#rina: my writing

[crescenttwins]

[SVSSS, Moshang, 7.4k, T] In which Mobei-jun is a prince, and Shang Qinghua is his loyal servant (who's just hoping that he can save up enough to retire). Read it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50488159

Written for @svsssfairytalezine!

[g-on-ef]

Plot bunny prt 3

Maya Sokolov story

Goddess of Loneliness

Summary: Maya Sokolov the sister everyone either hated or tolerated the sister that betrayed her own.

It's been 2 months since the truth was discovered and nothing has been the same.

Mia hates her, Killian is always looking for an opportunity to remind her that she's a good for nothing back stabbing bitch, Niko is avoiding her like the plague, her parents have cut her off and Illya...her only saving grace broke up with her in the worst possible ways.

No one wants to hear her side of the story or more precisely no one cared to hear it feeling more alone than ever Maya decides she has over stayed her welcome in her family's lives and decides to escape somewhere where no one knows her, her story, and more importantly her family.

As she takes this journey of self discovery and healing she'll see that family doesn't always end in blood and that there is such as thing as a second and greater love

[goginaporter]

rina + iconic couples in media

this is my fun way of responding to the alternate universe prompt for @rinaweek <3. rina and their parents in every universe, finding each other and falling in love. alsooo this post was slightly inspired by this absolutely brilliant edit linked here (x) and if you want rinatroyella or rinajacey edits, please lmk and I'll send my favorite ones <3333

troyella

the essays that can and have been written about troyella and rina are extensive (and I'm happy to do a longer form one in a separate post). but from being the new girl x boy who's never moved, girl encouraging boy to audition for the musical and actually commit, kissing in the rain, starring in the school musical together, to making a huge commitment to the other person on a stage in front of a bunch of people, rina is quite literally troyella reincarnated. and yeah, lots of people can argue that troyella is perfect as is, that they didn't need another version. and on one hand, i agree. but the way in which rina takes core parts of troyella's story while standing on their own as a ship is beautiful and truly does justice to the original franchise by anchoring the story around these two, both individually and as a couple, just as was done with troyella in the original trilogy. my favorite troyella parallel moment from s4!

4x01 - ricky sneaking into gina's room just like troy would come into gabriella's room through her balcony

4x02 - the note ricky gives gina in the hallway to meet in their secret staircase is just like the note troy slips in gabriella's locker in hsm to meet on the rooftop. (honorable mention to them auditioning for and getting the roles of troy and gabriella in this ep as well <33)

4x03 - of course, it has to go to their rendition of can i have this dance. their voices sound gorgeous and though the choreo they do has similarities to the original, they've made it their own.

4x04 - this one is kinda reaching but I wanted something for each ep! in hsm2, sharpay forces troy to sing a song with her, one she prepared for the talent show, instead of allowing him to go on a date with gabriella. in a similar vein, though with considerably less scheming from dani's side, dani is selected to replace gina as gabriella because she is so busy with the movie, though this is done behind her back.

4x05 - has to go to the rain kiss obviously. although troy and gabriella only ever kiss under sprinklers, it's the same vibes. there's also a still (not included in the scene) of the rain kiss of ricky holding gina's waist as she throws her arms up that's so reminiscent of troyella in the rain during cihtd.

4x06 - ricky and gina running down the hallway at the beginning of the episode feels like a direct parallel to troy and gabriella running to auditions in hsm. also rina fighting to save the show is super similar to gabriella (and troy once gabriella convinces him) pushing for the theater department to put on a show about them for their spring musical.

4x07 - they're literally playing troyella in this ep so I could say so much. i'll just use this space to talk about how much I love them in a night to remember and how much it looked like they were dancing at their wedding. I will say that terri, gina's mom, telling ricky about gina's movie with a smile on her face, reminds me a lot of gabriella's fans setting troy up to talk shit about her on camera to convince her to focus on the decatholon. also reflects sharpay telling troy about stanford, again with a smile on her face.

4x08 - again, this ep is rife with toryella coding because they're literally playing troyella, but the show goes super meta in having them sing the right here, right now reprise as ricky has just found out that gina is potentially moving across the world to film her movie, just as troy finds out about stanford and struggles with gabriella not being there for the rest of their senior year. on a much less angsty note, ricky singing love you forever to gina has the same vibes as troy choosing gabriella and going to school close to her, not to mention that lines in the song directly reference the song "high school musical" (which you can read more about here <3). gina also deciding to move the movie to salt lake is very much her "I choose basketball but I also choose theater but more than all of that, I choose gabriella" her version is "I choose filming this movie but I also choose theater but more than all of that, I choose ricky" just a beautiful perfect scene all around.

these s4 moments only scratch the surface of the troyellarina tether but i'll stop ranting for now and move on to rina's teen drama parent sets.

jacey

after s1, tim federle did an interview where they asked him about him about the ricky / nini / gina triangle, he directly mentioned dawson's creek in guiding his writing process, stating that at the center of his thought process was "how do I surprise audience members with who they're going to ship?" (x). for those who don't know the jacey lore, to make a long story short, their love triangle centered around joey, pacey, and dawson. joey and dawson were childhood best friends and joey has a crush on dawson. pacey and dawson are best friends and joey and pacey do not get along initially. after events of life, dawson asks pacey to "look after joey" at the beginning of s3, the two get super close and eventually catch feelings for each other and they secretly date as they figure out a way to break it to dawson (sound familiar?). they do break up but come back together at the end of the show and are endgame. the parallels between jacey and rina exist both on and off screen. dawson and joey were the initial endgame for the show, just like rini was the show's s1 endgame. however, electrifying chemistry between katie and joshua (jackson) & sofia & joshua (bassett) in their respective shows changed everything. rina is one of the strongest examples of continuing this legacy of disrupting the initial plans concocted in the writer's room to make way for insane chemistry. some of my fave jaceyrina parallels

rina and jacey having a formative, chemistry presenting moment in a car (rina in 1x05 during homecoming, joey and pacey in 1x during their science project)

the sheer parallels between them in 3x19 of dawson's creek and 3x08 of hsmtmts with their kiss scenes. just watch here (x) and here (x) to see. the "stop me" "wait" parallels actually make me go crazy

joey tutoring pacey in 3x09 and gina (presumably) becoming ricky's tutor after 4x06

i'm rewatching 3x09 in preparation for this and jacey has a scene where dawson catches them talking about pacey helping joey with a ballroom dance scholarship thing in exchange for tutoring and he asks them what no one can find out about and a) pacey sucksssss at improv just like gina it's like that 4x02 scene with rina and ashlyn and b) it also feels like rina with the chocolates, again with ashlyn LMAOOO in 2x04

ALSO in this ep (wow it's a goldmine), when dawson and jen catch joey and pacey ballroom dancing, they're forced to join the class and the instructor psychoanalyzes both couples. for jacey, she mentions that the tension and bickering between them suggests their underlying attraction for one another. this is literally what val (their choreographer!!) does after watching rina perform wdykal in 3x05

too much to explain for the final scene of this episode but i just encourage everyone to watch 3x09 to get the same sense of a major scene in a coat check and an ensuing apology

pacey telling joey he remembers everything in 3x22 and ricky telling gina he's never forgotten a thing she's said in 4x03

pacey telling joey that the simple act of loving her is enough for him and that she's "off the hook" and ricky telling gina that of course she has to go and be a star, as well as singing lyf not knowing that she was staying in slc, so he just wanted to let her know that he loved her for the sake of it, not to convince her of anything

pacey having to tell joey something but lying to protect her (and ricky having something to tell gina but lying to protect her (3x07)

naley

another paragon of teen drama royalty is naley. literally the best people ever and it makes sooo much sense that rina is similar to them because they're actually rina's grandparents. naley birthed troyella, who birthed rina. a beautiful family tree. anyways, naley doesn't seem to, on the surface at least, seem to have a lot of parallels to rina. a shy tutor girl and a cocky basketball player who get married after knowing each other for less than a year? (though I will go down with my headcanon that rina gets married super duper young, will not be taking any arguments). despite this, at their core, naley's love for each other is so reminiscent of rina's love for each other, not to mention some incredibly direct parallels that the two have, listed below:

nathan dropping haley home after a party & ricky dropping gina home after homecoming ("yeah, this is my house" & "so, this is where I live")

connecting over dubious circumstances (nathan requesting haley as a tutor/getting close to her to get back at lucas & gina convincing ricky to stay in the show so she could get gabriella, attending hoco with ej to psych nini out but instead connecting with ricky)

nathan putting haley's hand to his heart after telling her it's racing (it was because of drugs but still, it beats for haley) and ricky putting gina's hand on his heart after telling her that his heart's racing (i'm telling y'all this scene is the same, just with the characters and setting swapped)

alllllll of naley's s2 angst is like the intense and more painful version of rina's angst in s4

naley invented rain kisses (even if they existed before them, no they didn't) and rina obviously does justice with their own rain kiss in 4x05

when nathan proposes to haley (their first proposal), he tells her that "I could love you forever." audience, what's the title of ricky's love song for gina? i rest my case

haley being nathan's tutor and gina being ricky's tutor <3333

nathan sneaking into haley's bedroom to study and makeout and ricky sneaking into gina's bedroom to sing and makeout

nathan and ricky being haley and gina's biggest fans when it comes to their careers, putting their success over their personal feelings (nathan collecting clippings of haley's tour, paying chris to let her record music & ricky decorating gina'ss trailer, encouraging her to go to nz to be a star)

rina served cheerleader x basketball player (though at different times and both were fictional but wtv) just like naley

this was super nonexhaustive as rina also has parallels to jam, mondler, sethmer, romeo & juliet, and so many other ships. however, I'm lazy and didn't want to write all of those out. maybe I'll return to them another time, but for now, pls enjoy this <3333

[stimming-puppet]

"i will ace this job interview" (i have a job interview today, wish me luck) x/x/x|x/x/x|x/x/x

[joysmercer]

just breathe, just relax, it'll be okay

in which there's no soundcheck at intermission.

i. hoping that the fire won't burn me (just one time) [gina]

ao3

Gina has spent a significant portion of her life on stage, or preparing to be on stage, but out of all of that, what she did just now has got to be the most impressive acting performance of her entire life. A Night To Remember was her favorite number to rehearse (besides the troyella duets, of course), but she feels like she’s singing through jello during the entire song now. Every time she looks at Ricky, she’s reminded that he’ll never get the senior prom he thinks he’s promised, and it will all be her fault.

Still, she plasters a smile on her face and leans into him as the audience gives them a standing ovation (her mother excluded; Gina hasn’t missed how she’s been at the exit, one foot out the door, this entire time), and once intermission is called, she presses a kiss to his cheek and runs away giggling, the sound high and false in her own ears—

Until she reaches the set of quick-change booths that have become a makeshift dressing room for the girls (their actual room being taken over by designer-gown options for Gina to wear at the press conference tonight, although none of her friends actually know that). Gina immediately yanks her Act 2 costume off of its hanger dashes into the booth closest to her, desperate to get changed and on her way, but the clasp of her current dress promptly gets stuck. Fucking hell, she thinks—or maybe yells, perhaps, given that Kourtney barges her way in a split-second later, her protective gaze piercing daggers through Gina’s skin (though if it's meant for her or the dress, one could only guess). Gina pushes past her as soon as she’s decent without another word.

Eyes seem to follow her as she tosses her heels god-knows-where and hangs the white dress back up. “I’m fine,” she tells those nearest to her, glaring at Ashlyn before her sister can offer what she’s sure is sage advice for anyone not about to go and kill the spirit of the one person who deserves a perfect show tonight.

I’ll apologize later, Gina resolves, knowing there’s so much more she’ll have to apologize for anyway. She can’t fathom the idea of going away from any of the people in the room, more a family to her than her own blood for the past year, which is a terrible situation to be in given that she has to very, very soon.

“Ricky’s on his way to his locker,” Emmy informs her as she leaves, and Gina nods, certain the younger girl has no idea why she’s trying to meet him right now but thankful for the information nonetheless. If she sprints, she can get to the actual girl’s dressing room before Ricky does.

They haven't had a chance to talk since the show started, not really, but by the way he's been acting, she's now absolutely certain she knows what he's been dying to tell her all night—and even though the words haven't actually been said yet, the knowledge of what they are is enough for her to know she has to say her piece first. Even if it kills her—kills them.

Fate, for once, is on her side, and she gets to the room with enough time to make it across the counter and take a deep breath before her boyfriend (her heartbreakingly wonderful boyfriend, her absolute favorite person in the world) runs in, still in his prom tux from Act 1, curls wild and tie half-undone with a guitar clutched in his hand. His eyes widen in sheer delight when he sees her (as if they hadn't planned to meet here during intermission) and within a second, he's run across and swept her into a massive bear-hug that lifts her away from the counter and around in the air.

Gina might throw up, and not from all the spinning.

"Missed you," Ricky murmurs, when he's finally put her down again.

You just saw me, Gina thinks, but the words, and the smile that should go with it, get lost somewhere in her throat. With as much strength as she can muster, she manages to resist the urge to fold right back into his embrace, instead stepping back and letting her hands fall down to hold his.

"So," Ricky says, somewhat giddily, but when he meets her eyes, her expression must be so grave that the grin slips straight off his face. "Gi, hey, you okay?" he asks softly, gently.

Gina tangles their fingers together as her heart plummets to the floor. She takes a deep breath, and then another, and then a third, but remains unable to steady herself. She's not ready for this. But that doesn’t matter.

Ten seconds, Gina, she admonishes herself. Ten seconds, then you have to tell him. One, two, three—

She makes it to five before the guilt of it all overwhelms every cell in her body and the words come tumbling out. "Quinn offered a movie—I'm leaving, after the show tonight," she blurts out, and a mere moment later, tears follow. She squeezes her eyes shut, unable to look at him.

His hands slip out of hers. Gina waits, eyes still closed, for the inevitable sound of his footsteps moving away from her and out the door. Instead, a second later, she finds herself pressed against him again, slow circles being drawn on her back.

Ricky holds her as the tears fall, and fall, and fall. She allows herself to collapse against him, wondering what she did to deserve this incredible boy who absolutely doesn’t deserve her.

I can't leave, she thinks; I can’t lose this. This isn’t a new thought for her—it had admittedly had been flitting in and out of her head over the past week—but it has gotten steadily more intense over the day, now taking over every crevice of her mind.

Maddox’s ten-minute warning suddenly blares through the speakers in the room, but all Gina can focus on is the fact that Ricky’s apparently still standing there with her. "You're not—you're not mad?" she asks, somewhat stupidly and against her better judgment.

Ricky shrugs, the skin around his own red-rimmed eyes creasing in a halfhearted smile. "Upset, maybe," he says, "but you," he reaches up to cup her cheek, "You're a superstar, Gi. Of course HSM4 wouldn't be it for you."

That wasn't quite the answer Gina was looking for, and she suspects it isn't the one he wanted to give, either.

I. Don't. Want. To. Go.

"I wanted to tell you," she says quietly, as if that would make it okay, make it any less real. "But the contract isn't signed yet, and Quinn didn't confirm until this morning, and some part of me—" she quickly swallows the rest of the sentence poised on her lips, not wanting to give him false hope; god, she can't do that to him, not after all of this—"I didn't want to ruin your night," she finishes lamely.

Ricky nods. There’s a painful expression on his face, as if he'd been expecting this, mirroring exactly how he did just under a year ago, when Nini announced she was leaving (the first time).

GIna feels terrible.

"So you'll be gone next semester, then?" he asks, cutting into the silence.

"New Zealand," Gina nods. "Six months—” she hesitates, then adds, “I should be back to see you graduate."

"Hm."

Gina regrets adding that part immediately. Who was she kidding? He had tried the whole long-distance thing before, and it didn’t work, so why would he want to do that again? She takes a deep breath. "Ricky—"

Her apology is interrupted by his lips on hers. This kiss is unlike any one he's given her before, simultaneously electric with emotion and so incredibly soft—almost quiet—with the simplicity and ease of the act, and Gina doesn't quite know what to make of it. When they break apart, she just stares at him dumbly. Half of her wants to kiss him again, but the other half is confused.

Turns out she doesn't have to ask, because he explains all on his own. "I love you.”

What?

She must have said that out loud, because he laughs, for real this time, and grabs her hand to flatten her palm against his chest. "See that? Heart, not racing. I've never been more sure of anything in my entire life."

"Ricky Bowen," she whispers, and the Thought from before is practically pulsing between her ears as it rewords itself slightly. Stay here, stay home.

"Gina Porter," he whispers back.

An understanding passes between them, a silent promise. Gina smiles and is working up the courage to kiss him again just when Maddox's five-minute call once again invertebrates through the room, and the moment's over.

"One more minute," Ricky mutters, apparently unwilling to let go of her hand so soon.

"Sorry, Wildcat—you're still planning to do Act 2, I hope," Gina jokes, gesturing to the half of a tuxedo he's still wearing, but lets a note of seriousness enter her voice. Please say yes.

Ricky seems to pick up on it, and he swiftly kisses her cheek, saying, equally seriously, "I wouldn't miss it for the world, Gi."

Home, home, home.

Gina reluctantly forces him to leave, finally, but she would be lying if she said she didn’t melt into the floor when he turns around for a look back at her. "By the way, I got into college. SLCC." He cocks his head shyly. "I'll have to tell you that story after curtain. And sing you my song," he adds, pointing to his discarded guitar still propped up on the counter.

Gina's heart swells with pride, and something else too, but Ricky's bolted away before she can respond. I love you too, she thinks. She can’t wait to say it back to him very, very soon—and repeat it forever, after that.

---

read chapter 2 here!!

[daphnebowen]

day five of twelve days of rina: favorite episodes 🤩

I’m doing one from each season because I’m like that and can’t choose

season one: episode five - homecoming

homecoming is obviously one of the most important and essential episodes to rina’s storyline. This is where they all got started, this is when they really started to shine, and obviously without this episode there really wouldn’t be a rina. their chemistry was off the charts in this episode and honestly going back and seeing how genuine they are with each other and how they can be so fresh and just honest with each other; man it really is something else. rini never held a candle to rina, looking back on it. They never stood a chance. “I thought we sort of, like, got each other” and “You know I meant what I said. at the skate park, about you having your own style. I don't even think I knew how much I meant it when I said it.” like dude. monumental. Already these two characters are having such a profound effect on each other and it’s been only a couple of months. AND THE CHEEK KISS. THE FREAKING CHEEK KISS. because for me, rina was never really a thought in my mind until that kiss. Until Gina showed me that she was opening up her hard heart to the brown curly haired boy with the great voice and sass for days. until Ricky showed me he wasn’t opposed to it. until their chemistry was so off the charts I was blown away.

season two: episode four - the quincenero

okay, hear me out, this episode is actually pretty important to rina. There’s a ton of character growth from Gina specifically. obviously there are other moments but I really do like the moment where Ricky comes to Gina for advice about nini and she says that maybe they shouldn’t give advice to each other and she’s not nini. which I think is a beautiful parallel, looking back on it, to when Ricky didn’t try and convince Gina to stay in slc and not do the movie because he’d already had an experience with nini where he did tell her that and she completely fumbled and freaked out. which, understandable, whatever. That’s her. But the thing is, that’s what gina wants. Gina wants to be set apart from nini, Gina is completely different from nini and in this episode she’s trying to tell him that (which she’s right, bc nini did not like it at all when Ricky revealed he’d talked to miss Jenn about getting nini in the show, but the fact remains is that Gina said she’d be flattered but said “I’m not nini and we’re not dating” to try and tell Ricky that maybe that’s not what nini wants). Gina is telling him that the things that work for her are not going to work for nini because they are two different people and their relationships - both romantic and platonic, current and future - are entirely different. which is so profound and beautiful when you compare that to Ricky’s aversion of change and you see how nini and Ricky’s relationship began to fail because Ricky was using things Gina had told him all along. which is kind of emotional cheating but wtv. anyways, the fact that Ricky was dating the person he was “most comfortable with” but using the girl who represents change’s advice is something I just love. And I’m sure I’m not explaining it well, so if anyone sees this and wants to add/explain better pls do.

season three: episode five - the real campers of shallow lake

okay I absolutely love this episode and not just because of the rina content. everything about the drama between Maddox and jet to portwell drama to Ashlyn and Val and obviously Ricky angst and feisty gina makes this episode so 💋 but obviously, I’m here to talk about the what do you know about love duet. Which Ricky/josh and Gina/sofia ABSOLUTELY SLAPPED and I gave them a standing ovation as soon as it was finished. because this was EVERYTHING. Kourtney’s clear approval, Val’s interpretation of the whole thing, their freaking history, Carlos’s encouragement, ej’s uncomfortableness, it’s all perfection. their playful banter, their voices, this being their first duet, ugh it does things to me. And the fact that it really does represent gina as anna and Ricky as Kristoff seeing that Gina is in a brand new relationship and thinks everything is rainbows and butterflies while Ricky, who has only experienced love where he has to work for the other person and strive to make things work instead of it being more effortless and easy (as rina are later) is amazing and beautiful. I could explain this more later but I don’t want to run out of room so if you want to know more, lmk. and also the “rebound” afterwards where RICKY APOLOGIZES FOR HIS INTENSITY KNOWING GI WAS EQUALLY AS INTENSE because he knows something is up with ej. but he wants to be there for gi. He wants her first relationship to go well, and he defends her to ej as well telling him that she’s just tired and coming down from the rehearsal. watch out world, Ricky Bowen will defend Gina Porter with his entire being.

season four: episode five - admissions

AGHHHHHHHHHH this episode lowkey might be my favorite of the entire series. but then again I loved every moment of every episode so I won’t say that. But this episode is MONUMENTAL for both Gina and Ricky and especially in their relationship. Gina finally opens up to her mom abt her and Ricky, Ricky opens up to ej about his fears and confronts his tendency to hide when things go wrong, and it all culminates in a beautiful second chance confession rain kiss spin hug. UGH, Tim, my FRICKIN HEART! I really do love the conversation between ej and Ricky because they truly are brothers and besties. ej truly helps Ricky so so much. And I could have a whole conversation about their conversation and all the ways it is beautiful but I won’t. Gina, meanwhile, is coming to the realization that Ricky is her inspiration and Ricky is the reason why she is happy. Ricky Bowen makes her the happiest she has ever been and it physically hurts her that her mother does not know this (it hurt me, as a viewer!) and the beautiful second chance playing as Ricky sees Mack and Gina and turns away~ it really shows that 02x12 really was about Gina all along, it was never about lilly. it was always Gina. nobody else ever stood a chance.

[innerlandlight]

⚠️DO NOT COPY!!

Okay so, this goes to the character that deserved better. The author did her dirty and that evil author didn't gave her, her own book

Maya's diary

Dear diary,

Today is my and Mia's birthday. We usually have a big party for our birthday but this time, there's no party. Its been 3 months since Pratt came and revealed what happened with Mia's kidnapping and now Mia cut ties with me, well not completely but I think she would completely cut me off after some time. So to prevent that I would decorate her locker. I've got all the supplies for doing that. I hope she atleast talks to me.

So, it didn't work, she tore off the decorations and walked away with her new friends. She is friends with the elites now. She hangs out with Annika and her friends. I told mom about it, she told me to give her space. Mia says that I hated Landon because if they both started dating, then I wouldn't be able to control Mia. THATS NOT TRUE!!!! I hated Landon because of what he did to Killian and Niko. Mia says that I didn't care for her, Landon did and that I stayed with her because of guilt. Yes, it was guilt but I cared for her. I wanted to protect her from Pratt. That's why I followed her rules. She controlled me, if I didn't do things according to her she would punish me and her punishments were worse. I don't know how to tell everyone that I was abused by Pratt. I guess I should not tell them because they will think that I am doing all this for sympathy. They will think that I am playing the victim card and they'll hate me. I don't want that. I hope everything will be alright. I hope everyone will love me.

Ps: This is my first time writing. I hope it's good 🥹

[lgcjinyoung]

i'll do a proper plotcall later that I will pin. For now please like this post if you'd want a random starter based on song titles in my million songs void playlist! <3 i'd love to get more threads going for jinyoung :3

Call Capped. Thank you for your support <3

[skyland2703]

…ok so I got inspired <3

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Thesis in the tags

[sleepless-winter-nights]

Chapters: 1/4 Fandom: Legacy of Gods - Rina Kent Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Brandon King/Nikolai Sokolov (Legacy of Gods), Landon King/Mia Sokolov, Jeremy Volkov/Cecily Knight, Eli King/Ava Nash, remington astor/ ariella nash, glyndon king/ killian carson Characters: Brandon King (Legacy of Gods), Nikolai Sokolov (Legacy of Gods), Landon King (Legacy of God's), Cecily Knight, Jeremy Volkov, Eli King, ava nash Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hurt No Comfort, Heavy Angst, Angst and Feels, Sibling Bonding, Family Loss, unspoken love confession, Suicide Attempt, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Self-Harm, Old memories, Dreamscapes, Dreams vs. Reality, Character Death, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping Summary:

Canon divergence to the book with an alternative ending to chapter 36

Even after everything, after every desperate attempt , they were unable to save him And with him gone, something inside Nikolai also died that day. Nothing stayed the same after that, even if it appears like nothing's changed With him gone, Landon also died a little

[canon-can-fight-me]

Slimer, Snacks and Spengler

Word Count: 1165 (Yikes!)

The Ghostbusters are hosting a ghost exhibition Halloween Party, and Kaiyo and Spengler get snack duty.

Thanks to @bobmckenzie for letting me mention your s/i and Louis in here!! I love your art and your ship with him so much 🤍

Notes: Mention of alcohol, characters have a few sips. Egon and Kaiyo’s relationship is not clearly defined, but there’s something there. I don’t know what this is, I just wanted to write some Halloween vibes.

“Remember to save some for the partygoers.”

Kaiyo looked down to see Egon’s fingers brush hers, an attempt to pry the snickers bar from her clutches.

“We both agreed to have one.” She protested.

“That’s your second one.”

She paused, snapping out of what she would almost call a snickers induced trance. Sure, the others were unlikely to tell if two, maybe even four candies were missing from the batch, but Egon had said that if they allowed themselves more, two would turn into five, and so on. So, they had to set some limitations.

“Y’know, I think you just wanted an excuse to hold my hand.” She teased, attempting to distract him. “Or, you just wanted the candy bar for yourself.”

He couldn’t help but blush. “Neither of those theories are true. Besides,” he reached behind her and grabbed the Snickers wrapper she was hiding behind her, holding it up with two fingers. “I don’t need an excuse. The evidence is right here.”

Kaiyo grimaced. For some reason, everyone had collectively agreed that she and Egon would be in charge of snacks and drinks. Ray and Janine were on decorating duty, Winston and Peter were setting up the ghost exhibits and spreading the word. Louis was in charge of entertainment, which really just meant asking if his girlfriend Caitie and her band would play at the party. Kaiyo remembered him busting into the firehouse gushing like a lovesick puppy about how amazing their performance would be, and how he was really excited to show Caitie all around the firehouse after the show.

That left her and Spengler in charge of snacks. Again, a choice Kaiyo didn’t understand, as they were probably the last two people you would want to leave alone with a bunch of sweets. Nevertheless, the two managed to resist temptation and began to pour two large bags of assorted candies into a shiny plastic cauldron they had picked out at the store, before moving on to prepare the drinks.

“This kinda reminds me of the parties we used to have in elementary school,” Kaiyo remarked as she began to pour the drinks into green plastic cups.

“—Pouring alcohol?” Egon quipped, pointing to the bottle of vodka in hand. Kaiyo laughed.

“Of course not. Besides, these are for the guests. I’m not planning to drink more than a few sips tonight. I was talking about the excitement that comes with Halloween parties.” She glanced up at him.

“Did you guys have those at your school?”

Egon nodded. “A few times. I never dressed up, but I did enjoy the candy. It wasn’t something I was able to eat often.”

Kaiyo was suddenly reminded of a conversation she had overheard about half a slinky and furrowed her brows. She knew he probably didn’t want to talk about his childhood, so she decided to volunteer more information about hers. After all, while Egon thoroughly enjoyed talking to her about various topics, he was a pretty good listener too.

“You know,” she said, adding some syrup to the drinks, “One time I wanted to dress up as a ghost. I had just seen It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! for the first time and I was dying—pun not intended—to be a ghost. I got an old linen sheet from the attic and cut holes in it. More than I needed too ‘cause I wanted to go as Charlie Brown’s rendition specifically.”

“Interesting. Almost a premonition to your current career choice. Why did you want to go as Charlie Brown?”

She shrugged, feigning nonchalance, but her stiff body language told a different story.

“My ‘friends’ told me that I was the ‘Charlie Brown’ in the group. At the time I saw it as a compliment. But looking back, it was just their way of telling me I was never going to fit in.”

Egon clenched his jaw, sliding his hand over hers. She wasn’t often solemn like this, and he wasn’t exactly sure how to best comfort her. But for her, he wanted to try.

“I hope you realize that’s more of an insult to them than it is to you.”

“Y-Yeah,” she replied, head still downcast. “But enough about them. I was more upset by the fact that my parents were pissed I ruined a perfectly good sheet, and I wasn’t even allowed to wear the costume because it ‘violated the school dress code’ or whatever.” She chuckled, and Egon couldn’t help but let out a small sigh of relief that he had somewhat succeeded in making her feel better.

Kaiyo shook her head and grinned. “Enough about that, though. Are you gonna help me with these, or what?”

“Oh, right. Of course.” He peered at the contents on the table.

“What exactly is next?” He asked. “I’ve never mixed drinks before.”

His knowledge of the culinary arts was pretty bare bones. He could cook a decent meal for himself, sure, but in college he and Ray had mainly survived on ramen with the occasional take out. And whereas he probably could have learned to mix drinks at college parties, the ones Venkman had dragged he and Raymond to ended in him leaving almost immediately.

“Don’t worry, I’m basically done with these. But you gotta help me add the dry ice when the guests come. In the meantime…” she picked up a glass, peering curiously at the shimmery lime liquid. “Can you add some to this one? I wanna try it.”

“Certainly.” As he prepared to take out the ice with tongs, he couldn’t help but notice Kaiyo bouncing on her heels out of the corner of his eye. While he was pretty indifferent to the holiday itself, he had to admit he was growing a more positive attitude to it than an indifferent one. After all, it was something that made her happy.

He carefully plopped the ice into the drink, the instant smoke reminding him of the absurd amount the ghost traps produced. Kaiyo didn’t seem to share the same thoughts though, as she placed the glass down and looked at it, eyes wide.

“Cool!”

“It’s frozen carbon dioxide.”

“Like I said. Cool.”

He smiled. “I never said it wasn’t cool.”

Taking a tentative sip, Kaiyo winced, recoiling.

“Agh, I think I’ll stick to just looking at it. Maybe Slimer can finish it.”

“Do you really think giving him alcohol is the best idea?”

Kaiyo shrugged. “Won’t know unless we test for results. Right, Doc?”

“…You two done in here?” Venkman leaned in the doorframe, already in his choice of costume for the night. His slightly muffled speech told the pair that he already had his fake fangs in place.

“Yep!” Kaiyo handed her drink to Venkman. “Wanna try the drink we made? Egie and I are gonna go put on our costumes.”

The couple walked out of the room, while Peter stared into the liquid, taking a tentative sip. Walking into the next room, he snuck it into the glass cage Slimer was being kept in for the party.

“Drink up, bud.”

[crescenttwins]

Excited to share my work for Stormbreaker: A Beidou zine, which is now in leftover sales!!

[T, Yakuza!Beidou] The Qixing pretend yakuza don't exist in order to keep up their image... until there's a mole in the Qixing that Ningguang needs Beidou to hunt down.

🔗https://archiveofourown.org/works/51888097

[rinas-ninjas]

Life as you know it depends on the ground beneath your feet.

No, really. The food you like, the fruits and vegetables and animals that make your favorite dishes. Unless you exclusively eat seaweed and fish and nothing else - you need earth. Rich earth, bursting with the forgotten life of organisms from before. Packed earth, strong and sturdy and nearly impenetrable to the wear of wheels on its surface.

Thank the first for earth.

I think everyone knows how important water is (70% of the human body, anyone?) and lightning (don’t you like wifi?) is. But it’s so easy to forget the earth.

I could never forget the earth.

Even if the earth forgot me.

[g-on-ef]

Born Sinner

First chapter of Born Sinner is up hope you guys like it ^^

If you guys would like to support me my writing here's my kofi thank you 🫶🏼

[lokislytherin]

streamer daniel au?

ok so i’m a vtuber watcher right. i Get the parasocial thing. lemme get to it im just gonna make this in bullet points

1) daniel is a streamer: he’s wannabe pro gamer! went from “i’m gonna game and beat up enemies as stress relief bc i get bullied irl” as a middle schooler to a high schooler being like “actually i can make some good money out of this” bc he got a growth spurt and went from og daniel to current daniel, his real name is park hyungseok (they all use their korean names) but he streams under the name ‘daniel’ and wears a mask to prevent being completely doxxed. it was beomjae’s idea bc you can’t tell me he’s also a gamer (he and daniel are a lot closer in this bc 1) jay does not go to the same skl 2) vasco and jinsung are not gamers and they both want Gamer Bros yk and daniel is hilarious when he malds he daipans and everything and beomjae has the time of his life watching daniel scream at npcs)

2) daniel uses pet names a lot: he calls people baby, sweetheart, honey, jagiya bc he’s a pretty boy and fansa pays SO WELL. he also does bfe sometimes so imagine he’s like vox akuma from nijisanji en fourth wave luxiem. hot guy with a smooth, comforting voice calls you baby. i’d be dead in seconds. people like lala kim eat that shit up

3) you know who also eats that up? hong jaeyeol. bc he’s gay and daniel is like The hot guy who coincidentally plays the same video games as jaeyeol (who games bc he’s a hikikomori loser /j), it starts from jaeyeol going “yo jaehye look there’s a guy who plays this game too i’m not the only one” to “o fuck he made me a mod bc i helped him bonk the backseaters” to “he. he just called me baby. excuse me im gonna pass out” (’jace’ is daniel’s other mod. the duality of having nice mod ‘asdf’ (jaeyeol) and mean mod ‘jacepogg’ (beomjae))

4) they graduate from high school and they end up at the same uni (STEM major jay? med jay? law jay? poll needed? + compsci major jace + business major daniel, they’re all in the same free elective (still unknown) with the rest of the j high gang) and hyungseok catches jaeyeol playing the video game (bc he’s bored, he’s just taking this for the credits he alr knows all the content) and he’s like “YO. you’re good” and jaeyeol’s like !!!!! bc those are daniel’s eyes?? is this guy daniel?? daniel his ‘celeb’ crush is sitting next to him??

5) they become friends and at some point jaeyeol casually reveals he’s a yt mod for a gamer and hyungseok like wait. WAIT. and the reveal actually happens bc daniel’s mod ‘asdf’ and hyungseok’s bestie hong jaeyeol text the same way + react the same way to being called pet names

[27emailsicantsend]

When do you think Ricky started liking Gina? Do you believe he liked her while dating Nini? When do you think he realized he liked Gina given that he said he let her slip through his fingers? It seems as though he knew he had a shot with her and didn’t take it.

I love this so much, thank you anon. :)

I think Ricky liked Gina from the moment she kissed him in the car. I have seen some speculation about what the Rina cue is. I and so many others thought it was just for Rina moments.. but I think the speculation is right. It’s a direct callback to HSM2 (you are the music in me). Being the music in someone is the love you have for them. That person lights you up and makes you feel something special. That’s what the entire song is about. Every time the Rina cue comes, it’s because Ricky feels something… the music… inside him. He has a moment that shows something big just happened for him. The first cue? In the car when she kisses his cheek. And you can see it. His face says it all. The way his eyes go wide and he shakes his head and smiles. You don’t need him to say it out loud- he likes her. I think there was maybe a little spark or something before because he mentions in the car he stayed in the show for her and he got defensive with Gina on the date with EJ. He even said he felt like Gina got him at Homecoming. This was ALL before the rina cue. But I think when the cue happened was when Ricky finally acknowledged and understood he liked her. TBH I think it was a lot like Ashlyn and Val’s moment with the fireworks.

I absolutely think there were feelings there while he dated Nini. Think about the timeline: he just got back together with Nini. She leaves and Gina comes in and says if she wasn’t leaving, she wouldn’t give up on them. Then Ashlyn gets the idea well after that to let Gina stay. Somewhere between the play and Christmas, Gina moved in with Ashlyn and she told the cast she was staying. This put Ricky in a tough position. He has these feelings for Gina and where he just got a girlfriend not only would it be inappropriate for him to say he wouldn’t give up on Gina too, but it would also be HELLA awkward for him to go back to Nini and tell her “never mind” after that big “I love you” speech. Also, as much as Ricky liked Gina, I think he worked SO HARD for Nini he didn’t want to let her go. Especially after seeing everything else in his life change (like seeing his mom’s boyfriend THAT NIGHT), he probably was holding onto the one thing that was stable: Nini. Gina could have been leaving, his parents were everywhere, Nini offered to stay and he knew Gina was out of the picture so, as he said himself, “I don’t know… with Gina leaving… it’s different… maybe I’m back to who I always was”. Gina leaving was the catalyst to him dating Nini because it meant stability and boy oh boy was he attracted to stability.

But, here’s the kicker: Gina stayed. So now Ricky is in a catch 22. Does he risk it all for Gina? Does he stay with Nini, the constant? Well… Nini left too. The last hope he had. So now, the one thing he thought wouldn’t change, wouldn’t leave, left. So, he reverts back to old Ricky. Trying every thing he possibly can to cling onto this thing he thought was a constant. And while Gina still continued to show up and while his feelings were there (as demonstrated in Valentine’s Day and in the snowstorm episode with how much he tried to talk to her, playing off the chocolates, feeling uncomfortable talking about Nini to her and in front of her [shushing her at his house when Nini called]), he wasn‘t going to let that constant go. His break up with Nini was SO important because it wasn’t just with her… he was breaking up with an old version of himself. That’s why his song he made on the piano was such a big moment for him over break, because it meant he finally was “letting go”. Of Nini, his need for consistency, his old self.

But, once he reconciled that part of him, the person he still was holding onto was gone. The next episode is the one where Carlos talks about EJ making eyes at Gina and Ricky goes, “Gina??” I think he saw Gina was staying, he wasn’t pursuing Nini anymore, now he could go back to the girl who had his heart since S1: Gina. But uh-oh! She’s taken by EJ now. So why try? So he finds the next promising thing: Lily. He’s started to accept change but doesn’t know what to do with it so it’s like he’s a total yo-yo and finds the biggest out of character person for him to date. Like he was embracing too much change. But then that doesn’t work out, so he realizes he just wants to accept what comes and do what is best for him (the song before he shows up at camp). He’s finally free of all his old patterns. So, with that in mind he just wants to be happy. Summer of fun! Right? Well, those unresolved feelings for Gina (as Carlos said) creeped right back in. They never left, but they were buried, came back up after Nini, then quickly buried again because of EJ and not talking to Gina. Now he and Gina are back to their S1 dynamics and starting over and he doesn’t have any distractions romantically, he’s embracing change, but not too much change (like Lily). Interesting he’s finding a “balance”…sound like anyone else we know this season? And guess who just happens to be there when he is at his best self? Gina. There’s nothing to distract or derail him from his feelings and that makes them even stronger and deeper than before. That’s why we keep seeing the rina cue SO MUCH and even twice this last episode. He can’t do anything to hold the feelings off and because Gina isn’t totally invested in EJ and spending a lot of time with Ricky (instead of ignoring him like 2B), those rina cues, those feelings, become more deep and profound.

Ricky let her slip through his fingers the night he chose Nini. Opening night he let her walk away because he thought she was gone for good. Now he blames himself for something that realistically, was kind of unavoidable. Honestly? I’m glad he didn’t choose her that night. I think they both needed to see what they didn’t want in order to know what they DO want. They needed to go through every single possible scenario that could be an argument against Rina and still come out stronger. They’re the couple that beats the odds and will meet each other at their best. And that is some beautiful, beautiful writing on Tim’s part.

Thank you for coming to my tedx talk.