#be free from my drafts and live!

[swampthing07]

@potatoesaaa

[nevertheless-moving]

unable to stop dwelling on the discworld trouser leg of time where, in the penultimate fight scene in Nightwatch, Carcer manages to kill teenage Sam Vimes.

Which means that the future that Duke Vimes came from can no longer exist, which means he can’t go home. Meanwhile you’ve got a bunch of history monks with stored up temporal energy, a prepared space outside of time, and the need to do some desperate damage control before the Auditors get involved. Death shows up, reality is unweaving, Sam is reading Carcer his discworld miranda rights because what else is he supposed to do.

and finally, with little other option, the monks de-age Sam so he fits the time period and send him back out into the fray.

(they didn't call it deageing of course. His memory is hazy, splintered during that terrible in between moment, They....took the time out of him? Sanded away the edges of his self for a terrible, workable fit? It...wasn't a good feeling.)

Just—damn. Sam Vimes having to live his whole crapsack life over again, but this time as his disillusioned-reillusioned, unwillingly-character-developed, noir-epic, Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes self. 

Younger (Older? He's never felt so Old, His steps so Childlike, reality twisting in his gut like one of Dibbler's pies) Sam Vimes walking around in a haze after the revolution. Desperate to go home, knowing he can’t. Wanting to drink. Knowing he can’t.

The whole precinct feels pity, he really took Keel’s death hard, hardly speaks except to do his job. Eventually he has to grit his teeth and start being present, because what else is there to do?

Resists the urge to drink until Colon takes the whole watch out to celebrate because -he’s going to be a father!

Come on Sammy, one drink won’t kill you— and after the first drink he’s cracking jokes and after the second hes smiling and after the third hes honestly the life of the party and sometime after that he’s crying about how he was going to be a father and my wife would be ashamed if she saw me drinking like this and— 

Oh shit, Did anyone else know he had a wife?? A PREGNANT wife??? What—aren’t you like 12—no you're 17 now aren't you but when did—

You guys n’ver met ’er—oh gods none if you ev’n know ‘er, is jus’ me...

What—when did you lose—

I lost her the same damn day I los’ ev’rythin else, whadya think...bleeding Carcer...the fuckin revolution...

So! That! Sam only vaguely remembers the night, but rumors travel faster than light on the disc, so by the next day the whole damn city knows about poor Sam brung low by the loss of his poor, tragic, pregnant wife, so young to be a widower, and the Seamstresses nod because they already knew, don’t ask them how, somethings you just have to know in that trade.

And his mother—I don’t know, sue me, I’m a time travel fiend but there’s something deeply intriguing about a man meeting his dead parent, who is somewhat younger than him, and stepping into the old relationship like a badly fitting thing that's supposed to fit well. She would know, right? How would she deal with her son’s impossible grief? Maybe she wouldn’t know—he spent most of the time out of the house, running with different street gangs, maybe he avoids her until she dies and lives with the guilt twice over. God, we don’t even know her name. There’s just so much narrative and emotional potential that I don’t even know where to start.

When he’s on duty, which is most time - it’s agonizing because at first he remembers cases, saves lives that would have been lost. But the more time passes, the hazier his memory because in the original timeline he was becoming an alcoholic. Fuck! A kid dies and he could have saved her if he hadn’t been such a drunk, if he had just remembered where the asshole lived, but it’s all a haze, and he wants to drown out his guilt, but that’s what caused this in the first place.

Good young Sammy, who spends his rare off-time in dusty libraries (and yes, the irony that he’s apparently Carrot now is not lost on him) reading gods-only-know.

It’s not like he can ask the wizards for help, cutthroat and vicious as they are now in the not-so-distant-past.

Good young Sam, who...talks to the Broken Drum’s pet Bouncer like he’s a real person and not a dumb rock? That’s a bit weird, but he’s a bit of a funny guy.

Good old Sam, who believed the testimony of the dwarf who said the humans were trying to rob him and let the dwarf go??

the PROBLEMS this man would cause, good grief. Can you imagine a moderately progressive middle aged man with some degree of begrudging diversity and equity training that he did, for all his sins, pay attention to, suddenly going back to like, 1990, going back just 30 years, and going...oh damn this is kind of fucked up, no man you can’t say that, holy shit.

Except Sam’s lived through even more rapidly shifting social moroes! There’s no seamstress guild, there’s no women allowed inside the university, there’s no black ribboner’s society. People hunted trolls for their teeth! But Sam can’t just unlearn everything, and he can’t shut up, and he has no real luck and anyway he would absolutely get himself (temporarily) fired.

FUCK. Sam has no idea what to do with that. None. Zero clue. Wanders around in a haze until that dwarf he saved from police brutality finds him and insists on repaying the debt. No, he insists, do you have any idea what debt means to a dwarf?

“Sort-of?” he replies hesitantly, and that honest admission of incomplete knowledge shows a hell of a lot more respect and understanding than any self proclaimed dwarf-expert ever did.

Gets a job as a surface man, hauling rocks into the city. It’s backbreaking work, but, in true Discworld fashion, it’s also one hell of a workout (again the irony of being Carrot is not lost him. he freezes for a minute while hauling a rock cart, when he remembers he's technically Lost Nobility too, in a strict sense, but someone curses at him in the street and he's comfortingly grounded)

And here is where this au slides into a SPECTACULAR romantic comedy, BEAR WITH ME. Because in his time on the Watch he’s already done noir, action adventure, war story, detective who dunnit, psychological horror, but guards guards only allowed him to be a romance protagonist in an extremely limited context.

Give me righteous, twenty-something-looking, can’t-say-he-doesn’t-have-style, young Sam Vimes, not an alcoholic,  being fed three square meals a day by his dwarven forced found family, hauling rocks. He is startled to find him bumping his head on a low hanging bar that he doesn’t think used to be there, eventually realizing that he’s an inch or two taller than he remembers. Huh. Guess all that bearhuggers really did stunt his growth.

Still doesn’t get what some of the looks from women he’s getting are about, sure, he’s dirty but so is everyone else. Fine, he took his shirt off, but it’s hot out, there’s far wrinklier than him hauling heavy loads, get a life. 

Happens to glance in the Ankh one day when it’s particularly slow and shiny and is startled to realize that he might be turning heads for a different reason. Oh. Right, not that he was ever a heartbreaker, but he did alright for himself... when he was a younger and his face hadn’t been broken so many times. Which...it isn't now.

Is mildly disturbed by the revelation.

Especially once things blow over at the precinct and what with high mortality rates, he ends up with getting hired again. The boys are delighted to have him back, nevermind that he’s an odd one, noone is ever quite in your corner like Vimsey, absence makes the heart fonder, no one else works that hard, and he’s not even competition for promotion. All around great guy, we should set him up with somebody and just, no.

It just keeps getting worse! He’s literate! He’s a feminist! He believes abuse victims! He’s got a tragic backstory! He’s unreasonably good in a fistfight! He’s kind to animals! Word gets around that there’s a good man on the watch and he’s just waiting for a good woman to come snap him up. The widower excuse doesn’t hold people off completely, and for some it’s its own sort-of appeal. 

Things REALLY become stressful after he rescues that carriage full of noblewoman.

What’s he supposed to do? Let them get robbed? Or worse? Chasing down and beating up 10 goons is as easy as beating up one, when they’re that stupid, getting separated like that, drunk and distracted, and he knows these streets better than anyone, really it’s nothing. And oh lord he’s Modest too.

I mean, they were genuinely greatful, as genuine as people like that are capable of being, the skill having grown rusty. And then there is something...magnetic about the man. An air of command.

So, soon enough you get Lady Marigold of Marigrave calling on Treckle Road for that gallant young officer who rescued them, she really needs to thank him. And Viscountess Elanor Thitzferal specifically requesting that he guard her at her next soiree. And Baroness Julieta van Shoeholten insisting that he come to her home while her husband’s away, for... manly protection.

Aaaah just zero sympathy from the guys. None. 'It’s become a competition, they’re just trying to see who can get me into bed first, it’s like I’m a piece of meat, you can’t send me sir, the Marquess greeted me in a nightee last time you made me go to—' and 'small gods Vimes are you even listening to yourself, shut the hell up'.

Simultaneous to this, (again this is several years into the timeline) swamp dragon accessories come into style. Which means abandoned swamp dragons scrounging on the street. Vimes takes one back to his apartment, blows his paycheck on dragon medicine, and eventually, heart in his chest, brings it to the Ramkin estate. The sunshine orphanage doesn’t even exist yet and he’s just standing outside the gates like an idiot, what is he thinking. Turns around, but her carriage is pulling up and—

well. they meet. it's cute. he's never felt so young. he's never felt so old, too old for her, too poor—

and certainly her thoughts linger too long on the awkward, kindly, handsome young commoner, but is it any wonder she doesn't quite connect it to the stern, dangerous, sexy young guard the ladies seem to be in some quiet, cuthroat competition over?

i have this gorgeous, absurd scene in my head in which Vimes is strong armed into standing guard at some high society soiree and one of the pushiest ladies insists he dance with here, or, if he prefers, if he's not confident about his skills, he can dance with her in-private at her home and he’s like [grinding teeth, looking for a way out, seeinf one] “I would be honored to dance with you.”

Steps right into some ultra-complex dance with multiple partner swaps (she never thought he'd pick this one, devilishly intimidating to one not strictly trained, and you barely spend anytime with your first partner).

But he does alright. Better than alright, for a common man, sometimes misstepping but his hands and feet always end up where they need to be. Raises several eyebrows part way into the song because he's throuwing in some slightly scandalous, no innovative, extra lifts and twirls that wouldn't become fashionable for another decade or two. Who even is that guy? Some out of towner? No, no he's in a guards uniform...how very strange.

Gets to Sybll and she's used to embarrassment during these dances, she tries to get out of them when she can... but can't always. Men awkwardly skipping the lifts, or worse, trying and failing. But him — oh it's him, the one who helped little Erold, and looked at her like—like—well like she was someone beautiful. And he's doing it again, and he's strong and there's a quiet moment where she's in the air, they lock eyes, and the rest of the room melts away.

And then the partners change again, the moment ended.

Just...living throught it all again. To the left, a dance he almost knows the steps to, throwing others off balance with erratic moves , honest mistakes, and delibrate stepping on toes. Improvising. Ruining. Improving. Getting far, far too much attention.

Hes almost excited when the first assassains start coming after him. It's like a hobby.

Everyone tells him he should get a hobby.

Interactions with young vetinari...I don't have the energy to write it all down, the slow circling in on each other, both burning with the need to fix the city, save it, their city.

needless to say he ends up fired again, life under real threat after offending some high lord.

Conveniently enough he has an employment opportunity- bodyguard to fucking Vetinari on his 'grand sneer.' The bastard knows vimes isn't what he seems, though sam is pretty sure that he doesnt know the exacts.

Vetinari hypothesis:(the ghost of keel? Keels son, with some hereditary curse? Or a larger spirit of justice possessing a string of unrelated souls? He knows things he shouldn't- mind reader? Fortune teller? Havelock once arranged for a wizard to bump into him on the street, the magical fool gave an odd double look and then muttered something about destiny looping in on itself giving him a headache. Destiny? Lost noble? And hes far too familiar with sybyl, one of the few bearable noblewomen in this city. And his thoughts on guilds, when havelock can trip him into speaking... Most of all, if hes reading him at all correctly (for all the mystery hes not that hard to read, unless thats a very clever cover) then it seems that behind those dark haunted eyes is Respect. Loyalty. For vetinari. What an interesting man. A puzzling asset. An intriguing threat. )

Did I mention the timeline is changing, healing slowly around the place where it was torn? Healing enough around scars to perhaps get some flexibility back, with some painful stretches and...massaging of said scar tissue?

And hes heading to unresting uberwald, a place where a werewolf pack still hunts humans and, truely unrelated but perhaps equally exhausting, an eldritch spirit of vengeance just might be looking to stretch its legs in a hapless vessel?

Opening drabble Vimes Vetinari Meta (Unwell)

[mostlylurkinbarelypostin]

A shot by shot breakdown of the final S3 Goodbye Scene 🎥 aka, the scene that always kinda rips my heart out and stomps on it a bit

A lot of the general audience views Mike and El’s behaviour in the final goodbye scene as proof of their undying love, but when you pay close attention you'll see that that is very much not the case. Instead you'll notice how their interactions seem stiff and disconnected, while Mike chooses instead to gravitate towards Will, staying as close to him as possible at all times. Mike and Will are in almost every shot of the final group goodbye scene together and are positioned in close proximity for every one of them. In the few that they aren’t in, the previous shot tells us that they're standing together off screen. 

Like so much of S3, the story of Mike and Will is intentionally hidden in the background and concealed by short shots, jump cuts, and busy scenes with other characters that compete for your attention. If you breakdown the scene though, it becomes so incredibly telling of where Mike's head is at in light of his "Not Possible" moment with Will and El's surprise love confession. It's so quick, but this scene does a beautiful, but also incredibly subtle, job of showing that Will is very much still Mike's main concern. 

The scene feels emotional and chaotic but when slowed down, you'll see one continuous story being told. There's so much hidden within this beautiful scene, so with that being said, please come along while I go through it shot by shot. 

Right in the first shot we see Mike pull Will into a hug. It happens in the background while the hug between Nancy and Joyce draws your attention away from them. 

It's a quick shot that is then immediately followed by a second shot where we still see them hugging. They remain in the background while El and Max's hug replace Nancy and Joyce in demanding your attention in the center of the frame. 

The scene cuts from the first shot to the second halfway through Hopper saying the words “So long”. We hear “So” at the end of the first hug and “Long” during the beginning of the second hug. This could be a stretch but it's so on the nose that it feels like they're literally telling us that it has been "so long" since the last shot. A lot of people believe that these two shots are showing the same hug from two different angles, but there’s a few continuity differences that suggest that time has passed. Nancy goes from hugging Joyce to leaning against the car, El has moved into the frame to hug Max, Dustin moves slightly, Mike and Will move more to the right of the car and their arms change position. Mike and Will also swap positions so that Mike’s back is towards the camera instead of Will’s. 

The fact that everyone else has already moved on around them while they have yet to separate serves to emphasize just how much time they're spending together in comparison to others. I almost view it as them having broken apart just to realize they weren’t ready to let go yet. 

After he separates from Will, Mike stays close but goes to lean against the car. This leads to the first shot of El trying to initiate contact with Mike. 

El walks up to Mike and tries to reach for him, but before we can see what happens, the scene cuts abruptly to the next shot. 

Mike is shown standing back beside Will with his back turned towards El. Dustin and El's hug draws your focus away from Mike and Will, who are slowly pushed out of the frame. 

As Mike goes to stand on Will’s right, the shot tracks with Lucas as he walks over to them and places a hand on Will’s shoulder. Mike and Will are hidden from us as they remain offscreen together. 

Lucas then switches sides to stand on Mike's right and we get a shot of Lucas, Mike and Dustin with their arms around each other. 

It’s almost a mirror version of their group hug at Starcourt Mall but this time Will isn't a part of it. El is separating him from Mike and we're shown his heartbreaking expression as he looks over at them. We also see El once again trying to initiate contact with Mike. He gives her a quick one-armed hug before he pulls away from her again. He very noticeably avoids eye contact with her. 

We then get another short clip of El once again reaching for Mike, this time with Joyce looking on. Mike is almost completely out of the frame, keeping his facial expressions and line of sight hidden from our view.

Joyce’s facial expressions are so interesting here. It’s implied that Joyce agreed with Hopper that something was wrong with Mike and El’s relationship, hence why she encouraged him to have a heart-to-heart with them. I often wonder if Joyce's facial expressions here, which look a lot like understanding and pity, have something to do with that. Can she see how much El wants Mike to love her and how much he's struggling to give her what she wants?

Our next shot pans from Will and Dustin hugging to Mike and El hugging. 

Notice how even when they’re with different people, Will and Mike remain close to one another. After the shot pans from Will and Dustin, we get shown this moment between Mike and El.

Lots of people have talked about how forced this whole interaction feels. Mike still has his eyes closed and El appears to force his head against hers. Lucas and Joyce compete for your attention in the background and the U-haul truck provides and unsightly backdrop. It is not an intimate shot by any means. Mike's face remains completely shadowed throughout and they are directly paralleled to a platonic relationship as the camera pans directly from Will and Dustin hugging to Mike and El doing the same. 

It's an uncomfortable shot and we get a direct comparison to it right afterwards that serves to highlight just how unnatural their actions are. 

In the next shot, Nancy and Jonathan have a very similar interaction to Mike and El's, however it feels completely different. 

Unlike with Mike and El, Jonathan and Nancy both reach for each other and voluntarily place their foreheads together. Their actions feel natural, and unlike Mike, they both don't hesitate to make eye contact. 

It's obvious that they want to be close to one another and you can feel the love between them. The moment is also beautifully shot with nothing else on screen to distract you. They're the only ones. It feels intimate. 

Moving on from Nancy and Jonathan, we finally get the very last shot: 

This entire scene ends with Mike walking away from El, who is left standing alone, crying.

It is... definitely a choice. 

Given that Mike is on screen for only half a second, it is easy to miss the implication of the shot, but it is there, nonetheless. 

Final thoughts: This entire scene is only 35 seconds long and there is so much going on in every shot. When you watch closely though, you can see just how much Mike and Will are struggling with leaving each other. You can also see how Mike is not able to give El what she wants as she continually reaches for Mike only for him to pull away soon after. It's clear that his mind is elsewhere and that Will is still his main concern even in light of El's love confession. This is further enforced by the next scene in which we get the famous shots of Mike watching the Byer's pull out of the driveway, as well as him looking back at the house as Dustin, Lucas, and Max bike away without him, foreshadowing his inability to move on as easily as the others. Mike's heartbreaking expressions are emphasized and we're even given access to his thoughts via Hopper's voice over. 

Mike is completely crushed when he leaves the Byer's. We know this because he goes to his mom for comfort. 

We've only seen him do this twice before. Once when he thought Will was dead and had just watched his fake body being pulled from the quarry, and again when he watched El sacrifice herself for him and his friends. Both incredibly traumatic experiences. After Will's "death" in season 1, Karen tells Ted that Mike will come to them when he's ready. The thing is though, Mike is only ever ready when he's completely falling apart. 

This ending is a set up for how we find Mike at the start of S4, where it's clear from the first scene we see him in that his mental health has deteriorated significantly over the time skip. Mike isn't as oblivious as people think. He knows that Will has been pulling away from him ever since their fight, and despite their moment in the kitchen, he knows that their relationship hasn't fully recovered yet. He's still scared that he's lost Will completely. We’re told this through Hopper’s voiceover. That fear is then confirmed in Mike's head when Will doesn’t reach out to him once he’s in California. In S2, Nancy reveals that she waited for Jonathan before getting back together with Steve and I've often wondered if something similar happened with Mike. Did he wait for Will to reach out, but when met with silence, went back to the safety of El? Just an idea. 

Other small details from the final scenes: 

1. Mike and El's only private moment between the two of them is framed in front of the U-haul that has "ONE-WAY AND LOCAL RENTALS" written on the side. It's the only goodbye hug framed in front of it. Of course, we've seen the word "Rentals" pop-up two other times in the series. Once when Nancy confronts Steve in S1, and again when Mike, Will, and El go to the Rink-O-Mania in S4. It implies something temporary. Meanwhile, one way could be a reference to the relationship only being one-sided (and maybe could also be related to Mike's one way sign, lol). 

2. Once El finishes reading Hopper’s letter, we jump back in time to just before the final goodbye scene, when they are finishing packing the U-haul. El tucks the letter into her pocket and then we get this shot. 

Will walk out of the house first with Mike right behind him. There’s then a noticeable gap before El follows. The shot implies that while El was reading Hopper’s letter, Mike had gone back to Will and is continuing to stick close by him. It’s an easy shot to overlook but it says so much. Everything happens for a reason and there’s a reason they want us to see Mike staying close to Will and not El after her love confession. There’s a reason that it’s Mike that’s helping him pack and load boxes and not Dustin, Lucas, or Max. There’s a reason that Mike and Will’s feet are in the same frame together but have almost completely exited the frame by the time El enters it. It serves to make us view Mike and Will as a pair and emphasize El's loneliness. Mike and Will act incredibly similar to Nancy and Jonathan in these last few scenes, as both couples gravitate towards each other in an effort to spend as much time together as possible before they’re forced to separate. 

This was a very long post but there's just so much in this scene that I wanted to talk about and it's like there's an entire story being told in the background that you can completely miss if you're not looking for it. I know some feel that we are making the entire show about Will and Mike but their relationship and its development is an incredibly fundamental part of the it. It's been emphasized from the start for a reason. Every shot exists for a reason. All these details exist for a reason. Describing how a scene depicts or develops a certain relationship does not take away from other characters. At times, the writers make the show about Mike and Will because the show is partly about Mike and Will. I hope more people come to understand that next season :) 

[bleepabloopa]

wee kiddos and their favourite things

[aroacesigma]

It's sad to me that Sigma never seems to really properly live for himself. He doesn't bother trying to live after the casino can't be saved, because what is there for him if he isn't working himself to death for every one of those 20 thousand customers he memorised. Why bother trying to live when he's bleeding out, might as well grab the hand of someone who can kill by touch, because the goals and the family of the man he just met are more important. In the end, everything for him just seems to come down to what everyone else needs.

[transphilza]

i have decided that my interpretation of c!wilbur’s ominous foreshadowing after the “Bust” stream is that he was suicidal and increasingly planning on committing suicide as his character heavily alludes to (because i believe that negating the suicidal overtones of cwilbur during this portion of his story by saying that he was always only ever planning on going back to utah: # 1 just lessens the impact of everything that happens in this arc, because he wouldve already decided to live thus making all those conversations and apologies forcing him to confront the realities of his own life and death wayyy less meaningful, but most importantly # 2 makes it impossible to provide adequate closure for his character’s deepest struggles because they wouldve never been re-addressed) — BUT that when he finally decided to go through with sending friend to ghostbur thus making the evident conclusion that ghostbur did not deserve to suffer eternally (and by extension and implication, himself, too) he changes his mind and chooses Life :) aka Utah <3

[mattodore]

...okay so the b&a of this edit looks a lot less impressive than i thought it would

[soccerpunching]

I was not done posting ep 1, i just remembered that now. Anyway, pictures of my favorite team ever

Max was the only who was not surprise to see Kageno there btw. He just tilted his head after Kageno said this as if he's an interested cat

[caterpillarinacave]

I love Charlotte and Henry and they're super underrated. And I would VERY MUCH like to hear the headcanons whirring about in your brain.

Oh well buckle up cause literally all I think about is head cannons. Like, you know how cells replace themselves every few years? Mine have replaced themselves with head cannons. *Sorry it took me a hot moment to answer this ask, I was busy howling into my pillow whenever I tried to articulate thoughts.*

First of all, they’re very cuddly. They basically sleep on top of each other (Charlotte hasn’t needed a pillow in decades). Henry cant sleep well without Charlotte in his arms and Charlotte can’t sleep well anywhere other than Henry’s arms so it works out. Plus, they both do that thing where they jerk awake like the world is ending and scare the shit out of each other, so sleeping in a hug that basically pins them both down saves some energy at 2am. Henry’s perpetually cold and sleeps under like, four blankets, so Charlotte just wears summer nightgowns all year and wraps herself around Henry like a koala.

Naturally there’s an angsty side to the incessant cuddling because that’s just the way I role.

Charlotte sleeps with her head on Henry’s chest so she can always feel him breathing because, by the angel, she remembers when he wasn’t. She sleeps with a hand on his pulse point because she wakes up in the middle of the night and she’s still half asleep they might as well be on the floor in that mountain and she might as well still be desperately swearing she didn’t imagine his heartbeat.

While on the topic of soul crushing feelings of guilt, y’all remember from Clockwork Angel that Henry was the one who told Mortmain what a Pyxis was? And he wanted Charlotte to tell the clave that and she wouldn’t because “they already treat him so badly”? Because I do. And so does Henry.

(I’ve got a whole WIP that I love very dearly about this head cannon and this chess game hehe) There’s one random old tutor who goes to the London institute once a month-ish, basically to hand out a few weeks of homework to any shadow hunters who don’t have their own tutors. Most shadow hunters who live in a more rural area show up a few times a year so the clave knows they’re alive and at least somewhat literate. Charlotte attends them every month since, you know, she lives there, but Henry lives somewhere around Yorkshire so he shows up every few months. The professor is kind of a dick ngl. He doesn’t help Charlotte with any school why would a woman need to be so well educated? “Go on find a husband and stop worrying you’re pretty little head” sort of shit. Henry drives him insane because he’s a) some random kid who’s smarter than him and b) didn’t use any of the professors materials to get that smart. Professor Douche is constantly trying to get him to be wrong about something, or at least flustered about something and he doesnt ever do either of those things, and even more aggravating he refuses to get upset. (He honestly just assumed the professor wasn’t that smart.)

Charlotte’s a really good student of course, but she’s having a shit time with some mathematics and the professor absolutely refuses to help her with it. Eventually she asks Henry if he wouldn’t mind helping her with it, which he’s happy to do (once he figures out that’s what shes actually asking lol.)

Charlotte is incredibly distracted the entire time by Henry’s freckles (and eyes. And hands. And the way his hair curls on the nape of his neck. And the spots of gold and green in his hazel eyes that flashed as bright as the sun when the light catches them. And-), but they get through it in an hour or two which leaves them alone in a deserted wing of the institute. They end up playing a game chess. Charlottes a decent player and thought since Henry had never showed any interest in chess it would be a probably be an evenly matched game. She didn’t know what hit her. He beat her in like, eight minutes, eighty percent of which were spent on the last two moves by Charlotte who, upon realizing she was fucked, spent five minutes staring at the board trying to figure out when he even started beating her. She was sitting there having a whole crisis, (she’d been distracted by a man who probably doesn’t like her, and certainly doesn’t think much of her now after a pathetic loss like that and now she’ll have to sit hear and wallow in failure-) just preparing for him to start that whole smug gloating thing men do when they win and Henry you know. Didn’t. He just put the pieces away and thanked her for the game, in that very genuine way, with the gloomy London evening light casting a depressing shadow across the room, a shadow that he stood out against all gentle, kind, bright and brimming with a sort of barely contained passion. If Charlotte had ever doubted that shadow hunters had come from straight angels then sitting there, looking at a boy stained in soot, who she loved more than anything else to walk the earth, she would never doubt it again.

(It wasn’t until after Henry won and noticed Charlotte hadn’t said anything in a while that he remember people don’t like losing. Honestly he was playing just to be around her and he would have thrown the game if he could conceptualize how to do that on the fly. They spent like five minutes in autistic silence waiting for the other to stand up and declare newfound hatred.)

In true British fashion the a modern tea bag would kill them both.

When they were both 13 or 14 Charlotte mentioned she was dreading winter because it’s so bleak and dark (and her mom had died a few winters before, though she didn’t drop that in casual conversation). Anyways, come winter Henry brought her a marigold preserved in something like resin. She kept it in her jewelry box for years and after they got married she found out he had literally dozens of them. Whenever he came across a particularly bright flower he preserved it and set it aside. He was never quite brave enough to give them to her pre-TID, but he now leaves them for her when she’s particularly sad or stressed. She keeps them all in a drawer- they fit together like little tiles, and still look as fresh as they would had they just been plucked from the ground.

Somewhat surprisingly Henry doesn’t really lose stuff, with the singular exception being his own medical equipment. He’s lost the leg braces he wears every single day of his life before. Charlotte’s not usually speechless but she wasn’t sure what to say to that one.

Henry gave Charlotte a watch with a hands and numbers that can glow the same way a modern day one would. It’s absolutely beautiful, durable and accurate, even if Henry set himself on fire at least four times making it. (They can say with confidence that that watch is fireproof)

—-

Honestly, I could go on and on, then on some more, but technically I’m supposed to be writing a paper on gut micro biomes that’s due tomorrow, so I figured I’d cut myself of. In conclusion, I love them dearly, they love each-other dearly, they deserve the world, all I can think about is them, and the world can pry them out of my cold dead hands.

[nounpolycule]

[image description: a screenshot of Clara Oswald's death in the Doctor Who episode Face the Raven. Her arms are outstretched as she stands in the middle of the street. The Doctor is in the background, watching. A screenshot of the transcript of a conversation from the episode Dark Water is edited in, along the bottom of the image. The screenshot of the transcript reads:

"GRAN: It's a terrible thing. Just a terrible, terrible thing.

CLARA: It wasn't terrible.

GRAN: Clara?

CLARA: It was boring.

GRAN: Boring?

CLARA: It was ordinary. People just kept walking with their iPods and their shopping bags. He was alive, and then he was dead and it was nothing. Like stepping off a bus.

GRAN: He deserved better. And so did you.

CLARA: I don't deserve anything. Nobody deserves anything. But I am owed better. I am owed.

GRAN: Who owes you?"

End image description.]

[skania]

After reading your post for spoilers 123 I can now see why I never saw their relationship being romantic from Aquas side. I agree Aqua is seen treating Kana the same way he treated Sarina as well. He supports both by encouraging them saying he'll be their fan. He calls them both cute kinda like teasing with them and their looks are so similar too. They are both shown to like him. Remember when Ruby said he acts more like his old self around Kana can that be why....they kinda interact the same as well? If it goes to a romantic route for Aqua and Kana I really wouldn't know how to feel it would kinda feel forced. Not to mention all the Ai connections to Kana also!

Allow me to add some panels to everything you've said anon!

I'm with you, it makes perfect sense to me and now I can not unsee it. It's also the one interpretation that triggers the less cognitive-dissonance for me, the only loose end being Kana's romantic feelings for Aqua and all the emphasis they've gotten.

But I'm starting to think I may have gotten my Ai-Kana thing backwards. I thought that by figuring out his feelings for Ai, he would figure out his feelings for Kana. Now I'm wondering if it may not be the other way around.

After all, remember the first chapter?

Goro's feelings for Ai were perfectly platonic in his mind, there was no doubt whatsoever to him. The doubt arises when the nurse asks him what he would do if Ai asked him out.

From there onwards, Goro is no longer sure of what he feels for Ai. I believe that the same ambiguousness may be present in his current feelings for Kana. And it just so happens that through Kana's romantic feelings for him—and through the way she seems to be his Oshi—Aqua could actually face the same question that was presented to Goro in the first chapter. If this happens, he may finally be able to confirm what he felt for Ai as his Idol.

[evakant]

 — jiang cheng

[albino-parakeet]

Llyr’s backstory

(I am in no way a writer so this probably sucks lol)

Llyr’s character sheet

The fan Dinosaur Season that this follows for context.

Immediately after Llyr had fallen, they were adopted by a group of moths following an older sky kid that called themself a guide. Despite Llyr being a cautious moth, they had somehow managed to fall behind during the group's travel through the Hidden Forest. With very little light, they sought refuge in one of the small caverns from the eroding rain. After waiting for an undetermined amount of time, they decided to see if the cavern they hid in had a way out of the rain and possibly a place with other sky kids. Fumbling around in the dark, Llyr traveled through the small connecting tunnels for what felt like hours until finally seeing sunlight.

What they see is not a Sky landscape they’ve become accustomed to. A large rolling plain, similar to prairie, that stretches far from sight scattered with a few boulders but surround by walls of stone that extend high into the sky where only a large opening has sunlight beaming down. The sense of awe is cut short by a very low thunderous noise that shakes their whole body. Llyr turns their head and is met with a creature with a neck too long to be normal and a beak that makes up most of its head towering over them, it walks on all fours but has wings for its front limbs. Llyr is frozen in panic, unsure of what to do until the creature snaps it’s beak near them grazing their left arm with a loud *POP*. Llyr still weak from the rain and no light source in sight to give them a chance to recharge, they break into a full sprint, maybe if they make it to one of the rocks they might be able to hide-

Before they know it, they’re lifted off the ground by their cape with a rough tug that causes them to release a sharp yell. They drop for a second only for the creature to grab them again quickly, readjusting it’s hold to Llyr’s mid section holding them horizontally. The pain is blinding and they’re pretty sure something is broken, everything is blurring as the beast begins walking, it’s steps causing the pain to surge with each shift of its weight.

Llyr doesn’t know how long the creature has been walking due to their consciousness fading in and out, but a sudden force makes the beast stumble and drops Llyr with a screech. They expect the intense pain of hitting the ground but are met with someone’s catch. The softness is a welcoming feeling but is quickly removed as their savior places them on something sturdy, warm, and… alive? Llyr opens their eyes and sees a scene out of some kind of book. Their savior, which looks like a burly Shepard is waving a large staff at the winged beast, and is accompanied with another creature they’ve never seen before. It’s head is adorned with horns and positions it’s four legs into an unmovable stance next to the Shepard, occasionally thrustings it’s head at the threat when it reaches too close.

It doesn’t take long for the beast to realize it’s at a disadvantage and quickly gallops (ah no wonder running didn’t work) in the opposite direction before taking off with one big thrust against the ground with its forelimbs. A call echos through the valley and becomes quieter as the beast glides further away. Llyr loses consciousness as the Shepard starts feverishly jogging back to them.

They awake in a small room, their simple mask and ripped brown cape neatly folded on a small table next to the makeshift bed they sit up from. Bandages are wrapped neatly around where the thing’s beak had them in its grip, and a sling for the arm it snapped at, guess it did more than just graze it. Filtered sunlight spills through a window. How long were they out for? Where am I? Their thoughts are interrupted by the door being opened slowly with a person’s head peering in, and then opened fully when seeing Llyr sitting up.

It’s the Shepard that saved them, he grabs a chair from the corner and pulls it up beside the bed. He’s obviously relieved they’re awake but still has intense worry plastered on their face as they talk. Unfortunately anything he asks Llyr doesn’t understand, either it’s a dialect or a completely different language either way all of it sounds like gibberish to them. The Shepard comes to this realization by the third or fourth question as Llyr’s face becomes more upset, and just sighs before gesturing to Llyr’s abdomen; making a wrapping motion with his hands.

The pain is almost immediate once the first couple bandages are removed, seems like the pressure was keeping it in check. It makes Llyr lose their breath and instinctively grabs The Shepard’s shoulder tight with their free hand in effort to communicate the pain. The Shepard stops for a second, softly saying something that sounds like an apology, and then yells over his shoulder towards the door. Loud footsteps grow closer until a person, similar in build to the Shepard, practically slams into the side of the door frame in a half effort to stop without falling over. The person exchanges a few words with The Shepard, it almost sounds like an argument they’ve probably had when Llyr was asleep.

The two calm down and the new person makes a gentle swatting motion towards the Shepard’s hands; grabbing the bandages themself. Llyr is prepared for the pain to continue but is surprised by how slow and meticulous they remove each wrapping. It takes maybe an hour for all of the dressing to be unwrapped without causing Llyr any unnecessary pain, and what they are met with is a large painful scar cutting a clear path across the width of their abdomen staring back at them. It’s healed for the most part but is still trying to scab over in some areas, they can’t see their back but they can guess that it bears a similar wound.

The person, that Llyr finds out later is The Shepard’s partner, pulls out a little box full of medicinal herbs and the like from under the small table beside the bed. They both seem to mull over what to use before finally picking out a small jar, unscrewing the cap to reveal a cream with a very pungent smell. Llyr is obviously suspicious of the odd smelling ointment, but the two in front of them have been nothing but helpful and as far as they know the only ones taking care of them. So reluctantly they allow The Shepard to apply the cream. It stings at first but as the other spreads it more evenly, the pain numbs and becomes more of a light pressure.

After waiting for the cream to dry, the Shepard’s partner rewraps Llyr’s abdomen with fresh bandages, but not as tight as before. The worried couple offer some kind of sliced fruit to get Llyr to eat something. Even though Llyr doesn’t technically need to eat, they do so to ease the two’s worry a little. The fruit is tart and definitely has an interesting texture but tastes heavenly after all that pain. Making sure Llyr is comfortable the couple start to make their leave to let them rest, leaving a small gold bell decorated with a white feather atop the small side table. The Shepard points to the bell, doing a ringing motion and then points to himself before closing the door on the way out.

The sunlight outside shines in a way that suggests it’s maybe midday, but enduring the pain of their wound being redressed had spent whatever energy they had left. As Llyr gets under the covers, they wonder how the group they were traveling with was doing. Did they even know they went missing? Are they looking for them? Do they care? Sleep takes hold before Llyr’s thoughts spiral any further.

The passing days are a blur spent mainly in bed resting or sitting on the small house’s porch over looking the surrounding landscape, usually they’re accompanied by The Shepard’s partner. Due to the language barrier Llyr doesn’t know his name, but Llyr calls him “The Painter” on account of them always having an easel set up when Llyr makes the journey outside. The Shepard is gone for a good amount of the daytime, taking care of a herd of those horned creatures takes a lot of walking around apparently. The Painter had invited them to sit on the porch steps one afternoon to wait for The Shepard’s return. Llyr hadn’t notice at first but The Painter is missing his left leg. They motion to it, trying to emote their curiosity about the missing limb. The Painter seems a little hurt, gripping at where the prosthetic meets the stump. Llyr immediately flails their free arm in an effort to say "No don't worry about it! I'm sorry for bringing it up!"

But is soon interrupted by The Painter's deep laugh at Llyr’s flailing that makes the dampened mood a little lighter. He reaches for the small sketch pad and pencil placed next to him and starts drawing simple stick figures. Llyr scoots closer so they can see the sketch pad easier. He doodles scenes of what looks like a war he was an unwilling soldier for, hinted by the multiple “x”s and sad faces he scribbled on the top of the page. Apparently something happened during one clash, ending with The Painter sent to a medical tent; waking up missing his left leg. The cot next to him was occupied by a soldier in a similar predicament, having a stump where his right arm should be. Days turned to weeks and the thought of having to be returned to the battlefield grew more of a possibility as more wounded filled the space only for them to be thrown back to the fight a few days later. What some of the nurses have whispered, their side had been losing and instead of surrendering; have been pushing the wounded as fodder. The soldier next to him finally spoke up later that night, his voice hush and full of fear. He told of a rumor, a place they could escape to, where others running from the war had found refuge. The idea was crazy, especially in their conditions, but it was better than staying and being forced to fight in the never ending chaos. So the next night they stole what supplies they could carry and snuck out, their nights were spent stumbling through the wreckage of previous battles still littered with weapons and armor; days spent hiding to rest in fear of being captured. It took what felt like forever before they finally arrived to the entrance of a cavern- Llyr too engrossed in the little doodles doesn’t hear a distant roar far from view. The Painter puts the sketch pad aside, a small chuckle escapes his lips before giving Llyr a reassuring pat on the back and points to the distance as the herd crests a small hill. A cacophony that brings a smile to Llyr’s face as it’s become the sound of home to them for the past month. The light sound of their bells that hang from their necks being a juxtaposition to the horned animals size and strength. Each animal sports 4 gold like horns longer than arms length, the brow horns curving up while the slightly longer horns on top of its’ crest curve out. They tower over Llyr and are still pretty sizable compared to The Shepard and Painter, the animals’ adorned crests adding to their size. As the herd disperses more, The Shepard is in eyesight giving a large arcing wave with his right wooden arm and an excitable jog towards the house, a black fuzzy puffball is cradled in his left arm.

(I’ll continue this in another post cause it’s getting long lol. But this is the first of it)

[quirkle2]

not saying i'd do this cuz im very very hesitant but . people have patreons for like,, wips n stuff right?? like people pay to see ur work early or whatever? would any of y'all be at all interested

[talentforlying]

LET ME ASSIGN YOU AN AESTHETIC WORD.

CAFUNÉ. cafuné means running your fingers through someone's- perhaps a lover, hair. it's such an intimate, affectionate way of showing love. if you got this result, you're a romantic at heart; very sweet, delicate, precious wandering soul. aren't you scared of your heart being too big for your body? somehow, you remind me of that pretty coral pink that bleeds into a soft indigo when the sun is slowly setting.

what i'd like to tell you is that we can't save everyone, and that's okay. you're doing your best, and it's enough.

tagged by: @danversiism!! <3 tagging: you!!

[synintheraven]

Oh no the invasive thoughts hit again 😔

*in my mind* okay but what if I change my novel chapters to be a Sihtric fic 🤨🧐