#this may or may not be a seasonal vent piece

[imtrashraccoon]

Nomadic Love: G x Reader

~~~

The sun glinted off the clear ocean waves as they lapped at the sandy shoreline before receding back into their bed. While the world was picturesque today, there were no beachgoers, which made sense as you could feel a slight nip in the air.

You breathed deeply the crisp morning air and with a sigh, realized that Summer was over. The days would only get shorter and colder until Winter finally arrived and the world fell asleep. You didn't mind the season change, but as far back as you could remember, Summer was special.

You used to spend the whole season here in this little seaside town at your grandparent's cottage. While you weren't able to visit as often as you grew older, you still cherished all the memories you'd made with them. When your grandparents decided to move to be closer to the rest of the family, you were surprised when they offered their old cottage to you. Of course you'd agreed to take the house since you loved it so much, but not without buying it off of them for a fair price.

Now, you spent your days taking long walks along the beach or even enjoying the surf when the weather was good. You were in a good position in life where you made enough money to get by but didn't really have to worry about going hungry.

You absentmindedly hummed a tune to yourself as you continued to walk down the beach, occasionally looking for anything interesting that the waves might've brought in. At one point you glanced up and spotted a tall, slim guy standing a hundred meters off just staring out at the sea. At first, you thought they might be a local out here for similar reasons as you, to say goodbye to another Summer.

As you drew closer, you could make out more of the person's features and your heart skipped a beat. There was only one man you knew who wore a gray parka all the time, even when it was hot out. But, you hadn't seen him for weeks and thought he'd left already to go...well, you didn't know where but he traveled around so much, it was a miracle for him to stay in one place this long.

It seemed like he hadn't noticed you just yet and you hesitated for a moment since you didn't want to interrupt anything. He seemed contemplative and had his hands in his pockets as he stared out at the sea. Surprisingly, he wasn't smoking for once and while you'd never understand how he was even capable of doing so, you were glad that he seemed to be conscious about leaving cigarette butts laying around, unlike most tourists that came here.

G, as he'd introduced himself as when you two met years ago, was probably the most fascinating person you'd ever met. Part of that was the simple fact that he wasn't human but an actual live skeleton. You never thought you would get over that fact as long as you lived, but he pretty much acted like any other person and it was easy to talk with him. He described himself as a free spirit and claimed to live a sort of nomadic lifestyle. He could be in a different city every night if he wanted to and often was.

Yet for the past five years, he'd come back to your little town for a visit each Summer. He never stayed for long and never seemed to come at the same time whenever he did. It was puzzling to say the least.

This town wasn't anything special, sure a couple of tourists came in the warm months which helped boost the economy, but there were certainly far nicer places to go if you wanted to enjoy the ocean. Still, you were glad to see him again and decided to actually go talk to him rather than just watching from a distance.

"Hey stranger!" you called out as you drew closer.

G looked over at you and the corners of his teeth quirked up as he smiled slightly. "hey sweet cheeks..." he responded warmly. "you just out for a walk?"

You nodded, "Yeah, although it made me realize Summer's finally over, which I'm only a little sad about not gonna lie."

G chuckled softly and glanced back out at the ocean for a moment. "yeah, i feel you there, but there's nice things about every season and i'd be lying if i said i liked one more than the others."

You chuckled as well and playfully elbowed him. "I don't think you dislike anything, G. In fact, I can't remember ever seeing you genuinely upset about anything. Seriously, how are you so chill all the time?"

He looked back at you and his singular yellow eyelight seemed to flicker with amusement. "nah, i do dislike things, but most of 'em aren't worth getting angry about, you know?"

You raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh really? Give me an example then. What's one thing you actually dislike?"

G seemed to grow thoughtful for a moment before responding. "besides actually committing to something? i guess i really don't like crowded places." He chuckled quietly and added, "cause people can't help but stare and mothers always pull their kids away whenever i walk by."

You nodded slowly. It made sense he'd dislike all the unwanted extra attention he must get on a daily basis. You almost felt a bit bad since you'd asked jokingly but he'd given you a serious answer.

"Yeah, I get that. Why do you travel so much then? Doesn't it only draw more attention to yourself?" you asked.

He shrugged, "yeah, it does, but i don't hang around anywhere for long, so it doesn't ultimately matter to me what people think. besides, i follow my soul and it keeps life interesting to travel so much."

"Must be nice to have that much freedom," you mused thoughtfully. "I get tired just thinking about the amount of travel you must do all the time. Seriously, how do you do it?"

"i'm a skeleton, angel. i'm quite literally built different and it's just something i enjoy doing." G grinned playfully at you, "have you ever been to paris?"

You laughed and shook your head, "No, never, and you have I suppose?"

G nodded, "yep, but i won't be going back anytime soon. sure there's some nice sights but it's not as spectacular as the movies claim. city of love my foot..." He shook his head at that last part but from his smile you could tell he meant it as a joke.

You gasped dramatically, "No... Hollywood exaggerated something and the real thing isn't all it was chalked up to be? Next, you'll tell me the sky's blue."

G snorted and rolled his eyelight, "that may be, but i think you'd still like paris. being anywhere new for the first time is always fun and besides, the architecture is pretty neat."

"Not all of us can just get up and go whenever we feel like it, G..." you teased. "Although, I think it would be fun to see it someday, but I'm in no hurry, you know? I really like this town and unless that changed, I can't imagine going anywhere else."

"right, you mentioned you spent a lot of time here growing up," G nodded thoughtfully. He paused for a moment and looked out over the ocean again. "i admit i kind of like it here too... it's hard to describe, but i like how quiet it is and how no one seems to mind that i'm here whenever i come by."

You hummed in agreement and sat down on a nearby rock. "I think most people have gotten used to your visits, it's just a part of life for some of them."

G sat down next to you quietly. You could feel him watching you and it seemed like there was something on his mind. He didn't say anything for a few minutes though.

A bit of an uncomfortable silence settled between the two of you. A tumultuous amount of emotions were swirling inside and you really didn't know how to respond to any of them. On one hand, you were legitimately happy to see your friend again, but you also felt a bit hurt. Had he been ignoring you these past several weeks? Had you done something to upset him?

Clearing your throat awkwardly, you decided just to go ahead and ask. "You know, when I didn't see you for a few days, I thought you'd left again... How come you didn't reach out all this time if you were still here?" You couldn't bring yourself to look at him right now for fear that your emotions may get the best of you.

G was quiet for a moment before he answered softly. "i did leave, (y/n)... but, i had to come back...it was like there was something i needed to do..."

Confused, you glanced over at him. In all the time you'd know him, G had never been one to express regret or even hesitate to do anything. So, why was he suddenly acting all unsure of himself?

"Did you need any help?" you asked gently.

G snorted and playfully ruffled your hair, much to your annoyance. "nah, i'm alright, princess. no need to worry yourself over me." Whatever had been bothering him seemed to have vanished and a cheeky smile now graced his skull.

You frowned and attempted to fix your hair but to little success, especially since G kept moving strands of it around just to annoy you further. Finally, you gave up and crossed your arms, fixing him with the most annoyed expression that you could muster.

G only continued to grin at you, acting the very picture of innocence. He seemed to take great satisfaction in riling you up just to see what sort of reaction he could get out of you.

"hey, why don't we go do something fun? i only came back for the day and it'd be a shame to spend it by myself..." G stood up and offered a hand to you.

You sighed and reluctantly took his hand, "Well alright, it would be nice to do something since I only ever see you once a year."

G hoisted you to your feet, "that's the spirit, doll face. i'll show you a good time that you won't regret." Oddly, he kept hold of your hand and began leading you away from the beach, back to the road where he must've walked in from.

~~~

True to his word, G took you out on the town. While you knew most of the people and frequented many of the businesses regularly, he still managed to get you to have fun. Maybe it was his natural charisma and casual teasing, but it was easy to enjoy spending time with him.

Even some of the locals who kept to themselves all the time seemed to brighten when G was around. He really could just about brighten anyone's day with a joke or a compliment. Although maybe it was partially because he was a skeleton and so people expected him to act differently.

You had lunch together at the local burger joint and when it came time to pay, you discovered that G had already done so. You felt a little awkward about that but also grateful since you hadn't been expecting him to do so.

After that, you mostly perused some of the store fronts on the main street as you walked together. Although neither of you actually bought anything and mostly just pointed interesting things out or made jokes. It was fun and you didn't remember the last time you'd just hung out like this with someone. Maybe during high school? But that was back in the big city and you weren't friends with most of your former classmates anymore.

As it got later in the afternoon, G pulled you aside and guided you into a driveway between two buildings. "hey, i just got an idea on where we should go next," he said.

You raised an eyebrow questioningly and asked, "Oh? Where's that?"

G grinned and his yellow eyelight seemed to almost twinkle with glee. "it's a surprise, sweetheart... but first, do you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you. What kind of question is that, G?" You were beginning to wonder what he could possibly have in mind now.

G studied you for a moment before chuckling softly. "alright then, i'm gonna need you to hold on to me for a second and not let go until i say to. think you can do that?"

Although you were thoroughly confused, you decided to roll with it and took one of his hands in your own. "Okay, now what?"

G's grin widened slightly and he leaned closer to you to whisper in your ear. "close your eyes as well, alright?"

You could feel yourself flush slightly from how close he was, but nonetheless you did as he asked and closed your eyes.

You heard G chuckle softly again as he wrapped his other arm around your waist and pulled you closer against himself. "keep them closed, kitten..." he whispered.

Before you could respond, you felt a strange sensation spread throughout your body, starting at your fingertips and toes. It made your body feel numb but not quite cold. The world seemed to stand still for the briefest of moments before rushing back at full force.

"alright, you can look now..." G murmured and loosened his hold on you slightly.

When you opened your eyes, the world around you had shifted entirely. Where you'd previously been standing in town, surrounded by two story building on each side, now you stood in the midst of a small field of wildflowers. There was yellow goldenrod, pink thistle, blue chicory, purple clover, white queen anne's lace, and many more that you didn't know the names of. Above you was a large maple tree, the leaves of which, were just starting to turn red. And above everything else, you could hear the sounds of distant ocean waves crashing on rocks not far away.

"Woah... How did you...?"

G grinned at your dumbfounded expression. "i used a shortcut," he answered, the gleeful twinkle still flickering in his gaze.

You huffed, "That doesn't even make sense. There isn't anywhere in town that looks like this. It's like you teleported us here or something..."

"shortcut, but i suppose you could refer to it as teleporting. the concept you're probably familiar with is similar enough anyways."

"But how did you...?" You gestured around with your free hand before adding, "...'shortcut' us here?"

"well i found this little place a while back, so i just used magic to basically step through space and bring us here."

"Oh... That sounds incredibly handy and also really cool!"

"yep, it makes getting around a bit easier and i can technically go anywhere i want, provided i'm already familiar with it of course." G stepped back from you but he kept hold of your hand as he led you over to the maple tree.

"Won't be long and all these flowers will be gone," you murmured as you glanced around. "They're really pretty though."

"yeah, when i found this place, i immediately thought of you." G paused and glanced around at the meadow before his gaze focused back on you. "do you still remember how we met?"

You blushed and glanced away, "How could I forget? Before I met you, I'd never considered that skeletons could be alive like you are... Ugh, I'm still embarrassed just thinking about it..."

G laughed, "i'd never seen a human go that pale before. still haven't but some people have come close."

You lightly slapped his shoulder. "Please stop reminding me... It wasn't that funny."

"nah, i'm just messing with you." G seemed unfazed and continued speaking, "unlike most people i've met, you're one of the nicest. you treat me like an actual person and not like a freak. it's like, you seem to get me, you know?"

You smiled at him, "Yeah, I'm glad to call you my friend and every year I look forward to when you're in the area."

G looked at you for a moment before chuckling and shaking his head slightly. He looked up at the branches of the great maple tree stretching overhead and in that moment, you saw a glimmer of the contemplative expression he'd been wearing earlier that morning.

You looked up as well at the afternoon sun filtering through the red leaves. In a way you felt a little sad knowing that Summer was over. It would be another eight or nine months before you'd get to see him again. You'd been through this many times before, so why were you feeling so disappointed that he was leaving again?

"hey, (y/n)?" G asked quietly.

You looked back at him, "Yeah?"

G paused and glanced down at your still joined hands before making eye contact again. He took a deep breath before speaking, "i like spending time with you, it's the reason i keep coming here actually. i've told you before, but when i travel, i almost never end up in the same place more than once. yet i constantly find myself coming back here to this tiny place."

He frowned slightly and added, "it took me this long to figure out, but i feel a connection with you, (y/n), and that's why i came back today."

You stared at him while trying to process what he'd said. As long as you'd known him, he'd been very up front with you about his commitment issues, in fact he'd even offhandedly mentioned it this morning. Besides his nomadic lifestyle, G had never seemed to be one interested in any sort of relationship with anyone. Maybe part of that was because he had a hard time actually connecting with anyone, being the only living skeleton in a world of humans.

"What do you mean by 'a connection', G?" you asked.

G chuckled, "ah, sorry, i forget sometimes that humans aren't generally familiar with matters of the soul." He paused for a moment while trying to think of how to explain it. "it's just that - a connection. my soul seems to be compatible with yours and i can't seem to ignore it. but, i understand if you don't feel the same..."

You covered your mouth with your free hand. You were shocked to say the least. He wasn't just messing with you again, right? No, he was acting serious right now and he'd never joked about this sort of thing with you before. Sure, he was a naturally affectionate person but this felt serious, more...real.

"Are you...? Are you saying you want to be more than...friends?" you asked quietly.

G nodded and squeezed your hand gently. "yes, although part of me isn't sure how to move forward... but i want to keep visiting you and i want to get to know you better."

"I'd love that. I...admit that I've had some thoughts over the years, but I never dreamed you would feel the same... It makes me happy..." You smiled, although you could feel a few tears threatening to fall at how happy you felt all of the sudden.

"you don't know how happy hearing that from you makes me feel, (y/n)." G smiled affectionately and softly wiped your tears away with his phalanges.

You nodded and took a deep breath to steady your nerves. "This is a lot to take in... What happens now?" you asked.

"anything we want, angel," G murmured. He moved a little closer and wrapped his arm around your back, pulling you closer against himself.

You wrapped your free arm around his shoulders and hugged him, which he reciprocated and squeezed you gently. You could hardly believe this was happening right now and you were just so happy.

G leaned his skull against your head and hummed softly. After a few minutes, you both pulled away, but stayed in each other's arms and just gazed into each other's eyes.

You broke the silence first and asked, "Will you keep traveling like you have been?"

G hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding. "i think so, but i won't forget about you, (y/n). after all the traveling i've done, i don't think i could just stop all at once. if there really is something special between us, i believe that it will be easier to stay with you than to move on like i always have. or, maybe we'll come up with another solution; i'll do anything to make you happy. maybe you'd even like to come along sometimes?"

"I understand, just promise me you'll write, okay?"

G chuckled and squeezed your hand, "i'll do you one better. i'll make sure to call you whenever i'm able to."

"I'd love that. Just remind me to give you my phone number before you leave if I forget."

"i don't think you would, but I'll remind you, don't worry," G smiled warmly as he spoke.

You both fell silent and just enjoyed holding each other for a few minutes. A sudden gust of wind picked up and sent a cascade of brightly colored leaves billowing around you two.

G let go of your hand and slid his hand behind your head. He tilted his skull questioningly and it took you a split second to realize what he seemed to be wondering. You nodded slightly, granting him permission.

He only hesitated a second. Then, he gently tilted your head and closed the final distance. His teeth met your lips softly and you almost felt a sort of spark pass between you two. It was...magical.

And it was over all too soon. G moved away again and moved his hand to your cheek, stroking it in an affectionate way with his thumb. You opened your eyes again and sighed wistfully.

"I'm not ready for you to go again, G," you whispered.

"i know, but it's not forever, sweetheart. we'll see each other again before you know it and i'll call you as often as i can," he whispered back.

"I'll be waiting for you."

"i know, (y/n)..."

[alicentflorent]

No offence, but if HOTD bothers you so much with the misogynistic writing (and I agree that the writing is misogynistic) why continue to watch a show you dislike?

I mean I haven’t actually decided if I’m watching season 2 given some of the information that’s come out and I have serious concerns with how they’ll handle blood and cheese and the trauma of women during war but I actually did like season one despite the issues I have with the writing. I still care about the characters like Alicent, Rhaenyra, etc which is why I post about them and why I still care enough to criticise the show and vent about how they are treated by the show and fandom alike. You can still enjoy a show, like engaging in discussions of said show and still criticise the way it’s written especially when the writers claim they’re writing from a more pregressive, feminist perspective.

[mikareo]

⌗ SEASONS OF LOVE ₊ ˖ ་. a 呪術廻戦 miniseries

“ ࣭⸰ ★ HOPELESS ROMANTIC ; geto x fem reader ⠀ ꒰ . . episode two ! ꒱ . . . word count; 1.1k ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ᯇ it's not a hot-girl summer

⊹ ⠀⠀ geto suguru was having such a great day...until you knock on his door at 6:00pm begging for help with your boy troubles.

contains; geto suguru x fem reader, university (year 2) au, fluff, swearing, friends to lovers, love triangle

⋆⋆⋆⠀ ⠀pm or send ask to join/be removed from taglist,, ⋆⋆⋆⠀ ⠀link to miniseries masterlist

"what the fuck are you doing here?"

geto thinks this is the first time ever, that the two of you have been within six feet of each other without gojo around to make conversation...and it's weird. he didn't even know that you knew where he lived, let alone would come knocking on his door right before he was about to leave to get some korean barbecue chicken. he's barely moved in yet, with the summer coming to a close as campus begins to open up again, and you're surprisingly the first familiar face he's been able to see. yippee, lucky him. man, he really wants some honey garlic chicken, right now.

it's not that he doesn't like you. he thinks you're fine. you're normal. you don't cause any trouble unless you're with gojo, and you might be more similar to geto than one may think— but hanging out with you has never really been a thing. the only notable thing that you do have in common is gojo; and unfortunately, that's the very reason why you're here.

"satoru made a hinge profile." you sigh.

who cares?

"okay? he's satoru, that's not unusual." geto assumes this conversation will be a waste of time, but he wants to hear you out. he's nice like that. "is there a bigger issue?"

the look in your eyes tell him that there is, and within the ten seconds he takes to gaze at them, he finds himself lost. just for a moment, he's standing on a cliffside, gazing out at the open sea, with a sunset of colors painted before him. he's understanding your emotions from a painter's point of view, noticing each blended shade watercolored onto your irises with gentle brush strokes. there's loneliness, hopelessness, helplessness...and most significantly...there's love.

"you're in love with him, aren't you?"

without thinking, he moves aside to give you space to enter his room. he knows that this conversation will be difficult for you and wants to give you the privacy to vent in quiet; after all, it's the least he can do.

"how are you in love with satoru? he's like a walking std." geto thought you were the one girl who wasn't in love with his best friend. it seems he was wrong. "there's a ton of other guys on campus to go out with. why don't you do that thing people talk about online...the...what is it? hot girl summer?"

you groan and hug his pillow to your chest. when did you get on his bed? "i don't want a hot girl summer anymore, geto."

"i want a satoru summer."

that sounds like something out of his nightmares. the thought of gojo invading his every day and shadowing him from the sun is almost nausea inducing— however, geto didn't let you into his safe space to judge you. he let you in so he could listen.

"i'm just so tired of watching every other girl go on dates with him, it's not fair! why does he want them? none of them actually know him. they don't know his favorite stores or how he likes his eggs cooked! they don't see the face he makes when he's actually upset, and they definitely can't tell the difference between his fake upset look and his real upset look! i know him better than anyone— including you— and i don't understand why he doesn't love me like i love him! —and now this new class of freshmen girls get to have him? no! it's like he doesn't even see me as an option, he just looks through me. i don't exist in any romantic category in his brain, it's bullshit."

as your tears soak his favorite throw pillow, geto takes a moment to piece together everything you cried. with the voice cracks and small sobs, it was difficult for him to follow along, but he believes he understands the main point. you love gojo. gojo doesn't love you. simple.

geto would be lying to say that gojo's just a coward and actually does want you back. he knows firsthand that his best friend has never ever mentioned you in any romantic way. to gojo, you're just another best friend that he can rely on when he's being an absolute dick— which is a shitty situation for your sake, but you deal with it anyways just as geto does.

"y'know what i think?" he leans against his bed frame, gently tilting your head up to look at him. "i think that he might not be right for you. i mean, if you feel like he doesn't see you, he's not the one."

you bite your lip, struggling to hold in your tears. "but he is. i know he is. i need to be better for him."

now that's just not right.

"no." his hand is caressing your face. the position is very intimate and if anyone walked in they'd definitely assume you're a couple, but geto isn't aware of that. he just wants to make sure that you're going to be okay. "you shouldn't have to change yourself for satoru of all people—"

"but i do need to!" the volume of your voice surprises him, causing him to jolt back and let go of your cheek. "i just need more experience to be the kind of woman he likes. i need to actually put myself out there, i mean, i never do that. obviously he isn't going to like me if i don't even know how to flirt." you don't know how to flirt?

"you're joking right?"

"why would i be joking?"

"you seriously can't get a guy?"

"...i don't want to answer that."

ohmygod.

"alright," geto clears his throat and sighs the deepest sigh in his entire life, "i'm going to do you a favor and take you on some dates for practice. nothing more than that; just a few dinners, maybe some coffee shops, and if you're lucky i'll even throw in a bookstore or two. nothing romantic, though. i just want to be a good friend."

there's a small smile creeping on your lips. "are you serious?"

it's kind of cute. "dead serious."

and suddenly your arms are around him and geto thinks he might lose consciousness with the lack of oxygen he's getting. you give good hugs.

"thank you! thank you!" you're excited again and he's happy to make you laugh. your crying face was too much for him to handle. you don't deserve to feel sad, you're too sweet for that. "i'm so excited! i can't wait!"

what has he gotten himself into...

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⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⊹₊｡ reblogs are greatly appreciated! ˚₊⊹

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

04/28/24 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; David Jenkins; Nathan Foad; Damien Gerard; Watch Parties; Fan Spotlight; Cast Cards; OFMD Colouring Pages; Community Q's Love Notes; Daily Darby / Today's Taika;

== Cast & Crew Sightings ==

= David Jenkins =

I think this picture speaks for itself.

Img Src: @simonenathan Twitter

= Nathan Foad =

More Love's Labour's Lost with Nathan! So good to see him having such a great time!

Img Src: Nathan's IG

= Damien Gerard =

Our crewmate @/rosiemegglemoth on twitter saw Damien this weekend and he got to meet little Edward! I've seen Edward travel all over the place and I'm loving that he and Damien got to meet up <3 Thank you Rosy Meggie Moth for letting me share this with everyone!

@rosiemegglemoth's Twitter

== Watch Parties ==

= Palm Royale =

Palm Royale WP May 2 via @LCWebsXOXO with the lovely @/dominicburgess approx. 4pm EDT/9pm BST/1pm PST!

= Wrecked Season 1 =

Another week of Wrecked Season 1 is on the docket! Don't have access? Reach out to me on @gentlebeardsbarngrill on tumblr, or @aspirantabby42 on twitter.

Days: Apr 29 - May 3

Times: 3:30 pm PT / 6:30 pm ET / 11:30 pm BST

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Cast Cards =

Tonight's cast card is Pop Pop's Son! Thanks @melvisik for bringing him in too! I thought he looked familiar.

== OFMD Colouring Pages ==

Thank you @patchworkpiratebear for more colouring pages! This time featuring Calypso's Birthday!

== Community Q's ==

Starting something new today friends! I want to hear from you all!

What's your favorite interview featuring the OFMD cast?

It could be just Rhys or Taika and Rhys, or just David, or just Samson, or any number of cast members! It could even just be an interview of a cast member for another movie or show they did (doesn't have to be ofmd related except that an actor/actress also played in OFMD)! I just would love to hear what your favorite cast interviews are-- and if you have a link to it even better!

== Love Notes ==

Hey Lovelies. I'm sorry it's been so hard lately. Everyone I talk to seems to be struggling in one way or another right now, and I know it's been a lot. Remember to vent if you can-- even if a lots been happening for a while, you're not a burden if you need to vent again.

We all go through so much in our lives, and sometimes those hard times go for a lot longer than we'd like, we're allowed to be just as frustrated with them as we were the first as the 100th day we're dealing with them.

But you know what? You're so incredibly resilient lovelies. Seriously, look at you. Look at you getting through each day even when things are tough. If you had a great day, or you cried your eyes out, the fact that you're still here is so incredibly important.

YOU are so incredibly important. I know sometimes it feels like we are our struggles, but you are so very much more than them. Your struggles might be chronic, you may never be rid of them, or they may be temporary, so please, feel them, fight them, experience them, learn from them, but know that when you come out of them at the end of the day you are not those struggles.

They influence you, and they are a piece of you, but they are not the whole of you. You are a wonderful, kind, an beautiful individual that means so much to so many people, and you are so very complex and you have so many sides to you.

You are wonderful lovelies. Remember that. Good luck this week, I'm rooting for you so hard.

Img Src: @goldiealexx Instagram

== Daily Darby / Today's Taika ==

I always come back to this being one of my favorite interviews so that's tonight's theme, fav interviews. Today's gif courtesy of @celluloidbroomcloset

[bullet-prooflove]

‘Wanna see what's under that attitude’ with Michael Cutter (Law and Order) I binged all 3 of his seasons after reading those two fics.

Tagging: @kmc1989 @alexlynn16 @grlmac @breadsquash @novavida 

Companion piece to:

Better Friends - Mike tells you you need better friends.

What Are You Going To Do About It - Mike gets a little jealous.

Spot the CSI NY Easter Egg

You’ve got an attitude tonight, Mike can tell from the way you slam the door to your office, the glass trembling in the panel as the noise vibrates through the entire floor. He just thanks Christ it’s past nine pm and the building is practically empty otherwise all sorts of rumours would be flying. He waits for the desk lamp to flick on before he makes his approach. He leaves his phone on his desk, the text from Audrey still on his screen.

Your head is in your hands when he enters the office and he feels something twist in his chest as you look up at him with mascara smeared under your eyes from where your you’ve rubbed your palms into the sockets.

“I didn’t know she was your friend.” He tells you as he closes the door behind him. “I wouldn’t have slept with her otherwise.”

That’s the deal, fuck who you want but friends are off limits. It’s a way of setting boundaries, of proving that this thing between the two of you is nothing more than casual. The problem is Mike may talk a good game but his feelings for you they go far beyond the occasional fuck when one of you needs to vent a little stress. It isn’t until now that he realises that it cuts both ways.

“What are we doing?” He asks gesturing between the two of you. “Because this, this clearly isn’t working.”

“I don’t fucking know anymore Mike.” You say sagging back into your seat. “All I can tell you is that right now it feels like someone has just ripped my heart right out of chest.”

“That’s exactly how I felt.” He tells you as he walks around to your side of the desk and kneels before you. “When I saw you at the Mayor’s Ball with Don Flack, if felt like you had rammed your stiletto straight into my rib cage.”

He cups your face between his palms, his lips brushing over the salt on your cheeks.

“I don’t want to do this anymore.” He whispers as he looks into your eyes. “All I want is to be with you.”

Love Cutter? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[itsphoenix0724]

Meet Me On The Ice (Azriel x Reader)~ Chapter 3

Warnings: None!

Word Count: 1.9k

MMOTI masterlist

A/N: It's been a while and I'm sorry but I hope you guys enjoy it <3

Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: I am not a figure skater or a hockey player, so while I'm trying to be as accurate as possible, it's likely some things may not be correct and/or are bent a little to fit the plot!

“He’s just so infuriating!” You fall back onto the plush couch in the Vanserra pool house, stuffing a mouthful of popcorn. The underused pool house had been You and Lucien’s sanctuary since you were small, his rowdy brothers not really caring to venture here, much preferring the amenities the woodland mansion had to offer. 

Well except for one. 

Eris Vanserra’s favorite hobby seemed to be annoying you whenever you were over. It seemed like no matter what he found some way to weasel into your business, and now as he settles into the couch between you and Lucien–shoveling a handful of your popcorn into his mouth, it seems he’s wormed his way into your venting session. 

“Trouble in paradise?” He raises an auburn brow and you can practically feel Lucien rolling his eyes. You can’t believe you ever thought he was the most tolerable of Lucien’s brothers. “I’ve seen that broody one you’re trying to replace LuLu with, he doesn’t seem like your type.” It’s probably true, most of the Vanserra brood played for the Autumn University Smokehounds except for Lucien, the Velaris Comet’s biggest rivals on and off the ice. 

“Like you know anything about my type Eris,” You snarl and he does nothing but laugh, even as Lucien looks like he wants to sink back into the couch cushions. 

“Go away Er, find someone else to bother.” Lucien supplies, removing the bowl of popcorn from his brother's lap, passing it back to you, fixing his heated gaze on Eris, and then pointedly looking at the door. Eris gets the hint, seeming amused by the level of aggravation he’s caused for the day and stands to leave. 

“Alright, but I’m hurt you didn’t ask me, Little Minx,” Eris’s heated gaze fixed on you as he reaches down and grabs one last piece of popcorn from your lap, crowding your space with eyes locked together with brutal efficiency. “I think we would’ve danced very well together.” He leaves without another word. 

“It’s like I’m not safe from assholes anywhere,” You scoff, collapsing back into Lucien’s lap. He looks at you apologetically, running a soothing hand through your hair. You relish in the simple affection of the balm that is Lucien’s presence. 

“I’m sorry about him,” He supplies, twisting a lock of hair through your fingers. 

“I know how to handle Eris, it’s the other one I’m more nervous about.” Your eyes slip shut, taking calming breaths.

“What about Az gets you so worked up?” He asks readjusting his casted foot to be propped higher on the pillow. 

“I don’t even know, my whole life he’s just hated me. I get that I was an annoying little kid who always wanted to hang out with them, but we’re adults now and he should fucking get over it.” You can feel the annoyance start to creep back into your body, your temper already rising at the thought of the practice you have to attend later. 

“You’ll survive Dove, don’t let this ruin your last season. At least one of us needs a good one.” You glance up at Lucien who’s glaring at his leg like that could make it magically heal.

“I know I’m sorry. I just wish we could do it together.” You say, and he smiles down at you mournfully, rubbing out the crease between your eyebrows as you try to relax. “I’ll try to keep my head up.” 

₊˚｡⋆❆⋆｡˚₊₊˚｡⋆❆⋆｡˚₊₊˚｡⋆❆⋆｡˚₊

Your head slams down hard against the practice floor as you’re dropped for the third time tonight. 

“Alright!” Alis yells, her forehead wrinkled with irritation as she stops the music. You glare hard at Azriel whose chest is heaving up and down, an equally intense glare fixed on you. “You two clearly haven’t taken my advice, and it’s showing in your work.”  She calls your name and you sit up, rubbing the sore spot from where your head hit the floor. “What did you and Lucien do when you first started skating together?” 

“We used to get pizza and go the arcade once a week.” You supply and you and Az share a mutual look of distaste. “But that was when we were eleven and Azriel and I are very much not eleven.” Alis shakes her head again. 

“Well, I don’t care. If you want any chance of even stepping on ice this season, you’ll bond. If you can’t get this on the practice floor, I’ll be damned before I let either of you on skates.” 

“I don’t have time for that.” Azriel’s voice rumbles through the room, and Alis shoots him an incredulous look.

“Well young man, let me make some time for you now. Practice is dismissed early, and the two of you are going to get pizza and go to the arcade. In fact, I’m giving you homework, you two have to hang out once a week.” Her tone is final despite the mutual protests of you and Azriel. So with the grumbling, you’re reluctantly climbing into the passenger seat of Az’s beat-up jeep as he’s plugging in the directions to the old Funland Arcade. He sets his arm on the back of your headrest as he looks over his shoulder to back out of the parking lot and set out on the road. 

It's most likely the most awkward car ride you’ve ever been on. 

The radio is playing on low with some old rock band Azriel must be fond of and the monotone voice of his phone’s GPS is the only noise in the car. Even the sound of your breath seems to blare throughout the vehicle's cab. Luckily for you, the drive to the old arcade is short. He parks the car and the two of you make your way inside, when you get in line behind him for game tokens he raises his eyebrows at you pinning you with a silent question in his hazel gaze. 

“What? I don’t expect you to pay for me, it’s not like we’re on a date.” You give him a noncommittal nod and he shrugs in response before feeding money into the machine that spits out the tokens. You repeat his actions filling your bucket as you set out upon the battlefield of neon lights and arcade consoles. 

It takes all of about 30 seconds for another argument to ensue. 

It's stupid really. You want to play the old Dance Dance Revolution machine in the back and Azriel wants to play some zombie shooter with grotesque graphics and obnoxiously loud gun noises. 

“Well, then we can just each play our own game and meet up when we’re done.” He huffs and starts to walk over to his choice, but you grab his arm. 

“The entire point of being here is so that we spend time together. Alis said we’re supposed to do things together as a team.” You drop his arm, glaring at him as he scoffs and shoves his hands in his hoodie pocket. 

“She’ll never even find out if we don’t” He tries to walk away again fully turning his back to you but you grab his hood and yank him back again. He lets out a choking sound before whipping around to you absolutely furious. “What the actual fuck was that for?” Azriel questions, yanking his collar back down. 

“Listen to me, Azriel. I get that this isn’t important to you but it’s important to me. This is my only chance to skate, so I don’t care what I have to stoop to.” You pinch the crease between your brows and try to offer an olive branch. “So can we at least compromise okay? I’ll play your shooting game first if you play my game after, and then how about we try to pick a game together.” Az finally relents, nodding his agreement. So the two of you walk over to his game, eloquently titled Undead Massacre III, and pick up the red plastic gun assigned to player two. 

You were officially complete dog shit. 

You had wasted a good chunk of your tokens because you kept dying and Azriel was too far ahead or too focused to revive you, and you could tell that he was annoyed at having to start over. You wanted to quit, not understanding the gun upgrades or reloading mechanism, insisting that you played enough and it was your turn. Az insisted that you had to win at least the easiest round before you could move on. After you died for the fifth time and the game over screen flashes bright and angry as Azriel comes behind you. 

“You can’t reload or switch guns fast enough because you’re holding it wrong.” He rumbles the warmth from his chest seeping into your back as he repositions your hands around the plastic. “And you can’t aim because you’re holding the gun too low and it’s not registering with the sensor,” He pulls your arm up so that the gun is now level with your collarbones. “There, see how that feels?” You shudder as his breath hits your neck, rolling your shoulders to fight off the rising goosebumps from his proximity and pray that he can’t see the heat creeping up your cheeks in the dim light. He inserts the tokens for both of you and starts the game again. You actually manage to beat the easiest level and let out a shout that makes a few mothers shoot you angry glares, turning to Azriel eyes blazing with victory. He smiles, actually smiles at you, and you start toward him before awkwardly pausing. If it was Lucien, Rhys, or hell even Cassian you would’ve thrown your arms around them to celebrate. But it was Azriel, so you settle for an awkward smile and offer your hand up for a high-five. He returns it and reluctantly follows you over to DDR, which he does surprisingly well at. 

You should’ve known apparently he’s good at everything. You shoot him a questioning gaze and he gives a nonchalant shrug, but there’s amusement in his eyes that makes a laugh bubble out of your chest.

The both of you settle on ski ball and a couple other arcade games that leave you both with a massive pile of tickets that you have to spend at the counter. You end up combing your tickets for the free pizza coupon so you settle into the booths and wait for it to be delivered to your table. This time the silence isn’t terribly awkward, you’re surrounded by kids laughing, terribly censored pop radio, and the smell of mediocre arcade pizza. You flick through social media on your phone and answer a couple texts before the waitress brings you a pitcher of lemonade and a large cheese pizza. You take two slices and Azriel piles 4 onto his plate, raising a brow at you as he shoves his face. 

“You don’t have to eat it like it’s about to run away from you.” You giggle out around a sip of your lemonade and Azriel thankfully takes the comment as the joke it is instead of an insult and laughs. 

“I’m a growing boy sweetheart, gotta eat.” He shoves almost half a piece of pizza in his mouth and pats his stomach for effect. The blush is back and Az watches it darken your cheeks with amusement dancing in his eyes. Thoroughly stuffed and satisfied you climb back into Azriel’s car as he drives you back to the rink, looking out the window as stars twinkle in the night sky. 

“I had fun tonight,” you mutter as he drops you off at your car. “I’ll see you tomorrow for practice.” Azriel nods at you from his rolled-down window and waits until you’re in your car and pulling out of the parking lot before he starts his drive home.

Taglist: @sidthedollface2, @bionic-donut @lyinginameadow @feyretopia @natashachelsea @going-through-shit @mika-no-sekai-blog @hijabi-desi-bookworm @brandywineeeee @littlelunatica @gorlillaglue25

[raayllum]

I’m sorry how is arc 2 not about aaravos? Everything about the show leads back to aaravos. The whole lore of the show is centered around aaravos. And it is absolutely titled the mystery of aaravos because it does plan on dealing with the mystery of aaravos in every possible way, and that has infact been confirmed by the showrunners on multiple instances. Aaravos is just as, if not more of a main character than rayllum in the ways that count because everything going on revolves around him. 

And since he’s an EXTREMELY important character, how is it not justified for fans of him to want more screen time of him? 

I’m sorry but not everything about the show revolves around rayllum and you shouldn’t call people out just for wanting to see more of their favorite character.

God forbid something about aaravos is actually about aaravos and not rayllum for once 💀💀

Actually I can and do call people out for wanting to see more of their favourite character when it causes them to be entitled / unfair to the broader story they want to tell. If you haven't been doing those things, then that post wasn't about you, but given the way you put your best foot forward here, I might go out on a limb and guess this might be behaviour you display sometimes, and it may be worth reconsidering.

As a bit of background:

My favourite character in a TV show was once a side character who was in 1/4 seasons, and one episode in the final season, and then he never showed up again. which was Okay, because he was a Side Character and it would've been pretty silly for the show to bend over backwards to include him more. Granted, there were opportunities (him and another character were travelling together, then she showed up at a Plot Relevant location without him and it was never addressed) but the show wasn't bad or wrong for not including more. I wasn't owed more screen time just because he was my favourite character, and while any character can Technically be Levelled Up for more screen time and plot relevance, sometimes characters are just there to serve more minor specific purposes, and that's Okay. It's all about adjusting your own expectations and not being an asshole.

Furthermore, given that I posted my personal opinion on my personal blog and only used my personal tags for it, you had two options for finding this post:

It got sent to you, presumably meaning you had someone else to be salty with in a private manner that would've been far more appropriate

You follow(ed) me, in which case you are more than encouraged to unfollow or block me if I have a post/opinion you find annoying or uncouth. Please do so rather than doing whatever This Is in my inbox in the future, it'll likely save you not only time but also embarrassment

The fact you thought going into the inbox of a Virtual Stranger and getting upset about me not thinking your favourite character is the Most Important Character in TDP Ever — because he isn't — in one (1) post is truly baffling to me in terms of 1) curating your internet experience and 2) interacting appropriately with strangers directly online. I've seen a lot of shit opinions in my day, and I vent in private to my fandom friends about it 99.9% of the time, thank you very much, or post about it in my personal tags on my own blog rather than making it someone else's problem.

In the nature of analysis / debate, though, let me clear what I meant considering 4+ people got their trousers in a twist about the idea that Aaravos isn't a main character.

That said, a few quick disclaimers: Aaravos is a very interesting character to me, and I like him a lot. I've written a fair bit about him in regards to how he's a thematic opposite to Harrow, his view of children, what I think happened to his chest piece, speculation on his banishment, his parallels to Finnegrin, his mythic connections to aspects of the Fae + Egyptian and Greek mythology, his foil relationship to Rayla, his characterization and motifs/symbols. So it's not as though I don't enjoy him or don't think he's important to the story. He is, he's just not a main character nor the most important. Moving on:

Secondly: it seems maybe my meaning of macguffin is getting misconstrued. A story Macguffin is a plot device that drives the story forward. Sometimes it's a character (R2D2 in star wars has to be transported from one dangerous location to safety because he has blue print plans), sometimes it's an object (the one ring, fetch quests, etc). Either way, the story is centralized around 1) characters competing for ownership or safe guarding of said person/thing and 2) through that competition or competing needs, the characterization of the main cast is revealed.

In Arc 1, Zym is the plot Macguffin. He overall has very little personality even once hatched beyond being sweet, occasionally helpful, and scared. He is the titular character, and his existence matters, but mostly because he serves as a motivational point for the characters. Claudia, Soren, and Viren want to stop Zym from getting back to Xadia; Rayla, Callum, and Ezran, want to help him get back.

Zym himself does not drive episodes forward. He rarely makes decisions that impact the main group. His existence or fears cause them to make decisions (they go looking for help because they dropped his egg; Rayla and Callum have to go after Nyx because she stole him) but he is not likewise making decisions for the group. S4 definitely levelled Zym up into him making 1) more independent decisions and 2) having more of his own interior feelings, particularly about his father, but Callum is the one who decides to send him up into the trees; Ezran is the one calling the meeting for Zym to come to Katolis. A couple of exceptions (he has a mini arc about his mom for 2 eps, he has an arc in s2 with Ezran) do not suddenly make Zym a "I'm making decisions that heavily push the plot forward every episode" kind of character.

You'll also note, if you actually read said post you're referencing, that I specified "'the mystery of aaravos' (esp these past two seasons)" and that I never mentioned lore, either, even if I have likewise written about lore extensively (one of my more recent metas on it was about 4.8k words on lore alone, for example).

Aaravos' plot impact was a lot heavier in S2 and particularly S3 than it is in S4 or S5, as he influenced Viren's decisions more heavily and eventually came into more direct conflict with the core protagonists. This is likewise reflected in Aaravos in S2 and S3 being in multiple episodes (half the season in s2, and almost every episode at least a little in s3).

Meanwhile in Arc 2, Aaravos could effectively, unknown to his pawns drop dead after giving Claudia her final instructions pre-S4, and nothing would be affected plot wise, because Arc 2 thus far has mostly been characters fearing his impending release (the main cast) or dealing with the fallout of his actions from S3 (the Sunfire elf plot line). The only thing we'd lose on that level from a "Claudia believes Aaravos is alive and is trying to free him, but he's not actually" is Callum and Rayla's possession plot line, ironically enough given your apparent dislike of them, until the very very end of 5x09 in which he tries to goad Viren into killing SS.

I'm excited for and expecting that to change in S6 and S7, but that doesn't change what S4 and S5 currently are, either. Same thing for Amaya and Janai more so being main characters, Janai in particular, in S4 and S5, but they were not main characters in the first three seasons. That doesn't mean they're not good, meaningful, and important characters for the story, but I'd be a very poor meta writer / have very poor media literacy if I tried to claim that Janai is a main character in arc 1 over say, Callum.

For another example: everything in Avatar: The Last Airbender revolves around Team Avatar wanting to stop Ozai, but Ozai is not a main character in the show. He's there to be a minor character, an endgame big bad, and to affect his children / embody the conflict the characters are up against. The fact that TDP has so many antagonists that are also Main Characters throughout the whole show (Viren, Claudia) is actually pretty rare in media, particularly for children.

The Legend of Zelda games usually revolve around Link wanting to save or free Zelda, and while certain games flesh her out and make her more developed into a main character, the central character of the narrative is Link, because he's the character we follow the most.

Additionally, the Importance of a character in a narrative has no bearing on whether they're your favourite, or even necessarily whether they're a 'good' / 'well written' character. Rayla, for example, is my personal #1 favourite character in TDP. She is a main character; she is not The main character. That's not an insult to Rayla; she's there to be a foil, one hell of a narrative lancer, and our main elven character. But I can't (nor do I want to) magically change her role in the story to claim that it's something it isn't.

The central main character of TDP is Callum. It always has been, it always will be.

He is the character who shows up in every single episode, he's our central mage character in a show all about magic, he has the most developed relationships out of everyone, he is the POV character we follow the most. That doesn't mean he's your favourite, that doesn't mean he has to be your preference, you don't even have to like him. But he is The Main Character. The majority of the story revolves around him and the people in his life. No amount of liking another character more is going to change that, whether you're clamouring for Rayla, Aaravos, Sol Regem or anyone else.

While there are shows where I think the side lining of characters feels off (Gus and Willow in The Owl House come to mind) that's mostly because 1) that sort of side lining usually happens to characters of colour, as it did there and 2) there's no real reason for the story to sideline them considering everyone lives in close proximity and there's a s1 emphasis that the main character has never had friends before and that she desperately wants some. Therefore, she should be thrilled to have best friends for the first time, but we barely see them. See the disconnect?

Aaravos is a minor character and big bad who is well utilized in the overall minimal screentime he has, especially thus far in S4 and S5. That doesn't mean he's not important to the story, and that doesn't mean he can't or shouldn't be your favourite, but your assertion doesn't miraculously make him our main core protagonist of the entire show, because 1) he's not our central pov character and 2) that's about the only requirement a main protagonist has to have, and 3) that's just not how stories work.

I also have no clue why you brought up Rayllum as a ship, given that I didn't mention them in my OG post at all, but given that you seem to think "this character isn't a main character" is a moral or value statement, I'll assume you said it to ruffle my feathers — that doesn't really work, given that I agree with you that not everything in the show is about Callum or Rayla individually or as a relationship, because it Isn't. Even if I hated them as characters or as a dynamic, however, that wouldn't change the fact that they're two of the core 3 characters (alongside Ezran) and that their relationship has the most screentime out of anyone in the show.

And if the show decided to tone down their screen time to give other characters more time, I'd be okay with that — because I don't need my Personal Favourite to be the most important character in the source material / screen time ever in order to feel secure in liking them, thanks.

[gardeningforfun0714]

Hi everyone I’m sorry I haven’t updated as much as I planned, but I thought I’d share pics of how everything’s going in my garden (6/23/24)

The tomatoes have exploded and there’s lots of flowers. I’m hoping it’s not too hot and we actually get fruit this year (last year got so hot our tomatoes didn’t even flower during the normal growing season).

Next is the corn, which are also doing really well. It’s the sweet corn variety. Funny story, I planted the corn seeds without knowing you kind of need a lot to get a good crop because it’s wind pollinated. However, we have about 10 mature stalks and I’m hoping to get at least a small harvest. A few of the stalks are taller than me (5’3”/160cm) and one of the ears growing already has silk growing out of the ear.

Next are the cucumbers. One of the plants has a few eggs on the bottoms of the leaves so I used some Sevin dust. I’m hesitant to use neem oil because I’ve noticed lots of ladybugs in the garden and don’t wanna kill them.

The carrots are doing well after being transplanted. Unfortunately I don’t remember when I started the seeds so I’m not sure if they should be farther along by now (I believe I planted around late April/early May—late for seeds I know but I’ve got a long growing season and few frosts).

The various fruit trees/bushes/shrubs are doing well. Pictured are a thorny blackberry vine, an olive tree, a papaya tree, and a babcock peach tree. Everything is doing amazing. The blackberry is producing, the 4 peaches are growing and changing color while the olive, fig and papaya have been putting in some major growth/establishing.

Last is the melon patch. It’s also exploded and there are so many watermelons throughout the whole patch of varying sizes from bb-sized to the one pictured with my hand. I didn’t see any cantaloupe yet, but there’s lots of flowers. I haven’t actually gone into the patch due to how crowded it is (I’m hoping if we do get some we’d be able to see them when they get big enough). I’m estimating we have between 12-15 watermelon at least so far.

However, not everything is doing so well. The rabbits have been so destructive, they killed my producing pole bean, the peppers I transplanted into the ground and most of the radishes, leaving 2 left for us (I did start new seeds though because radishes are some of the quickest vegetables you can grow from seed to harvest).

For things I didn’t cover like the grapes, blueberries, raspberries, guava trees, the apple tree, the lemon tree, various flowers, onions, potatoes, and pineapples, they are all doing good as well. I also wanna add that I did start new bush beans/pole beans as well as various kinds of peppers (jalapeños, hot salsa blend peppers, golden bell peppers) in containers to make up for the ones that got chewed. Hopefully those will make a nice fall harvest. The potatoes are almost ready to be harvested and the blueberries and raspberries have had berries ripen one at a time due to how small they are (this is the first year for berries).

As for other things I have planned, I have a few art pieces I’d like to post if that’s something y’all are interested in. I also would love to talk about my experience with gardening and mental health but any and all posts related to that will be labeled with appropriate trigger warnings.

Thanks for all the support with likes/reblogs. Feel free to come lurk, talk, vent, ask, whatever. I just wanna inspire others that think they cannot grow things that they can. If you’d like to talk I mostly would like to talk about gardening/plants/mental health and how it impacts us as humans.

Happy growing🌱🌿💙

[skepticbeliever-bookclub]

Hiya there, shippers & readers

After our usual game/watch-along round was profoundly derailed by some recent fandom events, we really feel like our response and the time we spent spilling our hearts in our fandom-vent channel made us that much closer. We got some new members and we've had a lot of new fun times. It feels like we're ready to embark on a new chapter of reading fic and discussing it together. It also brought about another sentiment; a special desire to interact with something in our beloved fanspace that doesn't always get a lot of love. That is, the steven fic.

And there is a lot of it, surprisingly. Ranging from the early years in the background of shyan or featuring in his own peculiar way in pairings and threesomes, either way, we decided that it was really time for us to show some love for fiction!Steven in hopes to inspire more. Due to that, we voted in 9 nominations and decided that the top 3 would stand as milestones in our Steven season journey. Among those three, the top of the vote was a very particular favourite of this mod's

under thy tongue by makemadej (santamonicayachtclub)

The book club as a whole seemed to agree that this fic is holistically a beautiful piece, that it reads like what it must feel like to observe the iconography of classic artists painting god and the angels in all their mythos as Steven navigates an ephemeral opportunity to be intimate with Ryan.

Rating: E

Summary: Ryan sprains his ankle because basketball and ends up staying at Steven's place. Guess how many beds there are.

Book Club Thoughts

First off, I'm a shyan shipper but…. this fic really sold me on this pairing we don't get enough opportunities to talk about steven/ryan as a pair esp since ryan is such an open book but he's the kind of guy who feels a lot of guilt about purchasing big things for himself and mean while Steven is more reserved but there has always been something so wonderfully hedonistic about him the setting of it feels very liminal, and it adds to the tone The nature behind Steven almost feeling like this is something he may not be allowed to have as the thought of Shane lingers over his head even though the dude is on the other side of the world, yet Steven is still there to take care of Ryan in all the terms. It's just how beautiful Steven's character and personality is written in this fic. i love stevens religion being used as a tool of indulgence rather than restriction. he is fully worshipping ryan. a man so beautiful you gotta experience him in a biblical sort of way And all of this being from Steven's pov just really fits his love of the nicer things and his appetite so well his saying "there's nothing wrong with wanting" feels so poignant to how he operates here to the end of the fic. He has always had desires but he doesn't steal and he didn't want to feel like he was stealing Ryan so when Ryan starts to ask him to do things that he--Steven-wants to do, it's surprising to him. it's about the devotion to god and Ryan's godlike physique that can't be anything other but the manifestation of god's love on earth i adore the dream-like quality of this fic. the liminal energy of the timeline and that they know they wont be staying together, yet it's still so intimate and loving There is such beauty in the way he is written; a kind, quiet, methodical individual. His language of love being acts of service is so fantastically written. It’s true service… and yet there’s the quiet self satisfaction Steven indulges in as he’s…. servicing Ryan….. This fic is a quiet, calming, dare I say meditative read. It’s comfort, somewhat bittersweet in the way their entanglement is temporary.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN US FOR OUR NEXT DISCUSSION? CHECK OUT THE FAQ, AND SEND US AN ASK! IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR FIC RECS, PLEASE CHECK OUT OUR READS, NOMINEES AND BOOK CLUB REC LISTS!

[cboffshore]

Hey there - I'm Lila!

If you're seeing this, it could mean any of the following: you're already a mutual, you like Ninjago, you really like Ninjago's infamous (ha!) sixth season Skybound, or you know me from something else entirely. Or it's none of those and you've just taken a super wrong turn. No matter what - I'm glad you're here!

Join me under the cut for a more detailed look at my account, or just venture off on your own - the choice is yours.

WHO I AM & WHERE TO FIND ME

You can call me Lila! I've been around the Ninjago fandom since 2011 under a whole bunch of different names and accounts, with all the bizarre stories and memories to show for it. Now, though, you can find me under one of two handles: @cboffshore (here and on Twitter, where I'm not as active as I used to be) or OffshoreWriter over on AO3.

My title as Skybound Analysis PhD holder was born from a joke (initially given to me when I overanalyzed Skybound's color scheme and then Flintlocke's development in a Discord server) but grew into, well, not a joke; I take Skybound about as seriously as someone can take a toy commercial cartoon. Through all of my years in the Ninjago fandom, I've never seen a season as misunderstood and contentious as Skybound. Unfortunately, I happen to like it a lot for what it is, and I'm willing to defend it very hard (but don't get me wrong, I know it's got flaws! I'm not completely nuts!). Read this ask for a detailed overview of my position on Skybound analysis.

Outside of Ninjago overanalysis, I'm into a few other things: crocheting, the occasional piece of digital art, music (special faves include I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME, Fall Out Boy, and My Chemical Romance), and Bionicle (but only on a casual "wow cool vibes and killer writing" basis because that timeline does NOT make sense to me.).

SOME STUFF I DO

The best way to get into my work is just to explore all the nooks and crannies of my blog, but for those of you in a rush, here are links to some of my favorite projects:

On Sea, Sunlight, and Sky, aka OSSAS, is what I'd consider the crown jewel of my AO3 catalog: a Nya-centric series diving into her experience during the last few episodes of Skybound. Updated every December until I decide to lay her to rest (which, by the looks of it, will be the 2024 installment), this is my longest-term project that exemplifies how I approach Skybound as a season. If you only check out one corner of my work, make it OSSAS. You can find all things OSSAS under #ossas tag here on my blog (newcomers beware of spoilers!)

Yours To Keep: Rethinking Skybound Through Fashion is an older project of mine that blends fashion design and Nadakhan character analysis. As in, I drew a trio of banger outfits and then wrote essays about what all their details meant. Trust me on this, it's a cool one! (This is a holdover from when my fandom involvement was almost exclusively Ninjago character analysis-based couture fashion art... you can thank Giles Panton for that.)

Sorrow is All The Rage: An Analysis of Sexual Assault in Jay-Centric Skybound Fanfiction is a two (technically, three) part essay detailing my attempts to come to terms with the (frankly rather concerning) trend of gratuitous SA inclusion in a surprising swath of popular Skybound fanfiction. (Spoiler alert: I still think it's weird as hell and I haven't come to terms with it... but I have gotten way better at using the block button to keep it out of my line of sight.) The link in the title will take you to part one; part two is linked at the end, and part three's mini update is lurking somewhere in those tags. Please note: this essay is not an attack, or a condemnation, although it may come across that way at times. This was written largely as a vent piece about an issue that has disturbed me deeply and affected how I go about interpreting Skybound, and that definitely impacted my tone. If you'd like to reference this for any reason, or if you have any questions, please shoot me an ask or DM.

[kyliafanfiction]

I know this may seem rich coming from me, since at least 50% of this blog is complaints and bitching by volume, but enjoying something is a choice. You can choose to enjoy a thing, warts and all, or you can let the warts consume your enjoyment.

Nothing will be perfect. No perfect book, no perfect game, no perfect show. I'm not saying 'settle' or 'never criticize' - again, this blog is at least 50% complaints by volume - but ultimately, you have to decide:

Are you going to enjoy the thing, while also admitting flaws, or just let your hate for those flaws consume your entire perception of the thing.

Or of course, you can set it aside, but this is about the things we can't set aside. The books or shows or games or w/e that just won't leave our brains no matter what.

And if you can't just set it aside and move on, like a rational, sane person would (or so I hear, haven't meant many of those in my time here in fandom and on tumblr), or you can choose to... just hate. Just bitch. Just refuse to like it, and stew. Just... stew.

And the thing is, I don't actually do that. I don't stew. With the exception of my endless rage at Captain America, who continues to squat rent free in a corner of my brain, I actually don't spend much time in my real life focusing on what I don't like about the things I love, or enjoy, or otherwise consume my life and brain. I have things I don't like about my favorite book serieses (What is the plural of series?), or my favorite shows, or my favorite games. Things that bug me, things that annoy me, things that make me wanna pull my hair out.

And when I bitch about them here on tumblr, it's 'I had the thought, I bitch, I move on'. When I have a whole string of them, it's because I'm consuming the thing actively, and I'm venting about whatever annoys me. But if I genuinely hate or can't stand the thing... 99.99% of the time, I just stop. I stop reading, I stop watching, I stop playing. If there's nothing or not enough drawing me in... I quit. Boom. Done.

Because, at the end of the day, I choose to enjoy. That game that I love to pieces and that so many people make snarky videos about how much it sucks compared to the earlier 'good' part of the series? Or about how the game's developers suck because... other game developer did 'basically the same game' better? (When, 75% it's entirely different and not comparable, or actually didn't do the thing better, just different in a way that appealed to the other person's idiosyncratic tastes) Or that book that's trash that sooooo many people insist X or Y or Z did a better version of? That show that 'became garbage' because of a choice you're still butthurt over five seasons later?

I can give you chapter and verse about what's wrong with them. The little things, the big things, the minor annoyances, the quality of life changes, the big picture sweeping reworks I wish we'd had. The stuff that has left me up mad at night when I really can't control myself. The things that I understand why the creator(s) did the way they did, even if I don't agree, and the things that, to this day, I still don't grasp the motivation behind.

And yeah, sometimes those things bubble up to the front of my mind, and sit there for a while, despite my best efforts.

But frankly? I refuse to let that shit stick with me forever (again, Cappy-Fucker excepted, and for the record, I don't like that my hate for him is so deep-seated). I have shit to do. Books to read (again). Games to play (again). Shows to watch (again).

I'm not going to let my hate or annoyance run the show.

I'm going to choose to enjoy it, god fucking damnit.

[sabraeal]

a heart felled by you, held by you; Part 1

[Read on AO3]

Inspired by @onedivinemisfit's Lilias Charity Gala pieces; Annie had a strong idea coming into the challenge, and we had a lot of fun hashing through what we felt would most represent Northern vs Southern fashion, and academic vs noble fashion. We struggle bussed hard over some of the male looks, had some real experimental ideas for Haki's dress that Annie really made into something special...and then I realized I would not have enough time to even get to the gala portions of this fic. So this chapter is a bit of a prequel, with more to come later...

The message arrives via the traditional method: clutched in the woolly mitts of a street urchin, another paw already extended for payment. The university is rife with them, always milling about underfoot, loitering in the exact walkways one would most like to hurry through before students— or worse yet, other academics— could waylay them. It also contains the traditional summons, or rather, the traditional stay put.

A representative will be coming, it threatens in the usual, toothless way the board prefers, as if their approval means anything more than being saddled with more responsibility. Please make sure that you are in-office when we arrive.

It is Lata’s personal tradition to disappoint them. To imagine them arriving at his closed door, scowls furrowing deeper with each unanswered knock. Sometimes he can even hear his name being cursed on the wind as his cart rolls out the city gates, headed to quarries unknown. They might find him when he returns, twice as cross for having been made fools in front of the whole department, but at least they meet on his terms, not some…board of academics so close to titles he can nearly smell it in their stiff collars and even more starched opinions.

That is not, however, how it happens this year. Oh, he meant it too— he’d already been looking at likely quarries when Shidan shuffled into his office, wondering if he might pull the same disappearing act he had the past seven years running. Lata may have spent his nascent years at Wistal dodging the dire undercurrents of Kain’s court, but even without such a thorough education in ignoring the unspoken intentions behind spoken words, he would have heard the man’s insinuations loud and clear: stay, please, our funding might depend on it. Academics weren’t exactly known for their subtlety, and Shidan was among the least of them.

It’s not the sort of appeal that typically moves him. And yet somehow as the day grew closer, he found himself more interested in the edits on Shirayuki’s proposal than in locations of wunderock veins, pausing more often to correct the application of Suzu’s hammer than the supply lists he’d kept on his desk since last semester. For all that he hadn’t meant to stay, somehow he had, and by the time he realized it, it was far too late to do anything but wonder how much more the temperature would drop before the university would finally open the thermal vents. The whole place would smell of sulfur for a season, but at least it would be warm.

It helped, of course, that their representative came early. Two days, in fact; the knock landing on his door with an airy cadence, as if the knuckles did not so much rap on the panels but dance across them. He expected something more thunderous, to be honest; a declaration and a reckoning all in one. He'd almost be offended, if he wasn't hoping for some noodle-limbed pushover as his auditor.

“Come in,” he grunts before he can think better of it. If he’d kept his mouth shut, they might at least assume he was out to lunch, or had been dragged out to Shidan’s lab to clap over whatever little achievement they’d eked out of those plants of theirs, as if it had anything to do with him. But now they know he’s here, trapped behind the mountain of papers on his desk— that’s the problem with being a collaborator, all the paperwork— with no escape but out a second floor window. An attractive option for a much younger, more morally— and physically— flexible knight, but certainly not open to him.

He braces himself. There’s seven years worth of scolding coming, of classes he hasn’t properly bought himself out of and reviews he has yet to provide as ‘part of this academic community’, with only a thin oak door to separate him from it. Just a simple twist of a knob, and they’ll having him so thoroughly pinned he might as well be up on cork. Scholaris Forzenalis, it might say, elusive specimen found on university grounds. Never before caught.

So it confounds him when they knock again.

“Come in,” he says, louder this time, annoyance bleeding into the words. “What? Don’t they teach you how to open doors in this university? Or do you all just sit around, waiting for your assistants to—”

With all the delicacy of shears slicing through silk, his door slips open. Instantly, his teeth clack to a close.

“Forgive me.” Those pretty manners he once protested protect him now, hard-ingrained habit driving him to his feet where intelligence fails him. “My lady. If I had know you would be the one sent on board business, I would have, er…”

Been in another country entirely. But one does not say that to Haki Arleon, daughter to a duke, sister to the commander of the guard, mistress of Lilias in her own right— and most important, Clarines’ queen-to-be. At least, not if one would also like to continue to rely on the crown’s largess. At least two of his grants came backed by Clarines’ treasury, and Lata would like to keep it that way.

“Would you like something to drink?” He glances at the kettle perched on the sideboard, probably as cold as the cup quarantined to the corner of his desk. “I could call for something.”

“That’s quite all right.” The future queen does not sashay into the room the way her brideroom might— the way he did once, the single, unfortunate time Lata fell squarely into His Majesty’s interests— but peruses it, stepping through the stacks of specimens and pausing to read each tag. There is no urgency in how she meanders through the room, no destination; at one moment bending over a table to squint over a fine bit of shale, and the next detouring to the cabinets for a well-tumbled example of aventurine. It reminds him of the girl who used to be carried through these hallowed halls on her lord father’s shoulders, those same wide eyes peering through every case, curiosity so strong it nearly put her hair on end— only to hide the moment a scholar approached, burying herself in the safety of his neck.

But that is not the woman who smiles at him now, settling into the overstuffed chair across from him with all the ease of a bird alighting to a perch. Or at least, it hasn’t been, not for a long time. “Are you quite sure I can’t get you anything?”

“I believe I am supposed to ask you for your books,” she informs him, too sweet to put him at ease. “The ones with your expenditures for the last year, as well as your proposed budget for the next one.”

Lata grimaces. Her father had a grimmer countenance, to be sure, but that pretty smile of hers is twice as implacable. Disobey me at your own peril, it says, radiating the same ruthlessness as a desert sun. I love to see crows feast on the corpses of poor listeners.

“That is what I’m supposed to ask, at least.” He glances up at her, quizzical, hands half-wrapped around his accounts. “But what I wanted to talk to you about is the gala.”

“The—” his mouth barely knows how to wrap around the word— “gala?”

“The charity gala.” A Wisteria might raise one brow— mockingly, the way their kind preferred to communicate— but she raises both, surprise and invitation rolled into one. “The one the board hosts every year to help fund their more promising projects.”

The one he always skips, since if there is one thing he likes less than rubbing elbows with lords and ladies, it’s watching his esteemed colleagues parade themselves like débutantes before them, courting every eligible purse in the room in hopes one might open for them. “Ah,” he manages. “That gala.”

What that has to do with him, he can’t fathom, but—

“We would like this gala’s funds to go towards funding the further research of the Phostyrias.”

There’s nothing in his mouth, but Lata nearly chokes on it anyway. “Excuse me,” he rasps, clearing his throat. Last years contributions topped nearly three million dir before he stopped paying attention. Enough to keep Shidan’s little pet project in the black for the next three years. Five even, if he minds his expenditures. “That’s no mean gift, my lady.”

She hums, hands folding neatly over her lap. “The board has been quite impressed with the progress made in the last year.”

Or rather, the progress one particular scholar has made in impressing its importance on the local lords. If the rumor going around the commissary had even a grain of truth to it, this year’s guest list was nearly half again the length of the last, and every one of them would be wanting to put their name on that girl’s dance card. One can only hope His Majesty has invested a similar interest in her footwork, otherwise there might be quite the crush in the infirmary come morning.

“Although I am always happy to hear of my colleagues’ good fortune,” he lies, the pleasantries falling from his lips with all the ease of oil from butter. “I must admit I do not see why you have chosen to bring me the glad tidings. The phostyrias is, after all, Shidan’s project, not mine.”

“Ah, but you are a collaborator, are you not, professor?” One corner of her mouth hooks too slyly for the sweetness of her face. “As I understand it, your wunderocks are crucial to the formation of those phostyrias bulbs no small amount of Lilias scholars have been sent to plant along the North's roads. And as such, I imagine that a goodly portion of that money will be given to you.”

It’s the same mental arithmetic he’d been spooling through since that announcement dripped from her lips. He hadn’t hitched himself to Shidan’s wagon for the money; there hadn’t been any when that girl cornered him at His Majesty’s little fête, just the sort of pluck that showed promise-- which wouldn’t have interested him in the slightest if the little she-devil hadn’t twisted his arm. Or rather, let her knight do it. But now that there is— well, it’d all been fine and good to give some free pointers here and there, or let Shidan’s students run rampant through his laboratory, pillaging his specimens in the name of science, but now that he could be paid for his time…

Well, there’s some personal projects that could do with a little attention. A lot of attention, if that guest list proves as flush as one might hope. “I suppose that is the case. Still, I am not sure why you would bring the news to—?”

“There is a small problem with the gala.” There’s so much carrot in Lady Haki’s smile it can only hide a stick. “You see, it has always been my privilege to host the event at Wirant. Our staff has always been delighted to put in the sort of work it takes to make the night a great success. But this year, well…I’m afraid the ballroom is being renovated.”

No doubt to be just as resplendent as the one in Wistal. With the marriage between the North’s most darling daughter and Clarines’ king finally set, it would be the duty of the Arleons to throw the engagement celebration— and it wouldn’t do for these southern lords with their soft hands and snobby opinions to come up and find Wirant lacking. Half the collective North would fall on their swords before they’d allow it to be said that the royal palace threw a better wedding than they did an engagement.

“Most years, we might impose upon the university for the use of their function room, however—” her hands splay helplessly between them— “with the recent rash of guests who have replied to our invitation, it will hardly be large enough to hold them. So of course it falls upon us to find another location.”

“A pity. Perhaps one of your noble acquaintance would be willing to hold it, my lady.” They typically were, so long as they felt they would be appropriately compensated. And with the request coming from the Clarines’ next queen— well, there were few who wouldn’t clamor at the chance for her favor. “Preferably one who won’t have an interest in holding it over you once you become ‘Your Majesty.’”

“That is—” those wide eyes bat once, twice— “what I am hoping.”

 Lata blinks. “My lady, once again, I must ask, what does this have to do with…?”

All at once, it comes to him. Dreadfully, finally. “No! No. My lady, that’s hardly—” he coughs, trying to catch his breath and his thoughts—“That’s not my estate.”

“Ah, that’s strange, then,” she says, too innocent. “When I wrote to your lord father, the duke was of the impression it was under your care.”

His teeth grind hard enough he can hear the fissures forming. “My lord father…?”

“He was quite confused why I would inquire about its use of him when his heir was already in residence.” Her head tilts, resting on two of her slender fingers. “I thought it best not to mention that you had taken an apartment closer to the university.”

But she would, if he proved too troublesome. It’s clear in the way that mouth of hers hooks into a smirk, too like another in recent memory. “I haven’t been in that house in years— nearly a decade! The whole thing is little more than a moldering pile. And the ballroom— why, it’s probably in pieces by now.”

“Is that so?” she says in the precise tone that implies, it isn’t. “Your lord father told me that he just had laborers in last summer to repair the place top to bottom. ‘Not an original board in the place,’ I believe he said. Quite proud of it in fact.”

Lata smothers a grimace. There had been work done on the place; father insisted. A bachelor with a skeleton staff can’t be keeping the roof in order, the old man had huffed, just let a place in town and I’ll have the place tidy as the day it was built. He could hardly tell the stubborn old goat he hadn’t been using it in the first place. “I don’t keep staff.”

“I’ll lend you mine.” The answer’s too quick— she’d been expecting that one from the start. “As I said, they’re used to events of this scale. It’s the extra bodies that causes the most logistical problems for these sorts of things,” she admits reluctantly, “and this time of year, Wirant is full of them. They probably would jump at the idea of using a space that’s empty to start.”

His words curdle on his tongue, mouth pursing sourly around it. If Lady Haki is anything like her father, this whole conversation has been planned in advance, every reversal anticipated and its counter prepared. She came in here with him already well and thoroughly routed, he just hasn't seen the how of it yet.

“I wasn’t even planning on attending,” he grits out, more confession than caltrop. “That fool celebration is always on the solstice, and I can’t abide the costumes and the dancing and the kissing games—”

“Then we will have none.”

Lata raises a brow. “You think you can stop that crowd from having their fun? Stop them from causing mischief when they’ve been saving it up all year?”

“We remove the masquerade element,” she says, firm. “And the roka garlands. Without the garlands, kisses have meaning, and without the masks, they have consequences too. Which will be discouragement enough for most.”

That’s true enough; southern lords might revel in their rakishness, but those from northern stock valued tradition, reliability, wisdom. To be caught kissing the wrong woman at midnight would do more than scuttle a courtship or two— it could turn half the north against a man, leaving a house to flounder to make contracts, sending their interests south when their neighbors wouldn’t deal with a liar or an oathbreaker.

“And the dancing,” he grunts, warming to the topic. “I don’t want it. I’ve attended a hundred galas in my time, and never once has anyone truly cared to—“

“I afraid, my lord—” Lady Haki lays a quelling hand over his— “the dancing is a must.”

“But…” He glances down where her palm rests, the point of her nails resting next to the soft flesh of his wrist, the weight of it pinning him to the wood.

“Fine,” he sighs, settling back in his seat, flexing his hand to soothe the burn of it. “Dancing it is.”

*

There was no hour in which the Royal Pharmacy slept; even in the dead of night the back rooms buzzed, pharmacists weaving through every inch of the labyrinthine passages, droning on like bees in their hive. Each one of them would sigh in relief at the end of their shift, shedding their duties along with their coats, eager to slough off the hustle and bustle for a moment of silence. But after so many years of haunting empty halls, catching only shadows of the people he called his parents, Ryuu found the commotion comforting. At least, so long as he wasn't in the middle of it.

When sleep dragged at his edges, tugging at the end of his pen or bobbing the crown of his head, it wasn’t to his dormitory that he wandered. It might have been a kindness to the pharmacists with no place to go, a luxury to the apprentices who grew up sleeping three or more to a bed, but to him it had only been another empty room, a convenient closet to keep yet another body. There was no comfort to be found there, no warmth, just the cold, silent shell of solitude.

But beneath his desk— that had been just the right size. With his back pressed to the wall, he could feel the steady thrum of the palace’s heart, the regular bustle of its pulse beating right behind the plaster. Curtain drawn, it was dark as a womb, and when he closed his eyes, the warmth of his body trapped between wall and blanket, he could believe he was being carried by his mother still. A drowsing child separated from the world by only the thinnest membrane, always feeling, never understanding, but safe all the same.

It wasn’t until he had come here to the university, with its hallowed halls and its neatly kept hours, that he knew it could be different. That a place could be quiet without being lonely. That he could live without the membrane between him and world, and still hear himself think.

A heady discovery, for a boy not yet thirteen. Exhilarating. Terrifying.

He misses it, now.

“Oh my,” Shirayuki gasps, squeezed from the crush lingering outside the laboratory door. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crowd like that. Not in the university, at least. What is—?”

“The occasion?” Kazaha drawls, glaring up from his bench. “That would be Garrack Gazelt.”

“Garrack?” She follows the jut of his chin, but only so far as Ryuu, eyes rounding into a question. “Did she say she was going to…?”

“For the gala.” The very one he’s been dreading, now that Shidan’s informed him he’s old enough to attend. “The lab is being honored, and she’s come to—”

“Play plus one,” Suzu says, shouldering himself between them on the bench. “Shirayuki, do you think you could take over this distillation? It’s taking ages and I’m tired of—”

“Garrack Gazelt isn’t anyone’s plus one,” Kazaha huffs, nearly thunderous. “She’s the foremost expert on medical pharmaceuticals in the kingdom, if not the continent.”

“And Shidan asked her to go to this shindig, So she’s here.” Suzu shrugs a shoulder. “Plus one behavior, that’s all I’m trying to say.”

“That’s not—!”

“Really?” Shirayuki blinks, taking in the breathless crush. Scholars jostle each other, jockeying for their place in line, bony elbows taking the more determined further front. If they were wearing ball gowns instead of lab coats, Ryuu could have easily mistaken them for eager young ladies at their first soirée, ruthlessly trying to thrust themselves before the most eligible gentleman in the room. “All this for Garrack?”

“What’s that?” A cold breeze is all the warning they have before boots land on the sill, a disheveled uniform perched above them. “Don’t think the chief deserves the popularity?”

“I never said that,” she says primly, the smallest hint of a smile clinging to the corner of her mouth. “I just mean she’s more of a fixture here than she was a few years ago. You’d think the excitement might have banked by now. Just a bit.”

Suzu huffs. “Never underestimate the power of Head Pharmacist Gazelt. I shook her hand this morning, and I still haven’t—!”

“Wash it,” Ryuu tells him, wide eyed. “Now. Please.”

“Aw, but what if all the luck washes off?”

“You know how you always wonder why girls won’t give you the time of day?” Obi says, strained. “This is why.”

“But this many people?” Shirayuki murmurs, as if Suzu hadn’t spoken at all. “Who are all they, even?”

“Faculty.” Kazaha leans a hip against the bench, catching the crowd at a casual angle. “Students. More than a few fellows from neighboring labs. They’ve been coming in and out all morning with the worst excuses.”

“Oh, and your little not-really-a-question-more-a-comment was so clever?” Suzu snorts. “Maybe you should stop living in a snow house if you’re gonna throw ice like that.”

“I didn’t say—” Kazaha lets a breath hiss through his nose. “You’re just jealous that she said I had thought through the problem from every angle, while she only told you that yours was an interesting endeavor, which everyone knows means it’s stupid—”

Suzu’s close enough Ryuu feels him take a breath rather than hears it, rebuttal poised at the tip of his tongue— but the slam of the laboratory door startles it right out of him.

“There,” Shidan says, one hand still pressed to the paneling. “That’s enough of that.”

“Oh, come on now, it’s easier this way.” Garrack doesn’t so much perch on as prowl to his desk, improbably long legs stretching across the floor. “They’re not used to this sort of excitement. You gotta let them get it out.”

“You could get out,” he grumbles, ambling behind his desk. Ryuu doesn’t need to be as perceptive as Obi to know he doesn’t mean a word of it. “Then maybe they might find somewhere else to be.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” The scant few years he spent under her careful eye is more than enough to know the smart comment that smile hides, one that’s sure to slide right under Shidan’s skin and send him skittering for some science to hold before his temper can get the best of him, but—

But it all goes up like smoke when the door nearly bursts off its hinges, a bolus of black wool hurtling through.

“What is the meaning—?” Shidan’s teeth snap shut. “Professor, I didn’t expect you to—?”

“That woman!” Lata doesn’t so much rage as froth, pacing like a pot just before a boil. “Comes into my office, just to trap me in a corner. No! To flush me out of a my den, like a hound does a…a-- a fox would say she speaks out of both side of her face, that’s the sort of woman she is. And she came to me.”

“Ah.” Shidan leans back in his seat, hands folded over his belly. “I see her ladyship spoke to you about the charity gala.”

“Spoke? Strong-armed is more like!” Steam would be rising from him, if it could from a person. “Practically mentioned the thing in one breath, and then had me hosting it the next! As if I don’t have anything better to do than bring the glittering ton into my own home and let them pick over the place like locusts!”

“Host? You? In your poor excuse for a house?” Garrack raises a thick brow. “How are we all going to fit around the rocks?”

“Not my personal abode.” He scowls down at the chief pharmacist, clearly just have noticing her presence. “Her ladyship asked for access to the estate.”

“Your family’s estate?” Both brows hike to her hairline. “I thought you were disowned.”

“Dis—? You thought—?” Lata sputters, words rattling like a pot’s lid. “I went into academia, not— not gotten a girl in the family way!”

She lifts a shoulder at the precise angle meant to annoy. “Wouldn’t be the first noble boy to do both. Maybe you thought a book might shield you from a bad marriage as much as taking the cloth.”

He stares at her for a long moment, simmering, before turning back to Shidan. “In any case, the woman’s taken my whole household firmly in hand. Told me there’s to be dancing too, if you can believe it.”

It’s with practiced patience that Shidan manages a mild, “You don’t say.”

“Dancing?” Garrack drawls, arms folding across the stark white of her coat. “What next? Kissing at midnight?”

“No, none of that,” he huffs. “And none of those silly garlands either. It’s bad enough I have to suffer through the moon eyes children make during a reel, I hardly need them making worse decisions in an empty bedroom.”

“Or unlocked closet.” Her lips twitch, dangerous. “Or just a really nice, shadowed corner…”

Lata frowns, the sort that might be more forbidding if Garrack possessed the ability to be shamed. “If you’re quite done being a degenerate?”

One shoulder lifts, lazy. “Hardly.”

“In any case,” he huffs, putting his back to her— and Shidan square in his sights. “I suppose my one consolation is that I cannot be made to dance—”

“Lata!” The name bubbles out of her, escaping through the hand she claps over it. “You’re the host.”

“Yes?” His mouth pulls thin. “Oh, some will find it rude, I’m sure, but a man can’t be made to dance, not in his own home. Not even by that— that—”

For all that his mouth works, teeth biting around the start of syllables before abandoning them for the next, Ryuu finds he hardly needs words to understand what Lata is trying to convey. Not when his hands clench so eloquently before him, the way His Highness Zen’s does when Obi really has gone and done something unwise.

“No, I mean—” now it’s Garrack waving her hands, thought it seems she’s having a far better time than Lata is doing it— “it’s the host’s job to open the floor. So you’ve got to at least do it the once.”

His shoulders stiffen to an edifice even mountains would shy from. “I must do no such thing. If the host must open the floor, then everyone can spend the night with their heels firmly on the parquet. Why, who would even be my partner? There’s not a single woman in the whole of the continent that could compel me to—”

“'Not a single woman.' You poor bastard!” A guffaw tears out of Garrack, putting tears in her eyes. “Do you really not get it? Not only do you have to open the floor—” her voice burbles up to a pitch that blots out all Lata’s attempts at protest— “but you have to do it with the highest ranked woman in attendance!”

Lata stills. Blinks. Once, then twice. And with no fanfare at all, his whole face rumples up, twisted around a sneer. “Oh—!”

Whatever else the professor says is lost to him-- Shirayuki clamps her hands right over his ears, so hard it leaves them ringing. By the time he’s quite recovered— and Lata’s quite finished— the first thing he hears is Obi murmuring, “Well, Yuzuri’s not going to like this.”

*

“What do you mean there’s not going to be kissing?!” Izuru makes a good attempt to shush her, but Yuzuri refuses to be silenced on this, even if the whole commissary is staring at them. She even drops her utensils for good measure, fork and knife both, letting them clatter to the table in the growing lull. “I finally get invited to the most exclusive Solstice party in Wirant, and there won’t even be garlands?”

“It’s not in Wirant,” Kazaha adds, right at the same time Shirayuki offers, “It’s a charity gala, not a Solstice party.”

The both stop, sparing each other the briefest glance before Kazaha pedantically plows on, “I think the Forzeno estate is somewhere outside the main city. Before the checkpoint, at least, but not within the walls—“

“That’s not important,” she snaps, wishing she could take a pair of scissors and even out that terrible hack job he likes to give himself, as if a lack of skill and a proper mirror could pass for fashion. “It’s a charity gala on the solstice, which means it’s a Solstice party and there should be kissing.”

“We go to the university party every year and you find someone to kiss just fine,” Suzu comments around a mouthful of yams. “I don’t know why it matters so much that you can’t kiss someone there.”

It’s impossible to explain to him that she’s running out of boys to kiss— or at least, boys to kiss that aren’t Suzu. Which she can never do, because wanting to put her mouth on him is a new, debilitating mental illness she’d rather die than indulge. She just needs to go out and— and touch a little snow. Meet people who know that a quadrille is a dance, not some sort of…of duck species. Reintroduce herself into a dating pool where more of the mate selection know how to chew with their mouth shut.

“Because the university party is full of academics,” she settles on instead, as close to a confession as she can bear. “And this place will has a ton of guys— normal guys, who can talk about stuff other than…sediment layers and rhizomes and…and which side of the body your kidneys are supposed to be on.”

“They’re supposed to be on both sides,” Kazaha informs her with a concerned frown, just as Suzu adds around a swallow, “I thought you loved rhizomes.”

She does. That’s sort of the problem. “There’s going to be actual gentlemen at this party, with titles and money and good manners, and I’m not going to be able to kiss any of them! It’s demoralizing.”

“Well,” Obi hums, mouth already hooking into trouble. That what she like about him: he’s always ready to break the rules. Or at least scuff them up a little. “That’s only if you get caught.”

Shirayuki casts him one of her knowing looks, the kind that doesn’t say I know what you’re up to so much as I know you’re better than this. “If Lata isn’t comfortable with kissing, then you shouldn’t be thinking about sneaking around to do it.”

“Aw, Miss,” he sighs, fluttering his eyelashes; a poor way to hide the fondness in his eyes. “But sneaking around is the best part.”

“There’s going to be dancing,” Kazaha interjects, heading their frustrating not-flirting flirting off at the pass. “You can at least do that with your moneyed and mannered gentlemen. Aren’t there a half dozen novels you’ve read where romance blooms over a reel?”

“A waltz, usually.” Sometimes maybe even a schottische or a polka, if the heroine was more plucky than limpid. “And that’s still not the same as kissing.”

“Lata’s even opening the floor.” Suzu mulls the thought over as he picks at a roll. “Do you think he can dance?”

“Well, he is a lord,” Obi reminds him, loading up his fork. “Aren’t they born knowing how to cut a rug?”

“Well, sure.” His hair’s gotten longer in the colder months, the ends lingering down around his shoulders rather than up my his chin. Yuzuri hates how much she wants to run her fingers through it. “But I mean…he’s been holding up in his lab for years. He’s got to be rusty, right? Like if he breaks one of Lady Haki’s foot bones, is that going to come out of our—?”

“He did just fine when we danced,” Shirayuki adds with a pointed look. “That wasn’t so long ago.”

“Miss.” It’s more a laugh than her name, and Obi leans in, far too close for just friends. “Back then, anyone would have seemed like a master next to you. I think I still have bruises from that night.”

Pink chases up the column of her throat, settling right at the tips of her ears. By the way her eyes dart down before skittering away, Yuzuri doubts it’s from the teasing. “W-well, still. He hardly stepped on my feet.”

Obi’s grin goes sharp, wolfish, like she’s just a little frolicking lamb, and he’s hungry for lunch. “How could he when yours are always so quick on the draw?”

This is getting ridiculous. “I think we’re missing the most important part here,” Yuzuri reminds them, startling Obi back to a less ravenous distance. “Which is that there’s going to be no kissing! For anyone!”

“Wait, will I have to dance?” Suzu asks, worry slipping the last few syllables shrill. “I’ve never danced before. Not the real stuff. I don’t even know where to put my hands!”

“Maybe,” Kazaha drawls, angling himself toward her— and away from Suzu’s spiraling. “You could spend all that time you wanted to be swapping spit with rich boys and use it to kiss up to our donors instead.”

Yuzuri groans. “That is not the kind of kissing I want to do.”

His mouth twitches, threatening amusement. “But it is a kind of kissing.”

“Obi.” Suzu grabs his sleeve over the sweet potatoes. “You gotta teach me how to dance.”

Kazaha sighs, shaking his head. “Great. And now the blind are leading the blind.”

[habunshu]

just read an interview sara hess did recently and she’s talks about aegon and him raping dyana and the way this entire thing reads is just so…..not to mention in the same interview she throws daemon under the bus and says he’s a bad father when the episode she wrote she chose to cut out the scenes with him comforting his daughters and chose to add in how he ignores rhaena

[saying this all having seen ep10 leaks, and saying this all with words from HBO that they plan to release a “pristine cut” from earlier today- whatever that means, so by the time this “cut” is released some mass-disliked moments may have been retconed or scenes added]

[mention of SA, R*pe in regards to Aegon’s writing]

[mention of traumatic childbirth and death from childbirth]

I have so many many thoughts about not only Sara Hess but the whole writing team. This is LONG, and thank u very much for sparking my thoughts with this ask!

HOTD has, fallen out a lot with me post episode 5/6, I remember thinking what a fantastic start it was off to when I watched episode 1, and the moment it’s established that the writers and directors are NOT collaborating between episodes, and each hold very different understandings of each character they portray- it’s become a quick recipe for disaster. Im not going to nitpick every part of the season, I’m well aware this show plans to overarch multiple seasons, but I am still going to discuss it from a standalone story due to how long each season takes to produce.

1. Complications from writing teams, and contrasting GRRM’s base material:

HOTD and F&B being separate narrative points and existing as different validity tales is something that is perfectly fine, I am used to discussing validity of secondary reports of historical content through my degree, and HOTD is a very good medium (as it is VISUAL instead of written) of attempting to show this tale from inside the House itself- what dissonance occurs is due to fondness over the staple violence and power hungry violence of these Westeros Nobles that creates interesting fantasy grandeur. A lot of people enjoy spectating these awful powerful people commit horrible acts in their own interests and family allegiances; Cersei, Daemon, Otto, and others are fascinating anti-heroes and antagonists due to their setting to allow for large-scale atrocities to physically vent their ambitions and goals.

The Dance of The Dragons (in the Books) is this horrific and tragic death for petty self importance, untreated family trauma and paranoid self-hardening that continues and grows with each generation of the Courts is bound to snap on-top of someone’s shoulders at some point, just around 80 years of RELATIVE “peace” under King Jaehaerys I and Viserys I (55+26 if i’m not mistaken). And such a King born of peace wanting to prolong it (Viserys I) is almost a perfect breeding ground for power hungry leeches to start grappling for the Throne (Otto).

So when the bricks start to crumble and we have expectations of drama and bloodshed, true to GRRM’s writings, it’s not a change in certain plot points that is objectively bad (some are better- Sara Hess respects Laena as a woman of 2 Valyrian Houses dying of her own wish instead of before she can on the staircase), it’s misconceptions of what purpose each character serves between writers that makes each episode clunky, snowballing into the season looking like a puzzle I slapped together from mis-matched pieces I found my desk draw.

Almost all characters if not between back to back episodes, from the beginning to the end of the season have moments that straight up do not make sense compared to who they are established as.

This reaches a more frustrating point when we see the overarching trend of almost all Female main characters be softened and be removed of their personal wants. (In the Books) Rhaenyra and Alicent are two amazing narrative foils; Entitlement vs Want, Power (Dragons) vs Intelligence. These are two women who have lost their childhood sense of female unity and joint suffering, with their in-book ages, Rhaenyra looses an older female figure and Alicent looses a companion and a major representation of her own lost girlhood.

When Alicent becomes just a high-strung pawn for her father, her son placed on the throne without her involvement or knowledge, still holding onto her girlhood she becomes a beautiful tragic figure and Olivia does he’s SO MUCH justice- but at the cost of her being this beautiful antagonist and individual.

When Rhaenyra becomes with unsure and overwhelmed girl-heir, becomes someone who only began to learn the knowledge a monarch requires at her late teens instead of being named heir before she was 10, she’s no longer a strong Targaryen that wants what she has been told her whole life is hers- but a bumbling princess who is asking for permission to wear her fathers crown.

Rhaenys, Baela and Rhaena are moved aside and the young daughters of Laena are given barely any content besides smiling politely. Helena I will say seems relatively untouched, we see a girl in her own solitude with a mother who gave birth way too young and doesn’t know how to be one. A true tragic figure after being sentenced to being a royal womb and looses her child over evening the scales-

[EP10 LEAK- RETCON OR CORRECTION ON OFFICIAL RELEASE UNKNOWN] If Aemond does end up a Kinslayer by technically, Vhagar attacking in retaliation with him being unable to control her after Lucerys in turn doesn’t control Arrax spitting fire first when fleeing to return to his mother. It does work in favour of Aemond being subjected to harsh consequences for either defending himself or completely against his wishes. But again we loose what is one of the most vicious combatants of the civil war, as well as the intent of Helena loosing her own child not matching up. “A Son for a Son”, but to even it out Helena’s child needs to die by accident in return. This also contrasts Aemond’s character of a bloodthirsty prince, he WANTS Lucerys dead, his own half-nephew took his eye, why does he care that the Baratheon wants blood outside of his home instead of infront of him. He’s the Kings Brother, Rider of Vhagar.

This change of intent to misunderstandings does create its own dynamic, but the lack of a cohesive plot and character purpose creates this mess that takes the Dance from:

“This family have become horrifyingly self-entitled and power-drunk due to their dragons, and will do whatever to fulfil their own wants, even killing the Dragons they owe their power to. There is a division between Kin and Family and Kin will be sacrificed if one can gain from it.”

To: “The Sheer Number of Aegons and lack of critical thinking has made so many deaths meaningless.”

The writers seem so scared of writing women with intent and purpose and power, Rhaenyra was a dragon rider at 7, 6 years before the youngest rider before her, we haven’t seen her on Syrax since Daemon steals an egg, we have powerful female Targaryens in-universe, Visenya is right there. Women in the show are mothers or soon to be married and mothers, Rhaenyra has no combat experience as a NAMED HEIR.

2. Sara Hess

She is uh, sure is something of a writer, knowing she’s responsible at least in part of EP6 and EP9 does make sense. She’s got a lot of not great comments and understandings of characters, that does do them a disservice.

The biggest offender (pun intended) is Aegon II, very surprising for a woman to romanticise such a horrific abuse of power and male identity that leads to (as Alicent implies this is not the first time he commits these acts on screen) the SA and worse of a handmaiden, and attempt to paint it as a misguided action of love. Aegon II as a character is a great way to show “A female heir could be perfect, Rhaenyra could be perfect; but will still be tossed aside in favour of a male heir that is abominable, horrible and a stain to his family’s legacy”

Is he given an unfair hand at the blatant favouritism of Viserys? yes. Is he forced into a position that he has no desire to be in until he is either:

1. In the books told that a formidable blood-spilling Rhaenyra will kill her opposition (his family and children) for the crown.

2. In the show dragged to his coronation, crying as he walks the Dragon pit, taking a position he KNOWS his father never once delegated to him.

Tom Glynn-Carney does a PHENOMENAL job with the material he is provided and tasked to act out. We can gain sympathy for him in both narrative chains without the romanticism of SA and r*pe, Tom SHOWS us a young man who turns to alcoholic tendencies due to the obvious fact his father only considers himself to be a father of one, and the fact that his mother has near infinite complex relationship with motherhood as a manipulated childbride and replacement wife that doesn’t even compare to the First Queen to her husband.

Aegon is heavily spoilt and misguided and starved of normal parents, and even as a horribly sexist man of power we can find nuance in him. Sara Hess does him a disservice by saying he “loved” Dyana, if you want to write him as a sympathy figure regarding his own love outwards, it is already there in his DISINTEREST in Helaena, the choice to not want to love is a better rebellion against all his representation of love that he’s grown up with.

“Do you (Mother) Love me?” is a tragic line, it drives sympathy in itself as her firstborn son knowing she is merely 16 years older than him, not even 40 at the time of his coronation. Why make this about him r*ping a woman instead of the complex relationship the family knows Alicent has about motherhood and the loss of her own life at age 16 when Otto decides to move her representative chess piece forward?

Sara Hess’ comments that went viral, although make sense in her distaste with various Scenes of Daemon (which are STILL abstractions from GRRM and his creation of Daemon) from EP10. I am surprised at her ability to unite those who are Team Black or Team Green, but even then her involvement has more downsides to this opportunity of story telling that positives.

A particular comment of hers that I didn’t appreciate in the slightest was her input on (Book) Rhaenyra growing fat after having 5 children and getting older.

Extremely weird to vilify a woman of luxurious life and 5 pregnancies in Medieval times gaining weight. Whilst yes there is valid criticism of male storytelling, why lump the weight of a woman in the same category as sexism of women in power. Rhaenyra’s body has nothing to do with her as a leader or historical figure.

3. Daemon at the hands of the writers (Sara’s portrayal in particular)

GRRM has stated that Daemon Targaryen is his favourite, and I completely understand it.

Who is he? A second-born pure-blood prince, a renowned knight, rider of the Bloodwyrm, a prime Targaryen, confident, ambitious, cunning and loyal to a fault on those he considers family.

Daemon is introduced as an agent of Chaos and polarising public opinion, but still commands respect and at least was worthy enough to be handed the titles of Master and stand on the Court (but not to be earned, he is born into an almost invincible position). We see him painted as ready to take the throne as eldest male Targaryen barring the King himself, and is set at this surface level “Rogue” who dotes on the younger Targaryen at court (intentions unknown).

Ep1-4 we see he aligns more at strength for the Targaryen Dynasty, not just himself. He is a narrative foil to Viserys in attitude and tolerance, yin and yang in a way. He states that he wants to keep the crown on his brothers head steady, he sees past Otto and relays the distaste of the Hightowers that is present in Dark Sister’s original wielder.

I think a lot of people misinterpret him as selfishly power hungry, that every action has to explicitly lead to him as King on the Throne, but why not kill Rhaenyra at any point, he’s a suspect regardless due to his reputation, but he is cunning, there’s no way he couldn’t have pulled it off when she was young with how many of Aemma’s surviving babies died young- Rhaenyra herself could easily have health complications.

He is raised on the idea of their Family being omnipotent, 3 siblings conquered Westeros, who says he cannot ally himself with a select few? He gains significant back room power the way Coryls wants as a Prince consort or Hand to Viserys/Rhaenyra.

He is cruel and violent and awful and egotistical, but he holds the better part of himself for those he deems worthy. This is what makes him a compelling character, unwavering support to those he chooses. With debatable intent with Laena across book and TV stories, he is not neglectful of those he cares of. The active choice to cut scenes of him being a father, any sense of comfort, to imply he favours the daughter that has a dragon already, is nothing short of character assassination and extremely biased.

Daemon is far from a faithful, christian husband, don’t get me wrong, he ends up cheating on Rhaenyra and has fucked so many women in his life I don’t know how he hasn’t got like 34 STDs. But there seems to be an in-universe grey area on Targaryen polyamory and lovers, (Rhaenyra and Laena in book at a little, 👀) his political loyalty and service to Rhaenyra’s crown is never once faltered, he dies for her to get rid of Aemond and Vhagar (the only reason the Greens didn’t instantly die). His is this beautifully volatile and unpredictable character, but compassionate to a fault, and willing to do anything to restore Targaryen Power.

Sara Hess’ writing is far from unbiased, and deviates heavily from who GRRM wrote with such fondness, not completely unfounded, he does groom his niece and kiss her the infront of his the kids he had with his dead wife the day of her funeral. But why paint him as this deadbeat dad when he of him and his brother does not subject his wife to unnecessary pain when she will die regardless, he who does not differentiate between children of different mothers. Viserys is a chronic first-wife bias, he doesn’t care that his second son is partially blinded and instead does not revoke when Rhaenyra asks for what is essentially torture to gain insight on why Aemond called her Bastard Sons, Bastards. Why doesn’t Sara call him out on saying he only has one child, why doesn’t she say she doesn’t understand why people like Viserys at Paddy’s portrayal?

She’s incorrect in us liking him as (not my words) “daddy” because he killed Rhea Royce and groomed his niece, people with brains are aware of his faults. We like BOTH of these brothers who were overzealous in the use of brothels are young bachelor princes. We like them because of the effort Matt and Paddy put in DESPITE the writing they are shown with.

The most concrete moment of bad directing of daemon shows in his interactions with Viserys.

Matt understands Daemon at peak when he IMPROVISES Daemon stepping up as the brother protecting his weak king from Otto and himself when he picks up the crown, and supports Viserys on his way to the Throne, he could have easily left him to stumble and make a fool of himself. He wouldn’t though.

[EP10 SPOILERS] Seeing Daemon get violent with Rhaenyra, after he grabs 3 dragon eggs for her, after he marries her in secret, after he kills Vaemond for her. Is so out of character, not in his general sense, but out of character in WHO he directs this violence at. The physical scene cuts make it seem like they cut out any reconciliation, as well as the rough choking -> mocking -> going back to normal.

It gets even MORE OOC when it gets to Rhaenyra’s troubling childbirth of Visenya.

Daemon, a man who lost his mother through childbirth of his younger brother Aegon who then died in the crib.

Daemon who did not have a mother for long at all.

Daemon, who watched Viserys and Aemma loose child after child until she dies.

Daemon who watched Laena struggle and end up commanding Vhagar to kill her as an act of Mercy.

Daemon who watched his daughters not have a mother for long at all.

Daemon who watched and saw Rhaenyra not have her mother for long.

Daemon who does not stay with her during the pregnancy, Daemon who they decided to keep separate from Rhaenyra as she struggles to give birth.

It is such an out of character moment that it along with the choking scene ruins him as a man, as every episode has established.

Again he is not perfect, withholds public affection even in high-strung moments due to being cautious in court. Has killed (or at least plotted) his first wife, the whole Gold cloak scene, the grooming.

But, He if this is not changed in the “pristine” cut, it does ruin all that GRRM has established.

It speaks a lot when improvisation on the Actors speak better on the characters than the writers themselves. It speaks a lot when an improvised scene touches people more than what the writers explicitly add.

[operation-priority]

Tankiste Cold Weather Gear

This is an impression of a French tank crewman in winter gear. One may see this uniform on tankiste during the cold winter months. While the standard infantry soldier may wear the iconic sheepskin jerkin, the tankiste instead had to rely on their black leather coat during the winter season. This tankiste wears the Toile de Tente Modèle 1897 modifié 1914 as extra waterproofing. This variant of the tent had loops that would allow for two lengths of hemp cordage to be passed through the waist and neck area to allow the tent to be worn as a poncho. Waterproofing the tent was done using paraffin and alcohol thinner.

Knitted items would be issued throughout the entire war, created by French citizens at the homefront and quality checked by the French Red Cross. They would be passed onto the army Quarter-Master where they would be received in as standard issue winter gear. The Red Cross had pamphlets distributed to the civilian population which featured several patterns of knitted gear from blankets, shirts, and scarves, to fingerless mittens and comfort items like tobacco pouches. The knitted garments pictured here are 1917 Red Cross pattern examples. The first display photo shows a standard grey and blue knitted cap, worn at the rear lines or when resting. The knitted cap beside this is intended to be worn under the helmet at the frontline. Below these is a knitted helmet or balaclava. These would be worn below the nose or at the chin, and had tails or capes at the front and back that would fit under the uniform to secure the balaclava in place and provide extra insulation. Below this is a pair of knitted wristlets, to be worn under the tunic providing some hand and arm insulation.

To the right is the standard French Army folding lantern. Specifically, it is the Lanterne de Campement Monjardet Modèle 1910 with its Ersatz Lamp Cover. Many models exist of this pattern and design slightly varies between manufacturers. All examples would be accepted into the army as a regulation item. These would be issued to Corporals to provide necessary lighting at night. Tankiste would also be provided with an electric lamp for their tanks, and the tankiste could also purchase an electric flashlight to give light inside the tank when performing maintenance duties. The candlelit Monjardet lamp folds into a triangular lamp with a hanging handle at the top and a holding handle on the back. The candle is pinned to the bottom panel by a spike and the rear panel is reflective which directs more light outward towards the front. Transparent mica is used as the clear shielding and can be slid out and replaced when it eventually gets damaged from the heat. Holes in the side panels allow for air to pass through and a small vent is placed at the top panel to disperse smoke. Overall, these lanterns were well liked with the troops as its design provided decent light coverage at night while being very compact when stowed.

Below this is a smoking pipe, lighter, and tobacco case. Nothing much to be said here - many smoked as a pastime during this period. The lighter is a commercial 'trench art' lighter, not created by the soldiers themselves but made to look like the examples that were created in the trenches. This style of 'trench art' item was popular among the civilian population and soldiers alike. It resembles an artillery shell with the cap closed, and removing the cap shows the petrol lighter ignition piece. The brass ignition piece can be removed which reveals cotton balls that absorb the liquid fuel. Beside this is a French 32 card manille deck. Manille was a very popular card game among the French at the time period. A tax stamp is placed on the Ace of Clubs which was a common sight on French playing cards. To the right of this is a board game called Solitaire. It consists of a wooden board with 36 removable pegs where the objective of the game is to clear the board of all but one of the pieces by jumping, horizontally or vertically, over an adjacent piece and removing it from the board. These types of time wasting and socializing games were available to soldiers in military bazaars. A light blue wool pocket was provided for this Solitaire example.

[lucihens]

Hi. I just want to somehow make catharsis about the whole Chenford break up going on and listen other takes on it.

Maybe Im just a girl going through Mercury Retrograde being delulu not wanting to aknowledge they are over. Having said that:

I just know this is not the end for them. But not for plot reasons that we are all speculating. I mean sure for plot reasons is necesary for Tim to get his shit together before taking the next step with Lucy (Eric said in his interview that Tim loves her and its seen in the lie detector scene and all the Tamara moving out storyline that has been going since last season they are sure heading to moving together). Also sure Lucy has suffered many things and is interesting to see her next steps.

But I just know this is for marketing reasons. They need the show to be renewed for another season and a massive cliffhanger like this one when there's a 3 weeks break between episodes where they know people will be engaged on it is a good way on getting that renewal.

They know people still watching the show because Chenford. They have stated they are endgame. But they are producers and writers and plan things ahead in order to keep the show going. Is just trust the process and the fact that they work on this and know what they are doing. I have seen many shows (most of them from ABC) to know they give the fans what they want bc in the end is a product that is sold and know that not doing something your target audience wants equals not product to be sold.

Also, even though Melissa and Eric had said that there are some things coming on Tim and Lucy on the season finale and blah blah blah. They are putting a lot of effort on the breakup promotionally speaking. The interviews released the second the episode finished, the TikToks from Melissa, the whole ice cream promo with letters to the cast about the breakup and they laughing and making jokes (also like the ig account still saying Chenford stan account) is more clear is about making the people engaged and furthermore, making the network renew the show for season 7. They are actors and know they must keep a good relationship with their fans (I mean if you make something that upset your fans then how would you keep getting called to act if you dont have people watching them for you and other actors can), what Im saying Is they are laughing and all of this because they know how it ends and know they end in a place where fans will love it, if not they are basically bullyng us lol.

So long story short: just keeping my peace of mind knowing it is just marketing. By the interviews we know somehow the season finale lets them in a good place, so if season 7 comes maybe we got time to see them making up with more time and development (things this season had been rushed bc the strike, not only here but in most shows) and if there's not season 7 it will end up with Chenford with a sort of an open finale where all points to them giving it another chance in their inmidate future.

Hope i made myself clear. Just wanted to vent haha. And lets chill and cross fingers for season 7 and an Oscar for Melissa and Eric because that break up was so CHEFF KISS like girlll I have felt that pain too.

hello dear anon! thank you for being my very first ask!

i hope you won't regret venting to me because this response ended up....well...extensive. i have many many things to say and a lack of adhd medication to contain them.

i would also like to note that i'm not at all experienced with writing think pieces on the internet. but even though i haven't written an essay since college, i can sure yap. and even though i'm a genius /s, this may not make sense to anyone. so here's what my chronic fatigue and i were able to conjure up:

yes, tv shows are primarily for an audience, whether writers and directors do accept that or not, that's what i'm guessing producers have in mind. tv is literally built 'for your viewing pleasure', and with this show in the past, and by past i mean season 5 especially (and the shock and surprise of 4x22), they (whoever they is) have been manically hitting that red button titled 'DO THE THING THEY WANT' just so they can say they did it and you as an audience can't complain. so yes in my experience, shows very often, if not always, write for an audience, otherwise the creators would just be giggling at themselves in their own private screening room at their custom, personalised tv show made only for them. when you give a show to the masses, it is, in certain ways, their's now. so going against everything an audience wants is certainly an interesting move, and since i have a common disease called 'being absolutely befuddled by the varying degrees of human nature' i don't know particularly what their aim is, what they're hoping this will provide an audience, as well as the show as a whole. what i do know however, is that there is not just one kind of audience, within the watchers of the rookie, there is obviously an abundance of angst lovers, an array of fluff lovers, complex think piece people, and apathetic 'this is what i fill the void of a tuesday night with' people (which is potentially what makes up a good portion of the viewers (?), not just the dedicated fandom we see on social media). with this in mind, the creators, the writers, are evidently incapable of satisfying every single diverse/contradictory demographic. so it's unclear which demographic they want to make happy at a given storyline. is this to give the angst lovers what they want? is this to give the comfortable fluff lovers a kick in the rear? or is this just to keep the average viewer interested in this ever-appealing show? i can't speak for them at all so i couldn't say which, but i also haven't a scooby doo. maybe others could give their opinion on which of these they think the creators are aiming for, because i couldnt tell you. then again, maybe it's all of them. maybe we let the rest of the season play out to completion, and we may know for sure. but marketing a show goes hand in hand with keeping the general audience as well as potential new viewers: 1. happy and excited, 2. interested in investing their time into the show. and given that season 6 is a short season: yes, i'm sure the marketing the break up is one of their best bets at keeping ratings up and viewers in, whether it comes directly from outrage or intrigue. and given how some other storylines seem to fall kind of flat (wink wink nol–), especially compared to last season, the initial lucy storylines and the now tim storylines are what is keeping up the hype for such a small season. and i'm sure (hoping) the other characters will have something to add to the s6 plate to further the impact of such a small season and the plots within. but for the most part 'chenford' is such an electric word. drop it in anywhere and the millions(?) who have ever laid eyes on the show just got a shock. and they know that, so of course they'll use it to their advantage in anyway they can.

and with this rambling: one thing i'm sure of, the only thing i'm sure of, is that yes: THEY LOVE EACH OTHER. and not just a slight admiration or a tinge of care. actual undying love. incomprehensible love. i don't know a lot about this topic but i definitely love to aggrandise the concept of love, and especially unto something harmless like fictional characters. in the real world, loving someone isn't always enough for sure. but not loving someone at all can also having no bearing in the upkeep of a relationship (i know this from personal experience). so whether or not two people end up together in real life, has no distinguished rule of 'do this and feel that and you'll be together forever'.

but this is fiction! WE make this stuff up. so we can do whatever we want! we can link A to B and say these characters love each other so they must end up together, and still be flawed along the way, because they are not real. so in my opinion the various ideas like "real relationships have people breaking up", "real relationships have people never getting back together", "real relationships have people never breaking up", and to follow, the incessant "real relationships have good communication!" don't matter anyway because ideas based reality have absolutely no impact in this fictional realm. yes bring in realism, be realistic if you want, but don't let reality dictate your fiction entirely (as well as the inverse). nor should you let reality make you want your fiction to be completely unreal. both fiction and reality have complexity in personality and characterisation. people have personalities and characters have characterisation. the one commonality is imperfection. but just because they are similar doesn't mean they have to be the same. it doesn't mean chenford are realistically doomed. and with this the plot that may unfold could be one unexpected, one unreal, or one completely real. tim and lucy could work through their own storylines, flaws and complexities separately and i'd be glad to see it.

i had a lot of issues with how fan service esque the initial 'canonisation' felt and maybe this is not just to market their show, but to finally listen to the majority of the audience, the particular audience that literally helps them market the show. aka the social media citizens. the ones who talk up a storm about what they love about the show and literally rope others into watching it. maybe they'll finally write them with more specific intentions this time, maybe this is what this is for. not just for drama but to give us what we wanted to watch in the first place but heavily missed out on: pining, feelings, dramatic reconciliation. who knows. we won't. not until the season is over and s7 inevitably comes (it's guaranteed).

i know many become angry with this show about what it does and doesn't do but one thing that helps me survive is this: it doesn't matter, the episodes exist anyway. they will continue to exist even if they don't have what we want. all we can do is feel every feeling this show evokes because that's really what it is to be entertained, at least for me. we're not the creators at the end of the day, no matter how much we've created. if something happens we don't like, we don't like it and we talk about how we don't like it. if we do like it, we talk about how we like it. and we praise the actors anyway, for the characters they bless us with. and the creatives, who gave us the masterpiece that is season 2.

and with that, i conclude. this definitely got away from me like the runaway train in my adhd brain. i wrote this sleepy and fatigued and i think i might be brain dead so if there are contradictions or things that make not a bit of sense feel free to call me out on it! especially those who are more experienced yappers, i'd definitely like to know what you disagree with or think has no place in this piece.

anyway, fin. thank you anon and TLDR; chenford will be fine and the show will always favour exploiting the most loved characters for marketing but with every PR box of ice cream sent and every article written brings in one more viewer to our beloved show and at least we'd stand a chance of a season 10.

[myshredda]

i keep trying to think what makes this fandom so different from others because this environment is so unusually pleasant and patient with bothering to understand each other. im sure a huge part of it is the format of tumblr itself with its revival and all of the friction and oldfasioned sensibilities that allow for long paragraphs that are EXPECTED to be read all the way through unlike other platforms haha. but really its more then that because i look at the odd "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" work of emotional VENT that was the original webseries built by an art collective of all things and to see the tv show keep that spirit so well so vibrantly a whole 10 years later- and age up with the original fans with deep cuts about adult experiences... but really i think about what isnt there that lets this be one of the rare lasting fandoms with things to STILL talk and speculate over even though the season is over and the bookend is so nice that its story itself is probably done too- if it is i wouldnt mind haha. it feels so rare to see something this tight knit with its execution and still leave so much fodder on the table for things like aus that still have a feeling of authenticity to those who are detailed oriented to take on the challenge. like ive never had a work of media feel more like a writing prompt or art class then a piece of entertainment ahahaha. not to mention how deeply this speaks to neurodivergent people in the rare way that CELEBRATES diversity and gives for really nuanced advice that shows the staff have been there themselves in these topics so they can speak to experiences at a intimacy im not used to something at this scale. im mutch more used to the weird phenomenon of fetishizeing mental illness in a way that can just enable people to be worse especially if it means they can call themselves "artists" if they talk about their pain. this really feels like a community and i just needed to come and gush about it ehehehe~

back to the asks hi vex!

Yeah I definately agree that this is the most non-toxic & creative fandom I've been in in a hot minute! I think it may have something to do with how loosey goosey the actual plot of the youtube + series 4 series is! Like anything can be considered 'canon' so there's not a lot of people stressed about keeping characterization rock solid or character design rock solid (re: red being a big creature with a tail + patches/duck having glasses/yellow being a funky little guy) so there's a level of artistic freedom that's not normally present in a fandom space!

yeah literally this meme is the vibe