#//so maybe the book explanation is secretly canon

[starspunt]

. . . 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓

── KINICH + gn!reader

synopsis: kinich liked to get away from the busy city, and sit in the saccharine embrace of your company.

warnings: fluff, pining!childhood friends, mentions food/beverages, modern!au, city/park setting, college!au, mentions exams/studying, kinich playing romance sims is canon to me btw (wc. 705)

note: this is a repost from my old blog.

kinich was a man of few words, able to get his point across without opening his mouth for long. he said things with such confidence, without room for negotiation. you supposed that’s how you found yourself sharing a picnic blanket just off the bank of a stream with him. you’re not entirely sure how he convinced you to come out, but chalked it up to the mushy soft spot you had for him.

you should’ve been at home in your dorm, studying for your exams in your cozy pajamas, with your favorite candle burning and a mug of tea in your hands. maybe you’d even read more of the book series you’d recently gotten into. yes, you easily could’ve pictured it, as you’ve done it more times than you could count.

what you could not have pictured, however, was this scenario. it felt like a scene out of the romance sims you knew mualani would make fun of if she found out kinich secretly played them. flowers bloomed and blossomed all around you, bright bursts of color dotting a lush carpet of vibrant green.

the two of you were thigh to thigh on the short blanket, and a cliche picnic basket sat innocently off to the other side of kinich, and you prayed he couldn’t hear the thundering of your heartbeat. he sat next to you stiffly, pointedly trying not show how much your close proximity and cloyingly sweet scent made him dizzy. he didn’t know whether to praise or berate his past self for not grabbing a larger blanket. 

he could feel the comforting warmth of your skin through your clothes from where you pressed against him, and he felt his breath stutter in his throat. he was glad you were so used to his silence and easily filled the gaps in the conversation with casual chatter. you told him about your studies, the new stationary you just got, and even the campus cat you tend to feed.

while you were stuck in your own world, raving about the convenience store dinner you had last night, your words went in through one ear and out the other. kinich couldn’t help but admire you as you talked so animatedly. the way your eyes widened when you got expressive, the creases around your mouth when you frowned or smiled, or the quick flash of your tongue from behind your teeth.

he admired the depth of your voice, and how you were able to shift it through five different emotions in a few sentences. he admired how you were able to brighten the very air around you, making it feel lighter and more fulfilling as it filled his lungs. it was like you were very thing that let him breathe easy.

he didn’t know how he managed to have you in his life, let alone what he did to make you stay. he used to thank his lucky stars that you stayed, silently thanking you for loving him. silently thanking you for choosing to love him, when you could’ve had anyone else. when you could’ve had someone better.

“kinich?” your honeyed voice pulled him from his thoughts gently, like a soothing serenade composed just for him. his stunning eyes blinked at you, regaining himself as he peered into yours. “thought i lost you for a second. are you alright? you were staring at me.” you gave him that crooked, half smile you gave him whenever he got too quiet.

nodding in confirmation, he turned to pull out your favorite sweets. the fondness he held for you returned in his eyes as he watched you sparkle. when you launched into a full explanation on how to make the said sweets, this time he listened intensely, committing your words to memory and into the you-shaped spot in his heart. 

when you broke off part of your pastry and offered it to him, he thought he might just implode. even more so when you fed the bite to him, the tip of your finger grazing his bottom lip. and when you looked at him with that adoring gaze and tender smile, saying his name in that dulcet tone, he thought that you must feel the same way that he did.

starspunt 2024. do not rewrite, repost, modify, or translate.

[ckret2]

I know that making things not only canon-compliant but canon-plausible is basically your hobby, and you tend to enjoy taking every little detail no matter how inane and incorporating it into the greater lore of your work. Have you ever had a moment where you were trying to find a logical explanation for something, realized that it was EXTREMELY STUPID, and now you just avoid writing things that will make it come up?

I think most fan writers have one piece of canon where they're like "Yeah, no, that was a bad decision, I'm just replacing [unbelievable event/racist character portrayal/blatant disregard for how mental health works in reality/etc] with [piece of fanon that makes it work better]."

Usually, even when there's an obvious author mistake, you still have a cool canon-compliant thing to do with it. Curious if there's any exceptions.

yeah, there's a few things.

Evidence implies that Ford fell in the portal in 1983. Evidence implies that the show takes place during 2012, but maaaybe 2013? The show says he fell in the portal "thirty years ago." He was probably intended to fall in the portal in 1982 but that doesn't line up with some of the dates (particularly, song release dates). Also, exactly how long did he know Bill between meeting him and getting portaled? And exactly how long was the paranoia era? My solution: the show takes place in 2012, Ford got portaled in *mumble mumble*, it's been """thirty""" years since he fell in the portal, we're NOT gonna worry about it, and maybe the Eurythmics released their albums a year earlier in the Gravity Falls universe did you ever think of that? Huh?? But at any rate I just try to quietly glide over the little timeline issues without addressing them.

Anything Bill says that would validate a real world conspiracy theory is a lie; but, much more likely, I'm just never gonna talk about it so we can ignore it completely, especially if the conspiracy theory is antisemitic or racist. "A cabal of global elites secretly rules the world and has a really cool break room"? Bill's lying; but also, we're NOT gonna talk about that, just chucking it out the window completely. "Bill helped fake the moon landing"? We can crack jokes about that one but only to establish that Bill was lying. "The Egyptians made the pyramids look like Bill"? We're NOT gonna claim the Egyptians made the PYRAMIDS for Bill, at most they might have redecorated them; but we're probably not gonna talk about them redecorating the pyramids anyway; and we're gonna crack jokes about how stupid Ancient Aliens style idiocy is; and maybe we're just gonna minimize talking about Bill's relationship with Egypt entirely.

(A side note: one thing i REALLY appreciated from TBOB is that it clearly established that they did not build the pyramids for Bill, just temporarily redecorated them; they did not worship Bill, they thought he was a pest; and the book went out of its way to have Bill say anyone who claims aliens helped with the pyramids is a con artist. It didn't have to do that! But it really improved things a LOT.)

Anything not mentioned by Bill that alludes to iffy real world conspiracy theories, we're just not gonna talk about. "America is secretly ruled by someone other than the president and nobody knows," not gonna talk about that, I don't care that it's Santa. "Dapperly-dressed reptilian aliens," not gonna talk about that, I don't care that they were here to go dog sledding. "Mt. Rushmore is secretly a bunch of robots built to defend America from a future threat," NEVER gonna talk about that, Mt. Rushmore is a carving made by a racist on stolen land sacred to several Native American peoples, it does not deserve to be made cool.

and speaking of Santa: I don't care for Jewish characters getting shoved into Christmas stories, especially if they're "wow, it turns out the Christians were right about the existence of this folkloric figure associated with one of their most important holy days" Christmas stories, so there's a high chance I'm just never gonna mention the Krampus plot lmao. If I do, it'll only be because I need to acknowledge the relationship building Ford & Fidds got. (Or to acknowledge Ford's rage at being commanded to conform to holiday expectations, which is REALLY funny and he's completely right.)

Those are the things off the top of my head.

[19burstraat]

proving kaz is a tidemaker, even tho it's not canon and shouldn't be, but I'm gonna argue for it anyway

I already made this post ages ago and now this has been in my drafts for even longer, I just unearthed it... but I'm making it again, more in depth, bc I didn't hit on everything I wanted to last time. obviously this isn't canon bc the point of kaz is he's Just Some Guy and how that really really pisses off more powerful people, and I think that's definitely best, Kaz NEEDS to be otkazat'sya for his function in the story... but if you ever wanted to prove it in a fic, shit is EASY. (I am vaguely considering how it might work out in a fic. we'll see. I've done stuff that couldn't/I wouldn't want to be canon before with my jordie-lives fic, so...) I'll mostly talk in the context that he'd be a tidemaker bc I feel like that's the conclusion a lot of this comes to, but some of the points are more generalised.

obviously the basic argument everyone makes for this is that the reason kaz was able to get back to shore from reaper's barge is bc, subconsciously or not, as a tidemaker he could control the currents to help him, since that's one of the most basic tidemaker powers. in the harbour scene, he notices that the tide has moved to work against him, but it doesn't seem to prove much of a problem; he attributes it to his new will to survive, but... Well. Kaz is exceptionally good at withholding information, even in his own POV.

grisha not using their powers become ill or weaker; kaz isn't really physically ill but he has an element of the underfed and sallow about him that's generally attributed to living in the barrel.

kaz is also ESPECIALLY horrified by the state of mikka, the tidemaker under the influence of jurda parem at the start of SOC; this is attributed to his past trauma and his dislike for things he can't rationally explain, which, yeah, but he is thrown in a way we don't really see again for the rest of the series. he instantly thinks of jordie, and it's maybe the one time he succumbs to superstition in the whole series.

the obvious explanation for how kaz knew that coffee extract and paraffin hid the scent/evidence of grisha is that he's very clearly involved in smuggling (jesper mentions how coffee grounds were used when packing smuggled jurda shipments) but the second explanation,,, is that he uses them himself. he comes up with the solution with IMMENSE speed and he just like, has the coffee extract around. ok, sure, not that hard to get hold of, but still. and coffee gets mentioned in relation to him at least a few times, most noticeably the 'bitter coffee eyes' thing inej uses, which is amusingly romanticised, but also... inej why do you associate coffee w kaz... something you've noticed abt him?

(but then, you wonder why he didn't suggest this to jesper previously; the answer I'm sure he would give you is he did, when it was a problem. before that it wasn't a problem and jesper was doing fine at staying hidden on his own)

the gloves can also add to this one, since they presumably at least cover his wrists and therefore his pulse somewhat, though obviously that's not their main function.

recovers with startling speed from nearly drowning at the ice court; matthias has to get his breathing going again but he's almost immediately fine after. I know yk, heist fantasy book, gotta keep going, but still

kaz is almost completely correct about the methods, powers of, and appearances of the council of tides (one single thing, the method of hiding their faces, is wrong.) impressive, no...? he is also shockingly apathetic in the face of their threats; they fill his lungs up with water and he just coughs it up and then is like "lol" immediately after. this is funny no matter what the fact of the matter (major general of the idgaf war) but the fact his link to them is left hanging is also a thread that could be easy to pick up. I think it would be hilarious if he was secretly in the council, but I won't stretch it that far bc they clearly don't like him lmao, that would have to be a proper AU.

in the dregs, kaz has a corporalki (nina) and a materialki (jesper) but no etheralki. wouldn't it be prudent to recruit one, if he could find one? or maybe he doesn't need one. if he already has one around, for an emergency of emergencies... for a rainy day... (ha ha)

the way kaz's trauma is often described as manifesting, is with the rising of the harbour waters; so it's pretty reasonable to suggest that in suppressing that, he'd also, inadvertently or not, suppress any kind of tidemaker/etheralki impulse or power. possibly he can't even tell the difference between the two, or they're so tangled up he can't really separate them anymore, which is why he doesn't so much as even think to attempt to use it. still, if this was the case I think improvement with one would not necessarily improve the other, or vice versa. kaz hypothetically using grisha power he'd had suppressed would not magically make his touch aversion go away, I think that'd be weird, and I'd not want his PTSD to be passed off as solely being the sickness from not using grisha power, that's reductive as hell. but I can see them certainly being two things very much intertwined.

we don't know a lot about grisha who are native to kerch, but assumedly he'd not have had much cause to use it in his childhood, on a farm somewhere inland, so most, if not all, of his experience with using it would likely be irretrievably tied to ketterdam and jordie so no wonder he just wouldn't use it. I don't think he'd even see it as feasible. perhaps it would be a very very final resort, but he'd never let it get to that point, he'd always want to try something else first. and anyway, he'd not be trained.

the sankt vladimir story is also thematically quite close to Kaz; holding back the harbour waters until he's finally too exhausted and lets it drown him. I like this regardless of this analysis actually it's a good comparison. patron saint of the drowned and unlikely achievement....

even if kaz wasn't an otkazat'sya, after all that happened, I think he'd try very hard to pretend he was. it couldn't save jordie, therefore in his extreme as hell thinking around that entire thing, I imagine he'd reason it wasn't useful, that he could get on better without it, and, like jesper, think it was a liability.

this would add a wild layer to him being the one to have the jurda parem on him for almost all of crooked kingdom; it would make it feel like his plan z was to take it himself. certainly he'd sooner do that than let jesper take it.

and finally: thematically, it slays. like half of the imagery around kaz (and kanej) centres around water (think the bathroom scene, how he only washes in front of her, etc) and that plays into both of their trauma, plus religious imagery, all this... it's a fantastic bit of extra theming. it just doesn't really work with how his character operates.

basically I think you could DEFINITELY make it work and it'd be a killer fic but again it's one of those things, like jordie living, that I don't really want to be canon because it undermines something about kaz's character that I consider pretty critical; in this case, that kaz is not really endowed with any special power or circumstance, he's just bloody-minded and clever, but that's enough for him to pull off almost impossible jobs anyway.

[blueminuet]

I remembered Tumblr is a place you can make crazy bonkers fandom essays, and I really need to talk about Romulans and Vulcans real quick, because I’ve been thinking about this for while.

I think the Vulcans are lying to us about how the Romulans came to be, but that's okay because they probably don't remember the truth anymore anyway.

So, Romulans split off from Vulcans thousands of years ago (somewhere between 2,000-3,000 years ago, though I don't think we have a clear timeframe on that).

The explanation we get from the Vulcans is that leading up to the Time of the Awakening (Vulcans adopting logic), there were several warring Vulcan factions, killing each other with atomic bombs and weird psychic weapons. One of these factions is referred to as "those who marched beneath the raptor's wings" which is pretty clearly the pre-Romulan faction.

Then Surak, the father of modern Vulcan logic, started preaching non-violence and started sending envoys out to the different factions, asking them to meet for peace talks. The first envoys were killed, and Surak just kept sending dudes until all or most factions agreed to meet. Eventually, most factions agreed to adopt logic and try peace, but at least one faction - "those who marched beneath the raptor's wings" - said fuck that and left the planet.

(This exodus is likely what led to the other Vulcanoid cultures we see on other planets in the alpha quadrant, including the Mintakans (who are said to be more Vulcan but have a more Romulan brow ridge) and the Debrune. More on that in a bit.)

That's the Vulcan account of what happened. But like... we never really hear the Romulan version? We know that the Romulans refer to the Time of the Awakening as "The Sundering" which has a less cheery ring to it, but that's about it.

Let's talk about what we know about the differences between Romulans and Vulcans. Obviously, some Romulans have pronounced forehead ridges which Vulcans don't have. PIC confirms that this is a racial trait specific to one of the Romulan continents. This is probably just a random trait of genetic drift.

But more importantly Romulans don't have the psychic abilities of Vulcans. It was implied that a Romulan might be able to use a psychic weapon from back in the Awakening/Sundering era, but it seems like it's mainly the artifact doing the heavy lifting there. In the first Romulan war with Earth, Romulans went out of their way to kidnap members of a highly telepathic species (the Aenar, a subspecies of the Andorians) to pilot their telepathic ship capture weapon, a move that solidified the alliance between two of their biggest threats. A move which doesn't make much sense if any portion of your own population has telepathic abilities.

Furthermore, the Mintakans that I mentioned earlier also don't have telepathic abilities. So, it seems like... most if not all of those who "chose not to follow Surak's teachings"... just happened to be the ones that had no psychic abilities?

(I'm aware that, in book-verse, most of the Romulans "chose" to give up their psychic powers when they left the planet, but book-verse is only canon when it is. And like... why would they CHOSE to do that?)

You could argue that maybe the Romulans simply lost the psychic trait over time, but 2,000-3,000 years isn't very long from an evolutionary perspective. Forehead ridges I can buy, but losing the part of your brain that is telepathic seems a bit much...

So, we're left with a few options here. 1) "Those who marched beneath the raptor's wings"/pre-Romulans chose to give up their psychic powers; 2) the pre-Romulans had their telepathic abilities taken from them; 3) the Vulcans exiled a large number of their species who just happened to not have telepathic abilities; or 4) the Vulcans purposefully exiled a large number of their population that did not have the same abilities as the majority.

Look, I'm not saying the Vulcans are "secretly evil" or anything. I'm saying... history has a lot of fucked up things that happened. And history is written by the victors, so of course Surak and Co. would drum up the enlightenment part and downplay the banishment part. Exiling them may have been the best of several bad options. Who knows! I just think it's interesting if the story is more complicated than what we were initially told by the Vulcans.

"But Mels," you say. "What about the Remans?"

What about the Remans, I say... Okay, so it's really unclear whether the Remans are an offshoot species of the Romulans, or if they were a native species of the Romulus system that became enslaved. I tend towards the latter, because again, while Remans seem to share some Vulcanoid traits, I feel like a couple thousand years is not really long enough for the adaptations they have to naturally evolve.

That being said, it is interesting to consider the idea that Romulans, a people who - taking the rest of this essay into account - may or may not have been subjugated and banished by a society of psychics, may have decided that anyone in their society born with psychic traits would be banished to the dilithium mining planet, where over time they became the Remans. They might have been subject to intentional genetic modification to make them more suited to the harsh conditions on Remus. I could buy that. But if anything that just makes it more interesting why Romulans find telepathy so distasteful.

Also, Remans seem to have WILDLY different levels of psychic abilities. The telecapture device from the first Romulan/Earth war I talked about earlier? Apparently the Remans weren't powerful enough to power it. But then that one Reman in Nemesis could transmit his non-psychic bestie's thoughts into the mind of another telepath against her will? That's WILDLY more powerful than most telepaths in star trek. That's way beyond what any Vulcan could do. If the Romulans made the Remans, that was a huge fuck up.

But I digress... I think it's interesting if maybe Surak was at least a little morally grey, and maybe his legacy clouded some of the less-great things that happened surrounding him.

Also I think Romulans get a bad rep!

[gangalubu]

Godzilla vs King Ghidorah (1991)

The time travel story of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah doesn't make any sense. I don't mean this in a 'well if you think about it it's inconsistent how it blah blah-' kind of way, I really just think it does not and was not particularly intended to make sense. This was the movie that made young me realize that the division between 'canon' and 'headcanon' for fiction is totally arbitrary. I just need to get this straight in my mind.

The inciting incident of the film is a big UFO appearing over Japan, containing time travelers from the future, who announce that Godzilla's going to destroy Japan soon, and they invite three 20th-centuriers to join them, so that they can go back in time to World War II when Godzilla was just a regular-sized (still pretty big) non-radioactive dinosaur, and stop Godzilla from being exposed to radiation.

First things first, I do not understand what the consequences of altering the past are going to be. The futurians' story is that Godzilla is going to destroy Japan and they want to help us.

Assuming the goal is to prevent Godzilla from destroying Japan in the 21st century, from the perspective of people from the 23rd century, they propose to do this by going to 1944, by way of a stop in 1991 to pick up a science fiction author, a dinosaur expert, and a girl who sometimes has psychic powers. Does the friendly visit imply that they are asking our consent, or need our help? Another explanation escapes me.

When they get to 1944, Godzilla is wounded by American naval bombardment, and they teleport him to the Bering Strait, where presumably there will not be many nuclear bombs. The 1991ers stay in the time ship, and serve no purpose I can discern.

Secretly, the futurians leave behind three genetically engineered animals, to be exposed to radiation in Godzilla's place and turn into King Ghidorah.

So, hold up.

What happens when you change past events via time travel? I am taking it as given that it is possible to change events via time travel, but to what degree and in what ways? Like, broad strokes.

They want to stop Godzilla from destroying Japan in the 21st century, so they stop Godzilla from being 'born' back in 1954 by moving him in 1944.

Consequentially, King Ghidorah (whom the futurians control) exists in place of Godzilla in the timeline. What that means is very vague, the thing that makes the most sense to me is that there has been a Marty McFly-style fade out of Godzilla in 1991 and a reverse fade-in of King Ghidorah; everybody still knows about Godzilla, the sci-fi author's publisher calls him to discuss his *book* about Godzilla, so the consequence of time travel has just been to create one monster in place of another, and move Godzilla to the Bering Strait. I can accept this, but why exactly did the futurians take along a bunch of jerks from the 20th century? Again, do they want their consent, or do they need their assistance? Maybe they needed to bring some 1991 people along like an 'anchor' to that time period - pure speculation on my part.

Either way, Emi, the futurian who has second thoughts about destroying Japan with a giant monster, makes a point of showing off the little ghidoras to Miki Saegusa, nominally the psychic character, who gets no bad vibes whatsoever from the futurians or the little ghidoras. Why does Emi show them to Miki at the point when she's still in on the plan to release them? She *executes* the plan to release them! What, narratively, does Miki in this movie?

The plan, as I understand it, is that the futurians are going to secretly control ghidora while offering a supercomputer defense system (which they presumably will also control? this also may be the computer controlling ghidora, but I'm unsure if translation issues have added to my confusion) to Japan.

If they have a trojan horse to offer, why didn't they just offer it in the first place to protect against Godzilla? Why the extra step of making ghidorah? Or why not do it the other way around?

Godzilla gets big and radioactive again somehow, and beats the crap out of Ghidorah, just really wrecks him, trucks him like the jobber he is and takes off his middle head. Emi goes back to the future, patches Ghidorah up with a cyborg body, and comes back to 1991 to handle Godzilla.

Hey hold up why didn't the futurians just make a big robot in the first place. Well because this isn't Godzilla vs King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla (but it coulda been).

My favorite scene in the movie is when Shindo is in his office, facing Godzilla, believing him to be the savior he was in 1944. But what is the nature of Godzilla? Shindo and his office explode in blue flame. I am Shindo, I have questions. Godzilla explodes me as if to say "this is a movie with a cool cyborg dragon and you are definitely overthinking it".

Wait hold up. They make a big todo about why they're not bringing Shindo back to the past, and they make a big point of how you can't have two of the same people at one time at once, and if you do that one of them has to vanish. I don't know if this is a weird half-remembered version of the grandfather paradox, but what if they just took 1944 Godzilla along with them to the future, since the futurians *want* to get rid of Godzilla permanently, why can't they do that? It can't be that he's too big, they have that whole big-ass ship.

And why can't they go back and redo it again? What can they and can't they do? What is the future like? What changes when you time travel to the past? How is it experienced by the people who *don't* time travel? Could it be that time has overwritten all the other Godzilla movies to be King Ghidorah in his place?

[a-queenoffairys]

Why was Waldo Schaeffer unable to materialize himself completely in Lyoko? While not canon I heard that the novels say that the scanners can only properly children. The supercomputer can apparently only form a cohesive avatar for children since they don't have much to worry about in life. Adults having faced the stress of real life and its problems are unable to be processed by the scanners leaving only incoherent digital avatars with only Waldo able to retain his sanity. Your thoughts on that?

I think they’re not so much incoherent as monstrous. Franz’s energy form was definitely a unique case. Some quotes from book 3:

“On the images of Lyoko that I took through the eyes of our soldiers. They had all acquired monstrous appearances. One, for example, was transformed into an immense spider, and another was a child that seemed completely lost and was covered in a yellow substance that seemed like…vomit.” (...) “Yes. It’s difficult for us to face our greatest fears and accept the vision that we have of ourselves. These soldiers have dirtied their hands in all sorts of crime. And when Lyoko forces them to look reality in the face, they crumble and become immobilised.”

The first mention is when the bad guys try to virtualise their soldiers and find they all become frozen in fear. This makes sense because they’re terrorists, people who’ve done a lot of terrible things in their lives. So you’d think maybe this mainly applies to really awful people, but then we hear from one of the people who worked on the Supercomputer with Franz.

“Well, it’s a matter of mental representation, the way that each person imagines themselves subconsciously. Us adults normally make mistakes throughout our lives, and then do things that we regret. Over time, that can cause us to create really terrifying mental images of ourselves. Shortly after having begun our experiments, I myself entered the scanner to test it. I was only on Lyoko for nine seconds, but it took weeks for me to stop shaking like a leaf.”

I think this character was a scientist and not a soldier or a criminal, but this is the quote about adults regretting their many mistakes and that being enough for them to be severely affected by going to Lyoko. The book does seem to offer some explanation for Franz’s unique case though.

“It seems that Hopper is still the only man capable of surviving on Lyoko.” (...) Did he know that by entering Lyoko, the professor had lost his body, transforming into pure energy?

That he somehow lost his body in the process, so he didn’t have a body/monstrous form that could paralyse him like everyone else. The books make an attempt to explain a lot of these sorts of details so it wouldn’t surprise me if at some point they explained why he ended up losing his body, but I couldn’t find anything from a brief search.

It’s interesting he says in the show that he can’t take human form yet because he still has more work to do on Lyoko and it needs to develop more, seeing as he seemed to have all the time in the world. But maybe his paranoia reached the point where he believed he was out of time and had to virtualise them as soon as possible, and keep working on Lyoko from the inside where it was (meant to be) safe. In that case, I pretty much agree with the general assumption that an adult form is more complicated to manifest and he hadn’t implemented that capability yet. I don’t think there’s any one clear answer to the question, really, it’s open to interpretation.

[astaroth1357]

Demigod MC Series: Athena

So. I have to deal with the virgin goddesses… By mythos, there really shouldn't ever be children of Artemis, Hestia, or Athena (yes, Athena was a virgin goddess). PJ got past that by making it canon that Annabeth and her siblings were born from cracking open Athena's skull (yes, that's also more or less the canon explanation). They gloss over it real quick but I remember, Rick. I've always remembered and that mental image has haunted me for years...

I can't, in good conscience, ignore the history around Athena's worship (call it an academic restraint) but I REFUSE to do the skull thing. So, since I make the rules here, I'm going with magic adoption. They still get magic powers, they're just more human than demigod. Cool? Cool.

Demigod MC Series: Intro, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hades, Dionysus, Demeter, Athena

Lucifer

The human that popped out of the portal seemed to have enough sense not to attack everyone in the room for a change, but even Lucifer could tell that was more of a strategic choice than for lack of ability...

Their very existence was highly unusual… and quite worrisome. He wasn't even aware Athena could have "children" of her own, but apparently she had been taking in some particularly bright humans to raise and train like her own...

Unbeknownst to him, a surprising amount of human scholars, diplomats, and generals have her to thank for their trade… and that alone should speak to the level of intrigue at play here. 

Was this an accident or Athena's attempt to plant an Olympian spy in the Devildom too…? Either way, he didn't trust them from the get go…

Look, Lucifer isn’t stupid. Athena is a goddess of Wisdom and War and war happens on more than just the battlefield… 

Since they've shown up records have been going missing, official documents keep getting misplaced, and he swears that there's some kind of bug in the student council room...!

It's infuriating watching the MC suck up to Diavolo when he's almost certain that they're running their own agenda behind the scenes! And he can't prove any of it!! They cover their tracks too well!

Lucifer has one of those corkboards covered in newspapers and string in a secret wing of the Castle - 100% dedicated to just tracking the MC's activities…. The longer they're there, the more obsessed he becomes...

He swears between Simeon, Solomon, and MC he feels like a shepherd wondering why the sheep are growling… The Devildom has never been in more danger than it is right now... Send help.

Mammon

To be honest, he kind of thought that they were just going to be Satan 2.0 but that's not really true.

They're more than just a book sponge! Though they do read, like a lot. Let’s just say from one schemer to another… Game recognizes Game.

They come up with plans and ideas soooo fast, it’s insane! Honestly, there are times where he has a new money-making plot and he just brings it to the MC first to run it over. 

Nine times out of ten, not only do they sniff out any problems but they have a solution for him in a matter of minutes! His scheme game has been on point since they’ve shown up!!

They’re also even better tutoring than Satan is, so he’s even managed to get a couple A’s for the first time in his life! Lucifer actually told him he was proud (which he secretly recorded and now uses as a ringtone much to his brother’s regret...)

So yeah, he likes them... buuut that doesn’t keep him from thinking they act a little weird sometimes... 

Mammon: *points to a unused tower close to the RAD building* Over there is the Tower of Sorrow. We use it for storage.

MC: Ah. Interesting… *starts writing in a notebook, muttering* It may need a few minor tweaks but the location is defensible...

Mammon: *stops* Ya say somethin’?

MC: *looks back up* Nope! Say, you’ve been to the Castle a lot haven’t you? Do you know any good ways in?

Mammon: Uhm… Why do ya want to know that…? *starts looking around for Lucifer*

MC: In case of emergencies. I like being prepared. 🙂

Mammon: Look, I don’t know what Lucifer might’a told ya…

MC: I’ll pay you a thousand Grimm for it.

Mammon: Well shit, ya want those maps with or without color?

... Yeeeah, that’s pretty weird… But it’s probably fine. I mean, as long as they keep giving him money, who’s he to complain? 🤷‍♀️

Leviathan

Also thought that they’d be a lot more like Satan but was pleasantly surprised that they were into more than books.

What else did they like exactly? Military strategy!!

It’s been a looong time since he’s been able to talk to someone who’s actually interested in all the battles he’s fought, both in the Celestial Realm and the Devildom, and their curiosity is kind of flattering...! Not a lot of people take his strategic prowess all that seriously anymore...

Plus, they are the BEST partner to have any turn-based strategy game. Hands down. He once got stuck on a level of D-COM for weeks until the MC walked in and mopped the floor with the AI!! They have a serious head for probability and tactics.

The House once made the mistake of letting these two be on the same team during a Hell Game and they absolutely demolished the competition. Mammon didn’t even get a single shot off before half his team was lost to a rigged paint grenade… It took a whole day to clean up… 

However, Levi’s also noticed some odd things about the human… He likes that they’re interested in his past but maybe they’re a little… too interested?

Levi: -and that’s how we defeated the Four Horsemen before they escaped from Purgatory. 

MC: Wow, Levi that’s seriously impressive!! *furiously scribbling on a notebook*

Levi: Well t-thanks… 😅 But, uhm... are you writing that down…?

MC: Hm? Oh no, just doodling. *they lift up the notebook to show a bunch of cute little sketches on the page… and not the magic-based invisible ink all over them…*

Levi: Oh you draw too? Can you do fanart???

MC: Eh, sometimes. But say Levi, can you tell me about your naval ranks again? I’m still really curious… *gets the pen ready again with a smile*

Satan

Oh, it's been a long game of cat-and-mouse between these two… and unfortunately, it’s been pretty addicting too.

He honestly had every intention of tricking the human into making a huge mess do he could bother Lucifer, but at every turn they proved just a hair too clever for him...

He once gave them a cursed book to “lend” to Lucifer, but they saw through it the moment they touched it and lifted the spell before handing it over.

He rigged a podium to spray glitter during one of Lucifer's speeches but the MC disconnected the trigger mic before he even got on stage. It was pretty dang frustrating...

At one point he got so desperate that, just as a test, he tried to trap them in the House's Music Room. Fortunately for them, it only took a few minutes to work out an escape. They even passed by him in the hallway with a wink!

It's confounding! It's infuriating!! 

...and it's so damn sexy... He should be furious but he’s just in awe!!

Add on that they know their art, literature, and multiple different crafts thanks to the tutelage of their adopted mother and that’s it. He’s finished. This boy is in love.

Truthfully though, a part of him is 90% sure that they’re also gathering state secrets… Like, they’re watching Barbs and Diavolo far too close for comfort - but he just can't bring himself to care. 🤷‍♀️

The MC could walk into his room one day and say, "Hey, do you want to help overthrow the monarchy with me?" and he dreads it because deep down he knows that he wouldn’t say no…

Take some notes, kids. Some bad influences get you to drink or do drugs. Others pull you into a centuries long conspiracy to destabilize and topple rival realms from within… But he has fallen for their brain hard. Devil help them all…

Asmodeus 

They’re pretty clever, he’ll give them that, but uh… Are they a little off to anybody else?

Asmo is a charmer by birthright so he has a bit of nose for when someone’s just a liiittttle too nice… Not much of a nose mind you, because he can be thrown off by compliments himself, but enough to think that the MC might be a little too… “kind” for their own good...

First off, who wants to spend that much time with Levi?? They don’t even seem that interested in anime! They just keeping asking him for old war stories…

Then all the sucking up they do to Diavolo and Barbatos? Look, he gets it. Diavolo is a delicious piece of man-hunk and his butler could give him a lesson or two in sweet-talk (and he has), but they seem to be just a little too… nosy.

Of course, Asmo’s suspicions disappear pretty quickly after they start to spoil him with spa nights and beauty secrets they picked up from “casual research” into the subject.

And you know, get a little Demonus in Asmo and start massaging his back? Oh, sweetie he’ll sing like a bird!! … with gossip. Singing with gossip.

Asmo: So I’ve heard that Lucifer has been spending more time at RAD than usual… His whole club is talking about it, they think he’s meeting with some witch!

MC: Hm, is that so? *works on a knot near his shoulder blades* What do you think?

Asmo: Ooh~! Right there, MC! *purrs and lays his head on his arms* Well come on, this is Lucifer we’re talking about! I’m sure he’s just working.

Asmo: Hmm... though come to think of it, I think I heard him asking Barbatos for the spare keys to the Tower of Sorrow…

MC: Oh really? Huh. *works out the knot and gets up* I just remembered that I left some papers with Satan... I’ll be right back.

Asmo: You’re going already??

MC: *waves him off quickly* I’ll be right back, Asmo. *hurries out the door to do totally on-the-up-and-up things… surely*

Beelzebub 

Honestly he doesn't like this one… But not for the reasons you'd expect.

He agrees with everyone else that they seem a little shady, but Solomon and Simeon are too so it's not like that's anything new... 🤷‍♀️

No, no. He dislikes them because they're the person who FINALLY figured out how to keep him from eating all the food in the kitchen!!

Turns out that the trick was to put a teleportation charm on the fridge door that would send all the food away if it’s opened after a certain time of night… 

And where does it go? The Purgatory Hall fridge. And where does the Purgatory Hall food go…? The HoL fridge…

It doesn’t sound so bad until you remember that it means half of their fridge is now Solomon’s leftovers…. 🤢

After they put the same kind of spell on the pantry, it was all over… He couldn't get midnight snacks from the House anymore… Everything was contaminated by Solomon…

The MC is a nice enough person, he doesn’t have a lot of complaints about them, but he wants them to leave. Now. This is inexcusable… He’s so hungry… and he doesn’t want to die by “goulash” or whatever Solomon calls his latest culinary catastrophe… He’s still too young for death… 😓

Belphegor 

In a way, he absolutely could not have asked for a better person to help him get out of that attic.

… In another way, he got one of the worst possible people to try and kill... Like. They saw through his scheme sooo fast…

How was he supposed to know that the human had training in body language and sniffing out lies???

Getting the door open was a piece of cake for them. They knew enough magic to undo the seals and just rummaged around Lucifer's stuff long enough to find the key to the door. He could not have found a more competent individual for a break out, really.

It’s just… well he didn’t expect to go from locked in a room like a prisoner to tied up in enchanted rope, still like a prisoner but now mobile. 😑 

They even used his own hug ruse against him! They caught his wrists when they got close and tied him up before he could shake them off...

Admittedly, it wasn't exactly the best look for them either - what with walking Belphegor downstairs to the others like a one-man-prison-caravan but they're as silver-tongued as they are sly so they talked their way out of it beautifully… 

And like hell was he going to trust them after that!! And not even Beel liked them so something had to be up...

Well, you want a detective? Look no farther than Belphie (no seriously, it’s in the canon). He can put things together pretty fast when he puts his mind to it and watching the MC for a while gave him enough proof to work off of...

He always knew that, humans were bad news and the MC just proved it to him all over again. They are bad news, bad bad news and they’re going to-!

Overthrow… Diavolo…? Is that what he is getting from them…? Huh…

Wait a second, MC. You might just have him interested… 😏

[everybody-loves-purdy]

re: Spottedleaf I feel like there was no way any of it was intentional lmao besides maybe that we're supposed to connect Thistleclaw's disgusting behavior as being a reason he's training in the dark forest (like sort of metaphorically, I understand literally on the page he's probably there because power hungry/cruel). So like maybe readers are supposed to infer that what he's doing is fucked up? But it's handled so poorly and bizarrely.

But everything with Firepaw was set up as completely innocent. I mean with the author's original intention- of course it's okay for us as readers to call out how messed up it is, but reading the books as they came out, Firepaw's age is less clear (I initially assumed he was older/bigger than 6 moons to help Bluestar convince the Clan he could be of any use to them, also to help explain why she lets a grown adult just immediately try to beat his ass), Spottedleaf is continually mentioned as being young and we didn't yet have context to know that she'd still have to be considerably older than Fire, even if "young", and most of their interactions are after he's a warrior (and she's dead lol), so I imagine the authors never felt a need to add an explanation for her behavior. Even after "canonizing" that Spotted was crushing on him practically from day 1, they still don't seem to see a problem with it, so it's hard to imagine they intentionally tried to write a pattern of behavior/abuse.

The whole thing is a mess, and I feel like one only warrior cats could produce.

I completely agree

I feel like it probably was a coincidence but I just wanted to throw that possibility out there, even if it’s not the intention it does add an interesting dynamic to this absolute garbage fire of a situation

If things were kept how it was in the first arc alone it would be fine (in which Spotted only grows to love Fire after she dies and he becomes a warrior, and the books never make it explicit whether her love is platonic or romantic), but then they decided later on they had to make her old enough to be his mother, make him in love with him as an apprentice, secretly wish something would happen to his wife, and make her just excessively in love with Fire overall

[salty-dracon]

The final story.

Aww, it's the scene on the cover. Everyone sitting around and enjoying a meal as night falls. How cute.

Yes, you did all finish your stories but not really, we know.

... You know, it should have occurred to be that with the repeating "big cup with big flame" symbol we kept seeing around the world, that there were some that actually were there and existed.

I guess we need to go find the big cups...

WHAT. WHAT THE FUCK

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS

EVERYONE?!

no way. no fucking way.

.... well, I guess Ori never said her brother was actually dead. Just implied it. But you're telling me that she was secretly serving Vide all this time because she wanted to see humanity burn.

So she and her brother grew up in Hinoeuma. Or some other place filled with war.

Theres the explanation for the shadow demon. The mixing of D'arqest's bloodline with Hikari's.

She was in contact with Harvey. She knew what a pompous asshole he was, and his obsession with Osvald. She orchestrated their final battle so she could get the Book of Demons from him after he used it to complete the One True Magic.

Who is Arcanette? Is she the Lyblac of this game?

She seems to really respect her brother. Have we met him? Probably not...

She, Arcanette, and her brother set Kaldena on the path to finishing the unfinished Book of Night. She even watched Kaldena die.

Book of Night + Book of Demons = Darkblood Grimoire. Anything to do with the Darkblood Sword? Or the black blood caused by Trousseau's poison?

She's met Claude. Claude was the original owner of the Book of Night. He gave it to Trousseau, who used it to craft his poison.

So Partitio's ending actually excited her. Because he got her to believe that maybe humanity wasn't as bad as she thought.

So she does talk to her brother as though one talks to the dead... although her brother is very much alive.

She hates Claude. But she has some more details on him. He is D'arqest's grandson,and was infused with a piece of Vide while still in the womb, hence why he was immortal. He was originally supposed to serve as the vessel for Vide's return, but put it off because he wanted a child to do it. It could have been any child, but he wanted only the best child. That's what leads to Throne's whole story. He's still addicted to having babies, though. Horny ass bitch.

The Darkblood Staff. Did Throne ever steal a staff for him? I'm not sure.

The true identity of the Dark Hunter is a woman named Petrichor.

Oh, there's a Darkblood version of every weapon. So Sword, Axe, Dagger, Bow, Staff. Petrichor slew the "guardian of the First Flame", whatever that was. She's also responsible for what happened to the Pokémon that Ochette didn't pick. She tortured it for years and Harveyed it into a monster.

And at the end of it all, she ended her own life... despite how Partitio had swayed her heart. Well, maybe she's alive. Who knows.

And so, Kazan was also seeking oblivion. He orchestrated Mugen's death so he could get the Darkblood Sword.

In Toto'haha is where Petrichor supposedly is. A powerful hunter.

She slew Cateracta. And let herself be slayed in turn by the animal she tortured.

Well, this is a plot twist. Arcanette was Mindt from Temenos's story. She's centuries old and also the leader of the Moonshade Order.

.... When I called that traveling troupe a bunch of lesbians I was not expecting one of them to be a. evil and b. canonically bisexual and c. in love with the antichrist

AND SHE KILLED HER. And she was not evil, just really depressed about losing her husband.

There it is. In the middle of the ocean. What is that. Oh lordy.

If Kazan/Oboro being one of the final bosses didn't really cement that Hikari was meant to be the real protagonist here, I'm not sure what does. Oh yeaaaaah, the fact that you can get a healing move on him super early in the game and he's fucking broken...

Hi Vide.

Come onnnnn, a true final boss does not look like a shitty boney skeleton. I want the creepy shit. Where's Galdera.

[second phase] Hmm. Not sure if epic enough.

Slowly getting more epic...

Reactions so far to Octopath 2 chapters:

Agnea Chapter 2: I adored it! Agnea's story is pretty lighthearted compared to Primrose's, but I like how it's building up to the Artificial Silk Girl scenario we'll run into later. I like the villains overall, but this guy is partially why. He doesn't have Evil Disease, he just hates poor people. Also, so much good music so far.

Ochette Cateracta Chapter: Love seeing her clashes with places as deeply human as port towns. Love the important side character too. And I can't wait to meet the final boss. There's going to be lots of big monsters in this one... The ending scene where Alpione cries has beautiful music.

Temenos Chapter 2: I LOVE book based murder. It drives me insane I love it. And I love him and his himbo and the mysteries. Although evil knights clad in red = LOL.

I find it hilarious how when you get information out of a person, there's sometimes some funny shit, and sometimes some mind-blowing information rendered in normal text. And sometimes there's glitches.

HER SISTER?!

A DUNGEON AS COMPACT AS A SHIP????

I cannot wait to see what your cool boss sprite looks like with all it's moves-nooooooo moonlight judgment nooooooooooooo

Castti Sai Chapter: She's the one whose story I'm most interested in, since she seems like such a cool character to me. Also I love how the desert is explicitly the Gobi Desert- I feel like we don't get to see that sort of setting that often.

More glitchies!

Edmund, who looks like THAT: A man's gotta be a provider! Me: Got it, he's sexist, racist, and classist.

Stop killing people, Edmund. (10 minutes later) Good on you for whatever you did, Edmund, but fuck you still.

I can't be the only one who was really excited to see a sand lion and ended up disappointed when it was actually just a giant real-world bug. Called a sand lion.

Whoever voicing the Purple Rain guy is doing great. And I'm terrified for what he did to the Apothecaries and that town. Perhaps that's like Octopath's Ruins of Hornburg.

[writers-worst-nightmare]

Hello, I just found your blog, I loved the beastars scenarios!! Also congrats on the 200 followers!!! From your event, can you please do a fic or a match up ( you can choose ) regarding beastars?

If fic: fem reader ( can be a feline, maybe a cheetah/tiger or fluffly cat with spots!) x Jack? ( reader blushes wayyy too much next to him, she’s friendly and funny but next to crushes she just error 404, gets extremely shy and quiet, a bit self conscious bc she’s bigger than Jack? And doesn’t know if he will be into it ) maybe they confessing or having their first date together?

And if you want to go with a matchup ( I’ll be brief with it cuz I don’t want the request to be huge! ) : fem, bi, INFP, (in this case it’s for beastars, I think I’d be either a feline or a sheep! With curly hair ) shy at first glance but very friendly! my friends says I’m really funny, I have a obnoxious laugh that makes everyone laugh as well, I like reading, drawing, playing games and taking naps lol, I’m lowkey chill until we are playing games, I get extremely competitive and it’s hard to control it at times, very affectionate if I know the feeling are reciprocated, but if I’m not sure I close off myself a LOT. Secretly hopeless romantic, it’s so easy to make me blush it’s a pain in the ass really ahrbbtjdksos

and i think that’s enough right? Sorry for the long request, hope this wasn’t too much and hope you have a good day!

Match-up for 200+ followers event:

A/N: aww thank you anon! I might even write the fic (although we will see with my motivation) but I hope you like my match-up! If not then please, feel free to send in another ask (my brain might not process some things that you are trying to say)

Looking for information….

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MATCH FOUND

MATCH FOUND

MATCH FOUND

Shadow pairs you up with….

JACK

Runner ups: Juno (idk, I feel like you two have a opposites attract thing going on and I am LIVING for it) Pina (hopeless romance stuff) Sheila (you two have a lot in common)

Explanation as to why Shadow paired you up with Jack:

Personality:

Jack is very outgoing and extroverted, so when he see’s you doing your own little thing in the corner of the room he couldn’t help but stare at you for a few moments. The way that you looked and everything you were well beautiful to say the least. So he asked Legoshi about you, Legoshi stared at Jack and then at you and then at Jack. The male gray wolf then explained what he knew about you (which was not a lot considering the fact that you were a new student that had just joined a couple weeks ago). Jack walked over to you and started to talk with you. Once you slowly opened up to him Jack seemed to fall more and more in love with you. The way that you talked and your laugh that seemed to make the whole room smile. You were naturally funny and you brought out the child side of Jack that he could have never ever found if it weren’t for you always laughing and playing games.

Likes:

Jack doesn’t really get the whole reading thing but he might get into some comics and show you some of them. When Jack was hard core simping trying to impress you he would read novels. This one time he was reading a book (and also trying to show off the fact that he was reading the book, if that even makes sense). Everyone was giving him weird looks and then you had to go up to him and say that the book was upside down. Jack was sooo embarrassed and lied to you, saying how he was learning how to read upside down. For drawing he can draw a stick figure. And that is it. But he LOVES watching you draw, the way that you sketch and then put the whole piece together in amazing to him. When you are in artist block he will take you out to the park and laugh as you scribble words down on a small notepad to help you get out of artist block. For you liking to play games Jack LOVES that. It is my personal head canon that Jack just LOVESSS video games, anything video games. That was the main thing the two of you bonded over and one of the reasons you two became friends. For taking naps, he is a dog so he likes taking naps with you and curling up to you (he just wants his cuddles :( )

[ladyloveandjustice]

Belated Spring 2020 Anime Overview: My Next Life as Villainess

For the Spring 2020 anime season, I mostly watched continuations of shows I was already into. The one new show I did pick up was My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! follows Katerina Claes, a spoiled young noble girl deviously scheming to win the heart of a prince- oh wait, never mind, she hit her head and remembered her past life! Turns out she’s an eighteen year old Japanese otaku chick who died and got reincarnated as the villainess in her favorite otome game. 

If you don’t feel like reading the wiki article, an otome game is basically a female- targeted dating sim where you play as a blank slate main character and date a bunch of pretty boys (and sometimes girls, but usually only if you go outside the mainstream ones), unlocking their backstories and collecting all the romantic endings.

Having played this game, Katarina is well aware that the Villainess character- who constantly tries to interfere with the game’s heroine and whichever boy she’s pursuing- is either exiled or killed in all of the games endings. And now she IS that villainess, living in the world of the game and all its characters! Does that mean she’s doomed to a horrible fate? What’s a girl to do?

Well, if you’re Katarina, what you do is be supportive and kind to the people around you and in doing so accidentally get every single character in the game to fall in love with you. And yes, this includes all the boys the heroine is supposed to date, the other female romantic rivals the heroine is faced with and the game’s heroine herself.

That’s right, we finally got us some bisexual romantic comedy hijinx last anime season, my friends! My Next Life as a Villainess was the delightful little show I really escaped into during these anxious pandemic times . All these girls casually falling in love with Katarina without it being treated as ‘weird’ was what particularly drew me to this show and warmed my gay little heart to see. It was honestly the perfect fluffy, low stress watch during these high stress times.

Anime has long been oversaturated with ‘harem’ stories- where a usually unwitting protagonist somehow gets a bevy of beauties in love with them- but it’s still unfortunately really unusual to see bisexual harems, especially ones with a girl at the center, so right away there’s a big draw to this story that helps it stick out from the rest.  (And worry not, the story is largely focused on Katarina having fun with these pals-who-are-not-so-secretly-in-love-with-her, rather than having a ton the dubious shenanigans you see in more sexually charged tales.)

Harem protoganists also famously tend to have the personality of potatoes, being so painfully bland it’s unclear why so many people would fall in love with them in the first place. But that definitely not the case for Katarina. She’s brash, ridiculous, kind and INCREDIBLY dense, and that for a pretty dynamic combination in this setting! She does genuinely come off as a fun person to be around. Unlike a lot of modern isekai shows, she doesn’t stumble into having incredible magic powers or skills, so her compassion is genuinely her greatest strength and what saves the day and wins hearts time and time again.

Katarina’s five brain cells doing their weekly check-in

(The moment she won my heart was when she responded to a tragic Frozen style situation with her friend locking himself away from people because he believed his magic was dangerous by taking an axe to his door. My kinda girl!)

The premise also allows for some plausible built-in reasons for the characters to take such special notice of Katarina- having been raised in a different world, she isn’t beholden to all the social rules, class divisions and noble family drama all the other kids in this very specific midevial-esque fantasy world are so embroiled in. This combined with her naturally earnest, accepting and straightfoward nature means she’s able to cross boundaries and reach out to them in a way they aren’t accustomed to. She was significant in each character’s life because she genuinely was the first to show them acceptance and affection without pretense, if only because she isn’t even aware there was supposed to be a pretense.

Katarina’s focus on trying not to die and her fear she’s going to meet the same fate as the villainess in the game also at least gives some kind of a basis to her comical obliviousness to everyone being in love with her. She assumes that everyone has to be into Maria (the heroine) and terrified of her because that’s how the game GOES okay, that’s CANON! Of course, this logic stretches thin as time goes on and it would be abundantly clear to most people that things have diverged greatly from the game’s storyline, but the show makes it clear that Katarina’s determined, one track mind is as much a gift as a curse. 

Her bullheadedness when it comes to picking up how everyone REALLY feels about her is an intentional gag on the show’s part and even her love interests are well aware of what a colossal dumbass she is and not afraid to point it out!

My Next Life as a Villainess isn’t without its flaws, and the personalities/backstories of some of the ‘love interests’ Katarina gathers may be a stumbling block on some- mostly the male ones.  Geordo, “the black hearted prince” has a bit of the “ possessive shoujo bad boy” archetype about him, and though he’s far from the worst that genre of love interest has to offer (there’s not much bad he can get up to due to Katarina’s obliviousness, the lighthearted nature of the show, and his rivals constantly getting in his way), the way he refuses to break Katarina and his engagement off despite her repeatedly asking him to, as well as some of his lines here and there, are definitely NOT cute. 

Keith is Katarina’s adopted brother, but clearly has a thing for her too. On one hand, they only first met when they were nine and he fell for her pretty immediately. On the other hand, he still refers to her as “sister” constantly which is kinda eesh. 

The other two guys are all right- Nicol’s big thing is he’s inexpressive and doesn’t talk much which, considering show doesn’t spend much time inside his head, doesn’t make him a very interesting character in the ensemble (maybe he comes across better in the novels) but there’s nothing wrong with him. Alan is undoubtedly the Best Boy in my book. He’s another common trope- rambunctious and competitive with Katarina but clearly soft for her- but he’s done well and they have a lot of cute moments together.

I find the girl love interests to be a much more interesting group overall, though this may be my obvious bias talking. Sophia has the strongest connection to Katarina, their backstories being intertwined in a surprising and touching way (I’m told in the novels her affection for Katarina was treated as more platonic, but the anime definitely plays it up as having romantic elements). Maria’s original role as the game’s heroine puts her in the most interesting position (and would make her the most narratively satisfying choice of love interest, if the show was actually interested in choosing). And while Mary is comically tenacious in her pursuit of Katarina, she’s doesn’t ever act ‘sinister’ or overstep boundaries in the way Geordo does, her “scheming” only really amounting to straightforwardly asking if Katarina wants to ditch her fiance and run away with her. 

As I mentioned, one thing that really contributes to My Next Life as a Villainess being a relaxing watch is that the queer characters are treated with casual acceptance. Mary in particular isn’t subtle about her crush on Katarina, but nobody bats an eye at her and she’s completely open and comfortable with herself too. The observing maid notes that the girls are in love with Katarina with the same bland affect as when she notes she notes the guys are. And while the social practices of the nobles are pretty heteronormative- girls are always engaged in arranged marriages to guys, the guys are expected to dance with the girls (something Mary complains about!)- there’s apparently a booming queer romance novel industry that inspires our young wlw.

Katarina, having grown up in a different world, seems to be the one most prone to heteronormativity of her group. She never really considers  that a girl would ever fall in love with her, but is also never hostile to the idea. It’s telling that when Mary very clearly indicates her desired romantic partner would be a girl, Katarina’s the only one that gets tripped up and has to walk back her assumption that Mary would be talking about a guy. 

Mary LAYING DOWN THE LAW

Also, Katarina has  SEVERAL “she’s so cute! My heart is beating faster!” moments with the other girls, on par in frequency with her moments with the guys. This strongly hints she’s an oblivious bisexual disaster.

So, My Next Life as Villainess is a fun, frothy watch and the rare positive example of silly wish-fufillment that’s inclusive to a wlw audience. But is the actual plot good, or remotely complex? The answer to that is no, the plot is fairly predictable and one definitely shouldn’t got into this story expecting a deep examination of the nature of fate or anything like that.There’s no real explanation of big reason as to why why Katarina was reborn into this game world and so on.

 The antagonist that does eventually emerge plays off otome game tropes a bit, but ultimately isn’t that interesting or built up all that well. . The attempts at drama the show makes towards the end fall a little flat, especially since it tends to rely on very-late-in-the-game-exposition-dumps (dark magic isn’t even MENTIONED as existing in this world until like, the second to last episode where it becomes relevant and we get a vague infodump explaining its mechanics). The conflict honestly almost feels shoehorned in and the climax is pretty standard and doesn’t really utilize the big cast of characters all that well

But in the end, that’s okay! The show makes it abundantly clear from the beginning it’s not here to be Deep, but to be some silly fun. And it really fulfills that purpose well, from it’s catchy, peppy theme tune to its consistently warm tone. It MAY get repetitive at times for some, and I do have some quibbles- like how I found the childhood segments to be some of the shows best material and wish we could have stayed in that section for a bit instead of rushing through it, how I wish Katarina had kept her cute little scar, etc- but overall, it was definitely the soothing balm I needed during a very rough time and I absolutely recommend it if you’re looking for a chill, feel-good watch.

 And hey, a second season’s supposed to be on the way too, so there’s something to potentially look forward to!

[kikie-e3]

Ok so the one thing I have yet to see for this fandom, weirdly enough is a hybrid au. (Unless I missed it, thats also up there) Though I did see some fanart art on Pinterest at one point of the characters as animals, so I mean I guess? (If I find it again Ill write in the artist) Anyways Lets start with an obvious Character

Carmen!

- So Im stuck between two for Carmen actually, A sheep makes most sense, I mean black sheep? Or a sheep with red wool maybe? Though also maybe a fox? A cunning sly fox? To obvious? Anyways Sheep Carmen.

I would assume she would have big fluffy hair, and its thick hair. The type that makes you want to cut it all off. (Perhaps that short hair in the flashbacks?) She would have floppy sheep ears on like the side of her head, and a little cute sheep tail. Also if where going past just ears and tails. Should would have hooves. Like ones like a Faun maybe? I would expect it would take some time to learn to be quiet with hooves, but I would think she would manage.

Ivy and Zach

- I think Zach and Ivy would both be a breed of dog. (They drove cars instead of chasing them) I cant really explain it, (and im not so sure this is concrete for them) But I believe they would be mostly Golden Retriever. (And another mix of dog in there) I think it stems from loyalty and friendship. Which I think is sweet. They would look like every basic werewolf oc ever. Except with some changes. First of they have red fur (gingers😒/j)

I think Zach would have pointy ears near the top of his head and the more shaggy type hair then soft. He would have a bug bushy tail that would be speckles with lighter spots (Freckles). Also, paw feet. No I don't have an explanation for this. (Toebeans maybe?) They would again be that ginger red with speckled spots. Also sense he is a dog he would have sharper nails to imitate a dog.

Ivy on the other hand would have more droopy ears near the side top of her head. I feel like the tips of her ears would fold over slightly. She defiantly got the more fluffy hair of the two. I would think it would be very soft to touch. She would have a more sleek tail, not as bushy as Zachs (Zack? Im spelling it like my brothers name) I think she would have speckles to, but very light and not many. Her tail would probably lead in to a lighter tip then the rest of it. She would also have paws! From the Knee down (Same as Zach. Also I would like to believe they bend like a cats. So there a tad shorter then usual in this au) She also would have longer nails.

Shadowsan

- Panther! I couldnt really find an animal (Besides a Panther) that felt like Shadowsan. Hiding in the shadows, not seen by its prey, the perfect fit for the disappearing act. Also tell me Shadowsan doesnt fit the "I hate you, But secretly like you" trope of a cat. Or well more tolerates. But my point stands. (Many have tried to distract him with string. He has yet to crack)

He would still be tall, obviously. He would have pointy black cat ears. His hair would be sleek and almost shiny. And a sleek spotted tail (Normal Panther, not a black panther) I feel like he would have more claw like hands, perhaps his hands are almost paw like with long claw like nails. He may even have fur up his arms? He also gets the paw treatment. With the toebeans and everything. No one can escape. Also he may have extra spot like birthmarks on his face to imitate spots, but Im not concrete on that. He may also Purr, but has yet to admit it. (Carmen can keep her mouth closed) Finally, Shadowsan goes for the more nightly Capers, not only because of the shadows, but also because of Panthers nocturnal nature. Though his sleep schedule is a little messed up due to the diurnal society norms.

Player

- Player honestly, Raccoon. (This spawned from a fic where he was compared to one, Ill link it of I find it again) I just feel like he would be a little bastard trash rat. Also tiny claw hands, perfect for typing and fidget toys. And a tiny animal, perfect for a tiny person (Isnt he like canonically under 5'0? Or am I wrong?)

He would have the trademark raccoon mask around his eyes, of course. (Is it eye bags, or a marking. We may never know) He would have the pointy raccoon ears on top his hair, and would have softer straight hair. The striped raccoon tail, bushy and soft with normal gray and black strips. He would have grey paws leading down into a darker Grey around the foot of the paw. He would have more rounded nails and paw like hands. More nimble and long. He also Purrs to (Finding out raccoons can purr is like the purest thing ever) And of course a hell of a sleep schedule. Cause again nocturnal. It was already pretty bad before he met Carman, but oh boy did it go down hill after that.

So Im only doing Team red for now, I might do other characters after this? (I have the idea to make Jules an owl and Maybe a poodle for Devinux? Ill think on that one) and If I wrote a fic out of any of this it would probably just be a oneshot book mostly focused on team red. Anyways my hands hurt from typing this. But I would love to hear other ideas for this random AU I came up with!

[beneaththemasks]

Beast, Fifteen, Dead Apple and Fyodor´s ability put togheter

The first time I watched Bungou I didn't pay much attention to be honest and that lead me to committing a big mistake and that big mistake is what brings me here today.

This is a theory I´ve been working on for a long time now.

Before anything else I have to tell you that this is something I came up with entirely by myself, I don´t know if anyone has already written something similar to this, so any similitude is pure coincidence.

DISCLAIMER: this contains spoilers from the manga and light novels and is quite long, so read at your own risk.

Any hateful comment will be simply ignored, this is just something I'm sharing with you because it makes sense to me and I want to know what you think.

Please excuse my english if it gets bad at times since it isn't my first language.

Let´s begin:

I´ll start talking to you about some guy named “Randou” who was presented in the light novel ''Fifteen” as the responsible for the mafia´s predecessor return and the Arahabaki incident.

For those of you who don´t remember him, here´s a picture.

Ok so, you might wonder why I'm bringing him up.

If he was supposed to be a forgettable face from the beginning, another extra character in the story, then why didn´t I forget him? Why do I mention him before anything?

The answer is simple: I can forget a face I´ve seen once or twice but not one I´ve seen thrice.

“What do you mean? we only saw the man one time” 

You´re totally right, however that wasn´t the case for me.

Confusing his face was the big mistake I made and the one that lead me to building this net of theories and clues that I'm putting together right here right now:

Even though the first time we see Fyodor´s face is at the ending of the second season and then again in Dead Apple, I remind you that I wasn't paying attention at all (like literally guys I already told you about how I would call tachihara “bad tanizaki” just because they looked the same to me). Due to my lack of attention, after finishing the “cannibalism” arc. and becoming more familiar with Fyodor´s face it occurred to me that he was the same guy involved in the arahabaki incident.

Why? because I can so I did.

My brain automatically assumed these guys were the same person just because they were dressed as if they were going to sleep on the top of the Everest for a whole month and because their faces were equally sad...

Of course, when I finished the anime and started reading the manga I was totally confused when Dazai asked Fyodor what his ability was, since I thought him and Randou were the same person, therefore I thought they shared ability.

After that I had to rewatch the whole anime and then realized how high I was when I watched it the first time.

But even when I managed to get the whole story right I still couldn't stop thinking about Randou, he was still a mystery, but more than the man himself, his story and the order in which they were presented by Kafka were somehow strange.

So after reading “Beast'' I came up with a few theories about the book being canonically in that alternate universe, because for me, even if Beast was supposed to be just a spin off written to promote the release of Dead Apple, it couldn´t be that and only that.

I just can´t accept  that “Kafka wrote a 200-page novel to promote a movie that had nothing to do with it when he was asked to just write a 50-page short story” because he just felt like doing it. I knew from the deep bottom of my heart that he was not the kind to write just for fanservice.

So I came up with this idea: “What if the release of Beast and fifteen are more important than we think?”

Despite the first time we see fyodor´s face being at the end of the second season, the first time we see him meeting Dazai, is during dead apple. However, he seems to be just an extra character, someone who doesn't seem to add much to the story at first sight (except for when he turns Shibusawa into a big dragon).

But if we think about it, the same happens with the mentioning of the book in “Beast” and with Randou´s appearance in “Fifteen”.

In these three stories, the book, Randou and Fyodor are like an app running in the background of your cell phone, they are responsible for some kind of event and or incident that we cannot see now but that eventually will go out to light.

These are all very small hints, but that's why it is important, the smaller the better.

We can´t forget that Kafka has always been a mastermind of hiding evidence in plain sight.

He wrote and published 3 stories at the same time  that have nothing in common and then used them to promote each other. He decided not to wait any longer nor release them earlier because they´re relevant to each other even when they don't seem to be. They are like a building in the middle of the city, we see it but we never get the chance to observe it because of all that's happening around it.

But as far as we know Randou dies at the end of fifteen. How could he possibly be related to Fyodor if they never met?

The importance here is not his death or them meeting, maybe not even Randou himself but what happened before his entrance to the PM and after his death.

As far as we know, Randou used to be an european spy tasked to investigate a powerful entity of power in japan and sent to steal it. However, during that mission he was betrayed by his friend who tried to kill him but is Randou who ended up killing him instead.

Nevertheless, in the story we never get to know why his friend betrayed him nor what is that so called “source of energy” that the japanese government has been secretly guarding.

we 

never

know

until now (?)

Towards the end:

What if that “source'' is actually the book itself and his friend tried to kill him to keep it for himself and escape with it? 

Even more important:

What if Randou, after killing his friend, decides to steal the book but forgets about it and it´s power after losing his memory in the Arahabaki incident? 

These explanations can perfectly fill a void we never even noticed was there: Randou dies without remembering that he has a very important item with him, which is the reason for which he was once chased by the GSS (an agrupation that is connected to the Guild who we already know was searching for the book as well) and the same Dazai could have stolen after the Port Mafia kept his belongings when he died.

Please please pleaaaaaaseeee finish the idea.

After writing for 2 days, tying knots and untying them, reading and rereading, remembering details and searching for others i couldn't remember, this is my final conclusion:

 Fyodor´s ability could be nothing more and nothing less than the book itself.

The proof of that being:

-All we know is his ability “Crime and Punishment” is presented as a perfect complement to one another. When he explains why Sibusawa´s mist didn't affect him he says “it´s because crime and punishment are good friends” which can mean that for one to appear, the other has to do something, that is to say, he has to commit a crime to receive punishment.

-We can assume that as someone whose objective is to free everyone from the sense of morality (as Gogol explains) he's the one to decide whether he commits a crime that deserves punishment or better said, his ability “the book” that can only function following the rules of karma.

 -He probably doesn't need to communicate with the outside at all and is trying to deceive Dazai since the plot is going according to his plans and to how he planned to write the story on that single page.

-We know he has a page since the beginning and he also knows everything that´s written on it (for example that sigma´s existence was written on it 3 years before) but it's never mentioned how he got it.

-He literally joined the Guild to search for that book (´cause it belongs to him).

-Despite everything, Dazai is not worried about his plans either (he says all he has to do is observe him) because he's confident that everything is gonna turn out in his favour (you can see the little bitch didn't mind sending Akutagawa to his own death) since he stole the book from Randou long ago.

-What Dazai could've done with the book is nothing more and nothing less than creating the “Beast”  universe after leaving the PM just to give Oda a proper farewell and because since he discovered the real power of that book he decided the best was to hide it.

However none of them can reveal any of this for obvious reasons.

Well I´ve nothing more to say, this is all I have for the moment.

 I know some of these ideas sound very complicated and even excessive, however in the end everything fitted perfectly to me (and I swear I came up with 3 different theories before putting this one together).

If you managed to read this far, thank you very much :,)

If you feel like commenting something feel free to do so :)

[alexlabhont]

I didn’t mean to fall in love with you

Chapter Four.

Book: Queen B - Choices (Universe)

Pairing:  Poppy Min-Sinclair x Trans!Male MC (Beck Hughes)

Genre: Canon re-write (Because I can)

Rating: Anyone can read it, really

I´ll be posting this one over here because Tumblr, for some reason, thinks my secondary blog is a bot...

This is me trying to write by and for the Trans community, specially FTM community, meaning, trans guys, but I actually took the liberty to use They/them pronouns for everyone out there who´s interested (Also, the name Beck was the most neutral one I could find, trying to use the cannon Bea Hughes)

Now, about the PAIRING... I will be using choices style, kinda, because I want to give you choice at some point. If you have any comment, PLEASE BE RESPECTFULL and patient with me. This is also my first english fanfic and english is not my mother language, so... i’m sorry fo the grammar errors

CHAPTERS

The beginning

Chapter one 

Chapter two

Chapter three

ONE-SHOTS

Just a dance (Zoey x MC)

—————————————————————— 

“What the hell are you doing?”

Zoey Wade. The nerve of this girl of interrupt her meal. Poppy took the time to leave her fork down before bury her gaze into the other girl.

“I should be asking you the same thing. Who do you think you are to talk to me?” She asked exasperated.

So far she was doing good, the last details of her plan were tuned, the day to destroy Chloe and take back her very deserved number one place had come. The excitement she get every time she made a perfect move in order to obtain what she wants was in her veins, but of course, something had to happen. Or someone.

“Don’t play the fool, Poppy. It doesn't suit you. I'll ask once again: What are you doing with Beck?”

“Oh, what do we have here…?” She thought, intrigued.

“I’m sorry, did you crashed your head against the pavement or why do you think I owe you an explanation?” Poppy pushed her salad aside, her appetite completely gone because of the insolence. This Nobody thought she could come and disrespect her in her own spot of the cafeteria like they were in the same level. Zoey was seriously stupid. “Whatever me and Beck are doing is not you fucking business, Wade. Why don’t you just get a life a little less pathetic and go on with it.”

The spark in Zoey’s eyes changed, a little mix between anger and a cold serious look that, Poppy had to admit, scare her for a split second and then… jealousy? The other girl leaned on the table towards her, threatening, trying to intimidate her, but Poppy stood still, not giving her the pleasure to give in to her ridiculous games. Especially feeling all those eyes over them, people murmuring and whispering. She couldn’t let her have her way.

“Listen very closely, Min-Sinclair: I care about Beck and we all here agree you’re a selfish bitch. I know you’re not up to something good, so I will do everything on my power to make sure Beck’s far away from you claws.” That was so ridiculous that Poppy cracked a smile, making fun of Wade. She couldn't even be mad with a clown like her. “I’m telling you now, back off…”

The two of them kept that position a few second, a fight between wills neither of them wanted to loose. Finally, was Zoey the first to walk away, falsely believing her message was received.

Oh, Zoey… as if you could do something to stop her from her aims.

“Hey, Zoey?” Poppy called, the daggers in her mouth ready to hurt her really bad. “Why would anyone be interested in you while they have me?” Zoey stopped immediately, the strike hitting the spot. Poppy smirked, understanding everything right in the moment. Zoey likes Beck, it was so clear it actually felt cliché

“Ha! This must be entertaining.” Poppy thought, enjoying the effect of her words in Zoey.

“You’re just a three-digit fool who hasn't learn her place. Why don't you save yourself from humiliation and forget about Beck completely?” The strawberry blonde smiled at Zoey with a friendly smirk. “You know? My day with them yesterday was really good, so I'm feeling generous.” Poppy took her things and walked to be face to face with Zoey, who was getting red from frowning. “I’m forgetting about everything you just said and giving you a second chance. You see? I’m making you a favor! Your welcome, sweetie.” She added with an obviously pretentious voice before going out the cafeteria.

Even though she looked calm and perfect as always, inside Poppy was furious.

How she dares!

What the hell was wrong with that loser? Does she really was that horny for Beck?

“Well… if she was, I couldn't really blame her…” Poppy thought.

She wasn’t lying back at the shelter; she really thought they were cute. The way they looked at the animals, that stupid, goofy smile and congratulations Beck gave the puppies and kittens everytime Piper told them they did a great job. Poppy had a lot of fun doing the commercial, so much so she couldn’t help but be so honestly involved in the making, enjoying every part of it, in fact, Beck was different from how they’re act in Belvoire everytime they both meet.

They weren’t infuriating, insulting, a ranking climber, selfish dude who played the game even better than she expected. Actually, while having lunch, Beck was… fine. A big asshole from time to time but in a funny way. Pretending to be so nice and shit was actually easier than she thought around Beck, she was even glad to have them now at ten spot. Definitely she did a good choice.

But now, Zoey had to come and ruin her everything. And it actually pissed off Poppy badly. Beck didn’t need a personal protector, and Poppy didn’t need competition. She believed it would be easier to have Beck, at first she thought it was because they were trans, she read about it online: most people wouldn't date a trans person because… reasons.

But Belvoire proved to be different: it turns out Beck had a lot of friends, and a lot of girls daydreaming about them as usually they do around Alphas, admiring them secretly while doing exercises in the gym, trying to dance with them in parties… but Beck refused all of them. They were shy, they looked uncomfortable with anyone.

Anyone except Zoey Wade.

The both were really close, always together like Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Before all this, the very same Poppy had seen them hugging, flirting and practicing music together. Still, the strawberry blonde never thought of her as a threatening opponent. But now, Zoey Wade just make herself a target to eliminate, maybe not this time, after all, she did give her a second chance. She was a woman behind her own word.

But… She still had to do something. So she quickly took off her phone, typing a message to the matter at hand.

Poppy:

So here’s the plan

I'll need you to meet me at this address at 10pm sharp

Don't disappoint me, tushi-face 😏

She waited a few seconds, almost a minute. What took them so long?

Tushi-face🤡:

What? Why?

Poppy:

You'll have to trust me 😉

She looked at her screen, waiting for Beck’s answer. What were they doing? Texting Zoey? Her patience was running low when a little buzz alerted her.

Tushi-face🤡:

This can't be good. I'm not going

Were they serious?! Beck was playing with her kindness more than they should. No good at all.

Poppy:

Coward 🙄

Tushi-face🤡:

I'm not a coward

Quick answer. Poppy smirked mischievously. Beck always gave her a lot of information to work with, so transparent it was almost a sin to take advantage of it. Almost.

Poppy:

Prove it 💅🏻

Typing… typing… nothing… typing… typing…

Tushi-face🤡:

I’m going to regret this, am I?

Poppy:

Sending the location now

With a smug smile, Poppy send to Beck the location where the Club Malibu was. It was a exclusive place where only the elite could go. Yes, she said Zoey was temporarily off limits… but she didn't say she wouldn't be taking her chances up.

Tushi-face🤡:

Clubbing? Not my kind of place really

Poppy:

Ew, when you put it like that you sound so boring

Tushi-face 🤡:

Why do you want me there anyways?

Poppy:

All in due time, Farmsville

All in due time 😘

~~X~~

Poppy check the hour in her phone once again, it was almost 10 pm and she was already expecting Beck to show up because of the paranoia. Her foot tapping repeatedly against the floor it was the proof everyone around her needed to know she was nervous. What the hell took them so long? Did Beck decided to ditch her last minute?

Was it Zoey Wade´s fault?

She swore to god she´ll kill the girl after a humiliating and memorable reve…

“Could you calm down already? They already here” She heard Bradley say and immediately look right at the door, where Beck was being escorted to the V.I.P. area just like she asked for.

Damn, the dude knew their ways.

Beck was looking fucking hot, the black scheme really suits them and the way the shirt showed his muscles caused a lot of eyes stick to them as thirsty bastards. To top it all, the song playing in the back and Beck´s expressions were on point to make them look sexy as hell. Feeling a pang of jealousy, Poppy frowned. At what point will this bitches stop looking Beck like a piece of meat? Disgusted, Poppy stood up from her seat, very willing to show all these whores who they were competing against. With a sexy and confident smirk, the strawberry blonde walked towards Beck, sashaying her hips seductively, quickly catching Beck´s gaze.

And she loved it.

She could see the gasp, how the air escaped their lungs and redness taking over their face. Oh how she adored to cause that effects in Beck, all those girls didn’t have a chance. Embracing their strong arm, Poppy smile at them leaning her body against them, drawing a property line.

“Hey there, Tushi-face. I´m glad to see you´re not totally incapable of following directions.” She greeted them, leading the way to the exclusive section.

“Nice to see you too, Poppy.”

“Really? That was all?”

“I have to say… You´re looking fine tonight”

“Yeah, that´s what I thought”

“Is that your attempt at flattery, Farmsville?” She was not going easy on them.

“I´m not stupid enough to try and flatter you. I was just stating facts.” Oh god, that was so cliché she even scoffed. How many times have her hear that before? But something about Beck being the one to say it, turned her perfect pout into a haughty smile. As she was saying, pretending with Beck was easy, it came to her naturally, effortless.

“Maybe you´re more observant than I gave you credit for. I like it. And I have to say, I´m shocked. For once you don’t look completely unfortunate. And here I thought you were a total lost cause.” She joked, smiling just like before while having lunch.

“Wow, back to squared one already with sucking compliments?” Beck smirked, a total funny jerk.

“Try not to push your luck, Farmsville. You don´t want to be on my bad side, again.”

“Really? I don’t see the difference.” They pointed out, testing her. Poppy came closer to them, completely pressing her body against Beck´s arm, letting them feel her heat, her breast, her perfume. The distance between the two was so close that Poppy could feel their fresh breath, her own heart beating fast, excited as she whispered in their ear.

“Stay with me through the night and I promise I´ll give you a taste of the differences…”

Their dilated pupils, the small, imperceptible shiver in their body and that cute yet sexy gesture in their face that appeared after Poppy move away was all she needed to see. She actually liked them…

And she was gonna have them.

-----

Next

[devourer--of--books]

SGE x PJO AU: wiki pages

PART I: Hester

Okay, so hm, before we start.

Warning: some minor cursing, as well as spoilers for all percy jackson and the olympians, heroes of olympus and school for good and evil books. Basic knowledge of the main plot points is heavily recommended. 

Now that that’s out of the way, an unnecessary note:

I was unsure on how to structure this au, as I was originally going through the events of the novels book by book, but turns out that made the posts way too long (longer than they already are) and more like a mini-fic than an au post, so, for now, we’re sticking to a character-based wiki-like structure, one at a time.

This is obviously an au, so while we'll follow loosely the events of the riordan-verse, there's many tweaks, so it's easier to follow if you're familiar with the canon material but hopefully, I'll be able to answer any questions y'all might have.

I just might do mini-fic posts or write a one-shot or two, but that takes a while so maybe tell me if you’d be interested in that, because as usual, I am fueled by validation.

This is so goddamn self-indulgent. 

Hester Ravenswood

Daughter of Nemesis

Occupation: Head counselor of cabin 19 / High school student.

Early years: Used to live with her father, until he tragically died in a mysterious factory fire when she was 10. 

It is unknown how Hester got to camp, aside from the vague explanation she gives to Sophie and Agatha: she ran away from an orphanage and her mother guided her to Camp Half-Blood using dreams. She arrived at camp in the same night as Chaddick Edwards, and witnessed his death at Half-Blood Hill.

Camp years: Hester used to be a year-round camper at cabin 11. Since Nemesis didn’t have an actual cabin at the time, Hester was placed there, as per camp tradition, and while she often flaunted her parentage, she never got officially claimed. 

Within her first year, Hester dueled an older, unnamed demigod for a bunk bed at cabin 11. She wins the duel, but ends up with a bad reputation as a “shady back-stabber” around camp, due to her use of a hidden knife to win. The bottom bed of said bunk used to be always empty, despite Hermes’ cabin being very crowded, until Agatha’s arrival a few years later.

Hester is the third member of the quest to retrieve Zeus’ lighting bolt, alongside newcomers Agatha and Sophie.

The following summer, she runs away from camp with Sophie Martin to help on the quest for the golden fleece. 

Later that year, she participates in the mission to retrieve Yara and Willam Thomas from Westover Hall. 

During the quest to rescue Artemis, Hester is absent due to being given another quest by oracle/camp director August Sader: scouting the labyrinth. 

Next summer she leads the quest to find Daedalus, but after the incident in Hephaestus’ forges, she chooses to remain at camp to prepare for Kronos’ invasion, as well as aiding Dot Nottingham with Anadil Bloodbrook’s recovery after her time wandering by herself in the labyrinth.

A year later, Hester and Agatha blow up the Princess Andromeda cruise together, and she is heavily involved in the events leading to and during the Battle of Manhattan. Hester and Anadil are responsible for convincing a few minor gods, including Hester’s mother, to betray Kronos and help the campers fight off his army once Kronos cuts off connection between himself (alongside Sophie, Agatha and Yara) and his army to get to Olympus.

Post-war, she attends school alongside Dot Nottingham. It’s unknown what she plans to do after graduating, though it’s implied she might have to retake the year, as she often skipped classes to look for Agatha with Sophie. In one of those missions, Nemesis guides Hester to rescue Nicola Saylor, bringing her to Camp Half-Blood.

Currently: Hester is one of the seven demigods of the prophecy, and is abord the Argo II, headed towards Camp Jupiter.

Connections:

Dot Nottingham

While Hester mostly kept to herself during her first years at Camp Half-Blood, she has a secret soft spot for Dot, as she once overheard the girl standing up for her against Beatrix Jolie. 

She is the one that teaches Dot how to use a dagger. 

Every year, Dot offerers to house Hester for the school year, and every year she refuses, until after the Battle of Manhattan, when she accepts the invitation.

Agatha Schwartz

Hester and Agatha become friends shortly after her arrival, alongside Sophie, at Camp Half-Blood, when Hester claims to be impressed by Agatha’s confrontation with Aric Lesso, which seemed to freak every other camper out. 

Through the years, Hester  develops a not-so-one-sided crush on her, leading to a, rather messy, undefined romantic relationship between them after Hester kissed Agatha at Mount Saint Helens, but the two decide they are better off as friends after the Battle of Manhattan.

Hester is greatly distraught by Agatha’s disappearance after the war and feels horribly guilty for ignoring Agatha’s attempts to contact her prior to it due to remaining pettiness post-break-up.

Sophie Martin

Off to a bad start upon meeting, the two become tentative friends during the quest to retrieve the lightning bolt, and they even manage to join forces to aid Agatha, Hort Scourie and Aric Lesso on their quest for the golden fleece. 

However, Hester quickly grows suspicious that Sophie might be a spy for Rafal at camp. Once she hears that this accusation was proven true, during the quest to rescue Artemis, it causes an irreversible shift in their mostly playful previous dynamic, even though Sophie changes sides again after Rafal betrays her trust at Mount Tamalpais. The peak of their animosity is at their duel after “Agatha’s funeral”, in which Hester nearly strangles Sophie with her whip while blinded by grief, only stopping due to interference from Agatha herself.

Thankfully, things seem to have smoothed over between them after Sophie stabs, and sucessfully kills, Rafal in the Gods’ Throne Room, "ending” the Battle of Manhattan by keeping Kronos from destroying Olympus.

Sophie and Hester grow closer during Agatha’s disappearance, often meeting up for search missions whenever one of them believes to have a lead on their friend’s whereabouts.

Anadil Bloodbrook

Hester first meets Anadil during her first mission an the labyrinth, in which she manages to convince Anadil to help her escape Kronos’ forces, but isn’t able to take her along, feeling horrible guilt, believing Anadil to have been killed.

Once she learns that Anadil managed to escape and is actually alive, having been wandering through the maze on her own for months, Hester vows to save her, stepping down and handing over the quest for Daedalus to Agatha.

Hester manages to find Anadil, whose mind appears fragmented after so long in the labyrinth, and begs Dot to help her find a solution. The daughter of Dionysus eventually does, combining her mild influence over madness with Reena Shazabah’s healing talents as a daughter of Apollo.

Anadil and Hester keep in touch often after that, becoming very close friends and formulating a plan to secretly recruit minor gods and their children back to the olympian side.

The two of them start dating officially a few weeks after the end of the war and are currently still together.

Nemesis

Hester is contacted by her mother more often than most demigods, probably due to Nemesis status as a minor goddess. Nemesis offers to help Hester on occasion, but Hester always stresses that her mother is anything but kind; no help from her ever comes free of charge.

August Sader

Despite making a few jokes about the oracle’s host being past his prime, Hester shows a deep respect for the camp director, even if she doesn’t always agree with his tatics.

Reena Shazabah

Hester’s active dislike for Beatrix during her first few summers at camp lead to her passive dislike of all of the daughter of Aphrodite’s friends and flings, including Reena, but they eventually become friends and, after Reena aids Dot in healing Anadil’s mind, the two of them can often be spotted training together at the arena.

Rafal

While they were in the same cabin and Rafal was one of the few campers that didn’t avoid her, Hester tells Agatha she does not trust him. 

Once Rafal reveals himself as Kronos’ son, offering Hester a spot in his army, due to her being a child of a minor goddess, she tells him to “get fucked” and stabs him in the arm with her dagger, establishing their dynamic for the rest of the war.

Nicola Saylor

Hester is initially resentful of Nicola, for her presence reminded Hester of her own failure to find Agatha, but once the roman girl reveals that Agatha was most likely stuck at Camp Jupiter without her memories, Hester starts acting less hostile towards her.

Yara Thomas

Hester is part of the rescue party that retrieves Yara and her brother Willan.

At first the two seemed to get along, but after Yara joins the Hunters their friendship sours, as Hester has a very strong disdain for the group.

However, they start talking again during the Battle of Manhattan and grow closer once Yara offers to try and track down Agatha once she goes missing.

The current status of their friendship is unknown, as Hester will probably be livid once she finds out Yara met amnesiac!Agatha at Camp Jupiter months prior to Nicola’s arrival at Camp Half-Blood.

Hort Scourie

She doesn’t really care much for Hort at all before he is revealed to be one of the seven, but tolerates his presence on occasion, though Hester does state that kicking his ass on the arena is one of her favorite hobbies.

Weapons and Powers: Hester is very skilled with daggers and knifes, though her weapon of choice is usually a whip given to her by her mother on a deal they made when Hester first found out she was a demigod. Whatever Hester had to give her mother to keep her end of the bargain is currently unknown. 

The whip is shown to have a mind of its own, moving in fast snake-like motions that Sophie describes as “demonic”, glowing red when “awake”, but its use is rather dangerous for long periods of time, as it draws energy directly from Hester’s life force.

Hester has some sort of control over chance, being able to strike deals to tip the scales of balance in her favor, allowing her to succeed in unlikely situations, but more often than not, the price for doing so is way too high, being a last resort for her.

[elsanna-shenanigans]

December Contest Submission #14: The Queen Of Fire And Her Sister’s Warmth

Words: ca. 4300 Setting: Canon AU Lemon: No CW: Angst, Burns, Traumatic Experiences, Hurt/Comfort, Anxiety

It was a cold winter’s night in the kingdom of Arendelle, at a time when everyone should have been in bed… except for one young girl, Princess Elsa of Arendelle. The young girl was sitting up on her bed, holding a book to her chest. She loved to read, always fascinated by the stories written on the pages before her.

Yes, she knew she really should have been sleeping, but this story had been very engrossing, loving the romance between the two princesses that was unfolding before her eyes. As she turned the page, she looked down at the small stuffed penguin at her side. Sir Jorgenbjorgen, her constant companion from when she was a baby.

Though, he wasn’t her only company that night. On the bed opposite her, Elsa knew her baby sister Anna was fast asleep. The young girl had hopefully been tired out after their father had read her a bedtime story, but Anna had a natural… fire to her that couldn’t easily have been put out.

Anna wasn’t like most girls her age as she had something that set her apart from the other children. Did this make Elsa jealous? No, she loved Anna and the wonderful gift she had. She was her best friend after all and even if they were different in some aspects, they both still got along.

However, just as Elsa was about to finish the chapter she was on… a voice called out to her.

“Psst Elsa!” Little Anna called out to her sister.

The older girl put down her book, seeing Anna sat up in her bed, wide awake. “What is it, Anna?”

“I’m bored and can’t sleep,” Anna groaned. “The sky’s awake, so I’m awake… so can you play with me?”

Elsa sighed. “It’s a bit late for playtime Anna… maybe tomorrow okay?” The older girl pulled her cuddly penguin close to her and went back to her reading.

Anna just pouted for a moment, really wanting to have fun with her sister. And then in her mind, she remembered the one thing that would always be able to wrap her sister around her finger.

“Do you wanna see some magic?” the little girl teased.

And then, Elsa gave in. The book could wait for another night. It wasn’t like it was going anywhere. She placed the book on her bedside table, sighing. “Fine, Anna, you win.”

“Yayyyy!” the little girl cheered. Anna then hopped off her bed, grabbing some pillows and sitting down on them. Elsa joined her, bringing her own pillows and Sir Jorgenbjorgen.

Anna chuckled, holding out her hands. She concentrated and focused for a few seconds, as a spark of flame formed in her palms. With her will alone, Anna morphed the spark into a shape, a small bird that then flew into the air, obeying Anna’s command.

“Behold, my firebird!” Anna cheered.

Sitting forward, Elsa stared in awe at Anna’s creature. She didn’t know what divine being had blessed Anna with this gift, the power to create fire and flame… but she thought it truly was a blessing. She only wondered how those powers would grow as they got older.

The firebird flew around the room a few times, before landing back into Anna’s hand, the younger princess reabsorbing it into herself.

“Ta-da!” She chirped.

Elsa giggled. She had to admit… Anna’s little magic show was much more interesting than her novel. She watched as Anna danced on, making other shapes and displays with her mastery of fire. There didn’t seem to be any limit to what Anna could do.

Their parents had forbidden Anna from using her powers in public, however. Arendelle was a kingdom that had long held a prejudice against magic, a stigma that sadly wasn’t going to be broken anytime soon. There hadn’t really been an explanation of how Anna came to be born with her gifts.

But did that really matter? The flames Anna produced were beautiful and Elsa adored them. The shapes and patterns Anna could display with her flames… she was wonderful and Elsa couldn’t have had a better little sister.

After finishing dancing with her flames, Anna grinned at her sister. “Okay, Elsa! Anything you wanna see?”

“Me?” Elsa wondered. “I thought this was all you, Anna.”

The younger girl giggled. “Yeah, but I wanna make you happy! Just tell me what you want and I’ll make it with my fire!”

Elsa chuckled. “Okay…” She thought for a moment. “Can you make a snowman?”

“A snowman?” Anna wondered.

“Yeah, a snowman.”

“Oooh! A snowman made out of fire!” Anna chirped. “That sounds awesome!” She thought for a moment and quickly, began to manipulate the sparks of flames in her hands to conjure up a shape above her head. There the image formed, into the shape of a short, chubby snowman with twigs for arms and a pointed nose. Anna grinned, running around in awe of her own creation.

“Wow!” Elsa exclaimed. “You did it!”

“I made Olaf!” Anna responded.

“Olaf?”

Anna giggled. “Well he needed a name… and he seems a bit lonely, so I’ll make him some friends too!” She then started to manipulate her flames again, creating more images of various creatures to be Olaf’s friends. A reindeer, a large bulky snow monster, a small little lizard and even a mighty horse that she even animated, Elsa watching the steed gallop through the air of the room.

However, Elsa then noticed how large and complex the shapes were. They were getting too large to fit in the room… and she wasn’t sure if Anna could make any more. She could see how exhausted and tired Anna was starting to get. She needed to stop this before she hurt herself.

“Hey, Anna,” Elsa stated. “I think we can end it there for tonight… can you put out your flames now?”

“Uh… okay,” Anna replied nervously. She tried to hold out her hands… to her despair, she couldn’t reabsorb the flames back into herself. Her eyes widened the panic as the fiery shapes started to grow larger, their images distorting. What were once cute animals and snowmen were now twisted, infernal creatures.

“Anna shut it off!” Elsa exclaimed.

“I can’t… they’re out of my-”

KABOOOM!!!!

The enormous mass of fiery energy exploded right in front of Anna and Elsa’s faces, flame enveloping not just their room, but a good chunk of the castle as well. The wooden roof came down on top of them, pinning Anna down under a pillar as the room was ablaze.

Elsa was knocked back, surrounded by the burning flames. The older girl panicked, seeing her sister pinned down under the rubble. “Anna!”

“Elsa… help!” Anna pleaded, too weak to try and pull herself free.

“I’m coming!” Elsa called to her, grabbing Sir Jorgenbjorgen and rushing towards Anna.

However, unbeknownst to Elsa, another wooden beam above their heads was about to give way. Anna looked up and stared in horror as Elsa rushed towards her, knowing the beam was going to come down on her sister’s head.

And then, with a mighty CRACK, the beam came loose, tumbling down towards Elsa.

“Elsa look out!” Anna shouted. In that moment of panic, she fired a blast of flame that managed to knock her sister out of the way… and hit her in the face. her sister landed on the ground, the beam missing her by only a few inches. But as she lay unconscious, Anna saw a part of her blonde hair turn a charred grey.

“No!” Anna cried out. “NOOOOOO!!!”

xXx

Anna gasped, recoiling from the memory of the accident. She looked around in panic for a moment, almost thinking that Elsa was in danger. To her relief, however, Elsa was nowhere to be found and in the mirror, she saw that she was no longer that little girl, but a beautiful young woman.

A woman who today… was going to be crowned Queen of her kingdom.

For Anna, she had secretly been dreading this day. Mainly because of how anxious it made her feel and when her anxiety flared up, all that trauma she’d had over the years came bubbling to the service. It had all started several years earlier, when her parents admitted to Anna the truth about her birth… or rather Elsa’s birth.

Elsa had apparently been born of an affair from before Anna’s father had met her mother. As such, she and Elsa were actually half-siblings and only an heir of pure blood would inherit the throne. That meant Anna was the one who would be Queen, instead of Elsa like she’d always expected.

Though she had accepted the responsibility and had gladly gone through with all the years of study and preparation to become Arendelle’s monarch… she hadn’t expected to take the throne so young. The tender age of twenty-one. Even her father hadn’t become king nearly as young. But she couldn’t have predicted the future, that hers and Elsa’s parents had died tragically at sea six years ago.

Since then, Elsa had been the only family Anna had, but the soon to be Queen had shut her out a little, not wanting her to get too close. Though she hadn’t thankfully killed Elsa all those years ago, the incident had left its scars, in the form of the grey streak in Elsa’s perfect platinum blonde locks. And Anna was scared of hurting her still. Although all these years, she did long for her sister’s warmth…

Her magic had also grown stronger over the years, meaning Anna had to better control her powers. The incident all those years ago had practically burned half the castle down, though again, thankfully no one had been killed. While the castle was being rebuilt, mainly with stone and brick replacing the flimsy flammable wood, Anna and Elsa stayed with relatives from the north who understood magic and helped to train Anna to control her gifts.

And yet, even with all this control, after all this time, Anna felt like her powers were one step away from breaking loose and burning the whole kingdom down. She felt a deep shiver course through her veins as she merely thought about her magic losing control. Her hands started to warm up frantically, a sort of subconscious reaction to whenever these cold spells overcame her.

But Anna soon cooled her hands down, as she knew she wasn’t really cold. Just her anxious thoughts playing a trick on her. She sighed, knowing that today she’d likely have to put up with quite a few more cold spells.

She walked to the window, gazing at the courtyard and all the guests and foreign dignitaries that were arriving. Anna was happy to see so many new faces, all to cheer her on as Queen… and there was also the nagging thought of her becoming so overwhelmed that she would lose control.

No, Anna silenced her thoughts. I can handle this. I’m not afraid of my powers and I’m not afraid of being cold again.

As she looked out into the courtyard, she caught a glimpse of the massive ice sculpture in the yard. It depicted a massive beautiful dragon with wide transparent wings and a figure of Anna riding on its back. Elsa had so many hobbies, quite a lot of them artistic in nature. Her ice sculptures were among the most famous.

Seeing the sculpture made Anna relax as she thought of Elsa, how caring and sweet the older girl was. Over the years, she had grown to love Elsa, to be so grateful for her kindness. She didn’t deserve it… which made her feel rotten about the fact that she had developed feelings for her.

She hadn’t known when the feelings started, maybe while they were alone together following their parents’ deaths or perhaps when they were younger and discovering themselves.

But whenever it had happened, it had happened… and Anna was hopelessly in love with her sister. Which made her aversion to her warmth even more tragic. She adored Elsa deeply, despite them being sisters, and yet sometimes she was too scared to even hug her.

And it wasn’t exactly a secret. For the past few years, she’d been rejecting possible suitors… though there had been this young man who was the heir of the local ice harvester’s guild named Kristoff. She had tried something with him at least and while he had been sweet, Anna realised that in the end, she only had eyes for Elsa.

She looked at her gown, black and green, fit for a Queen. It fit her figure snugly and there was a long cape trailing behind her. She truly did look the part of being a Queen and hopefully… Anna could be the Queen Arendelle needed in these uncertain times.

Just then, Anna heard a knocking on her door.

“Your highness!” a servant called to her. “It’s time for the ceremony!”

Nodding Anna walked towards the door. “I’ll be right there,” she called back.

And so, a few moments later, Anna was walking down the aisle for her coronation ceremony, surrounded by the attended guests. As the choir sang our their hymns and all the guests gazed upon the soon-to-be crowned Queen, Anna meanwhile had only eyes for one person in particular.

It was Elsa, standing at the altar and watching her with a smile on her face. Anna looked at her again and beamed back, before her expression faltered once she saw the grey hairs on Elsa’s brow. Again, a reminder of her failure and her pain. Elsa would often tell people she’d been kissed by a fiery imp as a child as a way of explaining her hair, but Anna hated admitting the truth, that she was the cause.

Elsa stood in the chapel, watching Anna being walked to the altar for the ceremony. While she knew her sister looked gorgeous in her gown, she could see the intense regret and doubt on her younger sister’s face.

If she could do anything, it would be to relieve Anna of this burden and take the throne herself… but Elsa was a bastard. She had no right to the throne… but that didn’t mean it had to be forced on Anna. She knew how full of life the young girl was and didn’t want to see it wasted by being stuck inside with royal duties.

Yes, Anna would be a great Queen, but she had her whole life ahead of her… and that wasn’t counting the magical powers she’d been concealing all these years.

At least the pair of them looked completely gorgeous. The teal dress Elsa was wearing fitted her gloriously as well as the gloves, though of course, all the attention was on Anna and her stunning regal attire. She looked the part of a Queen perfectly.

As the Queen arrived at the altar, she shot Elsa a quick smile before the ceremony proceeded. Elsa knew she was trying her best and in her heart, she was proud of her. And yet, she still wished it was her taking the throne and not Anna. But Elsa was powerless, even if she was the eldest of the two sisters. Well, half-sisters, but did it really matter?

As Anna went and accepted the vows and promises of her birthright, kneeling before the altar as the bishop spoke, Elsa noticed the confidence in Anna’s voice. She was trying her best, bless her.

But Elsa just hoped Anna could hold it in until the end of the ceremony. This was all so much pressure on her, but she was proud of her baby sister for holding it this long. And then, the crown was finally placed on the Queen’s head.

It was beautiful, gold with several emerald jewels encrusted in it. As Anna took the orb and sceptre that were presented to her, she faced the crowd as the applauded rang out. For she was now Queen Anna of Arendelle, Sovereign of the north, worthy monarch of greatness.

But all Elsa could notice was the anxious expression of Anna’s face, as parts of her two objects started to glow red with heat. It took all of Anna’s effort not to melt the two objects in her hands. Quickly, Anna placed the orb and sceptre down, smiling at the gathered crowd.

At that, Anna and Elsa breathed a sigh of relief.

xXx

Later that evening, there was a grand ball held in Queen Anna’s honour, celebrating her ascension to the throne. It was truly a wonderful affair, with laughter and music and dancing, not to mention the food. As Anna walked out onto the stage after her name was called, she waved politely and beamed at her guests.

The most stressful part of the day was over and now she could enjoy herself. Eventually, Elsa was summoned to her side, the older woman waving at the crowd before striding to Anna’s side elegantly. Both sisters waved at the applauding crowd, Anna beaming with queenly radiance.

As the crowd went back to their festivities, there was a silence between the two sisters. Anna wasn’t exactly sure what to say, so it was Elsa who eventually broke the awkward pause.

“You look beautiful,” she whispered. “I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you,” Anna replied. “You’re not so bad yourself. A new dress?”

“One of Mother’s old ones,” Elsa told her. “So… how does it feel to be Queen?”

“It feels… different,” Anna admitted. “Not sure if I’m gonna get used to people calling me "your majesty.”

“You will, and I’ll be there for you,” Elsa replied. She smelled the air, sensing a familiar aroma filling her nostrils. “Is that… chocolate?”

“Mmmm yeah, smells amazing!” Anna chirped. “I can’t wait to gorge myself on it later.”

“Oh you and your appetite,” Elsa responded. “But… don’t you think you should dance a little first?”

“Who with?” Anna wondered, as she then saw Elsa holding out her hand. “Oh….”

The blonde woman smiled at her younger sister. “Would do me the honour of having your first dance as Queen with me, your majesty?”

Anna felt nervous for a moment. She was still wary of touching her sister, but she knew that as Queen, it would be rude to refuse such a dance. Besides… she had longed to dance with Elsa like this. She’d even dreamed of it. She just had to be careful when it came to actually touching Elsa.

“I would,” Anna replied. “Gladly.”

Elsa then took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor. Placing her hand around her waist, Elsa started to waltz with Anna, smiling at her. For a moment, all of Anna’s fears simply washed away as she was lost in Elsa’s embrace. But she shook her head, trying to remain in control.

The last thing she wanted was for her powers to flare up and her hands to burn that dress off Elsa… not that she wasn’t already doing that with her eyes. Anna felt ashamed to think of Elsa in such a manner, especially at that moment. But Elsa was clearly the more beautiful of the pair. Beautifuller? Was that even a word?

Her sister twirled with her, grinning at her as they danced. The eyes of the crowd watched them, and Anna was still desperate to remain in control. She was feeling the chill again, the horrible sensation rising up within her. But she kept staring at Elsa, not wanting to ruin the moment.

“Bet you’re glad I took those lessons,” Elsa chimed in.

“Y-Yes,” Anna nervously replied. “Can we… go somewhere for a moment? I think I need some space.”

“Are you alright?” Elsa asked her.

“Fine!” Anna chimed in. “Just need some… air.”

Elsa nodded, and then they parted. The two sisters made their way off the dance floor and quickly into a side corridor from the room, the crowd completely unaware of their departure.

Heading through the hallways, they soon arrived at the balcony overlooking the gardens.

No one would disturb them there.

“Finally, we’re alone,” Anna admitted, the Queen standing on the balcony overlooking the castle’s beautiful gardens. While she had loved being at the party, not to mention dancing with Elsa, she needed this moment to just calm down.

Fortunately now, the chill inside of her was gone and there were no worries of any flareups.

Elsa sat with her, smiling at her. Anna truly was beautiful… but Elsa felt that at the moment Anna was still carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.

“Are you alright?” Elsa asked her.

“Yes…. I’m feeling much better,” Anna replied. “Sorry that I cut our dance short.”

“It’s fine,” Elsa assured her. “I… could sense you were feeling a little stressed. Your powers aren’t flaring up, are they?”

“No, thankfully,” Anna admitted. “Look… can we just talk about something else?”

“Okay..” Elsa replied. “Do you… have any idea what your first act as Queen will be?”

"Oh, I’m not sure yet,” Anna admitted. “There’s just… so much I have to do now. I don’t even know where I’m supposed to start with all this ruling the kingdom stuff.” “You’ll have me,” Elsa said assuredly. “I didn’t spend my life studying to just sit around doing nothing all day.”

“There are your ice sculptures,” Anna remarked. “The one you made in the courtyard of that dragon is gorgeous.”

“You know what I mean,” Elsa told her sister. “Remember how we promised? When you’re Queen, I’d be your right hand… and I’m offering that hand to you.”

A cold shiver ran down Anna’s spine again, the all too familiar sensation. Yes, she wanted to take Elsa’s hand again, to accept her warmth… but even after all these years, she was scared of letting go of her powers again, of hurting Elsa again. The sight of the charred hairs on Elsa’s forehead reminded her of it all.

“No, I’ll be fine,” Anna insisted, but she could already feel the fire inside starting to get loose again.

Elsa could see that Anna was starting to get worked up. “No, you’re stressing yourself out, again, Anna. I can see it from here.”

“Elsa, I’m alright!” Anna argued. “I will be able to handle this! You don’t need to worry about me! I’m not a little girl any more, I’m Queen and-”

“And what? Only you can do this by yourself?” Elsa finished.

Anna stopped, hugging herself. She exhaled, trying to mentally warm herself up, to feel in control of her powers again. Even after gaining much better control of them after all these years, she was still frustrated that she was vulnerable to her own insecurities.

Elsa stared at her sister. “You’re… You’re still worried about hurting me again, aren’t you?”

Anna nodded. “I… I’m sorry… It’s stupid. It was so many years ago and I should have overcome it. I mean, I got my powers under control, I should be capable of this. I shouldn’t have freaked out on the dance floor.”

"Yes, you did get your powers under control,” Elsa stated. “But Anna… are you under control?”

Anna wasn’t sure how to answer that. Or rather, she did know how to answer that , but just didn’t want to say it. She was the Queen, she was meant to be under control. She hated feeling so vulnerable, so insecure. That wasn’t what a Queen was… but right now, she wasn’t a queen.

She was just a scared, stressed out young woman… who deeply wanted her sister’s warmth.

Elsa opened her arms, smiling kindly at Anna. “Come here,” she said softly. “Just let me hold you. I’ll take your pain away. Just let it go.”

“No!… I’m not in a good way right now,” Anna argued.

“All the more reason for you to be cared for, and shown love and warmth,” Elsa insisted.

“I could hurt you again!” the queen shouted.

“No you won’t,” Elsa stated. “I know you, Anna. I knew you from the moment you were born. You would never hurt a fly.” And then Elsa pulled the Queen into an embrace, hugging her tightly. Anna panicked for a moment… and then, it all stopped. The pain, the anguish, the anxiety… for one brief moment, it vanished.

Holding onto Elsa tighter, Anna shed a few tears, feeling her sister’s gloved hand stroke her. She felt warmth, love, compassion from her sister… and she didn’t feel scared about hurting her. She did have everything under control, she did feel at peace… and it was thanks to her sister.

As they pulled away, Anna stared into Elsa’s eyes. She was lost in her beauty, her warmth, that smile. Even those charred hairs in her perfect blonde locks didn’t detract from her gorgeous appearance. And in place of the anxiety she’d felt, Anna felt her attraction grow for her sister.

And then on impulse… she kissed her. Her hands cupped Elsa’s cheeks and letting out a passionate moan, Anna kissed her sister deeply, holding her close. Elsa panicked, quickly pushing Anna away. Both women stared at one another with flushed faces.

“I’m so sorry,” Anna whispered. “I didn’t…”

“You… You kissed me,” Elsa stated. “But, Anna… we’re….”

“I don’t care if we’re sisters,” Anna admitted. “You give me warmth and love… and I want that love. I need that love. I need your love if I’m going to be a good queen. I want you to keep me warm again… just like when we were kids.”

Elsa didn’t know what to say. She just stared at Anna completely dumbfounded. It felt wrong, that kiss had felt wrong but she knew that Anna needed this. She did feel guilty… but if she would be Anna’s lover, if she could be her warmth then Anna would be at ease again.

“You want me to be your warmth?” Elsa asked.

Anna nodded. “Please.”

Then, Elsa smiled. “I’ll do it, your majesty. I’ll keep you warm.” And then, she cupped Anna’s cheeks and kissed her passionately, Anna holding her as the kiss filled the Queen with warmth and love.