of s8.

WHAT TIDES MAY BRING (20,704 words)

The Mer AU that Rue and I started writing last year! I really adore this AU and the Plance family feels it has, and sadly I’ve been slacking on my end with writing the next chapter but I hope to get more content in before MerMay this year. 

WHERE SAPPHIRE ROSES GROW (31,101 words)

I wrote a lot this year for my Beauty and the Beast AU. I’m quite pleased I finally got to the part where Lance learns Pidge is a girl because that’s when things start moving into motion (and obviously the romance starts developing, but still not for awhile yet because I’m a sucker for slow burns).

WHERE THE SUN MEETS THE OCEAN  (8,620 words)

I barely touched my Atlantis AU this year. This is another AU that doesn’t get as much love so it’s hard to find muse for it at times. 

R E F L E C T I O N S

Best title

I am really fond of Shatter and Tessellate. Not only does it sound pretty and gives great imagery but it’s symbolic of how the paladins are broken and put back together. 

Worst title

Probably Paradise Lost. It’s unoriginal (I stole it from the book by John Milton) though it fits the themes of the fic. But I also couldn’t think of anything better and I do find it funny that shortened it becomes PL which is like Pidge/Lance.

Best/worst last line

Best: from Where Sapphire Roses Grow: 

She opened her eyes to see Lance looking up at her with his captivating irises as brilliant a blue as the very sapphire rose that cursed him, eyes that were still human.

“I swear to you Lance… I will figure out a way to break your curse.” 

Worst: from Paradise Lost:

“Please…” she says in a muffled voice between sobs. “I can't - I can't do this alone."

“You won't have to,” he promises softly as he holds her close. “I'm here. I'm right here..."

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?

I wrote uhhh.... way more. Than I thought possible considering all the stress that happened this year. I started six new fics and progressed a ton in others. 

What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.

This is a hard one to choose... but based on the content I covered this year for the fic as opposed to the fic itself, I’d have to say Where Sapphire Roses Grow. It’s so fun writing feral Lance and him protecting Pidge from the wolves was one of my favorite scenes to write this year. 

Okay, NOW your most popular story.

By a freaking landslide, Shatter and Tessellate. This really caught me off guard - I never thought this fic would be so popular, especially considering it starts out as a kid fic of sorts (paladins are all early teens at first) and most people don’t like kid fics. It’s also quite dark and highkey horror? So I’m shocked it’s so well loved.

Story most underappreciated by the universe?

By far The Vacant Ether. I thought it would gain a lot more traction considering everyone and their dog wants a s8 fix it fic, but then again TVE covers really dark topics and is technically a horror fic. So I shouldn’t be surprised it isn’t for everyone. But I am really happy with how it has turned out, even if less people read it. 

Story that could have been better?

All of them Hmm. I feel like Scaling Back could have been more imaginative, considering the second chapter mostly follows the events of a canon episode with little divergence. 

Sexiest story?

None of them have really gotten to that point yet... though I have been working on some future steamy scenes for some fics. If I had to pick one though probably Where the Sun Meets the Ocean because Pidge ogles Lance in that one. 

Saddest story?

Yikes this is a hard one. I think I have to say Shatter and Tessellate, because not only does that one cover death and kidnapping, but metamorphis and body horror. And it’s all the more sadder because they’re just kids. 

Most fun?

I think the one most fun to write is Where Sapphire Roses Grow. I love the time period, I love monster!Lance, I love Pidge and Lance bickering, there’s just so many good points to it. Plus BatB is a classic I loved and grew up with as a kid so it’s really fun to write out the themes I love. 

Story with single sweetest moment?

I think Lance comforting Katie in Shatter and Tessellate when she asks him to call her by Pidge from now on fits this one. Lance and Pidge have a lot of little moments like this in this fic but this one in particular is very tender. 

“Pidge is cute,” he finally says as he nervously rubs his wrist. “Reminds me of Pokemon.”

She makes a small sound which he thinks is an attempt at a laugh and turns her head to face him, tucking her hair behind her ear. “That’s where Matt got it from, actually.”

He smiles at her. “Is Matt your brother?”

She nods. “I’ve always loved owls, but I had a hard time saying it when I was learning how to talk. I watched Matt play enough video games that I could say ‘Pidgey’ though, and so I started calling any owl I saw as Pidgey. At some point the nickname Pidge stuck.”

Hardest story to write?

Easily The Vacant Ether. It covers a lot of heavy and dark topics and it’s hard to really nail the horror vibe sometimes. But also Sliding Left Makes Mr. Right solely because I can’t write short one-shots to save my life LOL.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

Not really? Aside from just... cranking out a ton. I suppose starting 6 new fics can count as taking a risk. Keeping up with all my projects is also a project but I somehow manage to do it.

Proudest Achievement:

I think Shatter and Tessellate reaching so many kudos and hits. I seriously was not expecting that. 

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

Just keep writing I guess. I do have two ambitious plans, to finish Not All Pain Heals, my Teen Wolf fic that is long overdue to be finished, as well as The Vacant Ether which is the fic I have planned out the most and would be easiest to finish. 

[dreamingsushi]

True Beauty - Episode 11

I don’t know if I’m ready or not for this episode. Like... the last minute of episode 10 was kind of traumatic. And something that doesn’t happen in the webtoon, so I don’t know what to expect at all. Is Suho going to die? Forget about Jugyeong? I hope they don’t give him amnesia and make him go for Sujin, because we’ve already seen something like that in Hana Yori Dango and it’s just... so cliché. Oh I don’t know. Should I really watch this?

The episose starts on a flashback of the trio getting a matching bangle. It was Se Yeon’s idea to get one. And how they celebrated Seyeon’s debut. And another about the song that was plagiarized. They play it all the three of them together. They’re so cute.

Another flashback of the night that Seyeon died. He went to Suho’s place, but Suho wasn’t home yet and that’s when he heard about his dad likely sponsoring some younger actress.

Jugyeong tries to call Suho but rach his voice mail. So she goes to Sujin’s place to tell her that she’s dating Suho. She explains to her that she wanted to tell her first, but then Sujin said she liked Suho so she was afraid of harming their friendship. Sujin doesn’t seem moved at all. Nor does she look like she’s going to remain friends with Jugyeong. Oh wow. I didn’t expect that, but I’m not sure I can trust her. She says it’s okay, she’s upset but as they have known each other for such a long time, it’s normal for her to waver like that. They hug it ou. But seriously, I don’t feel like Sujin is giving up or anything.

Jugyeong tries again to call Suho, but the phone is turned off. She goes out, thinking Suho is really mad at her and meets with her sister. Heegyeong thinks maybe Suho got into that accident because of that. Then she tells Jugyeong he was in an accident and she runs barefaced to the hospital. But what is in Suho’s head? He was awake while his dad was over, but he pretended to be asleep until he leaves. Seojun sees Suho’s father. Suho’s father is meeting with his assistant asks an explanation about what Heegyung said. So when the dad’s dating scandal came up, that asked for it to be blocked so Suho won’t see that. He actually didn’t date that actress. So the manager used Seyeon as a scapegoat. And here I was ready to hate on the dad. Dad is very mad that he made Seyeon that way, also since Seyeon was actually the bullies’ victim. This is so absolutely sad TT And the manager doesn’t feel bad at all about what he has done. Oh and he’s the one that plagiarized the song.

Jugyeong goes to Suho room and she cries next to Seojun’s bed thinking he’s Suho. But Suho was actually out and he comes back in. Whoops. So to help her hide her real face, she pretends she’s his older cousin. Jugyeong was really worried. Seojun teases Suho on how close he seems to be with his cousin. Then Jugyeong wants to leave and let them rest, but Suho grabs her wrist. Seojun keeps teasing, so she leaves. Then on her way out, she’s still worried and thinks about going back to check on him again, but as she hesitates, someone comes out their room and she falls on Suho lap. She wants to get up, but he holds her.

Seojun tells Suho that his dad thinks he’s Leo. That he should have told his dad about all the music instruments he bought. But Suho is still thinking about what he heard Jugyeong’s sister say.

Sujin gets mad at Jugyeong because she didn’t tell her heartier that Suho was injured. Even though at first they were just being friendly. When she’s in the teachers office, Sujin hears there’s a transfer student from the same school as Jugyeong. It’s the girl Jugyeong thought was her friend. Oh and the bullies want to know if Jugyeong is dating Seojun.

Sujin is going to visit at the hospital, making sure that she’s all pretty. Yeah, you’re giving up on those wavering feelings... Seojun is a little pissed at her. YEAH! He asks about Jugyeong, but she says she had to work. She gets pretty upset about it.

Heegyeong and teacher have a date at Jugyeong’s part time. Then he notices her and run away. He really doesn’t want her to know, because he’s afraid of the repercussions. Heegyung wonders why Jugyeong is working, and the teacher tells her that Jugyeong wants to study make up.

Mom sends Jugyeong’s brother to the hospital to deliver food to our poor Suho because dad is at the community center. And dad bumps into the scammer and tries to catch him.

Jugyeong pays a visit to Suho at the hospital. First she sees Suho on top of Seojun, he fell while he helped him get dressed. Than later, she gives Suho comics she got for him, one of them gets on the ground and as she bends to pick it up, her hair gets tangled into Suho’s shirt’s button. Right at that moment, her brother comes in. Then Seojun’s friends are coming so he hides Jugyeong underneath his blanket. I guess they can’t exactly come out just like that.

Little bro bumps into Gowoon and he tries to hit on her. And gets caught red handed by Seojun.

When he goes back to his room, he manages to make everyone leave, cause he noticed when Su Ah’s boyfriend tried to wash Suho’s feet that Jugyeong is under there. Poor Seojun though. Then as soon as everyone is out, she also leaves, after tearing away the button. Poor Suho now, he barely got to see his girlfriend.

Suho’s dad wants to have a talk. Suho is angry about what happened to Seyeon, But his dad says it was the manager’s doing. As a dad he would never have done that to his son’s friend. That doesn’t make Suho less angry. All these years he thought Seyeon committed suicide because he didn’t pick up his last phone call. Then Suho says that he wouldn’t have been disappointed anyways because of what he saw on the day his mom died, which is his dad having an affair with some woman. Then Suho collapses from the anger and Jugyeong, who heard everything along with Seojun rushes in. No, Suho TT Be alright please. Seojun tells Suho’s dad that Suho is Leo. Seojun seems to be feeling a little bad about blaming Suho for Seyeon’s death.

Suho’s dad step out as CEO of his company, declares the song was plagiarized and apologizes for Seyeon’s death. As she hears of that, Sujin rushes to the hospital. But Jugyeong reaches him first. And Sujin sees them hugging and kissing.

And that’s all for episode 11. Which was much better than I expected. I wouldn’t say that True Beauty is the best drama of all times, but even though it can get a little cliche and all, the writers still manage to surprise us and take an unexpected path. My only complain is about the previews, because they don’t match and are too far away from the episode we’re watching. I don’t know, I don’t like when the preview doesn’t happen. It’s frustrating, don’t you think?

I’m treating myself today, so I think I will at least start episode 12 if I don’t finish it.

[popculturebuffet]

Amphibia Reviews: The Shut-In

More Halloween Havoc, whoop woop! The Plantars return just in time for Halloween! It’s Shut-In in Wartwood, their version of halloween, but less of a focus on getting candy and more on getting suplies to protect yourselve and barricade yourself in so the moon dosen’t turn you into a monster. I remain not suprised. To pass the time our heroes tell some true spooky stories and Polly tries to find one they weren’t around for.  Phone-Mo: Anne and humanized versions of Polly, Maddie, and Toady watch a cursed video and soon disappear by one. Nothing ominous about that! Dead End: A young Hop Pop serves as Chauffer for a mysterious man played by george takei and death seems to follow them at every stop. Oh myyyyyyyy.  Skin Deep: Sprig and Ivy go to fetch a lost ball and end up running into the skin stealing seamstress. Arson naturally insues..  It’s Terror Time again, with full recap and spoilers, under the cut. 

Whelp, no dancing around it this airing order is weird. And look airing shit in a weird way has been disney’s past time since the 90′s, Darkwing Duck’s airing order is a waking nightmare, and this very show had all of season 1 air within the span of a month and a week in order to get it on disney plus by launch, star vs had it’s last season burned off in three months, and Ducktales pre-covid flip flopped from airing week to week to just one for some reason and then no others for months. Consitency is not their strong suit is what i’m saying and it’s not new.  And yes I get these holiday special episodes are mecurial: their built specifically to slot in wherever without really upsetting continuity: The Casagrandes recently aired their first season 2 episode before even finishing season 1, so this isn’t just a disney thing, while speaking of disney things ducktales had it’s first proper halloweeen episode air the week before a spring break set episode, with a christmas episode set to air next month. What i’m saying is I get these things sometimes don’t air in production order, but it’s less excuable on Disney’s part here when it’d take airing exactly one episode for this not to be a tad jarring. Not enough that it spoils the episode nor does the episode effect the ongoing story or continuity in any way, so it’s not TERRIBLE but it smacks of lazy incompetence on Disney’s part and I wish they’d do better already. 

Okay that rant out of the way we can dive right in! It’s the annual Shut-In in Wartwood! Basically their verison of halloween but instead of a fun spooky holiday, it’s the annual tradition of getting various things from the neighbors to help stay indoors during the blue moon, which in wartwood turns whoever views into a monster. Because of course their halloween is a fight for suvival. Also theirs pumpkins everywhere with their versions of jack o lanterns being fear gourds which.. okay. Point is instead of candy the kids trick or treating has turned up rusty nails, a hatchet, a first aid kit and anne, winning the night, a flamethrower! On one hand it’s neat these exist in wartwood via fire breathing slugs. On the other I do worry about Anne accidently burning everyone and everything down so please take that from her. 

The Plantars then lock themselves in. To stave off bordeom, Shut-In tradition is to go around the fire and tell each other creepy true stories that happened to them. Polly tries going first but just has the Inn story from last season which they were all there for.. thought hat dosen’t make complete sense as they werent’ awake for all of it and shoudl’ve just let her tell her side of things. But eh it sets up polly’s plot so fair enough. Luckily anne has one. So we get our first tale of terror Terror Tales of the Park/Treehouse of Horror III Styles...

Phone-Mo 

Anne’s story is very clearly made up, though no one really calls her on it and it DOES add elemnts from the domino II story from last season so fair enough.  Rather than use her real friends, which is fair enough since she just sadly had to say goodbye to Marcy and probably isn’t handeling the guilt well and Sasha you know.. tried to stab her a few months back then tried sacrifcing herself for Anne’s own well being. Point is thnking about them is a loaaded issue right now so instead she dreams up human versions of Sprig, Polly, with a bucket on her foot for a shot which is a nice visual gag, as is how we meet them, along with Maddie and for some weird reason Toady. I mean I do get Ivy is in our third story, so fair enough, but they could’ve used.. anyone else. Wally would’ve made more sense honestly and he’s also an adult but he’s also you know Anne’s friend and not some town asshole she vaugley knows. It’s just weird. That said I do love the human designs for everyone and they clearly put a lot of work in knowing the fans would like them, with little touches like Polly having pink hair, sprig having his normal haircut he does under the hat but not covered up and toady’s phone having a little keychain of his amphibia version. Also while they all have diffrent names including Anne I won’t be using them on the grounds that I don’t wanna. 

Anne and the plantars are watching a funny internet video when Toady and Maddie offer to show them one that’s apparently cursed and makes whoever watched it disappear. Sprig talks Anne out of it and keeps her from watching anyway but Polly’s naturally all in. ON the way to class, once sprig is gone, anne ends up watching it and liking it anyway because she has no self control and freely admits it.  Naturally given this is a halloween episode, the others start disapearing, with Maddie coming to anne with support after Toady vanishes which again is just.. weird. It’s just weird to hear anyone car about wether toady lives or dies. It keeps throwing me off. Anne reasssures her but sure enough the second anne’s gone Maddie’s phone eats her alive. Still nice to see her again. Regular Maddie should get a hoodie. Also anne apparently eats the corners of her sandwitch so she dosen’t have to share. Clever girl.  Back at home where Anne continues to mock whoever it is told her she can’t write stories as she makes a gila monster and a flamingo make out, where are they I must hurt them, when Sprig calls panicked that polly is missing and admits i’ts a good thing they ddin’t watch the video.. yeah about that. Sprig is of course freaked, and soon the video pops on anne’s phone and soon the weird cat thing inside comes to life and then turns deadly.. also it turns out it eats the host then forces them to be int he background of the video, which was hinted at earlier with one guy having been in there for 35 years.. despite having a smartphone. Well this is anne’s story I don’t think she knows those didn’t exist once. 

Luckily Anne figures out how to beat it.. in the most hilarious way possible. by disliking it, since liking and commeting linked it to her, she weakens it before finishing it with a rude comment. It’s.. i’ts purespun comedy gold. This frees everyone else and they leave along with sprig.. but eggs are left behind. Dun dun dun.  Final Thoughts on Phone Mo:

First off .. I have no idea what FOMO means so the title left me as lost at first at the plantars... oh okay it’s fear of missing out.. should’ve remebered that from brooklyn nine nine and amy’s legendadrily bad case of it. Aw well a decent story, if the weakest of the three. It does have an incredibly funny conclusion, neat human designs, and an intresting setting given while school stories are common, usually we don’t get that here so it’s a nice break from the norm. But compared to the genuinely chilling with a funny and odd climax next two, it’s just okay. Not bad, but not quite as good.  Back in the present, Polly once again tries this time with children of the spore, once again being shot down though that being said hop pop’s line of “I was responsible for that one” was given a great delvery by charlie addler. Also Anne missed Wally’s birthday and he’s sad. oh Wally. Though i’m sure she’ll make it up to him.. at least he’s back home. So anyways speaking of HOp Pop, it’s his turn for a story...

Dead End:  And it’s a story from Hop Pop’s Youth! Given we’ve never SEEN hop pop beyond his present day and only heard the ocasional scrap, it’s REALLY nice to hear. It dosen’t tell us a ton more granted, but we at least see what he looked like, get to hear charlie adler use a slightly less aged voice for him and get to see him with a luxrious golden mane of johnny bravo hair, which is as hilaroius and glorious as it sounds. 

Back in those days Hop Pop was a coachman. He still had the farm, but given how tight things are now it’s not a stretch to assume he could always use some extra coppers to keep his family we never get to know about besides the grandkids fed. He also prides himself on honest work, not taking payment till the rides finished and the customer is satisfied which is INCREIDBLY risky, but I do kinda get it both for Hopidah’s sense of honor and because it seems clear he mostly does it in town by the fact all his stops this ep are within wartwood or close enough, so clearly it’s mostly people he knows personally.  This time though the rider is the well dressed, crimson red Mr. Littlepot, played by George Takei. Best known for Star Trek, being out and proud and since coming out after years and years in the closet, using his celebrity to help promote gay rights and other good stuff. He’s also known for saying ohhhh myyy and this clip from futurama. 

I got a lot of respect for the guy, He was even in archie comics once after Kevin Keller was introduced. So it’s nice to see him doing some voice work and he kills it here.. pun intended but more on that in a sec. Littlepot has some simple rule: keep driving no matter what hapepned where he was.. and given both places he ends up have someone dying, once by a horrifying looking snake, it’s clear somethings up. IT also nicely builds the tension as hop pop tries to steady himself, but is clearly cracking as he realizes his client might be murdering people he knows.. and he could be next. As Hopidiah KNOWS each person Littlepot visits and it nicely ratches up the tension. But turns out he’s not a killer.. he’s simplyd eath himself come to collect those already about to die. 

It’s a nice twist: The genuine trappings of the guy make you think h’es some form of the devil, the crimson skin, yellow eyes and cultured demanor.. it’s only as he goes you start to realize what the man actually is and even then he easily could still be frog satan. But no he’s just the frog reaper and defends himself to Hop Pop when confronted: He’s just doing his job, just like Hopidiah, getting people where they need to be. Unforutnately for Hop Pop his final stop is the farm.. though thankfully for him he hasnt come for Hopidiah.. just his hair. Yeah it’s a nice comedic twist on an otherwise chiling and well done story that what the devil came to take is his hair.. which he starts wearing hilariously. So Hop Pop lives but sobs, and Anne points out it was pretty fucked up. 

Final Thoughts for Dead End:  Not much to say. This one was dripping with atmosphere, Takei was utterly awesome and need to do more voice work, and the comedic ending twist was really damn funny. Top notch. 

Polly tries again, gets shut down again and is now really understandably frustrated at not having a story. Naturally given the other plantars have gone though, Sprig does. And he dosen’t have at itle at first until one cuts him off ....

Skin Deep:

Ivy’s Back! 

Yeah I was genuinely worried the return ep would break up either her and sprig or hop pop and silvia.. and while the second one remains a horrifying sword of damocles over my head, Sprig and Ivy are fine and Ivy gets a nice spotlight episode here. It was a pleasant surprise to get some fresh info since i’tll be months till we find out anything else.  So the young couple are playing bugball down at the old courts, when a couple of guys they were up to no good, started making trouble in the neghborhood. Sprig got in one little fight and Hop Pop got scared he said “your moving with your auntie and uncle to bell air”. He begged and pleaded day after day but Hop Pop packed his suit case and sent him on his way. He gave him a kiss and then he gave him a ticket Sprig put his walkman on and thought he might as well kick it. First class yo this ain’t bad, drinking orange juice out of a champagne glass. Is this what the people of bel air live like, yo, this might be alirght!   He whistled for a cab and when it came near the liscene plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror, if anything he could say that this cab was rare but he thought man forget it yo holmes to bell air. He pulled up to the cab about 7 or 8 and yelled to the cabbie yo holmes smell ya later. He looked at his kingdom and he was finally there to sit on his throne as the fresh prince of bell air. 

So then Will walked into the mansion and wait.. wrong show.. so the young couple are playing bugball when they loose their ball, and it goes off into the creepy part of the woods. Ivy also looses her hat and is self concious about her hair. Looks fine to sprig but she’d rather not. Aww she’s insecure. But the two head off with Sprig getting more and more nervous, as Ivy details a legend about the area of the seamstress, a mysterious recluse who steals your skin! Naturally Sprig is nettled while Ivy says it’s fine and does what anyone would do upon finding out the ball went into a creepy abandoned shack in a world where it’s clear murderers are pretty common: kick down the door! It’s the perfect crime. 

Naturally Sprig gets more unernved, finding a set of needles and thread, which gets a great gag as Ivy points out that’s nto that uncommon.. but the giant pile of skin they find sure is!

Oh.. it gets worse me. Sprig finds the ball. and the Seamstress who has a horrifying patchwork of skins on her and wants to add theirs.. the kids are naturally spooked and prepare to flee but she wants their skin and grabs ivy! Thankfully she breaks free and Sprig busts some off.. OH GOD.. and it turns out she’s a glass frog! .. turns out theres a kind of frog that has translucent skin.

But yeah obvoiusly the show takes it a step further, and her skin is entirely see through. Poor girl. Ivy sympathizes shows off her hair.. then puts her hat over the Seamstress’ eyes and tells sprig now, and sprig starts a fire, and the two start to escape when he grabs Ivy’s leg!

Thankfully Ivy breaks free and the two leave her to die. Sprig compliments ivy’s hair, ivy gets him a smooch it’s all adorable and they defintely murdered someone who defintely murdered a lot of people. Horay!

Naturally the rest of the family is freaked out by this with Anne wanting to know if ivy being bitten means sh’es infected and Hop Pop wanting to know if one of her skins was his friend fred he hasn’t seen in a while. Sprig then spooks them by having ivy show up, complete with a burlap frog skin.. maybe. She could’ve been lying. We dunno. Ivy heads home to risk her life for a good gag, depsite the fact her boyfriend’s house is right there and her mom and grandmom clearly had to sign off on this shenanigan given the night. But this life risking prank naturally risks some life as Polly has ran off to look at the moon to get her own story. The rest of hte family runs after her only tfind it did.. ntohing. She’s apparently fine just fine and they assure her the fear they felt thinking she might become some kind of monster was scarier than any story and the rest of them head home with polly following.. after transofrming. Turns out the moon DOES make you into monsters but she’s fine with it. She’s got her legs now! Everyone screams understandably, Anne finally realizes this isn’t quite a holiday the end. 

Final Thoughts on Skin Game and the special as a whole: Easily my faviorite, partly for shipping reasons as I do like Ivy and Sprig together, and partly because it really let Ivy have a roll OTHER than sprig’s love intrest. Sure she still smooched his cheek and their clearly still together, but she got to be proactive, badass and hilariously impulsive and trollish. It was a nice change of pace and the story itslef was the best of the bunch to me becuase of that, though Dead End was really close.  Overall this was a nice treat, a good anthology with lots of fright and humor and a nice wraparound story arc with polly, as well as some nice call backs to previous episodes. An utterly excellent halloween special i’ll probably be revisiting every year and another slam dunk from disney this year. The airing snaufu really dosen’t hurt it any and in the future this one will likely be after Return to Wartwood on D+ anyway so no harm done. Great all around. If you liked this review follow me for more amphibia whenever it comes back, ducktales reviews every monday, and loud house reviews every saturday or sunday depending. And until next time stay safe, stay spooky and happy halloween!

[almaasi]

reaction post typed whiles watching SPN 15x10 “The Heroes’ Journey”

Dean fantasises about tap dancing with a lamp that has a halo shape....... HMM,,

--

04:44pm

i saw the preview last week and still couldn’t tell ya what this episode’s about. but i get the impression it’ll be lighthearted with a whoops-relevant-to-the-plot arc vibe. LET’S FIND OUT

-

04:51

me: obviously rooting for the woman of colour over the white dude

me: VICTORIOUS

but worried something bad is gonna happen

-

okay......... title card..... might be safe for now

-

04:52pm

we open on a place called “berens’ kwik tr*p”

* in the place of some vowel but while i imagine it means “trip” since that’s what’s on the window, it could just as easily be “trap”

plus there’s the fact that i read “kwik trip” as “kink top” for some unknown reason

beer symbolism people: margiekugel’s lager, tagline “she goes”, apparently

followed by shultz (?) beer inside

-

SAM FOR FUCK’S SAKE HAVE YOU HEARD OF oVEN mIttS

-

SAM YOU’RE STRESSING ME OUT SO BADLY OH MY GOD HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN IN A KITCHEN BEFORE

............probably not now that i think about it. dean was always the caregiver

-

04:59

i paused on the basket that the shop dude teddy removed from dean, expecting to see porn, except DEAN WAS BUYING A PIE MAGAZINE

-

05:03

garth’s kid is like :/

the expression of both these babies is priceless

-

05:04

garth to dean: “you smell so good~”

10/10 this is the quality content i’m here for

-

THE OTHER KID IS DEFINITELY NOT NAMED DEAN AND DEAN IS GONNA BE UPSET

-

CASTIEL HOLY SHIT

did garth ever even meet cas

I’M SJKGJDF

but also like. sam+cas=bros

-

garth should give dean the pep talk about settling down with cas

-

05:11

dean’s never been to a dentist and his teeth look like THAT ??? damn

he’s so high maintenance though

-

this entire thing is both amusing and nightmarish

-

so dean’s high and hallucinates himself dancing with a guy OKAY

-

dean started tap dancing and i started cooing completely involuntarily

-

UM???? DEAN STARTED DANCING WITH A LAMP??? AND THE LAMP HAS A HALO SHAPE???????????

edit: but also like. garth was there (a man, so we discover his partner’s preferred gender). and then POOF GARTH’S GONE and dean’s alone but he still wants a partner so he picks a lamp. a b oy lamp ????

dean’s entire existence was so damn queer in this episode can we talk about that

-

k the shot at the end where he bows his head and touches his hat is probably among my favourite shots of dean of all time, immediately

-

oh my god garth’s describing 50 shades of grey isn’t he

-

05:21

bess claws brad to get him to talk and i love her

-

if they haven’t used some weapon in 4 years maybe they haven’t oiled it or whatever. oh no

-

05:31

sam: “so could we ever actually pick locks or was it chuck this whole time????”

 SAM ASKING THE REAL QUESTIONS

-

05:36

i think dean’s kinda into garth being So Strong tbh

-

garth better not die

-

DEAN’S HOLDING BABY CAS AND SAYS “THIS CAS KEEPS LOOKIN AT ME WEIRD” OH MY GOD I DON’T KNOW HOW TO REACT

-

“so kinda like the real cas”

HOOOOOOOLY SHIT WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT OH MY GOD 

sam knows eeeeeverything

-

05:43

now i’m wondering what cas is doing in heaven, and if he’s Normal too. he’s already clumsy and unlucky, what would even happen. bad hair day probably

-

DEAN TELLING GARTH HE SMELLS NICE TOO

THIS BOY IS SO BI HOLY MACKEREL

-

05:46

i’m pretty sure they’re going to alaska because that’s the last state on the map that the winchesters haven’t been to in 15 seasons and the writers wanna cross off every state, totally understandably

-

05:47

THAT WAS A FUN EPISODE

dean....... deanie boy......... face it already, you wanna dance with boys who smell nice, honeybun. and also get married to an angel, as it happens

sam’s line about how cas looks at dean funny....... mmmmmmmmm YES DRAW PEOPLE’S ATTENTION TO IT

i feel like i should have further thoughts but i don’t, my head is all fluffy

10/10 bc i had fun and i’m smiling

also congrats to dj qualls for coming out~

--

edit a while later: WAIT. it just clicked..... garth’s kids were jensen’s kids, right??? i haven’t checked but i only JUST remembered that jensen had twins and then i realised why the girl looked so familiar.

[mingi-bubu]

Watch “Love O2O” with Me!

Episode 1

yes hi hello it is me, a person with little to no self control when it comes to starting dramas/shows

i already watched episode 1 the other day but i had thoughts and opinions about things that i couldnt record bc i was busy while watching it

so here we are :^)

as little lion mark lee would say, lezgeddit

ok so as per when watching things on the netflix we are shown the title sequence all the way thru

im was told last time i talked about this that it’s silence wang’s song which i love to see

apparently hes nicknamed the ost king or something like that bc of how many he does

the title sequence is interesting i will say

but i was busy jamming so

god the cgi is kringy i love it so much

theyre definitely not in kansas anymore toto

i love weiwei’s partner’s outfit

it fucking slaps

hers is cool too with the hair piece and gauntlets ugh im ay

oooh flaming sword flaming sword

legolas shit from her partner

ok the lil sigil things im lowkey here for ladjlkasdj

nini is so cute omg i want to give her a hug shes so smalll

we stan a woman with principles

al;kdfjalskd the guy’s face that nini’s hiding behind

i love the face hes making akjlfskdjf

oh her and legolas are married in game

akldfjsdlkf the couple walking by calling each other cutesy names is sending

id like to go out for japanese food sir

he kinda seems like a creep but still

food

whoopes her computer mcdied

#unfortunate

i love her roommate’s sweater

who the fuck calculates the amount of electricity before they make noodles

ahhhh thats so cute omggggg

if thats what dorms really are like in china i could handle not being able to choose my own major

better than the closets i had had to live in e.e

weiwei’s neck is very swan like and she seems like a tomboy moreso than her roommate that has short short hair

pathetic attempt at fighting but go off

oh so they will change their clothes and pack her laptop but wont lock the door??

queen shit

omg the vespa is so cute im LIVING FOR IT

ugh scenery

girl stop lying just say you have a gate (gaming date)

there we go

ma’am i am also single after two years of the collegiate experience

clam down

their campus is so nice tho ugh i envy

omg remembere when we would gather in crowds like that without worry

im the girl breaking everyones dream right now but also her friend saying yolo we should go anyways

i cannot tell if “lord” is part of his name or not

alkdfjalsdkf i love the roommmate

she has absolutely 0 shame about being herslef

we stan

yiran and nana seem like theyre going to be the irl antags

smh @ how dramas keep pitting bad bitches against each other

also if that is the guy yiran is into, sweetie, please grow some taste

hes trying to scam you

h*ck yeah weiwei we love to see it

i LOVE the roommate

hes also like definitely old enough to be yirans father

which ok i support you i guess???  but also

her purse was so extra too i love it

me *handshake emoji* weiwei

not being able to remember names and faces

miss roommate,,, speaking as a queer,...you sound a bit uhhhh

fruity right now

that was definitely a uh...descison

the outfit too is also more on the....other end of the spectrum ma’am

oh just guys being dudes playing black and white stones on a grid

love that for them

theres deffo a motif of black and white for some reason i wonder if it’s going to play into world views or reasoning vs emotion or if the costume designers just really liked how it looked

anyway wei2 is playing the game and she has dao blades

FIRE

this man’s nails are so nice wtf

oh she feels like stunting on these hoes

yixiao naihe or somethign like that

i support it

it looks like grid stone guy is older but deffo comes from a prestigiuos family

just based on how his uncle’s like, ya want this buildign?

he doesnt look too pleased to hear that his uncle thinks hes like him

oh we hear that spicey ost music popping in

guess he’s the irl love interest

my guess is that he’s the naihe guy

ooh his ears are pierced too

i hope that the costume designers make use of it

a bitch is just staring at her empty chiar

sorry if your new to me i just dont spell correctly and i refuse to learn how

oh theres thunderrrr

oh they got two other roommates?

oooh yakult

those slap

laundry hung up outside??

couldnt be me

erxi is the roomates naem

weiwei, sisi, erxi, and xiaoling are the girls living in the dorm

xiaoling is the same major as wei2 but doesnt feel like theyre studying the same things alksjdflsakjd

the sound suddenly got a lot more echoey

erxi is my favorite character rn

aish theyre all so dramatic akdjflasdj

ok yiran and nana time again

yiran is fishing for compliments and nana is giving her so many fish

nana is kind of a snake but so is yiran so its fine

i dont understand what her car has to do with how innocent weiwei is but ok

cao guang is interesting as a character so far bc he did take pictures of weiwei getting out of a car but then deleted them but then says why would he be interested in someone like her

and then yiran and nana’s interp of wei2 is immediately juxtaposed by wei2 telling erxi to sign up all of the roommates for a summer internship program showing that shes kind and caring

to an extent

i still have mixed feelings about her

FROG

EVIL FROG WITH LIKE THREE HEADS I LOE HIM

HES DEAD???

ANNOYING BUT GO OFF I GUESS

oh they get them spiocy spicey holograms

oh her ingame husband is asking for their marriage to be annulled

but doesnt give her a reason

oh so shes a comp major but doesnt have the camera on her laptop covered??

fake

i like the in game costuming a lot

i will probably say that a lot but i want you to know now how much i love it

high fantasy babey

drink that tear drop babiieeee

shes gonna turn down that sick sword omg couldnt be me

they took it rather well considering

yayyyy the tinie ingame pal is back

OH SHIT SHE IS HERE FOR TEA

SHE SPILLED ALL THE OOLONG IN THAT ONE Y’ALL

apparently the guy left her for another player who actually’s shown her facce

ohhhh nini’s irl typing face is hilarous

hilarious

adlkasdlkf not at how wei2 is screamign and spooked erxi reading fanfic

oooooohhhhh i forgot to say this earlier but il ove wei2′s jacket es ist sehr schoen

adskfjsld;kadl she ditched the game for a second to bathroom it up and now everyone is watchign her “watching” the promenade of the newly married couple

girl hurry it up in there stop wasting so much toilet paper it is a valuable commodity

she really jsut threw it away smh

i will say tho that the newlyweds’ outfits are really pretty

ooohhh zhenshui’s outfit looks like irl fire lord zuko’s imo

oh sis is reading them messages about storming the wedding lmaoooo

what to do what to do...

the guy looks like hes at an office somewhere thats so funny to think hes gaming during work hours

bitch is gonna sell herbs i scream

NOT at how they made in game zhenshui lighter than his irl counterpart

smH

he looks better irl

OOOOHHHHH A KING HERE TO STUNT IN THE ALL WHITE WE LOVE YIXIAO NAIHE SHWOIGN THE FUCK UP

i am a stan and i have no idea who or what he’s like

bitch

is he ...

BIT CH

ASND ADL;LK;FJA;WEKL

HE REALLY SAID MARRY ME INSTEAD LOVE TO HEAR IT

true kingshit

oooohhhh ending sequence really be showing things huh

ooohhh wait tht lord something guy is probs yxnh isnt he

oh she really just run up to him like that ok

im boy with glasses and backpack falling off of him

hey the picture guy has a cat???

love to see ittttt

FOREHEAD KISS SHUT THE FUCK UP

ohhh is photo boy gonna romance erxi?

irl ex in game husband appears to be dramatic as fuck

love to see it

oh my god ive only had erxi for an hour but if anything happens to her im killing photoboy and everyone else in the room and then myself

ok!

that’s all for episode one

its kinda short since ive already seen it and had an idea of what was to happen

but the next episodes are unknown to me so this is gonna be fun!

already we know i am ride or die for erxi and would fight most people for wei2 and the other two roommates

and we know that i hate that theyre pitting yiran and nana agaisnt erxi and wei2 (and also by default of being roommates xiaoling and sisi) bc im sick of the trope

but also i think that irl zhenshui is going to meet yiran bc that’s who the new ingame wife has to be right???

like im bad at names and faces but thematically and plot wise that’s what has to happen right???

anyways!!

i will watch episode two and will do the same as i do for every wwm ^-^

thank you for reading!!!

stay safe and stay healthy <3333

[sanctferum]

Rose Buds

3/4 of the first four SU Future episodes!

Steven is redecorating his house, or at least trying to figure out where to put the Rose Quartz painting.

After several false starts, Greg and Amethyst walk in. Steven’s kinda feeling a bit ambivalent about having Rose’s visage “hanging over us”. Suddenly, the day starts to darken.

Uh

Is that a giant Redeye, or what?

…Huh. A giant pink spire? Wait a second that looks like…the Human Zoo? Why is the Zoo here?

Yup, that’s the human zoo! With the zoomans aboard? Huh.

Gee, these folks sure hold a grudge against Greg for not Choosening. Steven and Amethyst are welcome aboard, though. Famethyst time!

Wait, now that I think about it. Rose Buds. Human zoo with a bunch of bubbled Rose Quartz inside. Hoo boy. This is gonna get weird.

Holly Blue Agate is still trying to get things in order. She’s utterly failing, and is implied to have been utterly failing for years. No one listens to her, and zoomans and amethysts lounge about in paradise as they like. Amazing.

As she whines about how the Diamonds only talk about Steven these days, she turns around to find Steven. Holly immediately outskis. And good riddance.

Amethyst and the famethysts quickly get to reuniting and hanging out, and now Steven is being taken to see some other inhabitants of the zoo station. Here we go!

Yuuuup. Also, huh, I kinda expected Pink Diamond to have gotten her Rose Quartz disguise somewhat wrong, but this first Rose Quartz looks very much like the Rose Quartz that Pink pretended to be.

Steven’s face is a work of art.

Two of the Rose Quartzes proceed to monopolize the conversation with questions and comments. The third one, the one whose hair looks exactly like Pink’s hair when being Rose, is not included in this. Neither is Steven, who can barely get in an answer edgewise.

Steven ends up inviting the Roses to dinner without meaning to. Amethyst and the famethyst parade through the hallway, and Amethyst’s face upon seeing the Roses is also a work of art.

Dinner time! Pearl and the Rose who hasn’t said anything look exhausted. Garnet looks stoic as always. Steven has been eating “carrot beans” for 16 years. Not 16 years straight, though. That’d be crazy.

Greg walks in, asking how long the zoomans are gonna be in town. He is quite shocked to find three Rose Quartzes at the table, one of whom looks very much like his late wife. He refuses a dinner invitation and flees. Pearl is also not having a great time, and after the Rose who looks like Steven’s mom asks a question, she flees as well. Garnet follows suit soon after. Steven eventually decides to check up on them, not at all also fleeing from the table, why would you think that.

Steven is worried about how rude everyone’s being, but it’s completely understandable. To have such a history with a Rose Quartz, and then to have her gone, and then to have all the revelations that have happened since regarding her, and then to have to deal with three other Roses? Crazy.

Pearl says that Pink Diamond made the Rose Quartzes. Which I guess makes sense as to why they look so much like her? She fashioned them after Pearl’s design for her own disguise.

Steven leaves the bathroom, and bumps into the Roses, quite literally. The Rose with his mom’s hair looks around and sees the portrait of her.

Quite without wanting to, and against his better judgement, Steven invites the three Roses to stay for the night.

One of the Roses makes a joke about how she’s dying of joy. The phrase “Dead Rose Quartz” appeals to no one.

Steven finally gets them off his back by introducing them to movies. This lasts one whole movie. The next movie a Rose tries to play is, naturally, the one of Rose’s message to Steven from Lion 3. WHOOPS.

After Steven accidentally extends his invitation to stay to forever, the Rose with his mom’s hair chastises the others for not being able to take a hint. The other two Roses immediately take this to the other extreme and think Steven hates them. They all leave.

Steven catches up to them before they can warp out and explains that he doesn’t hate them. It’s just that, they look like his mom, and the conflicting feelings he thought he’d figured out and moved on from are all coming back and he doesn’t know what to do. The other Roses reveal they’ve also been putting on a show. Pink Diamond created them just to hide that her chosen identity wasn’t a real thing, and it’s because of her that they were all bubbled. Steven realizes that the other Roses aren’t other versions of his mom. Rather, they’re the nearest thing he has to siblings – siblings that all have had to deal with the ramifications of their mom’s actions, who didn’t choose this life or to have to deal with Pink’s BS but can feel kinship over that fact. If Amethyst’s kindergartenmates are her family, then these other Rose Quartzes are Steven’s family too.

The Roses leave, just as Amethyst returns. We see a shot of the stairwell the next day, emptied of Rose’s painting. The painting has been moved to in front of Rose’s tree, inside Lion’s mane.

[thiswasinevitableid]

Newlyweds game sternclay?

Prompt: our friend signs us up for a Newly Weds Game even though we’re not dating (bonus if they’re not friends, but know each other well enough to win anyway)

Barclay paces back and forth in the greenroom, as Stern bites his hangnails in worry.

He’s going to kill Ned for this.

“This” being the fact that he and Stern are waiting to participate in an episode of the Newlywed Game. He didn’t even know they still made the Newlywed Game.

The main problem, other than Barclay not enjoying the thought of being on camera, is that he and Stern aren’t newlyweds.

They’re not even dating.

They’re acquaintances. They met at a board game night in a local bar. Barclay came with his friend Duck (the instigator of said night), and Stern was eventually brought by his niece, Aubrey (also Barclays friend), after moving to town.

Stern is nerdy, buttoned-up, a bit aloof, though whenever he sits next to Barclay (something Aubrey keeps engineering) he murmurs sly comments and jokes that always make the bigger man snicker. His dark hair is always slicked back, his clothing immaculate, and his face is downright dazzeling. He works for the FBI, in the UP division, but will never talk about work no matter how much the others press. But he will talk to Barclay about other things, like baking or movies or modern trends neither of them quite grasp.

And then Ned fucking Chicane had to go and sign them up for this show as a joke and things escalated from there, as they so often do with Ned.

“We could go out the window, perhaps. Or fake coronary troubles.” Stern muses.

“Tempting, but at this point we oughta just grin and bear it. Maybe we’ll win something.”

“I appreciate the optimism, Barclay, but we barely know each other. No, I fear, this will be a bit awkward for us and make us look like the worst newlyweds in the universe.”

“Maybe they won’t be able to use it.”

“Why?”

“Dunno, half the time people take photos or videos of me I come out blurry.”

Round One

Barclay sits on stage, the cheerful host about to ask him five questions. Or, rather, they’re going to ask Stern and Barclays answers have to match his.

“Let’s start you out easy: what’s your favorite color?”

Okay, he can do this, what color does Stern usually wear?

Black. Because he’s often in his work suit.

No, hang on, his ties, they’re almost always…

He scribbles down “blue.” Holds up his board.

Stern arches an eyebrow, flips his to reveal, in his neat handwriting, “blue.”

“Alright! Question two: Lucky, how would you describe Barclays cooking? Is it spot on? Or does he need some cooking classes.”

Barclay huffs, write down what’s obviously the correct answer, “spot on.”

Stern flips his around with a smile. It reads the same. Obviously, because Barclay runs a damn catering business.

Question three asks where Stern would travel if he could go anywhere.

Shit, okay, what does Stern like? Where would he go to see that. Oh, he knows.

“To Washington to look for bigfoot? Oddly specific, Barclay, let’s see how you did.”

Stern arches an eyebrow, smiling, reveals his sign says the same.

Question four (“which of his relatives is Lucky least fond of?”) is the first he gets wrong, writing “great aunt” instead of “great uncle.”

“To finish out the round, Lucky, what would you say your husband loves the most about you?”

Barclay finds himself writing without thinking, listing off the thing he likes best about Stern.

“His inquisitive mind. How deep. Lucky?”

Sterns board reads, “my mind,” earning them more points.

As they wait for round two, Stern smiles at him.

“I’d like to try your cooking for myself some day.”

“Think I can manage that.”

A beat of silence.

“I’m flattered to know you agree my mind is my best trait.”

“Your eyes are a close second.”

Stern looks at him befuddled, and Barclay laughs, sheepishly, “uh, sorry, was just, uh, joking.”

Except, he realizes as they take the stage again, he was not.

Round Two

The roles are reversed, the questions directed at Barclay and Stern trying to match his answers.

“First up! The last time you gave Lucky flowers, were they roses, carnations, or something else? Or will he say you’ve never given him flowers?”

Zinnias. He’d bring Stern Zinnias, because they’re bright and proud just like he is.

“Oooh, looks like we have a disagreement folks. He says you’ve never brought him flowers.”

Stern gives him a confused look, and Barclay realizes he was expecting him to give the honest answer, rather than what he would do.

“Next: which one of you most organized.”

Easy.

“Him” Barclay writes.

“Me.”

“That’s more points on the board! What was your first job, Barclay?”

Ugh. He was a gorilla mascot for a car dealership.

“Gorilla mascot. How about that folks!”

Wait, Stern knew that?

“Barclay, what’s the one thing you wish Lucky spent a little less time on to focus on you.”

Barclay thinks about Sterns odd schedule, his devotion to his work, the times he’s gone out of town without notice.

“Work.”

“My work.” Stern looks down when he holds up his board, almost like he’s ashamed.

“Maybe need to take the nose from the grindstone and spend some quality time with your hubby, Lucky! Finally, Barclay, who kissed who first?”

Jesus. Okay, hypothetically, if he were to ask Stern on a date or two, would he make the first move? He usually doesn’t. And Stern seems like he’s confident enough in reading people that he’d go for it.

“He kissed me”

“I kissed him first (he’s shy).”

“Well done! You’re on track for some serious prizes. Right after these messages.”

They’re ahead of the other two couples by a little and have already won a dyson vacuum (Stern calls dibs) and a Le Cruset set (Barclay can’t believe his luck, those things are expensive).

“How’d you know about the gorilla thing?”

“I recall you and Duck comparing worst first jobs and you talked about getting heat stroke in it.”

He takes a sip of water,

“How did you know what killed my last two relationships?”

“Oh shit, really?”

“Yes.” Stern says flatly.

“I, uh, I thought about how you’re such an ambitious, dedicated guy and how weird you’ve said your hours can be. Seemed like that could make dating tricky.”

“You have no idea.”

“I mean, I was a chef for years, which had some weird fucking hours. Besides, you deserve a guy who’ll appreciate you even when you have to work overtime. Or go to New Mexico for the weekend.” He smiles down at Stern, feels something catch in his chest when their eyes meet. Stern looks down, pink dusting his cheeks.

“Zinnias?”

“Seemed like you might like them.” Barclay can’t say why, feels his cheeks burning just at the thought.

“I do. I love bright flowers. I spend so much time in sterile, bland rooms, it makes me appreciate the color in the natural world.”

“I could bring you some from my garden. It’s irises right now, mostly.”

“I’d like that, very much.” He takes Barclays hand and squeezes it in thanks.

Barclay tries to ignore the butterflies bursting loose in his stomach.

Round Three

The lightening round. All Barclay has to do is guess how Stern answered seven either/or questions. He gets through the first four just fine, correctly guessing that Stern prefers chips over candy, books over movies, cold over hot, and morning over evening

“Here’s a bit of a naughty one! Missionary or doggy-style?”

Yeah, this isn’t something they’ve chatted about. Lucky strikes him as someone who likes romance, likes feeling close and wanted and cared for in a way that suggests he prefers things with eye-contact.

“Missionary?”

“Don’t sound too sure there, Barclay, but you’re right!”

Number six is easier (how could it not be) and number seven is only a little harder.

“A fancy night out or a cozy night in?”

He thinks about Lucky, the way he seems to always be around people for work, sighs wistfully whenever Duck talks about a lazy weekend at home, seems excited when he has no obligations.

“Cozy night in.”

“Correct!”

Lucky whoops in delight from off camera and then joins Barclay.

“You’ve racked up the most points, which means you’re the winners!”

The audience cheers and begins making whistling, woo-ing calls.

“They expect us to kiss” Lucky whispers with a grin and it gives Barclay just enough courage to do something risky.

“Hold tight.”

“Excuse meeeeahumph!” He dips Lucky into a kiss, which the shorter man reciprocates, feels him laughing as he does, his whole body lighting up with joy as he deepens the kiss.

“Whoah there, lovebirds, save it for the the second honeymoon! Jim, tell them where they’ll be going…”

——————————-

They just make it back to the car before bursting into hysterical laughter.

“Ned is going to be speechless!”

“That I’d like to see.” Lucky smiles at him from the passenger seat, their prizes safely stowed in the trunk.  Well, all but one of them.

“Bit of an odd choice for a second honeymoon, Seattle. I’d assumed they’d pick somewhere with broader appeal, like Hawaii.”

“Hey, you’ll get to look for Bigfoot!” Barclay shoves him playfully on the shoulder.

“Me? I, uh, assumed you would take it. The food scene is supposed to be excellent”

“Nah, you should, you need a vacation.”

Lucky looks at him, thoughtfully.

“Or we could go together, as is the intent.”

“You’d really be okay with that?”

“Yes. I, well, I like you very much Barclay. I think a little trip together could be quite enjoyable.”

“I can go for that. On one condition.”

Stern raises his eyebrows, clearly not sure what’s coming next.

“You gotta let me take you on a few dates before our ‘honeymoon.’”

Stern relaxes with a smile, leans forward and pecks Barclay gently on the lips.

“That sounds magnificent.”

“Cozy night in? With me this Friday?”

“I’d like nothing better.” Lucky settles as close as he can, rests his head on Barclays shoulder

“I’m cooking?” He asks with a smile, already planning what to make. Stern kisses his nose.

“Right again.”

[malecsecretsanta]

Merry Christmas, @Usurix!

Your gift, featuring soulmates, background rizzy and jimon and a mixture of fluff and (angst - mainly the, uh, supernatural stuff) with a happy ending overall, is hopefully something that you enjoy! There is also some sort of supernatural element going on here - hope the malec brings you joy!

Read on AO3

******

as the storm passes, can you hold this fragile heart of mine?

Chapter 1: bronze

Alec and Magnus are sitting on freshly painted stools in a quaint cafe off 5th Avenue, perched above bumpy grey and blue cobblestones.

They had met five weeks ago, Magnus accompanying Izzy's boyfriend, Raphael, to her most recent dance recital as his plus one.

He had been dressed in a burgundy coat with brass buttons and wool thick enough for the pervading chill of late winter.

He had been enchanting, so Alec had asked him out on a date, and here they are today, on their fifth in the tentatively warm dawn of spring.

The spring sun glints against Magnus' warm brown eyes as he sips his iced coffee.

The moment dips and spins, in the sugary light of the dappled afternoon sun, before Alec next speaks.

"So what do you do for work?" Alec asks as he sips his extra-large hot chocolate in a pink and white ceramic mug. They haven't breached the topic of work yet: there is no time like the present, to sneak past the idleness of talk about blockbuster movies and books of classic literature.

Magnus hums, putting down his coffee. "Oh, this and that. Mainly I work as a consultant."

"Right," Alec says, "and how is that?"

Magnus rips open a brown paper packet and starts stirring in the sugar flakes. "Tiresome, at times - some of my clients can be particularly aggravating - but rewarding, nonetheless. It's mainly confidential, I'm afraid. What about you?"

Alec sighs, blowing on his hot chocolate. "I work for the New York government. Nothing terribly interesting, but it pays the bills and is important work, I suppose, in its own way."

Magnus stops stirring his coffee. "Don't put yourself down, Alexander, it sounds fascinating. What do you do, exactly?"

"Oh," Alec says, and wishes for a second - a mere instant - that he had chosen a more interesting major at college, despite his current comfort in his job, "I'm a crime statistics analyst."

"Should I be worried about the level of crime in New York City?" Magnus asks.

Alec laughs, shaking his head. "It's confidential."

Magnus' beautiful eyes widen. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

"I'm kidding," Alec says, "all my work is available to the public somewhere on the government's website. And nothing to note as of recent."

"Ah," Magnus replies, taking out his spoon and picking up the coffee again, tilting it towards Alec almost as if in a toast, "well, that's a relief, then."

"To us, and everyone else," Alec says as the moment heats and thickens, to another wonderful date in an imperfect world.

.

The sky is dark by the time Alec comes back to his apartment, and he can hear laughter even when he unlocks their door, which is a lovely bright magenta.

The perils of living with your siblings and their jarring colour choices.

"I'm coming in," Alec calls out as he hangs his jacket in the hallway, "so you two better not be making out in the living room again, I really don't need to see that."

When Alec turns the corner into their living room, Jace and his soulmate, Simon, are thankfully just sitting on their black leather couch and playing Mariokart.

Jace crashes off Rainbow Road and curses, before looking up at Alec. "Izzy said she'll be home from the gym in half an hour and that she'll bring dinner from that Italian place."

Alec sighs. "Will Simon be staying?"

Simon, who Alec has had the unfortunate luck to now know for two years as Jace's boyfriend and, since last year when Jace's words glowed gold, as Jace's soulmate as well, crosses the finish line with a whoop.

"Yes," Jace answers, scowling as he dives off the road again, "how was your date? Will we be meeting him soon?"

"You've already met Magnus,” Alec says, dropping down on the couch next to Jace. “So shove it.”

Alec thinks that he will let a few more weeks pass before he unleashes his siblings on Magnus, who is sweet and charming and who Alec would rather not be spooked.

Jace quietens, in some sort of weird and uncharacteristic twist of the darkening night, and crosses the finish line five minutes later as the night dissolves into another of simple mundanity.

.

Two weeks later, in the midst of April’s sunny days, Alec scowls as Izzy refuses to move from her place, sprawled on the living room’s couch.

Her head is tilted back, long black hair a tangled mess, glinting in the late afternoon sun.

Izzy’s headphones - white, with silver gems embedded, a gift from their mother two birthdays past - are in her ears, plugged into her phone.

She laughs, bright and clear, and Alec may have thought it was beautiful if he didn’t want her gone.

“Iz.” He taps her on the shoulder. “Get out.”

Her laugh is cut off. “Sorry, Raphael,” she says, before glaring at Alec. “What?”

Alec shrugs. “I would like to watch the TV. Which is in here. You are not doing anything. Therefore, please go.”

Izzy sighs, rolling her eyes. Her eyeshadow is a reddish-bronze today, the same colour Magnus was wearing in his latest Instagram post. He wonders if they've been swapping tips. “I am talking to my boyfriend, Alec.”

Alec can’t help but roll his eyes right back, asserting his dominance as the older brother. “Please, skedaddle.”

He sits down on the couch and turns on the television.

Izzy gets up with a sigh. “Fine, whatever.”

Alec puts on some TV program or other - The Good Place, which Magnus had mentioned, once or twice.

The first episode opens with the declaration of soulmates, which are almost mundane in this world.

Soulmates, he thinks, and he is glad that he is alone, for a sappy smile is surely forming on his face that his siblings would tease him for.

Magnus has good taste, is what he next thinks, and he ignores the stark correlation as the show rolls on.

.

Ten weeks have passed since Alec and Magnus first met, since Alec first saw Magnus in all of his glamour and splendour: he thinks they have been on enough dates, now, to be dating, technically speaking - boyfriends, if labels must be pinned to it.

Which is terribly exciting, a joy for Alec in all honesty.

They are sitting in a secluded area of Central Park, where the leaves rustle and squirrels run about, and they are kissing, their pretzels long forgotten and cold.

Alec closes his eyes, leaning into the kiss.

Warmth spreads, it melts, rising throughout his body.

Magnus’ hand, no longer gloved because of the ever-increasing warmth of spring, rests on Alec’s cheek.

The heat rises, it deepens and spins, all in the space of one spring afternoon.

.

Summer dawns, sticky and humid.

Alec is glad that he resides inside, these days, with the rising and the setting of the sun, where there is the icy blessing of air-conditioning.

But Magnus has other ideas.

With the coming of June, they have been dating for three months.

They are getting more comfortable with each other, more relaxed and less censored in their actions and words.

Which means, in the natural order of things, Magnus decides to drag Alec outside on one burning Saturday - to swim, yes, but outside nonetheless.

"Come on," he says, pushing back his gleaming golden sunglasses, "it'll be fun."

"A crowded public pool?" Alec asks, with a deadpan look, as if Magnus' ideas are wilting like rotten fruit in this stuffy and oppressive summer heat. "Yeah, right."

Magnus' smile is blinding. "Now, who said anything about it being public?"

He pats his black Telsa, glittering in the midday scorching sunlight. "Come on."

Not for the first time, Alec wonders about what, exactly, Magnus does for a living - but Magnus' answers, whilst polite, are surface-level and thin, revealing nothing.

Magnus is wealthy, rich, loaded, whatever you want to call it, and Alec is curious to find out why.

Not for the sheer sake of curiosity - but because this is Magnus, and he is a mystery Alec wants to unravel.

Alec, still grumbling, gets into the passenger seat, pulling down his own dark sunglasses from the nearby two dollar shop so that they cover his eyes, which betray him by sparkling with mirth. "Fine."

If he didn't trust Magnus, didn't really want to get in, he wouldn't have gotten in. But that's the thing. He does trust Magnus, secretive as he is, and not just because he is stunning. Because he is polite, kind, generous and-

He is Magnus Bane, and that says it all.

So when they drive up to a secluded beach with pristine water lapping gently at the sandy shore, he smiles and jumps right in.

.

At the edge of summer’s end, Alec thinks he may be falling in love.

They lay together in golden sheets, and Magnus cuddles closer.

Alec can't help but smile, drifting back off into a blissful sleep.

Maybe.

Maybe, this is the one.

.

September dawns with a frostiness that Alec had long forgotten.

He’s reading after a tiring day at work - really, couldn’t Barbara turn up to meetings more often than once in a blue moon? - when Izzy bursts into his room.

She’s glowing.

“Alec,” she says, beaming. “I think he said them! Can you check?”

Ah. Her words.

Alec can’t say he’s surprised. Izzy and Raphael have been dating for nearly three years, longer than Jace and Simon have been. Raphael, to be fair, is a lot more guarded - he has been burned too many times, or so he says, tired of all of society’s ingrained aphobia.

“Sure,” he says, putting down his latest book. It’s a dry read, really, but so few people publish books on queer history in 13th century England - anyway.

She’s already twisted her hair into a bun.

The gold glow pierces the thin fabric of the grey shirt.

Izzy lifts it up with an unsteady hand.

“What did he say?” Alec says as he picks up the worn corner of the gauze, which is a horizontal strip of white across her back.

Izzy bites her lip. “I texted it to you.”

“Okay, cool,” Alec says, unrolling the gauze.

The words shine bright.

I think you are something exquisite, Isabelle Lightwood, and I don’t mind admitting it.

The tightly looped cursive burns like an ember from an eternal fire.

Alec drops the gauze, and goes to find his phone and switches it off aeroplane mode.

Magnus is oddly knowledgable about queer history, pertaining from the early 17th century or so, and is a much more eloquent narrator than this bore - so the phone had been left in his wobbly cedar cabinet to take away the temptation to talk to his boyfriend instead.

The words match, and Alec smiles, snapping a picture of Izzy’s back.

“You’re right,” he says, as Izzy turns around to face him, still glowing like the sun, “he’s the one.”

.

One’s words are terribly important.

They show the time your soulmate first meant to say I love you.

They are often hidden behind white gauze before they are spoken to offer privacy, to prevent misuse and abuse.

Alec’s words curl across his ribs.

He looks at Magnus’ sleeping form on Friday night and wonders.

Is this the one?

.

December comes in a flurry of rain, of crowds and frantic shopping.

Sometimes, looking out from his office window when he's on a break, Alec thinks it romantic. But he has Magnus, now, so he thinks that looking at the Christmas rush through rose-tinted glasses is permitted.

It is already dark when he finishes work with his burgundy scarf - a gift from Magnus - wrapped tightly around his neck.

The coolness still seeps in, but that is New York.

Tonight, he's going to shop with Izzy at a night market: just the two of them, in the speckled darkness that comes past dusk.

Alec curses when he looks down at his watch.

It's nearly six.

He didn't mean to stay so long at the office - but Mark had brought coffee, and it was so warm, whilst outside was so cold.

Izzy will be waiting for him.

He finishes buttoning up his brown leather gloves and zips up his bag, before slipping down a nearby side street.

It's not his favourite place, but it'll do the job and get him there quicker.

He's still thinking this when a massive grey dog runs into the street.

"Hello," he says, because he's always had a soft spot for dogs.

The dog growls.

Alec backs away. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you."

But the dog leaps forward, and slashes at Alec's chest with sharp silver claws.

Alec tries to push the dog away.

The dog growls, biting him instead.

It stings. His vision blurs.

Alec tries to get up. But instead, everything slides away into a soundless blackness.

Chapter 2: silver

He wakes amongst the chaos of a hospital.

A woman with thick black hair and dark skin is in front of him in nurse's scrubs.

"Good evening, sir," she says. "I'm your nurse, Catarina Loss. Would you like anything? And your name, please?"

"Alec Lightwood." Alec shakes his head. "Thanks, but not right now."

He goes quiet, before nausea takes over him, and drifts back off into an uneasy slumber.

.

“You need to calm down.”

Catarina’s voice floats down into the ward, and Alec’s vision swims.

“I can’t.” A man’s - it sounds as if it is Magnus - voice cracks. “I can’t calm down, I knew we had to stop Russell and now.” There’s a broken sob. “Look at what’s happened - what I let happen to Alexander .”

It’s Magnus.

Alec can’t speak, hooked up with a million or so tubes, his tongue heavy.

Don’t worry, he wants to say, it’s just a bad dog bite.

Instead, he falls back into a restless sleep.

.

Next time he wakes, it is morning - early dawn, the light slipping past the hastily drawn blinds.

Catarina walks in and closes the door shut.

“Alec,” she says, hesitantly. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” he replies.

Catarina nods, biting her lip. “Magnus is outside. Would you like him to come in?”

Alec frowns. He wishes that the lights were less bright. “I mean, yes, but what about my family?”

Catarina can’t seem to meet Alec’s eyes, fidgeting with the black ballpoint pen clipped to her notebook. “You can see your family, but first - first there is something we need to tell you, about your attack. Well - I’d ask you to sit down, but you’re already lying down in a bed, so.”

The door clicks open once more, and Magnus steps inside.

His face is bare of make-up except for the faintest trace of eyeliner around his eyes and his hair is hanging limp. His clothes look slept in and there’s this wild, harried look in his eyes which Alec has never seen before. In short, Magnus is a wreck, absolutely dishevelled.

“I.” Magnus gulps, unshed tears glittering in his eyes. “I don’t know where to start. Can I sit?”

Alec nods, sitting up against the white starched pillows.

Magnus sits down on a rickety white plastic chair, the farthest from Alec’s bed. “I understand if you never want to see me again, but you do have to know that I never wished you any harm.”

Alec’s ribs burn, but that’s not what really registers, in the here and now: instead he watches Magnus’ fingers twist and turn in his lap, ringless and slender.

What has Magnus done?

“I should have never started seeing you,” Magnus continues, “it was foolish of me, but it was so lovely. I forgot.” He swallows. “I forgot why I stayed away.”

Alec pulls up the blankets closer to his chest.

“The wolf that bit you was no ordinary wolf,” Magnus finally says, after a long moment of unbroken silence.

“A wolf? In inner-city New York? I thought it was a dog,” Alec cuts in, rubbing at the bandages wrapped across what seems his whole midsection.

Magnus looks up, and Alec doesn’t think he has ever seen him so shaken, so frightened. “It was a werewolf,” he whispers, “a werewolf named Russell, to be precise, but that doesn’t really matter. And - there’s a high chance that you will become a werewolf, too, in a few weeks.”

“Oh.”

He’d laugh at the absurdity of it all, but Magnus is crying, silently but heavily.

Alec wants to reach out and hug him, but he still doesn’t know if he can trust Magnus, he's acting so out of character.

“All the legends,” Magnus says with a cracked voice, “are true.”

Alec doesn’t understand, lying there still in shock.

“I’m sorry.” Magnus stands up, the scrape of his chair echoing across the room. “I can’t - I can’t do this.”

He runs out of the room and Alec looks, wide-eyed, at Catarina.

Catarina sighs, putting down her notebook. “It’s hard for him.”

“How do you know Magnus?”

Catarina smiles, but it is brittle. “I’m his best friend. I know he hasn’t told you much because he wanted to protect you, but that’s all null and void now, I’m afraid.”

She closes the door again.

“The thing is, both Magnus and I - we’re not exactly human, either.”

The world halts, stops spinning on its axis for a precarious second.

“We’re warlocks.”

.

Catarina talks, explaining this hidden Shadow World which Alec is now irreversibly part of, and Alec blinks blearily at her.

Not in disbelief, no, or shock - just in a kind of a weary realisation, like some sort of flimsy tarp is finally being removed and the world is becoming so much more clear and vivid.

Magnus’ reluctance to share anything remotely private. The malicious - malevolent, even - intent in the wolf's green eyes as it bit him.

Everything he has ever thought as true - it’s false, isn’t it?

He’s lived in a web of lies - a false reality, a fabrication, for all of his life, and now is to be roughly pulled out into an even harsher reality than the one he thought he knew.

"But I'm a warlock," Catarina finishes her explanation with, in a roundabout kind of way, "so I'm not the best person to explain the intricacies of being a werewolf. I-"

Alec holds out his hand. "Thank you, Catarina, for the detailed explanation, but I would like to rest now."

Catarina nods, and leaves the room.

Alec doesn't know what to think, how to feel.

He falls into an uneasy sleep, and dreams of red flashing lights and the cracking of bones.

.

It is late evening when he wakes, and Max, Maryse, Jace and Izzy are all already there.

"Alec, honey," Maryse says, who is standing at his bedside and absentmindedly running her fingers through his limp hair, "how are you feeling?"

Alec tries to sit up, but it's pointless - he's too tired, so he simply slumps down further instead. "A bit rough," he admits, though he wishes he could draw the curtains around himself, hide his weakness from his siblings, protect them from all the horrors of the world even though they are all now adults. "Not going to lie, that wolf took me by surprise."

Izzy, who Alec can't help but note is not wearing any make-up, gasps. "A wolf? In central Manhattan?"

Alec laughs, though it is weary and strained. "I was surprised too. Sorry about missing our appointment, by the way."

Izzy shakes her head, taking one of his hands and rubbing circles into it, her crimson nail polish chipped. "Don't apologise, Alec. We're just glad that you're okay."

Alec thinks about how he may be a werewolf.

How Magnus up and left.

Okay? Maybe physically, if that.

But his family has already fretted too much, so instead, he simply nods and lets their chatter sweep his thoughts away to a happier place.

.

The next day, a young woman wearing a studded leather jacket visits him.

Catarina closes the door. “This is Maia Roberts, the head of the New York werewolf pack.”

Maia's eyes flash green. "Alexander Lightwood, is it?"

Alec slowly sits up. "I prefer Alec, but yeah."

Maia sits down on the rickety chair Magnus had abandoned the previous day. "If you are a werewolf, you can come to my pack. There's about twenty of us, and we live down by the docks."

"Thank you for the offer - can I keep my job?" he asks. "I live with my siblings - do I have to leave?"

Maia sighs, rubbing her fingers together absentmindedly. "It's a bit complex. Not an outright no, like it would be if you had become a vampire - burning up whenever the sun touches you is a little obvious  - but it's not easy, mixing these two worlds."

"Do you still keep in touch with your family?"

Maia stiffens. "No, but that's more on them then my transformation."

Alec nods. "Okay. Am I allowed to tell them?"

Not telling Jace, Izzy, Max or his mum isn't really an option for him - but, he would rather not be dragged up before some supernatural law court.

Maia shrugs. Her burgundy boots clack against the grey speckled linoleum floor. "You can if you want."

Alec sighs, and listens half-heartedly to a complex discussion of werewolf politics and abilities.

She is nearly finished when she reaches the topic of soulmates.

"You are allowed to tell your soulmate about the Shadow World," she says.

The scars on her neck are silver. He wonders if they cover up her words.

"Though," she continues, with an all too casual shrug, "they are often a member of the Shadow World themselves."

Alec nods.

And tries to not think of the burning of his ribs when he last saw Magnus, and what it all may mean for a man who seemed terrified of everything since the events of yesterday.

A man who Alec may, despite all of this wretched secrecy, be in love with.

.

After Maia leaves, Alec stares at the ceiling.

"All this secrecy - is that why Magnus didn't tell me he's a warlock when I was a mundane?"

Catarina takes away his tray. "Partially. It's frowned upon, dating a mundane."

"Oh," Alec says, trying with little success to ignore his own rising disappointment.

He's had many shocks on the last 24 hours, but the biggest so far has been Magnus walking out, and not coming back.

.

He's discharged three days later, just in time for New Year's Eve.

He still hasn't seen Magnus, not since that harrowing day when everything changed.

Jace picks him up, in the rambleshackle vehicle otherwise known as Simon's yellow graffitied truck, with a resounding thumping hug, worry lingering in his blue brown eyes.

Alec's scars are now a thin silvery red, hidden under his many layers of thick winter clothes forced onto him by his mother.

Catarina said that's a sign of being a werewolf - healing too fast to be human.

Alec shudders in the back of the truck.

"Do you need anything?" Jace asks as they turn into the highway. At this time of night, the orange lights are glowing, their shine reflected on the road wet with winter's rain.

"No," Alec says, "but thank you."

He can't be a burden on his family.

He can't.

.

When he gets home, Izzy, Max and Maryse are all waiting for him.

Izzy is the first to hug him in greeting - she's barefoot, and her naked nails strike Alec as odd - her hair loose and curly.

"Missed you," she says into his chest.

Alec pulls her closer. "Missed you too."

He lifts one hand and waves everyone else over. "Come on, I'm not fragile."

Maryse hugs him from behind, burying her head into his hair and stifling her sobs.

"Mum, I'm okay," Alec says.

Maryse rubs his neck, almost as if she is checking for a pulse. "Honey, I know - but seeing you in that hospital bed was absolutely dreadful."

"I'll try to avoid it in the future." Alec sighs, closing his eyes. "There's something I need to tell you all. But it won't be easy."

He sighs, disentangling himself from his family.

"We love you," Jace says, in a rare moment of vulnerability, "through thick and thin."

"Thank you," Alec says, "but be careful what you promise, for I might be a werewolf."

He says it firmly, decisively, looking directly at his family

Maryse is the first one to speak. "If you are to become a werewolf," she says, because of course, she believes him without hesitation, "then we will be with you every step of the way."

A smile, small and a little cracked, creeps onto Alec's face. "Just not on the full moon," he says.

The relief is euphoric.

And then, it's like the breaking of a wave: everyone crashes in to hug him again, with reassuring whispers and declarations of love.

Alec closes his eyes.

Maybe - maybe this isn't the end of the world, and his life can continue on, imperfect as it is.

If only one other person was here - he may even call this a rare moment of perfection.

.

When Alec wakes up the next morning with the bird calls of dawn, he unwraps the gauze covering his soulmark because it is burning - has been burning, since his worldview was skewed into a vastly different trajectory, and this is his first moment of true privacy.

He hasn't looked at it in ages.

And now, it glows gold.

I understand if you never want to see me again, but you do have to know that I never wished you any harm.

Alec texts Magnus right away.

we need to talk.

Hours pass, and night falls.

There is no response, and he falls asleep alone.

.

Luke Garroway is a tall, muscular man.

He is wearing a sky blue button-down shirt with navy suspenders and a police badge is clipped to his cloud patterned tie.

He doesn't look like a former werewolf alpha. Instead, Luke looks like a total and utter dad. His hair is starting to grey at the edges and he has this ease of talking, of being.

But he is here to take care of Alec if a transformation does befall him. And if need be, he can turn into a wolf and control Alec that way, and lessen the blow of what may be a harrowing night.

If he turns, but it feels like a guaranteed certainty at this point in time.

It has been three weeks since he was bitten, and he still hasn't seen Magnus or heard from him since that dreadful morning.

His heart aches.

Alec doesn't blame Magnus for what happened - a rogue werewolf bit him, randomly, on his way home from work through a shady shortcut - but he knows Magnus, maybe loves Magnus, and knows that Magnus blames himself.

The shackles on his hands are rubbing his wrists raw.

It's quiet, the dust motes settling in the dark blue evening light.

It has been a waiting game so far, words and pitying glances.

But tonight, those words will be tested.

"Stay calm, son," Luke says, breaking the stillness of the deepening night. "It's not as painful as the movies would make you think, and I won't let anything bad happen to you or because of you if you do become a werewolf, trapped in a vulnerable state."

"Thanks," Alec says. "Um, I was wondering, do you know Magnus Bane?"

Luke nods, in his fatherly and reassuring manner. "Magnus Bane, the High Warlock of Brooklyn? Hard to miss. He's a great guy. Why'd you ask?"

"Um." Alec bites his lip. "Well, he is - or was, I guess, I don't know, my boyfriend, before this whole debacle, and I'd like to get in touch with him, but he's been avoiding me."

Luke sighs, shaking his head and rubbing his beard flecked with grey. "Sounds like Magnus," he replies, and he sounds so weary, so bone-deep tired. "I'll try to get through to him, but no guarantees. I'm not the alpha anymore."

Alec half-smiles. "Thanks," he says, blinking, trying to not let the tears fall, "I miss him."

"It's a complex situation," Luke says, as the moon's first rays slide through the dusty window and Alec grits his teeth in pain. "Alright. Stay calm. I'll take care of you."

Alec's world creaks. Tilts.

It explodes, until the darkness of oblivion wrought on by agony befalls him.

Chapter 3: gold

When Alec wakes the next day, he is weary, and his muscles ache.

Luke is gone.

He must have had to leave for work.

Someone has placed a thick grey and blue blanket on top of him, keeping him warm as the midday sun, a slither of warmth amongst the ever present coolness of winter, filters into the room through the one lone window.

Still, Alec shivers. It is mid-January, and last night the full moon rose.

He is a werewolf.

And there are no ifs or buts or maybes, not anymore, not after this first tiresome transformation on a frigid winter night.

What is to be done now, with this now certain eternal bleakness? The world of before torn out of his reach, and the world of the future one clouded with instability.

Alec sits up, letting the blanket pool at his waist, the rumbling of a nearby heater filling the room.

If he had any energy left, he may have gasped when he notices the person sitting on the nearby wooden chair with peeling blue paint.

But as it is, he blinks, and that is to be enough.

"Magnus?" he croaks.

Magnus is dressed in a ruffled but close-cut burgundy suit, with tiny golden buttons shining in the weak winter light.

Magnus nods, and he looks as afraid as he did those three weeks ago, when Alec woke with poison in his blood.

"Where have you been?" Alec continues, his voice cracking.

Magnus waves his hand - a flurry of icy blue sparks, and then a glass of water materialises into the silent place, which he hands to Alec. "Here."

Alec accepts it with trembling fingers. "I've missed you, Magnus."

"I've missed you too," Magnus says, with downcast eyes which are devoid of his former confidence and flirtations. "I have been busy - Russell has been imprisoned, and it took a while to clean it all up."

"Three weeks, Magnus?" Alec asks. "Did it take that long?"

Magnus flinches.

"I'm scared, Magnus. I don't blame you for what happened. It's not your fault. But I want you to be here."

Magnus looks up. For once, his face is bare of make-up, and his hair lies flat.

"I put you in a dangerous position by dating you," he says, restlessly rubbing together his ringless fingers with chipped copper nail polish. "As a powerful figure of the New York Downworld community, people look at cruel ways to manipulate me. And you, as a mundane, so vulnerable-"

"I can look after myself," Alec cuts in, "and you cannot hold yourself responsible for the actions of others."

Magnus sighs. "I know this - rationally, but irrationally all I can think of is a world where you are dead, or here and now, where you must resent me."

"I don't resent you," Alec says, his voice softening. "I could never resent you."

I love you , is what he thinks. Please don't make me live without you. I couldn't bear it.

Magnus' hand moves to his side. "Oh," he replies. "I - can I still see you?"

"I would very much like to continue dating you," Alec says. "I care for you immensely, and would love for my entry into this new world to be by your side."

"Okay," Magnus says, softly. "Okay, Alexander. Text me when you want to next meet up. I." He blinks back tears. "Thank you, for not leaving me now that the truth has been so callously revealed."

"Please don't thank me, when it is a blessing to be with you," Alec says, as exhaustion takes him over once more, "and I'll see you soon."

There is the rustle of clothes, and then silence.

.

When he gets back home, a fortnight after his transformation, to a meal cooked by Jace - spaghetti and bolognese - some of his life has resumed to some semblance of normality.

Simon - of course, Simon is here, he may as well live here by now, as attached to Jace as he is - is sitting at the table and chatting to Raphael.

Simon, who lives with his best friend Clary Fray, who happens to be the daughter of werewolf Luke Garroway.

So much entanglement in the Shadow World, that he now knows of it. Luke has been like a dad to Simon - and now, three more mundanes know because of one bite.

And he's nagging Raphael, who, as it happens, is the head of the New York Vampire Clan.

It has been a time of revelations.

Izzy had reassured him that Raphael had told her that he was a vampire about six months after they had started dating: not the full complexities of everything, but somethings that couldn't be very well explained away.

As Catarina had so aptly put, vampirism is a hard trait to fully conceal, more so than magic running through your veins or sleepless full moons.

Raphael is scowling, faced with Simon's nattering as he is. Looping around his wrist are Izzy's words shining in silver: I love you, and I don't care about the rest .

Alec hangs up his coat next to four others.

He's invited Magnus to tonight's dinner: and it is to be an interesting one, no one having to hide anything.

Well, except for the words burning underneath his shirt.

The words have glowed gold for nearly a month now, yet Alec is still filled with this strange apprehension of confrontation.

They haven't met since the day Alec had woken up definitively a werewolf, a member of the Downworld.

Soulmates. What a strange, fate driven concept.  

You would think that it would make things easier, more clear-cut and definite, not more complex.

The doorbell rings.

Alec walks to the door and opens it. It's Magnus - of course it is Magnus, with his silk blue scarf wrapped around his neck and an expensive bottle of champagne in his hand - and he steps in and hugs Alec tightly.

"I've missed you," Magnus mumbles against the crook of Alec's neck.

Alec knows that they are cloaked in darkness, that no one is watching him, so he holds on tighter. "I've missed you too."

His heart aches, and he wants to kiss Magnus, hug him until the end of time, but.

His siblings insist on some sort of social presence and engagement from him, sometimes, and unfortunately tonight is one of those times.

"Right," Alec says, as he reluctantly pulls away and takes the bottle of champagne off Magnus. "Let's go."

Alec can't help but grab, hold on tightly to Magnus' hand.

He's here, and he's not going away.

They walk into the teasing joviality of his family, maybe their family.

Raphael and Magnus have been best friends for decades: for Alec, it is his siblings and their soulmates.

And his, too. Maybe.

Maybe, tonight is the night when everything will finally fall into place.

.

After dinner, after the chatter and endless ribbing has passed, Magnus tugs Alec to the side.

"Um," Magnus says, biting his lip, "Alexander, could we please talk somewhere private?"

Alec nods, stifling the urge to ruffle his hair which he let Jace, for some God-forsaken reason, gel to the high heavens this morning. "Sure."

He's already scrubbed his room down in anticipation and nerves, the navy blue sheets uncrinkled and his mirror shining.

It's not like this is the first time Magnus has come into his home, into his room - they have been dating for ten or so months. But it has been around a month since that terrible night, and Alec feels rough and raw - exposed to a thorough and brutal scrutiny as if his scaffolding, his skeleton, is now on display to the world.

Magnus is a kind man. A generous man.

But. Soulmates are a finicky, touchy business, even for someone as compassionate as Magnus Bane.

They are intimate, revealing. Once the bond settles and sets, it is said that emotions of the other can be felt, experienced fully and boundlessly.

They are both guarded men, with layers hiding their hearts: even in a normal situation, this is not an easy task.

But this is far from a normal situation - he is a werewolf, now, and Magnus is a centuries-old warlock.

"Sit down," Alec says, gesturing vaguely in the direction of his too neatly done up bed.

Magnus sits, almost delicately as if he is afraid of taking up too much space, on Alec's bed.

Alec sits on his desk chair and pulls his grey woollen blanket onto his lap, so he can twist it in his fingers and do anything but think of what is to happen, in a few short seconds.

"So," Magnus says. He starts to pull off his jumper, then stops. "May I?"

Alec tries not to stare, to not second guess. "Sure."

Magnus carefully pulls off his dark blue jumper threaded with silver, then starts to unbutton his shirt.

This isn't the first time that Alec has seen Magnus undress. But it is the first time that it has been so fraught with nerves, so full of uncertainty and fragility.

Words, where there had been none before, now curl in sparkling golden glory across Magnus' chest.

"Oh," Alec says, softly. He's not surprised, exactly, but he is scared. Scared that Magnus doesn't want him anymore, that this is his gentle way of letting him down.

Feelings can change, in particular after the whirlwind of a month they have had.

Alec reads I don't resent you, I could never resent you and wishes he could carve his heart out.

One thing he's never liked about soulmarks: they can betray your feelings before you're ready to confront them - to even acknowledge their mere existence, sometimes.

Alec cannot bring himself to meet Magnus' eyes, and pulls the blanket further up his chest.

He's never felt more exposed.

"Well," Alec says, swallowing, "they're true, Magnus. I - I do love you, Magnus, most ardently, but-"

"But what?" Magnus cuts him off. "But what, Alexander?" His voice softens. "I love you, too. Isn't that enough?"

Alec sighs. "I hope." He takes off his own jumper and shirt, carefully with fingers that yearn to shake and tremble but somehow stay steady, twisting to the side so that Magnus can read the glittering words. "We're soulmates, aren't we?"

Magnus looks at him with shimmering eyes. Tears sit in them, but they do not fall. There's a slip, a blur, and the familiar warm brown eyes are replaced by gleaming golden cat eyes. "Are we?"

There's such hesitancy, such apprehension and hope in his voice.

Everything is so complex, so uncertain.

But maybe this doesn't have to be.

Alec gets up. Walks a few steps. Sits down almost on top of Magnus.

He tugs Magnus towards him, runs his hands through Magnus' hair. "I think so, soulmate."

"Oh God," Magnus say, putting his hand on Alec's shoulder, idly tracing circles with his fingers, "I hope so, Alexander, I really do hope so. I love you so much."

"I love you too." There is no other answer that Alec could have given. "Magnus, your eyes."

Magnus leans back, almost as if he is ashamed. "What about them?"

Alec can't help but stare, enraptured by their beauty. "They're gold."

Magnus takes his hand off. Turns to the side. "I'm sorry you have to see them," he says, his voice now muffled, "they're my warlock mark - I lost control."

"Don't apologise," Alec says, "they're beautiful, Magnus. You're beautiful. There is nothing ugly about you."

Magnus looks back up, and Alec swallows.

Magnus looks so vulnerable now, but evermore so trusting and willing to place his heart etched from diamonds into Alec's earnest but scarred hands.

"I love you, no matter what," Alec says, because if there is one thing he will do, again and again, is forevermore remind Magnus how much he is loved.

Magnus' hand cups Alec's cheek. "Thank you, Alexander." He meets Alec's gaze with his eyes still unglamoured. "I love you - unconditionally."

Then Magnus pulls him in.

A blink, a second of hesitation.

And then they are kissing, like it is the most natural thing in the world.

.

Alec slips back into the freezing office on the top floor of the red and brown brick building, and it is like he never left.

His boss - Lucy, a middle-aged woman with thick spectacles and wiry blonde hair streaked with grey - nods when she spots him.

"It's good to have you back, Alec," she says, "Mark had to pick up a few of your time-sensitive projects, but other than that, business as usual."

Alec nods, placing his coffee down on his desk next to Coralie, whose manicured nails tapping on the keyboard will be a welcome reminder that his life is normal, as normal as it can be as a 21st-century werewolf dating an immortal warlock.

Time to take back some blessed mundanity.

.

Spring comes again in a flurry of new growth, of new life, of rejuvenation and sunshine.

A year has passed since he last sat at this café with his beloved: the chalkboard out front is now navy blue, and the cobblestones are somewhat more crowded.

The same waitress with auburn hair places his hot chocolate in front of him, laden with white and pink marshmallows.

"Thank you," Alec says, unlinking his and Magnus' hands.

Their silver rings glitter in the late afternoon sun.

Magnus smiles, sipping his own black coffee. "Love, do you need some hot chocolate with your marshmallows?"

"I'm fine," Alec says, "it's enough, you need to appreciate marshmallows more."

"Hm," Magnus replies, "if you say so, fiancé."

"Of course." Alec puts down his cup and links their hands together. "Why wouldn't I?"

Magnus' smile broadens, like the golden yellow rays of the sun on a perfect day. "Aren't you sweet enough?"

Alec can't help but smile when Magnus' other hand curves around his neck and pulls him in for a kiss.

Magnus may taste like black coffee, but he is Alec's soulmate.

More than that, he is Magnus Bane, Alec's love - forevermore, until everything fades away into oblivion.

Their kiss deepens, and Alec sighs, his mark tingling with pleasure.

Come sunshine or rain, mundanity or the crazy world of the supernatural, they are to be immortal lovers.

Alec Lightwood loves Magnus Bane.

And he wouldn't have it any other way.