#this was the first time i was equally invested in all characters i love them all dearly <33

[minatalks]

neverafter is my fav d20 campaign i still can't get over how perfect all the pcs are and the lore and the sets ughhh i can't wait to rewatch it again

[bedsyandco]

𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 - 𝐭𝐳𝟏𝟏

✰ PAIRING — fem!reader x trevor zegras

✰ SUMMARY — in which trevor tells his gf about a dream (or vision) he had!!

✰ CONTENT — established relationship. just plain old fluff!!

✰ WC — 1K

✰ NOTE — missed my annoying little guy (affectionate) and this was the result. I hope you enjoy <3

You would have never expected Trevor to be the needy one in your relationship. In all your previous relationships, you’ve always been the one who was the most affectionate, the most “clingy.” It was obvious to you now how much more invested you were in those relationships than your previous boyfriends. 

From the first moment you met Trevor, you could see that he had a lot of energy. He was bouncing from person to person, chatting animatedly, and he didn’t sit still once that night. Not until the party had died down and the room was nearly empty. And even then he had sat himself on the couch and talked his head off to the girl that sat next to him. You didn’t mind though, you still found his rambling equally endearing today as you did that night. 

So maybe it shouldn’t have been such a surprise that all that energy Trevor has, directly got invested into you and your relationship the second you started dating. From planning spontaneous dates every other night, surprise love notes in your car, flowers every time he went to the grocery store, hands constantly on your body somewhere, and kisses always being pressed to your skin, it was safe to say gave as much as he received, if not more. 

“g’morning baby,” trevor says, his voice still husky with sleep. he tightens his arms around your waist and pulls your body into his, wrapping both his legs around yours as he presses a kiss to your head.

“good morning trev. sleep well?” you ask, running your hand through his messy strands and he tries to snuggle even closer to you, his head resting on your chest, half of his body covering yours.

“mhm” he hums, pressing a kiss to your collarbone.

it always started like this. a kiss here and there. you knew soon enough trevor would be pressing kisses everywhere, until that wouldn’t satiate him and he’d start getting this mildly annoyed expression on his face. hoping it would encourage you to replicate the kisses on his body too. not that you needed much convincing.

“I had a really great dream. I was sad I woke up for a moment until I saw your face,” Trevor mumbles, tracing your nose, and you smile, pressing a kiss to his head.

“What was the dream about?” you ask and Trevor opens his eyes slowly, lifting his head to he can look down at you, meeting your eyes.

“Actually I don’t like calling it a dream. Let’s call it a vision,” Trevor says and you smile

“A vision?” you question, amusement clear in your voice and your eyes and your boyfriend nods

“Yeah. Dream sounds far off. Vision is something I know will happen one day,”

“Okay. What did you see in this vision,” you ask

“We were sitting on this porch. It was a huge porch, like one of those old big farm house porches you know. And you were wearing one of your big colourful ugly sweaters-“ he says and your gasp cuts him off

“You said you liked them!” you say and Trevor laughs softly.

“I do like them, baby. They have character,” he says and laughs even harder when you hit his shoulder softly

“Saying something has character is just another way of saying it’s ugly,” you say, pouting slightly and Trevor smiles, his eyes swimming with adoration as he presses a soft kiss to your nose

“You make anything and everything look good. Even sweaters with character,” he says and you just shake your head unable to keep your smile from mirroring his

“Anyway, so you're wearing one of your big colourful ugly sweaters and these white fuzzy socks. we’re sitting on this porch swing, your feet in my lap. There’s this lake nearby, and it’s early morning. And the sun rises perfectly over that lake and I probably would’ve thought it’s the prettiest view I’ve ever seen if I didn’t get to wake up to your pretty face every day,” Trevor says, a look of awe on his face and he gently caresses your cheek and you swallow thickly

“Trevor,” you whisper and he kisses you softly

“Wait, I haven't gotten to the best part yet. We’re sitting and watching the sunrise and I’m telling you something, probably spewing a bunch of nonsense like always, but I’m making you laugh so it doesn’t really matter. And as you’re laughing, the cutest little girl runs up the stairs towards us. And she looks just like me, but God the laugh, that was all you baby. I wish you could’ve heard it. It was like liquid sunshine in a bottle. And we just sat there watching the sunrise together,” Trevor says, his serene expression changing when he sees the tears, you didn’t even know had fallen, on your face.

“Why are you crying sweet girl,” he asks, kissing your tears away and you take a shuddering breath

It wasn’t what he had said that made you emotional necessarily, although it did make your heart clench with the utmost joy to think of that future with Trevor. It was the expression on his face while he relived this dream, this vision, with you. The sheer bliss on his face, the softness of his smile, the adoration in his eyes. The way he so clearly and visibly yearned to have this with you. The confidence in his voice that he knows this isn’t just some far fetched dream, but something that will become reality for both of you one day.

“I love you so much Trevor. There’s no words I can use to make you understand how much,” you say and he smiles softly, kissing you again

“I love you baby. Endlessly. you and your ugly sweaters,” he says and you laughs

“I’m gonna throw those out now,” you say and he gasps dramatically

“You can’t! How are we gonna recreate my vision without the ugly sweater? It’s a crucial piece” he says and laughs as you playfully push his face away.

[tossawary]

Regarding "The Hobbit" film trilogy, even if I ended up personally disliking and resenting how much time and focus the elf characters (and others) ended up taking away from the dwarves whom I think deserved more focus as rich internal characters (I know that studio pressures are a factor in that terrible love triangle and so on), I still... vaguely appreciate the effort to create and include named female characters like Tauriel, when the book is sadly lacking in them. I think she's fine, actually. Comparatively, there are many other elements in these adaptations that I think are much, MUCH worse.

But still, if you want to add female characters to this story, the obvious answer to me seems to be to just make half the Company into dwarf women? (With similarly fancy beards and other facial hair! Because I think that's fun.) It's just... so much easier?

Do NOT come at me with that "dwarf women are rare" bullshit. Unreliable narration. Logistically unlikely. Also, if you believe that "men are the warriors and craftsmen, the women stay at home" is how dwarf society strictly functions (boring, honestly, on top of being incredibly sexist), I could argue that the Battle of Azanulbizar and other struggles probably left a significant dent in this dwarf group's male population, leaving behind many widows and mothers without children to pick up the work. The battlefields have come to and TAKEN both Erebor and Moria from the dwarves. I see no good reason why dwarf women would not have equal investment in reclaiming their home and the gold. Many of the Company are not presented to be formally trained warriors, anyway.

Now, ideally, we could do way queerer stuff in terms of both romance and gender here, but we know cowards with veto powers would not let this happen. Still, I feel like basic genderbending would have been a very doable move and is, actually, a very reasonable ask of an adaptation that would have added some depth to the story even if you didn't acknowledge the change at all.

Like, preferably, this would be an adaptational change that would be directly addressed. Maybe all of the Company appear male at first due to traveling that way (and assumptions made by humans and hobbits), then Bilbo might learn that some of the Company are dwarf women when he becomes closer to all of them. We could have a brief scene acknowledging that dwarf women are fighting these battles for their pasts and their futures too. It doesn't have to be a big thing! They can just be there. Existing. Participating.

I even think it would be fun if two of the dwarves were actually an older married couple traveling together, instead of brothers or cousins, because loving married bickering and battle couples are fun. You can have running jokes in the background about how Smaug's invasion ruined their wedding day, and going back and forth with "you never take me anywhere nice" @ each other whenever they're stuck in Goblintown or the Mirkwood dungeons. (I like seeing good marriages & partnerships in fiction and established couples going on fantasy quests together. I just think it's neat.)

But another (sillier) direction is that you could just cast some actresses in beards to play some of the dwarves, then leave the fact that some of these characters are probably dwarf women (traveling as men) as a fun detail for the audience. Bilbo is either too oblivious to notice or much too polite to bring it up at all. It's canonically compliant to the text this way!

Now, obviously some few people would have complained that Tolkien's work was being ruined by "political correctness", but they complained anyway about Tauriel (when there are MANY other bad choices in these movies), and what worthwhile arguments could they have possibly made against genderbending some of the THIRTEEN dwarves? Like, most casual fans I know cannot NAME the entire Company, who get so little character development in the book that the films had to come up with unique designs and backgrounds for most of them anyway. Bro (directed towards someone objecting to the idea of including female dwarves), be real, there's no way that you honestly cared this much about "Nori the Dwarf" before right now.

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is: @thefreakandthehair! With thirty-nine works in the Steve/Eddie and Stranger Things tags on Archive of our Own!

In an underdogfics first, we have TWO nominators!

Our first nominator recommends the following works by @thefreakandthehair:

this is my month, I can feel it. october, baby!

never been afraid of any deviation.

scar-crossed lovers.

the answers are all inside of this.

Our second nominator, @sidekick-hero, recommends the following works by @thefreakandthehair:

over the hills and far away

meeting you was coming home.

make no plans and none can be broken.

rounding third, sliding home.

what's mine is yours (to leave or take)

Lex's brain is full of very creative scenarios, reading her writing is like reading an anthology of short stories but it's with all of your favorite characters! You get to see what they'd do in this AU or that AU, I love the exploration. It's like she's made a stew and it's simmering on the stove and you realize you're so hungry for stew as soon as you see it. <3 -- anonymous

Lex writes characters that come to life on the page while you're reading her stories. It makes it so easy to get invested in them, to feel with them and root for them to get their happy ending. She's one of these authors I would follow anywhere, any trope, any setting and universe, I am here for it. So I think more people should get to find her stories and be treated to the magic. -- @sidekick-hero

Below the cut, @thefreakandthehair answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

How can I possibly give just one reason! These two burrowed themselves into my brain like little gerbils with no hope of ever getting them out. I mean, was I supposed to hear ‘dontcha big boy?’ and be normal about it? But in all seriousness, they’re two sides of the same coin and those oppositions in character are super fun to play with!

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

It was tough to choose, but friends to lovers keeps coming up!

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

If I have to choose a particular trope, hurt/comfort would be the closest fit, but in the sense of healing past hurts together as a unit.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

This question sent me into an existential crisis and the best I could do is narrow it down to three, and even that was nearly impossible. In no particular order: We’ll Know For The First Time by KikiZ; carve your name into my chest by hexiewrites; and more recently, Among the Wildflowers by ParadimeShifts.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

Rivals to Lovers in my football AU! I’ve been so excited to get moving on that one.

What is your writing process like?

Oh, I wish I had a better one. I start with a skeleton outline, pop on some music, and then pick and choose which part of the outline sparks joy in that moment. I rarely, if ever, write chronologically so I just write what feels good in the moment and then go back with a scalpel to create connective tissue.

Do you have any writing quirks?

Definitely writing out of order, I think! And if there’s one thing about me, it’s that someone is gonna have an introspective moment looking up at the stars. Someone told me it’s like my calling card and they’re not wrong.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

I like a bit of both. I like to post on a schedule for multi-chapter fics but only after it’s either completely done or mostly done so that there’s no pressure to it.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Over The Hills And Far Away incorporated some personal bits of my past that were equal parts cathartic and difficult to write at times, so I’d have to say that one! It’s really satisfying to take experiences that you regret or that didn’t end the way you’d hoped and give them a different ending in fiction.

How did you get the idea for never been afraid of any deviation?

The Eddie Month prompt for that day! Me and my co-mod for the event, nostalgicbones, included Bad Reputation by Joan Jett as a prompt and as I was listening to it, it got me thinking about how Eddie is someone who cares for those in less than ideal situations— maybe even to the point of weaponizing his own bad reputation to protect someone. In this case, that was Steve!

When writing the answers are all inside of this, what was something you didn’t expect?

I didn’t expect it to become multiple chapters! That one is part of my So Much For Stardust series (that I haven’t forgotten about, I’ve just been busy with big bangs) so it was based on The Pink Seashell interlude from the album. I still don’t know exactly how a 1-minute interlude turned into a 15k multi-chapter fic, but it was super fun to let go off the rails!

What inspired scar-crossed lovers?

Also a So Much For Stardust series fic, the first one in the series, actually. I heard Heaven, Iowa for the first time and wrote this based on that song in a day. My brain just kept rotating it around like a rotisserie chicken until I wrote it.

What was your favorite part to write from scar-crossed lovers?

This is ironic because I’m not an angst-writer by nature, but writing about the slow deterioration of Eddie’s van as a symbol for the passage of time was really fun to do. Bittersweet, but it was one of those things that I didn’t realize I was doing until I was in the middle of it and once I realized, I just carried it throughout!

How do/did you feel writing never been afraid of any deviation.?

Excited! It was the first time that I wrote pre-s4 steddie (which is wild that in two years, I just wrote that for the first time last fall?) and it was so fun to do!

What was the most difficult part of writing the answers are all inside of this.?

Probably balancing the kids’ voices in the first chapter while still creating tension between Steve and Eddie.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

It isn’t one of the fics listed here, but in no better version I could pretend to be tonight, I loved writing the line “Something about Steve feels like home, and Eddie is only familiar with houses.” Hurt/comfort, my beloved.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I’m planning on taking a break from big bangs for a bit to focus on some super neglected WIPs, so there are a few upcoming fics I’m excited about! My Football AU, an ASMR Artist!Eddie x Insomniac!Steve AU, and I’m working on a fic called Pickup Note with sidekick-hero and firefly-party that I cannot wait to dive into fully.

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Just thank you so much for all that you do with this blog! The ship truly exploded overnight and there are so many incredible stories that I’ve completely missed just because they’ve fallen through the cracks. I really appreciate what you’re doing here and the undertaking that it’s been!

Thank you to our author, @thefreakandthehair, and our nominators, anonymous and @sidekick-hero! See more of @thefreakandthehair works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[carlyleandco]

okay my fellow Cdrama fanatics, I’m in need of some recs as someone who is still fairly new to the scene…

Historical Cdramas I’ve enjoyed

Story of Minglan ~ this show is my Roman Empire…like I don’t go more than a couple of days without thinking about it. Love how much depth there was to the characters and their relationships. I got so much satisfaction from watching Minglan run circles around every one else using her intelligence and wits. Every time Gu Tingye popped up in the background as her backup support I lost it! Talk about power couple.

Love Like the Galaxy ~ first historical Cdrama I have watched and apart from Minglan, I think it has ruined the rest for me. This drama has so many layers. Niao Niao is an intelligent, and opportunistic female lead. She is unabashedly herself, and the story is not afraid to depict her as unlikeable at first instance. I deeply appreciated the focus on female relationships and family. And Ling Buyi has ruined all other antiheroes for me lmao

Destined ~ I thought this one would be on par with Minglan at first, but it did lose its way in the latter half. I felt the female lead was relegated to the background, which was frustrating as they built her up to be this shrewd businesswoman and then we never get to see her in action. I did appreciate how wholesome and untoxic Jiu Si was as a romantic lead. I thought her relationship with the SML could have been drawn out more, however.

Romance of Tiger and Rose ~ I don’t think this drama is anywhere on par with the above three, but I still enjoyed it. Definitely a fun and unserious romp. Zhou Lu Si is just so likeable in all her roles.

Xianxia I’ve enjoyed:

Love and Redemption ~ I literally fell down a hole with this drama. I could not stop watching. Even though the female leads starts with that token immaturity Cdramas are known for, it’s explained in-world and she goes through a noticeable growth/stepping into adulthood arc. I also LOVED how powerful she was and how often she got to use her powers. Also the romance? Sifeng?!!? Yeah I was a mess. However, one thing that irritated me was the lack of agency Xuan Ji had toward the end of the show.

Eternal Love ~ it’s a classic for a reason. I loved Bai Qian’s resolve, steadfastness, and maturity. Her relationship with Ye Hau blossomed naturally, and they had different obstacles to face as a couple as opposed to what I have seen so far.

Love Between Fairy and Devil ~ speaks for itself, and I love enemies to lovers.

Extra: points if the female lead is powerful, or is on a journey to realising her power. Whether that’s through her intelligence, empathy, or in the case of xianxia, actual mystical power. Bonus points if she’s a character like Xuan Ji who can go supernova and destroy everyone lol

Historical dramas I have not enjoyed:

The Sword and the Brocade ~ I didn’t even finish this one. My overall impression was, having already finished Minglan prior, eating cardboard after having been to a 5 star Michelin restaurant. Everything was so bland and dull, even down to the cinematography.

Princess Silver ~ I dragged myself to the finish line with this one. The plot just became so utterly ludicrous and relied on the audience being invested in the main leads without actually letting them spend screen time together. I also hated that we had glimpses of the female leads power but that she never got to fully realise this. Just overly contrived and trite.

Xianxia I did not enjoy

Ashes of Love ~ this was the first xianxia I ever watched some years back. Given I was new to the genre, I think I found some of the characteristic features a bit jarring and I stopped watching Cdramas as a result. If I watched it again now I may be able to make it through. Ultimately, I just could not stomach how naive the main female character. I understand this is typical, but it was another level of nauseating that I have not found an equal to since.

[cuckoo-on-a-string]

Promises 1: Introduction

Dark!Morpheus x (female)reader, fantasy/medieval AU, 18+

Master List

Dream of the Endless has been promised a bride.

This is in a different style than the rest of the story, so it gets its own post. Brace for all the yummy, darker tropes, bards' shenanigans, and eventual smut. Hoping to post updates quickly (like every other day) between all my other projects, and your support means the world!

Introduction

The king of Meiren found himself as part of a tale. Unfortunate for him. Amusing for Dream of the Endless.

Ten years past, the king summoned him to beg a favor.

“I’ve been dreaming of the most beautiful woman.” Obsession flamed in the mortal’s eyes, brighter than the reflection of the single candle stood between them. “I’ve searched, but I fear she is not of this realm, and I will not take any other as queen.”

The king’s distress smelled of Desire’s work, some perfumed horror to break a nation over brief carnal pleasures. Or perhaps a faerie game, wicked and senseless beyond a moment’s amusement. Passing, paltry things that may become histories and novels in his library, but no business of his. He would not have helped if not for what the king offered in return.

“If you help me find this woman and take her to wife, I will return an equal boon.”

He spoke earnestly, but Dream turned away his desperation with a smirk and a slow shake of his head. “What boon might you offer one such as I? I have no need of your gold, your land, or your kingly permissions.”

The next words began the story and sealed the little king’s fate.

“A bride of your own. I would gather the fairest, brightest, noblest from my kingdom from which you might choose.”

Vague amusement soured into offense, and his smirk twisted into a sneer. He dared? Truly?

Dream peered down his nose at the man. What could this hungry dreamer know of love? “Tell me, then, what creature in your kingdom might be my equal when none are good enough even to be your consort?”

The king had no good answers, only selfish dreams and childish demands. Groveling, he asked, “Will you not help me, then?”

But it was too late, and Dream was invested in this fool’s demise. After all, finding the woman of his dreams would not make him happy. Morpheus was certain of that. And the king would fail to keep his end of the bargain. He was certain of that, too. It wasn’t the first time he’d become a character in a tale, and he wanted justice for the scratches on his withered heart, for all they were left unknowingly.

One who dared offer the impossible to an Endless should reap their worthy prizes.

“I will help you.”

The king opened his mouth to thank him, but Dream hadn’t finished.

“I will come at a time of my choosing, and you will assemble those promised. If I do not find one that pleases me, I will take recourse in any manner I please.”

He didn’t even leave the king the promise of fair or equal retribution. When he was disappointed, he would please to be merciless indeed. But the king was a fool and did not listen well. He accepted. Eagerly.

The king had his bride – a faerie who he wed, bed, and conceived an heir upon. But on the child’s seventh birthday, he and his mother both disappeared on a ride through the morning fog. Brokenhearted, he could not bring himself to marry again, and he spent more time pitying his fate than managing his lands. He wasted his youth, his love, and his legacy for a dream.

And now it was the king’s turn to make good on his promise.

The invitations were sent, summoning the young, the talented, and the beautiful to court. The castle staff prepared to host the horde of eligibles and the Endless the king hoped to please for seven days, at the end of which the King of Dreams would make his choice or exact his vengeance.

[girl-next-door-writes]

Now and Then

Characters: Mycroft Holmes x reader

Summary: A bustling airport lounge had Mycroft contemplating the future and what his life could become with you.

Word Count: 1383 word

Prompt: Airport. Seeing them with kids/baby. Making you taste test. “You know you’re stuck with me, right?”

A/N: This is the penultimate part of my Build-A-Festive-Fics so thank you to the utterly brilliant @anonymoussherlockandmarvelgeek who put these prompts together for the lovely Mr Holmes. This can be seen as a second part to my first Build-A-Festive-Fic is you like.

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

Another year, another airport. There were times Mycroft wondered if it wouldn’t be more economical to invest in a private jet. The airport lounge at Christmas was a festive oasis amidst the hustle and bustle of holiday travel. As travellers awaited their flights, the lounge became a haven of seasonal cheer and comfort. Twinkling lights adorn every available surface, casting a warm and inviting glow throughout the space. Garlands of pine and red ribbon drape elegantly over counters and railings, infusing the air with the nostalgic scent of Christmas.

A towering Christmas tree, adorned with an eclectic mix of ornaments, took centre stage, its branches sparkling with lights and reflecting the colours of the season. Beneath the tree, carefully wrapped presents create a sense of anticipation, adding to the overall festive ambiance. Soft instrumental renditions of classic holiday tunes play in the background, creating a melodic backdrop that adds to the joyful atmosphere.

Mycroft lingered by the bar, a gentle smile gracing his lips as he observed you near the resplendent Christmas tree. You stood with a small girl in your arms, enthusiastically pointing out the various types of decorations that adorned its branches. There was a warmth in your interactions that tugged at his heart, an ache that had become all too familiar in recent times. The sight of you with the child painted a poignant picture of familial bliss, a scene that both touched and unsettled him in equal measure.

Sherlock's deep voice sliced through Mycroft's contemplative silence, injecting a note of teasing smugness. "Thinking about the future, brother mine?"

"I was simply observing," Mycroft replied, his tone steady, though a subtle softness lingered beneath his composed exterior.

Sherlock, ever perceptive, leaned into the banter. "Observing the love of your life holding a small child and absolutely not wondering about what that might look like if you had one of your own."

Mycroft's lips tightened imperceptibly, a flicker of irritation crossing his otherwise impassive features. "It had not even crossed my mind," he declared with a carefully measured hum, attempting to deflect the conversation away from the unspoken thoughts that lingered in the recesses of his mind. Yet, a keen observer might catch the hint of vulnerability in his eyes, betraying the depth of emotion stirred by the scene before him.

In the quiet recesses of his mind, Mycroft found himself entertaining the notion of what life might be like with a little one in tow. The prospect of sharing knowledge, moulding a young mind, and experiencing the unpredictable chaos that parenthood promised had begun to weave itself into the fabric of his contemplations. An unexpected warmth enveloped him at the mental image of guiding a curious mind through life's intricacies, embracing the potential chaos as a welcomed disruption to his meticulously ordered existence.

Despite these musings, Mycroft had yet to broach the subject with you. The various paths to parenthood lingered unspoken, a myriad of possibilities silently contemplated but carefully kept in the realm of his private reflections. Whether through traditional means, adoption, or other avenues, the desire for a family remained a quietly nurtured aspiration within Mycroft's heart.

Sherlock chuckled knowingly, taking a sip of his drink. "You may fool the entire everyone else, brother, but you can't fool me. You're a romantic at heart, even if you hide it beneath layers of bureaucracy. You are not the Iceman you once were."

Mycroft shot him a stern look, but Sherlock merely raised an eyebrow in response. The truth was, Mycroft Holmes, the enigmatic and powerful government official, had a softer side that few were privy to. The prospect of family, of a life beyond the intricacies of political manoeuvring and clandestine operations, was something he couldn't help but entertain since you had entered his life.

As you approached with Rosie and John, Mycroft smoothly shifted the conversation. "And what have you been conspiring about over there?" he asked, his tone impeccably composed.

You grinned, the little one in your arms giggling. "We were just discussing the best strategy for decorating the tree. It seems you have a budding interior designer on your hands, John. She has very definite ideas about what belongs on a tree."

Mycroft's gaze softened as he looked at the two of you, a twinge of warmth in his eyes. "Indeed, it appears so. Perhaps we should let our young prodigy take the lead in the decorations next year."

Sherlock smirked, detecting the subtle shift in Mycroft's demeanour. "I never thought I'd see the day when my brother willingly allowed his home to be decorated for the festive season. It seems we have a Christmas miracle."

Your laughter echoed through the air as you handed little Rosie over to John, a sense of warmth lingering in the atmosphere. Placing a gentle hand on Mycroft's arm, you remarked, "It's a season of surprises, after all."

Meanwhile, Rosie, in her father's arms, couldn't contain her curiosity, her tiny hands reaching for the enticing display of sugar cookies on the bar. Without hesitation, you purchased one, starting to unwrap it before a thoughtful pause crossed your face.

"Oh, do you think these might be a little too sweet for her? Mycroft, darling, can you try a bit?" You turned to him, holding out the cookie, expecting him to automatically acquiesce.

Mycroft raised an eyebrow, a mild protest forming on his lips. "Me?"

With a playful grin, you teased, "Well, you are the one with the sweet tooth."

The accusation, albeit light-hearted, was one Mycroft couldn't deny. With a small sigh of mock frustration, he broke off a corner of Rudolph's ear and placed it into his mouth. Chewing thoughtfully, he declared, "Not as sugary as one might think, given the season."

John accepted the cookie gratefully, making his way to an empty table where Rosie eagerly indulged in the festive treat. As you and Sherlock observed the adorable scene, Mycroft slyly purchased a couple of cookies for himself, slipping them discreetly into his jacket pocket.

Sherlock sauntered over to join John and Rosie, his penchant for imparting unconventional knowledge evident as he began explaining to the small child the reasons why Rudolph might be a female reindeer rather than male. Mycroft, standing nearby, couldn't help but wear a bemused expression as he watched his eccentric brother engage with the little girl.

"Your brother is infuriating, but he is surprisingly good with children." You mused, leaning against Mycroft and letting your arm slip around his waist.

"Unnervingly so," Mycroft replied, his attention momentarily divided, a faint frown forming on his usually composed features.

Sensing a slight distraction in Mycroft's demeanour, you decided to break the quiet moment with a question, hoping to offer some reassurance. "You know you're stuck with me, right?"

The unexpected inquiry caught him off guard, and Mycroft looked down at you, raising an eyebrow. "I am not 'stuck' with you; that would imply I am unhappy with the arrangement. I rather fear it is you who is 'stuck'."

Your laughter filled the air, and Mycroft couldn't help but allow a small, fond smile to grace his lips. The banter, the shared moments, and the ease with which you complemented each other had become an integral part of his life—a fact he wouldn't trade for anything.

Your words carried a tender sincerity that caused a subtle shift in Mycroft's usually composed countenance. The glint in your eyes hinted at a depth of understanding that made him wonder if you had somehow glimpsed his recent musings.

"I think you would be a rather brilliant father, just so you know," you declared nonchalantly, your eyes twinkling with genuine affection.

Mycroft, momentarily caught off guard by the heartfelt compliment, allowed a softness to touch his features. "Perhaps that is a discussion for the New Year. Right now, we have to sit through an eight-hour plane journey with a toddler."

His attention returned to Rosie, who was thoroughly engrossed in creating a masterpiece on Sherlock's shirt with crumbled cookie and icing. The amusing chaos brought a small smile to Mycroft's face, a silent acknowledgment of the unpredictable joys that parenthood might bring.

"First things first," you agreed, acknowledging the immediate reality of the plane journey ahead and the shared journeys which might present themselves in the not too distant future.

[taylorswiftstylequestions]

Hi Sarah! First, thank you for always welcoming and opening up interesting conversations. I love that about this little corner of the internet so much! I guess what I want to contribute is that I can kind of see what that anon said as being someone’s knee-jerk reaction. But we have to remember, everything is speculation right now. Is TTPD a breakup album? It seems likely. But we don’t know if it’s to “trash” Joe. It could very much be talking about how they both made mistakes. (Cont…)

(Cont…) YLM is probably our first glimpse into things and I wouldn’t say it is trashing Joe by any means. Taylor is just sharing how she felt and HER side, which is what she’s always done. So that shouldn’t seem shocking? What does bother me though, is that it seems like it is more of the fandom that starts to trash Taylor’s exes more than Taylor does. The fandom acts like Taylor was being held hostage in a relationship when she was not. She made her own choices. (2) (Cont…) I have shared before about how I was surprised how quickly people turned on Joe. He was very important to Taylor for a time. 2016 drama, reputation, Taylor needing her quiet, etc…but obviously it broke down somewhere along the way. And that is what we are probably going to get more insight on? But the relationship wasn’t all terrible like some of the fandom is assuming. And I don’t think it’s fair to Tay to assume she is going to trash Joe when we DON’T KNOW yet. (3)

---

Hi friend! Tysm for this response and for choosing to be in this lil space and contributing to i so thoughtfully. I am no stranger to the knee-jerk reaction - I had a very unkind one typed out in response when that message was sitting in my drafts and let it stew for a long time like that until I finally felt like I could come at it with more space and the hopes of entertaining more open and beautiful conversations like this one! So again ty x2 for proving that intuition right that it was something that could indeed be turned around just based on one's approach and response.

It's been an interesting, very slight, change in tone and perception over the years of the Weaponized Songwriter. It's this strange view that her art exists as a means to bring Bad Men to their knees and not primarily as a method to process her own life experiences and to make sense of how others have made her feel. It isn't X did Y so they should Z. It's X happened to me and it made me A, B, C. She is the main character of her own cinematic universe! It isn't about 'trashing' it's just about experiences and the unvarnished version of her truth about what that experience was.

Somehow - if it makes sense - I find myself equally bothered both by the trashing and the defence of the muses. Imo, they are tangential to the story and I just am not invested in what happens to them when they're written out of it. And I don't care to putting my energy into vilifying or protecting them when my investment is in the writer and her story.

[bodycountgame]

Hello! I was a big fan of the series a while a go and it is lovely to see that you are back. I'm terribly sorry that other anons put you through a lot with the voting aspect of the game. Absolutely no one deserves death threats for a story that they are bringing to us for free. However, I am not going to lie, I always feel a bit worried when a fandom majority vote is what has long lasting effects on character life/death. It was ok when it was everyone voting with an equal effect. Now there will be a wealth gap to vote. Only people that pay can contribute. And at least where I'm from wealth looks a certain kind of way.

Since you have characters that are in a minority it feels... Bad. Maybe I'm projecting how racist and transphobic my home country is on the vote for this game. I also don't want you to feel like this is an attack on you because that is not my intent at all! I love the diversity in the love interests and it was what brought me to the game initially. I am worried that if you do a majority vote on Patreon that characters that aren't white/cis will face a harsher vote. Trans lives are in danger and I was not surprised when a nonbinary character died first. I was part of the fandom and people treated them very grossly (it actually made me step away for a bit as well). There were many options but the vocally out and proud person got the boot first. What I'm saying is I trust you more than your Patreon supporters. If the people can't all vote as one, due to the actions of some terrible people, then maybe we shouldn't vote at all

anon, i totally understand your concerns because i absolutely shared them. to be completely honest with you, i had totally misjudged which characters i thought were popular or not and watching the three non binary cast members struggle through that first vote felt Bad. my personal disappointment about ellis being the character to receive the least votes in the vote contributed in no small part to the twist in chapter 3 and their revised arc (which was Not planned when i set out writing body count hahaha). howeverrrrrr, i did learn a lot from the process.

my main motivator behind making the vote patreon exclusive was that the voters would be genuinely invested in the game and that the polling would be much harder to game or manipulate. selfishly, i also think it will reduce a certain amount of the absolute barrage of wild anons from the first time around haha!

in addition to that, though, i think its important that i reaffirm what i have said from the start: i am acutely aware that in interactive fiction in general and particularly on tumblr there is a strong preference for white male characters, and i am not here to write some kind of gross POC/women/nb slasher. as much as i want the audience to have a say in the direction the story takes, i ultimately have final say on what happens in the story that i am writing.

the main way that i intend to have oversight of the voting process is by who appears on the polls in the first place; the first poll was the last time the whole cast will be available for a vote at the same time. since ellis, one of three NB cast members, was the first character to die, i've said that neither of the other NB cast members will appear on future polls. if it's women and POC suffering in the next vote, then i'll be applying similar logic. if that means we get towards the end and we need a white boy only poll then so be it!

that said, if people cannot behave then i will simply take away their toys. although i consider the voting mechanic to be one of the things that makes body count unique and fun, i'm absolutely not above doing away with it if there are Shenanigans that spoil it, ya know?

anyway, i hope that assuages some of your concerns! sorry for another giant wall of text wow i simply cannot answer a question concisely atm

[acourtofquestions]

Sarah J. Maas really does a good job as a writer when it comes to guiding the reader into the opinion you want them to have for the best emotional investment in the story. … It’s never going to be 100% unanimous (often it’s fun in a way because everyone has their own interpretation, favorites, etc.) however I think her fandoms have more generally conclusive agreements & that’s a pretty impressive feat saying how often her characters & their relationships change; they are built, destroyed, & rebuilt again. The ability to twist the story (even starting with the Beauty and the Beast comparison within A Court of Thorns and Roses is impressive). And I say this as a fan who tends to be PRETTY loyal to my favorites, her books have been an exception.

Tamlin (the beast) is at first a VERY hesitation drawing character, by the time one finally starts to like him; it still feels off (& confusing because isn’t he “supposed to be” the main love interest? “Shouldn’t you” like the MAIN LOVE INTEREST?) then when you finally start to think you love him, your all in on the ship, it starts BREAKING YOUR HEART, until one page changes everything & you now LOATHE HIM FOREVER. 1 book, 7 chapters, & the reader goes through it WITH Feyre.

Rhysand (the beauty😂😊😘) goes from a “who is this tall dark “beautiful” stranger”, to holy**** he’s the one decapitating people😅 & now everyone is terrified of him (for & with Feyre), so the hatred officially starts, until it presses pause because it’s just straight up confusing (“what am I supposed to feel?”) and start getting confused by all the feelings for him; one second he’s annoying, then hilarious, then everyone is drawn to him, until you can’t tell if you like or hate (or love to hate) him. AND THEN SOMETHING IS DEF UP AND YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT RIGHT NOW so you spend all this time guessing & waiting & brooding & pining—until you think you understand him & “even if it’s fucked up you love him” & then you REALLY do LOVE him and your just WAITING for Feyre to realize it too… And then EVERY shoe drops; you never knew anything, now you know EVERYTHING, & they are officially ENDGAME… until that gets too literal & now your crying CAUSE IT CANT END & thankfully it doesn’t! It just begins 80 times over for Fae Infinity (depending on how that whole death bet bargain goes😅).

Sam we fall for him (even knowing from DAY 1) how it ends; we fall for him because she did; and he did love her. Truly, steadily, from the beginning—to the end. They had something real, a beautiful promise (to be kept… & betrayed, not by them but by the very universe) born among sorrow but not out of it. Something good, built by them. We fall for the assassin, the boy, the best friend; the one that should’ve gotten to be the one or at least gotten more time… the first love, always love, & un-ended one because it’s ending came without a goodbye & before it even had a chance to begin…

Dorian the beautiful & forbidden prince — the good boy, to one day make a good king & a good man; the dreamer you fall for because he wants to make the world better & just might be a better benevolent ruler; ever-looking for his equal to rule by his side. The forbidden affair, yet always almost promised to be — the Daughter of Terrasen & the Son of Adarlan — enemies to friends to lovers (& friends again) burdened with glorious purpose & dark powerful pasts. The might have been; two sides, same coin… seen by all… seemed fit to be…

Chaol the opposites attract; magnets always in orbit always moving toward this; them. The love that brings life, back to-well-life. The guard & The Assassin; the killer & the protector; the prophesied end to evil rule, a woman scorned & hell-bent to burn the crown to the ground — the one who gave everything for an ideal, a good man, given to protect it at the cost of his very life & all he knew; the daughter of ruin & the fallen — the son of ruiners who destroyed to survive, yet survived nonetheless. A truly good man in a world of evil, a goodness that makes her believe again. A resilient sun, she blazes among deaths darkness, he watches her like Icarus. They are the goodness that came out of the ashes. Opposites yet the ones that understood (even to a fault). It was always meant to be… right?! — Their story. You see & fall for yet ANOTHER future, their “brood of children” & running away together. Until…

Rowan I have yet to meet him but from the little (trying to stay spoiler free) he is her match. Though I was strongly team Chaol… and Dorian… and Sam… I am sure I will fall once again…

There is something genius in that

[daisychainsandbowties]

you know, Ava is my favorite character ever. i feel i can confidently say that. which is something because i have loved several characters very deeply in the past and yet, this feels different. for so many reasons, i relate to her, i empathize with her, i feel protective of her, i respect her, i admire her, i envy her, she brings me joy and i simply love her so much. likewise, Avatrice are, by far, my favorite pairing/dynamic i've ever encountered. i always used to find it was one character in particular in a couple that you were drawn to; and while Ava is my favorite, i am almost equally drawn to both her and Beatrice. both are so well developed, so equally interesting. great care has been taken with both of their stories. i find that rare, special.

i watched warrior nun the night it was released. sat there for seven hours and watched it. if i could have done so unblinkingly, i would have.

toya turner’s acting in that opening scene is what hooked me, because i knew immediately that Mary & Shannon were being played as a love story, a tragedy. felt a flicker of hope in my chest. and then there was Ava, kissing her reflection, running on the beach, and i just fell in love completely.

i opened this app a few weeks later and looked up ‘ava x beatrice’ just to check that i wasn’t alone. but i was, admittedly, too frightened to become invested in them.

what i did do was watch the show dozens and dozens of times. those were hard years, and you know when you love something so much it’s like breath, something you want to wrap around yourself? it was that to me. kind of feels unbelievable now how i clung to it in such isolation, how some days it was a raft and other days it felt like sunlight.

i think Ava is such a testament to survival. the halo wipes away all her scars but you can still see them in how she looks at the world, flinches from it, can’t bear to do anything less than love it. she was a very healing character to me because you can see her hurting and you can see, feel, experience her refusal to surrender to it. how she’s afraid and smiles anyway. Ava laughing in the catacombs (at death), Ava loving what is mortal (herself).

i remember when the second series was announced. i couldn’t believe it. i set alarms on my phone, couldn’t concentrate on the day it released until i got home, feeling terrified, hopeful. i cried for an hour when they kissed. it just… took me out at the knees. i’d lost faith in seeing myself in shows like that, and… i don’t know there’s something about watching two characters you love, two queer characters kiss on screen, for real, that makes you, as Ava says, fall a little bit in love with what you are because there it is!! what you are is beautiful.

so, yeah, ever since then i’ve been, for the first time in forever, vocally, loudly in love with these characters. with Ava, with Beatrice, i think in equal measure. i have a soft spot for Ava because we’re so alike, but i can see myself in Beatrice too. in both of them i see what i am and what i love, and i suppose in falling for them i’ve been tricked a little into falling for myself, something along the lines of kissing my reflection in a shop window

[flavored-soda]

ok i’m talk about hen because god, i love her.

henrietta wilson and her character and storyline is very personal to me. without giving too much away about my personal life, she is very very similar to my sister. so its safe to say, she has my whole heart.

a lot of the talk (on my feed) lately around 7x04 and 7x05 has been about buck, which is fair, and you create your own feed yada yada. but i wanna talk about hen and her storyline(s) this season.

i will preface this by once again saying that hen’s character means a lot to me because she reminds me so much of my sister, so i’m going to have bias, and my view is going to be different and probably very opinionated and i’m aware of that.

we’re gonna start with the things i’m loving so far this season:

the first being that i love captain hen. it makes so much sense to me that hen would be the one to fill in for bobby (i can elaborate on that if y’all want just scream at me in my asks).

i love that we are seeing more interactions between hen and maddie. i think it’s really important that we see their relationship not only because maddie is chimney’s wife, but also because she’s buck’s sister. and hen obviously cares about the both of them so much, so to see hen interacting with the people that love the people she loves is mwuah so good!

the current henren storyline is so important. i love love love their growth as foster parents and i think mara’s story is going to be equally heartbreaking and heartwarming. i’m just excited to see how she fits into the wilson family.

now the things i’m not loving:

the fact that maddie was the one to call everyone in instead of hen. i feel like hen has never been wrong when it comes to her gut?? i can understand the fact that if she was going to get in trouble, she was just going to get herself alone in trouble, but have we not learned by now that there is strength in numbers?

the henren and mara storyline being put in 7x05. i’ve said before that 7x05 felt very rushed and i don’t like that there were three major storylines packed into one episode on top of the calls that the team goes on. in general i would’ve liked to see all the storylines in 7x05 be in their own episode with the calls instead of the chaos and the rush that is the 7x05. but the mara storyline is definitely one i’m invested in and i would love to see it handled with care and not rushed like the entirety of the latest episode was.

finally what i would like to see for hen, henren, and the wilson family in general:

i want to see more maddie and hen scenes. and more henren and madney scenes. we get a lot of emotional and hilarious screen time with chimney and hen but we don’t really see them interact with each other’s families outside of the 118. i would just love to see more of that. especially since both henren and madney have kids and i just want to see something that shows the parents of show interacting.

and to piggyback off of that, i want to see more eddie and hen!!! we don’t see much of their relationship but i think it makes sense the two would be close and hang out outside of work especially because denny and chris are close in age. once again, i just want to see the parents of the show interact more outside of calls.

now i’m gonna bring buck into this. i would love to see a scene between buck and hen regarding buck coming out. i just know would be so nurturing and supportive but also ready to tease the hell out of him especially after hearing how the first bucktommy date went.

lastly, i want to see how mara’s story plays out more than anything. it’s not going to be easy and i am so looking forward to the angst of it all but also the fluff and growth of hen’s character and the entire wilson family.

that’s majority of it (i have so many thoughts about hen, but they’re personal since she does remind me of my sister) but please feel free to come scream with me in my asks!!

[unhelpfulfemme]

Halt and Catch Fire is the best show ever and you should watch it if you haven't.

It has amazingly deep and three-dimensional and tender characterizations and a plot that's structured kind of like a spiral, in that you observe the characters over the course of ten years where they keep ending up in similar situations and you can see how much they have or haven't grown since the last time they had to face a similar thing.

It gives you a new appreciation for the wild west days of IT of the 1980s and 1990s, which is something I keep seeing people mention but have actually never experienced on my own unless you count searching for pictures of the W.i.t.c.h. on dial-up and playing some kind of pop the bubble game in 1999.

It has amazing female characters that aren't perfect but also don't have flaws that are sexist stereotypes. The two female leads are an angry punk girl and a hyperfeminine Southern girl and they are both presented as equally competent and given equal importance, even though the hyperfeminine girl gets underestimated a lot in-universe (she has a STEM degree and is as good with computers as the other one, but gets relegated into a "team mum" role a lot).

There is A LOT of focus on friendships and business partnerships and found family - it gives these relationships equal focus to the romances, and they are all realistic and grounded in the characterizations of the leads. In fact, the last episode focuses on the two girls' partnership, not their respective romantic lives. But the romances are amazing too, I have never been invested in a pair so hard the way I currently am in Joe and Cameron, if I weren't bi already they'd be my bisexual awakening. They seem like total opposites but have so, so, many parallels between them, and they have realistically sad backstories that aren't the stock "I was beaten by my mean dad" type. And they have amazing chemistry. And I love how the show is aware of the fact that they need to go outside of their relationship to grow and address their shortcomings because they kind of have the same flaws too, and even though they're still kind of pining after each other they only come back to each other when they're capable of having a stable relationship. This is especially good beacuse the girl is in her early 20s at the beginning and it was so so good to see the show let her grow into her own, on her own, rather than leaving her stuck in an endless back-and-forth with a messed up guy who's her boss and 10 years older than her, but then also respecting the connection they have.

All the characters are realistically flawed, and their flaws come back to bite them in their asses in the end, and the setups for this are strewn across several seasons. And it all makes sense for the character as a whole - for example, the punk girl is rebelling against pretty controlling parenting, but she obviously never learned how to handle relationships except in terms of the dominant person and the one who obeys, so she'd rather live in anarchy and never form any kind of power ladder in the first place. However, when she is forced to do so in order to handle the people who work for her punk IT startup she becomes very autocratic and controlling, and when people try to give her ideas she replies with, "Well, I'm the boss so we'll do what I say."

Why does she do that? Because she obviously doesn't know how to argue constructively. She knows how to a) aggressively overwhelm you, b) get up and leave (as she did to her family) and c) submit (unacceptable).

She does b) to her smarmy yuppie "it's complicated" man who is also one of the main leads - he does something to break her trust, she just abandons him and that's it. But then she gets into a fight with her next boyfriend, and she just assumes that that's it, and he says, "Woah, we're not breaking up, we're just arguing, have you never done that before in your life?"

At the same time, she forms a partnership with the girly girl and the girly girl starts just going around her whenever she hears the "I'm the boss so we'll do as I say" thing because she's frustrated that she has no say in things. This leads to several fallouts because spiral plot structure, and they're all mostly over one of two things: Cameron (punk girl) is being autocratic or Donna (girly girl) is being manipulative. Eventually they run the company into the ground because they can't listen to each other, and the plot always varies which one of them is right and never paints one of them as the 100% villain because they're both being kind of assholes but also deeply sympathetic.. But over the course of all this Cameron kind of learns how to be more functional in her partnerships, which then helps her with both her love interests AND her career. And then other things happen to address and highlight other flaws of hers, and this happens to all of the characters - three marriages fall apart in the course of this show, several companies with really good ideas are run into the ground and a guy commits crimes and then commits suicide because he bought into a Steve Jobs-type bulshitter's cool aid too much.

It has what I'd call great queer rep because one of the leads being a bisexual man is treated very casually and yet the rare instances where homophobia is touched on fit into the rest of his character and backstory so well (he insults a homophobic business partner at some point, and he also has an AIDS scare, and he recalls being bullied at school and how it affected him, and he makes friends with a queer teen because he notices she's like him and that's it). Like, there's an episode where his ex boyfriend comes into the picture and the plot doesn't revolve around them both being men - the plot revolves around his current girlfriend feeling insecure about the guy still having feelings for his ex and coming off as flaky and untrustworthy. The genders of the characters are incidental.

Like seriously this is the best show ever and I don't know why people don't talk about it more, current stuff like The Bear and Succession can only wish to be this nuanced.

[agendabymooner]

AGENDABYMOONER'S DIRECTORY: CHARACTERS

NOTE: THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE 400 FOLLOWERS! Oh my god. As I said, this was just some sort of self-indulgent blog but I am so glad to share my work with you. Thank you all so much for being there and to everyone who likes them so much they were more than willing to engage in my fangirl phase/behaviour/whatever. I am so glad I've entered the F1 realm all those months ago lol!

To remove all of the confusion to my work, here's a character directory 😭 I'm really sorry for that.

Letting you guys know that some of them may be in the same universe but they are not as heavily connected to each other (the only ones who are connected to each other more are The Alessandros and The Hearth Sisters - Trish is only connected in one thing and that's the Rush Wedding Special)

CHARACTER DIRECTORY

THE ALESSANDROS (rushverse)

LORELEI HESTER ALESSANDRO-RICCIARDO: Måneskin bassist. Also known as Lester Allie. Has her own set of fans in F1 as she’s an ambassador for Scuderia Ferrari. Is the middle child of the five kids. Daniel Ricciardo’s other half.

MC from Rush Series and its other extras (9 To 5, Wedding Special, Mrs. Ricciardo Special)

KARA ELEANORA ALESSANDRO: Second oldest sister of Lester. Also known as Nora. A businesswoman. She has a fashion brand. Has two children: Gabriele, 4 and Maris, 2 as of 2024. Divorced before Maris is born. Has been dating George Russell since February.

MC from His Family and Her Lover

JACQUELINA ALESSANDRO: Also divorced and has two sons: Franco, 8 and Andreas, 6. Also known as Lina. Is a model in Italy. She’s quite content being a mother.

NICOLA GRAZIA ALESSANDRO: born in 2000. Known as Cola or Grazie Nichols. An author who works for Tilly’s publishing company as an editor. Recently moved to London and is currently dating Lando Norris.

MC from London Boy and its other parts. 

MATEO ALESSANDRO: The only boy and second to the youngest before Cola. He lives and breathes with his equally unhinged in-law, Daniel Ricciardo.

THE HEARTHS (rushverse)

TILLY MARIE FORD WOLFF: 39 Y/O as of 2024. The eldest Hearth sister. CEO of the Hearth Automotive Groups and the founder of The Wolff Publishing. She was previously a journalist and communications liaison but had abruptly made a change in her career path after purchasing half of the Red Bull Racing. She owns 20% of both Scuderia Ferrari and McLaren Racing, as well. She’s married to the owner and general manager of Mercedes team, Toto Wolff, and has three kids with him: Soren (age 8 as of 2024), Tia (age 5), and Adelmo (age 2). Her company does not fully associate with the FiA as to avoid rumours of bias and corruption within the Formula Racing community. Her net worth increased to 5.5 billion after her company sales skyrocketed. 

Main character from Colour Me Your Colour series and its extra features.

STEVIE MARLENE FORD HAMILTON: 31 Y/O as of 2024. The second to the oldest Hearth sister. Head of Communications in Scuderia Ferrari and a supermodel with little to no time. Owns 10% of the said team with shares purchased under her investment company, The SMF Association. Married to Mercedes Driver Lewis Hamilton and has a daughter named Lottie. Has a net worth of $164.1 million as of 2024.

MC from Thick and Thin fic

SYLVIE EDSON FORD-VERSTAPPEN/HEARTH: 27 as of 2024. Executive Director of Red Bull Racing’s non-profitable kids/charity programs. Also known as the Wild Mustang or simply Blue for doing a donut in her mother's 1985 blue mustang convertible at the age of 10. Could have been F1’s first female driver since Maria Teresa de Filippis had it been for her expulsion in the academy. Known for her slight dislike for Christian Horner. Max Verstappen’s demise. Net worth is currently at $196.1 million.

MC from To Loathe and to Love series and its extra features.

AIMEE YAEL EDMUNSON: 25 as of 2024. Media Communications Officer of McLaren Racing. The half-sister of Tilly, Stevie and Sylvie. The only Hearth sister who doesn’t enjoy being in front of a camera. Works hard alongside Charlotte to keep Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in line instead of wandering off. Had to leave from the 2024 season early due to her pregnancy. She’s currently dating Charles Leclerc and has two kids with him: a set of twins named Hervé and Jules Leclerc. Net worth is currently sitting at $91.2 million.

MC from Of Long Lines and Names

AMARA LOUISE EDMUNSON: Aimee’s mother. Businesswoman and owner of several businesses all across the globe - including luxury stores such as Harrods and Selfridges. She raised Aimee alongside Blanche and Aimee’s half-sisters. Much like a family, Amara would take the four as a whole when it comes to trips and thinks that Julius Hearth is a sad excuse of a father. Amara is Tilly, Stevie and Sylvie’s second mother.

BLANCHE CHRISTIE FORD (formerly Hearth): the youngest daughter of William Clay Ford Sr. and the mother of the first three sisters. Owns 30% of Ford Motor Company but doesn’t act as an executive chairman. She, much like Amara, is a grandmother to Soren, Tia, Adelmo, Lottie and the Leclerc twins and would rather be a stay at home Nan to them. Amara and Blanche co-parented for the four and spent nights drinking wine whenever the girls were out. Some had assumed that the two were “very good friends” but who were they to judge or assume? 

TRISH ALONSO: Is a professional wrestler who was caught up in the F1 and WWE drama back in 2000s because of a certain Fernando Alonso. Now has kids with the said man. 

MC from Heaven and its other parts.

NOTE that she is not as heavily connected to the Hearths and the Alessandros !!!

THE SAN PEDROS (rushverse) !

MAGDALENA SAINZ: Married to Carlos Sainz. A bit unhinged. 

MC from Ride Home and its other parts.

PALOMA SAN PEDRO: Magda’s cousin who happens to be crushing on a certain Oscar Piastri (or the other way around?)

MC from Jollibee, Madrid and all the Romance Fiasco

NOTE: These lots are in the same universe as The Hearths and The Alessandros but they are NOT heavily connected to them.

VERA COPPOLA RAIKKONEN: Is married to the Iceman, Kimi Raikkonen, all while she had given birth to the loudest versions of him (and not drunk loud)

MC from Stop the World I Wanna Get Off With You

NOT heavily connected to the Hearths and Alessandros despite being in the same universe. 

THE VETTEL SPECIAL

BELINDA HELENA ONG-VETTEL: 34 as of 2024. Also known as Bel Vettel. A billionaire who happened to be a celebrity, artist and a wife to a retired Formula One driver. She is considered a “Crazy Rich Asian” for growing up with money and her endless collection of Hermes bags that she seemed to treat as a fragile canvas. After years of trying and failing, she and Sebastian adopted a son named Kimuel, who was immediately addressed in the grid as Kimi Vettel. Some say that Kimi is a quieter version of Sebastian for his meekness and the sudden switch to cheekiness. 

MC from Crazy Rich Wife and its other parts.

BARBARA ELISANDRA BLANCO: 25 as of 2024. Also known as Barbie. She happened to be 15 when Bel and Seb took her in as their foster child and continued to raise her as their own even after she turned 18. She moved to Switzerland with the Vettels after she was guaranteed a better life and opportunity to become a chef. She’s currently enrolled to study in Cesar Ritz College in Le Bouveret - which is a short drive every day so that she’ll have more chances to babysit Kimi, her two year old toddler adoptive sibling. Everyone thinks that she is dating Mick Schumacher, who would often make a visit to the Vettels home whenever he gets the chance. Mick obviously likes her, but does she?

MC from She’s Everything… And He’s Just Mick and its other parts.

ADA ABBOTT-BUTTON: Jenson Button’s wife who definitely made him work for two years straight for her attention. Is the founder of the organizations Arts for Youth and Arts for Kids 

MC from the Mr. Darcy Type.

CARMELLA AYALA PEREZ: Miss Universe 2018 winner who happens to be married to a certain Sergio Perez and has two kids with him. Ambassador of Arts for Youth and Arts for Kids Mexico and Philippines. 

MC from She’s Beauty, She’s Grace.

THE OTHERS (doesn't have any direct connection)

ALBERTINE PHILIPPA FRANCES SPENCER: Royally rebellious. She was born in 1996, months before her parents got divorced. She’s also married to a certain Mr. Esteban Ocon. 

MC from the Royal Wildcard and its other parts

ENSLEY ZARA SOLEIL: Equally in love with Pierre Gasly despite having to make him work real hard for things.

MC from Newsflash and its other parts.

BORA McKINNON: Lance Stroll’s ex who happens to be a Kpop idol. Would probably get back together with Lance.

MC from Gotta Be You

[rolaplayor101]

After searching about, I've found others who've had and thought about the same issue that I did, which is that the Kingdom Hearts fandom has a HUGE amatonormativity problem. Which, yeah, most fandoms do, but the difference here is that the KH fandom is pretty small, which makes it way more prevalent.

There's a good amount of people who think Sora is aroace, grayromantic, or alloromantic asexual, but they keep it to themselves for risk of being harassed by shippers. They have to protect themselves with "aphobes DNI" on the few posts they do post about it. They have to continuously reblog their own art or go to a confession blog to lament about it.

And it's sad! This is saddening! And the thing is, I do ship SoRiKai. At least the minimum amount, enough to be fully invested in what's going on in canon. Because, canonically? They do care about each other intensely enough to usually go beyond the bounds of typical friendship. Especially Sora. The way he thinks, the things he does, it's all so grandeur in comparison to the things people do in real life for their friends. He flat out says he wants to be with Riku and Kairi forever in one of the first games.

The problem is that people still think being aroace means being apothi and aplatonic, but that's not the case. Sora feels platonic attraction so quickly, frequently, and intensely that it even puts off new characters he meets in the game. He's affectionate, uplifting, and confident(most of the time). But people can't see aroace people as a whole as anything but negative and loveless. Which is just plain not the case for all of us. Aspec people post about the different ways aspec people think all the time! It's mostly the only thing in the aromantic and asexual tags, and I frequent those a lot! So I'd know!

This is an issue thats brought up over and over and over again, and it's that being aroace-- feeling exactly zero romantic or sexual attraction-- does not mean you also feel zero platonic or queerplatonic (or sensual or alterous or any tertiary) attraction. It does not mean you can't feel attraction that is just as intense as allos feel romantic or sexual attraction. Sora has always attributed his strength and confidence to his friends, to his heart that belongs to all of his friends. He feels platonic attraction so intensely that it literally powers him up. It's the main theme of the entire Kingdom Hearts franchise.

Saying that Sora feels queerplatonic attraction towards Riku and Kairi does not mean he'd feel any less than if he were romantically and/or sexually attracted to them.

Thinking that queerplatonic and/or platonic attraction is less than romantic and/or sexual attraction is incorrect, aphobic, amatonormative, and exactly contrary to what Kingdom Hearts the franchise is partially trying to do.

Kingdom Hearts normalizes healthy, platonic, life-long relationships, which wasn't well represented in the early 2000s. Most media represented friendships as on the back burner, especially when pit against romantic relationships. Affectionate arospecs watched shows and movies when they were younger seeing the main character dismiss their friends, grow out of them, or outright hate them, and then have their problems be solved by a romantic partner. Toxic or unhealthy friendships (and also sibling relationships) were the norm, so having Kingdom Hearts, and a few other media I can't think of right now, be made where there's no romance outside of background characters and established ones fron Disney Movies, and where friendship is treated as equal and as the most important, was revolutionary.

Tons of Shounen anime do this, too. Bleach, Full Metal Alchemist, Hero Academia, most sports anime. Then there's other stuff like most magical girl anime, Soul Eater, Little Witch Academia, Promised Neverland, Lucky Star, Baccano, most Miyazaki movies. A lot of popular anime are popular because people love the friendships between characters. And I bet most people in Kingdom Hearts love it specifically because of the friendships too. They like that they're friends. Because their friendships are wholesome, and healthy, and good. They make us feel good. KH isn't "Queerbaiting"(which is only ever brought up for mlm ships and never for aspecs or wlw) for having Riku and Sora care about each other and get along. Just because pop culture has forced f/m relationships start specifically because a girl and a boy get along(if even that happens), doesn't mean that all characters in all media that get along are romantically into each other. Both of those are bad and thinking that its not is a double standard. Platonic chemistry and romantic chemistry are not the same (even if pop culture media continue to try and make it seem like they are). But so many posts trying to prove Sora is actually canonically secretly in romantic love with Riku and Kairi only have evidence of him just being his regular old self, doing things he canonically sees as platonic-- things that are platonic.

It's not an issue of people headcanoning Sora with romantic/sexual attraction (or otherwise) for the other characters, it's about the harassing of other people that it's canon and the blatant aphobia and amatonormativity. All that's canon right now is that Sora cares about his friends, which includes Riku and Kairi, and the fact that I got so much negativity back for saying he's aroace and feels queerplatonic attraction for them only proves that some people in this fandom think aroace people can't care about anyone strictly because they don't feel romantic or sexual attraction. The aphobia in the fandom needs to be addressed, and the aspec content should be allowed to be post freely without push back.

TLDR; Once the main Kingdom Hearts fandom stops seeing every little interaction between certain characters as canonically romantic, it'll finally be a more open and healthy community that people won't be afraid to engage in.

I want this to be helpful to read and for someone to learn something. And if aphobia shows up again, maybe take that person to the side and say that's not cool? Defend us aspecs, please? Cause all that..really makes me feel bad about and put off Kingdom Hearts completely. (And again! I ship SoRiKai! But people that don't ship it shouldn't have to go through this either!)

[gingerylangylang1979]

I shipped Carmy x Sydney hardcore based on season one but I’m putting my shipping on leave until further notice.

There was so much that happened this season that just left me cold about them. We got a few cute bonding moments but overall Sydney and the restaurant was an afterthought to Carmy. I’ve been wanting him to heal and have a personal life. I would have preferred it with Sydney but I was open to this new girl if they really sold it for me. 

There was obviously a lot of emotion between Carmy and Claire but it did seem very sudden and not built up in a way to make me invested. First, the character seemed pretty one dimensional. All the people from Carmy’s old life rooted for them but we didn’t get to see those relationships or why beyond they all knew each other. She just seemed like the ultimate “nice girl”. That’s great but give me some depth. They tried to frame it production wise like this epic pairing but I wasn’t getting that. I did mildly enjoy seeing romantic Carmy but it seemed a bit hollow and a bit Hollywood let’s have a romance in execution. Like, it for real felt like an FX exec was like we need to do this for a bigger audience. I was endeared by them at times but I felt the dialogue was lacking and it was all very cliche. 

It also dominated most of Carmy’s time. I missed Carmy being Chef Carmy with the crew. It did do what many feared would happen if this show did romance. It became more important than anything else in Carmy’s life and weighed down the season. We also lost the sense of Carmy being a fish out of water with relationships. There were a few nods to this being new for him but honestly everything seemed very smooth. I wanted to see him struggle more with intimacy and just doing the normal things yet still finding his way. They could have made it spicier, way more nuanced, way more dynamic in presentation. But it wasn’t that. And the extent to which Carmy was captivated by her it would be hard to match that with Sydney and I’m afraid she would seem the second choice. Like, would Sydney get the swooney declarations of beauty and him telling everyone gushingly how he loves her? Would we get the kisses and bed cuddling? I want that for Syd. I’m not even sure I could buy Carmy being attracted to Sydney now if she doesn’t get some grand declaration of her beauty and loveliness.

But it wasn’t necessarily that another woman was introduced. If I was more sold on the pairing I would give a pass. It’s that Sydney as his professional partner was so sidelined. They have already been through him leaving her in the lurch and expecting her to pick up the pieces without a lot in return. At this point is coming across very navel gazing white dude taking advantage of a black woman’s ambition with no end in sight and that makes me not into it. It may not be intentional on his part but in effect that’s what we are seeing. Sydney is still loyal to him even in her frustration and she is getting very little in return, not much more than she would get with any other Executive Chef. There seemed to be promise beyond that based on how last season ended. He seemed to be inviting her in as an equal but all we saw was her being the committed one and covering for him yet again. Her only reward is maybe The Bear’s success but their dynamic is still very I’m the owner. 

We also never got any bonding aside from the rare meaningful touch bases about work. There was no light hearted banter, not any intense menu planning genius. I was excited for those scenes but they were brief and kind of not that impactful to the process of them creating together. The final menu work seemed to be done in isolation from each other. The opportunity to go explore cuisine was wasted with Syd going it alone. 

If they ever do try to pair them, I seriously doubt it now, they would have so much work to do to rebuild Carmy as a character and their dynamic. It seems they did try to pair her with Marcus. She doesn’t seem into it. Is she not into him? Does she think it’s a bad idea professionally? Does she hae repressed feelings for Carmy? She did seem a bit jealous in a weird way, which I hated. But yeah, if they were to have any intention of pairing Carmy and Sydney they missed a lot of opportunities this season that could have been epic. It should have felt like their restaurant, not his, and she’s just there for the ride and a line on her resume.

I will finish my fic, but being invested in the ship isn’t big for me. I know a ship doesn’t have to be canon to ship but I just am not even a fan of Carmy enough right now to like him for her. It even affected my attraction for him a bit. He’s still fine but I wasn’t as lusting for him this season because of his behavior. I was also sad JAW as an actor didn’t have a lot to work with that was challenging.