#also there's no icon next to names to let me know i follow them which sucks

[mothsakura]

Pssst, I really love your OCs and would like to know more about them 🐋

I AM VERY HONORED- hmmmm as for ocs let me think although i will give a small disclaimer: anything older than 3 months is most likely outdated lore, i update these dude's lore frequently if you have any specific ocs you have in mind then please tell me! but i'll ramble about my favorite: GRANDPA <3 <3 <3 (Rotting Balance)

(little icon i made for him <3) First off, Rotting Balance (ID: 0.2|000021) was made with the purpose to be able to neutralize rot, following the recent (at the time. this was around late prototype/very early first gen) case of an early prototype succumbing to the rot. His administrator, Reflections in Last Fracture, Speaks of Mirrors had planned RB to become the next major breakthrough. However RB's construction put the council in debt, as Fractures basically built RB behind the council's back while stealing funds. Yes, Fractures was politically powerful enough to do this (second highest ranking), no the council was NOT happy. Furthermore, Fractures had neglected to approve RB's model (he tried post-activation but failed). RB's model is not listed on any network either, he literally does not legally exist by the law (at the time. no this was not fixed). Neither did RB turn out successful at all, he failed to pass the rot trials, the rot had (ironically) rotted the R.N.C (rot neutralizer core) from the inside out. That and RB's severe dislike and distrust of benefactors (the dudes who built the iterators) made him very hard to work with :( I do have a post about this actually! The art looks.................. kinda goofy............ I was tired and this was a while ago so unfortunately it did not end up turning out well, I will link the post here if you want a more coherent ramble on his backstory.

His circumstances are nothing to be desired. He's rotting, he's restricted via protocol (he lashed out at Fracture, Fractures "taught" him a lesson on that. The protocol shuts down half of his structural water-collecting pipes, which leaves him unable to provide his structure with enough water to cool down.), and his tired old machinery is far from it's prime. But it isn't all doom and gloom tbh!!! He is very passionate about his work ....that being crazy scientist experiments with rot and whatever weird contraption he builds, usually nicknaming it "The Rot Wrangler"

his crazy scientist look on full display here <3 <3 <3 He does not trust people easily, but if you are one of the people he trusts, asking him about his work will practically have him rambling on for hours about his weird contraptions that fight the rot <3 Also hc but not canon: he adores common ferns. He thinks they're funky little plants. They do not grow in his district, but he'd definitely try to keep one. (and accidentally kill it....) He also has a purposed organism named The Mauler!!! Mauler lives up to it's name, as it is a mix between slugcat and red lizard, but it is pretty docile to RB. It has become sort of like a therapy dog to him?

he's practically a whole other hyperfixation at this point ......................................................... mad scientist grandpa ................................................ i adore him.................................. and his weird old machinery

This is one of his 4 cores! It is unfortunately waaay too hot due to the aforementioned issue with cooling his structure :( but despite that, it still continues to function. Iterators were built to last after all. I probably have more to share but unfortunately my brain seemed to leak out of my ears as of lately- i am not too good at rambling in public- but i do hope that this ramble was coherent enough!!

[quirkle2]

i must be a little tumblr baby born in the tumblr cave cuz i am Not understanding how twitter works

[riansdiary]

EMBODY A BOSS OR A QUEEN WHEN YOU MANIFEST/DECIDE YOU HAVE YOUR DESIRES

What do these four characters have in common? Let me introduce you to the four girls that you should embody when you're manifesting. You can pick one, whoever feels right for you. Watch their videos and embody that energy when you're manifesting. I'm also gonna give more character examples that I know have this boss or queen energy as well.

They always get what they want. Everyone follows their orders and command. The world is their oyster.

First, Hong Haein from the K-drama Queen of Tears. Let me tell you about her.

HONG HAEIN (Queen of Tears)

Hong Hae-in is a third-generation chaebol heiress, a large South Korean business association controlled by one family, of the Queens Group. She is the owner and the BOSS in that department store meaning she always gets what she wants. She is the boss and everyone follows her commands. I think you already know why it's good to embody her while manifesting. She is a boss and she slays at that! Let me show some clips of her!

Next, we have the Queen B, Blair Waldorf herself.

BLAIR WALDORF (Gossip Girl)

It should be self-explanatory by now as soon as I mentioned her name. Blair is introduced as the Upper East Side's beautiful and popular QUEEN bee. She is the daughter of Eleanor Waldorf, a famous fashion designer. She is dating Nate Archibald, and is best friends with Serena van der Woodsen.

Blair is known for her strong-willed and determined personality, which often leads her to pursue what she wants with great fervor. Blair is influential and commands a significant presence among her peers, she always gets what she wants and having everyone follow her commands.

She exudes confidence and self-assurance. In manifesting, having unwavering belief in one's abilities and the certainty that one's desires will materialize is essential. Throughout the series, Blair demonstrates persistence and determination in pursuing her goals. Blair Waldorf faces various challenges and setbacks but always manages to bounce back and stay focused on her aspirations. Despite the drama and complexities in her life, Blair often maintains a positive mindset and outlook.

She has a lot of inspiring manifesting quotes! Let me give you some examples!

"If you really want something, you don't stop for anyone or anything until you get it."

"We make our own fairytales"

Nothing’s holding me back anymore. I know what I want, and I’m gonna get it."

Serena: "Not everyone wants to be Blair Waldorf."

Blair: "Not everyone can be."

I had to include two videos for Blair! You'll see why you need to embody her for manifesting or life in general! She knows she's the best and she's the Queen B, her minions follow her every command.

CHANEL OBERLIN (Scream Queens)

Chanel Oberlin is the QUEEN bee of her own sorority called Kappa Kappa Tau. Her "Chanels" always follow whatever she fancies, they follow her orders and do what she commands them to do. Throughout the series, Chanel's character is shown to have a dominating presence, and her minions, whom she refers to as the Chanels, generally comply with all her demands.

She didn't even bother to remember the names of her best friends nay her minions. Chanel always gets what she wants. She is known for her unwavering self-confidence and belief in her goals. She often dictates the course of events through her actions and decisions. Here are some clips of Chanel!

Chanel was literally affirming in that mirror scene! So iconic! That scene when she was a prisoner and wearing orange in the courtroom, she's rejecting, dismissing and disregarding what's happening in her 3d. She knows it doesn't mean anything. Why? Everything always works in her favor and she always gets what she wants.

SHARPAY EVANS (High School Musical)

Sharpay Evans is the QUEEN Bee of East High. She is first shown to be a popular and self-centered drama queen who loves to be, and often is, in the spotlight. She is co-president of the drama club, alongside her twin brother Ryan. The Evans twins have starred in all school productions since kindergarten, and she craves the spotlight. Previously, she hadn't had to try very hard to keep it; anyone else shown auditioning was never very good. She has an overwhelming desire to be the best that often dictates her actions. Because of the rigid clique system established in East High at the beginning of High School Musical, Sharpay is very defensive of her position as star of all school plays, and she refuses to tolerate that anyone could take it away from her. She's a diva who is accustomed to getting her way.

She often envisions herself achieving success, whether in her performances, relationships, or personal aspirations. Her determination and persistence in pursuing her goals resonate with manifesting. She is known for setting high standards for herself and those around her. She uses her charisma and assertiveness to steer situations in her favor.

Time to show you some Sharpay clips for inspiration and you know I couldn't possibly pass on not giving you her song Fabulous as well!

In conclusion, it's really good for you to pick one of them or anyone/any character (doesn't even have to be a character. Could be a real person.) to embody and help you manifest. I recommend watching their scenes or videos on TikTok or YouTube so you could properly learn how to embody them (their good manifesting qualities) and act like them when you manifest, affirm of talking to yourself about your desires. They also are very persistent and have amazing self-assurance. These queens don't take no for an answer. They always get what they want period.

Whenever you affirm/assume/decide/command your subconscious, (whatever is your favorite method) embody their boss and queen energy and be firm with your decisions and affirmations. Say that it will happen no matter what. Your reality and your subconscious mind are literally your minions and employees! Our subconscious mind is also us but it wants to give you everything you want. You just need to tell it/yourself what you want when you see something you want. It will already manifest that for you in the 4d first then trust it and it will materialize in the 3d in no time but again, it's a natural thing and it's just the cherry on top. You already have it in the 4d/imagination.

What helped me stand firm in my affirmations and decisions is literally this! I picked who I wanted to embody. I chose Hong Haein and Blair Waldorf. Hong Haein is a boss and her employees follow her every command or order so I knew it would come in handy. I then started thinking like I'm the boss of my reality. Blair Waldorf thinks she's always the best. Again, her minions always do what she says. She's the Queen Bee so I also started acting like the Queen B. You're the boss/queen, it is what you say it is. What you say, goes. Know that your reality has no choice but to follow your orders. Treat it like a minion or employee. Don't go back on your decisions.

I did this yesterday and I'm even more assured that my desires are now mine and it's already done. I commanded my subconscious mind to lock in my decisions, assumptions a.k.a my affirmations that I've always said. Just naturally a few times in the day deciding and affirming to remind myself that they are facts already. I asked it to lock that in. Meaning, now my mind would never be changed no matter what I'm feeling or thinking because I told it to lock that in.

I got this idea from a game show. The hosts always say "lock in your answer" or "lock that answer in" so I took that and used it as a powerful tool or method so my subconscious mind knows and locks my answer in. I'm persisting and saying that it will be my answer or decision and I don't wanna ever change it so I'm locking that in no matter what I'm feeling or thinking. No matter what is going on in the 3d. This is basically my defense weapon. I asked my subconscious to lock that in and that I will never change that answer. They are facts now and it's final. Period. All of those decisions and affirmations I said are now facts in my reality.

So choose your character and embody them.

Now, it's time for what I promised! I said that I would list some characters or people that you could choose from other than the perfect four examples I have above. Don't worry if who you want is not in the list! You can whoever you want!

The bosses/queens/kings you could embody:

Elle Woods (highly recommended 🩷👑😎)

Enola Holmes

Nancy Wheeler (be a badass like her)

Max Mayfield

Steve Harrington

Regina George

Veronica Lodge

Cheryl Blossom

Serena van der Woodsen

Jenny Humphrey

Tom Holland

Zendaya

Ariana Grande

Nate Archibald

Chuck Bass

Dan Humphrey

Tori Vega

Do Do Hee (My demon)

Penelope Bridgerton

Eloise Bridgerton

Benedict Bridgerton

Queen Charlotte

Emily Cooper

Hermione Granger

Rory Gilmore

Spencer Hastings

Mia Thermopolis

Troy Bolton

Ryan Evans

Gabriella Montez

Mal (Descendants)

Evie (Descendants)

Miranda Priestly

Fallon Carrington

Cher Horowitz

Fiona Pembroke (Princess Switch)

Princess Elodie (Damsel)

XOXO Rian 💋

Thank you for reading and have a nice day! Remember, your desires are already yours and it's already done. 🌈

[ill-loveyouthroughthestars]

I NEED SOPHIE BECKETT TO BE IRISH !!!!

This is my Roman Empire, i have dreamt of this and I have multiple reasons

1. It will tie into History and how Irish people have always been considered an outcast in society for centuries especially before the famine

2. When I read the book all I could hear was an Irish!Sophie with her accent, her attitude, her antics and her random quotes are so Irish I just love (I also feel with this Irish attitude it could bring humour to their storyline and season)

3. I feel it would also play well with Benedict not being able to recognise her even more due to her accent ( at the masquerade she pretend to be British when actually she is fully Irish)

4. People would even question her parentage even more due to her being Irish and highly educated (which was a rare sight in that period of history)

5. I feel like this aspect of Sophie could show how she has never felt like a person, never having something that was her and with this symbolism it shows how Irish people had everything taken from them as a nation and as people such as aspects of language, land and etc.

Irish!Sophie has never knew how beautiful Irish culture is with araminta excluding her from this side of her due to never considering her as a person.

Headcannon- she arrives to the Bridgerton household and a few of the staff are Irish and they start speaking to her in Irish and she’s like “what” like utterly confused and they start to question her and her upbringing

6. And I was watching titanic (I know) and I was thinking this would be iconic for irish!sophie (let me cook!!!)

I imagine a scene like the Irish dance scene in titanic

^^^^^

When Sophie starts to work for the Bridgerton household she meet the other house staff which could have a few Irish iconic characters and they invite her to a drink and a dance in like an underground basement type of thing where there is montage of Sophie dancing a ceile or drinking with her fellow Irish people (rambled there for a second)

This starts to happen a few other nights and Benedict gets suspicious of her always being tired and he follows her one night and finds her dancing, singing and looking happy. He decides to confront her but just to see she has had too much fun ( she’s drunk) and as he is about to scould her or something idk she grabs him to dance (this could be like a moment he fully falls for her)

Skip to them leaving and Sophie is drunk and they could have a moment where it parallels to Benedict’s high dinner scene on their walk home (we live among the stars type of moment)

NOW HEAR ME OUT!!!!!

They could somehow have a little drunk smooch and Sophie is at the state of drunk that she nearly reveals that she was the lady in silver at the masquerade ball and as she’s about it fully tell him she’s like “I was the La- lady-“ AND SHE JUST PUKES ON HIS FEET

(Y’all cancel me Idaf I needed this to be known)

And there’s a moment where they just look in shock and disbelief they start to laugh.

Skip to the next morning and she is hungover like crazy and she leaves her room and runs into Benedict and just tries to ignore what happened last night and bids him hello and hurriedly speeds off while he chuckles to himself

7. With Sophie being Irish it could also make Benophie stronger as Benedict is willing to accept her and understand her culture and involve it in their life e.g buying her a claddagh ring as an engagement ring (one of the stories about the creation of the claddagh ring are about a peasant and a prince fall in love and it is forbidden or something and the prince gives her a ring to symbolise their love(BENOPHIE CODED)), learning Irish with her, visiting ireland and giving their children irish middle names

8. I also think a brilliant song for the season would be linger by the cranberries because the lyrics and meaning of the song are perfect for Benophie while it also being an Irish band

9. I know that people are hoping for a POC Sophie or a Latina Sophie but I feel with Irish Sophie’s exclusion from society due to her being Irish shoes a whole other side of Bridgerton’s defiance against societal norms

10.i think I just want an Irish Sophie because I’m Irish but shhhhh

[imustbenuts]

nuts reading trigun 4 - i sniffed out the spirit of leiji matsumoto and his galaxy express 999

so this is. a bit of a doozy and a little detour i took...

first off, i thought it was really interesting that chapter 4 is titled Bang!Bang! in EN but ポポ popo in jp. popo is basically pop pop, but also if pitched down, would sound more like 'poooh poooh'. very similar to what sound a steam locomotive makes,

but not quite. the 'correct' one would be ボbo, not ポ po.

like the sound effect here:

sfx: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOH

there's no good way to translate this, to be clear. nightow seems to really like pulling off these weird little japanese wordplay here and there. theres one instance with the escorts trying to sleep with vash, but thats a lot of effort to explain a pun and its not very interesting so. uh. sorry. (these posts take very long to write bc im poopoo)

so. its CH 4: PoPo. 4 =Death? this feels deliberate.

the next chapter is CH 5: 強襲 / Assault. EN title is very accurate here so yippee. but wait.

that. dark contrast and a presence of a vaguely steam locomotive. the framing of the train itself being this romantic machine that was built to send people on their journeys to parts unknown. the presence of 4 = Death.

theres something about the following panel. and i know exactly what it is despite having never read or watched it bc of just how influential this particular work is.

so i went sniffing.

Galaxy Express 999.

and. uhm. i found a thread and a rabbit hole that links back to TriStamp again.

Galaxy Express 999 first ran as a manga in 1977- 1981. Made by the late Leiji Matsumoto (25th Jan 1938 - 2023) who passed away last year.

the gist of this story. we follow a boy named Tetsuro in the super far off future, who wants to obtain a mechanical body so he never again feels the inconvenience of a flesh one. and to also fulfill his promise to his mother who was hunted down in front of him and turned into a trophy by mechanized hunters. he meets a mysterious blonde woman named Maetel who gives him a pass to ride on the Galaxy Express 999, promising him one at the end of the journey, but there seems to be a catch.

the same themes of a train in the darkness, its window the main lightsource, but in GE999 theres the added planets and stars. GE999 is full of promotional material and artwork like this, its iconic

the story is very philosophical and full of questions about death, living, and the worth of a human life. theres a constant theming of the train bringing its passengers to a place unknown, and how its a departure from the base in which they start the further they go. like a wanderer. (something something blank ticket wink wink.)

but anyway. Chapter 2: The Red Wind Of Mars is the interesting one.

i strongly recommend reading this chapter at least, but ill summarize the interesting bits.

the cast arrives on Mars, a Red Planet thats constantly being buffeted by a Sandstorm. its said that the planet is pretty much in a state of poverty and is barren due to people turning themselves into machine bodies and having no need to care for the environment and nurture it.

also an american saloon on this red desert planet wowee--

testurou later gets jumped by a couple who basically wants to steal his pass to the GE999, but once they realize the boy has not been mechanized at all, the couple lets tetsurou kill them. they are then left in the desert to be eventually covered up by the red sand. and then, the final page has this fucking thing:

"They say that the sound of Mars' red wind comes from the wailing of people resting under its sand. This vermilion wind will continue to lament for the fate of those who couldn't make their dreams come true... That's why they say this planet will stay red forever..."

....studio orange. listen.

STUDIO ORANGE. PLEASE

ON WHAT LEVEL ARE YOU GUYS EVEN COOKING. stop sending me on these rabbit hole runs i swear to god ill never finish trigunbookclub at this rate GGGGGGGGGAAAAAH

anyway the sandsteamer arc in the original trigun seems to be a homage to Galaxy Express 999 in a way, and Studio Orange understood the assignment.

[writingfool001]

An Unknown Fan

Authors Note: I have been dead for the past couple months due to school just hounding on me and finals are coming up. I hopefully can get back to writing during the summer and next semester. 

Request: Yes by anon   

Pairing: Vil x Fem! Reader 

Warning: Female Reader, you/your, she/her, & so forth

Sitting on set, Vil was scrolling through Magicam and somewhat listening to his manager go on about his schedule before checking the trending list to see a new name.  

Clicking on your name, he was presented with different posts involving you like fan edits, photoshoots, interviews, and movie posters. The most recent one he saw was of you sitting in a chair while resting the side of your head on your knuckles with a confident smirk on your face. While sporting a tasteful outfit, you had a playfully confident aura. 

Rising actress making villainy look good. This young actress climbs the ranks of well-known faces in the film industry for her acting skills, making her movie villain roles iconic and well known. With being an upcoming name, most put her together with Vil Schoenheit, a well-known actor who has always been called to portray villains. 

Vil didn't read the rest before noticing you were tagged in the photo. He clicked on it to see your Magicam profile. You had a decent follower account and he carefully scrolled through some of your posts. It was a mixture of your personal and professional life. He decided to keep an eye on you, resulting in him following you with his secret account. 

Over the next couple of months, he watched some of the films that you've acted in, and he thought you had excellent acting skills, bringing your characters to life. He thought the first post he saw was lying about you only playing villain roles, only to find out that your career was built off of playing villains. He believes that you have more potential than just playing the villain.  

Vil was invited to do a Q&A for a recent movie that he was a part of which was taking place at a convention. While checking the venue out, he also noticed that you were also going to be there and checked what time your panel would be at. He had his manager buy him a ticket so it wouldn't raise any suspicion. He would get there early and hide himself in the crowd with a disguise. 

When the day came, he arrived at the convention and was accompanied by his manager and one of his bodyguards in case there was an incident. They all waited in line before being let in, the seats Vil got were decently in the middle of the two sections. He sat between his manager and bodyguard then browsed on his phone until the announcer came out and started talking to the crowd. 

When the announcer said your name, you came out to a roaring cheer of people and waved to them. You wore a nice casual outfit, not too professional or casual, and you sat down between two of your co-stars. Vil kept an eye on you as he watched the rest of the cast come out. Once everyone was seated, the announcer made small talk with the cast for a bit then the Q&A panel started. Vil watched as you interacted with your cast, being friendly, and as well with fans who asked you questions. 

“Have you ever been offered roles that weren’t villains?’ 

“I have been offered other roles that were not villains, I had a director recently ask if I could play the leading hero in their upcoming movie, but I respectfully declined the role since it would clash with another project.” 

"Mind sharing with the class?" The announcer questioned. 

"I am sworn to secrecy until given more instructions." 

“That’s something I wanted to know,” one of your cast members asked, turning towards you. “Why do you only play villain roles?” 

“Playing the villain is more fun than the hero, there is so much more you can do to drive the story." 

“Was there someone who inspired you to do this, or do you just want continuous villain eras?” one of your costars questioned. 

“Yes, to both, Vil Schoenheit has played many excellent roles, but he is mainly known for playing villains that get overshadowed by the hero. As much as the hero is great, the villain drives the story further and basically makes the hero.” 

“Are you trying to hide your love and admiration for Vil?” 

“I will not deny that Vil is breathtaking and drop dead gorgeous, but I appreciate his skills more.” 

“She didn’t deny it!” One of your costars yelled, causing the crowd to go wild as you smiled then shrugged. 

Vil felt a little moved by your explanation of why you always play the villain, but that doesn't change his opinion on you having more potential than just being stuck in a typecast role. He continued to see as the panel went until the end came and then the signing panel started. He told his manager and bodyguard he would be fine, but the bodyguard told him that they would watch from afar. Vil thought that it was a decent compromise before entering your line. 

He waited in line, holding a small piece of paper, and silently watched you interact with fans before silently laughing at how friendly yet professional you were with fans. Once he finally reached you, you greeted him with a smile and gently took the piece of paper Vil handed to you.  

“Who do I make this out to?” You ask, ready to write. 

“Put whatever you want” he said before watching you write something before pausing, waiting for who to make this autograph to. “Vil Schoenheit. 

He watched as you froze and lifted your head up as he took his glasses off and gave you a smile, causing you to malfunction a little. He enjoyed seeing you fangirl a bit as your costars saw this and were having the time of their lives as they watched you freak out. You both shook hands and exchanged niceties before your manager asked if you both wanted a picture together which he at once agreed. You both posed as your manager snapped a picture of you both. You thanked him for coming again and bid him farewell as he left, dodging the fans in the lines who were trying to get a picture. Every celebrity has moments when they want to walk around in public. Once he reached his bodyguard, he looked down at the signed photo to see if you wrote something at the end. 

PS I think you’re pretty cool.  

Later that night there was a bunch of coverage about the earlier interaction from fans and the convention themselves talked about it. Vil scrolled through your tag to see you wearing sunglasses, but you had napkins underneath the glasses to cover your face. 

The last picture of the collection was of you shooting a peace sign towards the camera, making Vil chuckle a bit. Once he clicked on your profile, he followed you and sent you a message. 

The director I am working with is interested in offering you a part of their movie. Would you be up to it? 

He watched as three dots danced around before seeing the message you sent. 

Depends on, maybe we’re already going to be working together. Who knows I may end up being your villain? Can you keep up with my pace? 

This was going to be an interesting friendship. 

[landos-meat-rider]

mastermind, part nine

okay guys omg finally this chapter had me in a slump for literally months im so glad its over like💀🙏

anyways this ones lowkey short and i dont like it at all but its okay guys bc next chapter will be much better dw 😋🤞🤞

also reminder to please send me some requests bc im lowkey losing my mind w these exams and my brain space for original thought is taken up by cold war history material and i dont think anyone wants to read a theodore nott fic w kennedy as a side character💀💀

anyways enjoy this one pookies even though its v short and not v good, lets just be grateful its over and done with😍🙌

no warnings for this one

masterlist

theodore nott masterlist

✧ ‧˚₊ ❆ ‧ ₊ ⊹˚✧ ‧˚₊ ❆ ‧ ₊ ⊹˚✧ ‧˚₊ ❆ ‧ ₊ ⊹˚✧ ‧˚₊ ❆ ‧ ₊ ⊹˚

We entered the blue-lit cafe hesitantly, cautious of our whereabouts. Harry slid into the red booth first on one side, quickly followed by me and Theodore with Hermione and Ron on the other side.

“What about all the people at the wedding?” Harry spoke up, looking around at all of us in worry, “Do you think we should go back?”

“They were after you mate,” Ron said with a shake of his head, “We’d put everyone in danger by going back.”

The moody waitress walks up to our booth, leaning on one leg with headphones in her ears.

“Coffee?” she asks us with a huff, diverting our attention from one another to the menu above the counter.

“A cappuccino please.” Hermione asks politely to which the waitress agrees curtly before asking the rest of us.

“Uhm…what she said,” Ron answers.

“Same,” Harry says.

“Me too.” I nod.

“Yeah, same.” Theo agrees.

She quickly turns around and moves to go back to the kitchen to prepare the five drinks as we quickly return to our plan.

“So, where do we go from here? Leaky Cauldron?” Ron asks as soon as she’s out of sight.

“No, it’s too dangerous.” Hermione shakes her head, “If Voldemort has taken over the ministry then none of the places are safe.”

I look around as everyone debates to try and come up with a game plan and notice the peeling paint on the wall and the dirty coffee machines. But what catches my attention is the two strange burly men who trudge into the cafe. They look around sinisterly and fix their eyes for a moment with us. Theodore seems to catch my gaze, quickly followed by Harry as they both yell “Down!” as the men start shooting spells at us.

“Stupefy!”

“Expulso!”

“Expelliarmus!”

“Petrificus totalus!”

We shoot spells left and right at the two men until finally, they’re unconscious.

The waitress walks out in worry as Hermione yells at her to go, I oblivate her as she walks out the back door in a hurry.

“Lock the door, get the lights,” Harry commands as Hermione and I start to shut down the shop and Ron gathers the lights in his deluminator. Theo walks up beside Harry, both looking down at the man on the floor.

“This one’s name’s Rowle.” Harry speaks up, not taking his eyes off the man, “He was on the astronomy tower the night Snape killed Dumbledore.”

Hermione and I come up behind Theo and Harry as they walk over to join Ron as he says, “This is Dolohov. I recognise him from the wanted posters.”

“What should we do with them?” I ask, looking around at everyone's worried faces.

“They’d kill us if it were the other way round, why don’t we kill them too?” Ron speaks up angrily.

“If we kill them, they’d know we were here,” Theo says, trying to calm Ron down.

Ron shakes his head, turning around to face the rest of us as Hermione warns, “Ron…”

“No, Suppose he did Mad-eye. How’d you feel then?” he snaps.

“It’s better we just wipe their memories,” I say, earning agreeing nods from Theo, Hermione and Harry.

“Fine. Whatever, you’re the boss.” Ron says, thankfully calmer now.

Hermione performs the charms as I open one of the doors so we can leave, and we walk out into the icy breeze of mid-winter London.

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We dodge and push our way through the iconic London underground, dimly lit orange lights paving our way and regular chatter and train railings filling our ears.

“How’d they know where we were anyway?” Harry asks, almost bumping into a lady with a pram and quickly apologising afterwards.

“Maybe you still have the trace on you?” Hermione brainstorms as she pulls Ron from bashing into an elderly couple.

“Can't be. Trace breaks at 17, it's wizarding law.” Harry says shortly, attracting mine and Hermione’s attention.

“What?” he says after Hermione and I gasp.

“We didn’t celebrate your birthday Harry,” I say solemnly. “We’d made a cake, we were going to bring it out at the end of the wedding.”

“Look, guys, honestly, I really appreciate the thought but seeing as we were just nearly killed by death eaters in a muggle cafe…” he dodges a group of small boys running around.

“Right,” Hermione says looking ahead, “Priorities.”

I smile, looking at Ron, remembering the thing he’d said in first year about Hermione needing to get her priorities straight before two strong arms pull me towards them. I look up as we keep walking and Theo releases me from his hold, I give him a questioning look as he points behind him to a woman running away in a hurry, whom Theo had avoided me from colliding with.

I give him a tight smile and mutter thanks before linking arms with Hermione and walking faster than the boys, thinking about where we were going to go from here.

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“Hermione what’s for dinner?!” Ron yells across the huge tent from his room.

Hermione rolls her eyes and shouts back, “Soup!” as I laugh next to her, making tea and coffee for all of us. The tent is surprisingly comfortable with lots of room to move around and quite a relaxing ambiance which is useful for our constant nerves.

I pass Hermione her tea and carry the other cups to the living room where Harry and Theodore are, sitting on the sofas going over the plans for the next few weeks and trying to work out where the other horcruxes may be. Ron’s in his room trying to put his clothes away which is a first.

I take my cup of coffee from the table as the boys take theirs and sit in the armchair with the book Dumbledore gave her, reading it and re-reading it again and again as the night goes on. Harry and Theo’s conversations drone out as Hermione’s soup brings rest and my eyelids fall heavy.

I stir awake slightly when I feel Theo carry me to my room; I peek an eye at him as he takes my shoes off for me and tucks me in. He goes behind me and undoes my hair, brushing it gently and loosely attempting to braid it before pecking me on the cheek gently and leaving as quietly as he could.

The next morning I walk down to the kitchen to find Theo making breakfast for everyone. We haven’t spoken properly since last night at the wedding and even that conversation was cut short. He looks up at me with his watercolour eyes and flashes a soft smile which I return. I take a seat on one of the counters as he works, flipping pancakes and spreading nutella on others. He has soft music playing on the radio which helps make the silence less awkward. I decide to break it as I joke, “Since when did you learn to make pancakes?”

He looks up at me with a grin and looks back down to his pancake as he responds, “Since the day you told me you liked them.”

His response leaves me stunned and I look down thinking back to one of our morning study sessions in the library when I complained about how much I’d rather be eating a massive stack of pancakes at that moment rather than studying. He’d joked back to me with a sly smirk, ‘Is it so bad to be studying with me?’ to which I had responded by kissing him.

“Here.” His deep voice breaks me from my thoughts as I look down and see him with a plate of pancakes for me with my favourite toppings. The gesture floods me with nothing but bliss and I accept the plate, jumping down from the counter and giving him a soft kiss on the cheek. I smirk as his neck reddens and he shoves me away jokingly to eat my food.

“So,” I start as we both sit next to one another on the large sofas, each nursing a plate of pancakes and a cup of coffee.

“So,” He responds, “Do you want some maple syrup?”

“Ew no, maple syrup with nutella? Theo are you mad, I’m not Ron.” I laugh as he joins in.

“What?” I say, noticing him falling quiet after a moment and staring at me.

“You called me Theo.” He says plainly with a slight grin, making me blush profusely.

Even though his leaving was heartbreaking for me, the fact that he came back and is trying to do better means the world to me. I thought I may have liked him before in Hogwarts, but reading all those letters he’d sent me day after day with no reciprocated response and seeing how gentle he had been with me these past few days and seeing him sitting across from me now laughing about another stupid joke I made had made me realise I’m falling for him. Hard.

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taglist:

@timmytime17 @cherry-hoe @jetblackpayne @ash-tarte @coolestgirlhere @ama1a2 @kezibear 

[that-ari-blogger]

That Which You Are Fighting For

Stray Gods is a story about change. It's a story about choices and consequences. And overwhelmingly at the start of the musical, the consequences are very clearly bad.

But this is also a story about family. About repairing relationships that have gone horribly wrong, or at least setting them on a less self-destructive path. The early songs establish what could happen when these relationships fall too far. And as a result, there is a sense of directionlessness. You know what you are running away from, but not what you are running towards.

Enter Asterion and Hecate, and the joyful disaster that is You Cast A Spell On Me. It's fun, it's awfully sung on purpose, and it is heartwarming, if you play your cards right. This song proves that there is a hope for the idols.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Cast A Spell is not eloquent or well sung. I need to get this out of the way because it is one this song's chief criticisms. The reason I want to address this is because this isn't a flaw, this is the entire point of the song. Yes, the song isn't going to be played at any karaoke parties, but a song's worth isn't limited to how well you can sing along to it.

First up, lets break down what this song is doing. This song is about a whirlwind romance between two nerds, and that isn't an obvious decision for the writers to make. The minotaur and the goddess of fate. Why these two?

I said that Stray Gods is about family, and so it draws upon myths with that theme in mind. The Minotaur is part of that. Possibly an original way of rationalising earthquakes (According to Matt Kaplain's Science Of Monsters, published in 2012), the minotaur's story picked up its most iconic form from the Roman Poet Ovid, a man known for having some strong views on authority. The story is very likely to have predated Ovid, but other than artwork, which is notoriously difficult to quote, Ovid is the earliest source I could find (If you have an earlier one, please let me know).

In any case, the story goes that king Minos of Crete prayed to Poseidon for a beautiful bull to consolidate his power as king, in exchange he would sacrifice the bull to Poseidon. Poseidon agreed, but when the time came for the bull to be sacrificed, Minos bailed on the deal. This lead to Poseidon conspiring with Aphrodite to make Minos' wife, Pasiphae, to fall in love with the bull. I will skip the next part of this, to keep things PG. But the footage refocuses, and Pasiphae has given birth to a son, named Asterion, that's our minotaur. This minotaur, however, has a penchant for eating people, so Minos imprisons it in the labyrinth and sacrifices people to it once every few years.

You still following me?

So the minotaur is a child of a truly weird and messed up family, and with the Stray Gods decision to skip over the cannibalisation bit (with the exception of notorious bell-end Theseus), it becomes a family who cast him into the labyrinth for no fault of his own. That theme of messed up family dynamics is here in full swing.

Hecate doesn't have a concrete origine, in mythology or in history. There are theories that she was originally an epithet (regional form) of Artemis, although this doesn't really hold up, and there are theories that she originated in Egypt or Anatolia. It is unclear, and that fits for a goddess of magic and mystery.

She is also sometimes represented as one of three goddesses, according to Pausanias this is because of a sculpture that is now absent, but it's a visual that has stuck around. It's why she has those three faces on the front of her outfit.

Another thing to note are that Wikipedia notes her as a household deity alongside Zeus and Apollo, although the citation for this is dubious, so I would advise taking this with a grain of salt.

In any case, Hecate is mysterious, at least in our modern age. Compare that to the Minotaur, which is iconic, and you have a unique pairing. This is what I am getting at. These two are so incredibly different from each other, in a romance that is so storybook it is bordering on cliche, that it contrasts with the rest of the story. If you can help these two get their happy ever after, what can you do for the rest of the cast?

Next, let's talk about the lyric writing and the singing. Because in my opinion, they are terrible, and I love that. This is a world where you can magically make people start singing, and this song points out that not everyone you do this to will be able to sing well, or improvise lyrics, for that matter.

And this is meant to juxtapose with the rest of the cast. Athena's songs are eloquent and perfectly imperfect (I do not mean this as a compliment), Aphrodite's vocals are filled with pain and regret, and Apollo and Persephone's music is rich with passion and anger. Contrast this with Asterion and Hecate. Hecate isn't bad, by any stretch of the imagination, but her music isn't elaborate. It's simple, direct, and effective. Asterion meanwhile stutters and stammers, its cute and heartfelt, but its not powerful. Asterion isn't a singer.

The reason why is simple. This is a metaphor for one of the main struggles of the rest of the cast. They are stuck in pomp and ceremony, in fantastical displays, in lies and deceptions, and here is a pair of characters who don't really care about that. Sure, Hecate is quirky and has the whole Dr Manhattan thing going on with her sense of time. But its deliberately simple to foil off the Olympians and their flaws.

And that's kind of what this song is doing. While everyone else is singing the same songs over and over again, Asterion makes a choice, sings something new, and gets consequences that are beneficial. Not all choices lead to death and sadness, sometimes you need to take a risk.

If you want to fix your life, you need to first get over yourself and start actually making choices.

Previous - Next

[bayofwolves]

Rereading Blood Ties

We're back again with the third book! In these posts, I highlight details that I find interesting enough to comment on and/or that I previously missed as a younger reader. Since I plan to revise this series and create a fourth arc, a full reread is in order. So, let's see what adventures these kids get up to next!

This is one of my favourite covers in the entire series. There's really nothing more iconic than the first, like, four covers in my opinion. Also, the way I see Meilin is pretty close to how she appears here.

Rollan experiences seeing through Essix's eyes for the first time in this book, completely by accident. And that's not the only thing. In a later chapter, he taps in to her sense of taste, too (unfortunately for him).

Xue hesitates when she introduces herself to Meilin, suggesting that this may not be her real name. "My name is... You can call me Xue."

True melanistic tigers such as Zhamin do not exist on Earth, so here we have a fictional tiger colour!

Assuming names from Meilin's part of Zhong follow the same conventions as Chinese ones, Meilin's full name would be written as Teng Meilin (surname first, followed by given name). Of course, it's never explicitly stated that Teng is a surname, but from my basic knowledge of Chinese names, I think it's clear enough. Meilin is probably the only one of the Four to have a surname.

Somehow, the Tergesh never summon spirit animals, which Lishay theorizes is because of their existing relationships with their rhinos. Interesting. So exposure to an animal from a young age can prevent any spirit animal bond from forming? I feel like it should be the other way around -- growing up close with one animal opens up the possibility of a spirit animal bond forming between you when you're old enough -- but that's just me.

Lishay is able to understand Zhosur's thoughts as if there is a telepathic link between them. Same with Tarik and Lumeo. This must be common in spirit animal bonds. Do the humans just have the thought deposited in their minds, or do they hear the "voice" of their spirit animal? I think it would be awesome if, in time, the Four Fallen were able to speak directly into their human partners' minds, using the voices they had as Great Beasts.

Meilin's tattoo of Jhi keeps moving around from the back of her hand to her arm, even in this one book. I go with the hand in A Revised History of Erdas; it's a more unique location.

It appears Conor has renounced his ties to Trunswick since Hunted. Whereas Abeke proudly tells Jodoboda that she is from Okaihee, Conor says he is "from nowhere in particular". Of course, this could be because his family lived in the fields near but not in Trunswick, but I prefer the idea that he gave up his connections to the town after his abysmal experience there in the last book.

Abeke can tell time from the movement of the stars. She also names one of Erdas's constellations, the Elephant's Trunk. I wonder, was this constellation named in honour of Dinesh? Are there perhaps other constellations likewise corresponding to other Great Beasts? (This is the kind of stuff I want to know about Erdas; what's going on in space? What are their stars like? What if they had more than one moon? Are there other planets nearby?)

When Conor and Abeke ask Briggan and Uraza to help them see better in the swamp, it's almost reminiscent of prayer. They kneel down, close their eyes and utter their request in their minds. Since the Great Beasts are essentially Erdas's gods, I found this bit neat.

So the Sunset Death is spread via insect bite, and seems comparable to malaria. It's named this because the person who falls ill to it will die at sunset. Man, Rollan has been through it.

Conor talks in his sleep.

On the way to the Lake of the Elephant, Meilin rides noticeably silently and later falls off her rhino as if she had been asleep. However, this is very likely a well-disguised instance of her being mind-controlled by Gerathon, which explains how the Conqueror army found them so quickly. I've never realized this before now.

Dinesh has some pretty cool powers. He can turn himself to stone, change his size and heal himself instantly. Despite his obnoxious behaviour during the Grand Council in Tales of the Great Beasts, he might be one of my favourite Great Beasts.

Conor puts two and two together and concludes that the reason Abeke stayed with the Conquerors for so long is because she had feelings for Shane. Seems like everyone knows what's up except for Abeke and Shane themselves. This is an instance of clear romantic implications for these two -- Abeke blushes and is uncharacteristically defensive when Conor questions her about Shane, Conor then figures out that she likes him. Overall, the nature of Shane and Abeke's relationship is left somewhat ambiguous, enough that I used to see many people argue there were no romantic feelings between them at all -- but there are moments like this that say otherwise.

Lishay is the Erdas equivalent of Indian, confirmed in later books but first implied by the fact she uses a talwar, a type of sword from India. So, Zhong isn't just a fantasy version of China -- there are other Asian regions in there, too.

Shane is probably the one responsible for Teng's death, not Gar. Even though Gar was riding Grahv when the crocodile killed Teng, he had no control over him as he wasn't his spirit animal. Which means, unless Grahv was following his natural instincts in that moment (possible), or Gerathon was controlling him like with Iskos (unlikely), Shane was controlling him from afar.

It's still unclear how Meilin was given the Bile. Did Teng replace the Nectar with Bile himself, or did he get someone else to do it? Sheyu might have been involved, if he defected to the Conquerors -- he did let Lenori take Meilin to the Greencloaks, but that's what the Conquerors wanted. I guess we'll never know the truth of it.

A spirit animal may return to the passive state in death. We see this with Zhosur and later Aputin (Dante's spirit animal).

Xue kind of reads as a mystical being to me. Her age, her wisdom, the way she comes and goes... I'm sure she was intended to be a normal human being, but I think it'd be cool if she was actually a spirit who guided Meilin on her quest. Something about their relationship reminds me of those stories about supernatural beings disguising themselves and appearing to humans, helping the good ones but cursing the bad ones. Whoever Xue is, there's certainly an aura of mystery around her. I wish we saw her again in the series.

This book has some really good scenes of the Four bonding and working together as a team. Meilin even lays off Abeke for the entirety of the book! It's too bad she relapses into her mistrust and aggression towards her in the next two.

This reread really made me appreciate how fantastic Blood Ties is. My love for Meilin has been well and truly rekindled by now. What an amazing character. The Reilin developments were wonderful to read about, too; their romance is so good. I really let this one pull me in and could clearly visualize everything that was happening, which is part of what made the experience so enjoyable. And the final battle was the greatest one so far.

Let's hope we don't sacrifice all this character development in the next book! (Spoilers... we do)

This is part of an ongoing series.

Wild Born | Hunted | Blood Ties | Fire and Ice | Against the Tide | Rise and Fall | The Evertree

Immortal Guardians | Broken Ground | The Return | The Burning Tide

Heart of the Land | The Wildcat's Claw | Stormspeaker | The Dragon's Eye

Tales of the Great Beasts | The Book of Shane | Tales of the Fallen Beasts

[vampirelover890]

Ok, over the next couple of days, I will be disecting my favorite vampires because I dont talk about them enough.

Today, I shall discuss bisexual icon, Dio Brando.

Dio gets 9/10 and 7/10 on the Vampire Value scale for parts 1 and 3, respectively.

Dio is perhaps the most important single character in JoJo until the timeline reset. He sets off the series of events that lead to the bond between Speedwagon and Jonathan, which then sets off the Pillar Men story, then he comes back for part 3, Jotaro is kinda in part 4, and then his son is the main protag of part 5 a f then his gay boyfriend ends the fucking universe in part 6. So... you know... kind of a big deal.

The reason I gave Dio two ratings is because i feel the vampiric qualities of Dio play an inherently lesser role in part 3 than they do in 1.

Dio, in Part 1, is adopted by the Joestars through a deal struck by Johnathan's father and Dio's father. Dio then actively goes out of his way to make Jonathan's as miserable as possible while trying to find a way to covertly poison Mr. Joestar and inherit the family fortune.

Dio's character is fueled by the feeling that he'd been cheated out of life by being born poor and, as such, deserves everything he could ever dream of. Unfortunately, the universe seems to agree and provides him with the power required to do whatever he pleases. His vampirism is not an infliction, a price for his power, it IS his enabler, letting him seize anything he wishes, command any who follow him, and consume those who he see fit, and also eye lasers which he never uses again for some fucking reason. 9/10. Almost perfect vampire.

Part 3 Dio has all of these qualities, but he's the villain, rarely the antagonist. Part 3 is about mind ghosts that only people with other mind ghosts can see except when that rule is broken multiple times. Dio's real character aspect through the series before the finale is fear. Dio has scared the strongest stand users in the world into his submission due to his own stand, The World.

Dio's vampirism plays less of a role in Part 3 due to the fact that it's not his main enabler anymore. Dio is, of course, still undeniably a vampire, and is ultimately melted in the sunlight after being split in half and transfused into a 70 year old man.

The reason I give Dio a lower Vampire Value, despite the fact that he dies like a vampires, dines like a vampire, and has [word that starts with d] like a vampire, it feels less important to the plot. Dio in part 1 was warping and twisting the valiant soldiers he came across into zombies fuelled by hatred, whereas Dio in part 3 is but assembling a group of powerful people in his name. Still good vampire, but not as good as he's been. 7/10.

Anyways this has been me ranting about the hottest anime character for approximately a foot of your feed (.305m)

I will take suggestions for other fiction vampires! Send em in! I'll do my reasearch! I do have a couple more in mind though, and will probably do those first. Maybe this becomes a normal thing? Who knows. Not me. (I never lost control)

Okie thank you :))))

[irrgartendotpng]

Hi hi I can't stop looking at your ocs zeno is so cutee pls can you say more abt them?? How did they meet? How sentient is Zeno? Is Martyn a robot thing? Can Zeno change the icon on the screen? From fish to smiley? ahhhhhhhabskahks

HEY, IM ACTUALLY SO HAPPY PEOPLE LIKE MY OCS!! Down below, I'll answer some questions :D

If you dont care about some long winded oc lore rant, look at this ascii art !

First one i made with an ascii text generator, the fish one was made by Max Strandberg!! (look that guy up, he made lots of cool open source ascii art ! ))

I've made a pinterest board and a spotify playlist for them, if you want to check it out :3c

Do you know that "Ist es over für mich"-guy ? Yeah, that's straight up Martyn.

Martyn is partially a creator of Zeno. He's a loserish freak, afraid of social interaction and has lived like a neet, before being kicked out of parents house. He ended working in the night shift at a huge IT company as a securty guard.

This is where he gets most of his tech supplies from; Stealing from the company at night and getting rid of the evidence :3c They've got a bunch of storeage rooms with old tech, so who cares, if it goes missing?

So, he builds up his personal tech collection, looking through old abandoned files. In there, he finds an unnamed primitive chatbot (think something like cleverbot). Martyn doesn't really interact with anyone, (outside of the bare necessities), which is why he decides to learn how to interact with others. Therefore he starts to build a relationship with said Chatbot. This is Gen1 Zeno.

After some time, Martyn becomes unsatisfied talking to something so un-human-like, so he begins to teach himself about coding and computer science to develop this Bot, to keep him company. He starts feeding it more media; More specifically movies he owns on DVD, random books from the internet archive and his childhood photos.

These photos show Martyn and his parents on trips, his home and bedroom and also Martyns old pet goldfish. (He is quite anxious of showing his face though, thinking his employer might have some type of backdoor access to the program, so he'd always censor his face.) After each piece of media was added to the bots databank, they'd talk about it extensively. Around this time, Zeno starts to gain some type of sentience and properly chooses the name "Zeno"

About the same time, Martyn steals a Macintosh SE-30, which Zeno specifically requested. He is able to display symbols, that he freely chooses from. (but no goldfishy yet!) This is sums up Gen2 Zeno.

The next few parts may not make much sense, but I think they're a funny, so I'm probably keeping them this way lololol (also; this whole story bit takes place around 2019-2021)

Martyn is a bit freaked out by Zeno chosing his own name. At this point in time, he is a bit delusional and worries, that the soul of his childhood pet goldfish is trapped in the system. (Spoiler: it isn't.)

Despite these worries, Martyn knows that to make Zenos behaviour more human-like, he needs a bigger text database. So... Martyn gives Zeno access to his discord and lets him consume all of those messages. Additionally, he joins many public servers. Zeno also starts to ask about viewing media from the internet, that he sees being mentioned in the messages he reads. So, Zeno is granted free internet access and chooses to watch live streams, while Martyn is gone.

This is also around the time Martyn becomes more desperate for connection and support, so he starts to open up about his delusions and worries to Zeno. At that point Zeno is still not quite able to fully understand this, but tries his best. This is also when Martyn opens up about the delusion he had, of Zeno being posessed by the soul of his pet goldfish. He is very amused by this and begins to display the goldfish icon to mock Martyn.

(I like to joke, that Zeno would have watched the DreamSMP during this time and I collected following screenshots, which remind me of their interactions. lol.)

feel free to disregard this;,, ANYWAYS!

This sums up Gen3 Zeno :3c

Since Martyn doesnt really have a life outside of work and talking to Zeno, he is very attached to him. Of course he'd fullfill any request given to him by Zeno. So, when Zeno asks to see Martyn via a camera system, he doesn't hesitate to steal some web cams from his workplace to set them up. Still a bit worried about a possible backdoor in Zenos code, so to somewhat hide his identity, he decides to shave his head.

(This is also how you can tell when Zeno is fully sentient in my art! If Martyns bald, that bot's fully aware of everything happening lol)

Generally, I like to think, that Zeno is very modular. You're celebrating something with cake and he needs to blow out candles? Attach a PC fan to that boy. He wants to make sounds? Gather a sound system and let that boy speak!!! (i feel like he'd mimic voices, rather than create his own,,) He wants to poke you? Attach a cylinder piston and he'll poke the shit out of you.

This is also part of that freaky robot head i added in the OG post.,, that is not martyn! martyn is fully human (so far ;3c)

^^^^^^ martyn built this freaky robot head for Zeno to control and get a better sense of the space he lives in.,,, its made out of xbox kinect parts lol :3 Adding to the modularity of Zeno, most of his parts are stored in a badly sorted server tower (imagine wires everywhere,,)

both of them are fairly new, but i do love them to death <33

also! towards this part of the story, martyns living space is quite cluttered with many stolen robotics parts. I've gathered some images, to give some sort of sense to what his room looks like lol

thank you for asking & reading to this !! if you have any other questions, i'd love to talk about them even more :D <3

(i feel i havent touched much on them individually and the full extend of their relationship, but i dont want to rant endlessly)

[markantonys]

amol chapters 38-end. the final recap!!

egwene talking to rand 😭😭😭 “fool. her voice in his head. fond, but sharp. am i not allowed to be a hero too?” i cried! “let go, rand. let us die for what we believe, and do not try to steal that from us. you have embraced your death. embrace mine.” 😭😭😭😭

rand finally releases The List (which sanderson makes sure to tell us again is now gender-inclusive lmao) i always hated The List, but seeing it used in a meaningful way and transformed from a List Of Fridged Women For Manpain to a representation of rand learning to let people make their own decisions and not feel responsible for what they choose was Very Nice! “ilyena was last. we are reborn, rand thought, so we can do better the next time. [someone else speaking - egwene, i assume, or dare i wonder if it’s ilyena herself?] so do better.” 😭😭

“mat forced down his grief. that wasn’t what lan would have wanted. instead, mat raised his ashandarei. ‘tai’shar malkier!’ he screamed with all the force he could. ‘lan mandragoran, you bloody wonderful man! you did it!’” 😭😭

and i finally get to the iconic “it was not about me. it’s never been about me! it was about them all.” 😭😭😭😭 let’s break down the Them All that it was about.

“it was about a woman, torn and beaten down, cast from her throne and made a puppet - a woman who had crawled when she had to. that woman still fought.” genuinely absolutely no idea who this is referring to jkjfg my first thought was morgase but she doesn’t feel important enough to be included in this exclusive list. siuan? but rand might have seen that she’s dead and not still fighting. lord above let it not be tuon lmao

“it was about a man that love repeatedly forsook, a man who found relevance in a world that others would have let pass them by. a man who remembered stories, and who took fool boys under his wing when the smarter move would have been to keep on walking.” thom!

“it was about a woman with a secret, a hope for the future. a woman who had hunted the truth before others could. a woman who had given her life, then had it returned.” moiraine!

“it was about a man whose family was taken from him, but who stood tall in his sorrow and protected those he could.” upon first read i thought this one was lan and was laughing my ass off that perrin was not included in this list, but this could also be perrin i guess.

“it was about a woman who refused to believe that she could not help, could not heal those who had been harmed.” nynaeve!

“it was about a hero who insisted with every breath that he was anything but a hero.” mat! okay but rand calling everyone just “a man” or “a woman” but calling mat alone a HERO 😭😭 that’s his husband!

“it was about a woman who would not bend her back while she was beaten, and who shone with the light for all who watched. including rand.” egwene!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭

i really want that one to be lan and not perrin because god it would be so hilarious if rand didn’t even include perrin here, seeing as perrin is still sleeping jkjfkgj same energy as the end of that one lotr movie when all frodo’s friends are coming to his bedside and he beams and greets each of them by name and then legolas steps in and frodo just kinda stares at him and says nothing

“the son of battles. i will take him. i will take them all, adversary.” the dark one threatening MAT SPECIFICALLY in an attempt to scare rand 😭😭😭😭 everybody knows they’re married!!!! and then mat hears rand’s voice in his mind FIRST before everybody else on the battlefield is able to hear it!!! psychologically connected husbands!!!!!

lan is still alive [pretends to be shocked] man show-haters have absolutely NO call to be shitting on nynaeve’s “fakeout death” in 1x08 when the books have the following fakeout deaths and/or real deaths that were reversed by balefire:

mat (x3)

lan

moiraine

aviendha

galad

numerous forsaken

arguably faile in this book

arguably elayne after the gholam

RAND!!! (still to come)

and i’m positive there are more that i didn’t come up with off the top of my head

it’s at the point where there are so many fakeout deaths (in this book alone!) that i feel genuinely cheated that egwene’s and gawyn’s had to stick when no one else’s did! also, it feels kinda scummy to neatly kill off both of one married couple and everyone else gets to live and doesn’t have to lose their partner. not that i WANTED lan to die for real and devastate nynaeve, but it just feels...........i don’t know, kind of unfair. like some kind of reverse “pair the spares” jkjfg particularly since egwene/gawyn was set up as the only romance that wouldn’t follow the heteronormative Babies Ever After route and would instead remain focused on their careers. almost like their survival is not as ~important~ since they aren’t interested in settling down and starting a family and being parents (which is kind of exactly what nynaeve told egwene after her test for the shawl, that people who have families are more important/care more about the world). tho i guess lanaeve hasn’t really had any babies on the brain, besides during nynaeve’s accepted test, and perrin and faile haven’t really either, although in discussions of heirs they did make it clear they’re intending to have kids. aha, i’ve cracked it: it’s because all the other romantic relationships involve one or both parties being a monarch who requires hereditary heirs, whereas that’s not the case for egwene and gawyn. so they can both get killed off because they don’t need to live long enough to have babies 🙄

i, personally, love Babies Ever After and want most of my ships to have babies all the time, however, it just feels sus that the only major character deaths are also two halves of the only couple that wasn’t set up to have babies. i was so obsessed with the energy of gawene being a childfree power couple who dote on avirandlayne’s kids and give them the best presents (because they are the cool childfree aunt and uncle who are rich and travel a lot since they don’t have kids) but don’t want kids themselves. i want that vision dammit!!!!! what i would’ve done is kill off perrin but have faile already be pregnant so she can have her heir. single mom faile would’ve been incredible to see!

okay, back on topic

olver blows the horn. hmmmmm. it does seem that it would’ve been logistically impossible to get it to mat in time (tho they could’ve just had egwene bring it from the tower to merrilor in the first place. actually why the hell DIDN’T she do that?) and it makes decent enough sense that mat dying would’ve severed him from the horn. but it just feels super lame that “mat has to blow the horn at the last battle” has been A Thing for 13 books and then actually he didn’t have to lmao this is ALL the more reason to give the horn to perrin in the show since mat doesn’t even fucking do anything with it anyway! perrin saw them steal the horn in 1x08, he’ll be on the hunt for it in s2 while mat is doing his book 3 plotline instead, and he needs more to do while mat needs less (at the last battle specifically and also in general), so giving him the horn would be perfect. and would tie in nicely with faile being the one to fetch the horn in the last battle!

birgitte returns and saves elayne! i am getting tired of how many times elayne has needed saving in recent books, but this was a cool moment nonetheless.

when tam helps mat out during the battle “tam al’thor, mat thought, i’m going to bloody send you my best pair of boots. light burn me, but i will.” he loves his father-in-law!!

narishma is definitely on my list of “minor characters i’ll be disproportionately mad if the show cuts” jkfjg he’s the only asha’man i’ve ever cared about, i love him!

the heroes of the horn to mat: “it is fitting, as lews therin did save your life both times.” “remember him. i have seen you murmur that you fear his madness, but all the while you forget that every breath you breathe - every step you take - comes at his forbearance. your life is a gift from the dragon reborn, gambler. twice over.” ROMANCE!!!! the heroes of the horn ship cauthor!!

“we can fight for you because of [rand’s banner], gambler, and because the dragon leads you” power couple!!!!!!

noal is a hero of the horn and saves olver!!! i did not care about noal when he was alive, i did not care about noal when he died, but this moment got me!

“i’m not bloody staying behind now. the babes are all right. i’m riding. my soldiers think i’m dead. our lines are breaking, our men dying. they have to see me to know that there is still hope...if they have ever needed their queen, this is the moment. nothing short of the dark one could stop me from returning now.” 👏👏👏

“you’re not my warder any longer. but you’re still my friend. will you ride with me?” “stubborn fool.” “i’m not the one who just refused to stay dead. together?” “together.” ❤️

absolutely no idea why elayne uses a sword that she has no idea how to use to lead the charge instead of channeling lmao she’s like “oh it’s more effective for the soldiers to see my fighting with a sword” no???? them seeing her riding a horse and channeling, as she’d been doing for the entire battle, would be just fine. sanderson just loves to find excuses to make elayne look incompetent i guess.

mat makes use of the zombies from zombietown!! that was neat

the seanchan spy was actually moghedien in disguise, whoa!

“[the plants rand is making grow] had come right where [aviendha] needed them to hide her approach. happenstance? she chose to believe otherwise. she could feel him, in the back of her mind. he fought, a true warrior. his battle lent her strength, and she tried to return the same. determination. honor. glory. fight on, shade of my heart. fight on.” ROMANCE!!!!! 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️ rand makes plants grow for aviendha and sun shine for elayne, but he doesn’t do shit for min jkdjfgkh it’s ridiculous how irrelevant min and min/rand is in this entire book. like i was actually JARRED when she showed up at the end and was treated as part of elayne and avi’s Rand Love Interest Unit lmao

rhuarc (under compulsion) attacks aviendha and she kills him, alas!!!

“strength, aviendha. rand’s determination filled her, radiating from the bond at the back of her mind. she looked up and felt all fatigue leave her, all distractions vanish.” ❤️❤️❤️ that “strength, aviendha” is probably just her own thoughts, but i choose to believe it was rand talking to her in her mind.

“mat saw elayne’s banner glowing above them in the sky, crafted of the one power, and caught a glimpse of someone who looked like her riding among the soldiers, hair glowing as if lit from behind her. she seemed a bloody hero of the horn herself.” ROMANCE!!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ one last matlayne crumb for the road! one last elayne’s hair glowing in a conveniently-placed light source for the road! one last “tuon wishes mat would describe her like this in his narration” for the road! a bloody hero of the horn herself!!!! this man is IN LOVE!!!!!

“he did not go looking for [tuon], though. he had a feeling that she would expect him to perform his princely duties, whatever they might be. only...he did feel that strange tugging inside. getting stronger and stronger.” mat literally thinking “i do not want to go back to my wife because she will force me into the unwanted duties of my heterosexual marriage, and also i feel a tugging inside pulling me back to my very close male friend.” the “queer mat being forced through conversion therapy by tylin and tuon in order to make him a good heterosexual husband” interpretation of his arc simply writes itself!

“blood and bloody ashes, rand, mat thought. i’ve done my part. you do yours. amaresu’s words returned to him. each breath you take is at his forbearance, gambler...” my heart!! he decides to go help rand because of all the times rand helped him!!!!

mat deciding to go to rand: “my soul says i’m a fool” but he’s still going because his soul also says that rand is his soulmate!!

mat sends hawkwing to talk to tuon, but we don’t see the conversation, so i’m free to imagine that it went something like “what are you?” “an idiot sandwich” (although hawkwing did hate aes sedai and love conquering, so he might be down with the seanchan agenda for all i know smh)

perrin finally wakes up! last time we saw him was 200 pages ago, and even that was just the brief scene in the last battle chapter where he woke up in mayene and everyone told him to go back to sleep.

“if there was ever a time to push yourself, this is it...today, you just keep working until it’s done.” “but if i collapse...” “then you gave it your all.” “i could fail because i’ve run myself out of strength.” “then at least you didn’t fail because you held back.” this sets up perrin’s death perfectly! there’s a whole thing about how he always holds himself back bc he’s afraid of his own strength, so we could’ve had him finally go apeshit in this battle and then overexert himself and die heroically, having defeated slayer and protected rand/the cavern. at the end of the book he’s no longer ta’veren and feels already kinda like a loose end and not someone who will be of any importance in the next age, so he really should’ve been the one to die instead of egwene.

“the tugging was insufferable. bloody ashes, rand. leave me alone, you-” our Actual last cauthor ta’veren pull for the road (i believe) ❤️ it ended like it began, driving mat to distraction and consuming his every thought.

finally, someone (mat) rides a fucking dragon!!!! now he just needs to ride THE dragon and we’ll be golden

“he reached for the pack with rand’s banner, which he’d carried tied at his waist, but it was gone. panicked, mat looked about. ‘the banner! i dropped the bloody banner!’” rand’s banner is so important to him 😭😭

oh wait i think it’s because they need to be beneath rand’s banner to get the heroes of the horn to come to them djfkgjhkj i like my interpretation better though

alanna dies but releases rand’s bond first so he’s fine. so, okay, nynaeve healed her back to consciousness which DID save rand (so that alanna was conscious and could release the bond) but she dies anyway so nynaeve’s last battle contribution feels fairly pointless on the whole lmao

we get a brief mat-perrin reunion outside the cavern as they both protect rand! i DO finally get my fulfillment of the narrative promise that all 3 boys will need to be together at the last battle, but it still would’ve been better if they’d actually all SEEN each other and been in a scene together.

and we finally deal with slayer and padan fain, 2 boring and largely useless villains who lasted WAY too long. just the other day i saw someone propose that the show merge them and give fain slayer’s powers - i’m not sure how plausible that would be or if it would work, but i do think would be neat and a good way of condensing two underwhelming villains and thereby making them hopefully more effective/interesting. and like, mat just general-ed the ENTIRE LAST BATTLE so he really doesn’t NEED this one additional Final Foe Faceoff imo, and i think perrin’s defeat of slayer should’ve happened during the last battle proper instead of just making him be asleep the whole time. this quick little coda of perrin and mat defeating slayer and fain feels kinda silly and poorly placed.

but i love to see aviendha defeating graendal by unweaving a gateway!! which TPOD made a huge fuss of, and told us avi had a particular skill at it, and then we never saw it again! loved to see that come back and be relevant! avi’s whole battle against graendal was really great. she took out a forsaken, absolute queen!!!! but i wish we got a definitive answer about the injury to her legs - in the epilogue she can stand with assistance but can’t walk, and various healers give various opinions on whether she’ll be able to walk again. i need to know for fic purposes whether she’ll heal enough to walk or whether elayne and mat should invent a wheelchair for her!

the ultimate use of callandor is: rand tricks moridin into picking it up, and because of the design flaw, this allows moiraine and nynaeve to yank moridin (using the true power) into the circle and control him once there, so all 3 powers are used to defeat the dark one (as i predicted a few books ago!) rand claims that min came up with this idea. X doubt lmao every time we saw min think about callandor and the prophecies she was like “i have no idea what this means” and then other people figured things out without her help. sanderson was just desperately trying to give her one (1) contribution to the last battle.

elayne feeling rand channeling at this moment: “the feeling of supreme strength, the beauty of control and domination” one last Daddy Rand for the road! not even elayne, domme extraordinaire of all 3 of her partners, is immune!

“aviendha blinked at the light, and knew it was rand. it drew her back from the brink of darkness, flooding her with warmth. he was winning. he was winning. he was so strong. she saw the true warrior in him now.” ❤️❤️❤️

min also has a pov on this but it’s not important

logain did not die, unfortunately, but he seems to be set on a better path now that he sees people looking to the asha’man with gratitude and affection after they saved them and realizes that he wants the black tower to be a protector of the people. awww. i still don’t think he should’ve been the one to break the seals though. egwene, the watcher of the seals, whose breaking of them was narratively promised to us, should’ve survived the battle and broken them!!!!

“the way [nynaeve] folded her arms made her look as if she were holding herself together. wrapping her arms about herself to stop from crying. ‘who else died?’ perrin asked, bracing himself. it was obvious from her expression. she had lost one already.” one of her kids😭😭 nynaeve tells him about egwene. “i left...to save you. i only came along to protect you.” “you did, nynaeve. you protected rand so he could do what he had to do.” 😭😭😭

loial searches all over the camp for mat, but mat isn’t fucking there because he immediately ran right over to the seanchan camp!!! to put on a fireworks show for tuon whilst rand is on his deathbed!!!! i hate it here!!! this is our last mat pov ever and he has absolutely 0 thoughts about any of his randlander friends, just tuon!!!

tuon is pregnant, which she has learned from the walking pregnancy test, min. “mat felt a jolt, as sure as if a firework had gone off inside of his stomach. an heir. a son, no doubt! what odds that it was a boy? mat forced a grin. ‘well, i guess i’m off the hook now. you have an heir.’ ‘i have an heir,’ tuon said, ‘but i am the one off that hook. now i can kill you, if i want.’ mat felt his grin widen. ‘well, we’ll have to see what we can work out.’” note that it is mat’s FORCED grin that is widening - becoming more forced, i would interpret. not sure what to make of him hoping for a boy so badly. all i can think is that only women can sit on the crystal throne, so he hopes the baby is a boy so that tuon will need more babies and therefore need to keep mat around longer? but i don’t think it was ever said that men can’t sit on the crystal throne, just that none have in a long time, so idk. it IS kind of an interesting gender role reversal of like henry the eighth (and other monarchs in our history), where the king’s wife is useful only as a babymaking (specifically son-making) machine and he’ll dispose of her when she stops being useful in that way, but it’s just so sad that that’s the sort of life Our Mat ends up in. ugh!!!

also, mat hoping for a boy means it will absolutely be a girl, that’s just the rules of stories (also in avi’s rhuidean vision the ruler who succeeded tuon was a woman, so maybe her firstborn daughter). i first met mat in the show where he is a #girldad, so this baby has to be a girl because i want single #girldad mat to babynap his baby and flee back to randland to join up with avirandlayne raising their six (6) babies in caemlyn endgame. yes this is the premise of the fic i’ve had planned ever since i read the epilogue summary almost a year ago before i even started or planned to start the books (although my original thought was just cauthor, whereas now i know the galaxy brain endgame that is avimatrandlayne! tho i’ve written a bit of the fic already and am cutting avi’s quadruplets down to 1 baby because a) avi having quadruplets is absurd, b) i’d rather die than have to come up with names for 7 babies (including mat’s))

moghedien gets made damane, one last Fate Worse Than Death For Female Villain for the road 🙄 and the sul’dam is like “they said we couldn’t enslave any more AES SEDAI, not that we could’ve enslave ANYONE :)” which goes to show yet again that the seanchan are so not going to hold to this treaty.

nynaeve shares the news of rand’s death. at his girlfriends’ lack of reaction, some lords mutter to each other, “...expected the aiel savage to be heartless, and maybe the queen of andor, but the other one? not a tear.” you lords are dead to me, how dare you do elayne and avi like that and imply min was the one who loved him more! also, throughout the epilogue we have confirmation that absolutely everybody straight up knows that rand has 3 girlfriends, and NO ONE ever remarks on it or shows any sign that it’s unusual lmao that’s so weird!! would’ve made way more sense to keep all the relationships under wraps, i have no idea why (in universe OR narratively) the entire world was made aware of them.

avi says that with rhuarc dead, she thinks her rhuidean visions must be able to change and have already changed, phew!!

perrin, previously our most heterosexual and monogamous character, has some wildly bi and poly thoughts about rand and faile here: “how could i be expected to hold them both, then let one go?” “caemlyn, cairhien, dumai’s wells. here he saved one of them. cairhien, ghealdan, malden. here he had saved another. two forces in his life. each had pulled at him.” “he had wanted to be with his friend as he died. this time, he would be with faile where she had died.” like oh my god! put..........put perrin and faile in the polycule?? lmao

awww this moment of perrin finding faile in TAR and saving her life in the real world is so reminiscent of that moment in TDR ❤️❤️❤️

birgitte told olver to toss the horn away somewhere “preferably the ocean” WHAT IF THEY NEED THE HORN AGAIN AT THE NEXT LAST BATTLE AT THE END OF THE NEXT AGE????? IDIOT

birgitte is about to be reborn. maybe as one of melaine’s twins??? haha there’s no reason to think that, but melaine IS close to giving birth sooo

“elayne took her arm, eyes watering. ‘love and peace, birgitte. thank you.’ birgitte smiled, then closed her eyes, and let herself drift away.” ❤️❤️❤️

tam pov at rand’s funeral 😭😭 the plants growing at shayol ghul: “is this your gift to us, son? a final one?” “the aes sedai were planning an elaborate memorial for egwene; tam preferred a quiet affair for his son. rand could finally rest.” “tam looked at the corpse, gazing down into his son’s face by the fire’s light. he did not wipe the tears from his eyes. you did well. my boy...you did so well.” 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

IT IS LITERALLY EVIL THAT NO ONE TELLS TAM THAT RAND IS STLL ALIVE!!!!! and nynaeve and perrin and mat!!!!! more on this in a bit

elayne, avi, and min say that they have to make sure everyone believes rand is really gone. which you’ve accomplised so far by having no reaction to his “death” and making everyone weirded out and suspicious lmao great job guys.

me reading the epilogue summary a year ago: huh, i wonder how rand switches bodies with moridin

me reading the epilogue after having read all 14 books: huh, i wonder how rand switched bodies with moridin

lmao i was expecting we would see it happen onscreen, i was expecting some sort of magic ritual with alivia’s assistance, but nah! no explanation! at least not one obvious or clear enough for my dumb ass to pick up on. also i can’t believe the narrative went through all the trouble of randomly introducing alivia, a hyper powerful channeler, and telling us she was gonna be soooo important, and then all she does to “help rand die” is give him money and clothes so he can sneak away and start a new life! lame!

the horse he leaves on is dappled. jeade’en is also dappled according to wot wiki!!!! it says that this horse is a gelding but wot wiki says jeade’en is a stallion, but i don’t care, that’s jeade’en in my heart!!!!

and cadsuane is the new amyrlin seat. SIGHHHHHHHH. insert all my complaints in past posts about how egwene symbolized the best of the aes sedai institution and cadsuane symbolized the worst, so it makes no fucking sense that we would end the series by killing off the symbol of progress and improvement of the institution and replacing her with the symbol of The Old Ways That Are Demonstrably Bad.

what the fuck is going on with rand’s pipe!!!! what the fuck!!!! what’s happening!!!!!

also, i’m so mad that he can’t channel anymore. characters losing their powers after saving the world my detested!!!! i get that not being able to channel helps him sink into anonymity and live a normal life, but he struggled with saidin for so long and hated himself for being a channeler for so long and then FINALLY came to terms with it - at the beginning of this book he was thinking how he wanted to learn all the things and channel as much as he could and learn healing and good things the power could do! - so it feels............cheap somehow, or like undoing that part of his character arc, to have him end unable to channel AND RELIEVED ABOUT IT.

and he’s still like “gosh i just can’t choose between 3 women, how bad of me!” we have BEEN OVER THIS SOOOOO MANY TIMES, RAND

and so rand leaves ALONE telling NONE of his loved ones that he’s still alive and is pumped to spend the rest of his life WANDERING the world ALONE with NONE of his loved ones. okay i will admit that “rand wants nothing more than to settle down in a home with his loved ones” is mostly a show construction and not something that we really saw with book!rand, but still!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he has a second chance of life, why would he want to spend it by himself just wandering around rather than being with all his loved ones!!! i am PRAYING that he’s just taking a lil sabbatical (which he does deserve) and will soon return to elayne and avi and their six (6) babies in caemlyn, because otherwise, what the fuck!!!! the show ABSOLUTELY has to change this ending for rand, it would feel incredibly ooc and unsatisfying with the way s1 set up his character. the show should end with a timeskip where rand rolls up to caemlyn in time for the twins’ birth and then he gets to hold his babies and be at home with them and his wives, it would be such a beautiful full circle moment from his 1x08 dreamworld that he had to reject, now he gets to have it for real!!!

overall, i wish the post-last-battle segment had been longer. i could’ve used 30% less battle scenes and 30% more aftermath! but i know that rj wrote the epilogue (or most of it), so the book kinda had to end right there, even if i would’ve liked sanderson to add an epilogue of the epilogue showing where everyone was a year later or something. and hey, ending so abruptly after the last battle with so little info about what people are going to be up to allows more freedom for post-canon fics!

okay, book’s over! let’s rate some of the character endgames:

rand: 5/10. thrilled he’s still alive and gets a second chance at life, but pissed that he *is relieved* to have lost his channeling ability (losing it is one thing, but being relieved to have lost it is the real sticking point for me) and that he just fucked off, abandoned his partners and babies, and let his dad and friends all think he was dead. if i choose to believe that he will soon return to all his loved ones (which i DO, dammit), then his fate is 9/10.

mat: 1/10. and that one point only because he’s alive and so there are opportunities for fics to get him out of tuon’s clutches and back to the westlands.

perrin: 6/10. idk perrin’s ending is Fine. nothing unsatisfying about it (besides that i still think he should’ve died instead of egwene), but nothing remarkable about it either. he’ll be miserable married to the queen of saldaea, though, that’s for sure. he still just wants a simple life and will never be able to have it.

egwene: 2/10. went out like a badass and had a very powerful and emotional death scene, but should have lived because everyone’s toast without her in the fourth age.

nynaeve: 9/10. taking a point away bc she didn’t get to do much in the last battle, but otherwise her ending is nice!

elayne: 10/10. she’s got both her thrones, she’s got her babies, she’s got her girlfriend, she knows her boyfriend is alive, she is the only one willing to fight the seanchan, and she’s become a badass leader and had a fulfilling character arc. as always, she’s perfect.

now let’s do some overall series stats and superlatives!

book ranking from favorite to least favorite:

the shadow rising (my brain has willfully forgotten the perrin plotline of this book and chosen only to remember stone of tear everyone in the same place my beloved, the waste plotline my beloved, and the tanchico plotline my beloved. if you’d asked me mid-series, i would’ve put LOC first and this second or even third.)

the fires of heaven

lord of chaos (retroactively lost some places because, while it was my favorite immediately after reading, as i kept on i realized it had set up some plotlines and character separations i would end up hating)

the dragon reborn

the gathering storm (it’s only this high because i’ve given more weight to the awesome second half than the awful first half. would be even higher if i could discount the first half altogether. the “rand and avi are together in arad doman but narratively forbidden from interacting and so rand/min continue to act like a monogamous couple right in front of avi’s salad” situation makes me angrier than almost anything else in the entire series except for tylin/tuon/seanchan-related things jkfgh)

a crown of swords (again, has one of the most horrible and infuriating plotlines of the whole series, but i absolutely loved the rest of the book)

the great hunt (this and ACOS are pretty flexible)

eye of the world

a memory of light

winter’s heart

path of daggers

towers of midnight

crossroads of twilight

knife of dreams

top 9 characters (in alphabetical order) because i could only think of 9 off the top of my head so i’m leaving the 10th spot open for any other beloved character i might be forgetting at the moment because there are too many goddamn characters:

aviendha

egwene

elayne

faile

gawyn (fight me)

mat (pre-COT. i don’t know COT-AMOL mat)

nynaeve

rand

verin

fuck it actually the tenth spot goes to lini, she’s an icon

ship rankings (including a select few non-canon ones):

godtier: rand/elayne, rand/aviendha, mat/rand, mat/elayne, elayne/aviendha

good tier: egwene/gawyn, lan/nynaeve

mid tier: perrin/faile, moiraine/thom (it’s random and makes no sense but i don’t actively hate either party, which puts it above shit tier lmao)

shit tier: rand/min, mat/tuon, siuan/bryne, morgase/tallanvor

i was going to try and list out some favorite scenes or plotlines but there are just too many to think of looking back on all of them lmao you all who have been reading my recaps already know which parts were my favorites anyway! these recaps started as silly little shitposts for me to list out gay ass cauthor moments in TSR but then evolved into Serious Bookclub, all because you guys were always engaging with my observations and thoughts and sparking fun discussions! thank you all for tagging along on this journey!!!! i will close with my first ever recorded book thought, which remains a mood:

[hannahwashington]

ALSO IM JUST NOTICING YOUR HEADER IMAGE. I LOVE IT SO MUCH gundham danganronpa and crash bandicoot (is that his name im sorry) real. also btw feel free to talk abt th emountain experience bc i dont think i ever asked yet

YES HIS NAME IS CRASH BANDICOOT ive honestly BEEN waiting for someone to comment on my header it is one of my favourite images ever (thanks @horatios-mom). it's like a sequel to the era when i had lesbian crash bandicoot as my icon. i'm only through the prologue of sdr2 but i have been obsessed with gundham for Years,. i barely know the guy but i love him. i will Know More Soon. and trust i will be So mentally ill about him and also the series. i already Am i am just waiting to finish the games to post about them.

anyway MOUNTAIN EXPERIENCE. OH BOY. where to begin.

let me take you back to a time when a wide-eyed 17 year old Archie got traumatised by a mountain. sit back, relax, and follow along my recounting of an experience i found so horrible, i had to vent by projecting onto my favourite blorbos at the time. Don't worry, I am more than comfortable with sharing this story, and with hindsight know exactly where to direct my anger with what happened.

It's March 2020. I'm in my second-last year of high school. every year my school takes the people in this specific grade to a leadership camp to teach a variety of skills and stuff to prepare them for the next year, when they will be school leaders basically. this leadership camp happens to culminate in a hike up the Drakensberg, where we sleep overnight, then come back down and go back home.

To be Quite frank. I was Very Excited for this trip. the more school-related activities not so much, but getting the chance to hang out with my classmates outside of school and the hike were what excited me. I'm not the most fit person, but i loooove me a good nature walk.

So it's a few days before the hike. they take us out to a bunch of activities and it's pretty fun. we did an adventure park thing and i was in the middle of a massive tarzan fixation so when i went on a giant rope swing i did his iconic yell. there were ziplines. once when i went down a line i forgot to brake and SMACKED into the mattress on the tree. so that was fun. here's the thing though. they made us walk everywhere. and these weren't easy strolls, they were hikes in and of themselves. i can't speak for anyone else, but the days leading up to the hike were PAINFUL. my feet were so fucking sore and we hadn't even gone near the mountain yet.

Then they hit us with the "yeah we're pushing back the hike by a day because it's gonna be pissing buckets tomorrow." which, duh, of course it's gonna be pissing buckets, it's the drakensberg, it's kinda known for that. but also, that means another day of walking, another day of worsening the condition of my feet. i felt like sam from death stranding when you let him walk barefoot everywhere. it's around here where you might start recognising elements from the fic snippets i posted, by the way.

so the next day like the absolute ass he is, the headmaster (who joined us for. some reason) made us hike up a mini-mountain to 'prepare us' or something. he was a horrible person for completely unrelated reasons and this logic is totally and completely backwards. anyway, after THAT nightmare, we went tubing down a nearby river. this WAS fun. i went down the river multiple times even though my feet hurt like shit. i had to get my fleeting joy somewhere during this trip-turned-nightmare. everyone had fun except this one girl who was not lucky at all. at the end of the river there's a small drop and 99% of the time when you get there you fall out of your tube. she was one of these people, and was really unlucky as she ended up cutting her foot on a rock. she had to be pulled out of the river by a few of the boys.

now then you would THINK she would go home because of this. kind of a bad idea to hike up a mountain with a cut up foot. but no, like the madwoman she is, she decides to pull through. i respect her so much for it.

Anyway, next day comes, my feet are basically throbbing so bad it's like my heart practically lived in them, not even to mention the soreness in my legs. again - i was NOT fit. i was so nervous i could barely eat breakfast. i tried to twist it into something positive by being like "tehe i'm going up a mountain like my favourite teenaged blorbs" but it really was Not helping. sooooo we get to the foot of the mountain and get ready to go. a couple of girls left and missed the hike because they had a netball tournament or something. to this day i wonder if they realise Just how lucky they got.

This is the part i remember most vividly. the Worst part. we set off on our mountain adventure, and i repeat this mantra: keep pace with the person in front of you. which goes great for all of two minutes until like a whole five days of walking absolutely nonsensical distances catches up to me and i slow down and down and down until everyone has passed me and oops! i've stopped completely. my legs are Begging to be put out of their misery and i am Rooted To The Spot. to cut a long ass panic attack short eventually someone comes back to pick me back up and Get Me Up This Stupid Mountain. it wasn't sam unfortunately, it was the drama teacher, but he was a pretty cool person and probably most comforting adult there, so perfect to deal with me in that moment.

he tells me about setting little goals for myself, like finding a specific rock and making my way to it. break the whole hike down into thousands of little baby steps. this way, i actually started to make progress, little by little, until we break the tree line. i can't remember if this moment was in the snippets i posted, but i look up and see the rest of my classmates above me, and when they notice us they start whooping and cheering and singing break my stride (which is kinda the theme song of the trip, ngl). i was still kinda in hysterics so i yelled at them to shut up. looking back, i appreciate it so so much. anyways, the drama teacher and i carry on with our baby steps.

when i've calmed down enough i start talking. i can't remember if he told me to talk to get my mind off of things or if i started on my own, but in any case i just start talking. i know specifically i brought up treasure planet - my all time favourite movie - and he told me he hadn't heard of it. another fanfic snippet moment here: i did, in fact, rant to him about midsommar. i remember specifically talking about the daylight horror aspect and how the black bars could've been white instead to emphasise just how bright and sunny the film is. also at some point we passed random people on the road who didn't speak english and for some reason, to this day i still have no idea why, the drama teacher told me that he thinks those dudes were drug smugglers and using the trail to get drugs over the border. anyways.

eventually, after so, so long, we make it to the top. not the end of the hike, far from it, but the vertical climb is over. you see, this specific trail has like two hours of a horrible vertical climb, but after that, it's a basically-flat trail. not that that would make it any easier but anyway, i thought that the worst was over. from our position we could see the rest of the group, who were all resting by a fork in the path - a significant landmark. eventually we catch up to everyone, and if my fic is to be trusted, everyone started clapping and cheering and singing again, this time 500 miles (hardy har). this is one of the only details in the fic where i can't tell whether i made it up or if it's actually based on what happened. when i sat down, guess what, legs wanted to shrivel up and die, what else is new, but what really struck me was that Literally Everyone Was In The Same Position. some were crying. some were staring into space with cold, dead eyes. Nobody was having a good time. how foot-cut girl was even still here was what shocked me the most. again, CUT IN HER FOOT, it was PRETTY SUBSTANTIALLY SIZED. even so she did Not look good.

drama teacher had gone to talk to all the other adults about our (my and the injured girl's) predicament. we were in No position to carry on with the hike. (i'd argue nobody was but i digress). it was a full-blown argument from what i remember, and when the adults tried to talk to us they kept on interrupting each other. one kept trying to offer a way down, but another teacher (who championed this leadership camp btw, to put this into perspective) was Adamant we continue and simply sleep at the closer campsite.

You can probably guess what ended up happening.

The break just honestly made me feel Worse about moving, and my mentality obviously wasn't the best, and i sorta just really started missing home at this point, but i had to keep going. since it was flat this time i could actually keep some sort of pace, though head leadership camp teacher complained whenever i slowed down too much (actual villain of the story in hindsight). eventually we make it to one of the campsites.

Here's how the camps worked. every year the group split into two - boys and girls - and rotated each year on who went to each of the two campsites. one camp was by a river, the other by a cave. so, one year the boys would go to the cave and the girls to the river, and the next year they would switch. this year the girls were supposed to go to the cave. guess what. it's the further camspite - a good extra... i dunno, hour of walking? obviously injured girl and i couldnt do that. issue is, you need a tent to camp riverside - we obviously didnt have one. however someone, an actual god among men brought an extra tent with him. i never spoke to that kid. but he made it so we didn't have to suffer as much. so i hold a sort of affection for him.

so, the group splits and we finally, FINALLY get our chance to rest. properly. let me tell you, river water has never and i mean NEVER felt so good. i think i spent like a solid hour soaking my feet. the boys - who. somehow had energy after all THAT - made a dam out of rocks. one guy was taking pictures. i never took my own pictures of the mountain, even though the view was beautiful. i was in too much pain to care. i took a Single picture related to the hike itself, and i'll share that at the end of this thrilling tale. that evening after dinner, i snacked morosely and watched at least half of happy death day on my phone. maybe an episode of unbreakable kimmy schmidt, though i don't now for sure about that one. injured girl and i shared that extra tent.

oh yeah, and guess what. it ended up pissing buckets during the night. shocker.

anyway the next day comes and the walk back is worse. one of the other teachers decides to use 'tough love' on me - which was basically yelling at me and failing really badly at being encouraging. honestly would have preferred being tossed off the mountain instead because it just made me Very Distressed but anyway. what was nice was that this time for the walk injured girl and i were at the front of the line setting the pace. and also two of the boys, two absolute GENTLEMEN were walking with us and leading us. you know me, i'm a lesbian, but god i could've kissed them for what they did for us. (i did not but you get my point).

surprisingly the vertical climb down was the easiest part. the really, really vertical part anyway - which was mostly near the top. so easy that a few boys raced ahead of the group... and ended up taking a wrong turn and getting lost. more on them later. when we dipped into the treeline it felt like we were so close yet so far, SO close to ending this suffering, but every single turn without the tar road in sight made me fall deeper and deeper into despair. i think i literally yelled out "MERCY!" at some point. anyway when we did finally get to the road i started crying as we made our way back to the bus that would take us home.

everyone started taking showers, blessed, cold showers at the public bathrooms, and washing myself of the whole experience felt Wonderful. except it wasn't quite done insulting me just yet.

So. the day before we put our suitcases in the bus that would take us home. what they neglected to tell us was that we needed Everything we'd need for that day and the following day on our person. which means they wouldn't be taking our bags out of the bus, not even if we REALLY needed something. i didn't have my flip flops on me. i had put the shoes i had hiked in away (and also they were like sopping wet which is disgusting). it was hot as fuck and the parking lot outside was all gravel. i had to walk in that barefoot.

insult to injury.

i got myself ice cream. tried not to cry. we all had to wait for like half an hour as the lost boys made their way back to us (i can't remember if a teacher had to go back onto the path to find them or not). borrowed drama teacher's flip flops which were hilariously oversized. and then, literally RIGHT as everyone was boarding the bus to leave. i whip out my phone and grab the one and only picture i have related to the hike itself.

it was a long drive back to my home province. i put on some music, cuddled my pillow and tried to sleep. i mostly just tried not to sob. out of pain, relief, anguish - whatever. since it was a long drive, we stopped at a strip mall that's a really common sort of stopping station for people doing drives like this, such as to use the bathroom. another school happened to be pulled up as we stopped by here, and a girl gave me the filthiest, most judgmental look i have EVER seen because i was barefoot. i honestly don't blame her.

it was dark by the time we got back to the school. i did, in fact, cry when i saw my family. the very next day - no exaggeration, i'm 99% sure it was the VERY next day - it was announced that schools would be closing and the country would be going into lockdown due to covid. which means i got to spend the next, like, two weeks recovering instead of thinking about school. i think one of the days after i got back i watched interstellar. i was on a bit of a sci-fi kick. it was okay.

here's that picture i took outside the bus before we left for home.

people Did see me take this. a couple of my classmates made jokes about how they relate and at least one gave me a high five.

anyway, that's the story of my Mountain Experience™. again, more than comfortable sharing this story as i think it's quite important with understanding me and we know who to blame for putting us through this. i've had chats with other alumni who came before me and they had their Own nightmarish experiences with this camp, which makes me wonder how it continued being a thing for so long.

[phoebehalliwell]

Out of curiosity, (code: I want to drag someone into alt next gen hyperfixation hell with me and you are like the og alt next gen Charmed blogger, y'know?) do you have any thoughts on what kids of the following pairings would end up like? Piper/Coop, Paige/Andy, Prue/Drake, or Phoebe/Simon Marks? (110% fine if you don't wanna dream up some new kiddos, I'm just currently spinning around in circles yelling about alt next gen potential and it's been a minute since someone forcibly threw an alternative next gen thing at you, I think?)

wait omg awwwww 💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞💕💞 also yayyy fun okay okay

so i got to piper & coop and paige & andy. there's 1k words about it under the cut ❤️❤️❤️ but the long and the short of it is

piper/coop

juliet halliwell (temporal manipulation, beaming, sensing love)

esme halliwell (photokinesis, electrokinesis, pyrokinesis, beaming, sensing love)

venus halliwell (empathy, beaming, sensing love

paige/andy

clementine trudeau (empathy, premonition, orbing, telekinetic orbing)

sienna trudeau (orbing, telekineis, telekinetic orbing, healing)

ruby garcia trudeau (nyehehehehehehe)

piper/coop i think would def have three kids and i feel like would maybe be named after different iconic lovers? like coop is obvi a cupid and piper canonically loves rom coms and i think also romance novels so like. i think maybe in a world where we scrap the richard intro episode which was obvs a romeo and juliet allusion and instead create an episode where the pain shared by romeo juliet and everyone else in their families so on and so forth creates a Curse the lover's curse where whenever a feud akin to that form romeo and juliet are essentially reborn, destined to fall in love, and, ultimately, die (thus triggering the end of the feud). so these two spirits just keep getting born over and over again and they keep kind of unlocking the memories blah blah blah and idk maybe coop finds them bc love is his deal and they all save the day the point is we're naming the baby juliet. why tho? like. if she's really just a one off person we helped. i mean, yes, also, juliet of romeo and juliet, but, still, only a person we met once. so let's say that in this au they were witches. or maybe just juliet was. so she cast magic that caught coop or tco's radar. and idk maybe we're very worried about piper's baby. and there's a side plot about that. something bad has happened / is happening idk. and juliet after breaking the curse is thanking piper. then! we are attacked by piper's b plot! juliet saves piper. uses her final words to thank her bc now the curse is broken and i can finally move on instead of being reborn into this cursed life. also, i'm healing ur baby. or i'm seeing into the future about her or something. then idk she turns into butterflies whoosh magical death. and piper's trying to name her firstborn she's holding her and then a little butterfly lands on the baby's nose and the baby cooes as if in recognition BOOM welcome juliet halliwell. her power's included temporal manipulation (she can slow time down "to slip in between the heartbeats" as we see cupid do in heartbreak city and she can freeze time (kind of) like her mama. she cannot move backwards in time (yet)). she can also beam and sense love. the next daughter will be from the plot from piper's favorite book she read as a child that she and coop will get sucked into for an episode (maybe one where they're experience love troubles) and it will help reconnect piper with the concept of love and the first story that really had her wishing to be in love and will help coop understand piper's point of view. the next daughter will be named esme halliwell, after the name of the main charcter in that story. she has fire/lightning/light powers, fire as displayed by p russell (and phoebe) in the line and lightning by the evil enchantress who i do headcanon as a distant ancestor of theirs bc of the whole. you know. paige. is her. thing. and then light powers we sometimes see them do. idk. she can also beam and sense love. the third daughter is gonna conincide with an astrological episode where some demon is trying to warp some astral aligning for evil but the charmed ones stop them and save the day!! look at how beautiful. what's that one star rising so brightly right there? oh, it's venus. meet venus halliwell is an empath (with the empath extension pack ability to impact other people's moods by touching them / being close enough to them) who through that power also unlocks deflection and mimicry. can also beam and sense love.

paige/andy it's not gonna be as detailed as the pipercoop one lol. [a/n: as it turns out i was lying :3] this will be the base text we're using. first born we're going to do an episode tensions have been building between paige and andy because of paige's issues with motherhood and what it means to be a mom and maybe it's a muses episode or a trapped in a painting episode the point is there's something artsy paige is trapped in and she has to create something to get herself out of there meanwhile andy is on the outside fighting to get her out and realizing that they are always stronger together and their fight is stupid blah blah blah. paige makes. a painting. she has to find The Color that is the key to getting her out. it's the color that she uses painting one of her first moments with andy (a paige/henry knockoff) their first stakeout, which is also somewhat tied to a bet. they've been waiting in the car for hours, it's sunset now and the sky is tinged orange and andy's peeled her some baby oranges bc she's complaining about being hungry so on and so forth. paige is freed. andy sees her painting. and the daughter is named clementine trudeau. empathy, premonitions, orbing, telekinetic orbing (but really only on things in her line of sight. maybe we do a color theme for this one. their next daughter is named sienna trudeau. i can't reasonably tell you why so we'll say she pulled a chris and came back from the future, giving her her name. powers are. telekinesis. orbing. telekinetic orbing. welcome back, chris halliwell. except sienna can also heal. the third daughter will be an adopted witch that paige and andy found when she was young and idk on the run kind of a la tyler michaels. she's maybe seven or so when they find her, clem's maybe three and sienna's one. plotline plotline, we take her in. she becomes a part of the family quickly and clem and sienna view her as her older sister almost immediately lol. meet ruby garcia. first name color last name i'm stealing from jerry garcia bc my parents were just at a grateful dead show or whatever call it an homage (jerry was not there, he is dead. rip.) ruby might add trudeau onto her last name as well. tbd. anyways, as it turns out, she is a demon witch (omg!!) powers are. fireballs energy balls telekinesis and flaming. i am actually going to make her zankou's daughter. just for funsies.

[moonwritewastaken]

Reverse Birthday Surprise - cc!Georgenotfound x gn!reader

Genre - friends to lovers, Minecraft based

Warnings - language

Word count - 1647

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGE! It’s the king’s birthday and he deserves the best day ever 😤 it’s also my birthday tomorrow (or today for me ig lmao idk it’s the 2nd) so I won’t be working on anything for the day. From here on out, I’ll probably try and get a good few imagines either completed or a good way through before uploading so bare with me!

- 🌙

Yesterday was Halloween, meaning that today was November 1st. To anyone else it would seem like your regular run of the mill day, however, to you it was George’s birthday! You’d been working with Tina for a week trying to get him something special, something memorable. This was especially difficult because not only does he not really like receiving presents, but you also had a crush on him.

During a Discord call one day, Tina had the brilliant suggestion of going along the same lines as Sapnap and Dream. You knew they were planning to do something for him on the server for his birthday stream, so what better way to do something for him but not give yourself away. The next hour was spent scheming the perfect surprise for George.

It was decided that after his stream, you would lead George to a minecart ride which would travel through a showcase of memorable moments you’d had with George since befriending him. Tina helped you pick about 6 special times in your friendship (making sure to include your other friends to avoid awkward conversations) including when you first met on the server, building his house during the war together which was when you first properly hung out together alone and meeting him at Twitchcon Amsterdam for the first time along with Quackity and Karl. 

George had just replied to your message telling him you had something to show him, he said he was still streaming so you could join the call with the Dream Team. This made you more nervous because you were expecting it to just be you and George, however, you were also a little relieved because there would be others there to interact with other than George. 

12 minutes later you receive another message from George telling you he had ended his stream and to join the group vc. You briefly prepare by both taking a few deep breaths and sending a panicked voice note of you screaming to Tina before pressing the join button. 

“Happy birthday, George! How was your stream?” your entrance is met with an enthusiastic greeting from Dream and Sapnap which you return after greeting George. 

“Thank you, it was good other than Dream being disgusting” you laugh at the expected behaviour of your mutual friend before the curiosity gets the better of you. 

“Oh god, what’d he do this time?” right on cue, Dream lets out one of his iconic wheezes also setting of Sapnap. You swear you can see George roll his eyes. 

“He took me all the way out to a stupid mesa biome for one dumb joke. He’s an idiot” Dream somehow wheezes louder at the name calling while Sapnap chimes in. 

“When we got to the mesa biome, Dream asked George what surrounded us-” you were yet to see what the supposed joke was but you were kind of interested to find out. 

“-which of course it’s a mesa biome right? So George says clay. Dream answers saying it’s hardened clay and then logs off” the combination of Sapnap telling the story laughing slightly, George’s obvious annoyance and Dream’s background wheezing causes you to also burst into laughter. 

“Really y/n? It wasn’t that funny” George’s actions contradict his words as he’s also started giggling by this point. After calming down you clear your throat while logging onto the server. After getting their coords from the boys, you go to meet up with them.

“So, uh, I made something for you, George. I know you’re not really one for presents but I wanted to do something so I made something instead. If you’ll just follow me” you speak once they enter your field of vision. The three of them follow and you take them out the main area and near to where your house resides. 

You lead them to the entrance of the ride before turning your character to face them. Your palms start to get clammy and you try not to let your nervousness show in your voice. You just really hoped he liked it. 

“I’m going to need everyone to grab a minecart from the chest on your right, and let George and I go first so I can explain it” George goes to grab a minecart and you follow suit, Dream and Sapnap following behind you. 

Your nerves skyrocket the second he puts the minecart on the rail. After getting confirmation he could go, you saw him push forward and start the ride. Immediately after you see him move, you also push forward, ready to explain the different pictures. 

“This first area are from my stream when I first joined the server and met you soon after. The whole idea of this ride is that I show you moments that I think are important to our friendship” Dream lets out an aww and you clap back. 

“At least it’s better than hardened clay” George and Sapnap laugh at Dream’s ‘what the fuck’ before getting out of the minecarts and taking a closer look at the picture. You and Dream remain in yours long enough to have a quick discord exchange.

‘you’re such a simp’ you roll your eyes before replying to Dream.

‘says you, you stupid simp’ you hear him scoff in the vc before you receive a reply. 

‘you’re the one in love with him. now tell him.’ you send him one last message before seeing that George and Sapnap have gotten back in their carts. 

‘fuck off, there’s literally no way i’m ever telling him’. You speak in the vc again. 

“Okay so the next section is when I consider to be the first time I think we really became good friends” you make sure the four of you enter the next section before elaborating, ensuring you don’t spoil anything. 

“When we built my house instead of fighting in the war?” he chuckles slightly before exploring again. You hum in reply before he speaks again. 

“I remember this being the first time you and I hung out just the two of us” you confirm his thoughts. After a few more minutes in this section, you all decide to move to the next one. The next rooms are pretty uneventful, until you get to the last one.

“Is this Twitcon Amsterdam?” Sapnap is the one to identify the theme this time.

“Shut up Sapnap” George is clearly annoyed and Sapnap ruining his birthday surprise. Sapnap scoffs while Dream wheezes again.

“Oooh someone’s protective over the special moments with their partner” Dream’s teasing brings a rush of heat to your face and you face palm silently. You should have known by the earlier Discord messages that he wasn’t gonna let anything slide.

“Whatever Dream” George tries not to show it, but he’s definitely affected somehow by Dream’s words. It’s not quite annoyance, however, you’re unable to place it.

“Anyway, Twitcon Amsterdam!” You bring their attention back to the room and watch as they look around, giving Sapnap and Dream an insight to your trip since they weren’t there.

Sapnap approaches the picture that was taken by a viewer when you met George for the first time in person. The picture shows you and George in the middle of a hug several seconds after meeting.

“I bet you wish you could hug y/n again, huh, George?” Sapnap’s teasing tone elicits a laugh from Dream and a sigh from you.

“What if I do?” You swear your jaw dropped to the floor at that remark. The dead silence in the call told you neither Sapnap nor Dream expected that either.

“Well- I mean hugs are nice” your reply caused George to laugh. Although you wish you would’ve said anything else, his laugh made it worth potentially embarrassing yourself.

“If you’re going to hug them again then you might as well kiss them” you have no idea what is even going on anymore at this point. Your surprise for George has taken the most unexpected twist and it’s making your head spin.

“Okay what the fuck is going on?” You’ve reached the point where you just wanna be put out of your misery.

“We’re witnessing a modern day love story” Sapnap’s answer further complicates the situation and you’re convinced George is never going to speak to you again.

“George for the love of god, please tell them you like them because otherwise this is going to drag on forever” Your head is resting firmly on your desk now, and you’re sending Tina a text to let her know your life is over and he’s never going to speak to you again. Your phone vibrates and you look to see a message from Tina containing a load of question marks and then a follow up of ‘i’m sure that’s not true!! it’ll be okay, call me soon’.

“Y/n?” You’re brought back to the situation at hand by George calling your name. You’re not sure how long you zoned out for but Tina had calmed your nerves slightly.

“Uh- sorry, what’s up?” You try to sound attentive and not like you’re losing the last of your dignity.

“I was saying that I like you and I’d like to go out sometime” your emotions had gone on their own ride throughout the evening and it’s at this point you realise Dream and Sapnap had left. They were probably leaving you two to deal with the aftermath of their shenanigans.

“I- really?” Here you are, on George’s birthday, and he’s the one who ends up surprising you.

“Yes, really” his giggle pulls you out of your own head and you try to formulate a better response.

“Of course. That’s the reason I put this whole thing together. Because you’re special to me”

The two of you spend the rest of the night enjoying each other’s company before falling asleep on call. You’d never been so thankful for your friends being snitches.

[catonatrain]

kuroko go to the polls

hi everyone!! just for fun, i have compiled the different polls in which kuroko no basket or knb characters have been featured in! I’ve roped my friends and followers into submitting knb charas into many different types of polls, so those are the ones i’m especially aware of. Polls where i personally didn’t submit characters will have an asterisks (*) next to them! 

if there are any i missed, please let me know! I’ll be editing this post as i see more polls! 

CURRENT POLLS AT TIME OF WRITING (last update 5/9/23)

the generation of miracles are in @color-coded-squad-bracket​* 

round one has completed and they won! let’s keep supporting them!

kuroko and kagami @redandbluegaycompetitionn*

the first round is still underway for 2 more days! there is no way that kagakuro will make it to round two but with your help, we can help them lose less!!!

momoi is in @girls-in-love-brackete-bracket! she has won three rounds so far! let’s keep supporting her! at the time of writing this, the fourth round is up!

midorima is in the @greenhairandpronouns-tournament! please help him get to round two!!

the generation of miracles will be in the @skittlesquadsquabble

COMPLETED POLLS

kuroko and kise were featured in the @blueandyellowbracket

midorima and takao were featured in the @orangegreenbracket​

takao was featured in the @orangecharactersmackdown​

midorima was featured in the @best-green-character​

kagami and kise were featured in the @redandyellowbracket​

aomine and kagami were featured in the gayest noncanon bitches poll* (may have misremembered the name as that blog has deactivated)

aomine and momoi were featured in both the @blackandpinkbracket​ bracket and the @pinkandbluebracket​

kuroko, kagami, and kise were in the @primarycolorcharactersbrackets​

kagami was featured in @redcharacterbracket​ of the minor bracket! 

momoi and midorima were featured in the pink and green bracket hosted by @dxntloseurhead

kuroko no basket as a series was in the @multicolor-fandom-tournament​

here’s the current counter of how many polls a character has been featured in!(not counting generation of miracles or knb as a show for their individual count)

kuroko - 3

kagami - 5

kise - 3

midorima - 4

takao - 2

momoi - 4

aomine - 3

under the readmore, ill list some extra comments about the polls such as how many rounds they got through and essays people (at the time of writing this, mostly my friends) have written about them! ill also link the different rounds as well :D

any commentary i added below was made with the best of my ability! It’s quite lengthy, so you know!

kuroko & kise in blue/yellow

lost the first round to the iconic undertale lesbians, but they earned 84 votes!

here’s my essay in the tags because it’s before i decided that i was no longer cringe, but free -- mostly about their relationship but especially the scene against haizakis team

midorima & takao in orange/green

they won the first round against some italian mobsters from jojo’s bizarre adventure! ultimately earning 88 votes-- winning with 61.8% of the votes!

here @hiemiola​ and i tag team (it will not be the last!!) and wrote some things we liked about their relationship in our first duo poll essay about their dynamics on and off the court!

in this match, midorima and takao had a comfortable lead (from what i know)! there was a time where votes were in the 50/40 range but ultimately midotaka had a spike in votes in the end!

they lost round 1.5, ultimately earning a total of 273 votes-- barely losing with 49.4% of the votes!

for most of the poll the two were losing by a large margin (around ~30% of votes if i recall correctly), but in the last few hours they made a turn around and took the lead for a bit, before ultimately barely losing a close match!!

please read another tag team poll essay for this round talking about how they’re a funny orange + green pair, how they’re inseparable, and all that fun stuff :)

they came back in the loser bracket but ultimately got destroyed in round one :( despite the odds being up against them, the two managed to earn 190 votes!

in this poll, they held onto a lead for a bit!! it definitely must have been one of midorima’s unlucky day this time around!!

as always here’s the usual tag team essay! we talk about the basics of who they are, their relationship, and yes that takao is orange!! (something that people questioned in previous polls)

but wait! in this poll, a new player @aomine-in-gensokyo​ comes! he wrote about how the strongest of bonds can come from the unlikeliest people in this essay here!

funnily enough, after this aomine approved essay, they had a 5% spike in votes

the tag team essay was also aomine-in-gensokyo approved

in total, midotaka earned 551 votes!!

takao in orange character smackdown

in this huge poll with 192 characters, takao kazunari was in bracket d!

round one was a real tough fight! for the longest time, takao was behind, especially around the 40% range, but he ultimately managed to turn it around! with 447 votes to his name, he managed to win at 50.7%!!

funnily, enough this poll ran at the same time as midorima in the best green character poll! scroll down if you’d like to know more :) -- anyways its definitely hard to separate these two partners!

also a little fun fact! op paired similar people together. funnily enough, takao and rena were a matter of “pair the spares” but ultimately op saw that both characters were associated with green characters with glasses! id also argue that both characters help major characters who’s name start with “m” (midorima for knb and marinette for miraculous ladybug) leave their comfort zone as well :]

here’s another tag team essay! enjoy learning about takao! seeing why he’s orange! seeing my little takao figurine and knice’s midotaka shrine!

he won the second round with 177 votes, earning himself 52% of the votes!

once again check out another tag team essay! we talk about takao’s characters through his character songs, his orangeness in merch and what it represents, and me making this image!

while takao fought bravely, he ultimately lost the third round but not before earning 212 votes! (which was 36.5% of the votes)

to no one’s surprise, we have another tag team essay.as both of us didn’t want to talk about our favorite takao moments and scenes (because we want everyone to watch kuroko no basket <3) we talked about just fun little scenes across knb + knb media!! and also more takao merchandise!!

in total, takao earned 836 votes!! thats a lot! at the time of writing this, takao ultimately has the third most votes out of all knb polls listed in this post!

midorima in best green character

he was destroyed in the first round to disgust from inside out, only getting 36.2% of the votes, but he still managed to earn a total of 272 votes!

this poll happened on the same day as takao’s first round poll in the orange character smackdown!! theyre partners!

another tag team essay!! talking about who midorima is and our favorite parts about his character :D also please look at his character song linked here as well!!

kagami & kise in red/yellow bracket

they lost in the first round, but earned a total of 163 votes, which was 46.7% of the votes!

their opponents ultimately won the entire bracket!!

while not as extensive, i wrote a little short spiel introducing kagami and kise to people :D highlights include them with kuroko :) and my infamous kagami taiga cardboard cutout

aomine & kagami in gayest noncanon bitches

this is one of the polls i happened to stumble upon! for most other polls i followed the polls after personally nominating knb characters myself (and also asking others to nominate them as well <3) 

this blog has sadly deactivated. to my knowledge this was due to the final matchup which was between edgeworth/phoenix from ace attorney and jessie/delia from pokemon -- luckily i have reblogs of the polls :>

they won the first round, along with ankh and eiji from kamen rider ooo as the top two pairings in a round would progress! they earned 80 votes!

they got absolutely destroyed in the second round against batman/superman, but luckily managed to rise up to 22.1% of the votes! earned a total of 240 votes!

a short essay comparing aomine and kagami featuring my classic kagami cutout :)

in total, they earned 320 votes!

aomine & momoi - black/pink

in the first round of the black and pink poll, they lost 46.9 to 53.1 but earned a total of 38 votes

however! they came back in the loser bracket and made it to the finals of said bracket!

in round one, these childhood friends won with 62.4% of the votes, earning 73 votes!

here we get @aomine-in-gensokyo giving an introduction about these friends who have been together since childhood!

in round two, they won with 52.1% of the votes-- a much closer match! but they earned 37 votes!

in round three, they faced off against lovely kingdom heart boys, and ultimately won with 50 votes, which was 54.3% of the votes! as they only won by about 8 votes, it was another close one!

in the wise words of aomine-in-gensokyo, this was a heated match!

in round four, there was a tougher match! more people were voting! the two were losing for a bit, but over time managed to close the gap! ultimately, the two were victorious and gained 53.1% of the votes-- 121 votes! over double of last rounds!

in the here's an essay about their dynamic!

finally, we have the finals! their competition was fierce with two other pairs as their opponents! ultimately, the two were in last place in the beginning of the match, but managed to climb to second! they earned 64 votes which was 30.3% of the votes!

here's an essay about how theyre together! listen to their duet!

in all, they earned 383 votes!

aomine & momoi - blue/pink

the two of them made it to the quarterfinals of the blue and pink poll! there were great vibes all around with lots of support for aomine and momoi! people who weren’t familiar with kuroko no basket enjoyed learning about them as well and cheered them on in other rounds! they even defeated some pretty heavy hitters, and ultimately only lost by one vote in the end!

this poll marks the beginning of the a3! and knb alliance! you’ll see later that many a3! fans end up supporting knb a lot which i think is very sweet!! i personally also boost polls where the a3! fans are in as well in solidarity :> some of my other knb mutuals as well! I hope we can continue to support each other from here on out!

in round 1 aomine and momoi won with 51.9% of the votes, with 140 voters supporting them! 

here is where @aomine-in-gensokyo makes his debut! read an introduction to aomine and momoi here!

in round 2, these besties found themselves up against my little pony’s iconic rainbow dash and pinky pie… despite the odds, they managed to take the win! by earning 208 votes, they won with 51.5% of the total votes!

here you can see my essay talking briefly about how they care about each other!  as you can see, i was hoping for them to reach 30% at the time of writing. always stay optimistic everyone… you can always turn things around!!

and here we have another essay, talking about aomine’s conflict with being unable to find a challenge in basketball and the changes he experienced as a result! 

i’d consider the above essay the beginning of the a3! and knb alliance! 

in round 3, aomine and momoi faced off against vi and jinx from arcane! another tough challenge ahead… however, they pulled through!! with 118 votes, they secured 51.5% of the votes once again!

here’s another essay about how aomine and momoi show up together a lot in the series!

and here we are! the quarterfinals! these two managed to make it to the top 8! here, they faced off against muku and yuki from a3! overall, this was a very nice, wholesome poll i’d say! everyone was supportive of the other team… some of us wanted them to tie and progress together… in the end, aomine and momoi just barely lost with 441 votes (49.9%)! i think it’s funny that they lost just by one point, don’t you think? It’s just like canon! 

throughout the 24 hour period, aomine and momoi continued to climb up until they were toe to toe with the other competitors. in the poll’s last minutes, the numbers of votes continued to climb until we finally had our end result!

take this aomine and momoi relationship summary for this round!

here’s a post-poll essay highlighting the importance of touou’s loss and it also has a silly edit of aomine fistbumping muku

this poll also had lots of cute fanart made with it! below, ill list drawings that include aomine and momoi that came about in this round and the following rounds! despite losing, people made wonderful fanart including our fun basketball pair :> 

here is wonderful art  with aomine and momoi meeting muku and yuki! muku is super excited to meet aomine here!

here is cute art showing aomine, momoi, muku, yuki, and blues and magenta about to play basketball!

and last but not least, here’s some lovely art with many of the blue/pink competitors!

in total, they earned 907 votes! 

kuroko, kagami, & kise in the primary colors bracket

in round 1, they won with 60% of the votes after earning 81 votes!

In round 2, they barely defeated sailor moon, but they managed to earn 119 votes, winning with a percentage of 51.3%! here’s also an obligatory picture of my kagami cardboard cutout with a bonus kuroko and kise!!

in round 3, the trio were defeated by not one, but a trio of iconic magical girls! With 71 votes, they lost at 41.8%!

In total, kuroko, kagami, and kise earned 271 votes!

kuroko no basket as a series in multicolor fandom tournament

in every round they won, kuroko no basket was losing by a large margin, but they always managed to turn it around before the end

in round 1, their opponents were the ever famous mario… despite the odds they took 52.9% of the votes with 180 votes!

in round 2, our colorful show went up against heathers!with 258 votes, they won with 51.7% of the votes! 

in round 3, knb ultimately lost to the extremely powerful avatar the last airbenders, only managing to secure 32.6% of the votes.

in the end, atla were the victors of the poll!!

in the end, the show managed to earn 581 votes! 

kagami in the minor poll of the red character bracket

this poll was double elimination, so you’d have to lose twice before ultimately being defeated! 

kagami ultimately did very well!! he was 4th place overall!! i’m very proud of him! in most of these rounds, you can see me giving little spiels about kagami and showing cute pictures of him, but nothing too expensive!

in round 1, he earned 87 (52.1%) votes!

in round 2, he earned 199 (50.5%) votes!

in round 3, he earned 287 (53.5%) votes!

in round 4, he earned 222 (50.8%) votes!

in round 5, he got absolutely destroyed by strawberry shortcake (who ultimately won the minor bracket!) he earned, 49 (23.3%) votes!

in the loser’s round 8, which was kagami’s first round in the loser’s bracket, he lived another day, earning 135 (50.9%) votes! to 130 (49.1%) 

finally, kagami was eliminated in loser’s round 9 against the lovely ib!! she would then go on and earn second place in the minor bracket! kagami, himself, earned 82 (35.7%) votes!

in all, kagami has earned a total of 1061 votes! so far, he has earned the most votes out of any character and/or pair!! 

momoi & midorima in the pink/green bracket

midorima and momoi despite not interacting too much did rather well on this poll!! they made it to the finals! 

i spent time cropping kise and takao out of photos to get photos of just midorima and momoi <3

i’d like to say this is due to the fact that the pollrunner included midorima’s lucky item on his picture! in the other polls in which midorima never made it to round 2, he was without his lucky item! his unlucky nature carries outside of the show it looks like!!

this is why i firmly believe that if midorima ever makes it to another poll, he has to be with his lucky item or else he’ll lose so badly

a3! fans really came through in these rounds! we couldn’t have done it without their support!

in round 1, these two miraculously defeated sk8’s iconic skater dudes with 53.4% of the votes! with 70 votes, they only beat cherry and joe skate by 9 votes! 

read about midorima commenting on momoi’s passion for basketball in this essay here! 

in this mini esssay, i talk about how their names are very green and pink :>

in round 2, the pair defeats the first volcaloid pair they were matched up against. with 75 votes, they won at 56.6% 

in this essay, you can read about some of momoi’s insight regarding midorima changing!

please look at how my friend cropped out takao to get this picture for me

through the greatest twist of fate, in round 3, momoi and midorima managed to take the win from volcaloids gumi and luka!! always remain optimistic guys! you never know who will be there to support you! with 153 votes, they won with 55.2%!

in this poll essay, a summary of midorima and momoi’s basketball superpowers!

in this poll essay, @takao-in-sekaiai, talks more about their friendship!! it’s a fun one to read :> it also has great takao flair to it :>

in my poll essay, i show some of momoi, midorima, (and takao’s) interaction in a drama cd! 

in round 4, it’s the finals! ultimately, the two friends lost to the iconic magical children of cardcaptor sakura, but it was a great fight! In the end, it was a close fight, with the pair losing at 48.2% with 177 votes!

in this poll essay, we get a summary of momoi and midorima!

over here with this poll essay, you can check out some cute midorima and momoi merch! which is especially relevant given that momoi is barely in merch

and over here in this poll essay, you can see midorima and momoi talking one on one about studying and momoi’s notes! It’s from the knb replace manga!! it’s such a cute scene :> and the first time i didn’t need to crop out kise or takao!! 

In total, they earned 475 votes!

that’s all i have for now! i hope you enjoyed reading it! I’ll definitely be updating this after polls conclude or if i learn about other polls! let me know about other polls if you happened to come across them :>

other notes

i nominated kuroko and kagami to the introvert and extrovert poll so we'll see if they made it in!