#as you can see i'm rewatching the third opening too many times

[princesssmars]

practical magick

a stiles stilinski x witch!reader

plot : just when stiles thought he had gotten used to the dramatics of the supernatual, he happens across you performing magic in the forest. when you fail to wipe his memory, his thursday afternoon gets a whole lot weirder.

wc : 4.678

contains : sfw. kissing at the end. the picture for look inspo is fair-skinned but the reader's skin color is not described! reader has hair! google translated latin sorry 😞i like my men loserish and obsessed sorry.

a/n : yasss a little halloween special. rewatching teen wolf for the third time bc idfk. is it obvious i love witch!reader's yet.

for the first time in over a decade, stiles stilinksi was bored out of his mind.

he had previously thought that given his adhd gave him a deep desire to be doing literally anything all the time that the word bored wouldn't enter his daily vocabulary until he died.

yet here he is, kicking his feet at the dead leaves on the ground as he searched for any hidden traces of wolfsbane. the only reasons this had even happened was because he had opened his big mouth too many times and was sent on a busy quest by deaton, to "make sure the surrounding areas were safe for werewolves."

just reminding himself of what led him here was enough to tick him off again. it wasn't like the past two years have been easy, being under the constant threat of werewolves, werewolf hunters, kanimas, etcetera etcetera. it was enough to stress out the most stable of adults, and stiles was the direct opposite of that, so of course he got nervous and started talking over people and pissing them off.

"stupid wolfsbane, stupid werewolves," he mumbles, kicking at more of the dead brown leaves on the forest floor, tearing a line of the familiar purple plant up from the ground and stuffing it into the brown sack in his other hand. once he was done it was likely it would either be tucked in jars in deaton's stash or burned. he wouldn't mind seeing the latter.

its another twenty moments of grumbling and scavenging before a sound in the distance stops him in his tracks. he stands still, making sure that he barely breathes before he relaxes, figuring his anger and memories are making him paranoid of the woods.

a minute later he wishes his mind was playing tricks on him, because he nears the noise again, but this this its louder.

"its closer," he thinks.

he barely even registers when his legs start running. he may have a bag full of wolfsbane, but there was no guarantee the threat was something the plant could harm. and he didn't feel like tempting fate today.

at this point he's slightly lost his direction, but when he passes the stunted redwood stump he and scott carved their names into during the fifth grade he starts to understand where he is, and as his heart beats in his hears he knows if he turns right here he'll come up onto the old willow tree-

in the span of ten seconds he smacks head on into a hard object, falling on his ass and gasping as the air is knocked from his lungs. he blinks quickly to try to rid of the black spots in his vision, and before he can comprehend it he's making eye contact with you.

he's slightly embarrassed that the first thought that races across his mind is how pretty you are. he knows he should be wary of you, but he can't help it. your hair is a rich (h/c), seeming to almost shine despite the sun being blocked by clouds. your skin is smooth and your eyes are gorgeous and big and still staring straight at him.

you both rush to stand up. he holds his hands out in a way that you would calm a wild animal, hoping it doesn't piss you off.

you continue to stare at him. which isn't helping calm down his racing pulse.

"uh, alright. look, i'm not gonna hurt you, alright? i'm just...looking for something..."

before he can finish his sentence, you raise your hands to cup the sides of his face. his words die in his mouth and he feels his cheeks warm up to the point he's surprised they haven't burned your palms. you look determined, and for a second he feels like he's gone to heaven

"convertere et perge quid agas. oblivisceris quid hic vidisti."

turn around and continue what you're doing. you will forget what you saw here.

his mouth opens and his brows scrunch in shock. he never thought those latin lessons he took online and with lydia would pay off, but he's really glad he did them now.

he considers doing what you said, just turning around and forgetting all about this encounter. but unfortunately his curiosity is getting the better of him, and if his suspicions are correct he needs to know more about you.

"i'm gonna guess you just tried to put a spell on me, right?"

your eyes widen so largely he's afraid they're going to pop out of your skull.

"i..i don't understand, that should have worked. are you a warlock? druid?"

"no, no. i'm just stiles." he tells. his guess that you were something supernatural is partially confirmed, since you know about druids and the whole tried to put a spell on him thing.

"well, stiles, unless you tell me why my spell didn't work on you i'm most likely going to have to kill you." you deadpan.

he thinks you're kidding so he eta out a strained laugh. you don't even twitch.

he wracks his brain for a good enough excuse that will save his life before his arm moves without command and thrusts the bag in your direction.

"well, i have a uh, a bag full of wolfsbane, if that matters at all. pretty sure it does since…yeah…wolfsbane”

yours eyes dart from him to the bag, most likely not trusting that their isn’t some insta-death powder that will pop out as soon as you open it, so he looses his thumbs grip and steps closer so you can see the purple herbs inside.

“hate to admit it but you’re right,” you sigh, pushing back some hair from your face. his eyes follow the movement before darting back to yours.“ that much wolfsbane would make most supernatural or magical doings wonky.”

"yes, yes! exactly. that makes sense. im sorry about that-"

"why would you even have that much wolfsbane anyway? are you a hunter?"

"what? no, no! im not, i swear to you im not a hunter. i can explain this, really i can." he nearly chokes on his words at the speed he speaks.

you stare at him for a few seconds more before crossing your arms over your chest, hopefully about to let him explain why he has a bag filled to the brim with a dangerous plant on a random afternoon.

when you start to walk directly past him into the forest he doesn’t think he’s ever been more confused.

"fine. you can explain it on the way back.”

he’s as still as a statue as he process your words. you just accused him of being a hunter and now you want him to follow you to whatever mysterious place your going? even for him this is weird, and he’s ten seconds from refusing-

“hurry up.”

he rushes to catch up behind you.

after around twenty minutes of stiles repeatedly asking where you were going followed by silence on your end, you finally reach a clearing in the woods filled by a large victorian-era house, fully black with large looming windows lit up by warm golden lighting coming from inside. there's a nearly fully glass sunroom/greenhouse on the right side, and he can see from here the varying flowers and plants that fill the room. he wants to ask how a house like this could be kept under wraps from the rest of the town, but then he remembers.

magic, duh.

you lead him through the threshold of the home and down a hallway until you arrive in what must be your living room, not giving him a chance to admire the room before you're pushing on his shoulders so he sits in a loveseat, taking your own seat across from him. your legs spread and you rest your elbows on your knees as you glare at him, causing him to shift in his seat.

"why are you carrying a bag full of wolfsbane?"

"my friend's boss, deaton. he asked me to pick up any wolfsbane in the woods to make it safer for them when they do the whole wolfing out thing."

"deaton's working with werewolves again? does he have a death wish?" your brow raises in confusion, he notes how the fingers on your right-hand scratch at the skin on your right.

"i'll be honest, you're kind of creeping me out."

"thank you. why is he doing it?"

"my friend, scott. he's a werewolf. and so are our friends erica and boyd. and derek and his weird uncle peter-"

"the fucking hale's are back? are you kidding?" a scoff leaves you and you get up out of your chair, starting to pace back and forth in front of his chair.

"yeah, it was this whole thing with peter being evil and killing his niece, and he turned scott but scott thought it was derek who turned him. it was a whole thing. not to mention how peter came back from the dead-"

you continue to walk around the room while occasionally pausing to pay attention as the boy details the events that have happened in the past year. despite you being a stranger it felt oddly cathartic to vent about everything that had happened to him. admitting to the countless times he felt scared out of his mind but had to stay strong lest his enemies take advantage of it.

"that's a lot for a normal human to go through in just a year with no prior knowledge of the supernatural. i'm surprised your brain didn't implode from the stress."

he blinks. "thanks. i guess."

"you're welcome. i'm going to make some tea. stay here," you say, moving from standing across from him to heading to a room near the side of the room, able to faintly see some dark counters and pots and herbs hanging from the ceiling, "not like you'd be able to leave anyway."

that's reassuring, stiles thinks to himself, bouncing his leg up and down where he sits. after a minute he figures you won’t kill him horrendously if hes looks around a bit, so he gets up and starts observing the countless pictures on the walls. some are old, like the people in them are wearing outfits from a few hundred years ago, while some are colored and recent. in most of the recent ones, you’re with three older women who look just as dark but ethereal as you do.

he continues looking at some pictures and hung-up trinkets when you come back into the room with two cups of tea, handing one with a smile to the wary boy with a halfhearted promise that it’s “totally not poisoned.”

“can i ask you a question?” he asks, sipping at his tea after he discovers it’s not poisoned and actually really good. he was never really fond of tea, always preferring coffee or energy drinks when he was in a low-energy period. he remembers his mom liked chamomile tea.

“you just did. but go ahead.”

“why would you let me in here? you could have just questioned me at the willow tree, you didn’t have to let me into your house. not that i don’t like your house. i like the whole victorian gothic vibe.”

you don’t answer for a solid minute, slowly drinking from your cup as you stare into the lite fireplace.

“witches pride ourselves on our knowledge. to be aware of our abilities and surroundings at all times to best stimulate our growth. and as much as i’d like to be this powerhouse who could take down any threat, i know i’m not. if you actually were powerful and i tried to take you on myself? who knows what would happen.”

“and i’m guessing that magical barrier around the house would protect you in case i really did try anything?” he gently asks, not wanting to talk too loudly to distract you from opening up to him.

“exactly. plus if you tried anything my aunts probably would have put a curse on you and your loved ones. something not too flashy to attract attention, but enough to cause great suffering.” he notices your soft sigh when you stop talking, almost like you’re disappointed you won’t get to see this suffering play out.

“plus it’s better to know where your talents excel,” you continue, setting your cup down on a skull patterned coaster on the coffee table in front of you. “i’ve always been better at using my magic to investigate my surroundings. helps to find materials or signs of psychos roaming around.”

something you two have in common. it makes his mouth quirk up.

“so, the werewolves and all the other things being back in town, that’s a problem for you and your aunts, right?”

“yup. if it was just werewolves it’d be normal for beacon hills, but kanimas and a whole pack of alphas? who knows how much that can disrupt the natural balance and what more they’ll bring.”

he thinks over his next words carefully. scott would likely be upset at first at him for trusting you, but he was also the nicest person stiles had ever met. if you could help them then it was worth the risk.

“then how about a trade. you help us with this alpha problem, and you get the experience you need to become a great and all powerful witch. pretty soon you'll be riding your broom to your heart's content."

you can’t help but scoff a laugh as you think it over. he starts to think you’re about to reject the offer as you stare him down before you get up and offer him a hand.

“you’ve got a deal.”

after shaking on it, you send the boy back with his bag of wolfsbane and a few more helpful weeds from your greenhouse, giving him a note to give to deaton so he won’t ask too many questions.

when he returns to the vets office he dumps the materials on the operating table, ignoring isaacs joke about how if he took any longer they’d all be alpha chow by now. he can tell deaton is concerned about where he got the vials of strange red and yellow herbs, but when he reads the note his eyes widen and he lets out a mix between a laugh and a sigh. scott asked insistently what was on the note but his boss refused to tell him what it said.

before he left to drive home, deaton pulled stiles to a corner and told him that he had been in close contact with one of your aunts before something happened a few years after the hale fire that caused them to go into hiding and cut contact with all supernaturals they had previously been helping, including him as the emissary of the hale family.

as he lay in bed that night staring up at his ceiling, all he could think about was you. you were a welcome distraction from the chaos of his current life, a pretty distraction at that. if not a bit scary. which he didn't mind all that much.

the both of you spent more time together in the following weeks. at first, it was just simple conversations by the willow tree talking about the werewolf situations and checking what materials deaton needed from your family. as time went on his curiosity got the best of him and he started to ask you more questions about your life.

"so hit me if this is stupid but did you have any family in salem? or can you like make a potion ina cauldron to see if I did because I could use that as massive bargaining power in fights with issac-ow! why'd you hit me?"

"you said i could."

"yeah but not so hard. jeez, ever thought of quitting this witch thing and trying boxing."

"never thought of it. maybe i should start now. with your face."

"really funny."

(your threats kind of reminded him of derek, but had less of an 'i'm about to rip your throat out and eat your esophagus vibe.' slightly.)

but as time went on it got deeper. as he told him more about himself you started to do the same, once even apologizing for "giving off psycho killer bitch vibes" and chalking it up to being so isolated from people for most of your life. he told you he didn't mind the vibes, assuring you he liked it maybe a little too excitedly.

he could really feel the shift when one day he came up to the willow tree and he saw you, standing with a frame photo in your hands and nearly on the brink of tears. he was so shocked at seeing you show such intense emotion he wasn't watching where he was going and stepped on a branch, alarming you as your head whipped to him like a deer in headlights.

"i...im sorry. i can leave if you want."

"no no, it's," you shook your head, looking down at the photo once again. "it's fine. it doesn't matter."

"well if it's enough to make you cry id say its world ending-"

"could you just shut up? for once in your life?"

it's quiet for a minute, the only sound in the air being the gentle breeze. even thought the comment stings stiles knows all too well you're just lashing out in anger and hurt.

"im sorry."

"don't apologize. i get it, i do." he moves closer until he's standing beside you, walking slowly so he doesn't make you lash out again.

he looks down at the photo and he gets it. its you, about six or seven with a bright smile on your face and standing with two people he can tell are your parents. he can see the resemblance. you have one of their smiles and hair color, the other's nose, and by their clothes, the same dark style.

"its been over ten years. since i lost them," you whisper, your voice sounding more weak than he's ever heard it. "itd be nice if I was staying with my aunts for some sabrina the teenage witch reason but no. i don't have a choice."

he gently puts a hand on your shoulder. "i get it, i do. i lost my mom. every day i remember things about her in things i do. it hurts but its better than forgetting."

you sniff and hes about to back up when you put your hand over his on your shoulder, gripping it tightly. it hurts a bit. he doesn't really care.

"its not fair."

"its not."

"...thank you."

"don't mention it."

you give him with the materials and he's about to leave when you stop him, your hand grasping his wrist. he wants to ask whats wrong but he stops. you're staring right at him, into his soul he thinks, and all he wants is to hold you and tell you any pain he's suffered the past few years is worth it because it led him to you, that even if you asked him to sacrifice himself on an alter for a spell that would make you happy for a minute he would do it-

"this bracelet. i want you to wear it and don't take it off no matter what, all right?"

hey, that works for him.

as soon as the bracelet was clasped around his wrist he felt different. like his nerves were tingling and his brain was warm. he felt like he was going to get the most powerful migraine in existence and reached to take it off when you took his hand again.

"please. just give it a minute."

and so he did.

only thirty seconds of dull pain later and he felt normal, if not better. like when you're a kid and have the best day of your life and return home to a good meal. a nice bath, and a great night's rest. he feels almost powerful.

"hey what is this thing? did you just give me powers? is this gonna make me your servant or something?"

"bye stiles."

he gives deaton the materials after telling scott where he was ignoring the weird look on his face before the boy goes back to examining an adorable beagle on the operating table.

deaton takes the bag and bottles with an appreciative smile, his eyebrows scrunching up when he notices the jewelry on stiles wrist.

"where'd you get that bracelet?"

"uhh, i found it. at a thrift shop. thought it looked cool. why?"

deaton clearly doesn't believe him but decides to entertain stiles anyway. "the band is a normal bracelet but the charms are what makes it special. they're pagan."

"could you explain them to me? just because you know."

the vet just shakes his head and laughs before pointing to each one.

"this one, the witchs knot. standard symbol for warding off evil. its mostly used as a protection charm."

stiles admires the charm, the metal silver with the symbol burned into it. it looks like a circle with a line roped in and out of four points of it.

"this, hecates wheel. a goddess of magic, as you probably already know. symbolizes the power of knowledge and life."

this charm is a bit heavier, the stone looking weathered with a scratched labyrinth engraved on it, a distinct 'x' in the middle of it.

"and this one is..." deaton starts before his words trail off. stiles looks at it. it looks like four combined circles, each with symbols inside them. the two across from each other on the side looking like two crescent moons, the one on the top holding a basic pentagram. but he doesn't recognize the one on the bottom-two perpendicular lines forming an 'x' with little swirly lines coming from the middle on the top and bottom.

"what? what does it mean? is it bad?"

"no, it's not bad at all, stiles. the crescents and pentagram are used in another basic protection spell. more protection for the user."

"and the one on the bottom?"

"well, i don't honestly know what it is. its most likely a personal sigil made by the person who made it. but by my guess, based on others I've seen before, it might mean whoever made it has a deep love and affection for whoever they gifted the bracelet to."

stiles thought he was keeping his cool, but scott made extra sure to remind him the following days and the dumbass look on his face when deaton explained the symbol to him.

he didnt know what to do. this had to mean you felt the same way he did about you, right? why else would you gift him a love sigil on a bracelet you insisted he wear? for a second he considered it was a love spell you tried to put on him, but he was feeling iffy about that. mostly about how he wouldn't care that much.

(he apparently admitted that in a sleepy haze when he was sleeping over at scotts, and he's never wanted to die more than when he woke up and realized issac of all people heard him.)

the next time he saw you he tried as hard as he could to act casual. you asked him about ten times if he was okay, and he eventually came up with a good enough 'just a slight stomach bug' lie and regretted it immensely when you invited him back to your house, telling him you'd been practicing making simple health remedies and you had the perfect thing to fix him.

the whole walk to your house he was on edge, his palms feeling sweaty for the first time in his life as he repeatedly wiped them off on his pants. just like the first meeting, you tell him to wait on the couch and he lets out a shaky breath when you leave into the kitchen.

what does he do? does he confess? does he need to? he was so scared that he was being too obvious and maybe that's why you put the sigil on the bracelet, to let him know you returned his affections. but what is he wasn't obvious? and he was basically telling you he only liked you because you liked him? what if-

"stop staring into space and drink this tea, dummy."

he laughs awkwardly and takes the ornate cup from your hand, sniffing the tea before he drinks it. it's sweet but savory, smelling like nutmeg and milk. he can see little flakes and leaves floating on the top. he takes a sip and hums at the taste.

"screw boxing, you should be a professional chef. i'm gonna need you to give me this recipe."

"yeah right. a witch never reveals her secrets." you scoff before sitting down next to him on the couch. you put your arm up on the back and rest your head on your wrist as you cross your legs, your foot brushing against his leg. he nearly spills the tea over his lap.

he can't help but admire you. he had given you a few magazines he'd gotten from stores and stuff to better show you how people were dressing these days, and while you'd hated most of it you took to some trends, wearing a pair of black ripped skinny jeans and a pair of combat boots. he tried to focus on the rips in your jeans as to not let his eyes wander up, where you were wearing a leather halter camisole with nothing underneath. he can't help but laugh in his head when he thinks of the word camisole. maybe he was spending too much time around lydia.

"stiles? seriously are you possessed or something? normally you'd be talking my ear off trying to guess exactly what ingredients i used for the tea."

he sets the cup down after taking another long sip and turns his body to you, your eyebrows raising in what he can tell is amusement. most people could easily get annoyed by his theatrics, but after your near trauma bonding at the willow tree, you had always made sure to welcome them with a smile.

"look, i have something to say. which you probably already know, but i need to say it to you anyway to make sure you really know, y'know?"

you blink. "go ahead."

he breathes in and out a few times, his previous confidence suddenly disappearing.

"let me guess, you saw the sigil and now you're going to confess your love to me?"

he goes into a near coughing fit.

"how, well thanks because now i dont have to actually say it, but if you had given me a minute-"

before he knows it you're scooting closer, your faces just a few inches apart. you're staring at him with that same look you had when you gave him the bracelet. his breath is picking up and he bites his bottom lip, your eyes darting to the motion.

"can i kiss you?"

"yes, god yes-"

your hand grips his chin and brings his lips to yours, the intensity and plushness of it nearly driving him insane. he doesn't really know what to do with his hands, settling to just keep them on his lap before your other hand brings them to your waist and squeezes them in place. at this point you're nearly on his lap and that combined with the kiss and the fact he swears he just felt your tongue poke his lip is going to be the death of him.

he pulls away from the kiss and kneads his hands on your hips, able to feel the softness of your skin on the places where the camisole lifts up.

"wow. i mean just...arent you a recluse? where'd you learn to kiss like that? have you like, conjured up clones to practice with or something."

"stiles?"

"yeah?"

"shut up and kiss me again."

"whatever you say, babe."

for the first time in his life, stiles stilinksi thinks everything is gonna work out.

ty for reading! had to tell myself to get up off my ass and write at 3am and wrote about half of this so sorry for any dialogue inconsistencies. love you bye bye.

[cbrownjc]

Some spoiler thoughts for episode 2x05

I haven't done a rewatch yet, so these are just some initial thoughts on the episode (spoilers):

Daniel was so not let go after those 3 days. Bank on it.

Daniel already said it -- the drug den thing was a fabrication of his memories being rewritten. But, more to it, Louis' memories of that time were also rewritten. Between that as well as his extensive burn? Who knows what Louis even remembers of the 1970s either.

Neither Louis nor Daniel remember a damn thing of what happened during what would be the Devil's Minion period! (Particually because who knows how long it took Louis to even heal. With those types of burns, I'm going to say a few years at least.)

The show left things extremely open-ended for both Daniel and Louis' characters at the end of the flashbacks which can be filled with whatever the show writers might have ideas about that time period over how many whatever seasons. They haven't locked themselves into one single thing going forward leaving it open-ended that way.

Yeah, even if they want Louis and Daniel to have had sex sometime later. Because again, they both don't remember anything. 😏

But Armand -- Armand does. He remembers all of it. And oh you dear, f-ed up gremlin, I really did think you might not have been responsible for Daniel's memories, but now I'm starting to wonder . . . .

Louis, in 1973, doing what he does in Merrick. Because it was remembering Claudia -- how she manipulated him -- that sent him running into the sun. And even though he tried -- and failed -- to do it in 1973, he's going to fully remember it in the present day too IMO and, this time, he'll succeed at doing it.

Because yes, in Merrick, Louis actually succeeds in killing himself. It's only because of how vampire blood works, and a lot of it being poured over Louis' body, that he is revived. And I really think we are headed toward a "rule of three" wrt this. I think Armand clocked Louis was close to killing himself sometime directly after Paris because of maybe almost really trying so, and that is why Armand put a veil up over Louis' mind.

Because even back in 1973 it's clear that Louis actually didn't remember the bit about Claudia until he drank Daniel's drugged-up blood! Between that and Arman directly saying "She didn't love you!" (which yes, was a line taken directly from toward the end of the IWTV book that Armand says to Louis about Claudia), whatever cloud Louis was actually under in 1973 lifted for a bit . . . enough for him to run out into that sun and almost succeeded -- which I feel we'll learn/see was actually his second attempt.

His third (and final) attempt will be in the finale. And that time will be the one that succeeds. (And then he'll be resurrected/reborn).

"Am I going to be on suicide watch for the next 1000 years?" Yeah, Armand, it looks very well that you are -- will be.

I loved Luke as young Daniel! And I feel very sure we're going to see more of him. He and Jacob had such a bouncy chemistry.

And oh, the scenes between him and Assad as Armand -- so creepy and sinister! Just what it should be at this point in time between Daniel and Armand, at the beginning of things. They even had Daniel held prisoner in the house for three days, the same length of time he was held in the cage in the books. But everything Armand did to Daniel here was so much more unnerving, particularly the chair thing.

So . . . Armand really didn't know the Talamasca was watching then? Hmm, okay show but I'm side-eyeing that one. Because really, he should have IMO.

Though I did notice that Daniel strategically didn't show Louis the pictures of him and Armand taking Daniel out of the house. Which I still don't think makes any freakin' sense, them doing it the way they did, even with Louis being hurt like that. I supposed Louis wanted to make sure Armand didn't hurt Daniel still, but . . . .

And oh, Armand. I can see any and all attempts to defend you wrt what is coming have really slipped away much after this. I know why you are doing all of this, I get it I do, but . . . *sigh*

You should have told Louis that Lestat was saying, "I love you." But you are still so scared of being alone . . . this is all going to bite you back next season Armand. So, so much.

Would I say it's my most favorite episode of the show ever so far? Not yet. But I known it's the one of Season 2 that I'm going to rewatch over and over the most so far. Yes, I love it for the beginning of Devil's Minion that it gave us, of course. But I love that it also really started to show the friendship and trust that Rolin Jones kept saying last season was between Louis and Daniel. Louis and Daniel just being friends is something I never expected going into the show and has become such a favorite dynamic of mine too.

So yeah, it was a wonderful episode. I do think it was hyped up a bit too much in the "most disturbing thing I've ever seen" department because I actually did not find it to be all that disturbing in the horror department. But as far as character development and dynamic building goes it was stellar and revealed some great things, so I can ignore my little nitpicks.

[fog-n-dance]

Season 1 Episode 8

(Yes the rewatch continues. I'm averaging 1h05 per episode as I keep rewinding and losing my mind.)

You know that scene where Crosshair is half conscious, being patched up after having gotten fried by the engine, and the stormtrooper reports that ground forces have the Batch on the run ? See the way Crosshair’s eyes shoot open ? The way he jumps on his feet despite being in atrocious pain and covered in bandages ? In this very moment, as he says "Get me on the shuttle", I want to believe that he is not meaning it as "I have to arrest them", but rather as "I need to get the fuck out of here with them".

Look at it : his chip just got destroyed, or at the very least heavily damaged, his own thoughts are now pouring and covering the Empire's humming, yelling at him what's happening and what happened and what he's done under its influence. He is suffering in his entire body, his strong points as a sniper have been completely neutralised (face = seeing ; right arm = stabilising ; left leg = anchoring) and by definition so has he. He is waking up from a nightmare and the very first thing he hears is that the people he's been associating with safety his entire life are leaving, without him, I mean- In this moment, his tone and demeanour are completely spontaneous, there is not an ounce of his usual control and carefulness : he is deep into survival mode, like one would, and the instinctive reaction is to find his brothers.

Hell you could even say that there is a moment of panic when he realises he is surrounded by enemies : as he is now slowly getting back to himself, seeing stormtroopers and clones (that since Order 66 are not considered allies anymore -not that they were that much before-) all around him, there is that split second of fight or flight kicking in and telling him he needs to get far away from enemy territory. He knows that he is in no condition to make a run for it and that those are his real enemies, you can tell by the way he pushes the troopers away before remembering who he is to them here and now, and decides to use it to his advantage in asking for transport to the Batch’s location.

So imagine that : you just got second and third degrees burns on your entire body, are powerless as a sharp shooter, are surrounded by hostiles, the voices in your head are fading away and are slowly being replaced by your own, screaming at you everything that’s been happening while you were in mental jail, the weight of the realisation spreading in your limbs and drowning your heart, the guilt, the hurt, the not understanding… Where would the reptilian part of your brain want to take you upon the second you realise your life has collapsed ? If you answered "to the only place I’ve ever felt safe and loved", fear not for I did too.

So having to watch it leave without you, leave you behind even, would not only be soul crushing : it would make anyone dissociate.

As we all know, Crosshair is going to have A Lot of time between him and himself in the coming months ; the sewing back of his two fragmented minds (the echoes of the chip and the pleas of his heart) is going to be an incredibly challenging task and will leave many shards and splinters behind, ones that only the hardly won back love, patience and understanding of his family will help remove.

Rant over.

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals: Sleeping In The Cold Below

If I had a nickel for every time Voiceplay did a song from a videogame, featuring Omar Cardona and arranged by Geoff... (Well, this was actually a co-arrangement between Geoff and Rob Dietz, but my point still stands! 😝)

Voiceplay's video for Sleeping In The Cold Below was uploaded on the 17th of February, 2024 (which for me typing this, was yesterday), and the song comes from an "action role-playing third-person shooter multiplayer online game" called Warframe, originally released in 2013. I know buggerall about the game, and have never heard the original song before, but as we should all know by now, that doesn't matter when it comes to Voiceplay! I'm very excited to break this one down, so let's get into it!

Very cool mask things! (But also I'm glad they were only for the opening (and closing) shots)

Apparently this was filmed at some place called Optiview 360, and the name checks out tbh, because those are some very cool wall and floor effects, which I will be pointing out multiple times in this post!

(Also very niche little fun fact: the guys are in the exact same lineup order as they were for Dream On and Whiskey In The Jar: Geoff-Eli-Omar-Cesar-Layne!)

The contact lenses were definitely a great touch for this video, I must say

Cesar is wearing two different coloured contact lenses, because apparently he (and Omar too) couldn't decide which colour to go with (valid), and in fact Cesar and Omar are wearing one each of two pairs! (So basically their contact lenses match up)

Geoff's hair looks greyer than usual here, and I can't for the life of me figure out whether it was coloured grey for the video, or if it's just the lighting, or if this is more of his natural colour nowadays. I'm certainly not complaining though, and I'll just have to wait for more videos from him and Voiceplay this year to hopefully figure it out!

Also, even though I love his hazel eyes, whether you can actually see a tinge of green in them or whether they just look a dark-chocolate-brown colour, I'm not gonna lie, the contacts he's wearing here are really doing things for me 👀👌

(And his outfit in this video seems to fit *really well* on him and he looks fantastic in it okay bye)

Eli's wearing two different coloured contacts as well! (This Is Halloween flashbacks anybody?)

This is almost pure-white lighting, and I reckon this is his natural hair colour at the current moment. You can definitely see his grey-white streak here, and his hair does still have a notable bit of brown to it, but it's almost definitely getting greyer (embrace it! Love it! I know I sure do!)

(Actually I might do a Geoff hair study for this video, but later, and not as part of this post)

Everyone is now unmasked, and more cool background visuals!

Swear I won't point out every single background change in this video, because there seem to be a fair amount of them, but still! So many cool ones!

Notice Omar's different coloured contacts as well!

Is that a freaking black hole?

"It can hurt you, it can hold you, he can kick you or console you"

(Not shown here are Cesar's cool little head movements during the third shot pictured above)

Omar's got some moves! (Also background change yet again!)

Layne looking like he knows full well that he's just showing off at this point 😝😁

Complete and utter superstars!!!

(Also that hand next to/under the head movement is definitely on my list of "movements I mimic when (re)watching Voiceplay videos")

I mean WOW!

Also the background design changes at least 18 times, that's quicker than once every 10 seconds!

I loved this song and video so much I rewatched it almost immediately after my first watch, and then that night, I went and rewatched it again two more times! And honestly I'd have to say that out of all the videogame song covers Voiceplay has done (Enemy, Halo Theme, Dragonborn Comes, etc), this is 100% my favourite! Everything about this cover and video is so absolutely top-notch high quality, and the song absolutely slaps! Well done Voiceplay, you've knocked it out of the park again! Honestly the fact that they're just an independent acapella group on YouTube blows my mind sometimes.

So I'm finally up-to-date on all the full-length Voiceplay videos that I wanted to talk about, although by the time you're reading this, there will probably be a brand new Voiceplay video (edit from future me: there's not),But for now? Well either tomorrow or the day after (depending on whether there's a new VP video to talk about first (there ain't)), you will be seeing a handful of "Voiceplay-Adjacent Visuals" posts, where I'll be talking about the visuals of some of Geoff's solo videos! But that's all for now, and stay tuned!

[cboffshore]

What a shame the poor groom's bride is a... plot device. This is "All I Wanted To Hear."

For his third wish, the only one that ever actually mattered: something to love, I think. Something that isn't himself.

As I've discussed previously (not in this series, just in general), a common critique I see about Nadakhan is that he's a little too erratic. And, yeah, that comes out on any casual Skybound rewatch: his master plan is kept under wraps until past the halfway point, his respect for his crew wavers from being touched at their support to screaming at them every five minutes, and we're never quite sure if he actually loves his home realm or if he just wanted to become some kind of urban legend by going home. This, naturally, leads to complications: in order to maintain a facade of respectability, he covers all of his idiosyncrasies up with an utterly batshit terraforming plan that only has minor relevancy to his ultimate goal. In other words, he exercises those first two wishes I analyzed - notoriety and control - in excess to cover up the third, softest one: love. An actual, loving relationship that he's not ashamed of somehow.

Because, let's be real: does his crew actually love him?

Jury's out on this one, and unless we ever get more of The Splinter in the Blind Man's Eye or some kind of Nadakhan revival season, it'll likely stay that way. The Tall Tales shorts, if accepted as canon (a massive if!), don't even answer the question. Most of the crew's recruitment shorts read as begrudging submission at best (Flintlocke and Dogshank) and near-indentured servitude at worst (Doubloon and Monkey Wretch). Clancee joins through sheer luck, and only because he's attracted to the pirate lifestyle itself, not to Nadakhan's leadership. I refuse to acknowledge the Sqiffy/Bucko short's existence, but their canon induction is much the same as Clancee's: they show up, fuck around, and find out. The shorts, fortunately, aren't canon (two words: electric drill); the only reason I'm considering them here is that they're just close enough to the canon blurbs to fill in the cracks in the meantime. Their loyalty is held on with bubblegum and a wish no matter how you look at it.

Canon or not, the shorts don't address Delara. The season doesn't, either - at least, not in a way we can see clearly.

It's well-established that Nadakhan is very secretive about what he actually wants, and for the first nine episodes or so, Delara falls into that category: he deflects any mentions of her by others on his crew, almost so quickly as to imply it's a weakness of his. Still, he can't avoid it entirely - stolen moments with his pocketwatch (snapped shut the moment anyone else arrives) and his obsession with Nya based solely on her resemblance to Delara prove this. As hard as he fights to hide that, others notice - Flintlocke's criticism comes to mind, but even Jay comments that the way Nadakhan looks at Nya is peculiar. Look what happens in both instances: Nadakhan, although not present for the actual conversation, sweeps in immediately to shelve that discussion and inflict pain on whoever brings it up. And once there's nobody left to remind Nadakhan of his grief - once the wedding party's been banished or driven out of the temple - his first personal wish is to bring her back.

Strangely, this... doesn't help. Their reunion scene is almost awkward, honestly. We open with Nadakhan in disbelief that it actually worked, which is weird considering how unshakable he was about the plan before, but that's not the concerning part. The most damning evidence of Nadakhan's desperate need to be loved comes in the second part of the reunion scene in this incredible exchange:

Nadakhan: Do you forgive me, Delara?

Delara: You did what you had to do, so that we could become all-powerful.

Nadakhan: But do you still love me?

Delara: Of course. How many times must you ask?

This was scream-into-a-pillow frustrating for me the first time I thought it through, and it remains so to this day. Now? After all the stalking, manipulation, kidnapping, and psychological stress he put Nya through to get to this point - now he's doubting it? The moment he succeeds and pulls his beloved back from beyond the veil, he starts questioning his own morality? And he does so to the point that Delara - who might, if her casual tone is any indication, be worse than Nadakhan - has to reassure him that he doesn't need to keep asking? Imagine the irony of wanting to be loved so badly that the things you do for that make you wonder if you're worthy - but only after the fact.

And then the Keep crashes into the temple and the bravado goes right back up. When Delara's spirit is torn from Nya's body, Nadakhan says her name one last time... but that's it.

That's all.

----------

It's no secret that both Nya and Delara's characters get the short end of the stick here. With Delara, it almost makes sense: she's included as a plot device. She's Nadakhan's lost Lenore, his green light across the bay; losing her is the inevitable low point of Nadakhan's fall from grace.

All the official information we get on her is that she's important only because she so strongly resembles someone we know a little better: Nya.

Either here or elsewhere - I'm no longer sure - I've spoken of the accidental perfection of Nya's place in Nadakhan's schemes. Her seasonal arc centers on her striking out and trying to find herself; Nadakhan wants to tear that away from her, but without even caring if that means anything to her in the first place. Unlike how other villains treat the ninja, there's no desire to strip her water power here, or taunt Nya for some personal grudge. (I mean, the grudge does exist, but Nadakhan never acknowledges it.) Here, it's all about appearances: Nya conveniently looks like Delara. Whatever traits Nadakhan tries to sweet-talk Nya with don't actually matter. She's a warm body for the taking. The fact that she's associated with his realm's death is a bonus, and probably the only reason Nadakhan went for her and not for, say, Cyren. That Nadakhan would go to such lengths just to use Nya is simply another sign of his desperation.

Nya's treatment at the end of this season is awful, even seven years later. Plot-appropriate? Sure. Honestly, I think it works, but it doesn't change the fact that I feel that Nya was shortchanged. In that spirit, there was really no other way to evaluate her role but via a heavy remix of the canon wedding dress (which Nya's right about: that thing is hideous.) There are touches of Nadakhan analysis in here, too, but given that Nya was the catalyst, most of this rides on what the season should have highlighted about her importance beyond her haircut.

If we're going to lean so heavily on visual significance, let's at least get it right this time:

As a way to honor Nya's vehement dislike for dresses, I built this outfit around an ivory jumpsuit. Although the rest of the outfit looks like it was attacked by a coffee frother, this sleek layer calls to mind the athletic lines of Nya's seasonal gi and her efficient, determined personality. It also references her final fate with vein-like, venom green spiderweb embroidery blossoming out from the chest.

An ivory jacket serves to anchor the entire outfit, both physically (to stabilize all of the other elements) and metaphorically. Sharp shoulders, layered hip accents, and solid gold lapels call to mind the royal armor worn by both Nadakhan and his father - a nod at the canon dress' origin. The hems, sleeves, and lapel borders feature intricate sky-blue embroidery as an alternative to the massive blue flowers on the canon gown.

A fragile yet suffocatingly heavy floral lace train and layered bell sleeves dominate this ensemble and cover whatever the jumpsuit and jacket don't, representing how Nya's body and identity are slowly taken over by desires that aren't her own. However, that grip is as fragile as Nadakhan's security in Delara's love - look close and you'll find the whole thing held together by little more than delicate golden piping, liable to rip apart the moment anything shifts. (I should mention that I did not hand-draw the lace - I'm nowhere near skilled enough for that. Instead, I did a little digging on Google and found this excellent file with built-in transparency, which I colored over and cut to size: blueJAY2's "Lace" on DeviantArt .)

Blue lace gloves, almost lost in the riot of finery around them, are a reference to the hand imagery that Nya's torn apart by throughout the season. There's an interesting phenomenon throughout Skybound that serves as an excellent divider between Jay and Nadakhan: both are insistent on having her, but the subtle differences in their methods are best demonstrated by their dialogue concerning her hands. Jay's line, "Take my hand," is repeated only twice; urgency aside, it offers Nya the ultimate choice in what happens. Those outcomes appear in the premiere and the finale. Nadakhan, however, twists that line and her metaphorical wrist in episode 61 with "Give me your hand and they live," which is phrased as an order that Nya has less of a say in. I chose to use the same filigree texture as the jacket embroidery to represent how Nya attempts to play into Nadakhan's plans for an advantage; however, the color choice betrays this. The blue shade foreshadows one of the few choices Nya's able to make in this season: the choice to accept Jay's hand during the rooftop reset. (Like the lace, the base texture for this one was not my own creation; I have unfortunately lost the exact link, but it was on some kind of weird free PNG site and I ended up snagging it from the Google results page instead of the site itself. Again, I recolored and cut it to fit as needed.)

Gold aiguillettes on the shoulders and top layers of the train are a direct parallel to those in "Sure Of It" as a link between Jay and Nya. Throughout this season, Nya wears her independence as a badge of stubborn honor even when in the worst situations. These ropes, tucked under the lapels and frills of the jacket and train, aren't as obvious as Jay's - a sign of how her role is, sadly, pushed off to the side for most of the season. Still, they're an important part of the outfit: they hold the front of the train open in the same way that Nya's mere presence drives much of the season's action.

The jewelry choices in the original outfit were remarkably dated and didn't match the rest of the ensemble well enough for me - I have a hunch the designers threw the necklace on just to match the bracelet - so I redesigned those, too. Nya's distaste for glitter and gold (which is technically not a thing until Sons of Garmadon, but I like to think it started in Skybound) lends itself nicely to all of these next elements:

The closest element here to the canon jewelry, the gold choker is a heavy reference to the cutthroat pearl necklace that went semi-viral a little while back. Instead of blood and pearls, though, this version soaks the golden spheres of the canon necklace in neon venom droplets and serves as the only asymmetrical part of the outfit.

A pair of drop earrings, fashioned after venom droplets, complement the necklace.

Tucked behind the lapels, a high web collar with blue crystal accents is a blend of the weaknesses of the men trying to overtake her life: the venom that weakens Nadakhan and Jay's vision in the ice. The blue crystal is also a symbol of Nya's new powers and role on the team, although their small size represents how that's not her true motivation.

Given that all of the other jewelry is venom-centric, I don't think I need to explain the spider brooch creeping along the web embroidery.

Nya's brief stint as queen is never mentioned, but it's a thing that does happen; that's represented by a delicate tiara. Of course, she's possessed pretty much immediately after; Delara's acid-green eyes lent me the color scheme for the attached spiderweb veil, a symbol of Nya's thorough, tragic loss of self at the end of the season. For technical reasons, I've chosen to let the tiara and veil dangle from the mannequin's hand instead of placing it on the head. I think this works well, though - the other entries in this analysis series are holding a symbolic item, too, and the placement of this crown represents all the identities Nya holds but isn't able to utilize throughout her arc.

Even though this was my longest entry analysis yet, I don't think I'm quite done. This may be the last entry, but I've got more to say - in the coming weeks, you'll eventually get a wrap-up post summarizing this series and closing things up as neatly as I'm able.

Special thanks to @abunnsburrow, whose Delara Rant reminded me that I needed to post this - and might have influenced this particular analysis.

[lenorelovesmax]

Thank you @angelosearch for the tag! Took me a while but here I am!

I have to confess I have two ao3 accounts, but one is secret so I'll mostly talk about the stories on LenoreNevermore. I also technically have a third that I deleted after orphaning all my fics.

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 4, plus another few on secret account. I also had a few orphaned fics on LenoreNevermore but I don't remember how many.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 73,142 on LenoreNevermore, 33k on secret account, and on my deleted one it was over 500k

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? I don't even have 5 on LenoreNevermore rn 😂 but;

- One Last Chance, (Life is Strange) 292

- Righteous Retribution (Life is Strange) 76

- It Happened Once in Konoha (Naruto) 22

- Princess of the Forest Owls (Final Fantasy VIII) 4

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes of course! I wanna let the readers know how much I appreciate their feedback

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? We don't do that here. Only angst with happy endings!

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I guess One Last Chance since it's the only one I've finished 😂😂😂 And Princess of the Forest Owls is a canon compliant one shot

8. Do you get hate on fics? So far I haven't. But I got a really weird comment on a now orphaned fic once, that I don't know if it counts as hate.

9. Do you wrote smut? If so, what kind? Nope, we don't do that here.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've ever written? Oh, as a kid I used to do that all the damn time. Mostly between the final fantasy games and kingdom hearts, and Naruto. I had this fic planned, of a Life is Strange x Ouat crossover but... I don't think I'll be writing that anymore. I'll talk about this more on question 15.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I don't think so?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes one of my orphaned fics.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No.

14. What's your all time favorite ship? Ouch that's a hard one. I can only pick one? Idk... It's either NaruHina or Squinoa, I can't really pick one.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? It was called Endless Blue... My Life is Strange x OUAT crossover. Before the entire cast ruined ouat for me forever. I get sick whenever I see the actors faces now. It was supposed to be a post bay ending where Max traveled across the country and somehow found Storybrooke, and here she would learn more about time travel, then traveled into the past saving both Rachel and Chloe without fucking up the timeline. I loved this story and I've wanted to write it for the longest time, but the actors ruined the show for me to the point that now, whichever scene of the show I rewatch, it seems stupid to me. Plots I once loved now appear like the trashiest writing I've ever seen. I don't know if their shitty behavior just opened my eyes to what has always been shit writing, or if I just see it that way because the cast are pieces of shit.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Oh I love doing that.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Final Fantasy! Although most fics I wrote when my age had less than two digits are lost to old computers that stopped working and notebooks that are who knows where :(

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? Right now is Righteous Retribution, but I'm really proud of Princess of the Forest Owls too.

I tag @weer02 , @celinou and everyone who wants to do it!

[veliseraptor]

Top 5 animated movies?

I see asks like this one for this meme and I'm like "lise what if you just wrote a short and simple response listing movies, then maybe you would actually end up answering all your meme asks" and then my brain goes "nope <3" and I end up with five paragraphs. I'm just not very good at shutting up.

anyway!

1. The Last Unicorn. This is the "no-brainer" one for me because I always feel like this is just...such an important piece of media, and it's one of those things where when I show it to new people I feel very vulnerable about it and kind of go "please understand that in sharing this with you I am showing you my vulnerable underbelly and if you hate it don't tell me." I don't even know that I could articulate why exactly, but it occupies a very particular place in my heart that few other pieces of media can claim to have. I have watched it so many times and here I am going "maybe I should rewatch it today, actually. plug in my external cd drive and pull out the dvd and everything." It's like that.

2. Princess Mononoke. Another one that came to me immediately as I was coming up with this list. I'm pretty sure I watched it a little too young and the opening scene with the boar creature vs. Ashitaka kind of scarred me a little bit but...lord, what a movie. It's beautiful visually and as a story I also love it. I feel like chronologically Spirited Away was my first Studio Ghibli I remember, but this was the one I latched onto. ngl, the fact that there are wolves in it probably helped.

3. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. It started to get a little harder here, but then I remember how I felt when I saw a caption referencing a song from this movie's soundtrack (thanks for the bangers, Bryan Adams! unexpected but I'm grateful) and went "!!!!" like my brain was lighting up like a lightbulb. So yeah, I'm going to say this is an important one. You can take the horses away from the horsegirl but you can't take the horsegirl out of the girl. or something like that. And this was one of my horsegirl movies. I also just now remembered the paint by numbers extras that were on the dvd that I was weirdly obsessed with, so that's cool.

4. Watership Down. Actually this one should've been third and I don't know how I forgot it! I joke that the fact that the animated movies I rewatched most as a kid were this one and The Last Unicorn and that probably explains a lot of things, but honestly it might. This movie has a reputation that's in some ways bigger than it deserves (though the destruction of the warren segment is pretty much as awful as everybody says it is), but it is also just legit a really good story and well-adapted into a movie, in my opinion. I watched the remake and was profoundly disappointed mostly because I felt like the animation style was boring, and one thing this movie definitely had going for it was the style.

5. Atlantis: the Lost Empire. I almost went with The Lion King but then I remembered this movie, and, yeah. What a film. Truly everyone who has talked about the brief period where things were very weird and therefore very interesting at Disney were right. Also Helga probably turned me gay (and specifically gay for female villains), I just didn't notice until later.

Honorable mentions to The Lion King, The Rescuers Down Under, and Mulan. And probably several others I'm forgetting that I'll think of as soon as I hit post.

There are definitely the animated movies I want to see, most notably Song of the Sea, because I suspect I would really like them. I am just terminally bad at watching movies, you know.

shout out to The Secret of the Seal though, which was a movie where I sort of thought one of my sisters and I shared a collective hallucination until finally I managed to track it down with something like "seal macaroni penguin animated movie." not to be confused with the 1992 anime film Tottoi, mind you.

...though considering now that I'm looking again all I can find to prove its existence is a cover, I'm beginning to wonder again. The Rotten Tomatoes page I thought was going to take me to it returns a 404 not found.

IT WAS REAL she screamed as they dragged her away. I SWEAR IT WAS A REAL MOVIE

[hecatesbroom]

For the ask game -- The Golden Girls, of course! But also The Good Place, if you'd like! And I'm curious about what your favourite movie might be, if you have one, so consider that my third suggestion :)

aa thanks for the ask! And so sorry I took so long to reply. I love asks but am notoriously bad at getting to them on time, haha.

Of course the Golden Girls! (Which you can find answered here!)

The Good Place it is! + my favourite movie, both under the cut because this is getting long

My rating (1-10)

I still haven't watched the full show so I don't think I could rate it yet, but it's somewhere in the 8-9 range!

My favourite character

Ooh this is hard! I think Janet? Maybe? I love how she makes her own journey towards humanity. Though I also love Michael, possibly for the very same reason haha. It's been a while since I watched though, so I don't have too many well thought-out things to say about them at the moment!

My least favourite character

That bad guy? The demon trying to mess up everyone's plans? I forgot his name but I detest the guy (which I think is how you're supposed to feel as the audience, so you know, it makes sense haha)

The character I think I’d be friends with

To be perfectly honest, I can't really see myself getting along with any of the main cast. I'm sure they'd all get on my nerves after a while! 😂 my safest bet is probably Janet, or maybe Chidi.

The character I think I won’t hit off with

See my answer above! But I think out of the main cast, I'd get along worst of all with Jason. He's a nice guy, but even as a relatively patient person I'm sure he'd drive me crazy at some point 😂

My favourite episode/scene

It's been a while, but I still remember the way the reveal at the end of season 1 made me feel. And that was amazing!! It opened up a whole new layer of context, and gave the show so much more meaning. So that's probably my favourite part: the reveal!

Whose clothing style I like best

Oohh, I think it's Janet's outfit, to be honest. It's just great, what can I say?

Times I watched it (and if I would again)

Just once, about 2/3 of the way through, and I'd absolutely rewatch at some point (after I finally manage to finish it)!

My favourite movie is The Sound of Music! There are plenty of others I enjoy watching and rewatching, but nothing ever quite matches up to the magic of The Sound of Music :)

My rating (1-10)

10/10!! of course!

My favourite character

Maria, if only because I adore Julie Andrews (and she's just a great character!!) It's rare to find characters who are this kind and positive, without being a pushover or the comic relief :)

My least favourite character

I don't think I really have one? There are a couple I dislike for obvious reasons, but they all serve an important part in the plot, so I can't really bring myself to pick *one* I dislike most?

The character I think I’d be friends with

It'd probably be lots of fun to be friends with Maria! She seems like such a bright, uplifting person to be around. And also like the type to befriend everyone she encounters, haha.

The character I think I won’t hit off with

Uh. I think this is obvious if you've seen the movie lmao

My favourite episode/scene

Everything?? (Alright, I always swoon a little when I watch the Laendler scene)

Whose clothing style I like best

To be really honest, the costuming is the one problem I have with The Sound of Music. They're in the late 1930s! Why is everyone dressed like they're in the 50s and 60s?? I love how everyone's outfits match their characters, but come on, why didn't they make them more appropriate to the decade at least? :')

Times I watched it (and if I would again)

More times than I can count, probably (and yup, I'm definitely watching it again. And again. And again!)

Thanks for sending an ask! <3 I tried to keep it short, and I think I kind of succeeded (for my standards, anyway 😂)

[herefortarlos]

Hello! Nice ask week asks for you! 1) What are your top three Tarlos moments? 2) Have you ever been the same again since discovering Tarlos? 3) If you could hang out with TK and Carlos for a day and you chose the activities, what would you get up to?

Awww, thank you for the ask, Cig 🥰 I can answer question 2 real quick; no I have not been the same since discovering Tarlos 😆! Tarlos is my 3rd extreme hyper fixation I've had over a fictional couple, but it is the first time that I've not only found 2 characters I absolutely love but they are also canonically a couple! It is becoming more common thankfully, but it is still so hard to find a well written AND canon gay couple in media! Tarlos has been such a nice change where I don't have to imagine these two wonderful characters being together and only having fanfic and some scenes to base that on, they are officially together, they have many on screen kisses and they're married!! And I've made so many wonderful friends and have also been more open about my sexuality and who I share that with because of Tarlos! 🥹 So I hope my obsession is here to stay for a long time!

Oh jeez, my top 3 Tarlos moments?!? But there are so many to choose from and it's always changing 😆 Get ready for my long winded thoughts! I do think my #1 has to be the wedding! I still can't watch the vows scene and listen to them without crying, I just loved their vows to each other sooo much, they were perfect to me and who TK and Carlos are as people and how they have grown since season 1 to now! And I loved TK asking Tommy to sing Being Alive for him as a gift to Carlos and to me that's not a spur of the moment thing, that is a, TK asked Tommy weeks ago if she would do this and why this specific song was so meaningful and I cry just thinking about that conversation and how honored Tommy felt that TK went to her 🥹. And the way TK and Carlos cry and hold each other during her singing is just too much and I love it! I'm so happy they're married!

For my second top moment I am including the entirety of s3e13 Riddle of the Sphynx! I rewatched that episode and skipped to all the Tarlos scenes the other night and I was a wreck! I loved all the domesticity and flirty Tarlos we got, I loved jealous Carlos and that dinner table conversation is still one of the absolute best scenes that Rafa and Ronen have acted together. TK trying to explain to Carlos why he can't help with this and Carlos begrudgingly accepting it and then fully realizing, when TK is looking through photos of his mom, that he is out of his depth and if he wants to help TK then he needs to get in contact with the person that can truly empathize and help him, and that is nothing against Carlos! Him realizing that this isn't about him, it's about the man he loves, and that little "I love you. I know" moment, TK knowing then for sure that he is going to marry Carlos, and then Carlos' little happy, satisfied smile as he leaves the loft, all of it made me a mushy, blubbering mess and absolutely blew me away again, after seeing that episode like 10 times now! Oh and the use of Transatlanticism was amazing as well!

Phew, and finally for my third moment, I am going to cheat and say TK's and Carlos' proposals!! TK's proposal being at 3 in the morning in their bed, where it's soft and quiet and just meant for TK and Carlos 😭 absolutely perfect! I loved that TK was no longer afraid of love or losing it and it was such a pinnacle moment to show that TK is done running from Carlos and then he proved that time and again in season 4! I also loved him petting Carlos' hair and rubbing his ear!

Then at the end of season 4 we get the gift we didn't know we needed in Carlos proposing to TK! Them saying that they have saved each other, Carlos realizing that TK and wanting to be married to him are the only things in his life he is 100% certain of! TK getting the joy of being proposed to and Carlos smiling for the first time in days when he sees that he made TK smile 🥹 My favorites may change again but these are the moments that first came to mind and I love them all so much!

Okay and finally, if I could hang out with TK and Carlos for one day and do anything, I would honestly want them to show me around Austin! We would need to go to a cat cafe, I looked it up and Austin has a couple! (I am currently watching a stream of a cat cafe and that is influencing my choice 🤣) because Carlos could finally pet an animal and TK and animals are a match made in heaven, and can you imagine how cute they would be surrounded by cats 🥹 I would also want to go clothes shopping with them because Carlos needs some more variety aside from all the plaid dad shirts, just a little bit of style and color! And seeing some of the research that people have put into looking up TK's clothes, that man has expensive tastes and I want to know if he actually looks at price tags or just grabs all the things he likes without looking 😆 And I would want to go back to the loft and eat some of Carlos' cooking! Give me some ropa vieja and tamales, please 🤤. And then I would want to go out to a queer club where this supposed night life is that we haven't gotten to see 🤣 Ohh, what a dream that would be!!

[burritosandpeppermint]

So I decided to finally watch 'Willow' the series (I'm generally more into sci fi but everyone here who's been watching it seems to appreciate it and I generally trust y'all) but first I watched 'Willow' the movie which I have no recollection of having watched since I saw it in the theater with my dad when it first came out.

First, a dorky little review of the movie:

I don't' want to spend too much time on this partly because I know people have a nostalgia boner for it whereas I simply do not care about it. Like, I'm sorry, but I don't. Upon rewatching it I remembered some scenes being so disturbing or frightening they elicited a verbal response from me - when Raziel was being changed from a common bush possum into a raven, or the trolls looking like creeping shadows, or when the troll gets turned into that two headed thing - but besides the above and, honestly, the attractiveness of practically everyone involved it just didn't stick with me. High fantasy can require a high buy-in and if it's a one-off movie I just don't return to it often, or at all. That being said, it's not bad! I mean, the fighting sequences feel clunky, the acting is hit or miss (I want to say that Val Kilmer was given some direction that might've run against his instincts from time to time)(but he's still good and fun to watch), and it is literally a movie on the cusp between older special effects and the new CGI movement, so a mixed bag there, but it's also fun! The shield toboggan was thrilling! The cinematography is right where you want it to be! Dogs in costume! (I remember my dad laughing about that; I did the same when I watched it yesterday). So, it's fine. Not a childhood favorite but definitely a 1988 Ron Howard movie...probably a little too much George Lucas in it, but still. You do what you can with what you have.

Now, the series: I love it! There are so many layers.

The prince is a flirt who's kidnapped and the princess has to go rescue him.

Actual queer people portraying queer characters.

Every character is on their own journey, even as they're on the same collective journey, and moving from one to the other from scene to scene feels seamless.

People have conflict and regrets, and that's okay. It sucks to be tortured by your past but what matters is how you move forward.

It's fucking gorgeous.

There's probably more but the reason I'm writing this is because I can NOT stand...the music.

You thought I was going to say dialogue, weren't you? Well, guess what. After five minutes in I realized that the dialogue was modern in nature. I kept noticing it for about another five minutes and then I just stopped noticing it. It's fine. It's a series that's trying to tell a high fantasy story to a modern audience; what matters is what happens, not explicitly how they talk. And this may be a bit crude but if using modern ways of speaking takes you out of a fantasy show and you're missing something written by a literal philologist who created his own languages then go jack off into 'The Silmarillion' and leave us alone (and order a new copy, for god's sake; that thing's getting too crusty).

...but the end music. THAT takes me out of it. Every time. The end of the third episode? Fucking 'Enter Sandman?' No. I'm very emotionally open to what's been happening, receptive to all, and at the climax to the episode I'm immediately jolted into seeing that big rig hit that bed. What? Why? Maybe it's just me but it breaks the entire idea of escapism. So, maybe...you know what? I was going to try to find a similar way to end this paragraph as I did the previous one but I'm just gonna end with this period.

My only other minor gripes are similar to most other modern productions: the scene at the end of episode three was...fighting? Hard to say, it's fucking dark as hell. Yes, I get it, it's night, but also guess what? We can imply night without making it super dark; hell, 'Nope' did night wonderfully (albeit with newer "daytime as nighttime" technology than what's been used before). The other one is with dialogue volume...but more specifically with regards to the fact that most actors now wear lavalier microphones which allows fore more natural speech to come through, so actors can speak more quietly or mumble and it gets picked up. And boy, do they mumble! Maybe it's a generational thing; I feel like the younger actors are more comfortable speaking towards the back of their throats whereas the more experienced actors tend to speak towards their lips and teeth. Literally a difference in elocution. Maybe mumble/whisper core is better for some, but to return slightly to a "Why are they talking that way?" point of view it does take me out of what I'm watching if I have to constantly rewind it before giving up and putting on closed captions.

Otherwise, I love it, and I can't wait to continue it.

[languagendersex]

.

so. today, just now after rewatching american beauty (no idea i got a random craving to watch it again), which i've decided is absolutely terrible and wayyyy overrated, i realize i need to be in the creative industry, for my soul. I was just toying with the idea a few weeks (maybe months at this point) ago, but now I realize I need to be an actor, writer, dialect coach, director, literally anything in the entertainment industry.

Because I've finally outgrown my fear of what other people think of me, and i latch so easily onto personalities like an actor, i literally can't get a character out of me after reading a book about them. it was weeks before i stopped being like lisbeth salander in the Dragon Tattoo series, i even contemplating starting smoking because of her (i didn't, but i got really dangerously close). I get so intensely into who someone is when I'm reading, I drift off into space ignoring the plot of the book, just thinking about them and their backstories.

And even as a kid, I loved reading aloud in class because I knew I'd do a better job than my classmates. I suppose I never tried out for plays is because, I couldn't accept who I was back then, let alone anyone else, enough to portray it as a character. I know I acted like everything was fine all the time, but I always felt so much shame and disgust from society for who I was. And I mean not just being queer - just being weird and different. And I guess it's just taken me so many years to stop feeling this way and start letting go.

I know some of my irl friends are on here too, and I want you to know I haven't gone off the deep end. Yes, I'm smoking weed and more at peace and relaxed than I have been in years, but I'm not having a manic episode, I'm not quitting my job and running away any time soon. I still need it to keep my insurance for the rest of this year at least, anyway.

No, I'm just on a healing journey, and I feel the need to share it with anyone who might be feeling the same way or did so in the past. And I'm really reaching deep into my soul and grabbing a piece of what I am, what I've always been. I am supremely dramatic, when it comes down to it. I feel with all the depths of my heart and soul, whch is precisely why I am the way I am, why I deal with so much anxiety. Even when it becomes apathy and nihilism, it's because I care so deeply that I feel like it does no good sometimes.

Maybe it's the weed or maybe the Buddhism, but I feel like my third eye is wide open, and I can see my life and relationships clearly for the first time. And I love life so deeply, so truly with all my heart, and I need to share it with as many people as possible. I need it deep in my soul.

[veenoms]

beyburst is this supposed to mean something ?

[softredrobin]

ren's redacted hands, redux: sam

Hey y'all! So I'm sure everyone remembers my very first foray into the redacted hands series (the entirety of which can be found here). I realized that after the first two sets, every set had a unique sort of texture to it, and I wanted to give Sam and David the same treatment.

without further ado, a redux by ren:

(you can find the original here!)

See the original for flower meanings, and below the cut for more extended ramblings.

For Sam's pattern, I wanted something with detail, but something delicate to really demonstrate the gentleness that is such a facet of Sam and Darlin's relationship: both of them have been hurt, and they're so unused to gentle touch. Lace is beautiful, takes time and effort to make, and is easy to tear.

Sam and Darlin's relationship means so much to me for reasons that are really too personal to get into in a public tumblr post. I often find myself going back and rewatching Sam's entire playlist on a semi-regular basis. There's so much to their story, to both of these characters, and obviously, the fandom agrees: Darlin and Sam are the third and fourth most popular character tags in the Redacted ASMR fandom tag on Ao3, and Sam/Darlin is the top relationship tag. Erik really said "take this" and then this fandom said "I Am Going To Be So Normal About This".

I did this art without knowing it would become a series, and so both are from Sam's BA. Because of that, there wasn't specific thought put into choosing quotes, rather this art was made for these quotes specifically. Maybe someday everyone will get a round two (properly) and I'll do different ones. For now, I'll treat you to some of my other favorite quotes from our Southern vamp. This list is already going to be... abysmally long I'm really calling myself out here so I'm only including lines said to Darlin directly which might have been turned into pieces.

Vampire Tends to Your Injuries:

"Hey— it's gonna be okay. I got this. I got you. […] It's okay. You're gonna be okay." (4:35)

Your Bond With a Vampire:

"You sound like you're hurting. And not the physical way this time."

"Whatever it is, I'll do what I can. Even if that's just to listen." (0:44)

"I don't wanna see any harm coming to you. Not if there's anything I can do about it." (31:48)

Getting Closer to Your Vampire Mate:

"You're good people, Darlin. I don't want anything to happen to you." (3:41)

"All we can do is make the best of the hand we've got now. We can't go back. All we can do is try to make what's ahead a little less shitty. And show ourselves a little compassion along the way."(18:18)

"Hey. Are you all right? No, I'm not talking about 'will be'. I'm talking right now. Are you all right?" (18:47)

"I got you. Of course I'll stay. You don't have to keep the armor up tonight. The fighting's done. You can just rest. I got you, Darlin." (19:37)

Cuddles and Confessions with Your Vampire Mate

"I'd say we both could use the break. One day to catch our breaths before all those outside problems have to be real again. I can pretend for a day, if you can." (6:15)

"You've got a gentle touch. […] Maybe a bit surprised, yeah. But I also know that the way we throw ourselves at the world doesn't have to reflect the way we tackle everything in life. People aren't simple. We all exist in shades. And gentle touch is a shade of you I'm glad to know. I imagine it's a part of you not everyone gets to see. And in that case, I consider it an honor." (8:33)

"It comes easy with you. A lot of things come easier when it comes to you. And that's a good feeling." (10:15)

"This is your pantry? You know there's supposed to be food in here, right? Do I dare even open that fridge… How are there so many condiments and no actual food?!" (12:16)

"It's been a long time since I cared for another person the way I've come to care for you. And it can be just that. Care. I’m not sitting here hoping or expecting it to be anything more. But I want you to know that. That I care for you very much. My life feels better with you in it. And I’m grateful for that." (16:18)

"We don’t have to know what this is gonna be just yet. That’s okay. For now, I’m just… glad to be near you. We can figure out the rest in time." (18:42)

Warming Up with Your Vampire Mate:

"Knowing they care about you doesn’t just magically make it all work overnight. And it doesn’t make you ungrateful or unworthy of that care for struggling with it sometimes. But the care they feel for you is honest. And it matters. Give it time, Darlin’." (11:26)

All Along:

"Darlin? It is so fucking good to see you. Hold you." (sorry about this one...) (21:55)

Going All The Way With Your Vampire Mate:

"You feel like home, Darlin. And that means more than you know to someone like me. I wasn’t sure I’d ever find home again. But I feel it with you." (22:39)

"I keep these walls high so those feelings can’t get the better of me, but you climbed over them. And you’re in here. I love you, Darlin. Deeply." (24:36)

BA (past YouTube preview, but nothing explicit):

"Are you alright? You're tensing up, I can feel it. Is this okay? I can slow down... Oh Darlin, no. Hold up. Look at me, look at me. Your body is beautiful, just as it is. Hey, hear me when I say that. Because I mean it."

"The way I feel with you, it's like nothing I've ever felt. And that is such a gift. There's no pretense with you, no fear. No walls. I can show you all of me, even the parts that aren't so pretty, and it still feels right. And easy. I feel known, when I'm with you. In a different world that might be scary, but with you, it's not. Because it's you."

"You meet me in the middle. You open yourself up not just to me but to your own feelings and you let me see them and that's an amazing fucking thing."

"Everything with you just feels... safe. And honest. And it's been a long time since it felt like that. I meant it when I said you feel like home. You feel like... sunlight, on an easy day. That warmth and that comfort. Gentle and all around. It's you. And I'm so grateful for that. I love you, Darlin."

Alright, if you got this far, thanks for sticking around... or for scrolling through all that mess. They're broken down by video because I literally ran into the character limit for a single block while making the list. I've been writing this post for literally nearly two hours, so I'm wrapping it up here.

[bugrry]

Grieving.

this request made me so sad but i've been through it myself too many times to just ignore it. i'm so sorry for your loss, anon. i hope this helps :(

request from anon: Hi!!! I love your writing. I was wondering I could request a comfort fic? My dog just passed away (💔💔💔), would you be able to write a fic about Harry comforting (Y/N) about their dog passing away? 🥺

here’s my masterlist <3

word count: 2.1K

You couldn’t remember the last time you’d left your apartment.

You knew it had been days. You’d watched the sun rise and set, rise and set, from your place on the couch. You’d barely gotten up from your place on the couch, you couldn’t even bring yourself to go to your bedroom. His bed and the blanket you had made for him were in there, along with the dent in the carpet next to your desk, where he’d slept during your work days. Just thinking about going back into that room -- a room filled with so many reminders of him -- brought tears to your eyes and an empty pain to your chest.

Every time you went into the kitchen you always expect him to be behind you, his eyes shining and his tail wagging, waiting -- always ever so hopeful -- for you to drop something for him.

And every time you had to be reminded that he would never be there, waiting behind you in the kitchen or sleeping at your feet, because he was gone. Gone. Your best friend in the whole world, the one who had been with you since your freshman year of college, gone. These reminders only made you want to curl further up into your couch, so you did.

…

Halfway through your third rewatch of whatever movie was giving you the most serotonin at the moment, there was a sharp knock at your door. You considered pretending like you weren’t home until the person on the other side of the door spoke.

“y/n? Are you in there? You haven’t been to the shop in, like, a week, and you aren’t answering my calls or my texts.” it was Harry. Your boyfriend of almost six months. He was right -- you had been ignoring his attempts at reaching out, you just couldn’t bring yourself to pick up the phone. You felt bad, you really did. He loved you so intensely, he didn’t deserve to be treated like this.

You forced yourself off the couch, reaching your hand out from your blanket-cocoon to unlock the deadbolt on your door. You twisted the knob, revealing Harry, whose face was pinched with worry. The minute you revealed yourself to him, he wrapped you up in his arms, squeezing you tight.

“Oh my God, (y/n) I was so worried about you. Did something happen? Are you sick?” he pulled back and began looking you up and down, searching for some sort of illness or injury. You twisted out of his grip, his touch being too overwhelming. You turned and walked towards the kitchen, Harry following shortly behind you.

“I’m fine, Harry. Just not feeling well. Do I still have a job, by the way?” you say, not looking him in the eye as you reach for a box of your favorite cereal.

“I-- of course you still have a job, (y/n), Katelynn loves you. Now please, baby. Talk to me?” he pulled you away from the counter, twisting your body to face him. You still have your eyes pointed at his feet.

“He’s--” you take a shuddering breath, “He’s gone, H.” You can’t bring yourself to elaborate, hoping he can figure it out. Luckily enough, it doesn’t take him long.

He realizes that he didn’t hear welcoming barking at his knock at your door, nor did he see him behind you once you’d opened it. He looked behind your shuddering body at where you used to keep his food dishes, only to find them stacked haphazardly in the corner. He looks back at your face and sees how empty you look. Your frame is still shuddering from trying to hold back your tears.

He melts once the realization fully hits him, and he pulls your body back into his. He finally feels that metaphorical band snap and your body melts into his, and he feels you press yourself into his chest. Harry murmurs sweet nothings to you, swaying you gently, pressing kisses to your head every once in a while.

Eventually, you pull away from him and look up at him with red and puffy eyes, sniffling. When he looks down at you, his eyes are soft and sad, and that only makes you burst into tears again.

You don’t remember how it happened, but somehow you and Harry end up on the couch, you pressed into the crook of his neck as you continue to sob. After what felt like hours -- but was probably one, at most -- he pulls you away from him.

“Okay. Let’s get you cleaned up. Is that okay? Can I take you to the bathroom?” he asks, running his hands over your shoulders. You nod at him, still sniffling. “When was the last time you showered?”

You only shrugged, looking back down at your hands. You couldn’t remember much over the past few days, it all just felt like a long, exhausting blur. He nodded, moving so that he could walk you to the bathroom. He sat you on the toilet as he turned the bath on. He made sure the water wasn’t too hot but would still be comfortable for you, and began lighting your favorite candles and incense, along with adding some bath salts to the water. Once the tub was full, he turned to look at you, who was still clothed and hadn’t moved from where Harry had placed you.

“You’re going to have to undress, lovie. Do you want me to leave?” At the mention of leaving, you turned your big doe eyes up at him.

“No! Don’t want you to leave, please don’t leave me, Harry, please.” you wrap your arms around his hips, your blanket falling to the ground beside you. He wraps his arms around the back of your neck and leans down to kiss the top of your head.

“Not gonna leave, my love. Do you want to undress on your own or would you like my help?”

“Your help, please?” He nods at your request, helping you to stand up. He pulls your t-shirt over your head and gently moves to take off your shorts. Before he does so, he looks back up at you, as if silently asking you for permission. You nod, and he proceeds to undress you the rest of the way.

Once you’re bare, he moves to help you into the tub. He tries pulling his hand away so he can sit next to you, but you whine at him. He looks over at you, frowning.

“What is it, lovey? Want something else?”

“Want you in here with me, please?” you give him a pout, knowing that had worked for you many times in the past. He smiles softly at you, moving to stand up.

“Don’t think your tub is big enough for the both of us, pet. How about I go make you something to eat and then I’ll help you out of the tub when you’re done.”

You look up at him, nodding slowly. The thought of a real meal makes your stomach rumble, you can’t think back to the last time you’d made something more than a frozen meal for yourself. He places another kiss to your forehead before he makes his way to your kitchen. You don’t know how much time had passed before he came back in, but it doesn’t take you long to realize that the water had gone cold. Harry had come back into the bathroom with a towel, which he places on the counter before reaching to help you out of the tub.

“How do you feel, lovie? Any better?” he asks, helping you to stand before wrapping a warm towel around your bare body. You sigh at the warmth, not realizing how cold you’d gotten while sitting in the tub.

Harry moves to walk you into your bedroom, and once you realize where he’s taking you, you move to pull yourself out of his grip. Once you free yourself, you run back to the bathroom, sitting on the cold tile, trying to slow your heart rate and fight the tears that are threatening to spill over. Harry walks back into the bathroom with an eyebrow raised.

“What’s this all about, baby? Are you okay?”

You shudder, and Harry can’t decide whether it’s from the cold tile or the tears that are gathering on your waterline.

“Can’t-- I can’t-- Harry, don’t make me--” he squats in front of you, shushing you quietly.

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I’ll get you something to wear, why don’t you wait here for me? I’ll only be a mo’”

You nod, and Harry sighs sadly before moving back to your bedroom. He picks something comfortable but not smothering -- a pair of boxers he’d left there at some point, and one of your old, soft t-shirts. He comes back into the bathroom to see that you haven’t moved, but you do seem to have composed yourself. He lets you dress yourself while he goes to plate what he’d made you two for dinner.

When you come out, you feel your cheeks warm once you see what he’s made for you. It’s nothing too complicated, almost like he knew you wouldn’t be able to stomach anything other than a simple meal. You sit across from him and immediately start eating.

“I know how that loss feels, (y/n).” you look up from your meal once you realize he’d started talking, “I’m so sorry you had to go through it alone. I know it’s hard to reach out, but please, please let me help you. All I want to do is see you happy, my love. Seeing you struggle like this hurts my heart.”

You feel a sob wrack your body, and Harry immediately realizes he’s said something he shouldn’t have. He rushed to your side, kneeling beside your chair. “I didn’t mean it like that, my love. You didn’t do anything wrong, I just need you to know that you don’t have to go through this alone. That’s all.”

“I’m--” another sob wracks you, “I’m sorry, H. I just didn’t want you to see me like this. I didn’t think you’d want to deal with me.” He stands up and pulls your head into his torso, running his hand up and down your back.

“Don’t you ever apologize for how you choose to grieve. I just want you to know that you don’t have to grieve alone. I’ll be here to pull you out of it, but I’ll also be here if you just want to wallow for a little while. Either is okay, I just need you to know that I’m here.” he feels you nod into his torso, sniffling. He leans back so that he can look into your eyes again, “Should we go watch something? Something light-hearted?” you nod again, already moving to pull him into your living room.

Once the two of you had decided on something to watch, it didn’t take long for you to fall asleep with your head on Harry’s shoulder. He lets you sleep for a while, and once he knows you won’t be waking up any time soon, he moves you to lie all the way down so that he can go clean up. He does a clean of your kitchen and a pick-up of your living room, starts a load of laundry, and scrubs down your bathroom. He walks into your bedroom, and it dawns on him why you didn’t want to go in there. The room was covered in reminders of your lost friend. A pile of blankets sat beside your bed, a few squeaky toys littered the area next to a bucket that had even more toys inside, and a half-empty bag of dog food sat atop your dresser. He collected all these reminders and moved them into your guest bedroom, for you to deal with when you were in a better state. For now, all you deserved was a good, long, comfortable rest.

He came back out to your living room to see you still asleep on the couch, and he decided you were fast enough asleep that he could move you to your bed. He slowly picked you up, moving you to the comfort of your mattress and blanket. Once he’d placed you on the bed, he watched your face to make sure you hadn’t woken up.

Once he knew you were still out, he climbed into bed next to you, wrapping his arms around your middle and pulling you close before he too drifted off to sleep.

...

taglist is in my masterlist!

@fallinforstyles @teenmagazine @ji5hine @sarcasticallywitty15 @tpwkhes @harrysdimple05 @summerstylesxplr @strawberryystyles @goldenhoax @aslagforharry @iwanttobekilledtwice @elenagilbert01 @kittykylax @elikakoh @sophiawithanph @randomwriter1021 @soullikestyles

[yemilnisu]

Hey hey hey! I heard requests are open! (Also I can't find any rules for requests in your blog so sorry if I'm breaking any of em!) So could I please request for kenma and kageyama with a childhood friend that they slowly fall in love with? Thanks in advance! (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡ (Have a good trip btw!)

nisu entries:

hey, bub! It’s fine you’re not breaking any but if you still want to read them it’s here! I hope you enjoy this!

I’m currently working on all of you guys’ requests but if you want to send a request, feel free to do so! Anyways, happy holidays!🥰

okay not me casually sneaking in attack on titan because i’m currently rewatching it and the fact that it’s the birthday of humanity’s strongest soldier aka the hottest man on earth aka levi ackerman😌🤚🏻

KENMA AND KAGEYAMA WITH A CHILDHOOD FRIEND THAT THEY SLOWLY FALL IN LOVE WITH

KENMA KOZUME

you and kenma have been friends since grade school

the two of you got partnered up for a project and ever since then the two of you slowly got close

kenma was shocked at first because he never really thought he’d make friends especially with a girl

he thought that the reason he always want to be close to you was because he cherish your friendship that much

like the fact that he’ll teach you how to play the new game he bought once he mastered it

or he’ll always make an extra character that has the same features you have so you guys can play together

and even though he wanted to read the new released manga, he will still wait for you so the two of you can read it together

or when the attack on titan released its fourth season, he waited patiently for you to finish the first three seasons and even rewatched some of them with you before watching the final season because you wanted to watch it with him

he thought all of those things were natural because you guys were friends, not until he noticed how boys from the other class were trying to grab your attention

like they’ll make some stupid excuse just to talk to you and kenma would observe from the side and just look at them like this

he thought what he was feeling was disgust and cringe for those pitiful boys because he knows that they will never get your attention, that they won’t win you using those petty tricks

but he started to doubt his own presumption when he saw you hanging out with the dude that complimented your hair yesterday

like you don’t even laugh that way when you were with him? like is that guy more fun to have around than your childhood best friend? you never looked at kenma the same way you looked at that guy

the way your eyes sparkle and your eyelashes battle with each other as you close your eyes from laughing so much, why does it seems like the world around kenma got slower?

oh shit. do i like my best friend? do i like... y/n?

“y/n... do you like someone?” kenma finally blurted out as the two of you were on your way home. it took him 10 minutes to get over all the thoughts of how terrible this situation might end up, but he can’t help but hope that it might go the other way, the way he wanted it to go.

“hmm, yeah. why’d you asked?” you answered nonchalantly.

“is it the guy from class 3?” he kinda regretted the way that question escaped his mouth. it sounded like he was jealous, not that he wasn’t. he could’ve said it in way he wasn’t guilty of being a tad bit jealous.

“i’m pretty sure i’m not his type, ken,” you chortled. kenma looked at you with so many question running through his mind. “he likes boys,” you answered shortly.

the latter just nodded his head as he thought all the moments you had with the guy. he felt so dumb. how did he not notice it? the way the guy complimented you was a lot more specific than any dude.

“why, ken? don’t tell me you’re jealous,” you joked. when the lad didn’t respond you glance at him. “oh, my gosh. are you, kenma kozume, jealous because i was hanging out with a guy?”

“so what if i am,” he answered bluntly. he didn’t know where he got that sudden bravery but for some weird reason he didn’t regret saying those words when he saw your eyes widen. but was quickly turned into a grin.

“damn, i never thought this day would come. kenma kozume being assertive, i guess that’s a good enough excuse for me to do too, right? you don’t have to be jealous, besides the guy i like have been beside me since grade school,” you announced. you had that meaningful look in your eyes when you and kenma met each other’s glances and he already knew what it meant.

“and do you want him to stay?” let’s just say that the friendship chapter ended right there.

TOBIO KAGEYAMA

you’re oikawa’s little sister so it was natural that you knew kageyama

despite the fact that your older brother hated the setter, you absolutely adored him, in which only added fuel to your brother’s rage towards the poor boy

but when oikawa saw how much you adored kageyama, he didn’t want to ruin your happiness so he’ll try to be nice to kageyama (at least when you’re around)

even though you and kageyama went to a different, the two of you still kept in touch

like hanging out atleast once a week and always texting each other about what the other is doing

as kageyama was on his way to your house he came across oikawa, and oikawa said something about beating the first year before he finally asked what the first year was doing there

kageyama explained that he have been waiting for an hour for y/n in their usual hang out spot

oikawa bursted out laughing, saying that kageyama got stood up and that this is the proof that you really are his sister

kageyama knows that you wouldn’t do that on purpose because he was aware of how much you liked hanging out with him and that would lowkey boost his ego

the first year subquently rolled his eyes and asked if you were at home

in which the latter answered that you left a couple of hours ago saying you were hanging out with your classmate kyo

“i guess you’re not y/n’s favorite anymore,” with that the third year continued his jog with a smug look on his face, purposely leaving his junior with a lot of unanswered questions

kyo? he have never heard that name before, especially from you. we’re you keeping secrets from him? why didn’t you tell him about this guy? even though it was hard for him to open up, he’d tell you all his secret and insecurities then why didn’t you do the same? and did you really replaced him?

kageyama thought that he can’t blame you if you did replace him, due to the fact that the kyo guy goes to the same school you do, means the two of you would see each other often than you would see kageyama

he thought that his time with you in kitagawa daiichi was fun and he would cherish your bond forever but he would like to tell you something first before it ends

the next day karasuno have a practice match against aoba johsai and after the match kageyama saw you walked pass the gym

“y/n!” you heard a familiar voice called out and it was kageyama. he jogged up to you, all sweaty and trying to catch his breath. he stared at the guy beside you and the guy quickly excused himself out of the deathly glare of the setter. “so that was him?” kageyama said, he sounded a bit disappointed.

“huh? what do you mean?” you asked

“nothing. i just wanted to say that i really appreciate our friendship and since it’s about to end anyways i don’t need to worry about it getting ruined by me falling in love with you,” the setter confessed.

you chuckled, “why does it sound like i’m going to die, tobio? you could confess to me and not sound so dramatic you know? seriously, you gotta stop idolizing my brother so much. and who said our friendship is going to end?”

“uh, me..?” he muttered.

“why’d you think that?” you asked softly, you know kageyama even though he have this strong aura, he was still sensitive as a little baby.

“...you didn’t come to our hang out place yesterday,” he silently replied.

“oh, shoot! i’m so sorry, tobio. i forgot that we were supposed to hang out yesterday. i had a group project that needs to be finished as soon as possible. i’m really sorry, it completely slipped out of my mind,” you babbled.

“it’s fine. just let me take you out on a date,” he boldly asked you out. you smirked, you forgot that he could be as sly and courageous when he wished to be.

[christinescarf]

☕️ Pirates of the Caribbean

ahhhh

the original trilogy is my favourite film franchise of all-time (I can say this confidently upon rewatch). a well thought-out story, really solid special effects, banging music, great fight sequences, not a single badly written character...I never got my fascination with these movies until I decided to binge them for a university paper, and realized that they're just what happens when a group of really passionate people have an idea they really work on and do not half-ass.

there are some things that could definitely expanded upon/I do not fully agree with:

I really wanted MORE Elizabeth. cunning, mean, fight-y Elizabeth, the PIRATE she became by the third movie. to me, she is one of the most well-written female protagonists, but even then I feel like the romance aspect really detracts from that at some point, as much as I like her and Will. them not communicating was a giant aspect of the third film, and it never sat well with me that, in the end, it was resolved with the snap of a finger and them getting married.

in general, while the romances are fun and Very Good, I do find it hilarious that my girl Lizzie is supposed to be monogamous, given how many men she has a romantic connection with.

there are some major pacing issues in the second movie, and a lot of the times it feels like some shenanigans happen just Because, but they're still well shot, so I won't complain too much.

I've also never really seen Jack as the protagonist? he's fine as an ensemble character & is an unmistakable part of the main trio, but he's just not the PROTAGONIST, you know?

my biggest problems lie with the fact that the franchise just cannot be killed. let's be real - "At World's End" really was the END, no matter the open-ish ending (which is my least-favourite part of the film; the ending for every single character just isn't that good, but it's also not Endgame bad & is the most narratively sensical), so I hate that they try to resurrect the movies every few years. I'll give "On Stranger Tides" credit for at least introducing new characters and only having Jack&Barbossa (and Gibbs, and Teague) be carry-overs from the trilogy, but what "Dead Men Tell No Tales" did was straight-up insufferable and ruined the characterizations of both those still present and long gone from the first three films.

I just want these movies to die. or be revived but not have any of the original characters involved, maybe only as a passing mention. if I see another Turner/Swann or Barbossa kid, I'm not touching these movies with a ten foot pole.

then again, Disney being Disney, I know that, unless they give the creative control of a spin-off series to a singular person/auteur (which, let's be real, is not happening), it'll be a disaster.