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markantonys · 2 years

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towers of midnight prologue-chapter 16

the opening quote is from loial’s book about rand!!!! which must therefore get finished and published!! i feel like a proud mother!!!

graendal DID escape! you can’t keep a girlboss down. i suspected she might have because it seemed too anticlimactic an end and No Body No Death (honestly i kept suspecting sammael wasn’t really gonna be dead since iirc rand balefired him from somewhat of a distance and didn’t really see him go down, but then i think moridin confirmed that sammael was balefired and is beyond resurrection), but i wasn’t sure how it could’ve been possible - turned out that it was actually aran’gar and delana who did the compulsion on the guy rand sent in and they were balefired, thus undoing the compulsion.

i love how everyone keeps saying “we must march for the last battle” and then they just set right out for it. like, where are you going? nobody sent out invites for the date, time, and place of the last battle. are y’all just gonna show up at shayol ghul and hope for the best?

we catch up with galad, who’s leading 7,000 whitecloaks through a swamp. “i refuse to feel [the swamp’s] bite, for i am proud.” proud of being a fuckin whitecloak?

“valda’s misdeeds had tarnished the entire order.” you mean more than they’d already tarnished themselves by being a whole organization dedicated to persecuting channelers?

“doing what was right was the most important thing in life.” then why are you a fuckin whitecloak?

“the children have met...hostility [in andor].” as they should!

“light send that elayne held the lion throne.” she does and she will kick you and your friends’ asses for being fuckin whitecloaks. good luck getting sanctuary from her!

okay it’s out of my system now. (update from rereading this after having finished writing the whole post: [narrator voice] it was not out of her system.) i do like galad but i think that he deserves 100x more bullying than gawyn does and yet he gets 100x less, so i have to even it out!

but for some equal opportunity bullying: “light send that [elayne] had escaped the tangles of the aes sedai, though he feared the worst.” trakand brothers realize that elayne is an intelligent adult capable of making her own decisions challenge.

“there were many who would use her as a pawn, al’thor not the least of them.” hey! show your double brother (half-brother and brother-in-law) some respect! “she was headstrong and that could make her easy to manipulate.” as opposed to you, galad, the absolute pinnacle of wisdom and worldliness. i’m certain nobody has ever found YOU easy to manipulate!

“to abandon the children now, after killing their leader, would be wrong.” actually it would be right because then they would be in chaos and could be wiped out! “it’s as simple as that to you, isn’t it?” “it should be as simple as that to anyone.” well SOMETIMES i like galad, other times he is too holier-than-thou for my tastes. lawful good characters don’t tend to be my cup of tea. or lawful anything characters. i love my neutrals and chaotics.

in conclusion, i’m here to report Yet Again that everything about galad’s whitecloak storyline hits VERY different for a show-first person, and i’m wondering how the show could ever make the audience not despise him for the rest of the show’s run after he joins them lmao that’ll be interesting to see. like, i can only retain respect and affection for book!galad by separating the book!whitecloaks (largely nonthreatening buffoons with a hidden evil sector that galad didn’t find out about until much later) from the show!whitecloaks - who might be set up in that same way where galad and the average whitecloak is unaware of valda and co’s crimes, but since the audience was introduced to valda and co first and not “regular” whitecloaks, that’ll be a hard sell.

fain pov talks about Worms. what the fuck are these Worms. i don’t want to know but i will surely find out soon.

i almost forgot that fain got the dagger from the tower and still has it. so maybe mat’s dagger plotline does indeed have more left to come! i kinda wish it was already wrapped up tho, mat has too much on his plate (despite having spent several books dicking around on a circus roadtrip). rj planning the books was like “rand gets the chosen one storyline and all it entails, mat gets the dagger and the horn of valere and luck and ancient memories and military strategy skills and a whole army and the aelfinn & eelfinn and the seanchan and a prophecy hero/villain romance, perrin gets uhhhh [shuffles through notes to see what’s left] wolves i guess” lmao i would love it if the show took the same approach as @butterflydm’s fic series and gave the horn to perrin (since it seems he’ll be on the hunt for the horn in s2 and mat won’t) because mat has way too many Things going on and should offload some to perrin who doesn’t have enough! but idk how likely that is since i think the average book fan would riot if show!mat didn’t get to blow the horn (which, okay i’m sure it’ll be relevant again at the last battle and maybe i’ll eat my words then, but so far it’s been such a tiny part of mat’s storyline that i don’t understand why people are so attached to it)

me: ugh i don’t care about this random farmer me finding out that this random farmer was the guy who gave rand and mat a ride on his cart during the Great Cauthor Roadtrip:

as seen here and with hurin’s reappearance last book, all you have to do to get an emotional reaction out of me is to connect something to The Good Old Days!

rand’s giving some real jesus vibes in this scene. just wandering up out of nowhere dressed in ragged clothes, causing miracles, dropping some cryptic yet comforting words of wisdom for the times ahead, making those who see him feel oddly safe and at peace.

but god rand is so funny here. the farmer’s like hey did you get lost in the mountains and rand says, “no. i’m not lost. finally. it feels like a great long time since i’ve understood the path before me.” and then the farmer says that if rand was hoping to hunt then he went the wrong way because there’s nothing back there of use and rand says, “i wouldn’t say that. there are always things of use around, if you look closely enough. you can’t stare at them too long. to learn but not be overwhelmed, that is the balance.” like bro jdkjfgh you need some refresher lessons in how to interact with normal people in a normal way. he went from darth rand straight to jesus rand and did not stop on any middle ground.

“you’re him, aren’t you? the one they’re talking about?” “it is likely. men are often speaking of me.” because men are obsessed with him and want to fuck him and he knows it.

“meeting those eyes, almen felt a strange sense of peace.” just the opposite of how everybody felt meeting rand’s eyes pre-epiphany!

galad wakes up imprisoned in asunawa’s camp and discovers that - offscreen - asunawa & co have been murdered by whitecloaks loyal to galad and he is now officially lord captain commander. too easy a victory but the last battle is coming so things have gotta move along.

“galad didn’t feel wise or strong enough to bear the title he did.” as if lord captain commander of the whitecloaks is a title that deserves any respect whatsoever. “but the children had made their decision. the light would protect them for it.” no actually i hope the light DOESN’T protect them.

i continue to be frustrated that galad’s “joining an organization whose entire ideology is based around considering people like his mother and sister darkfriends who must be eradicated” plotline resolved in “galad leading that organization and handily removing the few corrupt guys whereas the rest are good actually” instead of “galad realizes the entire organization is fucked up and destroys it from the inside” but whatever

i WILL say that later on perrin notes that all the “good” whitecloaks do smell rabid/crazy/whatever and galad is The Only One who smells normal, so maaaaaaaaybe there is still hope for galad to finally wake up the rest of the way and destroy the organization for good? but i won’t hold my breath.

“[egwene] stepped into her dream, and into [gawyn’s] embrace. they stood in a small stone-walled room shaped like her study in the tower, yet decorated like the common room of her father’s inn. gawyn was dressed in sturdy two rivers woolens and did not wear his sword. a more simple life. it could not be hers, but she could dream...” 😭 egwene has always been the most ready, nay EAGER, of the ef5 to accept her duty and leave dreams of a simple life behind, so it really Gets me when she feels wistful for that simple life!

egwene has a prophetic dream that tells her that something terrible could happen if she doesn’t find mesaana and stop her. i could’ve told you that without a prophetic dream jdfkg

saerin has a scar on her face whose origins she’s never been willing to explain. mesaana???

RAND IS AT THE TOWER TO SEE EGWENE!!!!!! REUNION TIME!!!!

apparently siuan has the Talent of seeing ta’veren? did we know that already? then why didn’t she make moiraine become amyrlin and go dragon reborn hunting herself if she can see ta’veren so easily?

upon finding out siuan bonded bryne as a warder, rand’s only response is “elayne will be interested to hear of that.” ❤️❤️

rand asks what kind of amyrlin egwene is: “‘she’s an incredible one,’ siuan said. ‘one of the greatest we’ve had, for all the fact that she’s only held the seat a short time.’ he smiled again. ‘i should have expected nothing less.’” ❤️❤️❤️

rand gets a mysterious sealed letter from an aes sedai named tiana. oh my god i bet it’s another one of the mysterious For Reeling In Ta’veren letters from verin like the one she gave mat!!! i can only conclude that rand’s instructions from verin will be “marry mat” just as mat’s will be “marry rand”

“‘rand,’ egwene said, softening her tone. ‘i’m going to have some sisters talk to you to determine if there is anything...wrong with you. please try to understand.’” egwene talks to rand for 10 seconds and immediately realizes he needs to see a mental health professional jkfg god bless her

“there didn’t seem to be madness in his eyes. she knew those eyes. she knew rand. light, she thought. i’m wrong. i can’t think of him only as the dragon reborn. i’m here for a reason. he’s here for a reason. to me, he must be rand. because rand can be trusted, while the dragon reborn must be feared.” ❤️❤️❤️

“she looked at him and remembered the youth that he had been. the earnest young man. not solemn like perrin, but not wild like mat. solid, straightforward. the type of man you could trust with anything. even the fate of the world.” ❤️❤️❤️

overall, the reunion was far more positive than i had feared! egwene’s recent empathy for and understanding of rand has carried through to seeing him again in person, and Jesus Rand was very calm and respectful of egwene’s authority and of being in her center of power. the only snag was that rand told her he’s going to break the seals and needs her help, and egwene understandably thinks that’s a horrible idea (especially since rand was just like “we’re gonna break the seals and replace them, but i have no idea how to do this. figure it out by next month. bye!” lmao no wonder egwene is skeptical). could be setting up for a larger clash later. but i’m excited at the prospect of male and female channelers fiiiiinally working together!! the dragon reborn and the amyrlin seat!! my foils and co-protagonists!! and oooh egwene knows how to make cuendillar so maybe she can make new seals for the prison when they clear away the old ones!

“‘[rand] might be persuaded [against breaking the seals] by people that he trusts.’ or he might be forced to change his mind if confronted by a large enough group united to stop him. it was now more vital that she speak with elayne and nynaeve.” bold of you to assume that the narrative will ever grant elayne 5 minutes to talk to rand, egwene 😔

“‘but the witches are evil!’ ‘perhaps,’ galad said. once, he might have denied that. but listening to the other Children, and considering what those at tar valon had done to his sister, was making him think he might be too soft on the aes sedai.” forget what i said about liking galad, he sucks actually. he had his day in the sun when he killed valda and then immediately squandered my affections.

“the questioners are at fault.” “part of the blame is theirs. but it is also because those who would do evil look with disgust and resentment upon those who stand for what is right.” oh, there i was thinking galad was about to admit that the non-questioner whitecloaks also share blame, but no, of course, it is the fault of evildoers who resent them for being so pure and good! once again, coming from my show-first impression of whitecloaks, it’s just sickening to read a “good” guy saying this shit about them and believing it wholeheartedly.

and he has THE NERVE to cite helpful lessons from morgase when he knows full well that the whitecloaks see her as a darkfriend!!!

“we follow no queen or king.” “yes, and that frightens monarchs. i grew up in the court of andor. i know how my mother regarded the Children.” i think. maybe. just a hypothesis. but MAYBE morgase hated the whitecloaks because they are dedicated to persecuting women like her and her daughter, not just because they don’t report to any monarch. JUST a THOUGHT here, galad.

“my mother was no darkfriend.” “excepting her, of course.” of course galad is not prejudiced against channelers! his mom is a channeler and he likes her, thank you very much! it’s just all the other ones who are darkfriends!

“and yet there was such a thing as being too zealous.” galad saying that about someone else, bitch look in a mirror!

can’t believe GAWYN is the hated trakand boy. his only crime is being kinda dumb! at least he never joined a religious extremist group and grew to genuinely believe all their bullshit! at least he only thinks aes sedai are annoying and untrustworthy, not straight up evil! fuck galad all my homies hate galad. i hope elayne and morgase beat his ass if/when they see him again.

thankfully, we now return to the superior trakand boy. he is investigating a string of murders in the white tower which egwene later reveals are most likely mesaana’s work. gawyn describes a man as handsome without adding “to women” to qualify it #BiGawynRights

the handsome man is the captain of the tower guard who seems hostile to gawyn in a way gawyn doesn’t understand, but then he figures out that the guy feels threatened that gawyn’s gunning for his job and so gawyn takes a moment to let him know, in a subtle way that won’t reveal gawyn’s noticed he’s insecure or anything, that all he wants is to be egwene’s warder. respectful king!

“gawyn forced himself to keep his temper. once, that hadn’t been nearly so hard.” rand parallels!

speaking of rand, “in his heart, gawyn wanted to meet al’thor with sword in hand and ram steel through him, dragon reborn or not.” [michael scott voice] that’s what she said. “al’thor would rip you apart with the one power, he told himself. you’re being foolish, gawyn trakand. his hatred of al’thor continued to smolder anyway.” smoooooolder. i want you all to know that gawyn is smoooooldering and unable to think straight on account of rand. gawyn wants his Homoerotic Duel with rand so bad and yet if/when they actually meet rand’s just gonna be like “aw hello brother-in-law!” and not care at all. funniest dynamic in the world.

i suppose i can see why people think the gawyn romance is a waste of egwene’s time and only hinders the Hot Girl Shit she’s trying to accomplish, but i for one enjoy it and find it very interesting! i like seeing a different side to our resident Career Woman, seeing how she struggles to balance her personal and professional lives. heart vs. duty is a theme i’m all about! i agree that not every character and particularly not every female character needs a love interest, but i also hate the modern-day fandom narrative (not necessarily WOT fandom, but in general) that Strong Female Characters™ are made less by having love interests. and like, it is so clearly gawyn who is egwene’s love interest and not the reverse jkfjg so that’s excellent. and also, after seeing how SOME characters in this series just roll over for their love interest and become an entirely different person to please them (sideeyes min and mat), it’s refreshing to see egwene and gawyn both refusing to compromise on who they are and what they want, even if it would make getting into a relationship with the other person easier. so much of this is exactly what we could and should have gotten with rand and elayne, with all their political clashes and sometimes-conflicting duties and burdens of leadership and issues of wearing one face in private and another in public (“the amyrlin cannot be served by those who refuse to see her authority” “but isn’t it important to have people who know you for yourself and not the title?”), so i’m glad to get it here since i was deprived of it for randlayne.

graendal is now hiding out in a dank cave. “everyone knew that graendal could not stand a lack of luxury. that was true. but the best part about being predictable was that it allowed you to do the unexpected.” once again i am saying that graendal is the stealth most competent and dangerous forsaken (except for moridin i guess). female characters who make everyone think they’re just dumb bimbos but are secretly incredibly cunning are my kryptonite! unfortunate for rand that he didn’t actually kill her, but story-wise i’m glad a bad bitch didn’t go down so easily and anticlimactically!

graendal talking about the Pain Of Soul that rand’s balefiring of the whole fortress will cause him: “semirhage had been corrupt to the bone from the start. but others of them had taken different paths to the shadow, including ishamael. she could see the memories, so distant, in moridin’s eyes...yes, he knew exactly what al’thor was feeling.” is this a crumb of Ishamael Tragic Backstory???? man i reeeaaaaaally hope the show does a lot more with forsaken backstories and actually shows us what they were like before they became evil, and especially their friendships with lews therin and the pain of that betrayal. i want my feelings to be hurt!

“it will break al’thor, ruin him, if he loses aybara.” aww even the shadow knows they’re besties 🥺

“during the first weeks following her silent abdication, she’d hoped to find a way to return to andor, so she could be a resource for elayne. however, the more she’d considered it, the more she’d realized that she had to stay away. everyone in andor had to assume that morgase was dead. each queen had to make her own way, and elayne might seem a puppet to her own mother if morgase returned. beyond that, morgase had made many enemies before leaving.” noooooo i need my full morgase-elayne-gawyn reunion!!!! (i have rescinded galad's invite to the family reunion, and he doesn’t deserve to be rand’s brother either)

it’s so heartbreaking that morgase still has no idea that gaebril was a forsaken and that she was under compulsion, and thinks just the same as everyone else that she only became a fool for a man

lan being followed by the other borderlanders nynaeve sent after him:

“trollocs in the two rivers?” it’s more likely than you think

we’re setting up to finally resolve perrin vs. the whitecloaks and i truly could not care less. oh, i should mention that perrin’s had quite a bit of pov so far and i just haven’t commented on it bc i have absolutely nothing to say about it jkfg i know some people love the wolf stuff but i was never into it, to me perrin’s wolves and whitecloaks plotlines are just about as boring as the faile kidnapping plotline.

number of women whom mat, in this one chapter alone, spends a paragraph describing how hot they are and then hastily reassuring us that he has no interest in them since he’s a married man now and claiming that he’s only checking them out in order to be a wingman for various friends who aren’t even with him at the moment: 4. he’s gonna cheat on tuon so fast it’s unreal, and good for him

“mat would have given her his best smile - there was not a woman he had met who did not melt for his best smile” not mat doing the exact same thing he complains that elayne allegedly always does! i love it

“he had sent word to [elayne] but had not gotten a reply. how was that for gratitude? by his count, he had saved her life twice. once should have been enough to reduce her to tears and kisses, but he had not seen even a peck on the cheek. not that he wanted one.” JSKDJFGK mat is SO desperate for kisses from elayne!! and so sulky that he has yet to receive any! don’t worry mat, she AND rand are very appreciative of you and will both give you so many kisses when you see them again.

“there was no avoiding royalty now! not for him. at least tuon was pretty. and good at playing stones. and very keen of wit, good for talking to” mat, have you considered: elayne is all of those things as well and also has the advantage of not being evil? also lmao at mat claiming tuon is good to talk to??? footage not found

“that siege was over now, and a new queen - the right queen - held the throne.” mat would have been elayne’s #1 supporter and her loyal captain-general i’m so mad!!

“for once, there had been a battle and he had missed it...an entire war had been fought over the lion throne, and not one arrow, blade, or spear had entered the conflict seeking matrim cauthon’s heart.” now you’re just rubbing it in that mat Should Have Been part of that plotline but wasn’t!

mat and thom are wondering who could possibly make them a gateway to the tower of ghenjei if verin doesn’t come back. elayne is right here! you know she can make gateways! tho of course at the current moment elayne hasn’t replied to mat’s letters and he’s fretting that she might never invite him to talk to her.

“for an aes sedai, i kind of like verin” awww mat!

“talking to [norry, who’d given the band permission to camp near caemlyn] meant elayne knew mat was here. she had to. but she had sent no greetings, no acknowledgment that she owed mat her skin.” mat is so desperate to see her!

“he had a slight fondness for teslyn, against his better judgment” “‘remember, should you ever come to the white tower, you do have women there who are in your debt, matrim cauthon. i do not forget.’ he took [teslyn’s] hand. it felt as bony as it looked, but it was warmer than he had expected. some aes sedai had ice running in their veins, that was for certain. but others were not so bad.” awww mat! and he offers her extra horses after having made a big stink about not giving the aes sedai extra horses in the last book! it’s a shame the aes sedai are leaving just when mat’s attitude towards them has become bearable lmao

and teslyn weaves air to fly mat out of the gholam’s reach (he’d taken off his medallion to try hitting the gholam with it) and he’s not even That scared about being touched by the power!

the gholam: [threatens to kill tuon] me: oh my god PLEASE do

mat mourns and feels guilty for the band members who died because the gholam was trying to get to him, and they aren’t even women!

“[one of joline’s warders] always seemed to be looking for someone to murder; each conversation with him was an interview to see if you fit the criteria.” LMAO sanderson’s mat does come up with the best descriptions of people

“are you going to swear at [elayne] too?” “of course i am. how else is she going to trust that [the letter] is really from me?” true love ❤️❤️

perrin’s asha’man are learning how to link with aes sedai. “grady had mentioned that creating a circle this way seemed to require the men to gain control over the women.” of course it does 🙄 why? literally give me one good reason why saidin-saidar circles would only work with a man in control.

“‘my lord, the taint is gone. i’m not going to go mad. that means...well, i always had a reason to fight. but now i’ve got a reason to live, too.’ looking into the man’s eyes, perrin understood. what must it have been like? knowing that you’d eventually go mad and need to be executed. likely by your friends, who would call it a mercy. that was what perrin had sensed in the asha’man all along, the reason they held themselves apart, often seeming so somber. everyone else fought for life. the asha’man...they’d fought to die. that’s how rand feels, perrin thought.” 😭😭😭 once again i am saying No, You’re Wrong, Non-Min-And-Nynaeve Characters Do Care About Rand Actually, They Just Aren’t Allowed To Spend Time With Him

“bornhald looked at him. ‘it is you. the light has delivered you to us.’ ‘unless it has also delivered you an army three or four times the size of the one you have now,’ perrin called, ‘then i doubt very much that it will matter.’” JSKDFJ perrin’s best clapback to date

perrin, upon seeing galad, who makes every single person who’s ever laid eyes on him swoon, whom mat straight up said was as pretty as a girl: “most women would probably call him handsome.” PROBABLY. perrin really is the most heterosexual character in the book hjdkfg

yes i know mat calling galad as pretty as a girl (this was back in tdr) was meant as a sexist insult and not mat thinking galad was as attractive to him as a girl would be..............but was it really though?

ELAYNE!!!!! RETURN OF THE QUEEN!!!!! RECALLED AS SHOUTING THANK GOD IT IS MY WIFE!!!!!!

talking about the imprisoned nobles who opposed elayne: “‘you could execute them,’ birgitte said. they both [elayne and dyelin] stared at her. ‘what?’ birgitte said.” birgitte: do you want me to kill that guy for you? because it sounds like he sucks and i will totally kill that guy for you

elayne is going to move on the sun throne! she explains later in the chapter that she’s worried about rand creating an empire and a successor coming up to claim it and keep it whole should he die in the last battle, in which case andor would be surrounded by the seanchan empire + rand’s successor’s empire + the borderlanders, hence elayne wants to hold cairhien herself to prevent this sort of Dragon Empire from happening. these are the kind of things that would be FASCINATING conflicts to see in rand and elayne’s personal relationship and yet we are completely deprived! why the fuck don’t we EVER get to see the two of them dealing with stuff like this? such a waste.

“in one step i could become one of the most powerful monarchs since artur hawkwing.” Good For Her!

“‘if someone is going to go out of her way to insult me, then i at least want to be aware of it. if only so that i know whom to behead later on.’ norry paled. ‘figuratively, master norry.’” jkdjfjg i love her. also, the norry-mistress harfor-essande holy trinity have gotta be my favorite tertiary characters i’d say (lini too, but i feel like she’s a slight step above tertiary, tho not quite secondary)

elayne receives mat’s letter!!! the letter is another example of “sure it’s a dumbing down of rj’s mat but it’s hilarious so i don’t care” and also it confirms that mat thinks elayne has a great ass which he “hardly ever spent any time looking at” and this is the most important piece of canon information i have ever received. then birgitte tells us that mat also has a great ass, which is the second most important piece of canon information i have ever received.

hi i’m mat i’m 19 and i never learned how to fucking read. lmao no but show!mat especially i COULD totally buy not being good at spelling words. show!mat i could buy not knowing how to read or write at all, there are definitely not any books in the show!cauthon household! book!mat however did previously write a perfectly good note to elayne in acos so inconsistency yes yes on the other hand that note iirc WAS transcribed in his own pov so maybe he just thought he was spelling everything right. also, i think it would be great if mat gained like beautiful formal old tongue writing ability with his past memories but still just does not fucking know how to spell anything in his own language dkfjg

anyway, elayne’s reaction to the letter and learning that mat escaped ebou dar and is ok and is now in andor: “so many emotions and questions welled up in her. birgitte stood upright, frowning, feeling the emotions. ‘elayne? what is it? did the man insult you?’ elayne found herself nodding, tears forming in her eyes. birgitte cursed, striding over. master norry looked taken aback, as if regretting that he’d brought the letter. elayne burst into laughter.” 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️ SHE IS SO EMOTIONAL AND SO HAPPY she loves mat so much!!!!!

elayne is arranging a meeting with mat!!! matlayne reunion is imminent!!!!

“mat is...a particularly dynamic individual. he can be very useful when properly harnessed. when he is not - which is most of the time - he can be an outright disaster.” jdkjfg elayne knows her man

elayne is thinking about how useful mat and the band will be to her and hoping to use them to take cairhien! this is exactly what i’ve been fucking saying! he should’ve been here all along!!

“elayne loved [rand]. but she didn’t intend to see andor become merely another part of the dragon’s empire.” “the woman in her cringed to think of planning for rand’s death, but the queen could not be so squeamish. the world was changing.” 👏👏👏 and again, so similar to egwene’s heart vs. duty conflicts with gawyn but elayne is never given the opportunity to actually explore these WITH rand. because for some godforsaken rand was stuck with the one girlfriend who offers him nothing interesting narratively speaking.

speaking of, we go from elayne to TWO (2) chapters IN A ROW of min pov which is a crime against me. but i know rand’s plotline is small in this book and i assume min won’t do shit at the last battle, so hopefully i won’t have to put up with her too much for the rest of the series.

nynaeve: “i knew rand al’thor, and the boy still inside him. the man he’s become frightens me. i always told him he needed to grow up. and then...and then he did.” 😭😭

alanna has vanished after receiving a note with a red seal. another of verin’s little mystery scavenger hunt notes she’s just been sending out all over the continent?? maybe this one said that alanna has to attend the cauthor wedding that verin is setting up so she hastened off to the venue verin gave in the letter.

“min had long ago tossed aside all sense of decorum for her towering sheepherder.” yeah i fucking know min. also, i kept forgetting to say this before, i’m so annoyed that sheepherder became min’s thing for rand because it was originally LAN’S thing! how dare you stand where he stood etc.

“it let her see a part of him that others were never allowed.” not like he has 2 other allegedly equal partners or anything, min. elayne and avi think about each other’s relationship with rand frequently and sometimes min’s as well, but in her own pov min truly does not EVER think about elayne and avi or acknowledge that they’re part of the relationship unless they are standing right in front of her forcing her to acknowledge it. she really does see herself as rand’s one Real partner.

rand fiiiiiiiinally seems like he’s actually going to treat the maidens as capable warriors and let them fight for him and tell them when he’s planning to go somewhere and let them come with him if they wish! this SHOULD have happened after sulin’s awesome speech to him back in book fucking 5, but better late than never i suppose

“i do think you need some new insults, however. the ones you use are wearing out like last year’s lace.” hksjhdkfjg Jesus Rand is so bitchy, love that for him.

rand needs min to figure out callandor. is this going to become min’s second (2nd) contribution in 14 800-page books? (with the first being helping siuan escape) also like. why is she qualified to be the person figuring this out. she doesn’t know shit about channeling or ter’angreal! elayne should be doing this!

rand pardons cadsuane. cadsuane says “i trust you see the error in your deed. it strikes me as unsuitable that i should need ‘forgiveness’ or a ‘pardon’ in the first place.” so clearly she has learned absolutely nothing and not changed in any way. what was the POINT of her??? is The Thing she taught rand just that she brought tam to him which led to him learning to laugh and cry again? anyone could’ve done that! literally anyone! tho i SUPPOSE rand wouldn’t have gotten paranoid and tried to attack tam if he hadn’t been sent by someone rand was so mistrustful of. so then cadsuane’s purpose was to be so fucking bad at mentoring rand that she made him mistrust her enough to attack his own father upon hearing he talked to her lmao

“[the nobles] looked oddly out of place in the stone’s courtyard, where everyone else had a purpose.” okay i KNOW min did NOT just shit on OTHER PEOPLE for being useless 💀💀

“she’d never been fond of those who thought themselves more important than everyone else.” hey sorry was it not just last book when you were thinking about how you were the most important person in rand’s life because you’re The Only One Who Knows Him And Sees Him? and how you’re superior in this regard to his close friend who has known him since he was born? and are you not constantly acting like you’re rand’s one “real” partner despite being in a poly relationship?

weiramon is a darkfriend???? shit!!!! never saw THAT coming! after all the times rand was bitchy about how stupid he is jdkfjgh

we just saw tam in ghealdan with perrin but now he’s in tear with rand. i get that the timelines of the 2 plotlines aren’t synced up (perrin, mat, and elayne are still in TGS time) so it’s not confusing or anything to keep track of that, it’s just weird lmao. but i don’t know what else sanderson could’ve done - clearly there was way too much remaining material to allow for wrapping rand’s, egwene’s, perrin’s, and mat’s pre-last-battle-plotlines all up in a single book, but if he’d told all 4 plotlines concurrently across 2 books then TGS would’ve just ended halfway thru 4 different plotlines with no real resolution to anything, which would’ve been lame (i mean. not that rj didn’t do that frequently jkfjg)

“rand - who had faced forsaken without a tremor - was afraid of his father. rand took the last few steps in two sudden strides and grabbed tam in an embrace. he stood one step down, which brought them near an equal height. in fact, in that posture, tam almost seemed a giant, and rand but a child who was clinging to him. there, holding to his father, the dragon reborn began to weep. ... ‘i’m sorry father,’ he whispered. ‘i’m so sorry.’ ‘it’s all right, son. it’s all right.’ ‘i’ve done so much that is terrible.’ ‘nobody walks a difficult path without stumbling now and again. it didn’t break you when you fell. that’s the important part.’ rand nodded. they held each other for a time.” 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

absolute crime that that moment was from min’s pov instead of rand’s

and now rand introduces min to tam as someone who is very special to him. what do you want to fucking bet that rand is never going to even mention to tam that he has 2 other girlfriends and that neither elayne nor avi are ever going to get to meet tam and that he’s never going to have any idea that their babies are his grandchildren 🙄😤

in the tel’aran’rhiod hall of the tower: “there, set into the glass below the flame of tar valon, was a large segment in the shape of the dragon’s fang. that wasn’t part of the original window...did this window represent one of those, another world where dragon and amyrlin ruled tar valon side by side?” it’s about yin and yang it’s about balance it’s about two sides of one coin it’s about two parts of one whole!!!! it’s about rand and egwene being foils and co-protagonists!! earlier during the linking scene the asha’man said that he felt Whole while channeling both saidin and saidar together.........there was that thing rand heard about “the two must become one”..............what if the endgame will be the one power becoming whole instead of split into saidin and saidar, and everybody can channel both uniformly??? like how the true power isn’t divided. rj did love his gender essentialism so i’m skeptical that this will Really happen, but i wish it would!

egwene tells nynaeve that the seanchan attacked the tower and nynaeve just. does not ask for any details or have any followup questions lmao

awww egwene asks nynaeve for advice on how to handle being in a position of authority as a very young person whom people don’t respect as a superior, since nynaeve was in that situation as wisdom ❤️❤️ full circle moment! and through this conversation the two of them are finally able to reach an understanding about egwene outranking nynaeve, a role reversal they’ve both been struggling to handle ever since book 2. we love to see it!

elayne arrives too and i finally have my full wondergirl reunion!!!!! “you did it, egwene! we’re whole again!” a line later i realized elayne was talking about the tower being whole again, but my first and preferred interpretation was the wondergirls being whole again 😭😭❤️❤️

they make chairs to sit on and elayne makes herself a throne dkfjg i love her your honor. and egwene sits in the amyrlin seat but nynaeve just a regular chair: “nynaeve looked from one throne to another, obviously dissatisfied. maybe that was why she’d resisted these meetings for so long; egwene and elayne had risen so far.” aww baby! it’s okay you’re the queen of malkier now actually!

elayne about rand: “he’s awakened. he’s warm now.” ❤️❤️ then she tries to brush the words off as just some dumb thing that popped out, but egwene’s already been suspecting for a while that she’d bonded him and this just confirms it. “why didn’t she wish to speak of it?” because what would have been a very nice randlayne solo bond turned into an illegal 3-way bond that elayne did all the work for so that min could reap all the rewards 😤

nynaeve finally finds out elayne is pregnant! if she sees rand again this book and neglects to tell him i will call sooooo much bullshit! god it would’ve been SO easy to just throw in a line of elayne saying “don’t tell rand, i want to tell him myself” or something so that it could justify why So Many people know of elayne’s pregnancy and are in a position to tell rand but just have not done so lmao

“light! i didn’t think i’d let rand out of my sight long enough for that. when did it happen?” nynaeve did you forget the time in caemlyn when elayne whisked him away to ~speak privately~ and you didn’t see him again for many hours

“nynaeve generally did see the right way things needed to be done, so long as that right way didn’t involve her being wrong.” jdkfjg my beloved

elayne continues to get out of swearing the three oaths by saying what if it’s dangerous to do while pregnant lmao good for her

so much love for nynaeve repeatedly saying that rand will be completely unattended (but for cadsuane) if she leaves him. i know she’s only referring to aes-sedai-interests-wise, but also, i’m choosing to interpret that min doesn’t count for shit in her mind. as it should be!

not nynaeve slamming elayne for spending the last few months “mooning about and dreaming of rand al’thor” when elayne is the only goddamn person (besides egwene) who has done ANYTHING for the past several books, and NYNAEVE is the one who’s had no plotline but fussing over rand since like book 7! nynaeve really was sidelined beyond belief in the second half of the series after being one of the strongest players in the first half.

update: nynaeve just figured out how to Heal madness!!! she is back in the game! “i can’t let myself begin to think that nothing i do matters. that’s what the dark one wants.” ❤️

nynaeve has a convo with rand and does NOT tell him that elayne’s pregnant SMH!!!! maaaaaaybe she assumes he already knows? or maybe we’re meant to assume that offscreen elayne did ask her not to tell him? or, good god, are we meant to believe that nynaeve is actually trying to mind her own business for once? but fuck man i should not have to do these mental gymnastics to justify somebody neglecting to tell her best friend that his long-distance girlfriend whom he hasn’t seen in months and may never see again, and who is also her best friend, is pregnant. i mean, this is nynaeve! rand AND elayne both trust her implicitly! if anybody was going to play messenger about the pregnancy it should be her!

anyway, rand tells nynaeve about how she shouldn’t let the white tower “ruin” her because she’s Better than all of them due to having visible emotions, which i’ve seen quoted often as an empowering quote for nynaeve or as a nice tribute to her and rand’s relationship, but tbh i find the whole thing fairly condescending and irritating. i wouldn’t want nynaeve to change either but there’s no need to pull a Not Like Other Girls Aes Sedai about it. just because people care differently than you do or don’t emote visibly doesn’t mean that they don’t care at ALL, rand! “moiraine cared. you could see it in her, even when she was calm.” i mean yeah and you only got to realizing that about her after knowing her very well for a very long time. have you considered that the “emotionless” aes sedai you’ve only met in passing are actually the same way and you just don’t know them very well?

maybe i chugged TOO much White Tower Propaganda Juice during egwene’s plotline last book jkfjgh but this passage just got my goat!

rand says that the two women he’ll use callandor with will be definitely nynaeve, and then PERHAPS aviendha or elayne. PER FUCKING HAPS!!! they are, allegedly, rand’s committed partners to whom he is PSYCHICALLY BONDED and he can literally feel all their emotions, yet he only PERHAPS considers them among his most trusted saidar users????? you fucking know that if min could channel he would’ve listed her as a shoe-in. I HATE IT HERE!!!! it’s so true that the bonding changed absolutely nothing about rand’s behavior or mindset. like, you would THINK that the average warder would consider his aes sedai his #1 most trusted saidar user!

narratively speaking i would love it if the other woman ended up being egwene and we got her, rand, and nynaeve all doing the callandor thingy together, but idk how likely that is

nynaeve describes rand’s madness as “thousands upon thousands of the tiny black thorns pricked into his brain, but beneath them was a brilliant white lacing of something. a white radiance, like liquid power. light given form and life.” interesting. so he WAS really going saidin-mad for real (not just normal trauma reactions) but the epiphany put a bandaid on it? how? what does it mean? what does it all mean? maybe we will find out more later, but for now my mood is “not to be a lazy reader who expects to have all the information handed to me but considering how hugely important rand’s whole mental health situation is to the story, i wish it would be explained a little better and more clearly” lmao

“i will need to send someone [to the black tower]” oh my god no SHIT rand jkfjgh they’ve been running rampant and unsupervised for 7 books despite NUMEROUS warnings you’ve received about how bad the situation is getting!

egwene discusses mesaana with some of the black ajah hunters, two of whom (saerin and seaine) are on my Mesaana Disguise Suspicion List i think, tho frankly i can never keep track of all the minor aes sedai so who knows. i hope it’s saerin so that “‘from what i’ve been able to learn about her,’ saerin said, ‘mesaana was good at preparation. she excelled at it.’” will turn out to be the meme of obama giving himself a medal jdkfjg saerin DOES seem to know an awful lot about mesaana’s personality and motivations despite claiming she could only find “tales, rumors, and whispers”.................

i appreciate that faile (like many characters) shows growth and self-awareness and regret/embarrassment over her past behavior under sanderson’s pen, but i feel like she’s doing that FAR more than any of the other characters and it’s starting to feel like the author breaking the fourth wall and being like “i know faile was the series’ most despised character up to this point and i’m trying so hard to fix that” which is annoying because, while she certainly had her bad moments, i still loved her and felt the fandom hatred of her WAY overblown and unfair.

“what would the two rivers folk do if he stepped down as their lord?” go back to the way things were when they were just fine without a lord for many generations, probably. i mean i get that they need a stronger government system now that there’s been a population boom with so many people coming to live there from other regions, but couldn’t they just invent a beefed up version of the women’s circle and village council or something instead of going straight to feudalism?

faile gives us some saldaean marriage culture information (the shanna’har anniversary celebration) and also shares the anniversary-esque tradition that tam told her he used to do with his wife (once a year they packed a picnic and hiked to a new place in the woods and spent the day there together 😭) and i am thriving!! different cultures’ marriage/romance traditions my beloved!!

“how can i feast while my people are being held under threat of execution and while the world itself may die?” “if the world itself is going to die, is this not the time when a man must take time to appreciate what he has? before it is all taken?” faile could’ve done wonders for rand earlier if she’d been around to give him this outlook damn

and then they communicate! they confide in each other! share the secrets and insecurities they’ve been silently worrying about this whole time! “each word spoken made him relax more...in telling her of his struggles, he felt some of his burden lift.” ❤️❤️❤️ WE LOVE TO SEE IT my god how did perrin and faile become the most healthy canon couple jkfjg i guess with the competition being the likes of rand/min and mat/tuon the bar is on the fucking floor. even lan and nynaeve are dishonest with each other more often than not tbh and gawyn and egwene are currently Going Through It (tho they ARE attempting to communicate and just still disagreeing, so points to them for that) and of course rand/elayne and rand/avi don’t ever fuckin see each other so they’re disqualified from even competing here.

“those brotherless had been with the shaido, and they had attacked and killed men under perrin’s protection. no act of kindness would redeem that. they deserved their deaths. that gave him pause. the whitecloaks probably said very similar things about him. but the whitecloaks had attacked first.” FUCKING THANK YOU this one goes out to that one anon who was trying to argue that perrin and hopper were in the wrong for attacking the ~innocent and harmless~ whitecloaks back in eotw. the whitecloaks attacked first!

“‘you, husband, always seem uncomfortable when we yell. i’m very glad you’ve begun to stand up for yourself, as is proper. but i have asked much from you to adapt to my ways. i thought, tonight, i would try to adapt to yours.’ those were words that he had never expected to hear from faile. it seemed the most personal thing she could ever have given him. embarrassingly, he felt tears in his eyes, and he pulled her tight.” ❤️❤️❤️❤️

#wot #wot book spoilers

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slasherhaven · 3 years

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Hey, my birthday is soon and so I thought, what would the slasher do on their S/O’s Birthday? What would they gift them? You probably know what I mean, I already say thank you^^💕💕

How the Slashers would celebrate their S/O’s Birthday:

Thomas Hewitt

Luda May lets you take the day off. It’s your birthday, so you get to skip your chores for the day. Luda May will take care of them. Thankfully, that gives you more time to spend with Thomas since she becomes more lenient with him on your birthday as well.

He and Luda May bake a cake. The two of them surprise you with it. Thomas knows how to cook and bake basic things, Luda May had taught him, but there is no way she is missing making your birthday cake. So, they make it together. They’re both just so glad when you like it.

He probably makes your gift. He might find something in a victim’s belongings that he thinks you’ll particularly like, and he’ll hang on to it so that he can give it to you as a gift. But if he doesn’t come across anything that he considers worthy, he will make you something. He is pretty crafty after all.

Michael Myers

You kinda think he’s going to forget. Birthdays don’t seem like a think that Michael would care too much about, and that’s not completely wrong. However, the two of you had been together for a while at this point and you had made an effort for his birthday, making him a cake and getting him a gift. So, he figures he should do something similar for you.

Probably steals a gift for you. He is trying. It’s not like he can walk into a shop and purchase something for you, so he will probably just steal something that he think’s you’ll like. It’s the thought that counts, right?

There will be a cake. Michael probably won’t make it, but you don’t really want to take that risk anyway. But he’ll assist you as you bake it. The cake is his favourite part of your birthday or his own, he has a bit of a sweet tooth.

Jason Voorhees

Plans a picnic date. He wanted to do something special and feels bad that whatever it is has to happen out in the middle of nowhere or in the abandoned camp. However, the picnic was a brilliant idea. He enjoyed it and the happy look on your face told him that he had done something good. It’s simple, it’s cute, it’s perfect.

Gets you flowers. As for a gift, he gets you a bunch of flowers, your favourites that grow in the woods. Jason isn’t as willing to pocket a past victim’s belongings and pass it off as a gift as some of the other slashers, but if he sees something that he knows you’ll like, he’ll take it for you.

Brahms Heelshire

It’s your day! He knows that pretty much every other day is his day, you’re always doing for him. So today he is going to do things for you! You shouldn’t have to do anything chore like on your birthday.

Tries to bake a cake. Brahms will do his best to bake you a cake on his own but you might end up stepping in and helping him out, but it’s a sweet gesture and he’s not completely hopeless so don’t worry too much. He just tends to make a mess.

Will get you whatever you want. The two of you obviously have access to his family’s money and Brahms will use it to get you something nice, of course having it delivered to the house. So, you will probably answer the door to a random delivery and have Brahms run over to you, snatching it from your hands and running off again as soon as you close the front door.

Bo Sinclair

Does just spend the day with you. Bo isn’t too sure what to do for your birthday (and god forbid he lets you think that he actually cares). But he does actively spend the day with you, ignoring both of your responsibilities for the day.

Might actually take you into town. If he’s feeling extra nice, he might take you into the town they get their supplies from. Taking you for something to eat and maybe even buying you something before heading home. All in all, you have a good day and you can tell that Bo tried to make it a little special.

Vincent Sinclair

Just tries to spend the day with you. Vincent makes sure to work extra hard on the days leading up to your birthday so that he can spend the day with you, without giving Bo anything to complain about.

Gifts you little wax a sculpture. He puts a lot of thought and effort into your gift, crafting you a flawless little wax sculpture for you to cherish. It will likely be of your favourite animal or even a tiny replica of yourself.

Lester Sinclair

Plans a day with you and Jonesy. Ambrose can be a lot to handle so Lester thinks that you’ll appreciate a lazy day with your two favourite Sinclairs. Him and Jonesy. And he was right, it’s a peaceful but fun day.

Get’s you something from town. He went into town a day or two prior to pick up a cake (which he was determined to hide from you, making him act awfully suspicious but you figured it was something to do with your birthday approaching). He also picked up something that he thought you would enjoy so that he could give you a gift, he had been saving up for it and everything.

Bubba Sawyer

Will make a cake but has to hide it from his brothers. He wants you to have a birthday cake but everyone in that house likes cake, snacks always go missing, having been stolen by someone. So Bubba makes sure that you’re the first person to have a slice of your cake.

Makes you a gift. He can’t really buy you anything but he thinks it mean more to make the gift anyway. And, of course, you adore any gift he gives you.

You might even get something from Nubbins or ChopTop. If the family has warmed up to you enough and you have befriended the two of them, Nubbins and ChopTop will wish you a happy birthday and maybe even get you a little gift each.

Billy Lenz

Extra affectionate (if that is possible). As soon as you wake up, Billy is wishing you a happy birthday with a hug and a kiss. He just wants to show you how much he loves and appreciates you on your birthday.

Will attempt to bake. He certainly isn’t used to baking so you might have to help him out if you don’t want him making too much of a mess or burning the house down. But it ends up being a fun thing to do together.

Might gift you something that he found in the attic. Since he isn’t about to go shopping, he kinda gives up on giving you a gift. But if he founds something of particular interest hidden in the attic that he hadn’t noticed before, he decides to gift you that. He thinks you will like it and you appreciate the thoughtfulness.

Asa Emory (The Collector)

Will take you out for dinner. It’s a nice restaurant, your favourite if you have one. If not, he definitely already has one in mind that he knows you will like.

Asa is observant, he’ll get you something you want. If you’ve ever mentioned something that you liked or wanted, Asa will make sure that he gets it for you. If you have never mentioned anything or made a hint towards something, he will definitely get you something that you will like. He knows you very well.

(If you have more of a ‘favourite pet’ relationship) He is more lenient and affectionate with you. The whole day feels like a reward, doing what you want to do, receiving a gift, and getting all the attention and affection you could ask for.

Jesse Cromeans (Chromeskull)

Will take you out for dinner, or whatever you want to do. Jesse takes you to a fancy restaurant that he loves (he will take you to your favourite place if you have one). He will also do whatever you want, if there’s somewhere you want to go, a show you want to see, anything, he’ll take you.

Will spoil you with gifts. Anything you want or could want, Jesse provides. It doesn’t need to be your birthday for him to get you gifts, so he gets you even more when it is your birthday. He enjoys spoiling you so it’s no surprise.

Otis Driftwood

Mama Firefly tells Otis to do something special. She gives him a bit of a lecture about how he should make your birthday special, get you something nice or take you somewhere. Otis rolls his eyes and bats her away but he was already planning on doing something, he just hadn’t told anyone that. Can’t have anyone think he’s going soft.

He takes you out so the two of you can spend the day together. Otis decides to take you out of the house for the day, just the two of you. While Baby is always excited to party, Otis is more open to doing something calmer if you’re not in the partying mood. Whatever you want to do, that’s what the two of you will end up doing, he’s feeling generous.

Just a small gift. Otis doesn't get you anything big or expensive but the fact that he is getting you a gift at all makes you smile, knowing he is one for sentimental things like gift giving.

Baby Firefly

The whole family remembers, Mama is most likely to make you cake. You’re family now so the whole family will remember your birthday and make sure to wish you a happy birthday. Plus everyone is happy to have an excuse for cake.

You have to celebrate! Baby is definitely going to be dragging you somewhere with alcohol and music to celebrate properly. It’s difficult to not have a good time when Baby is involved.

She has a gift for you, but it’s definitely stolen. Of course she got you a gift! And yes...it’s stolen, but what do you expect? Still, it’s the thought that counts and she makes sure that it’s something you’ll like.

Yautja (Predator)

You’ve explained to him how you celebrate birthdays. He wants to learn everything about humans and your culture differences, so when you mentioned your birthday was approaching, he asked how you would normally celebrate. And, of course, he is going to give it his best shot even though he doesn’t have too.

Tries to bake. A cake, that’s a tradition you mentioned right? He’ll find a recipe somewhere and give it his best shot. It’s not a disaster but it’s your kitchen so you ended up intervening and offering to help. He has waved you off, telling you that you shouldn’t help because it’s your birthday, but you convinced him to let you step in and do it together.

His gift is...unconventional. You never specified what the gift should be, so he lets some of his culture slip into the celebrations. The gift is most likely some sort of alien skull or bones, which he presents to you proudly. How can you turn them down when he looks so proud of himself?

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the-evil-duckling · 3 years

Text

And now that Pride Month's over, Let's Talk About Pratchett.

The companies have taken down their flags. The marches and rallies are fading away. Rainbow colours are melting back into grayscale. And now that all the hubbub is dying down, let's talk about an author who did perhaps more than any other to introduce gender-and-sexual minorities to the public (and not just as a cute oddity to be cooed at from a distance, either).

Let's talk about an author whose works are perhaps the most representative, hard-hitting, and wholesome, in all of well-written English literature.

Let's talk about Pratchett.

Before we dive into the lovely little nitty-gritties, I want to just take a quick look at what Pratchett's writing really is, and what makes it so very exceptional. It's pretty simple, really.

He's funny.

That's the "secret" formula to Terry Pratchett's success across the global; he's funny everywhere, everywhen, across multiple generations and multiple decades and multiple geopolitical borders. You don't have to read Discworld with a lot of effort, thinking deeply after every line about the message the author is trying to convey. You don't have to analyze every character and every situation to see how the author is sculpting a crystal-clear mirror and holding it up to the face of Society. When I'm feeling down (cause college and life and pressure and dreams) and wanna start gouging out my forearms with my nails, I can just curl with one of my comfort books (like Men At Arms, or Unseen Academicals) and laugh and chuckle and just feel better. You can just enjoy it.

Now, I think, I can get to the fun stuff; analysing all of my favourite characters and the roles that they represent in mirroring Pratchett's view of People. (I should mention at this point that I am mainly going to be focussing on the Sam Vimes novels, and what I will be writing are my own thoughts and opinions. Anyone who knows more - or has just read/interpreted the books differently - is of course free to add their own musings.)

Fred Colon: Sergeant Colon is that rarest and yet most typical of things: Fred Colon is an ordinary person. He is no hero, or genius, or leader. He is not evil or even mildly malicious. And that is the very point that needs to be understood. People (most people) are not deliberately evil; they are, on the whole, fairly decent people who treat their friends well and try not to make enemies. It is just... petty selfishness, petty prejudices, petty apathy... all summated in every single member of the populace, and suddenly everyone knows that dwarfs are just money-grubbing bastards who'd bite your kneecaps off for a copper coin and trolls are dumber than the rocks they're made off but they'll as soon smash you to pulp as look at you and you can't trust a vampire cause they're too dead to be alive and-

Carrot Ironfoundersson: Captain Carrot is a cliché. Captain Carrot is a cliché wrapped inside a trope hidden in a Mary Sue, all turned on its head. Captain Carrot, rightful heir to the throne of Ankh, leader of all manner of beings, man who once beat Detritus in a fistfight... is not the hero of this story. In any other series, the story would have been of a brave new cop (who is also the king) standing up to the corruption and lawlessness of the Patrician while taking advice from his grizzled old half-drunk commander who dies four chapters into the first book with some vaguely portentous words that the hero remembers at the very last minute to give him the tools/strength/motivation necessary to keep fighting. But this is Pratchett. And the hero of the story, if there is one, is very much the grizzled old commander. Two other points have also always struck me about Carrot. The first is the matter of identity. Biologically, Carrot is very much a human, but in all other ways that matter he is entirely a dwarf - his name is Kzad-bhat, and even the deep-down dwarfs do not question his dwarfishness - and yet that does make him any less a human. In this is reflected the multiplicity of identity (not just of gender, which is what most people immediately jump to, but all identities). The second point is of the relationship between Carrot and Angua, which seemed to me a representation of a healthy dom/sub relationship. Unlike the twisted shit we find on ao3 (and in some published books that I don't feel that I need to name), Angua is at no point portrayed as lesser, weaker, incapable, dependent, or deferent. She is her own person, and the two of them just happen to have this kind of chemistry.

Samuel Vimes: Ahhhh. His Grace, His Excellency, The First Duke of Ankh, Blackboard Monitor Samuel Vimes, Commander of the City Watch. The protagonist, if not quite the hero, of the series. He is not perfect, not even close. He is casually discriminatory (species-ist?) and thoughtless in most of what he says. his saving graces are that his discrimination is universally applied at all beings living and dead, and that he has never, not even once, allowed his personal feelings of prejudice stand in the way of justice (which is at times, all that separates him from Fred Colon). Does that mean that it's all okay, and everything is now fine and dandy and hunky-dory? No. Not even fucking close. Words matter and actions matter and even how you feel deep inside - all of it matters. Prejudice is prejudice, and it is always wrong. there are no mitigating circumstances, no 'yes, but...' that can make it acceptable. But only an idealistic idiot would say that it is not better than the alternative. And this is the reason that Vimes is one of my favourite protagonists; he is not a hero. He is real.

Leonard of Quirm: A parody of the public perception of a genius (perhaps of Roundworld's Tesla and da Vinci), I have loved Leonard as a character ever since I realised he was gay. Allow me to elaborate. As I was recently re-reading Jingo, I noticed a line that went something like 'He started drawing how The-Going-Under-The-water-Safely-Device could be improved, piloted by a muscular man who was not overdressed'. And just like that, a couple dozen other off-hand comments slotted into place and I realized the homosexual truth. And I love this portrayal of homosexuality, because most books or movies or tv shows or fanfictions with a gay MC (or even sidekick) tend to have a storyline roughly equivalent to 'hey my name is [insert name here] and I'm GAY and I have a destiny to save the world and my family and my GAY boyfriend whom I'm dating cause I'm GAY and before I go outside I have to pick my outfit really carefully better go with salmon-rose-flutter pink cause I'm GAY and now I'm outside and I'm not very popular and this is my tragic backstory cause a lot of people don't like me cause I'm GAY and-' Yeah. This is not good writing. By barely mentioning anything, Pratchett somehow still managed to emphasise that a) homosexuality is one of your identities, not all of them and b) just because a story has a character who is gay doesn't mean that the story becomes about a character being gay.

Trev Likely: One sentence. Just one sentence. 'Hating people was too much work.'

If you actually made it this far, you are obliged to reblog. I'm sorry, but I don't make the rules. (Please?)

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missbrunettebarbie · 3 years

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Has anyone tried to sort the characters from The Winx or the Barbie Movies ?

I assume you mean the original Winx Club and I am afraid I don't remember that enough to try and sort it. Buut I did a rewatch of (the more interesting) Barbie movies and with the help of @the-phoenix-heart @starry-sky-stuff @laufire here are the Babries we’ve sorted:

1. Clara (Barbie in the Nutcracker)- Lion Snake. The movie focuses a lot on Clara's dreams and goals. Her Snake is a bit more hidden, but she has the same quiet Snake secondary energy kids that grew up in controlling/abusive households tend to develop. Plus remember when she had to save Eric she straight up lied to the guards?

2. Rapunzel (Barbie as Rapunzel)- Double Bird; the brush is such a Bird sec tool and she has that Bird primary vibe. Not to mention this shows that you can have The (Mad) Scientist sorting with artists too

3. Odette (Barbie in Swan Lake)-Badger Lion. Her secondary is a bit burned in the begining but she gets better. Badger because of how much she cares about literally everyone, from people to mythical animals.

4. Annelisse (Barbie in the Princess and the Pauper)- Snake Bird. Her People are her mom -for whom she might have developed a bit of a Lion model- and Julian and what other secondary would collect and classify rocks for fun?

5. Erika (Barbie in the Princess and the Pauper)- Snake Lion. She ~bonds with Annelisse which is the only reason why she goes along with Julian’s plan -her only other Person is her cat xD- and I will say Lion secondary because she is clearly Improvisional and so snippy to her employer

6. Elina (Barbie: Fairytopia series) - Double Badger. "For the friends you haven’t met” is such a Badger primary say and the only thing to get Elina out of her trance in the first movie. I hesitated between Lion and Courtier Badger but the last two movies made me choose the latter.

7. Teenage Barbie (Barbie Diaries) - Lion Badger. To quote Phoenix: “ People pleaser with dreams of being popular and a news anchor is a total Lion Badger ”

8. Genevieve (Barbie in the 12 dancing princesses) -Badger Bird. She is the one that is always willing to lend a hand and who keeps her mom's traditions alive. And she always go for logical solutions (dad is sick, call the doctor), makes the plan to defeat Rowena in the end AND when Rowena attacks her she defends herself using the fan skills she learned from the duchess herself :DD. Not to mention that she seems the most capable to rule out of all the sisters so The King sorting fits her well

9. Ro (Barbie as The Island Princess)- Bird Badger. We see her caretake in the very first minutes of the movie with Tika or how she chases away the crocodiles. I chose her primary mostly by elimination, but I think it’s fitting for a girl who has an entire song with lyrics that start with “why” and wears a peacock dress. Symbolism much xDD. Not to mentionBird Badger is The Survivor and Ro sure is one.

10. Mariposa (Barbie: Mariposa) - Lion Bird She's clearly an Intuitive primary abd the way she's carving adventure and visiting far-away places made me settle on Lion. Also it might be me, but the sentence "I don't know what's worse, failing or admiting it to people who believed in me?" sounds veeery Lion primary. She loves reading books, and uses the knowledge she gathers from them to accomplish her goal which is a very Bird secondary MO.

11. Liana (Barbie and the Diamond Castle) - Double Snake. Her Snake secondary is easy to spot: she tricks Slyder with switching the mirrors, she gets her and Alex to play music at the restaurant for a meal. It's obvious Liana is a Loyalist and for the longest time I thought she was a Badger, but a Badger would not have been happy living alone just with Alexa in their small cottage. Also, her very betrayed speech to Melody after Alexa leaves her is so Snake to me xD

12. Eden Starling (Barbie in A Christmas Carol). Snake Lion. Her primary is burned at the start of the movie and yet we can still see how she is loyal to both her dead aunt and her cat. The entire movie is about her unburning and it is cathartic to watch. Lion secondary because she is abrasive at the best of times and at the end she relies on grand gestures to make ammends.

13. Thumbelina (Barbie presents: Thumbelina)- Lion Bird. She's an inventor so the Bird is obvious. Her dedication to save her home, her adventurous spirit, and her confrontational attitude with Mackena all scream Lion primary to me.

14. Corrine (Barbie in The Three Musketeers) - Double Lion. Could the girl who lifted the ban on female Musketeers be anything else but The Revolutionary? Corrine is a dauntless improviser and very stubborn. She starts as a bit of an immature Lion who wants to fight for glory and has to learn to fight for what's right.

15. Merliah (Barbie on a Mermaid Tale)- Lion Snake. Another immaure Glory Hound Lion who learns to embrace her role as princess. I considered Lion secondary, but I am pretty sure her rival/co-protagonist in the second movie-Kylie- is one. And while they are similar, Kylie is much more direct and abrasive which makes me think Merliah is a Snake who loves to live in neutral. She's certanly charming enough to be one.

16. Actress!Barbie (Barbie in a Fashion Fairytale+Fairy Secret)- Badger Snake. She's an Exterior primary that's very affected by what the world thinks. Also note that when she wants to get away she does not go to a completely unknown place like her friends suggest, but to her aunt's fashion house because that's where she feels safe. Her determination to save both the fashion house and then Ken felt almost Lion secondary at times, but I think she's a Snake: she is an actress, the interaction with the crazy director in Fashion Fairytale points to Fluid secondary and The Advisor seems to pretty much sum up her role in the first movie.

17. Blair (Barbie in Princess Charm School)- Snake Badger. Probably the Snakiest Snake primary Barbie as everything she does is for her mom and sister. She's a hard worker as proven by both her job as a waitress than by the way she has to practice to do well in the charm school.

18. Kristyn (Barbie in the Pink Shoes)- Bird Snake. The Artist probably fits this ballerina best. She's an Improviser as the whole movie proves, yet has no Lion bone in her body. Also her glee at getting to play -not just dance the part, actually be- Giselle and Odette points to Snake secondary. Bird primary becauss when she's stuck in the plays her system automatically shifts to integrate the rules of the world she is in, no matter how crazy they are.

19. Lumina (Barbie: Pearl Princess) - Bird Badger. She craves adventure and it's most likely an External primary but has no sense of community the way Badgers do. Badger secondary because of how enthusiastic she was to have a job just because she got to work.

20. Alexa (Babrie and The Secret Door)- Bird Lion. All her daydreaming and escapist fantasies made me think Bird primary. I chose burned Lion secondary because in a lot of ways, Alexa reminded me of well, me.

21. Starlight!Barbie (Barbie: Starlight Adventure)- Badger Lion. She cares about people and animals a lot and well, she is an hoverboarder and a daredevil.

ETA: 22. Annika (Barbie and The Magic of Pegasus) - Lion Snake. Her sneaking out plus her Oedypuss style deception points to Snake secondary. Her rebllious and passionate nature as well as her determination point to Lion primary.

Wow, this was not easy. But also fun :D

#sortinghatchats #my thoughts #answer #barbieverse

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kareniliana · 3 years

Text

Klaus: Love & Power

A//N: I’ve been gone for a LOOONG minute. But I have good news about it.

I MADE THE DEANS LIST!

Winter qtr of college was a little difficult but it was the best I’ve ever done in school. Such good news right!?

Anyway, this qtr I have a little stricter schedule, which means I knew specially when I can write. And I had been.

GET READY!

& enjoy!

xx Karebear 💛🧸

Yours and Klaus’s love story seemed far fetched for most people but for those who were able to experience your connection grow into an immense amount of love for each other, would say otherwise. You became his world, alongside with Hope. In his mind, after he was able to curse Hayley and the werewolves in the bayou, he had the perfect life. His two great loves under his roof, under his sole protection. You would never agree to what Klaus has done, but nonetheless you love him. He’s the complete opposite of your previous partners in more ways than that. You understood him, through and through. You knew him like the back of your hand, you know his next move before he does.

You were holding Hope in your arms as you walked along the bookshelf trying to get her to sleep, but all the effort was about to go to waste when Klaus comes barging in panting about to rage about gods knows what.

But before he could begin you raised a warning hand, “Don’t you dare wake her!” You whisper shouted at him. He instantly stops dead in his tracks.

Once his breathing normalizes he sits down on the couch, “The witches are siding with Marcel against me, they want my crown.”

You walked over to him, handing off his sleepy daughter to him. “You don’t need to be everyone’s king. You have all that you need with Hope and I, right?” You asked shyly.

He looks down to a sleeping Hope, then he looks back up to you before nodding his head.

“Maybe you should just give them New Orleans?”

Klaus sighed before standing up, “I should put her to bed, it’s late.” Klaus avoided your advice, walking off to Hope’s bedroom.

After a few minutes of contemplating whether you want to still be here when Klaus comes back or not. If you stay, you’ll more than likely have to sit there listening to him rant about this losing battle. If you leave, you can avoid all of that.

With no incentive to stay, you grabbed your things and made your way out of the compound.

As you walked down the steps you notice a disheveled Elijah. He sat on an almost broken chair, drinking liquor out of a broken bottle. The entire ground floor is basically destroyed, broken tables, chairs, artwork, glasses and everything in between.

“Who in the Hades did you fight today?” You gasped at the sight, oddly enough no bodies were to be found. Blood could be seen splattered all around.

“Y/n, my apologies for the mess, I seem to have taken it a bit too far.” Elijah stands, setting the bottle on a table. In mere seconds the table caves in, shattering the bottle on the ground.

Elijah tried to fight the smile off his face, but it only grew twice in size.

You laugh at his reaction, soon Elijah bursts into laughter as well. As you descended down the rest of the steps, Elijah explains how some of his sires became a threat to the rest of his family.

“Therefore I sent them a message, ‘come after my family, I will come after you.’ It’s what this family does best.” Elijah explains as he begins cleaning up the broken furniture as you stood on the last step listening to him.

“Violence begets violence, this family of yours lives in a cycle of violence.” You sighed, crossing your arms across your chest. You sounded almost defeated.

“You speak like it’s your final efforts dealing with the dramatics of my family, why is that?” he asked, noticing how fed up you are.

“I love Klaus and I love Hope, but...” You shake your head, holding yourself back.

Elijah stopped cleaning, “No, no, please don’t hold yourself back now. If there is anything this family is in dire need of, it’s your brutal honesty. Please continue.”

You sighed, “It’s just... no matter how hard life gets for him, he will not give up the one thing that brings most of this unwanted violence.”

As you spoke Elijah had come to the same realization as you, his face fall into a slight frown as he listened to you.

“After all this heartbreak and sorrow brought upon your family, you’d imagine he would at least hand over some of the reigns. But no, the mighty Klaus Mikaelson has to be King of everyone.” You talked without any reservations on the topic, eventually your tone became stern and cold.

“I know my brother can be a lot, he wants the perfect life for Hope. You can't blame him for that.” Elijah speaks with some regret, they're problematic past on his mind.

“I love that man but at some point I have the face the truth, there’s nothing more that he loves than power.” You almost choked on your words, first time saying them out-loud was harder than you thought.

Without another thought you gather your composure and hurried your way to the exit, “I should go.”

Elijah opened his mouth as he was going to say something but was speechless. There wasn’t something he could say that would fix what you were feeling. After some short time has passed Elijah had managed to get the ground floor back to its glory.

Meanwhile Klaus sat in Hope’s nursery all night, just watching her sleep. He kept thinking about what you had said; giving up New Orleans. How would he be okay with giving everything back to Marcellus?

Klaus hadn’t realized that he had been there all night until the sun rises and began to beam into the room. Letting Hope sleep, he finally leaves her room quietly. He walked around the house in search of you but much to his surprise, you weren’t in bed or the kitchen or even the study. You never came back.

Elijah walks into the study behind Klaus, “Hope’s still sleeping?”

“Have you seen Y/n? She never came home last night.” Klaus asked, worry evident in his voice.

“Not since last night when she left, you had a fight.” Elijah states which only angers Klaus.

“Were you eavesdropping on us last night?” He began to raise his voice, Elijah simply looked at his younger brother with a stern look.

Smirking at Klaus, “I had a conversation with Y/n on her way out, that is all.”

Klaus wanted nothing more than to chase you down and talk but Hope started crying meaning she’s awake. First Klaus tends to his daughter, contemplating on what to do with the situation at hand.

He knows you love him with everything that you are, but letting go of this city was something he didn’t think he’d every have to do again.

As soon as night falls, Freya comes to watch over Hope while Klaus goes out looking for you.

You sat in the lycée with Davina, she performed a cloaking spell on you to stay hidden for a while. She practiced different spells, continually getting up for different plants or herbs for said spells.

“I never would have thought that the city of the dead would be this... peaceful.”

“It’s a great place to help think, maybe soon you’ll start telling me why you need to hide from your own boyfriend.” Davina laughs slightly as she walks back to you with different colored potion bottles in her hands.

“Klaus needs to be King of New Orleans, I just need to finally accept that as one of his personality traits.” You sighed, setting down whatever witch instrument you had been playing with.

“A guy like Klaus means there is no changing him. Take the time that you need to sort your feelings, I’m meeting up with Josh. No one should come through here.” Davina gathered her things and walked out to go with her vampire friend.

Hours pass and soon it would be night, your thoughts ran wild. You love Klaus with every cell in your body, you could die loving him and it'd be a worth while life. So maybe him being the King of New Orleans is something to fight for. You’ve loved him when he's at his worst, so why can’t you love him when he’s fighting to stay King.

Coming to the realization that no matter where or what Klaus is doing, you’ll love him and want to be with him. Almost immediately you made your way out of the Lafayette Cemetery and straight to the Mikaelson compound.

After a few hours, Klaus lost hope in finding you before you wanted to be found. He went back to his daughter to wait for your return, running into Elijah at the enterance.

“Anything?” Klaus asked him, almost pleading with his eyes for some good news.

Elijah shook his head, “I didn’t want to mention this but, brother maybe she's not coming back.”

“Why on earth would you say such things?” Klaus asked before looking over to Elijah who wore a guilty expression. “Unless she said something?”

They slowly began to make their way inside the fortress, “Our chat last night, she mentioned that you might desire power more than you desire love.”

Klaus stopped dead in his tracks, there you were standing in front of Freya who was holding Hope.

Once you noticed the brothers enter the room you began apologizing for basically vanishing out on him. “I am so sorry, I needed time to figure out my stupid feelings.”

Klaus walked straight to you, pulling you into his embrace. Freya and Elijah looked to each other, making their way elsewhere to give you and Klaus some privacy.

When he pulled away he held your hands in his, “Your feelings are never stupid. There is nothing I love more than you and Hope. I’m sorry I made you feel that way, it was never my intention. I don’t need to be King.”

Your eyes go wide and you furrow your eyebrows, “No, no, I was wrong. I know why you have to be King. It’s okay, really. I know that everything you do is for those who you love.”

Klaus smiled down at you, “I do love you, do not forget that.”

#klaus mikaelson #niklaus mikaelson #klaus x reader #niklaus x reader #klaus mikealson x reader #niklaus imagine #Niklaus Mikaelson x reader #the originals x reader #the originals #the originals imagine #Mikaelson #the mikaelsons #tvd universe #tvdu #tvdu x reader

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space-city-traffic · 3 years

Text

yet again im back on my bullshit so... (gazes with mixed feelings at the TV show Firefly) i could fix him.

my extremely long thoughts about my Own Personal Good Version of Firefly (with plenty of spoilers for the show and the movie) under the cut:

things that are getting axed first thing no question:

out with the whole “let’s add in a thin veneer of Chinese cultural aesthetics out of context for ~flavor~” deal. just no.

instead, let’s hire some actors from a bunch of different cultures and work with them to figure out how their characters would bring those cultures into space with them!! and also hopefully bring some experiences with immigration/alienation/travel into it, since the Whole Core of Firefly is about how humanity always brings our doomed and silly and stubborn and unique warmth with us even into the cold void where nothing is familiar or homey in the slightest.

let’s respect our sex worker character shall we?

i do appreciate that Inara’s work as a companion is described as legitimate and well respected in the show. however please stop having your captain and hero call her a wh*re every five seconds against her clearly expressed wishes and portraying this as just a totally acceptable thing

let’s be more respectful of our characters of color and also have some more diversity, shall we?

others have put it better than me but yeah, the way Zoe and Book are treated is very uncomfy, and the rest of the show is depressingly monochromatic. come on let’s do better.

stop the weird confederacy hat tips

again others have pointed these out with much more thoroughness than I could, but the names of some characters and locations, as well as some of the language used to describe the browncoats, has uncomfortably confederate vibes. instead i propose we very Clearly tip our hats to the Alliance equaling space capitalism instead! you can’t go wrong with space capitalism as a villain.

don’t! make! the! psychotic! character! violent!

listen i love River Tam with my whole heart. but you should absolutely not portray your only character with psychosis as violent because of that psychosis!!!!!!! and yeah, a huge part of her character is that her brain got fucked up by the alliance and so she hallucinates and is also a super ninja. but like. she doesn’t need to be a super ninja for her character to work, okay? the crew does not need to be scared of her for her character to work, okay??? more on this later bc it would take a lot of care and nuance to make her character work but i really think it can be done

things we are absolutely keeping:

found family tropes my fucking beloved

this should be self evident. this is why the show is as appealing as it is despite its flaws, at least in my eyes.

malcolm reynolds, the knight in dusty armor

there’s something so appealing to me about what Mal stands for. because at his core is this ridiculous, silly, stubborn, doomed devotion to what he thinks is important and right, a romantic idealism thinly covered by cynical cowboy platitudes that he thinks make his bleeding heart totally invisible. and he is so obvious and entirely incorrect. bless. this is a man who will do anything for his family, who charges into swordfights to defend his friend from a man who wants to turn her into an object despite having no clue how to hold a sword. at his worst, he starts brawls in bars just for the martyr’s thrill of being persecuted for supporting the right; at his best, he inspires downright religious belief from his crew because he represents a romantic and chivalrous and doomed dedication to the right thing over any practical concerns. and then he throws a “selfish” quip over it with 100% confidence that everyone fell for his clever distraction and believes him to be a dirtbag. he’s oblivious and ridiculous and god he makes me want to be a better person because he’s just so goddamned sincere. stupid, but sincere. 10/10 himbo. <3

Mal and Inara ultraslowburn friends to enemies to friends to lovers to enemies to friends to lovers to friends to...

there’s nothing i love more than a ship that’s just two people who know each other way too well, and they’re each the only one who knows the other well enough to call them out on their bullshit. the way Mal and Inara interact in the show sometimes makes me uncomfy but like. the core of their relationship has to stay.

space western aesthetic

i need the cows on a spaceship scene to stay like i need air okay

that sweet sweet religious shit

mal, who lost his faith in gd and a whole lot else during the war. who lost his faith in himself, and now feels he has to hide the part of him that still wants to be good, because he knows he can’t be anymore, and he feels like it’s embarrassing for a guy like him to want something so unattainable. who takes a preacher on board, and the preacher has lost something, too. the preacher has his own past, and his own questions. but not questions like the observant neurodivergent girl, the one who wants to interact with and understand this thing that’s so important to him, but it just doesn’t click with how her brain works and she feels like something needs to be fixed, either the Bible or herself. and Mal takes care of them all, and slowly, he begins to find gd again, not in a prayer but in humanity. humanity doesn’t need to be fixed, like the alliance thinks. the shining imperfect strawberry sweetness of it in his family’s smiles is something to be worshiped and served and devoted to. and he finds he has something to believe in again. (and his crew find that he’s given them someone to believe in, too. and maybe suddenly he’s a saint.)

and finally, my brilliant ideas as to what i would like to add:

TRANS WOMAN KAYLEE RIGHTS

listen her femininity is so important to me okay? it’s so thrilled about everything that’s pretty, from dresses to the spaceship’s electric innards, and it’s so non-traditional and grease stained until it’s not and it’s pink and ruffly and twirly, and she never sees any of it as a contradiction, because none of it contradicts, it’s all just her! her gender is warmth and love and prettiness, feeling pretty and appreciating the pretty and making her friends’ days pretty too.

i want us to find out she’s trans in that episode with the ball, and i want us to find out alongside Mal who just never asked or never realized. Kaylee gasps and squeals at the dress in the shop window and Mal makes an off handed, ill considered comment, and then... someone yanks him aside and hisses a few very significant words in his ear. and suddenly he remembers what the blue white and pink she painted all over the engine room means, and he knows he has something to make right. so he buys her that dress himself and lets her know just how pretty she looks, and when he walks into that ball with her displayed on his arm like something precious, he looks the proudest out of any man there. and she notices. for a few seconds, of course, until there’s chocolate, and ‘nara, and a chandelier—and some horrible girls, but she’s used to that, until—suddenly, she finds her people. a group of old men who light up when she jokes about compression coils and whack presumptuous boys who ask her to dance. they adopt her as a treasured granddaughter, and Mal is beaming at her like a proud dad, and she finds that one of her new elderly friends gazes a little too long at her bracelet, and so she gives it to xem and teaches xem a few new words, and... it’s a good day, huh? it’s a really good day. (of course, then the captain has to go and punch somebody in the face, but it was a real nice party up until then.)

also she and Simon are both transhet t4t im correct and you know it

time for a better River Tam

the first thing we’ve established is that this version of her is not unpredictably violent and the crew is not scared of her!!!! it makes no sense to take a kid who’s primarily brilliant, experiment on her brain, give her telepathic powers....... and tack on the fact that she also has super strength and speed and dexterity and what not, AND say that they programmed her to be super violent. no! no. not only is that extremely harmful rep, that’s also just stupid.

instead!! my version of River is in fact not terrifying to the crew, but is actually the one they feel safest around. River has always been totally blunt, she was one of those kids you could tell realllllly early was autistic, and she doesn’t like being disengenous at all. so you can always trust her to tell the truth and not play weird passive aggressive games or have any hidden agenda, which makes her just a really chill person to be around. also, one of her longtime special interests is music and dance, so whether or not she’s nonverbal on a given day, there will always be some sort of beautiful sound when she’s around. she does have the singing voice of a dying crow unfortunately but that’s ok bc Simon’s is even worse and they’re both incredibly competitive so you’ll at least get free entertainment out of the affair.

my version of River does have psychosis and hallucinations because of the trauma of the experiments, and they are really troubling to her. she and Simon work together to find ways to cope and meds that help, and it’s a process, but there are some things that help.

the only thing she gained from the academy was the ability to hear people’s thoughts and sense the future a little bit. and yeah, that led to her picking up a few spooky secrets at the beginning, which, yikes. and for a while, it was hard to figure out which voices were real and which were hallucinations. but around her friends, she always feels safe to ask “did you just think about triple cheese burritos or was that just a me thing?”, and they’ll always tell her the truth no matter how embarrassing their thoughts are, bc it’s important to all of them to respect her and help her sort accurately through what’s reality and what’s not. and bit by bit, she gets better and better at figuring out what kinds of things tend to be telepathy and what kinds of things tend to be psychosis, and that each one feels a little different. and because of the trust and respect and support of her found family she’s able to do that in a safe environment!!!

trans man Simon rights

listen i wanted to keep him as just a side note on Kaylee’s list but he is my son and he’s important to my heart so here goes

out on the outer rim where Kaylee’s from, gender ain’t much of a big deal, there’s an individualistic quality to life out there, and so if the trail you blaze is the trail of a woman or a man or neither or both, that’s respected even in the rare cases where it’s not outright encouraged. but in the inner planets, where competition and connections and public faces and family names are everything, you have to be what’s expected of you to survive. you can’t change your brand, you can’t be anything other than what your family planned for you since before you were born, it’s incredibly hard to survive in such a hyper competitive environment, and so your very identity becomes just a tool in how to market yourself for better success.

needless to say Simon (just as autistic as his little sister and also very trans) fuckin hated it there. but he was very good at it. correction: he was very good at his very specific field of STEM, good enough to where people stopped talking about how cute he looked in bows and started talking about how impressive his work was from a very young age. and his work had no gender. he could be whatever he wanted to in equations. so that was where he could express himself, and gd, he got so much praise for it, he never wanted to stop.

not until he discovered that his sister needed him, and ran away, and needed a disguise, and realized... suddenly, every stifling rule and prying eye was a million miles away. he was freefloating, freefalling, with none of the charted paths he’d been following all his life... so you know what? fuck it. he’s always enjoyed the name Simon. and since it’s not on any legal records, it’ll make him just that much more untraceable.

and on Serenity, starting over with new people who never knew him before his transition feels like an unbelievable blessing that just dropped right into his lap. he has to keep up the secrecy, he has to make sure they never find out who he used to be, because gd, it’s so nice when they look at him and say his name right, and he doesn’t know if he can handle losing that, not when it’s so new and so important to the person he’s finally becoming. but then one day, the unthinkable happens, the wanted posters for his arrest have an old name on them, they’re looking for the Tam sisters, and... nothing changes. the crew of Serenity could not give even a tenth of a percent of a fuck, and it doesn’t seem like they even know they’re supposed to. huh. that’s new. Simon could get used to that, he thinks.

i’m sure there’s more i could add, but it’s 4:30 in the morning now, so if more occurs to me, ill simply add it in a reblog tomorrow. if you’ve read down this far, i am in love with you. please let me know your Better Firefly ideas, too, bc im always down to yell about this show!!!

#firefly #Serenity #in which i choke out joss whedon with my bare hands and rescue his characters and give them better homes #ollies fix it series #malcolm reynolds #ollies personal good firefly canon

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extremelyblackandwhite · 4 years

Text

innocence - 29

PAIRING: bodyguard!bucky barnes x innocent actress!reader

WARNINGS: smut (18+, underage DNI)

A/N: its angst season again!!

NEXT CHAPTER

Bucky held the old phone against his ear as he waited for Natasha to pass the line onto Steve, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. Once again, there were no news coming from them. There’s not enough evidence for us to even make a guess, he’d tell him every time he called the super soldier. It did not matter how many hours he spent on the phone, a team of synthesoids, witches, spies and super soldiers couldn’t bring upon themselves to figure out who was threatening his girlfriend. His mind couldn’t stop going to the worse places. If he didn’t figure it out, who would?

- Buck, we can go through the record off people who got into her building but do we even know if it’s the same person?

- It has to be, Steve. Go through the records, check for anyone who isn’t from the building.

- Have you asked Y/N who she thinks might be?

- No, I didn’t tell her. - he gulped. - I promised her she’d be safe. I’m not gonna tell her.

- That is a ter ... - the line broke down and before he could call out for Steve’s name again, he heard Y/N’s voice right behind him.

- When were you gonna tell me? - she held up the letter in front of his face and he swore all the colour drained from his face. - Bucky, when were you gonna tell me? How long have you known? Where did this come from?

Bucky dropped the phone to the holder, visibly gulping at the sight of his girlfriend holding the letter he had sworn not to let her see. However, except of seeing the fear she had displayed the first time it happened, she was upset, mad even with that hidden type of serene look which he was sure would scare any army. She put the letter on the table, crossing her arms at him.

- It came yesterday. I don’t know if it actually arrived yesterday but that’s when I got it from the post box.

- Why didn’t you tell me? - she sighed looking down at her feet, one hand holding her weight on the table. Bucky’s jaw locked, eyes moving from side to side before he wrapped his hand around her forearm and led her into the bedroom. Last thing he needed was for her whole family to know not only was he terrible at his job, he was also terrible at being her boyfriend. First fight in her parents’ home ... you can’t fuck up any further Barnes. - James, I’m not toying around.

- I thought it wasn’t important. - he lied.

- They found my family home, James. It is important and you hid it from me. Why did you even open my mail?

- I hoped to be able to find who did it before I told you. I didn’t want to ruin your Christmas. - he put his hands in his pocket. She narrowed her eyes at him, arms crossed over her chest.

- Is that why you don’t wanna kiss me or touch me? You ... Do you ... You agree with they called me? - she frowned, her own anger replaced by her own insecurities. Bucky blinked slowly as if he was processing what she had said, not believing the words which had came out of her mouth. - I ... I didn’t mean to be too forward, I jus ...

- No. No, no, no, no ... - he walked so fast he was almost running, holding her by her arms. - No. I don’t agree with them, I would never agree with it.

- Then ... are you really not in the mood and I just made a complete idiot of myself?

- I don’t, no, I just feel like I failed you, failed my job. - he cupped her face in his hands, trying to find her gaze but she refused to look at him. - I don’t want to fail you, everyone but you. I’m sorry I kept it from you, I thought that you’d feel safer if you didn’t know.

- So you thought keeping me in my own delusion was the best thing to do?

- I’m sorry. - he leaned his forehead against hers. She looked up, into his baby blue eyes as her hand hoovered over his arm. - I didn’t want ... I didn’t mean to delude you.

- You didn’t fail me. - she brought his hand up to her lips, kissing the back of it before leaning her face against it. - It is not your fault that letter came in.

- But I should know who it was ... or at least Steve should. He’s proving himself to be quite useless ... - he grumbled on, which made her hold in her laughter by biting the inside of her lip. - I’m sorry, dollface. I really am.

- If you ever kiss my head when I’m trying to kiss you ever again, we will have severe problems. - she pointed her finger jokingly at him.

- Heard it loud and clear, princess. - he pulled her arm so she was chest to chest with him as if they were about to dance. - Just so we’re clear, I do not agree with those letters.

- Please don’t hide things from me. - her ring finger traced his cheekbone softly. - I can’t stand it from everyone but I personally can’t stand it coming from you. You’re the only one in my corner.

- I’ll always be in your corner but I will want to protect you and I will sometimes do something stupid.

- Why do something stupid when you could do me? - she looked at him with that little shy grin which was just always so endearing to him. Bucky chuckled, leaning down to kiss her. It was a short kiss, broken by him merely to look at her pout.

- You’re getting frisky, princess?

- Well, you did lose your chance to see what’s under my robe. - her fingers slightly rose the hem of her robe to show a bit of her lace garter before dropping it to grab her dress. - But I do need to grab some takeaway.

- I’m going with you. - he followed into her own ensuite bathroom, but she stopped him, holding the door edge in her hand. - You were going to show it to me anyway.

- Next time don’t hide stuff from me. - she smiled before locking the door leaving him alone while she got dressed in a jumper like dress. Bucky leaned his forehead against the door, his mind going haywire as the minute she was gone he immediately started thinking of how he hadn’t found who was sending those letters. How come no one had figured it out? Surely whoever had done it couldn’t be that good at covering their tracks unless they were a professional. Y/N exited the bathroom in her jumper dress and put her hands on the nape of his neck. Bucky took that opportunity to rise up the hem of her dress, watching the soft white stocking reach its end where it connected to her garter. - No, Bucky. No.

- When did you have this? I’ve never seen you wear it before. - he tried to pull it upwards a bit more but she stopped him by merely wrapping her hand around his wrist. - Did you buy it for me, princess?

- Oh no, I wore this when I was 20. In front a 150 people audience.

- What? - he looked as confused as the day someone explained what the internet was to him. - Someone else has seen it? Why can’t I see it?

- Because you’re not in the mood. - she walked away to grab her coat and her scarf. - Are you coming?

- Oh, in more ways then one, princess. - he too grabbed his jacket, following her down the stairs.

He held her hand as they stepped outside, going into a mode he wasn’t used to going into very often. Everything and everyone was suspicious to him and at any moment, he felt like he was ready to kill someone with only a snap of his fingers. Bucky wanted that and at the same time he didn’t want it. It was a hard duality, that of wanting to defend her at all costs and ensure she was the happiest and that of wanting to just bask into how it felt to be hers, because, god, did it felt god to be hers. It was like waking up in spring mornings and all his mistakes seemed to fade whenever she smiled, the way her nose scrunched up and she hide her mouth with her hands, saying her smile was much to ugly for him to see it. Of course she was lying, her smile was the cutest thing. Yet, he wanted her safe, he wanted her to be endlessly happy. He could never get rid of his demons, of what they had done to him, but he could make sure no one hurt her, no one treated her like a commodity because she was everything but that.

- Claire said Aunt Petunia corned you about babies. - she spoke out as they waited on the line. - I’m sorry, I keep telling her not to but I think she’s in competition with her friend about it.

- It’s okay. - he chuckled. - Do you want one?

- Baby?

- Yeah, do you want a kid someday?

- I do but only one. I think my mum and dad lost a pound of hair each time me and my siblings bickered. Besides, Colin almost made me believe you were cheating on me.

- What?

- Yeah. I was desperate, I called Chuck for help. Chuck. Also, I think he’s dating.

- Circling back to the baby question ... would you consider a baby, maybe you and me have one, someday?

- You want to have a baby with me? - she peered up from looking at her shoes to look at him. Bucky immediately regretted the question, she was young and probably not thinking about kids. - Buck?

- Forget it.

- No, Bucky. I didn’t mean it like that ... I just thought you wouldn’t want to have kids.

- I don’t know. - he scratched the back of his neck. - I mean, I don’t really have much family left and I’d like to think, maybe someday, we could have our own.

- Bucky ...

- I’m freaking you out.

- No. I’ve thought about it too, buying a house, having a baby, but ... everything I do is controlled and scheduled and tight lipped so I tend not to day dream about it.

- Hey ... - he hooked his arm under her waist, pulling her close to him. - You still have agency and besides, I’m really good at going undercover if you need to.

- You always know what to say.

- That’s because you’re predictable, princess.

- I am not. - she retorted, pouting as she crossed her arms.

- Yes, you are, princess.

- Really? - she cocked an eyebrow at him, before standing on her tip toes to whisper against his hear. - I’m not wearing any underwear.

- What? - he blushed as Y/N smiled before stepping forward to collect the takeaway bags from the customer assistant. Bucky cleared his throat as the two of them walked outside. - I thought you had something to show me.

- I did but then I realised it is really uncomfortable to be in that lingerie, so I took it off.

Bucky felt most of his blood travelled south as he looked up and down her body. Damn it, suddenly her home felt so far away from the restaurant. He couldn’t help but stare at her body as they walked down the street, the way her dress draped over what he now knew was her naked body. Part of him felt jealous that she was in such a state in front of everyone else but the other part, the most overwhelming one, wanted to push her into an alley and take her right there and then and maybe he would’ve done so if he hadn’t seen a few paparazzi trying to appear invisible. He put himself on her left, mostly covering her, wrapping his hand around hers as he picked up the pace to get to her place. Once again he stood behind her as she opened her door, so close her could smell her daisy perfume and if he were a bit younger and lacked self control, he would’ve drowned her neck in hickeys. However, he thought seeing himself display some strong PDA with his girlfriend on the next morning’s paper. She took her jacket off, hanging it on the hooks by the door.

- We’re going. - he whispered against her ear as she placed the takeaway bags on the kitchen. She opened her mouth to protest, wanting to defend her right to have the yummy food she had just bought but Bucky gave her no chance to do so, instead holstering her upon his shoulder and climbing up the stairs.

Y/N waved at her younger brother who stopped in his tracks as Bucky passed through him and straight into her bedroom. Before she could protest once more, he laid her on her own bedroom, climbing on top of her and started to kiss her neck which replaced the half done protests with small moans. His hand slide up her left to her tight, rising the dress in the process and sure enough, she had not been lying about not wearing any underwear. Other than the garter which held up the sheer white stockings, she was a bare as the day she was born. Bucky took a moment to appreciate it, the bare woman laid on the bed under him, looking at him as if he were the only man in the world.

- I must say, princess. Whatever you had to show me can’t be better than this.

- Maybe my food downstairs is better.

- You’re not walking down any stairs anytime soon, after I’m done with you. - he leaned down to kiss her, a harsh full of need kiss as if he hadn’t seen her in decades.

She smiled through the kiss, hands held over his neck as he placed kisses and sucked her skin in places she was sure to get a hickey the next day, but it didn’t matter. In all honesty, nothing really mattered when he kissed her. Y/N held her hands up as he took off the dress and basked in her nakedness. Screw all the women he had ever slept with, no one compared to her. It didn’t have to do with beauty or even seduction. She was just her, just herself in her own naked glory standing under him, eyes shining with a naive like lust as she awaited his next movement. Bucky should’ve done something else but he decided just to kiss her, fingers caressing the soft skin of her face.

- What is it? - she asked as he interrupted the kiss once more.

- You are the most wonderful thing in my life, Y/N. - he kissed her once more, one hand coming to remove his own trousers.

Her lips stretched into a small smile as she rose her forehead to press it against his. She mumbled a small I love you, kissing the side of his lips as he pushed his cock into her. Her lips stretched into a gasp as he grunted once he shed himself completely inside her, eyes closed as he let the feeling of being inside of her take complete hold of him. She continued mid gasp, not a single thought forming inside her mind rather than how good he felt, how full she was.

Bucky opened his eyes, baby blues almost navy coloured as his hand pushed some of her hair away from her face, kissing her to silence her little gaps and moans which came out in such meek tones, it made him even hard just from listening to them. The kiss was forceful, his lips swallowing all her sounds as he slowly circled his hips against hers, one hand holding the side of her hips with a vice like grip. He pushed his hips back, removing himself from her only to thrust back into her, establishing a slow and delayed pace, grip strong enough to leave a bruise the next day. She whined, nails dug into the fabric of the sleeveless tank top he had not taken off.

- Bucky, please ... - she pleaded, tears pooling in her eyes. - Faster.

- No, princess. You’ve been so bad lately ... what should I do with you? - he stopped moving, stilling inside of her.

- Move? Please?

- Giving me handjobs in a plane, pouting when you don’t get attention, walking around without underwear. That’s not good girl behaviour.

- Bucky ... - she tried to rock her hips against his but he stopped her, hand firmly pressing her against the mattress. - Bucky, please.

- I don’t know, princess. - he leaned into the crook of her neck, playfully bitting her sensitive skin, before kissing it and doing it again. - You look so pretty when you’re begging for my cock. I almost want to see it more. Maybe leave you like this all night, what about that?

- Please, Bucky. Please. - a tears rolled down her cheek as she tried once again to rock her hips against his into a pointless effort. - Please, please, I need it.

- I know. You got so upset when I didn’t fuck you last night, dollface. - he moved out and into her in a long, slow motion, earning more moans from her. - You’re just becoming so needy for me, princess.

- Please. - she pouted, raising up to kiss him, her hands moving up to try and take off his shirt but he refused, shutting her actions by starting to relentlessly thrust in and out of her as if he had been possessed by mere lust. Y/N threw her head back as his hand grabbed her breast harshly and he continued to relentlessly fuck her.

Her legs trembled as he went back to paying attention to her neck and jaw, the mix of all the emotions chasing her high. She whined, trying to deal with all she was feeling from his lips against her neck, his hand massaging her breast and flicking her nipple every once in a while as well as his cock veins against the walls of her channel. She managed to open her eyes for a few seconds and swore she could cum merely at the sight of him as he moved away from her neck to thrust faster into her, head thrown back, pink reddish lips opened in a circle, sweat forming in hairline. She had done that, she had gotten him to look so lost in pleasure and that was as stimulating as something could get.

His hand left her breast to start circling her clit, slowly and painful, a harsh contrast with the fast pace. Her own hand replaced the place that had once been occupied by his hand on her breast, biting her lip as he continued with his motions. Bucky did not stop until she reached her orgasm, the tight feeling in her lower stomach exploding into a particular high pitch moan which he silenced by kissing her, reminding her her parents were still downstairs after all. He didn’t take long to reach his own orgasm either, continuing to thrust quickly into her until ropes and ropes of cum painted her walls. The orgasm weakened his hold over her for a few seconds, leading to him collapsing to her side, pushing her along with him. Bucky slipped out of her, reaching up to kiss her lips followed by a small kiss to her nose.

- Hi. - she said shyly, cuddling against his chest as he pushed a cover over her body. - No more secrets, promise me.

- I can’t promise that. I can promise that whatever I do, I do it because I love you and I want you safe.

- Buck.

- I will try. - he kissed her forehead. - Good?

- Good.

She remained in his arms, cuddling against his chest, listening to the sound of his heart beat softly against his ribcage. It felt good, it felt good to feel loved, to hear the heartbeat of someone who loved her, someone who existed, someone who she had only dreamed about and now existed in real life and loved her. The two watched the old clock on her table turn to midnight. Christmas day. She looked up to him, extending to give him a quick kiss.

- Merry Christmas, love.

- Merry Christmas, princess. - he kissed her nose.

- I thought we could trade presents between us. Make it special.

- Me first. - he said and before she could ever argue, he was rolling out of bed with a small blanket covering his nudity to grab a present wrapped in festive wrapping paper with her name written on it. He sat on the bed, next to her, pushing the duvet to cover her so she wouldn’t be cold. - I hope you like it.

- I’m sure I will. - Y/N smiled at him before proceeding to unwrap her present. It was a book and one she recognised very well from seeing pictures on Google whenever she looked around jokingly for first editions on Ebay. - Buck, it’s too much. I can’t.

- It’s mine. Well, it used to be mine but now it’s yours.

- How do you even know I like the Hobbit?

- Chuck told me.

- You and Chuck talk? - she giggled, unable to picture her best friend having a conversation with Bucky who was always brooding.

- We don’t but whenever we’re on set, he just keeps talking. He said you liked it, so I thought it would be fun if you had the one I read when I was what? About your age?

- Oh okay, grampa. - she poked his chest jokingly before handing him his present.

Bucky kissed the side of her temple, opening the package to see an album like photo with his name written in gold. He gave her a confused look but she merely nodded her head, telling him to open the book. Once he did, he saw “All the times Bucky Barnes was a hero” written in her handwriting followed by pages and pages of articles calling him a hero, the saviour of the day and other words he did not equalise with himself.

- I know you don’t believe you’re a good man but I do and it’s not just me who thinks it. There has been darkness in your life but the way you continued onwards, doing good to the world which hurt you ... that’s noble. - he heard her voice almost in a echo like fashion as he moved page after page. It did not only ranged from his time in the Howling Commandos but even til now, with recent missions and facts. Everything was there, different journal cut outs, different testimonies. Everything.

Bucky looked to his side, looked at her who was smiling at the book in his hand which she had put together and he knew. He just knew.

- Y/N?

- Hm?

- Marry me.

taglist: @disasterbii @lookiamtrying @buckysteveloki-me @americasass81 @jamesbarnesappreciationclub @lostinthebeans @mariahthelioness29 @bbabysbaby @peaches-roses-sins @theadorasabditory @sipsteacasually @saiyanprincessswanie @booktease21 @noiralei @learisa @everythingisoverratedbutgreat @uglipotata72829 @naturalthrone22 @husherstan @mandiiblanche @vicmc624 @newyorkgoddess @itsallyscorner @chipilerendi @emzd34 @writerwrites @bluevxnus @that-girl-named-alex @captnrogers @nsfwsebbie @sarge-barnes-sir

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wildflowers-of-trolberg · 3 years

Note

What are some critiques on Hilda(the show) that you haven’t shared yet?

It's taken me a long time to answer this, because I thought I had shared all my critiques. Between all I've said about Johanna in Season 2, and my worst episodes list, I pretty much covered everything. The only thing I could think of that I had left to discuss was that I don't really like the vocal tracks on the Hilda soundtrack; they just don't tend to hit the right vibe for me.

But over the weekend, things changed. It's not directly about the show itself, but there is something major about Hilda that I need to critique, and that's the tie-in novels. I read the first three of these over the last few days, and I have plenty to say and very little of it is good. Sorry in advance, but this will be long and negative.

First, just a brief explanation for those who aren't aware; Hilda has three different canons. The series began with Luke Pearson's graphic novels, or comics, and these got adapted into the TV show. The TV show was then in-turn adapted again into a series of regular novels written by Stephen Davies; each book combines a few episodes into one story (changing the order of events and moving things around as necessary), and they're in a separate canon to the show.

I'll be honest; I didn't go into these expecting to enjoy them. @remked has been uploading snippets for a while, and the general sense I got from those were that the novels were a bit stranger than the show, and that the novel version of Johanna was a lot worse of a parent compared to her show and even graphic novel counterparts.

I'll come back to the second point, but I was right about the first. The books seem to be based on very early show scripts, which would make sense, but that leads to a lot of weird moments. A good example is that the prime minister of the elves lives in a magical cave hidden by a riddle and three trials, despite the fact he's a middling bureaucrat and his staff presumably have to get there every day; another is that the forest giant Woodman loses Hilda to tries to rap, which is just bizarre and comes out of nowhere.

The illustrations are strange, too. I have nothing against whoever the artist is, but honestly their attempt to capture the show's style really doesn't work all that well, everything just looks a bit off, and they aren't always very consistent with the text. It's a little hard to describe the effect, so I'll just show you Trevor's gang throwing rocks because that's probably my least favourite illustration:

But I could stomach that. I can look past janky artwork; it's still better than I could do, and strange doesn't necessarily mean bad. What I really didn't like about this canon is that the everything just seems more mean-spirited. It really feels like the entire world is against Hilda at times, a lot more than in the show. The main difference I noticed with Hilda herself is that she cries a lot more in this, and it's understandable why.

The first adventure Hilda shares with her friends is the Lost Clan in this timeline; it follows the events of the show pretty much exactly, but it ends with Frida and David both cutting Hilda out of their lives (even getting their parents to talk to Miss Hallgrim so she'll separate them in class) because they don't want to get dragged into adventures. They do make up, of course, but only when Hilda apologises as if she's entirely in the wrong, and Frida is cold with Hilda throughout the entire rest of the second and third book anyway. David gets one good moment, during the marra incident, but is otherwise similar.

And they're the ones who are supposed to be sympathetic. Nearly everyone else is affected, too; Trevor is established as the class bully, and deliberately tries to drown Raven out of pure spite. Raven Leader is just an exasperated authority figure who dislikes Hilda, and Miss Hallgrim is even worse. She's not just a reasonably strict teacher who doesn't understand Hilda; her introduction is her sending Hilda out of class for not paying attention, while Hilda is fighting back tears because the entire class is openly mocking her. At no point does Miss Hallgrim try and stop them, and unlike in canon she doesn't get a redemption arc; she just continues like this and then faints after the troll mother shows up. There's even a moment where the parents start mocking Hilda, and she still only drops the hammer on this hurt and embarassed child.

But the elephant in the room, and the one thing that really ruined all of this for me, was Johanna. I went into these books with some idea of what she was like; I'd seen one snippet (from Hilda and the Nowhere Space, courtesy of @remked again) and @trolbergoraclecolumnist (who has also read these things) told me that he could make the case she's emotionally abusive. It didn't hit me just how serious that was until I actually read the things, and even then it took a while of me just feeling like things were wrong for it to fully set in, but he's absolutely right. I absolutely don't think it was Davies' intention, but the only way I can read it is that the version of Johanna we get in this AU is an abuser.

In the show, Johanna is clearly conflicted about moving away from the valley. She doesn't want to live in fear of the elves, and she thinks that Hilda needs to learn to socialise, but she also knows that it's going to hurt her daughter, at least in the short term. She's willing to let Hilda try with the elves (if Jorgen hadn't stepped on their house, I don't think they would have moved at all) and listens to her concerns. She's transparent about her decision; when she takes Hilda into town she doesn't commit to anything, telling her daughter this is where they could live, and tries to reassure Hilda that the city can be an adventure too and that she won't have to give up everything she loves.

In Hilda and the Hidden People, the novel version of Johanna not only doesn't do that, she does the opposite. It comes out that she's been planning this move for a while, and is already committed to it (whether this idea came to her before the elves started attacking is unclear); she knows Hilda won't like it, but she makes no attempt to reassure her, instead she straight-up resorts to lying. She tells Hilda that they're just going to look around in town in a horribly insincere way, when it's clear that she's already planning the move and is using this to finalise her plans, and when Hilda is inevitably upset by having her whole life ripped out from under her Johanna doesn't try and be understanding. She makes it about herself and how hard Hilda's making things for her. The line, specifically, is "please don't be difficult today".

Later on Hilda actually calls her out for lying, but she just bluntly tells Hilda not to argue with her. She plans and executes this entire move without ever thinking about how it's going to hurt Hilda, and then tells Hilda she's not allowed to be upset and that makes her in the wrong. And Hilda accepts it; when she falls off of Illus (Jorgen's girlfriend) she genuinely thinks she's about to die, and her main regret is "how mean she had been to Mum these past few days". This isn't a situation like The Beast of Cauldron Island/The Fifty Year Night where it's debatable who was in the wrong and I can see why people sympathise with Johanna; she's lied and manipulated her own child into believing it's all her fault.

In Hilda and the Great Parade, Johanna doesn't really do much either way. She makes no attempt to help Hilda adjust to the city, and laughs at her when Hilda is upset about it (it's fond, and Hilda is being overdramatic in that scene, but considering the circumstances it still rankled me). She has no concerns or remorse about giving the Raven to Trevor (which she is tricked into doing) and the most Hilda is able to convince her to do to help is give a note to Frida, which Johanna is reluctant to do. They do have a bonding moment at the end, watching the parade from the wall, but it's not nearly as earned or sweet.

In Hilda and the Nowhere Space, things continue. In this canon it's made clear that Hilda only joined the Sparrow Scouts because Johanna "loved the idea of Hilda following in her footsteps", and that since then, every time Hilda gets back from scouts, all Johanna asks her is if she's got any badges yet. Not how she's doing or how her adventures are, but if she's living up to the expectations her mum has set for her. Johanna seems fixated on this point, and Hilda's not just worried about disappointing her; it's shown more than once that she has genuinely started tying her sense of self-worth to getting badges and talking about how Johanna will "see how useless she is" at the badge ceremony.

Like in the show, this comes to pass; Hilda doesn't get any badges, and her mum is upset. But in this version Johanna doesn't just give her a concerned look; she goes over to Hilda and berates her to the point of tears:

(Once again thanks to @remked for this). Johanna does ultimately apologise for this, but it's a single sentence where she makes no apologies for pressuring Hilda in the first place. She's spent the entire book trying to make Hilda just like her, pushing her around, and honestly it only feels like she apologises because she wants to assauge her own guilt. Especially after the whole move thing, it reeks to me of more of the same, of Johanna trivialising her own actions.

I genuinely find Johanna and Hilda's dynamic in this canon upsetting. A handful of bonding moments can't make up for legitimate emotional abuse and manipulation, and it hurts to see the best fictional parent I know portrayed as an abuser, even if it's not what the author intended. So if you want my critique; I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to say avoid the novels.

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heroesandlovers · 2 years

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Nancy Drew 3x04 "The Demon of Piper Beach"

A good episode. Using dreams to explore characters can be a cool trope (even if these writers tend to overuse it). Not a whole lot happens plot wise for the season. This is mostly an episode central to Bess’s arc, plus we do get the #Nace dream😇.

Main plot;

Nancy realizes she is having walking nightmares with a hidden silhouette. Soon the other members of the DrewCrew, and the kids at the Youth Center, have similar experiences.

Bess has found out that it is city wide. It started in children and then progressed to older teens and adults. These sleep hauntings are happening because the locals didn’t get the chance to make their annual dream catchers at the local carnival (which was cancelled when Matthew Burke’s body was found in the corn maize).

Cue the dream scenes that quickly morph into night mares.

- Nancy dreams of Ace coming to confess his feelings. Their make out session turns into Ace’s heart turning frozen.

- George dreams of her wedding which is then crashed by her birth father

- Bess dreams of the Women in White keeping her out of their ceremony.

- Nick dreams of his youth center failing.

- Ace is with a some guy covered up with a mask and blood on his hands and Ace is worried that he hurt someone.

Ace is the first to come to. He is able to get to the others just in time to keep them from hurting themselves. He reaches them all by phone except for Nancy who he saves in person, just in time to keep her from lighting herself on fire.

I admit I will never get tired of seeing these two save each other 😇

The Crew are doing everything they can to keep themselves awake so they don’t fall asleep and hurt themselves.

Nancy stares at Ace. She is clearly still unsettled by her dream of Ace.

“I think my subconscious is trying to tell me there are instincts I haven’t followed…about Trott”

What exactly does this have to do with Trott Nancy?

(OK I know she's talking about the frozen heart part but clearly there are some OTHER things your subconscious may be trying to say to you?)

Bess confesses to the group that she has been working with Temperance. It causes a bit of a rift in the group.

The group handcuffs themselves to the table just in case they fall asleep.

Back to Ace’s dream…Mr. Bobbsey shows up and we now see why Ace was afraid he had hurt someone. Turns out the injured person was actually himself. It's not TOO hard to read the subtext here that Ace is afraid of losing himself in this Bobbsey business.

Bess finds out from Temperance that her friends’ dreams could have serious repercussions even if they are handcuffed. If they get hurt (or killed) in their dreams, they are hurt or killed in real life. Conversely, if they kill the Sandman in their dreams, they can stop him.

Bess is left with just Ryan to help her. She uses a charm that Temperance gave her to enter everyone’s dreams. She gets them all on the “Bess bus” and for some reason this scene gives me Scooby Doo vibes. With help from Ryan in the real world, and support from the DrewCrew in the sleep world, Bess is able to overcome the Sandman.

Carson and DA Rosario

My favorite part about this storyline is Ryan teasing Carson about his “working lunch”. In the actual timeline, it’s still a bit weird to me that Kate has only been dead a matter of months. I guess if the show chooses to forget that fact I can too.

Later, things come to a head when he gets Ace's help to decrypt some video, revealing none other than Ace as being caught on camera near the scene of the crime.

Youth Center Opening Day

A slightly poor showing on opening day but we do get to see Ryan show off his skills and unique ability to connect with the troubled kids.

George and her bioDad. The subtext from George's dreams are not hard here either. She is worried about what her bioDad could want, and she's worried about what it would mean for her and Nick's relationship/wedding.

Episode cliffhanger: The serial killer they caught last episode does NOT appear to be the frozen heart killer (or at least not the only one) as ANOTHER victim has occured.

Aceism

Carson: “Why aren’t you a tech billionaire?” Ace- “Who says I’m not?”. The length of the look Carson and Ace share after this is GOLD. These two have good chemistry and timing together.

#ace nancy drew #nancy drew reviews #nancydrew #nancy drew #nancy x ace #nace #ace nd #nancy drew meta #nancy drew season 3

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cancerjupiter · 4 years

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astro notes: neptune edition (pt. 1)

neptune represents issues which are frequently unconscious, so all of this may operate without your awareness. if projected, the negative aspects of neptune become more emphasised. the more you reject it in your own life, the more likely it is that you’ll meet it in exaggerated ways outside yourself.

neptune in the 1st house

tends to be the kind of person who waits and sees, but your outward behavior doesn’t begin to describe what goes on inside. you feel connected to your environment because you’re aware of subtle energies, you pick up impressions from others they’re usually unaware to be giving. you find yourself in the uncomfortable position of knowing (beyond a verbal level) what others’ unconscious motivations are, what’s hidden behind their civility. you tend to be very idealistic, preferring to live in harmony: peaceful non-demanding relationships and quiet and aesthetically pleasing surroundings. you choose to think kindly of others, whether they reciprocate or not; your sensitivity gives you a natural compassion. you can be most charming, often whimsical, sometimes romantic, and usually empathic. you seem approachable and often receptive to a degree others find startling and deeply gratifying (if not a little scary lol). you want life to be perfect for yourself and others, and your desire for a better world can be channeled into artistic creative pursuits, social work, or mere daydreaming.

you often struggle with personal identity. you may be so open to others that you pick up their moods without realising it. you tend to mimic, unconsciously, the strong characteristics of the last person you were with. don’t become an emotional sponge; define your emotional boundaries and accept it is necessary for your growth to establish a firm identity. another thing i noticed about you is that you guys don’t mind suffering; no, i’m not saying you don’t hate it (everyone does!) but you seem to accept it when you don’t have to. you put others first and feel that it’s best to sacrifice your own well-being than to be responsible for someone else’s suffering.

there’s almost always a strong awareness of and interest in spiritual energies with this placement. you may actually be psychic, whether or not you’re comfortable with the ability. you may deeply religious, although not conventionally since institutions don’t satisfy you; you feel at home with a belief system you know, from personal experience, exists. your lack of interest in the real world can lead you into seriously bad habits like drug abuse or eating disorders and due to your dislike of physical activity, this can quickly damage your (often sensitive) health. alternatively, this placement can also lead to arrogance, depending on the sun and midheaven placements/aspects.

neptune in the 2nd house

you tend to be idealistic with the use of money and personal resources, not terribly attached to them. you look at them as temporary and although sad to part with something you own, you can let it go where others simply cannot. there’s an indifferent attitude towards finances, income and etc. some of you are v generous and will give things away to people who can truly admire it, believing nothing truly belongs to anyone. this outlook satisfies you greatly, making you easygoing but also easily being taken advantage of. this sort of gives you a fairy-tale attitude towards your money - it’s either always there when needed, or simply one of the world’s idiotic, materialistic preoccupations. you may be unpractical or simply forgetful with resources; not willing to sit down and figure what’s the best buy and choosing to go with intuition. purchases usually go by what you want rather than what you can afford (my friend has no idea how much is on her bank acc and doesn’t care to figure it out. she just doesn’t care lol). you should actually read the small print in contracts and not trust just anyone with your money.

alternatively, there may be a strong tendency to overvalue material things (neptune = beliefs in the house of money and possessions), specially if there’s an earth emphasis in the chart, making you inclined to putting great care and time into upkeep. you usually want your things to look aesthetic™️.

there’s also a strong creative tendency; it may be expressed in various forms but it will certainly be inherent. you need at least periodic access to music and inspiration, including the outdoors where you can soak up peace and serenity. since the 2nd house also relates to sensual pleasures, you probably expect these to provide a kind of ultimate ecstasy. in short, this placement forces you to face up to your tendencies to create illusions about money, possessions, sex, or creative pursuits. don’t expect more from them than they can provide.

neptune in the 3rd house

on one level, this placement can confuse and scatter the brain, giving it vagueness and disorganized thinking. sometimes, however, the mind exhibits uncanny insights into the subtleties of the environment. you sense the hidden nuances and meanings behind what’s being said. what you miss in terms of precise analytical ability, you can by being able to view the big-picture more clearly. there’s a danger to this however; your desire to view what’s beautiful and ideal around you can give a kind of selective perception in which only the good is seen and what doesn’t fit into that is ignored.

you don’t usually feel comfortable expressing yourself through normal channels of communication. what you have to say can be better demonstrated through dance, poetry, song, or picture (painted or taken). there’s often a shyness in the early school situation, which manifested in mental illness (my friend has dyslexia and this was a hard time for her) or simply confusion.

since this house also rules siblings, there may be some sacrifices to be made in relation to them; they may be a problem or have difficulties. since neptune fuses the boundary between the self and others, you may feel you’re responsible for their problems or everything which happens in the immediate environment (also ruled by the 3rd). if you don’t have siblings, you probably longed for the companionship of it, an idealized vision of what a sibling is. i also noticed this neptune placement showing exceptional ability as teachers - specially working w children who have learning difficulties. they can understand ways to communicate with and understand the child better than anyone else.

neptune in the 4th house

i have this one and it’s a loaded position: an unconscious planet in an unconscious house. to feel safe in a secure nest is fundamental, though that’s often quite unconscious. your idea of haven includes a lovely home, w lots of food and someone who will take care of your needs. there’s an assumption that the mother, early home life and emotional security all need to be perfect. that is, all needs will be met with ease, and there’s no upset or disappointment in these areas. the mom or other primary caregiver, is supposed to be there when needed, regardless of other commitments. the illusions connected to the 4th house (remember, neptune refers to illusions which must be exposed and released) are deeply intimate; and any threat to them is profoundly threatening to you.

neptune in the 4th generally has to overcome the strong need for the nurturing parent to not only be perfect but to continue being so into your adulthood. you have great difficulty separating from them; you may never fully do it. it doesn’t matter if they actually lived to your expectations, for their importance is in your head - the parent you idealized or pretended they were. sometimes, however, this desire focuses on the home rather than the parent. in this case, the childhood home was either perfect, or mysterious and elusive. you can react by trying to re-create the exact same nest.

with this placement, nurturing yourself becomes the ultimate value, a way to find supreme satisfaction. you can also make the most amazing caretakers and companions. your need to nurture others is a complicated expression of your own hunger to be taken care of; you give too much and eventually become resentful when no one appreciates your (not asked for) sacrifices. you might also project neptunian traits onto your parent; they may be v spiritual and loving, vague and confusing, or even absent, so you were left w only a fantasy of what they could - and should - have been. they might have also been a victim (similar to pisces moon) and you might’ve felt obligated to save them.

you feel like caring involves being swallowed up completely, and it’s something you either constantly yearn or are terrified of. you also feel if your (unrealistic) emotional security needs aren’t met, you won’t survive the disappointment (you did, and you will again). neptune in the 4th can make the most patient and loving parents, w a strong sense of their emotional bonding and spiritual responsibilities. you will do more to create an ideal parent/child relationship than anyone else and constantly remind others of how important it is to strive to be the best parent one can be.

neptune in the 5th house

this combo leads to a definite charisma, an aura of charm and power and importance (timothee, angelina, mlk, drake, etc). it’s a strong indication of some kind of acting ability, though it may be used as a teacher or a salesman rather than on stage. you’re likely to work in some area where applause and respect can be immediate and experienced personally. you need this; neptune undermines the self-confidence so you depend on others’ feedback to measure your worth. this can be a deadly dependency because even the highest praise and respect can truly fulfill the yearning to be loved unconditionally, only provide a temporary high, making you forever vulnerable.

some of the illusions related to this placement include the need to have perfect relationships and children, and the perfect artistic creation. whenever one expects perfection, they’re doomed to disappoitment, although the process of disillusionment may be needed to rethink your outlook on life. you may expect your love life to provide a complete sense of fulfillment. you can make a v romantic partner, the type to love cheesy romantic things and music, who can surround your lover with utmost affection. however, you might also expect them to sense your wishes and always meet them; or expect yourself to always be sensitive and caring at al times, regadless of your moods and/or needs.

you need to re-evaluate your tendency to romanticize lovers instead of seeing them for who they are. you may also harbor illusions towards children, your own or all, which hamper your ability to deal w them realistically and effectively. there’s a difficulty in developing a strong sense of self-worth, or maybe fancying yourself to be far more important than you really are. this placement is associated w a great deal of inspired creativity, however, and if other chart factors support it, it indicates exceptional artistic talent. with humility and self-awareness, you can use your magnetism to uplift those who have lost all confidence.

neptune in the 6th house

w this placement, neptune is in its polar opposite, since 6th house relates to virgo and neptune relates to pisces. this house is about the world as it is and how to manage it in a day-to-day basis. neptunian energy is the opposite: it yearns for and seeks to unite w the cosmos, which transcends this world. how can these two work this out?

when they’re well integrated in the chart, you can dream of neptune while using the practical 6th house skills to plan and organise the dream you wish to make true some day. it can direct the neptunian energy to envision something better, prettier, more creative and inspiring. without this, the 6th house is merely a housekeeping unit - a drive to organise and plan, but for what purpose? neptune supplies it with purpose and the house repays it with practical skills, usually related to some artistic work.

however, if the energies are at odds, there is the need to dream vs. the need to be practical and realistic. you feel a strong need to busy yourself w details and make everything as efficient as possible, tidying up and even criticising others (negative virgo energy). you may expect far too much from others and yourself, never able to say “no” when more work is piled on you. another expression is not being able to keep your shit together; you forget, are disorganized, feel tired and drained of energy, get sick often, or feel generally unfulfilled. my friend, for example, often seeks jobs for its glamorous aspects, only to get swamped by details and routine.

#astrology #zodiac signs #neptune #neptune houses #aries #taurus #gemini #cancer #leo #virgo #1st house #2nd house #3rd house #4th house #5th house #6th house

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glowinggator · 4 years

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Happy Valentines Day!

Request: Hey since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, think we can have a Rottmnt special? Like crush made them homemade chocolate and shyly gives it to them? ✨✨ pretty please! 🙏

Pairing: All, Non-Poly. (Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, & April O’Neil.)

Content Warnings: None! Except for swearing?? I don’t know if people still tag for swears or not </3

Word Count: 1658

You thank the universe that nobody could hear your heartbeat, for if they could, the world would surely fall apart at the intensity of its beats. Your face burns hot, and your body shakes with each step you take. You pray to every deity you can think of that you don’t drop the chocolate you stayed up all night making. Pan after pan and recipe after recipe lead you to this moment, finally finding the perfect concoction. That’s what you tell yourself, at least. No, it is perfect! Right? Fuck, what’s the backup plan if he doesn’t like it? Should you scrap it? Should you have brought some for everyone? You’re so lost in your thought, you hardly recognize your surroundings as you step into the lair. An enthusiastic “hey!” from your friends seals your fate: there’s no turning back now. No second-guessing.

You’re gonna give it to them.

Raphael:

He’s so excited!! Chocolate? For him? From his crush?

He actually has to ask if you’re serious first, he can’t help it. Like really? Ethereal you made him homemade chocolate? He has to be dreaming.

“Are you sure you’re not confusing me for someone else? Not that I’m saying I don’t want it! Wait hold on, this isn’t coming out right-”

Raph what other giant, anthropomorphic snapping turtles do we know???

He smiles so big when you manage to stammer out that yes, this is for him, and he cradles the package so gently too. He’s such a sweetheart.

He actually made you something too!

He puts the box down gently before going to his room to grab it.

It’s a small handmade card with a little bouquet of wildflowers! (White trillium and starflower to be exact. He thought they were really pretty.) The bouquet is tied loosely with a red ribbon, pulled gently into a bow.

He was so nervous about giving it to you, that he actually wasn’t planning to at all! He’s had everything planned for weeks, but his anxiety kept getting the better of him. But getting something from you was exactly the kind of encouragement he needed to take that final leap.

He’s so flustered when he hands it over, and the way his hands shake makes you feel a little less shy. Maybe he does feel the same way?

Two shy dorks in love <3

Leonardo:

Yoo, for real? For him? Hell yeah, thank you!

He’s really confident on the outside. Like, he’s so excited and accepting about it it’s unreal. All of your anxieties melt away, as they tend to do around him, and you can’t even remember why you were so stressed in the first place! It’s Leo, after all.

He’s dying (in a good way) on the inside though. He’s just internally screaming. Holy shit his crush is giving him chocolate? And it’s homemade? Oh my god look at that tiny white chocolate drizzle, that’s so cute!! Is that a strawberry?? MANY thoughts, head FULL, and in LOVE.

(He’s gonna hardcore brag about it to his brothers later.)

His heart is pounding out of his chest, although he doesn’t divulge that information.

He asks you out right then and there. Like!!!

He doesn’t actually say the word “date,” but god. You’re suddenly all shy again, and you can’t do anything but nod furiously.

The date is super casual, (yes its at Hueso’s. He begs him to pull out all of the stops, and he does so, even if only to shut up Leo. Actual king <3) and it really puts you at ease. At some point he moves to hold your hand, and you can’t help the way your heart leaps into your throat. And he'd be lying if he didn’t feel the same way.

His confession is so eloquent, and yet… dorky. Sweet. Like he’s rehearsed it a million times, trying to find the best possible words to win your heart. Little did he know, he’s always had it.

Donatello:

oh no

He didn’t plan for this. Like, this was literally the one thing he didn’t plan for.

(He has confidence issues, give him a break!! How could he have known that you were going to give him something too? And give it first as well?? Which sets a precedent for the gift he gives?? Social interactions are Awful and he’s in Hell.)

He’s still pleasantly surprised though!

He kind of short-circuits for a moment, and he’s completely deadpan for at least three seconds. It’s the worst couple seconds of your life. Then he comes back to reality and thanks you super genuinely.

(It’s hard to read him at the best of times, and this is. So much. He just doesn’t know what to do with himself!!!)

He takes his time looking at every detail on the chocolates, and your anxiety dies down as you see the softest smile grace his features. It’s so genuine, and you don’t even think he knows he is smiling, so it’s really reassuring.

You take the time to really study his features, and fuck, he’s really pretty. You’re both flustered when you guys come back to reality.

He made you a gift too!! In fact, he has a whole day planned out.

It’s a long and fun day of running around the Hidden City, and at night, in New York.

It’s incredible.

He’s confident, and he says all the right things. He’s had this night planned out for weeks, and fuck if it doesn’t shine through.

At the end of the night, he gives you his gift with averted eyes. It’s a strange contrast to the pure exciting, confident persona he’s been putting on all day.

It’s handmade, and tailored to your exact interests and equipped with his own, Donatello-Style flair.

He’s confident in his tech, and he knows you like the back of his hand, but this is… completely new territory.

Valentine’s Day has never been so perfect.

Michelangelo

He did the same thing, actually!!! So this is actually so perfect for him!!

He spent all night making the perfect chocolates. Most of them are filled, and those that aren’t have some unique, artistic drizzle adorning them. If you hadn’t known better, you would have thought he got them from a fancy chocolate place.

He genuinely can’t contain his excitement when you hand him the box all shyly. His eyes light up with the brightness of a dying star going supernova.

He immediately hugs you, careful not to crush the chocolates, and then his mouth is moving at a mile a minute. It’s almost hard to keep up!! He’s just so happy and excited, and he’s running to the kitchen and he has a box too??? Hello, what’s going on??

He’s trying so hard to not just blurt out a confession here and now.

It’s completely impromptu, but he suggests going out on the town. He didn’t plan it, he was honestly just planning to stay in and watch some movies with you, but now that you’ve brought him a Valentine’s Day gift too? That means you like him too right, maybe?

If he’s gonna confess to you, it’s sure as hell not gonna be in a sewer. (Even if it is his home. It just ain’t right, man!)

It’s really fun! You feel so at home with him, and there’s no pressure at all.

Everything just seems to fall into place around him. He’s your home. Unbeknownst to you, he feels the exact same way.

He confesses by the end of the night. It’s so sweet and sincere, but there isn’t a single moment of hesitation. He’s so head over heels for you, and that love shows itself in every movement and word.

April

She’s never been given chocolates before!! She’s always looked on in envy through middle school, highschool, at work, etc. So fuck, if she’s not immediately swarmed with emotion. She’s like, two seconds away from crying. I love her so much…

It’s actually really funny, because she ordered a really nice bouquet of ivory & pink flowers from her local flower shop for you, but they hadn’t arrived yet! She’s super upfront with it, and it gets a good laugh out of both of you. The classic April O’Neil luck, ey?

It definitely lightens the mood, and she suggests going out to a local restaurant to get lunch, and then maybe go sightseeing! Or maybe just goof around in the Hidden City? No pressure!

It’s super fun! You never want the night to end, to be quite honest.

You get to choose the music while you guys drive around, and you end up picking the silliest stuff. You guys laugh and belt out the lyrics to every song.

The food at the restaurant is perfect, and everything goes off without a hitch. At some point she reaches across the table to interlock fingers with you, and you’re suddenly alight with so much love and recognition that this is an official date, and your best friend - your crush - is holding hands with you, and her hand is so soft and warm and… you’re so in love. And unbeknownst to you, she’s feeling the exact same strain of emotion.

At the end of the night she takes you to a rainy spot in the Hidden City, and you guys dance and sing in the rain.

Everything feels so natural and perfect with her. She’s your safe space, your home, your world.

You can barely stand to part at the end of the night.

When you do get back to your home, you find her gift at your front door. It’s a beautiful bouquet of white Gardenias, pink Carnations, pink Peonies, and… a white Lily. They stand perfectly in a vase, apparently left at your doorstep by the delivery driver. You place them on your kitchen counter as soon as you can, and text her immediately.

You love her with all your heart, and she’s head over heels for you, too.

#rottmnt x reader #rottmnt imagine #tmnt donatello x reader #tmnt leonardo x reader #tmnt raphael x reader #tmnt michelangelo x reader #tmnt april x reader #april o'neil x reader #rottmnt mikey x reader #rottmnt leo x reader #rottmnt raphael x reader #rottmnt Donatello x reader #rottmnt donnie x reader #donatello hamato x reader #leonardo hamato x reader #rottmnt leonardo x reader #tmnt imagine #tmnt x reader

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