#bc i think that i want to better hammer down hope's powers first and what her position as guardian means

[paigemathews]

Hello! Can I request romantic pairing Billie Jenkins and Hope from Little Box of Horrors?

Pairing: Billie Jenkins / Hope

Universe: anyone remember that shamelessly self-indulgent spin-off AU idea?

Facing five (basically) charges with expressions ranging from apologetic shame to amused remorselessness, Paige felt the urge to apologize to her sisters for her when she was a newly discovered witch, along with a migraine coming on. Balancing the baby in her arms, she sighed, "Why?"

All five exchanged looks, and both Hope and Billie went to speak. Migraine immediately worsening, Paige hastily cut them off, "Nope, I don't want to know actually. We will deal with the demon."

Billie immediately protested, "But we're the one that found it! You can't just sideline us-"

"Oh, don't worry," Paige interrupted. "I fully intend for you guys to be involved."

And without further conversation, she dumped the baby in Billie's arms, getting a bit of amusement at how quickly Billie's eyes widened with panic. "Take care of the baby for now, while we deal with the demon."

Without giving any of her (sort of) charges a chance to argue, Paige orbed out.

"Was she... serious?" Darcy asked slowly.

~

"I cannot believe that they ditched us!" Billie ranted, pacing back and forth the dorm room.

Hope considered pointing out that they were getting supplies for the baby or that Billie had very clearly tried to join them, but it seemed easier to let the other woman continue her rant. Bouncing the baby gently, Hope had to admit that it had been their fault, so it made sense that they dealt with the baby. Still, she just hoped her dad wouldn't ask about the credit card transactions later.

"I mean, who does that?" Billie gestured wildly. "Just run off and ditch their friends!"

Hope smothered a smile, temporarily hiding her face against the baby's head. As if Billie wasn't the first of any of them to ditch the rest to rush headfirst into any demonic or magical or dangerous situation. Maybe it'd be more irritating if Hope couldn't sense that Billie was hiding her panic at dealing with the baby through exaggerated outrage. Still, her arms were starting to get tired, and this had been all of Billie's ideas.

Standing, she shushed the baby quietly as Billie turned again, taking advantage of the witch's surprise to place the baby in her arms. Billie took her automatically, expression frozen in panic. Hope couldn't quite control the laugh at that.

"Have you ever held a baby before?"

Glancing down at the baby, Billie hissed through her teeth, "No! In case you missed it, I was an only child!"*

"Clearly," Hope said dryly. "Didn't you ever babysit or anything?"

Billie gave her a look, and Hope had to cave on that. Billie was a lot of things. "Babysitter material" was definitely not one of them. Sighing, she stepped into Billie's personal space, cooing fondly at the baby as she fussed.

"You can't be scared of her, Billie," Hope gently reproached. She reached out and adjusted the way that the witch was holding the baby, making sure that Billie supported her head and neck. The baby settled in the more comfortable hold, and Hope smiled. "See? You just need to relax. Try rocking her."

Billie stayed tense for a moment before letting out a deep breath and stiffly rocking her arms. After a minute, when she seemed to realize that she wasn't going to spontaneously drop the baby, Billie relaxed into it.

Hope hummed under her breath, a little lullaby that seemed to soothe the infant. Billie slowed to a stop, and Hope looked up into the other woman's face to see why.

Billie was watching her, pale skin flushed red. Hope suddenly realized that she still had her fingers curled around Billie's arm, squarely in Billie's personal space. Despite the realization, she didn't move or let go of her.

"You're good at this," Billie said with uncharacteristic quietness. Hope couldn't quite read the look in her eyes, but something about it made her hesitate to sense Billie's emotions.

"I babysat. A lot. In high school," Hope spoke as quietly as Billie did. Something about it felt like if she spoke too loudly, the spell would shatter.

Billie's eyes flickered down and back up again, seemingly without realizing. Hope's breath caught.

"Okay, so we got- hey!" Speed was cut off with a suspiciously screeching sound as Darcy grabbed the back of his hoodie and yanked him back.

Blushing hard, Hope stepped away from Billie and turned to her friends with a bright smile. Darcy was hissing something in Speed's ear while Max slowly eased around them into the room. Arms laden with bags, he offered them to Hope, eyes flickering between the two women.

"Everything okay?"

"Just peachy," Billie said shortly, turning away.

Hope couldn't help the surge of disappointment before pausing. Disappointed? Why? Because they'd been interrupted? From-

Oh no.

Hope had a crush on Billie.

* this can be taken in that either Billie doesn't remember Christy or hasn't told the others about her yet

[argisthebulwark]

so so so I was on my way to work this morning blasting music right. not paying any particular attention to anything, just letting my playlist shuffle through bc I still had major fog brain and didn't think of anything past hitting play and what not.

Well suddenly mantra by bring me the horizon came on and it snapped me awake, particularly the part right after the second chorus that goes like "I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, all I'm asking for's a little bit of faith" bc my brain was like !!! major miraak and ldb vibes holy shit (which btw this entire blog is responsible for my new obsession with him so thanks)

like that part just hits soooo well for that. the lbd asking miraak to just have faith in them!!! and leave apocrypha with them. I had it on repeat for hours today and it's just been stuck it my head for the rest

aaa!! i don't usually listen to new BMTH but you're so right about this song. it's been added to my Miraak playlist. it goes so well. i'll link it here for anyone who wants to listen

"I promise I can save you."

The Last Dragonborn's words rattled Miraak's bones. Their hand was covered in blood and ink when they thrust it toward him. Eyes full of desperation watched his every move over the Black Book sitting open in their lap, dark magic whirling and twisting over its pages.

He couldn't trust them. They were his enemy. He belonged in Apocrypha even if it crumbled. He wanted nothing more than to squash their obnoxious hopefulness. He couldn't be saved, didn't know if he wanted to be.

"Close your eyes and listen carefully, Dragonborn." Miraak put every ounce of hatred into his words. They didn't even flinch. "I am bound to this realm. You cannot save me."

"I'm the only one that can save you." Their hand grabbed his, warm skin sticking together and Miraak was disgusted by the way his heart leapt. He'd stomped down his feelings for so long. He wouldn't allow himself to feel that way about the Last Dragonborn.

"How do you expect to do this?" That damned smile was on their face at his words. He knew he'd lost to them yet again. He had spent lifetimes building himself into an unbeatable foe but failed time and time again when met with the Last Dragonborn.

"I know it doesn't make a lot of sense." They babbled and gripped his hand so tight he swore he'd lose feeling. "All I'm asking for is a little bit of faith."

Their words took his breath away. The Book's green glow cast eerie shadows across the Last Dragonborn's face when they looked over at him and Miraak caught a glance of what they could have been. He imagined them at his side at the height of his power, matching thrones in his palace, the unstoppable force they could have become had they met under different circumstances.

"Can you believe in me?"

It's so easy to believe in them. Miraak felt himself nodding before he could think better of it. Apocrypha's seas beat against their platform and for the first time in ages he felt hope. It was a dangerous feeling but the Last Dragonborn gave him hope.

The world turned upside down. Miraak was nauseous when he tumbled through empty space, flashes of green and black stealing his vision when he succumbed to the power of the Black Book. The Last Dragonborn clung to his hand through it all. They never let him go.

Landing back on Skyrim knocked the air from his lungs. The bright sun overhead blinded him and old smells he'd long forgotten filled his nose. Trees towered overhead and Miraak waited for his vision to stop swirling.

Despite his worst fears the Last Dragonborn never let go of Miraak's hand. They squeezed his fingers to call his attention. He hesitated - his mask had been lost in their last battle. He wasn't sure what they saw when they looked at his face, if he'd become some horrible monster like the Seekers.

Their eyes crinkled when they smiled up at him. Miraak knew he was staring but couldn't help himself - the grime covering their face did nothing to stop his heart from hammering. He even felt a bit guilty for leaving so many wounds on them.

"How did you do that?" He whispered, trying to figure out how they'd cast a calming or persuasion enchantment without him noticing. He knew the truth but had to bury it. He couldn't have feelings for the Last Dragonborn. Absolutely not.

"Do what?" They laughed, rolling closer to Miraak over the dirty ground of whatever forest they'd landed in. "I just talked to you. You're the one that listened."

They were dangerous. Far too charismatic for their own good. Miraak's heart leapt when the Dragonborn leaned close to him, studying his face. They didn't seem horrified so it couldn't be too bad, though he didn't feel inclined to find a mirror anytime soon.

"You're too persuasive." Miraak felt himself smiling, a plan already forming in his mind. His last plot had only failed because he was working against the Last Dragonborn, but on the same side they could conquer everything. "Do you want to start a cult with me?"

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. im not against the idea of red eyes for everyone (esp bc hades and ares already had therm before P anyway) but i do agree any emphasis and symbolism they had is just gone bc RS slaps them in whenever and seems to only use them as an aesthetic choice now over a marker of power/rage, so they dont have any impact anymore, especially in regards to persephone and her "dread queen" persona. its really disappointing  so many interesting ideas are set up in LO only for RS to ruin them down the line.

2. tbh most of these "dramatic" panels would have worked so much better in her old style, bc her current one is way too cartoony for me to take seriously.

3. oh ... oh why does "titan" hades just look like kronos with big persephone just lighter rhea ... why of all parallels to go for rachel goes with making the leads be copies of the couple full of abuse?? whats going on in that lily white head of hers to think thats a great idea for the main couple 💀

4. rachel, we all know you stole most of your ideas from tumblr and saw what made hxp popular on here, making them carbon copies of each other is literally the exact reverse of why people like hxp. theyre supposed to be opposites, no clones of each other down to backgrounds, powers, and personalities. at this point persephone will just turn blue to really hammer home theyre the same person with hades getting the emphasis as the "important" one.

5. lmao anyone wanna bet hades being able to be big now will somehow be used along with giant horny persephone to defeat kronos in some underwhelming version of a godly kaiju battle.

6. i mean rachel trying to "make parallels" with persephone only made her seem like hades is still in love with hera and persephone is just a replacement to her and that hades is repeating the same cycle of toxicity he had with minthe with persephone as well, all because rachel does not know how to use actual parallels. things like this makes it very clear rachel is a not a writer but no one on her team seems to be able to get through to her to actually help her with this reoccurring issue.

7. I feel like a big issue too with LO is RS thinks making HxP “perfect” makes them more interesting, which it really doesn’t? If they have every advantage, what is there to hope they overcome? They’re the richest, most powerful, most desirable characters (according to RS) in the whole series, so what exactly are they overcoming? There is no stakes, no god can go against them, most people support them with no exception, they have the most unique and powerful abilities, etc etc etc, so what exactly is there to root for when we know they succeed anyway? No new plot she tries to set up can trick us into thinking maybe they might fail because we know she just can’t write that, so any interest that could have been there is dead on arrival. This could have worked maybe in the first year, but not going into its fourth. 

8. “The trial will be back in two days” aka 6 months 

9. Any receipts of LO fans hating on other we toon creators? I’ve heard time and time again that LO fans keep attacking other comic artists (esp. the LGBT BIPOC ones) but I’ve never dig deep enough to find proof.

From OP: From what I hear, it happens in the webtoons comment section but I don’t think I’d be able to sit through an entire comment section. Plus, by now they should be removed. I heard it happens to other H/P creators like Sigeel and Gaumeo. It could be happening to creators who do the monochrome thing for characters as well. If someone has any screenshots, please do share.

-----FP Spoilers/Mention-----

10. FP SPOILERS!!

So uh.....Persephone's seriously thinking more about making a child for a 2000-old rich slave owner creep than about her own mother??? Who is under arrest now??? And she should be too?? I don't know I.....how Rachel expects us to empathize with Persephone if she's not only a spoiled brat, but also a very shitty person who thinks only about how she wants to f*ck with daddy smurf?? Heck, does she even know what a sympathetic character is bc at this point I'm starting to doubt how human compassion works outside the #relatable in the comment section 

[carminite-wyrm]

Its an Empires SMP + Wynncraft crossover AU I guess

So, I’ve been playing a lot of Wynncraft recently, and man, the Wynncraft lore sure is wild. Halfway through doing a quest I suddenly remembered that hey, nether corruption sure is a thing over here, and isn’t there Also an invading corruption storyline going on over in Empires?

Anyways so here I am with yet another niche AU idea lmao (though also with the latest videos from Pix and Gem I...kind of already am thinking of a variant on this one lmao)

- Some indeterminable point in time in the future, the Empires gang are having the final fight against Xornoth, ready to take out the demon and cleanse their world of the corruption that had been taking hold of their kingdoms.

- Its down to the final few blows, with the Kings and Queens coming together, despite their grievances with one another, despite all the differences that had once been between them, to finally strike down the demon.

- Naturally, of course, it goes a little sideways.

- The final blow lands, and the hellish arena disappears in a flash of unholy light.

- When the heroes awaken, they find themselves in a spider-infested patch of woodland.

- Upon fighting/running their way out, they quickly realise that yeah, this sure isn’t the Empires SMP anymore.

- There are some shenanigans, probably, upon that realisation, but eventually, the group makes their way to the nearby city of Detlas, severely disconcerted by the clear presence of corruption in the land around them.

- They’re fairly certain that they saved their own land, only to land right in another world also beset by corruption.

- Their various communicators also seem to be displaying a different HUD from what they’re used to, including an actual mana bar along with their health, and more equipment slots and most baffling of all: the option to level up and increase a variety of skills.

- Also, there’s magic, though a different magic than what they’re used to

Added to that, the monsters are far more different to what they’ve encountered in their home world. Zombies, fairly standard, even if the ones in this strange land seem somehow more powerful than theirs. Spiders, easy. And then Joey stumbles across a flaming horse rocketing straight at him at roughly 40kmph, screeching demonically all the while. It narrowly misses pummelling him in the face with its hooves and oh, looks like this isn’t a standard world after all.

Character classes and more thoughts under the cut!

Character classes! (Wynncraft currently has 5 classes people can choose from!)

Warriors (uses polearms/hammers, generally the dps/tank build)

Scott – He has a pink battleaxe, yes of course he’s the heavy-weapon-using class. Also, bc I think it’d be really amusing to see this elf dude w/ an antler crown charging straight at someone with a massive axe/hammer/polearm.

Fwhip – King of the Grimlands, projecting an image of strength even as the corruption ran rampant and clashed with the inherent darkness of his own kingdom.

Lizzie – Ocean Queen w/ a Trident, enough said. Sure, there might not be any axolotls in this world for some reason, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have the powers that made her one of the most powerful Empires back home. Probably mains thunder elemental magic, bc sending chain lightning at enemies is very cool.

Mages (Magic staff goes brr. Also they can heal)

Gem! – I imagine she’d be highly adept at hitting enemies with the regular attack spell, and then suddenly casting a meteor and crystalline ice to obliterate her foes as the rest of the party watches on.

Katherine – Teleporting + fast attacks = magic menace. Also bc I think it’d look cool for her, and honestly that’s the majority of my decision-making here w/ the class selections

Pixl – Idk, something about the vigil and the whole candle thing makes me think he’d make a pretty damn good healer. Calm, collected, and the most unshakeable amongst the chaos of the Empires gang. (This AU idea was written like, a week before the latest video lmao so we're just gonna...gloss over the most recent plot developments for a bit until I can figure out how to make it make sense in the AU)

Assassins (Stabby stabby DPS)

Joel – Look I just think the imagery of Joel + Lizzie absolutely wrecking shit together on a battlefield is too good to pass up on.

Sausage – Man literally ran an assassin guild back in their home world, of course he’s an assassin here in this one. Probably has several sets of daggers hidden up his sleeves, and probably ends up with a life steal build.

Pearl – Pearl with knives would be terrifying and amazing to behold. On the other hand, I was considering either Mage or Shaman but we already have like three Mages, and I don't really have any ideas for how Pearl would utilise the Shaman abilities atm.

Archers (Ranged DPS or support)

Jimmy! – Swamp boi deserves to pop off and what better way than to be able to cause arrows to rain from the sky. And also to backflip out of danger. I imagine navigating a swamp has given him an actual dexterity or agility score.

Shaman (Buffs + support)

Shubble – Honestly I think she’d really vibe with the nature-y vibes this class kind of gives me, what with her mushroom kingdom vibes and the magic. Also, one of the most complex classes, but considering Shubble and her whole researching the corruption thing, I think it’d fit.

Joey – I’m gonna be honest, I don’t know much about his POV beyond ‘wants to court the demon’ at the moment, so contributions welcome here.

- Gem and Shubble’s initial investigations (because they absolutely hit the first library or archive they could find) whilst the others explored/adventured around the area eventually lead them to determining that in order to return to their own world, they’ll have to make their way to the most dangerous region of the Wynn region: The Silent Expanse.

Defeating whatever entity is chilling deep in that eldritch hellzone that’s pinging off Gem and Shubble’s (w/ machinery assistance from Pixl) cobbled-together ‘machine for detecting their world’s own magic’ should be enough to trigger the same event that sent them to this world. They think. Its enough for them all to hope, at any rate.

- Its an odd feeling, being at the height of their powers only to be thrust into a world where a tap from an armoured skeleton can take them down to a third of their health in one hit, at their current ability level.

- The party starts off at roughly level 5-7 btw, because I’ve had to do the tutorial quest and Enzan’s Brother quest like six times and I want to skip that here thanks.

- Eventually, the group does have to split into smaller parties for efficiency, though they’re understandably hesitant to be separate from everyone else in an unfamiliar world.

- Obviously, the parties do shuffle around a bit depending on what quests they end up undertaking, to play for each of their strengths and to cover for their weaknesses.

- Because they’re the Kings and Queens of the Empires SMP, they climb up the levels fairly rapidly, racing through quests in Ragni, Detlas, Nemract, Almuj, before finally venturing across the ocean to the province of Gavel.

- They’re well aware that something rather bad is going on in this world, something that looks and feels so similar to the corruption back home, but yet not.

- Their first encounter with the Parasites in the Dark Forest has those more in tune with the currents of magic, or the natural world, recoiling from the feeling of ‘wrong wrong that should not be in this world-‘

After that harrowing encounter, they are very, very glad, that in their world, the source of the corruption was clearly from a pesky demon, and not the result of warring planar powers.

One would think that, as the resident swamp dweller of their motley group, Jimmy would have been a tad more relaxed in the Olux Swamp. And yet, the magic from his Empire has him on edge throughout their travels in that area, the lingering sense of foreign magic, of what the locals refer to as the Decay, worrying away at the familiar scent of the swamp.

[fanfictionfansmiction]

hii! i was just wondering if i could a request a ron imagine where he really likes the reader and he does what he does to fleur in the movies and yells at her to go to the ball with him? and ginny is like comforting him how she was in the movies but reader runs after him and they’re all in shock bc she actually wants to go with him and liked him back? (i’m sorry this is long, i’m bad at explaining)

This is my first request!! Very exciting, so I have written this based on what you said rather than watching the clip from the film so it might not happen exactly the same as that but I hope you enjoy it anyway it was really fun to write so please do send in more requests! 

Word Count: 1594

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Ron was never great with his expressing his feelings, especially when it came to you. He was always saying the wrong thing or saying the right thing the wrong way. It wasn’t always like that though you two were close for a long time and you even considered him your closest friend. Ron kicked himself every time he saw you and acted like an idiot and so did his friends.

“Ron why don’t you just go and talk to her?” Hermione said reading the paper not looking at Ron or Harry as she did but still sensing Ron’s pining look that was laid upon you sat with your Hufflepuff friends. Ron only groaned in response pushing his breakfast around on the plate.

“Obviously, it’s because he can’t talk to her or he’ll just die it’s so embarrassing she’s just so beautiful and perfect what could he possibly offer her.” Harry imitated Ron. “I’m sorry mate but this has been going on too long and its painful to watch, if you don’t do something about it in the next two days, I’ll…” Harry trailed off thinking of an appropriate threat for a friend. “Or I’ll tell Fred and George about it.” There that seemed good enough. Harry looking fairly pleased with himself started to eat his breakfast assuming that would be the end of it today. Ron rested his head in his hands feeling sorry for himself.

“But what would I talk to her about?” Ron asked his two friends hoping for a helpful response. Neither had any response, Herimone who now seemed to be filling out the crossword puzzle and Harry who was instead thinking about his own love life. No such luck for Ron instead Ginny sat herself next to Hermione stealing a sausage off Ron’s plate and munching on it.

“What’s everyone’s plans for the Yule Ball then?” she asks holding eye contact with Harry who chokes on his orange juice. Pleased with his reaction she grins looking at her brother. “Ron who’s your date?”

“He’s just about to ask them.” Hermione announces folding up the newspaper now more invested in the whole situation, shooting Ron a pointed look. Harry, happy to have Ginny’s eyes off him agrees with Hermione.

“Oh, this’ll be great. What’s the plan Ron?” Ginny asks filling a glass scoffing at the thought of her brother asking the object of his affections out on a date, successfully.

“Instead of thinking about it he was actually just about to ask them now. Weren’t you Ron?” Harry says nudging Ron’s arm.

“Hermione will you- “

“You aren’t getting out of it that easily Ronald. We all know who you want to ask. Besides, I already have a date. You’re on your own with this one.” She responds her eyes drifting over to Viktor who was already looking at her.

“Stop being a chicken Ron and go ask them.” Ginny says commanding the same power as her mother. Ron shakily stands whipping his sweaty hands along his trousers. He takes a deep breathe in and makes his way to where you are sitting with your Hufflepuff friends. For a moment Ron thinks about turning back because what is the worst Ginny could do if he didn’t ask. What could Fred and George do that would be worse than rejection? A quick turn of his head told him that no matter how scary rejection was his little sister would be worse. Besides that, you had already spotted him focusing your attention on him. Your friends still talking to you, but you were looking at Ron and he felt his face light up. It had been a while since you had looked at him, properly looked at him.

“Hello Ron.” You said with a large smile on your face lighting up your eyes.

He breathed you name, and his heart hammered in his chest. He remembered his sweating palms and his friend watching him and your friends watching him and you looking at him with those sweet eyes. Any drop confidence he had just drained out of him and he felt stuck. To make matters worse your friends began whispering and giggling. Why didn’t he plan out how to ask you? What if when he asked you couldn’t hear him. Or what if when he asked you burst out laughing revealing you already had a date a much better date. A date who asked you with flowers. He should have brought you flowers.

“Everything okay?” You ask bringing him back to the room. Ron’s throat felt dry.

“WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO TO THE YULE BALL WITH ME AS MY DATE. WELL, IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE LIKE A DATE DATE WE COULD GO AS FRIENDS.” He burst out far louder than he intended. Clapping his hands over his mouth confused at how he managed to produce such a loud volume. This did it all your friends laughed and so did the entire room at this strange outburst. He could see how pink you had gotten mouth opening and closing like a fish looking around at your friends who all seemed extremely amused. So, he apologised and immediately began powerwalking out of the hall because running out would be far more embarrassing.

He didn’t stop walking until he felt he was far enough away from the sound of everyone’s laughter. Laughing at him. Why did he do that? He asked himself. In the morning sun out in the courtyard he kicked a tree really regretting embarrassing you in front of all those people. He didn’t even realise he was talking to himself until someone interrupted him.

“Finally found some good company?” Ginny said leaning against the tree.

“What do you want Gin?” Ron asked croakily not realising he had been crying.

“I want you to know that you are an idiot but its also okay. You very easily could have never asked her, never spoken to her again. Never given her idea of how you felt but you did. And I hate to say it Ron but not everything is going to go as you want it everyone doesn’t always like you back. It’s okay that she didn’t want to go with you there are plenty of others who might. It’s okay if she doesn’t see you that way you know, that right?”

Just as Ron opens his mouth to respond someone else does.

“I never said I didn’t want to go with you Ron.”

Ginny grins once again watching as her brothers face lights up and she sees the hope return to his body. She walks away leaving the two of them some time alone.

Ron says your name like a wish. Like he doesn’t really believe you’ll be there when he turns around. But you are and he sees the blush still on your face. And that you’re breathless like you ran after him all that way. Ron wants to say something to say anything to you, but he doesn’t. Thankfully as it finally gives you the space to say how you feel.

“I just wasn’t expecting you ask me Ron. You haven’t spoken to me properly in weeks, I thought I did something to upset you. My friends only laughed because we were literally just talking about you. I was planning on asking you to Yule Ball myself. Look Ron I really like you and not having my close friend there to talk to and to laugh with was really strange.”

“I really like you too. I just never thought you felt the same way.” Ron closes the space between you.

“That’s because you never asked.” You laugh placing you hand on his cheek. Another flush of red taking over his face. His eyes look down not sure enough of himself to meet your gaze. Placing your other hand on his other cheek you say, “So ask me Ron.” Ron smiles lopsided and goofy looking at you still rather nervous.

“So, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Yule Ball with me? As my date.” He breathes.

“Oh, I’m not sure what day is that on again?” You tease taking your hands away from his face feigning deep thought, causing him to laugh with you relaxing him. “I’d love to go to the ball as your date Ron. Maybe before then we could go on a little date.” You ask playing with the collar of his shirt.

“Wasn’t that his line.” You hear Harry add from behind you. Ron shoots him a look of humorous disapproval.

“As much as I’m annoyed that he was watching that I have to agree with him. I think I was supposed to ask you that.” He says now looking at you so intensely you almost forget how to talk.

“Why because he’s the guy?” Ginny adds.

“How archaic.” Hermione adds.

“Sorry mate we just had to see how this plays out.”

Ron shakes his head with an infectious laugh, he snakes his arm round your waist holding you closely.

“Fred and George just wouldn’t believe you without eyewitnesses, really I’m doing you a favour.” Harry laughs.

“How about we go somewhere a little more private to plan this date.” You say gazing up at Ron with delight.

“That sounds perfect.” He says before kissing you soft and sweet.

“Okay now it’s weird.” Ginny says, “Let’s leave these lovebirds alone. Have fun you two.”

Ron smiles down at you and you feel relief flood through you. The two of you this close, sharing space in the universe together felt righter than anything you’d ever known before.

[gamerwoo]

Wonwoo: Achilles Info

a/n: since a few people have asked if they need to know anything about attack on titan to read achilles (the answer is yes) but haven’t watched the show or have no interest in watching/catching up, here’s a big info dump to kind of explain a little bit more so y’all can better understand the plot (THERE WILL BE AOT SPOILERS ~OBVIOUSLY~ SO IF YOU PLAN ON WATCHING OR CATCHING UP THEN DON’T READ THIS OR ACHILLES!!!)

Achilles Masterlist

Titans

Titans are essentially giant humanoid creatures that eat humans. Most of them are mindless, but some act more abnormal and are therefore called “abnormals” or “abnormal titans”. The only way to kill a titan is to slice the nape of their neck a certain way. Later in the series, it’s revealed that all titans are just regular humans who became titans.

The Scouts

The scout regiment/survey core/survey corps are one of three branches of basically military (the other two being the garrison regiment who basically just take care of the walls, and the military police who live in the innermost wall and just serve the king. the military police is basically the easiest/coziest branch but it’s not an option for just anybody). They go outside the walls to survey the area and try to learn more about what’s beyond their knowledge. I might mention their uniforms in the au from time to time so you might wanna look it up if you wanna know what it looks like (especially the ODM gear bc that shit is really crazy lmao)

Paradis

This is the island where the majority of Attack on Titan takes place. There are 3 walls build up to protect the people from the titans, and nobody had traveled outside the outer wall until I think season 3?? Up until I believe the end of season 3, nobody was sure if there was even a world outside the 3 walls built up, but they discovered a beach and an ocean. Paradis is where the Marleyans send some of the Eldians who have gone against the law or need to be punished in an extreme way. They essentially ship them off to the island, climb the wall by the beach, and will turn a bunch of the Eldians into titans before throwing a few Eldians as humans over the wall so they can watch them get eaten. They claim the Eldians on Paradis are even worse than the Eldians who live in Marley, and the Eldians from Marley have been brainwashed to hate the people of Paradis, calling them “devils” and blaming them for all of their bad reputation. Achilles takes place on Paradis.

Eldians/Eldia

Eldia was an empire founded 2000 years ago by the first person to discover how to turn humans into titans (a woman named Ymir who I believe was the first ever titan). The Eldians are also known as “Subjects of Ymir”. Eldia also contained other people who were not Eldian, but only the Eldians could turn into titans. Ymir ruled over this empire with nine noble families who had the power of the Shifting Titans (I just call them “special titans” in Achilles). With the power of the titans, the Eldians were able to conquer most of the world, and notably, the Kingdom of Marley. Reader/Yn is half Eldian, but because Marleyans look down on Eldians, they don’t consider her Marleyan and treat her like any other Eldian.

Marleyans/Marley

The Kingdom of Marley is across the sea from the island of Paradis. According to the Marleyans, the Eldians were horrible people who essentially enslaved the other ethnicities back when they conquered most of the world, and killed three times the world’s population. But nobody actually knows if this is true or not, but Marleyans teach this in their schools and have brainwashed Eldians to believe they’re awful people. The Eldians still reside on Marley, but the Marleyans make them live in a gated area and treat them poorly. Eldians are also forced to wear armbands to show they’re an Eldian, and will be punished if they’re not wearing one. Marleyans only keep Eldians around because of their ability to shift into titans. That comes in handy for war. Reader/Yn comes from Marley and is half Marleyan.

The Special Titans

There are nine special titans that are the: founding titan, colossal titan, beast titan, armored titan, attack titan, cart titan, jaw titan, female titan, and war hammer titan. I recommend just looking up each titan and what they look like/do because it’s a little difficult to describe. Some are self explanatory like colossal (just a really fucking big titan) and armored (basically just has......armor lmao), but the cart titan is a little strange, and the war hammer is kind of complex. To become a special titan, an Eldian must be given a special shot to become a titan, and then they have to eat the person who holds the power of the special titan. So for example, in the au, Soonyoung wants to become the next female titan. To do so, he’d have to eat the person who already has the ability, which is Jiwoo. The special titans are able to shift to a titan and back to their human form, but regular titans are not.

a/n: i hope these helped clear up some stuff. i do recommend looking up titans and the special titans just to get an idea of what they are/look like. but if anyone has any other questions, feel free to send them and i’ll do my best to answer!!

[goodluckbabe2024]

my friend i am here with the self insert oc sam parallel episode, i have a history exam tomorrow and i refuse to revise in favor of writing this. let me take you on a journey.

this is very self indulgent and spans kind of the entirety of the series (because im nosy and want to be involved in every cool plot) so im not gonna embarrass myself OR bore you but the general gist of the first episode is this:

i am an 18yr old psychic kid raised by a hunter, meeting the boys in s2 through a “my father was also murdered by a ghost of his past”, except he did not immediately assume i am the antichrist while i was an infant and raised me relatively normal, thus demonstrating that john winchester was a fucked up parent because he allowed himself to be.

i am what sam could’ve been and he is once again reminded that all he ever wanted was to be normal and loved and how that was taken away from him, unfairly. he is angry. he is jealous. he feels bad about being jealous because “her dad’s dead, what the fuck,man”. he wants me to be ok, ultimately, ofc he does, but he doesn’t understand why i got it, why he didn’t, why couldn’t john do it. this serves as more material for soul-searching bc i am a firm believer that understanding the circumstances of abuse and neglect and wrapping ur head around them helps lift the guilt we often burden ourselves with: it’s not that if sam had been a better son john would have loved him more, it’s that john refused to look at sam for what sam really was: a child wracked by generational trauma and unprocessed grief, whose autonomy was violated before he could say his first word, in need of love, and chose to instead look at sam through his own grief muddied goggles and link him to mary’s death. insane how this is turning into sam analysis isn’t it.

i am also angry because im still sort of a child but not really, not anymore, im on the cusp of adulthood and going into it knowing that the world is unfair and hateful, grief is written all over me and sam thinks oh nono, because hope’s kind of the whole point isn’t it, and i had it and now it has been taken from me along with my parent and sam feels so alone and furious with everything, he’s plagued by skull cracking demonic visions, and he doesn’t want this idealized version of himself to ultimately end up like the version of himself that he is now, the one he doesn’t understand, the one he’s afraid of. he’s looking in a weird funhouse mirror, sees a kid who was different like he was but was cherished, and sees her end up in the same position he is now: fatherless, on a quest for revenge. he thinks that if we get the monster of the week, ill be better and he’ll find his hope in that. all roads lead to rome but he wont allow this one to reach the colosseum (defying destiny theme, hello).

the monster of the week hunt begins thusly, with sam generally uncomfortable. i confide in him about my psychic abilities and i explain to the brothers that i can help. both are opposed, but i am a chaotic little bitch and get involved anyway. throughout my involvement, sam learns more about the world of psychic mediums and thinks aha! hope! maybe if i dig deep enough (whore for lore amirite babes) ill find someone who’s lived an experience similar to mine! miss oc what are ur book recs for “i think i am psychic and terrified of it” and i say “fear not nerd have a very small cup of coffee and let me tell you about this great college course on divination”. this is relevant because i wanted to see more of sam desperately trying to fit into some sort of community, even a community of supernatural folk john and dean might’ve disapproved of, and finding that, at this point in time, he does not. he’s an outsider to normal people, he’s an outsider to those in contact with the paranormal. really hammer in that freak (affectionate) tagline. (he WILL build a safe haven in the men of letters bunker for all misfits in his adulthood, party city wig sam i do NOT perceive you)

the hunt culminates in an impressive showdown that includes the following: pyrotechnics, a cool spell, seeing things that aren’t really there, the power of friendship and a butter knife thrown like a frisbee. at the end we all look like final girls because im gay so blood is sexy. sam, who has come to regard me like a younger sibling/some sort of manifestation of his inner child, learns what it’s like to be deeply concerned with a youth’s safety and has a heart to heart with dean about how yeah, handling a teenager with incredible amounts of simmering rage and unprocessed grief while being barely equipped for any guardian-like role IS hard, man, is this what it felt like every time i busted out a batshit plan last minute and barely executed it in time to survive??? “yeah. bitch” “jerk.”

the epilogue is as follows: we see sam feeling many complicated things, but he is satisfied for the moment. we have a little heart to heart while laying flowers on my father’s grave. we both look a little worse for wear, but hopeful. “what’re you gonna do now?” “im not sure. college, maybe?” we keep in touch. i go on to art school and make homoerotic art pieces, as is my right. i make guest appearances whenever they need a deus ex machina bs spell to get out of trouble.

maybe in later seasons i go a little ape shit and commit some magical atrocities in the name of the greater good. maybe i get a little antagonized and he gets to offer me the understanding he couldn’t get when he needed it. i see you, sam, treating all misfits in later seasons with kindness, and i offer you a claire-like parallel to be there for through the tough times, thus healing some of your own wounds. everyone deserves an angsty wlw teenager to bond with . (i am only on season 9 of my rewatch and i have not seen seasons 12-15 in their entirety, if he does get one im not disrespecting that character and i love them probably)

the boys hit the road. vienna by billy joel plays, because it makes me feel things.

Slow down you're doing fine

You can't be everything you want to be before your time

Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight

Too bad, but it's the life you lead

You're so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need

Though you can see when you're wrong

You know you can't always see when you're right

You got your passion, you got your pride

But don't you know that only fools are satisfied?

Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true

When will you realize... Vienna waits for you?

end scene.

this is poetry. i will cherish this forever thank you for sharing with me and good luck on your exam

[shadowtongued]

long headcanon about the duality of love and the mahjarrat condition pertaining to it from his point of view. if you read all this babble i swear to god, i love you, i hope you have a good day. cw: sex addiction, child neglect, unhealthy coping, unrequited pains. reason for writing: hi i want to die bc of angst.

i think we all know even without playing medieval xp grind lore game, runescape, that sliske is old. very old. he tells us in endgame there's not much he hasn’t done with his life over thousands of years, even traveling to other planets and realms to just see what was out there and how far he could get. i’ve always projected his age as somewhere between more than 8,000 or even more than 10,000. we’re never given a timeline to how long the children of mah have lived. sliske has done a lot with his time; he’s killed a god, had quite a few elder relics in his grasp, SPOKEN to a elder god and managed not to die, mastered shadow magicks, has an excellent grasp on the shadow realm. he’s good with biology, chemistry, has a fair understanding of soul magic which is kind of a rare brand of knowledge, he’s tricked probably thousands into bad contracts to become wights in his army, understands the psychology and bad morals of people. he was a playwright, a high ranking officer, a spymaster. dude is just a determined polymath. you know what he hasn’t done? love. he’s never got to play with love.

mahjarrat are explained as having emotions, but dulled ones. they feel rage and pride apparently better than others. kharshai said after years of really believing he was a human, that when he came back to his true form he states “i  feel raw power coursing through my veins. i don't feel pain like i used to, and i'm sure my intellect has increased. but somehow there is something missing. a capacity for emotion that i can't quite put my finger on.” they aren’t equipped for the same range of positive emotions as others are. they feel it, but they don’t understand it fully, it has been said by developers. this whole bit is sadly funny considering in canon, sliske catches feelings. he doesn’t realize he’s attracted to the player character. it’s stated many times, in his journals, in dialogue, etc. he believes their fates are tangled no matter what. and the saddest bit is he probably doesn’t understand these feelings and it confuses him to the point of anger.  “ love! a mahjarrat in love? ... i almost wish that were true. it would certainly make the universe a more interesting place. ” “ so perhaps i have loved you. but that doesn’t mean i have to like you.”  sliske’s main goal started off as to take the players immortal, unable to be crushed by the divine, soul and give it to himself so he could live forever, as mahjarrats do not have afterlives, once they die they are done, evaporated into energy. but in endgame we learn something from him hidden in masks that refutes that;

“I love you for more than your soul.”

you STUPID fucker, you’re in love.

the remainder of this is a lot of NON-CANON, personal headcanon interpretation that pretty much only works on this blog. as a rough summary: sliske’s ol’ mum was not fond of her kids, half-brother wahisietel or sliske since she did not see them as powerful as herself and was disappointed that's what her legacy came out to. a short, beefy, average at magic son, she had another go and was still disappointed with this spidery, scrawny, gifted but absolutely annoying stick underweight child. his father, saw him once or twice in his life and that was it. dyeosuthua wanted nothing more than to make them disappear and try again until she got offspring she didn’t want to throw into a lava pit in secrecy, infanticide was against tribal law due to population issues. sliske’s mother’s neglect was so severe, ( by the absolute boundless joys of rp development and mutual heacanons ♥ ) that wahi and nabor had an attempt at raising him and keeping him from freezing to death. why is all this jargon important? because while all mahjarrats are raised by tough love, sliske’s attention deprivation from his mother was so severe, he grew up and still has a slew of reactive attachment, psychological, and social issues he still carries as an adult. several times she threatened to kill him and almost made good on it more than twice. when wahisietel had proven he was a survivor of the first ritual of rejuvenation, sliske became dyeosuthua’s  main target for abuse despite his gift for magic at a young age. nothing he did could impress her enough. and it left him constantly seeking approval and validation to an insecure mind.

the more he grew, the more confident he became mainly out of spite and to get attention. he’s loud, charming, makes you the only person in the room when he talks to you. he has an innate silver-tongued ability that persuades people to do just about anything. it was a front for his insecurities that he kept very very closed up. in the second age/senntisten capital, sliske had a pretty severe sex addiction as it was one of the few ways he felt validated and was able to get affection in a way he could digest. people with reactive attachment disorders often have sex addictions to fill the space of acceptance without having to commit.. easy, feel good intimacy without having to open up and let someone learn about your vulnerabilities and commit. it was pretty severe, considering mahjarrats find any kind of breeding or intimacies outside their ‘superior species’ as downright foul. sliske had always been the black sheep of the tribe and with his status as praefectus praetorio; head of secret police, really nothing put a damper on him trying to fill the void for affection he had. there wasn’t a species or individual he wouldn’t bed. he would easily take up propositions even for people who just wanted to fuck a mahjarrat because it was ‘exotic’ or because of his status as an officer, he now looks back on this and it bruises his insecurities even more that he allowed himself to do that. not out of pride for his species. but himself, being just a thing to be had because of rarity. azzanadra and his brother, wahisietel found out about it and while disgusted, partially understood what he was doing to negatively self soothe. at one point sliske and azzanadra, the champion of their god and head of the church, as well of one of the strongest living of their kin, had a lasting tryst for a few years and for awhile it made sliske feel very much self important in a way and alleviated his need to be needed so badly, this did not end well when sliske grew tired of their empire and wanted freedom. once childhood best friends and lovers had become absolute enemies once sliske became too unstable and azzanadra became too zealous. 

sliske gave up his sexcapades for a long time, thousands of years, his libido dropped when he became interested in other projects and self healing when he was hit with the idea that he hasd essentially allowed himself to be an exotic fling and still burned over becoming his god, zaros, scapegoat after all he had done for him. love was a weird concept to him and still is. despite being adamant love doesn’t exist for his kind, and his belief that he is flawed, unstable, and embraced the idea of ‘you want a monster? fine! i’ll be the monster!’. he expects no pity, not be forgiven to things he has done and even in game when you sycophantically try to cozy to him, he straight up calls out your text choice was awful considering some of the shitty things he might have done to you. to sliske, all attention to him is attention, whether you’re praising or insulting him. he’s on your mind, he exists, that’s all he wants.

backstory aside the real part of this headcanon is that sliske actually wants love. it’s the only thing aside from an immortal soul he hasn’t had. sliske actually has an attraction to humans because they are empathetic, curious, passionate, and determined. he has an easier time assimilating and being around them since he has ALWAYS had a better sense of humor, socializing, and happiness than his kin. he feels emotions a lot stronger than his fellow mahjarrats. it allows him to talk to and connect to humans and humanlike species better. others of his kind have told him there’s “something wrong” with him for that. he’s actually a romantic, even if he’s just mimicking romance stories, movies, and actions from others. he thinks the idea of settling with one person and loving them is both mortifying and interesting. opening yourself up to someone and giving them the hammer to smash your cherry-red painted porcelain heart and seeing if they do, to him might be the ultimate form of trust and biggest gamble of russian roulette. the stakes are so heavy he’s high on the idea. but it’s also horrifying. mahjarrat are prolific for not opening up, not allowing others in, vulnerability out in the open is a death sentence. they live in a kratocracy/meritocracy where they kill off the weakest link. it’s not pretty. being soft is a useless, unnecessary, weak gene to them. it dampers survival. 

but yet sliske keeps reading romance novels, writing his own confused poetry, and getting into unrequited one sided loves but practicing a backstabbing betrayal when one gets too close. i have to hurt them before they hurt me, betray and cut them down before they can do it to me. i think he wants to be loved. i think he kinda wants to be taught to love, for the emotions and the sake of knowledge. ( brb james newton howard’s ‘true love’s kiss’ from maleficent just came on spotify and i think i’m going to die bc i did not ask for background music thanks!!! ) he wouldn’t be the best at it, maybe a little too possessive with you, codependent, but very nurturing and fun loving. will sepnd a whole week spooning you.. people who hurt you past, present, and future may end up dead in mysterious ways or turned into a wight for you to beat the shit out of. but he’d try. he’s still got a broken child sitting behind his third rib. i think he would snarl the first few times someone genuinely got close to him, it would terrify him, being known on such a skinned, raw level. having gentle touches that are real and not a come hither to the bedroom. being known for something other than the confident, ego he has is death. he could be taught to be gentle for a crumb of consistent attention. might even cut down the murders and god killing down by 15%. love is not going to fix him, it’s not going to forgive the actual shitty things he’s done. it should never do that. but it will turn the lights on in a dark house.

love could really break him. i think so. i’d type more but this has gone on too long and i feel sad-happies. 

[one-leaf-grimoire]

Illusion (chapter 5)

Grey Deer Fic chapter 5! Here’s the link to the full story: link.

As you can see, I changed the name bc I wasn’t vibing with the other one.

WARNING: slight implication of *Sex* (but not with Julius, unfortunately...)

As always, I would really love to hear what you think of this chapter!

"Captain, do you have a minute-"

I stop talking as soon as I poke my head into Captain Hervey's office. It's a sizable room, with rich wood paneling and blue wallpaper making it seem cozy. Several stuffed deer heads are hanging above the severe man's desk, where he sits across from his vice captains. Both Malota and Julius turn around to look at me; obviously I'm interrupting a meeting. "A-Ah, sorry, I'll come back later-"

"Nonsense, spit it out. But make it quick." Hervey gestures me closer, and I gulp and enter the room, a paper clutched in my hands. "What's that?"

This is always a little awkward, even though I've given several of these requests to him over the years. But it's his fault for having the "only registered guests only" rule for our base. "Lawrence wants to come visit tomorrow, can I get your approval?"

Hervey lets out a snort of laughter. "Your fiance? He was here pretty recently, wasn't he? Why do you keep inviting him here, just go visit him yourself."

"Ah, well, he insists. I can't really say no to him..."

But you can, sir. I watch as he takes the paper and looks at it carefully, as if he's making up his mind. Meanwhile, I'm praying that he says NO so I have a good reason to avoid seeing Lawrence tomorrow. Malota looks bored and lets a sigh out through her vulture-like nose. Julius stares at the Captain's table silently. Another reason why I wanted to avoid asking in front of other people is because it becomes awkward like this. Neither of our Vice Captains want to hear about my personal life, I'm sure. 

"Very well. But he better be gone by dinner time, I'm not feeding him, even if he is a prince!"

Fuck! I force a smile as he signs the paper, a magical chill moving through the room as he does so. Somehow, Hervey can manipulate the barrier spell he cast around the base to let authorized guests enter after he signs off on it. His ice magic is some of the most powerful I've ever seen, and he's able to upkeep such a potent spell all day and night, subconsciously. He really is amazing, despite his faults, and it's easy to see why he's captain. "Thank you, sir, sorry for interrupting." With that, I turn and shuffle out of the room, feeling a small weight of dread in the pit of my stomach.

Why, though? Why are you dreading this? Lawrence is your Fiance, your future Husband! Shouldn't you be happy to see him?

That's probably what you're thinking, but it couldn't be farther from the truth. I tolerate Lawrence Kira, and that's all. He's 5 years older than me, always acts like he's my superior (which he is, but come on!), and really isn't the most considerate person. He always talks about how great things are expected of him, and how he needs a supportive wife to help him achieve those things and continue the Kira line. "One day." he always tells me. "One day, our children could be the King. Wouldn't you like that?"

No... Not really, actually.

But I can't tell him that. If I show any disrespect, he'll bring the hammer down, on both me and my parents. We're already on thin ice, and this marriage is supposed to save my family. When the engagement was first decided, I was only 5 years old and had no idea what it even meant. As I grew older, I was told how romantic it was going to be. Doesn't every girl want to marry a prince? I was excited to live out what seemed like a fairy tale.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. It soon became clear that Lawrence would never actually love me. At least not all of me. Not only that, but like I said, he's older than me, and as we spent more and more time together, he started to force me to grow up a bit faster than I should have. I'm sure you can guess what I mean. 

If I didn't have Alice, I don't know what I would have done. But when I came to her and revealed that I didn't want to marry this prince, she didn't shun me or say I was crazy. She held me, and told me that we were going to get out of this, together. And so, I joined the magic knights, as the first step of my plan. The wedding that was supposed to be when I turned 18 was postponed. Luckily, the Magic Knights are a very esteemed and legitimate career path for both Royalty and nobility, so I was able to get away with it. Lawrence's family even said they were proud that their son would be marrying a magic knight.

Well... it's been 7 years since then. There's no plans for a wedding yet. This engagement can only go on so long before Lawrence decides to break it off. By that time, I'll be able to support my family myself! I don't need a marriage, and I'll finally be free to do what I want.

That's my secret, the secret only Alice and I know. My one hope for tomorrow is that Lawrence will coldly tell me that he can't wait around any longer, and will break it off right then and there.

Of course, it's never that easy.

"Hello, Lawrence."

I stand outside the base to meet him as he transports in with the help of a spatial mage. He brushes himself off before looking up, his grey eyes quickly meeting mine. Unintentionally, I feel a cold chill down my back, something that's always happened when he looks at me like that. "It's been too long, have you really been that busy?" Lawrence asks as he walks over, pulling his cloak a little tighter around himself. The snow has long melted, but its freeze still hangs lightly in the air around us.

"Er, yes, pretty busy." I let him take my hand and pull it up to his lips, not bothering to bend over. A royal shouldn't bow to anyone, after all. His lips are cold on my skin as he kisses the back of my hand, before dropping it immediately. "I actually had a pretty big mission a few days ago, I was able to beat five guys-"

"Yeah, I'm sure. You can tell it to me over lunch." Lawrence dismisses my story kind of quickly before turning to walk towards the base. I wince and hold out a hand to stop him. "Uh-er, we can't eat here!"

"Hmm? Why not?" Lawrence throws a glance over his shoulder.

"Captain Hervey said, uh... we can't spare food right now for outsiders."

"Hmph. Fine. We'll eat in town." Lawrence sighs and turns to walk back to me, grabbing my hand as he does. "Also, what did I tell you about using filler words? Stop saying um and er so much."

"R-right, sorry." I let him pull me along, away from the base.

"Man... are they really in love?" 

Giles leans on the windowsill as the others gather around him, peeping down at me and Lawrence as we walk off out of sight. "Every time he comes, she looks like she'd rather be somewhere else."

"It's true," Alice pipes up, leaning against the wall and not bothering to look. "He's a real piece of work, you know."

"How can that be? He's a prince." Elia crosses her arms. "Who wouldn't want to marry a prince?"

"She just wants to live a normal life, I think. She's not cut out for that royalty stuff anyway."

"Nigel, shut up."

Meanwhile, Lawrence and I reach town and make our way towards my favorite resteraunt there. "There's really no other place to eat?" Lawrence asks, pulling his hood up over his head, his eyes darting around the street.

"It's my favorite! I think you'll like it, too." I squeeze his hand, causing him to smile for a moment. "You're afraid of being recognized."

"Yeah... I have a pretty big fanclub you know!"

... I doubt that...

Our base is located in a forest right outside the limits of the noble realm. We're close enough to town so we can get all of our supplies, but secluded enough that Captain Hervey is able to put up our barrier. It honestly feels like a little sanctuary for the squad, but I still like going in to town to see the usual hustle-and-bustle of civilization.

"You know, this type of place does have a little charm." Lawrence talks to me as he quietly sips his beer. His eyes keep darting around the restaurant, as if he were analyzing everything in sight. He's always been like that, cool and calculated, always scheming or sizing the world up. He's really an intelligent man, someone who can keep a level head in any situation. His magic is very strong, too, and it's interesting that he never joined the Magic Knights. When I asked him why a long time ago, he simply said that it wasn't his style. I have a feeling he'd rather be involved in the government down the line.

"I'm glad you think so. I guess not all Royals are so stuffy," I answer, playfully nudging his foot under the table. Lawrence narrows his eyes at me but can't conceal his smile. Ah! I need to stop being so cute around him, remember?

"I'm not that stuffy, am I? I can have fun... what do you and the squad do for fun, anyway?" Lawrence yawns a little, scratching his chin under his hood.

"Hmm..." I think over the past for a moment. "Well, we have little parties in our base now and then. Oh, also, the Captain lets us go to the beach on our days off! We also like to come to town to go drinking some nights."

"Ah... that sounds like fun. A little crude, but fun." Lawrence nods along with my words. "Maybe I'll take you to the beach sometime, just the two of us."

Just the two of us.

"...yeah, sure."

By the time lunch is done, it's obvious to me that Lawrence isn't about to break up with me or anything. In fact, I've somehow managed to warm him back up to me after more than a month of absence, and now...

"Let's go back to the base."

"Huh? Er- Lawrence, I told you before-"

"Stop saying ER! And I don't want to eat. Is your roommate around?"

"...probably not..."

"Good."

This is my least favorite part of his visits. Lawrence hates showing affection out in public, but as soon as we're alone and away from prying eyes, he basically pounces on me. I can't really do much but hold on as his lips crash into mine hungrily. We were each other's first kisses, but I'm pretty sure he's pretty good at it. The way he moves his lips against mine always makes me dizzy, at least. He pushes me until we're both flat on my twin bed, one of his hands bunching up the sheets next to my head. The biggest drawback of avoiding him for so long is that he gets... needy. 

However, his affection doesn't last long. As soon as he's done, Lawrence simply pulls the covers over me and gets up. I roll over, feeling a bit sore, and watch as he starts to re-dress himself. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah." Lawrence buttons up his shirt, his fingers fumbling slightly. "I assume I'm not allowed to stay for dinner." He sits back down on the bed to start pulling his shoes and socks on. "I'll come back to visit soon, don't avoid me any more, you hear?"

"...yeah. No guarantees, though." I gulp nervously, pulling the covers over myself more as he looks down at me again. "I'm a magic knight, you know! I have a duty-"

"Your duty should be our future," Lawrence cuts me off, his gaze moving away from me again. "...do you really feel like this is where you belong?"

I open my mouth to respond the answer that I always do: Yes, of course. I'm meant to be a magic knight! 

But... I can't say that any more, can I?

Because, for whatever reason, someone on my very own squad wanted me gone.

"Hey... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry."

I didn't even notice the tears trailing down my face until Lawrence reaches out to cup my cheek gently. I look up into his grey eyes, which are filled with warmth, for once. But I still get that chill.

"If something's bothering you... you know where to find me, okay? You're going to be my wife one day, hopefully soon. We can put all this Magic Knights business behind you, but you'll always carry that honor. I'll take care of you, I promise."

... "Alright." I nod slowly, reaching up to hold his hand for a second before he pulls it away. "Write me some letters."

"I will. See you soon!"

Lawrence gives me a small smile and a wave, before quietly leaving me alone in my room once again.

I stay there for a while, curling up under my sheets like a cocoon. For just a couple minutes, I feel safe.

Lawrence really isn't so bad, is he? I mean... at least I know what he wants. My attackers won't show themselves again, not yet, and they won't tell me why they want me gone. Maybe... maybe I should just listen to them, and leave...

No. That's stupid. I squeeze my eyes shut as memories start to flood back.

I can't leave... because then I'll marry Lawrence. I don't want to be near him at all! Slowly, I sit up, letting the sheets fall off my body as the more pleasant chill of the base hits my skin. I'll find out who attacked me, and purge them from this squad! I'm meant to be here, I'm meant to be a magic knight.

Eventually, I get up to get dressed, cleaning myself off before heading to the bathroom. I splash some water on my face before looking up at my reflection. I look tired and a little stressed out... but alive.

"Hello there! Enjoy your day off?"

I'm on my way down to dinner when I run into none other than Julius. I haven't seen him all day, not since yesterday's meeting, but he's heading the same way as me now. "Ah, yeah. I haven't seen my fiance in a while, so it was nice to have lunch with him."

"Your fiance? Oh, right, Prince Lawrence." Julius nods as he falls into step next to me. I glance up at the taller man, not able to read any emotion other than his usual neutrally-happy expression. Even so, his presence puts me at ease, although I doubt anyone would attack me now while everyone is awake in the base. "Is the wedding happening soon?"

"Oh, definitely not. We haven't even started planning it!" I smirk a little. And if I have my way... it won't ever be planned!

"I see... I guess, eventually, you're going to outrank us all."

"Huh?" I look up to see him smiling teasingly down at me. 

"You'll be a princess, right?"

"P-Princess?" My eyes widen as I realize that he's right. Then, I shake my head. "Ah! I don't even want to think about that..."

"Why not?"

"Too much pressure?"

"Ah, well, I think it suits you."

I look back up at him, aghast, just in time to catch his wink. "Hey! Jul- I mean, sir, that's a long way in the future-"

"Julius is fine-" He lets out a warm laugh before gesturing for me to keep up with him. "Come on... a princess can't be late for dinner."

..... AHHHHHH.

I swallow my pride and quickly catch up, pouting a bit to myself. Princess... I can't even imagine becoming royalty. And I don't want to! I'll never be a princess, not if I have anything to say about it.

Slowly, though, I feel my cheeks heat up, and it takes everything I have to keep from glancing back up at Julius's face.

Still...

It didn't sound so bad when he called me that...

[borhapparker]

the end  |  avengers endgame spoilers

requested by anonymous: anything that has to do with endgame bc the end killed me and i need something better marvel did us dirty smh

warnings: lots of angst, some fluff (if you squint), will make you cry, maybe some bad writing (?), endgame spoilers, mentions of death and actual death

word count: 3.5k

full masterlist  |  marvel masterlist

‘Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends, we lost family, we lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams. You know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. That doesn’t mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we’re gonna win. Whatever it takes. Good luck.’

They were back, her eyes searching theirs as she held the time stone in her hand, smiling at the team, as Clint dropped to his knees, anguish distinguishable on her features.

“Clint, where’s Nat?” Bruce asked as everyone watched him, her eyes deciphering his body language and noticing a missing presence beside him.

Putting the pieces together, tears pricked at her eyes, a sob falling from her lips. Everyone slowly put it together, Natasha was gone. Clint explained how the retrieval of the soul stone worked, as they all stepped outside, mourning the loss of a fallen friend. That’s when everyone decided that Natasha would want them to keep going, to bring everyone back and change their destiny. To rewrite everything Thanos had wiped.

Bruce took the plunge, grabbing the new Infinity Gauntlet made from Tony’s tech and snapping his fingers, bringing everyone back. That’s where everything went wrong. Thanos from the past had made his way to the future, destroying the compound.

She had been crushed by debris from the impact, being liberated by Thor, as she stood alongside Tony, Thor and Steve. That’s when the fight began, as every punch, kick, surge of energy was thrown at Thanos, yet it was always deflected. So when Steve called Thor’s hammer to his arms, she knew there was a possibility they could win.

She had been with Steve in Wakanda when everyone had disappeared, including her husband Bucky. When she heard Sam’s voice through her comms as she laid on the dirty ground, she felt hope and disbelief. Portal after portal began opening, as heroes and warriors piled out, all standing tall and ready to fight. Bucky walked through, as she ran to him, tears falling from her eyes. His arms wrapped around her, as she sobbed into his shoulder.

His fingers carded through her hair, as she looked up and pressed her lips against his. Finally.

“Y/n!” she parted, looking behind her as she spotted him, her brother, her younger sibling. Peter.

“Pete!” she ran, colliding with him as they hugged. “Oh, thank God.”

“You’re grown up.” he teased, smile on his face. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

By then, everyone was ready, as they took their positions, Steve giving the green light and it began. Everyone charged at Thanos and his army, weapons being fired, blasters activated, objects were flying and charging at the aliens. Everyone headed towards the first alien that charged at them, Peter swinging through the air as Bucky started shooting, the gun he had with him Wakanda in his hands, and Y/n’s suit materialized over her body, obliterating her enemies as she headed in Tony’s direction. Peter was there, as she kept the enemies from interrupting their reunion, shooting and kicking them away. Two came at her from opposite ends, as they pulled at her armor, before she crossed her arms and pushed against them, a blast wave sending them away.

She watched as Clint handed the gauntlet off to T’Challa, who was then caught between him and one of the weird aliens. Peter ran, swinging himself into the air before catching the gauntlet in a web, his arms coming around it to press against his body as he landed, looking up. She could hear him, as he was near her.

“Activate Instant Kill!” He said, the eyes of his suit shrinking and turning red, as the legs from his armor appeared, kicking and stabbing off the aliens coming at him to take the gauntlet.

She joined her brother, blasting aliens away from both of them as the fight continued on. It soon became too much, as Y/n launched Peter into the air, who was caught by Pepper, handing him off to Valkyrie as she soared through the sky. Thanos was quick to catch on to what they were trying to do, as he oredered his army to activate all the weapons. Soon, blasts were being shot directly at everyone, killing and harming both heroes as well as his own army. A blast was shot directly in front of her, as she was thrown against a rock, her armor shielding the impact but not preventing bruises from flowering.

Peter was thrown from the sky, as he cowered on the floor, gauntlet underneath his body, fear coursing through him. His only thought in that moment was keeping the gauntlet safe, as he closed his eyes, waiting for the moment the blasts would stop.

Then it did. The weapons were somehow being directed at the sky, as everyone watched curiously.

“What the hell is this?” Sam asked, flying towards Cap, while watching the ship.

“Friday, what are they firing at?” Tony asked, as everyone received the same answer: Something just entered the upper atmosphere!

No one knew what it was, until they saw the light. It tore through Thanos’ ship, destroying its weapons and plunging it into the ocean. She lit up the sky, determination spread across her features as the team smiled at their hero.

“Danvers, we need an assist here.” Steve informed her as she nodded, before landing right in front of Peter, who was still clutching the gauntlet.

“Hi, I’m - uh - Peter Parker.”

Y/n laughed at her brother’s manners, even in a time of crisis. Carol smiled at him, noticing his brave demeanor towards being willing to help in such a dangerous situation.

“Hey Peter Parker. Got something for me?”

He stood, gauntlet being held against his hip as he groaned, blood spilling from his nose and a large gash visible in an open slit in his suit. “I don’t know how you’re gonna get through all that.” Peter motioned towards the alien crowd walking towards the team, as she smiled, taking the gauntlet from him.

“Don’t worry, little brother. She’s got help.” Y/n said, patting him on the back as the rest of the female heroes joined her with Carol, all adjusting their weapons, while walking towards the army.

It was an all women battle in that moment, none of them caring wether or not they knew each other. All they could agree on in that moment was that they needed to get the stones back, one way or another.

Carol flew straight through the army, as Thanos headed for her. Pepper, Y/n, Shuri, Wanda and Gamora quickly stood their ground, before firing a blast straight at Thanos, one more powerful combined, as he was thrown off his feet. Yet, it didn’t stop him, as he threw his spear at the van, their only way to take the stones back to the past, hitting the target and destroying the time machine. Everyone was thrown back at the impact, as Y/n didn’t waste any time, quicky running at Thanos, who was heading for the gauntlet. She kicked and blasted him, as he pushed her away, trying once more to grab it. Steve and Thor teamed up, before getting thrown back once more.

Thanos managed to slip on the gauntlet, groaning at the power it held. Carol flew over, using her powers to throw Thanos off his rhythm. Her strength overpowered his, as he reached for the power stone, grabbing it in his hand. Carol’s eyes widened, as he punched her with the force of the stone, throwing her away from him and into a pile of rubble.

Y/n watched, noticing Tony’s gaze on Doctor Strange, who only held up one finger to him. It wasn’t meant for her, but she knew what it meant. She wouldn’t let Tony take the fall for this, so she did the only thing she could think of. She lunged at Thanos, taking him off guard as she wrapped her hands around the gauntlet. Knowing she wouldn’t be able to rip it off his hands, she managed to pry her way around the front, where the stones were. Thanos smirked, as he pushed her away and she fell, away from him.

But she had completed her mission.

Strange watched her, guilt and grief stricken across his face as she saw the glow in her hands, yet stayed quiet.

“I am inevitable.” Thanos said, bringing his gauntlet-clad hand up as he snapped, yet nothing happened. Confusion was written across his features as he watched his hand, turning and noticing the stones gone. He turned, looking at Y/n who was kneeling, the stones gravitating towards her knuckles as they snapped into place.

She groaned, throwing her head back at the sheer power of the stones together. Smirking at Thanos, he knew he had lost, and she had won. Yet, she knew what would happen.

“You thought wrong, ugly ass bitch.” she said, as Thanos looked on, anger coursing through him.

“Stupid mortal. You’re willing to die from the power of the stones to save people who shouldn’t be saved?”

Her head tilted, as she looked at him. “I am. Because they’re my family. And I will do anything to protect them.” she paused, smirking, “We’re the Avengers, bitch.”

And with that, she snapped her fingers.

Thanos’ army began to disappear, all of them fading away, dust drifting off with the wind. Everyone looked on, putting their weapons down and watching the aliens disintegrate with their leader, who knew this was the end. This is what it had come to.

He should’ve known not to mess with her family.

The blow from the stones caused her severe pain, as she stumbled back, leaning against rubble. Her arm was numb, sizzling from the power of the stones. She tried to breathe, as it came out sporadically and with lots of pain. Her head turned, eyes watching everyone as there were no more aliens aroudn them. She did it. She saved them.

Footsteps were heard coming closer to her as someone dropped to their knees before her. She turned slightly, the pain in her neck causing her discomfort as she locked eye contact with her husband.

“Bucky.” she breathed out, smiling at him as he placed a hand on her cheek.

“Darling.” he breathed, a tear falling from his eyes. She reached up with her good arm, wiping the tear from his cheek away, as she slightly shook her head. “Always saving the day.”

“I had to, Buck. It was the only way.” she whispered, as another body landed behind Bucky.

“Y/n?” her brother called out, as he dropped to his knees next to Bucky. “Y/n? We won. We did it, we did it, Y/n.” He couldn’t stop, as she smiled at him, reaching her hand out to hold his. “Y/n? You did it, bunny. You did it.”

“Yeah, Pete, we did.” she slightly groaned, as Bucky shifted her body to the left, ridding the pressure away from her scorched side. “Buck,” he looked at her, “Take care of Pete for me, will you?”

He nodded, frowning and choking away a sob. “I will, darling.” he paused, smiling and leaning in to kiss her forehead.

“You can rest now, bunny.” Peter said, tears freefalling from his eyes as her head lightly tilted, before her breathing stopped.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion. The team neared her, the fallen hero, as Bucky and Peter sobbed into each other’s shoulders, gripping Y/n’s lifeless body.

“F-friday?” Tony called out, shakily.

“She’s gone, sir.”

Those words rung through everyone’s comms. They dreaded this, dreaded the day something like this would happen.

That’s the kind of hero Y/n was. She was willing to do anything needed to help those who needed her the most. Always putting her family before her, being on the frontline of every battle and willing to risk a limb for others.

Clint dropped to his knee, head lowered as he silently cried.

Carol turned back to see Clint, before she looked at the hero and dropped too.

Wanda followed, Steve next as well as Rhodney, Sam, T’Challa, Shuri, Okoye, Pepper, Quill, Scott, Nebula, Valkyrie, Thor. All the heroes, and warriors, kneeled for their friend.

Tony was the last to kneel, as Gamora disappeared from sight, not wanting everyone to see her and not wanting to create an emotional connection with everyone else.

Bucky traced her wedding ring, still on her finger as he gripped Peter’s body, who was now leaning on him.

Till death do us part. That was the vow he made to her, one he will keep till the end of time. No matter what.

A Week Later

They gathered at Tony’s cabin, all dressed in black. Tony riffled through Y/n’s boxes. She had been staying with him after the ordeal during the fight in Wakanda, taking care of Morgan and helping Tony around. As he packed up her things, he found an old projector, something he had given her a couple years ago. For important memories, he told her. Placing it on the table, he turned it on, as a projection of Y/n suddenly appeared, very much alive and well.

Is this on? the projection asked as Tony’s laugher was heard in the background.

Is the blue light on? he asked as she nodded. Then it’s on, dumbass.

Shut the fuck up, Tony. she mumbled, laughing as Tony waved at the projection.

I’m heading out. See ya! she waved at him as he disappeared before she sat down in front of the projector.

So, um, gosh I don’t know where to start. Um, well, to whoever is watching this, do me a favor and get the entire team for me. They’ll want to hear this.

Tony paused the recording, as he yelled at everyone to head inside. They did as they were told, as he moved the projection to the living room, pushing the coffee table away and making room for everyone to take a seat. Bucky’s breath hitched at the sight of his wife, and Peter choked a sob.

They stayed quiet as Tony resumed the recording.

So, you’re probably all wondering, why did Y/n choose to make a recording? Why is she wasting Tony’s precious tech creating a video diary? I’ll tell you why. she paused, looking down at her fingers and fidgeting. Tony and I cracked time travel yesterday and I think something is going to happen. Now, let me explain because I know you’re all thinking, you’re crazy Y/n! I have a feeling that this could go south.

I mean, we’re fighting against a big purple alien, who’s been coming after us since the fight in New York. We’re going up against someone who has an army, who is more powerful than the team combined, and someone who’s defeated us already.

I’m hoping none of us are gone. I’m hoping we’re all in tip top shape by the time we blast the purple alien back to space. But if that doesn’t happen, if there’s some untimely death, I want you all to know that we’re going to be okay.

It’s stupid, I know. I’ve always had an inkling in knowing when there’s going to be death nearby, and let me tell you something, it’s buzzing. It’s stronger, and I don’t think it’s a mistake.

Everyone knows that happy endings don’t always work out how we want them to. But I’m hoping this time it does. I’m hoping if you play this back, or even find it, it’s in celebration. I’m hoping we restore everything, that we get our families back, that we somehow restore some type of balance into the universe again, if there ever was such a thing.

Everyone in the room was crying, no dry eyes as they watched their beloved friend smile and dream about the future.

If it’s restored, I thought I’d do a little video. Just in case something happens, in the case of an untimely death on my part. Tony doesn’t know I’m doing this, hell, no one knows. But I have to. it’s for the best. Part of the journey is the end.

But here’s my point. You’ll all be okay. I promise. I’ve left a couple things in a storage unit that Thor has access to, don’t ask why he knows. I hope it helps, somehow, to keep you all moving. I’m only asking one thing: don’t separate. Don’t do what you did in Germany. Stick together, for me.

Take care of Morgan, please. Tell her stories about our crazy adventures after Sokovia, how we went and served breakfast clad in our suits to homeless families. Tell her how we surprised Peter during lunch that one time and managed to convince the principal to let everyone out four hours early. Tell her when we stole the quinjet so Bucky and I could have some alone time and visit London, where he proposed. Talk to her about the good things and the bad things. She might not understand everything, but that’s okay. At least she’ll know her crazy aunt was a badass.

Y/n quickly turned to the left in the recording, as she stopped talking and frowned. Everyone watched her, before hearing small footsteps in the background, as she broke out into a grin. Leaping from the corner of the table, she spread her arms out, as Morgan jumped onto her. Y/n wrapped an arm under her, keeping her against her hip as Morgan waved at the recording.

Say hi Morgan!

Hi! she cheered, as she giggled, before looking at Y/n.

I love you three thousand, Aunt Y/n.

Y/n gasped eyes wide before looking at the camera with a smirk. Hear that Tony? She loves me three thousand. She returned back to her original posture, gripping Morgan against her body. This mission we’re pulling off is dangerous. But it’s gotta be done. Please, be safe. Be safe after everything. Everyone will be fragile and the earth will be in peril. But stay together. That’s all I ask.

She paused, smiling at Morgan before looking back at the camera. I love you all three thousand.

The recording ended, as tears streamed down cheeks. Bucky and Peter held each other as Morgan cuddled closer to Pepper and Tony. It hurt, watching this before their eyes, a week after their friend passed.

Bucky grabbed the bracelet which contained Y/n’s suit, as he placed it on a little raft of roses in his hands. Everyone stood, now heading outside and following Bucky and Peter. They headed to the edge of the pier, as Bucky and Peter knelt, placing the raft of roses on the water and letting it drift off. They held each other, as the rest of the team watched on, guilt stricken across their faces, heads bowed.

Tony turned behind him, seeing a familiar face standing in the back.

He excused himself, walking towards the person, who looked up when they heard his footsteps.

“Kid?” he asked, as Harley frowned.

“Hey Tony.” he sighed, wrapping his arms around him in a hug before letting go, his arms feeling heavy. “So, she’s gone?”

Tony nodded, knowing that Harley had known Y/n longer than he did. “Come here, I have someone I want you to meet.” he brought Harley over to Bucky and Peter, who watched and scanned the unknown person walking with Tony. “Bucky, Peter, this is Harley.”

“Harley Kenner?” Peter asked as Harley recognized his best friend.

“Parker?” he nodded, as they embraced.

“Bucky Barnes,” he introduced himself, as Harley shook his hand. “Who are you?”

“He’s our childhood best friend. Y/n helped him build his first potato gun when he was just eight years old.” Peter explained, as Harley frowned.

“And you?” he asked as Tony stepped in.

“Husband.”

“I’m so sorry.” Harley apologized.

Everyone had already retreated inside, leaving them to talk and decompress from the memorial. The flowers had drifted away, taking the bracelet with them as well as a piece of everyone’s heart.

It didn’t get any easier after that. Steve had gone back in time to return the stones, yet didn’t return to the present. He stayed, finding a little joy in the past as he went back to where they were, in the future, as his older self. There, he handed off the shield to Sam, who would now hold the mantle as Captain America.

Bucky and Peter moved into a shared home in Queens, where Peter returned to his education, something he knew Y/n would have wanted. Bucky protected over the home, as he indulged in some missions with the team and Peter, still containing some order in the world.

That’s when it happened.

The team had been called to a mission in London, where a villain wearing the Red Skull’s appearance had began to wreak havoc on the streets.

When they arrived, they found the villain fighting someone, a purple haze hitting Red Skull as the impact threw him back. He fell, as the Avengers headed to where the haze had appeared. Friday began to scan the surroundings, a heat signal getting up from a kneeling position on the street.

The dust cleared and they watched the person turn, gasps slipping from everyone’s lips. They analyzed the person before them, clad in a black suit, a powerful haze surrounding them. The person made eye contact with everyone, as they turned completely, confirming everyone’s suspicions, yet raising lots of questions.

“Y/n?”

-

tags:

@hi-mishamigos @bens-hardy @trashqueenbitch @darling-marvel @boohooiamthefool @pbnjparker @drxgxnslxyer @cosmetologynerd @hollandroos @grandmascottlang @hollanderheart @peteparkrrs @bi-writes @blissfulparker

[an-avid-reader]

Prodigy (Legend #2) - Marie Lu

my rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis of book 1 -

In a world where the Patriots, Colonies, and the Republic are at odds and there’s a plague in the poorer parts of the US, Day is an unstoppable street criminal with good intentions. When his family’s house gets marked by Republic soldiers, Day’s only thought is to steal a cure before his family member dies. June is a top student at Drake University—a prodigy. When her brother, Metias, gets caught in a cross-fire during a mission, June is fast-tracked to becoming a soldier. Her first mission: track down Day. As Day and June come from such opposite backgrounds, is it possible that their paths would’ve crossed otherwise? 

Link to Goodreads // Link to review book 1 // Spoilers (book 1+book2) in review below!

I haven’t read a trilogy in what feels like a really long time lmao; I think it’s because I’ve noticed that sometimes, the second book acts like a bridge book aka nothing really happens except for the last 50ish pages, which tbh just sets up book 3 (It’s like that one useless episode in a tv show that literally has nothing to do with the plotline). I’m VERY happy this wasn’t the case for Prodigy - if anything, there was even more action and more character (and world building) than Legend, which I much appreciated. That means that I also have a lot to unpack; buckle up!

I feel like the most natural place to start is from the stuff I didn’t really enjoy from the first book, specifically the world building and all the questions. It was finally explained that the Republic is essentially nonsense propaganda and the civilians are being fed false information--they aren’t winning the war, in fact they are losing! We also learned that the Colonies and the Patriots are two separate uh ‘groups’? And the Colonies fund the Patriots, but the Colonies are straight up left in the dark (and the Patriots were also hired by the Republic, but more on that later). I wanted to also briefly mention that when June and Day crossed into the Colonies territory, it was like a completely different world--maybe not better, just different. We also kind of get a glimpse into the history of the world--how climate change just absolutely obliterated the whole world. Which, tbh, I feel like if an ice cap near Antarctica (or Antarctica itself) were to melt, it would be more than just the edges of the US that would be underwater--it would go up to the Statue of Liberty’s torch :)))))))). Nevertheless, I really appreciated these explanations as it added more depth and also provided context for the setting, which I found was lacking in the first book (which, I get, you don’t want to overwhelm readers, esp in YA, with all the world building right away).

The other thing is that I wanted to know more about the plague, and Lu came through!!! So the plague is being used to try to create people as bioweapons, which makes me wonder if they were trying to clone those who were infected (or maybe just wanted to collect everyone who has a similar profile to Eden). I still have a few questions of the virus--like why did Eden and that other boy on the train go blind? Does the virus affect them on a genomic level?! I also find it hilarious that in LA they were quarantined for rioting--I feel like that pretty much just showed how weak the Republic is and how their power is no longer ominous (idk if that makes sense??).

Next, I want to touch on the characters and the character building (specifically June and Day, but others too!). I wanted to start off by prefacing that I’m not a fan of the love triangle vibes that we got throughout the books (and to be honest, the ending sort of pushed that narrative a bit further, which is not cool :///). So I’m not sure if it was Razor’s plan to cut communication between Day and June (on purpose) to prevent them from messing up the Patriot’s plans/to prevent Anden from becoming suspicious of June, but I found it so FRUSTRATING that they couldn’t communicate at least once before the assination (and I mean talk, not the signal bc that stirred up a lot of confusion with Day). Their separation really tested their relationship, but I also feel like there was a permanent wedge placed due to the lack of trust, and again, the ending just hammered that home. I will say, I really appreciate June and Day being completely transparent with each other when they escaped from the Patriots and got in the cave. It was like a necessary evil, but at least they shared relevant information with each other, which I believe strengthened their partnership, even if it took a toll on their relationship. Part of me hopes that they end up back together in Champion, but I know that it may not be ‘what’s best for them’, especially with that huge piece of information we learned about Day--that’s the one thing I’m mad about. They spill the beans in the cave but he can’t even tell June that he’s dying, instead he breaks up with her and then they end up kissing?? AH!

Now for those…...love triangles…. .-. Let’s start off with Anden and June. I’m not sure how I feel about Anden; Lu paints him to be this kind of heartthrob and well-intentioned guy but he’s also sort of naive? Like I get that his whole plan is to reform the Republic with the help of June and Day so that the civilians are on board, but I hope he realizes that there will always be people who are going to 1) resist him and 2) betray him. I really hope he isn’t as quick to trust people as he was with June (which maybe that was because his judgement was clouded). As for being naive...how did he not see June’s paperclip ring???? And to add onto that - how did the Colonies not realize that ‘Sarah’ is actually June???

I don’t know it just seems very unlikely that he didn’t see it considering that June was fiddling with it during their nice little dinner. And also the fact that he was always itching to see her. I didn’t realize, however, that Anden is only in his early twenties—he also lacks the edge that June and Day have, you can tell that he’s a poised person. While it’s great that he stands his ground on the Republic, I find it hard to believe that he isn’t a pushover (even just a tiny bit). Thus, I don’t really see how Anden and June could be a good match; I also don’t think class should play a role into whether or not you should or shouldn’t be with someone.

That sort of brings me to another point, which is the idea of the Priceps and the Elector itself. I have so many questions about Anden's plans, and they mainly involve him. For example, would there still be an Elector (and Senate) after the Republic is reformed? If so, would his powers be minimized, or would he have the status of President? For Priceps, it wasn’t very clear in the book that she doesn’t have to be married to the Elector, but it almost seemed that it was implied; could Anden have chosen to be married and have a separate Priceps? What if the Elector wasn’t straight? So. Many. Questions!! That whole Priceps thing is one of the reasons I couldn’t give this book a full 5 stars, again, it sort of has to do with the lack of information (or the amount of assumptions I have to make).

The next love triangle I have major issues with is Tess and Day, which Day is mostly uh turned off by the whole thing (which I can get behind) but Tess is just so stubborn and tbh pretty jealous, which isn’t cute. I really hope that in Champion they end up reconnecting, especially since Day is practically on his deathbed, but as friends. Maybe Tess will understand where Day is coming from with his feelings about June. Part of me wants Tess to end up with Baxter but I also really don’t like him?????? Agh this really sucks! I wish their relationship didn’t end on such a sour note. Like yes Tess, you were always there for Day (especially when he needed medical care) and ever since they got into contact with June (or rather, when June was sent on her mission), everything went downhill—but I mean, at some point Anden’s father would’ve passed, and maybe things would turn out to be in a similar circumstance, except instead of June it could be a different girl? The fact that Day still calls Tess ‘cousin’ and she still went ahead and kissed him just made me feel slightly uncomfortable?? No, they’re not biologically related, but given the amount of time they spent together, they almost could’ve been. To some extent, I feel like Tess had a huge crush on Day, but she never wanted to admit it until they were separated bc she maybe didn’t realize how much he means to her/she wanted that cheesy movie-like feeling where the two best friends realize that they are perfect together but beyond friends?? I do believe that Tess deserves someone great though, I just don’t think that Day is the guy for that :///

The last relationship-thing I want to briefly mention is Thomas and Metias’ relationship. I’m glad that we have some LGBT+ representation here, but at the same time, I can’t help but wonder if it was forced or not (like a checkbox Lu wanted to tick). I don’t remember in Legend when Thomas kissed June, if there was a kind of repulsion/it didn’t feel authentic. To be honest, I really thought that Thomas was into June, but when we learn he is gay (or maybe bi), it just didn’t seem to fit the story at all??? Upon this revelation, June racked her brain for memories of Thomas and Metias when they were young and oh it just happens that Metias never ‘brought back’ anyone/any girls home. Listen, I’m all for diversity, whether that be the character’s race, gender identity and/or sexual preference, I just don’t want it to come off as the author just ‘checking off a box’; I’d rather it be genuine (even though it’s a fictional story!) For all I know, Lu may have planned this, but to me it just came off as an afterthought, that’s all :/ (and @ Thomas, just because you love someone and it shouldn’t be allowed bc of your ranks, it doesn’t mean you have to kill them even if CoMmAnDeR JaMeSoN said to).

I wanted to also talk about characters—more specifically Razor, Commander Jameson, Baxter, and Kaede (rip). So um I guess we’ll start with Razor aka the biggest con man there ever was. Well tbh I kind of found him fishy, just like June did from the get-go, I just didn’t think it was going to be that…bad??? This goes back to Lu’s foreshadowing—which I would say it improved as I wasn’t able to fully guess what was going to happen—she drops p obvious hints left, right, and centre, you just don’t see them until the events unfold; what may seem like a small detail (i.e. Commander Jameson in Razor’s room on the ship and Day (as a disguise) bumping into her) will end up being part of a bigger plan, so to speak. Part of me wishes we had a peek into his mind to see what he thinks like, and if he has more motives, besides just being “hired” by the Senate to assassinate Anden, maybe Razor has a personal vendetta?? I also definitely suspect that Razor and Commander Jameson may or may not be a thing *side eyes*. I’m excited to read Champion to see how he will stand up against the Elector / the Republic, and whether the other Patriots will stand by his side or if they will turn against Razor--especially because right now he’s in jail, but I doubt he will stay there for long! (which can someone explain why Razor and Commander Jameson only got charged with treason??? They almost flipped the Republic on its head). 

Speaking of Patriots...there’s Baxter, which I don’t know where he stands. I think he’s definitely jealous of Day / the fact that Tess has feelings for Day even though he doesn’t reciprocate them. Just a dash of jealousy. But he did predict that Day would betray the Patriots, which makes me think that Baxter may have a part in an uprising, but maybe there’s a chance that he’ll see the whole story. Part of me also highly doubts that he’ll be rational; he seems to be someone with a heavy confirmation bias--I wonder if he knew that Razor was hired by the Senate or if it just went over his head. What if he’s the main villain in Champion o.O him + Tess would be interesting, especially Day does a last hurrah. But anyways, Baxter was just so arrogant, and I could feel Day’s own disappointment when he did exactly what Baxter had predicted. Yeap, there’s definitely going to be some tension that needs to be revisited. 

Last and certainly not least, Kaede :( I’m a bit annoyed that she’s dead. It’s yet again another thing that could be used against Day (specifically his relationship with June; anything that comes near them dies). We got to learn so much from Kaede, and before we knew it, she got shot. It sucks because I think she seemed like a reasonable person and she always remained level-headed. She’s not one to judge quickly *cough cough Baxter cough cough*. Even in Legend she had her kick-ass moments, but she really saved them from the Colonies and how June and Day can’t really repay her unless they keep on going with their mission. Not cool to just kill her off like that though. 

What I loved from this book, besides the character growth and the depth of their relationships with each other (especially on trust, or the therelackof), I liked how this book is just action-packed. I find with the second book in trilogies, we have a plan with a clear end goal (in this case, assassinate the Elector), and that plan just gets adjusted over time as we uncover information until it gets to the end of the book. Here, that main event ended up being smack bang in the middle, which isn’t something we see very often. It left more room for the story to develop and to allow us to really dig deep into the story, which I much appreciated. At some parts, it almost felt like a rush, especially as the story unfolds and with so many characters to consider--it was a page turner! I’m not really sure if I enjoyed Prodigy more than book 1, as I mentioned, I didn’t really like the love triangles and then Anden is just too naive for me to take him seriously. There were also some cliches (I let go of the breath I didn’t know I was holding), and honestly, I was not a fan of the ending! I think that’s the main reason why I can’t rate this higher than Legend to be honest. At least with the first book, there was enough closure that could give us a starting point for book 2. Here is was...let’s break up lmao jk also I’m not going to let June know that I’m dying, peace out. 

This review is getting a bit too long lol, and I’m sure there’s something I forgot to mention, but overall I really enjoyed this book. The action, the intensity, the revelation of information and Lu’s foreshadowing make Prodigy a book that’s hard to put down. The characters’ dynamics are all over the place, which just adds to the chaos, but in a good way--it makes the story that much more interesting. I’m patiently waiting for book 3 from overdrive, so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to read and review it by next week--I’m itching to know what happens next! [Please, let both of our main characters live  p l e a s e]

I’d love to know your thoughts and opinions on Prodigy! Did you enjoy this book, how would you compare it with the rest of the trilogy? Let’s chat =D

Thank you for reading my review, I hope you are having a good day, wherever you are in the world!

~ Cassandra / an-avid-reader

[dyketectivecomics]

Retrieval - Ch. 11

SURPRISE BITCHES. BETCHA THOUGHT YOU’D SEE THE LAST OF THIS.

(Read on AO3) (No actually, maybe go ahead and reread everything on ao3, since its been SO DAMN LONG ooooof) (also everyone keep in mind that the chap under the cut doesnt have italic edits in bc its 3k & also 1 am and i don't have time for that. just go ahead and read it on ao3 unless you already have an idea of whats going on at this stage in the fic lmao)

@squiddybeifong it’s ur turn finally, love <3, def take ur time and i cant WAIT to see your thoughts on this haha 

...

Grotesque as each of the demons were, Raven remembered barely keeping them straight from one another. All sharp teeth and disfigured skin, some sported facsimiles of regency fashion, while others chose to hide themselves in as few layers as possible. Try as she might, she recalled the eyes most clearly, in hues of reds, oranges and yellow, all burning with the sins of the souls they had claimed over the eons.

The one who had called her here, a brother without a name. (At least without a name yet, as that would come a decade later, when she most needed to name and defeat these demons with Titans by her side.) No, this demon that could not be properly named stood to his full height, towering over the others as he snapped his claw-like fingers to gain their attention, silencing their jeering at the destruction the portal showed.

"Enough of that nonsense," he droned, as if somehow bored of the chaos and devastation. "While Father is distracted, we have but one chance to settle this nasty business. What are we to do with sister dearest?"

There was much grumbling among the demons as they took seats around this circle, the visage of Azarath's last moments disappearing from view forever with a distinct pop and crackle. Raven could feel once again the ghost of Zatanna's reassuring hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently in empathy. She couldn't tell if it was better, or worse, never knowing what had transpired.

She certainly knew more than before, just enough to get a clearer picture than so many years of guesswork had lead her down. But it left a hollow feeling in her chest, as those certainties were closed off forever now.

Maybe it had been too much to hope for, to know exactly what Azarath's last moments were like. Or maybe it was too cruel to wish for the burden of such knowledge, even when one had prepared themselves for it. How disheartening, to have gone to so much trouble, only to be stopped so short.

"We can't kill her, much as I'm loathe to share any more 'an I already have to with you lot," a smaller demon piped up to Raven's left. She'd forgotten, in her reverie, just where her attention should truly lay. "But that doesn't mean we can't have our fun."

There was a murmur through the group, a mixed reaction but no true agreements or dissents. Raven could feel something swelling up in her stomach, but she reached for Zatanna's hand on her shoulder, squeezing it back and quelling the feeling.

She knew she'd made it to Constantine's apartment relatively unscathed. Like rereading an old favorite book, she remembered the end even without needing to remember everything that occurred in between. Whatever they had in mind, try as they might have, these petty demons hadn't harmed her much. She was strong enough to survive it then, she was powerful enough to endure it now.

Though, with how the hellfire that was starting to play tricks on her eyes, a part of her wondered just how much longer she'd be forced to endure it. In the furthest reaches, it shone a bit too hot, blinding if she let her eyes stray there for too long.

"The important thing I want to know is; how much fun can we have without Trigon letting on about it? And without interfering too deeply with his plans?"

"Doesn't he need the girl as an emissary to Earth and other planes?" one quipped back, "That would mean we can't keep her here, not long at any rate."

"Then it'd be best to act soon, lest he send her away before we have-"

A low rumble went through the group, all collectively groaning as they felt the same call. Raven remembered hearing a voice, faint, as if it spoke through layers of cotton. It was strange to her then, but familiar now, the cockiness and sly flow of mocking decorum. Constantine's most casual of ways, of summoning sworn enemies forth, to make the most backhanded of bargains.

Though, some of what he was saying... didn't particularly seem to resonate with what would have been said in such circumstances. And out of the corner of her eye, Raven watched as that white-hot light broke through a stalactite or two, eating away at the scene. Inevitable, but much slower than before. She knew now, for certain, that time was limited, much as she'd fought successfully against it so far.

She could hold it off just a tad longer.

"The Hellblazer's onto us, gentlemen," one of the demons sighed, resigned to what was to come. "Any volunteers?"

The group laughed, and Raven remembered taking a few shy steps back, naively thinking this an opportunity to sneak away, before more than a few sets of eyes settled on her.

"Why not send our little sister to him?" the eldest sneered, "It's beneath us to answer such a droll summons. It would be amusing to see him throw her back to us like a fisherman does a minnow."

Laughter bubbled around Raven, too-wide smiles and menacing glints in eyes and teeth. The feeling of self-satisfied, low-burning rage and an anticipation for harm to come.

She knew, then, that anywhere they would want to send her, anywhere that she wasn't in control of sending herself to, would not be a place she'd want to go. And much too late, she tried to make a dash to get away.

She screamed as she felt sharp claws sinking into her arms and delighted laughter reached a fever pitch around her. Everything began growing much brighter and more charged than before, as her body was burning the last of this nightmarish high.

She watched as a few of her brothers slashed into the air around them, tearing reality itself apart as they searched for the best rift to send her tumbling through.

...

The air temperature dropped drastically as John felt his daughter's mood shift, something tightening in his chest and tears welling in his eyes. His heart hammered in his chest, fear at the forefront of it all. He glanced up to see Asa holding her own against Raven's projections better than he did, wiping away a droplet before focusing her hands, once more on checking Zatanna's aura.

"I call upon Saint Christopher, that he may protect in their travels..."

It was a long shot, but when a demonologist has exhausted all of the runes and rituals at his disposal, sometimes a hope and a prayer were all that were left. And Constantine was currently running down the long list of every deity and figure of power that he could scarcely remember.

The classic Catholic routes were always the first to go.

His tone took a more urgent tune as he watched his daughter clench her fists and let out an ear-splitting scream.

"I call upon Saint Michael, to protect in this battle..."

He could only hope that these prayers and practices weren't coming too late.

...

As Zatanna felt the chill of Raven's powers as the empath's consciousness finally awoke, the sorceress tried turning over a happier memory in her own mind.

Sending Raven back to reality in this state now wouldn't do them any good. Fear and anger and hate lingering on her soul. It would, at best, wreck John's apartment.

At worst, it could level New York.

As those demons, shadows of memories long past, opened that fateful portal to John's apartment, so similar and yet a striking difference to how it was now, answering a summons that none wanted to bother themselves with, Zatanna focused all her energy into channeling that memory of her own. One that she couldn't be sure Raven shared. It seemed so far away, and such a small thing.

Of a tiny seven-year-old, in her halloween costume, dressed as the most adorable witch San Francisco would ever see, and receiving a tickling of a lifetime as her mother teased her. The memory of peals of laughter from the sorceress and squeals of protest from the young empath rang in her ears, louder now than the demons laughter, that was slowly fading away from them as Raven's small form was sent through that portal. Zatanna could only do her best to follow close after her.

Slowly, her grip on the girl’s hand loosened, until she lost it completely in their free fall. The sorceress watched helplessly as Raven fell further down ahead of her, the memory still at the periphery of her own mind.

She could see as the portal closed, how time shifted everything inside of that apartment. The couch's color dimmed, showing its wear and its age. Grooves in the floor grew from so many rearrangements of furniture and space. She could see Constantine sitting watch over her and Raven's bodies, and noted that the Nightmare Nurse's aid had been enlisted.

And all too quickly, that vision faded.

As everything dimmed around her, she thought she could hear Raven's voice as she knew it now, deep throaty laughter bubbling out around it, replacing those high-pitched squeals from before.

Everything became blackness once more.

...

As laughter escaped from his daughter's lips, Constantine paid Asa's concerned protests no mind, rushing again to his daughter's side as her powers sparked electrically around them. That shift in the air, like ozone and pressure before a thunderstorm, was one he recognized when a too-sudden, too-extreme mood shift occurred for the empath. When her powers were stuck playing catch-up as they drifted from menacing shadows to dangerously cheery sparks.

"Raven, I need you to breathe for me, darling," he begged, "Find your center again, luv."

His focus was solely on his daughter, as her laughter slowly died, the snickers giving way to breathless gasps. When she began to still in his arms and as her breathing began to return back to normal, he finally registered the Nightmare Nurse's frantic cries.

"-She's not responding, John. Zatanna's not waking up."

...

"Give up?" Zatanna asked with a gleam in her eyes and a sly smile on her lips. The witch before her pouted, giving the most adorable glare that the sorceress had seen in her life.

"Never," she said, and her voice held all of the self-assurance of a spellcrafter well beyond her so few years of experience.

Zatanna only smiled wider. "You asked for it, then."

She tickled the little witch for a second time, laughing alongside her shouts and giggles. That accent that she was picking up from Constantine was more prominent, now that she’d spent the better part of the year with him. And it was positively adorable as well. "No! Mummy, stop!"

"Admit it!" she laughed, "Admit that you're the most adorable little witch!"

It was true, objectively speaking. The girl's dress and hat were tailored with kitschy patches, buttons that seemed comically large and cartoonish pockets that were even bigger than one would think. All of the makings of a perfect Halloween costume. All she was missing, at the moment, were practical tennies for trick-or-treating.

This was where one of several points of argument for the evening had begun, as Raven had insisted, in her seven-year-old wisdom, that her dance flats were needed to complete the look. Something Zee had been unsuccessful, thus far, in swaying her opinion on.

At least until she’d started the teasing, and followed through on her threat of tickling.

"I'm-" she was breathless, gasping for air, but giggling all between, "I'm- not! I'm a- I'm a scary-! A scary witch!"

With that final shout, Zatanna paused in her tickling as Raven sent a shock through her skin. A light zap of her powers, but nothing like the unsettling chill she had felt earlier when the girl refused to admit to fears and doubts about the holiday festivities her mother had planned. It was a welcome change, if unexpected.

"You're right," Zee chuckled in assent, carefully picking the girl up and carrying her from the room, "And since you're clearly the most terrifying thing out and about tonight, that must mean you'll be able to protect me from all of the ghouls and goblins out there tonight?"

The girl puffed out her chest, grinning wide as she adjusted her hat. "No monsters will get past me, mummy! I promise!"

The magician could only smile and hold the girl in a tight embrace. "Thanks, Blackbird. I feel safer already. But you know what will help me feel-?"

But just as the sorceress set the girl down again, before she had even finished the question as she turned around in this fairly mundane memory, she could feel that sense of presence slipping. Her once familiar home in San Francisco fading away in a blur and a blank. An expanse before her that could be filled with anything.

This Raven wasn’t the one she entered this world with. Her daughter was no longer in this plane between consciousness and dreams, where memories made their home. 

And that terrifying reality was starting to settle in.

“-the most... safe?” she finished asking, in trepidation.

A shiver creeped quickly down her spine, as another memory took her away, unbidden.

…

“I have to go back for her,” the empath protested, sitting up at once as the Nightmare Nurse’s words fully registered. She felt the blood rush just as quickly away from her head, and lay back down immediately to stop the dizziness.

“You’d need at least an hour of recovery, kiddo,” Asa laughed bitterly, “At least you would, if you were human.”

“I’ll be fine in a minute. Just give me a second.”

“Like bleedin’ hell you’re going back,” John growled, “Asa, you hold ‘er, luv. I’ll be going in-”

“Dad, pots!” Her tone and intention had the brit slowly freezing right in place against his will. Try as he might to fight her, he never had quite the same level of resolve that Raven had. 

But, he supposed, that’s just how fathers and daughters seemed to operate. A father always willing to give his girl the world. And never being able to deny her, even when it was in her best interest.

“It has to be me, dad,” Raven sighed. “I pulled her in. I need to be the one to pull her out.”

Constantine swallowed the lump forming in his throat, teeth slow to unclench as he asked, “Promise me you’ll be safe? That you’ll get out soon as you reach her?”

Raven’s own indigo eyes leveled at his piercing blue ones, her stomach dropping as she lied, “I promise.”

…

She felt calmer when she opened her eyes again, her breathing shallow and soft, her body curled as tightly in on itself as she could stand. She felt a sharp pinch of happiness, and a dull sting of longing, when she heard her father’s voice. And she remembered, another small memory that had meant so much more to her over the years.

"Now just where did my princess run off to," Giovanni mused as he glanced around his daughter's room. He made extra sure not to take any special notice of some particularly lumpy and giggling pillows that lay on her bed.

"Hmm, how strange," he sighed with extra, cartoonish emphasis, "How odd that my daughter would learn to pull such a thorough disappearing act before I could teach her it myself. Alas!" He gave a cry, before falling back onto her bed. "Perhaps if I were to take a nap upon her bed, I could dream of where she has run off to!"

He adjusted himself carefully atop that oh-so-lumpy cushioning, leaning carefully back and poking at the pillows as she barely held in her snickering. "Now, if only these pillows weren't so lumpy and strange! Perhaps then my dreams might be clear." He put a bit more of his weight on it, yawning dramatically as he stretched his arms above his head. "But as long as Zatanna is not here, I don't see the harm-"

"I am here, daddy! I got you!" the young sorceress cried, laughing as she wiggled out from behind her father.

"Goodness! You have, indeed, my princess!" the magician laughed, bringing his daughter in close for a hug and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "And I've missed you so! You must promise to teach me that trick before my next show!"

"Uh-uh, that one's a super-special... tersec?" the five-year-old turned the word over uncertainly, and Zatara only smiled as he applauded her attempt.

"Terces, my sun and stars. Repus laiceps terces." He booped her nose, and she giggled once more. With a whispered word and sleight of hand, he produced a diary with a lock, Zatanna's name embossed with ostentatious calligraphy, and smiled even wider as she went starry-eyed.

"You'll need a place to keep those sterces then, my darling."

The chorus of thank-yous that followed after were drowned out only by his own laughter as he returned her tight embrace.

The sorceress began to feel the weight of the memory weighing on her chest, however. A wistfulness as the laughter quickly became quiet cries. At first, she almost believed them to be cries for what she still mourned. But then everything shifted again.

“Give me the word, my sun and stars,” her father growled, “And I will make the boy regret his very-”

“Daddy, no,” she shook her head, “It’s not… It’s not his fault.”

“That is where you are wrong, my dear,” the old magician laughed, “It is always a boy’s fault. Unless he starts taking responsibility for it, then he is not truly a man.” He squeezed her hand tightly as he lifted her chin, making sure she was looking into his smiling eyes as he said, “And he is not worthy of your time, for that matter, either.” He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, before pulling her back in for another tight embrace.

Zatanna held desperately to this special kind of comfort that she hadn’t felt since her father had died.

[livvywrites]

“Go and die for all I care!” - tali & nora somehow pls

okay so i’m combining this with the other prompt you sent, 14 from this list. for extra angst purposes!

prompt source! 

so this one is... set in the canon universe, but isn’t exactly canon??? a similar situation to this is planned, but it’s. very different. (very, very different lmao). BUT i adapted it to fit the prompt. because otherwise it wouldn’t have made as much sense. 

CW: some discussion & references to suicide. under a cut bc it got long!!

"Fine," Talithasnapped, "just go and die for all I care!"

"Maybe I fucking will,"Alinora snapped back. "Beats hanging around in this lousy fuckinglife." Alinora slammed the door shut behind her and stomped down the hall.Tears burned at her eyes but she ignored them. That woman was so... she wasso... 

She was so irritating!

Alinora wasn't exactly happy aboutthis either, thank you very much, but it was the only way. Nomagical solution was going to drop in their laps. There wasn't a deus exmachina waiting around the corner. There was only them versus a god--and evenwith the power they had accumulated, they were still mortal. Whathope did they have against Fate? The only way... 

This was the only way.

She pushed through the doors,stepping out into the little pocket world Talitha had created. There were days,like this one, when Alinora really hated this place. Talitha was everywhere.Her magic fueled it, created it, shaped it. It no longer drew from her, but herhand was in everything. You couldn't turn around without seeing her.Which was the last thing Alinora needed--or wanted--right now.

She made for the gates. Maybe she'dvisit Elaena. Spend some time in Death's castle. Challenge Death to a game ofchess. Or poker. Or something. Anything to keep her mind off that terrible,wretched, awful woman. 

Talitha slumped into the floor. Whyhad she said that? Of all the things she could have fucking said, shesaid that. To an already suicidal woman with a history ofsacrificing herself for the greater good.

Why am I such a terribleperson? She buried her face in her hands.Her only consolation was that Alinora was probably heading for the trainingroom, to ruin a few unsuspecting dummies. Lyr would probably bitch about havingto make more, but honestly, Talitha couldn't care less right then. She'd makethem herself, if it meant that Alinora had a safe, productive wayto work out her anger.

There was a distant squeal as thegates swung open. Talitha's head snapped up.

Oh no. Oh fuck. Oh, Talitha fuckingJade, you're a goddamn idiot.  Shescrambled to her feet and threw open the balcony doors just in time to watchAlinora stride through the gates, head held high. Talitha turned and ran,nearly flying down the stairs in her haste to get outside.

She burst through the doors.Tracking Alinora would be hard, because as soon as she left, she probablyshadow-stepped away. But, Elaena was Alinora's handler. It wouldn't be thefirst time that Talitha had needed to contact her over Alinora disappearing.Not usually because of them having a stupid fight, though. Itwas usually Aishlynn. Or Asa. Or Lyr, once. Or. You know. Most everyone butTalitha, because normally, Talitha watched her fucking mouth.

Elaena. Babe. Need your help, please.Kind of panicking at the moment. Talithasent out the prayer, the thoughts lined with a desperate edge. Her heart washammering in her chest. Her tongue tasted of bile.

Elaena appeared, and for onceTalitha didn't even bat an eye at the way she materialized from shadow. Therewas a bored look on her face, instead of the usual bit of concern.

"If this is about Alinora,she's at the castle. Was in the middle of badgering Dad into playingchess." Elaena paused. "Pretty sure he's going to give in." Sheshrugged. "Got a fucking soft spot a mile wide. Guess you two got into it,then?"

"I said something stupid,"Talitha said. "And I want to apologize for it."

Elaena nodded. "You'll get yourchance. Go... prepare some grand gesture, or whatever it is you lovebirds do.I'll keep her out of trouble. Or whatever."

Talitha slumped. "Thanks,El."

She waved a hand. "S'my job. Godo yours."

And then she disappeared.

Talitha stared off into thedistance, over the bleak forest, where she could see the spires of Death'scastle. Alinora was in good hands, for the moment. Talitha needed to come upwith a damn good apology.

And then hope Alinora could forgivethe unforgivable.

Alinora rubbed her face. Three gamesof chess--two against Death, once against Elaena--, half a bottle of wine, anda really good spar later, and she was home. Sore and tired asfuck, but home. And dreading what she was going to find in their bedroom.

Would Talitha still be there? Or wasthis the last straw?

At the time, Alinora hadn't thoughtpast more than leaving. She hadn't thought about how it might look from theoutside. Not until her second glass of wine. She should have come home then. Butshe didn't. Instead, she took Elaena up on her offer to spar, and... leftTalitha to worry some more.

Obviously Tali would know that therehad to be very specific circumstances for Alinora to do what she was planning.It wasn't just something you rushed into half-cocked. But that wouldn't make itany easier to bear. Wouldn't make how they had left things any more comforting.Wouldn't have made it any more certain that Alinora was going to come home.

Alinora took a deep breath, andpushed open the doors.

Talitha was on the couch, lookingfidgety and nervous as hell, but also extremely soft and open in her too-bigsweater and leggings. Alinora's favorite dish was on the coffee table (oneTalitha hated dearly) and there was a mug of her favorite tea as well. Andcandles. The warm, cinnamon scented ones that Alinora only brought out onspecial occasions, because it was easier to just use magelights most of thetime.

Talitha gave her a little, crookedsmile. "So, um. I said something stupid earlier," she said, becauseof course she was just going to jump right into it.

Alinora closed the door softlybehind her, leaning into it, listening. Hoping her expression wasn't toosevere.

"And... I shouldn't have saidit. I didn't mean it. I was just... angry. And that's not. It isn't an excuse.I know better. I know that, that words hurt. That they mean things.That they can cut deep. Make scars that last a long time. And, I don't. I don'twant to do that to you? That's not the kind of person that I want to be. Not thekind of relationship that I want us to have.

"And. I'm going to try and dobetter. In the future. Whether, um. Whether you forgive me or not. But I'mreally hoping that you do, and we get to continue to this, because. You'rehonestly the best thing to ever happen to me. The light of my fucking life,honestly. And I don't want to lose you because I'm an idiot. But I mean, you'dbe well within you're rights to just. Drop me. Because I was an asshole.Majorly. Worse than I've been since---"

Alinora held up a hand. "You'reforgiven," Alinora said softly. She hadn't contemplated anything else. Hadbarely registered the words, barely realized what Talitha had said in the firstplace. All she had seen was Talitha's anger, her immediate shut down of themost obvious way to end this, before it got any worse. That probably saidsomething about her mental health, something she didn't really want to examineat that moment. "It's not like I haven't been an asshole... most of thetime."

Talitha snorted. "Yeah, but you'venever told me to--" She cut herself off.

Alinora raised an eyebrow. "Howmany times did I tell you to jump off a cliff, Tali?"

"Yeah, but you didn't mean it."

"Neither did you."

"Yeah, but mine was said out ofanger. It wasn't a joke. I wasn't teasing you. I was pissed,and frustrated, and I said something stupid. It's different."

"Are you trying to talk me outof forgiving you?" It wasn't working, but Alinora was curious anyway.

"No! Yes. Maybe! I don'tknow."

Alinora snorted. "It isn'tworking. Isn't going to work either." She walked over to her, and sat onthe couch next to her. "You said something stupid. I'll grant you that.But I don't think it was out of anger."

"No? What would you call thatthen?"

"Fear." Alinora leanedagainst her side. "You were afraid. So you said something mean. Becausethat's what we do, when we're afraid. You and me. Doesn't make it a good thing.But it's an understandable thing. So. I forgive you. Because I know you didn'tmean it. I know... that you meant the opposite, really."

"I did," Talitha murmured."Still do."

Alinora nodded. "See?" Shepaused. "Besides, if I didn't forgive you, who's going tocling to me like an octopus all night? I won't be able to sleep without that, Idon't think."

Talitha laughed, wetly. "Guessnone of the others are clingy like me, huh?"

"Not even close."

"I love you, Nora."

"I love you too, Tali,"she murmured.

Talitha kissed the top of her head."Light of my fuckin' life." 

[teamironmanforever]

I went to see the movie and honestly? I hated it. (Buckle up bc this is gonna be like a 10 part ask) First: Tony my sweet baby you didn’t deserve that. Honestly I loved that he finally got to marry Pepper and had Morgan, but the ending just made that meaningless to me. Morgan and Pepper while they had some really cute moments, didn’t serve much purpose to the plot at all other than make Tony’s death sadder. AKA they used his family as a way to manipulate the audience, which is not cool. 1/?

I loved Morgan and I love Pepper, but they could have removed them from the film and it wouldn’t have made much difference other than Tony making that choice faster. It was a cheap way to make us even sadder that he died and I hated it. If a character serves no other purpose than that then you’re doing something wrong. Also, as I understand it, in the comics he wore the gauntlet and didn’t die, so WTF?? Also that moment when he finally snaps at Steve for CACW was ultimately disappointing No one took his pain seriously and was disregarded as him being half dead, starved and delusional. AND Steve didn’t even apologise for his fuck up. They just wanted to get the fans that are mad at CACW and AOU mollified without actually having anyone acknowledge what happened. Gross. And the fact that Tony had to be the bigger man?? I love that my son is healing but it still isn’t right. (I could go on for hours about this, so let’s move on for now) Second: Thor. I’ll admit I didn’t really feel anything for his character until Ragnarok, when I officially adopted him and Loki (who they did so dirty in IW, but let’s not touch that right now). They erased all his character development and made him the butt of fat jokes and did not acknowledge the fact that he was probably dealing with severe depression and PTSD. But hey he got fat so let’s laugh at him! Ugh, it was painful to see what they did to him Also I just can’t get around my head that he wouldn’t be out there helping his people, and instead stayed eating junk food and beer for years (and would most likely have gained weight because he didn’t have to be as physically active as before). Thor at his very core isn’t that, he would have kept going for what was left of Asgard, he would have lead his people instead of leaving them to their devices. And the end?? He wouldn’t have left New Asgard to go traveling through space with the Guardians, that made 0 sense and I stand by this point, HE WOULDN’T HAVE LEFT THE ASGARDIANS, not even leaving Valkyrie in charge, he just wouldn’t have. That whole thing was stupid and probably a way to set up a new Thor movie and I’m not buying it. Also the fact that Steve could lift Mjolnir and that meant he had Thor’s powers?? That’s not how it works?? It is stated in Ragnarok that the Hammer was just a way for Thor to channel his powers, not that the hammer gave him powers, just no. Also him getting Mjolnir back was completely unnecessary and just proves even more how they didn’t care for Thor’s development in previous movies. Bruce: He felt off the entire movie, gave me the creeps. Clint: They made him a racist serial killer vigilante and then they just never mentioned it again?? Was that necessary?? If I didn’t like him before now I like him even less. Nat: I felt her characterisation was good this movie. Then they ruined it by using her as a catalyst for man pain. I don’t like her but she deserved better than that. Nebula: I actually liked her this movie, nothing bad to say here (or if there’s anything I haven’t realised it yet) Steve: I’ll admit I’ve hated him ever since AoU and even more after CACW, I can’t stand him, the salty fics where he get owned are my favourites and I haven’t been able to read any fics where he gets anything remotely like happy ending in years, I shy away from every movie that he has been in, I spent all the movie rolling my eyes whenever he spoke (except for the “I know I know” part because that was hilarious. But even so I don’t agree with what they did to his character in the movie. I hate but I still know what his values are, and Steve wouldn’t have done that, ever. He basically erased all of Peggy’s family from existence, putting himself above others, when the very core of his character is that he doesn’t do that! For me it was just bad and lazy writing. Also the fact that he spoke like 7 words to Bucky in the whole movie was just ??? This isn’t Steve Rogers, I don’t know who this is but it’s not him. Besides that a big thing in his character arcs is him adapting to the XXI century and stating that he isn’t the man he was before he went into the ice!! Erased his character development completely (there are several posts expanding on why the end they gave him is bullshit, there are more reasons than the ones I pointed out) Scott: He was alright. Then every other character that appeared was just there for the fanservice and it showed. Peter was there to make Tony’s death sadder, T’Challa and Shuri and Okoye and all the Wakandans were there because they had to have them there for the final battle, they could have exchanged them for other characters and it wouldn’t have changed a single fucking thing. Same with all the women that appeared in the final battle only, they were there because they couldn’t not have them there, and the scene with all of them was cool but in hindsight it didn’t serve much purpose and was a lazy way to try to make us forget that they’ve never given a single fuck about MCU women. But hey! We had the Wakandans and a scene with all the MCU ladies together!! We can’t possibly be racist or sexist right? It was hollow and it falls apart if you start to think about it even a little. Also the whole time travel rules they explained in such a convoluted way?? And then they didn’t even follow their own time travel rules??? That was just lazy writing to get the characters to fuck with the timeline as much as they wanted without having to worry about any ripple effects through the timeline continuity. Terrible And LGBT+ rep was badly executed and very disappointing. I’m sure there are things I’m forgetting, but at least all of those things make it a terrible movie for me. They did all the characters so dirty. (I’ll never forgive them for this, specially for what they did to Tony)

WELL THAT WAS DEFINITELY A LONG ASK but I am so glad you got that out of your chest my dude!!!!! 

I don’t agree with everything you’ve said, I’ll start there. 

I am a BIG natasha fan so this movie really really did great work with her and while her death hurt me, it is the ONE death I can see myself coming to terms with because if she had to go? That was the way to do it. That’s the Nat I know and love; she chose how she went out and she chose to do it for everyone. She has always been a character craving redemption for her past, and an escape - she wanted a new chance. And while she did not get a happy ending she did good in the world. She atoned and she found as much peace as was permitted in her story. Also let’s not forget she was the one LEADING the avengers when Steve fucked off for 5 yrs because reasons. 

I also don’t think the women in the film were there for fanservice. It IS important to see these badass women fighting, because that’s how it starts. That’s how we get representation. They all had a purpose and a role; they all have a story to tell. As for Pepper she exists completely outside of Tony. Yes it hurts us more because now he doesn’t have his family - but Pepper has been such an integral part of the Iron Man narrative, not as a plot device but rather as her own woman with her own thoughts and goals - that her being in endgame made perfect sense. She and Tony have the single strongest and likely most healthy relationship in the shitshow that is the MCU - there is a level of love and devotion there not seen anywhere else. 

Yes Bruce was definitely off - they tried to dumb him down to show just how utterly necessary Tony was in saving their asses, which I can appreciate, but it still felt very very off. The whole jockey thing didn’t work for me. 

And yup 100% what they did with Thor hurt me deep inside my soul. Like… it was just not right man. 

Also yes the LGBT+ rep promised sucked ass like WOW queerbaiting 101 my dudes!! Are we really back to that!?!?!?!?

As for the rest of things - like I said I don’t agree on everything but it would take me too long to write that all out so I will say this: I REALLY hope you feel better because trust me I am on the same boat of feeling bitter and sad and just unable to see the things that were good in the movie. So yeah I hope getting it out of your chest helped :) 

[jjoelswatch]

Avengers: Endgame spoilers under the cut.

I’ll start this by saying that the movie is about a 8.5 or 9 out of 10 for me, personally, and only one thing really hit it down from being a 10/10. I got in to Marvel about nine or ten years ago, and the first Avengers movie really lured me in for life. I’ve met so many friends through these characters. These characters all mean so much to me because the early parts of this decade were probably my hardest (I hope) in dealing with depression and anxiety, and watching and reading and writing through these various characters’ struggles and victories made my own struggles more bearable. And while I know Marvel movies aren’t ending, for the majority of the characters I’ve come to know and love, their stories on film have come to an end. It’s difficult to not be emotional over it or feel passionate one way or another in how their stories have come to a close. Mostly, I’m just really grateful that someone convinced me to watch Iron Man all those years ago, because I think my life and the people I know and care about would all be very, very different.

With all that being said, here are my not-very-sorted thoughts after two viewings of the film.

What I liked:

That cold open. Man. Chilling.

Nebula and Tony playing that little game in the ship. It showcased really well Tony’s parental aspects and also something Nebula desperately needed (no manipulations, no tricks, just bonding time). I wish we got to see more of those two. 

Movie luring you into a false sense of security with Tony and Steve seemingly making amends right after his rescue but then Tony has that mental breakdown and lashes out at Steve. That was raw and painful and so, so good. A quality scene tbh.

Steve leading a survivor’s therapy group. Really trying to live on in Sam’s spirit, I feel.

Steve offering to cook for Natasha.

Scott Lang arriving at the New Avengers compound.

The small, human interactions with Natasha. The scene where she, Tony, and Bruce are lounging around brainstorming and she's like, "if we pick the right time, there's three stones on Earth" and the two smartest Avengers are like :0 whoa she’s right.

On that note, we get to see a vulnerability to Natasha that hasn’t been explored too much. She cries. We learn something about her on Vormir ("Natasha, daughter of Ivan", and then going on to reveal that she never knew her father). We haven't gotten this much personal exploration of her character since Winter Soldier and it was great.

Hulk offering one of his tacos to Scott after he lost his. It was just a small sweet moment.

Testing out time travel. Steve’s deadpan “that’s a baby” really got me.

TIME TRAVEL! When it jumps to that huge ass 2012 text logo my heart of soaring.

Was not expecting that Rumlow and Pierce cameo! That was wild to witness especially because Avengers and Winter Soldier are two very tonally different movies. We get to see the aftermath of Avengers in small, cool ways and it really serves to fill in the gaps. Bonus points for Tony tug-of-warring over the Tesseract with Pierce that was hilarious and reminded me a lot of his demeanor during Iron Man 2 during his hearing with Senator Stern (“You want my property? You can’t have it.”)

Loki mocking Steve and prompting Thor to put the muzzle on him was A+

The nod to the elevator scene (the elevator noise is the exact same as the elevator noise in Winter Soldier; I know this bc I’ve seen the movie 15 times and I’m basically Pavlov’s Dog for CA:TWS). The “hail hydra” moment was awesome, and Steve leaving the elevator with that smirk was so satisfying, but I have questions about that timeline*.

Cap v. Cap. “I can do this all day.”  “--I know!”

“America’s ass”. The Avengers just all 100% being on board to Hit That is the team solidarity we need in these dark times.

The sense of utter dread I felt when past!Thanos caught on to their plan. I’ve never felt dread that way before in a movie, maybe not even with Infinity War.

I really wasn’t expecting Natasha’s death. I love/hate how you know from the moment that Natasha and Clint are going to retrieve the soul stone that one of them isn’t making it back. It’s a weird feeling; I’ve felt the feeling of the audience knowing something the characters don’t before, but never quite like this. Clint and Natasha’s struggle over who was to be sacrificed was painful and emotional. It’s also a really good contrast to the scene with Thanos and Gamora in Infinity War. Clint and Natasha’s struggle was truly born out of love (and how cool is it that we got to see the power of the love of friendship so blatantly and barbarically put on show?; “I owe him a debt.”). I really thought Clint was going to die, but was surprised when it was Natasha. Her death is really painful for me and I wish there was a way she didn’t have to die, but she laid down her life for everyone else’s; it’s an honorable death.** 

The brief moment post-Hulk!snap. The birds singing. Clint’s wife calling him. It brought a tear to my eye.

Thor, Steve, and Tony all standing together again after four years of being apart or, in some cases, resenting one another. I felt whole again. All of them being in agreement that as long as Thanos is alone, they’re all down to kill him. Thor’s eyes lighting up. The three of them walking towards Thanos. They mean business. What a great moment.

Every time Steve’s shield broke apart piece by piece my anxiety increased by 100%. War flashbacks to Tony’s vision from Age of Ultron; the shield was literally broken apart the exact same way.

That shot of Steve being the last man standing against Thanos and his army was beautiful. I want that as a poster.

I’ve never cried tears of relief the way I did than in the moment I heard Sam’s voice and the portals started opening up. I was 100% sure Steve was going to die just before that and I WAS SPARED. The hope/relief I felt in that moment made me cry so much, and I don’t think that’s something I’ve ever experienced before in any form of media, so that’s a unique experience that’s pretty awesome.

THAT. BATTLE.

"Avengers... assemble." Steve Rogers marry me.

STEVE WIELDING THE HAMMER. Thor: I knew it! Me: bitch me too!

Seeing all those badass Marvel women fall in formation with Carol was awesome, though it hurt a lot to not see Natasha among them. She was the first of all of them (the first we were introduced to, at least).

Valkyrie’s Pegasus!

WANDA! “I don’t even know who you are.”  “You will.”  And then Thanos telling his army to rain fire because he literally can’t fend off Wanda. Amazing.

Nebula’s story arc was really well done.

“I am inevitable.” [empty metal snap] "And I...am...Iron Man."

I sincerely was not expecting to be as affected by Tony’s death as I was. I still very much so like Tony, but everyone and their mom knows that I reside very happily in Cap’s camp. But holy shit. I was not expecting for Tony to wield the gauntlet, but that’s an amazing moment from the comic books brought to film and I’m so glad they did. The aftermath was horrifically sad, watching Rhodey, Peter, and Pepper gather round him, plus the other Avengers-- Pepper telling him he can rest now and the camera just lingers on his face. I was trying not to hyperventilate cry in the theater the first time, and still cried like a baby the second time. Iron Man was the first Marvel movie I ever saw and the first Avenger I was really a diehard fan of. Tony Stark wielded the infinity gauntlet and saved everyone. From Infinity War; “I hope they remember you.” They will.

Watching Thanos get dusted was so satisfying.

Everyone gathered at Tony’s funeral.

Sam!Cap

The cast roll with the signatures of the main cast touched me quite a bit. Also it’s kind of a nice send off because it literally feels like they’re signing off on their ending contracts.

Literally so much else, but these are what stood out the most to me.

What I didn’t like:

They didn't have to do that to Thor. Does it make sense that Thor would spiral into an alcoholic depression? Yes, absolutely. Did he have to be the butt of every joke because of it? No, not at all. At times he felt like he was plucked out of an SNL skit. I just wished they would have handled that better instead of having him serve as a comic relief device so that the first hour of the film isn't too depressing. Like, how do you go from Thor’s entrance into Wakanda in Infinity War to...Endgame!Thor? It was easier to watch the second time around, but regardless, I wish there were just less jokes about him.

What was the point of Ronin? We got five minutes of seeing him in the Ronin suit and doing Ronin things for what purpose? I get that he’s suffering with the loss of his family and it’s meant to illustrate how much he’s been damaged by it, but it kind of seemed pointless overall. Otherwise no complaints about Clint.***

Rhodey taking care of Morgan Stark at the end of Tony’s funeral instead of Happy would have been a nice touch. I’m not very bothered by this one tbh, I’m cool with it, but that’s his best friend.

Steve going back in time to be with Peggy. I really don’t like it. It felt like such obvious fanservice to Steve/Peggy fans and it’s just like...let Peggy go. On second viewing it does seem like Bucky knows from the very start what Steve might do, or that they even discussed it beforehand, but I also feel like Bucky would have told him to not be a damn idiot and come back to them. He also literally bounces right after his friend’s funeral, after a conversation about how Hulk really misses Natasha/how he tried to bring her back with the snap, to which Steve says “I do too/I know”...then....peaces out. Also, I’m not going to sit here and say that Age of Ultron did too much for Steve’s character, but we danced this dance before and learned that it’s the Avengers that are Steve’s family and future. And it’s not just in Age of Ultron that this is hammered home; the conflict in Civil War works because the Avengers are his family. Saving Bucky at the expense of losing his found family wouldn’t matter if this wasn’t the case. It feels regressive to attempt to say otherwise in this movie, especially one where some of Steve’s best development was done by the same directors.

Asterisks/Questions Unanswered/Misc.:

* So in this timeline, Steve fought himself. He told his 2012 self that Bucky was still alive, he made himself seem affiliated with Hydra during the elevator scene in order to get the Tesseract. This isn’t the timeline in which the team gets their hands on the Tesseract, so...this universe still exists because they botched it. When Steve goes back in time to return the stones to their proper timelines, it’s returned to the 1970s, not 2012. So what happens to this universe as a result of that fumble? This would be cool to explore.

** When Steve has to return all the infinity stones to their proper places in time, what happens when you seek to return the soul stone instead of take it? Could Natasha have been brought back this way? I have so many questions. Also, I’d be curious to see Steve’s reaction to seeing the Red Skull as the gatekeeper of the soul stone.

On that note, why was there such an emphasis placed on the soul stone in Infinity War? Saying there’s a certain wisdom to it compared to the other infinity stones. What was that weird soft red void Thanos was in with younger Gamora right after the snap? Why wasn’t any of this followed up on in Endgame?

*** What was the point of the Ronin situation if not to incriminate him enough that it would have been right to allow Clint to sacrifice himself on Vormir?

Can you imagine that your significant other got snapped and 5 years go by and you’ve moved on and perhaps fallen in love with someone else...and then your dead wife/husband returns? Awkward. There has to be some sort of reality TV show in the MCU universe that deals with that. I’d watch that.

The Fornite scene with Thor & co. truly establishes a depressing future where all the game developers got snapped and now all we have is Fornite.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Well…

… What better thing to do when you feel like absolute crap in the morning and it’s starting to get too hot again? DX

Watch Ryusoulger! ^^ Subbed! XD

In no order and w/ many typos bc I am a dumb who stayed up to late and I have a headache. Also it’s almost eighty degrees here and I hate everything:

Aw, Asuna is playing games for snacks. ^^ Definitely think she has a very high metabolism.

This super cute, too, the kids hanging out and playing carnival games. Asuna asking Melto for advice. XD Ah, my babies.

Aw, it’s sweet that everyone claps.

A year’s worth of snacks is that little? I think they might be underestimating Asuna’s eating speed. And mine.

Melto’s pouting bc he feels like his advice wasn’t needed. Aw, don’t feel bad, sweetie, she wouldn’t have asked if she didn’t want to hear it.

Okay, this is fine. Could have been… Hm, but Asuna clearly wasn’t afraid at all, and looked annoyed, which is in line w/ her character, and Mori jumped in very quickly—which is what I was hoping for, bc no way you can make me believe Asuna actually needed saving, but it makes sense that someone seeing the situation from the outside would want to assist someone they thought was in trouble. In fact, I’d say that Mori just saved those guys’ lives. Like, pretty sure she’d’ve cold cocked on herself if he had been a little slower. XD

And then he starts fighting them, and Asuna’s just like ‘oh, okay, I guess this is happening now. *shrug*’

Honestly, he didn’t seem to need help, so I don’t blame her.

She knows what boxing is? I mean, not the strangest thing.

Aaaaaand… Crayon the mushroom man makes another entrance.

Every time we watch the opening, I’m reminded that we still don’t know who hooded man is… I mean, they’ve got time, but I’d love some more hints. And while we’re at it… Actually, never mind. I think everyone knows where I was going there. XD

That scene where he approached the brothers is really getting at me, though… Like, not even Touwa has mentioned it? Which makes me very curious/suspicious.

Honestly, I like the troll Minusaur’s design…

Did you two try to call the others?

Kou, you doof! Though I guess he didn’t know Mori was there.

I really like that Crayon has trouble controlling the Minusaurs, it’s a nice touch and usually leads to funny hijinks.

I guess it was the force of the explosion that sent them rolling like that. That’s what I’m going w/. No way a Ryusoulger would get detransformed from rolling down a hill.

Aw, she’s so sweet. I’m love her.

I really like how she can be silly, but also a really cool, strong sort of ‘big sister’ at the same time. Anky Mom raised her well. ^^

Touwa, don’t be so defeatist!

Kou! DX Honestly though, that’s kind of in character for him to so… Hyper-focused, I guess?

Asuna’s face, though! Honey, just grab him by the ear and pull, okay? That’ll shut him up.

Not you, too, Melto! DX Asuna, grab both their ears! Just smack them!

I’m glad the point here is that they were wrong to ignore her.

I don’t so much blame Banba and Touwa there, bc they were just kinda… There? They could’ve called the other two on it and didn’t, though.

I am now going to hyper obsess about a single line in regards to my ‘Banba becomes everyone’s rock’ view. Bc he totally just kind of ‘reground’ the discussion there. XD

Touwa and Banba don’t even go here. XD It’s okay, I don’t think Banba plans on eating anything. He just got up bc everyone else did.

Aw, Tyramigo’s trying to comfort her! You’re right, sweetie. Good to try and be proactive. I say, like a bloody hypocrite.

It might have been wiser to go back in and smack them, but she’s justifiably annoyed at them so it makes sense she wouldn’t.

On the one hand, that drawing looks pretty good from where I’m sitting, on the other, I’m a perfectionist, too. And maybe the issue isn’t that it’s not ‘good,’ it’s that it’s not what he ‘wants’ it to be?

Asuna here w/ the very direct line of questioning.

Don’t tell him that! Though I do appreciate that the whole ‘she says the wrong thing/speaks too bluntly sometimes’ thing is more subtle. Like w/ what she said to Melto before and here. It’s not there all the time.

Other thing I like about this, is that it’s not ‘the girl can’t beat the Minusaur alone.’ It’s that ‘no one can beat the Minusaur.’ Yes, they fare a little better when there’s more of them, but it’s not bc Asuna is a ‘girl’ or at all ‘weaker.’ It’s that this Minusaur is quite strong. It wasted Kou and Melto before, too. Also the fact that it’s just reflecting their own power back at them (multiplied, too, I believe), means that it’s using their own strength against them. So the stronger the attack, the more damage the reflection does. After all, Asuna does absolutely fine on her own later, and even frightens the current General, and it takes three of them and the Kishiryu and some strategy to beat the Minusaur (and some of Asuna’s luck).

A plus mediation, Kou. You guys can discuss this later.

Crayon should really learn to watch his mouth w/ the Generals…

Wyzul’s incurable need for theatrics will become his undoing. By pissing off Asuna.

The fact that Banba does everything just slightly slower than the others, from drawing his sword to charging the Minusaur, just to be that much sexier is vexing and I love it.

Wonder what varsity jacket did to make Mori so pissed at him? Or… Is he a coach or something? If he’s a coach, he needs to be fired, though.

Wait, did art boy offer to punch a dude for Mori so that Mori could fight in an upcoming boxing match, but someone would still punch the dude? That’s so sweet, oh my god. DX

Nah, man, Asuna’s right. I think you’re overreacting a little. I say, like I don’t overreact every day of my life.

I’m sobbing. Anky Mom raised a good girl. Asuna is a princess and a damn wonderful big sis. She’s still dad friend of the trio, though.

Banba is dad friend of the whole team.

Melto is mom friend no matter where he is.

I feel like these three’s reactions are telling of their personalities. XD Kou just takes one to the face, Touwa dodges a bit the ducks for cover, and Banba blocks a little but stands his ground and somehow manages to avoid being hit by… I dunno, sheer power of sexiness?

I think I regret getting used to that word.

This is very much dramatic irony. It’s pretty obvious to the audience that it’s Wyzul—but Mori doesn’t know about Wyzul at all, or that he can shapeshift, Asuna knows about Wyzul and that he can shapeshift, but has no reason to think he’s here. I mean, sure, Minusaur, but Crayon has gotten left to his own devices before. And they haven’t seen him yet. Asuna isn’t the suspicious type, either.

Where they just letting Kou wail on it while they watched. I mean, I guess more eyes are likely to notice something, but it’s just funny.

Ah, it’s her injured wrist, that probably made things harder. It does seem like she makes conscious decisions when to put her whole strength into things, most of the time, w/ only the occasional slip ups.

Hey, not a bad plan, Kou. MistSoul is pretty noncombative.

Yeah, but not all the attacks went through his… You know what, I don’t care. In the positive way. I don’t care for positive reasons.

I love how they just let Kou wail on it again in Kishiryu Oh. Though I guess they couldn’t form anything w/out Asuna and Ankyrose.

Asuna here w/ the princess carry. True knight in shining armour. ^^

The new mecha suit actor is really good. The torch has been well passed. ^^

Also, pour one out for the miniature city set designers and builders! Technically physically possible, whatever! That was impressive! And how many times must they have had to build and test everything. And then there’s the effects. O_o I salute you, folks.

Oh, yeah, and… It’s HAMMER TIME!

Asuna for one of the best big sisters ever award. DX

I love Naohisa and his ‘ah! places!’ reaction to Asuna coming in. XD

They made a sign? And why is Ui wearing a helmet? I’m so confused. But this is so cute, gods love them.

Not all of them are smiling, dude. Banba has to keep glaring, it’s in his contract.

No it, it’s not. But he’s def not smiling yet. One day he is gonna smile, though, and I am going to implode.

 Okay, but has DimeVolcano just been wandering the forest giving deadly quiz shows? Is that what’s been happening?

Kinda like how the preview is like ‘yeah, new power next week!’ right off the bat instead of being all ‘mysterious’ about it or something. XD

Okay, who implemented a quiz into a Kishiryu? Why? Why does it rampage if you answer wrong? This seems like poor seal design, Ryusoul predecessors…

And apparently he can talk. They taught the Kishiryu to talk so that it could give quizzes. This seems like a lot of effort.

And the fact that the quiz thing is apparently such a thing that it’s featured in the historical writings that were found by palaeontologists.

Also they got my boys in the house again—I don’t know why I love that so much, but I do—and I just noticed Touwa is holding a mug. For some reason this is so important to mea, I will be including a picture at the bottom

Really curious as to how the quiz scene goes down, bc there’s shots of what seem to be Crayon and Myzul trying it, and shots of the trio trying it, but… What happened to the brothers? They’re there on approach, and there’s a shot in the online preview that seems to indicate they’re there in the scene where they’re talking to DimeVolcano, but they seem to disappear. Very curious what the actual scenario is.

That’s all, folks! Virtual fondu for anyone who read all that. I liked this episode very much, Asuna is wonderful and I love her to pieces. I was a little apprehensive when I first read the summary, but I think they handled it fine. Asuna did get to call the boys out for not listening to her/taking her seriously, which was nice. Sad we didn’t get Anky Mom, but there’s plenty of time for her to come back at some other point. Find it hilarious that Banba insists on sitting w/ his back to everyone during discussions. I am totally over obsessing over minor things, but I’m choosing to interpret that tiny moment (where he was like ‘but first, we need to figure out it’s weakness’) as something to indicate he’s becoming the ‘rock’ of the team. Kinda like Hikari? W/ the whole ‘anchor’ thing? He’s the most sort of… Like, ‘down to earth’? In a way? Like, they all absolutely can focus and be ‘serious’ and sensible about things, but they can also kinda ‘wander off’? Kou, Touwa, and Asuna will rush into things, each in their own way, Melto overthinks, so on and so on. Goodness knows what kind of nonsense Kanaro will get up to. And Banba can be the grumpy, stubborn, often taciturn rock that supports and anchors them. Did any of that make sense?

Bonus:

Touwa holding a mug. Bc it’s somehow funny and cute to me and almost implies the boys came over for lunch or breakfast or something.

Have also remembered my random thought about the possibility of Wyzul masquerading as one of the team this ep. I feel like the new info makes it a little unlikely, but not impossible. They’ve got a hostage, yes, but Wyzul does like to be tricky—case in point, last time they had a hostage. So it’s not impossible.