#bc what happened to elle is really fucked up

[minustwofingers]

i hope that i don’t actually need to say this bc i feel like my reader base is very slay and sexy and cool but if ur one of the anons that bullied elleloquently into leaving…go ahead and unfollow u are unwanted here

[piplupod]

i was so hoping that survival instincts would kick in to break through dissociative fog while driving but nooooo apparently that doesn't happen. shoutout to my dad who let me stop driving at our first destination and took over for the rest of the journey 🙏 kind of reeling that I very easily could've died today and likely came somewhat close to it but uhm. I didn't! so that's good(?)!

[ideasarestuckinmyhead]

I like to think about Rook and Auron angst ideas.

Not bc I'm obsessed with him

But bc it's a thing that could happen with them. Like if Auron's enemies did find out about Rook and kidnapped them.

Auron is hanging by a thread that he's going fucking wild actually getting his hands on people hurting then just to find Rook.

A senerio I thought about once was what if Rook got kidnapped escaped and ended up in Sugarboo's and Alphonse's town? Stumbling to the first house that opens to them they tell Boo how they were kidnapped and if they could use the phone

Auron is rushing to Rook's location trying to find them. While that's happening Rook is talking about Auron trying to grasp the situation they were in bc they were om survival mode.

Al connects the dots and that's when Auron pounds on the door. Alphonse moves and Auron rushes to Rook hugging then tight and checking their body

He's pissed that there scars and brushes but glad their alive. He thanks Boo and Alphonse, which the pink haired man says

"Don't worry about it. Let's just say we're even."

In the rush Auron didn't think that this was the Alphonse he talked to on the phone. The red head just nods and leaves with Rook, who once away and in the car back to the city is crying to Auron how scared they were.

This fucks with Auron bc he's always had that fear of an enemy getting the one he loves. Also the enemy that kidnapped Rook was fucking mauled by Auron bc his rage was so primal.

Or even it's the other way around!

Auron gets kidnapped somehow and Rook fucking goes silent. Like they were being watched under Faust and Trish but they went off the handle to find Auron.

They did say they were as dangerous as Auron. You know how Elle in The Last of Us tracked down Abby with no help? That was Rook.

After finding the base and killing most of the people Rook finds the leader hurting Auron and they go ballistic.

They jump on the leaders shoulders and start stabbing their head like crazy while screaming. After a couple of stabs Rook finally gets off of the leader and rushes to Auron crying as they hold his face gently.

Rook was able to fix Auron up a bit and he called Jessie since she was the closest to their location. When Jessie got there she was shocked to see the destruction of the base that Rook caused.

When Jessie got to the couple Rook pulled out a knife and was ready to kill again. Luckily Jessie was able to tell them that she was a friend not a enemy.

Since Auron is awake and is doing better than a couple minutes ago he slowly sees what Rook did to get him back. I think he'd fall deeper in love once he saw all the blood Rook spilled just to get him back.

They get back to the city where Faust and Trish sees then again bc they were at Auron's penthouse. Jessie didn't take Auron to the hospital bc of his side job. They ended up calling a doctor that Auron knew and trusted enough to fix him.

While he's being patched up everyone is noticing the blood on Rook. Trish asked if it was their blood but Rook shakes their head

"None of this is mine."

I think this is when it clicks in everyone's mind how dangerous Rook really is. They are CAKED on blood while watching the doctor work on Auron not wanting him out of their sight.

But when Auron finally sleeps since he was fucked up. That's when Rook finally cleans up and gets treated for some punches they took.

AND THATS MY RAMBLING OF ANGST TEEHEE it's literally 4:33 and I can't sleep

[iiikaruz]

New CH episodes have made me officially decide to stop caring about the actual cast of the show </3 (/hj but i wish it was /j)

Anyway would you like to share some of your headcanons/scenarios for the side/minor characters ? It always makes my day 💚💖(/nf)

dude i feel you on these new episodes. wtf is going on over there. anyways, i’ll gladly dump this 10 ton stack of headcanons on you that i wrote down!! Marie Antoinette: 

loves hyperpop and 90s house music. she’s so slay (i have a playlist lol)

into european weirdo cinema like Gaspar Noe’s but she also likes chick flicks (her fave films are Climax (2018), Daisies (1966), and But I’m A Cheerleader (1999).)

frequents on lolita forums and goes to really shady places just to get cute lolita items.

has absolutely mastered voguing. super into ballroom culture.

has a pet borzoi (those groovy long-nosed dogs.) her name is “Vanille” and Marie loves her dearly.

wants to study fashion. she especially loves Vivienne Westwood and Moschino.

Jesús Cristo:

is a juggalo, and he indoctrinated Van Gogh into it as well.

says “it is what it is” at any minor inconvenience.

had a mental crisis at 13 as a product to the stress of living up to his clone father. similar to joan’s breakdown in s1e3 but 10x worse. he tries to ignore it when people bring it up.

designated driver on any road trip. for some reason.

into bands like The Cure whilst also bopping to Cypress Hill.

his fave video game is Parappa the Rapper.

accidentally punching holes/nails into his hand is a common occurrence. seems like it just keeps happening, so he’s learned to just roll with it. he’s also a pretty good nurse bc of it.

Marilyn Monroe:

is always down for the school play. BUT she usually just does script-writing and tech. 

into conspiracy theories and video essays. (all gorgeous gorgeous girls love video essays).

is a dedicated Britney Spears and Gwen Stefani stan.

SO “COQUETTE LIZZY GRANT DIOR RETRO” in her fashion choice.

she also gives “elle woods from legally blonde” vibes. straight A student right here.

CERTIFIED GIRLBOSS <3

Thomas Edison:

is obsessed with American Psycho (2000). he has a poster in his room and he’s weirdly obsessed with Christian Bale (very 🍎🍉🍊 of him, but he always excuses it with “oh no, i just idolize and worship him. there’s absolutely nothing gay ab it.” he’s lying.)

also he’s SUCH a pretentious film bro. he has a whole library of stupid film facts shoved in the back of his mind (im totally not projecting).

he only listens to: 80s new-wave stuff like New Order, Oingo Boingo, Beastie Boys, & Talking Heads OR Lana del Rey. There is no in between.

he worked (past-tense bc that shit is GONE in 2023) at a blockbuster video store next to the mall and he liked being a total bitch to people about it (example: “you really rented this shit? this movie sucks, dude”)

after getting unfreezed, he was ECSTATIC over how easy pirating movies is nowadays.

Napoleon Bonaparte:

member of the speech/debate club and he is THE WORST TO BE PAIRED WITH. he’s foaming at the mouth the moment someone gives a rebuttal he didn’t think of. some meetings end in him trying to beat up someone. 

into 80s rock like Metallica and Black Sabbath. he has an electric guitar. he also FUCKING LOVES ABBA AND JAMIROQUAI. like… too much.

unlawfully good at Just Dance. he absolutely fucks it up on the dance floor.

adores fantasy films like Conan (1982) and The Never-Ending Story(1984). he’s so lame/ pos.

he bakes really well. that’s all he’s got going for him.

he either found his napoleonic military uniform at party city or at a thrift store with Marie Antoinette; his story changes depending on who he’s talking to.

he cut his own hair when he was 14. the following conversation after he did so was with caesar, and it was just the haircut scene from fleabag . he then continued to keep his stupid haircut to what it is now.

is a hopeless romantic. he can make up entire love poems & sonnets in his head about a girl he’s crushing on, but literally cannot talk to people without sounding like a douchebag unless he’s super comfortable w/ them.

Ivan the Terrible:

is an avid deftones, sewerslvt, & duster listener (i, unfortunately, ALSO have a playlist.)

spends his nights scrolling on 4chan and arguing w/ people. him & topher have accidentally argued w/ each other AT LEAST 5 times.

literally refuses to take off his ushanka in any weather. it doesn’t matter to him if it’s 90 degrees, that thing is staying ON.

kins Travis Bickle and Shinji Ikari. i mean, just look at this dude and how he presents himself. average NGE & Taxi Driver enjoyer/ hj.

fave video games are Postal 2 and osu!. he plays osu! phenomenally, to the point where it’s impressive. (pls put that energy into a job or something).

and yea that’s all the energy i have to write this down :]

[dead-lights]

baby bye bye bye

I realized I never posted my screenshots from the beginning of this save, when I was playing Emilia. I wanted to use her to try out the new expansion, so of course the very first thing I did was have her break up with Darrel.

Gemma looks SO amused.

I moved Emilia to her new house in Ciudad Enamorada. She was a little glum at first, but her sad breakup moodlet lasted all of two hours - gotta love the cheerful trait!

She couldn't quite seem to get rid of Darrel, though. As soon as she moved in, Darrel showed up, completely coincidentally taking a nice jog in Ciudad Enamorada, where he had literally no reason to be. NOTHING to do with her.

Then he started storming past her house. Total coincidence. NOTHING to do with her, nope. I cannot emphasize enough the extent to which this was not about Emilia. Outside Emilia's house.

He showed up when she was on a blind date and just sat there flirting with Tess while Emilia tried to enjoy her afternoon.

She ended up ducking out of that date early when she got a call from rich weirdo Lilith - since Emilia was too broke to pay her bills that week, it seemed like a better option. Things weren't going great with Raj anyway - that unflirty trait is rough.

She did end up being able to pay her bills after selling off some of the stuff Lilith gave her. Thanks Lilith! Funny enough, when I was playing the Vatore household later, Lilith got a call from rich weirdo Elle and more or less got her stuff back!

A little after that, Emilia quit her job as a mixologist and started a career as a romance consultant. She needed to watch TV for work but she was too broke to buy one, so I decided it was a great time to check out the gym so she could watch her telenovela while jogging. The gym, oddly enough, was full of mermaids. Only mermaids...

And Darrel.

He didn't try to talk to her. Just stood in naught but a towel outside her shower stall.

DARREL. She's trying to get on with her life. I suggest you do the same.

Still, Emilia and Darrel were still friends despite the breakup, so she extended an olive branch and invited him to magic club. Which turned out to be a TERRIBLE idea.

Yup. Darrel set his ex-fiancee's new house on fire. Look how pleased he looks with himself!

MORGYN. Teaching people how to cast chillio is literally your job. Teaching people to cast inferniate is also your job. You really should be ready to respond to these kinds of situations.

Emilia did learn from Darrel, tho - when she got Crumplebottomed while out on a date with Katrina Caliente, she chose violence.

Eventually, Emilia got a phone call...

I know, taking Darrel back seems like a terrible idea, especially after he set her house on fire. But she's a romance consultant now - she can fix him! A little after this, I hopped over the Vatore household to see what would happen to them when I put neighborhood stories in charge of their relationship. It's not going well :D

In other news, while I was busy with Emilia's house Kristopher adopted THREE TODDLERS IN FIVE DAYS. What the actual fuck Kristopher. Good thing Jacob can sleep on the ground bc he's probably going to have to give up his bedroom.

[intertexts]

OK. OK OK OK. HI. IM AT WORK NOW SO THIS IS GONNA BE DISJOINTED AND NOT MAKE A WHOLE LOT OF SENSE BUT IM COOKING SO THIS REQUIRES AN ASK AND NOT A REPLY BC THOSE HAVE CHARACTER LIMITS (cooking both metaphorically and literally because it's 95 degrees outside at 9am and it is so so so so fucking humid) oh god get me out of the kitchen before i start burning things!!!

this could be Nothing. bc again I desperately need 2 learn more about cauldron and their motivations and such. BUT. going back to the tide/leviathan comparisons because they're making me kind of insane and i want to give him a Complex about it. because if we're not going to lobotomize him I need 2 hurt him in other ways (sorry dad)

so. this doesn't EXACTLY work 1:1 because there are only 3 endbringers and only 2 of them seem to be element-focused as far as i know. but if we have tide as a comparison to leviathan, we also have MAGMA who could be a comparison to behemoth if my thoughts are correct and behemoth is . big fire guy (he sleeps in a volcano so. I'm assuming.) . granted we also have like. whirlwind and shockwave and seismic who are the other elementals and they don't actually have an endbringer counterpart BUT IM !!!! going a little crazy thinking about like. if tide + his siblings are artificial capes, what if they (or at least he and magma because I'm kind of thinking abt them as the older ones. havent listened to the oneshot in a while so this may not be accurate) were given their powers SPECIFICALLY to be counters to the endbringers. or at least in an attempt to make a cape equivalent of the endbringers to better like... study their powerset or something. (I keep saying cauldron studies things bc I said that with david too and this really just comes from my inherent need for a big evil science team. in worm it seems like they're more capitalism focused but let a guy dream here)

this also brings up an interesting point with Elle who i know u don't know yet but she could be an interesting counterpoint to simurgh? Who as far as I know now isn't necessarily elemental but . neither is Elle really!! and that creates the big disaster in the oneshot bc she can't control her powers and goes kind of nuts about it.

anyway anyway anyway. tldr; tide and magma were specifically created as parallels to leviathan and behemoth, this wouldn't really be common knowledge to the rest of the capes bc of cauldrons secrecy BUT i think ppl would definitely notice the similarities in their powersets and that makes a subconscious fear response in people who have seen an endbringer attack firsthand (I believe in scary intimidating tide supremacy but then you talk to him and he's the sweetest human being in the whole world) . tide and magma both know this and have complicated emotions about it. I think tide has a very bad reaction to the leviathan attack if we are keeping that as an event that happens.

OR IT COULD ALL BE COINCIDENCE AND THIS IS NOTHING. but until i learn more about cauldron I am choosing to view them as my favorite trope of big evil science corporation <3333

OHH U R FUCKING COOKING DUDE YEAH <333

it is. so hard whenever u r talking about cauldron.... mallard conway ass levels of "oh okay i literally Cannot talk about this or else im accidentally gonna say spoilers." but. i DO think this goes so hard & conceivably makes sense for cauldron to do...... man one day in the far future we're gonna have to sit down and talk about if cauldron even would exist in this au. but. for now. hehehe :33 & i will say!!! i will say!!! research is. involved, in what they do. you are not off the mark.

ANYWAY. love this for him so much..... the way he moves and acts in a fight echoes leviathan.... does he have that water afterimage too??? when he's fighting?? because that shits cool as hell he should have it. i'm always just really ill over someone made to be a weapon who never wanted to be one.... tide you have to be at the leviathan fight but you shouldn't be :(((

i gotta listen to the elementals oneshot i have it downloaded rn.. i wanna know elle's deal because you have just said something unwittingly extremely funny & i need to know What happens to her before i comment on it!!!! anyway!!!! thinking abt tide lambert forever & always...

[valfeathers]

OMG YOUR ART IS SO GOOD! Gonna go on a reblog spree tomorrow or something <3<3<3

Anywho, care to share some (more) of your opinions on Wammy's House? Saw a few text posts and they caught my interest 👀

Like, how do you think L feels about his successors or something. Or just rant about why you hate Watari and Roger (omg or more BB talk LOVE that). I dunno I can just ell your opinions/takes are *chef's kiss*

i'm so sorry this took so long but!! i had no idea where to start lmao

i spend so much time just thinking about L in any capacity,, i mean it, he occupies a scary amount of my waking thoughts (blame the autism)

so for starters, as much as i shit on wammy's and its terrible negligence, i find myself putting L & the successors into little found family scenarios & i often draw them all together

(eg. here's some older sketches of L & the kids)

now i know that canonically they probably (definitely) weren't like this but,, i want them all to be loved

i can understand why/how other people would have a different interpretation of their dynamic, but portraying L as a mentor/brother/father figure is very near & dear to my heart :'))

(this is also partly projection as i'm an eldest son who loves their sibling & wants the best for them, who also deeply relates to L so do with that what you will haha)

most of my wammy family art is for comfort! and maybe it can comfort other people too :')))

maybe one day i'll come back & explain the extent of my hcs about this dynamic but i'm not confident in my ability to like. word my thoughts coherently yet so !! for now u get art & some surface level stuff :)

but anyways, sometimes i question what being at the centre of a program like that must feel like. i try not to overanalyse L's backstory and dictate what he must have thought because i know that he's a complicated character and a lot of his morality/actions are up for debate but like,,,

having your guardians look for a replacement for you while you're still alive? that's like saying 'we're just waiting for you to die/mess up/become useless to us and then when that happens, we can instantly replace you with a new & improved version'

even if they were trying to do a classic 'heir' system where a person inherits L's position and this wasn't meant to send that kind of message,, the environment that was produced is still incredibly toxic. that still isn't good. they used children. malleable, vulnerable orphans. that's no coincidence.

and idk that's a little messed up to me.

i don't really know how else to word my thoughts on this situation rn? i just acknowledge that that's no way to treat a person and move on bc,, what else can i say? :'/ it's a terrible situation for everybody involved and watari (& roger) are fucked up for creating a cycle of abuse and putting L right in the centre of it.

and a prime example of how damaging this system was is B. he wasn't born hateful and vindictive and violent, something made him that way. we are all products of our environments, and his was inhumane by definition.

this post is getting long as fuck, jesus,,, okok i'll wrap this up by saying that i'll expand on B at a later date

and reminding u that this is my interpretation and you're free to disagree! we all read into characters & their relationships differently

but yeah a lot of my thoughts about them tend to be really sad so i pad it out with sweeter stuff like above!

[teadrop-12]

I really love the headcanons they're honestly so spot-on and very fun to read through if its not too much can I have hcs from you of my girl Dos🙏🙏🙏

YYESSS MY BELOVEDDD OMG omg u already know a lot of hcs n u made me have a lot more so ty 4 that omg

right off the bat. does not get along with kids. either that. or she is the cool mom to them. but her experience with every kid in the show says otherwise

her real name is MAYBE Dahlia.

bi. 100% bi, with a preference for women

terrible at math but good at everything else

when i said shes bi i mean like. kinda stereotypical bi. with like the leather jackets and also falling head over heels with a woman at first sight but it takes her months to actually start to like a guy

like. i adore acaiberry right.

and rizdos

but u know how dos went and infiltrated MATA and Bakar tried to flirt with her n like she was uninterested. what if like she ran into the most ethereal woman ever (geetha,,maybe i dunno,,,,just a suggestion,,,)

and that just causes her to almost fail the entire mission because of ONE OLD ASS LESBIAN

well geetha isnt that much older than her bc shes like,,,the same age as rizwan?? apparently?? but this isnt about her

owns a motorcycle. much cooler than rizwan's, like its got purple lightning on it and stuff.

if i was to compare her to a toh character shes like eda and lilith combined. like she takes wildly unnecessary risks but also completely stoic and unwavering at some.

but really she also reminds me of elle from tlou2

has a lot of jewelery, just rarely wears it

i said before she is not good with kids but her skills at makeup and being fucking awesome are what get her by. like she can get any kid to like makeup and motorcycles in three hours

really close with trez, again, thanks to you bella i have this headcanon. but like hes like her brother, maybe they grew up together?

she brags about being in a band but really she was only in it for a month (girlfailure)

never really caring unless its someone she knows like family, like MAYBE Trez, Rizwan is an exception

either she doesn't like music or she listens to heavy metal, but like with her partner she'd have their own music taste in her playlists and stuff

whoo time for some cringe dark heartwrenching headcanons!!

when she was in the numeros she was unknowingly cloned because before rizwan she was the strongest of the numeros. but that backfired bc it turned out to be a child.

and im not saying who that is because bella you know this headcanon all too well and no one else can know until i've fleshed out everything but a hint is she was homeless until MATA

like the clone ran away when she thought she'd be terminated and thats why she was homeless.

genuinely cries a lot when she thinks of losing people she loves. like she'd go in private and cry her eyes out and come back like nothing happened

when she dated jenny she had a plan in the back of her head to run away with her and off the grid from the numeros.

we all know that can't happen now

shes been through so much shit as a kid and always thought she was so mature and that she should have been able to handle it so if she ever has her own like single or adopted or with someone i dunno, she would cry because she realized she was that small and innocent once and she didn't deserve that

i hate it here

i might be projecting

i dont even have this many headcanons for my spiky haired daughter

i might be projecting on this one a little but i also got this hc from a comic by catboymoments

anyways!! i think thats all for now but if i think of any more i'll add them ilysm bella also feel free to ask anything else!!

[eroseas]

eventually. [ellie williams.] 2/5

other parts:

pt. 1

pairing: ellie/fem!reader

word count: 2.3k

cw: not proofread. possessiveness, dirty dancing, sexual situations and a very brief noncon interaction! use of fem compliments!

tags: n/a

an: man. i adore you all who have shown me support. anyway so let's keep it 18+ please bc we are teetering on the edge of smut and im gonna keep it a buck fifty with you, mis amores: i am absolutely so down bad for ellie rn. also if u see errors no u don't. hop in my asks and lets talk abt this

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

Time seems to speed up when you get ready. You try to maintain a level of comfort as well as style; a short-ish black dress and not-too-high heels. You wear safety shorts under the dress and keep extra shoes with you to dump into Dina’s car when she picks you and Ellie up. It's not your first rodeo, thanks very much. Ellie must've beaten you to the car, so you hurry down the steps, trying not to break anything on the way. 

You notice easily that the birthday girl has, of course, gone all out. She’s sporting a gorgeous outfit, a birthday sash and a tiara. 

You whistle at her as you step into the back seat, next to Ellie, who immediately begins to stare. Jesse cheers from the passenger seat, drumming his hands on the dash, equally excited. 

“Dina, you pretty princess!” You exclaim, reaching over to squeeze her shoulder. She expresses her gratitude with the compliments, and Jesse turns up the music as they begin to peel out of the parking lot. You situate yourself, trying not to shrink under Ellie’s gaze. Instead, you meet it, then look her up and down. 

She’s wearing a black tank top and dark gray button up shirt that is left open. Her black jeans are ripped over her knees and she wears a gold chain on her neck. You remember distantly that Joel got it for her this past Christmas. You look back up into her eyes and grin, trying to ignore her raised eyebrow and very slight smirk. 

What the fuck.

“You look good, Ells.” You say, pushing your backup shoes under the seat with your heels, then folding your hands atop each other over your purse. In reality, she looks more than good. You’ve never gone out with her like this– with the chance to dress up and go all out. She cleans up nice. Like, really nice. 

She nods, taking her own time checking you out, too. You suppose it's fair. You shudder involuntarily, her eyes pausing at your lips, your chest, your thighs. You squeeze them together at the realization, pursing your lips. It’s a different kind of stare than normal. Usually, when she watches you, it’s a curious thing. A desire to know you. Now, though– this is just straight-up want. Like she’s gonna eat you whole. You welcome it, and you might even do anything for her to actually do it. She finally meets your gaze again, a tongue poking out to run across her bottom lip. You know you're not being subtle, especially when your eyes follow the motion, but to be fair, neither is she. Ellie smiles.

“So do you, pretty girl.” 

You let out a breath like you’ve been punched, and settle back into your seat. It’s not that you mean to flirt with her so openly, but getting yourself ready to go out meant slipping into your extroverted self. Your extroverted self just so happens to be a little flirty and unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on the circumstances), you just so happen to be going to the club with your crush. 

It doesn't take long to get there and find parking. You pay for it so it's one less thing Dina has to worry about, and once you park, Jesse makes sure to jog over to Dina’s side and open the door for her. You grin at the moment they share, and before you can blink, your door is opening and a hand is reaching towards you. Ellie’s inked forearm looks good in the dim lighting, and you glance up at her. She nods her head at you, but doesn't say anything, expecting you to grab her hand.

You do, of course. She tugs you out of the car effortlessly, closing the door behind you. You adjust your dress, and shift on your feet. She squeezes your fingers, nodding towards the door, where Dina and Jesse are waving you guys over. 

It’s a nice place; you can see why Ellie’s content being here so often. It’s not as grimy or jam packed as you were under the impression of it being. The music is shaking the building as you walk in, and you breathe out to settle any anxieties in your stomach. Not your first time here, and probably not the last. It's a little cold in the building to counter all the bodies and dancing. As you walk, Ellie slips an arm around your waist, guiding you gently. Your heart beats a little quicker, her arm anchoring you to earth. Dina claims a table by the dance floor, while Jesse quickly makes his way to the bar. You shout at him to get you a couple shots, and he hollers back something you can’t quite make out.

Ellie pulls out a chair for you, and nods at it when she meets your eyes. You sit with her, bobbing your head to the music. Dina is swaying where she stands, looking completely in her element. You take the opportunity to look around quickly, spotting a sign that says “Fridays - Bi night, Saturdays - Lesbian night.” You grin, noting how Jesse and Dina chose tonight instead of tomorrow. A subtle choice.

Jesse soon brings back the drinks, a couple beers and shots, and a martini for Dina. You take one of the shots he got you, and slam the shot glass on the table. Might as well get ahead. 

Ellie reaches for a beer, and Dina sips at her martini. She takes a few big gulps, eager to dance, and tugs Jesse along. You and Ellie laugh at them, and he ends up taking his beer with him. 

You and Ellie don’t share words for a while, opting to watch Dina have fun. It’s comforting to be a part of something. Whether or not they knew a lot about you, they welcomed you in as their own. Nothing would stop them from protecting you, or from supporting you. It’s a refreshing thought. Ellie clears her throat then, leaning into the table, tilting sideways towards you. She peers over at you, only glancing at your lips once. Your lips twitch at the observation. 

“Never knew you to be so flirty.” She says, and you shrug.

“You never knew me while you were single.” You reply, an amused grin pulling at your lips. Ellie chuckles, shaking her head. 

“No, I suppose I did not.” 

You thought for a moment that this would end the conversation, and you struggled to find something to mention. Anything to keep talking to her. Ellie beats you to it, though, suddenly shy. Her timid smile pulls at your heart and she falters momentarily. 

“You, uh-” She cuts herself off, kind of laughing at herself for being so flustered all of a sudden, ”You do look good, though.” 

Your ears burn at the compliment, and you smile back at her, equally flustered. You reach for the second shot, but don’t quite take it yet. She nurses her own drink, taking a swig of it. You wanted her to know that you meant it, too. That just because she was suddenly single doesn’t mean you’re trying to push boundaries. You were about to reply when Dina suddenly pushes through the crowd, laughing her ass off. She grabs your free hand, tugging gently, like a child at their mother. 

“Dude, you have to come dance with me! They’re playing a latin mix, you know it’s our thing!” She exclaims, and you laugh at her enthusiasm, nodding. 

“Alright, alright!” Before leaving you throw a pitiful look to Ellie, who chuckles and shakes her head. You take the shot for good luck, and follow Dina to the floor. 

It’s warmer there, is the first thing you notice. Your hips start swaying to the beat of the music, your hands holding Dina’s as you dance close to each other. It’s kind of everything you’ve been needing the past couple weeks. Starting a new semester always throws you off, at least for a little while. You had been working hard to get ahead of your courses, and this was the perfect way to wind down. You and Dina dance for a little while longer, occasionally switching with other people. Eventually, you start dancing by yourself, Dina close by, doing the same thing. 

You shiver, feeling eyes on you. It doesn’t take long to figure out who it is; it never does. You turn slowly, rolling your hips sensually, your eyes locking with Ellie’s. The sight makes you suck in a breath. She’s very obviously staring, and her grip on the neck of her beer bottle is tighter than you had seen it last. You can’t really find it in you to look away from her, instead tilting your head back, running your hands up your own waist. She tilts her head, biting her lip. 

You tense suddenly, faltering in your dancing as two hands are roughly placed on your hips. Ah, fuck. You look back quickly, seeing a decent looking girl, who smirks at you. It irritates you, the way her lips curl. You don’t push her off quite yet, still a bit stunned.

“Do you mind?”

Yes, I fucking do. Is what you want to spit at her, but it doesn’t come out. You glance towards the group’s table, hoping to ask Ellie for help, but instead you find Jesse snickering behind his hand. Before you can muster up a glare, you’re being pulled into somebody’s chest. You gasp in a breath, your stomach jolting. You recognize their smell.

Ellie. 

Ellie shoves at the girl's shoulder, pulling you close. You stumble a little bit, but Ellie steadies you. 

“Don’t fuckin’ touch her.” She spits, glaring at the girl. You look over at her, a bit surprised at the possessive tone of voice, before glancing at the other girl. She scoffs in response, masking her embarrassment.

“Jeez, dude, relax. Don’t leave her by herself if you don’t want other people dancing with her, dumbass.” 

That’s not exactly the correct thing to say to Ellie, especially when she’s already ticked off. She tenses and moves to step forward, but you pull her back. The other girl runs off pretty quickly. Ellie’s head whips over to look at you and her gaze immediately softens. You shake your head, squeezing her forearm gently. 

“Forget it, Ells.” 

And, much to your surprise, she does. She lets her arm fall away from you, taking a step back. There’s a goofy, almost bashful grin on her face when she faces you again, and you can’t help but smile back. 

“Thanks for that!” You yell over the music, and she shakes her head, throwing her hand in a don’t worry about it gesture. She moves to walk away, but you grab her wrist, and tug. She looks over questionably, her eyebrows furrowed. 

“She’s right, you know,” you pause, the look on her face slowly turning to one of understanding, “You shouldn’t leave me alone.”

It’s a bit of a challenge, and you know that she knows that, too. She studies your face, and she can see you’re genuine. She pretends to weigh her options, but she’s already stepping closer, playing with your fingers and twisting the rings decorating your fingers gently. 

“M’not much of a dancer, pretty girl.” 

You step as close as you can to her, grabbing her hands and placing them on your waist. She immediately puts them flush against you, her fingers pressing into your clothed-cover skin. You tilt your head, your lips brushing against her ear. She shivers, and it makes you delighted. 

“Just don’t let me go,” you murmur, looking at her through your eyelashes. You start swaying against her, guiding her gently, but it becomes greatly obvious that she knows what to do. You chuckle to yourself, biting your lip when she rolls her hips against yours. You let out a breathy sigh, tilting your head back, and you hear her curse silently under her breath. You know exactly what’s gotten into you; Ellie shows interest in you and you just know you have to return the favor. You both are playing a game of cat and mouse, and neither of you mind. In fact, it seems like it’s all you two want to do right now.

The speakers make the floor vibrate under you, and you two put on quite the show. She turns you after a few seconds, pulling you back against her, your ass bumping into her crotch. You blush pink, barely picking up her hum. You smile, tilting your head back against her shoulder, looking over at her. Her head is tilted a bit downwards so she can look at you, too, and it makes your stomach lurch. You stay there, swaying in time with the music, your ass constantly brushing up against her front. The song doesn’t last very long, and once people cheer at the end of it, you take it as your signal to return back to the table. 

And, well, of course there’s Dina, staring at you with a very concerning glint in her eye, like she knows something you don’t. At best, it makes you uncomfortable how easily she seems to look right through you. At worst, it makes you anxious, like you were caught doing something you shouldn’t have been doing. She smiles teasingly.

“Did y’all have fun?” She asks, and Ellie plops down on the stool, her hand finally leaving your body. You ignore how much you want it back on you. Ellie immediately avoids the question, though, instead opting to chug the last of her beer. You sigh, snatching Dina’s martini and drinking the rest of it, not wanting to be the one enduring her teasing. Jesse and Dina just laugh at you both.

This night, and these people; it leaves a warm feeling in your stomach. When you look over at Ellie again, she catches your eye and smiles, a comforting thing. You hope that something more becomes of this. You hope that now that you each have a chance, you’ll both take it.

[judasisgayriot]

hello again! you once again prove yourself as the queen of heroes ramblings. you responded with so much detail so quickly! loveeee it :)

i wanna ask you more, i like getting your mini ted talks. what are your thoughts on sylar/peter as a ship? i personally don’t really see it in the show, but i’ve read some real good fics with them.

Hahaha omg I love you anon I’m glad someone enjoys hearing my unhinged rants about this show…

Soooo. Maybe the girlies will hate me for this one lol. Thing is, I can see how sylar/peter would lend itself to having some good fics written about it. Like, the concept is there, it has potential. The foundations for a good hero/villain ship are there, they are definitely set up as foils and parallels to each other, they have the whole ‘two sides of a coin’ thing going on. But like you, I don’t really see it in the show at all. It’s like they had the potential but didn’t actually execute it/make me give a fuck about it/make me remotely want to ship it, lol.

It is/was a popular ship in heroes fandom (lol heroes fandom in 2024 is like 12 people but hey) and I do see why for the above reasons. I actually think the episode ‘the wall’ is a great concept but again, they don’t sell me on it/execute it well/actually follow through on making me remotely believe they’d become friends by the end. Right before they break out, having spent what was apparently like 10 years of mind-time together in there or whatever, Peter still hates his guts and wants to smash his head in with a sledgehammer lmao?? (I mean girl same. The whole ‘peter has to forgive sylar, narratively and kind of literally, if he wants to escape the mind prison’ plot point grinds my gears. I think he should get to never forgive him ever for killing Nathan if he doesn’t want to lmao. Shout out to that one fan panel with Milo where he’s like ‘peter would never forgive him he would eviscerate him’ king you are speaking my fucking language lol. I digress.) like afterwards I can buy that sylar has latched onto Peter and wants to be his friend/wants Peter to like, model being a good person for him, but not that Peter actually gives a shit in return or wants anything to do with him lol

(Sidenote, that in itself is a rly interesting concept, and me and @buildarocketboys developed a fic idea about peter agreeing to like, ‘mentor’ sylar and hang out with him but if and only if he kept shapeshifting back into Nathan for him. Now THAT is fucked up and deranged and the good stuff and actually makes me, avowed sylar disliker, feel kinda sorry for the guy lol. Yessss let me marinate in the badwrongness of all of that and how Peter is the one acting fully insane. Anyway. I digress once more.)

Anyway I’m clearly also biased bc I used to like sylar as a character back in the day but sometime over my like 4 rewatches over the last few years he really started pissing me off lol. Now it’s not like I’m being an anti about him being an evil villain or anything, I love a problematic king and I’m a Nathan stan lmao. In fact I only really enjoy sylar when he is getting to be a proper fun cackling all-out villain, he’s actually enjoyable and funny in that mode. It’s the like 9 flip-flopped badly written redemption arcs they keep trying to give him like they’re trying to make me feel sorry for him bc his dad sold him to one direction or whatever, but sorry!! I feel nothing! He’s a whiny bitch and they should have just let him be killed off one of the first 900 times it nearly happened! I don’t have any sympathy and he’s completely lost me lol. So yeah. That does make me biased plus being a Petrellicest girlie and a Nathan stan and an Elle stan sorry I selfishly won’t forgive him for killing them 😔 poor baby serial killer I’m being such a mean hater. Stan my absolutely fucking awful morally confused self hating politician guy instead loooool

Well. All that to say that I see why people ship it, it has interesting foundations that could have led to something good but IMO it just didn’t, I can definitely imagine it has some good fic out there that can sell you on it, but I just don’t see their great poetic love or whatever. It’s soooo ‘baby’ ‘fellow associate’ core by the end lmao. And it actively annoys me. But I am just being a hater I know. Sorry to the cool petlars out there it’s all hashtag my opinion

[evmrellie]

Criminal Minds 7x12

I just watched this episode and omg I have SO MUCH to say about this...

first of all: I was NOT expecting that plot twist when Regina tasered the piano man, I was hoping for to be the next victim (again) and be SO frustrated, but she really gagged on that part. she's so fucking good, no one could've done it like her, she's so strong.

but honestly, this whole case reminded me of elle's situation, and how again the victim kinda suffered the consequences. im pretty sure that if elle was there, she would give everything she had to defend regina (and probably wouldn't stop her from killing the piano man) and let her be free. if she hadn't been "kicked out" back then on season 2, she would definitely be now!!! I'll be always a Ellen Greenway defender, no matter what.

"Your monster’s dead… I have to live with mine."

don't get me wrong, I love Emily sm, but Regina really gagged her with this one and she's SO RIGHT ‼️‼️ I understand her so bad, bc in a few years from now he'll be free and no justice will actually be made. he's gonna spend a few years in jail "paying" for it (so is she ????? so fucking unfair) but soon or later he will go out and live normally like he didn't destroyed 12 woman's lives, that doesn't see fair to me. if was supposed to her end up in trial, she may just k1ll3d at least.

anywayysssss loved this ep sm, I love Emily, I loved Regina and I LOVE ELLE GREENAWAY!!! I SEE YOU AND I GET, YOU WOULDN'T LET THIS HAPPEN!

also: I couldn't actually EXPRESS how I felt about this bc I feel like I can't put all my words in writing in english.. but I tried 🖐🏻 may have some spealing mistakes but c'monnnnn 😭😭

[honeybyte]

WAIt okay okay how/where do odelia and euan's fucked up vampire jaws and whatnot come into play??? as always i'm SO intrigued by your stuff love it love you hehehe

👏 vampirism as a recessive trait, right? except in this case it's more abt meat eating over blood sucking. not all families have it, sometimes it skips generations in those that do, it can mutate. it skipped Father Harlach, but both twins carry a mutated version of the gene, thus the pharyngeal jaw. in Elle's case, when a butcher says they provide "special orders", they mean meat meant specifically for folks w this trait

in Boarstooth, the god was originally Odelia's way of sewing herself into the story. she wanted to see herself at the center of smth, so she created a figure that looked like her. as the stories caught fire and started being taken literally, it started to cement her as a sort of descendant of said god what w her sharing the same mutated trait as the figure she created. she didnt necessarily mean this to happen, but damned if she would ever pass up love and adoration for a trait that she would have had regardless.

the body part sacrifices that happen are part of a lie she came up w on the spot to justify plucking Goliath's eye out of his head, but then there's this: human meat is a thing she needs to survive. but she keeps the sacrifices to her as trophies, right? it's like someone choosing to display food they could be eating bc there's plenty more to be served, and thus letting the displayed food go to waste. it's a display of power over those around her and her lack of shame, in a way.

at this point, odelia really doesnt need her jaws the way they are, she doesnt need help or hunt to eat. but her jaw serves its purpose as a sort of religious artifact, smth that puts her at the center of the religion she created

[thatgirl4815]

hi elle! first of all, i loooove your analyses and i've been checking your blog religiously after ep7 so i can calm down about the shitshow that is raymew...

now that i'm calmer, i have a few thoughts as a film major with a screenwriting obsession: according to one of the most well-known and accepted versions of the three-act narrative structure, we can say that the thatcar.mp3 blowing up was the halfway point of the story (ep6 of 12) where shit starts hitting the fan for real.

and the fallout of it is raymew: the false victory/defeat that usually occurs before we build up the actual climax. which will probably blow up in 11 because this is a thai bl and spill into 12 bc of what first said abt khao's intense scene in 12. and also you can't just have a whole-hour ep as an epilogue, especially in a series as messy (affectionate) as this.

i'm kinda done theorizing plotlines bc raymew fucking blindsided me, i didn't think they would actually go there. but looking at it as a false defeat (for sand and top) and a false victory (for ray and mew) it makes such perfect sense that as upset as i still am, i'm also kinda amazed at how brilliant the writers were for this...

so i have no idea what the actual climax is going to be, or how we'll get there, but i'm pretty confident about a sandray endgame from a narrative standpoint. i don't think that endgame is gonna be particularly healthy or happy, but i think it's gonna be pretty hopeful, if still somewhat ambigious.

(also on that note: i kinda love that jojo et al. are using the fixed pair concept to move the narrative along without spending a lot of time establishing the ships in the series (as angry as i am about the lack of sandray scenes lately...). we know that forcebook (topmew) and firstkhao (sandray) are likely ending up together, so they can introduce as much mess as they can into the story without fucking them up for good. i think it's a pretty genius way of subverting but also honoring the genre tropes we've come to know and love.

anyway, i'm done now klsdmgk keep up the brilliant work!!!

Hi Fen! That is so sweet of you! Honestly made my day. I’m trying to stay hopeful, mostly because so many people in the fandom seem to be in a very hopeless state right now over SandRay, but I still firmly believe it can work out between them. The way forward is rocky, but there is a way forward nonetheless.

I know Thai BLs have a tendency to let shit hit the fan in Ep11 and then clean it up in Ep12, and while I also fully expect that to be the case here, I hope that doesn’t mean they’ll rush through the resolution. I mean I would take an hour-long episode of SandRay: Adventures in Chiang Mai, but realistically I don’t think we’ll see much future stuff.

I’m thinking the climax for each couple will be much more personal—as in, within the pairs themselves rather than outside of them. So for SandRay this could be Ray’s addiction and commitment issues, etc. (It could have to do with Sand’s ex, but I think the bulk of that conflict will pass before Ep12). For TopMew, this could be about trust, with Top possibly making some grand gesture to win Mew back over, or Top demonstrating his love for Mew by saving Mew from himself (similar to next ep?)? For BostonNick, it could be Boston realizing his feelings for Nick and trying to win him back over, only to realize that Nick helped Mew get the sex tapes from Gap? Or that Nick really has moved on. Idk, I’m just brainstorming at this point, because yeah, after RayMew happened, I genuinely have no idea what to expect.

Side note, but I have a hunch Khao’s best scene in Ep12 is some sort of a mental breakdown? Maybe something similar to what we saw in Ep4. It’s got to be highly emotional to compete with the funeral scene in MLC. Maybe it’s Ray confronting his mother’s death again, but this time it’s Sand who pulls him out of his despair? Who knows.

Interesting point about how Jojo is using the established pairs…I really hope it is the case that FK and FB’s pairings make it out alive and all of this RayMew stuff is just for dramatics and will soon pass. That is the one negative to watching shows as they air (aside from the grueling wait between eps): I wish I knew how the couples will turn out so I don’t get my hopes up for nothing.

Also, because I know this is a hard time for all of us, I wanna say that my DMs and Ask box are always open! If we’re going to suffer, at least we can all do it together lol. <3

[blorbologist]

perc'ahlia touch prompt 29?

TECHNICALLY not airplane saga bc I just got home, BUT! I'll tag these as airplane saga as I keep workin through them <3

Also thank u @burr-ell for the spark of inspo to treat myself to some fluff after this long ass weekend

29. tickling the other one

--

It starts as nothing - Vax pokes her in the side as he reaches for the marshmallows, and Vex shrieks. And it’s a little difficult for Percy to not notice, really, when she jumps clear off the folding chair and laughs like cricketsong. 

“Vax, you fuck!” she giggles, half-crouched over her flank, her hotdog-adorned poker waving around to protect it. 

And perhaps Percy does not get in on the betting with Scanlan and Keyleth as the twins have at eachother, stick clashing with warmed metal to hiss and snap in the air between them, the smoke dancing around their gleeful violence. Perhaps he does not take the time to explain to Tary that this is what normal siblings do, you poor thing, or assure Keyleth that no this is absolutely not safe and no, that is exactly why he will not be intervening. 

In the end it’s Vex that disarms her brother - obviously, she was wielding smoldering mystery meat and a hot poker. She stabs her weapon into the dirt and gets to tickling Vax with a vengeance, until he shrieks just as shrill as she had and wiggles a touch too close to the fire in his attempts to escape. Grog pries them apart, then. Trinket makes off with Vex’s mangled sausage.

A lot happens, around that dying bonfire - to the point the swordfighting twins is only a footnote. 

Korrin had needed to burn brush and old oaks that had fallen over the winter - thus, the first damp day of early summer Keyleth had gathered them all with the offer of booze, s'mores and sausages to help get the pile together, watch it burn bright and devastating, and then enjoy its glowing ruin. 

So Grog had almost single-handedly forced a leaning dead pine to kneel -  Keyleth’s antler circlet had gotten stuck in some low-hanging branches - Tary had tried to prove he could, in fact, climb a tree, and to everyone’s surprise he did actually figure it out, only to need help getting back down. 

It’s definitely a fun morning of chores, a lazy afternoon shooting the shit, and a cozy evening, now, around the bed of embers broken by that pine’s seething remains. 

That little swordfight sticks (lovely pun) out to Percy.

Well, not so much the display of terrible form his old instructors would bemoan. But the inciting incident. 

Vex is ticklish. Outrageously so.

And it seems she’s reminded of this, for the rest of the night. Her eyes dart back and forth whenever someone approaches, however innocently, a gleam of teeth a touch too wild. Like she might bolt into the woods, her path unhindered thanks to their work. She leans, just a touch, to protect her sides, tucks her sawdust-speckled flannel closer and tightens the arms of her denim jacket around her waist. 

Percival, it should be noted, grew up with six siblings.

He is very, very good at getting past even the best guard for the sake of a good laugh. 

And maybe he’s never heard something quite so delicate from Vex. No, delicate is the wrong word - brutal, instead, in its joy, something she couldn’t hold back if she tried. 

(She tries, always, to hold so much back. Even just a little, often, out of habit. He knows - he does it too.)

Percy bides his time. 

There’s truth or dare, and an attempt at replicating beerpong with pinecones and the bed of coals, and Vax swipes Percy’s glasses to he and Grog can try to look at minnows in the creek with them (Percy will not give them the excuse of being very inebriated). 

Percy has to muck around in the riverrocks and mud for his spectacles, finding them with his feet and emerging soaked. Pike and Vex wolfwhistle - he thanks his adoring audience by wringing out his shirt over their heads before leaving it to dry by the fire. 

Okay, maybe he forgets about his little plan from time to time. He brought his whiskey with him - between its silky bite and the beer he’s been mouthing, Percy is maybe not the most sober of the group. That might be Grog, just by virtue of his size - if not him then Tary. 

Korrin bid them good night before it was night at all, clearly not wanting to infringe on their fun. Vax drags Keyleth to bed after she leans far enough forward her hair starts to smoke. Scanlan dares Pike to carry him to bed and she’s too plastered to decline the challenge, tossing him into his sleeping bag with a roar before stomping off to her own. Grog and Tary vanish sometime, too. Even Trinket is just about tuckered out, dozing beside the designated seating log (spared of the fire for a cool knot in the trunk).

It takes Percy longer than he would admit to realize it’s just him and Vex left. 

To be completely fair, she’s good conversation - it just flows. White water one moment, rapids, rapid and quick-witted, to curl into languid eddies and sandbars another, pooling in silences. 

The debate about the state of the film industry had started while they still had company - they might have gone to bed sometime before Vex’s enthusiastic argument for trees potentially having personalities. Or maybe after Percy rattled on about his latest pet project - tried his hand a cuckoo clock, to mixed results so far - and Vex just watched and nodded and leaned and leaned and leaned in to ask her questions, and - and where was he?

It takes him until roughly this point to remember he’d wanted to tickle her. 

Unfortunately, she’s bundled up against the encroaching chill you only find in a summertime woodland - a coarse blanket Korrin had tossed them all earlier folded around her as wings. 

“Would you mind sharing?” Percy asks. Rubs his hands up and down his arms at Vex’s curious look. “Will catch something at this rate, after my little dip.”

Percy is fairly certain that boozy Percy is the most strikingly brilliant Percy to have ever Percy’d.

Vex snorts, unfurling the blanket to invite him closer. “Poor you,” she teases, dramatically . “You’ll catch your death without me.”

“I’ve certainly caught something,” he says, blithe, and before Vex can do something his hands have snaked around her waist to dance and dance and dance. No foreplay with the silly pokes or threat of tickles - oh no, Percy is going straight for the kill.

And, well, maybe he gets it, because Vex shrieks in his ear and he perhaps regrets most of this when she elbows him on reflex just below the ribs. 

“Stubby?” Vax, raising his voice, raspy with sleep and fear. “Is everything alright?”

He doesn’t direct this to Percy, who is objectively the one who is not alright here, clutching his abdomen and leaning his head to Vex’s shoulder as he catches his breath. She’s cackling in victory, the vixen. 

“Peachy!” Vex replies, voice a ditty. “Percy’s just being a little shit.”

“I am not,” he huffs. Wheezes, probably, but he would like to maintain his dignity and shall insist it was a huff. “I’m a man of science, and I - I have the hypothesis that you don’t really laugh enough.”

Vex’s brows furrow. “I laugh all the time-”

“Really laugh,” Percy emphasizes. “The sort - you know, no holding -”

- Back, he would have said, except she’s turned the tables on him and is assaulting his flanks. Hells, she’s even bolder and slips a hand under the shirt he borrowed from Vax to tickle the skin there. 

Percy yelps, scrabbling to get away even as laughter boils over into a foamy laugh of his own. Vex’s joins in, triumphant, until his wiggling ends up toppling them both over, ass over teakettle, into the leaflitter. Percy takes the opportunity to retaliate, hands soft claws attacking the sliver of skin he finds over her jeans. The muscles jump and Vex cackles harder, rolling into a ball which he pokes apart, which she uses to find an opening and tickle him in turn.

“Forfeit!”

“Fuck no!”

(It does not matter who says which - both swap and repeat the words so often Percy quickly loses track.)

They’re breathless and crusted with leaves and Percy’s sides fucking hurt and so does his face from laughing, and he’s pretty sure Pike’s told them to quiet down twice but he can’t stop and frankly he’s not sure he would if he could, because oh he’s drunk, yes, but he’ll attribute the floating state of his heart to being tipsy tasting Vex’s laugh - so close yet so far. 

Huh. Now, when did that happen?

Not sure - sometime before now, when he’s finally got a hold on her, grabbing both her arms - effectively putting an end to their war of attrition. 

“Got you-”

- Only, nope, she’s gone - slipped clear of the snare of his arms.

And then she’s back, but shoving him face-first into the mulch, a twig dragging over his glasses. 

“Sorry, darling,” Vex says, with both a genuine wince and a sincere satisfaction. “Comfortable down there? I hope you didn’t get a mouthful of gross.”

Percy spits out some crumbled leaf on principle. 

“Forfeit?” she repeats, from between his shoulderblades, with one last ghost of her knuckles over his sides. It’s a little hard to laugh, half-crushed into the forest floor, but somehow Vex manages to draw it from Percy all the same. 

When he feebly rocks back and forth, trying to get free, Vex adds, lightly, “I could call Trinket over to lick your face. You’re so lucky he’s slept through all this fun so far.”

“Fine,” he snickers. “Fine! Let me up, dear.”

“Hm, nah,” she decides. “I like my prize.”

Something’s happening to his hair. It takes Percy a moment to place the sensation of Vex sprinkling leaves and bits of fern into his hair like confetti.

“Not the hair,” he groans, thumping his forehead into the ground. The sound is not as satisfying as he would have hoped. “Cruel woman, leave the hair out of it.”

“Only because you ask so nicely,” Vex snarks, and - 

Oh.

And she cards her fingers through his hair, combing free her celebratory mischief, and everything takes on an entirely new angle for Percy.

“Vex, darling,” he hums, strains to get the sound out a timber above a growl, “please let me up?”

Percy would bet good money she taps at her lip in playful thought before she responds, “No. I told you, Percival - I like my prize.”

“Ah,” says Percy. “Quite enlightening.”

The dying fire pops, shudders as the remaining logs tumble inward on eachother. Pulled together, pulled down, pulled in. Not melting to the heat but made fallible by it. There’s certainly a second meaning in that pile of embers and coal. Are they anything but embers and coal?

Percy’s certainly a fire of Vex’s making, now - a nice burn to his muscles from their war, a nice burn to his belly from the alcohol, a nice burn to his heart flaring hopeful and flickering at the thought - 

Percy swallows. He hears Vex echo it, faintly. 

“Darling,” he says, “I could stay down here. But, ah - I would really appreciate the opportunity to look at my captor.”

Just to know. The thought - the possibility - it’s very effective at sobering Percy right up. And he wants to see because if he sees he will know and then he could - he will know.

Vex shrugs, turns the movement into a shift of her hips. It takes some wiggling, and a root digs into Percy’s back, but he’s looking up at her, now. Which is, wow, certainly an improvement. Her braid is in the process of turning into many snakes, a Medusa of their making, sprouting twigs too. There’s a smear of marshmallow on her hand, pinning his chest, and streaks of soot on her forehead where she keeps brushing away her hair.

She’s straddling his hips, which is - it’s just - completely unfair, Vex’ahlia.

It looks like she knows it, which. Well. Still a dirty trick, but one that means something. 

“Vex’ahlia? Dear?”

“Hm?” It comes out a little shrill. 

“I - hm.” Percy frowns. It feels wrong after smiling so much. “I think I’ve lost all the words I had in mind somewhere in the leaflitter, so. Simple: I am stupidly in love with you, and would love to kiss you right about now.”

Vex laughs - not quite the sort she’s been generous with this evening, drawn forth involuntarily, but a cousin. Buried in the same family lot - sudden and rare and real. No added sugar, no preservatives, plucked straight from the wilds of her heart. 

“Ask again.”

Percy blinks, thoroughly confused and suddenly terrified by the forest sprite sitting on - oh gods. “May I kiss you?”

“No,” Vex repeats, a breath breathed a breath away and Percy is going to die, here, of humiliation or torment or both - 

Oh. 

Ah. Vixen.

No, he could not kiss her - because she would kiss him.

It’s a gods-awful kiss. Practically speaking - Vex’s lips are sticky with marshmallows and Percy’s fairly sure she can taste half the undergrowth on his mouth. The angle is mathematically impossible - surely, if Percy could just do the numbers. His throat is sore from the smoke and everything feels a touch numb from the giggling.

But it’s Vex, and his burned, burning little heart spins every detail into a fairy tale and he can’t help but lean up and in and hope she keeps him as her prize forever, carries him home like a stuffed bear at a fairground. Or, no, she’s not nearly strong enough for her, but has anyone considered the devotion a prize would give its winner?

He’s so fucking in love with her it makes him stupid and for once in his life Percy cannot mind being the fool.

It’s illogical and it’s amazing.

One tiny, innocuous detail:

Percy is, not above all else but above a fair few things, a little shit.

So when he feels Vex smile and lean her weight into him, licking into his mouth, hands sliding into his shirt, he brushes his knuckles to the skin just above her hips.

She laughs, startled, throws her head back so fast she knocks into his nose - comes back in just as quickly to bite his lip in retaliation. 

Pairs it with a tickle of her hand against his neck, which - fuck, that’s his weak spot and Percy makes a sound he will refuse forevermore to describe. 

And the rest of Vox Machina will struggle to describe, because oh, yes, they’re all in tents not ten feet away.

“What the fuck are you two up to?” Scanlan hollers. “Is it finally happening?”

“What’s finally - nope, nevermind, good fucking night!” Vax wails.

“It’s peachy,” Percy mutters in a silly smack to Vex’s cheek, and she laughs even louder.

[maschotch]

You mentioning the fact that they're profilers is so real bc like it honest to god ASTOUNDS me how badly they all read hotch like he so so so so clearly cares for every member of the Bau WAAYYY more than he cares for him self and he's literally never shown otherwise??? Like even the whole drill boss stuff or whatever tf he said he's never aggressive with the group if they mess up he's always understanding but fair and most is pretty much the first one to comfort them (if the script allows) UNLESS he's going through some shit IE the whole divorce plot and foyet AND IT BAFFLES ME HOW EVERYONE FUCKING MISSES IT CONSIDERING ITS THEIR J O B

they’re all kinda bad at profiling each other but istg they have to TRY to understand hotch so poorly… i’m trying to think of a moment where he yells at them when they’re not directly putting themselves in danger or in the immediate aftermath of him getting attacked in his fucking home, but i cant think of anything?? he doesnt like being harsh with them and he learns the hard way with the elle situation that it doesnt get them anywhere. the only time he was unduly upset w someone was with emily in the beginning and that’s only bc he thought she was either a nepotism hire (which she kinda was) or a plant for strauss (which she kinda was)

he’s “strict” but like?? is he?? he does half their paperwork for them and they dont even know it. instead of doing things by the book and getting reid fired, he turned the other way and let him work through his drug problem. maybe he says “no” sometimes, but he usually relents anyway—like when jj has a feeling ab a case or when he calls the fucking vatican for emily. if he was a drill sergeant, would he let garcia keep a bunch of clutter on her desk and dress in bright clothing?? he doesnt coddle them or anything bc that’s not really his personality, but he’s gentle w them and even praises them when he knows they need it. he doesnt always step in and help when he should (i think that honestly has more to do w him being self conscious than anything—he doesnt want a drill sergeant/bully to make things worse), but he keeps a close eye on each of their wellbeing and will quietly urge one of the others to help out if someone’s in a tough spot

sure he doesn’t smile a whole lot and he’s known for his perpetually neutral face, but at the same time it’s not very hard to tell how he’s feeling. he’s effective at his job, he’s good at playing the tough guy, but tbh he let’s things get to him easily. he takes their criticism to heart and does his best to be better. he HATES seeing any of them hurt: ever notice how after what happened with elle he never uses his own agents as bait like that again? he either uses himself (like the fight club episode) or one of the team volunteers and he relents (like emily in the omegaverse swingers episode). they misread his social awkwardness as being cold when really i think he’s just mildly uncomfortable being the center of attention in an unprofessional setting.

it’s wild to me how frequently they misjudge him. i think he kinda knows and almost encourages it?? while still considering their judgements genuine?? morgan is a great example: of all his subordinates, morgan has worked with him the longest, since before he was in charge of the team. so you’d think morgan would have the best insight. but morgan has a complicated relationship w authority figures and tends to be automatically defensive out of habit. essentially, he’s been projecting on hotch since day one and has been blinded by the convoluted series of lenses he sees hotch through: as a constantly rotating mixture of buford, stilinski, and his father. it’s prevented him for actually seeing hotch for who he is, and hotch seems to make no real effort to correct any of those presumptions. but hotch still takes it personally when morgan criticizes him (prob bc it feeds his own negative view of his self worth and uses it as justification for whatever self loathing bullshit he’s on)

basically, hotch knows everyone has skewed perceptions of him and is fine letting their delusions continue uninterrupted—encourages it, even. he’s more comfortable receiving scathing remarks, even if they’re inaccurate, bc it allows him to continue his own delusion ab his place in the world. if they hate him (or if he thinks they hate him), it gives him a reason to hate himself. which is why i think he kinda likes that they’re bad at profiling him. it’s a way to receive that negative attention without actually being vulnerable. it’s a very very passive manipulation—more like he’s allowing them to manipulate themselves—that feeds his self loathing. i think he does it on purpose, so i cant necessarily fault the others for so drastically misunderstanding hotch. especially since they do get better at it over the seasons: they’re able to see through his defense mechanisms a little more, even if they still cant see him clearly

[charrfie]

GIVE ME THE ELLIE LORE RRAAAAAGG🫵🫵🫵

OHHH BOY OKAY WHERE DO I START WITH THIS. HEADS UP THIS IS GOING TO BE SO LONG EVEN IF IM JUST SUMMARIZING THE BASIC SET UP!!! Also the plot is pretty heavy on violence but for the sake of this ask I'll try to skirt around the details

I suppose before I start explaining the details surrounding Elle I should talk about the actual overarching story itself! It's a story of reflection, mostly. Something I put together (with my boyfriend who made the other main character in the story, Tilly!) that contains a lot of the feelings I was never able to make sense of/reconcile with as a kid. Obviously it's done in a super over-the-top kind of way but I feel like it still works pretty well for its purpose. A lot of the metaphors and plot points are actually INTENTIONALLY inflated bc I wanted to encompass any weird middle schooler's love for edge and cringe (... my love for those things haven't changed either, admittedly <3). It's about young sapphic love and finding family in friends rather than in blood, it's about how fucked up middle school is, it's about transness and identity. It's about growing up too fast. There's a lot more to be said about the themes of it but these are the most prominent I feel.

As for the plot itself, I'll only explain the opening of it or else we'll be here all day. What you need to know is: Elle is a pretty fucked up kid. Often bullied for being The Weird Girl in middle school and with a mom who doesn't really care about her (would classify it as neglectful like "you do your thing I'll do mine" rather than abusive though ig neglect is a kind of abuse), she's left to face the world on her own. And of course this leads to things like unrestricted internet access as a child (should mention it takes place roughly in 2008/2009 so this kind of stuff is in full swing), morbid curiosities not really having a reason to fade, etc. There's quite a bit that happens in between her early life and the catalyst of what sets the plot in motion, like how she loses one of her eyes and whatnot, but I'll skip that part for now considering it's a little upsetting? Anyways, one day she meets a girl named Miriam. Miriam is a sweetheart and an A+ student... as well as the first person to give Elle a second of their time. Over the following weeks, a friendship starts to bloom between them. The friendship, however, comes to a close much too soon when a very paranoid Elle fucks up and makes a split second decision that gets Miriam killed. Its completely motivated by fear and self preservation, so of course she instantly regrets it. None of the potential witnesses around her figure she had anything to do with it. She's just a little girl after all. But there's one person who saw what she did. Staring at Elle from a distance with knowing in her eyes. Tilly. And it just so happens that Tilly is also kind of a fucked up Weird Girl! Who goes to Elle's school! Of course she does. Elle heads to school over the following days expecting to be called a murderer, arrested, or killed herself after being exposed by Tilly but... this doesn't happen...? Tilly tells no one. Rather, the students at school show Elle pity, thinking she was a victim. And yet Elle feels Tilly's eyes bearing holes into the back of her head all throughout class. Elle suspects this is a threatening thing, but instead, Tilly soon expresses an interest in Elle that likely also stems from her own morbid curiosity (however Elle can't fucking stand her for quite a while). Over time the two find themselves bonding somehow! Elle finds comfort in Tilly's similar struggles to her own, finds someone who pays attention to her for once with no possibility of hurting her. Tilly finds a home in Elle that her broken family can't provide for her. It sounds very unhealthy considering the context behind their meeting but it's genuinely very helpful for both of them, and sooner or later they find themselves dating ^_^ !! This, uh..... doesn't stop them from getting into worse trouble down the line though............

I have a much longer version of this written out but this is a lot already so maybe another time? Sorry if this sounds rushed!! Its a lot of info I'm trying to stuff in here at once so a lot of the more nuanced and slow-moving topics dealt with in the story may seem a little awkwardly phrased here

Now despite literally everything I've said about Elle and Tilly, they're both big babies and I love them a lot. They're very sweet just ignore the violence okay? Here's some art of them together my bf (@nervigg) did!! Same one I used as my pfp! Girlfriends :^]