#that would explain the aggressiveness of it! why they were so desperate! but it literally just HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!

[townslore]

discovery of the day

[love-hs28]

Give me the chance to explain

Summary: You had been giving JJ the silent treatment all day and he can’t figure out why. It only takes you accidentally hurting yourself while cleaning for the two of you to see eye-to-eye.  Hurt/comfort & Angst  gn!reader CW: Reader accidentally gets cut with a shard of glass  1.3k words  Posted on: 5-24-24

a/n: My second post!! Hope you enjoy, I promise I'll write a happy one sometime haha :)

You and JJ are alone in the chateau one night while the others are out getting snacks for movie night. They had convinced the two of you to stay home while they went out because you had kinda been fighting all day. ‘Fighting’ meaning you had been ignoring JJ and he had been desperately trying to get you to talk to him. 

You had all gone to a party the night before, and you thought you saw JJ flirting with another girl (granted, you never really gave him the chance to explain himself… you’d kind of just been shutting him out all day.) Kie, Pope, Sarah, and JB had also so kindly given you guys the job of cleaning up the chateau. There were beer bottles scattered around and paper plates and cups littering the floor. Right as the group walked out, you stood up from the couch and started cleaning up. 

JJ sighed and leaned back into his seat. “Y/n, come on. You gotta talk to me.” You continued cleaning up, moving into the kitchen to grab a trash bag to hold as you walked around. You had been giving him the silent treatment all day and he wasn’t having it anymore. “Y/n. This is bullshit, whatever this is can’t be fixed if you won’t even look at me! Come on, they expect us to have all our shit figured out when they get back, and honestly, I would like to not spend the rest of the night in awkward silence.” 

You sigh and bend down to pick up a beer bottle, but it slips out of your hand as you stand up and shatters on the floor. You straighten up and rub a hand over your face, take a deep breath, and roughly set the trash bag on the floor to crouch down and get ready to clean up the glass. JJ sighs again and stands up to come help you. “Here, let me help.” 

You stand up and push his hand away from the trash bag. “No! Cut it out, JJ, you know exactly why I’m acting like this! Quit pretending like you’re clueless and like you don’t know what’s wrong.” 

He frustratedly laughs and rubs a hand over his face. “For fucks sake, y/n, I’ve been trying to talk to you ALL DAY to understand why you’re so upset! I legitimately have no idea what I did wrong, so please, just cut the bullshit and tell me!”

It’s your turn to laugh now, and you aggressively sit on the couch and throw the trash bag on the floor. “No, YOU cut the bullshit. You can’t expect me to act perfectly fine when we go to a party and I see you flirting with another girl who is basically THROWING herself at you and you just let it happen!” 

JJ looks at you like that’s the craziest thing any person has ever said. “Are you serious?? I was absolutely not flirting with another girl. Not only was I completely wasted, but I was literally with you the entire night.” 

You roll your eyes and get up from the couch to pick up the broken bottle. “Whatever, JJ. I’m done talking about this. If you wanna lie about being with that girl and about ‘being with me the entire night’ then go ahead, but you can do it to someone else because I’m not having this conversation anymore.”

JJ looks around like he’s about to go crazy. “Y/n. I swear to god. I was literally with you the entire night! From when we got there, to when we got drinks, to when we left! You’re acting ridiculous, I genuinely don’t know what you’re so mad about.” 

You stop in front of the damn glass shards once more and angrily pick up the trash bag again. “I just fucking told you what I’m mad about! And I never got drinks at the party, you did. You left about ten minutes after we got there and I didn’t see you again for the rest of the night.” 

JJ sits down and rubs his hands over his face. “I’m actually so confused right now. I know I was wasted but literally remember spending the whole night with you. We got drinks and danced and then left at like 2.” 

You shake your head, internally realizing that maybe he mistook some other girl for you. It had kinda been a rough week for you overall, and maybe you were overreacting just a little bit. “Whatever. Everyone’ll be back soon and I need to get this shithole cleaned up.” You start to pick up the shattered beer bottle but end up accidentally being too rough and cutting your hand on a big sharp piece. “Shit,” you hiss and suck in a breath, dropping the bag to hold your hurt hand in your other one. 

JJ looks up from his hands and sees you bleeding and immediately gets up. “Y/n, jesus.” You can feel tears prickling from the cut, and also probably from being stressed all day - no, all week. 

You pull away from JJ and wipe a tear with your good hand. You sniff and try to stand up. “I’m fine. Stop.” 

JJ puts one hand on your holder and the other on your elbow to gently make you sit down and kisses your head. “Let me help you, honey. Sit here, I’ll get the first aid kit.” 

You sit on the ground and clutch your hurt hand as tears stream down your face. You’re beginning to feel absolutely horrible for treating him like shit all day. 

JJ returns from the bathroom a minute later and sits next to you. “Sorry,” he whispers, “It was shoved under the sink. Took me a minute to find it.” 

You sniff and look away from him as he starts to clean out the cut. You can see him out of the corner of your eye and he keeps looking from your hand to your face. 

“Doesn’t look deep enough to need stitches. It should heal itself in a week or two.” Once he’s done cleaning it, he covers the cut and gives it a kiss. You let him hold your hand and rub it. 

You couldn’t stand not talking to him all day, and realize now that he made an honest mistake, and you felt like a complete bitch for acting the way you did. You guys had never fought like this before and it hurt so much that you knew you would do anything to prevent it from happening again. You start to cry and he gently pulls you into him. 

“Oh, honey.” He rubs your back as you cry and grab onto his shirt with your good hand. He sighs and starts softly talking. “I think you realized this by now, but I still want to say it so you know what happened. I thought I was with you the whole time at the party. I swear on my life. The other girl must have looked very similar to you, or maybe I was just wasted out of my mind, but I swear on everything I would never flirt with anyone other than you. I swear to you I remember being with you the entire night. Not some stupid touron. I would never do that to you.” 

You lift your head and rub your eyes, letting out a sigh. “I know. I think that’s why I got so upset about it. It wasn’t like you and it scared me. I’m sorry. I feel like a complete bitch, I should have just talked to you about it. I’m sorry.” 

JJ shakes his head softly and holds your face in his hands. “Don’t apologize. You had every right to be upset. If I was in your position I would have probably assumed the same thing. We just need to talk to each other first when things like this happen. I hate fighting with you, y/n. And I hate seeing you so upset, especially when I’m the one who caused it.”

You lean your forehead on his, and he kisses you sweetly. You sit like this for a few seconds more, then JJ starts to get up and helps you do the same. 

“Alright, let's get this shithole cleaned up before everyone comes back and bites our heads off, yeah?” 

You softly smile and nod, wiping your face again. JJ sweetly smiles and comes over and hugs you. 

“You and me forever, okay? I got you.” 

a/n: I hope you enjoyed, thank you to the moon and back for reading <3. Again, PLEASE leave requests, prompts, questions, or anything for me!! I want to make this a usual thing of posting so please give me any & all feedback. Love ya!

xoxo

[janovavalen]

✧AWKWARD CONFRONTATIONS || percy jackson x fem!reader

summary: percy jackson’s first days on camp were hell to say the least—fist day and he got bullied, but when he sneaks away to be alone he finds an interesting girl in the forest.

part one.

part two.

part three.

part four.

part five.

word count: 2402

warnings: reader is daughter of athena, sister of annabeth, horrid flirting, reader lowkey not felling percy for the first half’s of this story line.

THIS IS THE END OF THIS SERIES¡!

as percy rolled in his bead with immediate regret of waking up. he wished posiden decided he didn’t want him as a son anymore and drowned him in his bed. if that were to happen, he’d be beyond happy.

remembering the day before, what she said and how she said it. how desperate she was to leave him in the forest alone. his face growing red with embarrassment he slapped his hands over his face while aggressively throwing his body around in the bed, the blankets falling to the floor while he rolled over and groaned out loud.

just as he finished his tantrum, grover walked in with luke close behind. they had been trying to find ways to get an answer from y/n without pestering her for her feelings. grover said he’d hate to bug her about something she can’t explain or doesn’t want to, especially with them.

‘percy, why is your blanket on the floor?’ luke pointed out the obvious while his finger pointed at the dark blue blanket on the floor.

percy sat up in a rush while he looked between the blanket at them and nervously laughed with his face beat down red—‘o-oh y’know, just…pretty hot last night so i guess me sleeping didn’t want the blanket anymore.’ he told them while he stood up in a rush and picked the discarded blanket and placed it back on his bed.

‘right, uhm—so we were thinking at breakfast we talk to y/n, grover will first and i can second later today. grover talks pretty well with people so i don’t see why she won’t have a soft spot for him’ luke exposed to percy who’s heart beat in a very painful way when he thought of her or whenever her name was brought up.

‘um, right…yeah we can do that’ seeing percy’s unsettled face and body movement, grover walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder—‘percy, it’s okay. you don’t need to stress about it—‘

as grover began, percy shook his head in disagreement—‘no, no grover it is something i need to stress about, okay? she flat out rejected me and i already feel desperate when you guys say your going to talk to her…i mean what if she says she literally hates me, or what if she mentions how i tripped over a rock yesterday—a pebble!’ percy groaned once more as he placed his hands on his face.

grover and luke shared a look before smiling softly at percy—‘don’t think like that, she isn’t like that—well the pebble part yeah that could’ve knocked down some points, but hey…she won’t just reject you the way she did. i’ve seen y/n reject others and trust me she’s flat out told them she’s not interested and listed things they’ve done over time.’ luke revealed to percy who felt a sense of relief.

‘so percy, don’t think negatively about the situation, don’t worry…okay?’ luke added with a soft smile which grover gave one as well while percy thought it was a bit off on how they were both smiling at him like a kid that did something wrong and the parents said—“we’re not mad just disappointed”—giving them a small smile back he nodded his head.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ 🌊　˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

at breakfast percy sat with luke who sat across from him, his plate of breakfast with small portions of different things but a whole load of blueberries and strawberries. nibbling on small bits of each fruit, his eyes trained on grover and y/n who spoke quietly in the field.

he tried to read the body language from across the way but could only pick up how she’d straighten her back every now and again, her hand fixing her hair to place it behind her ear, her eyes would move form the table back to grover who spoke with his hands.

y/n seemed uncomfortable…and percy felt so bad for it because it was him that caused it. looking down at his plate and moving around the fruit and foods luke noticed and turned to see y/n sneak a glance at percy before turning back around.

‘come on…don’t look so beat down about it, not to excite you or anything but she just looked at you—‘

‘what?—huh!’ percy whisper shouted while he looked over at her only to see she was turned back around, he was a bit late but he knows luke couldn’t lie about something like that.

‘was it a good or a bad look?’ her questioned quickly.

‘it looked good’ he told simply with a shrug.

‘did she look like she felt bad or she was going to talk to me?’ percy asked once more. luke tried to think back on how she looked—her eyebrows frowned, her lips turned down a bit, her hands rested by her stomach as she picked at her fingers. —‘she looked like she felt bad, but also looked like she needed to talk to you’ luke told him.

‘oh my gosh, oh my gosh—what do i do if she does? i can’t just speak freely. oh my gosh, i’m going to throw up…’ percy groaned while placing his head in his hands once more.

luke laughed and wished he could’ve taken a picture but was interrupted when grover who sat down aggressively and abruptly—‘okay! okay…dude, your totally good’ grover cleared for percy who let out a dramatic sigh—‘how do you know?’ percy asked in a rush.

‘okay so, she said she was scared because she’d never actually felt something like that for someone and that when you admitted to liking her she froze up and didn’t know what to do so had to leave before she embarrassed herself, she said if she did she would’ve left camp’ grover repeated what y/n said to percy who sat close to him.

‘see what did i say? if she wanted to reject you, she would’ve’ luke smiled at percy whose face was red once more—‘okay but what do i do? like do u talk to her? or leave it alone—‘

‘she said she’ll talk to you, later today…after dinner’ grover revealed making percy’s world shatter, he was so nervous he wanted to throw up and die.

‘are you sure—‘

‘yes! percy it’s okay, it’s going to be fine just…don’t trip over a pebble again…k’ay?’ grover told him with a hand on his shoulder leaving percy to give a tight lipped smile and nod.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ 🌊　˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

percy never wished time would speed up more than right now. the whole day, percy had been sneaking glances at y/n. sometimes they’d reciprocate and sometimes he’d stare for too long where grover or luke would have to snap him out of it.

at archery practice, he stared so hard that the arrow almost shot someone’s foot who sat in the grass while they fixed their arrow, they let him know how they felt very verbally.

when they were sword practicing he would look at y/n and annabeth who practiced together on the hill, away from everyone as they always did—he almost got slashed across the face.

when dinner finally came around he purposely sat a table away down y/n, and when it came for grabbing their food, he was lucky enough to land a spot in line next to y/n—and annabeth too—but mainly y/n. she stood in front of him while he stood behind.

it gave him the time to see how tall she was, she was a little over the same hight as annabeth, but he was a bit taller—he’d hope he got the hight from his dad, if it was from his mom, he wouldn’t grow any taller for the rest of his life…a sad short old man who got rejected so hard—

‘hey percy’ a soft voice spoke. looking up to see y/n grabbing her food but her head turned a little to look at him, he stumbled across his words and looked between her e/c eyes.

‘hey, y/n…what’s up?’ he awkwardly asked with his hands holding his plate as they started to sweat.

‘nothing…grover told you didn’t he?’ she asked for clarity which percy nodded to—‘i’ll be at the lake, later…you don’t have to go or even talk to me…i understand if—‘

‘no, no, i want to, i need to—well not like that, just i'd really like to talk to you…so, yeah..’ he mentally abused himself by throwing rocks at his imaginary self in his head while he grew a bit embarrassed by tripping over his words so bad.

she softly smiled and walked away with annabeth who grinned at her.

hurrying to the table where grover and luke sat, he smiled at what just happened.

‘what just—‘

‘y/n talked to him, i heard it’ grover told luke who ‘ooed’ at percy who rolled his eyes and shoved him in the shoulder a little.

‘wait what do i—‘

‘just wing it…don’t think too much or you’ll make your head hurt, don’t overdo yourself but don't not do anything at all, you’ll be okay’ luke told him with a smile.

‘yeah and definitely don’t wear your hair like that’ grover told him with a shake of his head.

percy reached up to touch his dried out curls—‘what’s wrong with my hair?’ he asked sheepishly. luke and grover looked at each other before looking at percy who would fall victim to their male makeover.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ 🌊　˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

later that night when everyone was ready for bed and in their own cabins, percy walked out of his after being tossed around and changed several times. luke decided he’d wear a plain white shirt with jeans and grover helped him out on his curls since he had a set of his own.

his hair a little damp, but not enough to drip onto his shirt. his shoes being the same converse he always had. wiped his sweaty hands on his pants he took a deep breath and walked down and through to the lake where she said she’d be.

when he got there nobody was there, he must have beat her to it. sighing as he walked only to dock, he looked around before sitting on the edge of it, his converse touching the water slightly as he moved it with the tip of his shoe.

his arms on both sides of him as he looked down into the water. the night was quiet and dimly lit with the touches that were planted across the whole camp. with his legs moving slowly he thought of what could happen.

if anything bad came out of tonight again, he was going back home—

‘taking a late night swim?’ he heard from behind him. looking fastly with his head turned he was met with y/n who wore jean shorts and a white long sleeved shirt with black high top converse like his own. her hair was down and she wore no makeup.

she looked beautiful.

‘yup, heard the waters amazing after dark, sharks and crabs and other sea creatures come out’ he jokes while she shook her head, making her way next to him as she sat down with her hands on her lap, her fingers playing with each other.

the whole tension was quiet and very awkward between them. you could practically slice it with a butcher knife. clearing his throat while y/n looked at him, she began to speak.

‘i didn’t reject you yesterday…’ she started off quiet. he turned to her immediately and looked all over her soft glistening face that seemed to glow with the light of the fires nearby.

‘grover told me you felt like you were rejected, and was embarrassed about it all night and half of the day…i’m so sorry i made you feel like that, percy…it’s just—‘

seeing she was starting to feel bad and look uncomfortable, percy stopped her and held his hand on her hands that rested on her lap—‘no, there’s nothing to be sorry for. you don’t need to apologize for that—‘

‘but i do percy, i do. i push things away and expect them to stay away without any regard for how people might feel. i feel so bad because your an amazing person and…and i like you too.’ when she said this his hand didn’t move from hers but he found himself scooting closer as she spoke, his heart beating so fast he was afraid if they were in a cartoon he’d have that goofy heart animated while it pumped out of his body.

‘i like you to, and i was scared to admit it because i don’t want to hurt you in the future…i could never forgive myself if i did…and i just, i didn’t know what to say.’ she told him with a quiet voice, her eyes stayed on his while he shook his head and his eyebrows frowned in sympathy.

‘it’s nothing to be sorry for…and i understand how you feel. i’m just happy you told me how you felt instead of keeping it to yourself—granted i had grover talk to you and all’ he shrugged a shoulder while y/n laughed a bit her mood lifted.

the air got quiet nice more and percy mumbled—‘you look very pretty by the way…i don’t know if i said it but i just wanted to say it to you, well—you look pretty all the time to be honest i just don’t ever tell you but i wanted to now so you know’ he ranted again making y/n’s face grow warm as she smiled sweetly.

looking him in his eyes she blinked lightly before saying—‘you look pretty handsome too, i like what you’ve done with the gist it looks pretty this way’ she said, grabbing her hand from his and touching the slight wet but dried out messy curls. he blushed deeply and looked at her before smiling and looking out into the distance.

after a bit y/n and his converse touched the tip of the water, and not soon after she placed her head onto his shoulder, smiling like a idiot.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ 🌊　˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

from that week on percy made sure he had grover do his hair every day and even between the day throughout. and every day, y/n said how she loved it and sometimes would style it on her own.

[bucklway]

how mello & near fail as proper antagonists from the perspective of a mello & near fan

the most interesting thing a character can do in a story is surprise you. to be caught off guard by a character, you need to already have an idea of who they might be.

for example, if a character is introduced to an audience as the greatest detective the world has ever known, someone who’s intelligent & calculated, the viewer might be shocked when that character makes many wild & risky decisions. it might catch someone off guard to hear that character say something like “i had to test this just in case, i never thought it would actually work..”

it’s such a small piece of information but it tells us SO much about the mystery of L Lawliet. L is known by many as the greatest detective, but his first true introduction to us, the audience, is his boldness, his capacity to take risks. his genius is so great that a shot in the dark for him results in a bullseye.

to introduce a character through other characters’ opinions of them is my favourite way to challenge the viewer’s expectations in a story. i think to be curious is to be engaged, a story should be setting you up with a million questions that are compelling enough to keep you interested bc you know they will be answered eventually.

it’s not very interesting when you know everything about the series’ antagonist right off the bat.

L as an antagonist is so compelling bc he’s shrouded in mystery, not only is light desperate to know his true identity & true feelings, but we are as well. this is where near & mello fundamentally fail as proper antagonists, every part of their characters work for me aside from the way in which information is learned about them. it’s such a harsh contrast from the genius that is L, it’s insulting to the viewers who are reading/watching bc they actually care about this story & its characters.

so why is mello and nears introduction so bad? simple, we receive too much information.

the scene in which they appear for the first time is literally set in the place where they live, talking to the man who is raising them, it’s insanely personal. compare it to how we meet L for the first time: through a computer screen, held by a man who’s identity is hidden by a mask & all we see on that computer is the letter L. sorichiro tells us he’s the greatest detective but no one knows his true identity. it tells you all you need to know about him at that point in the story, L is a smart detective who is overly cautious about revealing his identity. we aren’t told why he’s overly cautious or who the man is holding the computer but it’s enough to get us thinking.

this is the amount of information we get through mello & near’s introduction: their caretaker is named roger, he works at wammys house (the orphanage watari founded, which is also information that was revealed in the last episode) where mello & near live. roger reveals that L is dead, meaning that mello & near have some kind of connection to L. mello is devastated at the news but it’s quickly revealed that this devastation is most likely the cause of frustration that L can’t “pick one of them” what does that mean? don’t worry, this scene makes it very clear. mello & near were raised to be great detectives, one of them was meant to be picked so they could carry on his legacy but he hadn’t chosen one yet. near is cold, seemingly emotionless & fixated on solving puzzles. mello is loud, aggressive & overly emotional. roger suggests that they could work together on the kira case, near seems up for it but mello is enraged. he tells roger “you know i don’t get along with near.” which is such a funny way to establish something about a character, having them explain a fact about themselves to someone who already knows it. mello reveals some deeper insecurities about not being better than near & he runs away from home. near is officially the new L, working to defeat kira.

..so that’s way too much information, right?

that scene is like.. if in episode 11, when misa is being introduced thru the sakura TV tapes, we were also seeing misa’s perspective, watching her every move & hearing all of her opinions. the introduction of misa is interesting because the audience isn’t given the information that there are 2 notebooks yet, we are meant to assume that light is the one doing all of this even if it doesn’t seem like something he’d do.

mello & near fail as proper antagonists bc the narrative doesn’t take them seriously & doesn’t give them the time they need to establish themselves as threats.

i truly do think near & mello could have been amazing, i have my own ideas for how i would’ve personally taken the story after L’s death but this post is already too long lol!

[yan-snowcave]

🥀The Horribly Perfect Creation 🥀

[Perfect Love, Yandere!Dragon AU]

[Tw; Body Horror (for the picture at the very end) & Abuse]

Her Perfect Love...

Everything that she wanted...

Everything shaped by her own two hands, creating the perfect creation that obeyed her every command. So obsessed with her, so desperate for her and yet, here he lays. In an unknown location, confused and scared with two new hims literally attached to him. Or would they count as one now? Three turned into one, the Perfect Love she craved;

Manipulative Charming!

Violent Protective!

Obsessed Passionate!

Everything she wanted, she shaped him to what she desired until he lost himself. That was at least until he became this...Monster and got left behind by the one who claimed to be his forever. Was it the many blinkless eyes that bothered her? Or the extra arms perhaps? Maybe the extra mouth they had gotten had bothered her...

If she only told him the problem...He could've fixed it, ripped the eyes out, let her cut his arms off (she cut my finger it hurt so much.) Or maybe the wings attached to them bothered her? He gladly let her tear them to shreds (I just wanted to fly with her but she grounded me, why does it hurt so much? I still feel the knife tear them apart, please make it stop.) Maybe it truly was the endless eyes, watching her every move? She did strangely bump into them (always watching, we need to keep an eye on her, if she leaves she will kill us, I don't wanna die...)

He still remembers the day when she stopped coming back to check on him, keeping him locked away in that abandoned garage they had found a long time ago. The only place that could house his new size, hide his appearance from others, their 'little nest to be' as they called it...Or at least that was what it was supposed to be.

Instead he was thrown away like a broken toy. Something that no longer could hold her interest, something to be forgotten and left to rot while she found someone new. A new toy to shape and break to her will, while they had to watch from afar.

Their promise of being together forever, to be the one and only for each other...

Broken.

Shattered like a plate, into so many pieces but nobody daring to pick them up. Why risk getting cut? Nobody would care for such Trash like him, right? Not even his parents loved him, so why should the one who promised to stay by his side forever? Oh how Pathetic of them to think they were worthy of love.

Oh, how they screamed in rage, pain and denial. All of this agony, echoing throughout the area, their own little song written for the one they loved, someone who indirectly caused them to turn into this monster.

And then, she dared to abandoned them, like everyone else had.

Deep down he had to confess that he knew she would stop loving him, it was clear when the first few symptoms showed up. How she brushed them all off;

A Migraine here, dry skin there, the occasional aggressive snarl that changed immediately to puppy-like happiness and the sudden growth spurt that strained his poor muscles, causing him to collapse as his legs gave out.

All of them easily explainable to her; Stress, the weather getting dryer, just hungover or high from a party they went to and of course his "tall genes" doing their work again.

The only ones concerned for his well-being from what he can recall were Valli, Desmond and Seth. The latter looked at him like he wanted to say something but couldn't...Maybe it was because of the way he started to distance himself from everyone like she had commanded to.

And the worst part? He did it gladly so, after all this was his one to be. His lover, his soulmate!

Now he regrets obeying her command.

He needed help but who.could he even call? She would just ignore him or worse make fun of him, belittle him...No he wouldn't take it.

Valli? Seth? Desmond? What were they suppose to do? What COULD they even do?! He himself didnt know what was going on, he was so alone, how pathetic to think that he would ever get a chance at love.

In her eyes he must've been just another failure.

A failure, disappointment and something that nobody could love. Not even his own parents, so why did he think others would?

...How Pathetic.

"Mr.Change, the doctor is ready to see you."

That voice...It sounded so...

"Oh, how rude of me! I'm Nurse ____ and I will be the one to take care of you from now on! Welcome to the Draconic Rehabilitation Clinic."

Perfect...Yes, they would be his Soulmate, he would make sure of it and this time;

They wouldn't be able to run from him!

[This is what Perfect!Dragon Milo looks like, he has a more healthy one he unlocks after spending time with the nurse (your OC/Sona/Self Insert/Ect ;3)]

[ceo-draiochta]

A review of:

The Origins of Ireland's Holy Wells by Celeste Ray

Celeste Ray, a professor of anthropology for the University of the South, USA wrote this book after extensive research, both desk and foot into Irelands Holy Wells. I would honestly recommend anyone with any interest in Irish religious practices, culture, paganism, or mythology to pick it up. An amazing book. I'll be giving my thoughts and what I liked and didn't like about it here.

What I liked:

A very well researched book that shows the authors dedication not just to anthropology but to the living practices she is documenting

The passion of the author is clear and they Mince no words when discussing other researchers and their work, pointing out the flaws, misconceptions and biases (some of which were wild I can't believe some of these people are taken as authorities on the subject when their conclusion was that wells are a toilet metaphor?)

Uses a wider pre roman European context for the evidence. As we are so often reminded, to treat Ireland as some how separate from Western Europe is ridiculous and is a disservice to the interconnection of the people of old.

The reframing of this idea, which is normally used as a strong force against nativist views into a supportive one was quite interesting.

Examines roman writings in a very balanced way that acknowledges the inherent propaganda but does not dismiss it outright.

There's a whole section of people including academics who seems desperate for a roman invasion of ireland, despite there being basically no evidence of it. Like people are fully making things up to try and force one, the author gives these people a sound dismissal in their restating of the evidence of raiding and trade over large-scale roman conquest. (Genuine question can someone explain why people are so mad for Romans in ireland?)

I thus learned more about pre roman Western European practices and archeology than I ever really had the desire to. I am now much more educated on the subject.

The framing of sites as important locations adopted and readopted based on shifting circumstances of the time rather than a "secret unbroken line" which is much more realistic.

The explanation of Holy Wells as archaeologically challenging sites was well explained.

Using etymology in the connection of wells to supernatural beings. Love etymology so this was amazing

The use of early irish literature to support existing claims. Which I know claiming that there are pagan elements in the literature basically gets you spat and jeered at but nevertheless is really compelling.

While this blog has been thoroughly against the lumping together of celtic cultures, this book makes a great case as to when it is appropriate to use the term celtic and that the rush to replace this term has very much resulted in the baby being thrown out with the bath water.

Actually engages with living culture and treats folklore and living sources/practices as evidence to be considered rather than "silly little irish peasants" but also does not take every tale as completely accurate literal history.

Plenty of examples and pictures of well in practice today.

Supports a general pre Christian, pre roman use of wells and springs as sacred sites but also acknowledges the influence of both (especially Christian) on the practice.

Acknowledges the diverse origins of holy wells, from one's that have have votive offerings since the bronze age to ones that were made sacred in the modern age.

Does not buy into any sort of "Christians are thieves" narrative.

Honestly this seems like the definitive book on irish holy wells.

What I didn't like:

While I loved the book there was definitely things I took issue with.

The assertive nature of the tone was entertaining, it did sort of feel like the author was this close to calling other researchers "fucking idiots", though humanities papers seem to have a much more aggressive tone than I am used to from my field of study.

The author makes many an interesting and compelling hypothesis in the book, but they are just that. These theories are then presented as the fact of the matter when really they are no more or less substantiated than the other theories.

Could have done without some of the "identity politics" on the celtic question section. Like I get that's a huge part of this authors work but I didn't feel it was all necessary to include.

Some of the mythological comparisons seem like a little bit of a stretch Low-key.

Either way this is a fantastic work and I urge everyone even remotely interested to buy it, it's a little pricey but well worth it. It can be purchased online on Google books(link). Now obviously this is all from my lay perspective, if anyone with actual qualifications wants to correct or argue feel free. This is just my perspective.

[shreddedleopard]

Kaiser’s Ego

I’ve been thinking a lot about Kaiser recently, and why I both love and hate him, and why his character rings so true.

This is mega rambling and repetitive probably, so apologies in advance, but I had to get my thoughts down.

I believe that Kaiser’s ego is broken. To explain, first let me share a definition of ego spat out by Google:

Three phrases stand out to me in relation to Kaiser:

Superiority to others

Self-respect

Personal worth

Kaiser is a character who seems so desperate to cling on to that first thing - superiority to others.

When faced with Isagi, Kaiser immediately works on destroying Isagi’s own personal worth. Kaiser quickly recognises that Isagi has a very similar skill set to him, meaning he has the potential to surpass and even replace Kaiser in his specific spot in the team (that position being the game master, mainly). He has literally made himself the king of this BM team; the director of his very own show; he is in control and occupies the central spot. But the player most likely to dethrone him is Isagi, and because of that, immediately Kaiser knows he must show this threat his rightful place.

It’s interesting to me that Kaiser so quickly goes into fight or flight mode when faced with Isagi. It’s not just friendly competition; at times, it doesn’t even feel like a healthy rivalry. It’s absolute war - Kaiser is obsessed and unhinged, and deals with Isagi like his personal well-being is under threat.

I think this might be because it is. This is all speculation but, for Kaiser, it’s not about a love of football. It’s about being the best at something. We’ve yet to see Kaiser’s back story, but I think whatever it entails, he grew up with the mentality that love is conditional. It’s my theory that he had parents or guardians who were only ever present or interested in him when he was able to beat his competition and rise to the top in something. This is both similar and different to Hiori’s backstory. Hiori has parents who are pushy and overly-invested in Hiori’s sporting career. They lavish him with attention; it’s just the wrong sort; it’s pressure. But it fits Kaiser to have had parents who were either absent or disinterested, and for a young Kaiser, it became a fight for attention or recognition. His existence might only have ever been acknowledged when he beat the competition, surpassed expectations, did something exceptional. He had the idea reinforced that to be worthy of anyone’s time or attention, you have to meet certain conditions. You are not just born deserving of anything; the only way to receive it is to fight for it, and to come out on top.

If we look at Kaiser through this lens, so much of his behaviour suddenly makes more sense. He is so aggressive towards those who threaten his position because in his eyes, they’re not just competing for his spot as the best at football; they’re competing for the basic human needs of love and respect. If he is beaten, if he is not literally the best on that field, then he will be shut out by those around him, left unwanted and unworthy of love.

So let’s link back to that last phrase - personal worth. Kaiser’s personal worth is not something that exists in and of itself. Personal worth is not something he naturally has - it is tied to his performance; in this situation, it’s football. Compare this to someone like Isagi, who we saw way back at the start of the manga being welcomed home by supportive parents who showed him love and respect and gave him a warm meal despite the fact that his team lost. Isagi therefore knows he is worthy of these things despite his performance in any sports or school etc. As opposed to Kaiser, who in the same situation, would return home only to be ignored.

As a child, parental love is vital for someone to develop self esteem and personal worth. If Kaiser was made to compete for this, then his whole concept of self esteem and personal worth are linked to what he does, how hard he fights, what he can achieve. As opposed to Isagi, who will have a sense of self esteem and personal worth regardless of his position or performance on the pitch.

Therefore, we can surmise that Kaiser fights for his position as the centre of his team from a place of fear, in contrast with Isagi, who fights from a place of passion and love of the sport. They may appear similar in their grit and determination - their drive to win - but that drive doesn’t come from the same place. Isagi doesn’t view others as dangerous threats to be scared of. He’s not venomous and obsessed the way Kaiser is both on and off the pitch, because after the game ends, he can still walk away from a match with his self - respect and personal worth in tact, ready to fight again, whereas for Kaiser, these things are both made and destroyed on that playing field. He simply cannot afford to lose in a way that is different to Isagi.

His sense of self worth and self esteem is in tatters beneath this outer illusion of confidence and disdain for those around him. In the above art, he’s watching Isagi, who has his sights focused ahead of him. This is because Isagi is focused on where he’s headed, while Kaiser is obsessed with comparing himself to those around him - this is how he measures his own worth. If he’s not better than all of them, then he’s worthless. He’s surrounded by material displays of importance, love and affection, and yet the football at his feet is battered and barely patched up. Kaiser plays for these displays of love and adoration, because he believes this is the only way to receive them. He’s trying to patch up what’s missing for his battered inner sense of self, just like the patches on his battered football. Compare this to Isagi, who is only surrounded by the basic items he needs to play the sport he loves, with a shiny, fully intact football. Isagi plays simply for his passion for football, not to make up for anything lacking in his life outside of it. Ignore everything else that’s going on in this artwork; focus on the footballs. They represent the egos of these two players who, on the surface, might seem almost identical in their drive to win.

‘Ego is the only weapon that lets you fight back.’

‘The haves and the have-nots.’

Whilst on the surface it may look like Kaiser is all ego, in actuality, it’s the very thing that will be his downfall, because it’s what he lacks compared to Isagi. It’s broken.

This idea of the ‘broken’ or at least very much ‘breakable’ or ‘fragile’ ego of Kaiser’s is repeated on his volume cover:

His collar and chains appear to be made of very breakable glass, as opposed to other player’s metal. If the chains do represent the idea of the ego, then this imagery for Kaiser fits perfectly.

We can also see why he’s branded himself with that crown - another illusion of importance when inwardly he’s always chasing that feeling of mattering somehow. The blue rose sprouting from it - representing the unobtainable - is symbolic of the fact that Kaiser will never be able to find that feeling of self-worth and importance when he seeks it externally, because it has to come from within him. He has to understand that he is worthy and important simply for existing, not because of anything he does or achieves.

[questforgalas]

Sibling moments in the Bad Batch that live rent free in my head

S1E15 "Return to Kamino"

Alright babes, if you've been along on TBB ride before, you know these next two are tension filled extravaganzas. The "sibling moments" are definitely going to be more on the hurt/emotional side, but we're gonna get through it together!

The tension between Hunter and Crosshair is supreme sibling angst. They're both so hurt by the other and so mad but have the literal emotional IQ of a 10 year old and are so bitter

"They'll still come for you" dripping with venom with the pause and pointed look back

Also wonder if he feels slighted at Hunter explaining the squad knowing it'd be a trap - Crosshair has predicted their every move during each of their encounters, of course he knows they'll know it's a trap. I don't think this was malicious by Hunter but I think Crosshair could take it that way

Echo taking on the role of distracting anxious sis and keeping her hands busy

"If I go any lower, we will be in the water" Tech just listen to your sister

"Never doubted you for a second kid!" Wrecker is so supportive of everyone and especially Omega 😭

Tech is so stoked about the tube system 😂

"You, uh, alright?" ECHO NOTICING OMEGA'S DEMEANOR AND TRYING HIS DARNDEST TO COMFORT HER STAHP IT

Echo's look up at Tech and Wrecker when Omega deflects 😭

Hunter constantly glances at the stormtrooper walking with him and Crosshair cause he wants to be alone with Crosshair so badly to knock him on his skull and try to knock some sense into him

Literally, his eyes only narrow when they go on the stormtrooper. Even when he faces Crosshair and keeps his Sergeant face, his eyes soften each time they land on Cross

Hunter's eyes are literally pleading with Crosshair

Dear god these rewatches and detail catches are going to be the death of my heart

"They'll come to us. They don't leave their own behind. Most of the time" HUNTER IS STARING DOWN AND TO THE SIDE WITH SHAME IN HIS EYES WHILE CROSSHAIR SAYS THIS

Hunter now doesn't give a fuck if the stormtroopers hear him, he's in desperation mode

"Hm. And I did" said while the same score that was used during the platform scene in "The Outpost" makes me want to throw myself off the roof now that I've realized this

This has turned into a Hunter and Crosshair analysis instead of sibling moments so sorry

"Is that true?" "How could I possibly know that?" said with an eye roll. Iconic

Hunter's attempt at trying to reason with Crosshair, his eyes are so soft the whole time 😭

Wrecker's amused and excited "Oho, he's waiting"

"Welp, guess you were wrong about that" at Tech thinking they were expected to come in the main entrance and not the lift BUT CROSSHAIR KNOWS HIS BROTHERS AND KNOWS WHAT THEY'LL DO

Hunter's shock and pain when Crosshair says "You weren't loyal to me"

Crosshair's entire speech is a desperate sibling needing his brothers back

"Omega belongs with us" when Hunter says "us" he doesn't turn his head to indicate the group behind him and himself, he leans towards Crosshair, emphasizing the word and widening his eyes like he's trying to drive the point that Omega belongs with the Batch and that includes Crosshair aka Crosshair belongs with them too

Tech noticing the pucks, elbowing Wrecker, and they both lower their shoulders slightly - that's a sign of trust

"Why would we trust you?" Hunter doesn't say this aggressively. He's in a casual position, his body sideways to Crosshair. His stance is not of action but observation. At this point, he feels no actual threat from Crosshair, and that line is a test

"Don't become my enemy." "Crosshair, we never were" SOMEBODY SEDATE ME 😭😭😭

COORDINATED BATTLE SCENE COORDINATED BATTLE SCENE AND THEY FALL INTO STEP LIKE THEY'VE NEVER BEEN APART

Honestly, what sibling pairing hasn't had to solve their issues by body slamming each other to the floor

So many pointed looks between Hunter and Crosshair trying to size each other up and figure out where they stand. They want to be on each other's side so badly

Hunter's face is so desperate during his final plea to Crosshair

The shock on Hunter and in Tech's eyes when Cross says he removed his chip 😭😭😭

Waist high hugs from Omega

Hunter immediately checking if there's a chip scar on Cross 😭

[indiaalphawhiskey]

In honour of H looking like a babe, a little sneak peek in any of your wips? Please

Anything, in honor of H looking like the beautiful Barbie babe on glitter toast he was last night. 🥰

Also, I’m so sorry if I’ve posted this already, I truly can’t remember (and apparently tumblr will only show half of my tags!) (I have to work on a proper masterpost!)

***

🐘 Snippet

“A bald-faced lie straight to my face,” Harry said, shaking his head and clicking his tongue in faux disappointment. His voice was scandalized as he playfully accused, “And on our thirtieth anniversary? How dare you?”

Louis gave him a cheeky shrug, his forkful of eggs poised in front of that unfailingly sexy smirk, “I was testing you.”

“Well,” Harry said, too smug, “I have the memory of an elephant, so…”

Louis narrowed his eyes at Harry, his next hum doubtful and teasing. “Oh yeah, Dumbo?” he challenged, “You remember proposing to me on our third date?”

Harry didn’t even bother to put his fork down, leveling him with an unimpressed look. “Nice try, liar. You don’t think I remember our third date was when I drank my weight in grocery wine?”

Louis snorted at the memory. “I had to carry you home to my flat.”

“Okay, I was nervous, wanker. We both knew we were going to have sex that night.”

“And yet.” Louis quipped around the lip of his coffee cup, though not quite quietly enough. “Also,” he said, brow furrowing in confusion, “we’d already had sex—”

“Yeah, but not on purpose.” Harry’s very clear explanation was followed by Louis’ completely befuddled silence, and he sighed, exasperatedly elaborating, “This was on-purpose Third Date Sex™ with possibly-my-future-husband.”

“Mm-hmm.” Louis nodded slowly – shrewdly. “As opposed to our original, ‘accidental’—” He smirked as he did the air quotes. “—our-friends-locked-us-in-a-flat-to-bang-out-our-sexual-tension hate sex.” His sound of agreement was muffled by his half-chewed fruit. “Right, got it.”

With a blink, his voice deadly serious, Harry said, “Exactly.” Ignoring Louis’ low chuckle, he continued, “Anyway, that night was, ironically, painfully memorable and I definitely, definitely did not propose.”

“Except when you did.”

Harry’s scoff was loud and sure, fully expecting to look across the table and catch Louis in his second shameless lie of the morning. Instead, he was met with the kind of confident smirk that… actually gave him pause.

“I was rubbing your back—well, trying to,” Louis corrected, “because you kept literally, physically, pushing me away. You started to cry when I wouldn’t leave you in the bathroom.”

And that… did, actually, sound like him, he admitted inwardly. But why would he—

“You kept insisting I couldn’t see you like this because,” Louis continued, his voice already twinkling with very poorly concealed mirth, “as you explained, if I did, I’d never marry you like I was supposed to.”

Harry’s eyes widened, realizing just then that he was vehemently shaking his head. “No,” he said desperately horrified. “Uh-uh. No.”

“But, apparently,” Louis said, thoroughly enjoying this, “if I promised I’d still marry you,” he grinned wide, too, too amused, “then I was allowed to stay and keep you from choking on your own vomit.”

“No.” Harry refused. “No. No, because,” he argued, holding up a finger, “I asked you, the next morning, if I’d done anything – anything – stupid. And you—” He pointed aggressively at Louis, who was pressing his lips together, trying (and failing) to hide his smile, “—Promised me, Louis, that I didn’t.”

“I had to,” he argued, as Harry’s jaw dropped.

“Louis!” He screeched in disbelief. “You lied?!”

“H, love,” he tried to coax gently. (Or, as gentle as one could be while trying – so hard – to stifle a laugh.) And, if Harry wasn’t already sitting there, stewing in over three decades of delayed embarrassment, he’d be a bit concerned about the way his heart still flipped a little at that endearment. “You should’ve seen yourself, all hungover, and delicate, and vulnerable that morning.” His eyes were soft – annoyingly so – even twinkling with mirth, and so, all Harry could do was roll his eyes and click his tongue in some semblance of disapproval as Louis defended himself. “I mean, you genuinely looked like you would’ve run from the room if I’d told you.”

“I would’ve,” Harry assured him point blank and without missing a beat. “I’d have completely cut you off,” he said, dead serious. “Moved continents. Flung myself off the edge of the earth.”

“Well then,” Louis said pointedly, a laugh bleeding into his voice, “now you know why I didn’t.” He shrugged, seemingly retrospective. “Also, it was nice to know you were a sure thing,” he added, his irritatingly charming wink earning him a rather aggressive (and much deserved) bread roll to the shoulder. Harry may or may not have stuck his tongue out in victory the moment it hit him with a satisfying smack! ‘Ow,’ Louis mouthed with a silent laugh, eyes sparkling as he continued to tease, “and it just seemed like a needless complication, doing anything that would encourage you to become a flight risk, when, you know,” he sighed, pretending to be put upon. His gaze on Harry turned hot, and he smiled at him in a way that seemed entirely dedicated to making his heart flutter. “I did fully intend to marry you by then anyway, all drunken threats to your personal safety notwithstanding.”

😳 More from the GAPT AU.

[istadris]

lm3 time loop anon here :)

oooo i initially only had the thought that it resets on the roof. but the idea of the loop resetting after luigi slips up and dies and king boo taunting him about him ‘losing his focus’ and ‘aww is he getting tired’ is so good. idk how well this would work in practice, but i was also thinking about all the precious injuries luigi sustained would stay and only add up as the loops continued

luigi would absolutely try different approaches with the ghosts and it saves him a lot of time and energy, which is balanced out by hellen and king boo going extra hard on him when he reaches them

i enjoy the idea that luigi gets increasingly more frustrated and aggressive the more times he has to ghostbust. so whenever the loop would reset in the later rounds, he just kinda screams and cries and punches some stuff. poor polterpup is just wondering why he’s so upset and hurt but can’t understand

when they finally break the loop and king boo is defeated, luigi definitely has a good cry telling mario all the ways he saw him die and mario’s lowkey astounded that there were some versions of him that didn’t believe his brother. very cathartic session

ngl i feel like as the loops went on luigi would start to feel worn down and offer finding a way out that wouldn’t involve either of them being defeated, but king boo would just get more and more desperate to beat him and go kinda crazy about it. but them calling a truce and working together is also a cool idea!

damnit if i wasn’t such a slow writer i would absolutely take a crack at writing this wjfjdj

(also if the loops were to happen in the horny au… what. a. night.)

So many good ideas here!

Yes, King Boo would take his frustration of being stuck in a time loop by making sure Luigi feels the pain of each defeat deep within his flesh. But maybe during some loops it's Luigi who snaps and suddenly goes overboard with destroying King Boo (whose disappearance also resets the loop). He feels awful when it happens, and not just because King Boo taunts him about how low the so called hero has fallen, when they next meet.

I'm a bit on the fence about the wounds staying through the loops...on one hand, it's so deliciously angsty, to have Luigi become less and less like himself as the loops went on, to the point his friends start being wary of him when they see him, as from their point of view Luigi suddenly turned up very bitter and covered in scars he refuses to explain...on the other, it would give too much of an advantage to King Boo, since he can't be hurt like a mortal, and accumulating too many wounds would inevitably take their toll on Luigi's body, so I'm not entirely convinced :x

The mental exhaustion is there though; even if Luigi's body and physical fatigue get reset with each loop, he's getting more and more tired, and when the loop is finally broken, he can finally fall asleep for the first time in an eternity.

I love both options and I cannot choose! They would need a LOT of time loops before even considering working together, and Luigi would only do it because he can't see any other options, so might as well try it, why not? And even then, either they finally start to find a common ground, either King Boo uses every truce offering to further torture and manipulate Luigi. Nasty marshmallow.

Luigi doesn't hold against Mario his inability to believe him in some loops, not too much. The loops where he failed to convince Mario were also the ones where he was the most erratic and incoherent, so he can see why his brother has trouble believing his ramblings.

LOOOOL the horny AU happens once Luigi reaches such a point of no fucks given he decides to just take "screw it and fuck you" literally XD King Boo is desperate for some variety in the loops at this point, so he ends up taking pleasure in it as well. And since the loop gets reset each time...I can imagine the ghosts can afford to not be gentle with Luigi :s

[invisiblegarters]

Only Friends Character Rankings - Ep 6

Well this was an episode, wasn't it? Finally the mess really begins and now the mettle of every single person who says that what they were looking forward to was messiness is about to be tested. Because every single one of these characters is gonna bring the mess, even the one we like best. Maybe especially the one we like best. Here comes the point when they really start to tear strips off each other. Can we handle it?

For myself, I can't definitively answer that (temptation compels me to say yes but also you just never know and I refuse to pretend otherwise) but I can say I can't WAIT to find out.

Character Rankings (Fave to Least Fave atm)

SAND. Sand my darling my shit stirrer my passive aggressive asshole. I've already made a whole post about how calculated he was in his manipulation this episode - he wound Ray up and watched him go, and literally only interfered when the result flared out at Nick. Which shows me exactly how little he cares about any of these people and desperately makes me need his ex to be alive and to show up real time because Sand has some very complicated, very unresolved issues there and frankly, caring about Ray or not I think he's still in love with them.

If they are dead though that would make a lot of sense, mostly because now Sand is sort of frozen in that place of betrayal and anger and yeah, love, thwarted as it was. It would also explain his need to destroy Top at the cost of everything else.

I still wonder if it was a woman. I want it to be Mix but we keep referencing that San likes both and he's yet to be seen with a woman, so.

And nope, did not miss his passive aggressive digs at Ray either. "I see why you like him." "He's lucky he has someone like you looking out for him." Especially that first one. Lbr that was entirely a dig and while I get it - he's smarting from everything that happened with Boston before (regardless of how hard he pushes it down it's still obvious) and he figures why the hell not, no one else gives a shit so why should I, I know exactly what I am to this person and it's practically nothing so what does it matter if I use him? Tit for tat - I'm not so far up his ass (yet, there's always next week) that I can't see how fucked up it is. I just also kind of love it. I'm impressed, tbh. I was fully expecting Sand to reveal the tape to Ray out of some stupid "I just want you happy wah" thing and to have him do it this way floored me. I have said before that what I want from his storyline with Ray is mutual destruction and if things keep going along on these lines I will be very pleased. That second fight still worries me though.

I will also say that I bet I'm angrier about Ray calling him a whore (twice! In less than ten minutes!) than Sand will probably be. Sand did this, he wound Ray up as I already said, and if there's one thing that has been entirely consistent with his character thus far it's that he takes responsibility (perhaps takes it when things aren't even really his fault). He takes responsibility for his own feelings and he takes responsibility when he fucks up. I can definitely see him deciding he earned what he got, even if Ray went straight for what he knew would hurt the most - hasn't Sand told him over and over that he's not going to be bought? - he also went straight for Ray's weakest spot to get what he wanted out of him. Tit for tat.

That said, I can very much also see him internalizing that that's what Ray thinks about him. Especially if that turns into Ray's go-to insult when they fight (as I guess it might just).

I'd say he's the episode MVP, but actually he's tied with

MEW. Oh, Mew. I keep saying that it's always the reserved ones that go the most nuts when crossed and neither Sand nor Mew has proven me wrong this episode. Also the man just has a delicious sense of drama and who doesn't love that? The way he lulled Top into thinking all was well and then lured him into believing that there would be sexy times, followed up by that fucking line. I screamed and then started cackling (very quietly, it was early here and people were sleeping). MEW YOU ABSOLUTE LEGEND. I had clocked that he wasn't having fun and that he was extremely subdued about Top's showoff gift but him punching Ray really convinced me that he was gonna ignore everything Ray had been trying to say.

That said, they better not reveal that they cooked this up together because then why did Ray go full scorched earth? If it was a plan they could have executed it in pretty much any other way.

Nah, feels wrong to me. What I think is that Mew punched Ray because he was ruining Mew's on the spot plans to confront Top himself, but also because wow bestie how about we don't humiliate me in front of all our friends? Plus he knows that if he apologizes Ray will forgive him anything. It's a benefit of the whole BFF being in love with you business.

Loved the bath smile in the preview. My guess is he's gonna revenge fuck Ray, but only after Top thinks that he's forgiven him and they get back together. It'll be very messy. Why can't he fuck Sand instead that would be the ultimate revenge for both really.

Boston. Yeah, Boston. He read Ray to filth in this ep while ALSO trying to lead him into thinking that telling Mew about him and Top fucking behind his back would be just as bad as fucking Top behind his back. Like it's genius and fucked up and eighteen levels of wrong and it ultimately didn't work but jesus.

And then at the end of the whole mess he is the only one who got to go home with a dude that still wants him. And I have to appreciate that that's because Nick already knew. Sure it wasn't fun to hear I bet but it's not like it's not something Boston hasn't been clear about.

He got a reprieve this week but I suspect he knows that. He's gonna go gunning for Nick too because he's not a dumb man and he can put two and two together and get four (even though sometimes it suits his purposes to make five instead) and it's gonna dawn on him sooner than later that he has someone very very close to him who has access to all kinds of fun spy equipment, doesn't he? Why yes he does.

Looking forward to watching Mew yeet him into the pool next ep though.

Ray. I love mess, and boy howdy did Ray bring it this ep. I'm incredibly unsure why he decided to burn all his bridges so spectacularly, but well, he's drunk and maybe high definitely feeling sorry for himself and we don't always make the best decisions in those situations. Seen speculation that he fully intends on hurting himself by getting behind the wheel and yeah, that also rings true.

He also knows just where to hit everyone where it hurts and he didn't hold back, did he? If I can't blame or hate Boston for what he did last ep then the same must be said for Ray - he wasn't spewing anything that wasn't true...until he got to Sand. There it was entire untruths but I don't like Ray enough to try to unpack that, especially since my less than rosy view of Ray means that I am inclined to think the worst. Frankly what I want to say is that all Sand is to Ray, whether he's actually paying for it or not, but even I know that's uncharitable. See, growth (mine, not Ray's - I think we've got at least three episodes before we see growth from Ray).

And frankly I don't think Boston was entirely wrong that he hopes that Mew finding out about Top and Boston will send him to Ray's arms - it's not the whole reason he needs Mew to know, but yeah. it's there in the back of his mind. I still don't blame him for telling him.

But also I'm with Sand - getting in a car the way he is isn't entirely about him, he could seriously hurt someone else and that pisses me the fuck off. I have a real bug bear about drunk driving. No excuse is a good excuse for that shit and that's why he's lower than Boston this week. Fuck him for that honestly.

Top. This might be controversial, but I feel kind of bad for Top this ep. I mean, not horribly bad, I was having a great time watching everything fall apart around him, but a little bad.

And here's the reason why: I don't think that he is entirely playing a part with Mew. I do think he likes him - not sure if I buy love but he does like him, perhaps a lot. The man is a nasty piece of work who slips into cocky assholery way too easily for my tastes, but I also think that he's kind of put in that role and so goes with it. He did try to be cordial with Sand this ep - kind of insane when you think about the fact that Sand hates him, Top knows Sand hates him, and he also knows why - but he didn't switch to assholery until he took his cue from Sand. Same when he ran into Sand with his car - he was sorry and worried but then Sand wouldn't follow that script so he followed. He does the same thing with Boston when they interact.

I think he enjoys being with Mew because Mew lets him be the best version of himself. But of course the asshole is still there underneath, he can't run from it, so it all falls apart around his ears. I do think he holds genuine affection for Mew, but what does that matter when he's screwed over so many people in the past? I think he also likes the novelty of doing love and sex Mew's way, but I also believe that he'll only play the penitent for so long before he loses patience. I'm curious to see if I'm right, and how things will go if so.

Chuem. Every time this woman opened her mouth it was to be a dick. Like, damn. I knew she wasn't some sweet angel but I get the impression the only one of her friends she really likes is Mew. Curious why, because she seemed to at least like Ray well enough two years ago. At the very least Mew is the only one that she's not casually cruel to.

Nick. Babe. You're pretty but I'm gonna need you to do something okay? Yes, even if your revenge hits Sand at least it'll hit SOMEONE. Because right now you're just a succession of "oh shit" faces and I need more.

Relationships (Most to Least Fave atm)

TopMew. Yep. They finally got really interesting and beat out BostonNick. I am so curious what Mew is gonna do to Top. I already said that my top guess is making Top work for it, making him think he's forgiven him...and then fucking Ray and making sure he finds out about it. This suspicion will turn into a certainty if he finds out that Top fucked Boston because he thought there something happened with him and Ray.

Nick and Sand. I want them to hash it out and make up. I said I'd be okay if Nick's revenge hit Sand but I really won't be haha, I want them to end the show still friends. They are usually really good at talking to each other so I have some hope. Don't let these men you probably won't even know anymore in a year screw up a friendship that might actually last beyond college, guys. Also you should make out.

Sand and Top and the ex. The way I am being teased about this is not nice. GIMME. I want answers, don't care how I want them now. Make it messy please. Please please please please please I want the ex to show up like a wrecking ball and for Sand to utterly lose all his shit over it.

BostonNick. Still think these two deserve each other. Am READY for Boston to put two and two together and get Nick fucking bugged his car, though. And maybe he can get Nick to play the recording from him since at this point he and Chuem are the only two who haven't heard it. I am curious to see what if anything Nick does when it all falls apart. I kind of want him to ascend to unhinged lengths as yet unseen.

SandRay. I guess the mask is off now (even though I kinda think it was always off, lol). I do not ship this. They are bad for each other and Ray especially needs to just not be anywhere near a romantic relationship, but especially not with Sand who has a serious caretaking complex that is going to foster some really nasty codependence, as well as a far too patient streak which will only encourage Ray to keep lashing out at him whenever he wants (yes this ep he did what he did but I cannot stress enough that it wasn't really about Ray. Oh, he took his shots but at it's heart this was all about getting at Top. Top is a special case for Sand, he's a dude who riles him up just by existing. Ray might get there eventually but currently he's nowhere near on Top's level for Sand, he'll put up with perhaps a LOT more before he finally gets to that point).

Every week I worry that Sand is gonna enter his doormat era, and every week they've neatly dodged it happening. But oh, we still have six weeks to go and the worst fight is yet to come so that worry ain't fading anytime soon.

As I've said, mutual destruction is more fun for me so this ep wasn't half bad on that front. If things stay in this vein I might actually work around to enjoying it as a disaster ship.

In Conclusion

I'm gonna need everyone to stop it with the slut shaming, please. Boston's an ass, but he's not an ass because he likes to sleep around and I'm kind of tired of the conflation of the two.

[white-weasel]

Saw Saturday has come yet again, this time we watched Saw VI:

First off, this movie was so aggressively 2008-2009 in its theme I was FLOORED. Of course there were the predatory lenders, loaning out money to those they knew couldn’t pay it back (direct reference to the housing crash in 2007/2008) and then I got hit with the words “preexisting condition” and literally went “oh fuck the affordable care act doesn’t exist yet.” So definitely was interesting to get a blast from the past with social commentary that was very much based on popular public discourse at the time (not saying predatory lending and American health insurance aren’t also issues now just… a different kind of issue/focus)

I cannot believe that Strahm’s hand survived that entire crushing room so in tact. Then again I did not watch Strahm’s actual death at all because I’m too much of a baby about broken bones, but just seeing the rest of the corpse… man Hoffman got pretty lucky with that one

Perez didn’t die in 4/5 I fucking called it!!! Like I said, if I don’t see your body idc, you’re alive in my book

Still, I’m surprised that they revealed that bit of information to Hoffman. I guess at that point they were running off the assumption Strahm was Jigsaw’s accomplice and thus Hoffman would be a trusted ally in the investigation but man

Speaking of, Hoffman was sooooo sus this entire movie it was almost comical. I mean, it’s probably just because you as an audience member know Hoffman’s whole deal but still

Another Saw trap gauntlet! I think it’s interesting that as the movies moved more towards focusing on John Kramer and his crew as the main characters, rather than those in the trap, the traps have turned into multiple tests rather than just one. It makes sense from a story telling perspective though because that way they don’t have to explain multiple people’s deals why they’re in these traps and can instead just focus on one

With that, I think this was my favorite of the trap gauntlets yet! Actual tough decisions for William and I feel like it mixed the moral choices being put forward by 3 about saving people, while also making the decisions tougher/have more consequences like 5. I really liked the maze where in order to let her pass through he had to redirect the steam and burn himself and the shotgun carousel trap where he had to impale his hands in order to save just a fraction of those on it.

I was staring at the teen boy with his mom who have been put in that cage room with the acid and was like “He looks familiar but idk where I’ve seen him before” a few scenes later my friend just blurts out “oh my god that’s Rodrick from Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and we literally had to pause to take in that information

Once again though, not sure how I feel about more John Kramer lore being added, but this at least didn’t stand out to me as being Too Much yknow. It makes sense that there was a slimy insurance guy who screwed over thousands of sick people and also did it to John, who was a close friend. Didn’t break anything pre established too much

Idk if this was intentional but the whole thing about the knives used to cut the jigsaw pieces out being different for Hoffman vs John felt like it was kinda a reference back to John telling Hoffman that the blade on his pendulum was inferior. If Hoffman had just followed John’s lead and used a surgical precision knife, the right tool for the job, to cut up that latest victim, the discrepancy wouldn’t have been raised and they probably wouldn’t have even thought about re-examining the Seth Baxter tape

The scene in the audio technician lab? So good. Once again Hoffman is being so so sus but also he’s cornered. I do have to question the logic of letting Hoffman hear the actual incriminating evidence when it’s pretty obvious they suspected him at this point, but it led to an iconic moment so I will take it

Rip Perez for real this time :( genuinely did like her from what we saw from her and I desperately wanted her to own Hoffman’s ass

Did NOT expect Hoffman to have basically blackmailed Amanda into killing Lynn (and thereby killing herself) back in 3, but now that I think about it it makes sooo much sense. It never 100% clicked with me why Amanda did that with how I read her character, but knowing that she was making the choice between her father figure/mentor/person who’s approval she wanted most in the world hating her or killing Lynn, things have fallen into place better

Jill was MUCH more involved with the Jigsaw operation than I had previously thought. It was basically like a fucking murder family up in there lmaoooo

Hoffman in the reverse bear trap was unexpected!! And the fact he beat what was supposed to be an unbeatable trap for him??? Actually a little bit insane. (He and Strahm both surviving “unwinnable” traps? They’re perfect for each other) I cannot wait to see what Jill’s reaction is gonna be when he eventually shows up and is like “I lived, bitch”

We’re reaching the point where my friend doesn’t remember what happens in the series (she watched some of the movies year ago) She said she very clearly remembered 1-3, would remember things as they came up in 4, and now only remembers stuff from Jigsaw since she saw that one in theaters. However, she loves hearing me ramble about my theories and then likes to look things up about the movies so she can know ahead of time if I’m right or not lmao

In her words “See, I knew you would like these movies, not because of like the traps or the gore or anything, but because of the crazy shit that happens in the plot. It’s fun seeing you go crazy about the twists and then spiral until we watch the next one.” And she’s absolutely 100% right

[dragonsarecool]

Whumptober Day 2 - Caged

Two: Caged

A/N: Follows Ramo Nash's version of 'Alph Art'.

I've interpreted this prompt to be more of a 'buried-alive-within-a-cage' scenario, so I hope it's okay. This is my slightly-darker version of how I think this scene could've gone. I've also written this with Tintin being aware of Rastapopoulos's identity.

It wasn't often that he became claustrophobic. Even being tied up in the hold of a rocket thousands of miles away from Earth was nothing compared to this.

Tintin stared up at the sides of his wooden prison, the tall slabs of wood towering over his head. Rastapopoulos had been clever in constructing an appropriate prison to bury him alive in, for there was no way he could knock the sides down, and no handholds for him to use to climb out. He couldn't stop the panic rising in his throat as he heard Rastapopoulos's men around all sides of the box, aggressively hammering the nails in. They're literally hammering the nails into my coffin…

He knew he was in trouble as soon as the first henchmen said he was to become a 'César'. His worries only grew once Rastapopoulos had explained how exactly a César was made, with the ingredients involving one captured reporter and a large amount of polyester. He'd forced himself to gaze Rastapopoulos in the eye as the final slab of wood was lifted into place, intending for his fury to be the last memory the villain had of him.

In reality, he glared to hide the tears of fear threatening to fall from his eyes.

Gingerly, he reached out to touch the sides of the box, discovering it was slightly wider than his armspan. Even though it was definitely not the smallest of prisons, the claustrophobia quickly began overwhelming him as he desperately pressed against the wooden walls, praying that they would budge.

It was a futile manoeuvre, yet he did it anyway. He couldn't explain why, but he supposed it was an attempt to maintain some level of control.

Rastapopulous voice made him freeze. "Okay! We're ready to go!"

He broke out in a cold sweat.

That's it. I'm going to die. Alone.

Tintin was about to cry out to his captors when the polyester slammed into him from behind. The wind was knocked out of his lungs as he collapsed to his feet, gasping at the force of the impact. As soon as the polyester made contact with his skin he began to scream, realising that Rastapopulos lied about the temperature. This is not a comfortable bath…Must be at least fifty degrees…My skin is on fire…oh, mon Dieu, save me! Save me! HELP!

His anxiety went into overdrive once he managed to stand himself upright, watching in wide-eyed terror at the steadily-rising mass of polyester. He'd wrenched as much of his skin out of the painfully-hot substance as he could, but the heat he could feel through his clothes was unbearable. His feet were quickly glued to the wooden floor as the polyester sloshed over his ankles and poured into his shoes.

Any remains of dignity quickly flew out of the top of his cage, for he vainly tried to fight the urge to hyperventilate. As a last desperate measure, he began to slap the sides of the box, though it was completely useless being pinned with his back to the wall.

"Finally!" Rastapopoulos began to cackle. "Tintin, I have beaten you! Finally!"

Tintin's chest hurt as he heaved for air. He admitted defeat and allowed himself to cry, the hot tears burning his cheeks as the polyester began to burn into his thighs. Normally he was a master of using words to escape a situation, but his throat had seemingly closed over. All he wanted was to scream at Rastapopoulos and beg him to change his mind, but he knew it would achieve nothing.

His heart began to beat faster than he ever thought possible. The roar of the machine boomed in his ears as it continued to create his tomb.

The polyester had risen to his calves when he heard the familiar sound of Snowy growling, and the joyful sound of someone experiencing the brunt of his faithful dog's jaws. Snowy! Oh, my dear friend…

"Okay, game over! Hands up!" The gruff voice of the Captain floated over the top of his prison, as did the click of a handgun. "Now, where's Tintin?"

"Captain!" Tintin cried, fighting vainly as the polyester glued his arms to his sides. His elbows were locked as he relied on his upper body strength to struggle. "Is that you?!"

"Yes, it's me!" Haddock yelled. "I got your note and-"

"Hurry, Captain, help me!" Tintin's voice cracked as he yelled. The polyester quickly rose to his shoulder blades, pressing his sweater against his skin; the lower half of his body was in agony as the heat tore through his clothing. A clump of polyester fell onto his head, and he thrust forward violently to throw it off, only for it to have become stuck to his hair. "Quick! Stop the machine!"

"Stop it? How-"

"CAPTAIN! I CAN'T BREATHE!" Tintin screamed. It took all his remaining effort to force his lungs to expand, the polyester wrapping its deadly tendrils around his chest. It felt as though he were being squeezed through the tightest tube in existence; he writhed painfully in the polyester, the hyperventilating now restricted to rapid gasps of air. Oh, mon Dieu, help me…

"You!" Haddock seemed to be shouting at one of Rastapopoulos's men. "You're going to turn off this infernal machine!"

"Once the valve is open, the mass of plastic running through it makes it impossible to close." Tintin assumed the voice belonged to a henchman, who had likely given the Captain a sinister grin.

The polyester was now sitting at the base of his chin, the agonising substance dripping down the inside of his sweater onto his chest. Its grip around his neck tightened and his torso was compressed to point of almost immobility. He began to wheeze loudly as he desperately tried to inhale. Captain!

If he could've jumped in shock when an axe nearly cut through his skull, he definitely would've gone through the roof. Unable to turn his neck, Tintin mustered what strength he had left and shrieked. "STOP! ARE YOU MAD?!"

Whatever the reply was went unheard, for Tintin could only focus on keeping his head tilted above the ascending sea of death. It was as though the polyester was seeping into each individual pore; the smell had become noxious and did nothing to help his nausea. His head pounded in protest of inhaling the fumes; all he could taste was the chemicals.

He had a brief thought as the burning plastic washed over his mouth and sealed his lips shut that he wished he was taller.

He thought he could hear the sounds of the Captain struggling with someone or something, and kept praying that he wasn't being overpowered. The polyester washed over his earlobes, and he blinked away the hot tears falling from his eyes faster than the polyester. "MMMHMM!" CAPTAIN! HELP! PLEASE I DON'T WANNA DIE NOT LIKE THIS CAPTAIN PLEASE CAPTAIN-

The blazing plastic quickly filled his ears and blocked off his nostrils. He wriggled and squirmed to no avail as he distraughtly tried to breathe. He wasn't sure why he bothered trying, for his body was firmly glued into place; the nerves and muscles in his limbs merely twitched under his burning skin. Guess I'll make a good César…

It quickly began to grow dark, both from the lack of oxygen and the polyester covering his eyes. He gave a weak, muffled moan as he vaguely felt vibrations resonating through the sea of plastic. I…can't…Cap…

He thought he was being pulled backwards, but wasn't completely sure. He also thought someone was pulling him out by the arms and hurriedly brushing the polyester from his face.

In an instant, he could breathe. He felt his nostrils expand as he let out a muffled gasp, only for that air to be exhaled as the polyester was wiped away from his mouth. His skin felt raw and burnt, but he seemed to barely notice it. His chest jerked painfully as he heaved for oxygen. Alive…am I…

"-tin! Tintin!" The Captain's voice suddenly appeared. "Tintin! Say something, lad!"

He must've cleared my ears…

"TINTIN!"

Tintin felt he was floating. He had difficulty getting his jaw to work, as it still felt glued together, but managed to let out an indistinct mumble.

"Hurrah! He's alive! Tintin!" Haddock screamed for joy.

Against his better judgement, Tintin attempted to pry his eyes open. Despite him remembering to shut them before the polyester burnt them, they still felt raw and scorched. He realised he was leaning against Haddock's chest, with his friend's beard tickling the top of his head. Despite having been released from his prison, he still couldn't shake the feeling he was immobilised. He weakly tried to spread his fingers, but his oxygen-deprived brain was unable to make them obey.

"Do you think you'll be alright to run?" Haddock asked hurriedly before shaking his head. "No, no, of course you're not. You probably can't even hear me."

Before Tintin could even try to formulate a response, he felt himself being lifted into the Captain's arms, his own limbs tucked in close to his body. He could hear Snowy yapping excitedly from somewhere beneath him, though this rapidly faded as his scalded and tortured body finally wore out, and he fell into unconsciousness.

Haddock watched as Tintin's head drooped onto his chest. He noticed the skin on the younger man's neck had already begun to blister in an unusual pattern, and that the dark red patches across his arms were beginning to develop segments of brown spotting.

Swallowing his fear, Haddock clutched his friend closer. "Thundering typhoons, lad, we better get you to a hospital…"

[flintoaster]

Can I just say that Michael is infinately better for Jane than Rafael, not only because Rafael sucks but also because they're just so easy together. Rafael and Jane have constant friction in their interactions even when they're getting along. They have to try extra hard around each other and force their way into each other's lives. They wouldn't be together long term if it weren't for Mateo. Michael and Jane clicked right away and for the right reasons, their personalities align, their hopes for the future align. Michael gets along easily with Jane's family and he's a great communicator. He puts Jane (and Co.) first at almost every point in the story. They slip into good ol times on accident all the time while Rafael and Jane actively go to therapy and fight all the time. Even if they don't fight, they're being passive aggressive and usually it's Rafael's fault. Oh I hate that guy... He's so controlling and demanding. (He really is Ryle lol). He quite literally demanded that Petra be with him in the past, broke Jane's heart by leaving when they were younger, and now he's so entitled. He thinks that just because it's his biogical child that he had the right to choose Jane's life. Jane obviously let him in and accepted him into her life, but he actively works to stay there even when Jane tries to push him away. He avoided letting her breaking up with him (manipulative 😭) and he claims that he's here for Jane, but when she actually has a choice to make he hates her choices. He hates being seen as untrustworthy even though he goes out of his way to hide things, he was so offended when Michael and Jane blamed him for outing Michael's mistake and yet he lied in that same scenario twice. He hates Michael just because he's competition, which is understandable, but it comes out in the worst ways. He hated admitting that he's jealous and he doesn't take accountability for how he reacts to being jealous. He doesn't even try to respect why Michael is still important to the family. He allegedly hates Michael because he's dangerous and forgets to mention that:

His step mom was sin rostro

His sister impregnated Jane accidentally while drunk and was also with sin rostro

His dad and a bell boy didn't get killed at the hotel

There was a secret illegal plastic surgery facility in the hotel

Plus he doesn't even realize how possessive and controlling he is over Jane and everyone else in his life (lol actively manipulating people on the daily too)

He has his moments, he's sympathetic, he's desperate for his kid and he has family trauma and miscarriage trauma, but that's not an excuse for treating Jane like an object. He doesn't see women as their own being sometimes. He's not actually Ryle level abusive (at this point, I'm only on season 2) but those are some red flags he should figure out himself before dragging Jane and Mateo into this. Or in general. I don't think this would be a good relationship in real life but even though this is a telanovela it's not something most would want to root for. (it feels like this was written by Colleen hoover sometimes 💀) the constant friction between them is intriguing and entertaining of course but even within this unrealistic world of the show, Rafael doesn't make Jane feel nearly as calm or happy or STABLE as Michael does. Jane's always walking on eggshells in a way around Rafael but when she's with Michael she's instantly okay. She's instantly sure about Michael half the time until Rafael gets pissed about it. I wish I could explain it better but Rafael is just so concerning and I wouldn't be surprised if he would be an abusive partner.

Edit:I thought of a good example. Whenever Jane is with Michael and Rafael is around, Michael still supports Jane and focuses on the good times with her and Mateo. When she's with Rafael, Rafael is just pissy the whole time from Michael if he's involved. He's just passive aggressive and avoids constructive conversation. Michael wants to talk things through and get to the root of an issue.

[geminiamethyst]

Skyline Gang: Trail of Darkness. Chapter 29

Chapter 1: click HERE

Chapter 28: click HERE

Chapter 30: click HERE

“So all this time, you were following her orders?” Bud’s voice rang out. It was rare for him to express any form of anger, so this was quite a shock to everyone. Misty had explained almost everything at this point. How Dawn appeared to her on her first night in the house, the powers she has and the fact that she planned to stab everyone in the back since the beginning. While that last statement was obvious, the rest was like being hit by lightning. “You couldn’t have warned or told us?!”

“It’s not like I could! I didn’t know her name or anything!” Misty protested the accusation. Her eyes were wide and desperate. “She was literally my shadow. There was nothing I could do against her. Would you have done it if you were in my shoes? I thought she was my ally. I thought that I could trust her. Until…well, I assume that Candi knows what happened.”

Candi’s hand automatically flew up to her neck. The sensation of her neck being squeezed was fresh in her memory; she felt the muscle clench as if it was happening again. Her body went stiff like a board. She didn’t want to go through that again. She didn’t want Misty to go through it again either. So is Misty being truthful about wanting to help? Or was this another lie? Right now, Candi wasn’t sure. Misty had been so deceptive since the beginning, so even with that sixth sense feeling she gets around her opposite, Candi was starting to doubt her feelings about this. What if this was some kind of trap?

“What does she want with Dude? Why did she take him?” Mimi asked, rubbing her arms to warm up from the cold. In all honesty, she regretted asking. Everyone knows and remembers how much more aggressive Dawn was towards Dude. If what Misty was saying true about him being alive, it was a miracle that he wasn’t dead. Not that they were complaining but why is he still alive? It didn’t make sense.

“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me.” Misty shrugged, genuinely confused herself. Not because of Dude being alive, but something else. Something that didn’t feel right to her when Dawn was first brought back. Maybe the brainiac can figure it out for her. “There is something strange though. The Sceptre brought her back, but she is incomplete.”

“In other words, there wasn’t enough power to bring her back.” Bud added, his eyes clouding with speculation. The Sceptre didn’t have enough power. Dawn is incomplete. Think! What does she need? Bud suddenly felt a chill run through him. In a twisted way, this was the law of equivalent exchange. “I think she needs Dude to be back to full strength. If I’m right, she’s probably draining him of his energy.”

“What will happen once she’s taken it?” Sprout shakily asked. Everyone else seemed just as scared as he was. They all appeared pale in the dim lighting, trembling from more than just the cold. Even Misty looked bewildered by what Bud was saying.

“Dude will most likely not survive the process.” Bud continued, a cold sweat running down his face. “Dawn has kept him alive for the sole purpose of taking his energy. Like a vampire taking blood.”

“Then why are we here?!” Pip shouted, cracking her knuckles. “We should be charging in there and stopping her!”

“Pip, that won’t do much good. We need a plan.” Bud reasoned, he and Rainbow halting Pip from charging towards the castle. They need to think of something and fast. If Bud is right, time is running out for everyone, especially Dude. They need to find a place to hide too. If Dawn hasn’t realised that she has intruders on her land, she’ll know very soon with them out in the open like this. Hide, plan, attack or find a way to get Dude out safely. It wasn’t much of a plan right now, but it’s all they have for the time being.

“Well, I’ve been exploring the castle as it’s been built.” Misty suddenly speaks up. Everyone listened, their trust in her started to build again. “I think there are some rooms that even Dawn isn’t aware of yet. You all can hide in there until you formulate a plan.”

They’ll be thrown into the lion’s den more than they are now. Well, at least they’ll be somewhat sheltered. They just need to be ready in case Dawn isn’t as ignorant of her new built domain as Misty is making her out to be. This is a chance. They can’t let it go now. Time is a delicate thing that they cannot afford to waste anymore. Just get in, plan and attack or save Dude. That’s all. Misty can keep being their insider and tell them when was a good time to strike. She’s their only way to stealthily get in and keep them hidden. She might be able to get information from Dawn about possible weaknesses. They’ll need to trust her completely now.

Taking a big step, Candi volunteered to go in first again. She wasn’t going to be on the sidelines. Dude saved her from falling. She owed him big time for it. With the others helping her, she can save him too. She just needs to wear her courage like a badge of honour. Deep breath. Misty took Candi’s hand recognising the sign that she was ready to go. Candi heard Sprout saying good luck but didn’t pay any mind as that tingling sensation took over again. She screwed her eyes shut as the ground disappeared underneath her feet again. She was tempted to open her eyes, wondering what Misty might be seeing right now. However, she was more focused on keeping her stomach settled during this ride. The ground was under her feet again, and she felt that she could relax a little, even with the chill wrapping around her legs.

“Hey Dawn! Present for you!”

Quick notice!

I’m going to be busy for the next week or so. This means that there might not be a chapter or two for a while. I know I’m evil for leaving you all on a cliffhanger again, but it is quite important. I’ve pre written some stuff so I’ll be able to get back into writing again as soon as I can.

[letterstodiana]

10/03/24

Did me not sending the heels trigger something in you?

Cause I feel that the emotions you were showing were quite extreme and I would say overreacting? 

You said “asking desperately again”, like when have you asked for your stuff back this last six weeks we have been talking? I find this even more peculiar as you don’t actually have any stuff in Singapore that you knew about except your skirt, your heels were just found during the CNY clean up and I did not intend to send as they were already in quite a bad state and I felt you outgrew them as well. So I’m wondering why would we have a conversation about your stuff in Singapore when does really nothing here except sleeping clothes.. 

Do you not feel you overreacted with me not replying instantly? Do you feel it being quite aggressive with the “okay then seth”? Cause I didn’t reply for three minutes when I was driving and even after knowing I’m driving you sent me texts like “then stop reading messages”

I called you straight when I could find a place to stop cause you were texting all these nasty messages to me and I thought something was wrong, maybe you were freaking out about Med Ball and I wanted to try and help you. I tried to explain the situation to you but you seem still stuck on the fact I did not send your items when this was never a conversation we had, you never knew about your heels and you didn’t even want to hear my explanations out, you just wanted your stuff back. I found this quite suffocating cause I couldn’t even explain anything and you had all these assumptions already about the situation. 

Also, sending this text message was really insulting and hurtful. 

“I've said it before, even you had said you understood, the longer we have loose ends that are left untied, the more bleak our possibility of reconsidering a relationship is.” 

I felt this was really quite fucked up. Like you make it sound like all you care is me returning your stuff and not about how you feel about us. Like this is literally threatening me that if I don’t return your stuff, we won’t get back together? Like how fucked up is that?