#btw he pretended he forgot + didn’t love her so he could protect her from the other fates. good job idiot. you made her reckless again.

[chryzure-archive]

ooh, on the topic of haven au w chryzure and chrysijacks………. jacks gets out of his card (long story. he was put back in there though.) and pretends he doesn’t remember chrysi—except she picks up on it pretty quick (probably shortly after azure reveals that he knows jacks is lying through his goddamn teeth). she then acts like she doesn’t know he remembers, until one day it’s too much. jacks is being a bitch and being mean so that he doesn’t reveal that he remembers everything, and chrysi snaps and goes, “when are you going to stop fucking lying to me?” and all the blood runs from jacks’s face. um. he did not think far ahead enough to know what to do when he was discovered.

[murdickdocked]

Ok so-

Reader moves in next door, asks Edd to fix her crappy coffee machine (he ofc does bc he’s a gentleman😌), Ed gets a kiss on the cheek as thanks, and bing bang boom he’s in love.

And this keeps happening till readers like “ bro I don’t even drink coffee I just think ur cute 😩”

Got a lil busy, finally had some time to answer some requests!!! Not proud of this all that much though. But hey!! it's pretty long!!

A little fun fact, I kept thinking about Payday 2 while watching The Batman, seeing this made me listen to Flames of Love in repeat <3 it’s just so cute!! Also, pre-riddler btw

The Riddler/Edward Nashton x Reader

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: None, over-protective Eddie? Insecure Eddie, little ball of fur :((

Moving in was both the most tedious and exciting part of having a new life. So many things to organize, so many things to put in place. You couldn’t afford to have people move things for you, so you had to go up and down from your apartment to the van you borrowed (mostly by elevator, sometimes by the stairs, depending on how patient you are).

It didn’t take too long for you to meet one of your neighbours. You could tell would the shy type. Tall, lanky, got that whole nerdy aesthetic on him, probably would be the type to talk to you about something fantasy-esque, in other words, cute and smart.

Just meant you had to have your hands on him.

It started with you carrying a box with your parent’s old coffee machine, the one they always had problems with and immediately gave you after receiving a new one. He was already in the elevator before you shouted for him to hold it open. You could see him jump in surprise before pressing the button that held the doors just before they closed. You sighed in relief and went beside him.

You could hear him shuffle around in the tiny space, you practically feel him wanting to get closer and get out. Your eyes flicker towards his and you could see him immediately look down as if he wasn’t staring at you in the first place. ‘You’d be the type I’d ruin,’ something devilish in you grinned.

But no, you were nice. The elevator dings and you see it is your floor. You gave him a smile and a wink, telling him thanks before heading towards your door. You hear him walking from behind you as you stop. You turn to look at him and see him staring at the door in front of yours, not even trying to get his keys. You could just feel him waiting for your next move.

You smirk, bending down to audibly put the box on the floor, making sure to arch your back subtly. You look at him over your shoulder and see him openly staring, he gulped, his eyes staring at your ass before you stood up. You pretended as if you didn’t know he was staring and fished for the keys in your pocket and unlocked your door.

Hearing the jingle of his keys, you bent down sharply to get your box. What almost made you giggle was his sharp intake. ‘Still watching me, are you?’

‘You’ll be so much fun.’

It took two days before you made you saw him again, the old coffee maker didn’t work, as expected. You didn’t have the money to pay for someone to fix this, and you honestly didn’t know if you wanted to since it seemed like a waste of money.

Well, that got you thinking.

You bounded over to the door in front of yours, knocking three times sharply. Even after a while, no one answered. Your eyebrows furrowed as you started thinking that you were making a mistake, or if you were bothering him. ‘I’m pretty sure he’s awake and active at this time.’

You knocked three times again, this time, calling out a sweet “hello?”.

Rapid footsteps came from the other side of the door before it opened in a hurry. The door stops abruptly as a chain attached to it gets yanked, he forgot to unlock it.

“Shit, s-sorry.” He mumbled, before closing the door again and hearing the sound of him unlocking his door before opening them just enough for you to see him.

Your neighbour looked disheveled and sweaty. You raised your eyebrows and cleared your throat, watching as his eyes stare at your hands as you clasp them in front of you.

“Hi! I remembered you were the one who helped me out before and was hoping if you knew anything about fixing malfunctioning coffee makers?” You made sure to bat your eyelashes at him sweetly.

“I-I guess I could, you could bring it over if you’d lik—”

“I was hoping that you’d come over?” His eyes went to yours for a brief moment before he looked down at the floor, nodding bashfully with a face painted tomato-red, he looked just like a sweet, shy little puppy.

You grinned at him before brushing your hand against his arm. You can feel him tense and have goosebumps where you touched him, making you giggle. To him, it was melodic and hypnotizing. You’ll be the death of him for sure.

“What are you waiting for? Come on!”

You turned around and walked into your apartment, the door opened wide for him to enter. You heard his soft, timid steps following you like a, well, like a lost puppy. You come to stop in front of the old coffee maker, stepping aside to show it to him.

“Well, here it is, I hope it wouldn’t be much trouble, but if it is, I could either pay you or I could just throw it awa—”

“There’s a problem with the cord.”

Your eyebrows raise in surprise, ‘that was quick.’

“You think you could tell me what I need to fix i—?”

“I have a spare cord that I could use, it wouldn’t take long for me to connect it…” He barely looked at you as he turned the coffee machine around in his hands as if it was so fascinating to him, you eyed him adoringly, so fucking cute.

You were barely listening as he was telling you facts about the model, the year it was made, the manufacturer, but you liked his voice and how eager he was to share this information with you.

“You’re such a nerd, you know that?” You mused, you didn’t intend for him to hear it, but his spine straightens and his face turns to you. A bright blush on his cute, round face again.

“I-I-I’m not, I just happen to know these.” His eyes gazed at the floor, one of his hands clenched around the machine, “I wouldn’t say I’m a nerd…”

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that,” you stepped closer to him, covering his clenched hand with yours, “I think it’s… cute.”

He inhaled shakily, nodding.

“I’ll work on it, y-you can do something else in the meantime.”

You gave him a bright smile, making him gulp. You realized something that made you roll your eyes and facepalm.

“Fuck, I forgot to ask for your name, I probably should’ve asked that first before asking for your help,” you groaned.

He stared at you as if in a trance, head tilted curiously. His lips move slowly. Softly, he said, “Edward.”

You repeat his name back to him, tasting it. Smiling, you introduced yourself.

His hand gripped the machine as he nods at the sound of your voice like everything you said was a song.

“Thanks, Ed.” You leaned in close and gave him a peck on the cheek.

His whole body stiffened, and for a second, his grip lax and almost made the machine that he still held fall and possibly fully break. Edward straightened his back and coughed into a fist, putting the machine on the counter. His whole face was blushing red down to his neck.

“I-It’s no problem…”

You smiled. So cute.

A day later, you were incredibly bored. You haven’t got a job yet since you just moved in, waiting for responses to your applications. You get up from the couch you were lounging on and went to the kitchen, wondering what you could do to sate your boredom.

Your gaze trailed towards your door, smirking as you had a bright idea.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

“Eddie, I think my coffee machine’s broken agaaaain.” You called out to him from his door.

You heard the shuffle of his feet inside; the door opened and he peeked out at you.

He mumbled your name with a stammer, “What’s wrong with it this time?”

Shrugging your shoulders, you leaned against his doorframe, looking up at him with big eyes.

“I wouldn’t know, that’s why ‘m asking you to fix it.” You pouted at him, “I’ll make you some coffee or cook you dinner if you do.”

He opened his door fully, stepping out and looking down at you with that nervous, albeit, eager look of his. “You don’t need to…”

You sighed, “I dunno, I’m quite lonely. It’s more for me than it is for you, really. It’s no biggie.”

“I’ll see what I can do then.”

He came inside your apartment, more confident than he did the first time. You watch as he tinkered with the machine, muttering things under his breath as he worked, sometimes giggling to himself. Some of what he said seemed like questions, so you focused on his words.

“What kind of room has no doors nor windows?”

You grinned, you heard of that one before.

“A mushroom?”

He turned to look at you over his shoulder, a tiny blush decorating his cheeks. He nodded.

“Yeah, that’s correct, I didn’t think you would hear me”

“Hit me with another one, will you?”

He smiled, and not in a shy way. His smile was bright, happy, cheeky. You decided you loved that look on him.

For the next few hours, the two of you exchanged riddles. Sometimes you would hand him over some tools or materials to help. The both of you didn’t notice the time as the clock ticks from afternoon to evening until his phone buzzes in his pocket.

“Oh wow, it’s late.” He said after checking his phone.

“I guess it is, huh…” You trailed off; you already feel the loneliness creeping into your heart.

“I can-I can come back, if you’d like me to?” He looks at your eyes, they were brighter than they were before.

“I’d love that, Eddie.”

If only you could feel his heart, for it screamed for you.

The next day, he came back as promised.

“When is a door no longer a door?” You told him, standing behind him as you watched him look through your coffee machine again.

“When it’s ajar.” He turns to you with a smirk, “Beginning of the end, end of before. What am I?”

“Sounds like it came from a dark fantasy show,” you chuckled. “Rebirth?”

He clicked his tongue.

“Good answer, but no, it’s the letter—” He stopped, putting his face nearer the machine. “Huh, that’s weird.”

“What’s weird?” You asked, coming closer. You saw him looking at the back of the device, its wire entirely gone.

"Your wires are cut", Ed scratched the back of his head, looking at the coffee machine with a suspicious stare.

You shrug lazily. "Must be the rats then," you come closer to him, angling your face to look at what he saw. "Would you be able to fix it?"

“Well, yeah.” His eyes narrowed; his stare never left the wires. “I don’t want to concern you, but it seems like too clean of a cut, this didn’t come from rats.”

You fought the urge to smirk.

“Yeah?” You perked up, “what do you think that means?”

He stayed silent, making you frown. You went to his side and see him glaring at the thing, his jaw clenched and his eyes a brewing storm.

“Eddie?” You whispered to him, “are you okay?”

“You’re not safe.” He hissed; his eyes snapped to yours, you could see something dangerous in him. You gulped, unsure what to say. “This was working yesterday, I made sure of it! Someone did this to you!” He shouted; voice practically hysterical.

Fuck, this backfired.

You chuckled nervously, making him narrow his eyes at you.

“Eddie, honey, baby…” You cooed, cupping his face in your hands. “Darling, I think you got this all wrong.”

His eyes softened and he sighed in relief.

“What happened?”

“I, uh—” You rubbed the back of your neck, thinking that you were perhaps stupid all along. “I did that, so you’d come over…”

He was silent for a while, and you looked at him in concern. His arms at his sides and hands clenched. His breath shuddered as he spoke to you in a cold voice.

“Am I a joke to you?”

Your eyebrows raised in surprise; you didn’t mean anything by it!

“No! Eddie, of course not! I just wanted your company!” You grabbed both of his hands, weaving your fingers between them. He only stared at your hands, not responding to your touch.

“To play with me?” His voice was less angry, now more insecure, maybe even afraid.

“Sweetie…” You rubbed his wrists with your thumbs. “I like you, darl. That’s what I meant by it.”

He sighed, turning his head to look at your eyes. In your eyes, he searched for lies, for mockery. He found none.

“Hey, let’s get on the couch, okay?”

The two of you sat on the couch, you made sure to not let go of his hand as you do. Eventually, his breaths became slower, you shuffled closer to him, pressing yourself against his side and leaning your head on his shoulder.

“You like me?”

That earned him a laugh, it didn’t mock him. It made his heart flutter just hearing it.

“Yeah, I’m sure about that, you’re just so cute, you know?”

The hand that wasn’t holding on to his cupped his cheek, turning his head towards yours, you kissed the corner of his lips. You instantly felt his cheeks warming and his breath hitch. He leaned towards you as you pulled away, chasing your lips. You giggled at his love-struck expression. You gave in and leaned in, giving him a chaste kiss on the lips.

He groaned, deepening the kiss. His hand broke away from yours to wrap around your hips, pulling you closer to him. You could almost feel the heat of his body through his clothes.

“You need—” he mumbled against your lips, before pulling away. “A new coffee machine.”

You grinned at him, stroking his cheek as you kissed his jaw and nuzzled against his nose.

“I actually don’t like coffee.”

[multiplefandomsblog]

Nagito, Kokichi and Gundham with a s/o who wears a mask

Desc; S/o is insecure of a large scar on her eye, so they cover it with a prosthetic mask. But someone snatches it off their face. >:(

Btw!!! If you have insecurities about past scars, remember that Nagito, Gundham and Kokichi will always love you no matter what! As well as the other characters from danganronpa >:3 remember to love yourself and all your scars, because you are truly beautiful! And you can’t say otherwise! ùwú

Warnings; tw; insults based off looks/scars, cussing, threatening, very very few sexual comments(there’s like 1)

Nagito

You were walking around the beach with Nagito, hand in hand. You two conversed about random topics, though Nagito mostly talked about hope obviously. As you two talked, you didn’t notice a certain pig-tailed girl make her way towards you. The both of you being too entranced by the other.

As you turned your head to see Hiyoko charging towards you, you were too slow to avoid her gremlin-like hands, Hiyoko was able to snatch your mask off. Your eyes widened in shock at the feeling of your mask being removed, but before you could even feel the air hit your face, Nagito acted quickly. 

He hastily brought you into a hug, gently pressing your face against his shoulder, shielding your scar from view. Personally, Nagito adored your scar, for he loved every part of you.

Despite all his countless compliments and sentiments, he knew how insecure you still were. So he did what he needed to do, for your sake. Feeling a warmth engulf your heart, you teared up at Nagito’s actions. You truly appreciated him.

You stood there in Nagito’s embrace, the embarrassment finally hitting you like a brick shortly after. Oh how you were glad Nagito was there. Nagito curled his arm protectively around your body, “Not cool, Hiyoko-san. What a terrible act of despair.” He shook his head and sighed from disappointment,

“Well it’s okay, your talent isn’t completely wasted. Because you can become a wonderful sacrifice for the other ultimates! Don’t you think?” Nagito spoke with sickly sweet tone, his words becoming louder and more crazed with time. He looked directly into Hiyoko’s panic-stricken irises with his swirled ones as he grinned.

“W-what are you saying? If you’re threatening m-me, I’ll tell the others!” Nagito nodded his head with an inappropriately cheerful smile, “Go ahead! Tell them what you did!” Nagito giggled maniacally, successfully scaring her away. She made a sound of frustration before skittering away like a cockroach. 

Hearing Hiyoko’s footsteps fade away, you slowly relaxed into Nagito’s protective embrace. Nagito slowly calmed down from his previous state as well, relieved that the rat was gone.

He didn’t let go of you until he realized what he was doing, “M-my hope! I’m so sorry, I know you probably didn’t want to hug trash like me-” He tried pulling away but you shoved his body back towards you. “... Thank you.” He let out a small squeak before hesitantly hugging you back. 

He brought his hands up to cup your face, seeing your face properly without your mask. Your eyes widened as you struggled to hide your face from his gaze. But before you could move away he kissed your scar multiple times, leaving you in a daze.

Your face got redder with every kiss he gave you, eventually he stopped right before your lips. “I love every single part of you, especially your scars, so don’t hide them from me.” And he leaned in.

Kokichi

You and Kokichi were playing hide & seek in the school—of course—after an abundant amount of pleading on Kokichi’s side. As soon as you heard Kokichi holler out a, “Ten!”

You started sprinting to the other side of the school; You see, you take hide & seek games very seriously. Well, you decided you’d take hide & seek games seriously ever since Kokichi said that, and I quote, “If you lose, you have to show me your face!”

Why did you take the bet, you ask? Because Kokichi also said, “But if I lose, I’ll wear a maid dress for a week!” And you needed to see him in that dress. So you ran like hell, on your way to the lockers in one of the classrooms. As you ran down the hall, you accidentally bumped into Miu. 

“Hey! Watch it, you piss stained deformed pig!” She yelled out, taking a step back, you looked at her with confusion and anger. “Bitch, excuse-” You cut yourself off as you felt her snatch your mask off your face. “W-what the hell!?”

You yelped as you stumbled back and covered your face with your hand, “Why w-would you do that?” You stuttered out, the vulnerability of your mask off hitting you like a truck. You looked to the ground, not being able to make eye contact with your assaulter, suddenly feeling anxious.

“Why wouldn’t I? I’m sure everyone has wanted to see that gross face beneath your mask! I’d be doing them a favour!” She threw her head back, hysterically laughing at you.

You wanted so bad to knock her off her high horse, but she was still holding on to your mask. Since you’ve become overly comfortable with your mask, you weren’t able to function properly without it.

So all you could utter out was a meek, “J-just give it back.” Because of your focus on your mask, you completely forgot about the hide & seek game. Thus, forgetting that Kokichi was probably trying to find you right now.

“Whaaaaaat~? Iruma-san got to see your face before me? S/o-chaaaaaan, that’s not fair.” You shot your head up, making eye contact with a pair of familiar purple eyes. Before quickly looking back down, too ashamed to reveal your face.

Miu’s eyes darted around the room to find the source of the noise, but she couldn't find where it came from. Then, Miu suddenly tensed up, feeling Kokichi’s tight grip on her shoulder.

“Hey, hey, why don’t I rip out your eyeballs so we can say you never saw anything?” Kokichi dug his fingers into her shoulder, eerily grinning up at her. Miu winced and tried to get away from him. Seeing this, Kokichi giggled, “Nishishi!” before leaning beside her ear, “...You have 5 seconds, whore.”

Kokichi’s grin grew impossibly larger, looking as if the edges of his mouth had been split. A lewd cry came out from Miu’s mouth before she freed herself from the boy’s grip. You both watched as she ran down the hall, clutching her groin. Did... did she get aroused from that?

You looked back down and watched Kokichi’s shoes as they slowly approached you. “Hmmm, my turn! My turn!” Kokichi gripped both your wrists, pulling them away from your face. Flinching away from his gaze, you expected him to make a disgusted face or push you away but instead he said,

“Oh c’mon, you don't even look that bad! Maaaaan, I thought you’d look scary. But instead you just look perfectly fuckable! Bummer.” Kokichi huffed out defeatedly, pretending not to notice your face that was becoming redder and redder with every second. “You can’t say things l-like that so e-easily!”

Kokichi smirked at your flustered state, before putting on an innocent facade, “Hey, why are you so nervous, huh? Is it because you like me?” You perked your head up slightly from his guess in panic, oh shit he knows. “Well? Answer the question, dummy!” He playfully leaned in closer to get a reaction out of you.

He tilted his head underneath yours, trying to get you to make eye contact with him. Not being able to avoid his gaze, you shyly looked at him. He grinned when he saw your eyes lock with his, content that you finally looked at him. You flushed underneath his stare, “Ohhh I see.” He exaggerated,

“So you are in love with me.” Before you could refute, Kokichi pecked you quickly on your lips, disallowing you from saying anything else. “W-wha?” Kokichi cackled to himself before running away, “Nishishi! Start counting, S/o-Chan~!” 

Gundham

 You were in the rocket punch market with Gundham, searching the aisles for freeze dried strawberries. You and Gundham wanted to get his hamsters a treat so they can, ‘rise and become the rulers of the island!‘ as the great prince of darkness said.

You looked through the candy aisle, searching for the dried fruit. While skimming your hand through the various plastic packages, you accidentally brushed your hand against Gundham’s. You both pulled away and flushed from the contact. 

You hid your blushing face in your mask, whilst he hid his in his scarf. You both apologized profusely to each other, “S-sorry! I wasn’t watching my hand and-” “S/o, you must’t apologize! It was me who was at fault.” You two kept bickering back and forth, before ultimately reaching a common ground. ‘It was the package’s fault.’ Hiyoko rolled her eyes at your disgustingly adorable ‘argument’.

You two went back to searching for the treat, stealing small glances from each other. God, you guys acted like an oblivious awkward teen couple. Hiyoko watched your dumbasses act like idiots and got sick of it, she just wanted her goddamn gummy bears.

She groaned before barging into your aisle, “You guys are so annoying! Ugh, can’t you and freak-face just go already?” You winced at the insult, feeling that deep pit of insecurity all over again. 

Hiyoko went up to you and smacked your mask off, “For fuck’s sake, why do you even like this nerd? They’re so ugly!” You scrambled to your knees to pick your mask back up. But before you could, she stepped on it.

You whimpered at the broken material, letting your hair cover your face like a curtain. You slowly stood up with one hand on your face, about to leave as Hiyoko said but Gundham quickly grabbed your wrist. 

He faced Hiyoko with a threatening aura surrounding him, “Puto vos esse molestissimos, vacca stulta.” Hiyoko looked at Gundham with scared confusion, “The fuck? A-are you cursing me?” Gundham looked at Hiyoko dead in the eyes before taking another breath, 

“Faciem durum cacantis habes, futue te ipsum!” Hiyoko slowly backed away, feeling chills run up her spine. “I just wanted some damn gummy bears!” Hiyoko wailed before turning on her heels and out the doors. 

Gundham turned to you, checking if you were okay. But instead, you stepped away from him. You didn’t want him to see your scar, you didn’t want him to think you were ugly. “Wait- I- My mask-” You choked up, feeling a panic attack bubble up from your chest.

Gundham looked at you with concern, it pained him to see you in such distress. Grabbing your shoulders, he spoke to you with a strong, confident voice, “S/o. You are the darkest light in my life, I adore every part of you. Your battle scars, your charisma, you. I love you.”

He moved your hair away from your face, and lightly kissed your scar. “Your scar proves how incredible you are, it proves you’ve fought the demons in hell! And that just makes you even more perfect.”

You smiled when you heard him call you perfect, unsure of when someone last called you that. You continued to cry harder, but instead of in pain, you cried from the overwhelming love you had for this man. 

sorry for taking long! and thank you for requesting :)

[cupofchiya]

A convo btw Katara and Sokka after the Southern Raiders

its a convo after the Southern Raiders btw Sokka and Katara. tSR is one of my fav things to exist like, ever, but i always kinda wished there was a talk btw the two at the end where katara apoligizes for "you didnt love her the way i did!" as much as i think it speaks volumes that sokka doesnt need her to apoligize bc he understands shes coming from a place of pain, i wished they had talked. pls pls pls criticize, i whipped this up really quickly and would love to improve!

//fanfic

It was gone. The sizzle of hot fire, of anger everytime she looked at Zuko’s scar and was reminded of his betrayal was gone. Her anger had fused, replaced by a steady glow she felt around everyone she cared about. Around Toph. Around Aang. Around Appa.     Around Sokka.     Sokka. She remembered then, what she had said to him back at the confrontation. For a single second, a single frame, all she saw was the hurt on his face when she told him that he didn’t love her mom, their mom, the way she did. And then she forgot about it. She got her closure, found justice, but Sokka? Katara didn’t even know what Sokka knew about the trip.     She slowly made her way back to the campsite, trying to steady herself with deep breaths like Aang taught her. Even from here, she could smell him roasting, of course, meat, and what was usually such a comforting smell only made her more panicky.      “Katara!” Sokka had spotted her first. She had no choice but to run over.      “Sokka!” She called back, trying to sound gleeful. Scanning his face and his voice, there were no signs of anger, of sadness, of pain. Was it him hiding it, was Katara seeing what she wanted to see?     It was when she sat down on the log by the campfire, she could see it. A mix of relief, pain, and concern. She turned her head to look at the fire. Sokka busied himself with the roast.     Finally, he put his tools down, sat up, and looked at her.   “What happened?” His voice was hushed and serious. Katara looked back at him in surprise. “No one told you yet?”  “No, Zuko told me what he saw. But, I kinda wanna hear it from you too, if you’re okay with it.” “Really?” “Yeah. He’s not exactly his uncle when it comes to storytelling. Pretty sure he almost peed his pants talking about you...well...” he skimmed the horizon nervously. “Bloodbending.” She sat straighter too. “I can explain.” “You don’t have to.” “No, I want to. I saw his face, saw his insignia and it didn’t even matter that he looked nothing like my memories. I just needed...just this sense of control. My whole life, it's been shaped by mom dying, by my waterbending, by cracking open the iceberg. It's always just felt so...wildly out of my own hands. Just this one time, it felt like I finally had control over my own destiny.” “But you didn’t bloodbend Yon Rha?” Katara looked away. “I said the guy on the navy port looked nothing like the guy who killed my mom, but he looked like someone who would. Burly, angry, filled with Fire Nation rage. I figured it must be him anyway. But Yon Rha….Yon Rha was pathetic. Just a pathetic empty shell of misery. When I was about to kill him, he offered up his mother. How could you do that? How could you do that to your own mom, someone who loves you and protects you and….” She trailed off, realizing how loud her voice had gotten. Sokka put his hand on her shoulder.  “It must’ve hurt seeing me like that. And what I said to you….” “It did hurt seeing you like that. I hated seeing you in that much pain. But what hurt even more,” Sokka started working on the meat again. “Was that you’ve always been in that much pain, and you never got the chance to let it out until now.” It took a couple seconds for Katara to realize that her eyes were welling up with tears.  “Sokka…” Sokka took Katara into his embrace. “You don’t have to apologize. I know you didn’t mean it.” “I love you, Sokka.”     “I love you too, Katara. I hope you know that AGH! THE MEAT” They separated. “I hope you know that agh, the meat?” “THE MEAT IS BURNED, KATARA! IT'S BURNED TO A CRISP!” Sokka looked at her pointedly. Katara crossed her arms, defensive. “Well waterbending’s not gonna do anything now, unless you want dinner to be burned and soggy.” “Alright, alright.” Sokka sighed. “We’re gonna have to pretend Zuko’s tea is good for the third night in a row, aren’t we?” Katara stiffened a giggle as she cocked her head in the other direction, where Zuko and Aang were coming. Sokka sat straight up and did the my lips are sealed motion as they walked to the pier to meet up with the rest of the Gaang.

[katiebugwrites24]

My Very ScientificTM Breakdown of Parker and Hardison’s Relationship

Someone asked me to explain how I’ve charted out Parker and Hardison’s relationship across all five seasons of Leverage, so here you go. All of this is off the top of my head, I literally just sat down and wrote this in a few hours, but I’d love to hear any responses y’all have to it! Do you agree? Disagree? Did I leave something out? Let me know!

It begins in Nigerian Job with Hardison finding Parker attractive (because, of course, she’s amazing). He offers her the whole box of earbuds and Eliot notices and teases him about it. So we know from the beginning he’s attracted to her, which isn’t that surprising.

 In Homecoming Job (episode 2), while Hardison and Nate are watching Parker ‘steal a law,’ Hardison calls her “sexiness” and Nate tells him to maybe ease up on that. Again, Hardison is commenting on his more surface-level attraction to Parker, and on his appreciation for her skills (because competence porn). Nate has noticed, rightfully, that Hardison doesn’t appear to have that much experience with girls, and therefore might not realize that his comments about Parker being sexy might make her uncomfortable (which I think they definitely would at this stage). So Nate is trying to help Hardison out by saying, “hey, maybe chill with that especially if she can hear you.” Let’s face it, Parker would probably not want her appearance commented on in that way at that point.

 Which leads to Wedding Job, when Hardison casually says that she looks “much better in the same dress” than the maid of honor, and Parker is kind of confused and asks “You really think I look good?” He does think she looks good, obviously, he has from the beginning, but this more casual way to approach it was the much smarter move given her skittishness. I think that exchange is what prompts Parker to tell Hardison that she’d pretended to be meeting him for sex in the screening room. I don’t know if it’s what gave her the idea to use that excuse in the first place, but I definitely think it’s why she told him about it when he asked. I think it was an acknowledgement to say “I hear you, and I appreciate that you find me attractive, but I’m not prepared to do anything with that, so I’m just gonna tease you about it a little and never mention it again.” Basically, she’s not shutting him down, but she’s not prepared to encourage him, or take the relationship any further at this stage.

 (There’s another little quip in Mile High Job about how if Parker was a geek she’d be really turned on by Hardison’s hacking, and she just kind of rolls her eyes, which I think is a fair response. It’s similar to the way she rolls her eyes when Eliot talks about some of his relationships. I don’t really read to much into that.)

 By Bank Shot Job, we see them becoming closer friends. They work well together as the undercover agents (which they also did in Wedding Job, but they anticipate and riff off each other really nicely in Bank Shot, indicating that they’ve worked together long enough to be a well-oiled machine). Also they’re obviously hanging out in the van together when the episode starts, and they mention they’ve been in Juan for a few weeks by that point, so I think it’s fair to say they’ve definitely reached friend territory by now.

 Regardless, once we get to Stork Job, they’re “a little more than a team.” That episode is a lot for Parker, and has a lot of her personal growth in it, obviously. It also shows Hardison opening up about his own past for the first time, and it shows how deeply Hardison cares for Parker and her safety. Personally, I also think the scene when What’s-His-Face is flirting with Parker and Hardison keeps making Parker laugh by saying stuff like “do my cape and fangs frighten you” is a sweet moment because he makes her laugh. I don’t really read this moment as jealousy, though I’ve seen that some people do, but I just think he was commenting on how ridiculous What’s-His-Face is. (I forgot the character’s name because he’s always just gonna be Moriarty from the Librarians to me).

 Juror # 6 Job is also great, and I really didn’t want to make this an episode by episode break down, I was really just going for broad overall themes, but I’m in too deep at this point. In Juror #6 we have Hardison who initially brushes off Parker’s concerns just like the rest of them, but he does come around and convinces Nate to listen to what Parker is saying. He also has the insight to say that Parker never had experience with people, etc. I like this scene because it mimics the previously mentioned scene in Homecoming Job with Hardison and Nate sitting in that same spot discussing Parker. Obviously at the end, we also have that sweet moment where Parker is proud of Hardison for his closing statements and also proud of herself for acting ‘normal’ (and I think he’s proud of her too).

 Then in First David, we get the first kiss. Obviously there are different ways to read this one. Either Parker is only focused on the job, and only kissed him because it helped her break in, OR she used the break-in as an opportunity to get to kiss him without actually having to follow through with anything else because she could just play it off. I like to believe the second option, because I think her awareness of his feelings is high enough that she’s starting to question her own feelings at this point, but isn’t consciously ready to go there. So I think she wanted to kiss him and she got to use this as an excuse, and then shut that door again immediately and pretend it never happened. Because later in Second David she was obviously just pretending to not know what Hardison was talking about. She just wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.

 I do also think that small moment in Second David is really telling when Hardison says something like  “no calls no texts for three months, I don’t need y’all” and Parker is seriously offended—like seriously offended, and says “What do you mean ‘you don’t need us’?” In her mind, not only does he obviously need her (they’re more than a team at this point, after all), she stayed away and didn’t contact him because she was protecting him. That was the safest thing to do, it doesn’t mean she didn’t want to talk to him. But Hardison is less . . . emotionally equipped to have to split up from his new family for months without contact, so it makes him feel like they never cared about him in the first place.

 Then we reach season 2, where we have the “people are like locks. You have to have patience and be fiddly” conversation. (By the way y’all, literally all of these quotes are off the top of my head, so if I misquote stuff please forgive me). Anyway, here Hardison wants Parker to know that he did look for her because he wants to be sure she knows he cares about her enough to try (I think she’s perfectly aware he was looking and has been intentionally not letting him succeed because she wasn’t ready for that yet, but who knows). And Parker encourages him with the fiddly message, but is again emphasizing that she’s not really ready yet. This encouragement is different from the acknowledgement she gave in Wedding Job in season one, when she was just saying “I see you.” Here, she’s saying “I see you, and continue, maybe one day it will work out.” Importantly, though, she still hasn’t addressed within herself her own feelings for Hardison.

 Skipping forward a bunch, because this is already 1200 words long and I’m only on season 2, we’ve got other small things, like them pretending to be a couple several times, and Hardison getting kind of jealous of McSweeten in Fairy Godparents Job. Parker also gets mad at Hardison in Ice Man Job, but that doesn’t really advance their relationship that much. The main thing we are seeing over the course of this season is Parker’s willingness to touch Hardison more and more. She holds him in that arm bar for a long time in Tap Out Job, and she pulls him close in the safe in Ice Man. Again, these can all be written off as being part of the con or for a bigger purpose, though, because she doesn’t want to admit to Hardison or to herself that she likes touching/being close to him.

 This similar thing is clear in Jailhouse Job, when he says “see, I like when we pretend to kiss” and she goes “pretend?” and scrunches up her nose. (also, is it just me, or did it look like they were trying to imply something other than kissing? Were they also kissing too? What was happening?) Because Parker may be pretending that kissing him doesn’t mean anything, but she’s not pretending to kiss him. The kisses themselves are real. Also, we see her in this episode once again get naked in front of Hardison, and once again it could be interpreted as Parker doesn’t really view her own body as sexual (perhaps hinting at being on the asexual spectrum here) or it could be interpreted as Parker wanting to mess with Hardison, or wanting to see how he’d respond. I think it kind of could be more of the latter, though I do maintain that Parker doesn’t naturally view her body as inherently sexual regardless. I think that she may have gotten naked because she knew it would make Hardison flustered, and she likes that she can make him flustered, but again she doesn’t want to examine why she likes it.

 In Reunion Job we have the sweet dance, which I think is one step further than what we saw with the touching in season 2, where this time there’s no “excuse” for her to dance with him, she just does it because she wants too, which is great. But I don’t think at this point if he’d tried to talk to her about it directly that she’d be willing to. For the most part, Hardison is really doing as she asked and being patient, but it’s still clear he’s eager to see where things go.

 (BTW, I started writing fic set in this time because there’s so much in these episodes in season three that I want to explore, so if you’re interested here’s the link but be warned I never finished it: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12707019/chapters/28977393)

 In Inside Job, obviously Hardison is super concerned about Parker, and I really think it’s so nice that he’s the one she calls when she gets to a phone. I also like that this is the first (?) instance of Hardison calling her “mama” that I can think of which is personally one of my favorite nicknames of his. I also think it was really eye-opening to Hardison to see how Parker lived and what her warehouse looked like. I think even though he knew all that stuff about her, it was different to see it in person.

 In Scheherazade Job, Parker sides with Hardison against Nate about the whole hypnotism thing, which I think is really interesting especially given that Nate says Hardison doesn’t have the ruthlessness needed to run a crew, but he leaves Parker as the mastermind at the end of the show, indicating that she does have that ruthlessness (which she does) but here she is still on Hardison’s side. I also doubt she’d be able to con her own team the way Nate does unless it was absolutely necessary for their survival, not just for the con. Like, she’d con them to save them from jail or to save their lives, but I don’t think she’d con them just to get a job done the way Nate did with Hardison here.

 ANYWAY, we come to the biggest development, which is the Pretzels conversation in Double Blind Job. One thing I love about this is that Hardison is in no way trying to make Parker jealous in this episode. That would be really kind of manipulative of him given what he knows about her, etc. That said, I think he does a good job of pointing out that there’s no reason for him not to date someone else. Parker hasn’t said anything concrete to him about her feelings one way or another, so if someone like Ashley came along and he wanted to date her, Parker would have no reason to object. Parker realizes this too, which is why I think she actually does say something, even if she can’t actually say the words in the end. This is when Parker realizes that not only does she like Hardison’s attention and get upset when it’s given to someone else, she likes it because she likes him back. So she tells him she has feelings for pretzels, and he understands that it means “I like you but I’m not ready yet so please don’t move on to anyone else” and he accepts that and says “they’ll be here for you when you want them” essentially saying that he’s not going to move on now that he knows she really does have some feelings for him. That allows him to justify to himself waiting on her because he has something concrete, and it allows her to work through her feelings for him without having to worry that he’ll move on to someone else before she’s ready for it to go anywhere.

 There are further moments this season where they grow together and are comfortable together, until finally, in Big Bang Job when they almost get blown up on the train and they manage to work together and disarm the bomb, she realizes that she is ready for pretzels. I don’t know if it’s the adrenaline of the situation or what, but somewhere in that she realizes she does want to move forward. How they’re going to do that is unclear, and doesn’t come up in San Lorenzo because they’re busy with Moreau and then they have to split up for a few months, so none of this comes up again until Long Way Down Job.

 In Long Way Down Job, Hardison is coming in kind of expecting a relationship at this point. Parker has said she wants pretzels, and this is the first time they’re seeing each other in the months since then. Parker, on the other hand, has used those few months to kind of get cold feet. It’s not that she doesn’t want to be with him anymore, it’s that she’s kind of gotten into her own head about being good enough for him or being able to handle a relationship in a way that’s fair to Hardison. That’s why she reverts to pretending not to see his obvious advances, and responding with “this isn’t going to be a thing, is it?” when he’s concerned for her. She’s trying to push back again, and again he respects that, but it’s obviously really upsetting for him. But after her whole experience in the crevasse with Eliot, she understands that it’s okay to be herself while she’s trying to be a better version of herself, and as long as Hardison knows that, then it’s okay. So in the end when she says “you know this isn’t going to be normal, right?” she’s admitting that she is, in fact, ready for “this.” That’s what they have in season four, a kind of limbo thing where they’re not saying they’re dating, but they’ve admitted that they like each other and they’re going on very date-like outings together. I always refer to season 4 as when they have their thing because of how Parker said, “this isn’t going to be a thing, is it?” and then turned around and said it is a thing, it’s just not normal.

 We of course get more great moments in episodes like Carnival Job and Grave Danger Job where Hardison expresses that he would never replace Parker and Parker expresses that she needs Alec. I don’t think they would have said ‘I love you’ yet at this point, but I think these things are essentially saying that in different words. In Queen’s Gambit, again we get that assurance from Hardison that he’s got Parker and he’s not going to let anything bad happen to her, and he proves it.

 In Experimental Job, Parker kisses him again, first on the cheek after she tells him that he’s really cool, and then on the lips to convince Zilgram that Hardison is worth having in the Dustmen. The ease with which she kisses him on the cheek indicates to me at least that a) she doesn’t mind showing him that kind of affection at this point, and that b) she doesn’t mind doing so in public. You could argue back and forth on the second kiss because it is for the job, but also I think she just really wanted to kiss him and knew she had an excuse to do so. Obviously she was acting for Zilgram’s benefit before and after the kiss, but there’s a spot in the kiss where they’re body language changes, and I think in that moment it’s a “real” kiss and not just for the con.

 Parker and Hardison both have some doubts again in Girl’s Night and Boy’s Night, but again those are pretty self-explanatory, so I won’t go into them. But it’s also interesting that the team does see them as basically dating at this point regardless of whether they use that terminology. Sophie references “early relationship jitters” and it’s clear by the way Eliot gives Hardison advice that he knows what’s going on (not that they were that subtle with it, lol). It’s clear enough by the end of the season that they’re together even if they haven’t officially said anything.

 They spend the 6 month break between season 4 and 5 together traveling the world, and then they finally admit to the team that they’re dating. The traveling the world time is when I really think they kind of hammered things out and actually talked not in code, which lead to their official admission to the team. I think this official admission really just means that they’ve become more comfortable talking about their relationship with others. So now they’ll refer to each other as babe (or, memorably “my santa baby”) in front of the team, etc, and refer to things as dates instead of just hanging out or activities together. They’ll spend the night together in the apartment above the brew pub, etc. But if you notice, their behavior around each other doesn’t really change that much between season 4 and 5, which I think is just more proof that they were just as much in a relationship in season 4 as they were in season 5, they just weren’t calling it that yet.

 So, to break it down:

Season 1: Hardison likes Parker; Parker realizes this, and experiments with kissing him

Season 2: Parker encourages Hardison’s advances, but warns him to be patient and fiddly; she begins to touch him more

Season 3: They have the pretzels conversation, and Parker confirms she has feelings for Hardison but asks him to wait for her and he agrees

Season 4: She’s ready for Pretzels now so they have a ‘thing’ where they’re basically dating/in the early stages of dating, but they don’t call it that.

Season 5: They’re finally comfortable admitting to everybody that they’re together, and acting like a couple in public. They’ve gotten over most of their doubts/insecurities about their relationship and are mainly just being happy together as a couple.

[captaincoffeegirl515]

I just saw the live-action Mulan movie, and in short, it sucked.

It’s not worth the money! Not worth the 37 dollars you’ll need to pay so that you can merely rent the movie. Don’t worry, I pirated it. I didn’t give Disney any money, and I’m writing this so you won’t have to as well.

To think, my mom was so excited about this film especially since we are Chinese and the animated Mulan film was one of her favourite Disney films. But throughout the film, we were disappointed again and again.

First of all, the directing, camera work, pacing, and editing was terrible. The pacing of the movie was all over the place. The fight scenes especially, were so erratic and badly put together. Either they’d have the scene move at a normal pace but would cut and change to a new angle or perspective multiple times until you can barely tell if there were any hits or what they were doing. Or they would do slow-mo and do a zoom-in on Mulan’s blank, stiff face.

They had Donnie Yen, a famous martial artist and actor, doing some incredible swordsmanship and martial arts in front of the soldiers but then they ruined it by constantly cutting away from him to some random blank-faced soldier. What wasted potential!

Did I mention the blank faces. Everyone looked so stiff during the movie, barely any proper acting done. This was especially obvious with the Witch, whose face barely seems to move. The most emotional I saw her was when she had teary eyes, but still, the rest of her face stayed smooth.

My biggest problem lay with the fact that they took the sexism of the animated Mulan movie and managed to crank it up to a thousand. The whole concept of chi/qi was wrong. For starters, real chi lies in everyone, and it does not give you superpowers or suddenly makes you a good fighter. But in the movie, apparently only men can use chi and gain superpowers, and that if a woman somehow had chi then she’s a witch and must be outcast or killed. And it made it seem like the only reason Mulan could keep up with the men or be better than them was because she had these superpowers. I honestly have no words to express my anger and disappointment at this.

I understand they removed Mushu in the live action since it was offensive to Chinese mythology. But replacing it with a phoenix based on Greek mythology?? That made no sense. And not only that, the CGI was terrible. Not only did it look obviously fake, my siblings and I all felt like the phoenix was made of paper. One of them joked that it was a kite. The coloring also reminded me of the bird in Wings of Time that I saw in Sentosa Singapore.

Btw, Chinese don’t have any concept of witches or witch hunts. Lord knows why Disney tried to put more Western concepts when they wanted to make an Asian movie.

Moving on to the characters and their chemistry. In short, there was none. Little to none actually. I don’t understand why Honghui was supposed to be her love interest. No chemistry and barely any meaningful interactions. They met with him insulting her and continuing to insult her throughout most of their scenes. The “love interest” also spent a lot of his time staring at Mulan like one of those creepy perverts that you try your best to ignore. Is this really the kind of lesson you want to teach kids?

And Ling? Yao? Chien-po? What happened to them? Their names were barely mentioned and their characterizations were so one-dimensional. There were not enough scenes building them up as proper characters, which made them easily forgettable. Because of this, we also had trouble telling all of the soldiers apart, and this includes Honghui and Cricket. Cricket was initially mistaken as Chien-po. There was even less time emphasizing their friendship with Mulan. I also didn’t understand why the need to add Cricket in the movie as another soldier. Disney still didn’t give him any proper growth or arc beyond that one shining moment with the arrow. I also didn’t understand why he suddenly decided to play dead at the end of the corridor fight. Another “dramatic moment” that fell flat.

Where do I begin with the Witch? Shan Yu was an incredible bad guy already. Why did they try to make his falcon human and have her as a witch? For the most part, it seemed like she was just there to drive down the movie’s point that women should be subjugated. She had the power to kill Bori Khan easily, but… chose not to because she thought he would help make her not an outcast?? And even when she changed sides, instead of idk killing Bori Khan when he tried to shoot Mulan, she just… flew… in front of… the arrow… and died. Wow.

What was Bori Khan’s revenge supposed to be anyways? For the most part, it looked like he was trying to slow-cook the Emperor. Like what was up with the random forges and the 2 inch pool of lava?? Were forges back then even hot enough to make lava and have it stay red hot the whole time even when it was in that pool?? Also, swords do NOT melt that fast.

Also, the part where Bori Khan was talking to the captured Emperor was so unintentionally funny. Like at the end of every sentence he would just suddenly make sparks with his weapon at the Emperor’s face. If it was a one-time thing, it would have been fine. But he just… kept… doing it. And with every strike I just started laughing more and more.

The Emperor was… something. Of course he was probably one of the men who has chi powers judging by his sleeve attacks. Honestly, that part felt so random, my siblings and I were all laughing and going “what??”. His voice was so clearly dubbed in, and badly done. He also seemed to have been given the clunkiest dialogue in the movie. I also miss the scene in the animated movie where Shan Yu tells the Emperor to bow down to him and the Emperor replies, “No matter how strong the wind blows, the mountain cannot bow down to it.” because that line was awesome.

The sister’s character was also completely unnecessary. According to Disney, she’s to showcase Mulan’s devotion to her family and give her more motivation to do what she does. But?? She took her father's place in the war to protect him?? Wasn’t the whole point of her story is her pretending to be a man to protect her father from certain death?? Is that not already a huge motivational factor and shows her devotion to her family??

Does anyone else also find it weird that when Mulan was in the army, everyone referred to her by her full name? Like everyone had their first names and were called that, but for Mulan it was always Hua Jun? Btw for those not aware, with Chinese names, the surname is at the beginning. Hua is Mulan’s surname. So shouldn’t they be calling her simply as Jun??

Moving on, I have to bring attention to several of the changes in the movie. It’s like they cut out all the scenes that gave the movie an emotional impact and replaced it with bland scenes that didn’t add to the story at all. Her decision to take her father’s place in the war and steal his armor was replaced with some weird thing about her getting lost and the phoenix having to bail her out.

The incredible moment when Mulan gets the arrow from the top of the post was replaced by bringing two buckets to the top of the mountain. Anyone who is strong and determined enough would have been able to do that. With the arrow, she needed to think and strategize, using the weights to help carry her up. With the buckets, she just used her chi superpowers.

The drama and shock as the happily-singing soldiers come upon the destroyed village becomes a drawn-out traveling scene that has the General asking Mulan to marry his daughter, and then cuts to the army at the village.

The scene where it looked like Shang was going to kill Mulan but then he spares her because she saved his life is gone completely since they decided to split Shang into two characters instead. Even Mulan’s line where she says, “You believe Ping, why not Mulan?” was given to Honghui instead, robbing Mulan of her moment.

Honestly, there was no need for the Witch and her fight scene with Mulan, but apparently in the movie, chi is weakened by dishonesty. It’s weird that the Witch is even telling her that since they’re supposedly enemies, and telling her about the dishonesty will make Mulan stronger.

Another thing is Disney’s weirdly intense focus on arranged marriages and matchmaking, with multiple characters mentioning whether or not they are matched or asking others if they are. Even at the end, the sister goes “oh I am matched”. I didn’t see the point of having that in the movie.

I almost forgot about the trebuchet/catapult! The Rourans are supposed to be a Nomadic people. Where are they finding the time and energy to drag that gigantic thing around? I also have to mention that the Rourans had some incredibly good aim when firing at the soldiers but missed by a long shot when they fired at where Mulan was hiding. That was… dumb, to say the least.

How did Mulan even get there anyways? And how did she carry all those helmets with only two hands? I’m even giving her some leeway because there are people who can control a horse with just their legs. The actress for Mulan also has clearly never fired an arrow before and was not given training for it. The way she loaded the arrows and how her fingers sprung open like that screamed CGI arrows

And now I’m remembering the random horse gymnastics the Rourans used to turn around on their horse so that they could fire arrows while riding. It looked cool, yes, but I don’t think that was the most efficient way to turn around.

Back to the fight scene, Mulan managed to go from chasing the Rourans into the mountains and fighting the Witch, to back to where her army was, then somehow teleported to a different mountain behind where the Rourans were. She also somehow outran an avalanche?? She also killed her own men in that avalanche. Not the best plan in my opinion.

Ultimately, Mulan’s growth and arc to become a soldier and hero of China was undermined by the fact that she was already perfect due to her chi powers. There was no need for her to grow and train because her chi made her strong, her chi made her skillful. And because of this, she lost her relatability. I hate to say this, but she became a Marysue.

I don’t know where to put this but Mulan’s makeup and outfit for the matchmaker scene was the ugliest thing I have ever seen. Green eyebrows?? Really?? What happened to her face? What happened to her dress? Everyone’s costumes also felt unrealistically colorful for a poor farming village.

Lastly, I’m sure many of you know that Disney worked with, credited, and gave thanks to the Xinjiang authorities. Those authorities are responsible for imprisoning up to TWO MILLION Uighur Muslims in concentration camps, forcing them to learn and be patriotic about China’s communist doctrine and propoganda, not allowing them to practice their faith, and subjecting them to horrific conditions, torture, sexual abuse, forced sterilization, brainwashing, and other abuses.

To end this overly wordy review, I don’t understand why Disney would willingly get so much wrong. They tried very hard to make changes and appeal to the Chinese audience but refused to have Chinese creators to help with the screenplay, directing, costume and makeup, etc. Now all they’ve done is alienate said audience.

[jadedragoness]

Review: Peace Talks

First Read Through Reaction

Now staring off, knowing that the book was essentially part one of two did mean that I went in expecting that there would be plot lines that wouldn’t be resolved. I did NOT expect that nearly zero of the plot lines would be resolved, at all. Yikes. Now, I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it. I did. But it felt like there were 50 to 60 pages missing that should have been in the story to at least wrap up minor plot lines before heading into ‘Battle Ground’.

Warning: Full of Spoilers

Such the arrival of the Outsiders those Cornerhounds. Um… Outsiders and at no point that Harry wonder why in the hell they were called to Chicago? Or why they were targeting him and Ebenezer. Seriously, unless the author totally forgot we know that Outsiders can only be called by mortals. So human wizards brought them. So was it someone in the ‘Black Council’ or was it the Formor, since we know from previous stories that they grab humans and mind-whammy them and also modify them. And we know that they’ve been pretty focused on grabbing minor practioners for a couple of years now.

Hell, even just knowing why Thomas attacked the svartalf King would have been good to know in the book even if we don’t find out who it was yet.

That being said lets start of with things I didn’t like.

Thing Which I Wasn’t All that Pleased About:

1. Butters in that threesome relationship.

Now, let me explain, it’s not because its a poly relationship. I don’t even twitch over how Justine and Thomas include others in the sexual part of their relationship. It’s because I kept wondering if Marci was even into dudes. As far as I knew she was only into girls. And now she’s suddenly bi?

What the hell?

I think my reaction has a lot to do with how skewed the sexual orientation gradient in shown among Named characters. You have straight men. Straight women. Bi women who are shown to be blatantly into men and women…and that’s it, now.

No lesbian women with zero interest in men. No bi men. No gay men. No asexual characters. No trans characters. No gender fluid people.

I know that this due to the author’s eye and while it hasn’t irritated me much in the past as we keep getting more and more books with more newly introduced characters the lack is becoming more and more glaring to me. Especially, as I have drifted into reading other series that manage to be way more inclusive about this sort of thing in great and amazing ways *sighs happily over Rivers of London series*. And I don’t just mean in passing with random nameless scenery people that never talk which have popped up in the Dresden Files but with actual characters that have names, dialogue and contribute to the series.

So it really, really annoys me that Marci went from being the only lesbian who is a named character to joining the horde of bi women in the DF verse.

Okay, so its not really a Butters issue to much as a grumble about the spectrum of gender and sexually needing better representation.

*grumbles* Step up your game, Butcher.

I will add that I’m head-canoning that actually the relationship here is Butters with Andi, Andi with Butter and Marci, and Marci with Andi. That pretty much with Butters running around being the new Knight Andi didn’t like how her boyfriend wasn’t paying attention and gave Butters the ultimatum of letting Marci in as Andi’s girlfriend or they broke up.

… yeah, I’m totally liking that spin way, way better.

2. That Marcone took forever to show up! ARGH! I love him ok.

Considering how early he was name dropped in the story the amount of time it took him to show up… Jim Butcher is a damn Marcone-tease. *glares hotly in author’s direction*

3. I don’t like it that Murphy is so hurt. I don’t hate it. I think I’m just uneasy about the future implications.

Having reread the entire series before reading ‘Peace Talks’ I fully expected some lingering injury but not to that level. I’m actually worried about her chances of surviving any upcoming battle, and not just in Battle Ground. There’s even more danger coming down the pipeline in future books and she won’t let herself stay ‘safe’ when she could be watching Harry’s back… so its a worrying problem.

Now if she died I have no doubt that her being recruited to be a Valkerie is an option. But then I remembered how those warrior women go out into the world with ‘clients’ and of the two we’ve seen they’ve been attached to ‘monsters’ aka Lara and Marcone.

Unless, the payment isn’t cash and she can be attached to Harry. *hums in thought*

But then I have to wonder how much Murphy would accept that role. She’s also a pretty devout Catholic as this book reminded us so that is also something that would make her say no to the offer.

4. That the younger Wardens who had so looked up to Harry being so damned suspicious… ow. That hurt. I may have teared up and sniffled into a tissue thinking about it. And then sobbed because so much of it came from Carlos… Carlos! The man went into the Deeps with Harry! Ouch.

5. Rudolph… that roach.

Ugh, I’ve had the disturbing thought that now that magic and the supernatural on the path to being exposed to all of humanity, scared humanity too, that will end up with a resurgence of a new Inquisition and the killing of anything eldritch. And you know that Rudolph would definitely be in it. *shudders in disgust* Creep.

BTW I totally don’t believe that Rudolph answers to Marcone. It doesn’t make sense as to why he was so pushy go get Harry during ‘Changes’. I had thought he was answering to the Red Court but with them being taken out of the picture… now I wonder if he isn’t answerable to the Black Council.

Things I Did Not Expect:

1. Damn… when Ebenezer sent that spell through Harry and ‘killing’ I was so shocked even though I was pretty sure there was a twist coming. Mostly because of what it says about Ebenezer.

Ebenezer actions killed Harry.

Sure it was a fake body that brought no harm to the real Harry. But if Harry hadn’t thought ahead? If he hadn’t used his brain to ask Molly to create a fake? Eb would have killed his own grandson.

Sure it was an accident but it could so easy have resulted in a dead Harry. I was crying so hard I wondered if my eyeballs were loosening in their sockets. Argh.

2. Bonea…. Harry your naming skills are simply weird. I’m so glad that Susan named Maggie.

Although Bonnie is a pretty great nickname.

Thinks I Found Utterly Hilarious

1. The line about the best offense being a T-Rex? Gold. Pure gold.

2. When Harry figured out there are angels in the hilt of the Swords of the Cross and Butter’s immediate reaction of horror because he’d accidentally laundered the hilt, giving it a ride in a washing machine.

OMG! I had the instant image of a miniature angel screaming and growing dizzy when going through the spin cycle.

I know that makes no sense but that’s where my mind went, okay.

3. The conjuritis. Omg, it’s so gross with all the ectoplasm leaking from Harry’s nose but it’s sooooo funny. Also the way he kept getting the ‘aren’t you too old for this’ from Ebenezer and then Lara made me giggle even harder.

Then I thought: dude, it’s like chicken pox, something you got as a kid but if you never had it you get it when exposed later in life. So one of his kids has it. Probably Maggie too.

4. When Sanya pretended to have his hand lopped off. I straightened up and was so worried Sanya had lost a hand. Then when I realized he was pretending to freak out Butters and Harry I admit to laughing way too hard. Got me too.’

Also there’s no way that Sanya was actually defeated there. He’s younger and better trained then Butters, I don’t care how light (Heh) the new sword is. He definitely threw that fight to test his hunch.

5. Murphy’s inability to handle being flirted on with a red-headed warrior woman. Sooooo funny. I mean, Murphy could have said a number of things such as ‘I’m exclusive.’ or ‘I’m not interested in women.’ But she just floundered. Heh heh.

6. I continue to find it completely hilarious that Lara, a couple of centuries old vampire, seems to keep learning a lot of power moves from Marcone.

Such as: having trained fighters that are NOT food, well… mostly. Having those mines installed in the walls. And now hiring a Valkerie of her very own.

I keep thinking, yeah, there’s no way she’d win in a fight against Marcone because there’ s no way that Marcone has let slip all of his tricks.

Things I Really, Really Liked:

1. Marcone. Everything Marcone. *heart-eyes*

And then he proves why he’s so damned scary by standing up to the Titan. Then to the ghouls. Then after proving his bad-ass quotient if off the charts he gets everyone organized to fight.

Yeeessss… It proves to me that when it comes to protecting Chicago he is actually the best person after Harry. Hell, in some ways he’s better than Harry. Now, I’m not saying he’s a white knight or anything like that. Just that he has the intelligence, the ruthlessness, the will, the power and the men to provide the most protection to the city’s mortal denizens. At least when there’s a war raging with multiple enemies who will be attacking at various points.

And oh, I can’t wait to see how he’s going to get revenge for the death of his people. Omg, he’s going to kill the Formor so hard. *goes starry eyed thinking about more Marcone*

But why did he have to appear so late in the book?! *wails in a heart-rending fashion*

There better be a ton more Marcone in the next book! *makes desperate gimme gimme hands*

No, I don’t have a Marcone addiction… I can stop anytime I want to. *sneaks off to mainline some “Even Hand” straight into the brain*

2. The return of Goodman Grey! Oh, I hope he’s around a lot! I’ve really grown to like him.

<b>Things Which Blew My Mind or Were Just Freaking Awesome: </b>

1. Dad!Harry is actually the most amazing Harry. Forget the magic flinging and the fire storms… this is the best Harry.

Just the way he takes care of his kids…. *turns to mush like ectoplasm*

2. Murphy and Harry are finally together! Yay! Yay! Hip hip hooray!

Now, I’m a rather shameless Marcone/Dresden fic writer, but as I never ever expect this to be canon I’m content to write it as fanfic for my own sense of delight. However when it comes to canon I’m full on board with the Karrin and Harry relationship. Be it friendship or romantic, I think its great.

3. Marcone… that is all.

Random Speculation

1. I find myself wondering about Ebenezer’s rage against vampires. And my brain muttered this theory: Maybe Harry’s grandmother was killed by White Court vampires.

Whoa.

It would explain the vitrolic rage.

And if Lara was involved it would also explain her flash of shame.

We don’t know anything about Harry’s grandmother, not even her name. So… that’s a thought.

2. River Shoulders teaching Harry.

Oh man, oh man, I hope Harry learns shape-shifting.

And thinking about it I had to wonder if the animal-shifting had anything to do with knowing the animal in question which of course made me think…

Harry should learn to shape-shift into a T-Rex.

He already knows how one is put together and the mind of one. And he knows that it’s possible to add extra mass to a shift from the Nevernever in the form of ectoplasm… so

Harrysarous Rex, baby…. I may have to write a fic with this premise.

3. Oh, if it’s possible to make a ectoplasmic body can Harry learn to make one for Bonea? After all Maggie would probably really enjoy getting to play with her little sister that way. Even if Harry can’t do it all the time and it wouldn’t last longer than a day. That would be delightful.

4. Okay, not this is more head-canon than speculation but… considering how hard Harry has been made to be analogous to Merlin I can’t help but wonder if Marcone is suppose to be Arthur’s analogue. So wielding Amorrachius *coughs*Excalibur*coughs* would make sense.

…it’s not just my Marcone-love talking dammit.

Speaking of Merlin, I’m convinced that he’s behind this whole ‘starborn’ thing. Seriously, otherwise its way too convenient that a wizard with that power is born every 666 years. It smacks of a spell.

And if that’s the case it also feeds into my pet theory that the whole reason we have Outsides at the Gates is because Merlin was the schmuck who drew them to our reality in the first place. And everything surrounding the war with the Outsiders are his attempts to try to fix what he broke.

*lost in pondering thoughts*

Things I Have Questions About

1. Did Harry forget he has The Ways Map from his mother? I would have thought he would have figured out a way (heh) to get to the island somehow. He was on it for so long I thought for sure he’d spend time exploring it. Also we knew from ‘Skin Game’ that even tiny factors can change where the Way goes in the Nevernever. I doubt the ENTIRE island has Ways that lead to a bad place. Especially for Harry now that he’s the Warden.

2. Also why didn’t Harry get Lea to help him? After all unless she’s moved it since ‘Changes’ her garden is still on the other side of the sub-basement.

3. What did Lara use that first favor from Mab on? *eyes her suspiciously*

4. Where are the Za Lord’s Guard? *wondering about what been happening with Lacuna and Toot-toot*

5. If Harry gets kicked out of the White Council (good riddance, since they haven’t exactly been all that helpful lately) can he get enough signatures to be added as a member of the Accords in his own right? After all being Warden of Demonreach has got to mean a lot to the older members.

Then he wouldn’t be reliant on Mab’s protection.

I can’t help but hope this proves to be the case, especially if in ‘Battle Ground’ Harry ends up taking down that Titan. Because he needs as much protection and influence he can gather if he’s no longer White Council to protect himself, his people and his kids. Especially if he eventually gets rid of that Winter Knight mantle like I hope he does.

6. How in the hell (pardon the pun) did evil demon Sasquatch survive being turned to mush by Hade’s Ice Gate? Or the shades that were part of the security system that almost got Harry?

*frowns* The only reason I can think of would be the coin of Ursiel being the factor. I doubt a Fallen Angel is allowed to stick around in the Greek realm of the afterlife.

7. WHERE IS BOB?! Seriously, if Butters doesn’t give him back...

[atopearth]

Tales of Crestoria Part 1 - Transgressors and Vision Orbs (Ch 1-2)

I haven't played a Tales game in soo long! I'm super hyped for this though, because seeing Luke and others in one game is so nice! Anyway, since it's a gacha mobile game, my bro and I legit rerolled for like a day to get 4 SSRs lmao. I also helped reroll for my other bro so that took agess loll. I ended up getting Kanata, Luke, Lloyd and Leon! Pretty okay hahaa. Time for the story! Honestly, when the villagers were accusing Nash for being the guy who pushed the old lady that ended up dying, I thought Nash was some troublemaker adult, but no, he's a kid loll! Like, uhh, just because he causes trouble every now and then doesn't mean he would do such a thing to an old lady, like what evidence do these crazy villagers have??? Lmao at Misella pretending to be weak so that Kanata will protect her. Aww, it's so cool how Milla and Velvet help you out! That's fun! I guess the game kinda integrates the other Tales game characters into the story minus the idea that they come from another world and instead kinda put them inside the story itself as if they all belong in this world? The idea of the enforcers is such a scary concept. The fact that all you need is lots of people to condemn someone and you could be "punished" to death is pretty nuts. Not to mention that most of these people that condemn others just see one-sided “evidence” through vision orbs (recordings) and then when enough people think you’re evil, enforcers will come and kill you? Like, what if they're innocent or something? No wonder why people call this Tales of Cancel Culture hahahha.

Awww, the CG of Kanata and Misella around flowers was so pretty! Loved it! Well, I knew Kanata's father was dodgy, but I actually find it funny he thinks that Kanata should understand and follow as his successor of human slave and organ trading lol. Like, um, do you never see your son? He's like the personification of naivety and justice, yeah right he would succeed your human trafficking business. It's not like he just sells them either, he sells all these orphan children's body parts and organs! Ridiculous that he thinks Kanata would be like sure, of course, please continue. I'm more surprised that Kanata rashly decided to kill his father like that though. Like, he just found out the truth and killed him! Not saying he didn't deserve it, but considering he admired his father for his whole life, I'm surprised he held no thoughts and feelings towards wanting him to be condemned instead of killing him like that. I guess he felt that he needed to in order to save Misella? Still rash though. Omg, Misella is even more rash and crazy, didn't think she'd burn down the whole shelter just to save Kanata who was being imprisoned by the conspirators of his dad who didn't want him going around telling people. Like, yes, she brought most people out but what if she missed someone or they got injured?? Anyway, the enforcers were surprisingly weak, now I guess if Cress (Kanata's teacher) kills someone, he could probably run too lol. Not gonna lie, all those anime scenes are so cool!! Wow, this game is pretty high quality! Loved it when Kanata got his blood sin (his sword that kinda represents his sin). Vicious is cool though, I love how whatever his attitude is, nice for him to have Kanata as a fellow transgressor friend. Anyway, um, I forgot to say that I'm surprised Misella just ditched Kanata when he told her to run away without him. Like, after all the she can't live without him blah blah and stuff, she just leaves him?? I guess at least she realised and changed her mind to look for him, but she hasn't found him yet so lolll.

It's kinda funny how Vicious is like Kanata's bandit teacher haha. Aegis and Leon seem pretty cool, I can understand them for wanting to catch Vicious and Kanata and how they would prioritise the innocent over capturing them. Anyway, wow, Nash is such a little shit. Honestly an ungrateful kid. I know he's grieving because his little sister died in the fire that everyone thinks Kanata lit when it was actually Misella (so I guess she's a murderer now too huh?), but it's honestly crazy bitter and petty for him to not tell anyone that Kanata killing his father was actually "understandable" because of the monster he was for selling kids and their organs. And like wth man, so Cody (Kanata's father) selling his orphanage friends isn't as bad as Kanata supposedly "killing" his sister? Seriously? Were they even your friends, Nash? You do realise that most if not all your friends that were sold probably died right? It's ridiculous that he wants everyone (enforcers and knights etc) to condemn and kill Kanata now when he never even tried to do that for his monster of a father even though he knew about his wrongdoings all this time. Ridiculous man. And like seriously, he just assumed like all the other villagers that Kanata lit the fire to cover up his murder, he didn't even ask him or anything. He just assumed it and accused him. It's like seriously kid, Kanata defended you in the beginning and believed in you, yet what do you do to repay him? Not even listen to his side of the story when he did that for you! Kids these days!

Wow, like I doubt Vicious could die so easily, but Misella is crazy, she just stabbed him through the heart to "save" Kanata from following down his evil path? Umm, I'm pretty sure you're not any better, Misella. Is there anyone around Kanata that isn't toxic?? Not that Kanata is any better since he's overly righteous in a silly way, but at least he's not crazy? Lol. Vicious is bad, but he never said he was a good person at least. Um, why does Misella think that by saying she manipulated Kanata into killing his father, it would make him not a criminal anymore? I think the fact he listened to some girl and killed his own father is even worse lol. And seriously, Kanata is a transgressor already, I doubt it's something you can revert, especially since he went against enforcers and even got the Stain of Guilt and the blood sin. There's honestly no point of her becoming a transgressor as well. And seriously, these villagers!! Do they believe anything and everything that people say? Use your own judgement seriously! Anyway, I honestly think that it's ironic how Misella wants to protect Kanata but causes so much trouble for him instead, sigh. Well, yep, Nash is pretty nuts to relish the fact that Misella is getting burned to death. Is there anyone in this game that isn't crazy?😔 I guess everything was for Misella to get a blood sin too~ Anyway, I guess now the true adventure begins? I love the ending scene to the first chapter, it really feels like the journey is just starting~

I think it's pretty nice how they addressed the idea of Kanata and them being happy whilst carrying the sins of killing people through Misella thinking that she needed to punish herself eating grass and stuff instead of the meat she likes because she "deserves" that. Obviously they shouldn't be complacent and think it's fine to kill people, but I agree with Vicious, they've already chosen to continue to live despite how painful it may be and despite how much others want them to die, so there isn't any harm in them living "normally" because that's the path they've chosen to follow now. Lmao at Misella being traumatised by Kanata's food though haha. Vicious is so funny and cool, such a silly but fun guy. Reid is a great guy, I love how he thinks that one's own impressions are worth more than what other people think. I think it's important to make your own judgement about what kind of person someone is rather than relying on stuff like rumours and stuff, although it's understandable if you do follow others, since really, they are criminals. Btw, an extra plus is that Reid is voiced by Ishida Akira!! Yes, I love Athrun Zala (Gundam Seed) and Kent (Amnesia:Memories) to name a few hahaha. HAHAHA, I love how Vicious just trashed Misella's hopes that she was special to Kanata when she asked him if he would risk his life like Veigue to get a bloodstone to save her if she was ill like Veigue's friend, and he says of course, and then Vicious asks Kanata the same thing and he says he'll save him too loll. Misella using Vicious as a scapegoat to take all the blame for injuring a kid was lol, but seriously, these adults are so childish and reliant on the vision crystals to solve all their problems. It's like wow, Veigue looks like a mean and bad person so yep it must have been him is just ridiculous, I'm so glad Reid isn't insane like them. At this point, I’m just glad there are sensible people in this story like Reid and Veigue lol.

Overall, my impression for now is pretty positive. The story isn’t great, but I do enjoy the dubiousness of everything including the main characters. The animated scenes are awesome though and the design and everything is so pretty! Aside from the bugs that are rampant (random crashing etc) throughout the game, I’ve still been quite obsessed with it that I’m playing everyday hahaha. Now if only the gleamstone draws could guarantee an SSR instead of an SR lolll. Not that I’m complaining too much I guess since I got all the summer SSRs (because Veigue and Yuri were hot, so I needed them LOL) . The game can get rather grindy though with the different materials you need and how low the drop rates can be, but it’s not too bad to get to level 80 for your characters at least. Just wanted to say, I’m happy to finally have 3-4 level 100s yay! It’s nice to see a turn-based Tales game that still relies on combos to do the best damage haha. Otherwise, if you’re wanting to try this game, this is probably a great time to do it since you get an extra 2500 gleamstones with the 1 million downloads reward right now, so you now have 4 chances to draw SSRs! (One guaranteed SSR draw, one normal gleamstones draw, the SR+ tickets draw and the normal summon tickets draw) Just keep in mind that gacha is gacha and sometimes RNG is just not on your side. For example, my bro used 15k gleamstones and got 0 SSRs, so yes, the game can get painful and depressing, but I’m here for the story so at least I’m all good haha!

[chiiquititamoved]

dracula ep 2 - observations

ahhh! the scene is set and i cannot wait for more agatha 

so we open up onto dracula’s castle? i think 

dracula and my beloved aggie are in a room together

wait so are they buddies now? drac’s not trying to eat her or anything, which i find suspicious

there’s a chess game going on with some symbolism i am too tired to grasp

drac starts telling agatha about the voyage he made to england 

scene changes to a ship and the captain having a nightmare about a dismembered hand? idk

now we meet a passenger, dr sharma who’s looking at a body or something

it’s the “grave the children complained about” ??? i’m getting lucy vibes 

the coffin/body is 70 yrs old but there’s fresh scratches on the lid! i wonder where this is going 

ew a very gross body rises out of the coffin 

scene change! we meet a dead guy, piotr

his mum/sister/relative is saying he was going to be a sailor but he died before he could, and there’s this very suspicious guy sweeping in a doorway and listening to the conversation

but then a nun closes the door and locks him in his room

and then the lady relative is told by the priest to stab w/ a stake piotr and she does. wise move, ma’am

this is all taking place close to a shipyard/dock 

oooh suspicious guy is going to the ship and impersonating piotr! interesting 

so it’s established that the one-handed guy from the nightmare the captain had is coming back on the ship. apparently it was the captain’s fault he lost his hand, but the nice one-handed guy is making a joke out of it and it’s all very friendly, but it still haunts our cap i guess

lord and lady ruthven are coming aboard the ship. they just got married, and it’s all very exciting 

the lord jokes about “making it a long voyage” (wink wink) to cap (comedic genius right here) and then this guy who introduced him is like “oh, it will be” we’ve got so many suspicious characters already, i feel so blessed!!

okay - i’ll call the guy who’s pretending to be piotr fake piotr to avoid confusion and i’ll call the other suspicious guy (i think he’s lord and lady ruthven’s servant/secretary? he’s got pretty nice clothes, idk) bob 

there’s an old guy who approaches fake piotr like “are you as inexperienced as you look? are you scared?” and he’s like well yeah and the other guy goes “me too.” ???? that’s reassuring!! 

ah the doctor (i forget his name) and his daughter are boarding 

dracula boards openly as himself because THAT’S a good idea 

agatha, of course, echoes my thoughts and drac’s like “what do you think i would’ve done, lie around in a box for 4 weeks?” uh, yeah, you’re a fucking vamipre

anyway, back to the ship. fake piotr is about to enter a room (no. 9) but this crewmember comes up to him and goes nah you can’t go in there these passengers are sick (he sounds like he’s lying) and fake piotr is like okay thanks i won’t do that then 

there’s fucking flies EVERYWHERE on this ship jesus 

like i get they’re undead and it’s symbolic and suspenseful or whatever but it’s also fucking GROSS

anyway drac comes up to the crewmember, who for some reason is listening at the door of no. 9, and says some creepy stuff to him (turns out he’s from bavaria. this may be relevant later?)

so fake piotr is from romania and he’s boring the handless guy with his “story” - the handless guy points out that it sounds SUPER fucking fake. anyway time for dinner!

so now they show the fancy dining room and lord whatever is there w/ bob (his name’s adisa, actually) and adisa’s like ooh this wine isn’t good i don’t like it and then they argue whatever and the doctor interjects 

OH MY GOD! adisa and the lord are together! the lord’s like you know this marriage is a necessary evil and adisa’s like yeah but it hurts. :,( i feel him man

drac introduces himself to the old lady, bla bla, and then he drinks this crewman’s blood and like absorbs his mannerisms (and his german)

god this is boring i want more of my tragic gay love story 

turns out drac and the old lady (who is a duchess) danced together on her 18th birthday? okay? i don’t care where’s adisa 

and that’s the night the duchess’s mother disappeared. great. 

now drac drinks the old lady’s blood

there’s a fog around the ship... it seems to be following them... how mysterious...

okay now drac is creeping out fake pietro by telling him a gross story because he was looking in a barrel? I DON’T CARE WHERE IS ADISA

ahh finally adisa’s back. so dorabella (the gay lord’s wife) is tired (and everyone else is like OOHhoo i wonder why) but drac seems to be on to them. uh oh

honestly other than agatha adisa and the lord are the only characters i actually want to have a happy ending 

okay everyone’s asleep but doc, and he’s having flashbacks or whatever to that body from before 

he gives his sleeping daughter (who’s mute + deaf, btw, forgot to mention that) a touching little monologue abt how there’s monsters in this world and he’ll protect her (that sounds sarcastic but it actually is sweet) 

lady whatever (gay’s wife) goes out on deck in the night, for a walk, but meets dracula out there 

he’s kinda flirting/talking w/ her outside but she’s obviously in love with her husband, unfortunately

m’lady reveals she’s going to america

dracula shows her the water in a barrel or something? but refers to it as a mirror? he shows her a pic of her and her husband in the reflection and goes “i thought i’d show you a picture of what might have been,” or something dramatic like that 

the doctor’s daughter starts bleeding from her face in her bed, and she wakes up

turns out the blood is from the lady and is dripping through the ship’s deck! 

doc’s daughter goes up to investigate and sees drac drinking the lady’s blood

:( i really don’t want the doc’s daughter to die

well of course now drac is threatening her >:(

like i feel bad for dorabella but i want adisa to be happy. i’m very conflicted

they’re going to search for the murderer now 

DRACULA IS SO OBVIOUSLY THE CULPRIT OH MY GOD. he keeps saying the most suspicious things and nobody cares

okay now drac is saying that they should search cabin no. 9? which only the captain has access to, for some reason, and he’s super anxious to not let anyone else in?

there’s a bunch of flies in cabin no. 9. great, more death

it’s established that there is actually another person in cabin 9, the mates hear breathing or something

drac: “ah, but you’re a scientist.” doctor: “yes, i was, at the university of calcutta. are you a scientist yourself?” “no, but i have an appetite for it.”

this guy gets injured because of the fog or something 

dracula is like addicted to blood, and he can’t stand the sight of it or something 

NO THE LORD RUTWHATEVER IS WITH DRACULA 

IF HE’S GOING TO CHEAT ON ADISA I WILL RIOT

oh no thank god everyone else is in the room with him 

The gay lord’s friend who told him to take this ship is called balaur? oh my god balaur is the dude that the rich old lady said was paying for her trip to england in the beginning! i feel like we’re onto something my dudes 

i was right! balaur is also the doctor’s sponsor

So the injured guy (the crewmember) gets woken up by the gay lord’s wife and she’s like ooh it’s okay but then it turns out it’s dracula pretending to be her and he drinks the guy’s blood

Ooooh shit most of the crew left on a lifeboat!!! Shit

NOW WE’RE FINALLY GOING TO SEE WHO’S IN CABIN NINE! 

Okay so we cut back to drac, who spouts some cryptic bullshit as usual 

Ahhhh we’re finally getting an explanation for why he and agatha are here! She gets up ans she’s like “how did i get here? We were at the convent!” and dracula let mina go? But he didn’t let agatha go

Agatha’s like “the people you feed on, you make them dream!” 

NO, HE DRANK AGATHA’S BLOOD????!!

OH MY GOD AGATHA’S IN CABIN NUMBER NINE 

Drac goes into the cabin and he’s like agatha is the murderer! 

And they’re about to hang her!!!!!! No but she’s the love of my life!!!!

okay the captain and the doctor are like she couldn’t possibly have done it! she’s too weak

now, my darling agatha, who of course has her wits about her, says that she’s a vampire so they can’t hang her! and they’re like uh okay i kinda believe her

but then drac starts to kick the barrel from under her! and aggie BITES HER LIP AND THE BLOOD FALLS 

dracula goes a little batshit (! get it???) and they see it! and then the doctor’s daughter (who you will recall i ALWAYS had faith in) comes in and makes the sign of the cross and drac’s repulsed

IS THE DAY SAVED? no, there’s 30 minutes left in the episode

DRACULA RUNS AWAY WHILE THEY’RE SAVING AGATHA 

AND MY HERO (AGATHA, OBVIOUSLY) JUST SITS UP AND GOES “i am sister agatha van helsing of the st mary’s convent, budapest. captain sokolov, you are relieved of command.” JUST LIKE THAT! MY HERO! 

okay so the doctor has a little potion for if he’s undead? I guess it kills an undead person

the remaining crew members threw all of the boxes of earth but one off of the ship (drac needs to sleep on transylvanian earth for some reason?)

gay lord just called dracula seductive >:( where’s adisa?? I miss him 

WhAT the FUCK? gay lord LIKES dracula? 

NO ARE GAY LORD AND DRACULA GOING TO FUCK

GAY LORD IS ON DRACULA’S SIDE 

DOCTOR AND HIS DAUGHTER JUST PULLED SOME CROSSES BECAUSE DUH AND GAY LORD IS THREATENING TO SHOOT THEM

NO NOW THE DOCTOR AND HIS DAUGHTER ARE DEAD 

AND DRACULA JUST STARTS TO DRINK THE LORD’S BLOOD 

Fake piotr then walks into the cabin and is like “wtf,” obviously, and then runs up to the deck and tells people, who are nailing pages of the bible to the deck 

Oh no adisa’s sad! He’s crying no :,( 

They’re all in the bible circle tho

Oookay so they were suspicious of piotr because last time drac took over harker’s body 

So now they’re all telling fake piotr to step out of the circle and back in 

Fake piotr does it and succeeds but then ofc fucking dracula appears. *eye roll* 

So adisa was like hey what the fuck why is religion the only thing stopping dracula? This is bullshit 

and adisa’s like drac you took the love of my life :((( no adisa he’s not worth it!!!

dracula’s taunting adisa to step out of the circle!!! Nooooo

NO HE STEPS OUT OF THE CIRCLE

ADISA SHOOTS DRACULA NO

NO DRACULA BITES ADISA!!!:((((

Fake piotr lunges at dracula but he throws him down and a barrel pops open 

The captain comes at him too

they’re all fighting him!!! 

They set him on fire! About fucking time 

He jumps into the water 

Okay this is making me nervous where did he go

Scene change! It’s morning and the sun is shining

“Where’s olgaren?” “cooking.” “just when you think you’re out of danger.”

Fake piotr sees a white bird with its head severed on deck :| 

We’re in the hold now, and aggie is keeping watch on the crate of dirt. The cap comes down and talks to her 

Oooh agatha’s saying that this ship must never reach england. we’ve got one lifeboat left, apparently, so i guess that works

She wants to blow a hole in the hull 

NO AGATHA WANTS TO SINK WITH THE SHIP 

NO I LOVE HER 

SHE SAYS SHE’S GOING TO DIE ANYWAY BECAUSE THE VAMPIRE’S CURSE LIVES INSIDE OF HER 

Awwwwwwwww cap’s giving her a hug :,(

I’m HEARTBROKEN!!!!! AGATHA IS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE

I kinda have a feeling she won’t die tho

Ew there’s a fly buzzing on a doll’s face. hm - totally unrelated, by the way i wonder what dracula is inhabiting 

Okay the guys are all leaving the ship 

Aggie’s praying down below but then she hears a noise and comes up to the cabins 

oh fucking hell dracula’s coming 

great. just fucking great 

oh no it’s the cap! Cap stayed with her on the ship!

fuck is it dracula inhabitng his body?

Agatha just found that dracula put a ton of dirt under a bed and he just slept on that one :/

okay the cap went on deck and agatha followed him but drac killed him before she could do anything 

drac’s like follow me, and walks off 

Agatha looks at cap’s body and cap’s alive!!! And he goes keep him talking!

So agatha goes on deck with drac 

Drac says how he got back on the ship, etc. 

Cap’s climbing towards them! Go! I’m rooting for you! 

Ookay they’re doing some menacing small talk, dracula’s lying, whatever 

Yes!! Cap set the ship on fire!!

Drac’s about to drink agatha’s blood - agatha: “yes, go ahead. The last thing your eyes will ever see is the contempt in mine!” 

He throws her down onto the deck + runs away to the hold

THE SHIP IS EXPLODING!

Agatha’s in the water! She’s drowning noooo

Convo between fake pietro + one handed guy: “They’re dead, then.” “yes.” “what now?” “we honour them.” “how?” “by telling their story.” :,(

huh - so marius (hmHMHM) is fake piotr’s real name

Okay no dracula swims to england (it’s not that far away)

HUH 

WHAT THE FUCK

WHAT THE FUCK?

NOW DRACULA’S IN ENGLAND AND A HELICOPTER ARRIVES??? AND A BUNCH OF MODERN CARS??? AND AGATHA VAN HELSING BUT SHE’S WEARING MODERN CLOTHES?? 

TO BE CONTINUED 

WELL. that’s done i guess. 

oh my god the wc on this thing is once again 2000. i don’t mean for this to happen i promise 

IN CONCLUSION: the next episode had better be fucking good. I mean it, Gatiss. The ending was insane (i had to rewatch it to make sure i wasn’t hallucinating) and honestly? This REEKS of season 4 sherlock (or whichever season it was when everything went to shit). If they make this some kind of ridiculous future au i WILL die. Thanks for coming to my ted talk. 

(P.S. I will try to watch the next episode this weekend! so watch out for (more) deranged ranting.) 

[pro-bee]

Ziva David Week Day 7: Dealer’s Choice, or, Pick Your Own Adventure

(ok I know that’s not the real title but I’m going with it)

So I’m choosing this day to do this: my personal headcanons about Ziva’a past (even though for all I know the show has already contradicted them but do I care? no):

One set of her grandparents were (Sephardic) Spanish-Moroccan. (I initially used to pretend it was her mother’s parents since we know nothing about her mom but then I remember that didn’t Tony say they were buried in Yemeni or something?) That’s why Ziva speaks Spanish so effortlessly!

(Yes I know it’s because Cote’s native language is Spanish and they wrote it in but that doesn’t mean we can’t make up a backstory for it!)

(This is something that’s always been fascinating to me because my friend’s dad is Spanish-Moroccan Jewish and he could effortlessly break into one of the like 5 languages he spoke fluently when we were kids. Plus he helped with our Spanish homework lol.)

We know Ziva was a dancer, at least until the age of about 13 whenever she wrote that “I Will” list from PPF. She only ever talked about it once on the show, that time she told the suspect she always searched for her dad in the crowd when she was on stage. They never said how far along she went, but given how driven and athletic she is, I pretend that Ziva was probably serious enough about it that part of her wanted to pursue it, but she also knew by the age of about 16 that she wasn’t going to have a choice in the matter and she was going to be following in her father’s footsteps so she resigned herself to it and made the best of it.

We know what eventually became of Ari, obviously, but given that he was in her family photos (and there was that one in PPF if just her and Ari smiling), and he was in the flashbacks in “Shiva”  at the dinner table (I think?), it seems like he really was a huge part of their life, he wasn’t just the “bastard son” who was spoken of in hushed tones. He was her brother. So in my head, given that he was what, at least ten or so years older than her? (I know someone out there knows exactly but I don’t care enough to look it up sorry), I like to think that Ari was kind of Ziva’s “protector” as she grew up in Eli’s home. What I mean is that in my head, when her mom and dad started fighting more seriously and openly, when their marriage was imploding, Ari would be the one to take Ziva under his wing when he was home visiting. He’d pick her up and take her for a car ride and they would just drive and drive for hours around the city with nowhere to go, and sometimes they could go the whole time without speaking, but those rides would give her respite from the chaos at home. 

Because Tali was younger and didn’t understand as much about what was going on, and was still kind of malleable enough that she was going to escape relatively unscathed from it all. But Ziva was just old enough to get what was happening, to get how her parents could hurt each other and that her father was not as good a man as she thought he was growing up. And she had no one she could share this with, because again, Tali was too young, and she dared not speak it to friends, because the David family didn’t talk about their problems to outsiders. (Except Eli to Vance but that was more like a humblebrag like “lol i screw around so much on my wife she finally left me, chicks am I right?”). Ari, though, she knew he got it. (If only she knew exactly how much Ari knew about their father.)

And that is why Ari’s betrayal fucked her up even more. Because she lost her brother, but she also lost her confidant.

So in their sibling dynamic, Ari was kind of the cool, worldly older brother who would float in and out of her life, while Ziva was the people-pleasing middle daughter, the one who wanted to live up to her father’s expectations and didn’t understand her mother’s overprotectiveness over them (like when she moved away with her and Tali). Tali was a bit of a wild-child extroverted baby of the family, who everyone kind of doted on, because she was so outgoing and friendly and exuberant and easygoing. 

It’s like the whole family kind of silently agreed that they had to protect Tali at all costs, to keep her lightness in tact as opposed to the darkness that lived in the rest of them. It’s why Tali was allowed to pursue music and how she was able to make even Eli cry when she sang Puccini, and would have let her study opera if she’d wanted. Ari and Ziva did their duty so that Tali could pursue her dreams for the rest of them.

I used to think Ziva’s mom was also kind of the lightness in their home in contrast to Eli’s darkness, but recently the more I think of it, the more I could see that she could very likely have been tormented by depression herself, exacerbated by living with Eli and then still under his thumb even after they broke up. Ziva has such a sadness about her, which yes is probably influenced by losing everyone she loves so early in her life, but I could also see it as classic child-of-mentally-ill parent energy, always trying to be “best” and cause the least amount of trouble, because you don’t want to do anything to rock the boat and upset your parent. You learn to be self-sufficient very early on because you know your parent isn’t physically or emotionally available to you whenever you need them, so you have to rely on yourself. And it makes it that much harder to let people in as an adult, because you’ve spent a lifetime protecting yourself.

Because Eli is such a terrible person, it’s easy to think that he trained Ziva like a soldier from birth, but I think he was a lot more insidious than that. I think he was affectionate when present but by and large was an absentee parent due to his work commitments (so he could come home and play hero when he was home, which probably drove his wife even crazier because she bore the brunt of everything), and it wasn’t until Ziva was old enough to be of more use to him (like, say, early teens) that he started planting that seed and “shaping” her to whatever he wanted her for.  

BTW I don’t think Ziva’s mom hated Ari, or even resented him, because I don’t think he would have that warm a relationship with his sisters if she had, but I also like to think that and some point she looked at Ari as a grown man and realized that He Knew about Eli, just like she did. They never spoke about it, though. 

(I think she probably felt sorry for him a little because she probably had more than a little idea of what Eli put Ari’s mother through, and how he was manipulating Ari.)

Wow I had more David Family Headcanons than I thought.

Um what else let’s see

OK, once she is finally reunited with Tony and Tali, Ziva is going to be the obnoxious parent who takes pictures of everything all the time. Because she missed so much of her family’s life that she isn’t going to miss another second.

Because I need some happy headcanons.

I had more but I forgot and these are long enough. Will reblog at a later date if I remember.

Thanks for such an inspiring Ziva Week guys! It’s been so much fun seeing all of your posts on my dashboard!

(Sorry this was so late)

[judehayward]

lady gaga voice slowly fadin in: ju-Das juda-ah-ah… frankly i missed this ridiculous depressed little man so i’m gna try my hand at playing 2 charas again. the crowd grits their teeth in apprehensive nerves. it’s fine it’s fine it’s all FINE!!!!!!!!! also this is nai btw forgot to say. anyway. ahem. without further adieu.... his intro

he pinterest:

me in the voice of a card magician performing on the street: round up round up pick a pinterest any pinterest!

ta-da it’s aesthetics:

lead marbles instead of eyes, a stolen hearse careening down the wrong lane, wearing a faded smiley face sticker on your forehead while receiving a serious lecture, bags under the eyes that are so big they could pack enough clothes for a three week vacation, a cigarette wobbling from your bottom lip as you squint against the sunlight, passing out on a stranger’s rooftop, placing sunglasses over the eyes of a biology lab skeleton, gangling around the place like shaggy minus his scooby snacks, saying “fuck off” to inanimate objects

about tha Bitch:

ok to start w i won’t lie i’ve pasted in an old intro here bc i just hate intros i hate writing them i hate them................. bt it’s fine.......................... lets pretend this is all fresh n sexy n new....... bsically this is jst a disclosure tht this isn’t tht well written bc it’s old n stinky bt we’re all jst having fun here. bye

he hd to do community service bc he kind of… hd a bit of a breakdown before the funeral of his elderly neighbour who bsically raised him bc her kids rly didnt care abt her they jst wanted her inheritance?? so he… stole the hearse w her casket still in it n ws jst like… drivin around the place sort of… tryin nt to cry…..KJJFHSFKJGHKFG i mean. it isnt funny its actually sad bt :/ in a very bizarre n jude way. he gt caught n taken in fr questioning bt her son kind of realised hw… broken up abt her death jude ws n had a heart n didnt press charges. regardless he stil hd to do community service bc it ws like taken seriously even tho it ws his first proper offence. doin it rly exhausted n depressed him so when he wsnt doin tht he ws just hibernatin in his room……. this ws like 2/3 months ago nw mayb bt... just some fun lore fr u all

in a new development in terms of sexuality i jst am nt quite sure……. hes always thot he ws straight… fooled around w a 90s hugh grant lookalike once n ws jst a bit like :/ my rocks rnt blasted off? bt who knows wht the future holds… who KNOWS wht the future holds ladies n gentlemen

born in sheffield in england, bt they went back and forth between there n san fran a lot jude was an unhappy accident. his parents never rly used protection bc they were super Liberal n Au Naturel n believed in the pull out method bc… they were maniacs. bt then the ONE time they used a condom in an effort to b safety conscious it broke n hence…. jude was born

they just kind of ran w it bc they had such a passionate relationship tht they were like What The Hell…. may as well! itll be fine we’ll learn to be good parents n love him like normal ppl do

spoiler alert: tht didn’t work out

they were ok to him like they weren’t abusive or anything like that bt they just found him to be a massive burden n hindrance to their plans. they literally….. had sex all day every day n acted like a pair of teenagers. it ws a super weird environment for a kid to grow up in bc he literally had no role models or… guidance or…. anything rly. occasionally they’d joke around w him or pretend they even knew what grade he was going into but for the most part they just Didn’t Care one bit

they were both suuuuper into the arts. they’re both rly good sculptors bt they paint too n they actually own a successful gallery in san fran

as a result he grew up around a lot of creative n sometimes pretentious ppl. the friends of his parents were more present in his life than his ACTUAL parents bc they were always jetting off to diff countries to scout out new pieces fr their galleries n just have a gd time in beautiful places without…. the annoyance tht ws their son forcing them to b responsible n look after someone else. tbh some of his parents friends were rly damaging too bt….i won’t go into that just yet. it doesn’t rly…need properly explaining bc jude never talks abt it anyway n it….is rather triggering so i’ll jst….leav it for now tbh fgkhdfgh. basically they just were Not Nice n jude had a lot of bad memories he keeps repressed

bc of how he ws raised he has a p cultured taste. he luvs classic lit n p much anything artsy. he can play piano 2 n sometimes gets rly high n thinks he’s mozart level gd at composing. i mean he’s gd bt… Calm Down Jude. personality wise he acts out sometimes bc he’s so frustrated. he tried rly hard to be someone his parents wld care abt by doing wild or stupid things so he’d hav funny stories to tell them n tbh sometimes it works n he gets them to laugh w him but it isn’t a parent/son bond n it never rly wil b.

he’s rly sarcastic, sleeps around a bit, has an overflowing secret sketchbook n if he cares abt someone he’ll probably draw them n get rly defensive if they find out abt it fkjgdhfkj bcos he’s an Independent Boy without a sentimental bone in his body. or so he says. at heart he is jst a very Sad Boy w lots of repressed issues like depression genuinely just does NAT giv him a single break bt he plasters over this w wise cracks n never discusses his emotions ever. he’s actually p decent or at least tries to b. he’s kind of like tht bit in superbad where michael cera gets rly drunk n makes a toast to women. tries to b? a feminist bt sometimes fucks up n offends ppl n is like dam….. my bad fr :/

he has p bad insomnia so he like never sleeps fgjkhfgjkf he always has rly sleepy eyes n rubs them tiredly mid conversation. he smokes a lot of weed to try n compensate fr this n make him tired bt he still struggles a lot

ANYWAY that aside he’s at lockwood doing fine arts. he luvs painting n photography n philosophy n all tht. a pretentious fiend sometimes? maybe_so.gif. he isn’t rly pushy abt it tho n tends to like.... take nothing seriously bt at the same time acts like he is??? like he’s very deadpan in everything he does

ummMMMMmm honestly idk i’m blankin on what else to say. ull find him smoking weed reading an american classic or gnawing at his thumbnail n getting charcoal smudges on all his clothes. wandering the streets eating frm a cereal box without care in public. he’s p broody n scruffy n he’s mostly here fr a good time. o and he’s That Guy that would die fr morrissey (his vibe not personality bc i hc jude was depressed n shut himself inside all day when he actually found out what a dick he is dfjkfhg) and all that stone roses the smiths etc stuff music wise. HMU FR PLOTS!!!!!! i’m down fr anything

[xserpentlife]

Too Much -  Part 1

Request: Sweet Pea x R where the R has depression and doubts about her friends truly liking her and is good at hiding how lonely she is till one day hiding her feelings requires literal hiding from everyone. Sweet Pea gets worried, finds her, and says, prompts 11 and 15 from angst list 1. Add whatever you’d like! Oof could that request get more sad. You’re a great writer btw!!!

A/N: Hope you like this!

Warnings: Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Cursing?

Summary: You’ve known Sweet Pea for a while and you started dating a few months ago. He knows you can get in your own head, but he also knows that you have been getting better. But things happened and it threw you into a complete spiral.

Word Count: 3022

Y/N POV

You and Toni have been friends since you were kids, but when you were 10 your mom took you and moved you to the north side, while your dad stayed on the southside. Your mom and dad fought constantly, it seemed like there was no end in sight... It was always your mom's fault and you were always a daddy's girl. But your mom wouldn’t let you fight and you were only 10 so that is when she took you to the north side. Your mom had been getting on your nerves, her boyfriend fighting with her kept you awake at night, it's all you ever heard and it reminded you of why she moved out with you when you were little. You got tired of it and when you were 15 you moved in with your dad.

You started hanging out with Toni again and you met some of her friends, their names were Sweet Pea and Fangs. You and Sweet Pea became close, and he seemed to always be there to protect you. You talked to him about everything and you broke the hard exterior that he had. You were the only one that he was soft around. You started high school after you moved in with your dad and he made you go to Riverdale high away from Sweet Pea, and all of your friends on the southside. He wanted you to have a good education. You met Jughead luckily and he helped you make friends with a few others but it just wasn't who you wanted them to be. You felt like you didn’t belong. A year later a fight during a job with FP took your dad's life...Sweet Pea was there to pick up your pieces. After a while, you and Pea started dating but it was pretty much like you were dating from the start. He offered for you to live with him but you didn’t want to intrude. For your birthday he gave you a necklace that was half a heart with a  serpent on it,. He always wanted you to remember where you came from even if you had to go to school on the Northside. He wore the other half of the heart with his dog tags. The heart was engraved on his side reading You will always have a and on your side home with me. It was his way of telling you, you always had a place with him. You barely spent time apart and he was always there. You started talking to Sweet Pea about it telling him everything and when you would get really anxious at school you would call him. There were even a few occasions where you ditched and he would pick you up. Toni knew a little about them, but no matter how hard she tried no one could ever get you out of your attacks except Sweets. The attacks started to get better and you didn’t want to bother anyone with them anymore so you started saying you were fine. You pushed away all the thoughts in your mind and kept saying everything was fine, but last week was a really tough one for you and you didn’t know how this week would go.

The weekend was one of  the worst you had experienced in awhile. You went to the Wyrm with everyone but a fight broke out, and for some reason it caused your anxiety to shoot through the roof. Sweet Pea saw you run into the bathroom and tried knocking on the door to come in but you wouldn't let him. After a few minutes you walked out and said you didn’t feel good so you were going home. Sweets went with you and you sat on the couch watching movies. You felt so bad that you pulled him away from his friends and it was tearing you up inside. That was Saturday. Sunday Sweet Pea had a job with FP and though you weren’t a serpent your dad was, and you knew how dangerous the jobs could be. The whole day you waited for the phone call from him to say that he was home. You were supposed to go out with Jughead, but you had told him you were still sick. You weren’t but you physically couldn’t move without your head spinning and your breath halting. Usually, you worried but never this much. You got the call that night and he told you he would come over after school tomorrow.

You woke up for school and you just wanted to stay in bed. The anxiety from yesterday drained all the energy you had, but you knew you couldn’t skip. You went to school and the first thing you saw on your locker was a note saying go back to the southside serpent slut. It had been happening for a while but you kept it from everyone even Sweet Pea not wanting to cause any trouble. The whole day it felt like everyone was staring at you, but you just dragged along. You had a panic attack at lunch and Jug tried to help you but nothing was working. He told you he would call Sweet Pea but you begged him not to. That afternoon you went right home hoping to sleep it all away, but Sweet Pea called saying he had good news and was coming over. So you pulled yourself together enough to be okay for when he was there. After freaking out for a little thinking he would know the second he saw you like he always did you heard the knock at the door. So you took a deep breath and opened it.

“Hey babe”

“Hey Y/N/N” he kissed you and it relaxed you slightly. He didn’t even have to say anything but him being around always made everything better.

“So what’s up Sweets? I thought you had to work at the Wyrm tonight?”

“I did but I called out cause I wanted to tell you the good news I have, and I also wanted to spend time with my girl”

“oh well aren’t you the sweetest”

“it's in the name babe”

“you're a dork”

‘I know but you love it”

“Damn right I do... now what's the news”

“So... Southside high is closing down”

You started freaking out. If southside was closing where would he go. I mean Would they let the serpents come to Riverdale, or no they would make them go to Greendale and sweets would be even further from you “Oh my god Sweets I’m so sorry. Wait what does that mean how will you even get an education I mean I know Southside wasn't the best but at least it was a school. Are they making you go to Greendale? Your gonna be so far.”

“Babe calm down your gonna like what’s happening, trust me.”

“Okay tell me what's happening”

“All the serpents... me, Toni, Fangs, everyone is getting transferred to Riverdale”

“Oh my god...Holy shit” You stared at him. Deep down you were scared. The North and Southside were far from friends. Archie started some bullshit with them and it had blown over a little but Reggie hadn’t let up, you knew this could end badly and it was tugging at you. Sweets hugged you and you relaxed into him.

“Baby I get to be with you every day”

“Sweets this is the best news I have heard in a long time”

“well now that I told you that you wanna have a movie night?”

“Is that even a question”

With that, you guys had your movie night. You must have fallen asleep because you woke up in the middle of the night with a sticky note on your chest from Sweet Pea saying that FP called a serpent meeting, and he had to go but he would be there to pick you up for school. You were relieved everything would be okay from now on. Your best friends and your boyfriend would be with you and his presence always calmed you down you were excited for once. You woke up the next morning excited for school for once. You got dressed and made cinnamon toast for you both. When you heard his bike pull up out front you ran outside and shoved the toast in his mouth as he said good morning.

“Goo... OO cinnamon toast, I could get used to this”

“you are such a dork now eat up so we can get to school or we are gonna be late”

“someone's excited”

“only cause you'll be there with me” He kissed you and drove off,  arriving at the school lot a few mins later. You told him about the welcome table that Jug told you Veronica was setting up and he groaned. You grabbed his hand pulling him inside. You walked in with Sweets and stood next to Toni and Fangs, giving them a hug saying good morning and then went back to holding Sweet Peas hand. Something wasn’t sitting right with you. You knew the bulldogs hated the serpents and you were waiting for something to happen. Veronica started welcoming everyone when Cheryl came down the stairs with Reggie and your heart sank. She started talking some bullshit about how she didn’t want the serpents to drag Riverdale down. Toni got pissed and went at Cheryl. “Why don’t you say that to my face” Fangs grabbed her arm to stop her from going any further but you couldn’t be there. The anxiety started creeping up on you so you pulled Sweet Pea to your level telling him you forgot to do your bio homework and had to go to the lab. You felt his eyes on you as you began to slowly run away. You didn’t have any classes with him until after lunch so luckily you didn’t have to pretend to be alright until then. You walked into the cafeteria and saw all the serpents sitting together. You went and sat next to Pea as you started to unwrap your sandwich. You sat there as they talked picking not really in the mood to eat and Sweets had noticed. He whispered into your ear “baby are you alright?” you looked up at him smiling “yeah... yeah I'm good don’t worry.” he hoped it was enough to convince him but he knew you better than anyone. The bell rang and you went to your next class which went pretty well. Your next period was a free period and you wanted to throw some of your books in your locker before you and Pea went to sit with everyone. You told him you would meet him there but he wanted to be with you so you walked to your locker. When you went to turn down the hallway you saw the sticky note. “oh hey let's just go meet up with everyone I’ll go to my locker later” he looked down at me confused “baby your locker is on the way” He continued to walk. You went to pull the note but he grabbed it before you could. You didn’t want him to know. You had to be strong but it was all becoming too much. He read it “Y/N, what is this?”

“nothing... I don’t know... I get them from time to time no big deal”

“It is a big deal when it says things like this. Who is doing it?”

“I don’t know but don’t worry about it Pea it's fine, really”

“It is not fine” You flinched and he kept apologizing for scaring you. “It’s fine Pea go talk to Toni I'll be right there” You watched the note fall to the ground and Pea walk into the Rec room. You leaned down picking up and started reading. Must be nice to have your snake here with you... he better keep a tight hold on you. You walked into the rec room casually hoping pea hadn’t started anything and you saw him in front of Toni talking. You walked up to them and Toni grabbed your hand to tell you it was alright. You flinched at the touch slightly not expecting it and she looked at you with sadness in her eyes. You told her you were fine and then you heard Weatherbee come in telling everyone to follow him. You all did and you saw the snake painted on the ground. “What serpent did this” Veronica stood next to you scoffing and you decided to stand up “wow Reggie could you be more transparent” he went to go at you but Pea stepped in front of you. Weatherbee held Reggie back and said “From now on there will be no serpent jackets, all tattoos must be covered. Any gang paraphernalia will result in immediate expulsion” I was pissed, to say the least, he couldn’t do that. “Principal Weatherbee that is ridiculous. The serpents are happy to be here they wouldn’t do something like this just because they wear leather jackets does not mean they are bad people” Weatherbee spoke telling everyone to get to class and he left. Reggie spoke right after he left as we were about to walk away “Yeah way for the serpent slut to stand up for her snake” Sweet Pea went to move but you held onto his hand telling him to stop. He couldn't the one thing he always promised was to protect you. “Reggie no one talks to my girl like that. Understand?”. You still were standing looking at Sweet Pea “Yeah and what are you gonna do about it snake?” you ran not thinking and Toni followed. You asked her to take you to the Wyrm and she did.

You sat at the Wyrm thinking of all the things that Pea could have done to Reggie. Part of you was happy maybe the notes would stop. You knew Reggie had to be behind it but the other part of you was having a panic attack you hated fighting especially when it was the people you love. It scared the shit out of you. Luckily only a few people were in the bar seeing as it was only 2. Toni saw it in your eyes and tried to talk to you. You could hear her but it was muffled you made it out but couldn’t respond. Fangs texted her saying that Sweets didn’t fight Reggie. He let it go saying he wouldn’t fight in front of you. Apparently, he had gone all through the school looking for you and was freaking out because he didn’t know where you were. You told Toni not to tell him. To act like you were fine when he came to the bar and she did. You watched Sweets bust through the bar doors as you took a sip of your beer. “Holy shit... Y/N you're okay… I looked for you through the entire school I didn’t know where you went” you laughed at him and responded trying to play it off “yeah pea I’m fine I just didn’t wanna see Reggie get his ass beat. I gotta go do homework though...you can finish my beer. Call me later okay.” You got up to walk outside and he said he would come with you but FP stopped him telling him they had a job to go on. Pea looked to you and back to FP but the look FP gave him told him not to argue. He gave you a kiss on the lips and your forehead before letting you go.

You started the walk back to your trailer when you felt someone following you so you ran. The person got closer though so you took the brass knuckles out of your pocket that  Pea gave and put them on. It caught them in the shoulder and they grabbed their arm. You always had a good aim with knives. They lunged towards you and you caught them in the jaw with your brass Knuckles Pea gae you for your birthday. They caught you once in the lip but other than that you were fine. You kept punching until you knew they were knocked out, and you ran as fast as you could to your trailer your breathing heavy.

You got to your trailer and just sat on your bed not able to move. You wanted to text Pea but you knew he was on a job and you didn’t want him to know what was going on. You sat there in a panic partially about the person who followed you, partially about the serpents finding out you hurt someone, and partially about Pea being on a job and you not knowing if he was safe. You didn’t want to talk to anyone. The serpent's had a code. You didn’t hurt anyone unless they tried to hurt you and technically the guy didn’t you went at him first. I mean he scared you but that was it. They would never let you be a serpent now it was over.

The last two weeks had been so tough but everything was collapsing in. You tried to sleep but couldn’t you didn’t know if he was alright and before you could you needed to know.  You got the text from Pea saying him and FP were alright and they were driving home. You knew it was a matter of time before he found out but you were so tired, you couldn’t stay in your house so you went to the Quarry and slept on the couch that the young serpents kept there. You knew he would check your trailer first. You couldn't face him.

The next morning you woke up at 5am with a text from Pea asking where you were. You got a text from Toni a half hour later saying Pea was freaking out because you weren’t at your house. She was begging you to tell her where you were. You knew Pea would come to the Quarry next so you walked to school. You knew someone would text him that you were there or he would find you somehow... he always did.

[spaceorphan18]

Finding Kurt Hummel: A Wedding

Masterpost

6x08: A Wedding

It’s kind of fitting that I’m writing this on the weekend that Darren and his lovely long time girlfriend/fiancee Mia are getting married.  It’s also Love, Love, Love week in the TDB rewatch, and I mean Valentine’s Day weekend (but eh I’ve never cared about that.)  

Anyway! ..  Alright guys - we’re here! The culmination of the entire Klaine arc -- right here and...  Alright, let’s be honest, this episode is, well, lacking.  Personally, I think they could have added another hour to the episode - fleshed out the reunion just a tad more, given Blaine’s mom an actual story, and maybe not tie Klaine and Brittana in a nice bow together (personally - Klaine eloping would have been an interesting route).  

But this is Glee.  And it was more interested in being propaganda for gay marriage.  And hey!! I’m totally here for all the gay marriage, and LGTB rights -- yes let’s do that!! But here... they sacrificed organic story for their message, which is mostly why I think this episode is disappointing.  It kind of forgot about the heart of the characters

High-End Barn Wedding

So - we kick off the episode with Wedding Planner!Kurt... so for all of you who wished Kurt had planned his own wedding, well -- he mostly did.  Actually, Artie is supposed to be the one who’s the wedding planner - but what has he really done?  Really? It seems fitting that Kurt would take over the job. 

While I don’t hate this episode (or even feel as disappointed by it) the way some of you do -- there are a few things I am sad we didn’t get with Klaine’s impromptu wedding shenanigans.  I would have loved to have seen some kind of bachelor party shenanigans -- complete with a return of Cooper to crash either Blaine’s or Kurt’s weddings.  I mean - how much fun would that have been?? Not to say that later, Cooper didn’t show up and throw some bachelor parties anyway after they got married. ;) 

So, here’s my first issue with the episode.  Kurt has a whole scene where he tries to calm down Brittany cause she’s freaking out and projecting her anxiety about getting married onto the little details of the barn set up.  (Huh - totally wish we could have seen pre-wedding neurotic Kurt, too.)  Kurt’s calm and collected and gets things going.  

Okay, what frustrates me is that in the script - IN THE SCRIPT - there’s a moment where Brittany lingers on more about Kurt and his called-off wedding, and Kurt gets a little dreamy about the wedding planning, etc, etc -- and honestly, this one section would have fixed, like, 90% of my issues.  See -- narratively speaking - Kurt needs a reason, a catalyst to run off and go see Blaine.  He doesn’t have one in the episode, which makes the whole reunion feel out of nowhere and jarring.  -- Likewise, in Love, Love, Love - the reunion was slightly out of nowhere, but at they at least alluded to it in a few lines and slightly set it up at the end of season 4.  

But this time around, episode 7, being totally Blaine focused doesn’t have room to give Kurt his ‘ah-ha!’ moment.  Which means there’s a link that’s not there.  It was in the script... and then they cut it out.  Why?? I don’t understand.  

So, if they didn’t want to go that dreamy over a wedding thing - they could have also give Brittany the chance to tell Kurt about Blaine and Karofsky splitting up -- which would also be a catalyst and cause Kurt to start running.  Mostly, though, this episode just isn’t well written.  **shrugs** 

Anyway - we get some awkward jokes from Brittany about Kurt’s ‘boyfriend’ being older than his dad.  Which is - ew.  But also I really don’t think Kurt is considering Walter his boyfriend, especially since Kurt just kinda doesn’t even acknowledge the comment.  Meanwhile, to prove this episode is just awkwardly written - there’s a joke in here where Brittany doesn’t know that Burt Hummel is Kurt’s dad.  But the set up is that Kurt calls his dad by his first name -- which he’s never done... ever.  Who would say their parents’ name instead of saying -- hey my dad could help?  

The details of this episode are... just not good, which is truly the unfortunate thing.  

Run, Kurt, Run

So -- without any kind of set-up this scene feels... well... a little awkward, so let’s pretend Kurt has reason to feel that he and Blaine are actually going to the wedding together (there’s nothing missing from the script that sets it up either, btw.)  

Basically - he’s doing the mature thing of telling Walter first that it’s over -- not that there was much to end, honestly.  Obviously, he’s been talking to Walter about the Brittana wedding - enough so that Walter thinks they’re getting tuxes or something, (he’s really kind of assuming here) but Kurt says straight up - no, he’s going with Blaine.  And the subtext here is --- hey it’s been fun, but I’m totally getting back together with my ex -- as if I haven’t talked about him enough, he totally kissed me, like, a week ago, and I came back here to get him, and I think we’re ready to be ‘on’ again, so you’re a nice dude, Walter - but I’m going in the direction I’m supposed to be.  

Walter doesn’t seem shocked or surprised or even hurt that this is all going down.  We get a lovely speech about young love and how Kurt should feel lucky that he gets to be in his youth to experience young (gay) love.  And, I mean.... it’s a nice speech and all, but it feels more like older gay talking to younger gay about how he wishes he could have been wiser in his youth to run towards love.  And an other example where the episode leans in to the idea of ‘gay marriage good’ rather than showing us how it can be good by organically letting these couples have their moments.  Oh show... 

The part I do like about Walter’s speech, however, is the advice he gives Kurt (which is actually similar to Brittany’s only taken in a different direction).  He tells Kurt to go live, get hurt, get back up again, hang on to love, and, well, god I’m going to say it, don’t stop believing.  And it almost feels like this is something that Kurt’s been waiting to hear for a while -- this kid has placed a protective shield around his heart for a long, long, long time now and he’s ready to be fully open with it again.  He’s ready to let Blaine in fully -- and this is the reason I’m fine with the wedding being so soon after the reunion (even if the narrative is super awkward).  

This whole journey from mid-season three to now has been about growing up, and figuring out how to be adults in love, and understanding that being in an adult relationship is different than the fairy tale their relationship started out being.  And I love that concept -- love it! Even if I think how they told it is bumpy, awkward, and lacking a few key moments.  

So -- in a mirror to the scene where Blaine and Karofsky split up (yeah - this “break up” is definitely the same kind of sentiment) Kurt starts running to go find Blaine... 

Alright - so while this little reunion scene is rushed, I do like the urgency of it.  From the moment Kurt runs in the door - he’s all, I love you, I’ve always loved you, I want and need you -- right now.  He’s anxious - because he’s completely being emotionally honest right now -- and that’s not something Kurt really ever does.  Blaine’s a little shocked at this development - but he’s been ready, too, so hey let’s just confirm we’re back together and call it good.  (And yes, they probably had sex right then and there with the door open - because TV logic, but also because they just need to be with each other right now, and the talky stuff can wait until after the physical release.) 

So.  This idea that they get back together without solving their issues... here’s what I want to say about that.  First of all -- Kurt has his one line of -- ‘I know everything was a mess before but now it’s not’.  And, yeah, that does kind of wallpaper over things nicely - but I’ll argue that it’s also true.  They had to work a lot on themselves this time around and they did that (mostly between season 5 and 6, actually).  Kurt -- who sometimes runs away from the emotionally difficult situations (he broke it off with Blaine because he feared emotionally difficult would lead to something that can’t be fixed) has now run back into Blaine’s arms, knowing well that his heart will get bruised in what will be their long relationship -- but like the advice he gave to Blaine last season, it’s about trust, and he trusts himself that it’ll be okay.  

Look - they’re always going to have issues, because every couple does.  They’re always going to have things to work on and work through -- because that’s real.  They aren’t two kids in a fairy tale relationship anymore, they’re two adults understanding what being in an adult relationship really means.  And yeah, Glee could have fleshed this moment out, could have Kurt and/or Blaine explicitly say that - but you know? They really didn’t need to.  

They fixed themselves in the early episodes of this season, the elevator gave them their friendship back, along with the ability to be with each other in an enclosed space, and Transitioning demonstrated that the spark is (as it always was) still there.  So all they had to do was ditch the plot devices boyfriends and commit to each other.  

And I do love this little moment, as Blaine just is like ‘fuck it’ and goes in for the kiss.  While Kurt relaxes into his arms, finally able to reach the goal he set out for himself in the beginning of the season.  My only “issue” with this scene is that they could have let it breath a little longer -- let the kiss be a little longer as they begin to enjoy each other again.  But because this is Glee, and five million things going on, it’s cut away from very quickly.  

American Gothic

So - according to, um, something this cute little moment was just Chris and Darren screwing around.  I’m not gonna meta Klaine and American Gothic (the name of the famous painting in case you didn’t know.)  

Instead - I’ll take a moment to talk about Blaine’s mom.  Again, in the script, more stuff about her -- the reason she’s there was to do Brittana’s make-up (and, you know, be apart of the the mom’s group number).  It’s hinted that Blaine’s dad left her and Cooper says hi.  Geez.  I also think it’s super weird that she hasn’t met Carol -- but did the writers give a shit? Nope, I just feel bad for Gina Gershon who is a lovely actress and they could have done so much with her, but instead do virtually nothing.  I mean she and Blaine don’t even get a scene together.  Ah well.  

This scene is also, well, awkwardly written.  Does Burt not know that they’re back together? (I find that hard to believe.)  The prep work for this scene just don’t make much sense.  Okay -- who was this written by? Hmm staff writer Ross Maxwell who’s been there since season three.  He wrote Dance With Somebody, but also Previously Unaired Christmas and Sweet Dreams.  This was directed by Bradley Beucker who did a lot of the big Klaine episodes, so I can’t even place fault there.  Idk - this episode’s details are just so jarringly off, and there’s enough of them that it does take me out of the story a little bit. 

Alright, so beyond my complaining about awkward set ups.  Kurt gets told for the second time in fifteen minutes that he’s got to squeeze life to the fullest.  You can’t predict what’s gonna happen next -- death, hardship, etc, etc, so live your best life, whatever that might be.  Burt (hilariously) blames his philosophizing on there being a wedding, but Glee’s season 6 meta kick is still firmly here.  

The thing I love about Kurt here though as he listens to his dad (and Carole) ramble on... he’s so happy and relaxed and reflective.  Being together with Blaine again has just put his life back on track again.  He is where he’s supposed to be and for the first time since the season started - he’s smiling and wistful and I love this kind of zen Kurt.  But he’s also paying attention to his dad, too.  This is all obvious set up for Kurt’s decision to get married on the spot, but it’s a nice sentiment, too -- that yeah, take a leap of faith - because you never know how long you’ll have the chance to do so. 

Legit Brittan-emergency

I like the first few seconds of this scene - where they’re just casually chatting about the wedding while holding hands.  They’ve been (nicely) not separated since they got back together, and I like this underlying theme that they want to have close physical contact as much as possible cause they missed quite a lot of that over the summer.  

Anyway - Sue storms in and ruins the moment - and they aren’t playing dumb again! They won’t be getting locked in an elevator in a barn in Indiana so Sue can force them to have sex.  Nope - that’s for the fic writers ;) 

She’s got something else in mind... 

Hey... at least she used the their season 6 (?) promo pics and not the creepy version she had in her hurt locker.  It’s hard to say when Brittany got involved.  I’d say the moment Sue walked in with the tuxes and the stand-ups.  But Brittany claims she had this figured out while planning the wedding - which explains her kinda weird passive-aggressive attitude towards Kurt in the first scene, but since half of it was on the cutting room floor, it’s hard to buy here.  But, you know, Santana’s gonna be okay with it and Brittany stops time with her mind, so you can figure the timeline out yourselfs on that one.  

So, let’s break this down a little, shall we?  After Brittany gets through her rambling about Klaine being role models (sure...) Sue jumps in and continues to break the fourth wall.  Yeah -- she manipulated and kidnapped them, but she is... not us in this instant, but the writers.  Because that’s what writers do -- we torture our characters so that they can have the happy ending we want to give them.  

However, the Doylist view is not a favorite among many, so I’ll say - I’m not excusing Sue for her behavior.  Don’t manipulate and kidnap people... it’s not nice and can be pretty hurtful.  So - no, I’m not condoning Sue’s actions -- just explaining how Sue’s outside the narrative completely at this point.  

I know a lot of people didn’t like this whole idea of Kurt (and Blaine) being what feels like forced to get married.  And I will say this -- no one was forced to get married.  No one was coerced.  And had the script done its job correctly (I mean it tried - within the Walter and Burt speeches respectively) Kurt (and Blaine) being thrown an impromptu wedding would have felt much more organic.  But this is Glee... in a world where real life rules don’t always apply.   

I will say... had Kurt not wanted to - he would have flat out said no.  No one has ever pushed Kurt Hummel around, least of all Sue and Brittany.  In no way, shape, or form did anyone force Kurt to get married.  And I really would like to make that clear -- there’s always a choice.  

So - here’s the thing... Kurt’s mind is spinning.  Things like this, this is crazy.  His entire life, he’s tried to plan out to be perfect, and it’s always kind of blown up in his face.  At the same time, life has always made him struggle, and now he gets the chance to have something nice -- and that’s... unexpected in the least.  

Let’s hear his arguments...  

This is crazy -- because it is.  Who shares their wedding with someone else just for the hell of it? No one - because that is ridiculous. 

He and Blaine just got back together -- but Kurt isn’t that concerned about this part of it, because he does know he and Blaine are forever.  He’s beginning to get giddy with the idea here, but no - logic still prevails. It’s not that he and Blaine just got back together that’s the issue... it’s that Santana wouldn’t let them. But, eh, no, Santana’s gonna let things go cause plot.  

He then says the following... It’s romantic.  Sweet.  And a little weird.  Not -- I hate this idea.  Not, it’s not going to work.  Not, I don’t like these kind of surprises and I feel threatened.  No, he’s smiling and excited and his mind is reeling at the prospect.  He’s trying to be (semi-)logical about this, but his big, romantic heart is winning out.  

Kurt says there’s no possible way they can get married, and looks to Blaine for confirmation... 

Meanwhile, Blaine’s in the background.  He’s a little timid, because he’s the one who never stopped wanting to be married.  His only line is (lamely) about the rings, which Sue has covered.  Honestly, I would have asked about the marriage license, but I’m sure Sue has one of those already forged as well.  

But the thing is - when it comes down to it, Blaine’s ready -- he’s always been ready, and he’s just waiting for Kurt to finally, finally say yes.  We get them holding hands, as Blaine stutters his way through an awkward speech.  And then we cut to commercial....

Ug.  

No really, why did this have to be an act break cliffhanger? Again, this writing! You could have had Blaine give a nice speech about being ready, and just waiting for Kurt and being okay with whatever they choose to do... and then Kurt could say that he does, indeed want to be married to Blaine.  It’d have been a nice romantic moment here that... well, is no left to fanfic writers, I suppose.  I also think it might have helped give Kurt some agency some felt he was lacking in this scene.  

In addition, there is a nice wrap around moment - Kurt says in the series premiere during the break up scene - maybe he doesn’t want to get married.  Now he’s faced with that choice again, and it comes full circle.  Well... maybe in fact, he does... 

I will say... the end of the scene, Kurt’s not scared Blaine will say he wants to get married and he’ll be forced into it.  He wants to see if Blaine really does, because if he does -- Kurt’s given his choice.  He’s scared, but also thrilled, because he could be given a pass to indulge on this huge romantic moment. 

At Last 

The moment Kurt comes on screen, we know his choice has been made, and look how he has this happy-drunk look on his face.  As soon as Blaine said (off screen) that he wants to be married, Kurt probably snapped to and bam! let the romance happy-times begin.  He knows -- based on all his previous experiences - that marriage won’t be an easy thing.  He does.  But now is their time to have a wonderful and lovely start to their marriage (and free!!) why not take this leap? 

Anyway, I kind of love that he gets to walk with Brittany.  They’ve got an interesting history together - and are both special unicorns, and I love that they get this little aisle walking moment together.  

Meanwhile - let’s talk about the song At Last, beautifully sung by Mercedes and Artie.  Klaine’s season 6 story, again being told not in songs that they’ve sung.  This song is very them - and was originally going to be used during their car makeout session back in I Do, but I’m glad they saved it for here.  It does fit Klaine, Brittana, and the whole gay marriage thing nicely.  

Look at this bb waiting for his future husband to walk up the aisle.  Again, I love how happy Kurt is! How relaxed! He even looks younger in this scene, because, c’mon, when’s the last time he’s been /this/ happy??  (Totally, btw, not the face of someone who doesn’t really want to be up there ;)) Kurt Hummel is getting married - and he is fucking excited about every last ounce of it.  

Burt’s Speech = Gay Marriage Good and worth fighting for!!  (I’m so glad they legalized it the summer after this was out) 

I do like that in Burt’s speech, however, he does mention, again, some sentiments he did back in Love, Love, Love -- marriage is freakin’ hard.  But it’s worth it if you keep working at it.  

Oh - which probably brings me to another issue people had.  All season Kurt keeps reiterating that they’re too young to get married.  (And yeah, ngl, they are - and I really didn’t need this in my Klaine story)  But two thoughts on this  

1 - Kurt was holding on to the too young thing as an excuse for the other issues they were having... yeah, he didn’t want Finchel to get married because they were too young, but also definitely not ready.  Kurt’s been through a ton, and at this moment, knows he and Blaine are committed to each other, so why not make it official -- especially since they are gay, and now can get married, it is a big deal.  

2. I’ve talked a lot about Klaine being a fairy tale - and, while I don’t believe the story stops once you get married, and also believe Klaine was spiritually married back in Love, Love, Love, their story remains being framed as a fairy tale, and this is the happy ending, so narratively, it does all make sense. 

The vows.  Yeah, um, okay.  So - my biggest issue here is that they’re all spliced together.  This speech, kind of, doesn’t work - I mean, Santana says she’s been bullied? Really? They’re trying to tie both narratives together and tie that in with the theme of ‘gay marriage good’ and ug, c’mon.  They could have nicely had one couple go and then the other, and it could have been a little more personalized.  But whatever.  

I will say! I think Kurt has the best lines, though.  I love, love that he talks about being someone who always walked in the dark, and that Blaine did not force him into the light, but tore the stuff down that covered the sun.  It’s really a beautiful notion - and one that says just how much Kurt loves, appreciates, and wants Blaine in his life.  He’s always walked on his path on his own, but he doesn’t want to be alone anymore - Blaine is vital to him, and he always wants Blaine there to help him through.  

I also like the sentiment that they’re a work in progress.  It’s a nice nod to the fact that it isn’t the end of the story (while it is mostly for Klaine and absolutely for Brittana).  

(Also - possibly shallow side note - Chris and Darren are just way better actors than Naya and especially Heather, and putting them side by side is a little jarring, too.  Oops.) 

Because touch and holding hands has always been a part of their narrative... 

Old Marrieds... 

Happy Big-Ass Double Gay Wedding! 

Was it everything you ever wanted? Meh, no, but I’ve never been a fan of weddings in general - and nothing was gonna be able to top the proposal anyway.  This is where the whole double wedding with a theme of social progression got in the way - because I think it stripped both couples (a little) of their own personalized story.  But it was fine, and did what it needed to do.  And Klaine got their happily ever after. 

OTP

Yes, Kurt’s face is how I feel about (most of) the rest of the episode.  We could have gotten a nice moment between Blaine and his mom - instead we get a full minute of Brittany’s dad being awkward and weird and unnecessary.  

So, then Santana goes into this whole speech about OTPs.  Omg... I know some people got uncomfortable with the fourth wall breaking in The Hurt Locker (both parts) but here I get a little squicky.  Who uses otp in real life? And Santana has hats, god... 

But, that aside, Kurt’s face is loving and happy when Santana mentions that he and Blaine have found each other - and it’s sweet and nice.  And... omg, you can tell they’re back together again because to the background my lovely couple -- we’re playing by season 3 rules again! 

No, okay my biggest issue -- bigger than the whole they don’t really get a first dance thing - is that they don’t get a moment to reflect -- at all -- about getting married.  And this is kind of a trend -- they get together in Original Song, do they really get to reflect on that? Eh.. not really.  What about their first time in The First Time?? Nope - they don’t speak about sex again for a long, long time.  What about getting engaged??? Eh, not really anything on that -- so I shouldn’t expect anything.  But man - it would have been nice if they had one private moment together just so they can have that one private moment together to revel in the fact that they are married and together-together.  

(so, now we’re to two scenes this episode is missing for Klaine - shoulda been a two hour long episode...) 

Instead of anything meaningful, we’re going to have songs now because we’re contractually obligated at this point to do something in this music-related show.  (god, does this episode shoehorn in the music).  I am kinda laughing at HeYa, though, cause it’s so, so meta.  I’m also incredibly glad there was never a song Called CrissColfer.  

Why didn’t Kurt, Blaine or Santana get to dance during this song though? Boo...At least they’re in the background...?  Oh wait, they do at the end? And Blaine kinda dances with his mom, while Kurt dances with Carol? I mean, it’s kinda cute, but I’m still rolling my eyes a little. 

And then we get more songs! This time the Treble Tones bring up the Moms for - I’m So Excited. I mean, I get it - if you’re gonna have Gloria Estefan on and not have her sing, it’s a bit ridiculous.  But, ngl, I’m a little bored by this one.   And it’s essentially two in a row (though the unnecessary Tina proposes to Mike plot happens in between).  Kurt freaking out over Carole going crazy is kinda cute, but not enough to help the second half of this episode from being bogged down in musical numbers that feel obligatory. 

We close out the reception-of-no-plot with Our Day Will Come.  I like the little intro, where Kurt gets giddy about calling Blaine his ‘husband’.  And it’s a sweet thank you to Brittany and Santana for letting them do the thing.  But..  

Okay, this is where I would have wanted, maybe... a more romantic song, sung by someone else, so that Klaine could slow dance.  That was, like, the one thing I wanted in the second half of the episode, and I didn’t get it.  I am a little sad about it.  But at least they get to sing and look lovingly at each other?  

This song is... fine.  I’m surprised they hadn’t done this particular quartet before.  It’s got a nice 60′s island beach theme going on.  And it’s... again... a gay marriage = good song.  It’s not really about Klaine or Brittana, it’s about gay people getting married.  And - really, I promise, I am so happy that everyone is now able to get married here in the U.S.  I want all the gay rights (and all the rest of the letters, too).   But, c’mon, guys, you can sell that without being explicit -- these characters meant enough to enough people that just by them getting married and having a normal and organic way of things, it would have sold your message just fine without having to hit us over the head again with it.  

There is a little bit of the lyrics I’d like to pull out though... 

Kurt with Blaine: Our dreams have magic Because we'll always stay In love this way

If you’d like to know how the writers think this romance will play out... well, then, there ya go... and the show’s now over, so this is the way they’ll always be in our hearts.  :) 

The Gender Gentle AnderHummels

So, this is perhaps my favorite scene in the episode, and not just because of Kurt in that Kitten sweater.   I think it’s because it’s the only scene in the episode that breathes a little, and allows both couples not to be saddled with the weight of carrying a HUGE MESSAGE of a VERY SPECIAL EPISODE - but about these two couples being themselves.  It’s also the only time we really get to see Married Klaine interacting outside the tiny bit we get in the series finale.  

Sue’s there to give them their honeymoon packages -- (oh Sue, meddling still in their plans...) And it’s okay that you guys only get a weekend versus Britanna’s month in the Bahamas... Brittana doesn’t get any more screen time, and you guys only get your one episode off.  So, there’s that.  

But then we get this little tag at the end (complete with season 2 scoring!) where Klaine and Brittana get a moment to themselves.  I like that Blaine says that he can’t believe they got married, while Kurt is totally not fazed by that at all, and instead is amazed they survived the reception.   (I’m sure the two of them snuck out early)  

But then there’s this moment, where Kurt reaches behind him, automatically, for Blaine’s hand and they both look so, so happy.  There was a big post going around for a while with intensive meta on it about this single moment, and man, I wish I could remember what it said, because it probably summarized it much better than I can.  Beyond the whole hand holding thing -- again, the two are just so comfortable with each other - having found each other, and having made a life long commitment.  

And, here’s why I think getting married wasn’t such a bad thing for this narrative.  The ring is a symbol.  And that somewhat toxic downward cycle the two of them can get into now gets reversed.  Blaine is secure in his relationship, and of being loved, as well as being able to be out on his own, not relying on Kurt entirely, and because of that, he doesn’t get clingy or insecure, which in turn gives Kurt the breathing room he needs, and when Kurt is feeling not closed in, he becomes affectionate and open and will continue to reach for Blaine’s hand, and marriage is a reminder (to both) that they have to keep on working because they’ve made the commitment.  (This was a horribly worded paragraph, sorry)  

But my point is - they are now secure as individuals and secure in their relationship, and while, yes, I needed a few more scenes to flesh out and have the story make full sense, I’m happy to have this last scene that kind of encompasses everything together and puts the nice bow on it.  They are both so, so happy and relaxed and in love in this scene, and it’s amazing because of it.  

And yes - Brittany will probably call them on their anniversary every year (I kinda love the meta of that -- that Klaine and Brittana are always tied together now), but they’ll probably only see each other once every five-ish years or so.  Their lives will go on and they’ll grow up further and away from each other.  But, their love is all tied up together, and it’s a happy moment for both couples.  

So yeah, that’s the wedding episode! It feels... slightly anticlimactic for as big as the series long story was -- but you know, even with all the scenes I’d have wanted in it, I’m not sure if it’d ever had been fully satisfying.   And, you know, it’s true what they say about it being about the journey not just the ending.  But, you know, they still got married, and the story still is something we’re talking about, and I still love that it kind of marries the idea of the fairy tale with a real relationship.   

And, I’m a little sorry this is the end for Brittana, because it does feel, in a lot of ways, like a penultimate episode.  Brittana is now done (which is another reason I think they got the bulk of the episode) but Klaine’s story has room for a little more in the final episodes - and I’m glad they get to have their nice little coda.  

[faangirl101]

Reunited, volume one, Tom holland x reader

REUNITED MASTERLIST

Pairing: Tom holland x reader

marvelousimaginesforyou asked: Hi! Can you Write a Tom Holland Imagine where the Reader and him met when they were twelve and he was fifteen, they haven‘t seen each other since, then they come on set or meets him and the others at a Bar, and it becomes obvious that he trinke they’ve become very hot (Reader 18 Tom 21) and the Reader thinks the same about him and the other actors Tease Tom about it until he asks the reader out?

Author note: I hope you like it, if you want to be on the taglist message me and stay cool. Sorry for grammer btw

“How did you even get a job there?”, Iza asked while grabbing the cigarette package from her back pocket. The smile covering my face the whole day just grew “pure accident, i was walking past my old teacher, you know miss Andrews, and she told me they were hiring extras to play in this movie. Her husband is shooting this huge movie,  for marvel”. Iza smacked her lips together “wow, big shot, how much to you get”. I shrugged looking past the rooftop at the sky painted in purple and blue. “You know”, Iza brought a cigarette to her ajar lips “i think this is a big opportunity for you”. I roll my eyes even if i can't help but to feel my heart beat harder “come on, Izzy, its not like i have a line”. She protected the flame of the lighter with her hand as she lit her cig. “I know”, she dragged in a sharp breath of the smoke “but all actors start small”. I rest my head on top of her shoulder as i smack my heel against the wall beneath me. I shrugged again as i dragged in a breath of her shirt. Smoke and the free peppermints from her work. “I'm excited for you”, Izzy dropped the small amount of paper from the cig that was left. I watch it wander around the air like a leaf stuck in a storm, before being put out and swallowed by the ground under us. “Yeah”, I yawned as i buried myself deeper in her shoulder an closed my eyes “you should”. She chuckled and brought a string out of my face. And with her hand stroking my hair, i fell asleep there on the rooftop in my best friends arms.   

  “Tom?”, i asked in surprise “is that you?”. Tom chuckled, his hand stroking down his spider man hoodie “the one and only”. I yelped out of happiness and wrapped my arms around his neck. He smelled like i remembered, like nana's homemade chocolate chip cookies and the axe spray he stole from his dad. “I thought”, i stammered as i met his brown eyes “i thought you were moving before summer break”. He smiled, shoving of the aperture  between his front teeth “My mom said we were going to stay for summer break, Spend the last summer with nana before moving up state”.  A sadness hugged my heart tightly again, making it almost hard to breath. I tried to hold back tears as i ran into his arms again “i.. i don't want you to leave, Tommy, please don't leave”.  He buried his face in my braided hair, pretending he didn't have a wetness threatening behind his eyes as well. He was fifteen for god's sake, he wasn't supposed to cry about…  a twelve year old girl…. Even if it was y/n, his nanas neighbor  that he grown to love since the first time he met her. Well he didn't like-like her, that would be weird, but she was like a sister to him in the end of the day. “Trust me”, he whispered against her new pierced ear “i don't want to leave… but we are always going to be friends… We can send letters!”. I nod, still afraid to let the hug go. We only had summer break together until he was gone… maybe he would visit nana once in a while, but he was probably not going to wanna hang out with me when he turned 16. I was still just a kid in his eyes. A tear slipped down my cheek, wetting his hoodie “please don't stop liking me”. He kissed my forehead sweetly “never”.

“Big day”, i mumbled or myself as i walked into the huge building. I was mentally preparing myself. I just turned 18, just graduated, just rented a small apartment with Izzy and just got my first legit small job. Well, it was only for like a week, but was still bigger than anything i had before. I just couldn't mess this up, i wouldn't… right? “All extras, get to the building c”, i hear a man voice echoed through the speakers in the corner of the building. People are moving hurried around be, dragging around costumes and wagons. My heart was beating loud in my ears as i felt anxiety grow in my throat. Where the fuck was building C then? I should ask somebody. “Excuse me, sir”, i mumbled to one of the huge guys at the building centre “building c?”. He smiled at me, turning his entire face to a baby's one as he pointed behind me. “Thank you so much!”, i gave him the nicest smile i had as i grasped on to the bag at my side. Everything was going to be fine, nothing was going to go wrong. I tried convincing myself as much as i could while trying to control my trembling hands. “Are you an extra?”, someone asked behind me and i turned around. A small girl, at least a head shorter than me, smiled at me. I nodded as my mouth suddenly felt to dry to speak. “That way” she nodded against a big group of people sitting at benches put up like a square in the middle of the room. “Thanks”, i whispered with barely even moving my lips as i moved towards the benches. It calmed my rapid heartbeat when i saw that everybody was equally nervous as me, bobbing their legs upside down and looking around with flickering eyes. I sat down, crossing my legs while slowly leaning back.There was a lot of people here, most of them around my age, and i suddenly felt more calm. I blended in here, everything was going to okay. It passed a good half hour of me scrolling through my phone while biting my lip nervously. Another 10m minutes passed and i could almost taste everybody's anxiety in the room. Finally, after 10 more minutes, the short girl stopped in the middle of the square before clapping her hands together. The sudden sound was very effective as the entire room fell quiet. “So”, her voice was to dark for her appearance “you are all extras here today. We will tell you later what you should do, but first we should move to where the shooting is taking place. Come with me”. The entire group of people, which most have been at least 30, got up in a hurry. I grasped onto my bag next to me before throwing it over my shoulder. This was going to be awesome. 

“Here”, The short women, who now was wearing a headset covering half of her head, stuck her hand out to me “you there, are you okay with saying a line?”. i felt eyes being turned to me as i swallowed thickly. I had to jump on this opportunity but i… i was honestly scared i wasn't going to be able to speak normally with the lump in my throat. “Yeah”, i smiled, biting the inside of my cheeks hard enough to draw blood. “Great”, she clapped her hand together “all you have to do is hold this handbag and that guy over there will take it from you. All you have to say is ‘hey! he’s robbing me’ and then the cameras are going to be off you so you don't have to so anything. Spiderman is going to return and give back your bag, look thankful and say ‘thanks’. Is that clear? can you do that”. I nodded a little to fast as she looked me up and down judgemental. There's something about the small women i couldn't put my words on. She was like a small flower, delicate and all that until you try to touch it only to get poisoned. “In positions people”, she made a circular motion with her finger as i saw her backside disappear behind the camera crew. My knuckles was turning white from holding the hand bag tightly in my hand. Come on Y/n, its one line, no big deal. “Aaaaaaand”, i heard a clear click, a metal sound falling back into place “shoot”.Calm. I'm calm. With her signal, like dropping meat in front of an animal, i move. Calm. Moving camly. Everything is going to be alright. I could feel the movement of the camera as it followed my posture, but i decided to ignore it. My body was ripped into the action when the man grasped onto my hand bag. My sweaty fingers slipped, leaving me tumbling forward. He pulled a lot harder than i thought, leaving my shoulder arching in pain. Surprised, i turned around to look at everybody around me, did anybody honestly see how hard he pulled. I opened my mouth, stammering over my words “he…. “. I looked back to where the man stood to see him standing outside the shot, his eyes urging me on. Right… the scene. “Hey! he’s robbing me”. My voice come out raspy, almost grabbed in panic as my mouth falls open mostly for effect. Then all the pressure drops from my shoulders as the camera rolls out of my view  to follow the “robber”. My hands are shaking, my lungs pumping our adrenaline to my goosebumped covered skin. Calm. Everything was going to be fine. All panic come rushing back in waves when the camera is turned back on me, standing in the middle of the street. I bet my cheeks are blossomed, maybe even swollen in a blush. In front of me was spiderman. Well, a full grown man, dressed in a awfully tight spiderman costume. i wanted to laugh out loud as i desperately bit my lip to hold it back. I mean, the guy looked good, from where i was standing. Muscles, he probably worked hard for, was clear through the material, and he had a great ass… I blushed even more. Jesus y/n“Miss!”, the man, who actually sounded more like a boy spoke “your bag”. That voice. It was like putting a song on a wrecked vinyl…. i knew the song but it wasn't completely like i remembered it. I couldn't even put a  title on the “song”. I must have seen him in a movie, somewhere, It was familiar, on the back of my tongue desperalty urging me to remember. But nothing. My mind was blank as i continued to stare at the costumed dressed guy. Oh shit, i almost forgot the scene i was shooting. “T-thanks”, i stammered as i reached out for the bag. My hand accidently come in contact with his. The rough material of the suit rub against my fingertips as i look down to hide my blush. He nods to me, stays for a moment in hesitation, then he start to move. I drop the breath weighting on top of my chest. Finally this scene is over. “Wait”, i called without even realizing i opened my mouth “Who are you?”. The guy in the suit turn his head over his shoulder. I can almost see his eyes squeezing shut behind the mask. “I'm ….. um spiderman”, a smile, i guessed as i saw his mask twitch “your friendly neighbourhood spiderman”. I stand still in shock. Was he one of those actors who actually thought he was his character? or was he…My thoughts was interrupted by the small women yelling “and cut”. Cut? oh no. The scene wasn't finished, and i just ruined it with all my “who are you” talk. The guy wasn't weird he was just doing his job and kept character.  The women moved towards me in harsch steps, i felt like a kid in trouble when i saw her eyes. I couldn't judge her emotions, it looked like it was just a mix of everything turning to nothing. “That trick you pulled”, she arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms “not cool, You're just and extra and do as i say, okay? but it was good, and we don't have to reshoot the scene. For this time”. I was stuck in disbelieve and confusing as she leaves me behind here. This was all too much for me to process.

I collected my things, my fingers still shaking. I had to start controlling my emotions, jesus.I was 18 and wanted to work as an actor but couldn't even handle being an extra. I was disappointed in myself, really. “Hey”, the spiderman dude came in view. I sighed and reached up my hand to shake some life in my hair “okay, dude, I know i messed up the scene. M´sorry, i was nervous”. I swear if he looked surprised under the mask, as it moved with his emotions. “Oh no, i think you were great”, he said, his voice clinging in a strong british accent “Mrs Morswin can be quite harsc, if you ask me”. I look him up and down now when i have time to really study him. The suit was tight enough to be spandex, hugging his curves in a way making my blush turn a grisom color. “Thanks”, i let my head roll to the side “You're british”. The way i said it came out as an question even if it was a statement. He nodded before taking something that sounded like a nervous breath “This is a super weird question but do you go to  Bronx High School of Science? I regonzie you, love”. The nickname makes butterflies start to crowd in the depths of my abdomen. I shook my head before biting my lip “london?”. His hand landed on top of the table next to me as he leaned closer to me “southwest of london”. I can't hide my surprise as my my jaw dropped “no way? me to, Im from wimbledon”. I hear a gasp from under the mask as he practically fall from his stance in surprise “That's close to where i grew up ,kingston upon thames.  Wimbledon College, you?”. I smile and throw the bag over my shoulder once again “Ursuline High School, i used to have friends from Wimbledon college”. He leans even closer, and i can practically feel his body heat radiant over to me “no way, who?, maybe i know them”. I open my mouth, just about to answer his question when a loud yell interrupts me. “Tom! we need you on set”, Mrs  Morswin, the short womens, voice echoes through the hall. Tom? Memories hit me like a bus, causing me to grab tightly on to the table for support. The words that been racing at the tip of my tongue finally makes sense. The Spiderman dude was freaking Tom holland. I practically grew up with this guy in front of me. Tom freaking Holland.”Tom”, i whisper for myself but he dont hear it as he turn his head to answer the women. Before i can control my actions i reach out to slowly grasp onto his mask. His head turns to me in surprise as i with shaking fingertips slowly drags the mask of the boys head. The face under the red spandex is painted in shook. His brown curls are finally released and bounce down the side of his face. A pair of familiar chestnut eyes makes eye contact with me and it looks like, both of our eyes blow up in regonizment. “Tommie?”, i shriek, my voice breaking of excitement. “Y/n?”, He asked, still unsure like if he really can't see its me. My heart aches and i can practically feel tears coming. tom holland got pretty, really pretty. His eyes was the same, glistening with joy in a childlike way. But he rest of him? got so much better. The space between his front teeth was long gone and ws now a white perfect smile. His body, which i already kind of studied through his suit, got ripped. His abs was well visible through the tight material as well as the bugle in his pants. I never thought the day where i was attracted to my childhood friend would come but, here we are. I step into his arms, the suit rubbing against my tank top. My head rests on top of his chest, right under his shoulder. He smells like…. like cologne and…. nanas cookies. He still smells like nanas cookies. I bury my face in the crook of his neck, my arms wrapped around his body prisoning it close to mine. “Y/n”, he mumbles as he embrace me and breath out the breath he's been holding since the removal of his mask. “You still smell like nana's cookies”, i mumble, not even sure why i said it out loud. He lets out a breathless laugh, his entire body vibrating against mine. “bloody hell”, his hand caress my spine through my shirt “i miss those”. Even if my body screams in disappointment i let go of his warm body. We both look in eachothers eyes and for a moment it doesn't feel like its been 6 years since the last time i saw him”. He smiles at me, an adorable smile which lights up his entire face. “Tom”, i look him up and down even if i know he sees it “you got ripped, lad”. He laughs again, purely just like when we were kids “yeah, the bollock up in  marvel want me to look like the bloody rock. And you… y/n, you look really…. gorgeous”. A blush, the strongest one today, took over my face and well…. my entire body. I smiled, showing my teeth at the same time. “Well”, i look down at my feet “it's been six years”. “yeah”, he muttered under his breath while weighting forward and backward on his heels. We stood there, in a silence so pushing it felt like i was just becoming smaller and smaller ever second passing. “well”, he finally broke the silence “i have to go, have another scene to shoot for today. But, here, put in your number”. He fished up his phone from his back where he'd been hiding it. He reached it out for me after in a hurry unlocking it. I saw the background he had of him and a blue staffy. I loved pitbull dogs. And i loved dudes with dogs, so this was just great. I took the phone from his and “accidentally”, touched his hand in the process. From the back of my mind i tapped down my phone number under the contact “y/n, cute girl from your nanas next door”. He chuckled at the name as he closed the phone with the familiar clicking sound. “So”, he smiled one last time “i hope i'll see you around?”. I nodded, completely lost for words. He nodded one last time as he started to walk away. I let out the nervous breath i'm been holding for the passed seconds. Was i really over here catching feeling for a guy i haven't talked to in 6 years. I saw the posture of his spiderman suit stop, standing its place. Then, in the matter of seconds, so fast i can't understand what's happening, he's back in front of me. “I missed you y/n”, he mumbles, his eyes flicking over my face likes he’s savouring every detail. The last thing he does before taking off down the hall is leaning forward to press a chaste kiss on top of my forehead. Then… with that i see him disappear from my sight, getting smaller and smaller like an ant. My hand automatically end up on my forehead where Toms kiss was placed. My finger trace the mark of his lips as i can feel my heart beating faster. I was falling in love with Tom holland, and there was absolutely nothing i could to about it.

[randomnameless]

Chapter 10 - Chronos to Miletos!

Welp in the last post i said Seliph ended up in Chronos, but no, he rekt’d Morrigan in Rados (even if i think you’re supposed to seize Chronos last?).

Anyways, after destroying evil people, Seliph meets his half-bro who’s playing the latest trendy game around.

But first, Seliph’s stepdad tries to do something.

Oldvis hasn’t seen Ishtar in ages! Naturally he asks how she’s doing.

kill that, it was just small talk. And, oh, surprise, Oldvis doesn���t care about the child hunts. So yes Amalda, your emperor hasn’t agreed with those things, you were right to trust him!

“i’ll tell him to go to his room and we’ll be over with this”

Oldvis uses the authority card. It’s never a good thing when one uses this card, because it means that, basically, you’re useless.

Daw, Oldvis didn’t want to bang her Julius! What do you mean by “is mine” btw? Your fiancée, your plaything, your tool?

Lil’ dastard. Oldvis pretends to be able to do something, or tries to use his big voice but Julius doesn’t care anymore.

This - Oldvis tried to banish his son, but it didn’t work. The Loptyr Sect prevented Julius from being banished? And banished where? The Empire is everywhere, unless Arvis wanted to send him to Travant. Maybe he wanted to send him to Archanea??

Oldvis looks so feeble here, it hurts. And Julius treats his dad like crap, bad Julius, bad!

:’(

That’s not a way to talk to your dad! Granted, Young!Arvis might also have been as dastardly as that to, say, Reptor so... I can’t say he earned this, but it’s also ironic.

I wonder what must happen in Oldvis’ head, is he really that beaten/broken? later we see that he is not, but here... what happened during those 7 years when Julius turned into Loptyr?

Of course you laugh, Arvis treated you like crap in chapter 5 so now you have your revenge!

Julius doesn’t join Manfroy in his Oldvis bashing. Maybe he doesn’t see the point. and OMG WHY IS HE MENTIONING JULIA???

OMFG NO DO YOU MEAN THIS USELESS CHARACTER WAS ACTUALLY THE PRINCESS OF GRANVALLE??? HOW COME NO ONE RECOGNISED HER??

I guess it was surprising, she only knew her kind and gentle brother and now he wants to kill her!

Finally we learn what happened to Deedee! Granted, Julius’ words here always make me sour.

Deedee accepted her death “to save Julia”?? It’s not like we have a kind of similar scenario in FE5, where a mother has to fight against one of children to protect another, but thanks for Nanna, Eyvel didn’t “accept her death” - and even if she had been able to use a rewarp staff to put her to safety, I doubt she’d have “accepted her death” without trying to help Mareeta. But Jugdral’s best mom has no peers in this world.

Ghoul yourself!

Yep! Do it now, we must do it now before you turn senile and decided to send her against the others, or some other shit plan like that.

Keeping this book under “the strictest lock” is a good plan indeed, if you didn’t knew where she was. 

Julius/Loptyr takes no chances, the Book is locked, yes, but without anyone to wield it then he’s sure he’s going to be fine.

Note how Julius speaks about the avatars of Naga; Seliph isn’t a major blooded Naga peep so he doesn’t count? what about linoan?

Too bad Julius, he failed you. And by sundown, really? Talk about rushing things! Besides, Julius “supposes” he is needed?

Why? He just told you getting rid of Julia is the highest priority!

Julius doesnt’ like peasants, but he doesn’t care much about Seliph. And he is right, Seliph can’t do a thing to him without Julia, the worse he can do is breed with Linoan to bring another major Naga, but bar that he is as relevant as Duke Scipio. Peasants are going to revolt because Seliph is supposedly the true heir of Granvalle, but if he can’t kill Julius, then what?

Julius doesn’t believe Seliph is his older bro - it’s nothing but superstitious nonsense! He cares more about Julia, and dragon-wise/plot-wise, we should do the same but we’re following the adventures of Seliph.

I wonder if a Ced narrative would focus more on recovering Julia if he were to learn that his dad went missing because he had to protect the only person on the continent able to get rid of Loptyr.

A threat? No, he doesn’t. And seriously Julius, I know we’re in a game where sword emblem is broken, and theoretically Seliph could kill you with the Tyrfing, but even with the Tyrfing, and lore-wise, no, he can’t possibly be much a threat.

It’s pretty darn funny that Manfroy’s master plan fails because he believes Seliph is a real treat disregarding Julia completely. Manfroy breaks the 4th wall? Seliph is the Lord thus he must die, Julia is nothing.

Yep. The greater plot, regardless of what F!Lewyn tries to hammer, doesn’t give a fig about Seliph. Loptyr only cares about Julia.

Poor Manfroy.

Go Loptyr goons , defend Miletos!

You have a better idea than the one you just ordered? Oh Julius...

Yay! Kill a rebel!

Yippie!

I know this sounds odd in regards to FE5!Ishtar who’s more nuanced, but bear in mind that her mom escaped death a few turns ago so she’d be more than likely to want to kill some rebels. But sounding so happy about it? A bit Meh.

You have good eyes OIfey!

Poor OIfey has been the one living in exile for 17 years, he was just supposed to assist Sigurd and then he was thrown in this mess. I feel bad for him.

ARDEN WHO??? But note how Oifey mentions his peers, and the young knights of Chalphy so maybe Arden wasn’t a noble to begin with? He had just been a commoner who enrolled?

every last Chalphy face was a firendly one or you had other friends who weren’t from Chalphy?

Seliph comes from everywhere, save from the land he is supposed to inherit.

Oh :’(

Don’t be like that Seliph, do you think Prince Ulster of Verdane has any right, bar his blood, to rule over the barbarians there?

:)

I’m sure some pious citizens would prefer Major Naga Empress on the throne of Granvalle, but this is only food for an AU.

Who? The citizens of Chalpy or the citizens of Granvalle? Because the Granvalle peeps were happy until Julius became mad, hell, some of them don’t even know about the child hunts etc. So you’re actually saying a lot of crap, unless you’re talking about the people of Chalphy, and if Palmark is any indication, they weren’t put to the noose as soon as Siggy kicked the bucket.

Again, we don’t see the common folk of Granvalle in FE5, but if we can compare with the randoms of Thracia, they’re not praying for the second coming of Quan, they just want to get on with their shitty lives without risking to be killed by random brigands etc. But maybe the people of Chalphy believe in Siggy the 2nd, even if, and i never stress it enough, when Siggy and pals died, they died as traitors.

Saying Siggy is a hero means saying Arvis is a dastard, and in the beginning or the Empire, Arvis was well loved, even now, in FE5, Arvis is still loved.

So really meh about this line.

I don’t know if this “fairy tale” is made up by OIfey to cheer Seliph up, or if some diehard Chalpy loyalists really think that, or if Oifey himself sees Seliph as the 2nd coming of Siggy who will avenge his dad and save the world.

Mmh. I’m not convinced.

Granted, everyone hates the child hunts, and they want them to stop. Are they all suddenly calling to the son of a traitor to help them?

Seliph has had enough of the propaganda described by OIfey, and asks about the greater plot. Maybe all the randoms don’t like Arvis, maybe some think he is Loptyr...

maybe those randoms forgot how their dark god instaured a relatively peaceful land for 10 years, or they just slander Oldvis because he is the Emperor and the Empire has turned into a shitty place.

Or maybe the people we liberated couldn’t go all Amalda like “i had faith in Arvis what happened to him” because we’re the LA and Seliph’s n°1 objective is to rekt him, so no one should express sympathy for the man?

“don’t worry, i have a pony now!”

Hahaha - the only one who can rekt the dark God isn’t even a Lord in this damn game

He looks scary?

Mmh... like what? You look into his eyes and you’re charmed or something?

Julius had a group of fangirls! How cute! Granted, i don’t know if what happened to them next could be called cute...

Fig off

What if i sacrifice you?!

Welp, Julius tries to kill the useless man his useless sister married. Kinslaying, again. Hopefully, Ulster dodged.

Seliph wanted to say hello to his brother.

Larcei cut their discussion and Julius grew bored.

what? an useless characted inheriting an useless land married to an useless woman? Ulster’s pretty happy with this life.

He won’t.

Fee finally talks to her trash dad. But trash dad has some kind of draconic circumstances to explain his behaviour.

If i were Fee i’d slap him because she had been the only one to be at her mom’s side when she died

Maybe she really slapped him then! GG Fee!

You were happy seeing him? He who abandonned you all? And returned with another child? you’re a nice person Fee.

:’(

He has never been the kindest person around, but ignoring her completely...

He knows what it is to get shunned by his own Mother though! I miss you Rahna

Constructive behaviour here, but Fee isn’t the adult so i can let it slide.

I had the same reaction. F!Lewyn is really... despicable, regardless of his nature.

Many playthoughs of FE4 came to the same conclusion, so no Fee, even if your mom married Arden, she’d still be dead.

At least he acknowldges it.

??

To this day, I still don’t understand his outburst. Did Erin met F!Lewyn and told him it was A-OK to go and do whatever with Julia to save the world, she wouldn’t tell her kids about it? Or did she know F!Lewyn wasn’t her husband anymore?

He is trying to push her away, because he knows he can’t be her dad anymore or something else? Or because he is just that awful?

The kids? What about the most important one? The one with Major Naga blood? She doesn’t even deserve a mention?

“damn those foot units”

At least we managed to be on time for those repairs to be done.

Onwards to victory

I mean - Onwards to Chalphy!

[ciceroisthefamilycat]

My Fiery Heart reread response (my Indigo Spell one here, my first-time Fiery Heart one here from 7.5 years ago)

before I get into it, I remembered looking up the Iolanthe coven name Sydney used; that wasn’t something I looked up until after reading it the first time though, so I didn’t realize the fairy court connection to Sydney recommending Zoe do her literature assignment on Midsummer Night’s Dream... I’m very certain it was an intentional reference to that opera now (even though the purple flower meaning was enough on its own)... if they get around to adapting this one, I half want to see Amberwood Prep put on a production of MND where Jill is helping with the costumes and Zoe gets to play Titania or something; I never got around to reading Richard III (Zoe’s original pick) but it’s interesting that free will/fatalism is apparently a major theme, and that Richard contrived to have his brother Clarence sent to the Tower of London...

also, I’m not sure if I cared about “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane all those years ago, but I got a thrill seeing it referenced this go around.

we get the first namedrop for Cicero (though we had heard about his propensity for killing birds and some other mention in the earlier BL books ETA, 7/19: “My family had a cat back in Utah that I was pretty sure was more responsible than Angeline” pg 31 TGL

Anyway, gosh Sydney makes bad decisions in this one. And it’s not because she has too much to do- she has no real outside strenuous challenges to protecting Jill or her group this go around. The friend group actually had to decide “yeah let’s go hunt down a Strigoi in LA” for there to be a major action scene. I realize she’s in her late teens and the burdens put on her are unfair, but she’s a great example of someone who thrives under pressure and falls apart when she’s given too much free time.

The switch to dual narrators was unnecessary. It wasn’t bad, but it was clearly only to set up for the big cliffhanger at the end, and so feels a bit pointless in this one. Btw, Rose didn’t lose her spirit link into Lissa’s mind after Lissa went on antidepressants. Now admittedly, the chemicals in Adrian’s mood stabilizers would have probably worked differently, or maybe Richelle was trying to retroactively make things more consistent (since alcohol could affect the bond), or maybe it was “Adrian and Jill’s bond is less established, so Jill can’t break through like Rose could”... but the sudden decision mid book (with no repercussions- Adrian doesn’t even bring it up to Sydney to be like “hey, one of your main concerns about having sex is taken care of”) is so pointless and really goes to the minimal page-time of the larger ensemble. I said it the first time I read the book, the absence of Kristin and Julia, and Micah, and even more important characters like Angeline or Trey is so frustrating. I realize Richelle couldn’t write a book that was 900 pages long, but I would have gladly taken any of those characters instead of the completely unnecessary Terwilliger/Malachi romance. Especially to see Jill’s reaction to getting to be a more typical high school human, since I think she would have gotten even more attached to Amberwood than Sydney did. I also just... really, the Alchemists decided to have Sydney’s bio sister on campus... pretending to be a cousin... while she was playing sister to Jill? I get they kind of backed themselves into a corner, but weird. That being said, I was happy to have Rowena and Cassie around. (give me Adrian and Rowena being wlw besties excellence to make me really happy)

Sydney’s coven initiation taking place in chapter 2, then she meets Inez (who gives her the books on charms)... and we never see a witch other than Jackie again in this book? Honestly, why bother with writing the initiation at that rate? I still like the cloak they made Sydney though. On reread, there’s the randomest bit where Trey’s like “is Neil even really British” and I wonder if that was a dropped storyline where Neil was faking. Olive and Nina are still pleasant characters, and I liked that they had a “unique” background, but knowing how those stories end was kind of a buzzkill on reread. Olive, especially, deserved better.

This is another one where I forgot quite a few events- Adrian getting drunk and the pawnshop (I think I remembered that obliquely, but not so much on it), or the trip to Texas (which actually came before the pawnshop but oh well). I was happy to finally get some actual Christian content again, although I regret we didn’t get more from Sydney & Rose or more Sydney & Lissa. On Adrian’s mental health storyline... I am less impressed by it than I was the first time (though I didn’t remember being super-impressed, but according to my first review?). I do actually like Adrian being insistent, once he’s started taking meds, that he’s going to continue, but the diagnosis of bipolar disorder doesn’t actually feel like it fits? I will say, I find Adrian’s “chicken or egg” pondering over whether spirit causes mental illness or mental illness means a predisposition to specializing in spirit is fascinating (though it’s probably for the best Richelle never actually answered it).

The way Adrian spoke (or thought) about Zoe really pissed me off. Like, one, you’re an adult, stop antagonizing the sister of the girl you like and just be cordial (which is less suspicious than suddenly acting like you and Sydney don’t get along at all), and two... Adrian’s super protective over Sydney after realizing the emotional abuse Jared heaped on, but somehow doesn’t realize that this fifteen year old has been spending time with said father’s attention solely focused on her for ages now, and he has no sympathy for her? Instead of seeing Zoe being like “Sydney shouldn’t have to provide for you all the time” and being like “aww, that’s a nice protective sister instinct even if she needs an attitude adjustment” he taunts a 15 year old about drinking from her the way he did to 20-something actual-predator Keith. He could have engaged yet another Sage sister in talking about his awesome car on the drive over, or at least made other good faith efforts.

The dabbling stuff made me more uncomfortable this time around (I think). Especially Sydney comparing her getting Keith’s eye ripped out to Adrian’s assault of a human girl... that was some real false equivalency on Richelle’s part. But other parts of it, like “oh here comes Adrian to save the day and at least he’s changed from these guys he used to hang out with (oh, look at that convenient statement that even back in the day Adrian wasn’t on the same level of bad as them)”  was really frustrating, or the fact that Adrian was very deliberately withholding information from her in his own chapters and it made me question his trustworthiness in her chapters. Or the “oh, hey, he made the concession of getting treatment for his mental illness, so all is forgiven” handwaving. Like, Richelle brought this in to be an obstacle to their relationship, but it’s addressed so quickly (with maybe a pittance effort of later being like “oh, at least Adrian didn’t take advantage when Sydney accidentally absorbed some Moroi endorphins- he learned his lessons!) that it doesn’t merit the actual consideration of so important a topic Idk. I do feel like I enjoy the Sydrian relationship more in this book than the others, but I also have some huge issues with it.

Adaptation-wise, I think genderbent Adrian would definitely mean a change to the dabbling storyline (yes, women can be sexual predators, but I don’t think this storyline would be maintained with different social expectations). Honestly, give me an Adrian who, instead of having victimized someone, doesn’t immediately fully grasp how upsetting this idea of vampires preying on her species (and risking exposure) is to Sydney... Adrian being like “it isn’t sexual, those guys would never consider sleeping with a human” but the consent even to give blood still being critical to Sydney. And you know what? Let Lissa “compelled a guy to almost hit himself over the head with a baseball bat for molesting a Feeder” Dragomir have a spirit freak out moment of rage and go off on these subjects of hers the way that was deserved (and then once she cools down, maybe she can’t punish them fully, but she uses it to leverage their royal families’ agreement to the Family Rule amendment). And just finish that law by the end of the season, so that when the Alchemists pull out Sydney and Zoe, they’re actually closing down the whole Palm Springs operation in a rage. (if I remember correctly Alicia kidnapped Jill between books 5 and 6, but that was a stupid plotline imo- let Sydney and her coven take care of Alicia in the downtime of this book instead) Let Rose figure out that Sydney and Adrian are in love- she’s smart and she would pick up on that; let her celebrate them and encourage them to be happy together. Also the “Sydney and Adrian get three days at an inn to sex it all up” was stupid... like I’m happy for them but am I really supposed to buy that they could afford all that time away from Palm Springs?

As bad as I feel for Syd, and Adrian, and Eddie, and Jill, and Jackie at the end of TFH, I do remember that I’m going to feel worst for Hopper. I’m sorry that demon dragon Calistana has my heart and I remember one scene from Silver Shadows featuring the little guy prominently...