#some important stuff is gonna happen soon after my hiatus ^^

[linked-maze]

Okay here is the Friday update! ^^ I hope you guys will like it and comment- I'm gonna go on a bit of a hiatus because I'm not feeling that great about my art (maybe it's just art block kicking in) .:Scent:. pt.9 <<Previous |  Next>>

[gren-arlio]

Folks, one and all, Welcome to Episode 4 of (Waku) Puyo Extras, along with some fairly big announcements again.

(There's no real context for these images. They're basically title cards and the table of contents.)

Hello everyone, and welcome to the fourth installment of Waku Puyo Extras, the filler series before I start Arle's route where I post things about this game, what I can find, and maybe even another game sometimes if I really feel like it. The more lore, the better, eh? After getting verified into the English Puyo Puyo Community Discord, I've been speaking there while doing this sort of stuff.

I'll start off with a quick announcement, a time change, if you will.

Yes. I will translate Arle's route. WHEN though is a bit...in the air. I know I said in a week or so, but... School is starting soon, and obviously, I won't be having as much time as I usually do making this stuff, so I decided ahead of time to prepare.

It's basically certain that I won't be posting every week. Maybe sometimes, but there might be a post every 2 weeks, or longer if needed. School and home life is more important after all. Even in a rare case of me not posting for a while, I'll still be quietly working. In that scenario, I'll again mostly, if only, post on weekends. I don't want this stressing me out, after all.

There's a chance I may be taking a hiatus during that time. Even I need breaks sometimes, and I also want to make time for my friends, family, and my education.

Basically, expect my schedule to be fucked up from now on. Hope you'll understand. I'll try to keep a schedule though.

So with this, what're we covering today? Simple, really.

A new video. About the latter half since I've done the first half on Episode 1 of Extras.

This really won't be factual stuff, but me talking about Lagnus as a whole. (Madou Saturn, Puyo Chronicles, etc) Consider the 2nd parts of these to be...random trivia, games, etc. Spices things up. The manga section will be for next time...didn't have enough time.

With that, let's talk about what'll happen today.

Whole new video.

Thing is about this video, I did...half of it already. It's the first Extra episode actually, the one where Witch sees Schezo and blasts him and me with the ♡'s. The latter half is with the OTHER 2 protags, which is the part I'm properly translating.

(Also the song for the Battle Castle is actually alluding me to an annoying degree, I'm still trying to find the song.)

Timestamps:

Satan 1 (Rulue): (22:13)

Battle Castle Explanation (Rulue): (22:44)

Succubus Boss 1 (Rulue): (23:12)

Witch Trade (Rulue): 25:25)

Satan 2 (Arle): (26:03)

Battle Castle Explanation 2 (Arle): (26:32)

Succubus Boss 2 (Arle): (27:05)

Witch Trade 2 (30:15)

God, Witch acting normal is gonna be so uncanny to me now after like 6 months of working on Schezo Story. I'm used to her being a menace to society.

With that little remark, hope you enjoy.

Satan 1 (Rulue): (22:13)

Rulue:

What the!?

Minotauros:

Umo!? (God I still do not like this bozo)

Satan:

Well...there's the last tower.

Rulue:

Oh, Satan!? (Here I believe she says the one honorific with someone who's highly respected/they like. San? Kun? Don't fully know.)

Satan:

The magical item is in that tower.

Rulue:

Is that so?

Satan:

W-well, I think so...

Rulue:

...?

Satan:

No, hahaha...it must be in there! (Can also be interpreted as "Must've been the wind!")

Rulue:

If I can get my hands on that magical item, I'll finally be able to have magical powers...

Minotauros:

Master Rulue?

Rulue:

Darling Satan... ♡♡ (And thus, they return...)

I'll certainly come back with the magic item!

Satan:

Oh, you're motivated. Keep it up, and do your best.

Rulue:

Yes, Satan. ♡ (again an honorific here. I think San?)

Minotauros:

...

------

Battle Castle Explanation (Rulue): (22:44)

Succubus:

Welcome. Nice to meet you in such a place.

Rulue:

Oh...who are you? Are you the boss of this place?

Succubus:

I'm a Succubus. I guess I'm the boss of this place here.

I'm not trying to lure in people...I'm an usher.

Rulue:

Well...let me ask you this, what is this place?

Succubus:

Huh? You haven't heard? Eh, I'll explain.

This is a special attraction where many of the bosses you've fought wait.

The guys there are at least level 50, and at their very best, well over level 100.

If you're good, you'll make it halfway through, but if you're not confident, don't go.

Rulue

Heh...do you really think that'll stop me?

Succubus:

If you want to go in, be my guest. Do as you please. ♡ (With Succubus it feels much more normal because...she's a Succubus.)

Rulue:

(Who is this woman...?)

------

Succubus Boss 1 (Rulue): (23:12)

Rulue:

Oh? You're here this time?

Succubus:

Fufufu...♡ Yes, I'm surprised you made it this far.

Rulue:

Heh? Who do you think I am? It was easy.

Succubus:

Heh~ I really don't care... (Man she's different compared to her talks to Schezo.)

Rulue:

You don't care? What is there not to care for!?

Succubus:

Your face, your voice, the way you talk, everything!

Rulue:

Oh, now you've done it!

Now that you've said all that, you ready for this? It's far too late to apologize...

Succubus:

Hm...you seem rather ready.

Rulue:

Oh, you're unforgivable!

[Putting these here, I've translated Succubus loss quote too many times for my own good, and when Rulue gets to the chest at 22:10, it says Rulue got a book.]

-----

Witch Trade 1 (Rulue): (25:25)

Rulue:

Oh my goodness! All of that hassle for a book. (She can also say my god.)

And I got no clue how to use it! (...By reading it, genius. Granted it's Meteor but still.)

Minotauros:

Master Rulue...

Rulue:

Ugh! What do I do with this junk!?

Witch:

Hey!!

Rulue:

What do you want!?

Witch:

It's outrageous that you would try to destroy my grimoire!

Rulue:

"Your Grimoire," you must be joking! It's mine.

Witch:

What're you talking about? Aren't you unable to use magic? (Harsh, but true.)

It's like giving a pearl to a pig, so give it to me! (The Pearl to a Pig thing is something I'm a lil unsure about but yea.)

Rulue:

What the hell!

(Either way she gives it.)

Witch:

...Finally, I got my hands on the "Meteor Grimoire" I've been searching for.

...yes, in return, I'll give you the "Ultimate Queen's Secret Manual".

Rulue:

Huh...

Witch:

Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go.

Rulue:

I see. Even with that special manual, that girl wouldn't be able to use it.

That's her "Pearl's to Pigs".

Minotauros:

Good for you, Master Rulue.

------

Satan 2 (Arle): (26:03)

Arle:

W-what!?

Carbuncle:

Guu!?

Satan:

Oh...that's the final tower.

Arle:

Eh!?

Satan:

There's a great magical item in that tower.

Arle:

What? I thought you didn't know about any item.

Satan:

What's so funny? I was upset at the time...

Arle:

...This place is weird. You sure you're the owner?

Satan:

I'm for sure the owner of "Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Land."

Arle:

Then why...

Satan:

Well, I've been busy with a lot of things.

A person like me can't check every single attraction.

Arle:

You...I guess you really don't know anything about this, do you?

Satan:

N-no, that's...

Arle:

Guess I have no choice...Let's go, Carbuncle!

Carbuncle;

Guu!

-----

Battle Castle Explanation 2 (Arle): (26:32)

Arle:

Huh? What's a castle doing here... seems like a new attraction.

Let's go for now, shall we?

Carbuncle:

Gugu!

Succbus:

Welcome. Pleasure to meet you.

Arle:

Hello...who are you anyways?

Succubus:

Im a Succubus. (Hm...haha...) [I wasn't able to find the parentheses text out. Sorry.]

I'm not here to lure you in... I'm an usher.

Arle:

Hm...my goodness...

Succubus:

Why don't you go into this place without sounding so harsh?

Arle:

Well? Can I enter?

Succubus:

Yes, you can. ♡

Arle:

So, is this a new attraction?

Succubus:

Huh? You haven't heard? Well, let me make this easy for you.

[She then explains the same thing she told Rulue.]

Arle:

What? I didn't know enemies could get that strong...

-----

Succubus Boss 2 (Arle) (27:05)

Arle:

I met you outside...

Succubus:

Fufufu...well, we're finally here...

Arle:

Err...

If we're talking now, by any chance, are you the boss here?

Succubus:

Well, you're right, I am the boss here.

But don't talk to me like I'm just a boss, talk to me like I'm a queen.

Arle:

Queen?

(Her and Rulue share a lot in common...)

Succubus:

Did you say something?

Arle:

Uhh, it's nothing...

Succubus:

Then I'll make you my special servant.

You should be honored, I usually only take very good looking men. (THAT explains Schezo's Route...)

Arle:

A servant!? I don't want that!

Succubus:

Oh...you're a funny girl. You're missing out on a lot.

Arle:

Are you...is your head okay? I think you need to see a doctor...

Succubus:

Shut up!

I think people with your attitude need to be taught a lesson...prepare yourself!

Arle:

Ugh, what a mess!

[Once again at 30:05 it says "Arle got a book."]

-----

Witch Trade 2 (Arle): (30:15)

Arle:

That was fun, Carby!

Carbuncle;

Guu!

Arle;

...But I don't understand what this grimoire is for.

Witch:

Hey!

Arle:

Ah! Don't just appear like that randomly!

Witch:

Oh, sorry about that. (WITCH? The horrors beyond my comprehension? Apologizing? I'm too used to Schezo's Route...)

But I'd like to ask, may I have that grimoire that you have right now?

Arle:

W-Well...

(They give it.)

Witch:

Finally...I got my hands on the "Meteor Grimoire" I've been looking for.

...Yes, in return, I'll give you the "Jugem's Grimoire." (Idk what Jugem means...Probably just call it the Great Mage Grimoire.)

Arle:

Huh...

Witch:

Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go.

Arle:

I'll do my best to use "The Jugem Grimoire"!

Carbuncle:

Gugu!

------

And that's translations. I won't deny, I delayed them a good bit, but they're done. Expect Part 1 of Arle's Route within'...maybe a week or two depending on how long the first episode is. Might split it in half like Schezo's.

And with that...We're on Random Puyo Extras. Filler INSIDE of filler where I speak about a Random Puyo thing very unprofessionally.

Today, it'll be on Lagnus/Ragnus Bishasi.

So, my boy Lagnus. Top 3 character in Puyo/Madou IMO, and I'm just kinda here to talk about the man, and how different he is COMPILE vs SEGA Era Puyo, least personality wise. And since I don't want this to JUST walls of text...I'll throw in a few images.

Let's start with SEGA Era, shall we?

Let's begin with Puyo Sun, his first introduction.

(Concept art of Lagnus, along the Puyo Sun cast as a whole.)

In Sun, he's portrayed as a bit of a fool. He's trying to become stronger and all that, which power to him, powerscaling in Puyo seems mad fun, and you see him in Arle's route first killing a Puyo to transform into his teenage self. He then challenges Arle...only for his pants to fall down. This is why we wear belts.

You then see him in Schezo's route next, fresh off his loss against Arle. He notices Schezo is a Dark Mage, and rushes in to attack, only to fall down when Schezo dodges, reverting back to a kid, before throwing a temper tantrum...Not the best showcasing of the man. However, in the novels, it IS said that he only turns into a kid due to Satan being a bit of a jerk.

Minna De Puyo Puyo has a similar beat with SUN Lagnus. Here, he offers to help out Arle out with her journey, but unfortunately, guy is still a kid, so Arle assumes he's joking. Guy can't catch a break.

Oh. But Chronicles got you covered, right?

No. It doesn't.

He appears in Purplune Aqueduct, basically gaslighting himself into thinking he's The Great Hero, when it's Arle...and he's stupid pissy about it. He challenges Arle, loses, and runs into the final dungeon alone. Arle sees him again, is still annoyed with him, and beats him again, before joining your team.

I genuinely don't like how he's portrayed here at all, probably my least favorite version of him ever.

But COMPILE got you covered. For real this time.

(Concept Art of Lagnus and art showing the major characters...and Witch/Draco.)

In Madou Saturn, he's basically the 3rd protagonist of the game, next to Arle and Rulue. You start off the game playing as the man, who's kinda cracked, before he uses all of his power to slay Yoggus, the main antagonist, before he realizes that a portal opened up and that the Yogs (Main villain group) are in other dimensions, before the portal sucks him in. Thankfully, Satan saves the guy and traps him in a crystal to prevent the man from dying.

However, not all was lost. He's able to transfer his soul into Schezo's body, and be able to control it for a small period of time, though he does get removed due to the large amount of darkness in Schezo. It's the reason why Arle and Rulue were so confused when Schezo decided to help them sometimes. He even fights Satan with you in Schezo's body.

When Arle finally meets the guy fairly late into the game, he's turned to a child due to his curse, before telling Schezo that he had to keep controlling him for his own good, annoying Schezo. He starts to tell Arle and Co. about what went down in his world.

(This happens after, but it's always fun to throw in.)

After tons of trials and tribulations, they finally reach Yoggus, and...win the first time around, and Lagnus gets his Reactor Blade back, turning him back into his teenage self, and he fights Yoggus as his full power with Arle and Rulue, and slay Yoggus.

As the place they fought in begins to collapse, Arle and Rulue run off, and Lagnus and Satan...stay behind. Least for a bit with Satan. At that moment, Arle wonders where Lagnus is, and Satan breaks the news: He went back to his own world.

However, what went on was slightly different. Lagnus decides to stay in the collapsing area, saying he'll go back home, as he thinks he was one of the main causes for the problem, and risks being sent to another dimension just for a chance to get home. Satan says otherwise though, as not only did he remove the curse, but indeed was helping Lagnus, pulling things behind the scenes, like deliberately putting important things in obvious spaces.

Satan did this...mostly because we wanted to show the people of his world a reason to defend it. That and he was bored. After that, he gives Lagnus the Azorecrack, a pendant that allows him to transfer between his and Arle's world, saying he was intentionally hiding it. Lagnus, quietly cursing Satan, thanks him, and says he'll be back another day.

With the plot synopsis of SATURN for Lagnus, it shows that not only is he fairly smart and has a strong sense of justice, but he's pragmatic to boot, never going too far with everything, besides the start of the game. He develops a good friendship with Arle and even Rulue, and Schezo kinda hates the guy. He even develops a small acquaintanceship with Satan, thanking him for a lot but also cursing him for not stopping everything. In a game like Saturn, where a lot of characters are hit or miss, Lagnus stands out as probably the best written one out there...until Chronicles kinda messed him up badly.

With this little image, I think I did the man a tad bit of justice.

That'll be all. Thanks for reading.

[himbobathwater]

hey all-- thought i'd give a life update

things haven't been great recently. i'm taking an indefinite hiatus from writing because of the amount of stress i'm under right now. i think my followers and especially my mutuals (ily guys /p) deserve a bit of transparency because i've been pretty inactive for the past week beyond liking a few posts.

1) to start off with some good news-- i am planning on finishing summertime. just not now. this fic is my baby, i intend to see it through to the end, especially since we're so close now. i'll admit i haven't been as proud of the past few chapters but i still think i'll end up with a nice, well rounded story. after that i'll take a break from multichaps and only post the occasional oneshot until i think i'm ready for another multichap.

2) i've been doing a lot behind the scenes. the main source of my stress right now is the amount of work in activism i've been doing. without going into much detail, i've been doing a lot of pro-palestine fundraising, protest planning, etc. that my parents don't exactly approve of. i thought that despite our jewish heritage that they would be understanding of the situation at hand and how important this cause is, but they have a warped idea of what's happening in gaza and think i'm promoting antisemitism. they have strongly urged me to stop what i'm doing-- i won't stop unless they threaten to send me home from school. that is the only way they can get me to stop. i'm more than willing to create a rift between myself and my family if it means i get to support a cause like this, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. it's the loneliest i've felt in years.

3) the semester is ending and i have a lot of schoolwork to do. i registered for next semester's classes today, got waitlisted for two classes, my advisor is being unhelpful (pretty sure she thinks i'm a freshman LOL), all that stuff. luckily next week is our thanksgiving break and i'll get a much needed week off, so i have that to look forward to.

4) i have like, 200 dollars in my bank account. that's bad. i cant afford groceries right now without completely breaking the bank. my school's meal plan is pretty much all i have right now.

to end this post off, i want to encourage you guys to not worry too much about me. despite everything happening right now, i think i'll be okay. although i'm taking a hiatus, writing has still been a good outlet. if nothing else, im getting great poetry out of this. and since i'm a writing major, i think that's good? or maybe my professors are gonna start looking into referring me to a therapist. it's fine either way. it's gonna start snowing here soon, which is nice.

i'll be back soon. not going completely inactive, just stepping back a bit. see y'all later :3

[anomander-dragnipurake]

Bowser's Castle Chapter 6: Phone Call

I've decided that before going on hiatus in September to begin focusing on Halloween stuff, I'm gonna go ahead and drop most of the backlog chapters I have written for this fic. For a number of reasons, one of them being putting this fic into a more comfortable break point (because we get there soon) before going on said hiatus. Also, no promises but there might be a Halloween appropriate interlude chapter that wouldn't fit in where we are in updates right now but would after a couple more. So expect that maybe sometime in October but for sure expect one more chapter after this one probably right before September starts and then probably nothing else until after New Year's because I just can't handle working on this and a bunch of holiday stuff at the same time. Which is what lead me to taking like a year plus to return to this fic initially, I'm gonna do my very, very best not to do that this time though.

~

The kids were curious and wanted to know everything there was to know about King Boo’s possession of Luigi and whether any of the rumors they’d heard floating around the castle concerning the situation were true or not. Most weren’t and a few had been exaggerated to quite a degree as often tended to happen with rumors. Somehow talking about it, correct the rumors, putting it into simple terms and laying it out almost like a story, helped Luigi feel slightly better. It cemented in his mind that that part of all this was done and in the past now; an event to be tell others about instead of something he was actively living through. Things weren’t entirely fixed yet but they were better.

That being the case coupled with the distraction offered by the kids’ general intensity made the conversation as a whole almost pleasant. Junior and all his siblings really weren’t so bad when they weren’t trying to be. Upon finally convincing them that the full tale was told – mostly the truth as Luigi had left out the worst parts for his sake as well as theirs – and that Luigi did really need to make an important phone call, they even not only told him exactly where to find a phone but escorted him to it.

It was just outside the main dining hall. In hindsight an obvious place for a phone meant for use by anyone in the castle. By some miracle there wasn’t much of a line for it, allowing Luigi to have it only a handful of minutes after wishing the kids farewell.

As he stepped up to it, he didn’t quite take it off its hook yet. Letting Mario and his friends know he was okay was important and something he wanted to do because they must be worried but… he was also going to have to say he didn’t want to go home yet. That he wanted to stay in Bowser’s Castle for a time until King Boo was dealt with because… he didn’t trust Mario, or Peach and her Toads, or even E. Gadd himself to protect him from King Boo’s inevitable return. That wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have but… he had to have it eventually so with a sigh he picked up the receiver.

First he dialed Mario’s home phone but got no answer. He probably wasn’t at home though so next was Mario’s cell but again, no answer. He had to try twice more before Mario finally answered with an annoyed, “What?” Even if he was annoyed and even if it hadn’t been that long ago since Mario had last spoken to him, it was still nice to hear his voice again.

“H- hey bro. It’s me, Luigi.”

“Luigi? Is that… really you? Or is this a trick? You’re really King Boo and you’re just…”

“Nope, not King Boo. I’m free of him.” For now. “And, uh, to prove it uh… hmm… I don’t think he speaks Italian, right? So here’s proof?”

A short pause on the other end before Mario burst into reply, also speaking Italian. “Luigi! It really is you! I’d give you a hug if I could. I’m so glad you’re okay. You are okay, right bro? You’re somewhere safe? I can run and jump in the car and rush over if you need me to. Just tell me where you are and I’ll be there as soon as possible, okay?”

“Uh…” This was Luigi’s chance to change his mind and escape the castle after all. Mario could come get him and take him home. … Then what? It was already proven that Luigi wouldn’t be safe from King Boo in his own home. Maybe he could live in Peach’s castle? He’d never felt fully comfortable staying there for any significant length of time though as he was seen almost exclusively as ‘Mario’s inferior brother’ by everyone there – not to mention the handful of Toads who treated him less than politely because of that. Something he’d be willing to put up with if it meant safety from King Boo but that didn’t feel very likely.

E. Gadd could maybe create something to protect the castle. But if he couldn’t contain King Boo for long, he probably couldn’t reliably keep him out either. And with his lab in shambles, he’d have trouble making much of anything for a while. Which was also why Luigi couldn’t stay with him or have him create something for Luigi’s home.

Kamek, on the other hand, had been able to contain King Boo’s magic. And Bowser had gotten him to leave. Maybe both of those things were due to King Boo underestimating them, luck, or a combination of the two but they’d still done it when the others had failed to help. Due to no fault of their own or lack of trying and Luigi would never...

“You okay?” The worry in Mario’s voice was disconcerting. Rarely was he ever that worried about anything.

“Yeah, I’m… okay. I’m safe. You don’t need to come get me.”

“Good, good. That’s good.” Obviously Luigi couldn’t see it but he was sure Mario was nodding as he spoke. “Glad to hear it. Now uh… how’d you do it? How’d you beat King Boo this time? I wanna hear the whole tale.”

Luigi squirmed, clutching the phone a bit tighter. Mario wasn’t going to like this explanation but well… “I didn’t...”

“Wait, before you answer…” Mario’s voice moved away from the phone as he spoke to someone else in the room with him. “Yeah, it’s Luigi. He says he’s okay.”

The reply sounded like Peach and probably was. Her exact words were indecipherable but her tone was pleased.

“Yeah, he beat King Boo again.” Mario actually sounded proud of Luigi.

A few more indistinct voices chimed in, indicating that Mario was even less alone than Luigi had hoped he’d be for where this conversation was going. Unfortunate but unsurprising; when not at home, Mario was most often with other people.

“All right, Luigi,” Mario continued, speaking into the phone properly again, “I’m going to put you on speaker phone. Peach wants to talk to you.”

Oh no, that was even worse. Before Luigi could even try to start voice an objection though…

“Luigi! It’s so good to hear from you,” Peach said, her voice much clearer now. “I’m glad to know you’re all right.”

“You really gave us quite the fright there,” Toadsworth added in that almost lecturing tone of his that meant he’d been worried. “We were really scrambling on trying to figure out where that dastardly King Boo might’ve run off with you to.”

“I knew you’d beat him again,” Mario said. “Not that I wasn’t worried. But I knew you was strong enough to overcome him. I didn’t doubt it for a moment.” A lie no doubt, he of all people knew Luigi wasn’t strong by any metric.

“It wasn’t me,” Luigi said before anyone else could chime and possibly agree with that idea. “I… didn’t beat him. Someone saved me. Two someones actually.”

There was a short pause before Peach replied with, “Oh! Who might they be? You being a close personal friend of the crown means we must thank them properly for helping you. I’ll send a limo to pick you and them up, bring you back to the castle for a celebration. I’ll bake some cake and we’ll have a grand time.”

“It was… it was… Bowser and Kamek. And uh, I’m still at their castle and I intend to stay here because when they beat King Boo they couldn’t capture him and he left, saying he was going to come back and that this wasn’t over. So I think this is probably the safest place for me right now. Kamek managed to seal his magic and Bowser got him to leave. And uh… they’re fine with me staying and even said I’d be safe if King Boo tried to come back to get me.” No need to add that he was now Bowser’s minion and maybe some kind of family member. “So… so, no need for a limo or a party or anything else. I’m staying for a little while until it’s safe to go back home. Sorry.” Luigi almost slammed the phone back into its cradle but stopped himself, clutching it tight in his hand instead.

“You can’t be serious?” Mario of course sounded confused and… maybe a little mad? “Bowser? Why would he of all people save you? And how?”

“Uh… remember the whole Cackletta, thing? Apparently, that affected him enough that he now has a thing about possession so he got mad at King Boo about it. And uh…” No need to mention the whole thing with the shackles and iron cage, “he broke the crown, King Boo’s crown, after Kamek used magic to suppress his magic.”

“It’s still Bowser though. Even if he did save you its not safe for you there. You can stay in Peach’s Castle if you don’t feel safe at home right now. E. Gadd will build something to keep you safe.”

“No offense to E. Gadd but King Boo has escaped from him every time he had him. So I don’t exactly trust him to be able to keep King Boo out of his lab or Peach’s castle.”

“That’s fair,” came E. Gadd’s voice out of nowhere. If Luigi had known E. Gadd was there too, he’d have tried to word it better. Too late now though as E. Gadd continued on, seemingly unfazed. “It’s difficult to keep someone like King Boo contained for long.” He sounded as if some of those times King Boo had gotten free weren’t at least partially his fault, typical. “I would say you probably are safest there, sonny. Especially since you said Kamek can seal King Boo’s powers, right? I’m gonna have call him later and ask him about that.”

“Who’s going to keep him safe from Bowser though?” Now Mario was for sure a little mad. Mad at Luigi though or just the situation?

“I don’t think that’s an issue. He seems like he has no interest in hurting me.” Of course Luigi couldn’t know for sure but that risk was far less scary than the threat King Boo for sure posed. “I will of course, uh, remain wary.” Over the phone probably wasn’t a good time to talk about his thoughts involving possibly spying while he was here in case the phone was tapped or something “I think, if he does try anything I can protect myself from him.” And Mario couldn’t argue with that, right? Luigi had proven himself capable of at least that much on several occasions.

“Luigi,” Peach said, her tone firm, indicating she was displeased. “I trust your judgment, especially given what I know about Bower and the people who reside in his castle but I feel this is unnecessary. You’ve beat King Boo three times before and now you know to expect him and what he might try to do. So I’m sure if he comes back and tries to possess you again, you’ll be able to best him again. If you want to stay with me for a while, I’ll tell my Toads to be on the look out for him or any other ghostly activity. And of course E. Gadd will build you something to help too. There’s no need to live in fear, cowering in Bowser’s castle, okay?”

A convincing argument that probably would’ve persuaded him if he’d heard it earlier. But he’d already had reassurance from both Bowser and Junior that he was safe here. It wasn’t guaranteed, King Boo was powerful and driven hard by vengeance, but based off his experience he had a better chance here than at Peach’s castle. So here he was staying. “Sorry, I’m a coward. I don’t want to risk it when he’s still out there.”

“So you’re planning on staying there forever?” Mario again.

“No. Just until something is done about King Boo.”

“Like what?”

“I… I don’t know. Just something. … I mean, Kamek could probably do something, right? His magic contained King Boo’s before so… maybe he can do it again and take care of King Boo more permanently.”

“Now that you mention it,” unlike the others, E. Gadd didn’t sound the least bit upset or even aware of the current tension, “I should’ve called Kamek up for help holding King Boo ages ago. He’s good at dealing with all things magical and whatnot.”

“How do you even know Kamek?” Toadsworth asked with a frown in his voice.

“Oh, we go way back. Went to college together, the two youngest there at the time. If you can believe either of us were ever young.” E. Gadd chuckled. “But don’t worry Luigi, my boy, Kamek will keep you safe, especially once I get there to help out. And I’ll bring along Polterpup and Gooigi so you won’t be without friends. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“See, guys? I’ll be fine. It’ll only be for a little while.”

“Well okay then. If you’re sure.” Peach’s tone was cold but at least she was giving in.

Mario on the other hand let out a loud huff that then turned into a heavy resigned sigh. “Fine. I’m just glad you’re safe. Please try to stay safe too, all right?”

“That’s what I intend to do. I should um, probably go now though. I don’t want to hog the phone for too long. I’ll call you later, like tomorrow sometime? Around the same time, maybe earlier.”

“Yeah. Sounds good. Hear from you then.”

With that, Luigi hung up and stepped back from the phone. That… hadn’t gone as bad as he’d feared. Not good by any means but far better than it could’ve gone. He was still shaking from it though. Part of that was likely just general exhaustion again but certainly the stress hadn’t helped. He really needed to go lie down for a bit. And then, the kids had told him dinner was held in the dining hall in like… two hours according to the clock on the wall above the phone. Yeah, a quick nap and then food seemed like a good idea.

[spencer-reid-in-a-pool]

Guest Speaker

Anon requested: Hi! I saw that your requests are open, so this is oddly specific but, could I get a Reid x reader where she’s a cheerleader kinda prom queen stereotype but she’s like really smart and majoring in criminology (maybe that’s how they meet?) and he’s sorta insecure about dating her, maybe it could be a bit smutty? If not it’s totally cool, thank you sooo much. 

Author’s note: First off, I would like to apologize to you anon. I took a rather long hiatus without really planning to due to some personal stuff, so I’m really sorry for that. I hope you still follow me, I hope you see this, and I hope above all else that you like it. Also, I should mention I didn’t add any smut because I didn’t feel like it fit the story. But, if you would like, I could do a smutty part 2! Just let me know. 

Part 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reader’s POV:

Could this class be any more boring? Sure, criminology is my favorite subject. But this professor looked like he had one foot in the grave, with the voice to match. Talk about naptime. 

I put my pen down in exasperation and decided that picking at my nail polish was a better way to spend my time. 

“Psst,” a voice hissed next to me. 

I popped my gum as I looked up at the source of the voice. It was Naomi, my best friend. 

“Girl, I didn’t even notice you next to me!”

“I know,” she whispered, trying not to laugh. “You were too enamored with your polish flaking off. Sometimes I wonder how you’re top of the class.” 

I stifled a laugh. 

“I wonder the same thing sometimes, Naomi. Hey, I think I might dip a little early. What do you think about coming with me?” 

No answer. I waited to see if she would respond, but she never did. Glancing up, I saw her staring towards the podium. There was no way she was looking at Dr. Daniels. I followed her gaze and about swallowed my gum in surprise. 

Dr. Daniels was up there, but next to him was someone I had never seen before. Quite unfortunate, if I do say so myself, because he had to be the most beautiful man I had ever seen. 

I whispered to Naomi out of the corner of my mouth, not breaking my gaze towards the man, “Who… is that?” 

“I think Daniels said he works at the FBI. A guest speaker, I guess. Dr. Spencer Reid.” 

She hadn’t stopped staring either.  

I rested my head in my hands and sighed. 

“He doesn’t look much older than us, Nay.”

She tilted her head and blinked slowly, “May the best woman win.” 

——————————–

“Alright, so that brings me to the end of my presentation. I have to get back to Quantico soon, but uh- I’ll stick around for some questions if anyone has any.”

Dr. Spencer Reid had to be the most beautiful, awkward, brilliant man I had ever seen. 

I glanced around the room as I packed my things. Not many people went up to ask questions. A few did, but only briefly. Their loss. 

Naomi nudged me with her elbow. “Gonna ask him a question?” 

I took a deep breath, “I don’t think any of my questions have anything to do with criminology.” 

Naomi laughed and shouldered her bag. “I’ve gotta get to my next class.”

She began walking down the steps to leave the room, but turned to me at the last second. 

She began pointing at him while his back was turned and mouthed the words, “Get his number for me.” 

As luck would have it, he turned around and noticed Naomi gesturing towards him. He looked at her and then up to me. A nervous smile graced his lips as he turned back around to pack his things. 

I widened my eyes at Naomi and she raised her hands in defeat with a huge grin on her face. 

Once she left, only Dr. Reid and I remained. I started my walk up to the podium, trying to come up with any questions that actually related to his presentation. As I slowed down near him, I prayed he couldn’t hear my heart ripping a hole in my chest. 

“Um, Dr. Reid.”

He lifted his head and looked towards me, pausing mid-action. His hands were large compared to the papers he was putting in his bag.

“What can I do for you?”

I shifted my weight around, trying to get comfortable. It didn’t work.

“I was just wondering- um, does the FBI take interns? It’s been a dream of mine to work for the FBI.” 

He turned all the way towards me and narrowed his eyes slightly. Was he judging me or something? 

“Yeah, actually we do. There’s tons of programs you can check out. What’s your major?” 

“Criminology,” I said softly. 

“Oh wow, really? I would’ve thought maybe it would have been… something else.” 

He glanced at my bag where my pom poms were sticking out. 

“Ah, yeah because I’m a cheerleader?”

“Uh, no no, that’s not what I meant- I just-”

I shook my head with a small smile. “No, don’t worry about it. I get it a lot. Cheerleading is just a hobby. I’m actually top of the class.”

Dr. Reid raised his eyebrows in surprise. “That’s very impressive! I was top of my class in- well, every class,” he said, laughing quietly.

“I don’t doubt it, but you don’t look much older than us. Are you that much of a genius you skipped so many grades?” 

He grabbed his bag and shrugged it on. “I do have an IQ of 187. I’m not sure if that’s what you were looking for.”

He smiled shyly at me. I was confident there was nothing this man couldn’t do.

“Wow. Well, that’s really impressive, too.” 

I paused for a second, hoping he didn’t notice my burning red ears. 

“Well, um, Dr. Reid, I don’t wanna hold you up. I’m sure you have way more important things to be doing than talking to me.” 

He looked down at his feet and shifted his bag.

“Talking to you was important. Here,” he dug in his bag as he spoke, “Take my card. I’ll um- check up on those intern programs for you. Call me- I mean call my office in a few days. I’ll have something for you.”

He handed me his card abruptly. I took it with slightly shaking fingers. Hopefully he wouldn’t notice that either. 

“I have to go, but it was nice talking to you. Hope to see you in Quantico some day,” he said as he smiled. 

I stood stone still in my spot, still holding his card as if he had just handed it to me. I only broke out of my trance when he cleared his throat at the door as he was leaving.

“You shouldn’t pick your nail polish off. That color looks good on you.” 

And then he was gone.

—————————————-

As I walked out of class, I couldn’t seem to make my heart stop fluttering. Dr. Reid wouldn’t flirt with me- right? No way. He was just complimenting me.

Naomi could tell something was up when I got to cheerleading practice. I didn’t want to tell her though; she’d never let me hear the end of it.

“You’re late! What’s up, (Y/N)? Did something happen?”

I shook my head. “Nothing happened, just took the scenic route!”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Spill. What happened?”

I sighed. I should’ve known she’d start in on me immediately. Guess I’ll save myself the trouble and just tell her now.

“I talked to Dr. Reid and he gave me his card. And…he said I shouldn’t pick at my nail polish because the color looks good on me.”

Naomi’s jaw dropped. “Show me. Card. Now.”

I dug in my pocket and handed her the card. She snatched it from my fingers that still felt tingly.

“Oh my God! What did you say to him to make him give you that?”

I grabbed the card back from her. “I said I was interested in an FBI internship.”

She scoffed. “Well, I don’t know about an internship but you gotta get laid. Call him. And use protection,” she finished, winking at me.

I rolled my eyes and followed Naomi to the sideline before coach started yelling at us.

————————————–

A few days had passed since I talked to Dr. Reid. I didn’t know what to do. Should I really call him or just forget that interaction ever happened?

I tried pushing the thought of him from my mind to focus on tonight. It was Friday night, which meant football. Not just football, but the rival team was playing us tonight. It was a huge game and tons of people are coming. I had to make sure I didn’t fuck anything up.

My makeup was done and my uniform was on, so I made my way to the field.

I was early of course, but there were already herds of people trying to get in. Young and old, students and non-students. Everyone was here. I felt the familiar rush of excitement I get before performing. There was nothing else like it in the world.

Tonight was gonna be a night to remember.

———————————–

Narrator’s POV:

“Tell me why we’re here again?” Derek asked in confusion.

Spencer scratched his head. He was no good at these kinds of things.

“Well, I was really young in college. I- I never got the full college experience as an adult.” He tried not to cringe at his own words.

Derek glaced at Garcia. She shrugged and turned to JJ.

“I’m gonna go grab a hot dog. Wanna come with?”

JJ nodded. “Of course! Want anything boys?”

Spencer shook his head and Derek asked for a drink. The two women walked off.

“Well let’s go find seats then, Pretty Boy.”

Derek took Spencer through the crowd; it wasn’t hard to see he had no clue what was going on.

They found an empty corner in the bottom row of the bleachers. Spencer hesitated as Derek sat down.

“You gonna stand there all night, kid?”

He glanced around before his eyes settled on Derek.

“Do you know how many germs there are on these things?”

Derek rolled his eyes. “You wanted the full college experience. Here it is.”

Spencer groaned internally before sitting down.

“So tell me,” the bigger man said as he leaned forward, “Which one are you here for?” Derek gestured to the cheerleaders lining up on the field.

Spencer shifted in his seat and cut a sideways glance at Derek. “What makes you think I wanted to watch the cheerleaders?”

Derek laughed. “Kid, I might not be a genius like you, but I am a profiler. And I can tell when someone is crushing. You’ve been looking around here for something. My guess is, you saw a pretty girl at your guest lecture the other day and wanna see more of her.”

Spencer began to protest but sank back down in defeat. He looked around at the girls, trying to find the one he came for. After what seemed like forever, he found her.

“That one,” he pointed out, “in the very front with the (your hair color) hair.”

Derek looked at you as you began calling out to the other girls, leading them in a cheer.

“My man,” Derek said as he clapped Spencer on the back with a smile. “You better get to talking to her soon, or I may have to work my magic.”

Spencer sighed, “Go ahead. It’s not like she would like me anyway.”

“What makes you say that, kid?” 

“Well, it’s just- I’ve never had much luck with those types of girls. Remember a few years ago with JJ?” Spencer said quietly while looking at his hands.

“That was back then, man. Look at you now! I bet she’d be into you.”

Spencer tried not to smile. “You think so?”

“I know so,” Derek said, patting Spencer’s back once again.

Spencer smiled to himself. He felt a little better about everything. 

“What’s her name?” 

Spencer looked at Derek and paused. “I- I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”

JJ and Garcia appeared then, hands full of snacks and drinks. 

Derek leaned back as the girls sat down behind them.

“He’s here for a girl,” 

JJ groaned and set her food down. Garcia smirked and held out her hand expectantly. After a second of digging in her pocket, JJ pulled out some money and slapped it into Garcia’s hand.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” she said as she put the money into her bag.

“Y- you guys took a bet?” Spencer asked in shock.

“All’s fair in love and war, dear doctor.”

“Garcia that doesn’t even- never mind,” Spencer said, shaking his head. He turned his head back to the field. 

You were at the top of the formation now, standing on one foot while holding your other leg in the air with one hand, being held up by all the girls underneath you. It took Spencer’s breath away. You were so beautiful. 

“OOH, she’s flexible!” Garcia grunted out past mouthfuls of hotdog. 

Spencer ignored the comment and continued watching. He didn’t expect you to watch him, though.

You had found him in the crowd and made eye contact for a second. He raised his hand to begin waving, but stopped when he saw the color leave your face. 

“Hey, woah- is she okay? She’s wobbling a little,” Derek said, shifting forward like he was going to stand up. 

“She looks like she’s gonna-” JJ started. She didn’t get to finish. The group watched in horror as you went limp and fell from the top of the formation. 

—————————————-

Reader’s POV: 

I loved being up here. There was no other feeling like it, especially when I got to call out the cheers tonight. 

We were nearing the end of this cheer, so I held out this position as long as I could, smiling at everyone in the crowd, making eye contact with as many as possible. I wasn’t expecting to make eye contact with Dr. Reid.

What was he doing here?! 

I felt my leg begin to wobble, but still held my position. My heart was pounding and I suddenly felt very cold. 

“Hey,” one of the girls below me hissed, “You okay?” 

“I-” I managed to whisper, “I don’t feel so good…”

I don’t remember falling, so I was a little shocked when I came to, laying on my back. The rest of the squad circled around me, panicked looks on their faces. 

“Hey, it’s okay. Stay down there. The AT is coming over to talk to you,” Naomi said, patting my shoulder. 

I groaned and tried sitting up, but she pushed me back down. “That’s not a good idea. You just passed out.”

My eyes fluttered shut as I tried to remember what happened.

“Ugh, how embarrassing. I’ve never fallen before.” 

Naomi smiled sadly at me. “It happens to the best of us. But what happened? Why did you lose it?” 

I rubbed my head and sat up slowly, much to the annoyance of Naomi and the AT. 

“I just felt- sick all of a sudden. I don’t know,” I lied quietly. 

The AT handed me a bottle of water. “Just nerves, baby. It’s a big game.” 

I nodded as she helped me up. “Yeah. Just nerves.” 

Naomi went back to the squad and told them I was okay. The AT sat me down on the sideline, leaning me against the fence. “Take a breather, hun. You’ll feel better by halftime.”

I gave her a smile as thanks, and took a sip of water.

A voice behind me called out, “Hey, are you okay?”

Dr. Reid stood on the other side of the fence with a bigger African-American man and two blonde girls, one wearing glasses and one without glasses.

“Oh, yeah I’m fine! It’s just a big game. A lot of nerves, you know?” 

I stood up and faced them. “Are these your coworkers?” 

“Oh uh, yeah, this is Derek, JJ, and Penelope,” Spencer said, gesturing to each of the people next to him in turn. 

I gave them a small smile and a wave. 

“So what are you doing here? FBI that boring that you have to come see a random college football game? Maybe I don’t want an internship,” I laughed out to them. 

Derek laughed with me. “Nah, Pretty Boy didn’t come for the game-”

Dr. Reid punched him in the arm.

The two women, JJ and Penelope, laughed as Derek raised his hands in defeat. “Alright, alright!”

I smiled and shook my head, looking back out to the field. 

“Hey, I never asked you the other day. What’s your name?” 

I turned my attention back to Dr. Reid. The other three were no longer in sight. 

“(Y/N). My name is (Y/N).”

“Well, nice to officially meet you, (Y/N).” 

“So what are you really doing here, Dr. Reid? It doesn’t take a genius to see that you have no interest in football.” 

I hopped the fence and stood next to him. 

“Hey, be careful. You did just have a pretty big fall.”

I grinned, a burst of confidence erupting in my chest. 

“Of course, Doctor.”

He leaned against the fence next to me and looked down to meet my gaze. “Call me Spencer.” 

My heart fluttered a bit. He was totally into me. 

“Okay. Spencer, then.” 

He smiled back at me. “Would you maybe want to get a coffee with me sometime?”

I turned towards him, hoping he didn’t see just how much I was blushing. 

“I thought you’d never ask.” 

[handonhaven]

Twitter is flipping out because a new staff writer was hired for the show and she has been very publicly anti-Landon/Handon. I know she has no control over anything and it doesn't mean handon is going to be broken up but it doesn't sit right with me that they'd hire someone who hates a main character. Honestly this season has made me very nervous about the future of handon and thinking the writers might give in to the loud group of fans who don't want handon to be endgame just to stop the harassment. Not to mention how they mistreated Landon this season without giving him any sort of relief. What are your thoughts on it all?

Yes, ugh, I’ve seen what’s been going on and I’m very upset, to say the least. I totally agree, this does not sit right with me either, not at all. I just don’t know what they’re thinking hiring someone who has hated on the main couple of the show and the male lead, and has criticized and complained about some of the writing on the show?? Are they not aware of the things that she’s said? If so, someone needs to let them know, someone’s gotta tell Brett because this is not okay. They should be hiring people who have love for all the characters and relationships and can be respectful about all of them. Not someone who openly spreads negativity like the rest of the antis. Especially when it’s about one of the main characters and the main ship, who are at the center of the show. I know that she is now claiming that she loves all the characters and the ships now that she’s been hired, but looking at stuff she’s tweeted in the past, and as recently as just a few months ago, that is clearly not the case.

And that’s true that she doesn’t have control over what’s gonna happen, that’s up to Brett. So I’m not worried about that, but I am worried about how she might write Handon/Landon for the episodes she writes. Because there have already been more than enough messed up and completely false lines inserted into the show about Handon/Landon, some of them taken straight from twitter, or added in for “humor” (when it comes to Landon anyway), and the last thing we need right now is more of that. I seriously can’t take anymore. We’re going into a season where Handon and their love for each other has an even bigger focus (at least for the upcoming episodes, judging by what we know) and we’re at a point where Landon has been through an entire season of extreme and constant trauma, and is still going through horrible trauma. And I think it’s so important that the next season properly addresses his trauma, I think that should be a big part of his storyline throughout next season. And they need to have writers that are gonna be able to do that the way it should be done, not dismiss his trauma and insult him. They need to have people who can understand Landon as a character and what he’s been through. And people who can understand Hope and Landon’s relationship and their love for each other, not someone who’s gonna call their love an “obsession.” So if we’re gonna be hearing more frustrating comments about Handon, or hear Landon insulted and criticized some more for absolutely no reason, especially after all he’s been through... I honestly can’t. So that’s my main concern about all of this. I’m just gonna hope that Brett will continue to be the one writing the more Handon/Landon focused episodes. And that this new writer will be writing as little Handon/Landon content as possible.

But I will say that this season hasn’t made me nervous for Handon’s future, it’s actually given me more hope. I feel like this season was so much about Hope’s love for Landon, and how hard she has fought for him, how she’s never given up on him, has not moved on from him in any way, and doesn’t want to. And how they’re gonna fight against their fate, and how powerful their love is. I really hope they would never give in to those other fans who have brought so much negativity into the fandom. I feel like Brett seems less likely to give into fanservice. When Julie was more involved, there was more baiting, everyone had a crush on Hope, etc. But now with Brett in charge, there’s not been any more baiting, no one is crushing on Hope anymore, there have been more changes like that. And it’s been very Handon focused this season. And also with what Brett has said in different interviews, I feel pretty good about it. It would make no sense whatsoever for Handon to not be together at this point, or for anything to change anytime soon. They would have to completely go against the characters and the story to break Handon apart. And if they were to do that just to stop the harassment, not only would that ruin the show, but they would be rewarding those people for their horrible behavior and the hatred they have been spreading all this time. So I really hope they’d never do that, it would just teach them that they can get what they want no matter how rude they are if they harass people long enough. And yeah, the way they’ve mistreated Landon this season has been absolutely terrible, and I’m definitely concerned about that too, and if it will be acknowledged and how they will treat him going forward. It’s all so messed up, but that’s a whole other subject. And sorry to go off, but this is all very frustrating. I’d really just like to have a peaceful hiatus without this kind of drama.

[the-space-lady]

I think it is time to say Goodbye.

Hello! Mod here, Tataia. I’ve come to make an announcement about the-space-lady and edgy-frenchman.

From this day on, I will not be updating these blogs anymore. I will be closing the inbox and delete all unanswered asks.

Don’t worry! They will still be up, you can come back to look through everything as many times as you’d like, but don’t expect any new posts in either blogs.

Now, we all know already that these blogs have been on an never ending hiatus, and it showed no signs of updating regularly like back in the day. So, let’s have a little (okay, kind of long) chat, about how this blog came to life, and how I am happy and thankful with everything that came from it.

Feel free to not read this at all, because it is kind of a long read.

If you have any questions, please send an ask to my main blog, @tataiafurquim​, and follow my twitter where I’m the most active, also going by the same username.

Three years ago, 2017, for the first time in the Brawlhalla history, there was a new legend leak! It was a picture taken with a phone of a monitor screen which showed the character selection screen in Brawlhalla, of the next legend in the default pose (the one that every legend has before getting their signature poses once they’re released); that was the first time everyone saw Artemis. BMG didn’t even announce her on dev streams by that point. The picture was shared in the r/Brawlhalla discord server, and, Calamari-Pop herself had tagged me to see it in one of the text channels, saying, ‘look! female Orion!’. Since I started playing the game, I’ve always been an Orion main, and once I saw Artemis for the first time, I felt like it was love at first sight.

I was instantly hyped for the character, while most people were complaining that ‘BMG had run out of ideas for new legends’, I couldn’t wait for her release, she was so beautiful, I never felt so hyped for something like I did for Artemis. I was probably the first person to make fanart for her and post it on r/Brawlhalla. People’s opinions on Artemis were very 50/50. People didn’t like her because ‘it’s just female Orion’, others genuinely liked her, and were excited to play with the next scythe legend.

I didn’t have many friends at the time who were into Brawlhalla, so for me the hype was kept mainly to myself, and of course, through my art. The picture we had of Artemis was very poor quality, so a lot of early art was missing a lot of details, but I didn’t care; I just kept drawing the only thing that was bringing me happiness.

I was a 14 year old when all of this happened, school was being very rough on me, back in the day I used to struggle so much to study, it was a pain to focus and learn, I’d always give up and go back to video games and art. My grades were horrible, I felt like my personal friendships were kind of faling apart, and so with my family. The only light at the end of the tunnel I had at the time, was the idea of making an ask blog for Artemis.

At first, I was skeptical. What if it flops? The Brawlhalla community wasn’t very active in other social medias, it was small, but everyone was close and if something big was announced, the word would spread fast. I mean, it was worth a short. Worse comes to worse, I delete the blog and move on. Ask blogs weren’t as popular as they were either.

I had claimed the URL even before Artemis was announced in a dev stream, so the blog was ready to go. I remember waiting a little more than a month when the patch of her release was finally online, and I did my move of announcing the blog in every social media I could, and so I waited for the community to show up.

And they didn’t stop coming! It was ask after ask, I was so happy, this little blog was my escape from the real world. Answering people as Artemis was honestly the most fun I was having during that year. And I could also draw her as much as I’d like! The blog was growing, and so was my audience of people who was genuinely following me for my regular art. Even when I was grounded because I did bad on a test, I still answered people with drawings made on paper.

Needless to say, this blog was definitely, a start for me in the Brawlhalla community. “Are you the person who draws a lot of Artemis?” “Yep! That’s me!” It was great, I felt like I was finally becoming someone somewhat important in a community like I always wished to, drawing what I loved, and people loved it. I even met my soon-to-be boyfriend through it!

But of course, that didn’t stop what was happening outside of the computer screen. Things were going even more downhill the more I focused on the internet and forgot about real life. It was helpless; there was no way I was passing that school year, I’d have to repeat it. My parents had decided that maybe one of the issues was that, my old school, was one of those schools that go really hard on the students, and that was not my place. So, the next year, 2018, I changed schools for the first time.

I’ve always had really bad anxiety. On the first day in the new school, you know what I did? I drew Artemis. What a surprise to nobody, but for me, this was my moment of realization, that this space lady from a fighting game, was my comfort character. This possibly canonically evil woman who wants to kill my main because of some fucked up shit he did in the past, was my comfort character. I was depressed? I drew Artemis. I was happy? I drew Artemis. I was extremely pissed off?? You guessed it! I drew Artemis! It is likely that a lot of pieces I made of her that I’ve posted online, were created from strong emotions I had while I drew it. There’s a lot that I didn’t even post either.

In 2018 I was still updating the blog, but I was also focusing a lot more on school. I was managing to get good grades, I made new friends, had new experiences, and my relationship with my family was getting better. Of course every year has its ups and downs, but overall, the important part, was finally being taken care of; I passed the school year, and then I passed again, and I passed again! I have just one more year to go, and hopefully, in 2021 I’ll be done.

Setting that aside, as the blog grew, my audience online did so too. My art improved, I’ve become, for the lack of a better word, an important member in the community. A lot of people have seen my art, and some of them probably don’t even follow me!

Today, I am a Brawlhalla Partner, I have a wonderful boyfriend, incredible friends, an amazing relationship with my family, and I am now hoping for a bright future of work ahead of me, and it was all thanks to this ask blog of a fictional character who I deeply loved. I would have never made it where I am today without Artemis, without Brawlhalla, without all of you. I could ever be thankful, and all I can give you all is more fanart of this amazing game that has completely changed my life, and with how Brawlhalla has been growing? Keep an eye on this one, it’s gonna get big.

Thank you so much everyone who has supported me over the years, and followed me more than just Artemis content. The updates on the blog have stopped because I’ve been focusing on other things. trying out new stuff and focusing on myself to become a better person and artist, creating my own stories with original characters, which I’m excited to share with all of you.

Anyway, take care, whoever read this far <3 Hopefully 2021 will be a better year for everyone.

[whetstonefires]

📥😈🌙👖

1. What is your fave fic to receive comments/messages on?

Oh shoot this hard. Like. I'm going to be honest? Besides 'whatever I posted within the last ten-ish days and am still very emotionally involved in' it's actually the entire Cirque series. Like, my favorite pieces of it more than others but I can't pick just one, and also there are some that are so niche anyone acknowledging they exist is very exciting lol.

I put so much love into that mirror universe and I am determined to get it off hiatus one day, and every single time someone bothers to leave a positive feedback on part of it it means an unreasonable amount to me.

2. Is there anything you enjoy doing that you think your readers hate?

Uhhhhhh look I'm not. Good at predicting what people like? But if I think people hate something I'm probably not going to enjoy doing it in front of them anymore cuz I'll get sad.

But lol on second thought I'm love an open-ended conclusion and based on how many comments I've gotten asking for those to lead into continuations they are not so popular from the other end.

Side effect burying me in WIPs because I'm very reactive as a brainstormer so being asked tends to spark problem-solving and then ideas, which is good in itself except they're ideas for things that are meant to be finished.

I do have blanket permission to sequel posted, but I know frequently people who want to read more don't have an inspiration they want to pursue, exactly, so ofc they're gonna ask. I have been getting much better at 'no.'

3. What time of day do you prefer to write? Why?

Ooh hard actually. I think I do my best work in the early morning if I can make it happen? I'm a morning person by nature although my sister says I can't be because I want to be left alone right after I wake up, but that's because I want to be left alone most of the time and the first half hour is just particularly important for getting my neurology running the way I want it to.

But in terms of what actually winds up happening I tend to gravitate toward writing at night. Between sleep problems and obligations and the more nebulous obligation to be available to others even when technically free, morning is...tricky.

I think if I could manage to start doing my physical therapy first thing every morning it would help, root for my self-discipline guys.

4. Are you a planner, plantser, or pantser? Is it consistent?

Uh, pantser/plantser I guess? I will often go into a short project with a vision of the whole thing laid out in my head and power through it to the end, but I struggle with longform stuff specifically because I cannot do the outline thing. Like, as a preparatory step, it does arise later on but.

It's not exactly a lack of organization problem--I can be organized, in certain ways I even enjoy it. I enjoy making outlines, even. It's just that if my initial outline was ever thorough enough to actually work from directly in the tidy way it can be in an unambitious research paper, my interest in the project would die without getting it properly written, because I write from a place of problem-solving, assembling a puzzle or a tool until it feels right, and if I get all the pieces locked too soon I emotionally disengage, because brain goes Task Done. New Task??

So even when I use outlines they have to be fragmentary and frequently discarded in favor of the emergent themes I've discovered by writing the first bits.

[neoistic]

what's going on with STAYs?

the hyunjin (and woojin) situation - a (very long) rant

DISCLAIMER : This post was not meant to slander Hwang Hyunjin or Stray Kids, it is intended to educate others on their problematic behaviour.

I'm gonna start at the beginning of all this. So unless you a.) live under a rock or b.) unlike the rest of us you have a life, then you have possibly heard of the idol bullying scandals. If you dont know what that is, I'll give a brief summary. A bunch of idols were being accused by former middle school or high school classmates of bullying. It started with Soojin of (G)I-dle and then the whole thing started rippling. Aisha of Everglow, Kihyun of MonstaX, Mingyu of SEVENTEEN, and many more. It's even gone as far as SA allegations. Basically everyone and their mothers were being dragged into the mess. However some of these accusation were later to be proven as false. Others have been somewhat half-true. The point is the majority of these idols end up going on a hiatus and stopped contributing in their groups activities for a while. It was a very frustrating situation. There's been apologies, addresses, fights occurring left and right. While these idols were being accused, everybody was like "let's wait for the official statement from the comany and see what is up, and then we make our decision from there. So for now lets stay our best to be neutral". That was the norm for a majority of fandoms. And then there were STAYs.

_____________________________________________________________ I think we've learned in the last five months that STAYs are anything but a normal fandom. After what has happened and the way they chose to behave entirely was embarassing. I feel like toxic STAYs really ruined the name of this fandom when the Woojin situation happened. But after Hyunjin was accused of bullying, they pretty much just shredded any redeeming qualities that fandom had left—all of it—everything went down the drain. Soon enough I feel like people are going to be embarassed to become a STAY or to mention that they're a STAY, because those motherfuckers really screwed this up If some of you're really confused right now, as to why I called STAYs toxic. It's because the base of this fandom is pretty privilege. Ok, let's start with the definition. What is pretty privilege? Pretty privilege is the principle that people who are deemed more attractive (based on societal beauty standards) have an upper hand in the world and are afforded many opportunities that us regular folks don't have. Like most other biases, pretty privilege is something we're all aware of—whether we have experienced it first-hand or not. Yet, it's not often that we are willing to admit or even talk about it, especially if we're on the receiving end of its benefits. This bias, also known as lookism, is defined as “Prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a person's appearance” and occurs in a variety of settings such as social environments, workplaces and especially in this godforsaken fandom. Let me explain; everything that they do for the boys is simply based on looks. And how do i know that? Because when the baseless accusations that targeted woojin came out one of the things that i kept hearing over and over again was that they always thought he was 'ugly'. And that to me is very intersting because this fandom found him ugly but they didn't say anything, because he was in the same group as their faves. So they kept their mouths shut, and they acted as if they loved him they told him all the sappy bullshit. When he left they decided to pull an "Okay let's tell him how much we miss him, then dump it, and leave it there."

Consequently by cause of his so called 'wrongdoings' you're now telling people "Oh I found him ugly all along, but now I can finally admit it" which is an incredibly pathetic move. They were throwing shit everywhere based off unsubstantiated allegations. Through this I realised that everything goes down to looks. Because when this exact same thing happened to Hyunjin and his accusations, which at the time we did not know the legitimacy of it, the first thing they chose to tweet was"uhmm hyunjin is too cute to be a bully," say what now? You wanted to tell me you decide whether someone is capable of bullying based on their looks, how is that supposed work. Not everybody's heart is as beautiful as their face, I'm just saying. Like why on earth would you think that Hyunjin isn't a bully based on the fact that he's handsome but you believe the accusation about Woojin based off the fact that he is quote 'ugly'. You see the parallel difference between their behaviour towards them and that's because all they care about is looks and they will do just about anything to garner the attention of these boys. Yes, you're right, the reason behind their doings is because they know pefectly well that Stray Kids read their comment. Their defending them because they are desperately wanting their faves to pay attention to them. And they think by letting Hyunjin get away with everything, he would thank them for it.

_____________________________________________________________

Exhibit B; When the posts against Woojin came out the very first thing they told us was that, you have to believe the victim no matter what. It got to the point where even when we tried to reason with them about how there was no solid evidence, all they said was how they would rather believe a possible liar then a possible r4pist. ikr, oh. my. gosh. However when it's Hyunjin's turn to get blamed, believing the victim doesn't matter anymore. The actuality that people were already putting a judgement on the victim, and refusing to hear them out is just shocking to me.

The energy was completely different, for some crazy reason it didn't matter when it came to Hyunjin. When it came to Woojin we had to believe the victim because it's so damn important, and it got to the point that people were saying they believed Stray Kids that he 'bullied' them. Although Stray Kids didn't say anything, they never said a peep, a word, nothing. Everyone kept saying I believe Felix saying #8, i believe Chan and his vlive, are you for real? First of all what is Felix supposed to say then?? The group has 8 members not nine, is he supposed to put #9 in? #13? #24?? And with Chan he has already clarified that his statement on vlive that time wasn't about Woojin.

Then they were diagnosing them them of depression they were victimizing the poor boys of something they were not a victim of. So not are they speaking for them, they're telling us that you believe them off what you've stuff in their mouths, not things they said themsleves. On the other hand when Hyunjin was accused of bullying no we don't believe them we believe Hyunjin. What? Do you know him personally or what? You dont! I don't know what's the matter with you people. This fandom is just a no. You guys are left with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Then you know what it gets even worse because if you think this is bad. It's not even half of it. How does it get worse? They were people saying that "It's bullying, its normal everybody does it," I don't know what universe you live in, but where I live down here, on earth bullying isn't something that everybody comes around and do. It's not a phase in life. "From ages 15-20 you're a bully" That doesn't happen it's not a chapter in life that everyone goes through like puberty, that's not what happens with bullying. You dont just wake up and go through a phase in you life that is inevitable, that you have to be a bully and a jerk to everybody, that's not a thing. You can't just sit here and justify bullying. Because how are you supposed to sit here and say that bullying is normal and that everybody does but when Woojin does it... You see where I'm going with this right? They said it wasn't okay for Woojin to bully Stray Kids and that he is a horrible person "how could he?" But then you bend over and said "Bullying is okay because Hyunjin is the one doing it" When he is on the receiving end it wasn't okay, though when he was the one administering it was completely fine and forgivable.

Do you not see how problematic you're being right now? You're justifying bullying because you think he's pretty? Are you playing with me? I read his statement and he apologized for his immature and insensitive demeanor, even he wasn't justifying it. the reason behind me mentioning this is because even JYP themselves specified that they would do a better job at picking trainees. That alone says something. They forthrightly threw him under the bus. Why would they do something like that? Because the allegations were true. Here's the thing, Hyunjin has not admitted to bullying anybody, what he has admitted to was being immature and hurting people with the way he spoke. That statement felt like he was beating around the bush about a lot of things. It's like "ok i hurt someone, I can't justify it, therefore I'm sorry" Okay but did u bully anybody? yes or no? That wasn't clarified. You guys can decide for your selves, but this was Hyunjin's and his former teacher's statement.

_____________________________________________________________

The message I'm trying to get accross from all this is that Stray Kids have way more power over you than you realized, and that is definitely not okay. To the point where you are throwing your morals away, just to defend them. You know what? no idol should have influence over you like that. I don't care how good looking, how hot, how sweet, how talented they are. I don't care if they grew up with a single mother and a story so sad it will make Simon Cowell cry. I don't care how many time they have supported the lgbtq+ community. I don't give a damn about how adorable they act on camera with their members. You can not validate immoral actions whatsoever. And no, you absolutely can not sit here being a desperate, self-absorbed, pick-me, dusty girl for a man who doesn't even know you.

Exhibit C; Before we end this I want to clarify something. STAYs did not became toxic because of the Woojin fiasco, this fandom always was toxic, and the Woojin situation simply revealed that. The facts are that they were always toxic, they were always messed up, they were always fake. The wreckage with Woojin showed us their true colors. That is the reality, my friends. As of now this fandom is directly taking the crown for trashiest fandom alive in kpop. At this degree I honestly don't know what else to say. I have no respect left for them. I do though want to say that I am genuinely sorry to all the kind STAYs, I'm sorry that you have to deal with this. Because in the near future I don't see this issue going away. Since Stray Kids is becoming more and more popular and it's never going to stop they're going to keep getting bigger and bigger, the story will just become more aparent. Thank you for listening to my long rant. And at the end of the day all I can say to STAYs is good luck, cause you'll need it.

_____________________________________________________________

anywho stream Still Dream

Sources:

https://www.myimperfectlife.com/features/pretty-privilege

https://www.koreaboo.com/series/stray-kids-hyunjin-bullying-allegation/

[themattgirl]

Hi Jasmine💖 I really like your writing you're amazing 💖💖 Sooo can you write sth where Y/N has asthma and she had an attack infront of Harry for the first time and he comforts her and does some cute shit coz I have asthma and I always fantasize about this

Thank you so much, I’m glad you like it. I love you🥺💘 Sorry for this late reply, my cousin came over unexpectedly and is now sleeping next to me while I’m trying to write this for you in the best way possible. Let me know if you like it and feel free to send more requests.🦋

Breathless

“Why did you do it even though I told you not to? Why can’t you just listen to me, huh?” Y/N asks Harry angrily.

They are in the middle of their fifth fight of the week, and it’s only Wednesday. They’ve both been very caught up into work and haven’t spent much time with each other lately. The lack of communication caused a lot of drama in this house the past few days. Y/N and Harry used to talk about anything and everything, but since Y/N is in the middle of the exam season of her last semester in college and Harry is currently struggling with finishing up his album, it’s hard to find the time. It might be necessary to say how much of a perfectionist he is. Plus, it’s the first album since the band went on hiatus and he really wants this to work.

“I just thought you’d like to be her friend again. I thought you’d listen to what she has to say.” Harry tries to explain why he invited Y/N’s ex-best-friend - or the traitor - to her birthday party even though she made clear that she doesn’t want to see her ever again.

“Listen to what she has to say? Are you kidding? She’s already said enough, don’t you think?” Y/N’s voice becomes louder by every second in which Harry doesn’t get what he did wrong.

Y/N has been ignoring her old best friend for weeks now and she’s not planning on stopping it. She is way too disappointed. Who wouldn’t be if their so-called best friend spreads rumours around the whole campus about them giving free blowjobs even though they have a boyfriend? And that only because said boyfriend is Harry Styles and the traitor has been crushing on him ever since she’s heard about him. But hasn’t everyone? Everybody loves Harry and Y/N happens to be lucky enough to be the one he loves back. A real best friend would be happy for you, right?

“Baby, I’m sure she did it out of anger. She loves you and wants to be your friend again. Give her a chance.” Harry’s voice is still very calm which is only adding to Y/N’s fury because it means he’s convinced that he’s right and he’s not seeing his mistake.

“Stop fucking defending that bitch! I don’t care if she did it because she was angry or jealous or whatever. I’m not giving her a fucking chance or any shit. She can go to hell and if you think what she did is forgivable then you might as well stuff her mouth with your dick and join her.”

This is it. Harry realises how angry Y/N really is. She never swears. He has never heard a curse word leaving her mouth, nor anything like ‘dick’ - not even while they have sex. Only now he notices that her eyes are filled with hurt, her face turned red, her nostrils are flaring, fists clenched while she’s glaring at him. Her breathing is heavy.

“Okay, but is it really that bad? I mean, the unknown calls have stopped, right? And you’ll be out of college very soon, anyway. It’s not that big of a deal. And most importantly, we both know that the only person you’re giving head is me.”

He certainly will not have that privilege anymore after what he just said.

“I’m already on the edge, Harry. Don’t make me lose my shit completely. Why do you even care so much about it? Isn’t it my choice who I want to be friends with?”

“It is, but you don’t have any other friends.” He speaks the truth, “I just don’t want you to be all alone when I’m not around.”

Before Y/N can respond her phone starts ringing. She pulls it out of her back pocket and checks who itis. Unknown. Those calls haven’t actually stopped, Y/N just stopped telling Harry about them. She has to pick up, though. For some strange reason, her father always calls with a hidden ID. So she slides her finger from the left to the right on the display and holds her phone to her ear. Not greeting the person on the other side of the line she waits for someone to speak.

“Hey, uhm... I was told you give head for free. Is-“ Y/N cuts him off immediately with a simple “no” and takes a deep breath to collect herself even though breathing gets harder and harder.

“Oh, is this not Y/N?” The man asks confused.

“It is, but I don’t do that. Whoever told you that was lying. I have a boyfriend who I really love and would never cheat on. Tell everyone, thank you, bye!” Y/N clarifies and ends the phone call.

She doesn’t even have time to put it back in her pocket when it starts ringing again. Unknown, again.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she whispers to herself before picking up.

“I’m picking you up in half an hour, ‘key?” The voice on the other end asks.

Y/N hangs up on him without saying anything. It’s so overwhelming, all of this. To get it all in her head she explains the whole situation out loud, hoping it’ll make her know what to do about it.

“So, my best friend told everyone I give BJs for free because she’s jealous and now my phone won’t stop ringing. I’m the whore of the campus, no, I’m not even a whore, apparently I don’t do it for money. That’s my reputation now. And as if this isn’t enough, my boyfriend - the one that I’m accused of cheating on - decided to be on her side and against me. So basically, I’m fucked.” Y/N is looking down at her feet, she is quiet but loud enough for Harry to hear her. With every word her breathing becomes heavier.

What might be important to mention is that Y/N has asthma. Well, she had. It stopped being so bad a while ago and she could live her life without an attack for more than a year. What she didn’t tell Harry is that she started to be out of breath very quickly in the past two weeks. She tried to ignore it but taking deep breaths doesn’t seem to work this time. Her airways become too narrow for her to breathe properly. She starts coughing and wheezing. Since there is nothing beside her that she can sit down on she is forced to let herself down on the floor. Harry reacts immediately by crouching down in front of his girlfriend and straightening her back.

“Baby, look at me,” Harry places a finger under her chin to make her look up at him, “It’s gonna be okay, just breathe with me, yeah?”

He inhales deeply twice, waiting for her to follow his example but when she doesn’t he gets up, tells Y/N to wait and that he’ll be right back and runs into the bedroom to get her inhaler that he knows is always in the drawer next to the bed. He grabs it and rushes back. What he doesn’t know, though, is that this one is not full anymore. He has to find that out when he holds it on her mouth and presses the button on the top of it so she can breathe in what comes out. Only this time, nothing comes out. She’s been waking up at night, troubling with her breathing almost every night lately. Harry can’t help but freak out a little, but for the sake of Y/N he has to keep it together.

“Do you have another one?” he has to ask her twice because she doesn’t respond the first time but nods the second.

“Where?” he wants to know and receives a gesticulation as an answer. At first he doesn’t know what she means but when she repeats it he understands what she’s trying to say. He goes back to the bedroom and empties her bag on the bed until a blue little tool falls out. He tries to be as fast as he possibly can.

When he’s with her again he repeats his action from the first time, this time it works. Luckily, Harry knows exactly what to do. He had asthma as a kid himself.

He lets Y/N take a puff of the inhaler every thirty seconds, whispering little encouragements like “you’re doing good, baby, keep going” every now and again. By the 13th time she is back to breathing on her own.

“Are you all right, sweetheart?” he asks her and hesitates to put the inhaler down already. But Y/N nods and pulls him in for a hug.

“You did great, baby girl, I’m proud of you. You’re a strong woman, you know that? My strong woman,” he tells her while stroking her back and hair.

“I’m sorry,” Y/N apologises quietly and pulls away.

“What’re you apologising for? Don’t be silly, love. I’m sorry for stressing you out to the point where you couldn’t breathe anymore. I’m so stupid. Who the hell does that? I’m a shitty boyfriend, I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not. You just saved my life!”

Not wanting to argue with her right now he says “Okay” and pulls her into his arms again.

“You were right. You shouldn’t be her friend, she doesn’t deserve you. We’re gonna get you a new number and we’ll find a way to get those stupid rumours out of the world, I promise. Just don’t leave me, please!” Harry begs her to not make his worst fear reality.

“I’m not leaving you, what’re you talking about? I know you’re stupid sometimes but that’s not enough to make me even think of it. You’re stuck with me, whether you like it or not.” Y/N assures him.

“I most certainly do like it,” he smiles, “I really love you, Y/N!”

Before she can say it back the sound of a car honking interrupts her. Oh no, she thinks.

“Who’s that?” Harry asks when he notices the look on her face.

“A client,” she jokes and they both break into laughter.

“C’mon, let’s beat him up together, yeah?” Harry can’t help it but laugh when he sees how her face lights up at those words and she nods happily.

“Oh God, how I love you!” he gushes before he locks his lips with hers, feeling the butterflies in his stomach go crazy when she smiles into the kiss.

[psyga315]

Some Roses Will Never Bloom: A Rewrite Of Volume 8, Part 1

Never before have I felt so disappointed with the turnout of a RWBY Volume. It had the potential to be extremely good, but it chose mediocrity. Again. It felt like Volume 5 all over again.

I know I should probably wait for the final two episodes, but let’s be fucking honest here. Atlas is done. The plot is finished. These two episodes, if people are to be believed, are to hype for the next Volume and even then, given how RWBY did its “hype” and “payoff” in Volume 8… No, fuck that noise. Those last two episodes will get their own segment called the Volume 9 Character Short. If anything, only scenes with Emerald from those two episodes will be brought over to Volume 8 and if they’re big scenes, like her interacting with Cinder, I’ll make an addendum.

Before we begin, keep in mind that this is not a complete rewrite. If there’s a scene I haven’t mentioned, that’s because it’s good as is and can be left in. Length wise, I’ll try to aim for the same 14 episodes, but minutes wise… Who even counts these anymore?

So, let’s get into the meat and potatoes with a Meta-Rewrite. If this does not interest you, skip ahead to when I start talking about the episodes.

Grimm Expectations

Let’s rewind the clocks back to the hiatus of Volume 7-8. Rooster Teeth is proud to announce a new contest where Grimm entries are submitted and the winner would receive a prize. There was controversy the minute it began and it only got worse when the finalists were called.

So, let’s fix that. In this Meta-Rewrite, Rooster Teeth decide to instead broadens the prize pool to include five winners instead of the one, with no popularity contest to determine the winner. Of course, this doesn’t fix the contest results, which includes a controversial figure. However, because there is no voting involved, it instead becomes a flame war over the design that, let’s be honest, wouldn’t have mattered in the grand scheme of things.

So, yeah, RT uses all five Grimm winners, disregards any fucks that the fanbase has (again) and the only thing I could see happening is if the artist personally reached out to Rooster Teeth and requested it to be removed, to which RT will word it so that it doesn’t backfire in their face.

Alright, now let’s do it.

Divide

We’ll start right where the show left off, with Oscar witnessing the Whale arrive onto Atlas. However, curiously, it is stationary. Oscar asks what’s up with it before Ozpin cryptically tells him that’s what she wants it to do. We don’t need to see a huge montage of Oscar getting to the Crater, but just enough to know how he got there.

We cut to RWBY and co discussing what to do now, especially with Salem making good on her threat. Ruby tries to contact Qrow and Oscar, but she can’t reach them. Pietro and Maria pilot the aircraft down to the same discreet spot they parked in Volume 7. However, as they get off, they’re ambushed by soldiers. Just then, Johanna, May, and Fiona barge in and beat them with an ambush of their own.

“What the hell just happened!?” Johanna barked at Ruby. We’ll cut to fifteen minutes later where they all discuss what happened

“So, Ironwood’s finally lost it.” May mutters. They hear the news and see their wanted posters. Most notably, they see that Robyn and Penny are added to the list and that she and Qrow have a big “ARRESTED” sign over them. However, with Oscar, there’s a clear big red X over his face, causing Ruby to fret. Jaune gets upset and punches a wall, blaming himself for leaving Oscar behind on both occasions.

I don’t think Jaune would blame Ruby at this point, since 1) he, at this point, knows better than to point fingers and 2) it’s more his character to beat himself up rather than someone else.

It’d still be Yang, but she’d be joined by Ren. Yang brings up how Ruby’s leadership led them to this situation and Ren mentions how they destroyed Ironwood’s trust, not knowing what was really said up there back in “Gravity”. Ruby told Yang about how they not only went behind Ironwood’s back but also theirs by telling Robyn about the Amity Tower and thus burned their bridge with Ironwood, only for Blake to go on full blast and say what Critics have been saying for the entire hiatus:

“YOU GUYS ARE ACTING JUST LIKE THE WHITE FANG!”

She explains how they’ve done the exact same things that the White Fang had done, taking lives, stealing vehicles, but she adds the extra caveat of bringing up how they’ve also borrowed from Ozpin’s playbook. She confesses to being the one who planned on telling them about Amity.

However, Johanna breaks up the fight and tells them flat out: doesn’t matter what they did, they need to worry more about what to do. This is when they argue more about what’s important: Amity or Mantle. The team splits up the same way, since it is integral for their arcs to be like this and not go with the obvious “Ren cared about saving the world so he’s going for Amity and Nora cared about Mantle so she will help Mantle.”

Ruby frets more, since “this is what Salem wants”, only for Yang to retort: “well, she’s already getting that right now…”, which stings Ruby since she feels like it meant her splitting off with Ruby while she actually meant what happened with Ironwood. We’re not gonna do the “future” stuff. I feel like that should happen naturally instead of confusing people.

Just before they go, though, Ironwood calls Penny and tells her that Salem is here. Penny is about to answer when Ruby takes the phone away and tells him to fuck off, only for Ironwood to go “hey, people are going to die if you’re acting like a doofus about it!” Ironwood tries to talk more, but Ruby hangs up on him.

We smash cut to Ironwood growling in frustration, looking at the arm he lost in order to stop Watts. He gets a solemn look, pondering to himself about how far he must go in order to save the world. His arm trembles and thinks back to shooting Oscar. He begins to have second thoughts about what he had done, though they’re brief as the Councillors came in. During their rant, Ironwood grabs Sleet by the throat and drags his ass out to a window where they see the whale.

“YOU SEE THAT!? That is what we tried to protect the world from and now it’s at our front door. That’s why I’ve enacted Martial Law.” He then tosses Sleet to the guards and tell him to lock the Councilmen up. “You two have gotten in my way before. I won’t let it happen again.” As they get dragged away, he looks over to Winter and apologizes. Had he not arranged for her to be the Winter Maiden, she wouldn’t have been injured.

Winter reassures him and tells him that he was the only person who has given her purpose in life after her father ruined it. Ironwood is both touched and horrified with that comment, especially once the Ace Ops come, having done their grieving for Clover. Harriet also affirms her faith in Ironwood and tells him that Clover died for his Kingdom. Ironwood gives a moment to think… Closing his eyes.

“So… If I’ve led you all onto the path of hell…” He opens them as we see the light in his eyes disappear, followed by the sound of a loud, distinctive click. “Then there’s no other choice but to keep moving forward.”

And as we get our first official look at Mettle, the opening plays out.

Refuge

The villain scene from Episode 1 is moved over to here, but Cinder brings up why they haven’t made their move yet. Salem brings up that Tyrian’s report of the situation has confirmed that Ironwood has taken her bait and is now the greatest weapon they have. Let him destroy Atlas from the inside out and then clean up the mess. She then brings the relic to the Hound and has him sniff for Oscar’s scent.

The rest of the episode plays out like usual, with Ruby and Yang’s teams doing their thing, but with Oscar at the Crater, he’s not there for the scenes. He does still have his chat with Ozpin about how they’ll be one soon, however. He sees Yang, Ren, and Jaune arrive with people and he is elated to see them. He is elated to see them and asks what happened with the others. Yang sums up and then Oscar asks what happened to Qrow, Clover, and Robyn.

Cut to the jailbirds and Qrow saying how he wants to murder Ironwood. The Councilmen are tossed in while they extract Watts.

The Hound Scene gets changed somewhat, as we see it attacking Oscar in the middle of the Crater, bringing people to harm against the Hound. This furthers the reason why they couldn’t just shoot the Grimm, since the Hound threatens the lives of the refuges in the Crater. We end our episode there.

Strings

So, here’s where I think we’re going to make the big changes and axe a subplot. While the premise of Penny being hacked and her aura resisting it is good, I feel like, of the subplots that need to be cut, this would be the one. We can dedicate more of this time to her conflict with being the Protector of Mantle and now being the Winter Maiden, in other words being the Protector of Atlas.

Meanwhile, Nora, Ruby, and Blake all have their doubts. Ruby and Nora are obvious, but Blake has trouble deciding if she made the right call in returning to RWBY. Weiss, in a Tsundere way, brings up how she is a very integral part of the team. Blake then brings up how, if it weren’t for her, then they wouldn’t have had a hard time getting to Atlas, blaming herself for both their rejection at Argus and how Adam ruined their plans in the hijacking.

Weiss, however, wants none of that. While this was Ruby’s plan, Weiss takes charge of the operation due to Ruby being emotionally compromised. She gets a taste of being a leader in this episode, one she had wanted in Volume 1.

During this, Ironwood discusses matters with Watts, where they talk about the possibility of hacking Penny. For this rewrite, I think keeping the ‘Watts is working with Ironwood’ angle, complete with Ironwood having guns pointed to him, would benefit Ironwood’s arc and show how low he’s going. Not just working with one of Salem’s thugs, but also holding them at gun point. Ironwood justifies it by saying that this is Watts’s ‘punishment’ for the crimes he’s done. Watts, however, plays it by ear and waits for the opportune time for a backstab. That and he wants to stick it to Pietro.

The rest of the episode plays out like normal, but we get that ‘made a deal with the darkness’ scene as Watts is dragged back to his cell, Harriet has a hissy fit, and Robyn is like ‘you’re looking for someone to blame’. As the Ace Ops and Guards leave, Watts brings Qrow’s ‘we kill the man who put us here’ idea back to him and says he’s interested in his offer.

Fault

We open right where we leave off, as Watts reveals that he’s only getting close enough to Ironwood to acquire the right tools to escape. He then proceeds to dangle the carrot in front of Qrow.

“We’ve all been screwed over by Ironwood in one form or another. He disrupted your business, abandoned your town, betrayed your Headmaster.” The last part gets to Qrow and he lashes out. “We all want him dead, so… are you in or are you out?”

“Preposterous!” Jacques, to Robyn’s surprise, beat her to the punch. “Let’s not forget that you’ve done your fair share of screwing. Believe me, I had my experience. I know better than to trust you.”

“You’ve trusted Ironwood, right? And look where it got you. All of you.” That comment hangs in the air.

“We wanted Ironwood out for some time, but not like this! Are you mad?” Sleet asked. Robyn is visibly horrified at what Watts is suggesting and is the next to speak up.

“Jacques has a point for once in his life. Why should we trust you when you’re the reason Mantle is in this mess in the first place?” Then Qrow raises his hand.

“I want to hear him out.” Qrow said.

“What? What do you mean? You realize he works with-”

“I know! But remember who we’re dealing with. This prison… It’s not like the kind of prisons I’ve seen, especially in Atlas. No other people but us, only the top of Ironwood’s army are allowed to check in, and I’m pretty sure the guards aren’t allowed to give you that shiner. No… This isn’t our holding cell. It’s an execution cell, and we’re just waiting for Ironwood to drop the axe.”

We end on that implication as we see the episode play out like normal. While I like to have Ren bring up Pyrrha, I think the “cheated into Beacon” thing is big enough and we’ll need to unravel that bundle of worms. Instead of the “yeah, Ruby” scene, we could have Yang ask Jaune what he meant and Jaune reveals his fake transcripts. He also reveals that, for a time, he blamed Pyrrha’s death on his inexperience and that he knew about Pyrrha using her Semblance on his shield some time later. Yang, however, isn’t really in a position to pat Jaune’s back.

Meanwhile, the group crash at Whitley’s mansion, but Weiss doesn’t immediately point a sword at him. She’s tempted to as Whitley complains about having to harbour criminals without an explanation as to what’s going on, but then she notices that… he’s afraid. She then remembers Willow’s words to her and calmly goes “If you’re willing, I’ll explain everything. Please. Just help her.”

And we end on the Grimm River.

Amity

This episode is mostly the same, but with two exceptions. One, Ironwood does not, in any way, try to interfere with the broadcast. This had been the thing he was working on the whole time and, albeit without the Ironwood could no longer be trusted bit (which he looks solemnly away to), is pretty much what he wanted. And two, Watts ‘fakes’ hacking Penny.

He later reveals to his coup that there’s no way to hack Penny, bringing up how they had her schematics back in Volume 3 but were unable to activate the virus for her. What he really did was force a reboot and lied out of his ass about how it was a failed attempt. He then reveals the broken phone and offers the escape plan one last time.

Midnight

Here we are. One of the biggest episodes in Volume 8. The big backstory reveal for Cinder…

And we’re instead going to make it about Hazel, so instead, it’s going to be…

Gingerbread

We open with twins, lost in the woods. The elder reassures the younger that everything will be fine. They were abandoned by their parents to line their bellies and forced to fend for themselves. There, they come across a house that looked like it was made of gingerbread, with eagled eyed viewers being able to spot a young Cinder being carted off.

A blind woman greets the kids and brings them into the house. We know the schtick here, though instead of fattening the kids up to be eaten, she toughens them up to be sold to wealthy people who use them as child labourers. Gretchen finds out about this but she gets captured and is about to be killed to be silenced. Hazel, in a fury, ends up awakening his Semblance and, using a Dust Crystal, sets the house ablaze as they escape.

A montage plays out of them surviving however they can, even joining some bandits and raiding towns. However, during one such raid, they’re stopped by a young Qrow and have them be brought to Ozpin, which plays out similarly to how Ruby got inducted into Beacon.

We cut to Oscar chatting with Ozpin about Salem’s plan and how it seemed to be working before getting the idea to do the same to her. As Hazel walks in and gets upset that Ozpin casually says hello, Ozpin asks: “Why? Why do you follow Salem?”

“You know why. Did you tell him the full story?”

We cut back to another montage where we see that Hazel and Gretchen are part of the same team and they were the best years of their life. Unfortunately, they go on a mission to Mountain Glenn where it just so happens to be the time a mad scientist was fucking around there. They try to stop the Grimm from overrunning it, but it seems hopeless. Hazel, as the team leader, pulls the team back. However, Ozpin gives them the order to not run away and to hold the line. Gretchen follows this to a T and sacrifices herself in vain.

This devastates Hazel and causes him to drop out of Beacon, bearing a grudge against Ozpin. Not only that, but it paints some parallels between Hazel, Qrow, and Jaune, as all of them had friends they lost to the orders of a Headmaster who they despised. Qrow teeters in the middle (he talks big about killing Ironwood but hasn’t committed to it yet) between Jaune (who accepted Pyrrha’s choice and lets go of his hatred) and Hazel (“OZPIIIIIN!”). It also presents a dark parallel to the current story, since Atlas and Mantle are currently undergoing a similar siege, but it’s Ruby who insists on holding the line.

Ozpin admits that this was just one of his many mistakes, but asks again why he decided to work with Salem because of it, when she was the one behind the Grimm. Hazel then answers the obvious:

“I tried to kill her.”

We then get to see Hazel beat her senseless in a flashback, only to reform from dust and taunt him. Eventually, he gave up as Salem comforts him before revealing that Ozpin has sacrificed people like him for one huge lie (as she does this, Sacrifice plays). He then swears his allegiance to her if it means there’d be no more Gretchens.

Ozpin cuts the flashback by retorting that she’s planning to bring-

Salem comes in. The show’s about to start.

Cut to Weiss as she enters Whitley’s room. She notices that he just finished calling someone and suspects he’s ratting out on them. Whitely denies this and calls Weiss out for being overtly protective. Weiss counters by saying that she grew up in a hostile home and can’t really trust any Schnee but her sister, which she begins to doubt.

Whitley brings up that she barely had it as bad as he did and talks of his turmoil of living with the parents alone while Winter was at Atlas and Weiss was at Beacon. Between his mother’s drunken rambles and his father’s angry rants, he barely had time to live his own life. He just lets Weiss have it for ditching him before he breaks down and realizes that, no, he’s just jealous because she got to be free while he was still stuck in the cage. Weiss remembers when she was grounded and stripped of her title and realizes “oh… shit.”

Then the doorbell rings and, surprise, it’s Klein. Whitely explains that they need a doctor for Nora and without Jacques, he figured to invite the person he fired just to further spite his ass. He and Weiss begin to rekindle an old flame that they never ignited.

Back with Salem, the scene plays out like normal, but when we see Cinder get tortured, we see flashes of Cinder having a shock collar, hinting to her big backstory event. Then Salem has a small speech.

“It would appear that we have been brought forth into the light as monsters and villains. So, why not play that part and show them why dear old Ozma had to keep me a secret for so long… It’s time.”

Suddenly, Beringels fly out of Monstra and Zerg Rush the shields while the Grimm River activates and rushes forth, destroying the hut that RJY were at and almost killing them. Jaune sends out a distress call with his scroll as they try to avoid getting washed away in the water. They see that it’s heading to Mantle and that the plan by Salem is a two-prong attack to further force the division between Mantle and Atlas by putting them both in peril.

During this, Ren tries desperately to activate his Semblance, but just couldn’t. He panics, he worries, he sees Grimm emerge from the River to try and kill them and he just can’t make his Semblance work. He asks why now of all times must this happen. He closes his eyes and tries to think… Then sees petals on himself. Before he has any time to figure out what happened, they see a plane arrive and blast the River, stopping it in its tracks. Just before Jaune is about to thank their savior, they see that it’s Winter and the Ace-Ops…

War

The Beringels break through the shields and invade, destroying much of Atlas and overrunning the city, killing people on-screen. The rest of the scenes play out, however, when we cut to RWB, we see Weiss is trying to restrain Ruby from running out there, saying that she could be arrested or killed and Ruby responds with wanting to do the right thing. May interjects and asks why they bother saving Atlas when all they do is laugh at the misfortune of others. She’s basically the “Let Atlas Fall” part of the fanbase.

And this is where RWB give their counter arguments.

Weiss says how, even though the elite are snobby twits, Atlas is not exclusive to just them. May and her were just born with silver spoons in their mouths but that doesn’t excuse them from leaving everyone else on Atlas to die, bringing up how the Mantleans they saved were also on Atlas.

Blake brings up that, yes, Atlas has done bad things in the past, but so did every Kingdom at one point or another, bringing up Mantle’s role in the Great War, so to say that Atlas deserves to burn is to basically say Mantle deserves to burn.

Ruby then uses her “there are no sides” bit, but also blurts out that the whole situation was her fault and that she’s at the very least trying to fix it. And that starts by heading straight to the Whale and beating Salem herself.

The whale scene plays out the same, as does RJY’s scene right up until they plan to blow up the Whale. Yang and Jaune argue against it while Ren vouches for Atlas, saying how this may be the only chance they have at beating Salem, proposing to Winter to go ahead into the whale to scout it. This leads to the argument about replacing Oscar which pisses Ren something fierce as he finally drops the Pyrrha bomb on their ass.

“You say that like we haven’t lost a team mate before!” Boom. In a flash of light, Ren could see clearly. While muted colors were around him, he can see the petals around everyone. Jaune has blue petals, Yang has red petals, and Harriet has burning crimson petals. He could hear what each petal represents. He hears crying when he sees blue, he hears screaming when he sees red, when looking at Winter, he hears a bunch of different things as he sees multi-colored petals.

He sees that most of the Ace Ops don’t have a consistent feeling. Not even Vine and Elm, who he can’t help but see himself and Nora in their places. Then he looks to his own petals. Pure white as he hears exhaling: calmness. He’s reached a zen state, making peace with what he had felt in Volume 7: A desire to stop Salem and prevent what happened to him and Nora from happening to other people.

Hopefully that gives a slightly better explanation at what his Semblance does without directly telling the audience. However, he doesn’t use this to basically read the script and tell the audience what people feel because, reading the dialogue, it just feels forced. “You’re going to be a good guy because I have magic petal seeing powers!” Instead, he plays therapist.

“I understand why you think people are replaceable. I guess it comes with the territory of being in the army.” “If you can’t even gauge what your partner is feeling, you can’t work as a full team.” “What did you hope to accomplish when you joined the Ace Ops?” “Who are you trying to prove yourself to?”

I feel like that’s a lot more in character for Ren. As for Winter, she doesn’t go “I outrank you” but rather appeals to Harriet’s blood thirsty nature by saying that they’re basically sentencing them to a trial by Grimm, even tricking Harriet into agreeing that, should they survive and free Oscar, that they’d be let go, kinda playing into how she’s the Hare.

Back at the manor, Weiss gets ready to accompany Ruby. Willow approaches her and they have a small chat about what to do now that Jacques is arrested. Willow brings up that Jacques was promptly fired from the SDC due to his treason and, as a result, his previous rulings are called into question, including stripping Weiss of her title. She lowkey implies that Weiss should return and become the proper heiress to the SDC once more, even resisting the lure of the bottle to prove that they can make it right.

Weiss, however, looks to Ruby and Blake getting ready, then says to her “thanks, but… I think I’d rather be a team player than a team leader.” The two have a small, proper mother-daughter bond before BOOM!

It’s Penny, and she says that she’s sorry.

And that’ll wrap up this half of the rewrite. There are a lot of unaltered or even minor altered stuff, I know, but the front half of Volume 8 was alright to say the least. I think the back half of Volume 8 will be where major changes for this rewrite will happen. So, tune in for part 2.

[jungshook69]

8 tears of sorrow

DISCLAIMER: This doesn’t represent the members’ actions or the army’s actions in any manner it’s pure fiction. This is an original work, do not copy.

WORD COUNT: (Oneshot) 1.5K words

WARNINGS: Angst, angst, and oh right more angst. Oh and also one more thing, angst. Mentions of infidelity. Sad ending?

SUMMARY: Revisiting 8 journal entries was all you needed to remind you that Jung Hoseok could never be yours.

As I waited for my husband to make dinner for our special date night, I wandered into my room, and found myself looking for an old box that enclosed memories from my youth. Having found it, I picked up a tattered diary, so worn out that it was practically shedding pages. I opened the diary only to find the first 8 pages of it were filled out. I sat on my carpet as I began to read my entries.

Day #1

I saw him for the first time.

I watched as he moved his body with all his might, dancing to the beat of the music. I watched as a beautiful smile crept onto his face every time the crowd roared in response to his moves. Oh how dangerous that smile was, angelic, heavenly, drawing me towards him. I felt the sudden urge to protect that very smile from any darkness in its vicinity. I watched as he took slow steps towards me, my heart plunging forth to reach out to his form, as he closed the distance between us with his leisurely tread. I watched him reach his hand out, only to take the unfamiliar hand of the woman standing beside me in his, his warm palm enveloping her petite hand. I watched as they threaded their fingers together and he twirled the stranger around, ending the performance by gripping her waist, their foreheads resting against each other. That’s when I knew, he could never be mine.

Day #97

I noticed his presence again.

I was preoccupied in pretending that I was having a good time with the man sitting before me, but my eyes involuntarily trailed over to him, sitting at a table only a small distance away from me, with the same woman I had seen 3 months ago. This is the second time I had seen that mesmerizing smile of his, which had only grown wider from the first time I’d seen it. I watched, my eyes darting in confusion, my heart palpitating uncontrollably, as he got down on one knee, ready to give away his heart to another woman, right in front of my eyes. I watched as the band of metal clung onto her finger, authoritatively claiming the man I had hopelessly fallen for.

Day #122

I finally got to know his name. Jung Hoseok.

Oh how soothing it felt, as his name rolled off of my tongue. I could only imagine the feeling of euphoria, that woman felt, when he called out her name, honey dripping from his voice. I only wished I could be in her place. How did I get to know his name? Realizing that the woman betrothed to my love, was actually my 2nd cousin took me by surprise. I had myself to blame for not knowing who the woman was, considering how I remained distant from family. It was only a while, before I found myself getting close to my affianced cousin, and in turn hearing him say my name for the first time, “Y/N, nice to meet you, I’m Zuya’s fiancé, Hoseok.”

Day #156

I felt his touch.

It wasn’t intentional. I found myself running my hand across the countless amounts of colored napkins that lay before me, as I tried to pick a neutral shade which was close to my liking. Had my concentration been fixed on who was in front of me, I would’ve never gotten to feel his warm skin against mine. It may have been just a brush of our fingers, it may have lasted only for a second, but it was a step further for me. His perplexed expression as he pulled his hand away wasn’t left unnoticed by me, leaving a glimmer of hope, shining too bright for its own good in my heart.

Day #180

I thought I saw something flicker in his eyes. Was it fear? Was it confusion? Was it guilt? What was it? Was it perhaps, lust?

It all happened to quickly to decipher. I watched with admiration as Hoseok carefully observed the options I had laid out in front of him since I was helping him pick out a birthday gift for Zuya. I’d like to believe that the man who unintentionally pushed me, was sent as a sign from God, but I knew it was far too convenient of a situation to be true. Had that man not pushed me, I would’ve never experienced how it felt to have his arms clasp onto my form. To have his lips, only a breath away from mine. Before I could interpret what the glint in his eyes was wishing to convey, he removed his grip from mine, apologizing immediately for having caused a ruckus. The way he held me, saving me from my fall, it was a tad too much for my heart to push away as ‘just a coincidence’.

Day #218

I made a mistake. We both made a mistake.

Alcohol was the real culprit behind everything that happened, in his point of view. He blamed the alcohol for inducing feelings of lust towards me. But I only had my feelings to blame. Alcohol was only a catalyst that ignited my passion for Hoseok further. My intoxicated mind only diluted the self-control I’ve had managed to maintain for so long. Did I regret it? Partially. It made me feel as though I was a terrible human being for being the one squirming underneath an affianced man, committing sins untold. But isn’t this what I wanted for so long? Somehow it felt wrong. I began to realize I wanted him to be mine. But who was I to stop him from running back to his fiancé? The cousin he slept with? The woman who would be labeled ‘indecent’ for having her desires fulfilled by a man who belonged to someone else? I was no one but a sinful accomplice to him.

Day #301

I watched him get married.

It had been a long 3 months of agonizing, until Zuya had decided to forgive him. As for me? I was cast aside as the ‘indecent’ human being I was. Had I been invited to the wedding? No. But had I managed to sneak in and see my love get married to another woman? Yes. The pain I felt was something I had never experienced before. How could one man have such a tight grip over my heart? That day I promised myself, as I watched Hoseok smile ever so brightly at the woman in the white gown, that this was the last time I would see him.

Day #1369

I came back.

I felt a tug on my arm, as I watched my husband flash me a bright smile, leading me to our luggage, as we returned to my hometown after 3 years. The first year or so had been hell, but after meeting someone who seemed to pick up the broken pieces of my heart and mend them, I had been the happiest I had ever been, for the last one year, the highlight being, my now husband, Chan, proposing to me and finally getting married. What were the chances that seeing a face could bring all of those memories that I had forced myself to lock away, cascading down in a ruthless disarray of emotions? The chances were low, but never zero. I saw him. Even worse, me and my husband had brunch with Hoseok and Zuya. I felt like tearing myself apart then and there. Only when Zuya had left to visit the washroom and Chan had left to attend an important call, only then did I find the courage to look into his eyes. Only then did he finally speak up, addressing me. He said three words. “I love you”? No. “I am sorry” is what he said. Was it possible to break my heart even more? If it was, then he succeeded. But unexpectedly, I felt a rush of relief. This soon led to silence between us, but not before I could mutter out a feeble “I’m sorry too”. Parting ways amicably was something I never thought I could do when it came to Hoseok, but with Chan by my side, and Zuya by his, I pulled myself together and bid him goodbye. I had broken my promise. I told myself I would never see him again. And even though I promised myself the same again, would it really be true? Why did I get the feeling that my promise was gonna be broken again?

“Y/N! Dinner’s ready!” my husband calls out to me, as I drop the diary, the incomplete last entry, still lingering in the back of my mind.

“So what did chef Chan make today?” I ask smiling, as I lean over the kitchen counter.

“Some spaghetti aglio olio for m’lady.” He said dramatically flipping the kitchen towel over his shoulder.

“Well let’s grab some plates, I’m starving.” I said, as we begin to prep the dishes.

That’s when I found myself unconsciously screaming at God in the depths of my mind. ‘Why did I meet him? Why did he have to walk into my life?’ I sighed as I realized life never goes as planned. Not everything in life will go my way. I cracked a sad smile, as I looked at my husband, who was talking about the different types of cheese, wondering how life would’ve been with my first love, Jung Hoseok.

A/N: Yes this is a little something for my angst-loving heart. Yes, the ending is intentionally mysterious. What did you mean by ‘you had a feeling that you would see him again’? Are you still in an affair with Hoseok? Yes? No? It’s up to you to decide. Hahaa BOOM sUsPeNsE :]

Also, sad to say this, but I’ll be going on a one month hiatus starting today, so this was a tiny parting gift for you all. As much as I love this platform, stuff in my real life is going to absolute shit and I need to get it together before it’s too late. Don’t worry I’ll only be gone for a month, and I hope to see you guys again :)

Don’t forget to follow @jungshook69​ for more content:) You can check out more works of mine here. Have a great day:)

[faejilly]

I was tagged by @la-muerta​ & @facialteeth​ & @thedivinemissema​ for the WIP/Title Game

rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you and interests you and i’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it!

AND THEN  by @shadoedseptmbr​ @msviolacea​ & @ravenclawnerd​ for the “stories you want to write... but for some reason haven’t yet”

so this will be a mish-mash of both? The WIPs will mostly have blurbs in this case (to fit the second meme) but you are still welcome to ask follow-up questions, if you’d like ;) Assuming you make it through the list, it is uh. Not Short.

Anyone who would like to play with their WIPs, please consider yourself tagged in either or both of these. :D

Misc Fic Folder:

“untitled document” - where I’m working on fictober fills so I have word-counts for my GYWO tracker. I am not working on these because Brains Are Dumb and also Going Back To Work Is Exhausting

I made a file called “YULETIDE!” which has nothing in it but I’m determined to finish this year so that is definitely technically a thing in the Unending WIP List of Doom worth mentioning. (Tho obviously that’s all I could say even if I had started, because anonymous.)

“coda-fics, rewatch!” -yes, that exclamation mark is important! it’s to keep me motivated! (it didn’t work). Much like untitled, this is for putting stuff so I can do word count tracking even if I don’t know what I’m doing. Currently I think it just says “MARYSE” because I was working on my SH 1x6 coda-fic and then got distracted and haven’t typed anything up yet. (Yay notebooks? Boo notebooks? Not even sure at this point.)

WNIP (works not in progress) Folder:

“TOG” - I had one vivid mental image of how Nicky & Joe met (blood-stained evil smiles?) but then no idea for a follow-up story and also the fandom is insane and I’m not sure I want to deal with all of *gestures vaguely* all that

“Shan Xia Notes” -for a TTRPG that never quite got off the ground; she was a semi-tragic selkie who was still in love with the evil queen/lady who stole her skin and I got to play her for like one session and she was surprisingly chaotic neutral, which wasn’t at all what I’d been expecting. But the game never really got off the ground, so I never had enough info to really delve into writing backstory fic

“post-Kruschev” -Kruschev’s List was the last episode of Scarecrow & Mrs King, and I was debating writing an epilogue in place of the s5 we never got, to try and tie up some loose ends, but the fandom’s three old-ladies in trench coats and I never quite worked up the gumption to get it anywhere

“Code Realize warm as silk sequel” -there is literally nothing in this file except “SEX! Only a little angst” because I wanted to write some “we can’t actually touch each other” smut but never actually did. 🤷‍♀️

BioWare (also all Not-In-Progress Anymore)

“seb/adelaide”, “Theia” & “DAI Erana” -these WIP folders were cannibalized for ficlets for the last few times I did fictober, and while originally I had ideas for longer epilogues for all three of them, at this point I don’t think any of the remaining bits could support a story any longer.

”whispers in the dark” -Maia Ryder never really got much fic at all; the cancellation of any further Andromeda stuff was really disheartening, and at this point I’d have to play the game again, and I don’t think I’m gonna manage that any time soon

”TSP” -a Mass Effect 3 Shepard AU collab project that kind of went off the rails, and our mutual brains/lives never quite seem to line up so we can try and rebuild it ”Ngaio & Tane” -my one truly ruthless Shepard (Alliance background, who romanced Traynor) whose father Tane Shepard was, I think, in PsyOps, and I wanted to figure out their complicated relationship but never really did know where I was going with it

”JE Zu & Yaling” -so I’ve rambled about my Tragic Sagacious Zu Romance Thoughts regarding Jade Empire more than once (#Icy Yaling should have most of it) but apparently I want to yell about it more than I want to actually write it? Whoops.

”CI sequel: 5 times fic?” -Cruel Intentions is a kinkmeme fill that I started and then it sat for like five years before I actually finished it, and I liked the ending, but it does leave a giant fucking question mark in terms of how those people got from there to where they are after the game, and I kind of wanted to write a proper h/c fic rather than just... leaving them wallowing in all that trauma?

But I didn’t. I don’t even remember for sure how I wanted to frame the 5/1 of it all, besides it being something sad about allowing people to see you or touch you in some way. (Prayers maybe, since I think there was definitely some Sebastian & Fenris & faith stuff going on in there.)

“candles” -Merribela prompt fill that I never was happy with? Not sure what I might do with it at this point, so it’s just sitting there all sad and lonely and neglected-like.

Shadowhunters

pt1: WIP LIST ONLY

“Persuasion” -so I keep trying to write Persuasion AUs in many fandoms because it’s my favorite Austen, but I think I like it too much, I have no real solid concept of how I’d transform it, and if I don’t have anything else to say about different characters within that framework, I have no push to actually write anything? Also this SH version of it suffered from MASSIVE scope creep when I started outlining and it got too big for me to handle so I like, killed it twice? Whoops. This one is really probably never gonna happen.

“oosdt sequel” -I wanted to write more about the Forest That Eats People and Magnus & Alec as Guardians Between Worlds, and also some background Magnus’ Found Family & Lightwood Family Feels (maybe some clizzy?) and I left a Madzie plot-thread dangling from the first one on purpose even but I think this one had too many ideas and not enough focus so it’s sort of sprawling all over a doc with a lot of “???” in it

“procedural-ish” -this was originally going to be a sex-farce. and then it turned more serious. and then maybe kind of copaganda which was uncomfortable in terms of the Everything That Is The News in 2020, and then maybe it was more a Mafia AU and at that point I had self-inflicted tone whiplash and I wished the voices in my head were a little more forthcoming about their plans so I stopped before I brained myself on my computer monitor in frustration.

“I had rather a rose than live forever” -I started a reverse!verse Malec (Shadowhunter!Magnus, High Warlock!Alec) for bingo last year, and I couldn’t quite get it together in time, so I made a moodboard inspired by the bits I’d started instead. I may see if one of my prompts from Bingo this year help me finish it?

“fall fright fest (practical magic  au)” -exactly what it says on the tin! almost exactly a year old & neglected! IDEK ANYMORE (I talked about this one with the WIP meme last time tho: here)

“priest!kink theology?” -I thought it was gonna be smut? I like priest!kink. I have made other people like it and yell at me even! But then I kept diverging into demon!Magnus thinking about Priest!Alec’s faith and as usual, IDEK ANYMORE *laughs*

(If they’re remotely canon-adjacent or divergent, a bunch of these are in here because I need to rewatch the show to get the pacing/timing/tone right and I haven’t, and I don’t know why, because I enjoy the show, but BRAINS! Are Dumb! So I guess that’s it?)

“I do” -I have tried to write this damnable Malec arranged marriage fic like six different times. I have signed up for fic exchanges and bangs with it, I have rewritten massive sections, trying to change tone or structure or POV or whatever, and it basically comes down to they like each other too fast and I keep not gutting it enough to get back to a useful pace, but by the time I realized that I was on take six and kind of sick of it. I may get back to it eventually

“wing!fic” -canon divergent in early s1, trying to deal with the consequences of Simon’s kidnapping as the Truly Serious Event that it should have been. It uh. Got heavier than I expected with those consequences (considering it was originally just supposed to be Alec’s wings flirting with Magnus) and also see above re: rewatching for pacing.

“2x20 aftermath/date night/pandemonium porn“ -yes that is the actual wip title. It used to be “spite fic” because I was originally inspired by fighting against a lot of fic!Alec characterization that was clearly based more on the books and ATG syndrome than the Alec in the show, which is the Alec I know and like and want to read about. BUT, pacing and etc. again, I think. Also I have somehow entirely lost my knack for writing porn, which makes it difficult to finish something originally intended to be smut!fic. Or even teasing almost!smut.

“rubbish heap” -so this is about three different fics that I realized complemented each other really well so they’re now all in the same file as I try to turn them into the sequel of “with an if in its soul”. It includes amnesia, parabatai lore shenanigans, a s3 rewrite, and some truly awful Owl adjustments that make me wince in horrified authorly delight and pain. BUT, as with the other ones in this file, the scope is large and I normally write short-fic and I kind of just threw up my hands in exasperation. I may have to break it back up into the three different fics instead, if I ever actually want to write it. Them? But also I need to take better notes on s3 to make sure I have what I need in here.

SH Pt 2: Started posting or not yet in hiatus because it’s actually almost ready to be a thing in the real world! maybe!?

“kisses (firsts)” -I actually started publishing this one, a “series of firsts” that was supposed to be kind of relationship milestones and kind of an excuse for smut, and then there wasn’t that much smut and I lost momentum and also dear lords & ladies the timeline is stupid, wtf. I may not ever add to this one, tbqh. It doesn’t stop in a terrible place, and they’re all ficlets so they stand alone all right.

“clizzy epilogue” -this is blank atm, it’s more a reminder for me to keep poking away at my “girls who can’t breathe air, only fire” collection BECAUSE I WOULD LIKE TO ACTUALLY GET TO THE CLIZZY AT SOME POINT

"mer!alec" -pts 2-4 of a series, but apparently having an actual plan gets in the way of me *writing* the thing, and I haven't managed to throw the half an outline far enough away from my brain to be able to write again. Or something like that.

"ibhww" -if broken hearts were whole is a soulmate fic I started a million years ago, and purposefully set aside to finish some other WIPs because I thought they'd be quick, and now it's just buried under two and a half years of regret and shame so it's hard to get back to it

"iafy" -i am for you is a delightful & frothy semi-epistolary fluff piece that also just lost momentum because Life & 2020 & etc. It's far and away the most popular thing I've ever posted on AO3, which also makes me feel weird sometimes, and I feel like the fact that there's no grand conclusion planned, just a bit more fluff and settling in, might end up being disappointing? Basically, it's the first time I think I've psyched myself out about reader expectations, and until I get over that I'm going to have trouble finishing the last couple chapters. (There really are probably only two more chapters though. IT’S SO CLOSE, I wish I could just... write it. And yet?)

“fake-hating” -I do not like fake dating as a trope that much, I just do not get it, but I love outside POVs and arranged marriages and there’s this delighful tumblr post about how they wished there was more fic about people who were together but had to pretend they werent’, and uh. This may be that? Eventually? I’m not exhausted by my failure to finish it yet, so it’s still in the regular folder rather than the hiatus folder, even though nothing’s been posted for it.

AND I THINK THAT’S IT?

Not as terrible as it could be, but still. MANY WORDS THAT MAY NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY. Posting the equivalent of one’s old ratty sketchbook is always a weird feeling. :D

[this-is-a-podcast-fanblog]

Happy Birthday @rudzik-art!

As many of you know, Robin (@rudzik-art) is turning 20 today. As a surprise gift for them, I took an AU we talked about and turned it into a fic! (So, today is not only a celebration of Robin’s birthday, it’s officially my return from fic hiatus.)

But that’s not enough to mark an occasion as important as a 20th birthday, so I got some of our favorite artists involved as well! Read it on AO3 to see it with the art. 

Fic Summary: Juno Steel, pirate of the ship Carte Blanche, did not expect to net a mermaid today. 

I give you: Juno Steel and the Brine of Deception

I.

The day seemed ordinary when Juno woke up. He lay in his hammock, watching the square of light on the floor waver as the Carte Blanche rocked in the waves. Or maybe just because he was still really hungover. The crew had stayed up late making toasts and singing shanties last night, and that had involved quite a lot of rum.

“Ughh.” Juno sat up and began to unwrap his hair.

"Mornin', Mate Steel!" His roommatey, the exceptionally clever Rita, beamed at him from her hammock. "How are ya feeling?"

"Sick," Juno grumbled. He climbed out of his hammock and padded over to the washstand. "I've got to get off this rum."

"Yeah, Mate Steel, I told ya that swill Ms. Vespa brewed ain't good for ya."

"I know." He glanced at her in their broken mirror as he lit a candle, which hung from the ceiling in a glass bottle. "Did Buddy say if we're docking today?"

"Nah, she said last night that we’re just doin’ chores again." Rita watched Juno adjust his eyepatch in the mirror and rocked forward in her hammock. "Why? Did you wanna go ashore?"

"Eh, not especially." Juno tied his eyepatch on and started towards the door. "It's not like I mind being on this stinking ship where my legs feel like jelly and…." He sighed. "You know what, Rita, let's talk about this later. I've got a busy day to start on."

“See ya, Mate Steel.” 

Juno stepped out into the hallway of the ship. He stuck his head into the galley to grab an orange from a bowl on the counter and plucked away the curling peel with his rough, uneven nails as he creaked into the hall. Down the hardwood floors and the few puddles from leaks, he bounded towards the staircase that led from the ship's quarters to the main dock.

“Captain’s waiting for you,” snarled Vespa as soon as Juno’s head appeared above decks. 

“Morning to you too, Vespa.” 

Vespa frowned and went back to twisting a knife around in her teeth. A briny sea breeze rustled the bandana tied around her forehead. “Good morning,” she muttered, like it was a concession. Then abruptly she crossed her tattooed arms and cleared her throat. “Now get a move on. The captain doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” 

“Duly noted.” Juno ducked past the first mate’s glare and strode down the deck. He tossed his orange peel overboard, but a breeze caught it, and spun it back onto the deck, where it was pinned abruptly under a heeled leather boot. 

Captain Aurinko’s dark eye studied Juno from under her hat. In her broad-shouldered coat, criss-crossed with belts that dangled swords and pistols, she was intimidating with a streak of devilish intrigue, and she smirked as she lifted the orange peel from the deck. “You ought to clean up your trash, Juno.” 

“Captain A.” Juno rubbed the back of his neck and sheepishly plucked the peel back from the captain. “Sorry about that.” 

“Not to worry, darling. Shall we sit down?” Captain Aurinko neatly unfolded a scroll from her belt and spread it over one of the barrels nearby. She and Juno perched on surrounding barrels. “Our schedule is fairly lowkey today.” Her leather-gloved fingers traced Juno’s name, written in ink on a list. “I want you to check the nets and get some fishing done. Don’t complain,” she added, as Juno rolled his eye. “You’re the best at it, darling. After that, go over the stores with Jet, and then I’m sure Rita would appreciate it if you tied up your shared room a bit.”

“Seems like a slow day,” Juno observed. “What happened to ‘high adventure’ and all that?” 

“That’s taking a back seat at the moment.” Captain Aurinko pursed her lips. “To be honest, darling, I worry that our current crew isn’t… properly equipped to handle missions of the capacity I have planned.” She rolled the map shut. “But that’s no concern of yours. On your way, darling. Come find me if you need anything.” The captain stood, dusted off her coat, and glided away to take her place at the ship’s wheel. 

This job is somehow way more than I expected and not what I expected at all. Juno sloshed through the inch of water in the cargo hold. The nets lay all tangled together, and it took a few long minutes of blistering his fingers on their ropes to untangle them. Hell, I probably should have just stayed on the Mars continent. 

And yet the Mars continent had never been home to him, not really. Not since the constables and the law had seen to condemn him over a few childhood tavern brawls and turn him into a wanted lady. As a child, Juno had always promised his brother (may his soul rest in peace) that he’d leave and be an explorer one day. That just ended up looking different than he imagined. 

Still, Juno reflected as he dragged a net up the stairs. It felt like something was missing from his life. Some final adventure he needed to conquer, or maybe some event that would set a grand adventure in order. Right now he just existed, drinking rum in the mornings and evenings and sloshing about on the sea with all the rats and the treasures and people he didn’t know if he could trust. Rita aside, of course. 

The net rigged into the pulleys, Juno cast it over into the ocean. Within a few seconds, it vanished beneath the rolling blue waves. Juno rested his arms on the railing and sighed. What he needed, once he finished his tasks today, was a good long nap, and maybe a cup of coffee instead of rum, assuming they still had coffee in the stores. Then he should mend the patch in his work breeches, and afterwards -

The weight in the net shifted abruptly. Juno frowned and stood up from his slouch. Sure enough, when he tested the rope, there was an uncommon weight to it that hadn’t been there a moment ago. A large school of fish? A small whale? Maybe an octopus. They’d caught an octopus last week, and Captain Aurinko still wrote with the ink they’d extracted from it. Whale oil could be useful too, plus good for trade too. Juno eagerly tightened the opening of the net and began to pull it up. It was heavy, but Juno was a strong lady. He ground his feet firmly to the deck and pulled again, harder, heave-to heave-to against the struggling of his catch. Finally, a splash confirmed that the net had risen above the surface of the water. With a few more final pulls, Juno hefted the net alongside the ship. He quickly tied the rope around a wooden post nearby, to secure it taut, and ran over to see what he’d netted; and there, lying in a tangle of rope of seaweed, was the most supremely beautiful man Juno had ever seen.

No, not a man, or at least, not a human one. Because, Juno realized upon closer inspection, humans didn’t have a silver-blue tail where legs should be, or gently pulsing slits along their throats, or webbed ears, and they certainly didn’t have nails as long and sharp as knives. The mermaid turned his head. His ink-black hair sat plastered to his face with dripping seawater, and when he opened his eyes, Juno saw that they were the same ink color all the way through. Blue scales glimmered along his cheekbones. His face and body sparkled with droplets of seawater, like small diamonds, and here and there wet strands of seaweed clung to his bare chest and arms. He was utterly terrifying, and yet, Juno had never seen anything so exquisite. 

“Well?” hissed the mermaid. 

Juno blinked. “Well, what?” 

“Oh, honestly.” It was hard to tell with no irises, but Juno thought the mermaid might be rolling his eyes. “You pulled me out, you quite clearly wanted me for something. I suppose you’re one of those humans that eats mermaids, aren’t you?”

“Huh? What the hell, of course not.” 

“Hmmm.” The mermaid plucked a lock of seaweed from his neck and flicked it back into the sea. “Now you’ll say you’ve grabbed me by accident.” 

“Obviously.” 

“Obviously.” He imitated Juno’s tone and smirked, slightly. His teeth were just as sharp as his nails. “You’ve never seen a mer before, have you?”

“‘Course I have,” Juno scoffed, suddenly on the defensive. “In… storybooks and stuff.” The mermaid lifted his eyebrows. “Listen, I’m new to this whole pirate thing, okay? I just wanted to grab some fish for my crew’s larder. You weren’t exactly part of the plan.” 

“Ah.” The mermaid shuffled forwards and wrapped his hands around the ropes above his head. “So you’re not going to eat me.” 

“I’ll chuck you back in, if you want.” 

The mermaid giggled. He leaned forward and reached one of his hands through the net to grab Juno’s chin. Juno jolted and, with instinct, brought up his knife and pressed it to the mer’s sternum. “So defensive,” the mermaid purred. His thumb swiped over Juno’s jawline. “You have a shaving nick right there.” The very tip of his nail pressed into Juno’s skin for a minute, and then he retreated. “Well,” he said. “I’m afraid you can’t chuck me back in, love. You see, in your eagerness to haul me up onto this rowboat of yours, you tightened your net quite fiercely. Now my poor tail is injured. I can’t possibly swim.”

“What?”

“So you may as well cut me down. It looks like you’ll be stuck with me for a while.” 

Juno narrowed his eyes. “How do I know you’re not lying?” 

“Oh yes, because I would lie so I could spend several days hanging around with a crew of pirates? You’re not that cute, love.” He reached out his hand again. “But, if you’re so determined, I’ll tell you my name. You may call me Glass.”

“Glass. Hi, I’m Juno Steel.” Juno sighed heavily. The Captain’s gonna love this. He pulled the net over the railing and lowered it carefully to the deck. Glass smiled up at him as Juno freed him. Juno stepped back and rubbed his forehead. “Great,” he sighed. “What the hell am I supposed to do with you now?” 

“That depends, how adventurous are you?” 

“God damn it.” Juno tossed the net aside. “It’s too early in the morning for me to have a mermaid hitting on me. You just - stay there while I go get the Captain.” 

“I don’t have much of a choice,” Glass called after him, but Juno pretended not to hear. 

II.

“So,” said Buddy delicately. “This is quite a predicament.” 

“I’ll say,” Vespa snarled, smacking her fist into her palm. “We have a crowded crew already, and then Steel goes and lands us with an injured fish to take care of.” 

“Hey, don’t drag me into this.” Juno raised his hands innocently as Vespa shot a glare in his direction. “Listen, I’m not the one responsible for this. It was this guy who swam right into my net.” 

“Oh sure, the fish is to blame for your stupidity.” 

“The fish can hear you,” Glass trilled. 

The crew stood in their spare hold, positioned awkwardly around a basin of seawater. Glass lay primping in the water, finger-curling his hair and watching the five pirates from under his long lashes. Juno couldn’t help but notice that the mermaid’s gaze seemed mostly to be fixed on him. Rita, who watched countless plays about mermaids, hung star-struck at Juno’s elbow, clutching her face in her hands.

“Ain’t he so preeeeeetty, Mate Steel?” she whispered into Juno’s ear as the captain and the first mate deliberated amongst themselves. “He’s just like one of them old paintings, or like, like something right out of a play, ya know? He’s kinda scary too, though, but in a really nifty way, don’tcha think! It just - just -” She scrunched her forehead as if searching for the words. 

Frannie, the parrot perched on Rita’s shoulder, squawked, “Shiver me timbers!”

“Yeah, exactly!” Rita beamed. “It shivers me timbers! Shivers ‘em real good, don’t you think he’s pretty, Mate Steel?” 

Glass lolled in his basin, running his sharp nails over the fine webbing at the end of his tail. He winked at Juno. Somehow, the lady got the sense that Glass could hear everything Rita was saying; but more than that, it was as if he could hear everything Juno was thinking. Like those solid black eyes could see things normal eyes couldn’t. 

“He’s something, alright,” Juno murmured. 

“What I do not understand is how he came to be injured.” The quartermaster, Jet, stood by Rita’s other side with his arms crossed. Jet always wore the same thing - baggy brown breeches, a ragged white shirt, and a brown jacket so enormous that it could probably serve as a backup sail if the Carte Blanche ever needed one. He wore his long silver hair tied up in a ponytail. Despite their difference in personality, pirating ability, and three feet of height, Jet and Rita were close friends, second only to Rita’s bond with Juno. “I do not believe our simple fishing net would be strong enough to damage a mermaid’s tail.” 

“Well, you’d have to ask him about it.” 

“There is no need to be defensive, Juno.”

“Whatever, you’re all on my case, and I’m getting pretty tired of it, big guy.” 

Across the room, Vespa and Buddy drew away from each other and turned to face the rest of the group. “Alright, darlings,” said the captain. “We’ve thought this over -” 

“More like we’ve argued it,” Vespa muttered. 

“Peace, love.” The captain laid her hand on Vespa’s arm. “After some deliberation, Vespa and I have decided that we cannot abandon the mermaid back to the sea with an injury. We may be pirates, but we are not monsters. He will stay here until he recovers from his injuries.” 

Glass giggled and slid his tail back into the water. “So generous of you.” 

“You’re welcome, darling.” Captain Aurinko smoothed back a stray lock of her hair. “Additionally, since Juno was the one that injured him, Juno can be the one to attend to him.” 

“What.” 

“You heard me, dear. You’ll bring him his food, refill the water in his basin, and see to any medical needs he may have before he’s recovered. Any questions?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got a question, how come I’ve got to -”

“Then if there are no questions, the meeting is dismissed.” Buddy smiled and took Vespa’s

arm. “We’ll see you all later. First we have some things to... attend to.” Vespa shot one last glare in the others’ direction before following the captain away to their cabin. 

“Well,” said Jet. “If that is all, I will return to my repairs of the Ruby 7 lifeboat.” 

“Hang on, you can’t all just -”

“I’ll go with ya!” Rita said, ignoring Juno’s protests. “Bye-bye, Mate Steel and Mistah Mermaid!” And she skipped after Jet, Frannie flapping behind them both. 

Juno sighed heavily and turned back to Glass. The mermaid had his arms folded on the rim of the basin, and his head cocked at an inquisitive and seductive angle. He smiled. “Well,” he said. “It seems that it’s just you and me.”

“Don’t get too used to it, I’ve got lots of chores to do.” 

“Oh, but the Captain said you needed to look after me,” Glass beamed. “Doesn’t that mean I’m at the top of your chores list?”

Juno glared down at the mermaid. “Fine. Tell me what you want and make it quick.”

“Oh, it’s quite simple. I just want someone to talk to.”

The pirate blinked. “Are you kidding? You want me to hang around here and talk to you?”

For a moment, the mermaid’s flirtatious smile vanished. His inky eyes narrowed, and he glanced away from Juno before speaking again. “I’m not trying to force you if you don’t wish, Juno, I simply… hoped to get to know you better.” He glanced back at Juno quickly, and Juno started. 

He’s not… no. He can’t be. Not me. 

So he shrugged and grabbed a nearby stool. “Sure,” he said. “Great.” He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. “What do you want to talk about?”

“I’d like to hear more about you, of course.” Glass lifted his eyebrows. “Juno Steel. Juno. A goddess on the high seas. Although - pardon me - you don’t seem entirely suited to this profession.”

“Yeah.” Juno fiddled with a spare thread on his blouse. “Didn’t plan to be a pirate, originally. I wanted to go into law, but then I found myself on the other side of it. With my brother.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “We’d always planned to leave the Mars continent together, but then...” The pirate sighed deeply. “He… he’s not around anymore.”

Glass watched Juno quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Juno cleared his throat. “Anyway, Rita and I have been friends for decades. Business partners. She’s a locksmith, and I’m an informant, so sometimes we worked together.”

“I see.” Glass leaned forward on his elbows, and his smile sharpened a degree. “Not such an upright lady, are you?”

“Hey, careful. I still have my morals.” Juno crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back. “Anyway, she did a job for Captain Aurinko and put two and two together that she’d been hired by a pirate. Suggested that I could give the Captain any information she needed, and together Rita and I got her out of a tricky spot. So, the Cap offered us spots on her crew.”

To Juno’s surprise, as he narrated to the mermaid, he found himself enjoying the conversation. Glass was a good listener, and seemed interested in Juno’s life in a way that few people had been for a long time. Every lady needed to feel special every now and then, and Juno was no exception. 

“So,” he said eventually. “Mermaid. What’s your life story?”

The mermaid still smiled, but something about his demeanor had changed. “Oh, Juno,” he said. “I don’t have a story, and even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t tell it to anyone.” 

“Huh.” 

Glass sighed and leaned back in the water, lounging with his arms on either side of the basin. “I’ll leave you be,” he said theatrically. “Thank you for keeping me company.” 

“Yeah.” Juno got up, feeling strangely regretful. “No problem.” 

Juno finished up his chores and took a nap to sleep off what remained of his hangover. Afterwards, it was time for dinner, and for the first time since joining the crew, he didn’t eat with everyone else. Instead, he brought two plates to Glass’s room and they ate together, chatting about things they’d seen on the sea. 

“I swear, it looked like an underwater city. Whole thing, made of coral.”

“Oh, I’ve been there. It’s not a very long swim from here.”

“Really?”

“Mmm. Pretty place.” 

And Juno kept thinking about the mermaid that night, as he lay in his hammock. The ship’s rocking and Rita’s snoring usually lulled him to sleep, but tonight felt different. Every time he tried to doze off, he was struck by the thought that Glass lay just down the hall, with his dark eyes and his sharp smile. Maybe the mermaid was lonely. Maybe he was having trouble sleeping, too, and would want company.  

Finally Juno’s curiousity overpowered him, and he got out of bed. Rita and Frannie were both deep asleep, but he put on his slippers to be extra quiet, then lit a candle. He was about to slip out the door when he heard a loud thud. But not from the direction of Glass’s room. It sounded like it came from the ship’s treasury. 

What the hell?

He snatched his pistol and slipped out of the door. Juno crept along the hall, keeping close to the wall with his candle outstretched before him and his pistol at his side. He moved along the right-hand side, so that nothing could creep into his blind spot, but still the creaking of the ship and the uneven sway of it unnerved him. Again, the clinking noise sounded from the treasury. He could see the doorway. Juno took a deep breath, counted to five, and whipped around the corner. 

Glass looked up from the chest he was elbow-deep reaching into and frowned. “Ah,” he said. “Well, hello.” 

It was Glass, but… human. As far as Juno could tell. He had legs, normal ears; his eyes were regular eyes, with gorgeous dark brown irises. He wore a short white dress belted with a corset, as well as a knife strapped to one of his distractingly gorgeous thighs. 

The pistol trembled in Juno’s hands. “What,” he breathed, “the hell.”

“Careful, now, there’s no need to wave that thing around.” Glass raised his hands, both of which clutched long ropes of pearls. His teeth were less prominent, but still looked thrillingly sharp. “I can explain everything.” 

“Yeah?” Juno stepped closer and pointed his gun at the mer’s - the human’s - heart. “Start talking.” 

“I understand this is confusing, Juno. In some ways, I’m glad you’re the one who caught me. It means we get to have a secret.” Glass stepped closer to the pirate. “Just for the two of us.”

“You were a mer,” Juno sputtered. “You were injured.”

“Looks can be deceiving.” Glass covered the quivering barrel of Juno’s pistol and pointed it away from himself. “Juno, listen to me. Whatever you think I am, you’re wrong. But I can tell you. I will tell you. I’ll tell you everything, if you want to know, but you must promise me you won’t alert your captain.” 

“Why not?” Juno snapped. “You’re robbing us. You lied your way onto our ship and - and just so you could get our shit while we slept?” 

“Well, it’s not really yours, now is it?” He was so close now. Juno could feel Glass’s warm breath on his cheek, followed a few seconds later by his knuckles. A shiver ran through him involuntarily. Glass chuckled. “I trust you, Juno, and I can’t have you giving me away now. Please.” He leaned down and whispered in Juno's ear, “I’ll give you whatever you want.” 

The words drifted into the pirate’s mind and melted over his senses like slow honey. He shivered in the brine-aired night, and in the warmth radiating from Glass’s presence. It was a sensation so strong, so all-encompassing, that for a second Juno didn’t even notice that warmth had retreated. He snapped to his senses just in time to watch Glass disappear out the door. 

“Hey - HEY!” he shouted. “Get back here!” Juno sprinted after Glass as the long-limbed thief bounded up the stairs towards the deck, and into the open air. The deck’s rocking motions were more obvious here, swaying Juno back and forth on his own feet as he fired a warning shot into the night air. “Glass, you bastard -! get back here!” 

Glass paid him no heed. Dripping pearls and laughing, he crossed the deck in a burst of speed. Juno stumbled after him. He can’t get away, the pirate thought, he has nowhere to go - and as soon as the thought entered his mind, Glass leapt over the edge of the railing and out into the open night. 

“NO!” Juno shouted. His momentum carried him the rest of the way, and he ran right into the banister, wrapping his arms around it. Below, he saw a flash of silver scales as Glass disappeared beneath the rolling waves. Juno stared, dumbfounded. He had no time to process, or to call for the captain, before suddenly the ship lurched again beneath his feet and sent him tumbling headfirst into the waves. 

III. 

The water crashed into him. Juno gasped as the cold ensnared him, but the gasp let in a rush of frigid water into his lungs, making him sputter. His arms struggled weakly. His fists clutched handfuls of seawater as the weight of his clothes and the tossing of the waves dragged him under. For a singular moment his head parted the surface of the waves, but before he could even taste oxygen, the water closed over him again. Juno couldn’t breathe. His lungs burned. All he could feel was that burning and the numbing coldness. And then, suddenly, he felt something wrap around his waist. 

Juno looked down and gave a garbled yelp of surprise. Glass was at his side, holding him close. He wore the strings of pearls around his neck, and he wrapped one of them gently around Juno, holding them together in the tumult of the water. Juno fell still. Black dots swam before his vision, and the cold seemed to sting his bones, but the mer’s arms were warm, and Juno instinctively drew closer to him. 

“Juno?” Glass murmured. His voice sounded distant. “Juno, stay awake. I can help you breathe, but you have to stay awake -” His hands clutched Juno’s shoulders, but the detective could barely feel them. Glass’s face moved closer to his. “No, stay awake - I can only help you if I breathe for you, and I can’t do that if you’re not awake to say so - no no no, keep your eyes open for me! Please, Juno -” His grip tightened in almost frenzy. The black dots blurred the edges of Juno’s vision. His entire body felt made up of this pain intensifying in his lungs. “Juno, I can save you, just give me a yes, please don’t black out, please don’t -” 

Juno could barely feel, but with what little strength he had left he tried to nod. His forehead tipped against the mer’s shoulder. Glass drew back and cradled Juno’s face in his hands, and then, strongly, he pressed his warm lips onto Juno’s mouth. Oxygen entered his body slowly, like warmth dripping slowly down his throat. Juno felt something like life beating in his chest, and he almost tasted sea salt, but before he could reflect on anything he was feeling, the black dots swelled to cover his vision, and everything faded away. 

When Juno came to, he found himself lying on a cool stone. The world above him slowly came into vision: a cool, dark cave, striped with damp vines that dangled from the ceiling. He felt cold water lapping at his ankles, and heard soft singing in the air in a haunting language he didn’t recognize. Weakly, he lifted his heavy head and looked around to get his bearings. Through the mouth of the cave, Juno could see the sun rising on the horizon, and the golden glow bled into the cave as if it were paint spilled across the water’s surface. Glass lounged on another rock, drawing ripples in the water with his fingertips, still in his mer form and glistening with pearls. After a few seconds all of Juno’s senses fell into place, and he realized the mermaid was the source of the music.

“Glass?” he called weakly. 

Glass stopped singing and looked over. His shining face lit into a smile. “You’re awake.” He rolled off of the rock and vanished with a faint splash into the water, and then a moment later emerged dripping wet by Juno’s side. The hand shifted and a moment later Glass’s face appeared above him. 

“Juno,” he sighed. “Here, let me help you sit up. How are you feeling?” 

“Unghh.” Juno rubbed his head as the mer helped him into a sitting position. “What the hell happened?”

“You blacked out.” Glass shifted back a few inches to give Juno breathing room. “Are you feeling alright now?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Juno sat up higher on the rock. Glass leaned on the side, with his arms folded and his head tipped to one side. His scales shimmered. “You saved my life,” Juno said. “Didn’t you?”

“Well, I wasn’t going to let you die, Juno.”

“You kissed me.” 

Glass stirred his fingertips through the foam brushing up against the rock.

“You kissed me. You stole from my crew, and then you saved my life. Why the hell would you do that?” The water lapped quietly at the edges of the cave. 

The air misted before Glass’s lips while he breathed, and his gills pulsed. A drop of water slid down the slope of his forehead.. “I had a very straightforward plan,” he murmured eventually. “I’d been tracking your ship for a while now, you see. I saw that big fellow rowing above me one morning, so I swam to the surface to see what was going on. When I noticed that chest he was loading onto your ship, I decided to track you all. I knew you must have some kind of treasure, and I wanted it. I hid under your prow, or swam near you. Then one morning, a net dropped, so I seized my chance and swam into it, and then….” He turned his head and fixed his black eyes on Juno. “Well, then you messed up my whole plan.” 

Juno started to speak, but Glass talked right over him. 

“You, all fascinating and charming, with your fed-up attitude and your adorable pout.” He smiled. “I don’t meet people very often. I’m usually on the move, either on land or in the water, and I never have time to… to chat with someone I find attractive. And then,” he chuckled, “I decided to forget you and go through with my plan anyway - and you came to stop me! Leaving me to save you, in the end.” He shrugged delicately. “What can I say, darling? You are beautiful. I want to know everything about you.” 

Glass closed his eyes and rested his head on his folded arms. Juno watched him, with his heart drum beating in his chest. Around them the water was turning golden. Juno watched him, and thought, He thinks I’m beautiful. 

“What are you, exactly?” 

The mermaid lifted his head. “Hmm?”

“I mean, you’re a mermaid, right? But then when I saw you in the night, you had legs, your eyes were normal -”

“Ah. Weren’t you listening?” Glass smirked. “Shapeshifter, love. I can be a mer or a human as it suits me, but I’m never just one for very long.” 

“Huh.” Juno thought about that for a moment. He could feel his pulse in his throat. “And you’re a thief, apparently.” 

“You can have your pearls back if it bothers you that badly.” 

“Honestly?” Juno took Glass’s hand in his. “Right now I kind of just want to pay you back for saving me.” 

Glass looked up. He met Juno’s eyes and let the pirate draw him up onto the rock, and as the golden light spilled far enough across the water to light them up, they kissed. 

It was like oxygen-giving, but better. Glass’s lips were soft and sweet, and he tasted like the ocean. Juno felt the sunlight falling across their shoulders, and both of Glass’s hands twisted gently in the front of Juno’s shirt. He dragged him closer and their kiss grew deeper, with Glass’s tongue slipping into Juno’s open mouth, and Juno wrapped his legs around the mer’s waist. They didn’t break apart until it was physically hard to breathe, and even then, only far enough for the mermaid to press his forehead to the pirate’s.

“Glass isn’t my real name,” he said, breathless. 

“Yeah, no shit,” Juno gasped. “Christ, you’re a good kisser. Okay. What is your real name?” 

“It’s in Mer. You won’t be able to pronounce it.” 

“Oh yeah? Try me.”

“Nąuhréyęvhve.”

“What the fuck kind of name is that.” 

The mermaid with the unpronounceable name laughed and dropped a quick kiss onto Juno’s cheek. “It means dancer.”

“Yeah, I still can’t pronounce it. I’m just gonna say Nureyev.”

“Nureyev.” The mermaid tried it, head tipped to the side. “Nureyev” He turned to face Juno again and smiled. “Hmm. That does have a nice ring to it.” 

And they kissed again while the sunlight grew around them. 

IV.

Captain Aurinko liked to think of herself as a level-headed person, but right now, Juno Steel had her worried. “It’s no big deal,” Vespa had told her. “He vanishes at the same time as the mermaid, so what? The mermaid guy probably talked his ear off, and Steel just got annoyed and chucked him overboard.” 

“Then where is Juno?” 

“It is possible we overlooked some part of the ship when we checked,” Jet suggested. 

Vespa smirked. “Or he’s screwing the mermaid somewhere.” 

“How would that -” Rita had begun, but Buddy decided that Rita should go check the stores, and Vespa should go check the crow’s nest, before they could have that conversation. 

Now, she stood on the deck by the ship’s wheel and watched the horizon through her telescope. All she saw were the unchanging waves. Buddy sighed and lowered the telescope from her eye. “Come on, Juno,” she murmured. “This crew won’t work without you.” 

Behind her, the deck creaked under footsteps. “We checked the crow’s nest,” said Vespa. “Didn’t see anything.” 

“Us, either,” called Rita as she and Jet emerged from the lower stairs. “Mate Steel just ain’t here at all.”

“Rraw! Mate Steel ain’t here!” squaked Frannie.

Jet furrowed his brows. “I think,” he began heavily, “that perhaps we must consider -”

“No,” said Buddy. “We’re not giving up yet.” 

“Buddy.” Vespa laid a hand on her arm. “Listen, we don’t know what this mer guy might have done, okay? We should start makin’ the assumption - Rita? Are you okay?” 

Rita had begun to cry, holding the end of Buddy’s long coat and using it to dab her eyes. “I-I’m sorry, matey,” she sniffled. “It’s just, I’m rememberin’ that in plays mermaids eat people sometimes, and I don’t want Mate Steel to get e-eaten, ya know? An’ that mer-guy had such really sharp teeth an’ I don’t wan Mate Steel to di-i-i-ieeeee.” She sobbed loudly and blew her nose on Buddy’s lace trim. 

At that moment, a loud splash sounded from the ocean. The four turned around in time to watch the Juno and the mermaid course up on a jet of seawater and collapse onto the deck, where they lay sputtering in a puddle. Juno’s clothes clung to him, soaking wet, and the mer wore a tattered white dress. “Hey, guys,” Juno coughed.

“What the hell?!” exclaimed Vespa. 

“MATE STEEL!” Rita ran across the deck and threw her arms around Juno’s shoulders. “You’re alive! Oh, Mate Steel, we was so WORRIED, I thought somethin’ terrible’d happened to ya, where’ve you BEEN Mate Steel? Did he kidnap ya? Did he hurtcha?” She glared at the mermaid and fumbled for her little dagger. “I swear, if you hurt one curl on my Mate Steel’s head, I’m gonna -”

“I’m fine, Rita.” Juno sat up and helped the mermaid to his feet. Buddy blinked, sure she was seeing something wrong - perhaps the rum had gone to her head. The mermaid had legs now. “Guys,” said Juno. “Nureyev’s here to return some stuff he took.” 

“Oh.” The mermaid laughed nervously. “I thought I was just dropping you off.”

“Nureyev.” 

“Fine, fine.” He reached into his pockets and pulled out all the strings of pearls that should have been in the Carte Blanche’s treasure stores. Buddy raised an eyebrow as the mer-turned-human - Nureyev - held them out to her. She took them from his hands and eyed him. 

“I was under the impression that mer usually only have tails,” she said lightly. 

“I’m a shapeshifter.” 

Vespa and Jet said, “a what?”

“A SHAPESHIFTER?!” Rita exclaimed. “Wow!!! That’s so COOL, Mistah Nureyev! Like, like in that really great play that came out last month, Squares and Triangles and Also Sirens? Wow, that play is so GOOD! Can you turn into anythin’ you want, or just a mer and a human?”

“More importantly,” said Buddy, “how long were you planning to use your abilities to rob us?”

Rita fell silent. Nureyev smirked. “Quite a while,” he admitted. “Juno simply… altered my initial plan when he spotted me last night.” 

“Ah. So that’s where you’ve been.” Buddy smiled as Juno blushed and ducked his head. “Well, it seems there’s simply one way to resolve this whole mix-up.” 

“Yeah!” Vespa drew her scimitar and pointed it at Nureyev. “I say we tie him up and make him walk the plank!” 

“Rraw! Walk the plank!” agreed Frannie. 

“That is impractical,” said Jet. “If he walks the plank, he will simply transform underwater and swim away. I propose that we throw him in the brig until we reach port. We can decide from there.” 

“Hey, c’mon, none of this is making sense,” snapped Juno. “He gave all the pearls back.” 

“You’ve certainly had a change of attitude.”

“Yeah, well you could use one, Vespa, and here’s another thing -”

“Enough, darlings!” Buddy held up her hands. “That’s enough. I have an alternative proposition.” She marched across the deck and stopped before Nureyev. “You possess interesting skills, Nureyev. Skills that I think our team would find very useful. And, since I’m sure Juno will vouch for your character, judging from the fact that he’s wearing your lipstick -”

“Hey-”

“- you have an in.” She held out her hand. “If you want it, darling, there’s a place for you here aboard the Carte Blanche.” 

Nureyev glanced over at Juno, who stood watching him with hopeful eyes. A smile grew across his face. “Well,” he said. “I must say, it’s nice to finally be appreciated.” And he shook Buddy’s hand. 

~~~~

“...aaaand that’s my idea for a stream about us!” Rita set down her stack of papers and beamed around at the rest of the crew. “Whaddaya think? It’s good, ain’t it?” 

“It is exceptional,” said Jet in a grave tone. “I am moved to tears.” 

“I dunno, I think it’s a little unrealistic in a few parts.” Juno gestured to the portion marked as chapter five. “I don’t really see why I’d let a mermaid kiss me while I’m drowning.”

“You totally would, Mistah Steel!” Rita clutched her story defensively. “You’re just horny for death!” 

“I’m what?”

“In my case,” said Nureyev, over the laughter of the rest of the crew, “I don’t see why I’ve been characterized as a mermaid.”

“Every pirate stream has to have a mermaid, Mistah Nureyev? Ain’t you ever seen High Seas of Saturn? The Ghost Ship that Also Has Zombies? Pirates of the Carribean 207: Oh My 

God When Will This Franchise End?”

“Hmm. Doesn’t ring a bell, I’m afraid.” Nureyev shifted Juno’s position on his lap and rubbed the lady’s thigh. “My introduction scene was on point, though. After all, Juno does love me in fishnets.” 

“Shut up,” Juno mumbled, blushing. Nureyev chuckled and kissed his neck. 

Buddy took another sip of her tea. “You’ve created quite an interesting story, darling. I’m glad it’s kept you entertained. I know our long periods between heists can get tedious, but I’d say this has been fun for all of us.”

“Oh yeah, this part.” Vespa waved a section of Rita’s script. She’d been writing notes on Rita’s finished pages throughout the reading process. “Where it says my arms are covered in tattoos. I’ve only got twenty tattoos and only six of them are on my arms, so I thought that was kind of unrealistic, kid.” 

“I’m taking artistic license, Miz Vespa!” 

Vespa narrowed her eyes and grabbed her knife. “Are you saying my tattoos aren’t already artistic?” 

“N-no! Fine, I’ll change it!” Rita snatched the page back and began to doodle furiously on it. Jet leaned close. 

“Do not listen to the haters,” he whispered. “You have created a masterpiece of television.” 

“Thanks, Mistah Big Guy.” 

“You are welcome.” 

“Well, this has been entertaining.” Nureyev tapped his fingertips on Juno’s knee. “If there’s nothing else that you require, the two of us will probably go to bed…”

“No, you can’t go to bed!” Rita frowned. “Whaddaya mean? We’re just gettin’ started!” 

“Rita, you’ve read us your entire story,” said Juno. “What else is there.” 

“I’ve read you the pilot episode.” Rita reached behind her and grabbed an enormous stack of blank notepads. “But now, you’ve all got to help me plot the rest of the first season!” 

The rest of the crew looked at each other. Juno sighed and got up from Nureyev’s lap.

“Fine,” he said. “I’ll get some coffee started. Looks like we’re gonna be here a while.” 

The End

~

Big thanks to @in-consist​, @awalkingparadox11​, @scintillart​, @hemaris​, and @acadieum​ for all the incredible work they did! 

[ramblingguy54]

How do you feel about the sudden shift in pacing in SUF? Personally, I was so disconcerted at first, I thought that it was /worse/ than the original series, then I rewatched, and realized that it was just really different. It's definitely a lot more blunt in the humor, and of course there's the whole Steven-not-knowing-everything-anymore-thing. What do you think?

The overall pacing of Steven Universe Future has been very enjoyable!

I genuinely find it to be pretty damn good actually, as its focus is crystal clear on where it should be. That being Steven Universe’s inner dilemma of what he’s supposed to do now the whole massive conflict with the Diamonds has been solved. As much as I loved Steven Universe’s story when it focused on the main conflict surrounding the Crystal Gems against their own planet and learning more about each of them, along with Rose’s entire backstory too, it still suffered from some of the Beach City episodes dragging it down in the pacing when it could’ve focused more on the other characters, like further exploring Lapis and Peridot’s chemistry for example. That isn’t to say I hated every single one, as some were actually enjoyable and gave me an appreciation for them in a sense. Sometimes it’s okay to take a breather and have a simple slice of life episode. Fun fact, I didn’t get into watching the OG series, until the movie was released last year, so that gave me more of a tolerance for the Beach City episodes. Makes me very glad that I waited this long because hoo boi some of the hiatus issues I’ve heard about from a close friend of mine, who got into watching this series when it first aired back then, weren’t pretty. LMAO!

Anyways, the idea surrounding Steven’s characterization of not-knowing-everything-anymore-thing, as you’ve put it, isn’t actually as weird, from I’ve heard some people make it out to be for a form of criticism that people on Tumblr have made rebuttals against before. It’s wonderfully consistent with what Steven’s character is all about and that’s trying to figure out his place in the world. This has always been a consistent struggle for himself, like the lyric mentioned in the full version of the series opening from Steven.

“I will fight to be everything that everybody wants me to be when I’m grown!”

Steven’s whole internal conflict surrounds not knowing whether or not he can exactly be like his mother, which puts a shit ton of insecurities on his own self-worth into trying to fit in with the other Crystal Gems because he’s not your average-every-day-kid that you see in society. He’s a special hybrid of human/gem that neither side of the species connected to him has ever seen before and that puts a ton of pressure onto how the boy feels a need to connect with both sides of himself. While he already has a deeply loving relationship with his father, Greg, Steven also wants to better understand that Gem lineage and why his mother was so revered by what he perceives to be these amazing warriors, who fight evil. Never mind putting this onto a kid’s existence, as soon as he or she’s brought into reality, but even an adult would struggle a lot with all this stuff. As the original story progressed, Steven learns all of the hardships the Crystal Gems faced many centuries ago and what his own mother did to protect the Earth in exchange for many issues Steven would have to handle, as soon as Pink Diamond gave up herself to create the child.

Holy shit, did he ever have to handle the baggage from Pink Diamond.

You should’ve shattered me back then. At least if I were in pieces, I wouldn’t have to know how little I mattered to you. You didn’t even tell em. You bubbled me away and didn’t ever tell your friends! MY friends!

I’m going to tell them. I’m gonna tell them everything.

Then you really are better than HER…

Pivotal moments, like in the episode centered around Bismuth, paint everything in an entirely different light for Steve’s ideals based around his mother. At first, Rose Quartz was implied to be an individual who could do no wrong to any living thing, but hindsight from Bismuth’s trauma paints everything in an entirely different light for this poor boy having to take on the entire blunt of this figurative dagger. A question that is represented in the episode, Storm In The Room.

Did you make me, just so you wouldn’t have to deal with all your mistakes!?

Is that all I’m here for…?

I’ve went into more detail about this episode in a previous ask surrounding this topic, so you can check that one out in your free time, but the point I’m making here is Steven has centered a lot of himself around the idea of Rose Quartz being a self-less individual and helped many others through her actions that put this entire series into motion in the first place, but when all of that from this kid’s perspective is thrown out the window through tragic events that also happened in part because of her decisions, Steven starts questioning everything about his life. I’d like think in these moments Steven’s internal dialogue is worded around these types of statements.

“I wanted to be a savior, like her. Although, she did bad things, too! Am I no different from her? Can I truly help people without hurting them in the process?”

That’s why he helped the Crystal Gems in The Test Season 1 episode feel better about their own issues, while hiding how hurt the boy felt about being lied to about the obstacle course being 100% percent un-failable because Steven adopted the selfless image of his mother in this important moment. Steven listened in on a private conversation he had no business hearing from Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl that fueled this idea further of becoming a savior to all living things and put into perspective that these “amazing warriors” were in fact very insecure like himself and needed Steven in their lives, just as much as he did.

That’s why he helped heal Lapis before.

That’s why he helped Peridot open her eyes and come outta her shell.

I could go on and on, but in a nutshell Steven has made life revolve around others so much that feels only natural to help anyone he can, considering that’s what his mother believed in. Even if they’re morally questionable individuals, Steven still tries to see the good in everyone. His angry statements against Lars attitude about Rose put all of that into perspective to contemplate about.

What do you know about my mom!? I didn’t even get to know my mom, but I do know she saw beauty in everything! Even in stuff like this and even in jerks like you!

Steven’s only known what to do because he’s adopted the ideals of his mother so much. Kind of like being brought into existence like your typical Gems, where they’re programmed to feel that way and commit the actions they’re all built for. It’s poetic honestly that he’s helped everyone, but not himself in the long run. These issues were piling on since the start because Steven didn’t have to worry about feeling inferior because he could always help everyone in this series, but now that the events of Steven Universe Future have occurred this puts everything into a more deeply poignant light for the kid entering a more mature phase of his life now and is going to reflect on every little aspect of himself.

There’s no such thing as happily ever after. I’ll always have more work to do.

But if there’s nothing to work out…

Steven Universe Future is a brilliant character study pay off to all those five seasons that were paving the way to this cementing the idea that Steven has issues that are spiraling outta control from putting all of independence into the idea that he has to be a savior like his mother was. Much like how Spinel was so attached to Pink Diamond as a “best friend”, Steven puts so much faith into the mindset that he has must stick his guns and stay that perfect savior everyone knows/loves. It’s unhealthy emotional attachment that is coming to light with these Pink outbursts of his. While he still loves what his mother stood for, despite feeling very conflicted about her in general these days, still strives to be the best parts of her and not the worst, hence the ending of the Rose Buds episode where he puts the painting of her pure persona into Lion’s mane realm.

It’s entirely reversed roles now where the Crystal Gems and mostly everyone are fine, but Steven is far from being emotionally stable currently in recent events. Steven Universe The Movie built the subversive punchline that this epilogue series has been delivering strongly on so far and hope it will continue to do so. I’ve loved how they’ve deconstructed Steven’s characterization.

To end this lengthy post, I’ll refer to these words from Jasper that sums up everything on Steven’s issues. She may have been seriously harsh, but Jasper aint wrong in some ways about Steven feeling very low on himself in general.

You think everyone needs help, but its only you! No one is as pitiful as you!

On a side note, regarding the humor real quick in Future, I can see why you’d think its more blunt. It’s very on the nose with how much it pokes fun at itself, but honestly I don’t have issues with it all. I don’t know about you, but I find it fucking hilarious how they’ve been openly taking potshots at their previous ideas in the story line. I’m always down for a creative team being snarky with themselves!

Thanks for taking the time to read this detailed post of mine! =)

[5secondsofdrama]

Same fan anon here. If you feel comfortable answering, if you mods feel unappreciated, what are your reasons for staying in the fandom? Running a blog is such a commitment. It seems to me like you’re creating a community for fans of this band, when the band’s contributions and efforts pale in comparison. I’m sure 5sos cares for their fans. I’m sure they do. I just don’t understand why they always do this. It sucks. Honestly, it really hurts. What makes you stay?

I’m gonna take this one particularly because I’ve left the fandom a couple of times. The other mods are welcome to add their own personal experiences as well!

The first time I left was all my own bs, it was before the hiatus and I had personal shit going on and just wasn’t paying attention anymore. As soon as WYB came out I was back in full force. The music from YB era was exactly what I needed at the time.

The second time I left was right after CALM came out. I unfollowed all the members, the band account, deleted my stan twt and even rebranded my 5sos tumblr. I felt the underappreciaton on top of basically hating the majority of the album. I felt there was nothing to stay for and it fucking sucked.

I’ve been a fan of the band since I was 14 or 15, which by the time CALM came out was 7-8 years of my life. I’d grown up with them, with their music and was really close in age to them. My relationship with 5sos and their music is different to my relationship with any other artist/group that I love. Loving them was almost a part of my identity and I felt really let down. Part of my identity, as in I’d put in so many hours, so many years of energy and love into this band and watched them grow bigger, go through personal struggles, watched them mature and grow into men. It’s not that I don’t know who I am without them, it’s just like I didn’t know how to not like them if that makes sense?

To see them turn their backs on that to “appeal to different kinds of fans” meaning men fucking hurts. I could go into a lot more issues I have with their behaviour, attitudes and the way they choose to do the things they do currently but I won’t. I wouldn’t say I’m back in the fandom now... tentatively I’m watching. I appreciate that they’ve spoken about BLM and the accusations even though they were told not to. It sheds light on recent and not so recent events. I’m seeing some growth, but then they seem to go 10 steps back. I’m afraid to trust them again, because they still mean so much and allowing myself to believe in them again just to be let down... it would kill me.

I love what 5sos used to be. What 5sos used to represent and what they used to mean to me. I don’t know them anymore. I’ll always have love for their older music, and the memories. The shit they helped me through, but they aren’t those people anymore, I guess. I don’t think only they are to blame for the negative change in themselves and the band and its direction. Sorry this part is so long, but this band used to be so important to me, they were very close to my heart.

As for the blog, a while after Piper left ST she got in touch with me. We rekindled our friendship and have worked through our stuff. After I left ST, I missed it. And Piper and I would talk about it sometimes. I felt bad for the community we had built. I felt like I’d abandoned them, and they were important to me. All those feelings I explained up above, our community understood to an extent. They maybe didn’t all agree, but it was a good place. We were able to have a dialogue about our negative feelings or opinions without being attacked like on twt. It wasn’t perfect but nothing ever is. I missed talking to the anons, and the few people who I DMed with. Piper felt the same way, and happened to be starting or had recently started this blog with Phoebe, who is also wonderful (and adorable 🥰) badabing badaboom here we are. Hope that answers your question.

TLDR; I don’t stay for the band anymore. I stay for the people I’ve met through the band.