#did i make this entire gifset just to use the gif of his hand writing? yes

[papa-evershed]

THOMAS BARROW || BUTLER EDITION

“How did you become a butler?”

“Well, it’s a lot less glamorous. I got a job as a hall boy. Then I was a junior footman, first footman, valet, and finally, butler. There’s not much I couldn’t tell you about how to run a house, sir.”

[inklore]

Dilf! Namor...so tempted to write hcs for that

well let me inspire you with this hot mess bestie 👀

pairing: dbf!namor x (f)reader warnings: eighteen+ content, unedited because it’s late and i’m lazy so beware of hella spelling mistakes, lowercase, sexual tension to the max, alcohol mention, pining, and kissing, that’s literally it but it’s more inner monologue and tension heavy than anything honestly. note: bro this was supposed to be multple hcs but turned into one long ass tension filled mess lmao, i’m sorry but dbf!namor took over, it’s just perfect for him!!

part two | feel free to send me thots on these two!

i saw a gifset where tenoch was riding a motorcycle so obviously that's dbf!namor get's around, and he's giving brooding, grumpy, man who is always scowling at you and you're not even sure if he really likes you. if he is only polite for your dads sake

but one night you go out with your friends and have a little too much to drink-and using uber right now with your vision blurry and fingers key punching so bad your messages look like a toddler did them-namor is the first person you think to call. why? you're not sure. and you almost regret it, retreat into yourself-sober up-when you hear his rough voice answer, the "hello" landing heavy in the pit of your stomach

it take you a few deep breaths and closing your eyes to steady your tipsy mind on why you even called, your name on his lips sounding stern, adjacent to being worried you think

"where are you? stay where you are." and he's there before you realize it. the loud rumble of his bike as he pulls up in front of you making your entire being vibrate with nerves. "you need better friends." he says as he hands you the helmet that was just on his head, pleasantries dead as always

"what about you?"

"just get on." it's a command, rushed, demanding, as he helps your wobbly limbs onto the bike. wordlessly pulling your wrist to have your arms wrap around his midsection. and it's probably the liquor in your system that has every bump, the vibration of the bike, the wind whipping against the tops of your thighs-or maybe it's the heady affect his cologne that engulfs the inside of the helmet-how you almost feel completely compliant and light to lay your head on his shoulder. to let your palm spread flat against his rib bone

the heavy thump of his heart matching the same speed of the thumping that leads from your chest cavity to regions it has no right to be in. and when you expect him to fix your hold on him, to shrug off your head from his shoulder, he gives you no reaction. something that both makes your nerves burn and grow cold at the same time

when he pulls into your driveway, pulling himself off of the bike first, his fingers rubbing against your chin as he undoes the clip keeping the helmet steady on your head. helping your drunken hands pull it off your head-there's a moment where his eyes catch on your outfit. like he's really taking it in now, letting his eyes drag along your exposed thigh, before that signature scowl is pulling a shadow over his eyes again

"your father home?"

"no."

"do you need help inside?"

yes. is the first thing that comes to mind. yes, please. a heat bringing itself to your cheeks when you internally shame yourself for it. lock away somewhere in your brain that tipsy you cannot be trusted to think clearly-normally. and there's a split second where you think maybe he's shaming himself for something, that the two of you are sharing the same thought, the same link to something that maybe has always been there but you've stuffed away because it was better that way-proper, normal. with the way he's just staring at you

"no." you say again. your tongue feeling heavy and dry in your mouth as you swallow and force yourself to look away from him. brace your hands on the bike to pull yourself from it but end up catching your foot and ending up where you shouldn't be: in his arms. your palms once again finding themselves pressed to his front as he wraps an arm around you to stop you from planting yourself on the harsh pavement

"let me walk you inside." he says low and gruff against your temple. your insides turning into liquid compliance as you nod without a second thought. his breath heavily fanning itself across your skin as it takes a minute, two, three, before he's pulling you from his chest and holding your wrist to help you inside

once you're inside he drops your wrist, doesn't speak, just watches as you move on wobbly legs to the stairs. the pathetic thought to trip, to plummet yourself down the steps in hopes he'll touch you again, is volleying itself back and forth between just running up the stairs and sleeping this off and waking up to whatever this tension-filled-air-and insanity going on in your head-is gone

"thank you," you send over your shoulder as your fingers have a death grip on the railing. forcing yourself to surface a smile that you know probably looks as ridiculous as it feels to your burning cheeks

namor hums, nods, keeps his eyes on every step you take up the stairs, hype focused incase you fall-you assume. "do you need me to stay?"

you know he means it politely. not in the way your body is currently taking it, he's your dads friend, besides tonight he's barely shown you a kindness besides a pressed smile. you really need to sleep. need to reset your mind back to normal because his words shouldn't stop you in your tracks. have your body internally clenching at the intensity of his stare, from the glint in them that you're definitely imagining when you watch him move closer to the bottom of the steps-because you probably look like a tripping hazard right now

"do you want to stay?" the words leave your mouth before that last sober cell in your body can stop them-stop you from making a fool out of yourself

"i want you to be safe." he replies simply. you don't know why the answer only fills you with disappointment. i'll be fine, leaving your lips as you quickly take the rest of the steps up to your room. ignore the way you feel foolish and silly as you slip into bed

a silly feeling that still lingers when you walk down stairs the next morning to see a rumpled sheet and blanket on the couch deserted, and the smell of food coming from the kitchen. a sticky note stuck to a plate covered in foil on the counter: eat. simple. to the point. but still bringing a smile to your lips and those silly feelings imbedding themselves into your marrow

turning into something burning and aching when you see him again. when he drops something off for your dad and he's nowhere to be found in sight. when the two of you are stuck in the kitchen together, a heavy silence weighing down the air that seems to suck itself from your lungs the longer the two of you just stand here. the longer he keeps looking anywhere but you as his grip tightens on the neck of the beer you offered him-mentioning your father would be home any minute now

"thank you for staying, and for the food."

a nod. curt. ever him.

"you didn't have to help me-"

"think so little of me?"

"that's-i didn't mean it like that-i-" you want to state how he's avoided you like the plague before that. how his face morphs into a scowl when you enter the same room as him. how you are certain he hates you, still think that, just maybe a little less after helping you

"you need better friends." he repeats himself from the other night. making an annoyance shift your emotions

"so does my father."

the snort he lets out from under his breath shocks you, as does the pull of the corner of his mouth in the smallest-genuine-smiles you've ever seen him give you. it makes your stomach swoop

"i'm glad you called me."

"that's hard to believe. i'm confident this is the most you've spoken to me in a span of minutes." you joke, the corner of his mouth pulling into a full grin that makes you upset you've never seen him smile before this-has he always been this handsome?

"and here i thought you were a smart girl." the words would wound you if he wasn't staring at you like that over the bottle pressed to his lips. how even when he sets it back on the counter his eyes are still boring into your very being, right to that part of your body that you're understanding now has always wanted him. that you slowly realize, after much analysis to everything that happened the other night: the look in his eyes, the grip he had on your body to make sure you were kept safe, how he didn't even second guess or ask questions when you called, just demanding to know where you were, and to wait for him-that he was coming to get you and that was that

and it’s like a domino effect because now all you can think about is the stolen glances you’ve let go unnoticed, that you’ve chalked up to some festering dislike he may have had for you. how quickly his eyes shifted away from you when your father was in the room, how you’d look over and see him already looking at you when your father was distracted-that scowling coming back, the swivel of his head away from you almost something you’d see a frustrated animal do 

maybe you weren’t as smart as either of you thought. or maybe being blind to something you both ignored was better than doing something you’d possibly regret later 

if it were that, the fear of betrayal and regret, it didn’t seem to have any place in the room as you watch him finish his beer, walk around the counter to stand in front of you. reaching past you-your chests touching for half a second, your breath getting caught in your lungs-as he sets the empty bottle beside the sink behind you. and when you expect him to move away, to bid you goodbye, you feel his finger under your chin lifting your gaze from the floor. his deep brown eyes sucking every last potential breath from your lungs, your back digging into the edge of the counter as you try to ground yourself, try to settle the burning nerves that are making it hard for your brain to function right now 

“if it was only me, all this time, tell me right now.” 

you don’t need him to elaborate, there’s no need for explanation, you read through his words, the knowledge sitting heavy in your lower belly; the fear of shaking your head and having him stop touching you stops you from moving, a barely audible “no. not just you” falling from your parted lips

lips that his thumb presses into, your bottom lip met with the pad of his thumb as he rubs along it. throat bobbing with a hard swallow, eyes flashing from your mouth to your eyes. you want to ask why now? what changed? why throw both your dignities to the wind and say fuck it? but the look of stern-protection he showed the other night each time he looked at you, like he was fighting with himself with being upset at himself and upset at you for not having better friends, for putting yourself in a potential bad situation. you know why now 

“if i keep touching you-if i let myself cross that line-i’ll never stop.”

“what if i don’t want you to stop?”

“you’ll have to beg me to.” 

“i won’t.” 

his front is completely pressed to yours, a thigh between your parted legs, forehead on yours as you see the internal battle going on in his expressions, in his heavy breaths, in how he keeps dipping his mouth down to yours only to pull it away at the last minute, “you need to.”

“i need you.”

and it’s those magic words that have him cupping your face in his hands and pressing his lips to yours in a rough kiss of passion-every lick into your mouth, every bite at your bottom lip, the moans he swallows down from your throat, speaking silent words of how long he’s waited to have you like this.

[comfortbuddie]

I posted 5,619 times in 2022

That's 2,320 more posts than 2021!

623 posts created (11%)

4,996 posts reblogged (89%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@loveyourownsmiilee

@elfbuckleys

@911bts

@maddieandchimney

@swiftiebuckleys

I tagged 5,057 of my posts in 2022

Only 10% of my posts had no tags

#0 - 3,796 posts

#911 spoilers - 1,831 posts

#evan buckley - 1,035 posts

#eddie diaz - 970 posts

#buddie - 943 posts

#oliver stark - 346 posts

#chimney han - 249 posts

#maddie buckley - 228 posts

#buddie fic rec - 222 posts

#hen wilson - 197 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#the memories i have of my brother as a toddler covering me with his blanket and stuffed animals if he saw me falling asleep are still so 🥰

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

cantlivewithoutyoumalec >>>>> comfortbuddie

Okay, I did it. 

Tagging some mutuals so you know it’s me: @fireladybuckley @songpond @therapyeddie @daylightbuddie @firemedicdiaz @outrunningthedark

19 notes - Posted March 16, 2022

#4

Alright, where’s my parallel gifset of Hen and Chimney, and Buck and Eddie working together for the first time after being apart?

21 notes - Posted May 2, 2022

#3

Bathena flirting over the cursed happenings? We love to see it.

25 notes - Posted November 7, 2022

#2

Maddie’s look of utter offense when Chimney thinks she wants to date other people still gets me months later. Can’t wait for them to realize that they only need to be together as a family with Jee. 

26 notes - Posted July 20, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Bold This Valentine’s With You

*Peaks out into the void* Hello, hello. So, I am super nervous because this is my first time actually writing fic for the fandom that isn’t me just writing a fic for my own eyes because I needed to get the plot out of my head. Anyway! This is my entry for the Valentine’s Gift 2022 exchange that @missmybuddie set up and I am excited to share it! So this is for @cosycrescent and I hope you like it!

~~~~~~~~

There was something special about Valentine’s Day that had been missing from Buck’s life, even if he hadn’t realized it. Sure, memories of the day were tainted by a failed restaurant date and the reminder in the form of a scar to the throat, but otherwise he could see the appeal as time went on. For a while, he didn’t feel the urge to celebrate the day, given that romance did not seem to go his way.

Lately, his time seemed spent on just enjoying the day for his niece’s sake. The night before Valentine’s Day saw Buck on babysitting duty so her parents could have a date night before spending the entire holiday with their family of three. So Buck had planned on a crafting session that he knew would end up more of a mess than anything, but would be worth it.  

Seeing Jee-Yun get so excited over putting paint on her hands so she could make hearts on a piece of paper to surprise her mommy and daddy made Buck’s heart melt. Sure, his favorite white shirt now had red hand prints all over it from when the toddler excitedly patted his arm to show him her work. But it was worth it and he could always frame it to remember the day. It was a white shirt with red on it that he would be okay seeing.

Once Maddie and Chimney picked her up, and yes Chimney, Buck did see those tears in his eyes even if he tried to hide them upon seeing Jee-Yun’s gift, Buck got to work getting ready to go see his second pair of favorite people in the world.

Buck wasn’t going to have a lonely Valentine’s day this year. Sure, the year before sucked since he had been going through a breakup and Eddie was still gone from the team. But it also brought it Maddie and Chimney’s return and the beginning of what felt like a fracture in his life piecing itself together.

It took time for Buck and Eddie to find their footing as well, getting used to a new routine of seeing each other outside of work. Awkward small talks and avoiding conversations eventually led to an argument lasting a couple weeks. It was only then that they began to communicate, figuring out how to navigate topics they had not wanted to bring up.

All that was in the past though. They were a solid team, especially since Eddie did eventually come home to the 118. He had once assured Buck that he wasn’t the one being left behind, something that took Buck a while to figure out why it had hurt so much.

In the back of his mind, he always knew there was an attraction to his best friend. But he pushed it down, not wanting to risk the best thing that had ever happened to him. Both Eddie and Christopher meant too much to him to risk a confession that could lead to another fracture, one he wasn’t sure he could bounce back from.

So lost in thought, Buck almost missed the buzzing of his phone. Picking it up from the table where he left it, Buck smiled at Eddie’s text. 

You on your way, yet? Christopher is demanding heart shaped pancakes.

Buck chuckled and responded back, Of course, anything for my favorite Diaz.

Eddie responded with the pouting emoji, so Buck sent an eye roll back, adding on Don’t worry, you’re a close runner up. The wide smile emoji he got gave him butterflies in his stomach.

Buck gathered up the presents he had gotten for Eddie and Christopher, before heading over to their apartment for dinner. He was going to be spending the night and would spend the day with Eddie and Christopher. They had planned on breakfast before having a movie marathon. But Christopher had been insistent on Buck coming over the night before, even if he would be late on account of babysitting.

Once he arrived, Buck’s heart skipped a beat when Eddie opened the door, looking casual in a red henley and sweats. “Hey Buck,” he said softly.

“Hey Eddie! I hope you didn’t save me dinner. I got my fill of chicken nuggets and peas with my best girl.” He said, walking inside and making himself at home. His jacket went on the hook next to Eddie’s and he dropped his car keys in the little bowl by the front door. Behind him, Eddie watched him with a soft smile.

“Well, I did make enough in case you wanted some. Abuela had me on tamale duty today so I saved a few.”

Buck could feel his stomach grumbling and he grinned. “I will never say no to tamales. Thanks Eds. Where’s Christopher?”

“Right here! Hey Buck!” Christopher said as he rounded the corner from the hallway. Buck immediately met him in the middle to give him a big hug.

“Hey bud! You ready for tomorrow?” Buck said, feeling warm and happy now that he was in both their presence. It was a difference from being in his loft, and the more he recognized that feeling, the more he came to accept that it did feel like home when he was with the Diaz boys.

Christopher nodded, smiling brightly, “Dad said we could exchange cards right after breakfast.”

“He really wants to give you his present, is what he’s really saying.” Eddie added with a fond smile.

Buck let out a chuckle. “I’m excited too. I was thinking that we could have a slumber party out here and then just have a lazy morning, indoor picnic kind of thing?” He looked to Eddie for approval, and the look in Eddie’s eyes sent a shiver down his spine.

It was still difficult to sometimes get a read on Eddie’s feelings, even as he was beginning to open up, mostly to him. But lately, something in Eddie’s demeanor changed around Buck and it was something that had him hoping he wasn’t misreading. Now, it just made Buck feel tingly.

“I think that’s a great plan. Christopher, why don’t you pick out a movie for us to watch while we get the living room set up?” Eddie suggested.

“Okay!” Christopher headed over to the couch while Eddie took Buck’s bag for him and placed it on the chair in the corner.

“You get the sheets and I’ll get the pillows?” Buck said as he headed down the hall.

“Works for me.” 

See the full post

29 notes - Posted February 14, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[captain-flint]

can we talk about these ed/stede scenes? i’m dying to talk about these scenes

i haven’t seen (or i missed) people discuss some of these, but i dont have time to write an extensive meta or make a separate gifset to point out each so here’s a short list of scenes that are currently making me deeply insane

1) ed literally falling asleep next to stede (and leaning towards him) even though he’s known him for a single day. the most fearsome pirate on the high seas trusting so quickly and easily that stede, despite his kind nature, isn’t going to use the opportunity to just kill him bc he’s blackbeard. he said i’m gonna take a nap right here on this stranger’s soft shoulder while he handles sharp cutlery and my gun and knife that i gave him while i remain entirely unarmed and unguarded. true love right there

(i’m also 80% sure this was just taika falling asleep on set as usual)

2) during the kraken scene there’s a lighthouse in the distance and the light spins as it should until it lands on ed and his father and then stops and illuminates them like a giant spotlight. i can’t even begin to interpret that my brain will snap in half. it’s stede literally shining a light into edward’s dark past 

(crying and reciting flint’s ‘in the darkness, there be dragons’ quote)

3) ed, terrified, flinching when stede bangs on the door and it being immediately paralleled by young ed flinching when his father smashes a plate against the wall. im pretty sure this was pointed out somewhere already but this glass tastes delicious so i’m bringing it up again. 

im gently caressing his head, this bad boy can’t fit any more trauma. we are at full capacity

4) this face ed makes right before he has to kill stede :)

5) and lastly did you notice stede’s thumb is pressing firmly on ed’s while they hold hands because i didn’t until recently and i'd like to expand on that but all i can come up with is boiling tea kettle noise

okay that’s it, feel free to discuss or add more

[darling-i-read-it]

Drink

Dale Cooper x reader

Word Count: 1.7k

Warnings: tension, its all tension, intense making out, drinking, gambaling, leading to smut and insituation to smut 

Author’s Note: Not this being way longer than I intended it to be. Blame it on the fact that I was watching Euphoria and it filled me with inspiration because that show slaps. I got a little carried away so it’s probably a little ooc toward the end but I hope you like it lmao 

Requested: by anon, You posted that gifset of dale cooper with the suit and glasses yesterday and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since so maybe you should write a fic inspired by it 👀? Like reader goes undercover with him and he’s taken aback by how beautiful she looks and there’s sexual tension between them the entire night until afterwards where he pulls her aside for a steamy make out session. Might be ooc but I’m thirsty so 🤷‍♀️

Summary: the request 

Genre: tension? Almost smut but not quite? 

I don’t own these characters. They belong to author/director 

(not my gif) (the gif that inspired it all by @/myellenficent)

“You’re prepared for tonight?” Dale asked. You crossed your arms to protect from the chill in the air. You nodded stiffly.

“I am.”

“Remember, something fancy that isn’t too flashy. I’m sure you’ll be fine though,” he promised. You nodded again.

“I’ll throw something together. You don’t be too flashy though huh?” you teased. The two of you stopped in the hallway you were walking down. You were standing in front of each other's hotel rooms, which were separate.

“I’ll try my best,” he digressed. You nodded and leaned against your doorway before turning around and opening it, slipping inside.

You and Dale were new partners. You had been friends for ages but only in passing. It wasn’t until your partner died that you were able to actually work together. You had done a few cases together but this was the first one you had to go undercover for. It was odd, seeing Dale in this kind of setting. He was very good at what he did and you were very good at what you did. You should have been paired together years ago.

You looked through your suitcase for something to wear. You were going to go and try and seek out one of the murderers of Laura Palmer. Dale had a theory that he would be there tonight and you weren’t about to question him when he really got going. 

The plan was to gamble, act natural, fend off any woman and get the information you needed. You weren’t that worried. 

You picked out a dress that you had been saving for a special occasion. Just your style and the fit of it always made you feel good. You were kind of excited to wear something that wasn’t casual. You were also excited to hang out with Dale. You knew the other local police force would be there but you figured this was the closest you were going to get to a night out with Dale.

There was a knock on your door five minutes before you were supposed to meet everyone in the lobby. You ran your hands over your hair one more time, checked yourself out in the mirror and then opened the door. 

Dale was wearing a fancier suit than usual, his hair slicked back and a pair of fake glasses over his eyes. You smiled, raising your hands to his bowtie to fix it as it was kind of crooked.

“You clean up nice Coop,” you admitted. “Not that you aren’t already clean most of the time,” you joked. 

Dale was awe struck. He had thought he might have feelings for you but only in passing, never in actuality. But you stood in front of him, wearing that fancy dress, your hair done up all nice. He couldn’t help but feel his emotions come forward in full force. 

“Cooper?” you said as he hadn’t answered you. 

“You look absolutely stunning,” he admitted. You smiled and looked down at your outfit like you weren’t even aware you had been wearing it.

“You think?”

“I know.” His voice had a low grumble to it that you didn’t recognize. It made you let out a stiff shortness of breath. You had to look away from his face.

“Well we should probably go, Harry and everyone will be waiting.” He seemed to snap out of it then. He cleared his throat.

“You’re right. You have your gamabling cash?” he questioned. 

“I can’t gamble. I figured I’d just be your arm candy,” you admitted through a laugh. He put his hand on his hip, creating an arm holder for you. You wrapped your arm around his arm and smiled, walking next to him. 

Harry and Ed stood in the lobby. They eyed the two of you, especially Harry who had been hearing the end of both of your emotions. 

“You look real good,” Ed said, eyeing your outfit. Dale almost got defensive but he held it down.

“Thank you very much Ed.”

-

The night started swiftly enough. You managed to strip away from Dale for a moment and walk around the room, eyeing the area as he started to play a card game. You watched him from afar and navigated through the room. Harry hung back and grabbed your arm gently, pulling you aside.

“If you don’t make a move tonight I’m going to lose my goddamn mind,” he said. You laughed gently.

“We’re on a case, Sheriff Truman,” you whispered. He raised an eyebrow.

“Fine. Look over at Cooper right now and tell me what you’re feeling about this case.” You rolled your eyes and looked back over at Dale. There was a girl on his lap, whispering in his ear. You couldn’t see his expression because she was blocking but you had to give it to Harry. It got to you. 

“Just focus Harry,” you muttered.

“Only if you do.” 

You walked back to the other side of the room and the girl was off Dale’s lap. You pushed it out of your head. You didn’t want to think about it. 

Dale however, was only looking at you. He was trying so hard to focus on the task at hand but he felt the tension in the air. It wrapped around him like a present waiting to be opened. His eyes were always flashing back to you and you were always watching him until you weren’t.

Harry’s hand wrapped around your arm as he pulled you aside. Whispers between the two of you. His chest started to rise and fall and he was going to lose this game of cards and then there was a woman on his lap and he had to tell her to leave because he was only focused on you and he should have been focused on the case. 

Eventually though he was able to talk to a man who knew more about Laura's death. He was able to get information he came for. And the second that conversation ended he walked up to Harry.

“I need a drin-“

“Cooper,” you called, standing beside the two of them.

“Hold on a second, I want a-”

“Coop,” you repeated.

“Y/N I-”

“Dale,” you hissed. You had his full attention. His eyes were back on you now and everything he had just been about to say was gone. “Please tell us what happened to Laura.” Harry raised his finger. 

“Will you write it down in the report?” Dale nodded and let out a harsh breath. 

“I’m going to talk to Ed,” you said and gave Harry a look. You walked over there and let Dale spit out whatever it was that he wasn’t able to say in one sentence. Harry seemed to appreciate it and he understood more about what happened to Laura.

“What are you doing over here?” Ed asked.

“Getting Dale a drink before he passes out from whatevers bothering him,” you muttered. You raised your hand and quickly ordered Dale’s regular.

“I think it’s you,” Ed muttered.

“Huh?”

“Listen, speaking as a man, I think it’s you,” he repeated. You furrowed your brows. Before you could ask for more clarification Dale grabbed your arm which surprised you. You were holding his drink in your hand.

“This is for-” you started and he took the drink, handed it to Ed and dragged you away. You had barely gotten out of view before his lips were on yours. He pressed you flush against the wall of one of the off rooms in the lodge he had managed to find. You pulled away to breath and he looked at you. You had never seen his eyes look like that. Filled with want.

You kissed him again with more fire behind your own lips and he took that happily. He picked up your leg and hiked it up on his side. You let him. After a few moments of the most intense make out session you had ever had you had to pull away.

“We have to go and follow up on the information you got from that guy,” you whispered. You fixed his glasses and he fixed your dress. He let out a long sigh and nodded, pulling himself together. He knew you were right.

“Later,” he promised. You walked back into the main room and grabbed Dale’s drink from Ed to hand to him.

“Drink up. I’m going to talk to Harry.” Dale watched you go and then quickly followed, taking a drink of the one you had gotten for him.

[nincompoopydoo]

DEBRIS AND MISERY

THE A-TEAM ; PART 7 / ?

PAIRING: Loki Laufeyson x Female!Reader WORD COUNT: 3.3k SUMMARY: Now stranded on Lamentis with two of the worst variants, you find it difficult to decide whether Loki is potentially empathetic to others around him. A/N: I’m so sorry I haven’t updated in awhile and for posting this slow-moving and kinda uneventful chapter but I promise you, it’s vital for the next chapter as it explains a few things. Please tell me what you think so far and maybe theories? (idk if yall have any lol) gif from this gifset by @kamalaskhans WARNINGS: Swearing. Loki being a jerk. Loki and Sylvie support my writing through ko-fi💖 MASTERPOST ; MASTERLIST

Vertigo strikes you more often than you enjoy. The sensation of everything that encompasses, spinning in tandem with your mind. It’s the work you deal with that constantly sends your brain reeling because the complexity of time travel and time itself sometimes becomes too much to handle. Yet, this isn’t vertigo caused by an existential crisis. It’s nausea from the throbbing gash on your cheek and the numbness of your entire face from the fall through the time door.

For a split second, as your body surges through the door in mid-air, you have a vision, a series of flashing images—crimson eyes blinking before you, the sea, the Sun and fire.

Then, it’s gone and you land with a loud thump.

Your head hurts. Your face hurts. Everything hurts.

A groan escapes your lips, muffled with your face to the ground. You attempt to seize yourself up but immediately halt as your hand seems to come into contact with a shirt-like material. Too soft for it to be the ground unless you are on a mattress. Nothing seems to make sense anyway because a second ago, you had a knife to your throat and another, you are falling.

Deciding that maneuvering in the darkness of your shut eyes isn’t going to give you answers, they flutter open, adjusting to the lightness and hues of your surroundings. Then, every muscle of yours freezes with the realization that it is not the ground you had landed on as you meet another’s eyes with the same stricken gaze, staring back at you. Loki, in a rather unfortunate position, lays beneath you.

Momentarily, time passes like a goddamn laggard.

You can hear and feel every ragged breath he takes. Suddenly, you find yourself swallowing.

What a great time to stab him in the chest if you had a knife right now.

Yet, the moment passes as the tension severely thickens and your anxiety starts to creep onto you with the sudden awareness of your unknown surroundings. Purplish hues can never be good. You continue to seize yourself up in the effort to get back on your feet albeit legs feeling weak when you unceremoniously jab his rib with your elbow and you hear Loki wince from below you.

“Woman! Why are your elbows so sharp?!” Loki shrieks through a series of grunts. In a swift movement, his hands are on either side of your shoulders, shoving you off him. You land hard on your back, head slamming onto something metallic as it clangs with the impact. You groan, hand flying to your head as you eye the God with sharp eyes. “Ow!” you yell but then hear the same exclamation echo from another’s lips—the fugitive variant. You seemed to have kicked her in the knee.

In your peripheral vision, there’s a certain glint that catches your eyes. It’s the tempad, sitting idly amongst the dark gravel. Before you could even begin to pull yourself up from the ground, you are being hauled once more as the blonde climbs over you to reach for the device. But, Loki is quick to grab her by the foot, yanking her away with force.

“Get off my foot!” she growls as Loki attempts to make an expeditious crawl towards the device. He manages to snag it but, the Goddess hoists his head onto a nearby desk with a loud clang.

She already has it within her grasp as you’re struggling to lift yourself.

“Goodbye, variants.” she spits, voice course. If it weren’t for your throbbing migraine and the sting from the open wound along your cheek, you would have properly realized she referred to you as a variant. Well, she’s not wrong to a certain extent.

Yet, she’s still here and no timedoor appears.

“You’re outta juice!” Miss Minutes’ American Southern accent mechanically echoes from the tempad in an almost eerily way followed by repetitive low beeps. You watch her repeatedly stab the screen with slightly wide panicked eyes. “It’s not working,” she says, expression growing anxious with every passing minute.

Loki manages to gracefully stand on his own two feet, even after a brutal hit to his skull, and unexpectedly bends over to you and offers an outstretched hand. You don't say anything, taking it as he hauls you up with a hand to your back as leverage. In an attempt to steady yourself, you instinctively grab his shoulder

Then, you find yourself being yanked by the sleeve and a knife to your throat once again.

She has a scowl imprinted on her face, eyes blazing with frustration and rage.

“Give me your tempad,” she snarls, face close to yours. You can feel the edge of the knife grazing your neck with every inhale. A nervous laugh escapes your lips, eyeing the shine of the blade. “Do you really want to do that?”

For a moment, her face falls, yet it’s gone the next second. She pushes the blade closer. If you breathe, there’s going to be blood. “Give me your tempad or I’ll slice your throat,” she threatens and with your erratic heart pounding in your chest, you manage to cry out.

“I don’t have a tempad!”

“She doesn’t have a tempad!”

You and Loki exclaimed synchronically and shared a look. As far as you were concerned, only Renslayer and Mobius knew about the confiscation of your tempad because it was embarrassing enough to be the only analyst to be called to court. You have so many questions but right now, you should be thinking about how your one slash away from being decapitated.

You feel his grip on your back tighten and within a split second, everything changes around you.

Your surroundings have changed, her knife is no longer on your neck. Magically, you have been transported across the room, facing her back. Loki releases his hold on you and shoves the blonde to the side as she tumbles into a storage shelf.

Your stomach churns unannounced, feeling like the floors are spinning below you as you try to wrap around the fact that you were on the other end of the room a while ago and now you’re here. Transportation or whatever the hell it was, made your insides feel like it's about to spew out of your mouth.

“Never do that again,” you groan, holding your abdomen. Meanwhile, Loki has plucked the tempad from the ground and the other doesn’t seem to want to take the hint that fighting isn’t going to do any good to the situation.

“Just give it back to me. You don’t even know how to recharge it.”

“Well, I do.” you chirp and she eyes you with a scowl. “And so does he. You’re not the only tech-savvy Loki.”

“Don’t call me that!”

You and Loki shoot a bewildered look her way.

“Tech-savvy?”

You swing your head to look at the God who shares an expression equivalent to your own, silently raising the only reasonable question at the moment: What the fuck?

Once again, both of your minds seem to be working in tandem as the two of you echo the same question at the same time like two peas in a fucking pod.

“No. A Loki.” Her gaze shifts between the two of you as she shifts in her stance ready to pounce. Yet, as she does, you see that flicker of green magic appear. In a blink of an eye, the tempad disappears. You suddenly grow worried.

“Loki, where’s tempad?—”

“So, you’re just fully a magician then?” The blonde cuts you off with a mocking tone, snarl directed towards Loki. You watch how his shoulders stiffen at her words.

“Fine. For my next trick,” from his grasp emerges a pair of daggers. “I’ll make you disappear.”

“Woah, Woah. Okay. Now, hang on—” as you were forcing yourself between the two, a shot of flame whizzes just about an inch away from your face, from above. You yelp at the sudden streak of fire right before your eyes as you watch it extinguish to nothing once it hit the ground. The three of you stagger back at the surprise of it.

“Is that one of your powers?”

“Where did you send us?”

Curiosity gets the better of you as you crouch down to inspect the hole in the ground. There are chunks of rock with pieces of dull metallic material amongst the debris. You recognize it in the way it shines under the light that beams through from above—it’s Iridium.

You know exactly where you are.

“You have got to be fucking me.”

Abruptly standing, your hands fly up to hold the sides of your head, face morphing to sheer horror, eyes are wide and breaths deepened. The two Lokis stare at you with slightly anxious looks. You attempt to pull back the wisps of your hair that caress your bloody and bruised cheeks to try and diffuse the growing panic and anger sizzling in your chest.

You feel compressed, stuffy. It doesn’t help when you have two pairs of eyes staring you down while you have a meltdown. So, with the turn of your heel, you trudge out of what you finally figured to be one of the fleets of tents as part of a relief camp. The two variants trail behind you.

A sky filled with light bursts and streaks of asteroids and planetoids. In the foreground, the planet Lamentis grows immensely, its structure severely fractured. The collapse of Lamentis is the ultimate apocalypse and the three of you might as well be dead by now. The ground beneath you rumbles as asteroids shoot towards you from above like flaming arrows. Your head begins to throb all over again at the apocalyptic sight.

“You idiot! This is Lamentis-1!” You hear the woman scream as Loki bickers back. “I don’t know what that means!”

You whip your head to the two of you, teeth-gritting and nose flared—you’re practically seething. “We’re on a moon and that planet is about to crash into and destroy all of us! No one makes it out of here and it’s your fault we’re stranded here!” Your anger is directed towards the two but Loki very well knows it’s specifically him. He swallows, attempting to hide his sudden guilt. “So, fuck you. Fuck both of you—”

“Oh, isn’t that just fantastic—”

“Watch out!”

The woman hollers and suddenly, you are being pushed aside as a meteorite darts, punctuated by a screech that makes your ears ring. Then, you find yourself being guided by firm grips to your arms, dragging you as the three of you sprint across the area. You seek temporary shelter under a tanker, crouching behind its tire. The two variants continue to bicker but to you, their voices are muffled as all you hear is intense ringing.

The fugitive variant abruptly stands, extending her finger to a rundown mining shack. “There!” and once again, much to your feet’s dismay, you’re sprinting through a goddamn warzone. From experience, you know you’re not a fast runner—the whole physicality to it just doesn’t match up to your capabilities. So, you trail behind them, struggling to catch up yet, despite your efforts, the universe tends to play your enemy once again as a meteorite strikes you in the arm.

You collapse to the ground and your right ear starts to ring again, louder than before. You don’t hear your shrill scream, cutting through the noise of the eruptions—it’s just a high-pitched tone drumming in your ears and the excruciating pain burning in your arm.

Loki appears before you, barking words you can’t hear. All you do is grip your arm, pressing into the wound. There’s definitely blood, you feel it surging within your fingers. Indefinitely, you feel his hand sharply tug at the crook of your unhurt arm, hauling you up to stand. His other arm curls around your back, pulling you with him in an attempt to make a run for it towards the shack. Overhead, you see her running, whipping her head around to glance at you. She looks afraid.

The ringing finally halts and through all the wailing like war cries ricocheting across the crater, you hear his voice, ragged and low. It's only for your ears. “Come on, just a little more—”

You’re close to shelter with the blonde a few steps ahead of you. You unconsciously knot your hand against the fabric of his jacket, as if it will conjure any lasting energy left in you push yourself forward, and prevent you from thinking about your bleeding arm.

Eventually, the three of you make it to the shack, slamming the door shut once you’re stepping into the place with the sound of muted metallic thunks. You free yourself from his hold, sliding down the door and to your feet, feeling weak as ever. Your eyes flicker to the wound and it's unexpectedly huge and crimson. You groan, ignoring how the constant arguing of the two variants has become white noise to you but right now, all you need is some goddamn silence.

“Would you two just shut up?” Their pathetic squabble comes to an abrupt stop at your words. You then fish out a handkerchief, from your back pocket, weakly waving it towards your bleeding arm. “—And help me out here?”

The blonde’s snarl returns, “And why would we even help you?”

Loki turns to her with a surprised look. “We? So, we are a team—”

“Shut up—”

“Because let’s face it. The two of you are pathetic liars and you don’t actually know how to charge the tempad. So, help me out here before I start losing more blood than I should and you’ll have no way off this moon.” There’s silence and all you do is concentrate on your breathing as the two of them just stand there, staring, thinking. They share a look. The quiet passes in a moment, Loki surprisingly steps towards you and goes to crouch down to your level. He plucks the handkerchief from your grasp and ties a firm knot.

“Does this mean you’re not planning on killing us?”

You snort, gaze shifting between the two. “Not for now.”

You don't notice the flicker of green emerging from his fingertips as he holds his palm against your wound. You don't notice how the pain nearly subsides at his touch.

—

The golden cocktail glass mocks you with the lack of alcoholic liquid. It shines under the pretty and obscure chandelier above the circular bar where a bartender shuffles her way around. It also manages to reflect the daze of your expression and the flying wisps of your hair that drifts with every passing elite Lamentian adorned with some fancy hat and shiny heels. They seem to move at an obnoxious prissy speed. Though the thought of every being on this moon is about to die and you too might join them in the apocalypse, it somehow comforts you to think that these rich and elite groups, prioritized to enter the evacuation ark, will be joining the others as well.

The trek from the crater to the train had been nothing but eventful. You kept your mouth shut for most of the time, not wanting to lose your energy over two varaints who can’t seem to get along for once. From the woman who blasted the two for harassing her and Loki’s disguise to enter the train, heading for Shuroo, you wonder if this was all worth it.

You also learn that the woman goes by Sylvie. Not Loki.

Strange.

Right now, you aren’t too worried about the major possibility of dying. As much as you hate the two Loki variants that forcefully brought to the current situation you’re in, you know, from working with several variants of the Asgardian prince, Lokis do not die. But, will you? It’s a question better left unanswered.

Loki appears beside you, elbow propped up on the bar, leaning towards it as he faces you with an oddly sickly grin. It’s nearly amusing when you notice how Sylvie and Loki are entirely different from each other, one being much more aloof than the other, yet hold equivalence as well. At the moment, the difference between the two is obvious because you are very sure Loki is as intoxicated as you are while Sylvie has gone off to dream world by the corner of the lounge.

At least you only have to deal with one for the moment.

“You should really stop drinking,” you say, taking a swig from the martini glass. Loki snorts, curiously watching you in a slight daze. “Then, I must call you a hypocrite.” You scoff, not merely paying any mind to his usual antics and clever counters. You spare him a glance before lifting the cocktail glass to rest upon your lips, “Always so perceptive about everyone but yourself.”

Amid his drunken stupor, he nearly hears his mother with every articulation of those words. He is yet to admit of his amazement for your unmatching traits to your personality—so wise yet so outrageously reckless. Your mind is powerful but you don’t tend to use it very well. Loki merely hums, deciding to disregard his surprise, and takes a seat beside you on the barstool. You don’t shift or flinch away when his shoulder brushes against yours.

“Untrue. I know nothing about you,” he says, glancing your way in his periphery, “And that is because you never let me.” Your laugh comes off more like a puff of air, hinted with amusement. “It’s not that. There is nothing to know about me. I’m not very interesting, unlike you and your variants.”

Loki turns to you, lips pursed into a smile that’s knowing and somehow charming. “Don’t be so modest. You are a part of the most powerful bureaucratic organization in the universe. You must have been to many places, seen many things...” he trails off, watching the deepening furrow of your brows. You turn in your seat to properly face him this time, “And why does it matter?” You eye him suspiciously as he briefly raises his palms in defense. “It doesn’t. I was just...curious.”

You shift in your seat, arm now propped up on the bar. “Well, curiosity did kill the cat.”

“But satisfaction brought it back.”

Silvertongue. You narrow your eyes.

“I’m surprised you know that.”

Loki shrugs, gesturing to the bartender for another cup while you carelessly decide he isn’t worth babysitting for now. The alcoholic drink arrives and he takes an unceremonious shot.

“I think you should really go easy—”

He scoffs, “You sound a lot like Thor.”

You’re frowning again.“You’re drunk.”

“And you’re a mewling quim.”

You’re surprisingly calm at his words. He immediately regrets it, thoroughly blaming the alcohol on his once sharp mind. Though your stare is outright intimidating.

“You know, there’s this ancient poem—Hávamál. You might be familiar with it. Hávamál is said to present advice and wisdom from Odin’s very lips. With your current behavior, a particular stanza comes to mind,” you say, voice hinted with cynicism. He knows of Hávamál but with the current scatter of his mind, it’s a lot harder to remember the words of the specific lines of the poem.

“Humour me.” are the words that leave his lips. They are challenging.

You don’t take your eyes off him as you speak lowly, “Er-a svo gott sem gott kveða öl alda sonum, því að færra veit er fleira drekkur síns til geðs gumi”

Less good than they say for the sons of men is the drinking oft of ale: for the more they drink, the less can they think and keep a watch o'er their wits.

You just called him a drunkard idiot in fluent old Norse and it strikes him like a blade to his cheek. Not as bad of an insult than his, but certainly less childish.

His mouth goes dry.

Abruptly standing to your feet, you take a final swig of your drink, slamming it rather vigorously on the bar. “Maybe, you should have listened to your father more often.” With a spin of your heel, you’re walking away from him. Loki swallows, calling after you. “Where are you going?”

You halt in your step, turning to him momentarily with an unknown expression and a lingering gaze. “Away from you.”

TAGLIST:

@lareinedususpense

@poubxlle

@mystoragehatesme

@the-maroon-panda

@kashasenpai

@nyxrae

@johnmurphys-sass

[carveredlunds]

TW: SUICIDE MENTIONS I’m not the first person to point out that Chuck’s ending makes no sense. Chuck himself says he’s omniscient in 15.17. So, him needing a “heads up” from Michael about Team Free Will’s plan doesn’t make sense — he should have known what they were going to do, and he should have known what was happening when Jack absorbed his powers. He shouldn’t have lost the way he did. Unless he didn’t lose. When looked at another way, Chuck’s ending might have been what he wanted all along. Or rather, it would have been, if Sam and Dean had killed him.  According to Wikipedia, “suicide by cop or suicide by police is a suicide method in which a suicidal individual deliberately behaves in a threatening manner, with intent to provoke a lethal response from a public safety or law enforcement officer.” It is entirely possible that Chuck deliberately went full Big Bad in the hopes of eventually getting Team Free to kill him. He knows that Sam and Dean are the messengers of his destruction, after all. They’re the only ones who can finish him. And what better way to go than at the hands of your favourite humans? I’ve talked about this before, but here it is again: in 15.02, Chuck said “So, that Game of Thrones ending? Pretty great, right?” A lot of people assumed this was a sign that he didn’t know what constituted bad writing, that it was a nod from the showrunners to the audience, like they were saying to us, “Don’t worry! Supernatural’s ending won’t be that bad!” But what if he liked the ending of Game of Thrones for another reason? What if he saw himself in Dany’s final storyline — an evil tyrant, gone mad with power, being killed by the show’s protagonist for their own good? This theory still holds up if you also take into consideration season 11′s characterisation of Chuck. If you don’t just assume that everything Chuck did in season 11 was a trick or a lie (which I don’t), then he was absolutely willing to sacrifice himself to save the world from Amara. The suicidal intention was already there. But then he reunited with Amara, and figured he’d give living a shot for a while. But that didn’t work. By the time the season 14 finale rolls around, he and Amara have parted ways, and he is bitter and cynical and done with it all. He just wants out, even at the cost of everything he’s created. He’s alone without his sister, he hates himself (as he said to Becky) and he’s been alive for so long, creating whole worlds just for something to do. Speaking of Becky, I think Chuck’s visit to her in 15.04 was when his plan to commit “suicide by the Winchesters” really formed. He went to see her because he had nowhere else to go, and he starts out the episode lost and self-loathing. He writes an ending to the brother’s story which Becky doesn’t like (not featuring his own demise) so he snaps her out of existence, and rewrites the ending slightly (which is the ending we see in episode 19 — basically the same one Becky read, except now with Chuck’s death at the hands of Sam and Dean included. This is the scene where he says “This is gonna be good” to himself.) By the end of this episode, he is completely sold on the idea of being the ultimate Big Bad and letting Team Free Will kill him in the end. Before episode 4, he wanted to abandon this world with Amara, and go to create something new. This brings me nicely onto the subject of of his creations. If you look at Chuck’s systematic destruction of his other worlds as a suicidal person getting rid of all of their personal belongings and ties to life (on a cosmic scale) then it aligns with the theory that he was on a self-destructive mission. One of the common signs to watch out for in suicidal individuals is a cavalier attitude towards their belongings, with people who have made a plan to die often giving away possessions to loved ones. They may also appear cheerful, despite having a plan to die. But this is because they have a plan to die — they see an end in sight, and they’ve made a plan to get there. This too falls in line with Chuck’s behaviour. From 15.04 onwards, he is as happy-go-lucky as any other Big Bad of the show, cracking jokes, grinning jovially, and generally seeming happy. So, here is Chuck’s “Death by the Winchesters” Plan in its entirety: First, he set himself up as an antagonist in the eyes of Team Free Will in the season 14 finale. Then he destroyed all of his creations, except the world featuring the Winchesters who were the messengers of his destruction. Then, he absorbed Amara (the only other being who might want to talk him out of his plan). And finally, he went to face them in that final showdown in episode 19, in the hopes that they would kill him and finally put an end to his ancient, lonely, existence. Chuck shows lots of the hallmarks of a suicidal and depressed character, even in season 11, but definitely in seasons 14 and 15. He’s antagonistic, destructive, lonely, reckless, self-deprecating, and nihilistic. According to save.org, there are 11 warnings signs of suicide:

1. Talking about wanting to die or to kill oneself 2. Looking for a way to kill oneself 3. Talking about feeling hopeless or having no purpose 4. Talking about feeling trapped or being in unbearable pain 5. Talking about being a burden to others 6. Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs 7. Acting anxious, agitated, or reckless 8. Sleeping too little or too much 9. Withdrawing or feeling isolated 10. Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge 11. Displaying extreme mood swings Of these 11, we can remove “sleeping too little or too much”, on account of the fact that he’s God (though he does seem to sleep a lot as the Prophet Chuck, even in the middle of the day. This could be put down to his method acting, but still worth mentioning!) Anyway, really, it’s a 10 point list. And of those 10, Chuck displays the following signs: 1. Talking about wanting to die or to kill oneself (“To die at the hands of Sam Winchester. Of Dean Winchester, the ultimate killer... It's kind of glorious” in 15.19) 2. Looking for a way to kill oneself (His “Death by the Winchesters” Plan) 3. Talking about feeling hopeless or having no purpose (“Yeah, I just don’t know what I’m doing. I feel so lost” in 15.04) 4. Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs (drank excessively as the Prophet Chuck, hung out in a bar in 11.20, and went on a bender at the casino in 15.08 when he killed all the staff and hung around gambling) 5. Acting anxious, agitated, or reckless ( “You don’t need me. No one does […] I kind of hate me right now” in 15.04 shows his anxious/agitated side) 6. Withdrawing or feeling isolated (examples in this gifset I made) 7. Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge (“It’s time to start cancelling shows” in 15.12, and his many temper tantrums from 11.20 onwards) 8. Displaying extreme mood swings (see: every episode featuring Chuck from 11.20 onwards) That’s 8 out of 10. That’s 80%. And while he doesn’t actively talk about feeling trapped, being in unbearable pain or being a burden, he does say that no one needs him (in 15.04 with Becky), and talk about being unfulfilled and disappointed with the world (in 11.20 with Metatron, in 15.12 with the Radio Shed Clerk, and in 15.17 with Amara.) So perhaps his ending did make sense after all. He wanted the brothers to kill him, but instead, they refused, and left him alone to suffer.

[winchesterandpie]

Wounded, But Not Dead (Geralt x reader)

Pairing: Geralt of Rivia x reader

Word Count: 2380

Warnings: angst (really just for plot), injury, death mentions, major character almost death (Happy ending, I promise! - that’s not a spoiler, the title already tells you), poor proofreading

A/N: Ok, just a disclaimer on those warnings - the vast majority of this fic is fluff! So if angst isn’t your thing, don’t worry, it gets fixed really fast! Also, I haven’t actually watched the Witcher, but I read a few Geralt fics last week, and then this idea popped into my head and I just had to write it! Please forgive Geralt being (likely) wildly out of character, I tried to stay true to what little I know of his character from the fics and gifsets I’ve seen on here. I tried to make the reader as gender neutral as possible, but it’s possible I slipped up somewhere! Gif is not mine! Anyways, I hope y’all enjoy!!!

I didn’t even really feel the blow when it hit. I suppose that was my first clue that the outlook wasn’t good. Still, I couldn’t leave the White Wolf to fight off all of the men on his own, so I fought on. If anything, the numbness that was beginning to spread through my body lent me a certain numbness to fear and caution.

With unbridled ferocity, I struck out at the man who had landed the blow. He went down, and the remaining three circled me at a wary distance. 

Guess it’s my move, then. I shrugged before lunging at one with reckless abandon. 

The rest of the fight passed in a blur. I wasn’t sure if that was because it happened quickly or because of the rapidly increasing fuzziness in my vision. When it was over and the three men lay dead at my feet, the second signal that I’d been badly wounded came. Without warning, my knees buckled under me and I collapsed facedown on the ground with a pained grunt. 

I wasn’t sure how much time passed before someone rolled me over. Instinctively, my hand found the hilt of one of my knives, grasping it weakly in a poor defense from whomever that hand belonged to.

Geralt grabbed my wrist, effortlessly stopping my feeble attempt to stab him. His fingers were rough but gentle in their movement as he probed for my wound. He slowly came into focus before me, his silver hair falling in disarray. His eyes were… No, that can’t be right - Geralt’s never worried...

“Dove, what happened?” As ever, he was quick to the point, not one to waste words. Had I been more conscious, I would’ve noted the near-panic in the two words.

“One of--” A harsh cough forced me to pause. “One of them got a lucky blow.”

He found it then, and I flinched away from the pressure. There wasn’t an accompanying pain, which I knew was a bad sign. He apologized and cursed in the same breath, lifting my shirt just enough to see the deep gash across my abdomen.

“That bad, huh?”  

Geralt only grunted in response as he focused on assessing the options. 

“I’m gonna die, aren’t?” The sudden fear clawed its way out of my throat, followed by a cough that felt wetter than it should have been.

“No.” His wolf-gold eyes met my gaze with a sharp ferocity as he said it. “No, you won’t die. I swore to protect you and that’s what I’ll do.”

“Geralt.” When he didn’t answer, starting to move away, I tried to put a little more strength into my voice. “Geralt. It’s no use.”

“Just--”

“Leave it.” He must’ve known as well as I did that this wasn’t something he was going to be able to fix, for he returned, all but falling to his knees beside me. I wished desperately that I could fix the defeated slump of his shoulders, the way his head hung low.

“I can’t… I…” The words caught in his throat as he gathered me into his arms. “Please just let me try.”

“Try what, love?”

“To save you.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “Please.”

“There’s nothing you can do.” I reached my hand up to his cheek, tracing my thumb over his cheekbone as he leaned into my palm. His hand came up over mine, as if to hold it there. “It’s ok. My brave witcher, you’ll be alright.”

“I thought I was supposed to be reassuring you. I’m not the one who’s...” It was a valiant attempt at humor to hide his faltering facade, but I saw through to his over-bright eyes and the slight waver in his voice.

“When have we ever followed the normal people rules?” I smiled softly up at him. He hummed in response, and I saw the gears start to turn in his head. A sudden determination came over his features and he secured me more tightly against his chest. Tiredly, I leaned my head against him, my eyes drifting shut.

“No, no, no, you keep those eyes open, dove.”

“But ‘m so tired,” I mumbled into his leather armor. 

“Stay with me, hmmm? Just a little longer.” 

“Geralt, I don’t think I can,” My words were slurring together now, blackness beginning to edge in at the corners of my vision. “Find Jaskier.”

“What?”

“Find Jaskier - you were never good at being alone. Laugh at something he says, even if it isn’t funny. Promise me - at least once a week you’ll laugh.”

“Stop it, you can’t say goodbye.”

“S’not up to me anymore, love.”

“Hold on, please.”

I mumbled some gibberish response, and we held a sort of conversation that way for a while. It was odd to hear Geralt talk so much - not that I was opposed to hearing more of the deep rumble of his voice. Somewhere along the way, I picked up on the rocking gait of his jog. 

In hindsight, his newfound talkativeness was probably an attempt to keep me conscious for longer. In the moment, it was all I could do to notice the weightlessness I felt in his arms before the blackness enveloped me.

.   .   .

.   .   .

I didn’t think I was supposed to open my eyes again. Then again, I suppose I’d never been dead before, so I wasn’t entirely sure what dead people could or couldn’t do. The room slowly came into focus, a little odd, since I was pretty sure I’d died in the middle of the woods somewhere, but again, I had no experience with being dead. It was bright enough that I could believe it was some sort of afterlife.

Then I sat up.

Tried to sit up would be a more accurate description. I barely started to shift any weight onto my elbows when pain shot through my abdomen and I was forced to fall back with a grunt. That felt a little more like real life, though that shouldn’t be possible.

A rustling noise came from beside me, sounding almost like… like someone shifting in a chair, I realized as I turned my head to see what made the noise.

“You’re awake.” A familiar deep voice filtered over my ears. 

Geralt. I saw the silver-white hair now, more disheveled than usual.

“Yes, it’s me.”

So I must not be dead then, somehow.

“Wounded, but not dead, indeed.”

Wait, did I say all that out loud?

“You did.” 

Slowly, my eyes grew used to the light, taking much longer to adjust than I felt it should have. He came into focus, leaning forward from a chair pulled next to the bed I lay in. There were several half-healed cuts on his face that I could see. I tried to sit up again so I could see him better,  apparently having not learned my lesson from last time. Geralt was quick to support me as I shifted, moving additional pillows behind me so I could sit up a little better. Once I was situated, he passed me a cup of water to ease my desert-dry throat.

“I didn’t die?”

“No.”

“Good to know you’re back to your chatty self,” I joked weakly. His lips pulled up into the slightest smile, and I could see the relief in his eyes. “What happened back there?”

He sucked in a breath, releasing the air in a long sigh before answering. “You passed out. I carried you here. The mage in town happened to have the skill to heal you. You’ve been asleep for two days.” I wished for the strength to reach up a hand and smooth the crease that formed between his brows as he spoke.

“I’m sorry.”

“What on earth are you sorry for?” The furrow only deepened with my apology.

“For worrying you.”

“You almost die and the first thing you do when you wake is apologize for scaring me?” Geralt let out a huff of breath that I could only describe as a laugh. “Only you, dove.”

Slowly, carefully, I reached out my hand to grasp his, intending to pull him to sit on the bed beside me. His hand met mine before I could stretch too far, but instead of coming toward me, he lifted my hand to his lips, where he pressed a feather-light kiss to my knuckles.

That put my hand close enough that I could fulfill my original intention. Slipping it from his grasp, I lifted it a little higher to trace over his cheekbones, then up to his forehead, smoothing over the furrow between his brows. He huffed out another breath of amusement mingled with relief.

“Why would you do that?”

“I don’t like when you’re stressed, love.”

“No, not that.” He shook his head a little, his hand coming up over my hand to hold it there - mirroring the interaction in the forest when I’d been dying. “I meant why were you even in that fight? I told you to stay back.”

“There were four of them that came sneaking up… it would’ve been behind you, I think.” Honestly, my memory of the time was a little bit muddled. “They passed by where I was, and I thought it would be easy enough. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“I know I started teaching you to use a sword, dove, but one on four?” He released my hand, standing to pace back and forth across the room. 

“I didn’t want--”

“I heal! I could have handled it! You…” Geralt was half-shouting now. “You almost died! What would I do if you had?”

I didn’t really have a response to that. I didn’t think I’d spent particularly long thinking about it, just jumped out to attack them in the fear that there were too many for him to face alone. I knew this was the delayed anger that came from fear - I’d seen it before. What I didn’t know was how to respond. For a long moment, there was a tense silence between us.

“You’re right, Geralt,” I offered tentatively. When he didn’t immediately react, I continued. “It was reckless and I almost died. But I couldn’t just leave you to fight on your own! And I’m alright. It’s like you said - wounded, but not dead.”

He exhaled a long sigh, striding back over to my side and sitting on the edge of the bed. Almost immediately, he pulled me close to him, mindful of the bandages wrapped around my middle. His face was buried against my hair as his arms tightened around me, as though he was reassuring himself that I was really there. My fingers found their way into his silver mane, combing through the tangled strands. 

“I’m here, love,” I murmured as I felt his shoulders shake ever so slightly. “I’m alright. You saved me. It’s ok now.”

“I was terrified.” The words were barely a whisper in my ear, a rare admission of vulnerability that few were ever allowed to hear from the White Wolf. I didn’t speak, just wrapped my arms around him more tightly. I turned my head slightly so I could press my lips to his chest through his shirt. His shoulders gradually stilled as the grip of those emotions loosened. Eventually, he twisted enough to touch his lips to my hairline, resting there in a soft kiss.

“I’m safe now,” I reassured when I felt he was calm enough for me to pull back slightly. One of his hands moved up to cup my cheek delicately, like he was holding fine china. I kissed his palm, feeling him almost shudder at the feel. 

“I’m sorry, I should be comforting you.”

“Why’s that, love?”

“You’re the one who almost died.” He said it as though it were obvious, and perhaps to some, it was.

“I’ve always thought it harder to be left behind… Or almost left behind, in this case.” His honey eyes wouldn’t meet my gaze. “Besides, as long as I’m with you, I’m not too worried about how I’ll fare.”

“I was there when you nearly died too. Doesn’t sound like much of a good luck charm.”

I started to lean forward to rest my forehead against him but flinched when it pulled the skin around my wound. Immediately, Geralt pulled back further to look down at the bandages, starting to reach a hand toward it before he stopped himself. No blood came through the white bandage, and he relaxed a little, though he still avoided my gaze.

“It’s alright, I’m fine. Just moved too fast.” I settled myself slowly, leaning against his broad chest before continuing my train of thought. “But yes, you were there. And that’s why I’m even here to be having this conversation with you. Because you were there. Because you, my brave, sweet, determined witcher, refused to give up on me.”

His cheek came to rest atop my head as his arms wound back around me. “When did you get to be so wise, hmmm?”

A joke was itching to roll off my tongue, but I refused to burst the atmosphere of Geralt’s rare vulnerability just yet, sensing he still needed something. Instead, I simply shrugged, knowing he could feel the movement.

“Promise me you’ll be more careful, dove.” There it is.

“I’ll do my best,” I sighed. “But careful is rarely an option in this line of work.”

Geralt grunted, effectively ending the moment of vulnerability.

“I’ll at least try to be less reckless. All things considered, though, I think this proved I’m a natural with a sword.”

Geralt heaved a long sigh, but I heard the hint of a smile in his voice. “One of these days, you’re going to be the death of me.”

“Someone has to keep your life interesting.” That drew a full chuckle from him, and I grinned in silent victory. “You should teach me more sword moves. Then you might not have to worry so much.”

“We’ll see about that when you’re healed, alright? For now, just let me look after you, dove.”

“I hope that includes entertainment - you know how quickly I get bored on bed rest.”

“Hmmm, no.”

“Just a little dancing?”

“No.”

“Singing then?”

“Absolutely not.”

“... Fine. Funny faces?”

He only let out yet another long-suffering sigh, one of the first of many during my recovery.

That’s all, folks! Hope you enjoyed!

Forever tags:

@riddikulus-obsessions​ @addictionmarvel​ @peppermint--teas​ @mercedesbarnes​ @javapeach​

Tag list is OPEN! Let me know if you want to be added!

[hoedameron]

typically i don’t talk about the gifs that i make for myself but i am in a chatty mood so we’re have a socratic seminar right now.

also, before i get started, you can use these headers if you’d like! literally everything you see on this blog are freebies tbh. just a forewarning that the cas one is not the standard 640 px width because i was experimenting with something so just...be mindful of that <3 no need to credit unless you feel inclined to! just know i spent...quite awhile on them xx

i get most of my ideas for spn gif headers by seeings gifs on the tl that make me go “you know what? this would make for a great header” and run with that. i do pray that the op put the season and episode in the tags and if they don’t...SHH don’t laugh but if i’m desperate enough, i actually go through the tags to see if any hardcore stan knows the exact szn/ep. other times, i write some scenes down in my journal that i think would be great but again, those written down are definitely from scenes i saw in gifsets. call me unoriginal idc i’m just making things that make me happy and i know would be hella sexy.

let’s talk about how fucking LONG it takes to down/load an episode of supernatural like....i deadass spent five hours downloading plucky pennywhistle’s magical menagerie and around three hours to download the man who would be king....is it just best to t/orrent the whole ass season or WHAT like i’m deadass about to do that for any spn gifs i wanna make because that ajsdajksldjksla RIDICULOUSLY FUNNY. i’m not even that mad like it humbles me and it shows how dedicated i am to the craft. if anybody has tips for t/orrenting old spn episodes, please hmu because i would like to make more content in the future but this is a big hurdle on why i hesitate to create content for this show (among other things BUT this is one of the biggest reasons). you could have the fastest wifi speed the world has to offer pero if that bitch has no seeds...

for the castiel header: i had three different colorings for him. i really wanted to bring out his eyes because that is what drew me to make the header in the first place. y’all know that as a gifmaker, i really like making my gifs warmer and using pale/aesthetic coloring is so out of my wheelhouse and not my forte...but i do try to branch out of my comfort zone. back to the eyes, i went through a lot of psds, tinkering with their settings, and came out with three of them: the warm one that i did end up using and two pale-ish ones. the other third one isn’t here because i ultimately determined that it’s basically this one here but a lot lighter. the coloring made cas almost a ghost so i’m like...we still need to keep SOME of his skin tone even if it’s a lack thereof...okay, the reason why that this one doesn’t have the typical 640 px dimension is because i wanted to keep...how do i say this...i wanted to keep some of his facial structure? because the scene is really focused on cas’ face so it’s the entire frame. because tumblr is the way it is, it cuts at a weird spot where he looks like that bitch from doctor who all stretched out. so in an attempt to prevent that, i made it in this dimension where it’s basically me free handing the crop but ultimately it didn’t do anything lol. so i basically went back and made an entirely new gif with one of the colorings i saved and ta-da!

for the sam header: going in, i knew it was going to be a dark lit scene. i knew i had specific spn colorings that have been useful for shows outside of supernatural so i was like...i mean, tried and true, eh? i went through about six colorings until i finally settled on like...four. the first two of the six, though colorful, really made sam’s skin a bit...washed out. the next two were...basic. one of those basic coloring was the dark spn coloring and though it looked okay, there wasn’t any flavor to it. if i can be colorful in a gif, i will definitely climb up that tree. i love and admire vibrant gifs so if i can do that, oh man, it’s such a fun feeling because it’s like WOW i actually did that! then there were two colorings that were really, REALLY good because one of them was vibrant but it also had a subtlety to the gif. the other one was vibrant and brought out the blue in the background. it was a hard decision but i did save both of them and was like well, this is a problem for future me. i was actually surprised that the glitter on sam’s jacket and shirt didn’t up the mb because it definitely had me worried there. i also thought about making this gif header as another scene but realized it was a little too short for my liking (it was when he was surrounded by clowns but they magically disappear into thin air, leaving glitter in their wake). really love how this gif turned out :)

and yeah, that’s all i got to say about them. everything went smoothly with the sharpening, no problems on that front...i thought about opening up my inbox for suggestions of what scenes i should gif pero i’m afraid that 1) nobody will respond, 2) i will get some strange requests, or 3) i will get a lot of them. i would love to create more but i am like..creatively stuck. i don’t typically make those fancy edits with templates, i am more of a practical gifmaker aka i just stick to the original material. who knows...maybe i’ll be pushed and motivated...thanks for taking the time to read this !!

[angrycowboy]

A couple weeks ago, I decided that for my birthday, I was going to attempt to put together some of my favorite things this fandom has created. I say *some* because this is an incomplete list. There are so many wonderful and talented creators in this fandom that this list would go on forever otherwise. If I have I ever reblogged something of yours, flailed in the tags, reached out to via DM or sent you a message, talked on discord or even Twitter, know that I love and adore not only the things you’ve created, but you yourself as part of this fandom.

And now, without further ado…

FIC

memento by @nielrian

I was obsessed with the idea of coming up with the backstory to the photo we see Michael look at in 1x02. When was it taken? Does Alex have a copy? Did Alex bring his with him to the other side of the world? How often do you think Michael looked at his own copy? And Nicki took a little prompt of mine, and wrote an achingly gorgeous piece about one photograph, and it’s significance to Malex in less than 700 words.

a little something to make me sweeter by @partsofthesamecosmicbeing

Camluca + D.E.B.S. is like a recipe for the perfect fic. I freaking love the movie, and when I saw this fic pop up on tumblr one day? I couldn’t even contain my excitement (seriously, the tags on my reblog were just me flailing wildly because it felt like Ly had reached into my brain and written something I wanted to read before I even knew it myself). Casting Alex as Scud and including Malex in the mix just made me love this fic even more.

And the Sun Rose Red by @michaels-blackhat

A Miluca Kissing Kate Barlow AU? SIGN. ME. UP. I adore Christi, and I adore her writing. One day she was like, “miluca kissing kate barlow au?” and the only appropriate answer to that is HECK YES. Michael/Maria is also a dynamic that just works for this AU, given their canon relationship, and Michael’s penchant for fixing things and Maria’s desire to have someone just be there for her. *runs off to re-read fic*

something broken in this town by @irolltwenties

Okay so, Meagn is one of my favorite people in this fandom. We kinda ramble at each other, and one day this happened where she started talking about the parents. About the relationship Jesse, Jim, and Mimi had as kids, as teenagers, as young adults. How they got sucked into aliens and government conspiracies. How they became the people we see and hear about in S1. If you’ve ever had the privilege of talking with Meagn, you know how amazing her mind is, how she takes these characters and the mere scraps we’ve been given in canon with some of them, and creates entire lives for them, and it’s beautiful.

open up my eager eyes by @haloud

It took me a while to get into Mylex, but apparently it was just because I hadn’t read Hal’s series yet. I’m usually terrible about multi-shipping, but once I find a writer that nails the characters down, I could probably read anything they write. And Hal writes all three of them perfectly. (I mean, Hal is just a phenomenal writer in general, but I digress.)

META

Michael’s bisexuality by @chasingshhadows

There’s been a lot said in the fandom about Michael’s bisexuality and how it’s been portrayed. While the show was airing, I was having trouble finding people who felt the same way I did about how it was being shown - that it wasn’t problematic, but that it was good and accurate. Not to mention that it made me feel seen. I tried writing out what I was feeling but nothing sounded right - until Chasing wrote this piece. It was everything I’d been trying to find the words to express, and it remains one of my absolutely favorite pieces of her writing.

Semiotics of Roswell by @hannah-writes

Hannah did this amazing thing where she took the camera work of RNM and analyzed the shit out of it. And in some moments of doubt, where I was still worried about Malex because of the direction the show had been taking, Hannah’s semiotics (or better known as “Why Malex is Endgame”) pointed out how the camerawork for Malex and Echo is very similar, not to mention deliberate as fuck.

Maria Can’t Catch a Break by @ober-affen-geil

I adore Maria Deluca. She has gotten such a bad rap in the fandom because of the “love triangle” business. But fandom in general has done her dirty in that without removing the shipper goggles it is very hard to see that the show has established Maria as a character in her own right, just as much as it has with Kyle and Alex. And that’s why I love Riley’s meta about everything that Maria is dealing with, what she’s going through, and what it’s been like for her to be the one left behind 10 years ago.

GIFSETS/EDITS

i would know him in death, at the end of the world by @vlamito

I don’t even remember now who told me I had to read The Song of Achilles - it was pre-RNM hyperfixation, but I absolutely loved it (I definitely cried while reading it). And then I saw this gifset, oh mah gawd. Mich just has this ability to find quotes from other media and fit them seemlessly into Malex. And the moments she chooses for her gifsets are utter perfection. I think everyone has probably seen this now, but it’s a gifset I just keep going back to over and over again.

Are you okay? by @maxortecho

So I adore Echo. There is something about their softness, the way they look at each other, the way they act around each other that is just beautiful. Mo made this set, and pointed out in the tags that Liz pushes her arms underneath Max like she’s going to hug him, and it broke me. Like, I thought that scene in the finale was heartbreaking enough, but pointing that out? It hurts and I loved it.

Leading Ladies Appreciation by @lsobelevans

Lucie does some amazing things with color that truly make her edits stand out, and stick out in your mind. And it’s one of the things I love about her gif sets especially - it makes them uniquely hers, her own signature if you will. And this edit is no different - the splashes of color, the texture used for the background, the highlighting of the leading ladies is stunning work. 

Same page/Different book by @bisexualalienblast

Let’s just say that picking ONE gifset of Amanda’s is an impossibility for me, okay? Amanda’s sets are the reason I wanted to learn how to gif - her gifs are beautifully colored, they’re crisp, she always picks the best fonts, they’re smooth, and her ideas are stellar. Anyway, she more recently made this set, which just so perfectly illustrates Malex’s issue IN TWO GIFS. That’s it. Their entire problem in S1, right there. Beautiful.

VIDEO

Juice | Women of Roswell by @isakvaltersnake

Katie is a wizard with the video editing. She’s going to be a force when we’ve got more than one season of footage to play around with. And this video is fun and hot and LOOK AT THE WOMEN. They are smart, they are kind, they are flirty, they have agency, and they’re all hella sexy.

Weird Science | Liz & Michael - Science Bros by @soberqueerinthewild

Hands down, this is one of my favorite videos from the fandom, and definitely one of my favorite things Christina has made (though I basically love everything she does). It’s silly and ridiculous and 100% fun. She found every bit of footage in S1 and matched it to the song perfectly. It’s impossible to watch this video and not smile and laugh - it will instantly brighten your day.

MISC

RNM Texts From Last Night by @audreyblanche

I am slightly biased here, because while Irena came up with the idea, I encouraged her to actually go through with it, promising her that the fandom would enjoy it. So because of that it’s next to impossible for me to pick a favorite out of all the ones she’s done for this series (though the one where we settled on the Camluca ship name, as well as one I specifically requested for Malex come close), and I’m hoping that with the new season (and when she returns from hiatus), she can pick this up again.

[btswrckd]

Jealousy

Jung Hoseok x Fem!Reader

Summary: Hoseok is not happy after you spend most of the week ignoring him while at the new stop on their tour

Just a little something I couldn’t help writing after that unholy gifset popped up on my dash.

Warnings: jealous Hobi, fingering, unprotected sex, really just a bunch of smut with a little bit of fluff and humor

--------------------------------------------------

“It’s a full set tonight, so try not to over exert yourself.” You warned, swiping along the screen of your tablet, going over the details of the concert to make sure nothing gets missed. Feeling Hoseok’s stare on your figure leaning against the counter, you cleared your throat and ignored him, “And really look after Jimin tonight. I know he slipped on stage at the rehearsal and they were supposed to have scuffed his shoes to keep him from falling, but we still have to be careful.”

“Jimin said he was okay,” Namjoon tried to break the tension from his seat beside Hoseok’s, watching his friend roll his shoulders in irritation, “but I’ll make sure he stays away from that spot.”

“Thanks, Joon,” You smiled warmly at him and Hoseok’s nostrils flared at getting your cold shoulder only for you to be so chummy with his junior. “So the stage crew marked that spot just in case, but if for some reason one of you guys feel like it’s not enough, let me know so I can get with Brandon during the---.”

“And what exactly will Brandon do?” Hoseok snapped, the stylist ruffling his hair freezing in place and glancing at you. It wasn’t very often that he had a temper like tonight so everyone was surprised with his attitude. “You’re awfully friendly with someone you’ve barely known for a few days.”

“He’s part of the stage crew, Hoseok, he’s very important. And it is my job to make sure nothing goes wrong.” You rolled your eyes at his tone, having been with them for about 4 years now and knowing full well what a tantrum from him looks like. Not a full on fit, but passive aggressive comments that never affected you the way it did others because you learned how to handle them. “What exactly is your problem with Brandon anyways? He was the one who suggested using softer lighting for Jimin’s set and it helped. Frankly, I’m a little concerned with how ungrateful you’re acting because you don’t like him. It’s our last night here so the least you can do is act like an adult for the next few hours. Right?”

“Everyone out.” He growled, snagging your wrist in his hand and watching the makeup artists and stylists scramble for the door. He exchanged a glance with Namjoon in the mirror before his junior rose from his seat to leave the room, closing the door on his way out and taking time to lock it.

“Problem?” You asked with a raised brow and caught the tic in his jaw, his displeasure at your attitude evident in the way he pulled you onto his lap roughly. Your squeak of surprise as you sat perched on his lap made him chuckle and pink tinted your cheeks when your hands landed on his bare chest. Feeling his chest tense under your touch was foreign to you, having never been as close to him as you were now, his nose bumping against yours and making you shiver. 

You spent quite a lot of time with each member, helping them with wardrobe or their mics, but never pressing against them the way Hoseok held you in place now. The chains around his neck gleaming in the bright light bouncing off the vanity mirror in front of him. The hunger in his eyes never wavering made you duck your head to shy away from him, but he was having none of it. His large hand threaded the hair at the back of your neck and the other splayed between your shoulder blades, crushing your chest to his.

“I’ve been patient with you, Y/N,” Hoseok mumbled against your lips, not quite touching them but not leaving a lot of room to pull away either. “I’ve behaved myself every time you’re around, giggling and laughing with the other members, and when that stage crew member was drooling over you last week. I’ve been good about not letting my temper get the best of me when I actually wanted to rip his arms off for even trying to touch you.”

“Hosek,” You breathed his name as the memories of flirting with the rather attractive American crew member came flooding back. The boys had spent all day rehearsing and when they had five minutes to themselves, they were bombarded by their management team and the new intern Hyerin. 

She was a sweet girl and had developed a crush on Hoseok but like you, she chose to ignore it because it would cost your jobs if either of you were caught being intimate with a member. But the last few days, Hyerin didn’t seem to mind the thought of losing her internship as she had helped him wipe the sweat from his face and neck, sometimes lingering a little too long for your liking. 

You were embarrassed to admit your jealousy so you instead ignored Hoseok’s requests and needs in favor of Jimin, or Taehyung, until Brandon had struck up a conversation with you. Noticing the way Hoseok had attempted to get your attention, you simply gave Hyerin the task with the excuse that she won’t be an intern forever and would need to become used to running around like a chicken with her head cut off.

“You ignored me yesterday,” Hoseok sneered through clenched teeth and felt your fingers curl into fists against his chest, the grit of his voice sending a wave of arousal through your body and shooting straight to your core. Tilting his head playfully, he pressed his lips to yours gently, testing your resolve by toying with the zipper of your sundress and catching the way you clenched your thighs together. “That wasn’t very nice of you, baby.”

You whimpered as his hand came around from your back to gently pry your thighs open, his fingers massaging your skin. The heat radiating from his hand scorched your skin, your nails digging into his bare chest and he groaned before claiming your lips in a desperate kiss. If his hand went any further up your thigh, he’d no doubt come into contact with your damp panties and the thought had you wiggling around on his lap, grinding down on his crotch in order to get comfortable.

“Don’t tease me,” He gasped, dropping his head to your shoulder while his hands quickly came to rest on your hips. Despite his words, Hoseok had aided you in rocking back and forth on his lap, his cock straining against the zipper of his pants as he grew painfully hard. Feeling your fingers play with the zipper of his pants, his hips bucked under your touch, encouraging you to pop open the button and reach under the waistband of his boxers. He hissed against your mouth when you pulled him free, his cock slapping against his stomach, the tip red and pooling with pre-cum. 

Any other time you would have drooled at the sight, but you couldn’t stop yourself if you tried and wrapped your hand around his girth, stroking along his shaft slowly and gently. At the same time, Hoseok’s hand wandered high on your thigh, rubbing his fingers up your slit and you whined at the uncomfortable feeling of your panties sticking to you. Pulling back from his kisses, you concentrated on your hand bobbing up and down his cock, giving him the freedom to leave open-mouthed kisses along the column of your neck biting down in tandem with his fingers pushing past the fabric of your panties to sink his fingers knuckle deep in your pussy.

You gasped and arched your back, hand stilling in the process, head dropping back to allow him more access as he kissed and bit his way down to the tops of your breasts. A moan broke from you, echoing loudly around the room, your body tense with the sudden prodding of his long, veiny fingers. “Jesus, Hoseok. A little warning next time, huh?”

“Of course, baby,” He half promised, not really paying attention in his quest to wreck you in every way possible. Tugging on the straps of your dress, the top pooled down to expose your bra clad chest, he growled at the offending material and curled his fingers to reach that spot that you going crazy. “God, if I had more time, I’d ruin this.”

“This was expensive.” You narrowed your eyes at him, lingerie wasn’t abundant in your closet, but the few pieces you did own cost an arm and a leg. You remembered asking why the hell it was so expensive when you’d gone shopping with your sister and she had giggled at the scowl on your face.

“Yeah?” Hoseok tilted his head, his fingers working you up once again at the thought of you wearing it on a date with someone else. “Who’d you buy it for, Y/N? Something expensive like this surely wouldn’t be for no reason. Tell me, baby, who was lucky enough to see you in this, hm?”

He was teasing you. You knew that and still you couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out, “Kihyun. He asked me on a date before we left for the tour.”

He stood from the chair abruptly, spinning you around to face the mirror, his hand pushing down on your shoulder blades to flatten your chest against the counter and causing a pitiful whine to leave you. “Don’t test me, Y/N.” The tips of his fingers brushed against your sex, your knees buckling under the weight of his chest pressed to your back. Your hair had been pushed away from your neck so he could plant kisses against your skin, leaving pretty bruises behind.

“I’m sorry!” You gasped out at the feel of his long fingers pushing aside your panties once more and burying themselves in your sex, curling deliciously and making you squirm.

Hoseok’s deep chuckle vibrated against your back before he stood straight to flip the skirt of your dress up, his hand smoothing down the swell of your ass with a satisfied hum. “If I didn’t have to go on stage right now, Y/N, I’d punish you. Your skin would look so pretty all red from my hands.”

“Hobi, please,” You weren’t entirely sure what you were asking from him but he seemed to understand just fine, using his foot to spread your legs and grind himself against you while his fingers worked on bursting the familiar coil in the pit of your stomach. Your nails scratched against the marble of the makeup counter, your cunt clenching around his fingers at the feel of his cock running along your slit. 

“Was it fun flirting with that crew member, baby?” He teased the head of his cock against your entrance, withdrawing his fingers and running his tip along your wet folds, smirking at your desperate pleas. “What his name again? Brayden, Ben?”

“B-Brandon.” You provided, looking up to find his reflection staring back at you, a wicked glint in his eye as he buried himself to the hilt. A sharp gasp left you, the stretch of his cock burning as he bottomed out quickly and held your hips still against his until you could get used to him. Head falling forward to rest against the counter, you shifted from foot to foot, tears stinging your eyes at his girth. It had been far too long since you last had sex.

“Are you okay?” Hoseok leaned forward to press a gentle kiss to your temple, threading his fingers through yours against the countertop and waiting for your permission to move. He really should have prepped you more but the temptation of you; your voice and your smile, it all had him much too eager to have you. He was going to wait to ask you on a proper date once the tour was over but he’d snapped when he saw you carrying a comfortable conversation with the stage crew and knew he couldn’t wait any longer.

The stress of attempting to ask you out coupled with the anger of having been ignored by you showed in the way he’d stomped around stage during rehearsal, snapping at his fellow band members and even making Jimin cry from a ridiculous argument (that he later apologized for), he found himself slamming his hotel door with the request of being left alone for the night. On top of everything, he’d woken the next morning to find a text from Hyerin saying she’d be helping for the day because you would be far too busy with soundcheck. 

“Hobi,” Your small whisper broke him from his thoughts as you pushed back against his length, “please move.”

“Tell me if it’s too much.” Hoseok left another loving kiss to your temple before pulling out halfway and thrusting back in, creating a good pace and hearing the smack of his hips against yours, moans tumbling from your slack jaw. He hissed at your clenching walls, bracing one hand against the mirror and groaning at the sight of your reflection, having imagined on many many nights what you’d look like coming undone because of him. His hand and imagination hadn’t done enough justice in comparison to the real feel of you.

“You’re doing so good for me, baby,” He praised with a moan as he peppered the back of your neck with kisses, his bare chest sticky with sweat against your back but neither of you seemed to mind. “You feel so fucking good, Y/N.”

You panted at the way he sped up his thrusts, the tops of your thighs burning as they rubbed against the edge of the countertop with each buck of his hips and he seemed to sense this, pulling your back flush against his chest as he stood straight and took two small steps back to the chair he’d occupied earlier. “Fuck, Hobi!” 

“Shhh, baby, wouldn’t want your little pretty boy to hear you, hm?” Hoseok sat back, lifting you onto his lap and watching your jaw drop in ecstasy at his cock sinking deeper with the change in position. With your head dropping back to rest on his shoulder, he was free to watch your chest rise and fall heavily, staring at his marks painted across your skin. A sense of pride bloomed in his chest at the sight because everyone would know what happened in this room, Brandon included.

Rocking back and forth on Hoseok’s lap, your hand came to rest on top of his when he pushed down on your belly to pull you as close to him as possible. Your other hand curled around the armrest of the chair, your body hot with sweat beading across every surface of your skin, your eyes fluttered shut while your back arched when you felt his fingers rubbing messy circles against your clit. “Hobi,” You chanted his name like it was the only word you knew and he groaned in understanding, your walls clenching around his cock so tight that it was getting harder to move.

“Cum for me like a good girl, Y/N,” He breathed against your ear, his fingers stilling as the familiar heat in your belly burst and you cried out, orgasm washing over you in waves, chest heaving, and body falling limp against his in exhaustion. Helping you ride out your orgasm, he filled you with thick ropes of cum before he could stop himself and pull out. “Shit,” He mumbled as he nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck, mumbling his apology for not realizing sooner how close he was.

You didn’t say anything as you took the time to observe yourself and him in the mirror in front of you, running your hand through his sweaty and damp hair, almost giggling at the thought of the stylists scolding him for fucking up his hair. Hooking a finger underneath his chin, you pulled his face to yours for a proper kiss, finally feeling his soft lips against yours and coming to the obvious realization that no one would ever be able to do it for you again. Hoseok was it, everything you wanted and more, and sure you’d had feelings for him since you started working at Big Hit but you did your best to keep them at bay. You had zero idea he felt the same way and you could honestly say you didn’t give a damn about the rules now that you did.

The rules!

Reeling back from Hoseok’s kiss, you quickly scrambled off the chair to straighten yourself and smooth out your hair, frantically looking towards the door as two sharp knocks made you jump sky high.

“Hyung,” Namjoon’s deep voice carried through the heavy door clearly while you worked on tugging your dress back up, “we’re on in 10 minutes.”

“I’ll be right there.” Hoseok took his sweet ass time making himself presentable, as if 10 minutes was a shit ton of time when he still needed to get dressed.

“Oh shit,” You began to panic and pace around the room, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of your arousal sticking to the insides of your thighs, “Oh shit, oh shit!”

“What?” He asked as he heard Namjoon’s footsteps moving further and further away from the room.

“What?!” You parroted and slapped at his shoulder roughly, “Do you know how much trouble I’m going to get in, Jung Hoseok?! There’s a reason Big Hit is adamant about not hiring single people, stupid! Oh, my god, I’m dead. Your managers are going to kill me and the rest of the members are going to be upset with me.”

“Whoa, whoa,” Hoseok gripped your shoulders to keep you from pacing about, cupping your face gently with a smile on his face. “Who said you’re going to get in trouble? The staff knows how I feel about you and so do the guys...I was waiting...to ask you out.”

“Oh, well,” You nodded in mock understanding and narrowed at eyes, “glad we at least got the formalities out of the way.”

Hoseok chuckled at your joke, sweeping his hand through his hair to push it back from his forehead where it stuck. “I’m sorry. It shouldn’t have happened this way but I like you, Y/N, a lot.”

“I like you too, Hoseok,” You sighed and shook your head, unable to tell if you were simply dreaming or if Jung Hoseok actually had feelings for you. Post sex haze was a strong thing, teaching you on many occassion that a guy will tell you just about anything to get in your pants again. “But this, us...what if it doesn’t work?”

“It’ll work,” He promised, taking your hand in his and squeezing it in assurance. “I can’t just go back to being friends. I want to at least try. Please?”

Chewing on your bottom lip, you searched his face for any sign of doubt, but Hoseok was a man of his word and if he didn’t think you stood a chance as a couple then he never would have said anything. “Okay,” You conceded with a nod, squealing as he beamed and picked you up by the waist to spin around in joy. “Hoseok! You’re going to drop me!”

“Hyung,” Jimin’s timid knock interrupted and you had to slap Hoseok’s chest to have him put you down. “Um we only have five minutes before we go on and the stylists said they need you.”

“Go,” You pushed at your now boyfriend’s naked chest, smiling at the shit eating grin on his face as he opened the door, Jimin, Jungkook, and Taehyuhng all falling flat on their faces. 

“Uh, hi hyung,” Taehyung laughed nervously at being caught with his ear to the door and was ready to fully blame Jungkook for betting that Hoseok was finally confessing his feelings. Both he and Jimin didn’t think it was true but the smile on Namjoon’s face when he came back down the hall proved otherwise. “So, how’d it go?”

“Out, you little brats.” You scolded and ushered them away from the doorway so Hoseok could leave and finish getting ready. “Yah, Jeon Jungkook, aren’t you in enough trouble? Have you even apologized for the prank you pulled on Jin yesterday? Go, all of you.”

The three maknaes sprinted down the hall before Hoseok could get his hands on them, all laughing and hollering with the goal of the entire city hearing their teasing. Your threats to murder them followed but they paid no attention and you couldn’t deny that they truly share one brain cell. 

“I’ll see you in a few minutes,” Hoseok wrapped his arms around your waist, kissing your cheek and nuzzling his face into your neck, a relieved sigh leaving him when you giggled at the tickling of his lips against your skin.

-------------------------------------

Later, you watched him run across the stage with more energy than you’d seen all week, his smile so wide that you couldn’t help the pride rising in your chest, giddy that you were the one to make him feel that way. You watched him dance with vigor, his body rolls and hip thrusts sinful as you blushed a deep shade of red and pulled on the collar of your shirt to hide the hickies he’d left behind. 

“I hate him,” You mumbled to yourself when you grew hot from all the people crowding around you, but you had to change out of your dress after Hoseok had wrinkled it up. Hoseok shot you a wink from his spot on stage and playfully tripped Taehyung, making the crowd go wild at their banter but really it was payback for spying on you earlier. You laughed along with their management team but your smile faltered when you caught Hyerin’s sad face, the longing for him recognizable to anyone. You felt bad, truly, because you knew she’d seen his marks all over your neck and put two and two together.

“Y/N!” Hoseok shouted as they all came rushing from the stage to change into new outfits, the excitement from the crowd making him buzz with his own. Rushing to lift you from the ground and spin you around until you were dizzy, he kissed you deeply, erasing all doubt and Hyerin from your mind. 

He didn’t know how she felt and Hyerin didn’t fault him for that, she only laughed along with the crew at his display of affection, pulling you aside after he left to tell you how cute she thought you two were. You apologized in return for how things turned out, but she waved her hand and wished you all the best, spending the rest of the concert at your side and asking questions that would prove helpful when her internship was over.

[cherrymoonvol6]

some avengers endgame Thoughts cause i saw the movie yesterday and can't stop thinking about it

of course..... spoilers ahead

nebula and tony playing!!!! i just love how nebula's personality comes through without it being ooc

also... nebula carefully sitting tony up. she Cares so much :(

steve immediately going to tony :( like im a stucky kind of gal but holy shit i love them

which was completely erased in the next scene where tony drags steve up and down and after that passes out, which is a confrontation Mood

i wonder how they made tony look so skinny and sick. if it was cgi then i applaud them cause it looked so good

the way they killed thanos so fucking quickly here... i don't know how to feel lmao. like cutting the gauntlet arm and then slicing his neck... that's what we were all screaming at them during infinity war. it's good to see them learn from their mistakes, i guess ?

(can't remember the order in which things happen from now so forgive me if i make a mistake)

i told my sister "that's one of the russos!!!!!" so it took me ten seconds to realize that the russo was the gay character everyone was talking about (i thought it would be fury for no other reason than it being shocking and fury having very little to do with the plot, but)

and steve being supportive of that :( man out of time said gay rights!

carol's new hair!! holy shit!!!!!

rocket insinuating carol has been experimenting with more hairstyles... i would like to see it

don't think i missed that carol x rhodey nod. i support it.

don't wanna say it now... for now ill just state: i love what they're doing with natasha in the movie. she truly feels like a friend to steve. like that small gesture of her sliding the plate towards steve is just so domestic and beautiful! it really makes her feel so human and complex at the end. i was so worried about her being wasted but i loved her throughout the film

it was a fucking rat who got scott out. i have to laugh.

also is that the guy from that old "gayyyyy" meme????

cassie is all grown up!!!!!! i can't even imagine how hard it had been for her

also what happened to her mom? and the stepdad??? are they fine????? i hope so

i was hoping we would get more tony as a dad in this movie and it delivered!! tony is so fucking good with kids. the bond between him and morgan was so well portrayed

also the place they live in is so cozy and that's what he deserves

when steve stepped down the car in that black outfit with the leather jacket on i gasped... he's fucking gorgeous

i kept wanting him and tony to kiss lmao tf is wrong with me

OKAY my hawkeye rights. i missed him so much

the stylish subtitles on the middle of the screen felt like too much. this isn't a tumblr gifset honey, just write them down!

thinking about the whole clintasha conversation really foreshadows the whole thing. natasha cares so deeply about clint and really puts his needs before hers. it's so beautiful to see

honestly... my clintasha rights!

i think the hulk/bruce scene was kinda endearing but then the ant man banter dragged on for toooo long

the dab i YELLED. these poor kids have to stand this man on 2023 pulling out 2016 trends to appear Hip and Cool

fat thor...... i hate how it was handled. hate it so fucking much.

new asgard! that's so cute. i hope that's on norway

miek and korg are alive!!!!

the thought of thor insulting a possibly 14 year old on fortnight is too much for me. it sounds like bad fanon talk. i still laughed (bc noobmaster69??? that's fucking hilarious)

tonys reaction to i love you 3000 is so beautiful. like the way he looks taken aback and so happy. i love irondad

steve in a white shirt and jeans!!!! i gasped again. he's delivering, the fucking model

i know they were like, barely being decent to each other again, but i still wanted my stony hug:(

when they're discussing their infinity stones memories and natasha and tony are laying down together on a table???? adorable. amazing.

also why tf didn't nebula said the soul stone required a sacrifice??? i thought that's what she got from gamora dying in volmir

as soon as natasha and clint arrived to volmir i began chanting "nonononononononono"

fuckkdjdksndk fucking nebula. cue to more nononono chanting

rhodey knocking out quill with a single hit is the funniest scene in the movie

clintasha calling on bullshit on the sacrifice thing was also quite funny

the forehead touch :((( im so weak! so sad!

clintasha literally fighting each other to be each other's sacrifice!!!! kill me now!!!!

jeez now i can finally say it: scarjo shined so fucking much on this movie!!!! her delivery was amazing, i really felt a connection between her and the avengers, it really showed her growth during the five year time jump. she fucking killed it. she did her best and she's the best black widow we could've ever gotten.

clint mourning her :((((( probably the third time i cried during the movie

thor's panic attack being used for cheap laughs was the most uncomfortable moment for me... or any scene where people only saw thor as Fat and Lazy (basically, two thirds of the movie)

the freya + thor reunion was so sweet though!

okay. okay. hear me out. tony was on a very serious mission to regain an infinity stone. and the first thing he does is check out steve's ass. and aknowledge how glorious it is. i couldn't believe what i was watching!!!!!! like that actually fucking happened. consider me a fully formed stony bitch.

and scott joining in to say it was "america's ass" ???? poetic cinema

so it's canon that everyone checks out steve's ass and appreciates it as a national treasure. that's all i never thought id needed.

steve saying "hail hydra" i YELLED. it was a nice nod to the whole "cap is a nazi" mess

and steve fighting himself... hot

using his bucky trauma to shock himself is :/// but also :((((

i loved that for one moment i knew everyone on the theatre was staring at steve's ass

and steve being appreciative of his own butt!!!! ok that's all i have to say about steve's ass

i loved the reminder that thor was still kinda goofy back in avengers 1, for everyone who says taika completely changed his character. and the little tony + thor moment was adorable

"howard..... potts" i can understand tony being a mess but how did howard not suspect of anything??? elevator lady took one look of steve's face and all of her alarms started ringing

peggy carter... ive missed my wife so much

did peggy marry souza. i hope she did. steve tf are you doing staring at a married woman (jk)

clint kicking the stones away as soon as bruce is done with the snap is the biggest mood

also... the hell was scott looking at that made him think it had worked? just... more birds outside? i was really curious

the irony of the only avenger without superpowers being left with the stones

"i know you" *hands out stones* how can you not love clint, he's so pure

nebula killing his 2014 self is a power move. that would be me if i met my 2014 self

thor with a braided beard!!!!! beautiful

thanos is like, a real threat and i love that

okay. i kinda saw it coming. i saw thor leave mjolnir behind and i thought "oh????". and then the shock of thanos being able to wield stormbreaker. and then fucking mjolnir moving!!!!! i was the only person in the theatre who yelled

but seriously!!!! steve wielding AND fighting with mjolnir!!!!! couldn't stop thinking about it all day!!!!!!!!! STEVE IS WORTHY!!!!!!!

parallels to thor going for the chest. it never works babies!

and just.... this was steve's moment. steve i-can-do-this-all-day rogers really fighting with every ounce of his body and soul against the most powerful being on earth. justice for him getting knocked after touching thanos for one second in iw!

and steve getting up again! all dirty and wounded!! trembling with exhaustuation and resolution!!! with his broken shield on his arm!!!! just him facing the biggest army of the universe!!!!! so powerful

sorry to destroy this epic moment, but like, okay. people had been reintegrated to life like, twenty minutes before. and i understand that they were all confused and out of place. but sam really needed ALL that time to just... try to communicate with steve????? ok

the "avengers..." *brings mjolnir with one hand while bracing his shield with the other* "assemble" moment was... oh my God. chills all over my body.

that One Moment where steve has stormbreaker on his hand... so fucking hot

the tony and peter reunion holy shit. the hug was everything i needed! like please just hug tony stark for ages

and tony and pepper fighting together!!! that's a power couple right there

i felt it when quill looked at gamora and just... stopped. im so sad his moment was played for laughs when it was obviously such an important moment for his character

thanos was so fucking scared of wanda that he put his own troops at risk to stop her for a little while. strongest avenger right there!

and carol coming back!!!! i was like

i felt so relieved at that point. i was like "yeah thanos is fucking over what's next"

no need to talk about all the women coming together to defend peter :')

thanos getting the gauntlet again... the nonono chanting came back

fucking CAROL trying to stop him. looking at him with such a determined face, like "you can't stop me from stopping you". it was so powerful he had to snatch one stone to stop her

and strange giving him the one finger to tony.... i knew what was coming holy shit. i knew it. they knew it.

tony really proved himself there. it was his best scene on the entire mcu, don't argue with me!!!!!! the way he stood there and took all the power of the stones, unmasked, unaffected, powerful and almighty

"i am... iron man" cue to ugly sobbing

tony knew there was no other way. pepper did, too... she knew exactly what she had to tell him. she was right. tony spent all of these years moved by selfishness first, then fear, then guilt. an endless battle since thanos was on his head. but the war was over. what mattered was that he saved everyone, and he sacrificed himself for everyone. a complete 180° from last movie's ending.... wow

gotta said... peter there felt a little bit out of place for me. i think it would've been more powerful if he didn't say anything, though peter is a teenager, i can get it

his arc with steve felt unfinished, too. i would've liked to see steve's reaction as well, since tony had told him he wanted everyone back and also for his family so survive. but whatever

im not against tony killing thanos instead of gamora and nebula but i would've liked if we saw them react to his death, at least:/ like a little parallel between nebula's reaction at the beginning and the end of endgame

the One stucky interaction here was pulled from cap1 and iw. i feel betrayed

bucky Knew what steve was going to do. i wonder if steve told him before or bucky just sensed it

you can't convince me steve would go back and carelessly dance with peggy knowing his friend is being used like a weapon by hydra and bound to kill tonys parents. nah nah. it all felt wrong

my steggy rights!!!

love that the russos foreshadowed cap!bucky on tws just to give the shield to sam at the end

anyways what the fuck bucky was all steve had but he lived the happiest life without it and left him alone on the 21st century? okay fuck y'all

[dustydreamsanddirtyscars]

1x12 “Faith” // 3x10 “Dream A Little Dream of Me” // 8x01 “We Need to Talk about Kevin”

“If the Tin Man Misses His Heart, So Does an Entire Show“ - On 14x01 “Stranger in a Strange Land” and the Thing about Hearts, Love and Faith

“That's one deep, dark nothing you got there, Dean. Can't fill it, can you? Not with food or drink. Not even with sex. [...] Oh, you can smirk and joke and lie to your brother, lie to yourself, but not to me! I can see inside you, Dean. I can see how broken you are, how defeated. You can't win, and you know it. But you just keep fighting. Just... keep going through the motions. You're not hungry, Dean, because inside, you're already...dead.”

- Famine to Dean in 5x14 “My Bloody Valentine”

---

I admit, it is rather weird to write a piece of meta on an episode underneath a gifset that doesn’t feature a single scene from said episode. It doesn’t for good reason though and that being the fact that iTunes doesn’t have the episode available here in Germany yet, so I couldn’t download it to make gifs, therefore this will have to do. I think though that these scenes above will illustrate well enough why I chose to use them in context to the S14 premiere. It’s plain and simple: To me they capture the essence of what this episode was about and to a huge extent in my personal opinion this episode was about one thing: Faith. Whether it was from Maggie mentioning a rawhead (the monster Dean killed in 1x12 “Faith” and almost killing himself in the process as well) the first man we saw Michael visit who started his day with praying to Mary trying to “keep the faith” that they’ll find Dean to Castiel expressing faith in Jack, who has lost it and the believe in himself to Sister Jo who seems to continue to work as a “faith healer” and saving people.

Faith, the very concept of it has always been something Dean as a character was shown to struggle with on Supernatural. Early on, from the very first season onward and especially set up with the episode 1x12 “Faith” that sees Dean close to dying with a damaged heart after having been electrocuted his’s faith or lack thereof has been an integral part of his journey as a character. In fact it has become a red line running throughout the seasons shining a light on Dean’s state of mind as well as perception of self.

Given all that the opening episode of S14 felt very interesting, because imo it called back to its roots and the episode 1x12 “Faith” as that episode not only truly established the heart symbolism surrounding Dean that has been focal point time and again over the course of 13 years, but also marked Dean’s special place within the grand scheme of things which has always lead all the way to Michael, who of course at present is calling the shots.

And here is where these aspects intertwine rather well, because imo the heavy focus on the heart in 14x01 with Kip for example talking about “eating Sam’s heart out” feels especially striking because Dean is absent. Dean, the tin man, lost his heart, his agency, has become a mere puppet to Michael’s will. And along with Dean essentially losing himself to me the show has lost it’s core, his heart too and that was strikingly showcased this episode.

Now, I know many people are going to hate me for saying this, but to me this set up makes one thing perfectly clear: Supernatural cannot work without Dean (which is why Dean is never allowed to not be around for longer periods at a time), because it lacks its heart, the PoV character, the narrator, the one who is holding everything together - and with that also has become the one who has steadily fallen apart due to the weight he carries on his shoulders, because he never once has put himself first or believed he mattered (and frankly ever since that god awful scene at the end of S12 with Dean trying to save Mary by going inside her mind also was plain shown that he indeed doesn’t seem to matter as a person in his own right, but only in extension to someone else) and with that thought he deserved to be saved.

To me this first episode spelt out perfectly the only way Dean should be able to “beat” Michael in the long run (I assume that even though Dean may appear “saved” but really won’t be - I guess they will play up some parallels between Nick and his possession and the aftermath for him with Dean, though frankly this whole thing was the most stupid move, because the vessel Lucifer inhabited was artificially made by Crowley and had nothing to do with Nick anymore, so... duuuhhh + if they needed this for dramataic purposes, Dean sharing with Sam those experiences would have made more sense and would be much more meaningful, but anyway...) lies in the small but important fact of Dean finding self worth and love for himself. The episode has shown one thing clearly and that is that Michael is completely unable to grasp the concept of what love means, it escapes him or at the very least annoys and bewilders him. Just like Lucifer never knew what Baby could trigger for Sam in 5x2 “Swan Song” neither understands Michael the meaning of love. And especially so if it is love for someone else. The only thing he knows about that is how he can use it to manipulate people and that’s how he was able to get Dean too after all.

And here is where I found Michael’s question to his counterparts interesting (though I quite frankly had to roll my eyes at Dabb here too, because really? Now even so obviously reference/steal from Lucifer from “Lucifer” and his “what do you desire?”-style), because every single time, every single answer featured love for someone else and belonging in some fashion, things Michael obviously seems to despise and count as a weakness (he is very Voldemort in that regard actually...) unless it is directed at oneself.

What do I mean with that? Obviously, Michael had asked Kip the question of “what he wants” as well and after some thinking he had come to the conclusion, a very selfish one: Everything. Well, as one says that’s how the mighty fall, but what I felt important in this context is how Kip managed to “survive” Michael and how Michael befriends a vampire at the end of the episode (for its “pure” reasons - lots of callbacks and parallels to purgatory with Dean and Dean and famine here, which I can’t possible work into this text right now, but there are a few fitting things in these storylines relevant to the current set up). They both think of themselves, put themselves first, “love” themselves if you will and THAT is something very strikingly different to Dean, because Dean doesn’t care about himself, doesn’t put himself first and truly has no love for himself. That is exactly why imo Michael has such a strong hold over him, why Michael could overpower Dean. It’s based in Dean’s lack of self worth and that aspect to is directly connected to faith - faith as such as well as the episode from S1.

More than once on the show it was addressed that Dean doesn’t think he deserves to be saved. Be it due to what he did in Hell or plain and simple due to the fact he thinks no one could or should ever love him. I truly think that is why Dean is so vulnerable to be overpowered by Michael, because in opposition to Dean Michael has all the love for himself but none for anybody else. He is self confident to the point of arrogance and being a complete megalomaniac, but point is, he feels worthy. That’s where he draws strength from. Dean on the other hand feels the opposite, has never learnt to form a healthy image of self. That is where to me the aspects of purity and hunger come into play here and especially so Famine’s words to Dean, because even though it is 9 years later, Dean doesn’t feel any different really, he never healed but only accumulated more scars, more trauma, more reasons to hate himself. He has been deeply depressed for a long time and shown to be tired and at the end of his rope, ready to lay his head to rest. Amara to echoed these sentiments previously said by Famine, that Dean feels empty. And well, doesn’t someone who feels empty and despises himself allow all the more room as a literal vessel for someone to inhabit?

So what does it all come down to? My personal takeaway from this episode was that there is only one way to “save” Dean and that is by Dean saving himself. And that may be the hardest part, because as all of the gifs capture above Dean struggles to see himself as worthy to be saved, as important and lovable, because he simply doesn’t feel any of those things for himself. But if I was part of the writing team, this aspect would be the vital aspect for Sam, Jack and Co. to get Dean back, getting Dean to build up his own self worth, loving himself and with that becoming strong enough to fight Michael off who really doesn’t know humanity at all. Dean’s love for his loved ones has proven to “move mountains”, who knows what he could move if he had found just a shred of that immens capacity to love for himself...

[noir-blackout]

Soft Bias Challenge

Admin Inky here! @yunsungsredhoodie said in the tags that others should do this so, here ya go~ (Onyx I'm excited for you to do this)

1. Who's your bias?

신승훈

2.  What made you notice them?

I mean, he's one of the four members in my personal acceptable age range (not that that's always contained me before...), so I guess he was a little bit on my radar from the start, but I was all enamoured with Yunsung and then... Sunghoon was just there. In my face. In my brain.

In particular, in the instagram video of them goofing around/practicing Beautiful when it pans over to him I remember thinking something along the lines of "wow, I'm ruined.", though less coherent than that.

Also, in the gifset of them being cute where there's the "Bonus" at the end of him being embarrassed. Those two things flipped the already-teetering Inky off the fine-with-Seunghoon cliff.

3. What’s your favourite thing about them?  

He has this casual power to him. He radiates it. He's confident, but not in an arrogant/cocky way. Not obnoxiously. He knows himself and what he's capable of and wears it proudly, but he's still humble.

He's a good leader and takes it seriously, but he doesn't take himself too seriously.

He just feels stable. He feels reliable.

(Bet you all expected it to be his tongue...)

4. Who would initiate skinship more?

Probably him - he's actually very skinshippy, which I love. He's so soft and gentle when it comes to skinship.

5. Who would hog all the blankets?

Me. Without a doubt. He can solve this by being near me and keeping me warm~

6. Who would be more clingy?

Emotionally, or? Emotionally I'm not very clingy, but if you're trying to leave the house and I don't want you to then I can be clingy. I feel like we would be similar? Neither of us very clingy.

7. Who would say ‘I love you’ first?

I have no qualms about saying it first, but TECHNICALLY he's already told me he loves me. Through vlive. Soooo.

I'm sure he didn't mean everyone watching.

8. Who would get more flustered?

That would be me. He's dealing with fans telling him sweet things all the time, and I'm sure that doesn't make him find those things less sweet, but it probably means he's adjusted and isn't flustered all the time.

I, on the other hand, felt my heart drop out of my body when he smiled and waved at me. I flustered myself/was flustered by his stupid incredible smile when I told him he was handsome.

9. What cuddling position would you two have?

Him sitting reclined on the couch or in bed. Me sort of half-beside half-on-top of him with my head tilted back against his chest and his arms wrapped around me. He can lean forward gently and kiss my head, if he feels so inclined.

10.  What colours remind you of them and why?

Yellow because of the instagram video where the GIFs above are from where he's wearing the yellow shirt with the sleeves rolled up because I've watched that video more than probably anything else... Also, there's something else where he's wearing yellow that I'm going to share soon... (호랑이~)

The dark blue/black of his hair.

The deep red of his stupid velour tracksuit. I hate how much I find it endearing ugh.

11. What season would you like to spend with them?

Fall because have you seen him in the turtlenecks and long coats? And he can also wear hoodies because Seunghoon in a black hoodie (+ a baseball cap) looks like such a boyfriend it makes my heart ache.

I hate winter but I just imagined him brushing the snow out of his hair and then smiling why did I do that no.

12. Who would bake the cookie and who would steal the batter?

I feel like we're both batter stealers and Minhyuk would come back to the kitchen not-even-surprised to find he can now only make 50% of the anticipated cookies...

13. Who would make bad puns and how would the other react?

Despite him being a grandpa, I feel like I would be the one making the puns.

He'd react with this look...

... and then by walking over, wrapping his arms around my shoulders in a hug, and murmuring "You're so lame" against my hair.

14. Who would want to adopt 50 dogs and cats?

I would want to adopt 50 cats because yes please thank you. He would tell me I could only choose one cat. We would compromise and go home with two cats so they could have each other as friends.

15.  Which one of you would nearly burn down the kitchen trying to microwave a pop tart and who would come to rescue?

I wouldn't because YOU DON'T MICROWAVE POPTARTS?? You toast them in a toaster...

Moving beyond this, I'm not actually sure cause I feel like he's been taking care of himself for a long time so he should be able to use a kitchen at a basic level, but then I realize I have also been "taking care of myself" *shamefully thinks about the recycling bin full of pizza boxes I put out yesterday* for a long time, and I'm not so kitchen-adept, so...

16. Who likes to lean over trail railings and who pulls them back?

I would probably lean over and Seunghoon would either pull me back or (preferably) stand behind me with his arms around my waist to keep me from leaning too far.

17. What would watching a horror film with them be like?

My face would be in his chest the entire time. Occasionally he'd gently scratch my head and ask "Want a dorito?" and I would nod, pull back slightly and allow myself to be fed a dorito. When something scary/startling happened on screen he would jolt slightly and I would chuckle into his chest and he would feign outrage at my laughing at him cause I'm not even watching the movie.

Okay:

a) writing this killed me I am dead now.

b) I want to write this as a drabble but I basically just wrote it... I could expand it?

18.  Who would be the cheesy flirt and who would be the smooth flirt?

Onyx said he was flirting with me at Simply Kpop and he seemed pretty smooth then so

I am a ball of cheese.

19.  Who is more competitive?

He wasn't the most competitive in Action Noir, so it might be me.

20. Who would be given constant reminders?  (Don’t forget your keys, things like that)

Me because I need them. And because he would give them. And this fact makes me feel very warm inside. He would take care of me. Writing that sentence made my heart melty.

21.  Who sends memes and who sends cute ‘I miss you’ texts at 3am?

I would send memes and he would send cute 'I miss you' texts at 3am...

[wackygoofball]

Gifset: Jaime x Brienne - Traveler AU

Jaime Lannister, manager and right-hand man to the CEO of the company, his father Tywin, lives a life that goes its course almost entirely by itself. From the early beginnings of his life, he was framed to, one day, inherit his father’s “family empire.” And Jaime never bothered, really, being a natural in what it takes to fill in such a position. It just seemed like the most natural conclusion to go with the flow.

Nothing out of the ordinary happens – until it does.

A car accident right outside the family company’s office building leaves Jaime’s right hand permanently damaged. And this experience shows Jaime one thing: He didn’t witness anything exciting, anything extraordinary, and almost died not having achieved much of anything outside the family business.

At first, he is simply depressed, caves in at home, does not show up at work, is done with life. But then, perhaps by a wink of fate, Jaime finds an old map, from the last holiday he took when he was still in college, and bought himself a ticket to Lys out of the blue. He almost completely forgot over business life that this was his last actual holiday, and a good one, actually. And as he sits there, going back over some of the good old memories, Jaime has to realize that he hasn’t taken any time for himself, hasn’t traveled – beside for work – in ages.

In a cloak-and-dagger operation, Jaime buys backpack, boots, tent, and whatever else he can gather, only to wind up by the Citizens Advice Bureau first chance he has to get the papers needed. After that, Jaime takes a taxi to King’s Landing Airport and wants to board the next-best plane he can catch, much to the irritation of the woman sitting behind the counter.

When asked to where he would like to go, Jaime simply replies, “Doesn’t matter. Just away from here. So long I can fly right now, I don’t care what the location is.”

And so, Jaime finds himself walking on Dornish soil soon thereafter.

Already at the airport, as he waits for his luggage to arrive, Jaime gets one confused phone call after the other from his family members, asking him where he is.

“Dorne. What would you want to do in Dorne?!”

“Making holidays,” Jaime replies simply, again and again.

“And you couldn’t have told anyone beforehand?”

“I got the last ticket.”

“When are you going to come back?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?! But Jaime…”

“As I said, I don’t know, and my bag just arrived. I am hanging up now, bye.”

Jaime reckons that the vacation will do him good, but he soon grows dissatisfied. Doing the usual tourist routines has him rather annoyed. Even the prospect of seeing some of the most beautiful sights Dorne has to offer has Jaime shockingly little excited. He thought that this would be it, that this is what he is seeking, but… it’s not.

The realization comes to Jaime one late night, watching a travel documentary on a small TV in his hotel room: He doesn’t need vacation, he needs to travel.

Thus, Jaime gets himself on a ferry to the Stepstones, from the Stepstones to the Grey Gallows, and from the Grey Gallows to Tyrosh, and so forth. On the way, Jaime buys himself a bunch of disposable cameras to take pictures with, and begins to do something that he didn’t do ever since the accident, namely to write – in a leather journal he bought on a small market in Dorne.

After all, no one is going to read his chicken scratch other than him.

However, not all is rosy on that journey, because Jaime has to realize far sooner than later that walking into this completely unprepared comes with a certain kind of thrill, but also a lot of troubles. Ending up in rat holes of hotels, having to camp out in the wilderness when the motels are all overbooked, only to realize that he never put up a tent in his life and thus failing miserably at the task, are only some of the troubles he encounters on that vacation.

At the same time, Jaime is thrilled to see all those new places, meet all sorts of people, taste different foods, and make experiences he never would have made, had he stayed home.

During his stay at Braavos, something catches his interest as he visits the Titan of Braavos, because there is one person in the mass of tourists taking pictures of the statue and following tourist guides around like geese, who seems not at all interested in the monument. The tall woman with blonde hair has not taken a single picture of the statue, Jaime observed, but instead took out her camera to take pictures of rather queer things, at least to Jaime’s mind: An ice cream cone dropped on the ground seems to have her particular interest.

Jaime feels very tempted to talk to her, but as he is about to do it, a youngster falls off the Titan’s toe after he had to climb on top of the statue, and everyone starts to fuss, so that Jaime loses the blonde woman in the crowd.

He travels to the next location, though the woman with brilliant blue eyes and an odd taste in objects of interest, remains on his mind all the while.

After a quite desperate phone call from his younger brother Tyrion, Jaime reluctantly agrees to check on his emails. For that matter, he gets into an internet café, because Jaime cannot properly read mails on his phone, and he purposely left his computer at home before he went on his vacation. After a quick check-in with reality awaiting him back home, Jaime decides that he is not yet ready to succumb to that life again, so he closes the tab and instead decides to use his remaining time at the café to browse the internet for traveler advices, groaning at some things he could easily have prevented, had he bothered to read up on the matter before just boarding a flight to Dorne.

In the course of his research, Jaime stumbles over a blog named The Traveler’s Guide of the Other Kind. And compared to most blogs he scrolled through, which were mostly focused on the person and his or her experiences, lots of pictures with nice InstaBran filters and what not, this blog’s title holds true. This one does not feature any pictures… of the person who is running this blog, let alone clues about his or her identity.

However, the blog is even more curious, because it doesn’t talk about what food to get where, or what sights are worth the voyage. Instead, the blog entries are largely about “The Small Things,” about sunsets in certain locations and at what times the light is the best, quite witty comments on the masses of people all doing the same thing “in strange sort of rituals, hailing statues, bridges, castles, and churches of faiths they do not even partake in, and all that with cameras and selfie sticks,” little anecdotes about people the author saw and observed, sometimes sarcastic, sometimes rather romantic.

Jaime would love to go on, but apparently, he kept reading the blog so long that the internet café is closing for the day. Nevertheless, he remains intrigued, so Jaime starts scrolling through the text posts on his phone once returned to his shabby motel.

Lying on his back in bed, he continues reading the posts that keep captivating him, finding it almost hilarious that some of the experiences and impressions written are so close to his own. Jaime drops his phone right in his face as it literally hits him that the author of the blog apparently features an entry on “The Tristful Chronicles of a Braavosi Ice Cream Cone,” with a picture of a dropped ice cream cone at the top, matching both the day and the location when Jaime saw that tall blonde woman taking pictures of that ice cream cone on the ground.

Jaime reckons that if he took the risk to abandon his entire life to go travelling, he might just as well take the risk to reach out to that woman who has been flitting across his mind ever since he saw her in Braavos.

What is the worse that can happen, right?

Thus, Jaime tries to type a comment, but ends up pushing the SEND-button before he could double-check, thus sending a message that is filled with typos and some really odd wordings. “Stupid hand!” Meanwhile, in a hotel room on New Ghis, Brienne is surprised to get a new comment on her “The Tristful Chronicles of a Braavosi Ice Cream Cone” entry, which did not have too many readers at all.

Not that Brienne bothers. She didn’t start the blog to gain followers, but simply wanted to have a place to gather her thoughts at. The message she receives now has her rather baffled, because… typos and rather a lot of gibberish stuffed into a short comment, but still readable enough for her to understand that the person who wrote this saw her back at the Titan and wondered until s/he found this blog what was so interesting about that ice cream cone.

Brienne is a bit shocked: She never posts pictures of herself, for the plain reason that she is ugly and doesn’t like to have her picture taken anyway. The thought that someone may out her is somewhat frightening to Brienne. After all, she tries to stay anonymous, just travels around, merges in with the background to observe.

Yet, she cannot resist replying, very cautiously so. However, to her even greater surprise, Brienne gets a reply almost instantly, and then another, and another, and she ends writing back each time.

Jaime and Brienne eventually message each other over the private message tool of the blog, which allows them to communicate more privately, discussing their travelling experiences, to where they have already gone, etc.

Sometime later, almost by accident, they find out that they are currently in the same location. So Jaime takes a chance and suggests to meet.

Brienne almost falls off her chair once she reads that message. Because that never happened, and she believed it impossible anyway. Brienne replies, truthfully, that she has to catch a flight that same day, later that evening. Jaime replies instantly that he wouldn’t care.

“We can meet up as long as we can until you have to fly again, I don’t mind.”

And so, they meet. The first handshake is all kinds of awkward once it dawns on them that they are two strangers who decided to meet based on some shared travel experiences. The beginning of the conversation is rather rocky, but once they start talking about journeys again, the two somehow ease into the situation. Jaime eventually find the courage to ask Brienne about why she takes those rather odd pictures and why they are the focus of her online travel guide. And so, Brienne explains: “To me, travelling is about seeing places, about witnessing them. And that is more than tasting the food, looking at the statues, the churches. It’s about watching people interact, about seeing children climb on top what is considered a cultural good. It’s about lost ice cream cones. Couples breaking up and proposing to one another in the cheesiest of ways. You know, I could have done it like most others do, focus on the obvious, the conventional. But I like to think that… that there is something beautiful in the unconventional, just like it is in what seems to be utterly unimportant because it is so very conventional.“

Jaime is thrilled about what he hears.

Suddenly, Brienne gets a call that her normal flight is going to be cancelled, but that she can still catch an earlier flight if she gets to the airport within two hours. Brienne excuses herself, explaining that she always wanted to see Old Valyria at the season, and knows she won’t catch a flight until they close down for the year. Jaime tells her that it’s fine and that he perfectly understands. Brienne is very apologetic – and a bit mournful because she can’t remember the last time she enjoyed a date that much.

As they prepare to part, Jaime tells her that he will be waiting for the next log entry on Old Valyria. Brienne gathers all of her confidence to offer him her telephone number, which Jaime takes more than gladly. The two part with a another awkward handshake, though really, they can’t help but think about one another once they are out of each other’s sight. Despite the fact that both are too stubborn to admit it.

And so, their journeys go separate ways again. Jaime wants to head further North while Brienne ventures through Old Valyria. Jaime is pleased to read an entry that alludes to their meeting and even a quote by him from their conversation. The two now start to talk over the phone, and as they continue travelling, try to beat one another in most unconventional places to have found,  most curious experiences to have witnessed, or weirdest people they met, etc.

"Some boys like a challenge…”

They accidentally meet up again at an airport after both had their flights cancelled, so they are stuck for the night. The two are not sure whether to shake hands or hug, so yeah, it is awkward. They decide to get some drinks at the bar to pass the time. Jaime and Brienne come to talk about his injury and how that was the starting point for him to start that journey. Brienne lets on that she decided that it was time that she left home after Renly died and she had caved in at home far too long that it had her father worried.

“Sometimes you have to leave to find your way back home… I hope, at least.”

Once it’s time to say goodbye, Jaime suggests as casually as he can that they may want to try to end up in the same location some time, surprised when Brienne instantly recounts to where she is going and in what order, only to break out laughing when Jaime takes out his worn journal to see about his flight plans.

“Now, that is what I call old-fashioned,” she snorts.

"I call it traditional. Not all of us run fancy blogs, you know.”

“Well, blogs are also already outdated. Now it’s InstaBran stories that count. So perhaps we have something in common in that regard after all.”

They figure that the location following their next ones actually matches, so Jaime and Brienne agree to a “travel date.”

Then, at last, the time has come, and they are in the same location. They meet up at the airport, get themselves rooms in the same hotel. The two are thrilled to discover just how much they actually have in common, making their very own tours, discussing their boring jobs and their exciting journeys, sharing takeaway in hotel rooms, and watching sunsets in the most curious of places together.

Jaime still can’t believe himself that he just follows through with this new kind of life, almost eloping with a woman he barely knows but feels as though he has known her for years already. He wouldn’t have done things in that way back in the “old life.”

And for Brienne, it’s also the first time she even considered a man in that way after Renly’s death.

Of course, they continue to challenge one another. Jaime has to do things with his right arm upon her insistence, while Jaime takes out his “even more old-fashioned than the journal” disposable camera and challenges Brienne to have him take her picture, one of which he secretly adds to his journal.

And on a journey of self-discovery, they discover each other, eventually giving in to their undeniable attraction for one another. The two want to go on travelling, but eventually decide to go together, rearranging plans so that they can take the same route.

It is like a journey to heaven. Seeing different places, kissing under sights, taking pictures of the small things, reading through each other’s log entries, even lying next to each other in shabby hotel rooms with uncomfortable mattresses feels divine.

However, the journey comes to a sudden halt when Jaime runs into Tyrion, who has tracked him down upon their father’s order, explaining to the older brother that Tywin’s patience has worn thin and that if Jaime does not return any time soon, he will no longer provide for Jaime’s travelling – or anything else for the matter.

“And he is serious, I am telling you.”

Heartbroken, Jaime talks to Brienne about the latest revelation, but he is surprised that she shows such great understanding for his situation, even encouraging him to go back home. “You are loyal to your family. I am loyal to my father. I get this, I do, Jaime. We don’t get to choose.”

While both say that they can meet up again and that Brienne may want to travel to Casterly Rock some time soon, both know that their travel romance has come to an abrupt end.

Begrudgingly, Jaime makes his way back into the old life, feeling utterly miserable about himself, which does not go unnoticed by his younger brother Tyrion, though he does not know about Jaime’s heartache for his former travelling companion, because the older brother did not want to involve Brienne into his family’s mess any more than he already did.

Brienne is not faring much better. Her thoughts revolve around Jaime all the while, too, which she realizes in a number of posts she deletes that almost exclusively speak of heartache and Jaime, Jaime, Jaime. She has to realize that being alone and anonymous is not that great when you finally found someone who knows and understands you. Then, being alone and unconventional seems to ring so hollow.

Back in King’s Landing, Tyrion discovers his brother’s journal eventually.

After some serious deciphering of the chicken scratch, Tyrion must say that Jaime’s journal is an entertaining read, if not a profitable one. He gets into contact with publishers, and they seem to share his opinion, because it is only a little while from now that Jaime’s journal entries are getting published as a travel guide – after some just as serious editing through his younger brother, of course.

Brienne meanwhile, on her continuous voyage towards the Isle of Faces, which is supposed to be her last stop on the journey before going home to Tarth again, stumbles across a bookstore, where they feature a book with Jaime’s picture on the title page. Stunned, she buys the next best copy she can grab, devouring the journal as she roams through the streets of Oldtown.

Not only is she surprised that Jaime apparently went into publishing, after he teased her all the while for telling the whole world about her experiences, “even though you claim to be so shy, wench,” but she is also caught off-guard by some many log entries alluding to her. While the book was edited so not to give her identity away, something that Jaime likely insisted on for her sake, she finds herself near tears at some of the later entries speaking about how the shared voyage with her proved to be the best part of the whole journey.

“It was during that time that I saw in myself the man I wanted to be. That part of my voyage is the one that changed my world – for the better. That one person I met… changed everything, turned my whole voyage of life upside-down, and I loved every second of it. And to this day, I come to regret that it didn’t last longer. I wish I was still out there, every day.”

Brienne calls up Jaime once she is back in her hotel room, to congratulate him on his latest success. Jaime explains rather sheepishly that he didn’t know “until it was too late” that Tyrion took the journal to publishers behind his back.

“Now my own face is haunting me in every bookstore. I think I have to go incognito.”

“Fake moustache?”

“Maybe.”

They talk about Brienne’s plans, and how far she has come by now. Brienne tells him that she is “just that close” to get through with the locations she planned on visiting, to arrive at the Isle of Faces as her “final piece in the puzzle.”

“So? What are you going to do with your newly acquired status as a popular traveler journalist?“ Brienne teases, if only to distract from herself – and her apparent heartache at the thought that she will finish the journey alone, because the two actually made plans to go to the Isle of Faces together.

But then reality called back and all was over.

“Laughing myself silly because I hated reading since a young age, and now I am supposedly a writer. Well, at least you can make some money with those guides. So maybe you should start as well.”

“I think I will pass.”

“Says the popular blogger.”

“I am not popular at all, and I pride myself with that,” she argues.

“Would be too mainstream for you anyway.”

Towards the end of the conversation, Jaime blurts out saying “I miss you… I… I miss us.”

”… Me, too,” Brienne replies hastily. “But… well, travelers undergo voyages. That is what we do. We don’t know where we end up. The journey is the goal. And that means we sometimes end up… in different places, it seems.”

Jaime wants nothing but get out of the family company, his mind keeps going back to the Isle of Faces, and most importantly – Brienne, whereas Brienne’s thoughts on her voyage keep revolving less and less around the Isle of Faces and more and more about the travel partner she lost back when he went to the capitol to return to “real life.”

Things may take another turn when Jaime’s brother makes a proposal, but whether that is going to pan out, only time will show.

Because as corny as it may sound, life is a journey.

And it is yet to be determined whether Jaime and Brienne will get a chance to go on that journey together, or will continue to be swept to different shores…

[psmith73]

Malec & s2 fairy tale tropes

It’s not a secret that fairy tale AUs are quite popular in fandom, but what is more interesting is that the canon too played with this trope in season 2.

I’ve counted at least three fairy tale references / reimaginings – the first two are the most obvious ones – the Sleeping Beauty’s kiss (2x03), and the Beast’s wilting rose (2x18); the third one is probably a bit harder to recognize at first sight since it wasn’t yet adapted by Disney – the myth of Cupid and Psyche, which was also used in the TMI books (as far as I can see from the book spoilers). [And also little bonus: Malec vs. the demon!dragon]

1) Imo, the elements of the “Sleeping Beauty” fairy tale were not just used for one episode only, as it seems the tale’s narrative was, broken into two parts – the aforementioned 2x03 and, later, it resurfaced in 2x08.

From what I saw in tags, the Malec part of the fandom didn’t really like that trope in 2x03 much, for one - some thought it was a bit problematic because there was no consent for the kiss (which again, is the problem of the original fairy tale, most folkstales and myths in their original form are kind of problematic), the others didn’t like it because the kiss didn’t work, and thus was not of much use in the plot (also, the-ship-that-shall-not-be-named used it for its own incest-y purposes).

But, as the 2x18 “The Beauty and the Beast” reimagining showed, that probably was the point – they were not adapting the trope in its original form, but were subverting it.

The kiss did not work... but, in all fairness, it wasn’t the “true love’s kiss” that had awoken the Princess in the fairy tale (the Perrault’s version, not the Disney adaptation). The kiss, or, better yet, the Prince, was merely the part of the curse’s solution. True, Magnus is not the “Prince” in this scenario, instead, he acts as the “Good Fairy” - again, from the Perrault’s version, who saved the “Princess” and altered the evil prophesy.

The seventh fairy, who hasn't yet given her gift, attempts to reverse the evil fairy's curse. However, she can only do so partially. Instead of dying, the Princess will fall into a deep sleep for 100 years and be awakened by a kiss from a king's son... [After the curse is fulfilled] the good fairy who altered the evil prophecy is summoned. Having great powers of foresight, the fairy sees that the Princess will awaken to distress when she finds herself alone, so the fairy puts everyone in the castle to sleep. The fairy also summons a forest of trees, brambles and thorns that spring up around the castle, shielding it from the outside world and preventing anyone from disturbing the Princess. (x)

And here is why 2x08 also is part of this fairy tale narrative – we have the party and uninvited old fairy warlock – Iris, who curses the guests, and Magnus again, works as the “Good Fairy”, reverses the spell and saves the “Princess” along the way.

In the original fairy tale (the first part of the tale at least, not the second one about creepy cannibalism) it was the Good Fairy, who was the real hero of the story – the one who didn’t let the Princess die, who reversed the spell, who made sure that the Princess won’t be alone, when she wakes up 100 years later, who made sure that no creep or pervert would disturb the Princess’ and her people’s slumber. Whereas, the Prince was more like a device – a guy who just happened to be at the right time in the right place. And same in 2x03 – it was Magnus, who kept Alec alive - without his magic Alec would’ve been dead long before Jace could come.

Eta: The Malec vs. dragon!demon scene from 2x20 looks very similar to the Prince Phillip and the fairies fighting against dragon!Maleficent.

2) The wilting rose and “the Beauty and the Beast” narrative was established in 2x18, but in fact, started earlier, in 2x15, when Magnus metaphorically “recognized” himself as the “Beast” via his confession to Alec about his mother and stepfather - “He called me an abomination. He was right.” As in the tale, Alec (the “Beauty”) wasn’t repulsed by his “ugliness” but saw his real “beauty”.

In 2x18 the writing yet again subverts the fairy tale trope - the “Beauty”, despite true love, can’t save the “Beast” from what he is, the “Beast” can’t turn into a “prince”, because there is no curse to begin with. The “Beast” has to defend the people in his castle from the angry xenophobic mob (the Clave and Valentine); he has to choose between the safety of his people and his love for the “Beauty”.

3) Now, the last, but not the least fairy tale trope that we have in season 2 – the myth of Cupid and Psyche. The main distinguishing element of this trope is the violation of trust between the two lovers, which leads to their break up and later reunion.

From what I know about the books, the variation of this myth was at the basis for the book!Malec break up as well.

“Cupid and Psyche” is travelling myth that has numerous variations in folklore and fairy tales (for example “East of the Sun and West of the Moon”, “White-Bear-King-Valemon” etc. etc.).

In the TMI books, similar to the myth / fairy tales: the book!Magnus (“Cupid”) holds the book!Alec (“Psyche”) at arm’s length, and doesn’t tell the whole truth about himself, so Alec is manipulated by the evil sisters Camille to go behind Magnus’ back, and thus unwittingly betrays him. Which leads to the breach of trust, and eventual break up between the two, even though they do love each other (similar how it was in the myth / fairy tales).

The show, however, turned this trope on its head, when they added political and racial aspects to the betrayal. Again, despite loving Alec, Magnus breaks up with him, but not because he has a wounded ego to heal, or because of some curse, like in fairy tales, but because, although Alec was oblivious of it, his betrayal of trust bore heavy racial connotations and could have had serious repercussions for the entire Downworld race.

Here we have, on one hand, the Clave act as the “jealous sisters” in the plot, except it’s not jealousy, but systematic racism that is the cornerstone for the betrayal. On the other hand, we have the Seelie Queen act as “Venus / the Troll Princess / the Evil Witch”. In the myth and fairy tales, when Psyche / the Princess comes to Venus’ / the Evil Witch’s palace, she can’t talk to the Cupid / the Prince either because he’s in some enchanted sleep, or can’t recognize his beloved because of the spell. Compare this arc to 2x19, where Magnus couldn’t interact with Alec at the meeting, because his deal with the Queen didn’t allow him to speak there.

It really is interesting how the writers subverted the elements of the “Cupid and Psyche” myth and gave it a racial and political subtext, which makes a lot of sense, considering that Malec is not only an LGBT couple, but an interracial couple in the middle of a racially charged war.

But on the other hand, this same element of trust from the C&P myth was overplayed in 2x12 - in the myth Psyche, in the beginning of their relationship, couldn’t see Cupid, because he never showed her his true appearance. In folklore fairytale versions like “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” or “White-Bear-King-Valemon” he was disguised as some beast (bear), due to the Evil Queen’s curse. In the book the jealous sisters manipulate Psyche / the princess to betray Cupid’s / the prince’s trust and take a look at him while he’s asleep. The drop from the burning candle wounds and wakes up Cupid / the prince and he leaves Psyche. – thus the breach of trust element.

Compare to Valentine / Magnus switch in 2x12, due to Azazel’s meddling. Magnus, like Cupid is “disguised” from Alec. He tries to assure him of his true identity but Alec doesn’t believe him because of Jace’s and Imogen’s persuasions - here the later two function in the plot as the “jealous” sisters of Psyche. Like Psyche and Cupid, Alec and Magnus are in the beginning of their relationship, so that’s why Psyche and Alec listen to other people, but not their loved ones (Cupid / Magnus). Plus the parallels between the burned wound and the agony rune.

Also, if we really want to overanalyze it “Cupid” (Latin: Cupido, “Desire” or “Amor;” Greek: “Eros” or “Love”) and “Psyche” (Greek: “Soul” or “Breath of Life”) represent allegorical unity of soul and divine love. Alec represents “Soul” and Magnus represents “Love”. A Soul cannot live without Love.

And yeah, maybe I’m overanalyzing and these are just random coincidences (save for the SB kiss and BatB wilting rose - these were intentional references), but it’s worth noting how Magnus in all of these scenarious represents a magical character whether it’s the “Good Fairy”, or the “Beast”, or “Cupid”... after all, Magnus is quite magical. 

Malec + Disney gifset

Malec + Cupid & Psyche parallels

Madzie saved Magnus’ life

Magnus + unreliable narrator trope in 2x15