#even though they're also actively trying to sabotage each other?

[fromperdition4]

No Kinn, that isn't a dumb question!

I would also like to know how you waltzed into the minor family compound, to the upper floors, with bandages sticking out of your shirt!

And also how Vegas keeps showing up at the main family compound with no advanced notice, to chat up your bodyguard!

Are the families just allowed to come and go as they please? Does anyone even make a report when they show up?

Or are Kinn and Vegas just very good at sneaking past all the guards that are (presumably) watching the perimeters?

Hell, let's make it a poll:

[outisgivingpac]

A message from your loved one🐦💌👀

Hello again, this is another theme from my last poll with the second most votes 🤗 In this PAC, we shall take a look at what your loved one want you to know, and it could be from your friends, family, romantic partner or even your pets 🌱

If you found my reading helpful or entertaining in any ways, please support me by liking and reblogging it. It helps my post reach more people and will be my huge source of motivation to continue creating free content. Check out my pinned post for personal reading. Enjoy~

✨Pick the picture/pile you feel most draw to✨

Pile 1. Pile 2.

Pile 3. Pile 4.

Pile 1

Death, 7 of Swords, 5 of Cups reversed

(TW: codependency)

Who are they?

This is someone from your past, whose relationship with you has come to an end or currently in the no-contact state. You could be the one who have walked away from them. This might due to objective reasons like one of you moved away to pursue their career. But I feel like it has more to do with how you might have crashed; you no longer saw them as a part of the future you want to have for yourself. The other way round can also be true, and you could both outgrow this connection. The end or halt of this relationship/attachment opened a new phase in your life.

What is their current energy?

They're coping hard in your absence. They might be stalking your social media, and/or trying to get any news about you and your current life through the few mutual friends you guys share. On the other hand, they also try hard to prove to themselves and everyone around them, that they're doing fine on their own even without you. They would try to engage in the same activities/commitments, that they used to have with you, with someone else, just to fill in the emptiness. For the few of you, this person could be a parental figure or a caregiver, who is suffering from the empty nest syndrome. In any case, they based most of their identity with the connection you two had, and is struggling to be something more after you left.

What is their message?

I feel a lot of regretful energy coming from them. They want you to know whatever action and words they put out back then that might have hurt you, it came out at the heat of the moment and they are still regreting it. There're things out of their control, and probably a lot of miscommunication. But, they want you to know they might have been mad/disappointed/ashamed, but never of you. Though, they fear they would sabotage the relationship further if they try to come forwards too strong. So as of now, they still keep the distance and watch your move. They just hope you won't blame/hate them too much for the past.

Pile 2

3 of Pentacles, Ace of Pentacles, The Magician

Who are they?

This person could be a colleague at your work place, a classmate or your partner, with whom you're building a life with. In any cases, you guys have been together for a while, long enough to know how to work and play together as a team. For some of you, this could be someone with whom you have collaborated on a more personal (hobby-ish) project long time ago, and still more or less stay on each other's contact. If you are a freelancer artist/writer/ect., this could be one of your customer lol. They stand out because a, they could also be your friend b, they're from the industry/the same fandom as you, the project you took on for them was super fun and successful.

What is their current energy?

Oh this person has some big idea cooking in their mind. They could be just freed from a duty/commitment and they are up to work on something with you, using what they learned/earned from the previous gig. They could have already started it and wanted to invite you in the team for your insight/magic touch. They're not so good at keeping good news secret, so you probably hear from them soon, if not already 🤭

What is their message?

Oh my, this person really looks up to you with spark in their eyes. To them, you're the specialist, a guru friend they can always trust to consult when it comes to this particular field. They want you to take pride in your work and be confident! It hurts them whenever you talk shit about yourself or sell your services cheaply. They want you to know they are always there for you. You can just ask and they would give their sword. Otherwise they would keep away from involving from your work. They are enthusiastically respect your creativity independence and would hate to come off as patronizing/overbearing.

Pile 3

Page of Wands reversed, Queen of Cups, 3 of Swords reversed

Who are they?

This person possesses a youthful or childlike energy. They could be a younger sibling, a child in your family, a junior at your school or workplace. They could simply be a few years younger than you or personality-wise they're just a carefree and/or stubborn type. For some of you it could even be your pet! Another clue I picked up on is they could be going through their rebellious phase at the moment lol

What is their current energy?

Their inner landscape has been expanding in depth as of late. They tend to spend more time for introspection, figuring out their feelings, dreams, and personal values. Because of this, they could appear moody, sensitive and socially less available to others during this time. Like, they would sneak away from people when there's a chance, and would take on solo trip without telling their friends like they usually would. Even though their closed door seem worrisome to most people, their mind is tranquil and they would be happier if people don't make such a big fuss about their absence and return. Just have fun when I'm there, so I heard.

What is their message?

If you guys fought recently, take this as their informal apologies. They can surely do better, but you know how it's harder to say sorry and thank you and I love you to the closest people in our life. On the other hands, they can totally picked it up whenever you're upset, may it be because of them or something else unrelated. Once again, they don't really know how to comfort you and fear that they will only make things worse. So when they see you're in bad mood, they would rather get out of your way and give you space than confronting you be like "What's up?". But it doesn't mean they don't care. Tbh they seem like a big confused puppy whenever it happens. It would be nice if someone could extend an oliver branch so that both parties can talk and clear out misunderstandings and confusion. That person is likely to be you because as I mentioned above, the emotional maturity of the other isn't quite as evolved to take initiatives.

Pile 4

The Sun, King of Cups, 10 of Cups reversed

Who are they?

Think of the most important people in your life right now (yes, pets count), this is one of them. If you believe in that term, this person is one of your soulmates. You just feel whole and safe and the happiest when they're around. Another way to recognize this kind of connection is, you never feel drained spending time with them, in the contrary, you fill each other battery up. For a few of you, they could be someone who is still looking after you from the other side.

What is their current energy?

They are in a state of great emotional stability, or like we say, their cups are full. They're at a place where they can easily sync in with other people, and give out of their compassion, patience and generosity. They're secure, in their lance, flourishing, you name it lol. Their pleasant energy would neutralize the negativity in a room; during this time, you will always see them act out of kindness and love, and be the bigger person in common conflicts.

What is their message?

"We already have everything we need" is the most prominent message that comes through. I think they just want you to take more time to rest and enjoy little things in life with them. They could be sad/worry for you when you were working too hard towards a goal, that you don't stop to fully celebrate your achievement or neglect your mental health. But at the same time, they know how this particular goal means to you, that's why they said nothing. They never want to stand between you and your goal, and would do anything they know to support you on this path. So instead, they make sure other aspect of your daily life is well taken care of. But yeah, there's a little blue like they wish you could just be more gentle with yourself at times. Like what's the point of all the hard work, if you won't let yourself win and enjoy the fruit?

Source for the art I used:

1. Moss by Melanie Miller

2. Warm stars as the dance by Henri Matisse (@plantbasedsav)

3. Art by @pixolotl on Instagram

4. Art by @turndecassette on Instagram

[thursdayinspace]

But now I'm thinking about the dynamic between Jack and Ianto during CoE, the whole mess about being a couple or not, the way it hurts to see Jack pushing Ianto away like that. Especially when Jack had been the one to ask Ianto on a date in the first place, so he very much implied that that was where things were going for them - becoming a real couple.

Only then one thing leads to another and suddenly they *are* a couple and Jack panics and acts like it's the last thing he wants. Towards the end he has started actively downplaying and sabotaging their relationship. It feels like he's trying to make Ianto break up with him and that makes *so much sense*. Because he really actually fell in love; he's not just dating this guy, he can imagine a future with him, and that's the one thing he can never have. What does it have to feel like, knowing that everyone you love and everyone you ever will love will die and you'll have to live without them forever? It's no wonder he doesn't want to commit to anything because the more you love something the more it hurts to lose it.

But he can't leave Ianto. His heart has already made the commitment he can under no circumstances allow himself to make. None of that is a conscious thing. It's pure self preservation, pure survival instinct. He needs Ianto, but that need is the thing that will one day break him. So he needs Ianto to leave *him*. He needs Ianto to believe that there's nothing between them that's worth fighting for. (Whilst a small part of him maybe wants the opposite: Ianto convincing him that they're worth all the pain.)

That doesn't make it okay how he treats Ianto. But those two are really seriously NOT good at communicating. Ianto deserves more. Jack is pushing him away without any sort of explanation. And Ianto is so loyal and doesn't accept it even though it's obvious how hurt he is. I wish we'd had a chance to see how all of that would have evolved from there. Jack does not want to hurt Ianto, but he does, and at some point Ianto would have snapped. He loves Jack, but he would not have let himself be held at a distance forever, not after everything they'd been through and all their relationship development (very much including the audios here).

I would have loved to see their breaking point. The point where one of them would have said "okay, enough," and ended it. I think a proper breakup would have been what they needed, a real cut, to reset from there. To see what being apart is like - especially Jack. But Ianto as well. They NEVER TALK about each other's fears and insecurities and they need to. They wouldn't just see a relationship counsellor or sit down over a meal and talk about their feelings. They need a proper shock to wake them up. Maybe Ianto only almost dying in CoE, a miraculous last minute rescue? And then the two of them having all that between them, Jack's "I take it all back, but not him!" and Ianto's "I love you." That would be something to work through. It would be too easy for that to fix anything, but it would be pivotal enough for them to probably spiral completely out of control as they try to unravel the mess that is their relationship.

TL;dr: I think Jack lashed out because he couldn't leave Ianto but also didn't want the pain of losing him. Ianto deserved more than that. And I think no amount of talking could have fixed them at that point, but if they had let it break them, they might have found the strength to work through it and emerged from it stronger than ever.

And now I'm basically writing fic at this point so I'll stop.

[manicpixiefelix]

Farleigh: "Wait, how did you know that?"

Oliver and Reader "Heirs to an International Media and Technology Empire" L/N:

In a world where Oliver and Farleigh arent in actual competition for a place at Saltburn, where Oliver is already well off and secure and doesn't try and sabotage Farleigh and is only like, a vague academic annoyance and personal pest to Farleigh at times, I have to believe they develop a, like "no-ones allowed to bully you but me" dynamic where they like each other so much more than either will ever willingly admit. Outwardly they're so mean to each other, but you, Felix, and Venetia stop being concerned about it when you realise that snarking at each other is Oliver and Farleigh's love language. They also defend each other when someone else talks shit, but only if whoever's being spoken badly of is no within earshot.

When Farleigh realises the straight up illegal things you and your brother are capable of, he has this moment of terror realising that his browser history is not, nor has it ever been safe. He'd threatened both Catton siblings with violent, bloody death if they ever spoke of his teenage crush on Oliver, but he realises that his still-active LiveJournal account may be his undoing.

He subtly tries to figure out if either you or Oliver had already got any dirt on him that he hadn't explicitly told you about, and is mortified when Oliver all but confirms as much.

Except that Farleigh realises that Oliver's never weaponised any of it against him, or even made mention that he knew as a way to manipulate him, to hold it over Farleigh's head, even when their banter had gotten particularly cruel and personal. He hadn't even acted like he'd known, even though Farleigh now knew that he definitely did. Maybe Farleigh's teenage feelings weren't as misplaced as he'd been believing. Maybe Oliver, for all his faults, wasn't nearly as much of a bastard as Farleigh had been believing since he'd finally met him in person.

[sarnai4]

Amusement Parks

I am a major fan of amusement parks (Cedar Point specifically) and started wondering what it would be like if the RTTE crew went on a group trip there. So, here's a set of headcanons for how this would do.

Gotta talk about the rollercoasters. Fishlegs is probably not getting on most of them, but I bet Dagur convinces him to try out one loop coaster and the blond is surprised by how much fun it is (it'll be like their time hanging out with their Gronckles). Hiccup is on them, but he's also looking at the engineering aspect and considering how he could build a better one. Snotlout is screaming his lungs out, but he's loving every second of it too. At some point, either the twins and/or Dagur are teasing him about probably not being tall enough to get on some of the rides. (If they're ever right, he will never near the end of it) Mala is too proper to scream on rollercoasters, so she's just smiling. Dagur's laughing the whole time. Ruff and Tuff keep trying to make the other one scream by also fighting on the rides. Astrid loves the adrenaline and Throk would let out a cheer, but he's not sure if that's proper or not. After a few times, he might. Heather and Minden ride coasters like normal people. Lastly, Stoick and Gobber just plain aren't fitting. Sorry guys.

For the carnival games, There's a competition going on. You have Dagur, Astrid, Snotlout, and Throk trying to see who can get the most toys for their S.O.'s (even though Ruffnut is definitely still not Throk's girlfriend). Hiccup really doesn't care about getting a toy, but he knows there's no point in trying to have Astrid not be competitive. Minden also doesn't want a toy, but she likes seeing how excited Snotlout is to get her some. Ruffnut and Mala are sorta competing too and betting on who's going to win because 1. the twin still wants toys and 2. Mala can't let her trash talking go without any of it being dished back out to her. She's just classy with how she does it. Gobber's playing too because he wants to show the youngins how the pros do it. The last time Stoick played, he broke the whack-a-mole and had to pay for repairs, so he's picking who to root for.

Fishlegs is mostly enjoying all the foods and has had 3rd breakfast, 5th lunch, and nth dinner by the time the park closes for the night. The twins normally join him to get filled up on garlic parmesan fries...then feel really sick on the rides. I can see Stoick enjoying the turkey legs in particular.

Cedar Point also has an arcade area because it doesn't know how to be anything other than amazing. Fishlegs is probably here more than with the rides. The others trickle in after they've ridden a lot of the coasters. The twins are on air hockey and intentionally aiming the puck at each other's fingers. This is also why none of the others will play against them. Everyone takes turns on the games, but the competitive side has to return, so this is also a competition. Snotlout actively spends his time sabotaging Dagur on all of the games (he will even block the basketball on those hoop games). In his defense, this is payback. You'll see why in a few moments.

For the other rides, Fishlegs and Heather are on the Ferris wheel. Snotlout and Minden are too, but Dagur has found these little bean bags to test out his aim by seeing if he can still bop Snotlout with them. The mood is very killed with Minden, but she also thinks it's funny. And now you know why Snotlout is cheating later on. Astrid is convinced the non rollercoaster rides don't count, but Hiccup gets on some. The big guys still can't ride unfortunately.

When it comes to the shows, they're all enjoying them and the twins try to have the audience start the wave or some type of chant. (At least one of their attempts works). Heather especially likes the live music. She might even be one of the singers who's going to perform later. For the characters that employees are dressed up as, the twins are amazed. This might lead to Throk seeing if they have a position open for him since it would make Ruffnut happy. Hopefully it won't happen because Dagur keeps trying to have the poor individuals break character by tormenting them. Mala and Hiccup get him to stop eventually, but he's still making faces at the workers behind their backs.

Last but not least, the waterpark. The thrill seekers of the group are on the slides and the twins are also having fun at the kiddie section with the dragon head. Admittedly, the reptile caught Hiccup's eye too. After enjoying the slides, Heather joins Fishlegs in the calmer water with the inner tubes. Stoick acts like he thinks the slides are silly, but Gobber gets him to try them since he seems to be having such a great time. If anyone looks at Mala or Minden for too long, they're getting hit or glared at, respectively, by their boys (Throk included for Mala. Only her hubby can make googly eyes at her).

After all this, I think they'd consider their vacation a very nice one

[msfbgraves]

Writing abusive relationships: the confrontation

It doesn't matter if you're writing The Karate Kid or Cinderella, if you're writing about abuse, you need a confrontation - one at the beginning and at the end. The first confrontation is to show how dangerous the bully/abuser really is - for Karate Kid, that's the first time Johnny and Daniel square off. Daniel is no coward, but Johnny is a trained martial artist. With Disney's Cinderella we really know what we're up against when the stepsisters destroy Cindy's dress.

The Karate Kid then falls into a trap, though, that modern Disney films also suffer from. In order for Miyagi to come in to rescue Daniel, Daniel needs to be in mortal danger from his bullies.

The problem here is that most people in such violent situations would do almost everything to keep such a confrontation from occurring. Daniel in the Karate Kid, though, takes revenge on Johnny, completely unprovoked and unprotected. Now the narrative kinda sorta lets him get away with that by pointing out that the boy lacks an instinct for self-preservation. But most people don't. In a lot of stories about teenagers people circumvent that by making those teenagers having 'had it' and finally standing up for themselves, thereby starting off the final showdown.

That always rings incredibly false to me. My parents were very verbally abusive to each other, and if you got caught in the crossfire, also to us. My sister and I quickly learnt never to rock the boat, definitely never to blow up at them. However much the audience needs it, your victim is not on their own accord suddenly going to blow up at their abuser. That's too dangerous. Sorry, Daniel, Johnny had a point in your actions being slightly insane.

But then how do you have the climactic moment your story is working up to?

Well, abusers want you to fail. As little as you want to give them ammunition, they love having at you. So what they do is set up rules that no living person could possibly live by. They're contradictory, they change, the abuser may actively be provoking you to break them.

Cuba and His Teddy Bear, another Ralph Macchio project, does this brilliantly. Teddy is my absolute hero for calming down his father Cuba, even when Cuba is actively baiting him. That sweet boy is a master at avoiding violent confrontations. But of course there has to be one. And it comes about because Teddy is so overworked, so stressed, and so shocked by something else that happened to him, that he, for once, can't do what he needs to do to avoid his father blowing up at him. It's not for lack of trying, it's not for him 'finally taking a stand', it's simply too much to ask. He lost his head. Cinderella, too, loses her head when she hears her lover was the Prince, and that he's looking for her. For once she doesn't have the mental capacity to dodge all the bullets that come with being around her stepfamily.

So what will break your target out of their self-protective mode? Is someone else being threatened they deeply love? A small unrelated mishap that causes a meltdown? Is there a fire? Did somebody rat on them to their abuser? Did they get caught on a lie? Did somebody stash something in their locker and school called their parents? Did their abuser sabotage an escape attempt? Did their abuser get home early because they were fired and are now looking for blood?

Anything, anything but the random blow ups, please. A lot of abuse survivors did so because they got out before there was one. Your characters don't need to show they have a spine. Them trying to navigate life in such a terrible situation shows that well enough.

There is one exception, and that is from, among others, The Umbrella Academy. Five Hargreeves had already decided that he was going to run away from home, if worst came to worst. Then, and only then, with a viable escape planned, do victims sometimes seek a confrontation, since they prefer their abuser saying yes to something they need rather than to take it, or because they are indeed sick and tired to their soul. Another version of that is when the abuser feels their victim slipping and escalates themselves (This Boy's Life).

Otherwise it's often wish fullfilment that would kill people in real life.

[bearpillowmonster]

🎵 Poppin' bottles in the ice, like a blizzard. 🎵

This thing-

This thing changes everything, it gives me nightmares. This is the first Sly game flipped on its head. So rather than a one-hit KO (unless you gained a horseshoe) you now have a health bar, a lot of enemies had a one hit ratio in the last game but this one, they're less like Crash villains and actually fight back. This sets off your health bar as "alerted" or spotted which is later a feature in Assassin's Creed, there are even trailing and chasing missions.

There are no longer lives because of this meter and makes it so the levels aren't built the same way to where you need checkpoints. This can be both a good thing and a bad thing because I feel like the jumps are more responsive (that could also just be me with more experience now) but sometimes the controls are too responsive so if there's a wire underneath another or something then sometimes it picks the one that you're not aiming for which has blown my cover before. It would've been a lot simpler to just auto-death from that than to have to try to reset it myself by taking damage.

The levels are no longer portals, they're set up inside the hub world so that you enter whatever building it's leading you to or even take place in the hub itself. There are waypoints activated from your binocucom, mostly easy to find. I can't tell if this is a good thing or a bad thing though because on one hand it fleshes out the area that you're in but on the other hand, it diminishes the amount of variety that was allowed in the last game so one level may look like an extension to the last. But once again, each level acts towards a grander mission, except rather than just collecting keys (unless it's a mission on its own), you collect intel and sabotage the enemy's plans, it's more in depth and makes for some wacky shenanigans.

Making up for that lost variety, one of the big selling points of this game is that there are now multiple playable characters which means separate levels for each. Bentley excels in tech and long range Murray in destruction and Sly in stealth, so it is indeed like I remember it. Basically, (when playing as Sly) unless Bentley says otherwise, you shouldn't fight or you'll fail the mission. You can get away, in fact, you have a run button now since your walk speed is more sneaky but it's a little bit louder so it's really only for getaways. With each character, I feel a slight disadvantage for traversal but it's not too overbearing. (Only Sly can tightrope walk and such)

Without horseshoes, you now have all these leftover coins and I've mentioned this in other games and this one actually follows through, it lets the coins act as currency to buy useful items, in this case the stuff that you would've unlocked from the bottles in the first game.

Like my little chart? It would've been confusing otherwise but I wrapped my head around it. So, now the levels no longer hold the bottles but the hub worlds do. This makes it a bit harder because like I said with "unless Bentley says so", if you've started something to do with a level, go too far away from the area you've chosen and Bentley might make you abandon it. So only collect at certain times because it's easier when there's less to keep track of. (That's a good euphemism for this game overall tbh, it's a flip flop whether it's better or worse than its predecessor)

The vault is held in one of the levels but since it could be any of them, you do have the chance to go back to that level once you find it if you haven't had the chance to collect them all the first time around. The bottles still give you abilities, exclusive ones that the coins won't net you, so you actually have more abilities than the first game.

I've complained enough about the differences.

One of the games that I want more of is Beyond Good and Evil and I just haven't found anything like it...until I played this game, I mean you even get to take pictures (not like you would on PS4) but it's nice to see it implemented into the gameplay, especially seeing as BGAE came out just a year before this. And as much as I loved the first game, this one actually actively gave me ideas for how good that supposed movie could've been, it's just a shame we lost it (though maybe a blessing as well?)

I enjoy the story of this game more and while there are some things better, there are some things worse and I think my favoritism of the overall picture would be ratioed to Thievius Raccoonus.

[specialability]

House MD S6 Finale & S07E01

Time for me to have unpopular feelings and opinions about a decade-old show!!!

Even though House has never been a subtle show, the finale to season 6 was really just ham-fisted. I can't believe it got such high ratings. Very senior doctors are called in to help at an active emergency site - sure fine whatever suspending disbelief. The setting and makeup and practical effects and all that were great, but those are some of the most reliably good parts of the whole series.

However, the writing. Nobody seems to remember the part where House was in a major bus crash which nearly killed him and did actually kill his best friend's girlfriend and the depression spiral from that specific event was what precipitated his collapse and move into a mental hospital. Who cares about that, PTSD doesn't exist.

Then somehow as an audience we're also supposed to care about Cuddy suddenly getting married to Lucas.

And there is a patient literally trapped with her leg literally at risk of being chopped off in order to try to save her life. House wants to help her keep her leg for obvious reasons. Cuddy gets mad at him for idk its not really clear - he disagreed with her therefore he's trying to sabotage her marriage. The important thing is that House is going to handle this differently than when he was the one making the decision about amputation for himself because he has Changed.

And also House is trying to explain the crane operator falling asleep so that he stops blaming the accident on himself - he didn't hurt all those people, it was his medical condition. Once again really just drawing huge arrows in crayon at the message they're trying to send.

They couldn't just pick one of those ideas? Like yeah, we get it, House has feelings about his leg, Cuddy still has feelings about House, House feels bad about hurting people and wants to be better. None of this is revealing new information. It's all just crammed in there.

The trapped woman dies and House explodes because he keeps trying to do the right thing and it never works out for him - the only genuine feeling in the whole episode. So he's on the floor of his old bathroom with the Vicodin again. And Cuddy appears. Just like the hallucination. But oh no she has dumped Lucas for House~ how dramatic~. Then also btw Thirteen is quitting.

What??

It's not as bad as House/Cameron was! House/Cuddy works fine on the level of flirting and maybe an old crush, but as it became escalated to "I've been in love with you for 20 years" - barf. Feels very much like they Needed to have a House romance plot twist for the finale and they can't possibly come up with a new love interest (or make Wilson canon) so Cuddy it is. The more Dramatic Events per episode the better, right?

And then watching the first episode of the new season, the writers were in a real hurry to show that this relationship can *totally* work you guys like this was always supposed to be endgame. The characters are talking to each other on such a superficial level that I would expect from like... a 15 year old's first fanfiction. I know this show is bad. I know it. Somehow this just really irritated me. Send help, I'm actually thinking about looking up fandom reactions from back then to see if I'm totally off base here.

[sohemotional]

Brittana Obligatory OTP Asks: 6, 26, 48, 53, 54

6. Who would beg the other not to leave? Who has to leave to protect the other?

This is sad to think about. For one thing, I don't see this scenario ever happening post-canon because these two have a very happy and long marriage. Theoretically, I don't know if either of them would beg each other not to leave but more so Santana out of the two because she gets more passionate about sharing her emotions and is more afraid of being alone. Santana would also be the one who feels she has to protect Britt by leaving her because for one thing she's a dumbass (affectionate) and she ruins good things for herself because she gets scared and another thing is that she's super protective of Britt. I feel like this situation has happened in canon several times tbh and in all cases, neither of them begged each other not to go even though they were clearly longing for the other to stay. They're not the types who would beg anyone to stay if they think it's useless to try.

The first case is the Season 2 confession in Sexy. Santana clearly would have begged Britt to be with her and she basically did but she was too hurt/prideful to actually plead with her more than that. She pushes Britt away as soon as it becomes clear that Britt won't have her the way she wants her. The second case is Season 4, during The Break Up - you can clearly see Britt wants to beg Santana not to do this but she just resigns herself to her fate because she's too depressed and she realizes it's useless. Santana thinks she's "protecting" Britt by leaving her then. Then in Diva, Britt essentially "leaves" Santana (or allows/encourages Santana to leave her) because she thinks she's protecting San by telling her to go to NY. When you think about it, (and I say this lovingly as they're my OTP) Santana's flaw in the Brittana relationship is her fear and Brittany's was her passivity. So that's why neither of them spoke up in many situations when they could/should have spoken up and actively fought for each other (they do finally get much better at that later in the series and they work out in the end).

26. What are their vices?

(Pls keep in mind that this is not in any way meant to bash them as I am a huge fan of them as individuals and a couple. Please keep in mind too that Santana is a villain for most of the story and has grown a lot by the time of Season 6)

Santana as I mentioned before, is a really fearful person. Probably the most fearful Glee character. She's sometimes like a feral animal lashing out, especially in the early seasons. Which is actually very sad and makes me want to hug her. A lot of her meanness comes from her need to control everything around her because she's so afraid. She's afraid that they'll judge her first and say mean things and not like her. She's very sensitive and can't handle being hurt by others so she strikes first. She's so afraid of people not liking her that she gives them a reason to dislike her.

She'll also sabotage things in her life that are genuinely good because she's afraid of losing them. Santana also is very prideful and vain. She hates being made to be vulnerable or having her ego wounded in any way and she'll sometimes do the most ridiculous and/or mean things to save her pride. Santana does have a cruel side to her too. She's also the most jealous character in the series. She hates others taking anything that she perceives belongs to her and she wants what she feels is hers all for herself. At times, she's vengeful and she is selfish in the way she views things (for example, during the Bartie drama in Season 2, Santana only thinks of how it affects her but doesn't try to see things from Brittany's perspective because she's a selfish teenager). As we know, Santana is also materialistic (though I believe she becomes less so by season 6).

Brittany is a more complicated case (and I'd totally love to talk more about Brittany's virtues/flaws in another post if anyone wants to talk about Brittany because she's fascinating to me and literally no one ever talks about her). She is concerned about her popularity too, though she doesn't validate herself solely by her social status/popularity as much as San does. She will insult people that she views as threats to her hierarchy in the social chain, to maintain her position sort of, when she needs to. Fans forget that Brittany was designed to be a mean girl and a villain. That is not meant as bashing her as I find it very interesting that she is very cute and sweet at times but also has that catty mean girl side that arises on occasion. She will also fully support/even enjoy a lot of the mean things Santana does because she's quite catty herself and she likes Santana protecting them. Brittany isn't an evil person, nor is she a completely selfish person but she does mainly care about herself and Santana and she will do whatever to support/protect their little unit they have together. I don't blame her either btw. The entire Glee club is divided into little groups who only/mainly care about each other.

Brittany can also be quite manipulative in a different, less obvious way to Santana, for example with Rory (that is a complex case that I won't get into but of course Rory wasn't fully innocent either) and with other characters because she wants to troll them purposely for the fun of it. Her misdeeds are passive aggressive, petty and shady rather than outright violent. I think particularly in the earlier seasons, Brittany's flaw was that she tended to be very passive and put everyone else's needs ahead of herself but in Seasons 5-6 she starts going after what she wants more assertively. Her speech to Santana in episode 100 is the moment where her character evolved the most imo. Actually to be honest, the moment when she started taking a stand for herself for the first time was season 2 Duets when she started dating Artie.

48. Who's the better driver?

Santana. They're both...weird drivers. No one else would want to be in a car with either of them. Santana has serious road rage and drives super fast while cursing out anyone she dislikes meanwhile Brittany is the most scatterbrained driver ever and she's crazy on the roads. So they've decided that Santana drives most of the time because it's the lesser of two evils and Santana is the more responsible one about getting them to wherever they're going. Santana is the default driver and Brittany rarely drives. She prefers to give instructions to San on how to find places. Which gets them lost.

53. Would they ever go skinny dipping?

Would they? Is that a question? Oh they absolutely have. Several times and done more than that too ;) Santana's parents took her on a trip with Britt to Puerto Rico in the summer after junior year and things definitely got steamy between Brittana for a few nights, let's just say. Ocean sex is something Brittany always wanted to try.

54. Who’s more likely to carry the other to bed?

Brittany is more likely to carry San on her back sometimes because she's taller and it's just easier but San will totally try to carry Britt too even though she struggles. Britt finds it adorable when she finds out San actually carried her across the room.

[dream-a-little-bigger-darling000]

Author's Note: Hi that isn't my GIF. But this is my fic and I would really appreciate it if you told me how you thought it was, and if you especially like it, my requests are open friends. :3 I have the spicy sad right now, and needed a little angst with a happy ending. Ok, be fed I guess.

This has 3,000+ words, are you proud of me or what!?

From the prompt: As teenagers, a boy and a girl agree to marry if neither have by their 35th birthday. Follow the boy as he attempts to sabotage every relationship the girl has until then.

"Hey Tommy? I was thinking."

"That's a shit idea, you should stop doing that"

You swiped at the back of his head.

"Shut up you ass, I'm serious."

"Hi serious I'm- OW fucking hurt is what I am it's a joke, learn to take a-AH." You hurdled a handful of playground pebbles at the 17 year old.

"Alright, alright gorgeous, hit me- No! I meant hit me with the question you little shit." It was getting hard to breathe when he got you to giggle so hard.

You're laughter died down. You looked down, unsure if you could look at his face when you said this.

"I don't have a boyfriend." He abruptly stopped laughing, hiding the obvious fact that he almost choked on his own spit. You breathed a laugh again.

"I don't have a boyfriend. And you don't have a girlfriend." Your smile slipped off.

Tell him. Tell him, you're almost there. I don't have anyone, and you don't either except we do we have each we have each other we have-

You looked to Tommy, his boyish presence fitting on the swing set made for much younger kids. You were much younger kids when you met for the first time, on this very swing set. You think about telling him you fell in love with him when he pushed Jackson Paloski down on the asphalt because Jackson said trailer-trash can't play on the nice swing set. You didn't know it was love though, you were in the fourth grade but your heart still beat a little faster and when you asked him if you could sit beside him during lunch he huffed and complained, showing off he was moody and tough and haughty, but he very obviously made Michael Welsh move from his spot beside Tommy so that the pretty new girl could take her place beside him. And you stayed there. For years. Right beside him.

You felt the breath leave your lungs as you thought about telling him you can't stop thinking about him lately.

Can't stop hoping your skin will touch when he asks you to pass him something.

Can't help feeling like punching every girl that makes a scene trying to gain his attention. You're usually so focused on glaring at the girl that you miss the way he shrinks in on himself, the way he actively turns his body to you.

You think about telling him. And how telling him could mean you could do more, be more.

You think about telling him. And you think about him pulling away from you, gently gathering his things as he stumbles over how to let you down easily, unaware that that's not an option any more. Tommy letting you down would mean shattering.

You clench your jaw. His eyes try to tell you something.

"So. So since. We don't have someone." You look toward the Shell gas station across the street. Tommy wets his lips with a quick swipe of his tongue.

Your throat twinges, the twinge you get when you're trying to hold back tears. You shrug to yourself and let out a breathy laugh.

Coward.

"So since we don't have hot dates, we should make a deal." You make your voice upbeat. You know Tommy can call your bullshit but he doesn't, sit's quietly.

"If by the time we're 35, and we don't have a, someone, to, ya' know. We should get married." Your heart clenches. "If we don't have. Like if I don't have a husband, and you don't. Have a girl, or-" Tommy is quiet. White hot panic races up your spine. You look over at him.

Tommy looks-

He looks like he's frozen, like he's still a few sentences behind, and you're about to throw in the towel and swallow a few of these pebbles so you'll choke and die and won't have to hear his laughter tear apart your heart.

Then Tommy blinks and kind of hunkers in on himself, looks anywhere but you, eyes shifting and darting. His smile isn't his when he manages it.

"Oh, you're so on, sweetheart."

It's not quite right. The atmosphere is still tense and you feel like there's a conversation you're meant to be having, like there were supposed to be different words spoken and heard during that time.

But having Tommy, even if it's like this, even if he doesn't want you like you ache for him, is better than not having him at all.

Beside you, while you hurt quietly beside him, watching the sun set, rocking back and forth on the too low swing, Tommy swallows down self-hatred and overwhelming feelings. Instead, he schemes.

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

It's been five years since you've made your little deal with Tommy. Five years, and every single time you've tried to move on from the man, it's ended in catastrophe.

The time you two had just graduated high school and drove to Tommy's house so his older brother could congratulate you two. Brendan had had a buddy over that night, not much older than you, and you would be lying if you said you didn't flush appreciatingly at his sly smile toward you and the way he actively tried to add you in on the conversation.

The night ended rather abruptly when Tommy had spilled hot tea all over the guys front. Tommy was always collected, and it was rare moment when he was clumsy. Never mind the fact that Tommy never drank tea, and actively made fun of you drinking the stuff.

Or the time you two reluctantly went to Brendan's wedding. You loved Tess, and thought they were a great couple, but stomaching an entire ceremony of the two being gross and affectionate, all while you and Tommy couldn't boo and throw miscellaneous items at them? The entire evening was spent with Tommy snuggly against your side snarking quietly in your ear, so close you could feel his warm breath on the entire side of your face.

Yes, your plan of moving on was going swimmingly.

Then Tommy went to the bathroom, and a handsome man smiled at you across the room. You tentatively smiled back, and he moved as if to cross the distance. Then immediately stopped, his face dropping and his eyes widening slightly as he spotted something a little over your shoulder. You saw him clear his throat and veer toward a large group laughing.

Your felt your face slightly warm and your heart drop a little, self consciously looking over your shoulder.

And let out a noise of surprise.

Tommy stood behind you, so close for a second you thought a very well dressed wall had somehow appeared while you weren't looking. You had just enough time to see 'The Expression'.

Tommy was an amazing fighter. And all throughout high school, he made sure while he minded his own, he could also hold his own, and everyone knew it. He had developed an expression, one that scared every single boy in this town shitless. It was a mix between unbridled rage and open invitation. The message was pretty clear and universal.

Come get some.

You usually laughed and teased him about it, because to you it just looked like he stubbed his toe and he was trying not to yell.

You weren't expecting to see it at his brother's wedding, and you certainly weren't laughing now.

In a blink it was gone from his face, and he turned to you with his beautiful sweet smile, the smile that showed just a little peak of his slightly messed up front teeth. He usually reserved that smile for you. You had never seen anyone else on the receiving end.

"Tommy, why were you just-"

"This blows, I just passed Tess and Brendan flirting. They're already married, why would they keep doing that." He rolled his eyes, moving to your side as his hand disappeared behind your back.

"Tommy did you just square up to the guy checking me ou-"

"Brendan's friend is here, the one who can can do a Kick Up."

You stared at each other for a long moment. You felt his hand barely ghosting over the small of your back. His eyes where sharp, a little desperate.

"Tommy."

"There's also a rumor he killed a guy with just a playing card."

You licked your lips. He raised his eyebrows, his lips getting distracting.

"Shit Conlon, why didn't you start with that, take me to him."

Or the time, more recently, when you went to a match to watch Tommy completely destroy his opponent. You loved going out to see him fight. Loved the adrenaline and the satisfaction when Tommy won, making him less timid, a little more rowdy and confident, a little more touchy and feely.

You've kind of given up on the whole moving on thing, even if it was driving you up a wall.

Tommy had just won, and you were eagerly waiting to congratulate him, excited to hug him freely, without him wondering why you were hugging him to begin with. And maybe to hold on a little tighter. Maybe to allow your hands to rove a little more freely.

Hey, was it not a night for celebration?

A man started to chat you up. You smiled patiently and gave some noncommittal grunts and affirmations as you continued to scan the crowd, looking for the familiar mass of Tommy, all hard edges and bulk. You were bouncing on the balls of your feet.

The guy moved closer, making a joke you didn't really hear. You laughed, your eyes darting and searching.

"You look beautiful by the way. I saw you watching the fight, crazy that you're into this stuff. Not a lot of women I know cheer like that."

You finally glance over to the man, but quickly get back to standing on your tip toes, looking above heads.

He doesn't even look that bad, and it's obvious he wants to get your number. He's just not the man you want chat with, and definitely not tonight. Not on a night that Tommy just won, and a night he'll want to come over to yours, joking and teasing, touching you much more confidently than he normally would. Falling asleep much more easier with his head on your lap.

You tamp down a smile. You wouldn't want this guy to get the wrong idea.

"You know, there's a really good Thai place down the road- Ah, fuck, watch it buddy. Can you not look where you're go-" You hear the man choke off the sentence, trying not to smile as you imagine the other guy. probably a lot bigger than he is. Wouldn't want to completely ruin his night by laughing at the guy.

"Fuuck me, buddy, sorry. I did not know who I was talking to." You could hear the man swallow. "Hey, I think you did great in the ring tonight, real good job of... Knocking that guy out. With one punch."

You whirled around, smiling so wide you felt the strain on your cheeks. There was only one guy who did that tonight.

Sure enough, Tommy was standing there. He had put on a shirt and took his gloves off, but he was still sweaty and breathing hard. He completely stanced up, like he is in the ring, and his expression was-

Well, you chalked it up to the testosterone flowing freely through the place. Probably just mad that he ran into another dude.

It still didn't stop you from running and jumping directly on him, arms coming up to wrap around his neck, legs completely circling his torso. You giggled into his neck, exclaiming how proud you were of him, how good he looked out there, completely stroking his ego, but not caring at the moment.

You felt his arms immediately span your back, feeling like his hands where trying to be everywhere at once. That was new. That was new and you couldn't say you hated it.

What you didn't see was the look on Tommy's face. The cold calm of someone who just threw a punch so hard at a man who was bigger and faster than him and shut his shit down. Directed at another man, much slower and smaller in comparison.

You didn't see the stranger's face pale, but you distantly heard the sound of chairs clatter to the ground as he turned tail.

Five years of pining (not so) quietly for Tommy, the man you had fallen in love with, but without a doubt did not love you back.

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

Tommy knew without a doubt that he loved you.

All those years back in fourth grade, when he let it slip that his favorite snack was those crackers with the cheese filling, and you showed up with a whole pack of them to share, smiling this big goofy grin with your beautiful eyes and warm presence.

God how could he not.

The problem was how he was supposed to convince you to like him back. Him, Tommy, who fought most of his way through high school, who didn't like to get too close to people, who didn't like eye contact or conversation that ran too long or too forced. Who loved you though.

And who was very annoyed at the boy flirting with his girl.

It never failed to make Tommy's blood boil. He knew he had no right, because for one, he spent five years doing his damned best to break up every chance at you leaving him.

Just until you guys turn 35, right Tommy boy? You can probably keep that up.

Tommy breathed in a shuttering breath.

He just wanted to buy you your favorite drink at your favorite café. That's all he wanted to do. And maybe find and excuse to hold your hand without burning up from the embarrassment of actually having feelings (can you imagine?).

But of course, some dick-head always noticed how beautiful or kind or warm you were, and had to take their shot.

Well, Tommy was fucking sick of it.

Tommy thought of all the times, and there were a lot of times, when he had to step in and derail the situation. He knew this would be the last time. He had to do this, get rid of the unrelenting ache he felt while going to sleep, looking at you, thinking about you.

Tommy moved toward the you and the man you were talking to like he was entering the ring. With the mindset that he could get totally and irreversibly hurt, but he was gonna fight to the bloody end beforehand.

"Do you need directions?" Tommy asked as he slid up behind you, closer than he would have ever before. He felt your confusion even if he couldn't see your face.

"What?" The man was just as quizzical.

"Oh, I was just asking if you needed directions or if you could get lost on your own." Tommy raised his eyebrows, setting his hand on your hip, trying not to think about the many, many questions you'd have about that.

The man thought about arguing, but then he really looked at Tommy. Looked at you, then back to Tommy. Decided he didn't want to bleed tonight, and huffed out an angry sound.

You at least waited until he was out of ear shot before whirling on him.

"What. What was that?"

"Ok, I know what your probably thinking-"

"That you're out of your mind Tommy?! Are you kidding me right now? 'Get lost?' Get outta here with that shit, what was that?"

The two of you were pretty far back in the shop, but he still lowered his voice to make sure no one was bothered.

"Ok, yes, you're mad, I can see that-"

"Oooooh well I'm glad you can see that Tommy." You felt your face start to turn red, feeling exhausted and confused. "Explain. Explain to me Tommy, that every time a guy wants to have a nice, civil, God forbid, flirtatious conversation with me, he high tails it out of there just as fast, Tommy, explain."

Tommy felt an expanding ache somewhere behind his left eye.

"Ok. Ok I'm gonna say something stupid-"

"You always say something stupid, stupid-"

"Can you just. Can you let me finish." Tommy felt exasperated and a little insane. He was about to confess in a coffee shop to the girl he loved and things would never be the same again because she was about to leave, but fuck it if he wasn't at a boiling point.

"Ok. You know how we made a deal?" You looked at him, raising your eyebrows.

"About who could spray the most whipped cream in their mouth? Yeah it's me, it'll always be me. So you got so mad you're trying to, what, make sure I die alone, I don't..."

"What? No can you not, can you focus right now?" Tommy's palms were starting to sweat and he clenched his eyes shut tight. He breathed in and let it back out in one harsh huff. "When we were seventeen-"

"Seventeen?"

"When we were seventeen you said that if we weren't married by the time we were 35, that we should marry each other." He watched as your eyes widened and your face warmed a little. "Well, the deals off. I'm not doing it any more."

Tommy wasn't sure what to expect, but the flash of utter pain that tore across your face was not it. You stepped back, looked like you were about to bolt, your eyes wild. You tried to pull yourself together but it was really hard to breathe. No matter how many times you tried to prepare yourself for this day, you could have never imagined how it actually almost brought you know to your knees.

"So. Here's the new deal. If in like, five minutes, you're still single, and I'm still single..." Tommy swallowed hard, licking his lips. "We should just." His eyes darted to your lips.

You froze. Tommy caught his lush lower lip in between his teeth. He'd never been more nervous his entire life. So nervous for the inevitable laugh, the pity laced rejection, because really, it was one thing to be friends with a shy awkward boxer, but another to look at him and think, 'yeah, that'll do.'

Tommy had approximately five seconds to wallow in self deprecation and pure terror before he had a handful of you, and something that suspiciously felt like lips on his lips. But that's funny, because he's almost positive that that's not the case.

Then he felt your tongue swipe his lip and decided he cared fuck all and proceeded to get lost in you, your breaths, God he could feel, taste, your breath as you both got consumed by each other.

Someone coughed disapprovingly your way. The two of you broke apart, panting slightly.

"Ok, ok please don't. I really don't want you to hit me but I'm really fucking dense, right, and I just have to ask, you did that because you. You like like me- OW I said I didn't want you to hit me!"

You felt yourself laughing, felt your never ending ache subside and your love sky rocket.

"Oh, you're an idiot," You pecked his lips, he tried to catch your mouth fully but failed. "You are such and idiot- Oh my God we're both idiots holy- Hey. Hey, you, you've been. Have you been sabotaging-"

"Did you hear that?" Tommy tilted his head and looked toward the ceiling. "Ope- oh yeah. No. yeah, that's for sure the sound of-" He cut off, dropping his serious expression, grinning as he leaned down and kissed your mouth again, this time taking your words and any objections, affectively cutting off any questions that would leave him looking stupid.

You two would need to sit down, to talk about how you've felt all these years, how you were both so stupid that you both refused to confess to each other.

But for now, you lost yourself in the taste of Tommy, and the heady feeling of someone you've loved for seemingly forever, loving you back.

Real Quick: Would you be mad if in the next fics I write I called this man Tomithy? Asking for a friend.

[mc-critical]

your analysis of selim? i think he's hated way more than he deserves. hating him for valid reasons is fine but telling that he's gonna be such a bad sultan is really stupid [and especially because only now do they bring out history & say selim was bad which is historically inaccurate as well]. out of all of suleyman's sons, it was only mustafa who was loved by all & talented [show only cuz apparently mehmet was also extremely talented & selim wasn't a bad sultan] enough for the throne. bayezid was extremely hotheaded and you can't tell me that a prince who can't control his emotions, especially in front of state officials, will be a good sultan. everyone tells selim was extremely selfish & the instigator of all their fights, when they were younger & older. siblings are always like that?? mustafa obviously wasn't like that because he was way older than mehmet, mihrimah, selim, bayezid & cihangir to get into stupid fights w/ them. mehmet & mihrimah had frequent & annoying arguments because they were closer in age. selim & bayezid had frequent fights because they were closer in age. this is a thing with many siblings; the elder provoking the younger & the younger disrespecting the elder. why do people point out their sibling fights as evidence for selim's personality? i feel sorry for bayezid as a kid but i feel less remorse for him as he's older. i don't say he deserves execution, especially at the hands of his own father, but he did rebel against his father's order & then proceeded to flee to another empire; like, the punishment for that is execution, what did he expect after rebelling? i feel extremely sorry for all his sons though, they didn't deserve this fate when they were just victims of their father's rebellion. also, unpopular opinion but bayezid is lowkey overrated pls don't cancel me i love him but he's annoying at times like all characters & no one really acknowledges it back to selim, he was honestly very underrated. he was really slandered in the series and he didn't have any real support w/ him until nurbanu & sokollu. although hurrem did vouch for him to go to manisa, it was literally only because he was 'peaceful' [we can read that as untalented as well] and no harm would reach him because he wasn't a threat [i actually really liked this plan of hurrem's, tough & clever; only if she was actually supported in this]. even mihrimah, till the end, is quite unfair to him. he had a problem w/ alcohol & people telling him to just stop? like, it doesn't work that way? people have to suffer so much in order to stop their addictions & they're actually restricted from their addictions; selim was a prince, no one around him could restrict him [his parents could but they weren't w/ him in his provinces]. he did become politically active w/ nurbanu's growing ambitions & he took smarter, more cunning & dirtier measures than bayezid to win the throne. the battle for the throne was bloody; resorting to honour like mustafa did was obviously not the best decision & people insult selim for being cunning enough [or being influenced by cunning people] to win the throne. let's also keep in mind that selim didn't even have much of an interest for the throne until manisa & nurbanu. i also like his relationship w/ nurbanu. it paralleled suleyman & hurrem's w/ the concubine arcs but selim did end up being monogamous to her in the show. their chemistry was fantastic [props to engin & merve for their acting] and although i don't really enjoy the 'a woman makes a man strong & influences him in everything; good or evil' kind of take, i did enjoy their relationship [he also sometimes looked at her like she was this ethereal type miracle, appropriately so w/ her courage]. i like what the show did w/ bayezid's execution a lot, the whole scene was such a wonderful cinematic experience; the music, bayezid's agonizing screams, his sons falling one by one, selim crying because he didn't want it to end up this way, bayezid falling & his screams ceasing, selim's heartbroken face because he was always a soft person & he always loved bayezid;

ahh, what a scene, so much love for it. anyway, that's just my opinion; i think he's hated way more than he deserves, especially in comparison to other characters & he's actually one of my most favourite characters from s4 [but i honestly love all characters w/ their good & bad, mc has many complex characters & i live for it]. what do you think about selim? sorry if you got annoyed at the long ask, i can get really heated when talking about selim [especially in reference to his historical figure], hope you don't mind if❤ [if it is annoying i'll stop it]

(okay, I'll talk strictly about the show, since I don't feel like delving deep into historical waters. There is still stuff we don't know for sure and I do want to keep the line between show and history in my head, except for the similar themes.)

While he isn't particularly my favorite character, I appreciate MC Selim and he is a very interesting subject when it comes to analyzing him. I'm actually amazed with what the show did with him in the span of a season (and something, counting some S02B and S03B moments) - he was one of the most fleshed out characters in S04 and we could get a clear picture as to why he does what he does.

Some people consider his debut to be an insult, for it immediately showed some of his weaknesses, putting him in a bad light right out of the gate. But all I can see in this debut is a showcase of his predicament of the prince no one sees as a capable heir of the throne. It’s as if he sleeps with women and drinks as a coping mechanism he’s delved into, with Mihrimah having to do effort to snap him out of it. The Selim we see in the beginning of S04 is a hopeless person. He doesn’t have dreams and ambitions, it’s as if he’s a already a lost cause and he has no one to truly support him. Even Hürrem wanted to send him to Manisa not because she deemed him as worthy, but to use him as a shield in order to deceive her enemies and protect the actual favorite. That may seem like a clever plan, but in actuality, it failed spectacularly - not only did her enemies not get confused for a second and didn’t attack Selim at all, but she forgot to tell Bayezid why she did it and made Selim confused to the point of demotivation, because none of his brothers were truly happy with this decision and they were all opposing it, directly and indirectly. And while he may not show it that much, because of his more composed and pragmatic nature, Selim is sensitive to the opinions of his brothers and the people around him and their prevailing disapproval may be a part of why he became so different than the rest. It’s like no one wanted to get to know him.

Nurbanu’s entrance in Selim’s life is very cathartic in this aspect, for she actually worked with him and gave him the needed motivation and ambition to fight, awaking sides of him that were dormant for a long time. And yes, I do think that Selim’s pragmatism is something he always had, if the whole arrow incident in S03B where he sabotaged Bayezid’s arrow, which caused him to lose is any indication. 

{I don’t think that the quarrels Selim and Bayezid had when they were little are so much indicators of Selim’s personality as they are foreshadowing of their future conflict. Right, these quarrels are normal for siblings and Mehmet and Mihrimah also fought like that (heck, even little Mehmet and Mustafa had a fight once in S01 and that fight was used as the conflict of the remainder of that one episode), but they weren’t as frequent as the ones of Selim and Bayezid. I don’t know, it’s just the atmosphere of these scenes was different and hinted at something more. It could be because we know the historical events and we could see every tiniest bit of early sibling rivalry between them as build-up, but still, I always felt there just was something else. Like the whole arrow incident I mentioned, a presumably harmless little situation gains a whole other meaning later on. It sets up neatly Süleiman’s opinions of both of them (his reaction to apparent disobedience and the making of a scene by someone he doesn’t expect to, by which I mean Bayezid), Hürrem’s retroactive ignorance of a possible bigger enmity and the roots of the whole conflict. It’s not Selim deciding to sabotage Bayezid’s performance as a last resort, maybe knowing that he surely won’t do better than his brother (doing a pretty typical ,,prank’’ for a little, naughty kid) that is exemplary of his cunning later, it’s his validation and him getting away with it that eventually becomes it, just like how he ends up getting away with stuff in the next season. Selim definetly isn’t the instigator of all the fights, especially because Bayezid, thanks to his more impulsive nature, is much more likely to start a fight in the first place and contrasts to Selim’s overall better composure. Provokations among them were mutual and both were consistently throwing darts at each other, one after another. Their conflict is a very nuanced issue: while people try to play right and wrong, both sides were at fault one way or another. The conflict between them is mostly caused by insensitivity, favoritism and ignorance and the desperation of both to try to prove themselves to their parents and win their support, at the end of the day. Why did they always calm down in front of their mother? Not only because of their joint respect for her, but also because of these same attempts to earn her support. Even Bayezid, who obviously had to be sure of her support, wasn’t completely certain of it after Hurrem turned it on Selim for a while. Selim, on the other hand, obviously never felt her support, it’s like something was missing right from the start. Combine that with their completely opposing personalities and the whole system encouraging competition for the throne and there you have the inevitable ultimate conclusion. That’s why I also love the set-up, the pay-off and the aftermath of Bayezid’s execution. It may be historically inaccurate that Selim, not Süleiman, executed Bayezid, but when you think about it, it was the most logical thing that could’ve happened, ending their conflict with a heart-wrenching bow. I love the scene of the execution itself, too - the action, the dialogue, the direction, the character moments, the themes... I don’t know whether Selim loved Bayezid by that point, per say, after all they went through, but it was clear that he knew that he had to do it, that it couldn’t have ended any other way, but he was broken over it. He was aware that it was, ultimately, a sin, which would continue haunting him. He couldn’t catch a break afterwards, he couldn’t stop. All was solved, but at what cost?}

I love his dynamic with Nurbanu - they balanced each other off so well, their chemistry was amazing, such a power couple. Nurbanu’s biggest contribution is hiding some of his flaws and mobilizing him to fight. Her cold pragmatism ,,grounds’’ Selim’s softer side, she’s there to always remind him of the stakes of the game and to shut off the last ounces of his vulnerabilities after Hurrem died. He sure is influenced by her, but that doesn’t mean that he blindly takes her word for everything - he is always ready to call her out when necessary and assure her that there are lines she shouldn’t cross. Despite of her pleas, he kept having affairs with other women (that is honestly a trend with all the men of the show, but still..), he got mad at her after what happened to Huricihan and most notably, after he found out that she possibly stole his mother’s ring. A part of why their dynamic works so well is precisely this strenght of character and their awesome compatibility. 

I have heard affirmations that Selim doesn’t care about Mustafa, which... simply isn’t true? While they have the least scenes together and Selim is the one that considers him most as a rival and his most dangerous competitor for the throne (which would explain his startled reaction after Musti saved him from the janissary), it’s precisely Mustafa’s death that is the turning point of his character arc. He was upping his game slowly but surely and before then, but he didn’t do much in terms of attacks. Neither Selim, nor Nurbanu once considered attacking Mustafa, the supposed biggest danger to them, which I find respectable and admirable. The bomb with the death drops and then every hope about a fair game is abandoned. Selim gets the realization that being honorable won’t work. The only way to win is bend the system and play dirty. There’s no time for sitting around or looking nice. And even though Nurbanu realized this, too, as well as Selim, Nurbanu was always more inclined to act this way than him and now the righteousness of her methods were only getting confirmed. It was Selim that had to reach this end. Discovering that he is no longer allowed to show any kind of weakness. Every chance that appears on the horizon, he’ll take it. That brings him to his first true dirty plan - the trap he set through the fake Mustafa rebellion.

Speaking of which, the worst deed of Selim’s for me is connected to that rebellion. I know I may be very biased in this regard, since it affects my personal favorite character and isn’t as recalled as others, but I hated when, in Selim and Sokollu’s attempts to wash their hands from the pulled off stunt, Sokollu, his man, told SS that Mahidevran was giving money to the rebellion. Okay, it’s not said outright whether is this directly tied to Selim or it was something Sokollu himself came up with out of desperation or something (though it was hinted that both thought something through in a scene where both were saying that they should come clean out of this all somehow) and it’s not outrightly confirmed whether Mahidevran gave the money or not (I highly doubt she did it; not only because it would destroy her whole S04 arc and she would become, well... MCK Gulbahar, but also because after the messenger told her of her alleged blame in E129, her eyes widened in surprise.), but all it does is be the only explicit case where Selim indeed looks bad, for his proposal to return Mahidevran in the castle doesn’t seem to stem from genuine guilt and remorse, but rather a late and empty attempt to placate his own conscience. Oh, not to mention (for the upteenth time, sorry in advance) how the scene back in E58 where Hurrem tells Mahidevran that her kids will be there taking care for her when she’s alone, which was treated as some big foreshadowing in the show, as well, by both the voice of the S02B narrative and the fandom alike, loses its value even more with that framing, because Selim and Sokollu themselves brought her to this state in the first place!!! Despite it making sense anyway, it’s still such a disservice to Selim as a person both inside and outside of the writing. 

One aspect of Selim’s pragmatism I find most interesting is his ability to turn his enemies into allies, knowing exactly how to amass them and get them on his side, be it through giving them more money and promising them the world. These alliances are all opportunistic in nature and may not be as loyal as those of Mustafa’s or of Mustafa’s people (like Atmaca) with Bayezid, but I think Selim knows this and wants to keep them steady enough for the common goal. As for what kind of a padisah he’ll be.... I believe that state matters would be the least of his concerns, since he was shown to not care so much about them, compared to his other brothers (but then again, the show itself doesn’t put the political capability of the princes at center stage - their personal virtues are always the determining factor of what makes a good padisah and what doesn’t, more of a psychological outlook, if you will.) and he perhaps won’t plan as many campaigns or conquer as many territories, maybe he won’t be that successful at all, but his cunning would bring him advantage in front of his people, he will be at least a bit careful of who he’s choosing and won’t simply lose it in front of everyone, compared to Bayezid’s impulsive temper.

[I love Bayezid as a character, but the shadier aspects of his personality sure tend to be overlooked. While his anger is directed mainly at Selim and Suleiman, it often reaches such extremes to the point it becomes destructive and affects everyone. He doesn’t deserve his execution at all and most of his actions stem from a very sympathetic place, given how SS never truly gave him a chance and he went on the inevitable path, because he, just like Selim, realized that honor won’t work in this war, but took the opposite approach from Mustafa, direct rebellion. And predictably, both approaches didn’t work since Bayezid, too, was taken advantage of. While he didn’t get justice, the lead-up to his execution is a character arc of his and there are many reasons and events linking it all together and showing us why it took place the way it did.]

Selim’s dynamic with Suleiman is proof of how you can be presumably favored, but you have to work to get there. The reasons Suleiman favored him are very telling and sad and we see that he also doesn’t favor him because of any and all capabilities he may have, but because of his self-imposed distorted view of loyalty Selim has to do a lot to preserve, actually. He constantly has to make it so it looks like he’s loyal and obedient and doesn’t work behind his back. He doesn’t get the fullest appreciation from his father, as well, and I certainly feel it impacts him, in a way.

I agree that Mihrimah could be unfair to Selim. They weren’t that close and she had this open preference to Bayezid. Most annoyingly is when, in their confrontation in E139, which highlights even more their parallel sins, Mihrimah doesn’t seem to face that sin of hers when Selim calls her out on it. She has a reason to deeply resent him after what he did to Bayezid, but was offended when he reminded her of the crime she also committed. More solidarity on that front would be a bit better, at least a hint of like recognizing like even for a moment. (but maybe then her scene with Mahidevran later wouldn’t be as impactful? Huh.)

And lastly, about his drinking - Nurbanu tried to restrict him, but it’s true that such habits aren’t easy to give up on, especially knowing how his drinking is a coping mechanism as much as it is something he enjoys. He knows he shouldn’t do it, he’s told he shouldn’t do it, but he can’t help it. He doesn’t drink when he’s planning or scheming, but he keeps on doing it more and more with every problematic action of his. It’s an attempt to supress his otherwise strong conscience to the max, seeing how after his brother’s execution he apparently always took a drink when he was alone at night, fighting an inner conflict with himself. I don’t think there was a way he could stop doing it permanently in the show. It was a part of who he was, unfortunately or not. 

[voidendron]

Send 🗡️ and I will rate my muse’s danger level in several category in a number of stars out of 5. (Max: ★★★★★)

Thanks, November / @vespertine-legacy ! this was good to develop Deca more, and I Always love rambling about my favorite nb sniper <3333

(Tumblr decided to be stupid and wouldn't let me edit my answer 🙄 so had to make a new post instead)

Deca Iresso

Raw Power: ★★★

She can hold her own in a fight, and wouldn't be one of the Commanders' personal guard otherwise, but she's built more for bursts of speed and rapid attacks. She didn't get the brick wall build of the Tophrik side of her family, so relies more on speed and her Force abilities in a fight.

Formal Training: ★★★★★

Received training from Force-sensitives from all walks of life: Jedi, Sith, Voss, Knights, and others. It's left her with knowledge of many different views of the Force and combat styles. She's also got quite a bit of military training.

Combat Experience: ★★

Hasn't seen many battles, mostly just small skirmishes here and there.

Willingness to Kill: ★★★★

She's part of the Commanders' personal guard. If they get attacked, her number one priority to keep them alive, no matter what it takes. In battle, she'll hold back to give exactly one (1) chance for her opponent to rethink, then after that she goes for the kill.

Previous Victims: ★★

Most of her victims consist of assassination attempts on either of the Commanders, so she's got a pretty small body count.

Rediaex'aere'zortiea

Raw Power: ★★

Partially due to injuries from the past, partially to his skillset, he's not physically very strong and can't rely on simply overpowering someone to win a fight. It doesn't mean he can't hold his own in a fight, but for him, "holding his own" means fighting dirty and going for cheap shots. He'd much rather snipe from a hidden post far away, or stab someone in the back with a stealth generator active.

Formal Training: ★★★★★

Received initial training on Csilla to better round out the slicing and disguise skills he'd already developed with the gang he hung out with as a teenager, molding him into a perfect member of Csilla's secret police. Then, went through extensive training in the Empire to make him the perfect spy and - if the need arose - assassin. Also an excellent marksman as per Academy training.

Combat Experience: ★★★

Though he's seen his fair share of combat, he's usually more in the background, screwing things up for the enemy or uncovering conspiracies while everyone else is distracted with trying to kill each other.

Willingness to Kill: ★★★★

While practical and won't kill someone if he thinks they're more use alive, he's not afraid to kill someone else, nor will he hesitate to depending on the situation. He has lines he's not willing to cross, but if he's faced with an enemy, or life-or-death situation? He'll feel no guilt when he pulls that trigger.

Previous Victims: ★★★★★

Whether directly or indirectly, Xaerez has one of the highest kill counts of anyone in my legacy, if not THE highest. From activating the Eradicators per Watcher Two's suggestion, to sabotaging enemy weapons, plans, or cruisers to lead to the deaths of hundreds of their forces, assassinating officers from hidden perches, and even killing his own allies to keep up a disguise or entering a space battle to take a few cheap shots before stealthing again, or sprinkling enough lies into his truths to get the wrong person framed and executed, he's far from having his hands clean.

[oh-boy-me]

:0 could I have a beel,asmo,belphie,lucifer,mammon, satan (not including levi) and diavolo playing videogames? I thought it would be kinda funny since they're all really old- except for levi of course haha

Ohhh this should be fun!

Decided to do individual HCs for this one instead of a group thing so they wouldn’t be limited to multiplayer games.

Most of them, save for a certain prince, have been exposed to games a fair amount by proximity to Levi.

---

Lucifer:

Lucifer has a Mononoke Land account so that he’ll get the email notifications for events and can therefore keep track of Levi’s whereabouts.  He’s never played the game, though, nor downloaded the app, and he has no intention of doing so.

In general, he’s not much of a gamer.  The most gaming he gets done is minesweeper on Windows XP.  He doesn’t have the time, and it was never something he could get into.

That isn’t to say that he owns zero games, though.  His favorite genre is turn-based strategy, because he can afford to look away from them, and they make him think and plan.

He doesn’t like the hyper-realistic ones, though.  Things like Civilization and Here Be Dragons are up his alley, Hearts of Iron not so much.

He doesn’t care too much about the story, but a good soundtrack is mandatory.

Also he’s an old man so the controls also have to be intuitive or he just won’t be able to play.  Why is he jumping when he presses A he thought that was the attack button.

The type of player who needs to get every achievement.  A completionist.

When the group gets together for the rare multiplayer night, he has no idea what he’s doing and yet still manages to do well.  It’s kind of infuriating.

He won’t make alliances with anyone, no, it’s every man for himself.  He also actively targets Mammon no matter what game they’re playing.

The fact that he doesn’t really get it protects his pride when Levi inevitably wipes the floor with him.

Mammon:

Mammon actually does game a little bit in his spare time, mostly with Levi.  He’s got a couple consoles and is more open to different genres than Lucifer is.

He thrives in any game where the main goal is to rack up as many points or as much profit as possible.  He’s undefeated in tycoons and pinball.  (Tetris is an exception; he’s terrible at Tetris.  Stupid spacial recognition.)

The RNG elements boil down to his insane luck, but he’s actually very smart when it comes to investments and stuff, so it’s not like he’s only using his luck to get by.

If the games have multiplayer, even better!  Nothing like kicking Levi, MC and Belphie’s asses in a game of Fortune Street!

He also tends to like the action-focused games that Levi plays.  Not so much into turn-based RPGs, but he enjoys stuff where the enemies spawn, like in Zelda or Rune Factory.  And he’s great at button mashing in fighting games, although Levi, who actually knows how to play them, always beats him.

Mammon uses items as soon as he gets them, and is too busy rushing a boss to care about learning its patterns and strategizing.

Skips cutscenes even on his first run.  Levi and Satan hate him for it.

Like mentioned before, he gets an unfair disadvantage in game nights because everyone targets him.  Especially in those games with RNG, because otherwise he WILL win.

He’s banned from PTW games because he will indeed PTW.

Satan:

Satan is another one who doesn’t play too many games, and that might be for the best because he’s a nightmare to play with.

The sorest loser, and a pretty nasty winner too.  He insists on the hardest difficulty and then rage quits at the slightest inconvenience.

He will play when prompted, though; he’s not above hanging out with his brothers.  His favorite sorts of games are ones with a good story and/or good puzzles.  His planning is more on the tactics side, as opposed to Lucifer’s strategy, so he would love Fire Emblem.

He WILL drop a game if the story isn’t holding his attention, and he’s done so in the past.

Overly cautious and hoards resources.  He takes the safe route every time.

Also another completionist.

Beel would often ask Satan to help him find out which art pieces were originals and safe to buy in Animal Crossing, and Satan got a little bit interested and ended up making a resident on Beel’s cartridge so the donations could be in his name.  He went on a mini-campaign to drive out the residents he didn’t like, but one of them turned out to be Beel's favorite and he felt terrible about it for weeks.

During family game nights, everyone is always torn between appeasing Satan and telling him to deal with it when he loses.

He also gets angry if he catches on to the fact that they’re letting him win, though.

Probably a genwunner.

Asmodeus:

Asmo enjoys video games.  They don’t fit into his aesthetic so he’s never really tried to understand them, but he doesn’t dislike them by any means.

Gaming is becoming more mainstream though, right?  That’s a whole new audience that could appreciate him.  Maybe, just maybe, he can let himself be a bit of a geek.

Unsurprisingly, he’s got a penchant for games with customization options.  Surprisingly, he also really enjoys FPS games.  If he and Levi ever played at the same time, it would be chaos in the House of Lamentation.

As opposed to his in-your-face attitude, he likes to play sniper units.

He said he wants to tap into the gaming community, but he’s not very good at most of the games he plays so he’s too embarrassed to actually do so.  He does, however, play the Sims on livestream.  He does his best to make the steamiest and most dramatic scenarios happen, and he’ll hold strawpolls to let his viewers make some choices.

Asmo also plays Animal Crossing like a few other brothers, but his island is so well groomed and with just the right residents, it feels like you’re touring an uncanny dystopia and Asmo is the dictator.

When the group gets together, he usually ends up doing the worst.  He’s more interested in executing perfect combos than actually dealing damage, so he’s not aggressive enough to get anything done against players like Levi and Satan.

He’s also not very good at teamwork; he starts yelling at his partner very quickly.

Beelzebub:

Beel doesn’t have a lot of “gamer” in him, but some of his brothers seem to like it so he decided to give it a go.  Turns out his hands are too big, but he makes do.  Kind of.

You’d expect a sports game to be the best for him, since he’s so athletic.  However, it’s BECAUSE he’s so athletic that this sort of game isn’t in his library.  He gets too antsy and bored tapping buttons instead of actually playing the sport.

Beel’s also not an aggressive player in any sense of the word.  He feels guilty even hurting the most basic of slimes.

No, no games are better for Beel than the stress-free, casual life simulators.  Animal Crossing is no surprise his favorite one right now.  Satan handles the museum for him while Beel gets to do whatever he feels like in a world where the biggest threat is a wasp.

He’ll also play other low stakes games where living your life is the main goal, like Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley.  His big heart can never choose who to marry in those games.

Horror is also ok for him, because while aggression is hard for him, self-defense is not.

He got the Cooking Mama app on his D.D.D. and bit the device in half, so he’s not allowed to touch that franchise anymore.

When the gang meets up, his non-aggressive side sticks around.  In fighting games, he’s more likely to dodge and steer clear of the others, and in other versus games he’s so open to compromise you’d think you were on the same team.

Satan did get him his favorite resident back.

Belphegor:

Belphie probably games the second most after Levi; it’s something that keeps him entertained but doesn’t require him to move very much at all.

I actually have no idea how to describe his preferred genres, but League of Legends and Dark Souls is basically all you need to know.

League lets him socialize a bit, and it’s the game that he and Levi play together most often.  As for Dark Souls, he loves the sort of game where learning your opponent’s every move and outsmarting/outmaneuvering them is the only path to victory.

I guess that would be described as “really hard action-adventure” games?  He’d also like Sekiro.

He also has his own copy of Animal Crossing to visit and play with Beel, but his island is so underdeveloped you’d think he started that same week.

Belphie is the true wild card of family game nights; sometimes he sleeps through the whole thing, while other times he can take down even Levi.

He has everyone’s habits down to a T--Mammon charges in, Asmo does too much setup, Levi’s overconfident--and he knows how to counter each and every one of them.

For someone who’s so much of a cunning player, though, he also misclicks a lot.

He’s the most likely out of his brothers to make alliances.  He’s also the most likely to break alliances.

If he doesn’t think he can win, he’ll choose a player and start sabotaging the game in their favor.

Diavolo:

Lord Diavolo had read about like, Mario?  The little blue hedgehog guy?  But he’d never owned a gaming console before.  He probably thought Neopets was peak gaming.

Levi swore to fix this grievous error, and this was also a mistake, because now Diavolo keeps trying to get Lucifer to play all these hack and slash games with him.

He has legitimately told Lucifer that “if you don’t play Devil May Cry with me THIS devil may cry!”

The games need to always have something happening in them or he’ll get bored, kind of like Satan’s need for a good story, except with action.

It’s also worth mentioning that “play a game with Diavolo” actually means “sit in the same room as Diavolo while he plays.”

And oh boy… is he terrible at these games.

He just button mashes until either he dies or all the enemies die.

Never uses any of the items he gets because he’s sure he’ll need them more later on.  When, Diavolo?  During the staff roll?

Will bomb a door before trying the knob.

Since he’s usually only around Lucifer, who doesn’t want to get sucked into this, and Barbatos, who honestly couldn’t care less about this, he’s been left alone and free to develop these terrible gaming habits.

It’s rare that he comes to family gaming night.  Legend has it that Lucifer’s piercing glare is somehow connected to the fact that his brothers always let Diavolo win.

Masterlist

[ipatrichor]

for the fic titles - graceland

okay this is an interesting one, bc it makes me think of an untitled au i have skfbf

so it's an urban fantasy au, where it's modern day and maybe a third or less of people have abilities. the thing abt that though is that having abilities fucking sucks!! they can sometimes be useful but have huge drawbacks that can force people to completely restructure their lives

the au is centered around twinsduo + benchtrio as a group of brothers who kinda found each other & stuck together bc they all have shitty drawbacks. techno is the oldest and p much looks after the rest of them (also i have abilities lined up for everyone but tommy, so he's probably gonna be unpowered or something lmao)

anyway so techno's ability is that he can,, for lack of a better term, call on outside forces to give him information/advice- about people, about events, anything really (the hard part is figuring out if they're being honest lmao). the drawback is that he has to keep them entertained, and if they all want the same thing very badly it can start to sabotage his impulse control

wilbur is out of commission most of the time- his gift is prophecy, which leads to him getting stuck tracing so many different threads and basically disassociating for hours or even days at a time. the specific drawback he got is what i'm affectionately referring to as Mental Illness, Innit. it gets better or worse depending on how much he gets sucked into trying to see the most likely futures, and how often he uses his ability (intentionally or otherwise, sometimes the future decides there's something he needs to see and yoinks his brain w/o warning which makes working difficult). it's basically a package deal of the aforementioned disassociation, depression, severe anxiety, paranoia, insomnia, etc etc. he wants to do more to help his family, but he really can't and it's pretty upsetting but they reassure him as best they can that they don't blame him for his ability fucking him over

tubbo has a healing ability! injuries on him heal automatically (bigger ones slower than smaller ones) and he can heal minor to moderate injuries on other people (nothing worse than like. fractures tho, and nothing complicated). the downside to this is that he's perpetually low energy, and spends a lot of time sleeping/resting. it sucks that he can't do active shit with the others, but he tries not to feel bitter or anything because being upset won't change anything, it'll just waste energy

ranboo has perhaps the most visible ability of all of them- he's physically enhanced, but enough of his body is still human that it doesn't quite mesh perfectly with the enhanced parts. this leads to a fair amount of chronic pain as well as hydrophobic skin, and he's learned ways to manage & live with it over the years since manifesting, but it's never gonna go away and so working is also difficult for him (yes this one is based on my own experiences. yes i wish i had cool horns/a tail and shit so that at least my body hurt for a reason :'')

as mentioned earlier, i couldn't think of an ability for tommy so?? if u have suggestions feel free to tell me, but it's entirely possible i'll just have him be unpowered lmao. anyway since he doesn't have a drawback he's the one who helps techno out the most. techno tries not to rely on him too much bc he's still a kid, but also he can't handle everything himself and tommy is insistent on doing what he can

the story would probably be abt them struggling to live and find a place for themselves in the world that's just not structured with room for people like them in it, and they probably go on a roadtrip to find somewhere wilbur saw in the future, somewhere they can be safe that wilbur calls graceland. it's a long road trip and they all have to confront their individual struggles as well as reaffirm their bonds

they end up stopping at a lake with a few people with abilities already living there, and are greeted by a kind man named phil who welcomes them. it turns out to be a community for people who experience significant drawbacks from their abilities- people like niki who can't breathe air, sneeg who used to be able to sizeshift before he got stuck tiny, fundy who deals with sleep deprivation from prophetic nightmares (something he and wilbur bond over), charlie whose body is made out of slime and can't maintain human shape some days, scott with a connection to the stars he refuses to talk about even when he stares longingly at the night sky, jack who constantly needs to be regulating his body temperature to keep from burning himself, etc.

so the brothers move in, and end up fitting in really well. they make friends, and really start to settle, and at one point one of them asks wilbur if he wants to keep looking for graceland or if he's okay staying here (bc at this point 'graceland' has come to be like,, a mythical representation of hope to them, right). and wilbur just smiles and leads them to phil, asking him what this place is called. he goes 'ah, right, i never told you, did i? welcome to graceland lake! you're welcome to stay here, for as long as you want.'

[chasholidays]

I would love some sort of space!pirates deal. Like Farscape maybe, in how Aeryn (Clarke) gets ousted from the Peacekeepers, and she continues thinking they're the Right Side, until she realises that aren't that good at all? (Farscape has a pretty good wiki, but this is only very vaguely related to it.)

“Okay,” says Miller. “Who wants to go to Ganymede?”

“What’s on Ganymede?” asks Clarke, sounding wary.

“What’s anywhere we’ve got a job?” Bellamy ask, turning to look at her. “A ship that has more money than it needs.”

“Most ships aren’t planetside,” she shoots back.

“Ganymede is a moon, not a planet,” says Monty, absent. “And there’s a ship docked there that we want to hit.”

“Freighter Osiris,” says Raven, pulling the information up on the display. “Stuck on Ganymede for repairs for–well, we’ll see how long I can keep it there. I figure at least a couple days, right?”

“Why keep it on Ganymede?” Clarke asks. “Catch them on the way out.”

“We are catching it on the way out,” says Raven. “But we’re sabotaging it first. It’s a Helios-class ship, those things have security like you wouldn’t believe.”

“This one is a gift,” Monty adds. “It’s like they want us to steal from them.”

“That’s definitely what they want, yeah,” says Bellamy. But he’s still watching Clarke, curious. She’s only been on the crew for a few months, and Bellamy always takes a while to get to trust people. And Clarke is complicated. She’s intelligent and resourceful, a good addition to the team. But she’s also aloof and solitary. Which Bellamy gets, honestly. He, Miller, Raven, and Monty have been a crew for a while, and they’re close. Raven’s the one who vouched for Clarke, and even though they have have some kind of history, it’s doesn’t seem to be a history that lets Clarke just slot into their lives. “You got a problem with Ganymede?” he asks her.

“Clarke’s issues are Clarke’s business,” says Raven. “If she doesn’t want to go to Ganymede, we can drop her off. Same as anyone else, right?”

There’s just enough of an edge to her voice to convince Bellamy to let it go; he might not trust Clarke yet, but he does trust Raven, and Raven trusts Clarke.

Still, it feels like having something stuck in one of his back teeth, every time he looks at her. He doesn’t like not knowing things, and the list of things he doesn’t know about Clarke feels endless.

“I never said I wouldn’t go,” she says, not unreasonably. “I’ll go.”

“Cool,” says Raven. “So, let’s talk plans.”

*

From a moral perspective, Bellamy’s job might not be the best. After all, “the greater good” is a very nebulous thing, and when one’s definition of the greater good is in conflict with the law, it gets even dicier. On the one hand, Bellamy thinks the laws are bad and the jobs they take are good. On the other, they’re outlaws who steal from the rich and only give back to the poor in the sense that they’re helping their own friends and family. They aren’t, overall, trying to fix the galaxy. They’re just trying to get by, and maybe get some revenge.

He wouldn’t mind a revolution either, if he’s honest, but that’s going to take some time.

For now, the plan is simple: go to Ganymede, hack the ship, and loot it once it’s off world. It’s a federation ship, which means it’s a dangerous hit, but Bellamy trusts Raven and Monty not to do anything that will get them killed.

Which is why he has to ask her about Clarke.

“Is it safe to bring her to Ganymede?”

Raven doesn’t pretend to misunderstand. “It’s her call, right?”

“She was nervous.”

“And if I thought bringing her on a mission would jeopardize it, I wouldn’t do it. Look, if you want to talk to Clarke, talk to Clarke. I’m not your go-between.”

“You’re the one I trust.”

“Then trust me. I’m not going to let Clarke get us killed. No one’s getting us killed, if I can help it. You aren’t still seriously worried about this, are you?” she asks. “It’s been months. If you have doubts–”

“You have to admit she’s not exactly fitting in.”

“And?”

“And I don’t like not knowing about my allies, Raven.”

“So ask her, like I said. I trust her, and if you don’t, that’s between the two of you. If you’re worried, you can always skip Ganymede. We can get by without you.”

“I’m not skipping. You’d be asking the same thing if you were me,” he adds, and Raven shrugs.

“And you’d be telling me the same thing.”

“Depends on the person,” he says. “Some of them, I’d probably just tell you what their deal was.”

“And if you wouldn’t?”

If he wouldn’t tell her about something like that, it would be because it was his friend’s business, and something they didn’t want shared. He can relate, even.

But he doesn’t know how to just ask Clarke.

“Yeah, okay,” he says anyway. “I get it. I’m being an asshole.”

“Par for the course. We good now?”

“We’re good. If you say it’s safe, then it’s safe. That’s all I need.”

“As safe as anything we do. Not going to promise we don’t get caught, but if something happens, Clarke’s not going to be why.”

“Just our usual shitty luck and incompetence?”

“You know it. Now leave me alone.”

As he goes, he passes Clarke’s door, closed, but with the indicator light on to show she’s inside. He could just go and talk to her, even try to be friendly. Hey, you seemed weird about Ganymede, everything okay? It’s what he’d do if it was Monty or Raven, and similar to what he’d do with Miller. It’s what he should do with Clarke.

Instead, he keeps walking. If she wants to talk, she knows where he lives.

*

“Okay, Bellamy and Clarke, you’re going first.”

The two of them exchange a look. They’re an hour out of the jump to Ganymede, and Bellamy hadn’t known what to expect out of this meeting. Him and Clarke being thrown off the ship wasn’t a possibility that crossed his mind.

“Going where?” Clarke asks.

“You’re getting supplies and we don’t want you tied to the Prospero if anyone figures out we’re involved. I’ll take Monty and Raven to the shipyard to work on the Osiris, you two are taking the Ariel And meeting us at the coordinates in the autopilot in two standard days. “Make sense?”

It makes total sense, so much that Bellamy has no possible reason to object. He and Clarke are the most logical people for a supply run, and if anyone gets suspicious, they don’t want their own activities to lead anyone back to the Prospero. They’ve done it before, when they have things to do on the ground, but he hadn’t really put it together this time.

And he’s never been told to go with Clarke before.

“Sounds good to me,” he says, glancing at her. She looks as cool as ever, no reaction to the assignment at all that he can see. “Clarke?”

“Yeah. Meet you in the hanger in twenty?”

“Sure.”

As he gets his things together, he tries to remember if he and Clarke have ever actually been alone before. They have been for brief periods of time, but just little things. Being the only two people in the mess hall or the cockpit isn’t the same as being away from the entire crew, the only two people on the shuttle.

If it didn’t make so much sense from a mission perspective, he’d assume Raven and Miller were forcing them to talk.

Clarke is already in the co-pilot seat, doing pre-flight checks, when he gets to the hanger. He stows his own luggage and takes the pilot seat, gives her a nod. Their only conversation, until they’re in the gate, is practicalities, and once those have run out, Bellamy isn’t sure what he’s supposed to say.

Clarke gives it a minute and then says, “You don’t like me.”

It shouldn’t be unexpected, but he somehow assumed she realized, perhaps through some kind of telepathy, that he mostly thought well of her. But he can see how it would, without such gifts, come across as dislike.

“I don’t really know you,” he says. “But I don’t dislike you.”

She snorts. “That makes me feel so much better.”

“You don’t like me.”

“I was following your lead.”

“I was following yours!”

She flashes him a grin, and he finds himself smiling back.

“Well, we’ve got a while,” he says. “Might as well take advantage of it and get to know each other, right?”

“Right.” She lets out a huff of breath. “I was a heda on Ganymede.”

It takes him a minute to place the word, and then he jerks to look at her, aghast. “Like–law enforcement?”

“Yeah.”

“Heda is pretty high up.”

“Yeah. I might get recognized.”

“And that’s not worrying you?” he asks. She certainly sounds calm.

“I left on good terms by my own choice, and I was told I’d be welcome back any time.”

She’s speaking common, but it feels as if he’s missing words, somehow. Every individual one is coherent, but put together, he’s still lost. “When was that?”

“Right before I came to you.”

“So, you quit law enforcement, left Ganymede, and called up your pirate friend to join her crew?”

She actually laughs a little, just a soft huff, but it’s encouraging. “She didn’t tell me she was a pirate. But she told me if I ever got tired of being a heda, I should give her a call. I think she knew how corrupt the whole system was. I hadn’t figured it out yet.”

“How did you?”

“I didn’t. My father did, and they killed him. They didn’t realize I knew, and since it was supposed to look like an accident, I had a good excuse to get out. He died in the line of duty, I decided to leave to get my head on straight.”

“And joined some pirates.”

“And joined some pirates. You’re a pirate, I assume you’re not going to try to claim the moral high ground.”

“No, definitely not. I guess if my government killed someone in my family, I’d turn against them too.” He pauses. “Actually, I guess that was kind of what happened.”

“Yeah?”

“I was born on Earth, in a population-controlled area. My mother got pregnant and kept it secret because she wanted to keep the baby. We managed to keep her secret for a long time, but once she was found out, we were told we were only cleared as a two-person family, and one member of the family would have to go.”

“Fuck. I heard about that, but–I can’t imagine. Ganymede’s not perfect, but no one ever got killed for having too many children.”

“She knew what would happen, but–fuck. We got out as soon as we could, after my mom was executed. Used the emotional distress stipend to book a flight to Mars and never looked back.”

“What about your sister?”

“Still on Mars, in school. I told her she couldn’t join the crew until she finished university.”

Clarke smiles. “Finish your education, then join the revolution.”

“You really think we’re revolutionaries?”

“I think we’re working on it.”

“I guess we probably are.” He takes a minute to consider, realigning his knowledge of Clarke. “So, what do you need me to do on Ganymede? Anything special? What should I expect?”

“I don’t know. It’s been almost eight months since I was there, but my family is well known. I might be welcomed.”

“So we’re not going to be subtle.”

“No. That’s why I told Miller I should be away from the rest of the crew.”

“Except me.”

“That was his idea, not mine. Not that I mind,” she adds, quick, and he smiles.

“So we’re actually expecting to be conspicuous.”

“Yeah. My mother is still there too, and wealthy. So we should keep our eyes open for people following us, make sure we don’t get a tracker. We’re the danger here.”

“Fun,” he says, dry. “I’ve never been a celebrity before.”

“It’s not as fun as you think,” she says. “But as long as we don’t all get killed, I’ll count it as a win.”

*

They don’t get killed. Not that it’s generally surprising to Bellamy these days, when they survive a mission, but it’s always cause for celebration. He and Clarke run into some excitement on Ganymede, but it’s of a completely new kind. When Clarke lived on the satellite, she lived on the other side, but an ex-girlfriend of hers moved over here, and they run into her, and some of the heda recognize her and want to see how it’s been going. She introduces him as her new partner, says they’re traders, which is their official cover story, and that she’s still figuring out where she wants to be, what her place in the universe is. It’s the kind of vague, wishy-washy answer he’d expect from a child of privilege who lost a parent, and he doubts anyone would guess that she decided to join up with pirates. She asks one of the heda about her mother, finds she’s off-world, which simplifies things. They pick up supplies, find a tracker on the ship and get it off, and make it back to the rendezvous without issue. Whatever Raven and Monty did to the freighter, it works, and they get most of the cargo off before anyone’s noticed they’re there. The ensuing chase is a little tight, but they make it to the gate and jump into hyperspace without the freighter on their tail.

“No problems on Ganymede, right?” Miller asks. Time is always tight before they’ve escaped.

“We found a tracker,” Bellamy says. “So unless the one we got was a decoy and there’s a much better one we missed, we’re good.”

“Monty, Raven, do another scan, just to be safe. It would suck if Clarke got attached to us, but at least we can lose the trail in the jump if that happens. Everyone else–”

“There are only two of us, you can just call us by our names,” Bellamy protests.

“Get some sleep,” Miller concludes, ignoring him. “We’ll drop out of jump a couple times just to be safe, and then unload cargo at the dropship tomorrow night. Good job, team.”

He and Clarke walk in silence, but when they reach her room, she lingers for a moment, just a moment, as if she doesn’t want to go in, and that’s all the encouragement he needs. She’s his crew mate, he trusts her. Like all of them, she realized the world she lived in wasn’t the world she wanted to live in, and made steps to change it. He might not know her well yet, but he knows her well enough that he wants to know her better. And that means he wants her to stay.

“Are you tired?” he asks.

“Hm?”

“Are you going to go to sleep?”

“Oh, no. Not right away.” She smiles. “I always have trouble sleeping after a job. Too much adrenaline.”

“Me too. I was going to go to the common room, maybe watch something. Do you want to come?”

Happiness blossoms on her face. She’s always lovely, so it’s hard to call it a transformation, but she is even lovelier. “That would be nice, yes.”

Miller shows up a few minutes later, and then Monty and Raven, once they’re done with the scan of the Ariel. Raven nudges Clarke’s knee, and Clarke presses closer to Bellamy to make room for her. She’s not quite pressed up against him, but she’s warm and close, and he thinks he could happily spend many more evenings like this.

He thinks he probably will.

Clarke pokes his arm. “You’re hitting my ribs.”

He pulls it up and puts it around her shoulders instead, like he would if she was anyone else on the crew. His heartbeat wouldn’t pick up for anyone but her, but that’s a problem for another day. “Better?” he asks instead.

She snuggles in, apparently more than content. “Better.”