#like i didn’t want to take it off bc my faith is just part of who I am and it’s important to me

[carpisuns]

Hope you’re well! I noticed you took the LDS out of you, is everything okay?

DJDKDK ok i know what you meant but the way this is phrased made me laugh. no I didnt take the LDS out of me. that is still my church. hahaha

but to answer your question, yes everything is ok! Thank you for asking, that’s really sweet💕 I didnt actually take my religion out of my bio; i just moved it to a different spot. I was doing some blog maintenance and got a new desktop theme and thought I might try to be fancy and have an about page so it’s on there lol. (also i thought maybe fewer people would send me hate mail about it if they had to click one more time to see it djkddk)

[kitten4sannie]

blinding faith (1)

fall in line now, bow your head

pairings: cult leader! yunho x disciple! reader (fem) x elder! mingi feat. husband! seonghwa

genre: twisted religious romance (if you can even call it that), smut, late 1970s setting

summary: when it’s revealed that you and Seonghwa are having trouble conceiving, the founder graciously offers his own divine solution.

bend your knee, Child of God

w.c: 4k

warnings: aged up dom! yunho, switch! mingi, subby innocent (?) reader, corruption kink, pet names (for mingi too <3), light pain kink, perversion, major sacrilegious vibes and behavior, heavy mxm, mingi sucks cock, breath play (m receiving), light spit/sweat kink, oral (receiving), fingering, unprotected sex, implied marathon sex, breeding kink, cum eating, squirting, an attempt at impregnation

a/n: this is dedicated to my loveliest lily @bunny4yungi <333 tho this is just part oneee i hope this helps you see the light if ykwim~ happy birthday baby 💕 so yeah this is pure filth,, like idk something must’ve happened to me when i wrote this but it’s prob bc i’m a yunwhore what can i say 🙂‍↕️🫶🏼 oh and thank you all so very much for getting me to 4.6k followers ;; it means the absolute world to me >< anygaysss happy readinggg and please do lemme know if you’re excited for the second part 🖤

song recs: sunshine of your love by cream - starboy by the weeknd - judas by lady gaga (i’m just a Holy Fool, oh baby, it’s so cruel, but i’m still in love with Judas, baby~~)

As a broke, faithless runaway, especially during such a turbulent decade, you didn’t have many options, to say the least. There was no phone that you could use for miles, not a single soul in sight that you could ask for directions or for a dime they could spare, no map to look at to familiarize yourself with your surroundings — not that it mattered. Why would God provide you with what you needed when your existence itself was an accident? Your own flesh and blood didn’t want you, instead dropping you off at some rundown orphanage while you were still coated in your mother’s vernix caseosa, and crying incessantly for her, for someone, to feed you. 

When you were old enough to make rash decisions, you decided that anywhere else was better than that hellish place, tired of waiting for a new pair of faceless parents to force you into their life like a misshapen puzzle piece, instead taking your fate into your own trembling hands. 

That was what led you to come across the small, seemingly abandoned town that was located within the forest that you had been wandering inside for so long. All of the quaint, hand-built houses and buildings surrounded a tall, white picturesque church — one you had recognized from the various postcards that you and some of the other orphans had been handed by someone in a long white robe outside of the orphanage, listening intently to their promises of the love and acceptance you would feel if you joined their cause. 

And that was when you met him, the man that would alter your life forever, taking away what could’ve been, and instead molding it into what He wanted, what God wanted.

He was hammering in the very last nail into the very last board of wood that kept the church together when he heard the sound of your dirty feet shift through the forest foliage behind him. As if he had been waiting for your arrival, he hummed softly and headed into your direction, not giving you the opportunity to escape when his sweaty, calloused hands enveloped yours, inviting you in with his friendly honey brown eyes, his cracked lips twisting upwards into a smile that sent a wave of instinctual fear into your heart, before his soft, warm words lured you in, forever holding you captive. 

“You’ve finally arrived, my child. Welcome home.” 

-

Over the years, you were taught by Yunho, your beloved leader, your savior, your everything, that God allowed those he loved the most, those that remained tied to their earthly bonds, to endure deep suffering and endless tribulations — because within that pain, within that humiliation, laid pleasure. Unimaginable pleasure that sat just below the surface. Yunho took great satisfaction in reaching into the darkness, into the depths, and ripping it out with his silver trimmed talons, always willing to graciously bestow it upon his followers. 

There was no greater joy than to witness the moment his dear flock began to walk in the truth. He savored the sweet sounds of ecstasy that tore out of their sweat-ridden throats, longed for the moment their rosy faces ceased their contortions, their lips, wet with saliva, their unfocused eyes, wet with tears, knowing that another one of his beloved disciples had seen the light. And they would always look up at him with delicious desperation, begging for another chance to catch a glimpse of heaven once more. And, only because of his unending benevolence and boundless love, he brought them back, expecting nothing in return, except for their undying loyalty. 

Yet, none of them were ever as loyal as you, even after you met a lovely man within the congregation to wed. You were still his angel from above. If only he had clipped your wings sooner.  

There you were, sitting inside the garden with the other couples, the prettiest flower of them all, just waiting to be plucked, with your husband’s arms wrapped around you from behind, his hands resting gently against your stomach, your hands over his, your head hung downwards, a small, sullen frown gracing your lovely face. Why was his sweetest lily wilting the way she was, instead of holding herself high, closer to the sun, to his everlasting love?

As soon as Yunho made his presence known within the bountiful garden that he had planted with his own two hands so many years ago, his followers grew quiet and offered him their full attention. He basked in it as he made his way in your direction, offering his touch to many of the people nearby, allowing them the privilege of bringing his jewelry-adorned hands up to their cheeks, which he caressed, or their trembling lips, which he brushed gently with his thumbs. 

The warmth and light of the sun on your face suddenly disappeared, causing you to look up, your reddened eyes growing wide upon the sight of your savior standing before you. You watched with bated breath as he reached his hand out from behind his back and brought it up to your face, placing a small flower behind your ear. “Savior…”

“Savior, what have we done to be blessed with your presence?” Seonghwa asked, nuzzling his cheek into Yunho’s rough palm once he offered it to him. 

“I wanted to check on the progress of your union.” Yunho smiled kindly down at Seonghwa, before returning his attention to you, who continued to gaze up longingly in his direction. “Are you with child, my dearest Y/N?” 

You bit down into your bottom lip, your eyes brimming with tears. “I’m so sorry, Savior….We’ve been trying our hardest to contribute to your beautiful congregation, yet I remain barren.” You shook your head out of frustration, a stream of tears spilling down your cheeks. “We don’t understand why God has not graced us.” 

“Oh, my sweet child. Do not ever allow yourself to cry for sorrow, or pain, but out of joy, of pleasure,” Yunho taught, angling his head down further to gaze at your deliciously distraught expression, unable to keep himself from running his tongue across his bottom set of teeth, pressing one talon underneath your chin, so that you obediently angled it upwards without him having to tell you.

“Yes, Savior…” you whispered, gasping softly at the feeling of the cult leader’s sharpened fingers carefully wiping your remaining tears away, your admiration and love for him sprouting more and more within your beating heart. 

Humming, Yunho lowered himself to his knees in front of the both of you, pressing his hands into your stomach through your thin garments. His benevolent smile deepened, his eyes displaying a darkness neither of you could see, not with the allusive veil he had placed over your own. “I will assist you in bearing offspring, my dear. Please come to my bedchambers after supper, and I will show you the true meaning of faith.” 

“We offer you a thousand thanks for your grace, Savior…” Seonghwa bowed his head to Yunho, just before he pressed his lips lovingly against your cheek, which you reciprocated without hesitation. Your dear husband sighed with great relief, resting his temple on yours, his long, curled locks tickling your face, his hands returning to your stomach, placing them over Yunho’s this time around. 

Despite the tranquility you felt, the sun still shining, a gentle breeze cooling your warm skin, the comforting smell of earth and flowers keeping you grounded, the sound of birds chirping in the trees above your head — there was still something else that you couldn’t quite shake off, something that sat just below the surface of your distorted mind. If you truly wanted to see what it was, you would have to get your hands dirty and dig it up yourself. But, for now, you would live in bliss, in heaven, feeding off of the love and mercy your savior offered you.

Yunho tilted his head to the side, reaching up to adjust the flower that began to fall from your ear, pushing a few strands of hair behind it. He studied your suddenly unreadable gaze from underneath his wispy lashes, his tongue just barely slipping past his curled lips to lick at them. “Is there something on your mind, my lily?”

You simply smiled back at him, your eyelids lowering, batting your own lashes at him. “I’m just admiring my savior and the safe haven he created for us. Makes me want to cry those tears of joy.” You briefly mirrored the perversion he had let slip out only a moment ago. “Of pleasure.” 

It was then that Yunho began to grow stiff from beneath his heavy garments, biting at his lip as an attempt to keep himself grounded. This was why you were his favorite. You were his flower to water, to grow, and to tear away from your roots as he pleased. Everything in the garden was his, after all. God told him so. 

-

“My love, my heart, my dearest angel, why do you look at me this way?  With those tears in your eyes? With such devotion?” Yunho sighed out against your flushed cheek, his body flush against yours, the cold metal of his rosary splayed across your hot skin. You simply couldn’t speak, not with the way he was spilling inside you yet again. 

The corners of his lips quirked up into a sadistic smile, his warm, uneven puffs of breath hitting the bottom of your jaw, as he clutched your slick, trembling thighs, holding them farther apart to ensure that he could continue accessing the heaven you kept in between them, the hot, wet haven you allowed your savior to access. “Is it because I’m filling you with my own devotion? Does knowing that my seed will soon grant new life inside of you bring you to tears, Y/N?”

You gazed up at your savior past your wet lashes, reaching down to press your hands into your stomach, feeling the outline of his pulsing cock that twitched inside of you and dribbled a few more beads of cum into your womb, a lust-struck expression carved into your flushed features. “It would be an honor to carry your young, Savior. I’d do anything to carry on your legacy of love.” 

“Anything, my dear?” Yunho whispered carefully near your ear, as though he were testing you, before running his tongue along your jaw to get a taste of your essence, slowly making his way down your body, unable to keep himself from tasting your salty skin along the way. “Even though Seonghwa is your beloved husband?” 

“Anything. I might be his wife, but you’re my savior, Yunho,” you sighed lovingly as a delightful shiver shot down your spine, not a single doubt present within your meticulously molded mind. Your ideas of the world, your life, its purpose — your saving grace had always been Yunho. How could he not be? Considering he built you himself, with great precision and care. You were the intricate tapestry he painstakingly sewed together year by year, each painful jab of his silver needle acting as a reminder of his divine love for you. 

“Say my name again,” Yunho exhaled, his lips ghosting along your abdomen to your navel, unable to keep himself from tonguing it for his own pleasure, his talons leaving red streaks along your skin. 

“Yunho,” you repeated, watching as the older man settled in between your thighs, his lips and tongue already exploring your slick entrance, gasping at the sensation of him lapping up his own release once it dribbled out of you.

“Again,” he commanded, his sharp eyes boring into yours from below, pinching your clit in between his teeth, his talons digging into your thighs. 

“Yunho..!” You looked down at him with such sincerity, it had the potential to touch Yunho’s corrupted heart, your fingers sifting through his sweat-soaked raven locks, tugging on it once he filled you with his long tongue. You were growing feverish, losing sight of why you were there in the first place. “Don’t stop, Savior…Need more...”

Yunho dragged his tongue over the entirety of your cunt, blowing on it just to make you shudder. “Is that what you tell your husband when you want his cock? What else do you tell him?”

You chewed on your bottom lip, feeling your cunt pulse. “Am I selfish for wanting more of your love? Am I a sinner for wanting you to fill me? I’ll go to hell a thousand times if it means I can have my savior’s love inside me once more...”

The seasoned cult leader’s long-lasting poison was far stronger, far more potent than your sincerities, especially when he administered it to his favorite prey in the most pleasurable, most effective way — with his sweet, saccharine lies that poured out like honey past his shiny, pointed teeth and rough, curled tongue that continued its ministrations on your puffy, used cunt.  “Oh, please don’t say things like that, angel. You’ll ruin me for everyone else.” 

In reality, you were the one he was ruining, corrupting, defiling — and all in the name of God. It made the cult leader so stiff, he could hardly keep his composure. 

You whined softly, shuddering underneath his touch, your hand forming a fist, gripping Yunho’s hair tighter and tighter, the longer he licked at your slit and sucked on your clit like a starved man. “Yunho, please…I won’t last much longer….” 

“Would that be such a sin, angel? If you released onto my tongue?” Yunho asked in between lingering licks, his tongue hot and heavy against your leaking cunt, using two fingers to keep your fluttering hole on display for his viewing pleasure, his silver talons gently pressing into your soft flesh. He wondered if he should continue admiring the mess of cum he painted your walls with, or use his saliva-streaked tongue and lips to slurp it out of you, his free hand attempting to milk his slick, throbbing cock. Decisions, decisions. 

Yunho wouldn’t have the time to make one, because just then, the cult leader’s most trusted confidant, Song Mingi, knocked on the door and entered without being granted permission, very aware of the privileges he had as a respected elder. The white-haired man saw the nude, disheveled state you were in, your white ceremonial garments laying in a pile on the floor, the love-struck look in your teary, doe eyes, your trembling, marked-up legs still obediently spread open wide for your savior, knowing you’d let Yunho fill and abuse your poor cunt until he saw fit. 

“Elder Song, are you going to continue standing there drooling like a dog or are you going to come here?” Yunho asked gruffly, rubbing the pad of his thumb relentlessly into your clit, all while he glowered at the younger man over his shoulder. 

Mingi quickly strided over to his leader’s side, sinking to his knees, looking up at him with his apologetic, round eyes. “I…have news, sir. It is of great importance.” 

Yunho shook his head slightly, letting out a small chuckle. “The news can wait, Mingi,” the cult leader began softly, reaching over to caress the other man’s cheek, making sure the younger man’s gaze was fixed solely on him. “Can I ask you for something?” 

Mingi nodded intently, his lips parted, taking short breaths, as if he was waiting with great anticipation. “Anything, Savior. What do you need from me?” 

It was then that Yunho brought the tip of his reddened cock to Mingi’s mouth, drops of pre-cum getting onto his plump, parted lips, his once softened gaze contorting into one of pure perversion. “Can you be a good boy and open up? Hm, princess?” 

Mingi closed his eyes, as an attempt to hide the way they rolled underneath his eyelids and the influx of arousal that had spread throughout his body like a virus, his sudden heavy breathing and flushed cheeks betraying him. “Yes, savior,” he moaned out, just as Yunho’s stiff cock filled up his drooling mouth, trying his best not to choke as he repeatedly took it down his tight throat. 

Yunho tossed his head back, a few drops of sweat sliding along his straining jaw and staining the bed below, gripping the back of Mingi’s head to make sure he didn’t stop worshiping his cock. “That’s it, princess. You’re taking it so well.” 

Mingi groaned wantonly, beginning to grind his own leaking cock against the side of the bed, not even caring that his knees began to ache from being pressed into the hardwood floor below. He found himself gazing down at you, his body on fire from being watched by his savior’s favorite angel, beginning to gag around Yunho’s thick length once he began ramming it down his throat with abandon. 

When you let out a small whine from witnessing such a visceral display of power and submission taking place right in front of you, Yunho reminded you with shaky words, “Don’t worry, my angel, this is all for you. Mingi here is going to transfer my love to you once I…Oh, God–”

Mingi’s gaze returned to his savior above, a few tears slipping down his flushed cheeks, his jaw aching from the way Yunho bottomed out completely inside his bulging throat, only to find his oxygen supply suddenly being cut off when the older man pinched his nose. 

“You trust me, don’t you, princess?” Yunho asked in an eerily calm tone, not bothering to hide his sadistic tendencies in that moment, throbbing inside the young man’s throat upon seeing his small nods and hearing the tiny, breathless squeaks he made. It was then that he held Mingi completely still until his face began to grow red. 

Just when he thought he might pass out, his vision sporting a fuzziness around the edges that reminded him of the television set Yunho had put inside the community room, his throat had finally become unblocked. As he gasped for air, he watched Yunho’s eyes roll into his skull, hot, white ropes of cum splattering onto Mingi’s lolled-out tongue. Before he could swallow, Yunho grabbed his chin and guided him in between your legs. 

“Impregnate her, princess. For me,” Yunho whispered into Mingi’s ear, his digits forming a V against your pulsing cunt, spreading you open for Elder Song. 

Not letting a drop go to waste, Mingi pursed his lips and sent a wad of cum directly into you, before shoving his tongue in as deep as it would go. He fucked the warm milkiness into you, with sloppy desperation, like the demon dog he was. He looked up to you for approval, which you gave, through your cries of pleasure and your fingers suddenly tugging at his snow white hair. He didn’t even realize he had lost his own composure, until he was whining and whimpering against your slick cunt, soiling his once pristine garments with his sticky load.   

Once Yunho watched Mingi pull his tongue out, a few strands of milky saliva connecting his plump lips to your cunt, the cult leader tapped your puffy pussy. “Good boy. Can you fill her up with those thick fingers of yours now?” 

Mingi huffed and puffed, trying to catch his breath, his pupils blown wide when he looked to Yunho for guidance. “Two? Three? How many, sir?” 

“As many as you need to make sure my seed reaches her womb,” Yunho reassured in a gravelly voice, watching as Mingi hovered over you, drops of saliva falling from his open mouth and onto your pleasured face, easily slipping in three fingers up to his knuckles. 

Yunho leisurely flicked, squeezed, and rolled your puffy clit, admiring Mingi’s relentless pursuit in finger-fucking you into a state of pure ecstasy, throbbing at the sight of his precious loads dripping down along the other man’s straining wrist and along his veined forearm. “Very good, princess. She’ll be nice and round soon, thanks to your support. Your hard work won’t go unnoticed.” 

Mingi bit down into his bottom lip, a few groans slipping out, despite his effort to conceal just how much his leader’s praise affected him. “Thank you, Savior. Now, I’ll make your angel cry out to the Lord,” he began breathily, locking eyes with Yunho for a moment, their digits working in tandem to send you over the edge, their focus returning to you. “Let it be done.” 

“Amen,” Yunho sighed, bringing his precious rosary up to his mouth to kiss, the metal cold against his warm lips. 

When you began to writhe around, your focus shifting to the various crosses that were nailed to the wall, your forceful release causing your bruised body to seize up, the cult leader suddenly grabbed your chin with his talons, the tips of them stabbing into your skin, drawing blood, making you whimper. His crazed eyes bored into your barely open ones, looking as if he was about to come undone himself, despite not touching himself. “You see it, don’t you, Y/N? Heaven? Isn’t it beautiful?” 

It was all too much. The pain. The pleasure. Elder Song watching closely as your squirt soaked his tan skin and the mattress underneath your jolting body, a demonic smile painting his sharp, seraphic face. Your savior clutching you so tight that you bled, his seed blossoming within your womb. It was then that you fell unconscious, your body falling limp against the feather-filled quilt. 

Yunho ran his jewelry-adorned fingers along your jaw, letting them graze your neck, down to the cross necklace that laid against your chest. “What did you need to tell me, Mingi?” 

Mingi pushed his sweaty bangs back, taking in a deep breath and letting it out, trying to find his composure. “We have two new visitors. They mentioned Y/N by name, and claimed that they grew up in the same orphanage as her. They were hoping to find her here, so that they could…” 

Yunho turned his head to glare at Mingi, his gaze alone making Mingi cower. “They want to take her away from me, don’t they? From us? From God?” 

Mingi began to scratch at his neck, leaving red streaks behind. “They believe that they can provide her with a better life.” 

“And what life could be better than one of enlightenment? Of purity? What could those heathens possibly offer my Y/N that I can’t?” Yunho suddenly erupted, his anger being directed towards Mingi, who lowered his head down, staring at the cross that hung past his chest. 

Yunho’s face twitched slightly, his once rage-filled expression dissipating as soon as it had surfaced, as if it had never been there in the first place. It was a simple trick of the light. He placed his hand on Mingi’s shoulder, squeezing it gently, until the unusually timid man found the courage to meet his gaze. “Mingi.” 

“Sir?” 

Yunho hummed to himself, catching onto the way your breath hitched, as if you had suddenly held it, his honey brown eyes gleaming with pride, and something else, something indistinguishable. “Offer them a room and dinner, oh, and invite our guests to the annual communion on Sunday.” 

“Right away, sir,” Mingi replied, getting up from the bed and exiting the room. He pressed his back into the mahogany door and shut his eyes, carefully sliding his fingers into his drooling mouth to savor the taste of his savior’s seed and his angel’s release. 

Once he was alone with you, Yunho reached down to brush a few strands of hair out of your eyes, smiling knowingly at the sight of them opening. “How much did you hear, sweet girl?”

“Enough,” you whispered carefully, as if you were testing him. You might have been the flower inside his clutches, but you still had thorns. 

Yunho began to chuckle softly, before it grew louder and louder, his pleased laughter ringing out through the halls. 

One of your threads was beginning to come undone. Nothing a little stitching couldn’t fix. 

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© kitten4sannie, 2024.

[astermath]

nemesis; part two.

pairing: carmen berzatto x fem!reader

summary: with carmen reworking the restaurant, you’d think his mind would be far too occupied to even think about anything else. yet he can’t shake the guilt from what he’d put you through a month prior. after some talks in therapy, he decides to take a leap of faith and see if he can talk it out with you. he not only wants to convince you that he can be better, but he's got an offer for you too. one you truly can't refuse.

♡ landing page ♡

word count: 4.9K

tags: carmen being unsure about his feelings but trying to be better episode 3265742, letting reader in a little more, APOLOGIES!!!, cursing ig, carm goes to therapy yippee, syd being the absolute realest, regular font below!

notes: sorry this took literally forever omg, I lost my carmen muse for a bit but we are SO back baby. I missed him so much and so sorry if some things don't follow the canon completely (I've been watching season 2 on and off bc I've been so busy lol BUT my fics never follow the canon completely anyways),, hope u guys enjoy and let me know if you'd like a part three ;))

lmk if you'd like to be added to the tag list for further carmen berzatto related content! comments and reblogs are highly appreciated!

Carmen’s life hadn’t known a moment of mental rest in ages. If you asked him when he last sat down with his thoughts or acknowledged his mental anguish, he probably would have said he couldn’t remember the last time. If ever.

With plans to completely revamp The Beef and everything that came with it, now his feelings should be the last thing on his mind. Renovation plans, unforeseen costs and a completely new menu, sure, he could worry his ass off about those, but feelings? Absolutely not. Good thing he was usually so good at suppressing those anyways.

So why was it that he couldn’t shake the thought of what he did to you?

Why, every time he had a moment to himself, would he be overtaken by this intense feeling of guilt? He didn’t even have to be alone, just a second of quiet and the image of you crying in distress would intrude on his thoughts.

It was getting to a point where he’d told his sister, Natalie, about it. Well, not all of it, he wasn’t even sure if he knew all of it. Just that he knows he hurt you, and that coming to terms with what he projected onto you might be a good first step in understanding himself better.

Or maybe it was something more along the lines of “I gotta talk my shit to some people”. Probably that.

To his surprise, it was actually helping. Besides the group therapy sessions where he’d talk about Mikey, the business and his future, he was talking to other people in his life too. Even told Sydney about you, kind of on accident. The words just seemed to… Flow out. It was probably the exhaustion doing its thing.

“I guess I just felt like,” he kept his eyes on the floor he was sweeping, “she was doing it all to fuck with me. I don’t even know where I got the sick idea that she had some obsession over me, but it— it drove me at the same time. It’s like her being on my heels at every aspect of culinary school just made me want to try even harder.”

“Maybe you painted her in that light because you knew it was a good way to keep pushing yourself.” Sydney spoke almost absentmindedly, sweeping the other side of the room. She listened to everything he said in the meantime, and though what he was telling her was a bit worrying, she was glad they got to have talks like this. Carmen often doesn’t like to bring up his past like that.

“Huh,” he paused sweeping for a moment, “yeah… yeah, maybe. Or maybe it was something else.”

Sydney wasn’t even sure he knew what he was referring to. It sounded like something entirely different, like a crush, but what kind of person treats their crushes like that?

Probably an overworked, pressured, overachieving culinary student with a dangerous need for validation. But she wasn’t about to tell him that.

“So yeah, I visited her restaurant, and… It just felt the exact same as back in New York, you know? Like she was rubbing it in my face again, and— and I know that sounds insane, or conceited, but I just can’t let it go. It’s like the thought of her is stuck to my brain like a stubborn piece of gum.” He wanted to smack himself for that stupid analogy, but what was said was said.

“So how’d you handle it?” Sydney’s head perked up, some of her braids now draping over her shoulders.

“Handle what?” Carmen became more and more uneasy the more he talked about you. Like his chest was tight, it was uncomfortable, but not in the way he was when the health inspection came by, it was different. Weirder. Unfamiliar. He didn’t like it, because he didn’t understand it.

“The talk with her.” She emptied the last bit of dust into the trash bag.

“Oh,” his mind took him back to the parking lot a month ago. The way he could almost taste the tears of your skin from how close he stood, he could hear the shakiness of your breath and the profound desperation in your voice when you apologized to him, when you really had no reason to.

If it was still so clear in his mind, then what must it be like for you?

“Carmen?” Sydney snapped him out of his oncoming train of thought.

“Yeah? Sorry, I— Uh, I don’t know it was…” He runs a hand through his hair, suddenly finding it in his best interest to look anywhere else but her face. “Bad. It was— It was bad.” He looks a bit shameful when he meets her eyes. “I fucked up. I like, went all New York boss on her. And then I just… Left.”

His colleague just stares at him for a moment. She knew what he was like when he snapped like that, but that was with his staff, people he liked. So how badly did he snap on you, a person he’d been resenting for years?

“I’m gonna go take out this trash, and uh… Head home.” She lifts the grey plastic bag she was holding. “But uh, Carm?”

“Yeah?”

“You got issues, man.” She has a bit of an awkward smile on her face, but he knows she means it. He knows she’s right. She usually is.

He nods, silently, letting her words sink in. He did have issues, everyone knew that, but most people didn’t just say it. That’s why he liked Sydney, she was so real, so honest. She was so good for the business, for the kitchen. And maybe her saying that to him was all part of grounding him in the reality of it all. Of his issues, just that they existed.

“Heard.” he says. His voice comes out raspier than he expected, like he’s struggling to say it.

“Goodnight, chef.”

“Night.”

He’d thought about what Sydney said the entire night. He does have issues, he knows that, he’s just mad at himself for letting everything get this far before seeking help. It scares him. Because it reminds him too much of Mikey. Or what he heard about him when things got bad.

He doesn’t want to make the same mistakes his brother did. Lock people out of his life just because it seems easier, because it’s better to minimize the damage than to figure out why you’re doing damage at all. And yes it’s uncomfortable, yes it’s scary, terrifying even. But he keeps being reminded of how it must feel for you.

It’s something he’d never considered before. He always thought he had you all figured out, all fake smiles and backhanded compliments to distract him. It never occurred to him to just… Ask. It was always just easier to assume. It fit his view of you and it kept him going, even if it was at the expense of ever getting to know you at all.

He’s hoping he can change that with a few text messages and a long, probably uncomfortable, talk over coffee. Just hoping, trying, that’s really all he can do. He’s well aware of how bad he is at communicating, but he has to give it a shot. For you, at least.

He stares at his phone screen for far longer than is necessary, continuously rereading the messages he’d typed. His eyes keep flicking to your contact, making sure he sent it to the right person. The only thing you two had texted about before was a time and place for him to try your new restaurant. His heart aches at the exclamation points and emojis you’d sent; you were so excited, and he drove all that excitement straight into the ground.

He closes his eyes and shuts off the phone. His chest hurts, like he’s been holding his breath the entire time. Maybe he has. You could have that effect on him, making it harder to breathe. He always wondered why he had such nervous reactions around you specifically. He always figured it had to do with your one sided rivalry, but it feels… Different. More complex.

Your eyes are finally peeled off your computer screen when numerous phone notifications alarm you. Truth be told, you’ve been trying your best to keep yourself occupied as much as possible. That usually helps when you get waves of emotions like this, keeping busy, distracting your mind from overthinking.

Ever since your last encounter with Carmen, you’ve been so on edge. Always trying to do something, anything, so you wouldn’t have to think about what happened, why he acted like that to you. Because you know if you did, you’d just start blaming yourself again, and you’d be back to square one.

Your eyebrows raise at the name of the contact. You were sure he’d blocked you, or at least deleted your number after last time. He was avoidant like that, and frankly, you weren’t sure if you wanted him to talk to you again after that anyways. Maybe it was just to drive the point home, make you feel even more worthless.

Still, you were curious. Even if it was just to cuss you out even more, at least you knew what to expect, right?

[carmen]: hey, I really want to talk to you about what happened last time.

[carmen]: well

[carmen]: I want to apologise

[carmen]: but I can’t do that like this

[carmen]: I’d much rather do it in person

[carmen]: if you’d let me

[carmen]: meet me at odette’s tomorrow around 10? coffee’s on me, I just want to talk

[carmen]: please

The last message was sent minutes later than the rest, while you were reading them. He was desperate for an answer, and though you wanted to hear him out, to talk to him, something in you felt off about the whole thing. Like he was just doing this to clear off his own guilt, only to then ditch you just like he ditched you after culinary school. Because you’re rivals, apparently. That’s what you do.

But then there’s something else in you too. The part that’s still nostalgic about New York with him. About the glances back and forth when you were timed on preparing certain things, about the way he’d stare at you when you got feedback, the ignorant bliss you lived in. When you still believed he might have liked you just a little.

That part of you takes the upper hand when you reply and take his offer. Your heart is in your throat, nerves overtaking you already and you weren’t even with him yet. He had that effect on you sometimes, making it harder to breathe.

You wondered what that meant.

Carmen sits alone at a booth, all the way at the back of the café he’d chosen. It’s rather quiet, as most Mondays are, yet at the same time, it’s so loud. Loud in the way he hears the clinking of every spoon against porcelain cups, the crinkling of a napkin and the not so subtle ticking of the clock above the entrance. 10:06. You were late.

Suddenly he's filled with more regret than he's ever felt before. He's not ready to see you again, only to be reminded of how he made you cry, and of his own tumultuous emotions and shortcomings that lead to this moment. It's surprising how fast the emotions he associates with you changed; he's not angry anymore, he's scared, guilty, nervous. He wants to see you so bad and yet he feels like you'd be better off never talking to him again.

It's too late to make a run for it when you finally walk through the door. Hair a little damp from the rain, just a bit disheveled from what he could only assume to be rushing over to the café. And that same angelic smile you offer to the barista that greets you, the same one you'd offer him every morning, whether he looked at you or not.

He had no choice but to look now.

Your smile falters into something more nervous, a little melancholic, when your eyes meet his across the café. Though you knew he was going to be there, something in you feels surprised to see him again. Maybe it’s because he isn’t yelling at you or throwing insults at your head this time. Or maybe because he’s actually looking you in the eye. Since when did he get so good at that?

You sit down across him, taking off your coat and putting your bag besides you.

“Hey.” You smile again, much more awkward this time.

“Hey.” He returns the same thin lipped smile.

It’s quiet for a few seconds. Carmen swears the whole café has gone silent in that moment, leaving the two of you to listen to the sound of your own breathing and heartrate picking up. You’re not sure where to look, not being used to being in such an intimate setting with him.

“Do you want a coffee?”

“Sorry I was late.”

You both talk over each other, and the urge to chuckle about it overtakes you. Carmen can’t help but smile as well. You seem nervous, and somehow that puts him a little more at ease. Like he’s not the only one who’s in their head about it.

“Sorry, I, uhm, yeah— I would like a coffee.” You scramble over your words. “Please.”

“Sure,” he nods, “and no worries.”

“Hm?”

“That you were late. I haven’t been here that long either.” He lied. He’d been there half an hour early, cursing himself for letting him sit along with his thoughts for that long and psyching himself out into almost leaving.

You both order and another heavy silence sits between you two. You both know why you’re there, what needs to be talked about. Yet neither of you know how to bring it up.

You’ve lived most of your lives believing this version of each other you had in your minds. Because it kept you grounded. Because it was easier. He never let you in and for the longest time, you were at peace with that. You could have a slightly distant view of who he was, your classmate, your rival. And he could do the same. Keep you out, pretend you were there to keep him on his toes, to always try to outdo him.

Those facades of each other don’t work anymore. The real world has forced you to reconcile with each other, whether you liked it or not.

Your coffee gets brought to your table, and both of you feel this urgency to say something, anything, at least.

“The pastries here are good too, if you want to get one.” He finally broke the awkward silence. He can start with talking about food, something he knows. If all else fails, resort back to that.

“I haven’t tried a pastry besides my own in a long time. Maybe I could learn a thing or two here.” You admit. He knows that feeling. He’s not nearly as adventurous with his food choices as he wants to be, but as a busy chef on the brink of a new entrepreneurship, it’s usually beef sandwiches and frozen meals.

“I think yours were better though.” He takes a sip of his coffee.

“Huh?” You look up, realizing you were avoiding eye contact by staring into your cup.

“The danish I tried at your place. It was fire.”

“Oh. Right. Thank you, we make everything from scratch.”

“I could tell.” He takes another sip. “I guess I— I kinda forgot to tell you that. In the heat of it all.” He huffs to himself. “Food was so good it made me upset.”

“Upset?” His word use frustrates you. Upset is when they forget to give you your sauce with your order. What happened back there was not upset. That was rage. Wrath. You raise an eyebrow and he realizes he said something wrong.

“Well, more than upset. Listen, I— We need to talk about what happened.” His blue eyes peer into your own. They’re almost distracting enough to avoid you noticing his fidgeting hands.

“I’m listening.” You lean back slightly in your seat. You’d played nice with Carmen all your life, given him every chance to return it. Now it was his turn to try.

"Right." Of course he has to talk. It's his fault, isn't it? He's the one who snapped-- why did he even imply you'd have to explain yourself? He runs a hand through his hair, and there he goes again, eyes darting across the café to find something to focus on as he sought out the right words. You'd almost find it endearing, how bad he is at this, if it wasn't so important to you.

"You don't do this often, do you?"

"What, like-- meeting up for coffee?"

"Talking about stuff. Your feelings and shit." You hid your slightly amused smile behind your coffee cup before taking a small sip.

"Oh. Yeah, no, I-- I don't. Not until recently." He takes a deep breath. Just like they had told him to. “I’ve been going to this therapy thing my sister recommended. S’not much, but… It’s a start. Talked about the restaurant, my brother—“

“Your brother?” Your eyebrows raise slightly.

“Yeah, my— my brother. Mikey.” He looks a bit surprised. He’s come to the shattering realization that he’s never told you anything about his personal life, ever. You don’t even know about one of the most important people in his life, his main drive. You’ve known each other for so long yet you know so little. “I never told you about him?”

“You never told me anything.” You answer curtly. “We never really… Talked, you know?”

“Yeah— yeah, you’re right. I just thought… Wow.” He smiles, more out of shock than anything. He feels so stupid. How immature is it to be feuding this much with a person who doesn’t know anything about you?

“I guess I really don’t know much about you either.” His fingers rake through his messy curls again. “Makes me feel like even more of an idiot for going off on you like that. Like I had you all figured out.”

“Yeah, that was uh... That was something." The mood shifts a little. His smile fades as soon as he sees the melancholy in your eyes return. Of course it wouldn't be that easy for you to forgive him, to feel better about all this. "You know, I never knew you thought of me like that." A small smile graces your features. Somehow it's sadder than the expression you had before.

"I mean, I knew you didn't like me. I was pretty much at peace with the fact that you were never going to like me, either. But I never thought you hated me that much." You sniffle, trying your hardest to blink away any oncoming tears. "Like your life, your entire career, would have been easier without me there at all."

His heart aches at the sight of you, all teary eyed and trying to be brave. You're much braver than him. Sadness is a much harder thing to express than anger. He's starting to figure that out more and more.

"I don't hate you." He starts. He sees the confusion contort your features, and he knows he's not making any sense. "I mean I did-- I did hate you. Or, maybe not you, just... The fucked up idea I had of you. And-- and that was on me, that was my own fault." He feels an urge to touch you; to rub your back, hold your hand, anything to comfort you. It's tearing him apart to know that he's the cause of all this.

"But why?" A single tear rolls down your cheek, leaving a wet streak on your skin in its wake. "Why did you think that about me? I-- I get that we had a little rivalry going but jesus Carmen, did you really think I spent my whole culinary school career trying to outdo you?"

"To be honest... Yeah." He feels ashamed. So ashamed. He hopes the waitress doesn't walk by and listen to any of this, see you crying, and make you feel even worse. "Cooking was always just... My thing. If I was good for anything, it would be that. So seeing you do so well at something I'd started to base my whole existence around, it made me jealous, so fucking jealous." He meets your eyes, even if it's hard. You have to know he's being sincere.

"And it's-- it's unfair, it's so unfair to you, I know, and I'm really fuckin' sorry. I'm trying to work on myself, on everything, and I hope I can prove that to you." His face has that red tint you recognize whenever he's nervous or stressed. You can tell this is taking a lot from him.

"Is that really all? You were just jealous?" Your voice is quieter, fragile almost.

"I don't know. I wanna think it's that simple but I really don't know. There's a lot I don't understand about me, or you, or us. My mind doesn't know how to react when I see you anymore I think, now that things are different." He takes a deep breath, like saying that took a physical toll on him. "You have this-- this weird effect on me, and I don't know how to cope with it. I think it was just easier to be mad at you than to be anything else."

Anger is easier to express than sadness. The easiest out of all emotions, actually. Sometimes a little too easy.

You look to the side, wiping your cheek with the back of your hand. You huff out something close to a laugh, and though he’s caught off guard by it, he doesn’t mind it. Even if you’re laughing at him, at least that means you’re not crying.

“You’ve got issues Berzatto. You know that?”

“Yeah. I’ve been told.” He smiles, and it’s heartfelt this time. Not nervous, or sad, or awkward. He’s happy to see you a little more at ease.

“It’s just really crazy to me.” You trace your finger over the edge of your coffee cup as you talk. “I spent so much time in culinary school looking up to you. And then I find out you were always just trying to keep up with me.”

Carmen’s eyebrows raise a little at your words. “Looked up to me?”

“Yeah, like… Your drive, your passion, it’s so impressive. Always looking to improve, to do better, it just— it inspired me to do better too. As cheesy as that may sound.” You smiled. “S’why I opened up in Chicago, you know.”

“Really? Huh.” He leaned back in his seat.

“Because I wanted to work with you. Or for you. Either would have been fine with me.” You sigh. “I like owning my own place, but… I don’t know, for some reason I always imagined us working together.” You smiled. “Is that stupid?”

“No,” he replied quickly, “no not at all, I— I totally get that.” He’s quiet for a few seconds, and you can practically hear the gears turning in his head when he stares at you for a moment.

“I mean you’re a remarkable chef, really, like— insanely remarkable, and, well, we’re revamping the restaurant completely right now. We need people— more people, new people, and so, I was wondering— or I’ve been thinking—“ He stops himself from losing his breath from all his rambling, before he freaks you out even more than he already has.

“I want you to come work for us at the Bear.” He puts his hands together, as if he’s about to beg. “Please.”

You can almost hear yourself blinking out of confusion. There’s suddenly no more loud silences, no, the café seems dead quiet for once. All you can do is stare at him, wait for a laugh, because clearly this was a joke right? There’s no way Carmen Berzatto, chef supreme, arch nemesis of yours, would want you anywhere near him, let alone work in his own establishment.

“I’m sorry?”

He feels stupid already. You had every reason to say no. He’d been the biggest asshole in the world to you, he’d kept his distance all his life, and now he expects you to be his employee. Or, well, colleague, more so.

“I’m uh— we’re redoing the restaurant entirely. New equipment, new staff, new everything.” He swallows; the thought of everything that needed to be done arises for a moment. “We need people that work hard, who know what they’re doing and who are passionate about it. And I barely know anyone who’s better at what you do than yourself.” He pauses, waiting for you to stop him. But you don’t.

“So I’m asking if you’d work for me. With me. It won’t be anything like old days, if anything I— I need to learn from you.” He scoffs at himself. “Could take a thing or two about how to communicate with my staff.”

You smile, and he genuinely thinks you’re about to start laughing at him. You chuckle, but it’s not mean, it’s honest. Cute.

“You know, you have great timing.” You grin.

“I do?” the smile on his face reflects the hope he feels.

“One of my chefs wants to take over the place for me. Well, has been wanting to. I haven’t had an exact reason to say yes to her yet.” You shrugged. “Guess I do now.”

“…Is that you saying yes?”

“It’s definitely not me saying no.” Your eyes meet his, and there’s something between you both that’s different now. It’s not like there’s a switch that’s been flipped. It‘s more like this conversation was the turning page of a new chapter.

“I’ll think about it. I want to see it first. Maybe talk to some of your staff.” Carmen’s chest strains a little when he thinks about you interacting with Richie. Then he’s reassured when he thinks about you interacting with Sydney or Marcus. You’d fit in well, you have great feeling for people.

“Yeah— yeah, I get that. Totally. I can arrange that. Uhm, we’re renovating right now, actually, it’s all really kinda wild, but if you wanna stop by, chat with Syd, or Nat, or talk about the plans, let me know. I’m sure they’d love to talk to you.” He’s not lying, you seem like you’d get along well with them. Especially Sydney. Your thinking processes are very similar to each other. And to his.

Carmen gets the bill, even though you try to pay for it.

“It’s just a coffee, just let me get this one.”

You let him have this one, simply because you can’t argue with him after the conversation you just had. You’re in too good of a mood after his proposition too.

He walks you to your car, hands in his pockets when you reach it. It’s cold outside, and his breath comes out in visible puffs of air. His nose is a little red, but you think it looks cute.

“Thanks for coming, by the way,” he starts, “I know you didn’t have to. Like— after how I acted to you. But— But I really do appreciate that you’re givin' me a chance here.” He’d always been confused about how positive and faithful you were in people. He never thought he’d be grateful for those exact features too.

“No worries, I… I had a good time. I’m glad we talked.” The keys jingle as you fidget with them. Among them is a keychain in the shape of a cherry, he recognizes it. It reminds him of how little you’ve both changed. And how much.

“Yeah.” He sighs. Relieved, almost. “Me too. But I’ll let you leave, might wanna tell your chef the good news.”

“Good news?” You quirk an eyebrow.

“That you’re selling them the business.”

“I haven’t decided yet, Carm.” You scoff. But he can tell you have, you look too excited about it all to not have your mind made up yet. It excites him too. Scares him a bit as well, but what’s a new chapter without a bit of tension?

“Right. Sorry.” He huffs. “Just text me when you wanna head over to see the place. It’s uh… It’s a work in progress, but it’s getting somewhere.”

“I believe you. I’m looking forward to it.” You lean back against your car a little.

“Yeah. Me too.”

“See y’around?” You unlock it and walk up to the driver’s side.

“Course. Uh, don’t be a stranger.”

You grin, leaning down to get into the vehicle. “Never with you, Berzatto.”

He watches you drive off, standing in the cold for far longer than any sensible person has any business standing there. But he feels good. He feels warm.

He thinks about what you said to him before you left. You were right, you were never a stranger to him. You were always like a constant in his life; whether you were actually present or not. And even if he didn’t know that much about you, which he was insistent on changing, you were never a stranger.

Never with him.

tag list <3

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[commanderfoxdeservesbetter]

🥹 ngl i keep running back to your page, and i finally followed bc i keep forgetting, but like…

do you have more of that clone witness protection program? i just reread them AND THE THORN ONE, and i just- i gotta know au wise. How does everyone react to finding out what Fox did and what it cost him (ie. him saving Fives unintentionally got Thorn killed)

So if anyone wants to read on it, this post has all the parts linked

And love that you enjoyed the AU!! It’s one of my favorites so to hear you kept up with it makes me happy 🥹

This take is interesting to think about - honestly if we want to go this route, including all the parts above, they would found out more towards the end of the war (the beginning of the finale with Sidious)

And it goes like this

Cody has lost faith in the Republic way before Rex “died” but now he’s determined to do something about it. He has gathered all the CCs together, plus the Corrie CCs except for Fox (not that Cody didn’t invite him but he has a different mission for him and his vod’ika and also Fox couldn’t make it so he sent Stone and Thire instead), and lets them know his decision and plan to cease from Republic forces

“I’m taking my men out.”

Shock was heard in the empty silence. Bacara is the first to speak. “What about the Jedi?”

Cody shakes his head. “Whoever I grab is going with me.”

“You can’t take them all.” Neyo’s stare is hard, unyielding. Cody stares back.

“With Kenobi and Skywalker gone, the rest will follow.”

Ponds huffs out a laugh. Cody slants him a look when he bangs his hand on the table. “Count me in. Windu and I are down for a little … mutiny.” His grin is wide, fearless.

Thire taps his comm. “if you can get us a Venator, I can let Vos know to retrieve the Jedi at the Temple.”

Bly stands up, his seat clattering behind him. “Aayla and I can help with that.” He ignores the small “it’s Aayla now, is it?” behind his back. “They won’t want to leave their home without a reason.” He speaks before Cody can get any words out of his open mouth. “A solid, logical reason. You wanting to find Rex-”

“That’s not the reason I’m leaving.”

“Isn’t it?” Heads turn towards the new voice. Fox enters the small room with barely a sound, footsteps silent in his path towards his Ori’vod. “I mean,” and he chuckles harsh. “Why leave now? Why not when your General died? Or your men were ambushed? Or perhaps after Umbara when they shot each other?”

Cody grits his teeth, anger flashing across his face. His expression turns smooth a second later but every CC saw it. “Don’t talk about the war like you understand it.”

Fox tilts his head, almost offended at the implied statement. He however lets it go in pursuit of his other point. “You never cared before-”

“I always cared.”

“Until Rex’ika-”

“You have no right to call him that.”

“-went and got himself killed.”

Fox rolls with the impact Cody throws at him. His hands clutch his brother’s blacks in an awful attempt at a hug. Cody however has one hand around his neck, ready to snap. His other yanks at the chest armor, pulling Fox up just a breath. “Don’t talk about him that way.”

Fox doesn’t speak, hardly dares to breath in the face of his brother’s wrath. “Leave,” he commands to the room.

The CCs watch but don’t move until Cody yells out. “GET OUT!”

Wolffe is the first to move. Pats Cody’s back on his way out. “Don’t kill him, Vod.” Fox rolls his eyes at the unhelpful comment.

The other CCs follow him out until it’s just them. Even Thire and Stone, who passed glances at him, left.

Cody is breathing hard, his panting harsh in the room. Fox feels his hand curl against his neck and thinks how pathetic.

“Get off,” he demands and Cody snarls. Fox’ eyes flash in anger and he snarls right back.

It leads to them wrestling, Cody losing his grip on his neck and instead trying to break the bones in his arm. Fox bites at the forearm near his mouth, and tastes a hint of iron. They scratch and hit and wrestle and the anger that came from Thorn’s death leave Fox, slowly but surely. His grief replaces it fast, as does his guilt when he sees tears in Cody’s eyes.

Would Cody act this way if Fox died? Would Fox if Thorn hadn’t?

Fox finds himself hugging his Ori’vod as he sobs at the loss of Rex. Great, wracking sobs that Fox himself wishes to return. He licks his lips and shares a piece of grief. “Thorn is dead.”

“I’m sorry,” Cody mutters through stuttered breathing.

Fox however decides that it’s enough to start the conversation. “He believed in the Protection Program. Saved many Vod cause of it.” Cody listens intently, his cries mingling into silence. “Fives needed to live. We both knew that.” He hesitates before stating his opinion. “I won’t make his death go in vain by hiding.”

Cody pushes off his brother, stares up at the ceiling above them. He taps his fingers once, twice, before asking, “would Rex-”

“He’s not in it,” Fox lies through his teeth and hates the guilt that rising at it. Cody can’t know. Not yet.

It would just cause more trouble, and potentially Rex’s death. Fox can’t allow that right now. Not when Cody isn’t thinking clearly.

Cody stays silent. The moments creep by and Fox’s heart beats faster. He wonders if his Ori’vod can see through his lies.

Cody’s words break his anxiety process. “Then we kill Palpatine.” He says it nonchalantly, in response to their previous conversation.

Fox’ lips twitch. His chest hitches. And then he’s laughing before he can think. Cody turns his head, joins in when he realizes they aren’t laughing for fun.

[jarofstyles]

FICTOBER DAY 16- Burn in Hell

Enjoyyyyy! Send me messages to talk if you'd like!

FICTOBER

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warnings- mention of hell, demons, blood, daggers/knifes, witchcraft, toxic behavior bc he’s literally a demon, etc

----

“I hope you burn in hell.” Y/N spit, looking at Harry’s form with a sneer on her face. The demon snickered, approaching her with his cocky smirk that she wanted to smack right off his face.  He had disappeared for a month and a half, coming back to her shop after hours with a blood soaked dagger in his hand that was pulled over the throat of one of her friends, just moments ago. That was his greeting. 

“Oh, gorgeous, the words you say to me… You’re so romantic.” He cooed, not at all concerned about the dagger she had pulled from her dress. “I don’t feel like going home right now. Besides,I had to do it. You know I did, it’s part of my nature.” 

“He was my friend, Harry!” She yelled, pointing it at his chest as he approached her, hand shaking slightly as she looked at him, wild eyed and chest feeling like it was going to explode. “He was my friend and you just- you killed him. You killed him because you’re jealous, you think- you think he could make he happy?” Y/N’s laugh bubbled, not a real humorous one but one of contempt and grief.  

The demon’s demeanor darkened, jaw tight as he approached, letting the dagger cut his clothing as he began to back the witch into the shelf, the bottles of herbs shaking as she bumped into them. The tip of the blade was against his skin, but he didn’t care as his hand shot out to grab her face, roughly tilting it up. 

“He can’t do that. No one can make you happy, except for me.” His voice got darker, deeper, making her breathing catch. “You may have summoned me accidentally, but you fucked me. You begged for my cock, you begged for my seed inside of your cunt that drips just for me. You’ve taken me again and again.” He hissed. “You think that just because I go away for a month to do what I was made for means that I’m done with you? Do you honestly think… I’m going to let a man who wants you think he has any semblance of a chance?” The veins around his eyes darkened, eyes black as Y/N realized just how badly she had upset the creature. 

“H-How was I supposed to know you’d come back? You left a note, but you were gone for month and a half!” She whispered shakily. “That isn’t ‘be back soon.’ No communication , nothing.” Her hurt was obvious in her voice. “How am I supposed to trust you? You’re a demon, Harry. I summoned you by accident, yes, but I only know so much about you and your kind. There was- there was obviously some sort of chemistry, and I won’t have you holding our sex over my head.” 

“Holding it over your head?” He laughed. “No, that’s not what I’m doing. I’m proving a point. Providing you context. While I may apologize for not stating how long I’d be gone until I came back to you- I gave you some of my blood. You licked your lips of it, and you bonded yourself to me. I would always come back to you.” His face was deadly serious. Y/N hadn’t known that doing what would mean bonding them- she had wondered why he had seemed so happy after that, kissing her all over and spending the entire night worshipping her, calling her his- and a part of her wouldn’t be upset over it considering their chemistry but…. 

“You can not just kill people who had interest in me.” Her voice pleaded. “I have no intentions of- if what you say is true, and we’re bonded- I am a faithful woman. You don’t need to kill them.” 

“If you could hear his thoughts, Y/N… You would understand.” Harry replied. “Thinking about how much longer you’d take until you break and give into him. Wondering how you look under your dresses, if you’d be a good lover, what you taste like… No.” His voice was a hiss, broken up slightly in a truly demonic tone. “I will kill anyone with the intention of trying to take what belongs to me. I’ll do it over and over again, until I’m soaked with blood. I’ll take you in front of all of them before I do it, too. I do not care about their pitiful lives, lusting over a witch like yourself.” He took her dagger, pressing it to his throat. “They’d kill you if they knew the truth. That you were a true witch, not just an apothecary owner. That you begged for a demon to spill his seed inside of you, that you licked it off these sinful fingers and begged for more on your tongue. Humans aren’t ready to accept the fact. You’ll have to move to a new village soon when they wonder why you aren’t aging- none of them can be your forever. But I can. They aren’t good enough for you.” 

His voice softened, the demonic trill leaving as his eyes softened back to their mossy green. “It is in my blood, Y/N. You are my woman, and I am yours. Anyone who thinks of threatening it is going to be eliminated. You can’t kill me. You love me.” 

Y/N knew it was true, tugging the dagger from him and tossing it on the floor. “Please.” She whimpered. “I’ll be yours- But you need to be careful. If they find a string of murders, they’ll be suspicious and one of us will be blamed. Somehow. I can’t-” She had already thought she lost him once. She couldn't do it again.

“They can’t kill me, my ethereal beauty. My gorgeous little witch.” He shifted, touch on her chin gentle as he tilted her head up. “I’m invincible to humans. My powerful woman… They don’t know the power you hold, and how much we can do together now. Just let me take care of it. Take care of you.” His lips get closer with every word, capturing hers with the final sentence.

As he lifted her up to bring to her room, she couldn’t help but think it. What a match made in hell.

[queenofallimagines]

oh good gods pls your luciferian hcs made me YELL they’re so good lmao i was side eyeing my altar and space for lucifer the WHOLE TIME

do you think you could do a part two? and if possible, nsfw? if not thats more than okay!! thank you and i hope you’re doing so good!!!

🕷️anon

Absolutely 🕷anon! AND LMAO YEAH I COULD FEEL HIM SIDE EYEING ME ACROSS THE ROOM AS I WROTE THESESGSHSJS asking the old man “why are you like this” whenever lucifer in game does something corny😭 ik he’s sick of me

Lucifer:

- Okay so since part 1 was when you arrived this will be more about day to day life in the next term

- Right off the bat I’m imagining minor petty spats that the other brothers are like…. Wtf is going on here

- Like y’all have been glaring across the table at one another for 30 mins and haven’t spoken a word

- WAY more picky w offerings lmao

- Is literally going to be super extra about it for no reason other than to bother you

- For example! When you give an offering to oshun( African orisha they’re like the HR in the heaven department just above the angel hierarchy) you have to eat a little first bc she was poisoned once so it’s like to show you’re in good faith

- Lucifer will ask you to do that w food you don’t like

- “Eat some”

- “I got this for you-“

- “And I want you to taste some😌”

- “….. do I really I have to???”

- “Are you telling me what to do w MY offering🤨”

- MAKE FUN OF HIM PLEASE ITS SO FUNNY!!

- A lot of people ( white peoples I fear😔) be talking about he only accepts blood offerings and you have to sell your soul or whatever and stuff but literally this man will be giddy over a red candle w gold glitter

- Write all your assignments in sparky pen so when he looks at them he can’t hold back a smile

- As a joke you leave crystals associated with him in his coat pockets but he will never take them out

- Congratulations you played ya self

- You doing the stuff you do for him out of habit will fluster him if you say it

- “Why are you waking up so early to get ready?”

- “Hm? For Lucifer”

- “No im not gunna drink this tea it’s an offering🙄”

- Please don’t tell his brothers he will lock himself in his office💀

- Whenever you google “what can I do for Lucifer” 9/10 the first thing will be taking care of yourself

- So when your self caring w asmo and you go “oh I do this bc Lucifer likes it”

- The house will expose in chaos

- Mammon demanding you tell him your card numbers “for him” LMAO

- They’re all super jealous

- Gotta tell em its nothing personal he’s just always been there for you

- Whew if he reached out to YOU?

- The silence in the house REAL LOUD😭

- Belphegor waking up and going “ik you fucking lying!!!”

- You’re all confused like???

- “…..you said Lucifer… reached out to YOU?”

- “??????yeah????”

- “As in… he ASKED you to work with him?”

- “Yeah, I couldn’t stop thinking about his name and he showed up on my door one day”

- Lmao belphie and mammon are the LOUDEST FR

- “YOU CHOSE A HUMAN?? MR I HATE HUMANS BECAUSE THEYRE WEAK??📸”

- OH SO THERES MORE THAN ONE FAKE BITCH IN THIS HOUSE HUH?”

- lmao he’s sitting there red faced clenching his fist like

- “Listen I can explain”

- He cannot explain😭

- Can’t even say he did it on a whim

- “He really picked me up like a wet cat lmao”

- “Mc I am literally begging you to shut the FUCK up”

- Oh maaaaan diavolo will get a Kick out of this!!

- Solomon is very salty

- “But I can’t get a pact😒😒”

- He’s literally going to double down and bother him more

- “Lucifer you never told me you were taking on disciples🥺”

- “I didn’t think it was that important lord diavolo simply to pass the time”

- Simeon is laughing but internally having the feels bc he’s like 🥹 “even after all this time you still choose to be a guardian angel”

- Will tell you embarrassing stories about him he is now super close to you

- “Lucifer being the lords favorite was also the best one at singing👀 he loved music”

- That’s tru btw lmao Lucifer was like one of the angels who liked singing the most thats what makes humans and angels so alike- love for music and dancing-

- Call him your morning star and he MELTS

- Back to why were really here😌

- Call him that during sex or when you first wake up and he’s on cloud nine

- FUCK HIM DURING GOLDEN HOUR🗣🗣

- He’s literally he rises in the morning for a reason!!

- He will deadass purpose bc imagine riding him as the sun stars peaking over the horizon

- He’s under you moaning looking up at you w the most glazed over love struck eyes

- The sun filtering through the window and hitting him juuuuuuuust right

- That it looks like he has a halo again

- Breathlessly calling your name as you grind down on him

- He barely manages to get out that he’s close before you caress some of his hair out of his face

- “Cum for me then my Morningstar”

- Time freezes for like 16 seconds and his eyes are getting teary

- He hugs you close as he starts rutting his hips into you harder

- Will cum and keep going until he’s about to pass out

- Holding you like a lifeline

- When you can finally breathe and think straight he pulls you in for a kiss

- Literally stealing your breath away

- Will say I love you in the most honest voice ever while smiling at you with teary eyes

- probably won’t stop touching you all day might as well just spend it in bed

-is embarrassed by body worship calling it now

- be HE can do that but if YOU sink to your knees behind his desk and hold eye contact he’s getting nervous

-“just showing my devout gratitude💕”

- embarrassed how fast he finishes

- if you keep doing to overstimulate him he’s putty in your hands

- this man is very soft he will crack at the slightest sign of domestic romance

- bring him coffee when he wakes up?

- he’s already selected a wedding venue

- I always thought it would be cute if he gave you his ring

- HILARIOUS IF HE DOSENT TELL YOU LMAO

- You swing by the celestial realm and it’s crickets and you’re like ??? Fuck is y’all starring at??🤨

- Simeon hums and says that nobody expected lucifer to get married much less to a human. How he was never one to put anything above his responsibilities

- Excuse me?

- “You’re wearing the right of light,yes? He doesn’t just give that to anyone dear. You two are bonded for life now🥰”

- “HELLO????”

[eddiediazismyhusband]

No but you’re so right about not wanting to watch season 8 because after how they handled the doppelgänger storyline I don’t want to watch it, with the rumours Gavin isn’t coming back and how this show has handled estranged parents storylines in the past I just have zero faith they’re going to do Eddie any justice especially after they sent him back to before the show levels of development, practically erasing everything we’ve seen him work on from seasons 2-6, like I can just picture the Diaz parents redemption and Eddie thanking them for taking Chris and ignoring everything a little like they did with the Buckleys

And something something this show hates happy queer parents, I don’t know how to really articulate this but like even if they do a gay Eddie storyline now, it’s not sitting right with me that it’s only happening now Chris is gone, like I know Eddie filters life through Chris/doesn’t really know who he is without the parent role etc etc I know that but with the way they treat Henren on the show and the way they treat Denny and Mara’s storylines, it almost seems like they weren’t going to let Eddie figure himself out while also actively parenting—it’s giving the straight grandparents need to save Chris from his gay dad (like they wanted to all along) i don’t know if I’m getting my point across well but it’s giving a “if you’re queer and a parent you will not be happy on this show your kid/s will get taken away from you”

👏👏👏

this. i understand the argument that eddie needs a chance to examine things without looking throughthe Chris lense, but it feels like he absolutely 100% could have had the realization because of Chris. like it would have taken chris saying he views buck as his dad one time and eddie would have spiralled and everything would have begun to fall into place— i get gavin having conflicts due to his move and possibly having to leave the show but there were so many other ways to essentially write him off (yes ik nothing is confirmed and that he very well could come back in a much slimmed down onscreen role such as may/harry) but it feels like they just went “eh… eddie started to reconcile with his dad…. let’s just send chris away even though eddie realistically would not have built up that much trust in this short amount of time (especially w helena)

and i 1000% agree w it mimicking the henren trauma bc why are we targeting the black lesbians with the same storyline we already saw with Nia…. why are we now lumping eddie into the traumatized poc paranoid losing their kid trope? especially if they plan to make him queer?

like i fully understand this show is a drama, but i miss when it was a DRAMA and not a SOAP OPERA… like earlier seasons had their fair amount of dramatic shit going on but this is just ridiculous and some of it feels farcical to me at this point… especially with the handling of buck’s bisexuality where his coming out scene to maddie included a joke about “always checking out a hot guy’s ass” once again reducing his character down to sex even though Buck has grown past that… idk it just rubs me the wrong way that we’re either sex-hungry, sassy, traumatized, or all three in one and it doesn’t sit right with me.

also them actively chosing to make a known problematic character queer just to serve as a plot device for a sexuality arc that didn’t even live up to any potential bc they kissed once, went on a coffe date and bam they’re suddenly together? even for a straight couple that’s such an anticlimactic relationship buildup let alone a queer one… and not only that but using his queerness as an excuse for his racism and misogynistic behavior as a way to sweep it under the rug is so icky to me… like why is the only decently treated canonically queer character Josh??? (even though even he was part of that whole hate crime plot!)

it’s so hard as a queer person to watch other queer people be told by straight people that they should settle for what we have… and that those queer people listen and also somehow think that settling is all we can do. i know it’s easy to settle for shit, but i’m sorry i did not spend six years watching these two build something beautiful to see it thrown away because what they gave us is (not even) “good enough.”

it really is disheartening.

anyway sorry for turning this into another rant post, anon, i just liked your added point of the traumatized queer parent thing and wanted to expand on that some more!

[skoulsons]

My Hand Was The One You Reached For

based off a @sarahspancakes post bc it was literally murdering me. This took like four hours bc this Applebees is noisy and I couldn’t focus

Nights like this are more normal than a full night's rest. The nights when they’re both awake, nightmares unrelenting as they find solace in the other. Comforting words and offering soothing reassurances to each other in the dark. A grounding touch in a hug or hand hold, gentle circles spread across their skin and tight squeezes for reminders. I’m here. You’re safe.

Joel found her shouting in bed and eventually thrashing against him as he grabbed her shoulders to wake her, desperation in his voice. “Ellie, baby, it’s just a nightmare! Baby, c’mon, come back. It’s me, it’s Joel.”

She woke up with a start, as she always did. Heavy breaths accompanied by tight fists, typically in her covers or the slack of her sheets. Tonight, it was the collar of Joel’s shirt.

He stayed completely still, letting her hold on as long as she needed to to calm down. He was kneeling at her bedside, his left arm on one of her outstretched forearms and the other rested on her shin.

She let go of his shirt, the fabric wrinkling along his neckline. She pulled her knees to her chest and crossed her arms around them, placing her chin between her knee caps. He pulled his hand from her shin away, but she quickly caught it, holding it in hers as she continued to hold her knees to herself.

There was silence for a few minutes, the two of them breathing evenly together. Joel rubbed circles along the parts of her hand his thumb could reach, Ellie rubbing some back in response, like they were communicating through it. I’m here. I know.

Joel broke their silence, trying to meet her eyes. “Do you want me-“ he asked, voice still laced with sleep.

“No… no, I don’t want to cuddle. Can we just… sit? In the window seat?” She sounded shy, unsure.

She hated waking him up. She hated being… like this. Broken. Damaged. Different.

Joel had nightmares, but he knew how to handle them. He had ways to fight them off. He didn’t always get more sleep after them, but he could push them down, at least for a little while.

Ellie couldn’t. She always woke up screaming and sweaty, unsure touch was real. She relived it every night, every image and sound as fresh as the night it happened. No matter what she tried, they were relentless. He was relentless.

But Joel takes all of it with so much grace and love that it’s overwhelming. He holds her every night, gentle reassurances whispered between hugs and sobs. Feather-light hand holds and kind, watery eyes. Reserved terms of endearment and faithful reminders. A calloused yet soft pressure against her cheek and scratchy kisses against her temple.

It’s his way of saying it.

He smiled softly, eyeing the seat in question. “Course, kiddo. C’mon,” he urged, offering his palm in her direction. She took it as he guided her over, sitting on the edge of the seat together. The tips of her toes only grazed the wooden floor beneath her as she swung her feet.

Ellie stared blankly into her room, her eyes adjusting to the mix of moonlight trickling into the darkness. She wasn’t moving beside Joel. She was stuck, immovable as she watched the darkness, images forming from the shadows and dancing in her vision. Guns. Hands. Blood. Smoke. Machete.

“Hey…” Joel started, leaning forward so she could see his face. “You okay?”

She blinked at home, taking in the half of his face lit up by the moonlight. “Mhm,” is all she can manage.

Almost every night, they snuggle. Ellie never fails to fall asleep so damn fast when she’s held against him, the warmth of his hold and the beat of his heart making the perfect combination to sleep to.

But tonight was different. She didn’t want that. She wanted, needed to stay up. To be grounded or distracted, rather than comforted. But sitting together wasn’t enough for her.

Joel grabbed her left forearm with his left hand, holding it against his thigh. He brought his right hand over both their arms and held her left in his.

Ellie shivered as lightly drew his fingers back and forth over her palm.

“Okay?” He asked, making sure it wasn’t too much.

Ellie just nodded in response, relaxing her arm.

“Now, it’s just a little game. I, uh… used to do it with Sarah.” He cleared his throat, pushing down the memories of sitting on Sarah’s bed and calming her down after bad dreams. “All I’m gon’ do is draw some letters on your palm one at a time. You gotta guess the word I draw. ‘S’all it is.”

“Is there a point to it?”

“No, not really. Jus’ calmed her down.” He sighed, a hint of grief in it. “Made her laugh, too. Tickled her, just like you.”

She smiled at the thought. Joel as a father was always an… interesting image. She only knows who he is now and the things he’s done, not the single father he was Before. Tommy mentioned once how gentle Joel was before the world went to shit.

Ellie thinks she gets glances of him Before in how he treats her, especially on nights like these.

“Alright, I’ll start off easy,” he said, lightly drawing a letter into her palm with his pointer finger.

“G?”

Joel smiled. “Good. Now…”

“I?”

He continued, drawing R A F until the cogs in Ellie’s head turned, spinning in sync.

“Giraffe!” She exclaimed.

Joel chuckled, rubbing his thumb over her palm. “Good job, kiddo. Another?”

“Fuck yeah!”

“Alright, what about…”

Joel got as far as D I N before Ellie guessed correctly, her making a backhanded joke about I can’t believe you used yourself for this game.

He traces a few more; things he knows will get her mind out of, or at least away from, where it was. Sally Ride, Contractor, even Shimmer.

Joel stopped tracing letters and interlocked his fingers with hers. “Do you think you can get some sleep?” He didn’t want her to, but she needed it. And if she wanted him to stay, he would.

She looked up at him. “No… wait, I want to do some on you.” She rubbed her thumb lightly over his hand. “Can I do one or two?”

“Course, kiddo. You can do as many as you want.”

She shuffled closer to him, somehow, and adjusted their arms so she was holding his forearm instead, hand over his.

“Okay,” she started, rubbing her fingers back and forth on his open palm.

She started one at a time, just as he did.

“O… L… D… whoa, hey-“ he started, grabbing her fingers and squeezing them against his palm so she couldn’t trace anymore.

She giggled, leaning her face into his arm. “I have a real one, I swear.” She caught her breath and focused on his hand.

They were calloused, plenty of tiny cuts amongst the aged lines of his palm. Even with callouses and broken, red wounds, they were still soft. They were comforting, steady.

They are what hold her. They’re what dried her tears and helped her off the ground. Nightmares are chased away when her hands are engulfed by his. They’re guiding and protective. They’re gentle and stable. The same hands that have beat men to death and choked the air from their lungs are the same ones that rub circles on her back and draw letters into her palms.

And Ellie’s not good with words. Neither of them are. They can never say what they want to, what they should, so it always comes down to touch. A kiss to her temple, a hug, a hair ruffle, a hand hold, or a myriad of other small ways they’ve grown accustomed to showing their love for each other. But there has to be a right time for it.

And this, Ellie thinks, is the right time.

She starts right in the middle of his hand and draws one line down before lifting her hand slightly from his palm.

“I” he says.

She goes back, drawing another line down, but continues it out towards his thumb before pulling her hand away again.

“L”

She draws a circle next, her hands starting to shake.

“O”

She breathes in then starts the next line, diagonal from his pinky to the bottom of his palm. Then another up towards his pointer finger.

“V”

Joel realizes way later than he should’ve. It was obvious when her hands started to shake. She loves a lot of things. It’s different.

But something tells him that’s not the case.

She draws another line down the left side of his palm and then three more jutting to the right from the main line.

“E”

She breathes in louder than she wants. She places the tip of her finger by his pinky, drawing a short diagonal line before taking the line up towards his pointer finger creating a small “v”. But she goes back, drawing a straight line down at the point of the “v”.

“Y”

She pauses, waiting. He knows. She knows he knows. A part of her wants him to hold her now. To say something. I know, baby. I know. I do too. But they’re not good with words. She wants him to initiate it; to hold her to rock them back and forth, no words needed to express something so profound. She wants it to be easy for them. She wants to say it every morning and before either one of them leaves the house. She wants to say it as he leaves a room and when they say goodnight. She wants to say it in the mundane tasks, just as a reminder for the other that yes, we do.

But that’s not the case, so she continues.

She draws another circle, hands shaking the worst at this point.

“O” he says, and she can hear the tears in his throat.

She draws one last time, starting at his pinky again. She stops, holding her hand above his.

“U”

She drops her head against his arm, cheek squishing against the pressure. She interlocks their fingers again, Joel squeezing tight to her, his knuckles going white only briefly as to not hurt her.

She pushes her legs against his, desperately trying to force herself as much into his personal space as she can manage.

He places his left hand over both of theirs, rubbing copious amounts of circles and comforting movements along her fingers. She holds on to his forearm like it’s the only thing keeping her alive.

He presses his lips to the crown of her head, kissing the mess of bed-hair that’s still present. He kisses two- three times.

Three times.

She realizes, too, what he means.

It’s his way of saying it.

[horizon-verizon]

Rhaenys killing smallfolk is so…. Like wtf, and then people be like “Kinslaying is the worst crime there is! She’d be stupid to do it!”, first HOTD never introduces the notion of kinslaying, and killing hundreds of people is a crime too! She is already a criminal for what she did, why stop halfway if you’re going full murderer ? If you’re gonna commit a decapitation worthy offence, then you might as well kill the people who are a legitimate threat to your future great grandchildren and granddaughters themselves.

Them coming out saying that Rhaenys didn’t kill them because it’s not her war…. Lol, it was her war the moment she agreed to betroth her granddaughters to Rhaenyra’s sons. Her family (the little that is left of it) is in legitimate danger and she passed up the opportunity to kill people who WERE ACTIVELY PLANNING ON KILLING HER FAMILY ANYWAYS. (Yes, I know it was mostly Rhaenyra and Daemon but Jace and Luke and Joff would have to go too and Daemon is the father of Rhaena and Baela, the twins have legal claim to the throne, so no ways they letting that slide either).

Yeah, this has been my argument as well. I will never not be angry about this damned episode, esp this scene.

My biggest gripe about this fool of an episode is that if Rhaenys says she doesn't want to "be involved" in "their" war is that in ANY iteration of these events where Baela & Rhaena exist without turning this into a full-fledged AU like sweetestpopcorn's "The Black and the Greens", Rhaenys will ALWAYS be "involved"...

because those girls are DAEMON'S DAUGHTERS and ONE OF THEM LIVES WITH DAEMON AND RHAENYRA!!! And this Rhaenys constantly has said she primarily cares about her own kids and grandchildren, not Viserys, Daemon, or Rhaenyra...so what gives?!

In a world where these strategy-minded people would, you know, think strategy...Rhaenys practically spoon-fed them a public reason to go to war and assume a protective-justice persona!!!

To further paint the blacks as violence mongerers or even just shit-starters, even with those killed being peasants, bc the sheer number of people killed simultaneously who live around you & around your castle who have historically been a part of some Faith-led attacks against the crown (Aenys, Maegor, Rhaena & her brother Aegon--the Poor Fellows) is astronomical. Killing that many smallfolk doesn't pay and rather makes for a larger number of angrier smallfolk with a reason to be angrier than average. You'd think she'd realize that and idk, maybe not kill dozens if not thousands of smallfolk.

Otto will always look to them as possible rivals because of that connection to the person he thinks will likely always contend with him/anyone for power, espe after he includes the younger boys' hostage-taking in his terms in episode 10. Aside from Otto--who had a grip on Alicent's decision-making until it came to Rhaenyra (as if Rhaenyra doesn't come with her kids, who Alicent has accepted the risk of exile or total ruination for 10 years, but I digress).

And Alicent--by the next season's 2 trailers--appears to go back to Otto as a consultant and guide as to how the greens will face the blacks, so we can't argue that she will not escape his influence even with her allowing herself to understand his manipulativeness. She obviously didn't want a war and has tried to stave it off by holding Rhaenys hostage and sending that damned page to Rhaenyra with Otto's terms--that is if she actually sent it--she also sets up a possible war through usurping Rhaenyra in the first place! And Alicent isn't actually fighting against Rhaenyra for the sake of "the realm" but for for her own position as the mother to a possible king/wife of a past king and the lives of her kids.

Even in the book--if you are inclined to believe that she believes this and/or has sincerely taken Otto's fear of Daemon as her own maybe bc similarly to the show he instilled in her that fear of him--Alicent brings up Daemon's supposed bloodthirstiness and inevitable murder of her kids as reason to usurp Rhaenyra ("The Blacks and the Greens"):

As for the kinslaying part, they refused to insert Rhaenyra's lines of that, instead making her grab Otto's pendant and throwing it off the bridge in a much more flaccid version of what she does with Orwyle's chains in the book. Without the context of her giving Aegon that chance to withdraw AND criticizing Orwyle taking the green side and basically going against his own maester code of following traditions and laws, show!Rhaenyra's protests against Otto is more losing the desired cool & careful, wise reservedness that HotD already favors over original "proud" book!Rhaenyra. And I think that it's to give the Dance story this faux measure of "balance" that ozymalek talks about HERE:

People often argue whether HOTD showrunners are biased in favor of Team Black or Team Green. I think the answer to this question can't be encapsulated within the context of "bias", at least not fully. They are biased for both and neither at the same time and it's difficult to explain, but I will try to articulate how I see it. The Dance era in "Fire and Blood" is something that will fundamentally cause the feelings of cognitive dissonance. I think this is why people initially disliked this book when it first came out. It did not provide easy answers, it was written as a historical account, the in-universe historians were clearly biased. People, however, had trouble realizing who the historians are biased for and against. Team Green would have you think that "F&B" is biased against the Greens, because their allegiance as maesters clearly being to Hightowers notwithstanding, they could not evade simple historical facts: that most of the kingdom supported Rhaenyra, that Greens were horrendously misogynistic and that her usurpation was clearly wrong. That's why, approaching it from the "choose your favorite war criminal" point of view, it was difficult for Greens to accept that their preferred side is so cartoonishly evil - obviously bias must have been involved, even though the only pro-Black narrator of F&B is Mushroom, the rest are Greens. The maester's anti-Targaryen bias, however, manages to sneak in and mess with the reader's balance, causing said cognitive dissonance. It's hard to deal with it as a reader, let alone as a showrunner who's trying to adapt a story in which not everything is set in stone. They incorrectly assumed that, because they are constantly forced to question what is happening in the story, the bias is with the underlying idea that there was a correct side. As such, they assumed that all the inconsistencies result from maesters not choosing to view it that way. Ryan Condal repeatedly stated that he does not want watchers to pick sides, while George RR Martin embraces it and even encourages it (and I think that he himself has picked the Blacks). Such is our nature as human beings. So they decided that they have to balance the scales. Because Greens are poorly developed, they added more characterization for them that contradicts their book personas (abused child bride meow meow Alicent who is clueless about the plans that in the books she herself set in motion, for example) while simultaneously taking the characterization AWAY from team Black members. Rhaena and Baela barely have any lines, and though this may be the case of simple racism, it's pretty telling that they ignored the fact that Baela is tomboyish and has short hair. Rheanyra herself is so toned down that she does not resemble her book counterpart in the slightest, making her seem weak, stupid and undecided. Daemon straight up becomes a villain and a wife murderer rather than a throughoutly gray character (book!Rhea Royce unambiguously dies after a hawking accident while Daemon is still fighting in the Stepstones); that's because Team Black was in a desperate need for a corrupting influence in order to balance the scales. But some Greens aren't spared from this treatment either. Otto is made much worse than he was in the books, he straight up pimps out his teenage daughter so that he can elevate House Hightower. While Aegon is also a sex pest in the books, showing him openly rape a lowborn woman was a risky decision (as was the not very subtle implication that he rapes Helaena as well); not to mention that the child fighting pits come from Mushroom, whose entire gimmick is making shit up. So neither side is really spared from being villified and whitewashed, depending on whom we look. The showrunners were fully committed to making choosing sides a confusing process, making the cognitive dissonance of this story to be even stronger. This is why they aren't really biased for or against anyone.

[melonteee]

Do you think ur going to do a review or analysis of the live action? Because even tho i kinda liked it i think i have the same problem that you have with the characters, like zoro. It's weird bc i think that the characterization of the characters is kinda good, but also there's something laking, i think it's the removal of some core senes but honestly idk fully if it's that or something else. I know they had short time to adapt like 90 chapters, but i think the time they had would be better used if they didn't had the b plot be abt garp. Tho that's also not right, bc i think some of the scenes with the marines were fun? But in this case i think garp characterization is just not that great.

Idk its super weird bc i feel the world is really one piece and it was fun to watch but there's some things that are kinda :/

Okay uh, let me preface this by saying part of my degree had to do with adaptation - in terms of what it is and how it's really god damn hard. So this live action intrigues me not just as a one piece fan, but in terms of my studies, and I have no doubt my favourite teacher is getting a kick out of this as we speak lol.

If you don't want spoilers for ep 1, don't read under the cut. If you don't want to feel bummed out cause you super enjoyed the show, also don't read. I am analysing this in a very critical way because I was dead interested in how this was handled.

I have only watched one episode, I can only judge so far at the moment, so feel free to take this all with a grain of salt. There is indeed charm in this series! The only thing is, there's charm when it's trying to be itself exclusively, and it falls really flat when trying to replicate One Piece because...I didn't feel One Piece from this in any sense. Any 'faithful' shots I received felt like a cheap replica attempting to force some nostalgic emotion out of me with nothing earned.

And, from what I can see, that's the problem here. This series isn't sure how loyal it should really be, nor is it sure how much fidelity it should keep - but it's trying to remind me at every damn second "This IS One Piece, do you SEE One Piece?" And it's not just me saying this, the producers themselves admitted that they were TRYING to be loyal. A quote from them is;

“What we learned is the fans are expecting you to be true to the source material,” says executive producer Marty Adelstein, whose Tomorrow Studios produced “Cowboy Bebop” for Netflix before embarking on “One Piece....As we read the comments, it was always, ‘Well, they didn’t do this character the same as this and that.’ … It really taught us a lot of what we needed to do with this one.” “It became everyone’s goal to make sure that when you looked at the show, you thought this was a live-action version of the manga that just felt like another feather in the legacy of Oda,” (source)

So here's my question here, to myself and One Piece fans - did you FEEL like you were watching a 1:1 version of these characters? Did these characters FEEL like themselves instead of being TOLD they're apparently themselves?

Of course, it's an adaptation! It's supposed to be different! But this statement directly contradicts that, and so does everything else. After all they apparently hired Oda to 'check off' on it, they used the Japanese VAs for the Japanese audio version of it, they even have the manga/anime version of Luffy sitting there in the One Piece logo - constantly reminding me OF the original no matter what I do.

So with all these comments, and with all these decisions, what else to expect but "Oh, so they're planning to stay loyal and not deviate from the original? This is clearly their goal."

And that's where the problem ensues for me, because they try DESPERATELY to ham fist in original source material, they really want me to point at the screen and go "JUST LIKE THE MANGA!", but they're not going all in on it and, as such, the changes become increasingly obvious that this ISN'T the same. Because, if you only have a BIT of Zoro's character implemented from the original, but not ALL of it, what else am I to see but a bastardised version of the original here?

This script does this thing where it's giving me beats of Zoro, but not all of Zoro, and suddenly I'm left with a guy who's a weird, bizarro version of Zoro. He's not quite original enough to feel like his own being, and he's not quite loyal enough to feel like the original. And of course, it's not just Zoro, but it's this way for the other characters too.

The 'loyalty' the producers are talking about, and the lesson they've seem to have learnt here is; "We need to unnaturally shove in as much fidelity as we can in an exposition-dump, so we can get it out of the way, make everyone feel like we're respecting the source, and get on to the original scenes that add nothing but a laugh."

And...it's a shame! It's weird to say this series would, so far, be better if they weren't TRYING to replicate One Piece's energy, but from everything I am seeing, it's clearly what they are trying to do. This show has charm when it has its OWN charm, but cutting from a fun little original scene to an exposition dump of lore is so incredibly jarring I don't even really know what to make of it.

For example, we were shown Zoro being tied up to a pole. We are going to point at it and go "I remember that!" but then...the whole reasoning is different, the motives are different, and...the time is all different? In all respect, this series is doing what Disney live actions are doing, where they are giving me MORE scenes with LESS information - and due to seemingly TRYING to be loyal, it feels like the original scenes are fun, but a waste of time due to the exposition dumps being incredibly rushed and lacklustre.

In a complete ironic twist, their desperation to be loyal has them falling flat, so instead I'm seeing a hollow replica of what One Piece is - when it could've been an original live action that's trying to work on its strengths of BEING its own live action.

All in all, the first ep would've been fine if I turned my brain off, but I don't...watch One Piece to do that. I don't ever feel numbed by One Piece, and by all means I was given the expectation that this WOULD be the story RETOLD but with BIGGER action and LARGER characters because they just LOVE Oda and respect him SO MUCH!

But at the end of the day, for a first impression, I got another Netflix live action that COULD work on itself, but ultimately is making me appreciate the original a lot more. It's making me appreciate Oda's writing more, the Strawhat's original characters more, and the world more. It seems great as a digestible family show, which I'm sure is what Netflix wanted, but it's already got me feeling uneasy.

Of course, this could very well change the more I get through, and I'm very open to it, but the first episode in itself makes for a fascinating case study on the fidelity of anime live action adaptations.

And just in case anyone gets up in arms because there seems to be a weird forced positivity crusade on this series right now, Oda himself has said he intends to happily take criticism, because he knows it'll come from a place of love. This by no means is a disrespect to Oda, and is more a look in on how Netflix operates.

[whenisthefall]

my take on episode 3 of the Percy jackson series if anyone wants to here what I think about it

!spoilers below!

Ok one thing I was most excited about was the bus scene and…….it was good don’t get me wrong, I love the way Grover just try’s to talk about feelings ✨though song✨ and then he totally gets pushed down BUT LATER THEY SING THE SONG TO MAKE FUN OF HIM

But I didn’t get to see the 3 furys saying “I have to use the bathroom” “me too” “me to” LIKE PLEASE I WAS WAITING FOR THAT but it’s ok, it’s ok because we’re still gonna see the bus blow up right?

NO FREAKING LOSER THE BUS DOSENT BLOW UP WHAT SO EVER!!!!

witch makes the Medusa scene kinda weird bc why is Grover so hungry if annabeth bought snacks? Oh because they left there bag on the bus BUT TOOK THE SHOES

IT ALL WOULD HAVE MADE SENSE IF THE BUS BLEW UP

no ok I’m fine it’s fine there are other parts in the show that I wanted to see more then the bus

NO THERE WASENT MY HOLE LIFE LINE WAS ON THAT BUS SCENE

ok I’ll stop different topic.

”Percy you can’t ship Medusas head to Olympus!”

“why not?”

“Ok look this is a bad idea they will see this as impertinent”

“I am impertinent”

EUSHSIENEHEHF THEY SAID IT HE SAID THE LINE

gosh I loved that scene so much

also LIKE

“And if the mission required someone to push me down a flight of stairs for it to succeed… you’d want someone who won’t hesitate when they do it”

THE WAY THAT GOES WITH THE LATEST BOOK

“Find some one who loves you the way my girlfriend pushes me off the cliff, without hesitation with full confidence in your abilities with rock steady belief that your relationship can handle it, and with complete faith that when you come out of the water assuming you survive , you will totally forgive them for the push almost certainly forgive them, probably. Bonus points if they say bon voyage while doing it”

WIDHJWNDUDN AW YEAH ITS ALL COMING TOGETHER

I also like how they made Medusa not a monster, well she is a monster but only because she hurts people

AND ALSO THE “guys your never going to believe this” AT THE END

This episode is my most favorite so fair I think because it was just funnier? And I got to see more of the 3

but you know what would have made it better?

IS IF THE BUS BLEW UP

(ok I’ll stop I’m sorry)

[zaimta]

彡blooming relations

parings: (platonic) gajeel x gn!reader, slight laxus x gn!reader

a/n- i told y’all i was gonna be milking it now didn’t i, also this is completely platonic on gajeel’s end another thing this might be a two part thing we’ll see <3

a/n pt 2- it is i the zai from the future yea this just been chilling in my drafts since july (???) either way i hope y’all enjoy bc it’s long asf

˗ˏˋ«────── « 𓆩♡𓆪 » ──────»

you sighed as you slammed the that just barely grazed your lips mug on the table “i can feel you starting you know.”

the long-haired man walked over with his hands up in mock defeat “alright alright you got me i just wanna talk to you is all.”

you chuckled and rested your hand under his chin leaning in his direction “oh so what you’re not going to be wary of what i did or anything.”

seeing how you were responding to him he sat down in the seat across from you “that would be kinda hypocritical of me wouldn’t it?”

you slightly nodded your head seeing his point “so was there any particular reason you were around the corner if you wanted to talk to me you could have just said so.”

he raised a finger “one, i wasn’t staring i was trying to figure out the right time to talk to you without sounding like a complete ass,” he raised a second finger “two, it’s clear the guild is ice around the both of us, me because i destroyed the guildhall and you because you stuck by laxus’ side through the whole you know. so i propose we team up we’ll both benefit from it in the end.”

a smile spread across your face “so you just wanted to ask if you’ll team up with me? huh. i accept your offer gajeel.” you extended your arm towards his direction with your fist closed for a fist bump.

he smirked slightly and extended his arm also tapping your fists against one another “we’ll burn the house down.”

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

a few weeks have passed since the two of you first formed your team, around fairy tail you were known as an unstoppable duo. your magic complimented each other well and allowed you to effectively communicate on the battlefield and grow a close bond. which left the other members wondering when did the two of you get so close to form a team? but, either way, they didn’t want to wonder too much especially makarov, he was overjoyed to see gajeel making such a good friend in the guild knowing how he wasn’t on the best terms with everyone. he had faith in him and that same faith paid off.

you looked at the request board deep in thought, analyzing each reward amount to see if it was enough for the two of you to split and just enough left over for you to pay your rent.

gajeel walked beside you and bumped his shoulder against yours “so what job are we lookin’ for here n/n?” you looked at him in the corner of your eye with a slight playful scoff “we (italics) are looking for a request that can pay my rent.” he reached over for a request that paid your rent amount in full and waked over to mira without a second thought “we’ll take this one.”

you rose a brow and walked over to the bar to take a peak at the paper, when you caught a glimpse of the pay you gasped “gajeel! this isn’t enough for us to split” you softly slapped his shoulder “sorry for taking up your time mira we’ll-”

“no.” he cut you off looking mira dead in the eyes “we’ll take this one. now come on.” he dragged you out of the guild as you protested against him dragging out the guild and cheating himself out of fair pay.

mira looked down at the request paper with a small grin “how sweet.”

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

months have passed since then and your little duo has become a trio with the edition of your newest member pantherlily, who you both fawn over frequently. but as time went by so fast the s-class trials almost slipped your mind, as an s-class wizard if was your job to take part in the trial to help weed out the crop of future s-class wizards. you stood on the stage and threw a small smirk in gajeel’s direction when the two of you locked eyes. makarov announced the future s-class wizards while you stood by his side with mira, gildarts, and erza. once his speech was over you hopped off the stage and started walking towards gajeel.

“hey you never told me you were an s-class wizard” he huffed with his arms crossed and a slight feeling of betrayal in his voice. you tapped his forehead with a teasing grin “well you never asked.”

he put a hand on his chin in thought “so if you’re an s-class wizard that means you can go on s-class quests…which means we could have been going on them this whole time??”

you put your hands on his shoulders to calm him down “jeez yell any louder would y’a, i didn’t feel like doing them because you seemed fine on the regular quests.”

he turned away from you in mock offense “i thought i could trust you n/n-” from where he was looking he see jet and droy belittling levy as to who to choose as her partner. realizing she doesn’t have a partner just yet he decided to do her a favor for his own benefit. “hold that thought y/n.” he walked over to where the trio were talking and picked her up by the back of her collar. you raised a brow at his actions as if on cue lily floated over to you “is he asking levy to allow him to be his partner?” you put your hands on your hips and keeping your gaze on them “seems like it but from here it looks more like he’s forcing her, or a horrible attempt at persuasion.” the exceed nodded in agreement.

“just you wait and see y/n i’m gonna kick your ass!” he yelled across the guild hall with a confident grin. you eyes widened in shock for a moment before you regained your composure and you looked over at a lily with a grin “you hear that lily ‘he’s gonna beat my ass’.” lily laughed “it appears so just don’t rough him up too bad y/n.”

“i’d like to see y’a try!” you shouted back, not with confidence but with assurance you knew you were going to beat him the smirk on your face may have looked cocky to others but to him it was you accepting his challenge, and seeing him as equal.

lucy looked over at the two of you from her seat with a slight grin “those two sure are energetic aren’t they?”

“i think it’s manly that they’re pumped up!” elfman exclaimed while pumping his fist in the air

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

the s-class trials didn’t go as expected, one by one fairy tail members on tenrou were getting attacked by grimoire heart. the situation was less than ideal, after taking down the underlings you, natsu, wendy, erza, gray, lucy, and the exceeds headed on to the main ship to fight the guild's master.

in your time a darkness a bright light shined through “i recognize this magic…” you thought to yourself. the blond man stood in front of you all determined to take master hades down “you guys look like used rags.” you rolled your eyes and lifted your aching body the best you could “wow thanks asshole good to see you too.” you responded sarcastically but with a small smile on your face, your words not matching the look in your eyes clearly overjoyed that he’s back.

after the long and hard-fought battle the rest of the members who were able to, came running towards the ship when the thunder legion noticed laxus they ran towards them with tears in their eyes excited to see their exiled friend “laxus!!” they yelled in unison bombarding him with words of greeting and asking him if his grandfather has let him back into the guild. but, when they noticed you off to the side they went silent. laxus turned around to see with they were gawking at when the two of you locked eyes you both turned in the other direction.

“they are going to need lots of help…” evergreen whispered to bickslow and freed to which they quickly nodded in agreement.

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

“hey, gajeel can i talk to you for a sec?” wendy had healed up his wounds the best he could allowing him to walk about, and you desperately needed to talk to someone you trusted about him.

“yea what’s up?”

you looked around and grabbed his wrist straying away from the group “we can’t talk here follow me.” laxus looked over lisana’s shoulder to see you and gajeel leaving together to a secluded area, he looked down at the youngest sumn sister “hey do you know what’s up with y/n and gajeel?” she nodded with a smile “oh yea they’re really good friends now they go on jobs together all the time! butttt it’s nothing more than that if that’s what you’re wondering” she replied with a smug grin implying she knew how he felt about you. he rolled his eyes at you “yea whatever you can’t come back from the afterlife and start stirring the pot.”

“i already told you i wasn’t dead!”

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

“are you okay? normally you’re more level-headed.” he said as he took his spot beside you in the flowery grass.

“yes…maybe? i don’t know!” you pulled your knees up to your chest and sighed “it’s just…it’s him, i don’t know what to do because i-”

“you still love him don’t you.” he cut you off knowingly.

you looked over at him with a fond smile “yea. i do,” you sighed again before continuing “what if he doesn’t feel the same i mean he did have all that time to clear his head and, i was mainly spending my time with my idiot best friend.” you playfully nudged him with your shoulder which caused a smile to spread on his face for a few moments “tying to forget about him not allowing myself to move on…”

“hm…i say you talk to him.

you rolled your eyes “so where you not listening to what i said or what.”

he looked off to the distance, then turned to face you “y/n listen, i know i haven’t seen much of your relationship but what i saw just now there’s no mistaking it.”

you lifted your head from your knees and looked at him in confusion “mistaking what?”

he flicked your forehead “he still loves you dufus, you shoulda seen the way he was lookin’ at you back at the base. he looked like a lovesick idiot…kinda like you!” he teased with a grin on his face.

“whatever…but, thank you.”

“…you’re still not gonna talk to him are you.”

“oh absolutely not.”

he groaned in annoyance “i poured my heart out just for you to chicken out.”

“you try confessing to someone you’re in love with then well talk.”

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

the two of you walked back to the base but gajeel split from you and walked toward evergreen who was beckoning him over.

quickly catching on to what she was calling him for he wasted no time cutting to the chase and filling her in “basically they think he’s over him.” evergreen sighed and rubbed her temples “funnily enough it’s the same thing with laxus, and he’s a stubborn fool who won’t admit his feelings.” she slammed her fist on her palm with a glint of determination in her eyes “if they won’t do it we will!” gajeel smiled matching the glint in her eyes “ohhh i get it.”

evergreen walked off to deal with laxus, while gajeel was sent back to deal with you “hey, y/n meet me back at the flower field in a few so we could sort this whole mess up, yeah?” a smile slowly spread across your face “aww thanks gajeel!”

once it was time to meet gajeel at the field you started to head out to meet him over there “hey, gajeel i’m oh-” you saw a tuft of blond hair and immediately knew who it was you turned to leave but stopped immediately in your tracks when he called for you he said your name so softly as if you were to run away if he spoke any louder “y/n…” and that’s all it took for you to stay.

“i missed you.” the two of you spoke as one as your hearts were saying the same thing, but your minds were screaming at you telling you to wait for better circumstances but neither of you could wait. you both smiled fondly at one another.

you walked closer to laxus, as you walked you never left his gaze something about you was so captivating to him even after all this time you still managed to make him weak. he hesitantly reached for your cheek but once you nodded he held your cheek in his palm softly caressing it with his thumb, his other hand coming to rest on your hip.

“as much as i’d love to be with you again you and i both know why i can’t. but, i want you to know i never stopped loving you and i never will.” he kissed your forehead softly which left you smiling, although you both knew you couldn’t be together because of a certain mark he was missing you couldn’t stop yourselves from giving into your love.

all it took was one dragon to take that fleeting moment of happiness away, when the guild combined hands to merge power he softly kissed the back of yours.

after that…nothing but, unbeknownst to the both of you that simple act of affection was seven years ago.

[zukkaart]

10 characters | 10 fandoms | 10 tags

Thank you @fanfic-gremlin-ft-trauma for the tag ily 😭 and I love talking about my faves so here we go 🤸 *long-ish post*

——-

1. Sokka: A:tLA: Okayyyy so as someone who is Inuk she whole S/NWT meant so much to me as a kid and still means so much to me now but Sokka just hits on a different level because he’s the oldest sibling (as am I) and therefore charged with everyone else’s safety in one way or another. He also is the one who deals the killing blows bc the others can’t or won’t stomach it which I relate to hevily

2. Bolin: LoK: He reminds me of my husband what else can I say? They think he’s a pretty, strong, stupid, earthbender/ which to an extent- he is. But he’s just smart in different ways than others and genuinely has a heart of gold and just wants to give everyone endless love

3. River Song: Doctor who: we have the same hair so immediately yes. She also has one of the best and most heartbreaking arcs in cinema history and I will fight about it. She destroyed the universe to save her husband then said “I don’t do weddings” and honestly…I get it bc same

4. Castiel: Supernatural: MY SON DESERVED BETTER. He lost his home, his family, his faith, everything he had known for THOUSANDS of years because he fell in love with humanity Dean. He constantly tried his best and yes messed up but was always treated so harshly as if he didn’t have to LEARN how to have human morals and the only people he had to base off of was the boys who are in no way a good bar to measure that by

5. Amber: House of Anubis: oooh pretty ditzy blonde girl comic relief character- but she becomes one of the most fully fleshed out deep characters and ends up being the reason they solve most of the riddles and find the artifacts. She loves her shopping and texting but when the heat is up she always rises to the challenge and shows out. Queen of my heart

6. Flame Princess: Adventure Time: raised to be evil but falls in love and has to learn how not to harm people even though it 100% goes against her nature. And even after all that she is still treated like a villain by everyone but Finn basically. I have ASPD and I constantly feel like I also have to be something I’m not in order to not harm the people around me and the ones who let me be me are few and far between. She is me I am her

7. Sherlock: See above lol, he has ASPD (sociopathy) and so do I. Plus I’m studying to be a CSI. Seeing a character with my same illness shown in the real raw form and not like the “yeah they’re a sociopath but their character arc is learning how to be a good person!” Ew. They let him be cruel and clever and just authentically HIM. Of course he’s checked when necessary but ultimately no one ever tells him he needs to be fixed because of it bc they understand that part of him can’t be changed

8. House: kind if similar as above. I don’t super love the drugs but he takes no shit and dicks around because he knows he’s the best there is. Endless pranks, self destructive tendencies, smartest person you’ll ever meet, what more could you ask for? It’s also super awesome to watch a character/show that isn’t so focused on being “politically correct” that it forgets how to make good jokes.

9. Sejanus: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (book): People say Katniss is Lucy’s revenge but NO she’s Sejanus’ revenge, and so is Peeta. Sejanus was the one who hated the games, tried to actually help the tributes and districts and stop the games. He wanted revolution way back when Snow was a teenager and didn’t even live to see it. The only difference between him and Everlark is the fact that they had a whole rebellion ready to back them. He should have been alive to take the place of Coin/Snow and I stand by that.

10. J.B. Merlin: Bundle of Joy: this is so crazy niche if anyone knows it DM me immediately I’m begging you. An absolute icon this entire movie. The center of a comedy miscommunication trope. Has no idea what’s going on but refuses to let his son walk out on his baby (that’s not actually his but he thinks it is), immediately assumes the baby was named after him, then delivers the iconic line “I don’t care who the father is! I’M the grandfather” homie wanted a grandkid and didn’t care what he had to do to get one 😂 10/10 wholesome character

~~~~~~

Now for tags. Sorry if you’ve been tagged already! And if you haven’t please participate if you so wish

@avatar-lorra @judebellinghamswifereal @momos-servants @chitsangenthusiast @dancergirl131 @zukosasukelovebot (I think you’ve been tagged already but ily 🤟) @picnicbitchsokka @your-royal-momoness @oldpotatoe @bisexuallsokka

[pikuhanlove]

PIKUHAN HC'S PART 3!!!

It's that time of day where I devote all my time into thinking about how my favorite fictional couple would respond/act/be in situations!! Enjoy this lovely longg list today:D

Were they friends before?

Yep! Well, technically comrades since they fought together. I think it took a while for them to actually date / be together though.

What moment made them fall in love? (Bc falling in love actually takes around less than 6 seconds, it's the actual realizing that takes longer)

Hange was very attracted to Pieck right off the bat. Knowing her history, then seeing her in person made her super enticing to them. I think Hange was like head over heels for a while, but genuinely realized they loved her after she opened up to them and began to talk more in their presence. For Pieck, it took a second. Once they were allies, she didn’t mind their advances / flirting at all. I think she was attracted to Hange for a while, but actually realized she was in love when she saw how much they genuinely cared for her and wanted to protect her.

Who asked the other out first? 

Said it once, I’ll say it a million times: PIECK DID!! Hange is way too awkward and oblivious to actually make real moves. Pieck for sure had to ask them, and even then they weren’t sure if it was legit LMAO.

How did the date go and how did they act?

I think it was good! They hadn’t really had time with just the two of them before, so it was nice to actually get to be alone together. I think Hange was super nervous but charming in their weird way. Pieck was probably very cool about it and kept the convo going well.

What are their usual gifts?

Pieck is very crafty and artistic, so she’s always making pieces / trinkets for Hange. Hange is much less creative like that, so they’re often buying random things that remind them of Pieck or getting her flowers / classic romantic gifts.

What's their love language?

Hange: Words of Affirmation. I think they need a lot of reassurance from their partners, especially Pieck. I mean… she’s Pieck. It’s hard to imagine feeling super confident in yourself when she’s next to you lol. Hange is also more anxious than they seem so it makes them feel much more confident when their partner reaffirms their feelings for them.

Pieck: Acts of Service or Physical Touch. I literally could not decide so I just didn’t. I think Pieck really appreciates people doing things for her because she isn’t remotely used to it. She’s always been very self-sufficient and independent, so when people notice she needs help and does something for her, she’s deeply touched. I also think she’d be pretty physically needy. She’s always touching / holding a part of her partners, especially Hange because they really like that.

What flusters them?

Pieck is very talented at verbally flirting with Hange. She can get them super flustered when she talks to them because she doesn't usually say much:) I think Pieck is really into Hange’s physicality. She’s super attracted to muscles / abs, which Hange has plenty of. She gets very flustered when she sees them working out.

A song to describe their relationship?

When Hange is alive: My Girl by the Temptations, or More Than A Woman by the Bee Gees, or Glue Song by Beabadoobee / Clairo.

When Hange is not alive: Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men, or Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paloma Faith

How about three words to describe their relationship too?

Head over heels :)

What's their favorite memory?

Pieck thinks Hange’s mannerisms when they first met were so cute. At the time she found them kind of irritating since they were literally at war, but she laughs about how adorable it was now. Hange loves every moment with Pieck, but really loves their more intimate and vulnerable moments where they’re both being their genuine selves.

How about the first kiss? What was it like?

It was definitely initiated by Pieck I think. Again, I think Hange is either too oblivious and/or respectful to initiate something like that, so Pieck would likely take the lead. It was probably very long and sweet, but Hange probably said some stupid shit after like “Hot damn!” or something LMAO.

How would they describe each other?

Pieck about Hange: Loveable, sweet, and caring

Hange about Pieck: Beautiful, incredible, and intelligent.

Would they go cloud- or stargazing?

Both tbh. Pieck just would be happy to lay tf down HAHA

(prompts from @prompts4urotp ^^)

Who makes their bed in the morning and who's more of a slob?

I think Pieck is generally very organized, and this rubbed off a lot on Hange. I still believe Hange to be pretty messy, but being in the military conditioned them on certain things (making their bed, keeping a tidy-ish living space, etc).

Who'll be caught saying "rules are made to be broken"?

HANGE!! They’re not into rules and will not hesitate to act like they’re above them.

Whose hobbies/interests change every 2-5 business days?

Hange again. Pieck doesn’t mind because this gives her new things to shop for when they go out every few days lol.

Who'd be able not to talk for the longest?

Pieck for sure. She’s very used to it from when she’d be a titan for long periods, despite having one able to speak. She could go days without saying anything and not care at all. Hange would likely go insane in the first minute.

Whose I-Hate-Everything-And-Everyone teenage phase was the most intense/lasted the longest?

HANGE. They definitely struggled with identity and stuff during that time. I think they were likely very defiant and had some issues during those years, but found a great community / family in the military. Pieck never had anything like this, being that she was a literal child soldier and couldn’t afford to be angsty.

Who'd take the gingerbread house decorating contest just a little too seriously?

10000% Pieck. She’d spend like an entire day working on it and it would be a total masterpiece.

Who's more likely to execute their threats?

Probably Pieck. She’s not one to make threats, but if she did and it needed to happen, she’d more than likely go through with it.

Who has the more embarrassing Spotify Wrapped? + Give a run-down of each character's Spotify Wrapped, in as much or little detail as you want.

Definitely Hange. They’d have a complete mess of a wrapped. Like sea shanties, R&B, alt, classic rock, and some heavy metal tossed in there too. Pieck’s would be very chill. Probably a lot of lofi, indie, and alt stuff. She’s def a Lana/Mitski/Phoebe/Ethel stan.

Who's the most likely to take a bribe? 

Hange most likely would. Depends on the situation obviously, but I could see them rocking with that...

Who has the hardest time finishing a train of thought because they get distracted by a million other things along the way?

Hange!! Their attention span is like … goldfish level…

-

Who most initiates PDA?

Pieck for sure. She’s very touchy and likes to be physically near or attached to Hange.

Any sleep habits either had to get used to?

Pieck sleeps A LOT. She’s going to be out a minimum of 10 hours once her head hits the pillow. Hange’s usually last to fall asleep, and the first to wake up.

Jealousy issues?

Hange is a total airhead socially IMO, so I think Pieck gets semi-possessive of them in public. She just doesn’t want them to get messed with or flirted with on her watch.

What's a night out for them?

Definitely a chill, romantic evening. Candle-lit dinner, maybe a concert (classical or jazz ofc), or just hanging out and going for a walk together:)

What’s an evening in for them?

Again, super chill and intimate. Probably just dinner / takeout, reading or watching something together, then cuddling all night.

Double Date? Thoughts? Who?

If EVERYONE is magically alive, then definitely an Erwin and Levi double date. They’d probably be super close with them and hang out a lot considering they're Hange's closest pals.

Do they want (have) kids?

I think so! They’d both be really wonderful parents IMO, so I think they’d like one or two:)

Have an AU thought?

I love college/modern AU’s for them. I think they’re both very professor / teacher coded since they’re both incredibly smart, so I like AU’s where that translates into them being involved in academia.

If they got engaged... who proposed? 

I think Hange would have! Very sweetly and intimately too, which is tough for them lmao. They probably nailed it because they just love Pieck so much and the words just came out perfectly (And they both definitely cried).

How do they deal with the other’s family?

I usually believe Hange to not have any living family or not be close to them. I do believe Hange and Mr. Finger would be super tight though! They both love Pieck immensely so I think that would help a ton.

How are their communication skills?

Not bad! I think they may have struggled with this at first though. They had to build a ton of trust to become fully comfortable with each other, but once they started being more honest about their needs and concerns I think it went really well and they succeeded immensely from there.

A little personal... but... Hot and Steamy or Soft and Tender?

All of the above. Depends on the moment lmao.

How did they first meet?

Hange dragged her half dead bestie out of the woods to try and ally with Pieck and her boss during a world terror attack :) Or also when Pieck stole her coworker from Hange while they were trying to kill him while she was in titan form:)

Why do they like each other?

I think they absolutely complete each other. Despite being pretty similar, they both obviously have struggles and insecurities, but I think they help each other feel more confident, loved, and safe.

Who cooks most?

Pieck! Hange is basically banned from the kitchen without supervision on a permanent basis after continuously almost burning it down.

Morning rituals?

Lots of hugs and kisses. They’re both very sleepy and slow-going, so they like to lounge and hang around a lot before actually starting their day. Once they do get up, they’ll have breakfast together and talk about their plans for the day :)

Evening rituals?

They like to wind down for a while with some reading/chilling together. Depending on the mood, sometimes other uh… things… are on the agenda!!

How are they at parties or gatherings?

They’re either wallflowers together or they’re both in the middle of the floor, wasted, and completely tearing it up. No in between.

Most cuddly? 

Definitely Pieck. She’s not very verbal with affection, but she wants to be touching Hange at all times, it makes her feel very safe (Girly def has abandonment issues but that’s not the question)

Movie Night?

They’d totally do movie nights all the time. I think they’d like science-fiction movies, romantic comedies, or action. They’re pretty broad in taste about that stuff.

Who is the photo bug?

Hange! They love photography and take pictures of Pieck all the time. She’s way too photogenic not to.

How well do they know each other’s favorite foods?

I think Pieck accidentally cooked something Hange was allergic to and unknowingly served it for a date once. That date ended up taking place in the hospital as a result LMAO

What do their texts look like?

Pieck is pretty normal, but definitely has potential for “K” type responses if she’s annoyed/tired/grumpy. Hange would absolutely send like 10 messages that could be one single message

Parenting style?

They’re very much a united front. No “go ask your mom” or shit like that. If one of them says something, the other is gonna be on board. Overall though, they’re very affectionate, supportive, and encouraging to their kids.

If they have kids, what would they name them / who would name them?

I definitely think a girl would be named after Pieck’s mother. I think that would be Hange’s idea too which makes it even better.

Who brings home an illegal pet?

Hange for sure. Pieck would let them keep it for maybe a day before having them set it free. 

Who takes the longest getting ready to leave?

Pieck! It takes a long time to look that good!!

Who said I Love You, first?

I think Hange said it in passing / accidentally, then Pieck said it for real. It was probably a slip of the tongue on Hange’s part, and Pieck made it super genuine and said “I love you too:)”. Hange probably passed out after LMAO.

When did they realize they loved each other?

I don’t think there was a specific moment where everything clicked at all. I think they grew into a great pair and after working on themselves together, realized how deeply they care for each other. It all just fell into place over time.

(prompts by @gothicthundra)

Hope y'all enjoyed!! Thanks for all the love and support:)) <33

[guardian-angle22]

Much as I would love to see a Muslim/hijabi woman on tv. Most likely wouldn't want to be on tv since it goes against their beliefs. I'm ok with Natacha in this role bc I love her and I appreciate what LS has done with showing respect as the show has continued

[response to my post here]

First off, thank you for the insight/feedback on the accuracy, and the prayer part in particular! I had thought the location she was praying in was inaccurate but that wasn’t something I saw mentioned a lot at the time of the initial backlash to that scene. So I appreciate the information. 💜

I definitely head canon that when Owen rebuilt the firehouse (for the 2nd time!) he made sure there was a dedicated quiet room. Not only would it be important to have for Marjan or anyone else that works at the firehouse with them of Muslim faith to pray in, but also they have stressful and emotional jobs! Having a dedicated safe space at the firehouse to go when you need that kind of quiet privacy just makes sense to me.

As far as the casting part first: I think Natacha has done a great job and I appreciate the fact that she spoke up to the showrunners after hearing feedback from Muslim viewers. and from what I heard of her talking at the most recent convention, she has some great ideas of exploring various intersectionality that is found within that religion and I think that’s great and really hope they do explore some of those things.

My desire for an actual hijabi woman to have been chosen for this part was mainly based off experiences I witnessed from a previous fandom, Skam. IDK if you ever watched it, but the 4th season focused on a Muslim girl in high school, Sana, played by an actress who was actually Muslim, Iman Meskini, who was fantastic. The show writer/creator/producer relied a lot on her knowledge and lived experience when filming things. Then the Skam remakes happened… and another iteration of the show did not bother to get an actual Muslim to play that character and I remember very vividly the negative experiences a lot of the Muslim people in fandom had based off choices that were made and how that character was portrayed. Iman herself spoke up about how much better it was to have someone with the lived experience, who knew what it was like, acting in a role like that. I love this quote from her too: "I never dreamt about being an actress, because I never saw an actress with hijab on. I didn’t even see it as an option or a possibility at all until I became that example that it is possible."

I definitely can appreciate and understand how nuanced the discussion of actors playing parts that aren’t their own experience truly is though. I think the wars that are waged online about actors who play queer parts especially is a big thing happening in culture right now and I truly understand a lot of varying sides to those kinds of discussions. I know it might not always be possible for own voices actors to play parts like this, but I just feel like the best case scenario in a role like Marjan would have been for it to be played by a hijabi woman. That doesn’t mean I think Natacha is in the wrong for taking the role or that it was a terrible mistake for her to have been cast. Just that there was a better scenario that I had hoped for, that didn’t end up happening. and that's okay.

Now the corn silo story: That interview with Natacha where she said there were things that got cut from that storyline makes me really sad because I wish we could have gotten a better resolution to it. Maybe it would have been exactly what you're mentioning here too - clarifying for the viewers that not everyone in the mosque felt that way and it was just pettiness amongst some of them. Sadly, I guess we'll never know exactly what that would have looked like. It makes me a little sad that the only time we've even seen the mosque she goes to was in that episode in season one. I really really hope we get a chance to see some more storylines for Marjan that can include her faith and her mosque but more of how they're positively impacting her life instead.

(I don't have any relevant Marjan reaction gifs since I mainly use my fave Paul, so have this gif of her being absolutely adorable instead)

[voidify333]

Got a lot of OFMD vibes from Good Omens s2???

BIG spoilers for both GO S2 and OFMD S1 under the cut

Like, this isn’t a situation for the copied homework meme format, I believe it’s just same braincell on a really juicy story beat to create drama in a high concept romance, but I find the similarities fascinating so I’m gonna post about them. (What’s funny is that the thing that actually got me to watch OFMD in the first place is the promise of Stede being like aziraphale and blackbonnet being like A/C…)

The main thing is how the ending of ep 6 reminded me of OFMD ep 9.

The central pair kiss for the first time— letting any remaining oblivious audience members know this isn’t just a bromance, and alienating any homophobes in the audience who weren’t already alienated by the queer supporting characters. (That last bit is actually the biggest other “ofmd vibes” thing I picked up— how the very queer supporting roster served both to let homophobes know the show isn’t for them, and to reassure the queer audience that they’re allowed to hope for the main pair being Outright Canon)

But they also enter their divorce era— specifically, what happens is this:

The sunshine bookworm has a scene with a character the audience recognises as antagonistic (completely different scenes though— Stede’s traumatic experience with the bully in the woods vs Az being emotionally manipulated by metatron into thinking coming back to heaven is a good idea)

This scene, combined with his existing insecurities, causes him to return to a life that he won’t even find fulfilling (we know this bc he stepped away from it in the first place!) but he’s been convinced that it’s The Thing He Has To Do

In the process, he abandons his black-clad true love and breaks his heart

But here (in addition to all the obvious differences in context and execution), the season cliffhanger cuts away BEFORE “episode 10” as it were.

And… I don’t think “episode 10” is going to happen immediately for Aziraphale when lights go up on s3. Like, the “love epiphany” part may come in an early episode (we saw the way he touched his lip), but he’s certainly not getting the “plan to leave” part until some time further into s3, because the life he’s mistakenly gone back to isn’t with a Mary figure who cares about him but wants him elsewhere as much as he secretly wants to be elsewhere— instead, it’s with Heaven, an abusive cult that is planning to use him to destroy Earth, and has the power to destroy him on a whim.

Aziraphale’s key insecurity is his need for authoritative reassurance that he is Doing The Right Thing. This is what allowed metatron to use the offer of heaven to manipulate Az into hurting Crowley’s feelings and then abandoning Crowley. The tone demands an eventual happy ending (my faith in this is why the ending of e6 didn’t even make me mad), but Az is going to have to work through those issues before the happy ending can take place— Nina basically spelled this out.

The next place this comparison led me was to the thought “can I connect a red string on my cork board between post s2 crowley and ep10 Ed?”

There is an important difference between them, and it’s in kind of the opposite direction as the difference between Az-when-we-cut-away and Stede-when-we-cut-away

Ed has closed himself off to vulnerability completely after his heartbreak, and lashes out horribly, and we all know the reunion in s2e1 is not going to go smoothly

Meanwhile, although Crowley is heartbroken and mad… he is ultimately like Maggie on the “I hope she’ll be there when I’m ready but there’s no guarantee—” “there is” front. Aziraphale needs to work through his issues, and the plot needs to get to a place where The Real Big One is foiled and neither of them are in imminent danger of destruction, and once Az stops being an idiot he will need to do a great many “you were wrong” dances, but once all those prerequisites are fulfilled, we’re getting our second kiss (and I’m fanning myself just thinking about that hypothetical scene hoooooboy)

Maybe there will be a period of “angel I can’t forgive you. not yet”, that would be juicy drama, but the tone of the story demands that any such moment will be temporary

However, I do have a vivid mental image now, inspired by e10 Ed, of post s2 crowley standing in the bookshop and saying to himself out loud “oh, nothing lasts forever, is that right, angel?” and then going on a bender of destroying or giving away books (I lean towards giving away as it would leave less permanent fallout for later, and also be funnier, while still being just as potent a gesture of spite in the moment)

Anyway when OFMD S2 comes out and we get a better look at the blackbonnet divorce arc I’m going to try to use it as a divination tool to predict the events of the A/C divorce arc