#and I ended up making her Gil's sister

[softquietsteadylove]

The Mermaid AU!!! Damn, it's wonderful! So Thena haven't tried walking with human feet, so how about she's trying it and Gil helping her? She's stumbling and let's give them their first kiss your honor🫡

I would also like to see Thena being so curious with human things like how things work and maybe her being jealous? I can really imagine her hissing with her fangs on someone hitting on Gil🤣 and ladies be like, uhh Mister is your wife normal? Does she often do that?

"No, that's it, you got it!" Gil encouraged Thena's every step, leaping forward to catch her when she stumbled. "Whoa!"

Thena grumbled into his chest, allowing him to help her stand straight again. "You do this all the time?--it seems exhausting."

Gil chuckled, letting her lock her knees again and resume walking practice. "That's how we feel about swimming."

Thena's jaw dropped, giving him a truly aghast expression.

He nodded though, taking one step back for every step she took forward. "It's hard work to swim with legs. You have to be strong to be any good at it."

"Poor creatures," she murmured as she watched her feet move through the sand of his little beach. He had insisted that sand was a little harder to walk on than most terrain, but at least it would be soft if she did end up falling without him there to catch her.

He needn't have worried; he had been there for her every step since the first.

She had been coming to see him more and more regularly. And with regular time spent in his presence, came her observation of his human traits--including his legs. Until one morning he came out to greet her and found her wobbling around in the shallow water, two pale legs under her.

"I know, we're a sad bunch," Gil laughed. His feet hit the pebbly beginnings of the forest floor closer to his cabin. He looked down, "hey, we made it all the way up the beach!"

Thena beamed, all but throwing herself up the last stretch and into his waiting embrace. She had been working on being able to walk without his assistance for a few weeks, by this point.

"You did it!" Gil swung Thena around in his arms a few times. He kept his arms around her waist, wrinkling the shirt of his she was wearing.

Thena swung her feet faintly within his embrace, tilting her head at him for still holding her aloft.

"Uh, why don't you let me carry you to the house?" he suggested, shifting her in his arms so he could hold her more properly around the shoulders and knees. "Sand is nice and soft, but the bottoms of feet are pretty sensitive. I wouldn't want you to get hurt walking on the rocks and roots and stuff. Plus it's dirty."

Thena had no real protests, even if she wasn't entirely sure what he was talking about. She let him carry her from the top of the beach into his cabin, which she had seen once or twice already by now. It was a lovely home, and she had come to enjoy noticing the little details about it, like where he stored the things he used often, and how the wood of places he touched looked different from others.

"Well, now that you've walked a whole beach, maybe we should get you some shoes," Gil smiled at her as he got them inside. "That will help to keep your feet safe."

"Would I be able to walk more places then?" Thena asked as he set her down at a kitchen chair.

"Uh," he paused, turning and reaching to put a pot of water on his boiler (a stove, rather). "Maybe, yeah...just not anywhere too crowded."

Thena tilted her head a few times at him, "do I not seem human enough?"

He let the flame sit low and sat in the chair at an angle to hers. His legs were longer, and his knees bent more sharply than hers. And his pants - jeans, rather - looked rough to the touch. "You seem very human, Thena. But I just...would worry about it."

"Worry about me?" she asked a little more directly, deciding she had no need for him to hide his words from her.

"Not really," he sighed. "About the humans around, more so."

"What would worry you about them?" Thena tilted her head in the other direction.

Gil considered what to say, scratching his facial hair as he did. Thena watched him do it; she wondered what it felt like to touch. "Humans are...can be...nice."

"Like you."

He paused in his explanation to give her one of his very warm, very inviting smiles. She had never seen a human smile quite like Gilgamesh. "I guess so. But they can be less nice, too, Thena. And if anyone figured out what you are, or even thought too much into it, I wouldn't know how to protect you."

Thena nodded, looking down at her legs (lap, rather). Just because she could walk around like a human didn't mean she was one, and all it would take would be one human to ensure she never saw water again.

"I'm not saying we'll never explore more places, okay?" Gil said gently, reaching over to take her hand in his. She stared at it, wondering what the point of the gesture was. She wasn't complaining, though. "Just give it a little longer?--for me?"

"For you?" she asked.

Gil blushed, which she had learned from a few of his anatomy books was something that happened when humans felt flustered. "Well, I'm hoping you'll do this especially because I'm asking you to, I guess. It can be a way to ask something of someone you're close with."

Close: that was a good word for it. Thena looked down at his hand around hers. He was so warm, and even with her blood running a little warmer than normal with her legs and using just her lungs, he was still much warmer than she was. It was nice, though.

But she knew how warm he was from when he would lift her out of the water and up into his embrace.

Gil's head whipped to the door as someone knocked.

Thena tilted her head. "How did they get here?"

Gil stood from the chair, pulling Thena up to her feet. "I think it's a friend. I called her for some stuff. But just wait until I make sure it's safe, okay?"

It wasn't as if she really got a choice about it. Thena let him guide her to sit on the stairs just on the other side of the kitchen wall, out of the light of the large windows above his sink.

"Just for a minute, Angelfish," he promised, giving her hands a squeeze between his before going to the door.

Thena watched the shadows stretching over the floor.

"Sersi, hey--thanks for coming."

"Of course."

Thena tilted her head at the soft, silken voice floating to her ears. She watched the shadows move closer and then collide, melding into one. She slid down a step, leaning to peek around the corner.

Gil released the woman from a loose embrace, patting her shoulder. "I know it's not easy to get out here, but it's just not safe to go to land considering-"

"Of course," the woman shook her head, pushing a springy lock of black hair away from her delicately featured face. She was quite pretty. "I understand. Can I...?"

Gil glanced over his shoulder, hands on his hips, his fingers tapping against his belt. "I-I don't know, Sersi."

"Oh, please, Gil?" she looked at him with wide, doe-brown eyes. They were warm, just like Gil's. "If what you told me is true-"

"It is," he huffed at her, crossing his massive arms in her direction.

Thena peeked out a little further.

"Then this could be the discovery of a lifetime!--a generation!" the woman bounced in her excitement. She was effervescent and personable, also like Gilgamesh. Who was this person?

"Exactly why I can't trust anyone to keep her secret," he lowered his voice.

Thena watched as he lowered his head closer to this mystery woman's, saying something so soft that Thena struggled to pick out the words. She leaned further, trying to see if she could read his lips at least.

Sersi gasped as Thena toppled over, stumbling out from the staircase just outside the kitchen. "Oh my-"

"Thena!" Gil rushed to her, already bending to pull her into his arms.

Thena squirmed in his embrace as he muttered something about 'patience' against her hair. She kept the woman in her sights, though, determined to learn more about her. "Hello."

"H-Hi," she replied in such a soft, fluttery tone. She gulped, her lashes fluttering as she dared to walk a little closer to her. "I'm Sersi. A-And you must be Thena."

She looked at Gil. "I thought you said no one could know about me."

Gil blinked, maybe having not expected her to be so annoyed about the current situation. He tightened his arms around her, "w-well, no. But Sersi is a marine biologist. I had questions--a-and she brought stuff for you!"

"It's true!" Sersi leapt to join the argument in Gil's favour. She adjusted the bag on her shoulder. "He asked for some clothes and things that might, um, fit you."

Thena looked down at the shirt of his she was wearing, "what's wrong with this?"

"It's-"

"Thena," Sersi stepped forward again, holding out a hand.

Thena hissed at her.

"Thena, hey, it's okay," Gil whispered, trying keep her contained in his arms. "I promise, I trust Sersi. She's here to help us."

"It's okay," Sersi said gently, setting the bag down and tilting her head at Thena. "I don't blame you for being cautious of me. I can't imagine how much you've had to adjust to."

Thena tilted her head right back at her, although Sersi matched each of her movements. Thena blinked at her. "Who are you?"

"I'm Gil's sister."

Oh. Thena halted, her breath getting caught in her throat. She was...that explained some of her observations rather conveniently. She felt heat build in her cheeks; this was what blushing felt like. "I see."

"I am a marine biologist, as he said," Sersi continued, maybe oblivious to Thena's discomfort, or at least the reasons behind it. "He asked me some questions about a 'discovery' he'd made a few months back. As time went on, I had to ask more things about this secret of his in order to research and answer him. Eventually we determined that I could know a little more about--well, you."

Thena just nodded, still feeling a little stunned at the presence of the second human she had ever met properly. Gil was still holding her tightly, and she realised part of it was how stiff and coiled she was. She let out a breath, unwinding her muscles and relaxing.

Gil loosened his hold on her, although he didn't step away from her at all.

Thena met Sersi's eyes, trying to push down the twisting feeling that had consumed her just a moment ago. "I have a brother as well."

"Really?" both humans asked with equal surprise.

"Yes," Thena looked at both of them before landing on Sersi. "Although he's not nearly as nice as Gil is."

Sersi laughed, and Thena had to admit that even their laughs were similar. Sersi's was much lighter and gentler, but it had the same from-the-heart warmth to it. "I can't even argue with that. Gil has been quite a nice brother to me."

"Yeah, I'd hope you can't argue," he huffed at her, putting his hands on his hips again.

"No one's perfect, though," Sersi finished, turning her nose up at him. She looked at Thena again. "Can your brother split his tail as well?"

She had taken care to learn the words for things, too. Thena couldn't fault her on anything. "No, he's never come anywhere near humans. He doesn't trust them."

"I can't blame him for that either," Sersi offered a remorseful smile and a shrug of her shoulders. "You just got lucky and found a good one, I think."

"Yes," Thena smiled at Gil, who was back to blushing shyly at the open praise of his character. "I suppose I did."

[bucket-barnes]

I am slightly miffed about unrelated things: here’s some descendants headcannons

-if a version Rupaul’s Drag race exists in Auradon- Evie watches it solely for the design challenges and Jay will occasionally watch with her because he finds the lipsync for your life entertaining

-they complain about judges critiques together and Jay has a bias for any queen who can do acrobatics

-Gil sews (which is cannon- see Uma’s wicked book) so he ends up taking up a part time apprenticeship with Evie

-Harry has his sisters’ names tattooed over his heart. He didn’t tell anyone, but the lost revenge crew found out because of one of the massive holes in his shirt happened to act as a frame for the tattoos whenever his coat isn’t on

-once he comes to Auradon, he starts modeling for Evie and more people end up finding out about the tattoos and he ends up gaining a reputation in Auradon as a “bad but sad boy” which he has decided not to question…there are numerous fan edits

-while working his way through Vet school, Carlos ends up becoming royal tech support because king beast has zero clue how to use any form of technology and Ben has gotten tired of trying to explain it

-Gil adopted a dog during his and Jay’s travel around the world

-now he and Jay share custody of a perpetually angry looking Pomsky they named Scout

-they go on hiking trips together with Scout as family bonding time

- Mal still gets strawberries as fan gifts and gifts from other royals- castle beast now has a strawberry cellar to compensate for the overflow

-eventually the cellar became so full the “Auradon strawberry festival” was created to get rid of them. This has become an annual event, held the week after Mal’s birthday

- Mal also dresses up lizard Maleficent for special events with Gil and Evie making her little hats to put on the former mistress of evil

-Hades also partakes in this as a way to get back at his ex-wife

- As the unofficial “Queen of the Isle” Uma has to go to royal events, she brings Harry because he keeps the more annoying royals away by simply being himself

-Uma also comes in full pirate captain getup to these events for no other reason than she thinks the looks people give her when she walks into a room with a pirate’s hat and cutlass with Harry Hook on her arm are funny

[infiniteimaginings]

Hello there! I was wondering if maybe you could write something for Carlos de Vil and Chad from Descendants? (if it could be poly, but before they were dating iykwim, I'd be very grateful!) The thing is that the reader is the daughter of Gaston (twin sister to Gil, but she hung out with Mal and her gang when in the isle) and the reader is just everything a "lady should be". (Gaston is her father so she was kind of raised to be a housewife with the strenght to fight for herself given the need). like knows how to cook very well, is very affectionate, always hanging onto their every word (also always holding their hand or hanging from their arm), knows how to sew and definetely loves spoiling them with kisses and affection. And they just have this petty banter of fighting for reader's affection and attention and being this whiny pair of goofballs that just want their girlfriend to pay them attention. And reader is just like so loving with them <333

Playful Competition (Carlos De Vil x Fem!Reader x Chad Charming)

Summary: Your boyfriends love your attention, this is how they get it and react to it. Pronouns: You/Yours, She/Her Warnings: None Word Count: 2.1k A/N: I did like, Reader is dating both of them, but Carlos and Chad aren't dating (yet). I hope that's what you meant. Also, this ended up going into a different direction that I thought it would, it's fluff just, not how I expected the fluff to be lol! Turned more into chad and carlos loving you and arguing over you a bit <3333

Auradon Prep had an amazing tourney team, and they played on a pretty big field where the students of the school could fill the stands and yell for their favorite team members. This isn’t about the team necessarily, it’s about two of the players on said team.

Number twenty three, Chad Charming, and number one hundred and one, Carlos De Vil. Two players who absolutely couldn’t stand each other. They could barely keep their arguments off the field, almost bringing their team down completely, but they knew how to keep it down for that at least.

They argued about everything, nit-picked each other, on and off the field, and found each other's weak spots to hit harder than anywhere else. There wasn’t a moment where the two of them were together that didn’t end with them at each other's throats.

That was until they met you. 

You were light to their dark days, you were the peace to their war, you were everything to the two boys. 

Just because they loved you, didn’t mean their petty arguments ended.

After games they would both wave to you.

Chad would lock his sights on you the moment the game ended. He would give you a small wave and when you noticed he would salute. After saluting he would wink and blow you a kiss that would make your heart flutter.

Carlos on the other hand would search through the stands, whipping his head left and right because out of his own excitement of you being there, he forgot where you were sitting. When he finally met your eyes he would jump up and down, waving his arm energetically in a big wave. 

They argued half the game, but ironically they were standing next to each other after it when waiting for you to approach them. 

When you finally reach through the crowd, you wrap your arms around them, bringing them down a bit so they could hug you with one of their arms. You would give them compliments, kiss their cheeks, praise them, and more.

When you spoke to Chad he would tell you about how the coach praised him for the plays, he would ask you for your opinion on how well he played. You would attach yourself to his arm, looking up at him as he spoke, nodding as he told you about the plays.

When you finished you would look at the energetic boy next to the two of you, ready for him to tell you everything he wants. 

Carlos was practically jumping up and down, asking if you saw him do anything cool, if you cheered for him, how exhilarating it all was. You would ruffle his hair and hold his hands as he spoke with bright eyes, telling him all about how you saw him on the field.

Both boys would wonder who you would walk off with. They wondered that because Carlos hung out with the VKs, and Chad hung out with the other students of Auradon Prep.

How did they convince you to go with them this time?

Chad wrapped his arm around you with a grin, placing a sweet kiss to the lobe of your ear, “The team is having a celebration tonight for the win, wanna go get ready for it with me, Princess?”

Typically, this would win you over, if it was any other day. 

This time you smiled and tried not to lean into him, “Maybe you should shower first and then we could all go together!” You suggested happily, holding both of their hands.

When you looked at Chad, Carlos was behind you sticking his tongue out. He knew Chad was just trying to pull you away for himself, like always, so your suggestion was truly a blessing.

Chad hid his eye twitching with a smile and hummed, “Of course, Carlos come on, we’re sweaty.” He spoke sweetly, putting Carlos in a friendly enough looking headlock, physically removing him from your area.

You waved with a small laugh, “I’ll see you guys at the party!”

This wasn’t a one time event, it would happen every single day. Whether you were picking a partner, wanting to go shopping, studying, etc. They always found a way for it to be only one of them. 

Though they tried their best, sometimes it was the three of you. They couldn’t be mad at it because your smile when all of you were together made it all worth it.

You were currently in the kitchens of the schools, baking something for the two of them to share. You had placed one of the portions into the oven and decided to take a break, sitting down at one of the tables, pulling a sweater out of your bag as well as your sewing kit.

Carlos put his head on your shoulder behind you, “What’re you doing?” He asked you with a small hum, eyeing your material.

You shimmied your shoulder, the feeling of his chin moving tickled you a bit so you really couldn’t help it. “Ben ripped one of those jackets he has to wear to important, fancy parties.” You explained, holding up the royal blue suit jacket encrusted with gold thread and buttons.

Chad flipped through one of your recipe journals as he listened to the conversation from the seat next to you. “You mean the one he wears to balls?”

You nodded and hummed a small, “Mhm!” in response, beginning to sew the large rip closed.

You sewed in silence as the boys watched you, watched as your hands moved with expertise, as you didn’t even break a sweat. 

Chad chewed the inside of his cheek before looking up to your expression, “How long have you had that sewing kit?”

That question broke your concentration a bit, so you placed the tools down. “Since I was young.” You answered with a nod, standing and patting yourself down to check on the baked goods.

“Did your dad give it to you?”

Before you could answer, a gentle smile spread onto Carlos’s face as he watched you. “I did.” He answered for you, and you nodded in response.

“Carlos also got me the cooking set I’m using!”

Chad eyed the colorful cooking set, the mixing bowls, the rolling pins, the cookie cutters, the cutting board, the entirety of the tools you were using. He didn’t know why but he suddenly felt a bubble of annoyance in his stomach.

He let out a small huff, standing up a bit, “Carlos, I need to talk to you really quickly.”

Carlos raised a brow, “Okay? What do you want?”

“Outside.” Chad spoke quietly through gritted teeth, gesturing to you with his head as a signal of sorts.

The white haired boy rolled his eyes and stood, “We’ll be back!” He told you, walking out the door. 

You yelled out an “Okay!” before turning back to your tasks.

The blonde prince followed the VK outside and when Carlos stopped, Chad kept walking, grabbing Carlos by his wrist and continuing on.

Again, just because they loved you, didn’t mean that their petty fights and stupid arguments just ended. That was exactly why the two boys were at the edge of the tourney field, glaring at one another.

“How did you know to get her that?”

“Why wouldn’t I know what she likes?” Carlos asked, crossing his arms and shaking his head. He knew what this was about, it was about that kitchen set he got you. It was a magical cooking set, nothing spilled, nothing stuck to them, it wouldn’t burn or break, he thought you would like it and you did. 

“Reminder, I’ve known her way longer than you have, so I don’t exactly have to wrack my brain to remind myself of what she enjoys.” He told the blonde, his facial expression supporting his unimpressed tone. Carlos had known you for years, since the Isle, he knew you better than almost everyone. He knew you in ways that Chad never would.

Chad tilted his head, “Oh, really?” He asked with a scrunch of his nose, “Yet, I started dating her first.” He spoke with a small smirk, “So, who was it that…” He began to chuckle, “charmed her?” He asked, eyes narrowing.

A scowl began to form on Carlos’s freckled face as he sucked on his teeth. “I know what she likes.” The white haired boy spoke seriously, dropping his arms to his side as he reminded Chad of the true conversation that he was dragged there for, “You want to know how I know?”

“Please, do tell.”

“I knew she liked you.” Carlos told him, putting a finger to Chad's chest, “That’s why you started dating her first,” He spoke lowly, “because I liked her so much, to the point I even helped set her up with you.”

Chad was quiet as he watched Carlos’s expression with furrowed brows. The prince looked the boy in front of him up and down, “You-”

“I don’t need you to try and tell me how you’re better than me.” Carlos interrupted, face blank as he backed up. “You love her, I love her, and she loves us.” He continued on, looking away. “That’s all that matters to me, she loves us and I love her so much.” He sighed out, making eye contact again, moving a hand through his hair. 

Chad tilted his head at the sudden speech but continued to listen regardless, curious of where this would lead.

“I would do anything for her, and if that means putting up with you…” Carlos huffed, “I’d do it for a lifetime, just for her to be happy.”

There was silence between the two, they just looked at each other. Wind blew through the air, causing their hair to move within it, pieces of clothing ruffling a bit, but other than that it was silence.

A sudden sharp intake of breath was sounded from Chad, “I know you love her.” He told the white haired boy, looking to the ground. “I never said you didn’t.”

“Then why do you keep being such a jerk about it?” Carlos asked, looking for an answer in Chads evading eyes. “Reminder, you agreed to this.” He spoke harshly, “If you’re not okay with it anymore, tell her, and we’ll figure something out.” 

“What if she breaks up with y-” Chad couldn’t even finish his sentence when Carlos laughed. His laughter brought Chads eyes to meet his in confusion.

“Then she breaks up with me and is happy with you.” Carlos shrugged, “I wouldn’t hold it against her to choose you.” He continued, rubbing the back of his neck, “I wouldn’t even hold it against you.” Carlos spoke, puffing air out of his cheeks. “I just want her to be happy, and honestly you guys are good together.”

“She’s also happy with you.”

“Didn’t say she wasn’t.”

“Your eyes did.” Chad told him, nodding with his own words.

Carlos blinked his eyes, taking a deep breath before laughing once again. “You caught me.” He told the other in front of him, raising his hands in surrender.

Chad noticed how Carlos’s shoulders slumped down, how his eyes seemed tired. After their little ‘competitions’ he never realized that he might've been making Carlos feel like he had to try harder than he actually needed to. He knew that the freckled boy adored you, but he just now realized that even with Carlos trying his absolute hardest just to get your attention, he had to face Chad. Chad who would act smug after every ounce of affection, Chad who would pull you away, Chad who never even gave Carlos a chance.

Carlos waved his hand in front of Chads face bringing him back to reality, “You can’t just zone out mid conv-”

Carlos suddenly went silent when Chad stepped forward and wrapped his arms around him. The prince’s face was in the shorter boys shoulder, hands squeezing him gently, body warm against him.

“What are you doing?” Carlos asked, hands extended in the air to the sides as Chad continued to hold him. “Seriously, what i-”

“We’re happier with you Carlos.” Chad mumbled into his shoulder, holding him tighter.

“You have got to stop interrupting me.” Carlos told him with a small roll of his eyes until a sudden shock hit him. We’re happier with you…

“We?”

“We.”

Carlos stared forward, blinking as he processed the words and the arms around him. He stared forward as he wrapped his own arms around Chad, as his face buried itself into the tallers shoulder. “I’m happier with you guys too.”

Just because they had had petty arguments and unimportant fights….didn’t mean they didn’t like each other.

[lifeofmarvvel]

Some Facts and Headcanons about the Blythe kids' appearances

Including how tall I think they are in relation to each other and who they look the most like

Jem

We know that Jem has Anne's red hair but Gilbert's curls as well as his eye color (hazel). He's said to be tall, have Anne's nose, Gilbert's mouth (and probably smile), and "the only one of the family who had ears nice enough to please Susan" (RV)

Pretty much, he's a good mix of Anne and Gilbert

The AoGG wikia also kinda roasts him by adding "Although not as handsome as his brother, Walter, or his best friend, Jerry, Jem grew up to be a good-looking young man" (rip lol, why'd they go with 2 comparisons on his looks in one sentence)

He's also decently tall, though it doesn't specify any comparisons in how tall. I'd say probably a solid 5'10 or 11.

Walter

He's considered the "handsomest of the Ingleside children" with straight black hair, and dark grey eyes.

Given that Anne also has grey eyes (though more green-gray, iirc), and the fact that he doesn't look like any known relative, I feel like there's a chance he looks like either one of Walter or Bertha's siblings (if they had any at any point) or one of their parents, his great-grandparents

As for height, I feel like he was always close in height to Jem growing up, only an inch or two shorter. They end up being roughly the same height by the time they stop growing

Nan

We find out exactly who Nan looks like in the series! During Anne of Ingleside, we find out she looks just like her Grandma Blythe. Consequently, she looks a lot like Gilbert, too -- the most of the daughters to look like him, in fact

She has straight brown hair and brown eyes. Her hair is considered silky, too. Anne appreciates the fact that at least Nan can wear pink out of her daughters

As for height, she's taller than Rilla, but still pretty short. Like, Rilla is barely shorter than her. It's a tough victory but she's not the shortest so  ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

Di

Anne's mini-me! Di has her red hair and green eyes. Her hair is said to have a "swirl to it" so I'm assuming that means she got Gil's curls as well (or at least some waves).

Since she looks so much like Anne, we can likely assume she's also pretty freckled

I like to think she's the tallest of the daughters. Like 5'8 or so, not too much shorter than Jem. While growing up, she was always taller than Nan but not too much -- Nan just stopped growing first

Shirley

Ah, Susan's "little brown boy" aka brown hair, brown eyes, and a darker skin tone than the Blythe kids who got Anne's Very White skin tone. He looks the most like Nan out of his siblings, and is the son that looks the most like Gilbert (just a slight difference in eye color)

We got nothing on his hair texture but I tend to picture him with curly hair too, probably just because of that "pretty close to Gilbert's mini-me" thing I've concluded

Little siblings have a bad habit of being rude and ending up taller than their older siblings. (I say this as an oldest child who has a younger sister that's a good few inches taller than me.) Because of that, I like to think that Shirley ends up the tallest of the Blythe kids. Idk how much taller than Gilbert that would make him, if at all, but he'd be pretty tall, definitely at least 6'2

Rilla

Rilla is a good mix between Gilbert and Anne, just in a different combo than Jem. She has Gilbert's hazel eyes, Anne's freckles, and "ripely, ruddily brown" which is probably exactly what Anne wanted her hair to be when she was younger. So, pretty much, she started auburn/red-haired and turned more brunette as she got older. The red is probably most visible in the summer sun

There also isn't anything about her hair texture, either. I'd say it's either wavy or the type of straight hair that actually does hold heated curls and hairdos better than others

Rilla is the baby and, unfortunately for her, I picture her as the shortest of the family. She's like an inch shorter than Nan. All growing up she probably said stuff like "I'll be taller than both of you!" to the twins and then. it just never happened. Sorry, girl

Fun Facts (aka all this but reworded exclusively)

Jem is the only son with Anne's hair color; he's the only son with Gilbert's eye color

Walter is the only kid with the grey-side of Anne's eyes. He has the darkest hair in the entire family

Nan is the only daughter with brown eyes

Di is the only one with the green-side of Anne's eyes, making her the one with the lightest eyes

Shirley is the only son with brown eyes

Rilla is the only daughter with Gilbert's eyes

None of the children inherited Walter Shirley's blue eyes (probably since the dark-eyed gene is so strong)

None of the children inherited Bertha's blonde hair

And Grandparent Look-Alikes

Jem and Di, because of their red hair, look most like Walter Shirley out of all of their grandparents. Di probably moreso than Jem

We only know John Blythe has brown hair, so it's also possible Nan looks like Grandma Blythe and Shirley looks like John with Gilbert either looking like John or a mix of his parents

Nan is the only grandkid confirmed to look exactly like a grandparent

Walter is an anomaly so who actually knows lol

--

Anyway, I don't really have a reason for posting this other than, hopefully, as a helpful guide to others and as a way for me to make sure my hcs for their appearances are written out so I don't mix up my thoughts in the future. Feel free to add any hc's you might have involving the Blythe kids and their appearances!

[quek-a-sketch]

Ask and you shall receive 🫡

Into The Fire

Into the fire is a modern au I have focused mainly on the Tidestrider siblings!!!

"The Elders" and the trench are being treated as a cult, in this au, an offshoot of Lunadeyis worshippers who believe a chosen one will bring about eternal sea and wipe away the land.

Edyn fled the cult with the help of Caspian, who lived in the undersea not far from The Trench- his parents had fled with him and his sister but his sister returned and hoping he could help her come to her senses, he had helped a few people flee and constantly reached out and got close to the groups base.

She moves to the oversea and a few years later has organised enough to help Gillion also flee, a much harder task given that he was their "chosen one" ... But Caspian found him simply walking out of town. Banished, Gil said.

It follows Edyn help Gillion through the culture shocks that not only come with moving to the overseas but also with leaving a place like the trench and it's ideologies and lies behind.

Edyn is trying to help Gil avoid the mistakes and choices she made on her own up here. Being so overwhelmed with her entire world being different now and struggling, despite having Caspian as a contact, she fell into vices and became dependent on them for a few years. Recently clean, having started her journey towards being sober after Gil managed to reach out to her, as the idea of helping him flee entered her mind.

Of course she's hiding this fact from Gillion, who thinks she adjusted easily and well and is feeling despondent over his struggle fitting in and learning how to live as... Not the chosen one. To meet people he was told were demons, people he would kill-

Thankfully, he makes fast friends. The albatrio, John, Aslana- every day it seems he makes new friends and is enjoying life more and more.

So this au is a mix of feel good and angst!!! How leaving situations like theirs is far from squeaky clean and easy but in the end they are living and they are free and that's what matters! Hope that wasn't too boring or anything!!

That's why it's called into the fire because... Yknow the saying "out of the frying pan into the fire" things get worse before they get better kinda deal

[sirenlulls]

spin the bottle → grease: rise of the pink ladies preferences

summary — spin the bottle is all fun and games until your crush moves to spin...

written for this request

characters — jane, olivia, cynthia, richie, gil, potato

JANE FACCIANO

. poor girl didn't want to play to begin with but ESPECIALLY not now

. she looks so nervous when it's your turn and nobody knows why 😭 they're like, ".....you good, girl?" and she's like, "YEAH! great! perfect, even!" okay girl....

. i feel like it would be the worst for her if your spin landed on a t-bird because even if you've showed no prior interest to them she'd be like "oh but they're friends i can see them together :("

. overdramatic girlie can't see the way you're looking at her like you wanted the bottle to land on her instead

. definitely looked away when you kissed the guy

. not in a way to gain attention or anything, probably just 'fixing' her nails or something

. would definitely interrogate you later on in the night — "so.... how was the kiss? do you like him? do you love him? was it good?"

. kiss her to shut her up and things will be perfect

OLIVIA VALDOVINOS

. she's not used to being a jealous person so she's very confused and a bit overwhelmed when it's your turn to spin and she feels like throwing the bottle at somebody's head

. she'd feel bad for you too because she can feel your anxiety 😭

. poor babygirl just wants to pick you up and take you on a nice lil date

. would give the guy your bottle lands on such a death stare

. ESPECIALLY IF ITS RICHIE

. to be fair neither you or richie want to kiss eachother with him liking jane and you liking his sister 💀

. but you guys are close friends anyway so the little peck isn't awkward between you

. someone would probs be like "too short, doesn't count!" but shut up really quick when richie gives them a look

. put your pinkie over olivias when you got back to sit with her and everything will be okay 😊

CYNTHIA ZDUNOWSKI

. lowkey sour even though she's the one who suggested the game in the first place 😭

. it didn't really register to her that you'd have to spin too until it was your turn

. "you don't have to if you don't want to." said to you and someone else in the circle yelling back that she forced them to spin 💀

. you're her exception xo

. but you spun anyway so she was already in a mood and it only got worse when it landed directly on some guy in your english class who was visibly in love with you

. she's definitely scoffing and rolling her eyes. gets such a strange look from nancy

. you can feel the tension radiating from cynthia and you don't even really like the guy (bless his heart) so it's a quick little 5 second peck and a smile from you and then it's over

. she's 100% got a little smug smile when the guy clearly wanted to kiss you for longer, but you pulled away

. gets suspiciously more clingy with you for the rest of the night, but if anyone says anything about it, she's like, "im drunk shhhhhhh" and she's had, like, one beer 🧍‍♀️

RICHIE VALDOVINOS

. he did not want to play. like at all.

. because he knew that a) he'd probably have to kiss someone else and because he's not a little boy, he knows that trying to make you like him by making you jealous isn't gonna work, and b) he'd probably have to see you kiss someone else. absolutely not

. it would be his worst nightmare if your spin landed on a soc

. he would be in a mood for the rest of the night

. or at least until his spin where he got lucky and landed on you

. a smug little side eye to the soc you kissed as he goes closer to you

. pink ladies and t-birds rolling their eyes like "finally 🥱🙄"

. truly sick and tired of the tension between you two

. the soc you kissed looking so uncomfortable because with him it was a stiff little peck and you're fully gripping richie's face 💀

. he likes the game now <3

. drove you home after the party for the chance to kiss you again

. ended up staying the night xx

GIL RIZZO

. easily the best at hiding how much he hates it

. but rest assured, no matter how chill and fun-loving he looks, he is enraged when your spin lands on one of your thespian friends

. poor baby doesn't know that it's really funny for you both because the guy is gay 😭

. so when he sees you kiss him with no tension and a smile on your face he's like "oh......"

. but you keep looking at him and smiling?? he's so confused??

. maybe he's not as good at hiding his longing as he thought...

. he definitely wasn't.

. you saw the death stares and scowls

. you were fed up!!

. like stop being a brooding baby and kiss me already!!! please!!!!

. he will eventually xx

. he definitely tried to kiss you after the game but you guys got cockblocked by jane accidentally because she burst into the room you two were in because she needed to talk to you

. jane facciano, the hot girl mood killer xoxo

. some other night maybe 💔

POTATO

. he played purely for the chance to kiss you

. so when the bottle landed directly between him and a guy who openly liked you, he was fully prepared to see you kiss the other guy

. but then you tapped his hand and suddenly you were right in front of him and he was trying (and failing) to hide how excited he was

. longer than any of the other kisses

. wolf whistles left right and centre

. very blushy very awkward very cute

. a small little "that was nice" that only you could hear when you pulled away

. ego boosted fr but trying to not look like an asshole

. definitely went with you to the kitchen after the game and you two talked about it and you gave him another little kiss <3

. nancy and cynthia walked in on you while they were trying to get some drinks and immediately ran off to tell the pink ladies and t-birds

. getting hard-core interrogated by the two gangs on the way out and he's a smiley little mess beside you and you're like "yeah he's my silly little bf now <3"

[judesmoonbeauty]

Yves Kloss Act 2 - Ch. 2 with Premium Story SUMMARY

Fan translation only. Not 100% accurate. Please expect grammatical errors. Cybird owns everything. Feel free to re-blog, but please do NOT post my translations elsewhere. Also, feel free to ignore my random commentary. I know this Master List is delayed, but eh, it was my first translation project, and I had no idea of what I was doing.

Please note: Only his common route and Dramatic route are translated/summarized.

Alt translations are marked as ///

T/L notes are notated at the bottom of the post with ***

Yves, Emma, Leon and Chevalier arrive at Obsidian Palace and are taken straight to a conference room to meet Gilbert.

Gil welcomes him with an insult saying: “I never thought you’d sit on the throne. Welcome, you half-breed King?” The room is filled with nobles. Em wonders what Gil was truly referring to when he called him half-breed instead of just being born of the two nations.

Yves greets everyone in the room and Em notes that thick tension fills the atmosphere. Yves apologizes to Gilbert for not being present at Rhodolite palace to greet him when he visited to invite him for alliance talks. Gil tells him that he doesn’t care and he was actually glad Yves wasn’t present. Emma realizes that Gil will not even look at Yves - acting dismissive towards him. Gil also apologizes that their Emperor is missing the meeting, but Gil will act as his proxy. Yves agrees. Gilbert’s bloodlust is reflected in his red eye, and everyone in the room is terrified.

*FLASHBACK* 

Yves and Em are in the carriage on the way to Obsidian. 

Yves: There is something that I want to tell you about Gilbert. 

Em: What is it?

Yves: You know my mother is from Obsidian, don’t you? 

She says yes. He recaps that his birth came about because Rhodolite and Obsidian tried to strengthen diplomatic relations at one point. His mother being the bride, but diplomacy never came to fruition. Hence, both Yves and his mother were treated like abominations in Rhodolite. Em tightens her fists thinking about the pain Yves endured. Yves loosens her fists and twines their fingers together to ensure her that he is okay now that she’s with him.

Yves reveals that his mother was the sister of the Emperor’s legal wife (the Empress & Gilbert’s Mother). Making him and Gilbert cousins. Therefore, he has imperial ties to Obsidian. Yves states that this hasn’t been 100% confirmed yet, but most likely. He says that he doesn’t want to hide anything from Emma, so he’s telling her now.

Emma pushes the anxiety inside her chest deep down because whether they are cousins or not, they’ve never met before. Yves then says that if Gilbert is really his cousin, then he wants to ask Gilbert something - where is the Kloss family estate? Particularly where his mother lived. Yves wants to know more about his mother. It’s always been his childhood wish to meet his mother. He starts talking about that as a little boy he would dream about meeting her. 

*FLASHBACK ENDS* 

Back in the Obsidian conference room: 

Emma realizes that Gilbert is staring her down and it gives her chills. Yves notices this and quietly holds her hand under the table which calms her fears.

Gilbert: Rabbit, you’ve been staring at me for a while now haven’t you?

Emma apologizes for staring.

Gilbert: That’s alright. You can look more.

Chevalier speaks up: Don’t you hate small talk?

Gilbert: I do, but my talk with the little rabbit is not a waste. In fact, it’s more important than this meeting. 

Leon: You seem awfully interested in our Queen-Elect. 

Gilbert: Do you like it?? That’s why this is a little annoying.///You don’t like it? That’s why this is a little annoying. ***

Em doesn’t know why he’s interested in her and why Gilbert is annoyed by the situation.

Gilbert: Chevalier is upset with me, so let’s get back to it.

Alliance talks resume. Yves states he wants an alliance and Chev backs his brother up by saying that Gilbert was the one who asked for the alliance, so there shouldn’t be a problem, right? 

Gil: Yes, if you can provide information about the 3 countries - Tanzanite, Ruby & Achroite - then Obsidian will join hands with you. I promise. 

Chev: There should already be a 4 way alliance.

Gil argues the validity of the current 4 way alliance that was signed by a daredevil bureaucrat who took it upon himself to sign the alliance, and not an actual member of the Imperial family. Therefore, it has no validity.

Yves hands the alliance treaty to be signed by Gilbert. And he signs it. Just. Like. That. 

Emma knows somethings off, but decides to be positive. Gilbert notices her and asks, “What’s wrong, little rabbit?”

Em puts on her best smile and says, “I’m just so happy to have a formal accord with Obsidian”.

Yves: Tanzanite, Achroite, and Ruby. I will submit information on these in writing. 

Gilbert: In exchange, we will supply you with military force and medical supplies, but the duration of your stay here will be short. Oh, and we’ll let you inspect Obsidian first, but don’t be half-hearted about it.***

Yves: That would never happen. 

This is a rare opportunity for the Rhodolitian delegation since Obsidian is tight lipped and very rarely is information leaked. So they are eager to inspect the country. 

Gil and Em’s eyes meet again, and she then notices something odd. She looks around the conference room and it seems as if Yves doesn’t exist to any of them. Almost all the attention is focused on her, Leon and Chev. It dons on her that Gilbert truly HATES Yves. 

As the meeting concludes Gilbert tells them they can visit anywhere they’d like except for the designated forbidden areas. He says if they need help they can request a military escort. Em also notices there are no servants in the palace. 

Yves: Prince Gilbert, I’d like to ask you a favor. 

Gil: What? 

Yves: I’d appreciate it if you’d tell me where my mother Eleanor lived?

Gil’s face is completely deadpan. The temperature in the air seems to drop several degrees as if being pierced by an icicle. The nobles who’ve ignored Yves up to this point are now visibly upset by Yves’ request.

Gil: I don’t know what the fun is in going there…./// I don’t know what the appeal is in going there……

Gilbert swiftly thrusts his cane up to Yves’ throat.

Leon leaps up, hand on his sword and ready to take action. Chev does nothing. (Ofc he doesn’t 😂)

Yves: It’s ok. 

Yves grabbed Gil’s cane and stares Gil down. 

Gil: If you want to go there, go. But I won’t help you. I don’t do favors for people that I don’t like, okay?

Afterwards, Gilbert leaves and everyone in the room was silent. In their guest room Leon compliments Yves on his manliness and messes with his hair. Yves tells Leon to stop or else he’ll mess up Em’s beautiful braid. 

Leon: I see, so it’s a braid that helps you do your best? 

Emma offers to re-braid it. 

Leon: Theresa King and future Queen are nothing but cute, eh Chevalier?

Chev is silent.

Leon: Don’t ignore me. Isn’t good that we’re all chatting after that meeting? Emma did a great job too.

Emma: I did my best.

Yves starts to praise her too. Emma asks why Gilbert hates Yves so much. The words unintentionally come out. Chev doesn’t respond to her. Yves & Leon starting guessing. Since, it’s the first time they met it’s guessed that it can’t be something personal. Em thinks it has something to do with his mother. Leon and Yves agree that their hatred for him may obstruct their alliance. The need to tread lightly. The group breaks up to retire to their rooms. Yves stops Em from returning stating she can’t leave his side. Yves grabs her hand saying there’s no way he’s let her be by herself in a place like this. Leon remarks that their lovey dovey actions make him forget they’re in Obsidian. He tells Chev to smile. Chev’s response: “Nonsense”. 

The boys leave and Yves and Em are alone. Yves begins to say how he’s a little jealous his two brothers are the same no matter where they are, and how he wants to be a cool king. Then there is a knock at the door.

Premium story:

Emma wrestles Yves onto the bed to give him a massage. She tells him she brought his favorite tea leaves from Rhodolite as well and Yves is happy about that. He actually reveals that he also brought tea leaves for her so she could relax. They get up and have tea. Yves kisses her hand and forehead. 

*FLASHBACK* 

The knock at the door was that of a nobleman named Horst. He is from the town the Kloss family estate is situated in and he offers to escort Yves there. Yves thanks him for his generous offer and tells Horst he will let him know his decision after the following day once he confirms his schedule with Chev & Leon. Horst leaves. All three men agree that Horst doesn’t have pure intentions, but Yves wants to proceed anyways. Both Leon and Chev support him. 

*FLASHBACK ENDS*

After Yves finishes the tea Em makes him. He’s pushes her onto to the bed and showers her with kisses and he traces her neck, ears and collarbone with his tongue. He calls it her healing session. She eventually falls asleep listening to his heartbeat exhausted from the journey and the meeting.

***Each time I translated this line it kept saying: Do you like it? However, that did not fit with the context imo, so I included “You don’t like it?” As an alt.

***Just to clarify that Gilbert means they shouldn’t be half-hearted in their rare opportunity to explore Obsidian.

[Previous] / [Next]

[annoyinglandmagazine]

So I’ve been thinking about my female Caranthir agenda, specifically in relation to the thing about lembas being the queen’s purview and the only thing the elves seem to have rigid gender roles over. Lembas is indicated to be pretty important but the Noldor in Beleriand didn’t have a queen so who would be in charge of the distribution of it?

If Caranthir was a woman and Lalwen and Findis did not exist (like in the Silm version of canon) I think there’s a real case to be made that the position would go to her because, as the Feanorians (mainly Celegorm and Curufin because they’re petty as fuck) insist, Maedhros abdicated the position of High King; nothing was ever said about their other titles and as the eldest grandaughter of Finwë Caranthir is the highest ranking nís of the Noldor and in the absence of Fingolfin’s wife the essential roles of a queen are her right.

It’s not as if there are too many other candidates either, I can’t see Aredhel or Galadriel, since she’d be off in Doriath and very much not looking to be involved further in Noldorin politics, fighting for the position (again, how are there so few women in this family? How does that even happen? There are fourteen grandchildren of Finwë. I’d need to make all the Arafinweans and Nolofinweans women just to make it equal.) so Fingolfin doesn’t really have any alternatives to suggest.

So they end up in a situation where the High King of the Noldor is a Nolofinwean but there is now a precedent for the position of Massánië (the Quenya for the queen’s role as breadgiver) of the Noldor to stay in the eldest line of Finwë’s sons when the High King doesn’t have a wife, meaning that suddenly female descendants of Feanor are technically higher ranking than any of the male ones. No Feanorian High Queen can inherit the crown of the Noldor because that would be counted as the same as the Kingship covered in the abdication but the position of Massánië has become isolated from that of the queen and in a technical sense ranks just below a Crown Prince or Princess.

This isn’t of particular importance to Caranthir but you know she is exploiting the complete fucking life out of having all her kin dependent on her for yet another valuable resource, as if all the trade routes weren’t enough. The taxes on lembas going to Dorothion are extortionate. In his letters to his cousins Maedhros responds that he cannot interfere with his sister’s independent role and it is entire her own initiative to do what she wishes in this particular area.

In his letters to Caranthir he is giving her very useful advice on how to use this tactically to best strengthen their factions’ economy based on his knowledge of political situations and sometimes when someone (often Celegorm) pisses him off. This makes the top three of schemes Maedhros and Caranthir are running through their encrypted letters to each other that though unbeknownst to the rest of Beleriand have ridiculously wide reaching effects on the entire economic and geopolitical landscape. They make a scarily good (if slightly less malicious than C and C’s) team.

(Also down the line this could be another title for a genderqueer Elrond to be playing hot potato with because they can’t even use being adopted by the Feanorians that abdicated as an excuse here and it in fact only bolsters their pre-existing claim as Idril’s descendant. If they end up accepting it they and Gil Galad would seize the opportunity to be more ambiguous about their relationship than they already are as half their own court doesn’t even know if Elrond has accepted the position based on lineage or whether they’re now Gil Galad’s consort. The foreign diplomats and future historians have no idea what was going on. Gil Galad does not help matters by using every opportunity to refer to Elrond, maybe teasingly, maybe not, as his queen.)

[thedragonemperess]

TELL ME ABT UR DESCENDANTS OCS NOW DJSKSJJSKSJS

ALRIGHT SO THERE'S A LONG LIST BUT THEY'RE NOT ALL FULLY DEVELOPED YET

(The cut-off name there is 'Mammon.')

In order, we've got:

The child of the Snow Queen (based largely on Lev Atamanov's 1957 film. I am well-aware of the fact that this isn't Disney but neither is Morgana so like I can do whatever the hell I want). He/They

The daughter of Tinker Bell. She/Her

The son of Scar. He/She/They/It

The granddaughter of Madam Mim (and sister of Mad Maddy!). She/Her

The child of Oogie Boogie. He/She

The daughter of Kristoff and Anna. She/Her

The son of Anna and Kristoff. He/Him

The son of Hans. He/Him

The son of Turbo/King Candy. It/Its

Soren is my main and most developed OC. I love the idea that disgraced and ex-royals and nobility have their own little social circle on the Isle, and Soren tends to float around that. He is the Snow Prince, after all. However, he also frequents the pirates and acts as a sort-of spy for Uma. Has a complicated, blurred relationship with Gil but they sort themselves out post-D3. Their whole inner complex is pretty run-of-the-mill for the Descendants characters: What they want to be for their parent is entirely against what they want for themselves. Their mother, before resorting to essentially total neglect, wanted them to be just like her: Cold and emotionless. But without access to her magic, that was a pretty hard feat and essentially didn't work. They then internalize the idea that, in order to gain their mother's praise, they just need to do better at being immune to all emotions and emotional ties. If my previous comment about Gil doesn't say enough, then let me be perfectly clear in saying that it doesn't work. He feels more connected and at home with the pirates than anywhere else, even after he gets into Auradon, and it continues to fuck with their sense of identity until post-D2.

(With Soren being my main, first, and most developed Descendants OC, he's the one I ended up forcing into the movies. If I ever end up writing a fic for him, like, all of D2 is gonna end up different XD)

Tamara is someone I came up with for my own AU of the fic Regime Change by Link_Heights (I love that fic so much holy shit I HIGHLY recommend it), but have since turned them into a background friend for Jane and Lonnie. I keep going back-and-forth on making her a fast flying fairy because I thought it'd be really funny if she was the same fairy type as Vidia and a fauna fairy because that's the type of fairy the IRL I loosely based her off of says she would want to be. I'm leaning towards fast flying, though, because I love the idea of her doing track and having to train herself not to use her wings while running. It also creates an interesting clash between Auradon tradition and Pixie Hollow tradition - in Auradon, people tend to dress according to their family's colors, but in Pixie Hollow, they dress according to the colors of the type of fairy they are. A love-interest for Harry within the AU, but definitely not a peromanent one since she was really just using him to rebel against her mom.

(Don't ask me how Tinker Bell has a kid when I'm going by Tinker Bel movies canon. It's Descendants, half of the characters' parents should be dead and none of the time periods of the original stories match up despite all of the technology being modern. Nothing makes sense, anyway. Once again, I can do whatever the hell I want.)

Sika, Mimi, and Oscar are all the main (and only) musicians on the Isle. If I had to base their personalities on any musicians, I honestly wouldn't have a comparison for Sika but he is very chillaxed and laid back, Mimi would be Avril Lavigne, and Oscar would Will Wood. They all dabble in different types of music, but Sika mains alternative and hard rock, Mimi mains pop-punk and pop, and Oscar mains jazz fusion and folk punk. Sika doesn't have very high goals and is content to live out the rest of his life on the Isle. As long as he can play music, he tells himself he's fine. In reality, he's definitely really depressed, but that's a conversation for when he leaves the Isle. He doesn't have a stage name. Mimi wants to tour the world one day, and is essentially the family disappointment for it. She wants nothing to do with witch craft and her grades in school (she goes to the witch school on the isle) reflect that. This affects her more than she lets on. Her stage name is Mammon. Oscar has a wonderful relationship with his father(s)* and all he really wants to do is live in a world where he's not constantly ridiculed or made into an easy target by other kids on the Isle. As much as he loves music, it's not something he can see himself doing forever and really just wants to see Halloween Town where he knows, deep down, he truly belongs. He'd also love to join - not take over, join - his father on Boogie Man business when he gets older! His stage name is OzRock.

*See: The other ask I got about my OCs (that I tagged you in!).

I got like nothing on Kira and Adrien 😭 I swear to God it's not because they're AKs, I just really don't have anything to go on with them. I feel like they'd be very basic characters, overall! Adrien is being raised to claim the throne, since he's a year older, but neither he nor Kira really want that responsibility. They both idolize Jane Porter and Milo Thatch (and, although this is something neither of them would ever dare to say out loud, Captain Hook), as they would love to explore the different corners of the world. Adrien wants to do so in the name of science, while Kira wants to do so in the name of fun. Personality-wise, though, Kira takes more after both Anna and Kristoff, while Adrien takes more after his aunt Elsa. Like I said, they're very basic.

Hansen is literally just A Guy. He also tends to frequent the royal/noble circles on the Isle and is quite literally the only person to consistently break through Soren's 'I Must Be Like My Mother' complex. He dated Evie for a hot second there but he's very gay and very down bad for Anthony Tremaine so it didn't last long. He tends to blend into the crowd on the Isle, and he is perfectly fine with that. Unlike most kids on the Isle, he is very vocal about wanting to be nothing like his father, but he means that in more ways than one. While, yes, he doesn't want to be a villain, he also doesn't want to carry the title and pressure of being royalty. He literally just wants to be A Guy. His dream is to open a bar or bakery or pottery or any other small shop where he can live a relaxed, content life. (Of course, in the case of Anthony, since he knows how dead-set Anthony is on carrying on his family's legacy, Hansen also wouldn't mind being a house-husband).

Tobias is arguably even less thought-out than Kira and Adrien because at least I have a basic foundation for them set in stone. Tobias is essentially all up in the air. I'd like to imagine that King Candy has a candy store on the Isle but also uses it as a cover-up for like. Making and selling drugs. He's a pretty decent father, and likes to make sure Toby is always okay and included in his work (for better or for worse) and is doing well and school and he's okay overall. However, he's told Toby stories of his glory days since it was young, and that has definitely had an impact on it. Toby is a fantastic mechanic and has gotten itself out of a good amount of trouble due to promising to figure out generators or small vehicles for people on the Isle. (It has also, somehow, ended up on Cruella de Vil's good side due to its ability to maintain her car, which is a nice bonus to his minimal reputation.) Toby's dream, though, is to be an even better racer than its father, Vanellope von Schweetz, or any of the Sugar Rush racers. It understands where its father went wrong, but is still mad at his enemies for never giving him a second chance. Couldn't they have just saw that he was hurting? Well, being on the Isle has given it a life-time of hurting, so when it finally gets off the Isle, it's gonna show everybody what that can lead to. Also, uh, slight side-note, it and Soren are twins. I just thought it would be really funny if those two had kids together because of royalty reasons and then got really attached to the concept after thinking about how that would impact Tobias and Soren's relationship.

(Once again, don't ask me how Wreck-It Ralph is canon. See: My previous two defenses.)

I'm sorry that this took so long for me to get to! I'm also gonna answer an ask that @angelwiththeblue-box sent me about these guys with some other miscellaneous stuff that's probably just gonna end up being me rambling a bunch about whatever train of thought I latch onto first. Thank you so, so, so, so, SO much for the ask!! :DDD

[incorrectprodigalsonquotes]

What Could've Been for Prodigal Son Season 4... Part 1

Okay so this is what could've been for Season 4, of course you're free to disagree with me but this is just how my brain thinks might’ve happened to just settle the fact that we never got closure lol:

Season 4 starts where Season 3 left off more or less

Malcolm is still at the hospital with whom he now knows to be his sister (seriously, Lorelai or Katherine? Which name? I'll just call her Sissy for now... because she's a little sister lol)

Her husband makes his first appearance, and he's a little cautious about Malcolm. Sissy wants to know her older brother, especially now that she's learned that her birth father is one of New York's infamous serial killers. She needs to know how to live with that.

Dani goes to the hospital to see Malcolm, hugs him, then slaps his chest because she thought he got seriously hurt... again. We'd get the first Brightwell moment of the season, possibly a kiss.

They have another moment in the waiting room as Malcolm talks about the fact that he now has another sister and that it turns out his mother thinking Martin had been cheating on her wasn't her getting the wrong vibe, they both had the right instincts back then, Malcolm had just been able to prove his suspicions. Dani hugs him and tells him that she's here for him, whatever he decides to do to proceed.

Martin is awake, and he tells Mr David that he wishes to call his family, he has a few words for "his boy".

A case with another family annihilator comes their way but the main difference this time is that it's attempted murder because the killer got it all wrong. He killed his boss because he got rightfully fired and he didn't want to face his family so he'd been lying about going to work for weeks and then he tried to kill them... thankfully he failed.

It brings up a lot of feelings for Malcolm because he can't imagine doing something like that to his own family... but then again, Martin was technically his family because DNA (dumb DNA) and he wonders if stabbing Martin (again) wasn't just a fluke and it was just tapping into who he really is.

At the end of the case, Malcolm and Gil have a conversation, and Gil tells Malcolm, "I don't know if I ever told you this, kid, but... even though I do worry about you and I always will, the one thing I never worried about was you becoming like the Surgeon. You two might be related by blood, but you are your own person, and you have proven more times than you'll ever know that you are a good man. One I happen to be very proud of."

Halloween episode where they all dress up... Malcolm is clearly dressed up as Waldo of "Where's Waldo" fame. It was Dani’s idea jokingly, but he took it seriously. Dani is dressed in the sequin jumpsuit similar to the one Sandra Bullock wore in "The Lost City", a movie both she and Malcolm really enjoyed.

At the end of the episode, Malcolm is informed that Martin has woken up and wishes to speak to him. Malcolm declines.

After that, a Dani backstory episode about her and her family. We learn about how her dad died (it was definitely something unexpected like a car crash) and also why Dani chose to join the force in the first place. Dani's dad was actually an officer who was in the same police academy class as Gil, the two might have been friends in their academy days and then years later, it wasn't until after Dani was brought onto his team that Gil realized who her dad was. One of the reasons Dani likes Gil as a boss is because he reminds her a lot of her dad.

Christmas episode and partial JT backstory (we don't learn his name until Season 5). We see how JT and Tally spend Christmas, especially now that they have a son who is almost two years old. They're very happy and Tally tells him that she's pregnant again.

They invite everyone from both their jobs for a Christmas party too.

The Christmas case involves a gingerbread house competition and one of the judges was killed because he rigged the contest so the woman he was having an affair with would win. That same woman tries flirting with Malcolm but not only is he oblivious to it, he also makes it very clear just how in love he is with Dani.

Malcolm also sends his half-sister a Christmas card. He considers sending one to Ainsley but finds the ripped birthday card she sent back in his drawer and decides against it.

Gil actually takes Jessica out to dinner for Christmas Eve, hoping to start a tradition for the two of them. It goes so well, they both wonder if this is some kind of dream.

Malcolm and Dani spend Christmas Eve together and Dani teaches him how to make a lavender mint hot chocolate (an idea I got from @morningssofgold seriously go check out her Brightwell fics, they are incredible!) Malcolm says how he's never felt so... calm on Christmas Eve, like there's no expectations, they can just enjoy the night.

Dani agrees and offhandedly says, "There's something soothing about the people you love making you feel at ease..."

Malcolm stares at her for a moment.

Dani tilts her head, "What?"

He finally smiles before he pulls her in for a kiss, stopping for one moment to whisper, "I love you too..."

The mid-season finale ends on a seemingly positive note...

Until the actual final scene.

Ainsley can be seen picking up the phone and calling someplace. The camera goes around her apartment as her muffled voice seems to be asking for someone. When the camera goes back to her face, she's smiling, "Hi Daddy... Merry Christmas."

Martin’s voice happily saying, "My girl"

Mid-season finale ends on Ainsley’s smile (maybe) turning sinister.

[cherrybb-ily]

i finally watched the new episode last night and omg, I loved seeing that day from the guys persepective. It gave us more about the guys in depth and how each one has different attributes to the other.

Richie is this guarded guy who puts up a wall when he doesn't want to feel something, or he is scared to feel and acts out on that guard. Like the night of Halloween where he saw Jane with Buddy and how he snapped at Jane, where he has been shown to show real feelings for her but upon seeing her up close with someone else and got jealous he felt it was just easier to snap instead of talk through his feelings. His apology to Jane in the episode is so sweet, and I think it perfectly shows us more in depth how Richie wants to work through these feelings with Jane. Hit Me Again is also a really amazing song that I absolutely loves.

With Gil I love how we are opened up to him being Betty's older brother and their playful banter as siblings, and how he truly cares for his mother like not taking the money from the tip jar like his mom told him to because he knows she wants a new fridge. Then, throughout the episode when he was talking about Olivia and how he is only looking to date her, even when a woman at the bar was looking at him, is so sweet. I was heartbroken for him when Richie told him he couldn't date his sister with how his face dropped, and I was so happy for him when he was told later on that he could date Olivia and I loved it showed how happy was to hear that even when he was driving.

Potato has always been shown as this sweet guy but I like how this episode showed it more in depth with him taking care of his little siblings when his dad was passed out, and making his dad breakfast, and his siblings lunch. Also, with him and his dollar that he has for luck is really cute with how it's something he treasures and wants to keep safe. He also truly cares for his friends, and it's easily shown in this episode and throughout the show.

Shy Guy is an amazing guy, and it's truly shown with how he is with Cynthia and shown, especially in this episode. I love how we got to know more about him with the boxing and the pressure his dad puts on him. I also like how he stands his ground against Richie when he tried to make him fight the other dude, and how he is protective of his friends and would do anything for them. Like when he punches the tow guy in order to get the car back to get them home.

The scene with the four together opening up more is so sweet as it shows how they all truly care for one another. With Potato opening up about his Dad, how Shy Guy opened up about not boxing anymore, how Gil feels about his dad being gone and him being the man of the house since he was young, and how Richie is starting feeling things and messed it up. I love how it shows us the thought processes of these boys.

With Buddy I honestly felt for this episode with him finding out everything he has done throughout his life was never truly his own self, and that he never truly got his own accomplishments because of his father. I love how he is trying to do the things Jane wanted to do to include everyone, and how he is able to stand up to his dad in the end but I do wish he did tell Jane that he only won president because of his father. I truly hope that he does get a redemption with him coming out with the truth of his dad paying for him to be president, to finally say the rumors about Jane are false, and how he truly was the bad guy throughout everything.

All the songs in this episode were amazing, as always, and really shined a light on all of the guys voices, it was amazing to have a t-bird song, amazing to have a song that showed off Richie's voice, and a song that truly shows Buddy's inner turmoil.

[descendantofthesparrow]

POYW Rewrite V2 - Harry Hook x reader - P2

=

Harry leaned back as Gil, Carlos, and Jay all jumped and wrestled for the candy that was decorated before them-shaking his head as Gil offered him a brown-covered ball of…something. Gil shrugged and popped the ball into his mouth, humming happily at the taste. Harry instead grabbed a sugar-covered rainbow tape from behind him, taking a bite he shivered-it was sour-and then very sweet. Like that bag of sour candy he ate too quickly which caused him to lose all feeling in his tongue for a week.

Harry looked back out the window-watching as the isle flew by, his eyes drifting over to the alleyway that led to the wharf tunnel. He was happy to leave-he supposed, leaving all the pain and strife of the isle, leaving his father behind and all his…clients(gods he hoped his dad wouldn’t turn to his sisters)- but, the isle had been his home for the last 16 years, it was so strange to be leaving.

He turned as Carlos hummed happily at something he ate, his eyes almost sparkling. “-It's salty like nuts but sweet like I dunno what?” Carlos tried to explain, chowing down on the fat brown-covered disc. Harry laughed as Jay wanted to try the new candy but Carlos just showed off the already chewed candy instead of giving Jay the half-eaten disc.

“Ew-“ Jay gagged, stealing the disc and popping it in his mouth, his brows raising as he realized it was damn good candy. Evie turned in her seat while Mal messed around with a remote-Evie alerting the others as the limo drove closer to the edge of the bridge. “look!” Evie screeched, grabbing onto Mal as Carlos screamed that it was a trap.

So this was their plan? Lure them into a false sense of security and then just drown them? Harry had to hand it to Auradon-that was an evil plan.

Jay quickly wrapped his arms around everyone, fingers barely reaching out to Harry’s jacket as everyone screamed and curled in on each other-Gil latching onto Carlos and Harry like there was no tomorrow.

They waited for the feeling of falling-only for it to never come. Instead, the ride smoothed out, no longer hitting potholes and garbage. Harry was the first to open his eyes-sitting up slowly as the driver looked back at them from his rearview mirror. “Oi-“ Harry snapped softly, smacking Gil’s shoulder to make him let go. “We didn’ fall-we’re….we’re outside the barrier.”

With that-everyone sat up, all peering out the window to watch as the limo drove away from the isle and towards Auradon-eyes wide as a magic golden brick road built beneath the car. “What just happened?” Carlos asked, almost climbing over Gil and Harry to get a better look while Evie grinned, her eyes alight with something new. “It must be magic~!” she gasped, holding Mal’s hand as the fae held her head for a moment, her eyes sparking between neon green and emerald.

Harry looked back at the isle, watching as it grew smaller as the limo drove away-Mal turned to the driver, tapping the remote on the seat to get his attention. “Hey!” He turned back, his expression blank behind his sunglasses “Did this little button thing just open the magic barrier?” Mal asked, and the driver shook his head, holding up a golden remote with one button on it.

Harry eyed it, a smirk coming to his lips as he realized just how trusting Auradon dupes were. This dude really just showed off the barrier button with such ease? This was going to be easy.

“No-this one opens the barrier, that one opens my garage. And this button.” He pressed a button on the ceiling of his end of the limo-the divider coming up and blocking the vks from him. Mal grinned, turning to her friends. “Okay~” Mal laughed, tapping the remote on her palm as she got comfortable in her seat. “Nasty~ I like that guy.”

-

“They’re almost here~” Ben sang as he paced the front yard of the Auradon dorm building, you and Audrey watching him as he practically danced in excitement. Audrey schooled her expression into one of calm excitement-though she hadn’t hidden her…distaste-for Ben’s whole idea in the weeks that past after Ben’s told her about it.

She was adamant that once a villain-always a villain. And she wasn’t happy about Maleficent’s daughter being in Auradon either(neither was the rest of her family.); which you didn’t blame her-but it was sorta rude to carry blame from the mother to the daughter-who hadn’t even done anything to Audrey…yet.

“Beasty boy, calm down,” You laughed, reaching out to grab his suit collar. “People will think you’re going nuts-and that ain’t a good thing.” Ben just stuck his tongue out at you, bouncing on his heels as he took his place beside Audrey, FG and the welcoming band walking out from the dorm building to get in their places as the limo got closer.

“Jim said he’s almost here, about two miles out.” FG said with a happy chirp to her voice, clapping her hands as she stepped between Ben and Audrey. You snorted at Audrey’s pout; no doubt upset about being separated from her ‘Benny boo’.

Fellow students of Auradon prep began to crowd the court yard-all eggar to meet the new students, the vks. You were particularly excited to see a particular vk, you wondered what he looked like during the D1 era? Your question would soon be answered as the band began to play loudly and proudly- FG putting on her best smile as Ben’s back straightened, beaming as the limo drove into the courtyard and came to a stop in front of the garden pathway-the school building clear on the other side of the limo.

You could barely hear some roughhousing over the loud music, watching as the driver opened the door and two boys spilled out-the music stopping dramatically as Harry Hook himself and Gil followed Jay and Carlos out of the limo, Harry brushing off his jacket as he and Gil stepped to the side-away from the two wrestling boys-who seemed to be fighting over a blue blanket.

“You got everything else! Why do you want whatever this is?!” Carlos cried-chocolate all over his mouth-desperate to keep the blanket.

“Because you want it! Give it to me!” Jay huffed, a grin on his face as he tried to take the blanket away from Carlos-simply because Carlos had grabbed it first and now Jay wanted it.

“No!” Carlos screeched, making Doug flinch a little, and step back as Harry caught his eye and grinned sharply-hook shining in his left hand.

Mal and Evie stepped out last-Evie doing a little spin with a look of awe on her face as Mal straightened herself up, rolling her eyes at the two boys as they continued to fight over the blanket. FG parted the band as she walked forward, her smile now a bit forced as you held back your laughter.

“Guys, guys!” Mal hissed, stepping in front of Jay and Carlos to hide them from FG’s sight. “We have an audience~” Mal sang quietly, getting them to stop fighting and Jay gave his best charming smile. “Just-cleaning up~” he laughed, pulling Carlos off and glaring as Carlos pried the blanket free from Jay’s grip.

Your eyes were on Harry, watching him as he rolled his eyes at the two boys, looking around and squinting as the sun blinded him-pushing Gil’s head down as Gil tried to follow Harry’s line of sight. They both looked very different from their D2 selves. Harry’s hair was a bit longer and shaggier, he had his D2 jacket on but along with that-was a faded red vest, a worn-down button-up shirt, black jeans, and some worn boots with his usual belts and red scarf hanging from his waist.

He looked good, younger, but good.

He still had a shit ton of eyeliner on as well, but you didn’t expect that to be a change.

Gil looked mostly the same, he still had that leather cap on his head-tying his hair back-a tan/brownish shirt, a thigh bag, faded dark jeans, and boots. Like Harry-he looked good, just younger.

FG’s voice brought you back to reality and you tore your eyes away from Harry, just as his eyes found you. He tilted his head, smirking a bit as he got a good look at you. “She’s cute,” Harry whispered to Gil, nodding at you. Gil looked over and nodded, shrugging a bit, admiring the dark hoodie you wore that was decorated with skulls and fire.

Harry liked your expression, amusement, at them or something else, he didn’t know-but he liked your grin. Your eyes were very pretty too, he blinked as Jay and Carlos tossed their stolen items back into the car, the driver slamming the door shut afterward and driving off.

Harry watched as the car drove off, and he realized their bags were still in the trunk-but it was Auradon so he guessed they were going to be put in their rooms or something. Harry sighed, turning back as Jay flirted with the brown-haired girl dressed in pink and blues(two guesses who this was), the girl looked uncomfortable as the pretty girl next to her, you, narrowed her eyes at Jay.

FG interrupted Jay with a bright smile, one that made Harry feel queasy. How in the hell was he going to survive with all this smiling? “welcome to Auradon prep~” she chirped, clapping her hands together as Jay stepped back next to Mal. “im fairy godmother, headmistress~” FG bowed and Mal’s eyes sparkled, and Harry had to hold his laughter back as Mal started to ramble about FG and her wand.

“The Fairy godmother? As in, Bibbidy-Bobbity-Boo?” Mal made a swishing motion with her hand, FG beaming and nodding. “Bibbidy-Bobbity-you know it.” She sang, her cheerfulness made Harry want to squint-something you noticed and laughed at, smirking as Harry caught your eye. He smirked back.

Mal continued on in her wand ramble, and Harry caught the roll of your eyes as you crossed your arms, watching Mal with a barely suppressed wince as she talked about ‘that sparkly wand’. “-and that sparkly wand~” Mal sang, as if her continuing to talk about the wand would magically make FG summon the wand for Mal to take.

“Careful girly,” you said, chuckling as Mal’s eyes snapped towards you. You leaned back on your heel, tipping your chin at the purple-haired fae. “Keep talkin’ about the wand like that, and people might think you’re…” you paused, a knowing smirk on your lips “up to something.”

Harry couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him, yours and Mal’s eyes snapping to him-one in anger, and the other with amusement. “well,” the boy in the suit that stood on the other side of FG started, a joking smile on his lips-leaning over to look at you. “if they really wanted the wand-they’d just have to ask you~!” The vks blinked-wondering what the boy meant when he continued on, chuckling as he spoke. “you’ve probably stolen the wand like-thirty times!”

You rolled your eyes, shaking your head at Ben’s exaggeration of your thievery. “Three times beasty, three! And I wouldn’t have stolen it if you just improved your security!” Harry stared you down, a plan growing in his mind.

You had stolen the wand before eh? Three times? If you had done it three times-and clearly could do it more-that meant the wand was easier to get than he thought.

This would be a walk in the park.

“You’ve-you’ve stolen the wand?” Mal asked, almost stuttering as you snorted and shrugged, rolling your eyes as you spoke. “What? like it’s hard? There’s one guard and a flimsy force field-its stupid easy to get it-“ you gestured to FG and Ben, the former of which was staring off with a strained smile. “-they trust too much.”

“You-“ Harry said, pointing at you with his hook, his usual grin on his lips as you smirked back. “I like you.” You gave him a once over, winked, and nodded back at him “Not too bad yourself pirate~”

The girl next to you gasped and pinched your arm, pouting as you yelped and pulled away from her. “(y/n)!” so your name was (y/n) eh? it was…nice. The girl seethed as she hissed out your name, glaring as you huffed and nodded at Harry. “What? All the dudes here are boring, or are Chad-let me have this!” you muttered and Harry snorted. He didn’t know who Chad was, but he must’ve set the bar so low this girl was already chasing his tail.

Then again, he was Harry Hook-the finest pirate on the isle.

FG clapped her hands, regaining the attention she had lost. “Well, let's get back on track, shall we? This is Ben-“ she gestured to the boy dressed in navy, and Harry recognized him from those stupid bore-adon newscasts he saw on the chip shop's fuzzy tv. “Prince! Benjamin,” the girl in pink and blue interrupted, grinning at Ben as he sheepishly smiled, shrugging a bit. Clearly, he wanted to just stay Ben for a bit longer, but pinkie wanted his status to be clear. “Soon to be king~” Pinkie sighed dramatically, and that got Evie’s attention, going into flirt mode as she curtsied to Ben.

“You had me at prince~” Evie sighed and Harry shared a look of ‘oh my fucking gods let this end already’ with you, and you mimed hanging yourself, something that made Harry laugh, his nose scrunching slightly as Gil glanced between the two of you and Evie-watching the event unfold as Audrey ‘politely’ reminded Evie that she nor her mother held any royal status here.

You quickly interrupted, a shit-eating grin on your lips as the girl pouted at your intrusion. “Actually Audrey,” So that was pinkies name then. “Queen Grimhilde never gave up or was exempt from the throne, and Snow White never claimed it-so Evie here is a full-fledged princess who is in direct line for that kingdom's throne~!”

Evie and Audrey, along with the rest of the vks, stared at you in shock, not expecting you to stand up for Evie that way. “What?” you cooed, crossing your arms again and laughing “Just stating facts? Not my fault you didn’t know.” You stuck your tongue out at Audrey as she continued to pout at you.

“And that’s Audrey,” Ben chuckled, introducing her formally. Audrey quickly jumped back into her preppy/nice girl attitude, reaching out to grab Ben’s hand. “Princess! Audrey, his girlfriend~” Audrey sighed, as if the mere mention of being his girlfriend was a dream come true. “Right benny boo~?”

Harry fake gagged, sharing a smile with you as you fake snapped your neck-laughing as you then mimed something coming out your throat-most likely puke. He liked you; you were funny.

“Ben, Audrey, and (y/n)-” FG nodded over to you, and you waved, Gil waving back. “Are going to show you all around, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” The vks nodded, but they all knew they wouldn’t-as they were going to nab that wand by tonight and the isle would be free by tomorrow morning.

FG took Audrey and Ben’s intertwined hands and pushed them apart like they were a pair of doors, the two looking surprised at the action before settling back into their smiles. “The doors of wisdom are never shut! But the library hours are from eight to eleven and as you may have heard, I have a little thing about curfews~” Mal and the others nodded with strained smiles, FG smiling back before she walked off-the band in tow as Ben.

“Thank god that’s over-“ (y/n) muttered, reaching over and pushing Ben forward “Go on-do your lil speech, I need lunch.” Ben snorted, rolling his eyes fondly as he clapped his hands, facing the vks as they stared back at him-Harry and Gil separated from the other four vks.

Ben beamed, walking up to Jay with his hand out. “it is so, so, so good-to finally meet-“ Jay greeted Ben with a fist to Ben’s chest-not hard-just taking Ben by surprise. “-you all…” Ben quickly brushed it off, continuing down the line- shaking the rest of the vks hands, lingering on Mal for a moment. “This day is a momentous occasion! And one I hope will go down in history, as the day our two peoples began to heal.” Ben said dramatically, it sounded like he had rehearsed this speech multiple times just that day.

Ben shared a strong handshake with Gil, who didn’t seem to realize who Ben was yet, simply smiling as he took Ben’s hand. Ben beamed back.

“or the day you showed six peoples where the bathrooms are~” Mal sang, just as dramatically, swinging her leg in a small bathroom dance. She really did have to go-it was a long trip-nearly two hours long. Ben laughed going back over to Mal-Audrey’s hand sliding into his arm and keeping a tight grip. “a little over the top?” Ben asked, a warm smile on his face as Mal nodded, her nose scrunching as she agreed.

“A little more than a little bit” Mal chuckled, locking eyes with Ben and smiling. Harry shared a look with Gil-and for someone who couldn’t always catch sarcasm or read body language very well-even he could easily see what was going on between Mal and the prince.

Audrey jumped into a whole spiel about Mal and her mom, something Harry ignored-not caring about the new rivalry taking place-he had already been between Mal and Uma for the last seven years, he didn’t want to be involved in this one-even if it could be entertaining.

He watched amused as you mimicked shooting yourself as Audrey and Mal went on being petty as shit and fake laughing. You took out a small rectangular device, harry admiring the wooden case with a pirate ship on the back, whistling to gain Ben’s attention. “lunch is in like-ten minutes- can we hurry this up? I didn’t eat breakfast!” you yelled, and Gil pointed at you, looking very eager for lunch.

Ben just laughed, nodding. “Of course of course, you six must be hungry as well-let’s start with the tour then, shall we?” he gestured to the building behind them-the large stone castle decorated in blue and gold. “Auradon prep, originally built over three hundred years ago-and converted by my father-when he became king!”

Mal took the lead following Ben and Audrey, giving Evie a wide-eyed look as the vks followed Ben into the front yard gardens. “behind us there,” Ben quickly pointed behind the vks, and they looked to the large white concrete buildings with many windows. “is Auradon prep itself, this before us-is the dorm building, where you will all be staying during the school year.” Ben explained, walking up to a statue of his father and clapping his hands twice.

Gil and Carlos screamed as the statute turned into a giant metal beast, Carlos leaping into Jay’s arms as Gil clung to Harry, shaking as he hid his face in Harry’s shoulder. “it’s fake Gil, just metal-it can’t hurt ye” Harry whispered, patting Gil’s arm that ran across his stomach-feeling the air escape him as Gil squeezed him tightly. “Gilly-I can’t breathe-it’s not real, I swear.”

Ben looked heartbroken at the sight of Gil, being so afraid of the beast his father once was. He would have to make sure that fear no longer existed, in both Carlos and Gil. Ben spoke to Carlos, not wanting to bring attention to Gil who was slowly realizing the beast before him was fake-and not the monster that would kill him like his father said it would. “Carlos, it’s okay.” Ben said with a comforting smile, watching as Jay put Carlos back on his feet-looking annoyed yet concerned for the younger vk. “my father wanted his statue to convert from beast to man, to remind us that anything is possible.”

Mal hummed, wanting the ease the tension that had erupted thanks to Gil and Carlos. “Does he shed much?” she joked, not expecting Ben’s response. “Yeah, mom won’t let him on the couch,” Ben said with a sly grin, chuckling as she stared at him in thinly veiled amusement.

Ben caught your eyes, where you were just staring at him with the clear thought of ‘food’ in your eyes, Ben rolled his eyes fondly and continued on with the tour. “so this is the dorm building, as I said-where you will be staying, there's a cafeteria in the west wing that’s open from seven to midnight-though lunch during the school day is held at the school-otherwise all your meals will be here. there's also a library, a pool, a lounge, a study hall, a student kitchen, and a medical room for any emergencies.” Ben explained, entering the entrance hall of the building.

Jay attempted to steal a vase-admiring the pastel colors and gold painting on it-Carlos slapped his arm and shook his head. Jay just grinned, looking around as Ben and Audrey came to a stop at the end of the room-while you found your way up the staircase on the right.

Harry looked up at you, tilting his head slightly as you picked at your nails, no longer listening as Mal once again asked about magic and wands. “Yeah it exists of course,” Ben answered, Audrey still clinging to his arm as Harry stared up at you, smirking as you rose your brow at him after catching his stare. “but it’s pretty much retired. Most of us here are just, ordinary mortals.” Ben laughed, his smile growing as Mal joked around a little bit-something Audrey was not happy with.

Well, if Harry was dating someone-and saw them basically flirting with someone else right in front of them-he wouldn’t be happy either. So he couldn’t exactly blame Audrey for being possessive-Mal was as much of a thief as he and Jay were.

“who-happen to be kings and queens,” Mal said with a roll of her eyes, her smile dropping as Audrey interrupted her, looking all too happy to wrap Ben’s arm around her to claim him. “That’s true! Our royal blood goes back hundreds of years~” Harry shared a look with you, and you once again mimicked dying, making Harry laugh again.

Gil glanced between the two of you, hiding his smile as Harry went back to enjoying the stupidity of the new rivalry between Audrey and Mal. Ben looked all too happy to see one of those band kids making his way down the stairs, holding a clipboard and muttering to himself. Ben called out his name and quickly made his way to meet the band kid. “Doug! Come down!” Doug, a string bean of a kid with glasses-quickly jogged down the stairs to meet Ben, who tossed his arm over Doug’s shoulder and introduced him to the vks.

“This is Doug. He’s going to help you with your class schedules, and show you the rest of the dorms!” Ben gave a smile to Doug, who smiled back-happy to help his friend. Ben walked back over the vks, mostly looking at Mal-something Evie smiled at. “I’ll see you later, okay?” it was almost as if he was speaking directly to Mal, but his words were directed to all the vks. Mal nodded, and Ben stepped back, Audrey automatically clinging to his arm again. “and If there is anything you need, feel free to-“

Audrey quickly interrupted him, not wanting to lose her boyfriend to the vks. “Ask Doug or (y/n)~” Audrey sang, sharing another fake laugh with Mal that drew out into a sigh-Mal halfway glaring at the pastel-covered princess as she made Ben move along. He paused, looking back at Harry and Gil. “Harry, Gil?” they perked up, wondering what the prince wanted. “(y/n) will be your guide around the school, so if you need anything-just go to her!” With that, Ben was pulled away by Audrey-who didn’t want to be around the vks for a second longer.

The vks turned to Doug as he waved to get their attention, looking only the slightest bit nervous as the villain kids stared him down. “Hi, guys, I’m Dopey’s son? As in Dopey, Doc, Bashful, Happy-“ Doug went off to name almost all his uncles, the vks simply ignoring him and looking around the room-Jay finding what was worth stealing as Mal looked for ways they could sneak out later to get the wand. Doug caught Evie’s eye and he flushed, stuttering as she smirked at him-putting on her charm while Jay and Carlos rolled their eyes knowingly.

“heigh-ho,” Doug muttered, cheeks pink as Evie sauntered up to him, curling a lock of hair around her finger. “Evie,” she purred, giving the lanky boy a once over "Evil queen’s daughter~" Doug continued to stare, only snapping out of it when he realized he was staring.

“okay-so, about your classes. I put in the requirements already,” Mal perked up and went to look over Doug’s shoulder, looking at the classes she and the others would be attending. There were six sheets of paper-their names at the top of each sheet-Mal’s was in the front giving her full view of her schedule.

She had the classes Doug was mentioning currently, along with math, English, life without magic, and science. No matter, it’s not like she would need the schedule anyway-they were getting the wand tonight.

“and-remedial goodness 101!” Doug finished with a smile and Mal smirked, taking candy from her pocket and popping it into her mouth. “Lemme guess, new class?” Mal guessed, and Doug nodded-looking sympathetic, and Mal saw that the class was taught by FG-so that was just-so much fun~

“Come on guys, let’s go find our dorms,” Mal said, gaining the attention of her crew, while Harry and Gil turned to look at you as you started to make your way up the stairs-Mal and the others going up the other stairwell. You let out a sharp whistle, gaining their attention while Doug stared at Evie. “Your dorms are this way guys,” you said with a smirk, pointing behind you. Mal pressed her lips together, quickly descending the stairs and following you to the dorms; the rest of the vks close behind.

-

Harry pushed open the door to his and Gil’s room, his brows raising as he stepped inside. It was huge-almost as big as the captain's quarters on his dads ship. “wow,” Gil muttered, speeding into the room and touching everything he could see “holy shit Harry! This place is huge!” Gil looked out the window as Harry trailed his fingers against the Auradon kingdom map on the wall, nodding as Gil continued to explore.

“Aye, and very…green,” Harry muttered, everything was either blue, green, gold, or brown. With books, athletic gear, and other nick-nacks decorating the room. their bags sat on the two beds in the room-both sitting by the windows. Harry jumped as Gil turned on a large flat screen tv-clicking through every channel available. He found one with cartoons-something about a red-haired spy and her dorky partner who had a naked rat-and sat down on his bed, staring at the TV with wide eyes.

"Harry-“ Gil said, jumping off the bed almost as soon as he sat down, turning to press his hands into the mattress. “Harry, this bed is so fucking soft-Harry come here-“ Harry grumbled, letting Gil tug him around and push him into the bed, pausing as he sunk into the mattress.

“Why the fuck is it so soft?” Harry cursed, standing up and peeling back the sheets-clenching his jaw as he and Gil pressed their hands into the mattress and it sprang back up in no time-their mattresses back on the isle were practically sheets of lumpy stone.

Harry almost wished he had time to get used to the cloud-like mattress-but they were going to get the wand tonight, they had no time to waste. “So you like it? I trust it meets your, high standards” you asked, almost teasing them, leaning against the doorframe of their room. Gil nodded excitedly as he found the mini-fridge as Harry crossed his arms and shrugged.

“I mean, I can live with this,” Harry said, gesturing around the room that was 2x bigger than his own on his dads ship. You laughed, biting your lips as you nodded, “yeah?” Harry nodded, pursing his lips. “yeah,” you laughed again, pushing off the doorframe with one hand and leaning forward, one of your hands hanging as you glanced around the room. “Are you sure?”

Harry laughed this time, nodding again. “yeah, I’m sure.” You smiled at him, and Harry couldn't help but smile back. “okay, well thank you for tolerating it,” you hummed, pushing off the doorframe and nodding toward the room on the opposite side of the hall. “Whenever you guys are ready for lunch, just come get me and I can walk you guys to the cafeteria. Or if you want you could order room service-that is a thing here.” you laughed at the way Harry’s brows rose and turned on your heel, stepping into your room and closing the door with your foot.

 Before Harry could take a step-you quickly opened the door back up with a sheepish grin. “Forgot to mention it, but curfew is at midnight! Dinner is at six, and ends at eight-but the kitchens are open until curfew along with the student kitchen-okay that’s it bye!”  And you closed your door again, leaving the hallway in silence.

Harry quickly closed the door to the dorm and locked it, taking a deep breath as he looked around the grand room. “fuck.” He cursed quietly, looking back at Gil who was hypnotized by the cartoon-the red-haired spy now fighting against a pale woman wearing black and green.

Harry sighed, sitting down next to Gil and taking the bag of popcorn he had made, leaning into his palm as the two watched the cartoon. “how are we gonna pull this off gil?” Harry asked quietly, for the last-however many years-Uma had been the planner-the captain, and while Harry was still a leader-he had gotten used to following.

How were they going to do this without Uma?

“I don’t know Harry,” Gil said, snapping out of his cartoon daze, looking down at the apple juice that had been in the mini-fridge. “I really don’t know.”

Harry sighed, messing with the golden seashell bracelet on his wrist. “We’re doomed without Uma, ain't we?”

“Yep. Totally doomed.”

Harry smacked Gil on the shoulder, Gil yelped at the action “Hey! What gives?!”

“It was a rhetorical question, Gil.”

“How was I supposed to know that?!”

-end of p2-

P2~!!!! again-very happy with how this version is turning out! much easier to read with hella more content~!

permtaglist~!

@sephiralorange @queer-cosette @lunanight2012

@daughter-of-the-stars11 @musicarose @rintheemolion

@random-thoughts-004 @anythingbutmar @imtryingthisout

@dai-tsukki-desu @remembered-license @thecaptainsgingersnap

@thetrueghostqueen @littlewierdalien

POYW R!v2 taglist!

@reallysparklychaos

[amaiguri]

Before Page 1 Tag Game

Thanks to @maiemorrae for the tag and prompt! The premise of this one is:

What's one of the most interesting things that happens before Page #1?

Coincidentally... I made a giant post in my Discord the other day about the hypothetical prequel novel to Yssaia. I may or may not ever write it so someone else should just do it for me :P JK jk... unless... 🥺🥺🥺

Let's pass the tag on to @anyablackwood @zebee-nyx @cee-grice @whitherwordswither and @olive-riggzey -- But it is, of course, open to anyone who wants to infodump about their backstories!

Without further ado, an entire novel in bullet points under the cut:

THE HYPOTHETICAL BACKSTORY NOVEL

A Story, loosely follows Arlasaire and those around her as a metaphor for Thuille -- A country that was falsely repurposed, abused, and ultimately betrayed. A tragic treatise on the failures of individualism.

1. Arlasaire's Adoption + Gil's refusal of the call + His resolution to do better than his father

2. Einharde's Rise to Power + Romance to Gil's mother. He pisses off THROWAWAY BADGUY HOUSE that'll be dismantled by the end of the story.

3. Lucienne's Mother's Death as a Trigger for her Father to start abusing her

4. Gil and Arlasaire Training and bonding as he tries to protect her and fails

5. Diacaius starts operating Kalliopeia with Sipestro

6. Lucienne and Gil's Engagement from Lucienne's Perspective

7. Arlasaire's first kill -- choosing of her own volition to protect Gil from House dBad Guy and their plan to infect her family with Flavoneite

8. Diacaius and Kalliopeia bonding without Sipestro and she decides to be a girl and his daughter

9. Lucienne's dad starts acting a bit crazy around her and shows the dynamic put on her sisters and her. She is forced to hurt them.

10. Gil and Arlasaire spy on House Bad Guy she gets captured. Gil comes to save her -- finally protecting her for once.

11. They work together to take down Lord d'Veltre when he goes insane.

12. Lucienne Borthday party after dad dead, angsts about Gil, learns about the Dusters and the newfound Puppetmaster

13. Diacaius meets Nurelese

14. With the North united under dMagnia and dAramitz and dRomonach, they decide to free the long occupied Selkies and head South

15. Arlasaire and Gil go to thr Demonlands, but get in trouble. Ymver saves them. He's a legend and it's wild that he's returned. Gil immediately secures their future help through careful negotiarions --tho Ymver tells him to rely on Arls more.

16. Arls and Gil meet the Demon King, who tests them but then agrees to be their allies

17. They seize control of the selkie isles near Telethens with the help of the Demons and the Iceni. The Iceni Queen fights the most fiercely and invites them back for a victory feast

18. Diacaius is there, Einharde plays super dirty and beats him -- Einharde makes Arlasaire hogtie the man's wife and skin him for information about how to win which is how it happens

19. They are in Togen Oyer when Diacaius strikes back by organizing assassins killing the King and dragging one of the other Hall's queens off. Arls and Gil are sent home, out of the danger. Gil had to fight to get Arls to go home with him.

20. Gil starts habitually messing around, Arls gets worried. Einharde returns unexpectedly. Arlasaire has to cover her Gil at a dance as he's messing around with girls he isn't supposed to--fucking the middle girl and then also, Lucienne. Arls gets in trouble.

21. House Bad Guys come after Einharde as he's trying to get the funding in Court and he loses it. He beats up Arlasaire over it. Gil tries and fails to protect her.

22. To try to make up for it, they go out on the Yuletide and get her that infamous necklace.

23. Arlasaire and Gil get the assignment from the Demon King to retrieve his daughter and Ymver helps.

24. Arlasaire and Gil retrieve Astaroh, who tearfully parts from Solveng.

25. Gil and Astaroh hook up. Arls gets jelly and she and Gil fight.

26. Gil and Arlasaire drop off Astaroh, she meets her father, Arls wonders if she will ever be loved like that by Einharde. She decides to confront him about it, demand to be loved or she won't help him pass his legislation to defund House Bad Guys.

27. Einharde dies of a heart attack, Gil doesn't let Arlasaire comfort him and turns to Lucienne immediately.

28. Lucienne invites Arlasaire to join her and Gil. It's an awful relationship for all of them. She sends Derecina to spy.

29. Derecina goes to the Puppet Master but gets seduced. He feeds her info that leads Lucienne and Gil to destory House d Bad Guy.

30. Lucienne and Gil and Arls destory House d Bad Guy, house Romanach gets their place formally.

31. Romanach befriends Arlasaire but Arlasaire rejects her a little.

32. Diacaius and Nurelese alter Kalliopeia with her permission, Kalliopeia is a little scared

33. Telethenians attack the isles, Arlasaire and Gil fight Diacaius for the first time alone. They have to retreat to Togen Oyer.

34. Arls and Gil make up and try to promise to face things together. But Gil doesn't trust her. And she has to convince herself to trust him.

35. Telethenians try to head North to Saegenheim. Arls and Gil manage to stop them by killing everyone on one of the ships and misleading it. Kalliopeia is in this battle and is blamed for the failure.

36. Sipestro and the Senate is annoyed that Diacaius changed her without permission and also that Diacaius is taking so much credit. Supestro blames Diacaius' changes for the failure. Diacaius shrugs him off. Sipestro gets Senate to vote to have that part of her removed or to have her dismantled and reexamined.

37. Gil spies on the South and finds out what's gonna happen to Togen Oyer. He starts acting sus but Arls chooses to trust him.

38. Lucienne has a meltdown over Gil being out there with Arlasaire after flashing back to when Arls said "At least he loves me"

39. The Battle of Togen Oyer begins. Gil sees the signs on the wall and seeks to turn traitor. Diacaius tells Gil he has to kill Arlasaire if he wants the rest of his house spared.

40. Senate votes to recall Kalliopeia in the middle of battle. Diacaius convinces Kalliopeia agree they need to use the nuke to prove their worth to the people.

41. Arlasaire and Gil fight. Arls kills Gil. Distraught. She vanishes from the Island with Ymver as Kalliopeia destroys it.

42. Epilogues:

A. Kalliopeia promises never to get dismantled to Diacaius and Nurelese, who promises they'll do anything to protect her.

B. Lucienne realizes that she's fundamentally broken without Gil and that she loves Arlasaire but is horrible to her.

C. And Arlasaire despairs that nothing matters without Gil and that she was never anything more than a symbol. With that, she holds her head high for Ymver crew and becomes the symbol that they need her to be in the face of defeat.

💜-------------------------💜

WOW! Did you actually read all that? Incredible! Thank you so much! I'll love you forever 🥺🥺🥺

[addictedtostorytelling]

Hello, I am asking about GSR because I love your thorough and thoughtful answers. I'm rewatching early CSI, and I know that the opinions of the producers towards GSR were not always favorable early on - they'd planned to can the whole relationship after S3, if I recall correctly, but WP & JF campaigned to keep them going. So I'm wondering, for early GSR, do you think that some of the claim that Grissom always loved Sara is retconned to fit the later plot? Or do you think that Grissom was written/acted to have been in love with her the whole series, and just keeping it under wraps, as the character later claims? Can we canonically read S1, S2 & S3 William Petersen acting a Grissom who doesn't know what to do with his feelings of love for Sara, or is it more likely that he was at the time meant to be acting as not sure how to handle her being so interested in him while his interest was not as strong? It seems like by S4 Butterflied that the writers & WP had decided Grissom was currently and had been in love with Sara. Would appreciate your thoughts!

hi, @nostromosigningoff!

thank you for your kind words! i'm glad you like my answers.

in response to your question:

up front, i will say i do not believe that the idea grissom expresses in episode 04x12 "butterflied" (and also at later points, such as in "immortality") that he has always been in love with sara represents a retcon.

for something to be a retcon, it has to contradict a previously established canonical plot point, thereby breaking the continuity.

for example, in s1, catherine is established to have a sister (who often helps to care for lindsey), but in later seasons, she is depicted as an only child; her sister being written out of existence is therefore a retcon.

so since it is never established that grissom definitely is not in love with sara pre-s4, then it can't be a retcon to have him say (or at least imply) in episode 04x12 "butterflied" that he has been in love with her the whole time he's known her.

it's not a rewriting of explicit history.

there is room within the narrative for what he says to be true and (within the universe of the show) to have always been true.

and, ultimately, i think the show makes it pretty clear that grissom does in fact have feelings for sara from the start, not only through explicit textual acknowledgment but also through certain acting choices billy makes, staging decisions, overarching themes, etc.

that said, the question of "was he (outside of the universe of the show) always intended to have been in love with her and only her from the beginning?" is, admittedly, a little more complicated, the answer running along the lines of "yes and no."

more discussion after the "keep reading," if you're interested.

__

first, some clarification: despite the fact that the showrunners eventually questioned the viability of gsr at the end of s3 (after grissom had declined sara's dinner invitation in episode 03x22 "play with fire"), they were not (in general) unfavorable to romantic gsr prior to that point.

while anthony zuiker had never intended for csi to be a show that focused primarily on the characters' home and love lives (and instead wanted to keep the drama firmly situated in their work), gsr had indeed been conceptualized of as a romance—and a mutual romance, at that—from day 1*.

* or technically "day 2," since jorja fox was only hired and the character of sara sidle only created after they had already filmed the pilot.

jorja fox was cast as sara with the understanding that her character would be "the love interest for gil grissom"—and note the wording she was supplied, which suggests that grissom has an interest in sara (and not that sara has unrequited feelings for him). she knew going into the job that her character was meant to match up with the show's leading man and be the object of his attraction.

to that end, many scenes throughout csi s1, s2, and s3 were written and/or directed and acted with the gsr romantic angle explicitly in mind—with the feelings evident on both sides.

multiple episodes of the early seasons heavily feature and develop the notion that grissom does have both a sexual attraction and an emotional connection to sara, beyond anyone else, and only really make sense within that context (e.g., episodes 01x03 "crate n' burial," 01x10 "sex, lies, & larvae," 01x23 "the strip strangler," 02x16 "primum non nocere," the entire grissom jealousy arc of early s3, etc.).

moreover, within these episodes, sara is not always shown as being the "pursuer." there are plenty of times when grissom expresses his attraction to, feelings for, and devotion to her unprompted, such as, for example, in episode 02x16 "primum non nocere."

this example is especially relevant to our question, as grissom's "since i met you" quip not only establishes his attraction and emotional connection to sara but also specifies that it has been a "from the moment he met her" deal. since when does he care about beauty? literally from the moment he met her and realized how beautiful she is.

the fact that he does so proves: he's not just a boss stuck in the awkward position of having a subordinate with unrequited feelings for him; he has feelings of his own, which he often expresses independent of her saying or doing anything to provoke him to.

while he is undeniably conflicted about his feelings and unsure of what to do about them, the fact is that he does have them.

and much of the tension between grissom and sara in the early seasons is based on that reality—both explicit narrative cues (such as catherine bringing the issue up to grissom in episode 02x15 "burden of proof," prodding him to deal with whatever lingering romantic feelings exist between him and sara so they can effectively work together) and billy's acting choices make that point clear.

the problem is that neither grissom nor sara can ever just fully walk away from their connection; that deep down, neither one of them wants to.

so.

outside of the universe of the show, the situation was that the showrunners had this ship that had been written as being romantic from the beginning, with mutual feelings on both sides, which they had then teased for so long and complicated in so many ways that after three seasons—which is the traditional point at which most tv "will they or won't they?" couples have their slow-burn arcs resolved—they were questioning if it was still viable (and particularly as the ship was polarizing and not universally popular with the fans).

after all, by this time, they had already had grissom and sara acknowledge the attraction head-on (see episodes 03x02 "the accused is entitled" and 03x22 "play with fire") and had had grissom turn down sara's direct romantic overture toward him, so it was time to either "drive or get out of the car," so to speak.

it was never the case that the showrunners (as a collective) had hated gsr or been against it as a romance from the get-go. it had also never been the case that they viewed it as a one-sided, "sara is in love with him but he is indifferent to her" thing, either.

whatever else may be true, grissom was consistently shown to have feelings for sara (which oftentimes complicated their interactions).

it's just that after the rigmarole of s3, there was some question of "now that we've gotten grissom and sara to this (fraught) point, should we bother to continue their romantic relationship? or is our audience burnt out on all this angst? do people actually still want to see them together?"

the writers were inclined to think no, especially because (as stated) gsr as a concept had always been divisive among fans.

however, both billy and jorja understood gsr to be so central to their characters that they advocated for the romantic storyline to continue (and eventually see some consummation).

over the course of the hiatus between s3 and s4, they lobbied to maintain the ship (or, in other words, to go with the original plan), and eventually, they persuaded the showrunners to stick with it, which meant that s4 began with romantic gsr "still on the table."

as talked about in this excerpt from the csi: crime scene investigation companion book,

because billy and jorja were successful in their campaign, there was essentially no gap in coverage with gsr being written as romantic throughout the series; that throughline persisted from episode 01x02 "cool change" on, even after the events of episode 03x22 "play with fire."

now.

all of the above said, a couple of things should be noted:

first, csi was always a show with multiple writers who, though they functioned as a team, were nevertheless not a monolith in terms of how they conceptualized of the show, its characters, their storylines, etc.

that so, mileage would often vary with csi storytelling depending on which particular writer was the primary one for a particular script or even longer story arc.

though gsr was conceived of as a romance from the beginning of the series, prior to them "going canon" with the big reveal at the end of s6, there were various writers who put their own spins on the ship. some of them applied little effort to developing the romance angle as main text on the show, adhering to the zuiker "focus on the criminalistics" mandate to the letter and leaving it mostly to billy and jorja to inflect their performances with attraction/interest "between the lines" as they would in the absence of more explicit treatment in their scripts. however, others would alternate based on their own whims or what the story of the day called for, sometimes teasing the romance explicitly and other times downplaying it and/or leaving it understated (especially in favor of other potential grissom ships, like kessom). still others consistently played to and developed the romance, pushing that overarching story along and establishing it as a series mainline (the most reliable captains of this last camp, for my money, being david rambo and sarah goldfinger).

there was also variation, even among those writers who did place gsr romance on the center stage, in terms of how they portrayed the dynamic, and particularly with regards to the question of grissom's characterization within it. some wrote more toward grissom being confused, others toward grissom being repressed and afraid, others toward him being manipulative of sara's feelings, others toward him being conscientious of power structures and professional considerations, etc. they also had multifarious interpretations of the exact nature of the romance itself, especially in terms of what grissom and sara's pre-vegas history might be, the type(s) of attraction at play and how that might manifest, what exactly the characters' hang-ups and motivations with regards to each other were, the level of intimacy between them, etc.

that being the case, we can't really speak of all of the writers and showrunners sharing a common attitude toward or understanding of gsr without oversimplifying the matter.

the truth is, views among the writing and production staff on the show toward gsr were as various as they were/are within the fandom.

carol mendelsohn, for example, has spoken of the fact that there was never a consensus in the writers' room about whether or not grissom and sara had slept together prior to sara moving to las vegas. she personally felt that they had, though other writers/producers felt they hadn't.

while there was a baseline understanding across the production that sara was meant to be grissom's love interest and that there was some kind of nebulous ~history between them, there were lots of different ways members of the production team interpreted and depicted that relationship beat (which is why the gsr storyline sometimes feels so inconsistent, even within the course of a single season).

another thing we have to keep in mind when talking about intentionality re: gsr romance is that while we as fans often talk of ships "always being endgame," more often than not, showrunners and writers don't operate with that kind of certainty in place.

with the exceptions of shows where the main romance is the be-all, end-all central plot point, with the whole story revolving around particular characters getting together/staying together/having an eventual happy ending, in most cases, most tv romances do not come with a guarantee of endgame status. writers prefer to keep their options open, writing toward what is most interesting and playing on chemistry wherever they may happen upon it.

they also sometimes are constrained by production realities (such as studio mandates, shifting actor availabilities, cast dynamics issues, etc.), which make it so they can't necessarily just "write what they want."

that so, while it is accurate to say that the writers always conceived of gsr as being mutually romantic in nature—as per the character notes jorja was given by the production team and the fact that when billy and jorja first met, they did so with the understanding that they were going to be scene partners/playing love interests going forward—it is not accurate to say that they always believed (much less knew for a fact) that grissom and sara would wind up together in the end/become the flagship of the show, spanning all fifteen seasons and a movie/get married and live happily ever after, and particularly not from the beginning of the show.

sara was meant to be grissom's primary love interest from the beginning, yes—and certainly their dynamic was written with mutual feelings/interest on both sides.

however, "primary" does no mean "only," and neither does it necessarily mean "forever."

that so, before the character was really solidified, particularly in early s1, the writers had occasionally fitted grissom into some interim romances and tried to present him more as the archetypal "cad about town" than would later be the case.

they also, as the show progressed, sometimes teased and explored other romantic options for him than sara, mainly with heather kessler, writing those interactions in such a way that (had they wanted to, and particularly had the audience reacted favorably) they could have slotted heather in as grissom's "primary romantic option" rather than sara instead.

so for as much as sara was created to be grissom's love interest from the beginning and for as much as gsr was written as a romance (with feelings on both sides) from sara's first appearance on the show, gsr was not necessarily intended from the beginning to be endgame.

in the writers' views, it was one option of many potential ones—a main option, a consistent option, an option they poured a lot of narrative time and attention into developing over the course of the show's first three seasons, yes, but an option all the same; one possible choice among many.

it wasn't until s4, after billy and jorja's intercession, that they really decided to make gsr endgame, knocking all other possibilities off the table.

that choice on their parts was, of course, cemented in episode 04x12 "butterflied."

so.

getting back to your original question of "was grissom always written/acted as being in love with sara from the get-go or was he originally meant (prior to s4) to have been more uncertain?" here are my thoughts:

as established, both billy petersen and jorja fox knew from the beginning that their characters were meant to have some kind of romantic connection, and the writers were definitely conceiving of gsr that way.

it is also true that gsr was not intended to be one-sided; grissom was written and depicted as being an active participant from the beginning, just as sara was.

but as also established, the particulars of the connection between grissom and sara were very much "not pinned down."

it wasn't as if the writers wrote up a "gsr dossier" and handed it over to billy and jorja and said, "here is the entire history your characters share together, complete with notes about how exactly they feel about each other and what beats and nuances you should play with them going forward. also, you should know that we intend for them to eventually get married and be together forever, so make sure to foreshadow that as much as you can."

to the contrary: both billy and jorja have often spoken of the fact that given the preponderance of "blanks" in their character histories and how little information the writers gave them to go on regarding grissom and sara's past dynamic, they often consulted with each other to come up with what we fans might refer to as "headcanons" about what they believed had happened between grissom and sara in san francisco, as well as to make sense of what was currently going on between them at any given point during the early seasons of the show. they relied on each other to "get on the same page" and to create internal cohesion in their performances.

it wasn't something that was just handed to them.

they were also in the same boat as members of the audience when it came to wondering what the future held for grissom and sara as a couple while the show was still running.

while they knew their characters were romantically entangled, they didn't know to what end.

at the beginning, there was so much ship teasing.

but would grissom and sara ever get together? if they did, would the relationship be long-term?

they didn't know.

they were just going along with the story as it was being written.

and, as discussed above, the writers themselves didn't have some huge, overarching plan to start out with. they knew from the onset that sara was an emotional touchstone for grissom and someone he was deeply connected and attracted to, but they weren't necessarily married to the idea that grissom and sara would themselves get married.

as stated, "endgame gsr" was one possibility among many, and, particularly at the show's onset, when there were no guarantees of how long csi would even be on the air, it was a long-shot, far-off-into-the-future, we'll-get-there-if-we-get-there possibility at that.

there were a lot of moving parts in play and nothing was set in stone.

so.

all of the above being the case, can we say definitively that every second billy played grissom on screen, his intention as an actor was to depict grissom as being deeply in love with sara? can we say that he always fully understood grissom's motivations and knew that grissom was scared of the depths of his feelings for sara (as opposed to just being unsure of how to deal with her intensity)?

no.

while it's a safe bet to say billy was always aware that grissom and sara had history and that there was a possibility that they would eventually become a couple from the start, we can't say that he always knew exactly what was going on with them. there might very well have been times when he felt like the attraction was more one-sided or when he doubted anything would ever transpire between them; even when he perhaps thought that the writers might take grissom down other roads for romance instead (i.e., pair grissom with heather).

that said, did he, as an actor, nevertheless always seem to keep those initial notes on grissom and sara's connection "in his back pocket" so that grissom's emotional attachment to sara and attraction to sara played a consistent role in his characterization?

yes.

and did he regularly depict grissom emotionally reacting to sara (even if the nature of his reactions was more ambiguous), such that we as viewers can easily believe grissom's later claims that he has always been in love with sara when we view them from an in-universe perspective?

absolutely.

the facts that billy and jorja did come up with their own takes on gsr and talk through that "secret history" together and that billy so often ad-libbed some of the most romantic gsr lines ("since i met you," anyone?) and that billy did imbue grissom's reactions to sara with such emotion all strongly suggest that even if he didn't know for sure—based on a "word of god" dictum from the showrunners—what the exact nature of grissom and sara's relationship was or that they would for sure end up together, he was playing romance between them, and it was a consistent, deliberate acting decision on his part.

see, for example, his comments about his ad-lib of grissom calling sara "honey" in episode 03x22 "play with fire": "[the producers] said, ‘he can’t call her honey.’ but that’s exactly what would happen. he’s afraid for her—he’s afraid for everybody—but it is specifically for sara. he knows the stress she’s been under with him. with her shock, she doesn’t even know until later on that he called her honey. he doesn’t know that he called her honey. only the audience knows."

he may not have been able to say for sure, "i know sara is the love of grissom's life and that he's going to marry her someday, so i'm gonna play him that way in every episode." but he knew enough to recognize the importance of that connection and to consistently depict it, leaving the door for development open.

he also knew enough (along with jorja) to advocate for the continuance of the gsr romantic storyline at a time when the showrunners were doubtful of it.

and because he did, grissom's later in-universe claims that he's been in love with sara the whole time are emminently believable, regardless of what kinds of questions were being asked behind the scenes regarding the viability of gsr from a production standpoint.

so that's the thing: when i look at grissom and sara's story, i see nothing in it that contradicts the idea that they've been madly and mutually in love with each other since 1998—and, in fact, i think their story only really makes sense when viewed through that lens.

even for as indecisive and tempestuous as grissom can be about his relationship with sara in the early seasons, never for one second do i doubt that he has feelings for her.

there is no episode i can look at and go, "yeah, at this point, gsr was completely off the table. they just added it in later."

if grissom was just wholesale uncomfortable with sara's romantic attentions on him and not sure how to deal with them, then episodes like 01x10 "sex, lies, & larvae," 01x16 "too tough to die," 01x23 "the strip strangler," 02x05 "scuba doobie-doo," 02x15 "burden of proof," 02x16 "primum non nocere," 02x23 "the hunger artist" (which, lest we forget, explicitly features grissom seeking out sara while a love song plays), 03x02 "the accused is entitled," 03x09 "blood lust," 03x22 "play with fire," 04x03 "homebodies," and 04x07 "invisible evidence" would never have happened—or at least wouldn't have played out the way that they in canon do.

and mind you: all of those episodes take place before episode 04x12 "butterflied" stakes its claims to the longevity, singularity, and depths of grissom's love for sara.

in those episodes, grissom's romantic feelings for sara are all made main text—acknowledged not only through william petersen's acting choices but in dialogue, staging, and even through the show's soundtrack.

they are deliberately shown.

and what's more: nowhere in the show is grissom depicted as having that same sort of consistent, almost unavoidable emotional connection with anyone else, either.

though of course fans can and do argue about what he may feel for heather or even other potential love interests besides sara, the fact is that just by sheer volume and duration, his connection with sara is his longest, most intense relationship on the show by far.

even if one does believe he may at some point have feelings for heather (which, of course, i don't), it would always be a situation of "and" not "instead of" where sara in concerned.

his love for sara is a thread that runs through the whole tapestry of the show.

it's never the case that he stops having feelings for her in favor of having feelings for anyone else. he also never really moves on from her, even when he declines her romantic overtures at the end of s3.

so at the end of the day, though neither the showrunners nor the writers nor the actors may have known with surety from the beginning that sara would end up being grissom's one true love and the only woman he ever had any real feelings for, and while at various points during the production there definitely were other options they considered, what the show ends up actually depicting (all doylist intentions aside) is that sara is the object of grissom's heart from day 1.

it's not a retcon for the writers or grissom himself to say he has always been in love with sara, because there is consistent evidence of it, both internal and external to the show, from the start.

it's not something that was shoehorned in or decided upon long after the fact.

the option was there from the day jorja fox signed her contract.

and it was given consistent enough narrative attention, both by the writers and by the actors, that by the time it is explicitly stated, it doesn't at all "come out of nowhere" or contradict anything already established in the show. rather, it confirms what has already been implied for a very long time prior.

so tl;dr? while the showrunners may not necessarily have been sold on a gsr endgame from the start, that also isn't to say that they were against it, either, or that eventually "going there" went against their original intentions.

gsr had always been on the table, and billy, for his part, consummate knower of his character that he is, was always, from the beginning aware of that possibility and depicted grissom accordingly, leaving that door for a gsr romance open, so that now it seems very clear looking back that the love was there all along.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

[cartoonfanaticmonsterrobotalien]

Solar Opposites: Mighty Solars The Movie Ch. 15/Epilogue

Six months later…

Korvo and Terry are spending time with the kids as they smile.

Terry: I'm telling ya, it's been a good six months.

Korvo: Yeah. sees Jesse rolling the dice as he gets a score Whoa! Nice job on Monopoly honey!

Jesse: Yeah!

Sonya: giggling while Janiz, Kimber, Evil Terry, Dr. Weatherstone, Nova, Sherbet and the AIS joins in

Evil Terry kisses Dr. Weatherstone on the cheek.

Phoebe MacCarthy: Wow! Awesome job guys!

Yumyulack: Thanks Phoebe.

Nova comes up and kisses Phoebe on the cheek as she smiles. Sherbet sits down next to them as she hugs her new mom Nova. Suddenly someone is heard screaming. The family looks. Then, they look at each other as they heroically smirk.

Terry: You guys ready for this?

The family then nod at each other.

Korvo: Fuck yeah.

We then cut to the city where a morbidly obese creature is wreaking havoc. Suddenly, an ice breath hits him, which came from Dr. Weatherstone, now known as the Blizzard as the rest of the Mighty Solars land.

Terry/Mighton: You just met your match, fatso!

Janiz/Ms. Quasar: You ready guys?!

Mighty Solars: READY!

As the heroes prepare for battle a monologue from Quasarblast is heard as he looks at his family, friends and loved ones.

Korvo/Quasarblast: voiceover There will always be some tough times when you have to go through some changes…

Then, he joins up with his friends as they get in a heroic stance.

Korvo/Quasarblast: voiceover But no matter what happens, even if you have a side of yourself you’re afraid, that doesn’t mean you’re gonna lose yourself. Because, you have the best people in the world, your family and the people you care about that is always gonna be right by your side, even through our darkest moments. Because, that’s what makes you a hero…

Quasarblast then nods at his family and friends for the signal. Vil-Gil-An-T takes Fung-irl's hand.

Yumyulack/Vil-Gil-An-T: Ready sisters?!

Jesse/Fung-irl and Sonya/Nighthowler: Yeah!

Pupa/Mighty Pupa: Yeah!

Korvo/Quasarblast: MIGHTY SOLARS, ROLL OUT!

Mighty Solars: YEAH!

The scene then zooms out to the Mighty Solars Movie Logo. Then credits roll while “One For All” from Dan Stevens play:

As the credits roll, one music plays after “One for All” ends. “F.L.Y.” from Ice Nine Kills:

Then an end credits scene is shown. The end credits show the Solars, in their human forms, with Sonya and Phoebe. Human Korvo and Human Terry then looks at their new baby. A baby girl named Lili.

Human Korvo: Hello Lili…

Lili coos and holds Terry's hand.

Human Terry: She’s beautiful…

Human Korvo: I know...

Evil Terry, Dr. Weatherstone, the AIS, Janiz and Kimber came up them as they join them watching the sunset as they sit down.

Dr. Weatherstone: Guys, Evil Terry and I have some exciting news.

Human Korvo: What is it?

Evil Terry: We're getting fucking married, baby!

The Solars gasp in joy and congratulated them.

Human Jesse: Oh my gosh! Congratulations!

As the family congratulated the family, Dr. Weatherstone smile and talks to Lili.

Dr. Weatherstone: Hey Lili.

Lili coos.

Dr. Weatherstone: What do you think Lili? Are you happy your uncle and I are getting married?

Lili babbles and touches Evil Terry's face. As the family celebrate, the screen fades to black. Then, it shows the 20th Century Fox Productions logo.

[feeling-high-with-pride]

Thinking about Odin and Magpie...

On some brainrot stuff again so I’m gonna ramble about the Arrow siblings. 

A long while ago I saved a translation of the nordic runes in panel 1547, seen below;

I can’t recall who did the translation (whether it was from here or Reddit, so if someone knows I’ll add credits to them!) but it reads:

“I woke up this morning and realised that I could not remember the sound of her voice. Her laugh echoes in my head when I try hard enough to imagine it. But it's nothing more than an empty weightless reflection of reality teetering on the cusp of my memory and it only brings me pain to try and remember it. But my fear of forgetting her is much more powerful and so I must remember and end up at the same question of everybody in the universe. What did we do to deserve this. Why me?"

This, written in Odin’s notebook presumably, was shown directly after Moribund Malediction. There is a level of intense melancholy associated with this writing, exploring a sense of longing to remember those who are no longer with us. If Odin did write this, then there are two characters that this reflection piece could be referring to; either Magpie or Odin’s mother. I’m more inclined to believe it’s Odin’s mother in this sense, as it’s been a longer period of time since she’s been around versus Magpie’s disappearance about 2 and a half years prior to the main story. 

Tragically, Odin is forgetting his mother. 

It doesn’t help that Pedri (later in the story when Odin is unveiling his “tragic backstoryTM”) was shown to be tormenting Odin through the visage of his mother. Being shown so many illusions, and perhaps turning to the herbs he smokes as a way of deterring Pedri, it would make sense if Odin has begun to forget what his mother was actually like when he was younger. It seems like the only good memory or dream he has of her is from when he was born around Gildhaust and she was showing him around. 

It would be really sad if Odin was forgetting Magpie too, but from the clearer shots of her in his memories I do doubt it. 

Speaking of Magpie, I went back to check out some panels I knew existed (namely panels 1275-1277, which appear just after Ava is trapped in the Gate to Paradise machine. 

Looking back on these...it has to be Magpie! The bow, the blue...it just makes sense!

The first image shows Magpie looking rather happy, holding the hand of a featureless figure. This is likely Magpie with her ‘inbisible friend’, as she told Odin when they were younger. The inclusion of a happy sun (I think it is one on the righthand side?) is interesting, given that Aedinfell hasn’t been with a proper sun for a long time. 

The second image shows Magpie looking much more upset and crying, standing alongside two other girls of similar (if not exact) stature. This must be her sisters; Crow and Raven. As the youngest of the triplets, she often was given a lot of grief (in Odin’s words), so this drawing seems to exemplify that! It’s possible she was bullied by her sisters, or teased for being the youngest. 

The third image is a bit more confusing in my opinion. There’s 6 vertical lines followed by a faceless girl. It doesn’t appear to be Magpie specifically, since the bow is missing, but it could always be her regardless. My first thought (which could be wrong) was that the lines plus the girl equal to seven, like the seven deadly sins that the Hosts are meant to portray. Ava = Wrath, Odin = Pride, Gil = Envy, Maggie = Lust, Erios = Greed(?) and then three others that have yet to be revealed. What if this signifies that Magpie is the last Host we’ll meet pertaining to these sins? Honestly she’s probably not, but it’d be pretty cool. 

If anyone has thoughts on that last image I’d love to hear them.

Anyway, I guess the point of these rambles is that I think the Arrow siblings need a big hug and lots of blankets because holy shit this family is traumatised af, and definitely need the additional care and love that they missed out on getting when they were kids.