#i hate that i am rereading this book knowing whats going to come

[remusawoooo]

Chapter 5 or the wolfstar chapter

Obviously starting with our gold mine- personally, I too would stare at Sirius at the dinner table as he is arguing.

Remus -Sirius defender first, human second- Lupin (Molly was cold as hell for this btw). I just love that Remus spoke sharply and surely here when Molly crossed the line, for Sirius.

And I love this entire exchange ( there is more) of wolfstar being so in tune! I think it is more so Remus fully listening and engaging with Sirius, joking at appropriate times and backing him up as he finally says his piece. It is just really important to me that Remus was participating in the conversation rather than just listening because Sirius wanted to be really heard the whole time. Also, establishing wolfstar as a duo! There is just so much chemistry with them simply being together in a scene... the fucking potential.

Bro, what if we became a comedy duo? but also make out?

mine and harry's extra parents everyone!!! (also Harry really catches onto non-verbal communication very well, my sweet boy)

This is very married couple behavior btw. idc what #she did or says, they definitely at least held hands and gazed into the depths of their eyes (full homo)

Anyway, love my gay dads and think they are super neat.

[acourtoflight]

Elain and Az rant

Sometimes I wonder if I’ve been reading different acotar books. My absolute favorite characters are Elain and Azriel because despite not knowing much about them, we can tell how much they have bottled up inside, and how they never open up to people, how they are always unseen…Most importantly, I can see myself in them, that’s why it’s so strange to me when people say they hate Elain, either because she’s boring (she’s not, you just never pay attention to her) or because of how she treated Feyre in book 1. If you still can’t see the development that sjm has been building up for her in the past 3 books then I suggest you give the series a reread.

With Azriel it’s a bit different, even though we also don’t know much about him, everyone seems to be interested in what he has to offer. I am also interested but the double standards rub me the wrong way because him and Elain compliment each other so well yet everyone refuses to see it because Elain likes flowers and Azriel does not (does that not sound stupid to you?).

With this next book I think we are going to see a very different version of the introverted sister and our favorite broody bat boy. I know people will switch up their opinion on Elain just like they did with Nesta, even though their personalities are completely different.

Much of the hate for her feminine quiet persona comes from internalized misogyny and it’s so sad because for once, why can’t a soft character be the hero of a story?

With everything being said, I’m so curious to know what elriel’s journey entails, and how they can rely on each other to find that healing.

[semthescientist]

so this is a part two to my lil entry and here i merely wanna talk about what actually clicked for me and how everything has changed since then. part one is right here (:

as i said before, it was until september of 2023 when i was on around the fifth or fourth day of my cruise did things begin to dawn on me. if you're familiar with 4d-barbie, (i believe her name is Ada), she has a google drive filled with book resources and some of them are already annotated (which came in clutch). well, actually before the cruise i had began reading the book One Truth, One Law: I Am, I Create by Erin Werley and i resonated with things so heavily. i kept reading bits and pieces of the book but also was determined to be present and just enjoy my cruise. as i read, i became so interested in the way Erin would have full blown conversations with I AM. especially the part where Erin told her husband and then was afraid if he'd judge her but I AM simply told her to relax and let it do the talking--and that's what happened!

so i'm sitting there and i'm like "yo! how cool is this!" and of course, it's explained how to do this yourself--how to really tune in and trust your own wonderful intuition. i wanted to do it because i didn't want to reread Erin's(I AM) answers to questions to form my own answers. i had my own specific questions and no one else could answer them for me besides me. so i put the book down and i asked my own question and trusted that the answer would come to me whenever; even if he didn't come now, it was bound to.

and i had fear...i feared if it would actually happen or not. sometimes i'd be tempted to look things up or keep rereading every answer given by I AM in Erin's book. i would kind of just do self-talk when that happened, i don't know how i got through that to be honest. i can't seem to remember. but what i do remember is the little deposits that would drop into my head randomly. i was lathering up in the shower and was like, "why would i hate my persona?" [persona, ego, Vanessa--all the same, i just like the word persona better!] and i kept going with that line of thinking, asking myself a series of questions like: wait...why do i think there's something wrong with her?

isn't the persona how i'd experience a multitude of things? things that don't necessarily exist to I AM?

and i realized i was onto something because i felt so expanded. like my heart began filling up...my chest began fluttering. i know you've felt that feeling before and that feeling always comes when you're listening to yourSelf. there wasn't much else i did after i realized this because a new way of thinking just took over me. i had so much love for everything...i mean literally everything. i started to question everything i read from others.

again, something a lot of realized masters would say is "you suffer because you think you are this body" and while that's true...it just didn't feel right in my soul. none of it felt right--at least not something to remember all of the time. i didn't feel like it had any sort of longevity and the only reason i felt that way was because it didn't feel loving enough. i really wanted to know what was so bad about taking this persona into consideration...what was so wrong about loving her and holding her hand? why did i have to become aware of what she was thinking/feeling and suddenly say "oh but that isn't Me! let her cry and whine, she isn't Me."

i go into depth about this here. it's just a diary entry so the beginning i had a different outlook on my persona than i do now, hence the different header titles.

the bottom line is i had no reason nor right to hate my persona. after all, she found Me again--she found her True Self so that has to count for something. i simply started to look at the world differently and realized that it was never about fighting anything. we all know there is no "out there" and all there is is consciousness but how many have you actually put that to the test? have you stopped fighting shadows? fighting the seeming opposite circumstances? if you know there's only the will of God (which is you), why do you keep fighting everything else? have you stopped fighting your persona's fear, Vanessa's doubts--belittling her because she can't believe in herself...not yet at least?

i quickly gathered that if i love Myself, then i would have to trust Myself. i know someone probably has the fear of going "out there" and falling asleep again--losing faith or going back to believing in the world. but that could never happen. why? because of trust. You have to trust yourSelf enough to know only your will is imposed. and what builds trust? action.

personally speaking, there was a circumstance that i'd been ignoring for the longest in the name of manifestation. but lately, i've realized that whatever can happen "out there" and not only do i not have to form an opinion on it but i can watch how it crumbles when i stand ten toes down in trusting myself. i can trust Myself so much to stand tall in what i prefer and watch as Self carries me up and over the seemingly opposed...and then i glance back and they were nothing but cardboard cutouts. like that scene in coraline where she walked away and the world started crumbling--'twas only because it never existed too.

i don't fight anymore because i know My will is only ever imposed. i know that when something dares to throw a punch, it won't connect because it has already disintegrated. and most of all, i know that i can care about whatever the hell i want. hey, if you don't care about being a realized master than cool--find something that makes your heart sing and you can't help but burst from the seams when you think of it. for me, it was shifting. (do not come for me about the terminology, human mode rn so i gotta put a label). i found that shit to be so cool and to be honest, it's helped me discover my sexuality too which is a bonus. but none of this could've ever happened if i didn't start operating out of love for my persona.

just think of it, everything you desperately want you'd need a persona to experience anyway. you can take this and make some shit shake, and really define what you want or no labels at all. you can fully be I AM and have zero needs or you can be I AM with a persona, or you can just be a persona! there's people who look to an outside god but their god is rooted in so much love!

like you know a lot more than you're giving yourself credit for and only if you'd be so determined to listen to yourSelf the way you've listened to others, then shit would really start clicking. everything is perfect in its likeness and it is because I AM is all-encompassing that everything is possible--even the things we think are "bad". i promise, every question you'd ever have there's an answer for it and it's within you. you can find what matters most to you--you'll know. it's a feeling of pure confidence that cannot be described, you'll move without thinking and take chances and do whatever else and it'll feel like you're under a trance. That is You. there is no other...fall in love with Yourself and your human form too because it's nothing but a vehicle to bring you back to Self. your persona's fears and doubts are nothing but an opportunity to rely on Yourself...to trust Yourself and i speak of the infinite You.

lol i'm sorry if this seems all over the place, i was just saying what was heavy on my heart. i've been feeling a lot of love for everything lately and i want somebody else to feel that too. i know this will reach the person who's looking for it. so because of that: hi hi! you've done well, my love.

also, one last thing. there were a couple of people who helped me come to this realization and i wanted to say thank you! heavenlythea here on tumblr, iam_love.co on instagram, and Betinho Massaro for his book Super Accelerated Living (dude's mad funny, like i legit would smile reading it) oh and Ada! she came in clutch with the resources and annotating! and really everyone else for simply existing. know that you are perfect because you exist and the only reason you can't shake Self is because You (the real you) knows you'll be just fine.

love you all!

[pinkblahaj]

rick riordan's female characters pt 1: annabeth

this year i reread pjo and hoo for the first time since finishing the series five years ago, and i now understand the (somewhat?) common opinion that the way he wrote female characters was definitely flawed in some ways. although, i don't completely agree with all the criticisms, and i still love the majority of his characters. because i have so many thoughts on annabeth, i'll make this post just about her and discuss other characters later.

i'm certainly not one of those avid annabeth haters, but i do think there are valid reasons to not like her- I think there are valid reasons to not like any character. for me, there are moments where she is a bit too arrogant or mean. but i don't think she should have been written with an entirely different personality either- it makes sense why she is the way she is, and all the characters are flawed in their own ways, which is what makes them relatable. i just don't relate to annabeth like i do to the characters i like more.

i see how some ppl dislike the dynamic between percy and annabeth, but i feel like a lot of those issues are just a product of their time. the judo-flipping scene in mark of athena has been made to be way bigger of a deal than it is. it was not annabeth "abusing" percy- it's more akin to play wrestling. but... i do agree that moments like this would be clearly unacceptable if annabeth were a boy (which, i know, those "if the roles were reversed" type discussions sometimes are used to weaponize the suffering of men in order to diminsh women's issues, and i am not trying to do that here). it unfortunately does make sense when you think about the whole anti-femininity trend that used to be so common, and existed in rick's books as well (ex: aphrodite's children). annabeth is supposed to be tough and scary, not soft and weak. but we should also keep in mind that every relationship's boundaries our different- annabeth might joke about percy being dumb, but it's obvious that doesn't bother him and he likes the nickname "seaweed brain".

annabeth's treatment of rachel in botl seems to be a dividing topic, and i can see both sides. i honestly was quite bothered by it when i reread botl, and i find it strange that some ppl will hate on percy on this book while not criticizing annabeth. but honestly that's probably because i'm a sensitive person. some ppl find it funny, which is probably how it was supposed to come across. it was probably just as obvious to rachel as it was to us readers that annabeth was only being mean out of her fear of losing percy... and rachel did indeed like percy. but i do wish that we would've seen someone call her out or see her apologize, and while her abandonment issues are an explanation for her behavior, they are not an excuse. but again, it's safe to assume that rachel was not that affected by it, and being a teenager who is rude to someone bc they like the same guy as you is not the worst thing a person can do. (i do think it's interesting how this situation is brought up more frequently than leo bullying frank, which actually did hurt frank.)

contrary to what i've seen other ppl say, i actually really liked annabeth in heroes of olympus. i thought her povs were great, and i loved to see her interact with the new characters, especially piper. i also found her more likable (ik some think she was too perfect, but i loved seeing her as a competent leader). the scene with frank and the finger trap was so cute and because i love and relate to frank, i will forever appreciate her for that. however she was def underutilized- outsmarting arachne by attacking her pride made sense because of arachne's backstory, but that strategy became overused (the way she defeated nyx was kind of ridiculous). and of course, who doesn't love the percabeth scenes- sure they were obsessed with each other, but that makes sense. they just met the rest of the seven, ofc they're not going to care about their new friends to the extend that they do for each other (side note: i don't disagree that seven felt like "co-workers", but i don't see a problem with it either).

leah was a perfect choice for the tv show adaptation. i honestly could not care less that she's not blonde and white. yes, the acting could be a bit better, but they're young and i've seen worse acting from older actors. what i do have an issue with is how annabeth was written in the show. i feel like the writers read that she's the brains of the group and she's serious and forgot that she's also a twelve year old girl. annabeth is a great character because she is strong, smart and skilled, but still flawed, realistic and relatable. i wish the show delved into other parts of her character, such as her love for architecture, the scene with the spiders, and her relationship with luke- this last one especially is such an important part they missed out on, because it's a huge source of her vulnerability in the books. i'm completely fine with them cutting out her crush on him, but the fact that she looks up to him and sees him as family is so central to why she can't accept that he's betrayed her. her believing that there is still good left in luke is also key to how they defeat kronos with luke's help. show luke says that annabeth is like his little sister, but without us actually seeing this relationship, it's going to be hard to understand in later seasons why annabeth defends him.

overall, annabeth is a great character and deserving of her popularity, but i don't think that if you dislike her you hate complex female characters. while she's not my favorite, i see her as a testament to both rick's ability to write good female characters and some of his shortcomings in this area.

[delcakoo]

stop you're making me want to reread harry potter </3 ravenclaw!won has been stuck in my mind for DAYS

slytherin!reader who's in a relationship with ravenclaw!jungwon and is mean and cocky to everyone except won i am in shambles

slytherin!reader x ravenclaw!won random hcs!! ✧.*

STOP OMG anon this idea made me all giddy insidE i adore the ‘im mean to everyone but you’ grumpy x sunshine trope sANJSHS AND WITH RAVENCLAW JUNGWON AHHHH this is a bit longer than i planned but uh. enjoy JSHSJD

your boyfriend aka the biggest nerd on the planet (ravenclaw moment) doesn’t even see it most of the time

but the way you treat him in comparison to pretty much everyone else at hogwarts is VERY different

you could be like. about to fist fight someone or seconds away from pulling out your wand and hexing a gryffindor’s ass

all 😐😡😡👿👊💥

but then jungwon just

“y/n!!! :D” WITH THE CUTEST LIL SMILE AND OH GOD HIS DIMPLE :(

SUDDENLy every hint of rage and anger in your body just poofs into nothing and you’re just SMILING because there’s your sunshine with his cute nerd glasses and mountain of books

“wonnie!” you let him give you a big hug and the random gryffindor you were about to fight is just 🧌😦 in the distance

“guess what i learned in herbology today!!”

if pretty much anyone else asked you that you’d give them the most disgusted face imaginable and just.

“the fuck would i care? 🤨”

or

“when?”

“uh i think it was last satu-“

“did i ask? ☺️”

listen you’re just a very honest and straightforward person!!

but when it’s wonnie <3?

you quickly take all the books in his arms and lead him away with a smile, “what, baby? tell me all about it ☺️”

and by now a majority of the students in hogwarts knows not to mess with jungwon

because doing so immediately means messing with you too 💗

you’re extra strict on this because in the past your boyfriend did get bullied a lot for well. to put it simply, being a ravenclaw

luckily though, you were able to find out their names 😊😊😁

at first you were going to use magic but.. lets just say your knuckles were sore and bruised for the next week ❤️

doing the damage yourself was so much more satisfying y’know 😍

of course jungwon didn’t find out about all that.. at least you think

though he does get suspicious whenever one of his bullies stop even sparing him a gLance 🤨

when he confronts you, you just say karma did it’s thing and smile evilly 🫶

(little do you know, jungwon can read you like an open book and knows damn well you did it <3 however your cute proud smirk makes him decide to let you have this one 😞)

but if your revenge ambushes ever result in you getting any kind of injury, he’s always quick to bandage you up with a disapproving frown :(((

he sighs while whiping up your bloody knuckles, “seriously, i hate seeing you like this more than anything. why would you do that for me?”

you scoff, completely nonchalant with a small smirk on your lips as usual

you could care less about your fists when in the end, your boyfriend isn’t being picked on

“that’s a pretty dumb question for someone as smart as you, love”

he groans, “no y/n, really! they’re not worth your time, revenge isn’t the—“

“it is. it most definitely is the answer baby.” you grin, he sighs “now stop worrying about me and come give cuddles ❤️”

another thing jungwon gets away with all the time is bossing you around

you fr just take it like a champ every time without a word because only HE can tell you what to do

if anyone else tried to…? 😬😬

for an example scenario. you’re doing a group project in potions with jungwon (<333) and his other nerd friends

being surrounded by so many losers almost had you throwing up but you pulled through for won since you knew he wanted to be with his friends too

this didn’t stop you from being a dick ❤️

“hey y/n, can you grab the frog eyes?” sunoo gestures from the cauldron your group is watching carefully

“didn’t even say please,” you mutter, “who the fuck are you to tell me what to do four eyes?”

poor boy shuts up for the rest of the project T-T

“y-y/n,” jake would stutter nervously, refusing to make eye contact with you, “can you maybe g-“

“ask me to help one more time and i’ll stick that stirring stick up your ass”

but then jungwon sighs, making you frown because wait, is he disappointed in you or something??? :((((

“babe, you’re not contributing at all, go get the missing ingredients on this list at least”

you pout

he sounds so unimpressed :(

of course now you’re feeling needy so you rush to get everything for him and bring a bowl full of the ingredients back with puppy eyes

jake and sunoo are absolutely flabbergasted

but your bOYFRIEND who you thOugHt was an angEl from heaven STILL gives you a disapproving look :(

“thank you, now apologise to my friends please,” he asks strictly

WHY IS HE TREATING YOU LIKE A CHILD IT MAKES YOU SO MAD AND SAD AND GRRRGHH

your frown deepens, trying to lean in for a kiss at least but JUNGWON MOVES AWAY FROM YOU???

“won…”

“apologize and you can have a kiss”

your eye twitches but you’re so desperate

so you turn to those

those two

gargOyles.

and murmur out a “sorry, i promise to help from now on,” without making eye contact once with either of them <\3

at this point sunoo’s jaw almost fell off because THE POWER HIS FRIEND HAD OVER YOU?? popUlarly known as one of the meanest students in the school??????

you dont even wait for their reply (because you frankly dont care) and turn back to wonnie who’s now- UAHSJHSN HE’S SMILING HE’S PROUD OF YOU?!!! :D

you pucker your lips in anticipation and he gives you a dramatic mmmmWAH

after that you’re just so giddy and happy and help by doing whatever jungwon asks and ignore the other two <333

secretly jungwon feels like his heart is about to explode because the soft spots you have for each other is 🫶

AUGHH my favorite trope ever sushjsbsh thank u for the lovely req <3

[lavalais76]

I found this on Reddit, and thought it to be an excellent read. I’m quiet sure most of you won’t believe some of the things said here, but it really has one thinking….

WoW RyanBarns13,

I think it's been a really thorough discussion. I just wondered where do you get your ideas from?

RyanBarnes13

OP•2yrs ago

Rhaegar and Lyanna never fit Jon’s story of Winterfell and being a Stark. And Ned and Ashara never fit cause he could just tell everyone. Honestly it’s from the The welcoming feast. When Jon said Sansa was “radiant”. Who says that about his sister? And they never had a parting scene from winterfell, but the more you dig into the more you realize they are the story of the North. And the 1993 letter or whenever it was had Arya Jon Tyrion love triangle. But every link and foreshadowing points to Sansa. Then Martin hides clues behind words. But the only combo that would work for that is Rhaegar or another Stark. Ned can’t be the father. Here’s two, Tyrion described Septa Lemore as handsome.... sounds like she is ok looking. We use it to describe men only nowadays. But look for synonyms for handsome describing a woman and it’s the opposite of what we think. Here’s some,

Handsome synonyms for women aesthetic (also esthetic), attractive, beauteous, beautiful, bonny (also bonnie) [chiefly British], comely, cute, drop-dead, fair, fetching, good, good-looking, goodly, gorgeous, knockout, likely, lovely, lovesome, pretty, ravishing, seemly, sightly, stunning, taking, well-favored.

The two main women described as like that is Ashara and Cercei from the Roberts rebellion. So why hide the eye color from us? Who else has purple eyes? Not much of anyone. But he gives us every clue but the eyes.

The other one is honey colored hair. That is one of the biggest tricks in the books. It’s whenever you see those words you should think like admiral ackbar. “It’s a trap”, basically honey ranges from blonde color to reddish brown. The bear and the maiden fair? You would think dany and Jorah. He is a Mormont bear, she is the maiden fair with honey in her hair. But it’s actually Jon with the bear symbols.

He is adopted by Mormont through the giving of Longclaw, basically replacing Jorah as his son, he is being trained as the old bears heir as lord commander, the white bear skins in numerous chapters of Jon’s. Who is his maiden fair with honey in her hair? The one maiden with reddish-brown hair who keeps calling for a knight to save her, but she gets a bear. It’s played over and over in her scenes. Sansa. Many people hate realizing hearing it, but Jon’s story is built around Sansa and her his.

The proof where Jon flat out says he loves her. Most people have missed it, but Arya is little sister since the very first of the book. Sister always means Sansa. Martin never deviates from that. And he hides the truth many a time by getting people to read about Jon’s sister and thinking Arya instead of Sansa. But go reread the first few chapters, it’s always sister, little sister. Now the proof,

Do not despair Lord Snow […] Your sister is not lost to you.”

“I have no sister.” The words were knives. What do you know of my heart, priestess? What do you know of my sister?

Melisandre seemed amused. “What is her name, this little sister that you do not have?”

“Arya.” His voice was hoarse. “My half-sister, truly…”

“… for you are bastard born. I had not forgotten. I have seen your sister in my fires, fleeing from this marriage they have made for her. Coming here, to you. A girl in grey on a dying horse, I have seen it plain as day. It has not happened yet, but it will.” -Jon, A Dance with Dragons

She is talking about Arya, he is thinking Sansa and his heart, his SISTER. Then she is amused as she realizes, what’s the LITTLE SISTERS name? Oh shit Jon thinks silently, Arya. Oops of course Jon.

What I am getting to with all this is Jon’s story is the north. Winterfell is his end game. It’s what he dreams about. You can only make the story work if you accept the character arcs as written. He is not the PTWP, or all that. He is Lord of Winterfell, King of Winter. Everyone wants him to be king of 7 kingdoms, ride dragons, that’s Aegons, Danys, stories. His queen is set up to Sansa. Most people reject that, but go back and read just their chapters, they parallel in trials, dreams, everything. End game is winterfell and kids named Robb, Bran, Arya, Rickon. Dany is the Rhaenys character, Aegon is Aegon character, Val is the Visenya character, but with a spear instead of a sword.

Martin used fairy tails in the story, Beauty and the Beast, the pig boy. Sandor, Tyrion false Beasts. Jon is the beast. If you notice his wounds correlate to Sansa’s suitors. Sandor is burned, Jon is burned. Willas Tyrell (think I remember his name right) is lame in one leg, Jon gets shot by arrows and limps, tyrion and Sandor get scarred faces, Jon’s whole side of his face is scarred by the eagle.

The pig boy gets the princess stories, Jon is the pig keeper. Sam is the piggy, Ser Piggy even, Dolorious Edd tells Sam he’s thinking of roasting Sam. The prologue of one of the books has a Nights Watch character trying to escape but is thwarted by snow and Jon and his pig taking his spot with maester Aemon.

As for putting it all together, look at the Middle Ages. It’s all there. But everyone forgets it’s written from a certain point of view. Obiwan kenobi, talking to Luke about Vader killing his dad, everything I told you was true. From a certain point of view. All the stories of Jon’s mother are true, when you look at it from the characters points of view, Wylla, Ashara, fisherman’s daughter, you just have to fit them into the slots.

Sorry I’m rambling

[jeanmoreausautismstickers]

tsc spoilers to share the brainrot but just a few small moments for you that are just sitting in my head that I NEED to talk to someone about

- jeans promise to Kevin

- Jean hurting Jeremy during practice “Away, Jean. You’re hurting me.”

- “Now I am not safe with you, Captain” because jer asked about Riko

- jer calling Kevin and asking if Riko broke his hand

- just fucking RIKO oh man we knew he was bad but lordy lordy lord he’s a monster

What do you think of it? How do you feel about Jean? Or Jeremy?

I need you to know that all of things you've noted made me cry. okay anyway

tsc spoilers under the cut xx

Jean's promise to Kevin? I fucking threw up brother. like it just. that whole scene and all the complicated feelings has about Kevin (and Neil) but he's still not breaking Kevin's promise. he still makes promises with Neil. like just that small, almost childish hope in him. he doesn't hate Kevin nearly as much as he wants to say he does now that he's gone and I'm so obsessed with it

oh the "Away, Jean" scenes broke my heart because I have a feeling Nora might use Jeremy saying Jean hurt him in the future. be it Jeremy finally Losing It about something and snapping (unlikely) or Jean using it as an excuse as to why he shouldn't look at Jeremy (very likely). they both break my whole heart with this scene, but I loved watching (well reading) Jean grow as a player and as a person, and start to understand that he can change his little habits. it'll just take time and watching his coaches and captain give him the grace he needs for that learning curve has me nawing on the bars of my enclosure

on top of that, Jean telling Jeremy he didn't feel safe? gagged. the fact that Jeremy, despite KNOWING it was a bad choice, stepped away and respected Jean's (slightly self-destructive) boundaries? screaming and yelling and crying my eyes out. that scene hurt me in so many ways, but the biggest one is the fact that Jean knew Jeremy would respect him if he said it. I mean it was like a punch in the throat, but it created a lot of trust between them based on Jean's boundaries and I cannot be normal about it

I'm not gonna lie, I giggled a bit at Jeremy's absolute rudeness on that phone call. like it was definitely heartbreaking and I want to give Kevin a hug. and Jean. and Neil. but the gall to call someone and immediately ask for their traumatic backstory is crazy. anyway, that scene was sad but other than giggling a bit at Jeremy's word choices, it didn't evoke a ton of emotion in me? i already knew about Kevin's had from TFC-TKM so it didn't surprise me, but I did feel terrible for Jeremy and how he found out. he will be making GOOD use of his therapist in the future I just know it

I HATE RIKO. OH MY GOD. the whole book everytime I say his, or Grayson, or Zane's name I had to say a quick prayer for the murderous thoughts running through my head. I hate him I need to hurt him even though he's already dead

i loved this book so much. once the mental illness about it dies down and I can think of it without my heart crumbling I'm going to reread it. I loved all the characters (minus all of the Ravens of course) and I cannot wait for tsc2 to come out. I'm sooo excited and I hope we get a bit more on Jeremy's family and how he thinks he ruined it. it was such a beautiful book and it makes me so sick to my stomach (in a good way) and I love it like my firstborn

I loved loved loved Jean and Jeremy, both separately and together. the parallels of Jean's family giving him up as a child but Jeremy's family not letting him leave even though he's an adult? Nora is fucking insane and i love her for it. her brain is just so good. I hope they get more of Jean accepting he has a family with Cat and Laila and Jeremy. I hope he starts referring to the house they share as HIS house, instead of calling it Laila's. I know he already called it home but I need him to take personal possession of things other than his notebooks. he and Jeremy deserve the whole world and I trust Nora whole heartedly to give them that after she torments us first ♡♡♡

[ghostofthemost141]

Lindor

Pairing: Ghost x F!Reader, First POV, no use of (Y/N)

Word Count: 1,404

About: You and Ghost have disclosed feelings for each other, knowing that it's forbidden to be together in y'alls line of work. Noneoftheless, Ghost ends up in your room one night and you end up sharing a chocolate bar together.

Themes: Fluff, Suggestive Themes but Nothing Explicit, 18+

Notes: Zara is your nickname for this one, which means 'blooming flower' and it comes from the word Zahrah from Arabic roots. I enjoyed doing this but I hope I didn't write Ghost out of character. Enjoy!

It’s forbidden, you can’t act on your feelings. You’ll get booted from the team if you do it. But he makes it so damn hard to do that. Whether it be a brush up against my hand or even just a glare from across the room, my feelings grow more and more for him every single little thing he does to me. I can’t tell if it was intentional or not but it has to be. The fact that he always sits next to me on the lounging couch at base or always insists on going on a task with me if I was going to be alone or I always catch him staring first. I never expected Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley to be that kind of person, a ‘hopeless romantic’, but I guess you never know with people. I have never even seen his face under that skull mask or even the balenciaga he wears, but I can only imagine what he looks like. He makes me feel things that I have never felt about a person before and I hate myself for it. He is my Lieutenant, it would never work out. 

*KnockKnock*

Who could that be? I’m not expecting anyone. Am I? 

“You in ‘here, Zara?” 

Simon. That was Simon’s voice. What on Earth would he want with me? I scanned over my little cubicle room, seeing it was mostly tidy.  

“Yeah come in.” I announce. 

The door swung open and Simon stepped in, shutting the door behind him. He wore his skull balenciaga with a black hoodie on and gray jeans on. Even though we are on call duty, we can still be in our lounge clothes just as long as we can get dressed and ready into our gear in less than two seconds. 

“What’s up?” I asked as he came and sat on my bed with me sitting on my desk chair that was right near my bed. 

“Can’t sleep.” Simon mumbled. 

I peeked at my clock seeing it was nearing midnight. I didn’t even notice the time, had I been thinking that much?  

“I’m sorry, rough day today?” I offer him to vent. 

Today was arguably our slowest day ever. Just last week we had come back from a nearly month long mission and since we came back, there hasn’t been much to do except drink and do stupid shit around base, and even then that can become boring after so many times of doing it. Simon mostly keeps to himself during the day and does his own thing. No one sees him until it’s dinner time. 

“No, just boring as shiet.” Simon mumbled. 

“I feel that.” I agreed. 

Even though he wasn’t looking at me, just sitting there on my bed, looking down on the floor, made my heart race. Why was he even here? I didn’t understand it. I found myself staring at his hands. I don’t think I have ever seen him without his iconic gloves on. His hands looked so soft and smooth. You can tell by someone how they take care of their hygiene and his nails were neatly trimmed and cleaned which is very Simon. I could see that for sure. 

“Zara.” 

Simon’s deep voice brought me back to reality and I realized he caught me staring. 

“Yes, L.T?” I say, trying to act like I wasn’t, in fact, staring. 

His eyes pierced into mine, intimidating me strongly. 

“Is that a book you’re reading?” Simon asked, eyeing the open book that was on my desk. 

“Yeah, I am just rereading it, already read it once before.” I comment, closing the book and admiring it. 

“What’s the poin’ in that?” He asked. 

“Well when you enjoy something so much, you want to revisit it again because of the joy it brings you. And if something really brings you joy, then you revisit it multiple times, basically.” I explained. 

“Interesting.” He mumbles, averting his eyes from me. 

Alright, awkward silence, thank you Simon. Really appreciate it. I reached into my desk drawer and peeked into my hidden stash of assorted chocolates and candies. It’s hidden because if Gaz or Soap found it, it’d be dryer than the Sahara desert. I wasn’t even sure if Simon likes this sort of thing. I could see mints being his favorite candy. Oh well, one way to find out. I pulled out a Lindor Milk Chocolate bar and shut the drawer. 

“Want some?” I offer, showing him what it was in clear view. 

“Sure.” Simon mumbled. 

I opened the candy bar halfway and reached out to hand it to Simon, giving him first dibs. 

“No, I just want one piece.” He grumbled. 

You’re really gonna make this hard for me aren’t ya?  I broke off the first piece and stretched my arm out to Simon. He didn’t move at first, and instead just stared at it. It’s just chocolate dude, not a bomb. Suddenly Simon pulled his mask up enough just for his mouth to be exposed, leaned forward, without moving his butt off my bed, grabbed the chocolate with his teeth and took the piece out of my finger. He chewed the piece of chocolate slowly and eventually swallowed it, looking satisfied from the mini dessert. 

…

…

What just happened? That was weird. I didn’t expect him to do that. But for the record, I have never seen him without his mask off, let alone what his lower half looked like. His skin was light, with little blonde stubble on his chin, with his clean light pink lips. He is not helping my situation right now. 

“That was good, actually. Could I have another?” Simon asked, not hiding that light smirk that was on his lips. 

“Oh! Yeah, sure.” I answer, snapping out of my delusion. 

There is no way, you’re being delusional Zara. Here you are calling yourself by the nickname that the Task Force gave you instead of your real name. You have really gone off the deep end. I broke off another piece, held it in my fingers, and stretched my arm out to Simon. This time he did it almost instantly. He reached for it, with his tongue agape from his mouth, and I felt his tongue make contact with my fingers, sending instant chills down my spine and into my core. Simon kept his teeth on the chocolate and locked eyes with me. His deep, dark blue eyes staring into my soul as he slowly gripped the chocolate with his teeth and pulled it away from my fingers, consuming it. The cold air in my room confirmed that he did indeed lick my fingers. What is this man doing? 

“Your face is bloody red.” Simon said. 

“Shut up.” 

“That’s no way to talk to your Lieutenant.” Simon remarked, with a deep tone. 

His voice change went straight to my core. It was tingly and it made me shiver. 

“Simon what are you-” 

*SMOOCH*

Simon’s lips are on mine, Simon’s lips are on mine, Simon’s lips are mine, Simon’s lips are on mine, Simon’s lips are on mine, Simon’s lips are on mine, Simon’s lips are on mine, why, why, why, why, why-

Simon’s lips were soft against my dried up ones, keeping our lips connected as he held my cheek with his hand. His bottom lip tugged with my lip a little causing me to gasp, and he deepened the kiss. His soft fingers went into my hair, tugging slightly, but not too hard. I instinctively held his face as he continued to kiss me. My entire body was hot and heavy, until he let go of the kiss, but kept his hands on me. 

“Hm.” Simon chuckled, “your nickname is true to its word.” 

I was confused, what was he implying? Simon then leaned in, placed a kiss on my forehead and pulled away from me. 

“Thanks for the chat.” Simon thanked me as he headed towards my door. 

“You’re welcome, anytime. You’re welcome to do that, anytime.” I emphasized the last part. 

“I’ll be back tomorrow ‘hen.” Simon said, “Goodnight, Zara.” 

“Goodnight L.T.” 

Simon then left my room, shutting the door behind me. I was still holding the Lindor chocolate bar that started this whole mess. 

“It’s your damn fault I got left hanging.” I grumbled at the bar, putting it on my desk and slamming myself onto my bed. 

Simon, you’re such an ass. But my God you’re a handsome ass. 

END 

[docholligay]

What western novels do you recommend? I don’t think I’ve ever read one and was hoping to give it a try!

I LOVE Westerns. I love them even when they aren't particularly good. Whenever people accuse me of hating genre fiction, I'm like, "I think my collection of Westerns begs to differ. I just have DIFFERENT bad taste." (My collection of horror books too)

OKAY SO, MUCH OF THIS DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU'D LIKE TO FIND IN A WESTERN NOVEL.

Perhaps the best Western Novel ever written: Lovesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry.

It's not just me that would say this of Lonesome Dove, I think you can find this on lists of the world's greatest Westerns, it's fairly largely acknowledged as a great American Novel, many books have TRIED to be Lonesome Dove and are not. This book was one of the things Jill and I talked for HOURS about on our first date. We almost mutually changed our last names to McCrae instead of her taking Holligay. She walked down the aisle to the theme from the miniseries.

To MASSIVELY OVERSIMPLIFY, this is the story of a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. But it's about relationships, and dedication, and doing everything right and losing anyhow, sometimes. It's about finding connections. It's about dreams and failures. It contains one of the greatest versions of "the grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one" in platonic form. Also the idea that a friend, who is never anything romantic, can be the love of your life.

A fun revival Western: The Shootist by Glendon Swartout

I actually just reread this! So in the 80s and 90s, Westerns became 'grittier' sort of like comic book movies did in the 00s. This is not an altogether bad thing, and it certainly wasn't all the way to 'gritty' until we get to, movie wise, things like 3:10 to Yuma, which actually is incredible. ANYWAY, so The Shootist breaks from a lot of the molds of 60 and 70s Westerns (upstanding law officer, gang of mustache twirling villains, etc) and is about the last great shootist--what a gunfighter would have been actually called in the 1800s--who is dying of cancer.

I know that does not make it sound fun, but it is, actually, and it is an easy read. Lots of fun Western colloquialisms and there IS depth there if you want to go looking for it, but it's totally extraneous to the enjoyment of the book and also might be half made up in my head.

A great classic Western: Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey

Riders of the Purple Sage is actually responsible for helping form a lot of what we understand as being the Western genre today. This puppy has it all: Gunfights, cattle rustling, the moral code of one's own pride, falling in love with a lonely little woman hell bent to make it on her own.

There are so many things in this novel that will come to define the genre, but because it is a little pre-genre, at least in a strong and stratified way that separates itself from the dimestore novels, it's not as formulaic as you might expect and borrows heavily from early 1900s literature wrought large.

A WESTERN Western: Literally anything by Louis L'amour

Am I here to defend Louis L'amour? No I am not. Do I love Louis L'Amour? Yes absolutely. I am not even so much suggesting that you actually read a L'amour book because I think you really have to love the genre to get into them, but boy are they GENRE. Love them. There's like 5 or 6 plotlines between them. I read them in the tub all the time. I don't even count them toward my books read they are such popcorn. Delightful. I gave them away as favors at my wedding.

A modern Western: All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

Now we're getting into the weeds a bit because there are some people who would argue that a lot of what modern Western literary fiction is, isn't really "Westerns" and I know what they're saying but I don't think I agree. There can be great novels of any genre that break genre, and I think this is just one of those. It has all the hallmarks of a Western.

Anyway, anyone who tells you The Road is Cormac McCarthy's best novel is out of their fucking minds and also probably very boring and controversially either doesn't read much or doesn't read much serious stuff. All of McCarthy's border novels are better than The Road, All the Pretty Horses just happens to be my favorite.

A Western that is probably more fairly slotted into Historical Fiction: Doc: A Novel, by Mary Doria Russell.

This book made me stop writing my Doc Holliday historical novel because I can't do a better job than this.

[lennsart]

Ok ok ok so

I've bought the Zelda Encyclopedia because I am in a hyperfixated rampage about LoZ. And on one hand it's the best thing ever, because special interest is going brrrr.

But ! But.

I've bought in french. Because I... Am french.

And I don't know if the english version has troubles, alright ? But THE FRENCH VERSION IS A BADLY TRANSLATED HELL and I need to rant.

Keep in mind that I didn't study the book. I've skimmed through. And I'm already holding my head in my hands in a dramatic 'losing my mind' posture.

But anyway ! Here's the defendant :

This is the book I'm talking about, and all the pictures that follow come from this book.

Follow me into translation hell !

Note : I actually usually prefer the french translation in Zelda ! They do a good job at translating things that make sense, leaving things as they are when it isn't needed, and I often find the translated characters' names prettier. (Example : Makar, the korok from Wind Waker, is called Dumoria. I have NO IDEA why it changes so much but it sound so much better in my opinion !) So this is not VF hate. This is genuine uncomprehension as to WHY IS THE BOOK LIKE THIS.

Now, you don't need to go far into the book to have a problem with it.

First few pages. Like literally before the actual content of the book. Presentation of the games. Easy enough, right ? Not hard to beta read, RIGHT ?

WHAT DO YOU MEAN "THE MINISHIP CAP". WHAT DO YOU MEAN. IT'S NOT LIKE THE TITLE IS WRITTEN ON THE PICTURE ABOVE. How did it happen ?? The name doesn't even change in french, help

"Miniship cap" I already want to quit and it's my INTRODUCTION to this book.

We can divide the mistakes of this book in three categories :

- Lore mistake

- Translation mistake

- Wtf mistakes

I would place "Miniship cap" in the WTF category, for obvious reasons. (HOW???)

The first two categories are easily justified : they asked someone to reread the book and the person wasn't very interested/didn't know Zelda well. But it makes the book LIE

Example of lore mistake :

The title here is " The Ancient Temple, marked by the loftwings".

THE L O F T W I N G S.

This is the ancient temple in Twilight Princess. This is supposed to read OCCAS ! SKYWARD SWORD WASN'T EVEN RELEASED YET !! LOFTWINGS DIDN'T EXIST !

Why did this happen ? Well, in french, Loftwings are called "Célestriers" (mix of the words "céleste", celestial, and "destrier", which is apparently the same in english but I've never seen it before, it's a horse usually or an animal you ride). And Occas ? Are called "Célestiens". People that lives in the sky, basically.

So yeah, Célestriers, Célestiens, I SEE the mistake, ok ?

But still. Uncool. Boo.

Now, example of translation mistake :

The first sentence here is a description of a picture, it reads "Aryll is abducted by Helmaroc King on Ganondorf's orders".

Why isn't this shocking to you, english reader ? Because Helmaroc King is the ENGLISH name of the big bird. In french, there are no "roi Helmaroc" ("roi" means king). It has been translated.

But maybe the book doesn't know, right ? IT'S NOT LIKE THE NAME IS WRITTEN ON THE NEXT PAGE, RIGHT ?

THERE. LE ROI CUIRASSE. THIS IS THE BITCH I KNOW ABOUT. I'M LOSING MY MIND

But again, alright, I guess someone didn't think to translate the name. Some characters's names aren't translated (example : french Skull kid is called... Skull kid. I am thankful for that), so maybe they just didn't THINK to check if there was a translation.

Even though. It was on the next page.

AND I WAS GOING TO LET ROI HELMAROC SLIDE. I WAS.

AND THEN I LOOKED AT THE SAME FUCKING PICTURE I TOOK OF THE BOOK.

First thing I underlined, "Mélodie", is a typo of Medli's name in french, which is "Médolie". I get it, it's an anagram, I've read it Mélodie my whole childhood, OK French Zelda Encyclopedia. OK.

BUT "ÉPÉE MAÎTRESSE" ?? NO.

THE MASTER SWORD IS NOT FUCKING CALLED "ÉPÉE MAÎTRESSE". MAÎTRESSE IS WHAT YOU CALL YOUR TEACHER WHEN SHE'S A WOMAN AND YOU'RE TEN, OK ?

(Actually, "maître" and its feminization "maîtresse" do mean master. But it's. It feels wrong. It's not the in-game name, and it feels wrong.)

THE MASTER SWORD IS "ÉPÉE DE LÉGENDE", OK ? LEGENDARY SWORD. THERE IS NO ÉPÉE MAÎTRESSE.

AT LEAST I HOPE.

Breathing in, breathing out... Ok. A not so important one :

"Les oiseaux" means "the birds", and yes, in english, those cuties are called "little birds" which would be literally "petits oiseaux" in french. (I know, too much vowels, I'm not here to defend my birth language BEAR WITH ME)

But in the VF ? They aren't 'birds'. They are PIOUPS. (Pronounced pyoop, it doesn't mean anything, just mimic the bird's noise)

THEY ARE 'PETITS PIOUPS' ALRIGHT ? AND I LOVE THEM. I'm just. Sad that their name isn't in the book. This is petits pioups erasure.

(After checking, the item they drop is called "plume d'oiseau", so "bird feather". The word "pioup" is just in the description of the item, so... Maybe it's just me. BUT STILL. LET ME CALL THEM PIOUPS IT'S ADORABLE)

And we're not even in my favorite category ! May I introduce :

The what the fuck mistakes

Aka : I can't understand how they let it slide.

Here I want you to read the description of the picture 6.

"Playing the Song of Healing, Link gets his normal appearance back".

Ok, this is probably a description of when Link goes from Deku Scrub back to Hylian, so I am expecting a picture of Link !

Image 6 : WHY IS IT THE CREEPY LINK STATUE.

DID THEY KNOW ABOUT BEN DROWNED ?? WHY IS THE WORST POSSIBLE REPRESENTATION OF LINK IS DESCRIBED WITH "LINK GOES BACK TO NORMAL". NO. NO I AM CALLING MY LAWYER, BOOK, YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO ME.

You know, in a book, there can be translating errors... And, apparently, there also can be "we forgot to fucking translate" errors.

Plural.

IN THE GODDAMN TITLES.

And I studied graphic design, alright. I know, TRUST ME, I know your eyes can get used to the titles and make you miss 'obvious' mistakes.

BUT THIS IS WHY YOU GET SOMEONE TO RE-READ. This is a fucking official book ! That has been published by probably very official publishers, I don't know, I haven't checked !

POURQUOI LE LIVRE EST NUL ? POURQUOI EST-CE QU'IL Y A AUTANT D'ERREURS ? COMMENT EST-CE QUE "MINISHIP CAP" EST ARRIVÉ ? OÙ SONT LES PETITS PIOUPS ? ENGAGEZ-MOI POUR RELIRE LE LIVRE LA PROCHAINE FOIS C'EST PAS POSSIBLE !!

I at least hope some of you laughed watching me losing my mind in french ; I hit the ten images limit, but I'm sure I'll find enough for a part two. I've lost all faith in this book. I'll read it thoroughly just to scream about it on Tumblr.

[*holding a knife towards the book* I won't let anything slide, you hear me ?]

[a-fandom-reimagined]

EVERYTHING. | RHYSAND X SIBLING!READER | TAMLIN X READER

♡ summary: rhysand struggles to come to terms with his younger sister and only living blood relative being mated to the man whose destroyed his family. ♡ type: angst | no trigger warnings! | word count: 1361 ♡ author's note: um...i don't remember a ton about these books. i've only read the first two and i'm overdue for a reread. plus, i have no idea what i was doing with the latter half of this fic. i just didn't know how to end it so when i reread the books i'll probably come back and re-write this. so sorry if you don't like it. i hope you enjoy though.

"I won't have it. This must be some mistake…a joke of some kind. Some sort of foul--"

"You'll wear a hole into the rug brother, please--"

"I. Will. Not. Have. It," he hissed.

His face was just inches from your own. His glare alone might have sent anyone else scurrying from the room like vermin, but you were not anyone else. And there was little he could do to scare you now.

"What will you do then? Wage war on the Spring Court? Lock me up? You basically already have! And let me tell you something, brother, your reasoning is no better than his was when he did it to Feyre."

Rhys backed away from you, his eyes--your mother's eyes--far away and distant at the suggestion. You could practically see the gears in his mind turning.

You ground your teeth together so hard they whined. He wasn't even listening to you anymore. But you wouldn't be silent. You'd been silent for months now and it's brought you nothing but anguish. You launched yourself in front of him, halting his damned pacing. "You've been saying this for a month. Pacing and plotting and planning for a month to no avail. There's nothing you can do."

"Like hell there isn't!"

"If there were you would have figured it out by now. He is mine and I am his. And there is nothing you can do about it so stop your pacing and in peace let me go to him--"

Rhys' eyes widened. His face a mask of fury, hurt, and betrayal. And it was all your fault… "Go to him? Y/N, you should be standing with me trying to find a way to fix this! Have you forgotten what he did to our mother? To our sister? What he would have done to you that night had he been given the chance?!"

You flinched so hard he may as well have struck you. Tears filled your eyes and your own dark power chased the light from your brother's study. "Oh please! As if I could have forgotten! As if I wouldn't have chosen any other man if given the choice--

"So--

Your brother's face smooths and after a month he is finally himself again. "I… Y/N we do not--"

"--and I was not given a choice, Rhys. Have you ever stopped to think about what this has done to me? About how humiliating this has been for me? My heart yearns for a man who has my mother, father, and sister's blood on his hands. A man who I even now cannot imagine myself trusting. I do not even know him and every minute of every hour of every day my very blood calls to be reunited with him and I hate it! My friends, my court, my High Lord, and Lady look upon me with disgust. And I do not blame them."

"Spare me," you tell him with a tight, sad smile. "And let me go to him. With your blessing."

"I don't know how. You are all I have left and he's taking you from me. He's taking my family from me. Again."

"He's not taking anyone. Not this time."

Silence filled the room. And in your mind it would either crush you both or he'd send you back to your room forcing you to take Feyre and Mor up on their offer to spring you. They didn't like Tamlin and mate or no mate, bond or no bond they didn't understand what you were feeling. Not for him. But they were willing to help anyway.

"I'm sending you with guards. And if he doesn't like it…"

It took you a moment to realize what he was saying. Your hands shook and your heart lifted. "I will speak to him." Confusion flickered across your brother's face. You couldn't blame him. It was strange for you too. You'd only seen Tamlin twice in your life and nothing you've ever heard about him has been positive. And the only conversations you've had were the ones through the bond that only served as further proof of what you were to each other. And yet the sway you already held over him was substantial to say the least. Already he'd vowed to try and make peace--if such a thing could ever be had--with your family. He'd apologize to Rhys and Feyre if it meant you'd come home to him.

Home.

For as long as you'd been alive home had always been here in Velaris. Before Tamlin the thought of leaving had never even crossed your mind. This was home. It always had been. Now it never would be again.

"Fine," Rhys said through gritted teeth. "Six months."

"What?"

"I give you six months with him and then you're coming home. That should be more than enough time to get this…whatever it is out of your system."

Down the bond Tamlin still raged and you comforted him as best you could.

Through the bond your mate's patience snapped almost audibly so. Up the bond he roared and raged at your brother. Slipping in and out of his animal form as he paced the halls of the lovely manor you'd only heard about in your High Lady's stories of her time with the High Lord of the Spring.

Six months.

It wasn't enough.

No amount of time would ever be enough. But it was a start.

Rhys was trying and in all honesty he didn't have to.

But he was.

For you.

You wouldn't be needing your High Lady's intervention after all…

You wrapped arms around his neck and wept into his night black and gold threaded tunic. "I'm sorry."

He held you tight, squeezing you as if for the very last time. "Don't be. I love you, Y/N."

Guards.

Rhysand said he would send you to the Spring Court with guards. Instead your brother had gathered a small arm. Cassian's very best. It was embarrassing. Humiliating. You were no less powerful than your older brother. You could level these lands and shatter the fragile minds of everyone in them if you needed to. But still you did not complain.

You were going to see Tamlin today. For the first time in a month, you'd be able to touch him, breathe him in, see him up close. Hear his voice in your ears instead of your mind. It was a good day.

You surveyed the grounds of Tamlin's manor with great interest. It so different...compared to the night court. Your palm sweated in your brother's hand. The temperature was balmy and cool, the air sweet on your tongue. You'd never seen grass so lush nor skies so blue. It would be easy to call this place home, you'd decided. If only for six months.

You danced from foot to foot unable to keep still. You fidgeted with the beaded waistline of your gown. Rhys squeezed your hand and Feyre took hold of your free one. Her grip was warm and steadying but nothing could put you at ease now.

You met her gaze, "Breathe," she told you.

You nodded but breath did not come easy to you. You felt as if there were a boulder sitting on your chest.

And then you saw him.

He was beautiful.

You'd expected guards. According to rumor Tamlin's warband was nothing to scoff at but he came alone in a loose white shirt, black trousers and riding boots. The baldric strapped to his chest free of weapons.

Rhys wasn't the only one trying it would seem.

A breeze sweept his long blond hair from one shoulder to the other and he seemed to bathe in the golden noonday sunshine as he approached.

Stunning.

You hadn't really gotten a good look at him before. But now.

Your stomach tightened and you locked your knees, planting your feet firmly into the earth to keep from launching yourself at him.

Rhys didn't say anything as he led you forth, forcing Feyre to release your hand.

Tamlin stopped a good distance a way. Hands locked behind his back. "Rhys. Feyre," he said by way of greeting. But he didn't look at them. Tamlin only had eyes for you and you for him. "Y/N."

Inches separated of space separated you. It was the closest you'd ever been to one another. You'd never noticed the flecks of gold in his emerald green eyes…

"She's all I have left, Tamlin." Rhys gritted out. "And it doesn't please me to do so but I am entrusting her safety to you."

"Me and the small platoon you've sent with her," he quipped.

"Can you blame me?"

Tamlin's eyes finally left yours and met your brother's. "No."

"If she comes back with so much as sun burn I will grind you and everyone you’ve ever met to do dust.”

“You don’t have to—“

She’s everything to me, Tamlin. Everything.”

REQUESTED! | REQUESTS: ALWAYS OPEN | REBLOG DON’T REPOST | GIF | MASTERLIST

[reimenaashelyee]

Clean version here

Not a bingo but a jenga. My responses below the cut

Somehow I have half of this image filled out. I wish I could cash it in for points to redeem.

Jenga:

First comic is a magnum opus: There had been a string of graphic novel adaptations of books I wanted do when I as a young teenager, but The World in Deeper Inspection was my first, substantial, original behemoth of an idea. It was the only one with the power and the potential to stay and push me to become a comics creator. Everything I am and have as an artist and writer is because of TWIDI.

Fan art more popular than OCs: This was going to be inevitable because I hardly ever post about them online. But I suppose if you count my one-off character design illustrations that go viral or my published graphic novels, this box wouldn’t be true… (The God of Arepo is my most popular fan work)

I binged your life’s work in 2 hours: I am glad you like my work enough to be this engrossed in it – but honestly please please reread it again and SLOWLY so you can appreciate the visual storytelling – not just the words and the main action!! You’ll have a fuller experience if you take the time to luxuriate!!

This isn’t even my day job: It both is and isn’t. I do enough from comics that I can survive out of it near full time (thanks to my usual speed; very grateful), but I get financial stability from the monthly paycheck from the actual day job. Relying on my speed to produce near-constant output for money is something I am losing interest in as my ideas become more ambitious and niche.

Subscribe to my Patreon: Somehow I am able to hawk my free-to-read platforms with a certain amount of success but never can get a big dent on my Ko-fi.

Received unsolicited critique on a free comic: Unavoidable reality. Though I hadn’t had something egregious in a long time (and it better stay that way).

Had to explain what a webcomic even is to someone IRL: Nearly all the people I surround myself with are ‘normies’ (people who aren’t so online and/or don’t read online media), so this comes up often – and it will become more frequent as I pursue institutional pathways like residencies and grants. Even if they knew what webcomics were, it would be under the name of webtoons.

I can’t wait to draw this scene in 4 years: lol @ Alexander Comic and TWIDI

Multi-year hiatus: TWIDI’s eternal curse, until I figure out how to build enough stability in my career/life to return to it – full-time and for real.

Financially supported by someone else: My dayjob, mainly, but previously my parents.

Is somehow mutuals with favourite artist: That’s what it’s like as your career progresses and matures! It’s always nice to become peers with those you admire – especially the ones you grow to love only after knowing them.

Characters get gayer over time: Growing up and being able to witness the various ways of living can and will change how one approaches their characters.

Successfully fulfilled a Kickstarter: Not on my own, but I had a few for my books that published smoothly.

Empty space:

ADHD diagnosis: I have ADHD-esque behaviours that I have managed to overcome with ADHD-specific hacks, but whether I actually have the thing itself is a question mark. I lean towards not really having it since I am able to execute and complete tasks regularly.

Works in animation or went to school for it: I used to want to study and work in animation before I discovered the potential of comics as a storytelling medium. I don’t have a desire to break into that industry, even without all the employment and late-capitalism instability that it’s going through right now. I am not averse to trying if asked, however.

Had an art teacher who hated anime: Never went to art school.

Yes I’ve had burnout but what about second burnout: Currently going through a fallow period, but I really don’t think it’s Burnout Burnout. Touch wood, I continue to maintain my love, interest and desire to make comics and stay in my artistic career.

Forgot how to draw main character’s face: Characters are so seared into my brain, it’s not easy to forget. Helps that they each have particular quirks that belong to their design.

This comic gave me my hand/wrist injury: Still out here WITHOUT any of those. I hope I can keep it that way until whenever I retire.

Emergency commissions: Hopefully I will never have to resort to do this. (Very grateful, yes)

Sleep… “schedule”? my 7-8 hours of sleep is essential and non-negotiable.

If it’s not 3 hours long is it even worth adding to the work playlist: This is is referring to video essays I guess? I rarely ever encounter essays of over 3 hours that I am interested enough to watch. (Also I can’t really watch something while drawing; I lose speed/concentration)

Embarrassed to look at early pages: Not embarrassed – I was younger and less-skilled then, that’s just how it is. There were a lot of things younger me did that I could still learn from.

Regrets costume choices: I pride myself in being able to style myself and my characters, and so far I have never regretted the clothes I give my characters – the TWIDI characters all have base outfits from when I was 15!

[malachite-vines]

Hello Malachite.

I have come to the realization that I am getting nowhere with the academy. I get the feeling that you are beginning to realize this too. I know what you really wanted in the restricted section of the archives, and as much as I hate to admit it, I've been doing the very same thing. I have access to all of the archives, as the head manager. Well... ex head manager.

You see, I have left the archives in the control of my second in command, and am currently leaving the academy entirely. There are more pressing matters going on on the island than my attendance. It's for that exact reason that I come to you. I fear you are the only one who may be able to assist me, given most teachers don't take kindly to rulebreaking such as I have been doing, taking notes on so many of the restricted books. I have a feeling you've been taking your own notes outside of those that can be found in the archives. I was wondering if we could exchange information. I am currently residing in the bottom floor of the dark tower, which I have cleared of monsters. You are free to come around anytime.

Respectfully,

Cameron Wishshade

Malachite paused, rereading the letter again. Someone else was looking for the information he was, and they needed his help. Mal gathered his notes together, pulling on his academy jacket before leaving his house. He smiled slightly, the scars on his face move with the smirk, restricting it.

The walk wasn’t far, it was just annoying with a cane. The island wasn’t exactly the most accessible place, but what could she do. Mal’s heeled boots tapped against the cobbles, her cane doing the same. Rain battered down on her dark green coat for dramatic effect, though her smirk didn’t falter. She just smiled. Someone to share research with.

Once at the tower, Malachite knocked on the door, brushing themself off and making themselves look a little more presentable. Their hair was plastered to their face, irritating their old injuries and just them in general. They didn’t look presentable when soaked with rain. Her glasses glistened, and their coat was damp, but they stood under the little covering by the door, smiling.

Someone who had been outcasted.. Her notes would be useful. This was someone who had been ignored by the academy for too long. Why was this information being hidden anyway? It was just old codes and files, some about keystones, some about some student in a duel. He’d taken a few documents on The Puppet Master for.. leverage. Well. Cameron would be help in the search for information.

[butterflydm]

wot reread: a memory of light (chapters 32-36)

spoilers for a memory of light, the final book.

Ah. It's a Mat PoV. I never really know what to expect out of Mat PoV these days, I have to admit. Early-to-middle Mat is always an enjoyable read, but I learned to despise reading Mat PoV during CoT & KoD, the two books that made me dislike Mat. The Sanderson Mat PoV chapters have varied wildly between "ugh I hate this"; "huh, that's intriguing"; and "Mat! <3". So, yeah, never know what I'm about to get when I start a Mat PoV these days.

2. Mat considers going out onto the battlefield again but changes his mind when Tuon glares at him from her ten-foot tall throne (...someone is overcompensating; that thing is twice as tall as she is). We get another of those bizarre thoughts from Mat where he praises Tuon for things that he dislikes from anyone else (Min did the same thing in her recent PoV too -- she's all "I don't respect any titles... except yours, Empress! I'll kiss the ground you walk on, Empress! I'll tell you anything you want, Empress!" ...I am mildly paraphrasing). I mentioned this earlier, how Mat starts having super-weird "I was born a native Seanchan" thoughts at a certain point, and this really feels like one of them.

In this instance, he claims that Tuon's ~way of giving orders~ "gives him a thrill", which... I'm torn between two things:

A. it just sends me right back to slave-conditioning (go back to Bethamin's Rules of Slave-Breaking back in Winter's Heart! It is downright eerie how much Tuon followed the rules there in how she interacted with Mat in CoT & KoD; it reminds me of how the most heartbreaking damane moments are when the channelers stop fighting and start desperately wanting to please their mistresses).

but

B. his actions don't really seem to back up that he enjoys getting ordered around by Tuon? Or enjoys watching her order other people around? It might be a thing, I guess, where his body has been conditioned into getting a thrill out of her being a slave-owner but emotionally and intellectually he's turned off by it?

3. Hmm, so Tuon gets incredibly jealous about Mat being in the same room as other women (who aren't slaves), but she doesn't want him looking at her with lust either. Interesting data point.

This is also a place where we really dive into the toxic ways that Mat is using the phrase 'Aes Sedai', where it basically is twisted to mean 'woman with power that I'm scared of' -- Tuon is an Aes Sedai in Mat's thoughts here, despite never actually channeling or having gone through the training to become an Aes Sedai. She's 'one of them' because she is a woman who is capable of having a power that Mat doesn't understand. If Mat had gone to Merrilor and learned what damage his fear and mistrust of Aes Sedai had caused in Caemlyn, he might have learned a healthier way to think about Aes Sedai.

4. Ah, @markantonys, here's that line: "You're doing a fine job of persuading Tuon not to use damane" (Mat sarcastically thinks to himself).

?????

It really is a fascinating/horrifying/mind-boggling contrast between what Mat's intentions apparently are and what he's actually done when he interacts with Tuon. Now, this is not the first allusion to the idea that Mat wants Tuon to stop using damane -- he told Min a few chapters back that "Rand" would want her to selectively use her viewings to try to encourage Tuon to think more favorably about Aes Sedai (Min proceeded to completely ignore him and just spilled literally everything to Tuon that she wanted to know) -- but it's the first time that Mat has actively tried to claim that he has been attempting to persuade Tuon on the matter of the damane.

So, in theory, Mat wants to persuade Tuon to stop using damane.

But in practice, Mat has always been silent and complicit when it comes to Tuon's use and abuse of damane, just as he is in this scene here. It kinda seems like the only way Mat is willing to risk himself for the damane around Tuon is by trying to place other people in her path who will argue on their behalf.

Mat is "unnerved" by how quickly the new Sharan damane has taken to her captivity. I mean, I could say the same of you, Mat.

5. Hmm, Mat is charming Galgan now. Maybe I spoke too soon on thinking that Galgan would no longer try to murder Tuon now that Mat is next in line for the throne, displacing Galgan's claim. If he ends up liking Mat more than he likes Tuon, then Mat might 'accidentally' become the (first?) Emperor of the Seanchan.

Ugh, now Mat is using "marath'damane" instead of "channelers". ...and, by contrast, Galgan is using "Aes Sedai" on Mat's orders. Hmm.

I guess we're supposed to be wondering who will 'win' in the corruption game between Mat and Tuon -- does Tuon manage to break him into being a proper husband-slave or does Mat manage to reach whatever tiny shreds of empathy might still lurk inside Tuon's heart?

6. idk why Mat keeps thinking that Tuon's behavior is mysterious and a puzzle to figure out. It's the omens. She's told you this. He wants to think that she's deeper than she really is, I guess. I suppose if I were trapped in a similar situation, I'd be doing my best to make the best of it too (but that runs into my other big problem of: Jordan's fatalism infecting all the characters even when it's contrary to their past behavior).

7. Tuon is currently interrogating Min on all the omens that she sees for every member of the Blood that's around. And Min just, you know, obeys. For whatever reason.

"He had an inkling of what Tuon might be capable of, if she grew displeased with Min."

Hmm.

"He loved her-- Light, he was pretty sure that he did. But he also let himself be a little afraid of her. He'd have to keep watch so that Tuon didn't decide to 'educate' Min."

Hmm.

Much like Mat himself, Min is in an 'honored' position... but Mat is very aware that this will not actually protect her from getting 'educated' if she displeases his wife-owner. And, once again, Mat gives us nothing he loves about her. Yet when it comes to why he's "a little afraid" of her, Mat does have reasons -- what he's alluding to here is that he's worried that she might hurt his friend's girlfriend (because he's seen Tuon hurt other innocent people in the past).

And we know the kinds of lessons that sul'dam teach. To quote from The Great Hunt again:

Renna took the chair, frowning at Egwene. "I must punish you severely for this. We will both be called to the Court of the nine Moons -- you for what you can do; I as your sul'dam and trainer -- and I will not allow you to disgrace me in the eyes of the Empress. I will stop when you tell me how much you love being damane and how obedient you will be after this. And, Tuli. Make me believe every word."

8. As a result of Min's reading of the 'omens' around one of the Blood, Tuon (through Selucia) announces that the woman will be executed, making both Mat and Min startle severely. Wow, maybe it's a bad idea to hand that kind of surveillance 'technology' over to an unhinged dictator, Min? Who could have guessed?

Anyway, Min is completely shocked by this (completely predictable) reaction from Tuon at an 'omen' that hints at potential betrayal.

Mat's thoughts about Tuon, the woman that he "loves":

Mat shivered. He didn't like it when Tuon got like this. That stare of hers... it seemed like the stare of another person. A person without compassion. A statue had more life to it.

That's literally just Tuon being Tuon, bro. Not sure what to tell you. This is the way she behaves the majority of the time. If you dislike this about her, then you're going to be unhappy for most of your marriage.

9. Min 'wins' this round pretty much the same way that Mat 'won' Tuon telling him that he was more than a toy to her -- she says that she won't tell any more omens to Tuon if Tuon continues to behave this way. If Tuon executes people based solely on Min's 'omens', then Min will stop giving her any omens.

I will say... this has been pretty consistent in the narrative so far -- Tuon only really responds to the threat of her toys being taken away from her. Anything less that that and she will continue to push the boundaries of making someone uncomfortable. Only the threat of losing her toys entirely really makes it through to her brain.

Mat worries here that Min's "lack of respect" towards Tuon is going to get her executed, but for the moment, Tuon agrees that she will not kill anyone based on what Min says they 'might' do.

...given how 'well' Tuon has kept her word so far, I'm pretty sure that she'll have trumped up an excuse to kill this member of the Blood in the next couple of days. But she'll be able to convincingly lie to Min that it wasn't because of her viewing.

I do think it's weird/fascinating how Min seems to view her 'job' with Fortuona as an all-or-nothing affair -- Mat suggested that she pick and choose what she tells Fortuona in an attempt to influence her, but Min seems to feel like she can either tell Fortuona everything or nothing at all. But we don't get any reason why that's the case. Especially since Tuon is a lot more interested in hearing Min's viewings about other people than the ones about herself, which was something that Min claimed she did for Rand as a ~special exception~ to her normal policy of respecting people's privacy. Again, why is Min going out of her way for the Seanchan? Tuon wouldn't actually know if Min lied to her about this.

10. Awww, Egwene is speaking in code to Mat about his medallion so as not to give his secret away to the enemy Seanchan. It's too late, Egwene. Setalle Anan betrayed Mat's secrets long ago, but it's very sweet of you to care.

Okay, so Elayne joins the, uh, conference call at this point ("thick with child". Um, exactly how far along do you think she is, Sanderson?) and so I am going to try to figure out what, if anything, she knows about the Mat situation. Thom told her a heroic story about Mat freeing slaves. Perrin told her Mat was doing "something" with the Seanchan. She's been pretty busy since then, so I wonder if Egwene has had time to update her on anything.

Mat wants to merge all the forces together. Mat's thoughts on Elayne: "She maintained the posture of a queen, but her disheveled hair and clothing burned in several places indicated what she'd been through." Meanwhile, ~Fortuona~ sits in pristine silks and lets Mat do her talking for her. I suppose she views him as acting as her Voice-husband-slave right now.

11. Elayne and Mat are the two people talking over the tactics at this meeting, btw (so consider that another spit in the eye to Perrin for trying to diss Elayne's tactical knowledge). Mat laying out the plan and Elayne questioning the details and reasoning.

Elayne doesn't acknowledge Tuon's existence at all during this entire section. She is absolutely and 100% only talking to Mat, and there's never even a mention of her looking over and noticing Tuon. She also doesn't seem to be treating Mat any differently than she had before.

I am so curious about Elayne's thoughts on this situation! Did Thom tell her about Mat's marriage being an accident when he came to Merrilor? Does she even know that Mat is married to the Seanchan Empress? She knows he's married to someone, because of his letter, but does she know who?

...also, she doesn't mention the Horn of Valere and Mat needing to blow it. That's maybe the one thing here that does indicate that she is aware of Tuon & the Seanchan even if she doesn't acknowledge them, not wanting to give away the Horn's believed ties to Mat. Which implies that she's ignoring ~Fortuona~ as a deliberate snub (good for her).

If the "Two Rivers coat" that Mat has been wearing was sourced by the person that Elayne found for Mat (by his request), then he is also wearing clothes that were supplied by Elayne during this entire meeting. Seanchan breeches and an Andoran coat.

Also, Elayne telling Mat, "I hope you know what you're doing," triggers the dice in his head. Is that... is that about more than the battle, Elayne? Are you speaking in code, Elayne? Are you talking about Tuon, Elayne?

Side note: Elayne doesn't get the whole "ugh no, she's a Dreaded Aes Sedai" treatment from Mat here even though she literally is one and Tuon is, in fact, not. I'm guessing because Mat isn't scared of Elayne?

12. Elayne then "passionately" explains and defends Mat's plan to Tam and, idk, some other leaders in the armies on her side.

lol so much at Galad's thoughts about how Perrin is so ~reasonable~ compared to other leaders like Elayne and how maybe the Whitecloaks should settle in the Two Rivers after the Last Battle. Perrin doesn't. He doesn't actually like you, Galad.

It is interesting that Galad is thinking of them as "Whitecloaks" though. When did that start?

Haha, just I was noting that, Galad also notices that he just did that and is puzzled at himself for it.

Elayne does not mention the Seanchan at all here, only "Mat" this and "Mat" that. Nothing about the Seanchan.

13. When Perrin asks Slayer if he thinks he'll be rewarded by the Dark One, Slayer tells Perrin "The Dark One does not discard useful tools" (citing the Forsaken as evidence) and I'm reminded of the many many commonalities that the Seanchan and the Shadow share all over again, because that is just about as true about TDO as it is about the Seanchan -- which is to say, sure, as long as you're still useful, you won't be discarded.

The Seanchan Empire is going to be the Great Evil of the Fourth Age, one way or another. I don't think there's any way for anyone to stop that. The poison is too baked into their culture as it currently stands, and the poison drips through to the people ("the poison drips through" is apparently a quote from Succession, which I've never seen, but that's a fantastic line).

14. Faile is hanging out with the Redarms, who are worrying about "Lord Mat" and wishing that they could be with him to protect him from the Seanchan. So that's now two sets of groups that care deeply about Mat and want to save him from the Seanchan that he's gotten himself tangled up with: Egwene & the Band of the Red Hand's Redarms. So it is 'known' among the general army that Mat is hanging out with the Seanchan (though not that he's married to ~the Empress~), so Elayne definitely knew last chapter when she was completely ignoring Tuon and only talking to Mat. And Faile is here to deliver the Horn to Mat (presumably without tipping it off to the Seanchan with him what they're doing?). To everyone except Faile herself, though, the delivery is "tabac from the Two Rivers" for Mat to enjoy during the battle, as a treat from The Amrylin.

Setalle Anan is also part of this group, it seems, and so is Olver, who is not dead (no thanks to Mat).

A bubble of evil sets their planned Gateway awry and they end up in the Blight instead of Merrilor.

15. ...Melaine is apparently "near to term" and just about ready to give birth. Which would mean that it's been less than nine months since Min first arrived in Caemlyn back in Lord of Chaos (and yet six of those months have apparently happened after Winter's Heart?).

It has been "many days" since Rand went up into the mountain of Shayol Ghul.

Aviendha catches Graendal in the act of attempting to influence the new commander who was put in place after Ituralde was taken out of command, and has an encounter with the red-veiled Aiel, realizing that they are the men who were sent into the Blight to die with honor upon realizing they could channel and that they have been Turned by TDO's channelers.

side note: this does remind me that one group that ends up not having a single Darkfriend in it are the Aiel Wise Ones. Not all of them are great people -- some of them are pretty awful -- but even the worst of the Shaido Wise Ones are not Darkfriends, I'm pretty sure? And no Aiel clan chiefs are Darkfriends either. No one who has been to Rhuidean and lived, essentially. Were the glass columns filtering out Darkfriends in addition to filtering out people who couldn't handle the truth about the Aiel's past?

16. Ah, I think this is our first real introduction to The Dark One as Entropy & the End of All Things. TDO 'wants' (or is driven by its nature) to consume the Pattern and leave nothing behind. I think, out of all the Darkfriends in the book series, that only Ishamael/Moridin actually understands TDO's goal. All the others are scrambling for temporal power and think they're actually going to rule the world after TDO 'wins' but there isn't going to be a world to rule. Only Ishamael/Moridin understands that the endgame is the ending of existence itself.

In the show, they've already tied us into this concept -- Dana, who gets dreams (presumably from Ishamael), talked to Rand about how TDO wants to end 'suffering' by 'breaking the Wheel'. So the show already set us up for the endgame battle which is great because it means (as long as Rafe & co know in advance that they're writing the final season), the show can always pivot to our endgame because they've already planted the seeds.

I'm curious about how much they'll tie Dana's argument into the Seanchan invasion. Because TDO is an existential calamity for everyone, but the Seanchan are an existential calamity for channelers in particular (though we do also have da'covale and I definitely hope that the show doesn't forget about them the way that it kinda feels like the books forgot about them). Once the Seanchan are on the scene, the question of "is it better to suffer in agony and humiliation for hundreds of years with no hope of escape or it is better to just end that suffering?" becomes an active question for the majority of the main cast (Moiraine, Egwene, Nynaeve, Elayne, and Rand too when/if the male a'dam comes into play -- and especially Egwene, who goes through that suffering personally).

17. Poor Faile actually has to worry about travel logistics -- they're stuck in the Blight and it would take 'months' to walk to Merrilor. Shame she doesn't have Mat's magical non-channeling teleportation skills.

However, they do see that they're not too far off from the peak of Shayol Ghul itself and decide to head in that direction, since some of Rand's troops should be there. But Faile worries that there's a Darkfriend in their caravan and worries even more that someone on the side of the Shadow knows that she has the Horn of Valere.

Somewhat nearby, as she is also in the Blasted Lands, after a lengthy battle with the red-veiled Aiel, Aviendha's group gets battered by Graendal, with one of the Aes Sedai getting compelled and two others getting killed.

18. Olver still hates the Shaido (and all Aiel by extension) for killing his parents and yet had zero lasting negative reaction to the Seanchan invading a city where he was living, causing destruction and death all around him and deeply injuring someone he cared about a lot (the wall falling on Mat). The contrast between Olver's trauma from the Shaido invasion and his lack of trauma from the Seanchan invasion really does remain so baffling. The Seanchan invasion should have brought back so many horrible memories for him, but he was basically the same in WH as he was in ACoS -- all he cared about was snuggling into a grown woman's breasts.

So Olver knows that Noal is dead, "filtered through what the Lady Moiraine had shared about what had happened at the Tower of Ghenjei" (haha so she did get around to saying more than "the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills" eventually). He also knows that Mat has "run off to join the Seanchan" (parental figure abandonment -- and Mat has not even spared a single thought for Olver this entire time, btw. Olver is worrying that Mat might die and Mat hasn't even had a passing thought about Olver's wellbeing; though I focus on the loss of Mat & Rand's friendship because of how... shallow... their reunion was, Mat's relationship to Olver also got shredded by Mat's off-the-page choice to desert his people).

Anyway, poor kid. He actually feels like a kid here, too, instead of a walking advertisement letting us know that Mat Cauthon Leers At Women And Teaches Kids To Do It Too, which is basically all he was for most of ACoS-KoD. He worries that he's going to end up all alone (again) as his companions die or abandon him. He has signs of trauma from Mat abandoning him here, too -- he thinks if he's able to train up and prove to Mat that he's useful, maybe Mat won't abandon him (again).

19. It sounds like the 'essence' of the Dark One in Shayol Ghul is basically acting like a miniature black hole -- it's trying to suck them into it. It's already eaten Nynaeve's shawl.

For Nynaeve and Moiraine, about an hour has passed. Rand's foot touched the darkness when he went to meet Moridin sword-to-sword and now the two of them appear frozen in time & locked in place. The wind pulls and tears at Nynaeve and Moiraine's clothing but Rand and Moridin are untouched by it.

20. Carefully moving around the chamber, clinging from rock to rock to keep herself from being pulled into the black hole, Nynaeve finds Alanna behind one of the rocks in the chamber. She's chained to the wall and has a bleeding wound in her side (matching Rand's, perhaps?).

Nynaeve realizes that the reason that Alanna here is to die at some point during Moridin's encounter with Rand, hopefully leaving him vulnerable due to the broken bond and making him easier prey for Moridin (and/or TDO? Though Nynaeve thinks here in terms of making Rand more physically vulnerable, making him more emotionally susceptible to TDO's arguments also seems like a likely motive to me?).

She wonders why Rand didn't notice Alanna's presence -- is he just so used to reflexively ignoring her? Nynaeve is feeling frustrated that she is unable to heal Alanna with the Power, because all her Power is in the link with Rand.

...oh, hey! I bet that's what Rand was feeling earlier! He could feel that someone he was bonded to had gotten hurt but the feeling was weird and he couldn't trace it. I bet that was about Alanna getting stabbed and it was wonky because it happened in the Weird Time Dilation Room.

21. Hmm, Mat is having memory issues. He blames his dice here on when "Egwene gave him control of the armies" but it was Elayne's words to him that triggered this set of rolling dice. We know because we were in his PoV when it happened.

Mat sees an old Andoran man that almost triggers an old memory for him, one of the ones that the dagger stole (it would have been when Rand was taking care of him on the trip to Caemlyn -- another one of the shoes that never quite fell for Mat, characterization-wise, is him getting back his foggy memories. We've seen a time or two that they are still in there, not just in this moment, but also back in Ebou Dar, when he saw the Darkfriend who attacked him and Rand in the stables). Mat actually remembering that everything Rand did to help him during the time he was sick with the dagger seems like one of those things that will inevitably happen post-canon, because the memories are still there, just hiding.

22. When Mat sees "his" Deathwatch guard among the working people here, he compares them to "wolves among the sheep". Mat does see it as a bonus that he was able to pull the armies together and pick his own battlefield but he's still pretty worried about the battle ahead.

Tuon gave Mat a new eyepatch to wear -- bright red. To remind people of the wound underneath? We know that she likes the active reminder to everyone that Mat has been bloodied in battle. Or we do get a reminder that the Deathwatch guards (all slaves) also wear a distinctive shade of red, so it's probably also another badge of her ownership over Mat.

23. When Mat tries to avoid the Deathwatch guard that are coming to "collect" him to be brought to Tuon's tent (the narrative keeps bringing up things that are so reminiscent of Tylin's behavior towards Mat), he runs right into Egwene and a group of Aes Sedai. Also... it's interesting that he thinks of it as "Tuon's tent" and not a tent that they share together.

When he mentions that he's running away from the Deathwatch guard, Egwene tells him that she's glad he's defecting back to the Westlands but the middle of the Last Battle is maybe not the best time. He walks back with Egwene (& Gawyn and Leilwin née Egeanin) back over to the Aes Sedai area of the camp as they talk.

24. Mat says that the reason he's running from the guard is not because he's defecting back to the Westlands but because Tuon wants him to sit in judgement over potential criminals (...in the middle of the Last Battle?). "Anytime a soldier is seeking the Empress's mercy for a crime, I'm supposed to sit in judgement!"

Mat thinks here that he's not going to 'order men to be executed' and, yeah, I keep going back to what Renna said to Egwene, all those books ago. Perhaps you believe that because you are valuable now, you will be allowed license. Or I think back to Mat's worries that Min's "lack of respect" towards Tuon will get her killed.

Because it kinda sounds like it's been made clear to him that "sit in judgement" means "condemn people to death" and that Mat would risk personal punishment if he rules against what Tuon would want him to rule. Is Mat worrying about how hard he can push Tuon without it painfully snapping back on him?

25. He obliquely asks Egwene if they've found 'it' (the Horn of Valere) yet. Hey, Mat, if you were so worried about that, maybe you shouldn't have defected to the Seanchan at the beginning of this book? Just a thought.

Yeah, we get a reminder of how easily Mat rewrites his own memory here when he talks about how he did all the hard work of finding the Horn and the dagger was barely a consideration for him. So for anyone wondering why I keep poking at Mat's professed reasons for doing things and doubting the surface level of what he says -- page 611 of the hardback copy of AMoL:

"It seems nobody can remember straight but me. I hunted down that bloody Horn like a madman. And, I'll mention, it was me blowing the thing that let you all escape Falme*."

"Is that how you remember it?" Egwene asked.

"Sure," Mat said. "I mean, I have some holes in there, but I've pieced it mostly together."

"And the dagger?"

"That trinket? Hardly worth anyone's time." He caught himself reaching to his side, to where he had once carried it.

(* side note: yeah, his mention of this here makes me feel even more sure that he deliberately didn't tell Tuon about Egwene being captured in Falme because he didn't think it was her business. He tells Tuon things on a need-to-know basis only, from what I can see, which feels like it's reflected in the advice that he gave to Min)

26. Egwene Travels them to the top of another location (to further move away from the Deathwatch guard) and Mat takes a moment to notice the grove of trees that Rand grew on the Fields of Merrilor.

[Mat] could feel something pulling on him, tugging him northward. Rand would need him soon.

27. Mat tells Egwene that this will have to be their last stand -- they don't have the supplies for a protracted battle. She says that they just need to hold out long enough for Rand to beat TDO.

But Mat points out that if they are unable to break the Shadow's advance, then they do still lose in some pretty important ways, because the Shadowspawn will flood the lands and kill all the non-combatants. "We can't just survive... we have to win."

We get another moment of Rand tugging on Mat from Shayol Ghul while the dice tumble in his head.

Mat turned northward again. A cool, somehow familiar wind blew across him, rippling his long coat, brushing at his hat. He narrowed his eye. Rand was tugging on him.

Ugh, I feel so cheated by this. Why set this up only to give us such a disappointing conclusion to this thread, Sanderson?

Anyway, the battle starts anew. And Mat successfully avoided being dragged back to Tuon's tent, so congrats to him on that.

Okay, the next chapter is the monster (nearly 200 pages all on its own), so that will be a separate post.

[quietbluejay]

Prince of Crows

atmospheric so i wonder will i get more of a grasp on Lion from this novella

this is the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny good guys bad guys and explosions as far as the eye can see anyways looks like ADB is enjoying some purple prose huh how did Curze survive this he's been badly wounded by Lion, many, many times lion externally: fall lion internally: why won't you die???

you know what, considering i was sitting alone in the dark on my computer during my dnd game, i get it so there's 3 sets of red eyes glowing why is this so funny to me so from context we can gather that: -these 3 are night lords -possibly the only three that escaped a battle -battle started with ambush -opponents are dark angels

the other problem is figuring out who is in command of these clowns okay they have Curze and they're trying to treat him also it got mentioned that Sevatar sacrificed himself well surprise he's here

sevatar: well i guess we know how the raven guard felt sevatar: things are looking bad sevatar: i like you three the least dude 1: This is not the time for your sense of humour he's got a fun sense of humour, Sevatar, I see why people like him

so they want to regroup and strike back at the dark angels sevatar calls them idiots dude's also got style honestly i think maybe i just have a disconnect a lot of the time when it comes to ADB's writing like I feel like it should be emotionally affecting me more but it doesn't well the Black Legion books did more, also I should reread them at some point lol but i had the same experience with Betrayer it's still a good read though don't get me wrong as usual when i feel like i should be getting something from a book that I'm not, I go into overanalysis mode "i should be loving this, why don't i" anyways tldr he leaves his spear there, it's got a special effect, one of the three notices and goes for the door and the other two don't sevatar: you noticed so you get to live dude who noticed calls him insane

so Sevatar doesn't feel sorrow when he sees Curze in the apothecarion meanwhile he hears all his brothers, murderers, torturers, flayers etc weeping

yikes also apparently curze talks to the bodies!\ I like this guy Trez

dude hasn't slept in 2 weeks oh it's another chronic pain dude

eyes emoji

time to meet the new night lord command crew interesting bunch

lmao also owo what is up with the Raven Guard dude who switched sides after isstvan v?? gahh i keep wanting to read about isstvan v but it's in a bad book

click click aw man he really does care about curze

is this baby curze??

i think it is baby curze man like were they babies or young children when they came out of their pods i guess it varied??

the night haunter grapples with concupiscence:

owo

oh this is very interesting also another point in favour of the foiling of dorn and curze in that they both deny themselves personhood for the sake of a higher ideal

wow the emperor straight up blinded people lmao and thus Curze and Sevatar meet inside Curze's head

i dunno, I don't think well okay, Angron doesn't hate his legion he just doesn't care one way or the other about them

uh aren't space marine recruits children

ah man

he doesn't get it and there's no way for him to get it

DRAG HIM

i am kissing sevatar on the mouth do you know how long i have waited for SOMEONE, ANYONE in warhammer to give a speech like this and Sevatar is back in the real world and they're about to be attacked by the Dark Angels

XD also very interesting is the focus on servitors as lobotomized slaves in the POV of all the characters in this or well not focus but how it gets brought up multiple times everyone else in other works just sort of treats servitors as things interesting

you know what sevatar is a great character to throw at idw1

ah konrad is up and about

sevatar internally: sigismund doesn't have to deal with this shit

WOW HE CLUNG TO SIDE OF SPACE FIGHTER SHIP TO MAKE IT TO THE DA SHIP

incredible anyways finished it! very interesting

[mooodyblue]

trying to get to you | 50s!elvis x fem!reader

summary: [REQUESTED] you were supposed to hate elvis presley, but what happens when you get swept up at one of his concerts and you find yourself having feelings no girl like you should ever be having?

wc: 3.2k

warnings: NSFW, minors DNI. religious!reader, mentions of god and church, fingering, virgin!reader, slight mentions of masturbation, semi-public maybe? idk things are done in a car, angst.

notes: requested by L! i hope i did your request justice even though it ends kinda weird. i may have to do a part two if y'all want it 👀 i don't know if i like how this turned out but i hope y'all enjoy 🫶🏼 apologies for any inaccuracies or mistakes. y'all know i hate rereading my work.

part two

>MASTERLIST/REQUEST<

»»————-　♡　————-««

there was this new male sensation sweeping the nation. a man, actually. his name being elvis presley. all the girls were talking about him–some boys too. you didn't know much about him until one day you turned the tv on to him performing one of his songs on a show, wiggling and moving his hips in a way you've never seen before. your mother immediately jumped at the tv, shutting it off quickly.

“y/n, you will not watch that man, listen to that man or even speak of that man. no one should ever be moving like that on television, let alone a young boy like him!” she shouted.

“you're right, mama. sorry, mama.” you nodded.

since then, you never listened or looked at him again. you spend most of your time reading or volunteering with your family anyway, so there would be no time for you to even look at elvis. keeping yourself busy was always your main priority in life. there was no denying that your friends poked fun at you for your lifestyle, but it was the way you were brought up. maybe they had a point, maybe you should get out more. there's more to life than books and family, right? you never really got to hang out with your friends because your parents wouldn't allow it.

you got invited to a local event one day, your friends practically begged you to go. of course, it took your parents some convincing. it was a local concert being put on for the community, it wasn't the worst thing you could go to. your parents finally agreed after setting a curfew, you'd have to leave a little early but that's okay. at least you were going. and who knows, it could be fun. you needed to have a little more fun in your life. the problem was, you didn't know who was playing. you forgot to ask, and when you don't ask, your friends don't tell you anything.

when you showed up to the venue, nothing could prepare you for what you were about to see. the name of the man your parents forbidden you to listen to or even look at. hell, you even hated him. ‘that boy is not seeing heaven!’ your dad once said. and you believed him.

“oh, no, no, no! i am not seeing elvis presley! you didn't tell me we were seeing him!” you exclaimed, refusing to walk inside.

“oh come on! he's not as awful as you make him out to be. he's so handsome, y/n! and so talented! just give him a shot!”

“absolutely not!”

“well, you're already here. what are you gonna do? sit outside in the cold all night?”

they had a point. they dragged you inside, securing you a spot up close. if your parents knew who you were seeing tonight, oh they'd just be so mad at you. they would ground you for the rest of eternity. this felt like a nightmare. it only got worse when he finally came out on stage, dressed in a simple all black suit, hair greased nicely with a smudge of eyeliner on his eyes. you just couldn't help but stare. you’ve never really gotten a good look at elvis nor have you even listened to any of his music, you shouldn't be looking at him. but god, you couldn't look away. the crowd was nothing like you'd seen. girls were pushing their way towards the front, screaming things your own father would forbid you to ever say and not to mention the things they threw on stage.

elvis was moving the same way you'd seen him on television not too long ago. he was singing with so much passion and so much energy, but those moves. gliding across the stage, wiggling his hips and getting dangerously close to the hundreds of screaming girls in front of him. it was almost too much. you were having feelings you didn't know if you should be having.

it all went by so fast. there was still time left before you had to go home, so you and your friends hung around a little bit. they were still talking about elvis. elvis this, elvis that. yeah, he put on a good show..and okay, he was very handsome. but no boy should be moving like that so publicly, it was too much.

you glanced at your watch, deciding it was time to part ways and make your way home. staying longer would have been nice, but all the elvis talk was driving you mad.

you began making your way out of the area. elvis was still on your mind. he was truly something else. you were going to have to pray for forgiveness tonight for sure.

“s’cuse me!”

oh. there was no way. you're just daydreaming right? because that sounded awfully like the man you've been thinking about for the past hour. you stopped in your tracks, slowly turning around and eyes widening as you're met with his deep, ocean blue eyes.

“sorry to bother you.” he rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly, looking everywhere except you. “i saw you in the crowd and….w-well, you looked very pretty. i-i just wanted to say hi.”

you didn't know what to say. you weren't one to talk to boys, let alone a boy that you have a strong distaste for. “i’m sorry, i shouldn't be talkin’ to you.” you turned around and started your walk home again.

“well, can i at least take you home?”

you froze again, considering it for a minute. “why?” you asked, refusing to turn around and look at him again.

“um..it's cold out…?”

you looked at your watch and sighed. this was such a bad idea, but at this rate, you weren't going to make it home by curfew. maybe it won't be so bad. god would understand, right? you'll just have to confess at church tomorrow and it'll all be fine. you turned around and let out a sigh. “fine. but i am not speaking to you on the way there.” elvis let out a small laugh, muttering a small ‘we’ll see’ and allowing you to follow him to his car.

the ride home was interesting, to say the least. his presence was intimidating yet comforting. the way he spoke made you question as to why you hated him in the first place.

“so, what's your name?” he asked, ignoring your mention of not speaking to him. you said nothing back to him and continued staring out the window. “you really ain't talkin’ huh?” he shot you a quick glance then back at the road. “now don't tell me you hate me or somethin’, i saw the way you were lookin’ at me up there.” silence. he parked down the street from your house, just as you asked so your father wouldn't see you leave another boys car.

“now, wait a minute.” before you could get out, he gently grabbed your arm and you quickly turned your neck at him. “i don't know what i did wrong. whatever it is i’m sorry.” he released his grip from you. you almost felt bad. he was just being nice. “i just thought you were pretty n’ i just wanted your name, that's all.”

you sighed and turned your body to him, glancing at your watch then back up at him. “my daddy would hate that i’m talkin’ to a boy like you.” you said. “and i would never want to disobey him. i shouldn’t even be in this car with you.”

“then why did you agree to letting me take you home?”

you were silent again, still looking into his eyes. you'd already broken so many rules. there was just something about elvis that had you wanting more. having crushes or liking boys was never something you’ve ever experienced. maybe that's what this is, a simple crush. after all, you're an adult living with overprotective, controlling parents. you didn't have a reason for hating elvis. it's what your parents taught you. he had so much talent and was such a gentleman, treating you like nobody as treated you before.

“look, i don't wanna keep your daddy waitin’. you don't have to answer my question. just…just get home safe.” he patted your thigh, causing a soft gasp to leave your lips. he quickly removed his hand, apologizing. “i-i’m sorry. i didn't mean to touch you. that wasn’t very respectful of me, i apologize.”

that was the first time a boy ever touched you. you were almost ashamed to say you liked the feeling, even if it was for a short second. the way his long, calloused fingers gripped softly around your bare thigh just below the edge of your dress. the feelings you had while watching him on stage were coming back to you, slowly. “i’ve never been touched there before.” you blurted out, blushing.

“oh.” he cleared his throat. “‘m sorry again.”

“can you…um…” you looked down in embarrassment. “do that again?” he looked at you in bewilderment. nothing was making sense. first you didn't want to speak to him but now, you want him to touch you? it was giving him mixed signals.

“i-i don't-”

“please?”

he hesitated for a moment before placing his hand back on your thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze. his hand was cold, but the warmth you felt coiling from inside of you made up for it. it was almost comforting. “is this okay?” he asked.

you were shaking a little, anxiety was starting to creep in. you were supposed to be home 20 minutes ago. daddy was going to furious with you, especially now that it's after dark. the moon was already out and shining above you. but there was a feeling you've only felt a few times in your life. you'd touched yourself before, just to see what it felt like but it wasn't very often that you did. but with his hand on your thigh, it gave you the same feeling, almost a more intense arousal.

“you can go up a little more.” you mumbled. elvis crept his hand up higher, the hem of your dress bunching up and showing more of you. he rubbed his hand up and down your thigh in a slow, gentle matter. you looked over at his face. he was biting down on his lip, other hand squeezing at his own thigh to avoid touching more of you. he noticed your eyes on him, glancing up at you as you quickly moved your eyes back to your lap. his hand went up a little more, your panties slowly making their way into his sight.

you don't know what brought this onto you, but you craved more. you'd already gone so far with elvis, you might as well go all the way. “will you…touch me?” he felt himself twitch at the thought of giving pleasure to someone as pure as you. “oh honey, we don't have to. it’s gettin’ late and i know this isn't somethin’ you want.” he was wrong, dead wrong. you wanted this so bad. you wanted to feel his fingers on you, to feel how wet you were just for him. he was the first boy to ever make you feel this way and you wanted to make sure he knew of it.

taking matters into your own hands, you bunched up your dress and moved his hand to your own wet arousal. he let out a shaky breath as he felt the dampness of your panties. “are you sure? absolutely sure?”

“yes. please.” he asked you once more and you gave him reassurance once again that it was okay. he knew you'd never been touched before, so he wanted to be gentle with you, like you were fragile.

his fingers moved your panties aside and ran a finger down your wet folds as you let out a soft breath. “so wet and i’ve barely even touched you.”

he brushed against your clit, slowly rubbing it in small circles. “you ever touched yourself before?”

you nodded. “a f-few times.”

“hmm…” it was an awkward position, but he turned himself a little more towards you to move his other hand to your breasts, squeezing one softly as he continued to rub his fingers on you. you let out a quiet whimper at his touch. “‘m gonna be real gentle with you. tell me if it gets too much, alright darlin’?” you adored how careful he was with you. he often looked up at you, making sure you were okay and that he wasn't hurting you. he moved his fingers down, slowly inserting one inside you. it was an odd feeling at first, almost uncomfortable. but once he started moving it in and out, it became more pleasureable.

“oh my god.” you whimpered. “don't use the lords name in vain, baby.”

elvis inserted another finger, thrusting them both in and out of you as he continued to play with your breasts. you were so tight around his fingers, you couldn't imagine if it were him inside of you. he was a fidgety, twitching mess beside you. the outline of his painfully hard cock straining against the same dress pants he wore on stage earlier. you threw your head back, hips fucking onto his fingers as you let out quiet noises. “c’mon little one, lemme hear those sweet noises.” you wished you could kiss him and feel his soft lips on yours, but you couldn't waste your first kiss on a moment like this. you refused and he respected that.

you threw a hand up at the roof of the car, moaning loudly as he moved his fingers quicker inside you. he moved his hand from your breast back down to keep your panties at the aside while rubbing your clit in quick circular motions. “so tight ‘round my fingers, takin’ me well. imagine my cock inside of you, bet you'd like that, huh? want you wrapped tightly around my cock.” your clenched rightly around his fingers, thighs shaking as you felt that familiar warmth coil in your belly. “oh–elvis!” you screamed his name as you came, praying nobody in the neighborhood could hear you and your lewd noises.

he removed his fingers from you and sucked them clean before wiping them down on his own pants. you pulled your dress back down and glanced up, still catching you breath and taking in what you–or elvis–just did. he was still painfully hard, practically leaking at this point. he wanted to be touched so badly but he wasn't going to push it. he adjusted himself in his seat, grunting at the slight friction against him. you looked over at him and down at the outline in his pants, you did that to him. it was all starting to hit you. you were supposed to be home ages ago, now you're here coming off your high from being finger fucked by elvis presley. the man you hated, that your parents hated and told you to stay away from. you felt your chest get heavy and found it difficult to breathe. panic set in, you messed up. badly. you had to get out of there, and fast.

elvis noticed the panic in your eyes. “hey….hey. baby, it's okay-”

“no, no. i can't–i’m sorry. oh god, i’m so sorry.” you reached for the door, opening it quickly.

“wait, can i at least-” elvis started, but you jumped out and shut the door before he could finish. elvis was left in his car alone, full of guilt and worry.

»»————-　♡　————-««

you did get in trouble that night. your father gave you a long lecture, telling you to beg for forgiveness and to not skip confession tomorrow. you didn't mention elvis though, why would you? during your nightly prayer, you asked for forgiveness and why he brought elvis into your life. there had to be a reason, everything happens for a reason.

you laid in bed that night replaying the whole hour you spent with him in your head. he made you feel good, there was no denying that. just thinking about what he did to you was making you feel warm all over. it made you wonder if he touched himself when he got home. you could almost picture it. elvis laying in bed, those beautiful hands of his wrapped around his cock. thinking about him getting off on the thought of you made you sweat a little, almost tempted to reach a hand down your underwear. you shook it off, laying on your side and forcing yourself to sleep.

church was the following morning. sitting through confession was embarrassing, you wanted to forget about what happened last night. you'd never see elvis again anyway, you didn't even give him your name.

after you got home, you needed to just clear your mind for a bit. you went for a quick walk around the park nearby, trying to piece things together. last night wasn't awful, you did have a good time. it was thrilling being rebellious for once. apparently god thought the same because as you were deep in thought, you noticed the same boy you'd been thinking about nonstop, sitting at a park bench down just barely down the trail.

you could either run the other way and go home or you could be the bigger person and go see him. however, without any second thought, you found yourself walking towards him. you stood right in front of him, taking a deep breath and bracing yourself. “hi.”

elvis looked up at you from his journal, gasping, flashing that smile that you adore so much. “oh! it's you!” he closed his journal and pat the empty side next to him for you to sit down.

“i realized i never told you my name…” you took a seat next to him. “it's y/n.”

“that's all i wanted to know. i just wanted your name and nothin’ else.” he sighed. “look…um…about last night-”

“elvis, i can't stop thinkin’ about you and it's driving me crazy.”

elvis tried to wipe last night from his brain. although he felt awful about you leaving, he went back to his hotel that night just thinking about you. your moans, the way you moved on his fingers and how the world disappeared from the two of you. no matter what he did to forget you, he couldn't do it. he came in his own hand to the thoughts of fucking you last night, guilt setting in right after.

“i did enjoy it.” he admitted. “but i felt like i did something wrong, i shouldn't have done that with you.”

“i wanted it, elvis. you don't understand. my parents hate you. i went home and my daddy yelled at me but i didn't feel bad. i’m supposed to feel bad, why don't i feel bad? i’m disappointing him by sitting here talking to you.”

elvis let out a laugh. you shot your head at him, eyebrows furrowing at him. “what's so funny?” he shook his head at you. “d’ya ever think maybe god brought us together for a reason?” he had a point. if elvis was so awful, why did god continue to bring him back into your life? “it doesn't hurt to break the rules a little.” he shrugged.

you rolled your eyes and chuckled softly. “i suppose you're right.”

there was an awkward silence for a minute as you look away from each other, observing the scenery around you.

“do you wanna break the rules a lil’ more?” he asked you.

you cocked an eyebrow at him. “what did you have in mind?”

“mind if i invite you back to my hotel?”