#despite the fandom being small I think lots and lots of people love the Sing movies!

[cutekoala1001]

You ever wish Sing had a bigger fandom? I sure do. Also what specifically do you like about the movies? Do they inspire you? Are they just fun to watch? I’m eager to hear!

Thanks for your thoughtful ask!✨

Yes, sometimes! If the fandom were bigger we’d get to see more beautiful artwork of our favourite characters. But because it’s small there are also advantages, such as we kind of all know each other! And there’s less drama which is nice. 🤡

Personally, I love the Sing movies because they have inspired me so much. As someone aspiring to work in a professional creative industry, I find it relatable to see how people overcome the struggles to getting a creative project done and to pursuing their dream when it feels like there are endless hurdles to jump. The Sing movies are fun to watch of course and the animation is absolutely beautiful, but I love that these are stories about what goes on in the lives of those working behind the scenes on a creative production! Sometimes, maybe most of the time, the stories being told behind a project are just as interesting if not more entertaining than the project itself! So that’s what I really love about these movies.

And Buster Moon has especially been a very inspiring character to me! (Could you tell he’s my favourite?! 🐨💞) He’s out living his dream, doing his best, even if it looks like failure to outsiders sometimes. He’s resilient and courageous about it, not letting others keep him down or take his joy in the theatre away. He doesn’t let fear stop him from doing what he loves. He’s passionate about his craft, he tries to maintain a positive spirit, and he’s such a hard worker. (Like in Matthew McConoughy’s book “Green Lights”, Buster sees a green light and he GOES for it!) And he inspires others to pursue their dreams. He’s not perfect but he’s got a good heart, and I love him 💖 He inspires me to have the courage to follow my dreams and do what I love, and to not wallow in depression over what I can’t control but to be positive and take action in what I can control. To be resilient and realistic about my art career, but to stay true to what I love and take joy in the process, even if things don’t work out the way I had hoped or if some don’t support me. Buster’s a fictional character but he represents the things I would like to be as an artist, so I’m drawn to him. 💖

Again, thanks for the thoughtful ask!✨ I’d be curious to see how the Sing movies have affected other fans’ lives too! If I ever have a chance to meet Garth Jennings I’d want to tell him about how these movies have had a positive impact on my life and art career☺️

(Here’s a little classic cartoon Buster and me: )

[sage-nebula]

"Suffer No Fools" - Shiver vs. Marina Analysis

It's been a few days since "Suffer No Fools" released, but I wanted to go ahead and release my analysis of Shiver's and Marina's verse since that's the one that has caused the most discussion within the fandom. I've seen a lot of debate over Marina's section in particular, with people unsure whether she was being sincere or sarcastic, and I think the actual answer is a little more complicated than one or the other, at least with regards to the first couplet of lines both she and Shiver sing. Of course, people are free to interpret this song however they wish, but after seeing numerous interpretations I personally didn't vibe with, I just wanted to put my own out there, breaking it down line by line.

So! Here we go.

Exchange 1:

Shiver: "Your haunting voice -- there's no escape. How nice it must be for your fans." Marina: "You're far too kind! I love your vibe. I can learn so much from your style."

Analyzing from dialogue only:

Shiver is insulting Marina's voice by calling it haunting and saying there is no escape, insinuating she wishes there was one. She says how nice it must be for Marina's fans, again implying that she isn't one.

Marina says that she loves Shiver's vibe, which on the surface could be a compliment, but given the context (a music battle) it could also be a Mean Girl "ooh I love your [thing] :)" passive-aggressive drawing-attention-to-something-ugly insult. More direct though, is the "I can learn so much from your style"; you can learn what not to do from someone just as much as you can learn what to do from someone. Marina's engaging in plausible deniability here.

HOWEVER. Lyrics are NOT the only thing that need to be analyzed from this first verse, which is arguably the MOST important exchange between these two. Instead, we need to look at how these lines are delivered.

Shiver is singing in a traditional Japanese folk singing style, specifically a style based on Shima-uta, which her voice actress has a background singing in. Unfortunately, I don't know the actual term for this style of singing, only that it's not kakegoe, something Shiver also does that is different from this. Anyway, in these lines specifically Shiver is singing in her Shima-uta style, a style that she has presumably been practicing since she was a small child, a style that is probably culturally significant to the Hohojiro clan. Singing in this style is not something that just anyone can do. It's completely different from singing in a (for lack of a better word) "western" style. The way you breathe is completely different. The way you incorporate your voice into your breathing is completely different. So by singing in this style, which Shiver has been doing practically her whole life and which, presumably, only she of the four there can do, Shiver is FLEXING on Marina regardless of what lyrics she chooses to sing.

But then Marina, who grew up under the domes in Inkadia, who presumably has never heard Shima-uta before she started listening to Deep Cut and heard Shiver sing, who presumably has had absolutely no training whatsoever on this style of song . . . mimics it perfectly and flexes on Shiver right back.

Could Marina's words to Shiver be interpreted as passive-aggressive in turn? Yes. But does it matter? No, not really. Because in this first verse, Marina's ACTUAL comeback is to take the style of singing that Shiver has been perfecting her entire life and throw it right back in her face despite having never (as far as we or Shiver know) practiced it herself. Shiver was flexing by presumably doing something Marina couldn't do, only for Marina to do it flawlessly, being every bit as divine with a voice so fine as Pearl said she was previously. Marina says "I love your vibe" so she takes it. Marina says "I have so much to learn from you" but does she really, when she can already do exactly what Shiver can, and has, just now, right in front of her?

And Shiver noticed, hence:

Exchange 2:

Shiver: "You remind me of my neighbor's little daughter . . . What's that saying? 'Octo see, octo do.'" Marina: "Glad you approve -- your praise has left me moved. Thanks to your notes, I'll find my groove!"

Shiver drops the Shima-uta singing, because now there's no point. Marina can also sing in that style, so it's no longer a flex. Shiver lost ground on that one, so instead we're back to the same (again, for lack of a better word) "regular" style of singing that everyone else is using. For that reason, we can go back to analyzing purely based on the words alone.

Shiver is calling Marina a copycat, essentially, because Marina copied her Shima-uta singing style in the previous verse (hence why Shiver had to drop it, as previously noted). Marina then gives her "glad you approve -- your praise has left me moved" . . . basically noting that by Shiver accusing her of copying, Shiver is saying that Marina -- someone who just tried the singing style off the cuff right there on the stage for the first time -- was just as good as Shiver, someone who has trained in that style her whole life. The audience saw for themselves that Marina was able to emulate the style, but Shiver saying, "you copied me!" is basically admitting that Marina was just as good as her in Shiver's own eyes, and Shiver is a pro. That's Shiver's aggravation handing Marina the win and Marina smiling wide as she accepts it.

Exchange 3:

Shiver: "Oh, look at the time. Isn't it getting late?" Marina: "Not at all! I could go on like this all night long."

This one doesn't even really need an analysis. For all that she prides herself on being "so cool even sharks call her cold-blooded," Shiver is known for being easily irritated and riled when she's losing due to her competitive nature. Marina successfully got under her skin, and this is her trying to end the battle fast because she didn't have any further comebacks. Marina, meanwhile, gives the classic "I could go on all night" because she's not riled at all, and is instead perfectly comfortable in this environment, knows what she's doing, and has had the upper hand from the start.

It goes back to another post I made about Experience vs. Inexperience. Shiver and Frye are still new idols, whereas Pearl and Marina have been at this for a long while. And while off the stage Marina is a sweet, kind, gentle person who will go out of her way to help others, and can sometimes be a little spacey or naive, she's also a 23-year-old literal genius who has been in the music industry for years now and knows full well what a rap / music battle is and knows her way around a stage. Personally, I found it to be a little infantilizing to insinuate that she "didn't realize Shiver was insulting her," when not only do I think she knew full well, but also she was the one with the upper hand not because of sick burns (that's Pearl's department), but because of sheer innate musical talent.

But those are just my thoughts! Everyone else is free to have their own.

[judgementdaysunshine]

For the birthday celebration (HAPPY BIRTHDAY BTW!!!!): 🌲 + X-Men fandom, Indiana Jones fandom, and Star Wars fandom (male character preference) + I’m a 30 year old queer woman (she/they) who is Graysexual and Biromantic. I’m 5’1” with a peaches and cream complexion, dark green eyes (tho my right eye has a blue film over it due to blindness), long dark brown hair, and an almost hourglass figure. I’m a Hufflepuff! I’m compassionate, stubborn, get frustrated easily, silly, happy, cute, passionate, have OCD, Dyscalculia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and I’m Autistic. I studied general studies in school (I switched majors a few times). I’m ethnically an Ashkenazi Jew and was raised both religiously Roman Catholic and Jewish. I am trying to be more religiously Jewish. I love animals a lot. I love reading (especially history, romance, myths/lore, anything about Judaism/being Jewish, and fiction), botany, space, cats, my faith, playing games, dancing, singing, traveling, and naps. When I get frustrated/upset or despondent, I tend to belittle myself and think that whatever is wrong is my fault even when it is not.

OMG my lovely I first ship you with Finn Dameron! 💫

He was blown away with how you looked but when he saw the blue film over your right eye despite what it was from it made your eyes look like the galaxy with a milky way

He didn't know a lot about religion but once he found out you were Jewish he researched learning everything about the culture from how it started to what people can and can't do due to the religion

He would find your body figure beautiful and absolutely always running his hands down your sides gently whenever he could always admiring you in whatever you were wearing even in the plainest clothes and pajamas

Every time you would get overstimulated or frustrated he would just wrap his arms around and hold you rubbing your arm or sides for as long as you need

He never fails to smile whenever you did the most simple thing to help others even when you didn't have to but still did

He always shows how much he cares for and loves you when you belittle yourself always interrupting before you can finish what you were saying and holding your shoulders giving you the most breathtaking kiss in your life making you fall in love again and again

It's number two I ship you with the man himself Indiana Jones! 🤍

He always does little dances to make you laugh in between the crazy adventures the two of you go on across the world for the next historical story

He can tell when you are getting frustrated or overwhelmed so no matter where the two of you are on your journey he will take you to a place he knows that will make you calm and happy whether it's a flower garden in the Netherlands,small rabbit farm in Scotland,or a local cafe in France

Anytime he hears you try to talk bad about yourself he either puts his hand on your mouth with a certain look on his face or kisses you telling you in between each kiss how much you mean to him

He has met quite a few different people of many races,religions,and sexualities and he had a few friends who were Jewish and would always try to follow the traditions and what not to do under the religion

Anytime you're overstimulated he always puts headphones with your favorite songs on a walkman for you to listen to until you feel calm

He can never not look at your body no matter what you're wearing and how many times he's seen your curves and every mark on your body

He always smiles when he looks in your eyes especially in the orange sunlight making it seem like your eyes were the clear ocean water in Puerto Rico with the white foam flowing on shore

And finally I ship you with Erik Lehnsherr! ♥️

He always takes you to the greenhouse or library whenever you're upset and needing to get away and a break from everyone else him with you

He always loves looking and seeing your figure and curves no matter if you're wearing a tank top and jeans,pajamas,or a nice dress he bought for you oogling over your body every single time

He does little random things to make you smile and laugh even in the dead quiet reading looking up to see erik wearing the most ridiculous hat in the whole school makes your day

He loves all of you but his secret favorite part of you was your eyes always reminding him of all the green plants and light blue of the sky peeking over them making them more beautiful

He is always ready with some type of soft items you can hold in your arms when you're overstimulated and tired to help you calm down and fall asleep

He immediately researches and writes a list of dos and not to dos after learning your Jewish even learning how to make your favorite meals from the culture bonding the two of you together even more

Every time you bash yourself he gently turns you to look at him slowly talking to you telling you how wonderful you are and how much he truly loves you always giving you a gentle kiss on the forehead

[resande]

Hey. I'm a mutual of yours, we've been for a few months now. I'm here not only to tell you that your steddie fanarts are out of this world (that they are), or how much I like your art (that I do), or how talented you are (that you are).

I'm here to tell you that I appreciate every minute of effort behind your hard, hard work. Yes, you're talented, no doubt of that, but behind every talented person there are a lot, and I mean A LOT of hours, self teaching, experimenting, discarded wips, study hours, mental struggle to do art, to see the flaws on our pieces, to not being ever fully satisfied with what we do, and yet to sit again and keep doing art and sharing it despite everything I mentioned before.

That's hard work, that's passion, and strength, and stubborness, and that's more important than talent, and I think I'm telling you this because I, as an artist myself, would love to hear it sometimes. I flush and fluster whenever someone calls me 'talented' (who doesn't like praise?) but I would tear up if someone sees what I do and tell me "god, this piece must have taken you hours, and being able to do this, must have taken you decades."

So I am here to appreciate that, to note and congratulate you on every single minute that you spent working to become the amazing artist that you are.

I hope you have the greatest week, and that with this, your Monday is a little bit less Monday-ish.

Love, V

I'm having a hard time, with life at the moment.. i have to do so much stuff and work a lot when i should've been resting after a stressful uni year. And the only thing that i consider resting now is art. The art that i couldn't pursue full time in the country that i live in. Or for the art that so many told me that i'll stop eventually doing because way down the line i won't be able to anymore because of the future job that i've chosen for myself and such. But since highschool i'll say this for as long as i'm breathing: i can't live without art and it will forever course through my veins.

As dramatic as that may sound, it's true. Before steddie i thought i was going to quit art just because no matter on each platform i'd try, i was getting like 100 to 300 notes/likes on a 44 h piece. Not exagerating one bit. And it went like that for like a year. But the only problem was that i had the wrong audience. This steddie fandom brought out the best of me and i improved so much as an artist thanks to you, fellow artist friend and so many more amazing artists/writers/people i've met down the line.

The fact that you took the time to tell me you appreciate all my sleepless nights, all my frustrations, small victories, learning from my mistakes. It really feels like soothing balm against wound. Hence i cried when i read your message. I thank you whole heartedly for your kindness, it made my week so much brighter. And i want to give the same warmth to you, in return. No matter the fact that i don't know how your art looks like. I'm congratulating you too, for coming so far, for all the progress that you've made. For the days you let your heart out to sing on paper or through pixels. For struggling to get the structures right the 100th time. For trying again and again until it felt right. For not giving up. And for sharing a piece of your heart with us. Even later in life when you'll be able to only doodle on napkins or painting on large canvases, never let that fire within you die. Because you're special and we're so lucky we get to see another version of life through different eyes and experiences.

And for whoever may read this. I'm congratulating you too and all the above. No matter what you're doing and what you're pursuing. I'm so proud of you too.

This went for way too long and i rambled a whole lot, i know. But in the end, i wish you an amazing week ahead of you, and all the best.

With love,

Res.

[gwenandy]

Hello! I’m new to the Carlos madrigal fandom and I realized everyone’s version of his is sorta different.

if you don’t mind me asking version and sorta back story of him?

anyway love your art, it’s amazing!

AAAAAA YESS I WOULD LOVE TO TALK ABOUT THE SILLY?!? I love getting questions *sob* And also thank you so much omg ?!?? 💗💗💗

Okay so first let’s talk about his child self lmao. Carlos was a troublemaker obviously, he caused small troubles, but nothing too major (yet). And after getting his gift following with his two other twin brothers, he would end up using his gift to burn paper, flowers, and anything flammable. Which made Ceceilo, Ross, and Dolores’ older sibling role harder.. following with Pepa, Felix, and Abuela, making them more stressed then usual.

Carlos, even as a child gets into small fights, insults kids his age, and makes your mom jokes. Not much people liked him, some didn’t mind or cared about him, Carlos was the person who would love to be by himself 24/7. (GUYS DONT WORRY, NOT EVERYONE IN TOWN HATES HIM)

Carlos was 7 when a so called miracle happened to him (which he claims to be a miracle). He met his first friend, her name was Lily. Lily Fernod. For being the same age, lily was 2 inches taller then him.

Carlos was rude and annoying when he first talked to lily, but that never stopped her. She tried everyday, and eventually they became great friends.— until when they hit 13, lily had to move out of encanto, which took a great big impact of him I guess. She never knew if she was coming back or not, which made carlos worry more. Before she left that day, they gave eachother small things.. like, lily gave carlos a flower bracelet that had her name on it, and carlos gave his favorite wooden skull ring that was crafted by his Tio Agustin. And like that, lily left.

Just a few months after that, carlos basically distanced himself from others more, but he was still a big dickhead </3. He was, and still is a cold, cocky teenager who gets into physical fights almost everyday. Despite all that, he has a chill side. He adds small insults whenever he talks, but it’s normal. He also plays guitar and sings some songs to himself when he’s alone.

Now, like. Two years later and when lily and her family moved back to Encanto so her father can start his new small pizzeria business. Carlos was more then happy, the two caught up with things, and Carlos was basically having a soft spot for her mostly.

Now uh, let me talk about his appearance and facts I guess.

Carlos looks like the usual, not sure if it’s the same description on how he looks from other people, but here. Carlos has dark brown curly hair, him using his hair to cover the left side of his face, he wears a pastel yellow buttoned up shirt and a maroon ruana with pastel red zigzag type of design on it, dark brownish redish pants, something close to Camilo’s. And brown slippers.

Carlos may have a crush on lily.. (best friends to lovers>>)

He covers his eye for a reasons, one being is that he thinks he looks cool, and because of a small burnt mark on his face from playing with his gift a lot as a child. But don’t worry, his left eye isn’t damaged, only like the forehead and cheek area. (It’s just like a faint, burnt mark. Nothing too major)

Carlos plays guitar, like I mentioned before. He usually sings love songs, and probably some *cough cough* metal. He has a slit eyebrow on his right eyebrow, and a scar on his cheek. He also has a few, healed but visible scars on his knuckles because of the fights he’s been in.

Now about his gift. Carlos’ gift is obviously fire, and he uses it often to entertain others or himself. He can make like fireballs that he can balance on his fingers, fingertips, palm, and anywhere on him. And when ever he’s flustered, he basically catches on fire. Example, like whenever you kiss his cheek, you can see small fire growing on his hair— but don’t worry, his hair doesn’t burn away or something, it’s like fireproof I guess lmao.

Carlos is like the cold, cocky guy that hides his emotions from others to keep up his tough image. Like whenever he is flustered or something, he covers it with a cocky, confident look— but he is actually screaming internally inside.

In my AU, Carlos is like his father, basically like a dark skinned Colmbian boy.

Anyways, there might be more info, but here’s basically all of it. There might be a lot of parts where shit doesn’t make sense or grammar errors. Just let me know and I’ll fix it </3

[periru3]

End of Year Vidding Meme 2022

I forgot to do this meme last year and I've decided that annoys me enough that I'm gonna do it a full year late.

I’ve starred co-vids with @tafadhali!

Grace Kelly (Catch Me if You Can)

American Coach (Ted Lasso)

For You (Sports Night)

Haven't You Noticed I'm a Star (Kipo)

The One With More Feeling (Buffy)*

Stray Italian Greyhound (Our Flag Means Death)

Negative Queen (Our Flag Means Death)

My Strongest Suit (M*A*S*H)*

Rain in Derry (It)

Girl Crush (Multi)*

Singing Along With You (Multi-Animated)

Thumbs (Squid Game)

Favorite vid of the year: It's a bit of a toss-up between Rain in Derry (which was the hardest vid to make) and Stray Italian Greyhound (which was the most successful). I really love these two vids a lot, they're some of my favorite I've ever made, and I don't know how to choose between them. The funny thing is that Rain in Derry is probably the vid I've made that took the longest while Stray Italian Greyhound was made in 3 sittings over 2 days. Funny how that works out.

Least favorite: I don't really have one for this year. Probably Girl Crush and Negative Queen are in my lowest tier for the year in terms of not being ones I rewatch as much as the others but I dunno... I make vids I like? And I like both of those a lot? Just not necessarily as much as some of the other ones on the list.

Vid most underappreciated by the universe: Haven't You Noticed I'm a Star was not on the above list of lowest-tier vids despite it maybe seeming like it should be, and that is because actually it's perfect and more people should watch it. It's stupid, it's a minute long, it's for a small fandom, and you know what? It is exactly the vid I set out to make. Also The One With More Feeling is pretty well received but I wish more people commented on the intentional bitter irony of it.

Most fun vid: My Strongest Suit! It's one of the most fun vids I've ever made! It delights me! I love Klinger and I love his clothes and I love that song and I loved making this silly vid with my sister!

Vid with the single sexiest moment: If you find Yearning sexy (which I do) then it's "every no turns into maybe" in Stray Italian Greyhound. Another contender is "most of this press don't fuck with me" from American Coach. I don't know, it wasn't a very sexy year for me in my vids.

Most successful: Technically American Coach is my most successful vid of all time by any metric. But that was made for Festivids, whereas Stray Italian Greyhound wasn't made as part of an exchange or challenge, it was just made on a random Monday, so I think the fact that it's my third most popular vid ever is way more impressive. (incidentally, the vid that falls between those two in number of Kudos is Shut Up and Drive which was also not made for a challenge or exchange and bizarrely it only has 1 comment? The stats on that vid really confuse me)

Biggest vid fail: There's exactly two places in Stray Italian Greyhound that drive me crazy and that I think I would have done better had I not made the vid in like 6 hours. One is the kiss. I sped up part of the clip so I could have both the beginning of the kiss and Ed lifting his hand to Stede's face fit in the amount of time I had and maybe no one else notices the resulting weirdness of the clip or, I don't know, maybe everyone does, who knows! But I may have just decided the hand-raising wasn't worth the weirdness if I'd sat with it a little longer. The other is a clip at 3:16 that I simply don't like and wish I'd found a better one for.

Hardest vid to make: Rain in Derry is, by a huge margin, the most difficult vid I've ever made. I spent over a year working on it. I made a list of about 20 quotes I might incorporate from the book, which involved looking at the margin notes in both physical copies of the book I own as well as my E-book. Downloading the audio book, finding all the quotes in it, and then figuring out how to record those specific moments so I wasn't working with one enormous file was it's own struggle, and I did do this for most of the quotes I'd found, even though I only used three of them in the vid. I used footage from both movies and the miniseries and found clips from a bunch of other sources, some of which were whatever visuals I could find to represent important scenes from the book that weren't included in either adaptation (I used everything from Bonnie and Clyde to A Bugs Life to footage of a Disneyland attraction), while others were clips from pieces of media referenced in the book (The Mummy, Jaws, etc.). I went crazy with overlays, effects, and intercutting in a way I never have before and that ended up being reeeaaally taxing on my laptop so I could almost never see how my work was turning out without taking time to render things every few minutes. It was so. much. work. and I loved all of it, 10/10 would recommend. Most fun I've ever had vidding.

Most unintentionally telling vid: As someone who's really close with my older sister (who is also my co-vidder!), Singing Along With You felt very personal - in a nice way, rather than an angsty way (see my 2021 and 2023 answers to this question), which is nice change! Also My Strongest Suit is a BIG gender mood for me.

Last year’s goals: since I forgot to do this in 2022, I talk about my 2021 goals in my 2023 post.

Goals for next year: My goals for 2024 are also in my 2023 post.

[lovee-infected]

Hello! Recently I've seen a lot of twst blogs arguing on how twst characters are mischaracterized, especially Malleus. So do you have any ideas on how he is mischaracterized? Also, is it okay to ask for your general opinion on questions like a short character analysis or how a healthy a relationship with each twdt guy might be? Hope it's okay to ask!

For your first question anon, it's a GREAT thing to ask and to be honest I've been waiting for a chance to talk about him! And for your second one, yes, of course! I just love writing character analyis and it's totally okay to ask for character/personality/relationship analysis here! I've got a lot to say about Malleus so this is going to a detailed analysis about his whole personality.

There are commonly two popular opinions on how Malleus is which divides the fandom into two groups:

Group A:

Those who consider him to be an absolutely soft, baby dragon who just wants to be invited and have a friend. They believe that Malleus needs more attention and can be quite affectionate at the time, he can also be sometimes idiotic toward simple stuff like working with a computer or trying to talk with others which makes him even more adorable. "Despite Malleus's harsh and emo appearance and terrifying powers, Malleus is just a small baby inside," is also a common belief of this group.

Group B:

Those who argue that group A is totally shading everything important about Malleus's personality and true self just because he looks cute and plays with a childish tamagotchi. These group also comes up with rather strong points about his personality such as his status as a crown prince, his naturally dark personality as not only a dark fae but also Maleficent's grandchild, his maturity and cold nature and also, the aspect of his hellish powers which can make him look like an absolute monster at the time.

I believe most of you are familiar with these points of view but the question is, which one of them is the real Malleus?

And the answer is: Neither of them; yet both of them do have a point.

The main problem is how the fandom portraits him as either an emotional tamagotchi baby or an absolutely cold and heartless mister of evil, while the true Malleus is far beyond than just being either good, or bad.

Now let's discuss some of the important facts and common mistakes about Malleus's personality:

(1) Malleus isn't a baby, but he isn't a monster either

This is supposedly the main idea here which will be continued to be discussed through the rest of this analysis. This is often how many end up mischaracterizing him because: the way the describe Malleus is either too dark or too childish. What we need here, is a balance. This is the grandson of one of the most important Disney villains that we are talking about, and don't forget that Maleficent herself was confirmed to consume the powers of Hell, as she was indeed the mistress of all evil. So this dragon boy here surely isn't one to underestimate, and he clearly has inherited that hellish power of her grandmother. It's obviously seen through the story as well, from the way he was presented in chapter 2 and beans day event to how terrified other students always are to even talk about him.

But the thing is, there are softer aspects of his personality as well which prove that Malleus isn't just designed to present an undefeatable force of evil, and this is exactly what makes his personality a lot more interesting.

(2) Malleus is actually hard to approach and talk to

Let's be honest, Malleus isn't as soft and easy to befriend as many fans consider him to be. He doesn't get too friendly or chill as he speaks, and even his close allies like Silver and Sebek fail to get close to him as much as they wish to. When we talk about his dark aura, we aren't just talking about his horns and fearsome magic, it's also because of his personality itself. His calm yet cold tone always remains still regardless of who he's talking to. No need to mention that he isn't an ordinary student either, he not only comes from a well-known family but is also the crown-prince of valley of thorns. Out of all twst characters Malleus is the only one who is directly connected to the great seven by being Maleficent's grandson. His family and people on the other hand are overly protective over him, to the point of not letting him to even have a fake proposal in the ghost marriage event which means that Malleus has also got each and every of his actions under watch.

(3) He's slowly getting used to isolating himself

In his ceremonial robes story, he's obviously upset that he never had a chance to wear his ceremonial robes because he never got invited, but when Lilia says he'd one day overcome his ill fate and gets to wear them as he always wanted to, he says that he's fine. Then again when Lilia tried to bring him to the singing test in chapter 5 he avoids showing up. In his voice lines he also said: "Are you as well scared of me?" which is clearly shouting that he's no longer surprised to see people being afraid of him, he's getting used to being feared and at some point, hated. That's probably one of the bitter sides of his personality which he's slowly giving up on trying to change it.

(4) Malleus has got a great confidence and isn't shy at all

There many fanfics in which Malleus is presented as a shy boy who's scared of confessing to his s/o or asking them out, while he's the total opposite in reality. Just like Maleficent herself, he speaks calmly and in a formal tone, is very respectful as he speaks, and isn't one to ever have problem while talking to others.

It's others who always avoid talking to him while Malleus himself isn't the least uncomfortable with presenting his ideas and asking others for help when he needs to.

He isn't ever shy over his lack of ability to work with machines or asking others for help for seemingly childish issues like having his tamagotchi fixed or finding a friend for the GaoGao dragon.

The only thing left is how Lilia described him as "Kind of shy" in chapter five, which is most likely because of another reason discussed in part (3)

(5) He doesn't eat ice cream and play with a tamagotchi for no reason

Malleus explained that everything is ran by magic back in the valley of thorns and no one really uses any machines there, that's how he's pretty new to both technology and complicated tools.

I believe that the tamagotchi part was given to him on purpose, because else than showing the fact that he's bad with tools, it's great contrast to the harsh picture that his power and personality gives him!

Admit it, it's a funny and somehow, adorable contrast to see one of the strongest magicians who can burn the room to ashes in just a matter pf second playing with a children's toy. And I believe that it was given to him on purpose. They meant to give him some soft and cute features as well instead of just presenting him as an evil fae. He is indeed evil and his powers are terrifying, and that's how watching him play with a tamagotchi is rather surprising to many. If you saw Ortho or Cheka playing with one it wouldn't have gone any further than a simple "Awww" or "How cute" because it's something you'd expect to see from a kid, but when you see Malleus of all people playing with it, you can't help but to fascinated and flustered over how cute this fae's habits can be.

Ice cream on the other hand doesn't really have to do with cuteness, it's something Yana Toboso discovered while doing her researches on fae mythology which discuses that Dark faes enjoy cold and sweet foods, especially cream. So it doesn't really have anything to do with him being either a soft or a cruel boy, it's just a normal part of his nature as a fae.

(6) He might be crazily old to humans, but he's still pretty young as a fae

This one has really been getting on my nerves, come on people! It's true that he's probably been living for decades and possibly, centuries but don't forget that it isn't that much compared to a normal fae! Even Sebek calls him 'Young master' which means that he's still a pretty young one, no need to mention that he hasn't yet became the king either so he's not much different from the rest of the students in NRC.

I've seen people saying: "No Malleus won't do that he's -too old-" and I've got to say: What?

Come on even someone like Lilia who's been living for over 5 centuries can act like a nasty 14 year old at the time, so for faes at least, age isn't a limitation.

Malleus on the other hand is still a teenage fae! He needs to discover new things and talk with more people, just like a normal human being does. So if he doesn't enjoy doing anything too silly or stupid, it's because of his 'personality', not because he's too old. Even when tells Lilia that he isn't a child anymore, it's like how an 18 year old says it to his father.

(7) Malleus won't take insult easily

He is polite and respectful in general, but when he's offended, he'd seriously respond to it. Remember that a single swipe of hand from him can set the whole room on fire.

Rook and Leona were probably one step away from being burnt and when Leona really got on Malleus's nerves by humiliating him, Malleus stopped respecting him as a prince of an ally kingdom and humiliated back.

He is calm but to a specific point, and you can make sure that he won't be any soft or forgiving if you offend him, and it'll probably end in no good if he gets mad. So better not think that Malleus is one to just keep it in and later cry in a room because he's sad baby when someone dares insult him.

(8) Angelina Jolie's Maleficent has nothing to do with his story!

Nope, Malleus never had a lover who cut off his wings and sent him to a hell of depression and loneliness, and no you cannot find those two wounds on his back regardless of how romantic it may seem.

I admit it, it's a lovely Au, but it's JUST AN AU! I can still see people saying stuff like "Ohh!! Will we discover if Malleus too had his wings cut off in chapter 7?" and the answer is NO. While Angelina Jolie's Maleficent is surely a great one on its own, it needs be understood that twst's source of main information and characters designs is nothing else than the original Disney villains.

Malleus cannot be associated with any Maleficents else than the version we saw in 1959's sleeping beauty and it's an important fact to look through.

(9) Malleus is NOT Maleficent!

While they are a lot more similar than you can imagine(in both power and personality), let's not forget that Malleus is NOT Maleficent! He's a total new character on his own, and is unique in his own way.

He is twisted from Maleficent which means that no matter how similar they are, Malleus is a new character with a new personality.

Saying that he isn't soft at all and the fandom will see his true face when he overblots ( It's supposed to mean that the real Malleus is an absolutely evil and destructive one, just like Maleficent) is nothing different from denying all of Yana's hard work on designing him and his personality!

Malleus himself said that his grandmother's skills were far greater than his and most importantly: Malleus still has chance to have a better fate than Maleficent did.

Once again: He's still young! He still has a chance to be saved from turning into a heartless and isolated creature like Maleficent. No matter how cold he is, he hasn't yet got to the point of hating the whole world and losing all of his emotions. And that's why it's totally wrong to deny all the good that he might still have inside by saying that he isn't soft at all. He isn't a baby, but he isn't a monster either. Not yet.

(10) Even Lilia agrees that Malleus is still learning and his personality is in development

Can't you see? Malleus isn't attending to this school for no reason. His magic is already top notch, and his knowledge goes far greater than anything they might teach in NRC.

If you take a look at the story, you'll see signs of Lilia indirectly giving us signs of why Malleus still needed to attend to this school. In Malleus's SR robes' story, Lilia told him that he still has a lot to learn and knowledge isn't everything. And what might he find in NRC which has nothing to do with knowledge? People.

Lilia is trying to hold him back from isolating himself like Maleficent did, and is indeed trying to help him make friends and learn to get along with people without thinking that it's useless because they'd fear him anyway.

Also, he clearly wants Malleus to learn and experience new things in NRC by taking part in activities. In Malleus's Halloween SR story Lilia, who was always the one to choose Diasomnia's Halloween costumes, asks Malleus to choose this year's costume instead of him. Lilia first says that he wants Malleus to do it but later tells him that he has other reasons as well, he was trying to put Malleus into trying something new therefore he can have something learn from the experiment! (What a cute papa he really is...)

This is another proof of him not having the cold and unapproachable picture some imagine him to have, he isn't against experiencing and trying new things.

(11) He's still looking for a true friend

Malleus needs a friend, that's a fact. During his chats he mentions how Maleficent always had her loyal pet crow by her side as the only reliable creature she could always trust, and how Malleus wonders if he can ever find such a worthy ally of his own.

Even as he has Lilia, Silver and Sebek by his side he doesn't feel like he has such a friend.

People have been avoiding him through his whole life, and you can see how excited he got when Cater asked him for a selfie as he was one of the very first people who ever tried to approach him.

While he's slowly getting used to being feared by everyone, he'd still appreciate a friend and he needs one. Not even Maleficent herself could've made it all on her own without a friend by her side.

(12) Malleus isn't heartless

While he won't easily fall for anything or anyone, it isn't impossible for him to love.

We haven't yet seen anything that directly gets us to the point of love in the story but it's something you can tell through his actions and words.

When he cares for something or someone, he'd be serious about it.

Two obvious examples would be his tamagotchi and the ramshackle dorm. He'd certainly get out of his way to find someone to fix his dear tamagotchi and as we saw in the Halloween event, he furiously stated that he'd burn anyone who tries to the ramshackle dorm any harm, because he likes that place.

There isn't much he holds dear in life, but when he does, he won't let a single soul to take it away from him.

When he can be this protective over something that just entertains him, just try to imagine how far he might go to protect the one he loves. He falls in love very slowly and it'll probably take him a while to realize it if he actually does. He can begin with small interests and repeated meetings but at some point, it'll turn into a routine, an obsession. He won't easily fall in love, but when he does, he won't be able to easily let go of it either.

(13) His relationship with MC is far more important than you're thinking

Just by going through his voice lines, you can tell how MC is effecting Malleus's personality and life. I'm not saying that it's love or anything but the thing is, MC is changing Malleus nonetheless.

Their relationship has been a totally new thing for Malleus to experience from the very beginning, because MC didn't know him. Malleus is obviously used to being well-known as the infamous prince of the Draconia family by almost everyone, but MC was an exception.

He asked MC to talk to him and tell him stories, it can be clearly see that he enjoys talking to them.

He also mentioned that MC has made him feeling lots of things he hadn't felt before, which can also be connected to part (10) where we discussed how he's still young and needs more of communication and friends because he needs to learn.

Some argue that Malleus couldn't care less about MC and the only reason he shows up around them is because of the ramshackle dorm, which can be easily proven wrong by two hints:

1) Malleus sent a Happy holiday card to MC after the winter holiday.

2)What Malleus told Lilia at the end of the Halloween event stories after all the troubles that was brought upon the ramshackle dorm: "I want that human to enjoy Halloween too"

While it isn't necessarily romance that we're talking about, his relationship with MC is clearly telling us that he's a lot more of emotions and humanity inside him than what we were expecting.

At this point, it's important to see that in spite of his cold nature and mature personality he is slowly beginning to feel more and more emotions as the result of meeting newer people in NRC, especially MC. Saying that he is nothing but a heartless fae who is wrongly thought to be a soft and emotional boy is nothing different from judging him the same way as most of the people in twisted wonderland itself judge Malleus, it's important to see that he's a lot more.

His personality itself is surely amazing and as a Malleus hoe stan myself I can't wait to get more of his background in chapter 7, although it's probably going to be dark as well. They really did give his design a twist and that's how he's a balance of and menacingly powerful magician and a young boy who's just learning to deal with emotions.

For now, that's all I had in mind! Hope that I didn't miss anything. This was a general character analysis which also discussed some of the common mistakes about Malleus's personality but-

In case that you're wondering how he's being mischaracterized in reader insert fics, that'll be a totally different issue to discuss which would also need another post to be discussed through.

Small note: Just saying that there's often a dark lore to twst x reader fics (Especially for Malleus/ Leona x reader) which is usually better to be ignored while reading/writing for them...

[boldbrash-fandertrash]

Ignore me, unless I’m right in which case I fucking called it

So I was rewatching the episode for the fourth time and one I realized that Remus is much much smarter than we give him credit for and two I can generally predict how the rest of the story is gonna go.

We’re gonna have another aside video with Patton and Janus before the big season finale, and that aside is going to be one of the most important videos to the general progression of the plot.

I’m sure you’ve noticed the pattern so far, two sides who diametrically oppose each other being forced to work together on a problem they vastly disagree about, usually turning the small issue into something much messier than it ever would be and them learning something about themselves in the process.

Each pairing exists to point out to the viewer exactly what issues exist with each side that need some form of resolving, and the big unifying theme amongst them is “you’re not listening to me”. Roman and Virgil dragging Thomas across the cafeteria in favor of or agains him talking to Nico, Logan and Remus deliberately ignoring and working to undo the others work in an attempt to break Thomas out of the depressive funk he found himself in. Nobody is working together here. The only side to even remotely cooperate with the group was Virgil body checking Thomas into Nico, and it took him and Roman bullying each other and Thomas for an entire video to even get to that point.

Watching Logan and Remus interact, one, brought me immense joy and I will be chasing that high for weeks to come, and two, after an ounce of critical thinking was frankly painful to watch. Any critiques Logan offered to Remus were immediately discarded with absurdity and any critiques Remus offered to Logan were discounted as absurd.

During the obvious scene at the end with the Eyes™️, Logan claimed he wasn’t pretending Remus didn’t exist, but honestly, he kinda was.

The Dunce Cap Scene really accentuates this point. Logan pulls a holier than thou, why won’t you learn I’m always right, bullshit passive aggressive remark, Remus does his dramatic repenting student shtick, starts singing directly into Logan’s ear, and makes a kink joke. Literally the words Remus sings are “can’t fix this guy, all by yourself”. Remus is saying this inches from Logan’s personal face and even still the logical side ignores him outright, because of all the fluff around the message. Hell, in Remus’s introduction video, Logan likens him to a screaming baby on a plane, essentially saying “well eventually he’ll stop screaming so just bear with it for a while and you’ll be fine”. He’s ignoring Remus outright due to a preconceived notion and missing out on valuable information because of it.

The dunce cap scene indirectly calls back to learning new things about ourselves, where Logan is completely unreceptive to the puppet bit because of its perceived absurdity and absolutely refuses to acknowledge any potential the medium might have for learning until he physically cannot anymore.

Remus is capable of, and does often, make valid points and offers genuine critiques of shit happening in their lives. In Forbidden Fruit, almost every single line harkens back to some idea the other sides had been trying, and failing, to communicate to Thomas. “Good and bad is all made up nonsense”, “if you shared those musings with your friends i doubt they would forgive you”, “why deny yourself knowledge, say, knowledge of yourself” “people don’t like me much, Thomas, but that only just cause I’m honest”, “these sorts of things are only thought in the mind of a man who’s soul is truly rotten.”

Despite all of this, he is ignored outright because of his medium. Just like Logan is ignored due to his monotone cadence and large volume of content, just like Roman is due to his flair for the dramatic and artistic display of ideas, just like Patton is due to his playful and childlike nature, just like Janus is due to his perceived role as the Villain, just like Virgil /was/ due to his perceived role as the villain.

They all have become accustomed to being stepped on by the other sides because of who they are and how they communicate, and have in turn learned some less than ideal methods of being heard again. Logan yells and gets passive aggressive, Remus ups the fear factor for everyone around him, Roman shuts down anyone who tries to talk through bullying and raising his voice, Patton manipulates the others into feeling guilt and covers it up with a smile, Virgil whips out the tempest tongue and incites fear in Thomas, and Janus physically silences anyone in his way.

And here’s why I say the next asides episode is going to be the most important one developmentally. Patton and Janus are going to be forced to work together. Patton, who is in the midst of an identity crisis, and willing to listen to any new ideas provided they offer a valid solution to the shit he’s found himself in, and Janus, who knows a lot more than he’s willing to let on, who concerns himself exclusively with Thomas’s self preservation, and loves to talk when given the opportunity. Janus is gonna have a thing or two to say to Patton when they’re inevitably faced with their moral dilemma, and Patton is going to be in just the right mindset that he’s willing to listen. And Janus is going to end up being right, and the small issue they’re facing will be resolved, which will therefore strengthen Patton’s trust, and his openness to changing for the better.

Patton is goofy, and childish, and kinda ditzy sometimes, and because of that we as a fandom tend to overlook any of his moments that are anything but that, but we are not giving this man enough credit. When Patton sets his heart on something, he throws his whole self into it, and is willing to stand up for his beliefs in the face of extreme opposition, and would gladly do anything in his power to defend his family. Once Patton decides that he’s willing to grow, and if he believes that this growth will help put his family back together, nothing can stop him, and that will be absolutely crucial for the growth of all the other sides around him.

Whatever him and Janus discuss during their aside will absolutely give Patton the information he needs to help stitch together the rift between everyone.

I predict the next official Sanders Sides video is going to be the longest one yet, possibly over an hour long, because there’s a LOT of work that is going to need to be done, and Everyone is going to be in it. The big issue of “you’re not listening to me” won’t be resolved, but it will be acknowledged in a serious light by everyone. We won’t be getting any appearances from the Orange Side I don’t think, that would end up just complicating matters even more when each character is already incredibly shaky in their own identity.

Something less than ideal is gonna happen between Thomas and Nico, he’s gonna summon the initial three to deal with the matter but the other lads are gonna worm their way into the discussion, everyone’s gonna start screaming at each other, and Pattons gonna do something that stuns everyone else into silence (I’m guessing he’ll start crying, considering the start of season two was all about him repressing negative emotions and what better way to show character growth than to sob openly on camera).

Once everyone just fucking stops for ten seconds that’s when the apologies start. None of the sides are ever the first to apologize, we’ve seen that time and time again. Their desire to be in the right as well as their pride will always get in the way, however if someone starts the apology train everyone will eventually follow suit. We see that in Alone On Valentines Day, My Negative Thinking, Growing Up, Accepting Anxiety, Fitting In, Moving On, actually in pretty much every video where an apology actually takes place, once one person apologizes the other will immediately follow suit.

Patton is gonna be a goddamn mess, he’s gonna apologize to everyone in the room for anything he thinks he may have done to wrong them, and that’s gonna be what gets everyone to acknowledge all the shit they’ve put each other through, and the others are going to jump between trying to console him and trying to apologize to each other. They’re going to come to the unified decision that they need to work together more on future issues, the group is all going to offer up a solution and decide together on a remedy to whatever happened together between Thomas and Nico, and that will be that. Season three will be about them finding the balance between stepping on toes and being stepped over, while also working out how the orange side fits into everything.

Thus marking the end of my rant.

I started writing this at 2 and it’s now 4. I have to be up in three hours. I have an essay due at 3pm tomorrow that I haven’t started, but instead I typed up all this bullshit. I hope any of this made any sense, and I hope this is a suitable replacement for my emotions essay that’s completely untouched because chances are this is what I’m presenting to my therapist tomorrow. Wish me luck.

[izaswritings]

Title: who we are in the aftermath

Fandom: The Owl House

Synopsis: Belos falls and the Golden Guard survives. It’s a new world and a new day, and sooner or later Hunter has to figure out where he fits in it. 

Or: in which Hunter stays at the Owl House, becomes a (very, very reluctant) apprentice, continues to have accidental sibling shenanigans with the annoying human, and finally finds a place where he belongs. Probably.  

AO3 link is here.

[Next chapter is here!]

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chapter one: battling birds

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They give him a room near the east side of the house, stuffed full of broken things and a miscellaneous number of random items. It’s not the human’s old room, and not Lilith’s, either—there’s too much dust and too much stuff for either option. Hunter can’t tell if he’s grateful for this or not. He’s still deciding on whether he’s grateful for the room at all.

There’s no time to set up a bed. He spends his first night here on a blanket, restless and half-awake and lying so still he’s half-convinced he’s shaking from the strain of not moving at all, not making a single sound. He can practically taste the dust on every inhale—does the Owl Lady ever clean, Titan help him—and by some godawful midnight hour Hunter gives up on sleep entirely and sits up, carefully, to whisper to his palisman. 

Nothing important. None of the real questions that are swirling around in his head, like what am I even doing here and why am I still here and what am I supposed to do now, do you know? Instead he just says nonsense things, useless things, like “If I shine a flashlight in that little demon’s face do you think I could get him to chase the dot?”

The palisman coos and chirps and sings nonsense back. Red is a pretty color. I like tulips. If we iced over the Boiling Sea could we make human rain? 

“None of those answers make sense,” Hunter tells it, and then writes a small note about the sea and rain connection on the dusty floor, if only because that’s actually kind of interesting and he wants to check it out again later. 

Red tulips are tasty, replies the palisman, and nuzzles his fingers when he goes to pet it. Its feathers are soft and its eyes are luminous in the moonlight. Nonsense, all of it, but the nonsense helps—familiar as a friend, safe and easy. Better than thinking of Belos. Better than wondering what he’s doing here, sleeping on the floor in the Owl Lady’s house.

The human has left. He could walk out right now and she’d never know, not that her disappointment has any bearing on if he chooses to stay or go. She’s vanished back to the human world, probably gone forever. This house means nothing to Hunter—the Owl Lady is annoying and dislikes him about as much as Hunter dislikes her, and as endearing as the weird little demon is, that isn’t enough to make Hunter want to stay. 

He could leave easily. He could go anywhere. He has nowhere to go.

“I don’t know what to do,” Hunter tells the palisman, at last, hours later. It is almost morning. The sunrise has only just begun, the peace of this dusty attic room wavering thin and fragile in the light of early dawn. It is a quiet admission. He says it very soft. “I don’t know if I know anything.”

I love you, says the palisman.

“That’s not an answer either.” 

Oh, well.

Twenty minutes later, the Owl Lady’s weird bird-worm security creature bursts through the window and sings good morning loud enough to shatter eardrums. Hunter grabs his staff, throws a blast at the thing on instinct, teleports to the kitchen in a panic, and smacks the Owl Lady in the face with his palisman first thing in the morning.

.

The easy explanation is this: the castle falls and Belos dies and the Golden Guard somehow survives it all: portal collapse and half-realm merge and everything, which means when the dust settles, ultimately Hunter is left with absolutely no idea of what to do with himself. 

“You should work with Eda!” says the human, in the aftermath. Given she says this in the ruin of what was once the Emperor’s castle, barely a half hour after—everything—Hunter feels pretty justified in his response. Which is to say he strangles his broken mechanical staff in his hands, takes a deep breath, and says in a very tight voice: “No.”

“But—!”

“No. No, no, no. I can’t even believe I did this, I don’t… it’s not happening. No.”

The human—he does actually know her name by now, after all they’ve been through, but also given all of This Nonsense she has lost name privileges—does not take that well. Of course she doesn’t. She’s so fourteen it makes Hunter want to die inside.  

“Why not?” the human says, petulant. She has her hands on her hips and everything. 

Hunter is kneeling in the rubble of a castle he’s called home for almost all his life. Somewhere down there is the throne where Belos used to sit; somewhere down there is a body. It’s not a surprise, really. It’s not a shock. From the moment the palisman fluttered into his life and Hunter let it stay, he always knew, deep down, that one day he was going to have to choose. 

It does not make breathing any easier. “I don’t want to,” he says. 

“You can learn wild magic! And, and glyphs! Eda knows a lot—”

“Does the Owl Lady know you’re offering up her house to an old enemy?” 

“Eda won’t mind. Well, okay, maybe she’ll mind a little, but— she’ll let you stay if I ask her!” Yeah. The Owl Lady probably would. The human has that witch wrapped around her little finger; Hunter almost snorts. “Please, just hear me out. I’m sure we can—”

“No.”

“Hunter…”

“Don’t talk like we’re friends,” Hunter hisses. He drops the broken remains of the mechanical staff and stands, his hands curled to fists. “Don’t talk like you know me. You don’t know anything. You don’t—” He can’t breathe. He drops back to his knees in the rubble and rubs a hand over his eyes. “Just stop. Please.”

The human doesn’t say anything for a long time. On his shoulder, the palisman, thus far staying silent, flutters its wings and hops down to his knee, nudging his hand with its beak. It sings nothing. Just stays there.

After a moment, the human kneels next to him. There is blood on her face and dirt staining her leggings. “I know,” she says, and she suddenly sounds very tired. “I’m sorry.” 

Hunter doesn’t say anything.

“I just—” the human starts, and then she stops. “I don’t know how else to help you.”

She looks small and weirdly sad, which makes no sense at all, because she hated Belos and never really understood why Hunter did not. (Hunter is not sure why either. If that is still something he can say. If you can betray your uncle and fight against your uncle and—and— and do these things, do everything Hunter has done, and still say that this feeling isn’t hatred.)

They aren’t friends, Hunter and the human. They have barely been allies. He doesn’t need her help, and she probably knows that as well as he does. But Hunter looks at her then, and despite the rubble and the ash and the blood on his tongue, for some reason instead of digging himself a makeshift grave he says—

“…Okay.”

Which still doesn’t really explain anything, but then, that’s just how it goes.

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“Okay!” says the Owl Lady, smacking down her second cup of apple blood on the table. She does it too hard—a good splash of blood escapes the confines of the cup and adds yet another stain to her already-stained dining table. Hunter raises an eyebrow. The Owl Lady glares back. “House rules.”

There’s a red mark on her cheek, still, from where Hunter had hit her with his staff, and a stain all down her side from when, upon being hit with the staff, the Owl Lady spluttered and cursed and accidentally spilt the first cup of apple blood all over herself and the floor. She looks… barely awake. 

“House rules,” Hunter echoes, dryly.

“Your scorn is noted and not appreciated.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” His palisman pecks his hand lightly. “Ow.”

“Luz, you owe me one,” mutters the Owl Lady, and takes a really deep drink of her apple blood. Hunter rubs at his hand, peeved, and eyes the palisman in case it gets any more hand-pecking ideas. The palisman blinks innocently back. Hmm.

“So. First of all.” The Owl Lady raises a finger. “Break any of my stuff and I end you.”

So just like the castle, then. Hunter sees where this is going. He settles gingerly back against the chair—why, why is all of her furniture stained—and rests his cheek against one fist, already bored. “Noted.”

The Owl Lady puts up a second finger. There’s a long silence.

“…Seriously?” says Hunter.

“Quiet, you.” She snaps her fingers. “Hah! Got one! Hurt King or Luz or Hooty or anyone I like in any way and I’ll destroy you. Yeah, that works.”

Hunter gets the sneaking suspicion these house rules are being made up on the spot, and are also only for him. He knows better than to say that aloud. “Fine.” Wait. “How am I supposed to know which random people you like or dislike?”

The Owl Lady grins. Her gold fang glints. “That sounds like a you problem, don’t you think?” She cackles a little. “Guess you’ll just have to find out! Or, you know. Maybe don’t attack anyone? That’s a start.” 

Her owl palisman coos a little. Her nose wrinkles. “What? What do you mean that’s hypocritical? Stay out of this, Owlbert, I’m teaching life lessons or something.” Her eyes turn to him. “Anyway. You get the gist.”

Hunter’s hand is curled white-knuckled around his knee. His palisman flutters from the table to his shoulder, singing nonsense again. Red tulips, so tasty. Its feathers brush against his cheek. 

He pries his grip off his knee one finger at a time. “…Understood.”

“Good.” The Owl Lady stands and stretches, yawning wide into one hand. “Anyway, I’ll give you a pass for this morning, because Hooty can be…” She trails off. Outside, muffled by the front door, the bird-worm creature shouts “HOOT” at full volume and then smacks into a tree.

“…a lot,” decides the Owl Lady. “But seriously, keep the windows locked. I don’t want you trying to blast him and burning my house down. I just got it back.”

Hunter says nothing. The Owl Lady squints at him and then picks her mug back up. “Riiiight… well, good talk, I guess. Get some more sleep, kid, you look worse than Luz after an all-nighter.” She waits. Hunter raises an eyebrow at her. “Ugh. I don’t know why I agreed to this.”

At least Hunter isn’t the only one second-guessing everything. Still, that reminds him. “The human.”

“Luz,” says the Owl Lady, unimpressed. 

“Yeah, whatever.” He links his fingers. The palisman flies down from his shoulder to his cupped hands, and hops a determined circle in his palm for no apparent reason. Hunter watches it play. “…Is she coming back?”

“What, tired of our company already?” 

“Yes,” Hunter says, because obviously.

“Rude. Well, can’t say the feeling isn’t mutual.” There’s a long silence. The Owl Lady sighs. “Luz… she promised she’d come back. You were there, weren’t you?”

Yeah, he had been. Standing in the back of the group, on the fringes of the goodbye. Two hours after the end, and the human had already roped the Owl Lady into letting Hunter live in her stupid owl house, and also somehow run around hugging pretty much everyone. And then she’d stepped through the mirrors that were all that remained of the realm-merge between her world and theirs, and not come back since. 

She had, indeed, promised to return. But that was hours ago; that was yesterday. The mirrors are gone and no doors remain. And Hunter does not put much faith in promises. 

“And when,” he asks the Owl Lady, a little lofty, a little snide. “When, exactly, do you think she’s coming back?”

The Owl Lady’s eyes narrow. Her lips press thin. For a moment he thinks she might snap at him, but then her shoulders slump, and in the end she just looks away.

“I don’t know,” the Owl Lady admits. 

Useless, Hunter thinks. But he doesn’t say it. Just nods and turns away to head back upstairs and make that stupid dusty storage room somewhat presentable, because if he’s going to be staying here for—for—for whatever amount of time he ends up staying here, he’s going to breathe actual air instead of dust, thanks.

“Remember, kid! House rules!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hunter says, and teleports back up the stairs without a single glance back.

.

Hunter manages to shove all the junk into one corner and make the start of a fairly presentable bed in the other corner by the time the human re-arrives in the Boiling Isles and throws open his door hard enough to smack it against the wall.

“You took my advice!” shouts the human, at the top of her lungs.

“Hiiiiii,” says Hunter, hands over his ears. The human takes a deep breath. Hunter closes the door in her face. “Byeeee.”

“Hey!”

“Why are you yelling.”

“I can’t believe you’re here!”

It’s just nonsensical enough to get him to open the door. Why does this always happen to him? Why is the human like this? “You said I should come here! You said—”

“Psh,” says the human and flaps a hand in his face. Hunter stops mid-word, gritting his teeth, practically feeling his whole face turn bright red with rage. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way! I just— I didn’t think you would actually listen! But you’re here!” She’s beaming. Hunter looks away. Her smile fades. “…Are you okay?”

He can’t sleep. His eyes are hot and burning like he wants to cry and he has no idea why. His uncle is dead. 

“No,” he tells her. “No one in this house dusts. I’ve forgotten what air tastes like.”

“Psh-haw! I’m sure it's not that…” The human steps inside, inhales, and chokes. “Oh. Ay Dios mío. Wow, this room has not been dusted.”

“I noticed!”

“Oh, man.” She hides her nose in her elbow and sidles outside again. She’s wearing her weird human clothes and her palisman staff strapped to her back. She looks tired, and a little like she has no idea what she’s doing here either. She lingers in the door almost awkwardly, rolling back and forth from her heels to her toes. 

Hunter watches her for a long moment. “You came back.”

“Haha. What gave it away?” But the smile she gives is small and blinding, brighter than the sun. “Watch this.”

“Watch wha—” The human lifts her hand and trails it through the air, dragging her fingers down in a straight line. Golden light follows her fingers. It breaks the air like a fractured mirror, a rift sparking to life in the hallway, the dark greens and blues of a galaxy intertwined with a burning glow. Hunter’s voice dies in his throat. 

“If I push at it, it opens. Like a door. It leads me right home.” She’s smiling so wide it must hurt. The portal almost seems to whisper; the golden glow of the rift shines in her eyes and catches on her face, still tear-streaked. The human’s cried over this. She’s right to. The human world and the Boiling Isles—she has found a way to keep both.

Presumably he thinks he should be jealous. Instead he finds himself smiling too. “I’m glad,” Hunter tells her. “That’s… pretty cool.”

“Right!?” She bounces on her heels and waves a hand through the rift, dismissing it into nothing. “I can’t wait to show Amity. And Eda. And King. And you! The human world is—it’s amazing. The rain doesn’t kill you even a little bit!”

It takes sudden effort to keep up the smile. “…I’ve heard.” 

“Anyway, I just came by to say hi. Eda said you were here, and—” She stops, visibly hesitating. Her head lowers. “I know… I know this must be hard. And that we aren’t really friends. But… if you need anyone to talk to… I’m here.” She peeks up her head a little, grinning. “After all, we’re house buddies now!”

“Human,” Hunter says. Her nose wrinkles. He sighs. “Luz.”

“Yeah?” 

There’s so much he could say that for a moment he has no idea where to start. Why did you think this was a good idea. Please stop talking. Why are you so insistent that we could be friends. I didn’t say I was staying here for long. I’m very tired. You’re bizarrely forgiving. My uncle is dead because of you. 

“…Thanks,” he says. “And— I’m sorry.”

Luz blinks at him. Then she grins. “Noooo problem, ol’ buddy ol’ pal!”

Hunter shoves her stupid smiling face away and closes the door on her toes. Luz yelps and swears and kicks at the door, and yells rude things in that other human language of hers. “Byeeeee,” Hunter says, and behind the closed door, Luz makes a muffled noise of rage and shouts, “Would you stop saying that!?”

And it doesn’t make things better but it doesn’t make things any worse, either, and when Hunter turns away he is almost smiling—so maybe it’s okay. 

.

The sun sets. The dusty room has been aired out to its best ability, and Hunter has made a somewhat functional and comfy-looking bed in the corner. A sticky note with the boiling sea + ice = human rain idea has been ceremoniously pinned to the empty wall space. In addition to the sticky notes, Luz has donated his “sad, bad boy room” what looks to be a dying houseplant. Hunter suspects she gave it to him purely because she has despaired of trying to keep it alive herself.  

He puts the plant on the windowsill. The palisman apparently loves it. Maybe he should find red tulips for it to eat. Whatever a red tulip is.

He settles next to the palisman on the windowsill, and strokes its head with his finger. He feels strangled and small and the sunset looks alien to him. Everything has changed. Everything is over. He is a powerless witch with a wild magic staff, and he will never be the Golden Guard again.

His eyes burn. He blinks fast. Far down below, he can hear the Owl Lady and Luz arguing over dinner.

“I still don’t know what I’m doing here,” Hunter tells the palisman. The sunset makes all the trees look shadow-like and sharp, outlined in red. It reminds him of his palisman, a little bit. “I don’t even like these people. What do you think? Is it too late to head back and dig myself a grave in the rubble?”

I’m happy I know you, chirps the palisman. It hops from the dying houseplant to the top of his head.  I love you, I love you.

His throat feels tight. “…That still isn’t a real answer.”

I want apple blood for breakfast tomorrow. The palisman nibbles at his hair. It looks tasty.

He’s quiet for a long moment. Then he closes his eyes. “Okay. If— if you say so.” 

The sun is setting, and the light is warm on his face. The Boiling Isles feels, for once, almost something like peaceful. It probably won’t last.

“We’ll stay.” 

[fandom-imagines]

New Start

Fandom: Stardew Valley

Pairing: Shane X Reader; slight Sebastian X Reader

Words: 5.1k (I love him)

Warnings: None other than non-proofread writing I don't think, let me know if there are any that need tagging ^^

Note: There could be a part two if anyone would like x)

“Pelican Town,” the name fell involuntarily from Y/N’s lips as she hopped from the bus that had dropped her at her new home. “Guess we’re here, Luna.”

The midnight black cat rubbed itself against her owners’ leg, hopping onto the ground beside the suitcase that had landed mere moments before. A purr escaped the felines’ lips at the feeling off Y/N’s fingers gently caressing her fur, back arching in pleasure.

The cold air blew through the girl’s body as she stepped from the bus with once final ‘thank you’ aimed towards the driver. A shiver ran through her, arms wrapping around themselves to keep a grip on the little warmth she had left. Luna, who was now pressed tightly against Y/N’s leg, seemed to feel the same as her.

“Come here,” she smiled, kneeling with an open arm to allow the cat to hop into, soon surrounded with the warmth of the jacket Y/N had luckily worn for her journey. “Good girl.”

The sound of a young girl’s laughter sounded throughout the street, blending into her eyes along with the roaring engine of the, now departing, bus. A small grin crawled onto the Y/H/C-haired womans lips as she spotted a young, dark-haired girl holding hands with a man who seemed just as happy as she sounded.

“Shane, who’s that?” The young girls’ eyes were now fixated on the newest arrival to Pelican Town, legs shuffling themselves to move behind Shane’s body.

“Not sure, Jas.” The man’s own attention was now on Y/N, unsure as to what to say to her, if anything.

“She has a kitty!” Jas, or at least who Y/N assumed to be Jas, pointed towards Luna whose head had popped out from the jacket once the chatter had begun.

“She’s called Luna,” Y/N smiled brightly as she, once again, pet Luna. “You can pet her if you’d like!”

Jas seemed to ponder this for a moment, small fingers playing with the strands of her hair, “can I, Shane?”

“Sure, Jas. Just stay close, okay?”

The kitty owner smiled at their interaction, kneeling down to the ground so that the girl could have easier access to the kitten when she came over.

“Wow, she’s soft. Shane, feel!” Whilst her words were mostly directed towards the taller man, Y/N still felt slightly flattered at the compliment.

Shane, who was sporting his usual blue jacket, kneeled beside Jas, cautiously petting the cat with such care that it seemed like he feared he would break her.

The three of them remained on the ground for a few moments, Jas still as excited as before at the kitten, until an elderly man’s voice caught their attention.

“You must be Y/N,” he grinned. “I’m Lewis, mayor of this town. I see you’ve met Shane and Jas already.”

“I have, it’s a pleasure to meet you all,” Y/N returned his friendly smile, shaking his outstretched hand with pleasure.

“Likewise. I suppose I should get you to your new house, hey?” Lewis chuckled, brown cap falling down his head slightly as he did so.

“I’d appreciate that,”

“Come on, Jas. We should let Lewis show this girl to her new house.” Shane gave Jas a small, almost unnoticeable, smile as they climbed back onto their feet. “Thank you,”

“They were nice,” Y/N commented as the two people from before left.

“They are. That’s Jas and Shane,” Lewis began speaking whilst leading Y/N towards her new home. “Jas is his goddaughter, very shy but talks a lot once she’s out of her shell. And Shane, well there’s more to him than meets the eye, but I’m sure you’ll figure that one out.”

The two of them walked in a comfortable chatter, occasionally being stopped by the townsfolk to either greet the new villager, or to say hi to Lewis who then introduced Y/N to them anyway. Everyone she had spoken to had seemed extremely kind, not having a single rude thing to say to either of them, some aweing at Luna who was now hidden inside the jacket, fast asleep from the long journey.

“Here we are!”

The house in front of her was small, but it was cute and big enough for herself and Luna. She knew that it only had a single bedroom, something that was to be expected considering her situation. The place seemed as though it had been deep cleaned recently, which was likely.

“It’s pretty, I like it.”

Lewis let out a soft hum, handing her the keys to her new place, “I’m glad! I’ll leave you to get settled in! You should try and meet some people tomorrow, everyone here is friendly; I’m sure you’ll get along well with them all.”

“Thank you, Lewis,”

“Anytime!”

*

The house was cosier than she had expected.

The fireplace was already lit, filling the entire place with warmth during the cold weather. In front of the fireplace stood a couch, placed just on top of a blush rug which Luna gladly hopped onto, curling up into a ball, enjoying the fires heat.

“Get some sleep, Luna.”

The kitchen was neatly laid out. Everything was pressed together whilst still maintaining the comfortable feeling of the house. It was clear that this place was cheap. She couldn’t complain, it was perfect for her; away from her old life, tiny yet comfortable, everything about this place screamed ‘perfect’.

The bedroom was larger than expected, a double bed seated in the middle of the room with a cabinet placed at the end of the frame. Other than that, the place was ready for her to make it her own.

Ditching her suitcase on top of the duvet, Y/N grabbed her shower supplies along with some night clothes and headed towards her new bathroom.

“Here’s to a new life,”

*

Early the following morning Y/N rose to the sounds of birds chirping.

Luna was laid asleep beside her, snuggling into the duvet alongside her owner who was doing the exact same. The unexpected noise didn’t startle her, it simply confused her. Having forgot where she was, Y/N was incredibly confused as to why birds were singing in a dull city.

“Wait,” her voice croaked. “We’re in Pelican Town.”

The sound of her owners’ voice seemed to wake Luna from her own slumber, tongue sticking out to lick the human before cuddling into her warmth, the duvet seemingly not as comfortable as her favourite person.

A silent giggle left Y/N’s lips at the kitten’s actions, hands raising from the cover to stroke the dark fur which Luna seemed to enjoy judging by the soft exhale that she let out, something that simply made Y/N continue her actions.

“Morning you little rascal,”

The two lay in bed for a few more moments, the clock soon hitting 7:00 which was when Y/N decided she should, most likely, get ready for the day having planned to go around town and meet some of the others that live here.

As though she sensed the sudden idea to get out of bed, Luna snuggled further into Y/N as silent plea not to leave just yet; to stay and enjoy the warmth and comfort of the creaky oak bed.

“I know you want me to stay, but I need to meet people,” a soft sigh escaped her lips as she spoke. “I promise I’ll bring back some treats, okay?”

The mention of treats alongside a promise seemed to be all the motivation that Luna needed to get up. Her small frame raised itself up from the warm sheets, dropping herself onto the floor with a soft thud, something that earned a giggle from the human.

“Come on, let me get ready then you can have some treats.”

*

“Be good for me, okay Luna?” Were her final words as Y/N left her new home, locking the door behind her.

The ground was layered with autumn-coloured leaves, the sound of them crunching beneath people’s feet being oddly satisfying to those hearing it. The wind blew threw Y/N’s Y/H/C locks, tossing them into her face which caused an annoyed from to coat her lips as she tugged the strands away, back to their original place.

In the distance, a large building could be seen with a sign that simply read ‘Pierres’ above it. Deciding to head there first in search of treats, Y/N took off with a newfound spring in her step. It wasn’t everyday you get to have a new start in a new town now, is it? A chance to be who she wants to be, without anyone saying otherwise; it was perfect.

“Welcome, you must be new here!” A polite man with glasses greeted from behind the counter. “I’m Pierre, owner of the shop. This is my daughter, Abigail,”

“Hey,”

“Please feel free to have a look for anything you need.” Pierre finished once Abigail had also greeted the newcomer, pointing around at various displays and their signs.

“Thank you,” Y/N gave them both a polite smile, immediately heading towards the pet aisle.

“What’re you looking for?” A soft voice startled her, pulling her away from her search for treats. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m Abigail,” The purple-haired girl, now known as Abigail, introduced herself.

“I’m Y/N. I’m just looking for treats for my cat, Luna, I promised I’d bring her some back.” A blush crawled onto her cheeks, embarrassed at admitting how she talks to her cat as though she was a human, despite knowing many do it.

“I’m sure she’s sweet. The treats are just down here!” Abigail said with a smile, the two of them walking down towards the end of the aisle, determined to find Luna some treats. “I always wanted a cat, my dad would never let us though. Shame really.”

“Cats are great, they can be a pain sometimes though,”

“I’m sure they can.”

It wasn’t long until they finally found what they were searching for, Y/N quickly choosing a pack of treats she was sure Luna would like judging by the flavour; all the items in the store being homemade meant she couldn’t get anything that she would usually buy, not that she was complaining,

“If you ever want to come hang out, I’m usually around here somewhere,” with one final smile, Abigail was heading back to her previous place when Y/N had first entered the store.

After paying for her items, Y/N left with one final waves to Abigail.

*

One long walk later, Y/N somehow found herself seated inside the local saloon with her new friend Abigail who had looked for her, inviting her for a drink with herself and a few other of her friends which they were currently waiting for.

“So, Y/N/N,” the use of the nickname made the named blush. “What made you move to a town like this?”

The question made her freeze, drink still raised slightly to her lips; she was certain that the shock was evident on her face.

Having not had time to come up with a perfectly constructed lie, Y/N simply said the first thing to come to mind, “new start I guess.”

“Makes sense. A nice quiet place where nobody knows you, I wish I were able to do that,”

An internal sigh of relief formed inside Y/N’s mind, relieved to have gotten away with such a short and simple answer; it was something she wasn’t used to. In fact, being able to get away with anything was a miracle in itself.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to someday,”

“I have some good friend, but sometimes I want something new, you know?”

Y/N gave a simple nod, completely understanding what she meant.

The saloons comforting warmth floated throughout the room, the background noise being ignored as the two continued to chatter about anything and everything, Y/N blissfully unaware of the gaze of another drinker fixated on her and her friends.

*

A banging head was what Y/N awoke to the following morning, only made worse by the ringing of her alarm clock which she switched off, a disgruntled groan leaving her lips and she did so. The noise simply made the pain in her head worse, a sigh sounding from her once she realised this. The sun shining through the open window also added to the pain.

Luna meowed from beside her, placing her paw on her owner’s face in an attempt of waking her.

“Sorry,” she apologised to the cat. “Want feeding?”

Feet padding across the cold wooden floor, Y/N headed towards the kitchen, both to take some painkillers and to feed Luna.

A smile crawled across her face as Luna sat at her feet, desperate for her food. Chuckling once Luna darted for the food, Y/N decided to finally get some painkillers to ease the banging pain in her head.

The wooden cabinet stood high in the air, too high for the girl to reach.

“Are you kidding me?” She sighed, attempting to jump to the height of the shelf. “I just want some painkillers,”

It took a few minutes for her to finally give up, a sound of defeat echoing throughout the room. Unfortunately, there was only one chair currently and it was plastic, no way anybody could stand on it without it breaking in two. So there was only one option: give up and suffer, at least until she was able to get some.

“Maybe Pierre’s sells some,”

It was a simple decision, her only idea as a matter of fact, and so she decided to head to Pierre’s and hopefully she’d bump into Abigail.

*

The autumn air was chilly yet still retained some type of warmth within. The leaves were, once again, coating the ground with their coloured patterns, blowing away on an adventure throughout the town. Despite the temperature being colder than she would have perhaps liked, Y/N pressed on, desperately praying that the fresh air would provide, at least some, relief to her head.

“Morning, Y/N,” Abigail smiled upon seeing her enter, evidently not as hung over as she was or maybe she just had painkillers, who knows?

“Hi,”

“You look hung over,”

“I am,”

The two continued to talk whilst searching for something to ease the pain.

“I hate to say this, but I think you’ll have to try Joja Mart,” Abigail sighed. “It’s up the road, just past the blacksmiths, you can’t miss it.”

“Oh, thank you.” Y/N gave one last smile as she left, ready to continue her search for what she needed.

*

Joja Mart was just what she was expecting, bold and flashy; everything she hated. Perhaps the hate stemmed from working for companies similar to this, or maybe she had always hated bold and flashy things, perhaps a mixture of the two. Either way, she had no choice but to go inside and find her painkillers.

The inside of the building was just as bad. Spotless and bright with posters plastered all over the walls advertising their own business, despite the customers having been inside their shop already. It was strange to say the least.

Y/N wandered the aisles of the store, searching high and low for any sign of painkillers; sadly, there were none. At least, not until she reached a shelf in the middle of the store that seemed to hold painkillers. Unfortunately for her, somebody was blocking the shelf.

“Excuse me,” her voice was meek. “Could I get some painkillers please?” Despite her pain, Y/N still mustered up a smile for the man, hoping to ease the clear annoyance on his face.

Wordlessly, the worker grabbed a box for her and gave her it before turning his attention back to stacking the shelves.

“Thank you,”

*

Swallowing the pills with a sip of water, Y/N was looking forward to feeling better again.

It was always fun drinking with friends, but the aftermath was not so fun. Despite all this, it was still worth it, at least in her opinion. Spending time with Abigail, Sebastian and the others of their crew was enjoyable, and it was fun to finally be able to let go and be who she wanted to be, who she is, with other people around her. She had thoroughly enjoyed doing so.

It was nearing late afternoon, the sky darkening and the moon replacing the sun that once sat high in the sky. The masses of people around Pelican Town had faded, leaving only a few lone wanderers to explore the territory; quiet and beautiful.

Deciding to remain outside instead of heading home, Y/N wandered to a place she had found yesterday with her friends.

The bridge was long, holding itself above the water with various wooden pillars below the surface. The water itself was a calming blue, moving steadily down the river, moonlight reflecting from the waves.

A content smile crawled onto Y/N’s lips as she took a seat at the end of the bridge, placing her shoes that she had removed whilst walking here on the ground beside her whilst dipping her, now bare, feet into the warmth of the water.

Time passed, the only reason she knew this was having watched sky darken further until it was a deep shade of blue, bordering on black.

“Hey!” A woman’s voice sounded behind her. “You look like you could use a drink, I’m Pam, and this is Shane.”

Looking behind her revealed both a man and a woman.

The woman was shorter than the man, whom she recognised from when she arrived at the bus stop, with short curly hair and a slightly distorted facial expression which Y/N assumed was caused by alcohol.

Shane looked the same as he was her first day there, blue jacket and green t-shirt keeping him warm and the tiniest bit of stubble covering his chin. He seemed slightly unhappy to be here, even more so when Pam flopped down beside Y/N, dragging Shane with her as she offered them both a drink.

“No thank you,” she politely declined the drink that was held out to her.

“More for me then, kid,” Pam’s voice was slurred, the stench of alcohol leaving her open mouth as she spoke. “What brings you here anyway? I know you’re new around here,”

The same question Abigail asked yesterday, why did everyone seem so intrigued by her sudden appearance? Then again, it’s not like you get many new faces in this town from what she had both seen and heard.

Shane’s attention seemed to be caught by this question, ears wide open to hear her answer but gaze fixated on the bottle of beer in his hand.

“Uhm- “hesitation was evident in her tone, something that only piqued the man’s interest. “I needed a new start.” It wasn’t entirely a lie; a new start was desperately needed for her. “Personal stuff I suppose,” she giggled nervously, running her hand through the warm water.

“Sounds about right, hey Shane?”

Shane wordlessly nodded, raising his beer to his lips to take a sip.

The three of them sat in a comfortable silence, the occasional sound if wind blowing through and the clanking of beer hitting wood being the only sounds that could be heard between them. None of them knew how much time had passed, only that it was nearing midnight.

“I should probably get home; my cat will be hungry.” Y/N sighed, lifting her feet from the water and putting her shoes back on.

“Be a darling Shane and walk her home,” Pam smiled at him, chuckling as Shane rolled his eyes in annoyance yet no remarks left his lips, simply standing up alongside Y/N.

“Come on,” Shane muttered, walking down the bridge with Y/N following quickly behind.

The short walk back home was quiet, Shane ignoring her attempts at making conversation, disregarding them along with a rude comment. It’s not that he wanted to be rude to her, she seemed lovely, but he had to.

His behaviour was confusing to say the least, leaving Y/N worried that she had done something wrong. This thought was clearly written on her face, almost making Shane apologise to her, feeling bad for making her doubt herself but alas he didn’t.

“Uhm- thanks Shane,” despite his rude behaviour towards her, she still offered him a smile. “I appreciate it.” And with that, she headed inside her house.

“Yeah, no problem,” Shane whispered once the door had shut behind her.

*

A few weeks had passed, and Y/N was getting along with most of Pelican Towns residents, especially Abigail and Sebastian who she would definitely say are her best friends with Penny being a close second.

Much to her disappointment, Shane was still quite rude towards her which sucked considering that she found him pretty cute.

“He’s like that with everyone he doesn’t know,” Abigail told her. “Don’t take it personally.”

“I guess,”

Despite all this, she was starting to feel safe and at home here in this small town. It was a small step towards her desired future, but it was one that she was proud of. Baby steps.

It was a quiet Saturday morning, Y/N on a usual morning walk to pick up some food for both herself and Luna. This was a routine for her, one she was used to by now. Less than a month ago she had found herself stuck doing everything for her mother, and now everything she did was for herself and her cat, just the way she liked it.

“Morning, Shane,” Y/N gave the dark-haired man a soft smile, watching as he directed his gaze towards the ground.

“Will you just leave me alone,” he snapped, not enjoying the way her smile dropped slightly before swiftly changing back into a bigger one.

“Sure,”

Shane watched with slight guilt as the girl walked away from him, desperately trying not to let his words get to her.

He knew she was nice. She had helped Jas and Marnie quite a bit in her first few weeks here, but he couldn’t let her get close to him. He didn’t want to ruin her innocence and kindness with his harsh and troubled personality, no matter how much he wanted to talk to her.

He couldn’t apologise.

*

More time passed and Shane found himself missing his, albeit small, interactions with Y/N. Instead of wishing him a good morning, she simply ignored him, staying true to her agreement of leaving him alone.

He would watch out for her of course, silently praying that she would say something, anything, to him so that he could politely reply to her. Nothing was said, not to him at least.

The small smiles and touches she shared with Sebastian at the Saloon irked him for some unknown reason. Shane hated the way Sebastian’s hand brushed hers as he handed her the drink that he had just bought her. The mere sight of Y/N and Sebastian together was enough to ruin Shane’s mood for the rest of the day, especially when they were alone together. It was clear Sebastian liked her as more than a friend, but the question was, why did Shane care so much?

*

The dark nights sky hung high above Y/N, the moon shining brightly alongside it to provide at least some light to anyone who may be out this late. It was a relatively clear night, not many stars littering the sky.

She had skipped meeting up with Abigail and Sebastian to instead sit alone, dipping her feet into the water much like she had done a few weeks before.

She was too deep in her thoughts, that she missed the sound of somebody walking down to sit beside her. It wasn’t until they were sat next to her, that she realised.

“Y/N,” they said.

“I thought you didn’t want me to talk to you, Shane.”

Her words made Shane wince. Despite the words seeming harsh, there was no harshness in her voice.

He hesitated for a moment, before doing what needs to be done.

“I’m sorry,” he sighed. “I shouldn’t have said that to you, you were only being kind. There was no reason for me to be so rude, so I apologise.” His own words made him feel uncomfortable, not used to apologising like this.

“It’s okay, I get it. You’re scared of getting close to people, so you push them away,”

Shanes eyes widened at how accurate her deduction on him was; he didn’t know what to say in response.

“I-“

“You don’t have to say anything, Shane. It’s fine, I forgive you.”

Sincerity laced her tone, words being completely truthful. He didn’t know what to do, so instead he watched her. Her gaze was fixated on the night sky, feet gliding through the clear blue water. She looked truly beautiful.

That’s when it clicked inside his head: he likes her.

“I should get going, it’s late.”

Shane watched as she lifted herself up onto her feet, picking up her shoes soon after.

“Wait,” he called when she began to leave. “Let me walk you home?”

*

And that was how their friendship began.

The pair would greet each other each morning, meeting up in the morning to walk together, Shane going to work and Y/N going for her daily walk. In fact, that’s where they were now.

“It’s a bit chilly, isn’t it?” Y/N giggled, wrapping her arms around her bare arms in a vain attempt to avoid the cold winter air.

Shane glanced at her cold frame, shaking his head slightly. “Should’ve worn some clothes then, shouldn’t you?” His words were clearly a joke whilst he laughed, slipping off the blue jacket covering his own arms, gently placing it around her.

The jacket itself was too big for her. The sleeves fell below her hands and the body buried her body; it was comfy.

“T-thanks,” Y/N smiled, praying that the cold weather had made her cheeks red, hiding the blush that had just formed.

“Don’t mention it,” Shane was praying the exact same thing. “Why aren’t you wearing a jacket anyway?”

“I uhm-“unsure as to what to say, Y/N glanced down at the ground, silence filling the air whilst she fiddled with the sleeves on Shane’s jacket.

“Hey, what’s up?” Shane halted his movement, noticing that Y/N had done the exact same.

Nervously, he walked towards her until he was stood in front of her. She remained still. Shaking his head slightly, Shane raised his hand to her chin, tilting her head to face him. “What is it?”

“I’m not supposed to wear them in winter,” her words were rushed as she immediately tried to turn away from his concerned gaze, but to no avail.

“Why?”

“M-my mum told me not to,”

Shane’s eyes widened at her words, finger unconsciously running across her red cheeks. He had no idea what to say to her, no idea how to comfort her; it was clear that she was getting upset. So he did the only thing he could think of and enveloped her in a tight hug, resting his chin on top of her head, enjoying the way her arms wrapped around his body whilst her head rested against his chest. His hand moved from her back to her hair, wordlessly stroking to hopefully provide some comfort.

Neither of them knew how long they stayed there, both just enjoying the others touch.

“You should get to work,” Y/N said, pulling away from his embrace. “You’re probably already late.”

“Being late is worth it as long as you’re okay,”

*

“Hey, Y/N/N!” Sebastian yelled as he saw Y/N outside Pierre’s, looking at the calendar.

“Hey, Seb,” she smiled sweetly towards the man who gladly returned it. “How’s it going?”

“It’s going,” he chuckled. “Hey I’ve been meaning to ask you something!” Despite his attempts at seemingly calm, it was clear that he was nervous.

“Oh? What’s up?”

“Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to go on a date? … With me…”

Surprise covered Y/N’s face, unsure as to how to react.

Sure, he was nice, but she didn’t like him, not like that.

“I, uh-“her sentence was cut short by another man behind her, someone who had clearly heard the question.

“Let’s go, Y/N,”

“Shane?”

Y/N felt Shane’s hand grasp her arm, the gentleness of the grip contrasting the dark look on his face.

“I-okay?”

And with that, the pair left a confused Sebastian behind.

“Shane, are you okay?” Y/N asked once the two were alone. “You’re kind of scaring me,” her hand reached out to Shane, resting itself on his arm.

“Do you like him?” His voice was merely a whisper, gazing at the ground as though he was too afraid to look at her.

“Well yeah, he’s my friend so of course I like him,”

“No, do you like him?”

“Shane? No, I don’t. I like y-“ Y/N’s eyes widened at her words, realising that she had almost confessed to her crush without thinking. “No, I don’t like Sebastian.”

Shane’s eyes glanced towards her, noticing her blushing cheeks.

She was still wearing his jacket; he could feel the sleeve on his bare arm as he melted into her touch. She looked adorable.

“Good,” Shane sighed, stepping closer to Y/N who was simply confused. “Because then we might have a problem,” his hand rested itself on her blushing cheek which darkened further at the contact.

“What do you mean?” It was her time to avoid looking at him, hoping that the blush wouldn’t get any worse. “I mean, it’s not like we’re anything, so why would we have a problem?”

“Because I like you,”

Y/N’s eyes widened at his confession, gaze darting up to the taller man. “You what?”

“I like you, okay? I have for a while now. If you don’t feel the same, just say and I won’t bother you again.”

Y/N stared wordlessly, unsure of what to say to him.

“Got it, I’ll leave you alone,” Shane’s hand dropped from her cheek to his side, slowly walking away.

“Shane,” she called out to him, only to be ignored. “Shane!” This time she ran towards him, taking hold of his hand to spin him around, lifting herself up to his height to connect their lips.

Her spare hand reached up to his neck, pulling him down to her. The faint taste of beer could be tasted on his chapped lips. Shane’s own hand moved to her cheek, melting into the kiss.

“I like you too,” she whispered against his lips once they pulled away.

Shane simply kissed her again.

[prismartist]

Haul Away Jay

Fandom: Just Roll With It (Riptide)

Words: 3175

CW: implied/referenced character death

Relationships: Chip & Jay Ferin & Gillion Tidestrider

Summary: Jay is bored. Very, very bored. So, understandably, she tries to find a way to entertain herself.

She wasn't quite expecting the entertainment to come in the form of a song and dance, or that the other two would be roped into it.

None of them are complaining, though.

A/N: @tokencishetchip idk if you remember but you asked to be tagged for this a little while back !! here's the albatrio having fun with a sea shanty :D

Ao3

– – –

If there was anything that Jay Ferin knew as she leaned on the railing of the Albatross one peaceful day, watching the sun slowly set beyond the horizon, it’s that she was unmistakably, undoubtedly, incredibly, and painfully, bored.

Maybe it was the juxtaposition of the current situation to cursed islands, cursed casinos, or crewmates being dumbasses (well, that wasn't really a curse, but it sure felt like one sometimes), but standing on a boat in the middle of an endless calm sea under an endless calm sky wasn’t the most exciting event in the world.

Jay let out a sigh that floated out onto the indifferent blue water. She heard Gillion shout something from atop the crow’s nest, and Chip shouting back in turn as he walked down from the helm and started lighting the lamps. It was nice to see the two working in harmony.

Old man Earl was nowhere to be seen, probably in the kitchen making dinner and more orange juice. Jay was looking forward to that the most right now. She wasn’t sure if that’s a good or bad thing.

Well, she thought as she redirected her attention back to the ocean, if only they could find the adventure they all hoped for.

Her mind drifted in an attempt to entertain herself, going back to her days in the tavern. She had spent hours there working her butt off for loud, gruff soldiers, laying down in bed afterwards and thinking that her aching bones and five hours of sleep weren’t worth it. Over time she had learned to ignore the exhaustion, but compared to the adrenaline-inducing fights and rewarding victories she experienced now, Jay didn’t miss it.

Suddenly, a melody started to creep into her mind, a tune that she didn’t expect to hear in a long while. While tied to the memory of the tavern, the feeling the song settled in her is calm, comforting even. Jay closed her eyes, allowing herself to listen to it.

Apple sang serenely as she sat on the crow’s nest, and her chirps melded into the melody that Jay now recognized.

It was an old sea shanty, one that Jay often heard from the navy soldiers that frequented the tavern. She recalled memories of drunk men singing joyously, unprofessional in their performance, as if they were celebrating being freed from their ruthless job even for a night. Sometimes though, the way they would sing would come out soft and genuine as they sat in relative sobriety after a hard-fought battle, reflecting as the first few hours of the dawn crept up behind them and the orange rays shone on the mournful men. Jay would look on, almost in awe, unable to believe these were the same people who maimed and killed and imprisoned.

Jay hummed the beginning of the tune to the best of her abilities, and did not notice Chip cast a curious glance at her. She faltered as she lost the words, struggling to remember.

How did it go again…?

Oh. Right.

“Oh maiden, oh maiden, the love to I,” Jay sang softly. “I adore the shimmer, the shimmer, the shine in your eyes.”

She smiled and started to continue, but was cut off suddenly by the sound of Chip’s voice. Her eyes flew open and she turned in his direction, having half a mind to snap at him, but stopped upon realizing what exactly he was saying.

Or, rather, singing.

“It enamours, enamours, thy light to my life.” Chip was as surprised as Jay, eyes wide as he continued easily as if by instinct. His voice was surprisingly smooth and not all that bad. “Thy touch, carries, it carries, my soul to the sky.”

They stared at each other for a few moments, processing what had just happened.

Jay tilted her head, and spoke, “How do you-”

“I-it’s a song, I– the Black Rose Pirates used to sing it all the time.” Chip saw a small flash of a memory, of fireflies fluttering around in hanging terrariums, of voices chanting the same song as Chip joined in. He gestured a bit wildly, as if he was trying to swat away the image. “You?”

“I heard it in the tavern a lot.” Jay chuckled, a little in disbelief. “I guess it’s more popular than I thought.”

Chip vaguely remembered being lifted into the air by a laughing Arlind, teasing him for messing up a line, the golden glow overhead. “I guess so-”

“And my love! I swear in the sun and the rain!” The booming voice of Gillion Tidestrider rang down, causing Chip and Jay to look up and see the Triton slide down the pole, landing with a flourish. He straightened and completed the verse in a perfect baritone. “That someday, our hands will intertwine once again.”

Gillion grinned at the other two’s astonished faces. “That's an oversea song, is it not? My sister taught it to me. I much enjoy it as well.”

Chip turned to Jay. “So definitely more popular than you thought,” he said.

“Yeah,” Jay muttered, feeling a grin grow on her face. “A little different in some places, but yeah.”

She found herself tapping her fingers against the boat to the beat of the shanty and humming the post-verse interlude. Gill and Chip noticed as well, and their eyes trained on her, silently assigning her the role of the shantyman.

Jay tensed up upon noticing. She’s not used to performing, especially in front of an audience (could you call two people an audience?). It’s far from one of her strong suits.

But after a moment of contemplation, she eventually decided that, fuck it, it’s time to sing.

They started this ballad, they might as well finish it.

“Oh damsel, oh damsel, my heart belongs to thee.” Her voice cracked a bit on the high note, which Chip snickered at, but Jay merely shot him a dirty look and continued. “If you are troubled, so troubled, you must only call on me.”

“And though it rages, it rages, the condescending sea,” Chip joined in, his smirk slowly morphing into a genuine smile.

“For you I know my journey will succeed,” he finished, noticing Gillion’s voice join in. Chip glanced at him for a second before letting out a soft chuckle.

Jay started stomping on the boat to get the beat going. To her delight, Chip clapped rhythmically and Gillion followed both their suits. Energized, Jay hummed louder.

“And my love, I swear in the waves and whirlpools,” all three sang together, “Soon we will meet and once again become whole.”

With a laugh, Jay skipped closer to the center of the ship. She spun and gestured, mimicking the dances she had observed at Loffinlot, imagining a band accompanying her as she sang as loud as she could.

La, la la la, la la la, la la la.

Gillion was quick to join her, imitating her dance. His heavy boots threatened to break the wood they danced on, but Jay only cared for the lovely bass beat and snare they happened to offer. She grinned at him approvingly, and Gill grinned back.

Off to the side, Chip hung back, providing the main melody.

“Oh lover, oh lover, don’t you dare cry.” Jay reached out a hand to Gillion, who took it. “But laugh and laugh under the pristine blue sky.” She raised it and lead him in a spin. “And never, oh never, would I ever lie. I wish nothing more than for us to reunite!”

Gillion grabbed Jay by the waist, catching her off-guard, but as he lifted her into the air, she loosened up and cheered, feeling the song come to an end.

When she landed, Jay made a show of dusting herself off before bowing to Gillion. Gill, ever the gentleman, bowed back, and Jay giggled.

She looked over to Chip, leaning against the railing and watching with a rather deflated smile. Jay raised an eyebrow. That didn’t look right.

Absent-mindedly tapping his toes, no longer minding the beat, Chip stewed deep in his thoughts. Seeing his friends dance their hearts out was a nice scenario, don’t get him wrong, but despite the undeniable want to join in the festivities, there was a hesitance that Chip couldn’t quite get over. Maybe it’s the weird ache when he remembered voices that he’d never hear again. Maybe it’s because he didn’t want to interrupt the others’ joy. Who knew. Chip sure didn’t.

And Chip definitely didn’t know why the sight of Jay marching towards him made him panic.

“Hey,” Jay said, and Chip immediately heard the over-friendliness in her voice. “What’re you doing, moping in the corner? You said you and the Black Rose Pirates sang this all the time, right?” She leaned forward and locked eyes with Chip, who tensed up. “So, show us what you got.”

She daintily held out a hand, and with it, a challenge. “Dance with us.”

Chip’s eyes grew impossibly wide as his face flushed. “Oh, nah, nahh, that’s okay, I’m really not a dancer,” he stammered. “And you guys are already done with the song, so I really don’t-”

“Gill.” Jay smirked. “Take the beat.”

“Wha-”

“On it!” Gillion grinned with sharp teeth and began to stomp and clap again. He hummed deeply, the tune once again emanating through the ship.

“Jay,” Chip begged, taking a step back. “I don-”

“Nope, round two, coward!”

“Ja-AAAAY!”

Chip yelped as Jay grabbed his arm and dragged him to the newly appointed dance floor, guiding his kicking and screaming form into one of dance. She took one of Chip’s hands and held it up, putting her other hand on his shoulder. “Your free hand on my waist,” she reminded him, ignoring his confused sputtering. “And one, two, three, go.”

She lead the dance in a sort of wild, messy foxtrot, stretching their clasped hands in the direction they move in, side skipping energetically. Chip stumbled at first, caught off-guard, but he quickly adjusted to her same pace, glancing at the ground to make sure he was keeping up. Seeing his face relax and the corners of his mouth quirk up, Jay smiled at him encouragingly.

“Sing, shantyman, it’s your turn,” she said.

Chip’s expression turned into horror once again, gulping as he scrambled to remember the words in time for the melody.

“O-oh maiden, oh maiden, the love to I,” sang Chip.

“I adore the shimmer, the shimmer, the shine in thy eyes,” he and Jay sang together.

“It enamours, enamours, thy light to my li-IIFE, JAY!” Chip screamed as Jay gave him a spin, laughing at his surprised shriek. “Jay, don’t just spin me without warning!”

“You’re being sloppy, shantyman,” Jay teased. “Keep up with the song.”

Chip glared, but continued nonetheless, “And my love, I swear in the sun and the rain.”

Jay gave him another spin, but this time, Chip didn't miss a beat. He gave Jay a smug, triumphant look. Jay raised an eyebrow in turn, admittedly impressed.

“That someday, our hands will intertwine once again!”

“Alright, nice,” Jay complimented, grinning widely.

Chip caught a mischievous glint in her eye, and his face consequently fell.

“One more spin, pretty boy!”

Before he could protest, Jay suddenly spun Chip away with a greater force than before, and the world around him became a blur, the air swirling with the sound of Jay’s devilish voice.

“Gillion,” he heard her yell, “catch!”

And Chip is spun into the arms of Gillion, who beamed at Chip’s very red face.

“Come, Chip.” Gill took both of Chip’s hands. Chip, still trying to recover from the jarring switch of partners, only blinked down at their now clasped fingers. “It is our turn.”

“Oh my god.” Chip laughed nervously.

Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp.

“Oh damsel, oh damsel, my heart belongs to thee,” Jay belted as Chip and Gillion figured out their dance. “If you’re troubled, oh so troubled, you must only call on me.”

The other two started to push and pull in tandem, reminiscent of a cha-cha with a bit more energy and spins thrown in every once in a while. They surprisingly guided each other with more harmony and grace than Jay expected.

“And though it rages, it rages, the condescending sea.” Gillion leapt and circled with Chip, almost lifting the latter off the ground. “Just for thou I know that my journey shall succeed!”

“Gill, calm down!” Chip chuckled, partly in amusement and partly in fear, as he started to lose his footing.

Jay looked on, not ignorant to the warm fuzzy feeling in her chest, the beat pulsing along with the adrenaline in her veins.

“And my love, I swear in the waves and whirlpools, soon we will meet and once again become whole.”

Soon she joined them, whooping as she jogged, and they welcomed her with wide smiles, one pair of hands separating to reach out. Jay took the offer to form an interconnected circle, spinning and bobbing as they shared the melody. They sang, as loud as they could, filling the air with a joyful energy.

“Oh lover, oh lover, don’t you dare cry,” Chip started.

The others joined in. “But laugh and laugh under the pristine blue sky.”

And laugh they did, the pure euphoria of indulging in fond memories emitting from them. They stumbled and laughed through mistakes, put their all into the performance, harmonising wonderfully.

Jay caught Pretzel doing somersaults in her globe and Apple circling the crew, chirping the tune with them. She’s reminded of a joking conversation about starting a band. Perhaps they had a chance after all, she thought amusedly. Gillion and the Tidestriders. Chip and the Bastards. Jay and the Dumbass Bluebirds. Whatever you wanted to call it.

Now, though, they were simply three friends, holding hands and dancing, rattling the wood of the ship without a care, singing a sea shanty that they all happened to know.

The stars slowly flooded the darkening sky and twinkled at them like they were dancing along.

To one, the fresh air, the touch of familiar calloused hands that had fought alongside her, and the spray of the ocean was a welcoming contrast to past memories of stuffy spaces and dispassionate work. To another, though the memory was a bit painful, it still brought him the same comforting feeling from years ago, sharing laughter and celebration in a tight kinship that was expected in that of crewmates, deepening the bond with experiences that were not just in battle, but in recreation. And to another still, it was a reminder of a time when he was desperate to learn the oversea culture, and that he still remained ever so curious now as he learned its differences and similarities to his world, forming relationships with its inhabitants, people who were perhaps not as cruel as the elders had suggested.

Those who share such joyous experiences with others must not be that selfish, after all.

“And never, oh never, would I ever lie. I wish nothing more than for us to re-u-nite!”

Jay grinned up at the sky as they hummed the outro melody, a gust of wind sweeping down on them and carrying their voices away, out onto the shimmering waters.

La, la la la, la la la, la la la…

A tug from Jay led the trio up in one final leap, whooping and cheering with the others as they followed. And once their feet landed simultaneously with a bang, the song ended.

As the rush receded from her mind, the pumping blood in her ears quieting down, Jay took in the sound of the waves crashing up against the ship and her heaving breaths. She looked up at the now star-filled sky, wondering when it got so dark. She allowed her hand to slip from her friends’ grasps, moving to lean on bended knee. Jay heard the other two breathing quite heavily as well, and even a plop as Chip seemed to collapse out of the corner of her eye. She followed suit, sprawling onto the wood and closing her eyes, catching her breath. Jay wasn’t extremely tired, but she needed to recuperate.

“Oh god, you kids just had to make a racket up here, didn’t ya?”

Jay breathed out a chuckle upon hearing the raspy voice. “Hi Earl.”

“We were partying, Old man Earl!” Gillion said preppily, unsurprisingly not as out of breath as the others.

“Earl, you got…” A huff from Chip. “You got orange juice? Perhaps? Please?”

“Hmph, you’re fuckin lucky I do.”

Tired cheers chimed from the pirates.

“But you have to go down to get it with dinner. Chop chop.”

“Ohh, come onnnnn,” Chip whined, joining in with the groans of Jay.

“I’ve seen you work, you’re not that tired,” Earl scoffed. “Maybe you shouldn’t have wasted all your energy on destroying the ship! And your vocal chords.”

“Hey, I don’t think we sounded that bad,” Jay said.

“Whatever, just come down and have dinner, I’m definitely not hefting everything up here.” Earl barked out a laugh and proceeded to go back down, ignoring the cries of Jay and Chip.

Soon Gillion’s face popped into Jay’s view. “Are you alright, Jay?” He glanced over. “Chip?”

“I’m coming around,” Jay assured. She stretched her arms up, making grabby hands. “Pull me up?”

Gillion complied, grabbing her arms and lifting her, though at a faster-than-preferred pace. Jay let out a yelp as she got back on her feet before stretching with a groan.

“Thanks, Gill.”

“Hey Giiiilll? Big man? Can I go next?”

Jay looked to Chip, who also had outstretched arms. Gillion walked to him and helped him up as well.

“Thanks, buddy.” Chip patted Gill on the back.

“No problem. Honestly, I did not think you would tire out so easily.”

“Well we need to gain back our energy, then,” Jay said, starting to follow Old man Earl.

“Hey, uh, Jay, um.” Chip caught her attention, and she turned back to see him with a raised hand. He moved it to scratch the back of his neck sheepishly. “That was… that was fun.”

“I agree,” Gillion said with a nod. “I was reminded of some… rather fond memories, actually. And it was a good exercise. We should do it more.”

“Yeah, yeah actually, same. I agree.” Chip looked up at Jay, his face rather tentative. “So, thanks for that, I guess.”

Jay smiled. “You’re welcome, dweeb,” she jabbed. “You’re being more affectionate than usual, but I appreciate it.”

“Hey, don’t call me a dweeb!” Chip’s expression morphed into one of offense. “I just thanked you, that’s so insensitive of you. That’s actually insensitive.”

“I let you fulfill your showman dreams, you’re the one being insensitive right now.”

“Showman- hey, I actually like the sound of that.”

“Yeah you would, you drama queen.”

“You’re calling me dramatic? Have you seen Gill?”

The sound of bickering paired with Gillion’s oblivious chimes trailed below the deck, leaving a fond memory to the glittering dark waters and the twinkling stars still dancing along.

[amindofstone]

Match up, No. 9

@starlightbydaybright hat gefragt:

Hello! Saw you were taking match-ups and I was wondering if I could request one. Only done one before for another fandom, and I was wondering who I’d align with for One Piece ^^

I'm an INFP and generally an introvert, finding it difficult to express myself when I'm around people I'm unfamiliar with or just not close to. I can be both quiet and shy; quiet when I have no interest in making good impression on that person (a stranger I'll see once and never again) and shy when I'm genuinely trying to make myself acceptable to them. But, I do trust easily, so it's not hard to get close enough with me that I'll open up about almost everything, so long as they understand have my boundaries (that'll shift depending on how close). I'm also very affectionate with people I'm close with, particularly through physical touch, since I've been pretty touch starved. If you're close friends with me, you can find me constantly looking for a hug, but I can respect boundaries since not everyone enjoys contact.

The situation would be a bit different romance wise, since I’d revert a bit back to my introverted side, but also very affection-seeking at the same time. I say affection seeking as in I’d crave time and activities spent together with them, but I’d be afraid to ask/initiate, at least during the early beginnings of the relationship. I’d be constantly seeking affirmation of their love, and since I’ve never been in a relationship before (but desperately wanted one), they’d be constantly receiving my love too ❤️

While being an introvert in reality, I find it much easier to speak with confidence online. as I actually have time to contemplate what I can say. It's when I'm either with close friends or on the internet, that I can go on passionate endless rants or show my passive aggressive side. I'm usually pacifist, but if something irks me enough, I can and will pitch in snide/sarcastic remark or two, or if it's more serious; I will write out whole sophisticated and well worded paragraph that'd sound all polite with a hidden snarky tone.

I'm pretty much a hopeless romantic, so there's lot of couple things I want to try when I find someone. Back hugs, bridal carry, tickle fights, you name it. While I do enjoy these displays of affection (comes with the happy kind of embarrassment aka. I feel embarrassed that others sees it but I’m happy because I know they’re not doing it out of maliciousness and because they truly love me), small gestures are appreciated too; a gentle squeeze of the hand, a passing smile, etc.

As for hobbies, I enjoy reading, writing, (occasionally) drawing, but most of all; probably singing. I enjoy a wide variety of songs, depending on what mood I'm in, but I particularly like songs about love. Looking for someone to sing the duet love songs with me, doesn't matter how good or bad they are at singing. They can be tone deaf for all I care, it's the thought that matters 😊

I'm very emotionally sensitive, and can both laugh and cry easily. A random stranger online wished me good day? I'll be in good mood for awhile. Watched a 'mildly' sad movie? (Extra emphasis on mildly) I better have new box of tissue on the side just in case. It'd be nice to have someone that can either comfort me or at least tolerate my emotions, so I wouldn't be irking them 😞

I don't really have a type when looking for significant other but being an INFP does make the romance thing complicated. It'd be nice to have someone that's far along on the extroverted side (just not happy go lucky and can be serious) since, despite being introverted, I like to experience new things. I'm just too afraid to try alone and prefer it if someone else recommends it first. Someone to prompt me and nudge me to do something, but won’t take it too far if I really looked uncomfortable. (I’m also a procrastinator so they gotta find out the right ratio between pushing vs. taking it too far 😅) In relationship, I'd value trust and loyalty the most, since both are important in keeping the healthy relationship. If both sides could equally trust and be trusted, then there wouldn't be place for insecurity or fear. This ties in with another part of me being an INFP; I want a relationship that lasts forever. While it's weird to decide how long lasting the love will be early in the relationship, I don't think I can fully commit myself to someone, knowing that it'll end (through the other side falling out of love with me, finding interest in someone else, etc.) (natural causes like death are fine, even though I will still be sad 🥲)

As for appearance, I’m a 5”4 female with slightly wavy black hair that reach nearly to my waist. I don’t think I’m particularly short, but then again, every anime character seems to be straight up giants XD (Man, I was born with the wrong genes) I’m overall very plain, with black hair, brown eyes, but I’ve always been told I had pretty long eyelashes and big bright eyes. Average weight for my height, and flat chested :’)

As for the preference for gender, I’m mainly attracted to guys. I had some (very few) crushes on a small selection of female anime characters, but that were very rare, like 3, compared to my (insert large number) male crushes

Thank you in advance and sorry for how long this is 😔

P.s. I feel like I need to emphasize I’m still an introvert, since the personality I described is only limited to my very small friend group

a/n:

Hey there? How are you doing? Thank you so much for requesting. First off I should be apologizing for making you wait so long. I hope you´re not mad at me but lately there is a lot happening in my life. In my private life but also in my college life. But let´s put that aside and get to your request.

I have to thank you for the detailed info about you because that helped me to choose a match up for you so much. Like I instantly could think of someone. Not only did it help me to match you up with someone but also to come up with a plot. So I came up with this little imagine/hedcanon… I really don´t know what to call my work for the imaginies so I go with work. XD Anyways I really don´t know what to do at this point. Your request and your personality gave me such a good idea for a plot that I tried my best to keep it short because I decided to turn this request and my ideas and thoughts that are flying around in my mind to an actual FANFICTION! AHHHHHHHH. I can´t stop thinking about it. The idea sounds so damn good in my head that it makes me smile like an idiot right now! Uff I can´t wait to find time writing it down. AHAHH, but I fear that I already gave aways so much with this!!!! *pouts Doesn´t matter I´ll do it anyways. AHHHHHHHHHHH Thank you so damn much for requesting!

Anyways! Back to my work now. If there is anything that bothers you or you simply hate please make sure to tell me so I can change it and give you whatever you´d like. Other than that happy reading my dear!

Match up rules can be found HERE.

Warning(s): Maybe grammatical or spelling mistakes since English is my third language and I´m still improving in every aspect (Please have mercy on that.)

!!! Please do not steal my idea or work. Credit me if this is shared or published in any other platform or any other way. Please respect me as the writer and my work. Picture is not mine. Credits to: I sadly don't know. Please tell me of you know so I can give credits. Thank you in advance. !!!

· I decided to pair you up with KILLER

· Like am I the only person that thinks that he is not getting the screen time and appreciation he deserves? Because that is the damn case! ODA GIVE THIS MAN THE LOVE AND APPRECIATION HE DESERVES. And while we´re at it I wouldn´t mind if I would get a bit more of Eustass Kid too… Thank you in advance. <3

· But that’s not the point. Please dear requesting beautiful human being give this man and me, your hopelessly dreamy author a chance. Thank you, I really appreciate. <3

· aNyWaYssssS.

+

· “y/n? Are you still awake?”, asked the blond man softly. “No worries I won´t make you carry me to bed again.”, you said with a giggle. You couldn´t see his face but you knew that he was smiling. “I don´t mind that you know? I like having you close to me without having to fear to see you hid under the blanket for who knows how long.”, you rolled you eyes and hit his arms. “That only happened because that idiot captain of yours annoyed the hell out of me. That was embarrassing Killer.”, you slowly put one leg over the railing and then the next one. Making sure you don´t fall down the ship. “What happened? Didn´t you drag me out our cabin to watch the stars?”, asked the muscular man who held you close to him while making sure you didn´t fell. “I did but now I´d like to look at something different. Something even more beautiful. Something that gives me warmth and happiness. Something that keeps me alive and always makes sure I am doing fine.”, talking to the blond pirate while sitting at the railing was one of the rare moments you were close to an eye level with him. “You mean my mask?”, asked the man with a tiled head that got you to roll your eyes and hit his chest. “Great you destroyed the sweet moment. I hate you. Make a step back so I can get down. I want to go back to bed and drown in regret of dating you.”, you tried to push him away but he was obviously stronger and threw you over his shoulder. “Of course you hate me. That was also the exact same thing you were moaning a while ago. Let´s go back to bed nerd.”

· As sweet and loving your relationship was now with the pirate it also started like that. Wanna know how? Alright let me get comfortable in my bed and get started. Story TIIMMMEEEE!!!

· An island well known for their universities and scientist. An island full of top ranked doctors.

· Physics, chemistry, biology, astrology was well thaught in the schools of the island. An island well known around the world. An island ruled by a powerful devil fruit user.

· An island in which every civilian had a talent in another field. And you? You sadly had an impressive talent for languages.

· Why sadly you wonder? Well the amount of times you had to run for your dear life because some pirates could come and kidnap you and make you read the poneglyphs is immense.

· Once even the infamous Red haired Shanks came and asked you with the hope to have someone who could read them. But sadly you couldn´t. You told him that you were done with pirates coming for you or your best friends. You regretted learning all of that and hated yourself for that. Shanks and Beckman to whom your were talking to really felt bad for you and claimed the island as their territory after they had a chat with ruler and made a deal.

· That was that saved you and your friends for years and made you happy. You were thankful to the red hair pirates and always treated them with meals and drinks when they came visiting the island. You were happy for 5 years. 5 years until these stupid reckless pirates came.

· And now? Now you hated yourself all over again

· You knew that not every pirate was like the red hair pirates. Nice and respectful. They didn´t kill innocent people and destroyed civilizations only to get some gold and diamonds. But these? These were horrible. Cold and cruel.

· “Someone make this btch talk otherwise I´ll do it by cutting her into pieces only stropping when IT actually starts to answer my god damn questions!”, screamed a tall and guy with red hair.

· You were scared. Tied on a mast on their ship, you feared for your life. Screaming for help was not an option since you were already on the sea since a while now.

· The man that was yelling at you none stop was now holding a blond man with a mask at his collar and growling at him. The man might have a mask on but you somehow had the feeling that he was talking to the man with the red fur coat. “Clear the deck! NOW!!”; yelled the man before he left inside the ship. Slowly every man on deck was leaving you alone. You wanted to ask them were or why the left but you knew that they wouldn´t give you an answer. You were a prisoner. A captive. A pathetic human they took on board. With the last pirate leaving you behind, a door that was located behind the mast you were tied on closed while the need to cry grew inside of you. How long am I here by now? One hour? Two or three? Was anyone missing me back at home? Were they already looking for me? Thoughts that occupied your mind were blurring your vision. You were looking right in front of you but also not. Your eyes were wide open but your vision was back at home. Home were you belonged.

· “Hey. Hey can you hear me? Hey you alright, woman? Hello?”, a man was squatting in front of you and waving with his hands in front of your face. You were deeply lost in your thoughts that you neither heard him coming nor saw him sitting right in front of you.

· But the moment he touched you tight you screamed and got back to reality. “Please don´t touch me. Please don´t hurt me. Please I beg you. Please.”, fear was written all over your face. You saw yourself death with a huge puddle of your blood. “Alright I won´t touch you. It´s just that I´ve been sitting in front of you for 5 minutes now and the only thing you did was breath and say no. Anyways here is something to drink. You´ve been her for four hours now. Half of the time unconscious and the other one either basically mute or in a trance.”, the guy in front of you was the same one who got the mad man to leave and clear the deck. It made you wonder who he was that he had such a power but you didn´t dare to ask. “Here I hold it for you and you drink.”, the glass was put on your lips and you drank. You didn´t knew how thirsty you were until your lungs were wetted by the water. Finished drinking he put a blanket over your legs since the position your were in didn´t allow you to cover yourself properly. And the fact that you were wearing a dress wasn´t helping at all.

· “Alright. You had something to drink I got you a blanket now tell me are you able to talk to me and answer my questions?”, you nodded. “Good. Now listen to me. There is this language that is called Krisanasy. As far as I know there is a tiny amount of people who are able to speak that and you are one of these. Am I right?”, you nodded. “How well are you in it?”, you gulped and looked at the man with the mask “I know the most important basics. I remember basic grammar rules and a good amount of vocabulary but I´m not that good in it. I didn´t worked with anything that included this language since years now.”, the masked man nodded and fully sat down now. “Would you be able to get back in it if you had some books and scripts to work with?”, slowly you understood where this was supposed to lead. You knew that if you said yes they would keep you as their prisoner and make your work for them. And if they had everything they would kill you because there would be no more use for you. But if you said no now and refused to talk to him he would probably also kill you. You were in a dilemma. You didn´t wanted to die but also didn´t wanted to die after you helped them. They were criminals. Feared and hated by the government and any human around the world. You looked down on your lap and let your head fall forward so your long black hair covered your face. “Hey I asked you something. Would you be able to do that?”, his voice was deep and rough but in the same time soft and gentle. That irritated you. it make you realize that him being nice to you now was just a way to get under your skin and make you do whatever they wanted. And then they simply would kill you in the most brutal and cruel way. “Hey, woman. Are you listening?”, you felt helpless. “I don´t want to die. Please let me go. Please. I beg you. Please.”, tears were streaming down you cheeks you couldn´t hold back anymore. He came closer and lifted you face. “Listen here you are a smart woman. Stop crying for fcks sake. If I would be you I would have made these pirates work for me. Use your damn brain and stop crying. Do you really think anyone in here would kill you? Heck no! They need your help. They need your brain because all of them are basically stupid. Like damn I need you to answer all of my questions before my captain with anger issues comes and beats the sht out of me. Now answer me woman. Are you able to get back in it if we got you some scripts to work on?”, you nodded while more tears streamed down you cheeks. You felt pathetic. You felt worthless and used. Helping them would turn you into a criminal too and ruin everything you worked on. Everything the emperor did for you and the island would be wasted. “See wasn’t that hard to answer.”

· The questioning went on for a while you didn´t know for how long but you knew that a long time passed since the sun stared to set. “Alright. Now I give you two options. One, stay here. Tied up on the mast no matter what kind of weather we face. Two you swear to obey me no matter what kind of order I give you and you will be able to sleep on a bed. You will get food and tomorrow you will start working on the scripts we give you. You choose.”, with your head hung lowly you said number two and instantly got released from the chains and handcuffs. He helped you stand up and covered you in the blanket before he led you into his cabin. “Wait here. Sit there and don´t do anything stupid as long as I´m not here. If you do anything stupid I won´t be able to help you. Got it?”, he didn´t even wait until you answered or gave any reaction he simply left and closed the door after him. So you waited while sitting with a lowly hung head. Minutes passed and he came back. “Your clothes are dirty. The bathroom is empty so you can take a bath or shower. Anything you want but I´ll be in the room with you. Because of one I have to make sure no one is coming in and secondly to watch over you and make sure you don´t do anything stupid. Got it. Fine. Take this towel and these clothes. We don´t have any female crewmates so you have to be wearing with my clothes until we dock on another island and you get to buy clothes.”

· The man with the mask took care of you for the rest of the day. He took you to shower and gave you fresh clothes. You had dinner with him alone in the kitchen when no one was around and got back to sleep. And no matter what you did he made sure to keep a respectful distance towards you. Whenever he had to come closer or touch you to take care of your wounds he would warn you. The day kept going like that. Nothing else was said about the following days and the thing they wanted you for. Only necessary things were said that were needed at the moment. And you only gave short replays or only answered with a head movement.

· Slowly the day passed by and the night took over with the moon putting the world alight. You were back in his cabin with him sitting on an armchair and you lying in bed sleeping with one hand tied up on the bed.

[scarletemeterio-thesecond]

Can I request a Zuko x Waterbender!reader where the reader is Sokka & Katara’s sister and she gets super heartbroken when Zuko betrays her in the Crystal Catacombs in Ba Sing Se? Then when he arrives at the Western Air Temple, Katara and Sokka get very protective when Zuko tries to make amends with the reader? Thank you and I love your writing!! ❤️

Hi, thank you so much for requesting! For this let's just pretend like the reader was the one who was with Zuko in the catacombs. And yes, I chose this title only because I was listening to the ouat soundtrack from the musical episode and I thought it would fit, hope you like it!

•••

Happy Beginning (Zuko x Fem!Reader)

Warnings: none.

Genre: Fluff.

Fandom: Avatar, The Last Airbender.

Summary: See request.

Word Count: 2306.

I couldn’t believe what was happening and for a moment, I thought my mind was tricking me. But there were no tricks involved, Zuko was actually standing in front of us, asking to join our group. When he started talking about how much he’d changed, I found it hard to believe and since I wasn’t the only one, we told him to leave.

“Why would he try to fool us like that?” asked Katara.

“Obviously, he wants to lead us into some kind of trap,” said Sokka.

“Yeah, this is just like when we were in prison together in Ba Sing Se,” I said. “He starts talking and makes you believe that he’s an actual human being with feelings”.

“He wants you to trust him and feel sorry for him so you let your guard down, then he strikes,” said my brother.

“I know, and the worst part is that it worked. I did feel sorry for him and thought that maybe he had changed for the better, but I was wrong”.

We all started talking about everything else Zuko had said and when we said that he was a liar, Toph told us the opposite.

“I’m just saying that considering his messed-up family and how he was raised he could-ve turned out a lot worse,” said the girl.

“So what? Should we give him a medal or something?” I asked, now a bit mad.

“Yeah, what about the ‘not as much of a jerk as you could’ve been’ award?” Agreed my sister.

“All I know is that while he was here talking to us, he was sincere. Maybe you’re all just letting your hurt feelings keep you from thinking clearly”.

“Easy for you to say, Toph! You weren’t with us when he did all those awful things to us.” At this point, I was angry. Not at Toph, but at myself because I didn’t want to believe him and risk getting hurt once again.

And then she said something that I hadn’t really thought about: Aang needed a firebending teacher, and Zuko was probably the only one willing to do the job. I hated to admit that she was right, but we needed the Prince, even if we hated him or the idea of being around him. Of course, everyone else was in denial, so then Toph stormed off and left us all with our thoughts. Right after that, I went to my room, not wanting to deal with anything nor anyone; however, my loneliness didn’t last long since my brother decided to keep me company.

“Hey, sis, everything okay?” I looked at him, not needing to let a single word out of my mouth for him to realize that I definitely wasn’t okay. He sat next to me on the floor and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “What is it, (Y/N)?”

“What if Toph is right, Sokka?”

“Wait, you’re not seriously considering-”

“Where would we be able to find another firebending teacher for Aang?” I interrupted him. “I know none of us like the idea of him joining our group, but what if this is our only chance at winning this war?”

“Why are you switching sides all of a sudden?”

“I’m not! I’m just saying that maybe we should at least consider his offer, you know?”

"I don’t know, (Y/N). He’s tricked us before, especially you back in Ba Sing Se, I just don’t want him to hurt any of us again”.

I nodded, understanding his words and we stayed silent for a few minutes before changing the subject.

Our conversation was interrupted by Katara’s voice a little later, calling us for dinner. We all sat around the fire, except for Toph since none of us knew where she was.

“So… Sokka and I were talking earlier and I was wondering… Do you really think we should let this opportunity go without even thinking about it?”

“Please tell me you're not talking about Zuko, (Y/N).”

“I am, Katara. Look, I know he’s done bad stuff, but he literally came to us and offered to teach you firebending,” I said, looking at Aang for a second. “I don't want us to keep arguing about this, but I’m just saying that maybe Toph wasn't so wrong after all.”

“So should we just let him join us and forget all the bad things he's done to us?”

“No, I’m saying that maybe we should give him, this, a chance.” I let out a sigh as I looked at everyone else. “I think that this goes beyond our anger and hard feelings against the boy.” We all stayed quiet after that, and as soon as we were done, we went to bed.

The next day, Toph finally showed up, and her feet had been burned; turns out that Zuko was the one who’d hurt her. We were all around the fountain when suddenly Combustion Man decided to show up. A few moments later, the Prince appeared as well, trying to stop the assassin. It didn't work, though, and we were forced to hide while we tried to figure out a way to defeat him. We were able to do it thanks to Sokka and his boomerang, although Zuko helped us too.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this but thanks, Zuko,” said Aang.

“Listen, I know I didn’t explain myself very well yesterday. I’ve been through a lot in the past years, and it’s been hard. But I’m realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth.” He made a pause and laid my eyes on him for a moment and when he looked back, I turned my gaze to the floor. “I thought I had lost my honor and that somehow my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor. It’s something you earn for yourself by choosing to do what’s right. And all I want now is to play my part in ending this war, I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world”.

I didn’t know why, but this time I did not doubt that he was being honest, maybe it was just because my anger had been overcome by the need to put an end to this war.

“I’m sorry for what I did to you. It was an accident.” He said while looking at Toph. “Fire can be dangerous and wild. So as a firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending so I don’t hurt people unintentionally”.

“I think you are supposed to be my firebending teacher” started saying Aang. “When I first tried to learn firebending, I burned Katara. And after that, I never wanted to firebend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love. I’d like you to teach me”.

“Thank you. I’m so happy you’ve accepted me into your group”.

“Not so fast. I still have to ask my friends if it’s okay with them,” and so he started asking every single one of us for our opinion. Everyone agreed, and when it was my turn, I took a deep breath before speaking.

“I’m not the biggest fan, but I know that letting him join us is the right choice”.

And just like that, he was with us. Soon after that, my brother took him to his room, and me and my sister decided to start making lunch.

“Wait for me, I’ll be back in just a second.” I looked at her a bit confused, but she didn’t give me any time to ask her anything, so I just brushed it off; we would have time to talk later.

When she was back, she had a small smile on her face and when I asked what had happened, my sister said that she had only talked about some things with our newest member.

I knew how Katara could be, so I got a little worried, but she told me to calm down, and I did. However, I started getting suspicious after a few days since every time I was about to spend some time with Zuko, one of my siblings magically appeared out of nowhere. I could tell the boy tried his best to avoid me, but I didn't know why.

At the moment, I was looking at Aang and Zuko while they trained near our campsite, and when they were done, the boy practically ran away from me.

"Aang, can I ask you something?" I said while looking at the young airbender in front of me. He nodded and I took that as my cue to keep talking. "Is there something wrong? Because Zuko's been avoiding me since the first day he joined us and I'm sure Sokka and Katara have something to do with it."

"I, uh, well- I think it's best if you talk to them about it," he said and I silently agreed. So I walked away to do that and, lucky for me, they were already talking to each other.

"I think we need to talk," I said. They both looked at me pretending to be confused, but I knew they were aware of what this was about. "Just tell me what you said to Zuko."

"(Y/N), I don't know what you're-".

"Stop lying, Sokka! I can tell that he runs away from me every time we're about to be alone, and I've also noticed how at least one of you strategically appears at just the right moment to prevent us from being by ourselves." They both stayed silent and looked at the floor, clearly ashamed.

"We didn't want him to be near you," started saying my sister, "we just don't want him to hurt you again, we want you to be happy."

"Did you guys ever think that maybe you don't get to decide who can or cannot be close to me?" I was angry, but I also was a bit sad. I knew they loved me, but for some reason they treated me like a little girl, despite being only one year younger than Sokka and the same age as Katara.

"You're our sister, (Y/N). We were trying to protect you". I took a deep breath; I wanted this conversation to be peaceful and the only way to do that was by remaining calm.

"Look, Sokka, I get it. I care about you too, but I'm not a little girl who needs to be protected, okay?" I made a pause to look at them before continuing. "It's nice that you care about me, but you have to let me make my own choices, even if I end up getting hurt."

"I know, (Y/N)." Katara took my hand and looked at me in the eyes. "We're sorry, you know we love you and we meant no harm but, maybe this didn't go as planned".

"Yeah, keeping you guys apart was stupid, it's inevitable," agreed my brother.

"What do you mean?"

"It's pretty obvious you guys have a crush on each other, maybe a little more than just that and, well, our behavior was very immature". I agreed with her and I obviously decided to forgive them, they were my family after all. We spent some minutes just talking about nothing and everything at the same time when suddenly I saw Zuko just a few meters away from us. I could feel both of my siblings' eyes on me and when I looked at them, they were also smiling a bit. "Go talk to him".

And so I did. I walked up to him and when he was about to leave, I let out a little laugh.

"You don't have to do that anymore," I said. "I spoke with Katara and Sokka, they won't force you to stay away from me," I explained.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, I'm sure. This means we can finally spend some time together, right? I mean, only if you want…"

"Of course I do," he said quickly before blushing, which made me let out a chuckle.

"You're pretty cute when you blush" I mumbled just loud enough for him to hear me. He opened his eyes with surprise and then he smiled.

"Um, thanks. You're pretty cute too, all the time," and now it was my time to blush.

"Do you want to walk around the temple?" I asked and he nodded in agreement.

I'm not sure of how long we were away from the others, but it had been long enough for us to talk about pretty much everything in our lives. We sat down, letting our feet hang from the edge of a little bridge, and we looked at the horizon.

"I'm sorry about everything that happened in Ba Sing Se, I was a jerk and you didn't deserve that; neither of you did".

"I know, but it's okay. You've changed for the better, Zuko".

"So, um, we're here looking at the sky and… is this the right time to tell you that I like you?" He said extremely quick, making it a bit hard for me to figure out what he was saying.

"I mean, you kind of already did," I said while chuckling. "But I think it's the right time to say it because I like you too, Zuko." Right after saying that, I pressed my lips against his cheek, and while I was backing off, he quickly laid his lips on top of mine. The kiss was short and sweet, but it was everything we needed at the time. When we pulled back, I saw the biggest smile ever on his face and realized in that moment, that all I ever wanted was to see him smile that for the rest of my life.

[dearingbooks]

The Difference one Woman can make.

Late Friday night in June, we had stopped for a burger on the way to the cinema, we used to do family movie nights at the cinema when a new film came out that the majority of us wanted to watch, this time I was the one who was reluctant to go, sadly we do this significantly less now.  So, stubborn 2015 me, rolling her eyes and dragging her feet up the cinema steps to find our seats to watch the new Jurassic World movie. Pathetic! I thought, why pay money to watch a movie about a dinosaur theme park! My parents had completely lost it! Huffing and puffing I took my seat on the aisle and sipped my blue raspberry slushie and looked up at the big screen. Ugh! I wanted it to be over, quickly. I sat down and shut my mouth, despite not wanting to watch it, I wasn’t going to spoil it for the others; but I didn’t get why they would want to watch it, I watched the trailer before going, was not impressed, it looked dumb!

However, as much as my pre-Jurassic self would not like, I found who I was during that movie, I discovered a whole new admiration for actors and movies. I found that I related to the main female protagonist, Claire Dearing. She did not need a man, or children, she was so focused on her career and let no one boss her around. She was top dog, and I completely fell for this fictional character. I evolved through that movie with her character, I felt content with being a strong female who put career over family. I wanted to embody this fictional woman; I wanted to be her.

On the journey home I typed ‘Claire Dearing actress’ into google and saw this stunning redhead- Bryce Dallas Howard. I immediately recognised her from movies I had watched prior, and I was completely astounded at her range of characters she can portray and portray them well. After scrolling through her Wiki page and reading news articles about her, I learned that she is the daughter of Ron Howard, one of my parents’ favourite people in film.

“Dad, that woman in the movie is Ron Howard's daughter”, I needed to inform my family that my now favourite woman in film is the daughter of my parents’ favourite people in film. My parents were shocked that I enjoyed the movie despite my loud vocalisation of not wanting to watch it.

Googling ‘Bryce Dallas Howard’ became my new after school routine, learning that she applied to acting school as Bryce Dallas to avoid people knowing she is the daughter of an already famous actor and director, and she had met her true love at nineteen and is still happily married to him. Yet what most stuck out to the self-conscious, body hating 2015 me, was that Bryce wasn’t a skinny twig of a woman that you see in most movies, she had classy curves and promoted body positivity despite some backlash the media gave her. I made a connection with this woman I had never met because I too received negative comments about my figure, yet Bryce took that on the shoulder and learned to love herself. I wanted to feel that self-love about myself that she acquired.

After watching Jurassic World, I explored many more fandoms, and from there I became obsessed with movie franchises and TV shows, actors and directors. I could not give you a full list of all of the fandoms I am in, there are too many to count, and they have all played a role in helping me evolve to who I am today. All because I latched onto one character from one movie I did not even want to watch, one film got me hooked on this life: it’s like a drug. I cannot stop. I also went back and forth with my hairstyle due to this woman; in the movie Bryce has a stunning ginger graduated bob with a fringe, however I never had the guts to go ginger until now; shame the hairdressers are all shut.

Now, almost six years later Bryce Dallas Howard has had great success in directing two episodes of The Mandalorian. Over the Christmas break I watched the show with my dad, sat on the sofa, fire lit, the chocolate Labrador curled up between us, peach vodka and diet lemonade in my hand, hot cup of tea in my dad’s. We binge watched both seasons in a week (it’s amazing) and he was shocked to see ‘Directed by Bryce Dallas Howard’ at the end of one, let alone two episodes. “Shit, she’s come far in the past few years” he said putting another episode on.

Bryce allowed me to find my best friend, Iz, through Instagram; Bryce has brought so many people together it is so surreal. And when I found out that Iz was going to Southampton University in 2019, a 20-minute drive from my house, I was finally able to meet her, because of one woman we both adore. I was friends with Iz for three years before I was able to meet her, I asked my school friend to come along with me so she could film the moment Iz, and I met! We got pancakes and watched the second Maleficent movie at the cinema, it was one of the best days of my life. I was so thankful that I met a truly hilarious and loving girl through this one actress! Because of Bryce Dallas Howard, I have made so many other friends from all over the globe as they too idolise Bryce and together we have created the ‘BDH online family’. A small group of us do regular zoom calls to catch up and chat about the recent photos and updates that Bryce has posted on Instagram, talk about Covid-19 and the types of restrictions and lockdown rules each of our countries has. During one of our calls, we had the craziest idea- Invite Bryce to one of our zoom calls. Bryce said yes! And after a few months of organisation, we had the date. The date was-

My.

Birthday.

The day came around and I was so nervous, it was 11pm exactly. The Wi-Fi had cut out fifteen minutes before the call. I was in tears. Mascara down my face, puffy eyes, I joined the call with a few minutes to spare before Bryce joined it. My mum hung around off camera for the first 5 minutes to double check the Wi-Fi was stable, luckily it stabilised. The other girls had never been so glad to see me, everyone was panicked for me; I could not miss it for the world (despite telling my parents, in floods of tears, that I cannot join and that it’s the end of that).

“Kat! You’re here!” “Happy birthday!” “Are you okay? The Wi-Fi sorted?”

They all chimed, happy to see my little face in the bottom right corner of their computer screens. Luckily Iz was there, otherwise it would have been extremely awkward with only one of us since we are known as a duo in the online family, we have to do everything together, we come in a pair and there can’t just be one of us.

“Shit girls, that was stressful”

I hadn’t realised I was holding my breath until I exhaled the large breath when my    Wi-Fi settled, and I was on the call, I fixed my makeup and was ready to meet Bryce.

The few minutes we had before Bryce joined were intense, two of the girls left to get a drink and we weren’t sure if they would be back in time, luckily they did return.

“No way!” One of them, Anna who was hosting the call, gasped “Bryce is in the waiting room!”

We all freak for no more than 10 seconds, we compose ourselves then our faces are reshuffled, and we see this stunning glowing face that we all admire smiling at us. Omg, it's her.

“Hi girls!”

I have never smiled for so long in my entire life, my cheeks hurt afterwards. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining at all, it just hurt as I thought I would only be smiling for half an hour, since that is how long we were told Bryce had. However, we were speaking to Bryce for nearly an hour and a half, she just kept talking and asked us questions! She was so lovely to talk to, so relaxed; it was if I was talking to a friend that I had known for years!

“Before we go I want to all sing Kat a happy birthday!”

My idol wanted to sing me a happy birthday! The other girls were really ecstatic for me, I still can’t believe to this day that The Bryce Dallas Howard wanted to sing to me!

It was both the best and the worst happy birthday song that has be sung to me. It was the best because, well my idol was singing to me! And proposed the singing! It was the worst in terms of the actual song as they were all out of sync and lagging, it was bloody hilarious!

At 10:27pm the next evening, watching a rerun of Game of Thrones on Sky, I got a notification ‘Brycedhoward just posted’, I clicked the notification then see our smiling faces on her page, she posted a screenshot of our call on her social media! The call was supposed to be a secret so other fans weren’t upset. There’s a few snotty comments on the post, but they’re just jealous and to be frank, I don’t care! My smiley face is on her page forever! All ten of us have printed the screenshot of Bryce’s post off and put it in a frame, one day all ten of us hope to congregate somewhere, most likely in America, and sign the backs of all of our photos. I’m still in utter awe and shock-  How many celebrities have you seen that would do a free zoom call with some fans? Not a lot, and that amount is even slimmer when they talk for an extra hour than scheduled. Bryce truly is one of a kind and the best idol anyone could ever hope to have.

Compared to a zoom call with Bryce herself, the few times she has liked my comments on her posts feel like nothing in comparison! I remember being so excited, running downstairs to my parents.

“Mum! Dad! Bryce liked my comment! She knows I exist!”

“Was it actually her? Remember when you got a Facebook request from Robert Downey Jr and it turned out it was a fake account?”

I rolled my eyes at her, it was Bryce, it was her verified account. The comment was a book recommendation I had for her, she posted on her hashtag BDHbookshelf and I thought I’d take a chance and comment a book recommendation I had for her, and the chance paid off.

I cannot wait to see what the future holds with Bryce, she has been such an inspiration to me for the past few years, and she promotes such wonderful causes and body positivity! I hope to one day meet her and thank her in person for changing my life for the better, and I think I’ve come up with the perfect opportunity to meet her- Iz and I have decided to travel up to London for the Jurassic World Dominion premiere in 2022 (if Covid lets us!), we’d get a hotel and actually meet Bryce in person, as well as meeting other members of the online family!

Words cannot fully contain the admiration that I possess for Bryce, her soul is utterly and truly exquisite, she has been such a visionary while I’ve been transitioning from a girl who had no idea who she was with no dreams or aspirations, to a woman who has now found so many new friends and now knows who she wants to be.  

[stillbandofbrothersthirsty]

I feel like Harry doesn’t get enough love and attention in the fandom 🥲 and since it is The Summer of Harry, could we get a small fic or headcanons about being best friends with Harry and getting into shenanigans with him?

xoxo

Omg yesss I love Harry, I agree he does not get enough love!!!

Here’s my unsolicited preamble: I truly adore him. In all honesty he’s the character I relate to most, personality wise. SO I had to do both a few headcanon’s and then a short lil fic that played those out. Not sure if this was exactly what you had in mind but this is what I picture being besties with Welsh would be like :) (p.s. sorry for any typos, I didn't do a lot of re-reading and I'm dyslexic sooo free pass)

- I feel like Welsh would be a very affectionate and physical love kind of friend because he seems really sure in his body language and physical space.

- He would be the kind of bestie you could cuddle with without any sort of apprehension over it being anything more than friendship.

- Welsh is the kind of friend that will lead you straight into trouble but charm your guys’ way right out of it.

- Welsh is the kind of friend to give really good advice but never the kind to pressure you or judge you if you don’t take his advice.

- At the same time he’s a bit of a hot mess himself but in such a confident, surly way that keeps him from becoming a basket case. Which means he’s not an exhausting friend to have. He gives energy to his friends.

There was a good chance that those who didn’t know you and Harry well would assume you had a flirtationship. Everyone knew about Kitty, especially after three months of having Harry as an Easy Company officer. So a judgmental look from an onlooking stranger wasn’t uncommon. But those who knew you well knew things could not be more platonic between you two. You and Harry had bonded from the beginning; like long-lost twins. You filled in each other’s gaps. You met each other note for note in every situation, from teasing Winters to sobering conversations about core values. Most dangerously, you fed off of each other’s mischief (much to Winters’ chagrin). That night wasn’t much different from the many you shared with Harry. The difference was that it was preceded by a particularly terrible day.

You were exhausted by the day's work. You had had the privilege of being singled out by Sobel who had berated you at length without real cause. You had very little energy to do anything except take a shower and go to bed. But it was a Friday, and Harry wasn’t about to let you get away with that.

“Good evening!” Harry skipped through the doorway of your barrack. He was cleaned up and dressed neatly in his khaki uniform.

“Hi Harry,” you said unenthusiastically from where you were stretched out.

“What’s up, cookie?” he kicked the side of your cot, trying to elicit a jolt of action from you.

“Crappy day.”

“Well come out and we’ll at least make sure it ends well.”

“Not in the mood.”

“Aw come on,” Harry whined, “I want to go have fun.”

“I’m in a bad mood, Harry,” you protested.

“Who put the bee in your bonnet?” he sat down beside you.

You wriggled slightly out of the way to make room for him. “Sobel.”

Harry rolled his eyes, “the guy’s a yuck, don’t let him ruin your night.

“Too late.” You knew you were just being a brat at this point. But Harry knew he was going to win you over.

“Come on, you’re getting up and we’re gonna have a great night. Dick’s coming out for an hour or so, you can’t miss that.”

“Is he drinking?” you sat up in shock.

Harry huffed, “pff, no, of course not. Still, it’ll be good to chat with him. Come on, get up.”

The pub was full of soldiers from all of the Airborne companies. Harry was leading you to the bar when you spotted him, Sobel.

“The hell is he doing here?” You asked.

Harry followed your eye line. “Gross,” he muttered, “come on.” He pushed forward.

“Harry,” you said reluctantly.

“Trust me,” he grinned mischievously. You recognised that glint in his eye and you couldn’t help but smile in excitement.

“Captain,” Harry addressed Sobel formally as he approached. The haughty officer barely acknowledged them with a nod but Harry began to spin his web.

“So rowdy in here,” he leaned on the bar conspiratorially, “so much reckless drinking.” He paused to make sure you were in on the conversation. “We were just discussing how drinking should only be done in fine taste, with quality liquor.” Sobel seemed to be listening despite his silence.

“We were,” you jumped in, “the ability to appreciate quality is a mark of superiority.” You matched Harry’s buttery tone, careful not to appear too direct with Sobel.

“That’s why Colonel Sink has all those beautifully decanted scotches in his office! Have you seen those?” Harry directed to you, across Sobel.

“Beautiful!” you enthused.

You two let those words hang there. Sobel had obviously taken in your words, you wanted them to settle.

“Anyways,” Harry said cheerfully, “can I buy you a drink, Captain?”

“Oh uh-,” Sobel stumbled, “I uh-,”

“I’m gonna get your strongest scotch, neat please,” Harry grinned charmingly at the bartender. Then he turned to Sobel, “should I make that two?” There was a challenging look in your friend's eye. You suppressed a grin but relished in the situation.

“Sure,” Sobel said curtly, then as an afterthought he turned to you, “are you getting one?” Had it been anyone else it would’ve considered him thoughtful.

“Oh no,” you said you said nonchalantly, “can’t stand the stuff. It’s wicked strong.” You swelled with sadistic delight as you watched Sobel’s eyes widen in fear.

“Cheers!” Harry handed the officer the dark brown drink with a mischievous smile.

To Sobel’s credit, he did take a generous sip of the liquor with only the slightest of flinches.

The two of you posted up at a table with Winters, Nixon, and a few of the other officers who had distanced themselves from the enlisted men. You sat chatting and drinking and generally having a good time. After a drink or two, you spotted Joe Liebgott in the crowd. He smiled over his drink at you and you couldn’t help but smile coyly back. He always seemed to catch your eye on nights out. Though nothing ever came from it you enjoyed the attention from the handsome man.

Welsh caught the exchange between you and Joe. “That boy is trouble.”

“What? I thought you liked Joe!”

“I do, great soldier.”

“But trouble?” you asked jokingly.

“Yeah, part of why I like him. Why don’t you go for someone sweet?” Harry scanned the crowd, “like Carwood?”

“Lipton’s married, Harry.”

“Oh right, Shifty then!”

You sighed, “you know I adore Shifty but..”

“You’re right, he’s too sweet for you. Better stick with, Joe.”

You and Harry stared at each other until you both broke into laughs.

“Thanks for the romantic advice,” you teased.

“Anytime,” Harry laughed into his drink.

The night progressed. Winters left early and eventually, Nixon retired as well. Soon enough, you and Harry were left alone at a table playing tiddlywinks with coins. Between the alcohol and the company, you were feeling good. The pains of the day had melted away.

Smokey Gordon, with the assistance of George Luz, began to lead the crowd of soldiers in song. It was a darkly humoured Irish ballad that Harry seemed to know well. From beside you at your table he belted out the words off-pitch, a cigarette burning away between his fingers, momentarily forgotten.

“You’re shit!” you laughed over the music, “you’re a terrible singer!”

Harry paused quickly to say, “shut up, I’m singing,” before launching his voice back into the chorus.

You laughed as the Easy Company men wrapped up their song in cheers. You smiled to yourself, grateful to be a part of such a great group of men.

You were feeling intoxicated late into the evening but nowhere near as intoxicated as Harry. He had had a fair amount to drink but luckily he held his alcohol well. He wasn’t a sloppy, sick or angry drunk. The alcohol only exacerbated his most questionable traits; characteristics you had grown to appreciate.

“You hungry?” you asked him as he polished off another beer.

“I can always eat,” he responded.

“Do you think they’ll serve us something here?”

“I don’t know,” Harry said, “I bet they’ve closed the kitchen. Probably hours ago!”

You eyed the bar. Things had died down slightly. Many people had gone home and the patrons who hadn’t were losing their energy. Conversational groups furnished with half drunk pints peppered the pub. “I bet we can make them serve us something. Surely something!” you said.

Harry looked deep in thought before saying, “you know, you’re right.”

“What’s the harm in asking?” you said with an alcohol-induced sense of confidence.

“You’re right! Let’s go!” Harry pulled you up from the table and the two of you made for the bar.

Harry leaned across the wood counter. “Can we get anything to eat? One of those pies maybe?” he asked the bartender.

“Ooh or eggs and bacon!” You interject. The thought of breakfast made your stomach rumble.

“Oh yeah, that sounds really good! Good call,” Harry turned his attention back to the exasperated bartender, “can we can some eggs and bacon please?”

“You think I got bacon?” The bartender asked dryly. “It’s midnight…during a war,” he explained like he was talking to idiots, which he kind of was.

“Mm good point,” you were quickly defeated in your inebriated state.

“Ah come on, Fred,” Harry said, “I know you have food! Please, for one of your most loyal patrons.”

It was true, Harry was a loyal customer. He had quickly become a regular at this pub. You had dragged him off a barstool more than a few times when he was meant to be elsewhere.

The bartender Fred eyed the grinning, gap-toothed man. “Fine, but you gotta eat it in the back. I don’t want everyone seeing I’m serving food or they’ll all want some.”

“Ah thank you Fred!” You thanked him exuberantly. He shot you both a stern look as you scrambled around the bar.

You two of you waited patiently perched upon apple crates in the back kitchen as Fred fried you up a couple of eggs and slices of ham. It wasn’t exactly bacon but it hit the spot. You had never tasted anything so good in your life.

“I could eat this for the rest of my life,” Harry said through a mouthful of food.

“Mm s’good,” you responded with equal impropriety. You swallowed, “thanks for forcing me out Harry.”

“Aw,” Harry wrapped an arm around your neck and gave you a sloppy kiss on the forehead, “anytime, cookie.”

[inked-out-trees]

⭐ for The Keep Going Song? Thanks! :)

(anh i would die for you)

Thank you for asking! I am going to be talking about the whole thing because it's fun, and because there's not really many ~secrets~ within the text to ramble about, just little fun snippets!

I'll do it under a cut because I will definitely ramble. Woohoo!

I came across The Keep Going Song (the song) after my Lookout 3 Companion Playlist (& my spotify discovery) introduced me to the Bengsons. The effect was almost instantaneous - it's the kind of warmth I try to encompass in everything I do, and for the next few days I had it on repeat as I worked. This was around the time I was finishing my Lookout script, and I had been toying with the idea of writing a Cornleyverse fic after absolutely devouring all 10 fics in the tag. What I knew was that I wanted it to be sweet, I wanted it to pull them all together, and I wanted it to be a progression. Despite only having seen the Goes Wrong Show, jumping into the fandom made me want to dimensionalize these characters and give them a story beyond everything that had already occured.

I also watched Christmas Carol before / during the writing process, but to date I have not watched Peter Pan or the full-length TPTGW. My prior knowledge comes from Wikipedia, the delightul amateur TPTGW production on YouTube, a friend's excellent transcription of the Haversham Manor script, and tumblr meta analysis. I think I did a reasonable enough job pretending I knew what I was doing.

Let's get going!

I knew off the top that it was going to be vignettes - they would give me room to spread the story over the long period of time it takes for a group of people to grow into something resembling a family. Like I said in the original author's note, there was supposed to be more of the early, snippy days - but I got so focused on making them kinder that I found I couldn't properly write a fight. In hindsight, it probably would have been easier if I tried writing that first, but, well. Once I realized that it was too late. The alphabet idea came later, once I had them all finished: I wanted to organize them somehow, but numbers felt too open, too infinite - closing the story on an organizational endpoint was just really satisfying.

a - Every good story needs a good beginning.

c - Starting with the end of Peter Pan is my sneaky way of slipping past the fact that I haven't seen the earlier shows! The Max and Sandra storyline is just so sweet, and I wanted to let it exist a little bit in between our jump from Peter Pan to Christmas Carol. This vignette came so easily when I wrote it and I love love love the feelings and the tentativity about the whole thing.

f - This was actually the last vignette I wrote. I realized I needed some front-end padding because otherwise my angst plot came rather abruptly, and what better way? At this point, too, I was trying to bring in POVs from each one of our characters, and when deciding on Trevor's POV I thought the exasperation-excitement combination would be an excellent choice. It turns out Trevor is my favourite to write, mostly because I can find his voice a lot easier than some of the others - and probably also because I hold a lot of fondness and nostalgia for stage crew work. Also, I wrote most of this one on a long evening walk in the notes app on my phone. Fun fact.

h - I did my original idea slam in a draft tumblr post, and this one just says "birthday party but one without all the drama of christmas carol". And what do you know, that's exactly what it is! I definitely took the birthday party (in CCGW as well as in this fic) as a kind of proof that they really do like each other, if they're doing things like this and if they want to do things like this - and that theme of okay, they want to be here formed the basis for this part. I think it's exceptionally sweet that Dennis came looking for friends and ended up finding, well, something. And I popped in a little MMNI reference with "one of the Janines" - Backwards Janine? Frontwards Janine? Original Janine? Who knows! It's one of them!

l - The thing about this plot is that it's actually one of the first ideas I had when dreaming up this fic, and I couldn't quite let it go. The point was, what if I somehow split them up? How can they get on when half the society is out of commission? And the most reasonable way I could find to actually get half of them out of commission was the car accident. To be honest, this one is mostly filler - it's also the second vignette I wrote, and it found its birth in the email drafts of my work laptop.

m - Trying to map out this little plotline without overdoing it might have been the most difficult part of this fic, and I'm still not 100% sure I succeeded. This is our explanation for the unease from the vignette above, and it took me 3 rewrites before I finally found something that settled in my brain. "Dennis gets chased by a goose" might be one of my favourite lines in the fic though.

Also, putting these letters right next to each other made me feel really clever for no reason.

n - My Jonathan perspective also took a few stutter-steps in its beginning, but this one ultimately came from the promo video's reveal that Robert and Dennis live together, and me playing with the continual idea of the remaining cast members being rather unmoored in their injured castmates' absence. Robert in particular because I love his character and I love making him Feel Things(TM) (fun hint: this will also be a small theme in the new cpds fic I have in the works!) and I want to see so much from this odd relationship between him and Dennis. Obviously they have to tolerate each other if they are willingly roommates - how far can I go with that? I love how this one turned out.

o - All I have to say about this one is that I still really love the sweetness between these two, and they deserve the world. Also, at some point during writing this I was really caught up with how striking Dave's face silhouette is (don't ask) so that ended up making it in somehow.

q - Girls' Night is SO important to me. After all the work they've done to make these gals friends I needed to capture it, and a pleasant night in just made a lot of sense. This one is the home of a few of my headcanons - Annie has a chef roommate and Max does a lot of the cooking, thus the "neither of us are the usual household cooks" comments, and I also think they're at the point where they can joke about their previous failures (especially with these three together) so the nod to A Trial To Watch (my favourite gws episode) was so fun. Also, Waking Ned really is a silly pick-me-up of a movie - would recommend. Special thanks to CBC for giving us Canadians quality British TV alongside our occasionally questionable homegrown programming.

r - It wouldn't be a fic about progress and growth with this crew without a disheartening moment turned into gold. I wrote this one while barbecuing, another fun fact, and no joke the hardest part was figuring out what to name the play they were doing. I kept pace with the whole "Jonathan can't get onscreen" gag, which was personally hilarious and made me cackle as I wrote it, and the rest of it just felt good. I will always have a soft spot for comfort and reassurance in a story and getting to write it has just been an absolute delight.

t - This was one of my other unplanned vignettes. It was originally to fill out Robert's POV, but also to express a bit of how things have changed in Chris's attitude towards his cast - if there's one thing I would change from Mischief's characerisation thus far, it's this brand of almost-kindness that I consistently need to write him with. It takes the aftermath of the car accident and uses it to kind of make him understand - this is a valuable group of people and I don't want to lose it. But of course he's not the type of person to actually express that in any way, so I thought the frenetic hovering was a good way to get the point across. As well, the kind-of-bonding between Chris and Robert - the two of them are such powerhouses of insistent personality that conflict so easily but they've also got a more secret kind of friendship that deserves to be explored a little more. I really like this vignette and how it ended up portraying how they are around each other, how they really do know each other, especially when they're not fighting. Makes me soft.

w - This is the first vignette I wrote! I honestly didn't realize until writing this just how much I identify with Annie - best of both worlds re. crew and cast, a bit of tenacity regarding getting through things, overall personality - I just love her so so much. She also seems like the most sensible of the cast, so the collective "why are we really here?" moment with Trevor really spoke to me. I love their friendship, I love the kind of quiet vibe this vignette gives off - this is one of the ones I can feel most strongly, the one I can step into and exist inside. I also spent most of my old drama rehearsals and classes without shoes, so that had to make it in just by virtue of the sock brigade (me).

z - One thing I knew for sure since the inception of the fic was that it needed to end on a victory. I took the images I had of this victorious adrenaline, everyone together having a good time, kind of getting smashed, and karaoke (I really wanted the karaoke, for some reason) and went the obvious route: the wedding. Ending on Chris POV also felt so right - possibly because he's the one with the most growth in this fic - and getting to finally feel this triumph with him after all these other trials and tribulations was an absolute joy. The wedding hall, in my head, looks like the one my cousin used (it was at a zoo... my sister and I went on a night walk and heard a lot of screaming peacocks) and I definitely threw all my wistfulness, all my love for the characters I'd developed, and all my love for this fantastic fandom into this part. The incorrect lyrics that Annie sings are exactly what I think every time I hear that song, because I've never looked up the lyrics before and my brain likes to play Mad Libs with my super-questionable auditory processing. And the image of the ballroom staff getting really exasperated with them and shutting all the lights off came to me at night and is hastily scribbled on a sticky note (it's a wonder it's legible) but I still strongly believe that it's the perfect, perfect way to end. I still get the warm feelings when I reread this part, even now, after so many reads.

And, finally - our end quote is exactly what started this whole thing. What is this drama society if not a rough beginning? But the concept that we'll make it through, that we can just take a step and then another and it'll be okay because we're together... it's hard to describe just how much it means to me, to my place in the world, to the world itself. I think one of my rather consistent aims in writing, no matter what it is, is to be able to have this collective - characters that become family, people that are important to each other, this constellation to lean on - because it's all I can say for the human experience. It's probably quite a bit of wishful thinking (as I said to another friend, "I am apparently letting loose on all my repressed social feelings of the past year and shoving them into fics") and a sort of subconscious confirmation that if I write it, I can be it. So this force of understanding and kindness and ultimately good people helping each other through the world is something I can't help but include, something that means the absolute world to me.

I'm so glad to have been able to share this fic with everyone, and extra glad that it's been able to touch some people along the way. I've found such an incredible community in Mischief and coincidentally I think The Keep Going Song represents that warmth, too - the community I've been so lucky to exist inside, how we're helping each other along, step by step. What a beautiful thing to be a part of! Thank you for reading and allowing me to give you a bit of my heart. 💖💖