#she was my first step into the fandom along with I still remember everyone who said nice things about her <3

[fivepebble]

I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR HFJONE CLANGEN RUN PLEEEAAASE it looks so cool... so dramatic... so silly...

I'm still trying to stitch up the story, the generator leaves a lot of things unexplained which means I have to fill in the blanks. but here's how the beginning and first few deaths went:

Bryce is leader, Liam is deputy, Charlotte is the medicine cat, Amelia is the mediator. there's also Stella, Owen and Kylie as warriors and Airy as a kit (which was a joke based on how the fandom infantilizes him and also my attempt to prevent him from having romantic interactions with anyone, which unfortunately did not work later on when he grew up lmao)

Amelia and Charlotte were friends straight off the bat, as well as Owen and Liam, and Bryce and Stella. Airy did not get along with anyone, and he and Liam hated each other the most. I remember a particular patrol where Airy fell in a hole and Liam called him an idiot while standing by and refusing to help him. keep in mind that Airy is troublesome, which makes him annoying, but he's never actually done anything wrong at this point. Liam was generally pretty rude to everyone except Owen, but in my head I interpreted it as him not understanding social cues because usually these interactions were more him disregarding boundaries than being malicious.

In the meantime, Owen and Kylie were having a sort of swiftpaw and brightpaw arc. Owen wanted to be made deputy eventually and was constantly going out on patrol with her and looking for these dogs that they smelled on the border, and they did actually end up finding them. fortunately though they were actually able to lead the dogs away from the territory and didn't get hurt.

The first outsider we found was a cat we decided was Texty, who got hit by a car and had a pretty bad head injury. They were injured for a couple months and they developed failing eyesight as a result. In this time Owen and Charlotte got together, and Charlotte was expecting his kits.

Then the first death happened, the camp caught on fire. I don't know what caused it but I'm writing in that a bird carried in a burning branch from a wildfire nearby. Texty got caught in the medicine den and Stella returned to help them. Texty was able to get out but Stella got trapped in turn and ended up burning to death. Bryce was really fucked up about it especially and i remember that his vigil was pretty heart wrenching with him basically having to be coerced away from her body after sitting with her all night. Shit sucked.

Pretty much immediately after this, Liam got grabbed by an eagle due to the lack of cover. It eventually dropped him and he broke his leg on impact. Airy dragged him back to camp, where Charlotte was in labour, and as the only medicine cat she wasn't able to give Liam any treatment then or while recovering. His broken leg got infected and eventually killed him. Owen was grief stricken due to this and was actively neglecting his newborn kits for a while, but he did eventually recover and step up again. We called Charlotte's kits "the moldings."

Bryce made Owen deputy in Liam's place, and after having a conversation about Liam's death with Charlotte, to my surprise he stepped down and retired early. In my head he saw himself being Liam's deputy specifically, and couldn't be okay with replacing him. Kylie became a stand-in deputy after that. In the meantime we started teaching Texty to be a medicine cat so what happened with Liam wouldn't repeat itself.

wow i wrote a lot! that's all for now though.

[marciabrady]

Sorry if you've already answered something like this before but I'd like your thoughts on cinderella 3? As a huge cinderella fan I can see the appeal it has to the wider audience but idk I've never gelled with it?

No worries! I'm in the same boat as you, for a multitude of reasons. I still remember, when I saw the third movie for the first time, thinking it was okay but then never wanting to watch it again. Something about it didn't ring true, but it just wasn't on my mind much and I never felt compelled to revisit it (as opposed to the original which I rewatched on a daily basis at a certain point of my life). Then, later, as an editor, I returned to it to continue engaging with the Cinderella fandom by giffing things that hadn't been made before. I tried to admire it for a while, because that film brought many people to Cinderella that otherwise didn't like her but...the more I sit with it, the more I realize how much it isn't for me. Now, it isn't that it's bad. That's a subjective thing, obviously, and it has a comparatively higher production value for a film of its kind. However, I think the way the film presents itself as blending with canon is extremely flawed and I think it's led the fandom to a lot of conclusions that I'm downright uncomfortable with. It's fine as its own thing, but I'm growing increasingly uneasy with it being considered a canonical part of the fandom.

Cinderella herself. No adaption of Cinderella ever gets Cinderella right (the live action is the worst offender) but I think, in some ways, it's more glaringly obvious here because it's supposed to be a direct continuation of the one media that did get Cinderella right? No one could ever live up to Ilene Woods' Cinderella, and I know that's an impossible assignment, due in no small part to how natural she was in the role and how it overlapped with certain areas of her personal life. Jennifer Hale is fine enough but her performance doesn't ever feel distinctly Cinderella and seems more suited for the video game performances that she's amassed a ton of critical and commercial success with. While she's given interesting responses regarding her view of Cinderella, I don't think I'd trust her with carrying the mantle (again, she's said intelligent things but she downplays Cinderella by insinuating she was limited in the first movie and how her own portrayal is more of a 'warrior' and how Cinderella is everyone's favorite princess until they grow up and 'rightfully' start to like more action oriented princesses). The film itself doesn't even understand Cinderella and just gives her a Belle and Ariel redesign, along with a soaring Broadway song where they completely change her singing style. It also changes her entire motivation to be fighting for love (a step back and not how she was in the original, I also think it lends credence to criticisms saying she's silly for only falling in love after one dance unfortunately whereas the original, in my opinion, didn't fall into that trap) and there's so many instances where they frustratingly make her slow ("Lift the spell- make him remember!! Bi- ahh!!"). I also think she's relegated to a side character in her own film and Anastasia is treated infinitively better, which is an issue to me. I also hate how they robbed her of her greatest victory. Cinderella producing the slipper and being her own savior might be my favorite scene in film history. Taking that away from her and making her openly stumble in front of Lady Tremaine, someone who just locked her in the attic and abused her her entire life, was...a choice. Just like her almost handling her *glass* slipper to Lady Tremaine, only for it to be broken, was. It just made her look dense and the entire thing came across as un-cohesive with what was previously established. Like, I'm sorry but...

This Cinderella was so raw, so layered, gritty, real. She grew up in an abusive household with no resources, skillfully masterminding her own exit. She understood the nuances of her captor, and always kept one trick up her sleeve. When she descended upon the staircase, she made her way through her stepfamily actively discouraging her- an orphan with no one else in the world- to the visiting nobility. They called her ridiculous, impossible, out of her mind, just a scullery maid from the kitchen- an imaginative child. She made her way past them, knowing that- if the grand duke believed them or left or if any detail of her plan fell through- she'd forever be stuck with these three women that would practically kill her once the door shut. But she persisted, and even when Lady Tremaine thought she was the one with the trick up her sleeve, smashing the glass slipper, Cinderella pulled a reverse uno and produced something no one else thought possible- the slipper's mate. Compare that to...

The third movie where Cinderella has to run down the stairs, escaping from her attic entrapment, and waves around her glass slipper in front of her stepmother, explaining to her in full detail that transpired the night previously at the ball, putting herself in a position that 4 seconds later allowed Lady Tremaine to crash that slipper and gaslight her into forgetting. Like...why??? I have so many issues with the way Cinderella is depicted in the film, but we'll leave it here (not even going to get into why people only like her in this version more because she displays more masculine strength by "fighting" and being physically combative which...again, there's more than one way to be strong and the fact that they tried to make her just like any other modern Princess is disappointing to me).

The Anastasia problem. This is something that only continues to upset me more and more as time goes by. In the original film, it's established that Anastasia actively abused Cinderella for the better part of her life. She taunted her, lead to Cinderella being punished multiple times, and blocked off Cinderella's escape or pursuit of a healthy life so many times. The way she's enabled the cycle of abuse to continue and actively, not only participated it but, spearheaded it on a few occasions, explains to us why she's the antagonist. I think it's dangerous that she appears in such a sympathetic light, especially without ever once offering a substantial apology to Cinderella. All of Anastasia's actions in this film, too, are completely self-motivated and I just think it lead to this trend where a lot of people see Anastasia as the protagonist (because she has the most screentime in this movie) and I just think it's poor form to sympathize with an abuser and, frankly, a dangerous moral to espouse. Like, even in the finale where they show Cinderella trying to reason with Anastasia is so toxic. Someone who's been on the receiving end of an irrational abuser's whims their entire life should never try to reason because "they know a good person is there, deep down." And I've seen a lot of people call them "sisters" and talk about how Anastasia had it worse than Cinderella because she's considered conventionally unattractive...which. I could write essays about this and how it's projection, but physical beauty doesn't go that far in this universe. Walt even had an animator redrew Anastasia's smile to be more attractive because he wanted all the characters to be somewhat sympathetic in favor of realism, as opposed to 'all good' and 'all bad.' Again, in this universe, the Prince sees an endless line of beautiful women in amazing clothing so that isn't what attracts him to Cinderella. However, I do think it's worth noting that Cinderella ceases to exist in her society when she doesn't appear 'eligible' by having markers of wealth. She's symbolically stripped of her dignity and hidden away, all of her opportunities taken from her. You know who never suffers that lived experience? Anastasia and Drizella. They're slovenly, over-privileged, and completely self-motivated and this sudden rewrite that they're poor victims because, in our world, they wouldn't be seen as beautiful and that qualifies them for a more traumatic upbringing than an orphan they helped abuse is ridiculous to me.

The disregard for the original characterizations. There are so many things here that just don't make sense. In the original, the King was hellbent on getting grandchildren and even displays a delightful meta commentary multiple times (when it's touched on how ridiculous it is that the Prince would marry any girl that fits the slipper, since that's been a critic of the original story, the King shrugs off that his son said it in a lovesick stammer and sees this as an opportunity to get those grandchildren "that's his problem; he's given his word, we'll just hold him to it). All of a sudden, this King is telling his son it's ridiculous to marry a girl who wears a size 4 1/2 and that's no reason to choose a bride??? And is showing Anastasia his late wife and trusting the clumsiest person I've ever seen with a delicate seashell? OKAY. Not only that, but just so many things that made the original characters unique are eroded so they can be like every other Renaissance character. Like, Lady Tremaine was such a great villain because of her presence and charisma and her cunning virtue. To omit all of that and how her waving around a magic wand and yell Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo was unnecessary.

Too much mice. I know many feel that way about the first film, but I think they were skillfully intertwined. It was way too much here and there was no place for them.

The art design and color palette is more gaudy and unappealing to me. I could keep going but lol

[twinkleallnight]

One Night in Cordonia

Chapter 6 : Road to Recovery

Series: One Night in Cordonia, a @choicesprompts Round Robin Event.

Fandom: TRR so far, but others could be added in

Pairings: Various

Word count : ~ 1k with summary.

Rating: Mature

Warnings: talks about sex, innuendos, language

Prompt: Fantasy @choicesjunechallenge or @liaromancewriter.

A/N: This was fun to write playing with my fav characters in an odd setup. Hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for including me 😘. My sincere thanks to @angelasscribbles and @lizzybeth1986 for being the force behind the scenes.

Next author: @kingliam2019

Summary: It's Leo's social season. The day is Beaumont bash after the formal dinner is done and the royal couple has left. Anton sends his second in command Claudius to spread a fog "Death Smash" that would leave the guests paralysed and he would attack. But the gas delivered was Shagging smog 2.0, by mistake, leading to a sexual frenzy amongst guests. Anton himself goes to check and falls prey to the gas. The only unaffected members are Max (immune), Leo (because he was in the gardens and Olivia (partially affected, trying to fight the effects)

"Tell me everything you know," Leo declared.

Amidst Olivia's uncontrolled advancements, Max summarized the events that took place in Leo's absence.

"What do you think we should be doing?"

Leo took a moment to think before he dashed to the staircase. Max followed, dragging a dizzy Olivia along.

Leo spoke as he climbed down, "Search for that American model Riley first and her press secretary. We have to make sure they are not recording this for their channel. Snatch their cameras if that's their plan. Can't let the whole world see the mess we are in, right now."

Olivia giggled at the thought but quickly composed herself, covering her mouth. Leo shook his head looking at Olivia swaying against her wish, trying hard to remain sane.

He took out his phone and flipped it open to contact the palace. "We need backup if this is an attack." He stated.

Max nodded while handling Olivia, who was again leaning on him. "Olivia…"

"Hmmm?" She looked up at him with a seductive gaze. He eyes roamed across the flush on her skin making her look more attractive.

"You are testing me." He groaned. He touched her cheek to help wake her from her slumber but his fingers lingered on, feeling her soft skin. She gave him a foolish grin. He was about to give in when…

"Max." Leo called him. "Maxwell, Not now! And not her. Remember what she will do to you when she comes back to senses."

Max realised he was playing with fire. His caressing hand started patting Olivia hard.

"Olivia! Olivia!"

"Oww, oww, ouch!"As soon as she was alert she noticed she was hugging Max and he was standing awkwardly. She straightened up and made some distance. She rubbed her cheek that had turned red from Maxwell's patting.

"I am sorry." Max apologised.

"Can you be a bit gentle? I know I am under the spell." She said in a stern tone trying to hide her inner fears, now that she knew about his fantasies of her. She was aware that she was adding fuel to the fire everytime cuddling up to him. But she liked the idea somewhere deep inside. She blushed fiercely and tried to look away.

Thankfully, Leo interrupted her train of thoughts. "I have called for a platoon of men from the palace. Let's go and find Riley now."

They searched through the tangled bodies but couldn't find anyone important. Everyone still seemed to be affected. A hearty laugh between the moans and groans caught their attention. They turned around the corner and saw Riley who was attempting a pole dance on some fake pole.

Liam was splayed on a couch in front of her, his gaze fixated over the display Riley had put up. His eyes did not have the glaze that others had but he seemed to be totally invested into the American beauty. Before they could step ahead, Leo's phone rang.

"Shit. Father is calling." He tensed at the timing of the call but still recieved it.

"Leo?" Constantine almost barked through the phone. "Why have you ordered guards with masks? What's going on? What are you upto and where are you?"

"Father, I am at the same place you left me, Ramsford, with Beaumonts." Leo tried to keep his voice calm.

"But why the guards?"

"I.. we… we might have a situation here." He fumbled.

"Spill it already, will you?"

"There is a fog here and we don't know who spread it but everyone is acting weird."

"Exactly in what way are they acting weird?"

"They are.. they are all making out."

"What are they making?"

"I mean, they are…all undressed and ….lustful." Leo was the infamous playboy but when it came to his father, he was finding it difficult to discuss the matter.

"Why are you talking in jumbled words? What do you think? You were born from an egg? Can't you just use the right word?"

"Sex. They are involved in a sexual frenzy." Leo blurted.

"Dammit!" Constantine cursed under his breath. "You have been attacked by Shagging Smog."

"A what?"

"It's kind of a sex pollen, you fool."

" How do you…?" Leo couldn't understand how his father knew the details.

"Where do you get that playboy streak son? Been there, done it all, my child." Constantine smirked over the phone. "Catch hold of your brother and Beaumont boys. They can help you. "

"How?" Leo uttered in a confused state.

"It affects a person only once. The smog cannot alter your mood on a second exposure. Also, it changes genetics. So, you, Liam and the Beaumont boys remain unaffected."

"You mean you and Duke Barthelemy?" Leo tried to comprehend.

"Yes," Constantine rolled his eyes. "we both have had an exposure to that stupid chemical once. So Max and Bertrand are also immune.

" But Bert was.. " Leo's voice trailed away, figuring out what he was about to reveal about Bert and Drake.

"What about Bertrand?"

"Nothing. I will find him. He is somewhere here." Leo tried to dissipate the urgency.

Constantine let out a deep sigh. "Collect the boys. I am coming there."

Round Robin Readers list:

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[anneapocalypse]

4, 8, and 16! 🔥🔥

For the 🔥choose violence 🔥 ask game!

Disclaimer: provocative name aside, I am not actually trying to be mean here, these are just my opinions offered for Entertainment Purposes™️, and I’m not mad at anyone who has a different opinion.

4. what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

I'm lucky if I remember why I blocked anyone. I just have to assume past!Anne had a reason. 😂

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Okay, so this one's about Merrill, but before I say it I have to qualify that I am not on the Merrill hate train. I love Merrill, I think she's a great character, and I don't think she's wrong for wanting to restore her people's history. I do think that what she's doing is dangerous enough that it's in conflict with the duties of a Keeper to protect her people--but the thing is Merrill knows that, and that's why she agrees to leave the clan. She believes this is too important, more important than becoming a Keeper, which she also says she would have been terrible at. I do think Merrill is not being totally honest with herself about the danger at first; in Act I, she's very quick to insist that it's fine and she's got everything under control. But I think her years in Kirkwall make her more mindful--she sees a lot of demons, a lot of blood magic, she sees how Anders struggles with Justice, and she almost falls to another Pride demon herself if she goes into the Fade with Hawke. (Personally, I also think this might have something to do with her proximity to Audacity on the mountain, and then having more distance from it in Kirkwall, because I do think the Pride demon was influencing both her and Marethari. In the short story "Merrill" it's very clear that it called out to both of them, rather than Merrill seeking it out on her own.)

By Act III, she's undeniably aware of the danger because she asks Hawke to come along for that very reason. What Merrill is doing is undeniably dangerous, but dangerous does not necessarily mean evil or wrong. In the end, though I think there's undoubtedly some level of pride in her motives still, I do think Merrill is fully aware of the risks, and believes that the possible gain is worth it, and takes every precaution she can.

Furthermore, I think that Marethari fails in her duty to her people when she goes to the demon and allows it to possess her. Her responsibility is to protect the clan. When Merrill leaves, Marethari needs to accept her choice and let her go. She needs to move the clan on, out of reach of whatever danger she believes Merrill poses. If they need to contact another clan, raise new halla, she has years to do that. Instead, she keeps them on Sundermount for the better part of a decade because she (and her own pride) simply can't let it go, and in the end she leaves her clan leaderless and possibly dead because she (and, I think, Audacity) convinces herself that only she is capable of protecting Merrill. But Merrill isn't her responsibility anymore. Her clan is. And she abandons them.

So the one thing that kind of sticks in my craw is the idea that Merrill must be an unparalleled genius because she successfully reverse-engineered an eluvian from a shard. Because the thing is she didn't do that! That's the thing she didn't do! She never successfully got the mirror working in canon. Maybe in the next game, for some world states, we'll find out that she did finish it, or maybe we'll never hear about it again; as of the information we have right now, she never made it work.

And I know this one is contentious, because there's a big interpretive gap as far as how close Merrill was to making the eluvian work. And I'm not trying to step on anyone's headcanons here; there's room for speculation and when it comes to headcanon or fanworks there's truly nothing wrong with going the route that she was really, really close, and maybe succeeded down the road.

But as far as canon, we simply do not know. We do not know how close she was. We do not know whether she had built it correctly and simply needed the power to activate it, or whether there was some fundamental flaw in her theory she hadn't figured out, or whether it was wrong from the ground up. We do not know whether Audacity truly knew what she needed or would have given it to her had Marethari not interfered. We don't even know whether it's possible to build an eluvian in a post-Veil world, for that matter! We don't know, and we probably never will.

In fact, it's unclear to me whether Merrill actually knows the full extent of what eluvians are supposed to do. She says in her Act II quest "Mirror Image" that she knows that they were used for communication over distances (which was the extent of ancient Tevinter's understanding of them, and what Duncan remarks in Origins), but she doesn't know exactly how they work. I don't remember her ever saying that it's supposed to be a physical portal you can travel through. There's a moment where Hawke asks what's wrong with it and Merrill exclaims, frustrated, "Well... look at it! Do you think it's just supposed to sit there not doing anything?" I'm not convinced she actually knows what it's supposed to do, only that it's important to her people's history. I'm not blaming her for her lack of knowledge here--I think as fans we've gotten so used to hearing about eluvians that it's easy to forget their existence isn't common knowledge in-universe even among the Dalish. Ariane's clan was safeguarding an exceptionally rare text about eluvians and even she didn't know what they were (in part because most modern elves canonically are not fluent in ancient Elvish, something else I think people kind of forget).

Again, I don't think Merrill is wrong for wanting to discover and restore her people's history. If anything, the gaps in their knowledge only make that more important. I'm also not saying any of this because I'm trying to refute the idea that Merrill is smart. I think she's very clever and resourceful and I think this shows in a great deal of her dialogue with other characters.

I just don't think we can know, based on canon, that her theories were 100% correct and she is now the foremost expert on eluvians. Again, I have zero issue with this as headcanon--I really am not coming for anyone who holds it as such! My only disagreement is when it's put forth as Fact, and like anyone who takes a different view of canon is wrong and is trying to tear down Merrill.

Because like all my faves in this series, it is possible for a character to be good and compelling and interesting and even right about a lot of things without being right about everything all the time.

16. you can’t understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Okay we'll take this one for whatever values of "so many people," because at this point I don't really see this one come up all that much, but as a huge Sera fan, I do not understand the appeal of the "Sera is Andruil/has a fragment of Andruil" fan theory, and I don't think I ever will.

For one thing, by the end of Trespasser we know that Solas and Mythal are walking around in the waking world still because they are exceptions. The rest of the Evanuris are not hiding among mortals. We know where the others are! They're in the Fade! Solas trapped them there! That was a pretty significant thing that happened!

For another, Solas and Andruil were not friends. If Sera was or was carrying a piece of Andruil, and Solas recognized her, I think he would have reacted strongly. Maybe he wouldn't be capable of killing her on the spot in his current state, but also I sort of doubt he would be walking around gently prodding her to remember who she is.

The theory also seems to be partially based on the misapprehension that Sera's archery skills are somehow magical, which I've already talked about.

But also, and more importantly to me personally, I feel like it just ruins Sera's character. Sera's story is that of a young adult with a lot of unrecovered childhood trauma, and deep issues with identity, rejection, and abandonment, still trying to find a place where she belongs and discover what she believes about the world. What does her unwittingly carrying around a piece of an elven god add to that? What does it add to her painful memories of Lady Emmald, to her sense of alienation from other city elves? It undermines the perspective she brings to the Inquisition as a commoner, a Nobody who is proud of being nobody. It completely ruins her relationship with Solas, turning them from a fascinating set of foils (the ancient elf who broke the world vs. the modern elf who is in so many ways the product of the world he created) into just two ancients arguing with each other. If anything, it feels like papering over everything that makes her complicated and interesting in an attempt to "fix" her: Look, she is Elfy after all! She's the Elfiest!

Sera doesn't need to be secretly an ancient goddess to be a compelling character.

[beetlegoose01]

Hold on to the memories (Specs x Tucker)

happy new years my loves!! be safe alright? 💕✨️🎉🍾we survived 2023!! be nice this is my first time writing this pair AND for this fandom lmao Read on AO3!

December 31st-  11:45 pm.

Parties suck.

Specs ditches it ages ago, opting to slink behind the porch swing and cradle his remaining daiquiri as if his life depends on it. Which it does. There is no way he could handle the rest of the year—fifteen minutes of it left, sober.  Not that hiding matters anyway. Outside there's an even bigger group of people, shouting, screaming along to the song playing on the speakers. Fireworks crackle above his head, a rainbow mishmash of colors that blend into the misty sky, along with some cigarette smoke. 

He can't remember why he even showed up. He didn't know any of these people fooling around like idiots. Was he even invited? Or did he just go along with Tucker?

He jolts from his daze to realize something. 'Oh fuck I lost Tucker. How did I lose Tucker? He's not exactly an easy person to lose!'

Thankfully Tucker wasn't his designated driver, but he still liked having him around for moral support. 

He couldn't remember the last time he saw him. It was...maybe it was when he was wandering around the house. The music was pounding in his ears, and Tucker had mentioned something about helping his cousin with..something. What was that something?

"Don't go anywhere, Specs, I just need to help Taylor clean up the—you know. Ugh."

Puke. Right. Someone had puked inside the cat's litter box. And that was when Specs decided to step outside to get some air.

He takes another sip of his drink, swallowing away the tartness of it all, the blended ratio of lime to rum being too uneven for even him to find it delicious in any capacity. Not to mention it seemed to make his vision worse. It wasn't unusual for his glasses to slip off, seeing as they needed to be adjusted every other second, but upon touching his face, he feels the frame right on the bridge of his nose. He simply hadn't noticed, with the noise and the overwhelming atmosphere of it all. He wouldn't mind going home before midnight. Maybe he could catch Elise and they could go spirit hunting.

Except she was off playing bingo with her friends, so even if he did get back, she wouldn't be there.

His glass was empty now. Specs places it aside and exhales, resting his back against the edge of the porch stairs. It was only when he let himself wander for a bit towards the lawn that he notices a tall, bearded man moving towards him.

"There you are!" Tucker says and with no hesitation plops right next to him.

"Surprise, you found me." He replies flatly.

"You're not that hard to find. Five-foot nothing guy with glasses." He ignores Spec's noise of faux outrage. "And, I happened to notice you ran off without telling me."

"Aw, you do care."

Tucker shoots him a look, before taking a swig of whiskey.

Specs leans over, bumping his shoulder against him lightly without thinking. "I needed the fresh air." He admits after a moment of silence.

"Air's not that fresh out here."

"It's better outside than in. Can't stand the noise."

"Well it is a New Years party, kinda expect it to be a little noisy."

"New Years Eve party," He corrects. "No one actually celebrates New Year's Day 'cause they're too busy recovering from their hangovers. Y'know, it almost makes zero sense why it exists. There's nothing special about it. And...and new years resolutions? Like who the hell does those? It's so dumb. And fuck, it's so loud."

"Specs, how drunk are you?" Tucker smirks, allowing the other to lean closer almost into his lap.

"Yes." He grumbles.

"If you hate the noise so much, why did you show up?"

"You know why."

Mischief twinkles in his warm brown eyes. "Guess I do." His voice is gruff, but comforting. “Because I'm your best friend, and the only person who would invite you to a party. There's a first time for everyone, Specs.”

“Fuck off. That's only partly true.”

“Mm.”

"What time is it?" He gestures at Tucker's watch.

He glances down. "Nearly midnight, about a minute."

"Ha, you've got a few seconds then to figure out your resolution."

"I thought you said resolutions were dumb?"

"They are, that's why I expect you to do one. Duh."

He rolls his eyes. "Alright, my resolution is---"

Someone shouts over the buzz of voices. "Ten seconds till midnight! Everyone couple up, and get ready!"

It takes them a second to realize what's going on. Men with women, men with men, women with women, all huddling in the cold, waiting in anticipation as they start to count down.

10...9...8...

"Is this the part where we kiss?" Specs whispers, not realizing he says it aloud. "Oh fuck."

7...6...5...4...

Tucker seems taken aback, his eyes wide in astonishment at the suggestion. "I---think so? Do we?"

He shrugs. "Not if you don't want to! My mouth started doing the talking...before I finished thinking."

Tucker chuckles. "

Let's do it, man. It's tradition."

3...2...1

Neither man knows who moves first. Specs feels Tucker tenderly cup his cheek to tilt it slightly, his rough, chapped lips finally pressing against his in a soft gesture of affection.  Specs didn't expect to feel anything but a quick burst of adrenaline. Instead he felt light, tingling all of a sudden---and it wasn't because Tucker's beard was tickling him.

When they pull away, Specs is left wanting more. He catches a glimpse of Tucker's eyelashes fluttering open, and he nearly passes out at the sight. He never realized how beautiful he is, never grasped just how his eyes seemed to shine under the moonlight.

"Woah."

"Woah." He echoes. "That was..."

"Yeah...that was...really---" His cheeks redden, at a loss for words.

"Nice."

"Yeah, nice, that's the word I was looking for."

"Happy New Year?"

"Happy New Year." He nudges him. "You never told me your resolution."

Tucker winks, placing his hand in Spec's hip. "Don't need to. I already did my resolution for this year."

[thelastbraincellofthehive]

And we're back for V4! Honestly, I'm making it through more than I thought I would. I was sure I was gonna bail after 2 lol.

Anyways, the new engine was really a breath of fresh air for this volume, and it's impressive how much animation is still getting better every volume<3 RWBY makes me proud in a way no other show or just thing has ever done. I just wish it wouldn't hurt so bad lol.

Anyways, time for random thoughts!

I gotta go ahead and say that V4-6 is my favorite outfit for Blake. The pirate vibes on her are *chef kiss* and I'm just in love with her white coat RIP the coat, another good thing Adam ruined *sighs*

God, the yearning separated bees are so angsty <3 I love it, the payoff will be so great.

God, Sun was so annoying this volume, poor boy has a good heart but definitely is too eager for Blake to match him and things get aaaaaawkward lol I'm happy the managed to get into an understanding by next volume tho, Blake needed him, I can see that now.

It's so interesting to hear all the bits of story we get to learn each volume and how eventually it all falls apart with Jinn's story in v6. I don't blame Qrow for how hard he took it, poor man has been through a lot, and he really believed in Ozpin through it all.

I loooove the tale of the two brother's animation style<3 it's one of my favorite parts of the season.

The ship captain is another favorite part lol I don't know, I just think he's neat. Wouldn't be opposed yo seeing more of him.

Ilia <3 Love of my life, best lesbian Chameleon girl <3 good how I miss you!

Again, when is Ilia coming back so she can finally meet and fall in love with Weiss?? RT is homofobic to keep these two apart! /Jk

But seriously they are fuckin' perfect for eachother I won't get tired of saying it. Schnee x Faunus? Both sides of the Atlas/Mantle coin? Rainbow x white? Trying to live their families legacy without letting it consume them? What's not to like?

Ahem, anyways. The Kuroyuri arc had me biting my freaking nails. Seriously after v3 I was so sure someone was going to die!

Remember that couple days we were all terrified of the nuckelavee and then someone compared it to the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tubeman and since then we just laugh about him? Lol this Is why I love this fandom.

Maya Zwei <3

I can't imagine how horrible it was for the girls all that time we didn't get to see in between volumes. Weiss being completely alone in Atlas, with no way to know if Yang and Ruby had gotten better, just knowing that Blake had ran into the night. Blake wondering everyday if Yang was thinking about her, so sure that she was hated, heating herself too much to ask for help or just company... Ruby missing the friends she had come to trust so wholeheartedly and seeing her big sister broken and depressed and not knowing what to do because Yang had never been nothing but bright and strong and perfect. Yang looking at books and thinking of Blake and wanting to hate her because it would be so much easier. And that's not even counting all of them mourning Pyrrha and Penny and everything they lost in the blink of an eye.

On that note, Ruby's outfit for this arc paying homage to both Penny and Pyrrha still hurts me so much</3 this is also probably my favorite outfit of her, thought her Atlas outfit is quite good too.

The moment we learn that Blake is practically a Princess lol I love it, I love seeing reactors get to that part.

But honestly my favorite part to see reactors will always be Taiyang's 'lost a couple braincells along with that arm' joke lol honestly I hate that joke, but the sheet shock on everyone's faces is just epic lol.

Honestly I feel I've slept on Yang's v4 outfit btw. Yeah, her final/v5-6 outfit is extremely badass and I love it, but the sweats + orange tanktop looks so good on her??? Honestly this was the first volume I looked at Yang and was atracted to her lol.

So yeah Yang please join the line of women who could step on me and I'd thank them.

Also: *puts Ilia there too*

Specially once she paints her arm yellow <3 I stan by my previous statement that Yang looks so much better with her new arm. It feels like her design is finally complete.

V4 villains really, really make me miss v1-3 villains lol. I'm sorry, but I just think Hazel and Watts are unninteresting (aside from the Emm-Hazel plot but I only like it because Emmerald) and while I find Tyrian kinda funny because he's an obvious theater kid lol it was not enough to put team WTCH in my good graces after getting rid of my two faves from team CRMNE lol. Also, Cinder being too hurt to cause chaos was a negative</3 I loved sassy overconfident world destroyer Cinder.

It is also extremely painful for me to watch Cinder slowly dig her own grave after seeing her backstory. I always had a soft spot for Cinder and that really made it worse.

Baby Nora and Ren<3 good they were cute! And god did the timeskip did them good lol this is also my favorite Nora outfit <3 she looks amazing.

That moment in Kuroyuri when baby Ren gives Nora the hammer while boop play in the background? I tear up every fucking time. It's literally imposible not to love them together, just as It was literally imposible for Nora to not fall for him <3 my babies

Qrow being bandaged over his clothes while injures will never not be funny to me lol oh, the joys of working with 3D models!

Weiss learning to summon <3 also just... Weiss <3 She's the best. This volume wasn't kind on her, but she rose to the challenge and got so far!!

Also, can I just say that I feel Whitley... Is what people thinks Draco Malfoy Is? Like... I always remembered Draco while watching Whitley, but Whitley is an actually cool character as you get to know him, while Draco just... disapointed me. He's also my baby and I demand him to be protected.

Seeing Raven oficially was one of my favorite parts of the volume <3 She's a bitch, she's the worst, I love her so much!!!!

Again with the controversial and refuted headcanon... Qrow getting a song that includes the line 'you don't want the burden of my name', talking to Ruby about how his semblance makes things hard on family... That delirious 'Tai, she's not coming back' while poisoned... Seriously it would've made so much sence if Ruby was his daughter lol. At this point it's just hilarious.

The Jaune - Ruby moment in Kuroyuri </3 seriously give these poor kids therapy, they need it.

This Is the only volume where I actually have a score saved on my Spotify playlist: the first part of The next step where you can hear the music box version of Divide. I would pay for a full of that song <3 I adore creepy music box covers.

The way Blake's voice breaks when she finally says Yang's name? I'm ok, I swear! I'm not.

If you didn't cry during Ruby's letter scene... You're lying!! It's not possible to not cry! Specially with Home in the background. Home is another special song to me, it was one of the first ones I memorised back when my english wasn't great <3

That part when Ruby talks about people who are still lost and people who wants to take advantage of them and it shows Ilia with the Albains? I loved it, that's why I never doubted of my girl<3

And so it became the long journey to have Winter back... I remember how annoyed I was during all of v4-5 that we never got to see her outside of the Weiss trailer lol you don't just introduce a character like Winter for two episodes and then take it away like that RT! I say, as if I didn't knew v5 at all lol

I'm still curious about Tyrian and the fact that he apparently couldn't fight while Qrow didn't have his Sword/Scythe? Did we ever got a reason for that yet?

I think that's all that comes to mind right now lol also, I watched the v5 trailers and I just had to say how much I love them <3 Blake's probably my favorite, but they were all great!

O better keep watching now lol I gotta watch as much as I can before saturday!

[blackstarmylove]

Feeling Lonely (Scenario)

Fandom: Blackstar Theater Starless

Pairing: Kokuyou, Ginsei, Nekome, Menou, Akira with fem!Reader, platonic

Warning: Angst

Requested by: Anon

Prompt: Hello! Craving a bit of angst and comfort, may I request platonic scenarios with the original Starless members and fem!reader where the reader is close with the old cast since she's worked with them at the previous restaurant. But lately, she's been feeling lonely because they've been spending more time with Saki. She's not jealous and understands Saki's situation, but she just can't help but miss them. Sorry if this request sounded like a mess.

A/N: Hi! Your request was a great one and didn’t sound like a mess at all!😁So when you said the “original members”, I only picked the first members. Hope you like it!

Word Count: Kokuyou (497), Ginsei (484), Nekome (532), Menou (397), Akira (411)

———————————————

“Kokuyou! Put me down” 

“Not until you give back my cigarettes,” the tall man let out a deep chuckle as you playfully pounded your fists on his back. 

Since the day you joined the old Starless, you got along with Kokuyou - well, at least you thought so, but the rest of the cast members saw the two of you as Tom and Jerry. When you were mad at or upset with him, you treated him like a life-size target with his face being the bullseye. When you took away his smokes, irritated him, made him angry, or teased him too much, Kokuyou would throw you over his shoulder and carry you everywhere. When you were sad, he would hug you, ask who he needs to beat up and be willing to do anything to make you smile. 

So, why couldn’t he see how sad you were now? Why did her presence blind him - blind everyone in Starless? It’s not that you had anything against her. Her life was in danger, and Starless was the only place that could protect her, and you understood that, but...why did he forget about you? Sighing, you wiped the corners of your eyes and stared at a few cats wandering in the alley behind the restaurant. 

“You done crying?” A husky voice asked from behind, earning a squeal from you. “Why...are you crying? Who do I need to beat up?”

Still with your back turned to him, you forced a sad smile - when was the last time you hear him say that? You couldn’t remember but hearing those words from him caused a mixture of pain and warmth to spread through your chest. 

“Do I need to beat...myself up?” He asked in a tense, low whisper. Your silence gave him the answer he needed, regardless, he still waited for your reply. “Say somethin’, will ya?”

Kokuyou rested a large hand on your shoulder, causing your muscles to tense. “Look...I know I haven’t been spendin’ much time with you. Things were better at the old Starless...we were like a family, but here, it ain’t that way. One day, we’re workin’ together, the next day, the same person will be holdin’ a knife to your throat. Things got worse after Kei and that woman stepped foot into Starless. What I’m tryin’ to get at is, (Y/n), no one can take your place.”

“It doesn’t feel that way...” 

“I know, and I’m sorry. Can we go back to the way we were? I miss throwing you over my shoulder and arguing with you.” Kokuyou let out a drawn chuckle as he ruffled your hair.

“You think I’m going to forgive you that easily?” Turning your head, you playfully glared at him. “Try again, Mr. Starless.” 

“I know you won’t, so tell me what do I need to do? I will do anything for your forgiveness...and smile.” A gentle smile tugged on his lips, and an equally gentle look shone in his eyes. 

“What’s with that long face? Did Kokuyou give ya a lecture too?”

You saw Akira lean against the railing while fidgeting with a box of cigarettes out of your eyes. Not wanting him to pry any further, you shook your head and turned your back to him. “It’s nothing.”

With those words, you hurriedly descended the stairs leading back into the restaurant. Even after you were out of sight, Akira continued to stare at the staircase in silence, wondering why you ran away. Was it sometimes he said?

What was the point of telling him the truth? If he cared, he wouldn’t have forgotten about you; he would have been able to see how lonely you were, how much you missed him, and just how much you wanted your friendship to return to what it used to be. You couldn’t remember where everything went wrong - part of you wanted to blame her for this, but the other part knew that wasn’t right. It wasn’t like she asked Akira to stop talking to you or stole him away from you.

Finding a quiet corner, you pressed your back against the wall, sandwiched your head between your hands, and squeezed your eyes shut. “Quiet mind…just shut up. Accept that he doesn’t care anymore and move on.”

“Who doesn’t care?”

Your eyes shot open, but you kept your head lowered, not wanting to meet his gaze. Frustrated at your silence, Akira slowly approached you while being prepared to catch you in case you decided to run from him again. “Answer my questions, (y/n). Are you talking about me?”

“Who else would I be talking about, Akira? Back at the old Starless, we were inseparable, but here…you never spend time with me.” Your vision began to cloud, but you rapidly blinked to hold back your tears from spilling into the floor. “You forgot about me.”

“That’s not true!” The volume of Akira’s voice startled you, and though he noticed you tense up, he continued without apologizing, “I do care about you! I didn’t know you feel that way…(y/n), I…”

Akira squatted down on the floor to get a better look at your face, but as soon as he saw your tear-drenched eyes, he lowered his gaze and stood up. Wrapping his arms around you, he whispered, “I am sorry for being such a bad friend. Will you let me make it up to you? I’ll do anything...even kick Kokuyou if you want me to.” 

Ginsei watched you from afar, and though it was evident that you were not doing okay, he turned his back to you. His lack of courage prevented him from approaching him - he hadn’t been a good friend, and he knew it, but what was he supposed to do or say? If only things could return to the way they used to be.

“Ginsei, are you nervous?” You pinched his cheeks, earning a slight frown from him. “Have more confidence in yourself, will ya? You have the face, the body, the skills, the dedication, the will to work hard, but...your confidence...why are you always so hard on yourself?” 

“S-Sorry...” 

“Why are you apologizing, silly?” You giggled, “Ginsei, you are going to do great! I will believe in you. Here’s a good luck kiss!”  

You got on your toes and pressed a quick peck on his cheek, earning a blush from him. “You look so cute when you blush!” 

Ginsei brushed his fingertips on his cheek and exhaled loudly. “I have already lost so much...and now, I am losing her...what am I doing? Things can’t continue like this...” 

Spinning on his heels, he went to greet you, but you were nowhere in sight. For a while, he walked around Starless but eventually found you sitting on the back-alley steps. Your soft sobs tugged at his heart as he quietly made his way down the steps and kneeled in front of you. He reached his trembling fingertips to your cheeks and lightly smudged your tears, catching you off guard. 

“Am I the reason for these tears?” Ginsei forced a small smile, “Sorry, you don’t have to answer the question...I already know the answer. I know I messed up and was trying to muster the courage to face you. My mind has...I haven’t been able to think straight for a while.” 

He paused and shifted his eyes to your face to ensure that you wanted to listen to his words. Seeing you quietly looking back at him, he rested his large, warm hand on top of yours, “The old Starless shutting down was a shock for me. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful that this new Starless exists, but I miss Koharu and Akito. I like being part of Team K but having to switch between K and P is too much to handle. Not to mention dealing with the cast members takes a toll on me...they can be a handful. Please don’t look at me like that...I don’t deserve your sympathy.” 

“Here you go...looking down on yourself again.” 

“It’s become a habit,” he chuckled sadly. ���I am making excuses to defend myself, and I realize I am at fault for us drifting apart. Can I be selfish? Would you be willing to give this friendship another chance? I promise to be a better friend and hold our friendship even closer to my heart than before.” 

You quietly watched Menou practicing a scene for his upcoming onsen show through the slight opening in the door. You were proud of him for working hard to polish his acting skill, but you couldn’t help but remember the days when you used to help him practice at the old Starless. Sometimes being the Juliet to his Romeo, sometimes being the Michael to his Faust, but the best part was laughing at some of the cheesy dialogues, especially in the romantic scenes. 

Feeling the pressure on your chest from thinking about the good times, you stepped away from the door. As if he heard you, Menou stopped rehearsing his dialogue, but you didn’t stick around to find out - not like it would have mattered anyway. “Like he would have asked me to join him and said he missed rehearsing with me.” 

A few minutes later, Menou strolled into the break area, and though you saw him, you continued to stare at your phone’s screen, pretending to have not noticed him. Much to your shock, he sat down next to you and rested his head on your right shoulder. “World’s best pillow...” 

Not hearing a reply from you, Menou asked, “Are you perhaps upset with me?” 

Once again, you didn’t respond to him, and he took your silence as a yes. Menou sighed quietly, “Quite a lot has changed in my life. While most of the changes are out of my control, and I cannot do much to prevent them, I am willing to take full responsibility for one change - the distance between us. I honestly did not realize when we drifted apart.” 

“Since when do you share your feelings so openly with others?” 

“I never share my feelings with anyone, aside from you. That has always been the case...and I fear shall always remain the case.” Menou slightly opened his eyes and spoke in a drained voice, “Are you willing to allow me to make up for my mistake? Once chance would be sufficient.” 

“I...guess...yes.” 

“Great, then, I shall begin mending the distance between us after a nap. Hold still, my dear pillow.” With those words, he grew silent. 

“Menou? Menou?” You tilted your head to get a better look at his face only to notice him peacefully sleeping. Chuckling to yourself, you shook your head, “How do you manage to fall asleep so quickly?”  

You peered into the restaurant area through the small, rectangular windows on the entrance door. The cast members were merrily celebrating her birthday, and Nekome was having a pleasant conversation with her. You couldn’t hear their words, but his smile was enough for you to deduce that he was enjoying himself. Feeling out of place, you dragged your feet away from there and to Unei’s office. 

Moments after entering the desolate room, you hear the door open, and in came your once best friend. With a curious smile, he asked, “What are you doing here all alone? You do realize we are celebrating Saki’s birthday, right?” 

Not knowing what to say to him maintained your silence, giving Nekome the perfect opportunity to tease you. “Are you jealous of the attention Saki is getting?” 

“I AM NOT jealous!” You snapped at him, taking Nekome completely by surprise. Opening his eyes, he saw tears welling up in your blood-shot red eyes. Had you been crying before he got there?

“I couldn’t care less about how much attention she gets! I only care about one thing -” 

Your lips pressed together into a flat line, and without finishing your sentence, you headed towards the door, but Nekome blocked your path. “Finish your sentence, (y/n).” 

“Do you know how long I waited for you to come back? Everywhere I went, I would look around for you. All I wanted was one glimpse - all I wanted was to know that you were okay. Do you know...how much I missed you?” You curled your hands into tight balls and half yelled at him, “I couldn’t control my happiness when you came back, but you...you acted like I didn’t exist! You forgot about me.” 

“I...apologize (y/n). Many events have taken place since we left the old Starless-”

“Excuses!” 

Nekome sighed and gently rested his hands on your shoulders, “I realize these might seem like excuses to you but hear me out.”

“There are many things I can’t share with you, and I am not ignoring you. My only intention is to protect you. Everything I have done, and I am doing is to protect you.” He attempted to force the corners of his lips up, but his smile fell quickly, “If my attempts at protecting you caused you pain, I am sorry. I...will figure out another way to keep you safe.” 

“What do you mean, protect me?” You curiously asked. 

“I cannot tell you. It’s better if you don’t find out, either. While I was gone, I couldn’t stop thinking about the two people closest to my heart - you and Taiga. I never once forgot you...I wouldn’t even dream of forgetting my dearest friend.” Nekome kept his right hand on your shoulder but brought his left hand to cup your cheek. “What can I do to make you accept my apology? I am willing to do anything, including...ban Taiga from playing video games, steal Kokuyou’s motorcycle key, steal Mokuren’s food, and play pranks on Kei.” 

A laugh escaped your lips, “And how will any of those things benefit me?”

“My words made you smile, didn’t they?” He chuckled and pinched your nose. “I missed your smile, (y/n).” 

———————————————

➣ BlackStar Theater Starless Masterlists [1][2][3]     ➣ Main Masterlist

➣ Buy me a Ko-fi? ➣ Commission: Open || Requests: Closed

[kinnards]

after rewatching the episode (my stream kept breaking and i missed the last chimney scene), i don't really see it as chimney straight up forgiving his dad. i know, it looks like that, and they're making an effort to convince us that that's the way it's gonna go. but i feel it's very... open-ended?

first of all- yes, it would have been infinitely better if mr. han was the one to say all that. but they're not there yet, and that's sort of how moms are?? it looks very in character for them to have myung speak in his behalf, since all communication since chim was very young had been through her, if you remember, back in chimney begins, she was the one reaching out and sending updates on albert.

second of all... if his father truly is as ashamed and prideful as she says, there is no way he would have been the one to reach out first. this man (and i'm not being like, an apologyst of his actions) has spent decades not talking to his son because of- allegedly- feeling like a failure of a father. and if any of you know just a bit of korean culture (like, come on, have you ever watched a k-drama?), men are as emotionally constipated as they are everywhere else. and anyway, to him it probably feels like he already took the first step- he went all the way to america, so now it was up to chimney.

chimney was allowed to take that or leave that. albert was a bit ooc in this (though we don't know what's been happening in the year he spent in korea, maybe he got his own reconciliation?) and pushing a bit too far- but he's also a younger brother, with very idealistic views on his family (remember when he first showed up on chim's doorstep? yeah), and waaay less trauma than chimney. or at least of a different kind. he just wants everyone to get along! and still, his meddling wasn't the thing to get chimney to consider taking the chance. it was myung.

now. we know chimney han is many things, but he is not prideful. he will be the first one to admit he's made a mistake, unless he's in way too deep in his head (as seen in s1 with tatiana, before all of his character development), so to be called out like that? he probably just thought... well, myung was kinda right, he was being a bit prideful and closed off- not that he didn't have the right to.

inviting his dad to stay a few more days doesn't mean he's forgiven him for everything. it's a bit like buck asking his parents to join him on therapy in s4, he's opening the door to his dad to prove himself. yes, he's also opening himself to more dissapointment, and it's a very risky move, because he has absolutely no reason to trust him. but you saw that man's face when his long lost son gave him a chance?? that didn't look like a father not repentant of his past actions. he looks just as hesitant as chim is, looking back and forth from myung to chim, surprised that chimney is even willing to let him in. he absolutely knows that what he did to chim was wrong. he probably thinks that he doesn't deserve to be forgiven, just like we all do.

i think, the fandom is right in that not every bad parent has to be forgiven. but family dynamics are more complex than a tv show, a procedural drama, can even begin to express. and i know how importat it would be that they showed this on screen. but this is a show about healing, come on! they're not going to give up on this. chimney said today that there is nothing he wouldn't do to see jeeyun happy- and that probably includes fixing his relationship with his dad.

i don't think chimney's fully forgiven him, but maybe, getting them to a place where they might be able to talk things out is the first step to healing for him. maybe it will work out, maybe it won't, we already went through this with the diaz parents, and look at us now! we don't know what the writers have in store regarding this storyline, and i'm not about to get my hopes up about it because this is an ensemble show, they don't have time to show every detail about every healing journey. but who know! maybe we'll be surprised.

just like the lyrics right after that scene said, it's time to "let the healing start".

[mamamittens]

Trick or Treat

Day #14 of Spooktober (no, you're not missing a post, I've just delayed #13 for a few days)

Fandom: One Piece (Everyone is young and nothing hurts AU)

Ship: None

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1,039

Bit of a weak end but I deeply underestimated how much work would ride my ass this month, and I need to shower and go to bed like... now lol. So this is mostly just for cuteness and to 'finish' on Halloween, don't look too deep into it.

Ace tightened the bow under Luffy’s chin, the seven-year-old bouncing on his heels with excitement, dark eyes wide and gleaming. Despite his best efforts, Ace couldn’t help but smirk.

“Think you can keep your costume on all night, Luffy?” Ace asked, stepping away to admire the completed look. Makino did good work putting together the patchwork cloak for Luffy’s ‘ghost’ costume, tied securely with a bright red ribbon around his neck that matched the straw hat he refused to go without. She was also the one who made the gloves and wolf ears for Ace himself, along with helping Sabo apply the vampire makeup. Out of the three of them, Sabo had the least amount of work to do, having plenty of spare fancy clothes to work with.

“Yeah! You wait and see, I’ll have my costume on all night!” Luffy reassured him. Ace snorted, rolling his eyes. He refused to believe he was so childish at that age.

Obviously, at the much wiser age of twelve, Ace knew more than Luffy did. Which is why he agreed to dress up with his baby brother to begin with. Knowing Luffy as he did, he would probably follow some random stranger around for extra candy if he thought he could get away with it. Sabo rolled his eyes and smiled.

“Sure you will, Luffy. Remember to thank Makino before we go!” Sabo reminded him. Luffy froze in shock, horrified suddenly.

“Oh no! I almost forgot! Thank you, Sabo!” Luffy cried out, racing back to the house where Makino stood with a bowl of candy and a patient smile. Luffy leapt up, latching his arms around her neck as she laughed, trying not to drop Luffy or the candy. “Thank you Makino-nee! Mwah!” Luffy pressed a messy, childish kiss to her cheek before dropping back down and rushing back to their side.

“Are you going to thank Makino too, Ace?” Sabo asked with a sly grin, plastic fangs poking out from his lips. Ace sputtered and hissed.

“Shut. Up!” Ace bristled at the reminder of his crush, but otherwise ignored the comment. He’d thank Makino by giving her some of his candy later. Huffing, he stormed away, not waiting for his dumb brother to catch up as he laughed.

“Hey! Hey! Where are we going first, Ace? Can we go to Gramp’s house? Last year he gave out whole rotisserie chickens!” Luffy cheered. Ace shuddered at the reminder.

“Uh—absolutely not.” Ace muttered nervously, mind viciously flashing back to the running they had to do to keep the chicken. “H-Hey! How about we see if Law will join us?” Ace distracted his little brother. Sabo cocked a brow and smirked again.

“Traffy! Yeah! Let’s get him! C’mon Ace! C’mon Sabo!” Luffy cheered, dashing ahead of them to the fancy house at the end of the street.

Law was dressed up as a mad scientist, white lab coat splattered with fake blood and black gloves on his hands. Ridiculous hat still in place as he glared Kid, who was dressed in an excessive amount of leather alongside his friend Killer, like they belonged in a biker gang.

“Ah. Luffy. Are we going together?” Law sighed. Luffy, quite naturally, exploded with excitement.

“Yeah! We’re going to Gramp’s house last to see if he gives us meat again!” Luffy cheered.

“The hell we are!” Ace bit out reflexively, heart shuddering. Knowing their luck, they’d have to navigate a haunted maze to ‘earn’ anything. And trying to bully Luffy through a scary event was well past what Ace wanted to do with his time tonight.

“Tsk, let’s just get this show on the road, losers.��� Kid snarled. And so, three became six.

Later, if he was asked, he would claim to not know when the hell their small group became a small army of children. Ussop joined with Sanji and Chopper—a knight, prince, and magician respectively—followed by Nami dressed as a witch dragging a samurai Zoro. Brook snuck in somehow with Franky, Robin, and his own friend Deuce. All four dressed as ‘tourists’ in Hawaiian shirts with a large, white cardboard frame for a ‘picture’.

Their first victim was, also naturally, Shanks. Dressed as Freddy Krueger, he laughed loudly and passed them each king-sized chocolate bars with a wink. Buggy scoffed, business suit with devil horns and wings downright subdued to his normal attire. Naturally, he handed out small packets of cotton candy when asked politely. All the while acting as though he had no idea why anyone was bothering him so late at all.

Crocodile didn’t have any costume at all and gave them a single snack size snickers bar, a trend that followed with all of Gramp’s colleagues.

“Well, look what we have here! Fine, well-behaved children ready to pay the toll!” Doflamingo crowed, looming over them from behind his gate.

Ace hissed at him alongside Law.

“The hell we are!” Ace shoved Luffy behind him.

“Hello uncle.” Law muttered in disdain. “Does dad know you’re trying to bully kids for candy again?” Law asked with a sneer.

Doflamingo sniffed, head jerking away at the implication.

“Your candy haul sucks anyway.” Doflamingo clicked his tongue and stalked away without another word.

“Ah! Luffy! Look who I brought!” Ace’s head snapped in the direction of Jinbe’s voice. The fishman was dressed up as a ghost too, a sheet with holes covering almost his entire body. Behind him was a familiar group of older kids.

“Pineapple!” Luffy cheered, bounding up the street to tackle Marco’s leg. He was, in fact, dressed up as a pineapple. How literally anyone managed that, Ace had no idea. Thatch snickered beside him, dressed as a cowboy alongside Izo, who made a very convincing naval captain (Gramps was going to lose it if he sees the costume and the last thing Ace wanted was to sit around while Gramps and Pops argued for three hours about them joining the Marines again).

“Alright! Looks like the party’s really getting started!” Thatch cackled, ruffling Ace’s hair as he dutifully inspected everyone’s costumes. “Hey, I hear there’s a corn maze and hay rides on the other side of town. Pops agreed to give us a lift if you wanna try it out!” Thatch grinned, winking at Ace.

Ace could feel his face flush in embarrassment despite nodding.

His family was large, noisy, and ridiculously everywhere he turned but… he really wouldn’t have it any other way.

[emerald-notes]

Red Hope! - Part 4

Specially requested by @lelewright1234. Hope you enjoy!

Note: This work is totally fictional and has nothing to do with BTS on real life. I mean no hate toward any person in particular. This plotline was requested. Though I personally hate bullies, I still believe there is hope for everyone.

Fandom: BTS Pairing: OT7 × OC (Leah) Warning: Bullies, OC suffering from amnesia, etc. Genre: Angst Summary: Finally Leah woke up from her coma. But she had suffered from amnesia and can’t recognize anyone. Could the boys use it as a privilege to get closer to her?

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 (Complete)

*************************************************

Other than Jungkook, the boys were having lunch together, when Jimin’s phone rang. It was Nina. Jimin’s heart skipped a bit. “Could it be about Leah?” he thought.

Jimin received the call even though there was a grunt heard from Jin. There was a pause. He asked, “Really?” Another pause. “What do you mean?” Then after a moment he hanged up. His eyes were twinkling.

“Who was it?” Namjoon asked eagerly.

“Nina.” All the boys’ attention came to Jimin now. “Leah’s awake.” Jimin finally broke the silence.

There were sigh of reliefs from some of them while the others sat in disbelief. “No way!” Hoseok rose from his seat, “are you serious?”

Within a moment, they were all cheering to each other. Jin was already making a toast to celebrate the good news. Jimin thought, “Should I tell them about the bad one now?”

Yoongi noticed the change in Jimin’s expression, “What happened?” he asked, “is there something more?”

“Yes, actually.” Jimin said, “Leah seemed to have suffered from amnesia. She can’t recognize anyone precisely nor can she recall any past memories.”

The boys felt silent again, thinking. Finally, Namjoon had an idea, “Why don’t we use it to our advantage?”

“Huh?” was the only thing that came out of Jimin.

“Think about it this way,” Namjoon started to explain, “she would have hated us all if she could remember what we had done to her in the past. But now, we can get our redemptions that we’ve been wanting so badly these past months. Let’s work together to help her get better. We can finally be real friends.”

Namjoon’s idea sounded great. All the boys agreed. They really felt like they had been given a second chance.

“So, who’s gonna break the news to Jungkook, huh?” Taehyung asked with a smirk on his face.

Jungkook had never been this happy in his entire life, not even when he came first in every school race. In excitement he forgot about all his rage and hugged Taehyung. They both were laughing like idiots now.

*************************************************

The first thing that caught my attention as soon as I woke up was the bright yellow sunflowers. I was trying to absorb my surroundings. I realized I was lying on a hospital bed beside which was a table where the flowers were put on a vase.

A nurse came in and then everything started to happen at once. A doctor came, followed by a young girl. Questions were asked. How was I feeling? How much could I remember about the accident? Could I recall my name? Did I recognize the girl?

That was when I noticed that I couldn’t recall any precise memory. I could not remember the reason why I ended up in the hospital. All I could remember were some facts like my name and age. I could form an image of my mother in my mind but I couldn’t remember anything about her either.

I was afraid. I asked the doctor what was happening to me. The doctor didn’t give an exact answer. Rather he suggested me to take some rest and went away, along with the girl, outside.

Afterwards, I learned that I had been in coma for more than two months and had suffered an amnesia. The girl I saw earlier was my best friend, Nina. We had been friends for almost eight years. My mother and step father also came to visit me. The meetings were really awkward. I didn’t know what to say. But I recognized my mother and lied to her that I had remembered something about us so that she wouldn’t be very upset.

The group of boys came in the evening. For some reason, Nina didn’t seem to be happy about their arrival. She didn’t talk to them, but remain beside me the whole time.

One of the boys approached me with yellow roses on his hand. “Welcome back!” He smiled at me, “We’ve missed you.”

I smiled back. Though I couldn’t seem to recognize them, they had a familiar scent about them. I felt like I knew them for a long time.

They stayed with me for some time, introducing themselves one at a time. I found out the boy who brought me flowers and had been bringing them every day while I was in a coma, was named Jimin. He was the sweetest.

I felt comfortable throughout the evening. They assured me that they would help me with my school works since I had missed two months of classes. I also learned that Jungkook, a boy in my class, had also stopped going to the school since I was in a coma. I felt that we might had been really close.

At a point, we were already close enough to cut jokes. Though Nina was not joining in our conversation at first, she eventually gave in.

We were laughing at something Jin had said, when I suddenly had a flashback; there were the boys and me, laughing just like today. But for a reason, I felt like they were rather laughing at me.

Jin noticed something in my face. He carefully asked, “Are you alright, dear?” I shook my head and said that I was feeling dizzy and that I needed to rest. Nina asked the boys to leave so that I could rest. Reluctantly they left.

< Previous || Next >

My Masterlist

[chloeillustrates16]

How Levin is Related To Garroth

So, I've been on Aphmau Tumblr for a while; I loved Aphmau growing up in the early days of Youtube and how she shaped me as a person. You may not have to like her or support her but there is no denying that she's shaped all of us as people. In any case, I want to talk about something that's been bugging me for YEARS. And that's the Levin-Garroth debate.

For people who weren't around when Aphmau was uploading MCD, you might not understand. So, disclaimer if you haven't watched the original MCD series because there will be spoilers.

I and maybe others have been confused on why exactly Levin looks so much like Garroth. And that's not only to the fandom, in the actual canon of the series, everyone brings up the fact that Garroth and Levin's similiarities are uncanny. Levin even says in the second episode of season 2, "Everyone here says I look like Garroth, heh...I just hope that they don't expect me to live up to his reputation..."

So, within the series canon, everyone thinks that Levin looks like Garroth. So, what does that mean? Well, in season 2 episode 100, after Aphmau finds out that she's actually Irene. She says this, "Bloodline? Wait, does that mean that Levin is my great-great-grandson?" Which Hyria says,

"No, Irene was once a human many centuries ago, she had family, and she did a great job keeping them around her. Irene never had any kids of her own, but she did want children."

Irene never had children, which means we can rule out the theory that Irene and Esmund ended up together. But that first part, Irene had a family, which means, she had siblings and a mother and father. So, what does that say? Well, if we can dissect Irene's family tree, then that means that we can figure out how Garroth and Levin are related.

Most of this is my own canon, I won't give any names to characters that haven't been introduced. Most of the information that I'm saying are inspired of Jess's personal life, which she does in her own stories.

Irene's mother -- Irene's father (We can say that they were magic welders since that's the only explanation for Irene's gift. And as we know within the series, if you prefect your magic enough you can slow your own aging I.E. Hyria and Lucinda).

Then there's her brother, which isn't canon but for sake of story, let's say Irene has a brother. He has to also be a magic welder, because his parents are both; so, let's say he married a woman and ends up having a daughter.

Irene's niece, she ends up marrying into the Ro 'Meaves', centuries before O'Kahsis is born. In which she has a son,

Irene's great-nephew, he ends up marrying a woman. Who gives birth to...you guessed it. Garte. Who marries Zannah.

Which explains why Hyria and Zannah are so close; if Irene was still around when Irene's niece was born then she was around when Garte was born. Since Hyria and Irene were so close, I'm sure that her family knew about Hyria; considering her family as well.

Making them close by the time that Garroth, Zane, and Vlad were born.

Of course, this is all a fan theory and speculating. The reason why I had it to where Irene had a brother is because in IRL Jess has a half-brother.

So, what about Levin exactly? Well, remembered how I said that Irene's brother was married and had Irene's great-nephew? Well, he also had a daughter. Who ended up have a son; guess who that son was? The old lord of Pheonix Drop.

Phoenixes are supposed to represent rebirth, magic, renewal, and safety. Well, what does Aphmau do the moment she steps into that world? She's rebirthed, as a new person with magic and an instinct to protect people.

On top of all of that, it's canon that Gate and the Old Lord are magic welders; how else would Gate know magic? It's because Garte was born with it and taught Zannah how to use it along with Zane and Garroth.

Then what about Garroth? Doesn't that mean he's technically related to Irene? Well, yes. I know that probably sounds gross because Aphmau is technically supposed to be Irene herself. However, that's not how that works; when someone is reincarnated, that doesn't mean they're related to them. So, we're in the clear without any incest. (Thank God).

So, does that mean that Garroth and Levin are distant cousins? Yes, it's the only reason to explain why the two look so alike. Genes also play a big part in it as well.

Let's say, Irene's brother has the same auburn brown that she does. Then that means, he'd have to marry someone that carries the blue eye trait. To counter act the brown, Irene's family needs to be carrying the blue-eyed trait.

Then, both siblings have to be able to have the carrying trail. And since Irene's brother had both had daughter and a son, the daughter would carry the blue-eyed trait. Since the son ends up having another son, who ends up marrying someone who has blue eyes or carries it. Which passes it onto Levin.

On top of that, we already know that Garte has blue eyes which carried to both Zane and Garroth.

I know this was a lot to unpack in a single post, but this is the only way to explain why the two looked so similar. And not choke it up to ship bait. Which was probably the intention in the beginning. However, I'm sure that if Jess got to finish MCD Rebirth she would end up explaining it.

[worldismyne]

Omg you have warrior u oc’s ?! Please tell me about them!

I've been in the fandom for a hot minute and a half, so I got a few and they break into two generations lmao.

1st Generation (2013-2014) Made for funsies.

2nd Generation (Present)​ Made for the future issue we're working on.

It's kinda hard to talk about the 2nd Gen ones without spoiling too much, so I'll just stick to stuff that's irrelevant or not covered in the draft??? They'll be at the bottom, so feel free to dip out of the post if you don't want spoilers.

With that said....

*Inhales*

Gen 1 OCs

Ophilia - Y'know how almost everyone had some fem unicorn/pegasus to ship with Hevvin lmao; uhh this one was mine. She's less of a character and more like a concept. I liked the idea of a counterpart to Hevvin's 'magical creature killing things on purpose' with a 'magical creature killing things on accident'. She's supposed to be a clydesdale like pegasus that was also poisonous to the touch. She was used to being hunted for her feathers, and was supposed to have long fur/hair. But like really hated humans because they wanted her magic to hurt each other; made no sense for her to have a human disguise, but eh. Also I was an inexpirienced artist, so I made her super skinny/tall like all my other drawings, but really she should have been BUFF. I never gave her a concrete personality and was too nervous to do anything other than use her as a dress-up doll for different outfits that would fit the aesthetic. In hindsight she doesn't really fit in the world (Aisha denounced pegasus existing, and Hevvin's human form is canonically from one of Leenan's lost spells soooooo) but I still like the idea of a character that was poisous to the touch. Ended up finding a VN series that scratched that itch, so I officially retired her. She did make a cameo in my fic Plain Gold Ring as one of the monsters Emet ran into on her adventures. This is what she'd look like if I made her now.

JD (Can't find his full name, my gut says Jasmine Diane???)- Made for my fic Plain Gold Ring as a travel campanion for Emet and Rhodri (because there's no one else in the comic their age lmao). I knew I wanted a 'neutral' party for them to talk to so they weren't always talking to each other. He's the youngest of seven brothers, I think he was 11??? (him and his brothers all were given girl names by their stubborn mom who thought naming the baby before birth would give her a girl). He's a very meek and gullible person and a grain farmer; the kind of kid Rhodri usually scams. A pushover toatie made sense for an added member to the squad, so I had Rhod drag him along and they made him do all the stuff they didn't want to do. He ended up being a fairly practical and chill person as the story progressed, whose biggest flaw was not speaking up. He used the adventure to step up in the world and act as a merchant (so he sells all the treasures and junk Emet finds overseas and doesn't like.) With the happily ever after being them forming an adventure/merchant guild. I seem to remember submitting him to the OG tumblr for review (I can't remember why) but he got artist approved!  I snuck him into the background of pg 28 of Ambrosia since we needed people in the streets according to the thumbs [that by no means makes him canon, it's more an easter egg than anything else]. I still really like him and the idea of his fam from a worldbuilding standpoint, though I have 0 plans for him. I may go back and revise Plain Gold Ring, if so, he'd get developed further.

Gen 2 OCs (Spoiler Reduced)

Belladonna Ashenburrow (sp?) Age 13 and a half

Biological daughter of Freya Ashenburrow and her 1st husband (supposedly), but not the oldest of Finn's cousins. She enjoys studying ediquette/customs of other cultures, making tea pastries and torturing her step sisters's tutors until they quit. Permenantly housebound, Bella is determined to get married first and be a celebrated nobel lady to spite her family (not that she's made any progress thus far). She is first in line to inherit the family home as the only descendent that is blood related to the Ashenburrows AND holds a noble title AND willing to marry any noble her family picks out. No one in the family is happy about this. Her mother and father are deceased and her step father is always away at work as a woodsman. She refers to everyone in her family by cutsey nickname versions of their names with exception of her grandfather (Papa) and her step father (Mother's Second husband). Her aunt and grandmother try to pretend she's not in the house. (She is LOOSELY inspired by the tale of Cinderella, in that she has step-sisters and an akward family)

Rosaline Ashenburrow Age 15

Technically the eldest of Finn's cousins, she entered the family through her father's second marriage (and as such is not a blood-realitive). Despite that, she was very close with her cursed step-mother and was her unofficial favorite child. Her favorite story from her step-mother was how marrying her father made it feel like the curse was gone, that true love isn't the first love you find, but the one you build through hard work. She wears Freya's old dresses to feel close to her again, though they are extremely dated. Still, she struggles with adapting to the expectations of noble ladies and often falls short of her aunt's expectations. Rose enjoys gardening and has an interest in white witchcraft, but is too scared to pursue it in the home given past events. She discovered of Leenan's existance after her suitor accidently triggered an old hex Leenan had left behind. (He got turned into a bear mid proposal; he's kinda stuck as a bear until further notice). She's inspired by Rose Red from "Snow White and Rose Red".

Clarice Ashenburrow Age 5

Fairytale rules state there's always 2 step sisters; so I thought it'd be interesting to have one be older and one be younger. When she talks, it's in test bubbles with layered crayon/pencil dialogue to replicate how young kids have rapid/repeating speech. She's extremely hyperactive and has grown up in the Ashenburrow home realively unsuppervised (she has Rose, but Rose gets busy with lessons and other things). She's quite the terror, but when she's older she'll focus her energy into playing piano instead of tearing the house apart. She also has a habit of biting people when she's upset. She doesn't remember her mother at all or Freya and often tries to get Senna and her grandmother's attention by missbehaving (it rarely works). I wouldn't say she's a brat, more like an unchecked ball of chaos. She actually adores her older sisters (and her cousin once they meet); but no one has time to play with her 🙁 Inspired by Bell's younger sister in Beauty and the Beast. Fun fact, the disney animation removed her character from the final draft of the movie to make Bell seem more isolated/lonely in town. 

I keep flipflopping on whether she should be Bella's step sister or half sister. Step sister would be more traditional and secure Bella's role as heir, buuut half sister would mean Rose could have been raised by Freya for longer and raise the stakes of competition in the house. Either way, she'd be treated the same in the issue she appears.

Senna Ashenburrow Age 37

Not technically an OC, but she doesn't really appear in the formspring or in WUPurgatory; so her personality was concocted by me and Coffee. She's Leenan's elder sister, and the fact Coffee calls her Finn's "wine aunt" makes me laugh because I associate her behavior with my boomer grandparents lmao. Definately a functional alcoholic though, but an ideal duchess (ediquette is on point, dresses immaculate, socialable with all the right people, etc.) She has a "close friend" *cough*wife*cough* whom she's been with since they were 22. She figured she could avoid the pressures of an arranged marriage by supporting one of her sisters; and in return get left alone. Freya seemed like the safer bet (unfortunately she had all girls!) and now is stuck training her nieces on how to care for the duchey. She's been pushing Rose to take control, because she thinks Rose would be inclined to let her do whatever she wants. Until then, she stuck waiting for her parents to pass, but they're stubborn and in good health. 

She HATES kids and is mostly taking care of them out of a sense of duty. She's not wicked/abusive, just emotionally constipated and uncomfortable around young people.

[tadpolesonalgae]

[ask is at the end, sorry not so sorry for such a huge block of text TT]

Hey Tabby! first off let me let you know that I fucking love and adore you and your stories sooo effing mucchjhh, likee aaah I'm frothing at the mouth just thinking about them. i love the way you write and breath life into your stories and characters(ironically, I haven't read cbmthy yet, which seems to be your most loved and talked about work but I can't wait to read it sooon)

well anyway, I wanted to ask you about the first time you read the first book (ACOTAR) and what you'd thought of it and what your first thoughts of Rhys were? did you know that feyre would end up with him before you started the book? or did you go into it blind? and if you didn't know they'd end up together, were you rooting for them by the end of it? did you feel like you were the only one that saw something bwn them? and you weren't sure if sjm was actually hinting at something or if you were simply being delusional? because this was exactly what went through my head when I first read the book and I'd love to know your thought process through the books tooo. honestly, even when she escaped to the night court in the second book, before she explicitly stated that she did not love tam anymore or something along those lines, I was still unsure/scared that Feysand wasn't going to happen 😭 and that this would just be written as a tiny hiccup in Feylins story and Rhys would just be like, some kindof rebound guy(haha lol yea) that would make her realise her love for Tam or whatever bs I see soooo often in movies these days(especially those hallmark ones, no shade to anyone who enjoys them tho,ily) and now I just want to laugh at my past self lol. I'd love to know your thoughts, thankyouu💗💗💗

—🫀(ps, that's my heart that swells up a little extra each time you post 🥹🤌🏻✨)

Hello hello!!🧡💛 Thank you so much 🫂🫂🫂☹���

‘(ironically, I haven't read cbmthy yet, which seems to be your most loved and talked about work but I can't wait to read it sooon)’

Gosh, I hope you aren’t disappointed by it—just as a heads up it might be a little slow in parts but I hope you enjoy it :) Hopefully it’ll be easier since if you do decide to read it, you’ll be able to skip onto the next chapter quickly and it won’t drag too much 🫤🧡💛

Oooh okay, so I originally didn’t have an interest in reading—acotar was the second book series I ever reader, after shadow and bone, which was the first book I’d read that wasn’t compulsory reading in some way—but one day my friend and I were in the library joking around, and she mentioned chapter 55 (because again, I didn’t know anything about books, or the jokes within the fandom) and she was telling me how it was a whole thing, and if you say chapter 55, everyone knows what scene it is, and I ended up just taking the book (acomaf) off the shelf and reading chapter 55 on its own 🫢

It wasn’t until about a year later that I actually read acotar, but I’m pretty sure I remembered feysand’s mating bond? But again, I had no idea what that meant so I don’t think it impacted my read that much?

I will say, I have a breathing problem that kicks up every once in a while, and I remember liking Rhys so much in the first book and being so flustered my heart was beating so quickly I was struggling to breathe for a good few minutes and had to step outside 😭😭 we still sometimes joke that he nearly killed me 😳🤦

(I loved him being cold, and cruel, and kind of flirtatious 🫢😳)

As for whether I knew Feyre and Rhys would get together, or whether I was routing for them, I actually can’t pin point when I got so immersed in acotar? I definitely liked Rhys’ character from the beginning, and I think Feyre grew on me more throughout the story :)

I never hated Tamlin though—I think that might have been aided by kind of knowing Rhys and Feyre would get together, and acotar didn’t seem like a series that would have a sad ending? It felt too fantasy to do anything super serious if that makes sense, so I was content to just go along with the ride and see where the story went :)

Also, again it might have been because I kind of knew Rhys and Feyre would end up together, but if Rhys really was the big bad villain he was made out to be in the first book, I think it would have been poor writing to show him to us so early on in the book? I think villain’s are much scarier when they’re kept in mystery, like how dragons or monsters will sometimes be silhouetted in thundercloud to show their outline, or how sometimes in games you’ll see a massive tail slither away under water without showing you the full creature because the Thing your imagination creates will always be so much worse :)

‘I was still unsure/scared that Feysand wasn't going to happen 😭 and that this would just be written as a tiny hiccup in Feylins story and Rhys would just be like, some kindof rebound guy(haha lol yea) that would make her realise her love for Tam’

I mean to be fair, I don’t really watch films or tv shows at all anymore, and until acotar I hadn’t read many books so I think I might have been oblivious to those tropes/cliches which is why I wasn’t worried that Feyre would go back to him? It probably could have been done, that they reconciled and Tamlin had a redemption, but I think that would have changed the whole tone of the book series so I am really glad that didn’t happen and we got to meet the IC :)

Thank you so much for writing in!! I think it can be so fun to read a book, or something to that degree, then rereading it and spotting all these new details that hint at what will happen in the future? Also seeing what people thought on their first read through, then perhaps how they changed gradually is always so interesting to hear? Also getting to watch as someone reads through a book for the first time and hearing what they think as they go through it—especially if it’s a book you like—can be such a bonding experience 🧡💛

[tisiphonewolfe]

Heads up 7 up tag

Two of these, one from @doublegoblin here, and another from @late-to-the-fandom here. Thanks, both! Even if I don't always do these, I do love receiving them for the intriguing out-of-context snippets I get to read of other folks' work . . .

Anyway! No pressure tags for @lostpasswordreturning, @fragrant-stars, @sarahlizziewrites and . . . @bandierarosadiaz (George go write something!!!)

Two snippets then! As usual, I never know what counts as seven, so indeterminate lines from -

Bound By Stone And Blood

Oda’s features were soft, and right now they were squeezed into worry lines and pursed lips. Maribelle stepped forward instead of away. “Oda, maybe neither of us should be bothering to seek the faculty’s forgiveness anymore. You wouldn’t believe some of the things the Archdean has told me - she has plans, ideas - we could help her together. It would be like some of our field projects, back in the day. Remember?” Oda’s temptation was brief, but obvious from the way her steel-still hands twitched. “That’s an easy thing to say for someone who’s never killed anyone. I’ll be paying my debt in blood until I’m dead.” “You don’t have to. We can just-” “Mari.”

Odyssey One

While Brewer guided the shuttle towards the bay at the falcon’s tail, Trix stood - awkwardly, as the shuttles had apparently not been created with their Captain’s height in mind. “Alright. Everyone knows what they’re doing?” Nervous nods bounced between her senior staff. She had been surprised to find that all of them were willing to go along with this harebrained scheme. Stealing humanity’s first interstellar ship was going to be quite the black mark on their service record if things went awry, but it turned out they were all as frustrated as she was. She had barely hinted at what she was going to try and do before each of them leapt at the chance to come along. The crewmen, fresh-faced and with more to lose, had been less keen, hence the Odyssey’s complement of one hundred was down to just sixty-three.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Guardian Devil pt. 1; Matt Murdock x teen reader

*Author’s note*

Wow back in the ring this long in the game wow! Okay first off Happy New Year everyone hope 2022 brings us some closure on stuff and hopefully one step closer to finally ending this mess that Covid has done for us. The sooner we get our shit together the better.

Okay but enough with politics and world events, we come to tumblr to get away from real world shit! So I figured why not start off the new year with a new fandom (I know I’m slacking since Daredevil ended like years ago) but I’m starting to watch it now so I figured why not start writing for it now, esp. since I see a lack in platonic fics for our beloved lawyer/vigilante. In the end this was born, hope you guys enjoy this. And look out for part 2 in just a few minutes.

Warnings: Graphic murder, violence, swearing, angst, fluff.

---------------------> PART TWO HERE

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​

@ixchel-9275​

@psychosupernatural​

@waddles03​

@queen-paladin​

@mobiusismyfav​

@queensdivas​​

________________________________________________________

Two years.  That’s how long it’s been since she was brutally taken from this world.  Standing here at her grave never gets any easier, especially when I still blame myself for her death.  If I hadn’t asked my mom to pick me up from Liz’s party after experiencing an anxiety attack, she’d never would’ve gotten her car, if she hadn’t gotten in her car then her car would’ve never broken down at the bridge.

And if her car hadn’t been on that bridge that night, he would’ve never found her (pretending to be a good Samaritan) before knocking her out and stuffing her into the trunk of his car.

Missing for almost 5 months until her body would be found cemented in a trash bin in an abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn, her entire body cut up like a hotdog.  But you wanna know the worst part of it all? They never found the guy who did it.  

Not once.  The police did everything they could until a year and a half after finding her body before they decided my mother’s case was just another ‘Cold case left in the archives’. To be collecting dust for the next few decades or so until some would-be detective comes along and wants to solve it.

By then I’ll either be too old or even dead to ever find out just who did it, hell maybe the guy will have been long dead after living a whole life after snuffing my mother’s brief one.

“I miss you soo much mama. I really wish you could be here.” I said after placing a bouquet of white lilies on her grave as well as a picture of the two of us at the premiere of the Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey. She was such a huge Tolkien nerd and would read me the books every night and once I was 7 years old she got me to watch the Lord of the Rings films.

The two of us would quote lines to each other as our secret code to one another or speak in riddles just like the Riddles in the Dark from the Hobbit.  We would even do it around Foggy and Matt just to annoy them (mostly Foggy, especially when we would speak Elvish to each other. Matt always found it funny).  She even once told me that when the time comes and she dies, she would like the Lament of Théodred to be sung by me since I knew the words so well.

I joked with her telling her that she would never die because she was a superhero to me and that she was stronger than the Hulk to be killed off so easily.  She smiled at me that night and just held me close and told me that everyone cannot escape death for Death is a way of Life.  

But she told me to never be afraid of it, nor angry at it. I never knew that death would come for her in such a brutal way.

And like she wanted, that day of her funeral I sung the very song she wanted me to sing to her.  I can still remember it like it was yesterday.

*Flashback 2 years ago.*

Everyone of my mom’s closest friends including Matt, Foggy and Karen, my friends Peter Parker, his aunt May, Ned and MJ came in support for me.  The men came with her casket towards the spot where she would finally be put to rest.

After the sermon spoke some words of comfort from the Bible that’s when I walked up onto the stage, staring at the picture of my mother in her Lawyer attire.  A look of pride in her eyes as I began the song.

Bealocwealm hafað fréone frecan forth onsended giedd sculon singan gléomenn sorgiende on Meduselde thæt he ma no wære his dryhtne dyrest and maga deorost.

         My heart broke and my voice quivered as I tried to sing the song without breaking down.  As I sung, I watched as Karen was the first to place her rose on top of my mother’s grave next to mine that I had placed before going on stage.  Followed by Foggy and Matt who stood side by side.

I knew this was just as hard for me as it was for them. They were my mom’s college friends. The 3 Musketeers, El Grande avocados. Nelson, Perry and Murdock attorneys at Law.  That’s what they were for years up until now.

I could see Foggy’s chin wobble as he tried his best to stay strong while I could see a tear slip down from Matt’s red shades. Hell that was probably the first time since I’ve known him to ever cry.  They stood together and watched as my mother’s casket was finally lowered to the ground and some volunteers began to bury her for her final rest.

After getting some hugs from my friends and Aunt May I was the only one left alone with Foggy and Matt.

“She told me that……we should never fear death, nor be angry with it. And yet……I feel so much rage in me. Why did I make her drive to pick me up from that stupid party? Why couldn’t I have just sucked it up and dealt with it?”

“She’s your mother (Y/n). And mother’s always come when their babies are in trouble or in distress.” Uncle Foggy told me.  I turned to him, my face probably looked so broken to him.

“It was my fault.” I choke out before finally breaking down and weeping into my hands.  Foggy walked up to me and embraced me tightly, my arms going around him squeezing him back and his head resting on top of mine.

“Be at peace in God’s garden (M/n). And know your daughter will be kept safe with Foggy and myself. This we promise our sister, our partner in crime, the second avocado.” He sadly chuckled which made Foggy and I also smile sadly at the nickname.

*Present*

I stroked my mother’s name as well as the plate that would forever mark her grave.

(M/n) Perry.

Mother, Sister, Attorney at Law

May she now govern the laws of our Heavenly Father

“Figured you’d be here.” I heard Matt’s voice say behind me. I sniffled and wiped my tears as well as my nose with the sleeve of my hoodie.  “This might be better than using your sleeve.” I turned to my left and saw him kneeling down beside me holding a packet of tissues.

“Thank you.” I muttered as I took them and opened it up to take one out.  “I’m about to go to my first Homecoming dance next year. She—she should be here to see that.”

“If I know her, she would’ve been up the walls with planning a date just to get your dress, hair and makeup done. And on that night she would be up to the wall taking pictures of all of us before you left.” I smiled.

“That sounds like her.”

“She really did love you (Y/n). And she still does. She’s…..”

“Uncle Matt. I know religion is important to you but—please don’t say anything about God right now. If he really cared about all of us, why couldn’t he spare her!?” I snapped my question angrily. “Why? Why did he take her from me?! She-she was all I had left.”

“No. She wasn’t.” he fiddled around the grass until he found my hand hanging limp at my side.  “You still have your friends at school, you have Karen, Foggy, and me. You’ve got me. And I’m not saying this out of sympathy.” He gave my hand a gentle squeeze.  “I—my father was killed by his own boss. He didn’t throw in the match and—boss had him killed.”

“How do you get through something like that Matt? The police never found the sick mother fu—”

“Language little miss.” He warned me with a flick at my temple. I softly glared up at him but it quickly softened.

“I just…..how can someone live with themselves after committing such an act? How do you go on living a normal life for years knowing you’ve killed someone in such a graphic way?”

“I know, I know. I—I cannot even imagine the terror your mother must’ve gone through.” He wrapped his arms around me leaning his head on top of mine.  “But it wasn’t your fault.”

“But…..”

“I know you still blame yourself. I can hear it off your tone every time we talk about her. Or whenever Mother’s day comes around. But you should know that the only person at fault is the sick psychopath who killed her.”

“Sometimes I wish I could go out there and find him. I’ve dreamed of finding him and-and giving him every ounce of fear and torment he gave my mother.” I seethed out clenching my fists until my knuckles grew white.

“You know she wouldn’t want that of you. She raised you to have such a kind heart and a strong mind. You’re better than those that seek vengeance.” I felt his hand cup the bottom of my chin and lifted my chin up so I could look at him.  “Promise me, you won’t go looking for vengeance.”

“I promise.” I softly spoke.

“That’s my girl.” He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. “Care to help a blind man up?” I chuckled softly as I stood up while grabbing his arm and lifting him up. “How about we head back over to my place? I know I don’t have much but I finally managed to get a TV installed in your room, got some movies you could maybe watch while I make the popcorn?”

“As much as I would like that Uncle Matt, I—sorta promised Ned and Peter I’d meet them at Pete’s place to help build the new Lego Death Star.”

“Okay kiddo. Go be with your friends. Maybe getting out of this place will help you today.”

“Yeah. Two generations of Perry’s born and raised here after all and even through all the bad rep I still can’t help but think of mom everytime I’m here.” Gingerly his thumb stroked my cheek, even drying off a tearstain before he gave me another kiss to my forehead before the two of us left the cemetery together before parting ways.

I got on the metro and took the half hour journey to Queens however I wasn’t going there to see Peter and Ned.  I had some other plans over in Queens to deal with.

Unbeknownst to everyone after my mom died, I had found an underground MMA ring that was located in Queens.  I signed up using an alias and made a name for myself down in the ring. Anytime I got beat up too badly I’d come up with a clever excuse that seemed plausible.  

It managed to work for my friends as well as aunt Karen and uncle Foggy, uncle Matt obviously is hard to lie to (human lie detector after all) so I’ve been practicing how my tone should sound if I was being ‘interrogated’.

I walked up to the building and showed the bouncer my fighter’s ID and he allowed me in.  Inside on the main level was your basic club with flashing lights, adults (mostly college kids) dancing, twerking or whatever the hell they do nowadays.  I then walked over to the other bouncer that guarded the back entrance where the fight ring was.

I showed him my ID and he greeted me.

“Welcome back Éowyn.” Yes I used a fake name to get in here but hey not my fault they don’t ask for any birth certificates or Social Security. They just want a name, and to sign a waver not putting them responsible for any life long injuries or potential death. He opened the door and I walked down the stairs where the real magic was.

There stood a descent sized boxing ring surrounded by a metal cage like how you see on TV.  People were already in the catwalks getting ready for the shows tonight.  I walked to the back room where the lockers were and saw the other fighters training or changing into their fighting clothes.

Every fighter looked to be in their late 20s to mid-30’s, possible a couple of them in their 40s trying to make it in with the young crowd and then there’s me, the youngest out of everyone.  Like I said, I made a name for myself here.

Everyone that has ever doubted me because of my size, they soon know why they call me “The Bobcat”.  I finally reached my locker and got out my fighting clothes and quickly changed clothes.  Once I was prepped with boxing tape wrapped around my hands I headed on off to the small gym area where all the fighters go to warm up before the fights.

As I was at the punching bag doing some rapid punches, getting a few kicks in and working on my dodges, all I kept thinking was about my mom and her killer.  He is the inspiration between all my hard punches and kicks.  My anger boiled as I pictured his face, my mother’s cut up corpse when they asked me to ID her, the closed casket I was forced to have for her funeral since it was such a gory way for someone to be buried.

When the clock struck 7pm it was fighting time.

A couple of fights went on before me until I was finally called up to face up against ‘Goliath’.  A tall 6’4 bodybuilder with muscles on his muscles.  His face was all scarred up from knives and had two full sleeves (for those that don’t know that means tattoos that literally cover his whole arm).  Along with the nerve to have a Nazi cross tattooed on his neck.

“Shouldn’t you be in pre-school little girl?” he mocked me.

“Shouldn’t you be Captain America’s bitch? Guess I’ll have to make you mine since he missed one.”

“If anyone’s gonna be crying like a little bitch it’s you little girl!” he snarled at me pointing at me.  I grinned smugly at him as we both got into fighting stance.

“GOLIATH VS. BOBCAT!! TWO ENTER THE RING BUT ONLY ONE WILL LEAVE. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN……LET’S GET READY TO RUUMMMBBBBBBLLLLLEEE!!”

The bell dinged and our fight began.  Goliath tried an overhand punch down at me but I quickly slid between his legs and gave him a good side-kick in his ass.

“No wonder Nazis were so easy to arrest, you guys suck at physical confrontation.” I mocked him.  He growled and came at me again.  I sent a couple of punches into his gut before dodging his next coming punch. I then went to kick him again but he grabbed my leg and picked me up.

He had me rested over his shoulders with his hand squeezing down on my throat.

“Time for little baby to be put to bed.” He then hopped in the air and body slammed me to the ground.  His heavy ass crushing underneath me and of course the after-shock of being slammed into the ground can seriously knock the wind out of you. I could hear the crowd either cheering or booing while Goliath praised his victory.

Slowly I got up into a cat-like pouncing position allowing my rage to boil as I finally unleashed “The Bobcat”.  I roared as I raced right toward him and clung onto his back. Digging my nails as deep into his muscles as I could, scratching and clawing him.

Of course I knew a guy this big and muscley he would just find it annoying.  But when the claws don’t work well—I’m sure you can figure out the next part.  Right over his insulting Nazi cross tattoo on his neck, I bit hard into his skin making him scream and holler in pain.

Now that he was distracted I used my momentum and his own body weight to bring him down (almost like how Black Widow fights).  I grabbed Goliath’s arm and pushed it as far back as I could until I heard the snap of his shoulder.  He screamed in agony as I finished him off with a kick to the face knocking him out.

The crowd cheered and the ref came up and lifted my right hand in the air as the crowd cheered my nickname.  For the rest of the night I did a few more fights, some I won easily but others proved to be a challenge.

By the end of the night I took a good look at myself and saw my lips and teeth were stained red, my right eye was swollen shut, my left temple was cut up, I could feel my organs had probably been rearranged, and I could have some cracked or even broken ribs.  I put the fighting clothes back in my locker, cleaned myself up as best I could then proceeded to head back to my Queen’s apartment knowing I couldn’t face my uncles or Karen looking like this.

Suddenly someone came out from behind me, covering my mouth to prevent me from screaming.  I was just about to fight back when I felt something stick into my neck and immediately my vision grew blurry until finally it all went black.

“Well you didn’t need to put a bag over her head.” A voice spoke up.

“Boss you know of our confidentiality.” Another voice spoke up.

“Oh please she maybe a fighter but she’s still a kid. I know someone like her and she doesn’t need to be treated like an enemy. Take it off of her!” I was then hit with a bright light and the smell of what smelt like a feast made for a king.

When my vision came back into focus I saw before me some men in black suits holding guns followed by a fairly large man.  He wore a nice tailored suit, was bald, and stroked some prized cufflinks that were attached to the sleeve of his suit.

“So sorry about the bag dear girl. My associates believed you to be an enemy even before we got the chance to meet each other.”

“Where am I?” I asked groggily trying to shake off the drugs (or whatever the hell it was).

“A safe place. A place amongst friends. You don’t need to worry about a thing, (Y/n) Perry.” I looked at this man with a stoic face, however internally I was freaking out.

“I’m…..afraid you’re mistaken. My name is Éowyn Ryder.” I lied to him.

“See a liar already. And almost a good one too but you still might wanna work on that. Your eyes really do tell when you’re lying kid. Chicken? Or do you prefer turkey?” I looked down and saw that the feast I was smelling earlier wasn’t the concussion.

Before me was a full buffet of almost every food known to man. Meat, vegetables, fruits, wine and beer.  A buffet fitting a king as I stated earlier.

“Who are you?” I asked.  The man softly grinned and he said to me as he walked over to me.

“An admirer of yours.”

“Uhh pal you do realize I’m 16. That’s going way beyond the edge of creepy and illegal.”

“No, no, no, no you misunderstood me kid. I mean I’m an admirer of your fighting abilities. See, there is only one other young woman that I knew of who could fight with the ferocity and rage that you do. My niece. Well not by blood but I look at her as a niece anyway. My point is, I’ve been watching your matches and I believe I could help make you into a better fighter.”

“Sorry but I’m good. I fight my own style.”

“A woman willing to fight her own way. I like it. But—what if I offered you another ultimatum.”

“Such as?”

“Your mother’s killer.”

My heart stopped and my lips softly parted.

“I’ve seen the papers. God such—such a brutal, horrific, savage way to go. I-I-I-I personally cannot imagine what that did to you. To have to ID your mother in such a state. And at such a young, vulnerable age no less. Being a teenager is hard enough as it is but to be exposed to something like that. Jesus.”

“How do you know where her killer is? Not even the police could find him?” I snarled lowly tightening my grip onto my chair.

“That’s the thing with the system. They say they’ll take care of a missing person’s case, or try to find the killer. But after a few short months they give up.”

“No. No. M—my uncle told me they tried of over a year.” I tried to say.

“I’m afraid he lied to you sweetheart. The cops they—they didn’t see your mother worthy enough to be continued. They just—flagged it and moved on to the next case.” He told me.  

How could they do this? They-they promised me they would find her. She was the best Defense Attorney in all of the West Side of Manhattan.

“Where is he?!”

“Now hold on. I admire your passion and thirst for revenge but—you’ll need proper training in order to make this bastard suffer. Raw rage alone won’t instill fear into him, you gotta be smart about it. Swift, clever then finally go in for the kill. What do you say, Bobcat?” his hand gripped my shoulder and I looked up at him.

“You never told me your name.”

“Fisk. Wilson Fisk. At your service my dear.” He said with a grin.

“(Y/n) Perry. At yours.”