canonically47.tumblr.com/post/742593997706559488
this one
okay well total drama has a LOT of obvious mistakes and most of them come from the time in which it was written and published and the rushed season of only 13 instead of 26 episodes starting with ROTI
i also feel like they treat their characters and ships very badly, making them go right back where they started if they ever get any growth, which rarely happens. or their development is too sudden and not believable. priya, max, scarlett, that mini-arc shasmine had about splitting the money, aleheather in TDWT, prileb in TD 2024...
i rewatched ROTI and the girls were mistreated horribly. what can you expect from a season where the finalists are two guys? dakota’s internal issues were never discussed further than a funny haha moment when dawn read her aura, dawn never got to do anything for her team and her elimination was rushed, jo’s internalized mysoginy was a haha joke and never adressed properly, zoey had a whole villain-and-back-to-hero arc and STILL didn’t make finale???
also i hate when they introduce some groups and never further develop them, or develop them very little. lindsay, beth and ezekiel could’ve been an ICONIC trio. i miss leshawna and gwen’s friendship so much, and same goes for bowie and emma. jo and brick had so much potential to become allies or at least frenemies, amy and sammy were not handled well, THE E-SCOPE TRIO!!! i’m in shambles
so if i wrote TDI i’d just give the characters some proper development, more moments to shine, more fun relationships with the others. this show is based on its characters, they’re the stars!! so why not make them shine instead of burn??
gen 1 is too much work to rewrite but i’d keep TDI about the same except have a leshawna vs gwen finale, with leshawna as a ‘canon’ winner. TDA would have a harold vs lindsay finale with harold as the ‘official’ winner.
in TDWT i’d cut the duncney-gwuncan arc, make duncan never come back cuz fuck that guy, gwourtney wins. sierra gets better development. noah makes merge and fulfills his schemer role, constantly sabotaging alejandro. they become frenemies. aleheather still wins and goes to finale. alejandro doesn’t get the robot costume and we don’t hear from him again until TDAS.
for ROTI, would make jo a proper antagonist and make her butt heads with scott when the merge happened. my final six for ROTI would be scott, jo, zoey, brick, lightning and anne maria. yes, brick and anne maria, you read that right.
i still think scott shouldn’t make finale, and jo only if she got development. so maybe the merge could happen just two episodes earlier to get more stuff out of them, so the merge would include cameron and mike. scott would go before jo, and jo would be left to fend for herself after scott got cameron eliminated. this is where i would make her develop a friendship with anne maria and brick. get zoey in there and you have the anti-scott alliance. they get him out (NO TRAUMA CHAIR NEEDED, HE WILL BE FINE) and then lightning, then the girls unite against brick. sorry man.
the finale would be between two of the girls, i’d like to see jomaria or joey fight, jo needs that development. the one who gets out previously is an insta-elimination and not decided by the others.
and voilá! jo gets development and some healthy friendships! her and brick could also get together but maybe in another season. this season is for her alone to shine, she deserves it.
oh, and that’s the main thing about ROTI - i’d give them two more seasons. they deserve a WT-esque season.
i’d completely rewrite TDPI. make rodney first diss when the girls are disgusted by him (and also shit him cuz fuck him), dave an earlier boot, get beardo like third or fourth cuz i wanna see more of him, give scarlett a proper character arc instead of a rushed one throughout just one episode, make max a bit smarter and let him become a ‘hero’ rather than a villain he wants to be by rescuing everyone from scarlett since he knows her weaknesses best...
my ideal final five are shawn, jasmine, max, topher and ella. also my five favorites so no wonder. i’ll explain their arcs.
topher - 5th: shawn and jasmine, as well as max and ella, become duos after the scarlett incident (maybe it happens earlier?), and topher is outside of any alliance. plus he was getting kinda annoying, not to mention he gave chris too many ideas for challenges. damn it, topher!
ella - 4th: when she is forbidden from singing, she still goes behind chris’ back and does it, only that she intercepts sugar’s note and burns it. sugar is an earlier boot than originally because ella realizes she just hates her guts and she’s trying to befriend her for nothing. when ella stops singing, she puts her head in the game more than usual, but her refusal to hurt animals and serenade them instead gets her out eventually, by chris, not by the others.
max - 3rd: with no alliance and a softer spot than usual, he gets out at his own, last challenge.
finale: shawn vs jasmine
the same conflict about splitting the money, only that it comes earlier and is developed more. for one, chris shows jasmine the confessionals right after max’s voting ceremony.
shawn’s helper ends up being ella, but she’s been watching from playa des losers and is unhappy with how shawn treated jasmine. meanwhile, max is jasmine’s helper. max and jasmine sabotage shawn, ella doesn’t help him, but then when max and ella are given the controls for the island, they both realize the gravity of what they’ve done when they see shawn and jasmine buried in snow.
both jasmine and shawn get an ending. in both endings, jasmine gets out of the snow, doesn’t pay attention to the finish line, and goes to search for shawn, who pops out in confusion. the two have a heart-to-heart interrupted by chris to announce the race is still happening, and they have ten seconds left. in shawn’s ending, jasmine just nods to him and he crosses; in jasmine’s ending, shawn insists she crosses. pretty similar endings, the outcome is about the same, but i like to think jasmine’s is the ‘canon’ one.
and then they get another season!
so, our seasons are...
gen 1 - 3 seasons: total drama island, total drama action, total drama world tour
gen 2 - 3 seasons: total drama revenge of the island, total drama retour, total drama cruise or lose
gen 3 - 2 seasons: total drama pahkitew island, total drama reaction
gen 1 x gen 2 x gen 3: total drama all stars
TDAS would include eight contestants of each generation. gen 1 gets heather, alejandro, owen, noah, gwen, courtney, sierra, and leshawna. gen 2 gets jo, anne maria, zoey, mike, brick, cameron, lightning and scott. gen 3 gets shawn, jasmine, topher, max, ella, sugar, sammy and scarlett.
and then for the reboot i’d just make bowie win for the first season. the second season would have more development.
emma and bowie become friends again. mkulia become reluctant allies but still dislike each other. eventually they warm up to each other tho 👀. ripaxel also happens over the course of more episodes. couples butt heads - mkulia, rajbow and ripaxel - but mkulia dominate the game. short ripaxel-mkulia alliance in which they get out prileb (who have a better development trust), wayne and bowie.
damien gets to keep his immunity idol but doesn’t need to use it until the final five: axel, julia, mk, damien and raj. the girls unite against him, but he and raj voted for julia, so you can imagine mk is unhappy, but damien wins immunity. yikes.
so finale time is damien, raj and axel. everyone gets an ending, but damien is the ‘canon’ winner because HE DESERVED IT COME ON.
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Congrats 🎉💜 How about "You are my family" with Blackdale? 🤗
I really hope you like this 🥰 You are one of the few people I know who gets them the same way as I do, and I hope this will bring you happiness. It has a little hurt/comfort in it, but also parallels with TDA, so I think you would like it ✨👀🫶🏻
Read on AO3
For the Ghost That I Used To Be
London, 1904
“I feel like I should go to Chiswick,” Jesse announced to Lucie as they lounged on the loveseat by the window of his bedroom, after a long day he spent outside helping her father. “To, you know, sort things out. Or whatever is left of them.”
It was not too long after Belial had been defeated, and that everyone had reunited in the gardens of what used to be Jesse’s house to bury things from their past. They all knew that they would never truly move on, but they were trying to. They had to try. Some moved on with their significant others. While some others, like his dear sister Grace, by putting her passion into science.
“Do you think there is something left to save there?” Lucie inquired, dubious. “The place is in ruins, and I wonder if Tat-, your mother –” she shook her head and sighed. “That woman didn’t get rid of stuff that belonged to you or to your sister while you were away.”
Every time she had to say Tatiana Blackthorn’s name, she didn’t know how to address her. That woman didn’t deserve to be acknowledged as his or Grace’s mother, because she never acted like a mother throughout their lives. Lucie tried as much as she could to avoid speaking about her, unless it was Jesse who mentioned her during a conversation, which was rare.
“You can say her name, Lucie,” Jesse said earnestly, his expression neutral.
Lucie opened her mouth to talk, but only a sigh came out, as if she wanted to say something but thought it was better not to. “I’m sorry, Jesse, but,” she bit her lip to silence herself. Instead of continuing, she took his hand.
“What are you apologizing for?” he squinted at her. “You’re doing it again.”
“What?”
“You don’t want her name to come up in conversation, and as much as it is thoughtful and sweet, and you don’t want me to get hurt, I,” he inclined his head and a hint of a smile appeared on his lips, “can handle the truth, nor I don’t want to be protected from it. Tatiana Blackthorn was an awful human being and even though I would’ve left her to rot in an isolated jail cell in the Silent City instead of killing her, death is what she deserves for what she did.”
“Would you have spared her, why?” Lucie raised her voice, suddenly curious. They had never discussed the topic too much and she never dared to ask about that in casual conversation. She expected him to talk when and if he was ready. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.”
Jesse frowned, and held his breath, his lips pursed. Lucie could tell it wasn’t easy for him, and she kept holding his hand, the summer breeze ruffling his dark hair off his forehead.
I am here if you want to open up. I am willing to listen. I am willing to be a safe harbor for you. I am willing to let you cry on my shoulder if you need to. I’m willing to love you twice as much as that woman should’ve loved you. Even more. I would love you…
“I do not condone anything she did,” he began, gazing up at her, looking her in the eyes. “But I do believe in mercy. Sparing someone’s life not as an act of forgiveness, but of penance. Death is easy,” he wrinkled his nose disapprovingly. “It doesn’t matter how painful it is that you die, peace comes at some point, for most,” he forced a smile, and Lucie knew he was talking about himself too, and about his seven years stuck on the threshold between peace and misery. All because of his own mother, who had waited for the moment he would be old enough so his body could sustain the parasite. Belial. “You’re a corpse. You cannot atone for your sins, if you die, can you?” he asked rhetorically. “While if you live,” he heaved a deep sigh, and his voice came out uncharacteristically detached and far away, cold. “You will live the rest of your life with your guilt, haunted by the ghost of what you did. I find it the most effective punishment.”
“I know you would’ve stopped her if you could have,” Lucie moved closer to him and started stroking his back, feeling the tension in his bones as she did so, trying to ease some of it with her touch.
“What angers me the most is that the Clave had evidence to shackle her, to indict her, to even banish her –” he glanced up, his tone bitter. His shoulders shook, and when he turned to her, his eyes had a haunted look. “If only I hadn’t been stubborn, they could’ve stopped her.”
The pale glow of the night behind him made him look ghostly again, but also ethereal. A boy who defeated death and came back stronger. A boy who barely showed his resentment, although Lucie knew, he still harbored some in the depths of his soul. Some of his frustration was also aimed at himself, for not having been there physically to stop his mother. For being left in the dark about it all.
He probably still blamed himself for wanting to become a shadowhunter, and the angelic magic clashing with what was inside of him, leading him to his death. His uselessness as a ghost. That was what he meant with his last sentence, and Lucie’s heart grieved for him. She loved him so much and it destroyed her when he felt like this. But it also made her fist clench in anger because of Tatiana, who didn’t just ruin Jesse’s life, but the lives of many others.
Lucie understood him well, even though there were sides to him that she still didn’t know, and that she was still learning day after day. Jesse didn’t show much of a temper because he knew how to manage his indignation well, but that wouldn’t disappear overnight. And it was the reason Lucie probably avoided the topic. It wasn’t easy to discuss, it didn’t matter that he was confident that he could handle it.
“Alas, we will never know that,” Lucie replied sincerely. “They could’ve still favored her. In the eyes of the Clave, she was the one who had been wronged, and she knew how to plead her case,” she said firmly, trying not to shake with fury. “Even if you had been alive at the time, and tried to stop her, I’m sure she would’ve found something so she could throw you to the wolves.”
Jesse’s face fell. She didn’t mean to be too blunt, but he needed to know, since they were talking. “I assume you’re right,” he told her after a long beat. “I think you are right, Lucie. I –” he took in a sharp breath, “I was always meant to be none other than a pawn in her revenge. Mistook her refusal for me to join the shadowhunters as a way for her to protect me from those she said hurt her the most. For love,” he said, dejected. “When in truth, I was one of her means for revenge. One of her possessions.”
Tears welled up in his eyes and she gently started wiping them with her fingers. He closed his eyes, and leaned his cheek into her hand. She drove his face to her shoulder, and he nestled his cheek there. There was so much Lucie wanted to say to him. Yet, she thought everything she wanted to tell him came down to the only words that encompassed all the possible sentences that ran in her head. “I love you, Jesse. I love you.”
He wept silently until he had enough. Lucie stood beside him on the loveseat, threading her fingers in his hair, trying to soothe him, to tell him it was okay. She didn’t know how much time they had been there. The door to his bedroom was not completely shut, and she wondered if her parents might have come to check on them, and heard him cry.
“I believe that I can still find some of my belongings and family heirlooms at Chiswick,” Jesse whispered after a while, his head still on her shoulder. Lucie nodded. “And if we don’t, it won’t matter.”
“We can go whenever you feel like it,” Lucie answered quietly, her hand quietly caressing his hair. She wanted to add if you want me to come with you, but she thought it was a given.
“We can go the day after tomorrow, at noon,” he told her. “With the light.”
“Sounds perfect to me,” she agreed, and kissed the top of his head.
While in bed that night, Lucie thought about everything that she and Jesse had talked about, and decided that the only thing she could be thankful to Tatiana Blackthorn for was that she gave birth to him. If it was for her, she would’ve killed her several times, or made a voodoo doll to inflict pain on her. Not only because she had sent Jesse to his death. Because she had also destroyed Grace’s life, because she had killed Christopher. Because she decided to burn all the bridges her uncles had tried to build to reach her. She hoped that Jesse could find closure someday. She would try to show him the love she thought he deserved.
Chiswick was even messier than how Lucie remembered. She recalled the last time they went there. Everyone had gathered to bury things they wanted to leave in the past. It was a symbolic action to mean a new beginning for everyone. It didn’t magically erase what had happened, no enchantment could. Trying to start anew was the only option in order to survive.
Jesse immersed himself completely in his new life as a shadowhunter. He often helped around the Institute, and Will and Tessa also started mentoring him because they noticed he could follow in their footsteps in the future. Of this, Lucie was ecstatic. More than half a year before he didn’t have a future, and knowing he could potentially get her parents’ position someday made her happy.
She grinned, and looked up at Jesse as they entered the main foyer of the house. She held his hand – something they both liked to do whenever they were out together – and she tightened her grip on an instinct when they crossed the threshold. Jesse exchanged her smile, but Lucie could tell he was a little on edge. They never returned to this place after they buried their belongings, and, without anyone taking care of the house, it gathered even more dust.
“We should start looking in my grandfather’s study,” Jesse announced, and lead the way.
Several hours later, they gathered some things that Jesse thought were worth taking away. A couple of old books he had cherished. Some other things he used while he was little. The rest, they arranged on a table but they were unsure whether they needed them or not.
“I wonder what this is doing here,” Lucie said when they were looking in the attic, where Jesse told her he used to hide most of the things he didn’t want his mother to find as a child. She showed the portrait she had found to him. “I think this is her,” she told Jesse.
“Her, who? She does look like a Blackthorn, but I don’t know her. Her portrait was never hung on the wall with the others.”
“Annabel,” Lucie whispered, looking at the back of the portrait. There was a date scribbled over, perhaps of when the artist had painted her. “The woman Malcolm used to love.”
“Oh, that Annabel,” he asserted, frowning at his girlfriend. “The one you wanted to find for him.”
Lucie nodded, glancing at the portrait. She told Jesse about her promise to Malcolm and how she couldn’t fulfill it because she lost her power. She waited to tell him because she thought it wasn’t important, since she couldn’t keep her promise anyway, and it wasn’t like the warlock had helped raise him. That was the original pact.
But then she realized that she didn’t want to keep things from Jesse, who was reserved but always sincere. To her, a good relationship needed to be built on mutual trust and honesty, which she believed they had. Her secret with Malcolm was the only thing she had kept from him, and she felt the need to free herself from the weight of it.
“I wanted to help Malcolm,” Lucie admitted, her hands twisting on her lap. “I could’ve helped him like I helped you.”
“I’m sure you would have,” Jesse tensed in his seat, and he sighed in frustration. “What could’ve happened to you, if you had? You’ve slept for days after you raised me. Occasionally waking up but still unconscious,” he closed his eyes briefly, the memory of that time in Cornwall still haunted him to this day. “I could have lost you,” he said in a broken voice, flinching, as if only thinking about that made him panic. “You could have gotten hurt,” he added, shaking his head again.
She knew he would get upset. He didn’t want Lucie to risk her life to bring back someone else. She already risked enough for trying with him, and even if he was thankful, he would’ve never wanted her to try again.
“Yes, your ancestor,” Lucie continued. “Oh, there is something here,” she realized, touching the back of the portrait. A tiny wooden box was built behind the canvas, which opened when she picked on the lock. “I wonder what this is,” she said, picking up a small leather bound book.
Jesse came closer and he started looking. “This looks like a diary,” he said, opening the first page. “No, it isn’t,” he corrected himself. “It is a poem. A poem by Edgar Allan Poe. He is a mundane poet.”
Lucie peered at the small volume. “My parents would be delighted to see this,” she marveled at the precise scribbles. “It is a poem, indeed. What’s the name? Annabel… Lee,” she gazed at Jesse, who wore the same surprised expression as hers. “Could have been…?”
“Written by Poe to that Annabel? I don’t have a clue,” he shrugged. “But anything is possible. Otherwise, why would it be hidden behind her portrait?”
“And, most of all, who could have hid it here?” Lucie inquired, trying to make an impression of the famous character Sherlock Holmes, a detective written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
“Give it to the members of the Blackthorn family to still make noise even after they’re dead,” Jesse remarked with a giggle. “What an astounding family.”
They laughed together, and it was liberating. She was afraid that it would be hard to be in his old house, surrounded by a lot of things which used to belong to his family. And indeed, she knew that it wasn’t easy for him. But at least, the mood had softened and Lucie thought that Jesse seemed relaxed after their latest find, and she was glad of it.
“Can I keep the poem, Jesse?” Lucie asked when they finally gathered everything he meant to take with him to the London Institute. She was a little shy about asking, mostly considering their past talk about Annabel, but she still took her chances. The worse he could do would be saying no, which she would completely understand.
Jesse didn’t seem to be taken aback by the request. “I can already see your mind spinning, Lucie,” he declared, the corners of his mouth turned up into a sincere grin, which made Lucie’s cheeks flush with heat. “Keep it, if you like it. I don’t mind.”
Lucie beamed at his consent, and pushed herself up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. She put the small volume in the pocket of her dress for safekeeping, and then, they left.
London, 1910
During the first weeks at the Institute, several years before, Jesse tried to get used to living again. He kept himself busy, tried to distract himself from the reality of this new life, and from the overwhelming sensation of being seen. He didn’t mind being around Lucie and her parents. They respected his space and he was sure they knew how to read his mood and dealt with him accordingly. They respected him and he respected them, and always made him feel like part of their family.
Jesse remembered when he gathered the courage to go to Chiswick, and told Lucie about it. And the conversation diverted on the topic of his mother, and he broke down in front of his beloved girl, who carefully avoided talking about Tatiana not to trigger him. She was a sensitive topic, but he realized that, in order to move on, he needed to face his demons, and that included his wicked and loveless mother and the house that she had turned into his prison for years.
They had been there before, when everyone decided to bury their belongings which were a symbol of the life they wanted to leave behind. Jesse had left his coffin behind, as he didn’t need it anymore, but he had also asked himself whether or not he would be able to move on from that part of his existence where his life couldn’t be defined as such. “It was the ghost of a life”, Lucie told him on a warm afternoon, while they discussed one of her new writing projects. “And now the ghost is finally living his life,” she added. “This is a hopeful story.”
Chiswick hadn’t changed, if not for the excess of dust covering all the surfaces like the eerie cloth of an unkind ghost. The wind, now gentle, now strong, found its way through the broken shutters, and graced the furniture with fresh air in a place otherwise dead.
Jesse hadn’t been shocked to find his old house in such ruins. On the other hand, he thought it would be in worse condition. He considered this place lost. He hadn’t wanted to go back, but he felt like he needed to. He needed closure, and he was puzzled to see the remnants of his previous life were still there, laying untouched in the attic. Lucie also found a tiny volume with a poem, and it was part of the reason they were there that night.
As one would expect from the heads of the London Institute, there would always be some party to attend, or some people who wanted to meet him. He didn’t mind being around people, but he needed to manage the amount of time he was around people. There were some occasions when he just couldn’t bear to be among the throngs of shadowhunters, and had to catch a break.
It didn’t happen as often now, but tonight, because of the special occasion they were celebrating, Will and Tessa had invited even more people than usual. He would hide in an alcove next to the ballroom or on the balcony, where he knew people didn’t like to venture when there was music and drinks and food in the party room. He liked the balcony, and appreciated the breath of fresh air that would breeze when out on one, without the constraints of the frame of a window.
And Lucie always found him. They were like magnets, attracted to each other like opposite poles. He also felt that pull with her. He sensed where she was, when they were in a crowded room. He would smile at her and she would smile at him in acknowledgment. And her presence would calm him, tether him to the here and now. To the world of the living.
“Found you,” she told him playfully, not too long after he fled the ballroom teeming with inebriated shadowhunters. “Is everything okay, Jesse? You seemed distressed.”
“I am,” he decided not to lie to her. “I just feel like –”
“Like this is too much?”
“It is,” he revealed. “Too many people tonight. I just needed to catch my breath and then I would return. And this balcony is the perfect place.”
“Do you want me to leave?”
“Not at all,” he offered her a smile. “Come here,” he opened his arm, and she nestled close to him, placing her hand on one of the lapels of his jacket. “This is much better,” he said, and secured his hand on her shoulder, lingering on Lucie’s sheer-covered arm.
“This place is the best to take a breather,” Lucie observed quietly. “I was also getting fed with people in the other room. Rosamund Wenthworth wouldn’t stop asking me where I found the material for my work, which, surprisingly, she said she enjoyed.”
“Congratulations for making Rosamund enjoy something,” Jesse commented, remembering how Lucie told him that Rosamund and her brother used to mock her for having a ghost as a friend. If Lucie didn’t like befriending ghosts, he probably wouldn’t be here today. “She and her lot seem hard to please, but they do like to intrude in people’s lives. She once cornered me to ask me about Chiswick and how I used to live there,” he huffed. “Since, according to the stories she’d heard, we only ate what grew in the greenhouse.”
“That’s such an insensitive question,” Lucie was outraged, and Jesse could only grin wider. “If only I had been there! But she doesn’t dare to say those things in front of me,” she snorted. He knew she would fight all the Rosamunds in the world for him, and his heart filled up with so much love just thinking about that. “What did you say?”
“I didn’t want to be disrespectful, so I replied that regrettably, the story she knew was incorrect,” he declared proudly. “We didn’t just eat the crops that grew in the greenhouse, we also sowed them. Unfortunately, it was just corn and beans.”
“Jesse!” Lucie objected, glancing up at him. He was laughing. “I wouldn’t come up with a better answer, if I tried. It’s easy to poke fun at Rosamund. She believes in everything you say,” she observed. “She tries to flirt, even,” she rolled her eyes. “When she has a husband and a child.”
“I don’t know about that,” his eyes sparkled with amusement at Lucie, who was rarely jealous. “Well, if she ever did, the joke is on her. I am happily taken, and I’m sure the guests your parents gathered here tonight also know it, Rosamund included.”
“She better,” Lucie smiled at him, content, nestling her head back under his welcoming arm. They stayed in silence for a while, just enjoying each other’s company and warmth. “This balcony didn’t exist before my parents started working here,” Lucie said suddenly. “When I was a child, I wondered why. It is uncommon to have balconies in Institutes, since they’re often churches. They’re more common in mansions or other private houses.”
“There are balconies at Chiswick,” Jesse said, and Lucie nodded, gazing up at him. “I even remember you sneaking in from one, when I was still a ghost.”
“I did,” she bit her lip, blushing. “By the way, I overheard my parents talk one day, and found out the reason they wanted a balcony so bad. You wouldn’t believe it.”
“The view is great?” Jesse wondered rhetorically, and Lucie shook her head. “But the view is indeed great, I have to admit it,” he said, maintaining eye contact with her.
“I agree,” she beamed at him. “Other than that, I reckon that they’re very fond of balconies because,” she took a moment to say it, “they shared their first real kiss on one of the balconies at Chiswick. My papa’s words, not mine.”
“Ah,” Jesse said. “Now that you mention it, I can see the appeal,” he tilted his head to the side, and she couldn’t read his expression clearly. “It is indeed a private enough place for frolicking. It makes me want to kiss you.”
“Then,” Lucie muttered, “what are you waiting for?”
He made a quiet giggle of amusement and then his expression turned serious, yet sweet, as if he was trying to keep her face in his memory before closing his eyes and meeting her lips with his own. Lucie, still trying to hide in the warmth of his jacket, hugged his torso and clung on the back of his shirt. His hand cupped the side of her jaw and they shared a tender kiss which gradually grew in rhythm.
“Perhaps we should go back inside,” he said placidly, tracing her cheek with his finger after the kiss. “Your skin is cold and your father must request our presence to cut the cake.”
Lucie huffed, still reeling from the kiss, and she tightened her hold on him. “You’re right,” she nodded. “Particularly considering that I am one of the guests of honor.”
“And you spent the last half hour with your socially anxious future husband on a balcony,” Jesse interjected with a raised eyebrow, apologetic, as the two went inside and walked towards the ballroom. “The other guest of honor.” A mix of cheerful and shouting voices could be heard from there. At least, people were enjoying themselves.
Lucie smiled and halted her step, needing to tell him one thing before they would have to go back into the crowd of friends and family. “I’ll tell them to leave once everyone eats the engagement cake,” she promised him, fixing his tie as she spoke. “Then we can go on the balcony again, if you like. My parents wouldn’t object, since this is our night.”
Jesse nodded. “It’s too cold outside, maybe we should retreat somewhere else? We can decide later.”
“Yes, anything you want,” she said. “Jesse, did you ever –”
“Oh, I found you!” a small girl’s voice interrupted their talking. It was Cordelia and James’ younger daughter Layla. “Grandpa Will asked me to look for you!”
“Dear, did they send you by yourself? Where is your mama?” Lucie wondered, lowering to the child’s height.
“She also asked me to look for you, saying that they were waiting for you and uncle Jesse to cut the cake! You must hurry, or we will eat everything!” Layla grabbed Lucie’s hand and she grabbed Jesse’s, their conversation cut but far from over.
It was roughly around eleven that all their guests finally left, and only the inhabitants of the London Institute stayed behind. Will and Tessa had retreated to their room, and they told Lucie and Jesse not to stay up too late, which was something they often said out of habit, as if they were still children. Lucie was sure they would tell them even after they would become man and wife, and she didn’t mind it. She was lucky that both her parents were alive and well, and she cherished every moment with them. Not many people could say the same.
In the end, they went into the game room. It wasn’t one of Lucie’s favorites, but the fireplace was larger than the one in their rooms and she was in need of warmth. Well, she was warm, if they asked her, but more heat wouldn’t hurt. She outstretched her arms so she could feel the heat on her palms.
“Tonight was amazing,” Lucie commented, feeling peaceful and at ease. Jesse was in his shirtsleeves, while she still wore her evening dress. She wondered if he was as warm as she was. “I can’t believe we are finally engaged,” her tone was jovial. She glanced at her hand again, a spark of giddiness filling her heart at the sight of her ring.
Jesse grabbed her hand and glanced at the ring he had picked. “You are breathtaking, if I haven’t told you already,” he complimented her, and she turned red. For the record, he had told her too many times to count, but he still loved to say it and for her to hear it.
“You look good yourself,” Lucie took him all in, taking in his green eyes and their contrast with his black hair. “I can’t believe mam invited all those people, and they all came,” she leaned on the pool table, the balls scattered in different directions because somebody had probably played while the party went on and forgot to rearrange them.
“Your parents are influential,” Jesse said. “Even those who might not approve of their union must know that it is better to keep them as friends and not foes,” he shrugged. “Even Rosamund and Thoby know.”
Lucie nodded, lost in thought. “I’m still blown away that she liked my book,” she rolled her eyes. “That anybody in that room who has read it, told me nice words about my book,” she rubbed her hands together, still in disbelief.
“Why wouldn’t they,” Jesse held her chin between his fingers, stroking the side of her jaw. “You’ve written many things throughout the years we’ve been together. And I don’t want to pick a favorite among your writing, but to me, this is the finest. Maybe you were meant to write for children.”
“If you told me five years ago that my first published work would be a collection of shadowhunter tales for children, I wouldn’t have believed you,” she said, delighted. “And it is you I have to thank,” she stared at Jesse. “I’m beyond grateful that you let me use the book we found behind Annabel’s portrait. It was a way to remember her, since I couldn’t help her case.”
“To be fair, you didn’t need my consent to write your story,” he replied. “I still have no clue as to why the volume was behind the portrait, nor who put it there. The poem is of public domain. It was published in a newspaper, so it isn’t a secret,” he raised an eyebrow and gave her half a shrug. “I, along with Grace, are the only Blackthorns left in London. It is a great responsibility, carrying this name” he said solemnly. “You are my family, Lucie,” he offered her a smile, and held her hand. “Grace, your parents, my uncles and aunts, they are also my family. But when we get married, and after then, someday,” his eyes filled with affection and devotion, “my family will also be our children. Any children who would want to join us.”
Lucie couldn’t help but give him a wide smile. “Are you thinking about a number? Because I suggest we should have one child for every year you couldn’t fully live. So, seven children.”
“Are you sure? Half the job is mine,” he raised his eyebrows. “But you will have to carry them for nine months. It’s over half a year and –”
“I was joking,” Lucie giggled. “Not about having kids. I love children,” she grinned. “And I would love to have kids with you, someday. I can’t wait to start our own family. Fill the Institute or wherever you want to live with lots of Blackthorn children.”
He blushed, his heart pounding loudly in his chest. “Blackthorn children who we will read your shadowhunters tales to,” he fixed a strand of hair behind her ear. “And the best books in English literature but also of literature from all over the world.”
“And who we will teach how to spar in a duel and all the names of the different demons they may encounter at night,” she said, putting her hands behind his neck. “Including ghosts.”
“Here I thought you loved ghosts,” he said. “I’m offended.”
“What if I kissed you for offending you?” she raised an eyebrow alluringly. “Even though you are not a ghost anymore.”
“You can do it for the ghost that I used to be,” he answered. “And I’m not anymore. But please, hurry. Or I’m going to kiss you first.”
He didn’t have to ask her twice. Lucie smirked, and soon her lips found his, joined in the perfect conclusion to an already flawless night.
Hi! Thanks for reading everything. I hope you noticed the parallels I wanted to make, especially with Jesse and Lucie being the Blackthorns who will began the new legacy of the family once they're married. And also with Lucie writing the children's stories that we see Tavvy Blackthorn has in TDA :) I thought it would be nice if she found Poe's work and turned Annabel into a magical heroine in order to remember her, just like she did with Jesse when he used to be a ghost.
I planned to add a bonus scene where Lucie and Jesse talk about her pact with Malcolm, but I will post it tomorrow, I think.
I hope you enjoyed this one! I'd love to hear your thoughts <3
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