#personally I believe the council goes along with it because they had a bet on when they’d get together and yoda is about to lose

[tennessoui]

Anakin: master look at me!! master look what a good omega i am!! master i'd be such a good omega for you as an alpha i can do good 💕

Council: you know he's actually doing a pretty good job at this

Obi-Wan:

obi-wan: look he’s my padawan ok I know better than anyone that nothing motivates him like spite and passive aggression. Who do you think taught him that??

Council: youre just saying that because you don’t want to be wrong

anakin: no no he’s 100% right

anakin to anakin: he’s right but now I need to prove that I can be the bestest omega >:( how dare he suggest otherwise

[gazpachoandbooks]

Here's a little rant. I love thinking about Arya with her siblings because literally any pair of them is perfect:

Arya and Jon: they literally share neurons, easily the smartest people in the room, GRRM hasn't let them attend a council together yet because he knows they'd be too powerful. BUT at the same time they can literally make the worst decisions ever and the other will disagree AND somehow support them at the same time, no questions asked. If Arya had been there when Jon sent all his friends away because Lord Commanders Can't Have Feelings she would have privately smacked him in the head with a roll of parchment, but if anyone else asked she would puff out her chest and tell them off in seven languages. If Jon had been there when Arya kept circling trees in the Riverlands because of her Moth Only Grows On One Side theory he wouldn't have stopped complaining and teasing her the entire time, but if anyone else had made a comment he would have had Ghost following them menacingly for days. They are each other's favourite person in the whole world and I can't wait to see them being badasses together

Arya and Sansa: the "we used to hate each other but now I can't imagine facing this without you" trope. The "we were raised to believe we were too different to ever get along and I've only realised how much I love you when it's too late". The "bickering goes from frustrated to fond". The "sisters by chance but friends by choice". The "I can't stand you but I can't stand the thought of anything happening to you". The "I didn't realise how much I need you by my side until you weren't there". So little content yet, but so many possibilities for the future

Arya and Bran: THESE TWO. THESE TWO. The hearts of pure gold these two have. How many times do you think they would have allowed the other to feel worthless if they'd been there? If Bran had heard Arya saying their mother might not want her back? If Arya had heard Bran calling himself broken? They would have shut that down before the other could even finish the sentence. These kids who lost everything. Someone should have been taking care of them, but it will be alright, because they're going to meet again and you can bet they're going to take care of each other. But also. BUT ALSO. The sheer power these two irradiate. They're the forgotten ones, the underestimated and overlooked, the ones left for dead, the ones NO ONE WILL SEE COMING. And if they work together? Their middle-sibling-partner-in-crime energy is about to take on a WHOLE new level when they come back and literally no one is prepared for it. Least of all me

Arya and Rickon: my head has mixed the Mother Hen Arya energy and the Abandoned Baby Rickon energy and I haven't been able to produce a single coherent thought since. They share so MUCH. No one is going to be able to understand Rickon's impulsiveness and restlessness like Arya. Rickon speaks in the Old Tongue when he's angry to build a wall between him and everyone else? Watch my polyglot baby girl learn Skagosi in weeks to tear that wall down brick by brick. Watch her make sure he gets the childhood that was taken from his siblings. Watch her tell him stories about their parents, about Robb, watch her take him to the Godswood and their mother's little sept and the crypts to speak to them, to make sure he knows he was loved, that they fought to get back to him, that they are a part of him too, even when he can barely remember what they looked like. Watch him follow her around everywhere, hanging to her every word. Watch him learn Water Dancing movements before any Westerosi technique because it's what his Big Sister does and it is therefore the Coolest Thing In The World, watch him climb into her bed whenever he has a nightmare, watch him grow up tall and proud and kind, watch him smile wider and more freely than any of the starklings because my girl made sure of it

Also this is my post and I do what I want, so:

Arya and Theon: the horrors they have seen. They've both been held prisoners by monsters. They both convince themselves that the person they were is gone, that their name is forbidden even in their own minds, that they've crossed too many lines to ever be worthy of love again. They could understand each other so well and it lives in my head rent-free. What I would give to see them become friends as they heal, and afterwards. Give me Arya visiting Pyke and falling immediately in love with Asha, give me Asha trying to hate the daughter of the man who took so much from her family but finding it impossible, give me them becoming thick as thieves and Theon regretting ever introducing them to one another. Give me Arya holding Theon's hand while he talks to Alannys, give me Dagmer Cleftjaw and everyone in his ship taken aback by how much they care about this tiny, badmouthed, caring girl who was supposed to be their enemy. Give me them whispering to one another that maybe they understand their Prince's protectiveness of the Starks, if they're all like her. Give me Theon teaching her how to finger dance because she will try it whether he likes it or not and at least this way there is someone trying to keep her from accidentally stabbing herself. Give me Arya being the first to pull a laugh from Theon, and always being able to do so from then onwards. Give me them becoming a chaotic duo, sharing dirty jokes and cursing loudly and getting into trouble every time they're together, but it's fine because it's the good kind of trouble now, the hide-under-the-table-before-they-find-us and the laugh-until-your-belly-aches-whenever-you-remember-it kind, and it's so damn good to feel that way again

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk

[unbreathable]

ride home  / S. Rogers

Summary : As a girl you were always told to never accept a ride from unknown men. You knew what could happen, you knew the dangers and heck, you`ve seen how it ruined some girls. But hey, he`s your teacher, nothing could happen. Right?

Pairing : Dark(soft)!teacher Steve Rogers x female Reader

Before you read, please understand that this is intended to be a dark fic. There will be noncon elements, rape, violence, manipulation and so much more. If you find any of these disturbing, please click away. 18+ only.

Warnings for this one shot : manipulation, noncon elements, rape, use of drugs, lost of virginity. This is some kind of au and Steve might be out of character a little.

Word count : 3.319

Credit : for the gif I used, the credit goes to its rightful creator.

Note : Don’t expect this to be any good. I came up with this over the course of a few hours and I’m still learning how to write one shots, as I find it much easier to write a series. Also I still suck at writing “smut”. I’m trying to perfect it, tho. Promise. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this one shot till my mind would be satisfied with the way the next chapter of “The Magpie” turned out and would let me post it. :)) Also, please excuse any mistakes I made. Have a great day you guys!

                   Also, to all the writers from this platform : thank you !

Girl found wondering around without any memory of the last few days, claims she had been abducted and raped...

Your eyes narrowed as you stared at the case which has been all over the news for the past week. It was quite predictable, really. Young girl, too drunk for her own good woke up by herself in the middle of nowhere. You sighed. In a city as big as New York, cases like this happened almost every other day, but there was always something left behind. Fight marks, blood, hair. Anything that could help the police find the person who did it. This time though, there was nothing.

The poor girl. You couldn`t help but pity her. She must be terrified. All alone against a world that knows nothing better than to judge. You pinched your nose in exasperation.

Cases like this, it`s what made you choose to study law. You wanted to be able to help other women. To offer them a chance at justice. No one deserved to be told that it was their own fault for wondering alone at night or for wearing something more showing. No girl should feel like the law protects only the male population...

“ And what`s your opinion on this matter, miss I`m too busy scrolling on my phone to pay attention to class?”

You cursed in your head, as you put your phone away and lifted your eyes to meet your teacher.

Steve Rogers. America`s hero, savior of the world and an actual pain in your ass, was looking at you expectantly. You held his gaze as you forced your lips to form some kind of smile. Something about him always put you on edge and the way his eyes darkened as he stared at you, didn`t exactly help ease the feeling.

“I`m sorry, I was distracted.” you murmured, not wanting to give him the satisfaction that he caught you unprepared. ”If you would be so kind...”

You looked at him as you raised one eyebrow. It was always like this. No matter what you did he`d always find something to pick at you. At first you took it as a form of banter between a teacher and his students, but with time it became clearly that he had a problem with you. Your grades didn`t reflect the hard work you always put in. Your extra work wouldn`t be considered. Every time you would as much as look at your watch he`d find something to jab at you. He would also have something to say about every paper you handed him. It was a miracle you even made the grade for his class.

You cringed as you remembered the comments he would make about your life outside his class. You seemed to bump into him on a daily. There was also something, in the way he watched your every move, that it made the hair at the back of your neck stay high on alert. You really couldn`t understand what you`ve done that America`s sweetheart despised you that much.

”The women rights...” he smirked down at you.

“Oh, yes. I strongly believe that women should have got their rights the same time men did.” you smiled when you realized that he wanted to add something else. “I mean we know that every society of this world was built around androcentrism, but if we`re real the women were the ones that kept everything from falling apart.” you drew in a short breath. “Oh, and I believe that 1920 was a bit late for our women to get their rights, since women all around the world fought for it since the 18th century.”

You smirked, as for once in your life the bell rang exactly when you needed it. Forcing a smile his way, you stood up gathering your notebooks. You were quite proud of yourself, not because your answer was the desired one, but because you got on professor Rogers nerves. While he didn`t seem to have a problem with women and feminists in general, he sure had a problem with the way you choose to speak on the matter. From the corner of your eye you saw his jaw twitch.

At first you were afraid to even say your opinion lest you would upset him, but now you enjoyed to see that vein on his forehead nearly pop. You held back a giggle. Oh well, at least you won`t have to see him for the next few weeks.

“Professor!” you rolled your eyes when you herd your bestfriend use her sweet voice. “I was wondering if you`d like to come to our party tonight.”

You stood straight, narrowing your eyes at the one that has been your friend since the first day you came to the city. What the hell was happening. You knew she had a crush on him, everyone did, but she wasn`t the one to just go and ask someone out, especially not him. You watched her in confusion as professor Rogers made his way to the front of the class.

“You know, with everything happening right now, the uni council would let us hold the party only if there was someone that could take care of us.”

“Oh!” you supposed that made sense, but even so why did it have to be him.

“Of course professor Barnes already said that he`ll be there, but we`d be thankful if you came too. Please!” your friend bated her eyelashes at him as you rolled your eyes.

Professor Rogers had a pleased smile as he moved his eyes from her to you. You held his gaze, even going as far as raising one eyebrow at him. He blinked, before turning his head towards the rest of the class.

“Since you asked so nicely.” he said after a short moment dismissively. ”`I`ll be there.”

There was something sinister in his eyes. Something that you failed to see as you made your way out of the lecture class.

“I can`t believe you invited him!” you playfully jabbed your friend in the shoulder as she walked next to you.

“Oh, come on! It’s just tonight, and I bet he won’t be able to stay up that late since he’s like... the same age as history?” she bit back a laugh, as she took your hand. “It will be fun, you`ll see.”

You hoped she was right since you were never a big fan of parties of any kind.

                                       _ _ _

This wasn`t fun. Not at all.

You knew you should have stayed home, yet you still wanted to enjoy the last night with your class mates before break. But this wasn`t it. The music was too loud and you couldn`t even hear what some people were saying. Also you`ve never really been a techno fan. The food was crap and you were sure everyone came just because there were free drinks.

It was well past midnight and you have been there since the beginning, but you were already dreading it. You smiled as your only joy came from watching drunk freshmen being rejected by some of your friends. The girls were ruthless and that made you proud.

“Hey girl!” your bestfriend came by your side, holding two glasses in her hands as her body danced along the rhythm of the music. “Look at was professor Rogers sent us.”

Her words were slurred and you could see that she drank already too much. That`s why at first you thought you didn`t hear her right. While it wasn`t unusual for men to send women drinks, getting a drink from your teacher was something you never thought could happen. It was wrong in a way.

“What?” your eyes widened as soon as the word left your mouth.

You eyed the glass she handed you. It seemed to be one of your favorites, and after the sour taste the beer left in your mouth, that would have been like a desert. Still something made you suspicious.

“Come on, take it!”  your friend pressed as she smiled broadly. “He must have realized that he’s been an ass all year and wants to make amends.”

She was giggling as her glossy eyes drifted around the room. She didn`t seem to be able to focus on anything, but somehow her shaky hands found yours and brought the glass you were holding closer to your mouth. You weren`t exactly sure what came over you, but you opened your mouth and let the liquid go down your throat. Involuntarily, your eyes wondered around till you saw the back of your least favorite teacher. He didn`t even seem to care about anything around him as he was engaged into a discussion with professor Barnes. That alone made you feel safe, even though the drink left a bitter taste in your mouth.

You were too quick to judge, you resonated. This was probably his way of saying: “Sorry I tormented you that much.” You suddenly giggled. It was shortly followed by your friend`s laughter. She threw the glass to the side and took your hand leading you to the dancefloor.

You weren`t that much of a dancer. You knew just some basics moves and that was it, but now you didn`t seem to care. You let your body move, and only chuckled when your legs started to feel like jelly. It was a strange feeling. You suddenly felt like were floating.

You furrowed your brows as you started to feel that your body didn`t exactly respond to your impulses. Everything around you happened in slow motion.

You cursed. Just how much did you drink? Moving one hand to your head, you tried to get your senses back, but you found it too hard to do. Your head buzzed. For a second you looked around trying to spot your friend among the sweaty bodies on the dancefloor, but it was like you couldn`t recognize anybody.

Fuck this. You had enough of this party already, and the way you felt made you decide that it was time to go home. You moved between the sea of bodies as fast as you could. Your coat and purse were the only thing you spent more than five minutes looking for, but as you found them you practically run out of there.

The bus stop wasn`t that far, but just the thought that you`ll have to go home by bus, made you want to throw up. You didn`t feel well and there was  dizziness that started to overcome you. As you watched the empty street, you cursed again. Of course you`ll have to wait till the next bus came. Damn it! You should really get your license.

The sound of a engine from behind you, made you turn your head. Your eyes narrowed as you watched the Range Rover slow down and actually stop right next to you. You squinted your eyes, trying to see through the tinted glass, but as a wave of nausea hit you, you moved your head to the side. You didn`t exactly pay attention when one of the windows went down. You didn`t really care. You felt sick, and all you wanted, was to get home.

“ I saw you left the party early.” the deep voice said. “Are you all right kitten?”

You hissed when you heard the voice of the last person you wanted to see right now. What was he even doing here? Your heart skipped a beat as another wave hit. You took a deep breath and tried to steady yourself. Just ignore him and he`ll go away. You didn`t exactly knew why you choose to act like that but there was something in your head that told you it was for the best.

“Come on girl, I have to make sure everyone is safe and sound.” you heard his voice. “If you don`t feel fine, I can take you home.”

The idea of getting home sooner and in a nice car was looking really good right now. But still, you didn`t feel like it was the best for you. You choose to keep quiet for reasons not even you knew. You glossy eyes scanned the schedule of the bus that was right in front of you. Thirty minutes and you`ll go home.

You heard professor Rogers sigh.

“And here I thought you never shut your mouth.” there was a deep chuckle, fallowed by the sound of the engine coming to life. “Look kitten I can either get you home or I`ll go my merry way and let you here all alone... well not quite. But I`m not sure you`d want that kind of company.”

Confusion filled your mind. The sudden move you made to look at him, made you dizzy. You tried to focus your eyes, in time to see him pointing to somewhere behind you. You slowly turned.

A group of guys were eyeing you like a wolf would his prey. Your mouth fell open as they did obscene gestures at you. Your whole body freeze as fear took over you. You knew what could happen. Suddenly you were more sober that ever and as you heard the car start moving, you nearly threw yourself in front of it. On shaky legs you moved towards the door.

“Wait” you find it hard to speak. “Professor, I`m sorry I... please!”

You looked at him with pleading eyes, and didn`t even register the way he smirked as you got into the car. Everything was a haze. You only felt like you could breath when the car started to gain speed. You didn`t even remembered to give him your address or anything, but as the car rolled down various streets you were only thankful you were far away from them.

“It such a crazy world out there” professor Rogers voice made you move your head towards him, but as the fear was gone, you started to feel the dizziness again.

With unfocused eyes you watched him. America`s hero was giving you a ride home for free and you were acting like he was your biggest enemy. What was wrong with you?

“I have to say I`m impressed.” he suddenly said as the car started to slow down. “That was one of the strongest drugs that you drank, and you still have some of your conscious left. The other ones were down after a few minutes.”

You looked at him and simply blinked. You wondered if your mind was playing games with you. Surely, he hadn`t said what you think you heard. You must have imagined everything.

“E... excuse me?” you asked dully.

You drew in a shaky breath as your trembling hand went to the door. He chuckled darkly at your attempts to open it. You wanted to scream but as your movement became slower and slower you found that fear wasn`t enough to fuel your limp body.

The car came to a sudden stop. You closed your eyes as you felt hands pulling you back.

“Now, now honey.” you could feel his breath on the back of your neck. “Don`t waste your energy, you`ll need it.”

You turned your head and watched him through your eyelashes. Something in your head was screaming at you to fight, to run, to get away. You wanted to punch, scratch, hurt him in any way. But your body didn`t listen.

It happened too fast. In a matter of second your dress was ripped to shreds. And your found yourself pressed to the door. He was over you in an instant. Turning your head to the side so that he could stare into your eyes. He had a hungry look on his face. You`ve seen it many times but it never terrified you as much as now.

“Just as pretty as I imagined.” he said in a husky voice.

You squeezed your legs as you felt his hand moving around along your body. He tugged at your bra till the clasps snapped. Your nipples stood erect, you didn`t know if it was from the cold of the car or the heat that was inside you. One of his hands came forward at pinched at your nipples. You made to move, but as sensing your intention he tugged your head back by your hair.

“Don`t you even dare!” he growled as his thumb played with one of your nipples. “I waited a long time for this”.

He leaned forward kissing down your stretched neck. His mouth was hot against your skin. You gasped when you felt his tongue leaving wet traces along your collarbone. He tugged at your hair one more time before his hand went down.

“Always dressing like this world is your own runaway, always thinking that you know it all.” he let out a moan as he squeezed your ass. “Do you know what a face as pretty as yours and an attitude like that do to a man?”

You whimpered. You never meant to catch his attention in that way, you just wanted to feel good about yourself. You wanted to tell him that. To tell him that you were sorry, but your brain didn`t work anymore. There was no reaction even as he spanked you. You felt like you could pass out every second.

“Don`t even think about it!”

You closed your eyes when your panties were soon the same as your other clothes. Slick was going down your legs. Despite everything, you were aroused.

“So fucking wet already. Good girl!” he praised.

You felt his hand descend down to your very core, proding around. You bit your lips as tears filled your eyes.

“How many have been here before?” he gave a low chuckle the same time his fingers pinched your button.

“One?” he mocked as one of his long fingers entered you.

You held back a gasp. Non, no, no. This wasn`t happening. Nobody touched you like that before. Nobody even came close to it. That`s not how you wanted it not how you dreamt it would happen. You wanted dinner, roses, a man you loved... not him.

“Two?” he continued as another finger stretched you.

You felt your walls clench around his fingers, as he moved them in and out ou you, everything while his thumb circled your most sensitive part.

“Fuck... you`re tight!” his breath was ragged, it was like he couldn`t get enough.

There was a sudden pause. In a quick move you found yourself pressed to the door of the car, as he angled your body to have better access to your burning core. He drew in a breath.

“A virgin.” he moaned.

You closed your eyes as you herd him playing at his clothes. The sudden hardness you felt proding around your core, made you shiver. You didn`t dare to look back and see it. You were scared. It seemed too big. You were afraid it would split you in a half.

You screamed when he entered you. The pain blurred your vision. Your whole body ached and tears fell down your cheeks. No, no, no. You bit back a moan of pain when he started to move, not caring about you at all. His moves were rough, punishing.

“Shhh doll, I`ll take care of you.” he rasped. “You must have waited so long for this... saving yourself for me.”

Your body moved in rhythm with his. His cock dragged along your walls as every move sent a wave of pain through you. Soon though, you found the pain disappeared. A strange feeling took over you. It was almost pleasurable. You guessed you would have enjoyed it under any other circumstances. But now? Now you were just tired.

As you passed out, you failed to notice the feeling of something warm flowing through you.

                                          _ _ _

Steve smiled down at your sleeping form. So pretty, even after being used like that. You had a glow. Too bad you might not remember anything that happened. He chuckled. It`s a  good thing he planned to keep you. He`ll make sure you`ll never forget him.

You were his girl after all. The only reason he took that shitty job as a teacher.

[bonjour-rainycity]

Late in the Night | Part Four

Previous part

Prompt: Friends have a bet how long it will take the ship to get together (Content Challenge Day 7)

Pairing: Legolas x Female Reader

Rating: PG-13

Word count: 1602

Warnings: None

Challenge participants: @game-ofthe-company @grunid @themerriweathermage @errruvande @the-reformed-ringwraith @awkwardkindatries

^^ Hey! If I haven't commented on your post(s) yet, it just means I haven't gotten the chance to read them. School has been ramping up, but as I have free moments, I'll be going back and looking at all your challenge posts <3

A/n: You guys...IT'S THE LAST PROMPT OF THE CONTENT CHALLENGE! What?! Thank you so much to everyone who participated and interacted with our posts. I had such a blast creating this past week and getting to know each and every one of you. I think it would be fun to do something like this again in the future, so let me know if you would like to be involved in planning/get updates! 

As always, I encourage you to check out the accounts tagged above and our masterlists! You can find the challenge masterlist here and my personal masterlist here. Okay, enjoy :)

Aragorn waits, keeping an eye on the trees.

The minute his friends from the eastern inn arrive, they will leave town.

He had a pleasant night — private room, hot bath, well-prepared meals — but is ready to get back on their journey. For all he knows, the brief rest he allowed them could have already cost them vital time.

That thought causes him to pace.

“Calm yourself, dear friend, they will be along shortly,” Gandalf councils.

Aragorn tries to heed the wise wizard’s advice. Sure enough, he soon hears the light sounds of feet crushing grass and twigs, and knows they are close.

The four of them break into sight at roughly the same time, and Aragorn notices two things:

One, Legolas and Y/n refuse to look at each other.

Two, Gimli wears a grin bright enough to rival the sun.

Aragorn knows he must speak with the dwarf as soon as possible.

Something has happened.

Merry, who doesn’t get enough credit for his observation skills, notices the oddities too, and elbows Pippin in the side. Their eyes grow wide, and it takes everything in them not to shout guesses as to what this means.

It is a good while before Aragorn, Pippin, Merry, and Gimli have a chance to convene and discuss the new development. All four of them, though of course dedicated to the task at hand, desperately want a resolution to their ongoing bet.

It had started innocently enough.

Merry made an off-hand comment about how well Legolas and Y/n seem to get along. Gimli noticed the lass was a clumsier fighter when Legolas was watching. Aragorn realized his friend seemed nervous around the human woman. Pippin saw how each of them smiled brighter when the other was near.

Somehow or other, the four of them had put together their observations, and the rest is history.

The bet was born.

Each of them had put down fifteen coins and a deadline, losing the coins if Legolas and Y/n did not become a couple by the deadline, and winning coins if they did. Knowing his friend’s shy nature well, Aragorn had given the two the lengthiest allowance — six months. Pippin and Merry recognized the bold nature of humans, and guessed it would only take four months for Y/n to speak her mind and Legolas to reciprocate. Gimli, on the other hand, thought the two were already head-over-heels for each other and wouldn’t be able to keep quiet about it, and had given them only a month and a half.

Each participant, knowing his deadline was drawing nearer, had taken steps to push the two in the right direction.

The hobbit friends moved Legolas’ and Y/n’s bedrolls closer when they weren’t looking.

Aragorn put them on watch together. A lot. To the point where he actually felt bad about the bags under Y/n’s eyes.

But Gimli, perhaps, had been the boldest of them all, and proudly tells his friends so the moment they are alone much later that evening.

“Quickly, they are suspicious why it took four of us to gather firewood and herbs,” Aragorn mutters, darting a quick glance in the direction of camp.

“Yes, just get on with it,” Pippin squeaks, then throws a hand over his mouth, knowing he might alert Legolas with his volume.

“Alright, listen up lads.” Gimli grins and proudly tells his tale. “Boromir and I got to the inn first, as planned, and the innkeeper asked how many were in our party. I said two, and the innkeeper made a comment how it was good we didn’t have more folk waiting outside, as his inn was almost full. Well, that got me thinkin’, so I inquired how many more rooms were available. The innkeeper said two, not including the ones Boromir and I purchased. So I whipped out my velvet pouch and paid for another room, fibbin’ a bit and saying I might have a lady friend visiting and wasn’t sure if she would want to sleep in my room or not after our activities.” He wiggles his eyebrows in response to the stunned looks of his friend.

Aragorn shakes his head slowly, a bemused smile setting in his lips. “So you paid for an extra room just to force Legolas and Y/n into sharing?”

“Right you are,” Gimli grins, placing his fists on his hips. “It wasna even that expensive — I’ll make it back three times over, now that I’ve won this thing.”

“Ah, ah, ah, hold on,” Merry holds up a hand, halting Gimli’s gloat. “You can’t prove they did or said anything to start a courtship, so you haven’t won!”

“They won’t even look at each other and the elf’s as red as a strawberry, of course something happened,” Gimli practically shouts.

Aragorn, reliably a voice of reason, intervenes. “We shall have to inquire then, but be smart about it. We do not want to jeopardize their potential courtship with our game.”

The companions agree, then quickly turn to the forest, gathering firewood and herbs to supplement Sam’s soup and their cover story.

{***}

Back at camp, Legolas sits on a low tree branch, keeping watch over all his friends.

But mostly Y/n.

He cannot pull his eyes from her face. She sits on a rock, staring into the fire, absently cleaning the mud from her boots. Without permission, his mind goes back to the way he held her this morning, tucked against his chest, her leg wrapped around his. It was wildly improper, and he should be ashamed of himself.

But he doesn’t feel ashamed. Because the way they woke up this morning didn’t feel improper, it felt natural. With all his heart, Legolas wants to wake up like that every morning — his favorite person kept safely against his side. He wants to guard her and give her a wonderful life and bring her home and have his people adore her, too.

Legolas’ resolve hardens, because he knows he can no longer keep this to himself. Y/n has a right to know how he feels, because it affects her too.

He pushes himself from the branch, landing on the ground in silence. With four long strides, he stops beside her, reaching down a hand. “Will you talk with me?”

She looks up at him, nerves like she’s never felt before erupting within her. But she gathers her courage, forces what she hopes is a smile, and takes Legolas’ hand.

She wonders what he’ll say.

All day, she had been lost in embarrassment. Somehow in the night, she’d thrown her leg over his and practically attached herself to his chest — who does that?! And he’d said nothing when they woke up, only got up and went about his routine like normal.

So obviously, he doesn’t feel anything for her.

And that’s what this conversation has to be about.

Briefly, though, she allows herself to remember what it felt like to be in his embrace, and knows that she will cherish that feeling forever.

The warmth of his hand in hers helps her hold on to that memory and, to her surprise, when they reach a secluded spot, he does not let go. No, he takes her other hand in his, clutching both tightly.

Legolas nearly shakes with nerves, and he wonders if she can tell? Does she know how he feels like he might be sick? Oh, he has never felt anxiety like this before, and desperately wishes for it to be gone.

So he wastes no time in putting himself out of his misery.

“I want to be with you.”

Y/n blinks. Surely she can’t have heard him correctly? “What?”

Legolas sighs — her reaction gives him no indication how she feels either way. He bolsters his courage, and tries again. “I feel affection for each member of this Fellowship. But whereas I love the others as if they were my kin, I am unable to deny that how I love you is different. Elves live long lives and thus take matters of the heart very seriously. And, well,” he shrugs, all eloquence leaving him the moment he sees the shy, hopeful smile spread across her lips. “My heart is with you.”

Y/n can hardly believe her ears. She thought that he didn’t…that there was no chance of…but rather than dwell on all her miscalculations, or the myriad of dangers that haunt their future, she decides to just enjoy the moment. She throws her arms around Legolas’ neck, and he grips her tightly against him.

She turns her cheek to rest on his shoulder, unable to contain her grin. “You hold mine as well. I love you, Legolas.”

He pulls back only to rest his forehead against hers, head swimming from the joy of her acceptance and at being this close to her. “And I love you.” She lets out a giddy laugh and he closes his eyes, soaking in the sound. But then he focuses again, for there is something important he still must ask. “Will you accept my offer of courtship?”

Y/n can’t help herself from bumping her nose against his affectionately, and it feels so wonderful, so free to be with him this way. She has no desire for her future to continue without him, and so, her answer is found easily. “Of course.”

Relief settles in Legolas’ bones, the nerves finally leaving him and being replaced with happiness.

Just as their lips meet, the four friends break through the tree-line, back from collecting supplies.

Gimli’s triumphant shout can be heard for miles.

“Pay up, lads!”

A/n The end! This is the last chapter of this mini-series! Thanks for sticking with me as I had some fun with this one. I keep tag-lists, so at any time, just let me know if you would like to be tagged in anything. I’m in the planning stages of a Haldir x OC fic, and while I usually stay away from OC’s, I just cannot fathom typing “Y/n” for the length that I’m planning on making that story. So be on the lookout for that! Hope you all are taking care of yourselves and please know that my inbox is always open. Lots of love!

LITN tag list: @angelic-kisses13 @lainphotography @anangelwhodidntfall @sheriffgerard @themerriweathermage @k-llama-llama @hirokosoul @wellfuckmyexistence @ipsychosocial @anjhope1 @my-lotr-obsession-is-unhealthy

[fukurodaze]

five stars: part 3 | three words

IT’S EMBARRASSING: a third year cheerleader!reader x second year athlete!suna au

wc: 4.1k warnings: swearing

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you hate mornings. 

they feel restless and empty and full of longing to have something worth waking up to. sometimes it’s hard to even get up when your mind is full and your heart is worried.

but you do not hate suna rintarou. in fact, you’ve learnt a few new things about him.

one, he has a little sister.

two, he has a nice laugh.

three, he is only “occasionally lactose intolerant”, but not if he “tries his best”.

the things you already knew - his volleyball position, birthday, grade, home town - were never brushed up on, but somehow made their way to the forefront of your memory the more time you spent with him. you began to see him as simply ‘suna’, instead of ‘the boy you helped with physics last year’.

you wonder how you ended up spending every morning of the last two weeks with him. he seems nonchalant, almost lazy, when you see him around with his teammates: back slouched and face relaxed almost all the time. yet, when you let him walk you to class, he’s talkative. he’s eager. he’s walking slowly so you can keep up.

it’s a bit of a question for you, why he’s suddenly popped up into your life once more after waking you up on an unlucky monday morning. 

(he had told you that you had slept with your eyes wide open, and it took you some time to process everything as your chest fluttered with embarrassment.)

then again, you’re not complaining.

“if you notice over here,” suna leans into your side, pointing at the phone in your hand as the two of you walk through the school, “there’s a little cockroach at the corner of the room going out.”

“oh my god,” you laugh. the video on suna’s phone displays today’s fight between the miya twins at the gym. 

it’s your third week with him.

now, as he lets you hold his phone, the literal embodiment of all the volleyball team’s blackmail material, there comes the familiar urge of yours to steal a few glances, adjust your hair, or maybe do something absurd and see how he’d react.

it’s a strange feeling. stranger than when he walked you to your classroom once and you, in your half-awake genius, slipped him a tube of your lip balm in the open pocket of his bag in case you didn’t have an excuse to see him again.

“what were they fighting about again?”

suna shrugs, “osamu was having a bad day, and atsumu got pissed, so, naturally, osamu got pissed.”

“shit. everyone was crowding around i couldn’t even see them throwing punches,” you mutter.

“anything that the twins do usually gets a crowd, really.”

you pass the phone back to him. “yeah, the twins are crazy popular. especially with the girls. they’re like idols.”

“right,” suna pockets his phone, “you’re popular too.”

your brows are furrowed. “stop it.”

suna playfully tenses his shoulders up, hands shoved in his trouser pockets, “you’re, like, the kind of person that organises the culture festival and is like the secretary for the student council.”

“i actually am.” 

“you probably are.”

you two pause when the sentences come out at the same time, and it takes no time for the two of you to laugh it out, lightly, with snickers and giggles that you’ve never really heard from his mouth. 

“you know, i finally got to watch a movie last night,” you begin, changing the conversation.

he looks at you slowly, sweetly. “oh yeah? what did you watch?”

“uh, totoro...”

he stays silent, and you find his head tilted and his eyebrows raised. he looks amused. you ask him, “what?”

“solid movie.”

there is a questioning look that you give him, and you know he sees it, pupils focused to your side. he speaks again, “you like ghibli movies?”

“yeah. i think everyone does. don’t you?”

suna looks like he’s staring down the sky, thinking. he hums, and then tells you, “i don’t.” 

now he exaggerates his normally poor posture, chin tilting up to get a view of your reaction. the two of you keep walking, in an unusual silence, and you’re left watching his eyes as they stay indifferent.

“didn’t you just say totoro was a ‘solid movie’?”

the boy looks ahead, “yeah, so?”

you click your tongue, eyes narrowing, “whatever. i don’t believe you.”

suna has a satisfied smile on his face. he makes sure you don’t know it.

the two of you enter the building, even taking extra time to go to each others’ lockers. it’s only been two weeks since he had seen you laying on the bleachers, eyes embarrassingly open; two weeks since he had walked you to class the first time; two weeks since he had really started to know you.

when you reach your classroom, suspicious eye contact from classmates and the increasingly busy hallway tell you that it’s time for him to go to class, too. he sneaks in a cynical remark, and you playfully hit him on the shoulder, for the first time.

“i’m betting you and him get together by august.” your friend, honoka, chimes in as you enter the classroom. your neighbouring seat mates agree.

you’re starting to look forward to mornings.

unbeknownst to you, suna has a deadline.

the interhigh is only a week away, and so he’s told himself that he’ll do one thing before completely shutting himself out for volleyball training: asking you out on a date.

in other words, he is fed up with the volleyball team’s rendition of his “showoff mode”. he doesn’t lift his shirt up that much!

his first strategy is the straightforward, nonchalant way. he eagerly waits for you at practice.

“hey,” suna almost chirps, feeling a skip in his step.

“hey.” your squint your eyes at the unexpected energy, “are you- are you up to something?”

suna’s ears turned beet red at your statement. he couldn’t have possibly guessed that you knew what he was about to do.

a smirk crawls onto your lips. “oh, so you are up to something…”

“yeah, right. it’s nothing.”

you slap a hand on his shoulder, “hey, i get it.���

“what?”

“i mean, whatever pranks you and your friends are up to, just try not to get expelled, ‘kay?”

suna’s shoulders relax, but his eyebrows furrow, “wait, wha-”

“the volleyball team’s up to something, no?”

suna nods cautiously, not sure if he should be relieved or sad at the miscommunication.

“anyways, thanks for waiting for me after practice. i have a some paperwork to do for the student council, so you can go on ahead,” you give him a genuine smile. he always likes to see it, but it’s a little less lovely when the thought of a failed asking-out attempt is circling his mind.

“right. bye.” suna dashes off, hand fisted in his pockets. 

he tells himself it’s a work in progress.

“what the fuck am i doing making breakfast so well,” suna mutters under his breath one morning, preparing a cut of fish in the kitchen. he doesn’t even have practice this morning, and yet he’s skimmed through the entire oven manual and has found the joys of cooking fish meat. 

he even takes some of the fish and puts it in a metallic lunch box with rice to bring to school. normally, he would settle for the canteen’s average meat buns. 

“two bentos…?” he breathes. he has an idea.

it’s not long before he’s meeting you at the bus stop. he finds you sending him a small wave and an immediate groan about how your english teacher “is the definition of a nerd-bully equilibrium, what goes on.”

he laughs along with the complaints you have, even joining along with the flow of conversation. sometimes he thinks he changes a little bit when he’s around you, but he doesn’t mind. he likes talking and laughing and enjoying his time with you without worrying about what other people say.

he’ll give you a bento, maybe, he thinks, because he’s seen lots of girls give their boyfriends bentos in the past. maybe it would even give you a nod in the right direction.

right before the school’s building entrance, he stops you and takes you by the arm. it makes your heart skip a beat, but for him, all his heartbeats are centered around the lunchboxes in his bag.

“suna, why-”

your words are cut off when you see the boy eagerly rummaging through his bag, at first with a smile and then with a worried look. his hand is in his bag for a little too long.

there was only one bento.

so he gives you a beat-up ballpoint pen. 

it’s transparent, and from the outside you can see the ink tube only one-eighth full. it looks old.

“um, it’s a good luck charm... for your english test today.” suna keeps his mouth pursed and his look unfazed.

“oh.” you smile at the absurd charm. it seems questionable at first, but you try to convince yourself to trust in it. to trust in suna.

“i know, it’s kind of… beat up, and every-” it’s clear that suna is worried, for what you don’t know, but the way he hangs his head and his other hand fumbles with the strap of his backpack is enough to tell you to accept the surpising gift.

“no, i like it. even if it doesn’t work.” your hand keeps the pen in your fists. 

“it does work, by the way.”

you chuckle, “i’ll return it after class?”

suna shakes his head, “you don’t have to. if you do well you can keep it.”

you nod an okay, and he has a tiny look of satisfaction on his face. he had thought of giving you his lunch and not eating, but he decided against it when he remembered he didn’t bring any money to school that day. temporary success, fuck yeah.

(you get a ninety-two on the test. you keep the pen.)

as a last resort, suna tries through text. at least he’s proud that the two of you have been texting for two weeks straight. he still has you under “y/l/n-senpai (physics)”, and it makes him crack a small smile under his covers from time to time.

from y/l/n-senpai (physics): 2 notifications

suna slides the notification open. it’s always a pleasant surprise.

from y/l/n-senpai (physics): just watched arrietty its a ghibli movie

to y/l/n-senpai (physics): ik hv u watched howl’s moving castle

from y/l/n-senpai (physics): yes ofc

to y/l/n-senpai (physics): well. i havent

suna runs out of words to type. he’s not sure how to phrase it...

still, by the way that you’re typing, it seemed like he hasn’t messed it up. he rolls around to the other side of his bed.

from y/l/n-senpai (physics): then go watch it… (READ)

to y/l/n-senpai (physics): let’s watch together|

to y/l/n-senpai (physics): let’s watch tog|

to y/l/n-senpai (physics): let’s|

to y/l/n-senpai (physics): let’s go on a da|

suna sighs, thumb pressing the delete button like there’s no tomorrow.

except his thumbs are big. and phone keys are small. and his train of thought has jumbled up past usual cognition.

to y/l/n-senpai (physics): lets go, toge (SENT)

suna starts to stare down the volleyball in the corner of his room, wishing it would explode on command, when another ping lights up his phone.

from y/l/n-senpai (physics): 1 notification

he makes the slowest visit to his contacts to change your display name on his phone. he wants to stall.

but he always gives in.

from y/n: whos toge? (READ)

“fuck,” he grunts, burying his head into his pillow.

out of sheer shame and fatigue of asking-out attempts, suna doesn’t see you in the morning that monday nor text you for the rest of the weekend, having left you on read every time you sent a message. he thinks that if he reverted back to the time when the only interactions with you were stray thoughts in his mind, life would go on and this too would pass. 

it’s not like you would care, right? he would tell himself.

but suna seemed to forget that you were on the cheerleading team, and that the cheerleading team shares the gym with the volleyball club on mondays and fridays, not tuesdays and thursdays like he had very cleverly remembered.

“suna!”

you call out to him that afternoon. you have your cheerleader uniform on, having received them just today, and make sure to catch him while he’s on break.

big mistake.

you knew the volleyball team was tall, but you never really expected them to be slightly off-putting, too. it seemed like one call of his name made the entire team, consisting of over twenty boys, turn their heads at you simultaneously. then they looked at suna. then they smiled.

you find in your peripheral vision a wide-eyed kita, glancing back and forth once before going back to the volleyballs and game plans even during his break. 

you put on your sweetest smile, as expected of a cheerleader who’d just recently gotten her summer cheer uniform: v-neck, sleeveless top, pleated skirt, inarizaki lettering plastered across your chest in maroon and white.

he steps in front of you, eyebrow raised, “yeah?”

“can i talk to you about something?” your hands are behind your back, body weight shifting from left to right.

he nods, and as you take him out of the gym, you hear the volleyball team cheer and a certain miya twin shout, “fuckin’ suna!”

“fuck off, atsumu!” suna voices.

outside, your smile falters. you lean against the wall of the gym.

“did i do something wrong?” you say it softly, but firmly. you see his shoulders tense up, just slightly.

“um, no?”

you squint your eyes suspiciously, “but you’ve been ignoring my texts...?”

suna rolls his eyes instinctively. he regrets it when he sees a genuine frown on your face. “dunno,” he says.

your frown persists, and you start to bite on the inside of your mouth. “well, the last thing you texted me was, uh, ‘let’s go toge’. i’m so sorry if i missed something, or if it made you feel bad, so-”

“no, don’t be sorry,” he has his hands on his hips, “i never meant to send that.”

“what do you mean?”

“it was supposed to mean something else,” he looks down, scuffing his shoes against the brick floor.

“oh, was that message not meant for me? and who’s toge? sorry if i’m-”

suna gathers himself. he opens his mouth. he says eight words.

“i meant to ask you, ‘let’s go together’.”

the conversation comes to a halt. his words ring ambiguously in your ear, and it flusters you when the first thing that comes to mind is a date with the boy. you try to shake it off.

“like- like what do you mean?” you feel sorry for having him repeat the phrase twice.

suna shrugs, “i chickened out.”

“dude, you’re not making any sense.”

there’s a sharp pang in suna’s chest, and he visibly grimaces. “did you just call me dude?”

“maybe.”

“ouch.”

“wait, so what do you mean!” your arms flail around a little too dramatically for someone as tired as you.

suna contemplates whether or not to tell you that he wanted to ask you out. by the way you’d just called him dude, he wonders if you’d rather him give you a fist bump and tell you ‘nice toss!’ instead of hold your hand and take you out on a date.

so he counts his stars and he goes for the leap.

“actually, i wanted to ask if you wanted to watch a movie together.”

you back up into the wall at his words. there’s a heat that crawls through your body and beats through your heart.

“is that what let’s go toge meant?”

he nods, shoulders relaxing, arms to his side, “let’s go, together. like- like a date.”

his words take you by surprise. still, you’re nothing but glad.

“yeah,” you lick your lips, “i’ll go. and i take back the ‘dude’”

“oh, really now?” his shoulders relax. 

you roll your eyes.

“so he asked you out, right?” honoka asks during a water break in pe class. you couldn’t say no.

“yeah, i’m going to his flat next wednesday.”

“why not today? friday?”

you pouted, head turning slowly, “stuco meeting. we have our cultural festival late october, remember?”

“ah.” honoka sips on her water bottle, “i won’t be here by then.”

“what date are you leaving again?” you try not to darken your tone, pouting at the idea of losing one of your dear middle school friends to distance. 

“august eighteenth. a month away.”

you begin to slouch on your bench. there are more classmates that come to your bench after hearing honoka telling you her leave date. ‘oh my god!’s and ‘i’m gonna miss you!’s fill the corner of the gym, and soon the whistle blows, signalling the end of your water break.

the rest of the day proceeds as normal, and yet there’s that familiar emptiness that seems to continue to fill up even more of your days.

it’s tiring.

suna’s flat is extremely well put, for some reason. you’d always passed him for a boy who simply didn’t care, but now you see him at his own place, grabbing his laptop from his desk one-handedly.

you’ll admit going to a boy’s place alone is an awkward concept in itself, but it seems like suna doesn’t pay no mind. he’s plugged in his laptop to a charger, set it on the table, and has sat himself down on a floor cushion.

it’s a relief that you don’t know how suna’s heart is almost threatening to beat out of his chest.

“what do you want to watch?” you’re quick to sit down on the floor next to him.

he shrugs, “maybe you can convince me to like ghibli.”

you tsk at his line, yet it eventually brings you an ear to ear smile. you reach over to the laptop, scrolling through netflix. “i guess we could start with howl’s moving castle?”

your head turns to him, and he nods, before standing up all of a sudden. you look at him questioningly, but you find him walking over to his kitchen and returning with two paper bags and two glasses of water. 

your eyes follow him as he rests the items down on the table and scoots back on the floor. he gestures the paper bag towards you, “popcorn. it’s salty, so i don’t know if you’re into that.”

“ah. thanks,” you smile, and he reaches over to the laptop, pressing play. 

you don’t expect the movie to be the first thing on your minds - the both of you knew this. though you and him had spent some time marvelling at the movie, you find that for every other time you dip your hand into your popcorn, a pair of eyes turns to glance at you. 

you two spend your time silently during the movie, however. your eyes have developed a habit of simply tracing suna’s figure with your eyes, and it comes in embarrassingly when he had looked back and found your attention on him instead of the laptop at one point.

you’re surprised, though, because he does seem to be paying attention to the movie, more or less, and you can hear his small hums of amusement and surprise as the movie progresses. you colour yourself proud.

suna doesn’t even touch his food nor his drink, having felt too nervous to do so. he wants to know how you’re doing, silently, but whenever he meets your eyes, he decides that he’d rather fix himself on the movie. he wonders if a date like this means holding your hand or even saying goodbye with a kiss hug.

when the movie ends you ask him why he hasn’t eaten his popcorn, and how you feel kind of bad about it, but he ends up telling you how good the movie actually was.

“i don’t believe that you don’t like ghibli movies.” you squint playfully.

there’s a grin that grows on suna’s resting face, “i never said that i was saying the truth, i just said that i didn’t like them.” 

he stands up, bringing the food and drinks on the table to his kitchen counter, and you follow him over. the realisation hits you then, “oh. oh.”

“in truth i haven’t really watched many of them so i don’t know, but, yeah.”

“it’s funny because i feel slightly played.”

“well, you’re here now, aren’t you?” 

you watch as suna reaches into his refrigerator for some eggs. he glances at you, and you’re sitting on his tiny dining table. 

“do you want an omelette?”

your eyebrows raise. your heart skips a beat at the thought of eating his cooking. you tell him, “sure.”

suna takes the time he’s faced away from you to think about what’s next. he knows that you have some kind of inclination towards him, having agreed to his explicit naming of this hangout a “date”. still, his mind wanders towards the timing: is it too early to properly confess? hasn’t he technically already confessed? the omelette flips and suna thanks the world for having it look like the prettiest one he’s ever made. 

this one’s for you, he thinks.

when you do take the omelette in your mouth, you sigh a little bit. it looks pretty - almost beautiful, in fact - but also seems to be half-half-cooked. 

you don’t care, though, because it still makes your stomach flutter thinking about the fact that he had made this with his own hands. and if it takes some half-half-cooked omelette to eat, then, hell, you’ll eat it.

it’s not all bad, though, since he offers you some rice along with the egg as well, and it eventually turns into a filling meal. you hadn’t had one of those in a while.

when you look over to the other side of the table, you find he’s already finished with your food, and normal chatter makes itself more comfortable in the confines of his small flat. this is how it’s supposed to be, you tell yourself, just meaningless banter and humorous talks.

you find yourself growing to know him even better.

“isn’t it funny, how, some weeks ago, i had only seen you as that ‘one guy i tutored last year’?” you say after the date as he walks you out of his apartment. he tells you he’ll be walking you home, and though you tell him no, you ride the bus, he says he has some extra money in his wallet for the month.

suna agrees, “yeah. i would’ve just carried on with my life.” suna lies through his teeth. he’s been through the volleyball team’s teasing for his obvious crush on you. hell, they’d even dubbed it suna’s “showoff mode” (ginjima calls it ‘beast mode’) whenever you were within a five meter radius of him. 

you tell him time flies fast, and he tells you it walks slowly. for you, getting to know suna rintarou has been something you finally look forward to after all your work. but for suna, getting to know you is something he savours every second of, remembering how he wants to make up for the times he used to pine over your unknowing self.

when the two of you get on the bus, you sit next to him, yawning. he wants to have an arm over your shoulder, or your head on his shoulder, but he doesn’t exactly know how.

“my house is actually a few stops from here.” you say. it’s already nine at night, and though you’ve spent over five hours at his flat, you don’t want to lose your time with him to sleepiness.

suna notices how you try to fight it, even having told him, “don’t worry, i usually sleep at two am everyday anyways. i’m not going to fall asleep.”

he tells you, “you shouldn’t be sleeping at two every night.”

“it is how it is.”

he chuckles, “i once got shouted at for sleeping at five in the morning during a training camp. they forced me not to train at all that day. it was-”

the bus comes to a stop and your head falls on his shoulder. he calls your name softly.

you’re asleep.

suna keeps still as the bus ride continues, remembering the stop you said was yours. he counts them - one, two, three, four, five stops - and with each, his breathing steadies. he feels like the luckiest boy in the world.

“what am i to you now?” suna’s head tilts back, whispered question dissolving into the atmosphere. he doesn’t expect an answer.

instead, your arm circles itself around his.

taglist: @maitenight​ @natszoo​ @ssuna​ @erens-piss-cleaner​ @osamus-onigiri​ @volleybloop​ @etherealiwa​ @agaashesmilktea​ @bicchaan​ @anngelllla​ @tycrackculture​ @sins-over-tragedy​ @tsumuluv​ @daichibrainrot​ @underratedmage​ @sunasexual @kenmei @daydreamingtetsu​ @sunareii​ @bebegi​ (if your url is bolded, it means i couldn’t tag you)

send an ask to be added to the taglist!

as always, thank you to roo @yooroomi for beta reading this series!

[hallowxiu]

Three Minutes (Part 1)

pairing: diavolo/gn!mc

word count: 3.2k

summary: You want a unique gift for the future King of the Devildom. Who else would be brave enough to give Lord Diavolo pick up lines if not you?

a/n: part 11 of the mc isn’t good at pick up lines series. also this ties in a teenie tiny bit with the current halloween/birthday diavolo event that’s going on. enjoy!

part seven | part eight | part nine | part ten

A yawn leaves your lips as you once again find yourself sitting in for a council meeting. You aren’t sure why you’re constantly being forced to tag along to these stupid meetings-- last you checked you weren’t even a council member. Yet, Lucifer is always insisting (more like forcing) that you come along. If you had it your way, you’d be at home taking the fattest nap of your life right now. A nap so good that even Belphie would be impressed. 

And with that, another yawn leaves your lips. Someone clears their throat, and you look up to find your gaze falling onto Lord Diavolo. Oh shit, you’ve totally been caught zoning out. Lucifer is definitely going to kill you later for making him look bad. You hear your name fall from Lord Diavolo’s lips and a blush settles across your cheeks gracefully. “Had I known you were so tired today, I would have suggested the meeting be held tomorrow instead.” Now you’re blushing out of embarrassment. And terror, when you eventually look over at Lucifer. Yeah, definitely not happy. 

“Wha-- of course not. I’m not tired,” maybe you should have tried harder at covering up your yawns, “just, uh,” just what? Bored? Yeah, no, that would make it worse. “I’m so excited that I keep yawning. It’s a human thing; you’ve never heard about it?” To yawn while excited? It was most definitely not a human thing, but could any of the brothers really call your bluff? Probably. 

“Really?” There’s a look of surprise on Diavolo’s face, and it makes you feel just the slightest bit hopeful that he believed your lie. Lucifer looks unimpressed, however, which means he didn’t. Can’t win them all. 

“Yes. It happens to me a lot. If I get really excited, I just yawn. I yawn a lot. In general, many things to be excited over.” You’re sinking into your chair as you feel Lucifer’s glare become stronger and stronger with each passing second. 

“And tell me,” Lucifer says your name with barely hidden frustration, “what are you excited over?”

Shit. You should have known that Lucifer would quiz you on this. “Well,” there’s a terrified smile on your lips and the brothers are giving you curious looks, “that’s a great question. What isn’t there to be excited over?” You knew that wouldn’t fly at all. You needed to think of something. It’s as if a tiny lightbulb goes off over your head, a wide smile lighting up your features. “Why, Lord Diavolo’s birthday is coming up, right? I think that’s quite exciting! And Halloween! My personal favorite holiday, although I’m not really sure if you guys celebrate it here, but I’m still excited for it nonetheless.” This time Lucifer’s the one wearing shock on his expression, though he decides not to push the topic. You knew he wouldn’t; he wouldn’t be willing to grill you over Lord Diavolo while in the presence of the Demon Prince himself. You had never been more grateful to Satan, as he was the one who informed you of the upcoming birthday only a few days prior. 

“That’s actually what this meeting was called for today.” There’s a sheepish smile on Lord Diavolo’s lips as he speaks. “We don’t necessarily celebrate Halloween in the Devildom, but my birthday does fall upon the human holiday, so we do end up celebrating the week of. It’s just slightly different.” You’re thanking every god in the skies right now for pulling you through that alive. “I only called the meeting to see if everyone was okay with the festivities that will be taking place next week.” 

“Of course, Lord Diavolo. Leave everything to us, we’ll have everything planned.” There’s a tight smile on Lucifer’s lips, one that suggests that you should probably avoid the oldest brother for the remainder of the day. 

🎃🎃🎃

You sat through another two meetings in the last couple of days, all of which were Lucifer and the brothers going over every last detail for Lord Diavolo’s birthday celebration. Your role, similar to Lucifer’s, was to help each brother whenever requested. Which sounded easy enough at first as you didn’t share the entire weight of their responsibilities, however, that was until all the brothers were calling you non stop because they wanted to spend time with you. While cute at first, you were starting to get annoyed. 

Couldn’t they see that you had things to do too? You were already on thin ice with Lucifer since the first council meeting (the eldest even going as far to harass you each morning about getting enough sleep, should you yawn during another meeting). On top of that, you were cooking up some pick up lines for Lord Diavolo. A birthday is a special occasion, it’s another year you’re alive, which is special, right? Even if the person celebrating the birthday has been alive for thousands of years. 

You’re currently deciding on what method of delivery you should do. Should you write a shit ton of pick up lines on a homemade card and give it to him? Or should you tell them to him in person? Each method had their own list of pros and cons. For example, the pro of the card would be that Lucifer wouldn’t know, and therefore he wouldn’t kill you for possibly disrespecting the future Devildom King. However, the pros for telling him in person involved seeing his reaction and his response to each one, which was a little more tempting. Another question; should you do it when he’s alone, or when he’s at his party? Could you even get Lord Diavolo alone? You nearly fell apart when you got Barbatos alone, and he’s only Diavolo’s butler. 

You flop back onto your cushioned bed, staring at the ceiling above you. You watch as the blades of your ceiling fan lazily spin in circles as your mind works up the perfect birthday plan. Yes, you couldn’t just make a fool of yourself, the stakes are a bit higher this time. This wouldn’t be the same as giving one of the brothers a pick up line. Maybe you should just… 

You spring out of bed the second the idea hits you. You had the perfect idea. Why not just text him a pick up line each day of the week leading up to his birthday. This way you wouldn’t have to risk Lucifer overhearing it and you wouldn’t have to worry about cornering the man. Yes, this was perfect. 

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” Your face turns to a scowl while Mammon spins in circles while in your desk chair. “Ya do realize this is Lord Diavolo, right? We don’t know how he’ll react to this.”

“And while that’s completely fair of you to think that,” you were too busy looking up pick up lines on your D.D.D to care about the outcome, “I know no one else is brave enough to do something like this. Come on, it’ll be great. A present he’s never received before.” 

“Ya sure do have an interestin’ way of reasonin’.” Mammon knew it was pointless to argue with you. “But don’t come cryin’ to me when Lucifer catches wind of this. Your funeral, not mine. Make sure ya stress to him that I had nothin’ to do with this.” 

🎃🎃🎃

MC:

Lord Diavolo, your birthday is in a few days, right???

Lord Diavolo: 

Yup! 

Why do you ask?

MC:

I have a unique gift idea for you! 

But uh

Don’t tell Lucifer

Please

Lord Diavolo:

Oh my.

Could it be? Are you taking me out to AkuDonald’s? 

MC:

w 

what 

Lord Diavolo:

Don’t worry, MC!

I will keep this our little secret! Lucifer won’t find out. :)

MC: 

No, wait.

That wasn’t it.

I mean, I can take you to AkuDonald’s too if you want. I don’t mind. 

Lord Diavolo:

It wasn’t?

Well, I hope you’re still willing to take me because now I really want some.

MC:

Is it really okay for the future King to go out like that?

That doesn’t matter. Gift idea.

Are you ready?

Lord Diavolo:

Am I ready?

Are you doing it right now?

MC: 

You’re gonna be hotter than the flames on your birthday candles.

Lord Diavolo:

W

Wh

What?

MC:

I broke him.

Anyway, this is just the first of MANY. Okay???

You’re gonna get a wicked birthday pick up line every day until your birthday.

Which is only in two days. 

So it looks like you’ll be getting many a day. 

My planning wasn’t great; I was a little late coming up with the idea.

But it’s the thought that counts, right?

Lord Diavolo:

I’m not sure what to say…

MC:

I’ll give you one more as a parting gift.

Hey.

Lord Diavolo:

H-Hey??

MC:

I bet you’re sweeter than any birthday cake.

Lord Diavolo:

WHAT

WHAT?

MC, WHAT?

🎃🎃🎃

“Wow.” Is all that comes from Mammon as he reads through your texts. “You’re so fuckin’ dead.” 

“What?” You look at the white haired demon with a frown. “But I promised him AkuDonald’s.”

Mammon shoots you a quizzical look. “As if that even matters.” A snort leaves him as he rereads the messages. “It is pretty funny though. I can only imagine how red his face was when he realized what you were doin’. And then ya left him on read! You made him text stutter and then left him on read! As if you weren’t already taking a gamble. Sheesh, what am I supposed to do with ya? Like, seriously-- who leaves the future King on read?” Before you open your mouth to comment, Mammon cuts you off. “And I can’t believe ya told him that you broke him. Ya aren’t supposed to say that to him.” 

You sheepishly scratch the back of your neck. “I mean, he didn’t seem to mind that much. Hopefully. I mean, I’ll take the execution if that’s what he wants.” Mammon shoots you another quizzical look, though this time he opts to stay quiet. “The next one I’m sending is tomorrow. I didn’t have a lot up my sleeve, so if I plan it right I should have just enough leading up to his birthday. Do you want to see?” 

He leans over to view the pick up lines you had saved on your phone. He presses his lips into a thin line as he reads over them. “Some of these are… brave. What are ya expectin’ to get out of that last one?” 

“What do you mean?” You ask with a raised eyebrow.

“Ya really want to tell him a line like that? And ya seriously expect nothin’?”

“I figured I should go all in if I’m going to be giving them to Lord Diavolo. Besides, it’s not like anything will happen, Mammon.” 

“Give what to Lord Diavolo?” A chill runs up your spine when the voice meets your ears. How was it that Lucifer scared you more than the actual crowned prince of the Devildom? 

“L-Lucifer.” You turn to face the demon with a shaky smile. “Mammon and I were just talking about gift ideas. It seems that no one has thought of anything yet, so we were just throwing ideas around. Nothing serious.” 

“You’re a bad liar.” Lucifer deadpans. “But I have a headache, so I’m not going to press you further. Mostly because I’m not sure I can handle whatever it is that you’ll end up telling me.” He pinches the bridge of his nose as he leans against your doorframe. “I just came to let the two of you know that dinner is ready. Come down now, I won’t be stopping Beelzebub from eating your food.” 

🎃🎃🎃

MC:

Did you miss me?

Lord Diavolo:

You’re going to give me a heart attack.

MC:

What? Why? 

Don’t do that. 

I’d get in a lot of trouble with Lucifer for that.

Lord Diavolo:

Are you really going to send me a pick up line each day until my birthday?

MC:

Yup!

Because I know for FACT that no one else is doing this.

Right??

MC:

Diavolo

*Lord Diavolo

Crap, don’t tell Lucifer I forgot the Lord.

MC: 

Wait. Answer me.

Is someone else doing this????

Or are you telling Lucifer that I forgot the Lord?

MC:

Omg.

It’s Lucifer, isn’t it?

Fuck.

What would a pick up line from him even be like?

Wait

Can you tell me?

I promise I won’t tell anyone. Except maybe Mammon.

He reads through my texts a lot.

Don’t ask me why.

Lord Diavolo:

I--

Sorry, Barbatos needed me for something.

Did you just have a crisis?

Over me not answering?

LOL

MC:

Lord Diavolo, I need to know.

Is Lucifer doing this too?

Also I need to know if you told Lucifer about me dropping the Lord.

Lord Diavolo:

No, I didn’t tell him haha.

And why would Lucifer send me something like pick up lines?

MC:

Uh

Anyway. Are you ready?

I’m sending it anyway.

MC:

You’re so beautiful, you made me forget my bad pick up line.

Lord Diavolo:

You think I’m pretty?

I knew having that sticker made of me in the dress was smart.

MC:

o ,,,,

k

MC:

Is that the sun coming up, or is that just the birthday boy shining? 

Lord Diavolo:

Oh wait, that one was cute.

MC:

I’m glad!

Tomorrow is your birthday, and naturally I only have one left.

So I suppose I’ll give it to you at your party tomorrow.

Don’t let Lucifer find out. 

Contrary to popular belief, I do value my life somewhat. 

🎃🎃🎃

“He said he liked it?” Mammon asks with disbelief lacing his tone. “I really thought I had seen everythin’ up until this point, but ya keep provin’ me wrong.” The two of you are crammed together at one of the many booth’s taking up the ballroom of Lord Diavolo’s castle. Everything was set up, and now you and the guests only had to wait for the birthday boy himself to arrive. 

“The birthday boy has to be fashionably late. It’s like, law.” Asmodeus had said to you only minutes prior. Law of what? You weren’t sure and he didn’t specify. 

“I know. I was surprised he liked them too. The first one was kind of lame, but he seemed pleased nonetheless.” If you have to admit, you’re feeling pretty smug with yourself right now. I mean seriously, pulling off pick up lines with Lord Diavolo? That has to be some kind of accomplishment, right? 

“You didn’t give him the scandalous one though. Don’t tell me…” You see a look of horror form on Mammon’s face. “Ya don’t plan on tellin’ him that one in person, do ya?” You only respond with a cheeky wink. “Oh, no.” He buries his face in his hands at the thought of his favorite human dying at the hands of his older brother. What a dilemma indeed. 

“Oh, yes. I already told him I’d be giving him the last one today anyway, so it’s not like he’ll be surprised. I just…” A devilish smirk appears on your lips and Mammon decides he doesn’t like it one bit. “Do me a favor?”

“Absolutely not.” 

“Mammon, come on.”

“No way.”

“Please?”

“Wha-- no! Don’t give me that look! I told ya a million times that the puppy dog look doesn’t work on me!” Except that it totally does. “Okay, fine.” His face beet red with his arms crossed over his chest, he turns around in his chair so that he’s facing away from you. “What is this favor?” He already knew what it was.

“I need you to distract Lucifer for me so I can get Lord Diavolo alone.” Mammon lets out the loudest whine of his life before slamming his head onto the table. A nervous laugh leaves you when several of the guests (Lucifer included) turn to look at the two of you. “Mammon, please don’t make a scene.” You say through a forced smile. 

“I’m sorry, you get to ask me to throw my life on the line so you can give Lord Diavolo a shitty pick up line, and I’m not even allowed to complain? Did I get that right?” 

“Yup.” The cheeky smile is back on your face. “Seriously though, do you think you can distract him?” 

“I mean, probably. I don’t know for how long though.” Mammon’s eyeing Lucifer from where he sits, watching the black haired male converse with some of Diavolo’s well known acquaintances. “He might get suspicious the moment I start walkin’ over to him.” 

“Just make sure your hands aren’t in your pockets so he can’t accuse you of stealing anything.” 

“You make it sound a lot easier than it actually is.” 

“I only need five minutes.” You cringe slightly when seeing the exasperated look on Mammon’s face. “Okay, maybe not even that! Three minutes; can you give me three minutes?” Mammon’s quiet for a while, the demon staring down at his hands while thinking over the entire thing. 

“Alright, I can probably get ya three minutes alone with Lord Diavolo. I’m serious though, I don’t know if I can promise ya any longer.” You rest your chin on the palms of your hands while looking forward thoughtfully. That’s fine, you tell yourself. You’ll only need three minutes.

You watch as Mammon practically glues himself to Lucifer’s side the moment Lord Diavolo finished his mini birthday speech. It was definitely suspicious, but you also didn’t give Mammon specific instructions, and he was doing this for free, so you really couldn’t complain. You watch as Lucifer tries to pry himself away from Mammon, and you watch as Diavolo catches your eye and walks over to you with a wide smile as he calls out your name. “I’m glad you could make it tonight!” As if I’d be allowed to miss your birthday party, a voice in the back of your mind mutters. 

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” You respond with a smile. “Are you ready for your last pick up line?” A wave of excitement washes over you as you rock on the backs of your heels.  

“Of course. I’ve been looking forward to it all day! I can hardly wait to see what you’ve come up with.” His smile is almost blinding and you can feel your cheeks heat up. Was everyone in the Devildom this attractive? It wasn’t fair. 

“Well,” you have to get this perfect, although you aren’t entirely sure why, “I noticed you had already had some of your cake.” You knew this because Asmodeus had practically sobbed over how beautiful the cake was, and Beelzebub had almost committed murder while trying to hold himself back from devouring it. 

“I did, yes. You also had some.” That too. 

“Well, I was wondering if your lips are sweeter than the icing on this cake, because they sure look like it. Better let me taste first and confirm.” You smile widely as you stare at Lord Diavolo. You’re extremely proud of that one and while you aren’t sure why, you had been saving it for last. You wonder if Lord Diavolo also thought it was as cool as you had. Your smile starts to fade when you feel a pair of warm and soft lips pressed against yours, a sea of gasps (and someone choking-- was that Mammon or Lucifer?) echoing around you.

Oh.

Oh. 

You see your mistake now.

[themadauthorshatter]

OH MY, GOODNESS!

RED SCHOOL UA HEADCANONS/STORY!

Sorry for not picking this up earlier. This part we are focusing on Arc 2: where the RQ cast meets the SGE cast.

Sophie is über excited at meeting the crown prince, but Agatha is less enthused because she's a realist and doesn't know HOW the RQ crew is getting over to the SGE.

Tedros and his friends are ecstatic they're meeting the Nortan princes. They even wonder if there are more than just Cal and Maven.

The students are all on the hot topic of Nortans visiting, though Agatha is pulled aside by Hester, Dot and Anadil, who all express their anger and impatience at Sophie, who won't shut up about Cal in particular, even though he's betrothed. Agatha assures them everything will be fine when Sophie sees that Cal and Evangeline are an item. (Yeah right. Marecal all the way.)

In Norta, it's rumor city among the Silvers, who aren't exactly looking forward to entertaining a bunch of school children.

Our main three in Norta are talking about their upcoming excursion to the school in the Endless Woods, Cal being apprehensive to leave Norta practically unguarded for an unspecified amount of time, but excited at the idea of seeing new lands, Maven just not wanting to go because it seems like a waste of time, effort, and resources, and Mare not exactly sharing her thoughts because she'll be even further away from her family than before.

Evangeline is not amused. At all. She's just playing along until they get back and never have to deal with the students of the School for Good and Evil again.

Regardless, they don't know what could be there, so they need to make sure they're not potentially making any new enemies by this complete accident on Tibe's part. Or, that's his thought process at least. And he's only told Cal this information, as, from what he can tell, the SGE isn't Red and Silver and instead use magic, a concept only found in fairytales. With an entire school of teenage witches and wizards and warlocks, and maybe a dragon or two, assuming this place is prestigious and in the higher end, it's better to make an ally rather than an enemy. And the idea of warring aginst school children does not sit well with Cal.

In training later, though, Maven and Mare see that Cal is absolutely faking his excitement at least a little bit, like 58% faking it. It shows when Arven pits him against Evangeline, Sonya, and Elane.

He ends up nearly burning all three of them alive, lost in wanting to get the fight and group training over with so he can be alone and think his thoughts.

Silly, Cal. Maven is paying attention, and asks what's wrong.

Cal brushes it off and says everything's fine, but Mare and Maven know better, Mare having seen what liars look like and Maven knowing Cal for all his life.

Cal tries to a go about his day and ignore whatever he's thinking, which is difficult to do because Maven's following him. He turns and Maven stops, simply explaining that he's going the same way as Cal. They continue walking, but Cal notices that Maven's not really going anywhere, content to follow his bother. This results in a chase between the two of them, Cal jogying before speinting to shake Maven off his tail, succeeding when he loses Maven down a hall, as in he ran down the hall partially before hiding behind a wall and watching Maven sprint right past him.

Maven only realizes he got played when he can't hear Cal anymore.

He and Cal don't meet up for the night.

He talks about this with Mare, and brings up that Cal's avoiding him.

TV/Graphic novel perspective, over time we see Cal get followed by both Maven and Mare, though over this time Cal grows more agitated and looks more annoyed and tired as they continue to try to see what's wrong with him. Maybe we even get a gag of both Mare and Maven spying on Cal from behind a wall, hiding behind it when he looks over his shoulder, and then continue their spying when he looks back, confused, annoyed, and agitated.

After a week, Cal catches Mare and pulls her into a room before leaving and telling her to wait for him.

He returns with Maven, who's over his shoulder, trying to remain calm, because Cal's stronger and bigger than him, and even tries, in mild panic, to negotiating to not beat him to a pulp, because Cal looks ready to murder them both.

He sets Maven on his feet and tells them both very bluntly to stop following him; not only is it freaking him out, but his soldier instincys are going haywire and he will not heistate to attack them both, which he doesn't want to do because it won't end well.

Mare and Maven apologize, but, being concerned despite herself, Mare asks Cal what his problem is, seeing as how he's avoiding both her and Maven.

Cal gives them a tired look and takes a breath. "Fine."

CUT THE THE SGE!

Tedros, Tristan, and Chaddick are hanging out together away from the Evergirls, though Chaddick does admit that the girls are looking nice today(16 year old hormones, am I right?)

Tedros isn't listening, balancing his sword on his fingertips.

Tristan, arguably the most feel-y of the three, wonders if or when the Silvers will arrive.

Tedros doubts they will, but one can hope.

This turn if pessimism confuses both Tristan and Chaddick, and Tedros happily explains:

They're all just students. What would royals and nobles want with a bunch of schoolchildren? They don't even have magic, don't believe in it, don't know it, just don't have any magic. The closest thing they have to magic is their silver blood, and not even THAT is magic because of how limited it is.

That, and Sophie and the Nevers will probably drive them all away.

Speaking if Nevers, Chaddick admits how weird it is to see them getting showered and clean, presentable in case the Silvers arrive as a surprise visit.

It is odd, but it's in their best interest to play nice with everyone, and that unfortunately includes a very babbly, and planning-to-be-flirty Sophie.

Speak of the devil, Sophie emerges from the trees to find the trio, specifically Tedros, who she wants to talk to.

He leaves, lying that he has some homework to do.

He's really going to find Agatha, who's reading to pass time and get her mind off all the gossip.

They have a rocky conversation about the current events and even wonder what silver blood would even look like, if they ever get the morbid chance to see it.

Agatha asks why he's talking to her and Tedros sighs that he just wants to avoid Sophie, but also wants to be around someone who's smart.

She smiles and asks if he thinks she's smart, sort of silently teasing him as he stammers and tries to come up with a save for the tongue-slip.

He spots Nicholas behind her instead, eyes wide and red as he raises an axe over his head, aiming for her.

Tedros, thinking quickly, tackles him and throws the axe away, which knocks Nicholas out of his daze.

Tedros shouts at him, "What the hell was that?" but Nicholas only looks around, very confused as to how he got into the trees or even got hold of an AXE.

There's confusion all around as Nicholas stumbles away towards some friends, muttering about a headache he now has and how sore he now feels.

Agatha and Tedros only exchange glances, worried and confused.

Was it a curse? A hex? A spell? And how did he get a weapon from the Doom Room?

CUT BACK TO NORTA AS CAL HAS JUST FINISHED SPILLING THE TEA! All three are sitting in a triangle on the floor, because it's close to night time and, because I'm a sucker for parallels in a story, to establish that despite the age differences between them and the students, and the experiences Cal and Maven had on the war front, they're still kids too.

Mare fights the urge to dry heave and Maven only hums at how Tibe is actually paranoid enough to consider war against a bunch of kids.

Cal admits that, yes it is ridiculous, but he's still unnerved. It doesn't help that they're dealing with people who have magic, which is stronger than Silver powers, even Mare's lightning is possibly no match; magic is all encompassing while their powers are limited to one "element."

Mare, in an attempt to alleviate the atmosphere, wonders if everyone will even BELIEVE what Norta says about these kids, as magic doesn't exist in their world.

Cal admits he does not believe in magic. It's not that he's heartless, he's just seen too much to know better. As much as he'd like to, he knows that it's nothing but slight of hand and tricks to fool the other person.

Maven agrees, except he's known because of Elara, but he gives them an explanation closer to what Cal said, only changing that he saw a magic show and saw how the tricks were done to fool the crowd.

When they ask her, Mare admits that if she believed in magic, and if it was real, it would have made things different for her and her family, she also inwardly admits that she'd make things different for all Reds as well.

After a moment of silence between them, Maven asks Cal if he's heard anything about them leaving and visiting these endless woods, and Cal shrugs, sighing that it's all speculation and in the air. If they do go, it will be both brothers and their betrotheds, Elara, Tiberias, a few other High House children(Elane, Sonya, Olliver, and Ptolemus), and a few guards, one of them being Lucas. Volo Samos and the rest of Tibe's council will stay behind to keep Norta in shape while they voyage to the School, stay for a little bit, and then come back, assuming things go okay and don't take long.

WE ALL KNOW NOTHING EVER GOES RIGHT IN STORIES😈

Either way, they all take a breath and leave the room together, Mare hoping Lady Blonos doesn't scold her for being alone with both princes. Cal tells her not worry because they'll cover for her, saying they had a bet and Cal won. Maven mutters, "By default," and he and Mare jog away as Cal chases them, yelling that they'd better explain what that means before he gets his hands on them both.

TIME JUMP/FADE TO THE DAY THE NORTANS LEAVE FOR THE ENDLESS WOODS, THE FADE HAPPENING WITH A PAN TO A WINDOW AND THEN GLIDE DOWN TO THE DOCK!!!

Mare sighs up at the ship before boarding, noting a very anxious Cal looking over the walkway as he himself walks aboard, Evangeline striding ahead of him.

Maven chuckles that Cal's always been a scaredy cat around water, even if he doesn't want to admit it.

Mare admits that while Cal is acting like a child, it's actually a smart move to know yoursl own limits and weaknesses.

From his place higher on the ship, Tibe gives Mare a, "Well said, Lady Mareena," and admits he may have underestimated her ability as a strategist. Maybe her time around Cal and the other High House children is rubbing off on her.

Mare fakes a thank you and notices Maven looking away.

I have not forgotten how Tibe isn't as loving as Maven; no amount of tragedy is going to negate neglect.

Mare tries to back up the now crestfallen Maven, but Elara calls for her son, asking to speak with him alone, mother to son.

He agrees and walks off to meet her, looking back at Mare before he does.

Tibe watches them walk off, and we get a glare off between him and Elara before the Queen leaves to speak with her favorite son.

Once they're gone, Mare asks how he can stand a bitch like Elara. She gets they were arranged to marry, but two people cannot hate each other that much.

For context, Mare's been here for about 4 months. She's visited her family only twice and has had a lot of time with Silvers and dealing with Tibe, Elara, Evangeline, and anyone who isn't Cal, Maven, and Lucas.

Back on track, Tibe semi-scolds her that, as a lady of the court, she should know better than to be mouthy towards him.

Mare, kind of fed up with his BS, folds her arms and counters that as a princess and his future daughter-in-law, they should be comfortable with each other enough for her to ask such a question.

Tibe gestures for her to come closer and she approaches, close enough for Tibe to sneer at her that if she thinks he's letting Maven, his son, his boy, marry a Red rat like her, she's more of a fool than all of the Scarlet Guard put together.

Lost in her anger, Mare asks which he's more afraid of: Telling Mare the truth or having his court, and the rest of Norta, Red and Silver, find out their secret.

With a glare down, Tibe congratulates her on how she's picked up verbal combat, and that she's a good learner. He then admits that the two of them aren't very different.

It offends Mare DEEPLY and she asks what that means as Tibe begins walking away.

Another bit of context, there are two sets of stairs to the upper level of the ship, a left and a right. In a fun bit of camera work/detail for anyone paying attention. Mare would walk up the right hand stairs to meet Tibe and, when he walks down the stairs, he walks down the left hand stairs and Mare follows him, the two walking back to the deck, so Mare basically walked around in a big circle. Just a cool thing I'd add, maybe it'd be symbolic of her situation or of some kind of cycle, I don't know. If you have any ideas, feel free to tell me.

Back to the story, Tibe explains to Mare that they're trapped by who they must marry, or have married in Tibe's case.

Another small detail, on the upper level, Mare would be on the left hand side of the screen/panel and Tibe would be on the right, but on the deck they're sides change, Tibe being in the left and Mare being on the right.

I'm a sucker for small details, so sue me!

Back on track for reals, Mare's VERY confused because she thought princes, or kings, could choose who they could marry. Tibe agrees that, yes, that usually is the case, but the reason he couldn't really choose was because there weren't anymore Queenstrial participants for him to choose from.

"But you have two sons?" Mare ponders.

Tibe shakes his head and asks if she REALLY thinks ending an alliance with Volo Samos of The Rift is a good idea, based on what she's seen from his daughter, Evangeline, half-joking that he's glad Cal is her betrothed and a simple friend of Ptolemus, who's shown how much of a berserker he is. (Yes the Scarlet Guard attack on the Summer palace still occurs.)

Mare asks what he'd do if that was the case, and Tibe chuckles, saying he'd renounce the throne and give it to Maven instead.

The two only chuckle, not comfortable enough with each other to fully laugh, and then Tibe admits that while he isn't sorry for needing to keep Mare a secret, he is sorry that she's alone, and forced into a life she never wanted.

"If you're so sorry, then why not let me go home?"

"Lady Mareena, the high houses would end us both."

For once, Mare can't really tell if he's lying or not, but doesn't get a chance to ask as Tibe returns to the top deck, Cal walking around the desk to Mare. He notices that his father is walking away from her and she looks a little distraught and very confused.

Cal looks between them and asks what happened and Mare simply answers that she and his father were just having a talk before leaving to her room/cabin

It's going to be a long ride to the Endless Woods

This is Part 1 of Arc 2, they do say the second act is the longest.

Keep your eye out for Arc 2, Part 2, because THAT is where things pick up even more

Anyway, Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!!!!

[peaches-writes]

super random prompts for today bc im feeling nostalgic~

tw // death

at 1100 years of you fulfilling your punishment as a human turned grim reaper, no one could blame you when you confess that you don’t really know yourself now if the promise you swore to chan before he died by your sword in his first life is still serious or holds meaning to you. it was a long long time ago, already muddled in your failing memories, when you swore to the joseon era prince that you would ‘find and torture him in every life he gets’ because he invaded your village and branded you as a criminal (which ultimately led to you doing the things that got you landed with your current spiritual punishment). at present, having already met different versions of him in his subsequent lives and delivering him to the afterlife each time without fail, you’re not sure anymore if you can still hold onto this promise and cause him trouble. after all, every version of him that pops up on your radar throughout the centuries never remembers what he did in his first life, let alone remember you. plus, the only time he sees you now as a grim reaper is on his death bed, when you come to fetch him and confess to causing some of the misfortunes he’s experienced in the life that he’s lived. 

so imagine your surprise when the gods inform you that chan only has one reincarnation left to spend and that he’ll spend it in the 21st century seoul, right where everything started. you’re then furthermore petrified when this version you meet not only has the ability to see and interact with ghosts by his 3rd eye but also finds the journal you unknowingly drop at his neighbor’s funeral: filled with notes on him and his previous lives as well as the confusing feelings you’ve unconsciously developed over the years. the final nail in the coffin, however, is that he’s not smug about it when he eventually finds you at the local graveyard, unlike how you expected of the chan from the joseon era. instead, he asks you all about his past lives, your punishment, and what he should expect in his next life if he has any. this time, with no means of escaping from his 3rd eye and his dangerously fast biking skills, you’re forced to confront the soul of the person you once called your enemy. 

more of the kids under the cut!

minho receives a google form link from you at the strike of midnight on your 1st anniversary as a couple, initially opening it on the assumption that it’s the survey form you previously coerced him into agreeing to answer for your senior thesis. the computer science major is then thoroughly surprised when the link opens to a red and pink-themed form titled, “y/n’s boyfriend application!” with questions ranging from, “full name so i can flames it with my name” to “rate my annoying habits from ‘i love them dw’ to ‘this is probably going to be one of the future reasons why we’ll break-up.’” he messages you first before anything else, asking you just exactly ‘what the fuck is this application for, babe?’ to which you only reply with a spam of winking emojis. actually, you only reply with winking emojis and actual winks when he decides to videocall you into answering him, leading minho to answer the form while you’re peeking over on a small browser on his laptop screen. your boyfriend mainly answers the questions lightheartedly, even reading his answers aloud to you after (”what number on the fan do i like? four, of course!” “minho, you’re a monster.”). that is until the last question which he only smiles at before spending the last five minutes of your videocall typing continuously then ending the call after submitting, preventing you from interrogating him and his sudden change in behavior. 

it’s only after the call that you see his answer to the last question (”why do you love me”), an entire eight paragraphs of him just mindlessly rambling about whatever comes at the top of his head to answer the question: ranging from his favourite and least favourite memories of you together, the things he loves about you coupled with the things he claims to not like about you (before shyly admitting towards the end that he still finds things to love about them), and an “overall there’s a lot of reasons why i love you: some i’ve mentioned, some i haven’t, some i’ve discovered, and some i will find out about in the future when we celebrate our 2nd year anniversary, 3rd, 4th, and the ones we’ll eventually forget what number they’re supposed to be because we’ll probably be married and busy with a lot of other things ;) there’s just no one definitive answer to this question, to be honest, but this is what comes at the top of my head. happy one year, baby <3″ 

when the fabric of reality that blankets seoul is reported to have been ripped at the seams, you start mysteriously losing some of your personal belongings to the parallel dimension’s version of your apartment. at first you blame it on your public enemy no. 1 and roommate, changbin, who does have a habit of borrowing things without permission and forgetting to return them. when you find a blue-haired and heavily tattooed changbin using your hair dryer in the bathroom one day (clearly looking very different from the roommate you’ve been living with for 6 months who has blonde hair and piercings only), however, only then do you realize that it’s been your roommate’s parallel version who’s been unknowingly receiving your things. what’s more surprising is him getting visibly confused at you initially throwing a fit at him when you mistook him as your real roommate, explaining to you later on that he and your parallel version are dating. you purposely avoid parallel dimension changbin for a few days in embarrassment from the latter, that is until he sits you down in the living room a week later (while your dimension’s changbin is out at his part-time job) and asks you, “so, what’s your problem with my parallel self? maybe i can help!”  

only parallel dimension changbin proves himself to be unhelpful when all he comments on your subsequent ramblings is a cheesy grin and, “your roommate’s probably in love with you. god, i can’t believe that even in your reality i’m stupid.” 

in a world where the person who doesn’t reciprocate an individual’s strong feelings instead of the other way around, hyunjin’s had his own fair share of sick days and pharmacy runs to suppress the flowers that bloom in him from admirers who fall way too deep into his charms. he’s slightly grown desensitized to it, having already memorized what to do and what to say to the people who are forced to confront and apologize to him each and every time. when it’s you who’s suddenly confessing your sudden feelings to him, promising that you’ll get over it in a month and even stay away for a while for his sake, only then does he feel a strange mix of dread, worry, and fear at the pit of his stomach. he doesn’t want you, his best friend, to ever leave his side but at the same time he can’t find it in himself to reciprocate your feelings for you to stay. for the first time, he doesn’t know what to do nor what to say to you, the daffodils suddenly feeling heavier in his lungs the more you try and distance yourself and see new people.

 jisung, unlike how the cliche trope goes, always bets everything on him missing his shot at your subdivision’s basketball court. he always says something along the lines of, “if i miss this shot, let’s go the movies!” or “if the ball falls off the rim after 5 seconds, you’ll go to the beach party with me!” despite being the star player of your high school basketball team himself. he always purposely misses for fun and gets his reward, of course, even when you remind him to shoot properly through flustered expressions and feigned huffs. this has then caused you your entire summer time and allowance, all spent glued to jisung’s hip and buying him all sorts of things from ice cream, extended time to borrow surf boards at the beach, and even a ride ticket to the travelling carnival’s ferris wheel (where he stole a kiss from you at the top like the cheesy little shit that he is). 

whenever you ask him why he bets in reverse each and every time, however, only then does his confident smirk disappears into his blush and he turns his entire face away from you; too shy to admit that you make him a little too nervous whenever it’s just you watching him shoot hoops. give him a rest, he just wants more full assurance that he’ll get to spend more time with you, as boyish as that sounds. 

you probably should’ve known better than to provoke chenle and wooyoung when you told them over the student council meeting that a marriage booth probably wouldn’t give you a lot of revenue since your school festival this year doesn’t fall on valentine’s day week. you probably should’ve expected that the first thing they’d do after the student assembly, when the festival is formally opened, is to drag you into said marriage booth—your english classroom decorated from top to bottom in cheap white cloth, plastic flowers, and an edit of your senior alumni bang chan as jesus—and put you into one of the flower crown veils they probably got at someone’s baptism, explaining that they need someone to kickstart the booth and attract more customers. but most of all, you probably should’ve expected that these two troublemaking vice president and secretary of yours wouldn’t hesitate to take this opportunity to torment you even further because suddenly you’re getting fake married to felix, your chem lab partner and long-time crush, who also has his own ‘sins’ to atone to chenle and wooyoung (something about ditching them at a party because he saw an injured cat stuck up on a tree on the way to the venue). the two of you stand in front of the “bang chan altar” for 10 minutes with han jisung in a questionable pope costume, the two of you attracting passersby who are mostly your classmates murmuring “oh my god, y/n and felix?” or “i knew it! those two are so cute together!” as the two of you are forced into exchanging cereal box rings and saying impromptu vows. 

what you didn’t expect from this experience, however, is felix suddenly confessing in his vows, clearing his throat awkwardly while sliding the purple plastic ring on your ring finger and saying, “this isn’t how i imagined it to go but we’re both here, all of our classmates are here, and you’re looking really pretty today so, uh...y/n, i just want to say that i’ve really liked you for a long time.” 

your grandmother shows you her first look of disapproval over your weaved fabrics when you start creating pieces that seem to resemble the aura of a boy. as much as you don’t want to see her disappointed, tradition still stands that you have to design your fabrics according to how you would interpret your dreams and since you turned 18, all you’ve been dreaming about is your potential soulmate. of all 7 billion in the world, you just have to be one of the rare ones with the ability to interpret your dreams on textile and have these said dreams be your soulmate bond to someone else as well. instead of arbitrary colors or shapes resembling nature like your grandmother and everyone else, you’re trying to recreate the face of a boy your age with the kindest smile you’ve ever seen and the prettiest brown eyes; instead of putting the sounds of the ocean or the chirping of birds as they would be usually heard in dreams onto colorful fabric, you’re trying to mix red, orange, and yellow dyes on threads just to try and capture seungmin’s golden voice whenever he would sing to you in your dreams. your soulmate becomes your muse, the lasting impressions he makes on you in the 3 real-time seconds of dreaming that you spend with him embedding themselves into the blanket you’ve been tasked to make for the winter. 

seungmin is more than flattered of course, finding genuine fascination in what you do and excitement to see you in person once university allows him. it’s only at the end of the year, however, right on christmas day, when he finally sees you on vacation in your town with his family—finding you at the beach party his new friend hyunjin invites him to where you dance around the bonfire with your own friends, wrapped in the blanket made of warm colors that just scream his very soul and aura. your eyes meet almost as soon as he arrives because of your soulmate pull, causing you to become flustered at realizing that you’re wearing the blanket design that’s been inspired by him, and before he knows it, kim seungmin is running to you and grabbing your arm. “hi.” he pants breathlessly, his relieved smile shining brightly against the orange glow of the fire to your side. “finally. it’s you!” 

jeongin stares at his laptop for a solid 5 minutes in complete and utter confusion before his roommate seungmin pokes him on the side of his head and asks if he passed his dream university, snapping him out of reality. it’s not that he didn’t pass the entrance exam, definitely not because he’s still feeling confident from answering it from almost 6 months ago. rather, it’s that the acceptance e-mail sent to him by the university is for a completely different name, your name out of all applicants out there—that one person he sat next to at cram school and turned down at the end of the summer. logging into his social media accounts, he sees people voicing out their concerns for similar incidents, that they’re getting acceptance or rejection e-mails of other applicants instead of their own, and posts that aim to track down who’s gotten who to remedy this. when seungmin hears this, he simply shrugs and urges jeongin to simply message you and get over it since the two of you are connected on social media anyway. but still, jeongin takes another hour to message you with a simple, “hi, i got your e-mail. should i forward it to you?” even closing his laptop in a hurry and running back into the comfort of his blanket as soon as he hears the dreadful ping of the messenger app. he knows he shouldn’t be flustered to message you, especially with something as important as your acceptance letter, but he can’t help but feel weak in the knees at the thought of having to talk to you again after almost a year because all he can think about is that he really shouldn’t have rejected you in that offer to go to the movies in the first place. 

what’s worse is that, since he sent the message over online, his thoughts can’t help but overthink your simple “really? here’s my e-mail” reply that comes not even a second after he sends his message—even more your follow-up reply of “i got yours too btw! i’ll forward it to you when you forward mine” when he doesn’t reply immediately. jeongin’s fingers uncontrollably shake as he musters up the courage to reply, face blushing red the entire time as he e-mails you your acceptance letter. all this time, considering how the two of you haven’t talked in a long time, he only thinks about one ambitious thought: “is it a bad time? to bring up that movie offer again?” 

[beautifulterriblequeen]

How do you think Runaan supports Ethari?

Quietly, and I think there’s a difference between public and private support. And Runaan’s a master of both.

One thing it took me a while to notice is that, during the flashback scene, Runaan doesn’t stand completely opposite Ethari to receive his flower until after they’ve kissed. He scoots over into his “proper” position to receive it, but he’s been standing just a bit off to the side for the whole private exchange with Ethari--words and kiss alike. And no one even bats an eye. Like, if Runaan’s not in his proper official position, then it’s not really happening. Maybe any small asides in Moonshadow conversation are to be pleasantly ignored as if they’re not happening? And that’s where Runaan’s little kisses and murmurs would thrive. He always knows exactly where he’s standing, physically and socially, a master of dances, because dances have rules.

I don’t think anyone believes he’s afraid to show a bit of affection in public after that kiss. I bet he’s softly affectionate when they’re walking around together. Holding hands a lot and walking in step--easier since they’re almost the same height. But whatever they do, I can see Runaan touching Ethari a lot to get his attention, and they’d all be soft lingering touches and brushes, not just taps. And that all goes to show Ethari that Runaan’s deliberately being soft with him, that he can speak Ethari’s language, which he probably learned from Ethari in the first place. If every time Runaan touches Ethari it reminds Ethari that Runaan has dedicated a portion of his life to speaking Softthari, then each touch will be a reminder of Runaan’s loyalty and dedication, a message within a message. Super Moonshadow.

But that’s just literally the surface. Runaan may be the leader of the assassins, but he’s married to a busy and influential craftsman who has his own business needs and opinions. I can easily see Runaan simply adopting everything that’s important to Ethari, work-wise, and advocating for it whenever he needs to, because what keeps Ethari happy in his work will obviously spill over into Ethari’s personal happiness, which Runaan naturally wants to provide. Those two on the village council always vote together. (And anyone who wants their vote probably goes to Ethari first to try to get him to sway Runaan, lol)

In private, I think Runaan opens up a lot more to Ethari and communicates with him much more. Touch is a big part of Runaan’s communication, and I’m sure he’s very touchy-feely with Ethari, whether they’re in bed or just pottering around the tree house in the morning. Runaan seems the type who prides himself on his ability to speak so directly with his hands that he doesn’t need words, and Ethari’s the type to have a really hard time keeping quiet about receiving such tender attentions. Runaan’s definitely a service top okay

But I think that Runaan does say a lot to Ethari, too, out loud. They’ve known each other for a long time, and Runaan trusts Ethari with every part of himself. Including speaking his deepest, truest feelings right out into the world, so that Ethari knows exactly how much Runaan loves and appreciates him. And admitting any deep insecurities or concerns that he has, which he’d never let anyone else see or hear of. 

I think he values Ethari’s advice in regards to people’s softer sides, too. Runaan can assess the threat anyone poses on various levels, and he can predict their behavior in a fight-or-flight way. He can read hard motives and anticipate both physical and psychological shifts. But he has a harder time following the vagaries of the elven heart, and so if there’s ever an issue that involves it, I think he tells Ethari about it and asks what he thinks. That’s tantamount to admitting he can’t solve the issue on his own, and that’s something he won’t admit to anyone else. But simply by asking Ethari’s advice, he’s showing a deep trust in Ethari’s ability to read people’s hearts, translate that knowledge into Runaanese, and speak it in a way that Runaan can then act on for the best interests of all involved.

Runaan has to be very aware of just how much time and effort Ethari pours into supporting him and his assassin position, so I can see him lending a hand around Ethari whenever he’s home. Carrying stuff, helping in the kitchen, letting Ethari gently boss him around to balance out Ethari’s support role in the hardware side of assassination. Ethari giving Runaan something really heavy to carry up the stairs, and Runaan just silently struggling with it so that Ethari can see 1: how much Runaan wants to help him out, and 2: how much stronger Ethari is because he was carrying the same load in like one arm. Ethari sees Runaan all pink and sweaty from effort and smooches his cheek in gratitude, and Runaan just grins, because Ethari’s smile and kiss was the whole point all along.

Runaan’s got the privilege of being the more visible, respected member of their marriage. I think--I hope--he’s acutely aware of the inaccuracy of that appearance. He’ll definitely use it to Ethari’s advantage every time he can. But he’ll also act in private to subvert it and to let Ethari be in charge of as much as he likes, like cooking and planning vacations and decorating the house and picking who tops whom that night. Because he wants to balance with Ethari, and he’ll bend in whatever direction he needs to in order to get it. And the lengths he goes to for Ethari to feel respected and appreciated and heard, that’s the truest way Runaan can show his love and support.

also he probably lets Ethari lead all their dances

Anyway, those are some thoughts I had on the subject. I hope that’s the kind of thing you were looking for, anon! Thanks for the great question.

[ljandersen]

Character Interview

I thought I was tagged for this meme.  When I went back to get the name of the person who tagged me, it turned out it was another similar post going around.  Since I already did this one, though, here it goes. Some of you may have already done this meme, but in case you haven’t or you want to do another character, I’m tagging:   @rpgwarrior4824, @ripley95things, @pigeontheoneandonly, @bardofheartdive, @pip-n-flinx, @soldiermom1973, @maxrev, @ooachilliaoo, @nerdierholler, and anyone else who wants to play.  As always, no obligations!

name ➔ Shepard.  What?  You want more?  Okay.  Spectre Shepard. 

are you single ➔ I filed paperwork last year that says I’m not.

are you happy ➔  Depends on how long this goes.

are you angry ➔ Depends on how long this goes.

are your parents still married ➔ They’re dead.

NINE FACTS

birthplace ➔ Mindoir. 

hair color ➔ You’re looking right at me. 

eye color ➔ Again . . .  

birthday ➔ April 11, 2154.

mood ➔ Bored.

gender ➔ Female.

summer or winter ➔ Space.  

morning or afternoon ➔  Morning.  Time to get going.  Chop, chop. 

EIGHT THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE

are you in love ➔  I filed that paperwork.

do you believe in love at first sight ➔  Loving the sight of someone isn't loving them.  You don't know them.  Love at first sight is just you projecting your current feelings onto a memory. 

who ended your last relationship ➔  The Collectors.

have you ever broken someone’s heart ➔  So I’m told.  The alpha relay was a suicide mission.  Alchera wasn’t supposed to be.   

are you afraid of commitments ➔ I filed that paperwork, remember?  Besides I just subscribed to the model spaceship of the month club.  Twelve months.  And do you know the cabinet space we’re talking?  So, hell no, I’m not afraid of commitment.  (pauses)  Dammit, that is a lot of counter space though.  This shabby apartment?  Kaidan and I’ll need bunk beds.  Is there a grace period, you think?  Just gave them my credit chit last night.  I can still cancel it.  

have you hugged someone within the last week? ➔ If Kaidan doesn’t get a hug every other day, he withers like a fern you forgot to water.  Haha.  Seriously, though, don’t tell him I said that.  Let me change my answer.  Going back.  Yes, I hugged someone within the last week.  It was fantastic.  

have you ever had a secret admirer ➔  Conrad Verner.  At least one of us thought it was a secret. 

have you ever broken your own heart? ➔  Sucks to wake up dead.

SIX CHOICES

love or lust ➔  They both give you adrenaline, always a good thing.  Only one gives you a shoulder and a hand up.

lemonade or iced tea ➔  Rather dehydrate.

cats or dogs ➔ Hamster.

a few best friends or many regular friends ➔  More the merrier.  No man’s a failure who has friends. 

wild night out or romantic night in ➔  I like going out.  Kaidan likes staying in.  Compromise makes us both a little irritated but healthier for the equilibrium. 

day or night ➔  Night.  It feels normal, like space. 

FIVE HAVE YOU EVERS

been caught sneaking out ➔   As a kid?  Who hasn’t?  Now I say that, actually I can think of one.  I don’t think Kaidan got caught sneaking out until he was in his thirties.  Before that, his biggest lights-out fear was probably getting caught reading his Omni-Tool under a blanket.  Now, that, you can tell him.  He’ll snort in indignation, but back him into a corner, I bet he’ll say it’s true.  

fallen down/up the stairs ➔  Anyone who says they haven’t is a liar.  That, or the fall knocked out the memory.  

wanted something/someone so badly it hurt? ➔   Medigel.  You said something.  No take backs.

wanted to disappear ➔ Are we talking invisible or dead?  Been dead.  Nothing to recommend it.  Invisible?  Might be hard getting through automated doors. 

FOUR PREFERENCES

smile or eyes ➔  It's case by case. 

shorter or taller ➔  Irrelevant question.  Don’t care.

intelligence or attraction ➔  Attraction?  You mean, physical attractiveness.  I shoot for the overlap on the venn diagram.  And I'm a damn good shot.  You should see the trophy I've mounted.  Oh, I know what I said.       

hook-up or relationship ➔  Remember the paperwork?  I made my choice.  Before that though?  Guess it depended on what was in season.

FAMILY

do you and your family get along ➔  You mean Kaidan’s family?  Smashing.  No, I realize my tone, but I’m not being sarcastic on this one.  They’re great people.  They’re an extension of Kaidan, how could they not be?

would you say you have a “messed up life” ➔  Saved the galaxy, didn’t I?  Had help, of course, not trying to be pompous.  Everything gets messy.  It only matters what you make of it.

have you ever ran away from home ➔  As a foster kid, sure.  But I guess that was never really home.

have you ever gotten kicked out ➔  Loads of times.  Not just bars.  I’m talking council meetings, admiral’s offices, biotic ball games, the Vancouver city park.  Kaidan got kicked out of the park too.  He gets twitchy and flushed if I bring it up now.  And he was more dressed than I was when ...  Maybe pretend I didn’t say that last part.  Just cut the park thing altogether.  

The model spaceship of the month subscription wasn't cheap, and I can only ask forgiveness so much in one day.  And trust me, I will need forgiven he knows I talked about what we did on the merry-go-round. Spoiler.  Not much cause we got caught.  Okay.  Moving on.     

FRIENDS

do you secretly hate one of your friends ➔  If I hate someone, it won’t be a secret. 

do you consider all of your friends good friends ➔  I only keep the good ones.  The others I throw back.

who is your best friend ➔  Kaidan.  He puts up with me.  And that's a good thing, because we share a bank account now, and I just bought a crap ton of model ships last night.  Kinda getting some buyer’s remorse.  Why do you keep bringing it up?  Joking, I know it's me.  We almost done?  I should probably make a call.

who knows everything about you ➔  Kaidan will say he thinks he does. But hell, I don’t even know everything about me.  The answer I'm submitting is simply: no one.  (Stops and looks at the door over her shoulder.  It opens)  Ah!  Look here.  My paperwork co-signer in the flesh.  And what mighty fine flesh it is. Alenko:  How romantic.  Hey, still doing your interview?  I just signed for this. (throws her a box)

Shepard (reading with a grimace):  January Edition: Turian Dreadnaught Farinex, pre war era 2183, complete with -- How the hell did it get here so fast?  That was at midnight.  It’s not even noon now.  Well, this is just … Just great. Alenko:  I thought you’d like it. Shepard:  Like it?  I ordered it, but ... Alenko:  No, I ordered it.  For you. Shepard:  You ordered?  Kaidan, that's so … Thanks.  (jumps up, gives kiss and hug)  We're gonna need a lot more cabinets. Alenko:  Guess we'll need bunk beds. Shepard:  Hey, that’s what I said.  She was asking about friends, hugging, my commitment to the spaceship of the month subscription.   Alenko: (to interviewer)  Did she say she hates hugs?  (turns to Shepard)  I know you told Garrus I was a dried up fern or something.  But you're not the cactus you think you are. Interviewer:  For my last question, I asked her who knows everything about her. Alenko:  If it's not a quip on horoscopes, then she probably said I think I do.  But you did say everything.  It’s too absolute.  So, actually, it’s not me, it’s not her, it’s not anyone. Shepard:  Were you listening at the door?  Got this room bugged? Alenko:  I’ve got better things to do than eavesdrop on your interview with a society column. Interviewer:  Up Close magazine. Shepard (kisses his cheek and hugs him again):  Thanks for the dreadnaught. Alenko (laughs and walks away):  Thanks for sprinkling my leaves with the water can. Shepard (watches Alenko leave and turns back to the interview):  Yeah, ‘kay, you got me.  I like hugs.  From him.  Not you.  We’re ending this thing on a handshake.  But, hmm (studies the model ship box then lowers voice), he doesn’t actually know EVERYTHING about me.  For real.  Don’t look at me like that.  He probably doesn’t even know my favorite color. Alenko:  Blue! (from down the hall) Shepard (stares blankly at the interviewer then offers her hand):  This has been great.  Thanks for dropping by. 

[tslasvegas]

Episode 12: “I’ve been awakened.” - Xavier

Well that vote went exactly how I had hoped it would... and then the super idol came out! I'm glad that it's out of the game now once and for all, but I guarantee that Liv is going to find something else along the way. It's so hard for me to summarize everything that I'm doing around here because I feel like I'm doing a lot. Maybe that's going to come bite me in the ass this coming vote but idk, I'm not mad about it. I definitely limited myself a lot by really not going for the money shot and convincing Jeff to use his vote steal on Joey to get Joey the hell out of here, but maybe in some weird way it works. Because now I have John's 8 chips and I'm going to need as many as I can get to somehow beat Livingston. I definitely think that snubbing this vote is going to be my biggest detriment only bc it provides the opportunity for Livingston to ascend higher as a threat, but also avoid getting voted out at our next convenience. I still really want Kailyn to go, but I think the goal for everyone else is to get rid of Livingston or myself (maybe Joey) at the next tribal council. Ugh. Heh... I never would've thought that I could pull off that kind of a move and have it not fully work out in my favor. It was a cool feeling regardless and I'm not crushed if it means I played myself out of the game. I give myself credit where it's due, I'm going to continue fighting as always and hopefully I come out on top :~)

Last Luxor standing 

Whelp, there goes the Super Idol. Jaiden is a snakey little snake snake. Pat and Jeff are naïve as all hell. I'm not 100% sure I believe Jaiden now, but apparently Joey's plan was to cut me at like final 6 or something. And people are so convinced that Livingston and I are a duo. I mean we are, but like maybe if anyone would ACTUALLY FUCKING TALK TO ME AND TRY TO WORK WITH ME, we wouldn't be??? Like don't whine and bitch that Livingston and I are a duo who are going to stick together and not turn against each other if you can't even be bothered to respond to a single fucking message of mine. I have no issues voting out whoever is necessary for me to get farther in the game. But when only a limited number of people express in interest in going farther with me? You better fucking bet I'm working with those people. Anyways, can't wait to vote out Jaiden, Kailyn and Xavier. xoxo Gossip Girl 

Waiting on Immunity Results, but whatever happens the 5 of us need to vote together, and be smart about it! We know that liv, Keegan and Joey will vote together. Probably for me next. So Jeff Pat need to stick with us. We need to split the votes 3-2, and use a vote steal, cancel or extra to get it to 3-3 just in case of idols. We need to be smart about this. Going all out and proposing this once results are in. I am going to the Jury next anyway, go out guns blazing.

...five seconds later

OMG I WON IMMUNITY! Finally something good! I figured most people gave their correct numbers, and if not, just chose a number close to theirs. OR they didn't coordinate so well, so some gave a higher number and others gave a lower one, so it cancelled out. Also helps that I knew Liv and Pat's numbers with the advantage. Pat gave mine accidentally so I knew his was in the 40s as well. Phew. Now to figure out whether to use the Steal a Vote now or not.

I came so close to winning immunity but it was rudely snatched away from me by Xavier. On the plus side, Livingston found the hidden immunity idol on the idol board! Heck yeah! As long as there isn’t a full blindside we should be good now! 

(originally written 11/23, night after super idol) Anyways what rly bugs me is that Jeff is actually mad at me now for the fact that he wasted his vote on Joey and I tried to get rid of Livingston instead... and I think I put myself into a spot where I need to apologize to him and make him feel good about me again. Tbh no I don’t. Jeff said to me that he’s got to play his own game first and mine second. So why am I playing some other people’s games first? Because it benefits me to play everyone’s hand for them, yes, but also I’ve been caught trying to run the entire table a little too early. So maybe now it’s time for me to do something a little different - play my game first. It’s now fully Jeff’s fault that Joey didn’t leave. I told Jeff precisely what he needed to do to ensure Joey went home. He needed to play the vote steal and send Joey on packing... and he didn’t. So now when Pat and I finally talk tomorrow and he tells me what’s up, I’m not gonna hold back. I’m going to throw Jeff under that bus so fucking hard his head will spin. Pat doesn’t know about the vote steal and I think I’ll hold that piece of information over Jeff’s head a little bit longer - I know something no one else knows about you, keep me safe or it’s coming out and everyone’s going to come after you. So tomorrow I will blame Jeff to Pat. Sure I was the person who made the move, but it’s my game and I’m playing it now. If Pat doesn’t like my apology, then kiss my ass and take eighth place. Bye!

...five seconds later

I'm pessimistic as FUCK so I'm fully expecting to go home tonight and I'm writing this confessional against better judgment because I need to rly focus on letting my mental state get back to normal rather than Survivor mode before I get voted out lmfao. Anyways, tonight is FINALLY the night where I'm making my last move against Joey, one way or another. This is the decision that will either determine oops sorry as I was writing that, I just realized something else... this is ME making yet another move that makes Jeff think I'm controlling the whole entire game I love that for me hehe. Should I convince the entire tribe to vote out Jeff instead??? Let's go fully with the chaos mode. DRAW ROCKS BITCHES!!!! Jk Jk Back to my original point - this is the vote that determines whether I was worth being brought back for this game or not. I'm not trying to be this like crazy strategist who has all these cracked plans to take out Joey but that's where we're at rn. One side of me like, trusts Jeff but the other side of me doesn't. So I told Jeff about Joey's legacy advantage and now it's like, getting Jeff to want to turn on Joey. Even though Joey told me he wanted to get rid of Jeff it seems like Jeff is not as stressed about it. I'm pretty sure Jeff turned votes against me instead, it is what it is. It's the game. However, Jeff would be really stupid to not vote out Joey now while he has the chance... it's probably going to come down to Jeff winning this whole entire thing if he makes the correct move tonight because I'm certainly not going to turn my back on him if he follows through. But, crazy things have happened tonight. And it's about to get a whole lot crazier. :) Although I'm like, CERTAIN I'm going home tonight or at least getting votes. OK IM TRYING SO HARD TO WRITE THIS CONFESSIONAL BUT SO MUCH IS HAPPENING AHHHH IM STRESSING OUT BUT I KNOW THERES A GOOD PLAN OUT THERE FOR ME TO MAKE AND HOPEFULLY IM NOT SCREWING MYSELF OVER 

...five seconds later

OKAY I think I'm gonna be ok but I'm taking a HUGE risk rn!!! Basically putting my vote onto Liv with Joey and hoping Joey 1) doesnt have an idol and 2) gets the rest of the votes. But my logic for voting Liv is simple. If Joey actually has an idol he's been hiding, he plays it and reveals I voted for him again if I don't do it. It also prevents me/Kailyn from going home 2-1-0 since Keegan and Liv seem to be locked in on one of us (likely me). If somehow Jeff/Pat are lying and are part of split, it'll go 2-2-2-2 which is not only insane but it also gives me a PERFECT platform to light people up, namely Jeff and his vote steal advantage. But we'll see! I'm predicting to go home tonight :) But at least I made a move when I could. Good luck to me <3

[gascon-en-exil]

Joining the Game Late: S8E6 “The Iron Throne”

Synopsis

Tyrion surveys the damage and finds his siblings, while Jon almost fights Grey Worm over executions. Arya and Jon are in the crowd as Daenerys gives her victory speech and Tyrion gets arrested for throwing away his pin. Tyrion goads Jon into growing a spine; he sort of does. Daenerys lives out her Season 2 vision and expounds upon her philosophy of conquest before Jon stabs her (not like that) and Drogon burns the symbolism...but not Jon for some reason. A tense trial at the Dragonpit, with Edmure still being a dumbass and a bid for democracy from Sam that goes over poorly. The man on trial nominates Bran as the new king which everyone accepts because he monologued a good thesis statement for the show, except Sansa who makes the North independent. For their crimes Tyrion is still Hand, and Jon is sent back to the Night’s Watch. Grey Worm, his antagonism ignored, sails to Naath, while Arya sails west off the map and Brienne finishes Jaime’s entry. The new small council features Sam dropping the book series title, Bronn arguing over the necessity of rebuilding brothels, and Davos completing a very old brick joke. Jon comes home to Tormund, and the two of them and Ghost lead the Free Folk north of the Wall as Sansa and Arya join them via cuts for a Stark ending.

Commentary

There are parts of this ending that I like. I like that the episode concludes with the Starks; uninterested as I generally have been in the family as primary PoV characters, it’s thematically appropriately to close out on the ongoing adventures of Jon, Sansa, and Arya. I like that Jon/Tormund is less of a joke than I was expecting, that Tormund features prominently in Jon’s final scenes and that the show sends them off as a sort of family unit along with Ghost and the remaining Free Folk. I like Brienne’s addition to Jaime’s entry in the book of the Kingsguard, highlighting his heroism while also remaining honest about his final decision...and delicately leaving out the incest, or her own fling with the man for that matter. It’s sterilized, and yet not wholly so, a fitting way to end the story of such a morally complicated figure whose very existence in the narrative seems to hinge on a deconstruction of the knight in shining armor archetype. I like the realization of Dany’s vision at the end of Season 2, a tacit understanding by the showrunners that they (and GRRM advising them) knew they were eventually going to get to that image of the Iron Throne in a ruined Red Keep covered in snow. I like that the show doesn’t belabor the “where are they now” aspect of the epilogue, that not everything is perfect and tidily wrapped up even if most of what isn’t is left unmentioned offscreen. It reminds me very much of most Fire Emblem endings, in the sense that a true happy ending remains elusive and there are always challenges left to face and tales remaining to be told. This isn’t Lord of the Rings, concluding when a fat and allegedly relatable guy named Samwell plops down a book (for the most part not written by him) bearing the title of the work in-universe as if to say that that’s the end of that and everything will sort itself out, nor is it Harry Potter with its treacly epilogue pairing everyone off into neat heterosexual marriages with 2.5 children and middle-class comfort. The story will continue, and you can place bets on how many decades of peace Westeros will have before there’s another continental war and a bunch of these characters get violently offed like the generation before them.

There are parts of this ending that I can abide. I’ve reconciled myself to the indignity of Bronn taking Highgarden by seeing in him a type of character like Thénardier from Les Misérables. Both of them are amoral, avaricious assholes despite occasional entertaining moments, and despite that their stories reward them not only with survival but with wealth and notoriety far beyond what they deserve purely as a demonstration that life is often unfair like that. Perhaps Bronn’s lordship of the setting equivalent of Paris was an explicit nod to that? I don’t mind the council at the Dragonpit laughing outright at Sam’s suggestion - transparent as it was coming from the author’s self-insert - of elective democracy, because much like FE the pseudo-medieval stasis this setting is locked into is not realistically equipped to handle such a revolutionary political shift, much less competently depict it in around half an hour of remaining screentime. I can bear the overt allusions to fascist regimes in Daenerys’s victory speech scene, because if you’re going to pivot her from liberator with worrying violent tendencies to tyrannical conqueror hard enough to make it reasonably justifiable that the show’s two most prominent remaining “good” guys would conspire to assassinate her with only that one scene to do it in you may as well go all out with the shorthand. Drogon not roasting Jon is stupid, but melting the Iron Throne is a great symbolic image: destroying all the ruin and strife it represents, coming full circle with the Targaryen reign over Westeros, and so forth.

And then there’s one part of this ending that’s really hard for me to swallow, particularly as Fire Emblem: Three Houses presents a variation of the same scene with much better execution. As this episode aired only about three months before the release of FE16 the similarities between Daenerys’s death and the final cutscene of Azure Moon can be nothing more than an interesting coincidence, but as you’d be hard-pressed to argue that Edelgard did not take some design cues from Daenerys - and to a lesser extent Dimitri from Jon - during the game’s development it’s a useful coincidence for contrast purposes. I mentioned a few posts ago that most of the uncomfortable elements present in Dany’s death are absent in Edelgard’s; she and Dimitri are not sexually involved at any point, and the game focuses instead on their familial bond even though (ironically) they are not biologically related. Dimitri also kills Edelgard in self-defense, after he reaches out his hand to her and she responds by throwing a dagger at him - which is considerably less awful than Jon leading Daenerys into a kiss just so he can stab her. Three Houses also benefits in that Dimitri is a far better realized character overall than Jon Snow, with a clearly defined arc in Azure Moon, meaningful convictions that place him at odds with Edelgard on both a personal and philosophical level, and even a stronger queer angle - also with a bear belonging to a historically marginalized culture/ethnicity, humorously enough. Jon by contrast feels at this stage mostly formless, with nothing strongly defining him (barring perhaps his affection for the Free Folk, which is what he returns to when everything is said and done) and in fact a repeatedly reference lack of desire to do things. Little wonder then that his decision to kill Daenerys comes more or less entirely because Tyrion told him she was the final boss and had to be taken care of.

Regarding Dany herself...if you’ve been following this liveblog the whole way through you know that I’ve been watching her character since the show began for signs that she’d wind up where she does. Yes, they are there, quite in abundance actually, and where the show stumbles comes of course from how terrible paced the story is by the time it reaches her breaking point. The audience has to make do with some of the most obvious fascist signposting imaginable and a single nonsensical speech to Jon (something else she has in common with Edelgard incidentally, who has many of these) revealing Daenerys to be the egomaniacal conqueror she always was with no subtlety whatsoever because the show has run out of time for subtlety. To this episode’s credit I do appreciate that Grey Worm continues to stick around as a foil and reflection of Daenerys. His rage over Missandei’s death sees him executing captured Lannister soldiers en masse, and he continues to demand justice for Tyrion’s betrayal even though after this point the writers stopped caring about him and shipped him off to Naath for an ending (where I am told there are plague-bearing butterflies? That doesn’t bode well.). In Grey Worm one can see a version of Daenerys’s own anger at all that she has suffered and lost, and how destructive that anger can be - only Grey Worm doesn’t have a dragon that can charbroil a city in minutes. Still, these are mere scraps of characterization to set up such a drastic shift in presentation for one of the show’s two biggest leads, and I can definitely understand why fans were angry about it and probably still are. Even as someone who was expecting this all along and was never personally invested in Daenerys the way I was with some other characters, her death - the centerpiece of this episode, and the lead-in to GoT’s epilogue - was easily the biggest sour note of its finale, less that it happened at all and more how, and probably the single event in the last two-ish seasons that more than any other really needs the book series to flesh it out and develop it into something worthwhile.

I think that’s a wrap. I’ve spent nearly four months on this liveblog and have written far more than I possibly imagined that I would. Maybe sometime in a year or so I’ll return to this series again and just watch it through without taking notes. Perhaps I’m in a minority for believing that GoT would even be worth a rewatch. Eh...if you’ve read all this at least you know why.

[vrenaewrites]

HUSH HUSH by Becca Fitzpatrick thoughts: Ch 12 - end

Full video here.

CHAPTER 12

Nora’s mom is on her way home

Nora goes to visit V

“I love drugs” LMAO

She goes into a diatribe about her doctor only eating easter candy i’m crying

It was a guy!!! He had dark eyes and he was wearing a ski mask!!!!!

After thought: was jules just manipping them SO HARD they couldn’t keep a grip on what the ski masked person looked like? If so...why keep wearing a ski mask as your calling card??

V had told elliott they were going shopping

Nora tells V about hitting the guy in the ski mask

Ooh nora told patch about shopping too!!!!

Too short and too skinny to be elliott though

V is like “the more i think about it, i really think it was patch”

Nora doesn’t get a chance to tell V about elliott before the drugs kick in hard

“I brought your homework, where do you want it?” she pointed to the trash can LMAO V IS THE BEST

She goes home and hugs her mom

CHAPTER 13

She and V go to borderline where patch works to get info from his coworkers

Nora is sweaty lmao

Nora literally wrote interrogations on one side of a piece of paper and flirting prompts on the other side this girl is ridiculous

V brought slutty heels to make Nora more seductive I’m dead

V invited Jules and Elliott...she’s been seeing Jules

Nora goes to tell V about Elliott but he shows up before she can

Jules doesn’t show up

Nora is like so Elliot if the prep school is so great why did you transfer basically challenging this potential murderer

Elliott is like “heard the girls were hotter at your school”

I am beyond confused as to why V invited these guys who know who Nora is, but also expects Nora to put on a whole ass disguise in the bathroom and go talk to the bartender… Why would you invite these guys along? This just makes it way more difficult…

Nora goes to the bartender and tries to make conversation; is terrible at it, basically asks him is it possible to get hired here with a felony, can I see patch’s job application, does patch have a girlfriend?

Patch is covering a shift so he is NOT off as originally expected

Patch confronts her in the girl’s bathroom and he’s like “are you following me?” POT KETTLE BITCH

She goes to take the high heels off and drops the list of interrogation questions and patch picks it up and I am nervous

Patch had a girlfriend but she’s dead

Gonna call it: she’s the girl who was hanged at kinghorn that Elliott was questioned about

Chapter 14

Her mom “Blinked owlishly” excuse me??

Nora’s mom wants to sell their house because it’s too much $

So Nora decides not to tell mom about the ski mask guy

She asks her mom about knowing if she loved dad and if she was ever afraid of dad

When the pats lost her dad would chop down trees with a chainsaw lmaoooooo what

Nora‘s mom says “ooh a boy is he on chess team? Student council? Tennis team?”

And Nora says… He likes pool… and her mom says “ooh a swimmer” LMAO

Someone ripped her room APART

It’s the ski mask guy!!!!! He jumped out the window

One of the cops looks like patch…

Nothing is messed up when the cops look at the room…

Is Nora going insane or is it angel shit

Unfortunately I think this book would be so much more interesting if I didn’t already know that patch was a fallen angel and I don’t know if that’s my bad for trying to fine just like a quick summary of what the book was about on the Internet, or if like the back of the book let you know that this is about an angel… I mean the cover let you know it’s about an angel but I would’ve thought these dudes are like…serial killers or something and that Nora had some kind of mental issue or they had messed with her iron supplements to make her go nuts…Which might’ve been more interesting than whatever is going on here

Chapter 15

Nora finally tells V about the article and v doesn’t believe her

Nora thinks that she has a great point because Elliot transferred schools after he was questioned… I’m sure it was really hard to keep going to school with people who knew you were a murder suspect...so…

Nora wants to go to kinghorn and question the students about elliott

The fact that this all somehow ties back to fallen angels is really pissing me off because we are halfway through it, and we have not even really from Nora’s point of you introduced the idea of Angels

Nora is suddenly like why the fuck is Jules always sick

Also how is he always around if kinghorn is such a difficult school

Nora realizes the article that she printed about Elliot was missing from her room after the ski mask guy broke in so now she is convinced Skimask guy is Elliot

I will say that I have absolutely no idea where this is going so it is keeping my attention because again I don’t understand how this is going to tie back to angels and why the girl died and etc.

Coach makes V and Patch switch places

“I didn’t do homework” “who did you do?” Bro come on

“The subjects pulse increased on contact”

She goes to her appointment with Miss Green and somehow Miss Green knows that patch took her home from the pier and that patch went into her house what the fuck is going on

I really really really hope that all of this weird shit comes together in the last like five chapters and I end up like screaming OH DUH putting all this together… But because this was recommended as part of my cringe series, I have a very strong feeling that is not going to happen and all of this means nothing

“something about Miss Green bothered me, it was almost like she had an agenda“ yeah bitch she knew a guy took you to your house and came inside, she is stalking you

Chapter 16

Nora runs into Marcy at the library and basically Marcy says V got attacked because someone mistake her for a bear or a moose because she’s fat, and then they have a name calling back-and-forth of skank, slut, anorexic pig like real vile shit

Nora goes to the underground tunnel to get to the parking lot even though...she didn’t drive…

Patch is in the tunnel

“His smile looked like he didn’t play by the rules”

She immediately is like “if he’s gonna rape me he cornered me in the perfect place” JESUS

I mean all women think like that in a dark space but she likes this guy and they go to school together and...damn that was a jump!

Nora gets a car between them and they have like a run around while she’s asking him questions

“Was it a coincidence that the last normal day in my life had been right before that fateful day?” Editor fight me

She lets him take her home again

I am starting to feel like we are back to after, where the same things keep happening over and over for no reason… She was so determined to get answers and then she let it go because he turned the conversation on her...she should’ve just held her ground and then like I am not leaving until you tell me what the fuck is going on, but she didn’t, so does she care or not

He asks her out…

Chapter 17

She is so infuriating, she’s getting ready for this date but thinking about kissing him rather than thinking about getting answers on if this dude is stalking her / reading her mind...it’s so frustrating

The detectives show up

Asking about Marcy…?

Marcy got beat up!!!! By patch??

She lies that patch isn’t on his way

They go to the arcade

He’s behind her showing her how to play pool fuck yeah

He’s like “if I hit this, take off your jacket”

A guy named Rickson shows up, him and patch start roughhousing and we see patch’s giant back scars

They call him patch because he used to get his ass beat in bar fights and had to get patched up a lot lmao

Chapter 18

He leaves her in the Jeep while he gets dinner and she goes sleuthing

So in chapter 18 she is saying she would settle for finding his cell phone number but...she called him at Boze arcade in like the third chapter so what number was that, did you not write it down once you washed it off your hand, or was that the arcades phone... why do you not have his phone number anymore

He has a metal flashlight with blood on it in his glove compartment, making Nora think he had beat up Marcy after all

I swear to God, if he gets back in the car and she starts getting horny for him after finding this flashlight I am not gonna finish this book I am going to quit

He pulled out a gun?!?!?!?!!?!?!???!?!?

Paintball gun. He says it’s paint on the flashlight?? Sure Jan

He gives her a snow globe of the pier, cute!

Mom catches them lmaooo

Chapter 19

So Nora is on the phone with V and she’s like how did the date go with patch and Nora said something about him giving her pool pointers and he says I bet he could give you pointers in other areas… And then the next sentence is V trying to convince Nora once again that patch is the one who broke her arm… So… Why the fuck do you want your best friend to fuck the guy who broke your arm????????

Nora realizes that the angels that were painted on the roller coaster have the same scar that patch has

“My voice was strewn with cobwebs” huh?????

She goes on their home computer to google “angel wings scars” LMAO why did every girl in a YA novel in the early 2000s google what their monster boyfriend was

Info dump re angels: they talk to humans in their minds, can possess them during the unholy Hebrew month

“I filed everything away that I had just read in my mind, and stamped ‘scary’ on the outside“ lmao

“V, do you believe in superheroes? Do you think the Bible is real?”

Chapter 20

Elliott is at her house...drunk

He punches the side of her house

He invites her to go camping with him Jules and V...after he acknowledges she doesn’t like him

He rips her out of the house and throws her against it when she says she doesn’t wanna go

Thank god her mom wakes up

V tries to talk Nora into going, and Nora tells her what happened at the house, and V is like “well he was drunk”

Insert pic of unamused Kristen Stewart face

PLEASE tell me she’s being controlled by the angel powers because wtf

“Maybe you’re trying so hard to pin the ski mask on Elliott because you know it’s patch deep down” she’s not wrong tho patch is also a terrible dude who is stalking(?) her

Nora goes to Portland to investigate Elliott, and kierstens death

She throws away her questions this time, smart

She interrogates the waitress at kierstens old job, who is NOT amused but agrees to tell her some tea if she gets food and tips her big

Kiersten and Elliott were hooking up

Elliott bought kierstens apartment so he def coulda planted the note

Elliott and Jules were in the restaurant talking about a test that Jules has failed...I get the feeling it wasn’t academic

Chapter 21

Someone’s watching herrrr

V is in Portland with Elliott…? But she’s alone...she wants Nora to come get her

Red flag

She gets hustled by a homeless woman for her coat

She left her phone in the coat

She witnesses a shooting...of the bag lady...who was wearing her coat and hat!!!!!!!!!!

She calls patch and he comes to get her

V went home with the boys

“The water was smooth black poison” wut

The Jeep dies on the highway and a storm rolls in

Chapter 22

They get a room to wait out the storm because the lights and phones are down

She still is like wary of him but she doesn’t really have a choice at this point, fair.

Also, favorite trope: there’s only one bed

Her clothes are wet so she makes him blow out the candles so he can’t see her in her underwear….

She touches his scar and gets sucked into blackness?!?!

Chapter 23

There are 8 chapters left and I have a BAD feeling that we’re in sequel bait territory

She’s in like a flashback from 8 months ago

Miss green meets patch at bo’s, he calls her Daubria

“Your kind and my kind don’t mix” she’s an angel and he’s a fallen one, I just know it “it’s not easy getting down here”

“If you save a human life, you can get your wings back”

“Now tell me why you’re really here”

Something about the book of Enoch and him wanting to recreate it

He wants a name from her list since she’s a death angel

Daubria says Nora’s name and patch asks who wants to kill her and Daubria says, “you”

So…..if he stops himself….he can get his wings?

She comes back and patch pins her to the bed, pissed

So she has just found out that he wants to kill her, he has her pinned to the bed, and she asks “is Daubria your girlfriend???” Why do you literally care and why do you not have any self-preservation skills

He kisses her?!?!

She bites the shit out of his lip

He did try to kill her on the archangel but couldn’t do it, he was gonna stab her in her house, couldn’t do it

She’s passing out because she needs her iron pills

He calms her down

He lets her touch his scars again so she’ll trust him

Chapter 24

She wakes up next to a skeleton in a graveyard

The Irish guy is talking to patch there

Patch wants to become human, as he heard in the book of Enoch

She comes back

Patch feels through a “sheet of glass” unless he possess a body

Patch is the angel from the prologue I think

“If you can’t feel, why did you kiss me?” “Because I can feel it in my heart”

He fell because he lusted after a human girl

He didn’t know Daubria was still on earth…

She now thinks Daubria is the ski mask person

Chapter 25

Patch goes to get the car and leaves Nora there

They get her home and patch checks the house for her

V doesn’t answer her phone

Daubria is there!!

She says she isn’t the one who has been spying

She planted the idea in V’s mind that patch attacked her

Her birthmark means she’s Chauncey’s descendant, and the book says if patch killed his vassal’s descendant he can be human (according to Daubria)

She goes to kill Nora so she’ll be out of the way

Daubria is v hurt by him falling and “falling” for the human girl

Daubria goes full angel, using tk, glowing, trying to stop Nora

Daubria sets the house on fire

Patch comes back and tells her to drive his Jeep to Delphic

She starts to search for V in the meantime

Chapter 26

She goes to the movies and gets a ticket for the sacrifice, remarking on the irony of the title

V isn’t at the movies

But patch is?!?!

“Shut up or I’ll get security” “yeah, get security, this guy wants to kill me” “I want to kill you”

“I’ll tell you what I’ve done: I’m not good, but I was worse”

He’s now saying she’s worth falling for basically

“I don’t kill people who are important to me, and you top the list”

Patch ripped daubria’s wings off

“Let’s be honest, you got it bad for me, and I’ve got it bad for you.”

“You don’t need me to help you fight her.” “What do I need you for?” “We have unfinished business”

They making OUT in this theater bathroom

Her phone rings, V and the guys broke into school, and Elliott says “Nora come play or there’s a tree in the courtyard with V’s name on it”

Listen. To. Me. If these two plots have nothing to do with each other, I am going to rip my hair out. These could have been 2 different books.

Chapter 27

She tells patch about the article

Patch says he doesn’t remember Jules being at the arcade…

Jules is an angel I bet

The jeeps tires are slashed so they pay an employee to take his car

He tells Nora to stay in the car

Chapter 28

Elliott calls Nora and says he’s watching her

Nora GETS OUT OF THE CAAAAAAR

AND GOES INTO THE SCHOOL NORA HE TOLD YOU NOT TO FUCKING GET OUT

Nora tripped over Jules’ dead body…

Elliott is in the library, basically dead…

The lights keep going on and off…

The ski mask person is here!!!!!!!

IT IS JULES?!?!

He’s an angel!!!! Called it, He’s been fucking with her mind

He throws her in the bio room, and she sees a scalpel on the ground and grabs it

Jules was Elliott’s benefactor and made him choose between love and money…

Jules really wanted patch, but patch can’t be hurt...so he’s using Nora to get to him

Jules is patch’s vassal!!!!! So he’s fucking PISSED

HE IS CHAUNCEY!!!!!!

The guardian presence she felt wasn’t her dad, it was Jules

She stabs him, but bumps a table as she tries to escape…

He passes out

Chapter 29

She finds V in the e-zine lab

All the doors are chained…

She ends up trapped in the gym

Jules has a gun!!!!

He beat up Marcy because he didn’t want anyone messing with “his girl”

Patch finds them, Jules holds her at gun point, patch possesses Nora to beat the SHIT out of Jules

He couldn’t stay long enough to kill Jules, and the effort made him pass out

She climbs up the air shaft despite being afraid of heights and Jules is fucking with her, making her think she’s falling

Patch helps her anchor to reality

They’re both on the rafters

She realizes if she sacrifices herself, patch can be human

She throws herself off the rafter

Chapter 30

She hears a clock and wings, but then she slides backwards instead

She wakes up in her bedroom, with patch

Patch turned down her sacrifice so she could live

“What good is a body if I can’t have you?”

He’s a guardian angel because he saved her

V and Elliott are fine

The police think Jules killed himself

V says “shoe-shopping therapy” instead of retail therapy why

The book ends with patch coming back to give her a kiss...boring

There’s an exchange that’s the last sentence of the book where he pulls away and she’s like “more” “more?” “more”

[1stunseeliefaelass]

Darksiders Arthurian Tales Revisited

Chapter 2: An Unlikely Meeting

Barrcus decided to go over the plan with Morgen again, but only after Mina took the girls out to go play for a moment. After all these little ladies didn't need to know what may happen. That and keeping secrets is rarely a child's strong suit, let own for two of em. Morgen looked to Barrcus as he shut the door behind them again.

With that he began, "So you start taking the trail, make sure you make your rounds around countryside. Be sure everyone sees you, even the bandits. We need to make sure that this is as public as possible."

From there, he detailed the route as one that was often raided by bandits. He further explained that he knew what time they'd strike, due to his future seeing capabilities.

"Why send me on such a route if you know what's coming?" Morgen questioned him.

"Because the Horsemen will be coming along that same route. Specifically around the time you get attacked. They should protect you when finding the carriage."

Morgen's eyes widened, "The Horsemen?! But why would they help me? Why are they even coming here?"

"I may have slipped in details of the book in a few rumors. A carefully spun web I assure you." Barrcus reassured her.

"Why do this? It could put you at risk if Uther finds out what you've done." Morgen frantically explained.

"Please, I've been in the castle this whole time. My spiders however, have not been. Besides, the only way for Uther to find out is if someone in our group told him. As far as the Council knows, it was just a bunch of rumors. Rumors that they need to check."

Morgen thought a moment before nodding, "Very well, I'll trust your judgment Barrcus. Just please, promise me you'll be careful."

"Hmhm, if everything goes as planned tonight, I will be." Barrcus stated with a smile before fading into the shadow.

Morgen then readied herself for the trip ahead. It was just another sort of ride she often took by carriage. To greet the people and make sure they were alright. Course the captain would need some convincing about the path, but she and Mina managed it. The only problem, was Mina couldn't convince the girls to stay there. Morgen believed they'd be safest at the castle, but with the girls' continued insisting and begging she caved. Bringing a thin sword of hers that melded into a mage staff. Course she'd also have to ask Vortigern about bringing them along. Which may lead to a lecture or two as far as she was concerned. With that she entered the throne room, a bit nervous but doing her best to hide it.

"My liege, I came to bid you goodbye before my latest ride out into the country. And I needed to ask something of Uncle Vortigern before I left." Morgen declared as calmly as possible.

"What is it?" Uther inquired of her.

"The girls are insisting I bring them along. I tried telling them no but they can beg way too well these days. I wanted to know your opinion on it first though Uncle. See what you thought of the idea."

Vortigern observed her briefly, and upon seeing her sword staff, "Is this going to be dangerous?"

"The route is a risky one yes. But I wouldn't let anything happen to them and you know it." Morgen replied nervously.

"What time are you going to be back?" Vortigern bade her.

"I shall return before the party, and I'm sure the girls will be tired after I'm back. So they'll likely go to bed all the faster." Morgen stated calmly.

Vortigern sighed, "If you can ensure their safety, I'll allow it."

Morgen gave him a hug, "I'll let them know. Don't worry I'll make sure nothing harms them."

Vortigern reciprocated the hug, "Stay safe, and keep an eye out for bandits."

"Of course Uncle, thank you." Morgen replied before going on her way.

Vortigern let her go and then glanced over at his brother. Uther was barely hiding his jealousy at that moment. "You know if you'd quit with your tirades around her, maybe she'd trust you more."

Uther doesn't return the look, "One must show strength, not weakness."

"Strange how everyone has a different point of view on what weakness is." Vortigern states before inquiring, "So is there anything else I need to know about?"

"No, it's just a Masque, this party I mean. Nothing to worry about." Uther mumbled out whilst staring blankly at Vortigern.

Vortigern feels a twinge of terror at the cold blankness of Uther's gaze before coughing, "Ahem well, I think I should be getting ready for the party."

"Yes that would be a...good idea." Uther muttered out simply before walking off in the opposite direction of his brother.

Vortigern couldn't help but wonder why Uther seemed so, distant this time. Especially so after Morgen hugged him. It was only a hug after all. Surely it was nothing to be concerned with. At least he could only hope so.

Meanwhile Morgen and Mina were enjoying the open road with Anna and Elaine along for the ride. Morgen enjoyed their little game of I Spy whilst waving to the village folk and stopping occasionally to help anyone in need. Wanting to be a good example to the girls after all, and to be a kind person overall. She kept noticing the same group of horse riders following their carriage overtime. Realizing they may likely be the bandits Barrcus had informed her of seeing in his future sight. Eventually her concerns would become realized, as the bandits waited until a particular stretch of wooded road to attack the carriage. Meanwhile the two Horsemen had FINALLY made it to the veil to open a portal through it.

"Took ya long enough." Strife noted in exasperation.

Death only growled at him in response.

"How long do you think you can keep it open?"

Growling again Death shouted, "NOT LONG!"

Once Despair, Dust, Mayhem, and Strife were all through the portal Death created, Death had to be pulled through himself by his younger brother. Strife watched him a bit concerned as he worked to catch his breath.

"Need a minute?"

"Yeah....that would be...appreciative right now..." Death expressed between deep breaths. Strife placed a hand on his shoulder still, and Death only shrugged him off with an, "I'm well. Let's just keep moving."

Strife shook his head before saying, "Alright whatever."

From there the two continued riding on. Soon finding a secluded road without pavement, and with seemingly no travelers on it. Strife however noted his elder brother's paranoid gaze searching the woods surrounding them.

Finally after a long enough silence he groaned, "Ugh....dude."

"Hmm?"

"Stop it!" Strife demanded.

"Why?" Death inquired cocking his head at him.

"You're freaking me out!" Strife urged him.

Death remained simple with his questions, "How exactly is this freaking you out?"

"I dunno you're making me paranoid. What with all that looking around like something's gonna happen. It's like you're expecting a fight."

"Seriously?" Death asked once again in a simple tone before continuing with, "What am I supposed to do about that?"

"Stop acting paranoid! Seriously man when you're paranoid I am. We all get paranoid whenever you do. As you only get like that when you're absolutely sure something's gonna happen."

"If you don't keep quiet, something will." Death growled lowly in a threatening tone before calming enough to explain softly, "Just look at the ground, and you'll see why."

"What am I looking for?"

"Just look." Death implored quietly.

Strife did so rolling his eyes, only to find horse tracks around them. None of which came from Despair or Mayhem, "Bandits."

"Yes, that's why I've been looking around. Now shush so I can listen for them." Death whispered to him.

Strife nods at that, "Right.", then begins to palming Mercy at his waist.

Before long they began hearing a cockney accented man saying something rather interesting, "Well well well, looks like we've got ourselves a Princess here. Wonder what we can do with that? Bet he'd probably pay a pretty penny for ya."

A female voice spoke up with an irish sounding accent, "Do your worst gentlemen, you won't get passed me."

"Oh, so she's got some fight in her, wonder what else she's got." The man snidely stated with a smirk.

Course Death and Strife have come to witness this, and Death has chosen to comment on it, "So what seems to be the matter here?"

"None of your business fellow traveler."

Strife however retorted, "Seems to be, you're in our way."

"We'll move this alongside, you don't need to worry about this."

"Right don't worry about it eh? Brother?" Death bade.

"Way ahead of ya bro." Strife remarked, drawing Mercy with lightning speed.

"We gonna have a problem here?" The man asked both brothers.

"I guess we will." Death mumbled before he and Strife descended upon the bandits.

Death unhooked Harvester from his belt, leaped off Despair, then began cutting bandits down. Strife pulled out Redemption in the meantime. Then whilst taking some bandits out with Mercy, used Redemption to take out the main one's kneecaps.

As the man attempts to crawl away, Death came up to him, "Oh no you don't."

After being picked up by his collar, the man begged of Death, "Wh-who....w-what are you?"

Strife shook his head, "Just some good samaritans passing by. What about you though? You gonna be a body? Like my brother other here wants to see? Or you gonna apologize to this young lady, and be someone living?"

"I'm sorry! Eh please call off your dogs!" The man begged looking at the woman.

"They are not of mine or the King's. Who am I to order them what to do?" She says a bit coldly.

"You may be one of the few people I actually like. Huh." Strife mused aloud.

"Well what do you think?"

"Hmm I dunno, has he had enough?" Strife checked with both Death and the woman.

"Like I said, I have no orders to give you. As you are not servants to me. Therefore I leave it to you good sirs." The lady states matter-of-factly.

"Well I guess the other person I would need to ask is you. So what do you think brother? Let him walk, or kill him?" Death tendered almost menacingly.

"Hmm....1....2...." Strife began.

The man, realizing what was happening, tried to scurry away. Failing miserably to do so as Strife counted down further towards ten.

"7.....8.....9 10!" Strife shouted before firing off at the man, killing him.

Once the man lay dead, Death could hear what sounded like little girls crying. He also heard another woman speaking softly, likely trying to calm them.

Sighing he muttered under his breath, "Shit.", then looking to Strife, "Brother would be so kind as to check on who's crying?"

"Right." Strife responded before heading up to the carriage door. Quietly knocking he called out softly, "Hello, anybody in there?"

A scottish accented woman responded, "Aye stranger, meself and two little lassies 'ere."

"Alright.", then after grabbing some chocolate from a side pocket on his belt, "Have you been good for the nice lady in there?"

The woman calls out to him, "Forgive em sir, they're still quite scared ye see. Being as young as they are. But they are nodding and I'll confirm they've been good and quiet in 'ere with me."

"Ok think they are deserving of a candy bar?"

"Oh of course. I'm sure it'd go a long way in helping calm them down too. Bless ye sir, both of ya out there." The woman replied to him.

He hands it over through the door and is surprised by the two little ones hugging his arm as they take the candy.

He's left stuck there for a moment and looks at Death, "Uh bro, need a little help here."

Death only shook his head, "It's best you leave my brother alone. Lest you hurt yourselves by accident."

Course he heard one of them reply with a sniffle, "We're being careful mister."

"Ok then, brother?"

"Yeah I'll keep my uh....'toys' locked up real tight." Strife remarked.

The woman from inside finally opened the carriage and Strife found himself being hugged by both little girls once they were out. Now they just clung to his legs.

"For crying out loud."

"Heheh, had to expect that one coming." Death stated snidely.

Strife looks up, trying to resist the urge to pat both their heads. Meanwhile Death inquired of the short and stout red head that left the carriage with the girls,

"Are you alright miss?"

"Oh I'm fine, I'm mainly worried about me mistresses. Her especially." The red head stated going up to the Princess.

"Oh Mina, please I'm fine. Not even a scratch on me." She replied calmly.

"That's only because they needed you alive. What use is a corpse in a ransom? She had every right to worry for you." Death retorted.

"Well I may not seem like much sir, but I indeed can hold my own." The woman proclaimed.

"Morgen, you don't know much in offensive spells. And ye've not wielded a proper blade in...." Mina began.

"I am more than capable of handling a few bandits. Not that I don't appreciate the aid we received, but still." Morgen insisted.

"May I take a look at your staff?" Death inquired of her.

Morgen cocked her head but allowed him to see it. After a bit of observance he noted that there wasn't much in terms of power for this staff. An indication of the wielder's power level. He also was surprised by the thin blade on the inside of the staff.

Course the thinness of the blade was also amusing to him, "In case you were caught off guard?"

"I was a knight some time ago. Sadly my order was....retired, so to speak." Morgen informed him.

"Hmm....may I ask, why are the four of you out on these roads? You'd think you'd be safer in a castle." Death questioned her.

"I'll not lie about you being correct on that last part. But we're out here because I like to check on the people every now and then. Make sure they are well and all."

The girls then piped up in unison whilst finally releasing Strife, who'd begun losing circulation in his legs, "And we just wanted to come with her."

Death glanced their way then back to Morgen, he did this a few times, as if searching for something then finally posed another question, "Are these yours?"

"Oh no. They're my Cousins." Morgen explained.

"Oh. Well then that's a bit interesting." Death noted before looking at Strife.

"Well you know how Fae are. Who knows they could be her seventeenth cousins." Strife remarked as he rubbed at his leg muscles.

"I assure you, they are my Uncle's only children." Morgen insisted.

"Seriously? I thought you Fae got down and dirty every single day of the week." Strife said confused.

"First off, stereotypes. And second off, that's more like your Satyr friend." Death retorted.

Morgen cocked her head at that, "And this friend is...who exactly?"

Both brothers replied, "Puck."

"I'd be concerned normally by such an answer. But he's been on his best behavior today at the castle. Wouldn't be surprised if Uther invited him to the party after the self portrait he painted." Morgen explained simply.

Strife's eyes widened, "Huh. Well then, nine times outta ten he's gonna be playing. May as well go say hi to him."

"Actually you may have more time to converse than you think. Considering that you did aid us. I'm sure the King and my Uncle would be glad to reward you in some way." Morgen replied.

"Well we were just interested in getting to the party that's it." Death simply stated to her.

"Will Mina here be attending?" Strife asked attempting to flirt that direction.

Mina however answered for Morgen this time, "First off lad I'm a maid. I won't be doing much beyond working the kitchens. Secondly, I do have someone in my life thank ye very much."

After the cold rejection Strife mumbled out, "Must be a lucky bastard.", then as a spider began crawling up his back...., "EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

As Mina began snickering, Death just looked at him confused and annoyed, "Serves you right casanova."

Meanwhile the spider somehow was unharmed and crawled up Mina's body before settling on her shoulder. From there it gave her a sweet little nuzzle. Death then suddenly took notice of it and inquired cautiously, "Is that you're pet?"

"Hmm? Oh no. This one is controlled by the man in me life." Mina replies stroking the spider. And Death is surprised again by the spider suddenly getting all giddy.

"Ooooooook then." Strife remarked slowly backing away in concern.

Death looked down at the ground in front of the carriage, noticing tracks of horses heading away from it. That and the cut harnesses on the ground indicated quite clearly what had happened.

"Well.....the horses have gone wild. We can use our steeds to pull the carriage along, if you wish." Death explained to Morgen.

"That'd be a help. Thank you. I wish we could find the horses, but that may not be a fruitful search. Especially not with the amount of time left before the Masque." Morgen contemplates.

"Oh so you're heading there now?" Death questioned.

"Yes, I am the Princess after all. I should probably be there to get ready." Morgen replied a bit snidely.

"Uhmm...you mind giving us some assistance? Me and my brother here would like the attend." Death told her as Strife continued to stare at the spider on Mina's shoulder.

"Of course. As I told you before, Uther and my Uncle would be happy to reward you I'm sure." Morgen stated.

"Great, sounds cool. Uhm I'll be in the carriage. D...Argh!", Strife began before Death elbowed him, "Ahem, my brother will be outside. He doesn't really like cramped spaces that much."

"It's not the space it's the company, for the most part." Death said.

"Perhaps you'll permit me to ride out with you, for directions and all?" Morgen inquired.

Strife then realized something and asked, "You're royalty, you didn't drive this yourself did ya?"

Morgen's eyes widened, as she clearly began remembering something, and she then started looking around frantically, "Oh dear, I hope he's alright."

Death cocked his head simply, "Who?"

"The captain of the guard was our driver. I heard screaming when the horses took off, maybe they dragged him along!" Morgen exclaims in minor panic.

"He's indeed with the horses." Death expressed just as simply before telling Strife, "Brother, let's hooks the horses up and get these ladies over to the castle as soon as possible."

"What about the captain guy?"

"The horses will eventually slow down, allowing him to get his footing again." Death replied before working with Strife to hook up their own steeds.

Despair sat perfectly still and gave no fuss as Death hooked him on, Mayhem however was a different story. Attempting to kick Strife in the head, and biting at Death. Only stopping when getting kicked himself by Despair. The two horses then shared an annoyed growl between them. Course during all this, a certain rodent was getting slightly shoved about. Only revealing himself by accident with a scared whimper after the two steeds growled. Death of course heard it all the same.

"FUZZBALL?!"

Fuzzball shook inside the saddlebag he was hiding in, scared even more now. Course he only really began to shake when Death angrily threw open the bag he was in.

"What are you doing HERE?!" Death demanded of the rodent.

Fuzzball whimpered even more and shrunk down in his fear, course Strife couldn't stand it anymore and grabbed Death's shoulder, "Bro chill out dude."

Death growled before grabbing Fuzzball with one hand, he could feel just how badly the little ball of fur was shivering now. "Do you know how dangerous this mission could actually be?!"

Fuzzball covered his ears with his little paws terrified, whilst the two girls were now huddling against Mina again.

Strife gripped his shoulder tighter, "Dude look around for a moment."

Death looked around for a moment at last and recognized the girls were currently scared of him now. As was poor Fuzzball. Grumbling quietly, he marched up to the girls and bent down to their level. From there he handed over Fuzzball, "Do you think you can keep an eye on this one for me?"

The girls looked at him from behind Mina's skirt, and Anna asked him, "How come you yelled at him?"

"Cause he's not supposed to be here." Death told her gently.

Elaine then spoke up, "Is it because you have a dangerous job?"

"Well.....to say the least." Death replied.

"We get it, Daddy always leaves us with Cousin Morgen when he's going somewhere scary." Anna stated as she swayed around like most kids her age do.

"My job is far more...horrific. Let's just say it would give you nightmares. And Fuzzball here is...way too fluffy for my work."

The girls then take Fuzzball and begin cuddling him. With that Mina takes them inside but points out, "So I imagine with these steeds we'd be traveling very fast then eh Horsemen?"

Death froze at that and looked over at the horses, realizing too late that he forgot to cloak them in any glamour spells. As best he could, he came up with the following excuse, "Uh.....we use this camouflage to scare off any bandits...heheh..."

"Really now? And how is that supposed to work if they attack ye anyways?" Mina probed.

"Well it's supposed to be a deterrent. Would you attack the Horsemen?" Death insisted to her.

"I get that part, but how could it be a deterrent when it failed as such? Given that the thieves attacked anyway." Mina explained.

"Heheh....it's because I'm not wearing Death's mask. It's far scarier." Death smugly stated.

"You mean far edgier?" Strife corrected him even more smugly.

Death turned his way with a death glare, "Riiiiiiiiight."

"If everyone is quite finished, shall we finally head out?" Morgen requested.

"Yes let's." Death stated before putting a glamour spell on the horses whilst pretending to do the opposite and muttered, "Since it didn't work this time."

Morgen looked at him curiously as Strife hopped into the carriage with the ladies. Morgen then got into the driver's seat. Or rather attempted to before Death lent her a hand, "Here, let me help."

"Ah thank you." Morgen replied before taking his hand.

Death couldn't help but note how....powdery her hand felt. Sure it was soft as any royal's would be, but he hadn't expected powder. Usually a royal would use hand lotion or something, not that. It actually reminded him of the feeling of porcelain the more he thought about it.

Finally after rubbing his fingers together in confusion he asked her, "Uhm...what's that on your hands?"

"Hmm? Oh the powder you mean? Oh just some makeup powder. Why?" Morgen inquired.

"You'd expect lotion."

"Ah yes, well.....I have my reasons sir." Morgen explained simply whilst the spider on Mina had migrated to watch the two of them. When Morgen mentioned the powder, it seemed to try and get closer to her. It looked as though it was trying to search for something. Course it's stealth failed as it crawled up her body, causing Morgen to jolt a bit. She glanced at the spider only to find it looking all adorable at her. She patted the thing gently and watched as it ended up with a bit of powder on its head.

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 54

This chapter is 100% dedicated to my beloved sister, @parisconstantine. While we never really got the chance to actually do this, I always wished we could.

Also, thank @baelpenrose for Arthur Farro and the unceasingly fun to write Alistair Worthington.

Content warnings for basic white girl shenanigans, you have been warned.

“It still tastes like chai,” I groaned as I sipped the drink my sister set in front of me. We were in her office, going over crew files to identify who we had available to start learning the material for the Galactic Core courses.  Eino and Grey were solidly behind the initiative, along with Xiomara – purely for political and defensive reasons, but still – so with neither Pranav nor Huyhn having any objections, we had a tentative green light.

This concoction in my cup, however, did not have any such approval.

“It would probably help if we knew exactly what was supposed to be in it,” Tyche before wrinkling her nose at her own beverage. “At least we both like chai?”

I shrugged and nodded. “Maybe it’s the ratios… Hey, this guy looks promising. He’s already assigned to Eino, apparently was a teacher Before.  Poor thing, he taught high school…”  Tyche erupted in giggles. I scowled at her. “You don’t understand. High school students can be horrible monsters.”

“Agreed,” Alistair added as he breezed into the room. He stopped abruptly, wrinkling his nose. “Why does it smell like a tea shop in here, and why are we discussing the propensity of adolescents to be Eldritch abominations?”

“Latest attempt,” I raised my cup at him. “And we’re going through personnel files for candidates to teach the new curriculum.”

He nodded. “I received the alert that the Council approved. However, one would think Councillor Wiitala would be the one to handle the details.” He gestured at the console. “May I?”

I shrugged and Tyche nodded, so he dialed a cup of my sister’s most recent creation. “Eino will coordinate with the new educators to decide the actual curriculum,” Tyche clarified. “Personnel falls under Soph by way of me, and she’s responsible for logistics.” She made an eloquent gesture at me.

“And Sophia has no other staff to delegate this to?” He arched a brow as he took his first taste of the experiment in his hand. Grimacing, he managed to swallow before putting the rest in a recycling port. “Oh, that’s chai. And not even good chai. How are the two of you drinking that?”

“Grow up drinking coffee that could degrease and engine,” I muttered into my cup. It wasn’t that bad, I decided.  My assistant just pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath through his clenched teeth. “As far as delegating, would you be interested in taking it on?”

“Not possible, I’m afraid. Between my day to day responsibilities as your assistant and those horrid swimming lessons, I have very little free time as it is. Madame Reid, you can stop laughing this instant, it is not funny in the least.”

Tyche exploded into laughter rather than complying with his admonishment. Wiping tears from her eyes, she gasped, “I can’t believe you took that bet!” She dropped her head onto her arms and shook, gasping now and then.

I managed to restrain myself to a smile, but it was a close call. “Anyway, if you are too busy, and Tyche is already handling the personnel files, then no, I can’t delegate this.”

“Surely you – “ Alistair broke off as Tyche’s hysterics escalated.  At first, he looked confused, but dawning comprehension finally broke across his face. “You cannot be serious.”

“Mmm hmm.” I smiled wider, quirking an eyebrow at him.

“You really have no other staff?”

“Nope,” I popped before leaning back in my seat. “I come up with ideas, I vet ideas, but of the entire Council, I have the smallest staff. Two, to be precise.” I swept my arm, gesturing at him and the shaking lump of my sister, still slumped on the table.

“That is…” he trailed off, shaking his head. “How did I never realize this?”

Tyche’s head popped up. “I wish I knew,” she answered shakily, wiping tears from her face. “You have access to the entire staffing plan for the Council.  How did you not see that?” Alistair muttered and turned his face away. “Come again? I didn’t catch that?”

“I thought the information was incorrect, Madame Reid.”

“Mademoiselle,” she corrected. “But Tyche is preferred.  Did you really think that a staffing document that I, personally, manage would be incorrect?”

“Tyche,” I chided. “It is very common for those who manage personnel to leave their own updates for last.  He’s not being rude.”  I turned back to my assistant. “To clarify, that data is completely accurate.  The entirety of my staff is sitting in this room. That doesn’t mean I don’t delegate, mind you.  I just don’t delegate entire projects, that’s all.  Tyche handles anything regarding staffing, whether it’s long term or short term.  That is entirely on her, by the way, even though it falls under my department.  If I need data, Pranav has given me permanent access to some of his people, and I can also reach out to Grey whenever I need.  For something like this, once I figure out the logistics and make sure we have enough educators to do it, I hand it over to Eino, and it’s his problem.”

Alistair looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding. “Additionally, I would venture that you have a sort of unofficial staff.”

I shook my head vigorously, immediately understanding what he was getting at. “No, I have a family, Mr. Worthington.  Talking about your day, bouncing ideas off each other, that’s what a family should be.  They are certainly not my staff.”

“I am,” Tyche offered, smirking.

Brat. “That’s different,” I sighed. “You actually report to me, in a professional capacity.”  I picked up my cup to take another sip, frowning to find it empty.  “There is a hole in my coffee cup,” I muttered.

Alistair rolled his eyes and snatched the mug from my hands. “Give me that before you make yourself sick,” he demanded waspishly.

I took a deep breath through my nose, trying to bring myself back to the actual task I was in here for. “Okay, no, I don’t have any other staff, so no, I can’t delegate this. And that fine, this was my idea, and I’m actually very excited to have a hand in bringing it to fruition. So, moving on… Arthur Farro goes on the short list. Who’s next?”

“Don’t kill me,” Tyche immediately responded.

“Not what I expected… why would I kill you?”

“We have one person on this ship with pretty much nothing to do, who has a very unique perspective on this and actually has read most of the material…”

“Tyche…”

“…And he’s not my favorite person either, but – “

“Tyche. Spit it out.”

“Simon,” she blurted, leaving me in stunned silence. “I know, he’s got the social skills of an enthusiastic squirrel, but he is the only human on the ship who already knows the majority of the material.”

I sputtered, stopped, and tried again. “But can he teach it?” I asked, incredulous. “Knowing things doesn’t always mean you can pass the information on effectively.”

“That is your objection, Councillor?” Alistair threw over his shoulder as he continued to do whatever he was doing at the food console.

“Well… yeah?” I confirmed, confused why I would have any other objections. “I am absolutely certain he knows most of the material and would probably learn the rest on his own. He didn’t have much else to do for the year he was on the Ark by himself. And he’s been working on his social skills, it’s just…” I sighed and ran a hand down my face. “Look, I’ve had those teachers, you know?  The ones who know the material like they breathe air, but can’t teach it to save their lives.  It’s an awful experience and always made me hate the subject instead of the teacher. Simon doesn’t need any more hate directed at him, thank you.”

“For what it’s worth, I’ve already talked to him, and he’s willing,” Tyche offered.  “He’s been studying public speaking and body language, and said he would be willing to take some education courses if it would help.  He really does want to give back.”

“Wait, body language courses?” A feeling of abject horror buried itself deep in the pit of my stomach. “Tyche… Which courses?”

“About that – “

“I swear on my bones if you sent him – “

“He found it himself!”

Hammering my head on the table suddenly seemed like a brilliant idea. “Oh my god. This is not happening.”

Alistair interrupted, sliding two mugs on the table before absconding with the cooling remnants of my sister’s not-chai. “You are doing it again.  You are speaking ‘Reid-ish’ and I’m not quite fluent yet, so would the two of you mind speaking in full sentences so the rest of us mere mortals know what you are saying?”

“Oh, you’ll learn,” I threatened drily before sweeping a hand at my sister. “Go ahead. You love telling this story.”

She leveled a glare that would wither lesser people before turning to explain. “Sophia was an interpersonal communications expert in a former life. She wrote a paper, during grad school, on the importance of body language to people in positions of power. Specifically, educators and managers at various levels. It was controversial for a while, mostly because it emphasized the exact opposite of what most studies in that field encouraged.  No ‘power poses’, no ‘assertive language’, nada.”

“And this is the paper Mr. Rodriguez found?”

“Oh, not the paper,” I groaned miserably. “Eventually, people started asking me to come give talks, and then seminars to their employees. It was a disaster.”

“It was an insane success,” Tyche argued.

“But I had to give seminars!” I cried. “You know I hate public speaking!”

You could have heard a pin drop.  Alistair gaped at me, mouth opening and closing a few times in aborted attempts to say something. Finally, “You wrote an entire paper, and gave actual courses, on how to do something you hate?”

“That’s why I wrote the damned paper,” I admitted.  “I hate public speaking because of all the toxic power-posing bullshit attached to it.  It’s like you’re intimidating people to believe you. ‘Project confidence, don’t use filler language, use powerful language, executize’.” I mimicked in a squeaky voice. “It was a bunch of baloney, so I wrote the paper to prove that.  I never expected people to take it that seriously.  Not to mention, I nearly didn’t get my Masters because of that paper.”

“The professor was not impressed,” Tyche stage-whispered.

“The professor was an asshole who entered every room like a bull in a china shop,” I growled. “He blustered and intimidated people, and at least half his students were afraid of him.”

“And you basically wrote an entire paper about why you found him distasteful,” Alistair nodded.  “I am genuinely floored that he disagreed with your findings.”

“Fuck him, I was right,” I ground out. “I managed to get nearly every undergrad in the school to participate in the study, which turned out to be the only way I was able to keep from failing the course – the sample set was so large, he couldn’t exactly argue it.  But he tried, believe me.”  Distracted, I took a sip of the drink he had set in front of me. “Oh my.  Oh god. This… Tyche. Drink. Now.”

She took a sip and threw a predatory look at Alistair. “You did not.”

“I did,” Alistair replied smugly.

I was fighting back tears while simultaneously trying to learn how to live in a cup of coffee.  Tyche just looked constipated. “I’ve been trying for two months.  You just whipped it right up.”

“I will admit, I did not think your… quest… was as serious as it turned out to be, else I would have done it sooner.  If for no other reason than to spare myself your various concoctions.”

“This used to be our thing, every fall,” I explained, sniffing my now-mostly-empty cup. “Before she moved to Paris, I mean.  We would go out and get these, and hang out for a day.” I blinked furiously, refusing to cry over a cup of coffee.

Alistair chuckled. “Could the two of you possibly have a more stereotypical tradition?”

“No,” Tyche growled stubbornly before tilting her chin up. “Nothing says ‘comfortable with myself’ more than two women this white,” she pointed back and forth furiously between us, “Enjoying pumpkin spice coffee in the fall.”

“Being a walking stereotype is its own kind of confidence,” I admitted. “You know everyone is probably judging you for it, but you really just don’t care.”

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[mobius-prime]

176. Sonic the Hedgehog #108

Oh… please, come on, man… not this…

Robotnik x 2 = Trouble!

Writer: Benny Lee Pencils: Ron Lim Colors: Josh & Aimee Ray

So, did you think that perhaps for once in the history of comic books, that we'd actually seen a major villain die for good? Well, apparently not so! Eggman has detected the strange reality fluctuations caused by Knuckles several days ago, and gleefully demonstrates to the newly-roboticized Snively that one such fluctuation can be localized directly within their lab. What - or who - might this fluctuation affect, you ask?

Just outside of Knothole, the Freedom Fighters are relaxing and playing a nice game of hide and seek, when Tails, who is "it," runs smack into Robotnik, looking battered and scared. They're all, of course, incredibly shocked at his reappearance, and skeptical when he claims that Eggman brought him back, but is even worse than he ever was. He ran for his life, wishing now to seek shelter in Knothole. The Freedom Fighters reluctantly bring him to the king and queen, who get him a checkup by Dr. Quack to ensure he's not merely a robotic duplicate, and then, despite his literal war crimes, just… allow him to stay in the village. With all the people he tortured and terrorized barely more than a year ago. Seriously, not even a trial for his crimes? Nothing?

Robotnik seems to have settled right in, despite Sonic's obvious exasperation, and as the crew flies him to Robotropolis he eagerly speaks about perhaps becoming allies after all this is over, while they mostly ignore him in favor of playing cards. They infiltrate the city and fight a cursory number of shadow-bot guards, and Robotnik leads them to a room with a suspiciously-shaped "computer," inviting them to stand on a platform in the center of it and have Nicole take some readings while he accesses the mainframe. Of course, this is when he shows his true colors, and traps them in an energy field that harnesses the power of Eggman's "matter fluctuator" while the two alternate-universe villains giggle with each other, ecstatic that their plan to erase their enemies seems to be working.

The Freedom Fighters reveal that they knew Robotnik was trying to trick them all along, and only played along so that he would lead them straight to the device that brought him back so they could destroy it. He's baffled by this since he's already been brought, and as he and Eggman begin to fistfight over the failure of their plot the Freedom Fighters leave, satisfied that their job is done. Their true intentions become clear very quickly, as due to Robotnik's manner of return, his molecules were very unstable, and in the middle of the fight he vanishes back into oblivion, causing Eggman to punch Snively accidentally and then become furious at his loss once again.

This story basically ended up going nowhere, as Robotnik really, truly is gone for good this time, but I suspect it was mostly written as a lead-in to the two character files we'll be perusing today - one on the original Robotnik, and the other on Eggman, AKA Robo-Robotnik. We'll be skipping the explanations of their life stories, as we already know all of it - no new information is provided - and instead we'll look at the technical details. First of all are their height and weight. These details are identical for both entities, as they come from near-identical backgrounds in their respective zones. Their height is 189 cm or 6'2", which is only one inch taller than their game counterpart. However, their weight is where we run into a bit of a problem. Given all the tasteless jokes made especially in the early days of the comic about how fat and humongous and gargantuan Robotnik is, how heavy exactly would you imagine he is? I bet you didn't guess 61.7 kg or 135.8 lbs. That is not just an absurdly low weight for a being of his stature, that is my own weight. I'm pretty sure this is just a big oversight on the part of the writer, because there's no way in hell an obese six-foot-tall man shares his weight with an average-height, average-build girl in her early 20s. For Eggman, however, though I'm sure he shared his body type with Robotnik when he existed within his own zone, those stats are likely to be a bit different now due to his being a robot in a new body and all.

As far as their ages, this is where they differ significantly. They shared their early history in their respective zones, so both were born on the same birthday of September 10. However, the original Robotnik died at age 45, almost 46, when the Ultimate Annihilator went off. I include "almost 46" because the character file actually gives an exact date of death, June 13, meaning we now know to the day exactly when Endgame occurred. Endgame played out over the course of three days, so that whole shebang started on June 11, which was also the day Sally supposedly died before the truth was revealed. Please keep this date in mind, it will become important in a few issues. Eggman's reality, on the other hand, diverged a few years before Endgame, resulting in his own roboticization at the age of 43. At this point, his physical age likely "froze" since he was no longer bound by the aging process of flesh and blood, while his mental age continued to progress. His zone's timeline has already surpassed that of Mobius Prime, as in that zone Sonic and Sally were married with children, so mentally he'd more likely be somewhere in his late fifties or early sixties. Makes sense to me, though original Robotnik was certainly a little younger than I had imagined him to be.

"…A Girl Named Hope!"

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: J. Axer Colors: Josh & Aimee Ray

Sally has received a letter from Hope Kintobor, who was taken along to Station Square with the rest of the refugees, and decides to bring it to her parents to read it out to them. Hope proves herself to be a very well-spoken young girl in the letter, writing about how when she and her people first landed on the outskirts of Robotropolis and she saw Sonic, she thought he looked scary, as she'd never seen a Mobian before. However, over the course of living in the city, she began to mistrust her uncle after seeing more evidence of his roboticization of Mobians, and eventually realized that the Mobians were better than she had been led to believe after witnessing them rescue both their roboticized brethren and the rest of the Overlanders.

She describes how most of her life in space, ever since she was two years old, was spent in cryosleep, learning about the history of their home planet, including the details of the Great War between her people and the Mobians. They only ended up returning because their ship's power supply began to fail, but now, she no longer feels at home amongst her people, with the loss of her stepfather and grandmother.

This is honestly a very sweet story, and I'm glad we'll be seeing more of Hope. She was definitely the most interesting character among the Overlanders, and she's obviously a very observant and intelligent girl.

Reunification (Part 3)

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Dawn Best Colors: J&A Ray

Lara-Le is not at all happy about Knuckles' decision to join up with the Legion, even scolding him for what his father will likely think when he finds out. Knuckles becomes defensive and asks her why they can't just hear him out first, and she replies that she thinks he's too much of a threat to her children.

Wow, Lara-Le, you and Wynmacher have been pretty busy then, huh? That's a pretty big gap between your kids' ages there - Knuckles is gonna be seventeen by the time that baby is born, assuming that Mobian echidnas have a similar gestational period to humans. While he and his mother continue to discuss matters, Dimitri goes before the council to argue his case for reuniting echidna society. Most of the members present have obvious misgivings, but one Mitre agrees that society should come back together instead of fighting, though he expresses some disapproval of Dimitri's methods through such extensive cybernetics. While they continue to argue things out, Lara-Su waits outside Lara-Le's apartment, waiting for Knuckles to come out so she can spy on him and ensure he's not killed. He exits, and she follows him to the council chambers, witnessing him talk briefly with Lien-Da on the steps outside the building. She recognizes Lien-Da as "the one person Mom absolutely refuses to talk about." The two go inside, and Knuckles steps forward to express his reluctant support for Dimitri, commanding the respect of those present since they know he's fought with Dimitri many times before. Interestingly, the current echidna government is referred to as "the theocracy" in contrast to Dimitri's "technocracy" - elements of an echidna religion have been hinted at here and there, such as Lara-Le praying in the Aurorium, and the councilor all the way back when Dimitri first "died" quoting from what sounded like some kind of bible, but I think this is the first indication we've ever had that the current government is literally a theocracy, running according to a religious tradition instead of an intellectual one. This puts an interesting - and even more worrying - spin on the whole "banning technology" thing, as real life has shown time and again that religious fundamentalism almost always leads to hypocrisy and needlessly-restricted personal freedoms, which honestly fits exactly with everything that we've seen over the echidnas' history so far. But anyway, while Knuckles says his piece about trying to work together and resolve differences, Lara-Su tries to badger her way into the council chambers, only to be stopped by a guard.

What a cliffhanger! I'm sure there's no way she's interpreting the situation wrong due to not seeing everything that's happened up to this point, right? Right?